《Will of 小haos》 Chapter 1: The day that everything changed My name is Albert I am an orphan, I was left at the door of the orphanage as a baby, I have always had a weak constitution and health and that is probably why I was abandoned by my parents. My name was chosen by the director of the orphanage a priest who was always very good to me, his name was Mario a big man of 1.92 tall, who came from Mexico to the United States when he was 20 years old and never came back. He was always a father figure to me, he always greeted me with a smile when I returned from a foster home, as I spent a decade going back and forth from over 37 foster homes. Most of the time for the same reason, couples who saw that I was a little smarter and more mature than others my same age and chose me, but as the time I spent with them increased they saw that I had health and a fragile body and that would bring a lot more expenses with doctors and medicines that they imagined at first and sent me back to the orphanage. I always felt out of place and out of place, the way I saw the world was different from other people, the line of right is wrong in my eyes was not so clear to me, it seemed more than the extremes Good and evil were crazy in my eyes and a big gray field existed between them and that''s where all the people were in my conception. The orphanage didn''t have a lot of money and I couldn''t afford to buy the medicines and doctors I needed more and the years, so I had to find ways to give back to these people at the orphanage who were always there for me. The orphanage didn''t have much but I still had some old computers donated that I used to study a lot of things to try to help Father Mario and the children of the orphanage as best I can. I always had a good memory and creativity so I was able to quickly learn a lot of things. I learned about cooking to try to make the food with cheap ingredients we received as a donation as tasty and nutritious as possible for everyone. I learned crafts with the mentality of fixing or replacing dishes and pans that were cracked and broken, which turned out to be an excellent idea. I spent my days researching many things in the morning and the afternoon I taught and trained the children with things that interested them so that they would have some starting point when they were adults at least. As I was always good at math and got used to using the computer, I decided to try to learn programming logic to see if I could create programs that I could sell online to get some money. In just a few months I realized I had decent talent and had the great idea to start creating some simple games for kids to have fun with. But first I had to build a simple video game console with the parts I asked some kids to pick up from the junkyard, it took weeks of trial and error to get something usable at least. I started with simple 2D games like Pac**n which was a poorly made copy of the original but the kids loved it and I was inspired to create more over the months and years that passed. Over time I started creating new and original games that I started selling online and gave almost all the money to the orphanage and the rest I used for new equipment to continue this career that allowed me to work even with this fragile body. When I reached adulthood by law I used the money to buy a house nearby and I continued to create a lot of games for years and I always shared it with orphanages and charities. I started to research many things to be able to use in the games I created, such as crafts, cooking, medicine, all kinds of mythology and world legends, forge, martial arts (without weapons and with weapons), commerce, politics, military tactics, etc. ... One subject that caught my attention was monsters and the various other races of humanoids that were described in games, movies, novels, mangas, etc... As I continued to research Elves, Dwarves, Demons, Slimes, Goblins, Arachnes, and many others, I realized the incredible potential they all had and was so underused in games and stories. All of them had amazing abilities that if trained and perfected would have an incredible result, especially if you consider the evolution system that many games use on monsters. I will not deny that during my research I found the bodies of humanoid women of these other races that I found very attractive descriptions and images. The possibilities for growth are infinite, there are no limits that cannot be surpassed, only weak wills to try is what Father Mario always told me every day. As time went by, I related all this research to my games, making them unique in the world and I ended up becoming a famous game creator, but my health and body just got weaker and weaker and eventually let me get out of bed for years old. Father Mario always came to visit me until the day of his death, which was the saddest day of my life, I was always different and thought of things that didn''t even cross other people''s heads, always running away from common sense without realizing it and because of that people did not understand me and walked away from me except for Father Mrio. The only reason I never felt alone was him and when he was gone I fell into a pit of despair and loneliness that I almost couldn''t get out of. So I drowned in work trying to move on somehow taking years to get back to feeling normal again but still with this emptiness inside me. My games became more and more detailed and the monsters portrayed in them were known as the toughest in the world which made me very happy. I was already 47 years old and had not been able to get out of the hospital bed for 10 years, having to work and live there, I felt that something was growing inside me but I didn''t know what until the day I finished and launched my work online press, it was very difficult and time-consuming to finish it thanks to the comas and fainting that became more and more frequent without knowing if I would be able to wake up next time, but luckily I managed. That day I felt great relief and I saw all my life until that moment with a great feeling of accomplishment passing through my eyes and suddenly it was like something was waking up inside of me and I passed out. During my fainting it was as if something was calling me from a distant place, I didn''t know what it was or where it was but I knew it was calling me. And a chaotic road of April ahead of me I didn''t understand anything and I was confused but I felt I had to answer this call. I have had no attachment to this world in so many years why not heed that call and the moment that thought crossed my mind I felt like I had been ripped from where I was and being sucked somewhere else along this road. chaotic. And that day a message appeared in front of everyone in the world: <[ REQUIREMENTS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LONG SYSTEM" ]> <[ REQUIREMENTS: 1. POPULATION DEVELOPMENT IS OVER 10 BILLION. 2. THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE OF ENERGY SYSTEMS (MAGIC, SPIRITUAL, KI, ETC...) 3. MYTHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF ITS MYTHS AND LEGENDS. 4. UNDERSTANDING MULTIPLE RACES. 5. UNDERSTANDING THE ELEMENTS OF NATURE. 6. SATURATION OF MENTAL ENERGIES. 7. ADAPTIVE CAPACITY IN ALL ENVIRONMENTS. 8. DEVELOPMENT OF COMBAT TECHNIQUES, HEALING, CONSTRUCTION, TEACHING, ETC... 9. AWAKENING FROM CHAOS. ]> <[ STARTING SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION ]> . . . <[ SCANNING UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE ]> . . <[ SCANNING MYTHS AND LEGENDS ]> . . . <[ IMPLEMENTING SUPERNATURAL MONSTERS AND CREATORS ]> . . <[ IMPLEMENTING NEW RACES ]> . . <[ REPAIRING ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE AND DESTRUCTION OF MATERIAL THAT CAUSES ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE (RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL) ]> . . <[ RECREATING AND SPREADING WORLDS ]> . . <[ IMPLEMENTING THE FAUNA AND FLORA ]> . . <[ IMPLEMENTING UNIVERSAL SYSTEM ]> . . <[ IMPLEMENTING MAGIC SUBSYSTEM ]> . . <[ IMPLEMENTING SPIRITUAL SUBSYSTEM ]> . . <[ IMPLEMENTING KI SUBSYSTEM ]> . . <[ IMPLEMENTING ELEMENTAL SUBSYSTEMS ]> . . <[ IMPLEMENTING EVOLUTION SUBSYSTEM ]> . . <[ IMPLEMENTING WORKING SUBSYSTEM ]> . . <[ IMPLEMENTING TITLE SUBSYSTEM ]> . . <[ IMPLEMENTING SKILL SUBSYSTEMS ]> . . <[ IMPLEMENTING STATUS SUBSYSTEMS ]> . . <[ IMPLEMENTING SUBSISTS... . . . . . . . <[ FINISHING SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION ]> . . . <[ STARTING SYSTEM ]> . . . <[ AWAKENING GODS ]> . . <[ DUNGEON CONSTRUCTION IN PROCESS ]> . . <[ CONNECTING PHYSICAL AND ETHEREAL DIMENSIONS ]> . . . . . <["FULLY OPERATING SYSTEM"]> . . <[ STARTING MIGRATION OR REINCARNATION AMONG MULTIVERSES OF DISABLED OR DISABLED PEOPLE]> . . <[ TEMPORAL SPACE DISTORTION IMPLEMENTED DURING THE ADAPTATION PERIOD ]> . . . ding ding . <[ you died ]> . <[ starting the reincarnation process ]> . <[ universal resonance found ]> . <[ starting reincarnation process in the multiverse 2615390 ]> . <[ identifying new race ]> . . <[ race found ]> . <[ race: leech ]> . <[ [] interference detected ]> . <[evolving into poison leech ]> . <[ Reincarnation process completed ]> . <[ generating new body ]> . <[designated birthplace]> . <[ welcome to your new life ]> That day everything changed. Chapter 2: Huh? Am I a Leech? <["REINCARNATION COMPLETED STARTING SYSTEMS"]> Suddenly I wake up feeling weird. My mind is still fuzzy as I tried to get my head on straight I started to look around and get even more confused and scared by the things I saw around me. I was in a little lake of red liquid, what is this? It looks like blood but it''s not that thick, more like red water, sometimes I could see some ripples but towards the center of the small lake. I tried to look out of the lake and everything looked huge it looked like the small lake was in front of gigantic ruins, the columns were white with various carvings resembling bones and skulls, and the walls were red. I could see some other small red lakes near mine, behind the big ruins I could see a big mountain and on the opposite side of the ruins a gigantic forest. I went back to look at the ruins and they looked like some kind of temple the murals on the walls looked dirty and faded so that I couldn''t identify what was portrayed on them, this temple seems to be very old and was abandoned, had broken walls, collapsed columns and parts of the ceilings went down with green musk and purple vines covering many parts of the ruins. The plants around the small lakes and the temple had many different colors with reds, purples, greens, and pinks. Turning towards the forest I could see very big thick trees with most of them being normal with the trunk colors brown and green leaves, but there were also some red trunk trees with purple leaves around. I was also able to hear some noises and noises coming from the forest and from time to time I saw some shapes. Phew! It seems that I''ve finally calmed down a bit and I can get back to see the real problem, that I can''t move or feel my arms and legs, I tried to look at my reflection in the small lake I was in the shallow end and I was paralyzed with the fright of surprise at what I saw it once more. There is! In place of my face, which is what I expected to see, I saw a grotesque red-skinned worm head, a ring of sharp, serrated teeth in the mouth, and a pair of completely black eyes. Rawww! This grotesque image made me let out a high-pitched scream that made me realize it wasn''t my voice, with apprehension, I looked again at the reflection and tried to move left and right and stick my tongue out and the grotesque image did the same things and that''s when I had to accept that it was my reflection. Soon associating this grotesque appearance with the name Leech, for some reason I turned into a Leech, it made me realize that things around me were not giants but that I was very small. I don''t know what happened to me but if I stop to think and analyze it can be a dream and if I try to bite my tongue the pain in the dream can wake me up so I tested my hypothesis. Chomp! Ooo! I looked around and it was still here, this was not a dream. That means then that I died. Bah! I think I should face facts, after all going in and out of the coma I already knew my time was coming so I was already prepared to die. But even if I were prepared to die to discover that reincarnation after death is true surprises me, it amazes me, even more, to discover that my reincarnation in this new life is not as a person but rather a disgusting bloodsucker. Yuck! I spent a few minutes looking hopelessly up at the sky as I tried to accept my current quote and get my head on straight, after thirty to forty minutes in this state and finally calming down I heard something. Grrrr! Roarr! It was a roar and it was getting closer, and when it finally arrived I saw two creatures one looked like a Rabbit but it had a horn on its head, the other looked like a wolf but it had two heads instead of one. of two heads. The two-headed wolf was faster and in a few seconds it reached the Rabbit with the horn but when he was going to bite the Rabbit he jumped very high, but then it should have been more than two meters tall, which surprised me a lot, the wolf wasted no time and tried to scratch the Horned Rabbit with his claws while he was in the air in what I thought was a futile effort due to his height until the wolf''s claws began to glow as he waved creating three lines of energy that they flew and hit the Rabbit with horn and guise tearing off one of its legs whole and smearing its blood as it fell. Va-voom! Ungh! Bash! When Rabbit fell, hit his head sideways on a rock, and died, the two-headed wolf ran up to him and began to eat him. Munch! Munch! Munch! Seeing this scene made me realize something much more serious than simply reincarnating in a leech, which made me realize that I wasn''t on earth. Neither of these two animals exists on earth or should I refer to them as monsters? Both that Bunny jump and the wolf''s flying claw attack are inexplicable unless I consider my gaming knowledge and categorize these moves as either the Bunny''s jump or the wolf''s claw as abilities or magic. As I reflected on all this I saw the two-headed wolf grab what was left of the horned Rabbit''s corpse in its mouth and head back to the forest. Ghock! Ooo! As I watched the wolf go I felt a bite on my tail and looked back scared, I realized that there was what looked like another leech biting me on the tail and trying to pull it from me, this leech unlike me who is red was black and had no eyes. Wasting no time bit her on the head with all my strength twice and managed to rip almost half of her head killing her, while biting I felt a force welling up in my fangs in the second bite that was twice as strong as the first. Ding! I heard a noise but didn''t have time to find out what it was because I saw a black leech just inches from me with its mouth open. Before she bit me I threw myself fast to the right and after I managed to dodge I got up and tried to bite her on the head to not give her a chance to bite me, I noticed a little light green goo where I bit and I felt more tired but I noticed that the leech had stopped moving but wasn''t dead. Ghock! I had to forget about the second leech because I felt another two leech send me on my back, turning around quickly I bit the third as I tried to pull it out of me and when I did I realized that it also stopped moving and without wasting time I bit with all my strength the fourth on the head tearing a third of her head off, managing to kill her with one attack. Ding! I noticed that the second leech was starting to move again so I went to her and bit her head several times to make sure she died and I turned around to finish off the third leech that was starting to move too and I bit her head several times too, I saw that there was a farm that was eating the first leech I killed, so while I was distracted I bit her head and held it with all the strength I had until it stopped moving, I realized it was still alive so I kept biting until I died to make sure who wouldn''t attack me later as the others. In the end, I was confused and completely exhausted, almost unable to move most of this battle I did without even thinking just by reflex, instinct, and desperation. Ding! Ding! Ding! I slowly tried to look around to see if there were more leeches but it seems not, the ripples I had noticed at the beginning must have been them swimming in this big puddle but I was too confused and distracted to notice them around me, I started to pay attention to the others puddles that were around with what little focus it still had and I saw that they all still had leeches in them one of them slipped out of one of the puddles while I was fighting and was halfway to the blood that dripped from the Rabbit with horn and then I saw a shadow descend from the sky at high speed and catch the leech and fly again, from what I saw it looked like a bird with red feathers and an eagle''s head. I was very married and so hungry I was barely able to move and as I considered eating the leeches to quench my hunger I heard that noise once more and something strange appeared in my vision. Ding! <[ you gained a level ]> . <[ the level will be on hold until you circulate the experience gained throughout your body to be absorbed and then it will be fully integrated into your stats ]> There is? Chapter 3: Status and eat Ding! <[ You gained a level ]> . <[ The level will be on hold until you circulate the experience gained throughout your body to be absorbed and then fully integrated into your stats ]> There is? Level? Did I level up? Heiiiinnnnn???????? Does that mean I have a status too? Seriously? I tried to think of status since as a leech I''m not able to speak and then several windows appeared in my vision. <[ You gained 1 EXP from killing little leech ]> <[ You gained 1 EXP from killing little leech ]> <[ You gained 1 EXP from killing little leech ]> <[ You gained 1 EXP from killing little leech ]> <[ You gained 1 EXP from killing little leech ]> "NAME: NONE BREED: Small Poisonous Leech (Variant) LEVEL: 1/5 > 2/5 (Waiting) EXP: 5/5 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Poisonous Leech: 100% ] HP: 2/5 MP: 0/0 Stamina: 0/5 Strength: 2 Dexterity: 1 Agility: 2 Defense: 1 Intelligence: 3 magic defense: 1 Charm: -5 Luck: -13 CONDITION: [Hungry] [Tired] TITLES: [ ? ] [ ?? ] [ transgressor of worlds ] " Ugh! What does that mean? This looks like a game. And if it weren''t for the pain and tiredness I''m feeling reminding myself that this is all real I would be very confused right now, but I''m in pretty bad shape right now and it''s not safe for me to be thinking and reflecting on all of this right now. I''ll just accept it now and think more later. By that status, I''m tired and hungry, which matches what I''m feeling right now, so the first thing I need to do is eat, and the only food around is these five leeches I just killed. Urgh! Ghock! Nhac! I moved slowly to the corpses and started eating one by one without stopping to think, and only stopped when there was no more room in the barrel to continue. When I ended up I looked around and saw that I had eaten 2 whole Leeches without realizing it, the taste was less horrible than I imagined, I also found that even being tired I could move at least, which was a relief at least. <[ You have learned the following skills from Little Leech: ? [ Poor blood detection:1] ? [ Weak hunger resistance:1 ] ]> There is? Did I just receive skills? Why? Now that I''m no longer hungry and there doesn''t seem to be another leech in the same puddle I''m in, I have time to reflect on all this. Hmmm um If I think about it, I didn''t get any skills after killing the leeches, and I only got them after I ate them, does that mean that maybe I can learn new skills from eating other creatures? I''ll leave that thought on hold for now until I eat something else and see if it keeps happening. Now if I gained skills, where are they? I''ll try to think about the status again so it opens and I can take a closer look as I continue to rest. "NAME: NONE BREED: Small Poisonous Leech (Variant) LEVEL: 1/5 > 2/5 (Waiting) EXP: 5/5 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Poisonous leech: 100% ] HP: 3/5 MP: 0/0 Stamina: 2/5 Strength: 2 Dexterity: 1 Agility: 2 Defense: 1 Intelligence: 3 magic defense: 1 Charm: -5 Luck: -13 CONDITION: [ Tired ] TITLES: [ ? ] [ ?? ] [ transgressor of worlds ] " Hmmm um It looks like I don''t have a name, which makes sense since I was just born. It seems that every leech I killed gave me 1 EXP which made me fulfill the requirements to level up. But it seems like I don''t pass automatically, and the EXP I get for what the message from this system that appeared earlier said, it''s stored inside me and I need to find it and make it circulate through my body while it''s slowly absorbed, only then my level increases as far as I could understand. But before I do that, let me have a look at the rest. My race is Poisonous Little Leech, the "Little" in the breed name probably means I''m still in the infant stage of my race and not yet an adult, which makes sense since I''m just born, and the "poisonous" wants to say that I have poison which must be the reason I managed to immobilize some of the leeches during the fight. I seem to have two strains, the "poison leech" which is at 100%, it must be a pure strain, and another mysterious strain that I can''t identify at the moment, I''ll think about it later. It seems that my HP is STM went up a little while I was eating, mainly the STM seems to represent the numerical value of my residence and the HP must be my life, after eating the hunger condition disappeared, leaving only the tired condition which should disappear also if I rest a little longer. And about the "Titles" I can understand the "world transgressor" since I''ve just been reincarnated in a different world from my original, but it seems that there are two other titles that like the mysterious lineage I can''t identify at the moment. And finally, what I wish I hadn''t seen, my physical stats which are no doubt very weak. Uh! Look at this negative charm, from what I can see in my reflection I know I''m not pretty, but negative makes me cry, and even worse is this luck of minus thirteen, possibly this horrible luck is to blame for my reincarnation as a Leech. Bah! But changing the subject, I''m not seeing the so-called skills I gained, if I think for them to appear the same I thought with the status it will appear too? " PASSIVE SKILLS: [ Leech:1 ] [ Leech Belly:1 ] [ Weak Hunger Resistance:1 ] ACTIVE SKILLS: [ Weak Leech Bite: 1 ] [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 1 ] [ Poor Blood Detection: 1 ] UNIQUE SKILLS: [ ?? ] [ Chaotic Devourer ] BLESSINGS: [ ] " There you have it, as far as I can see the abilities are in a different window than the normal stats, and they have different types of abilities, which are passive, active, and unique. The passive must be whose effects are always active. The active one I probably need to activate somehow. The unique skill I have no idea. I seem to have two unique abilities, one of them as well as the bloodline and mysterious titles I can''t identify, the other "Chaotic Devourer", the name must be why I managed to gain two abilities by eating the leeches. And there''s still a blessing of some kind that I can''t identify either, is it from some God? To begin with, do gods exist? Hmmm um So many things to think about while my brain feels like it''s going to explode, I need to sort things out in order of priority. I''m safe for now and I just fed now, I can also vaguely see my current situation, the next problem to solve should be this "waiting" level if I go to follow what this system indicated I should feel this EXP inside me, so I''ll try to meditate, just like I learned on Earth and see if I can find that EXP inside of me. After a few minutes of emptying my mind and feeling the water lapping my body, my mouth breathing, and my heartbeat, I finally can feel some kind of energy inside me, it seems to be wandering in my body. , so first I''m going to try to get them together in my bloodstream so it follows the flow of my blood and circulates all over my body to see if it works, and a few minutes later. Ding! "NAME: NONE BREED: Small Poisonous Leech (Variant) LEVEL: 1/5 > 2/5 EXP: 5/5 > 0/6 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Poisonous Leech: 100% ] HP: 3/5 > 5/6 MP: 0/0 Stamina: 2/5 > 6/6 Strength: 2 > 3 Dexterity: 1 > 2 Agility: 2 > 3 Defense: 1 > 2 Intelligence: 3 > 4 Magic Defense: 0 Charm: -5 Luck: -13 CONDITION: [ healthy ] TITLES: [ ? ] [ ?? ] [ transgressor of worlds ] " My first attempt gave results as far as I can see. I feel refreshed and full of energy at the moment, it seems like my MTS filled up when I leveled up, but not HP, it just recovered a little but not all, my expectations to fully recover by leveling up or leveling up while I''m in equal battle in games and fully recovering has been completely crushed, but at least my HP has recovered a little. My other physical stats have all increased a bit except for luck, charm, magic defense, and MP. Luck and charm aren''t going to change leveling up from the looks of it, which breaks my heart. About MP will probably only go to zero if I am able to learn about magic or feel magic, and "Magic Defense" will only go to zero possibly when I release MP. I could see that the amount of EXP increases with each level, I also don''t know what happens if I reach the maximum level, but I hope the games are right and I evolve because if not, this new life will be extremely short since what prevails in wild environments like this is the law of survival of the fittest like the Rabbit and Wolf fight as well as the fight I won a few hours ago also demonstrated. I may have won before some leeches but I wouldn''t stand a chance against the wolf, the eagle, or even that Rabbit and who knows what else is in this world. Chapter 4: Urgent priorities I need to get stronger if I want to survive, and for that, I need to first understand my abilities. If I look at my abilities, some of them are self-explanatory, like the weak bite was what allowed me to tear off part of the heads of the 2 leeches, and the weak paralyzing venom was what paralyzed the other three. If I think about it to see that these 2 skills are in "active skills" then they must have a cost peruse, and since I don''t have MP and My STM was at zero and its max value before was five, reflecting rather I used two weak bites and three poison attacks so the cost of the two skills should be the same as it is 1 STM peruse. The skill named "leech barrel" must be what allowed me to eat more than my body mass by eating 2 leeches. Resistance to hunger is self-explanatory, one of the leeches must have been hungry for a long time which made her learn the skill or like me, was born with it. Poor blood detection is also self-explanatory and explains how they find their prey without eyes or nose. And the ability to "sucking blood" is also self-explanatory, it allows me to suck blood more efficiently and quickly, probably any leech has this ability, but I still haven''t been able to test this ability well, since the leeches had almost no blood at all. the same size as me, being around three to eight centimeters. I still have to test the detection skill to see the cost, let me see if I can see my STM now and then to see the cost and distance. Stamina: 6/6 I''ll try to activate the ability the same way I do with the status thinking about activating. Enable [ Weak blood detection:1 ]. When I thought like that the ability activated and I could feel the blood around, I can feel the blood of the leeches but not the Rabbit which is more than five meters from me, it also tells me the directions that the blood is, I left it on a while and then I was getting tired and hungry fast after six minutes my STM went to zero again. "NAME: NONE BREED: Small Poisonous Leech (Variant) LEVEL: 2/5 EXP: 0/6 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Poisonous leech: 100% ] HP: 6/6 MP: 0/0 Stamina: 0/6 Strength: 3 Dexterity: 2 Agility: 3 Defense: 2 Intelligence: 4 Magic Defense: 0 Charm: -5 Luck: -13 CONDITION: [Hungry] [Tired] TITLES: [ ? ] [ ?? ] [ World Transgressor ] " Looks like I''ll have to eat again. Nhoc! Nhac! After that, I was happy that my STM recovered to the maximum and I recovered from the two conditions I was suffering from. Ding! After eating the other bodies, another notification appeared that I thought of visualizing. <[ Skill leveled up [ Leech Belly: 1 > 2 ] ]> It seems that skills can level off as they are used, just like this barrel skill leveled off after I ate five whole bodies. Now I have to try to get stronger, first I''ll go to another puddle that''s on the left side of mine, I saw that there are only six leeches there, which should be enough for me to go up one more level, I''ll keep going from puddle to puddle until you reach the maximum level and see what happens. I have three urgent priorities right now. Priority is to get stronger, otherwise, I won''t live long and can be devoured like I devoured five leeches today. The second priority is finding a safe base where I can sleep and rest, preferably before nightfall. The third priority is to find out more about this forest, starting with the monsters and their territories, then the size of this forest, and if any towns nearby. With that all sorted out and already trying a plan that I can follow and orient myself to now, I can begin to see what this new life has to offer me. Looking at the sky, trying to confirm that there are no more birds, I start to go to the left puddle slowly, as I am slow out of the water, and before entering I try to locate my next prey to try to finish them off quickly one by one, because the moment someone''s blood surfaces, the others will gather. After my quick reconnaissance, I enter the puddle and head for the two furthest leeches, getting closer and quickly attacking the first one on the head with [ Weak Leech Bite: 1 ] and after tearing off a piece of the head I turn to the second one and use my other ability [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion:1 ] to paralyze her, then try to push her away from the first one, then kill her by biting her head several times. Ding! <[ You gained 1 EXP from killing little leech ]> . <[ You gained 1 EXP from killing little leech ]> Then I walk away while I try to locate the other four leeches, and I see that three went to the first body and only one went towards the second body, I went towards the first body and without them noticing I bit the third Leech as quickly as possible with [ Lesser Leech Bite:1 ], I tore off a piece of the head and swallowed. Nhac! Ooo! I felt a bite on the body and attacked without hesitation with [ Weak paralyzing venom secretion:1 ] and after the fourth leech stopped moving I dove fast down into the puddle, escaping a fifth leech''s bite attack and bit it with another poisonous bite, paralyzing her too, when I looked I realized that the sixth leech was still on the second corpse commenting, so I finished the fourth and fifth leech. Ding! <[ You gained 1 EXP from killing little leech ]> . <[ You gained 1 EXP from killing little leech ]> . <[ You gained 1 EXP from killing little leech ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low Leech Bite: 1 > 2 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 1 > 2 ] ]> I''m really tired now and I only have 1 MTS left, I''ll be watching the sixth leech while I gobble up one of those leeches before the sixth one finishes eating there and come here, so when she starts eating I''ll ambush her from behind to test mine bite skill that just leveled up. Nhac! Nhac! Nhac! As I ate I noticed that the sixth leech was already running out and quickly stopped eating and walked away from these corpses, I waited patiently until she finished eating and started swimming to the pile of corpses floating together, when the sixth leech took the first bite of me. I hid behind her and with a quick [Leech Bite: 2 ] to the head, I killed her. Ding! <[ You gained 1 EXP from killing little leech ]> Ding! <[ You gained a level ]> . <[ The level will be on hold until you circulate the experience gained throughout your body to be absorbed and then fully integrated into your stats ]> Finally, one more level, but before meditating I''m going to eat some of these disgusting leeches to get my STM back faster, in case I have to fight again. Nhac! Nhac! <[ You have learned the following skills from Little Leech: ? [ Swim ] ]> After I finished eating two of the corpses, I started the same procedure I did the first time, I just stood there with my eyes closed, I tried to clear my mind and calm my emotions when I could feel the formless, ethereal energy of EXP, I started to gather and guide it slowly through my veins and blood as my body slowly absorbed it. After about fifteen to twenty minutes I was finally done. "NAME: NONE BREED: Small Poisonous Leech (Variant) LEVEL: 3/5 EXP: 0/7 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Poisonous leech: 100% ] HP: 5/6 > 6/7 MP: 0/0 Stamina: 6/6 > 7/7 Strength: 3 > 4 Dexterity: 2 > 3 Agility: 3 > 4 Defense: 2 > 3 Intelligence: 4 > 5 Magic Defense: 0 Charm: -5 Luck: -13 CONDITION: [Healthy] TITLES: [ ? ] [ ?? ] [ World Transgressor ] " Looks like this plan will work, for now, I''ve already leveled up again, and also managed to level up two skills, at the same time I gained another skill while eating, it''s a passive skill, by name should help me swim faster or better at least. I''m going to rest for a while, and wait for my HP to be maxed out before I go to another pool and continue leveling. I''m surprised I''m not freaking out about all this, I''ve never fought on earth before because of my weak body, but on my first day here I''ve already killed eleven leeches that can be considered the same race as mine, and I ate them as well. it''s cannibalism. But with nothing to do with a dangerous quote like that, I can only try my best to survive, I don''t have the time or the luxury to regret what I''m doing now. Now that I pay attention, the sun is already high in the sky, so it''s already halfway through the day, and look at the beautiful suns, one yellow and two red. It is another world, one that has three suns. Ah! Ah! Ah! Ufa! I''m laughing nervously, I don''t even know how many hours there is a day in this world, how do they keep time here? I''ve rested enough, I''ll try to finish off the other puddles with fewer leeches before dark because at night the monsters can get more active, and it can be dangerous for me, I need as much strength as I can acquire by then. Let''s continue to the next one, and pray that all the leeches are as weak and dumb as the ones I''ve killed so far, for my good. Chapter 5: Hard battle The other two paddles, one that is on the left side of this one and the other that is on the right side of the first puddle I was in, I went towards the closest first one that is to the left of the one I am. When I got there I saw that there were only 4 leeches, I used the same strategy, I went to the one that was furthest away and killed her with a quick [Leech Bite: 2 ] on the head and abandoned the body as a bait when the other three got close. the second quickly the same as the first and I poisoned the third with [ Weak paralyzing poison secretion:2 ] the fourth managed to bite me before I managed to dive in to deflect her attack, she was a little stronger than the others, I tried to poison her but it only slowed her down, didn''t paralyze her, but slow enough for me to do two attacks of [ Weak Leech Bite: 2 ], finishing her and then finishing the second leech before the paralyzing poison wears off. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 1 EXP from killing little leech ]> . <[ You gained 1 EXP from killing little leech ]> . <[ You gained 1 EXP from killing little leech ]> . <[ You gained 1 EXP from killing little leech ]> Now I only need three more leeches to get to level four, now I feed and rest for a while before continuing. Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leech Belly: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ You have learned the following skills from Little Leech: ? [ Weak resistance to paralysis: 1 ] After resting and eating, I start to go back to the first puddle I was in and prepare to go to the last puddle that is to the right of it. When I get there I realize that this puddle is almost twice the size of the others and has only five leeches, but they are different. Two are larger versions of the ones I''ve killed so far, possibly leeches that evolved. One was a big light green one, so it''ll be the first one I get, as it must have some different power too, and I don''t want to try it carelessly. The other two were large black but one had red spots, and the other had brown spots. I think I''m dead if I go in there, they''re all twice my size, and they must be the adult version of the leeches, not to mention that three of them seem to have some different power as their bodies are different colors. I''m going to have to change my prey from the green leech to the two big ones, I''m going to have to plan how I''m going to do that. After twenty minutes of thinking, I finally came up with a workable plan, what I planned was to drag some bodies I didn''t eat up here and use to lure them out of the puddle so I could ambush the two big normals, killing them before the other three know it. . I looked across the sky and from the position of the suns it must be mid-afternoon now so I only have a few hours to do this. With no time to waste, I started to drag the corpses dragging them to the edge of the first pool and I''m going to use them as bait, I caught three corpses and left them at a distance of one meter from each other, I thought about it because as I watched the normal large leech I noticed that the two swim together around the edges of the large puddle they are in, and because the distance between the two puddles is 3 meters they must feel the blood of the corpses and will come closer to eat so I''m going to jump out of the water on the head of one of them is to use my bite to kill skill and then jump into the puddle to rest and wait for another opportunity. Now that the trap is in place, all I need to do is eat and rest while I wait for them to take the bait, I''ve already cast half of my STM dragging these baits here now I''m going to take advantage of this wait to recover as much as possible. I waited a bit, more than thirty minutes, and it seems that the plan worked better than expected, and I managed to recover while waiting for them to take the bait, they split up and each of them went to a different bait, the other three seem not to notice yet. I watched as they left the puddle and crawled closer, I decided to take the one on the right first, and then depending on how fast I get to finish it I''ll decide whether to attack the other one or go back to the puddle to recover. As soon as they got to the bait and started to eat I swam fast and jumped over the one on the right, pinning myself to his head with my teeth and using [Light Leech Bite: 2], and without giving him time to react I used the skill in the same place digging big chunks out of the head and swallowing it, using the skill again repeating the process twice more making a big hole in his head and killing him before he has time to react. Ding! <[ You gained 2 EXP from killing Leech ]> When the notification appeared, I jumped back into the red water of the puddle and swam slowly to the second one that didn''t seem to have noticed anything, and when I got there I did the same, jumped out of the water right on the second leech''s head, but this time it went wrong, she managed to dodge by going up my head right away, as I missed my head, I trapped myself in his body with my fangs and used [ Weak paralyzing poison secretion: 2 ] four times in a row in desperation, with that I ended up depleting my entire MTS and I got very tired, but my desperate bet worked and I managed to paralyze the second leech, without waiting for the paralysis effect to fade, for safety I crawled up to his head and started digging in his skull with my normal bite to death, which took seven bites to get. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 2 EXP from killing Leech ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low Leech Bite: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ You gained a level ]> Finally but before meditating I started pushing this body into the puddle to eat in the water and rest for a few minutes before meditating to integrate that level with me. splash! Nhac! Nhac! Nhac! Ding! <[ You have learned the following leech skills: ? [ Weak Blood Elemental Affinity:1 ] ]> With that now, I''ve recovered enough to meditate again. First I blank my mind, stand still, close my eyes, breathe calmly and steadily, and calm my emotions. When I start to feel the ethereal EXP inside me, I concentrate it all in one place and directed it into my bloodstream, to travel through my entire body and be absorbed little by little. This time it only took fifteen minutes, and I felt I was able to control my bloodstream better, it must be the effect of the new skill kicking in. Let me check my status now. "NAME: NONE BREED: Small Poisonous Leech (Variant) LEVEL: 3/5 > 4/5 EXP: 8/7 > 1/9 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Poisonous leech: 100% ] HP: 7/7 > 8/8 MP: 0/0 Stamina: 7/7 > 8/8 Strength: 4 > 5 Dexterity: 3 > 4 Agility: 4 > 5 Defense: 3 > 4 Intelligence: 5 > 6 Magic Defense: 0 Charm: -5 Luck: -13 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: [ ? ] [ ?? ] [breaker of worlds ] " Now that I have this new strength I''m going to prepare myself to finish off the last three leeches that seem stronger than the two I killed, I just hope I can evolve even before nightfall, to feel more secure. I grab the other body of the big leech I killed first, drag it to the puddle to use as bait, push it into a secluded spot in the big puddle, and fetch what''s left of the previous bait to throw ten feet away from the first bait. After everything is ready, I enter the puddle and wait while I wait for them to split so I can ambush them separately. After a few minutes of waiting, I see that they have noticed the baits, the light green leech, and one with the brown spots is coming towards the same bait and the other one has gone towards the first bait. As soon as they started to eat the bait I moved to the green one, as stealthily as I could and attacked him on the head with [Leech Bite: 3], oddly enough she died with a single bite and had to interrupt the second kill which was close to activating, as I was distracted by the unexpected result the leech with brown spots hit me full-on with its tail and then bit me while I was stunned by the blow. Wow! There! The bite woke me up, I noticed that its skin was thicker so I activated it six times in a row [Leech Bite: 3 ] and dug a big hole in it bite by bite, but it was still alive and biting me, so I went in with my head in the hole I made in his body and bit everything in sight until I heard it. Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 3 EXP from killing Poison Leech ]> . . <[ You gained 3 EXP from killing Leech (Variant) ]> Ufa! I thought I was going to die now, let me see my condition. "NAME: NONE BREED: Small Poisonous Leech (Variant) LEVEL: 4/5 EXP: 7/9 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Poisonous leech: 100% ] HP: 2/8 MP: 0/0 Stamina: 1/8 Strength: 5 Dexterity: 4 Agility: 5 Defense: 4 Intelligence: 6 Magic Defense: 0 Charm: -5 Luck: -13 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: [ ? ] [ ?? ] [breaker of worlds ] " My life is dangerously low and I''m almost out of MTS. Luckily the last leech is still eating the other bait, which gives me a small amount of time to recover, I start eating a little of the two leeches hoping it will give me some skill that can help this situation. Ding! <[ You have learned the following leech skills: ? [ Weak Resistance to Physical Damage: 1 ] ? [ Weak poison secretion: 1 ] ? [ Poor Resistance to Poisoning: 1 ] ]> Looks like I got some good skills, I still have some time so I kept eating, as soon as I saw the last one was running out of the first bait I knew I''d swim out here as soon as I was done. I quickly checked my HP and MTS. HP: 4/8 Stamina: 6/8 That will have to be enough, I waited until he finished and swim here, attracted by the blood, as soon as he got close, before biting the corpses I attacked right where the heart is using in succession five [Leech Bite: 3] until I felt I ate your heart and listen. Ding! <[ You gained 3 EXP from killing Leech (Variant) ]> Finally, it''s over. Ding! <[ You gained a level ]> Chapter 6: Base and evolution Ding! <[ You gained a level ]> Now is the time to rest again, it feels like since I reincarnated just a few hours ago, I''m always fighting and eating, I don''t even know how I managed to eat all these leeches, but I feel like every time I need to get my MTS back I get hungry. Possibly the [Leech Belly: 3] ability allows me to store more food in my stomach somehow, and my body digests that food reserve to allow me to recover the STM quickly. As I''ve been chaste so much STM with all these battles, the food I''ve been eating is fast disappearing. Now my brain has started to wander and I''m losing the focus it had until now, since I won''t have to fight, for now, I also don''t see any other creatures around, so I''m safe. I have to take this moment to go to the ruins, but first I will eat this bloodsucker with red spots. Nhac! Nhac! Ding! <[ You have learned the following leech skills: ? [Weak recovery: 1] It seems like a skill focused on healing, it helps me a lot, I will try to move to the ruins and find a temporary base where I will spend the night and meditate in safety. Moving while dragging a Leech to dinner I go to the ruins and in a little, over forty minutes I find a room near the main entrance to the ruins, the room doors have fallen but there is still a hole hidden by purple vines where I entered. When I entered I saw that it was an old warehouse that was a little more than three square meters, there were several dusty things that I decided to leave aside since I am very small, there was a hole in the ceiling and a small puddle of water on the floor below the hole. I decided to make this my base and left my dinner in a corner and lay down on a cloth to rest a bit and recover before starting to meditate. After about twenty minutes of rest, I felt more relaxed and wanted to meditate to integrate this level with myself before falling asleep, seeing through the hole in the ceiling that the sky was darkening. Starting to meditate, I leave my mind blank without thinking about anything, with my eyes closed and not moving, I calmed my emotions and I try to feel my heartbeats and synchronize my breathing to them, then I feel the EXP inside me, ethereal and I put it together in one place and from there I take it into my bloodstream, where my body absorbs it a little faster than before. Ding! <[ You have learned the following skills: ? [ Meditation: 1 ] This surprised me, I acquired a skill without eating a creature, meaning that it is possible to learn skills through practice and repeated training. This can help me a lot in the future, let me see my status now. "NAME: NONE BREED: Small Poisonous Leech (Variant) LEVEL: 4/5 > 5/5 EXP: 0/9 > 0/0 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Poisonous Leech: 100% ] HP: 8/8 > 6/9 MP: 0/0 Stamina: 8/8 > 5/9 Strength: 5 > 6 Dexterity: 4 > 5 Agility: 5 > 6 Defense: 4 > 5 Intelligence: 6 > 7 Magic Defense: 0 Charm: -5 Luck: -13 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: [ ? ] [ ?? ] [world transgressor] " I finally reached the maximum level, it seems that at the last level I don''t need to accumulate EXP, it was hard to fight so hard, my stamina can even recover by resting and eating, but my body hurts a lot, I ended up overloading it without resting long enough, there is also my mind, whose mental toughness cannot be easily replenished, I am completely undercut physically and mentally. Nothing has happened yet, I don''t know what I need to do to evolve and I''m too exhausted to think about it now, I''ll take advantage of the fact that it''s getting dark and I''ll go to bed early, to see if tomorrow I feel better to think about all this. I''m going to lie down in the middle of this pile of old clothes and sleep, good night, new world. Zzzzz... ----------- Without realizing it as soon as I fell asleep an ethereal mass of light in red, black, white, green, gold and silver covered my entire body like a cocoon. Then it started to beat in time with my heart. ------------ Zzzzz... As I slept I heard an emotionless and almost robotic voice. <[" REQUIREMENTS FOR EVOLUTION FULFILLED "]> . . . <[ ANALYZING POSSIBLE EVOLUTION POSSIBILITIES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING TITLES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING LINEAGES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING SKILLS ]> . . <[ ANALYZING BLESSINGS ]> . Ding! . <[ COMPLETE ANALYSIS ]> . . . <[ LOOKING FOR SUITABLE EVOLUTION ]> . . . <[ THREE SUITABLE BREEDS WERE FOUND ]> . . <[ CHOOSE YOUR RACE: ? [ Poisonous leech (variant) ] ? [ Barbarian Leech (variant) ] ? [ Evil leech ] ]> Zzz... Grup! What is...this...I''m so....tired....this is evolution...??? Do I have to choose??... But I''m so... tired... I''ll choose any... one... I choose the ... third ..... that seems to be ..... strong. Ding! <[" MALIGNANT BLEED CHOSEN "]> . <[" STARTING EVOLUTION "]> . . . . . <[" PROCESS EVOLUTION "]> . . Ding! . <[" RESURGENCE OF EXTINCT RACE CONFIRMED "]> . . Ding! . <[" INTERFERENCE FROM [ ] IDENTIFIED "]> . . <[" ANALYZING ..... "]> . . <[" COMPLETE ANALYSIS, INTERFERENCE PERMITTED "]> . . Ding! . <[" NEW SUCCESSFULLY CREATED MALIGN LEECH VARIANT "]> . . . <[" COMPLETED EVOLUTION "]> --------- The next day I woke up feeling great, I don''t think I ever slept so deeply on Earth, if not counting the fainting and coma that I suffered continuously. When I tried to get up I immediately realized I was taller, and I ran to the small pool of water and looked at my reflection, which had changed a little. To begin with, I had grown from three centimeters to thirteen centimeters in length, also my black eyes changed to a dark purple and a golden one, a beautiful pair of heterochromatic eyes, I also noticed that my whole light red body turned dark red, and I had the that looked like tribal tattoos of four different colors that are gold, purple, black and silver. After this change, I felt strong and wanted to look at my stats to see the changes, and as I opened it I heard several buzzing sounds. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You have successfully evolved into an extinct race ]> . . <[ You have become a never-before-seen variant of your race ]> . . <[ Your bloodline evolved into the superior bloodline [ Evil Leech ] ]> . . . <[ You learned the following skills: ? [Weak blood control: 1 ] ? [ Weak affinity with a curse: 1 ] ? [Aura of judgment: 1 ] ? [ Weak mana sense: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You have received the titles: ? [Last of your race] ? [First of its kind] ? [ He who brings chaos ] ]> . . <[ [ ] She is very satisfied with her rapid growth and adaptation and decided to give her the ability [ Evil leech pact ]. ]> "NAME: NONE BREED: Evil Leech (Variant) LEVEL: 5/5 > 1/10 EXP: 0/0 > 0/15 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Evil Leech: 100% ] HP: 9/9 > 20/20 Mp: 0/0 > 5/5 Stamina: 9/9 > 15/15 Strength: 6 > 11 Dexterity: 5 > 10 Agility: 6 > 12 Defense: 5 > 9 Intelligence: 7 > 16 Magic Defense: 0 > 2 Charm: -5 > 0 Luck: -13 > -20 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: [ ? ] [ ?? ] [world transgressor] [ Last of his kind ] [ First of his kind ] [ He who brings chaos ] " I got a big surprise, the increase in my physical stats was almost doubled, and finally, I have MP and can start learning magic. I seem to have acquired several titles as well, the title [Last of its kind] must mean I''m the only one in this world with this race, the title [First of its kind] must be because I''m a unique variant that never existed before me, and the title [He Who Brings Chaos] is a mystery to me. My lineage evolved with me, the breed I became has a very strange name and with a tone that makes it sound like I''m evil, it can get me into trouble. For some reason, my charm is no longer negative which makes me very happy, but my luck only got worse in compensation and now it''s negative, I''m almost crying because of it, I don''t even know what effect this horrible luck will have on my life. from now on. And it seems that whoever gave me this Blessing is watching me, and I don''t even know who or what it is, nor its intentions with all this, that worries me a lot. Looks like I gained a lot of skills too, but I''ll leave that for later, first I''ll eat my breakfast with the leech I dragged here yesterday. Nhac! Nhac! Nhac! -------- Now that I''m satisfied, I''ll first get used to moving and controlling this body before I see anything else, and for that, I''ll train for about an hour to learn how to use my new strength and speed for the next fights. Chapter 7: Exploration and hunting After an hour of training my body, I finally got a sense of my new strength, I tried to push a box that a child could carry, and I was able to push it with some effort, which means I must have the strength of a human child for the less, then the strength of an adult must be double my stats. I also tried to run, but I had to get used to dragging myself quickly as I don''t have any legs anymore, which took a while to get used to. After finishing the training I decided to explore, not the ruins that I found out to be a big temple complex, it doesn''t seem like there are any other creatures besides me here, for some reason they keep away from the ruins, so now I''m heading towards the forest to see if I can find another rabbit. But first, let me see my skills. <[ PASSIVE ABILITIES: [ Leech: 1 ] [ Leech Belly: 3 ] [ Weak Hunger Resistance: 1 ] [ Weak Paralysis Resistance: 1 ] [ Weak Blood Elemental Affinity: 1 ] [ Weak Mana Sense: 1 ] [ Weak affinity with curse: 1 ] ACTIVE SKILLS: [ Weak Leech Bite: 3 ] [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 2 ] [ Weak Blood Detection: 1 ] [ Swim: 1] [ Weak Blood Control: 1 ] [ Aura of Judgment: 1 ] UNIQUE SKILLS: [ ?? ] [ Chaotic Devourer ] BLESSINGS: [ ] ]> Before testing any of these new skills I must first look for something to eat, so when I''m tired I can recover, one of reasons I chose to hunt a Rabbit with a horn is that I want to test the skill [ Leech: 1 ] that I never managed to level up, the leeches I''ve killed so far didn''t have much blood in them, so I haven''t been able to level this skill so far. I''ll try to explore the forest just around the ruins and see if I can find a horned Rabbit to drink his blood. Deciding myself I start my journey of exploration leaving the ruins, passing through the puddles, and heading to the forest, but always keeping an eye on the sky, so as not to be eaten by a bird. Arriving in the forest I noticed a lot of tall grass and some animal tracks or I should say monsters, I can see various types of footprints on these tracks, hoof footprints, crossbow footprints of all sizes, and humanoid footprints. I''m going to avoid these trails until I''m strong enough, as all these footprints are big, even the Horned Rabbit I''m thinking about hunting is bigger than me. I will crawl with my head down in this undergrowth, as stealthily as possible, to avoid being found by a creature I am unable to defeat. Doing a quick scan around, I realized that I''m not the only one using the tall grass to hide. A green caterpillar appeared that was bigger than me, was about eight inches tall, it didn''t attack me when we met, it seemed to be watching me while it ate some plants, prepared to defend itself if needed. I decided to kill her to see if I can learn some skills from other races besides the leech. Without underestimating the caterpillar for its appearance, I try to pretend I''m gone and circle it through the bush, out of sight to its back, as soon as I''m in the position I catch myself biting and gripping the tip of its tail with my teeth as I use it four times. of weak paralyzing venom: 2 ], as soon as the paralysis takes effect, I go up to her neck and bite down, sucking all the blood dry. Glub! Glub! Ding! <[ You gained 1 EXP from killing silk caterpillar ]> The blood wasn''t as disgusting as the flesh and blood of the leeches I killed and ate yesterday, I''ve already started to get used to these things after everything I went through yesterday. After drinking all the blood, I ate various parts of the caterpillar''s body like the brain, heart, and organs that are softer and easier to swallow. Nhac! Nhac! Ding! <[ You have learned the following Silk Caterpillar skills: ? [ Line production: 1 ] ]> I just learned this skill, but how do I use it? I''m going to try to activate it and the moment I activate this ability, a line comes out of my mouth that gets tangled in the bush in front, when I get close I realize that these threads are strong and smooth, now I understand the name of the caterpillar having "silk" in the name, this thread looks like silk from my old world, but it seems more resistant, it ended up costing one STM per one meter of thread. I''ll test [Weak Mana Sense: 1] in the late afternoon when I''m back at base, now I''ll continue exploring. Continuing to explore I activated it every twenty minutes [ Poor blood detection: 1 ], and the third time I activated I felt the presence of blood four meters or so to my right, followed that direction carefully, and tried not to make any noise. When I arrived at the place that my skill pointed I saw a spider of a foot or so tall, black, and was eating a caterpillar just like the one I killed, the spider has legs that look like spears, and it had a jaw full of sharp teeth. Spiders are usually fast and have good reflexes, so I was as stealthy as I could, and I went towards her from behind, I positioned myself and when I was distracted I took a piece of the caterpillar off and I reached under it and used [Low bite from Leech: 3 ] on the underside of her barrel which is the softest part of the spider''s body, when she was stunned by the unexpected attack I used the ability to increase the size of the hole I made in her barrel a second time, and before that she managed to attack me her organs started to fall out of the big hole I made and she collapsed on the floor on top of me and died. Ding! <[ You gained 3 EXP from killing Little Spider ]> Then I started eating spider parts to get their abilities. Nhac! Nhac! Ding! <[ You have learned the following skills from Little Spider: ? [ Sticky line production: 1 ] ? [ Line control: 1 ] ]> It gave me good skills, I decided to test a little, as soon as I activated the skill [Production of sticky thread: 1 ] it came out of my mouth just like the skill I received from the previous caterpillar, the thread stuck to everything that touched and had the same cost of an STM as my other line skill. I tried to control the sticky thread this time with [ Thread control: 1 ], and I felt when activating the ability that energy was flowing from me to the thread I was producing, and suddenly I could control the sticky thread as if it were a part of me, but my control was raw like a newborn trying to learn to walk, I tested to see if the [ Line Production: 1 ] skill could also be controlled and it seems to work the same for all line skills. I decided to look at the stats to see my energy chaste. <[NAME: NONE BREED: Small Poisonous Leech (Variant) LEVEL: 1/10 EXP: 4/15 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Evil Leech: 100% ] HP: 20/20 MP: 3/5 Stamina: 10/15 Strength: 11 Dexterity: 10 Agility: 12 Defense: 9 Intelligence: 16 magic defense: 2 Charm: 0 Luck: -20 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: [ ? ] [ ?? ] [ World breaker ] [ Last of his kind ] [ First of his kind ] [ He who brings chaos ] ]> It seems that [Line control: 1 ] uses mana instead of STM as the lines, that is to say, the energy that I felt leaving my body and going through the lines was mana, I still remember the feeling of that energy and it goes to me. help train later. The spider gave me more EXP than this caterpillar, I think I will stop hunting caterpillars and I will try to hunt spiders until I find the Horned Rabbit. Resuming my exploration journey I went back to using [ Poor blood detection: 1 ] but twice and the second time it detected blood from two meters ahead, so I went there and I could see humanoid beings with big pointed ears, big nose, lots of warts, green skin and being between fifty to sixty centimeters tall, there were three of them and they wore ragged loincloths that barely covered them and one had a rusty sword and the other two had big thick branches that they must use as a club, this view is so classic and nostalgic that I can only call them Goblins. "Gi gi giiigi ggi." Gii gigigiii" When I saw them I hid quickly, by the way, they hold their weapons and imagining the weight they had to have I estimated that their strength is only a little stronger than mine, but in addition to being in greater numbers, the fact that they give arms and legs that they allow a greater range of movements than mine and also have weapons while I would have to attack with my teeth. I don''t need to be a genius to see that it would be a one-sided spanking followed by my death. I sneaked away from them before they noticed me, and went back to using my [ Poor blood detection: 1 ] twice more before detecting anything, what I found when I got two spiders were fighting a horned Rabbit that had a wounded hind leg and could not escape. Pow! While patiently waiting for an opportunity to attack I saw that the Horned Rabbit threw a load with his horn at a spider that died from the blow, but the other spider used a sticky web to bind its paws preventing it from moving. With the result of the fight already decided I move behind the spider as it goes towards the Rabbit, use it twice [ Sticky thread production: 1 ] and control them using twice as well [ Thread control: 1 ] and tie them all the spider''s folders, immobilizing it as it did the Rabbit. Wasting no time I go to the spider''s head and use [Leech Bite: 3] to finish it, and I go towards Rabbit, bite his injured leg, and start kicking and drinking all his blood. Chomp! Glub! Glub! Glub! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 3 EXP from killing Little Spider ]> . <[ You gained 4 EXP from killing Horned Rabbit ]> Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leech: 1 > 2 ] ]> Ding! <[ You learned the following skills from Horned Rabbit: ? [Weak body load: 1 ] ]> Ding! <[ You acquired the lineage [ Rabbit Horn: 10% ] ]> Chapter 8: Hunt Ding! <[ You acquired the lineage [ Rabbit Horn: 10% ] ]> There is????? Did I just get the Horned Rabbit Bloodline? Like? hmmm Does my unique ability [Chaotic Devourer] allow me to consume not only abilities but bloodlines as well? That''s the only explanation I can come up with at the moment. What effect will this bloodline have on me? Will I grow a horn or big ears? What will this bloodline do to my body? This strain seems to be at only 10% at the moment, it will probably only increase if I consume more Horned Rabbit blood, but I''m curious what will happen if I get to 100% of this strain. hmmm Why didn''t I acquire the strain of the caterpillar and the spider I ate? hmmm I know, they had little blood in their bodies, if I keep eating they''ll need eight or so to get the same result as Coelho. I''m going to eat these two spiders and take this Horned Rabbit to store at my base for later, he''s out of blood as I''ve drunk it all, so he won''t leave a trace as I drag him back. ---------- After two hours of traveling and dodging any creatures I encountered along the way, I finally arrived at the base and left Rabbit there. I looked at the sky and saw that the suns were at the highest point in the sky, this tells me it''s still midday, as it''s still early, I decided to go back to the forest and continue leveling. On the way back a bird tried to catch me from the sky, but at the time I used [ Sticky Line Production: 1 ] and stuck its paws so it wouldn''t catch me, it scared the bird that fled away, and I started on my way. into the forest. As soon as I arrived in the forest I started exploring areas that I haven''t explored yet while I continue to hunt, I stopped using my detection skill to not spend too much STM which was now in six. It took me more than an hour to find another creature, a spider-like the previous ones, but she noticed me and came towards me, as soon as she opened her mouth she knew what she was going to do, she was going to use her web to trap me, so I dodged while used [ Sticky Line Production: 1 ] to shoot in his mouth to prevent another attack, then I used another [ Sticky Line Production: 1 ] to tie the legs to one side of the body, so I checked close to his head and used [ Bite Leech''s weak: 3 ] to finish. Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 3 EXP from killing Little Spider ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low Leech Bite: 3 > 4 ] ]> ha ha ha Evolved again, I''m getting stronger with every fight. I have to start thinking about a way to train the skills that are at level one yet. After eating the spider and not gaining any skills I head towards a hole in a tree to rest for a few minutes. After thirty minutes of rest, my STM reached eight, but for some reason, my Mana hasn''t been recovering since the fight with the spiders and Coelho, it seems that Mana doesn''t recover the same way as the STM. hmmm If I think about the games from my old world, some portrayed mages recovering Mana with potions and meditation, it doesn''t hurt to try, after all, I have a skill for that that I can level by doing this, it''s passive so it will take effect if I start meditating. I stood still and started to blank my mind, calm my emotions and synchronize my breathing and heartbeat, I felt it was faster and easier to meditate, and I felt like some kind of energy was filling me, the effect of the skill [ Meditation: 1 ] must be the cause of this. A few minutes later I stopped the meditation because I felt this energy that filled me was full, right after checking my status I could see that my Mana and MTS were full, but I was getting hungry. With that resolved, I resumed my hunt, I was looking for more than two hours this time until I found a Horned Rabbit he was eating a spider, but he was still aware of his surroundings. I tried to come up with some quick plan, in the end, I ended up following the same thing as always, I hid furtively and went behind Rabbit''s back, but he noticed me and attacked me with his horn, I managed to graze me but he bit me at that moment and I bit his eye and I used the skill [ Weak paralyzing poison secretion: 2 ] I used it five times in a row and the Rabbit in pain because of the eye he was clinging to clenched the teeth that were biting me almost splitting me in half, even though he was almost fainting in pain, I held myself tightly to his eye and used the same skill three more times until he could no longer move. I was still in a very bad situation, I let go of the Rabbit''s mouth fangs and used the skill [Weak Recovery: 1 ] twice to stop the bleeding and close the wound, then I went towards the Horned Rabbit and sank my teeth into his. neck and drank your blood. Glub! Glub! Glub! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 4 EXP from killing Horned Rabbit ]> . . <[ You learned the following skills from Horned Rabbit: ? [ Jump: 1 ] ]> . . <[ His bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Horned Rabbit: 10% > 20% ] ]> Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 2 > 3 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Resistance to Physical Damage: 1 > 2 ] ]> I''m going to use it one more time [Poor recovery: 1 ], now I go to Rabbit and eat as much meat as I can and hide in a hole under a tree, and there I check my status. <[NAME: NONE BREED: Evil Leech (Variant) LEVEL: 1/10 EXP: 14/15 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Evil Leech: 100% ] [ Horned Rabbit: 20% ] HP: 5/20 MP: 5/5 Stamina: 1/15 Strength: 11 Dexterity: 10 Agility: 12 Defense: 9 Intelligence: 16 magic defense: 2 Charm: 0 Luck: -20 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: [ ? ] [ ?? ] [ World breaker ] [ Last of his kind ] [ First of his kind ] [ He who brings chaos ] ]> My HP reached five, this was very dangerous, for my STM to reach this value the recovery skill cost must be two STM. After checking the status I turn my attention to what I have to do now, I will start my meditation. --------- Almost an hour later I had full stamina again and used the skill [Weak Recovery: 1 ] five more times until my wound started to heal and my HP was back to ten, as soon as I finished doing that I went back out and went to the Rabbit''s corpse and ate more, then went back to the hole under the tree to meditate one more time. Ding! <[ Your skill has leveled up [Weak Recovery: 1 > 2 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Meditation: 1 > 2 ] ]> After twenty minutes I heard a noise outside and looked, a wolf with dark gray fur was eating the Rabbit I killed, I had to wait for him to finish eating to go away. On the way back I found a red snake with purple stripes forty-five centimeters long, it was wounded, from what looked like claws, must be from the wolf that ate my Rabbit, it must have been chasing this snake and saw my Rabbit, which was already dead, with no other creatures around, and found it easier than continuing to hunt that snake. Wondering what might have happened to the snake, I started pinning its head and tail to the tree it''s leaning against, then I went to it and bit its deepest wound and used it [Weak venom secretion: 1 ] eight times until it died. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 8 EXP from killing Flame Snake ]> . . <[ You have leveled up ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Poison Secretion: 1 > 2 ] ]> Looks like my skill leveling plan worked, and now I''m going to drink your blood. Glub! Glub! Glub! Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low Poison Resistance: 1 > 2 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leech Belly: 3 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ You have acquired the lineage [ Flaming Snake: 15% ] ]> . . <[ You have learned the following Flaming Snake skills: ? [ Puff of weak fire: 1 ] ? [ Acid poison spit: 1 ] ]> I gained good skills, now I''m going to drag it to my base, and after an hour of dragging this Cobra to my base I left it with what was left of the Horned Rabbit from earlier and I''m going to meditate to integrate my new level. After 25 minutes of meditation, I felt refreshed, which let me see my current status and abilities. <[NAME: NONE BREED: Evil Leech (Variant) LEVEL: 1/10 > 2/10 EXP: 22/15 > 7/18 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Evil Leech: 100% ] [ Rabbit Horn: 20% ] [ Flaming Snake: 15% ] HP: 17/20 > 17/22 Mp: 5/5 > 7/7 Stamina: 15/15 > 16/16 Strength: 11 > 13 Dexterity: 10 > 11 Agility: 12 > 14 Defense: 9 > 10 Intelligence: 16 > 19 Magic defense: 2 > 4 Charm: 0 Luck: -20 CONDITION: [Injured] TITLES: [ ? ] [ ?? ] [ World breaker ] [ Last of his kind ] [ First of his kind ] [ He who brings chaos ] " " PASSIVE SKILLS: [ Leech: 2 ] [ Leech Belly: 4 ] [ Weak Starvation Resistance: 1 ] [ Weak Resistance to Paralysis: 1 ] [ Weak Resistance to Poisoning: 2 ] [ Weak Resistance to Physical Damage: 2 ] [ Weak blood elemental affinity: 1 ] [ Weak mana sense: 1 ] [ Weak affinity with curse: 1 ] [ Meditation: 2 ] ACTIVE SKILLS: [ Weak Leech Bite: 4 ] [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 3 ] [ Weak Blood Detection: 1 ] [ Swim: 1] [ Weak Poison Secretion: 1 ] [ Weak Blood Control: 1 ] [ Aura of Judgment : 1 ] [Weak Recovery: 2 ] [ Line Production: 1 ] [ Sticky Line Production: 1 ] [ Line Control: 1 ] [ Weak Body Load: 1 ] [ Jump: 1 ] [ Light Fire Puff: 1 ] [ Spit of acid poison: 1 ] UNIQUE SKILLS: [ ?? ] [ Chaotic Devourer ] BLESSINGS: [ ] " Chapter 9: Training You can see that compared to before, where all my stats grew by one point per level, now some grow by two points or in the case of Intelligence that has grown by three points. This must mean that my race is better for magic than physical damage, the problem is that most of my abilities are physical or use STM, so my race may not be proficient. I need to train my magic somehow, I know how to train [ Line control: 1 ] that I only need to keep controlling one of my line skills and that should be enough to level both skills at the same time. Since I came up with this training plan, I start training this one and I leave other skills for later. I spend twenty minutes using [ Sticky Thread Production: 1 ] and controlling with [ Thread Control: 1 ], until my mana goes to zero after five uses, and this plan has already started to show its results. Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Sticky Line Production: 1 > 2] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Line control: 1 >2 ] ]> After I ate a few bites from the Horned Rabbit I went back to meditating for fifteen minutes, and after finishing the first cycle of training, I went back to the beginning of the second cycle by repeating the training. At the end of the third cycle, after forty minutes, I did it again. Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Sticky Line Production: 2 > 3] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Line control: 2 > 3 ] ]> Each skill level not only makes the skill stronger and faster but also increases your control and accuracy with it. Maybe I only realized this because I''m leveling my skills quickly, but this is very important knowledge for me. Now I''m going to swap the [ Sticky Thread Production: 1 ] skill with the [ Thread Production: 1 ] skill and start skill leveling again at the same time as I build a comfortable bed. After one cycle the skill [ Line Production: 1 ] went to level 2, continuing with three more cycles I managed to level both. Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Line Production: 2 > 3] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Line control: 3 > 4 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Meditation: 2 > 3 ] ]> Now I rest a little, I can even recover physically eating and magically meditating, but mental fatigue is killing me, by the end of this training I had already eaten all the Horned Rabbit. While resting I went to lie down on my new big soft bed, I got lost in my thoughts looking up at the starry sky through the hole in the ceiling of my base. It was a beautiful starry sky, with no city full of light to stop me from seeing this sky I could see that this is my first time in two lives that I can see a starry sky. After not knowing how much time I was wasted looking at the sky, I went back to training, what I chose to train now was the skill [Weak sense mana: 1 ], to be able to train this skill I thought all I needed was to meditate, but instead, to focus on myself I had to focus on what was around me. Every time I was meditating to regain Mana I noticed that I was absorbing it, as well as absorbing energy from food that I like to replenish STM, I have been absorbing the Mana around me to regain MP. Meditation probably only speeds up the individual''s natural energy absorption process, both being faster recovering MP or STM. I only realized this because I was always meditating and eating, the amount of food I eat increased a lot after I started meditating. Stilling my thoughts, I start to meditate once more, but this time instead of focusing my senses inward, I try to focus on him around me. I keep my eyes closed and try to feel this energy that I''ve been absorbing around me, after a lot of concentration and focus without knowing how much time has passed, I start to feel this energy, it''s all around me, it felt like an almost imperceptible light breeze, I concentrated all of my focus on her to not lose that feeling. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak mana sense: 1 > 2 ] ]> I continued to feel this invisible and ethereal energy, realized that it was endless and encompassed my whole body as well as my surroundings like the air, always there more imperceptible, and my body absorbs it the same way breathe. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak mana sense: 2 > 3 ] ]> I started to feel my mind heavier, and it was getting hard to concentrate, I decided to interrupt the training, as soon as I stopped meditating I realized how mentally exhausted I was, I went to the snake and ate a quarter of its body and then went to drink water in a puddle when I go to bed, I notice the light coming from the ceiling, look up and see two moons, one with a silvery glow and the other with a bluish glow. It was beautiful these twin moons in this vast starry sky, feeling a little more relaxed after this amazing view, I go to sleep. zzzzzz -------- Hmm It seems I slept a lot, the suns were already at the highest point in the sky, I got up from my bed and went to drink water and finish eating the rest of the Flame Snake. Ding! <[ You have learned the following Flaming Snake skills: ? [ Poor fire resistance: 1 ] ? [ Snake scale production: 1] ]> I started the day well, leaving my base and the ruins, upon reaching the puddles of red water where I was born, I enter and bathe to try to get rid of all the blood and goo that was stuck in these two days of fights. After the bath I go to the forest to continue the exploration and hunting, I have to stock up on food again, there is nothing left in my base. I went back to using [ Poor Blood Detection: 1 ] to find wounded monsters or fights to take advantage of the situation, and after using it three times ten minutes apart on each use, I find a reaction to the left four and a half meters from me, and I go carefully there. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Poor blood detection: 1 > 2 ] ]> When I get there I see two Slimes fighting a Goblin, the result seemed obvious to see, the Goblin has a corroded arm that you can even see the bones, and several corroded wounds were bleeding, it wasn''t long before he died. I thought about what to do, the Goblin hits didn''t seem to have much effect on the Slimes, so if I want to beat them I''ll have to use magic, I think the only magical ability I have should be [Light Fire Puff: 1], but still not tested. I don''t have time right now and I won''t miss this opportunity. Thud! Sssss! Ahhhh! As soon as I saw a Slime land an acid body blow on the Goblin''s leg, making it impossible for him to get away I jumped into action. I used the ability [ Jump: 1 ] to jump from the bush as fast as possible to one of the Slimes and activated the ability [ Low Fire Breath: 1 ] opening my mouth towards him and releasing a flame that reached up to fifty centimeters to in front of me and nailed the slime. One attack didn''t seem like enough, so I attacked a second time with [Low Fire Puff: 1] and it crumbled into a pot of goo with a spherical core inside. Ding! <[ You gained 5 EXP from killing Slime ]> Then I turned to the other one who was still attacking the Goblin, I had to get close to him and as soon as I was close enough he tried to attack me, I was expecting it and I dodged rolling to the side and raised my head using [ Puff of fire weak: 1 ] where it was before, the second slime died with a single hit this time. Ding! <[ You gained 5 EXP from killing Slime ]> As soon as I was done with the two Slimes I turned to the Goblin who was looking at me angrily and trying to reach me to attack, so I used [ Sticky Line Production: 1 ] to trap him, I walked over and bit his neck and used [ Poison secretion weak: 1 ] four times until he died. Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 7 EXP from killing Goblin ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Poison Secretion: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ You have leveled up ]> That should be enough, before eating the Goblin, I go towards the Slimes, when I get to the first one I try to drink that goo that makes up your body, it was disgusting and horrible but I continued after I went and ate the second one too. Glub! Glub! Glub! Ding! <[ You learned the following skills from Slime: ? [Body manipulation: 1 ] ? [Corrosion: 1] Those are good skills, now I''m going to take care of the Goblin, I go to his corpse and bite his neck, start drinking all his blood. Glub! Glub! Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leech: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ You learned the following skills from Goblin ]> ? [ Goblin Language: 1 ] ]> . . <[ You have acquired the lineage [ Goblin: 17% ] ]> Chapter 10: First subordinate After drinking Goblin''s blood to make sure the smell of blood wouldn''t attract more predators, I saw that I had learned a skill called [ Goblin Language: 1 ], which means I can learn the language of this world by eating the beings that use them. ? Languages ??are treated as a skill in this world, why? I have no idea how to answer this now and I don''t care either, the important thing is that after three days I finally have a chance to talk to someone, even if it''s a Goblin. I''m going to take this Goblin corpse to my base first, it''s going to take a while and I''m going to have to put in a lot of effort for it, but I have enough STM for that and I''m not far from the ruins. --------- After an hour of dragging this body, I arrive at the base and leave it there, then head back to the forest to hunt, I would like to find a group of Goblins so I can see how much this language skill allows me to understand their words. Goblins seem pretty wild and irrational, but if I can find a smarter, more docile Goblin I can try to get along with him. When I saw the wolf pack the days before, I didn''t realize it right away, but the leader had an invisible pressure around him, a kind of aura, that must be why he''s the alpha of his pack. After my evolution I got an aura skill that I didn''t test called [ Aura of judgment: 1 ], I don''t know its effect but it doesn''t hurt to try. As soon as I got to the forest I went back to exploring, I still have ten STM, so I''ll try to catch one more prey before meditating to recover my STM and MP. After a few minutes, I found another Chifruit Rabbit, this time I tried to use the skill [ Poison Spit: 1 ], managed to use it twice before the first hit, and then I jumped using [ Jump: 1 ] to get close quickly. As soon as I get close I realize that the poison must be taking effect, as the Rabbit is screaming in pain, while he is distracted by the pain I use it twice more [ Poison spit: 1 ] aiming at his head. When I spit the poison in his head the first hit his mouth that was open screaming the second hit one of his eyes, after that he fell and started breathing heavily for a few seconds before dying. Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 4 EXP from killing Horned Rabbit ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Poison spit: 1 > 2 ] ]> Then I went to him and bit his neck and drank all of his blood, before eating his flesh and going to meditate in some secluded place like the hollow log beside him. Glub! Glub! Glub! Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low Poison Resistance: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ His bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Horned Rabbit: 20% > 30% ] ]> Now I will meditate to integrate my level and recover my energies. As soon as I finish meditating after twenty minutes I will check my status. <[ NAME: NONE BREED: Evil Leech (Variant) LEVEL: 2/10 > 3/10 EXP: 28/18 > 10/20 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Evil Leech: 100% ] [ Rabbit Horn: 30% ] [ Flaming Snake: 15% ] [ Goblin: 17% ] HP: 17/22 > 22/24 Mp: 7/7 > 9/9 Stamina: 16/16 > 17/17 Strength: 13 > 15 Dexterity: 11 > 12 Agility: 14 > 16 Defense: 10 > 11 Intelligence: 19 > 22 Magic defense: 4 > 6 Charm: 0 Luck: -20 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: [ ? ] [ ?? ] [ World breaker ] [ Last of his kind ] [ First of his kind ] [ He who brings chaos ] ]> When I''ve just checked my new strength I go back to get the Goblins, after an hour of searching I finally hear a scream and head in that direction. I saw the same Goblin with the rusty sword and a Goblin that looked like a female. The Goblin with the rusty sword was beating the female until she couldn''t get up, then stopped before he killed her and started to say something in her language. "Gigi gi bait." (Male Goblin) "bait gi gig gii stopped" (male goblin) "gi gii hurts"(female goblin) Seeing this scene made me sick, it doesn''t matter if it was a monster, you don''t do that to anyone without a valid reason. In my fury I''ve already decided what I''m going to do now, without wasting time use [ Jump: 1 ] and I jump at the point on the male Goblin''s back which is hard to reach with my hands, as soon as I hit the male Goblin I lock my teeth in his back and use [ Weak Poison Secretion: 2 ], he got desperate but couldn''t reach me, I managed to use the skill five times before he fell to the ground gasping, so I use the skill [ Weak Poison Secretion: 2 ] twice more until that he finally died. Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 7 EXP from killing Goblin ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Poison Secretion: 2 > 3 ] ]> After finishing this monster I go to the female Goblin and see that she is very different from the other Goblins I have seen so far. She was bald like all the other Goblins but had no wrinkles, her teeth were a bit smaller than the males and her skin was pale green and her features on her face were that of an innocent child, but I could see in her eyes a gleam of intelligence I have not seen in any other Goblin, his clothing a piece of rag that covered his smooth chest and lower body. Seeing me approach I could see fear in her black eyes, without waiting any longer I activate the ability [Aura of judgment: 1]. --------- Female Goblin Pov: I was sitting battered as usual, unlike others of my kind I was a little smarter but my body was weak. I wasn''t the only female, but males abused me more because my body was weak, other females didn''t care, violence was always present and they even despised me and didn''t want any mating relationship with me, they prefer females human beings they captured. Today one of the Goblins that was born dozens of days ago along with me used a sword and dragged me by the neck into the forest far from our cave. When we got far he hit me until I couldn''t move anymore as he laughed and enjoyed my misery. "You be bait, you attract prey" "Useful bait to stay still" "Stop, it hurts, it hurts" My whining only amused him more, but before he continued to hurt me I saw a red dot come out of the bushes and jump on his back, then he started screaming. His screams made me happy, but as soon as he fell I saw a red Leech on his back, she kept biting him until he stopped screaming and then came towards me. She had many marks on her body of various colors, I saw in her eyes of different colors intelligence that I didn''t see in anyone but the Hobgoblins. I was scared when he got too close to me, I thought he was going to kill me too, but suddenly I felt a great pressure, not in my body, but inside me, the Leech stopped and stared at me, it was as if it was waiting. I felt as if I was being judged on whether I am an enemy or an ally of this strange being, I felt an impulse inside me to kneel down and with a lot of effort I did it, lifted my wounded and aching body a little and knelt. And a word I have never heard before and its meaning popped into my head "master", that being was my master. "Master" As soon as I spoke the pressure disappeared, in its place a feeling that I was safe took place, I found a place I never had, a place for me. He asks to feel that his judgment on me is over and in his place, a bond has formed between us. Ding! <[ Do you accept to become a subordinate of Diabolic Leech? ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> I swear to stay by the master''s side, yes. -------- Pov Mc: When I activated the ability [Aura of judgment: 1 ] I felt almost all my Mana leave my body and float within a radius of one meter from me where the female Goblin was included, after a few seconds I saw that the fear she felt for me yes, she tried very hard and stopped with both knees on the floor and spoke. "Master" As soon as I uttered that word the Mana that came out of me and floated around us stopped and started to focus inside her, I could see that all her wounds had healed and that a big smile appeared on her face that was filled with tears. Ding! <[ Female goblin decided to become his subordinate ]> . <[ Subordinates 1/5 ]> . . <[ Group System Unlocked ]> Ding! <[ You have learned the following skills: ? [ Reinforce weak subordinates: 1 ] ]> <[ Group Name: None Number of members: 2/7 Leader: Diabolic Leech Membership Status: { Goblin (Subordinate) Gender: Woman Level: 1/15 Exp: 5/10 HP: 15/15 MP: 10/10 STM: 15/15 } ]> Huh? Group System? Did she become my subordinate? What is this all about? It seems my aura made her my subordinate and healed her with the MP that left my body. About the skill [Reinforce Weak Subordinates: 1] I must have learned by winning a subordinate. And finally, this group system feels like the one in games where you can see your teammate''s life and energy. Now it seems I can only have up to five subordinates, the question is, what am I going to do with the one I already have. Chapter 11: First conversation and Group I have to take her to my base and talk to her to level up my language skills and get more information about the forest. But how am I going to talk to her? My throat cannot produce the sounds I need to speak. Hmmmmm... I already know what to do, I have the Slime skill [Body manipulation: 1 ], if I use it to change my vocal cords then I should be able to talk to her, I learned medicine and biology both human and animal and even participated in forums that discussed about mythical monster biology and games in my time, in my old world, I''m sure I can find the right vocal chord setup to talk, the real problem will be a pain, if I''m right the slimes don''t have muscles and nerves in the body so they don''t feel pain from using this skill, but I do, so this skill will reorganize my body at will by moving my flesh, muscles, nerves, and organs by force, which will cause me a lot of pain. I will have to bear this pain and keep myself focused, not to lose control of the skill, it should work the same way as [ Line control: 4 ], but instead of a line, it will be my body being controlled by force by me. Without wasting time I activate [ Body manipulation: 1 ], feel my mana go through my body and a silhouette of me appears in my mind and it becomes more and more realistic until it is a 3D copy of me that I can mold as I want. I start trying to visualize the vocal cords seeing as they are, I focus my mind and try to mold it to what I need, at this moment I feel a lot of pain in my neck and I started to writhe in pain but I continue with the process, it feels like someone is tearing and kneading my throat like plasticine. After what seemed like an eternity was done, I see that it''s only been a few minutes since the Suns are almost in the same position, my new subordinate seems to look at me with concern for what she''s just seen. "No,....worry" (me) It seems to be working fine, my voice is a little high but that doesn''t matter, my subordinate was surprised that I could speak her language, I''ll have her follow me to base. But first I go to the Goblin corpse and drink all her blood and then talk to my new subordinate. Ding! Ding! <[ You have learned the following skills from Goblin: ? [ Improved sexual stamina: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Goblin: 17% > 36% ] ]> "Follow" (me) "Gi gii" (Subordinate Goblin) She nods and follows me, I grab the male Goblin''s body and slowly drag him to the base while my subordinate follows me without speaking. Upon reaching the ruins she seems to be afraid to approach, she has started to shake a little but is still following me. When I finally reach my temporary base, I drop the corpse in a corner along with the one I picked up earlier. My subordinate didn''t seem to mind her other race corpse, she seems more curious about my webbed. "Sit"(me) "Yes gigi giii master" (subordinate Goblin) I asked her to sit down and I go to my bed and I lie there looking at her, I think about what to do now and go down to rest for the rest of the day, I will stay at the base and talk to my subordinate to try to raise my skill level [ Language Goblin: 1 ] and at the same time get more information. "Speak... the forest..."(me) "Giii gig forest gigi lar"(Goblin subordinate) --------- After a few minutes of listening and sometimes asking her to repeat. Ding! <[Her skill leveled up [Goblin Language: 1> 2]]> ---------- After an hour of talking to her. Ding! <[Her skill leveled up [Goblin Language: 2> 3]]> ---------- I kept asking her to talk about various things like the forest, the ruins, and the mountains for two or three hours until the skill level increased. Ding! <[Her skill leveled up [Goblin Language: 3> 4]]> Now, being able to understand her better and maintain a certain level of conversation, I can relax this practice a little and let the skill level increase for the day by talking normally with her. "Are you.... hungry?"(me) "Yes" (Goblin subordinate) "Not like gi gigigi gii morning"(Goblin subordinate) "You can eat... their meat" (me) "But the master''s giii giii gig" (Subordinate Goblin) "You can eat" (me) "..."(Subordinate Goblin) She thought for a moment, but she didn''t look disgusted eating her species meat, she looked surprised that I shared my food with her. She went to the Goblin corpse that was hurting her today and started eating her face, with a smile full of cruelty. She seems to have a dark and vindictive side, so I go to the same Goblin and start eating her meat too. Ding! <[Her skill leveled up [Leech Belly: 4> 5]]> . <[Her skill leveled up [Weak Resistance to Poisoning: 3> 4]]> I forgot that I had poisoned him, but it looks like she isn''t poisoned, she must have the resistance skill too. After I finish eating I''m going to practice making a bed for my subordinate just like mine. --------- Ding! Ding! Ding! <[Her skill leveled up [Line Production: 3> 4]]> . <[Her skill leveled up [Sticky Line Production: 3> 4]]> . <[Her skill leveled up [Line control: 4> 5]]> My subordinate was surprised by my skill and saw that I was building a nest for her similar to mine. "Thank you, gii master" (Goblin subordinate) She started crying again, I went to eat some more Goblin meat and went to meditate to regain my energy before training my skill [Weak mana sense: 3]. -------- After fifteen minutes of meditation to recover my energy and a few hours of meditation training with [ Weak sense mana: 3 ], I get exhausted and go to sleep. Ding! <[Her skill leveled up [Weak mana sense: 3> 4]> --------- The next day I woke up in the morning and my subordinate was already awake. "Good morning" (me) "Good master gigii" (Subordinate Goblin) I drank some water in the puddle and went to eat some meat, now there''s only one Goblin left to eat at night, it should be enough, I''m going hunting to test some things about the group system. "Take .... sword" (me) "Yes gigg" (Goblin subordinate) "Follow... hunt" (me) I spoke to my subordinate to bring the short rusty sword I made her bring yesterday and went hunting with her. There were some things I would like to confirm about the Group system, such as sharing experience, knowing the direction of the group members, etc. As we left the base, we went to some areas that I had already explored, in the forest in front of the red water puddles where I was born. As I was fine I used the skill [ Poor blood detection: 2 ] every ten minutes and managed to detect something after the fourth attempt. When we reached the destination I saw two Horned Rabbits mating, without wasting any time I used [ Sticky thread production: 4 ] and [ Thread control: 5 ] to trap the two rabbits, making it impossible for them to move. "Kill one" (me) "Yes master gigii" (Goblin subordinate) She took the sword and raised it and brought the sword down on the head of the rabbit above it. Ding! <[ You gained 2 EXP for killing Horned Rabbit by Party member ]> "Kick ... another" (me) After that, I go to the other Horned Rabbit and ask my subordinate to kick him, and I bite him and use [Weak Poison Secretion: 3] twice until he dies of poison. Ding! <[ You gained 4 EXP from killing Horned Rabbit ]> . <[ party member gains 2 EXP for killing Horned Rabbit ]> . . <[ You have leveled up ]> It seems that EXP sharing works with the one who deals the finishing blow getting all the EXP and the others in the party get half the experience value. I''m going to drink all the blood from the rabbits. Glub! Glub! Glub! Ding! Ding! <[ You learned the following skills from Horned Rabbit: ? [ Weak body reinforcement (legs): 1 ] ]> . . <[ His bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Horned Rabbit: 30% > 50% ] ]> After drinking all this blood I asked my subordinate to take the two rabbits to the base and wait for me there since we are still close to the ruins, in the meantime I went hunting. After about twenty minutes I found a spider eating a Horned Rabbit, used [ Jump: 1 ] to quickly get over its head, and then used it twice [ Low Leech Bite: 4 ] to bite its head. Ding! <[ You gained 3 EXP from killing Little Spider ]> It seems that party members only gain EXP if they participate in the fight, just like me who webbed the Rabbits or when my subordinate kicked the Rabbit. Let me see what my subordinate''s condition is after the previous fight. <[ Status of group members: { Goblin (Subordinate) Gender: Woman Level: 1/15 (2/15) Exp: 10/11 HP: 15/15 MP: 10/10 STM: 15/15 } ]> It''s time for her to level up. Chapter 12: Rushing the training As soon as I got back to base I found my subordinate lying on my bed sleeping comfortably. "Wake up" (I) "GIIGI GI" (Subordinate Goblin) She was startled by my scream for the visa, as soon as she saw me she was embarrassed for being caught. "Sorry gi gi iig master" (Subordinate Goblin) "Smell gii master soothing gig igi sono" (Subordinate Goblin) "No... problem" (me) "Do youknow aboutmonsters?" (me) "Yes gii master" (Goblin subordinate) "Many gii gi forest gi strong gi monsters iig gig far away ruins" (Subordinate Goblin) "Smart Giigig igigii strong gi monsters" (Subordinate Goblin) "(Do strong and intelligent monsters stay away from the ruins? Why ?)" (me) "Why?" (me) "Ruins gigii gi danger gii" (Subordinate Goblin) "(Are the ruins dangerous? I must speed up my training to evolve as quickly as possible, I must make my subordinate evolve too, so let''s move to a base farther away from the ruins.)" (Me) Hmmm With that decided I don''t have time to waste, I meditate a little and I''ll hunt to raise our level as soon as possible. -------- After a few minutes of meditating to integrate my level, I had my subordinate accompany me on the hunt and bring her rusty sword for her to use. -------- After hours of hunting in areas I had already hunted, I returned to base along with my subordinate who was completely exhausted. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! ..... <[ You gained 20 EXP from killing four Horned Rabbits ]> . <[ Party member gains 10 EXP for Horned Rabbit kills ]> . . <[ You gained 9 EXP from killing three Little Spiders ]> . <[ Party member gains 4 EXP for Small Spider kills ]> . . <[ You gained 10 EXP from killing two Slimes ]> . <[ Party member gains 5 EXP for killing Slime ]> . . . <[ You learned the following skills from Horned Rabbit: ? [ Improved hearing: 1 ] ]> . . <[ You have learned the following skills from Little Spider: ? [ Weak body reinforcement (exoskeleton): 1 ] ]> . <[ You learned the following skills from Slime: ? [ Detect weak presence: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ His bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Horned Rabbit: 50% > 92% ] ]> . . <[ You have acquired the lineage [ Little Spider: 8% ] ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> The day was very productive and I got some good skills and a lot of EXP, I made sure to give the last blow to all the monsters we killed today to be able to evolve soon. I managed to improve the Horned Rabbit bloodline and managed to acquire the Little Spider bloodline, but I also managed to level up these skills. Ding! Ding!.... <[ Your skill leveled up [ Goblin Language: 4 > 5 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leech Belly: 5 > 6 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak resistance to paralysis: 1 > 2 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak resistance to paralysis: 2 > 3 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Resistance to Physical Damage: 2 > 3 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low Leech Bite: 4 > 5 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 3 > 4 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [Weak Recovery: 2 > 3 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Line Production: 4 > 5 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Sticky Line Production: 4 > 5 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Jump: 1 > 2 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Jump: 2 > 3 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low Fire Breath: 1 > 2 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low Fire Breath: 2 > 3 ] ]> I used various skills to be able to increase your levels more efficiently. But I took a lot of risks today, the two Slimes I found at the same time almost killed me as only one of my skills worked with them, I had to protect my subordinate who wasn''t going to be of help in this fight and I ended up taking a blow instead, after that fight we went back to base. The fights against the spiders were not difficult, as I could trap them with the webs and then kill them with ease, the same as with Horned Rabbits. I made my subordinate make cuts or hit monsters before killing so she also gets EXP, now both she and I get enough EXP to level up. When I was injured after the Slimes fight I couldn''t move, but my subordinate carried me all the way running to the base which allowed me to rest and use [Weak Recovery: 3 ] to recover some of my more serious injuries. After being left in my bed she lay down beside me and fell asleep hugging me and crying, I think I worried her a lot. My language skill leveled up trying to talk to my subordinate between hunts, it made me understand that in her old house she was constantly treated badly by the other Goblins for being weaker physically, so she was glad I wanted her as subordinate, after all, I was the first to extend a hand to her. I decided not to train [Weak mana sense: 4] tonight and go to bed early. But first I went to meditate a bit to integrate my new level and check my status and abilities. <[ NAME: NONE BREED: Evil Leech (Variant) LEVEL: 4/10 > 5/10 EXP: 37/23 > 14/27 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Evil Leech: 100% ] [ Horned Rabbit: 92% ] [ Flaming Snake: 15% ] [ Goblin: 36% ] [ Little Spider: 8% ] HP: 5/26 > 7/28 MP: 11/3 > 13/13 Stamina: 2/18 > 10/19 Strength: 17 > 19 Dexterity: 13 > 14 Agility: 18 > 20 Defense: 12 > 13 Intelligence: 25 > 28 Magic defense: 8 > 10 Charm: 0 Luck: -20 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: [ ? ] [ ?? ] [ World breaker ] [ Last of his kind ] [ First of his kind ] [ He who brings chaos ] ]> <[ PASSIVE SKILLS: [ Leech: 2 ] [ Leech Belly: 6 ] [ Weak Hunger Resistance: 1 ] [ Weak Resistance to Paralysis: 3 ] [ Weak Resistance to Poisoning: 4 ] [ Weak Resistance to Physical Damage: 3 ] [ Weak Blood Elemental Affinity: 1 ] [ Weak Mana Sense: 4 ] [ Weak Affinity with Curse: 1 ] [ Meditation: 3 ] [ Weak Fire Resistance: 1 ] [ Goblin Language: 5 ] [ Reinforce weak underlings: 1 ] [ Improved Sexual Stamina: 1 ] [ Weak Body Strength (Legs): 1 ] [ Improved Hearing: 1 ] [ Weak Body Strength (Exoskeleton): 1 ] ACTIVE SKILLS: [ Weak Leech Bite: 5 ] [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 4 ] [ Weak Blood Detection: 2 ] [ Swim: 1 ] [ Weak Poison Secretion: 3 ] [ Weak Blood Control: 1 ] [ Aura of Judgment : 1 ] [ Weak Recovery: 3 ] [ Line Production: 5 ] [ Sticky Line Production: 5 ] [ Line Control: 5 ] [ Weak Body Charge: 1 ] [ Jump: 3 ] [ Light Fire Puff: 3 ] [ Poison Spit: 2 ] [ Snake Scale Production: 1] [ Snake Scale Production: 1 ] [ Body Manipulation: 1 ] [ Corrosion: 1 ] [ Detect Weak Presence: 1 ] UNIQUE SKILLS: [ ?? ] [ Chaotic Devourer ] BLESSINGS: [ ] ]> My growth in strength is going well, but I must be more cautious with the risks I''m taking, when my subordinate said that other smarter monsters consider the ruins dangerous I lost my temper and despaired which made me take a lot of risks today. I have to remind myself that this is not a game, this world is my world now, where I was born, and where I will grow up. The statuses and systems of this world are not giving me power, all beings can see their status according to their subordinate, and all status does is translate in a way that makes one understand their power and the state of theirs. body. (I have to start planning better for tomorrow, I''m not alone now and my decisions didn''t just affect me.) (Me) I will use [Poor Recovery: 3 ] a few times and go to sleep, tomorrow I will think about what to do, I am full of pain all over my body and mentally exhausted. zzzzz ---------- The next day I woke up early and got up, went to drink some water, and eat some meat. These monsters won''t give me any abilities anymore, I have to start hunting Goblins or wolves. As I weigh this I turn to my subordinate and see her sleeping peacefully, but I have to wake her up, we don''t have time, if the ruins are dangerous we have to get strong and get out of here, but this time I won''t despair like yesterday. "Wake up... wake up" (me) "Zzzz...hmmhmmmm...master?" (Subordinate Goblin) "Good morning" (me) "Master gi well??? No injured gigii?" (Subordinate Goblin) She started checking my whole body to see if I was still hurt, after calming her down and telling her I was fine she drank water and ate some meat before getting ready for today''s hunt. Her eyes were different, but steady and burning with determination. I don''t know what caused this change in your mindset, maybe what happened yesterday. That''s good now she has the motivation to grow and get stronger, those are the eyes I was hoping to see in her, as time permits I can finally start training her, all I need is for her to be willing to train for herself. Those determined eyes are the answer I was hoping for to this question. Now we have to resume the hunt and be careful not to repeat the mistakes we made before, we have to hunt not only using power but using our intelligence so that we are not the prey while we are hunting. Today is a new day and once again I realize that I am immature and I learn from my mistakes, but those mistakes could cost my life in this world or my subordinate''s life. Chapter 13: Oath and determination subordinate Goblin Pov: "(Why am I so weak? Why? WHY ???)" (Me) I was carrying my master in my arms as I ran back to his home in the Ruins of Blood, my master was badly injured for trying to protect a useless one like me. My master is strong and smart, when I met him he saved me and gave someone like me a place to belong. I still remember him telling me to follow him, how he spent hours talking to me, how he made a nest for me to sleep in, how he shared his food with me, how he helped me hunt, and most importantly, how he who is strong treated someone weak like me well. After he found out the Ruins were dangerous he went hunting for strength. "Hold on master just but a little gii" (me) "I''m.... well... Aahhhh.."(master) I didn''t think it could end like this, the hunt was going well, the master with his power managed to trap the Little Spiders and killed them by eating their heads. The Horned Rabbits were the same, master and smart, and held their paws not to run away and then used some kind of poison to immobilize them and then drink their blood. The master before killing the spiders and rabbits made me hit them so I could become strong too, even though it''s not useful he still helps me get stronger. "(I have to run faster, I have to let the master rest in a safe place)" (me) I can''t stop crying, even when I was beaten up in the Goblin family I was born into I didn''t feel as much pain like the pain I''m feeling in my heart right now. If I had noticed the Slimes that were approaching, if I could be more useful, my attacks didn''t do anything to them, only the fire that the master released from the mouth that was managing to damage them. "(The master stopped bleeding, is he healing? As I expected from the master.)" (me) "(Just a little longer and I can let the master recover in his nest)" (me) The master was strong and managed to dodge the attacks of the Slimes and counterattacked every time, but one of the Slimes noticed me and started attacking me, I couldn''t do anything I was too weak. I thought this time I was going to die, but the master jumped and pushed me hard to the side and was hit in my place, seeing I was paralyzed with fear, not afraid of me dying, but afraid of the master dying because of my weakness. Before I woke up from my shock, seeing my master hurt because of me, the fight was already over, the injured master continued fighting and managed to win in the end, but before I could celebrate his victory I saw him fall. I could see his state full of wounds and blood, without thinking I tried to feed the master with the Slimes he killed and some of the rabbit meat, but it didn''t seem to be enough, I grabbed him in my arms and ran and keep running until now to take him to a safe place, I can''t let him be attacked while he''s so weak and wounded. When I reach the base, I lay the master in his nest and lie down beside him so that he doesn''t feel cold. "Haaa..haaaa..haaaa" (me) "(I''m so tired of running)" (me) "Haaaaa..haaa..haa...." (me) zzzzzz I ended up sleeping, I had a horrible dream where the master was nowhere and I was alone again. I don''t want this, I don''t want to be alone again, I don''t want to see the master hurt again, and I don''t want to be protected while the master is desperately fighting even though he''s hurt. In the middle of my dream I heard a high-pitched voice full of confidence, it was such a calming voice I felt very safe listening to that voice. "Wake up... wake up" (master) "Zzzz...hmmhmmmm...master?" (me) "Good morning Master" (me) "Master is alright??? No wounds?" (me) I can''t believe the master is fine, I ran to look all over his body and see if he still had any wounds, but luckily he was fine, only some scars were where the wounds had been before. The master made me eat before we went back hunting and said we would be more careful today. After what happened yesterday and the dream I had I''m down, I would get stronger to be able to defend the master, I would never let anyone hurt the master, from now on I would be the one beside the master in all his fights, I will never allow the master to be in danger, I swear to the divinity these Blood Ruins represent. The Deity that the elder of the Goblin family I was born into spoke of was the deity of this forest. I swear I will be by the master''s side until my last breath and will be strong enough not to be protected again. --------- Pov Mc: I can see my subordinate''s eyes burning with determination, it must be because of what happened yesterday. I''ll have to figure out where we''re going now, I''ll try to go to the place I saw the Goblin group that day, maybe talk to my subordinate to find out where they''re going to hunt so we can ambush them, let me see before we go the status of a group of my subordinate. <[ Status of group members: { Goblin (Subordinate) Gender: Woman Level: 3/15 Exp: 4/17 HP: 19/19 MP: 14/14 STM: 19/19} ]> She got stronger, it seems that sleeping does the same thing as meditating, after all, she never meditated, but after a night of sleep, she managed to integrate the level she gained, probably meditation is a shortcut to this that I ended up discovering by pure chance. I would like to see her status in more detail so I could see how I would train her more efficiently in the future. Ding! <[ NAME: NONE RACE: Goblin (Variant) GENDER: Woman LEVEL: 1/15 > 3/15 EXP: 10/27 > 4/17 LINEAGE: [Goblin: 100%] HP: 15/15 > 19/19 MP: 10/10 > 14/14 Stamina: 15/15 > 19/19 Strength: 7 > 9 Dexterity: 25 > 29 Agility: 27 > 31 Defense: 10 > 12 Intelligence: 18 > 22 Magic defense: 8 > 10 Charm: 0 Luck: 5 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: [ Goblin Genius ] [ Diabolic Leech Subordinate ] ]> Looks like I can see her status, it must be because she''s my subordinate. Seeing these stats it''s easy to see that she is very talented with her hands for her dexterity and must have quick reactions for her speed. I can''t train her right now, but as soon as we move to a new base it will be my priority to train her in technique-focused melee combat, it seems she has a talent for magic too, but I won''t be very useful for that kind of training. at the moment since I don''t know much myself and am being self-taught in this matter. "Take me...hunting ground...Goblin." (me) "Yes master gii" (Goblin subordinate) After asking her to take me there we left the Ruins and headed to the forest, birds are no longer a problem since they evolve. They seem to go after the Leeches that appear almost every day from the same puddles of red water I was born into. After we entered the forest we were surprised by a Horned Rabbit, he was using his horn to try to hit us, but I reacted quickly and used [Weak Leech Bite: 5] to grab his horn and keep him in the air with my strength and my subordinate wasted no time and used the short rusty sword to cut through his body, it didn''t kill him which is good. I used it as a source of experience for my skills, using [ Corrosion: 1 ] to gradually erode his horn in my mouth and then biting and using [ Corrosion: 1 ] on everything that got into my mouth, I ended up killing him faster than I imagined but it served the purpose. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 4 EXP from killing Horned Rabbit ]> . <[ Party member gains 2 EXP for Horned Rabbit kills]> . . <[His skill leveled up [Corrosion: 1> 2]]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leech: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ His bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Horned Rabbit: 92% > 100% ] ]> Finally one of the strains reached 100%, but nothing happened, I''m not feeling any different. Now with that issue solved let''s head towards the Goblin hunting area while using [ Detect Weak Presence: 1 ], which I just realized costs one Mana and not STM. After using the skill I can feel the auras around me in an area of ??five meters. With this, I can identify any monster, not just the ones that are wounded or covered in blood. While talking to my subordinate we continued going to the Goblin hunting area, after forty minutes I found a presence and headed towards him, it was a wolf that was drinking water in a stream. I asked my subordinate to throw myself on the wolf''s back and reluctantly she accepted, it seems she realized that I wanted to do the same thing I did with the Goblin who attacked her when we first met. Swoosh! Thud! After hitting the wolf I grab it with my teeth and use [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 4 ] about three times before it stops barking and falls to the ground. For guarantee, I use it twice more [ Weak paralyzing poison secretion: 4 ], and then I call my subordinate to use the sword to strike the wolf barrel, as soon as she has done that I use it twice [ Corrosion: 1 ] to open one hole in your head. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 6 EXP from killing Gray Wolf ]> . <[ Party member gains 3 EXP for Gray Wolf kills ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Detect Weak Presence: 1 > 2 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low resistance to paralysis: 3 > 4] ]> Chapter 14: Ambush After the wolf''s death, I went to drink its blood and then eat its flesh together with my subordinate. Ding! Ding! <[ You have learned the following skills from Gray Wolf: ? [ Improved nose: 1 ] ? [ Wolf Claw: 1 ] ]> . . <[ You have acquired the lineage [ Gray Wolf: 19% ] ]> After lunch ended, we headed into the forest towards the Goblin hunting area, after another ten minutes we arrived and found footprint trails that show small humanoid footprints, they must be Goblin footprints, this shows that Goblins often pass through on here. I thought for a while and decided to hide with my subordinate to wait for a Goblin to attack with an ambush. We waited a little more than fifteen minutes before seeing two Goblins with big branches in their hands approaching, I told my subordinate to attack with her sword the one who will pass closer to the bush we are hiding in, I used [ Weak poison secretion: 3 ] in her sword and I told her to stab him in the head with all her might as soon as I attack the other one. "If... prepare" (me) "Yes" (Subordinate Goblin) Once they reached the point in front of us I used [ Jump: 3 ] to jump over the closest one and go straight to the one that is farthest away, as soon as I landed on its head I use [ Low Leech Bite: 5 ] to open a hole in your skull. "GIII AHHHHH GIGGIGIIII" (Goblin A) "Attack gigg gii kill" (Goblin B) The Goblin B that I jumped over noticed his friend''s scream and turned to me with his back to the bush to attack me, but at that moment my subordinate stuck the poisoned sword in the back of his head, he couldn''t even scream before of falling to the ground and dying. Ding! <[ You gained 4 EXP for killing Goblin by party member ]> Then my subordinate dropped her sword and ran to grab the arms of the Goblin I was attacking while I used it twice [ Corrosion: 2 ] on his brain. Ding! <[ You gained 7 EXP from killing Goblin ]> . <[ Party member gains 3 EXP for killing Goblin ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> We managed to kill them quickly, looks like the ambush was successful, after drinking all their blood I drag them both behind the bush we''re hiding in before meditating to replenish my energy while we wait for another Goblin group to pass by. here since we vamosre going to be here the rest of the day ambushing all the Goblins we see. Glub! Glub! Glub! Ding! <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Goblin: 36% > 59% ] ]> After integrating my level and replenishing my energy, we waited almost two hours while we talked to pass the time until my subordinate told me that the Goblins eat their dead, which gave me an idea. I go to the corpses and use [ Weak paralyzing poison secretion: 4 ] seven times on each body and drag them to the trail, leave them both right where they died, and keep waiting. After another hour of waiting and talking to my subordinate, I finally hear a scream and use [ Detect weak presence: 2 ], I can feel five responses from approaching creatures, as soon as they get close enough I can see that there are four Goblins and they are dragging two humanoid creatures with black fur all over their bodies and a dog''s head, soon a name comes to mind, the name of this creature must be Kobold. Seeing that they are still alive and being dragged by Goblins, it''s easy to assume they must be females and are being taken to be used to breed more Goblin children, now that they''re closer I see they''re very wounded and weak and the Goblins have wounds too by the body, this only makes them easier to kill. "Gigii female my today gii" (Goblin A) "Gi gi gi gi divers today gigigi" (Goblin B) "Look gig igii food" (Goblin C) "Gii gig food our gi eat now" (Goblin D) As soon as they saw the bodies they started running to eat the bodies, they didn''t mind eating their race apparently, they ate so voraciously and so wildly and quickly that thankfully they didn''t seem to notice the poison. When the bodies had been torn apart unrecognizably, the two who ate faster were no longer able to move, the third had noticed that something was wrong and had stopped eating but it was too late, he had eaten a lot of poisoned meat and was getting moving so slowly that it would be easy to get rid of it later. The fourth Goblin surprised me, he was still eating and the poison didn''t seem to affect him, it must be the work of a resistance skill, as it wasn''t working I jumped on it and used [Leech Bite: 5] on one of his eyes and then I also used [ Corrosion: 2 ] to dissolve his brain. Ding! <[ You gained 7 EXP from killing Goblin ]> Then I talk to my subordinate to use the sword and take a leg off each Goblin, then I use [Low Fire Puff: 3] twice to kill a second Goblin, then go to the third and use [Fire Puff twice weaker: 3] to kill him, in the last Goblin I use [Weak Leech Bite: 5] three times on his head to kill him. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 21 EXP from killing three Goblins ]> . <[ Party member gains 10 EXP for Goblin kills ]> . . <[ You have leveled up ]> Now, all that''s left is the two Kobolds, I go towards you and talk to my subordinate to stab your barrels and then I kill them by sucking the blood from their bodies until it''s dry. Glub! Glub! Glub! Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 14 EXP from killing two Kobolds ]> . <[ Party member gains 7 EXP for Kobold kills ]> . . . <[ You learned the following skills from Kobold: ? [Mana Control: 1] ? [ Kobold Language: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the lineage [ Kobold: 24% ] ]> "(Now all that''s left is to suck the blood of the other four Goblins and then get out of here, and look for another place to ambush)" (me) As I head towards the four Goblin corpses I notice that my subordinate is paying attention to her surroundings instead of eating, she must be worried that we will be attacked by surprise just like yesterday, which is all the more reason for me to be quick and finish draining and drinking all the stuff. blood of these four Goblins. Glub! Glub! Glub! Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leech: 3 > 4 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak resistance to paralysis: 4 > 5 ] ]> . . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Goblin: 36% > 89% ] ]> I''m going to eat some Kobold meat and then go to another spot to make another ambush. Shock! Nhac! Ding! <[ You learned the following skills from Kobold: ? [ Group coordination: 1 ] ? [ Low wind elemental affinity: 1 ] ]> Now I''ll take my subordinate with me for one last hunt before we head back, I''ll set up another ambush somewhere else on the trail. After carrying one of the Goblins we killed before it''s still full of crippling poison to another point on the trail, I''ll hide while I meditate to regain my STM and MP as quickly as possible. After restoring half of my energy I am forced to stop the meditation, my subordinate tells me that three more Goblins are approaching, after waiting two more minutes they arrived at our bait, I wait for them to eat. Nhoc! Nhac! Shock! Nhac! After a few minutes of eating everyone is paralyzed, it seems that this time there was no one with resistance to paralysis among them. "Rip off....leg" (me) "Gii yes gig master" (Goblin subordinate) She follows all my orders without hesitation, and after seeing so many Goblins I can tell that my subordinate is different from them, she is smarter and faster than them. After she dismembered her legs I go to them and use them three times on each [Weak Poison Secretion: 3] to kill them, as soon as they are all dead I will drink her blood. Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Poison Secretion: 3 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Goblin: 89% > 100% ] ]> After that I asked her to bring one of the corpses while I took another one to go back to my temporary base, it''s already mid-afternoon and I would like to get back before nightfall, it should take about an hour and twenty minutes for us to get back. -------- Once we arrived at our base we rested a bit, the day was very good for both me and my subordinate. Before going to sleep I will train a little, but for now, I will rest to relax and be ready at the time of my training. As I rest I stare at the sky through the hole in the ceiling, the bright sky slowly changing its color to become a beautiful starry sky, soon I get caught up in my thoughts, I keep thinking about my old world and my current world. "(So many things to think about.)" (me) "(About where to go from here? What should there be after the forest? What should there be after the mountains? What is this temple in ruins? What to do with this follower? What else awaits me in this world? How many dangers will I have to face?" to face?)" (me) "(Unfortunately I can''t do anything other than what I''ve done so far, which is to save these questions for when I''m strong enough to figure out the answers for myself.)" (me) Chapter 15: Magic training After resting and relaxing until nightfall I decide to get up to start my training. I realized that my subordinate must be very tired as she is sleeping heavily, but that doesn''t matter, I''ll let her rest until tomorrow, I''ll start my training by meditating for a few hours to level up the skill [Weak mana sense: 4 ]. --------- Ding! Ding! <[Her skill leveled up [Meditation: 3> 4]]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak mana sense: 4 > 5 ] ]> After hours of fussing and concentrating I realized that I''m not as tired as I used to be, it must be because of the increase in skills and statistics. With that ready I will start trying to use the skill I acquired today from the Kobolds, I will try to train the skill [ Mana Control: 1 ]. This time I tried to use [Weak Mana Sense: 5] not to feel the Mana around me but to feel the Mana inside me. After finding Mana running through my body I decided to try to direct it to my head and then to various places in my body, I do this training for a few minutes. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Mana Control: 1 > 2 ] ]> It looks like this training is correct, but it''s very difficult, the amount of concentration and focus I need to maintain this "Mana Control" training is very large, I''m already exhausted, I''m going to sleep and the next day I''m going to resume training. zz... zzzz... Zzzzzzzzz... ---------- "Wake up master gii" (Subordinate Goblin) "Hmm...hmmmmm" (me) "Good morning" (me) After stretching myself at being woken up by my subordinate I see that it''s already halfway through the day, I got up and went to rinse my mouth and eat something, after that I''ll hunt in the same place as yesterday and make another ambush today and then come back early, to continue my training from yesterday. "Let''s go hunting... a same.... place of...yesterday" (me) "Yes master gii gi I''ll get gii sword" (Subordinate Goblin) Before we leave, let me take a look at my status and my subordinates to see if there''s much to the next level. <[ NAME: NONE BREED: Evil Leech (Variant) LEVEL: 6/10 > 7/10 EXP: 60/30 > 30/34 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Evil Leech: 100% ] [ Horned Rabbit: 100% ] [ Flaming Snake: 15% ] [ Goblin: 100% ] [ Small Spider: 8% ] [ Gray Wolf: 19% ] [ Kobold: 24%] HP: 30/30 > 32/32 MP: 15/15 > 17/17 Stamina: 21/21 > 23/23 Strength: 21 > 23 Dexterity: 15 > 16 Agility: 22 > 24 Defense: 14 > 15 Intelligence: 31 > 34 Magic defense: 12 > 14 Charm: 0 Luck: -20 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: [ ? ] [ ?? ] [ World breaker ] [ Last of his kind ] [ First of his kind ] [ He who brings chaos ] ]> Compared to how I was born a few days ago, my growth is remarkable, I can see that my highest stat is intelligence, if my gaming knowledge of my world is right then intelligence is the stat that is used to know how strong someone''s magic. is, while the MP is the energy to use magic. I need to learn how to use magic spells soon. Now let me see the status of my subordinate. <[ NAME: NONE RACE: Goblin (Variant) GENDER: Woman LEVEL: 4/15 EXP: 12/20 LINEAGE: [Goblin: 100%] HP: 21/21 MP: 16/16 Stamina: 21/21 Strength: 10 Dexterity: 31 Agility: 33 Defense: 13 Intelligence: 24 magic defense: 11 Charm: 0 Luck: 5 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: [ Goblin Genius ] [ Diabolic Leech Subordinate ] [ Loyal Subordinate ] ]> Both my subordinate and I aren''t far from going up one more level, maybe depending on how many we manage to kill by mid-afternoon, we might even be able to go up two levels. I can''t keep wasting my time thinking, I call my subordinate and we go to the same Goblin trail we were on yesterday, but this time we go to a different spot for the ambush. On the way there I decided to talk to my subordinate and started asking her some questions. "How many Goblins....have in.....your...old family" (me) "Old family many giigi gig " (Subordinate Goblin) "How many?" (me) "Giig many" (Subordinate Goblin) "..." (me) "(Maybe she doesn''t know how to count, so how do I know how many Goblins there will be in her old house)" (me) "Hmmm...(I know!)" (me) "Catch ... small stone for each Goblin who remember" (me) "Yes master" (Goblin subordinate) I tried to figure out the number of goblins I had to prepare for an attack on her old house after I''ve narrowed her numbers down enough, but she doesn''t seem to know how to count, so I made her take a stone for every Goblin she remembers, it will make me have a rough idea of ??how many there are. After a few minutes of thinking and picking up stones, she brings me the small stones and drops them in front of me, after a quick count I see that there must be forty small stones so it must be the same number of Goblins, I must consider these the minimum numbers for not me surprise later. We continued on our way to the Goblins Trail as we talked about these numbers and in a little over forty minutes we got there. Seeing the trail I start looking for a good ambush spot, as soon as I choose to stay behind a set of trees I wait in silence until it''s time to attack. The first Goblin group arrived thirty minutes later and had seven Goblins and one of them looked bigger and wore leather armor that was in poor condition and a sword, this must be an evolved Goblin. I decide not to attack and speak in whispers to my subordinate to be silent, after they pass I ask how many Goblins as strong as that one has in her old family, just as I told her before to take a small stone for everyone she remembers and in in a short time she brings only three small stones. Knowing that this must be the minimum number, I decide to think about it another time, keep waiting until another group shows up an hour later. This group had five Goblins, they all looked normal, so I decide to finish them off. Once they got close enough I used six times in succession [ Sticky Line Production: 5 ] and [ Line Control: 5 ] to tie three Goblins and then used [ Jump: 3 ] to jump into a fourth Goblin. Wasting no time, as soon as I landed on his shoulder I use [Leech Bite: 5] to bite and tear off a large chunk of his neck and before the fifth Goblin hits me, my subordinate pierces his back with her sword she was holding. my poison and he falls screaming to the ground. Ding! <[ You gained 7 EXP from killing Goblin ]> "Punch...with the sword...their barrel" (me) "Yes master" (Goblin subordinate) After she pierced the barrel of the three Goblins that were trapped I used [ Poison spit: 2 ] three times each and waited for them to die of poison. Ding! <[ You gained 7 EXP from killing Goblin ]> . <[ Party member gains 3 EXP for killing Goblin ]> Looks like the Goblin that was attacked first by my subordinate died from the poison, after a few more minutes. Ding! <[ You gained 21 EXP from killing Goblin ]> . <[ Party member gains 10 EXP per Goblin kill ]> After that, I went to drink all his blood while my subordinate kept an eye on the surrounding area. Glub! Glub! Glub! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leech Belly: 6 > 7 ] ]> After that, I sinned and dragged a body and my subordinate took another one and we took it back to base. On the way back we talked about the location of her old house, when we arrived at our temporary base we dumped the bodies in a corner and I told my subordinate to practice her sword skills a little, tried to teach her the basics, instruct her to keep your back straight and raise and lower the sword as if she were cutting something, I told her to repeat this movement until she couldn''t raise her arms With her training her sword the way I taught her I go back to my practice from the night before. I started to meditate and feel the Mana inside me, then I tried to move this Mana to various parts of my body, this training requires a lot of concentration and focus and any mistakes I leave meditation and have to start from scratch which is even more difficult. After thirty minutes of doing this I passed out from mental exhaustion and my subordinate ran to me worriedly and woke me up. I was surprised that this training made me pass out, but the results are obvious. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Mana Control: 2 > 3 ] ]> I''m tired of training so much and I think I''m going to relax for a while in my bed as I look up at this sunset sky, and after almost an hour of relaxing, I''m going to meditate to integrate my new level. After all, this is done I see that my subordinate ended up sleeping on the floor from exhaustion from the training I gave her, I go to her and drag her to the bed to sleep more comfortably and then I go to my bed to sleep, I have to rest well to hunt more tomorrow. Chapter 16: Setting a trap "Hhmmmm...hmm" (me) I wake up early this morning, after going to bed early yesterday I was able to rest very well and still get up early. I see that my subordinate is still sleeping and decide to let her rest while I make some preparations for today. I go to the ruins and pick up some rocks, then go back inside and go to the small pile of bones from the monsters we''ve already eaten and use [Leech Bite: 5] to grind the bones into small sharp shards. Then I use the three skills [ Line Production: 5 ], [ Sticky Line Production: 5 ], and [ Line Control: 5 ] to build a large network. I place the stones at the ends of the net and use the sticky thread to stick the pointed bone chips all over the net. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Line control: 5 > 6 ] ]> I''m going to use this net to trap the Goblins during the ambush, once we get to the trail I''m going to set up this net and throw crippling poison all over it to quickly immobilize the Goblins. After all this ready, I''m going to eat and rest to recover my energy, a few minutes later my subordinate woke up and I told her to eat something and then put this hammock in a box in this storage room for us to take. With all the preparations done we left towards the trail, on the way there I found a Rabbit and three spiders that I killed effortlessly, I trapped them in my webs and made my subordinate kill them. Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 2 EXP for killing Horned Rabbit by party member ]> . <[ You gained 5 EXP for killing Little Spider by party member ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Sticky Line Production: 5 > 6 ] ]> Then I check the group interface to see how my subordinate is. <[ Status of group members: { Goblin (Subordinate) Gender: Woman Level: 4/15 (5/15) Exp: 25/20 HP: 21/21 MP: 16/16 STM: 21/21 } ]> She went up a level, but it''s a shame she''ll have to wait until tomorrow morning to fully integrate the level. After that we haven''t attacked the rest of the way, when we got to the trail I went straight to the same spot where we were yesterday, and when I got there and saw that there was no Goblin around I started to prepare the trap. I use [Line Production: 5] to tie four ends of the net into lines, and I tell my subordinate to climb the trees and circle the trusses with the lines to use the trusses as pulleys and then bring the lines down behind the trees into that we were in hiding yesterday. It took a little longer than expected but luckily she managed to do everything I asked, in the end, while we were hiding behind the trees I made her hold the lines and only let go when I give the signal. I had already used [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 4 ] the entire network, all that was missing was a group of goblins. After waiting about thirty-five minutes we finally spotted a group of three goblins, as soon as they were under the net I gave the signal for my subordinate to drop the net, when the net fell on top of the three Goblins they panicked trying to get out of it. , but the more they moved the more they got hurt from the bone tips. In the end, the trap I planned was better than expected, the Goblins could barely move now, they had several wounds and scratches all over their bodies and they were moaning in pain, I told my subordinate to go to them and kill them all with her sword. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 11 EXP for killing Goblins by party member ]> . . . <[ You have learned the following skills: ? [ Construction of trap: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ you gained a level ]> "There is?" (me) "(I learned a skill just by building a trap? Really?)" (me) "(Never mind, it just makes me stronger hahahaha)" (me) After my subordinate had finished killing everyone, we set the trap once more, after the trap was ready I went to the three corpses and used [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 4 ] three times on each body and went back to waiting behind the trees. After an hour and thirty minutes finally, a group of seven Goblins is approaching. I noticed that in this group there is the same Goblin evolved with a rusty sword and leather armorer full of holes that I saw yesterday. I made my subordinate wait until they started eating the poisoned baits, I also used [ Weak Poison Secretion: 4 ] on my subordinate''s sword. After they saw the bait they ran and started eating and after a few minutes, half of them started to fall to the ground without moving. "Now" (me) On my signal my subordinate lets go of the line and the net falls on them, while they were trapped in the net I started using [ Poison spit: 2 ] on them from a distance, after doing this about eight times and seeing that they are weaker and slower, I tell my subordinate to go to them and kill them all. Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 7 EXP from killing Goblin ]> . <[ Party member gains 3 EXP for killing Goblin ]> . <[ You gained 9 EXP from killing Goblin Barbarian ]> . <[ Party member gains 4 EXP for killing Goblin Barbarian ]> . <[ You gained 18 EXP for killing Goblins by party member ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 4 > 5 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Poison spit: 2 > 3 ] ]> It seems I was right that Goblin had evolved, after all, that he went to the evolved Goblin and drank his blood and then all the blood of the other goblins. Glub! Glub! Glub! Ding! Ding! <[ You have learned the following skills from Goblin Barbarian: ? [ Improved strength: 1 ] ]> <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leech: 4 > 5 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak resistance to paralysis: 5 > 6 ] ]> I''m going to get my hammock and call it a day, there are a lot of bodies here and that might attract a stronger monster. I take the net, sword, and leather armor and take my subordinate away from here, we go towards the base and on the way, I used it six times [ Detect weak presence: 2 ] until my mana ran out, every ten minutes to dodge the monsters until back to base. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Detect Weak Presence: 2 > 3 ] ]> But still, a gray wolf found us, and the moment it leaped towards us I used [ Poison spit: 3 ] twice, aiming for its open mouth to bite me, so I dodged and jumped on it with my [ Jump: 3 ] and bite his hind leg using [ Weak Poison Secretion: 4 ] twice until he died so I went to drink all of his blood before continuing on the way to base. Glub! Glub! Glub! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 6 EXP from killing Gray Wolf ]> . . <[ You have acquired the lineage [ Gray Wolf: 19% > 38% ] ]> . . . <[ you gained a level ]> When we get to the base, I tell my subordinate to drop the box with the service in the corner and we lie down for a while to rest. I asked my subordinate to take an old cloth from this tank and soak it in the puddle of water for her to clean me and then clean herself. After that, we rest for a few hours, and after that, I tell my subordinate to go back to the sword training I taught her yesterday. I stand still on my bed and go meditate to integrate the levels I gained today, I cleared my mind, synchronized my breathing with my heartbeat, and calmed my emotions, after going into deep meditation I find the etheric energy of EXP, and it all together in one place, then I circulate it all over my body along with my blood. After twenty minutes of meditating, I feel refreshed and go check my status before going to sleep. <[ NAME: NONE BREED: Evil Leech (Variant) LEVEL: 8/10 > 10/10 EXP: 93/38 > 12/0 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Evil Leech: 100% ] [ Horned Rabbit: 100% ] [ Flaming Snake: 15% ] [ Goblin: 100% ] [ Small Spider: 8% ] [ Gray Wolf: 38% ] [ Kobold: 24%] HP: 32/32 > 36/36 MP: 17/17 > 21/21 Stamina: 23/23 > 27/27 Strength: 23 > 27 Dexterity: 16 > 18 Agility: 24 > 28 Defense: 15 > 19 Intelligence: 34 > 40 Magic defense: 14 > 18 Charm: 0 Luck: -20 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: [ ? ] [ ?? ] [ World breaker ] [ Last of his kind ] [ First of his kind ] [ He who brings chaos ] ]> I finally reached the maximum level again now I should be able to evolve while I sleep. The problem is that I have to concentrate in my sleep to choose the best possible evolution, if possible I would like to at least evolve into a humanoid monster. I turn to my subordinate and can see she''s tired but still keeps training, the fire of determination in her eyes moves me, as I know I''m the reason for this. I have to become strong enough to be able to protect her too, as soon as I evolve I will focus on her evolution and we will also start planning our invasion of her old house, after exterminating them all I will use the place as my new base. "Stop training...let''s talk" (me) "Yes master giiigii like to talk to you gii" (Goblin subordinate) I asked her to stop her training, I called her to talk and we talked about the location of her old house, I told her that I must evolve tonight and tomorrow we must find out the goblin numbers and the time when the strongest goblins go out to hunt. After talking for a few hours I tell her to go to sleep and so do I. Chapter 17: Mysterious Woman and Promise During my sleep I had a dream of standing in front of a tall woman with long red hair, silky white skin, extremely attractive curves with breasts that were neither big nor small, and a slim waist with hips that steal the look, she had beautiful red eyes. blood that seemed to be able to seep through all things in existence, eyes as beautiful as they were dangerous. Her face was blurry to me and I couldn''t see anything but her eyes and mouth, she was dressed in a long red dress with a black overcoat full of unrecognizable patterns and runes in gray and purple colors, she wore a black crown with red stones glowing, and he held a sword that he rested on the ground as he rested both hands relaxed on the hilt. Her eyes looked at me and I felt she could see everything, there was nothing I could hide from her, she was studying me with that look and soon I was able to see her red lips smiling slightly, just enough to see the tips of two fangs. "You did well child of my blood." (mysterious woman) "(His voice is charming, but thick and conveys all his confidence and strong will.)" (me) "You made the right decisions and were able to see the situation you were in even in your confusion and despair." (mysterious woman) "You kept a calm mind and thought wisely about what you needed at the time, and all that on your first day." (mysterious woman) "(Huh? Did she see me how much I was born in this world?)" (me) "Keeping a calm mind in an unknown situation in a body you don''t know and having nothing and no one to help you shows a wise mind and your strong will not fall into despair." (mysterious woman) "Her decisions in the days that followed her choice of an intelligent follower instead of a strong one, and her choice to help her evolve to train her combat techniques instead of focusing solely on skills, all show wisdom and mental clarity that others do not have it upon arriving in this world." (mysterious woman) "(How long has she been watching me?)" (me) "(And she also mentioned others coming into this world.)" (me) Her smile gets bigger and her mood also seems to be that of someone happy with what she is seeing. "Even without legs and hands, you were still able to use the objects around you in conjunction with the skills you acquired to create a perfect trap for your current situation." (mysterious woman) "Many pay attention only to the power of their abilities and forget to combine them or to look for new ways to use them" (mysterious woman) "You took your new life seriously and used every moment to improve yourself and grow stronger, without being discouraged by a weak start or letting the power you discovered go to your head, this is something few have been able to accomplish." (mysterious woman) "Everything I notice about you just makes me happier, you have everything you need for what''s to come and you''re overflowing with talent, I can''t wait to see how far you''ll get." (mysterious woman) Without warning or any indication an overwhelming pressure locks me in place, this pressure is not hurting me but it is restricting me so that I am not even able to open my mouth. "(This woman is strong, I don''t know where I am or how I ended up here, but I know that everything she has done and said is to provoke me in some way.)" (me) "(I tried my best not to show any reaction or expression, I didn''t even try to move.)" (me) "(All she does is to try to elicit any kind of reaction from me, she tried to insinuate at first that she watches me all the time to scare me, tried to show her fangs to surprise me, tried to insinuate about other people coming into this world to instigate my curiosity, tried to praise me with my little achievements to inflate my ego and now uses that pressure to try to make me despair before someone stronger.)" (me) "(I don''t know what she expects from all this but she will be disappointed, I don''t intend to live this life feeling fear, much less give in to despair.)" (me) Seeing that this pressure is just to demonstrate its power and it''s not hurting me I use all my strength to fight those restrictions. "AAHHHHH...!" (me) The moment I force myself to move, this pressure starts to cause me a lot of pain, so much pain that for the first time my voice was heard in this place even though it was a scream, but I needed to ask that question. "WHO ARE YOU?" (me) For the first time, I can see the surprise in her eyes she didn''t think I would try to resist this pressure, much less try to ask her identity in a situation like this. "Hahahahahaha..." (mysterious woman) She took her hand to her face and started to laugh a lot and the pressure disappeared causing me to fall to the ground, I was stunned for a few seconds by her sudden laugh and this change of events. "Very well child, you saw through my little show and were able to analyze the important points of everything I said." (mysterious woman) "You once again exceeded my expectations, resisting the pressure of my Aura to try and discover my identity" (mysterious woman) "You passed my little test, feel happy my child." (mysterious woman) "You are worthy of the reward I will give you, and by exceeding my expectations once again I will give you the power you have been craving all this time." (mysterious woman) In an instant, the vanished Aura returned, but this time there was no pressure, all I felt both from that Aura and the once relaxed but now worthy posture of the mysterious woman was unlimited authority and dignity. For some reason, I felt her Aura and her presence comforting and warm, I don''t know who she is but it''s as if I''ve always known her. "By my name and by my authority, I name you Zenos, the name that once belonged to the warrior who resisted even his death with only his will to defend what was important to him." (mysterious woman) "May you be worthy of your name, now go and follow your journey child of my blood" (mysterious woman) "Remember never to be blinded by power, authority and abilities." (mysterious woman) "Always remember that authority is only as strong as the number of people at your back, that skills are as powerful as your creativity in how to use them, and that power and strength are not always the same thing." (mysterious woman) "I called you here just to see if you were worthy enough to name you and you proved to be much more than I imagined." (mysterious woman) Her eyes changed, they looked at me now with a mixture of emotions I was barely able to intensify, but I could still see the reluctance and longing in her eyes. I couldn''t speak, for some reason I didn''t want to interrupt her, I just wanted to keep listening to her sweet, determined voice. For some reason knowing this date was about to end saddens me, I want to know who she is, I have to know who she is. "I won''t tell you who I am, if you want to know to find out for yourself, if you can do that I will appear again for you." (mysterious woman) Her appearance began to fade in the darkness and her body slowly faded away. "Grow up strong child, and don''t worry about what others thought of you, those truly important will gather around you whether you like it or not." (mysterious woman) At the last moment, all I could see was a lovely smile on her lips, and for some reason, that lovely smile made my heart ache more than anything I''ve ever felt in my old life or now. "I don''t know if you can still hear me, but I promise I will find you again." (me) "I will find out who you are, that''s my promise." (me) "I''ll be waiting" (mysterious woman) In the end, I could hear her weak voice like a whisper in my ears. After that I fell into darkness, I was confused once again. More and more things appear that I must discover, more unanswered questions. I have to become stronger, I have to be strong enough not to feel as helpless as I felt now. The little thing a single person can do alone, I have to make my subordinate stronger too, for a Goblin woman she shows a lot of potentials, but it''s a shame she doesn''t see it herself. Huuum! I have to find more people or monsters too to join our group, if we have a strong group there will be more things I can do than if I was alone. If there are humans in this world I''ll have to play my subordinate, after all, it''s going to be difficult for a monster like me or my subordinate to enter cities without being attacked. Huuum! This world looks a lot like the games and romances of my ancient world, and if that resemblance continues there must be Elves, Beastmen, and Humans in this world, I will have to find at least one person of those races to be my subordinate, to enter the cities and get information for me. Huuum! My mind is getting heavier, I can''t take it anymore, I''m going to pass out at any moment. zzzzzz... Chapter 18: Evolution and clothing As I slept after the dream of the mysterious woman, I began to hear an emotionless and almost robotic voice. Ding! <[ "EVOLUTION REQUIREMENTS FULFILLED" ]> . . . <[ "ANALYZING POSSIBLE EVOLUTION POSSIBILITIES" ]> . . <[ ANALYZING TITLES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING LINEAGES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING SKILLS ]> . . <[ ANALYZING BLESSINGS ]> . Ding! . <[ COMPLETE ANALYSIS ]> . . . <[ LOOKING FOR SUITABLE EVOLUTION ]> . . . <[ FIVE SUITABLE BREEDS WERE FOUND ]> . . <[ CHOOSE YOUR RACE: ? DEMONIC BLOOD SUCKER ? BLOOD SUGAR MALIGNA KING ? BLOOD HORN RABBIT (SINGLE) ? Leech Killer ? BLOOD GOBLIN (SINGLE) "(Hmmm...hmm?)" (me) "(Finally evolution, maybe it''s because of my [Meditation: 4] ability that I manage to keep my consciousness clearer and more rational than the previous time.)" (me) "(It seems that I have more options to evolve, it seems that there is a race for Rabbit and one for Goblin for me to evolve, this must be because I reached 100% in both strains.)" (me) "(Does this mean that by reaching a pure bloodline of some race I can unlock your evolution tree?)" (me) "(Well that''s just better for me, I don''t even have to think about it, I''ll finally have arms and legs again hahahahaha)" (me) "(I choose Blood Goblin.)" (me) Ding! <[ "BLOOD GOBLIN (SINGLE) CHOSEN" ]> . <[ "BEGINNING EVOLUTION" ]> . . . . . <[ "PROCESS EVOLUTION" ]> . . <[ "EMERGENCE OF A NEW RACE CONFIRMED" ]> . . . <[ "COMPLETED EVOLUTION" ]> ------- Zzzzz... zzzz... zz... The next day I woke up feeling different, for the first time in this world I was able to smell things and found that this warehouse stinks of mildew, it''s making me nauseous. That wasn''t all, when I tried to plug my nose that was when I finally woke up and realized I had hands and a nose, then I looked down and saw that I had legs too. "Hahahahaha!" (me) I started to laugh out loud with so much joy that I felt, soon a subject of extreme importance came to my head, a subject that worries all men in the world, I got worried and slowly looked down to check the size of my younger brother, but it seemed that my worry was unnecessary, it wasn''t as big as I would have liked but it was a normal size. Ufa! Soon I started to inspect my entire body and also went to the pool of water to see my reflection. I must say that my new look surprised me, I had black skin with the same tribal tattoos I had when I was an Evil Leech, these tattoos take over my back and run over my arms, legs, and chest. My hair is blood red and short, my ears are goblin-grilled, my nose would be considered big for a human but it was much smaller than the goblins'' nose I''ve seen so far, my eyes keep the same colors in the iris of one being dark purple and the other being golden, my skin was similar to my subordinate''s without any wrinkles which made my appearance not as ugly and repulsive as other Goblins. After checking my appearance I started checking out my new body, doing ten push-ups, ten squats, and ten sit-ups. I did these simple exercises to feel and get used to my new body, my body was thin with no muscle. As I did this I noticed that my subordinate woke up and was looking at me differently, she was looking at me with a hunger that wasn''t for food, her lust and desire were obvious for anyone to see, but I didn''t intend to do anything with her yet. I can understand her desire, it''s not because I''m pretty or anything like that, as soon as I saw her I started feeling the urge to push her into my bed as well, it''s probably because of the ability [ Improved Sexual Stamina: 1 ] I learned from eating Goblins, this must be a skill that all goblins are born with, the reason my subordinate hasn''t demonstrated this behavior so far is that as Leech I had no gender, but now that I have a male body this can cause some problem and distraction for her, especially now since I''m not wearing any clothes. When she noticed I was looking in her direction she ran to the pile of meat to eat, and I took this opportunity to see my status. Ding! Ding! Ding! ... <[ You have completed your evolution ]> . . . <[ You became a race that never existed before evolving into the Blood Goblin ]> . . . <[ Your bloodline evolved into the superior bloodline [ Blood Goblin ] ]> . . . <[ You were named Zenos by [ ] ]> . . . <[ You have learned the following skills: ? [ Blood servant: 1 ] ? [Weak elemental darkness Affinity: 1 ] ]> . . <[ You have been bestowed with an ability by [ ] : ? [ Identify: 1 ??] ]> . . . <[ You received the title: ? [Named Monster] ? [Single Show] ? [True master] ]> <[ NAME: Zenos RACE: Blood Goblin (Single) GENRE: Man LEVEL: 10/10 > 1/17 EXP: 12/0 > 12/50 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Blood Goblin: 100% ] [ Horned Rabbit: 100% ] [ Flaming Snake: 15% ] [ Small Spider: 8% ] [ Gray Wolf: 38% ] [ Kobold: 24% ] HP: 36/36 > 46/46 MP: 21/21 > 36/36 Stamina: 27/27 > 37/37 Strength: 27 > 32 (+27) Dexterity: 18 > 23 (+25) Agility: 28 > 33 (+25) Defense: 19 > 24 (+31) Intelligence: 40 > 50 (+25) Magic Defense: 18 > 23 (+25) Charm: 0 > 5 (+550) Luck: -20 > -36 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: [ ? ] [ ?? ] [ World breaker ] [ Last of its kind ] [ First of its kind ] [ He who brings chaos ] [ Monster Named ] [ Unique Showcase ] [ True Master ] ]> I got a headache with so much information popping into my head at the same time, it took me a few seconds to sort everything out in my mind before I could make sense of it all. "(My stats have gone up more than I thought, now my status shows my gender and the name the mystery woman gave me is also there. )" (me) "(Zenos this is my name in this world )" (me) Now before checking my skills I should look for a pair of pants, looking better my height seems to be around 1.20 meters, if you take my height into account my little brother might be a little bit, the size of a normal adult human, that thought made me happier than I imagined. Now that I had arms I started looking at the boxes and trunks inside this old warehouse, and inside a trunk I found simple children''s clothes that I had sinned to wear, it was a white sleeveless shirt and red long pants, no it was news that even though it was children''s clothes it was still loose on me. I took the sword I got yesterday and cut the shirt a little so it wouldn''t get too big and shortened the pant legs to brag at me, I made some holes in the waistband of my pants to pass a rope to use as a belt. After dressing in my new outfit I continued looking for another one for my subordinate and found another one for her like e mine, in the end there were many similar clothes but most were for adults and it would be more difficult to adapt for both of us so I looked for children''s clothes. I adapted her clothes as I did mine and separated them in a corner until she finished eating, I continued looking in the boxes and found another piece of children''s clothing, I also separated some adult clothes for the future, the other clothes were very torn and even moldy over time. I found a box with kitchen utensils, most of them were made of wood and were in terrible condition, but I found a small chest inside the box that had si, silver spoons, forks, and knives that must belong to someone important, I separated them along with the cloth, es. Unfortunately I didn''t find any weapons or armor in good condition, the weapons I found were rusty beyond what could still be considered usable, it was so bad that when I dropped a sword it broke, the armors were potholed probably the insects ate them along with most clothes. I cut the leather armor a little, just the parts that, were still intact and set it aside for later use. After,r all that is done I look at my subordinate who is drinking water and go over to talk to her. "Clean upwear this." (me) "..." (Subordinate Goblin) Ding! <[Her skill leveled up [Goblin Language: 5> 6]]> I told her to clean up and then put on the clothes I adapted for her, she was a little confused but I explained to her how to use the clothes, after seeing that she understood I go back to bed to check my skills. <[ PASSIVE SKILLS: [ Leech: 5 ] [ Leech Belly: 7 ] [ Weak Hunger Resistance: 1 ] [ Weak Resistance to Paralysis: 6 ] [ Weak Resistance to Poisoning: 4 ] [ Weak Resistance to Physical Damage: 3 ] [ Weak Blood Elemental Affinity: 1 ] [ Weak Mana Sense: 5 ] [ Weak Affinity with Curse: 1 ] [ Meditation: 4 ] [ Weak Fire Resistance: 1 ] [ Goblin Language: 6 ] [ Reinforce weak underlings: 1 ] [ Improved Sexual Stamina: 1 ] [ Weak Body Strength (Legs): 1 ] [ Improved Hearing: 1 ] [ Weak Body Strength (Exoskeleton): 1 ] [ Improved Nose: 1 ] [ Mana Control: 3 ] [ Kobold Language: 1 ] [ Group Coordination : 1 ] [ Weak Wind Elemental Affinity : 1 ] [ Trap Construction : 1 ] [ Improved Strength : 1 ] [ Weak Dark Elemental Affinity : 1 ] ACTIVE SKILLS: [ Weak Leech Bite: 5 ] [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 5 ] [ Weak Blood Detection: 2 ] [ Swim: 1 ] [ Weak Poison Secretion: 4 ] [ Weak Blood Control: 1 ] [ Aura of Judgment : 1 ] [Weak Recovery: 3 ] [ Line Production: 5 ] [ Sticky Line Production: 6 ] [ Line Control: 6 ] [ Weak Body Load: 1 ] [ Jump: 3 ] [ Low Fire Puff: 3 ] [ Poison Spit : 3 ] [ Snake Scale Production : 1 ] [ Body Manipulation : 1 ] [ Corrosion : 2 ] [ Detect Weak Presence : 2 ] [ Wolf Claw : 1 ] [ Blood Servant : 1 ] UNIQUE SKILLS: [ ?? ] [ Chaotic Devourer ] [ Identify: 1 ??] BLESSINGS: [ ] ]> Chapter 19: Change of Plans and Martial Arts After I checked everything from my stats to my skills I was wondering what I should do now. To start I saw a new unique skill which was [Identify: 1], I would like to know how to use this skill, thinking about using this skill while looking at it in my mind a notification popped up. <[ Skill identification result: [ Identify: 1 ??]--> can identify titles, abilities, and objects. Titles and skills of the owner or people and objects that the owner can see the skill and/or title. Items that are currently being played. Cost may vary depending on item power, title, or skill. Identification may fail if the skill''s level is not comparable to the item''s power, title, or skill. Cost: ? for magic items: mana ]> "Hahahahahahaha" (me) "(Finally the skill I needed, and she can identify not only my skills but also my titles and items as well.)" (me) "(I''ll have to rethink everything I was going to do today, hmmmm...)" (me) Hmmmm "(I will wait two days for reconnaissance of the Goblin cave my Minor spoke of.)" (me) "(I''ll take advantage of these two days to train and get used to fighting with this body.)" (me) After I''ve thought of everything I turn to my Subordinate who has just finished getting dressed, walk towards her and hand a sword in her hand "Train." (me) "Yes Master." (Subordinate Goblin) While she was training with the sword I go to the other side of the warehouse to check my titles with [Identify: 1 ??]. <[ Result of identification of titles: [ ? ]--> ???????????? [ ?? ]--> ??????????? [ World Transgressor ]--> Title given to one who was transferred or reincarnated in another world without being summoned or using the reincarnation circle. BONUS: grants (5x EXP) work [ Last of his race ]--> Title that proves the owner is the last of his race. BONUS: (+5) on all stats. [ First of its kind ]--> Title that proves the owner is the first of its kind. BONUS: (+5) on all stats. [He who brings chaos] -> Title that proves the owner breaks all rules and common sense to his will. BONUS: Abilities such as bondage and control are useless to the owner. [ Named monster ]--> Title showing that the owner''s existence has been recognized by someone, a bond is formed or strengthened between the nominee and the nominee. BONUS: (+10) on all stats. [ Unique Show ]--> Title given to the strongest monsters of their races, monsters that shouldn''t have been born. BONUS: (+5) on all stats. [True master]--> Title given to those who understand what a master truly is, one who does not use those who serve him but stands in front of him. BONUS: (+50) charm for subordinates, slaves, and family members. ]> Finally, I can see what all these titles mean, there are some titles with dangerous names and it looks like the titles provide some permanent power as well. I can see the reasons for my charm increase in stats, but it only has an effect on those who are serving me, but the other bonuses went to all stats. If anyone else can see these titles it might get me into trouble, I should try to get as little attention as possible. Another thing I realized is that I haven''t seen the two unreadable titles yet, maybe if I raise the skill level I can decipher those titles. It seems that I could only see this effect of titles on my stat today because of this skill [Identify: 1], but I got a little tired, this skill has decreased my MP a lot, now I''ll leave to identify the passive skills at night and the skills Active for tomorrow. "(Now I''m going to start my physical training, I''m going to do a hundred push-ups, a hundred squats, and a hundred sit-ups.)" (me) This new body of mine is missing some muscle, so I will do this training every morning. I will start now. -------- "Haaa... haaa ...haaaa ...whew" (me) After an hour of physical training, I''m tired, I''m going to rest now and think about what training I''m going to do now. Now that I stopped training I can see that my subordinate saw my training and started to imitate me, and did the training along with me, but she passed out the moment I stopped. I go to her and take her in my arms and carry her to her bed for her to rest, I''ll let her sleep until the afternoon. Now I''m going to do martial arts training, I played a lot of games in my old world and with that, I did a lot of research to improve my games. Among the researches I did I researched a lot of martial arts, I know my head most of the martial arts from my ancient world and even created some others to use in my games, I have to think about which one I should learn. Hmmmm If I think this is a fantasy world with monsters of all sizes and shapes then Earth martial arts are useless here, as they were created to be used against other humans. I think I should use one of the martial arts I created for my games using those I researched as a base, the martial arts I created were made thinking of fighting monsters of all shapes and sizes, it took me years to create just a handful of them. The one I will choose was the first one I created, which is also the most difficult, as the first martial art I created I kept improving it and testing it with 3D animations to see how it worked and if there were any errors, I did countless tests and I was satisfied in the end, it became a martial art that I can use either unarmed or with a sword and daggers. This martial art as well as others that I created was thought and planned to keep in mind the statistics and levels that increase in games which is the same case in this world. It is also a martial art designed to act together with skills and magic in games, in my old world it would be useless but here it surpasses all others that existed there. Training will be difficult, so I''ll start with trying to imitate the unarmed martial art forms first, so I''ll keep repeating and see if I can get a useful skill to help. For now, I''m going to start training, I''m training punches, kicks, elbows, knees, reverse kicks, somersaults, etc. ----------- After four hours of training, I can finally do the martial art positions I created perfectly, but that''s just the way, I need to use mana to show my true strength, but I need to increase my control first. I''m exhausted now so I''m going to rest, for now, I''m going to eat some meat and then drink some water, then I go to my bed and while I rest I go over the positions and hit combinations of the martial art. ----------- It''s already mid-afternoon and I''ve rested enough, I''m going to resume my training and I see that my subordinate has finally woken up and wants to resume her training too, she goes to the sword and starts training her handling with horizontal and vertical cuts. Seeing her train with so much effort I get motivated to do that too, I go to the other side of the store and start training some combinations of moves until nightfall. During training I noticed that the more I repeated the punches they got faster, stronger and I was able to perform them more fluidly. In the end, my strikes were fast and strong, I was able to do them in sequence without showing any opening, I realized the big difference martial arts make in this world. The position of the body when throwing a punch or a kick made a big difference, for example, when punching if you turn your waist to punch it makes it even more powerful and faster. When I stopped training I could see my subordinate looking at me with her mouth open and with a shocked expression, her eyes are shining with admiration. "Master gii so strong giig." (Subordinate Goblin) I had to calm her down a little so she wouldn''t freak out. Now that everything is done I sit down to get some rest as I am exhausted for the third time today. Ding! <[ New martial art created successfully ]> . <[ Name Your Martial Art ]> It looks like the training effect was better than expected, but I have to think of a name for it. Hmmmm "(I''ll put the same name I had in my game, I''ll name it Fist of Chaos.)" (me) Ding! Ding! <[ You learned the self-created skill: ? [ Martial Art Fist of Chaos: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the title: ? [ Founder of the Fist of Chaos ] ]> Let me identify that title and skill. <[ Title identification result: [ Founder of the Fist of Chaos ]--> Title given to the one who created the martial art of the Fist of Chaos. A combat-focused martial art that takes into account the style of those who use it and can be adapted to countless different styles. Extremely rare martial art made to face both monsters and people. BONUS: (2x) the power of the Fist of Chaos abilities. ]> <[ Skill identification result: [ Martial Art Fist of Chaos: 1 ]--> martial art created by Zenos, a martial art that can be used with or without any type of energy. (+5) increase in strength, dex,terity, and agility per skill level. ]> It seems that I used mana during training without realizing it, both the skill and the title made me much stronger, with the skill it will be easier to train the martial art now. Chapter 20: Dangerous world and identifying skills Now it''s dark and I stop all my training, finally, all that''s left is to use [Identify: 1] to see my passive abilities and leave it until tomorrow morning to see my Active abilities. <[ Skills identification result: [ Leech: 5 ]--> racial bloodsucking ability, increase bloodsucking speed, an ability that all races that feed mainly on blood have. Recovers HP and STM with ingested blood. [ Leech Belly: 7 ]--> racial skill that allows you to store 2 times the weight of the owner of the food skill in the stomach. [Weak Hunger Resistance: 1 ]--> Ability that gives a little help to the owner to last longer without food without weakening. [ Weak resistance to paralysis: 6 ]--> small increase for resistance to any type of paralysis. [ Weak Resistance to Poison: 4 ]--> small increase for resistance to all poisons. [ Weak Resistance to physical damage: 3 ]--> small increase for resistance to physical attacks. (+2) in defense for each skill level. [ Weak Blood Elemental Affinity: 1 ]--> Small increase in power, control and decreases element cost. [ Weak mana sense: 5 ]--> ability to sense mana. [ Weak Affinity with Curse: 1 ]--> Small increase in power, control and decreases curse cost. [ Meditation: 4 ]--> helps to get into meditation state faster. During meditation, the MP and STM recover faster. [ Low Fire Resistance: 1 ]--> Small increases resistance to fire element. [ Reinforce weak subordinates: 1 ]--> small increase in subordinates'' stats. (+1) for all subordinate stats by skill level. [ Improved sexual stamina: 1 ]--> increases libido, increases stamina during sex. [ Weak body reinforcement (legs): 1 ]--> small reinforcement in leg power. [ Enhanced Hearing: 1 ]--> Increases the skill owner''s hearing ability allowing them to join things farther apart and more clearly. [ Weak body reinforcement (exoskeleton): 1 ]--> small increase in exoskeleton hardness. [ Enhanced Nose: 1 ]--> Increases the ability to smell more detailed and farther away. [ Mana Control: 3 ]--> Increases the ability to control Mana. [ Group Coordination: 1 ]--> Increases ability to coordinate together with a group more efficiently. [ Low Wind Elemental Affinity: 1 ]--> Small increase in power, control and decreases element cost. [ Trap Construction: 1 ]--> Increases the speed of building and setting traps. [ Improved Strength: 1 ]--> Increases strength stat. Strength (+2) for each skill level [ Weak Dark Elemental Affinity: 1 ]--> Small increase in power, control and decreases element cost. [ Martial Art Fist of Chaos: 1 ]--> martial art created by Zenos, a martial art that can be used with or without any type of energy. (+5) increase in strength, dexterity, and agility per skill level. ]> I didn''t want to see the Language type skills because the names are already self-explanatory, I forgot that I had already finished checking my martial art skill and checked it again. I seem to be able to identify all of my passive abilities, but I have a headache from too much information. Looking at my abilities I can see how each one of them works for me, their explanations are simple but their effects are evident. In all the games I created in my old life, passive abilities always had simple powers but they built up to an incredible level, and I can see that it''s the same in this world. Now that I''ve just checked my passive skills I''m going back to my magic training, to level up [ Weak Mana Sense: 5 ] and [ Mana Control: 3 ]. First I sit cross-legged on my bed and put my hands on my knees, then clear my mind, synchronize my breathing with my heartbeat, and calm my emotions. Soon I fell into deep meditation and started focusing my mind on the mana inside me, and I started moving it through my body changing speed and direction continuously, I did this for three hours before I started to lose focus and then I stopped the training. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak mana sense: 5 > 6] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Mana Control: 3 > 4 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Meditation: 4 >5 ] ]> "(I managed to regain my energy during meditation but my mind is throbbing. )" (me) After stopping my meditation I lie on my bed and stare at the hole in the ceiling to see the starry sky, this has become a habit for me. As I looked at the sky I thought about what to do now, then it came to my mind that I don''t have a knife but I do have two swords, I think I''ll train with the sword tomorrow. Since I''ve decided what I''m going to do tomorrow, I decide to go to sleep, I look to the side and see that my subordinate has already gone to bed early today. If I remember correctly, in the description of the title of [Named Monster] it said that the name gives power to the one who receives the name and also increases the link that exists between the one who nominates and the one who is named, I think I''ll try to name my subordinate tomorrow, but I have to think of a name that suits her. I''m already very tired, I''ll leave it to think of a name for her tomorrow, I''m going to sleep since I have a lot of things to do tomorrow. Zzzzz... zzzzzzzz... Zzzzzzzzzzz... ----------------- "Master gi wake up, wake up master gi" (Subordinate Goblin) "Hmmm..." (me) "But three...minutes." (me) "Train master giig" (Subordinate Goblin) "Already got up." (me) "Good Morning." (me) "Good giig master." (Subordinate Goblin) I wake up the next day with my subordinate calling me to train, she realizes that we have to train every day to make ourselves stronger. I get up and go rinse my mouth and eat some meat, then go to my Minor and spend two hours talking to her about the cave and she tells me something shocking I haven''t had the heart to ask until now. "Why doesn''t any...Goblin lie....with...you?" (me) "They gii like adventurous girls, gii tied up in gii cave." (Subordinate Goblin) What she told me makes sense, goblins are known in the games and romances of my world as a race with a strong libido and strong reproductive capacity, female Goblins are rare so Goblins kidnap females of other races and **** them to breed. "How many girls...have there?" (me) "Having three gii girls when ig gii meet master" (Subordinate Goblin) She says there were three girls a few days ago, they must still be alive but their mental state will surely be destroyed. Hmmmm This is another reminder to me that this is not a game or fantasy story of a hero versus a demon king, this is a real-world, and a very dangerous world where if you are not strong enough you have no one with whoever tells you is at the mercy of those who are stronger than you. It''s a shame what happened to them, but this is an opportunity for me, their minds must already be damaged and they must only want to die now, with this state I can try to use my ability to make them become my servants as I did with my current subordinate. This world is dangerous, and alone I will only be in more danger, I must get some allies and I cannot afford to miss any opportunity just because it might be considered wrong by others. All I can do if I can bring them to my side is treat them well and help them get stronger. With that decided, I go with my subordinate to the morning physical training of a hundred push-ups, a hundred sit-ups, and a hundred squats. After the training while she and I catch our breath we start talking and I tell her to give me more information on the location of the Goblin Cave and how big this cave is. She tells me that the cave is at the foot of a stone wall, it also has two other branches inside the cave and one of those branches is where they leave the women they kidnap. The cave from what she said is not far from here, it must be about an hour or two walking from here. I spent a few hours talking to her and got another important piece of information, most goblins leave the cave every morning to go hunting and only start coming back in the middle of the day, if they catch something if they don''t just come back in the middle of the afternoon. The Goblins that stay in the cave during the day are just the old men and the children, the old men stay to teach the children and feed the prisoners. It looks like there''s a river near the cave too and because of that they just have to worry about the food. Knowing all this, I start to come up with a plan for how to finish them all in one day. All I have to do is wait for most of them to come out hunting, so I''m going to invade and kill those who stay in the cave, then I just have to set traps and wait for them to come back tired of the hunt and ambush everyone and kill them, that would be a good plan, but first I need more detailed information on the terrain and its numbers so as not to leave any loose ends. Chapter 21: Ibuki After talking to my subordinate, I will check my active skills with [ Identify: 1 ??]. <[Result of skill identification: [ Leech Bite: 5 ]--> racial ability that takes a bite capable of tearing a small piece of skin and flesh off the target. COST: 1 STM [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 5 ]--> causes some weak Paralyzing Poison to secrete which initially causes numbness and accumulating more instances of weak Paralyzing Poison causes the target to paralyze for a short time. COST: 1 STM [ Poor blood detection: 2 ]--> detects blood in a small area. COST: 2 STM [ Swim: 1 ]--> speed up during swimming. COST: 2 STM [Weak venom secretion: 4 ]--> secretes a small amount of weak venom from saliva, teeth, and claws. COST: 1 STM [Weak Blood Control: 1 ]--> Allows and increases control of the blood element. COST: 3 MP [ Aura of judgment: 1 ]--> judge whether the target is an ally or an enemy. Enemy: All stats decreased by 2% per skill level. Ally: All stats increased by 2% per skill level. Submission: forces the target to choose to be an ally or an enemy, by choosing to be an ally the target becomes the owner''s subordinate. Choosing to be the owner''s enemy increases the effect of control and slavery abilities. The moment the target submits, all wounds, illnesses, curses, and disabilities are healed with the owner''s energy. COST: 10 MP [ Poor recovery: 3 ]--> poor recovery from physical damage such as cuts, bruises, puncture wounds, and stagnant blood. COST: 2 STM [ Thread production: 5 ]--> produces a strong silk thread that comes out of the mouth or fingers. COST: 1 STM/MP [ Sticky thread production: 6 ]--> produces a strong sticky thread that comes out of the mouth or fingers. COST: 1 STM/MP [ Line control: 6 ]--> uses mana to control lines, lower cost for owner-produced lines. COST: 1 MP [Weak Body Charge: 1 ]--> boosts and channels all running power to the target the owner collides with. COST: 5 MP [ Jump: 3 ]--> Increase jump height. COST: 1 STM [ Low Fire Puff: 3 ]--> releases a flame from the owner''s mouth for a short distance. COST: 2 MP [ Poison spit: 3 ]--> spit poison for a short distance. COST: 2 STM [ Snake scale production: ]--> produces snake scales by the owner''s body. COST: 20 STM [ Body Manipulation: 1 ]--> Allows owners to manipulate and control their own body using mana. COST: 2 MP [ Corrosion: 2 ]--> allows the owner to corrode everything it touches using mana. COST: 1 MP every 2 seconds [ Detect Weak Presence: 2 ]--> Allows owner to sense all creatures'' normal auras for a short distance. COST: 2 MP [ Wolf Claw: 1 ]--> infuses the Mana owner''s claws/nails which increases the hardness, cut, and length of the claw/nail. COST: 5 MP [ Blood Servant: 1 ]--> uses the owner''s HP to force a target into bondage to the owner. The bond with the owner becomes stronger along with the skill level. The ability only takes effect if the owner submits the target with a stronger will. The slave cannot harm or harm the owner. The slave becomes more and more loyal to the owner. Slavery can only be taken away by the owner. The slave has to obey the owner. COST: 20 HP every five seconds. ]> Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Identify: 1 ??> 2 ] ]> Again all this information popping into my head at once is making my head hurt, I need a few seconds to process all this information. There were some abilities that he couldn''t use or that he used to a limited extent before, but now he would be able to show his full power. An example of this is [ Wolf''s Claw: 1 ], an ability that I was unable to use before because I didn''t have claws or arms, but now I who have arms and claws can use this ability to its fullest. The line type skills have also become easier to use as I can use it with my fingers now this gives me the chance to maybe use it on all fingers at the same time this will make it quicker and easier to grip an enemy even if it costs five times as much, it will count. Some skills do exactly what I thought they would like with [ Corrosion: 2 ], [ Fire Breath: 3 ], the two detection skills, etc. Now the skill [ Blood Servant: 1 ] surprised me a lot, it''s a slavery-type skill, I can force others to obey me. I can use this ability with the two Goblin prisoners, if I use it together with the ability [ Aura of judgment: 1 ] I can maybe increase the chances of making them submit to me and at the same time heal their wounds as I did with my subordinate current. With a plan already in place, I go to the other side of the room and practice my martial arts for two hours, I''m more and more familiar with the strikes and how to move, all I need to do now is remove the useless moves I''ve been doing as I move. I was only able to notice these useless moves because of the animations I was doing to test the martial art in my old world, my moves are a little different from the model I used in the animation. Once I remove all these useless moves I should be able to move faster and my punches will be more accurate. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ Stamina stat increased by 1 point ]> . . <[ Strength stat increased by 1 point ]> . . <[ Agility stat increased by 1 point ]> "There is?" (me) "(What is this?)" (me) Hmmm... After thinking a little bit I was able to understand what was happening, it should be obvious, like in any other world if you train continuously you become stronger, faster and your stamina increases along with training, it means that in this world the training results are more apparent and translate as points in the stats that were trained. Knowing this is a big advantage, after all, I could have let basic information like that go unnoticed by me and just trained my skills like in games, it seems that even knowing that this world is not a game I have more compared its similarities with one, I have let obvious things go unnoticed, I have to correct that kind of thinking. Knowing this I stop my training and pick up another sword and spend a few hours training the same training as my subordinate with horizontal and vertical cuts to get used to holding and moving with a sword. Now when I rest I decide to go towards my subordinate who is lying on the floor resting too, it''s time to name her, I spent all morning thinking about what to name her, and finally, I chose a suitable name. "I want to name you." (me) "..." (Subordinate Goblin) When I told her that I wanted to give her a name, she started crying nonstop, and then she started smiling as she cried. "Thank you gii master, thank you, thank you, giig thank you..." (Subordinate Goblin) She started to thank me a lot, probably a name must be something very important to her after all so far she doesn''t have any. "Your name...be Ibuki" (me) When I said her name, all my MP and MTS emptied and left my body and entered my subordinate''s body, as soon as the last drop of energy entered her body she started to glow and a message appeared in my mind. Ding! <[ You named Goblin(Variant) Ibuki ]> . <[ The ties between you and Ibuki have strengthened ]> . <[ By giving a name to your subordinate you have the authority to give her a gift ]> . . <[ Choose the type of power you want to give: ? [ Ability ] ? [Lineage] ]> "(What''s going on?)" (me) "(Is this what happens when you name a monster?)" (me) I''ll leave that thought for later, apparently, I can give a gift along with the name to my Subordinate, I''ll choose a skill for the gift. Ding! <[ Choose the skill to be gifted ]> A list of all my skills popped into my mind, I was a little confused by all this information, but I could see a strange thing, there were more skills than I had. After checking everything I realized they were minor abilities like for example my ability [ Weak elemental affinity: 1 ], this skill had several minor abilities inside of it like [ Weak elemental affinity: 1 ], [ Weak death elemental affinity: 1 ], [ Weak Dark Elemental Magic Affinity: 1 ], [ ???? ], etc. It also seems that there is more than one energy since I saw [Weak shadows elemental magic Affinity: 1], [Weak shadows elemental spiritual Affinity: 1], and [Weak elemental shadows Ki Affinity: 1]. Probably if you don''t specify the energy in the skill it becomes a rarer skill that fits any energy. Hmmm... I thought for a while and since I want to train her to be an assassin I will choose to gift her with [ Weak shadow elemental affinity: 1 ]. Ding! <[ You chose to gift Ibuki with the ability: ? [ Weak shadows elemental affinity: 1 ] ]> As soon as I chose what to present to her the light surrounding her shone brighter and then went out, after the light went out and revealed Ibuki I could see that her appearance hadn''t changed much, but a tattoo appeared on her right shoulder that looked like with a dragon of different eyes one dark purple and one golden wrapped in a black crown with inlaid blood red stones. When she opened her eyes I could see a deep shadow at the back of her eyes, she turned to me and knelt. "Thank you gii master for granting gii name and power to Ibuki." (Ibuki) "Ibuki swears to be the gii master''s shadow gigii forever." (Ibuki) Chapter 22: Thoughts of a subordinate Ibuki Pov: The master told me it would evolve last night but I couldn''t believe what I saw when I woke up. He was a black-skinned, unwrinkled Goblin with short blood red hair, his eyes were the same dark purple eyes and the other golden, the marks that covered gas all over the master''s body now cover his back, chest, arms, and legs. The master was wearing no clothes and I could see how handsome the master was, I was completely fascinated by what I was seeing, I could feel my Goblin instincts screaming for me to jump on the master now, but I had to resist, I don''t want the master to hate me. I knew immediately that this Goblin was the master, after all, he is in the master''s bed and he has the same bizarre and chaotic presence that the master has. After I ran to eat something to try to calm my instincts the master started looking at various things in the base and when I looked after I could see he put on some clothes which is a relief for me, watching the master''s big gun was making it difficult control myself. The master gave me some clothes that were just like his, they didn''t have any holes and they didn''t smell bad either, I''m happy. While I was training to help the master and I saw the master make some strange moves and I decided to imitate, after a while it became more difficult to do that and I could see what these movements were, it was training for the body, I don''t know how it works. but the master is always right. I fell overtired with the master''s new training and when I woke up I picked up the sword again to resume my training, I had to be strong to help the master. During my training I would look at the master sometimes, I was more and more shocked by what I was seeing, the master was moving strangely but as time went by the master''s movements were getting faster and faster and the blows that thought it strange before they seemed dangerous now. After a while I stood still, forgot my training, and was completely hypnotized by the master, his punches were so strong and the master looked so handsome doing it, the master is as thin as me and he''s also shorter than me, but he looked so amazing now, he looks like the legendary warriors old Goblin told stories when I was a kid. After all this, I continued training and went to bed early as I was tired. Zzz... -------- The next day I got up early and saw that the master was still sleeping, I approached him and I watched him sleep, the master looks so cute and cute sleeping, I didn''t even realize I was starting to drool. I can''t go on like this I must be strong, I think about waking up the master so I don''t do anything with him while he sleeps. "Master wake up, wake up master." (me) "Hmmm..." (master) "But three...minutes." (master) "Train, let''s go master" (me) "Already got up." (master) "Good Morning." (master) "Good morning Master." (me) I don''t know how long I watched the master sleep, but it was dangerous, I did well to wake the master with the excuse of training, otherwise, I could have tried to take advantage of the master while he was sleeping, just the thought of it is dangerous for me, I have to control me. After I woke up the master, we went to eat and afterward we talked, the master told me that during his evolution he was named Zenos and I was very happy for the master. A name is a blessing for anyone, it strengthens us and gives us new evolutions. Everyone wants a name but only Kings have the authority to name, a being named becomes stronger faster and some great Kings have the authority to give some of their power to the one who is named. During the conversation the master asked many questions about the cave where my old family lived, I answered everything I could remember, so he asked me a question that made me sad. "Why doesn''t any...Goblin lie....with...you?" (master Zenos) "They gii like adventurous girls, gii tied up in gii cave." (me) My answer surprised the master, he didn''t know that Goblins need to capture other women to have children. I could see that the master was very interested in women adventurers, but his eyes are different from goblins, he is not thinking of them as mothers to his children, if you think about it women adventurers are strong, maybe the master wants them to serve him as well. me. This makes me happy, knowing that the master will have more people who like him and knowing that I will have more companions to help protect the master, the master will certainly attract a lot of people. Master be strong, handsome, wise and treat those who serve him well, I have to gather strong people for the master, strong Goblin must have many women to serve him, I will find strong women to serve master with me. After talking to the master we are going to do more of the training that the master was doing yesterday, I got really tired after the training. When training is over I''m too tired to move, so the master talks to me about where to stay Goblin Cave and I tell him everything I know. Mestre kept training yesterday''s dangerous moves and spent a lot of time training, when he finished he came to me and said. "I want to name you." (master) "..." (me) "(The master wants to give me a name?)" (me) I started to cry, I was so happy, a name means I will be linked to the master forever. "Thank you, master, thank you, thank you, thank you..." (me) I started to thank the master non-stop, it means everything to me, the master has been so good to me so far, I can''t understand what someone like me can do to thank the master for all this. "Your name...be Ibuki" (master) When the master said the name he chose to give me I couldn''t move, all I could feel was the presence of the master growing and involving my whole body, I felt the master''s power enter within me and for a few seconds I had the illusion of seeing a shadow with eyes of different colors equal to the master''s a dark purple eye and a golden one, the shadow looked at me as if it could see everything that I am. Around us everything was a mess of things, elements and energies were flowing everywhere without any order, but it was very beautiful, it was as if you hear some deep meaning in all this chaos. The shadow raised its hand and a kind of shadow concentrated in its hand until it formed a black jewel that approached me and placed it in front of me, then the jewel floated to me and entered my body, as soon as it entered my body I felt an incredible energy rush through me and a comforting warmth on my shoulder, after that the shadow said in the voice of the master. "I give you this power along with your name Ibuki" (shadow) After that everything disappeared and I could see that I was back to base and the master was in front of me, I knelt down and with all the determination and will I could find inside of me I said "Thank you, master, for granting name and power to Ibuki." (me) "Ibuki swears to be the master''s shadow forever." (me) Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You were named by [Blood Goblin: Zenos] as Ibuki ]> . . <[ You have been gifted with a Gift of Power by Zenos: ? [ Weak shadows elemental affinity: 1 ] ]> . . <[ You learned the skill: ? [ Self-improvement (subordination): 1 ] ? [ Self-improvement (loyalty): 1 ] ]> . . <[ You purchased the titles: ? [Monster Named] ? [True loyalty] ]> This power that the master has given me, I will use it to protect you. The master has done a lot for me, now I have to be strong enough to be useful to the master, I can''t continue to be the only one to receive everything from him and depend on him like that. The master wants to kill my old family and that''s fine with me, I was treated badly there, I had to eat strange plants and mushrooms that made me sick to survive, I only ate the little meat that others threw away and I was continually beaten and not end if not for the master I would have been used with bait and then killed. I have no feeling for them and if I had the power I would kill them all myself, it is a great relief to me that the master prefers to make the trapped adventurers his servants than the members of my old family, and luckier than he is planning to kill them all. The adventurers are stronger than the other Goblins, many died before they managed to capture those, one among them is strong and even after so long my family still resists, she would be a strong companion. Now I must dedicate myself more to training to be strong enough to help the master in his plan, I would like to kill some of them with my own hands. Chapter 23: The value of companions I was surprised by Ibuki''s overreaction, but knowing how the power a name represents for a monster I think I can understand why she''s acting like this. After naming her I''m exhausted, my head is aching and my body is weak, I tell her to get up and I''m going to lie down to rest now. Ibuki wasted no time and went straight to the sword resuming his training, I could see in his eyes that his determination became even stronger, giving her a name was more difficult than I expected, but it was worth it, I can tell just by looking for her that she admires and respects me, it''s not hard to say that she has become extremely loyal to me, that''s the most important thing for me. I don''t care about her current strength, I can train her and even help her evolve into a stronger race, but none of that will matter if at a critical moment she turns against me. The most important thing in this kind of world is not the power someone has, the most important is those who are close to you, no matter how strong someone is, if you fight an army at some point you will die to the waves of enemies or from the depletion of energy or carelessness caused by mental exhaustion, it can also happen that you die from poisoning or cursed or you can even be killed in your sleep if you keep people with ulterior motives around. What matters is who is around you, your friends, subordinates, slaves, family members, and companions. Regardless of their strength if they are loyal you will have the help that will be indispensable in a time of need, but if you only choose the people around you by their authority or power then you will be doomed, after all, no one can keep their guard up for time whole. "(Skills like mine [Blood Servant: 1 ] that serve to enslave may be useful in the short term, but I will have to earn their loyalty and respect for me in time.)" (me) The big difference between someone fighting or striving for obligation and fighting or striving of their own will when someone does something of their own volition, they can give their all and may even exceed their limits for what they believe in, now someone with no will he will have difficulties even to do the best he can. That''s why I''m glad my dear Ibuki seems to have become so loyal to me, it means I can trust her, and finally, I can give my all to train her once we move to the new base. With that resolved, I''m going to get back to the focus of what I should do after this rest. "Hmmmm..." (me) I think I''ll keep training with the sword for a few hours and then I''ll hunt something, our food supply is running out, I also have to complete my martial training, for that, I have to think of a way to fuse magical power in my body. Hmmm... ---------- After two hours of resting and getting my energy back, I get up to test something. Now that my abilities related to sensing and controlling magical power are at a level that I find acceptable, I''m going to start trying to get the mana out of my body and mold it into various shapes. I tried to do this and after a few minutes of controlling the mana inside me and I managed to make it go towards my right hand and get out of my palm, as soon as it worked I tried to control it, to help control I tried to imagine ways I tried to do it. he took it, after a few more minutes I had half of my MP, but I got it. Seeing that I was getting mana to follow my thoughts I tried to make the most basic of games and novels from my ancient world which is to use the magical power to strengthen the body, to start with I try to imagine a 3D form of myself in my mind and then using my biology knowledge to know where the muscles in this body are, with all that done I try to control my mana in small amounts to flow to all the muscles at the same time, this step is a bit complicated and it took me almost twenty minutes to try. and wrong as if I wasn''t careful I could damage my muscles as far as I know. When I finally got the right amount of Mana for the muscles I tried to make the mana I put into them integrate with them, as I did I felt a huge surge of power go through my whole body. Ding! <[ You have acquired the skill: ? [ Magical Body Reinforcement: 1 ] ]> It seems this is a skill that already exists, but it doesn''t matter how I start training my martial arts while I''m in this state of power, my punches and kicks have become stronger and faster, now to complete I use the mana inside my body and expel it from my body through my blows, this makes each blow I make a small explosion directed forward. I still don''t seem to be able to send waves of flying Mana with my punches as I used to win games, but that''s good enough, and as I test my explosive punches I fall to the ground with a lot of headache and all the muscles in my body screaming in pain. Ding! Ding! <[ New technique acquired: ? [ Explosive punch ] ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Mana Control: 4 > 5 ] ]> When I look at my MP is zero, it looks like I have to check the consumption of my new abilities. "Master gii be alright?" (Ibuki) It looks like Ibuki saw me fall during my training and was worried about me, she came running towards me with a serious face. "I''m fine....Ibuki" (me) I tell her I''m fine and then she keeps keeping me company until I recover, we spent the next two hours talking, when I could move again I told her we were going hunting and she went to get her sword and the net trap, I said for her to leave the net and follow me. --------- My body was still aching but we had to hunt before nightfall, it took thirty minutes since we left the ruins and reached the forest and finally found a monster. The monster we found was a Gray Wolf, I told Ibuki to back off that I would fight him, I wanted to test my newly learned martial art against him, more than the training I need battle experience to improve faster. After Ibuki walked away I wanted to take the first blow, but as I get close, a breeze of air passes me towards the Gray Wolf and he notices me by the smell. Wasting no time he attacks me first and I dodge spinning to his side using the footwork I trained from my martial art, I position myself and I punch him in the rib hearing a sound of something breaking, he howls in pain and tries to get me to hit with its claws that are shining and I had no time to dodge so I elbowed the side of the wolf''s paw making him miss the blow, following the movement of turning the body that I used to elbow with my left arm. a punch to the side of the wolf''s head just bolstering my right arm muscles with mana, I could hear the wolf''s skull bones crack and he fell to the ground with bloody eyes and ears. After defeating the Gray Wolf I quickly bit his neck and drank his blood as fast as I could, I must get this body to the base before the other wolves come towards their mate''s howl. Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 6 EXP from killing Gray Wolf ]> . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Gray Wolf: 38% > 53% ] ]> I grabbed the body and carried it on my back running to the base, Ibuki didn''t understand why he was running after defeating the wolf but he followed me without saying anything and when we were almost reaching the ruins we heard a lot of howling coming from the direction I defeated the wolf, luckily before reaching us we finally made it to base, upon entering base I push some boxes to cover the entrance just in case. Ibuki looked scared by this event, but for me I expected, wolves to be creatures that walk in groups, and when a wolf howls it''s usually a warning of its position and it can mean there''s food or danger nearby, as I''ve known since mine. Old mute because of the research I did, I hurried and drank all of his blood to leave an as little trail as possible so his group wouldn''t track us. One thing I discovered after evolving is that these ruins smell like blood all over the place, so it''s going to be hard for them to track us down here. I call Ibuki to eat and then go to my bed to start my magic training again, now that I''ve raised my level a little [Weak sense mana: 6 ] I don''t need to meditate all the time to feel mana. I sit cross-legged and concentrate on the energies flowing inside me, after feeling my mana I take it in my hand and make it leave my body and I keep training it making it mold itself into various shapes to increase my control. I do this training for an hour and a half until my mind is heavy, then I stop and go to bed early. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak mana sense: 6 > 7 ] ]> Chapter 24: Invasion part 1 - Recognition Upon waking up the next day I get up and call Ibuki to wake her up too, we''re going to eat some wolf meat and then go to morning training of a hundred push-ups, a hundred sit-ups, and a hundred squats. While Ibuki catches his breath after morning training I''m going to make preparations for today''s recon, I went to bed early yesterday so I could get up before dawn today to get to the Goblin cave before they started out hunting. After a few minutes of rest Ibuki gets up and we start to pack some things for us to prepare for recognition. I use my claws to pull out small pieces of the wolf''s meat and after I''ve made a small bunch of them I use [Low Fire Puff: 3 ] several times to roast the meat, after that, I wait a few minutes to cool and separate it into two portions. I put it on a piece of cloth from the clothes that I''ve ripped off parts that were still usable, then tie the top of the cloth with my thread to make a small makeshift bag that I teach Ibuki to fasten around his waist to his rope belt. With food to spend the day we drink some water before heading out and head towards the forest, I ask Ibuki to guide me to the Goblin cave and along the way he used [ Detect Weak Presence: 2 ] to dodge creatures along the way, I didn''t want to fight today. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Detect Weak Presence: 2 > 3 ] ]> It took an hour and thirty minutes to get close to the cave and it was already starting to dawn, when we got close enough to see the cave I tell Ibuki to stop and start studying the surrounding area, after studying the area for a few minutes I call Ibuki to follow me and we head towards a group of trees that are on the right side of the cave near the wall. Once there I start climbing the tree along with Ibuki, this tree is not the tallest but it has the most foliage for both of us to hide, it is also tall enough for me to see the cave and the surrounding area in detail, I chose a thicker branch for us to stand on and sat with Ibuki beside me. The suns had already risen over the horizon and some Goblins are starting to wake up, I looked and saw that the cave had a small flimsy wall around it with a three-foot-wide gate, and four simple huts made of branches, leaves, and vines that must be where they sleep, Ibuki had already told me that there are three rooms inside the cave. One room is for the prisoners, the other is for the corpses they store to eat, and the last one is where they throw all the things they find such as glowing stones, equipment from adventurers they''ve killed or captured, and the cores of monsters they kill or Goblins evolved that died. And the four cabins were the rooms where the goblins slept, there were more than forty Goblins before but after I had killed so many there must be a little more than thirty of them. I asked Ibuki not to make any noise and we also avoided talking so as not to draw any attention, I could see that after getting up the goblins went to get pieces of meat inside the cave and came back outside, I could see a Goblin wearing a very torn and stained tunic and also holding a staff with a monster skull on the end, this Goblin looked old and if I judge by his appearance must be some kind of wizard, as soon as he woke up he started waking up all the goblins who were still sleeping. It looked like he was the head of the group, as soon as everyone woke up they ate something and I saw two other evolved Goblins, one with a sword and the other with two knives, the one with the sword was the same as the one I killed before, so it must be one Barbarian Goblin the other is thin and looks smarter than the sword he also moves fast from what I''m seeing from here, as soon as these two get their guns they start yelling at the other Goblins something I can''t quite hear from this distance, soon they join each group of seven and another often and go out to hunt, the other Goblins divide into groups of two or three and go hunting too, in the end only the Goblin mage, five goblin children and two adult Goblins remain in the cave. ---------- Time passed and it''s already mid-afternoon, I''ve been here most of the day and I was dumbfounded by what happened, the wizard Goblin brought the five children together for what Ibuki once called teaching and made them start fighting, one of The kids got a stone in the head and the Goblin wizard started yelling something to the other kids while pointing at him and then the kids ran over and started eating the kid on the ground, I asked Ibuki about it in a whisper. "Why... did they kill a child?" (me) "He gii very hurt he can''t gii heal." (Ibuki) "Elder teaches gii to kill worthless people." (Ibuki) It seems that not even children are innocent among Goblins, in the middle of the afternoon after this event the goblins started to return, they arrived separated with a time difference of twenty minutes to forty minutes between their arrivals, all came back injured, some with scratches and others with deep wounds, most groups returned with food some with Horned Rabbits, Kobolds or a Gray Wolf that was caught by the group with ten Goblins. After they arrived the branch gates that had been closed after they went hunting opened and after everyone arrived it was closed again. When all the Goblins ate something the ones that were badly wounded went to the huts and the ones that were still well enough entered the cave, at the time I didn''t understand why, but after a few seconds I started to hear softly echoing female screams coming out. from the cave, I can finally understand what''s going on there. Ding! <[ You have acquired the skill: ? [ Mental disorder: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Mental disorder: 1 > 2 ] ]> My stomach was churning with revulsion that I knew now what they were doing, I wouldn''t be able to control my anger if it continued here so I went back before nightfall to base. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Mental disorder: 2 > 3 ] ]> On the way, I met three Horned Rabbits that I quickly killed using my lines that came out of the tips of the five fingers of my right hand to tie them all so holding my rage not to kill them personally I tell Ibuki to kill them so she can increase her EXP more. Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 8 EXP for Horned Rabbit kills by party member ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Sticky Line Production: 6 > 7 ] ]> We brought the Horned Rabbits and threw them in the corner, I went to my bed and stared at the hole in the ceiling watching the sunset while I''m sitting cross-legged. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Mental disorder: 3 > 4 ] ]> I can''t calm my anger so far, I may not be a good person, after all, I plan to enslave those women too but I would never force someone like that, I would never do what those Goblins are doing, even I have some limits on what I would do to survive and that is one of those limits. Tomorrow I''m going to start my attack on them as soon as the hunters leave, I''m not letting any of them out alive, I''m going to tear this whole place apart. "Soothe master gii hard to breathe." (Ibuki) "There is?" (me) I turn to Ibuki only to see her kneeling on the floor shaking, I can''t understand why until I hear the notification. Ding! <[ You have acquired a new skill: ? [ Intimidation: 1 ] ? [Aura of chaos: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Mental disorder: 4 > 5 ] ]> I realized that my anger was such that I was releasing it to my Aura and startled Ibuki, quickly thought about turning off the ability, and then Ibuki stopped shaking. " Sorry" (me) I lost control without realizing it, I must be more careful from now on, I breathe deeply and try to calm my emotions with meditation. ----------- Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Meditation: 5 > 6 ] ]> After hours of meditation I finally calmed down enough not to lose control again, that''s not going to be the only thing that will infuriate me in this world. I need to stay calm so I don''t lose control tomorrow during the invasion, tomorrow I''ll meet the girls too, and I need to keep my composure. Before going to bed I''m going to roast and cut the meat of these Horned Rabbits for tomorrow morning, then I call Ibuki who was still training while I was meditating, and tell her to go to sleep. I go to my bed and lie looking at the starry sky through the hole in the ceiling, it has become my habit in this world, to reflect on things looking at the starry sky. There are so many things to think about, one of them is how should I treat girls afterward? I''m not saving them to free, I''m saving them to enslave, I can make excuses of idealism that I will treat them well and with respect but in the end, I''m taking away their right to choose. But it''s the only plan I have, they will be of great help as a source of information in this world and will also be of help when I need information or any item within cities. Victory is already decided, the plan is flawless, all I have to do now is go to sleep and wake up early tomorrow. Chapter 25: Invasion part 2 - Attack The next day I woke up at dawn to again arrive at the Goblin Cave before dawn and position myself for the attack. First of all, I have to identify some things I forgot yesterday due to my altered emotional and mental state. <[ Skills identification result: [ Chaos Aura: 1 ]--> Ability that allows you to use and control the Aura. Strengthens all Aura-type abilities. Your Aura has the unique characteristic of chaos, you can corrupt, purify and/or awaken. Corrupt: Able to corrupt a weak mind to submit to the owner, able to consume the target''s negative emotions and thoughts to demonize the target, demonized targets become bonded to the owner. Purify: Able to clear the target of anything the owner wants, what has been purified converts to the energy that can strengthen the target. Awaken: The owner can force his Aura into a target and awaken feats, power, ability, title, job, race, and/or bloodline that are dormant or sealed. [ Magic body boost: 1 ]--> Strengthens the body with magic power (mana). (+5) in Strength and Agility per skill level. (+10) to Magic Defense per skill level. COST: 10 MP per minute [ Intimidate: 1 ]--> Uses and amplifies the owner''s power or Aura to intimidate the target. Intimidate lowers the target''s mental toughness. Intimidating may slow or paralyze the target. Cost: 5 MP (or other energy) per second. [ Mental disorder: 5 ]--> Skill acquired by those who suffered severe trauma, the owner of the skill moves away from common sense, increases mental resistance, and resistance to psychic attacks. ]> "There is?" (me) "(Looks like I got another crazy skill, are all Unique skills all that crazy?)" (me) This ability seems to have very strong effects, it has both passive and active effects, and from what I could see I can control my Aura too, maybe the adventurers know something. Now the skill [Mental Disturbance: 5] worries me, it has a good effect but it looks like it''s a skill for someone who''s going crazy. My body reinforcement and intimidation skills do exactly what I expected. Now let me see the technique system that was unlocked yesterday. <[ Techniques: [ Martial Art Fist of Chaos: 1 ]: ? [Explosive punch] ]> I only have one technique, for now, I will have time to train others after I move my base to the cave, but this technique will be useful for today''s plan. Now that I''ve checked everything I start making some preparations and then I''ll wake up Ibuki, as soon as she wakes up we eat something and head towards the cave, when we get to the forest I''m using [ Detect weak presence: 3 ] to dodge the monsters. When we finally reach the cave, I hand the hammock to Ibuki and point to a tree branch that goes inside the camp walls. "Go there, I kill old Goblin, you net on adult Goblins." (me) "Yes master, I gii understand." (Ibuki) Seeing that she understands I go to another tree and climb on top of it to a branch that goes inside too, yesterday I noticed that the Goblin mage sits here, on the big rock under the shade of this tree to teach the children. I intend to wait for him to sit on the big rock in the shade of that tree and attack him by surprise killing him in one blow. -------- After hours of waiting I could see the Goblins wake up and split into groups until finally, all the Goblins were out hunting, I waited probably over an hour to make sure they were all away and seeing that the Goblin mage was screaming at a Goblin child I prepare myself. To make sure I kill him in one blow I will use my martial arts technique [Explosive Punch] to blow his head off. I took advantage of the fact that the old Goblin was still distracted yelling at one of the children and I used [Magic Body Reinforcement: 1] on my two arms and prepared to use the [Explosive punch] on both arms at the same time, a punch will be for the old man Goblin and the other will be on the kids that are nearby. When all my preparations were done I jumped off the branch punching the old Goblin''s head, but just as I was going to hit the target a transparent blue barrier appeared and when I hit it and the explosion happened it was destroyed but the old Goblin was still intact, without missing this opportunity I punch with the other hand that was already prepared for the technique and this time I hit his head blowing it up with a blow. Ding! <[ You gained 10 EXP from killing Goblin Mage ]> When I fall to the ground in a bad position due to the two explosions I see that the children are in shock by the sudden event, but as soon as one of the children grabbed a stone and ran towards me the others did the same. I quickly used my threads to wrap the kids and then I used [ Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 5 ] to immobilize all five kids and then I start looking for Ibuki and see she''s using her sword to pierce the two adult Goblins she''s trapped in the net that I poisoned earlier. Ding! <[ You gained 7 EXP for killing Goblins by party member ]> "Ibuki come, kill them." (me) I waited until Ibuki killed the two adult Goblins and called her to kill the kids too, so she''s closer to evolution. When she gets closer I can see a smile on her face, it looks like she is happy killing all the Goblins from her old family, she must hate them all a lot, when she got there she started the massacre of children, it''s sad to kill children and not I''ll make excuses that it''s okay for them to be monsters, but there was no way I could take care of them and I couldn''t release them in the forest as they can tell some other Goblin family about it, Ibuki already warned me that their family was not the only one in the forest. the forest was only the closest to the ruins. Ding! <[ You gained 13 EXP for killing Goblins by party member ]> With everything ready I feel relieved but I go from hut to hut to see if no wounded Goblin is left behind to recover, and in the third hut I find a Goblin with a deep claw wound, he is already dead from blood loss, it seems that the other Goblins haven''t noticed that their mate is dead, otherwise he would have become food too. After checking everything I''m in no hurry, I start sucking blood from the eight corpses so their scent doesn''t attract other monsters. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leech: 5 > 6 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leech Belly: 7 > 8 ]> . . . <[ You have learned the following skills from Goblin Mage: ? [ Magic without basic attributes: 1 ] ? [ Basic Wind Magic: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the titles of Goblin Mage: ? [ Newbie Wizard ] ? [ Goblin Chief ] ]> There is? Once again I was surprised, I seem to get titles from those I eat too, I''ll leave that to think later, Ibuki came back from the cave, it seems that while I was dragging the corpses she went to check if there were any more Goblins inside. "Find more enemies?" (me) "No master gii Zenos." (Ibuki) "Show cave." (me) I ask her to show me the cave and let''s go there, when I arrive I see that just like the rest of the camp is dirty and stinks, the stink inside is much worse than the one outside. Ibuki points to a tunnel on the right after entering the cave, there is a door made of branches in the middle of the tunnel so I don''t know its size. "Weapons and treasure gii conquered." (Ibuki) It looks like it''s the room they use to store the equipment, weapons, and other objects they stole from the adventurers, we kept walking and soon I could see another tunnel to the left this time, with the same branch door, Ibuki pointed there and said. "Prisoners stay gii there." (Ibuki) So this is where they are, I hold myself back from going there, I have to continue, I need something before I go see them and I hope I can find it here. We keep walking and once again I see a third tunnel which is also on the left, it has the same branch door, Ibuki points there and then forward into the cave. "There to store gigi food." (Ibuki) "And there gii has no way out." (Ibuki) It looks like the cave ends a little further on. I go towards the branch door of the third tunnel and enter, as soon as I enter I see flesh and bones and a lot of blood everywhere, it''s disgusting but I have to find something here. I hold my mouth to keep from throwing up and recover from my nausea before telling Ibuki to watch the gate and let me know if other Goblins arrive early, even though I know they''ll take a while to get back, it doesn''t hurt to be careful. As soon as Ibuki left to guard the gate I started looking at each corpse one by one, I did this for about thirty minutes before I found what I wanted. Chapter 26: Invasion part 3 - New companions What I was looking for was a human corpse, I knew the Goblins would leave them with the rest of their food, so I came here first, I hope to get a language skill by eating human flesh so I can communicate with the prisoners. But it looks like I''m going to have a prisoner unless I bring it to my side because I didn''t just find one corpse but two, one is a man who had more than seventy percent of his body eaten and the other corpse is a young woman from long brown hair and fair skin, she has many wounds and bruises on her body and apart from one of her arms that was almost completely devoured, the other limbs of her body are broken, they must have done it so she doesn''t run away, after all, I doubt that they have ropes or chains to hold the girls, but the worst thing is her stomach, from the size it''s obvious she was pregnant, probably by the Goblins. Poor girl, I''m sorry for what I''m going to do now but I need a human language skill. All I can do is bury his bones after eating the meat and pray for his soul, I knelt down and used my claws to cut pieces of meat and eat them, I ate all the man''s flesh and the woman''s two legs when I was no longer able to eat anything else I kneel on the floor and bend over until my forehead touches the floor and I say in English. "I thank you for your flesh and pray for your soul, I promise I will kill every other Goblin that returns from the hunt." (me) Ding! Ding! <[ You have learned the following human skills: ? [ Common language: 1 ] ? [ Trigan Language: 1 ] ? [ Basic sword handling: 1 ] ? [ Basic boom handling: 1 ] ? [ Fire magic elemental affinity: 1 ] ? [ Basic Fire Magic: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following titles: ? [ Newbie adventurer ] ]> . . <[ You are not compatible with other titles ]> I''ve gained a lot of skills and a title, but I''m not going to check them out now, I don''t know when the Goblins will come back from the hunt and I have to maintain my condition as much as possible. I leave the food warehouse and sit in the cave''s main tunnel and meditate for a few minutes to regain my mana, then I prepare to enter where the prisoners are. I walk slowly to the first branch on the left as I enter the cave and open the door, as soon as I enter I realize it''s worse than I imagined. There were two women inside, one caught my attention, she was a woman with dark skin, light blue eyes and long white hair, she had a little fur on her arms, legs and back the same white color as her hair, she had a dog tailor should I say wolf and wolf ears, she was of the well-known race of the fantasy worlds of my old world, she is of the race of Man-Beasts. I looked at the other one and she was human she looked young, probably sixteen or seventeen, she has curly dark brown hair and white skin. Their condition is the same as the one I saw in the Goblins food warehouse, their four limbs are broken and they are naked with bruises and scratches all over their bodies, the human''s eyes are unfocused and she doesn''t even look at me she it looks like a broken doll doesn''t even try to move, the wolf girl is the complete opposite, she has been watching me with determined and bright eyes that I didn''t expect from someone in her position and who has been through such a major trauma for so long. This reaction caught me completely off guard, but it helped me to regain my composure, I stayed all this time at the door looking at them without moving, I didn''t notice the time pass while I saw such a miserable situation, I didn''t realize how much it shook me, but now I have regained my composure. It''s a little dark in here, unlike the rest of the cave which has glowing moss which helps with dim lighting, there''s none of the moss here, there are little holes in the roof that come out that are big enough to stick my arm in. Thinking it''s too dark I see a pile of rags that must be Goblin clothes, I go over there and use [ Low Fire Puff: 3 ] to burn and make a small fire to brighten up space in this room. " you?" (wolf woman) "..." (me) "What " (wolf woman) Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Common language: 1 > 2 ] ]> "I you, kill " (wolf woman) "If you can , a finish all of you." (wolf woman) "..." (me) "Don''t give up." (wolf woman) Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Common language: 2 > 3 ] ]> "You can with me." (wolf woman) "But the break will. " (wolf woman) "Let''s something ." (wolf woman) "..." (me) Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Common language: 3 > 4 ] ]> The wolf woman started screaming at me expressing all the anger and hate she felt and I stood there waiting for her to calm down, but I was surprised, her language reminded me of the languages ??of my old world but it was just that there were many mixed languages, it was like someone had I taken several languages ??and put it in the blender and turned it on, the result is this Language, while she''s screaming and complaining I''m studying her language which seems like a good decision as to the more I understand and decipher the language the more the skill levels up. , I knew some languages ??in my world as a lot of my research was in foreign languages ??and it seems that the difficulties I had at the time learning those languages ??were worth it now. "What is your name?" (me) "..." (wolf woman) When I asked her name in her language she made a face of amazement and shock, it seems she didn''t expect me to speak her language, but she quickly recovers. "Who is ?" (wolf woman) "Or should I what are you?" (wolf woman) "Myname is...Zenos." (me) "..." (wolf woman) She''s shocked again, it feels like it''s my name this time, her eyes sparkle with anticipation for a second. " being familiar with the mage?" (wolf woman) "I''m...unfamiliar...anyone." (me) Ding! <[ Her skill leveled up [ Common Language: 4> 5 ] ]> "Tell meyour name?" (me) "..." (wolf woman) "My name is Diana." (Diana) "Very wellDiana, I havea proposal foryou." (me) "Submitto me." (me) When I tell Diana to submit she reacts angrily and responds quickly by shaking her head and saying no. "No, no, no " (Diana) "Don''t...muse yourself, I won''t mistreat you...I want...loyal servants,....so...I...I say...you will....submit." (me) Ding! <[ Her skill leveled up [Common Language: 5> 6 ] ]> I activated my [ Blood Servant: 1 ] and [ Aura of Judgment: 1 ] abilities at the same time and not only felt all my magical power leave my body but my Aura expanded and the two covered me and Diana afterward. my blood came out of my pores and floated around the room. At first, she was shocked and panicked, then she got an expression of fear and confusion, I took the opportunity to attract her. "Serve me...I will give power...to you." (me) "Serve me and... I will give your revenge." (me) My words and the pressure of the two abilities seem like they were taking effect as her face changed from confusion to resolution in a few seconds. "I will serve a master." (Diana) "I body and to the master." (human girl) I think the human girl said something in a low voice, but I couldn''t immediately understand what it was because she wasn''t paying attention. When she said that something I didn''t expect happened, the magic power that left my body and my blood entered not only her body but also the other girl''s body as well, but it wasn''t just that I felt like my Aura was being attracted to the girl and felt my Aura enter her body along with my blood. In the end, my HP was only five because Diana absorbed my blood and MP, and the other human girl absorbed my blood and my Aura. But it was different this time I met Ibuki, Diana''s body started to glow in a light that was red in color and the weirdest thing was that of the other girl, her body started to burn with a black flame. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You have successfully submitted Diana (Beast Man) ]> . . <[ Diana submitted willingly and becomes her blood relative ]> . . <[ Empower Diana to complete the pact. ]> . . . <[ Erica (Human) has been successfully corrupted by her Aura ]> . . <[ Erica''s demonification is in process ]> . <[ Empower Erica to complete the transformation ]> Once again my mind fills with all kinds of power I have and I am still unable to use, I have to choose which power is best suited for both of them. hmmm I choose for Diana the skill that is integrated with my [ Chaos Aura: 1 ], the name of that skill is [ Wild Aura: 1 ] and for the other girl, it looks like her name is Erica, I''ll give the skill which is integrated with my [ Weak Affinity with Curse: 1 ], the name of this ability is [ Weak Affinity with Magical Curse: 1 ]. With that I finished choosing the powers of the two, the truth is I want this to end soon, I''m barely able to stand up I''m so exhausted. Ding! Ding! <[ The empowerment process has been completed ]> . . <[ Blood Servitude Pact has been completed ]> . . . <[ Demonic transformation completed ]> After it was all over the red light and black fire entered their bodies and their wounds healed, but I was shocked at their change. Chapter 27: Invasion part 4 - End of Invasion After all the red light and black fire were absorbed by their bodies I could see their bodies again. Diana was almost the same, but her body was healed, both her cuts and her bruises disappeared, her broken limbs had completely recovered and even the dirt on her body was gone, now I can see her appearance better and I see she has well-trained muscles all over. the body and a barrel slightly cracked of muscles, but still has feminine curves, she has medium-sized breasts, thin waist with wide hips, her height is six feet and is very tall, everything about her screams that she is a Warrior. Now her formerly all-white hair has a streak of red hair and her eyes have changed from light blue to golden. rica who once looked like a broken doll is the one who has changed the most, her dark brown hair has become completely black, her eyes that were once unfocused and black are now red and have malice and cunning inside them, her skin is no longer white and has become purplish-blue, she has big beautiful breasts with a slim waist and medium-sized hips, her height should be five feet six, a pair of bat wings and a thin black tail have grown from her back, on her head a pair of small white horns have just sprouted from her forehead and her ears have become pointed, her appearance is completely different from before, her wounds and limbs have healed like Diana. Suddenly the two get up and see their bodies and then without warning Diana''s eyes to start to water and rica is completely in tears and the two look at each other for a second and kneel at the same time. " tradition I in the name Fenrir kneel and swear to serve to of body and Zenos as my master." (Diana) "I swear to dedicate everything I , my body and mine to you Zenos, from now on I recognize you as my master." (rica) "..." (me) I don''t know what''s happening anymore, I wouldn''t even submit rica now, I wish I could recover before I did the same to her, it caught me off guard what happened to her forming a pact at the same time as Diana and I almost died from loss of blood. I''m also not able to understand why they got down on their knees and swore to serve me, I forced them to choose to serve me but for some reason, they seem happy about it. Ding! Ding! <[ You want to add rica (Demon) to your group ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> . . <[ You want to add Diana (Wolf Man) to your group ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> I decided to add the two of them to the group, and then I tell them to help me go to the first tunnel on the right as I enter the cave so they can choose clothes since they are still naked. Ding! Ding! [ Diana (Wolf Man) joined the group ] . . [ rica (Demon) joined the group ] Once I get to the items room I let them choose their clothes and go meditate to try to recover from this near-death, I don''t have to worry about either of them hurting me as I meditate because Erica is my slave and Diana is my familiar, so neither of them can harm me now. -------- It takes me hours to recover, like 30 minutes to recover my full mana and then more than 40 minutes to recover my STM, so I used [Weak Recovery: 3 ] until I ran out of STM to try to recover the blood I lost, then I went back to meditate for an hour before I was in top form again, but my stomach was empty again. Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Recovery: 3 > 4 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Recovery: 4 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Meditation: 5 > 6 ] ]> At the end of the meditation I open my eyes, as soon as I open I see the two girls sitting in front of me looking at me, Diana looks at me with awe and respect while rica looks at me with a look of fascination and happiness, I have no idea what because they are so opening up to me so easily, I was hoping they would hate me at first and I would have to build a relationship with them little by little, this situation can be beneficial to me but it is very confusing. "Let''s meet hermate." (me) "Yes my " (rica) " master Zenos." (Diana) We left the warehouse, the two chose their clothes, Diana''s is tight-fitting pants that go to the knee and a short sleeveless t-shirt that leaves her barrel visible and an open brown leather jacket, rica is wearing black shorts and the same jacket as Diana but hers is closed, they are both wearing brown boots, the weapons Diana chose are two rusty swords and rica has nothing on when I asked why she didn''t take it. a gun she said there was no magic wand here for her and hers broke when she was captured, I remembered old goblin''s wand out there and I plan to give it to her later. When arriving outside the cave the girls stop, it seems that after so long without seeing the light of day it takes a while to adapt to the light. Ibuki saw us and came towards us, the girls are on guard and ready to attack when I see a Goblin approaching, I raise my right hand to stop them and say. "She''s my subordinate, her... new mate... her name... Ibuki." (me) They relaxed after I told her she was a mate but were surprised when I said her name. When Ibuki gets closer I speak to her in Goblin language. "Master these gii be new servants?" (Ibuki) "Yesthey''re your companionsthis being Diana and this being rica." (me) I introduce both of them to Ibuki, then go to the tree where I killed the old Goblin and take her staff with a skull and take it back to give it to Erica. "Being from the... Goblin wizard." (me) "Thank you, master." (rica) After that I spend some time talking to the three of them talking and repeating in two languages ??what we are going to do, the plan is that the two will attack from behind the gate as soon as the Goblins pass through the entrance, Ibuki will stand on top of a tree with the net to play if it''s a group of more than three Goblins and I used [ Weak Poison Secretion: 4 ] on Diana''s and Ibuki''s swords and also on the net. We waited over three hours before the first group returned, which was composed of two Goblins, as they passed through the gate, one was pierced in the head and chest by Diana''s swords and the other was burned by rica''s fireball. Ding! <[ You gained 7 EXP for killing Goblins by party members ]> ----------- We spent the rest of the afternoon picking up small groups of Goblins with no problem even the Barbarian Goblin group of 9 was easy to kill when they got stuck in the net and I kept using [ Poison spit: 3 ] on them before letting the three women finish them off. they, in the end only the group of 7 of the Goblin of the knives is missing. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 77 EXP for killing Goblins by party members ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Poison spit: 3 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Poison Secretion: 4 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Trap Construction: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Trap Construction: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> With this ambush we were managing to kill all the Goblins so far totaling twenty-two Goblins dead, but by the end of the afternoon when the last group arrived there were only six Goblins alive, one of the Goblins was carrying the seventh which was dead and the other was carrying a Kobold dead. As soon as they got close and the net was thrown the Goblin with the knives cut the net and tried to run, Erica tried to throw a fireball at him but he dodged it, so I used [ Jump: 3 ] to jump from the tree I was in his forward and using my martial arts I lower myself as I land on the ground and spin, stretching my right leg giving a low kick that knocks the Goblin down with the knives and then using the power of my spin and taking my body spinning quickly with my arms and I kick him upside down while he''s still on the ground and crushed his skull with my heel killing him. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 9 EXP for killing Goblin Killer ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Jump: 3 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Martial Art Fist of Chaos: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> After I finished with the last evolved Goblin from here I turn to finish off the others and see that my three servants have already finished them, Diana used her two swords to kill two while piercing them in the chest with her swords, rica seems to have used another fireball to burn another and Ibuki killed one by falling from the tree he was in and biting the neck of one and using his sword to pierce the head of the other coming towards him. Ding! <[ You gained 11 EXP for killing Goblins by party members ]> And with that we kill all the Goblins here, after that, I will drink the blood of all the Goblins. Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leech: 6 > 7 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leech Belly: 8 > 9 ] ]> I turn to my companions and see them all smiling, and I say in both languages ??that this cave is now ours with a big smile on my face, and I turn to the two new members of the group. "I promise revenge...I keep promises." (me) "..." (Diana) "Master...Waahhh..." (rica) With my words, Diana looks up to the sky and I see the tears falling from her eyes silently and rica jumps on me and starts crying like a child as she hugs me, meanwhile Ibuki is just smiling looking at me with her sincere smile. Chapter 28: New base It took me a while to get rica to let go of me, it seems that revenge against those who did so much harm to her was very important, she was crying while holding me until she fell asleep, after that, I carried her to one of the huts and let her sleep. While rica slept I went through all the cabins and took anything I needed and took it to the equipment room, then I went back outside and burned the three dirtiest and smelliest cabins and fixed the last one as best I could, took out all the garbage and the rags that must be the clothes of the Goblins in the hut and I burned with [ Puff of weak fire: 3 ]. With a tidy cabin, I use the [ Line Production: 5 ], [ Sticky Line Production: 7 ], and [ Line Control: 6 ] skills to build four comfortable beds for me and the girls. Ding! <[ Her skill leveled up [ Line Production: 5 > 6 ] ]> While I was tidying up the huts and beds my subordinates Ibuki and Diana were carrying the corpses into the cave, when they were finished I called them close, as soon as they were close to me I told them to rest on the beds I made along with Erica that I had already placed. on one of the beds. "Thank you on me master." (Diana) It looks like Diana didn''t expect this because she jumped and rolled over with a slight smile on her face, Ibuki wasn''t surprised as she was already used to my nest-shaped beds so she went to sleep in her bed. Today was tough, we killed a lot of Goblins and I was on guard the whole time, not to mention the situation that happened with the girls in the cave, I''m exhausted both physically and mentally but before I go to sleep I go to the cave to eat Goblin meat Killer. I found it strange that I didn''t get any skills from him when I drank his blood, but if I think about it it makes sense, I''ve eaten a lot of Goblins and I have a lot of skills that came from them, if I keep eating Goblin Killer meat I can get at least one his skill, after eating I''ll go to sleep too. Ding! <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Basic knife handling: 1 ] ? [ Hide: 1 ] ]> Zzzzz... ZZZ... zz... --------- I woke up the next day feeling a person on top of me, I started to open my eyes and see rica sleeping holding me with an innocent face, she is hugging me not only with her arms but with her legs as well and her head is lying in my chest, I can''t get out of here without waking her up. "(I can''t wake up a girl with an innocent face like that, it reminds me of the children at the orphanage who slept in my bed back in the difficult times when there weren''t enough beds.)" (me) I decided to wait for her to wake up, while I wait I think about what to do now and think of an idea that will also serve as training for me. I''m going to climb over the trees and I''m going to cut the thicker branches that I''m going to use as columns and I''m going to make the smaller branches into walls, I''m going to use my two-line skills to build this instead of using vines like the Goblins. With that I will be able to build at least one wooden hut and will train both my three line-related skills at the same time as the skills I will use to cut the branches that are [ Wolf Claw: 1 ] and [ Magic Body Reinforcement: 1 ]. I will leave to identify the skills and titles I acquired for tomorrow as it tires me a lot mentally, I will relax my mind today and train only my body and skills. "Hmmm...HH????" (rica) "Good morning... rica" ??(me) "..." (rica) It seems like she has come into shock with this situation and keeps looking at my face and how she''s clinging to me and repeating this movement of raising and lowering her head, then she jumps out of bed and gets down on her knees apologizing. "Sorry master." (rica) "You don''thave to.apologize." (me) I give her head a little and rub her hair, then I get up and go to the cave and cut several slices of meat and bring it out and use [ Low Fire Puff: 3 ] to roast the meats for everyone to eat. Ding! <[ Her skill leveled up [ Low Fire Breath: 3> 4 ] ]> The smell of the roasting meat wakes the others up and they get up, Ibuki and Diana are drooling watching the meat and rica is sitting in silence waiting to get ready, when everything is ready they attack, Ibuki eats fast often even forgets to chew and Diana is filling the mouth of meat, rica is eating in small bites at first, but seeing the other two finish the food, she starts eating voraciously too. After everyone is fed I share the tasks, I tell rica to catalog the items and equipment inside the cave, I tell Ibuki and Diana to follow me and we head towards the exit of the gate, stop near a tree that I consider adequate, and climb up, from up the tree use [ Magic Body Reinforcement: 1 ] on both arms to increase my strength and use [ Wolf Claw: 1 ] on both hands to cut off the thicker branches. It took a while as each branch needed several hits and I had to rest and meditate to regain my MP whenever I zeroed, and when the branches fell I would tell the girls to take out the smaller branches, leaves, and bark with their swords. ----------- In the end, it took all morning and I only got three thick branches that I needed the help of the three to bring into the camp. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ Stamina stat increased by 1 point ]> . . <[ Strength stat increased by 1 point ]> . . <[ Mana stat increased by 2 points]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Wolf Claw: 1 > 2 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Wolf Claw: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Magic body boost: 1 > 2 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Magic body boost: 2 > 3 ] ]> We took a break and went to eat, when we arrived we found Erica leaving the cave tired too. "Are you over...there?" (me) "Yes master, it took me for separate thing to sort and tidy up." (rica) "Well sit down... I''ll go get some food." (me) I go into the cave and do the same in the morning, take meat and cut it into slices and take a little pile outside where I use my skill to roast everything, Goblin meat tastes and smells bad, but we eat it anyway, it even does. more meat in the food depot but I don''t have time to check which is rotten and which is still edible, my priority is to build a bigger cabin for us all to stay in and then organize the rest. After the food, I tell Ibuki and rica to dig a deep grave and we''re going to throw all the bones in it tomorrow. I go back outside with Diana and keep cutting more branches, with higher skill levels it takes a little less to cut. --------- Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ Strength stat increased by 1 point ]> . . <[ Mana stat increased by 2 points]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Wolf Claw: 3 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Magic body boost: 3 > 4 ] ]> We stayed until late afternoon and this time I got four Big branches, all these big branches are over two meters in size and around 20 to 25 cm thick, tomorrow we''re going to look for smaller branches and go back to my old base to pick up some things I left there. Now I head towards the Goblin hut and see that Ibuki is sleeping and rica is lying on the bed looking very tired. "Is she tired rica?" (me) "I''m a fine master." (rica) When she hears my voice she sits up quickly and tries to look like she''s not tired, she suddenly looks at me, and her eyes sparkle and she falls into thought for a few seconds, it seems like she''s remembered something. "Master has System group?" (rica) "Yes, why?" (me) "I remembered telepathy spell that only works on members of the same group." (rica) "This will help use sends the thoughts through a Mana connection, can I test with the master?" (rica) "(A thing like that exists, it can help in communication between all of us.)" (me) "Yes." (me) rica raises her hand towards me and some geometric shapes form and combine, it only takes a few seconds so a thread comes out of what I think is a magic circle and connects to me and rica, then she does the same with Diana who is silently sitting behind me all the time. Ding! <[ Telepathic link format with a member of the rica party ]> . <[ Telepathic link format with party member Diana ]> "(Can you hear me better now master?)" (rica) "(Yes, now I can better understand you rica.)" (me) "(Can Diana hear us too?)" (me) "(Yes my lord, I can hear you two in my mind, but I must remind you rica that the magical telepathy connection you are using cannot be used in battle, after all, it connects the minds of members of the same party, but it doesn''t you can stop, in a battle, everyone will be thinking about what to do and listening to the others in their minds, which will generate deadly confusion and distraction in battle.)" (Diana) "(I know Diana, you don''t need to remind me, I''m not a fledgling adventurer anymore.)" (rica) "(This will help us a lot rica, thank you.)" (me) "(But turn it off now, let''s save this for tomorrow morning after Ibuki wakes up, let''s keep talking in Common Language for me to raise the skill level.)" (me) "(Yes master.)" (rica) Ding! <[ Telepathic link disabled with party members ]> So I spent a few hours talking with the two of them before they went to bed, we talked about what we''ll do tomorrow and Diana came up with the idea of ??making a bigger cabin because we can store some things in the cabin or find new members for the group in the future. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Common language: 6 > 7 ] ]> With that in mind, I decided to get some more big branches tomorrow, I also said that we are going to my old base tomorrow to get some things, when they finally went to sleep I will see the group system. <[ Group Name: None Number of members: 4/7 Leader: Zenos (Blood Goblin) Membership Status: { Name: Diana (Familiar) Race: Wolf Man-Beast Gender: Woman Level: 52/450 Exp: 350/378 Job: [ Swordsman with two swords ] Work Level: 08/50 HP: 100/100 MP: 33/33 STM: 98/98 } { Name: Ibuki (Subordinate) Race: Goblin (Variant) Gender: Woman Level: 8/15 Exp: 5/53 HP: 35/35 MP: 30/30 STM: 35/35 } { Name: rica (Slave) Race: Lesser Demon Gender: Woman Level: 37/250 Exp: 194/197 Job: [ Fire Mage Novice ] Work Level: 08/30 HP: 60/60 MP: 153/153 STM: 50/50 } ]> It seems that rica is a complete magician with all this MP, as I thought Diana is a warrior and has even less MP than me, she also has jobs but neither I nor Ibuki has, maybe if we evolve more maybe we can. I''ll leave it for tomorrow to see her status, I''m going to sleep because I have to cut more branches tomorrow. Chapter 29: The one I chose to serve Diana Pov: One day a new adventurer registered with the Guild, I and other experienced adventurers immediately recognized that she was a noblewoman, it''s easy to identify by her refined posture and walk, trained in a noble family, or by her polite way of talking to the receptionist I can hear by far being the proud race of the Wolf tribe''s Beast Man, as a new adventurer she will have to spend a month with a more experienced Adventurer to learn the basics, such as learning how to hunt and set up camp in the jungle or how to fight with monsters. Most adventurers don''t like to teach new adventurers who are noble as they tend to be spoiled and arrogant, but as I''m a Wolf warrior I can feel she lacks the arrogance of the previous ones by the way she looks around not with contempt but with curiosity, as I expected the receptionist soon started looking around the room and the tables where I and other adventurers are drinking, she must be looking for someone to guide the newcomer for the first month. I lift my mug and nod my head to the receptionist showing that I offer to guide the newcomer, she understood and called me forward. "rica I introduce you Diana a Grade D adventurer, she will accompany you during your first month." (Receptionist) "Diana this is rica a novice, she is a mage who specializes in fire magic, I hope you guide her well." (Receptionist) "Nicely my name is Diana, I hope you''re not as spoiled and arrogant as the other nobles." (me) "..." (rica) "Is it so obvious what I am?" (rica) "For most other adventurers they won''t notice, but for those truly competent adventurers, they will notice the moment they see you, your posture, the way you walk and your polite way of speaking is all screaming that you had a noble upbringing. " (Diana) Sigh... "Thanks for the frankness, I''ll keep that in mind." (rica) "And you should, the first thing I''m going to teach you is, always observe your surroundings and analyze everything around you, an Adventurer''s battle starts even before taking the mission." (me) This was my first time with this newcomer, after that, I followed her for a month and found out she was an ex-nobleman, she was set up to be expelled from the family so she wouldn''t be used as a political tool and be forced to marry someone. She showed a lot of interest in learning and improved a lot, her personality is also very easy to live with, I''m a lonely adventurer so I thought of forming a group with her. ------- It''s been three months since I formed a group with rica and she has very high tastes, but she knows she shouldn''t spend all her money on luxuries, she''s smart and knows how to choose the missions she''ll do well, she only has one problem, which is thinking that all things are going to go the way she expects, she''s smart even more than me, but she''s still very naive, no matter how much I teach her that things will eventually go wrong she doesn''t listen. On a quest to hunt three Gray Wolves in the Valley of Blood, we even teamed up with a couple of adventurers for this quest, because this is a dangerous region, but we weren''t going to go in too deep, but in the end, we were surprised by a large pack of wolves and while we ran for our lives and headed into the deepest parts of the Valley of Blood. In the end, we were able to escape but we were exhausted and out of energy, and without realizing it we were surrounded by goblins, in the end, I, rica, and the other girl were captured and the man was killed. We were dragged to its base and into a cave, we were thrown into a dark room and an old Goblin yelled something to two beefy Goblins who would take wooden clubs and start breaking our arms and legs, that was just the beginning of the nightmare, after that our clothes were ripped off and we were abused, for me, it just made me angry and hate that these weak monsters were doing this to me it was humiliating, but for rica and the other girl who are human, it seemed much worse than that, for them it was unbearable and would stain and contaminate them. --------- It''s been weeks since we were captured, I''m fine, for a warrior like me all this abuse is no different than torturing my body and it has no weight on my mind other than the humiliation of someone weaker than I''m taking advantage of me, but for rica it seems that the mental burden was too great since she has the appearance of someone who has been broken, her eyes are already empty she doesn''t have but the will to live, the other girl hasn''t been able to eat in the last few days and the end he died of hunger if things continue like this rica will end up being next. The Goblin abuse was useless for me and rica since we''re not getting pregnant, I wear an earring which is a magic item with a birth control spell that most adventurers and hookers use, rica once told me she got sick when a child and became infertile afterward, but her father hid this fact until he got a high-level healing potion or healing spell to heal her but she left home before that. I don''t know what else I can do, even after so long nobody found us, and I don''t have a plan to escape so far, but I''ve noticed that the number of Goblins has been decreasing over time if this continues I may have a chance. ---------- If a few days passed and I noticed that the number of Goblins continues to decrease, another thing I noticed is that I started to feel a strange and bizarre Aura weakly, I don''t know the cause of this Aura but the thing that is emitting this Aura must be the cause of the decrease in the number of Goblins. Over time this Aura started to get closer and I felt it passing in front of the door of this prison, but it went straight through, I even sighed with relief, but it was inevitable after a while the Aura came in that direction and the thing opened the door, it was a black-skinned goblin with no wrinkles and red hair, it had different colored eyes and colored body tattoos, this thing looked like a goblin but now that it was in front of me I could see a glint of intelligence in its eyes, it didn''t enter, stood at the entrance and looked at me and rica as if he were sizing us up. " Who are you?" (me) "..." (Red-haired Goblin) "What you are?" (me) "I''ll finish you off, kill all of you Goblins." (me) "If I can I''ll kill you all, one day I''ll finish you all you bastards." (me) "..." (Red-haired Goblin) "Will not give up." (me) "You can do whatever you want with me." (me) "But you will never break my will." (me) "Come on, say something you bastard." (me) "..." (Red-haired Goblin) I tried to yell at him to see how he would react, if I was lucky I would just be abused again and live until an opportunity to escape showed up and if I was unlucky my life would end here, but at least this humiliation would end. But no matter what I say he doesn''t show any reaction, it''s like he''s waiting for something so I stop talking. "What is.... your name?" (red-haired goblin) "..." (me) Even though I was yelling at him I didn''t expect him to understand, much less that he knew the common language, what kind of thing is this. "Who are you?" (me) "Or should I ask what you are?" (me) "My...name is....Zenos." (Zenos) "..." (me) "(Does he have a name?)" (me) "(He must be a summoned creature or a wizard''s familiar, was he sent here to help us.)" (me) I was full of anticipation. "Can you be familiar with a wizard?" (me) "I''m...unfamiliar...anyone." (Zenos) "Tell meyour name?" (Zenos) "..." (me) "My name is Diana." (me) "Very wellDiana, I havea proposal foryou." (Zenos) "Submitto me." (Zenos) "No, no, not that ever." (me) "Don''t...muse yourself, I won''t mistreat you...I want...loyal servants,....so...I...I say...you will....submit." (Zenos) What is he talking about, he wants me to give up my pride to serve him, but for the Beast Man especially for the Wolves tribe submitting to servitude is more important than life itself, we only submit to one master in life, I would only choose a master who cares for me as much as I would be loyal to him. But suddenly a bizarre thing happened, all the magical energy left his body and filled the whole room, his Aura expanded too and started to press on me, his Aura wasn''t mean but it was Wild, deep and strong if I had to describe his Aura with one word would be Chaotic, then I saw his blood leave his body and I felt his power, he is strong and I can see in his eyes that it is not my body he wants. "Serve me... I will give power... to you." (Zenos) "Serve me and... I will give your revenge." (Zenos) With his words I could see a shadow with different eyes appear behind him, just seeing it made every part of my body scream to kneel before him, it''s like I''m in front of a king. I always follow my gut and that''s what has kept me alive so often in difficult situations and my gut is screaming that he''s the one I should recognize as my master before I knew it I was on my knees and swearing allegiance to him. "I will serve the master." (me) "I submit body and soul to the master." (rica) When I swore allegiance to him I felt all of his magic, Aura and blood enter my body and fill me with power, it was an incredible feeling. Before I know it I was in a chaotic space filled with elemental energies running loose in streams and without order but with a Wild beauty, suddenly I could see the same shadow from before materializing in front of me it raises its dark claws and light Wild red gathers in his palm and coagulates into a red gem that floats towards me. "I grant you the power of beasts." (Shadow) The shadow''s voice carried a tone of certainty and wisdom, his every word is echoing inside me, being in the presence of this shadow is like being in the presence of a great King, he doesn''t emit any kind of Aura or power but I feel the authority unmistakable that any ruler should possess, the red jewel floats to me as if commanded by him. This gem enters my chest and I feel my whole body trembling, I can hear something growling inside me, I feel every part of me filled with boundless wildness. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You have submitted to Zenos (Blood Goblin) ]> . . <[ You have become familiar with Zenos (Blood Goblin) ]> . . . <[ You have been gifted with a Gift of Power by Zenos: ? [ Wild Aura: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You purchased the titles: ? [ Familiar of Zenos ] ? [ Incarnation of the beasts ] ]> I chose to serve him and I will serve him body and soul throughout my life, my place from now on is in the presence of my master protecting him from all who want to harm him because he is the one I chose to serve. Chapter 30: First information Today I woke up again with rica sleeping cuddled with me in my bed, it seems she got very attached to me, but why that is a mystery to me. While waiting for her to wake up I resolve to identify my new skills and titles. <[ Skills identification result: [ Magic body boost: 1 ]--> boosts the body with magic power (mana). (+5) in Strength and Agility per skill level. (+10) to Magic Defense per skill level. COST: 10 MP per minute [ Intimidate: 1 ]--> uses and amplifies the owner''s power or Aura to intimidate the target. Intimidate lowers the target''s mental toughness. Intimidating may slow or paralyze the target. Cost: 5 MP (or other energy) per second. [ Magic with no basic attributes: 1 ]--> The base of all magic, responsible for controlling and shaping all types of spells. Cost: 1 MP per second [Basic wind magic: 1 ]--> The basis of all wind element magic, used to create, control and use wind element magic. Cost: 2 MP per second [ Basic Fire Magic: 1 ]--> The basis of all fire element magic, used to create, control, and use fire element magic. Cost: 2 MP per second [ Mental disorder: 1 ]--> skill acquired because of severe trauma, skill owner departs from common sense, increases mental stamina and resistance to psychic attacks. [ Basic spear handling: 1 ]--> small increase in learning speed in using a spear and ability to create and/or use techniques. [ Fire magic elemental affinity: 1 ]--> small increase in power, control and decrease magic element cost. [ Basic sword handling: 1 ]--> small increase in sword learning speed and ability to create and/or use techniques. ]> After building the wooden hut I will have more time to train with the sword and make full use of these skills. Now I''m going to identify my new titles. <[ Result of identification of titles: [ Founder of the Fist of Chaos ]--> Title given to the one who created the martial art of the Fist of Chaos. A combat-focused martial art that takes into account the style of those who use it and can be adapted to countless different styles. Extremely rare martial art made to face both monsters and people. BONUS: (2x) the power of the Fist of Chaos abilities. [ Novice wizard ]--> Title that proves that the owner took the first step towards becoming a wizard. BONUS: (+10) Permanent MP. [ Goblin Boss ] --> Title that proves you are capable of leading Goblins. BONUS: 1. (+10) on Permanent Charm attribute. 2. Goblins submitted more easily to the title owner. [ Novice Adventurer ]--> This title represents that the owner has not yet become a true adventurer and is still in a probation period. ]> Now that I''ve finished identifying the titles and skills I''ve acquired these days, I''m going to get ahead of today''s stuff, but first, let me end this farce. "It''s... time for you... to stop pretending Erica." (me) When I say this I feel rica''s body tremble once and then go rigid, then she slowly lifts her head and looks at me with a forced smile. "Good morning m-master, I just woke up." (rica) "Good morning... rica." (me) I return a simple smile to her, she gets up hurriedly pretending she''s just woken up, and walks out of the cabin red-faced. I get up and go to the cave to get more Goblin meat and start roasting for everyone, with the smell of food everyone wakes up and gathers around me. After eating I go back to the daily training I used to do with Ibuki before coming here, I start doing a hundred push-ups, a hundred sit-ups, and a hundred squats, the others watching me exercise and seeing that Ibuki started doing the same on my side. the same. --------- After we finish morning training I see Ibuki and rica on the floor tired while Diana isn''t even sweating yet, she has a well-trained warrior body as I imagined, this was nothing more than a warm-up for her. After that, I tell everyone to follow me and get their weapons, and head towards the ruins to my old base. --------- After we got to the ruins I could see rica and Diana were surprised when they saw the ruins so after I calmed them down we went in and started to get things like the box with the silver cutlery, the adult clothes and about three chests that they were still in good condition. During the way here I was using [ Detect Weak Presence: 3 ] to avoid the monsters on the way in and I did the same thing on the way out. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Detect Weak Presence: 3 > 4 ] ]> ---------- We arrived at the cave and took everything we took from the equipment depot, then I asked Diana to go to where the corpses are gathered and separate the rotten meat from the one that can still be used, I also asked her to gather all the human bones and throw it into the pit. which was dug yesterday to make a whole community. While Diana was doing this, Ibuki, rica, and I are going to cut some large branches and other smaller branches to use on the walls of the hut I am going to build. When we got to the cave the three suns were already at the highest point in the sky, which means it''s already halfway through the day, so we have half the day to collect more wood. ---------- Ding! Ding! <[ Stamina stat increased by 1 point ]> . . <[ Mana stat increased by 2 points]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Wolf Claw: 4 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Magic body boost: 4 > 5 ] ]> It was already night when we finished and we returned, tomorrow we can start the construction, going back to the Goblin hut I started to roast meat for everyone. After we ate I gathered everyone together and told rica to use her spell to talk telepathically. Ding! <[ Telepathic link format with a member of the rica party ]> . <[ Telepathic link format with party member Diana ]> . <[ Telepathic link format with party member Ibuki ]> "(Now there are some things I want to know about you, rica and Diana.)" (me) "(I can hear the master''s voice in my head, I''m so happy.)" (Ibuki) "(Calm down Ibuki, just listen.)" (me) "(Yes master.)" (Ibuki) "(To start with where is the nearest city and how long is the journey from here?)" (me) "(The name of the nearest town is Valen and it is a two day trip from the Valley of Blood which is where we are now master.)" (Diana) "(What can you tell me about the city of Valen?)" (me) "(The city of Valen is an adventurous city that belongs to the Kingdom of Trigan, as an adventurous city it is always full of strong people master, so I advise you to stay away for now.)" (rica) "(rica is right, even if the GM is smarter than other Goblins the adventurers will only think you''re a bigger danger because of your intelligence and appearance.)" (Diana) "(The city always has many adventurers due to its proximity to the Valley of Blood and two Dungeons.)" (Diana) "(Tell me more about the valley of blood.)" (me) "(There is not much to say, it is a great forest that is surrounded on three sides, on one side an extensive range of mountains that when you cross you reach the ocean, on the other a gigantic mountain whose monstrous height makes half the mountain to be hidden by the clouds and is home to countless aerial monsters and lastly there is the city of Valen which is on the border of the Kingdom of Trigan.)" (Diana) "(Is that enough information for now, tell me are we safe here?)" (me) "(We are safe in the short term, we are close to the mountain range so we are in the safest part of the Valley of Blood, adventurers prefer to go to the Dungeons and those who enter the forest are those who come to collect some ore in the big mountain or collect some magic herb that is found all over the forest, the area we are in is known to have very few magic herbs and many monsters that walk in groups, so few adventurers come here.)" (Diana) "(Very well.)" (me) "(Now that we have this information it will be better for us, I have a plan for the short term, I want to make me and Ibuki evolve into a race that can use jobs like you two.)" (me) rica and Diana were surprised by my plan, they exchange glances and then look seriously at me. "(The master wants to evolve into a Demi race?)" (rica) "(What is a Demi?)" (rica) "(The Demis are humanoid races of monsters like Lamias or Ogres, even though they are monsters they can use the job system, this is a good idea master, but to evolve from a Goblin to a Demi the best idea would be a Hobgoblin.)" (rica) "(Yes, that would be a good idea, they can use the job system but they are usually considered monsters and are hunted by humans and other races because of their aggressive instincts.)" (Diana) "(Evolution won''t be a problem for me, I''ll try to make Ibuki a Hobgoblin, and as for you in the next few days I''ll have more questions, but for now I''ll give you some tasks.)" (me) I turn to them with a serious look and say. "(In the next few days I want you to teach rica the common language to Ibuki, we will practice speaking in common language every day.)" (me) "(Yes master)" (Ibuki) "(As the master orders.)" (rica) "(And what am I supposed to do master?)" (Diana) "(You will do the same as me, continue to collect branches in the forest during the morning, and in the afternoon we will gather for construction, now I want you three to go to sleep, rica close the telepathic Link. )" ( me) "(Yes my master.)" (rica) Ding! <[ Telepathic link disabled with party members ]> After this information I''m a little more prepared for what''s to come, tomorrow I''ll get information from Ibuki about the monsters around or I can talk to Diana since she''s an adventurer. With that resolved I turn to sleep, I''m exhausted from today''s work, that''s why I didn''t look for too much information today, I don''t want to overload myself with information, I''ll get bad information over the days to give me time to analyze it with more careful, now I lie down and go to sleep. Zzzzz... zzzz... Zzz... Chapter 31: First class The next day again I wake up with rica sleeping hugging me, of course, I''m happy to wake up every day with a nice woman hugging me, but I shouldn''t do anything with her after everything she''s been through, I didn''t free her from the Goblins to do to her what they did, that includes Diana as well. Waking up every day like this is good enough for me, the problem is that I can''t leave her arms without waking her up. All I can do is keep my mind busy while I wait for her to wake up. "(I have to think about the design of the cabin, hmmm...)" (me) Ding! <[ Her skill leveled up [ Improved sexual stamina: 1> 2 ] ]> Damn, of all the skills they had to level up the only one I don''t want to level up. The biggest problem is that this ability is passive and I can''t turn it on and off as I do with the active ones. The worst thing is that she''s already showing her effects, it''s been a long time since I''ve had a morning hard-on, but did that have to happen now? Seriously? "(I can''t let rica see this, it might be difficult for her after everything she''s been through, I''ll try to calm down by doing math calculations in my head.)" (me) Ding! <[ You have acquired the skill: ? [ Basic arithmetic: 1 ] ]> After a few minutes of sum calculations and multiplication tables, I got a strange skill. "(It reminds me that I still don''t know anything about this world, at night I have to ask rica and Diana to teach me how to read and write, the basics I must know before anything else.)" (me) "Hmmm..." (rica) "Good morning Master." (rica) "Good morning... rica, this is... becoming a... habit, isn''t it?" (me) "..." (rica) When I say this the drowsiness has disappeared from her eyes and her cheeks have turned a little redder, she raises her hand and does the same telepathy spell as usual. Ding! <[ Telepathic link format with a member of the rica party ]> "(I''m sorry master, I don''t know what happens to me, at night I go to sleep and I feel very insecure and I have nightmares, but suddenly during sleep, I start to feel safe and I have such peaceful dreams.)" (rica) "(It must be at these times that I change beds because I always hear a strong heartbeat when this happens.)" (rica) "(You don''t have to worry, I don''t mind you sleeping together with me, just let me know first, alright?)" (me) "(Yes master.)" (rica) I couldn''t ask her to stop coming to my bed, I have to remind myself that she''s traumatized and if sleeping in my bed helps her sleep better, I have to find a way not to lose control of my body. It''s very hard to be the only man here. It''s decided, the next subordinate will be a man if it''s not going to be difficult to control this skill. With rica awake I get up and go get meat in the cave, when I get to the food storage I realize that Diana gave a nice clean here, the rotten meat and bones are no longer here, and she separated the corpses by their races. She has the Goblins we killed, she has about ten Kobolds, she has five Gray Wolves, and she has a big red bat, I go and sort the Goblin meat for everyone and come back to bake the food. After lunch, we go to morning training before starting the day''s chores. After everyone finishes morning training I tell rica to sort equipment and items in the warehouse for the chests we brought from the ruins, while she does that I''m going with Ibuki and Diana to start building the wooden hut. ----------- Ding! <[ Her skill leveled up [ Line Production: 5 > 6 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Sticky Line Production: 7 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Line control: 6 > 7 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Line control: 7 > 8 ] ]> It was nighttime but I was happy with what we did, we managed to complete the first room, it is square with an inverted V-shaped ceiling and a height of three meters, it has a space of six square meters and I made four doors on four sides, I''m going to make two more rooms that will be a kitchen and a storeroom, one of the doors will be the entrance and the last one I''ll make a corridor to make rooms along with it. This is a good project but it will take time, I don''t even know if I''ll be here long enough to finish construction, but it''s good to keep your mind busy and focused on something productive. I used my lines to tie and glue all the branches and I also used wood and threads on the floor, this made the interior all white, I also put a window in front to be able to light the interior as there are no lights here and I can''t go near the house with fire if it won''t burn all over. I just need to build a door and windows to put in place tomorrow, now we vamosre going to the Goblin cabin and Igoll brings in some branches to build a fire. After placing some branches in a pile and using some stones around it I use a skill to light a fire, Diana with her superior strength brought some large rocks to sit on. "rica use Telepathy." (me) "Yes Master." (rica) rica waves her hands and the geometric shapes begin to form and combine to form the magic circle I already know and soon Telepathy is activated. Ding! <[ Telepathic link format with a member of the rica party ]> . <[ Telepathic link format with party member Diana ]> . <[ Telepathic link format with party member Ibuki ]> "(Thank you rica.)" (me) "(Now let''s start with some things I have to say.)" (me) "(Diana and rica, I want you to teach me how to read and write from today.)" (me) "(I''m sorry my lord, but I can''t read and write either.)" (Diana) "(But weren''t you an adventurer? How did you choose your missions?)" (me) "(It seems that my lord is confused by something, most adventurers cannot read and write.)" (Diana) "(There are many types of adventurers but most come from agricultural villages or are people who have not got other jobs, there are also those who just want to be free and become adventurers to make fame and wealth quick to retire early if you survive until there.)" (Diana) "(Those who learn to read and write are only the children of merchants and nobles.)" (Diana) "(I am the daughter of adventurers, my mother knew how to read and write but I didn''t want to learn, I preferred to use my time better and train my body and my techniques which are what kept me alive until today.)" (Diana) "(Diana is right, master, the schools are only for noble families and merchant families.)" (rica) "(Even among the people those who can read and write do not always teach their children as they may never use it in their lives.)" (rica) "(Even so I still want to learn.)" (me) "(If the master wants to learn, I''m happy to teach.)" (rica) "(I was a noblewoman, I am the daughter of a Duke of a minor kingdom, I didn''t want to be used as a tool in a political marriage and I had my family expel me and I left the kingdom.)" (rica) "(As an ex-nobleman I had the best education so I can teach you many things, master.)" (rica) "(That would be great, but let''s start with the basics of reading and writing, before bed every night we''ll study.)" (me) "(Yes master.)" (rica) With that matter resolved there is some information I should ask Ibuki. "(Ibuki let me ask you a few things.)" (me) "(I''ll answer anything that master asks. )" (Ibuki) "(You know where that red bat in the food store came from.)" (me) "(Having cave near the mountains, having many there.)" (Ibuki) "(That''s enough for now, let''s study rica for a while and then you can turn off Telepathy.)" (me) "(As the master orders.)" (rica) ----------- I spent a few hours together with rica while she taught me the alphabet of the common language, even though the pronunciation is similar to several languages ??in my ancient world, writing is completely unknown to me and it took me a while to learn the alphabet. After I learned to write some simple words like my name and the girls'' names, rica taught me to use a small branch to write on the ground. Ding! <[ Her skill leveled up [ Common Language: 7 > 8 ] ]> . . . <[ Telepathic link disabled with party members ]> It seems that learning to write also helps to raise the skill level, but I''ll save that for tomorrow. Tomorrow I will build another room and put the doors and windows in place, there is a lot to do, it may take a few days to finish building the house. Chapter 32: Progress Five days later. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! .... <[ His skill leveled up [ Wolf Claw: 5 > 6 ] ]> . <[ His skill leveled up [ Wolf Claw: 6 > 7 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Wolf Claw: 7 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Magic body boost: 5 > 6 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Magic body boost: 6 > 7 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Magic body boost: 7 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Improved Strength: 1 > 2 ] ]> . [ Your skill leveled up [ Strength improved: 2 > 3 ] ]> . [ Your skill leveled up [ Strength improved: 3 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak mana sense: 7 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Mana Control: 5 > 6 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Mana Control: 6 > 7 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Meditation: 6 > 7 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Meditation: 7 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Common language: 8 > 9 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Common language: 9 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic arithmetic: 1> 2 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic arithmetic: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic arithmetic: 5 > 6 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic arithmetic: 9 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Improved sexual stamina: 2 > 3 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Improved sexual stamina: 3 > 4 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Improved sexual stamina: 4 > 5 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Improved sexual stamina: 5 > 6 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Line Production: 6 > 7 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Line Production: 7 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Sticky Line Production: 8 > 9 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Line control: 8 > 9 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Line control: 9 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low Fire Breath: 3 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Spell with no basic stats: 1 > 2 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Spell with no basic stats: 2 > 3 ] ]> . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Spell with no basic stats: 3 > 4 ] ]> . <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Magic with no basic stats: 4 > 5 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Carpentry: 1 ] ? [ Architecture: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Carpentry: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Architecture: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following titles: ? [ Literate ] ]> That was all my progress with my skills and title acquisition. I only managed to get my Arithmetic skill up so fast because I have the mathematical knowledge from my old world, all I had to do is solve equations in my head and sometimes draw them on the ground with a stick to solve, that was enough to increase your level up to the max, the skill makes me calculate faster just but it will help me in the future I''m sure. What surprised me was the skills [ Carpentry: 1 ] and [ Architecture: 1 ], I didn''t expect to get them but it was very useful in building the log cabin and renovating the wooden wall around the entrance to the cave. What made me sad was the level up of [ Improved sexual stamina: 6 ], this was because Ibuki saw rica sleeping in my bed and started to do the same if that wasn''t enough Diana started to get irritated with her saying that this was a lack of respect for me but when rica asked if she wanted to sleep together she replied. "I''m just sleeping together with the master to protect him from you two, I don''t want you to do anything weird to him while he sleeps, it''s not because the master is cute." (Diana) At first, she tried to justify herself, but in the end, she let the truth slip, rica even told me that Diana was known in town for helping protect children and hugging animals and children she considers cute, I must admit I didn''t expect that of a tall, fit warrior like her. The real problem is that with three women sleeping in my bed it''s hard to sleep and when I wake up in the morning I''m always in suggestive positions without realizing it, and the biggest culprit of this is Diana who moves a lot in her sleep, one of these days I woke up almost asphyxiated by that Diana hugged rica, the problem was that Diana was on my right and rica on my left so get crushed between the two and my head between rica''s breasts which are big for your size, so I wasn''t able to breathe, otherwise had I used my [ Intimidation: 1 ] ability to force them to wake up I would be suffocated dead by now. And it''s because of these stimuli every night and morning that the skill [ Improved sexual stamina: 6 ] leveled up so much, so I''ve experienced the more excited I get and without alleviating the excitement the more the skill level up, but it''s impossible for me to alleviate myself as I''m always surrounded by my servants, and I don''t want to force any of them into anything. Ahhh... Changing the subject, now I found out from the girls that the most a skill can reach are level ten, after that, you have to fulfill some condition to evolve the skill to a stronger version, the problem is that conditions vary from person to person. With the renovation of the Goblin Camp completed I can finally call this place home, this is the first place in this world that I can say is my home, one that I built with my own hands and with the help of my companions. Now that the essentials that are housing are ready and seeing that the food is almost gone, I think about hunting again tomorrow. I almost forgot that all repetition of expanding and regaining mana is a type of training to increase max MP according to rica just as physical effort is training to physical stats according to Diana, rica also told me it''s possible increasing the intelligence stat by reading books, increasing the Dexterity stat by creating or building something with my hands, and increasing the defense stats by taking and resisting hits, that''s why I''ve earned some stat points these past few days by renovating the camp. Ding! <[ Stamina stat increased by 5 points ]> . . <[ Mana stat increased by 10 points ]> . . <[ Strength stat increased by 6 points ]> . . <[ Dexterity stat increased by 8 points ]> . . <[ Intelligence stat increased by 3 points ]> It seems that because I learned to read and write I gained some intelligence points too, rica and Diana told me that the first points you get faster but as time goes by it becomes harder and harder to earn points training. During that week, in addition to building the cabin, I studied with Erica at night and asked some common knowledge questions in this world. What I learned was that the seconds, minutes, and hours are the same as in my old world, the differences start with the days that here have thirty-two hours that are sixteen hours of the day and sixteen hours of the night, the weeks are still of seven days, but the months are made up of five weeks and the number of months is thirteen months to complete a year. This is normal knowledge here, but for me who was used to the common knowledge of Earth it will be hard to get used to, but I found that the seasons are the same luckily, I also found that the months have no names, they write the dates like this for example: "Monday of the third week of the fifth month of year xxxx". Diana also told me that they don''t celebrate birthdays here, age is counted at the turn of the year, which is when the exchange of gifts between families and sometimes good friends happens. The culture of this world is very different from what I know but I have to adapt to these changes, I am now a resident of this world, this is where I was reborn so this is my homeworld now. These last few days have been the opening of a new era for me, and now with my house ready, I can finally call this world my home. Tomorrow I will talk to the girls that we will have a new routine, in the morning training, after eating we will go hunting and in the afternoon we will train our techniques and skills. I have to make Ibuki evolve soon, she''s very weak like that and has hardly any combat skills, I also have to get more endurance skills and bloodlines to increase my options when I evolve, preferably I need to acquire the human bloodline to be able to use the system of works, this will make me able to increase my strength faster thanks to the effect of my title, but I''ll think about these things later, I''m already tired and I''m going to sleep now. And with everything settled I lay my head on my bed and go to sleep before the girls come to my bed, just so I can sleep. If I wait for them to sleep I will end up staying up all night again, not knowing where to look or trying not to think how close they are to me, so I have to go to sleep before them, I let out a last breath due to mental fatigue and I am going to sleep. Chapter 33: Prisoner The next day I woke up with my arm ruffled and saw that the culprit was Diana, who had it in her mouth, she must be dreaming of food, I''m getting used to these mornings. While I wait for them to wake up I wonder how I''m going to do the afternoon training, I think I''ll finally train with the sword, there is a martial art with swords that suits my fighting style, the name is Blade of Chaos, it has several variations depending on of the weapon, I want to learn from the knives and swords to complete my way of fighting. While thinking about these things I feel something rising in the lower part of my body and I start to panic, I tried to think of things to reduce this morning phenomenon, like doing mental calculations, doing combat simulations in my head, and thinking about hunting for today. "Hmmm....day m-master." (Diana) "Good morning Diana." (me) "Hungry, I''m the hungry master I want meat." (Diana) "Fine, but only after morning training." (me) "OK." (Diana) Diana, when she wakes up, is always looking like a child, she doesn''t like to wake up early, I pat her head and get up, and start waking up the other girls. With everyone awake, we go to morning training and then eat the last bits of Goblin meat. "Ibuki and I are going hunting, you two are going to get all the weapons and equipment and bring them to the cabin to see if there''s anything that can be repaired or reused." (me) "Yes Master." (rica) "Yes Master." (Diana) Now that my common language is at its maximum I can talk to them normally, after saying this with both Ibuki and I go to the forest. In the forest I used [ Detect Weak Presence: 4 ] about seven times before getting a reaction, I carefully went in the direction of the reaction. When I got there were two Gray Wolves, knowing they are quick to use [ Intimidation: 1 ] to scare them for a second which was long enough to activate the [ Line Production: 8 ] and [ Line Control: 10 ] skills to tie the two together and call Ibuki to finish for her to gain EXP. "Kill him." (me) "Yes Master." (Ibuki) Ibuki goes to the wolves and pierces their heads with the rusty sword killing them both. Ding! <[ You gained 6 EXP for killing Gray Wolves by party member ]> I go to them both and drink their blood. Ding! <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Gray Wolf: 53% > 82% ] ]> After killing them I grab them both and carry them on my two shoulders with a lot of effort and go back to the cave with Ibuki, we weren''t very far so it wasn''t long when we arrived I saw the girls carrying trunks to the hut, I pass them and I''m going to put the bloodless corpses into the cave and come out of nine with Ibuki. I keep hunting along with Ibuki and using [ Detect Weak Presence: 4 ] to find more monsters, this time it took me thirty minutes to find some. We go in the direction the ability pointed and this time I see a human killing two Kobolds. Down to capture this human, I smell a familiar scent coming from him. While he''s busy I use the [ Line Production: 8 ] and [ Line Control: 10 ] skills to pull lines out of all my ten fingers and control the lines to tie the human when he realizes the situation where it''s already too late to dodge so he tries to cut with his knife and manages to cut four of the lines but I controlled the others to dodge his attack and started to trap him. "What " (human) He says something but it doesn''t matter, I go to him and bite his arm using [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 5 ] several times to immobilize him. As soon as I see he can''t even scream anymore I stop and walk towards the two Kobolds and suck their blood. Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 5 > 6 ] ]> . . . <[ His lineage became stronger and purer [ Kobold: 24% > 51% ] ]> After that, I loaded the human and asked Ibuki to bring the two Kobolds. On the way back I used [ Detect Weak Presence: 4 ] to dodge all the monsters on the way and as we were carrying a lot of weight it also took us an hour or so to get back. Ding! <[ His skill leveled up [ Detect Weak Presence: 4 > 5 ] ]> When we arrive I take the human to the cave room where the girls were trapped and drop him there, Ibuki had gone to take the Kobolds corpses to the warehouse while I go to the cabin to talk to Erica and Diana who must be inside, I enter the cabin and I go to the new equipment warehouse and see the girls still packing. "rica and Diana." (me) "Hi master." (Diana) "Welcome back master." (rica) "I found a human while I was hunting and I want you to take a look at him." (me) When I say I found a human rica is indifferent, but Diana gets a straight face straight away. "Where is the master?" (Diana) "No need to worry Diana, he''s still alive, I used paralyzing poison on him and threw him in the cave you were trapped in before I came here." (me) Sigh... "Thank you, master, I''ll take a look at it now." (Diana) "You worry too much Diana, the master would never kill someone innocent." (rica) "You''re kind of right rica, the reason I captured him is just that I smelled a poisonous smell coming from him and after I captured him I confirmed that it came from his knife." (me) "..." (Diana) "If there was poison in his weapon he could be an underworld killer." (Diana) "I said and I was right, the master is always right." (rica) "..." (me) "Let''s take a look at it." (Diana) Now with my common language skills at full capacity, I can finally have normal conversations without using rica''s telepathy spell. I take the girls there and Diana takes a knife out of nowhere and with difficulty cuts the threads that hold him and start searching him first. She confiscated two daggers, a knife, and a short sword. Then she removes his clothes which are black boots, long black pants, a brown shirt with a black leather jacket with hood and removes the wooden mask he wears revealing a face with a scar on the right cheek and a symbol on the neck that looks like the head of an eagle. When Diana sees the tattoo on the human''s neck and faces she gets serious and uses the lines she cut to tie his arms behind his back and legs, then she stands up and looks at me. "You did well to catch him master." (Diana) "Do you know him?" (me) "Not in person, just your wanted poster." (Diana) "His name is unknown, but he is known as Vibora, he is an assassin who belongs to a group of bandits known as ''Storm Birds'' who are the monster tattooed on his neck." (Diana) "I identified him by his scar on his face and the position of his tattoo, he is the right-hand man of the bandit chief known as the Storm Killer." (Diana) "That''s excellent then, let''s interrogate him and find out numbers and his location, this will be excellent for my plans." (me) "How to order master, but what plans are these." (Diana) "Before anything tell me, is this master bandit strong? Is his face known?" (me) "Nothing is known about him, all his sightings he was wearing a black mask, all that is known is that they kidnap mostly noblemen and sell them as slaves, they also rob and kill many traders on the way, the Guild of Adventurers thinks his base is somewhere in the Valley of Blood, but so far none of his group has been captured." (Diana) With this information it looks like I''m going to have to rush my plans, I''m going to have to interrogate him personally and when I get the information I need from him I''m going to kill and eat him after ripping his head off. I want to find his hiding place and then kill and all the bad guys and enslave the bad guy, besides he is a man who has knowledge about the criminal underworld which can be useful to me later. rica is right I''m not someone who likes to kill innocents, but I''m not someone good either, it''s not the reason to hesitate to kill bad guys and criminals, they should yield more EXP and skills for me than monsters and I also want to get the human lineage. "(Hahahahaha)" (me) "(I have to find a way to kill everyone somehow, this plan is going to be difficult, but I''ll have to take the risk.)" (me) The Bandit Boss also had to be strong so it will be a great addition to my group. Chapter 34: Questioning We don''t have much time so I tell the girls to leave, it''s late in the morning and I need to make him talk soon. I asked the girls to leave I started walking out of the room and went to get food to take back to the prisoners'' room, after that, I went to Diana and took the knife she was using. The truth is that the prisoner wasn''t passed out, he just couldn''t move due to the poison, so he listened to everything we said, but that doesn''t matter. The poison''s effect will weaken over time, and now it''s only about twenty minutes before he''s able to speak again, I decide to talk to him while I wait. I tell him how I''m going to use the knife I''m holding to torture him, I also tell him the order in which I''m going to start cutting and how I''m going to make him see me eating his organs and flesh without being able to do anything, I''m even sincere and I say that he''s going to die anyway the only difference is whether he''s going to die a slow and grotesque death or it''s going to be a quick death, and at the most horrible points of my speech I made sure to smile at him as innocently and sincerely as possible while wearing my skill [ Intimidation: 1 ] to make him as terrified as possible. Ding! <[ His skill leveled up [ Intimidation: 1> 2 ] ]> After doing this for a few minutes and he regains the ability to speak I call the girls back to hear his explanation, after all, he seemed very happy to tell him everything he knew as long as I gave him a quick death. When I meet the girls I tell Ibuki to stay behind and go cut meat for lunch, and I tell rica to use her telepathy spell on me and Diana so we can talk without the prisoner noticing before we go inside. Ding! <[ Telepathic link format with a member of the rica party ]> . <[ Telepathic link format with party member Diana ]> As soon as the girls enter the cave room the man starts talking in a hurry with a pale face and crying, I really didn''t expect a killer to be so scared that even a little conversation of mine would scare him so much, even if I really did. If all that I said with him was worth it, I expected a bit of resistance, what a disappointment. I''m not such a good person to pity or pity a murderer and kidnapper, only a silly person would do that, even in my old world I was in favor of the death penalty for willing murderers like this. "I say whatever you won''t just get that thing away from me." (Viper) "..." (Diana) "..." (rica) The two look at me not knowing what I did to him to make him so scared, since he doesn''t have any wounds on his body, after all, most of what I said was just acting to scare him. "Don''t look at me like that, I just said some of the things I was going to do to him, I didn''t expect him to cooperate so easily, it''s really disappointing that I don''t even get to play with C I mean interrogate him." (me) I speak innocently and leave suggestions showing that I was going to do everything I said and a lot but as an act to scare him even more, just to make sure he doesn''t lie to us. "I''ll tell you anything but I beg you, don''t leave this thing alone with me again." (Viper) "(Diana ask him the location of their base.)" (me) "(Yes master)" (Diana) "If you want a quick kill then tell me the location of your group''s base or I''ll let my master spend the rest of the day with you." (Diana) "I talk, I talk, they''re two hours'' drive from here, in a cave similar to this one that has an X-shaped scratch on the left outside the cave entrance." (Viper) "(rica ask the number of your group and if they will all be there.)" (me) "Tell me your group number? And remember if the number isn''t right when we get back the master will make you want to be dead." (rica) "I PROMISE THAT I WILL TELL EVERYTHING I KNOW, PLEASE DON''T LET THIS THING COME NEAR ME AGAIN." (Viper) "Then answer the question." (rica) "There are eight in total including me and the boss." (Viper) "They should all be there but the boss, he said he was going to town to get the information on the next target for kidnapping, he should be back around dawn tomorrow." (Viper) "(Diana ask the other members'' jobs and races.)" (me) "Tell me the races of others?" (Diana) "Four of them are Humans, one is Tiger Beast Man and the other a Dwarf." (Viper) "(Ask about the leader too.)" (me) "What about your boss''s race?" (Diana) "I don''t know I swear no one knows he never takes that mask off, no one has ever seen his face, and his voice is modified by a spell on the mask." (Viper) "I also want to know about your work?" (Diana) "The four humans are thieves, the Tiger Beast Man is a fighter and the Dwarf is a warrior." (Viper) "What about your boss?" (Diana) "I don''t know the boss doesn''t let anyone know anything about him, but the way he moves he must be a kind of Assassin." (Viper) "(rica asks if everyone else is going to be there, and asks where is the watchman who will surely be watching.)" (me) "Are they all going to be in the cave today?" (rica) "They''ll all be there, before the boss leaves he told us to wait for him in the cave, I just went out to get some food but I said I''d be back at nightfall." (Viper) "Where is the watchman is hidden?" (Diana) "..." (Vibora) "It stands in the branches of a tree that has three boulders underneath." (Viper) "(rica ask about the shift change.)" (me) "Tell me about the watchman''s shift change." (rica) "The change of shifts takes place every three hours, one leaves and the other enters the cave." (Viper) "Alright, I guess that''s all, you can leave now rica and Diana." (me) Ding! <[ Telepathic link disabled with party members ]> "Yes Master." (rica) "Yes Master." (Diana) "WAIT YOU PROMISED ME THAT IF I TOLD EVERYTHING I KNEW I WOULD HAVE A FAST DEATH YOU PROMISED." (Viper) "You don''t have to worry, I won''t do anything to you, I just want to ask you one last thing." (me) "The cave has how many branches and rooms? And which one will I meet your friends in?" (me) "There are only two rooms inside the cave, the first is where we meet and the other at the back is where everything we have is." (Viper) "Is everything you stole in the cave or do you have another hiding place?" (me) "I swear it''s all there, everything we stole and all the money we make from selling slaves and stolen items, it''s all there." (Viper) "Very well now I''m going to poison you and leave you here with a watchman outside, if I don''t come back he''ll do to you everything I said so I hope you haven''t lied." "EVERYTHING I SAID IS TRUE, I swear it." (Viper) I go to him and bite his neck and start sucking his blood, just enough to make him anemic and weak, then use my paralyzing venom to immobilize him, which should make it impossible for him to run away today. Ding! Ding! <[ His skill leveled up [ Weak resistance to paralysis: 6 > 7 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the bloodline [ Human: 8% ] ]> With him unable to move I leave the cave and join the girls in the cabin, I want to discuss some things with them but first I check the status of the three. It reminds me that until now I haven''t checked them out. <[NAME: rica RACE: Lesser Demon LEVEL: 37/150 EXP: 194/197 LINEAGE: [ Demon: 100%] JOB: [ Fire Mage Novice ] WORK LEVEL: 8/30 WORK EXP: 130/158 WORK HISTORY: [ Apprentice Wizard: 10/10] [ Novice Wizard: 20/20] [ Adventurer: 25/25] HP: 60/60 MP: 153/153 Stamina: 50/50 Strength: 35 Dexterity: 70 Agility: 57 Defense: 29 Intelligence: 95 magic defense: 81 Charm: 93 Luck: - 15 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: [ Former Noble ] [ E-Grade Adventurer ] [ Novice Mage ] [ Slave of Zenos ] [ Demonified ] [ Corrupted ] ]> -------\--\----------------------- <[ NAME: Diana RACE: Wolf Man-Beast LEVEL: 52/450 EXP: 350/378 LINEAGE: [Wolf Man: 100%] WORK: [ Swordsman with two swords ] WORK LEVEL: 8/50 WORK EXP: 43/280 WORK HISTORY: [ Apprentice Martial Artist: 10/10 ] [ Martial Artist: 34/34 ] [ Apprentice Swordsman: 10/10 ] [ Adventurer: 25/25 ] [ Novice Swordsman: 20/20 ] [ Swordsman: 30/30 ] [ Novice two-sword swordsman: 20/20 ] HP: 100/100 MP: 33/33 Ki: 98/98 Strength: 84 Dexterity: 76 Agility: 91 Defense: 53 Intelligence: 37 magic defense: 28 Charm: 88 Lucky: 23 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: [ Novice Martial Artist ] [ Grade D Adventurer ] [ Double Sword Swordsman ] [ Combat Genius ] [ Familiar of Zenos ] [ Incarnation of Beasts ] [ Ki User ] ]> The girls are stronger than me, so there shouldn''t be any problem, Diana told me that she got a lot stronger after becoming my familiar, rica also told me that after being Demonified she became a lot stronger. In Diana''s status, I see that STM has been replaced by Ki, when I ask about this she told me that Ki is energy that represents the purest form of physical energy, it replaces STM while retaining the same properties and can be used for both defense as for attack. It seems to be a type of energy, she told me it''s the best energy for melee warriors to use, it infuses energy and elements into the body to increase power. The explanation rica gave me was that magic is energy used outside the body and Ki is an energy to be used inside the body. Diana said that she has been trying to awaken her Ki for years, but only managed it a few days ago, she said that she felt that after becoming my Familiar the process of converting STM into Ki became easier. Chapter 35: Eliminating Bandits Part 1 After checking the girls'' statuses I join everyone to discuss my plan, I have already thought of a general plan but I need to discuss the details together with the girls before putting everything into practice, I ask rica to use her telepathy spell because of Ibuki who is still learning the common language. Ding! <[ Telepathic link format with a member of the rica party ]> . <[ Telepathic link format with party member Diana ]> . <[ Telepathic link format with party member Ibuki ]> "(The master was amazing, he knew exactly the questions to ask, but master, I have a question, why did you keep asking me and Diana to take turns asking the questions?)" (rica) "(That was for the prisoner not to focus on one person, with him I try to change his focus between you two and keep watching me that I didn''t say anything but he was afraid he didn''t have time to think about lies.)" (me) "(I didn''t understand master, but it seems that you thought of everything.)" (Diana) "(I understood master, what you said makes a lot of sense, but why didn''t you ask anything.)" (rica) "(As he was scared of me he instinctively had me in his field of vision all the time, making just you two ask, he had to take that focus off of him on me to look at you which made your fear increase and for him being desperate he didn''t have time to invent anything, but he could still hide some important information so I chose specific questions for him to answer.)" (me) "(The master is very smart indeed.)" (rica) "(I didn''t understand, but the important thing is that thanks to the master we have all the information we need.)" (Diana) "(What shall we do now master?)" (Diana) "(I have formulated a general plan but I have to discuss the details with you and separate your roles in the plan.)" (me) "(It looks like there are two rooms in the cave where they hide, the first is where they meet and the last is all their treasure.)" (me) "(What we''re going to do is get behind the tree where the lookout is in his blind spot, I''ll do that.)" (me) "(Then we''ll wait covertly for the change of lookouts to get one more alone, and it''ll be with you Diana or with me depending on the situation, okay?)" (me) "(Yes master, I will have no problem with mere thieves.)" (Diana) "(I believe only the four thieves who will be responsible for surveillance.)" (me) "(And the master thought it right, Dwarves are known to be clumsy with their legs and slow, they would be terrible at surveillance jobs.)" (rica) "(And Tiger Man-Beasts are known to be impatient, and a melee fighter type wouldn''t be able to sit around for hours.)" (Diana) "(So I want to get these two alive to help Ibuki evolve, I''m sure the one in the tree I can get alive, and you Diana?)" (me) "(I won''t have any problem if I can get behind him before he knows it.)" (Diana) "(I trust you Diana.)" (me) "(I will do to earn your trust in me, master.)" (Diana) "(Thank you for thinking about me master, when I evolve I will train so I can be more useful to the master.)" (Ibuki) "(Don''t worry about it Ibuki.)" (me) "(What about the others inside the master cave?)" (rica) "(Let''s lure them out, I''ll throw dry twigs and my line before setting fire to the cave, with the smoke they''ll be forced out.)" (me) "(The moment you leave I want Erica to kill a human and Diana I want you to use your swords to cut off one of the Tiger Beast-Man''s legs.)" (me) "(I can master.)" (rica) "(The smoke will cloud his sense of smell and vision so it will be easy to ambush him and cut off his master leg.)" (Diana) "(The other two, I''ll kill a human with one blow in the ambush and on the Dwarf we''ll fight him just me and Diana, is everything alright with the plan?)" (me) "(The master''s plan is perfect, I don''t see any flaws.)" (Diana) "(The master''s plan is brilliant, it took into account those that would be easier to eliminate and how to reduce the risk of the strongest, the master is a genius in tactics.)" (rica) The truth is that with so many years of planning stories and events for games and with so much study in historical warfare tactics as a reference I''m pretty good at making plans, but there''s a flaw, I can''t improvise well if the plan doesn''t go the way it does. I thought since I have no real experience, so I hope it works out. "(Master, what about the bandit chief?)" (rica) "(This one will be more complicated, I plan to stay in their cave and ambush him when he comes back.)" (me) "(This plan will be put into practice later this afternoon.)" (me) "(We''ll leave before nightfall to get there when it''s already dark, let''s take advantage of the darkness of night to ambush the lookout and put the rest of the plan into effect.)" (me) "(Ibuki you will stay in front of the cave a little away but still good in view, this will make them focus their attention on you as soon as they leave the cave while Diana and I attack from the sides and rica attacks from the top of the tree with your magic, did everyone understand?)" (me) "(Yes master)" (rica) "(Yes, I will do my best master.)" (Diana) "(I will always obey the master.)" (Ibuki) "(Let''s all get ready, you can end Telepathy now rica.)" (me) "(Yes master.)" (rica) Ding! <[ Telepathic link disabled with party members ]> After finishing the planning meeting, we went to the room where the girls had just finished arranging their equipment. "Do you have any equipment that fits my little body?" (me) "Unfortunately not master, but we have a knife and short swords for you." (Diana) "Just give me the knife, I''ll use it in the plan today." (me) Diana gives me her knife and I watch the two of them take off their normal clothes we found in the ruins to wear the adventurous clothes that have the better defense, I was shocked for a second that they changed without caring about me here like it was normal, I hastily cover my eyes with my hands as I peek through my fingers. "Why are you changing clothes in front of me." (me) "I swore allegiance to the master, not to anything I would hide from the master, if the master wants to see it I don''t mind." (Diana) "We adventurers are not ashamed of our bodies, especially with our group members." (Diana) "During combat with monsters or bandits it is normal for clothes to tear, adventurers are not so childish to not control themselves in dangerous places just because they were attracted to the body of someone in their group." (Diana) "I don''t care about any of this, I''ll just let the master see me naked, I''m the master''s slave, both my body and my soul belong to the master, I would be happy to do anything with the master." (rica) "Stop playing you two, put on your gear, and get ready." (me) After this shameful situation, everyone is ready, I go to the cave and get meat for everyone, and then I''ll roast it for us to eat. We keep going over the plan until late afternoon, now that it''s close to time to leave I go into the cave and go to the prisoner and use [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 5 ] on him enough so he can''t move until tomorrow. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 5 > 6 ] ]> I go back outside and talk to the girls we''re leaving. "They are ready?" (me) The three nodded to show they were ready. "So let''s go." (me) We go into the forest and head towards the direction the prisoner pointed and I''m using [ Detect Weak Presence: 4 ] along the way to dodge the monsters along the way. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Detect Weak Presence: 5 > 6 ] ]> During the trip I asked Diana about the strength and way of fighting thieves is usually and she replied. "Thieves have neither experience nor technique, most of them are normal people or failed adventurers who go into crime." (Diana) "Compared to my strength the four humans must be two or three times weaker than me and the Dwarf and Tiger Beast Man must have a strength equal to mine at best." (Diana) It took us more than two hours to get close to the cave, when we were close it was already night, instead of going to the cave, we went around to stay away from the tree with the lookout. We go in a direction that won''t be visible from that tree and stop at a bush to hide for the time being. "Be prepared." (me) We take a few minutes looking for the lookout''s exact position, as soon as I find him I wave the girls over and move closer behind him. Chapter 36: Eliminating Bandits Part 2 Now the bandit elimination plan begins. Before going to the thief I see that he has no mask, I have an idea of ??how to capture him without killing, I start by making a ball of web big enough to fit in his mouth, with that ready I use my skill for the first time. [Hide: 1] to move through his blind spot and get closer to him, when I''m behind him I bite his neck from behind and just as he''s going to scream I put the web ball in his mouth so he can''t scream, as he tries to scream and despairs I have used my paralyzing venom on him over and over until he loses the ability to move, all this has only lasted a few seconds, and he is swaying trying to get me off his back. With the first thug already taken care of, I wave to the girls, then toss the thief from the top of the tree into Diana''s arms and climb down from the tree. "Diana takes him to the bush we were in, Ibuki stabs him in the head and kills him, I''ll suck his blood so I don''t attract monsters to us." (me) "Yes Master." (Diana) I forget that Ibuki is still learning the common language so I reprimand her in the Goblin language. After that Ibuki kills the thief and I suck blood from him. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 23 EXP for Human kill by party member ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Detect trap: 1 ] ? [ Basic theft technique: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Human: 8% > 31% ] ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> "Now let''s wait for the change of watchers to get another one." (me) "Stay hidden here." (me) I say this to the girls and study the cave entrance and its surroundings looking for a good point to attack, I finally realized that the best place to surprise him is from above, but how am I going to do that? I look up to the part above the entrance and see that it''s a big blind spot for anyone coming out of the cave, but there''s no way to stay there. Hmmm... With a flash of memory, I remember a comic book hero character from my old world who walked the walls, with that memory I had an idea of ??how to wait above the entrance. I walk up to the cave entrance and use my [ Jump: 4 ] ability to jump over the entrance straight to the cliff wall and use [ Sticky Line Production: 9 ] on the wall and stick a foot and a hand on the line to get me to fasten the wall. I''m really glad my plan worked, so I wait until someone comes out of the cave to attack, in preparation I make another ball of webs so he doesn''t have a chance to scream. ------------- I had to wait in this strange position for almost two hours before I started to hear footsteps coming from the cave, the footsteps got louder and louder until a silhouette came out of the cave, it was another Human, it must be another thief, the moment he appeared I used the strength of my loose leg to use the [ Jump: 4 ] down the skill to increase my speed going towards you. When he realized that something was moving towards him I had already reached his neck and with the force of the fall he fell to the ground with me on top of him kneeling on his back with my teeth in his neck, I bit and used about eight or nine times [Weak paralyzing venom secretion: 6] and the moment his mouth started to open to scream I pushed the ball of web hard into his mouth silencing him. He struggled a bit but within seconds he was no longer able to move, and I carried him to the bushes we''re hiding in, turn to Ibuki and speak in Goblin language for her to kill him just like the one before, aiming for the head. Just like the previous one after Ibuki killed him I suck all his blood. Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 19 EXP for Human kill by party member ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Agriculture: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Human: 31% > 55% ] ]> That leaves only four bandits left, we can''t take it any longer, they''ll soon notice that your friend isn''t coming in after the guards change. "rica and Diana, you two start gathering leaves and dry branches then take everything into the cave, I will use my ability to product lines to have more stuff to burn and more smoke." (me) "Yes Master." (rica) "Right now master." (Diana) The two only took a little more than five minutes to carry out my orders, the amount they got was enough, with everything already inside the cave spread I use [ Line production: 8 ] to produce a large number of lines and spread it by half From the cave, I tell the girls to go outside, as soon as I see they''re far away I use [Low Fire Puff: 4] to ignite it all, so I run outside. "If you two position as agreed, rica goes up to the watchman''s tree and Diana hides on the left side of the entrance, I''ll wait on the right side of the entrance while I hide." (me) "Diana remember that you have to aim for the Tiger Man-Beast." (me) "I haven''t forgotten the master plan." (Diana) "To your positions." (me) Everyone got into position and we waited just a few seconds before we heard screams and hurried footsteps getting louder. Soon the Tiger Man-Beast was the first to leave, the moment he left Diana ran towards her with the sword and cut her leg almost completely. The two humans appeared at the same time and were shocked at the sight of their mate having his leg almost torn off, I take advantage of this situation and use the knife Diana gave me to pierce one of them in the neck from behind and use my line skills to arrest the other. Ding! <[ You gained 42 EXP for Human death ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> In the meantime I get hit in the side of the body by a big Warhammer, I noticed him, but the initiative of the attack was his and it was already too close to dodge, all I could do was throw myself in the opposite direction from which it came to the attack to soften the blow. The moment after being hit a fireball hits the attacker who appears to be the Dwarf, but it seems he has resistance to focus as he is alive with only one of his arms burned, he screams in pain, and the next moment he is stabbed by the back by Ibuki and falls to the ground barely breathing. I run up to him and bite his neck and use my paralyzing venom on him to prevent another attack and tell Ibuki to finish him for good, with that I shift my focus to Tiger Beast Man only to see him unconscious with Diana choking him to faint. Ding! <[ You gained 35 EXP for Dwarf kill by party member ]> With everything resolved I gather the ones that are still alive, which are the Tiger Beast Man and one of the humans I captured, I tie the Tiger Beast Man with my lines and use paralyzing poison too, I tell Ibuki to kill them all by piercing their heads with the knife that I pass to her, then I drank the blood of all three and the one I killed before. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 38 EXP for killing Tiger Beast Man by party member ]> . . <[ You gained 20 EXP for killing Human by party member ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [Basic Forge: 1] ? [Sense of Ki] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following titles: ? [ Thief ] ? [Kidnapper] ? [ Goblin Assassin ] ]> . . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Human: 55% > 93% ] ]> . . <[ You have acquired the [Dwarf: 14% ] ]> lineage . . <[ You have acquired the bloodline [ Tiger Beast Man: 17% ] ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> With the fight over, I wait with the girls for the fire to go out and the smoke to dissipate. Seeing that it was all over, the girls started taking off my clothes to see if I had any injuries and if I was okay while we waited, I couldn''t deny seeing her eyes filled with sincere concern. I was lucky to react quickly enough to deny most of that Warhammer''s strength, thanks to that all I suffered was a massive bruise on my right side and I didn''t have any broken ribs or external wounds. But rica and Ibuki were furious and ran to the Dwarf''s corpse with knives they took from one of the thieves to get revenge on the Dwarf''s corpse, if I hadn''t stopped them they would have chopped the Dwarf into cubes. I thought we went well, everything didn''t go as planned, in the plan I didn''t consider the difference in the speed of each one, I thought they would go out together and not one at a time as it happened. Well, I have to reflect on this and remember to make more than one plan so if things go wrong we can adapt to situations faster. After the smoke cleared we entered the cave and went into the two rooms to check that no one else was hiding. When we confirmed that there was no one else, we went to see the rooms more carefully, inside the first room there were two tables, an old closet and some beds, in the second room there were several boxes and chests. Chapter 37: Bandit Chief We carry the bandits'' bodies to the cave, then I gather them all together to plan how we''re going to capture the bandit boss. "What are we going to do now master?" (rica) "What I want to do is capture the bad guy and make him submit to me." (me) "Master I don''t think this is a good idea." (Diana) "Why do you ten this?" (me) "The head of this bandit group is known as the Storm Killer for a reason." (Diana) "Like a storm, it appears out of nowhere and wreaks havoc wherever it goes, and in the end, it disappears leaving a trail of bodies." (Diana) "Someone like that is dangerous to have around, master." (Diana) "You say that, but you''re not seeing something important Diana." (me) "You said yourself that he only kidnaps nobles, I imagine to take all that risk he must have some other reason than to sell them for money." (me) "The master means that he has a reason to target the nobles, Diana understands." (rica) "And what motive is this master?" (Diana) "I can only think that he hates nobles for some reason, do you know if he''s ever killed other than guards or adventurers who were protecting a noble?" (me) "Not really, he just killed the noble guards, there''s no Guild record of any adventurer killed by him." (Diana) "Exactly, if he''s that good and hasn''t killed anyone who isn''t related to nobles, that means he''s not that bad." (me) "Even if he was bad it doesn''t change anything, the moment he becomes my slave he won''t be able to harm me or you." (me) "The master is right Diana, if the bandit chief becomes his slave he won''t be able to do anything against the master and if he is as lucky as I am he can be reborn with a heart cleansed of all darkness just like me." (rica) "..." (Diana) "I prefer to believe you were a special case, rica you accumulated a lot of darkness within you and my power burned that darkness into power for you, I don''t know if that will happen to him." (me) "Back to the subject, let''s ambush him outside the cave." (me) "I agree master." (Diana) "Wouldn''t it be better to ambush him inside the cave, where his movements will be more restricted?" (rica) "..." (me) Sigh... "rica that would be true if you disregard the lookout." (Diana) "What about the watchman? Haven''t we already killed him?" (rica) "And that''s the point, we killed him." (me) "Like you and the master said the watchman died, so when the bad guy comes back tomorrow he''ll see that he doesn''t have a watchman and will be suspicious or even run away." (Diana) "From the level of intelligence and caution he''s shown so far in your report, he''s likely to run away." (me) "And thinking about it the master decided to ambush him outside before he realizes that the watchman is gone, am I not sure master?" (Diana) "Yes, I was just thinking about that." (me) "What I have to think about is how to ambush him without knowing the direction he''s going to come." (me) "The master is so smart, but I''m surprised you used your brain so much Diana after all this is a muscle you don''t exercise very often hahahahaha." (rica) "Hey don''t be joking around during a mission, it seems you still have a habit of losing focus during missions, and I thought that during those days behaving meant that you had matured, it seems I was wrong." (Diana) "But you''re right I''m not as smart as you and the master, I just thought about it because of my experience as an adventurer, in the past I let a target escape in a similar situation." (Diana) "Calm down you two, we have to think of a plan now." (me) "The master is right, sorry." (rica) "All right." (Diana) "If I''m not mistaken master, didn''t Vibora say their boss had gone to town to get information on their next target?" (rica) "Yes, why?" (me) "The closest town to the Valley of Blood is the adventurous town of Valen we came from, if he went there we can at least predict the direction he should head back." (rica) "This is an excellent idea, congratulations rica." (Diana) "Thank you, Diana." (rica) "That''s a really good idea rica, but how are we going to know the direction the city is in?" (me) "It''s already night master, we can use the moons to discover the direction of the city, and following rica''s idea we can ambush him if he comes from that direction." (Diana) Hmmm... "Very well let''s follow that plan, but if he comes from another direction we''ll attack right away, and remember not to kill him, just immobilize him." (me) "Yes Master." (rica) "Alright master." (Diana) "The plan will be simpler this time, Ibuki will wait inside the cave, meanwhile you and I will hide in the trees to ambush him on the way." (me) "Diana wants you to hit his knee joints the moment he gets close enough to you or if he tries to escape." (me) "Yes Master." (Diana) "rica, I want to know if you have a wall-type spell to stop him if he decides to run." (me) "I have a spell called "Wall of Fire" master, it should be enough to make him change direction, but I can only use one wall at a time." (rica) "Alright, if possible try to direct him closer to me, I may be weaker than him but I have a good chance of tying him up with my web skills or using my paralyzing venom if necessary." (me) "I will do my best master." (rica) "Now let''s go over some details and confirm the direction." (me) We go outside and check the position of the moon, then Diana points in the general direction that should be the city of Valen. With that confirmed, we started to choose the best spots to hide. rica hides in a tall tree branch to get a better view of the terrain, Diana hides in a bush so that she can run better in the attack and I hide in the branches and foliage of a normal tree and ready to attack at any moment. ---------- We''ve been waiting a long time, Diana looks fine, but rica is starting to get impatient, I''m fine, just a pain in my side still. It''s the middle of the night when I hear the sound of a wolf howling and then silence, I immediately realize he''s arrived and wave to the girls to focus on their positions. In a short time I see a figure approaching, the closer he got the more of his appearance I was able to see until I was able to see everything. He had a thin body and wears loose clothes on the upper body and long long pants he wore a cape hood and could see a part of the mask, he has a thin short sword in the waist on the right side and two knives on the left waist, his shirt covers his arms and he is still wearing gloves, not even a part of his body is visible. Looks like we hit the direction he was coming from, he''s coming towards us, I wait and see him pass the bush Diana is in and jump to the side almost the second Diana attacked, but he was still close to plus, Diana''s blow lands on his knee but he doesn''t scream. I can see the blood running down his leg and I see him turning to run in the opposite direction of Diana when suddenly a wall of fire two meters high and four meters wide appears in front of him lighting up the dark forest surprising him and making room for Diana throw a kick that he defends but throws it towards me. The moment he tries to maneuver himself in the air to regain his balance to land on the ground I use my three-line skills [ Line production: 8 ], [ Sticky line production: 9 ], and [ Line control: 10 ] to send lines from all of my ten fingers and control them to tie and hold it. By the time he realizes what''s happening it''s too late to dodge so he tries to slash with his knives but with my current level of control he only managed to slash two before the other eight held him firmly before he landed on the ground tied up, no wasting time I jump on him and bite his neck and use my paralyzing venom on him ten or twelve times to make sure before I stop. Ding! <[ His skill leveled up [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 6> 7 ] ]> With that he''s captured, I turn to Erica and Diana waving them closer, and say. "Mission accomplished, let''s go to the cave to meet Ibuki and take the final step with this bandit boss." (me) "Yes Master." (rica) "Let''s go master." (Diana) And with that, I carried the bandit chief like a princess to his cave along with my group and we met in the first room with Ibuki. Chapter 38: Shocking truth Finally, I captured the bandit chief known as "Storm Killer", I took him to the first room of the cave and gathered everyone together to see what I''m going to do now. "rica use your telepathic spell to get Ibuki to join the conversation." (me) "Yes Master." (rica) Ding! <[ Telepathic link format with a member of the rica party ]> . <[ Telepathic link format with party member Diana ]> . <[ Telepathic link format with party member Ibuki ]> "(I plan to make him my slave, what do you think about that?)" (me) "(Master, I don''t agree with this, but if the master wants to, I''ll follow his decision.)" (rica) "(I agree that he has a lot of master potential, but I agree with rica too, I wouldn''t trust him so easily.)" (Diana) "(I understand you, but it''s not just his strength I''m looking at, he knows the criminal underworld, he''ll get information that you Diana wouldn''t get if I sent you into town looking for information.)" (me ) "(And for that reason I need him, I''m not doing this just because I want another man on the team.)" (me) "(...)" (rica) "(...)" (Diana) "(Anything the master does Ibuki will agree, the master is always right.)" (Ibuki) "(Well changing the subject, we have a problem now, it''s that I need to weaken his mind to get the skill to work.)" (me) "(The Master can''t use multiple skills at the same time as it was with rica and me.)" (Diana) "(With you it was different, Diana you were physically and mentally exhausted, rica was even easier she forced herself into a pact with me and her situation was even more critical, her mind was already broken.)" (me) "(You are right master, my state was tragic, but the master saved me.)" (rica) "(Master if the condition for you to use your ability is to weaken the target''s mind, wouldn''t it be better to make him pass out or sleep?)" (Diana) "(...)" (me) "(That''s a good plan Diana, I don''t know how I missed something so simple, but how am I going to put him to sleep?)" (me) "(Maybe a blow to the jaw makes him faint.)" (rica) "(That won''t be necessary, while I was in this room I smelled a certain plant.)" (Diana) Diana goes to a worn and old wooden cabinet and opens one of the caves pulling a plant from inside, it has a normal green color but its leaves have a blue color around the entire edge of the leaves. "(This plant is illegal in the Kingdom, only some alchemists working for the government can use it, it is called a ''dream vine'' its faint odor is soothing but if the leaves are boiled the resulting liquid is a drug that makes those who sniffing or ingesting fall into a deep sleep.)" (Diana) "(Because of these effects, which is a prohibited plant, they probably used this plant against kidnappings.)" (Diana) "(I think I understand what you''re getting at Diana, you want to use this plant to make the bad guy sleep soundly before the master uses his abilities, don''t you?)" (rica) "(That''s rica''s idea.)" (Diana) "(And I must say it''s an excellent idea, let''s do this.)" (me) "(Leave it to me master, if the drug is so easy to produce that you just boil this plant in hot water, then let me do that.)" (rica) "(All right, I''ll leave it to you rica.)" (me) "(I''m going now, master.)" (rica) rica takes the plant from Diana''s hands and a mug of some kind of iron along the way and leaves the room a little, within fifteen minutes she returns with the mug with some kind of blue-green liquid and hands it to me. "(Here is master.)" (rica) "(Very well rica, thank you.)" (me) With that problem solved I go to the bad guy and lift the mask enough to see his mouth and make him swallow half the mug, one thing I noticed is the various scars on his lips and chin, which is why I didn''t want to take it off. the rest of the mask. After making him drink it only takes a few seconds before he goes to sleep, as he goes to sleep and I get ready to use my skills I see tears falling behind the mask. I was intrigued by this reaction but decided to leave it for later, I needed to make him submit it to me soon, in the morning we have to go back to our house and I''ll take him with us. I thought about using four skills, I noticed when I used it with the girls that my skill [ Aura of judgment: 1 ] activates and increases its power automatically using the Skill [ Aura of chaos: 1 ], probably because both are Aura skills when one active she should use the second one to increase her effects and power, at least that''s my theory. So when I activate [ Aura of Judgment: 1 ] the ability [ Aura of Chaos: 1 ] activates and its effects complement each other, I''ll use [ Intimidation: 2 ] at the same time to lower any resistance it might still have and lastly activate [ Blood Servant: 1 ] to enslave him. Using all of these skills at the same time is going to be tricky, I hope everything goes well, praying it works I activate the four skills and try to focus my mind on the bad guy to see if I can somehow target my skill only on him, and it looks like It worked. I started to feel all of my mana leave the body and felt my Aura expand and mix with my mana, then eventually cover the whole room like it did before they go to the bandit boss and cover him but don''t enter his body. "Ahhh!" (me) Suddenly I felt a lot of pain all over my body and at this time I realize that my blood is also coming out of my pores, as well as my Aura and mana my blood floats to the bad guy and circulates him, with all this I feel weak, very weak, bad I''m able to stand up, can''t feel it, but Intimidation must be taking its toll as he''s slightly shivering in his sleep. At first, it seemed like everything was going well but soon I could hear some whispers in a voice that made it impossible to tell if it belonged to a man or a woman, a young man or an old man, the voice was disconcerting and it was coming from the bad guy. "No, no, I prefer death." (Storm Killer) From these whispers I realize that he is resisting, this can be dangerous, my skill [ Aura of judgment: 1 ] might end up treating him as an enemy which can harm him or even kill him as the skill is getting a power boost because of of the other three. I have to do what I did with Diana and rica, I''m going to try to get him to agree to something he wants, but what does he want? I walk over and speak beside his head. "What you want?" (me) "Do you want power?" (me) "Do you want authority?" (me) "Do you want wealth?" (me) "Do you want fame?" (me) I ask him these questions and I don''t know how but it''s like I know the answer to all of them is no. "Do you want revenge?" (me) When I say this his body stops shaking for a second before starting again. "I think not." (me) "So answer me what you want, what you''ve buried inside yourself." (me) "What do you want? Answer!" (me) In the end, I talk to him as if ordering him to answer, I don''t know why but it''s like I already know the answer to all these questions, I feel like I''m directing him to an answer he doesn''t want to say. He starts to let more tears fall from his mask, I know what he''s looking for now, what many have been looking for all their lives. "What you want is a purpose." (me) "Serve me, submit by your will." (me) "Do this of your own free will and I will make you see your purpose for yourself." (me) The moment I say this he stops shaking and I can see my blood, Aura, and mana vibrate as if resonating with something. "Yes..." (Storm Killer) When these words leave his mouth in a whisper I''m pushed back by my power and I see my blood, Aura, and mana entering his body and for a second I see a purple spot of light inside him and feel like everything that has entered. it gets sucked into that spot and merges with it before spreading through the bandit chief''s body. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You have successfully submitted Kira (Grey Elf) ]> . . <[ Kira has submitted of her own free will and becomes her blood relative ]> . . <[ Empower Kira to complete the pact. ]> Once again my head fills with my abilities and their minor ramifications. Of all the skills I felt I should choose [Contract: 1 ] which is a minor skill that belongs to [ Blood Servant: 1 ], I don''t know why, but I feel it has to be this one. Ding! Ding! <[ The empowerment process has been completed ]> . . <[ The ability [ Contract: 1 ] has been activated and fused with a Spirit ]> . . <[ Skill Evolved [ Contract: 1 ] > [ Spiritual Contract: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ Blood Servitude Pact has been completed ]> When all my power has been absorbed by the Bandit Boss and the ability I''ve given him has evolved, he wakes up and stands up taking off his mask and lowering his hood, and saying while I''m shocked at what I see. "I swear to serve you body and soul for eternity master." (Kira) "Today I Kira by the ancestral vows made before the World Tree swear to be the shadow and blade of Zenos, that Dravos God of Spirits be a witness." (Kira) I drop to my knees, not from the weariness and exhaustion I''m feeling, but from the shock, I hold my head in my hands and freak out in my mind at this surprise. "(Why? Why? Why? Why?)" (me) "(This is not what I expected, not what I wanted.)" (me) Ding! <[ His skill leveled up [Mental disorder: 5 > 6 ] ]> "(Since I didn''t realize this before, has this horrible luck played with me all this time?)" (me) Chapter 39: Purpose you choose for yourself Pov Kira: How I came here, kneeling before a black-skinned, red-haired Goblin, using the ancient oath of the Gray Elves. If I heard that this would happen to me I would for the first time in years laugh at whoever said it, I know I''m stronger than this Goblin, but for some reason I know he would beat me in a fight, I can see a longing in his eyes No Boundaries. He made me see the promise I left buried inside of me and the truth I chose not to see while blinded by hate. All this hatred started a long time ago, my mother and I lived in a small agricultural village in a smaller kingdom, she was an immigrant who came to this village after I was born. My mother was the kindest person I have ever met, she cared and cared for everyone, even though I have her difficulties. She never told me anything about my father or his past other than being a "Warrior of the Night", the Elves are divided into three ethnic tribes which are the White Elves, the Dark Elves, and the Gray Elves. Each tribe has its advantages, White Elves have more energy and great talent for either magic power or spiritual power, Dark Elves are born warriors and have strong bodies and high physical stats are talented in using combat magic or Ki manipulation and finally, the Gray Elves who are born Thieves and Killers have great speed and dexterity along with talent in spiritual power or Ki manipulation, each tribe has its Guardian Unit and the Gray Elves are called Night Warriors. The Night Warriors have this name because they fight murderers, thieves, and spies, they are also responsible for gathering information, unlike warriors of other tribes their fights are not seen or known, as their name suggests they fight during the dark of night protecting the Elves from the shadows. My mother always proudly told me that she was a night warrior and taught me about the history and culture of our people, but she never said why we lived in a human village or about our family. My mother had a lot of scars all over her body, she didn''t have the right arm and leg, she used a wooden leg to walk, but even in these conditions she always had a smile on her face, she taught me much more than just knowledge about our people, she trained me with all her Night Warrior knowledge, she taught me everything she knew and even though I learned everything I was just a child with a weak body, I couldn''t make good use of what she taught me. One day the people of the village discovered that the nobleman responsible for the village lands had changed and the taxes were going up, and this was not the only time, the taxes went up every year and whoever couldn''t pay became a debt slave, like it was an agricultural people, there were years when it was difficult to pay these taxes and many children and elderly people began to die of hunger or illness. With this happening, the once happy village became gloomy, my mother supported herself from the sale of medicinal herbs she found in the forest, but during a pandemic she became ill and without any money, there was no medicine or doctor she could get for her, in a few weeks ago she died of the disease, but before she died she told me about a buried box that I was only supposed to open when I grew up. I was very sad and lonely when my mother died, she always said that for us Gray Elves the most important was a purpose and that hers was me, she made me promise one day to seek a purpose for myself, she said that when I lie I would know. Things only got worse over time, with my mother dead and being an orphan Elf a desperate neighbor captured me in my sleep and sold me as a slave to the same nobleman responsible for these abusive taxes, seeing that I was a Gray Elf he bought and put me through a hellish training regimen. After months of getting beaten up with the excuse of combat training and being forced to kill weak monsters to raise my level fast, he finally started giving me assassination and robbery missions, I was glad this noble believed in human supremacy, thanks to this he never looked at me as a woman. Over the years and because of the slavery brand I became the secret of this nobleman, whom he used as a tool to steal items he liked, steal information, or kill his enemies, he didn''t even tell his family about me. After ten years of being a mere weapon in the hands of this nobleman, my body was covered in horrible scars and my face was unrecognizable due to the number of scars on it, after so many years the innocent child had disappeared and all that was left was a mass of loneliness and hate that she thought every day about how to kill the one who had made her do so many horrible things over the years. One day she saw from afar the nobleman''s son kill his father with a smile on his face as he talked nonsense about being time to inherit his title and be recognized as a true nobleman, what he didn''t know was that when his father died the seal of slavery disappeared from me and I was finally free. The first thing I did was go back to the village where I grew up to get the box my mother told me years ago, when I arrived I only found a ghost village with some burned houses, this place must have been attacked by bandits years ago. I went to the place my mother spoke of and dug until I found the box and opened it, there were only three things inside the box, a black mask, a ring with the design of the twin moons in silver, and a letter. I took the letter and read it, there wasn''t much written, it was just my mother''s proud words about me and how she loved me, she also explained that the ring and mask are my father''s mementos that she kept for me. Then I realized I had nowhere to go and no one was waiting for me, I was standing there not knowing what to do when the images of all these years of suffering appeared in my mind, but there was no way to give back everything I suffered since I was responsible was already dead. I had so much anger and hatred inside me that I needed to find someone to take it all out, thinking about it I moved to this country and started making noble rubbish like the one that enslaved me the same taste I went through and I started to kidnap and sell them like slaves, I also started stealing from rich merchants as I needed money, after all, one thing I learned from that noble garbage was that money is always useful. While acting I hired some criminals that I could use as expendable parts for my plans, and after all that, all that hate and anger doesn''t go away. One night I come back to my hideout only to be attacked and captured by a strange Goblin, after so many years living in the criminal underworld I can tell he''s the most dangerous thing I''ve ever seen, his eyes are crystal clear but deep as the abyss and I feel like I''m able to see through the truth as if I can''t deceive him. All my years of experience were screaming that no matter what the reason I shouldn''t become your enemy at all. I had been shocked when they found my "Dream Creeper", I remember he made me drink the sleeping pill and I was scared not knowing what this thing would do to me until I finally fell asleep thanks to the effect of this plant. I soon started to feel something covering my body and when I open my eyes I''m in a strange space full of energy flows with no form, pattern, or any order, it was a Chaotic and bizarre place, the most strange was the shadow in front of me. The eyeshadow had different colored eyes like the Goblin, and it emitted a kind of Aura from its body that made me want to kneel before it as if that act was the norm. There was pressure on me like something was trying to get into my body, and a question always popping into my head asking if I''m an ally or an enemy like I was being judged. "No, no, I prefer death." (me) And the shadow is still looking at me as if waiting for the trial to end, and suddenly it starts asking me questions. "What you want?" (Shadow) His voice was full of authority and carried wisdom as if he already knew my answer even if I didn''t say anything. "Do you want power?" (Shadow) "Do you want authority?" (Shadow) "Do you want wealth?" (Shadow) "Do you want fame?" (Shadow) He asks the questions but doesn''t wait for my answers, of course, I want all that. He speaks as if he knows something I don''t know, I feel these questions are not for me to answer but to guide me to the answer. "Do you want revenge?" (Shadow) When he asks that question I remember everything I went through as a tool in the hands of that nobleman, I for the first time want to answer yes, but before I can answer he speaks firmly. "I think not." (Shadow) "So answer me what you want, what you''ve buried inside yourself." (Shadow) "What do you want? Answer!" (Shadow) His questions confuse me, what does he expect me to answer? Why does he speak as I am ordered to respond? How can his voice carry so much authority? "(What do I wish?)" (me) His words resonate inside me and an image comes to my mind, a memory of my mother, she was telling me. "Daughter the most important thing for us Gray Elves is to have a purpose." (mom) "Especially for the Night Warriors as this is the source of our determination and power." (mom) "My purpose is you, and that''s why I live my life every day full of happiness." (mom) "So promise me, my dear Kira, that one day you will find your purpose, something that will bring you happiness and strength to live in this world." (mom) How could I forget my promise? How could I forget her? At some point I started to cry, this was what the Shadow wanted, this was the answer he was guiding me to discover, he had already seen it inside me, he knew what I wanted in my heart even before I did. "What you want is a purpose." (Shadow) "Serve me, submit by your will." (Shadow) "Do this of your own free will and I will make you see your purpose for yourself." (Shadow) I see now, at some point I strayed from what I am, at some point, I forgot the promise to the person most important to me, but he helped me, it''s weird that it''s a shadow showing me the way instead of light. I know what I must do now, just as my mom once told me, I would know when I find my purpose. And I choose to serve the one who showed me what I wanted to be, who showed the real me, I kneel and say. "Yes" (me) It raises its shadowy claws and a jewel with chain designs forms, soon the jewel begins to float towards me and enter my heart. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You have submitted to Zenos (Blood Goblin) ]> . . <[ You have become familiar with Zenos (Blood Goblin) ]> . . . <[ You have been gifted with a Gift of Power by Zenos: ? [ Contract: 1 ] ]> . . <[ His skill evolved when he came in contact with Byakko (Spirit of Thunder and Metal) ]> . . <[ Your Ability Evolved [ Contract: 1 ] > [ Spiritual Contract: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You purchased the titles: ? [ Familiar of Zenos ] ? [ Spiritual Contractor ] ]> When I submit, the pressure disappears, it turns into waves and waves of energy that invade my body and fill me. I feel something inside me pulsing and sucking in that force, and then a burst of new energy fills me and I start to hear a roar coming from inside me. I stand up, take off my mask and lower my hood, and swear the Gray Elves'' ancient vows of servitude to master Zenos. "I swear to serve you body and soul for eternity master." (me) "Today I Kira by the ancestral vows made before the World Tree swear to be the shadow and blade of Zenos, that Dravos God of Spirits be a witness." (me) It was a long journey but I finally found my mother''s purpose. Chapter 40: Damn luck Right now I''m in despair, kneeling on the floor with my hands on the floor not moving, My new servant Kira is still kneeling on the floor as if waiting for my order to get up. Ding! <[ Her skill leveled up [ Aura of Chaos: 1> 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Aura of judgment: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Blood Servant: 1 > 2 ] ]> Luckily the system notification noises woke me from my despair, I''m happy with these skills leveling up, thanks to this I have the opportunity to calm down. I can''t lose my cool in front of my subordinates, as I thought about it Diana reached my side and supported me to get up, she must think she falls due to weakness from loss of blood and power. "Are you alright, master? Can you get up?" (Diana) "I''m fine Diana, don''t worry I just need to meditate to recover faster." (me) I turn to Kira and see that the scars on her face have disappeared, in this position I can''t see her face but I have a feeling she must be beautiful. "(How can this happen?)" (me) "(Why didn''t I take your mask off before?)" (me) "(How can my luck be so bad, all the other thugs were men, because only your boss was a woman, WHY?)" (me) "(I''ve been trying my hardest to control myself these past few days, but each day is torture, and as time goes by it gets worse with the Improved Sexual Stamina skill leveling up.)" (me) "(Ibuki doesn''t pose much danger right now, but I don''t know what he''ll look like after he evolves, what I do know is that Diana and rica are very attractive, damn they''re even prettier than the supermodels from my old world. )" (me) I lost myself a bit in my thoughts before noticing that Kira was still kneeling. "You can get up Kira, from now on you are my servant." (me) "Thank you, master." (Kira) When she stands up I can finally get a good look at her appearance, she has gray skin color, straight black hair that goes down to her shoulders, long pointed ears, and light purple eyes. All I can say is that she is beautiful, just as with Diana and rica, all her wounds and scars seem to have healed after the contract, now that she has no mask to disguise her voice I realize that her calm and beautiful voice, I have sure that with a voice like that she could have worked as a singer in my old world and would have been famous. While being mesmerized by her beauty she notices my look and looks sad, she raises her hand to try to hide her face from me, but then starts groping her face with a surprised face, after a few seconds she runs to one of the tables and takes an old mirror to look at her reflection and starts crying again. "My face, my face, the scars are gone." (Kira) "My appearance has changed a lot, I look like my mother now, I''m so happy." (Kira) Looks like she''s happy about her change in appearance, that''s good, I''m happy to be of help. But it''s going to be hard to live with three beautiful women and Ibuki. It''s like putting a hungry carnivore person in a carvery barbecue restaurant and asking him to eat salad. I don''t know how long I''ll be able to resist, with the looks of Ibuki and rica it''s obvious they want it, Diana is always hugging me every night and she doesn''t seem to be ashamed to show me her body at every opportunity. I''m trying to be rational and not take advantage of my position as a master, especially for Diana and rica who went through something horrible, but with me being the only man here it''s going to be impossible, now it''s just a matter of time. What I can do is try to deepen my relationship with them more and more and try to find a way to relieve myself, maybe if I go to town and find some prostitutes, I should start preparing for my evolution. Maybe after Ibuki evolves I can go to her, after all, every time she looks at me I see her desire for me and as she is very innocent she doesn''t even try to disguise her desires, but I''ll leave it for when she evolves and I''ll let her give the first step. "Master what do we do now?" (Diana) "We''ll sleep here and later go back to our house, all together." (me) When Diana spoke to me something came to mind, the fault of this situation must be my negative luck, it would make sense after all instead of a male companion to talk to I have one more beautiful woman to resist. Damn, I knew that luck would hurt me at one time or another, unlike other statistics, luck is a very vague concept, I can''t figure out the problems that luck will cause for me. I''m so tired, mentally and physically I''m exhausted, using so many skills at the same time and losing so much power and blood like that, I can''t use that very often. "Choose your beds to sleep in." (me) When I say this Ibuki and rica took two beds and put them together, they want to sleep with me again it seems. "Kira get some rest, when we wake up we''ll have a lot to do." (me) With that said I lay down on a bed and fell asleep almost immediately, exhausted and irritated that things didn''t go as planned. While sleeping I started to dream that I was eating a delicious barbecue, but suddenly everything around me disappeared, instead of a grassy field and a barbecue the surroundings only had energy flows of various shapes and colors running everywhere and when I raised my hand all I saw was a mass of hand-shaped shadows with claws for fingers. "I never thought you were the one to save this girl." (mysterious voice) The voice didn''t seem to come from either side and at the same time, it seemed to come from all directions. Soon a giant white tiger with black stripes formed in front of me, he had golden bracelets on all four legs, electricity around him, his fur emitted a metallic glow and I could feel an ancient sensation coming from this tiger as if he had seen and lived for longer than I would like. "First of all, I would like to thank you for helping my rebirth." (White Tiger) "This strange power resonated with a fragment of me that was in that child, and when she submitted to you and her power entered her body that power helped me to be reborn." (White Tiger) "My new self will inherit my essence and name, but it will have to grow and strengthen on its own until my memories will be sealed until it''s strong enough." (White Tiger) "The rebirth of spirits is very difficult and risky, I couldn''t have done it without you, seeing you like that reminds me of that selfish woman." (White Tiger) "Be quiet, Byakko." (mysterious woman) Out of nowhere the same woman I saw in my evolution appeared and screamed at the Great White Tiger, she was enveloped in a bright red light that prevented me from seeing her appearance but I recognize her voice. "It was just me talking about you and here it is, I should have known that if he''s here you wouldn''t be far away." (Byakko) "Shut up Byakko, take a better look at him before continuing." (mysterious woman) After being reminded by the woman the Tiger looks at me and I see a glint in his eyes that suddenly become serious. "I see, so it''s not but him, his scent and appearance, as well as his way of making bizarre things happen around him, made me confused." (Byakko) "Well that doesn''t matter, as you not only helped me but the Contractor who will be with my young self, I must give you something useful as a gift" (Byakko) Ding! <[ You have been presented with the following titles: ? [ Friend of the Spirits ] ]> "This will make it easy for you to find a Spirit to make a contract." (Byakko) Soon Byakko''s body began to fade away. "Looks like my time is up, but before I go let me say this." (Byakko) "Please take good care of Kira, she became what she is because of your hatred, but thanks to you that hatred has disappeared, and from now on she will return to what she once was, what her mother was always proud of. of her being." (Byakko) With those final words, Byakko disappears leaving only the mysterious woman surrounded by red light blinding my eyes still here. "I must say you surprised me once more, but now I must go." (mysterious woman) "But as a thank you for helping this spirit, I''ll give you a hint that you were already suspecting." (mysterious woman) "The tip I''m going to give you is to find some way to get the light resistance skill, it will be very important for you, but you were already looking for it weren''t you." (mysterious woman) "You''re right, I could pretty much predict what I would evolve into one day, but before that, it was a guess, thanks to your tip now I''m sure, thanks." (me) "You and that Tiger scared me so much." (me) "Where am I and how did I get here." (me) "This is your soul world, a world created within you that represents your true self, everything in that space represents your talents, abilities, titles, personality, and essence." (mysterious woman) She pauses looking around before turning to me and saying. "I''ve said too much, now it''s up to you, don''t expect any help from me, until the next Zenos" (mysterious woman) With that said the mysterious woman disappears in a red flash and I wake up. Chapter 41: Magic technology When I woke up I see that the girls are still sleeping, this time at least they aren''t sleeping in my bed. With that I decide to meditate to integrate my levels, sit cross-legged on the hard bed, start to synchronize my breathing with my heartbeat, clear my mind and calm my emotions. I tried to look inside myself and find the strange energy of EXP, this time it was a little more difficult as I could feel other forms of energy inside me. One was the magical power I was used to, another energy emanated vitality and Vigor and ran throughout my body and the last energy seemed ethereal and deep, it emanated from my body but I was not able to identify where it came from. I could also feel my Aura not just inside me but circling me. With so many distractions it was difficult to continue the meditation, but little by little I got used to these strange energies and started to circulate EXP throughout my body through my bloodstream. ---------- It took over an hour this time, but it yielded results, not only did I integrate my levels, but I also leveled up some skills and acquired a new one. Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Ki Sense: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired a new skill: ? [ Spiritual sense: 1 ] ]> When I finished meditating I open my eyes and see a beautiful girl with light green skin and purple hair changing clothes in front of me, when she has just changed she notices me and smiles at me saying in Goblin language. "Good morning master, Ibuki was waiting for the master to wake up." (Ibuki) "..." (me) "Ibuki? Have you evolved?" (me) "Ibuki evolved into master Hobgoblin, now I can be more useful to master." (Ibuki) Ibuki happily tells about his evolution, and I realize that my luck is horrible, as if Kira wasn''t enough yesterday, I see Ibuki has become a very attractive young woman too, I''m trying to keep my morals but everything is going against me. Ibuki''s height has increased from four feet to four feet, her ears have been greatly reduced and are only slightly larger than human but are still pointed, her nose has also decreased to normal human size, now she has the A teenager''s height and seductive feminine curves, her breasts that didn''t exist before have now grown enough to be noticeable now and her waist has grown a little also showing curves in her body that didn''t exist before, she has become an extremely attractive teenager. "(Where was this luck with women when I wanted a girlfriend in my old world? Huh?)" (me) After internally crying at how unfair things are I talk to Ibuki. "Where are the other Ibuki?" (me) "Diana went home to check on the prisoner, meanwhile rica and Kira are checking the bodies of the bad guys and seeing the treasure deposit." (Ibuki) After evolving it seems that Ibuki has become more intelligent, his pronunciation and way of speaking have also improved a lot. Well, I''ll wait for the girls to finish their chores, I have good partners, they don''t even need me to remember what needs to be done, they know what needs to be done. While waiting for them I get up and start training my martial art to get used to my strength now that I''ve increased a few levels. ------------ In a few hours Diana returns, soon after rica and Kira finish reviewing all the items and also return to the first room, after everyone is together I talk about today''s plans which will be about taking everything from here to our house and everyone telling a little your stories to get to know us better. "Before we start what we have to discuss, Tell me, Diana, about the prisoner." (me) "I put him to sleep using the same drug we gave Kira yesterday, he should sleep until tomorrow master." (Diana) "Nice job Diana." (me) "What prisoner are you talking about master?" (Kira) "The prisoner is your subordinate Vibora, and thanks to capturing him I found his base and found you far away." (me) "That useless one, they were all just disposables, but Vibora I kept around because he''s a spy from another country." (Kira) "What?" (rica) "How can he be a spy being one of the most wanted criminals in the country?" (rica) "If he really is a spy, he''s one of the worst." (Diana) "You''re wrong, he''s one of the best, answer me one thing, when he was being interrogated he said everything about our group without even being tortured didn''t he?" (Kira) "Yes, all I did was scare him a little by talking about how I was going to torture him, but he told everything very quickly and seems to have agreed to death very quickly." (me) "That''s because he''s a spy who came to this Realm to gather information from the Black Market and the Realm''s criminal underworld, I already knew that before I invited him to join the group." (Kira) "I just made him get together to gather information from his investigations too, of course, he didn''t know I knew his true identity." (Kira) "The reason he wants death is that just like most spies he is a slave, his slavery mark is on his head hidden by his hair, as such he cannot betray or harm his master, he is also incapable of commit suicide or get hurt for no reason." (Kira) "I see, so that''s why he didn''t even try to beg for his own life." (me) "Yes master, for him it would be much better to die quickly at the hands of a monster than to be tortured for days or weeks by the government if captured." (Kira) "This could be an opportunity to get the information he knows." (me) "As soon as we get back I''ll interrogate him again." (me) "With that settled, tell me what you found of Kira''s treasure." (me) "Master she has a lot of money, in total, she has one hundred and fifty gold coins, thirty thousand silver coins, and hundreds of jewels." (rica) The girls had already taught me about the economy of this world, which works like this. 1 crystal coin = 10,000 gold coins 1 gold coin = 1,000 silver coins 1 silver coin = 100 bronze coins This economic system is global because these coins are impossible to counterfeit as they come from chests and dungeon monsters, they have the equal energy signature of a dungeon, other than that each country has its currency that can be used within the realm. which is used by national merchants and by the people in general. Usually, only nobles, wealthy merchants, and adventurers use the global coins as they are called, as the quest rewards of the Adventurers Guild are using global coins, to have equal value in any branch of the guild. Just for reference, a gold coin is enough for a middle-class family of four to live quietly for seven months. So this sum of money is very large, it seems that Kira has been stealing a lot. "The truth is that we had a lot more money in the country''s currency, but I switched to global currencies even though I suffered a great loss so that I could use it in another Kingdom in case I needed to get away from this one." (Kira) "What else have you discovered?" (me) "I also found 10 regular swords, 17 daggers, 2 great swords, 4 wooden shields, 5 bows, 143 arrows and 3 magic staffs." (Erica) "All this just from the weapons, about the armors there are 6 complete leather armors for women, 10 complete leather armors for men, 2 complete metal armors for men and 2 full mages'' robes." (rica) "That''s because I sold all the items that didn''t have complete sets, I kept these waiting for good opportunities to sell at a higher price." (Kira) "It also has many potions, it has 54 HP potions, 37 MP potions, 5 Ki potions, 8 detox potions and 80 liquid soaps." (rica) "..." (me) "Did you say liquid soaps?" (me) "Sorry master I forgot you''re a Goblin, you shouldn''t know what soap is, to simplify soaps are used in baths to clean you better and liquid soap is a magic potion that cleans the whole body and removes any dirt or mud even blood, it takes away even the odor, it can be used on equipment, clothes or on the body itself, it''s something amazing." (rica) "We took the liquid soap from the house of a nobleman we were kidnapping, it''s an ideal item to mask the smell and get rid of bloodstains." (Kira) "We also have bar soap with scents that we stole from the same nobleman." (Kira) "We also have some information crystals, most have stolen information but we have some empty ones, and we have four Reading Crystals as well." (Kira) "Master, information crystals and reading crystals are very useful and popular magic items, the information crystal is a small two-inch crystal cube on all sides that can easily store information from some books and the reading crystal is a crystal a foot or two in height, eight inches in width and an inch in thickness more or less." (rica) "A read crystal has a small square hole where cubes of information crystals are inserted so they are magnetized so they don''t get out of place by accident." (rica) "After entering the information appears in the reading crystal, where it can be read and edited, the two crystals work with magical energy that can be from the user or a magic core." (rica) "In cities with mages'' Guild, it is possible to access information using link crystals that connect someone''s reading crystal with the guild''s information crystal for reading, of course, the access has different levels that are controlled by the link crystal used that the own mages'' guild produces." (rica) "People have no right to use the information from the Mages Guild, but the information and reading crystals are still used in many jobs and make life much easier for everyone." (Erica) She just described a Tablet, a pen-drive, and a wireless network, it seems this world is not as primitive as I thought. Chapter 42: Life experiences I was very surprised by this magical technology, I have to remember to check it out later, now we have more important things to take care of. Let''s spend one more night here before we go home, I want to take this time for the girls to talk about their lives and increase their affection for each other, it will help to trust each other more by understanding their pasts. "Well I''ll check it out later." (me) "Now let''s try to get to know each other better, talk about your lives a little if you want." (me) "Who wants to start?" (me) "The master''s idea is simple but it will be effective, let me get started." (Diana) "As the master may already know I''m twenty-two years old and I''m a Grade D adventurer, my family consists of adventurers from my younger brother to my grandparents, being adventurers is in my family''s blood and we''re all trained from childhood to that." (Diana) "I''ve been an adventurer for seven years now, and I''ve experienced many things." (Diana) "I collected magic herbs, fought monsters, explored Dungeons, lost friends, killed bad guys, and even trained novice adventurers like rica back then." (Diana) "As an adventurer, I''ve traveled to many places and had some boyfriends and girlfriends, I have no prejudice of any race, as the master may know I''m from the Wolf tribe of the Man-Beast and as such we live free until and if we find a master, a master is the one we swear to protect with our lives without a doubt, so it shouldn''t be anyone, in my case I chose you as my master because my instinct screamed it was the right choice, and I always followed my instinct because he was the one who kept me alive to this day." (Diana) "Well that was my story, now who''s next?" (Diana) "Very well Diana, I''m glad to hear more about you." (me) "Thank you, master." (Diana) "I think I''m next." (rica) "As Master and Diana already know, I was from a noble family." (Erica) "What? A Lesser Demon being noble?" (Kira) "I thought only Archdemons could be noble in the Demon Race." (Kira) "I think there was some misunderstanding." (me) "The truth is I was human before I met the master, when the master saved me and Diana and turned us into his servants I turned into a Demon." (rica) "What????" (Kira) "The master can turn others into Demons that easy!?" (Kira) "I can''t, rica''s case was special, as you must have felt also my power burns the darkness inside someone and turns it into power for the target, but in rica''s case she had a lot of darkness and basically gave herself to her then when I used my ability on her she turned into a Demon." (me) "The master is right, the truth is that I was in a state of no return when the master''s power filled me I let myself be consumed to be reborn, I didn''t know what I was doing, it was an automatic reaction, I just gave in to her and this is the result." (rica) "I see, I think." (Kira) "Back to my story, I was the third child of a noble family from a smaller kingdom called Kingdom Mara." (rica) "Since I didn''t want to be used as a political tool by the family, I asked a friend for help to lose my virginity and be expelled from the family, that''s when I found Diana here and formed a group with her, then we were captured by Goblins and we were at their mercy for months before the master rescued us." (rica) "And who was this friend?" (me) "He was the fifth prince, he abdicated his title and his right of succession to the throne to become an adventurer too, he ran away with one of the Palace maids he fell in love with," but before he left I asked him for this favor, of course with your girlfriend''s consent." (rica) "And his girlfriend allowed this?" (me) "I''m his childhood friend and I was the one who introduced them, even helped them with their escape plan, she knew I didn''t love him, that I just needed his help and wouldn''t ask a stranger for that." (rica) "Well, the rest you''ve heard, about me being captured along with Diana and about the master saving us, the master treats us very well and doesn''t force us to do anything, he even takes care of how he treats us." (rica) "You noticed?" (me) "Hard not to notice master, once you saw us naked, you even looked away in shame so as not to bring up bad memories didn''t you?" (Diana) "Yeah, it''s like you said, being a Goblin I didn''t want to bring up any bad memories for you guys." (me) "The master doesn''t need to be so careful around us." (rica) "We know the master is not like those creatures." (Diana) "We ended up deviating from the topic, now it''s your turn Kira." (me) I was embarrassed at the turn of the conversation and tried to change the subject back to Kira''s story now. "Yes Master." (Kira) "I''ll start by talking about my mother, my mother was a Night Warrior, she moved to a village in a smaller kingdom called Reino Bara with me as a baby, she had lost her right arm and leg and used a wooden leg to move." (Kira) "The village was happy and I grew up happily learning and being trained by my mother until the village lands were transferred to another nobleman who started raising taxes annually." (Kira) "Over time the once happy village became gloomy and sad, children and elderly people began to die of hunger, even epidemics of disease began to occur." (Kira) "My mother got sick too, we didn''t have money for doctors or medicine so she ended up dying." (Kira) "One night one of my neighbors kidnapped me crying and apologizing and sold me into slavery out of desperation." (Kira) "Whether by fate or bad luck I ended up being bought by the same corrupt nobleman who raised the village''s taxes, he bought me because of the Gray Elves'' reputation for being the best spies and killers." (Kira) "I was lucky that he believed in human supremacy, so he never saw me as a woman and forced me through hellish training to be of use to him." (Kira) "I spent years under his command stealing items and information he wanted, sometimes even being ordered to discreetly kill his enemies, thanks to these missions I was injured and nearly died many times, my body was covered in scars and my face became unrecognizable." (Kira) "In the end, I, who was always around that nobleman, could see his son killing him to inherit his position faster, the moment the nobleman died the bondage mark on my body disappeared and I was free." (Kira) "The problem was that I was filled with hate and anger and had no one to take it out on after that nobleman died." (Kira) "I had freedom but I didn''t know how to use it, I had no friends or family, I had nowhere to go or dreams to follow." (Kira) "In the end, I decided to dump all my hatred on corrupt nobles like the one who destroyed my life, I came to this Realm and gathered some people as expendable pieces to start kidnapping and enslaving nobles for sale." (rica) "Are you saying that all the nobles you kidnapped were corrupt?" (rica) "Yes, I do the investigation myself to be sure." (Kira) "Why would anyone buy nobles as slaves? They are not capable of doing anything in combat or cleaning." (Diana) "Actually they are very valuable, in addition to using the slavery seal to get information, you can use them to get children to snatch the title of nobility from legitimate descendants." (rica) "And how would they do that?" (Diana) "After begetting a child with the enslaved nobleman they try to kill the legitimate successors and then present the illegitimate child to be the successor to the title and fortune as if it were the son of a prostitute the nobleman visited or a maidservant." (Kira) "They can identify someone''s lineage to know if they belong in the family yes or no with an item called a pedigree crystal, as the child definitely has the family lineage is a good plan." (rica) "From time to time there is someone who tries this plan, even if it is valid it is difficult to reach without being discovered, the nobles are always protected, and if a nobleman dies or disappears, the royal palace investigates to find out what happened, not to mention that after the disappearance of a nobleman appears a bastard child is very suspicious." (rica) "Eliminating the true successors is also difficult as they will not only have barracks but will be protected by the Palace or by allied nobles." (Kira) "If the plan is so risky why do they try?" (me) "For greed, this is a quick way to get wealth and authority." (Kira) It seems that politics in this world is the same as in the middle ages, but from what they said the political system can be crueler than in my world, the nobles have authority but they are also targets, I must keep that in mind and avoid foolish people in the future. I don''t want to get involved in politics in this world, it can be more dangerous than a forest full of monsters. "Now that you guys talk it''s my turn and Ibuki''s." (me) "I''ll talk about Ibuki''s past myself, she was part of the Goblin family that captured rica and Diana, but because her body was weak she was marginalized by other Goblins and often suffered at their hands, I knew her when another Goblin a was beating and trying to use her as bait to attract monsters, after killing the Goblin I turned her into my servant." (me) "..." (rica) "..." (Diana) "..." (Kira) "The master has a complex about saving girls in distress?" (rica) "..." (me) "That would make sense, the master must be one of those who get in trouble just to help a pretty girl." (Diana) "..." (me) "My mom always said that these kinds of people are attracted to trouble wherever they are, but they''re also the most trustworthy." (Kira) "(No, no, no, they''re wrong aren''t they? I didn''t save them all for such a stupid reason did I? I didn''t even know Kira was a woman, that theory must be wrong, she has to be wrong, please be wrong...)" (me) Chapter 43: Urgent objective We stayed talking for a while and I told the girls that I was a Leech and that I have the power to acquire skills and bloodlines from those I eat. Except for Ibuki who didn''t understand anything the other girls were shocked by what I said, Diana looked at me with pride, Kira had a look of amusement and rica had a look that reminded me of fanatics from my old world which I thought was dangerous. Things only got worse when I said that when I get a pure lineage I can change race to the lineage race during evolution. Ibuki once again didn''t understand anything and just praised me, Diana was even more proud and started laughing about having found the best teacher, Kira started muttering dangerous plans about world conquest and once again rica was the one that worried me the most since I could see a glint of obsession in his eyes. "(Erica wouldn''t be a Yandere, would she?)" (me) That thought scared me a lot, obsessive people are dangerous, they don''t usually care about anything but the target of their obsession and they do crazy things. The rest of the conversation was trying to calm their emotions as they started to lose their minds due to the absurd information I spoke. When I finally managed to calm them down it was too late and we ate the flesh of a gray wolf that Diana hunted and I ate half the body of the Tiger Beast Man, after which we went to sleep in separate beds. Ding! <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Night vision: 1 ] ? [ Ki Control: 1 ] ]> Zzzzz... zzz... Zzz... ------------- The next day I wake up almost unable to breathe, the reason for this was that somehow the girls dragged the beds over to mine and fell asleep cuddling with me. rica was sleeping on my left arm, Diana was sleeping on my right arm, Ibuki is lying on top of me with her head on my chest and Kira is next to Ibuki lying on my left chest. To get out of this situation I had to once again use my Intimidation skill to force them to wake up, as my arms were in torment and there was almost no air in my lungs. When they woke up Diana quickly got up and got into a fighting stance, rica shot up into the air with a slash of her face, Kira jumped into the darkest part of the disappearing cave and Ibuki lazily opened his eyes and said in Goblin language. "Good morning Master." (Ibuki) "..." (Diana) "..." (rica) "..." (Kira) "Good morning Ibuki, good morning to you three too." (me) "Because everyone was sleeping together with me." (me) When I ask this question rica turns her head away, Diana gets a confused look and Kira gets a little red in the face. "I couldn''t sleep away from the master, and when I saw that Ibuki was going to his bed I joined mine and slept with it." (rica) "I saw both of them so I thought I could, did I do something wrong master?" (Diana) "I woke up in the middle of the night and the three of them were sleeping with the master, so I thought I should do the same, but it took me a long time to sleep due to shame." (Kira) "You didn''t do anything wrong, just let me know next time, and don''t worry about these things Kira they always do it without my permission, feel free to sleep wherever you want from now on." (me) "Thank you, master." (Kira) I get up and roast meat for everyone, leave the rest of the wolf to the girls and go eat the Dwarf''s meat. Ding! <[ You have acquired the following skill: ? [ Basic hammer technique: 1 ] ]> After we''ve all eaten I tell everyone to get ready to take things from here to our house, when a question pops into my head. "Kira how did you guys transport so many items hereafter your robberies?" (me) "The Dwarf, Tiger Beast Man, and I have storage items, they''re small items but it''s enough to carry things more efficiently." (Kira) "I and rica have it too, we found it a little while ago in the Goblins'' warehouse, they didn''t know what it was, we also found three more there." (Diana) "My item box and Diana''s only fit ten items, and yours?" (rica) "Mine has space for twenty items and the other two have space for five items, I think Vibor also had one that he kept hidden inside his body." (Kira) "That''s good information, but what is the weight and size capacity of these items?" (me) "In the case of mine with twenty spaces, it holds a total of 50 kg, the two with five spaces hold 20 kg." (Kira) "Mine and Erica''s have ten spaces and hold 40 kg." (Diana) "Can you stack items?" (me) "No master, but if the items are small like coins you can put them in a bag and keep the bag as one item." (rica) "(This will be of great help in the future, it''s not the same as the item box system in games but it''s still useful.)" (me) "And how do you use it?" (me) "Normal ones can be used by anyone, but more expensive ones can only be opened by the owner, they can register the user''s magic or Aura signature or even register their blood to prevent theft." (rica) "When you go to use it you have to insert mana into the item, so the information of the items inside appears in your head to choose to remove the item or if there is an empty space to place an item." (rica) "With this information, we have a way to go now, I imagine you have almost no empty spaces in your storage items, don''t you?" (me) "Mine has only 2 spaces in use, which are my weapons." (Kira) "Mine is full of books on magic." (rica) "Mine has five survival items like a knife, a folded tent, a change of clothes, a purse with some silver and bronze coins, and my adventuress card." (Diana) "Those who are empty go to the warehouse and fill your boxes with items, let''s make a few round trips to take everything." (me) "When we get home don''t worry about putting anything away, just empty everything and we''ll come back here for more." (me) After that we took the coins and separated them into bags that fit fifty coins and put them in the storage items, so the first trips were to take the money, then we took the weapons and armor, we left the potions for last. During the various round trips I used my ability [ Detect Weak Presence: 6 ] to avoid the monsters along the way, all this change took all day and we only ended up in the middle of the afternoon. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Detect Weak Presence: 6 > 7 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Detect Weak Presence: 7 > 8 ] ]> After we''ve finally finished bringing everything to our house everyone is exhausted, Ibuki and rica can''t even get up off the ground, Diana and Kira are sitting resting in a corner catching their breath and I''m going to see the prisoner before resting. I have to confirm he''s still trapped and use more crippling poison on him so he''s immobilized until tomorrow. When I get to the room he''s stuck in I see him trying to free himself using his teeth to cut the lines, when he sees me he gets scared. "You bastard, what more do you want from me because you kept me stuck there all this time?" (Viper) "Don''t worry, tomorrow I''ll decide what to do with you." (me) "But first I wanted to say that your information is very useful, we''ve already finished the whole bandit group thanks to your information, thanks." (me) "What?" (Viper) "You took them all out, impossible, even if you kill them all the boss is supposed to have come back and killed you." (Viper) "So that was your plan?" (me) "Use your mates as bait for me and make your boss hunt me down later and save you in the process." (me) Did he really think such a naive plan would work? Well, he never saw the strength of the girls or mine in battle, it''s also true that we don''t fight the bandits or Kira head-on. In both fights, we used tactics and plans to increase our chances of success. "I''m sorry to disappoint you but your boss won''t save you." (me) After talking to him I go over and bite his neck and use more crippling poison to immobilize him and use my lines to mend his bonds. So I go back to the cabin where the girls are resting, when I get there I tell everyone to pay attention and pull a red-stained bag from the box of items I carry now. "Diana I imagine there is a bounty on the bad guys'' heads isn''t there?" (me) "Yes master, but only the Tiger Beast Man and the Dwarf are worth anything, the four humans are unknown." (Diana) "I''m going to give you an urgent goal Diana, I want you to go back to town and take the bounty on their heads, and use the money to buy pots, cookware, plates, and cutlery." (me) "I will carry out your orders master." (Diana) "Kira want you to go with Diana but for a different purpose I want you to take the money we have and buy a mask that can hide my race and status from others." (me) "I think I understand what the master wants, I know exactly where to go." (Kira) "rica, I want you to pack up everything we brought in the cabin tomorrow, okay?" (me) "Yes Master." (rica) "On second thought I want to ask if there are any bottles that can hold a lot of water?" (me) "Yes, there is a master, but it is very difficult to find around here, they usually have space inside to hold fifty liters of water, but they are expensive." (Diana) "I want you to buy it if you find it, also bring forge and joinery tools." (me) "I will try master." (Diana) "I will find the best tools for the master even if I have to steal." (Kira) "Please don''t steal." (me) Chapter 44: Conspiracy I gave the girls two different goals because there are a lot of things I want to do but I don''t have the necessary tools. The most urgent thing is to improve the food, for that we need pots and utensils to cook better food, I could use knives and daggers for now, but what''s the point of cutting if I can''t cook. The second most important are the tools for the Forge, building a Forge is not difficult, but I need the proper materials and good tools, I know the design of countless weapons thanks to my games, I have full confidence that I can recreate them in this world, but I need the experience to create first, and for that, it would be good if I start practicing early. Joinery is very useful for building bows and arrows, magic staffs, building furniture, and other useful things, and for the same reason, I would like some related items to practice, until then I will use a knife to carve pieces of wood to improve my skills. The mask I asked for is so that after my evolution I can go to the hidden city, so I ordered a mask with those specifications for Kira, and she seems to have understood my plan. I can''t send rica to the city as she is now a Demon and Ibuki is a monster, so I sent Diana to act in the light while Kira acts in the shadows, as the two have no relationship and have sought different things I won''t be discovered. I''ve even prepared a story for Diana, a reason she''s been out in the woods for months and an excuse she''s coming back alone. "Diana, I''ve already thought of everything for when you get back, but just to make sure you listen to the story I''m going to tell you because you''ll have to repeat it later." (me) "When you come back, you''ll take back the Adventurer card from rica and the other two who died that came with you, the heads of the Dwarf and Tiger Beast Man, will also take the subjugation test of dozens of Goblins, some wolves, and some more monsters." (me) "You will deliver everything to the guild and get the reward for the heads of the bandits, during the delivery release as much bloodlust as possible, it will imply that you went through a difficult situation." (me) "When someone asks what happened you will say that you bumped into the bandit group during the hunt and were attacked while they were tired, the couple who joined your group died, you and rica fled into the forest to escape." (me) "Then he will say that you hid until you recovered, but a month ago you were attacked by a two-headed wolf and rica died during the fight, but you managed to survive." (me) "You will tell how you sought revenge hunting the bad guys until you found these two and killed them with an ambush and found an expensive potion that you drank and healed all your wounds and scars before you came back." (me) "Looks like the master made up a story to explain everything, amazing." (rica) "The master story is very plausible, if I tell it the way the master asked they will believe for sure." (Diana) "The master''s plan is very good, but what if they suspect something?" (Kira) "They won''t have to be suspicious of my track record of being a responsible adventurer, there won''t be any leads for them to follow either." (Diana) "It''s like Diana said." (me) I thought about that plan because there are some things I''m going to need them to do when they go to town. "You don''t need to worry, you won''t leave now, it will take until tomorrow or the day after tomorrow for you to go." (me) "We have to get some information from our prisoner first." (me) With that, we eat something and head towards the room the prisoner is in, when we enter I see he is pretending to be trapped and sleeping, so I use my lines to arrest him. "You really thought such a bad trick would work on me." (me) "Dammit, dammit, dammit." (Viper) "Why can''t you be naive and dumb like other Goblins, dammit." (Viper) He was very nervous that his desperate plan failed, I bite his neck and only use my paralyzing venom a few times to slow him down but was still able to speak. Ding! <[ His skill leveled up [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 7> 8 ] ]> Then I grab a knife and start cutting his hair and shaving his head until he''s bald, I can finally see a tattoo on his head, it must be the bondage mark Kira mentioned. "What are you doing? Why are you making me bald." (Viper) "So you really are a slave, looks like Kira was right, you''re a spy." (me) When I say this the prisoner starts to sweat and gets even paler, his eyes go wide as he looks at me. "How do you know all this?" (Viper) "Who is this Kira who told you this nonsense?" (Viper) "I really am a slave, but I am the bandit chief''s slave." (Viper) "Don''t try to deceive me, by your desperation I know you''re lying." (me) I point to Kira behind me and start laughing at him. "A proof of your lies is that you don''t know Kira''s name or recognize her face." (me) "..." (Viper) He looks at Kira as if looking for some clue to her identity, but Kira is without the mask and changed into normal clothes earlier this morning, so there''s nothing for him to remember about her. "The master is very cruel, playing with him like that." (Kira) "Sorry Kira, I can''t resist playing with someone who thinks I''m so dumb as to fall for a stupid plan like that." (me) "Are you Kira?" (Viper) "What did you tell this monster? How do you know about me?" (Viper) "No wonder you didn''t recognize me, you never saw me without a mask and you never knew my name either." (Kira) "But none of that matters, I already knew about you before I hired you back then." (Kira) "Unknown name? Mask? Hire?" (Viper) The prisoner repeats the key points Kira lets him hear until he comes to a conclusion on his own that makes him start shivering right away. "You... You are the Storm Killer." (Viper) "My congratulations you found the correct answer." (me) "But how? Why are you here with this freak?" (Viper) "Hey, watch your words, your mom never taught you that words can hurt someone?" (me) "..." (Viper) "I must thank you Viper, thanks to you telling the master about our hiding place I got to meet him." (Kira) "It not only healed my body to pieces, but it also made me recapture the path I once wanted to follow and fulfill a wish I had long forgotten." (Kira) "For that reason, I''m going to give you some advice as a way to thank you for all this." (Kira) "Don''t try to provoke the master, you will find that there are worse fates than death, just be honest and speak everything you know, maybe after you say everything I can give you a quick death as you wanted." (Kira) "..." (Viper) "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA" (Viper) I can see his eyes losing their shine and becoming empty like rica''s when I first met her, it seems the shock of acknowledging the situation he''s in was too much for his mind to handle and he started laughing as he cries in his absolute despair, soon he stops laughing and wears an expression of resignation, as if he has accepted his fate. "Very well you got freak, ask what you want, I''ll answer everything." (Viper) "Very well, let''s start with the name of the kingdom you serve, tell me the name and what they wanted by sending you here." (me) "I''m from the Kingdom of Light, I was sent here to gather information about the criminal underworld of the Trigan Kingdom and find people who are willing to help the Kingdom of Light to overthrow this Kingdom." (Viper) "What is the Kingdom of Light? And why do you want to overthrow the Trigan Kingdom?" (me) "Master the Kingdom of Light is a kingdom where it is believed in the supremacy of the human race, not the whole kingdom but half of it is like that, there are still some who are not extremists in the religion of Light, so the Kingdom is divided into the peaceful faction and in the extremist faction." (rica) "The nobleman who enslaved me in the past was a believer in the God of Light Baldr and a member of the extremist faction, they distort their God''s words to preach purity and eliminate the impure as an excuse for their own prejudices." (Kira) With the girls'' explanation, I begin to have a clearer view of the situation and I continue to question Viper. "And how did you plan to do this?" (me) "After investigating and finding nobles from that kingdom willing to cooperate in an attack on the third prince of the Cartoza Kingdom who will be here in a month and a half, after the prince''s death by nobles of that kingdom, the Cartoza Kingdom will declare war and the Kingdom of Luz will help Cartoza in the war due to the friendship of the two royal families." (Viper) "No one knows why the prince is coming, but the Realm of Light suspects it''s to form an alliance between the realms, it would kill any chance of purging this Realm full of Demis and Beastmen." (Viper) "They believe this because the third prince is known as someone who tries to diminish the prejudices of his kingdom and because he is coming with a delegation in a month and a half, it shows that the King supports his coming here." (Viper) "(So this is a conspiracy to generate a war.)" (me) Chapter 45: Conspiracy plan I can''t believe I''m hearing about a conspiracy plan as stupid as this, the worst thing is that even if everyone finds it suspicious and it will be impossible to prove that the murder was set up to start the war, and I wonder how. "Do you know who the alleged killers are?" (me) "No, other spies contacted them and arranged their meetings with me, and I was responsible for telling them the plan, but in the meetings, they wore a mask." (Viper) "Nobody knows the whole plan, each spy only knows a part, I myself only know a little more about the plan because I was responsible for telling the plan to the killers." (Viper) "I don''t even know who the spies who contacted me are." (Viper) "So tell me what you promised the Assassins, why would nobles of that realm be part of a plan that would likely lead them to death and their country to war?" (me) "From this, I know, the nobles are members of the extremist faction of the Church of Light, they were promised a safe escape route after the assassination to the Kingdom of Light, where they would receive titles of nobility a step higher than they now have, too would see that Realm full of Demis and Beastmen destroyed." (Viper) "For them, this is just an incredible opportunity." (Viper) "I cannot believe they would be so foolish to agree to such a foolish plan." (me) "You''re right, no matter how extreme they are, they are still noble and well versed in schemes, which is why they are being influenced by magic items with mind spells to make them even more unbalanced and less restrained." (Viper) "This magic item heightens their prejudices to the point that they can''t stand being in this country." (Viper) "And how did you get them to use these items?" (me) "I don''t know, that was the mission of other spies." (Viper) "So do you know where they will gather for the plan? Or where they will attack the third prince''s delegation?" (me) "No, this information is in the hands of another spy, I can''t even tell if the killers themselves know it yet." (Viper) "You should at least know their number right? After all, you were the one who told them the plan." (me) "There are five in total, I''ve already talked to them all." (Viper) "If you spoke to everyone then why are you still in this realm?" (me) "I am in charge of investigating the criminal underworld for a reason, criminals have their own intelligence collection, with information on the kingdom''s money flow, soldiers'' movements, criminal recruitment by corrupt nobles, etc." (Viper) "I had to stay here until after the murder to collect this information and pass it on to the Realm of Light." (Viper) "(Looks like he didn''t realize he''s the loose end of that plan.)" (me) "(Not even the nobles thought of their own deaths, but I wonder how it will be or at least how I would have done.)" (me) "(The plan is divided into several parts so if any spy is captured he won''t turn over the entire plan, except for Viper.)" (me) "Now I just have one more question, do you know anyone with the light resistance skill?" (me) "You''re kidding me, everyone knows that any priest or priest has the attribute of light, light resistance is also normal in the Church of Light." (Viper) "That''s excellent then." (me) "Master can I ask him a question?" (Kira) "Be my guest." (me) "Where on your body do you hide your item box?" (Kira) "..." (Viper) "So you even knew that." (Viper) "I''ve known this for months, but I was happy so far with the information I got spying on you, it''s a shame I couldn''t follow you to your meetings with the nobles." (Kira) "You were smart not to try, you would have been killed by other spies who stayed in the paths you took to make sure you weren''t being followed." (Viper) "I know, I tried to follow you and I noticed the watchful eyes of people on the street, so I didn''t try again, now tell me where the box of items is?" (Kira) "It''s on the scar on the side of my barrel, every time I need it I have to cut my barrel and remove it, use it, and put it on the wound again before using a medium quality HP potion to close the wound." (Viper) "That''s a lot of effort to keep an item, what''s inside?" (me) "Some items the church of light was looking for, other spies who were here before me delivered to me before I killed them." (Viper) "Isn''t that what I asked, I want to know what the items are?" (me) "There are three barrels of true dragon blood, five S-level spiritual cores, fifteen S-level magic cores, one hundred crystal coins, and a black crystal that is impossible to identify." (Viper) "And what do they want these items for?" (me) "I don''t know, I was just in charge of getting these items here, I should go back before the murder plan to deliver these items." (Viper) "All I know is that one of the high priests who run the extremist faction really wanted these items and kept talking nonsense about becoming a saint." (Viper) "Okay, it looks like you don''t know anything else, I''ll leave you here until tomorrow so I have time to think about more questions." (me) After saying this I leave the cave and go back to the cabin to talk to the girls. "What do you think of the murder plan?" (me) "It seems they don''t like this prince, I''ve never heard of him, only the first and second prince of the Cartoza Kingdom." (rica) "Everyone knows that the royal families of the two kingdoms have been friends for generations and that the royal family of the Kingdom of Light belongs to the peaceful faction of the Church of Light." (rica) "Master, I think their plan has a great chance of success." (Diana) "If the delegation from the Kingdom of Cartoza sees a group of nobles approaching them without quarters they will think it is part of a welcome reception from the Trigan Kingdom." (Diana) "Looks like this plan isn''t as dumb as I thought then." (me) "It''s not just the master plan, he said something about the nobles being using items with mind magic that is influencing your prejudiced side, the problem is how did you get those items?" (rica) "Mental magic is extremely dangerous and prohibited in all countries, items that have mind magic are destroyed the moment they are found." (rica) "Mind magic is very rare, only one or two people are born with it per decade, and if children are found they are sent to a church to be baptized and then their mental attribute is replaced by the attribute of light or sacred, after which the child is raised as a member of the church." (rica) "I see, but I doubt he knows anything." (me) "The master also noticed about the end of the plan didn''t he?" (Kira) "If you''re talking about the killing of nobles after the murder this is obvious to see." (me) "What do you mean death, they wouldn''t go to the Realm of Light after the murder?" (rica) "That''s just an excuse to deceive them, whoever is behind it they won''t let these nobles live, they better be dead and say they disappeared into hiding after the murder." (Kira) "If I were responsible for the plan I would have one or two people infiltrate the delegation of the Cartoza Kingdom to kill the assassins after the murder to silence them." (me) "That would end up loose ends without raising any suspicion, there would still be a chance to recover these items with mind spells, so there would be no clues to follow other than everyone being nobles of the Trigan Kingdom." (me) "If that''s their plan it''s going to be hard to prove anything, suddenly the plan that once seemed silly now seems flawless." (Kira) "Kira, I want you to investigate the delegation of the third prince of the Cartoza Kingdom." (me) "Yes Master." (Kira) "I want to know the exact day they will arrive." (me) "I want to know their route of travel." (me) "I want to know how many people will be in the delegation and their identities." (me) "It will be difficult to get this information master, and it may even be false information because the master wants to get into this problem." (Kira) "I know it might seem weird for a monster like me to get into this problem, but I''m going to need a lot of things I can get from this realm, building or goods and information." (me) "Erica once, you told me that this is a kingdom that maintains trade relations with all countries on this continent and it is also the kingdom that has the lowest level of prejudice among all countries, for this reason, I cannot let this country enter the war." (me) "There are a lot of things I want to do and this seems like the best realm to make my base for now." (me) "(Of all the kingdoms on this continent that I don''t know, this one focuses on trade, making the culture here capitalist, a culture that I can understand better and make me more comfortable.)" (me) After this discussion, I think I could more or less understand the big picture of the conspiracy plan, and since I have a good view of it it won''t be difficult to find loopholes that I can use to destroy the plan is to prevent the murder without exposing myself or the My handmaidens, I will not let any of them be in danger to save a realm I do not know just for the sake of convenience if I am not sure to protect them. I''m afraid.'' Chapter 46: What to do from now on Thanks to the interrogation of the assassin with the title Viper, we already have a sense of the conspiracy that an extremist group from the Church of Light is plotting and we have an overview of their plan to start a war between the Cartoza Kingdom and the Trigan Kingdom. Before I talk to the girls about plans for what we''re going to do going forward, I have a few questions I want Kira to answer. "Kira tell me something, how''s her hired spirit doing?" (me) "..." (Kira) "So the master noticed didn''t he?" (Kira) Kira is startled by my question and her eyes widen, while rica and Diana are surprised by my words and Kira''s answer that opened a slight smile of happiness on her face. "He''s sleeping inside me master, he looks like he''s a young spirit, all I know is that his elements are Thunder and Metal, he''s a rare dual-element spirit." (Kira) "Do you know how long he''s going to sleep?" (me) "Unfortunately not, but I know the reason I awakened my spirituality is you master, so I thank you." (Kira) "Thanks to the master I can be considered an Elf Genius, for having managed to make a contract with a Spirit before I was a hundred years old." (Kira) "No need to thank me, I just wanted to know how he''s doing since he''s still sleeping so never mind." (me) "Back to the topic, you might be wondering why I asked about a lightfastness skill for Viper, right?" (me) "Yes master, if you wanted to know something you could have asked us earlier, I''m sure many of us would be happy to answer any questions you have." (rica) "Yes, it''s like rica said." (Diana) "I also agree with rica''s words." (Kira) "Alright, next time I''ll talk to you guys when I need something." (me) "As you may know I have an ability that allows me to acquire skills from those I eat." (me) "I would like to get the light resistance skill, so I asked him that." (me) "If the master needs this skill I can go into town and get you someone to devour." (Kira) Diana is annoyed by Kira''s statement and rica makes a face of indifference as she nods as if she agrees with Kira''s words. "I appreciate your goodwill, but I won''t kill an innocent just for the sake of it." (me) "Sorry for suggesting something that displeased you master." (Kira) "Just keep in mind the next time I don''t kill innocents, I don''t do it because I''m a good person, but because I don''t want to be a monster that just acts on instinct." (me) "I will keep that in mind in the future master." (Kira) "Speaking of this ability, according to Viper all priests and above have this ability along with a Light Elemental Affinity ability." (me) "If we''re lucky one of the nobles who will participate in the assassination plan might have this ability, or if I''m right and someone is infiltrating the prince''s delegation, he''ll certainly have this ability." (me) "How can the master be so sure that if anyone is undercover he will have this ability." (Diana) "Because this infiltrator would surely be a priest of the Church of Light, it would do the church''s image very well if one of its priests kills the prince''s assassins." (me) "I see, not only would they silence the killers but they could also claim that they tried to stop the killers, which would put them on good terms with the Cartoza royal family." (Diana) "Exactly." (me) "But this is all just an assumption for now." (rica) "But if the master''s guess is right, we can kill this priest for the master to eat." (Kira) "That would be the best possible scenario for me." (me) We went over everything we heard during the interrogation and thought about possible scenarios and possible plans, in the end, we spent almost the entire day that was left talking about it. In the end, we agreed that the assassination plan must take place on the road to that Kingdom. After roasting some meat and eating some I tried to ask rica something. "rica do you know anything about the items he described that are in his body item box?" (me) "I do know master." (rica) "The items he described and their quantities seem to refer to some kind of ritual and a powerful one." (rica) "Nucleus is used all the time in rituals and global currencies have pure energy within them so they are used in almost all kinds of rituals." (rica) "Usually monster blood is used to draw magic circles or spirit runes, so True Dragon blood should be used that way too." (rica) "How these items are used in a ritual." (me) "Monster blood or some other kind of magic conductor is used to draw the magic circle, then the cores are used at critical points of the magic circle to regulate energy, after which the cores become part of the circle and serve as points of concentration and transformation of energy, then global coins are used to burn that energy and amplify it during the activation of the magic circle." (rica) "Of course, we can''t forget that activating the magic circle needs someone to input their own energy to control the energy flow of the magic circle and direct this energy through the magic circle correctly, by doing this the controller''s energy will be spent so it''s impossible for someone to make a magic circle above their own level." (rica) "From the items, he reported, what do you think is the level of the mage who needs these items." (me) "Well the rituals I mentioned are simple, and many other items that go into different rituals, but by the levels he described they are, it must be a S or SS Rank mage, it can also be ten to a hundred A or Rank A mages. B to make up for the difference in power." (rica) I already understood more or less how magic circles work, basically, they are similar to circuit boards, at least it was with this comparison that I was able to relate their operation. Now know what to do the next day. Hmmm... I spend some time thinking and talk to the girls when I get my thoughts in order, it''s just too much information for a single day. "Diana and Kira are going to town tomorrow with the goals we''ve talked about before." (me) "But this time after you finish your goals I want you to try to get information about the delegation." (me) "Diana will try to find out from the Guild discreetly and Kira will try to buy this information on the black market or find someone who knows and get him to talk." (me) "Understood master." (Diana) "As you wish, master." (Kira) "Try to do these things slowly so as not to draw unwanted attention, I''ll give you guys a week in town before I get back, Kira you can meet Diana at night and sleep in your room to hide, it''s safer if you are together at bedtime." (me) "When you fulfill your respective goals and still have some money, buy me some books." (me) "Books about all the elements, basic magic, rituals, blacksmithing and Forge, alchemy, woodworking, spirit, works, abilities, Ki, monsters, religions and about these reading and information crystals." (me) "..." (rica) "Isn''t that a lot master?" (rica) "Yes, I know it''s a lot and that''s why you''re going to take more than one box of items, remember that the books I want are basic I don''t have any knowledge about them and I''m going to use those books to learn." (me) "I''ll buy whatever the master wants, some of these books I can get from the Adventurers Guild." (Diana) "I can get books that are hard to buy or that are forbidden for the master, don''t worry." (Kira) "I''m counting on you, remember not to overdo it too much, if you don''t do it well, I''m in no hurry." (me) I talked to the girls for a while until bedtime, told them why I wanted these books and why their goals in this mission were easy things to find. I''m going to use the Forge and Woodworking books not just to learn how to create things like weapons, armor, bows, or a chair. I want to see if the methods I know from my research and my years of creating and repairing furniture or asking the strongest children to help me create kitchen utensils at the orphanage in my youth are still valid in this world. I have a lot of knowledge that would be labeled useless in my old world thanks to my research for my games, that knowledge could be of great help here in this world for me, but I have to make sure it will be useful first. This world has laws of physics similar to my ancient world, but there are also ways to break those laws, there are also forms of energy that didn''t exist in my ancient world, so I don''t know how useful my knowledge is here. I will use these books to verify these doubts and finally have a starting point in this new world. I just remembered one more very important thing that I turn to the girls and say. "Please, if you find books that describe the various types of foods, recipes and drinks bring them to me." (me) "I''m looking to improve our diet, I''m tired of eating raw or just roasted meat." (me) Chapter 47: First requirement fulfilled After talking to the girls I made two lists, one for Diana and one for Kira with paper and ink we found in Kira''s hideout. In the lists, I have put various books, tools, materials, and items that I need right now or will need in the short term. I hand over their lists and remind them to meet every night and always let the other one know their location. When I''m talking this to them, rica interrupts me to say that there is a simple spell that allows members of a group to know each other''s positions at all times, it reminded me that I haven''t added Kira to the group yet, so this thought went through my head a notification popped up. Ding! <[ You want to add Kira (Grey Elf) to the group ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> I didn''t even have to think about it, I immediately agreed. Ding! <[ Kira (Grey Elf) joined the group ]> It reminds me that I haven''t seen the status of the group or subordinates for a while. Ding! Ding! <[ Subordinates 4/5 ]> . . . <[ Group Name: None Number of members: 5/7 Leader: Zenos (Blood Goblin) ]> <[ Status of group members: { Name: Diana (Family) Race: Wolf Man-Beast Gender: Woman Level: 52/450 Exp: 350/378 Job: [ Swordsman with two swords ] Work Level: 09/50 HP: 103/103 MP: 34/34 STM: 100/100 } { Name: Ibuki (Subordinate) Breed: Hobgoblin (Variant) Gender: Woman Level: 2/25 Exp: 0/80 HP: 50/50 MP: 45/45 STM: 50/50 } { Name: rica (Slave) Race: Lesser Demon Gender: Woman Level: 38/250 Exp: 40/209 Job: [ Fire Mage Novice ] Work Level: 09/30 HP: 60/60 MP: 153/153 STM: 50/50 } { Name: Kira (Family) Race: Gray Elf Gender: Woman Level: 63/500 Exp: 316/389 Work: [ Assassin ] Work Level: 17/30 HP: 50/50 MP: 100/100 STM: 75/75 PE: 100/100 } ]> I see that Ibuki''s evolution made her much stronger, I also see that Kira has a stat that she doesn''t have, it must be related to her spiritual power now that she has a contract with a Spirit. After checking this I go to sleep. zzzzzz... Zzzzz... Zzz... ------------- The next day I wake up with Diana''s face inches from mine, she seems to be still asleep, I turn my head and try to analyze my situation. I can see that Erica slept cuddling with Ibuki and Kira is already awake, it looks like she''s changing into her work clothes, she was just finishing getting dressed when I woke up, and my movements and look seem to alert her, she turns to me and our eyes locked, a second later she turns a little red in the face and turns away. "It''s not very polite to spy on a girl change her clothes, master." (Kira) "I''m sorry Kira, I just happened to wake up just as you were changing, but don''t worry, I couldn''t see anything." (me) She is shocked by my words and reflexively places her hands on her breasts as she says in a tone of sadness and jealousy. "It''s okay that they''re not as big as Diana''s or giants like rica''s, but to say you can''t even see..." (Kira) At first, I was confused, but when I finally understood his words I started to sweat from the misunderstanding. "You got me wrong, I meant I woke up just as you were just getting changed so I couldn''t see anything." (me) "And don''t compare yourself to other people you and beautiful as you are." (me) "..." (Kira) My words make her red again, but once it takes me too long to read the mood and understand the situation. "(What the hell am I talking about!)" (me) "Tell me, are you getting ready to go?" (me) My attempt to change this situation was successful, with my question Kira regains her usual composure. "I''m used to waking up early master." (Kira) "But I also thought about going through the list you gave me to try and remember good places to get everything." (Kira) "I appreciate your effort, but don''t worry too much, except for the food-related items on the list, the rest can wait." (me) "You guys are going to be gone a week, if you can''t bring everything on the list, okay, just make sure you come back okay." (me) "Thank you for your concern master." (Kira) "Hmmm... Good morning master." (Diana) "Good morning Master." (rica) It looks like my conversation with Kira woke up Diana and rica, but it looks like Ibuki is still sleeping soundly. "Good morning, girls." (me) After waiting a bit the girls got ready and I woke up Ibuki, then we went to eat some meat again before sitting in another room in the log cabin to talk one last time before Diana and Kira left. "I''ve already told Kira this, but I''ll repeat it so you can hear Diana as well." (me) "Don''t worry about everything on the list, just take it easy and try not to draw too much attention." (me) "I might be wrong, but I imagine they''ll have some eyes on you when you get back, especially with the story you''re going to tell the Guild." (me) "You worry too much master, the Guild people are not as strict as the government, they are actually more carefree." (Diana) "It''s also not the first time that entire groups of adventurers have died, being an adventurer is a risky job and many die on the way, I believe there shouldn''t even be an investigation." (Diana) "Diana is right, master, there would only be an investigation if the origin of any member of the group was important or if the disappearance of the group was very suspicious." (rica) "As rica said everything will be fine, the story the master created is very close to the things that have actually happened in the past, they will believe it if it''s a responsible member like me telling the story." (Diana) "If you insist that everything is fine, then I won''t say anything else." (me) "Kira would like to ask if you think Viper is someone who deserves to die?" (me) "I don''t think he has any more useful information for us, but I don''t want the death of someone who was just being a puppet in the hands of others, after all, he is a slave, so how many of the crimes he committed were done of his own free will? " (me) "I''m glad the master considers whether someone really deserves death rather than simply killing anyone in his path like so many others do." (Kira) "But he always had a smile on his face when killing the nobles'' guards when we were working, he never killed them quickly but used poisons to give them the slowest and most agonizing death possible." (Kira) "So I don''t need to worry about him, after you guys go to town I''m going to kill him," (me) With that decided, I accompany the girls as they sort out everything they''ll need like weapons, armor, and empty item boxes. I learned that you can''t put space storage items inside each other, but there is a spell and a skill that goes by the name of an item box that works the same way, it seems like the skill is a rare one, about the spell it needs to someone with the spatial attribute that is equally rare to use. "You were away a week, not a day more and not a day less, you understand." (me) "Yes Master." (Diana) "Yes Master." (Kira) I follow them out of the cabin to the gate, hug each one and watch them leave until I''m out of sight. After this brief farewell, I return with Ibuki and rica to the cabin. "rica you have two tasks while the others are away." (me) "The first task is to continue teaching Ibuki the common language and the second task is to organize everything we brought from the bandit''s hideout, okay?" (me) "Alright master, I''ll spend the morning organizing and cataloging the items." (rica) "I will call Ibuki to study in the afternoon to raise the level of his common language ability as soon as possible." (rica) After giving rica what she has to do this week, I head towards the cave to put an end to the prisoner who has already served her purpose. "Are you here to find out anything more freak?" (Viper) "No, I came here to fulfill my promise." (me) "..." (Viper) "At least this way I have a quick death." (Viper) "For someone who''s done the things I''ve done, it''s already more than I deserve." (Viper) "I always knew I wouldn''t have a peaceful death, of all the times I thought about how I would die this isn''t the worst." (Viper) "I''d rather die at the hands of a monster like you than be tortured by nobles or be used as a puppet by a hypocritical priest who I don''t even know the name of." (Viper) I wait for him to finish his monologue as a way to prepare to die, as soon as I see he has nothing more to say I head towards him and use my [Wolf Claw: 8] ability to cut his neck, then I knelt at in front of the body and drank all of its blood. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 64 EXP for Human death ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following skill: ? [ Murder Technique: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leech: 7 > 8 ] ]> . . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Human: 93% > 100% ] ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> With this, the first requirement for the evolution that is to come has been fulfilled, there are only two more to go. Chapter 48: New skill After killing and drinking Viper''s blood I use my claws to open its belly and pull out the item box which has a golden ring shape with a symbol resembling a white Sun. I already know what''s in the ring, so I leave the room and head towards the cabin, on the way I start thinking about how easy it was to kill him, I didn''t even hesitate, I was never a person who believes in giving human rights to murderers, but I have never killed in my old world, is the reason for this to have turned into a monster or is it just my mind trying to adapt to this strange and dangerous world. Whatever the truth behind my quick adaptation to someone who kills without hesitation I know it will be of help in this world, this is not the first time I have killed and it won''t be the last, but I have to keep a line on who I can and not killing so as not to become a complete monster. Because I believe in the difference between being born a monster and being a true monster, on one side there is someone whose race is considered a monster and on the other side there is someone who regardless of their race is already a monster inside. ------------- After I gave rica the ring in the cave, I left the cabin and went to sit by a tree inside the camp walls, I sit in the shade of the tree with my legs crossed. Then I start thinking about what I should train during this week, in the end, I remembered a skill that will be very useful to me, but I don''t know if it exists in this world, if it does I should be able to acquire it with training. The way to train it is very simple, I start by drawing a circle with my right index finger on the ground while trying to draw a triangle with my left index finger, I keep drawing both repeatedly at the same time. In the first hour, I made mistakes many times, this training requires a lot of minds, but I keep doing it, in the next three hours I don''t leave the same place doing the same training and I must say that I feel mentally exhausted. "Master what are you doing?" (rica) "You look very tired, but I haven''t seen you leave here or do anything other than drawing on the floor." (rica) After a total of four hours of training, rica realized that I''m sitting without moving other than drawing on the floor and came to talk to me, so I take a break from training to rest my head. "Hello rica, I''m training a little, I don''t know if the training will have any effect but it''s worth testing." (me) ''"If the master is saying, I hope your training of master fruits." (rica) "thank you" (me) "Want some food master? Or water?" (rica) "I''d like both, thank you." (me) "I''ll go get it for you." (rica) With rica going to get food for me I continue my training, this training is tiring and tedious, but it''s worth it if I get the skill I imagined. ----------- It was already dusk when I finally managed to do the drawings at the same time without making mistakes for thirty minutes straight. When I stop I notice that Ibuki is sleeping beside me and rica is sitting behind me leaning against the tree with an old, worn iron plate with a small mound of meat on it. "(Now I remember I asked rica to bring me food earlier, I forgot.)" (me) "(Has she been waiting until now?)" (me) "You finally stopped master." (rica) "I was starting to wonder if I should interrupt your training, but you were so focused I hesitated." (rica) "Okay rica, sorry for worrying you, I got so involved with the training that I even forgot about the time." (me) "You''ve been waiting a long time." (me) "I appreciate your concern, but I have to be at your disposal if you needed anything master." (rica) "Looks like I overreacted in training, next time you get worried about me overdoing it let me know, and don''t waste all your time with me, okay?" (me) "Alright master." (rica) After talking to rica I ate the meat she brought that had cooled down and drank some water. When I tried to get up I found that my legs were numb and I couldn''t even stand up, after waking up Ibuki who was still asleep, rica came to help me to my feet, holding my arm to the cabin. At the hut, I asked about her day and she said that Ibuki had gone up one more level in the common language skill, she also said that she already organized half of the things we brought from the bandit''s cave. In the cabin, I talked a little with the girls and went to bed to sleep. ----------- The next day I woke up alone in bed for the first time in a long time, when I left the hut I realized it was already halfway through the day, after leaving the hut I saw rica near the cave entrance sitting on the dog facing Ibuki talking, she must be teaching Ibuki again. I go towards the two and length them. "Good morning girls." (me) "Good morning Master." (rica) "Good... day m-master." (Ibuki) It seems rica''s classes are going well, as Ibuki answers me in common language, I rub her head with my hand and congratulate her on her effort. "Looks like you''ve been working hard Ibuki, congratulations, keep it up." (me) I turn to Erica after congratulating Ibuki. "I''m going to train again, remind me to stop mid-afternoon to eat this time please." (me) "I''ll warn yes master, don''t worry, I hope your training bears fruit." (rica) "Thanks." (me) After talking to them I do the morning workout that I''ve been neglecting of a hundred sit-ups, a hundred squats, and a hundred push-ups. I was no longer getting points for training, but the important thing is to improve my fitness a little, because of my poor health in my old world I had a very thin body with no muscle in my body, in this world, I''m not even Human anymore and my body is still thin and without muscles. Damn, hopefully in my next evolution I get some muscle in my body, I''ve always admired people in good physical shape or should I say I was jealous of them, so in this world, I want to have a strong body like the actors in action movies in my old world. But before that I have to get that skill, it will help me in a lot of things in the future if it exists in this world, I''ll try more today to see if I can, if not tomorrow I''ll change my training to another skill I need. Underneath the same tree as yesterday, I sit and start drawing on the ground a circle with my right hand and a triangle with my left hand, I keep doing this for hours, and little by little I make fewer and fewer mistakes. ----------- "Master, it''s time for the Lord to take a break, it''s already mid-afternoon." (rica) "There is?" (me) After hours of training, I finally managed to do both drawings for almost fifty minutes before rica spoke to me. "Thank you, rica, I seem to have lost track of time again." (me) I get up and follow rica close to the cave, while she and Ibuki go eat I enter the cave and go after Viper''s body, when I reach the cave room that was his prison and see his body I started to roast his entire body to eat. Ding! <[ Her skill leveled up [ Low Fire Breath: 4 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Her skill leveled up [ Leech Belly: 9 > 10 ] ]> I''m happy to level up my skills, after eating all the corpses leaving only the head and skeleton I leave the cave greeting the girls on the way, and sit under the tree again, resuming my training. --------- Again when it was about to get dark I had already managed to draw the two different geometric shapes at the same time for two hours and finally, all my training started to pay off. Ding! <[ You have acquired the skill [ Parallel thinking: 1 ] ]> I''ve been wanting this skill for a long time, let''s see what it can do in this world, I use my skill [Identify: 1 ??]. <[ Skill identification result: ? [ Parallel thinking: 1 ]--> This skill allows the owner to be able to maintain two different thought processes at the same time. ]> "Hahahahaha" (me) I started laughing a lot due to my happiness, the skill does exactly what I expected, with this skill it will be easier to both fights and think of plans faster. In a fight while my enemy will be thinking about each step separately, I can fight thinking about defense and attack modes at the same time, this skill gives me a big advantage. Happy and at the same time mentally tired I go back to the cabin to sleep, I see rica reading a book with a ball of light floating on top of it illuminating the room. "What is this ball of light rica?" (me) "His master, this ball of light is a daily type of non-elemental attribute magic, its only function is lighting, ilumina??o since we don''t have magic items or candles to light the room I''m using this basic spell to be able to read my books." (rica) "(I have to make time to learn magic, but I think I''ll wait for my books to arrive before then.)" (me) "What book is this?" (me) "A book on intermediate fire magic." (rica) "Hope you have a good read." (me) "Thank you, master." (rica) I decided to leave rica with her book and I go to see Ibuki who is practicing his sword moves like she used to do at our old base. After training some martial arts moves I go to sleep early due to my mental fatigue from training. "Goodnight girls, I''m going to bed early." (me) "Good night master." (rica) As I lay down on my bed Ibuki for her training and grabs a piece of cloth to wipe off her sweat before lying down on the bed beside me with a smile on her face. It''s still hard for me to have to sleep with a pretty girl hugging me, but my head is so heavy I quickly fall into dreamland. Chapter 49: Talk on the way to town Pov Kira: Today is the day Diana and I go to the city to fulfill the mission that the master gave us, because of that I woke up early to go over the list with the things that the master needs. When I got up and saw that I was sleeping cuddling with the master again and I get ashamed, throughout my life I have never been close to any man and I never thought about anything related to relationships, but the master was responsible not only for fixing my body covered in scars but also from my giving a purpose. As I look at the bed I got up from I can see not only the master sleeping, but I can also see rica hugging Ibuki and Diana with her face inches from the master''s. Knowing that I was able to sleep surrounded by these people without having to worry about being attacked and being able to sleep so peacefully, the only time I felt this was when I slept beside my mother. "(Is that what it''s like to have a family?)" (me) This thought brings back memories of my mother, I am happy that the master found me and that I was able to wake up feeling as happy as I am now, I haven''t felt that way for years. After I get up I''m going to check the list that the master gave not only mine but Diana''s as well, Diana was an adventurer and I''m afraid that like most adventurers she doesn''t even know where the library is, so while I check both lists I try to think of places where we can find these items. ------------- After an hour of thinking and jotting down places for both Diana and me I realize that I still have the comfortable clothes I slept in, so I decided to change my clothes. "(Huh?)" (me) When I was finishing getting ready I felt like someone was watching me, thanks to the life I lived until the day I met the master I have very keen senses and instinct when it comes to being watched by others. As I turn in the direction of my eyes, I notice that the master is watching me and I feel a little embarrassed. "It''s not very polite to spy on a girl change her clothes, master." (me) "I''m sorry Kira, I just happened to wake up just as you were changing, but don''t worry, I couldn''t see anything." (Zenos) The master''s words for some reason make me feel a pain in my chest, I lift my hands to my breasts and realize they are not as big as the others, Ibuki is the only one with smaller breasts than me. "It''s okay that they''re not as big as Diana''s or giants like rica''s, but to say you can''t even see..." (me) "You got me wrong, I meant I woke up just as you were just getting changed so I couldn''t see anything." (Zenos) "And don''t compare yourself to other people, you''re beautiful just as you are." (Zenos) "..." (me) For some reason when the master tells me these things I feel my face heat up and my heart starts to beat faster, I''ve never felt this before. "(The master said I''m beautiful.)" (me) After that I realized that the master was also embarrassed by his own words and tried to change the subject, I took advantage of the change of subject to regain my composure. In the middle of my conversation with the master, the others started to wake up and we all went to eat. After Diana and I sorted our things for the mission, we didn''t want to forget anything so we double-checked to make sure. When it was time for us to go, the master accompanied us to the gate and hugged each one, I felt my heart speed up again during his embrace. As Diana and I left I could feel the master''s eyes watching us, when I look to the side I see that Diana has a sad face, I know why, I''m sad too, when we were away from the master''s eyes and I wasn''t able anymore. to feel him seeing us I look at Diana. "Don''t look at me like that, I didn''t want to leave the master''s side either." (Diana) "I know." (me) "I know you spent less time with the master than me or rica, but I can see from the way you look at him how important he is to you." (Diana) "Is it that obvious?" (me) "And to think I was known to be mysterious because no one knew what I was thinking." (me) "Usually I''m not able to tell what you''re thinking, but when the master is around you and rica are the same, keep an eye on his every move." (Diana) "..." (me) "I wanted to stay with the master, but of our group only I can walk around town without having to hide, you''re also the only one who knows the criminals and the black market in town." (Diana) "The master realized that and that''s why he gave this mission to both of us." (Diana) "I know, so I''ll do my best." (me) With the conversation with Diana I calmed down a bit and we started walking again, I remember I still haven''t given Diana the seat list, so I reach into the pocket of the black leather pants I wear and pull out the paper to give it to her. "Here Diana, this is a list of places that I could think have the items the master asked for." (me) "Thank you, I was lost where to start looking." (Diana) "I advise you not to ask any questions about the third prince for the first four days." (me) "Because?" (Diana) "You''re responsible for looking up information in daylight, so I imagine one of the first places you''ll ask is the Adventurers'' Guild, isn''t it?" (me) "I was thinking of looking up information from the Guild, is that a problem?" (Diana) "This has many problems, you are an adventurer who has been missing for months, and the moment you come back you start asking for information about a foreign prince, people will start to suspect." (me) "That''s true so what should I do." (Diana) "Choose a busy tavern and use your Hearing that Wolf Man Beasts are known for to listen in on their conversations and try to get some useful information." (me) "That''s a good plan, I can do it but I''m going to have to maintain a high level of concentration to filter out so many conversations." (Diana) "I''m sure you can, the best would be if you just try to look up the items on the list and leave the information for me." (me) "You''re going to have better luck with this than I am, from the story you''ve told you have experience seeking information, right?" (Diana) "Yes, I''ll get this information from an illegal information seller, maybe even go to the black market to see if anyone there has the information." (me) "Which inn are you staying at?" (me) "I''m staying at the Eternal Traveler Inn, it''s a good place with an acceptable price of ten copper coins a night." (Diana) "You say acceptable, but for others, it''s too expensive, especially for new adventurers, you only say that because you''re a Rank D adventurer." (me) "But that''s perfect, this inn is where most merchants stay when passing through the city, and also where traveling adventurers of similar rank to yours stay." (me) "If I''m not mistaken there is a small restaurant downstairs in the inn for whoever is staying, you can stay there during breakfast and dinner times to see if you can get any information." (me) "Fine, what time are you going to show up there." (Diana) "Remember that the master told us to sleep together these days, for us to protect each other and stay informed about our situations." (Diana) "..." (me) "The master actually said that." (me) "All right, I''ll show up there the moment the suns go though." (me) "Fine, if you''re not there I''ll go after you." (Diana) "Looks like I''m going to have to cast some more in a room with two beds." (Diana) "No need, they better think you''re alone, I''ll sneak into your room." (me) "Okay, I''ll bring you some food overnight in the room then." (Diana) "Thanks for that." (me) As Diana and I talked we continued on our way into town, we encountered some wolves along the way but I killed most of them with a cut in the neck or piercing their heads with my dagger from behind, Diana also just needed an attack, she used her two swords to brutally split the wolves in half. I am happy she is my companion, she is mature for her age and listens to what others have to say. She is also very strict and strong, it seems she wants to follow the master''s orders to the letter. ------------ After a few hours, we reach a road that leads to the city. "Diana you follow the road, I''ll go through the trees to the side to hide, I''ll meet you at the inn later, that group location spell rica cast on us will come in handy." (me) "Yes, be careful." (Diana) "Thanks." (me) After thanking her for her concern I go to the trees on the sides following Diana from the shadows until we reach the huge city gate, when I saw her getting in line to get in I knew it would be safe so I headed towards the black market entrance to enter the city without the soldiers noticing. In the forest, there is an old hunting hut that sells monster skins, but the truth is that if you get there speaking and answering the hunter in a certain code he will lead you to a hidden stairway that leads to a tunnel that goes under the walls from the city to the slums. This isn''t the only way to get into town, but it''s the best for me right now. Chapter 50: Chaotic Blade Technique The next day I find out that I''m the last to get up again, I open the wooden window of the cabin and check the position of the suns, it seems that I woke up a little before noon. When I leave the hut I see rica and Ibuki under the tree I trained for the past two days, meeting rica, she must be teaching Ibuki the common language again. I wave them away and head back to the cabin to get a short sword and two daggers. The reason I want the skill so much [ Parallel thinking: 1 ] is that I need it for the martial art with weapons that I''m going to learn today or should I say create. This isn''t a game, I''m trying to learn martial arts that I created for games just because this world meets game-like requirements and because I didn''t have much choice since I''m in the middle of a forest full of monsters. Unlike the Fist of Chaos Martial Art which has no requirements other than its high learning difficulty and its Chaotic and unpredictable moves, the Chaos Blade technique has some requirements that make it impossible to learn without complying. The first requirement is to have learned the Fist of Chaos Martial Art and the second is to have the ability to be able to use both arms in different ways at the same time that''s why I tried to learn this skill from [ Parallel thinking: 1 ]. These requirements exist for a reason, the blade of chaos technique is focused on attack and dodge, to achieve this you need to incorporate the technique with the foot movements of the Fist of Chaos Martial Art, and [ Parallel thinking: 1 ] is to be able to use two different weapons at the same time in different ways. As I have already fulfilled these requirements, I can finally start training in this weapon technique. This technique is to use two-bladed weapons at the same time, it doesn''t have any defensive movement only evasion, the weapons I chose were the short sword and daggers. I plan on learning to handle two daggers and a dagger with a short sword, I don''t want to get hit by anything, so I''m going to train in evasion and speed techniques, I don''t plan on becoming someone who fights head-on against my enemies, be they monsters or people, I prefer that they only notice my attacks when it''s too late. After getting my weapons I go outside to start my training, I decided to train with the short sword first, so I grab the short sword and position myself in an open space. I start to imitate the movements that I remember slowly, I do it that way so as not to make too many mistakes. Every ten repetitions of the short sword techniques I increased the speed a little, I plan to spend the rest of the day in this training. --------- "Master it''s time to rest." (rica) "Haaaa...haaa...haa..." (me) Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic Sword Handling: 1 > 2 ] ]> I spend hours in this training, I notice my improvement compared to when I started, even my skill leveled up. "(I know I''m still making a lot of useless moves, but at least I''m more comfortable holding a sword.)" (me) "(I need to improve the change of position of the sword in my hand, I also have to learn to move more during training, the good part is that I was able to do all the moves.)" (me) "Master, you have to rest, you have to eat something too." (rica) "There is?" (me) "I''m sorry rica, I got lost in my thoughts for a few seconds." (me) I follow rica to the tree where Ibuki was already voraciously eating. I sit on the ground in the shade of the tree and start eating what rica has baked. After the food I go back to my training, I must admit that I''m already exhausted, this training is killing me but I have to continue, I don''t know how dangerous this world is, so I want to be as strong and prepared as possible, not just for myself. protect but also protect the girls, for that reason I will continue training. ---------- "Master you overreacted again." (rica) "..." (me) "I don''t think I overreacted too much." (me) "Master you are lying on the ground not being able to move." (rica) "..." (me) "In my defense, I can still move most of my body except my arms and legs." (me) Sigh "Let me help you back to your bed." (rica) "thank you" (me) While talking to rica I was lying face down on the floor, one moment I was training feeling my body aching and exhausted, the other moment I was not able to feel anything anymore and not even move, it was like I had an on and off button on the body and someone had turned me off. rica saw me fall on my face and came to help me. When rica lifts me she grabs me around the waist and hugs me as she carries me inside or should I say she tries to crush me by putting my head between her breasts like she''s a child hugging a doll as she walks, I can barely breathe. "rica... let go of me..." (me) "Don''t worry master I''ll take good care of you." (rica) I try to struggle to lift my head a little to tell her to let go of me, but what I see is a hazy glint in her eyes and a smile only a pervert would have on her lips. "(That''s bad, that''s not the face of someone trying to help.)" (me) When we enter the cabin she puts me on my bed, and just as I think I''ve misinterpreted her. "The master seems to have soiled his clothes a lot, let me take it off to wash it." (rica) "(This is a very big problem, how can I get out of this situation.)" (me) "Master, what do we have to eat today?" (Ibuki) Just as I was about to be attacked by the hungry animal rica has become, a hungry Ibuki enters the cabin speaking Goblin language, rica notices her presence and looks away from me. I without missing this chance use my ability [ Weak Recovery: 5 ] several times in succession in hopes of allowing me to regain my moves. Ding! <[ Her skill leveled up [ Weak Recovery: 5 > 6] ]> It seems that the ability took effect as I was able to move again, the problem is that I felt a lot of pain again too. "Don''t worry Ibuki, she still has some wolf meat." (me) "Tsk" (rica) "Master you recovered so quickly." (rica) "Don''t try to fool me now rica." (me) "You forgot I''m a Goblin until my next evolution don''t try that again if you don''t know what can happen." (me) "..." (rica) "I''m sorry master, you''re so cute I can''t resist but you''re right, since I turned into a Demon all my scars are gone so I must have recovered from my infertility too." (rica) "I know what you want rica, Ibuki wants the same thing, I can tell from the way you look at me and the way Ibuki tries to attack me at night, isn''t that why you''ve been waking up hugging her lately? To stop her." (me) "But the Goblin fertility is very high, and I''m too young to have kids, I''ll leave that for when I''m older and preferably taller." (me) "But I like the little master, you look cute like that, Diana likes you that way too, even if she doesn''t say it." (rica) "But you''ll have to wait anyway, at first I was worried that you being with a Goblin like me would bring back bad memories." (me) "It looks like I was wrong, I won''t restrict myself so much with you since you made it very clear what you want, but it will still have to wait." (me) As rica and I talk in the common language I can see Ibuki looking at us curiously, it seems she couldn''t follow our conversation. "rica, you take care of the food, I''m going outside to get the weapons that were on the floor, and I''m going to rest on the bed, bring me some food, please." (me) "Alright master." (rica) I watch them leave the room and go outside to get the short sword and daggers I haven''t even used yet. Inside the cabin, after putting the weapons away, I lie down on the bed to rest while I wait for rica to return with my food. As I wait I think about what rica was going to do to me, as a man I would be happy to have sex with rica, but I''m not going to do it being a Goblin, rather than worrying about their trauma, as I said before I don''t want to get her pregnant by accident. Since she wants to and I want to, I don''t see a problem, but it will have to wait until evolution, not to mention that if Ibuki finds out he will want it too, she looks at me differently since I evolved into a Goblin. I don''t know what Diana and Kira think about me that way, but I''m not going to force anyone to do anything, I''m just thinking about rica and Ibuki because they make it very clear what they want, so I''ll leave the rest to their decision when they get back. I don''t want a harem or anything like that, but I''m also not against having a big family if everyone agrees. I was an orphan, and like every orphan I always wanted to have a big family that loves each other, I can see the girls love me and admire me, probably because I saved them, so I don''t see a problem as long as everyone agrees. While thinking about these things I get a knife and a piece of wood and start carving the wood, I did a lot of this to try to create simple toys for the children at the orphanage. Chapter 51: Surprise attack rica and Ibuki returned shortly with the food. "Master, I brought your food." (rica) "Thank you rica." (me) I stop carving and take my roast beef dish from rica''s hand. -------- After we''ve eaten rica goes back to her book and Ibuki goes towards her sword to continue her training. I remember I wanted to train Ibuki as an assassin before, but as we have Kira in our group now I don''t see the need for another assassin. Hmmm... "(Maybe I can train her as a warrior, the point is her strengths are speed, dexterity, and intelligence.)" (me) Hmmm... "(The only type of warrior I can think of with these strengths and uses a sword is the Samurai.)" (me) Diana already told me what her fighting mode is with speed and strength, the techniques she learned are to enhance those aspects and she uses double-bladed swords. So I''m going to make Ibuki a warrior who can fight side by side with her, I''m going to make Ibuki focus on his natural talents of speed and dexterity to be able to keep up with Diana''s speed in combat, the two can even train together that way. But before starting your training I have to get those books I asked for, I need to know how much of the knowledge I have can be used to teach Ibuki efficiently. In the meantime, I will continue with my training during the week. I try to rethink some things, then go back to carving the piece of wood, splinter by splinter falling to the ground, little by little the piece of wood takes on a humanoid shape. Ding! <[ Her skill leveled up [ Carpentry: 2 > 3 ] ]> The piece of wood is now shaped like a small faceless puppet or any other feature besides the shape. Unfortunately, I can''t keep carving something so small with such a big knife, I have two choices, I hope the girls come back from town with the tools I need or find a bigger piece of wood to carve, one that I can use this knife to carve. a face and other elements on the puppet. "(Since I''ve finished this sculpture, for now, I think I''ll go to bed earlier, my whole body is aching from training.)" (me) I get up and walk towards rica who was still reading the same magic book, with that ball of light on top of her, lightly illuminating the room. "rica I''m going to bed early again tonight, good night." (me) "I think I''ll accompany you and go to bed early today too." (rica) "Anyway, it''s no use just reading the book, sometimes it''s better to rest and go back to reading tomorrow with a light and fresh head." (rica) She gets up and follows me to the bed, I lie down and she lies down beside me, I try to sleep facing away from her to try to convince my mind that I''m sleeping alone, then Ibuki also appears and sleeps on the side to which I''m turned over, with no option I roll onto my back looking at the ceiling until I fall asleep, which didn''t take long due to my level of tiredness. Zzzzz... zzzz... Zzz... ----------- Another day has passed, I get up a little lazy, still, with my eyes bleary I stand up and go out of the cabin. "Good morning master, let''s go hunting today?" (Ibuki) As soon as I leave the hut, I''m hugged by a cheerful Ibuki, she seems to miss our hunts. Unfortunately, I have to keep training, I''m going to ask rica to go hunting with her. It reminds me of a monster I wanted to find, I will tell them to go hunt him while I continue my training. I start looking around looking for rica and see her leaving the cave, I head towards her. "Good morning rica." (me) "Good morning Master." (rica) "What are you seeing in the cave?" (me) "I was checking our food supply." (rica) "Do you have a problem with the food?" (me) "There are a lot of problems." (rica) "The cave is very wet and dirty, the food is rotting very fast, even with the master draining all the blood." (rica) "What do you suggest then? Keep in the cabin?" (me) "Absolutely not." (rica) "In addition to the unbearable smell that would be left for us, the smell of rotting meat can attract monsters." (rica) "I suggest using the storage items to store food from now on master." (rica) "This is a good idea." (me) "Are there any storage items left or Diana and Kira took them all?" (me) "We still have three if you count the ring-shaped storage item." (rica) "Forget the ring, leave it with the items that were already inside." (me) "Go get the other two item boxes." (me) "I want you to go hunting with Ibuki today." (me) "No problem master, I was really looking forward to exploring the forest a bit." (rica) "There''s a specific monster I want you guys to go hunting, he''s a red bat about that size." (me) I try to show rica the size of the bat with my hands, she listens to the monster''s description and then speaks. "Looks like Vampire Bats by their master description." (rica) "If it''s that monster there shouldn''t be any problem, master." (rica) "Your greatest danger is your speed and your ability to quickly suck blood." (rica) "They are weak against the attributes of Light and Fire, as I am a mage specializing in the Fire attribute, a single blow should be able to kill them." (rica) "Then go hunting with Ibuki, she knows where their cave is, according to her their cave is not far from here." (me) "Try to bring them with blood so I can drink your blood" (me) "Alright master." (rica) "I''ll get my things and go hunting right now master." (rica) I see rica entering the hut and taking Ibuki with her, meanwhile, I go inside to get a short sword and head back outside to resume my training. In a few minutes the two leave in leather clothes, Ibuki with a regular sword and rica with a magic staff we got from Kira''s hideout. "We are going master." (rica) "Take care, try to come back by mid-afternoon." (me) "Yes Master." (rica) I see them leaving before I close the gate, so I go back to my training. I don''t worry too much about them, rica was an adventurer and is used to killing monsters, according to her the bat monster they are going to hunt is weak against fire, which is her specialty. She will do fine for sure, her stats are much higher than mine. ----------- Ding! <[ Her skill leveled up [ Basic Sword Handling: 2 > 3 ] ]> After hours of training I take a break to rest, today I started to use more variations of sword strokes and went back to doing slow movements accelerating every ten repetitions. With this I have completely got used to the sword, I am able to move the sword faster and more accurately than yesterday. I''m glad this skill level is up, she''s responsible for learning to use a sword so quickly. Thud! Thud! Tum! As I rested I heard some noises and when I turned my head I saw the same spiders I hunted before with Ibuki coming towards me, I look behind them and see a few more jumping over the wall and I realize they must have climbed the wall. "Because it had to happen at the time I''m alone and damn tired." (me) I stand up and firmly grip my sword which is the only weapon I have around, and before I start fighting I check their numbers, there are eight spiders in total. "(There are many, I cannot tie so many at the same time, I will bind thee with my lines and kill the others with the sword, I can consider this a very dangerous practical training.)" (me) As soon as I''ve formulated a plan I head in the direction where there are four spiders, while reaching out in front of them sending the sticky lines I avoid the front spider and trap the three in the back as I jump over the first one and aim for theirs. leg joints by cutting three of her right legs. With the other three tied up and one unable to move I run to the other four that are coming towards me, one coming from my left side and three from the right side. I start running to the one on my left while I snag the others with my line again, as soon as I''m some distance away from her she tries to throw her web at me, I wait until the last second to dodge so she doesn''t change the web''s direction, and as soon as I''m in front of her she tries to bite me, I take advantage that she was kind enough to open her mouth and I try to pierce her mouth with the sword, and with the full length of the sword inside her, I''m sure she died. "HAAA..." (me) I feel pain in my right leg and see that a ninth Spider was biting me, I drop my sword and use my claws with the skill [ Wolf Claw: 8 ] on her head tearing off almost half of it. Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 6 EXP for killing Little Spiders ] . . . <[ You have acquired the skill [ Basic Sword Technique: 1 ] ]> "Haaaa...haaa...haa..." (me) I start looking around to make sure there aren''t any other Spiders that I hadn''t noticed, luckily it seems there aren''t. "Now it''s over." (me) Sigh I head towards the spiders that are still alive and trap all seven of them in web cocoons before going to drink the slime that is the blood of the other two I killed. Ding! <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Little Spider: 8% > 11% ] ]> As usual, these spiders don''t have much blood to drink and this goo is disgusting. Chapter 52: First information about monsters The spiders'' attack caught me off guard, but it helped me to see that this hut is not secure, other monsters might come attacking. "Ahhh" (I) I''m in a lot of pain where the Spider bit me, but little by little the pain lessens. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low Poison Resistance: 4 > 5 ] ]> "..." (I) "(It looks like I was poisoned by the spider''s bite, I''ll let my resistance skill take care of the poison, I''ll try to heal this wound now.)" (I) I start using my skill [ Weak Recovery: 5 ] a few times to heal the bite wound, after four uses of the skill the wound is completely closed. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Recovery: 5 > 6 ] ]> Thanks to this attack I finally realized that I never tried to know much about this forest and the monsters that live in it. Ibuki once told me that the ruins were dangerous and the smartest monsters kept away from them, she also told me that there were other Goblin families scattered throughout the forest. "(I have to find out more about monsters such as their territories, how many races they have and their strength level in this forest.)" (I) I had to have looked for this information before, but with so much going on and so much I had to do I just let it go. There''s not much I can do until the girls get back from the hunt, so I decide to wait, use my production skills and line control to make a hammock for me to lie down on and rest while I wait. ------------- A few hours later rica and Ibuki open the gate, I go to them to see how the hunt went and explain about the spiders. "Hi rica, you guys got back early." (I) "Hi master." (rica) "How was the hunt? Looks like you guys are pretty tired." (I) "I must apologize master." (rica) "What are you apologizing for?" (I) "We couldn''t even make it to the bat cave, we encountered a lot of Kobolds and wolves on the way." (rica) "Probably their territory is on the way to the bat cave." (rica) "When the storage items we took were full we decided to come back." (rica) "Don''t worry about it, at least they''ll fix the food problem for a few days." (I) "And don''t worry about bats, I can hunt them anytime I want." (I) "I also have something I have to talk to you about." (I) "Do you see those cocoons over there?" (I) "Yes Master." (rica) I point to the cocoons trapping the spiders still alive. "These are the spiders that invaded while I was training alone, they climbed the camp wall." (I) "..." (rica) "The master took care of them all by himself?" (rica) "You''re alright, aren''t you hurt?" (rica) "Do not worry, I''m fine." (I) "They are still alive, I only killed a few during the fight." (I) I walk towards the hammock and do two more next to mine for the girls. "Come on the hammock you too, get some rest." (I) "Tell me the results of the hunt for you two, how was it?" (I) "Master we have ten corpses, four Kobolds, and six Gray Wolves." (rica) "Since the storage items were full we decided to go back as we didn''t want to discard any bodies." (rica) "You did well, take them to the cave and wait there, I''ll ask Ibuki to finish off these spiders before I meet you in the cave." (I) "Why didn''t the master kill them all? Why bother arresting them until we get here?" (rica) "Because I don''t want to gain EXP now, I don''t want to evolve until I finish my preparations, as I don''t know when I''ll be forced by the situation to kill a monster or someone I''ll avoid while I can." (I) "I don''t understand why you don''t want to evolve yet, but if that''s what you''ve decided, that''s fine." (rica) I see rica going to the cave, as soon as I see her enter I turn to face Ibuki who looks sad, I start talking to her in Goblin language. "Why are you with that sad face Ibuki?" (I) "I couldn''t carry out the master''s orders, Ibuki is still useless." (Ibuki) I see tears welling in the corners of Ibuki''s eyes, and I reach over and start stroking her head. "No need to cry Ibuki." (I) "I don''t think you''re useless, I never did." (I) "But I can''t be as useful to the master as the others." (Ibuki) Sniff Sniff "I couldn''t even hunt the monster the master wanted." (Ibuki) "Don''t worry about it, there will be other opportunities to hunt." (I) "Each one of you is good at something, there are no useless people just unwilling people, remember that." (I) "Of all of you, you are the one with the greatest desire to help and become stronger." (I) "I see you making an effort every day to learn from rica, and every night with your training, so more than anyone I know how hard you work." (I) Sniff Sniff "I never want you to say it''s useless again, okay?" (I) "Alright master." (Ibuki) Sniff Sniff I stop stroking her head and start wiping her tears away with my fingers. "(She reminds me a lot of the children at the orphanage, it''s a shame for someone like her to have to go through situations of death and hunger, but she has to continue in order to become strong, I''ll do what I can to help her, after all this world it''s not as safe as my old world.)" (I) "Come with me Ibuki, there are some spiders for you to kill, this will give you some EXP." (I) "It''s OK." (Ibuki) I go with Ibuki to the pods and use my sword to cut the pods a bit so Ibuki can kill the spiders more easily, then I drink this disgusting goo again. Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 11 EXP for killing Little Spiders per party member ]> . . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Little Spider: 11% > 17% ] ]> After that Ibuki and I go to the cave to meet rica, when we reach the cave I see ten monster corpses lined up, their wounds are seared, I don''t even need to ask to know rica did this to keep as much of the blood as possible for me to drink. "These are all master monsters." (rica) "Thank you rica." (I) I go to the monsters and start drinking the blood one by one until they are all dry. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leech: 8 > 9 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leech Belly: 9 > 10 ] ]> . . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Gray Wolf: 53% > 100% ] ]> . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Kobold: 24% > 72% ] ]> With that I have another pure bloodline, now I think I''ll dismantle these corpses to get the materials that will be useful to me. "rica, I imagine you don''t know how to separate materials from monsters, do you?" (I) "I don''t know master, Diana always told me I should learn, she said that this is a great way to reduce weight when you have a lot of corpses to take, that you only have to look at what''s useful." (rica) "What is useful in these two monsters?" (I) "The most valuable part of any monster is its cores, but most monsters below Rank D don''t have a core and if they do it will be a very weak one." (rica) "Apart from the cores, since both monsters have fur, we can take them out for sale, merchants and artisans love these things, they can make clothes, rugs or blankets out of them." (rica) "The proof of their subjugation is their canine teeth, other than that, wolf meat can be consumed by anyone, but Kobold meat is as unpalatable as Goblin meat, other than that I don''t think there''s anything else." (rica) "(There are some things I didn''t understand about her explanation, I think I''d better take the time and ask.)" (I) "What are cores?" (I) "..." (rica) "I''m sorry master, I forgot to teach you about this, as you are and so smart I forget that it lacks some common knowledge because you are a monster." (rica) "The cores are the coagulated form of energy, as such there are three types, Ki Cores are found in the hearts of monsters, Magic Cores are found in the monsters'' heads, and Spirit Cores are found in their abdomens." (rica) "The cores are divided into the same category as monsters but in a more simplified way." (rica) "For starters, monsters are ranked from -H > H > +H > - G > G... and so on up to +A, after that comes the truly feared monsters that don''t matter now." (rica) "As I said before, the classification of nuclei is simple bad being H > G > F > E... and so on as well." (rica) "Have you managed to understand so far master?" (rica) "Yeah, but you said it''s hard to find cores in monsters below Rank D, why?" (I) "That''s because the nuclei only appear after the monster''s death, when the monster dies its energy is released back to the world, if it''s too much energy it coagulates and crystallizes into a nucleus." (rica) "The problem arises at this point, the weaker the monster the less energy it has so the energy goes back to the world without coagulating, in turn as the monster''s rank increases the chances of getting cores to become higher, from Rank C almost all monsters will have cores." (rica) "So nuclei only appear after death?" (I) "Yes, but there are some exceptions for monsters that have cores from birth, such as Golems, Slimes, Elementals, and Undead." (rica) "These monsters have cores from birth, because these cores act like their hearts, without those cores they die, that''s why they are also your weak points, all are problematic enemies to defeat without aiming at their cores." (rica) "I think I understand." (I) "Now let''s eat, then we''ll come back here to try and dismantle these monsters, I want to use their fur to make blankets for us." (I) With that, I cut some wolf meat and leave the cave with the girls so we can roast the meat to eat. Chapter 53: Adventurers Guild Diana Pov: After separating from Kira on the way to Valen town I followed the road to the entrance to the gate, on the way I knew Kira was watching me, thanks to rica''s group location spell we both know each other''s locations. all the time. When I arrived at the gate I got in line to enter the city, the city walls are ten meters high closing like a box the city, and the gate is five high and three and a half wide. There are two lines, one for the nobles and one for everyone else, when you reach the gate you must have an ID and pay a stack of ten copper to enter, merchants with carriages must have their load checked before entering and paying one silver. As I''m an adventurer I can come and go for free as long as I have a quest, they can check it by the Adventurers Guild card, it''s a magic item, its functions are to record the quest the adventurer accepts and when the quest is completed it is also recorded on the card, this makes the cards have all the adventurers'' quest history, the cards are connecting items they are linked by blood, Aura and the owner''s magic signature, it locks when the adventurer dies, the card has the information of the adventurer on one side like the adventurer''s name, the branch he registered with and his rank, on the other side of the card the adventurer has control to show if he wants his status or his mission. My card still works perfectly, but rica''s was locked as if she had died, according to her transformation into a Demon changed her magical signature, her Aura, and her body completely, it was such a big change that her card didn''t recognize her anymore and your link was cut, it makes it easier for me to tell the story that the master created. ----------- After almost an hour of waiting, I finally reach the gate, before being stopped by a soldier in iron pacas armor. "Documents, please." (gate guard) "Here." (I) The guard looks at me sternly and asks for my documents, I present my Guild card, he takes a crystal from a bag at his waist and holds my card close, a green light comes out of the crystal and the guard gives me back the card. "Where have you been Miss Diana?" (gate guard) "The Guild reported you and your companions missing over a month ago and now you show up here alone?" (gate guard) It seems the Guild reported our disappearance, this guard must have recognized my face from some photo, so he looked at me seriously and checked the authenticity of my card, to verify that it is me. The other guards start to approach, he must have given a signal in case I needed to arrest me, I''m glad for the master''s story now, as it seems I was wrong as I thought there would be no problem. I pull out a leather pouch from the storage item I brought and hold it out for the guard to look at as I speak with a growing bloodlust. "My group and I had accepted a mission, but there were more monsters than we imagined, luckily we managed to win, so we bumped into bandits on the way back but we were too tired to fight, two of my group died in the confrontation and my partner and I ran away very injured further into the forest." (I) "..." (gate guard) I stop as I scrunched up my face in anger as the master taught me before continuing. "We spent a month recovering from our wounds in a cave before we came across a two-headed wolf that killed my mate, I barely managed to escape." (I) The guard opened the bag I gave him and his grim expression turned grave, then as if remembering something he softens and looks at me with pity. "I wouldn''t leave that forest empty-handed, I searched everywhere for a clue, and finally found their hideout, killed three of them to make the fourth take me to the hideout where I found these two still sleeping." (I) The master told me that when I get to this part I should close my eyes and remember my favorite food, I don''t know why, but I will obey the master''s orders. Remembering my favorite food I open a big smile involuntarily, when I open my eyes again I see the guards around sweating for some reason, but the guard who was talking to me still looks at me with pity, he puts his hand on my shoulder and says. Sigh "You did well, better than most in your place would have done, you have my respect for avenging your mates." (gate guard) "..." (I) "My name is Roger, if you have any problems in the future you can look for me, I''m the commander of the city guards, I''m sorry for your companions, take these heads to the Adventurers Guild and they''ll give you your reward." (Roger) "Do you still have your teammates'' cards?" (Roger) "Yes." (I) I pull the three cards out of my pants pocket, he looks at the cards to confirm the names, I figure this out before he gives it back to me. Sigh "You can enter." (Roger) With his words, the other guards walked away and I entered the city. It''s been a while since I''ve seen the city, it''s always busy, full of people of various races walking to and fro, it has four gates on the four sides of the city and the main streets that connect the gates to the city center where there is a big square with a fountain and many street stalls selling all kinds of things, along the main streets there are also many stalls as the streets are wide. As I walk through the streets I try to get used again to walking on this smooth stone floor that the earth mages made, I spent a lot of time in the forest walking on an uneven earth floor, that''s why I''m finding it strange to walk so comfortably. The city districts are divided into four by the main streets, one is the noble district where the Duke''s fortress is located, the noble mansions and rich merchants'' mansions, one is the commercial district, there are many shops everywhere, one is the residential district where the normal population lives and one is a mixture of the residential area with a commercial area where hotels and inns are located. There are branches of four guilds in this city which are the Adventurers'' Guild, the Commerce Guild, the Alchemists'' Guild, and the Mages'' Guild. These four Guilds are in the center of town on the square, each on the side of a district, the Mages Guild is a five-story tower of smooth stone brick, the Commerce Guild is a large four-story complex with several shops together on the first three floors, of all the Guilds it occupies the largest area, the Alchemists'' Guild is an all-white, five-story square building with three chimneys on top and a beautiful entrance with a staircase and a three-meter-high ledge. and the Adventurers'' Guild is a four-story building with marble columns at the front and three-meter-high doors. Due to the size of these Guilds I who just entered through the gate I am able to see them still far away, they are very big compared to other buildings, whether houses or shops that only have a floor or two at most. I walk along the main street until I reach the town square, then I head towards the adventurers'' guild, as there are always many armed people in and out of here, I can also hear the endless noise from inside. When I enter I find the large counter where the receptionists wait and the various tables full of people talking, laughing, and drinking. I check the receptionists and find one I''m more familiar with and go to her, just as the master told me I walk towards her with a serious face and when I stop in front of her I sigh. Sigh "Hello Mari." (I) "..." (Mari) Mari is the head receptionist, she is also an old friend of mine, she was the one attending rica the day I met her, Mari is an Elf with long blond hair and green eyes, she is considered the muse of the Guild, any man who dares approaching her with ulterior motives becomes hated by every adventurer in that guild. "Diana, is that really you?" (Mari) "Where have you been? Where are the others? Because you look different?" (Mari) "It''s a long story, it all started with..." (me) I started to do the same act I did at the gate, but this time I was a little more specific about how I killed the bandits and how one of them in a mask fled the moment he came out of hiding holding the heads of his comrades. "Follow me up to the third floor, let''s go into a room so you can show me what you brought." (Mari) "All right." (I) The Guild has four floors, the ground floor is where I am now, the first floor is where the quest boards are and a second reception to record quests, on the second floor are several empty rooms where adventurers show what they''ve brought from their quests and they earn their rewards, things are done that way so no one knows how much each one earned, on the third floor is where the administration staff rooms are and on the fourth floor is the Guild Chief''s office, a living room for the nobles and a large meeting room. I follow Mari up to the third floor and we both enter a room, inside I pull out the three Guild cards, the leather bag with the two heads, and the various monster materials I brought. Mari is shocked by all this, but still checks each item to be sure and counts everything, after it''s over she asks what happened to my lock of hair that changed color to red and what happened to my scars, I tell her that I found a medium-grade HP potion that healed my scars and suffered a partial awakening of my bloodline. I see in her eyes that she''s worried about me, but this is not the time, there''s still one more thing the master asked me to do, Mari left the room and in a few minutes she came back with the reward I took without looking and I go back downstairs, sit at a table alone and spend the rest of the day drinking, the master told me that would fool anyone who still had doubts. Spending the rest of the day drinking is not a problem for me, I always drank a lot and that''s why I have great resistance to alcohol, besides, since I woke up my Ki I should be able to resist twice as much alcohol as before, at the end of the afternoon I paid for everything I drank and go to the Inn of the Eternal Traveler and rent a room on the second floor. "(The master is amazing, after telling the story that the master invented no one asked any more questions, they didn''t even touch the subject again.)" (I) I spent the rest of the time in the bedroom with the window open waiting for Kira, while I was thinking about the master trying to understand how he knew what was going to happen. Chapter 54: What adventurers do After eating our usual roast beef lunch with the girls, we headed back inside the cave. We go to the place where we left the corpses, I get a knife and make sure it''s sharp before I start cutting. "See, I''ll show you how you guys are going to cut and dismantle the wolves first." (I) The truth is that the dismantling process is not that difficult, the cooks in my old world did it all the time, there was a lot of cooking and barbecue shows on television, I always watched the few moments of free time I had, it made me remember the days of the orphanage when I researched cooking to make kids eat tastier food. Of course, what they used to dismantle were small game animals and fish, but the theory applies to any animal or in this case any monster I think. I, in my head already knew how to dismantle, but this information is from television programs and photos, I have no practice in this, at least this is better than nothing. "rica hand me a leather bag, please." (I) "Yes Master." (rica) I ordered a leather bag to use as garbage, I''ll take the organs out of the corpses and throw them away later, maybe even use it as bait to lure monsters into a trap. "The first thing you have to do is cut from the base of the barrel to the top of your chest like this, then you take your organ and throw it in this leather bag." (I) I take each step slowly, not just for them to see how it''s done, but for myself to understand how it''s done, this is the first time I''ve done it, this is disgusting but not as disgusting as eating that spider goo. "(The organs are stuck together, maybe if I use the knife to release it will be easier.)" (I) After each of them does the same with their wolves I move on to the next part. "Now let''s get the fur off, it''ll be useful to us later so be careful." (I) "For that, you''re going to make straight cuts from the barrel cut to the four legs and the wolf''s neck, then you''re going to circle the neck and end of the legs like that." (I) I try to demonstrate how it''s done, but I''m improvising myself, this part I haven''t seen on any TV show, I''m just trying my best. "Now I''m going to show you how to remove the fur, choose a point that you just cut, then lift it a little bit, you go where the skin and flesh come together, all you have to do now is cut as close as possible to the skin without damaging it like that." (I) I start to cut from the neck, lift the skin and see the meat underneath, take my knife and carefully start making small cuts in the fiber of the meat that sticks to the skin, I have to do this slowly because it''s my first time, even knowing what I have to do in general is still very difficult. Little by little I manage to separate the fur from around the neck, I realize that because they are bloodless it makes the job a lot easier. "..." (I) When I turn around I see the two of them doing the same thing as me, the problem is they''re doing it faster than me. "(How are they doing faster than me?)" (I) "(I know, it must be because they have a higher Dexterity status than mine, damn this was my first class and I was already surpassed by my students.)" (I) "You are doing well, congratulations." (I) "This is thanks to the master, you are doing so slowly to show us the right way to do it, thank you." (rica) "Ibuki...be helpful." (Ibuki) "(I can''t look bad in front of girls, if they knew I was doing my best and still being slower than them, I have to go faster.)" (I) ---------- Ding! <[ You have acquired the ability [ Dismantle: 1 ] ]> By the end of the afternoon, each one had already dismantled two Gray Wolves, I closed the leather bag with my line to not smell the stench, the fur I and the girls took outside. I take twelve large pieces of wood and drive them into the ground in pairs, put one in and its pair put it three feet apart, do the same thing with the others. Then I take the fur that we removed and use my thread to tie the fur, stretching it openly, tying my thread to the four ends of the leather and the other to the pieces of wood that I have carved into the ground in a place that will get the sun. I leave them all like this and enter the cabin to rest, the day was full of surprises today. Inside the hut Ibuki goes to bed early, it seems she was very tired, rica and I go to a separate room so as not to wake her up with our conversation. "I would like to know a little more about adventurers." (I) "Of course master, what would the master like to know first?" (rica) "Let''s get started on what the Adventurers'' Guild does?" (I) "The Adventurers Guild accepts missions from governments, merchants, artisans and the people in general." (rica) "The missions are usually divided into collect missions, subjugation missions, investigation missions, escort missions, and special missions." (rica) "Category names are self-explanatory, those who issue quests in the Guild must place an appropriate reward in the quest if the Guild suspects that the quest is below the reward value it is worth it is refused." (rica) "The Adventurers'' Guild acts as an intermediary and ensures that the adventurers receive the rewards of their work fairly, but it also guarantees that there will be no deceit or cheating on the adventurer''s part to deceive those who ask for the quest." (rica) "The guild gets a reward rate of twenty percent, this value decreases as the adventurer rises in rank." (rica) "Did you just mention the classification of adventurers, how are they classified?" (I) "Adventurers are ranked equal to Grade -H > H > +H > -G monsters... and so on up to +A, above that is not important now." (rica) "How are missions classified?" (I) "The Guild checks the mission rating considering various factors such as rarity, monster level, environmental danger, etc..." (rica) "Quests are ranked equal to cores, Grade H > G > F... and so on." (rica) "How does an adventurer choose a mission?" (I) "Adventurers can only choose quests of their rank or below, eg Rank C quests can only be done by Rank -C or higher adventurers, Rank +D adventurers would not be able to accept this kind of quest." (rica) "How do you prove that a mission has been completed?" (I) "If the quest objective is a monster, there are certain things you collect from the monster to prove it, it could be a core, a tooth, a claw, etc..." (rica) "The item that proves monster subjugation varies depending on the monster, the Guild will notify you when you take the quest." (rica) "If any material is the objective of the mission then just take it to the guild, after being confirmed to know if it is the same material as the mission, the adventurer receives the reward." (rica) "I saw that Diana and you have cards, how do they work?" (I) "The card is a master magic item, its functions are to record the quest that the adventurer accepts and when the quest is completed it is also recorded on the card, this makes the cards have all the adventurers'' quest history, the cards are linking items they are linked by blood, Aura and the owner''s magic signature, it locks itself when the adventurer dies, the card has the adventurer''s information on one side like the adventurer''s name, the branch he registered and his rank on the other side from the card the adventurer has control to show if he wants his status or his mission." (rica) "Many adventurers use aliases instead of names, the Adventurers'' Guild doesn''t care about that, they don''t care about your background as long as you''re not a criminal." (rica) "And the card also acts as proof of identification for any country." (rica) "Due to my race change, my Aura and my magical signature, I lost my link to my card, it locked itself in the same way as if I had died." (rica) "In what kind of currency do adventurers receive quest rewards?" (I) "They always get paid in global currency, but if you want they can exchange it in the Trade Guild for another type of currency." (rica) "I have a question, where do people keep their money?" (I) "The Trade Guild has a bank where you can keep your money, this is very secure because you use Guild cards to register accounts so it''s impossible to cheat the bank and only the account owner has to access." (rica) "The problem is that only those who have a guild card can use the bank, nobles usually keep their money and treasures in their houses heavily guarded, they can also choose to register with a guild to keep if they want, but most like to have quick and easy access to your money, so it''s a pretty common practice to keep it in your mansions as no one would be silly to steal from a noble''s property, it would make the whole kingdom look for the thief." (rica) "People in general who are not affiliated with any Guild usually keep their money in their homes, as that''s all they can do." (rica) "I think that''s it for today, thanks for the information Erica." (I) "I''m happy to help the master." (rica) "This information was very helpful, but it''s a lot to process." (I) "I think I''ll do like Ibuki and go to bed early, after everything that happened today I need a break." (I) "So goodnight master, I think I''ll stay awake a little longer to read my book, I''m trying to learn some mid-level spells, but this is proving harder than I expected." (rica) "I''m sure you can, good night." (I) "Good night master." (rica) I go back to the room Ibuki is sleeping in and go to sleep beside her, the way I am tired from the fight, training, and dismantling that happened today, it doesn''t take me long to fall asleep, even though I have pain all over my body. Zzzzz... zzzz... Zzz... Chapter 55: Assassins Guild Pov Kira: After entering the secret entrance of the hunting cabin outside the city I start descending a staircase that leads to an underground tunnel, leaving the tunnel after about an hour of walking I reach the end of the tunnel, I find another staircase up which I follow until I reach me. come across a wooden wall, I knock seven times on the door with a specific interval between each knock and then wait. After ten minutes of waiting for someone to open the door, an old man in worn clothes with patches everywhere, his hair is disheveled and wearing his clothes when the old man himself is dirty, he looks like any beggar you see in the poor area. from the residential area, where the favelas are located. "You have two minutes." (old beggar) I walk out the door and find myself in a small stone house, the house is in tatters with cracks in all the walls and dirt everywhere you look, I without waiting to leave the house and see many others like it around with many beggars ranging from small children to scrawny old people. This is the city''s slum, those who live here don''t have family, job, money or all of the previous options, this place is full of people who don''t care about anything but what they''re going to eat now, that''s why crime has the full control of this place. As I leave the house I go into one of several dark alleys to hide, since I separated from Diana I put my hood and mask back in place, I did this for two reasons, one is to hide my identity and the other is for contacts I know to recognize me. I go from alley to alley until I reach Rua da Red light, all the establishments on this street are brothels, there are from cheap brothels for poor people to upper-class brothels for nobles and rich merchants. I go to an unnamed cheap brothel, enter an alley beside the brothel, and enter a side door hidden by a large box. When I entered I see only a small dark room with nothing but a table and two chairs, all that is on top of the table is a candle whose light does not reach the walls of this room which are covered in shadows. I go to one of the chairs and sit down, all I have to do now is wait. In a few seconds of darkness, I hear a door opening and closing, then a human man comes out of the shadows of the room and sits in the chair on the other side looking at me. This man has short black hair slicked back, dark skin with a scar in his right eye, his right eye is closed probably blind plus his left eye is brown, he appears to be in his forties and is wearing normal clothes, a white shirt. simple and simple black pants. Even though his appearance looks simple and normal this man is the complete opposite of what he tries to look like, I''m one of the few people who knows how strong this man is, I''ve known him for a year his name is Lucas. He looks at me in a normal, casual way with a friendly smile, but I know he''s scrutinizing me closely, his carefree way to hide the danger he poses. "You came back fast, Kira." (Lucas) "I already told you not to call me that, Lucas." (I) "I''m sorry, I just wanted to confirm that it was you." (Lucas) "Why you say that?" (I) "You''ve changed a lot in just three days, your posture, tone of voice, and Aura are different." (Lucas) As I expected from this man, he notices details that no one else would notice and that in a matter of seconds. "I didn''t come today to talk about me, I want information." (I) "Of course you are looking for information, this is a place to sell information after all." (Lucas) "So stop trying to get information out of me for fun like you do other customers, and let''s get down to business." (I) With my words, his friendly smile gets bigger like he''s having fun. "As usual, you''re the only one who can see my jokes." (Lucas) "You''re right, let''s get down to business, what do you want to know?" (Lucas) "I want information about the third prince of the Cartoza Kingdom." (I) "..." (Lucas) Lucas'' gaze changes as he knows the information I''m looking for, he looks at me the same way he did before but I can feel a different glint in his eyes. "What kind of information do you want to know about him?" (Lucas) "I want to know your work, your skills, your enemies, your friends, and your relationship with the Church of Light." (I) "So you already know." (Lucas) "What are you talking about." (I) He is quiet for a few seconds before continuing to speak. "The price of the information you want is fifteen gold coins." (Lucas) "I accept, here it is." (I) I pull out a bag from my bracelet which is a storage item and pull out fifteen gold coins so I leave it on the table, he doesn''t take it. "But something?" (Lucas) "I want to know about the trip that will be made to this city, I want to know how many people will be with him, I want to know who they are, their strength levels, the day of his trip, and the route he will take." (I) Sigh "I''ll say this because I like you, Kira, I know you found out about Viper, but you shouldn''t get into these murky waters." (Lucas) "Don''t meddle in the plans of the Church of Light, you don''t want that kind of enemy, believe me." (Lucas) "..." (I) "Thanks for the advice, but I still need the information." (I) "Very well, it will be eighty gold coins, that''s because I''m charging cheap." (Lucas) "Thanks again Lucas." (I) I hand the entire bag to him, he seems to have noticed the exact amount of money I had in the bag, I know that the information he will give me can be worth double, if not triple the value. "Do you have to do this?" (Lucas) "It will be dangerous, I don''t even know who will participate in the plan." (Lucas) "I know you more or less understand what I plan to do from the information I asked you to do." (I) "I also imagined that someone like you should already know about the plans of the Church of Light." (I) "But knowing you''re trying to help me surprises me, but it makes me happy too." (I) "You know I''ve always tried to help you, I''ve also always tried to convince you to join the Assassin Guild." (Lucas) "I know, and I''m happy to receive this request from the Guild master, but you know why I don''t want to join." (I) "I know, you don''t like to be restricted by anything, so you just do some Guild work on the outside." (Lucas) "That''s better for me." (I) He picks up the money from the table and puts it in his purse, then tucks the purse into his pants pocket. "Do you want to get a piece of information now or do you want to get it all together in six days?" (Lucas) "I''ll wait six days." (I) "Very well, then see you in six days." (Lucas) He gets up and turns his back on me and starts walking into the darkness, but suddenly he stops and turns his head. "I''m glad to see you happy, you''re one of the few people in this town I like to talk to and the only one who understands what we''re doing." (Lucas) After saying this he keeps walking until he disappears into the darkness, I hear again the sound of a wooden door opening and closing, then I get up and walk out the way I came. I disappear into the dark alleys as I think. Lucas is the leader of the Guild of Assassins in the Valen branch, this is an illegal guild that receives requests for murder, theft, and espionage. They are also information sellers, Lucas is an expert in espionage, nobody can hide any kind of information from him, maybe even the master has problems with him, but Lucas was always very good to me for some reason, he helped me a lot since I arrived in this city. I spent the rest of the day checking the list the master gave, I wanted to confirm the books he wanted and where to find them to start looking for them tomorrow, I don''t know if the master knew but some of the books he is looking for are hard to get. Books relating to magical engineering are secret, only members of the Wizards'' Guild have access, books on cooking are rare as usually cooks personally teach their students and do not write books very often and those who do are not copied other than these books. still have banned books like those that talk about the elements of blood and darkness. I had to spend the day thinking about how to get these books, I could only think about looking on the black market or putting a quest in the Assassins Guild to get information about these books or even get these items. I think I''ll check the black market tomorrow, I want to avoid requesting anything from the Assassins'' Guild, it might arouse suspicion if this kind of book is stolen from the Mages'' Guild or some nobleman, I don''t want to cause trouble for the master, he said himself to avoid drawing attention. I''ve already made a mistake getting Lucas''s attention, but that was unavoidable, since I arrived in town he would already know of my presence, so I came straight to the information room. ------------- At dusk I went to the Inn of the Eternal Traveler where I arranged to meet Diana, as soon as I got there I could feel her location in one of the second-floor rooms, I could see the bedroom window open so I went into a side street and went up into on top of the roof, as the inn has only two floors, I was able to enter unnoticed through the window, enjoying the darkness of the night. "You took your time." (Diana) "We had agreed at dusk." (Diana) "I had to wait for the night to sneak in." (I) "How was the Adventurers'' Guild?" (I) "Everything was the way the master said it would be, after the story I told nobody else wanted to ask questions about what I went through being missing." (Diana) "That''s because if you followed the master''s orders, everyone who heard your story must feel sorry for you for having lost your friends, so avoid touching a subject that makes you uncomfortable." (I) "Did you spend the day drinking as the master ordered?" (I) "Yes, but I still don''t know why the master ordered me to do this." (Diana) "This will make anyone who knows the story you told think you were drowning your grievances over the death of your comrades, it brings more authenticity to your story." (I) "The master really thought of everything." (Diana) "The master''s plan was very good I must admit, but it can only be possible because it''s the Adventurers'' Guild, this kind of thing happens more often than the Guild would like and its story fits with all the items it brought and the changes in your body." (I) "If it were any other Guild or the government, they wouldn''t have so easily believed your story without investigating it first." (I) "Now that we''ve sorted this out, let''s go to bed early, tomorrow we have a lot to do." (I) Diana looks at the bed and then looks back at me. "This is a single bed, it''s going to be a little tight but we can share a bed." (Diana) "I don''t care, we were all sleeping in the same bed anyway." (I) "As long as you don''t do anything to me overnight." (I) "It''s okay you''re pretty, but I would never do anything to someone against their will." (Diana) "I know I was just teasing, I know you wouldn''t do anything, and thanks for the compliment." (I) "Well let''s sleep then, the trip to town was a long one, good night." (I) "You''re right, after all the drink I drank today I also got a little sleepy, I''m going to sleep too, goodnight." (Diana) After talking for a while we both took off the excess equipment and clothes and went to sleep with more reliable shorts and shirts, before bed, I hide a knife under the pillow and another under the mattress, Diana puts her sword under the unsheathed bed. With everything ready, each one lay down on one side of the bed and went to sleep. Chapter 56: Monsters of the Valley of Blood The next day I wake up last again, after everything that happened yesterday I was very tired. I get up and go outside, when I look around I see rica under the tree again teaching Ibuki. I length them from a distance and pick up two daggers to start the second part of training, now I want to learn the daggers technique, only after that will I be able to learn to use a dagger and a sword at the same time. I go to a part with nothing around the camp and sit cross-legged, close my eyes and go over every movement of the daggers technique that the Blade of Chaos has. After reviewing all the moves I open my eyes and start training while still sitting how to change the position of the daggers in my hands quickly, in the middle of a fight I have to change the positions of the daggers continuously and I have to do it semi-automatically, I can''t distract my mind with it in combat. I spend a few hours playing with the daggers in my hands, holding the daggers in all possible positions and being able to switch between them quickly, that''s enough for now. Now I get up to start training moves, I spend the next few hours training sequences of hundreds of moves. ------------ Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic Knife Handling: 1 > 2 ] ]> After hours of training, I find myself tired again, this training would be impossible without me knowing all the moves and the reason I know is that I invented these techniques. I wonder how I''m going to teach this kind of thing to girls, I''m sure it''ll be useful for them, but I still don''t know how I''m going to teach it. In my youth, in my old world, I always taught the younger children at the orphanage various things, but I never taught anyone how to fight, I don''t even know how to start. Sigh "(It''s no use wasting time thinking about what I''m not capable of doing now, I''ll dedicate myself to my training and to learn more from rica.)" (I) "(It reminds me that with so much I learned from her I ended up forgetting about asking about the monsters in this forest, I''ll ask that at night.)" (I) "Master it''s time to eat." (rica) Once again rica appears with my food already cooked, she is very dedicated. "Thank you rica, you are always a great help." (I) "That is my master duty." (rica) With that, I stop to eat and see that it''s already late in the afternoon, after spending a few minutes eating I''m going to see the leather I left stretched out yesterday. After a night of sleep, I had time to think about the rest breaks from training and I ended up remembering several things I missed with this coat. I grab a knife and go to where I left them yesterday, drop them all and take them to a big rock and throw one on top with the fur down. After checking it I see that it still has some meat and fat stuck in it and I start scraping it off. "What are you doing master?" (rica) "There are some steps I forgot to do yesterday about treating this hide, please do me a favor and go along with Ibuki to remove the fur from the Kobolds the way we did the wolves yesterday, okay?" (I) "Alright master." (rica) After rica and Ibuki enter the cave with knives in hand I continue the process of removing all the fat and flesh still trapped in the leather. ------------ After almost two hours of doing this I just removed the leftover meat and fat from the hide, when I thought I was done rica and Ibuki come out of the cave with the Kobolds'' hide. "Master we have already finished dismantling the Kobolds." (rica) "Okay, now take all that leather I cleaned and some soap we got from Kira''s hiding place and wash it all off in the nearby stream, Ibuki knows the way, bring a bucket of water too." (I) "I''ll go right now, master." (rica) "thank you." (I) After she left with Ibuki I started processing the Kobolds leather in the same way, I started scraping off all the excess meat and fat. While I was waiting I tried to remember what else to do after that, this was a subject that was not part of my research for games, all I know is what I saw on television, so my memory about it is a bit hazy. After a few minutes, the girls came back and I gave them the Kobold leather to wash too. I think I''ll stretch it out again to dry, with all the meat and fat separated from it the hide shouldn''t rot. I can''t remember anything else to do, but that should be enough for now. I started to stretch the leather again to dry and when the girls came back with the Kobold leather I got more wood and stretched it out to dry too, I''ll leave it the way it is for now. It''s already dusk so I go into the cabin with the girls, when we entered Ibuki took a blank book and some ink and went to practice her common language writing, it seems that this was rica''s idea for her to learn faster by practicing. "rica, I would like to know a few more things about you, okay?" (I) "The master can always ask me anything, I''m happy to help." (rica) "Okay, what I want to know now is about the monsters that live in the Valley of Blood." (I) "And what would the master like to know first?" (rica) "For starters, tell me the Breeds you know live here." (I) "The races I know live here are many masters, are you sure you want to know them all?" (rica) "You might be right." (I) "Restrict only to smart or troublesome breeds." (I) "If we''re talking about intelligent races that live in the Valley of Blood then there aren''t many that I know of." (rica) "As far as I remember there are Goblins, Kobolds, Orcs, Fairies, Ogres, Ghouls and Harpies." (rica) "If we talk about troublesome monsters, there are Blood Wolves, Poisonous Spiders, Undead and Wyvern." (rica) "These are the monsters that demonstrate Intelligence or are troublesome to deal with." (rica) "Tell me your territories first." (I) "The Goblins and Kobolds have no territory and are scattered everywhere as far as I know." (rica) "The Wyverns and Harpies are on the great mountain." (rica) "Everyone knows the mountain range is dangerous because the Ogres, Orcs, and Ghouls who are monster warriors live there, they are often seen in the Valley of Blood, probably use this forest as a hunting ground." (rica) "The Undead and Poisonous Spiders live in the vast underground caves that exist in the mountain range, but spiders are always seen around here, so there are people in the Guild who think that some caves in the Valley of Blood are connected with the caves of the Blood. Mountain chain." (rica) "The Blood Wolves are all over the Valley of Blood, it surprised me very much not to see any of them around the whole time we were here." (rica) "You still haven''t talked about fairies." (I) "The Fairies live in the big mountain, but they roam all over the Valley of Blood, unlike the stories that people tell not all are good, some that are influenced by miasma become aggressive and deadly." (rica) "Can you tell me their strength level?" (I) "I can give the master the approximate level of a single monster, but the master should know that most of these monsters walk in groups." (rica) "I''ll keep that in mind." (I) "The Goblins and Kobolds have their estimated rank from -H to +E." (rica) "Poison Spiders, Blood Wolves, Harpies, and Fairies are rated from +F to -D." (rica) "Orcs, Ghouls, and Ogres have their estimated rank between -E to +B." (rica) "Undead cannot have their estimated strengths, their wide range and almost unlimited lifespan hinder a rank, they can go depending on the type of Undead from -F to +A." (rica) "The vast majority of the Undead will be weak, but there will be some strong monsters or adventurers who died around here and their bodies may end up being transformed into Undead, which ends up generating less strong monsters than their living version, but stronger than normal Undead, there may also be Undead that has been around for so long that they managed to evolve several times, this type of Undead is very dangerous as it can acquire intelligence." (rica) "And finally the Wyvern, its strength is estimated from +B to +A." (rica) "For reference what classification of Diana?" (I) "She is a Grade D Adventurer, she is capable of killing a Grade-D monster on her own, she is also capable of fighting a Grade D monster but would need two to three people of equal rank to fight a Grade-D monster +D." (rica) I still couldn''t see Diana fighting with all her strength, but I know she''s much stronger than me, I''ve also seen her status and I know she''s been rigidly trained, she''s also had a lot of combat experience different from me when I started to fight a few weeks ago. "You mentioned miasma before, what is it?" (I) "Miasma is what we call energy when it is contaminated by negative emotions and thoughts." (rica) "An example is the Mana (magic power) of the environment, when he who is the environment magic comes in contact with a lot of negative energy he becomes miasma." (rica) "The miasma causes many problems, besides being poisonous for some races like Elves, Dwarves, Humans, etc..." (rica) "If miasma comes in contact with a corpse it can become an Undead, and the chances of it becoming one gets higher the longer the corpse is exposed to the miasma." (rica) "Miasma can also cause monsters exposed to it to become more aggressive or even corrupt some like the fairies I mentioned earlier." (rica) "I think I have an overview now, thanks Erica." (I) After talking to rica I already have a sense of the level of strength around, it seems that I will have to be very careful with stray monsters. Chapter 57: Dividing the tasks Pov Kira: hmmm The next day I wake up feeling that something is holding me, when I turn around I see Diana sleeping beside me, I look down and see that she is holding my breasts from behind. "Wake up Diana!" (I) "Hmmmm... five more minutes Mari." (Diana) She squeezes my breasts as she asks me to sleep some more and calls me Mari. "Your breasts have shrunk because Mari?" (Diana) "(Who is Mari?)" (I) "Wake up soon you pervert!" (I) "Hmmm...huh?" (Diana) "Kira? Why are you facing my side of the bed." (Diana) "Look again, you''re the one who turned to my side of the bed, you''re also the one holding my breasts." (I) "..." (Diana) She blushes and lets go of me before getting up, so she gets a better look at the bed and gets even redder. "I''m sorry Kira, it looks like I changed position on the bed myself." (Diana) "Okay, it''s not like I care about that kind of thing." (I) "But tell me, who is Mari?" (I) "..." (Diana) "How do you know Mari''s name?" (Diana) "Why did you squeeze my breasts while saying her name." (I) "..." (Diana) She gets even redder and tries to hide her face with both hands, for someone with the appearance of a brave warrior she looks very cute now, you really can''t judge someone by their appearance. "I can''t believe I did this." (Diana) "Probably because you two are Elves I confused you." (Diana) "You still haven''t answered me, who is Mari?" (I) "She''s an ex-girlfriend." (Diana) "I stayed with her when she was still a novice as an adventurer, now she''s retired and works as a receptionist at the Adventurers'' Guild." (Diana) "I must have dreamed about her today because I met her yesterday, she was the receptionist I talked to yesterday." (Diana) "Well that doesn''t matter since we''re awake let''s get ready and discuss today''s plans." (I) "All right." (Diana) After we got ready, we went to get the weapons we left on the bed before I sat in a chair and Diana sat on the bed, we''re facing each other. "Let''s re-divide the items from the Master''s list, there are some items that might be impossible to get." (I) "And how are we going to split it then?" (Diana) "For a start, you don''t need to ask around anymore about the third prince of the Cartoza Kingdom, I''ve already taken care of the information, someone much more capable and trustworthy will give me the information in five days." (I) "That''s great." (Diana) "Then all that''s left is the books and tools the master asked for." (Diana) "That''s what I wanted to talk to you about, let me get the blacksmithing items and you get the carpentry items." (I) "Fine by me, but what about the cooking ones?" (Diana) "You can get these too." (I) "But leave the magic books to me, I''ll try to find the best for the master." (I) "I will then try to buy the Adventurers Guild books about monsters, jobs, and skills." (Diana) "That''s a good idea, these books are more complete than those elsewhere." (I) "It would be nice to try and get a map too, but I''ll leave that to you, the Adventurers Guild maps are more detailed." (me) "The question is the book about the creative works, where am I going to get those?" (Diana) "Since the master wants the basic books you should get them all from the bookstore, but they''re going to be expensive." (I) "Speaking of money, could you split half your gold coins with me?" (I) "I can, but what happened to the ones you were with?" (Diana) "I used it to pay upfront for the information." (I) "Alright, here it is." (Diana) Diana removes a leather pouch from her necklace and shares half of the gold coins she brought with her. Then we talk some more and I put on a white hooded overcoat and leave the inn as quickly as I can through the front door. "(I''ll leave it to go to the Black Market in about four days, I''ll try to look for the things that the master asked for before going there.)" (I) ------------- With that Diana and I spent the next few days going to various legal and illegal stores, during those days we got all the tools that the master asked for, we also got almost all the books. I was lucky enough to be able to buy some books about the element of darkness, it seems that there are many uses of this element, much more than other elements. The books I''m having trouble finding are the ones about the blood element and magical engineering, it looks like I''m going to have to go to the Black Market anyway. On the afternoon of the fifth day, I go without a mask and wearing a simple dress to a pretty empty restaurant, as I enter I look around until I find a familiar figure drinking and eating heartwood, I go up to her and say. "Are you drinking again?" (I) "You were the one who said I should be seen for a few days drowning in booze." (Diana) "You didn''t need to take my words so literally, you''ve been drinking enough to drown one person a day." (I) Sigh She drops the mug on the table and looks sad. "I know, but I miss the master, it''s been days since we''ve been here, I want to leave soon so I can hug the master and smell him again." (Diana) "I know how you feel, I want to see the master too, but we still have things to do." (I) "Let me correct you, I already have everything the master asked for is you who still have to get the latest books and information." (Diana) "If anyone listened to you they would think you put more effort into your tasks than I did, but we both know I was the one with the toughest tasks." (I) "Alright alright, sorry for saying that, you''re right, I ended up leaving the worst tasks to you." (Diana) "Well you didn''t have a choice in that, the things on the list I picked to pick up would be impossible to get legally." (I) As we talked I sat in the chair across the table, Diana looking at me strangely. "Why do you keep looking at me like that?" (I) "I already said that if you keep looking at me like that every time we meet during the day someone might be suspicious." (I) "Sorry, it''s hard to see you in a dress and looking like that too." (Diana) The truth is, I took advantage of the money the DM gave to complete the tasks on the list to buy an item called the Illusion Spirit Ring. This is an item that uses spiritual energy to cast an illusion on the owner that magic and Ki users cannot or have difficulty seeing. I''m currently using it to make just a small change to my appearance. My appearance is now white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes instead of my normal gray skin, black hair, and purple eyes appearance, with my current appearance I look like a normal white Elf. I did this because it''s not normal to see a Gray Elf in this town, it could draw a lot of unwanted attention, so I use this item to hide my appearance. "Just get used to it soon, all I''ve changed is the color of my skin, hair, and eyes." (I) "I''m not that different." (I) "You''re right, now let''s get to the main point, when are you going to get the missing items." (Diana) "I''ll get the information tomorrow from my contact." (I) "And about the books, I have to let you know I''ll be late today." (I) "Going where?" (Diana) "I''m going to the Black Market, this is the only place outside the Mages Guild that will have these books." (me) "You''re right, but it''s still risky, what assurance do you have that the books are real or their contents usable?" (Diana) "The Black Market works the same way as the Commerce Guild, but they trade illegal items instead of legal ones." (I) "They just like any merchant always seek to have a good reputation, which in the criminal world means that they buy anything regardless of its origin and that they sell anything regardless of the identity of the person who is buying it." (I) "They always sell real items, anyone who tries to break into the Black Market to sell fakes will be lucky if he''s just killed." (I) "The Black Market cares a lot about their reputation for always selling genuine items, so I know if I find these books there they''ll be real." (I) "If what you say is true, then why didn''t you go shopping there the first day?" (Diana) "You can find anything for sale on the Black Market, but you have to know it will be more expensive than buying from other sources." (I) "Usually things sold illegally are cheaper, so they can be sold faster, but the Black Market is different, it''s expensive for two reasons, it guarantees the item you buy is genuine and guarantees your safety while you''re in the market." (I) "That''s why I avoided going there, I wanted to save the money until I bought everything on the list." (I) "I see, so now that only these books are left you can spend all the rest of the money, right?" (Diana) "Exactly, that''s why I want you to pass me what''s left of the gold coins and most of the silver coins you have." (I) "All right." (Diana) Diana removes two leather bags from her necklace, one large and one small, then hands them to me. Chapter 58: Vampire Bats It''s been six days since Diana and Kira went to town, if all goes as planned they should be back tomorrow. This week was very productive, I was able to level up some of my skills and finally managed to learn the skill I wanted. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 14 EXP for killing Kobolds ]> . . <[ You gained 35 EXP for killing Kobolds per party member ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic Knife Handling: 2 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic Sword Handling: 3 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Parallel thinking: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leech: 9 > 10 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [Basic daggers technique: 1] ? [Blade of Chaos Technique: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the title [ Founder of the Blade of Chaos Technique ] ]> . . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Kobold: 72% > 100% ] ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> For the rest of the week I finished my training, to do this I had to go hunting twice with the girls. I discovered during the spider invasion that weapon technique skills are acquired differently than the kind that helps wield weapons. For example, the skill [ Basic Sword Handling: 1 ] can be acquired with training, but the skill [ Basic Sword Technique: 1 ] requires a person to fight with a sword in order to acquire the skill, I talked to rica about that for Confirm. At least that''s what I assumed, to my delight I was right, after intense training and a bit of fighting I got the skills I needed. I''m still trying not to evolve, that''s why I let Ibuki kill them all, I only killed one during the fight and immobilized the others, the first time it was only five Kobolds, but the second time it was seven Kobolds. These hunts allowed me to acquire a pure lineage of the Kobolds at the same time that my skill [ Leech: 10 ] reached the maximum level, rica told me that the skills only go up to level ten. Once the skills reach the maximum level they can only become stronger by evolving to higher skill, but it seems that it is not easy to do that, it is not enough just to reach the maximum level of a skill, it also needs the owner of the skill to comply. certain conditions that vary from person to person. I think I will use my unique ability [ Identify: 2 ] to see these abilities. Ding! <[ Identification result: ? [ Basic daggers technique: 1 ]--> Ability to use and strengthen daggers techniques. Cost: depends on technique ? [ Basic sword technique: 1 ]--> Ability to use and strengthen sword techniques. Cost: depends on technique ? [ Blade of Chaos Technique: 1 ]--> Ability to use and strengthen sword and daggers techniques. Cost: depends on technique ]> Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Identify: 1 ??> 2 ] ]> I finally managed to raise the level of this skill, but there doesn''t seem to be any change in what I identify, I''ll leave that for later for now. Now that I have the skills I wanted to learn I''m going hunting with the girls, I still want to catch those bats. Thinking about it, I talk to rica. "Let''s go hunting today." (I) "Well, with your appetite and Ibuki''s it''s never too late to get more food, but we still have a lot of meat, especially Kobold beef." (rica) "I know, but I need those bats, if I''m right they''ll have an ability I want." (I) "I also want to go after those Blood Wolves you mentioned earlier." (I) "Why does the master want these monsters?" (rica) "I''m just getting ready, maybe they won''t be any help to me, but if they are I want to have hunted them already, anyway I don''t miss anything hunting them now." (I) "But I''ll wait for Diana and Kira to come back before I hunt the Blood Wolves, so I want to hunt the Vampire Bats before they come back." (I) "If the master wants this then I will prepare to hunt now." (rica) "Don''t forget to tell Ibuki too, so she can get ready." (I) "Yes" (rica) After we get ready, Ibuki, rica, and I went out armed to hunt the bats, when we left the camp I started using my ability [ Detect Weak Presence: 6 ] to dodge the monsters along the way. That''s one of the reasons I want to go on this hunt, I''m the only one with this ability in the group, I think Kira must have this ability too, but she''s not here. It didn''t take us long to get to the cave Ibuki talked about, it only took us a little over an hour, one of the reasons for that is that we didn''t fight any monsters along the way and the other is that Ibuki knew how to get to this cave quickly. During the way I talked to the girls, Ibuki is already fluently speaking the common language, it seems that her skill is already close to the maximum level, making her learn with Erica was the right decision. "Is this the Ibuki cave?" (I) "Yes master, many bats in there." (Ibuki) It looks like it''s this cave, the problem is, I don''t know the number of bats in there. "(If there are many bats how can I catch one without alerting the others? Or how can I kill them all at the least possible risk?)" (I) Hmmm... I spent a few minutes thinking until I finally came up with a valid plan. "rica do you have an area of ??effect spell, preferably one that can kill or immobilize most of them?" (I) "I have a master, it''s a medium level spell, the only one I''ve managed to learn so far." (rica) "It''s a spell that casts a fireball that ignites the target and then attacks up to five enemies around it before splitting again among more enemies." (rica) "It appears to be a powerful spell." (I) "But he''s not master, he consumes my mana every time it splits until I cancel the spell, his flame is also weaker than a normal fireball." (rica) "Besides I''m not able to make it split into five continuously, the most I can do is two I think." (rica) "What do you mean? It''s not your magic?" (I) "I haven''t tested it yet, I already know how to cast this spell from my studies, but I haven''t had the opportunity to cast this spell yet to test it." (rica) "Well, you just found an opportunity to test this spell." (I) "Yes" (rica) "But before we do anything, I''ll go in and confirm your numbers." (I) "Be careful master." (Ibuki) "If anything happens to run out master, Vampire Bats are known to always be in groups." (rica) "I''ll be careful." (I) I use the [Hide:1] skill to enter and move around the cave looking at the ceiling, after five minutes of walking I see the bats on the ceiling. Thanks to the skill [ Night Vision: 1 ] I''m using for the first time since I got it I can see even in this darkness. After roughly counting the bats that seem to be sleeping I go back outside and join the girls. "There''s a group of bats a little further along the entrance, as far as I can tell there''s about sixteen of them." (I) "I should be able to take care of twelve or fourteen of them if all goes well, after that I''ll be mana and helpless." (rica) "If you manage to take care of so many of them it won''t be a problem, you can let me take care of the others while Ibuki stays close to you to protect you, do you understand the plan?" (I) "Yes Master." (rica) "Ibuki will protect rica." (Ibuki) "So let''s go." (I) I''ve already discussed a plan, the three of us enter the cave, it seems that the two of them can see a little in the darkness of the cave. When we reach the place of the bats I point to them and rica raises her hands, so I see geometric shapes forming and joining in a magic circle that shoots a fireball the size of my head at the nearest bat. BOOM! Sssss! First comes an explosion then I see two fireballs coming out of the bat and heading towards another two nearby bats, then four fireballs come out of the two bats and towards four bats. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Sssss! Sssss! Two of the bats managed to dodge in time and two were hit by the fireball that explodes and sends two more fireballs each into four nearby bats and hits them all this time. The bats that were hit are burning, the two that dodged have noticed us and are heading towards us. "I''m out of mana, master." (rica) "Alright, you did well now back off." (I) As the two bats approached I pull the two daggers from my waist and use the [ Jump: 4 ] skill to throw myself between them with all my leg strength, so I take advantage of the strength of my jump and the bats are coming down to cut off the wings of the two bats that fall to the ground screaming in pain. From above I spin in the air before landing on the ground, as soon as I land on the ground I tuck one of my daggers away and pull out my short sword holding it down and push it to my back piercing the head of a bat coming from behind. "Ibuki kill the bats on the ground!" (I) As I yelled for Ibuki to kill the burning bats that fell to the ground, I used my lines to trap the last bats that came towards me, ending the fight. Chapter 59: Black market Pov Kira: After parting with Diana at the restaurant I headed towards the commercial area of ??the city, there is a shop that sells cheap weapons in one of the alleys. On the way, I changed my clothes and deactivated the Illusion Spirit Ring going back to my normal appearance and putting my mask and hood back on. Once I''m ready I go to the alley and enter the store, the store only has a simple door with a dusty sign at the entrance, inside the store there is no window and all the lighting comes from some candles scattered around the store, everywhere you go. look inside the store has guns of all kinds that are dusty and some are even rusty. I walk to the counter where a thin, bald middle-aged man stands. "Do you have a beer?" (I) "We don''t sell beer." (bald man) "Then sell me two black ones." (I) "..." (bald man) The man looks at me and then gets up from the chair behind the counter and walks to the back, I follow him to the back of the store through the door behind the counter where he opens a closet that is actually a secret passage that leads to a hallway where I walk in and head to a stark black door. knock knock knock I knock three times on the door and it opens, as I enter the door closes and I see a luxurious room, it looks like a reception room for a nobleman, it''s full of paintings and works of art, even the furniture looks elegant and expensive, the entire room is lit up by magic items. On a black sofa, I see a handsome woman in a black dress and long brown hair in a ponytail, she has white skin and bright brown eyes, she has the posture of a noblewoman but has a smile on her face. face like a merchant. "Please have a seat, my name is Nira and I will be her receptionist today." (Nira) There are dozens of these secret rooms throughout the city, and each has a receptionist who is responsible for both selling the items and purchasing items, these receptionists should not be underestimated each one of them is at least Grade B strength. I walk over to the couch across from the couch Nira is sitting on with a fancy coffee table between the two of us. "Hello Nira." (I) She looks at me closely and then focuses on my face, or should I say mask. "This is an amazing item you have there, a mask with so many functions, wouldn''t you be in the mood to sell it? I''ll give it a hundred and fifty gold coins for it." (Nira) "I''m not here for sale, I''m here to buy." (I) "And what would you be interested in buying?" (Nira) "I''m looking for some books that talk about the blood elements and magical engineering, I want the basic level ones." (I) She didn''t even show any reaction to the books I ordered, as you''d expect from a Black Market receptionist. She pulls out a read crystal and two information crystals, she takes one of the information crystals and inserts it into the read crystal, then she seems to look for something in it and hands it to me for me to see. "We have a total of four books on the blood element, they''re listed there along with prices." (Nira) [ Books: 1. Blood Curses - 45 Gold 2. Basic Blood Magic - 20 Gold 3. Blood manipulation - 14 Gold 4. Rakan''s Diary - 10 Gold ] "These are the blood element books we have in stock right now, the reason they''re so cheap is that they''re copies." (Nira) "(If I join my gold and silver coins I have the value of one hundred and two gold coins.)" (I) "What about magical engineering books?" (I) She takes the read crystal and exchanges the information crystal for another one, then checks something on it before passing it to me again. "We have three books in that category, check it out." (Nira) [ Books: 1. Basic Magic Engineering - 750 Silver 2. Basic Magic Circuits - 3 Gold 3. Information and Reading Crystals - 1 Gold ] "I take them all for eighty-five gold." (I) "I can offer them all for ninety-two gold coins." (Nira) I cross my arms and lift my head as if thinking before answering. "How about this, I pay the full amount of ninety-four gold coins and you offer me a selection of books for me to choose from for free." (I) She''s still smiling the same way she was when I walked in but I can see her eyes aren''t smiling. "Very well, I separate the books and you choose between them." (Nira) "Right." (I) "What kind of book do you choose?" (Nira) "Since one of the books I''m buying talks about Curses, how about you sell me one on that topic." (I) She picks up the read crystal and switches to the previous information crystal, after checking it out before handing it to me again. "Here are three books on Curses for you to choose from." (Nira) [ Books: 1. Basic Curses - 1 Gold 2. Magic curse - 950 Silver 3. Breaking curses - 2 Gold ] "I choose Basic Curses." (I) "Good choice, do you have a payment?" (Nira) "Here it is." (I) I take two bags of global coins from my bracelet and leave them on the table, Nira holds the bags and weighs them in her hands, and gets up, she walks to a door in the wall and enters. It only takes her twenty minutes to get back, she goes back to her couch across from me and sits down, she puts her hands on the table and eight books of different sizes and thicknesses appear. "Here are the items you ordered." (Nira) "Do you want anything else?" (Nira) "No, thank you." (I) After answering her I get up to leave and then she speaks. "I ask you to attend our annual auction in two months, I guarantee you won''t regret it." (Nira) "thanks for informing." (I) After that last exchange of words, I leave the same way I came with the books inside my storage item. When I reach the street I see that night has fallen, I start going from street to street avoiding people''s attention until I reach the inn where Diana must be waiting. ------------ The next day I wake up with a kick in the face, which I punch in her stomach after I got up. "Because you punched me, I was having an excellent dream." (Diana) "I just returned the kick you used to wake me up earlier." (I) "..." (Diana) She looks at the footprint on my face and starts to sweat in front of me. "Looks like I deserved that punch, but now we''re even." (Diana) We both got ready and talked about today''s plans. "Today I''m going to get the information the master wants." (I) "I''m going to go to the Adventurers'' Guild to pick up various subjugation quests in the Valley of Blood." (Diana) "Is this so we can go back without them finding your exit suspicious?" (I) "Yes" (Diana) After we get ready I wear the same dress I wore when I met Diana yesterday and activated the Illusion Spirit ring to look like a White Elf again before going out with Diana. We do this to facilitate my coming and going without ever having to go through the window, thanks to this plan, the owner of the inn thinks I am Diana''s girlfriend who is coming to spend the night with her. After we leave the inn I separate from Diana and go into the darkest, most empty alley and remove the dress that''s over my regular work clothes, lift my hood, and put on my mask. After it''s ready I head to the street of brothels again, day or night it''s always busy here, except in the morning, which is when most prostitutes are sleeping. I go to the alley beside the cheap brothel and enter the hidden door until I reach the same room covered in darkness and sit in one of the two chairs at the only table, then I wait a few minutes until I hear the sound of a door opening in the darkness. "Punch as always, Storm Killer." (Lucas) "You talk like you weren''t expecting me." (I) "Yes, but your timing was perfect, it''s only been a few minutes since I got the last of the information you asked for." (Lucas) Lucas steps out of the shadows as we talk and sits in the chair across from me, he places a detailed map of the Trigan Kingdom in front of me with a route marked along with an information crystal. "Here is the information you ordered." (Lucas) I take the map and crystal and tuck them into my bracelet. "Thank you, Lucas." (I) "I hope your plans go well, be careful." (Lucas) "Thanks for the concern, rest assured I''m part of a new group now, one I can trust." (I) "See you later Lucas." (I) "Plus Kira." (Lucas) With that I get up and leave the way I came, then I go from alley to alley until I reach a safe place to disguise myself again as a White Elf. I decide to walk through the commercial area of ??the city and look for something to take as a gift to the master, while I wait for the time I made to meet Diana. Chapter 60: Second requirement fulfilled After the bat fight was over I had Ibuki kill them all before I started draining their blood dry. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 6 EXP for killing a Vampire Bat ]> . . <[ You gained 18 EXP for killings of Vampire Bats per party member ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Jump: 4 > 5 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Sonic scream: 1 ] ? [ Body Enhancement (Fangs): 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the bloodline [ Vampire Bat: 11% ] ]> . . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Vampire Bat: 11% > 100% ] ]> . . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Leech: 10 ] > [ Vampirism: 1 ] ]> "(With that I completed the second requirement, only the light resistance skill is missing now.)" (I) I''m happy with the notifications I see, knowing I''m one step closer to my muscular body. "rica, how are you?" (I) I turn to rica and see her meditating to recover from her Mana faster, with my question she interrupts the meditation and opens her eyes. "I''ve already regained some Mana, Master." (rica) "Then continue with your meditation, I will wait until you have recovered before leaving." (I) While rica went back to meditating, Ibuki and I started to store the bats'' bodies in the storage items. ----------- After an hour and a half or so, rica had fully recovered, so we resumed our way back to the camp which took almost two hours as we had to dodge several monsters along the way. When we arrived we all went to remove the armor and weapons, we changed into more comfortable clothes. Each one also had their gun close by, after the spiders attack the other day I always have my daggers in my waist, the girls also started carrying their guns. As soon as we were in more comfortable clothes we went to roast some Kobold meat for us to eat. After eating I took a whole bone and started chewing it using my skill [ Leech Bite: 5 ]. I''m doing this to raise the level of this skill, I hope I can evolve it too. I will start training my martial arts lighter every day to have more time to do other things, like level up some skills. I left everything behind while training to get the skills I needed, now that I have the skills I wanted it''s time to focus my attention on other things. ---------- I spent hours grinding bones with my teeth, in the end, my whole jaw hurts, but it was worth it to see my skills progress. Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low Leech Bite: 5 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Body Enhancement (Fangs): 1 > 2 ] ]> After that, I stopped this training because of the pain I was feeling and went to check the leather I had left drying for the past few days. I removed all that was stretched out and checked to see how they are, the result is that none of them show any signs of decomposition or bad smell, so it seems I did some things right, the problem is that it''s too stiff, this way it won''t serve as a cover, but I can use it as a rug or put them on the bed to sleep on. Both are good choices, so I do both, the wolves'' fur was softer so I put four of them on the bed and the rest I put like rugs around the cabin. Finishing that, I spend the rest of the afternoon sculpting, until nightfall I made two more wooden dolls with a humanoid shape without features. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Carpentry: 3 > 4 ] ]> At nightfall, we go in and I decide to teach Ibuki how to write her and the other girls'' names, after I taught her she was practicing in the same blank practice book rica gave her. While Ibuki continues to practice her writing of hers I go talk to rica who is sitting against a wall thinking about something. "What are rica thinking about?" (I) "I was thinking about how to improve the spell I used today." (rica) "Seeing how to increase the number of fireballs coming out of the first target from two to five like you said it should be?" (I) "Not only that, but I also need to cut down on Mana consumption, I wasted a lot of Mana in casting the spell." (rica) "I should be able to use the same magic with half the Mana I spent, if my magic teacher saw me now he would be furious yelling at me how I wasted so much magic power on a spell of this level." (rica) Sigh Looks like she wasn''t happy with her performance today. "Now that you mention it I remember Diana told me you were an ex-nobleman, you even mentioned your story in a nutshell when I made everyone tell a little about themselves after Kira joined us." (I) "Yes, it''s been almost half a year since I stopped being a noblewoman." (rica) "I imagine your magic teacher was one of several teachers you''ve had." (I) "I had five professors, one in economics, one in politics, one in magic, one in history, and a professor of manners who taught me how a noblewoman should behave, how to dance and how to eat." (rica) "Do you miss them?" (I) "I don''t miss any of them, they all just taught me on my father''s orders and were paid very well for it, none of them cared about me." (rica) "I wasn''t talking about your teachers, I was asking if you miss your family?" (I) She is silent for a few seconds with unfocused eyes staring at nothing as if she is remembering something. Sigh "Not that I missed both my parents and my older brother, I and my other sister were just political tools." (rica) "My father never cared about what I wanted or whether I was happy, he just wanted to increase his influence among the nobles." (rica) "My mother and sister just wanted to know about money and live comfortably, neither of them minded marrying rich men even if they didn''t love them just to maintain their lifestyle." (rica) "The care and concern the master shows me and the others, like today he asked Ibuki to protect me when my Mana ran out or how he waited for me to regain my Mana before we returned, my family would never do those things." (rica) "My friend who helped me lose my virginity to get thrown out of the family was the first to care about me, then I met Diana who taught and guided me without caring where I came from or what I might offer in return." (rica) "Diana was not only a friend to me, but she was more of a sister to me than my blood sister ever was." (rica) "The situation in which I met the master may have been the worst that has ever happened to me, but since I met the master every day is fun, for the first time in my life I feel at home." (rica) "The food I ate with the most expensive ingredients every day as the daughter of a nobleman seemed tasteless when I was surrounded by people like my family, compared to this simple, unseasoned roast meat we eat every day is the most delicious I ever had. I already ate." (rica) She looked sad at the beginning of her story, but throughout the story, her face has given away its emotions completely, the way her face contorted in anger when talking about her father, the expression of disappointment when talking about her mother and siblings, the way she smiled lightly when talking about Diana and finally the way she opened a big smile when talking about how the food tastes better now than when she was noble. This mix of emotions proves that she grew up in a place without love, I don''t think Diana has realized how much rica cares for her, I should tell her when I get back. "Since you were Nobility, could you explain to me how Nobility Qualifies?" (I) "Of course I can master." (rica) She pulls out a used book and goes to the last sheets that are still blank, she rips off a sheet and takes some ink and a pen from her storage item, then she writes a pyramid-shaped diagram and hands it to me. When reading I see that the nobles are divided like this. Nobility Rank: 1. King / Queen 2. Prince / Princess 3. Archduke / Archduchess 4. Duke / Duchess 5. Marquis / Marquise 6. Count / Countess 7. Viscount / Viscountess 8. Baron / Baroness 9. Knight / Knight "Usually the small villages with dozens of people are commanded by Chefs da Vila who are chosen by the Barons responsible for the lands of the village." (rica) "The Barons are chosen to take care of villages with hundreds of people." (rica) "Counts are responsible for small towns with 1,000 to 5,000 people." (rica) "Big cities like the city of Valen which has tens of thousands of inhabitants have a Duke in charge." (rica) "And then comes the capital with a population of hundreds of thousands that are directly ruled by the King." (rica) "The Viscounts are responsible for supervising the Barons on the orders of the Counts, the Marqueses supervise the Earls on the orders of the Dukes, and the Archdukes supervise the Dukes on the orders of the King." (rica) "This is the form of the political hierarchy of the Nobles." (rica) "You forgot the Knights." (I) "Knights live in lands of other nobles, usually become vassals of nobles of higher rank or of the crown itself." (rica) "I think I understand, thanks for always teaching me rica." (me) "I thank you, master, thank you for everything, I am more than happy to help you." (rica) After talking for a while with rica it was already late and we all went to sleep. Chapter 61: Coming home Diana Pov: After separating from Kira I go to the Adventurers Guild, upon entering I go straight to the first floor. When I''m on the first floor I go towards the quest boards, they are divided by the adventurer ranks, I go to rank board D. I spent about thirty minutes looking at each mission before choosing a few, all the missions I chose are subjugation. Missions: ? Goblin Subjugation ? Subjugation of Kobolds ? Subjugation of Blood Wolves ? Subjugation of Small Spiders ? Land Monkey Subjugation ? Zombie Subjugation ? Skeleton Subjugation I chose these missions because they are all at my strength level and have good rewards, they also have no time limit, so I can go back to the master and stay another month without returning quietly without anyone suspecting anything. What I find strange are the two Undead subjugation missions, those missions weren''t here at the time before being captured by the Goblins, I''m choosing them to investigate the cause. Undead are a problem, especially for our group as we live in the forest, what worries me is that they should be in the mountain range caves on the other side of the Valley of Blood, so how did they end up in the forest of the Valley of blood? This could be dangerous for us, I''ll talk about it with Kira when I meet her and as soon as we get back I''ll tell the master. After getting these missions I go to the counter and talk to a receptionist I don''t know, the only receptionist I''m familiar with is Mari, that''s because I always look for her for everything instead of looking for another receptionist. "Good Morning." (I) "Good morning, which mission do you want to take?" (receptionist) "I want to take these missions." (I) I hand the mission''s posters and my card to the receptionist, she looks at the mission and frowns before looking at me. "Please wait a few minutes I will speak to my supervisor." (receptionist) "Is there any problem?" (I) "No, just something my supervisor asked." (receptionist) The receptionist leaves and in a few minutes I see her return with Mari with her, the two of them come towards me and Mari looks worried. "Hi Mari." (I) "Hi Diana." (Mari) "Can you tell me if you have a problem with the missions I took?" (I) "I asked her and other receptionists to let me know if you showed up at the Guild." (Mari) "Why?" (I) "Come with me, let''s talk in the second-floor room." (Mari) "All right." (I) Mari and I climbed the stairs and entered one of several empty rooms to talk. "So, what is happening?" (I) "I''m worried about you, Diana." (Mari) "Other adventurers who know you have been saying that they''ve seen you always drinking in various places in the city." (Mari) "I spoke to the owner of the inn you''ve been staying at and he told me that you come back every night with a beautiful Elf to your room and don''t see her leave until the next morning." (Mari) "And now you come to the Guild after a week and take seven subjugation quests alone?" (Mari) "I know it must have been hard for you to lose rica, but it''s not good the way you''re handling things." (Mari) "..." (I) "(I didn''t think she would react like that, what do I do now?)" (I) Sigh "I appreciate your concern, but I''m fine now." (I) "Are you okay, Diana?" (Mari) She looks at me with a worried expression, I place my hand on her shoulder and look into her eyes. "I''m fine Mari, don''t worry so much, your husband might get jealous." (I) My little joke makes days relax a little. "If you say you''re fine I''ll believe you for now, and don''t tell me about that muscle brain, he''s back asleep in his room." (Mari) "But he is a good master of the Adventurers'' Guild, one who cares about his guild members." (I) "Yeah, he wanted to see you, but I had to stop him, otherwise he''d drown in booze with you, then I''d have two people to worry about instead of one." (Mari) After the tense atmosphere eased and she relaxed a little, she and I sat across from each other on the simple sofas in this room. "Now let''s get serious, let me see the missions you''ve chosen." (Mari) "Alright, here it is." (I) I hand the missions to her and she looks over with a serious face. "You did get a lot." (Mari) "Knowing you, this is the best way for you to take out your frustration and anger by killing monsters." (Mari) "I can''t deny it." (I) "The problem is these two Undead subjugation missions." (Mari) "I thought they were strange, according to the mission description they started appearing in the forest a few weeks ago, but how did they end up in the forest?" (I) "It appears that one of the caves in the Valley of Blood is connected with the caves in the mountain range on the other side." (Mari) "They''ve started to be a problem, they attack at night in the dark, they''re often in a group and newbies don''t know how to fight something already dead." (Mari) "This is always a problem for newcomers, the important thing is to dismember them and then separate your cores from them or break the cores." (I) "You talking makes it sound easy, but most newbies don''t have your strength or precision to aim for joints." (Mari) "Undead are always a problem, the Guild is afraid the Undead will start appearing in waves." (Mari) "I''ll try to investigate the cause while I''m there." (I) "Just be careful." (Mari) "Do you have any forecasts on how long you''ll be gone?" (Mari) "I''m thinking a month should be more than enough to complete the missions and do a preliminary investigation into the Undead." (I) Mari and I got up. "I have to stop by a church and get some holy water." (I) "No need, I have some bottles with me, take three." (Mari) Mari takes three one-liter glass bottles from the bag she carries and hands them to me. "Thank you, Mari, now I have to go, I have to prepare myself, I plan to leave tomorrow." (I) "Give me your card, I''ll record missions on it for you." (Mari) "thank you." (I) I hand my card and the mission posters to Mari, she picks them up and leaves the room, she comes back after about fifteen minutes with my card and hands it back to me. "Here you go, be careful Diana." (Mari) "See you later, Mari." (I) I leave the room and start descending the stairs to the ground floor, as I leave the Adventurers Guild I go to a few places to buy items for the maintenance of weapons and armor. ---------- After buying everything I needed I meet Kira who is disguised as a White Elf at a restaurant and tell her everything that happened in the Guild. "From what you''ve told me, you managed to fool the Guild people perfectly." (Kira) "Now talking about the Undead, I agree with you that this could be a problem." (Kira) "We have to go back tomorrow morning to speak with the master." (I) "You don''t need to worry so much, the master is someone smart and he''s with rica." (Kira) "The problem is that none of them have experience with Undead, this kind of monster is very problematic to fight, many newbies die for them because they don''t know how to fight a dead thing." (I) "Even so, rica is still a fire element mage, she has an advantage against the Undead, they only have three elemental weaknesses which are fire, light, and holy." (Kira) "There are very few who have the sacred element, users of the element of light are in large majority members of some religion linked to the Church of Light." (I) "Let''s go back and get ready to leave tomorrow." (Kira) "Yes." (I) After eating something, the two of us left the restaurant and went together to the Inn of the Eternal Traveler, going straight to the bedroom. After checking everything and seeing that we didn''t forget anything, we went to bed early, we want to get up at dawn to leave. ---------- The next morning I get up before Kira, it''s very rare that this happens, the truth is I''m looking forward to going home and seeing the master. "(Home?)" (I) "(Yes, my house.)" (I) "(I don''t know when I started thinking of that place like home, but it makes me happy to know that I''ll be back home today.)" (I) Soon Kira gets up and we both get ready before heading downstairs, Kira as usual in her White Elf disguise. I''ve already paid for the seven days I stayed at the inn, so I go out and get separated from Kira, she has to leave illegally and I''m going out through the same gate as before. -------- When I arrive at the gates I see that it is busy as always, I see Roger at the gate, the guard who stopped me a few days ago. "Hello Roger." (I) "There is?" (Roger) "Hi Diana" (Roger) "Too busy today?" (I) "Every day to tell the truth." (Roger) "Are you going on a mission?" (Roger) "Yes, here the card." (I) I hand my card to him, showing the registered missions, he checks before returning the card. "You''ll be gone how long." (Roger) "About a month." (I) "Be careful, especially with the Undead, many merchants have been attacked while camping on their way to the city." (Roger) "I''ll be careful, see you later Roger." (I) I walk along the dirt road for about twenty minutes, then I turn off the road and into the forest, I see a figure move through the trees and stop beside me. "We''re finally coming home." (I) "Yes, I was missing the master." (Kira) Chapter 62: Living Dead When I got up I realized I was the first to get up today, Ibuki and rica are sleeping peacefully beside me. I get up and get out of bed slowly so as not to wake the girls, then head out of the cabin to do some light martial arts training. I decided to start training the Fist of Chaos and then the Blade of Chaos, I will start training these two skills every day in the morning. ----------- After three hours of training, I end training, I see Ibuki and rica sitting on a tree trunk looking at me. I don''t know when they woke up or how long they''ve been seeing me, I head towards them. "Good morning rica." (I) "Good morning, Ibuki." (I) "Good morning Master." (rica) "Good morning Master." (Ibuki) I extend them both and sit beside them to rest. "How long have you two been awake?" (I) "We woke up some time ago, master, we were watching your training, the movements that the master was doing seemed to be a martial art, but I''ve never seen one with such strange movements." (rica) "With the training, I''m improving little by little, but I still have a lot of useless moves and I''m very rigid with the punches." (I) "Don''t worry master, you are strong." (Ibuki) "Thank you, Ibuki." (I) After talking I take a tree branch, as straight as I can find it, and go outside the camp where there is a lot of tall grass. I carry my daggers around my waist, when I get there I cut many blades of tall grass with one of my daggers and take them back to camp with me. I want to try to make a broom, I take the bush and leave it together at one end of the branch so I use my lines to tie it well, with that I have a simple broom, it should be enough to clean the cabin. As he finished his broom, rica came running in with a smile on her face. "Master, master, they came back, they came back." (rica) "Calm down rica, breathe calmly then speak again." (I) She breathes slowly to calm herself before continuing. "Master, Diana, and Kira came back, I saw them coming and I came to warn you." (rica) "(Finally they came back, I already missed them, Kira has been away longer than with us since she joined the group.)" (I) I''m running outside along with rica, when I get outside I see Diana and Kira coming through the gate. As soon as they both see me Diana starts running full speed towards me, she runs so fast I don''t have time to react, as soon as she gets close she jumps on me hugging me, we both fly backward and I feel like had been run over by a car. "Master, I missed you so much, did you get taller this week? I want Master to stay small and cute." (Diana) "I missed you too Diana, now let go of me, if you keep squeezing me like that soon I won''t be able to breathe anymore." (I) "..." (Diana) "Alright, sorry master, I''m very happy and I ended up losing control." (Diana) Diana stopped squeezing me but didn''t let go, she stood up with me still in her arms holding me like a child holding a doll. "I missed you so much master." (Diana) "I missed you too Diana, I''m glad you and Kira are okay." (I) Suddenly I see a figure and feel a tug, the next thing I know I''m a little shorter, but I''m still being hugged and lifted from behind when I turn around I realize why I''m shorter, at some point, Kira robbed me of Diana''s arms and is hugging me the same way. "Master, I missed you too." (Kira) "It''s good to have you back, now you could let go of me Kira." (I) "I do not want." (Kira) "Kira returns the master to me." (Diana) "No" (Kira) As soon as Diana grabs one of my arms and starts trying to pull me out of Kira''s arms, the two of them start a tug-of-war game where I''m the corporal. Ahhhh! "YOU BOTH STOP IT AND LET ME GO!" (I) "..." (Kira) "..." (Diana) Finally, they release me and I fall to the ground. "(For a moment I thought it would be ripped in half.)" (I) After I had recovered from what had happened, the girls and I entered the cabin and sat in a circle on top of the wolfskin rugs. "So how was your stay in town?" (I) "We have completed all the tasks you have given us." (Diana) "Some of the books the master asked for are considered banned or rare so it made it difficult for us to find them, but in the end, we got them all." (Kira) "That''s good, did anyone suspect you coming back alone, Diana?" (I) "Everyone believed the story you told me to tell, after telling the guards at the gate and an employee of the Adventurers'' Guild no one asked anymore." (Diana) "Did you do it the way I asked?" (I) "Yes, I gradually increased my bloodlust, closed my eyes, and thought about my favorite food in the part of the story where I killed the bad guys, spent the whole week drinking, and took a lot of subjugation missions yesterday before coming back." (Diana) "Well done, it''s fortunate that no one wanted to investigate further." (I) "Master, I understand all the acting Diana did telling the story and drinking throughout the week, but why did she have to close her eyes and think about her favorite food during the story''s climax?" (Kira) "Maybe it''s better for rica to answer that, she was the one who gave me the idea after all." (I) "All I did was tell Diana''s bad habit to the master, it was you who perfectly implemented it into the plan." (rica) "What bad habit?" (Diana) Sigh rica and I exchanged glances before looking at Diana and sighing at the same time. "You have the bad habit of when you''re remembering a food you like or when you''re going to eat a food you like," you give a truly frightening smile like you''re a predator looking at prey." (rica) "I do not do this." (Diana) "Yes it does, I tested it myself to see if it could be used in the plan, if you don''t remember I made you think of your favorite food days before you left." (I) "I don''t remember that, but it can''t be that bad, can it?" (Diana) "Right after the two of us met, about three days later, you and I were eating at a restaurant and you had this scary smile when you saw the food, the waitress who served the food started to shiver at the sight of her smile, not just that, you give the same smile when you''re enjoying a fight." (rica) "..." (Diana) "Let''s get back to the topic." (I) "Did you get the information from the third prince of Cartoza?" (I) "Yes master, I got all the information the master asked for." (Kira) "Good job Kira, is the information from a reliable source?" (I) "Yes, they come from the Assassin Guild master himself." (Kira) "How do you know the master of the Assassin Guild?" (rica) "I''ve known him since I came to Valen City, he was a great help to me and I did a lot of outsourced work for the Guild." (Kira) "He asked me many times to join the Guild, but I refused every time." (Kira) "Just to clarify, what does Assassin Guild do?" (I) "The Assassins'' Guild works the same as the Adventurers'' Guild, but its subjugation targets are people and not monsters." (Kira) "But contrary to what their name suggests, most of the Guild''s missions are stealing and espionage, the Assassin''s Guild are the biggest information sellers out there." (Kira) "If you say so I will believe Kira." (I) "We''ll look at this information tomorrow, we have a lot to talk about first." (I) "Do you have anything else to tell me?" (I) Kira and Diana exchange looks and Kira nods at Diana. "Master, during my choice of missions I may have run into a problem." (Diana) "What kind of problem?" (I) "There were two subjugation quests that don''t often appear on the quest board, Guild receptionists and gate guards have reported problems with these monsters." (Diana) "What monsters?" (I) "Zombies and Skeletons, they''ve been appearing in the forest lately, master." (Diana) "What are the Undead doing in the Valley of Blood?" (rica) "According to what rica taught me they were supposed to be through underground caves in the mountain range, right?" (I) "That would be exactly the case, but Diana and I have a theory, which members of the Adventurers'' Guild also believe to be the cause." (Kira) "What theory?" (I) "We think one of the caves in the Valley of Blood must be connected with the caves in the mountain range." (Diana) This theory is very plausible, if that is the case then it explains the Undead appearing, none of them have appeared here yet, but if they are already a problem for the city of Valen then they will soon appear here too. "(Wait a minute, rica mentioned that there may be much Undead and that there may be strong monster corpses among them, if this is true and a cave in this forest is connected to the mountain range, it can cause a big problem.)" (I) With that zombie apocalypse thought, several scenes from horror movies started popping into my head and I started to break out in a cold sweat. "Are you alright master?" (Kira) "Tell me something, how many Undead do you think there are in the mountain range?" (I) "A few thousand at the very least, there''s speculation that there''s an Undead Dungeon out there somewhere, but no one has been able to find it." (rica) "The Undead walk together don''t they?" (I) "Yes, they usually group." (Diana) "And you guys think there''s an underground passage that connects the mountain range to this forest, and they say they''re using that passage, right?" (I) "..." (Kira) "That''s speculation." (Diana) "Oh no." (rica) "Do you understand rica?" (I) "Unfortunately yes master." (rica) "This can be a big problem, especially for us who aren''t protected within Valen''s city walls." (Kira) "Looks like you understand Kira too." (I) "What are you all talking about?" (Diana) "The Master is talking about a possible wave of monsters." (rica) "Only one of the Undead." (Kira) "..." (Diana) "We have to find this passage and quickly if there is one we will close it if possible and if not we will give the location to the Adventurers Guild for them to close, understand." (I) "Yes Master." (rica/Kira/Diana) Chapter 63: Works After discussing the course of action against the undead, Kira and Diana began to tell me everything that happened during their stay in the town of Valen. They started by explaining to me about the Guilds, when they told me about the Commerce Guild all I could think from the description they told me is that it looks like a Mall, the Commerce Guild using a Mall as a base makes sense to me but It surprises me to find a convenient place to shop. Another thing that surprised me was the Assassins Guild, I must admit I thought it was an organization of cruel and inhuman assassins, but it seems that other than what their name suggests most of their missions are stealing and espionage, the fact that they being sellers of information also surprised me. Kira also told me about the Black Market, the way she described the Black Market reminded me about the "deep web" of my ancient world, they sell everything from legal and illegal stuff, sell weapons, magic items, books, slaves illegals, armor, drugs, poisons, etc... After Kira explained more to me about the black market I couldn''t help but think that the Commerce Guild must have a connection to the Black Market under the covers, I might be wrong, but at the very least they must have people in each other''s organizations to spy on. We only stopped talking when it was late afternoon, we stopped to eat, the girls said they brought the cooking items I asked for and the cookery books, but I don''t have time today, there''s still a lot to be done in the next few days. After eating we continued talking and from Kira''s reports I found out that the Adventurous Guild receptionist supervisor is a former adventurer and an old girlfriend of Diana, it was funny to see Diana blushed to see us all talking about her love life. ------------- During the night Kira takes a box from her bracelet and opens it showing that it has six books inside, she takes one of the books and gives it to rica. "You mentioned once that you have an affinity for the curse, but you don''t know anything about the curse, so I bought this book for you." (Kira) "The book''s name is Basic Curses, it speaks comprehensively about what a curse is and how to control this unique element, it even has a few Curses for you to learn." (Kira) "Thanks, Kira." (rica) "I had already given up on learning about Curses by now, I was trying to learn about medium level fire spells these days." (rica) "I advise you to continue learning about fire magic, curses don''t have much effect on Undead, they already have Affinity and resistance to curses." (Diana) "The Undead have a weakness to three elements which are fire, light and sacred." (Diana) "But as Diana and I have talked about this before, those who have the sacred element are highly ranked members of Churches and Temples, those who have the elemental attribute of light must be members of the Church of Light or a religion related to them." (Kira) "So I have to focus my attention on learning fire spells these days." (rica) "That seems like the best option." (I) "For now I want Kira and Diana to go hunting the monsters to fulfill Diana''s missions, while they''re doing that be on the lookout for the Undead or any trail they might leave." (I) "rica will stay at the camp studying fire magic, I will start training Ibuki within two days and I will also try to learn something about magic in the meantime, I also have fire affinity, so I should be able to learn basic fire magic at least." (I) "I will try to help the master with his studies, but before learning about fire magic, the master has to learn about magic itself, the basis is important for understanding." (rica) "We''ll start this tomorrow, it''s late for any kind of training, starting today we''ll be standing guard every night in doubles taking turns." (I) "Me, rica and Ibuki will be the first, in the middle of the night Kira and Diana exchange with us." (I) "rica, I want you to see all the books on the magic they brought and give me the best order for me to read them, remembering that I have to learn fire magic first." (I) "I will do this, master." (rica) "Is there anything we need to talk about?" (I) "..." (rica/Diana/Kira/Ibuki) "Then let''s end the discussion." (I) "Now that we''ve finished talking about plans for now, did Diana bring you any books that talk about jobs?" (I) "Yes master, here it is." (Diana) Just as Kira did before, Diana removes a box containing six books from her necklace and from inside pulls out a book that she passes to me. "This is a book that talks about a lot of jobs and the requirements for getting them, it also talks about the benefits they bring." (Diana) "Thank you, Diana." (I) I pick up the book and read the title on the cover that says "Works from apprentice to master". "Tomorrow I''ll take a better look at the other books, you can get any book you want to read." (I) Saying that I leave the room and go out of the cabin, today one of the moons is full and its light shines all night, I want to use this light to help me read without having to ask rica to use it that light ball spell. I sit on the tree trunk near the cabin and start reading the book. ---------- After hours I finish reading more than half of the book, I learned a lot about the jobs. If I had to summarize what I learned, I would say that jobs increase not directly but indirectly owner status. For example, if someone who has no work increases in level and their stats increases by one point per level, if the same person had the job of swordsman their Dexterity, Strength, and Agility stats would increase by two or three points per level of people. Job levels only increase the percentage of EXP the owner gains from certain tasks, for example, if a swordsman with job level ten kills a monster he will gain ten percent more EXP, and a swordsman with job level thirty-two will gain thirty-two more EXP in killing monsters. But that''s not all, for jobs not related to fighting, for example, if an Alchemist makes an HP potion he gains EXP with a percentage bonus depending on the level of his job. But an Alchemist doesn''t get his EXP bonus if he kills monsters like the swordsman, he will only get the normal EXP for killing the monster equal to a person without a job. I don''t know why this is so, but I suspect it is for each job to focus on its profession. Another thing I noticed is that every ten job levels the job owner earn bonus points that vary depending on the job, these points are directly integrated into some status attribute referring to the random job. I also learned that the bonus from jobs is not only limited to the EXP the owner gets, but also to the EXP for using their job-related skills making them level up faster and even increasing the chance of the skill to evolve when it reaches the maximum level. "(I''ve never seen any game from my old world use works like that.)" (I) I also learned that jobs have their Rank starting from the lowest apprentice > novice > practitioner > master > grandmaster. This book only says so far, and it doesn''t talk about higher rankings, so I don''t know if there are more or not, it seems that the bonus in stats per level increases the higher the job rank is. Another thing I learned is that you can change jobs every twenty levels, but when you reach the maximum level of the job you get a bonus in status that depends on the job, you can even acquire a skill, title or unlock another job depending on the work that has reached the maximum level. The book also mentioned the work history, it seems that once you choose a work it will always be with you, as a mark as well as the titles. "(The way each job changes its status points is like trying to rebuild the body to be more suitable for that particular job.)" (I) Jobs in history can no longer be used if you have reached their maximum level. Among the information in the book, it also shows that some jobs have requirements to obtain, for example, combat jobs need the person to have already entered combat, as a person needs to train in the sword and acquire the skill [ Basic sword handling: 1 ] to become an apprentice swordsman, the apprentice swordsman needs to learn the skill [ Basic sword technique: 1 ] fighting monsters to become a novice swordsman. Some jobs require you to have reached specific levels in other jobs, or are combinations of jobs, for example, someone with the Swordsman job changes jobs to Mage in order to unlock the magic Swordsman job. Sigh With everything, the girls told me today about the city, the Guilds, the Undead, and now with everything I learned from this book. That''s a lot of information for me, I can''t process so much at the same time and I still have more to learn tomorrow. I''m going to stop reading now, I''ve already learned how jobs work and their classifications, now I have to rest my head a little to prepare for tomorrow. I know I''m overworking myself learning so many things at once and quickly, but now with the threat of the Undead around, I don''t have time to relax. Chapter 64: Training Ibuki After reading the book about works I decided to lie down on the log and stare at the starry sky, since I was a Leech I got into the habit of looking up at the starry sky when I wanted to think. I imagine this habit comes because looking at this vastness of stars and these two moons makes me remember how small I am, makes me realize that my problems are nothing and it calms me down. "Master is sleeping?" (Ibuki) My view of the starry sky is blocked by Ibuki''s head that appears out of nowhere. "Don''t bother the master, Ibuki." (rica) "Can''t you see he''s thinking about something?" (rica) "Excuse me." (Ibuki) I get up and see rica standing next to Ibuki. "Don''t worry Ibuki, I was just relaxing." (I) "Have the others gone to sleep yet?" (I) "Yeah, we took the first watch." (rica) "Fine by me, I don''t know if I could sleep anyway." (I) "Has something happened, master?" (Ibuki) "Nothing happened, it''s just too much information at the same time." (I) "There are so many things happening and so many things I''m learning every day, every time I''ve learned something I realize how much I still don''t know." (I) Sigh "You don''t need to try so hard, master, since I met the master I see the master striving in everything he does." (rica) "Even though I''m trying too hard, I planned to relax by reading the books I asked for until the prince''s ambush, but with this Undead problem going on, I don''t have time to relax anymore." (I) "We''ll work it out, master." (rica) I was talking until the middle of the night with the girls, Ibuki ended up sleeping in the middle of the surveillance and I carried her in my arms to the bed while rica woke up Diana and Kira to change shifts, so rica and I went to bed too. ---------- The next morning I get up last, as I leave the hut I see Erica reading a book, I see Diana and Kira training, and Ibuki trying to imitate their training. From the position of the suns to know it''s midday, I overslept. Today I have to start training Ibuki, I wanted to avoid that, but I will train her in a set of strikes focused on speed and precision, after she acquires the necessary skills I will teach her a unique technique. Before I start teaching Ibuki, I go to where the girls are training to do my daily training. "Good morning Master." (Diana) "Good morning Master." (Kira) "Master, good morning." (Ibuki) "Good morning girls, how''s training going." (I) "I saw Diana train and decided to accompany her, will the master train too?" (Kira) "I''m going to train a little and then I''m thinking about training Ibuki too." (I) "Master will teach Ibuki again?" (Ibuki) "Yes" (I) "The master will train Ibuki in what?" (Diana) "I will teach her a martial art first." (I) "Does the master know any martial arts? Who taught the master?" (Diana) "Nobody taught me, I created it myself." (I) "..." (Kira/Diana) They are speechless from what I said, rica who was reading her book overheard our conversation and approached. "What the master said is true, even though it''s hard to believe, I saw him training myself, I also saw him creating a weapon technique during the week you were away." (rica) "..." (Kira/Diana) "The master is a genius, a genius of combat." (Diana) "I already knew the master was abnormal, but it seems I was still underestimating you." (Kira) With rica''s revelation, Diana''s eyes are bright with wonder as she looks at me and Kira seems to give up trying to understand me. "You don''t need to make a fuss about it, I''m sure I''m not the first to create a martial art and weapons technique." (I) "The master isn''t the first, but he is certainly the youngest, those who are given founder titles of some style of martial art or weapons technique are all great and famous warriors who have left their names in history." (Diana) "The master received the titles of Founder, didn''t he?" (Kira) "Yes I received." (I) "If the master is going to train now, I want to see this martial art." (Diana) "I''m also interested in this weapon technique that the Master created, as the Master is walking around with daggers I imagine it''s a daggers technique." (Kira) "I don''t mind being watched, just don''t be disappointed later." (I) After I allow them to see my training, rica goes back to reading her book in the corner and the other girls stop their training to watch mine. Now that I''m alone to train I close my eyes first to focus my mind, then I start with slow movements that gradually increase the speed. I start training my punches and my punch and kick combinations, the way I move my body has become better since I acquired the skills. When the speed of my training became fast enough I started training as if I was facing someone with the same fighting style, this is a combat training called shadow training or shadow boxing. Unlike me, the shadow I imagine fights flawlessly and fluidly, dodging all my blows. After a while I pull out my daggers and do the same shadow training, then I do my sword training and finish with sword and dagger training. When I finished training I put the weapons away and sit on the floor to rest, now that I stopped training I look around and see the girls looking at me. rica and Ibuki don''t show anything, they''re just smiling and waving at me, but Diana and Kira are mute looking at me. "Was it the master who created this martial art and technique?" (Kira) "I grew up seeing all kinds of martial arts, but I''ve never seen moves and blows like the master." (Diana) "All the moves are strange but they complement each other in some way, the moves the master demonstrated could be used for any type of warrior, from someone who focuses on agility and precision to someone who focuses on strength and defense." (Diana) "These were moves that can come from any direction and can be used in numerous ways, I couldn''t understand most of the moves or even predict the move combos that would follow." (Diana) "Looks like you got to understand more than Kira and rica." (I) "My entire family is Adventurers, I have been trained in various martial arts and have seen my family train in many different types of martial arts and weapons techniques, from the knowledge I have accumulated on the subject I can safely say that I have never seen anything like this master. " (Diana) "This is the most complete martial art and weapons technique I''ve ever seen, but its level of difficulty is just insane, not only that the blows that the master made are different from the norms of martial arts as if he mixed murderous martial arts, arts defense and martial arts, all mixed with blows that can change from defense to attack or evasion." (Diana) "I can''t understand how someone''s mind must work to do such strange and bizarre stunts." (Diana) "..." (I) "I can''t tell if that''s a compliment or an insult." (I) "Sorry master, I couldn''t understand much of your martial art beyond its difficulty and it frustrates me a little, but I''m praising the master." (Diana) "The more difficult to decipher a martial art the better, if the enemy is not able to understand your martial art that is your advantage." (Diana) "If that''s true then thanks for the compliment." (I) "After I get some rest we will start your Ibuki training." (I) "Yes Master." (Ibuki) "While I get some rest I want you to do about thirty push-ups, thirty sit-ups, and thirty squats as a warm-up." (I) "Ibuki will start now." (Ibuki) "Before you start, we''re going to eat." (I) I ask rica to go get the food, after everyone has eaten, Ibuki has started her warming up, Diana and Kira have gone to get ready before going to investigate the Undead. With that Ibuki gets up and begins a warm-up routine while resting. After she finishes her warm-up I start teaching her, unlike Diana and Kira who have some martial arts knowledge, Ibuki doesn''t know anything, so I start teaching her the basics. I spent the day teaching her the right way to punch, the right way to kick, and the right way to deflect a blow coming her way. We spent the day in this type of training while Diana and Kira went to explore the forest to learn the location of the Undead. I did this because the most important thing in anything is the base, if she doesn''t even know the correct way to throw a punch, it''s no use teaching her any martial arts. ---------- At dusk Diana and Kira returned from their first day of investigation, when I saw them entering the camp I saw that it was already getting dark, I told Ibuki that we were going to stop training and we all went into the cabin. When we entered the hut Ibuki went straight to bed, body aching from training, the other girls and I went into another room and sat facing each other on the wolf mat. Chapter 65: Outsiders At nightfall Ibuki went to sleep because she was tired from her first day of training, the other girls and I are in another room sitting on the wolfskin rug facing each other. "How was your investigation?" (I) "Thanks to Diana being a Wolf Man-Beast the investigation went faster than we initially expected." (Kira) "Why that?" (I) "I''ve fought Undead a few times already, so I know a little about them and how to track them." (Diana) "Another reason is my nose, as a woman from the Wolf tribe of Beast Man I have a superior sense of smell than any other race, after becoming familiar with the master my sense of smell became twice as strong." (Diana) "I think I get it, so you can track them by smell." (rica) "Exactly, the undead has a unique odor because of their miasma and this odor persists for a long time in the places they pass, thanks to that I can know where they went, and by the intensity of the odor I can know how many are nearby." (Diana) "So you''re using Diana''s nose to quickly find out the places where the Undead passed." (I) "We split the tasks with Diana looking for the general location and me looking for the tracks they leave to know where they''re coming from and where they''re going." (Kira) "What did you manage to find out then?" (I) "We managed to quickly cover a fifth of the Valley of Blood, we were fast that way because we avoided all the monsters and Diana didn''t find any scent of the Undead." (Kira) "In the end, we spent the whole day running through the forest." (Diana) "You must be tired, I think you''d better go to bed early today." (I) "Master, since Diana did pretty much all the work today, I had time to think and realized I forgot something yesterday." (Kira) "Forgot what?" (I) "I was thrilled to be able to be together with the master again and after we were so busy giving you everything that happened in town, in the end, we still had to talk about the Undead." (Kira) "With all that, I forgot to give the gift I bought to the master while I was in town." (Kira) Kira gets up and goes to the cabin''s storage room where we keep everything we have, after a few minutes she comes back with a book of each white and hands it to me. "The name of this book is ''Those Who Come From Far'', this book is generally about the Outsiders." (Kira) "Foreigners?" (I) "Outsiders are people who are not originally from our world." (rica) "I bought this book to help the master since he is an Outsider." (Kira) "..." (rica/Diana) "So you noticed?" (I) "Well, with so many clues, sometimes someone would notice something weird." (me) "Which?" (rica) "Is the master an Outsider?" (Diana) "Really I was the only one who noticed?" (Kira) "..." (rica/Diana) "If you think about it, it''s obvious that there are a lot of weird things about me, even though I still don''t quite know what an outsider is, I can still say that I haven''t been very subtle with everything I''ve been doing." (I) "If you think about it, you''ll see, where you''ve seen a monster as smart as the master being so weak, where you''ve seen a Goblin being surrounded by women and not touching any and where you''ve seen a monster that was supposed to have been raised in the forest to be so polite to speak." (Kira) "Aside from the things I just talked about, the way the master makes his plans is like he''s been studying strategies of all kinds for years." (Kira) "That''s why I thought the master was an Outlander of the reincarnated type." (Kira) "You''re right, I''m reincarnated." (I) "Since I didn''t realize this before, I''m a slave failure." (rica) "The master being an Outsider makes sense, it''s impossible to invent a martial art as complex as the master''s without years or decades of studying martial arts in-depth, it''s impossible for someone who created a martial art like this to be a monster as weak as a Goblin." (Diana) "It''s not like I''m trying to hide any of this from you guys anyway." (I) "I just never told, because we''re always busy with something, but since you''ve already figured it out and the way you talk I''m not the only one in this situation, I''ll speak honestly." (I) "I was reincarnated from a different world, before reincarnating I was a human." (I) "What do you think of this?" (I) "I don''t care, the master will always be the master for me." (rica) "I don''t care about the master''s past, I swore to serve the master and that''s what I will do until my last day." (Diana) "I never cared about the origins of the master, it was you who rescued me from a path in which I had lost myself and it was you, the master who repaired this body that was once shattered to the point of being unrecognizable." (Kira) "I once swore to be with the master using the ancient vows of the Gray Elves, I intend to follow them and I would never regret that decision." (Kira) "..." (I) Sigh "Your words make me very happy, thank you." (I) I''m glad none of them cared about my background, I didn''t want to hide anything from them, I just didn''t have time with so much going on, but it''s a relief that they care so little about it. "Now tell me something, you''re all talking about Outsiders, can you explain to me what exactly Outsiders are?" (I) "Let me explain this to you, master." (rica) "Outsiders are people who come from other worlds, they fall into two categories which are people who were summoned to that world and people reincarnated." (rica) "What is the difference between them?" (I) "Summoned ones are usually brought in by the Gods or hundreds of extremely powerful mages using an item imbued with divine energy as an intermediary." (rica) "The reincarnated are those who died in their original worlds and their souls are brought to this world where they can reincarnate in any race." (rica) "That''s all I know about the Outsiders, master." (rica) "Okay, that''s a big help." (I) "Actually there''s other information I know about the Outsiders." (Kira) "What information?" (I) "I learned that the number of Outsiders soared from seven hundred years to fifty years ago, and half of them all claimed to be from the same world." (Kira) "And is this weird?" (I) "This is very strange, master." (rica) "Outsiders should only show up a few per century or one per decade at most and the chances of being from the same world should be close to zero." (rica) "And does anyone know the reason for this?" (I) "Unfortunately not." (Kira) "I don''t know anything either." (rica) "Don''t even look at me master, I don''t know anything about it." (Diana) "Then I think we''ll close this subject, I''ll try to learn a little more from the book later when I have time." (I) "Now I''m going to talk to you guys about what to do tomorrow." (I) "Diana and Kira will continue to investigate where these Undead are coming from." (I) "I will continue teaching Ibuki tomorrow with the basics of martial arts and I will start training magic." (I) "rica, you will continue to study mid-level fire spells." (I) "Yes Master." (rica/Diana/Kira) "With that, we end this meeting, Diana and Kira can go to sleep, I and rica will be on guard in the first shift, we''ll wake you up at dawn to change shifts, you can go to sleep now if you so desire." (I) "Good night, master." (Kira/Diana) With that resolved, rica and I head out of the cabin while the others go to bed. I pick up one of the wolf rugs and take it outside with me, drop the rug on the floor and lie on top of it looking up at the starry sky. "(Then I''m not the only one who came to this world if you''ve had so many Outsiders before there may have been others from my old world.)" (I) Knowing about the Outsiders surprised me, I already imagined that I would not be the only person to be reincarnated in this world, but I didn''t know that there would be so many over the years in this world. The time I''ve been in this world is short, but so many things have happened, I don''t know if I''m still the same scared and confused person who arrived, I don''t even know if I''m still the same sick man trapped in a hospital bed not knowing if I would wake up next time go into a coma. Thinking back, since I arrived in this world I haven''t even thought about my old name or should I say that I don''t remember my name anymore from when I was still Human. The weird thing is that I remember everything perfectly, but I can''t remember my old name. Another thing I noticed was when I killed the bandits and Vibor, it was very easy to kill them, I didn''t feel anything for what I did to them and I don''t know if that''s because I don''t feel sorry for bandits or because of this body and mind of monsters are influencing me more than I care to admit. While I was thinking about myself, rica continued to train her magic, we stayed like that until it was time to switch shifts with Diana and Kira, then we went to sleep. Chapter 66: Finding clues When I woke up the next day to find I was alone in bed, I get up and get ready before leaving the cabin. When I left the hut I saw rica training her fire magic with a fireball floating in front of her, I didn''t want to disturb her concentration so I left her to her training. As I look around I notice Ibuki practicing the moves I taught her yesterday. Apart from the two, I see neither Kira nor Diana around, the two of them have already gone out to investigate. I''ll train Ibuki again until the afternoon and then I''ll ask rica to tell me the order of the books for me to read. ---------- Later I interrupted Ibuki''s training and told her to rest, I took some water from the bucket that one of the girls must have picked up earlier today and brought it to her. "Take the rest of the afternoon to rest." (I) "Ibuki can still train more, master." (Ibuki) "Resting is part of her training, it''s no use straining her body." (I) "The most effective training is not the one you spend all your time training in, but the one where you manage to balance training and rest." (I) "That''s why you will rest." (I) "All right." (Ibuki) Ibuki reluctantly agreed to rest, but thankfully she''s obedient. After making Ibuki rest I go to rica, one of the reasons I chose now to rest was that I saw her interrupting her training, I want to take this moment to talk to her about the order I have to read these magic books. "Hi rica." (I) "His master, sorry I didn''t speak to the master before, I was so focused on my training that I lost track of time." (rica) "Don''t worry about it, how''s your training going?" (I) "I managed to fix the problems with the magic I used in the bat cave, now I can use it at full strength before I run out of mana." (rica) "It took me the last few days doing this, now I''m going to start learning a new medium level fire magic." (rica) "You should choose one that activates quickly and requires less mana." (I) "I thought the same thing, that''s why I chose a spell that causes an explosion in a target area that is up to twenty meters near me, the name of this spell is "Magic Explosion", I will concentrate on learning it from now on." (rica) "That''s good, but don''t get overwhelmed, remember to rest." (I) "I came to talk to you because I want to know if you managed to look at the books Diana and Kira brought?" (I) "I''ve seen the books and organized them in the boxes, then I put everything in order in the storage room inside the cabin." (rica) "Did you manage to make a list of the magic books I have to read?" (I) "With so many things happening I forgot, I''m sorry master." (rica) "I told you not to apologize for every single thing, it''s okay." (I) "I''ll have a list made tomorrow to give to the master." (rica) "I''ll be waiting." (I) "Just for a reference, the master can tell me what magical abilities the master has." (rica) "Do you have a pen and paper there?" (I) "Yes, I do, here it is." (rica) "thank you" (I) I take rica''s paper and pen, use her book as a backup and start writing down my magic skills and her levels for her then pass the paper to her. "Hmmm..." (rica) "I''ll have the list ready for the master tomorrow by noon, master." (rica) "Thanks again for your help." (I) While I was talking to rica, Diana and Kira came back, we all went into the cabin to talk, once again they didn''t find anything. After we all talked for a few hours, some went to sleep and others went to the first watch. ---------- Three days later. It''s been a few days and I started training yesterday Ibuki in Fist of Chaos, rica is still training her magic and I''ve already read three books about magic. Two books on the basic theory of magic and one that talks about magic circles, according to rica from tomorrow or the day after tomorrow I can start practical magic training. This afternoon Diana and Kira came back with smiles, seeing it cheered me up a little, if they''re smiling they might finally have some clue about the Undead. They come straight to me running, as soon as they entered, I interrupted my reading to talk to them. "From the excitement of both of you, I believe you must have finally found some clues to the Undead." (I) "Exactly that, master." (Diana) "It took a long time, but we finally found some clues, master." (Kira) "Then let''s all go inside, we''ll talk inside the cabin." (I) Everyone stopped what we were doing and walked in, I got three mugs of water, one for Kira, one for Diana, and one for Ibuki who was training, we all sat in a circle before I started the conversation. "So what did you find out?" (I) "Master, we have already discarded two-thirds of the forest, which is the deepest part of the forest where we are currently." (Kira) "It didn''t matter where we went, we couldn''t find any clues about the Undead." (Diana) "So when we finished checking the deepest part of the forest we moved closer to Valen''s town." (Diana) "It was at this point that Diana began to smell faint traces of the Undead odor." (Kira) "We confirm the area they appear to be in the zone closest to the city and the roads leading to the city." (Kira) "This is weird." (I) "They managed to find out something else." (I) "After I discovered the area where the Undead appear, Kira searched for tracks in several places and found that most of them come from the same direction." (Diana) "If you guys could figure out so much so quickly, then the people of Valen town would have figured it out too." (I) "The chances of them discovering the same as we are very small, master." (Kira) "Why?" (I) "For many factors, for example, Diana comes from a race known to have the best sense of smell and that sense became twice as strong when she became a servant of the master, others could not follow the scent of the Undead as Diana." (Kira) "Another reason is that only I could follow their cues since I awakened my spiritual energy and already contracted with a Spirit I became sensitive to negative energies." (Kira) "The Undead emanate miasma which is concentrated negative energy, that and all my experience tracking others to the Assassin Guild gave me the tools I needed to track down the few clues we got." (Kira) "Without having two people with the same specialties Diana and I have it would be impossible for the adventurers of the city of Valen to discover what we''ve discovered." (Kira) "So now we have a dilemma." (I) "What dilemma, master?" (rica) "Whether or not we should give this information to the city of Valen?" (I) "It''s still early, master." (Diana) "We can leave to talk to them after we find the place where the Undead came from." (Diana) Hmmm... "Try to locate it tomorrow, but you don''t need to take any chances." (I) "Do you still have the holy water, Diana?" (I) "Yes master, since we''re avoiding combat I haven''t used the ones I got from Mari yet." (Diana) "Take them all with you tomorrow and keep an eye on your surroundings." (I) "I think it''s weird that the Undead are just heading towards town." (I) "Actually, master" (Diana) "This is quite normal, the undead are sensitive to vital energy, they are attracted like a wolf is attracted to a piece of meat." (Diana) "And the city has thousands of people gathered, it generates a lot of vital energy concentrated in one place." (Kira) "It makes the city feel like a big feast to the Undead, so they go straight there, but they''ll still attack anyone with life energy who gets close to them." (Kira) "Like adventurers in the forest to fulfill quests and traders traveling along the road near the forest?" (I) "Exactly that, master." (Kira) "(What should I do now?)" (I) hmmm "You two will continue to investigate, if you find anything suspicious or the number of Undead is higher than expected, I want you to return immediately." (I) "If we keep investigating during the day we''ll be fine, the undead are weak when exposed to the sun, so they only attack at night." (Diana) "From what we''ve seen, the place they''re coming from shouldn''t be far from the city, we should get more information tomorrow." (Kira) "I count on you." (I) We continued talking for a while longer, then I made them go to sleep while rica, Ibuki, and I went outside to get the first watch. rica took advantage of the watch time to check on Ibuki''s progress by making her read a book to her, while I was starting to read a book on woodworking to pass the time. After hours of standing guard our shift is over, I once again like every night carry Ibuki in my arms to bed after she''s fallen asleep on watch. rica went to wake the girls up and I went to bed too, for the past few days we''ve been using blankets and pillows that Diana and Kira brought from town at my request. In the first days after they came back, with so much going on I forgot about it and so did they, I even forgot about the pots and other kitchen things I asked for, but we are already using everything I asked for. Being able to cook the meat with some herbs and forest fruits that Diana and Kira found during their investigation made the food much tastier. Chapter 67: Deliver information When I woke up rica was making lunch the way I taught her and Ibuki is looking at her drooling, I can''t see the others so they must have gone to investigate. "(I''ve been oversleeping lately, I''m always the last one to wake up, I wonder if this is because I''m overworking myself so much?)" (I) The day was like the previous ones, rica practicing her fire magic, I taught martial arts to Ibuki and at the end of the afternoon I leave Ibuki training alone and I''m going to answer some questions about magic with rica. This time Diana and Kira came back long before nightfall, I''m worried if something happened to them so soon, but after seeing they aren''t hurt I calm down. I tell Ibuki to stop training and join us inside the hut, Ibuki doesn''t have as much knowledge as I do and isn''t as experienced as the other girls, because of that she doesn''t contribute much to any of the discussions we do, but she''s part of the group and I will not treat her differently from the others, they are all part of the group that I created in this world, they are the closest I have to family. I don''t like to think about how I would be alone, I have never been alone my whole life or I should say during my whole previous life. Even though I was adopted and sent back to the orphanage several times, I was always treated well at the orphanage and I always had people who welcomed me with open arms like Father Mrio. He was the one who taught me that not all families are linked by blood, that''s why I consider Ibuki, rica, Diana, and Kira as my family, that''s why I make my decisions not only thinking of myself but of them too. ---------- After they removed their gear and they all went to bathe in the river near here, we gathered in the usual room, sitting on the wolf rug on the floor in a circle. "So what did you find out?" (I) "We finally found out where the Undead are coming from, master." (Kira) "Great job you two, where is it?" (me) "It''s not a simple master cave, it''s a big dead tree trunk, there''s a tunnel well hidden inside the trunk that leads to an underground cave." (Kira) "So the entrance is well hidden, how did you find it?" (I) "As we followed the clues the scent of the Undead became stronger and stronger, after a while the scent was strong and it continued enough for me to follow it without having to look for other clues." (Diana) "That''s how we found it so quickly, thanks to Diana." (Kira) "During your investigations haven''t you found any more adventurers?" (I) "Deep in the forest hardly any adventurers come, but as we move the investigation areas closer to the city we start to see more and more adventurers." (Diana) "But the master doesn''t have to worry, none of them followed us and whenever one of them was around me or Kira would always notice them and Kira would hide out of sight." (Diana) "Hiding in a forest is simple for me, almost every member of the Assassin Guild could do the same." (Kira) "Why didn''t you tell me before?" (I) "Since we were investigating the Undead we think the master doesn''t care about other information." (Diana) "All right." (I) "Now tell me, did you manage to confirm the number of the Undead?" (I) "Thanks to my ability to sense a presence I could understand that there are between four hundred and five hundred Undead at least." (Kira) "..." (I/rica) "We couldn''t prove that the cave below that tunnel is connected to the mountains, as we can''t go inside, but by the number of monsters inside, it must be there." (Kira) "What shall we do now, master?" (Diana) "..." (I) Hmmm... If what they are saying is correct, then the situation is bigger than I expected. We''re not in a position to do anything about it and even if I had I wouldn''t put their lives or mine at risk for a town I''ve never entered. "Diana, how are the quests you took with the Guild going?" (I) "I haven''t done any yet as I was too busy with the investigation, master." (Diana) "In the next few days, I want you to try to complete them all." (I) "If that''s what the master wants, I''ll do it." (Diana) "But what about the Undead?" (Diana) "Ey would already get to that point." (I) "After you''ve completed all the quests I want you to go back to town and deliver the information you''ve discovered to the Adventurers'' Guild." (I) "Are you sure, master?" (Kira) "Yes, I''m sure." (I) "You can close the investigations, with so many enemies it doesn''t make sense for me to risk your lives or mine." (I) "Let the city of Valen solve its problems, we are already helping a lot by locating the underground cavern." (I) "Now it''s up to them to kill the Undead and confirm that this was the right cave, then close it if it''s the right one." (I) "I agree with your decision, master." (Diana) "That''s the best decision, master." (rica) "They have more staff and equipment to handle it." (rica) "Not to mention that there must be enough earth mages to help close the cave." (Kira) "With that decided, let''s focus on Diana completing her missions." (I) "You two are still going out every day, but this time it''s to hunt and not investigate." (I) "While you hunt me, rica and Ibuki will continue our respective training in case we need to fight the Undead." (I) "Sounds like a good plan to me." (Diana) "Do you have any predictions on how long it might take to complete all these missions?" (I) "Hmmm..." (Diana) Diana puts her hand on her chin and closes her eyes thinking about something, after a few seconds she opens her eyes and response. "It should take three to four days, master." (Diana) "Be careful while hunting tomorrow, I''m telling you both." (I) "I advise starting with the Undead missions, if we''re right and they''re coming through the tunnel then their numbers will increase over time, so better hunt enough for your mission now as the more time passes the harder and risky this mission will be." (I) "The master is right, let''s do this morning Diana." (Kira) "Alright, thanks for the advice, master." (Diana) "But we''re still going to keep exchanging watch shifts during the night." (I) "After this crisis with the Undead is over we can focus on the third prince of Cartoza." (I) "Kira, do you know the date the third prince will travel?" (I) "I do know, master." (Kira) "He will leave the Cartoza Kingdom in twenty days, it should take him two weeks to reach the city of Valen before heading to the capital." (Kira) "At least that was their plan, but we know he''s going to be attacked along the way." (rica) "The attack will definitely be close to Valen, so we have time to make preparations later, now let''s focus on the current problem." (I) "Does the master have any more plans after we pass the information to the Adventurers Guild?" (rica) "I have one in mind, but let me confirm something with you first." (I) "You can ask anything, master." (Diana) "What do you think the Adventurers'' Guild will do after getting the information?" (I) "They will likely issue a special subjugation mission to gather adventurers to eliminate all the Undead." (rica) "After the Undead are eliminated they must issue another mission aimed at Earth element mages to close the cave." (rica) "Actually, master." (Diana) "They should call some Higher Grade adventurers, probably about five Grade C and at least one Grade B." (Diana) "Why you say that?" (I) "There is much strong Undead in the underground caves of the mountain range, if one of them goes into the forest it will be a disaster." (Diana) "As long as the cave is closed the Guild will want a High-Rank adventurer to guard the entrance." (Diana) "They''ll do it too to prevent many adventurers from dying." (Diana) "If what you''re talking about happens, do you think they''ll ask you to join the special mission too?" (I) "..." (Diana) "Now that the master says that, they''ll probably want me to join the quest, not only because I found the location of the Undead, but also because I''m one of the few adventurers who have experience fighting Undead." (Diana) "Do you think you''ll be safe on this mission?" (I) "After becoming a master''s familiar my strength has increased a lot, now that I''ve finally been able to use Ki, my strength should equal that of Grade C or +C adventurers." (Diana) "Even if everything goes wrong I should at least manage to escape, but I believe there will be no problems with this mission." (Diana) "Then I''ll also want you to join the mission, I''m wondering what''s in that cave, but remember that your safety is more important, if you think things are going bad, leave." (I) "Your safety is more important to me than the lives of these adventurers." (I) "Thank you, master." (Diana) "Thank you for worrying about me." (Diana) After discussing some more unimportant matters, rica, Ibuki, and I went to the first watch. We chatted while watching, we talked about Ibuki''s progress in learning martial arts over the past few days, we talked about the explosion magic rica thinks she should be able to use, and we also talked about maybe making her go hunting one day with Diana to practice her magic. When it came time to switch shifts, Ibuki was still awake for the first time and didn''t need me to carry her to bed, we woke up Diana and Kira, then went to sleep. Chapter 68: Magic circles The next day Diana and Kira went hunting to complete the Adventurers'' Guild quests, the quests Diana chose to take. While they went hunting rica went to train her magic alone again and I went to guide Ibuki with his Fist of Chaos training. I was training Ibuki until mid-afternoon before making her stop to rest, after she stopped I went to read the fourth and last basic book rica recommended me to read before I started learning about elemental magic, the book is about controlling the Mana from the body. Reading this book was easier and faster for me than reading the others, maybe it''s because I''ve already read books that explain the basics of magic or the fact that before I learned anything about magic I used my meditation to train my senses of Mana. While reading the book I continued to grind monster bones with my teeth using my skill [ Leech Bite: 8 ]. I won''t waste any time improving my skills, I stay until close to dusk reading the book and grinding bones. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low Leech Bite: 8 > 9 ] ]> When the sky turned completely dark I started to get worried, Kira and Diana still hadn''t come back. It''s not normal for them to stay out so late, I wanted to go after them but rica stopped me, she used a great argument to stop me, she said Kira and Diana must be hunting the Undead to complete the two Guild of Guild missions Adventurers I told them to complete first. After thinking about what rica said I decided to wait a little longer, as worried as I was I couldn''t read any more books, so I sat in front of the camp gates waiting for them to come back. I waited around two hours and when I was tired of waiting they came back, as soon as they went through the gate and saw me looking at them they turned pale, I go to them looking to see if they are not hurt. "Where were you guys?" (I) "Why did you take so long to get back?" (I) "..." (Kira/Diana) "Answer!" (I) As I demand they answer my questions I feel a hand on my shoulder. "Calm down, master." (rica) "..." (I) "I know you were worried about them, but with you releasing an Aura with so much pressure they won''t be able to say anything." (rica) Huh? After rica spoke to me that I noticed, at some point my Chaos Aura ability activated by itself, I closed my eyes and tried to take a few deep breaths to calm myself while trying to deactivate my Aura ability. After I''ve calmed down a bit and managed to disable my ability, I look back at Diana and Kira who look less pale. "I''m sorry I lost control a bit." (I) "Alright master." (Diana) "Now that I''ve calmed down, tell me why you were gone so long?" (I) "Sorry master, we were hunting some monsters during the day for Diana''s quest, but we didn''t find any Undead." (Kira) "So we both thought we''d wait until dark for them to come out of their hiding places, then we went hunting some to fulfill the missions." (Diana) "Why didn''t you let me know in the morning when night fell and you didn''t come back I was so worried that I wanted to go after you, if it wasn''t Erica stopping me I''d be out there now looking for you both." (I) "Sorry for worrying you, master." (Kira) "We should have warned the master that we would be gone longer today." (Diana) "There, now that you all are calmer, let''s go inside and talk to the cabin." (rica) Following rica''s advice, we all entered the cabin, as we always sat in a circle on the wolf rug. "So how was your hunt?" (I) "We only complete one mission." (Diana) "We killed ten Goblins, with that I completed the mission." (Diana) "We''ve also killed three Kobolds, with seven more Diana can complete one more mission." (Kira) "Apart from the Goblins and Kobolds, during the night we managed to hunt down four Zombies and two Skeletons." (Kira) "If you are going to hunt Undead tomorrow I want you to leave only at dusk, I want you rested and prepared to fight the Undead, I don''t want you to eat a fight being tired because of repeated fights." (I) "Got it?" (I) "Yes Master." (Diana/Kira) "Tomorrow when you are hunting, if you see that there are many enemies I want you to run, I don''t want you to be in danger." (I) "You made the master very worried this time, next time let me know first." (rica) After talking for a few hours, everyone goes to their proper places, we always follow the same shift divisions so I head straight out of the cabin. This night is a bit dark so I decided to continuously use my night vision skill while reading a book and rica seems to be meditating not far from me, I let Ibuki sleep today as she is very tired from training. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Night Vision: 1 > 2 ] ]> -------------- The next day I woke up with rica hugging me and using her breasts as pillows. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Improved sexual stamina: 6 > 7 ] ]> I try to get up without waking her up, I get out of bed, after I get out of bed I look out the cabin window and see that the weather is closing in, this may mean that it might rain today or tomorrow. I leave the hut and see Ibuki, Kira, and Diana training their respective martial arts, I go over to them. "Good morning, girls." (I) "Good morning Master." (Ibuki) "Good morning, will the master train too?" (Diana) "Good Morning." (Kira) After greeting them I do my daily training in martial arts and weapons techniques, rica wakes up while I train and after I finish my daily training I go to her. "Good morning rica." (I) "Good morning Master." (rica) "I wanted to start my practical magic training today, what do you think?" (I) "What books did the master just read from the list I made." (rica) "I''ve just finished reading three of them, the ones that talk about the basics of the theory and practice of magic, I''ve also just read the book that talks about magic circles, at the moment I''m halfway through the book on Mana control." (I) "Since the master already has the Mana Control skill, we can start training with Mana Transformations." (rica) "You can extract Mana out of the body and shape her, right?" (rica) "Yes." (I) "But he shouldn''t get perfect shapes yet, let alone form straight lines." (rica) "You are right." (I) "The training the master did can be considered Mana Transformation training, he is good to practice but not efficient." (rica) "This way of training is normally just used for people to get used to manipulating Mana, what I''m going to teach the master is to draw magic circles in the air using my fingers." (rica) "The first step in doing this is for you to focus your Mana on your finger, then you use your finger with a pen to draw in the air." (rica) "Remember that you have to make a small part of your Mana fall behind where your finger passes to form the circle." (rica) "Try drawing a simple circle for training." (rica) "I am going to try." (I) I close my eyes and focus my mana on my index finger, not too much, just enough to try and draw. Then I open my eyes and see my index finger lightly glowing an almost transparent white color. I try to draw a circle with this finger, but no traces of Mana are left behind. "Try letting some of your Mana slip off your finger and fall behind." (rica) When I didn''t know what to do I hear rica talking behind me, I try to do as she said and while I make a circle in the air with my finger I let my Mana out little by little it leaves a light trail of white transparent Light behind when I''m almost completing the circle the end where I started began to disappear. "What happened?" (I) "You still don''t have much control over your Mana outside your body, over time it fades into the environment." (rica) "With time and practice you will be able to control better and you will decrease the rate at which the Mana goes out, but now you can increase the amount of Mana you use to have more time to draw the circle." (rica) -------------- I spent the rest of the day training to make circles, drawing in the air with my finger, as time went by I managed to do it faster, rica praised me saying that I learn fast. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Mana Control: 7 > 8 ] ]> Kira and Diana left to hunt the Undead for Diana''s mission, it took them a few hours to get back. ------------ When they finally arrived, the moons were already at their highest point. "How was the hunt?" (I) "We completed both missions, master." (Diana) "We managed to hunt nine Skeletons and fourteen Zombies." (Kira) "Great, now you can go to sleep, starting tomorrow you will go back to hunting only during the day to complete the other missions." (I) "Yes Master." (Diana/Kira) I made them both go to sleep and stayed awake finishing reading the book on Mana control. Chapter 69: Magic theory This morning I woke up early, luckily there was no incident like yesterday with me being hugged by rica. rica is hugging Ibuki, Diana and Kira are not in bed, they must have gotten up even earlier than me. I get up from bed and leave the room, when I get to the main room of the cabin I see the girls organizing the equipment. "Good Morning." (I) "Good morning Master." (Diana) "Good morning, you woke up early today master." (Kira) "I wanted to train a little and then practice magic for the rest of the day." (I) "What are you two doing?" (I) "I''m servicing weapons and armor." (Diana) "While we were in town I bought materials for maintenance that we didn''t have before." (Diana) "I didn''t know we needed it." (I) "For slashing and piercing weapons like spears, swords, and daggers the blood and grease of monsters is harmful to weapons." (Diana) "Not only for weapons but also armor, both heavy armor and leather." (Kira) "Kira is right, it''s not enough to just clean up the mess master." (Diana) "There''s an oil to rub on weapons to clean and prevent this dirt from sticking, and there''s another oil to do the same for armor and clothing that''s made from monster leather." (Diana) "Another problem with slash and piercing weapons is when they are used to cut through hard parts like bones and monster scales, it makes them lose their edge or it will chip the blade." (Kira) "To fix this we need a stone to sharpen the blade again." (Kira) "I didn''t know there was so much care in gun maintenance." (I) "If the weapon is of some high-level metal like Mithril or Adamantino it will need less maintenance." (Diana) "I haven''t had time to read the Forge book yet, these things must be written there too." (I) After greeting the girls I went outside the cabin for my morning training, the girls joined me a little later. When we finished training the girls rested for a while before going to get ready to hunt. After they left I joined rica for some more training on drawing mana in the air. This time I spent the day making various geometric shapes like triangles, squares, rectangles, hexagons, etc. We did this until nightfall, taking breaks only when I ran out of mana, in one of those breaks I made lunch using wolf meat and a vegetable that Kira found in the forest, after it was done I found that this vegetable has a taste and texture almost equal to of the potato. I ended up making a lot of stew for everyone, as I ate the stew I couldn''t help but think about making potato chips with this potato. This vegetable that resembles the potato has a shape that resembles a thicker carrot, it has a purplish color and, according to rica, it is an ingredient for HP potions. I was surprised to learn that it was an alchemy ingredient, rica told me that the name of this vegetable is potato, it seems that an Outsider named it, even though it can be used for cooking only the nobles and rich merchants do it, poor people or middle class will not waste their money on it. One of the reasons for this is that it only grows in areas with a high magic density like this forest, so it cannot be grown in safe areas like other foods, areas that have high magic density can give birth to monsters. With the books on magic that I read I ended up discovering that there are two types of monsters, the first one is those that are born by the coagulation of energies like magic, this type of monster usually has very low intelligence and very strong instincts, this is the type of monster that appears frequently in Dungeons, but also appears less frequently in areas with high energy concentration. The second type of monsters are the descendants of the first type, they gain more intelligence and can control their instincts better, it seems that the reason for this is unknown so far. After I read this I immediately found out what kind of monster I am, I like the other Leeches in those puddles of red liquid we are the first kind. The books on magic I''ve read also explained that magic is associated with the user''s mind, so those with a high intelligence score have stronger magic powers and more Mana. Magic is a very deep field of study, I read in books that singing magic is hardly used anymore, they use circle magic now, I found magic circles very interesting and after I finished reading the book about them I found out why I liked them so much. The magic circles use geometric shapes to shape the magic and use the image the magician has in his mind in conjunction with the magic circle to use magic using mana as fuel to activate it. In the end, a magic circle is formed by sets of these geometric shapes interconnected, the way they combine these geometric shapes into a magic circle is reminiscent of programming logic. This discovery made me very excited, as someone who has spent decades creating games I am very used to programming logic, this discovery gave me a whole new perspective on magic, I suddenly could understand more easily how magic circles work. If I study enough I can know what a magic circle does before the magician even activates, it can give me a big advantage in the future. The problem is that there must be a certain level of coherence in the way these geometric shapes are formed, not only that but also the magic circle has to match the image of the magic that the magician uses, if a magician uses magic whose image does not match the magic circle two things can happen, the first is that the magic circle will explode, injuring or even killing the magician and the second thing that can happen is the magic is activated but the magician loses control of it if the magician losing control of his magic he could injure himself or an ally by accident. Another thing I''ve learned is that it seems that wizards fall into two types which are theoretical wizards and combat wizards. Theoretical mages are like scientists in my ancient world, they study magic circles, create new spells, study fusions of different types of magic, and study spells that have been lost, this type of mage spends most of their time in their offices Working. Combat mages are mages who don''t try to create new spells, they learn spells that already exist and use them in combat, they have great power at long and medium-range but most are weak in melee combat. Combat mages are better at controlling and using different spells, as they use magic in their daily lives, and in real combat, they have more control over their spells, combat mages are excellent at finding different ways to use the same spell or in find different combinations of spells. --------- Ding! Ding! <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Undead Curse: 1 ] ? [ Meaning of life: 1 ] ]> <[ Your ability evolved by coming in contact with the abilities [ Vampirism: 1 ] and [ Blood Servant: 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Undead Curse: 1 ] > [ Vampire Servant: 1 ] ]> Diana and rica brought the bodies of the Zombies and Skeletons they hunted yesterday, I''ve been wondering since yesterday if it would be worth eating the Zombies'' rotten meat. In the end, I ate it, it was unpleasant and I felt like throwing up with every Bite, it managed to be worse than eating the spiders, but it gave me a good skill called [ Sense of life: 1 ]. I also gained an ability that seems to allow me to turn others into Undead, it seems that the zombies in this world are like the zombies in my old world horror movies that can transform whoever bites, but this ability has evolved and now allows me to turn others into Vampires. If before I still had doubts about what I would evolve now I''m sure, but more than ever I need to find the light resistance skill, I don''t know if I''ll be able to acquire it after I evolve. Late in the afternoon Diana and Kira returned and we all gathered inside the cabin again. "How was your hunt?" (I) "We managed to complete almost all the missions, master." (Diana) "Now all that''s left is the Earth Monkey subjugation mission." (Diana) "This type of Monkey can use earth magic and has rock armor all over his body." (Diana) "You can hunt him tomorrow." (I) "Do you know where this monster is?" (I) "The Earth Monkey is usually somewhere near the big mountain, it should take about three hours before we get there." (Kira) "Be careful on the way tomorrow, try to get back before nightfall." (I) We talked for a few hours like we do every day, then Diana and Kira went to bed and I, rica and Ibuki went on the first watch. "(I will keep training when I learn more about magic I will want to become a combat mage, but I will still try to create my spells.)" (I) "(If I''m right and the magic circles are using some kind of programming logic I will be able to use my knowledge and experience using programming logic in games to help me with my spells.)" (I) I daydreamed about myself recreating spells from games, anime, and movies during our watch shift until it was time to switch shifts, while rica was helping Ibuki with writing and grammar exercises. Chapter 70: Rest day Today I woke up last, I was very excited to discover that magic circles use programming logic that I couldn''t sleep. As soon as I get up I go straight out of the cabin, see that everyone is eating what''s left of yesterday''s stew, looking closer I notice that Kira and Diana are in their hunting clothes. When I look up at the sky, I realize it''s not even halfway through the day yet, so I walk over to them and greet them. "Good Morning." (I) "Good morning Master." (Ibuki/rica/Diana) "Good morning, do you have any plans for today master?" (Kira) "Not really, I''m going to train my martial arts a little and teach Ibuki new moves, then I''m going to train magic with Erica." (I) "Do you need me for something?" (I) "I''ve seen the master trying too hard on many things, look at everything the master just said for example." (Kira) "I agree with you, I already told the master not to overextend himself, but he continues." (rica) "Master taught Ibuki that resting is as important as training, was Master lying to Ibuki?" (Ibuki) "..." (I) "(Why do they all have to agree to this?)" (I) "(To be honest, how did the subject change to this all of a sudden?)" (I) While I was asking these questions in my head I could see rica''s worried face, Kira''s serious face, and Ibuki''s sad face, suddenly someone puts an arm behind my neck and gives me a hug making me suffocate in Your breasts. "The master has to rest too, we are worried that you are overloading yourself like this, at least try to rest for today." (Diana) "..." (I) I couldn''t say anything, wasn''t even able to breathe, all I could do was give Diana''s athletic arm a few soft slaps to get her to let me go. "Diana how do you want him to respond if you don''t let go of him, look how desperate he is, he can''t even be breathing." (rica) "..." (Diana) "Cof cof...haaaaa...haaa." (I) "Sorry master, I didn''t realize before rica said you couldn''t breathe." (Diana) "Okay, I know you didn''t do it on purpose, Diana." (I) "Let''s not stray from the subject, master try to rest today, alright?" (Kira) "Since all of you insist on it, that''s fine, I''ll rest today, but only today." (I) "There''s still so much to do, I can''t afford to relax forever." (I) After agreeing with them I served myself a plate of stew too for us to eat together. After eating Diana and Kira went to their last day of hunting, rica decided to rest from her training today too and teamed up with Ibuki to teach her math. Since I didn''t have much to do, I went to the storage room inside the cabin to see the various types of books the girls brought from the city, maybe I''ll find one to read while I rest. As soon as I entered the warehouse I was surprised, not only were there the things I collected from this cave and conquered it and the things we collected from Kira''s old hideout, there were also what I recognized as various monster parts. There were monster skins, monster bones, a small pile of monster cores, and some pouches that when I opened it was evidence of subjugation like Goblin ears, Wolf fangs, Kobold fangs, Zombie tongues, and Skeleton skulls. All are to take to the Adventurers Guild probably, but what left me in doubt was that I didn''t see them dismantle these monsters, could it be that during my training rica and Ibuki have dismantled the monsters and I didn''t realize? It seems that I have been neglecting some things while focusing only on training, I have to pay more attention to the girls from now on. I go to the boxes where the books are kept and read their titles, I choose the book on woodworking to finish reading, I want to build some furniture to put in the cabin. Now that I have the various tools the girls brought I can finally build these things, but first I want to finish reading this book. --------- I spent half the day reading books, I read the woodwork and the forge, what the girls told me about gun maintenance is written here, it is also written that there are two ways to forge with metal. The first is melting the metal and throwing it into a mold, this way of forging is fast but it decreases the quality of the final item, it is usually only used to manufacture items in bulk. The second mode is the old way, a blacksmith forging everything with his hammer without using molds, this process is slow but results in an item of higher quality and durability, the quality of the final item depends exclusively on the skills of the blacksmith. I already imagined this, but what surprised me is that there are several skills to forge, the skill of hammer technique is not only used for combat but also in forging weapons and equipment, blacksmiths also have great physical strength and resistance to heat, the book declares that the greatest blacksmiths are the Dwarves with a few exceptions, that''s because they already possess these qualities from birth. I also learned a little more about the woodworkers in this world. The carpenters in this world are divided into two types, those who work with furniture and construction, these are those found in all cities and the second type are those who work in the construction of weapons and equipment. The second type seems to be highly valued as it is more difficult to find, they use wood to build bows, arrows, wands, and staffs. The point is that there are many types of wood in this world, there are magic and spiritual trees, there are also monsters that are made of wood like Wood Golems or Wood Elementals, they may look the same and have similar appearances, but the way to look. defeating is quite different, the golem needs to rip out or destroy the core and the elemental has to use elemental attacks to hurt it. Another thing I learned is that either blacksmiths or woodworkers can put skills or spells on the weapons and equipment they make, there are three ways to do that. The first way is to awaken the power that is already contained in the materials, this process they can do on their own. The second way is to use monster core to add one or more characteristics to the weapon, for example, if the monster is from some element your core can make the weapon acquire affinity with that element, this makes the techniques, abilities, and spells of that element stronger as the owner of the weapon use it. The third mode needs an Alchemist, they can make what is described as crystal cards, these cards can add abilities or spells to the weapons and equipment that are made. The books don''t explain much about these crystal letters, it looks like I''ll have to get more books in the future. It seems that breeding jobs are not as easy as I thought, if it wasn''t for my ability to learn skills from eating others I wouldn''t even try to learn about them. At first, I ordered these books thinking I would be able to learn easily and start creating things, but after reading these books I realized I was wrong, I think I will have to find someone to forge weapons and armor for me. If I''m not mistaken Kira talked about an auction that will take place in a few months hosted by the Black Market, according to her they even sell illegal slaves, if this is an annual auction they must sell high-priced slaves which must be rare or have excellent skills. To be honest, the idea of ??selling is buying people makes me sick to my stomach, but I need one or two people who can create and fix items for me and the girls. I have to think about the future, whatever I do in this world I will need support, I will not only need warriors and wizards like I am now but also people who can support me, whether healing us or creating and repairing our equipment. People always despise the creation-oriented classes and jobs in games from my old world, I never understood why. In every fantasy game that existed in my ancient world, there were always two items that were used the most, are the HP and MP potions, whatever class or job the person chose in the games they always used these potions daily many times. Not only potions, the best items in any game always had to be created by creation classes, be it weapons, armor, or any other item, but even so, very few people chose classes and jobs aimed at creating what was a feather. In this world, these works are even more important, especially for me who am unable to enter cities, for now, so I will try to buy these illegal slaves at the Black Market auction, as soon as the girls bring me they will use my skill to make it as my servants, I''m sorry to have to do this, but I can''t afford to think right or wrong about everything. What I can do in return is treat them as well as the girls, I won''t exploit them or force them to do anything they don''t want to, as long as they work properly I won''t impose anything on them anymore. Even if I move to a city I will have to keep a low profile, so having someone around to create things in our group will be better than buying or ordering from others. ------------ In the end, this rest day was very useful, I was able to learn more about the creative work and plan what to do after we deal with this undead. Kira and Diana returned towards dusk with their clothes stained with blood, but I don''t see any tears in the clothes, so it must be monster blood, so I tell them to come in and we all sit down to discuss the next plans. Chapter 71: Clandestine organization After Kira and Diana returned from their hunt we all went into the cabin for one more meeting. "How was your hunt?" (I) "Today we killed thirteen Earth Monkeys, with that I managed to complete the last mission, master." (Diana) "What will be the next step, master?" (Kira) "Tomorrow Diana is going back to town alone, I want you to go straight to the Adventurers Guild." (I) "When you get there I want you to turn in the missions you''ve completed and turn in half of the cores we have too, we have plenty." (I) "You told me that the delivery of materials to the Guild and the payment of quest rewards take place inside the rooms on the third floor, right?" (I) "The rooms are on the second floor, not the third, master." (Diana) "But the master is right, at the time of delivering the quests I will present my card to the Guild, after the receptionist checks the quests they will ask me to go to these rooms on the second floor to see the subjugation evidence and also any material that I have brought." (Diana) "Perfect, in the living room you will ask to call her friend Mari when she arrives you will tell her the information you and Kira discovered." (I) "If I''m right they will want to create one of the special quests you mentioned to me, am I right?" (I) "They will surely issue a special mission, master." (Diana) "But it won''t be quick, they should take two or three days to start the mission and head out towards the Undead." (Diana) "Why take so long?" (I) "They have to prepare before starting the mission, master." (Kira) "Kira is right, they have to leave the mission posted for a while and have to look for higher-ranked adventurers as well." (Diana) "In addition, the Adventurers Guild has to brew health and Mana potions, it also has to get someone with skills to heal poisons and curses." (Diana) "So that''s how they''re going to act." (I) "This won''t change the plans much, I want you to participate in this mission." (I) "The Guild will also want me to participate." (Diana) "As I''ve said this to the master before, I''m one of the few adventurers who know how to fight the Undead, otherwise they''ll want me to take them to the cave located beneath the trunk." (Diana) "After this mission you will stay in town for two days so as not to attract attention, leaving right after the mission." (I) "While you''re in town I want you to buy a big house with lots of rooms, basement and a big garden where we can train." (I) "The master wants to move to the city?" (rica) "I think this idea is too risky master, you and Ibuki are monsters, rica is a Demon and I''m a wanted killer for kidnapping nobles and selling them into slavery." (Kira) "No need to worry about me, I can already imagine what I''ll evolve into next time." (I) "About Ibuki, you shouldn''t worry either, in her next evolution she should become a person of the Demi race, which according to you is not discriminated against by the Trigan Kingdom." (I) "About rica, she''s a Demon, I''ve been talking to her and I''ve discovered a demonic magic that allows demons to transform into humans." (I) "This demonic magic is well known to people, but only demons can use it." (rica) "This spell allows demons to look human but they become weak, they are only able to use only a third of their powers in this form, but it is almost indefectible." (rica) "The only way to know if you are a Demon is to identify the person''s status, but as long as no one checks my status no one will know." (rica) "The problem comes with getting this spell, but it must be for sale on the Black Market." (I) "And about you Kira, as you said yourself before, no one knows her face and you still have this illusory spirit ring you can wear to look like a White Elf." (I) "What about the money to buy the master house?" (Kira) "Did you forget the crystal coins that were with Viper?" (I) "I''m going to give Diana ten crystal pieces so she can buy the house." (I) "Master, that''s a lot of money, just give her five coins, that should be enough to buy a mansion." (rica) "Alright, just remember that I want this house in a quiet place, I don''t want to draw unwanted attention when we go there." (I) "I will do my best, master." (Diana) "But what do we do about house maintenance?" (Diana) "A big house like the master wants will need at least three maids." (Kira) "We''ll take care of it after we move there." (I) "Now there''s something else I have to discuss with you." (I) "I was thinking of finding people to join our group who are good at forging and alchemy." (I) "What do you think?" (I) "We can try to buy at the Black Market auction Kira mentioned earlier so no one will know about us." (I) Diana and Ibuki look confused as Kira puts a hand on her chin and Erica crosses her arms and closes her eyes in thought. "Why does the master need people with these jobs?" (Diana) "If you need something just buy it in stores, if you need something personalized just order it, right?" (Diana) "You don''t understand Diana." (Kira) "The master wants to keep a low profile, he doesn''t want to leave a trace of what he has or what he buys." (Kira) "I think it''s a good idea, master." (rica) "If the master wants to do that, I advise getting a blacksmith, an alchemist, and a tailor." (rica) "Having someone to support the areas of alchemy and forge is the basics for any proper underground organization." (Kira) "We are not a clandestine organization, Kira." (I) "I''m sorry to have to open your eyes, master." (Kira) "But look at the situation we are in and the plans that lie ahead." (Kira) "What do you mean?" (I) "Look at the members of our party, an adventuress the master uses to infiltrate the Adventurers'' Guild, a monster the master is training and helping to evolve, a Demon that has an affinity for curses, a wanted assassin, and the boss is the sir, a monster who is an Outsider." (Kira) "..." (I) "Well if you look at our group like that, it''s really hard to deny that we''re an underground organization." (rica) "I already said that we are not a clandestine organization." (I) "Look at the plans you created and the things you plan to do." (Kira) "You eliminated a group of bandits to turn your boss into a Servant, you sent your subordinates to the city to get prohibited items, you want to buy illegal slaves with creative work to leave no clues about what you want to do, you want to buy a mansion in town to keep yourself hidden with your group and you''re meddling in a conspiracy between kingdoms that could cause a war not to mention the local government just to kill a priest of the Church of Light who must participate in that plan. " (Kira) "..." (I) "After all that said, are you still going to say we''re not a clandestine organization?" (Kira) "Kira is right, if you think about all this it''s hard to deny it." (Diana) "If anyone finds out about the things we''ve done that we''re planning to do they''re sure to see us as an underground organization." (rica) After everything that was said at that meeting, it''s impossible for me to deny it, at some point the situation turned into this. "How did we end up becoming an underground organization?" (I) "No need to worry, master." (Kira) "With the members of our group it''s impossible to show up to the government, they would arrest or kill me and Ibuki, they would execute Kira for her crimes and I don''t even know what would happen to Diana." (rica) "She''ll probably be kicked out of the Guild and imprisoned." (Diana) "The only reason I''m bringing this up now is to make the situation clear, as the master didn''t seem to realize what we look like to other people." (Kira) "Things just kept happening, I didn''t even realize how things turned out like this, I was trying to make the best decisions I could along the way." (I) We all stayed talking for a few hours after the revelation of what we had become. During the rest of the meeting, the girls and I discuss what Diana should do in town, talk about how she''s going to participate in the special quest the Adventurers'' Guild should issue after she reports the tunnel''s location. We also talked about the mansion I want her to buy, I asked everyone about her opinions of what they would like her to have in the mansion. In the end, we all agreed that it would be nearly impossible to find a mansion with everything we wanted, so I gave her another crystal coin and told her to buy the mansion closer than we want and then hire someone to remodel it to make it the way we want it. Everyone agrees with this plan, after the meeting ends I go to the watch shift with rica and Ibuki. I teamed up with rica to teach Ibuki math until shift changeover time. Tomorrow Diana is leaving for the city again, this time she should be away for four or five days. I''m going to sleep with all these things in my head, what worried me the most was the revelation of other people seeing us as a clandestine organization, I don''t like to think I''m a criminal, but as Kira said our members taking Diana out, would be arrested or killed if found by the government, and I will never allow that to happen to girls. Chapter 72: Missions completed Diana Pov: I was the first to wake up today, when I opened my eyes the master was sleeping hugging me and his face is inches from mine. The master has an ugly appearance for being a Goblin, but compared to other Goblins he is very handsome, but what I like about the master is not his looks, but his cute way of caring about me and the other girls even though he is. the weakest of the group after Ibuki. He''s always thinking about us, the day Kira and I arrived late from hunting the Undead without talking to him first, I''ll never forget looking at him as we enter the camp gates. At first, I was startled by the sudden Aura that crashed down on me, the pressure of that Aura was big and intense but it wasn''t doing me any harm other than immobilizing me in place, then I noticed his gaze falling on me and I went pale at the stare into her angry eyes. I didn''t understand why he was so angry at first, but when he came closer and started asking us questions I could see what was behind those eyes, I could see it wasn''t just anger in his eyes but also concern, anxiety, fear, and relief. I only recognized that look because my dad once looked at me like that, it was a long time ago when I was still a kid, I was trained with my older brother by my dad and I wanted to be respected, so when my dad came out to ask for my mom preparing the food I went into the forest determined to hunt a monster to show how strong I was. But I was wrong, I got lost in the forest for two hours before I made it back home, when I checked in my mother was crying and my brother ran to hug me, but suddenly I felt a great pressure immobilize me and soon I saw my father running from inside the forest sweating with the same eyes as the master. My father lectured me for hours and then hugged me crying, it was the first time I saw him cry in my life. I couldn''t help but feel guilty about the master losing control like this, I''ve known the master for a little while but he took care of me as a member of the family, not just me but the others as well. After telling the master what happened that day we all went in and talked, the master likes to hold meetings every night and tell us all his plans, he always asks for our opinions and asks how our day went. Seeing the master sleep so peacefully like this makes me strangely happy. "It''s time to get up Diana, don''t disturb the master''s sleep." (Kira) At some point Kira woke up and got up without me noticing, I must have been pretty lost in my thoughts. I get up and look at her changing. "Alright, alright, I''m up." (I) "Come on, I''ll help you sort out what you''ll need for the trip back to Valen''s town." (Kira) "Thanks for your help Kira." (I) "We''ll try to get everything ready so when the master wakes up he doesn''t have to worry about anything else." (Kira) "Yes." (I) ------------- After a few hours, I had everything ready to leave, I was just waiting for the master to wake up, I want to talk to him before I leave. He woke up shortly after I was ready, he greeted everyone before coming to talk to me. "Good morning, Diana." (Zenos) "Good morning Master." (I) "I see you''re ready to go, are you sure you haven''t forgotten anything?" (Zenos) "I have everything I need, master." (I) "Remember to be careful on the way, Kira won''t be with you this time when you arrive in town avoid drawing unwanted attention, and lastly don''t put yourself in danger." (Zenos) "I want you back and safe, got it?" (Zenos) "I understand master, no need to worry so much I''m not a child, I''ll take care of myself and return to the master in a few days I promise." (I) "I think it''s good to keep that promise." (Zenos) I chatted with the master for a while and felt like I was talking to my father or older brother as I left home to become an adventurer in the town of Valen. After a while I said goodbye to everyone and left the camp, it was time to head to town. ------------- The trip took hours and I arrived at dusk at the city gates, maybe it''s because of the Undead but I only met monsters once along the way. As soon as I arrived I got in line to enter the city, when I was in front of the gate and the guard approached I realized that it wasn''t Roger this time, but it must be one of his subordinates. I hand my Guild card to the guard and he checks that I have a registered mission and my identity before returning the card and allowing me entry. As soon as I enter I go straight to the guild as the master instructed me, it only takes me half an hour to get there. As soon as I enter the Adventurers Guild I go straight to the reception desk on the ground floor, it looks like there aren''t many adventurers at this hour, so I''m going straight to talk to a receptionist. "Hi" (I) "Good afternoon, what do you need?" (receptionist) "Can you tell me if Mari is working today?" (I) "The supervisor is yes, do you want me to call her?" (receptionist) "Tell her Diana is back and I''ve completed the investigation we talked about." (I) "I''ll talk to her, wait here a moment." (receptionist) "All right." (I) The receptionist goes upstairs and after about fifteen minutes she returns accompanied by Mari. "Welcome back Diana." (Mari) "Always good to see you Mari." (I) "Thanks for calling me, just let me talk to that muscle brain myself." (Mari) "The supervisor orders." (receptionist) "Let''s go to one of the rooms on the second floor Diana, there we''ll have more privacy to talk." (Mari) "Let''s go then." (I) Mari and I go upstairs and go into one of the rooms, I sit down on a sofa and Mari takes two bottles of beer from her bag and hands me one. "Here, you must be tired." (Mari) "I''m more thirsty than tired, thanks." (I) "How were the missions, how many completed?" (Mari) "I''ve completed all the missions." (I) I pull my Guild Card out of my pocket and hand it to her, while she checks the quests on the card I pull out the bags with the evidence of subjugation. She checks each bag separately while checking the missions on my card, when she''s done she puts the bags away and gives me my card back. "You completed all these missions fast." (Mari) "Are you feeling better now?" (Mari) "I''m feeling better yes, the hardest was the Undead I could only hunt at night." (I) "Did you manage to investigate the Undead?" (Mari) "Yes, do you want me to give my report now?" (I) "Did you find the location of the cave?" (Mari) "Yes." (I) "..." (Mari) "Wait here and I''ll go get your rewards, after that we can talk about your report." (Mari) She gets up and leaves the room, her once relaxed face turned serious as she says I know the location of the cave the Undead are coming from. It took her about twenty minutes to come back, as soon as she came back her face was calmer again, she sits down in front of me and pulls out two more bottles of beer. "Do you happen to want to get me drunk?" (I) "Your husband will end up being jealous." (I) "He knows I love him, and let''s face it, who would be brave or brave enough to play this kind of joke on me besides you." (Mari) "True, anyone else would die at that guy''s hands, after all, he''s completely crazy about you." (I) "He knows you and knows of our friendship, so he doesn''t worry about any old sparks between us reappearing." (Mari) "Here''s your reward from those quests you completed and for the initial investigation, it''s forty-five gold coins." (Mari) Mari hands me a small bag that I keep without checking. "Now let''s get down to business, what''s the report on the investigation?" (Mari) "It''s not a cave for a start, I discovered a tunnel under a dead tree trunk, the entrance is hidden inside the tree." (I) "That could explain why we weren''t able to find it after so long." (Mari) "Do you have any idea what numbers the Undead have?" (Mari) "When I discovered the tunnel a few days ago they were at least five hundred, after a few days it must be about six hundred." (I) "..." (Mari) Sigh "The numbers are even a little lower than we thought, that''s a relief." (Mari) "Can you draw a map for this dead tree?" (Mari) "May I, do you have a map of the Valley of Blood of the regions near the city?" (I) "Yes, here it is." (Mari) Mari hands me the map and a pen, I draw the route from town to the dead tree, I also add some landmarks so no one gets lost. "Ready." (I) "I''ll have someone with strong detection skills check to confirm the location and numbers." (Mari) "I''m not distrusting you, Diana, I just need up-to-date and accurate information before taking the next step." (Mari) "I understand Mari, you don''t need to explain yourself to me." (I) "You look more like a Guild master than your husband." (I) "He''s not very good with administrative stuff, so normally I take care of that, but if any serious issues come up he''s the one in charge." (Mari) Chapter 73: Mission preparation Diana Pov: After drawing on the map to show the way from Valen City to the Undead Tunnel and talking about plans with Mari, she leaves the room for about thirty minutes before returning. "I''m sorry for the delay, I was looking for someone suitable to confirm the information you got." (Mari) "What worries me about your information is that this tunnel is closer to town than we expected." (Mari) "I thought the same thing." (I) "That''s why it''s important to get accurate information." (Mari) "After the person, I sent to do a more detailed investigation comes back we''ll begin preparations." (Mari) "There will be a special mission, right?" (I) "Yes, I will have a lot to prepare." (Mari) Sigh "You can go ahead by asking for holy water from a church or a priest." (I) "That''s a good idea, I''m ordering two thousand bottles of holy water." (Mari) "If there aren''t any high-level Undead I think I''ll just call one or two Grade B adventurers." (Mari) "I''m leaving now, I''ve already got my reward and you have a lot to organize today." (I) "The next few days are going to be a little busy." (Mari) "Remember to come here tomorrow afternoon." (Mari) "Okay until tomorrow." (I) I leave the room and go downstairs to the ground floor to exit the Guild. Leaving the Guild I''m going to the inn I stayed at the last time, I''ll rest there today since tomorrow I''ll sort things out in the Guild. I arrive at the Inn of the Eternal Traveler and pay for a room for a week, go straight to a restaurant to eat, and go back to my room later. ------------ As soon as I wake up the next day I go downstairs to get something to eat and then spend half the day walking around town. During the early afternoon, I go straight to the Adventurers Guild and find the Guild full of adventurers. I walk up to the counter which is strangely empty for the number of adventurers in here, see the hostesses carrying box after box of holy water bottles, I call a Guild member who was coming down the stairs. "Hi, do you know where Mari is?" (I) "She''s talking to the Guild master, if you came for the special mission and just wait with the other adventurers, then we''ll call everyone to the meeting to discuss the special mission." (receptionist) "Fine, sorry for interrupting your work." (I) So they''re having the meeting later today, they''re getting ready faster than I expected. "It''s been a while, Diana." (Carlos) "..." (I) I look back and see a man taller than me, he must be about six feet tall, he is bald and beardless, his eyes are blue and sharp like a wild beast, he has black skin and a body covered in muscles and scars looking to be in their forties. He is shirtless and with a big smile on his face, holding a mug of beer so big it looks more like a small keg, I recognized him immediately as Mari''s husband and Adventurers Guild master Carlos, the only S-Grade adventurer from the city of Valen. "It''s been a while Carlos." (I) "Running away from work to drink again?" (I) "Hahahaha." (Carlos) "Is this how you greet an old friend?" (Carlos) "Is this how you throw your job to Mari and go drinking?" (I) "..." (Carlos) "Seriously now, are things really bad?" (I) "Thanks not to you, because you found the tunnel''s location we''ll be able to get rid of the Undead more easily than we expected and before their numbers get too big." (Carlos) "What did the person Mari sent to investigate yesterday found out?" (I) "He confirmed the location, found that the number of Undead is close to seven hundred and that the undead are all Zombies and Skeletons." (Carlos) "Fortunately the most troublesome types weren''t there, he also found that there were only a few with Grade -B strength." (Carlos) "Have you thought about which adventurers to call?" (I) "Actually I''ve already got in touch with them, they''ll be here tomorrow morning." (Carlos) "I imagine you will want me to participate in this mission too?" (I) "You know it does." (Carlos) "Few who will participate in this mission have your level of experience fighting the Undead." (Carlos) "I''m afraid there will be unnecessary deaths because they don''t know how to defeat enemies, that''s why I want you to participate in the mission, and before the mission tomorrow, I want you to teach them how to fight." (Carlos) "I thought you would ask me for a mission, but I didn''t know you would ask me to give a lecture." (I) "I hope the reward is good." (I) "Those are words worthy of an adventuress, hahahaha." (Carlos) "CARLOS!" (Mari) "..." (Carlos) While talking to Carlos I suddenly see vines and branches growing from the wooden floor and pinning him in place. "Back to work." (Mari) "Good morning Mari." (I) "Good morning Diana, I hope this idiot isn''t bothering you." (Mari) I greet Mari who is descending the stairs holding a wooden staff with the head of the claw-shaped staff holding a green-colored crystal ball. "You got it, wrong honey, I''m working." (Carlos) "Were you working with that mug of beer in your hands?" (Mari) "..." (Carlos) "III was just a little thirsty, yeah just thirsty." (Carlos) "This is no time to skip work, go back to your office, I''ve already left the next mountain of documents there." (Mari) "It''s OK." (Carlos) Carlos, who was smiling even tied by vines and magical branches, turned pale as Mari mentioned documents, his smile disappeared leaving only an expression of resignation. Carlos flexes his muscles and the vines and branches that bound him to turn to dust, after which he walks discouraged towards the stairs as if nothing had happened. "Don''t make that face, if you can finish everything by tomorrow I can give you a reward later." (Mari) "Huh!?" (Carlos) Suddenly all I see is a blur and Carlos is gone, soon the entire Guild shakes with a thunderous scream that comes from the top floor. "Everyone, go back to work, don''t even think about resting tonight you softies!" (Carlos) After Carlos''s scream, Mari puts her hand to her face and shakes her head in denial, she slams her staff into the ground and the remnants of broken floor and branches disappear being absorbed by the wooden floor and repairing itself, with that the floor is like New. "That muscle brain, he never takes work seriously if he doesn''t have a reward at stake." (Mari) "How did someone like that become the master of a guild?" (Mari) "He is the very definition of what adventurers are." (I) "You mustn''t have forgotten, have you?" (I) "After all, you were also an adventurer before you came to work at the Guild." (I) "You were supposed to be on my side, not the muscle head side." (Mari) "Changing the subject, how are preparations for the special mission going?" (I) "Almost everything is ready, we have boxes and boxes of holy water, HP potions, MP potions, antidote potions, and vigor potions." (Mari) "Besides that, we''ve already issued the special mission, you can register for it there on the first floor, the mission starts tomorrow." (Mari) "We also advised the government and the guards of the information we have, the Duke himself said he will be responsible for the reward of this mission." (Mari) "It seems like it was a lot they had to prepare." (I) "Most of the physical work this time was left to me and other Guild employees, Carlos is stuck with paperwork regarding the bills for the potions we bought, expense reports, reports for issuing special missions, and reports for the mission to close the tunnel after the special mission." (Mari) "The mission for the earth mages will be issued right after the end of the special mission, other than that there will still be the problem of cleaning up after the battle, if we leave the remains of the Undead scattered around they can start emanating miasma throughout the region. " (Mari) It seems like there are a lot of things that they have to consider and prepare for a special mission, I think I''ll register for the mission now. "You''re busy right now, I think I''ll register for the mission and let you work." (I) "When this is all over you and I can go out drinking." (I) "Just call and I''ll be there." (Mari) "After you register for the mission don''t leave, there will be a meeting later today and I want you and the person I sent to investigate to give a lecture to the adventurers who will be participating in the mission." (Mari) "You will teach them how to fight and how to defeat Zombies and Skeletons." (Mari) "The other will pass on all the information to the adventurers." (Mari) "You know I hate these lectures." (I) "Why do you always call me for these things?" (I) "You are by far one of the most experienced and responsible adventurers I''ve ever met, part of it is thanks to your family being adventurers for generations, so I always choose you for those things." (Mari) "His knowledge and experience can help other adventurers, thanks to his lectures the number of new adventurers who die has dwindled over the past three years." (Mari) "..." (I) After talking to Mari I went upstairs to the first floor and registered for the special mission, then went back downstairs and ordered two bottles of liquor to quench my thirst while I waited for the meeting. Chapter 74: Combat training After Diana went to town I taught Ibuki the new Fist of Chaos moves during the morning and rica focused on her magical training today. At noon I made food for everyone and then called Kira to train with me. "What training do you want to master?" (Kira) "I only realized this today, but I''ve just been doing normal training and sometimes fighting monsters." (I) "What''s the problem?" (Kira) "There is no sense in fighting using martial arts against dumb monsters, I need to train fighting other people, preferably someone who has a lot of combat experience." (I) "So the best training partner for you would be Diana, but now she''s gone to town, so the master came to me, right?" (Kira) "Yes." (I) "During Diana''s stay in the city of Valen and fulfilling her special mission, I want to train with you." (I) "But make no mistake, you''re not a replacement because Diana isn''t here, I chose to train with you because, unlike Diana who specializes in combat itself, you specialize in killing with a single blow." (I) "You''ve learned to identify your opponents'' weaknesses and exploit them, if I train with you ''ll know where I''m missing." (I) "..." (Kira) Hearing my explanation Kira has a worried face and looks like she wants to say something, but she''s hesitant. "You look worried, don''t hesitate, speak your mind." (I) "I can understand the master''s thinking, but I must refuse to train with you." (Kira) "Why?" (I) "My mother trained me never to hesitate in combat, but after she died and I became a tool in that shitty nobleman''s hand I went through life and death training." (Kira) "Because of the training I''ve done and the various fights, I''ve done each time I fight and to kill, whatever the enemy, each of my blows is directly or indirectly to kill them." (Kira) "Diana has already invited me to train with her in a mock fight too, I refused for the same reason." (Kira) "If you''re worried about it, then that''s not a problem." (I) "Like this?" (Kira) "One of the reasons for this training is to fix your problem too." (I) "Diana had already told me about it, even though it''s good for her body to react quickly in a fight, it''s not good when you don''t have complete control over your actions." (I) "But master what if I hurt..." (Kira) I cut him off before she says anything else. "You forgot Kira." (I) "You and Diana are my kin, as such you are not capable of killing me, normally not even capable of harming me if the books I read are right unless I allow it." (I) "Thanks to that I will be able to train with you at the same time you train to lose your bad fighting habits." (I) "But I can still hurt the master a lot during combat, I can''t do that." (Kira) "Actually, it might help me train my unique healing skill." (I) "Don''t get me wrong, I''m not a masochist, but the higher the level of my healing abilities the safer I''ll be when I meet an enemy who wants to kill me." (I) "If the master puts it that way, it''s hard for me to keep refusing." (Kira) Kira and I go to an area of ??the camp where there''s nothing around, we each go to an unarmed side. "Combat is without using any skills, just our bodies, okay?" (I) "Right." (Kira) "Well let''s get started." (I) The moment I start combat Kira becomes a blur and the next thing I feel is someone choke me with their arm from behind, so I blacked out. "..." (I) "Master..." (Kira) "..." (I) "Master...soon." (Kira) "..." (I) "Master wakes up soon." (Kira) "Hmmm!" (I) I opened my eyes and realized I was lying on the floor with my head resting on Kira''s legs. "What happened?" (I) "You passed out while I was hanging you." (Kira) "Now I remember, the moment I started training you disappeared and the next thing I know I felt someone behind me, so everything went blank." (I) "I think I have to try not to hang the master next time." (Kira) "Don''t worry about it, I know you guys are stronger than me, it just makes training better for me as I''ll get used to fighting stronger opponents." (I) "How long have I been out?" (I) "Just a few minutes." (Kira) "Then let''s resume training." (I) This time I mentally prepared myself before starting training. By the time training starts, I keep my eyes locked on Kira, this time I can at least make out the direction in which the blur is moving. I do a half spin and try to land a kick to the side of the blur, but I feel something grabbed my leg and took advantage of the momentum of my spin to knock me away where I hit the wooden wall of the camp. "There!" (I) "Sorry master, are you alright?" (Kira) "It''s hurting a lot?" (Kira) "I''ll get you an HP potion." (Kira) "I''m fine Kira, I just have a lot of pain all over my body, but it looks like apart from a few bruises I haven''t broken any bones." (I) "I will use my ability to heal myself, then we will resume training." (I) Kira helps me to sit up against the wall, so I activate the [ Weak Recovery: 6 ] ability to recover using my STM, after a few uses I was already recovered, but I had spent a third of my STM. "I''ve recovered, let''s continue." (I) After one more fight where I was kicked in the stomach and was thrown into a tree by the force of the kick, I used my skill again [ Weak Recovery: 6 ]. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Recovery: 6 > 7 ] ]> ----------- I spent the rest of the afternoon training with Kira, I spent more time recovering than actually training, in every fight I lost on the first hit. We had to stop training so I could eat twice to replace my STM that was gone, I had to do like when I was still a Leech with low STM, I had to eat and meditate to replenish my energy faster so I could go back to training. This type of training was painful, but it was very effective, its results were obvious. Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Recovery: 7 > 9 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Meditation: 8 > 9 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Resistance to Physical Damage: 3 > 4 ] ]> I had even forgotten that I had an endurance skill for physical damage, if you continue with this training it won''t take long to maximize those three skills. It''s going to be a cycle of being hit until I can''t get up, recover, get back to training, get hit again, recover again, meditate to reset the STM, and get back to training. With training that only an idiot like me would be willing to do, I should be able to gain a lot of experience for these skills, but my martial arts skills haven''t even gone up a single level, I can''t even complain as I was defeated on the first hit. "Master, I think you have to reconsider this training." (Kira) "Don''t worry Kira, I know what I''m doing." (I) "I agree with Kira Master, I don''t like to see you get hurt like this." (rica) "This can''t even be called training, I''m basically torturing you." (Kira) "I know it can''t be nice for you guys to see me being hurt continually, especially for you Kira since you''re responsible for my injuries." (I) "But it''s working, some of my skills have already leveled up, unfortunately, it wasn''t any combat, but it still proves that the training is being effective." (I) "I still haven''t been able to react in time to the fight, but in the last fight of the day I realized that I could see your Kira moves better, after a few days I should be able to defend or deflect a blow or two before being defeated again." (I) "If the master insists on continuing there is nothing I can do." (Kira) "But you also have to realize that you haven''t dealt me ??any killing blows, if you keep this up you''ll manage to break your bad habit of instinctively killing your opponents." (I) "Now that you say it, it''s true, but I don''t know if it''s worth it to keep hurting you." (Kira) After the long day of this horrible training that I thought about, Kira, rica, and Ibuki talked for a while inside the cabin. rica didn''t like the training I''m doing with Kira at all, she tried to convince me several times to abandon this training, but I refused. Ibuki was also sad when he saw me hurt, she even started crying once, I had to explain that this was the most suitable training for me at the time. It was difficult to explain to her, it was even harder to convince her not to do this training too, it is useless for her to do this training after she learns the martial art of the Fist of Chaos and the weapons technique that I will teach her yet, I''ll be able to train with her after that. After talking to them we split up for the watch shifts, we decided the first shift will be me and Kira, leaving the second shift to rica and Ibuki. Chapter 75: Battle against Undead Part 1 Diana''s Pov: While I was drinking a few bottles of beer I started talking to some adventurers I know. From them, I learned that the goods have been getting more expensive lately, that''s because the number of merchants coming to town has decreased because of the Undead attacking those along the way. Some adventurers have also complained that they are being attacked by the Undead during their quests, one group was unlucky to lose two members to the Undead, the other members of that group are all participating in this special quest to avenge their fellows. ------------ In the late afternoon when I was already on the eighth bottle of beer, Mari stands on the stairs and starts talking using magic to amplify her voice, as soon as she starts talking all the adventurers are silent. "Everyone pay attention!" (Mari) "Those who registered for the special mission go to the training ground behind the Guild." (Mari) "A meeting will start there in thirty minutes, during the meeting all the details of the mission and the distribution of tasks of the participating adventurers will be carried out." (Mari) After she finished giving her notice the guild emptied in a matter of five minutes, after everyone left, Mari approached me. "We both go too." (Mari) "Where''s Carlos?" (I) "He''s already there, he will lead the meeting and hand out each adventurer''s role." (Mari) "How many registered?" (I) "Around two hundred and sixty." (Mari) "The numbers are too low, how many Grade C and B adventurers?" (me) "Carlos got twenty Grade -C adventurers, thirteen Grade C, and eight Grade +C." (Mari) "He also called in two Grade B adventurers, a Mage, and a Barbarian." (Mari) "Both with fire elemental attributes." (Mari) "As expected of him, it''s only in those moments that he becomes a good Guild master." (I) "How did he find these two?" (I) "They''re from the same group, they were passing through town to go to the dungeons, Carlos entered the dungeon they were going to call them." (Mari) "..." (I) "He''s the only one in town who would dare go into a dungeon alone just to call someone." (I) "Come on, you have a lecture to give at the meeting, I won''t let you get away." (Mari) Mari and I go to a double door in the back beside the reception, as we pass through it we see a large plot of land with three arenas made of smooth stone, various training figures, and training equipment in the corners, around the training ground. four rows of stone benches on three sides beyond the wall with the door leading into the Guild. In the largest of the arenas, there is a makeshift platform where Marcos is standing looking at the growing number of adventurers who arrive at the training ground and wait in front of the platform for the meeting to begin. --------- I spent thirty minutes talking to Mari while waiting for the meeting to start, looking around I see that the number of adventurers present is similar to the number registered for the mission that Mari told me, so the meeting should start anytime now. BAM! "Heads up!" (Carlos) Carlos claps his hands and creates a sonic boom that silences all adventurers. "Let''s start the meeting." (Carlos) "For starters, most of you should already know what the mission is about this time." (Carlos) "But even so I''ll repeat it to everyone, the objective of this mission is to wipe out a horde of Undead near the city." (Carlos) "The horde is composed only of Zombies and Skeletons, it was discovered that they have come from a tunnel hidden under a dead tree in the Valley of Blood not far from the city." (Carlos) "Our mission is simple, let''s exterminate all these Undead and then clear the battlefield." (Carlos) "Once that''s done the earth mages will be able to start working to close this tunnel that connects the caves to the mountain range." (Carlos) "Everyone who participates in this special quest will receive ten gold coins as a reward." (Carlos) "I''m going to call two people to speak now, the first one will give you the terrain and location details and the other will explain to most of you the right way to fight the Undead." (Carlos) "After that, I will split you into four groups, made up of three attack groups and one support group." (Carlos) After Carlos gave an opening speech he had me and the guy who did the last investigation take the stage where I first let him give the detailed information of the location and surrounding area. Once everyone had a clearer idea of ??the situation I spent an hour or so explaining how to fight the Undead. I explained how they shouldn''t aim at vital points, the only vital points of the Undead are their cores, the best way to incapacitate Zombies is to dismember them or rip their heads off, for Skeletons, it''s best to directly rip or break the remaining core. inside the skull or the ribs. I taught them that stealth tactics are useless due to the ability to sense the life force that all Undead possess, I also taught that the most effective attacks for Zombies are cutting their limbs and for Skeletons, it is breaking their bones. I told them that the undead only has a weakness against three elements that are sacred, light, and fire. So I advised those who have weapons or equipment with light attributes to stand upfront along with those who have an affinity for the fire element, I told others to just support those individuals so they did more damage. After my speech, Carlos came up to the podium again with a list of the adventurers in the place, he put all the magicians specializing in supporting magic, all the healers and archers in the same group. He gave the archers the task of giving long-range assistance to those on the attack in difficult situations, and to the mages and healers to watch over those on the attack and be ready to give healing or support magic if necessary. After that, he divided the attack teams into three, with equal proportions of Tanks, Warriors, and Assassins. The Tanks will protect their groups, the warriors will fight and finish off the enemies while the killers this time will be responsible for running into the fight of their groups cutting the members of the undead thus giving openings for the warriors to finish the fight. ------------ After the meeting was over, Carlos announced for all mission participants to meet in front of the west gate until dawn, then dismissed all adventurers to make their final preparations. As soon as everyone leaves I approach Carlos along with Mari. "You did well today Carlos, I almost thought you looked like a Guild master." (I) "Stop joking Diana, you were great today dear, I''ll give you your reward later." (Mari) "Hahahaha" (Carlos) "It makes all this work worthwhile." (Carlos) I was talking to the two for a while before leaving and going to a restaurant to eat, when I have a full stomach, I leave the restaurant and go back to the Inn of the Eternal Traveler. When I arrive I go straight to my room and change into more comfortable clothes before bed. When I''m ready to go to sleep I stare at the empty bed and the image of the master pops into my head. "(I miss the master.)" (I) "(I miss the others too.)" (I) "(I ended up getting used to sleeping all together, now having to sleep in a bed alone makes me feel a little lonely.)" (I) "(Last time I didn''t feel that probably because at least Kira was with me at the time.)" (I) Even though I''m discouraged from sleeping alone today I still have to go to bed early, I have to be fine tomorrow. Unlike other adventurers I don''t need to do a lot of preparation, I came back to the city prepared and what I lacked I managed to do in the morning. All that''s left now is sleep, the mission tomorrow is better for me, so I can get back to the master sooner. I lie down on the bed and hug my pillow, close my eyes and try to get some sleep. ---------- Ting! Ting! Ting! The next day I wake up early, bought a magic watch item yesterday on the way back from the Guild to make sure I don''t miss the time. I get up and change into leather armor, tuck my two swords into my waistband and tuck all my stuff into my necklace before leaving the room. On leaving I go straight towards the west gate which is where the forest is which is the road to the Valley of Blood. On the way to the gate, I buy some food in the belly of food along the way, by the number of adventurers I met on the way in the belly the others thought the same thing. As soon as I have a full stomach I head straight for the gate. Arriving at the gate I see a large group of people taking various items from boxes and putting them in storage items and bags, they must be potions provided by the Adventurers Guild for this mission, I go there and receive two of each that I keep in my necklace. With everything ready, I''m waiting until the agreed time. Chapter 76: Training paused Today I woke up feeling better, maybe because I used my ability to heal myself many times or maybe because my body is the body of a monster. Well, none of that matters to me, what matters is that I''m not in any pain, the problem is that I''m going to start that torture again today. The truth is that I''m weak, I have a lot of skills, but most are at low levels, some of them I''ve never used because I don''t know-how. It''s no surprise that I was the last to get up today, after that section of torture I call training I was in a lot of pain and tired, if it wasn''t for having to be on guard in the first shift I would have slept a lot more. I get out of bed and leave the cabin, I see the girls making another pot of stew, with the meat of the Earth Monkeys, they were dismantled yesterday by Erica while I was training with Kira. "Good morning, girls." (I) "Good morning, got up late today master." (Kira) "Good morning Master." (Ibuki) "Good morning master, are you better?" (rica) "I''m fine rica, at least for now." (I) "After we eat Kira and I will resume combat training." (I) "I''m still against this training." (Kira) "Me too, the master was injured several times yesterday." (rica) "I know you guys are worrying about me, but this training is the most effective for me right now." (I) I talked to the girls for a while until the stew was ready, so we all ate together before we split up to each do their training. Kira and I go to the same open space where we trained yesterday. "Are you sure master?" (Kira) "For the last time, I''m sure." (I) "Now let''s get started." (I) This time I tried to start attacking, I ran to her but on my fourth step, Kira became a blur and kicked my leg low making me spin in the air and take a punch that made me fall to the ground. "The master is too slow, I realized that gradually the master has been able to see my movements a little, but that''s useless if you can''t move in response." (Kira) "Ouch...ouch..." (I) "You''re right, but the mere fact that I can gradually follow your movements makes this training worthwhile." (I) While talking to Kira I use my ability [ Weak Recovery: 9 ] to recover. After a few minutes of recovering I get up off the floor and resume my training. Once again I run up to Kira and jump to give her a flirt, but she dodges easily and punches me in the face, knocking me to the ground again. I start to recover once more with my skill before resuming training. ----------- Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ Her skill leveled up [ Weak Recovery: 9> 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Meditation: 9 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Resistance to Physical Damage: 4 > 6 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Mental disorder: 6 > 7 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the skill [ Weak Pain Resistance: 1 ] ]> In the late afternoon, I ended the training, once again I see the benefit of this training, but I can''t do it every day. Even though my body can recover, my mind can''t, feeling so much pain continuously is making me mentally tired too. I gathered everyone inside the cabin for another meeting. "Are you all right, master?" (rica) "You have a horrible face." (rica) "I''m fine, just tired and in a lot of pain." (I) "Master, why are you burdening yourself again with this training?" (Kira) "Because I''m weak." (I) "If I want to continue living in this world, I can''t be that weak." (I) "You already told me that monsters are not accepted in any society, only Demis are accepted." (I) "But even the Demis suffer a lot of discrimination, no matter how far I or Ibuki evolve we''ll still be Demis." (I) "I need to be strong to protect Ibuki and all of you when the time comes." (I) "We thank the master for thinking so, but we cannot continue to see the master with this torturous training." (rica) "The master can count on us when he needs to defend himself against discrimination." (Kira) "I can''t do that, the moment I accepted you, girls, as my handmaidens I made a promise to myself that I would take care of you and protect you." (I) "In order to fulfill this promise, I have to be stronger." (I) "But you''re right, this training is very taxing not only for my body but also for my mind, I''m going to take a break from it for two days." (I) "There are other skills I have to test and practice in the meantime." (I) "What shall I do then, master?" (Kira) "You''re going out with Ibuki to hunt, I want to try to make her evolve one more time before the third prince''s plan." (I) "Ibuki will evolve and grow stronger to help the master." (Ibuki) "So are we going to start hunting every day?" (Kira) "No, just help her gain some combat experience, let her fight a little alone." (I) "Since Ibuki became my servant I never let her fight alone, in fact, most of the time I immobilized enemies and let her kill." (I) "That''s really not a good master, even if she continues to evolve like that, she won''t have skills that match her status." (rica) "I know that, so I want her to go hunting with Kira so she can get some combat experience without taking too many risks." (I) After talking to everyone I ended the meeting and let Erica and Ibuki sleep first while Kira and I took the first watch. "Master, what do you think Ibuki will evolve into?" (Kira) "She will evolve into an Ogre, probably an Ogre Variant with a closer human appearance." (I) "Ogres are still considered monsters." (Kira) "But if what the master said comes true, then she can look like an Oni." (Kira) "Are Onis considered Demis or monsters?" (I) "They are considered Demis, they are good at both melee and magic, some ogres sometimes evolve into Oni." (Kira) "But how is the master sure she won''t look monstrous like the Ogres?" (Kira) "Since I met Ibuki, she has always been a Variant monster, she was a Goblin Variant and then became a Hobgoblin Variant." (I) "That''s why I''m sure when she evolves she''ll become a Variant too, another thing that surprised me about her is that she always looked more beautiful and humanized as much as she was a Goblin now." (I) "I''ve never seen another Hobgoblin besides Ibuki, but I''m sure they don''t look like her." (I) "Now that the master spoke I realized, changing Ibuki''s skin color and the shape of the ears she looks human, I''ve never heard of a Hobgoblin like that." (Kira) "The master may be right, if she evolves into an Ogre and continues to humanize her appearance she can easily pass as a member of the Oni race." (Kira) "Let me ask you a question, do you know why rica wanted you to get a Tailor too?" (I) "She talked about it a couple of days ago at the meeting where I told her she wanted to buy illegal slaves who know the Forge and Alchemy." (I) "The reason is simple, master." (Kira) "Your lines." (Kira) "What about my lines?" (I) "To put it in context for you, people usually wear hemp clothes, nobles are those who wear silk clothes." (Kira) "But the silk that nobles wear comes from weak monsters, only adventurers who fight monsters wear monster skin clothes or silk made from the threads of a strong monster." (Kira) "The reason for this is that just like a blacksmith who can awaken the power within the metals or materials of monsters for their weaponry and armor, a component tailor can use leather or thread from monsters to add features, abilities, and spells to the clothes that make." (Kira) "I think I know what you''re getting at." (I) "As you can produce these lines, having a Tailor would be perfect, the stronger you become, the more valuable the line you produce will be." (Kira) "You can be right, be prepared, you will be the one to participate in this Black Market auction." (I) "I know master, it will only happen after the prince''s plan, we have time to prepare." (Kira) "But I don''t know if there will be a Tailor in this auction, there will certainly be a Blacksmith and an Alchemist, who is much sought after by criminal groups, but a Tailor is not very much in demand." (Kira) "We''ll think of something after the auction if we don''t find one there." (I) I talked with Kira a little longer until shift time, then we went to wake the others up and went to bed. My body is still aching from training, but I must say it has helped to increase a lot of my skills, but I am not able to maintain this type of training daily, so I will do it every other day. Tomorrow I have plans to train some skills that I''ve never used, I have to test them and confirm how I can use them. Before going to bed, Kira goes to the warehouse and brought me a canteen, she said that it is the canteen that has spacious storage inside that I asked for, she also said that she kept all the Earth Monkeys blood inside for me, I appreciate it and I drink all the blood. Ding! Ding! <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Earth magic elemental affinity: 1 ] ? [ Resistance to the earth magic element: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the lineage [ Earth Monkey: 100% ] ]> After I have a full barrel I''ll go to sleep. Chapter 77: Battle against Undead Part 2 Diana Pov: Today is the day for the special mission, all the adventurers who registered for this mission have gathered at the west gate, myself included. I kept talking to other adventurers who arrived before me until it was time to leave. Soon I see Carlos and some Guild employees arriving with two adventurers who have strong auras, one is a man almost as big as Carlos with a big sword on his back and the other is a woman with short blond hair, she wears a red robe with designs of fire and is holding a wooden staff whose staff head is a red spherical crystal. Carlos calls the attention of the adventurers who have arrived before and starts talking loudly. "We''re all ready on time for the mission to start." (Carlos) "These two are Grade B adventurers, one is a Barbarian and the other is a great flame mage." (Carlos) "The mission leader will be Luci, she is a Guild employee and also a former adventurer, she will be in charge and I hope you all follow her orders." (Carlos) After saying everything he wanted and pointing to the one who will be the leader this time, Carlos goes to the Guild team that was distributing the potions. He speaks to several guild employees waiting for the city gates to open. As soon as the gates open Carlos starts the mission and everyone who will participate in the mission starts walking towards the forest, she is leading the way as the employee of the Guild that Carlos left in charge. Carlos stayed at the gate watching us all leave for the forest. "It will take us two or three hours to get there, I''m sure everyone will be able to keep up with the pace." (Luci) ----------- After almost three hours of travel, we finally arrived at the dead tree, on the way there was no monster attack, with that number no monster would attack us. "We''ve arrived, this is the tree, under this dead tree is the tunnel where the Undead are." (Luci) "We arrived early to prepare, we are outnumbered, so the Guild has prepared three scrolls of a sacred spell for us to use." (Luci) "The three spells on the scroll are an area of ??effect, we will use them at the beginning of the fight to decrease their numbers, we will also take our time to build some traps like holes in the ground." (Luci) Once we reached the area where we''re going to fight the Undead, Luci gathered everyone to detail the plan. She wants us to create holes across the field to trap the Undead, she also wants to use three scrolls of holy magic to decrease enemy numbers. Her plans aren''t bad, but they''re a little naive, we''re still not sure if a high-level Undead is present, but she wants to spend the three most lethal weapons on the enemy at the start of the battle. I won''t say any of that, she seems proud of her plan, I''m also not sure if a strong monster will be present, if we''re lucky everything can go according to her plan. ---------- We spent the day getting ready, digging the holes in the ground, the Grade B mage even used holy water to make a magic circle inside the hole, according to her as soon as she activates the magic circle there will be an explosion inside the hole, the explosion will evaporate the holy water to create a steam explosion that will burn the Undead. After setting these traps everyone began to split between the four groups and get ready for battle. We were on hold until nightfall when our attention was focused directly on the entrance to the tunnel. Everyone was focused, we waited until they left before starting the attack, I''m in an attack group myself. As soon as the sky became completely dark I removed my two swords from my waist and kept them in my hands, I was ready to attack as soon as Luci gave the signal. When the sky was completely dark, noises and footsteps were heard, at first only I and the other Man-Beasts heard, but in a short time, the footsteps became louder and more numerous. Before long we could hear screams and the noise of slamming bones, then the first zombie appeared from the tree. On his first step out of the tree, a mage used a fireball to blow the zombie''s head off. Then three more Zombies appeared, three more fireballs hit them, before the attack hit the three Zombies, eight more Zombies and a Skeleton appeared. Soon a large number of Undead started to come out of the tree, so Luci used one of the scrolls. She unrolls one of the scrolls towards the growing number of Undead and starts to insert her Mana into the scroll which causes it to start glowing with slightly golden energy, then a bird that is made of golden light comes out of the scroll and into the next instant the bird becomes five, then it becomes fifteen, and finally it becomes thirty before it hits several Undead and disappears. As soon as the birds came in contact with an Undead it disappeared as if it had been absorbed by the Undead, then they started to glow with a golden light, then the Zombie flesh dried up and the Skeletons bones cracked, after that they fall to the ground completely dead this time. This scroll alone ended up with thirty Undead, looks like the plan is working. As time goes by, more and more Undead come out of the tree and Luci uses a second scroll. After more Undead come out of the tree Luci uses the third and final scroll to finish off a few dozen more. "That was the last scroll." (Luci) "Prepare to attack at any moment." (Luci) Soon more and more Undead come out of the tree and begin to scatter towards the adventuring teams. But before the Undead reached us they fell into three holes, when about twenty Undead had fallen into each hole a scream could be heard from within one of the adventuring parties. "I''m blowing the holes." (Grade B mage) GOOD! GOOD! GOOD! The mage activates the magic circles of the three holes at the same time then an explosion occurs and we hear sounds of burning and even more harrowing screams coming from the holes along with a cloud of steam. After that, the Grade B mage takes an MP potion, before starting to brew one more spell. Unlike Erica, who prepares step by step the construction of her magic circle, this woman manages to create the complete circle in an instant. "Grade B Undead have started to show up, be careful." (Grade B mage) Suddenly the magic circle flies from her hand expanding into the air and sticks to the ground with a diameter of ten feet, then she screams something and a Pillar of fire starts to rise from the ground up to five meters. "Pillar of Fire!" (Grade B mage) The Pillar of Fire burned two Ogre Zombies that had just come out of the hole, they must have been strong enemies. "Attack!" (Luci) With Luci''s command, all three attack groups begin combat. Tanks are the first to move, they pick enemies that are more troublesome to deal with and stand between them and the rest of the group, meanwhile those with blunt weapons are fighting the Skeletons. I run to the weaker Zombies, my goal is to quickly decrease enemies so we can focus on the more troublesome ones. As I run through my team''s battle zone I''m cutting off the Zombies'' heads, for those who are in battle I leave them alone, I only help those who seem to be in trouble during battle by cutting off a leg or arm of the Zombies. I choose to avoid the Skeletons, for now, my swords are not suitable for fighting them. After half an hour of battle there are still more and more Undead coming out of the tunnel, I''m not counting but I''m pretty sure the numbers are higher than we thought. "Ahhh! Help!!" (Adventurer A) Out of nowhere, a scream is heard from another group, I spin around cutting off the heads of two Zombies and kicking away a Skeleton before stopping and looking quickly in the direction of the scream. I see a young man being bitten in the neck, leg, and shoulder by two Zombies, a human zombie who is missing a leg and attacked him from the ground and a two-headed wolf zombie. It''s too late to do anything, the Zombies'' jaws are even stronger than their living versions, that Bite must have completely destroyed his neck, no one will get to him in time, even if they got to him he''d need a potion high level to save him. The battle is not going as we expected, the number of undead is higher than expected, the only reason the number of adventurers dying is not higher is thanks to the potions the Guild gave and the planning we had before the mission. "(The Undead keeps appearing from that tunnel, what''s going on?)" (I) While thinking distracts me and I get a scratch on my shoulder by a Zombie, the scratch wakes me up and I turn to him already cutting his head off, then focus again on the battle. Chapter 78: Answer within yourself I wake up early the next day, but I''m still the last one up, I wonder what time the girls are waking up. After getting up I go out of the cabin and see only rica sitting in the shade of a tree reading books, I go to her. "Good morning rica." (I) "Good morning Master." (rica) "Where are Kira and Ibuki?" (I) "They went out hunting, Kira asked to say that they will only arrive in the late afternoon." (rica) "Why?" (I) "She said she''s going to give Ibuki a lot of combat experience today, so she''s going to enjoy every moment of sunlight for her to fight monsters." (rica) "Looks like Ibuki is going to have some tough training this time." (I) "What are you reading?" (I) "I''m reading a book about family members." (rica) "Family members?" (I) "Families are summoned or contracted creatures." (rica) "Most of the time they are monsters, it can be an intelligent monster that accepts a contract of servitude to someone or a summoned that the mere fact of accepting to be summoned shows that they are willing to form a contract." (rica) "Why are you reading about this?" (I) "I was thinking about how after we moved to town to get a familiar, so I decided to do some research on them to prepare me when the time comes and choose how I''m going to get one." (rica) "Is there a difference in the two ways of getting a familiar?" (I) "There''s a lot of difference master, to start a hired familiar can be chosen to some extent, monsters and intelligent creatures can be persuaded or forced." (rica) "But for a familiar summoning it''s different, the magic circle is expensive to build and the familiar that appears isn''t chosen by you, but chosen by the magic circle that analyzes the summoner and looks for a compatible creature." (rica) "The summoned creature is not brought against its will, it has to accept being summoned and a temporary contract will be formed between the summoner and the summoned." (rica) "The problem is that the creature may be weak, it also doesn''t give you the right to choose the creature the summoner wants to summon." (rica) "You still haven''t talked, why do you want a familiar?" (I) "Most truly talented Mages have family members." (rica) "A familiar has many uses, depending on how strong the bond is and the compatibility between the familiar and the mage." (rica) "For example, the magician may share one or more senses with his familiar such as sight or hearing." (rica) "I''ve also heard stories of wizards using abilities or spells through their familiars." (rica) "For a mage who is normally weak in melee combat, it is very important to have a familiar capable of protecting him." (rica) In many ways to fight alongside a familiar, the wizard can use support magic to increase his physical abilities, can fuse spells with the familiar, can use the familiar''s affinity to increase his own temporarily, can use mana from the familiar, or sharing your Mana with it, etc." (rica) "I see, family members are very helpful." (I) "The only thing I don''t understand is why you''re wondering if the answer seems obvious." (I) "What do you mean master?" (rica) "You just said that the compatibility and strength of the bond between familiar and mage is the most important right?" (I) "Yes." (rica) "Then the answer is obvious, you should try to summon your familiar, that way you''ll get the best compatibility with you." (I) "But what if he''s weak or doesn''t have skills useful to me?" (rica) "All you will need is to train him, make him stronger, help him to evolve so he will be more useful to you." (I) "..." (rica) "The master is right, thank you." (rica) "But you know what, this conversation about family members reminded me of something." (I) "Which?" (rica) "Unlike you and Ibuki who became my slave and my servant, Kira and Diana are considered to be my family." (I) "Would I be able to use what you talked to them about?" (I) "I almost certainly do, master." (rica) "But you will need to train with them to learn more." (rica) "I''ll wait to see that later, maybe after we move to town I can calm down with all this training and test it out with them." (I) I chatted with rica for a few more minutes before leaving her alone to read her book, I go to another tree away from her so I don''t distract her while I try out some skills. While I was studying magic I found information about magical elemental affinities, these abilities are inherent to the person, and unlike what I thought they not only increase the power and control over the element of a spell but increase the senses of the skill owner to these elements and this is what allows the user to control these elements. At least that''s what I thought, I asked rica that after the meetings and she confirmed it, so I thought if this is how it works for magical elemental affinities, then it should work the same for non-magical elemental affinity abilities. For example, if the fire elemental affinity magic allows the owner to sense the fire element mana and use it in the same way as normal mana, then the fire elemental affinity can be used to directly sense and control the fire elemental energy. I hope you''re right, I want to use this theory to try to use a skill that I couldn''t do so far, that skill is [ Weak Blood Elemental Affinity:1 ]. My plan to train this skill and hopefully acquire more skills of this type is to try to feel the energy of the blood element during meditation, as I have done in the past by feeling the energy of EXP to increase my level meditating or feeling the mana to train my magic skills. The first thing I do is sit cross-legged and start meditation, I clear my mind, calm my emotions and synchronize my breathing with my heartbeat. As soon as I start to meditate I feel my focus and senses becoming stronger, I can feel the mana, Ki, and spiritual energies more easily, I tried to ignore these energies and increase my focus. Over time I felt the mana of some elements like fire mana and earth mana, I tried to seek more, I continued meditation and looking around, but no matter how much I concentrated I just didn''t find the energy I was looking for. I even felt the Mana, Ki, and spiritual wind energies when a gust of wind passed over me, I even felt the energies of the wind element itself even faintly, but I couldn''t feel any blood energy. I woke up from my meditation confused and in doubt. "(Was I wrong?)" (I) "(I was so sure this training would work, I was sure my theory was right.)" (I) "(Where did I go wrong?)" (I) "(My theory should be right, I could feel the mana of the fire, earth and wind element.)" (I) "Wait, that''s it." (I) "I felt the three types of wind element energies when I felt a gust of wind before." (I) "I even felt the owner''s wind energy, it was stronger than the Fire Mana energies." (I) I finally understood where I was going wrong, the explanation is simpler than I thought, I was just making it harder by thinking it was more complex. The elemental energy is going to be stronger where your element is, I felt three types of energy in the gust of wind and the elemental energy of the wind itself because that''s where that element is. I''m sure if I light a fire I''ll have the same result I had with that gust of wind, but feeling the fire element. So the answer is simple, all I need is to feel the blood element where it concentrates, I wasted a lot of time looking around me when the answer was inside of me. The answer was the blood running through my veins, all I need is to meditate I focus on feeling this blood and maybe I feel this element. I, who was pacing back and forth while I was thinking without realizing it, sat back down cross-legged and started to meditate again. Within seconds I am meditating and I focus all my attention inside myself, I use all my focus and senses to feel my blood rushing through my veins, I can clearly hear my heart pounding. I try to increase my focus to the limit, and finally, I feel a faint wave of energy, I keep feeling that energy, I try to get familiar with it. I tried to feel how this energy behaved, little by little I felt this energy variation, besides the pureblood energy, I felt the mana, Ki, and spiritual energy of the blood. My theories were right, I wanted to have read the book about the blood element, but before I had to test the theory I had thought, I was afraid to focus only on what was in the book without knowing if what was there was true or a lot of bullshit, after all, according to Kira this is forbidden knowledge, so what''s in this book could be wrong or incomplete. I spend the rest of the day meditating, deepening my familiarity with these energies, I haven''t tried to control this energy yet, I wanted to see how it flowed through my body, how it interacted with my organs, I spent the day that way. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Blood Elemental Affinity: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Ki Sense: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Spiritual Sense: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak mana sense: 8 > 10 ] ]> Chapter 79: Battle against Undead conclusion Diana Pov: The battle has been going on for two hours and the Undead continue to emerge from the tunnel, ten adventurers have already died during the battle and dozens are seriously wounded. Those who are too wounded to continue the battle have been sent to the support group to be protected, those who can still fight are facing the Undead right now. I''m not sure how many supplies we still have, but the HP and MP potions the Adventurers'' Guild distributed before the mission began must be running out if they haven''t already. Support mages are helping less and less and adventurers in combat are showing more and more signs of exhaustion, if things continue like this it could be dangerous. I myself am feeling tired if it were before I could be as exhausted as the other adventurers, but since I joined the master my body has become much stronger than in the past, this power that the master gave me is also helping me a lot. in the battle. The power of Wild Aura allows me to fight with all my strength as long as there is the will to fight, I realized that the more I fight the stronger my Aura gets, but it''s a shame I don''t know how to manipulate Aura yet to use it properly. The number of Zombies I''ve eliminated is almost two hundred, I''ve also eliminated a few dozen Skeletons, the only ones still fighting full steam are me, Grade C adventurers, and Grade B adventurer Barbarian. Grade B mage is casting her spells only when Grade B monsters appear to quickly eliminate them without depleting all of her Mana. The Guild employee named Luci stopped giving orders a few minutes ago, she finally realized that there''s nothing left to do but keep fighting the way we''re already doing, an adventurer who has skills that increase his speed was sent to the city to seek help and to talk about a large number of the Undead. "Someone help me, I can''t hold that many Skeletons!" (Adventurer A) "I''m on my way!" (I) I run-up to an Adventurer who holds a big shield in one hand and a spear in the other, he is being attacked by six Skeletons, three of them are using swords to attack. As soon as I get close, two Skeletons with swords try to attack me, I use my swords to slash their hands from the bottom up and disarm them, then I walk past them and use my swords to pierce another two Skeletons behind them between the ribs. breaking the core from the inside, I use my swords carved into them to brace my body and throw myself upward. From above I spin somersaulting in the air and so much a kick in the skull of a Skeleton that breaks and goes flying a nucleus that falls to the ground, as soon as I land on the ground three Skeletons try to attack me I turn quickly and shove my two hands inside the ribs of two Skeletons from below grabbing their core and pulling out. Just as the last Skeleton would hit me a spear pierces him from behind destroying his core. "Thanks." (I) "Thank you." (Adventurer A) Without delay, I retrieve my swords and return to battle as well as the adventurer I helped. "There are many, help me!" (Adventurer B) "Help, I don''t want to die!" (Adventurer C) "I got bitten, I can''t feel my arm, help me!" (Adventurer D) It''s been a while since I''ve been fighting to help adventurers instead of trying to eliminate more Undead, but I''m not able to help them all. I keep fighting as much as I can, there are many enemies, I gave my Mana positions to another adventurer, he was a mage and would be more useful to him than to me. The holy water is gone too, I used it to wash my swords to deal as much damage as possible against the Undead. "The number coming out of the tunnel is not as much as before, stand firm!" (Grade B Adventurer) "He''s right, more enemies will stop appearing soon, hang on!" (Luci) I don''t know if they''re telling the truth or this is an effort to lift the mood that''s been waning throughout the battle. All I can do is keep fighting, I can''t let my guard down at any time, the master will be very nervous to find out I didn''t run to protect myself as I promised. I keep running as I decapitate the Zombies and drill into the Skeleton core, the numbers are many and there are too many bodies on the ground that impede movement for me and the other adventurers. A lot of stinks are also coming out of the sheer number of bodies on the ground as if that wasn''t bad enough already I look at the state my swords are in and start to worry. The blades are chipped in several places and I see small cracks forming too, if this battle continues my weapons won''t hold much longer. With nothing to do about it I continue in the battle, I use my Ki in my weapons to increase its durability and its cut, my father had taught me a long time how to do this. I''ve been training this while hunting missions along with Kira, this is one of the reasons I''m able to continue this exhausting battle. I see an assassin trying to decapitate a Zombie from behind only to trip over one of the many bodies on the ground, as she falls the Zombie turns around and tries to bite her, I run and cut her head off as I scream at her. "Get up quick, more are coming from the right." (I) No time for thanks she gets up and we both fight three Zombies that were attacking us from the right. I further increase the amount of Ki I use on my swords and use all my strength to cut off the heads of two Zombies at the same time as I cut off their arms trying to block my attack. The assassin manages to decapitate the remaining Zombie using her superior speed, after which we look at each other and nod our heads before splitting apart for the fight. I see an adventurer a little farther away from being attacked by seven Zombies and two Skeletons, I''m closer to him than any other adventurer, from the distance he must have tried to run just to be surrounded. I run up to him and jump over the enemies joining the adventurer surrounded in the center of a ring of enemies, I have my back to him telling him to get up. "Get up fast, don''t try to run or you''ll end up surrounded and killed." (I) "I don''t want to die, I just got a girlfriend, it was supposed to be an easy one-day mission thanks to our numbers." (Adventurer E) "We don''t have time for this, get up to fight." (I) "I''m sorry and thanks for the sacrifice." (Adventurer E) "What..." (I) I had my back to this adventurer and my attention was focused on the walking Undead around and the others approaching, when I understood his words it was already too late. He had stabbed me in the back and kicked me closer to the Zombies who ran as soon as I hit the ground. "You bastard!" (I) "I won''t die to a bunch of Undead!" (Adventurer E) "(I don''t have the strength to lift my swords, I don''t have any more HP potions either.)" (I) "(We are too far away from the others to expect any help.)" (I) "(This is my end.)" (I) In the midst of my despair, the image of the master appears in my mind, I see him crying screaming something at me that I couldn''t understand. "(I wish I had spent more time with the master.)" (I) I close my eyes waiting for my death, but suddenly the image of the master gets stronger and I start to hear a voice full of anger and authority coming from within me, a voice I recognize. "(Get up and fight!)" (Zenos) "(If you''re hurt, I''ll be your cure!)" (Zenos) "(If you are weak, I will be your strength!)" (Zenos) "(If you need power, I share my power with you!)" (Zenos) "(Remember that those who serve me will never be abandoned.)" (Zenos) The master''s voice comes from inside me, his voice gets stronger and stronger until it''s the only thing I can hear, little by little I feel the heat on my back and the wound starts to heal. I feel the Aura of the master rising from me and running through my entire body, images of a martial art appear in my head as if they were always there. Suddenly my body starts to move on its own and gets up, I feel safe as if I''m being hugged by the master. The Aura that ran through my whole body explodes out of me, I feel like it''s just a means, an intermediary of something bigger. The Aura explodes out of me and the Undead who were ready to attack me stop for a second, then I feel my body move like the martial art I saw in my mind. My body feels light, I see myself punching and destroying the head of two Skeletons that were on both sides attacking me, then I turn around kicking a Zombie in the head that is ripped off with the force of the kick. During the kick spin, I retrieve my swords which during the spin I use to decapitate another Zombie, so I throw myself forward attacking four Zombies at the same time, cut the heads of two, and then pierce the swords into the heads of the other two, throw them to the ground piercing the swords along with their heads into the ground and I stand up supporting my body with my arms while my swords are taped into the ground, I spin with a kick and a knee from top to bottom finishing off two more enemies before putting my feet back on. on the floor and put my swords on my hips. It was a strange feeling to see my body move against my will, but I didn''t try to resist, I just let it know and feeling that I was the master, I already swore that this body was yours to command, suddenly my body turns to the adventurer who stabbed. I see he''s still here, he''s on the ground like he''s fallen over backward and he''s shaking looking at me in fear. "Don''t hurt me!" (Adventurer E) "I was just scared, I was desperate, I didn''t want to hurt you." (Adventurer E) When my vision turned to the adventurer I started to feel a feeling of intense anger, this feeling was not mine, but it was getting bigger, soon the Aura I felt before exploded again from my body and enveloped the adventurer, then a second Aura arises from within me and involves the adventurer as well. The first Aura is chaotic and extremely violent and oppressive to the adventurer, the second Aura clings to it as if judging it, I feel like there is an authority, a right to condemn or save someone in that Aura. Suddenly a voice that doesn''t belong to me comes out of my mouth full of anger and desire, this is the voice of the master talking to the adventurer. "You will be judged, for mine is the right to judge those who do wrong to those who serve me." (Zenos) "Mine is the judgment and I find you guilty." (Zenos) With the words of the master the two auras enter the adventurer who starts to shake then he falls to the ground, his face in despair and crying, a picture of the terror he felt in his last moments. "This is the end of those who hurt those I care about." (Zenos) The Master''s Aura recedes into me and gradually disappears, I feel that I regain control of my body and I can no longer feel the Master''s presence. All that''s left around me is the battle that continues, the bodies of the Undead that the master defeated using my body, and the dead body of the adventurer who stabbed me in the back. A happy smile appears on my face. "(I don''t know how the master did it, but I won''t let my guard down again.)" (I) I look at the battle taking place with renewed spirit and throw myself into the fight. After another thirty minutes of fighting the Undead stopped coming out of the tunnel and we eliminated the ones that were left in a short time to everyone''s relief. Chapter 80: Mine is the judgment In the late afternoon, I stopped my meditation and opened my eyes happy with the result of my training. "Finally you woke up master." (rica) "What was rica?" (I) "You haven''t eaten anything so far." (rica) "Spent all day sitting there meditating." (rica) "I wanted to wake you up several times, but you seemed to be doing something important so I didn''t want to be in the way." (rica) "Thanks for not interrupting." (I) "I was training differently, I''ll explain to you later, now I need to get something to eat." (I) "I''ll get you something to eat now." (rica) rica got up and ran away, in a few minutes she returns with a wooden cup of water and an iron plate with large pieces of roasted meat. "Thank you rica." (I) ---------- After I ate I talked to rica about my theory and my training. "You thought right about the book about the blood element." (rica) "Unlike other elements that have been extensively studied and researched for generations, the blood element is not only a rare element but also considered a prohibited element." (rica) "As it is considered prohibited, any knowledge found must be destroyed, anyone researching it must be arrested or killed, and those who have this element must have their element sealed or exchanged." (rica) "Because of this, it is quite possible that the book has a lot of wrongs or incomplete information master." (rica) "I advise you to try to figure it out for yourself and form some theories yourself, then start reading this book." (rica) "That way you will have your original knowledge base to compare with the knowledge in the book, rather than taking the knowledge from the book as a basis." (rica) "You may be right, I was thinking about reading the book tonight, but I think I''ll put it off in a few days, I''ll try to keep learning on my own." (I) While I was talking to rica, the other girls came back from the hunt, Kira and Ibuki were very different. Kira was in mint condition, not even a smudge of dirt on her clothes or a hair out of place. But Ibuki''s clothes were bloody and torn, her hair was a mess and was covered in dirt. The training seems to have been difficult for her. I go to them with rica and call them all to come along with me to the nearest river to take a shower, they all agree. ----------- After the shower, we all gathered in one of the cabin''s rooms, rica helping to dry the water from Ibuki''s hair, it was already night. "So how was the hunt?" (I) "It was fine, I didn''t need to help her once." (Kira) "Which monster did you make her fight?" (I) "She only fought Goblins and Kobolds." (Kira) "Since the master has been teaching her martial arts I thought enemies with humanoid bodies would be better for her training." (Kira) "And how it was?" (I) "She started very bad, her blows were strong, but she couldn''t dodge or defend any blows." (Kira) "As the fights went by, she began to deflect the enemies'' blows with her own." (Kira) "Was it really like that Ibuki?" (I) "Ibuki wanted to use the master''s technique, but Ibuki was very wrong at first." (Ibuki) "I see, you didn''t dodge or defend the attacks because you wanted to dodge them, but you shouldn''t get hurt so much from the training." (I) "..." (rica/Kira) rica and Kira look at each other before turning to me with accusing eyes. "I think we know who she learned to train with so carelessly." (rica) "Yes, she learned from watching others being such a fool in training." (Kira) "..." (I) "(These words hurt me directly in the heart.)" (I) "(Where is the respect they should have for their master.)" (I) "Changing the subject, how do you think Ibuki''s performance went?" (I) "She has a lot of talent, her moves still don''t compare to the master''s unpredictable moves, but they are strong and precise." (Kira) "She still doesn''t know how to assemble proper combinations of her punches, she''s also too naive to always give direct and predictable punches." (Kira) "In short, she''s not ready to face other people yet, but at her current level she can fight monsters with just her fists." (Kira) "Looks like her talent is bigger than I expected if she''s already at that level." (I) "You are an even more talented master." (Kira) "Monstrously talented." (Kira) "Yes, I''ve never seen anyone learn magic so fast, it took me weeks of training myself before I managed to create magic circles, but you learned so quickly." (rica) "You created a martial art without any initial combat training, no records of anyone else who has done it." (Kira) "Stop it, you guys are embarrassing me." (I) I spent some time talking to the girls, but for some reason, I started to get anguished, a feeling of worry started to grow in me without me understanding why. "Is the master alright?" (Ibuki) "Are you feeling something master?" (rica) "You have suddenly started sweating and his face looks worried." (Kira) "..." (I) I don''t know what to say to them, I don''t even know why I''m like this, all I feel is a sense of urgency like I have to be somewhere else. "I don''t know what''s going on, I just feel anguished and worried out of nowhere." (I) "Try to meditate master, it can help you to better control your emotions." (rica) "Okay I will try." (I) I sit cross-legged and try to meditate, I clear my mind and synchronize my breathing with my racing heartbeat. But this time I don''t try to calm my emotions, I instinctively focus my mind on them and try to trace them back to the source of my anguish. I don''t know why I''m doing this, it just feels right. Gradually blurry flashes of images appear in my mind, at first they were blurry images but with time the images became more and more clear. The images portrayed a battlefield filled with weak screams, fire, and bodies on the ground, a scene I thought I would never see in my life. Soon I started to smell it, at first it was weak but it got stronger until the only thing I could smell was the bodies decomposing on the floor and the bodies burning in the fire. Then the sounds that had been barely audible before growing louder and I could hear clashing swords, cries for help, and explosions of fire. Then came the other sensations, like the taste of blood in the mouth, the pain of wounds and bruises on the body, tiredness. I was confused at first, but I saw my own hands holding two swords and slashing the Undead, so it all made sense. What I had been talking to rica this morning came to mind and I understood that I was seeing things from the perspective of Diana who was fighting the Undead, I was sharing all her senses. Suddenly I see her look in one direction and go to save a woman who was trying to attack a Zombie from behind her back but tripped over a body on the ground and fell. Diana helps the woman and then fights alongside her to defeat three oncoming Zombies. After saving the woman Diana turns in a direction further away from the center of the battle where an adventurer was surrounded by the Undead, she runs there and turns her back on the adventurer as she asks him to get up and not run if he can''t be dead next time. "(Why is she still fighting?)" (I) "(I told her to run if the fight got tough.)" (I) Suddenly the adventurer starts talking about a girlfriend, then apologizes and thanks for some sacrifice, I don''t understand what he says, but I feel Diana get scared, then a sharp pain comes from her back and I feel a kick pushing Diana towards her Living Dead. "(...)" (I) I finally get it, that thing stabbed Diana who ran to help him and left her as bait for the Undead so he could run. "That bastard!" (I) I have to do something, I can''t let Diana get killed by the Undead because of this bastard. "(I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!)" (I) My Aura explodes from my body as if responding to my desire to save Diana my aura enters me and follows the same link I used to connect with Diana''s senses. "(I wish I had spent more time with the master.)" (Diana) I can hear Diana''s voice in my head, she''s scared yet she''s still thinking about me. I don''t care about anything else, I''m going to save her, I don''t care if it''s possible or not, if my Aura can follow this connection to her then I''ll send everything I have to save her. I cling to that connection and follow my Aura to her and scream in my mind with all my willpower focused on her. "(Get up and fight!)" (I) "(If you''re hurt, I''ll be your cure!)" (I) "(If you''re weak, I''ll be your strength!)" (I) "(If you need power, I share my power with you!)" (I) "(Remember that those who serve me will never be abandoned.)" (I) I tell her everything I feel, first of all, I have to show that regardless of the distance I''m by her side, so I use my ability [ Weak Recovery: 10 ] several times to heal her wounds. Little by little I feel my connection with her becoming stronger and I feel like I can control her body, she doesn''t even try to resist. I get her to her feet and quickly replay the entire martial art of the Fist of Chaos in my head before throwing myself into the fight against the Undead. It wasn''t even a fight, I wiped them out for the simple fact that they dared attack Diana, so I turn to the bastard who dared stab Diana. I explode my Aura out of my body and use my ability [ Aura of judgment: 2 ]. He''s saying something but I don''t care, in my eyes, he will be judged for the unpardonable crime he committed, I use Diana''s mouth to convey my voice through the connection we have. I want him to know why and by whom he is being judged, I want him to know that I don''t care about anything in judging someone, I don''t care about their motives, in my eyes, he has committed an unpardonable crime, one I won''t let him get away with without punishment, because mine is the right to judge those who hurt those I care about. "You will be judged, for mine is the right to judge those who do wrong to those who serve me." (I) "Mine is the judgment and I find you guilty." (I) My two auras enter his body, I can feel them attacking his mind and something inside him, I can see his face full of despair at the end, but I don''t care, I say one last time so the last thing he hears is his crime. "This is the end of those who hurt those I care about." (I) Then my Aura comes back to me, and I feel my awareness and will be pulled together with my auras back into my body and I open my eyes. "Master are you alright?" (rica) "What happened to you?" (rica) "Master calm down, please calm down." (Kira) "Teacher?" (Ibuki) As soon as I open my eyes I see the girls all pale, Ibuki is crying, rica looks desperate and Kira keeps trying to calm me down. I look at my hands and see they are bleeding, it feels like I clenched my fist so hard that my claws ripped my palms, I keep looking at my body and I notice I''m drenched in sweat. I try to get up only to have my legs fail and I fall backward, then finally realize I''m exhausted, I don''t even have the strength to move. "I''m fine girls, now I''m fine." (I) "What happened to the master." (rica) "All we saw was you meditating, then suddenly you shout something and an explosion of Aura comes out of you only to reenter your body." (Kira) "And no matter how much either of us screamed, you didn''t seem to hear." (rica) "It happened what we talked about earlier rica, I shared Diana''s senses." (I) "She was in a battle with the undead along with many others, she was in danger so I helped." (I) "It was supposed to be the special mission, it happened sooner than I expected." (rica) "Let me get some rest, let''s talk as soon as I wake up, I feel very tired." (I) Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Intimidation: 2 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Body manipulation: 1 > 4 ] ]> Chapter 81: New Dungeon Diana Pov: After what happened with the master saving me I went back into battle, but not long after the Undead stopped coming out of the tunnel. All we needed was to finish off the ones who were still around, everyone was tired and exhausted, but knowing this battle was over gave the other adventurers a last breath of cheer. Shortly thereafter the last Undead was eliminated by the Grade B adventurer who carries a large sword, and we all raised our arms and screamed. "WE ACHIEVED!!!!!!" I look around and see that many are weeping with happiness at having survived, others are running to see their companions badly wounded in the back, and some are kneeling by the bodies of adventurers who died during the battle. I walk around the battlefield to help carry the bodies to a cleaner place. ---------- It''s been almost two hours after the battle when a squad of soldiers and adventurers arrives on the battlefield, Carlos in the front line beside Roger I met at the city gates before. As soon as Carlos arrives and sees the state of the battlefield he is paralyzed like many others behind him. Luci who was beside me ran to him as soon as she saw him. "Guild Master?" (Luci) "What happened here?" (Carlos) "The numbers of the Undead were much higher than expected." (Luci) "How many were there?" (Roger) "We couldn''t start counting until after the battle, but it was over twelve hundred." (Luci) "..." (Roger) "Thousand and two hundred." (Carlos) I''m not too far away from the conversation so I can hear everything thanks to my Wolf Man-Beast hearing. Roger is speechless looking at the battlefield and Carlos is with dead eyes. "What are the conditions for adventurers?" (Carlos) "..." (Luci) "I asked what the condition of adventurers is?" (Carlos) I approach them and tap Luci on the shoulder who will come to me. "Let me give the report, go take care of the others." (I) "Thanks." (Luci) I stare at Carlos and Roger seriously, then start talking. "I understand you''re nervous Carlos, but this is neither the time nor the place." (I) "..." (Carlos) Sigh "Sorry I just don''t know what to think." (Carlos) "I''ll give you the situation report." (I) "We have fifty-two seriously injured and the rest are just tired with minor injuries." (I) "How many dead?" (Roger) "Sixteen died during the battle." (I) "..." (Carlos) "How strong were the enemies?" (Roger) "They were Zombies and Skeletons as predicted, their strength ranging from Grade E to Grade -B as the investigation pointed out." (I) "Only their numbers were higher than expected." (I) "You''ve been through difficult things once again, Diana." (Roger) "I''m sorry I''m late, but it''s good to see you again." (Roger) "It''s good to see you too Roger, I just wish it was in better situations." (I) Roger and Carlos face each other and nod to each other before turning to the others behind them. "Adventurers, guard the surrounding area, help the injured and gather the bodies in one place!" (Carlos) "Soldiers, set up tents and prepare a field camp." (Roger) After the orders of the two those behind begin to move, the soldiers begin to set up tents and set up a perimeter, the adventurers split into two groups, one to investigate the surroundings and kill any monsters that are attracted by the smell of meat and blood, the other group went to help tend to the wounded and gather the corpses. "Looks like we''re spending the night here." (Carlos) "Yes." (Roger) "Just a warning for you, especially for you Carlos." (I) "Try not to get too hard on Luci, she is feeling very responsible for what happened." (I) "After the battle was over she didn''t stop crying, it took me a long time to calm her down." (I) "She is very responsible in her Guild duties, she is also a decent support mage, so I left her in charge." (Carlos) "I thought the mission would be simple and that it would be a good combat experience for her, I didn''t know that could happen." (Carlos) "At first she made some naive decisions, but if she weren''t such a large number of Undead her plans would have been good enough." (I) "Someone should investigate inside the tunnel." (Roger) "Not!" (Carlos) "We must wait until dawn, then I''ll look into the tunnel myself with some adventurers." (Carlos) "Carlos is right, we don''t know much about what he has inside the tunnel, it''s also too dark and narrow to fight in there." (I) While the reinforcements took care of everything I called Luci and the two Grade B adventurers to join me, Carlos and Roger in a meeting. We explained everything that happened from the beginning to the end of the battle, for the two Grade B adventurers it wasn''t as traumatizing as for the others, so besides the fatigue they were fine, Luci didn''t stop shaking as we recounted everything that happened. After that, the Grade B mage and I helped Luci to one of the cabins to rest, so I went back to where Carlos and Roger were still discussing what to do. "I still don''t understand how this could happen, the information was accurate." (Carlos) "Do you trust the person you sent to do the investigation?" (Roger) "Yes, he is someone very trustworthy in the Guild, if he reported those numbers I am willing to believe they were right." (Carlos) "So the only possibility is that as you prepared and headed here, more undead came through the tunnel." (Roger) "Have you called the earth element mages yet?" (I) "Mari is taking care of this in the Guild, I came along so I can help if there is any monster stronger than reported too." (Carlos) "Mages should arrive during the morning." (Carlos) "That''s nice." (I) "But before closing the entrance we have to check the tunnel, we have to see if it branches off somewhere else." (Roger) "I agree, as soon as the Suns are born I and a few more adventurers will check out this tunnel." (Carlos) Sigh Carlos looks at me sighing and puts his hand on my shoulder. "I''m glad you''re okay Diana." (Carlos) "I wouldn''t forgive myself if a friend had died on a mission I sent myself." (Carlos) "I''m fine Carlos." (I) "When you get back to town get ready to be pampered by Mari, she was very worried about you." (Carlos) After talking for a while with Carlos and Roger, I''m going to sleep, a lot has happened and I''m exhausted, but several of my skills have leveled up after the fight, I''ve also leveled up several levels and my work has also increased a lot, soon I''ll be able to switch off work if you keep hunting monsters. ---------- The next day I get up before dawn, I do this because I want to go with Carlos into the tunnel. Just as I expected Carlos is already ready, I approach him. "Good morning Carlos, did you sleep?" (I) "Good morning Diana." (Carlos) "I couldn''t sleep at all tonight." (Carlos) "But you don''t have to worry, a sleepless night won''t hurt me." (Carlos) "I want to go to the tunnel with you, who else is going?" (I) "I already knew you would want to come along." (Carlos) "Aside from you, the two Grade B adventurers plus four Grade +C adventurers." (Carlos) I waited until the suns rise to talk to Carlos, as soon as the first light of day appeared on the horizon the adventurers who were going to enter the tunnel gathered, there were eight of us in total. After we all gathered we entered the tunnel, we soon found that the tunnel widens from the entrance to the inside, which once needed one walking after another, now can three walking side by side. The depth seems to be between a hundred to two hundred meters, there is no light whatsoever in the tunnel, so we are using a magic item called an orb of light, it is a round crystal that floats like that from the one who activated it. After ten to twenty minutes of walking, we didn''t find any branches or any other undead. After twenty minutes we come to a large cave where there is nothing but a large skull-shaped door in the wall. Carlos and everyone else stops, me included, we''re all surprised. "Is that what I think it is?" (I) "This is definitely a dungeon." (Carlos) "It seems like there never was a tunnel, all this time it was a wave of monsters caused by the appearance of a new dungeon." (Grade B Magician) "It explains how the numbers have increased so fast, it also makes things simpler, we won''t need any more earth mages to close the tunnel anymore." (Carlos) "Let''s go back, I have to report this to the Duke so he can decide if he wants to destroy the dungeon or he wants to keep it." (Carlos) "I''ll leave some adventurers parked here until everything is organized." (Carlos) We all went back to the makeshift camp, Carlos met with Roger as soon as he arrived, after a while Carlos and Roger each left half of the people they brought, the rest got ready to go back to town, that includes me and everyone who fought last night. The road to the city was long and silent, after the deaths and injuries we had from the fight, no one else had the heart to talk. When we arrive in town, Carlos gathers everyone and asks them to go to their homes or inns to rest, he tells us to attend the Guild tomorrow to get our reward. I have to buy the house for the master, but I think I''ll save that for tomorrow, I also have to buy new swords for myself, one is broken and the other is full of cracks and the blade is chipped. But before doing these things I need to sleep, for that, I go to the Inn of the Eternal Traveler. Chapter 82: one who embodies chaos I only woke up the next day when I opened my eyes I was alone in bed with sunlight streaming in through the cabin window. I still feel tired, my whole body is aching, my head feels like it''s going to explode, this is worse than any hangover I dreamed of having in my teens but never could as I couldn''t drink alcohol due to my weak body and to the medicines he was taking. I try to get out of bed, but just trying to move is difficult and I let out a small cry of pain. "There!" (I) Soon I heard footsteps approaching so rica and Kira enter the room. "You finally woke up, we were getting worried." (rica) "How long did I sleep?" (I) "You''ve been sleeping since yesterday, it''s already mid-afternoon the next day." (Kira) "We tried to wake you up several times to get something to eat, but no matter how much we called, you wouldn''t wake up." (rica) "rica and I were getting worried, but I''m glad you woke up." (Kira) "Go get water and food for the master please Kira." (rica) "Alright, I''ll be right back." (Kira) Kira runs out of the room. "Where is Ibuki?" (I) "She''s training outside, she was very worried about you guys yesterday, it was hard to get her to sleep." (rica) Before long Kira returned with some fruit and a glass of water. "We know the master likes meat, but we thought it would be better for you to eat something lighter and easier to chew." (Kira) "Kira found some fruits in the forest, they are very tasty." (rica) "Thanks." (I) Kira takes a knife and peels the fruit for me, then cuts it into small pieces before handing me the plate. "Can you tell us what happened yesterday?" (rica) "As we were talking last night I started to feel anguished and worried." (I) "I remember that I advised you to meditate to control your emotions." (rica) "The problem is that instead of calming my emotions I let myself get carried away by them." (I) "I acted on instinct, I focused on my emotions and tried to follow them to the source, so I started sharing Diana''s senses one by one." (I) "You said yesterday that she was in danger." (Kira) "She was in the middle of a big battle, many people were fighting the Undead, I saw explosions of fire and many bodies on the ground." (I) "I saw Diana trying to help someone only to get stabbed in the back and pushed around as monster bait so that person could get away." (I) "I couldn''t stand to see that, so in my anger, I activated my Aura power which followed this connection I had to Diana." (I) "If my Aura can go to her, why can''t my other abilities either, thinking about that I used my healing ability to heal her wounds and used one of my abilities to manipulate her body." (I) "Then I made her kill all the monsters around and took care of the bastard who stabbed her." (I) "How did you manage to connect with Diana?" (Kira) "You and Diana are familiar with the master, as such, he can share his senses." (rica) "From what the master described, you managed to share all of Diana''s senses." (rica) "Not only that, but he also used her as an intermediary for her abilities, that''s how he managed to heal her." (rica) "I''m still worried about her." (I) "Kira, I want you to go into town and get news about Diana, try to see if she''s already in town or still in the woods and if she''s okay." (I) "I''ll leave immediately." (Kira) "Wait!" (I) "Can you make it to Valen City before nightfall?" (I) "If I avoid fighting monsters on the way and run, then I should succeed." (Kira) "Then go, take what you need from the deposit." (I) With that Kira left the room to get ready, rica stays with me giving me the fruit in my mouth as she didn''t even have the strength to move my arms. "Do you know why I got into this rica state?" (I) "I have an idea." (rica) "Sharing meanings with a family member usually has no side effects." (rica) "But in your master case, you shared all her senses, only that overloaded your mind with information." (rica) "As if that wasn''t enough, you still used your skills on her, which very few are able to do with their kin." (rica) "If you had used a spell the effect wouldn''t have been so great on you, but as you used your abilities on it, you overloaded your body and mind." (rica) "To some extremely rare cases in the book I read about wizards using abilities through their kin, some were in a similar state to yours now, others died." (rica) "Was what I did that risky?" (I) "Yes." (rica) "Using an ability through someone other than the owner makes you feel pressure in the body and mind, what happened is you took your ability into her body and activated it there." (rica) "And as if you had stretched a part of her body to her and kept it there, it made her body and mind experience great pressure, if you had continued you could have died from that pressure." (rica) "Someone''s abilities are in their souls, so you can''t share an ability with another person, trying to do that sort of thing can cause death or worse, hurt the soul." (rica) "What do you mean to hurt the soul?" (I) "I don''t know, the book doesn''t explain more than that, but I guess it''s no good." (rica) I talked with rica until Kira came back ready to leave, after saying goodbye to Kira she headed towards the city of Valen. I spent the rest of the day in bed reading some books to pass the time as I couldn''t get out of bed. ------------ In a castle surrounded by forests and mountains with a starry sky having a single bright red moon. At the top of the highest tower of this castle has a large balcony, a woman with a red dress and hair wearing a black crown is enjoying the view. "How long are you going to stand there and say nothing." (mysterious woman) "If you have something to say, then say it, after all for you to invade my Divine Kingdom you must have something important to say." (mysterious woman) As soon as the woman finishes speaking, behind her two hands appear out of nowhere and hold the air and tug in different directions tearing through the space making a hole that only has many shapeless colors inside. From within this hole in space a man who appears to be in his forties with six feet tall and a muscular body with no shirt and white skin appears, he has short white hair, wolf ears, a lone wolf tail, and golden eyes Wild, the man has several scars all over his body and even though he doesn''t carry any weapons he seems to be ready to fight at any time. This man stands behind the woman and looks at her calmly. "I know what you did." (mysterious man) "I do not know what you''re talking about." (mysterious woman) "I felt him the moment he connected with my descendant." (mysterious man) "You don''t need to explain anything to me, this is the second time he''s saved her, I''ve been keeping an eye on her for a long time, so I appreciate you saving her and treating her so well." (mysterious man) "So have you noticed, you intend to make her your champion?" (mysterious woman) "Whenever she is ready, her personality and character suits me, she also has a lot of talent." (mysterious man) "But you don''t need to worry, I won''t take her away from him, if there comes a time when she''s ready, staying by his side will be better for her duties." (mysterious man) "If even you, who only thinks with your muscles, realized the situation we are in, why doesn''t that idiot of Light realize it." (mysterious woman) "Keep what you''ve discovered a secret, no one should know about it yet." (mysterious woman) "Don''t worry, no one will know, as he was born from your blood they''ll just think he''s your son, but what about when he takes on human form?" (mysterious man) "I''ve already thought of a plan for this, but he won''t like it, but it''s the way to hide it from others, few people will notice him." (mysterious woman) "Someone Chaotic like him will be important when things get complicated, hopefully, he''ll be able to do something as we can''t directly interfere in the world." (mysterious woman) "I hope you''re right, the Dragon will notice him sooner or later too, but you don''t need to worry, he and I agree with what you''re doing." (mysterious man) "Things will be hectic soon, a Chaotic element may help in what''s to come." (mysterious man) "..." (mysterious woman) "I have to go now, just make sure history doesn''t repeat itself again." (mysterious man) As soon as the man passes through the hole in space again it closes, again the woman is alone looking at the red moon with a big smile on her face showing her fangs. "History will not repeat itself, everything is different now, he is different now." (mysterious woman) "I am curious to see the chaos you will wreak in the world my dear Zenos, the one who embodies chaos." (mysterious woman) Chapter 83: Looking for a house Diana Pov: I woke up at the Eternal Traveler''s Inn in my room, my whole body is still sore after the battle, it feels like I ended up sleeping all day yesterday. I get up and start getting ready, heading downstairs to get something to eat before heading to the Adventurers'' Guild. As I''m sitting at the table waiting for my food someone taps me on the shoulder, I look back and see Kira in her White Elf disguise. "Looks like I didn''t need to worry." (Kira) "Good Morning." (I) "Good morning, Diana." (Kira) Kira sits across from me. "What are you doing here?" (I) "The master sent me to check on you, he was very worried." (Kira) "I''m fine, thanks to the master for saving me." (I) "How is he?" (I) "He''s not okay, whatever he did to help you took a toll on his body." (Kira) "..." (Diana) "(What did she say?)" (I) "(Is the master feeling bad?)" (me) "Don''t get that face, he might not be okay now, but he''ll recover with some rest." (Kira) "How is he?" (I) "He feels pain all over his body, a lot of headaches and doesn''t even have the strength to get out of bed." (Kira) "..." (I) "After he woke up and explained to me and rica what had happened he asked me to come to see if you were alright." (Kira) "I ran over here yesterday, as soon as I arrived I looked for you here and luckily I found you in one of the bedrooms sleeping so I waited until you woke up." (Kira) "Do you know how the master managed to help me?" (I) "From what he is rica said, you and I are familiar with the master, as such, he used familiar skills to share his senses with him and used his skills through you." (Kira) "So that''s what happened, I never heard that people could be familiar." (I) "Neither do I, but the master is not someone who usually follows the rules." (Kira) I was confused and worried as everything I talked to Kira, knowing what happened with the master and everything I went through in the last few days, there''s a lot in my head to understand. After a few minutes of organizing my thoughts, I regain my composure. "Thanks for waiting for me to pull myself together." (I) "Available." (Kira) "You can tell me what happened, I heard rumors that the mission didn''t go well." (Kira) "How do you already know this?" (I) "Rumors spread fast after you arrived yesterday, as I had nothing to do while I waited for you to wake up I looked around for some information and listened to rumors." (Kira) "Let me tell you everything that happened then." (I) I spent about an hour talking to Kira and I told her everything that happened. I told about the investigation before the quest, told about the preparation the Guild had done, told about the adventurers who participated in the quest, told how the fight started and how the number of Undead was much higher than expected. I told her how the master saved me, I told her everything up to the part where reinforcements arrived after the battle was over and about the Dungeon we found. "So it was a dungeon, this one I didn''t expect." (Kira) "Nobody expected this, we were lucky with less than twenty dead." (I) "From what I''ve heard it wasn''t luck, the rumors about how a wolf woman ran across the battlefield saving adventurers." (Kira) "Which?" (I) "The master won''t be happy that you took a risk helping others." (Kira) "..." (I) "No need to worry, the most that is going to happen is going to be one long lecture for you to take better care of yourself." (Kira) "I was just helping out when someone was about to be killed, I know a lot of the adventurers who participated in the mission and I couldn''t see them being killed without doing anything." (I) "You don''t have to explain anything to me, I respect you for what you''ve done." (Kira) "Now it''s past time for you to go to the Adventurers'' Guild to report the completion of your quest." (Kira) "Yeah, meet me at noon at the usual restaurant." (I) "All right." (Kira) I get up and leave the inn, walk down the streets to the Adventurers'' Guild. As soon as I arrive I go to the reception desk before I say anything I see a receptionist look at me and then run upstairs, before long I see Mari running down the stairs, as soon as she sees me she jumps on me and hugs me crying. "Diana!" (Mari) "Why are you just coming today?" (Mari) "I heard you arrived yesterday along with the others, do you know how much I was worried about you?" (Mari) "Calm down Mari, calm down." (I) "Don''t ask me to calm down!" (Mari) "Why didn''t you show up here before!?" (Mari) "I was very tired, so I went straight to the Inn to sleep, I only woke up a short time ago and the first place I came was to the Guild." (I) Mari looks at me seriously, then drags me upstairs to one of the rooms on the second floor. "Here we can talk more privately." (Mari) "I imagine you already have a report on what happened on the mission, right?" (I) "Yes, I know everything that happened." (Mari) "Do you know how Luci is?" (I) "She''s off duty, I was the one who appointed her to be the leader of this mission, I had no way of knowing she was a new Dungeon." (Mari) "Yes, that took everyone by surprise." (I) "Have you decided what you''re going to do with this Dungeon?" (I) "Not yet, Carlos has been meeting at the Duke''s mansion all day today to see what to do next." (Mari) "You guys are going to be very busy this month because of this new Dungeon." (I) "How are you, Mari? I know it''s not just Carlos and Luci who got bad because of this mission." (I) "I''m sad for the adventurers who died, but I''m more worried about Luci, she''s not taking it well, so we gave her a break for her to recover." (Mari) "You know I read the report of most adventurers, many of them spoke of a woman Beast from the tribe of Wolves." (Mari) "The reports portrayed how she ran across the battlefield saving dozens of adventurers in distress, there are also several reports talking about how she rescued half of the adventurers who were seriously injured." (Mari) "They are calling you Guardian Wolf, many rumors are circulating around town." (Mari) "..." (I) "If these rumors continue to spread, you will soon receive a title for your achievements." (Mari) "I did what any adventurer should do." (I) "And just like any adventurer, you will be rewarded for your achievements." (Mari) "I''ll go get your rewards, give me your Guild card." (Mari) Mari gets up and takes my card and leaves the room, she takes about fifteen minutes before returning, she puts my card on the table next to a leather bag. "As a reward for the quest you received thirty gold coins, your adventurer rating rose to Grade -C." (Mari) "Normally you would have to make a Grade +D check before you can be upgraded to Grade -C, but as several Grade C adventurers and two Grade B adventurers have attested to your strength, you didn''t need the check." (Mari) "Congratulations on your climb through the Diana ranks." (Mari) "Thanks." (I) I spent some time talking to Mari before getting up to leave, but before leaving the room I turn to Mari to ask for advice. "Mari, do you happen to know anyone who can help me buy a house?" (I) "I have a friend at the Trade Guild, but what kind of house are you looking for?" (Mari) "I''m actually looking for a big mansion with a lot of land around it." (I) "..." (Mari) "I don''t think you can buy a mansion with your reward." (Mari) "You don''t have to worry, the mansion won''t be mine, I got a new Group, I met them in the forest while fulfilling the missions, let''s all live in the mansion together, the group leader gave me the money to buy the mansion." (I) "Are they adventurers?" (Mari) "None of them are adventurers yet, but they are all strong and talented." (I) "How much do you want to spend on the house?" (Mari) "I have four crystal coins." (I) "How did they leave that much money to you?" (Mari) "Well you''ve always been good at reading people''s character, if you trust them then I will too." (Mari) "I''ll introduce them to you after we move into the house." (I) "You said you all are strong, right?" (Mari) "Yes." (I) "Hmmm..." (Mari) "Would you be able to resist miasma daily?" (Mari) "That wouldn''t be a problem." (I) "I also imagine they wouldn''t mind living in a house with a bloody history, right?" (Mari) "Yes, you thought of something didn''t you?" (I) "There is a very nice mansion, it even compares to the Duke''s, but it has some problems." (Mari) "Would these problems be a bloody history and miasma?" (I) "Yes, but don''t worry, no monsters are born there, and no chance of a dungeon appearing there either." (Mari) "With the money you have it should be possible for you to buy this mansion, it would actually be a relief to have someone willing to stay there." (Mari) "I and Carlos have already thought about buying the place and moving there, but he likes smaller, cozier places." (Mari) "Sounds like a good option, and for the trouble, you talked about, it should come out at a lower price than it''s worth, I can use the rest of the money to renovate it." (I) "I''ll give you a letter of recommendation to this friend of mine from the Trade Guild, if you talk to him about the house and the desire to renovate the mansion he''ll take care of the rest." (Mari) "Alright, I appreciate your help Mari." (I) "That''s what friends are for." (Mari) Mari leaves the room again and in a few minutes comes back with a letter with the seal of the Adventurers Guild, she hands it to me and I leave the Guild. Chapter 84: A troubling discovery after Kira left for a town I spent the rest of the day reading books, there was nothing else I could do. It''s been a while since I felt so unable, since my reincarnation I''ve been able to do many things, I''ve been able to train, fight, talk and even build a house with my own hands. Now it seems that I went back in time when I was still Human, when all I felt every day was a pain in my body, how much I didn''t have the strength to get out of bed, and how much I needed the help of others to eat, clean myself, etc. At that time all I had was my mind and my notebook, I spent my days creating my games, sometimes I created some new technologies to improve the performance of my games, with that time passed, the days became months and then years old. Everything I''ve always been afraid of since I was a child came true, one day I went into the hospital and never left, the older I got the weaker my body and health got, I spent the last months of my life in and out of a coma, each Once I closed my eyes I didn''t know if I would be able to open them again. At that time all I had was my last game, I didn''t expect anyone to play it, all I wanted was to finish it, I never did anything halfway in my life, I always gave everything I had in everything I did, for I had no regrets, even in and out of the coma I managed to finish that game, so I was happy to have died without leaving anything incomplete behind. In this world I did the same, I struggled in every moment to survive without regrets, I keep giving my all in whatever I do and that kind of thinking brought me, girls, they are the closest to a family I have in this world. Getting stuck in this bed and leaving all the work to them, knowing Diana might be in trouble and not being able to go to her for help, making Kira cross the woods alone to get news of Diana. I don''t like it, I don''t like feeling helpless again, from what Erica said I must recover if I rest, but I can''t stay still. That''s why I decided to take this time to read several of the books that Diana and Kira brought from the city of Valen. After seeing the potato that looked like a thick carrot and eating the fruit that Kira peeled and cut for me, I decided to start with the cookbook and the book that describes various types of food. ------------ The next day I wake up feeling a little better, my body is still aching, but at least the pain in my head has gone down a little and I can move my arms a little now. "Good morning Master." (rica) "Good Morning." (I) rica entered the room with a plate full of cut fruit, as soon as she sees me awake she opens a big smile and greets me. "How are you feeling today?" (rica) "I''m still not fine, but at least I''m able to move around a bit." (I) "I was thinking about using my ability to recover faster, what do you think?" (I) "Avoid doing this, the skill you use forces the body to recover faster, it usually doesn''t matter how well you are in good health and just wants to heal your wounds." (rica) "The problem is that you are suffering because you have overloaded your body and mind, if you use your ability it will only get worse" (rica) "The only things that would help you in this situation would be healing magic and a passive regeneration ability." (rica) "If you''re saying that I''ll listen." (I) "All the master needs is to rest and not make any physical or magical effort, in a few days the master should recover." (rica) "In the meantime, I will continue reading the books the girls brought from Valen City." (I) "(Since I can''t train, I''ll study.)" (I) "Master, I forgot to tell you that I asked Kira to buy the magic to use the demonic magic of human transformation." (rica) "No problem, that''s a good thing, when you start to learn this magic better beforehand." (I) I spent some time talking to rica, then Ibuki arrived and I started teaching her math when noon was approaching the two of them went to provide food and I was able to start reading the various books. ------------ After dark Ibuki and rica came to my room for our daily meeting, this time there was nothing to talk about with them, so the meeting ended and I just chatted with them before they left for their duties. As they are the only ones here with the ability to watch, they are taking turns watching each other. Unable to do anything to help them, I go back to reading, asking rica to use her magic that leaves a ball of light floating so I can read. During the afternoon I managed to finish reading the two books on food and cooking, I learned that I have a lot of knowledge similar to my ancient world. There are recipes for French bread, pasta, cake, chips, pizza, cheese, and lasagna. The book makes it clear that most of the recipes were created by Outsiders, it seems to be true, when you are away from your hometown what you miss most is the food. I can''t even begin to imagine how difficult it must have been for them to create these foods with unfamiliar ingredients. I spent the rest of the night reading the book about the Outsiders, I managed to read it all in a few hours. The book wasn''t very thick, the book says the same thing the girls had already told me, but it also had several stories of Outsiders. It seems that from a few hundred years ago until about fifty years ago many Outsiders started to appear, most of them were reincarnated, some reincarnated as adults and some are born as children. These Outsiders said they came from the same world, they all talked about how they had health problems or suffered from some kind of disability before reincarnating. It seems their fate in this world wasn''t very pleasant at first, some called themselves the main characters and handled things silly, those who did that quickly died to monsters or other people. Some had abilities or elemental affinities considered prohibited, these were imprisoned, killed, or in a few cases joined some religion where these powers were exchanged with the blessing of their God. There were many who were deceived and became slaves or prohibited research material from clandestine organizations, these had fates worse than death. But not everyone had unhappy lives, some hid the fact of being Outsiders, some joined Kingdoms and Guilds to have support in a world they didn''t know. It seems they tried to create a lot of things from their old world but failed most of the time, they were more successful in cooking and agriculture. There''s an excerpt from a comment that some of the smarter Outsiders always repeated, they said that this world had different laws of physics, different energies, and this system that they don''t understand how it affects everything, so they couldn''t replicate the things of their world in this. "(I thought the same things in the past, but everything is so different in this world that I just decided to accept things as they are, I don''t want to waste my time looking for answers to everything I don''t understand.)" (I) It seems that some were successful in this world, those who said they abandoned everything they knew and started from scratch in this world. They sought new ways to do what they knew and new knowledge, most of them went to create jobs, of which one became a renowned Alchemist who created many types of potions such as liquid soap, one became a tailor and was the first to add spells to clothing that wasn''t made of monster leather or armor, many joined the trade and adventurer guilds. One of the most famous was the one who chose a country known for its corruption, he joined the King and showed how to investigate and collect evidence, that way the title of royal investors was created, this Outsider managed to cleanse the Kingdom from those who corrupted it. I learned a lot from this book, I realized that some made the same decision as me, to create things from scratch, in trial and error. What worries me is the information that was at the end of the book. It said that some Outsiders were reincarnated as monsters, this caused a wave of destruction on a large scale, that''s because the Outsiders were smart, but they became crazy. There were a few examples, the most famous of which was that of an Outlander who reincarnated as a Goblin, he wasn''t able to control the violent and perverted instincts that the Goblins had. He used his wits to kidnap only the weakest women to **** them and kill the weakest monsters and people to get strong, when someone noticed him years had passed and he had built a great Goblin kingdom, he had evolved into an Emperor Goblin with an army of thousands of Goblins, he ravaged several Realms before being killed and his army wiped out by an alliance between Realms. He wasn''t the only one, there were others who were reincarnated as monsters, everyone went crazy, an Outsider who claimed to have studied people''s minds in his original world managed to capture one of these monsters and after months of study, he shared his findings. He said that the moment of reincarnation was a confusing and traumatizing moment, these Outsiders who were once people living in a peaceful world became monsters in an unknown world and were alone, in despair they ended up being swallowed up by their bodies'' survival instincts. , over time their minds and personalities were distorted by these primitive instincts until they became true monsters. He also said that there must have been some who committed suicide upon discovering they had turned into monsters. Since then any monster suspected of being an Outsider is hunted down and killed upon discovery. "(I can understand their situation, even I find it hard to control my instincts sometimes.)" (I) "(What happened to them could have happened to me, it probably just didn''t happen because I was reborn as a Leech whose only instinct was hunger and because I didn''t give in to despair.)" (I) "(I also kept my mind open when looking at the world, I didn''t deny my situation and I always tried to have a rational eye for things around me.)" (I) "(To sum up, I was weird and distorted enough already, I quickly accepted the situation.)" (I) "(But even so I''ve changed a lot, it''s a fact that I''m different now and I don''t know if it''s because I''m a monster now or because of the things I''ve been through since reincarnation.)" (I) "(That Outsider who said he studied people''s minds must have been a psychologist or psychiatrist.)" (I) I thought it would be safer to hide the fact of being a monster and an Outsider in the future, so I don''t get into unnecessary trouble, this was a worrying discovery. Chapter 85: Wilson Williams Diana Pov: When I was leaving the Adventurers Guild Mari told me the name of her friend in the Trade Guild. I leave the Guild and look up at the sky, look at the Sun''s position and realize it''s almost noon, so I head to the restaurant to meet Kira before heading to the Trade Guild. I walk the streets seeing people of various races talking, laughing, and working. I really want to show this city to the master, this is the most liberal kingdom on the continent, the level of prejudice in this kingdom is the lowest on the continent too, here it doesn''t matter if you''re male or female, old or young, Human or Demi if whether you like people of the same sex or not, the only thing that matters in this Realm is your abilities. The only reason Demons are not accepted here is so as not to attract the anger of other Realms, I want to show this place to the master, I want to show him that there are places where they think like him. I arrive at the combined restaurant and go inside, go to a table near a discreet corner and wait, while I wait I order a pitcher of beer and a plate of cubes of meat and cheese as an appetizer. I don''t wait long, in less than ten minutes I see Kira disguised as a White Elf walk in and wave to her while I wait for her to sit down I call the waitress and order another pitcher of beer and another plate of appetizers. "I thought I would get there before you, but apparently you worked things out quickly in the Adventurers'' Guild." (Kira) "There wasn''t much to do, I took my rewards and chatted with Mari for a while, that''s all." (I) "What are you going to do now?" (Kira) "I''m going to buy the mansion the master asked for." (I) "Mari referred me to a friend at the Trade Guild, I''ll look for him as soon as I get out of here." (I) "It also said something about a mansion comparable to the Duke''s mansion that has a bloody and miasma history." (I) "This house would be perfect, I realized that since I met the master I am no longer affected by miasma." (Kira) "I noticed that too, actually it will even be cozier for rica since she''s a Demon." (I) "Hmmm..." (Kira) "What are you thinking about?" (I) "I think I know which mansion this is, from the description you spoke it must be the King''s brother''s mansion." (Kira) "Do you know about this mansion?" (I) "Just a few rumors, it''s an old story." (Kira) "Tell me more." (I) "All I know is that the King''s brother had renounced his right to the throne and moved to this city where he lived for years." (Kira) "He became a great friend of the current Duke, but one day when the Duke showed up at his house to visit he found everyone dead." (Kira) "The whole family, the guards, the maids and the employees, they were all dead." (Kira) "Their dismembered bodies and blood painting more than half the walls inside the mansion, claw marks marking both the bodies and the walls." (Kira) "Soon afterward miasma began to emanate all over the property, but it never left the perimeter of the land belonging to the mansion." (Kira) "Nobody tried to clear the miasma?" (I) "The Duke tried everything, he called magicians of the Light, white magicians, priests of various religions." (Kira) "But nobody has been able to clear the miasma, not only that, but nobody has been able to find out what happened there." (Kira) "This is a story that every organization in the city''s underworld knows, not even the Assassin Guild could find out what happened there." (Kira) "I''ve been in this town for years and I never knew it." (I) "It happened over twenty years ago, townspeople don''t even like to comment on it, they think the place is cursed." (Kira) "The Duke has been trying to sell the place for years now, they say he hopes that if people go back to living on the property and people''s lifeblood can ease the miasma." (Kira) "Others say the Duke just can''t stand to see his friend''s mansion once full of life and joy in this state." (Kira) "Regardless of why he wants to sell it doesn''t matter, I doubt normal people would buy this mansion." (I) "Even most adventurers wouldn''t want to stay there." (I) "Only strange people like us could live there, in fact, it''s perfect for what the master wants." (Kira) "It''ll be big enough for all the renovations the master wants to do there, it''ll also have room for everyone, even after getting more companions like the slaves you''re going to buy." (I) "I still think there will be more people joining our group." (Kira) "I''ve been with the master for a short time, but I''ve met many people, but I haven''t found another one who is like the master." (Kira) "The master is Chaotic and mysterious, many will be afraid of the master, but there will be people who will be attracted to him." (Kira) "The master accepts everyone, he doesn''t differentiate by age, gender or race, he doesn''t care about the person''s past, all the master cares about is his character and will." (Kira) "I agree with you, the master still hasn''t noticed, but he has the posture of a leader, he''s shrewd, he thinks of those next to him, he listens to the opinions of others with an open heart and he''s not afraid to make bold decisions to reach your goals." (I) "The problem is the type of person who will be attracted to him, I imagine those who are not accepted anywhere will be easily captivated by the master." (I) "Those who don''t have a place to go back or those like me who have lost their way." (Kira) "The master will always be surrounded by problems." (I) While we were talking we were eating and drinking, I decided to ask her what she was going to do today. "What are you going to do now?" (I) "I''m going to the Black Market to buy rica something." (Kira) "Try to get some information from the auction too." (I) "I''ll try." (Kira) I chatted with Kira for a while longer, then I separated from her and saw her enter an alley before disappearing into a shadow, so I go to the center of town where the Commerce Guild is. As soon as I enter the Guild I see a lot of people coming and going, then I see the large number of shops, I go straight to one of the stairs and go up to the second floor where I need my Guild card to get in, that''s where I go. sells weapons, armor, special magic items, and other things that the general population doesn''t have access to. Then I go straight up to the third floor where there are trade rooms and the main hall of the Trade Guild, as soon as I got to the third floor I go to the reception desk where a cute receptionist is, he is Human with brown hair and eyes, he has around one-fifty tall and has a delicate face, he''s almost as cute as the master. "Good afternoon." (I) "Good afternoon Miss." (receptionist) "What can I help you with today?" (receptionist) "I''m looking for someone, his name is Wilson Williams." (I) "I''ll let him know of your arrival, do you have an appointment?" (receptionist) "No, but just give him this letter and tell him that Mari from the Adventurers'' Guild sent it to me." (I) "I''ll talk to him, if you want you can wait on one of our sofas miss." (I) "Thank you, I''ll wait right here." (I) I hand the letter Mari gave me to him, after taking the letter he walks up the stairs and up to the fourth floor, as far as I know only the most influential merchants are there. "(This Wilson must be someone important.)" (I) In ten minutes the receptionist comes back and comes to me. "Mr. Williams asked me to accompany you to her office." (receptionist) "If you can follow me please." (receptionist) "Alright, show me the way." (I) "But one thing, call me Diana, I''m not a noblewoman to be called Miss." (I) "As you wish, Ms. Diana." (receptionist) "Just Diana." (I) "..." (receptionist) "If you can accompany me Diana." (receptionist) "Better that way, I don''t like formalities." (I) I follow the receptionist up to the fourth floor, he leads me through hallways to a pair of fancy, well-decorated double doors. "This is the office of Mr. Williams, Vice Master of the Guild." (receptionist) knock knock knock As I''m shocked by the unexpected information, the receptionist knocks on the door to let me know. "Mr. Williams, I brought Diana as requested." (receptionist) "You may come in." (Wilson) "Excuse me." (receptionist) The receptionist opens both doors and beckons me in, as soon as I walk in the closes the door behind me and walks away. I look around and see two sofas facing each other in the center of the room with a coffee table between them, I see a wall with pictures of beautiful landscape drawings, the wall on the other side is covered with bookshelves and well. in front of me past the sofas is a large desk with a large window behind it. Sitting in the chair behind the desk is a man who appears to be between forty-five or fifty, he has graying brown hair, green eyes full of cunning and wisdom, has dark skin, is dressed in a chic but not ostentatious nobleman''s clothes, he has the letter he brought in his hands and is in the middle of his reading before he stops and gives me a serious look as if he''s sizing me up. Chapter 86: Reading time Today I woke up seeing Ibuki lying beside me, unlike in the past she is not clinging to me, what she is doing is holding my hand while she sleeps. She''s been with me the longest, I know she''s worried about me, rica told me how she''s been spending every moment training, Ibuki''s mind is simple, what she''s been thinking about is becoming strong to protect me since Kira and Diana are not present. I know I''ve been worrying about her but this is a good time to build more of her personality, these moments will make her more responsible and aware of others around her I hope. "Ibuki, I asked you to let me know when the master wakes up, not for you to sleep beside him." (rica) rica soon entered the room, it seems that Ibuki should let her know when I wake up. "It''s okay rica." (I) "She''s tired, with the two of you just for watch shifts and she trying hard on her training, she''s overworking herself like I usually do." (I) "So you admit it?" (rica) "Yes, but I''ll probably keep doing it, Ibuki is always watching me, unfortunately, he ended up catching one of my bad habits." (I) After rica came in, she and I talked a little before she left, I went back to reading books today. I''m going to enjoy being stuck in bed to read as much as I can, today I''m going to read three books I''m going to read about alchemy, magical engineering, and the three forms of energy. I spent the morning reading about energy forms, I thought this was important knowledge. What I found was that the three types of energy are much more different than I imagined. Magic energy is influenced by the user''s mind, that''s why it''s so important to have a clear picture of the magic you''re going to use, this energy can deal moderate damage both physically and energy. Ki is energy that acts on the user''s body and responds to instincts, some who are considered talented can use it in their weapons and armor as well, this energy can do extreme physical damage, but it doesn''t have much effect against other forms of energy as magical barriers. Spiritual energy is easily influenced by its user''s emotions, usually, if you need to be an energy race or have a contract with a creature of that race to use this energy, this energy can do extreme damage to other forms of energy, but its damage. is minimal on physical targets. Reading about this I realized that Ki and spiritual power are very specialized and opposites, whereas magical energy is not specialized but can be used in more situations and is flexible. Everything I learned in this world surprised me, but it also showed me infinite possibilities. In the book, it is said that few people try to learn more than one type of energy, because it takes time, study, training, and a lot of effort to use these energies to their full potential. Those who can train in two types of energy are considered geniuses, and I have only one case recorded of someone who successfully trained in all three types of energy, that would be a Summoned Hero a thousand years ago. This shows that it can be difficult but not impossible to learn the three types of energy. In my case I took some shortcuts, which others trained and struggled for years to learn I acquired eating the bandits and monsters, I already have the three skills to feel these energies, I just need to have all the skills to control them. I may have taken a shortcut, but that just leaves me at the starting point for each energy, it doesn''t make me stronger either, it just gives me more possibilities. The book also mentioned that the saints of religions had another type of energy, but it was just a quote, there was no explanation or name of what type of energy this would be, it made me understand that I cannot consider the information in these books as complete, this world has many secrets and I have to keep an open mind if I want to have a good life here. ------------- After reading about the energies I stopped to eat some fruit that Ibuki brought me to my room, then I picked up another book, this one talking about alchemy. I spent a few hours reading it and came to the conclusion that I didn''t understand anything, one of the reasons I don''t understand anything is that it talks about many ingredients and skills that I don''t know. Knowing this I ask rica to get a book like the encyclopedia of magical plants, ingredients for alchemy, and medicines, this book was too big so I didn''t even try to read it in its entirety, I just researched the ingredients that the alchemy book mentioned. I also had to ask for a book that describes several common skills, my web nest was with three books open in front of me, I always try to research an ingredient or skill, it was exhausting and time-consuming work for my mind. I spent the entire afternoon doing this, it''s been a long time since I study like that, the last time was before I was admitted to the hospital in my previous life, at that time I was researching Asian mythologies, I wanted to create a game aimed at an Asian audience. ------------ When it was already night I closed all the books and learned many things. I learned that elemental affinities are important not only for combat work, works aimed at creation like alchemy also use elemental affinities. There are potions for everything, such as poisons, antidotes, recovery, Stamina, cleansing, to increase resistance to some element, to temporarily increase one''s physical status, or even potions to grow hair. There are also attack potions, these potions are dropped on a target, and when the bottle breaks it can cause an explosion, freezing, poison cloud, etc. To create potions not only the ingredients are needed, but also depending on the Alchemist''s elemental affinities and abilities, for example, an Alchemist with an elemental affinity for fire can create an explosive potion, but cannot create a freezing potion, this is not limited just for attack potions but also with many others. I also learned that not all Alchemists choose to work peacefully in a lab, there are combat Alchemists too, they are rare but they are very versatile. For Combat Alchemists two skills are of utmost importance, one is [ Potion Control: 1 ] which allows them to manipulate their potions and mix them quickly by floating in front of you and the other skill is [ Potion Multiplication: 1 ] This skill allows you to use a drop of potion to create more of the same potion, a drop can turn into a liter or ten liters of potion depending on the skill level, but the Alchemist''s magic energy is consumed in proportion to the amount created and the potion multiplied with this ability will only exist temporarily, it has to be used right after creation or it will disappear. Combat Alchemists are known to carry several potion bottles that they use to mix during combat to create a wide variety of attacks. I was very surprised with the way Alchemists fight, from the description the book speaks they must be weak in hand-to-hand combat but must be able to create potions of recovery, support, strengthening, and attack for themselves or their comrades. It was an eye-opener for me to read this book, it seems I can''t underestimate anyone for their work, there are countless ways for someone to become strong in this world. "Have you finished reading?" (rica) At some point rica had entered the room without me noticing, I think I was so immersed in my reading and my thoughts that I didn''t pay much attention to my surroundings. "I''m done for today." (I) "I was very surprised with the Alchemists, I didn''t think there was a way for them to fight too." (I) "The master is talking about Combat Alchemists?" (rica) "Yes." (I) "These Alchemists are very strange, they are rare but most of them choose to become adventurers." (rica) "Why?" (I) "By ingredients, the Alchemists who choose the path of combat are usually those who want to look for hard-to-find or rare ingredients, they also like to see the effect of their potions." (rica) "They are people who are fanatical about their work who want to use it to its full potential." (rica) "So it''s people who chose to source their ingredients themselves." (I) "Alchemist work is expensive work, they use a lot of ingredients and usually spend their lives making the same potions over and over again." (rica) "But all combat Alchemists make a wide variety of options, they are always researching new potions or new ways to create the same potion." (rica) "They like to travel, they do it to find new ingredients and new recipes." (rica) "I understand." (I) "It''s already getting dark, where is Ibuki?" (I) "She''s getting a bucket of water from the river nearby." (rica) "Kira hasn''t come back yet, has she met Diana?" (I) "I think the master shouldn''t worry." (rica) "If something had happened to Diana the master would know, as she is her familiar the master must know when she is in danger and if she dies the master will feel his connection to her being severed." (rica) "You mean since I haven''t felt anything so far she must be fine, right." (I) "Yes." (rica) "But even if I understand what you''re talking about, I''ll just feel comfortable when she comes back and I see she''s okay with my own eyes." (I) Chapter 87: Auction Information Diana Pov: I''m surprised by the friend Mari told me to be the deputy master of the Guild of Commerce, after reading the letter he looks at me as if he''s sizing me up before putting a serious smile on his face. "Good afternoon Miss Diana." (Wilson) "Good afternoon, just call me Diana, as I told the receptionist just now, I''m not Nobility." (I) "You may be being very humble Diana." (Wilson) "You may not be from a noble family, but there are few who have such a noble character to save others in a difficult situation." (Wilson) "..." (I) sigh "Mari mentioned the mission in the letter?" (I) "Looks like I''m going to have to talk to her about divulging information." (I) "The letter doesn''t say anything about that, all it says is that you are a great friend of hers and Carlos, it also says that you are a great adventurer." (Wilson) "You may not have lost it yet, but you''ve already become a celebrity in this town, especially among other adventurers." (Wilson) "As a merchant, I hear a lot of rumors, since yesterday I''ve been hearing how a single adventurer saved dozens of adventurers in the middle of an unfavorable battle against the Undead." (Wilson) "I wasn''t the only one helping others there." (I) "But it''s the one that contributed the most, have you heard what they''re calling you?" (Wilson) "Yes." (I) "Being known as the "Guardian Wolf" shows a lot of her character and personal nobility." (Wilson) "(How far have these rumors gone?)" (I) "(Why did this have to happen? The master warned me not to draw too much attention and now the whole town knows who I am.)" (I) "Don''t feel bad Miss Diana, this title will open many doors for you." (Wilson) "Please sit down." (Wilson) He asks me to sit in one of the visiting chairs in front of his desk, I go over to one and start talking to him. "Mari commented in the letter why I came here?" (I) "Yes, you are interested in buying the Trigan mansion, right?" (Wilson) "Is that the name of the mansion that is full of miasma?" (I) "Looks like you don''t know much about the mansion." (Wilson) "A friend told me about the rumors." (I) "So she knows about how everyone who had been in the mansion for twenty years died in an unknown way and about the miasma?" (Wilson) "Yes, I''m not worried about the miasma, the story from twenty years ago won''t scare me either, I have someone with a contract with a Spirit in my group anyway, so if there are ghosts in the mansion there won''t be any problems." (I) "Mrs. Mari said in the letter that you intend to live with your group at the mansion." (Wilson) "Yes." (I) "If you already know so much and still want to buy then I''m happy to talk about it, I''ve been trying to sell this mansion for over ten years." (Wilson) "Normally a mansion like this, with such a large plot of land would be worth twelve crystal pieces." (Wilson) "But as the place has been abandoned for twenty years, it will need maintenance which brings the price down to ten crystal pieces." (Wilson) "Due to the property''s bloody history and perpetual miasma on the property, the price drops to below half to four crystal pieces." (Wilson) "Since you have a letter of recommendation from the Adventurers'' Guild I will give a special discount just for you, the final value will be three crystal pieces or thirty thousand gold pieces." (Wilson) "I''m willing to pay." (I) "Won''t you want to look at the property first before we close the deal?" (Wilson) "If Mari trusts you, then so do I." (I) "I''ll need your help with the maintenance of the house, I''ll also want your help with some renovations." (I) "This can be expensive, given the conditions you already know of the property, most construction companies will not take this job." (Wilson) "But you said most not all, so you have someone in mind." (I) "There is a dwarf construction company in the city, they are the best but their price is a little expensive compared to other companies, they are the only ones that would not be much affected by the miasma." (Wilson) "I''ll leave it to you then." (I) "I''ll need to know what types of renovations you have in mind so I can budget them before I give them to you." (Wilson) "You have to keep in mind that you''re going to pay the cost of materials and labor." (Wilson) "I already have all the paperwork here where it is described what my group and I will want, here is also the money for the purchase of the house." (I) I take out the papers where the master wrote down and drew what he wanted from the renovations, I also took a small leather bag that only contains three crystal coins, I put everything on the table. I pay the house upfront knowing that someone like the deputy master of the Guild of Commerce wouldn''t try to cheat me, especially knowing that I have friends like the master of the Adventurers'' Guild. "You can come here in two days and I''ll have the budget ready." (Wilson) "Thanks." (I) "I should be grateful, for the last few months the Duke has been pressuring me to sell the Trigan mansion, now I''ll have good news to give him." (Wilson) "In two days I will have all the documentation and deed of ownership ready for you." (Wilson) "Will the deed be in your name or someone else''s name?" (Wilson) "It will be in my name." (I) "(The master doesn''t have Kingdom documentation, doesn''t have a Guild card either after we discussed it Erica said I should buy it in my name.)" (I) "Then I think we''re done here Diana, it''s a pleasure doing business with you." (Wilson) "Then I think I''m leaving, bye Mr. Wilson." (I) I say goodbye to him and head towards the door which is opened by the same receptionist who brought me here. "Allow me to escort you to the exit, Diana?" (receptionist) "Thanks." (Diana) The receptionist leads me through the corridors we passed earlier, he escorts me downstairs to the main door of the Guild of Commerce where he bows politely. "The Trade Guild appreciates your sponsorship, come back whenever you need it." (receptionist) "Thank you for joining me, see you later." (I) I decide to go back to my room at the inn and wait for Kira there, I''m still tired. ------------ Pov Kira: After we leave the restaurant Diana and I split up, she goes to the Trade Guild and I go to the Black Market. On the way, I took off my disguise and put on my mask. I have two reasons to go there this time, the first is to get the demonic magic that Erica needs to be able to transform into a human, it would also be good to get some items that can hide someone''s status from being seen by items or people who have the skills of the Evaluation type. The second reason was Diana''s idea to find out more information about the annual Black Market auction, I have to find out the exact date and if possible see the catalog of items or at least know if what we''re looking for is going to be there. I hope I won''t belong there, I wanted to go home with Diana, but I think I''ll have to go back alone as she still wants to buy a mansion for the master. "(If I finish before mid-afternoon I may have time to go back today.)" (I) I followed the same paths as before and went straight to the commercial area of ??the city, in a dark and hidden alley there is a gun shop that sells only poor quality guns, I go into this shop that is in the same horrible condition as before and I go straight to the counter where the bald middle-aged man is. "I would like to buy fruit, how much does it cost?" (I) "He doesn''t sell fruit here, get out!" (bald man) "Give me eleven then." (I) "..." (bald man) The middle-aged bald man gets up from his chair behind the counter and goes to a door behind him, I follow him silently and enter the same secret passage in a closet as before, where I go through the realtor to a stark black door. The passwords are different depending on the day of the week, normally no one goes to the Black Market just important people, usually an intermediary is used when someone wants to contact the Black Market, but I like to sort things out myself. knock knock knock I knock three times and the door opens, I walk in and the door closes behind me. I look around and see the same luxurious room as before, sitting on the sofa is the same beautiful Black Market receptionist looking at me with her perpetual friendly smile on her face. "Please have a seat, my name is Nira and I will be her receptionist today." (Nira) I walk over to the sofa opposite and sit across from the receptionist named Nira. "It''s good to see you again Nira." (I) "I''m here for two reasons today, let''s start with the first one." (I) "I want to buy a book that has human transformation demonic magic and some items to block its status from being seen by items or people with Rating-type abilities." (I) "Wait a moment please, I''ll check our in-stock items and their values." (Nira) Nira takes out a read crystal and an information crystal that she inserts into the read crystal, she spends a few minutes looking at it and then hands me over for me to see. "We have a book that has ten basic demonic spells that contain the spell you want, it''s costing a hundred gold coins." (Nira) "And this is the list of the status hide items you want, it has a picture of the item and the item''s level next to it." (Nira) "The list is organized from the highest level to the lowest level, prices are also described on the side." (Nira) I scroll through the list and see necklaces, rings, bracelets, anklets, earrings, brooches, etc. I decided to buy twenty items of the highest level, I choose to do this to have for our future companions, and I choose the higher-level ones because they are more effective against more powerful assessment skills. After choosing I return the reading and information crystals to Nira, I point out the items I want for her. "I''ll want the book and these twenty status concealment items." (I) She closes her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again with a twinkle in her eyes, all this without ever leaving her friendly smile. "The total is fourteen thousand gold coins." (Nira) I reiterate a bag containing two crystal coins and leave it on the table, I knew these hiding items would be expensive so I came prepared, these items will be very important to our group from now on. Nira picks it up and checks inside her bag, then she sets the bag down on the table again as she looks at me. "What more do you want?" (Nira) "Last time you talked about the annual auction, I would like to know more information such as the exact date and if possible the catalog of items that will be in the auction." (I) "I''ll write the date on a piece of paper, you can come to this same room on the date I''ll give you." (Nira) "I can let you see the catalog, but you won''t be able to see the best items, they won''t be reported until auction day." (Nira) Nira takes another information crystal from her storage item and swaps it with the one in the read crystal, then hands it to me for me to see. "This is the catalog." (Nira) "Thanks." (I) I see many items for sale, half of them are not prohibited but must be stolen items, the other half are prohibited items such as rare poisons, books with prohibited knowledge, illegal slaves, etc. I step-item by item seeing its photo and description as well as its starting price, I pay more attention when I get to the slaves'' part. As I imagined, there are four Alchemists and two Blacksmiths, unfortunately, I don''t see any tailors. As someone who has always worked with espionage, murder, and robbery, I always had a good memory, just reading and looking at the photos I have already recorded everything in my memory and I can pass it all on to the master. It only took me ten to fifteen minutes to go through the catalog, once I''m done I pass the reading and information crystals back to Nira. "Do you want anything else?" (Nira) "No, that was all." (I) "Please wait here, I''ll get the goods you bought." (Nira) Nira packs the crystals and the bag with the two coins before getting up and walking out the door behind her, after a few minutes she comes back and sits on the couch across from me. "Here are all the items you requested and the change for your money." (Nira) Nira hands me a white leather bag which I pick up and check, this is a storage item with space for thirty items, I check and see that all the items are inside. "The storage item is a bonus for your sponsorship by purchasing so many quality items with us." (Nira) "Appreciate." (I) "I hope we meet again." (Nira) "Until the Nira auction." (I) I get up and walk out the way I came in, as soon as I leave the store I walk from alley to alley before finding a good place to hide, then take off my mask and activate my Illusion Spirit Ring to put on my White Elf disguise before I go to the inn where Diana is staying. Chapter 88: Reading time interrupted Pov Kira: As soon as I arrive at the Inn and am about to go in, I see Diana approaching, it seems that she also finished sooner than expected. "Have you ended up in the Trade Guild yet?" (I) "It''s alright, I only have to go back there in two days to finish some things." (Diana) "You were quick too, have you finished what you had to do?" (Diana) "Yes, I was planning on coming back later today." (I) "We''d better continue our conversation in your room." (I) "Alright, let''s go inside." (Diana) Diana and I enter the inn and go straight to the bedroom, so I sit in a wooden chair and she collapses onto the bed. "Apparently you are still tired." (I) "Nothing more than a day or two of rest won''t do." (Diana) "How was the Commerce Guild?" (I) "I found out that Mari''s friend she told me to look for who would help me buy the mansion is actually the deputy master of the Commerce Guild." (Diana) "His name is Wilson Williams, I already paid him for the house in advance, I don''t think the Guild vice master would try to rob me, the house price was three crystal pieces." (Diana) "It was cheaper than I expected." (I) "He will provide the paperwork for the sale and will make a budget on the renovations that the master asked for with the best construction company in the city." (Diana) "I have to go back there in two days to finish this stuff." (Diana) "I''m coming home soon, the master must still be worried about you." (I) "Here, I bought this wolf ornament bracelet for you, this is a status hiding item, I don''t need it as my mask already has this effect even if I''m not wearing it, as long as you''re around me it keeps the effect." (I) I hand her the bracelet and explain how it works, she can use her Mana to charge her or use magic cores. "You''re lucky, I wanted to go home too." (Diana) "What you are doing here is important, you are looking for our next house, so I must come back here so don''t worry." (I) "I''ll leave those six thousand gold pieces with you." (I) "Thanks." (Diana) "See you later." (Diana) "Bye, take care until I get back." (I) I leave the inn and go back to my normal appearance in one of the darkest alleys I found while putting on my mask, then head to the clandestine exit to return to the master. ----------- Zenos Pov: I was meeting rica and Ibuki in my room, it''s starting to get dark now, rica is trying to reassure me that if anything had happened to Diana I would know because she is my family member. "I appreciate you trying to calm me down rica, but the fact that I''m worried won''t change until I hear from Diana." (I) While we were talking I heard a knocking noise coming from outside. "rica, I want you and Ibuki to go see who''s knocking on the gate." (I) "If you''re an adventurer try to capture if possible, if you can''t capture then you can kill if it''s an attacking monster you can kill, but if it''s a smart monster try to capture." (I) "I''ll go right now, let''s go Ibuki." (rica) "Let''s go." (Ibuki) They leave the room, it took them ten minutes to get back and Kira was with them, luckily it wasn''t an attack. "It was just Kira knocking for us to open the gate." (rica) "Sorry for the delay master." (Kira) "Glad to see you okay Kira." (I) "Got any news from Diana?" (me) "You don''t need to worry, she''s fine, the special mission was a success and she''s in town." (Kira) Sigh "I am happy with that." (I) "Did she give you any information about what happened that day?" (I) "Yes, I''ll tell you everything she told me and the rumors in town." (Kira) Kira told me everything Diana told me, she told me the number of adventurers who participated in this special mission and their ratings, she told me about how the numbers of Undead was much higher than expected, she told me about how some adventurers died and dozens were seriously injured, she told me about the dungeon they found underground and talked about the rumors about Diana that are spreading through the town of Valen. "So she did exactly what I asked her not to do, she put herself in danger to help others instead of running away to protect herself." (I) "I already knew she wouldn''t be standing around seeing others in danger, the master has to understand that she is incapable of not helping someone who is in danger right in front of her." (rica) "As far as I knew she wasn''t in much danger, things were tough but she was one of the strongest adventurers there." (Kira) "The only time she was really in danger was when she tried to help that adventurer who stabbed her to get away." (Kira) "You would probably do the same in her place, perhaps if you put yourself in even more danger to help others." (rica) "..." (I) I wanted to deny what rica said, but when I thought about how the battle was going when I shared Diana''s senses, I had to admit that she would do the same thing. Maybe it''s because I grew up in an orphanage always trying to help other kids or I always hired those who were in difficult situations for the companies I had when I was older, but I''ve just noticed that I can''t sit around seeing others in problems. Sigh "You don''t need it but still help, it just shows you have character." (rica) "You don''t help others as naively as Diana did when she tried to help someone who was on the run, but you would definitely help those who didn''t." (Kira) "No sense in helping someone who gave up before the end." (I) "We ended up getting off-topic, how is Diana now?" (I) "She''s tired, she got overwhelmed during the battle, but nothing a few days'' rest doesn''t do." (Kira) "That''s nice." (I) "I must tell you that Diana has become famous in the city." (Kira) "Why?" (I) "Diana helped many adventurers during the special mission and saved dozens who were seriously injured, for her actions she is being called the Guardian Wolf." (Kira) "I''m glad others see her value." (I) "Do you have anything else to say?" (I) "Yes I am, she asked to tell you that she will do what she asked before she left." (I) "What did I order?" (I) "She asked me to let me know that she is buying a mansion, in two days she will receive the documents and order the renovations you asked for." (Kira) "With what happened to her I had already forgotten about that." (I) "I''m glad everything is going well, I don''t want to draw too much attention, Diana''s sudden fame should pass in a few weeks so there won''t be any problems." (I) "..." (Kira) "Why this face Kira?" (rica) "Still have anything else to say Kira?" (I) "There''s actually something you need to know about this mansion Diana is buying." (Kira) Kira told me everything she knew about the mansion which consisted of the vague stories from twenty years ago and the rumors circulating among the city''s underworld organizations. "..." (rica/I) "The good thing is that the mansion came out at a price far below what it''s really worth." (Kira) "The miasma problem is not a problem for our group either." (Kira) "You did well buying this mansion, the problem is the mystery of what happened twenty years ago there, it feels like I''m walking into a horror movie." (I) "Another problem is that the Duke and the King can pay attention to our group." (I) "Why does the master think that?" (rica) "I don''t know if the King will mind, but the Duke must surely want to know who is buying his dead friend''s house he''s been trying to sell for years." (I) "I had already thought about it, but he shouldn''t investigate us, master, as long as we don''t do anything suspicious he won''t do anything." (Kira) "At the most, he should ask the Adventurers Guild master''s opinion of Diana and her new Group." (Kira) "I hope you''re right." (I) "I want you to go back to town tomorrow, I have two things I want you to do." (I) "I want you to go to the Assassin Guild and get information about the people who lived in the mansion for twenty years and everything you have about the incident." (I) "I also want you to look for information about nobles who have been acting strangely or more prejudiced in recent weeks." (I) "I get it, I''m leaving tomorrow morning." (Kira) "You can go back with Diana." (I) After the conversation rica went to the first round of surveillance and Kira was going to take the second round, I asked to let Ibuki rest today. After everyone left my room I went back to studying alchemy, I was going to stop for today, but now that I know Diana is fine my mind is lighter, there''s not much I can do either besides reading these books. I study the alchemy book, always stopping to research the ingredients it talks about, I learned that it''s not just the blind mixing of ingredients, they have to put in the right amounts, they also need to put energy into the potions, the vast majority are made with magic, the Alchemist uses a magical reagent made from dust from monster cores and once the potion is ready the Alchemist has to fill it with mana. I spent most of the night finishing reading the alchemy book before I stopped and went to sleep, tomorrow I''m going to take a day off and go without reading anything. It''s not just any use studying, I need to take time to reflect on everything I''ve studied and internalize everything I''ve learned, I also need to rest my mind a little for the next round of studies, so I stopped my reading time for a day. Chapter 89: Seeking information Pov Kira: As soon as I checked I met the master and gave my report, after that he told me what I should do. For some reason the master wants me to look for information about the family that lived in the mansion, when I asked him why, he said he wanted to know everything possible so as not to make the same mistakes as the characters in horror movies, I don''t know which is a horror movie but if the master wants that info then I''ll give it to him. He also wants information about nobles acting strangely or prejudiced in recent weeks, I can understand the hopes that the effects of the cursed item used by the five nobles who will attack the third prince of Cartoza are already causing them to lose control if they do. controlling their actions can give us clues about who they are. After my watch shift, I see that the day is dawning, I go inside and find rica getting up. "Good morning rica." (I) "Good morning Kira." (rica) "Why are you waking up so early?" (I) "I haven''t been able to sleep well these past few days." (rica) "I was worried about Diana and I was worried about the master who instead of resting has been buried in books." (rica) "Don''t worry, the master knows what he does." (Kira) After talking to rica I went to pack my things, so I went back to talking to rica until the master woke up so I could say goodbye before I left. "Remember to take care of yourself, if something happens you can count on Diana." (Zenos) "Try to amuse you and Diana too." (Zenos) "I will remember this." (I) "I have to go now, even a few days from now, master." (I) I leave the camp and head towards the town of Valen. ----------- It took me a few hours and I managed to avoid all the monsters and adventurers I encountered along the way. As soon as I arrive in the city I enter through the same clandestine tunnel as always, after I am inside the city I go straight to the Inn of the Eternal Traveler, I hope to find Diana still sleeping. On the way I disguise myself as a White Elf, remove my mask and change my clothes then enter the inn, the inn owner already knows me for always seeing me with Diana and lets me go up to his room, he also told me that she hasn''t yet got down. knock knock knock I knock on the door and wait but she doesn''t open the door so I knock harder. TOC TOC TOC "Who is the bastard that bothers me so early in the morning!?" (Diana) Soon I hear someone walking hastily to the door, then the door opens violently and I see Diana with messy hair and wrinkled clothes, her face showed she was furious so she was confused to recognize me. "..." (Diana) "Good morning, you look awful." (I) "I thought you went back to camp." (Diana) "I came back, but the master told me to go back to town to do some things for him." (I) "But did you really need to wake me up so early?" (Diana) "No, but I thought it would be fun and the master said we should have fun." (I) "You bastard, let''s go inside." (Diana) Diana was furious again to hear that I was just kidding like her, but she still lets me in. As soon as I walk in she crawls back to the bed and throws herself on it, I close the door and pull out a wooden chair. "What did the master say? Is he alright?" (Diana) "He''s better but he''s going to need to rest for a few more days." (I) "rica is getting worried about him, as you may already know he can''t sit still and since he can''t get up he''s been spending all day reading and studying the books we carry." (I) "So he is not resting, as expected from the master, nothing is capable of him." (Diana) "What more did he ask for." (Diana) "He wants me to get some information, but it''s too early for me to go, I have to wait until mid-afternoon." (I) "Since you didn''t have anything to do until the afternoon you came here to bother me?" (Diana) "Yes." (I) "..." (Diana) I talked to Diana for a while, she chose not to go back to sleep, so she got up and got ready before going downstairs with me to eat. After eating something at the inn, we both walked through the shopping district and then went to the Commerce Guild where the best shops are. We went straight to the second floor where they asked to check the Guild cards, I didn''t have a card so I went in as Diana''s escort. We came because Diana needed leather armor and new swords, the ones she had been in ruins after the special mission. ------------ Diana took a long time choosing her swords, while she waited I bought two daggers for myself too. I took the opportunity to get some of the gold coins I left with her last time. When we left the Guild of Commerce it was almost mid-afternoon, I said goodbye to Diana and was supposed to meet her at dusk in front of the fountain in the town square. I go from alley to alley and change my clothes, put on my mask, and deactivate the illusory spirit ring. I go to the street where the brothels are and enter the same alley where the hidden door is, enter and follow to the darkroom with a single table and two chairs lit by a magic item on the table. I walk over to the table and sit down, wait a few minutes before I hear the noise of a door opening and closing, then I see Lucas walking over to me and taking a seat across from me. "Nice to see you again." (Lucas) "Good to see you too." (I) "I''m glad your mate is doing well after the mission." (Lucas) "..." (I) "You don''t have to look at me like that, it''s my job to know, you should know that by now." (Lucas) "You know I don''t like being watched." (I) "So what do you need this time?" (Lucas) "I want information about the former residents of Trigan Manor, also I want everything you know about what happened there twenty years ago." (I) "..." (Lucas) "For you to search for that mansion you must be thinking about going there, forget it, even I couldn''t find out much of what happened there." (Lucas) "Are you sure you can talk so much." (I) "Don''t worry, I''ve already sent all the guards away, it''s just the two of us here." (Lucas) "You aren''t by any chance thinking of living in that mansion, are you?" (Lucas) "As you yourself will soon find out anyway, my mate is already buying the mansion." (I) "The place doesn''t look dangerous, but I don''t like a place where I don''t know what happened." (Lucas) "I don''t either, that''s why I have this information." (I) "Anything else?" (Lucas) "I also want to ask for an investigation." (I) "I want to know if any nobles have been acting strange lately and if any nobles have been doing or speaking prejudiced things in the past few weeks more than usual." (I) "You ordered this more quickly than I anticipated." (Lucas) "I already have both pieces of information for you." (Lucas) "I had already investigated the Trigan mansion and its occupants years ago." (Lucas) "About the information about the nobles, after your last visit I figured you''d come back asking for that information, so I had them look into it for me." (Lucas) "If you knew I would need this information why didn''t you tell me last time?" (I) "My job is just to sell information, not advise others." (Lucas) "..." (I) "But I knew that sooner or later you would come back for that information." (Lucas) "How much will everything cost?" (I) "Seventeen gold coins." (Lucas) "Here it is." (I) I pull a bag out of my bracelet, then take seventeen gold coins out of it and place them on the table. Lucas takes it and gets up, he goes to one of the dark corners of the room and disappears into the darkness, after a few minutes he comes back and sits down again in front of me, and places two information crystals on the table. "Here is the information you asked for, it''s always a pleasure to do business with you." (Lucas) "Equally." (I) "May I ask you a question?" (Lucas) "You''ve helped me a lot, ask what you want." (I) "Are you happy?" (Lucas) "..." (I) I look at Lucas and see him with a genuinely serious face, I try to think why this question was asked, but nothing comes to mind so I just decide to be honest. "Yes, I haven''t been so happy for many years." (I) "..." (Lucas) Lucas looks at me as if to confirm my answer, then he flashes a cheery smile. "That''s good then." (Lucas) "Now I have to go, there are a lot of things I have to do." (Lucas) "I''m coming too, see you Lucas." (I) I leave the same place I came from, go from alley to alley back to the inn, choose an abandoned house to put my disguise back on before I get there. knock knock As soon as I arrive I go straight to Diana''s room, knock on the door, and walk-in when she opens the door. "Back quickly." (Diana) "I got everything I needed." (I) Looks like we both finished what we had to do early, so we don''t need to meet at the fountain. I talked to Diana until nightfall, so we went to eat and drink at a restaurant during the night. Then we went to sleep, the day was very busy but it was fun, this was the first time I went shopping or drinking with a friend, the master was right, I have to learn to have more fun like I did today. With these thoughts, I close my eyes and go to sleep. Chapter 90: The way to go Pov rica: Things have been hectic lately, the special mission Diana participated in, the auction Kira will participate in, the mansion Diana will buy, the master sharing Diana''s senses to save her, etc. While so many things have happened I could only stay here at the camp training my magic, because of my race the master doesn''t let me out to help as he does with Diana and Kira. But now that Kira has brought me this book with demonic spells I can start learning human transformation magic, with this being the status concealment item Kira bought I can finally be of some use to the master. Today is the day Kira is heading back to Valen City to get information, I accompanied her to the gate along with Ibuki as the master still can''t stand up. After she left I go to the master to try to convince him to stop reading and studying all these books so he doesn''t get overwhelmed, I thought it would be difficult to convince him, but for the peace of my mind, it was just the opposite. "You don''t need to worry rica, I''m just going to rest and reflect on a few things today." (Zenos) "Promise not to read many books and just rest?" (I) "Yes." (Zenos) "Thankfully, I thought I''d spend a lot of time trying to reason with you as you''re not letting your mind rest." (I) "I know I have a bad habit of overworking myself, but that''s why I want to be strong and capable enough to protect you." (Zenos) "I know that all you do is think about me and the others, but none of that matters if you get that way from overworking yourself." (I) "I thought that since you couldn''t even stand up, you would finally rest, but instead spend your days studying these books from the time you wake up until the time you go to sleep." (I) "This time I''m serious, I know I need some rest, so I''ll leave it to continue reading my books tomorrow." (Zenos) "So since I can be more relaxed with you resting I can concentrate on my training to learn human transformation magic." (I) "Kira brought the book?" (Zenos) "Yes, I''ll spend the morning reading and leave it to practice for the afternoon." (I) "I wish you luck in your training." (Zenos) "Thank you, master." (I) After leaving the master''s room I leave the cabin and sit under a tree to read the book. ------------ I spent the entire morning reading the book, just the part about the magic of human transformation. I found that magic is not difficult to learn, in fact, all it does is suppress the demonic bloodline and change the color of skin, hair, and eyes, then use a retraction spell to turn the horns, wings, and tail into energy and retract to the body. This spell is only possible because a Demon''s body is already integrated with its Mana, that''s why Demons are better at using magic, it''s also why Strengthening spells are stronger on them. Because of the suppression of the demonic bloodline caused by this spell, the Fiends are much weaker when using it, but now that I know how to use it I see it''s not difficult, the spell''s effect doesn''t last but will consume my Mana every three hours, nothing that will bother me with my current Mana and Mana regeneration. All I need now is practice, but I''m going to get ahead of the food first, Ibuki and I found a bird''s nest yesterday, so we''re going to have hard-boiled eggs today. ------------- Zenos Pov: All I want today is to rest, I need to relax a little and go over everything I''ve learned since I came to this world. It''s not enough just to force me to keep going, sometimes to take a real step forward you have to contemplate your way to where you are, to know what to do and where to go. There''s a saying in my old world that you have to know where you came from, to know where you''re going. This is the time for me to know where I came from, I chose to do this now not only because I''m unable to get up from my nest of lines, but because more and more I realize how much I''m changing. I had already realized that I have no hesitation in killing, at first I thought it was because I didn''t care about the death of criminals, I thought so because the only people I killed in this world were bandits. But little by little I realized that I was discarding monsters as intelligent beings, an example of this is Ibuki who was my first companion. I saw how the Goblins used one of their own as bait, I saw how they trained their children and I saw how they treated women, it was because I denied their actions as intelligent beings, which in my view was unforgivable that I felt nothing when killing them. But it was different for the adventurer who attacked Diana from behind, he wasn''t evil, he was just a desperate coward, he didn''t attack Diana out of prejudice and knew that what he was doing was wrong, his decision to do that came purely from the mind of someone who gave in to fear and despair. I didn''t need to have killed him, but I don''t regret it either, if I had to do it all over again I would still have killed him, regardless of whether I understood what he was going through or not, the fact that he hurt Diana and left her for dead is unforgivable for me. Just the thought of killing someone in cold blood without feeling anything and knowing I would do it again with no regrets made me realize I''d changed. Now I realized that along the way it wasn''t just my body and monster instincts that were changing me, but every decision I made and everything I did shape my mind and personality. I''m no longer the frail orphan, I''m no longer the invalid man trapped in a hospital bed, I''m no longer the confused and desperate Leech, I''m no longer a human either, I didn''t even realize that along my path I kept drifting away. more than what was left of my humanity, that''s not bad, I have to free myself from the way I thought, that I learned from a peaceful world to find out how I''m going to live in this dangerous world. rica and Diana have already told me that it is normal for adventurers and soldiers to kill bandits, Kira told me that it is normal for small villages to suffer from hunger or epidemics, because of Kira''s story, it is also possible to realize that corruption in this world is not as simple as stealing money of the government, many lives are ruined as in the case of Kira and her old village. In this world, the weak are at the mercy of those who are stronger or those who have more authority, if I keep myself stuck in old ways of thinking I would only be putting myself and the girls in danger. What I have to do now that I''ve realized what I''ve become is find out what I want to become, I have to figure out how not to let me change beyond what is necessary to not stop being myself and become a monster like the Outsiders who reincarnate like monsters and went mad. I have to have a clear line in my mind of what I consider right and wrong, I have to think how far I can go without becoming a real monster. Maybe when I go to live in the city and see how people in this world live, it will be easier for me to adapt to this world. Sigh I miss seeing the starry sky, I''m only a short time in this state, but in this world, the first truly beautiful thing and the one that most impressed me was the starry sky. Seeing this dark sky full of stars with two moons of different colors left a big impression on me, before I found Ibuki it was looking at this sky every night that made me realize how insignificant my problems are, it was looking at this sky that made me see that not everything in this world is ugly and violent, it was this sky full of stars that helped me to stay calm. Every night since I was born in this world I''ve watched this sky, made it a habit to never forget that it''s not all about fighting and surviving, none of that matters if you don''t have a reason to live. It was looking at this sky that I decided to live to see all that this life has to show me, that''s when I took my first step on my journey, I may not see this sky for a few days but I will keep its image in my mind until my last day. I took this day to contemplate everything I''ve been through in this world and think about what I should do from now on, the first part was okay, I was able to see everything I went through from a different perspective and see how much I''ve changed so far. But even now I can''t see the way ahead of me, I don''t know what to expect or do. When I close my eyes I can see myself standing on a path, behind me I can see images of everything I''ve experienced so far when I look up all I see is the starry skies and the two different colored moons, when I look straight ahead I don''t I can see nothing, I see neither the path nor the starry sky, all I see in front of me is darkness, it always scared me, not knowing where to go or what to do, but now that I''ve looked back and contemplated on everything I went through I could finally see what was beside me. Now when I look to my sides I see the girls there with me, somehow it gives me the courage to keep walking through this darkness, if there is no path in front of me I just have to build it with each step. "Master, why are you crying?" (Ibuki) ".." (I) At some point, Ibuki entered the room while his eyes were closed. "Is the master sad?" (Ibuki) "Master doesn''t need to be sad, Ibuki is here with Master." (Ibuki) Ibuki runs to me and throws himself into my arms, she hugs me tightly, I hug her back and pat her head smiling. "I''m not sad Ibuki." (I) "Then why are you crying? Ibuki doesn''t like to see the master crying." (Ibuki) "I''m crying with happiness, I just realized something that made me very happy." (I) "Ibuki doesn''t understand." (Ibuki) "One day you will understand." (I) "Why did you come?" (I) "rica asked Ibuki to see if the master is hungry." (Ibuki) "Yes I am, can you get me some food?" (I) "Yes, Ibuki will be right back." (Ibuki) Ibuki gets up and runs out of the room. "One day I hope you understand how happy I am to have you walking this path by my side." (I) Chapter 91: Ivan Trigans Story Diana Pov: Yesterday I had a fun day with Kira, it was the first time I could see her having fun, normally all she does is follow the master''s order or do something with the master in mind, but yesterday she and I shopped at the weapons and armor stores, we also went out to drink. I was surprised by the prank she played, waking me up yesterday. We both woke up early and got up, got ready for another day walking around the city, after all, it''s only tomorrow that I''ll be able to finalize the purchase of the mansion. "What are we doing today?" (I) "We can do some shopping, we have to buy some clothes for the master and the others." (Kira) "I also need some new clothes, in addition to the dress I wear for my disguise I only have two of the same battle clothes." (Kira) "We can only buy a few, after all, rica wants you to buy a slave with tailoring work." (I) "Really, maybe just two sets of clothes for each one?" (Kira) "I agree." (I) "I also want to buy some reading crystals, I have the Trigan mansion info but I can''t see without a reading crystal." (Kira) "Is that what you came for the master?" (I) "Yes." (Kira) "I must admit I''m also curious about the information about the mansion." (I) "Let''s go get the groceries we need and in the late afternoon we''ll go back to the room so we can see what information you got, what do you think?" (I) "It''s fine by me." (Kira) After we''ve decided what to do Kira puts on her disguise and one of the status concealment items she bought that looks like a simple silver ring, then we head downstairs and out of the inn. We decided to eat at a street stall today on the way to the Trade Guild, it was Kira''s idea to go there, I decided to ask as we walked there. "I still don''t understand why you insist on buying the clothes at the Trade Guild." (I) "That''s why we''re not going to buy normal clothes, we''re going to buy magic clothes that fit the size." (Kira) "I know we have a lot of money, but wouldn''t that be a waste?" (I) "Have you forgotten that Master and Ibuki are monsters?" (Kira) "Unlike you and me that it will take a while to evolve, they will soon evolve again." (Kira) "We need an outfit that can fit their body, we also need an outfit that won''t tear with rica''s Demon''s wings and claws." (Kira) "L see what you mean." (I) "We can take advantage of the fact that we''re there and buy the reading crystal." (I) "I was thinking of passing somewhere on the way back." (Kira) "Where?" (I) "In a slave shop, I was thinking we could see if there''s anyone who looks promising there, as far as I know, there''s only one slave shop that''s regulated by the Trade Guild, if I''m not wrong it must be close to the Guild." (Kira) "It might be good, but what are you looking for, most of these slaves are combat slaves, criminal slaves, or debt slaves." (I) "I don''t think we''re going to find someone who meets any of the master''s requirements." (I) "We have time, so why not give it a try, we can be surprised and find someone." (Kira) "Alright but let''s save that for tomorrow, tonight I want to introduce Mari to you, but first I want to know the mansion information you got." (I) "Alright, let''s do it your way then." (Kira) "But you''re sure to introduce me to her, if she''s as capable and strong as you say she can spot my disguise." (Kira) "You shouldn''t worry about Mari, she respects you a lot or I should say the storm killer." (I) "Like this?" (Kira) "All the nobles you kidnapped and sold as illegal slaves were rubbish, weren''t they?" (I) "Yes, I always researched my victims, I always picked the worst ones to do that, they were a good outlet for my hatred against the noble that enslaved me." (Kira) "As the Guild''s supervisor, she has always received requests from the nobles of the families who were her victims to hunt you down." (I) "As such, she investigated the nobles you kidnapped and discovered the horrible things they did, even though she didn''t approve of your way of doing things she still respected you to go after that rubbish." (I) "She also realized that you never killed any innocents, even the noble guards you avoided killing, most of the reported deaths were of other people in your group, not yours." (I) "The reason I did these things was for selfishness, it was never for justice." (Kira) "When I returned to town with the heads of your bandit group members I reported that you fled, since then there have been no attacks from you." (I) "I don''t know if you''ve noticed yet, but your posters that used to be hung in various places are no longer seen." (I) "Even the poster that used to be at the city gate is no longer there, I noticed that when I was returning from the special mission." (I) "You''re not being wanted anymore, they think you''ve probably left town." (I) "..." (Kira) "To tell you the truth I always intended to tell her about you, not as a storm killer, but as a Gray Elf." (I) "You''re right, no one other than the Assassin Guild master knows my race, gender, or age." (Kira) "Actually thanks to the rumors circulating in the underworld they must think I''m human, male and middle-aged." (Kira) "Where did these rumors come from?" (I) "From me, I spread this information out separately and had to wait months for everyone to piece together the pieces from different places to believe these rumors." (Kira) "Very smart of you." (I) "Thanks." (Kira) As we talked we continued walking until we reached the Commerce Guild. ----------- In the late afternoon, we were back in the inn''s room, Diana threw herself on the bed and I sat on the floor against the wall. "We got everything we wanted." (Kira) "Yes, now use one of the reading crystals to read the information, please read it for me to hear too." (I) "OK." (Kira) I see Kira remove a read crystal from her bracelet, then pull out an information crystal that she has inserted into the read crystal. She spent a few minutes putting her mana into the reading crystal while she was doing something in it before starting to speak. "I''m going to start telling you what the Assassin Guild has on Trigan Manor." (Kira) "Right." (I) "The previous owner of the Trigan mansion was Ivan Trigan, he was Human, the second prince of the Kingdom of Trigan, the one who was known as the Red Knight." (Kira) "He had a rare job known as the Great Knight of Magic, in addition to his prowess in combat he was also known for exemplary handling of both politics and economics but he never had any ambition to become King and ended up abdicating the throne allowing his younger brother the third prince becomes the king after the death of the first prince." (Kira) "Ivan Trigan moved to the city of Valen with his three wives and his daughter where they were welcomed by his childhood friend the current Duke of Valen, as a welcome gift the Duke with the collaboration of the third prince at the time gave the Trigan mansion for him." (Kira) "Who were his wives?" (I) "Looks like the Assassin Guild investigated them as well." (Kira) "The first wife was a White Elf who was the second prince''s magic tutor, she was also known as one of the greatest investigators of ancient magic in the Kingdom." (Kira) "The second wife was a human who once helped escort the second prince with her party, she was a Grade +A adventurer and also a Combat Alchemist." (Kira) "The third wife was Human, she was a captain of the army he commanded and fought in many battles with him, she was known as Battlefield Dancer." (Kira) "Not just him, but all his wives were strong, if they were all so strong then how did they die?" (I) "That''s a good question." (Kira) "There''s a mention that his daughter grew up being coached by his three wives and him, but when she was fifteen they found out she was sick." (Kira) "This is very sad." (I) "Five years after finding out about her daughter''s illness is when it happened that everyone died." (Kira) "On that day there were seventeen maids, fifty guards, four employees who worked helping the current General Ivan with administrative work, and the entire family of Ivan Trigan." (Kira) "None of them reappeared, their bodies were so torn apart that they couldn''t even put the body parts together." (Kira) "In the end, not being able to differentiate between the bodies they were all cremated together, the King built a tomb in the capital to honor his brother at the time." (Kira) "This is very sad, but how could they not find any clues?" (I) "They investigated, there were claw marks all over the mansion and what was left of the bodies, but they didn''t find anything else." (Kira) "Both the Duke and the King investigated, but never found anything, all they found was that all the land belonging to the mansion became a cursed land, they hired priests of many religions but none could clear the curse." (Kira) "It seems that all the curse does is accumulate miasma in the manor lands, after some investigation by the Mages Guild they found that the miasma doesn''t spread beyond the property gates and that no monsters spawn inside, as they couldn''t clean up the place and nothing bad came out of there they left it behind." (Kira) "Did they give up that easy?" (I) "It was not an easy decision, the investigations took two years but had no results, after that only the Duke continued the investigation, but he also dropped out five years ago." (Kira) "And as far as I know, you decided to sell the mansion, didn''t you?" (I) "Yes." (Kira) "All it takes is investigations of all the individuals in the mansion, but it looks like they were all clean, not one of them looked suspicious." (Kira) "This is a mystery." (I) After talking about this information until nightfall we both changed into our new clothes and headed towards the bar where we would meet Mari. Chapter 92: Dungeons At nightfall rica and Ibuki came to my room, our evening meetings to talk became a routine. "How was your day?" (I) "Ibuki trained a lot, Ibuki will get stronger to protect the master." (Ibuki) "Nice job Ibuki, but don''t overdo it, tomorrow I want you to read these two books, no training until you''ve finished reading both." (I) Both are storybooks, one is a story of a boy from a small village who trains and when he grows up he becomes an adventurer, the book tells his whole journey whether it''s happy, sad or difficult times until he becomes a recognized hero. all. The other book is about an orphan girl who struggles to get money, the book tells the girl''s whole life being a beggar, selling items she made herself, using her little money to buy things from one city and sell in a more expensive one and setting up her first store until she became one of the biggest merchants on the continent. I want Ibuki to read these books for several different reasons, first I want her to practice her reading, second I want her to learn more about how to live in society, whether it''s among normal adventurers or merchants and educated people, third I want her too take a break from your physical training so you don''t overload your body. I chose these two books after talking to rica, it will be good to expand Ibuki''s knowledge of the world a little and show how big this world is. "And you rica, how was your day?" (I) "It was a good master." (rica) "Kira got the book with the demonic human transformation spell for me, I spent the morning studying the magic and found that I would need other magic to hide my tail, wings, and horns." (rica) "The two spells seem to complement each other." (me) "You''re right, they complement each other, they''re also not as difficult to learn as I thought." (rica) "I spent the afternoon training both spells, I think in a few days I''ll be ready to use them normally." (rica) "With these spells and the concealment item Kira bought from the Black Market, no one will be able to discover that I''m a Demon." (rica) "That''s fine, keep practicing then." (I) I talked with the girls until late at night, after they left to watch and sleep I went to bed early to rest my brain more. ------------ The next morning I woke up to rica sweeping my room, she was using the broom I had made. "Good morning rica." (I) "Good morning Master." (rica) "I didn''t wake you up, did I?" (rica) "Don''t worry, I woke up early today because I went to bed early last night." (I) "Are you cleaning the cabin?" (I) "I''m cleaning up a bit, I''m not very good at these things, I grew up surrounded by maids who did it for me." (rica) "You''re doing well, I know you''re just like Ibuki, always trying to be helpful." (I) "I will continue to strive master." (rica) After talking a little more with Erica, I let her work and asked her to come to see me when it was over. While she was working I started reading a book that explained the dungeons I asked her to fetch for me. I spent the whole morning reading the book before rica came back, she came into the room with a pitcher of water and a plate of boiled eggs. "Thanks for the food." (I) "That is my duty as your slave." (rica) "So what did you want to talk to me master?" (rica) "Yesterday I was thinking about several things, so I thought a lot about everything I did in this forest." (I) "One thing I noticed in my memories is that there is a monster that I almost didn''t find until now, the name was Flame Snake." (I) "I wonder if you know why neither I nor the others encountered this monster during the hunt?" (I) "I know why, Kira and Diana probably do too." (rica) "Then explain to me please." (I) "This monster is not original from this forest, it must be a monster that came out of the Dungeon of the Great Serpent, a Grade S Dungeon near the city of Valen." (rica) "A few months ago there was a wave of monsters in that dungeon, due to that many Snake-type monsters came out and spread through the forest, the monster the master encountered must be one of the few left after months of hunting adventurers." (rica) "Diana and you guys had already told me about the two dungeons you have in this town, which is the other one?" (I) "The other dungeon is called Blood Dungeon, this is another Grade S dungeon." (rica) "Could you tell me more about these two dungeons?" (I) "I''ll do my best, but I don''t know much about them, Diana never let me in on either of them." (rica) "The reason this city is the headquarters of the Alchemist Guild rather than the Kingdom Capital is because of these two dungeons." (rica) "In one, you can get most of the known poisons and in the other, you can get the blood of rare monsters with rare bloodlines, those two things are what the Alchemists want in this town." (rica) "I see, thanks for the explanation." (I) "Do you want to know anything else?" (rica) "No, that''s all thanks." (I) After talking to rica I ate the food she brought and then went back to reading the book. I could understand why Guild Headquarters chose to stay in this city, but I still didn''t know how a dungeon formed, what it was like inside it, or what a dungeon was, so I continued reading the book until nightfall, it was a book thick that explained almost everything about the dungeons. I found out that there are two types of dungeons, one that is naturally formed and one that is formed by a curse. A normal dungeon is formed by the world itself in areas where it has a high concentration of miasma or energy, dungeons regulate the miasma or energy around them so as not to spread and get out of control. Dungeons take shape from their environment, they use the elements and the surrounding environment as the basis for what it will become, if the dungeon is at sea it will be a water dungeon most of the time, if it is in the mountains it will be a dungeon from caves or aerial, there are infinite types of dungeons, they can even have dungeons geared towards a single species of the monster like the Great Serpent Dungeon. Inside normal dungeons, some chests contain treasures such as weapons, armor, equipment, gems, global currencies, and other items, it can also have traps, one thing that all dungeons have is monsters, all monsters inside a dungeon are the first generation without intelligence and with strong instincts. Dungeons have floors, the number of floors shows how old and strong the dungeon is, with each floor the monsters get stronger and the traps get more numerous and dangerous, every ten floors will have a floor boss who is a monster very powerful, but it also has intermediate bosses that can appear on any floor randomly, they are not as strong as floor bosses, but you never know which floor it will be on, at the end of every dungeon there is the dungeon boss who it is always the strongest and hardest monster to kill. In a normal dungeon, there are dungeon cores that are protected by the dungeon boss, if the bosses fail and the core is not destroyed a new boss will appear after a while, if the dungeon core is destroyed then the whole dungeon collapses being destroyed. Normally normal dungeons are not destroyed, only if there are a lot of dungeons around or it is a dangerous type of dungeon that will be destroyed. Dungeons are in their own space, their environment regenerates itself, no matter how much it is destroyed it always returns to normal, some dungeons are used as eternal mines of natural resources, it is better to get resources from inside the dungeon than if regenerates than the world and wipes out the environment. The book mentions that damaging the environment too much has serious consequences, but it doesn''t say what it is. When monsters are destroyed within the dungeon they are consumed again by the dungeon and some items referring to those monsters are left in place such as claws, fangs, fur, global coins, magic core, etc. Not just monsters, people who die inside the dungeon must be stored inside storage items or within a few dozen minutes are completely consumed by the dungeon along with all the items you have, your items can reappear in chests in the dungeon. The Cursed Dungeons are just like normal Dungeons in almost everything, but they don''t regulate the miasma of the environment, they spread the miasma in the environment, they also don''t have a core, you need to kill the Dungeon Boss to destroy it. When a Cursed Dungeon is found a request is issued by the government and the local Adventurers Guild to destroy it as quickly as possible. Cursed Dungeons are formed not naturally, but rather from a strong curse that someone has cast on themselves or the world, a curse that is at extreme malice levels. There are some stories about dungeons, about how there is a dungeon that has a forest with a sky inside, or how there is a dungeon that looks like a ruined kingdom. It also has stories about the formation of Cursed Dungeons, it had the story of a soldier who was the only survivor in a bloody and brutal battle, in the end, all enemies died, but all his companions too, he was surrounded by thousands of corpses, he was traumatized from what he saw and full of sadness for his comrades, in the end, he cursed himself for being the only survivor, his sadness, hatred, and loneliness were so great that he drew malice around him, all malice generated by that battle was for him, soon the miasma was also attracted, so a Cursed Dungeon was created and that soldier turned into a monster inside that dungeon becoming the boss of the dungeon. Chapter 93: Byakko Pov Kira: After talking until nightfall about the information we got about the mansion, Diana and I got ready with some clothes we bought today to meet her friend Mari at a restaurant. "Are you sure you want to tell her about me?" (I) "I already said she won''t care about you." (Diana) "We don''t even need to tell her who you are, we can just say you''re a Gray Elf, she doesn''t need to know you''re the Storm Killer." (Diana) "We can do this." (I) "What if she asks who else is in our group?" (I) "I wanted to tell her and Carlos about the master, but I wanted to wait until we moved to town." (Diana) "Then just say you''ll introduce the other group members when we move in, if she asks about them be vague." (I) "Alright, thanks for agreeing to meet her." (Diana) "If you trust her that much, then I''ll try to trust her too." (I) The two of us enter the restaurant, go sit at the farthest and most discreet table, order some appetizers and a few pitchers of beer while we wait for Diana''s friend to arrive. After about ten minutes she arrived, she was wearing her Guild of Adventurers uniform and she looked tired, even in that state she was one of the most beautiful White Elves I''ve ever seen, she looks around and Diana waves to her when she sees Diana and me she comes towards us and sits across from me and next to Diana. "It arrived fast, I thought it would be late." (Diana) "I finished all my work this afternoon, I was helping Carlos organize the documents I needed to sign." (Mari) "You look tired." (Diana) "Since before the special mission I and other Guild employees have been working at a fast pace, but almost everything is over now, so I came to try to drown my tiredness in the drink along with a friend." (Mari) "I brought someone for you to meet, this is my new friend and member of the group I''m in now, her name is Kira." (Diana) "Good night, my name is Kira." (I) "Good night, nice to meet you, I''m sorry I didn''t say hello to you earlier." (Mari) "I''ve been so tired lately that I''ve been a little distracted." (Mari) "Do not worry about it." (I) "I must admit it''s been a few years since I''ve seen a Gray Elf, I''m surprised to see one in this town." (Mari) "..." (Diana/I) "(How did she manage to see through my disguise?)" (I) "Why are you looking at me like that?" (Mari) "I wasn''t supposed to know that, was it?" (Mari) "Actually we were going to tell you at the end of the night, but I didn''t expect you to be able to find out with just one look." (Diana) "Could you tell me how you found out?" (I) "Looking better, your disguise is pretty good, but this illusion you wear isn''t changing your appearance, it''s forming a thin layer of illusion around you." (Mari) "It may not seem like it but I''m a mage and also a former Grade A adventurer, as soon as I noticed the Mana layer around it I acted out of habit and activated an ability called seeing the truth, this ability helps me see through all the illusions and increases my awareness for Mana." (Mari) "I see, so you saw my true appearance with this ability." (I) "This is a unique skill, so you don''t have to worry if you want I can help you get a better disguise item." (Mari) "I appreciate it, that would be a great help." (I) "Now that you two have introduced yourselves let''s have a drink, no one leaves here sober today!" (Diana) "That''s why I came here." (Mari) "I must say that I have resistance to poison, so I have a lot of tolerance for drunkenness." (I) We spent two hours drinking and talking, Diana and Mari talked about how they met, talked about how they had a relationship in the past, they also said that the breakup was amicable. After two hours of drinking, neither of us got drunk, but we became more relaxed, I got used to Mari and I think she got used to me too. I told her I met Diana in the forest, I also told her that I helped hunt the monsters from her last missions, Mari didn''t mind that she seemed relieved that Diana wasn''t alone. She asked about the rest of the group as we imagined, but I said we would introduce the others when we move into the mansion. When I asked her if she didn''t think it was suspicious of me hiding my race, she told me she understood, Gray Elves usually hide when they''re outside the Elf Realms, that''s because they''re always treated like spies or assassins when found in other Realms, even when that''s not the case. After another hour of talking and drinking, Mari was the first to start to be affected by alcohol, so she started talking about how she wanted to quit this exploratory job, started complaining about ahead of muscle that is always throwing more work at her, after talking to Diana I found out it was her husband. We stayed until dawn drinking, Mari was completely drunk and slept on the table with a smile on her face, I''m starting to get drunk too, so I decided to stop drinking, Diana finished all the beer that was left on the table before stopping, she drank almost twice as much as me and doesn''t even seem close to getting drunk, what a monster. "So what are we going to do with your friend here?" (I) "I''ll take her home, you can go to the inn up front, I''ll meet you there later." (Diana) "Alright then I''m leaving, you can pay the bill." (I) I got up from the table and realized I was a little dizzy from the amount of beer I drank, but that''s not enough to affect me. Even though I''m a little dizzy I walk through the restaurant as if I haven''t had a drink and walk out the door, I go straight to the inn to wait for Diana in the room. ------------ After a while Diana returns to the bedroom, I had already recovered a little from my drunkenness and changed clothes for something more comfortable to sleep in, Diana also changes clothes and throws herself on the bed. "Did you leave her at home?" (I) "Yes." (Diana) "As soon as I arrived I found Carlos at home still wearing the clothes with the Guild symbol, just as he was going to take Mari out of my arms he was punched in the face and Mari started yelling at him." (Diana) "Looks like she was really mad at him." (I) "Actually, she kept screaming when she''s going to get pregnant and when are they going to be able to go out and have fun together." (Diana) "They love each other a lot then." (I) "They''ve always been like that, they always fight over unimportant things, but in the end, they''re always thinking about each other." (Diana) "Did you have fun?" (Diana) "It was the most fun night I''ve ever had, especially when Mari was going to start undressing in the restaurant and we had to stop her." (I) "I thought I would never experience moments like this in my life, I''m glad I was wrong about that." (I) "I said you and Mari would get along well." (Diana) "You don''t have to worry, she won''t ask about her past, all she needs to know is her character and that she saw today." (Diana) "Thank you for a fun evening Diana." (I) "Forget it, I''m tired and it''s late." (Diana) "Let''s go to sleep." (Diana) We both lie down on the bed, and soon I start to hear Diana''s snoring that I''ve gotten used to. As soon as sleep starts to take over me I close my eyes and when I start to fall asleep I suddenly find myself inside the cabin that my mother used to live with when I was a child. The cabin was exactly the way I remember it, but there was no one here, just me sitting in a chair, I get up and go outside, look around and I don''t see any other cabins, there was no trace of the rest of the village, all that was around was a forest. Roar! Soon I hear a Roar, then I see a beautiful White Tiger with black stripes coming out of the forest and heading towards me. For some reason I don''t feel scared, I feel a kind of connection to him, a kind of familiarity like I''ve always known him my entire life. He approaches me and stops a few steps away from me. "Say my name!?" (White Tiger) "..." (me) Suddenly he talks to me asking if I know your name, I wanted to say I don''t know your name, but before I could say it, a name popped into my mind, that name popped up like it was always there, as soon as that name popped into my mind. In my mind, I spoke it out loud without realizing it. "Byakko!" (I) ROAR!!!! The White Tiger roars to the heavens and then runs towards me, for some reason I don''t feel the need to dodge him as if I know he wouldn''t hurt me. He runs to me and as he gets closer he jumps and enters me, soon my body starts to glow, this glow grows to overshadow everything around, then I lose consciousness. "Now our souls are synchronized, may my power be your power." (Byakko) The last thing I remember is hearing his voice speaking inside my head before I lost consciousness. Ding! <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Spiritual Elemental Affinity of Thunder: 1 ] ? [ Spiritual elemental affinity of metal: 1 ] ? [ Spiritual Invocation: 1 ] ]> Chapter 94: Trigan Mansion Deed Pov Kira: I was sleeping comfortably, but suddenly my instincts warned me of danger, I moved following those instincts and put my hand in front of my face, half a second later I felt the impact on my hand and held the fist that was going to hit my face and open my eyes. "It''s about time you woke up!" (Diana) "Leave me your muscle woman, I''m the great Byakko, if you continue to be rude to me I will slice you with my claws." (Byakko) "Did you bring this thing into the room by any chance?" (Diana) "..." (I) As soon as I opened my eyes I could see a white Cat with black stripes being lifted by the back of the neck by Diana, I looked at her better and noticed a claw mark on her face that was bleeding a little, I could even see a vein in her face. her forehead that was pulsing so hard it felt like it was going to explode any minute. "What''s going on here?" (I) "Help me, Kira, this muscle woman wants to hurt me, all dogs are rabid." (Byakko) "Who are you calling a dog?" (Diana) "You dare call a Wolf-Man warrior a hound!?" (Diana) "Maybe I should use you for my breakfast." (Diana) "You''re lucky I can''t use my powers, otherwise I would cut you to pieces and then roast those pieces with my lightning bolts." (Byakko) "Can you two shut up for a moment and explain to me what''s going on?" (I) After managing to calm this noisy duo I finally knew what was going on. Looks like this cat is my hired spirit Byakko, he finally woke up and was lying on my side of the bed when Diana kneed him in his sleep while being angry at being woken up with a knee Byakko slashed Diana''s face with her claws, Diana was furious and grabbed him and punched me angrily to wake me up thinking I had brought an animal from the street into the room. I had to explain to Diana that this was my hired spirit and gave an HP potion I brought with me to Diana to heal her face. Sigh "I think we''ve sorted everything out now, right?" (I) "So this weak Cat is your hired spirit?" (Diana) "I''m not a Cat, I''m a Tiger." (Byakko) "I''m not weak either, a lot of my powers were lost during the spiritual rebirth, what''s left of my power is sealed for now, until Kira can deal with it." (Byakko) "Calm down Diana, you two were wrong, let''s end this fight here." (I) "It''s a pleasure to finally meet you Byakko." (I) "It''s good to be awake again." (Byakko) "Why do you look like a Cat?" (I) "As I said before, most of my powers and memory are lost, this is a new spiritual body, it will take me a while to get used to it, I won''t be able to go back to my normal form until you who are my contractor be strong enough." (Byakko) "You talked before about being reborn, what does that mean?" (I) "It means I died, my soul was almost destroyed, but luckily a fragment of my soul entered an ancestor of yours and I was jumping from generation to generation to you." (Byakko) "When your master gave you power and healing I took the time for my spiritual rebirth, this is a dangerous technique for the spirits, but it was my only chance." (Byakko) "When the process of spiritual rebirth began what was left of my soul was destroyed and a new one was born of it inheriting my memories and personality as well as what was left of my power." (Byakko) "And who were you before you were reborn?" (I) "I do not know." (Byakko) "Who hurt and nearly killed you?" (I) "I do not know." (Byakko) "Why were you in my ancestor?" (I) "I do not know." (Byakko) "..." (I) "This damn Cat doesn''t know anything?" (Diana) "What are you complaining about now your dog woman?" (Byakko) "Can you guys go at least a few minutes without fighting like two kids?" (I) "..." (Diana/Byakko) So much to think about, I don''t know what to do with Byakko, I think I''ll be talking to him for a bit today to get to know each other better, so I can learn more about him and also get acquainted with him. "What are you going to do today Diana?" (I) "I''m going to Wilson at the Guild of Commerce to finalize the purchase of the mansion." (Diana) "And what are you going to do today?" (Diana) "I''ll stay here, I''ll spend a good part of the day here in the room talking to Byakko." (I) "I''ll also take a look at the information on the nobles who have been acting out of the ordinary lately, see if I can find out if any of them have a cursed item." (I) "I hope you can find out something else, I''ll get ready and leave then." (Diana) Diana got dressed and left, as soon as she left I changed my clothes and sat on the bed with Byakko floating in front of me lazily. ----------- Diana Pov: I leave the inn and go straight to the Trade Guild, I was in a bad mood because of that damn Cat, even though the HP potion completely healed the wound on my face I''m still mad, all I wanted was to have a barbecue with that Cat. As I walked to the Trade Guild I calmed down imagining all the ways to kill that Cat, as soon as I arrived I go up to the third floor and go to the reception, I find the same cute boy as last time. "It''s nice to see you again Diana, how can I help you this time?" (receptionist) "I want to talk to Wilson, he asked me to come back today." (I) "I will notify the Guild''s deputy master, please wait on one of our sofas." (receptionist) "I''ll wait to stand." (I) The receptionist went up to the fourth floor and took only five minutes to return. "Mr. Williams will see you, please follow me." (receptionist) I''m once again guided by the receptionist into the Commerce Guild''s vice master''s lavish room, as soon as I walk in to find Wilson sitting on one of the sofas in the center of the room, he gets up and nods to the couch in front of him as he talks to me. "It''s a pleasure to see you Diana, please have a seat." (Wilson) "Thank you for escorting her here, you can go now." (Wilson) "Excuse me sir." (receptionist) After the receptionist leaves, I go to the couch across from Wilson and sit down. "Would you like something to drink Miss Diana?" (Wilson) "You don''t happen to have a beer, do you?" (I) "A good merchant must always be prepared to receive any guest, I''ll get two glasses." (Wilson) Wilson gets up and goes to a cupboard with glass doors that I hadn''t noticed before, he opens it and I see several bottles of different colors and shapes, he takes one of the big ones and two glasses and brings them back. "I hope you like strong beers, this is one a Dwarf friend gave me as a gift." (Wilson) "I haven''t had a Dwarf beer in years." (I) Wilson fills both glasses and gives one to me, I take it and drink a little at the same time I open a big smile. "That''s a good beer." (I) "I''m glad you liked it." (Wilson) "Now that your mood looks better we can do business." (Wilson) "Was it that obvious that you were angry?" (I) "A good trader has to know how to read the emotions of others." (Wilson) "Okay, let''s talk about the mansion now." (I) "I already have all the documents." (Wilson) "I have two copies of the contract for each one, I also have a deed that just needs to be put in your name and finally I have a magic contract." (Wilson) "Alright, let me read it so I''ll sign it." (I) I check the four documents and see that everything is as agreed two days ago, I sign everything and return everything to Wilson, only one idiot signs something without reading it first. Wilson takes the two copies of the contract and the magic contract and signs it, then he puts the two contracts one on each side of the magic contract, then he prays to the God of Commerce Felix. "I, Wilson Williams, ask the God of Commerce to be a witness to this deal, that he be the judge for the one who breaks this contract." (Wilson) The magical contract glowed brightly and began to burn with white fire, then from the flames, two symbols flew each to a copy of the contract marking the two, the symbol represents the God of Commerce Felix, the symbol is a white parchment, a pen of black feathers crossed with a golden sword and a scale symbol drawn on the parchment. "With that, neither of us can break the contract now, otherwise we will be judged by the God Felix." (Wilson) "This is your copy of the contract and the deed to the mansion." (Wilson) Wilson hands me the deed and one of the copies of the contract with the symbol of the God Felix, the other copy stays with him. "Now the mansion is officially yours." (Wilson) "Let''s talk about reforms now." (I) "You said you were going to talk to a construction company about the renovations." (I) "The company is the most famous and also the most expensive in the city, it was the same company that built the mansion, as they are Dwarves they won''t have a problem with the miasma." (Wilson) "Did they agree to reform?" (I) "Yeah, I also showed them the renovations you asked for, they were excited about some of the things you asked for." (Wilson) "How much is the budget?" (I) "With the materials, labor and the environmental conditions, everything was worth seven thousand gold coins." (Wilson) "Alright I accept, how soon can they finish?" (I) "A month and a half." (Wilson) "This can''t be done, does it have to be done in a month?" (I) "This will be more expensive if you want it in a shorter amount of time." (Wilson) "I pay another thousand gold coins." (I) "(The master wants the house ready to live in after the third prince''s mission, so I guess he shouldn''t mind spending a little more.)" (I) "With such a generous amount I think there should be no problem with your deadline." (Wilson) "I''m glad it''s all sorted out." (I) "Then I think they''ll want to start tomorrow." (Wilson) "I''ll leave everything in your hands, I''ll be out of town for a month." (I) "I can do this for you as I will receive a good commission for the sale of the mansion and for brokering the renovations." (Wilson) "Thanks." (I) After finishing a few more points I leave the Trade Guild and head towards the Adventurers Guild to say goodbye to Mari, I want to go back to the master tomorrow morning. Chapter 95: Titles After spending the day learning about dungeons I now understand a little bit about them, to simplify a dungeon it is a natural phenomenon like a tornado or storm, but it is a permanent and concentrated natural phenomenon. And if you were to use this logic with the Cursed Dungeons they would be classified as environmental disasters as if someone were dumping toxic waste into the environment, over time the contamination increases to the surroundings and spreads. At least that''s what I was able to understand in a nutshell. It''s already getting dark, so rica and Ibuki stopped what they were doing and went into the cabin, like every night they came to my room for our daily meetings. "So how''s your training in demonic magic going, rica?" (I) "I''ve already managed to retract my wings, but I still don''t have a clear picture for this spell, it''s getting in the way of controlling this spell." (rica) "You said that this retraction spell works by turning your wings, tail, and horns into energy that you lock inside your body, didn''t you?" (I) "Simply put, yes." (rica) "How do you keep this energy from leaving your body later?" (I) "There''s a magic seal that I have to use to seal this energy inside of me, it''s a simple seal that''s more efficient and I can break it easily if I want." (rica) "Hmmm..." (I) "Do you have any ideas to help me?" (rica) "Do you know what a tattoo is?" (I) "Is the master talking about those designs on the body that are meant to be permanent, like the ones you have all over your body?" (rica) "Yes, knowing what it makes it easier." (I) "When you turn your wings, tail, and horns into energy, you can focus all that energy in one place instead of letting it loose inside you." (I) "Imagine a tattoo design and gather all that energy in the shape of your image and use the stamp to mark the tattoo, that way you''ll always have a clear picture of your magic." (I) "This is an excellent idea master, I can do the same thing to seal my demonic bloodline, I can use the same approach for both spells, it will help me activate and maintain both at the same time." (rica) "The master is a genius." (rica) "That was just an idea that came to my mind, I didn''t even know if it would be possible, but I''m glad I was of help." (rica) "Now I want to know how your day was Ibuki, how''s your reading going?" (I) "There are many words that Ibuki doesn''t know, Ibuki had to ask rica for help several times to understand." (Ibuki) "But Ibuki has only read half a book so far." (Ibuki) "You''ll do fine, keep reading." (I) After talking some more with rica and Ibuki the two went to the night watch and sleep, I was alone in my room with a small glowing ball floating and lighting up the room, I was holding a thin book in my hands. "I think I''m going to read this book on Titles, it''s going to be a quick read and I can learn a little more about this world." (I) It only took me two or three hours to read this entire book, not much, but it was enough to know what the titles are. Simply put, titles are our achievements whether they are good or bad, titles are things that define us, for example, there are the Thief and Assassin works, but those who have this work are not considered criminals if they do not have the corresponding title. If you kill someone innocent or steal someone innocent you get the Thief or Assassin title which proves you are a criminal. Titles are earned with each person''s life experience, titles are the crystallization of that experience, as the Ruler of a Kingdom will have a title of King because that title defines him. Titles can bring different powers and abilities, it can even bring authority, it can be something that benefits the user or harms him, like the cursed Title that represents someone afflicted by a powerful curse for a long time, the title strengthens this curse and makes it harder to get rid of it. There are also titles such as Hero which is a requirement for the Hero work, titles are the representation of what marks people and at the same time are achievements of the things they have conquered. There are an infinite number of titles, a person cannot get a title just because he wants to, he has to win the title, the same is the other way around, if someone buys a title he doesn''t want he can''t do anything about it but accept in reality, you can''t normally deny a title. After reading this book I went to sleep. ------------ Diana Pov: After I left the Commerce Guild, I cross the city''s central square to go to the Adventurers'' Guild, I want to talk to Mari that I''m planning to be out of town for a month. As soon as I arrive at the Guild reception, I ask one of the receptionists to call Mari for me. In a few minutes, the receptionist went downstairs following Mari who has a terrible face. "You look awful." (I) "I feel awful." (Mari) "How can you be so fine? You drank a lot more than me." (Mari) "What can I say, you are too weak to drink with me." (I) "You little bitch, A A A!" (Mari) Sigh "My head is hurting too much right now for me to stress about you." (Mari) "So you came to take a new mission?" (Mari) "No, actually I came to say goodbye to you." (I) "I''m planning to be out of town for a month, I''m meeting up with the rest of the group." (I) "I''m very interested in this group of yours." (Mari) "To have a warrior like you and a Gray Elf like Kira, I wonder who else is in that group." (Mari) "I''ll introduce the others to you after we move, okay?" (I) "I will remember that promise." (Mari) I spent another hour or two talking with Mari, it seems she doesn''t remember some of the things she did last night, I don''t think I''ll remember her now, I''ll save it for a funnier moment. After saying goodbye to Mari I go back to the Inn of the Eternal Traveler, as soon as I enter my room I don''t see Kira anywhere. I threw myself onto the bed prepared for sleep as my stomach growled, remembered that I hadn''t eaten anything yet, so I went out to find a place to eat before heading back to sleep. ------------- When it was getting dark Kira came back with that damn Cat sitting on her shoulder, as soon as she got in she threw herself on the bed beside me. "So how was your day?" (I) "I managed to figure out a few things so I think it''s been a good day, but I''m tired." (Kira) "Where did you go and what were you doing?" (I) "After you left this morning, I talked for a few more minutes with Byakko, after realizing that he has almost no memory of your past I went to read the information of the nobles who have been acting strangely or more prejudiced than the normal." (Kira) "After reading the files I could see that it only had the names of nine nobles, so I went to investigate the nine." (Kira) "Did you find something out?" (I) "I started breaking in and investigating their houses and then watching them from the shadows a bit." (Kira) "Of the nine, three are corrupt and are acting strange because they are stealing money from the Duke, one has a maid pregnant and is being blackmailed by her, two are acting prejudiced against Beast Man to hide that they are meeting two Beast Man women from the Fox tribe and one is acting prejudiced against Demis because he lost a duel against a centaur." (Kira) "And the last two?" (I) "I didn''t find anything about them when I broke into their house, but when I went to watch them Byakko felt something." (Kira) "I could feel that filthy energy in a ring they were both wearing, I could feel that energy flowing into them, there was so much malice in those rings, just remembering the disgust." (Byakko) "It seems that spirits are sensitive to curses, it also seems that they hate energies contaminated with malice like miasma or most cursed items." (Kira) "So this Cat was good for something besides complaining, I''m surprised." (I) "What did you say your muscle head?" (Byakko) "Stop fighting the two of you, this is not the time." (Kira) "I noted the names of these two nobles as suspects, after further investigation I found that the two are purchasing large quantities of magic attack items, I also found that the two have an unidentified travel appointment for the same day, the date coincides with the expected date of arrival of the third prince of Cartoza." (Kira) "You are to be congratulated, you managed to discover a lot in just one day." (I) "With that, we can be pretty sure that these two are part of the five assassins who will attack the third prince of Cartoza." (I) "The master will be happy about it." (I) "Have you already said goodbye to Mari?" (Kira) "Yes." (I) "Then I think we can go back to the master tomorrow morning." (Kira) "We''ll tell you everything we know and let the master decide the next plans." (Kira) "I agree." (I) After we talk a little more, we''re both going to sleep, I''d rather ignore this damn Cat for today so I don''t lose sleep. Chapter 96: Third Prince of Cartoza In the morning of the next day, I wake up early, when I look to my side I see Ibuki sleeping beside me holding my hand again, before long rica comes to wake me up and bring me something to eat. After eating I wake up Ibuki and talk to her about her progress with the books I asked her to read, it seems she started reading from the Hero book. After talking to her for a while I realized that the problem was not just a few words she didn''t understand, but also that she wasn''t understanding the different types of relationships like relationships with family members, relationships with girlfriends, relationships with strangers, etc. She wasn''t able to understand these things due to the way she was raised by the Goblins, in the end, I spent the entire morning teaching her how people interact with family, friends, acquaintances, girlfriends, strangers, etc. It was difficult to explain the concept of family to her, as small Goblin communities like the one that used to be in this cave before are called families. At noon rica came to tell me that Diana and Kira had come back, I was good enough to at least stand-up and wanted to go see them walking, but rica forced me to stay lying down until I was fully recovered, so she went to call everyone to the room for a meeting in my room. "Master!" (Diana) As soon as Diana walked through the door her eyes started to water and she threw herself at me to hug me. "I''m sorry master, you''re like that because I was weak and careless." (Diana) "It''s not your fault, don''t worry." (I) "But if I wasn''t trying to save the others I wouldn''t have been stabbed in the back and the master wouldn''t need to save me." (Diana) "The master got that way because of me." (Diana) "Don''t worry, it''s my duty as your master to make sure you''re safe, if I''m like this it''s because I''m weak." (I) As Diana hugged me I stroked her head, it took me a few minutes to calm her down enough for her to stop hugging me and letting go. After calming Diana down we were able to start the meeting. "We have a lot to talk about at this meeting." (I) "Let''s talk first about the mansion Kira said you were buying Diana from, then I want to know what you managed to find out about the Kira mansion." (I) "The mansion looks as big as the Duke''s, I couldn''t go see it before as after recovering from the special mission and sorting things out in the mansion I came straight back here." (Diana) "I already have the deed to the mansion, I''ve also ordered the renovations we had chosen, the company that will renovate the mansion is the same one that built it, I bought the mansion from Vice Master of Commerce Guild Wilson Williams." (Diana) "You could have asked for the drawings of the mansion, I''m sure as a major trader the deputy master of the Guild of Commerce should have these in hand." (I) "..." (Diana) "Why didn''t I think about it?" (Diana) "Because you have the muscle for brain hahahaha." (Byakko) "What did you say you Weak Cat?" (Diana) While talking to Diana a white Cat with black stripes floated out of Kira''s hood and started a ridiculous verbal spar with her. "Who would you be?" (I) "I''m sorry master, this is my hired spirit Byakko." (Kira) "It''s about time he woke up." (I) "So you''re Kira''s master?" (Byakko) "He is my master." (Kira) "What a strange creature, your Aura and presence are so strange." (Byakko) "(He doesn''t remember me?)" (I) "It''s nice to meet you Byakko." (I) "It''s also nice to meet you, I hope you keep taking care of me and Kira." (Byakko) "You can be sure I will." (I) "Now let''s get back to the conversation Kira do you have anything to say about the information I asked for?" (I) "Yes I have master, I''ll start with the information from the Trigan mansion." (Kira) Kira told me the whole story of the mansion, it was a very sad story, in my opinion, the more I heard about the story, the more it felt like a horror movie. But since nothing has happened in the last twenty years I think there should be no problem I hope so. "Well until we move to town let''s leave this mansion thing aside." (I) "Did you find anything about the other information I asked for?" (I) "I found two suspicious people with the information I got." (Kira) "Tell me more about these suspicious people." (I) "The two were wearing the same cursed rings, they are young nobles who are believers in the Church of Light, they have also been acting strange lately, they are being more prejudiced and aggressive than usual." (Kira) "What you said matches the effects of the cursed items that Viper said the killers would be using, there''s a 90% chance it''s them." (I) "You did great Kira." (I) "What are we going to do now master?" (rica) "Before I decide what to do I have to know more about their target and who else will be with him." (I) "I''ll get the information we have about the third prince of Cartoza and who will be in the delegation with him." (rica) rica leaves and returns in a few minutes, she hands the information crystal to Kira who has taken a reading crystal from her bracelet, she inserts the information crystal and starts messing with something in the Reading crystal. "For starters, I''m going to talk about the third prince of Cartoza, his name is Drago Cartoza he is of the Dragonewt race." (Kira) "To explain better to the master, the Dragonewts race is a race that has a connection with the True Dragons, they have strong bodies, great amount of energy and are born warriors." (Kira) "The Kingdom of Cartoza has always been ruled by this family they were founded by this family." (Kira) "The third prince is a little different from his family''s rectum, he is not a warrior, but on the other hand he is very intelligent, there are many who think he can become the next King." (Kira) "He is known as the weakest member of his family, but his intelligence and wisdom are superior even to those of his father the King." (Kira) "That''s why they picked him as the target of murder because he''s the weakest in the family." (I) "Who will come with him?" (I) "It will be a troop of twenty soldiers, two members of the Church of Light, a royal guard who will be in charge of the soldiers, two assistants, a maid and the third prince himself." (Kira) "Tell me about these two members of the Church of Light." (I) "They are a man and a woman, they both wear masks that hide their faces, they are known as faceless brothers, it seems they were called to the Cartoza Kingdom to fight a monster with shadow attributes, after taking care of the monster they entered the delegation to come to the Trigan Kingdom with the excuse that they needed to go to the Alchemist Guild headquarters." (Kira) "Man is a warrior who uses sword and shield, his elemental affinity is Light." (Kira) "The woman also uses light magic she is a White Mage, she has an elemental affinity for Light and water." (Kira) "Do you know their races and ages?" (I) "That nobody knows master." (Kira) "The information also details the road they will take to the town of Valen." (Kira) "I want you to study this road they are going to take and mark the places you would pick for an ambush." (I) "Alright master." (Kira) "The number of soldiers is a little higher than I thought, how are these assassins going to ambush the delegation?" (I) "I think I know that master." (Kira) "These two I found in town are buying a lot of magic attack items, probably the other three must be doing the same thing." (Kira) "Then they must use these magic attack items to kill all or at least most of the soldiers." (I) "But would they use these items in the delegation?" (Diana) "They could hurt the faceless brothers by accident." (Diana) "That won''t happen, the third prince''s chariot must have many protective spells that should protect whoever is inside, most royal families or important nobles have this type of chariot." (rica) "If these faceless brothers are as well known as you said, they will definitely be in the carriage." (rica) "They''re probably there to kill the assassins, but they can kill the prince themselves and blame the five noble assassins in this realm to start a war." (I) "Make no mistake, we are not going to save the prince out of a good heart, I want to capture these two faceless brothers, saving the prince is just a bonus." (I) "I have a plan, thanks to Kira being able to find two of these assassins we have the advantage of surprise attack." (I) "We will wait for the attack on the prince to happen before intervening, understand?" (I) "Yes Master." (rica/Kira/Diana) "Ibuki didn''t understand anything you were talking about, but Ibuki will obey the master." (Ibuki) "Okay let''s talk about some things today, tomorrow you''ll get ready, especially you Kira, I have a special place for you on this plane." (I) "Kira want you to get the book about a family with rica later, I want you to see if you can share your senses with Byakko." (I) "Alright master." (Kira) I talked to the girls until nightfall, we only stopped to eat, I haven''t released my plan yet, I''ll leave that for after rethinking it all over again, to make sure the girls aren''t in any danger. Chapter 97: Ambush plan I spent all night thinking and rethinking what I could do, I thought about the things Viper told in the interrogation, I thought about the things Kira told me, I thought about how I would do if I was going to kill the prince, I even thought about how the other Kingdoms go react to that. I spent the night considering all this before remembering anything important, I''m not a Hero and I don''t want to be one. With that in mind, I left all the consequences there, the rulers dealing with this mess, all I want is to capture these faceless brothers. After simplifying my thinking I could think of a good plan, after reviewing that plan I went to sleep. ----------- The next day, in the morning, I woke up and after the drowsiness left my body I started doing simulations in my head to see the feasibility of my plan, thanks to my ability [ Parallel thinking: 2 ] I was able to do two simulations at the same time, one of my plan and another simulation of how I would do the assassination plan. I''ve done this a few times always switching to different assassination plans, after doing this for a while I think I have a solid plan this time. "Master, are you already awake?" (Kira) When I was finishing my plan Kira appeared through the bedroom door. "Good morning Kira." (I) "Good morning Master." (Kira) "What are the others doing?" (I) "Diana and Ibuki are training, rica is practicing her transformation magic and Byakko is sleeping in my hood here." (Kira) "After everyone eats try to get everyone here please." (I) "Of course master." (Kira) "Since you''re here let''s see the information on the path the third prince''s delegation will take." (I) "Have you noted the spots where you think they should attack?" (I) "Yes, here is the information." (Kira) I spent the next few hours with Kira going over the path the delegation should take, after confirming the path I asked Kira to point out the places she thinks the killers should attack. As soon as she pointed out the locations and explained why she chose these places I went over all the information I knew so far, so one place stood out on the map. There was a road that is a day away from the city of Valen, there is a stretch of road that has a high elevation on one side of the road, if they attack from there they will have the advantage and will be able to kill all the soldiers or by the least the majority before they approach them. If they use these magic attack items from a distance they will quickly get rid of all the guards, it''s also close to the city which is good for incriminating the city''s nobles for their conspiracy plan. After explaining to Kira why I thought this was a good place for the killers, she agreed. Halfway through the day, they all went to eat, after we all ate they gathered in my room for me to share the plan I thought for them. "Okay, now that we''re all gathered, I''ll tell you the plan to capture the faceless brothers." (I) I started the meeting by telling everyone what Kira and I talked about earlier today, telling them about the road the prince will use and the possible place where the killers will attack. "You now know where we''re going, now I''ll tell you the general plan if you have something to advise after listening to the plan feel free." (I) "What I want to do is infiltrate Kira among the killers." (I) "How am I supposed to do this?" (Kira) "You have your Illusion Spirit Ring, I want you to use it to put yourself in the shoes of one of the two suspects you found." (I) "I can mimic your appearance and voice, but I can''t stay in disguise forever." (Kira) "You''ll choose the worst of the two, after that I''ll want you to watch him, I want to know where he goes, I want to know who he meets and I want to know how he behaves." (I) "You''ll replace him when he''s on his way to meet the others." (I) "But how will I know the meeting place?" (Kira) "I''ve been reading a lot lately, one of the things I''ve found is that spirits can become invisible." (I) "In fact, we can make ourselves invisible to anyone who is not spiritual energy users." (Byakko) "Byakko can observe the other suspicious nobleman and follow him for meeting places." (I) "If I do it that way I should be able to and if Byakko keeps watching over the other, I''ll be able to find out about where they''re going to meet." (Kira) "I don''t understand why this wasn''t for us to go after the faceless brothers?" (Diana) "After talking to rica we know that the carriage where the prince, the prince''s servants, and the faceless brothers are in must protect them from attacks." (I) "The assassins must only be able to take care of the soldiers, I do not doubt that the ones who are really going to kill the prince and kill these five assassins must be these faceless brothers." (I) "I read a little bit about the information on these two suspects, they have high levels and a lot of Mana, but their abilities are low levels and they don''t have any real fighting experience." (I) "They must have used their money to hire adventurers to accompany them and let them take the last hit on monsters, it can help level up and raise stats, but skills don''t level up and the person runs out of combat experience. befitting your level." (Diana) "That kind of person becomes mediocre." (Diana) "And that''s why they were chosen as the Assassins, they must use the Magic Attack Items to finish off the soldiers with a surprise attack, but that will ruin their Mana." (I) "They must know that the faceless brothers are on their side so they will approach them and as they have no combat experience they will be easily killed by the faceless brothers." (I) "Thinking about it, I want Kira, who will be undercover among them, to minimize their attack, thus forcing the faceless brothers to act ahead of schedule to finish off the soldiers, at this time the five assassins and the faceless brothers must fight together." (I) "And you want me to take care of them while they think I''m one of their disposable killers?" (Kira) "Exactly." (I) "But if we get in the middle of this battle, what are we going to do with the soldiers who are still alive." (Diana) "I will arrest the soldiers, Kira will let the faceless brothers fight the royal guard to tire the three of them before we enter battle." (I) "I''m not going to kill anyone unnecessarily, I''m just taking the two faceless brothers, this assassination attempt and the political mess that will follow afterward has nothing to do with me." (I) "Remember, we are not there to save the prince, saving him is just the consequence of our real objective which is to capture the faceless brothers." (I) "This plan is the very complicated master." (rica) "It wouldn''t be easier to let the assassins kill all the soldiers, then let the faceless brothers kill the assassins, the royal guard, the prince''s servants, and the third prince, after that we can only attack the faceless brothers." (rica) "How cold-blooded." (Byakko) We all look at the calm way rica spoke of letting several people die before trying to capture our targets. "It would really be easier to do it her way, but I want to avoid war if possible." (I) "Why?" (rica) "Because we''re going to spend time in this Kingdom and I don''t want a war to get in the way." (I) "But what will we do after capturing the faceless brothers?" (Diana) "Let''s get out of there, the prince and his servants to deal with the dead or wounded soldiers." (I) "Master wouldn''t they look for us after what happened?" (Diana) "We''ll all be wearing status concealment items, we''ll also be wearing clothes and masks to hide our looks and races, I''ll let Kira buy these for us." (I) "That''s the plan, what do you think?" (I) "The master might be right in making Kira disguise herself as one of the assassins, as they''re just rubbish with no real battle experience the faceless brothers will be underestimating them, they won''t expect one of the assassins to attack them." (Diana) "As always the master''s plans are amazing." (Diana) "I kind of like this town, so I guess I really don''t want a war to start." (rica) "If we all have our faces and races hidden, the prince will have nowhere to start looking." (Kira) "Zzzz..." (Ibuki) "I think the little one fell asleep with all that explanation." (Byakko) "Alright, let her get some sleep." (I) During the meeting I was surprised by rica''s idea of ??letting everyone die, I may not be a Hero, but I''m also not someone who would stand by watching someone innocent die in front of me doing nothing. That prince doesn''t look bad, the information Kira brought back says he cares about his kingdom and his people, maybe I''ll even tell him where he went wrong since I respect what he''s been doing. I went over the whole plan with the girls again, told them that we weren''t going to kill anyone or at least avoid killing as much as possible. I''ve already explained the plan to everyone, now I have to tell them what they''re going to do until the day we put this plan into practice. "(Finally the time for my next evolution is near.)" (I) Chapter 98: Preparation time After telling them the plan, it''s time to divide the tasks of each one, we have to prepare for it. We ended up talking until nightfall, but before the day is out I have to give them the preparation list of what each one will do. "Before I put this plan into practice, I want Kira to return once more to the city of Valen to buy the things we will need for the plan." (I) "I''m leaving tomorrow, master." (Kira) "I apologize to you Kira, I''m always making you go back and forth from town." (I) "Don''t worry about me master, I''m happy to help you." (Kira) "Thanks." (I) "Now rica, I want you to continue practicing your transformation magic, as soon as you can use it at will, start training your curses." (me) "Understood master." (rica) "Is this cold girl a black magician?" (Byakko) "Kira you have dangerous friends, if that dog wasn''t enough, now there''s this black magician, what''s wrong with this group?" (Byakko) "Stop being disrespectful to them, you shouldn''t treat them like that, rica is someone very affectionate with friends and intelligent, Diana is someone very kind and responsible, they don''t deserve to listen to you talking bad about them for their powers and races." (Kira) "Hahahaha..." (Diana) "Stupid Cat got scolded, hahaha..." (Diana) "..." (Byakko) "Stop you too Diana, don''t laugh when a friend is getting scolded." (I) "..." (Diana) "Byakko, you can act as you like, but remember that it''s the people here who will be by your side and by Kira''s side when you need it, so try not to offend your friends, okay?" (I) "It''s okay, I admit it when I make a mistake." (Byakko) "I''m sorry Demon woman, just Let me give you a warning, don''t use malice in your curses, it won''t only affect your target but it will also affect you." (Byakko) "I forgive you, thanks for the warning." (rica) "See, it wasn''t difficult, you did very well, Byakko." (Kira) Kira pats the head of Byakko who is sitting on her shoulder to congratulate him on doing the right thing. "Now back to the subject." (I) "Diana I want you to take Ibuki monster hunting, find suitable monsters for her to fight alone, I want her to train the martial art I''ve been teaching her while I''m trapped in this damn room, I also want her to evolve before the plan starts, only help her if she''s in danger." (I) "Alright master, I''ll take good care of Ibuki." (Diana) "Ibuki will become the strong master." (Ibuki) "I''m sure so Ibuki." (I) "Don''t forget it''s only a month before the plan starts, so you''ll have the rest of tonight to think about, starting tomorrow we''re all going to do what we can." (I) "Yes Master!" (rica/Diana/Kira/Ibuki) "Things will get interesting." (Byakko) For the rest of the night, we were talking about how they were going to do the things I asked for, they were also excited about the idea of ??finally getting out of this forest and soon being able to go live in the town of Valen. ----------- The next morning Kira and Byakko began training in sharing senses, Diana began to take Ibuki hunting and rica continued her training in demonic magic of human transformation. As for me, I could only remain trapped in the room, for now, I continued to read some books to learn more about this world. With that time passed, two weeks later I was completely recovered and I went back to training several skills, I also started training simulated fights with Diana. Kira had already been to and from the city with everything we needed for the prince''s plan, she learned to share sight and hearing with Byakko but is still training her other senses. Ibuki managed to evolve in the third week, just as we imagined she evolved into an Ogre Variant, her hair is still the same being long black, she got ten centimeters taller and gained some muscle she looks like an athlete, her skin color also changed to a light white color and a small horn has grown in the middle of his forehead, he looks very close to Human. Ibuki has become even more beautiful, her intelligence has also increased a little, all her stats have increased too, but she still can''t choose Jobs, it looks like she''s a Lower Ogre Variant, only Higher Ogres can have access to the job system, she needs of two more evolutions. rica was already able to transform into a human perfectly and return to her Demon form whenever she wanted, now she is learning about magical curses. Time has passed and finally, the time for us to take action has arrived, in two days the prince will pass on the road we think must be the place of the ambush. Kira has already left to go into town and keep an eye on one of the suspects to switch places with him to infiltrate the group of assassins. Kira already knows her role in this plan, tonight I gathered everyone else for one last meeting before the plan. "Is everyone ready to start the plan?" (I) "We are already master." (Diana) "Ibuki can now fight on her master''s side." (Ibuki) "I managed to learn two master spells, they are simple but should do for now." (rica) "You guys look excited, I hope this plan ends well." (I) "It''s gonna be okay." (rica) "You and Ibuki are already much stronger, with all the preparation we''ve done there shouldn''t be any problems." (rica) "rica is right, with her plan we should be fine." (Diana) "Even Kira who is in the most dangerous position should be fine, she has made good preparations for this plan." (Diana) "She bought the poison I told you about?" (I) "Yes, you''re right, we don''t know how strong the faceless brothers or the royal guard are, this poison will increase the plan''s chances of success." (Diana) "My only fear is that they''ll notice us hiding in the surroundings, if that happens we''ll miss out on the surprise attack." (I) "With the hooded clothes Kira got us we should be fine, we''ll also be wearing masks and the status concealment item." (rica) "We are as prepared as we can be, all I can do is hope for the best." (I) "Be careful, let''s get in on the action before Kira is in any danger." (I) "rica, I want you to leave all the survivors of the killer ambush incapacitated so as not to intrude when we attack." (I) "If I''m not mistaken just the faceless brothers'' man is going to be a problem, the moment Kira takes care of him I want you to take care of the woman since you''re the fastest Diana." (I) "We don''t have anything else to discuss now, I want you all to go to sleep, we haven''t suffered any surprise attacks since the spiders, so it''s okay to stay unattended overnight, tomorrow we''ll be going to call you where we''ll be hiding." (I) "What if we''re wrong about the location of the ambush?" (rica) "Kira and Byakko know where we are, if we''re wrong about the location Kira will send Byakko to let us know, so we''ll just adapt the plan." (I) After we talked some more, they all went to sleep, they are still sleeping in a separate room from me. As soon as they went to sleep I go outside the cabin, go to a nearby tree and sit leaning against it, I look up contemplating this starry sky, even though there are some clouds in the sky it just makes it more beautiful. The weeks I was recovering were excruciating for me, going all that time without seeing this sky, going all that time without being able to train, and being all that time depending on the girls for everything. I don''t want to go through that again, in this life I want to be free, I want to travel, I want to eat different kinds of food, I want to see different landscapes, I want to meet different people, I want to fight different monsters and I want to share it all with the girls. I can say that I''m not alone in this world because of them, the reason for this whole plan is to get the skills I need to end the biggest weakness of my next evolution, I can''t have such a big weakness, I know what I''m going to do too. do in the city so no one can find me. Seeing this starry sky calms me down, I was so worried about the plan, but now I feel better, I get up and go inside thinking about how my abilities got stronger this past month. I even killed some monsters to train my skills and increase my level, of course, I stopped missing three levels before reaching the maximum. Ding! [ Your skill leveled up [ Weak resistance to paralysis: 7 > 10 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Low Poison Resistance: 5 > 10 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Resistance to Physical Damage: 6 > 10 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Blood Elemental Affinity: 3 > 9 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Mana Control: 8 > 10 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Group Coordination: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Martial Art Fist of Chaos: 2 > 4 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Basic Sword Handling: 5 > 10 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Basic Knife Handling: 4 > 10 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Parallel thinking: 2 > 4 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Body Enhancement (Fangs): 2 > 4 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Pain Resistance: 1 > 8 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Low Leech Bite: 9 > 10 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 8 > 10 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Poison Secretion: 5 > 10 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Blood Control: 1 > 5 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Line Production: 8 > 10 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Sticky Line Production: 9 > 10 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Magic body boost: 8 > 10 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Basic sword technique: 1 > 10 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Basic Dagger Technique: 1 > 10 ] ]> . . [ Your skill leveled up [ Blade of Chaos Technique: 1 > 4 ] ]> Chapter 99: Those who conspire in the shadows Pov Kira: At the moment I am on my way to the place where Byakko informed me that the nobleman he was following is, he is in disguise along with three other people who are also in disguise, the nobleman I have been observing for the past few days is already dead, I killed him at the moment who left his house in a disguise. Today is the day they set up business trips, as soon as I''ve killed the nobleman I strip off his clothes and change into mine, I put the body in my storage item and wear my Illusion Spirit Ring to change my appearance to look the same. to this nobleman, thanks to the days I have watched him, I will be able to imitate his way of walking and speaking. As I killed the nobleman I didn''t know where to go, so I followed the path that Byakko showed me, after a while, I''m in front of an abandoned house in the poorest area of ??the city. I go in and go straight to the last room, as soon as I open the door and enter I notice the other four who are wearing the same clothes as me, they are all men, I can''t see their faces as they are wearing masks. "It''s about time you arrived, I''ve been waiting an hour!" (Noble A) "Who ordered be the first to arrive." (Noble B) "Stop talking, let''s get straight to the point." (Noble C) "Who do you think you are to talk to me like that?" (Noble A) "Let''s talk about the ambush to get this over with." (Noble D) "I agree, I want to resolve this quickly, I didn''t come to waste time with useless conversations." (I) As soon as I walked in one of the masked nobles started complaining, then everyone started talking loudly and acting superior to each other, each of them looking angry and extremely proud, must be the effect of the cursed ring everyone is wearing, I walked in in the conversation in an attempt not to prolong it, I was imitating the voice and manner of speaking of the nobleman I killed so as not to attract suspicion, but I don''t think they would notice anything like that. We started talking about the plan, it seems that the place the master said is the correct one, the plan followed much the same as what the master said, the only difference is the magic items that these nobles took were explosive items, they want to bury them on the road and activate them using magic scrolls while raining powerful attack spells using various magic scrolls. While I was worried about how I was going to sabotage these explosive magic items Byakko spoke to me in my mind. "(Don''t worry about these magic items, I can absorb the mana inside them and make them useless.)" (Byakko) "(Are you sure?)" (I) "(It will be easy for me, but it will take a while, I can''t absorb mana from other people besides you directly, but I can absorb mana from magic items.)" (Byakko) "(But it will take a few hours depending on the amount, it''s not something I can do fast and I have to be close to them.)" (Byakko) "(After they bury all the magic items you can start.)" (I) Even while talking to Byakko in my mind, I was paying attention to the rest of the plan. It seems they know the faceless brothers will be in the carriage with the third prince of Cartoza, they believe they are there to help them escape to the Kingdom of Light after the murder as they have been told to approach them to receive new orders. Vibora''s information was right, they think they will receive titles of Nobility one above those they have in this Realm, in the Realm of Light, they are being deceived, the Church of Light would never leave witnesses of their conspiracy plan alive. After going through the plan that they were told below, they began to fight verbally to know who would be the leader, I also joined the discussion so as not to test myself against others, in the end, everyone agreed that there would be no leader as no one would obey the other. We left town clandestinely as I expected, the other four nobles must have done the same thing as the noble I killed, he had sent an empty carriage to another town with a servant in his place, I killed him after that when was he alone. It took us a day to get to the site, as soon as we arrived each one buried the explosive magic items they bought, there was a lot of discussion on the way about who would bury these items and that''s what ended. Once all the items were buried we climbed the rise beside the road and hid in the minimum distance to use the scrolls, where we are we have a clear view of the entire road, I left Byakko who was invisible to the four beside me to float to where the magic items were and starting to absorb their mana, luckily the four idiots beside me didn''t notice. The next few hours of waiting were excruciating to my mind, these nobles began to brag about the number of servants, prostitutes, and commoners they took to bed. As if that wasn''t enough, then they started a discussion of how they had fun torturing or beating members of other races, they talked about how everyone should be a slave, the worst thing was that I had to participate in these conversations, it increased my disgust about they. "(Will the master let me kill them after the mission?)" (I) While I was thinking about how I would kill them if the master allowed Byakko to come back to me and hides inside my clothes, two more hours later I see several soldiers wearing armor and a carriage coming towards us in the distance. ----------- Faceless brothers pov: The faceless brothers were inside the carriage seated in front of the third prince and two of his servants, the prince''s maid was seated to the right side of the faceless brother and on his left side was his sister. The third Servant was outside with the coachman, the prince had green hair and a body almost like the Human if not for the green scales on his arms and neck, he had golden eyes full of intelligence, he kept staring at the faceless brothers while talking to their servants who were all human except for their maid who was a woman from the tribe of the Man-Beast Cats. The faceless brothers wore white clothes that covered their whole body and had a hood that covered their heads, they also wore featureless white masks, their clothes had various golden details and the symbol on the chest that looked like a golden sun with a white sword stuck in him. "(He keeps watching us brother.)" (Sister without a face) "(I know sister.)" (Faceless brother) "(Does he know why we''re here?)" (Faceless sister) "(He doesn''t know, but he distrusts our presence here, that look of his is a way of teasing us, so he can see our reaction.)" (Brother without a face) "(I feel sorry for him, I didn''t want to have to kill someone so concerned about his people.)" (Sister without a face) "(We have our orders.)" (Faceless brother) "(You know this time is different, what we are going to do will cause a war, thousands of people will die and suffer because of what we will do here.)" (Sister without a face) "(I know, but still we have our orders.)" (Faceless brother) "(I don''t mind killing the five idiot nobles, but someone like him who just wants to bring good to his people, it bothers me to have to kill him.)" (Faceless sister) "(I hate all this, why did this have to happen to us?)" (Sister without a face) "(You always act like that in these jobs, don''t worry, I''m on your side and always will be.)" (Faceless brother) "(This time it''s different, I feel something strange, for some reason I''ve been feeling a lot of anxiety since yesterday.)" (Sister without a face) "(That''s just nervousness, our orders this time were difficult.)" (Faceless brother) "(This time the church went too far, releasing a monster with shadow powers in the Kingdom of Cartoza just to have an excuse to send us there, all just to kill a monster we captured ourselves.)" (Sister without face) "(Anything so that we can be in that chariot, we even have a letter from a High Priest with a request to the Alchemist Guild headquarters to prove that we are on our way to the city of Valen from the Trigan Kingdom.)" (Faceless Sister) "(This is all to start a damn war, why do we have to do this.)" (Faceless sister) "(We can''t go against our orders Sister, we''re not the ones starting this war, if they hadn''t sent us it would be someone else, nothing would change in the end.)" (Faceless brother) "(Just calm down, we need to be prepared.)" (Faceless brother) "(Okay.)" (Sister without a face) While the faceless brother and sister talked telepathically they didn''t make a move, didn''t say anything, they were used to it because they''ve been living that way for years, always hiding what they feel or think from everyone but each other. They are a pair that has already hunted many enemies of the Church of Light, they are the inquisitors of the light, this is the job that was given to them. After another three hours of travel, the Sister informs the Brother by telepathy. "(We are almost at the point of ambush, be prepared.)" (Sister without a face) "(Yes.)" (Faceless brother) Chapter 100: Double ambush Pov Kira: When I spotted the carriage and the soldiers I fell silent, I waited until I was close enough for the other four Assassin nobles to see before I warned them. "They are getting closer." (I) "Prepare yourselves!" (Noble B) "Be ready to use all the scrolls, let''s kill them all." (Noble C) "This is our chance to leave this Kingdom full of lesser races." (Noble A) "We''re just going to have this opportunity, don''t make a mistake." (Noble D) Everyone including me removed the scrolls and some high-quality Mana potions from our storage items, these idiot nobles were silent for the first time until the moment the target was in position. "Now, fire all spells!" (Noble C) Once the soldiers and the chariot were in place the nobles began to cast spells from the scrolls, before the spell reached its target they switched to a new scroll to attack again. I don''t have as much mana as they do, but they weren''t paying attention to me, so I just cast a few spells and tucked away the rest of the scrolls unnoticed. The spells I cast were not directed at the soldiers, my target was placed where the attack spells of the other four nobles were close to each other, by hitting my magic on the others and making it explode, the others that were nearby also exploded in the sky where it wouldn''t hurt anyone. Boom! Boom! Boom! But even with that, I could only intercept a little more than forty percent of the magic attacks, unfortunately, most of the attacks hit the soldiers and I could hear screams even from this distance. Boom! Boom! AHHH!!!! After consuming almost all the high-level Mana potions and wiping out all the magic scrolls, the nobles were breathless and tired. "Don''t let them recover, attack!" (Noble A) With the scream of this nobleman, I named Noble A in my mind the others pulled weapons out of their storage items and everyone started running downhill to attack the carriage as they screamed and laughed aloud. "Hahahaha!!!" (Noble D) "Don''t leave anyone alive, let''s kill them all!" (Noble C) I ran along with them, I no longer needed to pretend the same way I did before, I''ll let them scream and be distracted, all I need now is to be upfront and wait for the faceless brothers to show up. As soon as we get on the road I see half the soldiers dead, of the ten that are left, seven are badly wounded, only three are fine and run towards us by the time we appeared, Noble A who was the most aggressive ran to him thinking it would be easy kill a soldier, but as soon as their swords came into contact the lack of combat experience showed, the soldier used his sword to defend Noble A''s sword then used his other hand to punch Noble A''s head causing him to pass out, then used her sword to stab his head. "Finish them!" (Soldier) At the soldier''s scream the others started to attack too, but suddenly everyone heard a scream coming from the carriage and turned to see, it was a soldier with different armor, it must be the royal guard. "Traitors, soldiers protect the prince!" (Royal Guard) Ahhhhh! "Captain!" (Soldier) I, who was closest, made two soldiers faint, who was the one who attacked first and one more, the other nobles saw me attacking and defeating the distracted soldiers and attacked the others too, they killed the other soldier who was fine and started to kill those who they were screaming. I couldn''t do anything else without revealing my disguise, so I could only see this cruelty, but it didn''t last long, after they killed only two wounded soldiers the door that was visible to us was opened and a Cat woman, two wounded servants and a man with green hair ran out of there, at the same time a man and a woman dressed in white clothes and white masks came out on the other side of the carriage, I imagine they must be our targets. "Where do you think the third prince is running!?" (faceless brother) "" (Sister without a face) The woman was being supported by the man and seemed to be tired, but still, she raised one of her arms and a large magic circle instantly appeared, from that magic circle came four bright white chains that flew towards those who fled trapping the prince and his servants. "You bastards, I knew you were planning something, but I didn''t expect you to capture me." (Prince Drago) "I think there was a misunderstanding prince, we are not here to capture you." (faceless brother) "If you don''t want to capture me then..." (Prince Drago) "Do you want to kill me?!" (Prince Drago) "But if you do, it will provoke a war between our Realms." (Prince Drago) The woman looks even weaker after casting this spell and starts to tremble, Prince Drago and the faceless brother begin to argue. The faceless brother is just arguing with the prince as he checks the situation around him, as soon as he sees that all the soldiers are disabled he turns towards us and I feel a slight bloodlust directed at me and the four idiot nobles, but these fools have not noticed, the strange thing is that neither the man nor the woman is emitting this bloodlust towards the prince who should be their main target. "Come here, you did well and will be well rewarded for it." (faceless brother) "We carry out all orders as requested, we expect you to keep your end of the bargain." (Noble A) "You''ve done your part and you''ll get what you deserve, come closer." (faceless brother) His bloodlust increased a little more, all the nobles started walking towards him I moved to stand in front. As soon as we''re close enough I see him tighten the hilt of his sword, but before he can do anything lightning strikes him from behind and he drops the woman to the ground to fend off the surprise attack, just as he turns to defend myself I pulled a poison dagger from my storage item which I used to pierce him in the back. Ahhh!!! "Traitor!" (faceless brother) "BROTHER!!!" (Sister without a face) Before the woman could complete the magic circle that started to appear in front of her someone in a red tunic, hood and mask appears with extreme speed behind her and hit her head making her faint. "SISTER!!!" (faceless brother) "Who are you!?" (faceless brother) As he screamed his body wouldn''t budge from the place thanks to the paralyzing poison I bought, Byakko''s lightning attack gave me the perfect opportunity to hurt him. A dark purple bolt came out of the bushes and hit the faceless brother''s body, after being hit by five more dark purple bolts he began to snore while standing in the same position he defended the lightning attack. I see another person in red clothes come out of the bushes, I turn to see another person dressed in red on top of the three nobles who are unconscious. "Run Prince!" (Employee) I look in the direction I heard the scream which is where I see the prince who tries to run now that the white chains are gone but stops suddenly and shouts for his servants to stop too. "Stop!!!" (Prince Drago) The prince looks into the shadow of a tree with a look of dread, when I look over there I see a small person come out of the shadows of the trees dressed in the same red outfit and mask. "What are you!?" (Prince Drago) "What a rude way to talk to someone Prince Drago." (Zenos) "Run!!" (Prince Drago) "I didn''t say you could go." (Zenos) Didn''t know the master could change his voice too, the prince for some reason seems to be more afraid of the master than he was the faceless brothers, as he yells for his servants to run the master''s Aura explodes and envelops us all, I and the others were fine this time, I was even comfortable with the master''s Aura, but the prince and his servants fall to the ground with pale faces. The girls and I use chains to tie up the faceless brothers, then I put a handcuff on them that will stop the energy flow in their bodies so they won''t be able to escape, then we go to the master and stay behind him. "You did good infiltrating them." (Zenos) "Thank you for your words master." (I) I answer him still disguising my voice. "Prince Drago, I didn''t come here for you, but I can''t miss an opportunity." (Zenos) "Tell your maid to collect all storage items from everyone but her and the faceless brothers and throw them to me." (Zenos) "Do as he said." (Prince Drago) The master pulled out his Aura, so we were watching the Cat woman collect all the storage items, so she threw it to us I got it. "Remove everything from inside." (Zenos) I obeyed and reiterated everything that was inside the storage items in front of the master. "Collect all the money on those rings, leave the rest behind." (Zenos) "Get the faceless brothers." (Zenos) As the master said, I put all the money in the ring-shaped storage items he gave and left the rest behind, meanwhile, the others went to get the faceless brothers that Erica must have used a float spell to carry them back. of the master. "I didn''t come for you prince, I came for them, now that I''ve got what I want I''m leaving, take care of the wounded." (Zenos) "Who are you? Why did you help me?" (Prince Drago) "I didn''t come here to help you, saving you was just the consequence of capturing these two." (Zenos) "I should have known something was going to happen the moment she sent me over to deliver that letter." (Prince Drago) The prince takes a card from the ring and plays it in front of the master. "Two days ago I received two letters from my sister, one of them was written with my name, when I read it it just said for me to deliver the other letter to a small and chaotic person." (Prince Drago) "..." (Zenos) "That can only be you, don''t worry there''s nothing in the letter for me to track you down, I appreciate your help and I wouldn''t want someone like you as an enemy." (Prince Drago) The master takes the letter, opens it, and begins to read, before long he finishes and throws the letter on the ground. "Burn the letter." (Zenos) Erica uses a small focus ball to burn the letter. "Let''s go." (Zenos) We followed the master into the trees, keeping an eye on the prince and his servants until we were too far away to see them, then headed to various places to confirm we were being followed before heading back to camp. Chapter 101: Last requirement fulfilled During the battle I avoided mentioning the names of any of the girls, I even avoided mentioning their genders. It was difficult for me to be so careful when speaking, mainly because that prince kept watching me, he even ignored the girls and focused his attention on me in such a way that it bothered me. I think I went too far using my Aura of Chaos, he''s lucky I learned to activate my Aura abilities separately, if the Aura of Judgment had activated the situation would have gotten out of control. Since we wouldn''t be in any danger at the time I decided to take advantage of the situation to get some money, the prince was very helpful, after seeing the belongings of all soldiers, royal guard and servants I just took the money and left the rest back, I did this because I don''t want to be tracked when I sell the other items and I can''t keep stolen items, that would be proof of our identity if we are found by the prince in the future. Another problem would be if they had any tracking magic, so I just took the money, I avoided taking anything else even the storage items, so I burned the letter after reading it. After dealing with these faceless brothers I will talk to the girls about this letter. As we walked all over the forest to make sure we weren''t being followed I once again used the [ Body Manipulation: 4 ] skill to get my vocal cords back to normal. Before I planned to heal the wounded soldiers, but I saw too many potions in their belongings, I didn''t look at what Prince Drago had because as someone of high authority in a Kingdom, your storage item may contain secrets or confidential information, I don''t want to be hunted for a Kingdom for having seen something that I shouldn''t, what I''ve done now is enough. It took us a day to get to our camp, we had to keep them out with rica''s sleeping curse. As soon as we arrived we went to the cave and I locked the brothers in the same place where I met rica and Diana. "Search them!" (I) I ordered the girls to search for the faceless brothers when they removed all their clothes and mask the girls and I was surprised by what we saw. Both of their faces had terrible burns, they looked old, other than that the faceless sister''s body was beautiful with a few scars, while the faceless brother had his entire body covered by several horrible scars. "These are the scars of an experienced warrior, some of those wounds look like claws, some cuts, some piercing, and some I don''t recognize." (Diana) "The information says the two are always together, so he must have been injured protecting the woman." (Kira) While we were talking rica was looking at the tattoos on the woman''s abdomen and the man''s back, as soon as I noticed she had a strange look on her face I went over to her as her face is starting to twitch in anger. "Something wrong rica?" (I) "I just found something master, but I want to confirm it first." (rica) "Byakko can you take a look at these tattoos please?" (rica) "Of course I can help you, let me have a look." (Byakko) "..." (Byakko) After Byakko started looking at the tattoos his feline face changed from its usual proud expression to one of confusion and then to anger, for the first time I felt bloodlust coming from him. "Do you know what these Byakko tattoos are?" (I) "I understand your doubt Demon woman, you found it similar to the magic circles of your curses, you''re just half right." (Byakko) "This is a symbol of control, unlike a slavery mark this symbol cannot be removed, it is similar to a curse in that." (Byakko) "This control symbol is made not to order but to control someone, it is imperceptible to any detection and there is no known way to get rid of one." (Byakko) "This control symbol is full of malice, so it''s almost a curse, it should only be used on magic items or golems to be controlled from afar." (Byakko) "Daring to put a symbol of control on people is horrendous, it should be impossible, I don''t even want to imagine what they had to do to get it." (Byakko) Byakko''s every word was full of his feelings, it was full of anger, disgust, and hate, with each sentence his rica and Kira got more and more furious, it must have reminded them of their traumas. "How dare they use a person as a toy." (rica) "Treating someone as a tool like that, now I understand why they didn''t direct any bloodlust on the prince and his servants, just the noble killers." (Kira) "They were acting against their wishes." (Kira) "..." (I) I was angry about these two''s situations too, but I didn''t get carried away by these emotions, I look at Diana who just as I try to control her anger, Ibuki was watching us curiously as if trying to understand why we''re angry. Diana and I took some time to calm the others down before talking about what to do next. "What are we going to do now master?" (Diana) "I will follow the plan, I need to feed on them to get the skills I need." (I) "..." (rica/Kira/Byakko) rica, Kira, and Byakko looked at me in horror at my words. "I see, I''m glad you do this master." (Diana) "What are you talking stupid dog, are you going to kill two victims?" (Byakko) "Calm down Byakko, if this is the master''s decision then there is nothing more to say." (Kira) "..." (rica) "Looks like there''s a misunderstanding here, you didn''t listen carefully to the master''s words." (Diana) "He said he needed to feed on them, not kill them." (Diana) "..." (rica/Kira/Byakko) It seems that Diana was the only one who understood my words. I have a few options for what to do with them, but I have to confirm what would be best first. I go to them and bite the brother''s neck and drink his blood, then I go to the sister and bite his neck, also drinking his blood. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Elemental Affinity of Light: 1 ] ? [ Elemental Light Resistance: 1 ] ? [ White Magic: 1 ] ? [ Water magic elemental affinity: 1 ] ? [ Light Blade: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ Two abilities were affected by your bloodline and abilities being weakened ]> . . <[ Ability deterioration [ Light elemental affinity: 1 ] > [ Light elemental affinity weak: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Skill Deterioration [ Light Elemental Resistance: 1 ] > [ Light Elemental Resistance: 1 ] ]> I don''t know why the abilities got weaker, I have a suspicion but I can''t confirm it right now. The important thing is that the last requirement has been met, I have to find some monsters to kill now, I will rest today to go out tomorrow with Diana to hunt. I turn back and see the girls watching me, Diana was calm, but rica and Kira seemed relieved that I didn''t kill these two. "I already have what I need, now I just need to kill some other monsters, Diana is going out with me tomorrow for that." (I) "I''m happy to help you." (Diana) "rica, I want you to leave these two sleeping and trapped, if they''re being controlled by someone else they can do something to themselves if they wake up." (I) "Good thinking master, I will continue to use my magic on them to keep them asleep." (rica) "Diana, Ibuki, and rica are keeping watch today, Kira I want you to rest." (I) "Thank you, master, I''m really tired this time, I''ve never been in disguise for so long." (Kira) "Byakko do you know anything else about this control symbol?" (I) "Hmmm..." (Byakko) "Do not remember." (Byakko) "Where did you learn about him?" (I) "I don''t know, I just got this information in my head when I looked at the control symbol, I also felt a lot of anger and hate." (Byakko) "Alright, thanks for trying." (I) After that, I leave the cave and look at the darkening sky. "(Because things can''t be simple like in games.)" (I) "(It would be so easy to just kill them both if they were like the villains in movies and games, I wouldn''t be left with any worries like now.)" (I) "(My plan was almost perfect, if not for this unforeseen event.)" (I) Sigh "(I could kill them both now, but it will permanently cross moral boundaries for me, you can''t make exceptions in your morals, that''s what I believe.)" (I) I kept going to the cabin, jumped on top of the cabin, and lay down on the roof to think about what I''m going to do with these two faceless brothers. Now I understand why they were chosen as killers, with the symbol of control on their bodies they are extremely trustworthy to the extremist faction of the Church of Light, they would never reveal information to others, if I''m right that means they shouldn''t it was the first time they were ordered to kill someone. I have two options on how to rid them of this control symbol, but I have to wake them up first to see if they meet the requirements, if not, I''ll just have a plan that I don''t know will work. "(If I can wait until evolution I can have a better chance of success.)" (I) I spent a few hours thinking about what to do with the faceless brothers while looking at the stars, then when I saw that I was on the roof for too long I went downstairs to sleep. Chapter 102: Child of blood I woke up in the middle of the night to replace the girls in surveillance, I stayed until dawn watching the prisoners in case they wake up. When morning came rica came to see me with the others. "What will we do today master?" (rica) "I want to talk to them both, let''s separate them and hear their story, I''ll take the man to another room with Kira and rica." (I) "The others keep an eye on the woman, after talking to her brother I''ll want to talk to her." (I) "rica and Kira want you to put on the red clothes and mask again, I don''t know if the person who wore the control symbol on them can share their senses." (I) "Understood, master." (rica/Kira) After the girls and I change clothes, rica uses magic to make the man float and we go to the most fantastic room in the cave, arriving there I tell rica not to say anything and Kira to disguise her voice, I also use my manipulation skill body to change my voice, after preparation I tell rica to wake up the man, she raises her hand and a dark purple magic circle appears then the man starts to open his eyes. "Where am I?" (faceless brother) He looks in our direction and then looks around desperately, then starts screaming. "Where is my sister!?" (faceless brother) "What did you bastards do to her!?" (faceless brother) "I swear if you guys did something to her I''ll kill you all in the most horrible way possible!" (faceless brother) "Be still, your sister is fine for now, as you may have already noticed, you won''t be able to use any abilities or magic, so stop trying to distract us and try to escape." (I) "..." (Faceless brother) "I want to ask you some questions and I hope you''ll answer them honestly, if I''m not going to kill you and your sister in the first lie, believe me, you can''t hide the truth from me." (I) "(He is smart, he pretended to look for his sister to confirm where he was and the situation, he also tried to scream and demonstrate despair as he tried to use his skills, after so many meditation sessions and the various energy sense skills I have already I can feel the energy fluctuations around me.)" (I) "(His concern of his for his sister seems genuine, but he''s using it as an excuse to try to escape now.)" (I) The man wearing only a pair of pants was sweating with worry. "Alright, what do you want to know?" (faceless brother) "I want to know who placed this symbol of control on you and your sister''s bodies?" (I) "So you know what this thing is, I''m surprised." (faceless brother) "It was one of the leaders of the extremist faction of the Church of Light, Archbishop Thomas Galaretto." (faceless brother) "Why did he do it?" (I) "Our mother belonged to the peaceful faction of the Church of Light, my grandmother was a saint so our lineage has a high affinity with the element of light." (faceless brother) "Because of our lineage my mother, sister, and I were born with the elemental affinity of Light, this is the rarest type of elemental affinity as it is stronger and has the same effect as magical elemental affinities, elemental affinities of Ki, and spiritual elemental affinities." (faceless brother) "How did he put the control symbol on you and your sister?" (I) "A few years ago my sister and I had the chance to see the book he used to do this, it was an ancient necromancer''s diary, the book described several of his experiments, including how to put the control symbol on other people to get stronger control than the mark of slavery." (faceless brother) "In the book, it described that wizards and Alchemists normally used their blood to create the symbol of control in Golems to create a bond with him." (faceless brother) "The necromancer after many experiments found a way to use the control symbol on people and control them." (faceless brother) "It was necessary that the one who would be marked by the control symbol had a blood connection with the one who controlled it, the control symbol would also only have an effect if it was made using the blood and dust from the bones of someone of the same blood as the one who is marked, this is so there is no rejection of the control symbol and there was no way to remove the control symbol either." (faceless brother) "After months my sister and I found out he left the book in a place we could see on purpose, he wanted us to know there was no way to escape it." (faceless brother) "..." (I) "Just as you might be thinking, he used our mother as an ingredient to create these symbols of control in our bodies." (faceless brother) "(I can''t believe the level of cruelty of this man, wait...)" (I) "You said there was a need for a blood connection between the one who is controlled and the one who controls, didn''t you?" (I) "Yes, Thomas Galaretto is our father, he abused our mother to get her pregnant, that''s how we were born trapped in this monster." (faceless brother) "..." (I) "(What kind of abomination does this to his children?)" (I) I was controlling myself not to explode in anger, doing something like that to a woman is unforgivable, but doing it to your kids is beyond any level of evil I dare think of. Ding! <[ His skill leveled up [ Mental disorder: 7> 8 ] ]> "Calm down master, this is not the time." (Kira) I turn around and realize that the hand Kira has placed on my shoulder is shaking with anger, she more than anyone in my group hates those who try to control others, I imagine this story must have been crueler to her than it was. for me. I place my hand over hers and hold it until it stops shaking, then I look back at the faceless brother who is lost in thought with tears silently pouring out of his eyes. "Did he do this to your face and your sister''s?" (I) "My mother was afraid he would do to my sister what he did to her, so she used her light power to burn my sister''s face incurably, we understood why, but I couldn''t just see it, so I asked to she would do the same to me so my sister wouldn''t have to suffer alone." (faceless brother) "(I really want to kill this Thomas guy.)" (I) "One last question, do you hate Thomas Galaretto?" (I) Sigh "I hated him at first, but in the end, I realized that instead of wasting my time hating this bastard I should protect my sister." (faceless brother) I looked into her eyes and didn''t see any trace of darkness that someone full of hate should have, all I saw was a look of concern that should be directed at her sister. After that I asked rica to put him back to sleep, we took him back to the other room and brought her sister to the room we were in before, I asked her the same questions and got the same answers, she also didn''t feel hate for Thomas Galaretto, she just wanted to be beside her brother, I made rica put her to sleep and take her to the same room they were both in before. I was full of hate and went out with Diana to hunt, I asked her to take me to groups of monsters so I could pour all this aggression on them. ------------ I killed dozens of monsters, made Diana take me to where the Earth Monkeys were, they are monsters that walk in groups, I killed a lot of them, kept killing until I couldn''t stand up anymore, so Diana had to carry me back to the camp, but I had achieved my goal of reaching the maximum level. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 348 EXP from killing Land Monkeys ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Wolf Claw: 8 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Corrosion: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the skill [ Seismic Sense: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> After we arrived, we met in my room, and I left in such a hurry that I didn''t realize that Kira and rica must be angrier than I was. "You two should go to bed, Ibuki and Diana will take their first watch today." (I) "I''m fine master, I just want to rip this Thomas Galaretto''s heart out like my own hands and eat in front of him." (rica) "Your words show that you''re not okay, go rest, tomorrow I''ll try to do something about those two brothers since I can''t do what I did to you." (me) "(Using my auras on them to break this symbol of control won''t work if they don''t have enough darkness inside them to burn, these two have replaced their hatred for their father with the concern and love they feel for each other.)" (I) "I''ll let you know, I must evolve tonight, I can already imagine what I''ll become, but I''ll let you know." (I) With that I end the meeting and go to meditate to integrate my newly obtained levels, after that, I lie down to sleep giving in to tiredness after so many struggles today. As soon as I close my eyes I blackout, but suddenly I find myself in the same room as before, the mysterious woman with red hair and the black crown was in front of me looking at me with a big smile on her lips, I could see her fangs showing. "Welcome Zenos." (mysterious woman) "You did really well this time, so I''m going to give you a present." (mysterious woman) "..." (me) "I will grant you the title Child of Blood." (mysterious woman) Chapter 103: Evolution Prince Drago Pov: The moment after Zenos left the prince behind. What a difficult day this is, first an attempted murder against me, then being saved by strange people who kidnapped those who wanted to kill me and in the end, I am robbed. I must say that the moment I saw that thing in the shadows of the trees I nearly died of fright, my danger sense skill was firing, my ability to view status didn''t work either on him or the others who were with him and at the time he used his Aura that''s when I realized he didn''t want to hurt me, as his Aura just immobilized me and didn''t do anything else. "Should I go after them prince?" (Mia) "No, keep pretending to be my maid." (I) "But they took the killers." (Mia) "They''re not enemies and I''m not going to make an enemy of that thing." (I) "Why is the prince so afraid of them." (Mia) "I''m not afraid of the others, I''m afraid of their leader, the one who was the smallest." (I) I turn to my other servants and order them around before continuing my conversation with Mia. "They will help the soldiers who are still alive!" (I) "Yes sir!!!" (servants) "Apart from his Aura which was very strange and strong, I didn''t notice anything else about him." (Mia) "At first I was scared by the warning of my ability, but after his Aura knocked us to the ground I realized he had everything under control at all times." (I) "Like this?" (Mia) "Look at the ground, the explosions of magic revealed what was underneath." (I) I point to one of the holes in the ground that were caused by the spells that hit the soldiers, there you can see an item buried in the ground, I look around and see a place where the earth is disturbed and I start to dig, then I find another one magic item when analyzing I see that it is an explosive type attack magic item, but it seems unloaded. "There must be several of these items buried in the ground, but none of them exploded." (I) "I also noticed that at the beginning of the attack there were many explosions in the sky, as soon as I looked out the window I saw that sometimes one spell hits the others exploding several around the sky, at first I didn''t understand, but now I know that the person inside was sabotaging the flat." (I) "But for that, they would have to know our information and that of the killers, how did they get it?" (Mia) "I don''t know, but they came prepared, their appearances, races, ages, and genders were hidden perfectly, they must also be wearing a status concealment item as my Status Rating skill had no effect." (I) "If they''re that dangerous I''d better have followed them." (Mia) "They weren''t our enemies, in fact, they didn''t even need to help us, they could have let us die before capturing the faceless brothers." (I) "Let''s help the wounded, for now, let''s take those killers with us, I want to know everything they know." (I) "The people dressed in red must have left these killers to us as they didn''t kill or capture them." (I) "I will handle their interrogation myself, prince." (Mia) "I count on you." (I) "(During the robbery he avoided my storage item, I don''t know if he knows the letter to the King or not.)" (I) "(I should have known the moment a Wyvern knight brought my sister''s letters in the previous town that things would be difficult.)" (I) I and my secret guard Mia went back to help the wounded soldiers, luckily it looks like the royal guard my father sent is still alive, after giving first aid we head towards the town of Valen. ------------- Zenos Pov: "I will grant you the title Child of Blood." (mysterious woman) "..." (I) Once again I meet her during my evolution, but what is she talking about giving me a title? "Why do I always see you during my evolution?" (I) "Because I call you to me, the moment of evolution is the only one where I can contact you directly." (mysterious woman) "Who are you?" (I) "That you must find out for yourself, but I can say that I am the one who helped you to be born into this world." (mysterious woman) "You never answer me with something I can understand." (I) "That''s because you aren''t asking the right questions." (mysterious woman) "Right questions?" (I) "Do you know my current situation?" (I) "Yes, I''m always watching you." (mysterious woman) "So you know about the faceless brothers?" (I) "I know, but I won''t help you or them." (mysterious woman) "If you say that it means you have a way to help them." (I) "What can I do to help them?" (I) "Why do you want to help them?" (mysterious woman) "They were your enemies, they were people you were ready to kill and eat before, if they had the opportunity they would probably kill you and your entire group." (mysterious woman) "You are right." (I) "Then why do you want to help them, you will only create more problems for yourself if you do." (mysterious woman) "I thought about it a lot too and concluded that the reason I want to help them is because of their strong will and a reminder of my previous life." (I) "To overcome the anger and hatred they certainly felt for their father, their willpower is very strong, this strength is born from the strong bond of the brothers, they love each other, they care about each other, they depend on each other." (I) "They have completely surrendered to their situation, they don''t even hope to be free, but they still haven''t given up, they still fight for each other." (I) "I''ve seen many orphans in my previous life, some had horrible stories, they don''t open their hearts to just anyone, but the people they open their hearts to become important emotional supports for them." (I) "These brothers are each other''s emotional support, they remind me of the orphanage I grew up in my previous life, so I want to help them." (I) As I talked and explained my motivation for the mystery woman, images of my previous life started to pop into my mind, I remembered the reason I created that computer with junkyard parts, it was to help a boy who was beaten by his drunk father before he was arrested and his son was taken to our orphanage, he would not open up with anyone and spend all day with a used portable video game that the priest gave him, I thought that if I made a computer for the children to play together, it gradually he would open up to others and it worked, after only two months he was running and smiling with the other children, I could see he wanted to be with the other children but I couldn''t, so I did that, to respond to strong will I saw in your eyes. These images, these memories, this is why I''m going to help the faceless brothers, I can see their willingness to protect and help each other, just as the children in the orphanage where I grew up helped each other. When I looked back at the mysterious woman I could see a smile on her face. "In other words, you''re only going to help them because they reminded you of something from your past." (mysterious woman) "Yes." (I) "I''ll tell you how you can help them then, but that help will come at a price, they''re permanently attached to you." (mysterious woman) "After your evolution, you must use your two Aura skills, your Blood Servant skill and your Vampire Servant skill." (mysterious woman) "Don''t be fooled, this will only give you the possibility to help them, when you use the four skills you will have to fight against their father''s will and a large amount of malice that is in the control symbols, you will fight against that''s just with your willpower." (mysterious woman) "At least it''s a possibility, but what do you mean they will be permanently connected to me?" (I) "Why would I tell you now? It would spoil the fun." (mysterious woman) She had a smile on her face and a sparkle in her eyes that looked like she was expecting to see a show, what this woman is up to. "Now that the fun is over, Let me tell you this." (mysterious woman) "The letter you read, if you do what is written there will open up many possibilities for you in the future, but you must wait until you are strong enough to drink the Dragon blood you are guarding." (mysterious woman) "I''m sure you''ve noticed that your current body isn''t able to withstand that Dragon blood." (mysterious woman) "I noticed, my body shook just getting close, that''s why I haven''t drunk it yet." (I) "Remember that you must only do what is in the letter after you drink that blood or you will only be looking for death." (mysterious woman) "If you even know about the letter, then you must know about the person who sent it, you can tell me more about that person." (I) "You should find out for yourself, I''ll just say that whoever wrote the letter was just an intermediary, so don''t worry." (Mysterious woman) My body started to fade away, when that happened the mysterious woman stopped smiling and told me one more thing before time ran out. "The evolutionary path you chose never existed before, you will have to create it, the race you will become dependent on, so choose carefully and be careful with those who know you." (mysterious woman) "We both know what you will choose." (mysterious woman) "In your next evolution your race will not be the only thing that will matter, your lineage will also be important, it will be from your lineage that your power and authority will come, but you will have none in the evolutionary path you are following." (mysterious woman) "You''ll have to create your bloodline, so good luck and sorry about your appearance." (mysterious woman) "What are you..." (I) So I deleted it. Ding! Ding! <[ has given you a title ]> . . <[ You have acquired the Title [ Child of Blood ] ]> . . . <[ "EVOLUTION REQUIREMENTS FULFILLED" ]> . . . <[ "ANALYZING POSSIBLE EVOLUTION POSSIBILITIES" ]> . . <[ ANALYZING TITLES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING LINEAGES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING SKILLS ]> . . <[ ANALYZING BLESSINGS ]> . Ding! . <[ COMPLETE ANALYSIS ]> . . . <[ LOOKING FOR SUITABLE EVOLUTION ]> . . . <[ SEVEN SUITABLE BREEDS WERE FOUND ]> Chapter 104: Day Walker <[ "EVOLUTION REQUIREMENTS FULFILLED" ]> . . . <[ "ANALYZING POSSIBLE EVOLUTION POSSIBILITIES" ]> . . <[ ANALYZING TITLES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING LINEAGES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING SKILLS ]> . . <[ ANALYZING BLESSINGS ]> . . Ding! . . <[ COMPLETE ANALYSIS ]> . . . <[ LOOKING FOR SUITABLE EVOLUTION ]> . . . <[ SEVEN SUITABLE BREEDS WERE FOUND ]> . . <[ CHOOSE YOUR RACE: ? [ Bloodthirsty wolf ] ? [ Death Bat ] ? [ Lower Energy Vampire (Variant) ] ? [ Cursed Monkey ] ? [ Kobold Assassin ] ? [ Blood Hobgoblin (Single) ] ? [ Vampire of the Lower Twilight (Unique) ] ]> This time there are many options, they seem to refer to the pure lineages I have, I''m going to discard all that are not humanoid evolutions, which leaves me with three evolution options. I''m going to discard the Blood Hobgoblin as well, it seems to be the next evolution after the Blood Goblin, but it''s still considered a monster. With that I get the two types of Vampires to choose what was expected, I have two abilities with Vampire names and one of my elemental affinities is blood, it was already obvious in what I would evolve. But that''s exactly why I could prepare myself, at first I just suspected that it might be a possibility for me to evolve into a Vampire, so I prepared for this evolution, I looked for a pure human lineage, I looked for a pure bat language and I looked for an ability to protect me from the weakness of the Light Vampires. That''s why I delayed my evolution, I hope that one of these two Vampire races fulfills my expectations. To make it easier to choose it would be good if I know more about these races, can I use my [ Identify: 2 ] ability for that? I try to use it to see if I can. Ding! <[ Identification result: [ Low Energy Vampire (Variant) ]: A very rare type of Vampire, he doesn''t feed on blood like other Vampires, but on energy no matter what type, he has two mouths in the palms of his hands and long claws, he is considered extremely violent and dangerous. Characteristics: ? Can use all three types of energy: Mana, Ki, and Spiritual. ? Can consume the following energies: Mana, Ki, Spiritual and Vital. ? Possesses a large amount of power reserve. ? Moderate resistance to energy attacks. ? Little intelligence. ? Strong aggressiveness. ? Insatiable hunger. ? High regeneration. [ Vampire Lesser Twilight (Unique) ]: A never-before-seen type of Vampire, he possesses a title that only the most powerful of Vampires should have, appearance unknown, and his presence attracts the lost. Characteristics: ? A Vampire who is unaffected by sunlight. ? Has an affinity with the elements of Light and Shadow. ? Has high intelligence. ? It has a large energy reserve. ? Has a weak body. ? Able to create his bloodline by being the first of its kind. ? Weak against Sacred and Demonic Energy. ? It has great charm for those who are lost in their ways. ]> But what the hell is this, I don''t want to choose either, it''s obvious that the two are going to get me into a lot of trouble. The Lower Energy Vampire appears to be a creature from a horror movie, in the description, it is clearly saying that it has mouths on its hands, and in the characteristics, it is saying that it has little intelligence, capable of consuming vital energy and has an insatiable hunger. This is definitely a no, I''m not going to turn into a creature from a horror movie, all that remains is to say that the skin is burnt, wears striped clothes, and say that it enters teenagers'' dreams to turn them into deadly nightmares. I won''t turn this thing around, the other option, the Twilight Vampire has good skills, but being the only one of my kind can cause problems, another thing that can get me in trouble is this description and feature that says I''m going to attract lost people of yours. paths, that''s a big sign of trouble. My long-awaited evolution came down to choosing to be a creature of horror movies or becoming a big target for trouble. Why can''t I become Dracula who lives in a big castle with three wives and live a quiet life, is that too much to ask? I''m about to pick the Blood Hobgoblin, seems like a smarter choice than the other two. Sigh At least the description and characteristics helped me to discover two other types of energy, Demonic and Sacred, there it speaks energy and not an element, I need to research them when I have time since they were not mentioned in any of the books I have here. I think I''d better stop avoiding the inevitable, I''ll choose to evolve into the only option that won''t make me the next villain in a horror movie. I choose [ Vampire of Twilight (Unique) ]. Ding! <[ "TWILIGHT VAMPIRE (SINGLE) CHOSEN" ]> . <[ "BEGINNING EVOLUTION" ]> . . . . . <[ "PROCESS EVOLUTION" ]> . . <[ "EMERGENCE OF A NEW RACE CONFIRMED" ]> . . . <[ "COMPLETED EVOLUTION" ]> . . . Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!... . . . <[His skill evolved [ Leech Belly: 10 ]> [ Lower Insatiable Stomach: 1] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Weak Resistance to Paralysis: 10 ] > [ Resistance to Paralysis: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Weak Resistance to Poison: 10 ] ]> [ Resistance to Poison: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Weak Physical Damage Resistance: 10 ] > [ Physical Damage Resistance: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Weak mana sense: 10 ] > [ Mana sense: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Meditation: 10 ] > [ Deep Meditation: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Mana Control: 10 ] > [ Superior Mana Control: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Basic Sword Handling: 10 ] > [ Sword Handling: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Weak Leech Bite: 10 ] > [ Vampire Bite: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Weak Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 10 ] > [ Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Weak Poison Secretion: 10 ] > [ Poison Secretion: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Weak Recovery: 10 ] > [ Recovery: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Line production: 10 ] > [ Line production enhanced: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Sticky Thread Production: 10 ] > [ Magic Thread Production: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Line control: 10 ] > [ Line control and manipulation: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Wolf Claw: 10 ] > [ Vampire Claw: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Magic Body Booster: 10 ] > [ Great Magic Body Booster: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Basic Sword Technique: 10 ] > [ Sword Technique: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Basic Dagger Technique: 10 ] > [ Dagger Technique: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ New titles purchased: ? [ Day Walker ] ? [ Patriarch (Twilight Vampires) ] ]> . . . <[ New bloodline acquired [ Twilight Vampire (Zenos): Original ] ]> ------------- I wake up the next day in my bed, I feel different, my eyesight is better, I can hear the bugs outside the cabin too, my body is a little stiff, let me get up. As soon as I stand up I look at my hand, dark skin, I have sharper portrait claws with finer tips, I can feel a lot of strength when I open and close my little hand. I feel great strength running through my body, this must be because I haven''t gotten used to my new power after evolution, I''m going to look at my stats to know exactly how much has increased. <[ NAME: Zenos RACE: Twilight Vampire (Unique) GENRE: Man LEVEL: 1/50 EXP: 23/100 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Twilight Vampire (Zenos): Original ] [ Horned Rabbit: 100% ] [ Flaming Snake: 15% ] [ Little Spider: 17% ] [ Gray Wolf: 100% ] [ Kobold: 100 % ] [ Human: 100% ] [ Dwarf: 14% ] [ Tiger Beast Man: 17% ] [ Vampire Bat: 100% ] [ Earth Monkey: 100% ] WORK: NONE WORK LEVEL: 0/0 WORK EXP: 0/0 WORK HISTORY: NONE HP: 100/100 MP: 160/160 Ki: 120/120 Strength: 109 (+38) Dexterity: 85 (+30) Agility: 98 (+30) Defense: 74 (+25) Intelligence: 150 (+25) (Magic Defense: 99 (+25) Charm: 200 (+1550) Luck: -50 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: ? [ ? ] [ ?? ] [ World breaker ] [ Last of his kind ] [ First of his kind ] [ He who brings chaos ] [ Named Monster ] [ Unique Monster ] [ True Master ] [ Founder of Chaos Fist ] [ Novice Mage ] [ Goblin Chief ] [ Novice Adventurer ] [ Literate ] [ Thief ] [ Kidnapper ] [ Goblin Killer ] [ Friend of Spirits ] [ Founder Blade of Chaos Technique ] [ Child of Blood ] [ Day Walker ] [ Patriarch (Vampires of the Twilight) ] ]> <[ PASSIVE SKILLS: ? [ Vampirism: 1 ] [ Insatiable Lower Stomach: 1 ] [ Weak Hunger Resistance: 1 ] [ Paralysis Resistance: 1 ] [ Poison Resistance: 1 ] [ Physical Damage Resistance: 1 ] [ Weak Blood Elemental Affinity: 9 ] [ Mana Sense : 1 ] [ Weak Affinity for Curse : 1 ] [ Deep Meditation : 1 ] [ Weak Fire Resistance : 1 ] [ Goblin Language : 10 ] [ Reinforce Weak Underlings: 1 ] [ Improved Sexual Stamina: 7 ] [ Weak Body Enhancement (Legs): 1 ] [ Improved Hearing: 1 ] [ Weak Body Enhancement (Exoskeleton): 1 ] [ Improved Nose: 1 ] [ Superior Mana Control: 1 ] [ Kobold Language: 1 ] [ Group Coordination : 3 ] [ Weak Wind Elemental Affinity: 1 ] [ Trap Construction: 3 ] [ Improved Strength: 4 ] [ Weak Dark Elemental Affinity: 1 ] [ Martial Art Fist of Chaos: 4 ] [ Mental Disorder: 8 ] [ Language Common: 10 ] [ Trigan Language: 1 ] [ Sword Handling: 1 ] [ Basic Spear Handling: 1 ] [ Fire Magic Elemental Affinity: 1 ] [ Mane Knives: 1 ] [ Basic Arithmetic: 10 ] [ Carpentry: 4 ] [ Architecture: 2 ] [ Agriculture: 1 ] [ Basic Forge: 1 ] [ Ki Sense: 3 ] [ Spiritual Sense: 2 ] [ Parallel Thinking: 4 ] [ Dismantle : 1 ] [ Body Enhancement (Fangs ): 4 ] [ Weak Pain Resistance : 8 ] [ Earth Magic Elemental Affinity : 1 ] [ Earth Magic Element Resistance : 1 ] [ Water Magic Elemental Affinity : 1 ] [ Weak Light Elemental Affinity: 1 ] [ Weak Light Elemental Resistance: 1 ] ACTIVE SKILLS: ? [ Vampire Bite: 1 ] [ Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 1 ] [ Poor Blood Detection: 2 ] [ Swim: 1 ] [ Poison Secretion: 1 ] [ Weak Blood Control: 5 ] [ Aura of Judgment: 2 ] [ Recovery: 1 ] [ Reinforced Line Production: 1 ] [ Magic Line Production: 1 ] [ Line Control and Manipulation: 1 ] [ Weak Body Charge: 1 ] [ Jump: 5 ] [ Light Fire Breath: 5 ] [ Poison Spit : 4 ] [ Snake Scale Production : 1 ] [ Body Manipulation : 4 ] [ Corrosion : 3 ] [ Detect Weak Presence : 8 ] [ Vampire Claws : 1 ] [ Blood Servant : 2 ] [ Large Magic Body Booster: 1 ] [ Intimidation: 4 ] [ Basic No Attribute Spell: 6 ] [ Basic Wind Spell: 1 ] [ Basic Fire Spell: 1 ] [ Hide: 1 ] [ Detect Trap: 1 ] [ Technique Basic Steal Technique: 1 ] [ Night Vision: 2 ] [ Ki Control: 1 ] [ Basic Hammer Technique: 1 ] [ Assassination Technique: 1 ] [ Sword Technique: 1 ] [ Dagger Technique: 1 ] [ Technique Blade of Chaos: 4 ] [ Sonic Scream: 1 ] [ S Life Sense: 1 ] [ Vampire Servant: 1 ] [ Seismic Sense: 1 ] [ White Magic: 1 ] [ Light Blade: 1 ] [ Seismic Sense: 1 ] UNIQUE SKILLS: [ ?? ] [ Chaotic Devourer ] [ Identify: 2 ] [ Aura of chaos : 2 ] BLESSINGS: [ ] ]> My status has grown a lot, this explains why I feel so much power coursing through me, it should be a happy occasion, so why am I crying? Why do I keep looking at that little child''s hand with these muscleless arms? Because!? BECAUSE!??? Chapter 105: Choosing Faceless Brothers Why do I keep looking at that little child''s hand with these muscleless arms? Why!? WHY!????? "I prepared so much for this evolution, sought bloodlines and abilities that would help me, I even did something as dumb as meddling in a conspiracy just to figure out a way to overcome Vampire number one weakness." (I) "All this work, all this waiting and all this effort in hopes of getting a strong, muscular adult body." (I) "It didn''t have to be very tall, a height of a normal adult human was enough, if I didn''t just have the muscles it would be fine too, I would just need to train to get a muscular body." (I) The more I talk the more tears fall from my eyes, I feel my heart broken in two. I look at the rest of my body and notice that my height hasn''t changed much, in fact, it''s decreased by two inches, now I must be measuring around six inches tall. I can see my entire body since I slept with no clothes on, I did this because I didn''t want to rip the clothes off if I grew up during evolution, but instead I have the body of a child. Tears Sniff Sniff No matter how hard I train, I''ll never get muscle with that child''s body, my only happiness is that my precious partner hasn''t diminished, if not I could be the first Vampire to die of a heart attack. "Why did this happen?" (I) "Wait, that mysterious red-haired woman, if I remember right she said something about apologizing for my appearance." (I) "She''s the one, she''s the one who did this to me, the next time I see her I''m going to rip her body to shreds." (I) "(The title, the title she hurriedly gave me was very suspicious, I have to identify that thing.)" (I) <[ Identification result: [Blood Child ]: A Title bestowed by to those she helped to be born and is permanently attached to her, this title grants charm, power, and authority to the owner among Vampires. The one who receives this title has the permanent appearance of a child representing his status as the child of . BONUS: (+1000) Charm for Vampires, servants, and subordinates. BONUS: (2) More power and control of the Blood element. ]> What the hell is this, this was not a gift, this is a curse. I dropped to my knees on the floor without strength and lay there unaware of the passage of time. ------------ I''m hearing voices, but I don''t care what they''re saying. "What are we going to do Kira?" (rica) "No matter how much we talk, he doesn''t respond, all he does is kneel on the floor with those empty eyes." (rica) "He looks sad for some reason but I don''t know why, he''s so cute now, we should call Diana to help cheer him up." (Kira) "That won''t happen if Diana sees the master''s new appearance, especially with him unclothed as now the master''s innocence will be in danger." (rica) "It can''t be that bad." (Kira) "Diana loves small and cute things, that''s why she always helps and protects children, she also admires strong people, the master is both and she already liked him when he was still a Goblin, if she sees he will throw herself at him without thinking twice, after all, she already likes the master a lot even before his evolution." (rica) "So what do you suggest?" (Kira) "Hmmm..." (rica) "The master is very shy, let me try something." (rica) I could hear conversation sounds, but nothing interested me at the time, suddenly I hear a whisper in my ear, at first I didn''t pay attention, but soon my blood started to boil and my face got hot all at once, I got up and got up. I pulled away at once from the person who was whispering in my ear. The things I''ve heard I wouldn''t dare say out loud, how can anyone have such a dirty mind. As soon as I look closer, I see it was rica speaking in my ears, her face was slightly red and she had a playful smile on her face. "What do you think you''re saying to someone despondent, how can you say such perverted things, where did you find out about these things." (I) "If you spend a lot of time with drunk adventurers you''ll hear a lot of things like that, I''ve had a similar reaction in the past." (rica) "I don''t know what they''re talking about, but I''m happy to see you well again master." (Kira) "I''m not fine, I''m angry, sad, dejected and now embarrassed too." (I) I look over and see rica is still looking at me with an amused glint on her face and Kira is looking away from me, her face is totally red, it takes me a few seconds to understand what''s going on before I look down and see that I''m still clothed off. I hurriedly grab the outfit I had taken off last night and put it on, the outfit is a little big on me now but I put on a belt to hold the pants and tucked the shirt into the pants. "Now that you are dressed can you tell us why you are sad?" (rica) "You should be happy after evolution, many people are very excited about their new powers after evolving." (Kira) "..." (I) "Never mind that, I don''t want to think about it right now." (I) "Let''s go to the cave, I have to take care of these two brothers soon, I don''t know if the bastard Thomas Galaretto can track these brothers by the control symbol, so let''s get this out of them soon." (I) "Does the master have a way to help them? As expected of you." (rica) "Let''s release them now, I couldn''t sleep last night knowing they were trapped in the cave." (Kira) I and the girls head towards the cave, on the way I noticed that my body felt lighter, I looked around and realized I could see further and in more detail, I may not like my appearance, but the improvement is undeniable. that this evolution has brought me, I have to try to get used to this body in the next few days before going to the city of Valen. While thinking and checking some things, we arrived in the room where the brothers were, as soon as I entered I saw a figure approaching me at high speed, when I thought I would be hit I feel myself being lifted and then squeezed between two soft things. "Master, you are so beautiful and fluffy, as something so precious can exist, you smell so good." (Diana) "..." (I) "I knew this was going to happen, let him go, Diana, this is not the time for such things." (rica) "Only five more minutes." (Diana) "..." (I) "Diana lets go of him, can''t you see she''s smothering him with her breasts, he can''t breathe like that." (Kira) Diana stops hugging me and pushes me away, just as I thought she was going to put me down she turns my body forward and hugs me again like I''m a doll. "Now he won''t suffocate, no more complaints." (Diana) "..." (rica/Kira/I) Sigh "Why do you always act like an idiot with everything that doesn''t involve combat?" (rica) "Forget about these things I want everyone to put their red clothes back on, I have to wake them both up to talk to them." (I) "Yes Master." (rica/Kira/Diana) "Now that I''ve stopped to see, where are Ibuki and Byakko?" (I) "They went into the forest to hunt some monsters and get some fruit, they should be back in a few hours." (Kira) "Alright, let''s do it without them then." (I) "(On the way here I used to identify the skills I''m going to use to know what to do, I''m ready.)" (I) We all left the room and changed clothes, after putting on the red clothes and masks I tell rica to use her magic to light up the cave room, so I ask her to wake up the two Brothers, this is a decision they must both make together. It doesn''t take long for them to open their eyes, I''ve already warned them that only Kira and I can talk as we can disguise our voices. "Good morning, it''s time to wake up." (I) They look first at me who spoke and then look around until they see each other, then start crying. "Sister, are you alright? Did they do something to you?" (faceless brother) "I''m fine Brother, but how are you? Did they do something to you?" (Sister without a face) "I didn''t do anything to either of them, so let''s get down to business." (I) "(I can''t belong, I don''t know if Thomas can share their senses.)" (I) They both look at me with concern and wariness before their brother speaks to me. "What do you want now, do you want to know any more information about the Church of Light?" (faceless brother) "Sorry to disappoint you, my sister and I are mere tools for the extremist faction, we don''t know anything worthwhile." (faceless brother) "I don''t want to know about this, I woke you up because I have a proposal for you, but you must decide for yourselves." (I) The brothers look at each other before turning their eyes to me warily. "Which proposal?" (Sister without a face) "I have two options for you, the first one I release you in a faraway place and you can go back to your usual lives before you meet me." (I) "You want me to believe you would let us go." (faceless brother) "Quiet brother, he hasn''t finished speaking yet." (Sister without a face) "Let me clear things up for you, you don''t know anything about me or the others in this room, don''t know if we''re the only ones here, don''t know where we are, don''t know what Kingdom we''re from, don''t know our races, don''t know our ages, they don''t know our genders and they don''t even know the reason we captured you." (I) "I don''t need to kill you if I don''t want to, you are not a threat." (I) "..." (Brother without a face/Sister without a face) "What''s the second option?" (Sister without a face) "You can serve me, I can free you from the Symbol of control, but you must swear allegiance to me of your own free will." (I) "You''re lying, during our travels, I searched everywhere and never even found something that could set us free." (Sister without a face) "I''ve said everything I had to say, decide for yourself." (I) The brothers show different reactions, even though the sister questioned me I could see a glimmer of hope in her eyes, while the brother was looking at his sister as if he was waiting for her decision. "Why would we do that, nothing would change, we would still be subject to the will of someone else who would use us as tools." (Sister without a face) "I don''t think you understand something, I don''t have tools, I have servants and subordinates." (I) "(Servants and subordinates who are as important to me as a family.)" (I) "I''m giving you a choice, so decide!" (I) The sister looks at her brother who nods at her, she looks confused, after a few minutes she looks at me with a strong twinkle in her eyes, I could see a great determination, will, and hope in those eyes for the first time since I saw her. , as I look at your brother all I see is a small smile and eyes full of bravery and determination. "We chose the second option." (Sister without a face) Chapter 106: Dad The sister looks at her brother who nods at her, she looks confused, after a few minutes she looks at me with a strong twinkle in her eyes, I could see a great determination, will, and hope in those eyes for the first time since I saw her. , as I look at your brother all I see is a small smile and eyes full of bravery and determination. "We chose the second option." (Sister without a face) "Very well, close your eyes and drink what I will give you." (I) I take two cups from my storage item and ask Diana and Kira to hold them, then use my new claws to cut my wrists and let the blood run down into the cups halfway before using my [ Recovery: 1 ] ability to heal the cuts without leaving any scars. "Give them both to drink." (I) I hope they drink all the blood so I activate the [ Chaos Aura: 2 ], [ Judgment Aura: 2 ], [ Blood Servant: 2 ], and [ Vampire Servant: 1 ] all at the same time. Just like in the past my two Auras leave my body at the same time and spread across the room, so my Mana and blood leave my body, but this time I feel red energy come out of me and go straight to the faceless brothers, as soon as this red energy comes in contact with them my two Auras start to enter their bodies along with the drops of my blood floating around and my mana, a red light pulses from within them in response. Soon I can feel a stronger and stronger connection between me and them, so when the connection is strong enough I start to feel something inside them trying to reject my Auras and my power. I focus on this rejection and gradually feel like I''m getting into them, I can clearly see the control symbol marks glowing with dark blue energy pulling away from my power, I feel some kind of awareness inside this thing trying to pull me away. The moment I feel this awareness I feel all the anger I felt yesterday that their story resurfaces within me and adds to my anger at not having achieved my adult body. I directed all this anger into my auras and slam them like a Warhammer into the control symbols. "(Who dares try to steal my precious tools!?)" (mysterious voice) As soon as I contacted the Control Symbols and heard a voice filled with contempt and hatred, I knew immediately that it could only be one person, Thomas Galaretto. My blood boiled and I directed my Auras to wrap around the control symbols, then I started using my Auras to squeeze them with all my will. "(What are you doing? Let my tools go or I will cause the wrath of the God of Light to fall on you, being inferior!)" (Thomas Galaretto) He has a tone of voice full of authority and contempt, he doesn''t even treat them like people, his children. Suddenly an idea came to my mind and a smile appeared on my face behind the mask, my idea is if I am able to hear him then he should also hear me. I tried to transfer my thoughts and words through my Aura to the Control Symbols. "(You dare to speak like that to me Archbishop Thomas Galaretto, you have a lot of courage.)" (I) "(How are you managing to talk to me, this was not supposed to be possible, who are you?)" (Thomas Galaretto) "(You will find out who I am one day your worm, that day I will make you suffer so much that you will beg for death.)" (I) "(How dare you speak to a representative of the God of Light like that?)" (Thomas Galaretto) "(Keep talking while you can worm, but I want you to know that no one will be able to protect you from me!)" (I) At that moment my rage reached its limit, my Auras squeezed the Control Symbols so hard that their blue light faded and the Control Symbols shattered. "(AHHHH!!!!)" (Thomas Galaretto) I could hear the sweet sound of Thomas Galaretto''s pain-filled screams as I destroyed the Control Symbols. After destroying these things my auras and power began to flow through the brothers'' bodies and were enveloped in a red glow that hid them inside. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ Vampire transformation process started ]> . . <[ Two individuals submitted to you willingly ]> . . <[ Choose a power to grant them ]> Once again a list of all my abilities and their inferior abilities appears. I chose to grant the brother the minor ability [ Elemental Affinity Ki of Blood: 1 ]. For Sister, I chose to grant the ability [ Corrosion: 1 ], from what I learned from the books the White Mage''s work makes it almost impossible to acquire attack skills, so I''m going to give this skill that she can use to give corrosive characteristic to her Mana, that can give you many ways to do damage. Ding! Ding! <[ Grant of power completed ]> . . <[ Twilight Vampire Transformation Completed ]> Over time the red light covering their bodies disappeared and my auras returned to me. Soon we were able to see them again, I could see their faces completely healed, not just the face but also the whole body, no scars were left behind. I must say that the sister is extremely beautiful, it was a crime against all that is beautiful to burn that face, the brother is as beautiful as the sister, but I get annoyed when I look at him, he is not only handsome but also has a big body and full of muscles, he looks like the main character in an action movie, I''m so jealous of him, as I wish my body was like that too. "Get some clothes on." (I) The two brothers'' eyes have turned red and their hair has gone inky black, the symbols of control are gone from their bodies, I give them both clothes and wait for them to get dressed. "Let''s go somewhere more comfortable to talk." (I) I started walking out of the cave heading towards the cabin, on the way I added the two to the group, that''s when I realized I didn''t know their names until now. Ding! Ding! <[ You want to add Irina (Twilight Vampire) to your group ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> . . <[ You want to add Irius (Twilight Vampire) to your group ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> On the way to the cabin they walked behind me hugging and crying, they kept looking at each other''s faces. We enter the cabin and stay in the main room, where I tell the brother and sister pair to sit on the floor while the rest of the group goes to another room to change clothes, then we go back to the main room and we sit in a circle on the floor. "We''re all going to be spending a lot of time together from now on, so let me clear up a few things with you two before we start the introductions." (I) "The reason we hid our faces and looks was so that worm Thomas Galaretto didn''t know our looks." (I) "I also didn''t treat you very well so as not to arouse his suspicions now that he''s lost his connection to you and must be thinking I killed you or gained control of your control symbol." (I) "But I want you to know that I''m not going to treat you badly, all I expect from you is that you live happily and be loyal, I won''t demand any more from them." (I) "Do you have any questions so far?" (I) "We understand." (Irina) "Okay, now I''m going to start the introductions." (I) "This is rica, she''s from the Demon race, she''s smart and very thoughtful, she''s the one who put them to sleep." (I) "It''s a pleasure to be able to talk to you now, I hope I get along with you." (rica) "This is Diana, a woman from the tribe of the Man-Beast Wolves, she is very strong and responsible." (I) "I hope you can trust us soon, in this group we count on each other." (Diana) "This is Kira, she is a Gray Elf, she is very careful and trustworthy, it was thanks to the information she got that we were able to capture you." (I) "Nice to meet you, I may have gotten the information and infiltrated the killers, but the whole plan was the master''s idea." (Kira) "By the way, I apologize for stabbing you in the back." (Kira) "Don''t worry about it, I understand you didn''t want to hurt me as you missed all the vital points." (Irius) "And to wrap up this side of the introductions, I''m Zenos, I''m a Twilight Vampire, I hope we can all get along well." (I) "My name is Irina, I''m a White Mga, now I''m a Vampire and I hope to get along with everyone." (Irina) "My name is Irius, I''m a fledgling Templar, just like my Sister I''ve become a Vampire now, I''m looking forward to getting along with you all." (Irius) "Very well, this should end introductions, welcome Irina and Irius." (I) They both get on their knees in front of me and start crying again. "All I can do is thank you for accepting me and my sister into your family, thank you so much Dad." (Irius) "We both had already given up on getting rid of these control symbols, but you did it for us, you also gave us back our appearance, I have no words to thank you Father." (Irina) "Why do you keep calling me Dad?" (I) "We were both made Vampires by you and given your bloodline, as such we are considered your children." (Irina) "I even received the Title [ Son of Zenos (Twilight Vampire) ], I believe my sister also received the same title." (Irius) "Yes, I received the title [ Daughter of Zenos (Twilight Vampire) ]." (Irina) "Which!?" (I) Chapter 107: My lineage I don''t understand what''s going on, Irina and Irius are saying they''ve been given the title [ Son of Zenos (Twilight Vampire) ], they''re even calling me Dad. "Why are you calling me Dad?" (I) The brothers look at each other with confused faces, then Irina seems to have thought of something and nods at her brother, then they both look at me again. "How long have you been a Vampire?" (Irina) "I don''t know, maybe a few hours?" (I) "I evolved tonight into a Vampire." (I) "..." (Irina/Irius) "That explains sister, he doesn''t know." (Irius) "I should imagine, I''ve never heard of Twilight Vampire, look at the others, they''re all different races, so I can understand not knowing." (Irina) "What are you talking about?" (I) "I don''t think you know much about Vampires, right?" (Irina) "You''re right, I was going to look up some information about this in town later." (I) "You don''t need to worry about that, we were inquisitors for the Church of Light, we may not know much about the church, but we know about their enemies as it was our job to hunt and kill them." (Irius) "As my brother said, Vampires are a hated race by the Church of Light, as such the Church has several records about them and forces all Inquisitors to study them." (Irina) "I would appreciate it if you tell me more about the Vampires." (I) "Let me explain to them brother." (Irina) "As you wish sister." (Irius) "I must first say that there are three types of Vampires." (Irina) "The first type are those who are born Vampires, they will inherit a parent''s lineage if they have any and are called purebloods." (Irina) "The second type is mutated, they are people of other races who have been transformed by a Vampire, the chance of a successful transformation decreases depending on how pure the Vampire''s bloodline is, Vampires without bloodline only have a fifty percent chance of transforming successfully someone, if the transformation fails the person dies." (Irina) "The third type is those that evolved into a Vampire, normally those evolved into normal Vampires, but if they get a connection to some Vampire Variant bloodline they can evolve into that specific variant race." (Irina) "I don''t understand how you evolved already creating a new Vampire bloodline." (Irina) "I understand, tell me more about the importance of bloodline and these Variant Vampire races." (I) "For Vampires, bloodline is the most important, your powers come from your bloodlines, like you for example who turned us into Vampire Variants by sharing your bloodline with us." (Irina) "As my brother and I obtained your children''s titles, this means that you are the Patriarch of the Twilight Vampire bloodline, so your bloodline is of the Original type, which is very rare among the Vampires." (Irina) "For a Vampire to become a Variant they need to obtain a Variant bloodline like their Father, Vampire Variants are stronger than normal and may have powers unique to their bloodline." (Irina) "As in our case for example, on the way to the cabin we saw you walk fearlessly in sunlight without suffering any injuries, so we did the same, just as we imagined we could walk in sunlight even though we were Vampires, this is due to your Father lineage." (Irius) "I don''t know if my brother did too, but I received a magical elemental affinity skill after my transformation, that skill is from the shadow element, that''s also thanks to your Father bloodline." (Irina) "I also received the same elemental affinity, but mine is not for magic but Ki." (Irius) "You mean that Variant Vampires have Variant bloodlines, and those bloodlines grant powers that other Vampires wouldn''t have." (I) "Exactly Father, our lineage comes straight from you so it''s one hundred percent pure if I have a child your lineage will be the same as mine, but if I transform someone that person won''t have a pure Variant lineage." (Irina) "Another thing you should know is that Vampires split into families that share the same lineage, their hierarchy splits like that." (Irina) Patriarch/Matriarch = leader children = sub-leader grandchildren = servants "As you are the first of your lineage you are the Patriarch of our family, with such me, my brother, and anyone else who enters our family must call you Father because the power of the whole family comes from your lineage." (Irina) "..." (I) But what the hell is this, I''m not even six months in this world and I already have two grown children, what a bad joke this is. I look at Irius, he is tall, handsome, and has a muscular body, just looking at him fills me with envy, he wants to tell me then that my son can have a body like that and I who am the father have to have the body of a child? Where is justice in the world!??? Just thinking about these things made me almost cry again. "So that''s why you call me Dad?" (I) "Yes, we are linked to you by our lineage, as such, we are not able to go against you." (Irius) "In fact for us who are your children, we feel a strong authority coming from you, for us from now on it will only be natural to obey your commands." (Irina) "As I said before, I don''t plan on forcing you to do anything you don''t want to." (I) "Now that we''ve talked about Vampires, I want to ask you two something, can Thomas Galaretto track you here?" (I) "He can''t, the handcuffs you used to bind us stopped the energy flow in our body, as such he wasn''t able to track us, even though sharing our senses was difficult for him." (Irina) "So he could really share his senses?" (rica) "Yes, we couldn''t resist him, but thanks to the handcuffs he only managed to do that after we woke up, at the end of our conversation." (Irina) "Like my sister said I could feel the urge for him spreading through my body slowly reaching my eyes, he was able to see you but he wasn''t able to hear." (Irius) "You were right to be cautious, master, using the clothes to hide us was a wise decision." (Diana) "Knowing he doesn''t know where we are is good, we can continue our plans to move to Valen City." (I) I look at the brothers and see their red eyes, what are we going to do about it? "How can we hide the two of you, Vampires are considered monsters in some places and Demons in others, so I have to hide your eyes somehow." (I) "How did you plan on hiding in Valen City being a Vampire, Father?" (Irina) "Since my eyes are different colors I thought I could pass for a Dhampir." (I) "That''s a good idea, really your eyes are dark purple and the other is golden, they are beautiful eyes Dad, with those eyes and walking in the daylight it will be easy to fool people if no one checks your status." (Irina) "The question is what to do with you about it." (I) "We can follow the same plan as you like this." (Irina) When speaking Irina made one of her eyes turn light blue leaving the other still red, seeing that her brother left one of her eyes white. "What Transformation Technique is this?" (Kira) "It''s not transformation, my brother and I have pure elemental affinities, I have two of the water and the Light and my brother has the Light only." (Irina) "All we did was focus the pure elemental energy in one of our eyes so we could pass for Dhampir too." (Irina) "That makes things easier." (I) "Dhampiros are considered Demis in Trigan Realm, even if they are rare we won''t have any problems." (rica) "So prepare everything in the next few days, in three days after the brothers and I get used to our newly acquired powers, we''re going to the city of Valen." (I) "I will start preparations tomorrow master." (rica) "Diana, you''re leaving the day before the rest of us to get the keys to the mansion." (I) "I will leave in two days then master." (Diana) "Okay, do we have anything else to talk about?" (I) "I would like to ask you something, Father." (Irina) Sigh "It''s really weird to have someone calling me that, it''s going to take me a while to get used to it." (I) "You can ask anything you want." (I) "Wanted to know why my brother and I were targeted?" (Irina) "Because I wanted to get the light resistance skill, but I didn''t want to hurt someone innocent." (I) "Is this serious?" (Irius) "I got information from your conspiracy plan and after a lot of thought and simulations in my head, I also got some more information that Kira brought up, I was able to deduce your plans and goals, knowing all this it wasn''t hard to assume that there would be extremist members of the Igreja da Luz in the carriage with the Third Prince of Cartoza." (I) "As members of the Church of Light, you should have the skill I was looking for, as you were also participating in a plan to start a war you would not be innocent people, so I would not feel guilty about killing and devouring you." (I) "You planned to kill and devour us?" (Irina) "Yes, but in my defense, I didn''t know your circumstances, as soon as I heard your story I started thinking of a way to free you." (I) "You skipped a part of the story master, you were so mad at their situation that you spent the whole day killing monsters until you couldn''t stand anymore." (Diana) "..." (I) "I appreciate everything Father has done for us, but to get involved in a conspiracy plan like that for a skill of that level is insane." (irius) "My brother is right, it wasn''t just crazy, you were very bold and decisive in choosing this course of action." (Irina) "For me, it seemed the right thing, with this I would get the skill I wanted and as a bonus, I could prevent an unnecessary war." (I) "So for you, preventing the war was a bonus?" (Irius) "Hahahaha." (Diana) "You will get used to the boldness of the master." (Diana) "In time you will see so many crazy things happening that you will stop paying attention to every detail." (rica) "Don''t listen to them, they are as crazy as he is, you will be surprised every time the master does something, his thought process is just too unpredictable." (Kira) The brothers look at each other with concern in their eyes. "What did we choose to get into brother?" (Irina) "I don''t know, but it looks like we won''t get along here sister." (Irius) "If anyone could hear you all talking about me like that they''d think I''m someone weird." (I) "..." (rica/Diana/Kira/Irius/Irina) Everyone looked at me with looks full of irony, for some reason their eyes hurt my heart. "(I''m not that weird, am I?)" (I) Chapter 108: First city We spent the rest of the day getting to know each other, Diana and Irius started talking about training and fighting tactics, it seems they share the same interest in combat. Kira, rica, and Irina were talking about me, Irina seemed to want to know more about me and preferred to listen to the girls'' opinions instead of my point of view, she said she was unable to understand my way of making decisions. After a few hours, Ibuki and Byakko came back, I introduced them to the brothers, Ibuki hugged them happily saying that now the family has grown, for some reason, Irina cried with those words. When I asked Irius why she cried he said that this is the first day that so many people treat them with such affection and sincerity before they could only count on each other, but now they were with us, he said that your sister''s tears are of happiness. rica took some of the fruit that Byakko brought back for everyone to eat while we talked, so night fell and I went to sleep. I tried not to appear so as not to worry everyone but I was extremely tired after transforming the brothers, I didn''t pay attention during their transformation as I was trying to break the Control Symbol and I was filled with rage hearing the voice of the Worm of Thomas Galaretto, but my whole body was aching, the only reason I could stand it was my pain resistance ability, so I went to bed early. But before going to sleep I went to look in a mirror in the warehouse to see my appearance that I haven''t checked so far, what I saw surprised me, even I had to admit my beauty. I still had red hair, my eyes, as I imagined, were still golden and dark purple, my teeth were white as snow and my fangs were easy to see when I spoke, my ears were the size of a human but they were pointed, my skin was brown and I still had the same tribal tattoos all over my body. These tattoos take over my back and pass through my arms, legs, and chest, these tattoos had four different colors which are gold, purple, black, and silver. ----------- Over the next two days, the brothers and I tried to get used to our new bodies, both they and I had a huge boost in our status and we needed to get used to it before we headed to Valen City. During our training, I notice that Irius is as strong as Diana in combat without using abilities at least. I also realized that even though Irina is a White Mage who focuses on giving support from a safe place, she also has combat training, when I talked about this she said that her brother insisted on training her to at least be able to defend herself if she ran out of mana. During this time the brothers also spoke what they knew about the Vampires, it seems that the Vampires are divided into three factions, the first faction is hidden in the underworld of human cities controlling clandestine organizations, they live without harming humans and usually have slaves to feed of their blood without killing them, are considered a faction that side with the Humans of the indirect firm. The second faction is composed of Vampires who hate Humans and other races that have discriminated against them, and don''t like to hide and have to control their desire to drink blood, these Vampires side with the Demons who are also against Humans. The third Faction is neutral, the Vampires of that faction stay away from the affairs of other races and worship their Blood Goddess, they live in isolated places peacefully. I have also found that more than half of Vampires have no bloodline at all, it seems the Church of Light believes that only forty percent of Vampires are Variants having any bloodline from any Vampire family. With this information, it was not difficult to know the way each of the groups acts, in short, the first faction is cautious and plans things secretly, the second faction is aggressive and proud, but it is difficult to have an idea about the third faction as it doesn''t it often seems from what the brothers have told me. What caught my attention was knowing about this Blood Goddess that the third faction worships, when I asked about this Goddess they said they didn''t know anything about her. I have to find out more about this Goddess. Diana left the day before the rest of us, she had to go to the Trade Guild to get the keys to the mansion and fulfill a task I asked her to. ------------ Today is the day we leave for Valen City, we store everything we had in storage items, I found out that Irina had a rare skill called Inventory, so we gave all storage items to her to store with her skill. We were all ready, the brothers and I were wearing masks that were covered from the nose down, we are using that to hide our fangs. rica is already in her Human form, she followed my advice and used a tattoo image for her transformation magic, now she has light white skin and black hair, she has a tattoo on her arm that resembles a heart with bat wings on her arms. sides, horns on top and a tail with a triangle at the tip, the color of the heart is black as ink, this is the tattoo she imagined for her magic, it looks like a normal tattoo, but when it reverts to its normal shape a lot of energy leaves the tattoo and runs through your body, then the tattoo disappears. Kira is wearing the new Illusion Spirit Ring I got from Diana''s friend Mari, she got this when she met her in Valen City while she was shopping for things for our plan to capture the faceless brothers. We all gathered outside the cabin, I was looking at this cabin that I built with my own hands, it was the first house I had in this world, I remember how I used the "Wolf Claw" skill to cut the trees already. I didn''t have an ax, I remember Diana and Ibuki helping me with the construction while rica checked the items we had in stock, I remember how difficult it was to get things from Kira''s cave here after we took out her bandit group. There are many memories, this was the first place I called home and where I lived with the family I built in this world, I didn''t think it would be so difficult to leave here. "Don''t cry master, I know it''s hard to leave the house, I went through the same thing when I made my family expel me." (rica) "I understand master, me it''s also difficult to leave this cabin since my mother died years ago, this was the first place that made me feel at home, leaving this place behind is difficult." (Kira) "..." (I) I lift my hand to my face and see that I''m crying, I didn''t think I would cry like that just for moving house. I take a deep breath to compose myself and speak to everyone. "It''s time to go, let''s go." (I) I start walking to the camp gates and head into the forest without looking back. "Where now Kira?" (I) "I will lead the master path." (Kira) "Right." (I) It took a few hours of travel to reach the city, we dodged all the monsters along the way as thanks to the various sense-type skills I have I was able to locate them all. When I arrived in the city I was impressed with the city walls, they were big and resistant, the city gates were also big, I saw soldiers in metal armor inspecting carriages and luggage at the gate, there were two lines at the gate, one for the carriages I assumed to be for merchants and the other row for the rest of the people. I was fascinated with the people in the queue, there were people with characteristics of various animals, there were people over two meters tall, there were short but muscular people, there was a lot of variety of breeds, this was the first time I''ve seen so many breeds in one place, many people in line were carrying some kind of weapon. "Don''t be impressed by this alone master, wait at least until we''re inside the city." (rica) "..." (I) I woke up to rica''s words, it seems I was paralyzed by the fascination of seeing all this for the first time. After that we all got in line and waited our turn when it was our turn the guards confirmed that we had no luggage and saw that we had some weapons, he asked if we were adventurers and I said no, I told him we were travelers and we were going register in the Adventurers'' Guild of that city, he charged ten copper coins for each one and let us in. Once again I am fascinated by what I see, many people are walking to and fro in the city, the city''s architecture resembles the medieval because all the buildings are made of stone, even the streets are made of smooth stone, the houses and buildings they are painted in various colors, have food stalls made of wood or mounted on carts on both sides of the main road, thanks to my improved sense of smell I can smell so many different smells that I''m getting dizzy. The street we are on seems to be the main street that leads to the city center, from what rica, Diana and Kira had already told me there must be a fountain in the center of the city, from the square where the fountain is, the main streets that lead to the four city gates. "What do we do now master?" (Kira) "I''ll get in touch with Diana to meet us at the water fountain downtown, let''s go." (I) Chapter 109: Eclipse mansion Our group has just arrived at Valen City, I must say I''m impressed, the architecture, the people, the magic. Everything here surprises me, I see a woman who seems to be shopping making everything she buys float and follow her, even in the food stalls I see people creating fire with their hands to cook, I even see a carriage being pulled by iron horses, they must be golems like the ones I read in the books. "Let''s get going, I''ll get in touch with Diana on the way." (I) As we walked down the street I closed my eyes, imagining the image of Diana and concentrating hard on it, I tried to extend my awareness through the image and then through my connection to Diana until an image of a pitcher of beer appeared in front of me. "(Diana!)" (I) "Master!??" (Diana) "(I''m speaking in your mind Diana.)" (I) "(Did something happen for you to talk to me like that?)" (Diana) "(Nothing happened, I just wanted to let you know that we are already in town, come meet us at the fountain in the center of town.)" (I) "(I''m going right now.)" (Diana) "Waitress how much do I owe?" (Diana) I pulled my awareness back and opened my eyes. "Diana will meet us at the source." (I) "What was she doing?" (rica) "She was drinking." (I) "As I expected." (rica) "You managed to connect really fast this time, congratulations." (Kira) "Thanks to the training we did before I evolved, it now feels easier somehow." (I) "That''s because Vampires are known to have strong connections to their Kindred." (Irina) "That explains, I can even feel the direction Diana is focusing on." (I) "I didn''t know Diana was a Familiar, it''s usually difficult to turn someone into a Familiar as for a Familiar connection there''s also the issue of compatibility." (Irius) "Not just Diana, I''m also a Familiar to the master." (Kira) "You should know Father is different, usually mages choose Familiars for melee combat or to further increase the power of their elements." (Irina) "For Vampires, it''s different as they have higher stats, a strong body, and lots of energy, they choose Familiars to be extensions of their eyes and ears, they can even use some of their power through their Familiars if the connection with them is strong." (Irina) "But you have two Familiars who are people, that''s usually difficult as people''s unconscious usually rejects that kind of connection." (Irius) "To be honest I don''t even know how it happened." (I) "It''s not like I have control over what a person will become when I use my abilities on them." (I) "I actually thought about it for a long time and I think when I use my power like in the case of girls, the race becomes more dependent on themselves than on me." (I) "Why do you always talk about these complicated things? Ibuki can''t understand." (Ibuki) "If you don''t have control over it then just forget it, whatever has to be will be." (Byakko) "You finally woke up, I thought you were going to sleep all day again Byakko." (Kira) As we walked down the main street to the center of town, everyone was talking about various things, but as soon as we got to the square in the center I could see the large number of people walking everywhere and the buildings that are around, some of them called my attention, must be the Guilds that Diana and rica told me about. We go straight to the fountain and see someone tall waving at us, we go to that person as we recognize Diana from afar. "You guys arrived faster than I thought, I was having my breakfast near here, so I managed to get there before you guys." (Diana) "Who drinks beer for breakfast?" (rica) "It was just a jar, it was just to start the day off right." (Diana) "Let''s not talk here, there are a lot of people around, I''m not used to being surrounded by people yet." (I) "Did you get the keys to the Diana mansion?" (I) "Yes, I also made the change you requested master, the vice master of the Trade Guild was surprised by my sudden request, but he understood why." (Diana) "That''s good, lead the way." (I) "What change are you talking about?" (Kira) "You will know soon." (I) Diana guides us to the noble district of the city, as we walk she explained that the mansion is in an isolated part of the district, she said it was the biggest mansion with the biggest land in the city after the one the Duke owns. On the way we passed many mansions, most of them had guards on both sides of the gate, there were small and large mansions, there were even some that had walls so high that I couldn''t see the mansion, what bothered me was that the guards of the various mansions stayed looking at us whenever we passed, not only them but also the patrols of soldiers who were passing by, on the way we encountered two patrols. When we finally arrive I am surprised by what I see, the gates are made of iron and painted black, beside the gate is a sign with the name of the mansion. On the sign it says "Eclipse Mansion", this was the change I asked Diana to organize, this is no longer the King''s deceased brother''s mansion, this is no longer the Trigan mansion, this will now be our home, for that, I had to change the name of this mansion. "The plate looks great Diana." (I) "Wilson arranged it for me, as the master said he didn''t want too much decoration it was like that." (Diana) "So that was the change you were talking about." (Kira) "From now on this is no longer the Trigan mansion, now this will be the Eclipse mansion." (I) "I like the name, it suits you master." (rica) "Let''s go in." (I) As soon as we passed through the gate we saw a thin layer of mist on the ground, I could suddenly feel the same sensation I had in the ruins within the forest of blood. "It''s weak but that''s definitely miasma." (Irina) "How did this place get like this?" (Irius) "I''ll tell you later" (I) I keep looking around and see the mansion, it''s three stories tall it''s big enough to belong to a royal family, the outside of the mansion is beautiful with lots of flower gardens and trees, there''s a small fountain at the entrance to the mansion with a smooth stone path that leads from the gate where we are to the entrance to the mansion, the mansion is simple but elegant, without the extravagance I expected to find. "This is a beautiful mansion, even bigger than my family had." (rica) "Let''s go in." (I) We head to the doors and enter, at the entrance, there is a large hall with wide stairs right in front of the doors leading to the second floor, as soon as we entered we saw that the place is minimally decorated, but still to my taste. We go into a room to the left of the entrance where there is a large dining table. "This place is really big, do you have the drawings of the mansion with you Diana?" (I) "Here is a master." (Diana) Diana spreads the drawing of the mansion on the table for all to see, looking at the drawing I see that everything I asked has been done, rooms for alchemy, rooms for the Forge, vault rooms, library, swimming pool with thermal water in one of the bathrooms, a large kitchen, a room for a tailor, a training ground outside, from the drawings of the mansion I see that the training ground is behind the mansion. The workshops are on the third floor, on the second floor are the bedrooms, on the first floor are offices and rooms that are unused for the time being, on the ground floor there is a ballroom, the entrance, the dining room, the bathroom with thermal water and the kitchen. "Choose your rooms." (I) Soon everyone started talking about their rooms, I wanted to choose a simple and small one, but everyone forced me to have the suite, it was no surprise that everyone else chose rooms close to each other. It was still early so we were exploring the house for a few hours before heading out into town, we wanted to find a place to eat. Diana and Kira took us to where they were, said the food and beer here were very good. "The mansion is much bigger than I thought." (I) "By size, we''re going to need at least fifteen to twenty employees, at least." (rica) "The problem is that they have to be trustworthy people, we have a lot of secrets and the mansion has miasma, it will have to be a strong person." (I) "I and my brother can make some Vampires for our family, they would be grandchildren so they would serve us." (Irina) "We can buy some master slaves, Irina and Irius can turn them into Twilight Vampires, then we can choose slaves who are old adventurers, those would be responsible for helping the Vampires and feeding them, what do you think?" (Kira) sigh "I think this plan makes us look more and more like a clandestine organization." (I) "But let''s follow your plan." (I) "Tomorrow we''re going to the Adventurers'' Guild to register, after we get out of there we can buy the slaves we need." (I) "(I can''t get used to this slave business, it gives me a bad feeling as there is no longer a slavery system in my old world.)" (I) "If the master wants to go to the Guild tomorrow, I can take this opportunity to introduce the whole group to Mari." (Diana) "Could be, I''ve always wanted to meet this friend of hers, she seems to be a good person for her stories and if you trust her then that''s fine." (I) After eating we went to buy some clothes for everyone and then back to the mansion where the brothers went to their rooms to sleep and the girls came to my room which I discovered had a big bed to sleep on. Chapter 110: Adventurer Guild Registration The next day I woke up with a punch from Diana, when I looked at her I saw that she was still sleeping, as I watched she tried to punch me again, I turned my head away and quickly got out of bed. When I get out of bed I see that Kira is not there, I left the other three sleeping and I leave the room, then I go into one of the bathrooms and use a potion of liquid soap to clean my teeth and wash my face when I leave the bathroom I try to use my connection to Kira to know the direction it''s in and go to her. Yesterday we looked at almost every room in the mansion, so from the direction, I''m sensing Kira is going to be the training ground behind the mansion, I start heading there. On the way, I meet Irina leaving her brother''s room. "Good Morning." (I) "Good morning Dad, have you seen my brother?" (Irina) "No, but he could be with Kira at the training camp, he wants to come with me." (I) "Yes." (Irina) Irina and I walked to the back of the mansion where we saw Kira and Irius fighting without weapons, I motioned for Irina not to interrupt them and we watched their combat training. The two had very different ways of fighting, Kira was faster and made fewer attacks, but each attack was directed to a vital point or some joint since Irius was stronger, each attack was full of destructive power and would cause a lot of damage regardless of where he hit, he was slower than Kira, but seemed to try to anticipate his moves to hit her, Kira responded by doing feints to fool him. At first, I thought Irius would win as he was clearly stronger and his attacks more destructive, but Kira dodged most of his attacks, compared to most of Kira''s attacks hit, each attack on Irius'' joints slowed him down. and his less accurate punches, in the end, Kira let one of Irius''s punches hit her shoulder giving more speed to her body to spin, she took advantage of the opening of his punch to get behind him and put his neck to the side, so the two stopped the fight. "It was my complete defeat." (Irius) "I don''t often fight someone with assassin techniques like you, I appreciate your help with training." (Irius) "It was good training, I was close to losing many times." (Kira) "If you had a knife you could have killed me eight times, even in the end you could have cut my neck instead of breaking it, it would have been faster." (Irius) "There''s a reason I didn''t attack too much, each blow you could have taken me out of combat, I wasted a lot of time dodging you and I couldn''t attack if you had a sword with a range longer than my daggers I would be at a disadvantage ." (Kira) "I think they were both great, the way Irius tried to predict Kira''s next move or the way Kira tried to use feints to defend herself, they''re both amazing." (I) "Master, how long have you and Irina been there?" (Kira) "We just arrived, we just saw the end of the battle." (Irina) "Good morning sister, good morning Father." (Irius) "Good Morning." (I) "You lost ugly brother, that''s not often the case." (Irina) "I don''t have much experience fighting killer-type enemies like Kira, at camp I ended up training more with Diana as her style matches mine." (Irius) "But during training she told me how Father usually trains, I was surprised by what she said as it felt more like a one-sided beating than training." (Irius) "Just thinking about it makes me shiver, Diana and Kira were so strong and fast I couldn''t even see them moving." (I) "I always found this training ridiculous, in the early days you always fell on the first hit, Diana and I were surprised when you managed to keep up with our speed." (Kira) "I could follow your speed with my eyes, but it was useless if my body wasn''t moving fast enough." (I) "It was with this training that I thought about calling Kira for a mock fight, I don''t have much experience facing enemies like Kira, so I thought I could learn a little from her." (Irius) "I''m also learning a little from you, I was trained to finish battles fast, I''m not very good with long battles like Diana, so this training against enemies that I''m not able to finish quickly is very beneficial for me too." (Kira) "Sorry to interrupt your training, I went to my brother''s room, but there was no one, so I saw Father and accompanied him here." (Irina) "Alright, we''re done, right Irius?" (Kira) "Okay, all I want now is something to eat." (Irius) "I''m getting hungry too, let''s wake the others up and eat something on the way to the Adventurers'' Guild." (I) We went up to my room to wake the others up and then went to a restaurant for a bite to eat before heading to the Guild. --------- I was impressed with the size of the Adventurers Guild when we arrived, Diana walked us to the reception and asked the receptionist to call her her friend Mari. "Diana, it''s good to have you back." (Mari) "It''s good to be back." (Diana) "So you came to see me or did you come on a mission?" (Mari) "I came to see you, I want you to meet some people." (Diana) "This is my new Group." (Diana) "This is rica, this is Kira you already know, this is Irina, this is her brother Irius and this is the leader of the Zenos group." (Diana) Diana points to me and the others introducing us one by one to her friend. "Did you say rica?" (Mari) "As you can see they have the same name." (Diana) "I see, follow me, let''s talk in one of the rooms upstairs." (Mari) Mari led us to one of the rooms on the second floor, as soon as we entered we all sat on sofas to talk. "It''s a pleasure to meet you, I''m Mari an old friend of Diana''s and the supervisor of the Adventurers'' Guild." (Mari) "It''s nice to finally meet you, Diana always talks about you, thanks for always helping her." (I) "His name is Zenos, the leader of the group, right?" (Mari) "Yes." (I) "It''s nice to meet you, Diana refused to tell me anything about you." (Mari) "We came today to meet you as Diana is always talking about you and to register us with the Guild as well." (I) "I can complete your registration, I''ll just need some information, wait a minute." (Mari) Mari takes a reading crystal and takes six storage crystals, she inserts one of the crystals, then she pulls out a spherical crystal and puts it on the table before turning back to look at me. "Let''s start the record for you so Mr. Zenos, put your hand on the crystal of truth." (Mari) "Alright, what else do you need?" (I) "I''ll need your name or a pseudonym." (Mari) "It could be my name anyway, Zenos." (I) "I''ll need to know if your specialty is offense, defense, support, or control." (Mari) "That''s a good question, I never stopped to think about it." (I) "Hmmm..." (I) "You''re definitely the control type, you''re not perfect yet, but with more training and experience you''ll make it." (Diana) "If you say so, then I''ll choose the control type." (I) "The next three questions are optional, if you want you don''t need to answer." (Mari) "How old are you?" (Mari) "What race are you?" (Mari) "What is your job?" (Mari) "I choose not to answer then." (I) "These are the last questions, please just answer yes or no." (Mari) "Do you want to do or intend to harm the Adventurers'' Guild?" (Mari) "Not." (I) "Do you wish to do or intend to do evil for this Kingdom?" (Mari) "Not." (I) "That finishes the background papers, all that''s left is a test with survival questions and a mock fight so we''ll know which rank to put you in." (Mari) "All right." (I) "Before I move on to the survival test I''m going to ask the same questions for the rest of your group." (Mari) Mari kept exchanging information crystals for each person, she asked the same questions and everyone responded in a similar way to mine while holding the crystal of truth that was always glowing green. After the questions were over, Mari left the room and returned with some paperwork that she distributed three to each, along with a pen. "You must answer these survival questions about my supervision, you can''t talk to each other until you''re done, and you can''t use any books, start whenever you want." (Mari) I first read the questions and see that they are all about survival, all the questions are about someone lost in different environments. I had questions about how to survive in a desert, a forest, a swamp, the ocean, and even how to deal with certain types of monsters with difficult powers. I answered everything as best I could, it was pretty easy for me, thanks to my old life creating games I designed many types of environments and monsters, for that I needed to do a lot of research, so it was easy to answer these questions. When I''m done I look around and see that the brothers and Kira are responding calmly, rica seems to be thinking seriously and Ibuki is sleeping on top of the sheet of paper. I hand the paperwork to Mari and wait for the others to finish, after another hour everyone had finished and handed the sheets to Mari who kept everything in her storage item. "Now all that''s left is the mock battle, follow me." (Mari) Chapter 111: Eclipse shadow After we''ve finished the first two steps of the Adventurers Guild registration we follow Mari down to the ground floor, then she leads us to the back doors Diana tells me to lead to the Adventurers Guild boot camp. "Wait here, I''ll get someone to be your training partner." (Mari) After saying this Mari goes back inside her Guild. "I didn''t know I needed to do so many things to register as an adventurer." (I) "It''s all necessary, the questions are to know what to put on your Guild card and to make sure it''s not someone wanting to use the Guild to do something bad." (Diana) "The survival questions are to know how you will act in a mission, being adventurous is not just fighting monsters, we travel to various places, camp during the mission, enter dungeons with hostile environments and there is always the possibility of being attacked by monsters with difficult abilities." (Diana) "Many think that just because they are strong they can be adventurers, but strength is of no use if it is not able to survive in a situation where strength does not help, the greatest skill of high-ranking adventurers is to survive and adapt to the situation ." (Diana) "I can understand what you mean, but what crystal was that?" (I) "It was a crystal of truth, it glows green if the person holding it tells the truth and glows red if they tell a lie, it is very expensive and difficult to manufacture, but all guilds have to have one for this kind of situation. ." (rica) "I imagine everyone did well on the survival questions, rica was an adventurer before, Kira has a lot of practical experience too and the brothers were inquisitors, so I imagine she has experience fighting monsters and surviving in various environments." (I) "For me, it really was easier to answer the questions." (rica) "The most important thing for an assassin is the ability to survive, so it was easy to answer." (Kira) "It was easy to answer these questions, my brother and I have traveled many places." (Irina) "And since you were Ibuki, did you manage to answer any questions?" (I) "Ibuki was only able to answer the questions about the forest, I tried to think a lot for the others, but then Ibuki was sleepy and ended up falling asleep." (Ibuki) "If you managed to answer something, that''s enough." (I) As we were talking Mari approached a large man who was holding a large sword behind his back. "This is Jonas, he''s a Grade B adventurer and will he be the one to fight you, any questions?" (Mari) "No questions, nice to meet you Jonas." (I) "It''s nice to meet everyone too, but I''d like to warn the rest of you that you shouldn''t bring a child to Guild training camp, an attack might come out of one of the training arenas so it''s dangerous for kids." (Jonas) "..." (Kira/rica/Diana/Irius/Irina) "I think we had some misunderstanding here." (Mari) "Jonas, this is Zenos the leader of this group and one of the candidates who will fight you." (Mari) "Do you want me to fight this child?" (Jonas) "I understand you''re confused by my appearance, but be careful with your words please." (I) "Sorry is it seems like an exaggeration to ask a Grade B adventurer like me to fight short so small and weak." (Jonas) "Jonas, don''t be disrespectful!" (Mari) I''m starting to get annoyed with this man, his every word pierces my heart where it hurts the most, he really thinks just because he''s big and muscular he can treat me like that, I really want to punch him in the face. Suddenly the man puts his hand on the hilt of his sword behind his back and looks at me seriously as if he''s ready to fight at any moment, Mari looks at me in surprise, Kira and Diana take my shoulders on either side. "I know you''re angry, but calm down a bit." (Diana) "Don''t lose control of your Aura." (Kira) "..." (I) With their warning I realized that a small amount of my Aura floated from inside my body, it feels like I was about to release it out of anger. "I apologize, I was a little irritated by his words, it looks like I have to continue my training." (I) "Looks like I misjudged you, it wasn''t much but the small amount of Aura you released showed your strength." (Jonas) "That''s why I said before that you shouldn''t judge people by how they look Jonas." (Mari) "I should have known that someone who is close to Diana would be strong." (Jonas) "Do you know him Diana?" (I) "Yes, he was one of the Grade B adventurers who took part in the special mission to fight the Undead." (Diana) "Let''s start this fight soon, I have a lot of work to do today." (Mari) "Fine by me, who''s going to be first?" (Jonas) "I''ll." (Kira) Kira and Jonas head towards one of the empty arenas, each going to one side. "Start!" (Mari) Kira was the first to attack, she ran straight to Jonas, then he uses his sword to cut horizontally, Kira jumps spinning and Jonas tries to punch her, so Kira uses the force of her spin in the air to hold her hand of Jonah and use the power of the spin to throw him to the ground, but then he shifts his center of gravity and pulls his weight back bringing Kira along with his arm. Kira jumps to the side having already gotten close enough and kicks Jonas on the back of the knee causing him to fall to the ground on his knees, but just as Kira tries to make one last attack his leg is caught, Jonas stands up as he hangs Kira upside down. "You have good hits, your every attack was well thought out, but you were tricked by Jonas who waited until the last attack to use all his speed when you least expected it." (Mari) "Who is next?" (Jonas) "Ibuki is next." (Ibuki) "Start!" (Mari) Just like Kira did, Ibuki attacks from the front at the start of the fight, Jonas tries to punch Ibuki who spins and elbows Jonas in the side, then he spins around to grab her with his other hand, but Ibuki spins around him. and tries to punch him in the back, Jonas kicks back making Ibuki throw himself backward opening a space over them that Jonas and Ibuki used to pull their weapons. The moment the two swords meet Jonas uses his superior strength and weight to press Ibuki''s sword to the ground and give Ibuki a body charge and throw her out of the arena. "Who is next?" (Mari) "Can I go along with my brother?" (Irina) "Yes, you said you were the support type so I can only see if you are competent if you fight with someone else." (Mari) "Start!" (Mari) After the brothers have climbed into the arena, Mari begins the fight. Irius throws himself forward while Irina throws herself backward already launching a magic circle that traps Jonas in a water bubble, Irius uses this opportunity to punch Jonas, his body starts to glow with Irina''s power-boosting spell, but then he uses a blast of magical power to destroy the water bubble, wasting no time Jonas uses this opportunity to throw his sword at Irius who dodges by instinct, the moment he dodged he got kicked in the stomach, then Irius grabbed his leg. of Jonas and spun around to throw him backward. During the spin Jonas holds the ground with his hand, then he uses the power of the spin to knock Irius out. The truth is that Irina was defeated when Jonas threw his sword that fell in front of her, if Jonas wanted he could have sent that sword on her, this was to show that she was already defeated. "It''s me now." (rica) "Start!" (Mari) rica throws a magic circle that mounts in front of her, then a fireball leaves the magic circle flying to Jonas who uses his sword to cut the fireball in half, then he runs to rica who uses another magic circle that makes a wall of fire appears in front of Jonah, but he cuts through the wall of fire with his sword and does a body charge that hurls rica out of the arena. "I''m the last one." (I) "This is the last fight, so get started." (Mari) I run in front of Jonas and just as he tries to use his sword to cut me from top to bottom, I spin to the side and kick Jonas''s heel which he deflects by raising his foot. Jonas switches his sword from hand during combat and uses his hand to try and grab me, I throw myself further towards him, I dove under his legs, then jump and spin in the air kicking the side of his head of Jonah. When I thought it was over I was punched which threw me out of the arena and I landed on my feet. "With that, we''re done, you can come to get your cards tomorrow." (Mari) "That fast? Thanks." (I) "You were pretty little, but it looks like you lack combat experience." (Jonas) "Thanks for helping with our last test." (I) "Don''t thank me, it was a Guild request, I just accepted." (Jonas) After Jonas left Mari called us together for one last question. "All of you are going to want to be part of the same group, right?" (Mari) "Yes." (I) "First tell me who will be the leader of the group." (Mari) "It will be me." (I) "And what name are you going to name your group?" (Mari) "I had already thought of a name, our group''s name will be Shadow Eclipse." (I) Ding! Ding! <[ You named your Group ]> . . <[ Group Name: Eclipse Shadow Number of members: 7/7 Leader: Zenos (Twilight Vampire) ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the Title [ Shadow Eclipse group leader ] ]> "Come back tomorrow and everything will be ready." (Mari) Chapter 112: Slave trader After we left the Adventurers Guild we went to a restaurant to eat something, it was already mid-afternoon, so we chose the restaurant we entered and went to a discreet table. "Diana how do you think everyone fared in the mock battle?" (I) "I think everyone did well, apart from rica and Irina who used magic, none of you used magic or abilities so Jonas did the same." (Diana) "Kira and the master were the best in combat, but Irius did well too, the only bad thing for you DM is that your lack of combat experience was evident to Jonas and Mari." (Diana) "Well we were all hiding our true abilities." (rica) "I had to keep Byakko hidden inside my clothes, otherwise Mari would be able to see him." (Kira) "I don''t know how it went with the survival questions, but based on simulated combat alone everyone can be Grade C adventurers, Ibuki should become a Grade D adventurer." (Diana) "I have to register soon to be able to get my first job." (I) "Soon my brother and I will need to change jobs too." (Irina) "After we get the cards tomorrow the master can pick a job in the Guild Job Room." (rica) We were all talking about the Guild and our mock battles while we ate, after we were all done I paid the bill and we left the restaurant. "Where to now master?" (Kira) "Let''s go to the slave trader, we have to get people to clean and cook." (I) "This time I''m going to let one of you deal with the slave trader, I don''t want to have another argument like that with Jonas." (I) "Then leave it to me Dad, I just need to know what characteristics you want from the employees." (Irina) "I don''t care about age as long as they''re not old, ages eighteen to forty should suffice, I don''t care about race or gender, but we shouldn''t have a family unless we can take the family with us to the mansion." (I) "I will follow what I said." (Irina) "Before we get there, I want to know more about slaves." (I) "What do you want to know?" (Irius) "Do slaves have any rights?" (I) "Depends on the Kingdom." (Irina) "Like this?" (I) "There are three types of slaves, debt slaves, criminal slaves and normal slaves." (Irina) "Criminal slaves are people who have broken the law, when they are captured alive they are turned into slaves and must remain that way until death." (irius) "Debt slaves are people who have failed to pay their debts, so they are turned into slaves and the money from the sale is given to the person responsible for the debt, they can be released if the person who buys them chooses to release them." (Irius) "Normal slaves are a general way of calling all slaves who are not in the previous categories such as those who were born slaves, races that are discriminated against in some Kingdoms and are turned into slaves, people who were sold by family members for money, etc. " (Irius) "What my brother said is true, but slaves'' rights depend on the Kingdom, in most Kingdoms slaves have the right to eat, a place to sleep and safety, the slave owner is prohibited from harming his slave if discovered that the slave''s owner has failed to comply with these terms, he may lose the slave." (Irina) "But that rarely happens, slaves who are mistreated are usually illegal slaves, there are also Kingdoms that don''t give any rights to slaves." (Irina) "This Kingdom gives these rights to slaves?" (I) "Yes, this Kingdom takes good care of its slaves." (Kira) "Slaves don''t need to be paid and his loyalty is absolute, there was even an adventurer who assembled his entire group with combat slaves he had bought, so the reward of the missions was always entirely up to him and he would not be afraid of being betrayed by your companions." (Irina) As we talked we continued on our way to the slave trader, the girls told me that there is only one slave shop in this town, when we got there I already had an understanding of the slavery system in this world. I looked at the big three-story building, it had soldiers patrolling the surroundings and two guards at the front doors, as soon as we entered we were greeted by a very pretty human maid with brown hair. "Welcome dear customers, please follow me." (employee) She guides us to the first floor and leads us to a very well decorated room with two sofas facing each other, she asks us to come in and sit down. "Please wait here while I fetch a slave trader to serve you." (employee) The maid leaves the room and comes back after about ten minutes with a middle-aged Human man, he has a serious and dignified appearance, is also a little fat, he had gold-framed glasses and wore expensive but modest clothes, just as expected. from a merchant, he started to assess each of us the moment he walked in, but he did so discreetly with a smile on his face. The man sits on the sofa in front of me, on one side I had rica and on the other I had Irina, the others were behind the sofa we were sitting on, they were standing in silence. "Welcome dear customers, my name is Richard, what are you looking for today?" (Richard) "Good afternoon Richard, my name is Irina." (Irina) "It''s my pleasure to meet you, Miss Irina, are you here to sell or to buy?" (Richard) "I''m here to buy." (Irina) "What kind of slave are you looking for?" (Richard) "I''m looking for employees who are good at cleaning, cooking, and gardening, I just moved into a mansion and I don''t have employees to look after it." (Irina) "I also need some strong slaves who are strong against miasma." (Irina) "Any age, gender or race preferences?" (Richard) "Age between eighteen and forty, gender and race don''t matter to me, I don''t have any kind of prejudice." (Irina) "Very well, wait a minute please, I''ll check our files." (Richard) While the slave trader talked to Irina he looked at me sometimes, I didn''t show any reaction as if I hadn''t noticed, after knowing what we were looking for he left the room. "He''s cunning." (rica) "Yes, he realized that I''m not the one making the decisions." (Irina) "He must have a skill or magic item with Appraisal skill, as soon as he walked in he looked at each one and looked surprised, my illusory spirit ring trembled the moment he looked at me." (Kira) "I noticed a strong magic in his glasses, they are probably the ones who have the ability to Appraise." (Byakko) "I haven''t noticed anything you''re talking about, but the way you''ve positioned yourself has given away my identity as you''re all around me." (I) "Not only that Dad, but he also seemed wary of you, even while talking to my sister he avoided taking his attention away from you for a long time." (Irius) "I don''t know why, all I did was assess him, his behavior, the way he talks and the way he moves." (I) "Why did you do this?" (rica) "I wanted to see if he''s trustworthy, he moves and acts confidently, he spoke seriously and objectively with Irina, he''s been evaluating us to see if we''re good customers or we''re probably going to get in trouble, but I''m sure he''s not a trader common." (I) "Why do you say that?" (Irina) "He was calm even when he couldn''t assess us, from what you said he realized that I''m the real customer, but he didn''t point out that he treated Irina well, he was objective in finding out exactly what we were looking for and didn''t try to push unnecessary things on us ." (I) "The master is right, slave traders don''t usually pick up as much detail on what their customers want, they do it to have more leeway to show more expensive slaves and sell more." (Diana) "He must be someone important here, he must think we will be good customers so he is treating us professionally." (I) After about twenty minutes Richard Returns, he sits across from us again and places some sheets of paper on the table in front of us. "These are the slaves we have at the moment that matches what you asked for, take a look." (Richard) I pick up the papers and start reading, it''s information from thirteen slaves, I''ve read none of them that caught my attention, in the sheets describe their entire status, their work history, their skills and their background. When I took the papers Richard showed no reaction as expected, he had placed the papers right in front of me showing that he knew the decision would be mine. The reason I don''t want any of these is that they''re not exactly what I want, the slaves who have cooking skills don''t have cleaning skills, they also have very low stats and few skills and jobs. "I take it those aren''t all, right Mr. Richard?" (I) "No, of course not sir." (Richard) "But they are what you wanted if you allow me I can present three slaves that you might want." (Richard) "Show me." (I) The merchant removes three papers from a golden ring he owns and leaves them on the table in front of me, Irina takes them and hands them to me. As I read the papers I was surprised at what I was seeing, these are perfect, but I would like to see them first, one of these caught my attention a lot. Chapter 113: Buying slaves After reading the papers where the information of three slaves was, I became interested in them, their levels are above thirty, they have very diverse work histories and many skills I need to take care of the mansion. "Can you tell me more about these three slaves?" (I) "Everything I know about them is written there, one of the slaves is a 362 year old White Elf, her name is Freya, but for an Elf, she is still young as the Elves'' lifetime can reach up to a thousand years, she has passed two hundred years as a maid of nobles and has high levels of cleaning and cooking skills, she also has some combat training and specializes in archery, she is very well educated and is used to training other maids, you could use her as a head maid." (Richard) "The second White Elf is Freya''s daughter, her name is Caryna, she is 53 years old, just like her mother she is an elite servant, but unlike her mother, she has no combat skills or training." (Richard) "The third slave is a Beast Man from the tribe of lions, he is Caryna''s husband, his name is Leo, he is 31 years old, he is a criminal slave, all his skills are combat skills but he is strong." (Richard) They all look good, but it''s obvious that the trader wants to increase their value. "Why aren''t any of them on the list you gave me before?" (I) "Their former master sold them with a demand that they are sold together, and according to the requirements you asked, Freya is over three hundred years old, so I didn''t leave her on the list, the same problem for your daughter who has over fifty, so I couldn''t put Leo on the list." (Richard) "I understand." (I) What he said is really true, but I feel this was a test, I don''t know what this man wants to know, but I feel there is more to it than he has done so far. I take the previous list and I take the role of two slaves, they are both human in their twenties, one was sold by the family and the other is a debt slave, he couldn''t pay his debts and fell into slavery, both have low-level skills but can be trained. I hand the five papers to Richard. "I would like to see these five slaves." (I) "I''ll bring them here sir, wait a moment." (Richard) Once again Richard leaves the room, this time to fetch the slaves I want to meet. "What do you think of my choices?" (I) "I could see the status and skills of the slave family he recommended, the mother and daughter are really high-level employees." (rica) "The Man-Beast is also quite strong, with that status he must resist the miasma." (Irina) "What are the other two you chose master?" (Kira) "A man and woman in their twenties, Humans." (I) "I understand." (Kira) We waited another ten minutes before Richard returned, as he entered he was followed by five people in servants'' clothes and a Man-Beast in leather armor. The two White Elf women looked like sisters and not mother and daughter, they had light green hair and eyes, both were as beautiful as Diana''s friend Mari, they wore maids'' clothes, one had big breasts and loose hair, the other had medium-sized breasts with hair tied back, the one with loose hair had a calm and peaceful face, the one with the hair up had a worried face and kept looking at the Man-Beast beside her. The Beast Man had big full orange hair, looked Human if not for the tail on his back and the ears on top of his head, he was Diana''s height of six feet, his skin is a little brownish. lighter than mine, he has a serious face, but I noticed that when he looks at the Elf beside him, his face softens. The Human male appears to be in his twenties, he has short brown hair, has a normal body, no trained muscles, height five feet six, he has white skin and red eyes which is why I chose him. The human woman appears to be in her twenties, she has dark blue hair that goes to her shoulders, her height is five feet six, her face has a big burn scar on it, she has beautiful black skin, her body everything is very beautiful, if it weren''t for your scar it would be beautiful. "Here are the slaves you wanted to see." (Richard) "What is the value of each?" (I) "(Hopefully not too expensive, I still need money for the black market auction in a week.)" (I) "Freya is worth two crystal coins, her daughter is worth eight thousand gold, the Beast Man is worth seven thousand and five hundred, the two humans are worth ten gold each." (Richard) "The total value is 35,520 gold." (Richard) "Why such a high price? I find it hard to believe that even the Duke would be willing to pay that price for slaves." (I) "Let me explain, Freya and her daughter are pure-blooded White Elves, both are beautiful even among their kind, and are considered elite servants, Freya still has archery skills that let even army archers with their mouths open and they both have a very long life expectancy, they are extremely valuable." (Richard) "The Man-Beast is a powerful combat slave, being from the tribe of Lions only increases his value further." (Richard) "The other two have the value of normal slaves, usually women have greater value than men, but as this one has scars on her face, their values ??are equal." (Richard) "I''m not going to lie to you, I''m interested in buying all five, but I''m not going to pay that high for just five slaves." (I) "The most I can do is give the two Humans away for free as a bonus and only charge 35,500 gold." (Richard) "You''re not even trying Mister Richard, it was nice meeting you." (I) I stand up with a disappointed face and the rest of my group follow me to the door before the maid who escorted us here steps in front of the door. "Stay a little longer sir please." (employee) "I have nothing else to do here." (I) "Very well sir, as this is your first purchase I can give you a discount of five thousand five hundred gold, what do you think?" (Richard) "I don''t think I like to waste my time negotiating Mr. Richard, but as I''m really interested in these slaves if you let me pick one more for free I can make a deal with you." (I) "..." (Richard) Richard narrows his eyes and assesses me again, but he won''t see any change in my expression or tone of voice. "You win, I''ll get our catalog for you to choose, wait for me here." (Richard) I sat back down on the couch and waited, it took him almost forty minutes to come back with a reading crystal in hand that he left on the table in front of me. "This is our catalog, feel free to choose sir." (Richard) The girls had already taught me how to use these information crystals, it''s not that different from the way I used a cellphone or tablet in my old world, the only difference is concentrating mana on the fingertips to use. It took me only fifteen minutes to choose someone, a Dark Elf, I did it because she is an expert in combat, by the description, she is very injured due to constant battles that now she is no longer able to fight if it weren''t for the scars ruining her beauty and the wounds she suffered that make it impossible for her to fight again, so she could get the same value as Freya. "I''ll want this one." (I) Richard looks at the one I''ve chosen and narrows his eyes. "I''ll get her for you now." (Richard) Richard asks the maid to get this Black Elf now, in a few minutes the maid comes back with a woman with scars all over her body and face, she has white hair tied back, her height is six feet if I look well and leaving the scars aside I can see that your body is well built like a warrior''s, I look into your eyes and see a strong will in them. "We closed in three crystal coins for the six slaves, right?" (I) "Yes, can I wait for you to go get the money if you want?" (Richard) "No need for that, here''s the payment." (I) I take three crystal coins from my ring and leave it on the table, the maid who had brought the Dark Elf comes to the table and takes the coins. "Very well, I have received payment, I will prepare the paperwork, wait a little longer sir." (Richard) Richard asks the maid to take some papers from another room, so he puts them on the table and then writes the slaves'' names on a piece of paper, then gives them all to me. "These are the standard slavery certificates after the master becomes the master of these slaves can free them by tearing up each one''s contract, the last document is a magical contract for the God of Commerce to recognize that this is an agreement in which the two parties agree, please sign the documents." (Richard) "I understand." (I) I start reading and then signing all the documents, I can''t entirely believe their words so I read them to make sure there was nothing to harm me in the future. "I, Richard, ask the God of Commerce to be a witness to this deal, that he be the judgment for the one who breaks this contract." (Richard) The magical contract catches fire and a symbol comes out of it that divides into twelve and goes to twelve contracts, Richard keeps six and leaves six in front of me that Erica takes and keeps. "Okay, that''s almost done." (Richard) "The six slaves can extend their right hand." (Richard) After the slaves have extended their hands, Richard has extended his own hands and a symbol that matches the one I see on the back of most of the slaves comes out of Richard''s palm and hits the symbol on the back of the slave''s hand, then starts to glow slightly. "" (Richard) "All you need to do now is to drop a drop of your blood on the gleaming mark of slavery." (Richard) I pull a dagger from my waist and pierce the tip of my finger, then I go to them who kneel and drop a drop of blood on each of the slavery marks, so the mark on the back of their hand changes to a symbol that remembers my tattoos, but the symbol is one color being black. After I finish I begin to feel a slight connection between these six slaves and me. "It''s over, those six now belong to you sir." (Richard) Chapter 114: Strange child Pov Mari: Today I got to meet Diana''s new Group, I had already met Kira and I thought she was a good person, but for the rest of the people in her group, it was the first time I could see them. The black-haired human woman had the same name as Diana''s deceased friend, I''m afraid she''s a constant reminder to Diana of her friend''s death. There was also a young Oni woman in her group, her personality was cheerful so I liked her a lot, a pity I didn''t have time to talk to everyone any longer. The two Brothers caught my eye, they were wearing masks that hid from the nose down, so I couldn''t see their teeth, but they must be Dhampiros, their eyes being one red and one another color almost give away their identities, but they looked like good people. The last member of Diana''s group that worries me, he is the leader of the group and I could see that they all care a lot about him, he wore the same mask as the brothers, but none of his eyes were red, other than me. confusing is his age, he looks like a kid, but the way he behaves and talks makes him look like he''s older than the other members of the group, he seems like someone nice and cautious, my adventurous instincts are screaming that there was more thing about him, he''s someone weird. After I follow them to the exit, I go to my room on the third floor, start reading the answers to Diana''s group survival questions, with these questions I realize that the whole group has a good knowledge of survival, except for the woman Oni, she didn''t answer almost any questions. After reading the answers to the survival questions I closed my eyes to remember the simulated battles, the whole group is strong individually, but I don''t know if they''re capable of doing well as a team, I''ll find that out after a few missions. From what I remember of their fights they all hid their true abilities, the way the brothers fight they have a lot of combat experience, Jonas saw that and decided to end first with the sister who was the support, then he ended with the brother. Kira as you would expect from a Gray Elf fights using assassin techniques, she can attack vital points and joints, is also very good at evasion, the way she fights resembles the Night Warriors, but it''s a little different. The woman named rica is a good magician, even under attack she didn''t panic, the Oni woman clearly didn''t have much combat experience, but she was brave and wasn''t afraid to attack head-on, she has potential but needs more training and combat experience. About tenons, his fighting technique was strange, something was missing, but he seemed good both in attack and in evasion, he also has a good sense of the situation, the only reason he lost so fast was because of his lack of experience in combat against other people, the way he fought showed that he was used to fighting monsters but not people, but he realized that too. What surprised me the most was his Aura, when Jonas continued to irritate him, for a moment his Aura fluctuated, but it was enough for Jonas to go into combat mode by instinct, his Aura was weird as if they were several mixed things, I have never seen an Aura like this. If I had to guess I''d say Zenos is also a Dhampir, but the truth is, I''m not sure what race he is. The final decision will be taken by Carlos, but I can already imagine what their classification will be, Zenos should go straight to a Grade -C adventurer, the Oni woman should become a Grade -D or D adventurer, the rest of the group should stay as Grade +D adventurers. Let''s see how they do on missions from now on. ----------- Pov of a slave trader: I was in my office trying to figure out how I would sell the three most expensive slaves I currently own, I''ve been with them for months but no one wants to buy them, this is getting dangerous, word of them has spread to other Kingdoms too, slaves like Elves are rare these days. The problem is that the people who are getting interested in them are people who are looking at their bodies and not their abilities and skills, I despise anyone who squanders people with so much potential, but I can''t help but sell them. Those three slaves would be safe in this Kingdom that gives some rights to slaves, but if people from another Kingdom come to buy them and take them back to a Kingdom that doesn''t give rights to slaves I won''t be able to do anything, I can''t refuse a customer who not cause any problems, otherwise, my store''s reputation will crumble. While looking out the window thinking about what to do I saw a strange group approaching, this group caught my attention because of the various races they have, they seemed to be talking to each other, they were coming towards my shop, like a slave trader I''m proud of being able to see people''s potential, and I know that each one of them is strong, the only one I can''t measure is the child that accompanies them, the way that child is acting as they approach my store is strange, it doesn''t match his appearance. I''m curious, I''ll tell my personal maid to attend to them and take them to an empty room where I''ll meet them, I want to know more about them. When I enter the room I notice the way they are positioned around the child, I tried to use my evaluation lenses on them, but I couldn''t, they must be using status concealment items, these are very expensive, which means they have money, their clothes they are simple, practical and durable, but they are of good quality. I couldn''t assess the status of any of them, but I can see their races better up close, two of them have some resemblance and must be siblings, but what catches my attention the most is the child in their midst, he''s standing there without expression, he''s calm and I can see a gleam of intelligence in his eyes that no child should have. As soon as I sit down and introduce myself, the sister I saw before is the one who introduces herself and talks to me, but I can say that it is not she who makes the decisions but the strange child beside her. When the woman called Irina said that she has a new mansion, the last drink meeting I had with old Wilson came to mind, he told me that he finally managed to sell that mansion Trigan, as among the requests of this young woman there are requirements for those who are able to resist miasma, so they must be the ones who bought that strange mansion. While talking to Mrs. Irina, I couldn''t help paying attention to the child, unlike the others, he''s been analyzing me since I walked in the door, the same thing I''ve been doing to him, it even seems like I''m facing another shopkeeper. After going out to get a list of slaves with the characteristics they asked for I leave it in front of the boy to show that I know he is the one who makes his decisions, I did this to see how he would react, to my surprise he showed no reaction, he just took the papers and calmly flipped through them one by one. After that I started talking to him, he''s smart, and the way he has several races on his side and they all seem to serve him, so I think he would be perfect for those three slaves, I could buy them, I don''t think he would waste their potential I hope. During the conversation he asked for my recommendation, this was the opportunity he wanted, I remove the papers with the information of the three slaves and he read it, it seems that I caught his attention. He asked to bring the three slaves plus two that he picked from the other list, I brought them and saw how he rated them, his eyes didn''t have lust, it looks like he''s interested in their abilities anyway, that''s good, so he won''t waste these great potentials. The strange child did not show any expression even when he brought the slaves, I thought he would show some expression when I said their price, but to my surprise, the boy did not deny his interest, in fact, he openly said he was interested but would not pay this amount. and started walking towards the door. I waited to see if he would really give up the slaves, but in the end, I couldn''t wait long, when I saw that they were about to leave I offered a good discount to sell these slaves right away, but he still wanted the right to choose one more slave from ours. catalog and I accepted. After removing all the slaves of a certain value up from the catalog I gave it to the boy to choose from, to my surprise again he chose a Dark Elf who had many combat skills but was unable to fight again due to her physical condition. , he chose her without hesitation or hesitation. After sealing the deal he paid me and took the slaves away. Sigh "Are you tired master?" (Maid) "Mentally yes, this boy was supposed to go to the Commerce Guild, during the entire negotiation he left nothing that I could use to raise the price." (I) "He even admitted his interest in buying, but even so he showed that he would still leave if the price was not acceptable." (I) "I don''t understand, why is the master laughing at such a situation, I thought he didn''t like negotiating with them?" (Maid) "Because now that they know they can trade with me they''ll come back, they''ll be good customers for both me and you." (I) "By the status concealment items that must be why my glasses don''t work on them, I assume they''re already your customers." (I) "You may be right, I''ll let them know tonight." (Maid) Chapter 115: New servants After leaving the slave trader we went straight to our mansion, on the way I was thinking about what to do with these slaves. I''m not going to turn everyone into Vampires, I''m going to try to do the same I did with the girls only, maybe none of them become Vampires, except for the two Humans, these two I''m going to turn into Twilight Vampires or better I''ll leave with the brothers. I don''t want to turn that family of slaves into Vampires so I won''t use the Vampire Servant skill on them. But Dark Elf, she was in very bad shape, her body is covered in scars, she was missing one of her eyes and walked limping, but after I use my abilities she should fully recover just like the others. I''ve gathered everyone in the mansion''s downstairs ballroom, to do this, I''ll separate the two humans for now and let the brothers transform them later, the others I''ll take care of now after I convince them. "I''ll start introducing myself and the rest of my group." (I) "My name is Zenos, make no mistake about my appearance, I am not a child." (I) "These are my family, Ibuki, rica, Diana, Kira, Irina and her brother Irius." (I) "You can introduce yourselves now." (I) I may have bought slaves, but I will not treat them like slaves, each of them will be an important employee to me, they will help with the tasks we will need and they will be rewarded for it, I cannot give them a salary now, but after our group is earning as well as adventurers I will pay them, they will also have a house, one of the requests for the renovation of the mansion was that inside the mansion land I wanted to build a place for the employees to live, to my surprise this mansion already had a place like that so it just needed to be renovated, they will live there. I wanted to introduce each member of my group and establish a relationship with everyone since we''ll see each other every day from now on, I pointed to each person in my group saying their names for them to remember. After asking them to introduce themselves, the first one to step forward was the White Elf Freya, she takes a step forward, presenting herself in a refined and calm way. "It''s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Zenos, my name is Freya and I will be your maid from now on." (Freya) "It''s a pleasure to meet you Freya." (I) Then her daughter and the Beast Man step forward too, her daughter with a worried face and the Beast Man with a serious face. "Um... nice to meet you, my name is Caryna, I will do my best to serve you." (Caryna) "My name is Leo, I apologize for not being polite like Freya and Caryna, but I will do my best to serve you." (Leo) "You don''t need to worry about formal conversations with me, I prefer that you talk as normally as possible, I''m not noble to worry about this nonsense." (I) "I heard you Leo has a relationship with Caryna, is that true?" (I) For some reason, Caryna shows fear in her eyes when I say this and Leo has a worried look on his face. "My old master allowed me to marry her, we didn''t have a ceremony since we are slaves, but we live happily for a few years" (Leo) "You are a lucky man, always remember to value what you have and take good care of each other." (I) At my words Caryna started to cry and had to be comforted by her mother in a hug to calm down, Leo let out a small sigh of relief and looked at me with respect for the first time. "Thank you very much, sir, you can be sure I value my wife very much." (Leo) When Leo said those words Caryna steps out of her mother''s arms and hugs Leo''s big body as she cries. "I don''t understand, why is she crying?" (I) "Let me clarify your doubts Mr. Zenos, my daughter, and your husband was afraid that you would forbid their relationship." (Freya) "Why would I do that?" (I) "Normally the relationship between slaves is not approved, our former master was a good person, he treated the slaves well and allowed my daughter''s relationship, he only sold us because he was too old and got sick, he was afraid of what his family would do with us after he died." (Freya) "The old man was a very good one, but his sons were cretins, the old man wasn''t even dead and they talked about how Mrs. Freya and my wife would be sold at a high price on the Black Market." (Leo) "As Leo told my lord, our situation was not good, our former master knew that too, so he sold us to the slave shop of that Kingdom with an agreement that we could only be sold together." (Freya) "I wish I had your luck finding someone with such a good heart." (Kira) I was surprised by your story, but I won''t interfere in anyone''s relationship, but it seems this story affected Kira more, she spoke softly but I could hear her since she''s on my side, I put a hand on her back to calm her down. "Are you okay Kira?" (I) "I''m master, I just had some bad memories." (Kira) "I''m glad you feel comfortable telling me your story, I want you to know that I won''t interfere in your relationship, I want those who work here to be happy." (I) "Now three more people need to be introduced." (I) The Human man steps forward. "My name is Nolan, I will be at your disposal from now on sir." (Nolan) "Nice to meet you Nolan." (I) "I''m happy to see that you''re not someone bad, after so much bad luck at the games I thought I would end up being bought by someone who would make me work myself to death." (Nolan) "By games do you mean betting games?" (I) "Yes, I was out of a job and tax collection day was approaching, so I started to play with the little money I had to try my luck, first I made a lot of money and I couldn''t stop, but after a while I got zero and I even lost my house in betting, in the end, I had a big debt that I couldn''t pay and I ended up becoming a debt slave, I thought it would be the end of me." (Nolan) "(Didn''t know gambling existed in this world.)" (I) "Gambling is never the solution, you''ll win at the beginning but in the end, you''re going to fail, you learned that the hard way." (I) sigh "You are right." (Nolan) After Nolan turned back the Human woman took a step forward, she had a horrible burn on her face, I chose to buy her because I saw a strong desire in her eyes, I also saw a lot of darkness in her eyes, I don''t know her story but I hope to leave that darkness behind. "My name is Alice, I am at your service sir." (Alice) "Nice to meet you Alice." (I) After introducing herself she turned back, so the Dark Elf woman steps forward with a limp. "My name is Sophia sir, I will do what I can to serve you even with this damaged body." (Sophia) "Nice to meet you, Sophia, don''t worry too much about your current state, I can heal you." (I) "Is this true my lord?" (Sophia) "Yes, but first you and the others will have to make a choice." (I) "From now on you are all my servants, not slaves, you will have a place to live and will be rewarded for your work in the future, also don''t have to worry that I will get rid of you, that won''t happen." (I) "You will have a lot of freedom to do whatever you want as long as you do your jobs, I only ask one thing from you and that is loyalty." (I) "I''ll give you some time to choose, know that there will be no turning back after your choice, if you don''t want to serve me I can return you to the slave trader to wait for someone else to buy you, so choose." (I) With my words everyone is quiet, I can see that they didn''t expect me to say that, to my surprise, the first to respond was Freya who knelt down with a slight smile on her face. "For me, there''s nothing to hesitate, I''ve seen many people in my life and I''ve been paying attention to you since I saw you for the first time, I have no complaints about anything I could see, in fact, this is the first time I someone asks me if I want to serve them." (Freya) "That alone is enough for me, I will serve you." (Freya) Before I can say anything Caryna and Leo kneel down beside Freya. "You''re someone my mother wanted to serve of her own free will, you''re also someone who didn''t look at me or my mother with lustful eyes, you even supported my relationship with Leo, I have no reason to think any further than that, I choose to serve you." (Caryna) "I''ve followed my instincts all my life, they''ve kept me alive, those same instincts are roaring inside me to kneel down, so I''ll serve you." (Leo) I was surprised that these three decided so quickly, but it makes it easier. As Leo spoke I didn''t notice Sophia kneeling where she was, she waited for Leo to finish speaking before saying anything. "If you can heal this body and allow me to go back to being a warrior, then I vow to serve you." (Sophia) "I''m happy with your decision." (I) After that Alice knelt and in the end Nolan also knelt. "I don''t have a place to go back to and I find it hard to find another person who promised a slave such a good way of working, so I''m at your service." (Alice) "One thing I learned from betting is that luck doesn''t always smile on you, I won''t let that chance pass, so I choose to serve you." (Nolan) With everyone accepting, I feel calmer for the next step. Chapter 116: Twilight Servants After everyone has chosen to serve me by themselves I go down what I will do, first I need to talk something with the brothers. "Irina and Irius can you two accompany me for a moment?" (I) "Yes father." (Irina) The brothers and I go to another room, I want to clear up a question that popped into my head before going on with the plan. "I have a doubt when a Vampire transforms someone into a wounded or scarred person, does the person fully recover?" (I) "If it''s an unlined Vampire, then the wounds can heal, but the scars from before becoming a Vampire will remain." (Irina) "But there are records in the Church of Light that say if a Patriarch or a son who has a pure lineage transforms someone all the wounds and scars can be healed." (Irina) "That''s good, I was thinking of leaving the two Humans with you two." (I) "Like this?" (Irius) "I was thinking of letting you guys turn them into Vampires, I''m leaving Alice with Irina and I''m leaving Nolan with Irius." (I) "Wouldn''t it be better for you to change them Father?" (Irius) "I agree with the Father, we cannot let anyone be transformed by the Father, it has to be someone with potential, these two were bought to help us as employees, not for combat, if they are transformed by us they will already obtain a lot of power and potential even if they do not obtain a pure lineage." (Irina) "Actually, this is so I don''t get too tired, I still have four other people to take care of." (I) "I''ll leave them with you, take care of them, let''s go back." (I) We walked back to the hall where everyone was silent waiting for me to come back, I think everyone could have talked even if I wasn''t around. "Alice and Nolan, I want to know what they think about Vampires?" (I) In my words, everyone gets a confused look. "By the stories, they are blood-eating monsters." (Nolan) "I''ve heard stories that they are Demons and can live forever." (Alice) I nod to the brothers and we all take off our masks, they also let their eyes turn red again. "Actually I''m a Vampire and these two too." (I) With my revelation Freya, Sophia and Leo are calm, but the other three have worried faces, Nolan and Caryna show some fear in their eyes, but I see expectation in Alice''s eyes. "But we saw you walking during the day on the way here." (Caryna) "Looks like there are many kinds of Vampire races, mine is light-resistant, so we can walk during the day." (I) "The truth is, I want to ask if Alice and Nolan want to become Vampires, the others don''t have to worry, we won''t do anything against their will." (I) "I do, please!" (Alice) "But then I''ll have to feed on blood forever?" (Nolan) "It''s a common misconception among people that Vampires only drink blood, but the truth is, they can eat anything as long as they drink a little blood every day." (Irius) "As my brother said, it doesn''t have to be Human blood either, it can be monster blood." (Irina) "See, it''s not so bad, the truth is that this mansion has been surrounded by miasma for years, so you won''t be able to do otherwise." (I) "I don''t know you, but don''t be silly, if they want to do something bad to you they wouldn''t waste so much time patiently explaining." (Alice) "..." (Nolan) Sigh "Alright I accept too." (Nolan) "Very well Alice you will be with Irina and you Nolan will be with Irius." (I) "Do you know what to do?" (I) "Yes." (Irina/Irius) The brothers stand in front of the two slaves, each pulling a cup and knife from their storage items. Irina makes a gesture and a magic circle appears and disappears then the glasses are floating in the air, she and her brother use the knives to cut the wrist, they let it bleed to fill half the glass, then the wounds close. "Drink." (Irina) Alice drinks Irina''s blood without asking questions or hesitating, but Nolan takes a moment to look at the blood and in the end, he closed his eyes and drank it down. "May you be reborn to new life." (Irina) Irina and Irius raise their right hand and a red light comes out going to the two slaves, as soon as this light comes in contact with them a red light shines from within them, in a short time their bodies disappear into the blinding red light. After a while the light goes out and the two appear again, Nolan looks the same except for the ears that got a little more pointed, he already had red eyes, he has his mouth shut but everyone knows they''re going to have fangs in there now. The biggest change was in Alice, her scar is completely gone, she is beautiful, her chocolate colored skin is in her late twenties, her beautiful red eyes stand out because of the color of her skin and her beautiful dark blue hair draws attention, this contrast of dark blue and red is beautiful. "I feel so much power running through my body, hahahaha." (Alice) "I''ve never felt so good in my life." (Nolan) "Welcome, then Irina and Irius explain more about the Vampires to you two." (I) "It was more tiring than I thought it would be, you made it look so easy when you turned us on Dad." (Irina) "I feel pain all over my body." (Irius) "I felt the same thing, only my resistance to pain is greater than yours." (I) Now there are only four left, I plan to use only my two Auras for the slave family, but I will use both Auras and the blood servant ability on Sophia. I look at the two Elves and the Beast Man. "Now it''s the three of you, no need to worry, you haven''t changed races, what I''m going to do is one more wake-up call for you." (I) "I''ll give you some advice, as soon as you use my power don''t try to fight him, alright?" (I) "Yes." (Freya) "I''m ready." (Leo) "You can start." (Caryna) I use both my Auras at the same time, since I became a Vampire it seems like it''s easier to control my Auras, I activate [ Aura of judgment: 2 ] and [ Aura of chaos: 2 ] at the same time. In the past, these two Auras would spread across the room uncontrollably, but this time I forcefully control to only affect those three and me, as always these two Auras blend and strengthen each other. At the same moment that the three came in contact with my Auras, my Mana and Ki leave my body out of control and start to go towards those three, a black light surrounds them and I feel my auras and energies go through their bodies. Ding! <[ Three individuals willingly submitted to you ]> . . <[ Choose a power to grant them ]> At that moment my head fills with my abilities and the inferior abilities that make them up, I still remember the abilities that these three already have that were written on the paper that described them when I went to buy them. Thinking about the best skills for them I choose to grant [ Weak Wind Elemental Affinity: 1 ] to Freya, if everything I learned in games and anime is right then the wind element is best for a bow and arrow user. After thinking about how Leo specializes in combat I choose to grant him [ Ki Sense: 1 ], I realized that he had no Ki abilities, Diana once told me that Man-Beasts is the most suitable race to use Ki, so I hope he learns from Diana later just like I did. I decided to give Caryna the ability [ Magical Great Body Booster: 1 ], I did it because she doesn''t have combat skills, but she has magic skills, with this ability she will at least be able to defend herself if she needs it. Ding! <[ Grant of power completed ]> Soon the light started to fade and disappear, so everyone could see the three of them still inside the fading Light, the two Elves were the same, but for some reason where Leo was now, there''s a lion walking on two legs in Leo''s clothes. Leo, in place of the forelegs, has two large, furry hands with very sharp claws. "Where did this thing come from." (me) Just as I was about to attack, Diana appeared at my side and placed her hand on my shoulder. "Wait master." (Diana) "That''s Leo, this guy is really lucky." (Diana) "That thing is Leo, I turned him into a monster by mistake?" (I) "It''s not that, it looks like you''ve awakened the unique ability of the Beast Man, that ability is called [ Beast Transformation ]." (Diana) "With this ability, he can completely transform into a beast or just a part of the body, this ability doubles the status of the individual, every Man-Beast can achieve this ability because we already have it inside us, we just need to wake it up, the problem is that there is no standard way to wake her up." (Diana) "This ability can awaken during a battle, in a moment of near death, in a moment of great emotional distress, during an evolution, in the awakening of a bloodline, etc." (Diana) "I understand, simply put, the way to awaken this ability varies from Man-Beast to Man-Beast." (I) "Yes, very few get this skill, I can say he has a lot of potentials." (Diana) "I get it, but how is my Leo going to get back to normal?" (Caryna) "He''ll be fine, it''s not an easy skill to manipulate and he''s just acquired it, but from what I''ve heard he might at least be able to get back to normal." (Diana) As Diana spoke Leo started to shrink and the hair that covered all of his body disappeared, his feline face was replaced by his normal Human face, he looks exactly as before. Caryna runs up to him and the two embrace. "Leo, I was worried about you." (Caryna) "I''m fine dear, actually I''m great, having this ability is the dream and honor of any Man-Beast, I must thank you, master Zenos, for granting me this honor." (Leo) "Don''t worry about me, I''m glad you''re happy." (I) "Did you two happen to get the title [ Servant of the Twilight (Zenos) ] too?" (Freya) Chapter 117: A cry for release After turning the family from slaves into servants, everyone was startled by Leo''s ability to transform, as we all talked Freya asked if her daughter and son-in-law were given the title [ Servant of Twilight (Zenos) ]. "Did you two happen to receive the title [ Servant of the Twilight (Zenos) ]?" (Freya) "Yes." (Caryna) "I got it too." (Leo) "(So their title is different from the others.)" (I) "(Ibuki''s title is subordinate, rica''s title is slave, the brothers'' title is sons, Kira and Diana''s title are Relatives.)" (I) "(And now comes this new title, but at least it shows that it worked.)" (I) "Did you guys also get any Nolan and Alice titles?" (I) "Unfortunately not my lord." (Alice) "I didn''t get any titles either." (Nolan) "Maybe you didn''t get it because the master wasn''t the one who changed you, maybe if the master does to you what he did to those three, you will also receive a title." (rica) "I''m not going to do that, it''s been hard enough to stand up after doing this with these three and I still have Sophia to take care of." (I) "Wouldn''t it be better for tomorrow then master?" (Diana) "Diana is right Dad, don''t push yourself too hard." (Irius) "It''s just a little bit of pain and exhaustion, I can handle it, it''s best to get this over with, don''t worry so much." (I) "Sophia come to me." (I) Everyone else backed away from me a little while Sophia approached me with a limp, as soon as she was in front of me she knelt down. "Is ready?" (I) "Yes, my Sir." (Sophia) I activate both my Aura abilities and my Blood Servant ability at the same time, just as previously my auras intertwine and make each other stronger, I still have enough strength to force these Auras to affect only me and the Sophia. Soon my mana and Ki leave my body when my Auras come in contact with Sophia, then drops of my blood come out of every pore of my body and float around me and Sophia, it didn''t take long for my Auras, mana, Ki and blood began to enter Sophia''s body, her body was surrounded by a black and red glow. Ding! <[ The individual submitted to you willingly ]> . . <[ Choose a power to grant her ]> "(My head is hurting a lot right now, dammit.)" (I) Once again a big list of all the skills, bloodlines, and powers that make them up that I have pops into my mind making my headache. If I remember correctly she is a warrior who fights without weapons, she only uses martial arts to fight, so there is only one skill I can give her. I choose to grant the ability [ Martial Art Fist of Chaos: 1 ]. Ding! Ding! <[ Grant of power completed ]> . . . <[ Her skill leveled up [ Reinforce weak subordinates: 1> 2 ] ]> Before long the light starts to fade and I can see Sophia again, she has white hair tied back and golden eyes, her height is six feet, her skin is brown and her body is as well trained as you would expect from a warrior. There is no longer any scar to hide how beautiful she is, even I am amazed at how beautiful she is, her body is well trained but she has less muscle than Diana, she is still kneeling on the floor looking at her hands, so she puts a hand on her face where there used to be a scar in place of one of her eyes, it seems she wants to confirm that she has recovered the lost eye. "AAHHHH!!!" (Sophia) She gets up at once letting out a scream into the air full of anger, hate, sadness, regret, frustration, and happiness, at least that''s what I can feel about the Aura that left her body when she started screaming, this Aura fills the hall, your Aura is full of unlimited fighting will. I don''t interrupt her, I imagine this is her way of letting go of all the emotions she was holding inside herself, I would like Alice to do the same to see if she can leave the darkness inside her behind, that was a scream of release. In a few seconds her aura disappears along with her scream, my auras long ago returned inside me after she completed her awakening, Sophia''s Aura didn''t hurt anyone, even though it filled the whole room, no one was hurt, it seems that she has good control of her Aura, maybe you can learn something from her. After her scream, Sophia kneels on one knee and takes an oath in a voice full of will and determination that she didn''t possess before. "Today I Sophia by ancestral vows made before the World Tree swear to be the sword and shield of Zenos, may Dravos God of Spirits be a witness!" (Sophia) "..." (I) "(Her her oath is very similar to the one Kira once took to me, but some words are different, it must be something from Elf culture.)" (I) Just like Kira in the past, she looks like she''s going to stay on her knees until I say something. "Stand up Sophia." (I) "Yes my master." (Sophia) As soon as she stands up and looks me in the eye I see eyes full of wonder and respect for me. "Ah!" (I) "Master!" (Sophia/Diana/rica) "Dad!" (Irina/Irius) When I tried to step forward my knee failed, the moment I moved was when I realized how exhausted I was, the pain I''m feeling now is three times what it''s feeling when I used only my two Auras on Freya''s family, it seems the blood servant skill makes me worse than I expected. Before I hit the ground Kira appears in a blur beside me and catches me. "We told you to rest master, are you alright?" (Kira) "I''m just a haaa... a little tired haaa... nothing a haaa... a night''s sleep doesn''t help." (I) "That was intense, you''re not just physically exhausted, you spent all your Mana and Ki with these four, especially with this Dark Elf, not only that, in the end, you used a lot of your blood too." (Byakko) "This skill is a double-edged sword for you." (Byakko) "This is not the time Byakko, go back to sleep like you were doing until now." (Kira) "Help me to the living room, please." (I) "Let me help too." (Sophia) Sophia and Kira led me into the room off the hall where they placed me in a patroness while everyone sat on the sofas on either side of the armchair. After taking a breath to catch my breath, I turn to everyone to speak. "rica and Kira, there''s no need to hide from them anymore." (I) "As the master wishes." (Kira) "I guess we don''t need to hide things from each other now since we''re all in the same boat." (rica) Kira deactivates her Illusion Spirit Ring going back to her Gray Elf appearance and Byakko who was invisible to the others shows herself to everyone and sits on Kira''s shoulder. rica has deactivated her demonic transformation magic, a large amount of black energy comes out of the tattoo on her shoulder running all over her body, her skin has returned to purplish-blue, her eyes red, the little horns have grown on her head, a tail has grown from her back and wings ripped the back of his clothes. "A demon!" (Nolan) "..." (Alice) "Now that''s a surprise." (Freya) "A Demon and a Gray Elf, as expected of the one I swore to serve." (Sophia) The reactions were more diverse than I imagined, the only one who reacted with fear was Nolan who was staring at rica, he was shaking with fear, besides him Caryna looked a little scared of rica, but was paying more attention to Kira, she was watching curiously for Kira. Leo and Alice didn''t show any reaction, it seems they don''t care about the race of others, Freya at first showed surprise seeing rica, but soon her attention was focused on Kira, what I saw in her eyes was different from the others, it seemed to be nostalgia. Sophia for some reason was proud of me for seeing rica and Kira. "For those of you who are scared of rica, let me explain, she only became a Demon a couple of months ago, before that she was Human, so she has no connection with the Demon Race." (I) "Yes, it''s only been two months since the master turned me into a Demon." (rica) While I tried to calm those who were afraid of rica, she said something that made the situation worse, now they''re looking at me scared, Freya and Sophia looked at me curiously, it seems I''ll have to explain things. "Look it''s not like you guys are thinking, she transformed because of the same abilities I used on Sophia, one of those abilities uses the darkness inside a person to give her more power." (I) "In rica''s case there was a lot of darkness, so my ability ended up turning her into a Demon." (I) "That''s why you don''t need to worry, it''s not like you can choose who will become a Demon, as I didn''t see much darkness in your eyes I thought nothing much would happen and I was right." (I) It seems my explanation has calmed things down a bit, now let''s have a conversation about what to do from now on. Chapter 118: Strange shadow I''m exhausted after using my abilities on four people, now they''re all gathered in the room and I just explained about rica and Kira''s races. "Now that everyone''s calmed down I want to have a conversation about what we''re going to do for now." (I) "First I want to make it clear to you that you are new here that me, Kira, rica, Ibuki, Irina, and Irius have already registered with the Adventurers Guild, we will get our Guild Cards tomorrow." (I) "Diana was already an adventurer, we are all in the same group in the Guild, I say this because I don''t expect you to fight for now unless you want to." (I) "I want Freya and Caryna to teach Nolan and Alice about cleaning, cooking, and the like, Leo and Sophia are going to be responsible for the security of the mansion and the rest of you." (I) While speaking everyone was paying attention, but in the middle of the conversation, Alice raised her hand. "What was it Alice?" (I) "I would like to learn to fight too, is that possible?" (Alice) "That''s not a problem, Irina will take care of her training, but only if she doesn''t interfere with her daily work, at least until we get more employees." (I) "I will strive for it, sir." (Alice) "Sir, I would like to know how many employees you want, if possible." (Freya) "I have no idea about the type of cleaning work or how to take care of a mansion, so I will ask for your help next time to choose the next slaves, the choice of how many and which slaves to buy will be yours, but you will have to meet certain requirements that I''ll talk to you later." (I) "I''ll be happy to help you, master." (Freya) "But does anyone have any questions?" (I) This time no one raised their hand or asked anything, so I keep talking. "About short-term goals, I only have three." (I) "First will be the Black Market auction that Kira will participate in, this will be important to get some people with skills useful for us." (I) "The second will be the training, we have to learn to fight as a team, Diana, who has been an adventurer for the longest time, will be responsible for this training." (I) "Third do I want to explore a dungeon, but let''s leave that until after we get some result in the second objective, do you all understand?" (I) "Yes!!!" (all) "I''ll let you guys get acquainted, rica you can show them around the mansion and lodgings later." (I) "Yes Master." (rica) "Irius, help me to my room, please." (I) "Of course Dad, let me help you." (Irius) "Thank you, I''m really tired right now, I''m going to bed early, goodnight everyone." (I) "Good night dad." (Irina) "Good night master." (rica/Diana/Kira/Freya/Sophia) "Good night sir." (Caryna/Leo/Nolan/Alice) Irius helped me to my room and climb into my bed before leaving the room, so I went to sleep in the clothes I was wearing, I was exhausted, that was a long day. ---------------- Pov Irina: My body is aching and I''m feeling a little tired after turning Alice, that''s because I used a single skill, dad used two skills to wake up the three slave family and used three skills to wake up Dark Elf Sophia, I can''t even imagine how he must be feeling. I thought it was easy since he turned me and my brother on without showing weakness, but I think he was just playing strong back then. Now that he''s gone to bed, rica and I will guide the new residents through the house, then we''ll show them their quarters in the other building. After that, I''m going to call my brother and the two new Twilight Vampires for an explanation of Vampires just like we had with Dad. "Now that Father is no longer here do you have any questions?" (I) "Master Zenos said that sunlight doesn''t affect him even though he''s a Vampire, what did he mean by that?" (Freya) "The father is the first Vampire of his lineage, our race name is Twilight Vampire, we possess an elemental affinity with both light and shadows, as such we possess resistance to sunlight." (I) "So he''s an ancient race?" (Freya) "Actually he''s a new breed, the master only evolved into a Vampire a few days ago." (rica) Everyone was surprised by this revelation, but no one said anything. "I see, thanks for clearing this up for me." (Freya) "Does anyone have any more questions?" (I) "I was wondering how we are going to feed?" (Nolan) "This has already been explained, you can eat regular food, about the blood we can bring from the monsters we hunt." (Diana) "Does anyone have a real question?" (rica) "During the time the master was using his ability on me, I saw a shadow with the same eyes as the master in a chaotic space where there was only the shadow and I on a misty road with stars shining in various colors around the chaotic space. ." (Leo) "Has anyone else seen this or was it just me?" (Leo) "I saw it too dear, I saw the same thing, the shadow gathered a flow of energy and made it enter me and travel through my entire body." (Caryna) "I also saw the same thing, but in my case, the shadow waved its claw causing a strong wind, then the shadow gathered all the wind in its claws which crystallized and then gave me the crystal that entered inside of me." (Freya) "In my case, the shadow just pierced its claws into my heart and said in an authoritative voice ''awake'' then I woke up with my body the way you saw it." (Leo) "I saw the same thing as you guys too, but for me, the shadow approached and placed one of its sharp claws on my forehead, so several images of someone practicing a strange martial art flashed through my mind." (Sophia) "What you saw, all of us who were awakened or changed by the master saw it too." (rica) "I will never forget that moment." (Kira) "I don''t remember well, but that''s when I was born into Kira I think." (Byakko) "I didn''t see any of that." (Alice) "Me neither." (Nolan) "That''s because you were changed by me and my brother." (I) "So you saw the shadow too, Miss Irina?" (Freya) "Yes my brother and I saw the same things differently than you each saw something different, in our case the shadow grabbed chains that tied us and destroyed them by squeezing its claws, then stuck the claw inside itself and pulled out a drop of blood and gave us to drink." (I) As I remember this moment that happened a few days ago, tears start to fall from my eyes. "Are you okay Irina?" (rica) "Yes, that moment was when my brother and I were finally released, I will never be able to remember that moment without crying." (I) "What are you talking about? Why are you crying sister?" (Irius) "We were talking about shadow vision in chaotic space during their awakening, so I remembered a few days ago when Dad changed us." (I) "I understand." (Irius) "How is the master?" (rica) "Exhausted, he fell asleep as soon as I put him to bed, it took me a while to get back because on the way back I found Ibuki sleeping on a sofa in the lounge, so I took her to her room to sleep there." (Irius) "She got tired of all that talk in the hall and ended up falling asleep so I took her to the sofa to sleep more comfortably, but after the master almost fell overtired I ended up forgetting about her, thanks for taking her to the bedroom." (Diana) "Okay, we were all worried about Father at that time." (Irius) "No one has any more questions?" (I) I waited a while to see if anyone else would ask a question, after a few seconds without anyone saying anything I started to explain about the Vampires with the help of my brother. We took some time explaining everything, Alice was the most interested and asked a lot of questions which I answered as best I could, after explaining about Vampires in general I talked about our race of Vampires. During our conversation, I found out that Alice and Nolan acquired the [ Weak Light elemental resistance: 1 ] ability, but Alice only received the shadow elemental affinity, and Nolan only received the Light elemental affinity. Maybe because their bloodlines are not pure like mine and my brother''s they didn''t get the two elemental affinities, that''s an interesting thing to know, I''ll tell the master tomorrow. After ending the conversation about Vampires we started walking around the mansion explaining everything to the six, Freya and Caryna were impressed with the kitchen while Leo and Sophia loved the training ground behind the mansion. Then we took everyone to the building where the employees'' quarters are located, after the renovation that the master asked for, each room in this building is as beautiful and comfortable as the ones inside the mansion. After everyone chose their rooms we went back to the mansion, while we were guiding them Sophia asked some questions about the father then everyone started to show interest in the subject, so I waited to finish showing the mansion to them to meet us again in the same room where I left it. to rica, Diana, and Kira who are the most time with Father to answer their questions. Irius and I took the opportunity to find out more about Father too, we spent a few hours talking before everyone went to bed. On the way to the bedroom, my brother and I talked. "What do you think we should teach Alice and Nolan?" (I) "Alice seems smart, so I think you can teach her the basics of magic, but it doesn''t seem like she''s going to want to learn about support magic, maybe after you teach her the basics of magic you can look for rica to teach her magic. attack for Alice." (Irius) "You may be right, thanks for the advice, but what are you going to do about Nolan?" (I) "I don''t know yet, he doesn''t seem interested in learning to fight, he also gets scared very easily and doesn''t have a firm determination, even if I train him I find it difficult to be a warrior." (Irius) "His case is the opposite of Alice so teach him just enough so he can defend himself, then let Freya train him to run the mansion." (I) "I think I should do it then, it''s really going to take a lot of work to take care of other people." (Irius) When we got to our rooms each one entered their respective room and I went to sleep. Chapter 119: First job I woke up the next day still with a little pain in my body, I think I really exaggerated yesterday awakening four people. I get up from my bed and go to the bathroom to take a shower and wash my face, in this world it''s much easier to clean my teeth as I only need to use the liquid soap potion. After that I go to the ground floor, on the way I felt an incredible smell of food that made my mouth water, I followed this smell as if I was being pulled by someone''s nose to the kitchen. In the kitchen I found Freya and Caryna cooking, Caryna was humming with a happy smile on her face as she put something in the oven and Freya had a gentle smile as she cut some meat and placed it on an iron grill. "Looks like you guys liked the kitchen." (I) "Good morning sir, this kitchen is amazing." (Caryna) "Good morning master, I must admit that I have never seen an iron plate like this, nor have I ever heard of cooking using something like this." (Freya) "But I must say it''s a very practical way to cook meat, I can even make several pieces at the same time-saving time." (Freya) "I''m glad they liked it so much, it was my idea to renovate the kitchen like that, rica even complained that it was a big waste of money, but as a lover of good food I couldn''t help it." (I) "I guarantee you that my mother and I will cook you delicious food every day." (Caryna) "With this aroma that''s making my mouth water, I believe you." (I) Soon more and more people arrived in the kitchen being attracted by this delicious smell, Alice and Nolan began to set the dining room table following the instructions of Freya who left the kitchen leaving the rest with her daughter. With everyone awake we went to eat a delicious meat sandwich with sweet and sour sauce, with each bite the meat seemed to melt in the mouth it was so tender, the table was completely silent as no one wanted to waste time talking to food like this in front of them. This dining table is quite big, it looks like a circle and has space for almost twenty people to eat at the same time before we ate I took some time to convince the new employees to sit at the table so we could all eat together, but in the end everyone they enjoyed the food together. After the meal I gave each one fifty silver coins, and I gave Freya two hundred, while our group went to the Adventurers Guild, I asked her to go with the other new employees to shop, I told them to buy clothes and on the way to buy ingredients. for the food of the week. We ended up leaving the mansion altogether, Sophia wanted to go with me but I managed to convince her to go with the others to buy clothes for everyday life, and I promised that later I would let her and Leo accompany Diana to buy combat gear, armor, and weapons. After the two groups split up, I and the rest of our group went to the Adventurers Guild, it took us a while to walk there, I have to think of a better means of transport, I''ll leave that for later. On the way to the Guild Irina told me what she found out yesterday, from what she told me it seems that because Alice and Nolan don''t have a Pure lineage of the Twilight Vampires, they didn''t get the two elemental affinities of Light and Shadow, but she said that each received an affinity and both have the light resistance ability, that''s good information. Ibuki kept ordering food at every food stall along the way, this hungry one looks like a bottomless pit, she must have ingested her weight in food by now. It took us longer than I expected to get to the Adventurers Guild. As soon as we arrive, Diana asks them to call Mari down here, soon Mari appears and takes us to a room on the second floor so we can all be more comfortable. "You guys took longer than I thought, I thought you''d be here early in the morning." (Mari) "Some things happened yesterday, so we ended up sleeping late, and on the way, someone kept ordering food from every street tent." (I) "But everything smelled so good, Ibuki wanted to taste everything." (Ibuki) "But I could have left it for later, we had just eaten at home." (Diana) "The important thing is that we are here, are the Guild cards ready?" (I) "Yes, I have them here." (Mari) Mari takes six white crystal cards from her storage item and places them next to each other on the table. "All you need to do now is drop a drop of blood on the card." (Mari) I take a knife from my ring and cut my finger a little, let some blood drip on one of the cards, then it starts to glow, then Mari takes a sheet of paper and approaches it, the sheet of paper turns to dust so it''s absorbed by the card, soon it stops glowing and some things start to appear written on it, my rating which was Grade -C, had my name and on the back was blank, but Diana told me I could show a part of my status or it was complete and I could show you missions I''ve accepted. "(I won''t test anything on this card right now, there are a lot of things in my status that I can''t show by mistake.)" (I) "Your card is ready now, who''s next?" (Mari) After that, the others went one by one picking up their cards the same way I did, after everyone took and put their cards Mari starts talking. "Usually after new adventurer registers we ask a more experienced adventurer to guide them for a week to a month, but as Diana is in your group she won''t need that." (Mari) "You can let me teach them everything they need to know." (Diana) "You have to teach how the cards work, the rules of the Adventurers'' Guild, about quests, etc." (Mari) "Don''t worry, I know what I''m supposed to do, who do you think I am?" (Diana) "A brain of muscles that only knows how to fight and drink beer all day." (Mari) "Looks like she really knows you well Diana." (Kira) "Shut up you both, if anyone listened you would think you''re serious." (Diana) "But I''m serious." (Mari) "You''re the only one who can''t talk about me like that, your husband is the same." (Diana) "Can''t deny it, that idiot really is that way too." (Mari) After a while of conversation, I asked Mari a question. "Now that we are registered can we switch jobs here at the Guild?" (I) "Yes, the job exchange room is on the first floor, do you want to go there now?" (Mari) "Please." (I) "Please, follow me." (Mari) The others waited in the second-floor room while I followed Mari up to the first floor, she led me to a hallway beside the first-floor balcony, then led me to a black door in the middle of the hallway and told me this was the room. "You can come in if you want." (Mari) "Does the Adventurers Guild keep any records of the adventurers'' skills or jobs?" (I) "No, the information about each adventurer''s skills and work belongs to him, must keep this information secret as a form of security as it is their skills and work that make them strong." (Mari) "But the Guild gives a prize to people who discover new jobs or skills if that person comes to us to speak." (Mari) "Don''t you guys keep watch inside the room?" (I) "No, the room is isolated from any kind of surveillance, only the adventurer himself can be present, no one would even try to watch, hence the prizes, to encourage people to share the information." (Mari) "I see, thanks for clearing up my doubts." (I) After asking Mari a few questions I open the door and walk into the job exchange room, then close the door behind me. I look around the room and I''m surprised, there''s a big magic circle on the floor and another completely deficient one on the ceiling, they both cover the entire floor and ceiling, inside the magic circles I see several runes that I didn''t understand and on the walls there were several lines of crystal pulsing with light like a heart, there was nothing in the room but the middle of the room where there was a plinth with a large dark crystal sphere floating above it. After observing all this I took a deep breath to regain my composure, then walked to the middle of the room, the pedestal was not high so I could easily reach the crystal, as soon as I put my hand on it glowed and I started seeing notifications in my mind. Ding! <[ Analyzing individual ]> . . <[ Complete Analysis ]> . . <[ Looking for suitable jobs ]> . . <[ Choice between jobs: [ Apprentice Mage ] [ Apprentice Warrior ] [ Apprentice Thief ] [ Apprentice Carpenter ] [ Apprentice Trader ] [ Apprentice Martial Artist ] [ Apprentice Hunter ] [ Grand Martial Master ] [ Novice Adventurer ] [ Slave Master ] [ Awakening Master (Unique) ] [ Demon Breeder (Unique) ] [ Monster Tamer ] ]> "(There are more works than I imagined, some have strange names.)" (I) I decide to use [ Identify: 2 ] to see these works that I couldn''t understand. <[ Identification result: ? [ Great Martial Master ] : Work acquired only by martial artists who managed to create their own martial art, great increase for Dexterity, Ki, and life. ? [ Slave Master ] : Work acquired only for those who turned another person into slaves with their own power, medium increase in life, mana, and intelligence. ? [ Awakening Master (Unique) ] : Unique work that can only be acquired by a person capable of awakening the hidden power within a person or granting power to another person, a big boost for smart, medium boost for life and mana, power spiritual and Ki. ? [ Demon Breeder (Unique) ] : Unique work acquired by one capable of creating a Demon or transforming someone into a Demon with his own power, great increase for intelligence, mana, and magic defense. ]> Now I understand where these works came from, I turned rica into a Demon, created the martial art of the Fist of Chaos, awakened the Leo powers, tamed Ibuki who is still considered a monster since he is an Ogress. I don''t want to draw attention, for now, my identification ability didn''t show much information about these jobs, for now, I''m going to choose the apprentice jobs, from what I studied about jobs they have requirements that sometimes are having already had another smaller job. Thinking about it and my current status, I''m going to choose [ Apprentice Mage ], now is a good time to start training my magic, I have a lot of magic skills but I don''t know how to use them and it''s a waste. Ding! <[ Work [ Mage Apprentice ] acquired ]> Chapter 120: First mission Ding! <[ Work [ Mage Apprentice ] acquired ]> . . . <[ Authority granted by title [ ? ] partially released ]> . . <[ Job exchange authority for titleholder and those linked to it enabled ]> WHICH!!!?? "(What does that mean!?)" (I) I tried using [ Identify: 2 ] in this title. <[ Identification result: ? [ ? ]: ??????????? ]> I can''t even identify this title, but that means I don''t need to come here anymore to change jobs I guess. For some reason, I have the feeling that I know what I have to do when I want to change jobs for myself or others. That was a nice surprise, I don''t know what title this is, but to give me something so good just being partially released is amazing. After getting my new job and a pleasant surprise I left the job change room, Mari was still outside waiting for me. "You took too long, were you undecided on which job to choose?" (Mari) "Yes, how did you know?" (I) "Most new adventurers quickly pick their employees and don''t spend more than two or three minutes inside the job changing room." (Mari) "But savvy and smart adventurers have more jobs to choose from, they also know the importance of choosing the right job and because of that they waste a lot of time in the job exchange room." (Mari) "From the strength you''ve shown and the way you speak and act I imagine you must be older than you look, you also appear to be smart, so I imagine you must have thought a lot before making your choice." (Mari) "I''m glad someone like you does so much praise for me, thank you." (I) "Not compliments, but my opinion from what I''ve seen of you so far." (Mari) Mari and I went back to the second floor while we talked, at no time did she ask what job I chose. As soon as we entered I sat down with the rest of my group. "I''m glad you guys came back, since you were taking a while I went upstairs to see the quest board and picked a few." (Diana) "You''re impatient as always, let me see your missions." (Mari) While Diana and Mari talked about the missions Diana had chosen I took the opportunity to check my status. <[ NAME: Zenos RACE: Twilight Vampire (Unique) GENRE: Man LEVEL: 1/50 EXP: 23/100 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Twilight Vampire (Zenos): Original ] [ Horned Rabbit: 100% ] [ Flaming Snake: 15% ] [ Little Spider: 17% ] [ Gray Wolf: 100% ] [ Kobold: 100 % ] [ Human: 100% ] [ Dwarf: 14% ] [ Tiger Beast Man: 17% ] [ Vampire Bat: 100% ] [ Earth Monkey: 100% ] WORK: [ Apprentice magician ] WORK LEVEL: 1/10 WORK EXP: 0/25 WORK HISTORY: NONE HP: 100/100 MP: 170/170 Ki: 120/120 Strength: 109 (+38) Dexterity: 85 (+30) Agility: 98 (+30) Defense: 74 (+25) Intelligence: 155 (+25) Magic Defense: 104 (+25) Charm: 200 (+1550) Luck: -50 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: ? [ ? ] [ ?? ] [ World transgressor ] [Last of his kind ] [ First of his kind ] [ He who brings chaos ] [ Named Monster ] [ Unique Monster ] [ True Master ] [ Founder of Chaos Fist ] [ Novice Mage ] [ Goblin Chief ] [ Novice Adventurer ] [ Literate ] [ Thief ] [ Kidnapper ] [ Goblin Killer ] [ Friend of Spirits ] [ Founder Blade of Chaos Technique ] [ Child of Blood ] [ Walker of the Day ] [ Patriarch (Vampires of the Twilight) ] [ Shadow Eclipse group leader ] ]> I seem to have had a small increase in status, but as you''d expect from an apprentice level job, it''s very little, I see the maximum level for this job is ten as I expected, I''ll try to get all the apprentice and novice level jobs for me to have more work options. Looking at it like this I really have more titles. "I ended up taking only these four subjugation missions, what do you think?" (Diana) "You should at least talk together with the other members of your group." (Mari) "She talked to us a little while before you guys got back." (Irina) "She also showed us the quests, the monsters from those quests walk in groups, so it''s perfect for us to train a little on our teamwork." (Kira) "We shouldn''t underestimate the quest monsters, we may be outnumbered too, so we were discussing whether or not we should take these quests." (rica) "Think carefully before taking on a mission, alright?" (Mari) "Before taking the mission read the description to know the monster''s location, you should prepare not only thinking about the monster you are going to hunt but the environment where it will be as well." (Mari) "I know that, how old do you think I''ve been an adventurer?" (Diana) "Don''t be upset, it was just a reminder of concern." (Mari) "Let me see these four missions." (I) "On here." (rica) rica gives me the missions, these are the monsters of the mission. Missions: ? Goblin Subjugation ? Subjugation of Kobolds ? Subjugation of Blood Wolves ? Subjugation of Small Spiders I don''t see a problem, on the poster for this mission it says repeatable mission, which explains why I thought I recognized these names, they are some of the same missions Diana took at the time I sent her here to town. "Ibuki will be able to hunt with everyone, I''m very happy." (Ibuki) "Since fighting bats, I don''t fight monsters, it will be good for me to test some spells I''ve been studying." (rica) "I wanted to ask you a question Mari." (I) "Go ahead, I''m here to answer any questions." (Mari) "Now that we''re all adventurers I was wondering if we can sell some items we''ve taken from monsters we''ve killed." (I) "Of course you can." (Mari) "Even from monsters, we were hunting before we were adventurers?" (I) "Yes." (Mari) I look over at Kira and Irius who have some storage items full of stuff we''ve collected from the bodies of the monsters we''ve killed. "Can we deliver now then?" (I) "If there''s something put on that metal table near the wall, I''ll evaluate the items and then I''ll rate it." (Mari) "Alright Kira and Irius, you can put everything on that table over there, you heard her." (I) The two get up and go to the table, then start pulling out monster skins, teeth, claws, magic cores, a roll of magic thread I created, etc. I will use your assessment to know how valuable the line I produce is. "There really is a lot here, it looks like a lot of stuff from F, E, and D rank monsters." (Mari) She is surprised by the amount of stuff but starts looking over everything, as soon as she sees my line and picks it up, she spends some time looking at it with a confused face. "This line is very good, it''s strong, it handles mana well and seems to have some magical resistance, it can be used to make combat clothes, magic robes or even weapons." (Mari) "What kind of weapon is built with lines?" (rica) "You''d be surprised if there''s enough a magic whip can be made, those who have a hunter or killer jobs can use these strong lines to make traps or attach to throwing weapons." (Mari) "That''s true, I used to use lines too, but I stopped because it''s hard to find a suitable one." (Kira) "Exactly, for the quality and characteristics of this line it must be from a B or A rated monster, how did you get it?" (Mari) "How much do you think this is worth?" (I) "A roll of that size should easily be worth a gold coin or two." (Mari) "It''s worth more than I thought, how much would you give to all of this?" (I) Mari spends more time looking at the items on the table more carefully, after about fifteen to twenty minutes she talks to me again. "All this can be sold for four gold coins, half that amount is because of the line." (Mari) "Then I want to sell to the Guild, I also want to take these quests that Diana chose." (I) "Give me your cards then, I''ll record the mission for you." (Mari) After Mari takes our cards she leaves the room, it takes her a few minutes to come back, then she returns our cards and leaves four gold coins on the table. "This is money for materials and here are your cards, I''ve already registered the missions for you." (Mari) "Thanks." (I) "Thank you, Mari." (Diana) After getting the money and the Guild card I keep both. We all said goodbye to Mari and left the Guild. "What day do you think we should go do these missions?" (I) "If we want to finish everything the same day and get back to town before nightfall, then we''d better go tomorrow." (Diana) "Then let''s go tomorrow." (I) "Which job did you choose Father?" (Irina) "I had more options than I expected, but I decided to start with apprenticeships for now." (I) "That''s a good decision master, the apprentice type works are the basis, as you only need ten levels to reach the maximum level it''s no problem for you, then you''ll release novice type works and then the practitioner type." (Diana) "I know, I saw this in a book that explained about jobs, I chose for now [ Apprentice Mage ], I want to focus on magic for a while." (I) "I would love to continue teaching magic to the master." (rica) "I''ll help too." (Irina) "Calm down girls, the reason I choose magic is because I have many magical abilities that are just gathering dust on my status until I evolve and get a bigger body I''ll be training my magic." (I) "The Master may be right, as your arms and legs are short this can cause problems for you if you fight other people in hand-to-hand combat, especially if the person is experienced in combat." (Kira) We continued walking to the mansion as we talked. Chapter 121: Completing the missions part 1 I spent the day at the mansion learning about magic with rica and Irina, rica had more knowledge in shaping mana and controlling it while Irina had more experience in quick activation and the mental image of magic, they were both very good from what I could see. For the first time I managed to cast a spell, it was a levitation spell in a cup, it was a non-elemental type spell, it was a weird feeling to levitate things with my mind. I quickly got used to the spell it seems that this spell expends mana according to the weight of what you are floating is a very useful spell. While I was training the employees returned from shopping, Freya insisted on giving me a report on everything she bought and how much money she spent. I told everyone to put things away in their rooms and then do their chores. While I spent the day training my magic, Diana, Kira, Leo, and Sophia were having combat training, Sophia was training with Kira While Diana seemed to be trying to help Leo control his new transformation ability. During the night I brought everyone together for a meeting, it became a custom for me, I talked to them about what happened in the job change room and about the possibility of being able to change jobs not only for me but for them too. Needless to say, everyone was surprised, Sophia was laughing and speaking as expected of me with pride since I healed her it seems she has become much more introverted and for some reason proud of me. rica, Irina, and Freya looked at me without blinking, it seemed they were thinking the same thing as they looked at each other and nodded, I found this strange, did rica use that telepathy magic for the three of them? The others didn''t have any great reaction but liked to know that, after the meeting, Sophia asked when she would be able to buy a combat outfit or leather armor, I told her I would see after a few days. Over the next few hours, Diana explained to all the Adventurers Guild rules and how the Guild Card works, it was while I was testing the card that I noticed our group''s name written under my name. After the meeting we all ate some delicious food made by Freya and Caryna, so Leo, Nolan, and I went to take a bath in the big hot spring-style bathtub I had asked to build in one of the bathrooms. After we left I went to bed early to get up early tomorrow for my first mission. -------------- The next day we woke up, ate a delicious breakfast made by Caryna, and left for our mission leaving Freya and the others to take care of the mansion. Leaving the city was easy, at the city gate we just had to show our cards to the guard and show that we were doing a mission, so we didn''t have to pay any entrance or exit fees. As we walked through the forest we were talking and Diana took the opportunity to teach us the basics of teamwork, she also set up a standard combat formation that leaves rica and Irina in the back of the group with Irius protecting them while Kira and Diana attack the monsters. This is a standard tactic in games and it looks like it''s the same here, she said it''s better to start like this and adapt as we get used to fighting together, she advised me to lead the group during battle as she had detection skills and it would be good training for me too. Our objective today is to complete the four quests, it seems that while Kira and Diana ran for days through the forest looking for the location of the Undead in the past, they discovered the location of some monster nests, so we won''t waste too much time looking for them. Since it''s still early in the morning I told Diana to take us first to the place where the Goblins must still be sleeping. "Do you remember how many Goblins Kira was?" (Diana) "If I remember correctly it was around thirty as far as I counted, I also saw four Barbarian Goblins." (Kira) "Are they too far away?" (I) "No, we''ll be there in less than forty minutes." (Diana) "So let''s go." (I) "When we get there the master will give the orders, I''ve seen you making ambush plans twice, I know you can do it." (Diana) "(If she only knew that all my knowledge of battle tactics comes from games.)" (I) Sigh On the way, I used my detection skills to avoid the monsters along the way. As soon as we arrived I asked Kira to scout since she''s the most stealthy of us, she came back a few minutes later. "They are still waking up, some of them are forcing others to wake up, so they should leave soon, what do we do?" (Kira) "What was the place like?" (I) "There were no walls, the huts are so weak that a stronger wind should make them fall, there are only trees around them." (Kira) "Hmmm..." (I) "Kira, I want you to identify the evolved Goblins, after that I want Irina to use that chain magic to hold them in place, meanwhile I want rica to use that fire magic she used in the bat cave to burn most of them ." (I) "After rica''s magic is ended, Diana, Ibuki and Kira will use the chaos to kill the remaining ones while Irius protects rica and Irina." (I) "What did you think of the plan?" (I) "As an expected master, magnificent, hahahaha." (Diana) "You managed to combine our skills into a very quick, impressive plan." (Irina) "But it still needs to be put to the test, but I believe it should work." (Irius) "Finally Ibuki can hunt with the master again, this time Ibuki will fight alongside the master." (Ibuki) "If everyone agrees, then let''s not waste time, they should start out hunting soon." (I) "I''m leaving then." (Kira) After a while Kira came back, she said she has five evolved Goblins, one must have just evolved, from Kira''s description he seems to be the killer type, she said where they all were and said that all the Goblins are gathering. I waited until everyone was awake and gathered, one of the Goblins was eating a Human arm that he took from inside the hut, as soon as everyone was together I gave the signal and Irina released the streams of light. "" (Irina) Glowing streams of light quickly exit Irina''s magic circle and before the five evolved Goblins can do anything they are tied in place, wasting no time Erica casts her magic as well. "" (rica) rica sets up her magic circle in the air and a fireball goes out hitting a nearby Goblin, then five fireballs come out of this Goblin hitting another five Goblins nearby, and from each of them go out five more fireballs reaching even more Goblins before stopping. spread. "Attack!" (I) At my signal Kira runs killing the evolved Goblins along with Byakko who shoots electric rays at them, Diana and Ibuki start killing each one on one side and I run killing each of the surviving Goblins that I kill including those who were still on the ground burning with a short sword only. The battle only took a few minutes before it ended, except for rica who spent half her Mana this time the others were still fine. Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 70 EXP from killing Goblins ]> . . <[ Party members gained 35 EXP for killing Goblin for you ]> . . <[ You gained 84 EXP from Goblin kills by party members ]> . . . [ You have leveled up ] . . . [Your work has leveled up] . . [ Your work has reached the maximum level ] The battle was faster and easier than I thought it would be, I also managed to level up and level up my work. "The master''s plan did not give them any chance to fight back, as was to be expected from the Father." (Irius) "As I expected, the master is very good at planning attacks, but we have to see how you will act giving orders in the middle of battle." (Diana) "What do you plan on doing?" (I) "We''re going to the Kobolds this time, but before we rest, rica needs some time to regain some of her magic power." (Diana) "Thanks for remembering me, this plan was good, but I was the one who used the most energy." (rica) I will take this time to meditate and integrate my new level, it only took me about ten minutes for that, when I finished meditating rica was still meditating to recover mana. <[ NAME: Zenos RACE: Twilight Vampire (Unique) GENRE: Man LEVEL: 2/50 EXP: 77/105 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Twilight Vampire (Zenos): Original ] [ Horned Rabbit: 100% ] [ Flaming Snake: 15% ] [ Little Spider: 17% ] [ Gray Wolf: 100% ] [ Kobold: 100 % ] [ Human: 100% ] [ Dwarf: 14% ] [ Tiger Beast Man: 17% ] [ Vampire Bat: 100% ] [ Earth Monkey: 100% ] WORK: [ Apprentice magician ] WORK LEVEL: 10/10 WORK EXP: 295/0 WORK HISTORY: NONE HP: 108/108 MP: 139/179 Ki: 121/128 Strength: 114 (+38) Dexterity: 90 (+30) Agility: 103 (+30) Defense: 79 (+25) Intelligence: 162 (+25) Magic Defense: 109 (+25) Charm: 200 (+1550) Luck: -50 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: ? [ ? ] [ ?? ] [world transgressor ] [Last of his kind ] [ First of his kind ] [ He who brings chaos ] [ Named Monster ] [ Unique Monster ] [ True Master ] [ Founder of Chaos Fist ] [ Novice Mage ] [ Goblin Chief ] [ Novice Adventurer ] [ Literate ] [ Thief ] [ Kidnapper ] [ Goblin Killer ] [ Friend of Spirits ] [ Founder Blade of Chaos Technique ] [ Child of Blood ] [ Walker of the Day ] [ Patriarch (Vampires of the Twilight) ] [ Shadow Eclipse group leader ] ]> I went up one level and nine levels of work, it seems I was right in choosing an apprentice job, this type of work is usually for the person to sing experience training and not fighting monsters, so it has few levels and requires little experience. Another factor that helps me to increase my work levels is the title [ World Transgressor ] which increases the EXP I earn for work by five times, as I would like to have a title like that to increase my own level too. Chapter 122: [Bonus Chapter] Bonus Cap 121.5: Prophecy In a large old white church with golden details filled with ancient scrolls and paintings of soldiers and priests in armor and robes with a symbol of a golden sun with a white sword embedded in it. In one of the rooms of this church, an exceedingly luxurious room with a large gilded bed made of gold and a large painting of a middle-aged man holding a white and gold book to his chest, he wears a white robe with lots of gilt accents and is enveloped in golden light. A man with the same appearance is lying in bed, but his hair, which in the painting was blond with white streaks, has turned completely white, his body has become thinner compared to the painting, and his skin has gone pale like someone''s illness. In that same room, there were two teenagers in white clothes who were watching the unconscious man on the bed as they talked. "What happened to Archbishop Galaretto to make him look like this?" (Adolescent A) "I heard some rumors." (Adolescent B) "Two months ago it seems the Archbishop''s two trusted inquisitors disappeared, he somehow knew said first and spent two days locked in his room using secret magic to find them as soon as possible." (Adolescent B) "As expected of an Archbishop, so much concern and effort to find two inquisitors, your heart really is as bright as a sun." (Adolescent A) "It seems that while using his secret magic an evil being attacked him using that magic against him, since then he''s been unconscious like that." (Adolescent B) "Once while he historically starts screaming in his sleep but never wakes up." (Adolescent A) "You may not know as this happened before you came here, but I, who have been assigned to watch over Archbishop Galaretto''s condition since the day of the incident, have seen another Archbishop see his condition." (Adolescent B) "So the other Archbishop managed to find out why Archbishop Galaretto got like that?" (Adolescent A) "I heard him talking to himself while thinking, he said that somehow Archbishop Galaretto was hurt mentally and in the soul that''s why he hasn''t woken up in the last two months." (Adolescent B) "How is it possible to hurt someone''s soul?" (Adolescent A) "I don''t know either, but it must be someone very evil to do this to someone else." (Adolescent B) "Maybe it was a Demon who did this, I can only think of those evil beings who could do this." (Adolescent A) "I really can''t say, it looks like they''ll put a magic circle under Archbishop Galaretto''s bed to treat these wounds, as well as the potions we''re giving him every day." (Adolescent B) "The Archbishop didn''t deserve this, a man so devoted to the God of Light." (Adolescent A) The two teenagers were distracted talking that they won''t come to Thomas Galaretto to open his eyes slowly, they only noticed when Ts sat on the bed and put his hand on his face as he spoke nonsense words. "Strange eyes, chaos, chaos, so much bloodlust, he will come, hateful creature, how dare you, how dare you take my tools of justice from me." (Thomas Galaretto) "Archbishop Galaretto, you have finally woken up." (Adolescent B) "You quickly go and let the others know that the Archbishop is awake." (Adolescent B) "Yes I''m going." (Adolescent A) ------------- The same day Zenos was born into this world. In three churches belonging to three different Gods people with the Oracle ability spoke the same words, these words became the prophecy that warned of the arrival of a being who should not exist. Those who have received this prophecy are from the temples of the God of Law, the Goddess of Fate, and the God of War. Divine blood falls to the world. A soul crosses the borders of the worlds. From the Blood he comes to life. His presence shakes the order. His will destroys destinies. His existence destroys the balance. Its power corrupts the living. Let the world know that an unknown age begins. He who incarnates chaos lives. Chapter 123: Completing the missions part 2 While rica regained her Mana and I integrated my new level of meditating the rest of the group took Goblin''s ear as proof of subjugation, they also looked to see if any of them had a magical core, but unfortunately not. I took this time to open my status, it''s like I knew what to do to change jobs, I thought about changing jobs while looking at my status and the same window with available jobs showed me, I didn''t waste much time seeing if I had one. new job and chose the [ Apprentice Warrior ] job, I, unfortunately, found that when I changed the job all the EXP I had left after reaching the max level of the previous job was gone, I was at [ Apprentice Warrior ] level one and with no EXP at all. The others will keep looking around while I switched jobs, as we still have three missions I might be able to switch jobs twice more. They searched the camp but also didn''t find anything worthwhile, that''s when I saw Irius collecting something from the evolved Goblins and I got scared. "Irius what are you doing?" (I) "I''m collecting the evolved Goblin testicles." (Irius) "I didn''t know you had that kind of taste." (I) "That''s not funny Dad, the truth is that evolved Goblin testicles are an ingredient in a pill that increases a man''s fertility and virility during sex." (Irius) "I didn''t know that, I''ve never seen anyone sell it in the Adventurers'' Guild." (Diana) "That''s because the Guild doesn''t buy this stuff, you have to go to an Alchemist to sell it, you can get up to fifty silver coins per testicle." (Irius) "That''s a very high price for material taken from a Goblin." (Diana) "The virility pill is an expensive item, but it is always out of stock, many nobles buy it in quantity, there are also many other men who buy it, even if it is a Goblin material simply the demand is very high." (Irius) "My brother learned this because he saw an adventurer doing this on our travels and asked why now he always collects as he gives a good sum of money." (Irina) "(Even if a good sum of money I will never do that.)" (I) After rica fully recovered we resumed the mission, from what Kira said there is a small Kobold camp an hour away from here, so let''s go there, once again I use my detection skills to dodge the monsters on my way there. During the trip I asked Kira if she remembers their number, she said there were only twenty Kobolds and there was only one evolved. Diana said that we shouldn''t plan any surprise attack now but an attack from the front and coordinate during the attack, she said that I would have to give orders while I fight to train, it seems that this time it will be difficult. When we finally arrived I asked Kira and Byakko to just confirm that all the Kobolds were there, when she confirmed that everyone was there I started the attack. I first put everyone in the standard formation Diana suggested, with Irina and rica supporting them from behind, Irius defending them and the rest of us attacking in the vanguard. As soon as the Kobolds noticed us all gathered and started attacking, they are a little faster and more coordinated than the Goblins, I can see the evolved Kobold in their midst howling, he is bigger than the other Kobolds so it was easy to find him. As soon as they were close enough I started giving orders. "rica, I want you to build three walls of fire, one on each side and one behind them!" (I) "Yes Master." (rica) "Kira, I want you and Byakko to hide and kill the Kobold in the middle, the one that''s bigger than the others, the first opportunity that comes along!" (I) "Yes Master." (Kira) "Irina, I want you to use your speed-up magic on me and Diana!" (I) "I can only use one at a time Dad." (Irina) Before I finished giving the orders the Kobolds caught up with us, Diana cuts one-off that jumped on her and I jump somersaulting into the air and kicking a top-down heel into the head of a Kobold while shouting the other orders. "Irina use speed boost on Diana!" (I) "Diana run on the right side killing everything along the way trying to get to the leader!" (I) "Ibuki go with her!" (I) At this time rica''s walls of fire emerge from the ground on both sides and behind the Kobolds, the only way for them now is straight ahead where we are, I stay behind producing and controlling my lines to crawl on the ground while Diana attacks like a killing blur five Kobolds and everything in your way on the right side. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! The evolved Kobold howled and all the Kobolds started to go to the right side to attack Diana, at which point Ibuki finally got to Diana and started killing the nearby Kobolds. The evolved Kobold is only concentrated on the right side as Diana and Ibuki are killing there, so he hasn''t noticed what I''m doing, I take advantage of this moment of distraction and control my lines with all my speed to tie him up, it took me so far dragging my lines underneath unnoticed to be able to do this. "Kira now!" (I) At that moment Byakko launches a shock beam killing one of the two Kobolds near the evolved Kobold while Kira comes down from above stabbing the head of another and turning around quickly slitting the evolved Kobold''s throat. Wow! Wow! Wow! The Kobolds are lost for a while without a leader to coordinate them, I grab a sword in one hand and a dagger in the other and throw myself at them taking advantage of the chaos to kill them as quickly as possible. In the end, this battle took longer than the Goblins but we managed to kill everyone without getting hurt. Ding! Ding! [ You gained 42 EXP from killing Kobolds ]> . . <[ Party members gained 21 EXP for killing Kobolds for you ]> . . <[ You gained 46 EXP for killing Kobolds by party members ]> . . . [ You have leveled up ] . . . [ Your work has leveled up ] . . [ Your work has reached the maximum level ] This time it was very difficult, I didn''t have a lot of time to think, so I did everything in a hurry, I didn''t even know if this improvised plan was going to work, I was thinking as I spoke and even then I could only think about this plan because of the parallel thinking ability, I knew this skill would be useful during combat, another skill that helped me was group coordination. "You did very well master, but it was risky to send Ibuki to fight with me, I had to stop advancing so she wouldn''t be surrounded by the Kobolds." (Diana) "Taking Kira out of the fight to ambush the leader of the Kobolds was also a good idea, but it put pressure on the rest of the group." (Diana) "You also gave orders to Erica and Irina without knowing if they were able to do it, luckily rica did it but was unable to help the combat and Irina was not able to follow the orders, making you have to think of another idea." (Diana) "You don''t have to be so strict Diana." (Kira) "She''s right Kira, look how exhausted rica is from keeping those three walls of fire, this can be training but I need to think more calmly, I got agitated because I didn''t have time to plan and started giving orders without knowing if they were possible." (I) "You as the leader of the group must know our abilities to know what we are capable of doing or not, only then can you give orders with confidence." (Diana) "But I must say you were much better than I expected, I''m surprised." (Diana) "When my father passed this training on to me I wasn''t able to give any orders, I spent so much time analyzing the battlefield and the monsters that I didn''t have time to think of a plan." (Diana) "Even though some of your orders were hasty, you analyzed the battlefield and the enemy very well, left no escape route for them, and identified the enemy leader quickly, you also managed to attract the monster leader''s attention elsewhere. to arrest and kill him." (Diana) "(If she knew that I''m only good at strategizing because of games, what would she say?)" (I) I went to the leader and drank all his blood, Irina and Irius took some of the Kobold''s blood also in some bottles to take back, I didn''t take the Goblins blood because it tasted awful. Ding! <[ You have acquired the skill [ Leadership: 1 ] ]> This skill along with the group coordination and parallel thinking skills is going to be a great combination, I was praying the leader would have some leadership skills and he really did. After the fight Irina and rica started to meditate to recover, I took the opportunity once again to integrate the level I gained from the experience of that battle. After integrating my level I changed my job again to [ Apprentice Martial Artist ] this time. After finishing my meditation and changing jobs I helped the others pull out the Kobolds'' fangs, it looks like this is proof of subjugation and we guard the entire body of the evolved Kobold. After almost two hours Irina and rica were already recovered. "What''s the next monster we''ll go after?" (I) "There''s a cave thirty minutes from here that has about fifteen spiders, but Kira and I didn''t go in there." (Diana) "We''re not sure their number or if there are any evolved Spiders, so it could be dangerous." (Kira) "We can make Byakko go in there unseen to verify this, then we set traps at the entrance to the cave and have Byakko lure the spiders out." (I) "Do you want to use the big me as Spider Bait?" (Byakko) "Yes." (I) "Byakko you have to admit this is a good idea." (Kira) "Being monster bait is all you deserve Idiot Cat, hahahaha." (Diana) "What did you say you Wild dog?" (Byakko) "Who are you calling a Wild dog, idiot cat?" (Diana) "Stop fighting, you look like two children." (I) Kira and I kept trying to convince Byakko to agree to the plan as we went to the cave, it was already halfway through the day. Chapter 124: Completing missions part 3 We finally arrived at the Spider cave, we looked around but we didn''t see any Spiders, but we saw webs everywhere. "This time I''ll be able to plan before we fight, right Diana?" (I) "Yes, I just wanted to see how you would react having to improvise in the middle of the fight and I liked what I saw." (Diana) "As I said before, I want to let Byakko in there to confirm the number of spiders and to lure them out where I want to set a trap." (I) "I''ll spread my lines and then wait for them to come out to trap them all, rica do you have any explosive magic?" (I) "Yes, I do, it''s one of the spells I''ve trained the most in the last month." (rica) "That''s good, as soon as the spiders leave I will control my lines on the ground to tie the legs of the spiders, I want you to use your explosion on them in the meantime and the others will attack later killing the surviving spiders who will be confused and injured by the explosion." (I) "Sounds like a good plan, simple but efficient." (Kira) "You say that because you''re not the bait." (Byakko) "We''ve already talked about it." (Kira) "I know, I know, I''ll go in there and share my vision with you before I lure the spiders into the trap." (Byakko) "Exactly." (Kira) "Irina you will be ready to help anyone who needs it." (I) "Right." (Irina) I went to the entrance using one of my abilities to hide, I start producing lines all over the cave entrance, as soon as I''m done I go back to the others. "I''ve already prepared my part, now it''s your turn Byakko." (I) "Alright, I''m coming." (Byakko) I see Byakko enter the cave floating, soon Kira closes her eyes and concentrates, after a few minutes Kira starts talking. "I can see them, there are twenty Master Spiders." (Kira) "Among them, I see one that is bigger with purple stripes and one that is bigger than all of them, they must be evolved Spiders." (Kira) "Do you see anything else?" (I) "There are some cocoons of webs, other than that there is nothing else." (Kira) "I didn''t know about these two evolved Spiders." (Diana) "Since they have evolved Spiders they must have stronger venoms, we have to be careful." (rica) "I can cure you if you are poisoned." (Irina) We talked for a few minutes and decided to go with the initial plans, I told rica to aim her magical explosion at the evolved Spiders. "Kira, you can make Byakko show himself and throw a bolt of lightning at one of these evolved spiders, make him attract them to the entrance." (I) "Alright master." (Kira) A few seconds later I see a sudden flash of light coming from the dark cave, then I see Byakko floating out of the cave with a group of spiders behind him, as soon as they are all over my lines I control them to tie their legs. "Now rica!" (I) "" (rica) BOOMMM!!! A fireball comes out of rica''s magic circle that hits the biggest Spider, then an explosion that covers the entire cave entrance makes Byakko fly and hit a tree, after the explosion we see that the cave entrance has collapsed and there are pieces of spiders to all around, I use my life sense skill and find that all the spiders will die in the explosion. Ding! <[ You gained 35 EXP for killing enemies by party members ]> . . . <[ Your work has leveled up ]> "..." (I) "..." (all) Against all my expectations and plans, Kira''s explosive attack killed all the spiders, I as well as the others were looking at her without knowing what to say, I looked back at rica and realized she was in her true form. "But what just happened?" (I) "When did you return to your demonic form rica?" (I) "I''m sorry master, remember I said I always needed to keep my transformation magic activated and that I was weaker in human form?" (rica) "Yes." (I) "After two battles I was a little tired mentally, while I was casting the explosion spell I ended up losing control of the transformation spell and I went back to my demonic form, it made my powers and stat increase causing me to lose control of the level of power of the magic he was casting." (rica) "Because of this I spent almost all my mana on this explosive magic, I will need to recover now." (rica) "At least we''ve completed the mission." (I) "At least nobody got hurt." (Diana) "I hurt you idiot dog." (Byakko) "Let me correct myself for what I said, no one who cares got hurt." (Diana) "You damned Wild Dog." (Byakko) "Please stop you two, I don''t want to listen to your childish fights anymore." (Kira) rica sat down to rest and recover from her Mana again, meanwhile, the others and I went to get the proof of subjugation, which are the tweezers in her mouth. "What are we going to do now Dad?" (Irius) "What do you mean?" (I) "Even when rica recovers she still won''t be able to be casting medium level spells, if she pushes herself what happened to the spiders could happen to us by accident." (Irius) "I agree with my brother, I think we can leave to kill the Blood Wolves tomorrow." (Irina) What the brothers said is true, I can leave to complete the mission of the Wolves tomorrow, but before that let me confirm some information with Diana. "Do you know where the Blood Wolves are and how many they are?" (I) "They are two hours from where we are and their numbers are forty or so." (Kira) "With one less person and facing a large number of Blood Wolves like that, someone could get hurt." (Irius) "How many evolved Wolves do they have with them?" (I) "There were some last time we were there, but I didn''t count to know how many." (Kira) I have an idea running through my head but I don''t know how good a idea this is, I spent a few minutes doing some simulations using my parallel thinking skill and it looks like it''s going to work. "I have an idea how we can easily finish off these Blood Wolves." (I) "Are you sure to try?" (Diana) "Yes." (I) "You can tell us about your plan along the way then." (Diana) "Then let''s go there." (I) Kira who best remembered the path led us there, on the way I told everyone about my plan, this time the main attackers will be me and Irina, I''ll leave it to the others to kill the remaining Wolves. After we arrived we had to wait for them to come back, I took this time to improve our plan as best I could, in the end, I spread a lot of my lines around to prepare for when the Wolves come back. --------- When it was already past mid-afternoon I felt the Wolves returning and told everyone to get ready. I must say I was a little freaked out when I saw so many Blood Wolves, knowing their numbers is one thing, but seeing them up close is completely different. "Are you ready Irina?" (I) "Yes, it will be my first time using this skill on this scale, all I''ve done before was a few tests to see how it worked." (Irina) "All you need to do is activate this ability, so don''t be afraid." (I) "I''ll do my best Dad." (Irina) "On my signal you attack, so the others take care of the rest." (I) Irina and I were alone watching the Wolves from a tree, the others were hiding in the bushes around where we planned to ambush the Blood Wolves. "Now Irina!" (I) "" (Irina) As soon as they are passing the place where my magic lines are I control them all to catch on their paws, Irina waves both hands creating the same magic circle in each hand, and from them come glowing chains that catch on ten Blood Wolves, I managed to trap twenty-three Wolves with my magic lines. Sssssssss! Grrr! Auuuu! Grrrr! Soon the Blood Wolves that Irina and I have trapped begin to make noises of suffering if you look carefully to see that some have already started to fall to the ground howling in pain. The truth is that Irina and I have the Corrosion Skill activated, I gave this skill when I turned her, this skill gives corrosive properties to mana and as my lines and Irina''s magic use mana we activate the skill to kill or severely injure as many Blood Wolves as possible. Meanwhile, the others who were in hiding took advantage of the Wolves'' momentary confusion to attack those who were not captured by either me or Irina. As planned the battle didn''t last long, it looks like two evolved Wolves were captured by my lines and a third one escaped me and Irina, but ended up being killed by Diana, Irius managed to kill five Wolves with an ability that cast a Blade of Light flying in the Wolves. Ding! Ding! [ You gained 195 EXP when killing enemies ]> . . <[ Party members gained 96 EXP for killing enemies for you ]> . . <[ You gained 76 EXP for killing enemies by party members ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Magic Line Production: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Control and Line Manipulation: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Corrosion: 3 > 4 ] ]> . . . [ You have leveled up ] . . . [ Your work has leveled up ] . . [ Your work has reached the maximum level ] Chapter 125: Quest Completion Ding! Ding! [ You gained 195 EXP when killing enemies ]> . . <[ Party members gained 96 EXP for killing enemies for you ]> . . <[ You gained 76 EXP for killing enemies by party members ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Magic Line Production: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Control and Line Manipulation: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Corrosion: 3 > 4 ] ]> . . . [ You have leveled up ] . . . [ Your work has leveled up ] . . [ Your work has reached the maximum level ] After killing all the Blood Wolves Irina and I are both tired, the corrosion skill seems to waste mana for as long as it''s activated and for the activation scale, so Irina and I are almost out of mana now, I let the others take care of it. collect evidence of subjugation and look for magic cores while we meditate. After my meditation and integration of my new level, I switched my job again, this time I chose [Apprentice Hunter]. After changing my job and regaining my mana I will help others by collecting the materials that can be collected from the Blood Wolves. "Master was amazing, master killed many Wolves at once." (Ibuki) "Ibuki is right master, you were amazing, you were amazing to Irina, I''ve never heard of a white mage who can kill monsters on his own." (rica) "My skill is still weaker than Dad''s, but I must say it''s going to be a pretty versatile skill depending on how I use it." (Irina) "How did you manage to kill so many Blood Wolves, Father?" (Irius) "At first I just wanted to paralyze them by doing damage to their paws, but when they started to fall I controlled my lines to cover more of them." (I) We continued talking as we worked, after we got everything we needed I cut up several pieces of meat to take with us. I started drinking all the blood from the corpses. Ding! <[ You have acquired the bloodline [ Blood Wolf: 100% ] ]> Unfortunately, I didn''t gain any skill from these Blood Wolves, maybe that''s because I already have the skill they should have. Now with my barrel full I and the others are leaving, it looks like Irina and Irius also drank the Wolves'' blood at the same time they will also fill more bottles with blood to take back. ------------ When we reached the town of Valen it had just gotten dark, the soldiers let us in with ease after checking our Adventurers Guild cards. We''re going straight to the Guild to deliver these quests, according to Diana we''ve killed a lot more monsters than was necessary, so our reward should be good. We arrived at the counter and saw Mari this time there. "So how were the missions you guys did, how many have you completed?" (Mari) "We just got back from the forest, we''ve completed all four missions." (I) "Four missions in two days, you were faster than I expected." (Mari) Mari looks at each of us intently with serious eyes. "Looks like it was an easy fight as there are hardly any marks on their clothes, as their weapons show that the swords and daggers were used by the traces of blood on them." (Mari) "Detailed as always." (Diana) "The details are what matters most in my job." (Mari) "Let me get another employee to take my place at the counter, then let''s go upstairs to confirm the subjugation evidence and the materials they must have collected from the monsters." (Mari) "Alright, let''s wait." (I) While waiting I decided to take a look at my status to see how it is now. <[ NAME: Zenos RACE: Twilight Vampire (Unique) GENRE: Man LEVEL: 6/50 EXP: 39/136 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Twilight Vampire (Zenos): Original ] [ Horned Rabbit: 100% ] [ Flaming Snake: 15% ] [ Little Spider: 17% ] [ Gray Wolf: 100% ] [ Kobold: 100 % ] [ Human: 100% ] [ Dwarf: 14% ] [ Tiger Beast: 17% ] [ Vampire Bat: 100% ] [ Earth Monkey: 100% ] [ Blood Wolf: 100% ] WORK: [ Apprentice Hunter ] WORK LEVEL: 1/10 WORK EXP: 0/25 WORK HISTORY: [ Apprentice Wizard: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Warrior: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Martial Artist: 10/10] HP: 122/122 MP: 131/196 Ki: 122/142 Strength: 126 (+38) Dexterity: 102 (+30) Agility: 113 (+30) Defense: 86 (+25) Intelligence: 175 (+25) Magic Defense: 116 (+25) Charm: 200 (+1550) Luck: -50 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: ? [ ? ] [ ?? ] [ World Transgressor ] [ Last of his kind ] [ First of his kind ] [ He who brings chaos ] [ Named Monster ] [ Unique Monster ] [ True Master ] [ Founder of Chaos Fist ] [ Novice Mage ] [ Goblin Chief ] [ Novice Adventurer ] [ Literate ] [ Thief ] [ Kidnapper ] [ Goblin Killer ] [ Friend of Spirits ] [ Founder Blade of Chaos Technique ] [ Child of Blood ] [ Walker of the Day ] [ Patriarch (Vampires of the Twilight) ] [ Shadow Eclipse group leader ] ]> My status has increased a bit, I also managed to take almost all the apprentice level jobs that I could choose, I think I''ll take the apprentice thief before starting the novice level jobs. I must admit that before I thought the title [ World Transgressor ] useless, its effect multiplies the work experience I gain by five, a pity it''s only for the level of work, but let''s not be greedy, that alone is amazing and thanks to the effect of this title I will get jobs faster than others and that will help me get stronger faster than other people. But what I most want now is to kill as many monsters as possible to see if I can grow in my next evolution, I don''t accept looking so childish. Now that we''re back in town I wanted to see what other jobs are available to me but I couldn''t, it seems I can only see jobs when it''s time to change jobs. "I''m sorry I''m late, let''s go up to the second floor now." (Mari) We all followed Mari to one of the rooms on the second floor. "I need your cards, I''ll also need to see the subjugation evidence." (Mari) "Here it is." (Diana) "..." (Mari) When Mari asks to see the subjugation evidence Diana takes the storage item where we were keeping the subjugation evidence and dumps it on the iron table. Mari is surprised at first, but soon starts looking at each one, after a while she makes some notes before talking to us again. "As far as I can verify all the evidence of subjugation is true." (Mari) "From what I could see you guys are pretty strong to hunt so many monsters in just two days, before I go get your rewards I want to know if there''s anything else you guys want?" (Mari) "Yes, we have some monster parts to sell." (I) "You can put it on the table then, I''ll evaluate." (Mari) Everyone dumps various things like magic cores or monster parts, it only takes a little more than twenty minutes to check all the stuff we''ve brought "The quests will yield a gold coin in total for having exceeded the number of monsters for the repeatable quest, but if you want we can pay in silver coins." (Mari) "It could be in gold coin." (I) "And the rest of the stuff will yield you seven hundred silver coins." (Mari) "This time we got more than I thought." (Irius) "I will record your quests as completed now and I will take your reward." (Mari) Mari leaves the room and in a few minutes returns returning our cards and puts a leather bag with the money in it on the table along with the cards, each one takes their own card and I take my card and money bag. Ding! <[ You have acquired the Title [ Grade -C Adventurer ] ]> "You did very well on your missions congratulations." (Mari) "I wish I had more time to talk to all of you, but we''re understaffed today so if you don''t need anything else I have to go." (Mari) "You work too hard, you should get some rest." (Diana) "I appreciate your concern, but I''m fine, that''s the job I chose to do." (Mari) "We don''t need anything else, thanks Mari." (I) With our affairs closed in the Guild, I''m going back with the others to the mansion, I''m really looking forward to throwing myself in those thermal waters to relax a little bit. I was surprised to receive this title at that time, on the way to the mansion I asked and Diana explained to me that this title will not appear just because I am registered as an adventurer, I need to complete a Guild quest and receive the reward to receive the title. When we arrived at the mansion we were welcomed by Nolan and Caryna who were cleaning the windows. I let the girls go shower upfront, then I get in the shower just me and Irius, then I saw Irina handing out the bottles of blood to Alice and Nolan. After all this we all sat at the table and started to eat, this food was amazing, as soon as we finished eating I thank Freya and then I go to my room to sleep.After all that we all sat at the table and started to eat, this food that Caryna and Freya made was amazing, during the meal we were talking about the missions we completed, Sophia and Leo were very interested in the way we did the ambushes, Freya seemed more Interested in the way I killed the Blood Wolves, she said she had never heard of the corrosion skill, I said that tomorrow I would explain how I got this skill since the day was exhausting for my mind, so we finished eating I appreciate it. to Freya and then I go to my room to sleep. Chapter 126: The busy Guild Master Pov Carlos: In Duke Valen''s mansion. This new Undead Dungeon has only been causing me problems since it appeared, because of it good adventurers died in that special quest, after that I had to take care of a mountain of paperwork about the results of the special quest and the appearance of this Dungeon of the Dead- alive. I had to post exploration quests for this new dungeon as we don''t know anything about it, I even had to offer rewards for this dungeon''s maps, aside from all these problems I still have to meet with the Duke twice a week to let that he knows everything we''re finding out about this dungeon, it''s a rule of the Adventurers'' Guild that the decision to destroy or keep a dungeon near a city depends on its ruler, because of that even the Duke is having to face the same mountain of documents than me, but unlike me, he''s used to it. Today is another one of those meetings, I''m already in the Duke''s office waiting for him to come back from a meeting with a foreign Prince who has been in this city, it seems like something happened but I''ve been so busy I haven''t even had time to drink my beer, maybe I ask Lucas how much time I have after all it''s his job to know things. When I retired from being an adventurer to have a peaceful life with my dear Mari I only agreed to become a Guild Master to stop being pestered by requests from nobles to work for them, but if I only knew that life struggles and An adventurer''s death would be replaced by endless struggles against mountains of documents. Sigh At the moment of my sigh the office doors open and a man with graying brown hair and a dignified serious face enters, he is dressed chic but at the same time discreet, on his face, I can see the dark circles under his eyes. eyes caused by overwork. "Already sighing so early in the morning, Carlos?" (Duke Valen) "The fatigue of facing this mountain of documents is different from the fatigue I''m used to Duke." (I) "But from his face, it looks like I''m not the only one in trouble with my job." (I) "I would say you''re right, a few days ago something serious happened, now in addition to the Dungeon of the Undead I also have to deal with a problem between Realms." (Duke Valen) "I guess I can''t complain about not having time to drink beer in front of you, can I?" (I) "It''s always a pleasure to talk to you Carlos, as not many dares to chat so casually with me, but as you can see from my face I still have a lot of work to do so I''ll try to finish early today." (Duke Valen) "It''s fine by me." (I) The Duke sits behind his desk, where it''s almost hidden by the mountain of paper I''ve brought, he pushes the papers aside so we can talk. "Let''s start with a report on what we''ve found so far." (Duke) "So far I have permitted the best Grade B and A groups to explore the new Dungeon, as they are being cautious about not knowing what they will find, it was only possible to explore up to the eighth floor." (I) "They found traps from the fifth floor of the Dungeon, as we hope all monsters are of the Undead type." (I) "If all goes well the first group should meet with the tenth-floor boss later this week, the intermediate boss has been confirmed as a Skeleton Knight." (I) "So far we''ve only been able to fully map the first three floors." (I) "Does Dungeon have any kind of resources that can be exploited?" (Duke Valen) "So far we haven''t found anything." (I) "How dangerous is this dungeon?" (Duke Valen) "Until we face the head of the tenth floor I dare not assume." (I) "You still think it''s better to destroy the dungeon, don''t you?" (Duke Valen) "If it wasn''t a Guild rule, I would have gone to explore and destroy that dungeon myself, but as it''s close to town, it''s your decision." (I) "But I must remind you that we already have two Grade S Dungeons in this town, it''s very dangerous to have another one, the problem only gets bigger when it comes to an Undead Dungeon." (I) "I know that, if it was up to me I would also destroy this dungeon, but many nobles are being greedy and think that this new dungeon is an opportunity to further increase their wealth." (Duke Valen) "Your reports showing that there''s nothing worth the risk is what I need to get them to stop bothering me." (Duke Valen) "Why do things have to be so complicated?" (I) "That''s the difficulty of being a Noble, you''ve done well to refuse to become one in the past, but my family has a duty to protect this town for generations, so all I can do is put up with these greedy nobles." (Duke Valen) The Duke and I spent a few more hours talking about the Dungeon, when it was mid-afternoon I returned to the Guild, as soon as I entered my office on the top floor I found my lovely wife placing another stack of paper on my desk. "Why do you have to do this, just Burn this paper." (I) "You know this is your job, these are the new Dungeon reports, the registration documents for new adventurers, and this month''s expense report." (Mari) "All this needs your signature." (Mari) I go behind my desk disheartened knowing that maybe this is another sleepless night, I sit down and look at my wife, I know she''s just as tired as I am. Sigh "When do you think all this work will end?" (I) "Some things have happened unexpectedly, but soon it will be easier, it shouldn''t take long for this dungeon to be marked for destruction, so there will be fewer documents to sign." (Mari) "I''ve been having so much trouble over this dungeon that I don''t even know what''s been going on in the Guild these days." (I) "Speaking of which, I forgot to talk to you about something." (Mari) "Which?" (I) "Remember I told you Diana had joined a new Group." (Mari) "I remember." (I) "They came here the other day to register with the Guild, Diana said they''ve already moved to the Trigan mansion, one of the Guild employees who passed by on their way back from a nobleman''s house said they changed the name of the mansion." (Mari) "The name doesn''t matter to me, tell me more about Diana''s Group, is she happy?" (I) "Her group is quite varied, besides the Gray Elf I told you about earlier, there''s a Human, two Dhampiros, an Oni, and the leader of the Group." (Mari) "You didn''t speak his race." (I) "To be honest, I don''t know his race, before I thought it might be a Dhampir too, but none of his eyes were red, he didn''t have horns either, so he wasn''t a Demon, he didn''t have animal characteristics either, so he wasn''t a Beast man." (Mari) "Looks like you couldn''t even see through it." (I) "I was curious I admit, but it wasn''t because of his race, he did well on all the survival questions." (Mari) "This is new." (I) The survival questions are divided into two parts, the first part has questions about how to survive in different environments and the second part has questions about how to survive monsters with strange powers, they are not questions that can be answered by reading books. These questions are to know how the adventurer will do in adverse situations, an adventurer, at least one of the good ones, will face situations that other people are not even capable of imagining, being an adventurer is the most dangerous, exciting, and unpredictable profession of all. When something abnormal, strange or dangerous happens anywhere in the world, adventurers are called, so it is mandatory for someone who wants to become an adventurer to answer at least one question from each of the two parts, why not this person will survive a long time. Everyone thinks that being strong is all it takes to be an adventurer, people who have this thought are the ones who die most, the most important thing for an adventurer is the ability to survive. "After they left I saw their answers, I''m with them here see." (Mari) I take the sheets from Mari''s hand and start reading, I was surprised, he was very detailed with his answers, the way he said he would defeat the monsters took into account even the environment they are in, besides that he presented good ways to survive in different environments, it''s as if he''s seen and lived in all these environments in some way. "How old was this man, from your answers I can guess he traveled a lot, didn''t you?" (I) "..." (Mari) When I ask how old he is, I see Mari make a strange face. "Why that face? Is there something wrong with your age?" (I) "The problem is that I can''t identify his age, he looks like a child with one golden eye and one black eye, but his way of acting and speaking is someone older." (Mari) "I talked to him and he was very friendly and easy to talk to, he was also calm, I walked him to the job change room and he took a while there." (Mari) "So he must have a lot of jobs." (I) "That''s what I thought too, their mock fight was against a Grade B adventurer, I called Jonas for that." (Mari) "Why did you do that?" (I) "I wanted to see their strength." (Mari) "Jonas started talking a lot of shit to the boy, it seems his looks are a sensitive issue for him, he''s pissed off enough to lose control of his Aura for a second letting it float out of his body." (Mari) "I''ve never felt anything like this, it''s like thousands of different Auras crammed together, it was bizarre and chaotic, but somehow there was Armenian in that chaos and he managed to control that Aura, Jonas instinctively put himself into battle mode." (Mari) "This is for him to learn not to judge people by their appearance." (I) "I''m curious, how were the mock fights?" (I) "Except for the Oni girl everyone else did very well, their leader doesn''t seem to have much experience fighting other people, but his moves felt like some kind of martial art." (Mari) "Notice anything else?" (I) "They all looked like they weren''t giving it they are all in combat." (Mari) "It means they''re smart, the more mystery an adventurer has the more secure he will be, so no adventurer talks about their jobs, titles, and skills to anyone outside their group." (I) "You still haven''t told me his name." (I) "His name is Zenos." (Mari) Chapter 127: Leo Story The next day I wake up and after cleaning my teeth I go to the kitchen, I must admit I''m becoming dependent on Caryna and Freya''s food, before I came to this world I spent years in a hospital without being able to eat solid food, even before to be hospitalized I had to follow a strict menu that the nutritionist had given me. Because of that, I spent my days without eating anything that tasted the least bit good, now that I''m in this world with a healthy body and I have two such high-level cooks, there''s no way I can abandon this lifestyle. As I was approaching the kitchen I start to smell delicious food, my stomach starts to growl and saliva starts to fill my mouth. "What a wonderful smell." (Diana) "Ibuki is hungry, I have to run to be the first to eat." (Ibuki) I hear two hungry women talking behind me, but I continue my way to the kitchen where I find Caryna, Freya, and Alice preparing the food. "Good morning Master." (Freya) "The master got up earlier than we thought." (Caryna) "Good day sir." (Alice) "Good morning everyone, is the food ready yet?" (I) "We''re still in the middle of the preparation, I''m taking the opportunity to teach Miss Alice a little about cooking." (Freya) "I''ve never seen so many ingredients in my life." (Alice) "You''ll get used to them in time." (Freya) "I see you''re trying hard Alice." (I) "Yes sir, I''m excited to start my training, so I''m going to learn cooking in the morning with Mrs. Freya and take care of the mansion''s chores for the rest of the day so I can have some mid-afternoon time to train." (Alice) "I like your enthusiasm I plan on taking the next few days before the auction to train with everyone, at this time I''ll call you." (I) "Thank you, sir." (Alice) While talking to Alice suddenly there is a gooey liquid on my head, I pull away and see that it was Diana, the liquid was the large amount of babysitter coming out of her mouth. "Look what you''ve done to me Diana, pay attention to the people below you." (I) "Sorry master, I got distracted by the smell of the food." (Diana) "Alright, I can understand what you''re talking about." (I) "This way you guys are talking about our food will end up making me red." (Freya) "You and Caryna are really good in the kitchen." (I) "Your food is very good Freya, if I could I would marry you to always eat this food." (Diana) "Actually I''m asking, marry me Freya?" (Diana) In the final sentence Diana becomes a blur and suddenly appears in front of Freya kneeling holding her hands, thanks to having spent a lot of time training with Diana I can already follow her speed with my eyes, but I was surprised when I realized that Freya could too. "I''m glad for your compliments Miss Diana, but I don''t share the same tastes as you, even though I must admit that you are very pretty." (Freya) "Rejected once again by a beautiful White Elf, I never need to worry about being rejected by men, why is it so hard with women?" (Diana) "I remember Leo said similar words to me once when he ate my food for the first time, I was so happy back then." (Caryna) "Don''t worry, you''ll find someone you like one day." (I) I reach over to pat Diana''s head as a consolation for her rejection, at which point she turns and throws herself at me. "The master is the only one who will not give me the opportunity to reject me." (Diana) "You remember what we discussed before right?" (I) "Yes, yes, I have to wait for the master to grow more, but I hope he''s still shorter than me." (Diana) "Most men are shorter than you." (I) "But they''re not cute like the master or Freya." (Diana) While we were talking about such nonsense in the kitchen no one noticed a hungry Ogra eating the food before it was ready, because of that it took even longer for us to eat as Caryna and Freya had to start cooking all over again. ------------ After everyone woke up and ate I gathered everyone at the training ground. I explained to everyone that we would do some training of two against two and three against three fights to get used to fighting together, I also said that tonight we will get together to talk about our skills, techniques, and magic, to be able to fight more together we have to know what everyone is capable of doing, just so I won''t make the same mistake of asking for something they can''t do during combat. After explaining all this I asked Alice to step forward. "Before we start training I want to know if you''ve already decided what you want to learn Alice?" (I) "Do you want to learn hand-to-hand combat or do you want to learn magic?" (I) "I want to learn magic sir." (Alice) "Very well then you will join me as we learn from rica and Irina." (I) "Thank you so much sir, I promise I won''t waste this opportunity." (Alice) "Before I start combat training I want Freya, Diana, Sophia, Leo, and Kira to go buy some weapons, try not to spend too much, I want to make sure you have enough money for the Black Market auction." (I) "I just need some iron protectors for my arms, wrists, and legs, also a combat suit." (Sophia) "I just need two axes." (Leo) "I and Diana are not going to need anything master." (Kira) "I know, you guys are going with us as they still don''t know the city well." (I) "The master is right, I know where all the best gun shops in town are, I''ll take you there." (Diana) "Why do I have to go to master Zenos?" (Freya) "You need to buy a new bow and some arrows, don''t you?" (I) "You mean I can train too?" (Freya) "Only if you want." (I) "Thank you, thank you, Master Zenos, it''s been so long since I last held a bow." (Freya) "It''s not that much, now go soon and try not to spend too much for now, if everything works out we''ll have a blacksmith around here soon, buy it just to practice during training." (I) While they were out shopping Caryna and Nolan went back inside the mansion to do their chores, Irius went off to sell the evolved Goblins testicles to some Alchemist and the rest of us started magic training. Irina kept teaching Alice the basics of the magical theory I already knew, while rica continued to teach me how I could build the magic circles faster by creating the geometric shapes separately one after the other and then merging them all into a magic circle. The day passed and by mid-afternoon, the others came back and started combat training, Irina was still teaching Alice how to meditate and feel the mana around her and within herself. I was already able to create the magic circle the way rica taught me, it really got easier that way, then she taught me how to use attack magic, it''s not enough just to imagine the form of the magic, I also have to imagine its effect and infusing these concepts into the magic circle while pouring my mana into it, that''s the way to control magic. The day turned tonight and we all entered, just as I said but soon I made everyone talk about their skills, techniques, jobs, and spells, then I explained to the new employees myself about my power to devour bloodlines and abilities since I had promised yesterday about it. Needless to say, everyone was surprised by this, at the insistence of Caryna and Alice who were curious about how I have this ability I talked about how I was born a leech and Evolved until I got here. Leo and Sophia looked at me with a greater glow of admiration. "Becoming so strong despite being born such a weak being, you really are one surprise after another master." (Sophia) "You have my respect master, I know how difficult it is to come from a humble place to build things with your own hands." (Leo) "In my case, I wasn''t as strong as you, instead of fighting those of equal strength or stronger I chose to intimidate those weaker than me." (Leo) "No matter the excuses of being poor or hungry, none of this will change the things I did when I was a bad guy, I only realized how wrong the things I did when I met my dear Caryna." (Leo) "She was the one who offered me a plate of food and approached me when I checked into the old man''s mansion, she and Mrs. Freya listened to my story and instead of judging me they showed me what I did wrong." (Leo) "My daughter and I just helped a new slave, master Zenos." (Freya) "I couldn''t see Leo alone all the time just because his appearance intimidated others a bit." (Caryna) "Maybe if I had done what the master did and looked for stronger opponents to fight, trained and tried harder, I wouldn''t have made so many mistakes in my life." (Leo) "If you think you''ve made a lot of mistakes then learn from them, now you have everything you need to become strong, don''t you?" (I) "Yes, I will make you proud master, I will show you to Caryna how strong I have become by knowing you." (Leo) "Dear!" (Caryna) Leo and Caryna hug, but I must say he was really lucky, from what Diana told me it''s normal to kill bad guys in this world if you can, for him to be defeated and let him live, not counting someone with a good heart to buy him, and in the end meeting and falling in love with a beautiful elf girl, this guy lives up to his high status of luck that I saw in his status when I bought him, makes me jealous of all that luck. After the meeting I went to the balcony of my room to meditate and train the various types of elemental kinship I have, I am also planning on ordering to use my various sense skills continuously over the next few days to train them. Chapter 128: Kiras secret guardian Pov Lucas: Lately, things are happening in a way I didn''t expect, at first, it started with Kira coming to me asking for information that led straight to noble traitors, then it was discovered that Kira was completely recovered from all her scars. I have a unique skill named Aura reading, this skill allows when my Aura comes in contact with another person I can sink it into the other person''s Aura and find out more about them, I can read their Aura to know their emotional state and theirs. Strength level easily, if I go deeper into my Aura I can even see information about the person''s status, but this skill doesn''t work with those who have stronger Auras or better control over their Auras. With this ability I realized that the great hatred and anger that was infecting Kira''s Aura completely disappeared, in its place all I felt was peace and happiness, to be sure I asked her, but the answer was what I expected, I didn''t I used my ability to find out more about her because I respect her as much as I respected her mother. I sometimes followed her to try to figure out why this big change and it was when I saw her without her mask that I was surprised, she was disguising herself as a White Elf but the item she was wearing was very low level and I could see her true way easily, that was when I saw her mother''s shadow over her, their appearances are very similar. I also saw that she was in contact with a well-known adventuress in the city and was even sharing a bed with her at an inn, I didn''t know about her tastes but I didn''t care. By her Aura I realized that she was stronger and when I went to investigate that adventurer I found that she was missing for months before returning with Kira, she also gave the heads of the companions who joined Kira, I never liked them but this intrigued me. As the days went by I started to find out about the purchase of the Trigan mansion, about an unknown group to which the two were part and it was not difficult to deduce what this group would do, as I imagined they got involved in a murder plan of a Prince, they even kidnapped the main killers. When this prince appeared in town with the traitorous nobles and told what happened, Duke Valen contacted me to hire me, he wanted me to investigate all this, when I heard everything that the third prince of Cartoza said I was surprised to imagine how it was the battle, the group that saved the prince thought of everything, they avoided even giving any information about themselves by covering their entire body, they also managed to capture the Church of Light Inquisitors known as faceless brothers very easily and robbed them all with Except for the prince not to take anything they shouldn''t, they''re smart. When I went to the battle scene to confirm things I just realized how prepared they were, there was no lead to follow, I suspected it was Kira and the supposed group she had joined but I had no proof so I didn''t tell the Duke. But I was still investigating the five noble traitors and the movements of the Church of Light, it was when I heard a strange rumor that an Archbishop of the church was attacked and was unconscious for days, I found it even stranger when I found out that the faceless brothers were directly over the orders of that Archbishop. It wasn''t hard for me to break into the Adventurers Guild when Carlos and Mari were far away, I got information about the members of Kira''s new group, when I saw how many different races were in this group I was surprised, when I watched them from afar I noticed something, those two brothers had the same measurements as the faceless brothers, but they were neither Human nor Dhampiro as it was written in the documents of the Adventurers Guild, I already met enough Vampires to recognize the Aura of one, but what surprised me the most it was still that they were walking in the sunlight quietly, but what scared me was the child in their group, he was weird and his Aura was the most bizarre thing I had ever seen. I don''t know what Kira is involved in but I will protect her, her mom saved me and trained me when I was an orphan, she was the first person to reach out to me and teach me everything I know, she was a famous Night Warrior. The biggest regret of my life was finding out too late that she had retired and gone to live in a Human Realm when I found out and went there all I saw was a village in ruins, I looked everywhere and that''s when I saw her grave, the pain, despair, sadness, and hatred I felt that day was something I will never forget. I looked for information about the village and found out about the pandemic, found out about the corrupt nobleman, found out that she had lost her leg and died from that pandemic, but what rescued me from the well of hatred and sadness I felt was finding out that she had a daughter, I couldn''t protect whoever gave me a new life but I would protect that girl no matter what. I looked for information about her and that''s when I found out that she was turned into a slave and the corrupt nobleman who had caused the downfall of that village had bought her, when I got to her it was too late, her scars, her hatred, and her loneliness overflowed with your Aura like an erupting volcano. I had the greedy son of the Noble kill his father to free her, I tried to give her room to see if she could recover and I tried to guide her to the town of Valen in Trigan''s Kingdom without her realizing it to keep an eye on her, but I only saw her let herself be consumed by her hatred, there was nothing she could do but gradually gain her trust. But then it all happened and for the first time I can see a smile on her face, I don''t know who that child is but I appreciate what she did for Kira, but I must confront him to try to find out what he thinks of her, I have to guarantee that this time she will be fine. ------------ Today I am going to one of the Black Market rooms, one of the receptionists wants to meet me, as soon as I enter the room I see the young woman with a fake smile on her face sitting on a sofa. I pity her, for the Black Market its employees are the same as its merchandise, they are not people but objects, they are slaves who are incapable of doing anything that goes against the Black Market. "Good night sir, please sit here." (receptionist) I sit down and use my skill on her, I can see fear, anxiety, loneliness, and despair in her aura. "I''m surprised you were able to contact me." (I) "Let me introduce myself, my Name is Nira." (Nira) "Then what do you want Miss Nira." (I) "I''ve heard rumors that you have a close relationship with a client of mine, the Storm Killer." (Nira) I narrow my eyes and release my bloodlust. "I think you better be careful with your next words." (I) "..." (Nira) I can see the girl''s hands and legs shaking, but she keeps her face calm and wearing that fake smile. "I don''t want to do anything bad to you or her, I just want you to send her a message from me." (Nira) "Why should I, what does a Black Market receptionist want?" (I) "There was a replacement supervisor from us receptionists, he''s getting rid of half of us to put others in place, I''m one that''s up for sale at the next auction because of my Item Rating skill." (Nira) "I feel sorry for you, but where do you want to go?" (I) "Of all the clients I''ve seen so far, she was the only one who treated me well, she didn''t look at me like I was an object, she didn''t look at me like garbage, she didn''t look at me with authority or look at me with lust. " (Nira) "She was the one who treated me like someone else, she came several times and I could see that she is very different from the rumors." (Nira) "I want to ask her for help, I want to ask her to buy me at auction, if she does I swear I will be loyal and do whatever she wants so please tell her that." (Nira) "And why do you have such confidence in her? She might not be what you think." (I) "I know the kind of people who are going to be at that auction, if I''m sold to a man I''ll be treated like a toy, or depending on who buys me I can be put to work to death." (Nira) "The only chance I have the slightest chance of having a less bad life is with her, so I''ll bet and try as this is my only chance, so I beg you, please just pass my words to her, consider it as the someone''s last wish." (Nira) Sigh As the conversation progressed her fake smile gave way to the face of a desperate girl and tears of the fear flow down her face, she even got to her knees in the last sentence, she did all this to convince and manipulate me, but her feelings are true. "I''ll get your message across to her, but that''s it, what happens next doesn''t interest me." (I) "Thanks, Thanks, Thanks." (Nira) I get up and leave, I feel sorry for her situation, but I can''t help every person in need and I don''t care, I only care for those close to me, anyone else is irrelevant, I''ll just do what she asked because her story is similar to Kira''s I have her life controlled by others, maybe she can be more of a friend of Kira''s, it would be nice to have someone shrewd and manipulative on her side, especially if that person owes her. Tonight I was already planning to go up to that mansion to talk face to face with that bizarre kid, I might as well talk to Kira after that. I take advantage of the darkness of night to move without making any noise, I enter the mansion''s grounds and see the child on a balcony on the top floor of the mansion looking up at the night sky, I move to appear behind him without making a single noise and I use all my abilities and magic items to hide my presence. If I suspect he''s cheating or using Kira, I''ll kill him. The child is calmly sitting without moving looking at the night sky, he is alone, this is the best time to confront him if I remember correctly his name was Zenos. "This is a beautiful starry sky, isn''t it my intruder friend?" (Zenos) "..." (I) Chapter 129: Kiras decision Pov Lucas: The child is calmly sitting without moving looking at the night sky, he is alone, this is the best time to confront him if I remember correctly his name was Zenos. "This is a beautiful starry sky, isn''t it my intruder friend?" (Zenos) "..." (I) "(How did he find me?)" (I) "I don''t know the reason for your visit, but to avoid attacking me from behind you must have come to talk, right?" (Zenos) Even from such a short distance I''m still not able to use my ability on him, for some reason when my Aura tries to get in touch with his it''s like it''s devoured and disappears, I''m not able to know his emotions, his strength level or view your status. I didn''t even realize that I was discovered before he spoke to me, without being able to read his emotions I can only judge by his tone of voice, face, and words to be able to find out something about him. "You must be the new adventurer named Zenos, right?" (I) "You must know that yes, after all, you took the trouble to break into this mansion." (Zenos) "You already know my name but I still don''t know yours." (Zenos) "You do not need to know." (I) "Since you don''t want to talk then why don''t you say why you came here?" (Zenos) "I want to know why someone like you is in this town, what do you want to do walking around in broad daylight with two Vampires?" (I) "I don''t know what you''re talking about, all I want is to live quietly, I don''t want any mess, I''m just going to be another adventurer together with my family." (Zenos) "You call the two Vampires family, so you''re a Vampire too?" (I) "All the people in this mansion are my family regardless of their race, this is the family I built in this world." (Zenos) He acts calmly, I thought he would try to use some form of magic to communicate with the others in the mansion, but I haven''t seen anything so far and even if he tried I''m blocking this whole area from most types of communication. All he does is sit cross-legged on this porch looking up at the night sky. Every time I ask a question he deviates from the central point of the question, he is not letting any information slip. "For someone who is wanting to live quietly, you made a big incident by getting into a crisis between Realms." (I) "I don''t care about any realm, never mind the realm, I just don''t want to be bothered by annoying things." (Zenos) "(It seems that the Duke and Prince Drago were right in supposing that his motive to leave the five nobles behind alive and to prevent the assassination was to avoid a war.)" (I) "(But none of them could answer because since they didn''t know who it was, I''m pretty sure it was this kid and his group but I don''t have proof, I don''t know if he knows I''m recording this conversation as he''s avoiding the questions.)" (I) I was starting to get frustrated, not being able to use my skill has already limited the main way I get information, but talking to him is even more frustrating as he doesn''t respond clearly, if it were anyone else I would have tied him up and taken him away. to a place where I could make him talk, but without knowing his true strength, his true identity is considering his relationship with Kira, I don''t dare do anything to him. "You call them all family, so what would you do if I held one of them hostage so you could answer my questions?" (I) "..." (Zenos) For a second his Aura floated from inside his body, that''s when I finally could see the cause of my frustrations, but the moment I saw that Aura I was shocked, that thing was bizarre, I couldn''t measure the strength of the Aura but it seemed to be me. judging before he controlled her back into his body. It wasn''t until I realized that while he was distracted by his Aura in that second he stopped looking at the sky and turned to me, his eyes were without any sparkle, it was like I was looking into an abyss, his face showed no emotion, but I could see through those eyes that he was ready to attack me in the slightest movement I made, at that moment I felt other Auras full of anger around me, one of them was Kira''s. I don''t know how but it looks like he managed to break through my magical communication block and warn his group without me realizing it. "I advise you to avoid playing these pranks again, after all, we don''t want to do something we''ll regret, don''t you Guild Master Assassins, Lucas?" (Zenos) Looks like Kira told him about me, she''s one of the few people who could recognize me even with a disguise. "I apologize for my comment, I just wanted to see how important this supposed family is to you, your reaction already gave me the answer I wanted." (I) "If you''ve got everything you wanted you''d better leave now." (Zenos) "I don''t know how you got in touch with your group, but I must say you guys need more training to hide and control your Auras." (I) "Before I leave I have a message for you Kira, your friend from the Black Market is going to be sold at the next auction and has asked you to buy her, whatever you decide to do is your business." (I) After saying this I use a short-range teleport to exit the mansion grounds and head back to the Assassin Guild happy knowing Kira is with people who care about her, as I haven''t gotten any concrete clues as to whether they were the ones who saved her. Prince Drago cannot tell this to the Duke. --------- Zenos Pov: I was just sitting there enjoying this beautiful starry sky when my sense of life skill felt a presence behind me, appeared out of nowhere so it must be none of the others. I''ve tried to stay calm so I don''t show the fear I''m feeling, meanwhile I have warned Kira and Diana through our connection as they are my Familiars, told them to gather the others and surround me and this person. Meanwhile, I tried to distract him with some conversation, he seems to have figured out the brothers are Vampires, he also found out about us saving the third prince of Cartoza. I was managing to act really well, I should have won an Oscar, but the truth is I used my body manipulation skills to lock the expression off my face and lock my vocal cords into a tone of voice so I don''t give in the fear I''m feeling for the accident. But the moment he threatened the others I almost screwed up all the acting he was doing out of being mysterious, I wanted to jump on him activating all my abilities just out of anger, but at that moment Kira contacted me through our connection. "(Calm down master, he is teasing him to get some reaction from you, don''t fall for his game.)" (Kira) "(If it wasn''t obvious that he''s strong I would have attacked him by now, but except for my sense of life, no other sensing skills are sensing him.)" (I) "(I''m not sure, but the way he talks and moves, not counting the stealth skills he''s showing here, I only know one person in town who can do that, the master of the Assassin Guild, his name is Lucas.)" (Kira) "(Is he an enemy or a friend in your opinion Kira?)" (I) "(He is probably recording this conversation with you, the Duke must be investigating the attempted murder of the third prince of Cartoza and hired him for it, as we left no evidence he came to try to extract a confession from you, master.)" (Kira ) "(I knew this could happen since it was with him that I bought the information from the suspected nobles, for him, we were the main suspects but he has no proof.)" (Kira) It was from him that Kira got the information from the suspected nobles, so he must have remembered that it was Kira who asked for this information, as she is in our group he came after me who is the leader. After confronting him showing that he knew his identity he left, but before he left he gave a message to Kira, it seems he knew the others were around, I did well not to fight him, if not me and everyone else we could have died. After he left I walked through the balcony door into my room and everyone gathered in my room. "I really didn''t like the way things turned out, I didn''t think anyone would know anything, it seems like I was naive." (I) "You don''t need to worry, his coming all the way here just to talk to you shows that he should have been recording the conversation and wanted you to admit it was us, it proves we didn''t leave any clues behind or he sure would have found it." (Kira) "He would never deliver information without proof to a client, it would ruin his reputation." (Kira) "I hope you''re right." (I) I threw myself on my bed and ran my hand over my face, that''s when I realized I was still with my face immobilized, so I got him and my vocal cords back to normal. "What friend from the Black Market was this he talked about before he left?" (Diana) "The only person I can think of is the Black Market receptionist who always attended me, her name and Nira." (Kira) "If she''s a receptionist, then why did he say she''s going to be sold at auction?" (Sophia) "On the Black Market everyone and everything is a resource that can be bought and sold, not to limits, she probably has some rare skill so they''re going to sell her at such an important auction instead of selling her normally." (Freya) "If that''s so, then why did she ask Kira to buy her and how did she get the Assassin Guild master to pass the message on to her?" (rica) "I understand her, I''ve dealt with the Black Market a lot in my thug days, she must be scared of who''s going to buy her as the types of people who participate in these auctions are not known to be good people, if she''s pretty it will become someone''s toy and if your ability is a rare one it will be placed in the position of a tool where you will spend the rest of your life using that ability for someone else." (Leo) "She asked for help for you Kira, so it''s up to her to decide whether you want me to buy her or not." (I) "..." (Kira) She was quiet with a worried face for a few minutes before Byakko stepped out of her hood in the back and pawed her in the face. "You still haven''t realized that if you''re having such a hard time deciding it means you want to help her, you idiot." (Byakko) "You''re right this time Byakko, thank you." (Kira) "I met her a few times, but enjoyed talking to her, but I always noticed her eyes, they are the same eyes full of loneliness and anger that I had when I was controlled by that corrupt Noble in the past." (Kira) "I want to buy her master, please help me." (Kira) "That''s all I need to hear, let''s buy her at auction then." (I) "Thanks, Master." (Kira) Chapter 130: Black Market Auction Begins After the Assassin Guild Master''s visit, last night the others and I were chatting for a while, this conversation helped everyone understand that the Duke is investigating Prince Drago de Cartoza''s attempted murder, at this point they should know by now that the extremist faction of the Church of Light is behind this, but none of this matters to me if they resolve these problems. Kira said we weren''t in any danger, she said if the Assassin Guild master really wanted to hurt us we''d all be dead, and considering the strength needed to take his job I agree with Kira, but for some reason, I felt there was more something he wanted, but I can''t say what it is. The conversation last night also served to decide what we would do with the Black Market receptionist''s request for help, I gave the responsibility for that decision to Kira who is the only one in our group who knows her, it seems Kira enjoyed the conversations she had. with her but they weren''t real friends, but the only thing that matters is that Kira asked me for help and I''m going to do my best for that. But I warned Kira that we''re not a charity, we''re going to help her and I''m going to give this receptionist the option to choose whether to join our group or work for us until she gets the money we spent on her if she doesn''t join. I''ll pay her a room at an inn and I''ll use her as an intermediary between us and the Trade Guild, without using my power on her there''s no way she can resist the miasma of this mansion. I was always thinking of finding a merchant to use as an intermediary to sell directly to the Trade Guild, I am looking to buy a Blacksmith, an Alchemist, and a Tailor in this illegal Auction, the initial reason was to have potions, clothes, and weapons manufactured at a cost much smaller for us, but over time I thought about selling some to the Commerce Guild. For us it will have almost no cost since the materials they will use will come directly from what we will find in our adventures so there will be no cost, course I will not leave her without receiving anything, she will have her salary as an intermediary. I may not just release her after I buy her, but I will give her everything she needs to get back on her own and if I see that she is competent I can continue to use her services after I release her as a contractor. I said all this during my conversation last night with everyone, Kira agreed with what she said and told me the receptionist''s name was Nira, she told me she was a good merchant and will try to convince her to join us in a good way. permanent. After that I told everyone to go to sleep, it was difficult to get Leo, Sophia, and Diana to go to sleep as they wanted to be on guard at night for fear of being attacked again, but I managed to convince them that this was a special case. This week was a week of intense training for me, all the time I was awake I was training in some way, that''s why I was using my sense skills when the intruder showed up last night. All this effort in my training over the past few days has not been wasted, this is the result. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Detect Weak Presence: 8 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Night Vision: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Life Sense: 1 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Seismic Sense: 1 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Sense mana: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Ki Sense: 3 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Affinity with Curse: 1 > 6 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low Wind Elemental Affinity: 1 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak elemental Affinity: 1 > 6 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Fire magic elemental affinity: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Earth magic elemental affinity: 1 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Water magic elemental affinity: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Light Elemental Affinity: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic non-elemental magic: 6 > 7 ] ]> . . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Detect Weak Presence: 10 ] > [ Detect Presence: 1 ] ]> I was happy to be able to increase the level of these skills, I even managed to evolve one, but it was a shame only to be able to train non-elemental magic, Erica and Irina keep saying that this skill is the basis of elemental magic since its essence is to control and shape mana in a spell, they said that training this way will give me a better foundation for when I''m learning elemental spells. With that I decided to spend the auction day without training, after so many days of training I''m mentally exhausted, I even woke up with a headache today, so tomorrow I''ll spend the whole day relaxing just like today. According to Kira the auction will only take place during the night, she can only take two people with her, one will be Sophia and the other will be Irius, if the three are together they will be able to help each other and if necessary I can also use my power through Kira as I did Diana during the battle against the Undead. The three of them will go to the auction and I''ll be watching everything through Kira''s eyes and ears, since I became a Vampire it''s been easier to share their senses. In this Auction, we only have four things we want which are a Blacksmith, an Alchemist, a Tailor, and Nira Kira''s friend, whatever is sold there I won''t care. I told them to be careful on the way back, I told them because it always happened in games, anime, novels, etc. Always the same scenario, someone participates in an auction and buys something that someone else wants and instead of competing in bids, one person waits for the other person to leave the auction place to kill and steal what they wanted. I may be being stupid to imagine that a situation like this will happen in real life, but I''m living like a Vampire who walks the light of day in another world, I don''t think I''m in a position to doubt anything anymore. ----------- Today will be auction day and we still have eighty crystal coins in hand, for the value that the girls taught me in what global coins have, the crystal coin is the most valuable, but this auction will be one that only happens once a year and what will be sold there will only be rare or illegal stuff, so prices should be above normal market value, I don''t know prices so far so I''m a little unsure, hope nothing happens to change my plans. It was mid-afternoon and I was lying in the shade of one of the trees in the mansion''s garden when Kira came walking up to me with Byakko sleeping in her arms. "Is the master still worried about me and the others going to this auction?" (Kira) "Yes, one of the reasons is that I don''t know what to expect, I don''t know what is being sold and I don''t want to draw attention to the kind of people who are at this Auction." (I) "I''ve already told you not to worry, security is guaranteed by the Black Market and everyone will be hiding their identities, there will be crime bosses, rich merchants, and nobles there, only someone idiot would try to do something without knowing who they''re dealing with. " (Kira) "You may be right, but you also forget that the world is full of idiots, so I want you to come straight back here after the auction." (I) "I gave you seventy-five Crystal Coins, but your limit is forty-five Crystal Coins, the remaining thirty is in case something unexpected comes up at the auction or the value of what we want is higher." (I) "That should be enough master." (Kira) Kira sat beside me and we talked for a while before going in for something to eat, then it got dark and the three came out fully armed and with ordinary clothes hiding their bodies completely and wearing masks, they are also wearing their concealment items and masks, too I told Kira not to wear her Storm Killer costume and mask so as not to draw unnecessary attention. After nightfall the three will leave the mansion for the auction, I follow their paths through what I''m seeing by sharing Kira''s senses. Soon I see Kira and the other two following the same path Kira said she used to go to the Black Market, I see them entering the secret passage of a dilapidated gun shop, just as they enter a luxurious square room with two sofas in the center. of the room facing each other. Upon entering they are faced with an Elf Man who looks more like a supermodel for his handsome appearance, but he is almost as tall as Diana, this Elf gets up from one of the sofas and leans over to Kira and the other two talking. "Let me introduce myself, my name is Jay, I will be your receptionist tonight, please follow me, I will take you to your rooms." (Receptionist) "I must state that the beginning of the annual Black Market Auction will soon take place." (Jay) Chapter 131: Auction part 1 Pov Kira: This White Elf named Jay has short light green hair, but his eyes are red, he for some reason doesn''t feel like an Elf. He guides us through a corridor with many rooms with numbers on the doors, when we arrive in a room with the number 29 he opens the door and points to her. "Before entering I must say that the room is isolated, so no magic or spiritual runic technique like communication and telepathy will have any effect." (Jay) "I ask if you''re with someone else''s Familiar leave it behind, you''re only allowed in if the familiar''s owner is among you." (Jay) "And I must ask you not to leave the room until I come to pick you up at the end of the auction." (Jay) "Now let me ask if this spirit hidden in your clothes belongs to one of you?" (Jay) "(He was able to notice Byakko even when he didn''t want to be seen, who is this man?)" (I) "He is my hired spirit." (I) "Then you can come in." (Jay) "There''s a crystal screen where you can see the auction on the wall and a Reading Crystal connected to our auctioneer''s Reading Crystal, you can use it to bid on auction items, the rules will be dictated by the auctioneer." (Jay) "I hope you enjoy the auction, now if you''ll excuse me." (Jay) After explaining to us the rules of the auction and how it''s going to work, this receptionist named Jay closes the door and leaves. "This Elf was strong, his strength was above mine." (Irius) "He is also well trained, there are no useless movements in the way he walks and moves." (Sophia) "Even as he guided us I could feel him watching us, he even noticed Byakko." (I) "Looks like none of you noticed his real nature." (Byakko) "What do you mean by that?" (I) "I''m even more surprised that Irius didn''t notice." (Byakko) "Did you discover something Byakko?" (Irius) "It''s hard to hide anything from such a magnificent spirit like me, even though he was trying hard for it I could still tell he was a Vampire." (Byakko) "..." (I/Irius/Sophia) "(So he was a Vampire, looks like what I imagined was right.)" (Zenos) "Master!?" (I) "I didn''t think I would be able to continue communicating with you as he said the room blocked any kind of communication." (I) "(But he still didn''t want to let in Third-party Relatives, did he?)" (Zenos) "Got it, so they can''t block the Familiar connection." (I) "Looks like you''re talking to Dad, right Kira?" (Irius) "Yes she is, I can hear him talking inside her head." (Byakko) "That''s good, so our plans remain the same, Father will choose who to buy." (Irius) "(Master what did you mean you already expected to have Vampires in the Black Market?)" (I) "(You may remember that Irina and Irius have already told us about the three factions of Vampires that exist.)" (Zenos) "(They said that one of these factions is on the Human side and lives in their cities hiding with criminal and clandestine organizations.)" (Zenos) "(If this is true, then it is safe to say that the Black Market has many Vampires working for them or the Vampires are the ones who really run the Black Market.)" (Zenos) "..." (I) "This is an interesting thing." (Byakko) "Did the master say something Kira?" (Sophia) "He said there''s a good possibility that there''s a lot of Vampires working with the Black Market or it''s the Vampires who are in charge of the Black Market." (I) "That might be true, at least it would explain how they hide so well in Human cities." (Irius) As we were talking about whether or not what the master said was true, I started looking around the room we were in. This room has a large reading crystal attached to one wall, in front of this crystal are three luxurious looking sofas and on one of these sofas there is a regular reading crystal which should be where we should write the auction bids, there is a table with various types of food in a corner and a shelf with many drinks on top of it with some glasses. "(It looks almost like a private movie theater.)" (Zenos) "What is cinema?" (I) "(It''s nothing, I was just thinking out loud, sorry.)" (Zenos) "..." (Kira) "[ Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you all to another annual Valen City Black Market Auction. ]" (female voice) Suddenly everyone stops talking when they hear a voice coming from somewhere, as soon as we look we see that the big crystal on the wall was showing images of a big stage lit on all sides with everything dark around, there was a beautiful woman from the tribe of Rabbits Man-Beast in a sexy outfit smiling in the middle of this stage and talking, she has long white hair flowing back and blue eyes, she was wearing a beautiful long red dress open at the sides of her legs and with big cleavage. "[ To all our guests today let me introduce myself, my name is Elsaris but you can call me Elsa and I will be the auctioneer for today. ]" (Elsa) "[ The receptionists must have already told everyone about the auction rules, so I won''t repeat them, now I''ll tell you how it will work to bid in the auction. ]" (Elsa) "[ All of you will have a reading crystal in your respective rooms, for each item in the auction I will stipulate the initial value of the item and how much will be the minimum value of the bids you can make, so pay attention to what I say at The moment an item is sold you immediately receive it in your rooms so don''t worry. ]" (Elsa) While auctioneer Elsa was explaining how the auction is going to work, the others and I stopped talking and all sat on the same sofa with me in the middle, I gave the reading crystal into Irius''s hands and Byakko lay on top of my legs. We were all now focused on the auction house. "[ As you all know by now, let''s start with the lowest value items and go up with each item, but today it will be different. I prepared for one of the items that should be auctioned off now to start this auction well, which do you think? ]" (Elsa) As she spoke two muscular Men came in carrying a large item with great effort and dropping it behind her, she takes the cloth covering the item with one hand preparing to pull it out. "[ They are curious to know what I have here, so I won''t keep you waiting. ]" (Elsa) Elsa pulled the cloth showing that the item was a large Halberd made entirely of metal, its handle was black as paint and its ax blade was large and white, it was visible that this weapon had gone through many battles as there were cuts all over his body, except for the blade, that weapon felt intimidating just looking at it. "[ This is the great war halberd of the famous general Ramires, this weapon was in his hands in a hundred wars, he never lost with it, this weapon was with him until the day of his death on the battlefield where he died standing holding your weapon by your side over a mountain of enemy soldiers. ]" (Elsa) "[ This weapon of war was forged in the hands of an Elder Dwarf and its blade is made of Adamantine, its hilt is made of damask steel, and it has three types of abilities, one of weight control, one of superhuman strength, and a break of armor. ]" (Elsa) "[ Three Crystal Cards were used to make this weapon so let''s start with a starting value of 5 Crystal Coins, the minimum bid value is 2000 Gold Coins, let the auction begin. ]" (Elsa) On the screen the initial value of this weapon appeared at the moment the auctioneer spoke and when the bids started this value was updating the value to the highest bid in real-time, I was impressed. "(What an interesting way to do an auction, it allows the participants not to see each other and not know who bought what.)" (Zenos) "So this is the weapon General Ramires was holding at the moment of his death, really worthy of him." (Irius) "Do you know about this weapon?" (Kira) "Yes, General Ramires is famous across the continent, he was called the last warrior because he was always at the front of his armies, but he was always the last to leave the battlefield." (Irius) "Their army consisted of a force of ten thousand elite men and they won many wars even though they were outnumbered most of the time, the neighboring Kingdoms became increasingly frightened by their strength and formed an alliance to annihilate this elite army, their combined armies were a number of one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers." (Irius) "General Ramires knew the enemy numbers and yet he fought once more like the tip of his army''s spear, in the end, Ramires'' army was killed, but all the enemy soldiers died too, the only one standing on that battlefield was General Ramires holding his Halberd in his hand atop a mountain made from the bodies of his enemies." (Irius) "I can''t believe it, this general was a monster." (I) "The truth is that he was already dead, he died in that position, they say it was a great effort to make him drop his weapon even after death." (Irius) "The Dark Elves know his name too, there are many who admire him as a Warrior." (Sophia) As we talked, the value of the weapon rose to twenty-eight crystal pieces before it was sold. Chapter 132: Auction part 2 Pov Kira: We were surprised to see the great War Halberd being sold for 28 Crystal Coins, that''s the equivalent of 280,000 Gold Coins, such an absurd value for a single weapon, it shows that those at this Auction have a lot of money. "A weapon of this value and power would be worthy of being called the national treasure of a small-level Kingdom." (Irius) "The question is how did this weapon get here?" (Sophia) "I don''t know, I never heard any rumors about this weapon after General Ramires died." (Irius) "To be sold illegally it must have probably been stolen." (I) We saw through the crystal on the wall that the two muscular men from before carried the Halberd offstage, then an extremely beautiful human woman took the stage pushing a cart with a box on top to the center of the stage. "[ Now that everyone is a little more excited, let''s go back to normal programming with the lowest value items to the highest value ones. ]" (Elsa) "[ But make no mistake, every item in this Auction is something rare or hard to find, so fight for what you want! ]" (Elsa) The auctioneer took the cloth that covered the box and pulled it out showing a beautiful, ornate wooden box, then she opened it to reveal a parchment inside. "[ This scroll contains a Grade S defense spell called "Spatial Isolation" and as the name implies belongs to the rare space element, a defense magic scroll of this element is very rare to find. ]" (Elsa) "[ You all know that it is very difficult to cross defenses of the space element, this parchment is a way of life for those who get it when their life is in danger, so I advise not to let this chance pass. ]" (Elsa) "[ Let''s start with an initial value of 180 gold coins, the minimum value of each bid must be from 20 gold coins, let the bidding begin! ]" (Elsa) "She''s right, space magic is very difficult to fight." (Sophia) "Why do you suddenly say that Sophia?" (I) "The truth is that it was a space element wizard that turned me into a slave, he was weak but I couldn''t get through the defenses of his magic and I ended up being unilaterally beaten by him to near-death state, you saw how I was ." (Sophia) "(Looks like I''m going to have to get some space element skill if we''re going to be safe when facing someone like that in the future.)" (Zenos) "It would be a good master, but don''t be in a hurry, as the auctioneer said before, this is a rare element, you don''t see people with this element very often, maybe in this whole city there may not even be three of them and that''s just because this city has two dungeons." (I) "(But it''s still good to have that sort of thing in mind, I''ll write it down so I don''t forget.)" (Zenos) "You worry too much." (I) "Is Father saying anything?" (Irius) "That plan freak is thinking about countermeasures against the space element, he''s too cautious." (Byakko) "I think the master is right, I have not been so cautious in the past, and look what happened." (Sophia) While we were talking they continued the auction, we were more and more impressed by the things that appeared like banned books, rare books, weapons, armor, potions, poisons, drugs, rare monster materials, etc. We were impressed by everything as I knew how hard these things were to find, Irius didn''t like seeing poisons and drugs being sold and complained how much suffering would come from these items after they left here. But there''s nothing we can do, even if stopping it now wouldn''t change anything, this kind of thing will always exist, it''s no use fighting every bad thing there is, it would be an endless and useless fight, all we can do is our best as far as we can reach with our hands, that''s what the master asked me to tell Irius to calm him down, and I really liked that way of thinking. The master told me that Irius seemed to have a great sense of right and wrong that he hid inside as he and his sister were required to do a lot of things when they were controlled by the control symbol, but now that they were free they are releasing their true personalities that they hid before. Sophia no longer cared about any of the things being sold, at least until the slaves started to be sold one by one. When slaves White Elves and Dark Elves were sold she was furious but knew there was nothing to do, it was no surprise to see women reaching a higher value than men and we knew what their fates would be. The master who always curiously commented on every item in the auction refrained from saying anything about the slaves, but I could sense his displeasure through our connection. It was at this time that something we had been waiting for finally appeared, a Dwarf with chains on his hands and legs walked to the center of the stage being escorted by a muscular man like all the slaves before him. "[ Now we have here an item of great value for everyone, this is a Dwarf with the rare metal element, he also has the works of Blacksmith and Warrior, he is someone of great talent both in combat and making weapons and armor, I don''t need to remind you how valuable a Dwarf Blacksmith who possesses the element of Metal is. ]" (Elsa) "[ Due to the rarity of such an item let''s start with a value of 2 crystal coins, each bid must be at least 1000 gold coins, let the bidding begin! ]" (Elsa) Finally what we were waiting for appeared. "(Wait until the bids go down a bit before you start bidding, be sure to bring him.)" (Zenos) "Yes Master." (I) "Irius get ready, the master said to wait for the bids to decrease a bit before placing bids, this was the person we were wanting not to lose him." (I) "All right." (Irius) When the value reached 10 Crystal Coins there were almost no more bids and that was when we entered the bidding war, luckily we were able to buy this Dwarf for a price of 12 Crystal Coins. "[ Congratulations to the lucky ones for this good purchase, now let''s take a short break of twenty minutes before restarting the auction. ]" (Elsa) "It came out a lot more expensive than I imagined." (I) "The Black Market deserves its reputation, the value was a little high but this Dwarf is worth every penny, he has the metal element, he has the Blacksmith''s work and he is a Dwarf whose entire culture of his race is built around the Forge ." (Irius) "(One of our objectives for this auction is fulfilled, two to go.)" (Zenos) Knock Knock While we were talking we heard a knock on the door before it opened and the Elf Vampire Jay who was the receptionist who accompanied us to this room came in along with the Dwarf who was just a few minutes appearing in the crystal wall, there was also a human woman wearing a mask along with them. "I''m here to bring the item you bought at auction, this is the current master of this slave and a slave trader who works for us, I would like to know who we can pass the slave to." (Jay) "(You can pass to Irius.)" (Zenos) "Pass it to him." (I) Following the master''s orders I point to Irius, he looked at me and nodded knowing who the orders came from, it doesn''t really matter who the slave goes to in the end. After performing the slave master exchange, the Human woman and receptionist Jay walk out the door and close it. Finally, we can see the Dwarf, he is five feet tall or so, but his body is too muscular for someone his height, he has big messy brown hair and beard and black eyes, it''s always hard to know the age of a Dwarf but as he doesn''t have any white hair he shouldn''t be too old. He''s been quiet so far but I can see the anger spilling out of his eyes. "You can speak freely while we''re alone in this room." (I) "..." (Dwarf) "I''ll avoid introducing ourselves until we get out of here, but could you tell us your name?" (I) "What good is it for me to say my name, even death would be better than this dishonor." (Dwarf) "Dwarves and your honor, you still haven''t realized how lucky you''ve been." (Sophia) "How can it be considered luck, to be used to make weapons for criminals until the end of my days and to be separated from what I love most in this world." (Dwarf) "(I think you''d better clarify things for this Dwarf, take the time to tell him everything we''ve talked about before.)" (Zenos) "(Okay master.)" (I) We take the break to explain the type of work we expect from him, how he will be rewarded for his work, how he will have a choice of permanently joining our group or being a contractor, and we even say we will pay him an inn. I don''t even need him to answer to know he didn''t believe a word we said, you can see in his eyes his doubt in us, but I can''t blame him, anyone, who heard what we''re promising a slave would think we are crazy. "I understand that someone in your situation is skeptical that someone strange and masked promises you all the terms of a normal job, but think about it please, you''re already our slave and we don''t need to lie to you." (I) "..." (Dwarf) Sigh "You''re right, not the reason you guys lie to me or spend so much time calmly convincing me in a situation like this, let me introduce myself, my name is Anton." (Anton) We were relieved to see that he understood us and believed what we said, at least until he knelt in front of us and lowered his head to the floor. "If everything you promised me is true I just have to thank you, it pains me to ask you more but I''m desperate, please I beg you to buy my wife too." (Anton) Chapter 133: Auction part 3 Pov Kira: "If everything you promised me is true I just have to thank you, it pains me to ask you more but I''m desperate, please I beg you to buy my wife too." (Anton) I had no reaction to his sudden request, I didn''t know he was married and by the way, he''s talking to understand that his wife is also at this Auction. "For your wife to be at this Auction she must also be considered very skilled or has some very rare skill, right?" (Sophia) "She is a very talented Tailor who has a lot of experience making combat outfits for wizards and adventurers, she also has a unique skill called Thread Manipulator which she received from the Craftsman Goddess''s blessing." (Anton) "Someone like that will be as disputed as you Anton." (Irius) "We are also looking for a Tailor so this is perfect, you two will be able to work together too." (I) "(That''s okay, isn''t it Master?)" (I) "(Yes, it looks like we are going to get good results with this auction.)" (Zenos) "Thank you, thank you so much, I won''t forget this." (Anton) "The auction is starting over." (Byakko) With Byakko''s warning, everyone turns their attention to the crystal on the wall where auctioneer Elsa was taking the stage again. We all went back to sit on the couches and I told Anton to sit down too. "[ The auction is starting again my dear participants. ]" (Elsa) While the auctioneer was giving notice of the resumption of the auction, one of the muscular men was bringing another female slave to the center stage behind the auctioneer. "[ To resume this auction I present to you this beautiful young woman, not only does she look beautiful, she has many resistance skills for poison, miasma, curse, and disease. ]" (Elsa) "[ She is also very polite and an excellent merchant, she also possesses the rare Item Rating skill. ]" (Elsa) "[ For such a high-quality item I will start with a minimum value of a crystal coin, the minimum value of each bid must be 1000 gold coins, let the bidding begin. ]" (Elsa) The moment she took the stage I could recognize her, but this time she didn''t have that perpetual smile on her face but a face that showed concern mixed with fear. "(Master this is Nira.)" (I) "(Then do as the previous time, wait until the bids decrease to start bidding.)" (Zenos) "(Thank you master.)" (I) "This is Nira, get ready to do the same thing we did with Anton." (I) "OK." (Irius) When the value reached 7 crystal coins the bids decreased and that was when Irius started bidding, in the end, we were able to buy it for a value of 9 crystal coins and 3000 gold coins. "Now you can calm down a bit, can''t you?" (Byakko) "You''re right, I was a little worried before." (I) We started chatting seeing other items being sold while we were waiting, after the second item was sold we heard a knock on the door again before the door was opened. Knock! Knock! "Why knock if you come in anyway?" (I) "The knock is to notify me of my arrival out of politeness, not a request to come in miss." (Jay) Again the receptionist Jay enters with the masked woman who is a slave trader and this time with Nira. "Who will be her new master." (Jay) "It will be me." (I) The auction kept going as I became Nira''s new master, I told the others to pay attention to the auction in case Anton''s wife showed up, after finishing the process to change ownership of the slave the receptionist and the masked woman leave the room closing the door behind them. I look at Nira and she looks very depressed, her face was expressionless like someone dead. "In the end, she didn''t come." (Nira) "Are you sure I didn''t come." (I) Understanding the meaning of my words Nira Looks at me in a hurry. "It can''t be you, this mask is different from yours." (Nira) "I got your message, now don''t say anything else, we''ll have time to talk when we get out of here." (I) "Fine, but at least let me thank you." (Nira) Nira hugs me tightly. "Thank you." (Nira) I told her to sit on a couch too and went back to where I was sitting before. "Nothing from your wife yet?" (I) "No, did she get sold before me?" (Anton) "We were seeing the auction from the beginning, if you mention any characteristics of your wife we ??will know if she has already been sold or not at least." (Sophia) "You''re right, I''m so anxious and so scared that something will happen to her that I''m not thinking straight." (Anton) "My wife is from the Runic race, her skin is white, she has blue hair, she has a rune on her forehead and she is 28 years old." (Anton) "I''ve been paying attention since the beginning and no one of the Runic race has appeared so far." (Irius) Sigh "Then I still have a chance of meeting her again." (Anton) "(What is the Runic race like?)" (Zenos) "(The Runic race has the same life expectancy as the Dwarves, their appearance is the same as Human with the difference of the runes on their bodies that split in two, the main rune is always visible and can appear anywhere on their bodies varying from person to person, minor runes other than major are invisible when not being used, minor runes represent a Runic''s magical or spiritual abilities, Runic usually have weak bodies but strong spiritual magic and techniques, but their race is very calm and peaceful usually choosing to pursue professions of scholars or artisans.)" (I) "(Thanks for the Kira explanation.)" (Zenos) After four more items being sold between them, a human sex slave finally turned up what we''d been hoping for. A slave climbs up accompanied by one of the muscular men and walks to the center of the stage behind the auctioneer, this woman has all the characteristics that Anton talked about. "It''s her, it''s her, my dear, I can''t believe I let this happen to you." (Anton) "[ Ladies and gentlemen, I have a rare item here for all of you, this slave is a Runic with talents in magic, she is also a Tailor with experience in making combat clothing and magical tunics, not only that but she also has a unique ability. which allows her to control lines giving her the ability to make better quality items than other Tailors. ]" (Elsa) "[ The best thing is that she has a Blessing of the Goddess of Craftsmen, she is also very beautiful, for all these qualities she will have a starting price of 3 Crystal Coins, each bid must have at least 2000 gold Coins. ]" (Elsa) "[ Let the bidding begin! ]" (Elsa) "Are we going to use the same strategy of waiting?" (Irius) "Yes." (I) As we have done so far we wait for the bids to decrease, as soon as the value reached 10 crystal coins the bids were decreasing until it almost stopped and that''s when we entered the bidding battle, we ended up being able to buy it for a value of 11 crystal coins. "I can''t believe I''ll be able to see her again." (Anton) Sniff Sniff "I thought I would spend my whole life not being able to see her again and not knowing what happened to her." (Anton) Sniff Sniff I can''t imagine the size of his anguish to make him who is a Dwarf cry like that, normally Dwarves don''t cry because they think it''s a sign of weakness, so I know he really was suffering absurdly for crying like that. "Don''t worry, she''ll be brought over soon and you can speak to her in person." (I) "Actually you better avoid talking or doing anything before the Black Market people leave." (Irius) "You''re right, we don''t want you to know how we''re treating our slaves, wait for them to leave before talking to your wife." (I) "(Tell Irius that he''s going to be Anton''s wife''s new master for now.)" (Zenos) "(Yes master.)" (I) "You''re going to become Anton''s wife''s master." (I) "No problem." (Irius) The auction continued but there was nothing else we wanted but the Alchemist so we stopped paying attention except for Byakko and Sophia who were still paying attention to the auction to let us know if any Alchemist showed up, all that appeared so far were refused by the master. Knock Knock Once again they knock on the door before entering, I stood in front of Anton so his face wouldn''t be seen by his wife yet, I warned him to control himself but I don''t know his wife''s reaction to seeing him. After the possession of Anton''s wife went to Irius and the Black Market people left I saw her reaction change from one of despondency to one of happiness as I walked away from Anton and she looked at him. The two walked towards each other with happy faces, but just as we thought they were going to hug, I just saw Anton get punched in the face by his wife, so he grabs her arm and throws her into a wall, I was going to try to grab she didn''t hit the wall but she somersaulted in the air and landed on her feet before reaching the wall. "You alcoholic maniac, how dare you to worry me, and what the hell was that up to sending me running and staying to fight alone?" (Anton''s wife) "You rude and rude wife, don''t you know how to appreciate your husband trying to protect you?" (Anton) While they complained to each other they ran to each other as if they were going to start fighting, Irius and I were going to try to stop them when someone put their hands on our shoulders. "Do not worry." (Nira) We were distracted by Nira''s actions and wasted the time to stop them, as the two were facing each other and I thought they were going to start fighting the wife threw herself into Anton''s arms who hugged her affectionately and they started to get together. kiss. "Don''t ever do that again, we promised to be together in good times and bad, didn''t we?" (Anton''s wife) "I''m sorry honey, I''m so happy to see you again." (Anton) "..." (I/Irius/Sophia) "(...)" (Zenos) Sigh "All I needed, two more strangers to the group." (Byakko) Chapter 134: Auction part 4 Kira Pov: After a while of hugging and kissing the awkward couple, she finally realizes that there are other people in the room beside them and they both get red-faced with embarrassment. "Sorry for showing you such a shameful scene." (Anton''s wife) "Where is my education, let me introduce myself I''m the beautiful and sweet wife of this drunken Dwarf, my name is Tania." (Tania) "Where is this beautiful sweet wife I never met?" (Anton) Anton''s careless comment is answered with a hard kick to the head by his wife that sends him slamming face-first into the ground. "How many times do I need to tell you so you don''t interrupt when other people are performing?" (Tania) I couldn''t stand to keep seeing this strange scene and I tried to clear up my doubts with Tania. "Why is your personality so different from when you came in here?" (I) "Aren''t you afraid of these three masked people who bought you and your husband?" (I) Tania has a confused look for a moment and looks back to her husband who just nods at her. "I was worried until I saw Anton''s smile as he walked towards me, this idiot would never act so relaxed and run to me the way he did if we were in a bad situation." (Tania) "Seeing how you haven''t interrupted my exciting meeting with my dear husband and how calm you are talking to me that I''m your slave in a normal way, I can assume you''re good people and I appreciate you buying me and my husband too." (Tania) "No need to thank us, that was a happy coincidence, we needed to buy a Blacksmith and a Tailor at this Auction." (I) "I must say your husband didn''t trust us that much when we bought him, we took a while explaining to him that we weren''t going to do him any harm." (Irius) "He was always very suspicious of people he doesn''t know especially now." (Tania) "But even without knowing that we needed a Tailor, he begged us to buy his wife." (Irius) "I am so grateful to you for allowing me and my husband to stay together." (Tania) "(Didn''t you say that the Runic race was calm and peaceful? Why don''t I see these qualities in them?)" (Zenos) "..." (I) After things calmed down I brought Nira and Tania together to explain what we had talked about with Anton earlier about how we want them to work, I also told the three slaves that they would have a choice to do after we got back. It was at this time that we heard a scream coming from inside this room. Ahhh! Ahhh! "So much pain, so much suffering, make it stop, make it stop!" (Byakko) I ran to Byakko who was still lying on the couch watching the auction, I picked him up and hugged him. "What happened Byakko, why are you like this?" (I) When I caught Byakko in my arms he calmed down and stopped screaming. "What did they do, why someone broke a Taboo." (Byakko) "What are these people doing selling this at auction?" (Byakko) "Is this about the auction?" (I) "See what they''re taking to the stage now, even your master was shaken and you didn''t notice." (Byakko) Was the master affected by something? My connection with the master was cut, what happened? How did I not notice this before? "Master! Master!" (I) I suddenly feel the connection between the master and me again. "Master, can you hear me?!" (I) "(Don''t worry about me Kira, I''m fine now, I was just caught off guard by that horrible scream.)" (Zenos) "(Byakko can you hear me too?)" (Zenos) "Yes I''m listening." (Byakko) "(What was that scream of agony?)" (Zenos) "(It''s like several voices screaming, crying and pleading all at the same time.)" (Zenos) "Someone broke a Fairy Taboo and this is the result, poor creature." (Byakko) "Watch the auction, they''ll soon show you what made that scream." (Byakko) Auction? Fairy Taboo? Shout? What they''re talking about I didn''t hear any screams, as well as everyone, went back to the couch and paid attention to the crystal on the wall that is showing the auction. I could see the auction stage just like before, but this time there was a cage half the height of the auctioneer on top of a very luxurious and ornate table, there was a shiny cloth covering the cage and the auctioneer is holding one end of the cloth. "[ Ladies and gentlemen, we have finally arrived at the last item of the annual Black Market auction and I hope you like what we have prepared to close this great event! ]" (Elsa) "[ This is not only an extremely rare item like other things we feature at this Auction, but this is also a unique item that may not reappear, so if interested parties let this chance pass they may never have an opportunity again, be warned. ] "(Elsa) "[ This is the result of a powerful Necromancer''s research while also being the reason for his death. ]" (Elsa) Auctioneer Elsa pulls out the cloth and shows the grotesque creature inside, as well as other smaller items that appeared in the auction before the crystal zooms in on this creature for a better look. What was inside the cage was a small bald humanoid being with five pairs of half-transparent insect wings of different colors, it had totally red eyes a deformed mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, it had four arms of different sizes and shapes moving around. different directions without stopping and he had mouths, eyes and sometimes faces that appeared and disappeared all over his body, his eyes dripped bloody tears without stopping and he seemed to be always trying to scream but no sound came out of his mouth, his skin was colored black as ink, the cage that was completely still before began to shake in all directions without stopping by the violent struggle of the creature that seemed to have no intelligence hitting its own body on the bars. "That scream is even more unbearable now that she''s taken off that damn cloth!" (Byakko) "Who would do something this despicable." (Byakko) "(This scream is killing me, it hurts so much just to hear it.)" (Zenos) "Please buy this creature, maybe your power can help her, if this continues her suffering will have no end." (Byakko) "(You''re sure it''s going to be safe, it looks like an unintelligent and extremely aggressive monster to me.)" (Zenos) "That cry of suffering shows that there''s still someone in there, I''m begging to save this fairy." (Byakko) "(Okay, do your best to buy this Fairy regardless of the price.)" (Zenos) "(I would be worse than a monster if I just stood there doing nothing after hearing a scream that carries so much suffering.)" (Zenos) Byakko was talking directly to the master that only he and I could hear in my head, they were talking about a scream but I and no one else in the room seemed to hear apart from Byakko and the master. His conversation was quick and the master told us to buy regardless of the price, at the same time the auctioneer, who was silent for a while, probably waiting for the auction participants to understand what we were seeing, spoke again. "[ Now that everyone has seen it and I''ve given you some time to appreciate this valuable item, let me explain more about it. ]" (Elsa) "[ For those who didn''t realize this is a Fairy, the Necromancer whose identity I don''t know besides imagining how powerful it was researching how to create a multi-elemental Fairy, I don''t know what process he used but our experts said that the traces of the bodies of five Fairies of different elements present in this specimen, not only that but it has been confirmed that the souls of the five Fairies are within this single body. ]" (Elsa) "[ Make no mistake about her appearance, this Fairy actually has the powers of five elements being the lightning element, the ice element, the fire element, the wood element, and the space element. ]" (Elsa) "[ The Necromancer who created it used rare and powerful elements to create it, this little creature ended up with two villages and an unknown number of people before being captured by one of our employees who was nearby, from the information we collected it seems that by breaking a Taboo the Necromancer was attacked by five Faerie Kings, there was nothing left of his body and by the warning that the Faeries left in the region after the battle the Necromancer''s soul was eradicated as punishment. ]" (Elsa) "[ I say this calmly because you don''t need to worry about breaking any Taboo by buying this beautiful specimen, you can use this Fairy for experiments or you can force a Family contract on her to control her because your race is listed as Kimera now, either what you want to do with this Fairy is undeniable it is high value so its initial value will be 20 crystal coins and the value of each bid must be at least 1 crystal coin. ]" (Elsa) "[ Let the bidding begin! ]" (Elsa) Once the bidding started, it wasn''t as fast as before, that''s a huge sum of money for anyone after all. "(Forget the old bidding strategy, there must be few people who would agree to participate in such an expensive bidding war, start bidding, you have my permission to use all the money you have if you need to.)" (Zenos) "We are allowed to spend all the money if you need to buy this Fairy, start bidding now!" (I) "All right." (Irius) The bids continued to increase to the value of 35 Crystal Coins, so it was just us and one other participant bidding. "Who is the idiot who dares to compete against the great Byakko for this Fairy?" (Byakko) "Be quiet now Byakko." (I) The other participant just stopped bidding with the value of 38 Crystal Coins, we made our last bid with 39 Crystal Coins, and luckily he didn''t keep bidding anymore. "[ Congratulations to the participant who got this magnificent specimen. ]" (Elsa) "[ With that we ended this year''s auction, I thank all the participants for being present today, I hope to see everyone here next year. ]" (Elsa) Chapter 135: Decision of each Pov Kira: We managed to buy that thing, but we''re almost out of money now, but I''m still in doubt about the conversation the master and Byakko were having, after we leave here I''ll ask the master or Byakko about it. "Are you sure Father gave permission for this?" (Irius) "Yes, it looks like Byakko and the master realized something we don''t know." (I) "We''ll talk about this later." (I) "The screaming stopped, finally stopped." (Byakko) "Are you okay Byakko?" (I) "Now I am, but it was unbearable to hear that scream." (Byakko) "Why couldn''t anyone else hear?" (I) "Leave these questions to be asked later." (Irius) Anton and Tania were silent knowing it wasn''t time to talk, Byakko was becoming visible for all to see, so the couple was surprised to notice him the moment he yelled, it seems Anton hadn''t noticed him before due to concern for his wife. Nira looks like she had noticed him before but was quiet, when I looked at her it looked like she was thinking about something. I tried to talk a little with everyone to distract everyone from what just happened, we were talking for thirty minutes before someone knocked on the door and opened it. Knock Knock After entering we saw that it was just the receptionist Vampire Jay, this time only he was present holding a large box. "I apologize for the delay, I was waiting for the item the participants bought last to be safe for transport." (Jay) As soon as Jay entered he closed the door behind him, after apologizing making a slight bow he opened the box, when I looked inside I saw a big transparent crystal egg with that thing we last bought inside, it seemed to be paralyzed inside the egg and sleeping with closed eyes. "The specimen you purchased should be under control for the next three days inside this crystal, a powerful spiritual technique was used to force the specimen to sleep, so I suggest you think about how to handle the specimen during that time." (Jay) Receptionist Jay closes the box and gives it to me, so I hand it to Sophia to hold. "Now that the auction is over, it''s time to pay for the purchased items, totaling 71 Crystal Coins and 3000 Gold Coins." (Jay) "Here it is." (I) I hand the receptionist a leather bag with 72 crystal coins, he opens it and checks the value, after putting the bag he takes out another large white leather bag and hands it to me, after checking I see that there are seven thousand gold coins. gold, that''s the change for the money. "On behalf of the Black Market, we thank you for participating in this great annual event and I invite you to come back next year as well." (Jay) After saying a few words of thanks he opens the door and makes another slight bow. "To leave please follow me." (Jay) We all followed him through a maze of corridors before leaving in the same room where we arrived, there we went through another corridor that came out in the same store falling apart, I made the couple and Nira wear clothes similar to ours to hide their appearance before leaving the store. We went straight back to the mansion in silence, on the way we realized that it''s about dawn, we spent the entire night at this Auction without realizing it. ----------- Pov Zenos: Everything was going so well, I took advantage of the auction to see how the clandestine trade worked and what kind of items appear in it. At first, I saw a lot of items, but when it came to the slaves and seeing how that auctioneer treated them like any other item she was selling, it ruined my good mood. Seeing all this using Kira''s senses was like wearing VR glasses, some Alchemists soon appeared but I didn''t like any of them, the auctioneer talked a little about them, one was researching poisons and testing on common people she kidnapped to see the effects From his research, another Alchemist was studying addictive drugs he sold to various criminal groups, and the last was a woman who used orphans and beggars for experiments to create physical enhancement potions. I didn''t want anything to do with these types of people, if I found them elsewhere I might even kill them, it seems I won''t get a good Alchemist in this Auction, but between the presentation of these Alchemists suddenly appears a Dwarf Blacksmith with excellent skills, then we found out about his wife and got a Tailor with a God''s blessing. The personalities of this couple were very strange, but I could see that they cared a lot about the other, we also got the former Black Market receptionist Nira. Everything was going fine until I heard that deafening scream, I momentarily lost control of my connection to Kira, but it must have been better for her not to hear my own scream when I heard that sound. The screams were full of feelings, it seemed like a lot of screams mixed with feelings of sadness, anger, hate, pain, etc. I could hear and feel all this from those screams, and from Byakko''s reaction, I thought I wasn''t the only one. rica and Freya who were next to me were startled by my sudden scream, but I said I was fine and that they didn''t need to worry, so I resumed my connection with Kira. Byakko asked me to compare that creature, but he didn''t even need to ask, I was already considering whether I should or not. No creature deserves the kind of torment that this Fairy is going through, sometimes between the screams I can hear different voices asking to die, asking for help, saying that it will kill everyone, and hearing this scream makes something inside me hurt a lot. I don''t know if I''ll be able to help this poor creature, but at least I''ll be able to end her suffering if I''m not able to use my abilities to help her. I wanted to ask Byakko a lot of questions about this but I''ll leave that for later, I was waiting for them to come back, after sharing Kira''s senses of sight and hearing for so long I was mentally drained, especially after hearing that Fairy''s screams. But before I go to sleep I want to take care of the slaves, they will need to make a decision for themselves, I''m still giving them an opportunity for freedom in the future, let''s see what they decide. Soon they arrived and I bring everyone to the ballroom where I took care of Freya and the others a few days ago. "Welcome all of you, this auction was longer than expected." (I) "We are back master." (Kira) "We accomplished almost everything we wanted with this auction except for an Alchemist." (Irius) "We will have to wait a while now, we are short on money after this auction." (I) "Master what am I supposed to do with this creature?" (Sophia) "For now take it to my how much and leave it there, I''m not in the mood to do anything about it today, I''ll do it tomorrow, now I have to take care of others." (I) "I also have to think about what I can do for this Fairy." (I) "All right." (Sophia) When I looked at the three slaves I see the couple looking at me suspiciously while Nira is appraising me with her eyes, I can''t blame them for suspecting a strange child behaving like the leader of the people who bought them. "Everyone can take off these disguises now, there''s no need to hide here." (I) "Yes Master." (Kira) "Let me return what''s left of the money, Dad, here." (Irius) "I''d already forgotten about that, thanks for remembering." (I) Irius hands me two bags, one small in normal leather and one big in white leather, I kept them both knowing that the total value is 3 crystal coins and 7000 gold coins. "(I''m almost broke after this auction, I don''t think I''ll get an Alchemist for a while now.)" (I) After taking the money from Irius I go back to looking at the three new faces, none of them take their eyes off me, they must have realized by the way the others talk to me that I''m the leader. "Let''s start the introductions, my name is Zenos and you must have already noticed that I am the leader of this group." (I) "Don''t be fooled by my appearance, I''m not a child so I advise you not to treat me as such, now let''s go to the performances." (I) "The man who brought you is called Irius, the one in white behind me is your sister Irina, the Gray Elf who is beside you is called Kira and the Tiger cub in your arms is your hired spirit Byakko, the Black Elf who also brought you is called Sophia and from left to right these are Leo, Caryna, Alice, Freya, rica, Nolan and Diana." (me) As I introduced each of the people in the room I pointed to them so that newcomers could remember their names, Nira paid close attention to Kira''s face and name, she met her when she was still in her Storm Killer outfit, Kira spoke to her during the auction so she now knows Kira''s name, race, and face. "Now it''s the three of you to introduce yourselves and then we can talk about what decision each of you is going to make about whether to permanently join our group or not." (I) When I finished talking, the first one to step forward was Nira, she took a few steps until she got in front of me and knelt down. "My name is Nira, I''m a former Black Market receptionist where I worked for ten years." (Nira) "It''s nice to meet you Nira, but please, next time you want to find someone to pass on a message, find someone less dangerous." (I) "I''m sorry if this caused any discomfort for you, but in the situation, he was in he was the only one I could get in touch with who could get my message across." (Nira) "Alright, have you heard from Kira and the others what we expect from you?" (I) "Yes, I was in doubt finding the proposal they said was absurd, no one who would buy slaves in the Black Market would make this proposal for them, I still don''t know how much I heard is true, but I promised that if she were to buy me I would be loyal to her and I intend to keep my promise." (Nira) "Just to be clear, you have two options, one is to permanently join our group and the other is to be an outside contractor doing some trading work for us, if you choose the second option you will be rewarded for your work and then from accumulating the same amount we spent buying you to pay us, you are free to do whatever you want." (I) "For the first option you will be freed from slavery right away and still have some benefits I can''t count on, but you will have to be loyal to me and the others in this room." (I) "So I''m going to ask, have you made your decision yet?" (I) "I''ve never had anyone to trust in my life, I sent a message to a person who didn''t even know the name out of desperation, so I was very surprised when she showed up there, I don''t know how much I can be of use but I see a much better way to me here than if I were alone." (Nira) "I choose the first option!" (Nira) "Okay, stay by Kira''s side for now." (I) "Yes sir." (Nira) I must say that I was sure she would choose the second option, I was surprised how determined she was to choose the first option, but I think one of the biggest reasons for this is because of Kira, now it''s just the couple, me I turned to look at them before I spoke. "Which one of you is going to perform now?" (I) To my question the two-step forward after nodding at each other. "First of all I must thank you and your group for shopping for me and my wife, thank you very much." (Anton) "I must also thank you for the same reason, thank you." (Tania) "Part of the reason for this is that we were already looking for an Alchemist, a Blacksmith, and a Tailor, so there''s no need to say thanks." (I) "You say that, but I saw these three let two Alchemists pass the auction without making a single bid." (Anton) "I wouldn''t want that kind of person with me." (I) "The truth is that a person with a Blessing from a God-focused on creation will always be targeted by others, may even be forced to work for the government depending on the Kingdom or be kidnapped and sold, I learned this the hard way and I will not commit the same mistake again." (Anton) "Neither my wife and I have any family besides each other, I think she has already made the same decision as me." (Anton) "You''re right darling, I share the same thought as Anton, the proposal you gave Nira was also offered to me and my husband during the auction and we agree it''s very good." (Tania) "I am a Dwarf Blacksmith, my name is Anton and I choose to join your group." (Anton) "I am a Runic with Tailor work, my name is Tania and I choose to join your group." (Tania) "I''m glad the three chose to join the group, it helps me a lot, welcome." (I) I''m glad they each made their decision and it was something I really wanted them to choose. Chapter 136: Sealed skill After the three made the decision to join the group saving me a lot of time trying to convince them I told the others to back off. Everyone knew what I was going to do now, I decided to only use my two Aura skills on these three, I can''t get too tired as tomorrow I still have to take care of that Fairy. "As I said before, choosing to join me will have some benefits, now I will free the three of you from slavery and give some of my power to you." (I) "..." (Nira/Tania/Anton) "You don''t need to worry, you won''t feel any pain, everyone in this room has gone through the same process that you will go through." (I) "Are ready?" (I) "Are you ready dear?" (Anton) "That was our decision, I will not go back on what I have already decided." (Tania) "Neither do I, if I''m really going to gain power with this then I have no reason to deny myself, I wasn''t strong enough to protect you that day but I''ll never let that happen again." (Anton) "The day we''re in danger again I won''t let you fight alone, I''ll be there fighting by your side." (Tania) "(Aren''t they ashamed to say these things in public?)" (I) While the couple was doing their couple in love scene I noticed that Nira was thinking of something before she turned her gaze to me. "You said you''re going to free us from slavery at the same time you''re going to empower the three of us, didn''t you?" (Nira) "Yes." (I) "Do you have any awakening ability or ability to transform others?" (Nira) "..." (all) Everyone in the room was surprised by this question that nailed it. "Before I answer your question, can you tell me how you came to these conclusions?" (I) "As a former Black Market receptionist, I have seen, heard and experienced many things, maybe even more than other receptionists because of my Item Rating skill." (Nira) "The truth is that because of my ability traits they forced me to level up and switch jobs several times in order to better use my ability." (Nira) "They forced me to rate unknown items, cursed items, miasma-filled items and items with strange effects." (Nira) "Living this way allowed me to discover a lot of information and hear a lot of information, among which is information on how to free someone from slavery and information on how to make someone else stronger." (Nira) "Among the ways to free someone from slavery and empower that person is for a priest to use the sacred power to erase the mark of bondage, turn someone into a member of another race and can also be a high-level Spirit, Fairy or Dragon awakening the power and potential within someone." (Nira) "At least those are the only ways I know." (Nira) "(Then I''m not the only one able to do this, I can''t tell if this is a good thing or a bad thing.)" (I) "Answering your previous question I can do both, but I''ll just awaken their natural talents now, they two shouldn''t change races the problem will be you." (I) "What do you mean I''m the problem?" (Nira) "My ability has a power that uses the darkness within a person to empower them, but in the case of someone with too much darkness they can transform into another race." (I) "Anyone who looks at this couple can see that they don''t have any darkness within them, but you could end up changing races." (I) "Still want to continue?" (I) "I will continue, I have no attachment to my humanity anyway." (Nira) "A lot comes then, let me get started." (I) I took a deep breath and controlled my two Auras to surround just me and these three, felt my Aura of Judgment and Aura of Chaos intertwining and becoming one, then I felt my auras coming into these three, at that moment my mana and Ki came out of mine. body and flow to these three that start to glow, Tania and Anton glow with a white light that surrounds them, I look at Nira and see that the light that surrounds her is dark purple. Ding! <[ Three individuals willingly submitted to you ]> . . <[ Choose a power to grant them ]> Once again my mind is filled with bloodlines, titles, and abilities, all this information always leaves me with a headache. I choose to give the skill [ Enhanced Line Production: 1 ] to Tanya so she can create her line just like me. For Anton I chose to give the ability [ Magic Great Bodily Strength: 1 ], this ability can help him both in battle and the Forge. For Nira it wasn''t difficult to think about the skill that would give her, as the auctioneer and she has already said that she was exposed to many cursed items that even made her acquire a Curse Resistance skill, I imagine she evaluated many types of items with curses during the time she was in the Black Market, so I''ll give her the [ Weak Affinity with Curses: 1 ] ability. Ding! <[ Grant of power completed ]> When I finished granting the last power to them I felt the flow of Mana and Ki flow faster to their bodies before stopping, soon the lights covering Tanya and Anton dimmed, but the purple light that covered Nira turned into a dark purple flame that entered her body, at that moment I was worried that she changes into a Demon like rica. After a few seconds there was neither light nor purple flame remaining and we could see the three again, the couple looked the same as before, but Nira who previously had brown hair and eyes now had changed color, her hair is now black and her eyes are dark purple, other than that I don''t notice any more changes, luckily she still looked human. Soon a purple glow came from inside Nira''s clothes looking like tribal marks, suddenly this glow became a purple flame that surrounded Nira''s back and both arms, this flame quickly gathered on her back before leaving Nira as a dark purple fireball. This fireball slowly took the form of a bird and started to fly around the room in circles as it changed shape, soon the purple flames went out and a black Raven with purple eyes appeared in its place, it continued to fly before landing on Nira''s shoulder. "Now I really need a break." (I) "What Raven is this?" (I) "This is a Cursed Raven, a specter type monster, he can use curses and poisons to kill, he is also very fast and smart." (Irina) "We were once called upon to eliminate one of them, they are difficult to deal with and rare." (Irius) "Thanks for the explanation Irina and Irius." (I) "Do you know where this Raven came from Nira?" (I) "I know master, he formed inside of me and is now my Familiar, I can feel a strong connection with him." (Nira) "How so did it form within you?" (rica) "This is a monster that only appears in places with a lot of miasma and many curses, thanks to the kind of life I''ve lived until today, I''ve come into contact with many cursed items that left traces of their curses on me, I''ve also come into contact with miasma many times , I felt this thing suddenly appear inside of me and suck the remnants of the curse from my body and the miasma inside me and in the surroundings before leaving." (Nira) "I''m tired and I need to prepare myself to take care of the Fairy, I''m going to sleep now." (I) "rica, Irina, and Freya will show you around the house and explain things to the three of you, I''m going to sleep now." (I) "Good evening everyone." (I) I was tired so I went to my bed, but before going to sleep I needed to do something, I don''t know if it will work but it doesn''t hurt to try. I was alone in the room but I started talking as if I knew someone was listening. "I know you can hear me, you said yourself you were always watching me, I hope you can talk to me so I can help this Fairy." (I) "You must know that I will do everything in my power to help this Fairy, but I don''t know if I can, so I ask you to talk to me about how I can help her." (I) After saying all this I give in to my tiredness and go to sleep all I can do is wait for her reaction now. ------------- When I opened my eyes all I saw was a very familiar ceiling that wasn''t from my room and the smell of medicine, I stand up and look around, I was a little surprised to see this place where I''ve been trapped for so many years. Looking around I saw empty hospital beds, medicine, life support devices, and a small table with a laptop on top of it. This was the hospital room where I spent the last few years of my previous life going back and forth from the coma, not knowing if I would be able to wake up the next time I closed my eyes. I was lying in the same bed, I get up and go to the window where I see the multi-story buildings of modern cities and cars parked on the streets, but just like this room everything is empty, cars don''t move, there are no people walking in the streets. streets and not a single noise around me. "This must be a dream, this is perhaps the first time I dream of my old world since I was reborn." (I) I look at my hands, which are the same brown hands with some tribal tattoos that run up the back of my hands and up my arm. "To see me like this even in my dream must mean that I''ve fully accepted my new life." (I) "You would be thinking right, maybe you haven''t noticed your personality is no longer the same as your previous life." (mysterious woman) "So you showed up, to tell you the truth I had my doubts whether you would show up or not." (I) "Where are you?" (I) The moment I asked where she was I looked back and I see a part of space start to crack and from the cracks blood starts to flow, soon the pieces of space fall and disintegrate leaving only a red swirl in its place, suddenly a person starts to come out of this red swirl, as soon as it has completely left, I see that it is the mysterious woman. Her red clothes, her beautiful red hair with a black crown on top, her red eyes, and her red lips with an amused smile on them. "I am here child of my blood." (mysterious woman) I have the urge to run to her to punch her in the face, the cause of that child''s body is hers I''m sure, but knowing I''m about to ask for a favor I control myself not to say anything offensive. "That was a nice entrance, if you''re here does that mean you''re going to help me with that Fairy?" (I) "You''re just kind of right, I would like to help and I could even do something about it, but I won''t." (mysterious woman) "Then why bother coming here just to refuse to help me." (I) "The truth is, you don''t need my help, you have everything you need to save that Fairy, except for one skill." (mysterious woman) "So you came all this way to trade this skill or test me again to see if I deserve this skill?" (I) "I don''t need to test you anymore and you''ve had this ability for a long time, you just don''t have access to it." (mysterious woman) "What do you mean I don''t have access, is it one of those things in my status that I''m not able to read or identify?" (I) "No, these things you are not yet able to fully use and have not fully integrated with your body, in other words, they are dormant, the ability I am talking about you will not even be able to see in its status because it is completely sealed off." (mysterious woman) "A sealed ability?" (I) Chapter 137: Blood pact Right now I''m talking to the mysterious woman inside my dreams, she''s telling me that I have a sealed ability that doesn''t even show up in my status. "What do you mean sealed skill?" (I) "At the time of your first evolution, I granted you the [ Evil Leech Covenant ] ability." (mysterious woman) "That ability was sealed the moment it entered you, I was surprised by that at the time." (mysterious woman) "You mean I would seal my own ability?" (I) "No, it sealed itself off, something in you made it start a process of evolution, just like a caterpillar enters a cocoon to turn into a butterfly your ability connected with something in you and started the process of evolution." (mysterious woman) "This is an automatic process for all skills when they meet certain requirements, but in your case it was different, this skill hadn''t met all the requirements it needed so it was sealed." (mysterious woman) "So I''m still not able to use this ability, am I?" (I) "This skill has already completed its evolution into a new skill, but it remains sealed because you are not strong enough to use it." (mysterious woman) "If you''re telling me about her then you already have something in mind so keep going." (I) Her smile fades into a serious face, she looks into my eyes as she speaks. "I can temporarily release the seal of this ability enough for one use, but there will be consequences for using an ability that is above your current strength level." (mysterious woman) "What consequences?" (I) "Your soul will be wounded, for others, it could be fatal but you must survive, but the pain you will feel will be something you will not be able to imagine." (mysterious woman) "Knowing that, do you still intend to help that Fairy?" (mysterious woman) From her serious face and the way she talks I don''t think she''s lying, in the books I''ve read so far I''ve seen some rare mentions of wounds to the soul, but never a clear explanation of what it was, but I know how important a soul is already that I reincarnated in this world. "(I''m not a Hero who would take a risk for someone he doesn''t know, much less a saint who helps those who need it most, so why should I pay such a high price to help a creature that has nothing to do with me?)" (I) For starters, what was it that made me want to help this Fairy in the first place? I started to think and the memory of the scream I heard through Kira comes to mind, I''ve never heard anything like it, that scream made something inside me ache just listening. "The cry you heard through your Familiar hit you in your soul, by hearing that cry with your soul you felt a small part of your suffering." (mysterious woman) "Get out of my head, at least give me some privacy." (I) If what she says is true then that pain came from my soul, it was just for a second but I still shiver just remembering that pain. "If I kill the Fairy she would be freed from her suffering and could reincarnate one day just like me, right?" (I) "After all, I was reincarnated in this world, even Byakko went through a process similar to reincarnation." (I) "The moment the Fairy dies the five souls within her will be completely destroyed, their existence will vanish, never to return." (mysterious woman) I broke out in a sweat hearing this, I''m not even able to understand the seriousness of it, but the way the mysterious woman''s face twitched looks it must be worse than I imagine. If I remember correctly, the auctioneer said that the necromancer responsible for this had his soul destroyed as punishment for breaking a Taboo. "Because things have to be so complicated, I thought I could help this Fairy, in the same way, I helped others in my group." (I) "You''ll still use your two Aura abilities and your blood servant ability to heal and transform the Fairy''s body, but you''ll need this sealed ability to mend your souls, and even if you do I don''t know what results will come from what will make." (mysterious woman) "In other words even if I accepted suffering to help the Fairy I wouldn''t even know what she would become or if she would fully recover?" (I) "Exactly." (mysterious woman) Why!? Why!? Why!? "(Because I can''t say I won''t help that Fairy even though I know all this, it would be so easy to refuse to help, I can apologize to Byakko later, none of the others seem to care what happens to this Fairy anyway, so why it''s so hard to say I won''t help her!?)" (I) I remember again the first time I saw that Fairy through Kira''s eyes, her image appeared in the crystal on the living room wall and I was surprised by her grotesque appearance, but those red tears, those tears showed that there was still a consciousness within the Fairy. , she is suffering and still hasn''t given up, I remember that between the screams one of the voices was still asking for help. Are you trying to tell me that because I heard this simple request I have to help her? Sigh "If she''s suffering so much then why could she still hear a call for help, how could she resist all this suffering?" (I) "If it wasn''t for this call for help, it would be so much easier to say no." (I) "So you understand how heavy that request for help is?" (mysterious woman) "If she''s suffering so much when you say it then she should want to end the pain as soon as possible, maybe the Fairy herself has already gone mad with the pain, but that scream wasn''t someone asking for death, there was a strong will in it." (I) "It''s been that way since my past life, I''ve never been able to let go of someone who still had the will in their eyes." (I) Sigh "If I refuse to help her now I wouldn''t be me anymore, no matter what I come across I have to always be honest with myself." (I) As well as helping children in the orphanage who still wanted to improve or when I helped someone in a difficult situation by giving them a job and a place to live when I was building my tech and games companies. "Looks like you finally made your decision." (mysterious woman) "I will use the ability to help the Fairy." (I) The moment I say this I feel a weight leave me, I feel more relaxed and calm now, I didn''t realize how much it was bothering me to think about it. The mysterious woman''s serious face turns back into her calm face with a slight smile on her lips. "So now it''s time to trade what I get for helping to release your ability even temporarily." (mysterious woman) "I was starting to worry that you would refuse out of fear of the consequences." (mysterious woman) "So all this acting was for you to gain something?" (I) "I may have acted a little, but everything I gave was true." (mysterious woman) It seems like she''s always having ulterior motives. "What you want?" (I) "One day not too far away someone will come to you asking to join your group, I want you to use the same skills you used with your two children with this person." (mysterious woman) "(Is she referring to Irius and Irina when she says children?)" (I) "And why would I accept something like that?" (I) "You know I don''t mean to hurt you, and the person I send will be completely loyal to you too, nothing to worry about." (mysterious woman) She''s always watching me and planning something, but it''s undeniable that she''s always helped me, some of my skills she gave me too, even though I may be suspicious of her intentions I know it won''t do any harm to me or my group. "Alright, how am I going to recognize this person?" (I) "You''ll know who you are the moment you show up." (mysterious woman) She walks until she''s right next to me and puts her hand on my head, then a scarlet glow leaves her hand and enters me and she pulls away once more. "So that was it?" (I) "Yes, for me it''s easy to do something like that, the moment you wake up you''ll see the skill is there among your unique abilities." (mysterious woman) "You can only use this ability once before being sealed again." (mysterious woman) "I understand." (I) The mysterious woman turns and starts walking towards the portal shaped like a red vortex, but stops walking when I ask her a question. "Do you know what will happen to me if my soul is hurt?" (I) "If you succeed and make that Fairy better then you won''t have to worry about the wound in her soul." (mysterious woman) "What do you mean by that?" (I) "You will find out." (mysterious woman) She enters her portal and then the space around the portal seems to crush it to nothing, so it seems like there was never a portal there. Sigh "What a stupid decision I made this time." (I) -------------- The next day I wake up seeing notification windows. Ding! Ding! <[ Her skill evolved [ Evil leech pact ]> [ Blood pact ] ]> . . <[ New Unique Skill Acquired [ Blood Pact ] ]> . . . <[ Ability [ Blood Pact ] has been temporarily released from the seal by [ ] and will be resealed after one use ]> So that''s the skill I''m going to have to use, I got one more unique skill so why don''t I feel happy. Chapter 138: Bad day I got up feeling like crap, once again that woman with red hair had me in the palm of her hand, who always thought I was very intelligent was guided all the time in the conversation. The worst thing is that I don''t think she''s lied about anything so far, so my decision to help that Fairy remains, but there''s no way I can be in a good mood knowing I''ll suffer from the reaction of using the sealed ability she helped me release temporarily, the worst thing is that even she doesn''t know the result of what I''m going to do for the Fairy. This day is going to be horrible, but I can''t stay in bed, someone like that Fairy who has experienced so much suffering and still has enough willpower to ask for help deserves my help for not having given up. I look at the box on the desk across the room, soon it will be time, I just need a little more time to mentally prepare myself. I get up from my bed with renewed determination and head to the bathroom before heading downstairs to get something to eat. In the kitchen I find everyone talking about how the food being prepared smells good, while everyone is talking I see the strange couple arguing about which food looks tastier, I also see rica, Kira, and Nira talking in a corner of the kitchen. Thanks to my passive ability [ Improved Hearing: 1 ] I could hear some of her conversations even at this distance. "You mean everything you guys promised before is true?" (Nira) "You are very suspicious, we have been repeating the same thing since yesterday to you." (rica) "To be fair you guys told me a lot at once yesterday, it was already hard to accept that you are a Demon and that the master is a unique Vampire." (Nira) "This whole group is very strange." (Nira) "I understand you, when I joined the group we were still few but there were already a lot of strange people." (Kira) "But one thing that has never changed is who is the weirdest." (Kira) "No one will argue that the master is the weirdest." (rica) "..." (I) "(I must be hearing wrong, I just woke up so sleepiness is making me hear things, no one is calling me weird, I''m normal, I''m the most normal in this mansion without a shadow of a doubt.)" (I) Suddenly I hear a scream from Diana and look at her only to see her run to Ibuki and grab her by the head lifting her off the ground still with a large piece of roasted meat in her mouth. "IBUKI!!" (Diana) "I won''t let you eat all the food before Freya and Caryna are done cooking again." (Diana) "Ibuki didn''t resist, sorry Diana." (Ibuki) nhac nhac nhac "Don''t apologize while you''re still eating." (Diana) After everyone has eaten, we will gather in a room next to the ballroom. "I imagine everything was explained yesterday after I went to sleep, wasn''t it?" (I) "Yes master, we talk about us, we show them the mansion and we talk about what we expect from them." (rica) "Okay, just to be warned, we''re short on cash because of the auction so I''m planning to start exploring a dungeon in a few days, what do you think Diana?" (I) "In the missions, we did a few days ago I could see that we were able to fight together even in a basic way, so I think we can explore the first five levels of one of the dungeons without too much trouble." (Diana) "Then we will do it." (I) I look around and see neither Byakko nor the Cursed Raven. "Where are Byakko and that Crow?" (I) "The Cursed Crow is flying around the mansion area, looks like he''s very happy living in a place full of miasma." (Nira) "I''m here, I was taking a nap." (Byakko) I look up and see Byakko lying atop an expensive-looking chandelier on the ceiling. "Get down from there Byakko." (Kira) "I wanted to talk to you about Spirits and Fairies, how''s your memory?" (I) "After yesterday I remembered a little bit about the Fairies and Spirits, but only the classification." (Byakko) "This is better than nothing, explain a little to everyone please." (I) "All right." (Byakko) Byakko floats out of the chandelier until he reaches Kira''s shoulder where he sits before starting to speak. To sum up, he told everyone a little about how the evolutions of Fairies and Spirits work, that seems to be all he remembered so far. Fairies start from the lower elemental races, evolve into the middle old name race, and then evolve into the higher level race having titles equal to the race. The spirits have the same system, above the superior level, the titles are no longer equal to the race following a hierarchical classification based on personal strength, through this title that measures the level of strength of the Fairies and Spirits. Classification titles: 1. Spirit King / Fairy King 2. Spirit Prince / Fairy Prince 3. Spiritual Archduke / Fairy Archduke 4. Spiritual Duke / Fairy Duke 5. Spiritual Marquis / Fairy Marquis 6. Spiritual Baron / Fairy Baron 7. Spiritual Knight / Fairy Knight 8. Superior Spirit / Superior Fairy 9. Average Spirit / Average Fairy 10. Inferior Spirit / Inferior Fairy Nira said she also knew about it, said she learned about it a few years ago in the Black Market, Freya said that this is common knowledge for the Elves. The problem is that after knowing about it I remembered the auctioneer''s words that five Faerie Kings punished the Necromancer guilty of doing this to this Fairy, like everything I learned in games and learned from my own experience I know the difference between each evolution is huge, I must imagine that each title of this rises in the hierarchy with each evolution of the Fairies and Spirits, a Fairy King must have such great power that I have no reference to understand at the moment. I looked around and saw the serious face of Kira who didn''t know about it either, it seems she thought the same as me, the others are still calm. "You don''t remember anything else?" (I) "Not." (Byakko) "Alright then, but does anyone have any questions?" (I) Tania looks at Anton before starting to speak. "Actually little master, I have some things to talk about, alright?" (Tania) "Please don''t call me little." (I) "So how about young master?" (Tania) "Neither." (I) "Great Master then?" (Tania) "It''s just getting worse." (I) "Honey you''re just making things worse, we should address him as Lord Master with respect." (Anton) "(They might just be trying to piss me off, right?)" (I) "Just call me Zenos, master or Sir just like the others." (I) "So what did you want to talk about?" (I) "So Sir, yesterday they showed us the house, they also showed us the rooms where we can work." (Tania) "By the way Sir Zenos, I really liked the Forge you have in this mansion, it also has all the tools I need." (Anton) "Don''t interrupt me while I talk Anton." (Tania) The wife smacks her Fist on top of her husband''s head angrily before suddenly returning to a calm face and continuing to talk to me as if nothing had happened. "There are still a few things left for my studio if I want to start making clothes now, there''s also a lack of material for making both me and Anton." (Tania) "Make a list of each of the tools and materials you''ll need, then give it to Nira." (I) "Thank you, sir." (Tania) "I thank you too, sir." (Anton) "Nira you''re the trade expert, so do a price survey of the items on their lists and then show me the total, if it''s not too expensive we can buy it now, but depending on the price we''ll have to get it after some dungeon exploration to get the money." (I) "This should be easy for me, when it''s over I''ll show it to the master." (Nira) "I find it difficult for you to be able to talk to me today or tomorrow." (I) Sigh "Today I''m going to take care of that Fairy Kimera, her case is a little special and it''s going to take a lot of effort from me, probably a little pain too." (I) As my words see everyone''s faces change to serious expressions. "If the master is going to have so much trouble, then why don''t you forget about this fairy, we can sell her again so you don''t have to suffer." (rica) "I haven''t seen this Fairy yet, but from what Kira described her appearance and from what she said she heard from the auctioneer I can assume that anything the master does won''t be so simple when he''s telling us." (Freya) "..." (I) "(Looks like Freya is sharper than I thought.)" (I) "You don''t understand, I can feel that something important is broken inside that Fairy, if no one does something I feel like something bad will happen to her, but I don''t know what it is." (Byakko) "I also just heard your story about this Fairy, but I don''t want to see the master suffer either." (Diana) "I''m not doing this just because Byakko asked me to." (I) "Amidst the screams of this Fairy, I heard voices full of pain, hate, madness, anger and a voice asking for help." (I) "I just can''t stand still seeing someone enduring so much suffering asking for help, even more knowing they don''t deserve what''s happening." (I) "Don''t get me wrong, I''m not saying that I''m a saint or an idiot who will help every person in need, but in this specific case I can''t refuse to help, something in this request for help makes me want to do something for this Fairy." (I) "If the master has already made his decision then he has nothing more to say." (Kira) "..." (all) "I appreciate your concern, but as Kira has already made clear, I''ll do it." (I) After talking a little more with everyone and handing out some simple tasks for everyone I tell Diana to get the box for me and take it to the ballroom, it''s time to extend a helping hand to this Fairy who has already suffered too much. if I fail at least I will know that I have done everything in my power to help her. I also told rica to bring some of the potions we still have in case I need it, better to be safe than sorry. Diana brings the box and opens it on a table in front of me showing the crystal where the Fairy is still sleeping "Thank you, Diana, you and the others stay away, I''m not sure what will happen now, and whatever you see or hear I don''t want anyone to interfere until I''m done, understand." (I) "..." (all) Everyone had serious faces, no one answered my question with words, they just nodded their heads showing that they understood. Those who were with me the longest had worried faces while the others had serious faces, all were far from where I was as no one knew what they were going to do and didn''t want to get in the way. Chapter 139: Rebirth of a fairy After asking the others to back off I go closer to the table where the open box with the Fairy still trapped inside the sleeping crystal is. If I remember correctly the mystery woman told me to use the same abilities that I used when I transformed Irina and Irius, if I remember correctly I used all the abilities to awaken or transform someone I have, so I will use my two Auras first after they''re already in effect I''ll use my blood minion and Vampire minion ability, I''ll leave it to use the Blood Covenant last since I don''t know its exact effect. "There is?" (I) "(I just remembered something, for the Vampire minion skill to work I have to make the target of the skill ingest my blood, how am I going to do that to this Fairy?)" (I) Looking better I can see the little grotesque being inside the crystal, it seems to have a height of 30 centimeters, inside the box there is a piece of paper that I take to see, after reading I see that they are explanations of how to take the Fairy out of the crystal and wake her up, it seems I can release the Crystal Fairy just by saying a few words, after that, it will only take 20 seconds for her to start waking up, I''ll have to make her drink some of my blood in that time. By the time the process of activating the abilities starts she won''t be able to move so I won''t have to face a sudden attack from her. Before I release her I take a few deep breaths and mentally prepare myself, start to simulate how I''m going to do this in my mind a few times so I don''t make any mistakes, I''ll only get one chance so I can''t make any mistakes. "(It''s time.)" (I) I place my hand on the crystal. "Crystal Prison Release!" (I) At that moment the crystal starts to crack and break, its pieces turn to dust and I grab the Fairy with one of my hands, I quickly bring my index finger to my mouth and bite it open, then I open the Fairy''s mouth and squeeze my finger doing some of the blood drips into her mouth, I rub her throat lightly to make her swallow before placing her on her back in the box. I see she''s starting to stir and thrash, it won''t be long before she wakes up so I immediately activate my abilities [ Aura of Judgment: 2 ] and [ Aura of Chaos: 2 ]. My two Auras come out of my body and I concentrate the two just to cover me and the Fairy, at which point the Fairy starts crying tears of blood as she struggles again. My time is running out, I feel my auras intertwining and strengthening each other, so they contact the Fairy and enter her little body or so it should have been, but I feel resistance, my Aura is having difficulty entering her body, I force from all sides and keep trying until I feel that little by little my Auras start to enter her body, at that moment my mana and Ki come out of my body like a small stream going to this Fairy''s body, then she opens her eyes bright red letting out a deafening scream. "AAHHHHHH!!!" (fairy) "(PAIN, THAT HURT...) " (Fairy) "(KILL, KILL, KILL, KILL...)" (Fairy) "(HAHAHAHAHA...)" (Fairy) "(help me...someone...it hurts so much...)" (Fairy) "(AAAHHHHHH!!!)" (Fairy) Grrr! That damn scream is even worse being so close, if I hadn''t heard it before and knew it would happen I might have failed now by losing concentration, but I was mentally prepared for it, but the pain I feel right now is almost breaking my concentration, I''m hearing several pained voices in my head that are driving me crazy. Ding! Ding! I don''t have time right now to see any system notifications and I just think to disappear, for now, then I see this. When I feel that my Auras, mana, and Ki will already fill the Fairy from the inside I activate my abilities [ Blood Servant: 2 ] and [ Vampire Servant: 1 ]. At this moment I feel my blood coming out of my pores along with red energy coming out of my outstretched hand towards the Fairy, just as it happened with my Auras I see the red energy and the drops of my blood merge, forming a red mist that goes towards the little grotesque fairy, it was a shocking sight to see this red mist entering all over the fairy''s body, but little by little the fairy stops screaming and a red light starts to shine from inside her to the people spreading through her body to cover it all the way through, then the light becomes a wild scarlet flame with it within. Ding! Ding! <[ You have successfully submitted Fairy Kimera (Unique) to her will ]> . . . <[ Choose a power to grant the Fairy Kimera (Unique) ]> Once again my head fills with titles and abilities that I can bestow on her, but this is not the time for that I use my ability [ Parallel thinking: 4 ], this is a passive ability but I can turn it off and on whenever I want. and I normally don''t use it much, using this ability I split my mind in two and let one deal with the power I have to grant to the Fairy while using the other mind to activate the [ Blood Pact ] Ability. Tum Tum! At that moment I feel something strange inside me like there''s something waking up and trying to get out. Tum Tum! Tum Tum! A dark energy starts to come out all over my body, but I don''t feel bad, it''s like I''m familiar with this energy, little by little an image starts to form naturally in my mind as if it were the most normal thing in the world, an image of a being made of shadows, all that black energy coming out of my body gathers in a sphere a few inches above my head that pulses in time with my heart. Tum Tum! Tum Tum! Tum Tum! Crack! Crack! Soon cracks start to appear in the black sphere and spread quickly until it covers the entire sphere, golden, black, purple, and silver sparkles come out of the cracks. These are the same colors as my tattoos, so a dark claw breaks the sphere from inside making it start to shatter and turn into a black flame that enters the being that leaves the sphere, what came out of the sphere was a shadow with an overcoat and hood that hid it almost completely, the being seemed to be made of shadows and when I tried to look inside the hood all I could see were streams of chaotic colors going in all directions in a dark space and two lights, one golden and the other purple that looked like eyes as they were positioned, it was something more beautiful chaotic. For some reason I didn''t feel fear, anxiety, or curiosity about this strange shadow, it was like I already knew what it was, it was like it was always with me. I saw the shadow reach out and catch the red flame where the Fairy was inside, the shadow opens its hands letting the flame burn on top of its shadowy palm, then the black energy that makes up the shadow emanates from its hands and enters the flame it starts to burn in two colors being red and black. Ding! <[ Ability [ Blood Pact ] Activated ]> . . <[ Awakening soul and building astral body ]> . . . <[ Astral body successfully built ]> . . . <[ Trying to create a spiritual connection with the soul of Fairy Kimera ]> . . <[ Spiritual connection successfully formed ]> . . . <[ Choose a power to form a spiritual bond with Fairy Kimera ]> Now both my minds are full of information duplicated skills, it feels like my head is going to explode, I feel so much pain that I can''t even scream. Ding! Ding! Ding! If it''s not a notification about what I''m doing now it can wait for later, thinking that notifications disappear before I can see them. Afraid of losing consciousness because of the pain, I hurriedly choose the two skills that I found most suitable for a Fairy. I chose the skills [ Weak Light Elemental Affinity: 1 ] and [ Weak Dark Elemental Affinity: 1 ], I chose these two skills because they were pure elemental affinities that the Fairy didn''t have, now she must have seven of those skills. I see two sparks of light coming out of the shadow hood, one white and the other black, the sparks seem to dance in harmony with each other until they reach the flame glowing red and black, then the two sparks enter the flame that explodes Wilder even bigger and stronger. Ding! Ding! <[ Grant of power completed ]> . . <[ Spiritual bond created successfully ]> . . . <[ Detected fragments of five souls ]> . . <[ Using Spiritual Bond to Repair Souls ]> . . <[ Unable to Repair Souls ]> . . <[ Looking for alternative ways to repair souls within the owner''s capabilities ]> . . <[ Soul repair alternative found ]> . . <[ Starting process ]> . . <[ Using owner energy to force a spiritual rebirth ]> Soon the great flame starts to glow in various colors before the flame becomes a crystal trapping the Fairy within, then I feel my two Auras, my mana, my Ki, and my blood being sucked into the crystal in an even greater flow, I also see the shadow raise both hands letting a flow of black energy enter the crystal that pulsed like a heart. Tum Tum! Tum Tum! Gradually I felt weaker and weaker and my vision started to blur, at that moment I was struggling to stay conscious when the crystal stopped absorbing my power and a silhouette can be seen opening the eyes inside the crystal, the eyes of the silhouette were like mine, one being golden and the other purple. Ding! Ding! <[ Spiritual rebirth confirmed ]> . . . <[ Spiritual bond became stronger ]> . . <[ Five souls were merged during the spiritual rebirth becoming one soul and existence ]> . . . <[ Transformation to new race completed [ Fairy Kimera (Unique) ] > [ Fairy of Lesser Chaos (Unique) ] ]> . . <[ Give a name to [ Lesser Chaos Fairy (Unique) ] to finalize the rebirth process ]> I feel dizzy, a growing pain is rising from inside me and mixing with the pain I already feel in my head, I can''t think straight. "(Do I have to choose a name for this Fairy too?)" (I) "(I''ll name it after the Queen of the Fairies from one of my games so I''m not in a position to think of a name right now.)" (I) I drop to my knees in the middle of my thoughts, I won''t hold out too long, let''s get this over with quickly. "I name you Layla." (I) Ding! <[ Rebirth of Layla (Fairy of Lower Chaos) completed ]> Right now the last thing I remember is seeing that crystal turn to dust of bright light and a small blurry silhouette come towards me before I lost consciousness. "Thank you for helping us to be reborn, master." (Layla) Chapter 140: Blessing of the Fairies It''s all dark, there''s nothing around, I can''t even tell you the directions or how long I''ve been here, all I know is that I feel several wounds all over my body that keep hurting, these wounds seem to be superficial but are hurting more than that they should. I don''t know how long I''ve been here, but the pain only increases as time goes by, the last thing I remember was finishing that Fairy''s transformation process. "Did I manage to save that Fairy?" (I) "If I''m not mistaken I think I named her before I lost consciousness." (I) "I think the name I chose was Layla, the meaning of that name was night in Arabic, it was the name I chose for a Fairy Queen in one of my games." (I) Sigh "It brings back memories." (I) Being in this situation where I know I''m unconscious, not knowing how much time has passed or when I''ll wake up again, all of this reminds me of years going back and forth from the coma of my previous life. "I thought I wouldn''t have to go through this in this life, it seems I was wrong." (I) "Everyone must be worried about me right now, I didn''t want to do that to them." (I) I try to look around one more time but there''s nothing but darkness, I can''t even see my hands. "It would be nice to know if this was worth going through." (I) "Let''s hope Fairy is alright." (I) "I''m glad you think of her in this situation." (Voice 1) "Don''t worry the fairy who was named Layla is more than fine." (Voice 2) "You went far beyond expectations, even though you look like a child on the outside, you proved to be a reliable man when needed." (Voice 3) "What you did for those five Fairies is not an easy thing to achieve, even if you can''t save them individually, it was more than we expected you to be able to give a chance to be reborn as a single being." (Voice 4) "I hope you take good care of her from now on." (Voice 1) "After so long a new breed of Fairy has been born, the Goddess will be happy with the news." (Voice 3) "You don''t realize you''re confusing him, at least we have to explain things correctly." (Voice 5) "She''s right, we can talk after healing her soul, that''s the least we can do to bring one of our race back after it''s lost." (Voice 4) "You guys talk too much, I''m already healing his soul if you can call it a soul." (Voice 2) "..." (I) Suddenly I started to hear five voices talking to me and talking to each other, I didn''t know where they were coming from but I could see that there were three women and two men talking. Soon I started to feel some type of comfortable energy covering my body and the pain started to decrease little by little, then I felt four more types of energy covering me making the pain disappear completely. "Any scars will be left, but Warrior doesn''t have some scars?" (Voice 3) "Your soul is completely healed now so let''s make this place a little more comfortable to talk." (Voice 5) Suddenly five lights of different colors shone around me making the darkness disappear, this time when I looked around I could see that I was at camp in the forest of the Valley of Blood during the night. The lights dimmed but didn''t go back to dim after the five lights went out I could see five people around me, a beautiful woman who looked like a White Elf with green hair and eyes wearing a dress made of leaves and vines, she also had wings of a green butterfly and a crown made of beautiful twigs on the head. Another person appeared to be a big strong man with red hair and eyes, he wore only shirtless pants and held a red spear in his hands, he had wings made of fire on his back and a crown-shaped flame on his head. The third person appeared to be a beautiful blue-skinned teenager with white hair and crystal blue eyes, wearing clothes made of blue and white crystal, she had wings from the same coastal as her clothes, I could see on her head a floating white crystal crown. The fourth person was a man with golden hair and eyes, his skin was black and looked like a warrior wearing two swords at his waist and clothes that looked like they were made of monster skin, he had wings made of golden electricity on his back and a golden crown with electrical sparks coming out of it floating above her head. The fifth person looked like a beautiful girl, her hair and eyes were purple, her skin was pale white and her dress was purple with blue and white accents, I looked at her back to see if she also had wings just to see nothing at first sight. , but when I looked closer I could see that the space on his back looked deformed when I tried to draw in my mind a line around the space deformation I realized that the formed design resembled wings, in his head I could see a crown made of purple energy. "..." (I) It was not difficult to associate the appearances of these people with the elements of wood, fire, lightning, ice, and space. At that moment I remember those responsible for the death of the Necromancer the five Fairy Kings, if I remember correctly these are the same elements that the Fairy I helped had, so these people must be the Fairy Kings. "Looks like our appearances surprised him a lot." (Fairy King of Fire) "We can''t blame him, not many have the chance to see us up close, let alone five of us." (Fairy Queen of Wood) "He seems to have figured out who we are pretty quickly." (Ice Fairy Queen) "Looks like he''s wary of us." (Fairy King of Thunder) "Maybe you guys could stop talking to each other and get straight to what matters." (Fairy Queen of Space) They said they healed my soul so that pain I felt before should be that since I don''t feel anything anymore, that mysterious woman said I wouldn''t have to worry about the wounds in my soul if I succeeded in helping that Fairy, she should have known the Faerie Kings would appear to heal me then. "Well if I''m still alive and you guys healed me then it looks like I didn''t commit any Taboo right?" (I) "You''re right." (Fairy Queen of Space) "Then why are you here or could you better tell me where it is here?" (I) "We''re inside your head, we can say we''re in a dream of yours." (Wood Fairy Queen) "You may not know it but you did something amazing." (Fairy Queen of Space) "What the Necromancer did to the Fairies of our elements caused their souls to break inside that grotesque body." (Fairy King of Thunder) "If she died like that her souls would disappear, we wanted to help but we couldn''t." (Fairy King of Thunder) "If what they say is true then why couldn''t they help her?" (I) "We ruled over the Fairies so we can only protect Fairies, what the Necromancer did result in a being that was no longer a Fairy, so we didn''t have the right or authority to intervene." (Fairy King of Fire) "All we could do was judge the Necromancer for breaking a Taboo of our race, which I gladly did." (Fairy King of Fire) "All we could do afterward was watch these Fairies suffer, but then you showed up." (Wood Fairy Queen) "What you did to this Fairy turned her body into a Fairy''s again, and used the broken souls within the body to create a single soul, giving them a second chance." (Ice Fairy Queen) "It wasn''t the best of solutions, but it was better than most alternatives, now the Fairy named Layla doesn''t need to suffer anymore, we''ve already given our Blessings to her." (Fairy Queen of Space) "As You helped save this Fairy and helped create a new race of Fairy, you deserve a reward." (Fairy Queen of Space) "..." (I) "For starters, we grant you the title [Fairy Friend]." (Fairy King of Fire) "We will also grant our Blessings to you." (Ice Fairy Queen) "Lastly we gave you the ability we saw you most wanted [Hide Mark], this is a unique ability that allows you to hide your status from everyone and everything, it also allows you to mark other people connected to you to hide their status ." (Fairy Queen of Space) "With your new title and our blessings you will be able to see and talk to Fairies now, it will also show other Fairies that you are someone to trust." (Fairy King of Thunder) "Today you were able to earn our respect and friendship, be happy that there are few who are capable of that." (Fairy King of Thunder) "These are your rewards for what you''ve accomplished by helping Fairy Layla." (Fairy Queen of Wood) "We thank you so much for saving a member of our race, thank you." (Fairy Queen of Wood) "I hope you and Layla are happy, goodbye Zenos." (Fairy Queen of Wood) With that the five Fairy Kings turn into balls of light and disappear somewhere, I am left alone here in my dream. "The Fairies really like to talk, but they are very friendly, they gave me a lot of presents too." (I) Sigh "But I must admit that their presence was very strong and I was a little shy too, they were all men and women that the definition of the word beauty is not enough to describe their appearance." (I) "Even though their personalities are nice, I have to say I was more relaxed after they left." (I) When I wake up I''ll probably get an earful for doing all that, just as I think about it I see my dream around me disappear and I feel like I''m about to wake up. Chapter 141: Three days later When I wake up I realize that it''s still mid-afternoon from the light that comes in through the window, at that moment several notifications appear in front of me. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Mental disorder: 8 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Pain Resistance: 8 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Reinforce weak subordinates: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Parallel thinking: 4 > 6 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Aura of judgment: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Aura of Chaos: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Blood Servant: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Servant Vampire: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Mental disorder: 10 ] > [ Major mental disorder: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Weak Pain Resistance: 10 ] > [ Pain Resistance: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Pain Resistance: 1 > 4 ] ]> . . . <[ You have been granted an ability by [ Mavis (Fairy Queen of Space) ]: ? [ Hide Mark ] ]> . . . <[ You have been granted a title by five Faerie Kings: ? [ Fairy Friend ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the title [ Fairy Contractor: Layla (Fairy of Lower Chaos) ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Contract of the Fairies ] ? [ Weak soul damage resistance: 1 ] ? [ Astral Body ] ]> . . . <[ Ability [ Blood Pact ] has been sealed until the owner reaches the power requirements ]> . . <[ Ability [ Astral Body ] has been sealed until the owner meets the power requirements ]> . . . <[ You awakened and expanded your spiritual energy by creating an [ Astral Body ] ]> . . . <[ You gained (+150) spiritual energy when recovering from soul wounds ]> . . <[ You gained (+200) mana by making a successful contract with [ Layla (Fairy of Lesser Chaos) ] ]> . . . <[ Due to having endured great suffering and having suffered and recovered from damage to his soul his Aura becomes stronger ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following Blessings: ? [ Foros (Fairy King of Fire) ] ? [ Hera (Wood Fairy Queen) ] ? [ Jana (Ice Fairy Queen) ] ? [ Railgun (Fairy King of Thunder) ] ? [ Mavis (Space Fairy Queen) ] ]> So much information at the same time, what is happening here, why so many skills have leveled up, what a lot of Blessings these are. Let me take a calm look at everything, first I''ll look at the skills that have leveled up. The skills that leveled up were the four I used on Layla, the others are Pain Resistance and Mental Disorder that must have leveled up during Layla''s transformation process, they should be the notifications I didn''t want to see at the time so I didn''t distract from what I was doing, while the skill parallel thinking must have leveled up by the way I used it to help me at that time, and the ability to reinforce subordinates, I have no idea why it leveled up, maybe it has to do with number my subordinates. But I must say that I didn''t expect my situation to be so bad that the pain resistance and mental disturbance skills even evolved, one of them even kept leveling up after evolving, which was really too risky. The ability [ Mark of Concealment ] and the title [ Friend of the Fairies ] were given to me by the Faerie Kings in my dreams, which I still remember. The other skills and titles I must have acquired as a result of what I did, I''ll look at all of that later. It''s not surprising that the [ Blood Pact ] ability was sealed again, but what is this [ Astral Body ] ability and why was it sealed too? Was that being of shadows that appeared this astral body? I''ll confirm this later too, I don''t have enough information to think about it right now. What surprised me was to find that I awakened my spiritual energy, I was also surprised to acquire more (+200) mana and (+150) spiritual energy, this is a big increase for me in mana, for spiritual energy I will have to confirm how much I had before to know if it was a big gain just like with my mana. I don''t understand this notification saying that my Aura becomes stronger, doesn''t there already a notification that my Aura skills have leveled up? One more thing to find out later, the blessings of the five Fairy Kings were already expected, they warned me about it in my dream, but I didn''t know their names until now, but thanks to these Blessings I can see their names there. Now that I was able to process and understand all of this that exploded in my vision the moment I opened my eyes, it''s time to see why I can''t move my body or breathe. After all these notifications disappear I try to look around and see that I''m lying in my room and the reason I can''t move is the five people sleeping in my bed with me. I can understand rica, Diana, Ibuki, and Kira since we''ve all been used to sleeping together since our time in the forest, but why is Irina here too? If I look carefully I can see Irius sleeping sitting on the edge of the bed, I can also see Sophia and Leo sleeping against the bedroom wall. Suddenly my bedroom door opens and Freya comes in with a tray of snacks, I can see dark circles in her eyes, as soon as she sees me she opens a beautiful smile. "Good morning Master." (Freya) "Shouldn''t it be good afternoon?" (I) "Are you right, how do you feel?" (Freya) "I feel good, not to mention that I can''t move with so many people on top of me." (I) "Everyone was worried about you, you haven''t woken up for three days, nobody was able to sleep out of concern." (Freya) "Sorry about that." (I) "Okay, I know it was for a good cause." (Freya) "I also thank you for helping that Fairy, we Elves have a strong connection with Fairies and Spirits, so I was very happy that you were able to help Layla." (Freya) "But I must say that we got a little lost not knowing how to help the master." (Freya) "In fact yesterday we were even arguing over whether we should call a doctor or a priest to treat you." (Freya) "That would be a bad idea, they might find out I''m a Vampire." (I) "We didn''t have many options, especially when Byakko said his soul was hurt." (Freya) "But suddenly last night Byakko and Layla said you''re better, they said even your soul had recovered, that''s when everyone relaxed a little." (Freya) "Fortunately most managed to sleep late in the morning." (Freya) "Where are the others?" (I) "My daughter is in the kitchen, since you lost consciousness she has been saying that she wanted to have something tasty and nutritious for you when she wakes up, so she has been cooking constantly for the past three days." (Freya) "The leftover food I''ve been taking to orphanages in town so it doesn''t go bad, since I couldn''t tell her to stop, cooking is her way of keeping herself under control." (Freya) "Anton and Tania have been spending their time designing weapons, armor, and clothes for everyone in the mansion to distract themselves, they are also doing this in preparation for starting work as soon as they have everything they need." (Freya) "Nira and Alice have been walking around town to see the prices of the couple''s merchandise list who have various things and for Nira to register with the Trade Guild, Alice is also helping her at the request of Irina who wanted to teach a little about how to trade it works." (Freya) "Nolan has been helping me and Caryna run the mansion as usual." (Freya) "Thanks for everything." (I) "I''m happy to help you." (Freya) "You got everyone worried this time, rica is furious, so try not to piss her off any more than you already are." (Freya) "It''s going to be a long day then, she''s going to give me a big lecture this time." (I) "What happened to the Fairy?" (I) "She hasn''t left her side for days, after she and Byakko said you would be fine last night she slept a little in your head." (Freya) "She woke up a few minutes ago and is in the kitchen eating something now." (Freya) "Want me to wake the others up?" (Freya) "No, let them sleep, tell those who aren''t here that I woke up and that they should get some rest, let''s get together for the night here." (I) "I''ll do it then." (Freya) I see Freya leave the appetizers on the bedroom table and leave. "(Three days, I was unconscious for three days.)" (I) This time I''ll get a big sermon from rica and the others, but I don''t know what to do about it, at least it wasn''t for nothing. From what Freya said the Fairy is fine now, I also increased several of my abilities, gained new abilities, gained new titles, awakened my spiritual energy, and gained Blessings that I am able to see where and from whom they came. Sigh I think it was worth going through it all. I have to meet Layla now, how does she look now, I also have to confirm my status, but I''ll leave that for when I go to sleep at the end of the night or tomorrow morning, I''ll take advantage of everyone''s rest to put my mind in order before the evening meeting. Chapter 142: Layla I spent what was left of the afternoon meditating to get my mind in order as I couldn''t get up with so many people sleeping on top of me, but I also didn''t want to wake them up, from what Freya told me they''ve all been out of sleep for two days, so I''ll let them rest for now. ------------ "Master, it''s night, everyone is already here as you asked." (Freya) While meditating I didn''t feel the time pass, I am grateful for Freya warning me by shaking my shoulder, I interrupt my meditation and open my eyes. I look around and see everyone awake looking at me. "Thanks for the warning, Freya." (I) "Before we start this meeting I must first apologize to all of you, I didn''t expect to be unconscious for three days, I didn''t want to worry you like that either." (I) "You made everyone very worried this time master." (rica) "If it weren''t for Diana holding me I would have run to you the moment you fell to my knees." (rica) "To be honest, I also wanted to interrupt you the moment I felt your Ki getting dangerously low, but the master made it very clear that no matter what happened we shouldn''t interrupt you." (Diana) "But I didn''t like what I was seeing so avoid doing it again or next time I''ll try to stop you so it doesn''t happen again." (Diana) "I was very worried too, master." (Kira) "I thought I was going to lose you when I saw you fall to the ground." (Kira) "The master really worried everyone, but I think I speak for everyone when I say we''re glad you woke up." (Leo) "Once again I apologize for worrying you, I didn''t know the reaction to doing that would be so great." (I) "(Actually I had no idea what I was doing, I basically improvised each part, thinking better of it, I don''t even know how bad a soul damage is, but I''m not going to say those things to them.)" (I) Caryna walks to my bed with a tray of food and leaves it next to me. "Let''s forget about what''s happened, here master, I made these sandwiches and this soup for you, eat it to recover faster." (Caryna) "Thanks." (I) "(Leo was really lucky to have a wife like Caryna.)" (I) I look around for the little fairy, but I don''t see her anywhere. "Where''s Layla?" (I) "She''s on your side Dad." (Irina) I look to my side and see the Fairy sitting on the bed staring intently at the tray of food next to me. I''m surprised by the big change in her appearance, to start with she has shrunk in size now being 25cm tall, her skin is now brown in the same shade of color as mine, she still has four arms but now her arms are all the same in shape. and size, she now has hair that is red like mine with a black streak on one side and a white streak on the other side, her eyes now look normal with one having dark purple irises and the other eye having golden irises just like the mine too, her wings changed to bird-like wings in seven different colors, but the wings looked ethereal being kind of transparent, she''s wearing an outfit made of my lines and some black feathers, her outfit looks like a simple dress, she''s As pretty as those Fairy Queens I saw in my dream if she had a normal height she would look like someone in her late teens around 17 or 18. I''m glad she looks beautiful now, I can also feel my connection to her, it must be that connection that makes me feel so familiar with her. I take one of the sandwiches off the tray and give it to her with a smile. "If she''s hungry she''ll take it and eat some." (I) "Glad to see you''re okay now." (I) Layla looks at me and the sandwich, she takes the sandwich and pushes it forward, the sandwich disappears right in front of her like she''s placed it inside something invisible, at that moment it comes to my mind that she has the spatial element, so she must have used it to store the sandwich in some sort of item box. After that, she starts floating towards me and sits on my shoulder smiling at me, then hugs my neck. "Thank you for helping me master." (Layla) "How do you feel, any discomfort? Can you move your body normally?" (I) "I''m fine, this body is very comfortable, now that I only have one soul and one mind in my body, I don''t have any more problems controlling my body." (Layla) "I''m just having some issues with my memories." (Layla) "What''s the problem?" (I) "According to the Space Fairy Queen, I can only remember the memories and knowledge that the five Fairies that make up my soul had in common." (Layla) "Other than that the other memories get confused in my mind and it will take a while to get everything in order." (Layla) "Did you meet her too?" (I) "Yes, with her and with the other Faerie Kings, they gave me their Blessings and explained many things to me, master." (Layla) "How''s your power, can you control it now?" (I) "I can simply use the five elements that belonged to the Fairies that make me up, I''ll have to train to get used to them little by little." (Layla) "The element of darkness and light that the master gave me is no longer so simple, I''ll have to learn from scratch." (Layla) "How do you normally learn to control the elements?" (I) "Fairies and Spirits are one with their elements, we learn to control and use them the same way we learn to walk and fly, our elements are a part of our bodies." (Layla) "By your reasoning than can you be considered a newborn fairy?" (I) At my words I see little Layla''s cheeks flush with embarrassment. "Yes." (Layla) "No need to feel embarrassed about it, I''m sure you''ll be able to use your power normally soon." (I) After a short conversation with Layla, I look back at the others. "Did something happen while I was sleeping?" (I) Nira who has been quiet until now walks up to me and hands me a reading crystal. "Just as you asked three days ago, Anton and Tania made a list of what they still need, I took the list and researched prices and qualities of what was on the list across the city, here is the price list I compiled, the quantities they need and the full value of everything." (Nira) "Good job Nira, you''ve done a lot more than I expected." (I) "I''m so grateful for what you and Kira have done for me, so all I can do is do my best." (Nira) I look at the information in the read crystal and see the total, it has a total value of 3,000 other coins, with that value I don''t think we''ll have any problems, I return the read crystal to Nira. "I have nothing to complain about the price, I''ll leave the purchase of everything on the list to you Nira, then you can give it to Anton and Tania to start their work." (I) "Yes, I will start shopping tomorrow, master." (Nira) Nira goes back and Freya takes a step forward to speak. "I have to inform you that our food supply is getting a little low, we should only have food for two more days." (Freya) "Where has all that monster meat we kept gone?" (Diana) Freya looks back to where her daughter is trying to hide behind her husband Leo. "Someone took out all their frustration cooking non-stop for more than two days, the food that should have lasted for almost two weeks ended up that way." (Freya) "Sorry..." (Caryna) "Don''t worry about it Caryna, at least you helped to feed a lot of orphans." (I) "About the food, I think we can take some subjugation missions so we can get food and earn some money." (I) "I recommend Father to rest for a few more days, let us do these missions tomorrow." (Irius) "But I also wanted..." (I) "The master also wanted to be quiet and rest a few more days, didn''t he?" (rica) In the middle of my words, rica interrupts me and looks at me in a way that gave me a chill down my spine. "(I think I''m seeing things, for a moment I thought I saw a Demon behind rica.)" (I) "Fine, I''ll rest some more, but only for two days, understood." (I) "Sounds reasonable, but no physical training." (rica) "If no one has anything else to say then I suggest everyone go to bed early, you need to rest, anything you need to do can wait until tomorrow." (I) After ending the meeting everyone went to their rooms and I was alone in the room with Layla. "Where have you been sleeping these three days, Layla?" (I) "I sleep where the master sleeps." (Layla) "(As I imagined.)" (I) "What have you been up to during the time I''ve been sleeping? Did you get along with the others?" (I) "Everyone was really nice to me, I''ve been exploring the mansion and surroundings, but I spent most of the time on the master side waiting for you to wake up." (Layla) "This mansion is very strange with all this miasma, it seems cursed, but it''s lucky for you to live here master." (Layla) "Like this?" (I) "The Fairy Kings told me that the master had the title [ Friend of the Spirits ], so they wanted to give something the same to not be left behind the Spirits, they said they would give the master the title [ Friend of the Spirits ]." (Layla) "These titles were granted only to those appreciated by Fairies and Spirits at the top of the hierarchy, as such the Fairies and Spirits feel these titles and end up meeting close to those who have these titles." (Layla) "If you weren''t in this mansion in a month or two this place would be full of Spirits and Fairies, but as there''s miasma around here it will help hide you from at least the low-level majority like me." (Layla) "I don''t know if you know, but Spirits and Fairies don''t like a miasma, it can even be bad for us." (Layla) "If what you say is right then why are you and Byakko okay staying here?" (I) "Our contracts with you and Kira are protecting us, in my case I don''t need it, as I have the dark element now the miasma doesn''t affect me anymore, the Dark Fairies are usually half Demons, but in my case, it''s different as I have other elements, the way I got the dark element is also different." (Layla) "So how do I hide from Fairies and Spirits when I''m not in the mansion?" (I) "You just need to completely hide your Aura within you, your Aura is a representation of your existence so it reflects your titles, bloodlines, powers, etc." (Layla) "But I don''t normally use my Aura abilities." (I) Seems like Layla is smarter than I thought, I''m going to use this time we''re alone to learn more about her. Chapter 143: Fairy Knowledge When the meeting was over with everyone at the mansion, after I woke up I was talking to Layla to get to know each other better while talking her I realized that she has more knowledge about Aura than me, maybe she knows some things I don''t. I look over at Layla who is taking the sandwich I gave her earlier from the place where she kept it with her space element, it was like the sandwich just appeared out of nowhere. "What do you know about Auras, Layla?" (I) With my question Layla stops eating the sandwich and crosses two of her arms while holding the sandwich with the other two, her expression is like she''s trying to remember something. "The information about souls is common sense to Fairies, so it''s one of the things I remember well." (Layla) "Can you tell me more about this?" (I) "Aura is something that emanates from everyone and everything, Auras for living beings are the representation of everything that a person is, be it their powers, race, lineages, works, titles, soul, personality and emotions." (Layla) "But there is a difference between a person''s normal Aura and Aura Ability, Aura abilities are people''s personal traits, one of the countless traits they have in their Auras." (Layla) "I do not understand." (I) "To put it simply, an Aura is a set of one''s own traits, an Aura skill, on the other hand, is the crystallization of a single trait that stands out in the Aura." (Layla) "An example of this are mages, when a mage reaches a certain level with his magic he gains the Skill [ Magic Aura: 1 ] if that mage becomes even stronger in magic if he specializes in an element such as fire for example and reaches the maximum level of your Aura skill, then your Aura skill can evolve to [ Fire Magic Aura: 1 ]." (Layla) "Do you understand master?" (Layla) "I think I understand, you mean that the two abilities of Aura in your example are characteristics that stand out from this Mage, so those characteristics gave rise to this ability." (I) "What I really meant was that these Aura abilities are the very characteristic in your normal Aura." (Layla) "You have been hiding the characteristics of your Master Aura well, but your normal Aura is still very visible to incorporeal beings like Fairies and Spirits, people who have training in controlling their Auras can also feel your Master Aura, for me, I''m a Fairy it looks very inviting and I feel very comfortable around the master." (Layla) "But to other people, it will seem like a bottomless abyss." (Layla) "(Now things start to make more sense, so my Aura skills leveling up can be considered as the traits getting stronger, so the notification saying that my Aura has become stronger should be referring to my normal Aura.)" (I) "Does the master understand now? Normal Auras are a part of a person just like their arms and legs." (Layla) "A person doesn''t gain an ability for each member of their body but can gain skills on characteristics of those members such as strengthening those members to make them more resistant or stronger." (Layla) "I see, thanks for the explanation Layla, but what do you mean by Fairies and Spirits being incorporeal beings?" (I) "Our bodies are not made of flesh and blood, the bodies of Faeries for example are materializations of magical power along with elemental power, they are vessels for our souls and minds, while a leftover body part can recreate the part we lost with enough time. if we still have enough vital energy, but that doesn''t mean we don''t feel pain, our minds and souls being connected to these bodies allow us to do everything other living creatures can do like eat, drink, see, hear, feel pain, feel the temperature, etc." (Layla) "If I remember right, powerful mages can create these types of bodies they are also called [ Avatar Elemental ], but I don''t know much about it, the memories about it are still a little fuzzy." (Layla) "..." (I) Layla''s explanations are very clear and easy to understand, but I feel like she''s telling me very important things. "So the bodies of spirits are also the same as the bodies of fairies?" (I) "No, the Fairy bodies are built of pure magical and elemental power imbued with vital energy, but the Spirits'' bodies are made of spiritual power and pure elemental power also imbued with vital energy, they are similar but fundamentally different." (Layla) "Is there also how to create a body similar to a Spirit as you have for the Fairies?" (I) "Yes, there is, but this memory is a little confused too, I just remember what it''s called, I think it was [ Astral Body ]." (Layla) "(So this is what an astral body is, that shadow should be my astral body, it seems that my Blood Pact skill forced the creation of the astral body, so the two skills are sealed now, to use my astral body I will need to train techniques spiritual by the looks of it, so it''s going to take a while, for now, I''ll keep focusing on magic.)" (I) "(If I remember correctly Kira is learning some spiritual techniques from Byakko who remembered that I''ll save that for later.)" (I) "Why do you Fairies know all this?" (I) "Every fairy knows about her own body, we also know about Auras because we can see them and feel them normally the same way you can see and feel water or air." (Layla) "The reason we Fairies, as well as Spirits, can hide from people is because we can hide our Auras within us and make our bodies disembodied, for normal or weaker people we seem to be invisible." (Layla) "Thanks for clearing up a lot of things for me, but I''m surprised you know all this." (I) "For us, it is common knowledge, the same goes for you people, you also know what your bodies are like, you know that your bodies are made up of skin, flesh, blood, and bones." (Layla) "It''s normal for someone to know what makes up one''s body." (Layla) "You are right." (I) "Tell me something, rica once taught me that pure elements are very rare and that they allow the owner to use that element with any type of energy, be it mana, Ki, or spiritual power." (I) "But I''ve never seen Byakko use his elemental powers other than with spiritual power." (I) "What the master said before is correct for other races, but a Fairy''s body is made of Mana and her element, as such we can''t use any energy other than magical power." (Layla) "The same goes for Spirits, their bodies are composed of spiritual energy, so they are only able to use spiritual energy." (Layla) "Talking to you helped me understand a lot of things." (I) "I''m happy to help the master." (Layla) Talking to her in this short time has enlightened me with several things, I may not know much about this world, but I am lucky to have people I can count on. "You know a lot about Auras, could you teach me how to control mine?" (I) "Unfortunately not, master." (Layla) "A Fairy learns to control her Aura the same way as walking or flying, I don''t know how to do it consciously, I just do it." (Layla) "Can you explain to me how you can move your body for me or tell me how you can make your heartbeat?" (Layla) "I should have known it wouldn''t be so easy." (I) "When I have time I will have to find someone who can explain these things to me." (I) I look at the little fairy and one thing comes to mind, how am I going to walk with her on the streets? I don''t know the normal appearance of a Fairy, but I find it difficult for them to have colorful and transparent bird wings like Layla''s or have four arms like her. "I wonder how we can hide her appearance?" (I) At my words, Layla stands still and I see tears appearing in the corners of her eyes. "The master wants to hide my appearance?" (Layla) "Am I that ugly to the master?" (Layla) "What, that''s not it..." (I) "I''m so ugly that the master wants to hide me, I''m sorry for this appearance master." (Layla) "I didn''t mean..." (I) "Shame on someone as ugly as me getting so close to the master." (Layla) "Listen to me please, you''re not ugly, you''re beautiful, I meant hiding your four arms and wings so you don''t draw attention in the streets when we leave the mansion." (I) When I see that she is going to start crying for having misinterpreted what I said I try to explain myself only to be interrupted several times by her, when I finally get desperate to comfort her I take her in my hands and try to stroke her head gently as I explain. clear way for her to understand. At that moment she starts to laugh. "Hahahaha, the master believes in anything, hahahaha." (Layla) ".." (I) "I already understood master, I was just playing with you a little." (Layla) "I can''t believe you fell for it, ha ha hahaha..." (Layla) "You little..." (I) "You won''t be irritated by a simple and innocent joke, will you?" (Layla) As she told me not to get angry she looked at me with innocent and tearful eyes, for a moment I felt like she was seeing a puppy. "Fine, I won''t be pissed off just about that." (I) As I say this, I see Layla''s innocent, tearful face turn into a face of someone having fun with a big smile. This little Fairy is just kidding me, I thought Fairies were sweet, kind, and innocent. Looks like I was wrong, on second thought the Faerie Kings didn''t seem innocent at all, let alone this little Fairy who''s been pestering me. Sigh Well, it''s already night so I think I''ll go to sleep, tomorrow I''ll get up and try to do some light training and study more about magic. Chapter 144: Strange soul mysterious woman pov: The woman Zenos knows as a mysterious woman was in a place that looked like a cemetery, but the size of this cemetery was incomprehensible, it is stretching beyond the horizon in all directions, it was a strange landscape that makes a strong impact on anyone. that see. The landscape, at first sight, has mountains, forests, rivers, and even cities, but when you get closer you see headstones in all these places and no sign of life around, there is a faint black mist that permeates everywhere, the waters of the rivers are red with headstones on their edges, the mountains have headstones all over their length, and even in the forests there are tombs everywhere. The red-haired woman walks through the forest among the tombs with a sad expression on her face. She stops on the bank of a red river and looks back with a serious look. "Show up, I''m not in the mood right now to repeat myself." (mysterious woman) At the end of the words of the red-haired woman a point of light forms in the air and draws a circle in space, when the circle is complete the space inside the circle ripples like the shores of a lake, from within that circle a haired woman and golden eyes wearing a plain white dress that contrasts with her black skin sai, her beauty so great there are no words to describe her, golden butterfly wings shimmering on her back. "Why are you fairy goddess here." (mysterious woman) The two women of incomparable beauty look each other in the eye until the woman called the Goddess of the Fairies looks away to look at her surroundings with regret. "You should stop coming here, your sadness is filling this place with miasma once more." (Goddess of Fairies) "Someone needs to come here to feel sad about their deaths, I''m the only one who still comes every year." (mysterious woman) "You know that''s not true, others come here to grieve too, just not as often as you do." (Goddess of Fairies) "Do any of them even remember the names of those who are buried here!?" (mysterious woman) "Do any of them still remember why these tombs are in this place instead of being among the mortals where they belong!?" (mysterious woman) "Calm down please, I know I have no right to talk about it as it didn''t exist at that time, but no one has forgotten this place, even I thank everyone buried here for your sacrifice." (Goddess of Fairies) "I wish that idiot of Light had his wisdom." (mysterious woman) The red-haired woman looks up at the sky where a broken moon lies before looking again at the Fairy Goddess. "Why did you come to me?" (mysterious woman) "The Fairy Kings who are under the command of one of my daughters have reported something strange." (Goddess of Fairies) "..." (mysterious woman) "My daughter came to me to warn me about this, imagine my shock to find out about a new race of Fairy that has seven pure elements." (Goddess of Fairies) "..." (mysterious woman) "I was surprised but I was also happy with the news, I had been having problems for the last fifty years to pick a champion." (Goddess of Fairies) "But now it''s already chosen, I took a look at her too, her personality reminds me a lot of my own in my early years, she also has a lot of potential and great willpower." (Goddess of Fairies) "So she has the same personality as you?" (mysterious woman) "I feel sorry for those who pissed her off then." (mysterious woman) "Don''t say that, haven''t you ever heard that Fairies are innocent and friendly?" (Goddess of Fairies) "Hahahahahahaha..." (mysterious woman) "People only know them that way because those who saw the angry Fairies didn''t survive." (mysterious woman) "Well now that your mood has improved let''s talk about the other thing my daughter informed me about that I saw when I went to see my future champion." (Goddess of Fairies) "..." (mysterious woman) At that moment the Fairy Goddess looks seriously at the red-haired woman who looks away to the side with an expressionless face. "The five Fairy Kings passed the information on to my daughter, who later relayed it to me, saying that there is a Vampire who can walk during the day, that this same Vampire seems to have a strange bloodline and that this Vampire has a contract with my champion. " (Goddess of Fairies) "Actually he basically created my champion as he bestowed two of the seven pure elements she possesses, he was also the one who used her power to transform his race and make it go through a spiritual rebirth." (Goddess of Fairies) "But the strangest thing was that the Fairy Kings saw the soul of this Vampire, I couldn''t believe the information I received and went to see for myself, what I found there was exactly what they described to me." (Goddess of Fairies) "..." (mysterious woman) "You don''t have anything to say?" (Goddess of Fairies) "Never mind that, I''m taking care of everything." (mysterious woman) "Taking care of everything?!" (Goddess of Fairies) "That Vampire has a soul fused with the unique element of Chaos, this should be impossible if any of the arrogant and idiots who are on the God of Light''s side know that there will be another holy war, not to mention what the evil Gods would do with if he finds it." (Goddess of Fairies) "You know there are still some evil Gods left, so why did you do this to this Vampire." (Goddess of Fairies) "I didn''t do anything to him, that was always his natural state of mind, he was just asleep before he came to this world." (mysterious woman) "I''m protecting him, others won''t be able to feel him or see through him, when they realize what''s happened it''ll be too late." (mysterious woman) sigh "..." (Goddess of Fairies) "Who else knows?" (Goddess of Fairies) "The Dragon and the Wolf." (mysterious woman) "Great job hiding him." (Goddess of Fairies) "That muscle-head Wolf only noticed him because of his connection to the Champion he chose, just like you." (mysterious woman) "The Dragon only felt through other means, he felt his will, something only the Dragon can." (mysterious woman) "I don''t like this situation, but he saved those who were supposed to be under my protection, so I gave permission to give him a title so I''ll keep an eye on him too, the title will also help mask the Chaos within him from others. " (Goddess of Fairies) "Thanks." (mysterious woman) "I trust you, so do others, so do what you think is right, just be more cautious." (Goddess of Fairies) "I gave an ability for the Faerie Kings to give him, this ability will help hide him." (Goddess of Fairies) "Thanks for that, making him create an astral body now didn''t go as well as I thought, his soul damage was greater than I imagined." (mysterious woman) "His plan was always to make the Faerie Kings heal him, wasn''t it?" (Goddess of Fairies) "It wasn''t a plan, I just knew that healing his soul was the least you would do for him, I didn''t lie to him either, for him to have a chance to help that Fairy he needed to have an astral body to take care of the souls inside the Fairy." (mysterious woman) Sigh "Your way of thinking about him is always very strange, he could have died the moment his astral body is complete, in fact, I don''t even know how someone with his level of strength survived that." (Goddess of Fairies) "I always knew he would resist, so I tried, his soul is more resistant than others." (mysterious woman) The Fairy Goddess looked around one last time and raised her hand, a wave of multi-colored light spreading in all directions making the fine black mist that permeated everywhere disappear. "I''m leaving now, I advise you to go too, I''ve cleared the miasma of this little world, but if you keep spreading your sadness here it will resurface." (Goddess of Fairies) "I''m on my way too, I hope the next time you come bring something nice to eat." (mysterious woman) "I''ll remember that, see you later." (Goddess of Fairies) The Fairy Goddess turns and goes back to the circle, as she enters the inside of the circle, it stops rippling and the circle disappears. The red-haired woman looks up at the sky with a slight smile on her face before taking one last look at the headstones around her. "Be strong faster my dear Zenos, I need you to be ready when the time comes, I can''t let this tragedy happen again, this time I won''t be the useless one being protected." (mysterious woman) "Now I have the power and authority to do something, but that won''t be enough." (mysterious woman) The mysterious woman raises one of her hands and claws grow from her fingers, she reaches out and squeezes making her claws rip five small holes in space, soon cracks start to spread from those holes, then blood starts to come out of the holes and cracks make as pieces of space fell and disintegrated, all that was left in place was a red vortex where the mysterious woman entered, then the space around the vortex crushes it making it disappear. Once again the place around was calm with nothing and no one around, just a place with no living beings, a world filled with tombs and headstones for those who were called champions. Chapter 145: Choosing a Dungeon The next day I wake up startled with something violently moving inside my mouth, when I get up having to take what''s in my mouth only to find it was Layla. "..." (I) "Why did you do this to me, idiot master, evil master, I just wanted to see your teeth and fangs, but suddenly you closed your mouth on me." (Layla) She started to complain to me and try to punch me with her four hands, but I don''t feel anything, she doesn''t have any strength in her little body. "Alright, alright, sorry about that, I was dreaming I was eating a piece of cake." (I) "I''m not a piece of cake!" (Layla) "I already said I''m sorry." (I) I get out of bed holding Layla who was covered in saliva, go to the bathroom to wash my face and teeth, and leave Layla in another corner bathing in a bucket like a bathtub. After helping Layla dry off I clean her dress with her liquid soap potion so Layla quickly dries her clothes using one of her elemental affinities which is fire to heat up her clothes and dress her again. After that, we went down to the kitchen to get something to eat and met the others in the kitchen, but Diana, rica, Ibuki, Kira, Byakko, Irina, and Irius weren''t there. "Have the others been to the Adventurers'' Guild?" (I) "Yes, they said they''ll be back later this afternoon." (Leo) "Then I''ll spend my time training my magic a little." (I) "Don''t try too hard, master." (Freya) "It will be light training, I promise." (I) While I ate I talked a little with everyone. "Are you going out shopping for the stories we talked about yesterday, Nira?" (I) "I will, master." (Nira) "rica has already left me with the money and enough storage items empty for me to bring everything." (Nira) "Great, take Leo and Alice with you, walking alone isn''t very safe." (I) "All right." (Nira) "When you get back you can deliver everything to Tania and Anton." (I) I turn to the couple who are eating as they mumble to each other and draw on sheets of paper lying on the table. "What are you two doing?" (I) "My wife and I are designing combat clothes for you." (Anton) "She will take care of the details and design of the outfit itself, I take care of handling the monster materials she will use." (Anton) "You wouldn''t look good in armor, I also talked to Diana and Kira to find out how you fight, rica also told me that you''re learning magic." (Tania) "As you are a melee fighter but you are also learning magic, not to mention that Kira was kind enough to let me know that she felt a strong spiritual energy emanating from you." (Tania) Sigh "I have to consider all of this to make the combat gear that best suits your needs, master, and your being able to do so many things is making my job a little difficult." (Tania) "I appreciate your effort, but you don''t have to work so hard now, just do your best for when you have more time and resources available." (I) "Just do the preparation for now and try to make tough clothes, let''s wait for the others to come back from the Guild mission to discuss which of the two Dungeons to pick to explore, so you can make the clothes thinking about the kind of enemy we''re going to face." (I) "The same goes for you, Anton." (I) "It will take us a while to do all this, when do you plan to start exploring the Dungeon?" (Anton) "I would like it to be as soon as possible, but I think it will take a while as we need to prepare with your weapons, armor, and combat clothing." (I) "How about two weeks?" (I) "..." (Anton) "Two weeks is a little tight, but I think I can manage and you Anton?" (Tania) "I''ll need some help, but I''ll get it in time." (Anton) "That''s good, if you need help you can ask Nolan or Leo." (I) After talking a little with everyone I go back to my room and meditate and train a little my Elemental Affinities until it''s time for everyone to go back to decide on the Dungeon. -------------- "Wake up master, wake up." (Layla) "..." (I) I hear Layla''s voice and feel her jumping on top of my head, so I break the meditation and open my eyes. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Affinity with Curse: 6 > 7 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Deep Meditation: 1 > 2 ] ]> After I open my eyes Layla keeps circling around my head laughing. "Couldn''t you wake me up more gently?" (I) "But where would the fun be?" (Layla) "Your personality really doesn''t match your looks." (I) "(She looks so pretty and looks so innocent, no one would suspect they are being fooled by her looks.)" (I) "I don''t know what you''re talking about, I''m a beautiful, sweet, and innocent fairy." (Layla) I look at her horrible performance unwilling to say anything. "Then why did you wake me up?" (I) "Sophia asked me to let you know that Diana''s group has already returned and that Nira has already purchased the materials and tools the idiot couple wanted." (Layla) "Thanks for the warning, let''s go down then." (I) I get up from the floor where I was sitting cross-legged and walk to the door, opening the door Layla stops flying and lies on my shoulder leaning on my neck. "She gives me a ride, I''m too lazy to fly back." (Layla) Sigh "Where is the dignity of fairies?" (I) "Is this from eating?" (Layla) We both go downstairs and into the room beside the grand ballroom, I arrive with Diana who was using a towel to dry her hair and wearing light clothing. "Are you coming back from the shower?" (I) "Yes, as I went to save the monsters'' meat and the money for fulfilling the mission, I ended up being the last one to take a bath." (Diana) "Did you have a good day, master?" (Diana) "I spent the day meditating, I''m fine, let''s go to the living room to be with the others." (I) Diana nods in agreement and we go in, I see they''re all here, I think Freya must have gathered them all. "Here is a place, Father." (Irina) "Thank you, Irina." (I) Irina calls me to sit between her and Sophia on a couch, after I sit down I take one last look to see if everyone is paying attention before the meeting starts. "I think I''ve said it before, but today I want to talk to you guys so we can decide on a Dungeon to explore." (I) "For that, I want everyone''s opinion, so if you have any questions or ideas you want to talk about, feel free to share." (I) After I''m done speaking Diana raises her hand. "Want to say something, Diana?" (I) "I know I said before that we could explore the first five floors of a Dungeon, but before we start planning on that, we have to get better equipped first." (Diana) "That''s not a problem, I already talked to Anton and Tania earlier today, they said they can finish clothes, armor, and weapons in two weeks, so if you have any requests or suggestions please talk to them." (I) "If so, then I have nothing to say about it." (Diana) "Now with the equipment issue resolved, I want to ask which of the two Dungeons should we choose to explore in two weeks?" (I) Once again the person who raised his hand first was Diana. "You can talk." (I) "I advise choosing the Great Serpent Dungeon." (Diana) "Why?" (I) "As the name of the Dungeon already suggests, the only type of monster that appears there are snakes, most of them have poison attacks, there are also poisonous environments inside the dungeon, but almost all members of our group already have resistance against poisons, without tell us that we have a white mage in our group, so we don''t need to fear the poison." (Diana) What Diana said makes a lot of sense, in this dungeon we''ll already know the type of monsters that will appear, we won''t have to worry about the most problematic attacks, which are the poisonous ones. At that moment Irius raises his hand. "I don''t know what the other dungeon is, but Diana''s choice makes sense considering we have the skills to go against poison, my Sister and I have a lot of experience facing enemies with poison powers, so I support Diana''s opinion." (Irius) "You have nothing to say, Irina?" (I) "I agree with everything my brother and Diana said." (Irina) "Does anyone else have something to say?" (I) I wait a few seconds but no one raises their hand, everyone seems to agree. "Okay so Anton and Tania, I want you to concentrate on finishing our group''s equipment first, Diana wants you and Kira to get information about the floors we''re going to explore in this dungeon." (I) "Leo, Freya and Sophia do you want to become adventurers too?" (I) "I would like to, but I don''t know if they would accept an ex outlaw." (Leo) "I was a warrior and soldier of the Elves, but now I serve Lord Master Zenos, I don''t care whether I''m an adventurer or not, but I''d like to become one so I can stay by your side during your missions." (Sophia) "I regret using my bow and arrow in combat, it''s been over a century since the last time, so if the master could allow me to become an adventurer I would love to follow you on your adventures." (Freya) Leo seemed in doubt whether he would be accepted into the Adventurers Guild for being a former thug, Sophia seems to want to use the adventurer position to fight alongside me in the quests and Freya seems to be excited about the idea of ??going out on adventures. "Then I will give you the chance, you have these two weeks to become adventurers, then you can join our group in the Guild." (I) "Don''t always expect to go out on missions, I want some combat-ready people to be here when we''re out on a Guild mission, I want this to be able to protect those who aren''t used to fighting if someone breaks into the mansion or is attacked in the street." (I) I talked to everyone about exploring the Dungeon of the Great Serpent, assigned tasks to complete in those two weeks, and talked about the details of what I expect from Leo, Freya, and Sophia if they choose to become adventurers. Chapter 146: Night talk After the meeting I went to my room and told Kira to follow me, I wanted to talk about some things with her, Layla is still lying on my shoulder lazily. When I get to my room I go straight to the balcony, this is a good place to talk, I lean against the balcony and turn to Kira. "I have something I need her help with, Kira." (I) "You can ask for anything, master." (Kira) "I want you to seek information on some criminal Alchemist who has the unique ability [ Synthesis: 1 ]." (I) "The more despicable the Alchemist the better, if you think you can kidnap this Alchemist easily I''ll let you do it." (I) "I can do this master, but why do you need an Alchemist like that?" (Kira) "I don''t want the Alchemist per se, but rather the unique ability [ Synthesis: 1 ]." (I) "The reason I look for someone who is despicable is so I don''t feel too guilty when I kill and devour him." (I) "You''re pretty straightforward to say it so calmly." (Layla) "I guess the others haven''t told you yet, but I have the ability to acquire the skills of those I eat." (I) Layla is startled by this revelation and widened her eyes, then flashed the dangerous smile you would normally expect from a supervillain in hero movies. "What a cool skill." (Layla) "Why don''t you start looking for strong people to kill and devour?" (Layla) "That way you would get stronger quickly." (Layla) "I don''t plan on using my abilities to do such cruel things, I''m not going to kill people for no reason, nor do I plan on killing innocent people to get something." (I) "If I were to do it the way you''re talking, then it wouldn''t be any different from the monsters or the Necromancer who experimented on you." (I) "It would also attract a lot of attention, I would end up being hunted down and killed by people stronger than me or more than me." (I) "The master is right, but it doesn''t change the fact that he''s looking for an excuse to kill and devour someone." (Layla) "I don''t care, anyway I won''t feel bad killing short like the three despicable Alchemists who showed up at the auction." (I) "It shouldn''t be hard to find an Alchemist like that, this town has the headquarters of the Alchemist Guild after all." (Kira) "This is also the city where illegal potions, poisons, and drugs are most manufactured and distributed across the continent, almost every criminal or clandestine organization in this Kingdom has an Alchemist working for them." (Kira) "I''ll leave everything in your hands then." (I) "But I need the information or the Alchemist within those two weeks before we go exploring the Great Serpent Dungeon." (I) "If we were in another Realm it might be almost impossible to find someone with the characteristics the master spoke of, but in this city, I should get it this week." (Kira) "Don''t run into unnecessary danger, take your time investigating." (I) "Yes, I''ll get some information from the Assassin Guild first, I''ll go right away." (Kira) "You must be tired of the mission you had today, let it go tomorrow." (I) "You''re right, it will be important for me to be in full force if the possibility arises of getting an Alchemist for you." (Kira) "I''m going to bed early to be rested tomorrow." (Kira) "Have a good night, Kira." (I) "You too, master." (Kira) I see Kira come out of my room, so I lie down on the porch floor to watch the starry sky, when I lay down Layla comes off my shoulder and lays barrel up on my chest to watch the starry sky with me. "You want to do what with this unique ability you asked Kira to look for." (Layla) "I read in an alchemy book about this ability, I''m going to need it soon, so I think I''d better get it before I start exploring the dungeon." (I) "Does the master need to kill the person to get the skill?" (Layla) "No, I can just drink some blood, eat meat or eat bones, any part of the body will do, the blood does the least damage." (I) "You''ve already met Irina and Irius, haven''t you?" (I) "Yes." (Layla) "The ability of the pure light element I bestowed on you came from them, I just needed to drink a lot of their blood." (I) "Then why not look for an Alchemist who has the skill you need, instead of going through the grueling job of going after a criminal Alchemist?" (Layla) "I admit I''m not a good person, but I''m not a monster, I don''t want to do something against an innocent person, that''s why I don''t try to drink anyone''s blood in this mansion either." (I) "This type of action goes against what I believe is right." (I) "You say that, but you''re thinking about killing and devouring a person, you''re being a hypocrite." (Layla) "I don''t care, this is my way of doing things, I don''t care what others say." (I) She and I spent a few minutes talking while we saw the stars, at that moment I remember something. "You know I forgot, I had already asked you if I was capable of doing something about your appearance." (I) "I think you draw a lot more attention in that appearance, with five Vampires and a Demon living in this mansion I don''t think it''s good to draw this unnecessary attention to us." (I) "Don''t worry, I already thought of something the first time you talked to me about it." (Layla) "Tell me more." (I) "I can hide two of my arms by transforming en energy and keeping it inside me, I can also change the color of my wings so it has only one color." (Layla) "But I won''t be able to change the color of my hair and eyes, I can''t change my appearance either, just hiding my appearance like this is going to be a little uncomfortable." (Layla) "Others will notice your eyes are like mine." (I) "Good luck making up something to excuse this." (Layla) Sigh So many things are happening but I want to start exploring that dungeon soon, if you think about it I am eager and happy to explore a dungeon that should be considered a dangerous place, but who can blame me? For me as a game creator, this is going to be an amazing experience, I''m also looking forward to it because I want to start evolving as soon as possible, I don''t want to stay in this childish body for too long. I think now that I have time I''m going to take a look at my status and abilities to see what changes the notifications talked about after I woke up yesterday. <[ NAME: Zenos RACE: Twilight Vampire (Unique) GENRE: Man LEVEL: 6/50 EXP: 39/136 LINEAGE: [ ] [ Twilight Vampire (Zenos): Original ] [ Horned Rabbit: 100% ] [ Flaming Snake: 15% ] [ Little Spider: 17% ] [ Gray Wolf: 100% ] [ Kobold: 100 % ] [ Human: 100% ] [ Dwarf: 14% ] [ Tiger Beast Man: 17% ] [ Vampire Bat: 100% ] [ Earth Monkey: 100% ] [ Blood Wolf: 100% ] WORK: [ Apprentice hunter ] WORK LEVEL: 1/10 WORK EXP: 0/25 WORK HISTORY: [ Apprentice Wizard: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Warrior: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Martial Artist: 10/10 ] HP: 122/122 MP: 396/396 Ki: 142/142 EP: 650/650 Strength: 126 (+38) Dexterity: 102 (+30) Agility: 113 (+30) Defense: 86 (+25) Intelligence: 175 (+25) Magic Defense: 116 (+25) Charm: 200 (+1550) Luck: -50 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: ? [ ? ] [ ?? ] [ World Transgressor ] [ Last of his kind ] [ First of his kind ] [ He who brings chaos ] [ Named Monster ] [ Unique Monster ] [ True Master ] [ Founder of Chaos Fist ] [ Novice Mage ] [ Goblin Chief ] [ Novice Adventurer ] [ Literate ] [ Thief ] [ Kidnapper ] [ Goblin Killer ] [ Friend of Spirits ] [ Founder Blade of Chaos Technique ] [ Blood Child ] [ Day Walker ] [ Patriarch ( Twilight Vampires ) ] [ Shadow Eclipse group leader ] [ Fairy Friend ] [ Fairy Contractor: Layla (Lesser Chaos Fairy) ] ]> <[ PASSIVE SKILLS: ? [ Vampirism: 1 ] [ Insatiable Lower Stomach: 1 ] [ Weak Hunger Resistance: 1 ] [ Paralysis Resistance: 1 ] [ Poison Resistance: 1 ] [ Physical Damage Resistance: 1 ] [ Weak Blood Elemental Affinity: 9 ] [ Mana Sense : 2 ] [ Weak Affinity for Curse : 7 ] [ Deep Meditation : 2 ] [ Weak Fire Resistance : 1 ] [ Goblin Language : 10 ] [ Reinforce Weak Subordinates: 3 ] [ Improved Sexual Stamina: 7 ] [ Weak Body Enhancement (Legs): 1 ] [ Improved Hearing: 1 ] [ Weak Body Enhancement (Exoskeleton): 1 ] [ Improved Nose: 1 ] [ Superior Mana Control: 1 ] [ Kobold Language: 1 ] [ Group Coordination : 3 ] [ Weak Wind Elemental Affinity: 4 ] [ Trap Construction: 3 ] [ Improved Strength: 4 ] [ Weak Dark Elemental Affinity: 6 ] [ Martial Art Chaos Fist: 4 ] [ Major Mental Disorder: 1 ] [ Common Language: 10 ] [ Trigan Language: 1 ] [ Sword Handling: 1 ] [ Basic Spear Handling: 1 ] [ Fire Magical Elemental Affinity: 3 ] [ Knife Handling: 1 ] [ Basic Arithmetic: 10 ] [ Carpentry: 4 ] [ Architecture: 2 ] [ Agriculture: 1 ] [ Basic Forge: 1 ] [ Ki Sense: 5 ] [ Spiritual Sense: 2 ] [ Parallel Thinking : 6 ] [ Dismantle: 1 ] [ Body Enhancement (Fangs): 4 ] [ Pain Resistance: 4 ] [ Earth Magic Element Affinity: 4 ] [ Earth Magic Element Resistance: 1 ] [ Water Magic Elemental Affinity: 2 ] [ Weak Light Elemental Affinity: 3] [ Weak Light Elemental Resistance: 1 ] [ Leadership: 1 ] [ Faerie Contract ] [ Weak Soul Damage Resistance: 1 ] ACTIVE SKILLS: ? [ Vampire Bite: 1 ] [ Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 1 ] [ Poor Blood Detection: 2 ] [ Swim: 1 ] [ Poison Secretion: 1 ] [ Weak Blood Control: 5 ] [ Aura of Judgment: 3 ] [ Recovery: 1 ] [ Reinforced Line Production: 1 ] [ Magic Line Production: 2 ] [ Line Control & Manipulation: 2 ] [ Weak Body Charge: 1 ] [ Jump: 5 ] [ Light Fire Breath: 5 ] [ Poison Spit: 4 ] [ Snake Scale Production: 1 ] [ Body Manipulation: 4 ] [ Corrosion: 4 ] [ Detect Presence: 1 ] [ Vampire Claws: 1 ] [ Blood Servant: 3 ] [ Great magical body boost: 1 ] [ Intimidation: 4 ] [ Basic non-elemental magic: 7 ] [ Basic wind magic: 1 ] [ Basic fire magic: 1 ] [ Hide: 1 ] [ Detect trap: 1 ] [ Basic Steal: 1 ] [ Night Vision: 3 ] [ Ki Control: 1 ] [ Basic Hammer Technique: 1 ] [ Assassination Technique: 1 ] [ Sword Technique: 1 ] [ Dagger Technique: 1 ] [ Blade Technique of Chaos: 4 ] [ Sonic scream: 1 ] [ Sense Life: 5] [ Vampire Servant: 2 ] [ Seismic Sense: 5 ] [ White Magic: 1 ] [ Blade of Light: 1 ] UNIQUE SKILLS: [ ?? ] [ Chaotic Devourer ] [ Identify: 2 ] [ Aura of Chaos : 3 ] [ Hide Mark ] ? BLESSINGS: [ ] [ Forums (Fire Fairy King) ] [ Hera (Wood Fairy Queen) ] [ Jana (Ice Fairy Queen) ] [ Railgun (Thunder Fairy King) ] [ Mavis ( Queen of Space Fairy) ] ]> Chapter 147: Two weeks of progress I was very surprised by the big changes in my status, my abilities are as I imagined, but I was mainly surprised by the amount of spiritual power I have. If I remember correctly I should only have gained (+150) EP (Spiritual Power) after recovering from my soul wounds, does that mean I had 500 EP, or is that the reason I have such a large amount of spiritual power is that I managed to create that astral body? I can''t think about it right now, I don''t know anything about spiritual energy, souls, or the spiritual body, so I''ll think about it when I have the necessary knowledge. When I look at this amount of abilities and bloodlines I see how much I need that ability [ Synthesis: 1 ]. I also find the skills and titles I gained yesterday, I will use my [ Identify: 2 ] skill to find out more about them. Ding! <[ Skills identification result: ? [ Fairy Contract ]--> allows you to form a contract with a Fairy. The owner can share meanings with the contract target depending on the depth of connection between the owner and the contractor. This ability allows you to use spells, abilities, and techniques in conjunction with the hired Fairy. Active contracts: [ Layla (Fairy of Lower Chaos) ] ? [ Weak Soul Damage Resistance: 1 ]--> Slightly increased resistance to attacks against the owner''s soul. ? [ Hide Mark ]--> ability that allows you to hide skills, titles, jobs, races, names, bloodlines, and/or owner status. This ability also allows the owner to place a mark to hide someone''s abilities, titles, jobs, races, names, bloodlines, and/or status, the person receiving the concealment mark must accept the mark of their own free will. Hide to skill owner: COST: no cost Give the withhold mark to someone: COST: 100 MP ]> Ding! <[ Result of identification of titles: ? [ Friend of the Spirits ]--> The owner of this title was recognized as someone of trust and as someone who helps the Spirits, as such all the Spirits will have a good impression of you and will be attracted by your Aura that will be marked by the power of the Spirits. This title also grants the ability to see and converse with Spirits. BONUS: (2) more spiritual attack power for you and the Spirit you have a contract with. ? [ Fairy Friend ]--> The owner of this title has been recognized as someone you can trust and as someone who helps Fairies, as such all Fairies will have a good impression of you and will be attracted by your Aura which will be marked by the power of the Fairies. This title also grants the ability to see and converse with Fairies. BONUS: (2) More magic attack power for you and the Fairy you have a contract with. ? [ Faerie Contractor: Layla (Fairy of Lesser Chaos) ] --> The owner of this title has a contract with the Fairy Layla (Fairy of Lesser Chaos). This title represents the strong connection between the owner and the hired Fairy. BONUS: Ability to use abilities through your hired Fairy. ]> The titles are as I imagined, I even identified the title [ Friend of the Spirits ] that I received when I met Kira to try to compare it with the title [ Friend of the Fairies ] and realized that it has the same effects, the title that represents my contract with Layla allows me to use my abilities through her that might be easier than I did with Diana when she was in danger. It seems that all titles have good effects that will help me a lot in the future. The skills are also as I expected, but I''m surprised at the cost of the skill [ Mark of Concealment ]. Even with my current MP amount, the cost to use this skill on someone else is too high. I look again at my stat to confirm that those two abilities were there, but I don''t seem to be able to see abilities sealed in my stat. I really wanted to identify those two abilities, I missed an excellent opportunity when the mysterious woman released the ability seal [ Blood Pact ], I could have identified this ability, but I was thinking about it too much and missed the opportunity. Sigh I stop thinking about these things and focus on this starry sky, it just soothes me and makes me forget all these problems and worries. "Why are you sighing, master?" (Layla) "It''s nothing, I was just checking my status and I realized I still have a lot to do." (I) "You spend too much time worrying about everything, you should have more fun." (Layla) "I can have fun when we have a more stable life, for that, we need a safe place, money, and strength." (I) "Right now we don''t have any of the three." (I) "With some effort, we can earn money and get EXP in the Dungeon." (I) "I want to go too." (Layla) "I''ll only let you go with us if you''re able to use your elemental powers correctly." (I) "I''ll make an effort starting tomorrow, I certainly won''t miss the opportunity to beat up some monsters." (Layla) Layla and I spent some time talking on the porch of my room, we were lying on the porch floor watching the starry sky, after some time I went to my bed to sleep and Layla slept beside me. --------------- Two weeks later: These two weeks were very productive, I concentrated on leveling up just my Elemental Affinity type skills and magic skills. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low Blood Elemental Affinity: 9 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Affinity with Curse: 7 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low Wind Elemental Affinity: 4 > 9 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak elemental Affinity: 6 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Fire magic elemental affinity: 3 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Earth magic elemental affinity: 4 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Water magic elemental affinity: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Light Elemental Affinity: 3 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Blood Control: 5 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic non-elemental magic: 7 > 9 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic Fire Magic: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Mana sense: 2 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Deep Meditation: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Parallel thinking: 6 > 7 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Poor blood detection: 2 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Corrosion: 4 > 5 ] ]> . . . <[ You learned the skill [ Basic Earth Magic: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic Earth Magic: 1 > 3 ] ]> I was only able to train so many skills because I used the parallel thinking skill all the time to always be training two skills at the same time. Today I was lying on the floor of my bedroom balcony, it was already getting dark when Kira came to talk to me. "Master here is the information you asked for, I could only find an Alchemist with the characteristics you wanted." (Kira) "That''s enough, thank you Kira." (I) "Do you plan to capture this Alchemist?" (Kira) "If he''s that bad, then I''m going to kill him." (I) "Even if I found an Alchemist, it''s going to be a little difficult to get to him." (Kira) "Why?" (I) "He is always being protected by ten Grade C adventurers." (Kira) "Do you know where he is? Do you know if he''s ever been alone?" (I) "All of this is in the information I gave you." (Kira) "But the answer is yes when he is in his laboratory he is alone making drugs and potions that he tries on orphans and people in the poorest part of the city that are handed over to him by the criminal organization he works for." (Kira) "But even so, your security guards are always hanging around the building and there''s always someone at the entrance to the room where the Alchemist''s laboratory is, and there''s also always one or two people under the window watching from the outside." (Kira) "I''ll think of something, thanks Kira." (I) After talking to Kira I go over everything that happened in these two weeks to see if we have everything ready. Anton and Tania have already delivered our equipment, as promised are combat clothing and armor resistance against magical attacks and physical damage, Anton also made weapons for everyone the way we asked. In these two weeks Freya, Sophia, and Leo became adventurers, their ratings are Freya Grade -B, Sophia Grade +C, and Leo Grade -C. Another thing that happened during these two weeks is that Layla learned to control and use in combat the five elements she already had before but is still having difficulty with the dark and light elements. I also improved in my studies of magic, now I am able to use non-elemental magic, fire magic, earth magic, and light magic. I have been taught by rica and Irina, even though I can use these spells in combat, I can only use lower-level spells, but for now, this is enough. Everyone continued training during these two weeks, now what I need is to go to the Adventurers Guild to pick up some quests that can be completed in the Dungeon of the Great Serpent. Tonight I''m going to talk to everyone to decide who''s going to go to the dungeon or not. After thinking through all of this I read the report and the information Kira gave me about this Alchemist, I was even more eager to kill him when I finished reading. After simulating in my mind several scenarios an idea came to my mind, but I will have to discover its viability with others. Chapter 148: Missing alchemist At the end of the night, I brought everyone together for our daily night meeting, I started to really enjoy these meetings as at this point we can all share our thoughts on various topics, but it''s a shame that some people never say anything during the meetings, these people are Ibuki, Alice, Nolan, Caryna and Leo. When I asked them why they didn''t participate more actively in the meetings they each gave a different reason, Ibuki said the issues were too difficult for her to understand, Leo said her opinions are very similar to Diana''s so there isn''t much to add in the things under discussion, Alice and Nolan said the same thing, they said that as commoners they didn''t have any kind of understanding about the things we talked about during the meetings, before they came here they didn''t even know how to do simple math, in Alice''s case it was even worse since I couldn''t even read or write. They said that they only know how to speak the common language because this is a city that most of the population are merchants or adventurers, so even commoners end up learning the common language along with the Trigan language as they grow up. But Alice and Nolan told me it''s been taught by Irius and Irina, they''ve now been training in reading simple books to practice, for now, I won''t interfere, but I plan to teach math to everyone in the mansion, one of the things I realized was that this one was a type of knowledge that normally only the Nobility is the merchants learned, but I want to teach this to others as well. After getting everyone together I first went over all the preparation we''ve been doing to start exploring the Dungeon, I did it to confirm that nothing else was missing. Afterward, I confirmed how everyone''s day has been and if there was any news, having almost finished I call Kira to tell me more about her report, I read it all but I would like to hear some parts of it from her mouth to make sure I didn''t leave spend anything. "Are you sure when this Alchemist is in your lab no one else enters?" (I) "Yes, I watched him for a few days, I wanted to try to bring him to you, but the clandestine organization he belongs to keeps him well protected, even the building where the laboratory is located is well guarded." (Kira) "I noticed that from your report, I could also see that you mentioned that the lab windows have magical barriers." (I) "Can you tell me more about them?" (I) "I thought I could enter through one of these windows, but then I discovered this barrier, it prevents the entry of magic items, it prevents the entry of things above a certain speed, it prevents the passage of spells and it prevents the entry of objects larger than a little bird." (Kira) "You mentioned this in your report, but how did you discover this bird information?" (I) "The barrier wasn''t very strong, but by the time breaking the barrier would alert the Alchemist and the security guards around him, I was getting frustrated when I saw that a bird managed to break through the barrier and land on the window." (Kira) "(Just as I thought, it looks like my plan might work.)" (I) "I thought I could do something with it, but the moment I attached a small magic item to the bird''s leg it couldn''t get through the barrier anymore, its leg was stuck out." (Kira) "(This is also good information that wasn''t in the report, I just need to make a small change to the plan.)" (I) "Thank you so much for the information, Kira." (I) "I''ve already thought about how I can get this Alchemist, I''ll tell you my plan." (I) -------------- After an hour of explaining my plan everyone understood, Diana and Kira said it was a good plan, Irius was furious to hear about the activities the Alchemist did use orphans as guinea pigs for his potions and drugs. Alice for some reason had dangerous eyes as rica had at the time, but neither of them spoke the reason for that, Freya didn''t show it on her face, but I could feel a slight bloodlust coming out of her when Kira spoke the part where the orphans they were used as guinea pigs, Leo had the most violent reaction, for a moment he even transformed into his lion form and began to roar furiously. After we managed to calm Leo down we learned that the only thing he never stood for was crimes against children, in fact, he said he always killed other bad guys who did bad to children when he found them, even when he was a bad guy he never did any harm to children, Sophia surprised me by having a weak reaction just like Irina and Nira. When I asked why they were so calm they gave the same reason, that there was nothing they could do about this kinda thing, I could understand that because it was the same thought I had, but I also felt less guilty about what I would do to this Alchemist, if I were in my old world I would be called a monster for what I will do with it, maybe even in this world it is difficult for others to accept what I will do, so I didn''t go into details about what I will do with the Alchemist. After everything was resolved I told everyone to go rest and calm down, for those who were impacted by the Alchemist''s information I said they didn''t need to worry, I said he would be dead tomorrow. After that I went to my room while talking to Layla, unlike the others, she was having several ideas on how to make this Alchemist suffer, listening to her I even wondered if she was really a fairy, because of the scary things she was saying while she had a smile on her face I was wondering if she was a Demon disguised as a Fairy. As she was already saying such scary things I told her my plan in more detail as I will need her to. ------------- Pov of a former Grade -C adventurer: I''m a former adventurer, I earned well as an adventurer, but I got tired of being in danger fighting monsters, I considered myself lucky not to have participated in that special mission to fight the undead that happened a while ago, after hearing how dangerous it was, I decided not to take that kind of risk. But I had a big problem, I was broke and in debt from gambling, I had to look for a way to make money, but it was difficult. But a week ago a person who claimed to be part of one of the places where I played gambling came to the tattered inn where I was living, he offered me a simple job of protecting a certain Alchemist within the city, when he said that I would receive ten gold coins a week as payment I accepted right away. I started to work the next day, there were nine more people protecting this Alchemist day and night as security guards, as a former adventurer I could see that they had similar strength to mine, I started to wonder about the identity of this Alchemist. Over the days I learned that this Alchemist had a shit personality, he was arrogant, authoritarian, narcissistic, and loved to talk about himself, he thought he was very handsome when in fact he was a middle-aged and very fat man. But I quickly learned not to displease him, I saw him kidnapping a married woman or to be clearer, forcing us that we should only be his security guards to kidnap the woman and take her to the small mansion he had, that woman''s screams could be heard throughout the night, he even allowed the guards to stay with her the next morning, I and two others refused, but others accepted with smiles on their faces and thanking the Alchemist, this happened on the second day of work. When I thought I had seen the worst about this Alchemist, it was when I found out that he was much worse, on my third day of work the other guards and I accompanied him to an abandoned building where he said his laboratory was, he didn''t let anyone in. in the room where his lab was, so we patrolled inside the building and around the building, but there was also always someone at the lab room door and under the lab window. I hated being on guard outside the lab, the first two days I heard screams coming from inside, some of the screams sounded like children, in the days that followed I saw the man who hired me come to the building with two middle-aged men, an elderly woman and a couple of children, all were wearing chains on their arms, legs, and neck. The man entered the Alchemist''s laboratory with the five of them and left in a short time alone, soon after screams started to be heard from inside, that day was when the regret of having accepted this work began to consume me, but I can''t get out of it anymore, I was never the smartest person but even I can say that if I say I want to leave they will kill me if I report this to the guards they will also come after me, I have no choice but to remain silent and try to ignore the screams. ------------ Today completes a week that I''ve been working for this Alchemist, I must say it''s been a strange day, today I''m on guard at the laboratory door, I can usually hear moaning moans and sometimes screams coming from inside the laboratory, but no screams are appearing today, after some time even the regrets began to fade. I had a bad feeling and I called another security guard to talk about what was going on, he also thought it was weird and we were arguing whether to go in to check when an explosion threw us away, as an ex adventurer I reacted quickly by getting up and pulling my sword and cutting through the door that is coming towards me flying by the explosion, the other security guard was also with a sword in his hand ready for combat, we both ran to the source of the explosion that was the Alchemist''s laboratory. As soon as we entered the lab we saw that everything was on fire and we didn''t know what to do, we tried to look for the Alchemist but we couldn''t find him, soon the other eight security guards showed up and two of them could use water element magic they used to put out the fire, after erasing everything we started to look for the Alchemist, we saw several burned bodies but none were the same height or weight as the fat Alchemist, we searched for a long time but found no clues about him. Before long the man who hired me met with us and brought with him five more people who seemed stronger than me, he asked everything that happened and that''s when I realized how strange everything was, I was in the only entrance to the laboratory and no one passed me, the two guards who were under the window outside said that nothing came near the window today, and when we entered we also saw that the walls were still in place, they were just cracked by the explosion, but for some reason, the Alchemist''s body was nowhere. No matter how hard we investigated, we weren''t able to find any clues, it seemed like the Alchemist had just disappeared. I also heard the man who hired me say that there were several things missing. I took advantage of this to resign after proving I had nothing to do with it, so I decided to leave the Kingdom and go to another one, I decided to rejoin the Adventurers Guild to not mess with these types of people anymore. Chapter 149: Murder plan Pov Layla: The master is very objective, even if his plan is good he is killing this Alchemist very fast, this type of person who uses others as experiments deserves to suffer. "If it wasn''t for fear of interfering with the master''s plan, I would play a little with this Alchemist so he''ll know how good it is to be at the mercy of someone who wants to harm you." (I) "I think the master is right to send me along with you." (Kira) "Fairies are always cruel to their enemies, so never piss off a Fairy, Kira." (Byakko) "Don''t say that, you were supposed to be on my side, don''t you also want to see this shit die suffering in agony?" (I) Sigh "And I''ve always heard that fairies are kind and lovely beings, maybe only Layla is like that isn''t it Byakko?" (Kira) "Don''t be fooled by appearances, Fairies are really cheerful, kind, and kind to most people, they''re simple beings to please and hard to annoy." (Byakko) "But how much they get angry is worse than the Demons, but I have to say that this Fairy releases her cruel side far more than the others for what little I remember." (Byakko) "You''re going to make me sad like that, if anyone heard this they''d think I''m a cruel and sadistic monster." (I) "(But that''s what you''re showing because I already realized that I sent Kira with you.)" (Zenos) "Master!" (I) "You should be kinder entering someone''s mind, where is my privacy?" (I) "(Stop joking, you never cared about any of this, you''re just kidding one more time.)" (Zenos) "You are not fun." (I) While I''m talking to Kira, the spirit cat and the master we''re heading to the place of the mission the master gave us, an abandoned building where the shitty Alchemist''s clandestine laboratory is located. The master''s plan was very simple, as Byakko and I can be invisible to most people and we are small, we can try to get in by flying slowly through the window crossing the barrier in the windows, after that the rest of the plan is to deal silently and quickly with the Alchemist. As soon as we got to the place we see idiots protecting this fucking Alchemist if it were up to me I would kill these idiots too, they must know what this Alchemist is doing and still help protect this worm. "Calm down Layla, you''re letting your bloodlust slip away, luckily we''re far away so they haven''t noticed yet, but if you keep going you''re going to ruin the master''s plan." (Kira) "..." (I) "(Calm down Layla, once you''re ready to start the mission.)" (Zenos) "Fine." (I) After taking a few deep breaths I feel calmer, I shouldn''t disappoint the master. "I''m ready." (I) "Then you two can go, Layla will take care of the Alchemist quickly and quietly, you Byakko will look for anything of value nearby." (Kira) "I''ll share your senses to see what we can find there, then you two will save the Alchemist''s body and anything of value you find in the storage items Layla is guarding with her space magic to get past the barrier." (Kira) "Don''t worry, I remember the plan, I have five storage items stored, they''re all empty." (I) "I don''t like doing that, a great spirit like me stealing from criminals, I''d rather be fighting head-on." (Byakko) "We can''t do that, they''re strong, we''re not going to be able to kill them all quickly and we''re going to get a lot of attention, the criminal organization this Alchemist belongs to is the biggest drug manufacturer in town, so I don''t want them after us." (Kira) "Alright, let''s go, Byakko." (I) Sigh "Fine, but I''ll have something tasty to eat later." (Byakko) "I''ll talk to Caryna about it when we get back." (Kira) Byakko and I fly very slowly to the window, like a fairy I am able to see the barrier that should be invisible, it only covers the windows but doesn''t seem to have an attack power, it is also very thin and weak but seems connected to a device, I can''t see it from the outside but it must be by the window, it must be like Kira said, a device to warn if the barrier is broken. I easily pass the barrier along with Byakko, inside I see three shelves with glass bottles of various shapes with colored liquids inside and glass jars with various types of things inside. I looked around and saw a small bookcase with some books, I heard a noise from one direction and saw some cages where people were trapped, I saw two men who had spots on their bodies, there was also an old woman and a young man who had empty eyes and they were drooling, I also saw some children, some were dead and some had wounds on their bodies or blemishes, the vision was horrible and I almost released my bloodlust again. I try to calm down and see Byakko beside me trying to do the same, we both turn to the Alchemist who was standing reading a book. The moment I saw the Alchemist I felt a great bloodlust in my head that didn''t belong to me, I never felt anything like this before, even I was immobilized for a second, I knew the master was furious, he was seeing everything through of my eyes. "(Calm down master, you are distracting me.)" (I) "(...)" (Zenos) I feel the bloodlust slowly subside and then disappear. "(Sorry about that, I lost control for a second.)" (Zenos) "(Go ahead with the plan, use your space element magic to create a barrier around this bastard''s head so the air doesn''t enter to kill him asphyxiated.)" (Zenos) "(You also have my permission to use an electrical discharge on him while trying to choke him, this will prevent him from using any magic or ability to free himself or call for help.)" (Zenos) "All right" (I) I nod to Byakko who starts looking around as I approach from behind the fat Alchemist. "I need to make this drug more addictive without increasing the side effects, I don''t want those who use my drugs to die too quickly, I want them alive to keep buying my drugs to death, ha ha hahaha..." (Alchemist) "... ... ..." (Alchemist) While the Alchemist was talking a lot of useless things I got really close to him from behind, the moment he started laughing I create a spatial barrier around his head, now he won''t be able to scream or breathe as his head is isolated within this barrier. It was funny to see her expression of surprise, it took him a while to notice the barrier around his head, he only noticed when it started to get hard to breathe, this is a great advantage of space magic, it is difficult to perceive with just eyes or ears. When he tried to bring his hand to his face that''s when he realized there was a barrier around his head, it was funny to see him trying to hit the barrier with his hands uselessly, but I couldn''t risk him running to the door or making a knocking noise on something, so I focused my Thunder element on my hand and held onto his back. Zizzizzzi! It was funny watching this despicable fat man thrashing on the floor with a desperate face, in a few minutes he stopped moving completely, at the master''s request I went to the Alchemist''s chest and put my ear to hear his heartbeat, after confirming that I had no beats I took out a storage item and put his body away, but first I had to take out two storage items he was using and used my space magic to put the three storage items away. After that, Byakko and I started stealing everything of value and putting it inside the storage items we brought, unfortunately, there was no money in this lab but we took all the books, materials, tools, bottles, and jars in the lab. Byakko and I looked at each other and then at the people trapped in the cages not knowing what to do. "(Master, what should I do with these people?)" (I) I could feel him seeing them through my vision, so I waited for his response. "(His eyes of his are dead, I don''t see a trace of will in them, even with the person who did this to them dying in front of them nobody shows a reaction.)" (Zenos) "(I can''t do anything for unwilling people, kill them to end their suffering at least.)" (Zenos) I could feel the master''s sadness when speaking this order, I sympathize with these people but what the master says is true, they surrendered to their suffering, this is the easiest and least painful path that I chose when I was transformed into an abomination, their hearts and minds have been broken and in that state, they are in death is a blessing. "(It will be a quick death, I promise.)" (I) "< Ice Needles >" (I) I used a spell that I trained last week, I made an ice needle for each person and aimed at their heads, then fired, these people didn''t try to dodge or scream, it felt like I was shooting needles at wooden puppets. My ice needles hit the immobile targets and pierced their heads, they must be dead from this. I look around angrily at this Alchemist, but I have nowhere to take that anger out. "(I know you''re angry, so you can blow up this lab if you want, but get out of there fast.)" (Zenos) "(Thank you master.)" (I) The two elements I learned to control the fastest were fire and ice, so I''m going to use an explosion spell in this shitty lab. "< Explosive sphere >" (I) As a Fairy I don''t need to create magic circles to shape and control mana, I can do this directly, so I raise my hand and gather a lot of Fire Mana in a sphere and let it float in the room, it will float for a few. seconds before approaching the ground slowly, as soon as it touches the ground it will explode throwing fire in all directions. After that I leave the sphere inside and take Byakko out the window through the barrier, then we head towards Kira. "So, is it over?" (Kira) "Yes, unfortunately, the Alchemist''s death was very peaceful, I have to teach the master to be more cruel." (I) "More cruel? Wasn''t he the one who ordered you to kill those people in the cages?" (Byakko) "That wasn''t cruel, it was mercy." (I) "She''s right Byakko, we are unable to rescue each person in trouble, and getting those people out would be difficult, we would also have to find a way to cure them, in the end, they would be proof of what we did here today, the organization that is behind this Alchemist will want to investigate this and we can leave no traces." (Kira) "Besides, as the master himself said, these people had already given up, not a reason to waste time with someone who has already lost the will to live." (I) Byakko didn''t say anything on the way back, he understood what we said, but for him, it''s still hard to accept, I can understand him, Spirits and Fairies have a natural instinct to protect children, but there was nothing to do when their will to live if went out. Chapter 150: Synthesis skill acquired The plan I made to kill that Alchemist was successful, but I started to regret killing him so quickly that Alchemist, see what he did to those people, see what he did even to children, I would really like to follow Layla''s desire to make him suffer before he died, but she couldn''t put the plan to waste when before they finished what they were doing best, it was risky enough for them to start stealing things from the laboratory. I opened my eyes after calming down a bit and standing up, I was on the veranda of my room, all I had to do now was wait for them to come back in a few minutes. Ding! <[ You gained 129 EXP from enemy kills by the hired Fairy ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> . . . <[ Your work has reached the maximum level ]> I also seem to get EXP when the Fairy I''ve contracted with kills someone, but this is no time to think about that right now. Sigh "(The next step is going to be unpleasant.)" (I) "How was the mission, master?" (Freya) "Huh!?" (I) At some point, Freya appeared behind me holding a tray with a glass of juice and a sandwich. "How long have you been here?" (I) "From the beginning, I was a little surprised when you started emitting bloodlust, but I kept waiting for you to wake up, when I saw your expression relax I went to get you a snack." (Freya) "Thanks for the snack." (I) I take the sandwich in one hand and the glass of juice in the other and start eating and drinking. "Where are the others?" (I) "Leo and Caryna are having a tour of the city, Tania and Anton are doing some work in their workshops and the others are training in the back of the mansion." (Freya) "After Kira comes back I don''t want anyone interrupting me." (I) "You''re going to eat that Alchemist aren''t you?" (Freya) "Yes, this time I''m going to devour the entire body, it won''t be a pleasant sight, so don''t let anyone get close." (I) "As the master wishes." (Freya) I look at Freya who keeps a gentle and calming smile on her beautiful face, wondering how she can keep that expression with me telling me I''m going to completely devour a person''s body. "Is there something on my face, master?" (Freya) Freya puts her hand to her face and tries to see her reflection in the empty tray in her hand. "I was just thinking about how you feel knowing what I''m going to do with that Alchemist." (I) "I understand master, you''ve already told us about your ability, I know you don''t like what you''re going to do, I also know it won''t be for fun but to get something you need." (Freya) "I also know that you made all that effort to find someone as bad as this Alchemist because you didn''t want to do any harm to innocent people, otherwise it wouldn''t have been easier to find another Alchemist with the skill you''re looking for." (Freya) "Thank you for understanding, but I don''t think other people will be as understanding as you if they know what I''m doing." (I) "That''s true, if you were in a Demon Realm you wouldn''t need to worry too much, but you better be careful in a Human Realm, even the Elves won''t like to know what you''re doing." (Freya) "But as long as the master doesn''t lose his head and start killing innocent people, I''ll continue by his side, the simple fact that you don''t hide anything from us, whether good or bad, already shows how much you place your trust in everyone in this mansion and I will not betray that trust." (Freya) "Thank you for your words, being with you all helps me a lot, thank you." (I) As I finished eating the lunch Freya brought me Kira returned, she came straight to my room with Byakko and Layla. "Master, we are back." (Kira) "Welcome back." (I) Layla flies like a missile towards my head and hugs my face. "I''m back, did the master miss me?" (Layla) "Welcome back, now can you drop my face?" (I) "No, I missed the master a lot, how dare you send me on a mission far from you?" (Layla) "Leave me you sticky fairy." (I) "Not!!!" (Layla) After a few minutes of trying to get that fairy off my face, I managed, but my face is all scratched up, as punishment I used my threads to tie that annoying fairy and threw it on the bed. "Back to the subject, how was the mission from your perspective Kira?" (I) "It went as planned, I don''t think we left any clues behind, as the master is planning to devour this Alchemist''s entire body there shouldn''t be any evidence left so I don''t think we need to worry about the criminal organization behind this Alchemist finding out about us." (Kira) "Very well, thank you for your excellent work as always." (I) "Where are the storage items?" (I) "They still have the Fairy tied up there." (Byakko) "..." (I) When I look at Layla I see her freezing and then breaking my lines. "You don''t know how to play, you didn''t need to tie me up like that." (Layla) Layla waves her hand and the space in front of her ripples, so she places her hands inside the ripple, retrieving everything she has inside. "Here are the storage items." (Layla) I run my index finger over Layla''s head gently, then pick up just the storage item where the Alchemist''s body is. "Kira, I want you to take all the other storage items to Nira, ask her to identify each of the items inside, I want to know the rarity of each one, the prices of each, and what each is used for." (I) "Yes, I''ll give it to her now." (Kira) Without saying anything else Kira leaves my room carrying the storage items, only me, Layla, and Freya are left in the room. "I think you two better get out, what I''m going to do now won''t be a pleasant thing to see." (I) "I don''t care about these things, go ahead." (Layla) "Allow me to see master, I''m not as naive as my daughter, during the years I was alive I saw many things and I know the darkness of this world, I won''t care what the master will do with this scum." (Freya) "The decision is up to you." (I) I first removed the Alchemist''s fat body from the storage item, then removed all of his clothing and threw it in the corner, then placed some MP potions on the nearest table if needed. "Then I want this Alchemist''s clothes incinerated." (I) "I''ll take care of it master." (Freya) After making this request I used the non-elemental magic rica taught me to make the Alchemist''s body float, then I used water element magic to make a sphere of water that covered the Alchemist''s entire body. With all the preparation done I activate my ability [ Corrosion: 5 ] which gives the characteristic of corrosion to my mana, as the water sphere is made with my mana it ended up becoming an acid sphere that started to corrode the entire body of the Alchemist. It was a grotesque sight to see the skin disappear then see the flesh and muscle underneath disintegrate until the blood spread through the sphere obstructing the view, but as this is an ability of mine I can feel it trying to corrode the body and I can see my MP going down. It took almost an hour to finish and I had to drink two MP potions so I deactivated my corrosion ability and got close to the sphere and started drinking it in big gulps, this also took a while because of the sphere''s size, but I managed to ingest it all, in the end not a single piece of bone was left. "What a disgusting taste." (I) Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Corrosion: 5 > 6 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Lower Insatiable Stomach: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Potions Control: 1 ] ? [ Alchemy technique: 1 ] ? [ Potion Multiplication: 1 ] ? [ Summary: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following titles: ? [ Master Alchemist ] ? [ Perverted ] ]> "(What the hell is this?)" (I) "(Because I have this damn pervert title, I''m still a virgin in this world, to tell you the truth I died a virgin in my old world too, because of always being sick.)" (I) I was doing my best not to cry, I never thought I would have a title like that, but at least I got the skill I wanted, I also got some Alchemist skills. I''m lucky to have a skill that allowed me to eat more than triple my weight in food, it''s been a while since this skill leveled up, but I guess that''s because I haven''t been eating enough. After calming down a bit I look around and see Layla giving me a beautiful smile, I also see Freya with her kind work smile that she always keeps on her face. "I hope you enjoyed the show." (I) "It was fun to see that bastard turn to soup and then get devoured by the master, but next time I meet someone like him I suggests doing it with him alive, it''s going to be a lot more fun." (Layla) "Are you sure you''re a fairy?" (I) "What are you talking about master, of course, I''m a fairy." (Layla) "Because in my eyes you look more like a Demon." (I) "The master may not know it, but the Elves who have a good relationship with Fairies for generations know that they are extreme beings, they are usually cheerful, kind, kind, and friendly, they are hardly irritated creatures and they are easy to get along with, but when they get angry they are more cruel, fierce and brutal than Demons." (Freya) "Why does it seem like she''s more cruel than friendly?" (I) "Maybe that''s what she went through, she goes from one extreme to the other much faster and easier than other Fairies." (Freya) "Why are you guys talking about me like I''m not here?" (Layla) "The subject should be about the master devouring that fat one." (Layla) "I must admit it was a little shocking, but people are devoured by monsters all the time, there are even races that eat each other, so you don''t need to think about it too much master." (Freya) "Thanks for telling me this, but I don''t plan on doing this very often, one of the reasons I do this with this Alchemist was to not leave anything of his body behind, now I want you to burn his clothes." (I) "I will do that now." (Freya) I see Freya pick up the Alchemist''s clothes and leave, I throw myself on my bed, I''m so full I can barely move. Chapter 151: Great Serpent Dungeon I took advantage of this time that I have nothing to do to change my job to [ Novice Adventurer ], I switched without checking the other jobs available so as not to lose focus on what I''ve already decided is to learn all the apprentice or novice level jobs. After that, I went to meditate to integrate my new level also before the evening meeting. When night fell I was already feeling better and I meet with everyone to decide who goes to Dungeon the next day, after talking a little with everyone we ended up deciding to go to our usual group this time. "Have you taken up the quests in the Adventurers'' Guild, Diana?" (I) "Yes Master." (Diana) "I took two quests, one can be completed on the first floor of the Dungeon, but for the second we will need to go to the second floor." (Diana) "These are collecting quests for monster materials, one quest needs the teeth of one snake, and the other needs the crippling venom of another." (Diana) "Are they strong monsters?" (I) "No, most monsters from the first ten floors can be faced by Adventurers from Grade D and above, except for the intermediate boss which can appear on any floor and must have a Strength of Grade C, normally Dungeon bosses are unique monsters. and the intermediate bosses are Variant monsters." (Diana) "Do you think we can win against the middle boss of the first ten floors?" (I) "Yes we can, master." (Diana) "Most of the time the bosses and intermediate bosses of this dungeon have as their main weapon Poison-type attacks that have little effect on our party." (Diana) "Okay then, everyone has already received their gear and Diana has already picked up the quests in the Guild, so let''s leave for the Great Serpent Dungeon tomorrow morning." (I) After seeing that everyone understands I turn to Nira who was in the corner of the room rummaging in a reading crystal. "Nira, get closer." (I) When I call, she takes her eyes off the reading crystal for the first time and sees the Cursed Raven fly out of the window to land on her shoulder as she approaches me. "You already received the storage items with the things we stole from the criminal Alchemist, didn''t you?" (I) "Yes Master." (Nira) "I haven''t had time to check them yet, I''ll do it tomorrow, but knowing this Alchemist''s specialty there will probably be some drugs in there, what should I do with them?" (Nira) "Destroy all drugs, but save the rest, especially the poison." (I) "Yes sir." (Nira) I look at the Cursed Raven on her shoulder and she lifts my hand, he flies from her shoulder to my hand and I rub her head with my other hand. "Have you chosen his name yet?" (I) "Yes, I decided to put Yomi''s name as the master suggested, the meaning of the name suits him." (Nira) "Do you know what his gender is?" (I) "A Cursed Raven is genderless, they are spectral creatures, their physical forms are embodiments of their energy." (Nira) "Usually there''s no way to tame one, I''m a special case as I have a strong bond with him, the main reason for this is that he was born inside of me." (Nira) "But I don''t know why he likes the master so much." (Nira) "You didn''t say he has strong Affinity to the curse, so he can probably feel my Affinity to the curse too, that''s why he likes me." (I) "That makes sense." (Nira) I talked to Kira for a while and then I talked to each one separately, I want everyone to talk and get along, Alice has spent a lot of time working and training, so I told Freya to take her for a walk tomorrow in the city, I took the day off for everyone, they deserve a little rest. After that, I go back to my room to sleep. ----------- The next day I wake up with a kick in Layla''s neck, since I woke up early I went to do some light exercises, and then I went to take a shower, with so many women living in the mansion it has been difficult to find times where the bathroom with a hot spring is free, so I enjoyed my time there, Layla was there too, she fell in love with the hot spring. After going to the kitchen and eating something I wait for the others to wake up and eat, then everyone gets ready with their combat gear, Irina and Erica put on robes one red and the other green, Irius wore armor like a knight and the others were with combat clothes including me, they are clothes that do not interfere with our movements with specifications chosen by each one. I have a short sword on my back and four daggers at my waist two on each side, Ibuki had two lightweight single-edged swords that I asked to be made for her, I could see a big smile on her face for being able to go hunting again. We leave the mansion and go straight to the Adventurers Guild, I want to talk to Mari before we go to the Dungeon, I want to make sure we don''t have any problems on our first dungeon exploration. As soon as we arrive at the guild I see it full of Adventurers, I see so many coming and going, I wonder why there are so many this time? "What are you knowing?" (I) "This must be your first time seeing this, master." (Diana) "Adventurers usually show up in the Guild to take on quests when the suns start to rise, at which point the guild is packed." (Diana) "I see, thanks for the explanation, Diana." (I) We see Mari come down the stairs and we go over to her, then she invites us up and we go with her to a room on the second floor. "Why are you here?" (Mari) "We''re going to the Great Serpent Dungeon, but first I wanted to ask if there''s been anything weird going on there?" (I) "Everything is normal in that dungeon, but why did you decide to go to the dungeon all of a sudden?" (Mari) "I just thought it would be more interesting." (I) "If by interesting you mean dangerous, then yes, adventurers die every week in the dungeon." (Mari) "Mari is right, many Adventurers die in dungeons not only because of monsters but also because of traps and ambushes." (Diana) "Exactly, so we advise new adventurers to avoid Dungeons until they have more experience." (Mari) "I believe we''ll be fine, we don''t plan on going beyond the first five floors of the Dungeon, we also have two people with trap detection skills and sleep capable of dealing with poison." (I) "That makes me calmer, but a warning, don''t take too long with your fights, there are more monsters inside a dungeon than outside, if it takes too long fighting a monster then other monsters can approach." (Mari) "In the first ten floors this rarely happens because of the large number of adventurers exploring there, but after the eleventh floor the number of monsters keeps getting bigger." (Mari) "I''ve already told them all this, you should also know that they are not normal new adventurers, after all, you put them in high rankings from the start." (Diana) "I admit you are strong and have potential, but it is still my duty as a receptionist to make you aware of the dangers of a mission or dungeon." (Mari) "Thank you for your concern." (I) "Be careful in the dungeon, there is the possibility of getting attacked by novice killers too." (Mari) "Did they show up again?" (Diana) "They always think it''s an easy way to make money, even if we keep killing them they always show up more." (Mari) Sigh "There''s always something to make my job more difficult." (Mari) "What are novice killers?" (I) "It''s what they call adventurers who kill novice adventurers to steal their equipment and items." (Irina) "This is a common practice to appear in any city that is close to a dungeon." (Irius) "As the Dungeon itself devours the bodies after a while all the evidence disappears, so there are always people who think they can get away with it." (Irius) "It''s like they said, they''re usually killed when found, but that kind of person who likes quick money always comes back knowing the risk if caught." (Diana) "Let''s be careful don''t worry Mari." (I) "Hope so." (Mari) After talking to Mari we leave the Guild, then we go to the north gate of the city and out, from what Diana had told me before, the Dungeon of the Great Serpent is on a cliff wall fifteen minutes walk after leaving town. We walked along a forest path for ten minutes seeing chariots and wagons passing by, we also saw other people with combat gear walking along the same path as us, then we turned onto a side path and I see the top of the cliff wall from above. of the trees. After walking for another three to five minutes we arrived at the dungeon entrance, it just looked like a dark cave, at first sight, if the cave entrance wasn''t carved in the shape of a big snakehead with its mouth open, I felt like if I entered the cave I would be devoured. "Has someone carved the entrance to this cave?" (I) "No, Dungeon entrances always form naturally during the Dungeon spawning process." (Diana) "This is a very intimate Dungeon entrance, going in there should feel like entering the mouth of a giant snake to those who see it from outside." (Irina) I see people walking in and out of the dungeon, those coming out are covered in dirt, some parts of the armor or steals are melted or cut and their faces are pale like they''re sick or in this case probably poisoned. I even see some people grabbing others who are unconscious, it looks like it really is quite dangerous in there. But I didn''t expect it to be so busy, I also see a small hut beside the entrance to the Dungeon with the same symbol as the Adventurers'' Guild. "I present to you the Dungeon of the Great Serpent." (Diana) Chapter 152: First Dungeon Exploration Part 1 I was surprised at how aggressive the entrance to this dungeon looked, but I recovered quickly, after seeing the state in which many people are leaving the dungeon I turn to Diana to talk to her. "Why are so many people leaving the dungeon injured?" (I) "This is normal, these are newbie adventurers, they must have just entered and after a round or two of battles they are in that state." (Diana) "The most experienced adventurers can spend half the day inside the Dungeon with constant fights." (Diana) "How is the number of monsters per floor?" (Irius) "The monsters on the first five floors are targets of novice adventurers, so there are fewer monsters, the sixth through the tenth floor have a little more monsters, but there are still many adventurers exploring these floors, only after moving to the eleventh floor than the number of monsters increases a lot since the younger adventurers don''t dare to pass by the boss of the tenth floor." (Diana) "How do you think it will take us to find monsters on the first five floors?" (Irius) "Every thirty minutes we should find some groups of snakes, I think you better be aware they love ambushes." (Diana) "Alright, before we go in let''s decide on a formation." (I) "I was going to suggest this now, well thought out for your first exploration, master." (Diana) "Diana and I will go ahead since we have detection capabilities to find the monsters, Irina and rica will be in the middle with Irius protecting the right side and Ibuki protecting the left side, Kira you and Byakko will protect the back so as not to be ambushed by monsters or adventurers." (I) "There!" (I) I feel a tug on my hair and look at the little Fairy who has come out of the hood that this combat suit has that reminds me a lot of a black army combat suit. "You forgot to tell you what to do." (Layla) "You will stay with me." (I) "Okay then I''ll get a ride with you." (Layla) Layla flies over to me and sits on my shoulder, I don''t know what to make of this lazy fairy. "This is a very simple and classic plan, but you did well to see where each would do best." (Diana) "Thanks." (I) "I think now is our time to go inside, let''s go!" (I) My group and I entered through the Serpent''s mouth, I feel I have gone through something but I don''t know what it is since it''s very dark, so I keep walking until I reach an open cave area. I look around and see crystals on the walls and ceiling that illuminates everything around, the cave is completely round with a dark tunnel behind me is a normal cave tunnel on the other side of the cave room, in the center of the cave there is a big column crystal with symbols of snakes. "What place is this?" (I) "This is the first-floor entrance room, each floor has a room like the one at the entrance, monsters don''t enter here unless there is a wave of monsters." (Diana) "After that cave tunnel, we will be in the caves that make up the first floor, the crystal in the center allows you to teleport to the floor where you have been, only one person can choose the floor and has to have been there before, only teleport together if you are in the same group." (Diana) "Before you ask, that crystal is indestructible and cannot be moved from its place, the walls and structures inside the Dungeon are also much stronger and repair over time to their original state." (Diana) "I didn''t read that in the Dungeons book." (I) "These books tend to simplify knowledge a lot, so I''m telling you that." (Diana) "How far have you gone in this dungeon, Diana?" (I) "I already went up to the tenth floor, but I didn''t face the boss there, that was a few weeks before I met rica." (Diana) "I would like to see more of this dungeon, but I won''t be rushing unnecessarily, let''s explore floor by floor." (I) "Old master, the initial goal of exploring the first five floors was for us to learn to fight together faster." (rica) "Exactly that, rica." (I) "Now enter the formation we decided on before, let''s go through that tunnel." (I) "Before we go we have to put our hands on the crystal in the center of the room, this will make it register that we were here, or we won''t be able to teleport here later." (Diana) "You heard her, let''s go." (I) Everyone goes to the crystal and I see it glow slightly where each one puts their hand before it goes out again, after that we head towards the tunnel. We started to go through that tunnel that I found to have a height of three meters and a width of four meters, after going through this small tunnel we found ourselves in an even bigger tunnel, the ceiling height should be up to five meters and the tunnel corridors it''s about ten meters or more, it looks like there''s a crossroads just ahead that leads to a tunnel to the left, a tunnel to the right and the tunnel where we''re straight. "Do you know the map of this tunnel, Diana?" (I) "Don''t worry master, I know the entire map of the first eight floors by the head." (Diana) "Are there any traps on this floor?" (I) "No, the traps only start appearing on the fifth floor." (Diana) "I think we can then just explore this floor randomly to fight some monsters, if we find it too easy we can start going to the next floors, what do you think?" (I) "Good plan, Dad." (Irius/Irina) "I agree." (rica) "Ibuki goes wherever the master goes." (Ibuki) "It''s fine by me." (Kira) "We can do it then, master." (Diana) "Then it''s decided, let''s go." (I) We started walking slowly with the guard up through the straight tunnel, I was using my [ Detect Presence: 1 ] ability to not be surprised by any monsters. After five minutes of walking ten green snakes appear in front of us. "This is a snake that has paralyzing venom, that''s the objective of one of the missions." (Diana) Snakes start coming towards us. "Attack!" (I) I don''t need to keep shouting orders like that time in the forest, we''ve been training together for these two weeks and we know and what we should do. "Layla try to capture some for us to leave for Ibuki to kill, I want to make her evolve as quickly as possible." (I) "All right." (Layla) There were ten snakes, they were big compared to the ones in my world, but in this one, I found they are small in size. "< Fireball >" (I/rica) Diana stands still while rica and I raise our hands and geometric shapes appear one by one combining into two equal magic circles, then two fireballs fly out of those magic circles and each one hits one side of the group of snakes. BOOM! BOOM! With this attack four have already died, so Kira and Diana run, Diana has the swords glowing from the magic Irina used on them to strengthen the swords, while Kira''s daggers seem electrified with electric currents coming out of them, Byakko must have done that. Each of them kills two snakes, and at some point Ibuki appeared giving one of the two remaining snakes a spin kick, throwing it into the last snake, then using a sword to cut the two together and thus ending in a few seconds our first battle in the Dungeon. Ding! Ding! I''ll check the notifications after I leave the dungeon, I don''t want to be surprised by a surprise attack just by getting distracted by every system notification, now I know I can leave the notifications aside for later. "It was very easy, Ibuki wants to fight more." (Ibuki) "I didn''t even have time to do anything." (Layla) "I think this floor might be too easy for our group, maybe we should go to the second one." (I) "I think you are right." (Diana) "Let''s explore a bit more on the way to the second floor." (I) "I think I''ll have a quick snack before we go." (I) I use my skill [ Weak Blood Control: 8 ] then red energy comes out of my hand very slowly to the bodies of these snakes, after a few seconds I make a gesture with my hand and the blood of the ten snakes starts coming out of their bodies and gather in a sphere of blood on the top of my hand after I''ve got every last drop of blood I open my mouth and drink it all down. Ding! Ding! We kept walking through the dungeon, we often saw other adventurers along the way fighting the same snakes, everyone managed to beat them quickly, not as fast as us, but it was pretty fast. The following fights were like the first one, we never had to fight all together so we just let Ibuki fight alone when there were less than five snakes or when there were even ten snakes I would let Layla join Ibuki to finish quickly. At this pace, we followed the path that Kira had pointed out until we reached the place of stairs to the second floor. "Any different monsters appear on the second floor?" (I) "Yes, there''s the one we faced on this floor and another snake that has a weak necrotic venom." (Diana) "Alright then let''s go." (I) The others and I headed towards the stairs and started down to the second floor. Chapter 153: First Dungeon Exploration Part 2 After descending the stairs we reached the second floor, my first impression was that it was the same as the first-floor entrance room, it even had the same column-shaped crystal in the center of the cave room. "Before we continue let''s register our presence in the second-floor crystal." (Diana) "All right." (I) We all go to the crystal in the center of the room and place our hands, once again the crystal glows lightly where our hand''s touch. "Now we can explore the second floor." (Diana) "Wait a moment, I have to do something." (I) I look around and I don''t see any adventurers around, so I close my eyes and check the information from the notifications that appeared before, I''m going to do that and then change my work. Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 207 EXP for enemy kills ]> . . <[ You gained 141 EXP for enemy kills by party members ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Spit of paralyzing poison: 1 ] ? [ Paralyzing Bite: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the lineage [ Small Paralyzing Serpent: 04% ] ]> . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Small Paralyzing Serpent: 04% > 100% ] ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> . . . <[ Your work has reached the maximum level ]> No wonder I got a new bloodline, drinking the blood of every Paralyzing Serpent we killed until I reached the second-floor stairs. I don''t have time to integrate my level right now, so I just change my job to [ Apprentice Thief ]. After I change jobs again I will start choosing newbie-level jobs. Now that I''ve stopped to think, it''s been a while since I checked all the jobs I have available, so I''ll do it tonight when I get home. "I''m ready, let''s go." (I) We started walking to the exit of this room, let''s explore the second floor from now on. As I explored the second floor I see that it is the same as the first floor, which is a network of cave tunnels. The fights on this floor were as easy as on the first floor, that''s because they killed the monsters very fast, the fights didn''t last more than a few seconds, but I could see that not only the snake on the second floor but also the snake on the first floor appears here. We decided to keep going to the third floor, but before that, I explored this floor for a while to complete the quests we got from the Adventurers Guild and also to get the snake bloodline from that floor. ------------ After about two hours and several battles with monsters, we finally reached the stairs that lead to the third floor. After descending the stairs and finding again the safe room where the crystal is, we go to the crystal to mark that we reach the third floor. After that I wait for the other adventurers to leave the room leaving only my group here, then check my notifications again. "Wait a minute." (I) Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 223 EXP for enemy kills ]> . . <[ You gained 178 EXP from enemy kills by party members ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Spit of necrotic venom: 1 ] ? [ Weak necrotic venom secretion: 1 ] ? [ Weak resistance to necrotic venom: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the bloodline [ Little Poisonous Serpent: 03% ] ]> . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Small Poisonous Serpent: 03% > 100% ] ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> . . . <[ Your work has reached the maximum level ]> After that, I take advantage of the fact that there is still no adventurer around to change my job to [ Apprentice Trader ]. "Let''s continue exploration." (I) After that was resolved we started exploring the third floor. According to Diana the snake monster on this floor doesn''t have any poison attacks, the monster is called Serpent Sword, this monster is faster than other Serpents and has a thin sword growing on the tip of its tail. "I think you better be careful, master." (Diana) "This Serpent likes to stay hidden to ambush unsuspecting targets." (Diana) "I''ll be careful." (I) When we finally started exploring this floor I was using my detection skills more often than I did on the other two floors. When we found the new monster I was surprised to see something as strange as a sword attached to the body of a snake, I found this monster because of my detection skills, there was not just one monster, there were fifteen composed of three types of monsters of the type snake. "Irina, arrest them!" (I) "rica use your fireball once and wait!" (I) "Ibuki and Layla take care of the others, go!" (I) "< Currents of light >" (Irina) "< Fireball >" (rica) When giving orders to each one Irina starts using her Chains of Light magic to trap eight snakes, then rica uses her fireball and kills three snakes. "< Ice Needles >" (Layla) At this moment Ibuki attacks killing two with his swords while Layla made two ice needles killing the last two. I use my blood control ability to pool the blood of the three types of Serpent into three spheres of blood, one sphere for each type of snake, so I drink only the blood of the Serpent Sword and leave the other two spheres of blood to Irina and Irius. Ding! Ding! After that we continued exploring the third floor, it was also easy for us, but at least there were a few fewer adventurers around, so we fought bigger groups of monsters and more often. After a few seconds'' fight against five Sword Serpents, Diana turns to me to say something. "I think it''s best to close for the day, master." (Diana) "Why?" (I) "I can''t believe either of you are tired yet." (I) "I agree with Diana, master." (rica) "We brought a few storage items with us, they''re almost completely filled with the materials we''ve taken from the monsters we''ve killed so far." (rica) "It''s not just that, we''ve already achieved a lot, but what really worries me is getting a lot of attention." (Diana) "What do you mean by that?" (I) "Our fights were so fast that the longest one must have taken fifteen seconds, it didn''t take us long enough for others to see us fighting." (I) "That is the problem." (Diana) "We should be here about five hours so far, but look how we''re doing." (Diana) I look at myself and the others but I don''t see anything much, we''re pretty much the same way as we walked in, so what is Diana talking about? "I get it, we''re very clean and fine for adventurers who spent five hours in a dungeon." (Kira) "You got almost everything right, in fact, there are also the other adventurers, some of them saw us fighting and realized how quickly we ended our fights." (Diana) "I still don''t understand what the problem is." (I) "The master says he doesn''t want to attract attention, does he?" (Diana) "Yes." (I) "With how we''re looking good even after five hours in the Dungeon, with the adventurers seeing how short our fights are and realizing that the only known adventurer here is me is going to spread a rumor about a new Group of talented rookies across town." (Diana) "..." (I) "Since Diana is still well-known around town for her title of Guardian Wolf, this rumor will spread even faster and get even more attention." (Kira) "Are you right, how did I miss that possibility?" (I) "Let''s go to the fourth floor first and then leave without exploring that floor." (I) "Exactly what I was going to say, master." (Diana) We headed straight for the stairs that weren''t too far away, only encountering monsters one more time before reaching the stairs. After descending to the fourth floor and going to the crystal on that floor to register our presence there before we returned. "So how do we teleport us back to the first floor?" (I) "All you have to do is hold the crystal and say which floor you want to go back, you can say it in your mind or say it out loud." (Diana) "The people in your group have to have their hands on the crystal too." (Diana) "Alright then let''s go back." (I) Everyone puts their hands on the crystal again. "First floor." (I) The crystal glowed for ten seconds, then I feel the space distort around us for a second and then go back to normal afterward, then the crystal stops glowing and goes back to normal. "There, we''re on the first floor again." (Diana) "But I didn''t feel like I moved, I thought I would feel something about teleporting me for the first time." (I) "There are few who feel bad about teleportation." (Diana) "Then let''s go." (I) I look around and see the dark tunnel we entered and head towards it, after leaving the dungeon we go straight to the city of Valen. "Should we stop by the Guild on the way back?" (I) "It would be nice to complete the quests Diana took there." (Irius) "I''m also taking several swords from the monster that we killed, a Blacksmith can use them to make a good sword for new adventurers, this type of sword is one of the best sellers in town." (Diana) "Then take them back to the mansion and give them to Anton, after he uses them to make better swords we can give them to Nira for sale." (I) "We''ll also keep the snake meat we caught, I''ll give it to Freya and Caryna when we get back." (I) "If Anton makes the swords and Nira sells, we will have three or four times the profit we would have if we sold to the Guild, maybe even more." (Irina) "Now I see, that''s why you wanted some artisans in our group, this is going to be very profitable." (rica) As we walk and talk about what to do with the items we were taking back, I see Ibuki with a thoughtful look on his face. "What are you thinking about, Ibuki?" (I) "Ibuki doesn''t understand." (Ibuki) "If it''s that good, Ibuki doesn''t understand why others don''t do it too?" (Ibuki) "That was a good question Ibuki." (I) "That''s because there are three different professions, one gets materials, the other uses those materials to craft something, and then someone else sells the crafted item." (I) "The point is that each one of these people will want the greatest profit possible, it may also happen that their working hours are not the same, another very important thing is also the confidence that each part has in the other." (I) "Whatever the reason, you will always need stability in your work, so it''s not good to rely too much on others." (I) "Another thing that will cause problems is the division of the profit, after the sale of the item will they divide it equally or will they divide it by whoever contributed the most to raise this money?" (I) "This sort of thing creates a lot of problems, so sometimes it''s easier to sell directly to a trusted intermediary like the Guilds." (I) "In our particular case we don''t have trust issues, the money doesn''t need to be split either, instead we pool all the money together and use it as needed leaving only a small sum each for daily needs." (I) "Do you understand, Ibuki?" (I) When I looked back at Ibuki she had spirals in her eyes and smoke coming out of the top of her head. "Your explanation was good, master." (rica) "But I think it''s too soon to have that kind of conversation with Ibuki." (rica) As we talked in this relaxed way, we entered Valen''s town again, as soon as we entered I tell the others to return to the mansion while Diana and I head to the Adventurers'' Guild. Chapter 154: Its him!? Prince Drago Pov: This month has been difficult, with so many things to do, I never thought I would stay so long in the city of Valen, I''ve been in this Kingdom for almost a month and I haven''t even met King Trigan yet. As soon as I arrived in this city I asked my maid Mia to get information from the Assassin Guild, I wanted to know more about this city and find out more about the five nobles who helped in my ambush. I have been staying at Duke Valen''s mansion during my stay here, my servants have been cured for a few days, but I can''t leave yet, as I''m collaborating with the Duke on the investigation, while he investigates here, I have trusted people investigating the Reino Cartoza, I have been using a magic item that allows my direct communication with my father, the magic item is called Communication Orb and it belongs to the Duke, this item needs a special room and a lot of magic power to work, it can only communicate with other Orbs of communication that the person has come into contact with. My father was furious when he heard what happened, but I convinced him not to do anything other than the investigation, for the time being, I told him to keep hidden the fact that he knew of the Church of Light''s involvement, I asked him to spread the word that at the time of the ambush of five assassins a second group attacked and killed several soldiers and also the two faceless brothers. I did this to secretly investigate the Church of Light, Mia who is a spy at my service is always by my side to protect and help me, but she is not good at judging people. My time in Valen City was spent staying at the Duke''s mansion until the investigation shows I''m safe, luckily we managed to prove there was no longer any plan to kill me, so in a few days, I''m heading to the capital of Trigan Kingdom. But before that I want to get information about those people in red clothes, I asked the Duke about it, but he doesn''t seem to know anything, I wanted to ask the leader of the Adventurers Guild of this town, but I never found the opportunity, he and the Duke meet frequently to take care of matters pertaining to a new dungeon that has appeared near the city of Valen. As I never had the opportunity to talk to him at the Duke''s mansion I thought about going to the Adventurers Guild today and trying to talk to him there, I waited until it was early afternoon so I wouldn''t disturb him at a time when the Guild should be busier. I''m just going with the Royal Guard who''s already recovered and Mia who''s still disguising herself as my maid. When we arrive at the Adventurers Guild I go to the counter and tell the receptionist who I am, she freezes and starts sweating for a few seconds before running for the stairs saying she''s going to get her supervisor. After a few minutes, I see the receptionist come back along with a beautiful white elf with blonde hair, but she wasn''t the one who caught my attention. "..." (I) What caught my attention was the child beside her, a child with dark skin, red hair, and eyes with different colors. The moment I saw those eyes I could see a glint of intelligence and maturity that someone his age shouldn''t have, he was walking down the stairs talking to the beautiful White Elf. But the biggest reason for me to be surprised by that child is my ability to sense danger that is warning me not to face him at all, only three people have made me stay in this alert state, the first is my father, the second is my younger sister and the third person would be the leader of that group in red that saved us. His height is similar, I try to rate him but to no avail, he may be using an item to hide his status or has some ability to do so. For some reason, the image of the leader of that group in red continues to overpower the image of this child in my vision, but this child looks a little shorter. "(Is it him!?)" (I) When they are approaching me I can hear their conversation. "You guys did really well on this Dungeon exploration, I think I was really worried about nothing." (White Elf) "I hope you understand why I''m not selling the other stuff." (strange child) "I understand, what you get during your adventures belongs only to you." (White Elf) "Try showing up at the mansion later with Carlos, you''ll love Freya and Caryna''s food." (wolf woman) "Diana is right, I would also like to meet the Guild leader." (strange child) "We''ll save that for next month, things have been a little busy since this new dungeon came along." (White Elf) "So I''ll talk about it with you again next month, we''re coming back so I''ll see you later." (wolf woman) "See you later, Mari." (strange child) "Goodbye." (White Elf) As they''re approaching the child turns to me but doesn''t show any reaction, I see him and a woman from the Wolf Man-Beast tribe who hadn''t paid attention so far walking away from the Guild past me, while the White Elf comes into my direction. "Good afternoon and welcome your Highness Prince Drago de Cartoza, my name is Mari and I am the supervisor of receptionists." (Mari) "Good afternoon Miss Mari, you can just call me Drago, I don''t like formalities very much." (I) "As you wish Drago." (Mari) "Let me introduce you to my personal maid, her name is Mia." (I) Mia steps forward and bows politely as she greets Mari. "A pleasure to meet you Miss Mari." (Mia) "Nice to meet you too Miss Mia, I see you''ve been well trained." (Mari) "Then why are you here, Prince Drago?" (Mari) "Would I like to speak with the Guild master if possible?" (I) "Follow me please, I''ll take you to him." (Mari) I follow Mari to the top floor of the Guild and she leads me to a room with two big doors, she opens both doors and enters. "Darling, the Prince of Cartoza is here to speak to you." (Mari) Mari enters the room without knocking and speaking casually to the man who was signing a document with dark circles under his eyes. After Mari entered the Guild Leader''s office he stopped what he was doing and looked at her and then at us still at the door. "Please come in Prince, have a seat." (Carlos) He points to a couple of chairs on the opposite side of the table he''s at, I go in and take a seat in one of those chairs and Mia stands behind me. The guild master looks at her and then at me and shows a slight smile. "So, to what do I owe your visit Prince Drago?" (Carlos) "I wonder if you''ve gotten any leads on the group in red suits who saved me during the ambush." (I) Sigh "I already told the Duke this, but I couldn''t find anything, besides their heights, we don''t have anything else, in fact, they could have even hidden their true heights using some tricks." (Carlos) "We haven''t found any evidence of them, or even a clue if they want to continue the investigation." (Carlos) So he didn''t find anything either, I''m running out of options, at that moment an image of the strange child I just found popped into my mind. "Thank you for helping Guild master, sorry if I''m bothering you." (I) "I''m sorry to ask, but who was the red-haired child accompanying Miss Mari earlier?" (I) "Was there a child like that here?" (Carlos) The Guild Master looks at Mari who also looks at him. "Have you forgotten about him?" (Mari) "Like this?" (Carlos) Sigh "The child Prince Drago is talking about is the leader of Diana''s new group, how can you forget about him, as far as I know, he''s the only one in the Guild who looks like a child." (Mari) "Now I remember, I don''t have much impression of him as I still haven''t been able to meet him in person." (Carlos) "He came to receive the reward of his mission and also invited us to visit his mansion." (Mari) "I''d love to drop all this paperwork and go, maybe I should bring some beer as a present." (Carlos) "I told him we''ll leave it for a month as we''re still busy with the new dungeon, so don''t think of ways to get away from work." (Mari) "Can''t I just rest for one night, it''s been almost a month since I''ve had a drop of beer." (Carlos) "I already said no, when we get rid of this problem beforehand, we can rest sooner." (Mari) "(But what''s going on here?)" (I) Suddenly the Guild master and the Receptionist Supervisor started to argue without answering me, but why does it seem like Mari is in charge and not the Guild master? Mia puts her hand on my shoulder and approaches my ear from behind, then she speaks in a low voice so that only I can hear. "I have information that Mari is the wife of Guild master Carlos." (Mia) "They also say she''s a former Grade A adventurer." (Mia) "(Now that makes sense.)" (I) "Cough...cough..." (I) "..." (Mari/Carlos) I try to get their attention back to me with a slight cough as they hear them turn to me at the same time. "I''m sorry for showing such a shameful scene to Prince Drago." (Carlos) "Don''t worry about it, but importantly, did I hear you guys say that this kid was the leader of a group of adventurers?" (I) "I''m sorry but we can''t say anything more to you, the guild doesn''t release information about your adventurers." (Carlos) "I understand, but isn''t there anything you can tell me about him?" (I) "I''m sorry to ask, but why is Prince Drago interested in him?" (Mari) "I had a feeling he looked very capable for his appearance, I also noticed a gleam of maturity and intelligence in his eyes that no child should have." (I) "As you know I''m a Prince, among my family I''m proud to know how to judge people well, as such, I like to form connections with people I think are capable like him." (I) "That makes sense, we can''t divulge information about our adventurers, but I can tell you he''s a Grade -C adventurer, he''s also the leader of an Adventurer Group by the name of Shadow Eclipse." (Mari) "I won''t talk about his personal information, but I can share common information for you, it might be good for him too." (Mari) "This is common information and is the only one we can divulge to Prince Drago." (Mari) "Thank you so much for that, but could you tell me his name too?" (I) "Of course, his name is Zenos." (Mari) Chapter 155: What fairies eat After getting the reward for the quests in the Adventurers'' Guild, Diana and I leave, but on the way out we pass Prince Drago de Cartoza. I was startled when I saw him but forced myself to keep an expressionless face, I also warned Diana about our connection to her being my Familiar to act like she doesn''t know who he is. After we left the Guild Diana and I walked back to the mansion while we talked. "What was he doing there? And why didn''t he stop staring at me?" (I) "Do you think maybe he recognized you?" (Diana) "I don''t know, he looked surprised but also confused, I don''t think he can recognize me as I don''t think I left any kind of lead for him to follow." (I) "Maybe he asked Carlos for some information or maybe his reason for coming here is something different." (Diana) "You may be right, but for good measure, I''m going to ask Kira to look for information on what the prince has been up to since the ambush so far." (I) "Let''s go back to the mansion." (I) --------------- As soon as we arrive at the mansion I gather everyone in the room for the day''s meeting. "Let''s start the meeting with you today, Anton." (I) "I don''t know if the others spoke to you when they arrived, but we found a monster today that part of its body can be used to make swords." (I) "Irius spoke to me after he arrived, he said you guys defeated some Serpent Swords." (Anton) "That''s right, we brought your swords with us, I planned to leave them with you." (I) "These swords are very easy to work with, as they already have a sword shape and are very sharp, it doesn''t need a lot of work." (Anton) "All I''ll need is to remove some impurities, sharpen the blade a little more and make a grip." (Anton) "How many can you make a day?" (I) "I can do ten a day easily, if you want it faster I can get fifteen." (Anton) "You don''t have to work so hard, do ten a day if you have time after you''ve finished everything delivered to Nira." (I) "Yes." (Anton) "Then someone will take it for you." (I) "Nira, do you know how much these swords can be sold for after they''re finished?" (I) "This sword is the most common on the market, as Anton said himself, this sword can be mass made and has a good durability." (Nira) "In this town, it is sold for 70 silver coins each in the shops, if you want to sell it to the Commerce Guild then maybe you can sell each one for 40 or 45 silver coins." (Nira) "We don''t have a shop, so sell to the Guild." (I) "Diana, for when the sword blade can be sold in the Guild the way we got it in the Dungeon." (I) "The way we got it we could have sold it to the Adventurers'' Guild for 1 silver coin each." (Diana) "So we''re making a big profit the way we''re going to do it, but we''re not going to do it all the time." (I) "As we go deeper into the Dungeon, we''ll find better monster materials that will make more money, so I don''t plan on hunting the same monsters over and over again." (I) "That''s the kind of mindset every adventurer has, master." (Diana) "Become stronger to hunt stronger monsters to sell their materials to the Adventurers Guild, that way we adventurers can achieve fame and fortune." (Diana) "I don''t need fame, but fortune is always welcome, many kinds of problems can be solved with money, but fame only brings unnecessary attention." (I) Sigh "Well, we''ve already solved almost everything." (I) "Kira, I need you to do something for me." (I) "What do you need, master?" (Kira) "Today Diana and I saw Prince Drago at the Adventurers'' Guild, I want you to get information on why he''s still here and when he''s leaving." (I) "I will do this tonight." (Kira) "But it''s not too surprising that he''s here in town, he''s probably staying here while he investigates the ambush, he''ll also want to make sure he doesn''t get ambushed again when he leaves town." (Kira) "Your guess about him makes a lot of sense, but I''ll still want the information to be sure." (I) "I will deliver this information to you tomorrow." (Kira) After talking and sorting all this out there''s only one thing left that I realized today, so I look at Diana. "Diana, after exploring the Dungeon today it''s clear that we''re not going to get the kind of battle we need on the first five floors, so I plan on exploring all the way to the tenth floor." (I) "I don''t plan on facing the Tenth Floor Boss yet, but it''s very likely that we''ll be facing the Intermediate Boss of the First Ten Floors." (I) "You''ve been an adventurer for a long time, you also come from a family of adventurers, so I want to know your opinion." (I) "Want to know what you think about that?" (I) "I agree with the DM, it''s clear that the monsters from these first floors pose no threat to us, so I think we can do it the way the master said." (Diana) "But we shouldn''t face the Chief of the tenth floor yet, we have to train a little more to get used to fighting as a team." (Diana) "Fine by me, before facing the master of the tenth floor I want Ibuki to evolve once more." (I) After discussing this subject that has been on my mind all day I don''t think there is anything else to discuss. "Does anyone have anything else to say?" (I) After seeing that no one else had anything to say and having finished everything I needed to say I ended the meeting. "With that, I think we end the meeting." (I) ---------------- After the meeting was over we all went to eat some delicious food made by Freya and Caryna, after that, I waited for the girls to finish their shower, and then I joined Irius, Leo, and Nolan. After the shower I went to my room, I needed to meditate to integrate the levels I gained today and then I would need to change my work. It took me about thirty minutes to integrate my levels, it was easy as I got used to doing it. --------------- After finishing everything I went to the balcony of my room, it was still late afternoon, but I decided to lie down there to watch the sun''s setting. Meanwhile, I was wondering if I should change my job now, but I decided to do it tomorrow, I''m too lazy to do it now. That way I spent the entire afternoon on the balcony of my room relaxing until a small demonic being came to disturb my rest. "Master, master, master, I''m getting hungry." (Layla) Layla was flying in circles in front of me, I don''t understand why she came to order food for me and not Freya. "I already heard, why didn''t you go to Freya to order food?" (I) "You don''t understand master, this kind of food is tasty, but it''s not what I need, like a fairy my body is made of energy, so the best kind of nutrient for me is energy too." (Layla) "As a hired fairy the best thing for me would be to eat the master''s mana." (Layla) "What did you eat before you met that Necromancer?" (I) "The memories are kind of fuzzy, but a Fairy can only support herself in the fairy world without having to eat mana, eat mana from nature, or eat monster cores." (Layla) "The stronger the Fairy, the more food she needs." (Layla) "That''s why the Fairies make contracts, that way we can walk this world with an inexhaustible source of food with our Contractor close by, we also don''t need to fear death, if we die our souls are pulled into our Contractor where they enter his body, so our bodies are gradually rebuilt or healed using the Contractor''s mana and some of his life energy." (Layla) "..." (I) "I don''t remember you telling me this before, this is very important information." (I) "As I said, my memory is really fuzzy, sometimes I remember things sometimes I don''t, when I got hungry after we left the dungeon I remembered that." (Layla) So that''s why the Fairies make contracts, to be able to enjoy this world and maybe become stronger without the risk of dying, I imagine it must be the same for the Spirits. "Okay, I get it." (I) "You just need Mana, don''t you?" (I) "Yes." (Layla) "Do you prefer pure mana or mana from some specific element?" (I) "I can only eat mana pure or from an element I own." (Layla) "So let''s take this time to find out which is your favorite, I''ll give you a little of each for you to try." (I) "Let''s start with pure mana." (I) I sit up and open my hand up, then use my mana control to make a small portion of my mana gather into a small translucent sphere in my hand that Layla snatches and pops into her mouth. She opened a big smile, so later I made more of these Mana spheres, each sphere had a different color depending on the element, after eating I realized that Layla was very happy. I asked her what it tasted like and she said it depended on the element, the fire was spicy, the earth had a sour taste, the light tasted sweet and the darkness was like an alcoholic drink, she even got a little dizzy. This was an interesting experiment, she said that pure mana has a unique flavor belonging only to the person, she said that my mana was the most delicious, and then her eyes looked at me like a predator while she had a slight smile on the face, it made a frightening shiver run through my body. Chapter 156: Strange dream After spending time lying on my porch watching the suns go by and looking at the stars, for some reason since I came into this world I always end up seeing the stars when I want to calm down or relax. As I watch these two moons rising in the sky I can forget my problems, I can forget the dangers of this world and I can forget my responsibilities. The truth is that when I met Ibuki, rica, Diana, and Kira I was desperate, I can see it now. I was alone in an unknown world, hungry, scared, confused and not knowing what to do. All I wanted was someone to trust, but it wouldn''t be easy to trust anyone, without knowing the rules of this world I could end up getting killed, that''s why I made these four subordinates of mine, all this so I wouldn''t feel alone, their presence to my side brought me the comfort and the emotional support I needed, but it also brought me a responsibility, now everything I do I also have to consider those who follow me, I want to see them happy, I want to see them safe, but for that I need strength to protect them and money, saying that you don''t need money to be happy may be true, but money makes it much easier for someone to get happiness, money may not be everything in the world but it is certainly useful. Now that we''re exploring Dungeon we''re going to be able to accumulate money and get stronger at the same time, I just hope nothing happens until then. Sigh I wanted to forget about my problems, but I can''t stop thinking about them, now that I''ve stopped to think about it I still haven''t seen the notifications of the last fights in Dungeon, I''ll check it out now. Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 254 EXP from enemy kills ]> . . <[ You gained 197 EXP for killing enemies by party members ]> . . . <[ You learned the skill [ Basic Magic Circle: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Serpent Sword Cut: 1 ] ? [ Serpent Onslaught: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the bloodline [ Serpent Sword: 06% ] ]> . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Serpent Sword: 06% > 100% ] ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> . . . <[ Your work has reached the maximum level ]> A smile spreads across my face, how long has it been since I got three bloodlines in one day? I also managed to increase some levels, since I''m doing this I can change my job soon, I was thinking of doing this tomorrow, but there''s no reason for me to keep things for later if I can do it now. "(I''ll first see what work is available.)" (I) I close my eyes and think about changing my job. Ding! <[ Looking for suitable jobs ]> . . <[ Choice between jobs: [ Novice Mage ] [ Novice Warrior ] [ Novice Thief ] [ Apprentice Carpenter ] [ Novice Trader ] [ Novice Martial Artist ] [ Novice Hunter ] [ Grand Martial Master ] [ Adventurer ] [ Slave Master ] [ Awakening Master (Unique) ] [ Demon Breeder (Unique) ] [ Monster Tamer ] [ Apprentice Alchemist ] [ Apprentice Spiritualist ] ]> It seems that I managed to unlock almost all the novice level jobs, I also managed to unlock the [ Apprentice Alchemist ] and [ Apprentice Spiritualist ] job, I can understand why I unlocked the [ Apprentice Alchemist ] job since I have some skills from this job after eating that shitty Alchemist, but I don''t understand this [ Apprentice Spiritualist ] work, could I unlock it by awakening my spiritual energy? That''s probably it, for now, I''m going to switch my job to [ Apprentice Alchemist ] to finish all the apprentice level jobs. I''ll leave it for later to start choosing all the beginner-level jobs, I have to take advantage of it since I get (x5) EXP for jobs. Now that I''ve stopped to think about it, I don''t remember if I''ve already told everyone that I can change their jobs on my own, I also have to think about using the hidden mark on them now or leaving it for later, I''ll fix it tomorrow, I''ve solved a lot. the thing today so I''m going to sleep early, but first I''m going to check my status. <[ NAME: Zenos RACE: Twilight Vampire (Unique) GENRE: Man LEVEL: 14/50 EXP: 154/180 LINEAGE: ? [ ] [ Twilight Vampire (Zenos): Original ] [ Horned Rabbit: 100% ] [ Flaming Snake: 15% ] [ Little Spider: 17% ] [ Gray Wolf: 100% ] [ Kobold: 100% ] [ Human: 100% ] [ Dwarf: 14% ] [ Tiger Beast: 17% ] [ Vampire Bat: 100% ] [ Earth Monkey: 100% ] [ Blood Wolf: 100% ] [ Little Serpent paralyzing: 100%] [ Small Poisonous Serpent: 100%] [ Serpent Sword: 100%] WORK: [ Apprentice alchemist ] WORK LEVEL: 1/10 WORK EXP: 0/25 WORK HISTORY: ? [ Apprentice Wizard: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Warrior: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Martial Artist: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Hunter: 10/10 ] [ Novice Adventurer: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Thief: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Trader: 10/10 ] HP: 145/145 MP: 430/430 Ki: 166/166 EP: 674/674 Strength: 160 (+38) Dexterity: 130 (+30) Agility: 145 (+30) Defense: 105 (+25) Intelligence: 220 (+25) Magic Defense: 144 (+25) Charm: 200 (+1550) Luck: -50 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: ? [ ? ] [ ?? ] [ World Transgressor ] [ Last of his kind ] [ First of his kind ] [ He who brings chaos ] [ Named Monster ] [ Unique Monster ] [ True Master ] [ Founder of Chaos Fist ] [ Novice Mage ] [ Goblin Chief ] [ Novice Adventurer ] [ Literate ] [ Thief ] [ Kidnapper ] [ Goblin Killer ] [ Friend of Spirits ] [ Founder Blade of Chaos Technique ] [ Blood Child ] [ Day Walker ] [ Patriarch ( Twilight Vampires ) ] [ Shadow Eclipse group leader ] [ Fairy Friend ] [ Fairy Contractor: Layla (Lesser Chaos Fairy) ] [ Alchemist Master ] [ Pervert ] ]> I''m surprised every time I look at this status, I can''t even compare it to the status of the weak Leech who was born in that red pool of water without even having a name. It''s been a few more months for me it feels like it''s been a long journey. Sigh "(I think I''ll go to bed earlier.)" (I) I get up and go to my bed, just as I''m about to go to bed I notice Layla sleeping in the middle of the bed, I take her little body carefully in my hands and let her lie down on a more comfortable pillow and cover her with a small sheet I asked for. for Tania to do it especially for Layla. "You are very careless, at least pay attention to the way you sleep." (I) After taking care of Layla I lie down on the bed and cover myself, I''m not tired but I want to get up early tomorrow to train my magic a little more. As I wasn''t sleepy I ended up taking a while to sleep, but in the end, I fell asleep. Zzzzzzz... Zzzzz... Zzz... ---------- I was lying on my bed when I woke up to the noise of heavy rain, I open my eyes and get up, then go to the window to see the rain. "I don''t understand, the sky was clear without a single cloud when I went to sleep, how did the weather change so fast?" (I) All I saw through the window was heavy rain with occasional thunder, I turn away from the window to go back to my bed but notice something strange. "This isn''t my bed." (I) I look around and realize this was the exact same room, but the furniture was different, I also looked over the bed but found no sign of Layla. "What''s going on here?" (I) I go to the door to leave the room and look for the others, but as soon as I leave the room I found the same strangeness, I looked around the hallway noticing that the furniture was different, there were also pictures on the wall of people I don''t know. Not knowing what''s going on I start walking down the hall, all the time I feel like someone or something is watching me, but every time I look around I don''t see anything, not only don''t see anything, I don''t hear anything but noise of rain and lightning outside. "... ... ..." (voice) Suddenly I hear a murmur coming from a door a little further on, so I walk towards it slowly, always trying to pay attention to my surroundings. As I get closer to the door I see the knob move and the door slowly open with a slight creak. "(I don''t like where this is going.)" (I) I walk to the door and start to hear the murmur a little more clearly, I can now identify it as the voice of a man crying. "Don''t worry my daughter, daddy will help you." (mysterious man) "Daddy will always be with you until you''re better." (mysterious man) "No matter how much time passes, no matter what, Dad will never leave her side so you don''t feel lonely." (mysterious man) As I listened to this mysterious man''s tearful voice I hesitated to open the door further, for some reason something felt wrong but I couldn''t figure out what it was. Not knowing what was wrong I enter the room at once in a fighting position, but I''m surprised by what I see, the room was completely empty. All around was a normal room, but the decor looked very feminine, I was surprised and confused to see this as just a few seconds away I could hear the voice of a man crying talking to his daughter. In this moment of distraction and confusion, I feel a presence suddenly appear behind me, so before I can react I feel something hit my shoulder, as soon as I see what a frightening shiver runs through my body as what''s on my shoulder is a skeleton hand. In this moment of shock I hear the same voice as before the mysterious man crying, but this time he wasn''t crying and his voice carried strong willpower and coldness. "Daddy will bring the help you need my daughter." (mysterious man) At that moment I feel a growing pain in my face, then everything around me disappears. ---------- "Wake up, stupid master, Freya is calling you to eat." (Layla) I open my eyes only to see Layla pulling my cheek as she tries to fly backward, I grab this Fairy with one hand and look around. "..." (I) All I see is my usual room, the same bed, and the same furniture, so I get up and go to the window where I see that it''s already dawn, I look at the sky and I don''t see a single cloud there, I look at the ground too, but does not appear to be wet. "(Was that a dream?)" (I) Chapter 157: Synthesis part 1 I had my heart racing with a hand on my chest as I looked around my room in shock from that horrible nightmare. "(What a freaking horror movie dream was that.)" (I) "(To make it worse all that''s left was to show up a guy in striped clothes and with a burnt body saying he wanted to kill me in my nightmare.)" (I) "(I almost got a goddamn heart attack because of that damn nightmare.)" (I) "Let go of me stupid master, how long do you plan on holding me like this!" (Layla) "Huh!?" (I) Suddenly I hear Layla''s voice, then realize I''m still holding her with one of my hands, so I let go of her and let her fly as she slurs at me for holding her so far. It took me a while to calm this little demonic being, after that she tells me that Freya had asked her to wake me up since the breakfast was ready, she also told me to hurry up as Leo and Diana are having trouble holding Ibuki that left alone eats everything alone. "Thanks for coming to wake me up." (I) "Here, this is a gesture of apology for holding you like that." (I) I open my hand and make a small sphere of Mana for Layla to eat, after eating she smiles again and sits on my shoulder as I go to the bathroom to clean my teeth before heading downstairs to join the others to eat. When we were all together eating we started talking to find out what each one planned to do that day. "I had a nightmare in my sleep, but I won''t let it affect me." (I) "I''m thinking about taking the day off to study magic, I''m planning on exploring the Dungeon every other day." (I) "So everyone is free to do as they please." (I) At this point Freya and Caryna started talking about going out shopping for various spices they need to cook, Leo called Diana, Irius, and Sophia to train in the back of the mansion, Ibuki, Alice, and Nolan teamed up with Irina to study, rica he said he''s going to join me to train his magic too, Anton and Tania said they''ll continue with their usual jobs, Kira and Nira were talking about looking for some information about some rare item we can use and Layla said she''s going to train a little with Byakko his Thunder magic as the two have the same element. With everyone already knowing what they need to do we split up after we''ve finished eating, before starting my magical training I go to Nira to find out about what she found in the storage items that Layla and Byakko brought from that Alchemist''s lab I devoured. "Have you finished evaluating everything that was in the storage items that came from that Alchemist''s lab?" (I) "Yes, as I imagined before, many of the bottles were filled with drugs, there were also some types of poison, I was going to do what the master asked, which was to destroy the drugs and keep the poisons." (Nira) "You can still do this." (I) "Find anything else?" (I) "I found some weak HP and MP potions, they also had some good ones." (Nira) "Other than that I found some monster materials, alchemy tools, alchemy ingredients, books, jewelry and money." (Nira) "Did you find money too?" (I) "From the amount I found I think it was that Alchemist''s entire fortune, the storage item it was in should be his." (Nira) "I found 78000 gold coins in total, I don''t know how he managed to walk around with all that money." (Nira) "That gives us a lot of help, what about the books he had?" (I) "Over half of those books were normal alchemy books that most competent Alchemists already have, the rest are banned books on drugs and poisons." (Nira) "Unfortunately I also had diaries of the experiments that Alchemist had done, it was very detailed." (Nira) "There are many cookbooks of potions, drugs, and poisons among the books I spoke about." (Nira) "Put all the books in the library, there are the books we brought and the books they already had in this mansion." (I) "As you wish, master." (Nira) "Try not to spend all your time working, you can do whatever you want when you''re not working, I advise you to find something fun to do." (I) "I will think about it master, I never had the opportunity to think of something to amuse myself." (Nira) After talking to Nira I go to Kira to see if she already has any information about Prince Drago that I asked her for yesterday. I close my eyes and try to feel my connection to Kira as soon as I feel the direction she is in, so I open my eyes and start walking towards it. After a while I''m at Kira''s bedroom door, I knock a few times for her to answer the door. knock knock "Go on in, master." (Kira) After she says I go into Kira''s room, as soon as I go in I look around and see only a generic room. After all, this time here, and Kira still hasn''t arranged her room to be her own way? "Need me for something master?" (Kira) "Yeah, I was wondering if you''ve found out anything about Prince Drago like I asked yesterday?" (I) I see Kira sitting on the floor, leaning against a wall with a reading crystal in her hand. "I was checking this information just now, got it yesterday." (Kira) "Excellent work as always." (I) "It was a simple request, master." (Kira) "From what I''m reading in this information and what we already know about Prince Drago, it''s not hard to guess what he''s been up to." (Kira) "It appears that he and the Duke have been investigating the five traitorous nobles who participated in the ambush, in fact, they are investigating four traitorous nobles as I killed one when I went undercover among them." (Kira) "This I expected, but why was he going to the Adventurers'' Guild yesterday?" (I) "Also wanted to know why he''s still in Valen''s town even after all this time?" (I) "Looks like he wanted to make sure he didn''t get attacked again when he headed towards the capital." (Kira) "I can''t be sure for you, but I think Prince Drago may have gone to the Guild yesterday to talk to the Guild Master about an escort mission to the capital Trigan." (Kira) "That''s a good guess, thanks for all the great work." (I) "I am happy to be of assistance to you, master." (Kira) After that I go to my room, then I take the books I''ve been reading about magic and I study the theory for a few hours, then after a few hours I stop and go to the back of the mansion where the others are training, I went there. to train a little my attack and defense magic spells. After a few hours, I managed to use one more element with my beginner-level spells, but I still haven''t got the skill for that, I''ll probably need to practice this more. At night we had a quick meeting just to talk a little, everyone talked about their days, after that I asked who would go to the Dungeon tomorrow and it ended up being the same members as yesterday. After the meeting, I go to my room carrying Layla who slept through the meeting in my hands. As soon as I walk into the room I put Layla on the bed and cover her up, then head out to the porch. "(I have to order a comfortable chair to put here or maybe a hammock to lie down on.)" (I) While thinking about these random things I stand with my hands on the balcony looking out over the mansion grounds. "(Now it''s time to use that ability, but first I''ll identify it to find out what it can do.)" (I) <[ Skill identification result: [ Synthesis: 1 ]---> Unique Ability that allows the owner to Synthesize Items, Ingredients, Elements, Spells, Bloodlines, Abilities, etc. Energy consumption varies depending on the compatibility of the energy used with the synthesis targets. If the owner does not have enough energy or HP the synthesis will not activate. Number of targets per synthesis: 2 Available daily use: 1 Cost: Synthesize physical targets: (-1%) energy up to (-100%) energy depending on target compatibility. Synthesize strain: (-1%) HP too (-95%) HP depending on strains. Synthesize Ability (Passive/Active): (-1%) energy to (-100%) energy depending on abilities and the compatibility between energies and abilities. Synthesize Unique Ability: BLOCKED ]> "(This skill is much better than I imagined, but it seems that because it is so strong it also has strong restrictions.)" (I) The energy that speaks in the skill description must be referring to mana, spiritual power, and Ki. What is talking about combativeness should refer that the cost for the synthesis of magic abilities will be lower if I use mana for synthesis maybe? "(I''ll still have to test to prove this theory.)" (I) The lineage synthesis is going to be a very useful thing, I was getting worried about these lineages piling up inside of me, but I was also thinking of a way to use it. I already know that I am able to grant a bloodline to someone else since every time I transform or awaken someone I have the option to grant a bloodline or ability to someone. I''ve been thinking for a long time about how I can make the most of this, now that I have the synthesis skill I can start the plans I''ve been thinking about. What worries me is knowing that I have to use my HP to do the lineage synthesis, this can be dangerous. But these restrictions are really bad, it will slow me down as I can only use this skill once a day and I can only synthesize two things together at a time. But unlike other unique abilities, this one has a level, so if I level it up I can loosen those restrictions, maybe I can even use it more times a day and synthesize more things together at the same time. Sigh "(Now what should I do, how should I use this skill today?)" (I) Chapter 158: Synthesis part 2 I was on the balcony of my room thinking about what skills I could synthesize, I waited until now when I didn''t have any worries in my head to do so, so I can think more clearly about that skill. As I was thinking I was looking at my status to make sure I wasn''t forgetting anything, that''s when I saw two similar abilities. Let me identify these two skills before synthesizing them together so I''ll have a reference to compare the before and after. <[ Skills identification result: [ Reinforced thread production: 1 ]--> Produces a strong silk thread that comes out of the owner''s mouth or fingers. The line becomes thinner, sharper, and stronger using Ki through it. COST: (-5) Ki per second to produce line. COST: (-10) Ki every ten seconds to make the line thinner and sharper. [ Magic thread production: 2 ]--> Produces a strong sticky thread that comes out of the mouth or fingers. The line can become strong and hard or sticky and sticky using the owner''s mana to control it. COST: (-5) MP per second to produce a sticky and sticky line. COST: (-10) MP per second to make the line strong and stiff. ]> Now that I know the information for this skill I have to synthesize it and see how it works exactly. I imagine the two abilities in my head and think about activating the ability [ Synthesis: 1 ], at that moment a notification appears in my vision. Ding! <[ Activating Synthesis ]> . . <[ Searching for selected targets ]> . . <[ Targets found ]> . . <[ Do you want to synthesize the skills [ Enhanced Line Production: 1 ] and the skill [ Magic Line Production: 2 ]? ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> "(Yes.)" (I) Ding! <[ Choose the energy you want to use for synthesis: ? Mana: -50 ? Ki: -50 ? Spiritual power: -80 ]> So that''s how I choose the energy I''m going to use, I must admit it''s very intuitive to use, it even shows the amount of energy each one will use. I can also see that I would expend more spiritual energy, probably because these abilities are not compatible with that energy. I choose to use mana. Ding! <[ Starting synthesis ]> At this moment I feel something inside me blending, this feeling is strange but it''s not harming me and soon it''s over. Ding! <[ Summary completed ]> . . <[ [ Enhanced Line Production: 1 ] X [ Magic Line Production: 2 ] = [ Magic Enhanced Line Production: 1 ] ]> "(So this is my new skill?)" (I) I think about identifying this new ability. <[ Skill identification result: [ Magic reinforced thread production: 1 ]--> produces a normal or strong adhesive thread that comes out of the owner''s mouth or fingers. The line can become hard, sticky, and sharp using the owner''s mana or Ki to control it. The power of this line depends on the skill level, the amount of Mana and Ki used by the owner. It is also possible to use mana or elemental Ki through the line during your production to give elemental effects. COST: (-5) Ki or MP per second to produce line. COST: (-10) Ki or mana every ten seconds to make the line thinner, sharper, sticky, or stiff. ]> It seems that the skill is not only a fusion of the two skills but it is also stronger than the two previous skills. I''m happy to see that this skill is exactly what I wanted, but the feeling I felt when the two skills were merged worries me, I could feel them moving inside me and merging, it was very strange and disconcerting. But what worries me is what will happen if I merge two bloodlines? sigh I''ll find out tomorrow night, I''m planning to use synthesis every night before bed, it seems to be very dangerous to use this skill in places that I don''t know are safe as it can leave me low on health or energy. So I''m just going to do this before I sleep in safe places. Now I''m going to have to think about what skills and lineages I''m going to merge, I''m going to take some time thinking about it, I don''t need to be in a hurry. I look at this landscape, I look at this mist-covered garden, I look at these mist-covered trees and I look at the scary bird flying towards me. I raise my hand and the bird that looks like a silent shadow flying through the night comes towards me without making a sound, then it lands on my hand. Caw-caw "Looks like Nira already went to sleep so you''re away from her at this time, isn''t it, Yomi?" (I) The crow shakes his head up and down, he understands what people say, just as Nira told me Yomi''s race is intelligent. I pat his head a little. "Have you enjoyed living here?" (I) He shakes his head up and down several times. "I''m glad about that, by the way, you like the miasma of this mansion, don''t you?" (I) Once again Yomi nods in agreement. "I don''t normally care about that, but the nightmare I had that last night nearly gave me a heart attack." (I) "But who can blame me for having such a nightmare living in this mansion, look at this landscape for example." (I) "It''s beautiful, but it looks like the landscape from a horror movie, this giant mansion isn''t the most inviting place at night either." (I) Sigh "(I just hope I don''t have other nightmares like that.)" (I) "You can go, I''ll sleep soon." (I) Yomi flies from my hand and I see him go around the mansion through the sky, maybe he can be going to Nira''s room. I spend a few more minutes watching the stars before entering my room and sitting on the bed. "(Tomorrow I have to get up early as we''re going to the dungeon again.)" (I) I lay my head down on my pillow and cover myself with a sheet. "(Time to sleep.)" (I) I close my eyes and give in to my sleep. Zzzzzzz... zzzzzz... zzzz... ---------- When I opened my eyes I was a little confused, but soon I hear the noise of heavy rain and lightning, so I look around and see the furniture that isn''t mine. "That''s not..." (I) I immediately understood where I was, I was having that nightmare again, I don''t know why this is happening again, I didn''t even like horror movies in my previous life, could it be that this is influenced by the miasma of this house? I would like to be standing in this room since I know I''m going to be scared if I start walking around the mansion in this nightmare, but I''m too anxious to be standing still. I get up and walk to the door, as soon as I leave the room I know something is different from the last time, the pictures of people I don''t know and the expensive furniture are still all over the hall, but this time some of them are destroyed by claw marks. "... ... ..." (voice) "... ... ..." (voice) I hear you coming from a room, this time I approach cautiously, I won''t make the same mistake as the last time I open the door, I just get close enough to hear what these voices are saying. "I finally found a way to save her." (mysterious woman A) "Are you sure this time?" (mysterious man) "We''ve tried so many things, but it never gets better." (mysterious woman B) "I''m sure this time." (mysterious woman A) I overheard a conversation between three people coming from this room which is the same room in the previous dream. Brrr boom! Suddenly I hear the sound of Thunder and a momentary flash comes from the window after the flash disappears the door before it was all broken in half with big claw marks that crossed the door until I could see the other side. "..." (I) "(I''m sure I''m going to die of a heart attack by the end of this dream this time.)" (I) While in shock from fright I started pinching my arm in an attempt to wake up from this nightmare, but to no avail. "... ... ..." (voice) I hear a loud sound of voices shouting from downstairs if I''m not mistaken it''s coming from the library maybe. I look through the claw marks on the door into the room but don''t see anyone again inside the room. The worst thing is that I still feel like I''m continually being watched. Even though I''m scared I can''t stop my curiosity and anxiety, so I go down to the second floor and head towards the voice I was hearing that was actually coming from the library. "You want me to steal it from my own brother!!!" (mysterious man) "We have no choice, we need that item to save her, I and the others get the other things we need." (mysterious woman A) "But even if I manage to use what we already have to save her, her lifespan will be very short, we need the item her brother keeps in the safe for her to have a longer life." (mysterious woman A) "I...I understand, but stealing from my brother is still..." (mystery man) "You know that even if you ask, he won''t give you this item." (mysterious woman A) "Alright, I accept any punishment after we save her." (mysterious man) Before I could get near the library I could hear their discussion from afar, this was the same man from upstairs, by the voice I could also tell it was the same man from the last nightmare, the woman was the first woman who spoke on the floor from above too. As the conversation became calmer and their voices subsided I had to get closer to the library door to hear them, in the end, I was in front of the door and once again they stopped talking. Brrr boom! Brrr boom! I hear once more the roar of thunder coming from outside and a flash comes from the window, the brief moment my vision was obstructed the library door is shattered to pieces, I look into the library and see the books lying around and claw marks on shelves and walls. I could also see that the library was empty once more, at that moment darkness takes over the library and two red lights light up inside the darkness-like eyes, so from the darkness a voice like the man who listened before can be heard. "This time I will save her, now Daddy knows what he needs to do." (mysterious man) The darkness starts to get closer and closer to me, I look around but the corridors are covered with darkness coming towards me. "Daddy will bring you what you need my dear, whatever it takes." (mysterious man) Chapter 159: The sixth floor "Master, it''s already dawn, wake up." (Freya) I wake up suddenly to a familiar voice calling me and someone shaking my shoulder. "..." (I) "Master if you stay sleepy like this you''ll be late for the dungeon, the others have already woken up and are downstairs waiting for Caryna to finish preparing the food." (Freya) I open my eyes and see Freya in a stylish and pretty maid outfit in black and white, I have Tanya make one for Freya before making one for Caryna and Alice. After opening my eyes my confusion starts to fade and I remember my nightmare. I was close to being caught by what was hiding in the darkness of the library in my dream, but just then I woke up because of Freya. I feel my heart beating uncontrollably with fright, when I get up from the bed I put my hand where I was lying and see that it is drenched in sweat. "(How scared was I exactly?)" (I) "You''re sweating a lot, what''s going on?" (Freya) "What''s happening is I''m going to end up having a goddamn heart attack." (I) "What is a heart attack?" (Freya) "Nevermind." (I) sigh "(Is this really just a nightmare?)" (I) "I think you''d better go take a shower before going down to eat." (Freya) "You''re right, I need to wipe off all this sweat." (I) "Let me take care of Layla. That she''s still sleeping." (Freya) "All right." (I) I get up and leave the room going straight to the thermal waters, I must say it was one of the most expensive things I asked to put in this mansion, but it''s worth every coin I spent. After taking a shower and cleaning my teeth, I go to where the others are supposed to be eating. As soon as everyone finished eating we all got ready and left the mansion going to the Dungeon of the Great Serpent, this time I don''t need to go to the Guild, I also remembered to pick up some quests there yesterday. The trip to the Dungeon went as I expected, we found many adventurers coming and going the way we were walking, the ones that were coming were mostly younger, they were dirty, injured, and tired, they seemed to be in their early teens. When we get to the dungeon we go straight to the fourth floor, I plan to get as many snake bloodlines as I can in this dungeon, this will help me with my special project that I''m keeping secret from the others for now. As soon as we reach the fourth floor I ask Diana which monster is on this floor, she replies that it is a monster called the Thorny Serpent, this Serpent has poison not only in its teeth but also in its thorns. It looks like a complicated monster to fight melee, but we''ll probably finish it off with ranged attacks. I advise Layla to finish off these Thorny Serpents with ranged attacks, then I tell Ibuki and I will take care of the other Serpents, I''m doing this because I want to evolve soon and I also want Ibuki to evolve, for that, we need more EXP, but no I want to make others immobilize the monsters for me or Ibuki to kill, what I want is for us to fight and kill the monsters with our own strength regardless of whether it is a weak monster or not. In the first battle we fought 11 monsters, three of them were Thorny Serpents that had thorns growing from the top of their head to the tip of their tail. "< Ice Needles >" (Layla) "< Fireball >" (I) Just as I said before Layla creates nine ice needles and directs three needles to each Thorny Serpent, meanwhile I use my fire magic and cast a fireball killing three snakes and leaving two wounds, Ibuki runs to the snakes with a similar move to Diana''s and cuts the heads off of two snakes, then she jumps up and kicks a third snake upside down, killing her. After Ibuki finished the three cobras I told her to kill the two I left wounded with my attack. Ding! Ding! After all the snakes are dead I control their blood and gather it into four spheres of blood, I drink all the blood from the Thorny Serpents and keep the rest of the blood in bottles that are expanded storage items, I will take that blood to serve as food for me, Irina, Irius, Alice and Nolan. After that we continued exploring this floor of the Dungeon for another two hours until I had drunk a large amount of Thorny Serpent blood, then we head for the stairs to the fifth floor. As soon as we get to the fifth floor we go to the crystal in the middle of the safe zone to register our presence, then soon after I see a glow come from the crystal, Diana tells us to move away because someone is teleporting here, so after we move The crystal''s glow gets stronger and I see the space around the crystal ripple like water before eight Human men appear where there was no one before, all armed with swords and spears. After this group arrived they looked at us, then one of the men signals to the others and they go explore the fifth floor. "This group is weird." (Diana) "Why you say that?" (rica) "Look at their weapons, everyone is using swords or spears, there is no one who appears to be a wizard, neither has a shield, and I have not seen anyone who appears to be a Thief or Assassin among them." (Diana) "And why would a Thief or Assassin being in your group matter?" (I) "From the fifth floor onwards, traps start to appear, Thief or Assassin works have a high chance of learning a skill that allows them to detect traps, which is something that becomes more and more important the deeper you go into a dungeon." (Diana) "With so many people attacking from close range, they won''t do well against monsters either, they need someone to attack from a distance." (Diana) "Adventurers often assemble diverse groups to have different types of tactics to adapt to different monsters and situations." (Diana) "Those who don''t do this end up dying early, even the Guild advises them to do this." (Diana) "Changing the subject, what is the fifth-floor monster?" (I) "A Paralyzing Serpent, this is the evolved form of the monster on the first floor, it is twice the size of the other and twice as strong." (Diana) "Thankfully, I was getting tired of facing weak monsters, but before we go I have to do something." (I) Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 281 EXP from enemy kills ]> . . <[ You gained 101 EXP for killing enemies by party members ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic Fire Magic: 3 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic Magic Circle: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Detect Presence: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Thorny Serpent Onslaught: 1 ] ? [ Production of thorns: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the lineage [ Thorny Serpent: 07% ] ]> . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Thorny Serpents: 07% > 100% ] ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> . . . <[ Your work has reached the maximum level ]> It looks like the bloodline has reached the maximum purity level, I also gained a lot of EXP and managed to evolve some skills. I''m also going to take advantage and switch to the [Newbie Mage] job as I''ve already reached the maximum level of my current job. "Can we go now." (I) We started exploring the fifth floor. Just like I''ve been doing since before, I''ve been using my detection skills to find the closest monsters, that''s why we''ve faced so many monsters. We soon found seven green snakes that are almost my size, they are actually bigger than their versions before they evolved, their teeth are now so big their fangs are sticking out of their mouths. They were stronger but still too weak, only Layla and Ibuki were enough to kill them all, Layla used her space magic to cast a blade bar that cut the heads of two snakes, while Ibuki moved between the snakes slicing through three heads when a snake would attack her from behind she does a spinning kickback while cutting off the head of a fourth snake, then Layla finishes the last snake with an icy needle in the eye that goes to the brain. After the fight, I drink the blood of the Paralyzing Serpents before picking up some of their body parts and continuing to explore the dungeon. Ding! Ding! We explore the fifth floor for a couple of hours or so, then head towards the sixth-floor stairs. During our exploration, we only found two or three traps, in our group only Kira and I have trap detection skills, so we always noticed the trap before since we have had this skill working since we started exploring the fifth floor. Kira took advantage of these traps to teach me how to disable these traps, she taught me how I could interrupt the mechanisms of a trap in many different ways depending on the trap. Ding! I even thought I might have learned a skill from it, I hope I''m right. Then we go downstairs to the sixth floor and head straight for the crystal, at Diana and Kira''s suggestion we throw dirt on our clothes by rolling around on the floor a bit so as not to draw too much attention. While we were in the safe room on the sixth floor the same group as earlier made up of men using swords and spears passed us on their way to explore the sixth floor. When they passed I could see blood on their clothes, for some reason something was drawing my attention to them but I couldn''t tell what it was. But it seems that Diana and Kira knew something, the moment that group entered the safe room the two had a serious expression on their faces and avoided looking at them. I waited for that group to leave before making the others wait for a little while I switched jobs to [ Newbie Warrior ] this time. But before changing my job I checked the notifications from the previous floor. Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 311 EXP from enemy kills ]> . . <[ You gained 142 EXP from enemy kills by party members ]> . . . You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Paralyzing Serpent Onslaught: 1 ] ? [ Charge of the Paralyzing Serpent: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ Your bloodline has evolved [ Little Paralyzing Snake: 100% ] > [ Paralyzing Snake: 57% ] ]> . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Paralyzing Serpent: 57% > 100% ] ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> . . . <[ Your work has reached the maximum level ]> Chapter 160: Novice killers I''ve decided to check my notifications and change my work to take advantage of the fact that we''re in the secure room on the sixth floor and the others are watching. After changing my job I tell us to continue exploring, but at this point, Diana and Kira stop me, they look around to make sure no one else is around before they speak. "I have to warn you to be careful with that group, master." (Diana) "Why?" (I) "I smelled the blood on their clothes, most of it came from Humans but they weren''t hurt, I also smelled the blood of Beastmen and a faint smell of monsters." (Diana) "I noticed that when they were passing us they emitted a slight bloodlust directed at us, not only that, some of them had dangerous smiles on their faces like they were having fun." (Kira) "Do you think they might be the people Mari talked about last time?" (I) "The master is talking about the Beginner Assassins?" (Diana) "Yes." (I) "Perhaps." (Diana) "It was probably them, maybe they''re wanting to ambush us while we''re fighting a monster or approaching to surprise us when we''re tired." (Kira) "Then let''s be careful, if they attack we''ll be ready." (I) "The three of us have detection skills, so they don''t have a chance of ambushing us." (I) "If they''re bold enough to attack us head-on, then kill them all, leave just one alive as proof that we''ve eliminated the rookie killers, we''re going to need that for the reward." (I) "To take the reward we''ll need proof that they''re novice killers, taking one of them alive is the best proof since the Guild has its ways of getting someone to talk, plus we''ll have their weapons and clothes covered in people''s blood who killed." (Diana) "So let''s go." (I) We all left the safe room and started exploring the sixth floor, the monster we found was the evolution of the second-floor monster its name was Poisonous Serpent. The fights on this floor were like the fights on the previous floor with the monster''s evolved form appearing in place of its form before it evolved. But it was still an easy fight, but I could feel some eyes watching us, so I made them all fight and I told them they pretended to be rookies that Diana had to save at one time or another. The reason I do this is so they think we''re weaker than them and that the only obstacle will be Diana. I told everyone pretending they are getting tired and letting the monsters make small cuts to our clothes every fight, it will give the impression that we are being hurt to outsiders. During the battles on this floor, I made Byakko and Layla invisible, I also asked them not to interfere in the fights, with each fight we got dirtier and more tired looking, at a certain point I made Kira pretend to faint in a place where Diana spoke that many adventurers don''t. With all this acting it shouldn''t take them any longer to attack, this is the best time for them. "They are here, get ready." (I) I could feel them surrounding us with my detection skills, so I warned the others to prepare. As soon as they were close enough I could see them, they had smiles on their faces and were holding their guns in a fighting stance. Among them the one who looked like the leader took a step forward with a perverted smile on his face as he looked at rica and Kira, he also started talking a lot of shit while emitting his bloodlust looking at Diana. "Look what we have here if it isn''t the famous "Guardian Wolf" and her group of fledgling adventurers." (enemy leader) I realize the leader is ignoring me and starts talking directly to Diana. "(Does he think Diana is the leader of the group or why does he believe she is the only threat?)" (I) "(What an idiot, why didn''t I think of this possibility before?)" (I) The enemy leader''s misunderstanding was something I hadn''t thought of, but it makes sense to outsiders, Diana is a famous adventuress in town and all the other members of the group are new people in town, I still look like this. of a child, so everyone must think Diana is the leader, I use my Family connection with Diana to talk to her. "(He thinks you''re the leader of the group, so pretend to be for now.)" (I) "(Yes, master.)" (Diana) "What are you doing here?" (Diana) "I saw that your group was having difficulties, so I thought I''d help out a little." (enemy leader) "We don''t need your help, get out of the way we''re leaving." (Diana) The enemy leader and his comrades raise their weapons with mocking smiles. "I don''t think you understand the situation you''re in yet, but what would I expect from someone of the Man-Beast race, you are all pretty dumb, which is to be expected from an inferior race." (enemy leader) "What did you say?" (Diana) "Are you having hearing problems right now?" (enemy leader) "I thought your race had good ears, but it looks like I was wrong." (enemy leader) Ha ha hahahaha... Soon the men surrounding us start laughing as their leader mocks Diana, I want to end this charade, but I''m feeling something strange coming from this bandit leader. "You really are strong enough to bring this noble brat and these newbies with you here." (enemy leader) "I appreciate that, it''s been more and more difficult to attack adventurers on higher floors, but a lot of newbies are afraid to explore beyond the fifth floor because of the evolved monsters and traps, so it''s great to see such brave newbies fall into mine. hands." (enemy leader) "So you guys are the rookie killers?" (Diana) "I have no obligation to answer you, now I want all of you to drop your weapons and storage items on the ground." (enemy leader) "You must be an idiot if you think I''m going to surrender without a fight, you guys aren''t strong enough to fight me yet either." (Diana) The bandit leader loses his smile and glares at Diana. "You can be stronger than us when you''re in good condition, but look at you now, having to protect these newbies, covered in dirt and with body sores." (enemy leader) "You can take a little work but you''re still going to die, the question is do you want your friends to die with you or not?" (enemy leader) "You bastard." (Diana) The enemy leader laughs at Diana''s anger and turns his gaze to rica and Kira, any man can recognize the way he''s looking at them, eyes filled with lust. I wanted to attack him now, but there''s still something that worries me. "How two beautiful women like you two can team up with filth like Dhampiros, Onis, and that woman of the Beast Man race." (enemy leader) He says this while leering at rica and Kira. "A Human and a White Elf as beautiful as you two, me and my men will take very good care of you both." (enemy leader) "Drop your weapons and surrender, if you do, I promise you won''t suffer too much and might even have some fun, but if you try to fight then I won''t let you die even if you beg." (enemy leader) "Leader leave this Dhampir with us too, she looks pretty." (Enemy A) "That''s right, let''s take really good care of her, ha ha hahahahaha..." (Enemy B) "Since I heard the rumors I''ve been wondering what it would be like to have the Guardian Wolf under me, the leader isn''t going to deny that to his subordinates is he?" (Enemy C) "I want that too, we can''t waste an opportunity like this leader." (Enemy D) "That''s right." (Enemy E) "How can you guys like this filth?" (enemy leader) Sigh "You should stop thinking about these inferior races like that, they''re just monsters." (enemy leader) I''m doing my best to calm down, but every word from this guy is making me furious, not only he but his subordinates are just as annoying as he is, the worst thing is they had more than I expected, now they have sixteen enemies, it looks like they were walking in two separate groups, the reason he didn''t attack sooner must have been to wait for the others to arrive. "(I''ll kill every one of them for daring to say these things to the girls.)" (I) Even though I was very angry I was still looking for what was weird about this bandit leader, soon I felt slight dark energy coming from a small leather bag strapped to his waist. The enemy may be outnumbered, but they''re underestimating us a lot, they''ll soon find out what terror is. "(I don''t think I need to continue this farce anymore.)" (I) I stop pretending to be tired and walk in front of Diana and look directly at the bandit leader. "I don''t think we need to continue with this, we''ve heard enough." (I) "Be quiet back brat, this is a conversation between adults." (enemy leader) "You don''t understand, I said the conversation is over, I''ve heard enough, the rest I can find out after you''re dead." (I) "Ha ha hahahahaha..." (bandit leader) The bandit leader starts laughing when he hears what he said, soon after his subordinates also started laughing while making fun of me. "Noble brats like you are always like that, confident and proud." (enemy leader) "You hire experienced adventurers to be able to kill some monsters with ease while others have to fight to protect you." (enemy leader) "Look at that look, look at that hair and look at these new weapons, it looks like your family invested a lot in you putting together this group and hiring the famous Guardian Wolf to lead your group." (enemy leader) "But it looks like it''s gone to your head, you''re just a child, without her to defend you, so you''d be dead already, do you think because I''m noble I won''t kill you?" (enemy leader) "He talks too much, doesn''t he Diana?" (I) "Yes, he made a lot of errors in judgment too, truly competent adventurers wouldn''t have fallen for that." (Diana) "Competent adventurers wouldn''t waste their time fighting new adventurers." (I) "You are right, master." (Diana) "You brat, acting like he has everything under control, I''m going to..." (enemy leader) He doesn''t know how wrong he is but it''s too late, he and his underlings pissed me off more than they should, I may look calm on the outside but I''m seething with rage now, I even lost control of my bloodlust for wanting to kill them, it seems the enemy leader noticed and stopped his chatter and looked at me in disbelief, but it''s already too late for him. "I will show you and your subordinates that those who dared to treat my companions or rather my family the way you did, will have a slow and very painful death." (I) Chapter 161: Evil Seed Pov of an excommunicated priest: My name is Andrew, used to be a priest of the Church of Light who was part of the extremist faction, one day those of the peaceful faction found out about how I was killing some Beastmen in small villages during my visits, so I was excommunicated, but I still had people like me who could not tolerate such filthy things. The one who was my superior at the time before he was excommunicated invited me to be part of a plan, after he told me the plan I was delighted, he didn''t tell me in detail and I understand why, but I was happy to be part of the plan. backup plan. That person was Archbishop Thomas Galaretto, he is a man I admire and so I was happy to be a part of that plan. I went to the town of Valen in the Trigan Kingdom and became an adventurer there, my training at the Church of Light was easy, I also spent a few months getting some subordinates I could use, to do this I started looking for greedy people among the talentless adventurers, I made them join me and attack new adventurers and I left most of the profits to them, so I made them happy and in my control. Killing these newbies I was also able to keep cleaning these inferior races that are all over this city because I''m doing this inside the Dungeon, nobody notices. A few days ago they sent me an item I needed to fulfill my mission, it took a long time to arrive, but I learned that Archbishop Galaretto was unconscious for a while. With the item I needed in my hands I went to the dungeon with my subordinates, I told them this would be a great rookie hunt, they don''t need to know what I''ll do, after it''s all over I''ll run out of the dungeon and then out from the city, as far as I know, I''m not the only one on this mission, so I don''t want to die staying here. As I went deeper into the Great Serpent Dungeon I killed all the groups that had species other than Humans and Elves, I did this to make my subordinates happy and as a way to clean up some of that filth before I left. While going deeper into the Dungeon I found the group of a famous adventuress of that city, her name was Diana a woman from the Wolf tribe of the Beast Man, she became famous in the city with the title of Guardian Wolf, it turns my stomach to know that someone that race had become famous, the worst thing was that it had members of other races in its group. I couldn''t see something like that, but I didn''t have the strength to do anything against her, I tried to follow her group to wait for an opportunity to attack them on the sixth floor of the Dungeon, just as I expected her group was getting tired with every fight, not only that but Diana had to protect them sometimes. "(That''s what happens when you assemble a group full of newbies.)" (Andrew) As I follow them I notice they are heading to an unvisited spot on this floor, they are also tired, so I advise one of my subordinates to call the second group, better forewarned as Diana may be stronger than I think. As the second group arrives we manage to surround them, after getting closer I notice that there is a beautiful Human woman and a beautiful White Elf woman in Diana''s group. It would be a waste to kill them too quickly, maybe I can have some fun before leaving this Kingdom, after having fun with them both I can let my subordinates have fun too. After we get close I start talking to Diana, I want her to know how inferior she is before she dies, I want her to see what I will do with her mates, I want her to know that humans are superior to her. As I spoke to her and am amused by her anger, her group of the noble boy stands in front of her. I don''t know how this noble child has such courage, does he really think that because he is noble he can do whatever he wants? I don''t care about this Kingdom and its nobles, these nobles accept to live with these inferior races, looking better at this child he seems to be a half-breed with these different colored eyes and red hair. It is disgusting to know that there are beings that mix the superior Human bloodline with the bloodlines of the inferior races, I will show this child how inferior he is before my mission. "Noble brats like you are always like that, confident and proud." (I) "You hire experienced adventurers to be able to kill some monsters with ease while others have to fight to protect you." (I) "Look at that look, look at that hair and look at these new weapons, it looks like your family invested a lot in you putting together this group and hiring the famous Guardian Wolf to lead your group." (I) "But it looks like it''s gone to your head, you''re just a child, without her to defend you, so you''d be dead already, do you think because I''m noble I won''t kill you?" (I) "He talks too much, doesn''t he Diana?" (crossbreed brat) "Yes, he made a lot of errors in judgment too, truly competent adventurers wouldn''t have fallen for that." (Diana) "Competent adventurers wouldn''t waste their time fighting new adventurers." (crossbreed brat) "You are right, master." (Diana) "You brat, acting like he has everything under control, I''m going to..." (I) In the middle of my sentence, I feel a strong thirst for blood emanating from the child and I am speechless with shock. "(How can a child emit such a strong bloodlust?)" (I) Soon the half-breed child starts talking, every word that comes out of her mouth becomes colder and more terrifying. "I will show you and your subordinates that those who dared to treat my companions or rather my family the way you did, will have a slow and very painful death." (crossbreed brat) Suddenly a strong Aura comes out of the child and spreads throughout this space, the moment this Aura reaches me my legs give out and I drop to my knees on the floor as if something extremely heavy is holding me there, not only that but also I felt a huge rejection coming from the Aura for me. I felt like I was surrounded by enemies and I was being judged, I looked around and saw my subordinates in the same condition as I was. As soon as I turn to see Diana''s group I see everyone well as if they are not affected by the Aura, I also notice that they don''t look tired anymore, taking away the dirt on their bodies they look good and calm, seeing this it wasn''t hard to understand the situation. "(Damn, I was tricked, this was a trap to lure us in.)" (I) I see the half-breed brat look at me and my subordinates coldly as if we''re nothing before he starts ordering his fellows around. "Layla, try using a space barrier to isolate this entire area." (crossbreed brat) "You can kill everyone as you please, but the leader is mine." (Mongrel brat) "You can take care of it brother, I''ll stay aside I don''t want to get dirty with their blood." (Dhampir woman) "It will be a pleasure, how dare these idiots treat Father and Sister like that, as they are criminals I don''t need to feel sorry for them, so I''ll punish them a bit before I finish them off." (Dhampir man) "I''m going to make these nasty perverts pay for looking at me with those eyes, only the master can look at me like that." (Human woman) "As the master is going to stay with the leader, I''ll have to be content with the others, too bad." (Diana) "I don''t really care what they say about me, but I think I can use some of them to train my torture techniques for a few years now that I haven''t used these techniques." (white elf) "Master, master, can I eat?" (Oni girl) "Feel free, but you can only take two at most." (crossbreed brat) "Thank you, master." (Oni girl) I''m horrified by their conversation and attitude, I see everyone move and head towards my subordinates, I don''t care what happens to them, but I must assume I''ll go through worse. "I''m not going to do anything to you now, I want you to see what each person with you will suffer before it''s your turn." (crossbreed brat) The half-breed brat approaches me calmly, then he stands behind me and holds my head turning so I can see what every subordinate of mine is suffering. I see the Oni girl cut off the arms of one of my subordinates and start eating in front of him with a smile, I see the Dhampir man punch my subordinates to death by cutting their heads, I see Diana just piercing her swords into the hearts of my subordinates, I see White Elfa pick up daggers and start cutting fingers, cutting muscles and cutting other things from my subordinates, I also see her making cuts in places that won''t kill them, worst of all was the Human girl, black energy covers her and her appearance changes showing that she was actually a Demon, she makes a magic circle and purple energy comes out of the magic circle to my subordinates who start screaming hysterically, I see blood coming out of their eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. "(She is of the Demonic race.)" (I) Seeing such a hellish scene I realize my mistake, I should never have come after these monsters, they must have come from the Demon Realm to do such cruel things, before I knew it, tears were coming out of my eyes. "Are you enjoying the show?" (crossbreed brat) I have no escape, but at least I have to fulfill my mission, I should do it on the tenth floor, but there''s nothing to do about it right now. I try to reach my hand up to the leather bag at my waist, but the half-breed brat holds my arm. "What do you think you''re doing." (crossbreed brat) He tries to grab the bag, but the moment he touches it, a strong light throws him back, I take this moment to grab what''s inside and pull it out. It was a completely black crystal that emanated energy and a dark glow. "(I was ready to die when I accepted this assignment, I just didn''t want it to be that way.)" (I) This crystal is called Evil Seed, once broken it will release a large amount of miasma inside the dungeon, after the dungeon absorbs all this a new wave of monsters will happen. I throw the crystal to the ground with all my might and a lot of black clouds come out of it taking over this entire area quickly. At this moment I feel a pain in my chest and I see one not coming out of my chest holding my heart in my hands so everything goes dark. Chapter 162: Danger in the city of Valen When darkness took over I made the others kill all the bad guys quickly, so I used blood control to save their blood, I ask Irius, Kira, and Diana to collect all equipment and items from these bodies and then I tell rica to burn them with their magic. Ding! Ding! I was scared at first, but I calmed down when I saw that the only thing the crystal does is spread miasma, I recognize this energy anywhere, after all, I live in a mansion full of it. Diana, Irius and Irina were serious but didn''t say much, after a few minutes we ran to the stairs to the seventh floor which was the closest, on the way we saw that this large amount of miasma had taken over the entire floor, so we got there we went straight to the crystal and teleported to the first floor. "We have to run to the Guild, Carlos and Mari have to know that." (Diana) "What is happening?" (I) "I''ll explain to you there, we don''t have time now master, how are things Irina?" (Diana) "They''re bad, while you guys took care of the bad guys I took some measurements, but it was much worse than I thought." (Irina) We all ran full speed into town, it was no surprise that we drew too much attention to it, but as Diana is serious I believe there is a reason for this. As soon as we pass through the gates we go straight to the Adventurers'' Guild, once we get there Diana runs up the stairs to the top floor at full speed, the others and I follow her, then she enters a double door written "Guild Master''s Room ". "Carlos, we have a big problem." (Diana) "Huh!?" (Carlos) As soon as we walked in we found a man even bigger than Leo sitting on a sofa with a stack of paper beside him and another stack of paper on the table across the room, the man had some papers in his hand and I could see Mari beside him, holding a tray with some sandwiches. After entering the Guild Master''s office like that it was not surprising to see several security guards and some receptionists following us from behind. But Mari looks at Diana for a few seconds seriously, then comes to the door and tells the receptionists and security to leave, then closes the door. "I think what you have to say is better." (Mari) "I apologize for all this." (I) "We don''t have time for this right now, master." (Diana) "Carlos, you have to put the Guild on red alert now." (Diana) "If you keep talking like that without explaining things properly we''re not going to get anywhere, so take a breath and explain what''s going on first." (Carlos) "I think I better explain first since I''m the calmest." (I) "I''ll put off the introductions for later as Diana''s behavior makes this a serious situation." (I) "I''ll summarize what happened." (I) "Today during our exploration of the Great Serpent Dungeon we noticed some adventurers watching us, as Mari told us about the novice killers I thought it might be them, so I set a trap they fell." (I) "I wish I had brought one of them alive, but because I was irritated by what they said about the girls, we ended up killing them all." (I) "The moment before they died their leader took a small black crystal, the crystal glowed with a slight dark light and emitted black energy." (I) "As soon as he broke the crystal a large amount of miasma spread like clouds and mist all over the dungeon floor, after that we ran straight out here." (I) "..." (Carlos/Mari) During my explanation Mari''s and Guild Leader''s faces were serious, but upon mentioning that we found the novice killers Mari is surprised when I said I killed all of Carlos'' eyes narrowed and I felt like he was sizing me up. The moment I talked about the crystal and described its appearance I saw Mari''s face lose its color and turn pale, I saw a look of dread on the guild leader''s face as well. At this point, the guild leader turns to Diana to confirm something. "That crystal, maybe it was..." (Carlos) "Yes, it was an Evil Seed." (Diana) The Guild Leader puts a hand to his face, then he gets up and starts pacing before stopping and looking at us. "How long ago did he break the Evil Seed and on what floor?" (Carlos) "It''s been about thirty minutes since it happened and it was on the sixth floor." (Diana) "You were right to come straight here." (Mari) "Are you sure it was an Evil Seed?" (Carlos) "You''ve heard the description of how it looks and what happened when it broke, I''ve also seen one my father showed me, at the time he explained what it was, so there''s no mistake." (Diana) "So we''re short on time, Mari put the entire Guild on red alert, gather all the adventurers in town and call back those in the Dungeons, prepare an urgent special mission too." (Carlos) "I will do it now." (Mari) "Wait, send a messenger to the Duke''s mansion too, tell him you need to mobilize all soldiers and knights for battle." (Carlos) "Right." (Mari) "..." (I) I see the Guild Leader Carlos start giving orders to Mari who runs away after hearing everything, after Mari leaves the room the Guild Master turns his eyes to me and my group. "Do you know who this person was with the Evil Seed?" (Carlos) "I don''t know, but I brought this." (I) I pull the head of the newbie assassin''s leader out of my storage item and secure it in front of the Guild leader, this idiot''s face frozen in the terror he felt before he died. "..." (Carlos) The Guild Leader takes the head and puts it inside some storage item, then goes to a bookcase that''s on the wall next to him, he picks up a book and spends some time flipping through it, so he seems to find something. So he takes a blank sheet of paper and puts it on top of the book, I see a magic circle drawn on the sheet light up, then the Guild Leader takes the sheet that now has several things written on it. "I found his information." (Carlos) Then he points to Kira. "You Gray Elf, go to the Assassins'' Guild and give this to the Guild leader there, tell me I want information about the man on this sheet, he can give it to me later." (Carlos) "..." (Kira) He could see through Kira''s disguise, after he makes this request Kira doesn''t immediately accept, she looks at me first. "Can go." (I) "Yes." (Kira) Kira takes the slack of paper from the Guild Leader''s hands and runs out of the room. "You have good companions." (Carlos) "Thanks." (I) "Now that it looks like almost everything is resolved, could you explain to me what''s going on?" (I) "The crystal you saw before is called Evil Seed, this is an extremely rare item that only appears in Cursed Dungeons, this is a very rare and prohibited item, every time one is found it must be delivered to a temple, church or Adventurers'' Guild." (Diana) "This crystal is the concentrated form of a large amount of miasma, all its uses are for bad things, it can be used in evil rituals, it can turn someone into a Demon if one spends too much time with it or ingests it, it can transform a corpse into a mighty Undead and if broken will release all the miasma trapped within it." (Diana) With each explanation from Diana, I realize how bad and dangerous that little crystal is. "These are just some of its modes of use, the problem is that when this crystal is broken it has a small chance of causing a dungeon to form causing destruction all around, it can also cause a small wave of monsters if broken anywhere since the miasma will spread." (Carlos) "But if used inside a dungeon as in this case, the wave of monsters will happen much faster, the monsters will overflow from inside the dungeon to the outside in large quantities, that''s why the dungeon will consume this miasma and create many monsters. " (Carlos) "At this point, it''s only a matter of a few hours before the city is attacked by this wave of monsters." (Carlos) When he said that the city could be attacked at any time, it freaks me out, I''m not particularly worried about the city, but I''m worried about the people in the mansion and in my group. "The worst thing is that there''s no time to evacuate people from the city, the monsters will leave too fast, anyone outside the city will be in great danger." (Diana) "Yes, the city of Valen is in great danger right now." (Carlos) The situation this time is serious, should I try to run away with the others or should I stay and fight? As I think about this whole situation, I remember something and pull a leather bag out of one of my pockets and hand it to Carlos. "This Evil Seed person was in it when the owner of the head I gave you was carrying it." (I) Carlos takes the bag and checks it for a while before putting on an ugly expression. "This explains how he can carry an Evil Seed for so long without anyone noticing, this storage item has a powerful light magic in it, it prevented the Evil Seed energy from leaking out." (Carlos) "Magic of Light... Prince Drago... Church of Light, is it?" (Carlos) Carlos starts talking to himself in a very low voice, if it wasn''t for my ability to increase my hearing and the fact that I''m so close to him I wouldn''t have heard what he was saying so he turns to me. "You said you killed everyone because you were mad, what happened there?" (Carlos) "The owner of that head was talking a lot of bigoted shit about people in my group, he kept calling them filthy and inferior races, he also said he wanted to have fun with two people in my group." (I) "What race are these two people in your group?" (Carlos) "One was Kira who has left now, she is disguised as a White Elf as you saw, the other is a human." (I) "This prejudiced behavior has a big chance then." (Carlos) After that, the Guild Leader also started making preparations for the monster wave. Chapter 163: Monster wave I was getting worried about what I heard, the wave of monsters, I don''t know how dangerous it really is as I''ve never seen one, but I can imagine it''s going to be a tough fight. Right after the conversation we had with the Guildmaster Carlos we left his office, so as we went downstairs I told Irina and Irius to go to the mansion to warn the others about what was going to happen and I asked to bring everyone to the Guild. Whatever happens, I''m sure the Adventurers'' Guild will be one of the safest places. I told Layla to go along and put away all the storage items that keep our valuables inside her space magic. While the others were away from me, Diana, rica, and Ibuki were helping the Guild prepare for battle. ---------- After an hour of working together with the Guild people, almost everything is ready, I was now in the Guild meeting room along with other adventurer group leaders from Grade D and up, Carlos set up this meeting in a hurry to get everyone to Besides what is happening, before the meeting all these adventurers including myself have already accepted the special mission, the reward will be for the number of monsters we kill in our designated areas. During the meeting, Mari rushes in along with a badly wounded Dwarf. "We have a big problem." (Mari) "What''s it?" (Carlos) "We have reports of many monsters appearing in the Blood Dungeon, not only that but an adventurer reported that the ninth floor is full of miasma." (Mari) "..." (I) "What? Will it be..." (Carlos) I look around and see many confused faces, but it seems that more than half understand what is happening, these people who did understand had different reactions, some turned pale with terror written on their faces, others gave hollow smiles as if they were laughing at their own misfortune. and there was a man who was indifferent, but you could see a great determination in his eyes. "(This is clearly an attack on the city if you think about the things Carlos said in his office before then it must be a plan from the Church of Light.)" (I) "(Damn if I hadn''t killed those bastards inside the dungeon before then I might get some information, this is what happens when you let emotion take over.)" (I) While I was lost in my thoughts I watch Carlos punch a wall that has broken in one piece. "Calm down, Carlos." (Mari) "I know, I know, I''m calm now." (Carlos) "You are not calm." (Mari) "Wait, if there''s a second report then..." (Carlos) As Mari tries to calm Carlos down, he is suddenly silent before starting to order the prey. "Quickly Mari, send someone to check the Dungeon of the Undead, let it go, I''ll go myself." (Carlos) "What are you saying?" (Mari) "You still don''t understand?" (Carlos) "If they did it in two dungeons, then they can do it in the third one too." (Carlos) "It''s going to be a great defensive fight against two waves of monsters, if a third one shows up we won''t have a chance." (Carlos) "I''ll go over there and check it out, I''ll be back in an hour, I should get there before the monster waves." (Carlos) "Be careful." (Mari) Mari takes a Staff from her storage item and builds three magic circles around Carlos that glow for an instant before entering his body. "< Strengthen Speed>" (Mari) "< Strengthen Resistance >" (Mari) "< Strengthen Defense >" (Mari) "Thank you, my dear." (Carlos) Carlos gives Mari a kiss before running away, I don''t really know how he got out, one moment he was there and the next he disappears and a strong wind rushes through the room. ---------- After that meeting everyone went to their positions, I left Anton, Tania, Alice, Caryna, and Nolan in the Guild helping out in whatever they could and I''m bringing the others with me. Anton has already made the others'' weapons, but he didn''t have enough arrows for Freya, so I asked Mari to get them for her, with everything ready we were sent to take care of the area where the monsters from the Great Serpent Dungeon should come, the guards, soldiers, and knights go be responsible for defending the city gates, while the adventurers will attack the monsters with all they have, it has been decided that the Mages who can use magic in Wide Area will attack first from above the walls, then it will be the Archers while the Mages will drink MP potions before doing another round of attacks, as soon as the monsters reach the city the other adventurers will attack. I''m meeting with my group, only rica and Freya are on the walls preparing for the first round of attacks, Kira has been back with us for some time, I told everyone to prepare for battle. Just before this fight starts, Guild Leader Carlos is back, he reassures everyone that there won''t be a third wave of monsters and that everything is normal in the Dungeon of the Undead. We had a strategy, the adventuring parties split into areas where they could fight at will without interfering with each other, while the lone adventurers stay in the back to take care of the monsters that pass through the adventurer groups. I was with my group, everyone was silent as we waited for the monster wave to arrive before we came here I used the [ Conceal Mark ] skill on everyone, I had to spend some Mana potions, but I had to, with so many powerful and influential people paying attention to this battle my group may draw attention when the fight starts, but now no one will discover our secrets, I hope. I took advantage of this calm before the storm to see my notifications from when I was in the Dungeon and change my job too, this time I will choose a stronger job as I should get a lot of experience in this battle. Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 260 EXP from enemy kills ]> . . <[ You gained 99 EXP from enemy kills by party members ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Poisonous Bite: 1 ] ? [ Gaze of the Poisonous Serpent: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ Your bloodline has evolved [ Small Poison Snake: 100% ] > [ Poison Snake: 45% ] ]> . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ Poisonous Serpent: 45% > 100% ] ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> . . . <[ Your work has reached the maximum level ]> Now I''m going to change jobs, I''ve already thought about the job I''m going to choose. I think about changing jobs and when it comes to choosing the job I don''t waste time, I choose [ Grand Martial Master ], this seems to be a high-level job, from what others have taught me about the jobs I can say that this kind of work takes years to reach the maximum level. The reason I choose it now is that it will give me a lot of stat points every ten levels, it will also help me improve my melee skills, but more than that is why I will win (5) EXP for my job thanks to my title [ World Transgressor ] and with so many monsters coming on this wave of monsters I will have a lot of EXP to gain and I don''t want to lose all that EXP by choosing a starting job. But it won''t just be earned, it will be risky and I won''t be able to hide my powers too much, the others in my group too, so I made everyone hide their faces with masks I asked Anton to make, it was also the reason I left rica in city ??walls away from the battlefield, I don''t want her to reveal her true race by accident here. I also told Layla to only use her fire and ice elements during battle so as not to draw unnecessary attention. "I didn''t expect something dangerous like this." (I) "No one expects a monster wave Dad, they just happen for various reasons." (Irius) "Yes, the worst of a wave of monsters is the aerial monsters, but this time there shouldn''t be many because of the type of the two dungeons." (Sophia) "Even if they do appear they will be killed by the Mages and Archers that are on top of the walls." (Irius) "I don''t know what will happen in this battle, but I want everyone to stay close to each other so we can help each other." (I) "Yes!!" (all) "Kira, I want you to keep an eye out for the others as they fight, stay out of fights until someone needs help, understand?" (I) "Yes Master." (Kira) "The reason I ask you this is because I know your way of fighting which consists of killing the enemy on the first or second hit, you are also one of the fastest of our group and have detection skills that can give you a better understanding of the surroundings during the chaos of battle." (I) "I will try my best." (Kira) "They''re close, get ready!" (Diana) At Diana''s scream, I tell Layla to climb higher so I can see the monsters coming, then I share her vision of her to see what she''s seeing. "So this is a wave of monsters." (I) What I see in the distance is a lot of dust flying, but when Layla focuses her vision more I can see several types of snakes small and large coming towards us, inside the dust cloud that was raised by the movement of the large number of monsters. I can see the silhouettes of some big monsters moving, I also noticed there are some humanoid-looking monsters among the monsters but I couldn''t see them well. When I tried to get a sense of the numbers I get scared when I realize that there could be thousands of monsters, Remember that there is yet another wave of monsters happening across town I wonder if we can stop this. Chapter 164: Cap 163:Battle against the wave of monsters part 1 Right now I''m with my group ready to face thousands of monsters along with all adventurers in the city of Valen. The monster wave is just minutes away from arriving here, all adventurers are prepared to fight, from what Diana told me, no adventurer can refuse to participate in the defense of a city during a monster wave. I have to say I''m scared, I''ve never participated in a battle on this scale before, and the way the adventurers are divided up can''t be called a battle formation, but I agree that leaving each group alone is best, if not disrupt the group''s teamwork. But none of that changes the fact that I''m seeing through Layla''s eyes thousands of monsters coming towards us, my first thought is to run from here, but I can''t leave my family and the house I''ve got for myself, so I just have to fight. "What are the chances of winning this battle, Diana?" (I) "Around 65%, that''s just because this town is full of adventurers." (Diana) "Other cities would have difficulty defending themselves against a wave of monsters, but defending against two is something that only the capital of a mid-level Kingdom or a power like the Grimo Kingdom that is the biggest of all the kingdoms on the continent could face with such high chances of winning." (Diana) "The Elves could do that too, but it would be different as we have our own ways of doing things." (Sophia) "Do you all have the potions?" (I) "Yes!" (all) "Remember that you must come home well, so don''t take more chances than necessary." (I) Roar! Rawww! Rawww! Grrr-or! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! "All in your positions, Expect attacks from the city wall!" (I) The monsters were already so close that I could hear the sound of their roaring, not only that but the thumping sound that must be coming from the trees they must be breaking down here. "MAGIC GET READY!!!" (Carlos) I look at the city wall and see glows of various colors appearing, each glow on this one must be some kind of magic circle being prepared. Roar! Rawww! Rawww! Grrr-or! When the monsters finally leave the forest the guild leader starts the attack. "MAGICERS OF THE FIRE ELEMENT AND THE WIND ELEMENT MAKE THE FIRST ATTACK!!!" (Carlos) soon I see fireballs, fire spears, fire tornadoes, and fire arrows of all sizes flying towards the large number of monsters, at the moment it hits several explosions happen and at that moment comes to the attacks of wind spells that seem to strengthen further fire element attacks by spreading fire and increasing explosions. Boom! Wow! BOOMM!! BOOMMM!!! After this attack, I see many monsters dying by fire or killed by the explosions, but soon I see even more monsters coming out of the forest and passing through the fire, the fire attacks last a few seconds before stopping, so the Guild leader shouts more orders. "WATER AND ICE ELEMENTS WIZARDS, IN TURN, ATTACK!!!" (Carlos) But once I see various types of water element magic attacks hitting the monsters, and scattering water all over the monsters, but it doesn''t seem to do as much damage as the fire element magic, that''s what I thought until the Ice magic hit the monsters with ice needles, ice spears, ice tornadoes, ice blades, and various other ice magic attacks, when ice attacks hit they started to freeze the wet monsters and freeze the terrain the monsters are passing through, this slowed down the monsters that were still coming from the forest. Roar! Rawww! "EARTH ELEMENT WIZARDS, CRUSH THESE MONSTERS!!" (Carlos) I see a shower of rocks of all sizes and shapes being thrown at monsters that are pierced by stone skewers that come from their feet, are crushed by giant rocks, or are trapped in holes that open up out of nowhere in front of him. "ARCHERS ATTACK!!!!" (Carlos) A shower of arrows happens, between the arrows I see some glowing, I see others multiplying from the air, and various other amazing effects like becoming a big firebird or increasing speed and moving through the air as if it had a life of its own. Va-voom! Va-voom! Va-voom! Va-voom! Va-voom! Va-voom! I would never expect this kind of attack coming from a bow and arrow, when the arrows hit the monsters I see some monsters freezing, others catching fire, others being electrocuted and others being trapped by branches and vines that grew from the arrows. "NOW IT''S YOU WHO ARE ON THE GROUND, BE READY AND IN ATTACK POSITION, NOW!!!!!" (Carlos) "Ooooooo!!!! (All) Looks like now it''s our turn to attack, I pull a short sword from its scabbard and a dagger, it''s time for me to figure out what I can do without holding back. "Get ready!" (I) The monsters are not advancing as fast as before due to the dead monster bodies on the way, also due to the rock and ice obstacles that you have to pass. Not only that, but the magic and arrow attacks haven''t stopped yet, they''re still continuing far away from where we are, that''s keeping at least half of the monsters in the kill zone from the top of the wall attacks, but from what I''ve seen are fewer attacks and weaker, must be conserving energy to continue this way. "Diana, you and I are going to attack first, let''s go." (I) As the monsters approached I could see thirty of them coming towards my team, warning Diana that she and I are going to attack first. I use my Intimidate ability along with my two Aura abilities, I do this to make the monsters stop for a moment, long enough for me to release a fireball and for Diana to attack. "< Fireball >" (i) After the fireball has hit killing four snakes I advance slightly behind Diana. Diana attacks with two swords cutting six snakes in a few seconds, at that moment I arrive and throw myself in the middle of the snakes spinning cutting everything in the way, at the moment I''m going to be attacked I use my Auras and intimidate again to paralyze the snakes for me and Diana attack again and kill all snakes. Ding! Ding! I don''t have time to see notifications right now, as I confirm that we''ve killed these monsters I look around and see all the adventurers fighting different numbers of monsters, I look back and see a group of fifteen snakes trapped in chains of light being punched by Sophia and Leo that''s in his Leo appearance. "Fifty more are coming!" (Layla) Without noticing, more monsters approached before I could say anything to my group. "(Layla, pin them to the ground with your ice.)" (I) "< Lower Ice Field >" (Layla) I run towards the group of snakes alone as I mentally communicate with Layla, when I''m close enough I throw three of the four daggers I carry at the heads of three snakes, then take advantage of that opening to cut off a snake''s head with my dagger and defend from the thorns of another snake with my sword, at this point I use Intimidation to create an opening and use a simple water spell that scatters water around then activate the ability [ Corrosion: 6 ] causing this water-filled with my mana to turn like acid, the snakes around me started to thrash while their lower parts of the body are still stuck to the ice that starts to melt, I take advantage of their moment of pain to kill everyone while they still aren''t paying attention to me. Ding! Ding! I look around and see Ibuki and Irius fighting a group of Sword Serpents with Irina''s help, I could also see Kira and Byakko moving at incredible speed among a group of venomous snakes my size, wherever she passes a spurt of blood follows. I could also see Sophia, Diana, and Leo over the bodies of dozens of snakes preparing to face an approaching ten-foot-tall snake. "Damn it!" (I) I run towards them as I contact Layla in my mind. "(Layla use her ice needles in the eyes of that big Serpent now.)" (I) "(I''ll try something stronger.)" (Layla) As I run, I see Layla fly in front of me, then stop by the Great Serpent. "< Ice Spears >" (Layla) Layla forms two ice spears and hits the Great Serpent in the eyes leaving her blind, at this point I reach the trio and give orders to Leo. "Leo throw me at that big Serpent''s head with all his might!" (I) "..." (Leo) "Now!" (I) Leo is confused for a moment but obeys me, he catches me and then throws me at the head of the Serpent who is still screaming, I use Leo''s launch momentum to increase the strength of my attack and spin in the air to drive my sword into the head of the snake which then stops screaming and falls to the ground. Ding! Ding! "Master, don''t try too hard, we could take care of this Snake." (Diana) "We have to finish our fights as soon as possible, look around even as we talk two more groups of Serpents are heading our way." (I) "Don''t worry Diana, the master''s strategy was very good now, I''m sure he knows what he''s doing." (Sophia) "There are more snakes coming!" (Leo) "Sophia and I are going to that group, Leo and Diana are going to the other one." (I) "Right!" (Leo/Diana/Sophia) Chapter 165: Battle against the wave of monsters part 2 Freya Pov: It''s been a long time since I saw a wave of monsters, it''s also been a long time since I fought monsters. The feeling of pecking at a moving target, the feeling of trying to predict your target''s next move, the feeling of seeing the arrow travel a long way and hitting the target, the feeling of focusing on the environment while shooting and the thrill of being on a battlefield. I like being a maid, I like to see others happy and to take care of the people I care about, but I also miss a little action, as an Elf Archer I was trained as a child to use my bow to support my teammates. , in those days I was so naive and so determined. sigh I mustn''t think about the past now, we''re in the middle of a fight against the wave of monsters, I look down and see the master and the others fighting, I watch their training at the mansion, but seeing them in a real battle is completely different. Leo in his transformed form is holding the big war ax that Anton made for him, with this ax he is crushing the large size snakes while stepping on the small ones crushing them under his feet, his fighting mode is focused only on strength as ever. Kira is being like a ghost among the monsters before they notice her presence they are already dead, her every blow is at a vital point, I must say I''m impressed with her killing techniques, she prides the Gray Elves that way. Sophia is fighting using her fists and feet, her fighting mode looks like a storm of blows, her every blow carries immense power killing small monsters with a single blow, she is a born warrior and her blows connect naturally making each blow the next but stronger than the previous one. Diana is the exact opposite of Leo who only fights with strength, her way of fighting mainly uses her martial arts and two sword fighting techniques, anyone who sees her well-trained body may think she is just strong, but actually, her focus is in speed and dexterity as far as I can see. Irius is getting close to Ibuki and Irina, his fighting mode is similar to that of a knight, but I can see a touch of brutality in the relentless way he keeps fighting. Ibuki is fighting the smaller enemies but her fighting mode is similar to the master''s but sometimes she positions herself or uses techniques that resemble Diana''s, the way she fights is purely focused on dexterity, but I can see that she is still too naive to fight an adventurer of her own strength, she fights very directly which often makes her blows predictable. Irina is supporting the whole group with her support spells, she is doing her job well keeping attention to so many people at the same time, she has a calm mind and thinks before acting which many cannot do in the situation she is in now, I am very impressed. The master is the one who surprised me the most, his way of fighting most of the time uses his technique in martial arts, but he also makes moves that use strength and agility. The way the master is fighting is insane, he faces groups of snakes alone and finishes them all in a matter of a few minutes, the only time he stops is when he finishes off a group of monsters, at that moment he stops fighting and looks at the around, then spends a few seconds watching the others in their respective fights, he never rests. The master is extremely brutal while fighting, he uses his martial arts as the central point of his way of fighting using magic just as a distraction or to create an opening, the way he took care of that group of snakes using water magic was amazing. Layla is supporting the master, helping him when he needs it, and killing the monsters that approach the place where he is fighting. Each of them is fighting in an exemplary way, but they rarely collaborate with each other, as the other teams of adventurers are not doing so well. I saw two groups being killed after thirty minutes of fighting, there are also many wounded, the city soldiers are waiting for the moment of attack that will happen when the monsters started to pass through all the adventurers, the soldiers are the last line of defense. I''m on top of the city walls beside rica attacking the monsters as much as I can before they reach the areas where the groups of adventurers are fighting, where I can''t attack anymore so I don''t hit anyone by accident. As I''m looking at the entire battlefield from above I have a good sense of everything that''s going on, to my surprise, the adventuring groups are doing better than the lone adventurers who are fighting behind them, all the adventuring groups are fighting together with good teamwork, with the exception of the master''s group that is divided into pairs or trios. "Looks like this battle is already won, it was easier than I expected." (I) "Don''t be distracted, things will start to change soon, look at the forest." (Mari) The Guildmaster''s wife is with me and rica on top of the city walls using her magic not to attack the monsters but to support the adventurers who are fighting. After she spoke I look at the forest and see that not all monsters are blindly advancing towards the magic and arrow attack area, when I look closer I see that these monsters have a humanoid form. "What monsters are these?" (I) "These are monsters that appear from floor 31 of the Dungeon of the Great Serpent, they are called Snakeman." (Mari) "Are they similar to the Lizardman?" (rica) "They are similar in appearance, but Snakeman has venom, are also more flexible and intelligent than Lizardman who are stronger and have a greater defense." (Mari) "Since they are first-generation monsters, the fact that they are standing around waiting to attack means that they are being led by a stronger monster, it must be the boss on floor 40." (Mari) "What do you think it''s going to be like when they decide to attack?" (I) "They must be waiting for the mages to run out of mana and the arrows to run out before attacking, but my husband already noticed them, the only reason he doesn''t attack is that he''s worried about the final boss of the dungeon." (Mari) "Why is he worried?" (I) "Because we don''t know if he will show up, as the Evil Seed was broken on the sixth floor maybe the final boss won''t show up, but to be sure he can''t act yet." (Mari) "But since I''m not seeing my husband so it must have confirmed that there isn''t a Grade S monster here, he must be heading across town." (Mari) "Even if he shows up we won''t be able to fight him so do you know anything about these Snakemans?" (rica) "These are monsters that know how to coordinate in group battles, they can also use weapons, they will not attack dryly like other monsters, they are considered Grade C monsters, but when they are in large groups they are considered Grade B." (Mari) "Then it will be difficult, I can''t see your numbers, but there must be hundreds of them." (I) It looks like things won''t go as I thought, the arrows will eventually run out, the same will happen with the Mana potions, and the longer this fight lasts the more tired the adventurers will be when the Snakeman attack. "(I have to warn the master somehow.)" (I) "rica, can you warn the master about the Snakemans?" (I) "Since I''m in his group I can use group telepathy magic, but it''s going to be a little difficult at this distance." (rica) "Do it anyway, otherwise they might be caught off guard." (I) "You''re worrying too much, the master and the others are strong, if you look carefully you''ll find that there''s nothing to worry about." (rica) I look to where the master is and I only see him fighting, he has some blood in his body, but I can''t tell if it''s his or the monsters. I keep looking so I notice something. "(Where''s Layla?)" (I) I look around and then see her flying a little higher than the city wall looking down on the battlefield. "(So he''s leaving Layla to gather information from the battlefield, as you''d expect from the master.)" (I) I praise the thought of the master in my mind, but fighting without Layla only puts him in more danger, he''s been very naive and confident in fighting this wave of monsters. "It looks like almost all the weak monsters are dead, from now on it''s going to be harder." (Mari) "..." (I) If what Mari is saying is true the stronger monsters are going to start attacking so I''m glad I''m up here so I have a good point of view to support the master. Sigh "(Good thing Caryna is safe in the Adventurers'' Guild with the others.)" (I) "(Without having to worry about her well-being, I can concentrate on the battle, I have to give as much help to the master and others.)" (I) Knowing the master is already aware of the danger, I go back to focusing on shooting my bow and arrow, but this time I''m going to start supporting the master and the others. Chapter 166: Battle against the wave of monsters part 3 The battle against the wave of monsters has gotten harder and harder, one of the adventuring groups besides us was almost completely wiped out, but I managed to save one of them in time, I made Diana the fastest to take him to the city gate and come back and I sent Layla with her to help, along the way it seems they helped more people from what Layla told me. The fight has gotten harder and harder because the monsters are getting stronger, the biggest problem is that Layla warned me that she saw humanoid monsters hiding in the forest. If these monsters attack when the adventurers are tired it will be a massacre. The battle has been going on for almost two hours, it''s already been lasting longer than I thought, I don''t even know how many monsters I''ve killed, during the fight I was even able to use lower earth element magic, I also managed to use intermediate level wind element magic. When the fight started I was using fire magic to fight, but I found that wind magic was better for increasing my movement and attack speed, it also served to push monsters away when I was surrounded. As the fight continued, the first one to tire out was Irina who used all the mana potions she had, she spent all of her time supporting others and I could see in her face how mentally exhausted she is. After sending Irius to escort the sister to the gate I told everyone to start fighting together as we would no longer have Irina''s support. At first, it was difficult to coordinate, but soon we were managing somehow, I also realized that we were getting help, sometimes when a group of monsters approached and it was too big some arrows hit them giving an opportunity to finish them off quickly. During the battle there were times when I ran out of mana and drank the blood I saved to recover faster, I discovered some time ago that the ability [ Vampirism: 1 ] makes the blood I drink have energy restoring effect for me what is being of great help. During the brief breaks when the monsters didn''t attack I created some paralyzing venom and gave it to the rest of my group in preparation for when the humanoid monsters finally attack, Diana also told me that the person who has been supporting us from above the wall was Freya, I was surprised to know that her bow and arrow was so strong, it surprised me, even more, to see her level of precision attacking from so far away. During a brief break, I call the others in for a quick chat while Layla watches the surroundings. "Things are starting to get tough, I''ve been hurt several times if I didn''t have the recovery skill I''d be dead by now." (I) "To make matters worse, Layla informed me that the magic attacks coming from above the city wall are getting smaller in number, she also told me that the same happens with the arrows." (I) "That doesn''t surprise me, the battle is going on for a long time, this kind of large-scale attack can''t last forever, not to mention there''s another battle like this going on across town, so resources are being consumed very fast." (Irius) "Irius is right, one of our problems is that we are getting tired of fighting for so long with almost no breaks, if this continues the deaths will only increase." (Diana) "We will split into two groups, Irius and I can continue fighting without having to rest if we drink blood, which we already have in our storage items." (I) "That''s true, I''m having more mental fatigue than physical, but I can take it all day if need be." (Irius) "The same with me, so I, Ibuki, Kira, and Leo will rest first, then we''ll take turns with Irius, Diana and Sophia." (I) "It''s going to be a little heavy, but at least we''ll have a few moments to rest our mind and body." (I) "It''s a good idea, but I don''t know if we''ll make it, the monsters are getting stronger." (Kira) "If the group that is fighting starts to have difficulty then the resting group will have time to help, any rest time has to be used." (I) "It can be difficult, but fighting it in turns like this will allow us to fight longer than doing what we''re doing now." (Sophia) "But that will also slow down the rate at which we kill monsters." (Diana) "More are coming, it''s five double-headed snakes this time." (Layla) "I take three, Ibuki and Leo take the fourth, the last one gets Kira and Byakko." (I) "When you guys are done come help me, let''s go." (I) "< Wall of Fire >" (I) With our conversation interrupted I create a wall of fire separating the three snakes I''m going to face, I skewer one of them with a rock skewer coming from below, then one of them throws herself at me and takes one of my arms, I take the opportunity to stick my sword in one of its heads and use my strength to lift the snake''s body ahead higher than me and use it as a whip on the third snake that tried to attack me. At that moment Kira appears and stabs the third snake from behind giving her a shock, I take the opportunity to kill the second head of the second snake that is still dying in my arm. Ding! Ding! "Thank you for your help." (I) "How''s your arm, master?" (Kira) "I''m fine, you''ll recover quickly." (I) I use my recovery skill a few times and the arm is like new, I''ve suffered so many blows that I don''t even worry about the pain anymore, I also have an ability to resist pain which is helping me a lot here. "See, I''m fine." (I) I look at the first two-headed snake that died in the first attack. "How did I kill her so fast?" (I) "You must have hit her heart, she has two heads but only one heart." (Kira) "I understand." (I) While talking to Kira we go towards Ibuki and Leo, who had already killed their enemy, I also look around to see if there are no more enemies. "(How is the battle situation, Layla?)" (I) "(The magic attacks from above the wall are already over, the arrows are still falling, but they are getting smaller and smaller.)" (Layla) "(The humanoid monsters hiding in the forest are also moving more, so they can attack at any time.)" (Layla) "(Damn, the situation is getting worse, we didn''t have time to rest, we didn''t even have time to put the fight and rest shift plan into practice.)" (I) I gather with the others and tell them about the humanoid monsters, Diana seems to know about them. "From your description, they can be Snakemans, they are fast, intelligent, and flexible." (Diana) "I''ve faced some, this type of monster looks like Lizardmans, but it doesn''t have the same physical strength and defense, but they have venom and fight better in groups." (Irius) "Does the master know how many there are?" (Diana) "A few hundred maybe, I can''t give exact numbers as they''re still inside the forest." (I) "So it''s going to be a tough fight because the groups around us are tired they must die in the vast majority at this point." (Diana) "If that happens we will be surrounded." (Sophia) "I can use my auras and my intimidation ability to make them stop for a few seconds if we''re surrounded." (I) "But even if I do, how are we going to kill so many?" (Kira) "I can use a lot of ice spears, but I''ll run out of mana fast." (Layla) "I still haven''t learned any area attacks from Byakko." (Kira) "I don''t have the energy to do an area attack like that, but I might try something if Kira passes her spiritual energy to me." (Byakko) "I and Kira can kill a few with our speed, but Irius and Leo are too slow for that." (Diana) "It will be difficult, but I have an attack that can kill about ten monsters, but it will be difficult to move after the attack." (Irius) "I don''t have area attacks, but I will kill some during these seconds." (Sophia) "You don''t need to worry, I''ll warn the people at the city wall, if the monsters are stationary they''ll be easy targets, we don''t have to do everything alone." (I) "Thank you for that, because it wouldn''t be much help for a quick attack against so many enemies." (Leo) "Layla, go up there on the fence and let Mari, Freya, and rica know about our plan." (I) "All right." (Layla) "Hate to interrupt, but there are more monsters coming." (Byakko) "It never ends!?" (I) I throw myself into battle again while half the group is still resting, this time it was a quick fight, so I go back to rest next to the others. "As I was saying before, we''re going to have to be quick so be prepared to make your strongest attacks." (I) "Layla, you can go let us know of our plan." (I) "I am going." (Layla) The monsters have been decreasing so I had a few more minutes of rest this time, then it was Irius''s group''s turn to fight while my group got some rest. "(They are coming master, the humanoid monsters have finally left the forest.)" (Layla) "(Have you warned those on the walls?)" (I) "(Yes, they are getting ready, at your signal they will attack.)" (Layla) "Get ready, Layla says the Snakemans are coming!" (I) I hope my plan works but I think it should be no problem, I have been using my intimidation ability throughout the battle and I feel this ability has become much stronger, I have also used this ability in conjunction with my Auras several times, so no must have problems. Chapter 167: Battle against the wave of monsters part 4 I and my group were together waiting for the Snakemans to arrive, when they approached and I could see they look like humans with mostly green scales, they are bald and have golden eyes like snakes, their faces are very similar to those of a snake and their bodies are thin, they also have long tails behind them, they are dressed tribally from what I can see too. What I was worried about is that half of them are using weapons like swords and spears. Another thing that worries me is the way they are running, unlike the other monsters that ran anyway without any coordination, the Snakemans are running in a coordinated way, they are also keeping the same speed. "This is going to be difficult." (I) "Those who can launch long-range attacks do it now!" (I) One of the things rica taught me is that simple spells like fireball can become stronger just by pouring more mana into the spell, but it runs the risk of losing control, but the simpler the spell, the easier it is to maintain control, so I''m going to pour all my mana into this fireball. "< Fireball >" (i) A magic circle forms in front of me and I point it in the Snakeman''s direction, then start pouring all my mana into the magic circle. Little by little a fireball forms in front of the magic circle, soon the ball starts to grow bigger and bigger until it is my size. I must say that even though I''m casting this spell I''m feeling the heat of this fireball, as the fireball got bigger I realize it''s getting harder to control it with my will, but it doesn''t matter as I don''t need a precise aim since that hits in front of me will wreak havoc on these Snakemans. BOOOOMM!!!! When I launch the fireball it flies forward almost doing a zigzag, then it hits a Snakeman and explodes sending fire for about fifteen meters around it, even as I see this amazing scene I pull another bottle of blood and drink regaining a third of my mana, but my head feels like it''s going to explode with pain. I resist the pain and prepare myself with my dagger and sword in hand, after my attack Irius makes a cut in the air in front of him forming a large blade of light that goes flying towards the Snakeman cutting ten of them, Kira pours his energy into Byakko that grows more and more to the size of an adult Tiger, then Byakko opens its big mouth revealing fangs that seemed to be made of metal, from his mouth comes a powerful ray that kills about sixteen Snakeman, after releasing this ray Byakko shrank again for your Tiger Cub appearance. "We did more damage than expected, but now they''re coming our way." (I) Sigh I sigh and grab another bottle of blood to drink, so when they reach us I see Diana and Sophia''s Auras come out of their bodies, Diana''s Aura gives a feeling of ferocity and brutality like that of a wild animal during the hunt, Sophia''s Aura, on the other hand, looked like her, it was controlled and instead of spreading to the surroundings the Aura only involved Sophia, I could see her getting into battle position and attacking, her blows were faster and stronger than before, I also noticed that with each blow her enemies flew backward as if they had no weight. Leo just transformed into his lion man form and swung his big ax killing one or two monsters with each attack, Irius used a sword to cut each oncoming enemy, he was never the first to attack but defended the enemy while Ibuki was attacking a vital point. As for me, I am not able to fight like them, I had to dodge the attacks of claws, swords, and spears. With a body as small and light as mine, if I defend even though I have more strength, I will be thrown back by the difference in weight, so I dodge the attacks taking advantage of my superior speed and the dodging techniques of my martial art. But I found it difficult to dodge these Snakeman attacks, they are more flexible than I expected, they attack from strange angles me, as I fought them more I got used to it little by little, but the fight seemed to have no end, no matter how many I kill they always show up more, the worst thing is they sometimes do combo attacks. The fight was so hard that I couldn''t pay attention to the others, it seems that during the time I was dodging the attacks I ended up distancing myself a little from them, but it seems like it wasn''t much since I can hear their voices close to me. "(Layla, I''m going to put the plan into action now!)" (I) "(Wait for a little longer master, the last Snakeman are coming out of the forest now, if you hold a few more minutes we can finish them all.)" (Layla) "(If I wait any longer I''ll end up dying here!)" (I) "(Wait a few seconds then, I''ll warn you to prepare for the attack.)" (Layla) "(Okay, no more...)" (I) "(Master!!)" (Layla) Talking to Layla at this point proved to be a bad choice, during my foreseeable distraction I was cut by a pair of claws from behind and then a spear pierced my shoulder. I resist the pain and slash each side of the spear, breaking the shaft, then use the jumping ability to jump as high as I can, then use the seconds I gained in the air to throw a fireball to the ground where I''m standing. one hand as he plucked the spearhead from my shoulder. "< Fireball >" (I) I use the fireball to create a place to land and even then get attacked by two enemies, I use the spear point to pierce one of them in the eye while pulling my sword out of my storage item and chopping off the second''s head. "(Layla, it will be now!)" (I) I give Layla a warning and use my two Aura abilities and my Intimidate ability at the same time to the fullest. My auras spread to the surroundings while intertwining at the same time that Intimidation skill activates and I feel all the rage, hate, fury, and desire to kill I felt at that moment leave me in an explosion that spread through my Aura. At that moment I see Snakeman get immobilized, those closest to me dropped to their knees trembling, I could see fear in their eyes which surprised me as until now they looked at me with a murderous look even as I killed several of them. Then I see the rest of my group run towards me and then Irius pulls a heavy shield from his storage item, yells something and the shield glows with white light, so a barrier forms around our group. "Shield of the Guardian!" (Irius) At this point I see attack spells and arrows flying towards us, but none of them hit the shield, only the immobilized Snakeman is hit, not only that, but branches also start to grow out of the ground and envelop the shield as a second protective barrier, all I could do was listen to the Snakeman''s death cries and the sounds of explosions. Boom! BOOM! BOOM! "Argh!!" (I) "Master are you alright!?" (Sophia) "I''ll be fine in a few seconds." (I) I use my recovery skill to close the wounds little by little since I started using Ki the skills that used STM before became stronger, after several uses I was recovered from my wounds, but I was still weak. "I am better now." (I) "Irius, do you still have any blood bottles with you?" (I) "I''ve drunk all the ones I had." (I) "Yes, but I can''t get it now." (Irius) Now that I take a closer look I see that irius hasn''t moved or moved since he created this barrier. After a few minutes, the explosions have stopped and Irius deactivates his barrier, so he takes two bottles and tosses one of them to me, and drinks the other. After picking up the bottle and drinking it, I feel better, so I try to look around, but I see we''re stuck. "Should I try to break an exit with my Axe?" (Leo) "Don''t do that, this is a powerful Wood element barrier, you won''t be able to make a scratch." (Sophia) "So what should we do." (Leo) "Wait a second." (I) I close my eyes and communicate with Layla through my mind. "(Layla, ask whoever made this barrier-free us please.)" (I) "(It was Mari who made this barrier, she used one of Freya''s arrows for that.)" (Layla) "(I''ll talk to her about it now.)" (Layla) After a few seconds, the branches open outward freeing us, then I get a view of the torn bodies of Snakeman all around us, I also see soldiers fighting a group of a hundred or so Snakeman in the distance. Those must be the last monsters that were coming out of the forest Layla spoke of earlier. I look more carefully and only see two more groups a little farther away from us, all the others are out of sight. Chapter 168: Bitter victory I have no words to say right now, as I look at this battlefield with the remains of bodies and blood everywhere all I think is how horrible this is. So many dismembered bodies, so much blood spilled that it''s making puddles all over the place. I''ve fought monsters, killed people, and even watched some bastards suffer inside the Dungeon but this is the first time I''ve seen such a huge battlefield, this is the first time I''ve seen such carnage. "Are you all right, master?" (Leo) "Me..." (I) "II think so." (me) I don''t know it''s over, so I look around trying to ignore the bodies on the ground as I look for any monsters around. At that moment Diana puts her hand on my shoulder to talk to me. "It''s over, master." (Diana) "He is sure?" (I) "Yes, Mari is making a sign to show that she doesn''t have any more monsters from above the walls." (Diana) "If you look at the gate, you will soon see soldiers coming to the aid of the wounded." (Diana) I look up at the city gates and see exactly what Diana said, so I calm down a bit. "Let''s get together with rica and Freya." (I) "The best thing would be for us to start gathering what we can from the battlefield as our group is one of those in the best condition, but we can only do that in our area where we fight." (Diana) "Other adventurers are already searching the battlefield and collecting materials from monster bodies." (Kira) "..." (I) I''m not in the mood for this right now, but I can''t let an opportunity we''ve struggled so hard to slip away, it could yield good money for everyone. "I''ll tell Layla to bring them to us so let''s start dismantling these monsters." (I) I tell Layla to bring us rica and Freya, while the others and I get knives and start dismantling the monsters to get everything that could be used or sold. We spent the rest of the day doing this, while we were at it I looked around and I didn''t see anyone happy they won, all I saw was people crying and dead bodies lined up next to each other. I couldn''t see them up close, but I imagine they must have dismembered bodies, devoured and with horrible wounds, I don''t want to get close to see that, so I stayed away. Around the corpses were some people showing different emotions like sadness, anger, and disbelief. I could even see a woman crying loudly holding one of the corpses in her arms. I asked Kira to look up information for me and she left alone for the night just before we were done, so we were done before we took everything to the Guild and I gather everyone in one of the Guild''s second-floor rooms while we wait for Mari. "What information did you get, Kira?" (I) "I found we were lucky, master." (Kira) "Luck?" (I) "The Dungeon Boss of the Great Serpent didn''t appear on our side, but those who were fighting the Blood Dungeon''s wave of monsters had to face a larger number of strong monsters and also the Dungeon Boss, a Grade S monster." (Kira) "..." (all) Has a Grade S monster actually appeared, now that I''ve stopped to think about the battle across town? "(I''m in no condition for this, my head hurts, my muscles are aching and I''m so tired I can barely think.)" (I) "How did they kill the monster?" (I) "Guild master Carlos killed the Grade S monster." (Kira) "Looks like the wave of monsters we faced came before the wave of monsters that came from the Blood Dungeon." (Kira) "I also found that our monster wave had a larger number of monsters, but mostly they were weaker with fewer Grade A monsters, so Guildmaster Carlos went straight to the other side of the deity after confirming that he didn''t. there were no Grade S monsters on our side." (Kira) "That explains why he didn''t participate in the battle after giving initial orders to everyone." (Diana) "Do you know how many people died in the two battles?" (Irina) "There were 930 adventurers who participated in the defense of the city, of these adventurers more than 400 died, more than half of them were on our side of the city." (Kira) "I saw many adventurers trying very hard at the beginning of the fight, but as time went on they got more tired and then died to a monster that would normally be strong enough to win." (Irius) "Yes, the lone adventurers in the back died too quickly, they made the mistake of fighting alone instead of cooperating with each other." (Sophia) "From what I found there were fewer kills across town because the Mages and Alchemist Guilds were there with half the Adventurers, meanwhile we had higher ranked adventurers on our side." (Kira) "It was surprising to see so many people dying, but I was more concerned about the master who was constantly pulling away from the others to fight." (rica) "That''s true, whenever I could I would send some arrows to give you a little support, but it was hard to see you guys fighting so persistently without being able to participate more actively." (freya) "Don''t be modest, Layla told me that you and Erica continued to stand shooting spells and arrows until you couldn''t do it anymore, you two did everything you needed to." (I) "The master is right, Lady Freya, you saved me several times with your arrows when I was being attacked from blind spots." (Leo) sigh "I couldn''t let Caryna be a widow just because her husband was someone who didn''t pay attention to her surroundings." (Freya) "..." (Leo) "I''m sorry, next time I''ll fight more carefully." (Leo) "I think so, I don''t want to see my daughter sad." (freya) I can understand Freya''s concern, but I say nothing as I''m still shocked by the death toll. I knew a lot of people had died, but I didn''t know the number had been that big, those numbers are almost half of the Adventurers who participated. While we were talking Mari opens the door and enters, she has a terrible face, I can see her red eyes and dark circles, she looks like she is tired. "I''m sorry for the delay, I was organizing some things." (Mari) "Alright, I imagine the Guild has a lot of work to do now." (I) "Yes, but one of the first things we have to do is reward the adventurers who participated in the special mission, then we have to take care of the dead and a few other things." (Mari) "And to sell the items we collect?" (I) "I''ll ask you to come back tomorrow or the day after tomorrow for this." (Mari) "Okay then." (I) "We''ve already received a report on the number of monsters killed, the race of most of these monsters, and where their bodies were." (Mari) Mari takes a reading crystal from her storage item and starts reading something in it. "Of all the adventurer groups yours is second in number of monsters killed, the only other group that had more monsters killed than yours was a Grade A group." (Mari) "Your reward will be 35,000 gold coins, plus I''ll give another 3,000 gold for the adventurers Diana and Layla helped save in the middle of the battle, also for the help of Erica and Freya on top of the city walls." (Mari) "The people in your group will get a boost in their rank as an adventurer without having to pass any tests either, so I''m going to ask them to come back in two days." (Mari) "What will happen to the remains of the battle outside the city." (I) "We are letting the adventurers harvest the monster parts to sell in the Guild, this will help a little with cleaning, but tomorrow morning the soldiers will clean up the entire battlefield and the Earth Element Mages will take care of repairing the damage to the ground. " (Mari) "After that, some priests will cleanse the site of the two battles to make sure the Undead don''t show up." (Mari) "I''ll get your payment, give me your Guild cards too please." (Mari) Mari leaves for a few minutes and comes back with a small bag that must have our paychecks and our cards, so she hands it to me. "Now if you''ll excuse me, I have to give the rewards to other adventurers as well." (Mari) "Let''s not get in your way then, I''m leaving." (I) "But before we leave, I''d like to thank you for letting Tanya, Caryna, Nira, Nolan, and Anton stay here." (I) "No thanks needed, I heard from the Guild members that they helped a lot while they were here." (Mari) After that we go downstairs, we are all tired, my head is hurting from spending so much mana to zero just to recover and do it all over again, doing that took its toll but it was also what helped me during the fight. I leave the Guild and instead of going straight to the mansion, I go to a restaurant to eat and drink with everyone. I haven''t seen the notifications yet, but I don''t have the time or strength for that right now, I can do it tomorrow when I''m feeling better maybe. In the restaurant everything was full, there were many adventurers eating and drinking like there was no tomorrow, I paid fifty gold coins to have a private place for myself and everyone in my group. This was one of the most expensive restaurants in town, normally only nobles and merchants come here, but I decided to stop by as a reward for all the effort everyone made today. After being escorted by an attendant to a room on the second floor we order the food, then after the attendant leaves, I sit at the large table in the room and turn to everyone. "Before we start eating, I want to thank everyone for everything they''ve done today and I want to thank everyone even more for everyone being safe." (I) "Thank you very much." (I) Chapter 169: Those who move in the shadows Pov Carlos: I was in my office as I looked at today''s battle report, the report included the approximate number of monsters, the spending on potions, the spending on arrows, the number of adventurers who participated in the mission to defend the city, the number of injured adventurers and the death toll. I don''t think I can complain about these numbers, the expenses will be paid by the Duke, not only that, but the Duke will also be responsible for paying the adventurers. But for me the most important thing is the death toll, I''m sad to see so many adventurers dead, but I can''t complain about such a low number knowing that we face two waves of monsters. At that moment the door opens and Mari enters throwing me a bottle of beer while she holds another one. "How are things down there?" (I) "A mess, I had to close the Guild for today after handing out the rewards, only by doing that can Guild employees focus on what we have to do now." (Mari) "Have you finished reading all the reports?" (Mari) "Yes, we''ve had a lot of dead, but knowing what we''re up against I can''t complain about the numbers." (I) "The battle was on a grand scale this time, you also almost lost your arm from what I heard." (Mari) "It was careless, you know it''s hard to fight a monster with a space element, let alone a stealthy one." (I) "But I''m fine now." (I) "It won''t stay when I deliver my findings." (Lucas) "..." (I/Mari) As Mari and I talked I opened the bottle and started drinking the beer along with Mari, but suddenly a familiar voice comes from the window, I turn around and find Lucas sitting by the window. "Did you find out anything about the culprits in these waves of monsters?" (I) "I didn''t have a lot of time, but it wasn''t hard to find out that until last year this man was a priest of the Igreja da Luz, he was excommunicated for crimes that include murder against members of other races in small villages." (Lucas) "So that confirms that it was the Church of Light." (I) "I don''t have any proof for that, everything I found out I''ve already said, I didn''t find any connection between him and the Church of Light after he was excommunicated." (Lucas) "Without proof, we can''t do anything, if we try to hold the Church of Light responsible all they have to do is say that he is no longer part of them." (Mari) "The biggest question is that we don''t know who is responsible for the second wave of monsters, nor do we know where they got the Evil Seeds." (I) "These items are usually delivered to the Adventurers'' Guilds or some temple to be destroyed or purified, all I can think is that the Church of Light hasn''t got rid of the Evil Seeds that should have been in its possession." (Mari) "Again we can only assume, we have no proof." (I) "I could go on investigating, but I don''t have any more leads." (Lucas) "It''s okay, even if I can''t prove anything, just knowing who the culprit is made me better prepared for the next time." (I) "Thanks for the work Lucas, here''s your pay." (I) After a short conversation I pay Lucas by throwing him a bag with his pay, he picks it up and drops it back, I won''t even try to run to the window, I know he''ll be gone in a few moments. Now I''m going to get my drink back before I go back to work, I have to file an expense report for the Duke and send a report to the Adventurers'' Guild Headquarters as well. ---------- Elsaris Pov: I''m Elsaris, I''m a Vampire Matriarch that evolved from an extremely rare race of rabbits to a Vampire I''m relatively young having a little more than two hundred, I''m part of the faction that is on the side of humans. I am responsible for the Black Market of the city of Valen which is in the Trigan Kingdom, those who are responsible for this place have other functions such as governing the Vampires that live here and being the guards of a certain place. The faction that I am part of is at odds with the faction that is on the side of the Demons, but we are not attacked in this town because of the neutral faction''s intervention, but in return, we have to be the guards of a certain place that should be in their protection. who are on another continent. "If I find the one responsible for this I will skin him alive while I eat piece by piece of his body in front of his eyes." (I) "Calm down lady." (Jay) "How do you want me to calm down, someone broke a goddamn Evil Seed in the Blood Dungeon, we had to send everyone to the Blood Forest to take care of the wave of monsters coming from the main entrance to the ruins." (I) "We only lost seven Vampires, all were of minor importance, we''ve already captured the culprit as well." (Jay) "Where he is, I''m going to make him experience something worse than death." (I) "Do you know how difficult it will be to hide the remains of battle in the forest of blood?" (I) "We have time, the townspeople of Valen will spend the next few days taking care of the remains of their defensive battle, they won''t pay attention to our movements." (Jay) "One of the only things we can''t let happen is that they find out that the Blood Dungeon is just a second entry that we''ve created, we can''t let others know of the Dungeon''s existence and its true origins." (I) "They won''t find out, so far no one has noticed the passage inside the second entrance that leads to the deep floors." (Jay) "Fortunately they believe it''s just an S Grade dungeon, as the townspeople of Valen continue to exploit the second Dungeon entry we''ve been able to control the Dungeon''s monsters for the past few centuries." (Jay) "I know, that''s why I''m so angry right now, this monster wave would make them find out the truth." (I) "Finally when I''m chosen to be in charge it happens, I was so happy with the auction results and the profits we made." (I) Sigh "Take me to the culprit, I''m going to make him confess to everyone involved in this, I''m not leaving any of them alive." (I) Jay took me to a dark underground room, in that room I saw the bastard who caused all this mess chained and hanging, as soon as I walked in he looked at me and started insulting me. "Why would an inferior being like this bunny think he can look at me like that?" (bastard) After he started talking this pile of shit I started the fun, his screams were music to my ears, even when he said he was going to talk I continued for another hour just because it was so funny to see him beg me to let him die. After that, I stopped and told him to tell him everything he knew and that''s how much happened. "I... I say... whatever you want..." (Bastard) "Who ordered... me to do this was... it was..." (Bastard) Boommm! But just as he was about to speak the name of the person responsible, his head exploded in front of me, covering me in blood, flesh, and bone fragments. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!??" (I) ---------- Archbishop Galaretto Pov: When I woke up from my coma I was confused, angry, scared, and hateful. How that disgusting being full of darkness dared to steal my tools from me, how that evil creature dared to wound me. He even had the audacity to threaten me saying he would come after me, I would love for that to be true because then I wouldn''t have to keep looking for him anymore. But if I can''t find this evil creature even after all this time, then I will at least finish off that Prince Drago, unfortunately, my plan to cause a war has failed due to unwanted interference, but if the Prince dies in Valen City I will at least prevent a possible alliance between the Trigan Kingdom and the Cartoza Kingdom. I had already prepared something to end that city full of inferior races, I made two priests who were my subordinates and who do not have the intelligence to act discreetly be excommunicated. All it took was to leak some information to the High Priest''s peaceful faction, after that I made them become adventurers in the city of Valen and gave an Evil Seed to each of them and explained what they wanted them to do, they''ll probably die when getting in touch with the large amount of miasma but don''t care about them. Even if they are captured it doesn''t matter, they have no more direct lessons with the Church of Light, it will also be a good way to use the Evil Seeds since I stole them from the Church vault I''ve been keeping for years, it finally came to time to use this to clean that city full of impurities. "I would like to send the Knights of Light, but unfortunately I cannot do so without the approval of the High Priest." (I) Even if they''re captured they won''t be able to say anything since I''ve put a silent curse on them, if they dare say anything then they''ll die. "As expected from a superior being like me, an excellent plan ha ha hahaha..." (I) ---------- Pov of a Mysterious Father: I''m not sure how much time has passed, but I still haven''t given up, I''ll keep my promise. I stand in front of the big glass cylinder where she''s floating in the potion my wife made. Since that day I have been standing by her side, I have promised I will never leave her side no matter what, and I plan to keep that promise until the day I can help her wake up. I never cared about the presence I feel outside of this place or the noises I hear, but one day I felt a strange Aura, this Aura appeared several times over time and I noticed that for the first time her fingers moved and I saw small strands of that Aura smoothly entering her body. This is what I''ve been waiting for, this is what can save her, I place my skeletal hands on the glass with only one thought in my head. I will get what my daughter needs, no matter what I need to do for it, whatever it takes I will make her wake up. "Just wait a little longer my daughter." (I) Chapter 170: Earnings from the hard battle The time we spent in the restaurant was very good and pleasant, the food was fantastic, for me it was an incredible experience as I didn''t know any of the dishes, Freya seemed very serious and focused while eating, and everyone enjoyed it in their own way. We had a pleasant time at the restaurant, Ibuki desperately started eating all the meat dishes and then fell asleep, Freya was savoring the food while trying to identify the ingredients by taste and taking notes in a small notebook, Leo was being fed by Caryna in a loving way, it was a very loving scene between the couple. Diana, Sophia, and Anton were having a drinking contest to see who could stand to drink the most, I also saw Nira, Kira, and Alice talking about what happened today, Nolan is asleep from what Caryna told me Nolan was responsible for delivering supplies so he spent all day running around to help the Adventurers'' Guild. Tania is drinking while drawing in her notebook, she was very shaken to learn that the clothes she made a short time ago were in terrible shape, so she started designing a new shipment of combat gear for everyone. While I saw Layla and Byakko eating a big cake I kept talking to rica who was feeding Yomi with small pieces of fruit. It was a nice time, but everyone was very tired, so after an hour we went to the mansion to rest, rica, Kira, Diana and Ibuki insisted on sleeping in my bed today, so after the women took a shower and then the men all went to sleep. By the time I entered the room, everyone was already asleep, I wanted to jump into bed and fall asleep now, but before I go to the balcony, I keep looking at the sky, for some reason whenever I''m exhausted, nervous, or confused I want to see the night sky, if I don''t I can''t get my head in order. I stand for a few minutes looking at the sky while in my head I replay everything that happened today, one thing, in particular, catches my attention, I remember what we did to the group of rookie killers. "When did I get so cruel?" (I) What I did in that dungeon, the way I devoured that shitty Alchemist, and the way I fought today. All of this comes to mind at the same time, I look away from the night sky and look at my palms. Sigh "I changed." (I) "I''m not what I was in the past." (I) "But I still can''t tell if that''s a good thing or a bad thing." (I) I look back to the sky, today there are some clouds forming in the sky so I can''t see the moons unfortunately but I can still see the stars. "Change is inevitable, all the people that exist are constantly changing." (I) "Someone important once told me that we are a reflection of what we do and the choices we make, I wonder what I would be if I agreed with that argument?" (I) Sigh "None of that matters, it''s no use worrying about what''s already happened, I''m too tired to think about these philosophical things right now." (I) I turn around and walk slowly into the room. "I''ll be whatever I want to be, I won''t mind complicated things right now." (I) I go to the bed and lie on the bottom of the bed which is the emptiest, I won''t make the mistake of lying in the middle of the bed and being almost suffocated during the night as I used to in the cabin in the woods in the past. After laying my head down I meditate to integrate my levels I gained today, I didn''t want to see these notifications today, but I don''t think it''s right to leave these things for later so I''ll do it now before bed so I can take tomorrow off just to relax. Let''s take a look at the results of that exhausting day. Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 13506 EXP from enemy kills ]> . . <[ You gained 5749 EXP for killing enemies by party members ]> . . . <[ You learned the skill [ Martial Master Aura: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Vampirism: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Lower Insatiable Stomach: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Physical damage resistance: 1 > 6 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Body Enhancement (Legs): 1 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Improved hearing: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Nose Improved: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Superior Mana Control: 1 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Group Coordination: 3 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Improved Strength: 4 > 6 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Martial Art Fist of Chaos: 4 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Major mental disorder: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Sword Handling: 1 > 7 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Knife Handling: 1 > 7 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Fire magic elemental affinity: 5 > 7 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Parallel thinking: 7 > 9 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Pain Resistance: 4 > 9 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leadership: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low resistance to necrotic poison: 1 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Resistance to paralysis: 1 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Poison resistance: 1 > 6 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Recovery: 1 > 7 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Body Charge: 1 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Jump: 5 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Corrosion: 6 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Detect Presence: 2 > 7 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Great magical body boost: 1 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic non-elemental magic: 9 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic Wind Spell: 1 > 7 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic Fire Magic: 4 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Assassination technique: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Sword Technique: 1 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Dagger technique: 1 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Blade of Chaos Technique: 4 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic Magic Circle: 2 > 6 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Intimidation: 4 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Aura of judgment: 3 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Aura of Chaos: 3 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Martial Master Aura: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the title [ Monster Slayer ] ]> . . . <[ You have reached the maximum level ]> . . . <[ Your work has reached the maximum level ]> So many skills leveled up, unfortunately, none of them evolved. But I was happy to gain one more Aura skill, by the name it must be a skill I gained because of the job I chose before the battle, I''ll find out more of that skill tomorrow. I also have to choose another job, but I''ll also save that for tomorrow. What is really making me anxious is that I reached the maximum level, which means that I must evolve tonight. "(I hope I grow in this evolution.)" (I) I also gained a title, by the name of that title I must have won it because of the number of monsters I killed during the battle. It''s been a long day, I''m glad I made so much of the gains from all this that happened, but as I look back on the battle scenes and remember the number of adventurers who died defending the city of Valen, I can''t smile at this news like that. All I can do is make myself stronger, I''m terrified to think that one of those dead adventurers could have been someone in my group. This wave of monsters only reinforced my thinking that I need strength to defend the people I care about in this dangerous world. "(I will become stronger to defend you.)" (I) I take a few deep breaths to calm myself down and clear my mind of these unnecessary thoughts, this is not the time to think about it. All I want for the next few days is to rest and relax with the rest of my group, that''s my plan for now. But one thing that worries me is my evolution, I''m afraid it will get even smaller, if that happens I don''t know if my fragile heart will hold. I also hope that my appearance doesn''t change too much, every time I evolve my appearance changes drastically, for better or for worse this is the best look I''ve had since I was born in this world, even though I''m not happy with this childish appearance. , at least it''s better than Leech or Goblin looks. I take one last look at the sleeping girls, glad they are safe and well, during the fight against the monster wave I was afraid something might happen to one of them or the others, so after seeing them sleeping so tranquil I close my eyes and surrender to my tiredness and sleep. "(I''m so tired.)" (I) Gradually my consciousness falls into darkness as all the accumulated tiredness of today consumes me, I give in to that tiredness until I completely lose consciousness, then I erase. zzzzzz... Zzzzz... zzzz... ---------- Ding! Ding! <[ "EVOLUTION REQUIREMENTS FULFILLED" ]> . . . <[ "ANALYZING POSSIBLE EVOLUTION POSSIBILITIES" ]> . . <[ ANALYZING TITLES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING WORKS ]> . . <[ ANALYZING LINEAGES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING SKILLS ]> . . <[ ANALYZING BLESSINGS ]> Chapter 171: One month period zzzzzz... Zzzzz... zzzz... Ding! Ding! <[ "EVOLUTION REQUIREMENTS FULFILLED" ]> . . . <[ "ANALYZING POSSIBLE EVOLUTION POSSIBILITIES" ]> . . <[ ANALYZING TITLES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING WORKS ]> . . <[ ANALYZING LINEAGES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING SKILLS ]> . . <[ ANALYZING BLESSINGS ]> . Ding! . <[ COMPLETE ANALYSIS ]> . . . <[ LOOKING FOR SUITABLE EVOLUTION ]> . . . <[ SEVEN SUITABLE BREEDS WERE FOUND ]> . . . <[ CHOOSE YOUR RACE: ? [ Upper Twilight Vampire (Unique) ] ? [ Blood Kimera (Variant) ] ? [ Kimera Vampire (Variant) ] ? [ Demonic Vampire (Variant) ] ? [ Energy Vampire (Unique) ] ? [ Blood Demon (Variant) ] ? [ Corrupting Demon (Single) ] All those notifications before bed and now this, my head is going to explode like this, all I wanted was to get some peace of sleep. Since I can''t avoid that I''m going to choose the safest option for me, all these Kimera races and Demon races have dangerous names, so I''m going to choose the race that seems to be superior to my current race. I choose [ Superior Twilight Vampire (Unique) ]. Ding! <[ "UPPER TWILIGHT VAMPIRE (SINGLE) CHOSEN" ]> . <[ "BEGINNING EVOLUTION" ]> . . . . . <[ "PROCESS EVOLUTION" ]> . . . . . . <[ "COMPLETED EVOLUTION" ]> When I try to open my eyes I find I can''t, I can''t smell or hear anything, I can''t move either. "(What''s going on?)" (I) I was confused and scared by what was happening, when suddenly I feel a hand on my face and I start to hear a voice in my head, that voice has already become familiar to me. "(My dear child, you came back faster than I expected.)" (mysterious woman) "(If she''s here it means I haven''t woken up yet.)" (I) "(You''re kind of right, actually you''re still evolving, your body has already finished its evolution, but I need to adjust your soul to your new body.)" (mysterious woman) "(Don''t read my thoughts, where is my privacy?)" (I) "(Hahahaha...)" (mysterious woman) "(It''s so funny that you think you can hide something from me.)" (mysterious woman) "(But don''t worry, I won''t poke around in your head and I won''t deprive you of your privacy.)" (mysterious woman) "(After I finish talking to you and make some adjustments to your new body and soul I''ll leave you alone.)" (mysterious woman) "(For now...)" (mysterious woman) Once again she just does what she wants with me, if I could move now she would get what she deserves for doing this to me. "(Wait, what did she just say!?)" (I) "(You said what are you doing with my body and soul!?)" (I) "(Don''t worry, I''m just preventing a future problem, those Faerie Kings healed your soul, but they missed something.)" (mysterious woman) "(Because you forced the creation of an astral body your soul created a disharmony with your body, you won''t realize it now, but one day you might die from it, it''s best to fix it now while it''s still easy to deal with that.)" (mysterious woman) "(...)" (I) With her explanation I get scared, I hadn''t noticed anything wrong before, but I don''t understand anything about souls either. "(You don''t have to worry about that now, I''m almost done.)" (mysterious woman) "(But I''m not feeling anything?)" (I) "(And you won''t even feel it, that''s what happens when you do these reckless things.)" (mysterious woman) For some reason I feel like a child who has done something wrong being reprimanded by his mother, this situation is very strange to me for many reasons. "(It''s over, soon you will be pulled back into your body.)" (mysterious woman) "(But first I must warn you a few things, the first is that the person who will join you is already on the way and don''t try to ask that person any questions, because there will be no answer until you are strong enough to that.)" (mysterious woman) "(This person will arrive within a month, you must make one more evolution before then, if not something very bad will happen to you, to this person and possibly to the city you are in, so good luck.)" (woman mysterious) "(Wait...)" (I) "(I also advise you to be careful with your bloodline fusion, but if you do, ask someone to be by your side with some HP potions.)" (mysterious woman) "(I said to wait, what are you...)" (I) "(Keep going your own way my little Zenos, I hope the next time we meet you will know my name.)" (mysterious woman) I was trying to ask her what she meant by all these weird things she''s saying, but she doesn''t give me a chance to speak, every time I go to speak she interrupts me. Just as she''s finished speaking and I think I''m going to be able to speak, I suddenly feel something pulling me and I can''t hear her in my head anymore. Soon afterward I feel my conscience darken and I blackout. ---------- I wake up the next day feeling different, I try to get up but find I can''t move and several notifications start popping up in my vision that I''m going to ignore for now. I try to look around and realize I''m in the middle of the bed being hugged by the girls who are still sleeping. "(How did I get here?)" (I) "(I was pretty sure I had slept on the bottom of the bed where there were fewer people, so how?)" (I) Not knowing what was going on I close my eyes and take a deep breath to calm myself, I don''t want to wake up the girls who must be tired after yesterday''s monster wave, so I decide to wait for them to wake up, in the meantime I''ll take a look at these notifications that have started to appear the moment I woke up. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!... . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Identify: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Weak Blood Elemental Affinity: 10 ] > [ Blood Elemental Affinity: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Weak Affinity with Curse: 10 ] > [ Affinity with Curse: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Weak elemental affinity: 10 ] > [ Dark elemental affinity: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Martial Art Fist of Chaos: 10 ] > [ Martial Art Fist of the Lord of Chaos: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Basic non-elemental magic: 10 ] > [ Non-elemental magic: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Blade of Chaos Technique: 10 ] > [ Blade of the Lord of Chaos Technique: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ A new achievement has been added to your title [ Founder of the Blade of Chaos Technique ] ]> . . <[ A new achievement has been added to your title [ Founder of the Fist of Chaos ] ]> . . . <[ The titles [ Founder of the Fist of Chaos ] and [ Founder of the Blade of Chaos Technique ] merge and a new title is acquired ]> . . [ You have acquired the title [ Founder of Chaos Techniques ] ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> "..." (I) "(Why have so many skills evolved?)" (I) "(Did my evolution do all this?)" (I) I was surprised at so many things happening, I can feel a lot of power coursing through my body, but I can''t enjoy that power if I can''t get out of bed so I''ll have to wait for now. I also want to see my appearance in the mirror, I want to know if I managed to grow in this evolution, but I will also have to wait. I also want to test these evolved skills, but I''ll wait too. "(I''m so looking forward to testing so many things, but I can''t do anything dammit.)" (I) Sigh I don''t have what to do about it right now, so I remember what happened before I woke up. "(Just as I imagined, that mysterious woman must be a Goddess.)" (I) "(She said she was messing with my body and soul, I may not know much about things in this world, but if you put together everything this mysterious woman has done so far it''s obvious she''s a Goddess, I guess I just didn''t want to accept the truth.)" (I) "(For some reason she is adamant about me learning about her name.)" (I) After finally accepting the obvious I remember what she said about my soul and my body being in disharmony because of the astral body I somehow created when I helped Layla, knowing that made a shiver run through my body, even though I didn''t know. what does that mean I still know it shouldn''t be any good. This Goddess also said that the person she made me promise to let into my group is on her way, I don''t know who that person is and I don''t know why she wants this person close to me either but considering everything she''s done so far. for me, I don''t think she wants to do me anything bad so I''ll wait and see when that person arrives. The red-haired Goddess also said that she wants me to evolve one more time before this person arrives, I don''t know why, but it will be difficult, one thing I learned in each evolution is that it gets harder and harder to evolve, I will need more EXP and more levels. I have so many things to think about, there are so many things going on at once that I don''t know what to do first. "(So I have a month to resolve this, eh?)" (I) I take advantage of this time when I wait for the girls to wake up to change my job to [ Rookie wizard ]. Since I can''t move until the girls wake up I think I''ll take a look at my Status, so I open it and take a look just to be shocked. "(But what is this!)" (I) Chapter 172: Absurd status Since I can''t move until the girls wake up I think I''ll take a look at my Status, so I open it and take a look just to be shocked. "(But what is this!)" (I) <[ NAME: Zenos RACE: Superior Twilight Vampire (Single) GENRE: Man LEVEL: 54/75 EXP: 109/680 LINEAGE: ? [ ] [ Twilight Vampire (Zenos): Original ] [ Horned Rabbit: 100% ] [ Flaming Snake: 15% ] [ Little Spider: 17% ] [ Gray Wolf: 100% ] [ Kobold: 100% ] [ Human: 100% ] [ Dwarf: 14% ] [ Tiger Beast: 17% ] [ Vampire Bat: 100% ] [ Earth Monkey: 100% ] [ Blood Wolf: 100% ] [ Paralyzing Serpent: 100% ] [ Poisonous Snake: 100% ] [ Sword Snake: 100% ] [ Thorny Snake: 100% ] WORK: [ Novice Wizard ] WORK LEVEL: 1/20 WORK EXP: 0/25 WORK HISTORY: ? [ Apprentice Wizard: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Warrior: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Martial Artist: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Hunter: 10/10 ] [ Novice Adventurer: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Thief: 10/10] [ Apprentice Trader: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Alchemist: 10/10 ] [ Novice Warrior: 20/20 ] [ Grand Martial Master: 70/70 ] (+3) HP: 459/459 (+4) MP: 614/614 (+3)Ki: 400/400 (+3)EP: 981/981 (+3) Strength: 509 (+59) (+3) Dexterity: 459 (+47) (+3)Agility: 484 (+47) (+2) Defense: 338 (+67) (+5) Intelligence: 715 (+37) (+3)Magic Defense: 341 (+37) Charm: 350 (+1560) Luck: -50 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: ? [ ? ] [ ?? ] [ World Transgressor ] [ Last of his kind ] [ First of his kind ] [ He who brings chaos ] [ Named Monster ] [ Unique Monster ] [ True Master ] [ Novice Mage ] [ Goblin Chief ] [ Grade -C Adventurer ] [ Literate ] [ Thief ] [ Kidnapper ] [ Goblin Killer ] [ Friend of Spirits ] [ Blood Child ] [ Walker of the day ] [ Patriarch ( Twilight Vampires ) ] [ Shadow Eclipse group leader ] [ Fairy Friend ] [ Fairy Contractor: Layla (Fairy Lesser Chaos ) ] [ Master Alchemist ] [ Pervert ] [ Monster Slayer ] [ Founder of Chaos Techniques ] ]> How absurd is this ridiculous fort status, there are two stats that are above 500, my spiritual power is almost at a thousand and my mana is at more than 600. "(How did this happen?)" (I) I start looking in detail at all my Status information and figured out the reason for this, I was level 14 when I woke up yesterday and needed to reach level 50 to evolve, but after the battle inside the Great Serpent Dungeon and the battle against the monster wave I gained a lot of EXP. I even evolved overnight, so I leveled over 30 levels yesterday, and it looks like I still had a lot of EXP since it looks like I''m currently at level 54. It seems that I gained more than 80 levels thanks to the monster wave, the gains were much bigger than I imagined. "(It seems that if I fight every day I should be able to evolve in a month.)" (I) So many things to take care of, but I''ll find a way to do everything I need, from what that Goddess said, it''s going to be dangerous if I don''t evolve before that person arrives in a month. I don''t know what kind of danger it will be, but I''m not going to break my promise and I''m going to put this person in my group, but I need to be as strong as possible to protect not only myself but the rest of my group as well. "..." (I) "(If I gained so many levels and evolved, then could it be that others managed to evolve as well?)" (I) I''ve tried looking at the girls on the bed but I''m not in a good position to see them, there''s also the problem that they''re covered so I can''t see. Let me take a look at my abilities since I have nothing to do, I could use my [ Identify: 3 ] ability on my other abilities, but I won''t do that now, it will fill my head with information and I''ll end up in pain head again. All I want to do today and tomorrow is relax peacefully, I''ll leave everything else for two days, I think the others and I deserve a break. It''s not enough to just fight and train, I and the others need to rest too, this will help us to become stronger too, a good rest will help clear our minds and make our bodies more prepared for the training and fights we will have later. I''ll take a look at my skills for now to get some idea of ??the skills I''ll be using for synthesis later. <[ PASSIVE SKILLS: ? [ Vampirism: 2 ] [ Insatiable Lower Stomach: 3 ] [ Weak Starvation Resistance: 1 ] [ Paralysis Resistance: 4 ] [ Poison Resistance: 6 ] [ Physical Damage Resistance: 6 ] [ Blood Elemental Affinity: 1 ] [ Mana Sense: 4 ] [ Curse Affinity: 1 ] [ Deep Meditation: 3 ] [ Weak Fire Resistance: 1 ] [ Goblin Language: 10 ] [ Reinforce Weak Underlings: 3 ] [ Improved Sexual Stamina: 7 ] [ Enhancement Weak Body Enhancement (Legs): 4 ] [ Improved Hearing: 3 ] [ Weak Body Enhancement (Exoskeleton): 1 ] [ Improved Nose: 3 ] [ Superior Mana Control: 4 ] [ Kobold Language: 1 ] [ Group Coordination: 5 ] [ Low Wind Elemental Affinity: 9 ] [ Trap Construction: 3 ] [ Improved Strength: 6 ] [ Dark Elemental Affinity: 1 ] [ Martial Art of Lord Chaos''s Fist: 1 ] [ Major Mental Disorder: 3 ] [ Language Common: 10 ] [ Trigan Language: 1 ] [ Sword Handling: 7 ] [ Basic Spear Handling: 1 ] [ Fire Magic Elemental Affinity: 7 ] [ Wiring Knives: 7 ] [ Basic Arithmetic: 10 ] [ Carpentry: 4 ] [ Architecture: 2 ] [ Agriculture: 1 ] [ Basic Forge: 1 ] [ Ki Sense: 5 ] [ Spiritual Sense: 2 ] [ Parallel Thinking: 9 ] [ Dismantle: 1 ] [ Body Enhancement (Fangs): 4 ] [ Pain Resistance: 9 ] [ Earth Magic Elemental Affinity: 5 ] [ Earth Magic Element Resistance: 1 ] [ Water Magic Elemental Affinity: 3 ] [ Elemental Affinity Weak Light: 8 ] [ Weak Light Elemental Resistance: 1 ] [ Leadership: 2 ] [ Faerie Contract ] [ Weak Soul Damage Resistance: 1 ] [ Alchemy Technique: 1 ] [ Weak Resistance to Necrotic Poison: 4 ] ACTIVE SKILLS: ? [ Vampire Bite: 1 ] [ Paralyzing Poison Secretion: 1 ] [ Poor Blood Detection: 5 ] [ Swim: 1 ] [ Poison Secretion: 1 ] [ Weak Blood Control: 8 ] [ Aura of Judgment: 4 ] [ Recovery: 7 ] [ Enhanced Line Magic Production: 1 ] [ Line Control & Manipulation: 2 ] [ Weak Body Charge: 5 ] [ Jump: 8 ] [ Light Fire Puff: 5 ] [ Poison Spit: 4 ] [ Snake Scale Production: 1 ] [ Body Manipulation: 4 ] [ Corrosion: 8 ] [ Detect Presence: 7 ] [ Vampire Claws: 1 ] [ Blood Servant: 3 ] [ Large Magic Body Booster: 8 ] [ Intimidation: 8 ] [ Non-Elemental Spell: 1 ] [ Basic Wind Spell: 7 ] [ Basic Fire Spell: 8 ] [ Hide: 1 ] [ Trap Detect: 1 ] [ Basic Stealing Technique: 1 ] [ Night Vision: 3 ] [ Ki Control: 1 ] [ Basic Hammer Technique: 1 ] [ Assassination Technique: 3 ] [ Sword Technique: 5 ] [ Dagger Technique: 5 ] [ Blade Technique of the Lord of Chaos: 1 ] [ Sonic scream: 1 ] [ Sense of life: 5 ] [ Servant Vampire: 2] [ Seismic Sense: 5 ] [ White Magic: 1 ] [ Light Blade: 1 ] [ Basic Earth Magic: 3 ] [ Potion Control: 1 ] [ Potion Multiplication: 1 ] [ Paralyzing Poison Spit: 1 ] [ Paralyzing Bite: 1 ] [ Necrotic Poison Spit: 1 ] [ Weak Necrotic Poison Secretion: 1 ] [ Basic Magic Circle: 6 ] [ Serpent Slash Sword: 1 ] [ Serpent Charge: 1 ] [ Slash Serpent Sword: 1 ] [ Serpent Charge: 1 ] [ Thorny Serpent Charge: 1 ] [ Spike Production: 1 ] [ Paralyzing Serpent Charge: 1 ] [ Paralyzing Serpent Charge: 1 ] [ Poisonous Bite: 1 ] [ Poison Serpent Gaze: 1 ] [ Martial Master Aura: 2 ] UNIQUE SKILLS: ? [ ?? ] [ Chaotic Devourer ] [ Identify: 3 ] [ Aura of Chaos: 4 ] [ Concealment Mark ] [ Synthesis: 1 ] BLESSINGS: ? [ ] [ Foros (Fire Fairy King) ] [ Hera (Wood Fairy Queen) ] [ Jana (Ice Fairy Queen) ] [ Railgun (Thunder Fairy King) ] [ Mavis (Fairy Queen) of Space) ] ]> That''s a lot of skills, but I''ll just synthesize skills, for now, that mysterious Goddess said that if I want to synthesize bloodlines I''ll need someone around and some HP potions, so it had big consequences, I''ll leave that for later too, no more risks, for now, I just want to relax for the next two days. I think I''m going to buy some books in town and go out to have fun with the others, I have to enjoy my life a little. Sometimes I forget that it''s not all about battles, I''ve been in this world for months and I don''t even know how people in this world have fun. I will spend the next few days going out to have fun with others and learn more about this world. I look at the girls who are still sleeping, unable to contain my curiosity to see if any of them have evolved. "(This curiosity is killing me.)" (I) I will be very happy with them and the others evolving if it''s true, it''s no use just getting stronger, I can''t be everywhere and I can''t protect everyone alone. So if everyone gets stronger with me it will be the best, from this cry we will be able to defend ourselves more easily from any danger. Only the protagonists of fantasy hero stories like those in my ancient world would think they can do it all themselves. The truth is that strength is not in one person, but in numbers, each person''s strength is important, but with enough numbers and a good strategy there is no enemy that cannot be defeated, at least that''s what I believe. So I will be very happy if everyone has evolved too, but this anxiety of not knowing is killing me. I also want to check my body, every time I evolve there is always a big change, but with this damn luck I have I never know if that change is going to be good or bad. But they say hope is the last to die, so I''ll believe my wish will come true this time. "(I''m so anxious I''m almost waking up these sleepers.)" (me) I''m not going to wake them up, so I think I''ll try to relax and think about what I''m going to do with fun these days to pass the time. Chapter 173: Evolution day After over an hour of waiting for the girls to wake up, I ended up falling asleep again until someone came to wake me up. "Master Zenos, wake up please." (Alice) "Hm~m" (I) "It''s already mid-afternoon, you need to eat something, please wake up." (Alice) "..." (I) "Alice?" (I) "Sorry to wake you up, Miss Irina asked me to wake you up for something to eat." (Alice) "Thanks for that, I''m really starting to get hungry." (I) I get up and look around, but I don''t see anyone else in the room other than Alice who is wearing a maid''s outfit. "Where are the girls?" (I) "Mrs. Freya came early and woke them up." (Alice) Alice has really changed, her demeanor is more refined and polite, too bad her eyes are still the same as when I met her. "I don''t think I''ve had a chance to talk to you alone before, have I?" (I) "Yes, the master is always surrounded by people and is always busy with something." (Alice) "Are you enjoying your life here?" (I) "I have never been so happy, Mrs. Freya taught me many things about how to behave and act, while Miss Irina helped me to study and taught me many things about the world." (Alice) "Even Nira taught me about trade a few times, the opportunity the master gave me that I was just a slave is something I will never forget." (Alice) "I''m glad to hear this." (I) As she spoke I could see a small smile forming on her lips, it looks like she really is happy, I hope all this happiness ends the darkness inside her. After this little talk with Alice, I get up and go to the bathroom to clean my teeth before going back to the bedroom, before going downstairs I want to confirm my appearance after evolution. As soon as I enter the room I remove my clothes and go to the full-length mirror to see the changes in my body, but it doesn''t seem to have any at first glance. My hair color is the same blood-red color as always and its length comes to my shoulders now, my eyes are still the golden and dark purple colors, my skin is still as brown as before and my colorful tribal tattoos are still on my arms. , legs and back as before. "I don''t see anything different." (I) I look at my reflection in the mirror and I notice something, my face is different, I didn''t realize before why I''ve only had this face for a while, but now that I''ve looked it looks different than I expected. I''m not ugly, I''m actually better looking than before, but it looks different than I expected, it somehow looks less masculine than my previous face, but it''s not feminine, that''s a faint feeling I get when I look fit. detailed. "As long as I''m not as ugly as I was at the beginning, I don''t care too much about my face." (I) "But if I keep changing like this it''s going to be hard for me to get used to any appearance, every time I evolve my appearance changes, at least there weren''t many changes this time." (I) "Huh!?" (I) I got distracted with my new face that I didn''t realize the most important thing, when I realized that tears started to come out of my face, the change isn''t much, but as long as I hear some change I''ll still have hope. "I''m so happy, even though it''s the same height as when I was still a Goblin I''m still glad I''ve grown a little, maybe if I keep evolving I can have my adult body as I so desire." (I) My height is now 1.20 m tall, even though it''s not a big change I''m already happy, I go to my clothes and put them on before going down to the kitchen to eat something. "Master, look, look, see how Layla is prettier, isn''t it? Isn''t it?" (Layla) "..." (I) As soon as I arrive in the kitchen I see the same scene from every day, total chaos of people talking about different subjects, Sophia and Leo having an arm-wrestling competition, Freya and Caryna cooking and Diana holding Ibuki so as not to eat the food before the others. But something is very different from previous times, everyone''s appearance is a little different. Layla who was walking happily around my head stopped right in front of me and was the first one I could see the changes, she was already in her normal appearance with her wings and four arms showing. Layla was already exceptionally beautiful before, but now she''s even more beautiful, she now had an extra pair of wings on her back the same as she already had, looking like a seven-and-a-half-transparent bird''s wings. Those were the only changes in her physical appearance, but I also felt her presence changed a little more, through our connection I can feel that she got stronger too. "You look beautiful, but you shouldn''t be flying around my head like that." (I) "Alright, give me a ride." (Layla) Without waiting for my response, this uneducated Fairy sits on my shoulder as I walk into the kitchen, that''s when I get a better look at everyone''s new appearances. The ones who had the least change were Freya, Sophia, and Kira who look no different from before except for a jewel in the shape of a drop of transparent water on their foreheads. They also look prettier than before and their eyes seem to have a depth they didn''t have before too, I imagine they must have evolved. Then I turn to Leo who hasn''t changed much besides the color of his hair which is black as ink, his presence also seems wilder, other than that I don''t see any other differences in him. I turn to Diana, her well-trained body seems to have less muscle, but somehow she looks stronger. Her skin was already brown and her hair was already white with a red streak before, but now her hair is even whiter and shiny which makes the strand of red hair get even more forehead, her height is still the same as 1.90 meters, his wolf ears on his head seem to have gotten bigger the same for his wolf tail. Diana also has a wilder presence but I also feel dignity in her, her golden eyes have a slight red glow to them, the fur Diana has on her arms and legs seems to be a little bigger now too. Ibuki being held by Diana looks bigger now, she seems to have grown up and is now measuring around 1.50 meters tall, her formerly black hair is now a dark purple color and is longer than her shoulder height, her skin is still white making her look Human if not for the horn on her forehead which is now three times bigger than before and is slightly curved up, her eyes also turned purple like her hair. Ibuki is very beautiful now, not only has her height increased, but her body has more feminine curves now, it seems her body has developed a lot in this evolution giving her breasts and waist a little bigger for her who had nothing before, she is as beautiful as the others now. She would be prettier if she weren''t so violent and aggressive trying to break free of Diana''s arms to get to the food. I look at Irina and Irius and see that they are exactly the same as before, I don''t feel anything different about them, the two are sitting talking together with Alice and Nolan, they must still be teaching them as I told them to do before. I look at rica who is in her Demon form and notice some changes in her, her hair is still completely black but it''s longer now almost reaching her waist, her eyes are still red like before, her skin has turned completely light blue now, his bat wings cannot be seen, but his tail appears to be longer and is looped around his waist like a belt, his pair of horns on his forehead has gotten bigger and is curved up looking sharp. rica is still the same height of 1.60 meters tall, plus her breasts have grown giving a touch of seduction to her appearance, her presence has become darker and her current appearance is very attractive to any man. After seeing the change in everyone I decide not to stand at the door anymore. As soon as I walk in, everyone looks at me with smiles on their faces, Ibuki takes advantage of this distraction and lets us go with dexterity and flexibility that she didn''t have before Diana''s arms and runs to where the dishes are still being assembled, but is impeded by currents of light that hold her in place, looks like Irina saw her break free and chained her in place with her magic. After greeting everyone and watching Diana recapture Ibuki I join everyone in for a chat while we wait for the food to be ready. During our conversation everyone said that they evolved, it seems that everyone evolved during the night while they slept, of course only those who participated in the battle evolved, it also seems that everyone needs to change jobs and Ibuki needs to choose her first job, it seems she evolved two times and became a Superior Ogress, so she can choose jobs now. We all went to the table to eat, with everyone evolving during the night it brought great joy to me and them, it improved our mood that was bad because of the things we saw yesterday. After eating I told them to meet in the living room as usual to have a scheduled meeting. Chapter 174: Plan to harmonize the mansion We were all gathered in the room for a meeting, as many of us evolved I wanted to know each other''s races, I could see their status but I didn''t want to invade their privacy. "I am happy to see everyone getting stronger." (I) "You look a little different, Father." (Irina) "Good of you mentioning it, I wanted to ask you and Irius something." (I) "You can ask anything you want." (Irina) "My appearance changed a bit after I evolved, but you two say you evolved, but your appearance hasn''t changed at all, why?" (I) "Vampires don''t undergo major changes in appearance as they evolve." (Irina) "My sister is right, I find it strange that Father has changed after his evolution." (Irius) "(Did my appearance change not because of evolution, but because of the adjustments that mysterious Goddess made to my body and soul?)" (I) "I''m glad the master has changed, he''s more handsome so it''s ok." (rica) "I agree, the master is cuter so I approve." (Diana) "..." (I) "(What are these two talking about at a time like this?)" (I) After clearing my doubts on why Irina and Irius didn''t change after evolving I started talking to everyone to discover their new races. I started with Irina and Irius who evolved straight into Upper Twilight Vampires just like me, but unlike me who''s close to evolving again, they''re still in the first few levels so it''s going to take a while to evolve now. Then I talk to Freya, Kira, and Sophia. I was very confused by them, I know they evolved because they are prettier than before, but the changes are very few. After talking to them I learned that all three had evolved into a Superior race of Elves known as the High Elves. They all thanked me so much, it seems that the maximum level for the Elves to evolve was 500, but they said that after choosing to serve me and I used my power to awaken and transform they had an effect that halved the level they need to reach. to evolve. I was happy to hear this, after the three of them said this the others said it was the same for them, knowing this is very important. Each level requires more EXP to level up, this makes each level take longer to level up, they only need half the levels they would normally need, meaning I''ve saved them years of fighting and training. After talking a bit with the three Elves I learned that the High Elves are more connected with nature than the normal Elves, the jewels that the three have on their foreheads are the symbol of their connection with nature. That gem serves as a battery where they can store their power to use more pie and also serves to heighten their senses. They also said that because they became High Elves more Spirits and Fairies will gather around them, that''s because their Aura mixes with the environment, this is a characteristic of High Elves from what they said, it turns out that this type of Aura is warm and inviting to Spirits and Fairies. Sophia said she won''t have any problems with that since her specialty is Aura control for combat, she said she''ll help the other two to control and hide their Auras in the next few days, this should avoid attracting Spirits and Fairies. I hadn''t realized before that Sophia was so good at controlling Aura, if I remember correctly I think she was using her Aura during the battle against the monster wave. Knowing this I said that I would be happy to learn Aura control too, maybe this will help me as thanks to the titles of a friend of Fairies and Spirits I have the same problem as the three of them, actually, it seems like I''m a magnet for them for what Layla told me which is much more serious as if my Aura were a beacon that draws them towards me. Sophia said it''s almost impossible to learn Aura control without an Aura skill, but because of evolution Freya and Kira managed to learn their own Aura skills, as I also have Aura skills she will teach me too. After that resolved I talked to Ibuki who was very happy to get stronger, after talking a bit with her I realize she is just a little smarter, she evolved into a Superior Ogress, so what increased the most was her strength and Vitality (HP), she had a big change in her appearance having more feminine curves than before, it was like going from being a child to becoming a teenager, but her personality is still the same as usual it seems. Now that she has become a Superior Ogress, rica said that it would be good for her to start learning magic, it seems that to even to an Oni she needs to learn more about magic, she can also acquire jobs, Diana advised her to take turns between the works of warrior and mage, it seems like a good idea so I left everything in their hands and told rica and Irina to start teaching Ibuki about magic until she evolves into an Oni. Later I talked to Leo, he said he became a Black Lion (Beast Man), he doesn''t know much about this superior race of Beast Man, but it seems that his strength, vitality, and defense increased a lot after evolving, by the name of your race I can understand the change in your hair color to black. It seems that Caryna doesn''t care about Leo''s new appearance, she just said that she found his new hair color interesting. So I started talking to rica, she said that besides her change in appearance and body, what changed the most was her status, it seems she gained a lot of Intelligence and mana in her status, she said that she evolved into a normal Demon and that it is halfway to its next evolution. After that I turn to the little Fairy who was flying around the room playing with the Cursed Crow Yomi, I call Layla to talk to find out about her changes too. After talking a well with her I found out that she evolved into a Chaos Fairy losing the inferior that was in the name of her race, she said that she had a big increase in all her stats and was very happy, she said that now she can harmonize environments where its element is located. She asked me if I wanted her help to cleanse the mansion''s miasma or if I wanted to harmonize this miasma with the magical energy to cleanse the miasma''s malice. I asked others for their opinion on this and found that this is a skill that only Higher Fairies should be able to learn, this skill is something they can only use in their elements, but as Layla has the element of darkness she can cleanse the malice of the miasma and replacing it with the pure power of the dark element, so the miasma will continue here, but it will no longer harm people who enter here, but because the dark element is stronger in the miasma, skills, spells, and techniques of detection and sense will be blocked or less effective. Layla also said that if she harmonizes the miasma here she will be able to sense if someone enters the manor grounds as her mana will be flowing through the miasma. Everyone seemed to approve of this, so I permitted Layla to harmonize the mansion''s miasma, not knowing it was going to cause a problem in the future. Layla said she would need my help for this and that it would take weeks to complete the process, but she said it wasn''t difficult, I said I would talk to her more about it later. After talking to everyone this was the result of her evolutions: Ibuki: Superior Ogre rica: Demon Kira: High Gray Elf Irius: Upper Twilight Vampire Irina: Upper Twilight Vampire Sophia: High Dark Elf Freya: High White Elf Diana: White Wolf Man-Beast Leo: Black Lion Beast Man Layla: Fairy of Chaos (Unique) ---------- After talking to everyone about their new races and talking about Layla''s plan to harmonize the mansion''s grounds I told everyone we would have two days off and forbade everyone to train, I said everyone should look for something fun to do to get through the time. When I said this I saw Caryna dragging Leo away as she ran saying they were going on a date with an innocent and happy smile on her face, sometimes I forget I gave her the magical body booster skill since I don''t see her using it normally but watching her pull the mountain of muscle that Leo is with that ease reminds me of that. Anton and Tania left saying they were going out drinking and visiting some stores, Tania wanted to visit clothing stores to learn about the city''s fashion and Anton wanted to visit the gun stores to compare himself with the local blacksmiths. Sophia forbade Freya and Kira to leave the mansion until they knew how to control their Auras, and the others wanted to lazily enjoy the day without leaving the mansion. I thought of something good and went to the kitchen with Freya following me, I had the idea of ??trying to make a pizza for everyone, I even told Irius and Nolan to go buy beer for everyone, I also told Diana to go to the Guild and invite Mari and Guild leader to eat today, I told her not to take no for an answer. The others decided to spend the day sleeping or talking, that was our day. Chapter 175: This is not a dream Diana Pov: The master asked me to invite Carlos and Mari to dinner today, but that''s easier said than done. If it were just Carlos it would be easy, but Mari won''t let him go out to have fun while he still has work to do, nor will she rest until all work is done, she has always been demanding with her work, even too demanding. As I go to the Guild I try to think of how I''m going to convince her, then I notice something, something the master said today. I''ll use the same argument with Mari, maybe it will work, I want them to get some rest too. As soon as I get to the Guild I go straight to the second floor which should be empty today, no adventurers will have the strength to take quests today, I do this because the first floor is full of adventurers. After talking to a receptionist she takes me to the Guild Master''s office, on the way she says that Mari has been working with Carlos all morning. After we reach Carlos'' office doors the receptionist knocks and then opens the door when Carlos says to come in, after opening the door Mari sees me and tells the receptionist to go back to work while I go in and close the door. Carlos is signing several unread documents at his desk while Mari is reading and separating the documents with extreme speed, because her eyes are glowing I think she used some skill or magic to speed up the work. "Didn''t expect to see you here today." (Mari) "Me too, knowing you, I thought I''d spend the day drinking beer and eating." (Carlos) "You guys make me feel so welcome." (I) Mari stops reading the documents and looks at me as she lets out a tired sigh. "Today I don''t have much time to talk Diana, she tells me what you want." (Mari) "I''m here to let you know that you''re going to the mansion tonight to eat and drink beer with me and the others." (I) "You said beer..." (Carlos) Carlos stops signing the papers when I mention the word beer, so he slowly turns his head towards me stiffly as he looks at me with eyes full of hope, a hope that shatters soon afterward when Mari turns to him with a look. for real. "Did I say you could stop?" (Mari) "..." (Carlos) "Keep signing." (Mari) Sigh "Yes dear..." (Carlos) "..." (I) "(What a heavy atmosphere.)" (I) As soon as Mari tells Carlos to go back to work and then she gives me a tired look. "I''m sorry Diana, but we have a lot of work to do, we can''t go." (Mari) "I''m sorry to have to turn down yet another invitation from her." (Mari) "This time it was idea Mast''s... I mean, it was Zenos''s idea." (I) "He told me to tell you guys to come tonight, there''ll be beer and pizza, whatever that is." (I) "Pizza!?" (Mari) "Didn''t expect to hear that name here." (Mari) "You know what it is?" (I) "I ate it once, this is a dish created by Outsiders, it is quite famous in the villages of the Elves." (Mari) "As the Elves live a long time we already met many Outsiders, we have many recipes from them, I ate this dish over twenty years ago." (Mari) "Then come eat today." (I) "Unfortunately I can''t, as you can see we have a lot of work." (Mari) "You know you two can''t go on like this." (I) "You''ve been working almost tirelessly since the appearance of the Dungeon of the Undead." (I) "Even if you are high-level adventurers doesn''t mean you can work non-stop for more than a month, look at your condition and Carlos." (I) "..." (Mari) Mari looks at Carlos and then back at me she seems to be thinking, I can''t pass up this opportunity. "If you two take some time to rest and relax for a few hours and get a good night''s sleep, then you''ll be in better shape to work tomorrow." (I) "Even Zenos told no one to work or train for the next two days for everyone to recover not only physically, but also mentally from the battle against the wave of monsters." (I) "You guys should do the same for at least one night." (I) Sigh Mari lets out a sigh and seems to think a bit with her eyes closed, so she opens her eyes before talking to me. "You and little Zenos are right, it''s not healthy to go on like this, I''ve also noticed that our work rate is slowing down the last few days." (Mari) "Fine we will, but only after the Suns are gone." (Mari) "Hahahahaha...." (Carlos) "Very well Diana, I''ll make it up to you later." (Carlos) "No rewards for useless things, now get back to work, let''s try to get the job done as much as possible until tonight." (Mari) "Leave it to me." (Carlos) Carlos was filled with motivation and started to work with a big smile on his face, Mari also showed a slight smile and went back to work. "I won''t keep bothering you then until tonight." (I) After saying goodbye I leave the Guild and go back to the mansion. "They''re really tired, they haven''t even noticed that I''ve evolved." (I) ---------- Zenos Pov: I spent the rest of the day in the kitchen testing to make pizza, the last time I made one was when I was in the orphanage in my previous life, I still know how to make it, but the problem is that the ingredients here are different, so it was a test and error to figure out how to make a pizza I was lucky that the flour was the same as in my old world, so I only had to test different types of ingredients, the only one I couldn''t find was tomatoes, I couldn''t find anything like it, so I used a different sauce that Freya recommended. Apart from the problem with the sauce, I got cheese and a few other things and started testing different types of pizzas until the night. Ding! Ding! <[ You learned the skill [ Basic Cooking: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic Cooking: 1 > 2 ] ]> I was happy to have achieved this skill, thanks to this skill I was able to make pizzas faster and felt that the taste improved a little. When it got dark I went to take a shower, when I get out of the shower I see that everyone is back home, we stayed outside the mansion talking while we ate some fruit that Caryna and Leo brought back. After almost an hour we felt the presence of someone at the gates and I advise Nolan to go open the gate along with Alice and bring our guests. I don''t like formal things, so everyone is dressed casually to the dismay of Tania and rica who insisted on dressing us better to receive guests, but I don''t mind. After they arrived I could see they were looking very tired, but I could see an expectant glint in the Guild leader''s eyes for some reason. I told everyone to come in so I go to the kitchen with Freya and Caryna to make some pizzas, Caryna really liked the recipe and even gave some suggestions for another flavor, the pizzas I made during the day were devoured as soon as they were ready by Ibuki, Diana, Anton, Sophia, and Irius. I didn''t have any ready soon as they could be devoured before the Guild Master arrived, I also wanted them to start the pizza while it was still hot. We had a very pleasant evening, I found I was right to ask to buy beer, Anton and the Guild Master drank a keg of beer by themselves. Everyone will eat and drink as they please, the Guild Master and Mari were very surprised when they saw that everyone had evolved, I explained that many of us were close to evolving, but Mari saw that the three Elves evolved, I could see the look of suspicion in her eyes, but she said nothing and then started drinking and eating until she passed out. After a very fun night out, Carlos walked out with a big smile on his face carrying his wife as he walked back to their house. I was able to become more familiar with him during the celebration, so he told me to do the same thing as Diana and call him by name instead of continuing to call him Guild Master. After Carlos and Mari left at dawn, Nolan, Leo, and Irius went to clean up while the girls went to take a shower. After that everyone went to sleep, this time I went to lie down just me and Layla in my bed, I want to have a peaceful night without having to wake up with a punch, kick, or being smothered by someone else. Today was a really fun day, I lay in my bed with a smile on my face, before I go to sleep I make Layla comfortable and cover her up so I close my eyes giving myself up to sleepiness. zzzzzz... Zzzzz... Zzz... ---------- I''m woken by a loud bang of thunder and wake up, as soon as I open my eyes and look around I see I''m in that nightmare again, but this time something''s different, the room is torn apart with claw marks and blood everywhere, the bed I''m lying on has a pool of blood where I''m lying. To make matters worse, the place is dark with almost no light, with some strong bursts of light when the rays fell, the rain was deafening it was so hard and a black mist of miasma spread across the floor everywhere, this environment was terrifying. "Three times the same dream, I can''t believe it." (I) I put myself on alert for everything around me and get out of bed. "This is not a dream." (I) Chapter 176: Come to me I always felt like I was in a horror movie every time I had this nightmare, but each time it feels worse. Happening three times like this can no longer be considered a recurring dream, I know the history of this mansion and the history of the previous residents as well. Something is happening here, I can''t tell if it''s someone''s memories, if there''s a curse affecting me or if there''s someone messing with my brain, but definitely, something is happening here. I get up and go to the bedroom door, this time I don''t need to open the door because it''s destroyed. After going out into the hallway I see a scene of horror, the walls and furniture are destroyed with holes and car marks all over the place, there are also bodies scattered all over the hallway. There is a maid stuck to the wall with a piece of wood that goes through her head and fastened to the wall on the other side, there are also the bodies of maids and servants on the floor, all with faces filled with horror and fear at the time of their deaths. Most of the bodies are dismembered and with bite marks and claw marks on their bodies, I start walking and soon I start seeing bodies in metal armor ripped by claws as well. "... ... ..." (voice) I''m hearing a voice, coming from the room of the first dream, I''m walking there little by little, trying to ignore the bodies and blood around me as I pay attention to any movement around me. As soon as I approached the door I started to hear a conversation, so I stop to listen, I do this to see if I can find anything since if I open the door I shouldn''t find anyone there like at other times. "I already got what you wanted, but you''re sure you''re going to use it." (mysterious man) "Yes, that was the last item I needed, all we need to do now is prepare for the ritual." (Mysterious woman A) "I don''t like this plan, there''s a reason no one has ever used this item before, I could feel malice coming from it." (mysterious man) "It''s just remnants, it doesn''t matter later, you also know I won''t let her die." (mysterious woman A) "I know, if it wasn''t for your potions she wouldn''t even be alive right now, thanks dear." (mysterious man) "I shouldn''t have taken that item, that was my second mistake..." (mysterious voice) I was listening to the conversation behind the door when a distorted voice seems to come from all directions around me, I try to look around but find nothing. "... ... ..." (voice) Once again I hear a sound coming from the library downstairs, so I go there without letting my guard down and always paying attention to my surroundings. On the way I found half the body of a guard hanging from a chandelier with his guts falling to the ground, that was just one of the horrors I''ve been trying not to see. With this vision of hell all around me, I slowly make my way closer to the library door where I can hear someone talking. "Today is the day, I don''t know if I can save her, but I will do everything I can to save my precious daughter." (mysterious man) "I won''t let her die as long as I have the slightest chance of her living." (mysterious man) "You''re here again talking to yourself, why dear?" (mysterious woman B) "You''re welcome, I''m just reaffirming my desire to save my daughter before the ritual." (mysterious man) "We''ve been researching for over a year in preparation for this moment, you don''t have to worry honey, we''re sure the plan will be a success." (mysterious woman B) "Even if something goes wrong, we''re prepared to let her sleep until we find a way to save her, but that''s only if the ritual works, that''s the only way." (mysterious woman) "So come on, I''ll stay by her side until she''s awake, that was my promise to her and I''ll never break that promise..." (mystery man) "That was my third mistake, I should have stopped the ritual, if I had done that then everyone would still be alive..." (mysterious voice) Once again I hear the mysterious voice coming from everywhere, I can feel a deep sadness in that voice. "... ... ..." (voice) This time I hear a voice talking downstairs, but if I''m not mistaken the ballroom is right below me. I start down the stairs again heading to the Ballroom, I feel someone watching me but I can''t feel where he''s hiding. I reach the doors and open it entering the ballroom, what I found there was something grotesque, it had claw marks everywhere and bodies so destroyed that I can''t even tell how many there are. In the center of the ballroom I see a very large glass cylinder with a green liquid in it, I can''t see what''s inside, but the strangest thing is there''s someone with a hood and black clothes with their hands on the big glass cylinder, he had his back to me, whining as he said something without logic. "Because it had to happen, all I wanted was to save my daughter, so because it had to happen to all the people I care about..." (mystery man) "What should daddy do now my dear? I''m not able to help you anymore and everyone else is dead but don''t worry, daddy will take care of you and find what you need even if I have to sell my soul to save you, my precious daughter." (mysterious man) I was standing watching the hooded man lamenting as I hear that distorted voice once more. "My first mistake was not letting my daughter rest in peace, my fear of losing her, my sadness that I would never see her again, and my pride that made me believe I would be able to save her..." (Mysterious voice ) "But this time everything I did cause me to lose everything I cared about and prolonged my daughter''s suffering..." (mysterious voice) This time I can find the place where the voice is coming from, while this voice was talking I realized it was coming from the person with the black hood, he who was the mysterious voice, little by a little while speaking the voice becomes that of the mysterious man. "I found a way my daughter, I''ll get what you need one way or another, no matter the cost." (mysterious man) The person turns slowly showing that it was a skull under the hood, I can also see two red flames in the place of the hole where their eyes were. At that moment when I see him the darkness took over everything around me, there was no more place to run, the skeleton didn''t move, he just stood in front of me, soon the darkness made everything around disappear leaving only me and the skeleton facing each other in a completely black space. "I''ve waited a long time, I''ve kept her waiting a long time, but finally the time has come." (mysterious skeleton) "Who are you? Why are you inside my dream?" (I) "Who I am doesn''t matter, what matters is you, if you want to know more you''ll have to find me, we have little time here." (mysterious skeleton) As I talked to the skeleton he approached me little by little, but I didn''t feel malice or bloodlust coming from him, just looking at him makes me feel sad for some reason. As he approaches me he reaches out with his scrawny hands and places a bone finger on my remains, I feel some information and an image of someone walking through the mansion heading straight for a hidden place in the basement. "Come to me." (mysterious skeleton) Suddenly darkness takes over the skeleton as well and it disappears, I am left alone in this dark place for a while, then I feel my consciousness slipping away until I lose consciousness. ---------- I open my eyes and see that I''m on my bed again, I sit up and look at my hand that''s still shaking, then I get out of bed and go to the window to look at the sky. "It''s dawn now." (I) I look at my bed to see that Layla is still sleeping, so I go out onto the porch so I don''t make any noise that might accidentally wake her up. I sit down on the floor to lean back on the porch balcony and place a hand on my chest where my heart is still beating like a race car engine. "Damn skeleton, when I find you I''m going to rip your head off you bastard." (I) "I really was an idiot for buying a mansion that clearly came out of a horror story." (I) "What did I have in mind when I thought this would be a good idea?" (I) Sigh "All I wanted was to rest and relax these days, I had such a fun day yesterday, why can''t I get a peaceful night''s sleep too?" (I) I remember everything that happened in the nightmare, I also remember the last sentence of the mysterious skeleton. ("Come to me.") Chapter 177: Mountain danger As I was already awake I decided to distract my head with something more productive, first I went to the bathroom to take a shower and brush my teeth. Then I went to the kitchen to make some hamburgers for everyone to eat when they wake up, by this time everyone should still be asleep since I didn''t see anyone. I want to wait for everyone to wake up to discuss the nightmare I had and the possible secret room in the mansion, I want their opinion on that, but I''ll also want your help when I go there. I''m not an idiot going in the direction of a mysterious skeleton point into a nightmare without making preparations for a possible trap, nor am I an idiot to go it alone. ---------- After everyone woke up and went to eat I explained to them about the nightmares I''ve been saying for the past few days. I spoke from the first nightmare to the last in the most detailed way I could think of, everyone was surprised by what I said and said they didn''t have any nightmares. Just as I imagined, I was just having these nightmares for some reason. Of all those who realized something from what I told, some gave their opinions that made the most sense. "As the master already knows, I have been studying curses, because of the power you granted me." (rica) "From what little I know, it seems to me that it''s not a curse, you haven''t been harmed at all, the dreams the master is having seem more like fragments of memories than nightmares." (rica) "The way the Father describes the dream environment and also the way you only have it when you sleep could mean it''s some kind of forced telepathic link." (Irina) "What is a forced telepathic link?" (I) "It''s when someone tries to force a telepathic connection with another person, it''s usually difficult, but if the target person is unconscious or asleep it''s easier." (Irina) "You mean the nightmares was someone trying to communicate with me?" (I) "I don''t think they were nightmares." (rica) "What else could they be?" (I) "Kira and Diana told us what happened at this mansion in the past, didn''t they?" (rica) "His dream corresponds to the state in which the Duke found the mansion in the past when he came to visit his friend, destroyed with claw marks and blood everywhere, also the mutilated bodies of all the people who were inside the mansion at that time. " (rica) "This means that Father saw in his nightmare it could be that person''s memories or fragments of those memories." (Irina) "That''s a consequence of forcing a connection between two people''s minds, I don''t think this person showed that to you on purpose." (Irina) "You''re being optimistic sister, we don''t know what this person or creature wants, let''s not rush into our judgments until we know all the facts." (Irius) "I agree with Irius, I didn''t feel any kind of murderous intent or malice, but I won''t let my guard down until I know the reason for all this." (I) "From the information we have, we can assume that this person is Prince Trigan." (Kira) "From the conversations the master overheard, if this was indeed fragments of his memory, then it appears that he and his wives tried to do something to save his daughter." (Nira) "It was probably what they did that got everyone killed that day." (Nira) "But it looks like not all of them died." (I) No matter what we say I still have to go to this "secret room" to confirm what''s there, if the person responsible for the nightmares is there then I''ll have to find out what he wants with me, I just hope it''s not a trap. "Thanks to you guys I have a little clearer idea of ??the situation, but we''re still going to need to go to this supposed secret room." (I) "That''s why I want those who can fight to get ready for combat, the others wait in the second building where it should be safer." (I) "The master is right, we better get ready soon to resolve this today." (Diana) With that everyone went to their rooms to prepare including me, after that we gathered in the ballroom. Once everyone was ready we went to the stairs that lead to the basement where the basement is, I had left the basement as a storage place with several rooms, but I never put anything here, I had even forgotten about it, we have a lot of items from storage, but we don''t need to keep everyone busy, I think we can store monster stuff here. After walking down a hallway that should have been dead-end with only a rock wall I stop in front of the wall. "Kira, can you see if there are any traps on this wall or somewhere around it?" (I) "I will try master." (Kira) Kira starts checking the wall from various angles for a few minutes, then she scans the hallway and side rooms before talking to me. "I didn''t find any traps, but it seems that this wall has a secret door, I also looked at the side rooms and the hallway, but I didn''t find anything." (Kira) "Thanks." (I) "(So there really is a secret room.)" (I) "Get ready, back off a little too." (I) I tell everyone to stay a little away from me and get ready for combat, so I walk to the rock wall, and following the information in my head I touch ten rocks in the right order, but no kind of reaction happened until I finish. When I touched the last stone all the stones glowed blue then the stone wall started to enter the ground showing a completely dark passage with a green glow at the end. A musty and dusty odor comes from this passage, but I can''t see anything in this darkness until I activate my night vision ability, so I can only see a few meters ahead, where is a hallway full of Spider''s webs and dust. From within this darkness comes the voice of the mysterious skeleton from my dream. "Please come in, I''ve been waiting for you." (mysterious skeleton) ---------- Pov of a ghoul mage: I''m on one of the border mountains that divide the mountain range from the forest of blood, I''m here with my Familiar, a shadow-element fairy that I named Dora. I''m here because of the village guardian, she said what we need is here, I was one of the strongest in the village was sent ahead to search, but I still don''t know how I''m going to do it. Sigh "Why are you sighing again Jana, we''ve only been traveling a day, you''re lucky the guardian helped us get this far so quickly, otherwise it would have taken us five days just to get here." (Dora) "I know that, but I still think it''s absurd, I''d rather stay in the village and help train newcomers, we don''t have time to waste on a mission like this." (I) My Fairy has the appearance of a black-skinned woman with Gray hair and eyes, she is 25 cm tall, she has bat wings and a pair of purple horns. She is very bossy and short-tempered. "You know we don''t stand a chance, so shut up and get back on your feet, we have a long way to go." (Dora) "What are we going to do if we need to enter the human city?" (I) "You won''t do anything, I''ll go in and look if I find what we''re looking for so let''s think of a better plan." (Dora) This whole plan is ridiculous, we''re just wasting time here, but what Dora said is true, fighting head-on is not a good idea either. No type of training will help in the situation we are in, maybe the guardian is right and this is our best option. No matter what or who gets in my way, I will kill and destroy them all to fulfill my mission. "Do you even know which direction we have to go?" (I) "This forest is very big, I also don''t want to venture into the city, let alone let you go there if I don''t have to." (I) "I don''t know, I can''t feel anything so I don''t know where to go." (Dora) "Then we should only get to the forest of blood first, maybe when we get closer you''ll be able to feel something." (I) "Yes." (Dora) We started going down the last mountains, from now on we''ll have to pay close attention to our surroundings as we won''t have any help here. "How much time do you think we have?" (I) "Two months maximum." (Dora) "..." (I) We have little time, I hope those who stayed in the village can prepare. ---------- Pov Mari: I was at the Guild with Carlos in his room once again helping with the paperwork, following Diana''s advice I went to her group''s mansion and had fun with Carlos, then we went home to get a good night''s sleep. It really helped with our work, we are doing everything faster than yesterday without losing focus, I think I was demanding more from me and my husband before. "I was very surprised to see so many people evolving in a single day yesterday." (Mari) "Me too, I didn''t expect to see another High Elf beside you in town and now there are three others." (Carlos) "You''re the only one who knows I''m a High Elf, that reminds me I forgot to tell them to hide their races." (I) "Kira will be fine with the Illusion Spirit Ring I gave her, but the other two also have to hide the jewel on her forehead." (I) "You can tell them later, we were so mentally tired that we didn''t even notice Diana''s evolution when she was in the Guild." (Carlos) "Truth." (I) I found everything very strange yesterday, but I won''t investigate anything, Diana is a friend I trust and knows how to judge people, from what I''ve seen of Zenos so far, he seems to be someone I can trust. Everyone has their secrets and I won''t invade their privacy. Chapter 178: A story from the past I was standing in front of the secret passage with my group ready to fight when the same voice I heard in my dreams speaks to me from within the darkness. "Please come in, I''ve been waiting for you." (mysterious skeleton) I wonder what to do and then pull three bronze coins out of my storage item and throw them down the hall to see if any traps go off, but nothing happens. "I''m going in." (I) "Kira, Layla, and Diana will go in with me, the others wait for my signal to enter." (I) "Let''s go." (I) I go in with Kira on one side and Diana on the other, I chose them because they are the ones with the fastest speed in the group and they can react before me if something happens, meanwhile Layla was sitting on my shoulder with each of her four hands glowing with a different color ready to use four different element spells if needed. After a few steps we walk out of the dark hallway into a room lit by a faint green glow coming from a large glass cylinder with a greenish liquid in it, the skeleton is standing beside the cylinder with his hand pressed against it as he looks at me, the red flames inside the sockets of his skull seem to get bigger when I look at him. I wanted to check out the surroundings but I''ll leave that to the girls, I don''t want to take my eyes off that skeleton until I know what''s going on and what he wants with me. "I''m already here, now tell me what you want?" (I) "I understand your suspicions and the reason for your aggression towards me, but know that I will do nothing against you." (mysterious skeleton) "You don''t expect me to believe you, do you?" (I) "From what I was told, the nightmares were caused by you forcing a telepathic link into my head." (I) "I can explain everything, but I think I should introduce myself first." (mysterious skeleton) "My name is Ivan, I am the former owner of this mansion." (mysterious skeleton) "I already had some suspicions it might be you, Second Prince of Trigan." (I) "Huh!?" (Ivan) "I''m surprised you know who I am." (Ivan) "No one would buy a mansion with that much miasma without investigating it first, as you and your family were the only residents of this mansion so I researched them." (I) "But I didn''t expect a Prince like you to have become the Undead, let alone have been hiding in this mansion for twenty years." (I) "Twenty years? Has it been that long?" (Ivan) "..." (I) "It''s hard to pay attention to the passage of time when you don''t need to eat or sleep, not to mention that this place is completely hidden underground, so I can''t see the sky from here." (Ivan) "But you don''t need to call me Prince, I gave up the Trigan surname long ago so my brother could become King without other nobles supporting him needing to worry about me." (Ivan) "Since then I''m just Ivan." (Ivan) "Okay, how about you start giving some explanations Ivan?" (I) "If you researched me that means you also know about my three wives and my daughter, doesn''t it?" (Ivan) "Yes." (I) "This will make the explanation easier, but first I want you to know that I called you here to ask for your help, so don''t be afraid of anything, I can''t even leave where I am." (Ivan) "Why?" (I) "If you look at the floor I''m on you can see a magic circle with this cylinder in the center, my daughter is in here and this magic circle helps keep her alive, but I don''t have magic cores to use, so I''ve been using mine own mana to keep the magic circle running, so I can''t get out of here." (Ivan) "..." (I) "I see that among your companions there is a Gray Elf, ask her if there are any traps here." (Ivan) "There doesn''t seem to be any kind of trap, master." (Kira) "It might be better if the others are present too, in case something happens." (Diana) Kira and Diana speak in low voices with me giving their opinions, while I still keep my gaze on the skeleton and cylinder, glance at the floor, and confirm that I''m outside the magic circle. "Diana, ask the others to come in, but stay on guard." (I) "Yes." (Diana) After a few seconds I start to hear footsteps approaching and stopping behind me, even without looking I know it''s the rest of my group by their presence. "Now that everyone is here I can explain it once, it must be better for everyone this way." (Ivan) "As I said before, my name is Ivan and once a long time ago I was the second Prince of Trigan." (Ivan) "When I abandoned my right to the throne, I also abandoned my last name, I came to the city of Valen because that''s where my best friend lived and he was Duke." (Ivan) "I was surprised when I received this mansion as a gift, but I had a great time with my three wives and my daughter here." (Ivan) "As a former member of a royal family I learned to always have a secret place to protect important treasures or hide me and my family if I needed it, so I built this place without anyone knowing." (Ivan) "When I found out about my daughter''s illness I was terrified, the reason for her illness was her talent, she could use the three main types of energy which are mana, spiritual power, and Ki from birth, but as she was young no one noticed until she turns fifteen." (Ivan) "On her fifteenth birthday the ballroom chandelier fell next to her, at first I thought it was on purpose, but then I confirmed it was just an accident." (Ivan) "The point is that my daughter only used and trained her magic power, her spiritual powers and Ki were dormant, but the scare she got thinking that the chandelier was going to fall on her made these two types of energy awaken at the same time. " (Ivan) "At first my wives and I were happy saying that our daughter was a genius, but as time went by her body became weaker and that''s when we realized something was wrong." (Ivan) "So this was the illness she had?" (I) "I spread the word about the disease to protect her, people with as much potential as she showed them don''t always end well." (Ivan) "I spread the word that she had an incurable disease but actually her body was not able to adapt to her power and was gradually being destroyed from the inside out." (Ivan) "There was nothing I could do, so I got into despair along with my wives, at first we had hope that somehow we would find something to help my daughter, but this hope brought more and more pain and suffering as time passed as we never found anything." (Ivan) "There was a possibility to save her, for that we would have to turn her into a member of another race, but the Blessing she received at age twelve from the God of Wisdom made that impossible even as we tried." (Ivan) "As time went by and seeing my daughter gradually waning hope turned into despair, that''s when my wives and I started looking for forbidden techniques." (Ivan) "Most of the things we encountered were too evil and horrible to do, but one of my wives was a formidable Alchemist and found a way." (Ivan) "We studied the possibility of what she suggested and we realized there was a possibility, so despair became an obsession." (Ivan) "What did you guys want to do with her?" (I) "The answer was simple, if my daughter''s body couldn''t handle her potential and we couldn''t transform her own body, then we just needed to give her a body that she could harness her full potential." (Ivan) "We were going to create a Homunculus and transfer my daughter''s soul and consciousness to it." (Ivan) "You mean this cylinder..." (I) "Yes, that''s what we created, the process was complex and dangerous, but we managed it, but it couldn''t be a normal Homunculus." (Ivan) "Why?" (I) "The lifespan of a normal Homunculus is very low and their bodies are weaker than those of a Human." (Ivan) "But my wife who was an Alchemist found a way to create a strong and highly vital Homunculus, all we needed was to create the Homunculus while modifying its body with monster parts that went through a process my wife created." (Ivan) "The creation of the Homunculus was a success, but we needed one more thing, a core that had all three types of energy and that was strong enough to energize the Homunculus, but it wasn''t easy to find something like that." (Ivan) "With your money and contacts it shouldn''t be hard to get what you need, should it?" (I) "The problem is that this type of nucleus is so rare that it becomes a national treasure, as such there was only one that I might be able to get, the one that was in the castle where my brother was the current King." (Ivan) "I didn''t want to steal from him, but I knew he wouldn''t give me that core, the reason it was kept unused was that it had a slight trace of miasma coming out of it, also because I had no records of which monster this one belonged to. core." (Ivan) "And you used that dangerous core on your daughter?" (I) "I''m not proud of the things I''ve done and I know it would have been better to let her rest in peace, but at that time I was blind with the obsession to save my daughter and I was consumed by it." (Ivan) "Unfortunately there is no remedy or cure for repentance in this world." (Ivan) "We had no idea that the result of what we were doing would release that thing, because of that I lost everything I had, even my humanity." (Ivan) Chapter 179: Abyssal creature We are in the secret room in the basement of the mansion, I am facing the former owner of the mansion, Ivan Trigan the former second prince of the Trigan Kingdom, he is now an Undead, a skeleton as far as I can see, he is to blame for mine nightmares and now he''s telling the story of what really happened twenty years ago in this mansion with his family and the reason he called me here. Even listening to everything he said I can only think that he and his wives were crazy, the solution they came up with to save their daughter is ridiculous, all I can think is that he is right to say they were consumed by despair and obsession, in that at the moment they were no longer thinking wisely or sanely. "What exactly did you guys release?" (I) "We found out too late which creature the core I stole from the royal castle originated." (Ivan) "That core belonged to a True Demon, it was an Abyssal creature." (Ivan) "Which???" (Diana) "You said an Abyssal creature!!???" (Freya) "You guys dropped something like that in the middle of a town!??" (Irina) "You guys are crazy, do you have any idea what this could do!?" (Irius) "SHUT UP!!!" (I) "..." (all) The moment the skeleton Ivan talks about the creature he calls the true Demon or the Abyssal creature, everyone explodes in anger and amazement. "Can someone who is calm explain to me what an Abyssal creature is?" (I) "Let me explain master." (Sophia) "Abyssal creatures are beings that do not belong to this world, they are beings of great power that feed on everything that is alive, this is a being that does not have emotions only instinct, intelligence, and evil." (Sophia) "An Abyssal does not kill to feed or to defend himself, he kills for fun and pleasure, the weakest have no intelligence and only know how to kill, kill and kill." (Sophia) "They have no honor, conscience, fear or any kind of feeling, they are extremely evil and are worse than monsters that kill to defend themselves or at least eat." (Sophia) "..." (I) "Just as this beautiful Dark Elf said, an Abyssal is the manifestation of evil, brutality, and cruelty." (Ivan) "I had no idea at the time that that core was an abyssal core, I also had no idea that the Abyssal''s soul had been inside the core for all these years, the royal castle doesn''t even have records to know how long we had this core, we didn''t even know its true origin." (Ivan) "What happened next? If what my companions say is true, then that creature could have destroyed the entire city, but no one knows about it, that means you managed to stop him somehow, doesn''t it?" (I) "In a way, yes." (Ivan) "As I explained earlier the Homunculus we were creating was similar to a Meat Golem or a Kimera, there was a possibility that the various organs and body parts would reject each other, but my wife took care of that." (Ivan) "But we needed a core that had all three types of energy and that was powerful, not only to resist my daughter''s power but also to energize the Homunculus'' body." (Ivan) "After that we would do a necromancy ritual to connect my daughter''s body with the body of the Homunculus, using this connection we transferred my daughter''s soul, consciousness, memories, and power to the Homunculus that we had already implanted with the abyssal core still without knowing what it really was." (Ivan) "While my daughter''s existence was transferred to the Homunculus, without anyone noticing the soul of the Abyssal being was using the connection we created to invade my daughter''s body." (Ivan) "The ritual was a success, but my daughter''s soul rejected the Homunculus'' body, but it was trapped in it by the necromancy ritual we used, it made her fall into a deep sleep and lose her vitality very quickly." (Ivan) "One of my wives who was a student of magic noticed that something came out of the core and invaded my daughter''s body, but we were worried about her condition at that time, so we put that aside as we put her in this cylinder and into this room with this magic circle ready if necessary." (Ivan) "If we didn''t do anything and the Homunculus'' body died with my daughter''s soul still inside, then she would become an Undead at the moment of death, so we left aside my daughter''s body which was already starting to change. to save her in this room." (Ivan) "It only took us about twenty or thirty minutes to get her here where this magic circle could keep her alive, when we came back we saw the monster we released." (Ivan) "..." (Ivan) At this point Ivan stops talking as if remembering the scene he saw, the red fire in his eye sockets diminishes until it almost vanishes before returning to normal and he starts talking again. "I apologize, it distracts me for a few moments." (Ivan) "As I was saying before, I saw a monster using my daughter''s body, the body was deforming as it killed all the servants, servants and guards." (Ivan) "The scene from that day is eternally fresh in my mind, no matter how much I want to forget it, I can''t." (Ivan) "My daughter''s arms were twice as long, her mouth was open enough to swallow a person entirely, her teeth were sharp and were all over her mouth." (Ivan) "Her hair had fallen out and horns were growing, her eyes were completely black, her tongue stretched out and was used as a whip to strike or pull people." (Ivan) "That thing was extremely strong and fast, it was killing, maiming and even devouring the people in the mansion while it smiled." (Ivan) "Seeing my daughter''s body doing those horrible things and seeing what it was turning into was something that stuck with me forever." (Ivan) "My wives and I tried to fight, but the wounds healed too quickly if I pulled out a limb another grew in place, as time passed the creature became stronger and we got more tired, I saw one of my wives get crushed in meat paste and another to be devoured before you have an idea how to defeat that thing." (Ivan) "The last of my wives who was an excellent student of magic used a forbidden magic that consumed all her power and vitality and cast it on my sword, this caused when I pierced the creature a flame came out of the sword burning the creature, but my wife''s power and life was not enough." (Ivan) "The creature was regenerating at the same rate as it was burning, so I resorted to using my power and life to strengthen my wife''s forbidden magic." (Ivan) "I won in the end, but when I looked around I realized that everyone in the mansion was dead, my wives were dead and I would soon join and they either from my wounds or as a consequence of strengthening that forbidden magic." (Ivan) "I tried my best to walk to where my daughter was here, all I wanted was to see her one last time, on the way I noticed the miasma around and I knew that the death of the Abyssal creature made this place cursed." (Ivan) Her whole story is crazy, trying to deny the death of her daughter was the reason for losing so many people''s lives and almost letting such an evil creature loose. "How did you become an Undead?" (I) "When I got here and saw my daughter still sleeping I realized I couldn''t leave her alone, I made a promise to her and I would keep that promise." (Ivan) "I managed to resist pain, resist drowsiness, resist weakness and resist the darkness that wanted to take away my conscience." (Ivan) "As I tried to stay conscious I felt the miasma entering my body and I let it know what it would do, little by little my flesh rotted away while I wasn''t able to move, so when there was no more flesh I had become a skeleton, I was an Undead and there was nothing I could do." (Ivan) "How did you still maintain your personality and conscience after becoming the Undead?" (Diana) "Looks like you don''t know much about the Undead." (Ivan) "I''ve fought a lot in the past so let me explain to you." (Ivan) "Undead races are born from reanimated bodies or souls of the dead who possess a body or item, souls can also be affected by miasma and transform into Ghosts or Specters." (Ivan) "In my case, my soul possessed my own body, so the feeling I felt at the time of my death comes to light, in my case, it was the feeling of love for my daughter who was in front of me and the desire to protect her, that kind of feeling consumed me and that''s why I stayed by her side all this time." (Ivan) "The Undead are consumed by the feelings and desires they felt at the time of their deaths, how much are dark feelings and desires they turn into brainless beasts and monsters, for those who had positive feelings and desires can keep their conscience and personality if they are a High-level undead just like me." (Ivan) "I have fought against many who were in a state similar to my current one when I fought the Demonic race." (Ivan) I didn''t know about this information about the Undead, I didn''t know about this Abyssal creature either, it seems I have a lot to learn. Chapter 180: A parents request Apparently, I still have a lot to learn, but now is not the time to think about any of this, I am surprised by the revelations of what happened here twenty years ago, but the subject is not over. "(I need to know why this skeleton wanted me to come here, from what he said all he does is think about his daughter, does he want me to help her in any way?)" (I) "Your story is amazing and I''m sorry for your losses, but you still haven''t made it clear why you brought me here." (I) Ivan turns his skeletal head to the glass cylinder where his daughter must be before turning to me again with a powerful red flame in place of his eye sockets. "I managed to feel in the last few days a strange Aura, each time a small trace of that Aura would reach this place that is directly under the ballroom and enter my daughter''s body" (Ivan) "I noticed that when that happened her hand would move." (Ivan) "Over the days I used my own Aura to find the source of that strange Aura, that''s when I came to you." (Ivan) "But how could I get in touch with you without leaving this secret room, after all, I still need to stay here to power the magic circle or else my daughter will die and become an Undead just like me and I don''t know if she''ll make it keep your personality as I did." (Ivan) "It was at this point that I remembered a spell that one of my wives was studying, I tried to use my Aura to direct telepathic magic on you while you were sleeping, but the connection was irregular and I could barely speak." (Ivan) "I thought it was a nightmare at first, so many horrible things happening around me in the dream." (I) "I apologize for that, it seems that fragments of my memories were sent to you as a result of the telepathic magic I used." (Ivan) "At first I wanted to come all the way here to rip your head off and break every bone in your body, but since you didn''t do it on purpose I''ll let it go this time." (I) "You are a very brutal child saying something so violent in such calm." (Ivan) "Don''t be fooled by my appearance, I''m not a child!" (I) "Back to the subject, so you want me to help your daughter?" (I) "Yeah, that''s the only thing she''s moved her body since that day, so that''s my only hope." (Ivan) "It won''t be free, I swear I will serve you, so please, I beg you, save my daughter." (Ivan) It''s horrible to see a skeleton beg for something, but I don''t know what to do, several monster parts were used in the Homunculus'' body as the skeleton Ivan said, if I use my power on her I won''t know what she will turn into. Having an Undead serving me can also be dangerous, it''s already a big problem to hide a Demon and four Vampires, if I also have to hide an Undead I''ll end up giving them all, unlike the others who at least have human appearances, Ivan is a skeleton, I can''t hide him like that. "I really don''t know what to do." (I) "You''re right in believing that I have a chance to help your daughter, but I don''t know what she can become as her body is made of monster parts." (I) "You seem like someone strong, but having you serve me is going to get me in more trouble than helping, I can''t walk a skeleton around town after all." (I) "If the problem is my appearance, then this is easy to fix." (Ivan) As he said this Ivan''s appearance begins to change, and energy leaves his bones and spreads throughout his body, then this greenish energy begins to take the form of a middle-aged man with a refined appearance and the body of an Olympic athlete. The problem is that this energy that has taken this form is kind of transparent, so I can see through it and see its entire skeleton. "I''m not finished yet." (Ivan) I see mana coming out of his body now and sticking to the outer layer of greenish energy, the colors of the mana begin to change to form a half-transparent illusion in colors like Ivan''s body shape. "< Materialization of Mana >" (Ivan) Soon the illusion ceases to be transparent and becomes more realistic, it seems as if he has come back to life. "How did you do it?" (I) "It''s not that difficult, the Undead asks to learn a skill called a spectral body, this skill gives us a body that mimics the flesh, organs, skin, and hair of when we were alive, but they don''t have a true function and are made of my energy, so they are another layer of defense for me." (Ivan) "After that, I used non-elemental magic to form an illusion that I placed on the surface of my spectral body, then I used materialization magic to make the illusion real." (Ivan) "It makes me spend a lot of mana, but makes an excellent cover." (Ivan) "Let me test it." (I) I used my detection skills on him, but two of them didn''t detect anything. "I can''t detect blood or life energy from you, that''s still too risky." (I) "I''m a skeleton so I don''t have blood or life energy." (Ivan) "But if I use a concealment item, I might be able to hide from these kinds of detection skills." (Ivan) What he says makes sense, but there are already a lot of people in my group, apart from an Alchemist I don''t need more people. "I really don''t need any more servants or servants, nor is there anything I need other than looking for an Alchemist." (I) "Huh!?" (Ivan) Ivan''s eyes start to burn even more intensely for some reason. "You said you''re looking for an Alchemist?" (Ivan) "Yes." (I) "Hahahahah!" (Ivan) For some reason he started laughing out of nowhere, I got confused and looked at the rest of my group, but it seems they didn''t understand either. "Why are you laughing?" (I) "Excellent, if you are looking for an Alchemist, then the most talented of Alchemists is right in front of you." (Ivan) "Do you know alchemy?" (I) "I don''t, my daughter, me and my wives taught her many things, one of my wives is what you would call a Combat Alchemist, she taught our daughter everything she knew." (Ivan) "She learned alchemy faster than anything else, my wife and even the master of the Alchemist Guild told her she was an alchemy genius." (Ivan) "If you help her then you''ll have me and her working for you, isn''t that a great deal?" (Ivan) "..." (I) What he said is really very tempting, someone called an alchemy genius and who was trained by a Combat Alchemist, I turn to the rest of my group and ask. "What do you think?" (I) "That''s fine with me, from what I found out Prince Ivan was very strong on the battlefield and if his daughter is that good at alchemy then it''s really worth having them join our group." (Kira) "I don''t feel any kind of malice coming from him even though he''s an Undead, so I guess it''s okay." (Byakko) "Do it soon master, I''m tired of waiting, I was supposed to be enjoying this day and not being in a dusty basement." (Layla) "I and my sister will agree with whatever decision you make, Dad." (Irius) "It could save us a search for a good Alchemist." (rica) "Then I think it''s already decided." (I) "I will help you and your daughter Prince Ivan." (I) "Please just call me Ivan and this is my daughter Lyra." (Ivan) That won''t make me look for an Alchemist anymore, I was thinking about saving some money and trying to find one at the slave shop, but I don''t think I''ll have to worry about that anymore. I just hope that decision won''t cause me any problems in the future. "(I think I''ll get some powerful concealment item for Ivan and his daughter, I can also use the concealment mark on both of them later.)" (I) I was already planning how to hide them the best way, but I realized that before that I have to take care of them, I can''t rush things, I have to do things in order. "I''m going to use my ability on you and your daughter, so get ready." (I) "I''m ready." (Ivan) "Before I start, let me take a question first, how are you going to get your daughter out of that cylinder later?" (I) "The cylinder has a spell that will open the moment she wakes up, so it''s okay." (Ivan) "Alright then, the others can back off and Ivan, try not to resist my Auras and abilities." (I) "I don''t know what you''re going to do, but I''ve already made a promise so I''ll keep it to the end." (Ivan) I activate my [ Aura of Chaos: 4 ], [ Aura of Judgment: 4 ], and [ Blood Servant: 3 ] at the same time. Chapter 181: Awakening of those sleeping I activate my [ Aura of Chaos: 4 ], [ Aura of Judgment: 4 ], and [ Blood Servant: 3 ] at the same time. And I try to control it so my power and Auras don''t spread all over the secret room, I try to just direct it to the father and daughter in front of me. Right after activating my abilities my two Auras come out of my body and intertwine as they reach the two targets, as soon as my Auras reach them I feel my Auras enter both, and for the first time, I notice something moving inside the glass cylinder filled with that greenish liquid. As soon as my auras start to enter their body I feel my mana, Ki and spiritual power leave my body along with drops of my blood, this time is much worse than the previous times, it takes almost all my energy. I see the three types of energy mix with the drops of my blood that evaporate, then everything turns into a red cloud with three types of energy shining from within, this red cloud surrounds Ivan and the glass cylinder where Ivan''s daughter Lyra is. Little by little I see the red cloud enter through whatever opening the glass cylinder has and then the greenish liquid glows in three different colors. "Ugh!" (I) The weakness starts to take over me, it''s not as bad as the time with Layla, but it''s still difficult. I feel my auras and energies fully fill the body of the father-daughter duo, then a green glow completely envelops Ivan, meanwhile, the greenish liquid inside the cylinder starts to bubble and evaporate releasing green vapor that spreads through the room. Ivan couldn''t resist and I''m not having difficulty with him, but his daughter is being very difficult, somehow it feels like her body is divided into several parts and I have to fill each part one by one, after a few minutes I fall into one. knee, but at least I ended up with Lyra. All that was in the glass cylinder now was a tense green vapor that obstructs vision, but there''s a three-color glow coming from inside. Ding! Ding! <[ You have successfully submitted Death Knight to your will ]> . . <[ You have successfully submitted Hybrid Homunculus (Variant) to your will ]> . . . <[ Choose a power to grant to Death Knight ]> . . <[ Choose a power to grant to Homunculus Hybrid (Variant) ]> Once again that bunch of information pops into my head, information about abilities and bloodlines, I use my parallel thinking ability to choose what I''m going to grant each of the two. To Ivan, I choose to give the ability [ Aura of Death: 1 ] which appears to be one of the auras that make up my Aura of Chaos. For Lyra I choose the unique skill [ Synthesis: 1 ] the same skill I have, maybe it''s more useful in the hand of someone who knows alchemy. Ding! <[ Grant of power completed ]> At that point my auras and power stop entering their bodies and go back inside my body, then I see the glow that had been covering them both fade away and the glass in the cylinder shatters, releasing Lyra. At first, he wasn''t able to see her body because of the glow that covered her body as well as her father''s body, but gradually the glow began to fade and their appearances were revealed. Ivan looked like a middle-aged man with white skin with red hair and eyes, his body was very well trained and he wore incredible black armor with red accents. "(Where did this evil-looking armor come from?)" (I) After seeing Ivan''s great appearance who is six feet tall I turn to the cute girl next to him. The girl I assume to be Lyra is a size 1.35 meters tall, she has red hair a little lighter than her father, she has silver eyes and white skin, she is extremely cute and adorable, she has a body not very developed, but from its current appearance, I can say it will be spectacular when it gets older. "Lyra!!!" (Ivan) Ivan in his evil armor looks at the little girl and throws himself at her wanting to hug her while screaming her name. The girl turns to him and as soon as he is close enough she jumps up and does a spinning kick to Ivan''s head which flies to the side and gets his head stuck in the wall. "You idiot, idiot, idiot dad, how can you become an Undead!?" (Lyra) "..." (all) Lyra to everyone''s surprise starts yelling at her father as she cries, she runs to where he is with her head pinned down and grabs one of his legs, she then pulls and releases him from the wall only to knock him to the ground several times as yells at him. Baammm! "I''ve been conscious all this time, you idiot dad!" (Lyra) Baammm! "I know what happened to my moms and the others!" (Lyra) Baammm! "I know what you guys did to save me!" (Lyra) Baammm! "I''ve been listening to your laments and your suffering all this time!" (Lyra) Baammm! Baammm! For someone so small and with such a skinny body she is insanely strong, she is getting up and hitting her father on the ground as she cries and screams at him, suddenly she stops and leaves him lying on the ground in the middle of a crater that she herself did, so she jumps on top of his body and hugs him crying like a normal child. "I know none of this was your fault, no one knew about that Abyssal creature." (Lyra) "You kept saying you''re going to wake me up and you kept that promise, but all I ever wanted to say to you is that it''s not your fault, so stop suffering, please stop..." (Lyra) Ivan lifts an arm whose hand has returned to a trembling skeleton and embraces his daughter. "I''m sorry honey, I didn''t know you could hear me, I always worried about you waking up one day alone, that''s why I stayed by your side all this time." (Ivan) "I know, the only reason I haven''t freaked out for being this long without being able to move or talk is because you were always talking to me, thanks." (Lyra) Something''s weird, Ivan''s voice isn''t coming from where he and Lyra are, so I figure out why. "I hate to interrupt our precious father-daughter reunion moment, but can you do your old dad a favor?" (Ivan) "Of course, what do you want daddy?" (Lyra) "Can you get my head off the wall and put it back around my neck please?" (Ivan) "..." (Lyra) "..." (all) When the dust from Ivan''s body thumping on the ground has settled, we can finally see his scrawny body in its evil headless armor. Upon hearing her father''s request little Lyra looks to where her father''s head should be and sees nothing there, she takes a moment to look before moving her head robotically to the wall where he had pinned his head and sees his head still there. "..." (Lyra) She gets up and runs over to it, then claws grow out of her fingers and she smashes through the wall and grabs her father''s head, then runs back trying to refit his neck until it locks. "Thank you daughter." (Ivan) I put my hand to my forehead as I mentally moan. "(Why do I only meet strange people?)" (I) Sigh I turn to see my companions and find they are looking shocked, only Layla is flying as she laughs, I turn to Irina wanting to talk to her. "Do you have any clothes in your storage item?" (I) "I have, why?" (Irina) "Then take it to Lyra, I don''t think it''s right for her to stay naked like that, in fact, I don''t think she even noticed." (I) In my words it seems that just now she realizes that Lyra is naked, she removes an article of clothing from her storage item and runs over to Lyra. ---------- Vampire Neutral Faction Leader''s Pov: Today is the day, the Goddess has already given her orders and from what I''ve been told, I can finally wake up that girl after more than 500 years. I walk through the castle and go to the tower where she is sleeping. Upon reaching the top of one of the towers that have ten floors I enter a room that has a pink crystal sarcophagus, as the crystal is a little transparent I can see her sleeping inside the sarcophagus. I go to the sarcophagus that is in the middle of a complex magic circle that deactivates before I get closer, arriving at the sarcophagus I use a spiritual Rune that goes through the sarcophagus and lands on her forehead. As soon as the rune disappears the girl opens her eyes and the lid of the sarcophagus comes out of the side on its own, then the girl gets up and starts to stretch. "It''s time my daughter, the Goddess has given you a mission that will finally release you from your restraints." (I) I pick up a necklace with a piece of gold jewelry and pass it to her. "This necklace will help to hide you, it has the same function as this magic circle, but it will only have effect for a month, that''s how long you will have to reach your destination." (I) "I got a Wind Dragon to take you to the Morror continent and the Realm you need to go to, after that the Goddess''s power will guide you." (I) I put the necklace around her neck and give her one last hug, then help her out of the sarcophagus and lead her outside to the tower where a large white Dragon is waiting. "Is this who I should take?" (Dragon) "Yes, make sure you take her safely and away from prying eyes." (I) "Don''t worry, nothing will happen to her." (Dragon) I nod my head to the Dragon and turn back to her who is wearing an outfit and masks I prepared to hide her. "Your destination is on the Morror continent, it''s one of the cities of the Trigan Kingdom called the city of Valen." (I) I give her one last hug before watching her climb onto the back of this fifty-foot tall Dragon and fly away. "May your trip be safe my child!" (I) Chapter 182: Presence of a ruler After Lyra is borrowed from Irina and Ivan has his head back in place I call everyone into the living room, want to talk to everyone upstairs away from this dusty, dark basement. I''ll leave to investigate this secret room later, first I''ll have to talk to this father-daughter pair. Upon arriving in the room I ask Layla to go call the others to join us, I have to introduce the two new people who have joined our group to everyone. Once everyone is gathered I introduce the father and daughter duo, then let them tell their story to everyone. Everyone''s reaction was different, but the biggest reaction came from Caryna who ran and hugged little Lyra crying. After the meeting I told Tania to make the clothes for both of them urgently, I told her to make at least some clothes today for Lyra to wear. I took advantage that everyone was together to introduce us to them, Lyra was surprised to see so many races together, she was also surprised to learn I was a Vampire Patriarch, Ivan seems to have already realized I was a Vampire but was surprised to know that I was a Patriarch. After the meeting, I talked to both of them to find out what their strengths and weaknesses are, I needed to know these things to know what kind of service I would want them to do. Lyra said she grew up learning from her father and three mothers about magic, alchemy, swordplay, and martial arts. She also said that she always enjoyed learning about alchemy better, she commented that she was very happy when she was taught how to fight using potions and alchemy skills. I was happy to finally find someone who is good at alchemy, I was even happier to learn that she was a future Combat Alchemist. Seeing her for the first time she looks like a cute and weak girl but I feel sorry for anyone who is fooled by this, the way she attacked her father, the strength she showed, and the speed of her attack was incredible, so far I can''t associate the violent and brutal way she spanked her father with the cute way she now shows, the saying wolf in sheep''s clothing was made with the thought of describing her. I told her to take advantage of the next few days to adapt to her body since it''s the first time she uses the body her family gave her. She has to learn to control her strength and skills, I also want her to learn a little from Diana in order to become an adventurer too, I want that because the adventurer card also serves as an identity document in any realm. After talking to her I went to talk to Ivan, I found out that as a former prince he studied his life about military strategies and politics, he said he was always good at solving the Kingdom''s internal problems, but preferred to become a general on the battlefield to let his brother test himself more in taking care of the Kingdom. Ivan told me that he has a unique ability that materializes armor, this explains the evil-looking armor he was wearing right after I used my abilities on him in the basement. He said that his armor was different when he was alive, he said that since he became an Undead he had kept his status equal, but many of his abilities disappeared including this unique ability. Ivan said he hadn''t paid attention before because he was completely focused on his daughter, but as he talked to me he realized that the skills he had lost came back, but they were all at level 1. I was happy for him, but I didn''t know what to do now, because he''s an Undead and doesn''t have vital energy I won''t be able to take him to the Guild, if it turns out he''s an Undead he will be killed and I will attract a lot of suspicions. Even though he can disguise himself with a human appearance it won''t do, from what Diana and Kira tell me Mari has an ability that allows her to see through illusions, maybe I''ll have a chance if I use my tidemark ability on him, but I don''t know if it will be useful against Mari and I don''t know if I want to risk it. After talking to Ivan he said that he had already met someone with an ability like this that Mari has, he said that a unique ability like disguise or concealment would be enough to block skills of this type, Irina and Diana said that this is true already who learned this when they were still in training in the past. As I don''t like to take chances, so I will let Ivan join the Guild just to get the Guild Card, other than that I won''t let him go to the Adventurers Guild to not risk more than I''m already risking. So we spent the rest of the day getting to know each other, it seems Nira enjoyed talking to Ivan, and for some reason, Lyra is being hugged by Diana, I should have guessed that. But it surprises me that Lyra seems to like hugs, while everyone talked I realized that she already hugged everyone, including me, maybe because she spent so much time trapped inside that glass cylinder it made her want physical contact with someone again, but I''ll have to ask her to avoid doing this until she learns to control her strength, her hug was so strong that Caryna fainted, just her hand, but Nolan and Alice too, Tania resisted the hug but her spine is locked for a while until Irina heal her. The others don''t seem to feel anything, I must admit that even for me her embrace was very strong and tight. After the meeting we went to eat, I was surprised to see Ivan who was an Undead eat but he only ate meat, so he said Undead who have a physical body like self-level skeletons or zombies can eat meat normally, their bodies transform flesh from living beings into energy without leaving a trace. Lira surprised me even more, the way she ate looked like a Wild animal that had been without food for a week, she ate so fast I''m not even sure if she remembered to chew the food, another problem was also the absurd amount of food she had. ate that must weigh four times her weight, that''s when I remembered that I have a skill that allows me to do something like that, so she must have a stomach skill too. After that, I went to drink blood to recover faster so I could put the concealment mark on the father-daughter pair. After that, we spent the rest of the day updating the two of them on what happened in the town of Valen lately. ---------- Lyra Pov: I''m very happy to be able to move, talk and eat again, from what master Zenos said while talking to my father it''s been twenty years, but for me who couldn''t move and had to see my father whine for all this time, for me it seems that much more time has passed than just twenty years. When I woke up I was filled with anger and sadness at my father for having been mourning all this time for the death of my mothers and the others at the mansion, but it wasn''t his fault, no one knew the origin of the core they used, I would have preferred they had let me die so no one would have died, but at the time I was also scared of death and had hopes that they could help me, they did but the price for being saved was something I didn''t expect, the worst thing was seeing the state my father was in. I spent most of the time in a state like my father, I was mourning the death of my mothers and my father turning into the Undead, but not knowing how long I was drowned in my depression and sadness, one day I realized that my father was even worse than me, so all I wanted was to wake up and say that none of this was his fault, so when I woke up I hit him to wake him up from this ridiculous depression he''s put himself in, but I realized too late that my strength was much greater than I expected since it was the first time I used this body. After having a meeting with the new residents of the mansion and learning about them and the things that have happened lately in the town of Valen, I ate some delicious food until I couldn''t get any more, at the end of the day they showed the mansion changes to me and my dad also showed our rooms, I stayed in the same room I had twenty years ago and my dad took the room next to me. Now it''s just me and my dad in my room, he was in his human disguise looking similar to what he had when he was still alive. "What do you think of Master Zenos, father?" (I) "I felt in him the presence of a ruler." (Dad) Chapter 183: Father and daughter conversation Ivan Pov: I was in my daughter''s room, Zenos and the others gave us the rest of the night to talk as I haven''t talked to her in twenty years, so my daughter starts asking me a more complex question than she realizes. "What do you think of Master Zenos, father?" (Lyra) "I felt in him the presence of a ruler." (I) My daughter looks at me with a confused and surprised look, it''s been twenty years but she''s still an open book showing everything she thinks about in her expressions, even after teaching her so much to avoid showing what she thinks on her face she never managed to learn. "You didn''t understand what I said, did you?" (I) "..." (Lyra) "Your expression says it all as usual so I''ll ask you a question." (I) "You said you were conscious all the time, so what do you think about the way he walked into the secret room and the way he talked to me?" (I) "I didn''t see how he got in as my eyes had been closed for twenty years, but the way he talked to you seemed normal." (Lyra) "Exactly, he talked to me in a normal way, he didn''t show fear, anxiety and he didn''t take his eyes off me for a single second." (I) "He was just being cautious, wasn''t he?" (Lyra) "Yes, but even in his caution he still tried to take information from me, he listened to my whole story and yours without showing what he was really thinking on his face, he also didn''t take his eyes off me because he didn''t know what I really wanted and for not knowing my real strength." (I) "Most importantly he didn''t enter the secret room with his entire group, it shows that he was already preparing himself in case to act if something out of the ordinary happened, he also trusted his companions to check the secret room and look for traps while watching me ." (I) "Isn''t that supposed to be normal?" (Lyra) "For an experienced adventurer or a soldier trained with his companions, yes." (I) "But even for them it is very difficult to trust other people enough to enter an unknown place with an unknown being without looking around, usually the person ends up looking away to look around for a few seconds." (I) "I think I understand what you mean, but is that the only reason you have such a good impression of him?" (Lyra) "You forget my daughter, but I was a member of a royal family, I saw many Kings, many were just people who were lucky at birth, these people ranged from responsible, tyrants, greedy, naive or foolish." (I) "They didn''t understand what it was really like to have to take care of those who followed them or those who ruled, besides these people there were also those who were real Kings, my father was one and my brother had the quality to become one in the future, for this I left the throne to him, no matter how competent I was at what I did or how strong in battle, I knew I didn''t possess the qualities to be a King." (I) "But do you think Master Zenos does?" (Lyra) "Not yet, he''s a little naive yet and doesn''t seem to like having so many people around him, but he''s got what he needs." (I) "I don''t understand, from what I saw he seems like someone good to talk to, he also accepted you and me into his group for which I am grateful, but I still don''t know what you saw so special about him." (Lyra) "For a start he is open-minded, see the different types of races that are in this mansion and work for him, there are Dwarves, Elves, Runics, Demons, Humans, Vampires, Beastmen and an Ogress." (I) "Now he accepts a Kimera and an Undead to work for him too, most people tend to have some level of prejudice whether consciously or unconsciously it can be by social status, by race, by wealth, by strength, by gender, or by age." (I) "People acquire these prejudices over time as they grow up, noticing it or not, they learn by seeing their family, their teachers, their friends, their religion or the very culture of the city or kingdom they are in." (I) "On this continent, for example, people hate and fear the Demonic race, so the fact that he has a Demon working with him in such a natural way shows that he doesn''t care about other people''s race, this is something rare and an excellent quality for a leader." (I) "Another thing is that he listens to everyone''s opinions, I was listening to them before they even entered the secret room, he asked for the entrance to be checked, he threw objects into the hallway to ensure there were no traps and before calling the rest of his group to enter the room he listened to his companions to make sure he had no traps, when his companions lost control of their actions in surprise at having heard me speak of the Abyssal creature, he was able to silence them all with a single word." (I) "But he only stayed calm because he didn''t know what an Abyssal creature was." (Lyra) "You''re right not to consider that he showed no expression even after one of his companions explained to him what an Abyssal creature was and also realized that I had somehow gotten rid of the Abyssal creature." (I) After talking so much I gave my daughter some time to think and absorb everything I''ve already said, it''s no use continuing to talk if she can''t follow what I''m saying. I see her with her arms crossed and her eyes closed, as always she is trying hard to think, at least she is taking what I am saying seriously, this is important as we are now working for Zenos, we need to understand him to know the kind of person he is, I just hope I haven''t made a mistake by making me and my daughter his servants. So I''m going to watch him closely to try to understand more about the type of person he is and his goals. "I think I understand what you mean, dad." (Lyra) "Now that I''ve stopped to think he has a Blacksmith and a Tailor working for him." (Lyra) "He also seemed to be happy when he heard that I know alchemy, it seems he''s also been looking for an Alchemist for a while now." (Lyra) "Well observed my daughter, besides that he also has a strong group, I could see some that seem to be Mages, there were also many that seemed to be warriors and the Gray Elf had a spirit accompanied her, her group is very diverse." (I) "What did you understand about him after realizing all this?" (I) "Looks like he wants to have an independent group, he didn''t anticipate relying on guns, clothes, and potions from the town''s merchants if he had me, Anton, and Tania working for him." (Lyra) "As expected of my daughter, you got it right, but you haven''t got it all yet." (I) "You forgot about Nira, we were told she was a former Black Market receptionist, they also said that she is responsible for purchasing materials for you, Anton and Tania." (I) "In other people, she is responsible for the trade, having her work for him will be good for selling things in the future." (I) "I hadn''t thought about it, but I don''t understand why Master Zenos is having such a hard time, wouldn''t it be easier to buy what you need in a town like everyone else does?" (Lyra) "That may be the case for most, but he and the rest of his group have a lot of secrets to hide, I think he wants to be as independent as possible to prevent others from noticing the types of gear they buy, he''s restricting the type of information that others can find out about him like that, at least it''s the only reason I can think of." (I) I sit on the bed next to my daughter and put my hand on her head, I''ve been hoping to have a moment like this with my daughter for a long time, it''s been so long since I''ve heard her voice, even if it''s a little different now in her way. of talking is still the same. "I''m telling you all this to make you understand our situation and prepare for the future." (I) "What do you mean prepare me for the future?" (Lyra) "Zenos has something that cannot be learned easily and cannot be acquired by normal means, this is charisma, but not a normal one, but a charisma that attracts a certain type of people, those like him become leaders whether they want to or not, from what I can see, everyone in this mansion likes to work here, they follow Zenos''s orders obediently, but they still talk to him like you talk to someone in the family, which I find strange." (I) "Isn''t that because of the power he used on us earlier too?" (Lyra) "In part, yes, but he already has that quality, that power just amplifies that quality of him to those who serve him, I feel my connection to him, but it''s not the same kind of a Familiar connection with his master, slave or of control, it feels more like the kind of connection you feel with someone in your family." (I) "I thought he wanted to get control of you and me to trust us." (Lyra) "The power he used and the shadow I saw when it happened looked like it was some kind of awakening or transforming ability." (I) "That explains how he was able to wake me up, it also explains how you regained your unique ability." (Lyra) "Yes." (I) Talking like that with my daughter brings me a lot of happiness, I brought this up to get used to having a conversation again where she responds, but I think it''s time for me to say what I''ve been keeping inside. I get up and kneel in front of her lowering my head. "Dad, what are you doing?" (Lyra) "I''ve been wanting to say this to you for a long time." (I) "I''m sorry my daughter, because of me that your mothers and the others who worked at the mansion died, it''s also my fault that you''re not human anymore, I was so desperate to save you that it became an obsession, it made me you suffered, even more, I''m sorry." (I) "I was so obsessed with saving you that I didn''t stop to think if I should." (I) "..." (Lyra) I wait but the answer never comes, soon I feel something hit the back of my head and try to see what it is, then I realize my daughter is standing in front of me crying. It breaks my heart to see my daughter like this, once again it feels like I made her suffer, as this sort of thing flashes through my mind she grabs me by the collar and lifts me up with great ease as she rocks me back and forth repeatedly violently while talking to me. "You big idiot dad." (Lyra) "How many times are you going to have to make me say you''re not to blame, my moms were just like you." (Lyra) "I was also scared of dying back then and I was supportive of you, so don''t go saying that everything that happened is your fault." (Lyra) She stops shaking me and gives me a fierce hug that would have broken all my bones if I were an ordinary skeleton. "Look how I am, your plan was a success, if we had known about that core before and had looked for another one then none of this would have happened, what happened was an accident and I''m sure my moms wouldn''t blame you you idiot, so stop apologizing all the time." (Lyra) I hug my daughter back, if I were still alive I would be crying now, as I felt speak of hugging her like that. "Thank you, my daughter." (I) Chapter 184: the course of the days It''s been a week since Ivan and Lyra joined us, in addition to resting another day we went to the Dungeon of the Great Serpent the other days, this was Carlos'' request. It seems that the dungeons are with a lot of monsters, not only that but also the monsters from the deepest floors of the dungeon are spread across the floors, this happened because of the wave of monsters and needs adventurers to kill these monsters to get everything back to normal. Because of this the novice and lower-ranked adventurers are being sent to the forest to kill the surviving monsters from the monster wave, meanwhile, the Grade -C and up adventurer groups have been sent to explore the dungeons and kill all the monsters by the path. Another thing that happened is that my entire party went straight up to Grade C and I moved up to Grade -B, it seems that this took into account how I command my party during the monster wave and my final plan that allowed me to kill one large number of Snakemans. Other than these things I trained to get used to my new status which had a surprising increase, not only I but everyone had similar problems, I also made Ivan and Lyra participate in the training, it would serve to get to know us better and also to help Lyra in her self. control of your strength. Normally Lyra is a cute and smart girl, but she sucks at controlling her new body, so every time she goes for a hug or shakes someone''s hand she runs the risk of broken bones, so she''s been training. Ivan showed that he had many books in the secret room where he spent the last twenty years, the people who were happiest with that were rica, Irina, and Nira because they knew exactly how much those books on advanced magic, ancient magic, elemental magic, alchemy, necromancy, and dark magic really count. Another thing that happened is that we were able to sell the swords that Anton has been making out of the materials we could, but I used all the money we could get on Ivan''s disguise and concealment item, also on a concealment item for Lyra. At first, I was afraid Ivan and Lyra would be recognized by someone, but it was unnecessary to worry, Ivan said he could change his appearance a little by manipulating the green energy that created his spectral body so he was unrecognizable, Ivan also told us that the appearance Lyra''s is very different from her former appearance. Kira said that for the past three days there has been someone watching the people in the mansion every time they go shopping, sell something or go on a mission, I gave it the task to find out who this person is spying on us and who is behind it. The clothes Tania was making for Lyra were also ready, she also made some clothes for Ivan. During this week we managed to go to the 35th floor of the Great Serpent Dungeon, from what Kira and Diana told me I managed to get all the bloodlines of all the monsters with the exception of the Dungeon Boss who is on the 55th floor. During the monster wave, I found it difficult to let all that blood go to waste, but now I got almost all the bloodlines in this dungeon, I also took this week to start the bloodline synthesis. I ended up discovering that synthesizing strains inside my body is something horrible, my blood starts to boil and run at high speed through my body as it spins, one of the worst problems is that the synthesis of strains takes ten minutes, unlike the synthesis of skills which is almost instantaneous and I don''t suffer from this pain, the pain it caused me was so great that I am almost reaching the maximum level of my pain resistance skill. It seems like letting someone around with a HP potion was really the best idea, because after the lineage synthesis my body gets pretty sore with damaged veins, arteries, and organs. Every time I did the lineage synthesis it was like going through a torture section, I couldn''t let the girls see me like that, so I learned a spell that isolates sound inside a room, that''s a non-elemental spell, I did too that the person keeping an eye on me was Ivan or Irius, they were the only ones who understood that this was the type of training I needed to do. Irius always seemed worried about me, at first he almost interfered several times in the synthesis, but somehow I managed to push him away, after a while he managed to resist the urge to stop me, Ivan on the other hand never tried to stop me or interfere with the synthesis. The father and daughter duo were surprised when I spoke of my power to acquire the skills and bloodlines of those I devour, when they learned that I had the unique ability of [ Synthesis: 1 ] and was using it to fuse skills and bloodlines, they were even more surprised. In my conversations with Ivan, he said he never tried to interfere with what I was doing because he was able to see the strong will in my eyes as he resisted the pain of the lineage synthesis, he said it would be disrespectful to try to stop someone as determined as I was grateful for what he said. Soon another two weeks passed and I''m close to evolving again, but each time I need more EXP, during these two weeks I''ve changed jobs several times, I''ve been training many of my skills, many have already reached the maximum level, but few evolved. Without understanding the reason why my abilities didn''t evolve, I went to ask the oldest and wisest members of the mansion, who are Freya and Ivan, they both explained to me that to evolve an ability it''s not always enough just to reach its maximum level, sometimes you need to a certain job needs to evolve or needs to fulfill some personal requirement, it varies from person to person so they said they couldn''t help me with it, they said that sooner or later it will end up happening. I have already completed the Great Serpent Dungeon along with everyone except the top floor where the Dungeon Boss is Diana got the information from the Guild that the Boss Monster was a Basilisk, it has hard scales, it has poison in its fangs, it can drop a breath attack that sends a cloud of poison in front of him over a long distance, he also has a petrification ability in his eyes and his strength and speed are very high. From the description I could see that I had no chance of fighting a creature like that, it was already difficult to fight the deepest monsters in the Dungeon that were Grade A monsters, you had to fight with everything you had and still fight together my group, even some and the others were hurt several times, if it hadn''t been for our recovery skills and for having Irina who healed us countless times we wouldn''t have been able to do that, that''s when I realized that the most important member of the group was Irina. As I wouldn''t face Basilisk I was starting to think about trying the next dungeon which was the Blood Dungeon, but then I thought about resting a few more days as I was close to evolving again which was faster than I expected. I decided that everyone should rest a few more days, during which time I would think about what we should do next, while I thought I concentrated on learning, even more, spells, during difficult fights I realized how much a wide variety of spells can help in different situations. Another thing that happened every day during the night before bed was me helping Layla to harmonize the mansion''s miasma, in fact, almost all the work was done by her, all I had to do was send all my mana to her and she did the rest, after three weeks Layla said she had done 70% of the work, thanks to my Affinity with the dark element I could feel this element becoming even stronger and purer around me in the miasma, but other than that I felt no difference. Those weeks were a little busy, but I was happy to have so many people around to help me with all these tasks, Lyra spent all that time in her alchemy lab where she created and studied various potions, almost every potion I used in Dungeon or after synthesizing the strains were made by her. We were selling less and fewer materials to the Guild as Anton, Tania and Lyra kept a lot of them, but it''s paying off as Nira with Ivan''s help started selling to the Trade Guild and we are earning much higher profits now and at almost no expense as we get all the materials ourselves. Life has been difficult but so much fun, so many exciting things happening, the feeling of getting stronger, seeing my mates getting stronger and for the first time enjoying this world like a fantasy world should be on my mind. But I knew it wouldn''t last forever, life isn''t just about fun, something will always happen that will stop you from flying through the clouds and smack your face into the wall called reality, I knew this would happen more sooner or later, especially when Kira informed me that the person watching us was the Prince of Cartoza''s maid, but luckily he left Valen town yesterday, it seems he''s heading to the capital of Trigan which made me very happy for finally have one less worry. Chapter 185: Training month It''s been a month since I last evolved and I''m at a level to evolve again, this month has been tough, with me trying as hard as I can in my training, I''ve finished synthesizing all the snake strains into one, I also merged some skills and leveled up several skills. One thing that helped me a lot was that I raised my synth skill level twice which increased the number of things I could synth at the same time by three at a time and the number of synthes I could do per day increased from 1 to 2, it seems that each level increases by 1 more synth target or 1 more synth usage per day, as I increased skill by two levels this was the result. Now I''m sitting on my porch during the morning reminiscing about the results of this month, this was the result of all the effort of this month of training and battles. Starting with the skills that were the result of this month''s synthesis. Passive Skills: ? [ Resistance to poisons (paralyzing/necrotic/deadly/sleep/hallucinogenic): 1 ] ? [ Body Enhancement (Fangs / Legs / Exoskeleton / Bones / Claws / Arms / Scales / Tail): 1 ] ? [ Weak detection (life/blood/presence/trap): 1 ] ? [ Onslaught of Chaos: 1 ] ? [ Poison secretion (paralyzing/necrotic/mortal/sleep/hallucinogenic): 1 ] These are the skills I gained by merging other skills, I still have a lot of skills to merge, but these will suffice for now. One thing I found was that when I merge two abilities of different levels the synthesis result gets the lowest level between them. I also learned that the fused skills become a little stronger, which made me very happy. Now the result of the synthesis of all Serpent lineages is that I have acquired the lineage [ Infernal Serpent (Unique): 100% ]. I found out that this type of Serpent doesn''t even exist in this world, it only exists in hell which by the description seems to be a real place in this world, this Serpent can use almost all kinds of poisons and can use magic too, it seems that this Serpent has the ability to change its size and is also very smart. I also acquired magical elemental affinities of all the elements, but I haven''t synthesized them yet, I tried but my body started to hurt a lot so I decided to stop when I felt something was wrong, it was only when I talked to Freya and Layla that I understood that the pain I was feeling was from my body that was not resisting the fusion of my magical elemental affinities, the two advised me to wait until I evolve to try it again and see if I can. But I had a better idea, if I combine Ki elemental affinities and spiritual power I can fuse them together with my magical elemental affinities to create pure elemental affinities like some I already have. Aside from the bloodlines of all Dungeon Serpents that have been synthesized, with the exception of Snakeman, and abilities that have also been synthesized, I have also acquired many abilities and have increased in various abilities either through training at the mansion or because of the daily battles at the mansion. Dungeon. The skills I acquired that I have not yet merged were: ? [ Thermal view: 1 ] ? [ Water maneuvers: 1 ] ? [ Camouflage: 1 ] ? [ Flexible body: 1 ] ? [ Magical Thunder Elemental Affinity: 1 ] ? [ Wood magic elemental affinity: 1 ] ? [ Ice magic elemental affinity: 1 ] ? [ Basic thunder elemental magic: 1 ] ? [ Basic wood elemental magic: 1 ] ? [ Basic ice elemental magic: 1 ] ? [ Resistance to magic element thunder: 1 ] ? [ Resistance to the wood magic element: 1 ] ? [ Resistance to the ice magic element: 1 ] Apart from these abilities, there are also several Charge, Intimidate, Spit and Breath abilities that are similar so I''m not counting them as I plan on synthesizing them together later. And these are the skills that have leveled up: <[ Your skill leveled up [ Vampirism: 2 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Resistance to poisons (paralyzing/necrotic/deadly/sleep/hallucinogenic): 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Poor Detection (Health/Blood/Presence/Trap): 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Physical damage resistance: 6 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Elemental Blood Affinity: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Mana sense: 4 > 7 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Deep Meditation: 3 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low Fire Resistance: 1 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Improved hearing: 3 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Nose Improved: 3 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Superior Mana Control: 4 > 6 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Group Coordination: 5 > 7 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low Wind Elemental Affinity: 9 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Improved Strength: 6 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Body Enhancement (Fangs/Legs/Exoskeleton/Bones/Claws/Arms/Scale/Tail): 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Dark Elemental Affinity: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Martial Art Fist of Lord Chaos: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Sword Handling: 7 > 9 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Fire magic elemental affinity: 7 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Knife Handling: 7 > 9 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Ki Sense: 5 > 7 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Spiritual Sense: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Parallel thinking: 9 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Dismantle: 1 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Poison secretion (paralyzing/necrotic/deadly/sleep/hallucinogenic): 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Pain Resistance: 9 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Earth magic elemental affinity: 5 > 7 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Resistance to earth magic element: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Water magic elemental affinity: 3 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Weak Light Elemental Affinity: 8 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leadership: 2 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Chaos Onslaught: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Swim: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Blood Control: 8 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Recovery: 7 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Magic Enhanced Line Production: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Control and Line Manipulation: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Jump: 8 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Low Fire Breath: 5 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Poison spit: 4 > 6 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Corrosion: 8 > 9 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Vampire Claws: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Great magical body boost: 8 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Intimidation: 8 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Non-elemental magic: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic Wind Spell: 7 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic Fire Magic: 8 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Hide: 1> 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Night Vision: 3 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Thermal Vision: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Flexible Body: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Assassination technique: 3 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Sword Technique: 5 > 7 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Dagger technique: 5 > 7 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Blade of the Lord of Chaos Technique: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Blade of Light: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic Earth Magic: 3 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Basic Magic Circle: 6 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Identify: 3 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Synthesis: 1 > 4 ] ]> Other than that I still have the skills that evolved, they were less than I expected, but that''s ok. Those were the skills that evolved from what I remember. <[ Your skill has evolved [ Low Wind Elemental Affinity: 10 ] > [ Wind Elemental Affinity: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Weak Light Elemental Affinity: 10 ] > [ Light Elemental Affinity: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Weak Blood Control: 10 ] > [ Blood Control: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Light Breath of Fire: 10 ] > [ Breath of Fire: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Basic Wind Spell: 10 ] > [ Wind Spell: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Basic Fire Spell: 10 ] > [ Fire Spell: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Basic Magic Circle: 10 ] > [ Magic Circle: 1 ] ]> All this improvement was amazing for me, but I wasn''t the only one training, studying Magic, and fighting, everyone tried hard, Layla is now able to use all seven elements she has to perfection, she even just harmonized the mansion and the terrain. around. One of the things I told Lyra to study was how to make crystal cards, so in the future, we''ll be able to use them in Tanya''s clothes and Anton''s weapons. During this month I got used to fighting using spells, I also got used to leading the rest of the Party during battles. One of the things that worried me the most was Lyra and Ivan being able to enroll in the Adventurers Guild, thanks to Lyra''s appearance being different no one will recognize her and Ivan changed his appearance a little by molding a different face with his ghostly body skill. After that I made Nira and Ivan register with the Trade Guild, I also made Lyra register with the Alchemist Guild so it will be easier for Lyra to get books on alchemy and it will be easier for Nira to trade with the Guild or other traders, me I let Ivan help Nira as she seems to be pushing herself too hard at her job and Ivan seems to have experience in that area of ??work as well. Now that a month has passed the person that that red-haired Goddess spoke of should arrive at any moment, I hope I can get along with that person, it would save me a lot of trouble. Chapter 186: Attracting problems A month has passed, I''m close to evolving again, I could have done it today, but I can save it for tomorrow as the person the red-haired Goddess spoke of hasn''t arrived yet. I didn''t want to evolve now because I''m having a little problem I found out yesterday, I''m standing on the balcony of my room looking at the big mansion''s land, I''m seeing a lot of bright things like fireflies flying across the land and many come close to me to fly around me before flying back across the manor''s grounds. I look at the culprit of all this sitting on top of my head right now and picking up one hand to place over the porch railing. "Now that I''m a little calmer, try explaining to me again what''s going on here." (I) "Are you sure you''re calmer?" (Layla) "Because yesterday you chased me around the mansion for hours with a sword and a dagger in your hands." (Layla) "Don''t worry I was just a little annoyed as I nearly lost a leg in the dungeon when we came back and saw these lights I wasn''t expecting that response from you." (I) "I still hope I got it wrong so please explain again now!" (I) The little fairy gets more and more restless as she listens to me, she seems embarrassed by the whole situation. "You can''t blame me for that, my memory is still fuzzy and I didn''t remember all the details before, you also approved the plan to harmonize the mansion''s miasma." (Layla) "I approved because you said we wouldn''t be in trouble, you assured us we were just cleaning up the malice in the miasma and replacing it with dark elemental mana, but clearly you forgot to mention a lot of things." (I) "For my defense, most of the blame is not mine, the miasma attunement only allowed them to enter unharmed, but it is the Aura of a certain someone that is attracting so many of them." (Layla) "Do you still dare say it''s my fault?" (I) "You little... I will..." (me) The little fairy flies away from the balcony and looks at me from afar. "You said you wouldn''t do anything, remember?" (Layla) I take a few deep breaths and try to calm myself, then look seriously at the little winged Demon in front of me. "I''ve calmed down, now come back here and explain everything right this time, don''t make me have to run after you again." (I) "..." (Layla) Layla flies back to me and stands on my porch railing turning to see these shiny things flying around. "To begin the explanation I must say that these are Spirits and Fairies in their most childish forms, they don''t have a mind or power, much less are able to reside in a body like mine or Byakko''s." (Layla) "They spread through natural areas without being bothered by people and monsters, they are born from the mana and spiritual energy of the world itself and feed on the magical and spiritual energy that is released by all living things like trees, people, monsters, etc. .." (Layla) "As they don''t have a mind of their own they are only driven by their instincts and emotions, they are harmless and innocent beings, they can become Fairies or Spirits after centuries or even a thousand years if they are lucky." (Layla) "I understand what they are, now explain to me what they''re doing here and why it seems to have more than yesterday?" (I) "I only remembered this yesterday when I saw them, but the power that Fairies and Higher-level Spirits have to harmonize an area is usually used to create a place where they can gather and live safely." (Layla) "It''s usually a slow thing to do, I was only able to do it so quickly with the help of the master and because the miasma conditions all over the mansion''s grounds gave me many advantages thanks to my pure dark element, but The reason they gather here is that they are very sensitive to Auras, even though the master is hiding their Aura they can still see and feel their normal Aura." (Layla) "For them, it''s like someone calling them here, another thing is that because we train frequently and release spells, techniques, and abilities, the mansion''s land is full of energy traces that dilute with time in the environment, but for those brilliant beings this is a great feast they are happily eating, not only that but the endless miasma itself in that place can be eaten and absorbed by them." (Layla) Sigh I drop to the ground and stare blankly at the overcast sky. "All I wanted was to have a quiet house and not attract unwanted attention, but now I have a glowing sign saying there''s something weird going on here, I can''t even imagine what might happen now." (I) "Normal people can''t see them, only people who have contracts with Fairies or Spirits can see them and only one of the two, the master is only able to see them because of their titles, after all, most people in the mansion don''t can see them." (Layla) "As far as I know only Freya, Kira, Nira, Ivan and I can see them, Kira can only see less than half of them that must be Spirits, Nira and Freya can see most that must be Fairies and I as well as Ivan can see all." (I) "Exactly, only Spirits and Fairies would be able to see them normally or people with special sense, detection or sight abilities like Mari." (Layla) "Other than that they cannot be seen, felt or touched, they are formless beings, they are basically a pile of living energy." (Layla) "They are called Infant Fairies and Infant Spirits." (Layla) "Actually it was just for Fairies to be attracted here as it was a Fairy who created this place, but I think your Aura is attracting the Spirits as well." (Layla) Sigh "Can''t you scare them away or lure them elsewhere?" (I) "No, they will continue to gather here attracted to this place or to you, but it''s not all bad master, as I harmonized this place I have a certain level of authority over the Fairies that stay here, as I get more strong this effect increases." (Layla) "And what does that help us?" (I) "This can help build a sanctuary for the Faeries in the future, it will increase the Faeries relationship with the master lord as these places are very important to us Faeries and are difficult to create, this will also make me stronger as this sanctuary will be connected with me." (Layla) "What is this sanctuary of fairies?" (I) When I ask this question she looks like she''s going to answer but stops in her tracks and her face takes on a puzzled expression before she looks at me again. "I don''t know, I just remember that it''s important and that the Fairy linked to the sanctuary becomes stronger, but I don''t remember the details." (Layla) "Once again your memory is as reliable as stepping on thin ice safely." (I) I''m happy that every day it seems that her memory gets better, she''s already better than Byakko who doesn''t seem to care about her memory that never comes back. I look around knowing I''ll have to accept this situation for now, just hope they stop showing up. I pray that this situation doesn''t cause any more problems and doesn''t draw attention to myself or others. "Don''t make that face master, I can''t stop them from coming here, but I can make it harder for them to find this place, I''ll use the dark element we put in the miasma to use a concealment spell throughout the mansion, but that won''t stop they pass, it will also serve to hide what is happening here from outsiders." (Layla) "So do it." (I) "I will need your help for this, transfer all your mana to me like we did when I was trying to harmonize this place, and bringing together our pure dark elemental affinities will make the evils concealment barrier strong and difficult to perceive." (Layla) "Alright, let''s do it now." (I) ---------- Pov of a ghoul mage: It''s been a month since Dora and I have been in this forest, I was lucky enough to find a nice cabin at the entrance to a cave, I used this place as a base while we worked here, I put up two magic barriers here, one to scare off the monsters and the second to scare away the monsters. hide this place from prying eyes. Hiding this place turned out to be a good decision as there are many adventurers in this place, I also encountered more monsters than were reported to be here. Dora is being more helpful in the search than I am, I''ve searched almost the entire forest for blood but we haven''t found anything so far, I''ll look for another week and if I don''t find anything I''ll go back to the village, I won''t waste my time on this plane that doesn''t I agreed from the beginning. "Jana, I found something." (Dora) Dora flies in through the window and comes straight towards me with a big smile. "Find something?" (I) "I met Fairies and Child Spirits going to town, I also felt something in town that seemed to be pleasant, that must be it." (Dora) Sigh "Just as we feared, we will have to search the city." (I) "Let''s plan a little bit today, we''ve wasted too much time here." (Dora) "I totally agree, we have to act within this month." (I) Chapter 187: Unexpected visit The concealment barrier that Layla used was already showing its effects, I had been looking around all day and the number of Spirits and Fairy Infants didn''t increase anymore, which is a relief. Most of them are outside the mansion, but there are always a few that fly in through the mansion, but it seems that Freya, Diana, and the others don''t mind. It was night and everyone went to sleep, but I stayed outside, went to a tree, and sat there to watch those spheres of light of various colors flying everywhere. I hadn''t realized before why I was angry with Layla and worried that this situation might give away our secrets, but I didn''t stop to realize how beautiful they are. I lean back against the tree and see these spheres of light of various colors flying in a disorderly way all over the place, maybe it''s because I''m calm now, maybe it''s because it''s night and its glows are more enhanced by the darkness, or maybe it''s because I finally see that these things are not a pest that will get me in trouble, but simple living creatures that just look for a place to live and eat in peace, now I see their beauty. I see a light fly from my bedroom window at high speed and fly towards me, I don''t need to look to know it''s Layla, she stops at the top and looks in several directions before flying towards me and landing on my shoulder, me and her we don''t need to exchange words because we can communicate through our minds and understand each other. After listening to what Layla wanted to tell me I get a serious face before I calm down, so I turned my eyes to pay attention to those bright lights again. "This is the first time I''ve seen something like this, looking at them flying in all directions like this at night it''s like they''re dancing stars." (I) "There are so many concerns in everyday life that sometimes we forget to enjoy the little things." (I) I keep watching the Fairies and Infant Spirits dance in the air, there''s beauty in the way they fly without order, I raise my hand and let out a slight fluctuation of Aura that draws some to me, I can see them flying around my hand and trying touching the Aura, to my eyes they look like children playing. "I was worried that they would attract unwanted attention, but they are such simple beings, their naivety is actually fun, it''s like watching children play." (I) I stop exposing my Aura and drop a Mana Sphere that attracts all the Fairy Infants that start to spin around the sphere that shrinks in size each time it''s tapped. I look to the side and see that there are spheres of light that don''t reach the mana I threw, so I raise my hand again and release a small amount of spiritual energy, I still don''t know how to control it, all I can do is release it like turn on a faucet or let it inside my body, I still don''t have control over my spiritual energy and my Ki, I can only train one thing at a time after all. I see the spheres of light that were standing still go into the spiritual energy that was spreading around, they are slowly absorbing it but they seem to be enjoying themselves, I stop and let the two groups of glowing spheres enjoy themselves while they eat. "I didn''t think this was going to get me in trouble anytime soon." (I) "I know you''re watching, but you can show yourself now." (I) Soon I see a blur and something big is beside me, he walks in front of me and sits down, but even sitting he is much bigger than me. "To what do I owe your unexpected visit, Carlos?" (I) "..." (Carlos) Carlos looks around and then stares at me with a serious face before starting to speak. "You surprised me this time Zenos, I didn''t expect to feel so many Spirits and Fairies around, is this something that weird Fairy on your shoulder or that white cat that Gray Elf?" (Carlos) "This is because of a mistake a certain someone made." (I) "If I made a mistake then so did you, remember you helped." (Layla) "You Vampires are always surprising me." (Carlos) I try not to show any reaction on my face, but my heart starts beating wildly at what I just heard. "(How does he know?)" (I) Sigh "How long have you known?" (I) "Since the first time, I saw you walk into my office with your group to talk about the monster wave." (Carlos) "I thought I was hiding so well." (I) "You''re doing fine, I can''t feel your Aura, energy, or even your strength." (Carlos) "Your presence is also very weak, I don''t know how you are hiding so well, but my sincere congratulations." (Carlos) "Thanks for the compliment, but if you''re not attacking me does that mean you don''t care that I''m a Vampire?" (I) "I''ve met Vampires many times, I recognized you by pure instinct, I always trust my instinct as it was what kept me alive to this day." (Carlos) "Just like you said, I don''t care about your race, there are even Vampires who are masters of Adventurer Guilds elsewhere, why would I care about you then." (Carlos) "Mari knows too?" (I) "No, she trusts her eyes too much, but I don''t think she or anyone else notices." (Carlos) "That''s a relief." (I) "You surprise me walking in daylight, but I''ve seen so many strange things in my life, you''re just another one." (Carlos) "But let me ask you a question, how did you really meet Diana, the story I read in the report Mari gave me seems realistic, but it doesn''t explain why rica became a Demon since by the report she should be dead." (Carlos) "..." (I) "(I thought he was just another muscle head, but it looks like I was wrong.)" (I) Sigh "How did you find her too?" (I) "I met rica a few times as she was always with Diana months ago, she may have changed her appearance and race, but her way of acting, walking, behaving and talking is still the same." (Carlos) "Don''t get me wrong, her disguise was good too, but I''ve seen other Fiends use this human transformation spell, I recognized it as soon as I saw the tattoo on her arm." (Carlos) "But if you really wanted to hide her then you should have changed her name instead of keeping the same name." (Carlos) Hearing how he found out about these things will help me hide it better next time, he knows that and is telling me to help him. "You don''t seem to want to fight, nor do I think you want to do harm to me or others, otherwise you would have done something a long time ago." (I) "Then I''ll tell you how I met rica and Diana." (I) ---------- After a while talking to him about how I found Diana and rica in the cave trapped by Goblins, I also explained that I used an awakening ability on both of them, so rica turned into a Demon. I explained this to him, but I didn''t mention my race on that occasion, I''ll let him think I''ve always been a Vampire. "So that''s what happened, thanks for rescuing them, I also heard rumors that using awakening skills on someone full of negative feelings can turn that person into a Demon or a monster, but I never thought it was true until now." (Carlos) "No need to worry about anything, I won''t tell anyone, it doesn''t look like you''re doing anything wrong anyway." (Carlos) "Thank you for understanding." (I) "Alright, they seem to be happy and that''s what matters to me, but I must warn you to be careful with Prince Drago since he saw you in the Guild he''s pretty sure it was you who saved him." (Carlos) "He was so anxious that he started asking questions about you while making excuses, it was kind of funny to see that, but we just gave him your name and classification." (Carlos) This prince Drago could become a problem, I have to think about how to fix it. "Now let''s change the subject, the reason I came today was to ask for help with something, but it distracts me with these Fairies and Spirits flying around here continually alerting my senses." (Carlos) "Can''t you see them?" (I) "No, I can only feel them around, I''m not an Ago or a Spiritualist, neither do I have my wife''s eyes nor a contract with Fairies or Spirits, but I''m proud of my instincts and senses trained in countless life and death situations. " (Carlos) "The conversation shifted again, I''m sorry I''m a little distracted." (I) "You said you were going to ask me for help, what do you need?" (I) Carlos is someone easy to talk to, I was thinking about letting Kira and Diana know about our Family connection, but as I didn''t feel any bad intentions from Carlos and if he wanted to do something I don''t know if I would be able to stop it, by the time he spoke that he already knew about us he could have done something, but he didn''t do anything which shows I can have some level of trust in him, so I didn''t let anyone know. "As you may already know, we are short on adventurers since the monster waves, the dungeons are also difficult as the monsters are spread all over the floors." (Carlos) "Yes, I already know all that." (I) "I must say your group did a great job with the Great Serpent Dungeon, it would save me a lot of trouble." (Carlos) "But what I need you to do is enter a dungeon." (Carlos) Chapter 188: Carlos request I really didn''t expect Carlos to know so many of my secrets, but I''m relieved he doesn''t seem to care about them. What worries me is that he came all the way here like this to ask me to go into a dungeon, he might just have asked for it the next time I went to the Guild. "Did you have to do all this drama coming here just to ask me this?" (I) "I could have waited for me or someone else in my group to drop by the Guild and ask for it." (I) "The reason I came here is to convince you to come in, I can already imagine your response to my request." (Carlos) "..." (I) I look at him seriously, what he''s suggesting is that he''s sure I''m going to refuse the request he''s going to make, which means it''s dangerous. "I think you better say what you need soon, the way you''re talking is just making me want to say no before I even hear the request." (I) Sigh "You''re right, I shouldn''t be hanging around so I''ll be straight this time." (Carlos) "I want you and your group to clean the Dungeon of the Undead..." (Carlos) "No, besides that do you want anything else?" (Carlos) "..." (Carlos) Carlos is stunned by my instant response and keeps looking at me with bitter eyes. I was trying to maintain a calm appearance, but my heart almost stopped beating for a second with this absurd request, from what I heard the Dungeons rank start from Grade S, which means that a dungeon boss is at least Grade. S, not to mention that the Undead are hard to kill. I would never put my group in danger with a monster like that, not to mention that I''m also afraid of facing monsters that strong, it''s been very difficult to fight against Grade A monsters, I don''t need to take any more risks than we''re already taking. "You didn''t even let me finish talking." (Carlos) "That''s because no matter what you say, the answer will be the same, so I thought I''d save you from wasting your time." (I) "Don''t you at least want to hear the rewards?" (Carlos) "Not." (I) "You don''t have to worry, I''ll issue this as a special quest for your party, you can even climb straight up to a Grade S adventurer, not to mention the rewards you''ll get for both cleaning the dungeon and accomplishing the quest." (Carlos) "The answer is still no." (I) "..." (Carlos) "..." (I) Sigh "I knew you wouldn''t accept that request." (Carlos) Carlos puts on an expression of tiredness and difficulty, I know he and the Duke have been wanting to end this dungeon for a while, but I don''t understand why to do it now when we haven''t even recovered from the losses of the monster wave and why he asked for my group that isn''t even the highest-ranked in town to do that. "If you want to destroy that dungeon, why don''t you go yourself since you were a Grade S adventurer?" (I) "If you have a reason not to go, then why don''t you send another group of Grade A adventurers?" (I) "You do not understand." (Carlos) "The answer to your two questions is the same, the miasma in the dungeon." (Carlos) "Miasma?" (I) "It''s normal for dungeons that have the element of darkness or for normal Undead monsters to have miasma, but this dungeon has more miasma than normal." (Carlos) "With each floor, the miasma becomes stronger, this miasma strengthens the Undead, but decreases the strength of the Adventurers and can even harm them in different ways, including me." (Carlos) "..." (I) "I sent the Grade A adventurers, one of the groups lost three people, the best of them only made it to floor 30." (Carlos) "After that, I tried to go along with adventurers I trusted like my wife, but we were only able to go as far as the 51st floor." (Carlos) "..." (I) "It was at this point that Mari told me that you guys have been selling some monster materials from the top floors of the Great Serpent Dungeon." (Carlos) "That means your party has the strength of a Grade A party, I also remembered seeing people in your party using Light element spells and abilities during the monster wave." (Carlos) "Your group doesn''t seem to be affected by miasma either, even for strong people like me, staying so long in a place full of miasma like this is unpleasant, but I can tell you the miasma here is different now." (Carlos) "(So he even realized that?)" (I) "What I mean is that your group seems to be the best equipped to clean this dungeon." (Carlos) "We are with fewer adventurers, as you may know, having to send adventurers to this dungeon now is causing other more important missions to delay, the Duke is also harassing me to take care of this dungeon soon before the Church of Light uses it to create another wave of monsters." (Carlos) "I understand, but my answer is still no." (I) "..." (Carlos) "You really are someone difficult to convince, Zenos." (Carlos) "You know I''m not going to a place that puts me and my group at risk." (I) "To be honest we''ve already reached the top floor of the Great Serpent Dungeon, but I''m not arresting fighting the boss there as we already have information from the Guild of what it is and its capabilities, so why would I risk fighting it the unknown boss of the Undead Dungeon, a monster that we don''t have any information tops?" (I) "I respect your decision as an adventurer, but as I said before you are the only one who can ask for it." (Carlos) I understand now why Carlos chose my group, but I can''t take that risk now. While I was thinking of a way to tell Carlos to leave since I don''t intend to change my mind, suddenly someone who was quiet started to meddle in the conversation. "You worry about more master, we can train to fight the boss of the Great Serpent Dungeon before going to this Dungeon of the Undead." (Layla) "The master is missing a great opportunity, for being a new dungeon it must have many treasures." (Layla) "The Fairy is right, all the adventurers said it had much more treasure than it should have even for a new dungeon, if the dungeon boss is defeated the treasure room will open and you can have everything there, plus you will receive a quest reward that will be paid by the Duke of 70 Crystal Coins." (Carlos) "..." (I) "..." (Layla) The reward alone is bigger than I expected, I have to admit I''m curious about Dungeon''s treasures, but I still think it''s too risky. "(Why are you missing this opportunity master, accept it soon.)" (Layla) "(Since when did you get so greedy like that, you crazy Fairy, are you trying to put everyone in danger?)" (I) "(You have forgotten that everyone is getting stronger and stronger, you are also about to evolve, if you are going to kill some monsters tomorrow you can evolve still tomorrow night.)" (Layla) "(You can leave it to test your strength after evolution against the boss monster of the Great Serpent Dungeon, after that you can decide whether or not to accept the Guild Master''s proposal.)" (Layla) "(Tell him you''ll think, and he''ll answer in a few days.)" (Layla) "..." (I) For some reason, Layla is very interested in this dungeon, but what she said is right, after I evolve I might have a chance to fight a Grade S monster if I get help from Diana and the others. If I think about it, Basilisk is a monster that I have a lot of chances to win since I have resistance to most poisons and I have Irina to heal me too, the Basilisk bloodline could also be good for my plan. The Undead Dungeon will also be very good, our group is not affected by miasma, in fact, some of us might even get stronger there, but the Dungeon boss is unknown so it''s still very risky. "(Master don''t forget that Irina, Irius, you and I have Affinity with the element of Light, killing Undead will be much easier this way.)" (Layla) "(Why do you want to go to this dungeon so much?)" (I) "(Because if this Dungeon stays here, then sooner or later a Necromancer will be drawn here, they love Dungeons and places that have Undead for their experiments.)" (Layla) Now I get it, I always thought Layla had gotten over her traumas, but it looks like she still hates Necromancers, but she''s right in saying that a place full of Undead is something a Necromancer will be interested in, if one of them comes here he Ivan can see what may be a problem. "(Why everything has to be so complicated.)" (I) Sigh "You''re in luck Carlos." (I) Carlos spent all this time waiting, I think he must have understood that I was communicating with Layla telepathically, he didn''t want to interrupt knowing that Layla was the only one present at the moment who could change my mind. "So will you accept my request to end the Dungeon of the Undead?" (Carlos) "Not yet, I still think it''s too risky, I''ll talk to the others and hear their opinions, after that if everyone agrees we''ll face Basilisk that we already have information to know if we can fight an unknown Grade S monster." (I) "That''s great, I was sure you would refuse so I''ll take this little victory." (Carlos) "But first I want to know something." (I) "You can talk." (Carlos) "Does the Duke know about me?" (I) "All he knows is that a talented group of adventurers took this mansion, he doesn''t know any more than that." (Carlos) "Then I want it to continue like this, don''t tell the Duke that we are the ones who have accepted this mission." (I) "This is a simple request, don''t worry, the Adventurers'' Guild always protects the Adventurers'' information." (Carlos) Chapter 189: Elsaris Concerns Carlos left after I said I would consider his request, I could understand why he chose my group, but I was surprised by a lot of things today. One of the things that surprised me the most was discovering that Carlos had realized many of the secrets of my group and mine. Another thing that surprised me was that Carlos seems to understand how I think, he''s already come all this way knowing I would refuse his request, something I was doing before Layla stepped in and convinced me to consider his request a bit. "I still think we should forget about Carlos'' request, I don''t think it''s safe with our current strength, even if I evolve the others won''t evolve too, so it''s risky." (I) "The master worries too much, if everyone fights together we''ll be able to win, Diana certainly has thought of ways to fight Basilisk." (Layla) "How do you know that?" (I) "The last time we were at the Adventurers'' Guild I saw Diana talking to some adventurers asking about how to fight Basilisk." (Layla) "Why was she doing this even after I told her she didn''t want to face Basilisk?" (I) "I don''t know, ask her tomorrow." (Layla) "Speaking of which, what are the plans for tomorrow?" (Layla) "Before I think about it I have to talk to everyone in the morning, I''ll just face Basilisk and think about accepting Carlos'' request if everyone agrees." (I) "I think everyone will accept it, thanks to our always facing strong enemies that we are rapidly rising to our levels." (Layla) I chatted with Layla for a while after Carlos left, after that we went to bed and set a magic alarm clock to wake me up tomorrow morning. After that I went to sleep thinking about the things Carlos said, he didn''t seem to care about my race or that of others, from what he said and from what I studied in the books, there are Adventurers'' Guilds all over the world, for what Carlos said it seems that there is even a Vampire who is master of a Guild somewhere, there may even be Guilds in the Realms that the Demonic race lives, I think I was restricting my way of thinking a lot by assuming that everyone would hate me or just try to kill me for being a Vampire. Even though Carlos doesn''t care about these things I don''t know what the others think so I''ll keep being careful but I''ll try to keep my mind more open too. Before going to sleep I get two books that I asked Kira and Nira to get for me a few days ago, I want to read them before I evolve as they have some information I need. After a few hours I had finished reading the two books that weren''t too thick, so I went to sleep. zzzzzz... Zzzzz... zzzz... ---------- The next day I bring everyone together for a meeting to discuss what we should do, of course, the meeting was after everyone eats something prepared by Caryna and Freya. I started the meeting by telling everyone what happened yesterday and about my conversation with Carlos, most of them were surprised that Carlos noticed so many things except Diana, Irius, Ivan, and Sophia. It seems they already expected Carlos to notice something sooner or later because he is a Grade S adventurer, Diana said she already thought he knew and was sure he wouldn''t mind, the biggest problem would be dealing with Mari later since she doesn''t like lies, but she said there would be no problems and she will take care of it. Diana had already told me a few times that I didn''t need to try to deceive Mari and Carlos, but I didn''t listen to her, I preferred to err on the side of caution. After talking about what I talked about with Carlos I waited to hear everyone''s opinions, it seems like I do they understand why Carlos asked this for us. So I told everyone what Layla said yesterday, Diana admitted that she was looking for ways to face Basilisk in the last few days, she also said that she thought we have a chance of winning, she said that with some preparation we won''t have any problems facing Basilisk. I asked what preparations she is talking about and she said that all we need was a high-grade long-term antidote potion, she also said that we will need a petrification resistance potion, with these two potions we have a 50% chance of winning now, but if I evolve and face Basilisk head-on while they support me the chance of winning could be over 75%. Unfortunately, Lyra is still not able to create the potion we need at her current level, that''s because Basilisk is a Grade S monster and stronger than a normal Basilisk for being the boss of the Dungeon, it must be a Variant or Unique monster. After talking to everyone and giving a large sum of money to Nira, Lyra, and Ivan to go buy the potions I told the others to prepare because we are going to the Dungeon today, I wanted to kill enough monsters to be able to evolve today. ---------- I came back from Dungeon tired like everyone else, but I was happy knowing that today I would evolve again, I told everyone about it and they congratulated me, I was happy. Nira, Lyra, and Ivan were already at the mansion when we got back, it seems they got the potions with the money I gave them, I told everyone we were going to face Basilisk without tomorrow the next day as I''ll need to get used to the changes that my body will surely suffer after evolution, I have to have full control over my body and power, otherwise, it will be dangerous to me and others during battle. Everyone was in agreement and Diana said that tomorrow we would have a meeting to discuss strategies to fight Basilisk, everyone agrees with her, so we went to shower in shifts and then eat something before going to bed early to rest. I went to meditate before bed to integrate my new level before going to sleep, I had already changed jobs on the way home, so after that, I lie on my bed next to Layla who is already sleeping, and let myself be led by my tiredness and drowsiness. zzzzzz... Zzzzz... zzzz... Ding! Ding! <[ "EVOLUTION REQUIREMENTS FULFILLED" ]> ---------- Elsaris Pov: I was at one of our bases now with the most capable Vampires and servants of the Black Market, I was about to wrap up this meeting. But before that, I sent all the servants and Vampires away to have a meeting with just the Black Market executives who are just below me in the hierarchy who are trusted. An urgent matter has happened and I have to let them know so I don''t get in trouble because of someone doing something wrong. I look at the three who remain in the room seriously and think about what I have to say. "(Why is all this happening right after I take the lead here!?)" (I) "I have something urgent to announce, but you must not divulge it to any third parties." (I) "Yes, Lady Elsaris." (all) "A person from the neutral faction was sent here, I had Jay escort that person here, they should arrive tomorrow." (I) "..." (all) At my words everyone was shocked, but I can understand them as this has never happened before, but after they finally understand my words I can see the panic on their faces. "Why did the neutral faction suddenly send someone like this?" (executive A) "Have they found out about the monster wave? Who told them? Do we have a traitor?" (executive B) "Maybe they''ve come to investigate our performance, so if we stay calm and no idiots do anything to cause trouble then we should be fine, shouldn''t we?" (executive C) They don''t even wait for me to finish talking and are already making their own guesses about the matter, for Vampires who have been alive for over 800 years are very impatient. "Stop panicking you idiots!" (I) "I informed the neutral faction about everything that happened during the monster wave, this was part of our agreement with them, but I only informed it two weeks ago." (I) "From the distance and arrival time, this person should already be on their way before they receive my information about the monster wave." (I) "Do you mean to say that the reason this person was sent here has nothing to do with the wave of monsters?" (executive C) "That''s not possible, nothing out of the ordinary happened other than that, what other reason would they have to send someone?" (executive A) "(Whenever something they didn''t plan happens they panic, these idiots have become too soft.)" (I) "(Just as I imagined, only Jay is someone really trustworthy in this place, I did well to send him to escort that person to Valen City.)" (I) I look at these three idiots with disappointment. "You are needlessly panicking, we''ll know what the neutral faction wants soon, so prepare for your arrival and make sure nothing happens in town for the next few days, I don''t want any more unforeseen events." (I) The three idiots look at me and nod, calming down a bit. "Yes, Lady Elsaris." (all) "Now you can go make your preparations." (I) With my words the three go out discussing preparations and what they should do to ensure that information about this person from the neutral faction doesn''t spill over to outside ears, at least that they understand without me saying, maybe they still have some brains. in their heads. Sigh "(But I don''t know who was sent here or why?)" (I) "(What else happened in town before the monster wave, I don''t think I sent any information before that.)" (I) I try to think but nothing comes to mind, I''m pretty sure I haven''t sent any information to the neutral faction before the monster wave events. "(Wait... will that...)" (i) It was at that moment that something came to mind, the only strange thing that happened in the city besides the wave of monsters was those Vampires that walk in the daylight. I received their first information from a servant who has an eye on the slave market, after that I also received some information about their activities in the auction that took place, it was Jay who told me about them. I wanted to look for more information from them, but I was in doubt if it was worth spying on them, if they found out I could make them my enemies needlessly and without gaining anything from it, for the little information I received to know that they were not part of the Demonic faction and not even the Human faction I''m a part of, so I left them alone for a while to watch them a little longer before doing something. I ended up forgetting about them after the mess the monster wave caused, but I didn''t inform the neutral faction about him, so I''m not sure he''s the cause of this person coming. Not knowing what''s happening in my territory is frustrating, all I can do is wait and see what happens from now on. Chapter 190: Right to govern I open my eyes but all I see around is darkness, then my body is locked and I can''t move or speak. Even more, I can listen, and thanks to the many battles I fought against monsters in the Dungeon I learned to feel the presence of people around me even without using my skills, this proved very useful now since I''m also not able to use my skills. I feel another presence somewhere around me but it''s too dark and I can''t see anything, I try to at least feel the direction but I feel that presence everywhere around me. I have to get on my knees. I don''t know what''s going on here, but I feel pressure all over my body, I''ve never felt a sensation like this before. I have to get on my knees. This pressure is pushing me down and it''s getting stronger and stronger, my legs have started to shake and my knees have started to give out. I have to get on my knees. The pressure is getting stronger, my whole body is shaking now, but I could feel that the presence I feel is mixed with that pressure somehow. I have to get down on my knees now! For some reason a strange thought keeps popping into my head, I was ignoring it at first like it was a voice being heard from afar, but each time that voice is closer and louder. I HAVE TO KNEEL NOW!!! That voice has become a scream in my head, not only that but my whole body is aching, I feel like I could be crushed anytime by this pressure, I''ve never felt so important before. KNEEL! KNEEL!! KNEEL!!! Huh!? "(What is this?)" (I) "(Why am I wanting to get down on my knees? Where does this annoying thought come from.)" (I) Maybe this pressure is being made by someone, it must be the person I''m feeling the presence of, if that''s true then these thoughts could be caused by that pressure or by that person, so if I kneel down that pressure can stop. "(No, I will not give in to someone unknown.)" (I) KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! I''m barely able to breathe from the pressure right now, my head feels like it''s going to explode at this constant thought as it demands that I kneel down. "(I''m not going to kneel down, if there''s something I''ve never done in my two lives, it''s giving up and I''m not going to start now.)" (I) KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! KNEEL! My whole body feels extremely weak, I feel great pain in every part of my body, my breathing is already so weak I''m almost fainting and I''m still hearing this thought screaming over and over in my head, I don''t even know how long I''ve been like this, seems like an eternity. "(I WILL NOT KNEEL!)" (I) The poverty in the orphanage didn''t make me give up, being adopted and sent back to the orphanage time after time didn''t make me give up, my illness as a child didn''t make me give up, going in and out of the coma when I was in the hospital didn''t make me give up, being born in this world as a Leech didn''t make me give up, the hellish training I prepared for myself didn''t make me give up, and the pain caused by the synthesis of the Lineages didn''t make me give up and even without knowing almost anything about this world I guarantee that there is nothing in this world that can make me give up. My body is so weak now that I don''t even know how I can stand still, the pressure is so strong I can''t even breathe now, I feel like I''m drowning from the water and my heartbeat is getting weaker and weaker, but for some reason, I feel calm, I can die now not knowing what''s happening, but I die with no regrets knowing I didn''t give up until the end and willing my legs to keep me upright. "(I MAY DIE, BUT I WILL NEVER KNEEL!!!)" (I) Suddenly my heart stops beating and I feel my conscience slowly blurring. "HA HAHAHAHAHA..." When I thought I was going to die suddenly the pressure disappears and I feel my body go back to normal as if this had all been an illusion, then I see lights coming on showing everything around me and my previously immobilized body was free again. I look around cautiously and realize that I''m in a large hall with white walls and two rows of gigantic red crystal columns that come from behind me to my front, behind me I catch a glimpse of a door over twenty meters completely black and in front of me I see a magnificent throne made of bright scarlet red crystal. Sitting on the throne I see the only person in this amazing throne room, that''s the same person I was feeling the presence of at first and the same person who suddenly started laughing. "I should have known this would be your doing." (I) "Hahahaha... don''t look like that my child, you were exceptional, I didn''t think your belt strength would be so great." (red-haired Goddess) "You''re always the one that shows up in my evolutions, what was that now? Another one of your dumb tests?" (I) "Yes and no, that was my test, but it was also something you needed." (red-haired Goddess) Her beauty is as magnificent as ever, her old hair and her stunning beauty could captivate anyone whether male or female without a doubt, but even though I think she is beautiful, for some reason I can''t see her with feelings of desire. "As usual you can''t be direct and always talk in riddles I don''t understand." (I) She looks at me with an amused smile and looks at me as if sizing me up. "Your growth and personality as always made me proud, but have you discovered my name yet?" (red-haired Goddess) Her smile fades and her expression changes to a serious one, I can see in her eyes that she already knows the answer to her question. A few days ago I gave a quest to Kira and Nira, this quest was to find information about a red-haired vampire Goddess, I thought there shouldn''t be many, as I imagined the two found two books where she is mentioned, in a book that describes the oldest known gods and her name is listed there only referring to her as the Goddess of Blood, there was also written her name, in the other book which was a history book it only mentioned her as a Goddess of sin and destruction, but his name was also written there and it was the same name in both books. "You are known as the Blood Goddess, Selene." (I) I did well to read these books before bed, should have researched her earlier, in her two books her appearance is portrayed as a beautiful Vampire with red hair and a black crown on her head, always wearing a red dress. When I say her name I feel the space around me pulse once, the red crystal throne glows with a strong light and I feel something inside me beating like a heart. "You did well discovering my name, but your knowledge of me is still very sketchy, but that doesn''t matter for now." (Goddess Selene) "What is happening?" (I) "You should discover my name for yourself, just so you would be able to fully release the Blessing I gave you at your birth and the lineage you were born from." (Goddess Selene) "Normally you wouldn''t feel anything right now until you return to your body as in this place you are just a soul for now, but your lineage is a little different and it also affects your soul." (Goddess Selene) "Which?" (I) "We don''t have much time so I''ll give you some advice as you haven''t figured it out yet, but you can merge all your bloodlines together into one, just so you''ll receive the powers of those bloodlines into your body completely, you can also grant the minor bloodlines from which your blood is formed as well as your abilities, so don''t worry about their special plan." (Goddess Selene) "I will also say that the time has come for you to drink the Dragon blood you possess, but you can only drink one cup a day, any more than that your body will not be able to take after obtaining the full Dragon Bloodline and merging it with yours you can do what that letter said." (Goddess Selene) "I''ll give you some information about what you''ll need and how you can do what''s in that letter, but you''ll have to think for yourself to increase the chances of this plan, I say about this one as I don''t agree with it, but the decision is your." (Goddess Selene) Goddess Selene raises her finger and a red light comes out of her finger and enters my head showing me a lot of information. "That''s the best way for you to do it, so be careful because I don''t even know what the outcome will be." (Goddess Selene) "..." (I) "I also want you to deliver something to the person I sent it to, deliver it the moment you use your skills on it." (Goddess Selene) Goddess Selene opens her palm and I see a red light shine and concentrate forming a bright red crystal that flies and enters inside of me. "Give it to that person, you''ll know the right time." (Goddess Selene) "I will also help you to use your astral body skill one more time, you must use it on the person who will come to you, then you will be sealed again." (Goddess Selene) "Before you go I''ll congratulate you on meeting the requirements for your next evolution." (Goddess Selene) I feel something strange and look at my hand, I''m startled to see my hand becoming more and more transparent and disappearing. "With your bloodlines, titles, subordinates, power and now with the mindset you acquired on this test you finally acquired your right to rule and true authority, something Kings would kill for, couldn''t expect less of you, congratulations." (Goddess Selene) "Wait, what did you just..." (I) Before I was done everything disappeared and the last thing I saw was an amused smile on the face of this strange Goddess. "I look forward to seeing what else you will do my dear Zenos." (Goddess Selene) Chapter 191: Nobility and Authority Ding! Ding! <[ "EVOLUTION REQUIREMENTS FULFILLED" ]> . . . <[ "ANALYZING POSSIBLE EVOLUTION POSSIBILITIES" ]> . . <[ ANALYZING TITLES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING WORKS ]> . . <[ ANALYZING LINEAGES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING SKILLS ]> . . <[ ANALYZING BLESSINGS ]> . . . . . . . Ding! . <[ COMPLETE ANALYSIS ]> . . . <[ LOOKING FOR SUITABLE EVOLUTION ]> . . . <[ TEN SUITABLE BREEDS HAVE BEEN FOUND ]> . . . <[ CHOOSE YOUR RACE: ? [ Vampire of the Noble Twilight (Duke) ] ? [ Great Blood Kimera (Variant) ] ? [ Kimera Superior Vampire (Variant) ] ? [ Demonic Vampire (Unique) ] ? [ Energy Vampire (Unique) ] ? [ Demon of Sin (Variant) ] ? [ Corrupting Demon (Unique) ] ? [ Sacred Vampire (Unique) ] ? [ Destroying Vampire Serpent (Unique) ] ? [ King Snakeman of Blood (Variant) ] I have more races to choose from than I thought, most are superior versions of the old choices I discarded, some have the same name but the (Variant) in the name has changed to (Unique). The choices with names Serpent and Snakeman are because of the Bloodlines I have, I will discard both as I plan to continue as a Vampire for now. The only choices I''m going to consider are the ones I''m going to use my Identification skill to learn more about. Ding! <[ Identification result: [ Noble Twilight Vampire (Duke) ]--> A Vampire who has a noble bloodline, possesses abilities to manipulate both light and darkness, and is unaffected by daylight. A Vampire who has the authority and right to command other weaker Vampires, those who are his subordinates and servants become stronger under his command. Characteristics: ? Average increase for Mana (MP), Spirit Power (EP), and Ki reserves. ? Large boost to vitality (HP). ? Moderate increase for all statuses. ? Your normal Aura acquired the authority trait representing your right to lead others. ? Those who are transformed by you will be considered your descendants and indirectly empowered by your authority. ? You are not affected by miasma. ? You are not affected by sunlight. ? Your authority increases the power of Aura, Intimidate, Submission, and Control-type abilities. ? Your learning ability is perfected. ? You have the right to grant titles to your servants and subordinates. [ Holy Vampire (Unique) ]--> A Vampire who carries the blood of a God, its very existence spreads the will and authority of the God that originates that blood. This Vampire is considered an apostle and a Saint of that God and is given the right to rule and lead the believers of their God. Characteristics: ? Large increase for all energy reserves. ? Large boost to vitality (HP). ? Big boost for all statuses. ? Your normal Aura acquired authority traits representing your right to lead others. ? Those who are changed by you will be considered servants and believers of your God. ? You are not affected by abnormal statuses. ? You are not affected by sunlight. ? You are able to use Holy energy. ? Your Divine Blood increases the power of Aura, Intimidation, Submission, and Control-type abilities. ? You are unaffected by Auras without Demon or Divine energy. ? You are not affected by miasma. ? Your divine Blood increases the power of Awaken, Transform, Control, and Strengthen-type abilities. ? You have the right to grant titles to your servants, subordinates, and believers of your God. ]> "(...)" (I) I was speechless, these two races are absurd, both races talk about authority, this must be what that Goddess wanted with that stupid test. But what surprised me the most was this Sacred Vampire race, what an absurd power this race has, it is not affected by abnormal effects and does not suffer any submission, Aura, or control effects, this is ridiculous. I would choose this Holy Vampire if it wasn''t for this Holy thing and being an apostle of the God of origin of your blood. In fact, this race just made me understand what Bloodline I had that I wasn''t able to read, I must have the Goddess Selene''s bloodline, which explains why she always calls me "child of my blood" and why it helps so much, she might see me as a son, so she always talks about how proud she is of the things I do if I''m right she is very strict with her son. I''m terrified of what might happen if I choose this Sacred Vampire race, I might increase the influence of this crazy Goddess on me, and I might draw attention on a scale I don''t even want to imagine. Not to mention that I don''t even know how my body can change once I evolve into this race, so I''m going to ignore this race too. So I''m going to choose the race that seems to be superior to what I already have, that race will increase my powers too and give me this power of authority, so I think it''s already decided. I choose [ Vampire of the Noble Twilight (Duke) ]. Ding! <[ "VAMPIRE OF THE NOBLE TWILIGHT (DUKE) CHOSEN" ]> . <[ "BEGINNING EVOLUTION" ]> . . . . . <[ "PROCESS EVOLUTION" ]> . . . . . . <[ "COMPLETED EVOLUTION" ]> ---------- The next day I wake up and feel a great power running through my body, not only that I feel different, but I can''t tell what it is. Ding! Ding! Ding! As soon as I open my eyes and before I have time to think straight several system sounds start ringing in my head, I ignore everything, for now, first I have to better understand what''s going on. I remember choosing my race in my sleep, but it''s not something you do fully consciously, so I guess I missed a few things. I ignore the system messages and avoid looking at all of my statuses, for now, just want to find out if what I thought earlier was right so I look straight to the bloodlines part and it seems like I can finally read the bloodline that I couldn''t before. As I had thought, this lineage belongs to that Goddess, I have had this lineage since I was born in this world, which means that this Goddess helped me in my birth probably. Another thing I missed was that in the description of the Sacred Vampire race I was talking about Holy, Divine, and Demonic energy. But I wasn''t describing what they were, from what I''ve learned from the books I''ve read so far I imagined that there were other types of energy, but this is the first time I''ve finally seen something citing these energies, maybe I should find out more about this in the future when not have so many things in mind. I stand up and look at my hand, noticing my skin color is still the same, after which I go to a full-length mirror and remove my clothes to see what changes my body may have had. "..." (I) I don''t see any change at all, just my face has changed a little more, for some reason my face is more androgynous than before, I must admit I''m prettier but I''m not happy with this ambiguous beauty, I''m sure there will be people who they''ll mistake me for a girl and if that happens I can''t tell if my frail heart will bear it. Not only that but I also noticed that I got a little taller again, my height should now be 1.25 meters, but I don''t feel happy even with this good news. I have a slim body and an androgynous appearance, I must say that if it weren''t for my great friend down here I would already be thinking that I might be turning into a woman with these evolutions. I stare at my reflection in the mirror and realize I''m crying, so I look down at my palms. "Why does it seem like with each evolution I''m moving away from my long dreamed muscular body?" (I) "Why can''t I look the way I want? Is this Goddess'' fault? Is this my Luck''s fault?" (I) "Who am I to blame for this cruel fate!?" (I) No matter how many times I think about it, I can''t understand it, it''s okay that my luck is negative, but that''s too cruel. "(I should know by now that things don''t always go as you wish or expect, but I won''t get discouraged.)" (I) I look at my reflection in the mirror and wipe away my tears. "It''s like that saying goes ''as long as there is life there is hope'', I will not give up until the end." (I) After wiping my tears I put my clothes back on, my clothes are a little too small on me now, it looks like I''m going to have to ask Tania to adjust my clothes or make new ones for me. I look back at the mirror happy that my eyes haven''t changed, the only thing that has never changed in all my evolutions are those eyes, this is the part of me that I like the most and that I''ve gotten used to seeing every day in the mirror. After getting dressed and having confirmed my body I take a look at the bed where Layla is still sleeping, I''m surprised how much she looks like a doll when she is like this, nor does she even look like the little Demon with wings I know. I''m going to leave Layla asleep and go to the balcony of my room, give the air a few punches in different bliss and with different strengths, do this to confirm my current speed and strength before looking at my status. I found out in my last evolution that seeing your status doesn''t mean much, you can know in your head your current strength, but it doesn''t do any good if your body doesn''t understand your capacity and if you don''t know how to control your power. That''s why I''m doing it now because it doesn''t matter whether or not I''ve seen my status, and also why I can''t sit still any longer with all this power running through me. I spend a few minutes performing the martial arts of the Fist of the Lord of Chaos, it helps me to better understand my new body. After a few minutes, I get some sense of my current strength, so I stop and sit in a chair on the porch, go through the system notifications and then check my status to see what else has changed. Chapter 192: True ruler Now that I''ve checked my appearance and checked my strength a little, it''s time to check out the system notifications. Ding! Ding! <[ Your skill has evolved [ Improved Strength: 10 ] > [ Superhuman Strength: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Fire Magic Elemental Affinity: 10 ] > [ Higher Fire Magic Elemental Affinity: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Pain Resistance: 10 ] > [ Great Pain Resistance: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Recovery: 10 ] > [ Super recovery: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Great Magic Body Booster: 10 ] > [ Magic Warrior''s Body: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Intimidation: 10 ] > [ Deadly Intimidation: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You purchased the titles: ? [ Son of the Goddess Selene ] ? [ True Ruler ] ]> . . <[ Your title seal [ He Who Awakes Chaos ] has been released upon completing the requirements ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Presence of the Governor: 1 ] ? [ Self-improvement (Leadership): 1 ] ? [ Exceed limits: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ The seal of your [ Blood Pact ] ability was released upon completing the requirements ]> . . . <[ Her bloodline [ Selene (Goddess of Blood): 100% ] has been awakened ]> . . <[ Her Blessing [ Selene (Goddess of Blood) ] has been awakened ]> I already knew about her lineage and her Blessing, I''ll check them out in a bit, I can also understand the skills that evolved, but I didn''t expect to gain these titles and skills, I''m going to have to identify some of those things that I have no idea what they are. I first used identify on the skills that evolved, wanted to confirm how much they changed, but they seem to have similar effects as before, they just got stronger and changed their name, the only skill that changed the most was intimidation which now allows me to increase the effect of the skill with using my Aura skills, it looks like I can even kill someone weaker than me out of fear using this skill now, I''ll have to avoid using this skill with my Auras so to make sure I don''t kill a person for an accident. After identifying the evolved abilities I start identifying the abilities, titles, lineage, and Blessing I now have. <[ Lineage identification result: [ Selene (Blood Goddess): 100% ]--> Lineage that originated from the Goddess Selene, the first Vampire, one of the Divine pillars that protect and take care of reality. Characteristics: ? This bloodline greatly increases Awakened, Transformed, and Corrupt abilities. ? This lineage of great talent in learning and training. ? This lineage of a great store of energy and vitality. ? This bloodline is the oldest that exists among the Vampires and has a great latent talent for the owner. ? This bloodline carries a streak of Divine power that protects and hides the owner from the influence of enemy Gods. ? This lineage destroys evolutionary constraints giving infinite possibilities for evolution. ]> "..." (I) "(But what absurd lineage is this?)" (I) There are so many absurd things in this lineage that I don''t even know where to start, so I''m going to pretend I didn''t see anything, this was just an illusion, this is certainly an illusion caused by my drowsiness as I just woke up, now let''s go to the Blessing. <[ Result of the identification of the Blessing: [ Selene (Goddess of Blood) ]--> This blessing is bestowed by the Goddess Selene. This blessing increases the power of blood element abilities. This Blessing increases the effect of Aura-type abilities. This blessing increases the effect of healing and recovery-type abilities. This blessing allows the owner to adapt to any type of lineage. ]> "..." (I) This blessing is ridiculous, but at least I managed to understand one thing I avoided thinking about, it helped me to see why I can keep so many bloodlines inside my body without turning into a grotesque creature with body parts of various races. I never stopped to think about it out of fear, I always avoided thinking about it, but now I know that this blessing helped me. This blessing gives me many benefits, some even stacking with the benefits of my lineage and race, but I will never complain about it. Now I''m going to take a look at these titles. <[ Result of identification of titles: [ Son of the Goddess Selene ]--> The owner of this title is recognized as the direct son of the Goddess of Blood Selene and therefore will be recognized as a living Saint by the believers of the Goddess Selene while being hated by the believers of Gods enemies of Selene. BONUS: The followers and subordinates of the owner of that title are strengthened within the range of his Aura. The owner of that title can awaken the lineage of his subordinates. [ True Ruler ]--> The Owner of this title is recognized as a ruler, not by his social status, work, lineage, or title bestowed by others, but has been recognized as a true leader by those who follow him, by a God and acquired an authority in his own right proving himself worthy to rule over others. The owner of this title will have his Aura marked with his authority as a symbol of a true ruler. BONUS: Strengthening-type skills for subordinates and servants become stronger. Aura skills become stronger. Submission, leadership, and coordination skills become stronger. Those within the Aura of the owner of that title will be weakened if you are hostile to it. [ He who awakens chaos ]--> The owner of this title is a being who does not follow pre-established rules, a being who attracts and is attracted by chaos. The owner of this title has his body and soul marked by chaos giving unlimited potential for growth. BONUS: The Aura of the owner of this title cannot be restricted or suppressed by others. The owner of this title will have all abilities, spells, and techniques such as awakening and strengthening with double power. ]> Sigh "(What should I say about this?)" (I) I''m glad for the benefits of these titles, but their names and some of their effects are throwing me on fire. As well I''m someone who gets involved in the chaos, I''m a normal person and I''m living a normal life by following all the rules, I''m always trying to avoid problems and get attention, so why do I have such a dangerous title? Come to think of it now, this title [He Who Awakes Chaos] is one of the titles I haven''t read before, so was it this title that looks like a curse that has caused so many things to happen around me? Sigh As if I didn''t have enough problems, now I will be hated for no reason by believers of Gods I don''t even know because of that title [Son of Goddess Selene], it seems that more than ever I need to learn to control Aura manga so I don''t get involved. in trouble. I don''t even want to mention this Ruler title, just the title name is causing me trouble. "(What have I done to deserve all this?)" (I) Every time I identify a title, lineage, or Blessing, another magnet of problems sticks up for me, I''m afraid to even check those skills right now, but I better get it over with. <[ Skills identification result: [ Ruler''s Presence: 1 ]--> Aura-type Ability. This ability doubles the effects of the abilities and status of defenses and resistances of the owner of this ability. Effect: Servants and subordinates within the Aura will have doubled Strength, Agility, and Defense stats. Enemies within the Aura will be subjected to great pressure that can be strengthened with the energies of the owner of this ability. Cost: Normal activation: NONE Ruler Pressure: The pressure becomes greater with the amount of energy used. [ Self Improvement (Leadership): 1 ]--> The owner of this skill becomes stronger by fighting alongside his subordinates and leading them into battle. Effect: Gain (+50) all physical stats when leading your followers into battle. [ Exceed limits: 1 ]--> The owner of this skill can move normally ignoring abnormal effects, wounds, and energy depletion for a period of time, but when the skill''s effect time expires, the condition of the owner of this skill becomes two times worse. Effect: Duration: 30 minutes Daily Uses: 1 [ Blood Pact ]--> This skill forms a bond of servitude between the skill''s target and the skill''s owner. In exchange for being bestowed with power and having its potential awakened by the ability''s owner, the target of that ability becomes a Servant of that ability''s owner. Effect: This ability cannot be blocked. This ability cannot be denied. This ability awakens the potential of the chosen target. The target of this ability will be bestowed with a power belonging to the owner. This ability can interfere with the target''s body, mind, and soul. This ability can heal, change or transform the target within the possibilities of the owner''s power. COST: Spiritual power: depends on the target Mana: depends on the target Ki: depends on the target ]> I''m happy with the skills, all are very useful and will be very important to me, the skill that will be the most useful for me without a doubt will be [ Overcoming limits: 1 ], this skill is a double-edged sword, but it can be the difference between life and death at a critical moment during a battle. Another skill that will come in handy seems to be [ Ruler Presence: 1 ], this is more of an Aura-type skill, from what I''ve heard from Diana and Sophia, Aura''s skills are hard to learn, but I already have four of them, by the way. that I''ve learned these Aura skills represent the crystallization of a characteristic of someone''s normal Aura, so I''m worried about how strong my Aura is getting. This [ Blood Pact ] ability is much more powerful than I previously imagined, it will act as I understand how I was able to help Layla. I''ve never had that many surprises in any of my previous evolutions, but I''m concerned that most of those surprises are getting me into future trouble when all I want is to live quietly with my family. I look at my hand trying to recognize what I am and what I''m becoming, so I get up and walk to the edge of the porch, it''s time to see my status. Chapter 193: Arrival of someone long awaited After so many surprises with this evolution, I was afraid to check my status, I just hope my luck has stopped being negative, that alone would be enough to make me happier. I was on the porch, I took a few deep breaths before opening my status to see what had changed. <[ NAME: Zenos RACE: Noble Twilight Vampire (Duke) GENRE: Man LEVEL: 1/100 EXP: 42/300 LINEAGE: ? [ Selene (Blood Goddess): 100% ] [ Twilight Vampire (Zenos): Original ] [ Horned Rabbit: 100% ] [ Little Spider: 17% ] [ Gray Wolf: 100% ] [ Kobold: 100% ] [ Human: 100% ] [ Dwarf: 14% ] [ Tiger Beast: 17% ] [ Vampire Bat: 100% ] [ Earth Monkey: 100% ] [ Blood Wolf: 100% ] [ Infernal Serpent (Unique): 100% ] [ King Snakeman (Variant): 100% ] JOB: [ Novice Dark Mage ] WORK LEVEL: 1/30 WORK EXP: 0/100 WORK HISTORY: ? [ Apprentice Wizard: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Warrior: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Martial Artist: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Hunter: 10/10 ] [ Novice Adventurer: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Thief: 10/10] [ Apprentice Trader: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Alchemist: 10/10 ] [ Novice Warrior: 20/20 ] [ Great Martial Master: 70/70 ] [ Novice Mage: 20/20 ] [ Novice Thief: 20/20 ] [ Novice Merchant: 20/20 ] [ Novice Hunter: 20/20 ] [ Mage: 25/25 ] [ Warrior: 25/25 ] [ Thief: 25/25 ] [ Merchant: 25/25 ] [ Adventurer: 25/25 ] [ Hunter: 25/25 ] [ Apprentice Killer: 10/10 ] [ Novice Killer: 20/20 ] [ Killer: 25/25 ] [ Novice Fire Mage: 30/30 ] [ Novice Wind Mage: 30/30 ] [ Novice Earth Wizard: 30/30 ] [ Novice Water Wizard: 30/30 ] [ Novice Light Wizard: 30/30 ] HP: 1140/1140 MP: 1250/1250 Ki: 700/700 EP: 1400/1400 Strength: 800 Dexterity: 630 Agility: 700 Defense: 540 Intelligence: 940 magic defense: 570 Charm: 659 Luck: -50 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: ? [ ? ] [ He Who Brings Chaos ] [ World Transgressor ] [ Last of His Race ] [ First of His Kind ] [ He Who Brings Chaos ] [ Named Monster ] [ Unique Monster ] [ True master ] [ Elemental Mage ] [ Goblin Chief ] [ Grade B Adventurer ] [ Literate ] [ Thief ] [ Kidnapper ] [ Goblin Killer ] [ Friend of Spirits ] [ Blood Child ] [ Daywalker ] [ Patriarch (Vampires of the Twilight) ] [ Shadow Eclipse group leader ] [ Fairy Friend ] [ Faerie Contractor: Layla (Fairy of Lesser Chaos) ] [ Master Alchemist ] [ Pervert ] [ Monster Slayer ] [ Founder of Chaos Techniques ] [ Son of Goddess Selene ] [ True Ruler ] ]> "..." (I) I look up at the morning sky, the weather is cloudy, maybe it rains this afternoon, then I look at the mansion grounds below, it''s all calm and I can see the Spirits and Fairy Infants flying around freely, luckily it doesn''t seem to be increasing the number of them. I take a few deep breaths to keep myself calm and try to look back at my status expecting a different result. "..." (I) "(How did this happen? Why has all my status doubled in all values? And why is luck still negative? Is this a prank by chance?)" (I) Sigh I try to take another deep breath to calm myself down, I can''t keep getting this nervous about every single thing that happens, or else I''ll end up having a heart attack someday. Being calmer I look at my status accepting what I see and trying to understand the changes. The luck stat is still negative to my regret, I''m sure it''s because of this horrible luck that so many bad things are happening to me, all I wanted was to live a happy and peaceful life, but something always happens to mess up this simple dream. I feel the tears running down my face, I wipe the tears away and start to analyze the rest of my status. I was happy to see my vitality grow so much, you never have too much HP, it will give me more chances of survival if I fight Basilisk, I was also very happy that my energies are almost all in value ??of more than a thousand, that it will allow me to fight longer and more freely without worrying about running out of energy in the middle of battle. The other stats also grew a lot, it seems that I will need some training to get used to values ??this high, I had noticed from the brief training of a few minutes that there was a big difference in my power, but I didn''t imagine it would be so much. After finally finishing checking all the changes in this evolution I decided to go get something to eat in the kitchen, on the way I ran into Irina and Irius who were talking on the stairs. I joined them and we went down together going to the kitchen, on the way they told me that they had acquired Aura skills, not only that they feel a strength inside them that doesn''t belong to them, that was the subject they were talking about when I showed up, so Irius commented that this strength within them is similar to what they feel from me, maybe because they are considered my descendants and have my bloodline within them, they are receiving a part of my powers through that bloodline in some way. After eating and talking to everyone explaining my changes a bit, we decided to face Basilisk tomorrow afternoon, Diana, Irius, and Ivan said that with my current status I am strong enough to fight a Grade S monster, but I still can''t. win alone. One of the things I found out about Ivan is that he had a +S Rank strength when he was still alive, but his strength dropped a lot after becoming a Death Knight becoming an -A Rank, he said that after becoming mine Servant and regaining some of his abilities he should have a strength comparable to Grade -S by now, but that''s just in theory, he said he''s a little rusty after so many years trapped in that secret room, he''s been training with everyone but his strength is far superior to them, so he can''t train with everything he''s got. In order to solve Ivan''s problem I said that we will train together today all day, as my status has grown so much I am in a better position to train with him and this training will also be useful for me. ---------- Ivan and I spent a lot of time training, starting with unarmed fights, then to fights with our weapons, and finally fights using our skills. The mock battles between the two of us went much further than I could have imagined, the training arena I built for everyone behind the mansion was in pieces of rubble, he and I were so engrossed in combat that we didn''t realize the damage we caused to the surroundings, Freya was furious with the mess we caused. During training, it was an almost unilateral beating by Ivan against me, and I realized that the biggest problem was not combated skills and techniques, but combat experience. Ivan helped me a lot by showing me that I was wasting the chaotic and unpredictable moves of my martial art because I was attacking too head-on without paying attention to the enemy''s next moves, and that was just one of the things he taught me. After such an intense workout and having the muscles in my body so sore we went to clean up our mess and go get something to eat. This training with Ivan was very useful for me and for him, I feel that I understand and can better control my new strength now. As I''m clearing the rubble with the others, I suddenly see Caryna coming calling out to me. "Master! Master! We have a visitor!" (Caryna) "..." (I) "(Visit? Could it be...)" (I) After Caryna came closer I asked her what this visitor was like, she replied that it was a woman with an overcoat, hood, and a mask, she said to show me something and Caryna takes a red crystal coat out of her pocket and shows me. As soon as I see it I recognize it, in the throne room where I met the Goddess Selene in my last evolution, this coat of arms was marked on the crystal columns and on the black doors, it was even marked on the throne where she was sitting, at that moment I ignored it thinking that was part of the decor, but it might be the Coat of Arms representing the Goddess Selene, so that person might be who I was hoping for. I take one last look at the Goddess Selene''s Coat of Arms, I can feel a similar presence to the pressure that nearly killed me in the test that Goddess put me through, so it must be her Coat of Arms, it''s made of scarlet red crystal on the shaped like a half-moon, it has a black crown in the center of the moon and a drop of golden blood on the top of the crown. I hand the crest back to Caryna and tell her to let this masked person in and return this crest to her, in the meantime I''m going to take a shower and get ready, I''m in no condition to entertain guests like that. "(Finally a guest who knows how to use the magic bell item at the gate, instead of ones that only invade other people''s property.)" (I) It was high time I got to know this person, I''m curious about this person since I made that deal with the Goddess Selene, one of the reasons for my curiosity is to know who this person is and why the Goddess Selene wanted to send this person to me, it''s high time I found out the Goddess Selene''s intentions about this. Chapter 194: Looking for a fresh start Elsaris Pov: I was in a secret office, this room is in a poor restaurant that has almost no customers, a facade to hide this office. This time it was just me and Jay in this spot, we''re sitting across from each other as I finish checking this week''s smuggled goods list. "Are you saying you left her at that little Vampire''s mansion by the name of Zenos?" (I) "Yes, my lady." (Jay) "(So I was right, the neutral faction envoy came because of him.)" (I) "What did you think of her for the short time you accompanied her here and then to Zenos''s mansion?" (I) "She is a total mystery, I couldn''t see her appearance or even feel her Aura if I closed my eyes I wouldn''t even know she was there, her concealment level was too high." (Jay) "For some reason, she doesn''t speak, you can only communicate with her through telepathy as you yourself experienced." (Jay) "Yeah, I noticed the same things, she also seemed calm all the time and didn''t let on at all why she came here." (I) "But I have something to report that she can''t talk before." (Jay) "What would it be?" (I) "I found out how she came to this continent, she came being brought by a Dragon." (Jay) "Have you seen the Dragon?" (I) "No, I just felt the remnants of her presence, but that alone was enough to make me shiver with fear, it was definitely not a simple Dragon." (Jay) "This information alone is of great use." (I) None of this makes sense, the level and amount of concealment items she was using was abnormal, her communicating only by telepathy was also strange, but the strangest thing was that she asked to be taken to that mansion the moment she arrived. "(It''s frustrating not knowing what''s going on, I knew I should have contacted that Vampire Zenos sooner.)" (I) "Ask them to keep an eye on that mansion, but don''t let anyone in there." (I) "About the Eclipse mansion, I have something to report to you." (Jay) "What is it this time?" (I) "As you instructed I took the envoy to the gates of the Eclipse mansion and then came back." (Jay) "When I was in front of the mansion I could feel that the miasma around the mansion was different, not only that I could feel a powerful hiding barrier all around the mansion''s grounds." (Jay) "..." (I) I was completely speechless, how it is possible for a barrier this size to appear and no one notices, nor can I imagine the level of preparation and items used in a ritual to make something this large. "(The people in this mansion are either crazy or are hiding something important in there.)" (I) Jay and I continued the meeting for a few hours, we went over the information we had on Zenos and his group, I was doing this to try to find some clue as to why this neutral faction envoy was here. ---------- Zenos Pov: After taking a shower and dressing in some last-minute new outfit Tania made for me I head to the room beside the ballroom where I meet the people the Goddess Selene wanted me to meet. This person is wearing a hooded robe and a mask, she is completely hidden, not only that but Nira stopped me on the way to let me know that the clothes, mask, and accessories this woman is wearing are all magical items she cannot appreciate with her skill, all she has been able to discover is that the necklace this woman is wearing seems to be the most powerful item. I tried to use my detection ability on her, but it surprised me to realize that I didn''t feel anything, didn''t detect her energy, presence, blood, or vital energy, not only that I can''t even smell her even though I''m so close, one thing What took me a while to get used to was my sense of smell has improved like my skill and becoming stronger along with my other senses throughout each of my evolutions. "(Why is she hiding herself so deeply?)" (I) "(If it weren''t for the shape of her body I wouldn''t even realize she''s a woman.)" (I) I walk up to our guest and sit opposite her, as soon as I entered the room I realized that everyone else was present, but none of them sat, they were behind the sofa facing our guest, they were waiting for me to sit there. , so I did it. After I sit down Caryna and Alice take a tray of appetizers and two glasses of juice leaving one in front of me and the other in front of our guest on the coffee table between us. "Nice to meet you, my name is Zenos." (I) "..." (guest) "..." (I) I try to introduce myself first, but she doesn''t say anything, so she reaches inside her overcoat pockets and pulls out a folded paper, handing it to me next. The paper was handwritten in beautiful calligraphy, there were few words written there just saying that this person cannot communicate normally, to talk to them I have to use a skill, magic or telepathic technique to communicate through our minds. I found this strange, there are many strange things in this whole situation and in this person, but I made a promise and I will keep it, I don''t think the Goddess Selene would do anything to harm me since she has been the one who has helped me the most since I was born this world. I used a simple telepathic spell of non-elemental magic that Irina taught me, I used that spell by choosing only me and the guest as targets to have an uninterrupted conversation. "(Can you hear me now?)" (I) "(I could hear you before too, sorry I couldn''t answer you properly before.)" (Guest) "(My name is Vanessa, I am delighted to meet the holy son.)" (Vanessa) "..." (I) How does she know that I only found out about it a little while ago, I thought only the Goddess and I would know it, I haven''t even told the others all the details yet, after all, how am I going to explain being a child of a Goddess? "(How do you know that?)" (I) "(I''m sorry if I surprised you, I''m a priestess with an oracle skill, I was honored to hear the voice of the Blood Goddess on a few occasions, she was the one who told me about you in my long sleep.)" (Vanessa) "(Are you a priestess?)" (I) "(So you are the priestess of the Goddess Selene? Is that why she chose to send you here to watch over me?)" (I) "(Yes and no.)" (Vanessa) "(I''m a priestess, but unfortunately it doesn''t give Goddess Selene.)" (Vanessa) "(The holy son is also mistaken for my reason for being here.)" (Vanessa) "(If you are not her priestess, then whose are you?)" (I) "(I''m a priestess of the God of Light, Baldr.)" (Vanessa) Hearing this I get up and remove my weapons while I jump backward putting me in combat position, the others not having heard our conversation are with faces confused by the sudden change but they also have weapons in their hands and in combat position, but Vanessa doesn''t move from his position and doesn''t make a single move. "(Please calm down holy son, I''m not an enemy, I actually came here looking for help.)" (Vanessa) "..." (I) "(You were mistaken to think that the Goddess Selene sent me here to watch over you, in fact, she sent me here for you to help me.)" (Vanessa) "(If that''s true then why are you so hidden away?)" (I) "(Because I am hiding from the believers of the God Baldr and the influence of the God of Light Himself.)" (Vanessa) "(Centuries ago I was a devout priestess, but then I gradually realized that the teachings of the Church of Light went against my own beliefs when I questioned these things I found myself in a dangerous position and had to flee.)" (Vanessa) "(Unfortunately you cannot run away from a God, his believers can feel my presence and God himself can use his blessing that he gave me in the past and that he had accepted at the time to influence me.)" (Vanessa) "(At that time the leader of the neutral Vampire faction helped me and welcomed me into her family, turning me into one of her daughters.)" (Vanessa) "(Unfortunately that wasn''t enough to help me, on the contrary, it made the God Baldr''s influence on me a curse that will lead to my death eventually.)" (Vanessa) "(But thanks to my becoming a Vampire I was able to listen to Goddess Selene, she told me I could free myself from the influence of the God of Light if it came to you.)" (Vanessa) "(These concealment items are to hide me from the God of Light and His believers, I cannot remove them until I am free from that influence.)" (Vanessa) "..." (I) "(All I''m looking for is a fresh start for me, that''s why I''m here.)" (Vanessa) But what a crazy story is this, she said she''s been running away from a God and the whole Church of Light for centuries? But how can I believe this story, how can I trust someone I don''t know, I''m not even sure of Goddess Selene''s intentions, to begin with, I always feel like she''s up to something. Sigh A promise is still a promise, I won''t break my end of the bargain, Goddess Selene may be hiding something from me, but I don''t feel like she wants to harm me so I''m going to trust her this time and try to help this priestess. It also means that the reason Goddess Selene sent her to me was to save her and not to watch over me, but how can I free her from the influence of a God? Wait, the Goddess gave me something when I found her while I was evolving, she told me to give it to the person who would come in her name and I should use my abilities on her for that so I already know what I''m supposed to do. Chapter 195: God of Light Baldr I put away my sword and dagger, then look at the others who were also in an attack stance and nod my head to show that everything is fine before returning to my spot on the couch across from Vanessa. "(My reaction was hasty and aggressive, I apologize for that.)" (I) "(Okay, any Vampire would react like that when hearing someone introduce themselves as a member of the Church of Light.)" (Vanessa) "(To be honest I don''t fully trust you yet, the reason I keep talking to you like this is because of my promise to the Goddess Selene.)" (I) "(I understand, your reaction was even weaker than I expected, I thought you or one of your followers would try to attack me before you were willing to listen.)" (Vanessa) "(You talk like it''s easy but you''re covered in powerful magic items.)" (I) "(My mom is very protective of me for some reason.)" (Vanessa) "(As a matter of fact the Goddess left some instructions on how I can help you, she also left something with me that I can use to help in some way.)" (I) "(I''m very happy with this, I miss so much to move freely, see or speak, I''ve been just sleeping to protect myself for centuries.)" (Vanessa) "(Don''t cheer up yet, if I use my skills on you, then a master and servant bond will be formed between us.)" (I) "(You must decide whether you want to do this or not, it''s your choice, what will it be?)" (I) "..." (Vanessa) She doesn''t respond right away, but I feel she''s thinking carefully about it even though she can''t see her face, so she responds. "(Okay, in the end, there will be no different as I want to become a priestess of the Goddess Selene, that''s the same as becoming a subordinate or servant of the Goddess, so serving you who are her son directly only brings me closer to her .)" (Vanessa) "(Also from the way the people behind you look at me I can see they care a lot about you, so it shouldn''t be bad serving as your subordinate.)" (Vanessa) "(Since this is your decision then eat some and rest from your trip, you will need to be in the best condition.)" (I) After talking to Vanessa I left her eating the appetizers and drinking the juice in front of her, I noticed she didn''t take off the mask but lifted the mask a little enough to show her mouth to eat, I could see the fangs of a Vampire in her mouth, so she was telling the truth by saying she was a Vampire. While Vanessa ate a little and rested I gathered with the others to explain what I talked to Vanessa, everyone had different reactions, there were those who didn''t believe what she said, there were those who decided to be careful with her until they were sure of her intentions. and there were the brothers who were surprised to hear her name and her story. When I asked if they knew anything they replied that they had heard some stories of a priestess who was hailed as a saint and was loved by the people, she was someone beautiful who was the symbol of the Church of Light, but the stories say that Vampires a kidnapped and corrupted her making her turn against the religion she loved, images of her face were spread throughout all the Churches of Light around the world with orders to arrest her and bring her back to be purified or ultimately to kill her to release her from her suffering. Irius and Irina said that this is a story from centuries ago, but to this day believers in the Church of Light are taught about it and the orders are handed down to each generation, they never understood why, but they know that story seems made up, they more than others understand how much darkness exists in the depths of the Church of Light. They said they don''t know much about the subject but they know she had the potential to become a true Saint, the Church of Light would never let her get away and they said that the big chance her story is true, they also say the Blessing of the God of Light can become a curse to Vampires, Undead, Demons, and Demis. After listening to her story and telling all this to me, I can see the brothers'' eyes looking at her with sympathy and sadness. Hearing what Irina and Irius said I was more comfortable with accepting her in our group, the others weren''t against it anymore either, so overnight I took Vanessa to the ballroom where I''ve been doing this since I moved to this mansion. , I asked everyone to move closer to the walls and not interfere. "(Are you ready Vanessa?)" (I) "(Yes.)" (Vanessa) "(Very well, I will start.)" (I) I go to her with a goblet full of my blood and give it to her to drink, among the information the Goddess Selene gave me she spoke of the skills I should use in the person she sent me. After seeing Vanessa lift the mask just enough to drink the contents of the entire goblet I put the goblet away and step back from her. I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths to concentrate on what I should be doing, so I activate my abilities, start activating [ Aura of judgment: 4 ] and [ Aura of chaos: 4 ], then I see my Auras intertwining and merging around me and with a little bit of control I make my Auras involve just me and Vanessa, but right now I feel a problem, I can''t get my Auras into her body no matter what I try. As my Auras weren''t being so useful I activated in one hand the skill [ Servant Vampire: 2 ] and activated in the other hand the skill [ Blood Servant: 3 ] two red energies come out of my hands and merge as they go to Vanessa, upon reaching her the two energies start to merge with my Auras and I see a red glow starting to appear from within Vanessa, this glow that must belong to my blood seems to attract my Auras and the red energies making them little by little enter Vanessa''s body began to shake. The process is being even more difficult than I expected, I feel like I can''t lose concentration for even a second, after who knows how long later I finally feel that Vanessa''s entire body has been filled with my Auras and energies. red, then I feel my mana, Ki, spiritual power and my blood leave my body forming a cloud of energy that goes to Vanessa and starts to enter her body, at this moment I feel like something wrong is happening, I feel an energy inside her start pushing everything out, I try to control it but nothing seems to take effect. As a last resort, I use [ Blood Pact ], when using this ability I feel something move inside me, then a black claw comes out of my chest and tries to reach Vanessa, a golden barrier comes out of her body and tries to block the claw, but it is useless as the claw goes through the shield even though it slowly makes the golden shield crack and then breaks into pieces, then the claw goes through Vanessa''s chest and a black flame covers her body making her float little by little. At this moment I realize too late that the golden shield fragments turn into golden swords and try to attack me, at this moment I see scarlet crystals come out of me and destroy the golden swords completely before turning into scarlet energy and entering into mine body again. "(Do you dare try to steal my Santa, Selene!?)" (Male voice) At that moment I hear a furious voice coming from inside Vanessa and golden and white light is lit inside the black flame where she is, just hearing the voice made me dizzy and almost fall to my knees by a pressure that fell on me out of nowhere. "(Don''t be afraid my child, I''m here and I allow you to unleash your full potential.)" (Goddess Selene) Ding! <[ The seal of the [ Astral Body ] ability has been temporarily released ]> . . . <[ Ability [ Blood Pact ] automatically activates the Ability [ Astral Body ] ]> At that moment I hear the voice of the Goddess Selene in my head and a great amount of black energy leave my body, soon the shadow being formed above me, the same one that appeared when I helped Layla in the past. I see the shadow being with one of its outstretched arms tucked inside Vanessa, then he reaches out the second and stabs her too, so I can hear the Goddess Selene''s voice once more, this time it''s not directed at me, but at the voice inside Vanessa. "(You no longer have authority over her Baldr, she abandoned you upon realizing your distorted teachings, now I will release her from the curse you placed.)" (Goddess Selene) "(Your hateful Rogue didn''t make it in the past and this child yours won''t make it now.)" (God Baldr) "(I won''t let you steal someone so talented from me, Witch of Carnage.)" (God Baldr) Chapter 196: Blood Priestess I was in a very bad situation now, I could feel pressure trying to crush me but being held back by a presence that doesn''t belong to me coming from within my body, without me seeing or understanding, a battle was taking place between the wills of the Goddess Selene and the God Baldr with me in their midst. "(It''s time to free this girl from you Baldr, you don''t deserve a talent as pure as hers.)" (Goddess Selene) "(Selene, this time you managed to piss me off, do you know how many centuries I''ve been without a Saint because of you stealing her from me?)" (God Baldr) "(She is someone who accepted my Blessing and spread my teachings in the past, after recovering her I will make her be once more, even if it is in her next life.)" (God Baldr) Every word this God says feels like I''m being hit, I feel like I''m being beaten up without being able to defend myself. While I am in this situation I still try to maintain my concentration, thanks to the Astral Body I feel that I am managing to push this white and golden energy out of Vanessa. "(It''s time to end this Baldr.)" (Goddess Selene) With Goddess Selene''s words, I feel something come out of my chest and float in front of me, it was the crystal that Goddess Selene gave me during my evolution. After the crystal has appeared it explodes and scarlet energy enters the black flame where Vanessa''s body is, then the color of the flame changes from black to scarlet and the white and golden energy inside Vanessa''s body is no longer being pushed out. and yes being burned by the scarlet flame little by little within it. "(Damn you Witch of Carnage, you are a constant impediment to the salvation of this world.)" (God Baldr) "(You even use your blessing to take mine from this priestess, even if you take her you will only be condemning her to be hunted by my believers until the end of days.)" (God Baldr) "(You don''t scare me Baldr, do what you like, but from now on your influence will no longer harm this priestess.)" (Goddess Selene) With the words of God Baldr, I feel blood coming out of my eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, my whole body is weak not only from this constant pressure around me but also from the amount of vitality and energy that is still coming out of my body and going to Vanessa, I''m already way beyond my limit, as a last resort I activate the ability [ Overcome limits: 1 ], I thought I would feel better, but I don''t feel any change, I just feel like I''m able to hold on longer this one suffering now. Soon the white and golden light coming from the energy inside Vanessa completely disappears and I feel the pressure disappear as the presence that protected me from the pressure disappears as well. At this moment I feel my Auras, red energies, mana, Ki, spiritual energy, vitality, and black energy that emanated from the Astral Body completely invade Vanessa''s body at the same time that the scarlet flame also entered her body. Ding! Ding! <[ Vanessa (Vampire) chose to submit to her will ]> . . . <[ Pick a power to grant Vanessa (Vampire) ]> . . . <[ Trying to create a spiritual connection with the soul of Vanessa (Vampire) ]> . . <[ Spiritual connection successfully formed ]> . . . <[ Choose a power to form a spiritual bond with Vanessa (Vampire) ]> After her body is completely filled I''m once again surprised by the information of Abilities and Bloodlines I can grant Vanessa, I use the [ Shadow Thinking: 10 ] ability to choose the two powers I''ll grant Vanessa. "(Give her the power of darkness and blood.)" (Goddess Selene) I hear a whisper from the Goddess Selene in my mind saying what I should grant Vanessa, as this all happened due to my promise to her I decided to take her advice. I chose to grant the abilities [ Blood Elemental Affinity: 1 ] and [ Dark Elemental Affinity: 1 ]. After choosing I see two lights come out from inside the hood of my astral body coming from the chaotic space that you see inside the hood, one of these lights is red and the other is black, the two lights go flying and enter Vanessa''s body. begins to glow in a dense scarlet light. Ding! Ding! <[ Grant of power completed ]> . . <[ Successfully created spiritual bond ]> . . . <[ Three bloodlines have been found and will be fused using the Blessing of the Blood Goddess Selena using her power ]> . <[ Do you accept? ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> I feel like the effect of the ability to push boundaries is almost gone and I''m barely getting to my feet, so why does this Goddess still want to use me as an energy source to do this? Sigh Okay, I''ve come this far, so what does it cost to go a little further. I choose to accept. At this moment I feel every gram of my energy and almost all my vitality leave my body and go towards the scarlet light where Vanessa is, little by little the scarlet light disappears and in its place I see a scarlet crystal cocoon pulsing with a silhouette of a woman inside. As I see this amazing vision of the crystal cocoon floating in front of me, my Astral Body becomes a mist of black energy that returns to my body, I feel that the effect of the ability to overcome limits is over and my entire body is screaming in pain, my vision is getting blurry and my head feels like it''s going to explode any minute. Ding! Ding! <[ Three bloodlines become one and the bloodline [ Fallen Celestial Vampire: Original ] has been successfully created ]> . . . <[ You gave Life to a new race of Vampires and earned the title [ Holy Vampire ] ]> . . <[ Title [ Holy Vampire ] will be sealed until you reach the necessary power requirements ]> I could no longer pay attention to what all these notifications said and I didn''t care, I felt my consciousness slowly darkening, but before falling completely into unconsciousness I see the crystal cocoon blurringly explode and a silhouette of a woman with wings enveloped in scarlet light coming towards me was the last thing I saw. ---------- Pov Goddess Selene: I opened my eyes a little tired from this brief battle of wills with Baldr, but I finally managed to free the little priestess of her influence, now she is free to become an even more talented and devoted priestess for me, she will be very important in the future, Baldr was blind to seeing her only as a future saint, he didn''t pay attention to her personality and what she could become with a little help. Thanks to Baldr not seeing what I really wanted, I now have one more talented person besides Zenos, I''m afraid I''ve pushed him too far beyond his limits this time, but I believe he''ll handle it. "You went too far today Selene." (Goddess of Fairies) Being a little tired and lost in my own thoughts, I hadn''t noticed her presence before. "What are you doing here, Aine?" (I) "I''m here because your little confrontation with Baldr drew too much attention." (Goddess Aine) "You didn''t want to hide Zenos? Why are you making Baldr pay attention to him now?" (Goddess Aine) "To hide him better, the best hiding place is in plain sight." (I) "Your schemes are too risky." (Goddess Aine) "Today Baldr has not met Zenos, he has only met one of my children, he will treat him as an enemy, but he will not act directly and will not even realize who he really is." (I) "With Baldr''s pride and arrogance that may be true, but anyone he sends after Zenos will be enough to kill him with his current strength." (Goddess Aine) "Don''t worry about it, Baldr''s believers are busy with a conflict against an Evil God, he will not send anyone, at most he will make his believers on the Morror continent do something, Zenos will be able to do something about it himself." (I) "The other Gods won''t pay attention to Zenos either, they''ll only pay attention to my confrontation with Baldr and the priestess we both wanted." (I) "They will treat Zenos only as a means I used to bestow my Blessing on that Priestess." (I) Her face is still worried, which surprises me as I didn''t expect this level of concern from her. "Why are you so worried about Zenos?" (I) "You may not have realized, but he and his Fairy Layla managed to build a good haven for Fairy Infants, a Cradle of Fairies that with time and a little effort can even become a Temple of Fairies, this is very important to me ." (Goddess Aine) "I see, you don''t need to worry, he''ll be fine for now, I''m doing this for him after all." (I) "But I must admit that I also wanted to help that girl Vanessa, it''s not often that someone with such a pure heart and an open mind like hers comes along." (I) "I''m glad she accepts my Blessing and becomes my Blood Priestess." (I) "I don''t see that much value in her for the Fairies so I don''t mind, but try to be more careful next time, now his soul is more hurt than last time." (Goddess Aine) "I don''t even know how his soul was able to resist that." (Goddess Aine) "It will make your soul more resistant in the future, I was already planning to help your recovery if need be." (I) "Don''t bother, I''ll take care of it, I was planning to give him my Blessing anyway, it will make the process of creating a new fairy temple faster and easier in the future." (Goddess Aine) "Thank you for your help then." (I) "Get some rest, I''m on my way out now that I know you''re alright, I''m going to go take care of your precious son." (Goddess Aine) With these words she points her finger and a sphere of light comes out and makes the space in front of her ripple like water, she enters and disappears inside, then the portal disappears. I step off my throne and go to the windows looking at the memories of the past and the events of today. "Now we will see what you will do with your freedom, my Blood Priestess." (I) Chapter 197: Fairy goddess I open my eyes feeling dizzy and confused, I look around and all I see is that I''m facing a lake in the middle of a beautiful forest, I also see a big beautiful tree that is in the middle of the lake, this is a beautiful and calm sight, but I don''t understand why I ended up here. I try to remember what I was doing to get an understanding of my situation, try to go back to the first thing I remember was Caryna telling me we had a guest, then it all came back to me. I remembered meeting Vanessa, I remembered using my abilities on her, I remembered almost being stopped by the God of Light and also Goddess Selene confronting the God of Light and protecting me as I finished using my abilities on Vanessa. I remember how the pain spread through my body and how weak I felt, I also remember that listening to the voice of the God of Light made me feel a pain that didn''t come from my body if it wasn''t for the ability to overcome limits I would not have been able to maintain consciousness for so long. The last thing I remember is the scarlet crystal cocoon breaking, everything was blurry and I lost consciousness after that. "(Then why am I here? If I lost consciousness I wasn''t supposed to wake up in my room or at least still in the mansion?)" (I) "(This place also doesn''t seem to be inside the forest of blood or somewhere near Valen, maybe this is all a dream and I''m still unconscious?)" (I) "Congratulations for quickly understanding the situation." (female voice) Suddenly I hear a female voice coming from somewhere and I try to get up quickly and get into combat position, but the moment I get to my feet a gigantic pain runs through my body and I fall backward lying down with my body shaking. "You shouldn''t get up so fast, I''m not done healing you yet, come back here." (female voice) "..." (I) Soon my body starts to float to where it was before, then a golden glow surrounds my body and the pain starts to gradually lessen. As I lay looking up I have the sensation of seeing the sun moving towards me, that''s when I realized that it wasn''t the sun, as it got closer I could see a female silhouette with golden butterfly wings within the glow that I was confused with the sun. "How recklessly to go against Baldr''s influence, even being protected by Selene''s influence is still too much for a mortal soul to resist." (female voice) As she spoke she continued to move closer until he was close enough to see her. "..." (I) I was speechless to see such a beautiful woman, her beauty can only be compared to that of the Goddess Selene, but while the Goddess Selene has a dignified and dangerous beauty, this woman has an innocent and gentle beauty. She has beautiful chocolate skin with long hair and golden eyes, for some reason, she has a serious expression as she looks at me like she''s sizing me up somehow, I feel like there''s nothing about me her eyes can''t see. Being in this situation where I''m at someone else''s mercy bothers me a lot, but I don''t seem to have a choice here. "You need not fear me, I am Aine the Fairy Goddess." (Goddess of Fairies) "..." (I) "Your body has suffered several internal wounds in addition to the loss of vitality and energy, but someone is already taking care of your body, the problem is your soul." (Goddess of Fairies) "Your soul was attacked by Baldr''s influence, even though Selene protected you it''s still inconceivable for a mortal soul of your level to resist, even with that resistance skill it still wouldn''t be enough." (Goddess of Fairies) "..." (I) It was shocking enough to know that this person is a Goddess, but hearing her speak is starting to make me realize how reckless I was this time. "Looks like your soul is tougher than an ordinary mortal soul, maybe that''s because you''re an Outsider." (Goddess of Fairies) "(Does she know I''m an Outsider? How?)" (I) "I''m a Goddess and I have your soul in my hands now, you can''t hide anything from me." (Goddess of Fairies) This Goddess looks more and more dangerous, it seems I was fooled by her appearance, her personality is the opposite of what she appears to be. Soon she stops looking at me with serious eyes and smiles gently at me, then raises one of her hands and multicolored energy surrounds me, this energy makes the pain disappear completely leaving me relaxed and comfortable, somehow I feel like I''m being embraced by a dear relative, I feel safe. "You don''t need to fear me, son of Selene, I''m here to help you this time and this time only." (Goddess of Fairies) "Normally I wouldn''t do that, but because you''re Selene''s son and because you rescued a Fairy that should have been lost, I''m going to make that exception." (Goddess of Fairies) "You were lucky that the gods cannot exercise their powers through their blessings, all we can do is bestow potential and protection." (Goddess of Fairies) "(She means those golden swords and that pressure weren''t attacked?)" (I) "The pressure was only the result of a small part of Baldr''s will, the golden swords and shield were the result of the protection of the Blessing that Baldr granted one day to that Priestess." (Goddess of Fairies) "Do you think you could resist any other way? Even in that situation you were only able to resist because of Selene''s protection and your soul being a little tougher than usual." (Goddess of Fairies) "In addition to healing your soul, I will grant you my Blessing, the reason for this is because you and the Fairy who is at your side have created a Cradle of Fairies with the potential to become a Temple of Fairies." (Goddess of Fairies) "I didn''t expect such a young and weak Fairy to be capable of this, so I''ll give you both my Blessing for this achievement." (Goddess of Fairies) This Goddess spent a few minutes healing me as she told me many amazing things, then she lowered her hand and my body was no longer engulfed by that energy, I got up and looked at her floating in the air, such a beauty that I was mesmerized by some seconds. "You''re okay now, your soul will be more resistant to damage in the future and more powerful too." (Goddess of Fairies) "But your Aura will be branded with a rejection of Baldr, Baldr''s believers will feel disgusted for you for feeling it instinctively, so be careful in the future." (Goddess of Fairies) I see the Fairy Goddess land on the surface of the lake and walk towards the tree in the center, she waves her hand and a sphere of light comes out of her hands and seems to hit something invisible in front of her creating ripples like water in the shape of a circle where she is about to enter. "Thank you for healing me, Goddess Aine." (I) "I advise you to get strong soon, Baldr is busy right now so he won''t send his mighty believers after you and this priestess, but he won''t forget what happened." (Goddess of Fairies) "..." (I) With my words, the Goddess stops and leaves one last message before entering what must be some kind of portal. The last words of the Goddess of Fairies showed me that it''s not over yet, at least I found out that I still have time to grow stronger, but I don''t know how much time I will have. Sigh "It feels like the quiet life I so longed for is getting further away." (I) I think it can be dangerous to stay in the city of Valen for a long time, but there is also the issue of the mansion. The Goddess of the Fairies said she gave me her Blessing because Layla and I tried to harmonize the miasma of the mansion, she called it the Cradle of the Fairies and she seemed happy about it so I can''t leave the mansion but it''s also dangerous to stay there. Sigh "What am I going to do?" (I) At this moment the information that the Goddess Selene gave me during my evolution and the letter I received from Prince Drago comes to mind, I also remember some information that I read in books before. I feel like the pieces are somehow fitting together in my head, the image this puzzle is putting together is bizarre, but maybe it can work. "Even if it works out somehow, I''m going to get a lot of attention, I don''t know what consequences it will have for me either." (I) I look at this beautiful landscape and realize that everything is starting to fade, it looks like I''m going to wake up soon. "Too bad I can''t enjoy this beautiful landscape any longer." (I) "Should I give up my desire for a quiet life at once?" (I) "Maybe if I''m strong enough to protect myself and others and also find a safe place where I can hide from prying eyes I can have my life at ease, but a dream place like that will be hard to find." (I) Chapter 198: Vanessas fresh start Upon waking up the first thing I see is the familiar ceiling of my room, I try to look around and see a scene I''ve seen before everyone lying asleep around me all over my room, the only ones not here are Freya and Vanessa. Ding! Ding! <[ His skill leveled up [ Big mental disorder: 3 > 6 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Great Pain Resistance: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Weak Soul Damage Resistance: 1 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Aura of judgment: 4 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Servant Vampire: 2 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Exceed limits: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Aura of Chaos: 4 > 5 ] ]> . . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Weak Soul Damage Resistance: 10 ] > [ Soul Damage Resistance: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You have received a Blessing [ Aine (Goddess of Fairies) ] ]> . . . <[ Your [ Friend of the Fairies ] title is affected by your Blessing and transforms into [ Guardian of the Fairies ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the title [ Heretic (Baldr) ] ]> "..." (I) Raising so many levels of resistance to soul damage made me realize how much I really was in danger, it seems that the damage I took was much higher than I imagined it would be, it seems that the Goddess of Fairies spoke the truth when she said she was surprised for my soul to have withstood it all. I don''t even want to look at the other stuff, especially this title. Damn it, I knew this was going to happen, but I had no idea it would become a Heretic title. Sigh "(I don''t want to know this anymore, I just woke up and I don''t want to worry about something beyond my control.)" (I) I try to get up and get out of bed, for some reason I feel good and full of energy, I thought I was going to wake up feeling tired or still sore, I''m glad to find out I was wrong. Not wanting to wake the others up and leave the room without waking anyone, this time was worse than Layla''s turn, so I don''t know how many days I''ve been unconscious. I''m going to leave them to rest and I''m going to look for Freya who should already be awake to find out how much time has passed, I also want to check on Vanessa to see if she''s alright. I leave the room and the first place I go is to the kitchen, knowing Freya must be preparing delicious food for everyone. As far as I could see it''s still early morning, when I''m near the kitchen I start to hear pot noises and smell an aroma that fills my mouth with saliva. I walk into the kitchen and see Freya cooking with a smile on her face, she looks at me and her smile gets even bigger. "Glad to see Master Zenos is awake." (Freya) "I''m happy too, but I wonder how long I''ve been unconscious?" (I) "You were unconscious for one night, we thought you would be sleeping longer." (Freya) "I told everyone to go to their respective rooms, but no one wanted to be away from the master." (Freya) "Did you say one night? But that time with Layla lasted three days, this time was even worse as it only passed so little time?" (I) "You must remember that you evolved, not only that but Vanessa expended all her strength to heal you." (Freya) "She continued until she passed out, so we took her to a separate room to rest." (Freya) "You were covered in sweat and blood, so I, Irina, and rica took you to the bathroom to clean his body before taking him to the bedroom." (Freya) "..." (I) "(They did what?)" (I) I have nothing to be ashamed of in my body, but it feels weird knowing that someone messed with my body while I was unconscious, felt the same way when I was in the hospital in my previous life, and had nurses cleaning me during my coma. When I look at Freya she doesn''t seem the least bit embarrassed to say that, I think I''m thinking too much about things, Freya is someone who has lived a long time, she won''t mind this kind of situation, since I''m someone who doesn''t even I had a girlfriend in my previous life, even if there are people who want me in this life I was hoping to at least get bigger for that, but I don''t think I need to wait any longer, when things are calmer I''ll think about it again. "Are you sure rica didn''t do anything weird to me in the bathroom?" (I) "As a matter of fact she tried, but Irina was watching her closely." (Freya) "I must inform you that the idea of ??all this came from Diana, but the master needn''t worry as Irius, Ivan and Leo prevented her from reaching the bathroom." (Freya) "You made the right decision, thank you." (I) Diana would be even more dangerous than rica, but it seems they had everything under control. After talking to Freya I understood everything that happened, it seems that when I lost consciousness Vanessa had already finished her transformation and awakening, everyone was worried about my state which by Freya''s descriptions was horrible, Lyra made me drink energy potions and HP while Irina and Vanessa continued to heal my body. That still didn''t explain why I was unconscious for so little time, but I think the damage to my soul recovered faster because of the Fairy Goddess. I''m grateful for that, if it weren''t for her I don''t know how long I would be unconscious or if I would be able to wake up again. ---------- After everyone woke up and saw that it was okay, we had something to eat, Vanessa didn''t leave her room, so it looks like she needs some time to rest as she wasn''t completely okay either after everything that happened, so I still can''t. seeing her, only Caryna went into the room where she is to bring food. During the night I was outside sitting alone in one of the rubble that was once the training arena, when someone approached from behind, even though I never heard their voice directly I knew who it was. "Why are you out here alone?" (Vanessa) I was very surprised by what I saw when I turned around, her straight pink hair pulled back in a ponytail, her skin white as snow, her eyes one red and the other golden, her height 1, 65 meters is its curvaceous body. She is beautiful, her appearance resembles that of someone lovely, calm, and intelligent, but what most caught my attention in her appearance was the pair of red wings on her back which surprised me a lot. "..." (I) "Please stop looking at me so intently, master Zenos." (Vanessa) "Wings? How..." (I) "I was also surprised, I didn''t think that would happen, it took me a while to understand how these things work." (Vanessa) "Now I can do this." (Vanessa) Suddenly the wings start to glow red and then disappear, Vanessa turns to show that the shirt she is wearing has no back, it must be one of Erica''s shirts that also has wings. The important thing is what I see on Vanessa''s back, I see a tattoo of a pair of closed red wings that cover the entire back of her back. "As you can see it took me a while to learn how to do this, luckily I remember my dad talking about how it works." (Vanessa) "..." (I) "From your reaction, I think the master has never seen a Celestino before, has he?" (Vanessa) "You''re right, I read some mentions of them in books, but it wasn''t very detailed and I didn''t dig deeper." (I) "So let me start by talking about the Celestina race." (Vanessa) Vanessa walks over to me and sits on another piece of rubble in front of me. "The Celestines are a race opposed to the Demonic race, the Fiends are aggressive and possess strong desires, while the Celestines are a studious and calm race, they are a long-lived and intelligent race were very few choose to learn to fight." (Vanessa) "The Celestine culture is based a lot on Gods, that''s because it''s a race originally created to serve the Gods in ancient times, all Celestians will be in a religion of some God, that''s why the desire to serve a God is in every Celestine from the day he is born." (Vanessa) "My father was a Celestine and my mother a human, both were believers in the God of Light Baldr, I am a hybrid who was born with the great magical and elemental Affinity of the Celestines like my father, but with the human appearance like my mother. " (Vanessa) "As a hybrid, I always had both bloodlines inside me, but the Celestine bloodline was always dormant within me, when I became Vampira I lost my human bloodline in exchange for the bloodline my Vampire mother gave me only to transform me, but then my father''s lineage was still there dormant." (Vanessa) I suddenly see a gleam of happiness in Vanessa''s eyes. "When you were changing me you bestowed on me your Vampire bloodline and also awakened my Celestine bloodline, so when the Blessing of the Goddess Selene was delivered to me the three bloodlines merged." (Vanessa) "The oldest bloodline of Vampires that belongs to my matriarch, the daywalker bloodline that belongs to you master, and the celestial bloodline that belongs to my former father." (Vanessa) "Because of this I became a new type of Vampire thanks to you and the Goddess Selene, I inherited the abilities and physical traits of the three bloodlines as well." (Vanessa) "As you can see from my appearance, Celestines have wings that are not completely physical, with an ability that everyone possesses they can transform their wings into energy and absorb into their bodies creating an image that represents their wings as well as mine. case." (Vanessa) "You surprised me a lot with your appearance, but after your explanation, I think I understand." (I) "Why did you come out here at night, were you looking for me?" (I) "Actually, I came out here to think about a question of mine." (Vanessa) "I have a doubt that I''ve been thinking all day, I don''t know if I should call you master for being your subordinate now or should I call you Father as it''s the Patriarch who granted me your lineage just like Vampire customs say, which would be better?" (Vanessa) "..." (I) Chapter 199: Guardian of the Fairies Pov Dora (Shadow Fairy): I''ve been flying through this town for the past two days, I''ve looked at almost every corner of this town but I can''t find anything, I feel like there''s something here, but it''s hidden somehow. Luckily there aren''t many Fairy Contractors in this town and not many people with skills to see me, but there are still a few dozen of them, if it was in an Elven city half the population could see me. During one of the nights when I was thinking about going back to Jana and saying I hadn''t found anything again, I suddenly feel a very powerful presence drawing me in, but I don''t know where it is as it seems to be under some kind of concealment, so I decide to enjoy it. this opportunity to take a fresh look at the city. After some time I see the Fairy Infants that used to fly through the city as well as me all going in the same direction, I didn''t feel anything from that direction, but I know that Fairy Infants are very sensitive to energies and Auras due to not having a mind or auras yet. body, being made of the pure concentration of energy and instinct. When I followed the Fairy Infants I also saw some Spirit Infants go in the same direction, then I checked into a strange mansion covered in black mist. When I approached this mansion I could feel the pure power of the Dark element that is superior to my shadow element, I also realized the barrier that covers the entire mansion, this must be the reason I couldn''t find this place until now. I get even closer and feel that the barrier is damaged in some parts, but it is slowly repairing itself, I also notice that the barrier does not block the entrance, this barrier is just to hide it, that''s good as I can get in without any problems. , seeing as the Fairy Infants get into this place I know it won''t be an enemy that will be inside, I also need to talk to whoever is there to be able to bring Jana here without her being considered an enemy since I don''t know what the people in this mansion are. feel about the Ghouls. As soon as I cross the barrier and enter I feel surprised, comfortable, and instantly safe, the strong dark energy in this place is strengthening me and healing my tiredness from spending so much time looking around the city, this place is very nice and I see many Fairy Infants flying around. everywhere, that''s when I realized what this place was. "This is a Cradle of Fairies!" (I) "What kind of crazy fairy makes a Cradle of Fairies in the middle of a city!?" (I) While I was in shock from the disbelief of what I was seeing, I noticed too late the multicolored light that was leaving the mansion and coming straight towards me. At first, I thought it was an attack, so I got into combat position to defend myself, but the light stopped in front of me and I could see it was a strange fairy, she was humanoid with different colored eyes, red hair with a streak of a one side being black and a lock on the other side being white, her skin was brown and she had four arms. What surprised me the most were her wings that had seven different colors and I felt the energy from seven different elements coming from her, her presence mixes with the environment of the Cradle of the Fairies which shows that she was the one who created this place. "Hello, this is the first time a normal fairy has arrived here, it''s also strange that the Infant Fairies are coming in like that." (strange fairy) While I was surprised by this strange Fairy I realized that it wasn''t she or this Cradle of Fairies that was emitting the presence that made me comfortable and safe, the place I felt this presence was inside the mansion and now I could understand that this presence comfortable feeling was coming from someone''s Aura. "My name is Layla and I live here, what''s her name?" (Layla) "My name is Dora, I am a Shadow Fairy." (I) "You can make yourself comfortable here, just don''t disturb the master, he''s unconscious at the moment, but the others have already taken care of him and taken him to bed." (Layla) "Your master? Is that comfortable and powerful Aura I''m feeling his?" (I) "Yes, the master is very dear to Fairies and Spirits." (Layla) "..." (I) This weird fairy named Layla is very friendly, but now I know what Jana and I came looking for, she was this Fairy''s master, I can feel a strong, chaotic, authoritative presence coming from this Aura, that''s what the Keeper sent us to look for. "Did you build this Cradle of Fairies? Why did you build it in the middle of a city?" (I) "Cradle of Fairies?" (Layla) "..." (Layla) Layla has a confused face for a few seconds and then seems to remember something and her face turns pale. "Would you believe me if I said I did this by accident?" (Layla) "By accident..." (I) "(How does someone build such a large Faerie Cradle by accident? What kind of craziness is this weird Fairy talking!!?)" (I) It''s no use continuing on this subject, even if I''m surprised by this Cradle of Fairies and this strange Fairy, that''s not why Jana and I are here. "Actually I was wanting to find your master, is that possible?" (I) "Of course, but that can''t be right now, the master had a little problem while helping a new mate just now, so it''s just going to have to wait until he''s awake." (Layla) "When will this be?" (I) "Something similar happened when the master helped me, that time he was unconscious for three days, so if you come back in a week it would be better as this time his condition was much worse." (Layla) "One week..." (I) "(Every second counts for us, but we can''t do anything if he isn''t awake to hear us either.)" (I) "I can bring my master here with me in a week so is she a Demi?" (I) "No problem, the master doesn''t care about the race of others, I''ll let him know of your visit when he''s awake." (Layla) While talking to Layla strange lightning and shadow flew from the mansion towards us, when they arrived I could see it was a spirit and a dangerous monster called the Cursed Raven, so I got into combat position ready to attack if necessary, but Layla waved her hands to stop me. "Take it easy, they are my friends." (Layla) "What are you doing out here at this time Layla, who is this Fairy?" (Spirit) "She''s a Byakko guest, and she doesn''t need to worry as the master is fine now." (Layla) Sigh "You are very carefree about your own master." (Byakko) "That''s because I can feel his condition from our connection, he''s been recovering very fast this time, so I know he''s fine." (Layla) As they spoke I could see the Cursed Raven flying around calmly, it doesn''t look like it will attack happily, the Spirits and Fairy Infants around don''t seem to be afraid of it either which is weird considering they are usually the food of this kind of spectral monster. "Try not to take too long, we''re having trouble holding Diana and consoling Caryna who is still crying from seeing Zenos like that, so come back soon." (Byakko) "Let''s go back, Yomi." (Byakko) The Spirit by the name of Byakko flies back to the mansion with the Cursed Raven which seems to have the name of Yomi. "They don''t understand how strong the master is, they worry too much, but I think it would be good to comfort Caryna, she was so shocked by what she saw." (Layla) "Looks like you guys are busy so I''ll be back in a week with my master, alright?" (I) "Of course, make yourself comfortable." (Layla) After saying that Layla flies back to the mansion, this place and these people are weird, I''ll go back and let Jana know, from what I could feel about this Arua I already know who Layla''s master is. "A Guardian of the Fairies..." (I) ---------- Zenos Pov: I spent some time talking to Vanessa at night outside the mansion, I told her I didn''t care what she called me, so she decided to follow Vampire traditions and culture calling me Dad just like Irina and Irius. When we were thinking about going back inside the mansion I saw Layla flying up to me and landing on my shoulder. "What was it Layla?" (I) "I almost forgot to tell the master something." (Layla) "What happened yesterday did some damage to the concealment barrier, but I already fixed it." (Layla) "Now that you say it, I really think the number of Fairies and Child Spirits has increased, good job fixing the barrier without my asking." (I) "Another thing that happened is that we had a visitor yesterday while the others took care of you." (Layla) "A visit? Who was it?" (I) "It was a Shadow Fairy, I talked to her a bit and she seems to be someone friendly, she asked if she could talk to you, but I said I was unconscious and asked to come back in a week as I didn''t know when you would wake up." (Layla) "She said she also has a master Demi and asked if she could come with her, I said I could, okay?" (Layla) "That''s fine with me, but as it''s been a day, it will be in six days." (I) "I don''t think it''s a problem." (I) "I wonder what they want to talk to you about, Dad?" (Vanessa) "We''ll know when they arrive." (I) Chapter 200: Facing Basilisk part 1 After I entered the mansion with Layla and Vanessa, I gathered everyone, it''s time to fight that Basilisk and it''s going to be tomorrow was what I told them. I tell everyone about the plans and strategies I thought to fight Basilisk, the group that will fight will be composed of Ivan, rica, Diana, Kira, Irius, Irina, Ibuki, Freya, and me. During this month I took Freya to the Dungeon several times to get used to fighting with us and I found out how good it is to have a fast and accurate ranger in the group, Ivan has never fought with us in the Dungeon, but he has more Battle experience than all of us and is the strongest member who will be responsible to fight Basilisk head-on together with me. Because Ivan is an Undead the poison attacks are useless against him, also because he is an Undead it will be difficult to get hurt as he only has bones and still has the ability that gives him beautiful evil-looking armor. I was doubtful about taking Ibuki, but she can already use some spells and is good at fighting melee, she is ready to evolve and everyone agreed that her chances of becoming an Oni are very high. After discussing the strategies we''ll use in battle, I told Nira to distribute the antidote and paralysis resistance potions to everyone. I told Vanessa to stay behind as it would be very dangerous to take her along, that''s because she''s not used to her current body and doesn''t have any kind of team training with us, even Ivan knows how we fight since at least we train together, that''s why I told Vanessa to stay this week training to get used to her body soon. With everything resolved, we went to eat, and then I told everyone to go to bed since we''re leaving early tomorrow. I was alone in my room being accompanied only by Layla who is a little tired from spending the day repairing the mansion''s hiding barrier, so she lay down on the bed and blacked out. I wanted to go to sleep, but first I''m going to synthesize some skills and start drinking Dragon''s blood, among the information the Goddess Selene gave me was how much I could drink a day since I don''t know what will happen when I drink the Dragon blood I will leave to do this last. I walk out onto my bedroom balcony and sit in a chair, then go over the skills I already have so I know which ones I''m going to pick before I start. Ding! <[ Activating Synthesis ]> . . <[ Searching for selected targets ]> . . <[ Targets found ]> . . <[ Do you want to synthesize skills? ? [ Poison spit: 6 ] ? [ Spit of paralyzing poison: 1 ] ? [ Spit of necrotic venom: 1 ] ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> "(Yes)" (me) Ding! <[ Choose the energy you want to use for synthesis: ? Mana: -90 ? Ki: -150 ? Spiritual power: -220 ]> I choose to use mana. Ding! <[ Starting synthesis ]> At this moment I feel the skills inside me blending together, this feeling is strange but it''s not harming me and it soon ends, after using the synthesis so many times I''m getting used to it, the skills synthesis is much easier than the lineage synthesis at least. Ding! <[ Summary completed ]> . . <[ [ Poison spit: 6 ] X [ Paralyzing poison spit: 1 ] X [ Necrotic poison spit: 1 ] = [ Poison spit (paralyzing/debilitating/necrotic): 1 ] ]> Now I''m going to choose one more synthesis, so after seeing again the skills I choose the ones I want to synthesize now. Ding! <[ Activating Synthesis ]> . . <[ Searching for selected targets ]> . . <[ Targets found ]> . . <[ Do you want to synthesize skills? ? [ Vampire Bite: 1 ] ? [ Paralyzing Bite: 1 ] ? [ Poisonous Bite: 1 ] ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> "(Yes)" (me) Ding! <[ Choose the energy you want to use for synthesis: ? Mana: -100 ? Ki: -155 ? Spiritual power: -270 ]> I choose to use mana. Ding! <[ Starting synthesis ]> Once again I feel the synthesis melding my abilities within me. Ding! <[ Summary completed ]> . . <[ [ Vampire Bite: 1 ] X [ Paralyzing Bite: 1 ] X [ Poisonous Bite: 1 ] = [ Deadly Vampire Bite: 1 ] ]> I''m going to stop here today, I have to start thinking better about the skills I''m going to synthesize, I''ve been trying to synthesize similar skills, but that won''t always work, so I want to consider the compatibility between skills to get good results. Now that I''m done with the skill synthesis it''s time to drink the Dragon Blood I''ve been saving for months. I take the storage ring I always keep with me and take out one of the bloody barrels, now that I''ve become stronger and have sharper senses I know this isn''t a simple barrel, its wood looks very strong and I can feel several magic circles drawn from the barrel. inside of it. Before opening the lid I get a metal cup that is the exact size I need, being prepared I open the lid of the barrel and a strong smell of blood fills my room, I still feel the sense of fear I felt in the past, but it''s a little smaller and I''m also feeling hungry, my mouth is full of saliva and my belly starts to rumble. I take a glass of this blood that feels fresh as if it was taken from a living body now, with my senses I can feel the strong vitality in that blood and the great amount of energy, after taking the glass full of blood I close the barrel and I put it away again before drinking the entire contents of the glass at once. Argh!!! Blood runs down my throat like magma, Wild energy runs through my body causing a terrible amount of pain, I lean against the wall to keep from falling as I feel my vision darkening. "Ahhh!!!" (I) I do everything I can to resist, I don''t want to be unconscious again, after what seems like an eternity the pain stops and I can hear the noise of the notification as I sink to the floor in exhaustion. Ding! <[ You have acquired the lineage [ True Dragon: 05% ] ]> I knew this blood wasn''t normal, but I didn''t expect to have such a big reaction, for a moment I thought I was going to die, now I understand why Goddess Selene said I could only drink that much a day, I would die if I was going to drink more than that. At this rate, it will take about 20 days to have a complete pure lineage, but I''m in no hurry, I''m just sad for having gone through so much pain and not even getting a skill, but I know that as long as I keep drinking this blood sometimes I''ll get a powerful skill. "That blood may have made me suffer now, but it was delicious, certainly the best I''ve been able to drink so far." (I) I lay on the floor resting for a while before going back to my bed, as I forgot to put the barrier of silence the others in the mansion heard my screams, but I calmed them down saying it was nothing, meanwhile Layla was thrown on the bed sleeping like a stone. I throw myself on the bed too and go to sleep. zzzzzz... Zzzzz... zzzz... ---------- The next morning Caryna comes to wake me up while Freya is preparing the food, everyone packs their gear in preparation for the Basilisk fight. After eating we go to the Guild to get the quests referring to the materials that we can take from Basilisk''s body, we didn''t get all the quests as many of the materials will be delivered to Anton, Tania, and Lyra when we get back. After picking up the quests we head to the Great Serpent Dungeon, while we are on our way Diana repeats some basic information for us to understand. "As she said before, when entering the Dungeon Chief''s room there is no escape, the exits only open when the Chief dies or we do." (Diana) "So it''s the same with the other floor bosses, we just need to kill them, don''t we?" (Ibuki) "Many adventurers are afraid to enter the floor boss room as if they fail to kill the boss they will die, but for a dungeon boss it''s even worse." (Diana) "Monster races can be divided into three levels, normal races that are found all over the floors of a dungeon, variant races that are a variation of the same race, are stronger and have more vitality like the floor bosses that appear to every ten floors, lastly there are the unique races that have power over the variants and even have special abilities these are the dungeon bosses." (Diana) "Even with the strategy we put together it can take a long time to kill him if he doesn''t hit any vital points." (rica) "Leave this to me and Byakko, as soon as I find a good opening to his vital point we can end the fight." (Kira) "For people who have never faced a Grade S monster, you guys seem pretty calm." (Ivan) "We are calm because we already have a lot of information about the monster and already have strategies ready to face him, we even have you who will fight with us." (Irina) "Don''t get too confident, unforeseen things can happen and with my luck, I can''t afford to be too confident." (I) "I''ll do my best to support you guys from the back after the first attack." (Freya) With this type of conversation, we arrive at the Dungeon of the Great Serpent, as soon as we enter we go straight to the top floor, as soon as we leave the safe room we find ourselves enveloped in the middle of a forest, this floor even has its own sky with a single moon, I use my detection skills to avoid the monsters as we head towards the Basilisk that we already know is in the middle of the forest. It takes us three hours of walking to get to the middle of the woods, there we see walls of ruins over fifty meters with vines growing on them, these walls are cracked and chipped and they look terrible, but we know there''s no way to break them. We started around the walls to the entrance to the ruins which is a large door over twenty meters high that appears to be made of black iron with details of snakes and Serpents carved directly into the iron. "We''ve arrived, make your last preparations before entering." (I) Chapter 201: Facing Basilisk part 2 We rested for thirty minutes and then drank our antidote and petrification resistance potions that I asked Nira to buy me the other day, the effect of the two potions will only last thirty minutes and each person has two more of each potion in store in case the fight breaks out. prolong too much. Before entering we also asked Irina to use her white magic to strengthen us before making her drink a MP potion to recover before we decided to enter. "I''m opening the door." (I) Everyone is in combat formation with me and Ivan in the lead, I go to the gate and push lightly, then the gate opens almost by itself showing a long dark corridor with a light in the background. "We will." (I) We started walking in formation to the end of this corridor and saw the gate close behind us, it only took us a few minutes to reach the other side, Diana told us the stories of the Grade A adventurers who once fought the Basilisk, so I know what this ruin is for real, but it still amazes me to see it with my own eyes. This place is a gigantic coliseum, the stands are fifteen meters high, the arenas are in ruins and there are statues and broken walls on all sides. I and the others tried to look around while trying to find the location of Basilisk. "Look in all directions and stay together." (I) "Freya and Irina be prepared for my signal when Basilisk appears." (I) "Yea!" (Irina/Freya) We continued walking through the coliseum looking out around us, I used my detection skill to find the Basilisk and started walking towards it. In a few minutes, we found him curled up sleeping on top of one of the most intact arenas in this coliseum, the Basilisk measured over twenty meters in length and had a body thickness of two meters, he was gigantic, his head didn''t look like a snake, it looked like more like a dinosaur''s head, just seeing its body made me understand how tough its scales must be, its scales look like shiny iron plates. "(Am I really going to have to fight this thing?)" (I) Sigh "(Can''t retreat now, this is the best time to attack.)" (I) "Ivan now!" (I) "< Bones Prison >" (Ivan) Ivan raises one of his hands which starts to glow green and black, then puts his hand on the ground and a black circle appears around where the Basilisk is and from the ground, inside that circle, big sharp bones start coming out to wound and trap the body of Basilisk. Unfortunately, Basilisk opens his eyes just as the circle appears around him, he with a speed that should be impossible with this large body jumps five meters tall escaping Ivan''s confinement ability. From above the Basilisk uses its tail to hit the bones underneath it breaking everything and making the ground shake almost throwing us to the ground. "What a monstrous force is this!?" (I) "Irina and Freya get ready, you''ll only have one more chance." (I) "Ivan, get ready to do the same attack again after me." (I) I activate all four of my Aura skills at the same time and do cover all surroundings this will strengthen all my allies, it can also damage Basilisk, I also activate the Deadly Intimidation skill which will be strengthened because of my Auras, and with that Basilisk is temporarily immobilized. "Your turn Ivan!" (I) "Take this chance too, Freya!" (I) "< Bones Prison >" (Ivan) "< Harden >" (Irina) "< Enchant Element: Light >" (Irina) "< Double Shot >" (Freya) In the brief moment when Basilisk was immobilized Irina increased the power of Freya''s arrows before she shot Miranda in Basilisk''s eyes, one of the arrows hit one of the eyes, but the second arrow was blocked by Basilisk''s tongue which managed to defend the other eye. In the pain of losing an eye, the Basilisk broke free of my intimidation, but before it can dodge like the last time, a huge amount of bones grow out of the ground and hold half of the Basilisk''s body in place, so Freya makes a second attack with assistance from Irina. I see Basilisk is using his tail to try to free himself from the bones, but there''s no time, he tries to move his head but I''ve been waiting, I use my skills [ Magic Enhanced Line Production: 2 ] and [ Control and Manipulation of line: 3 ] to tie the Basilisk''s big mouth and attach the lines to three statues that are on either side of him, this should be enough to keep his head in place enough for Freya to finish off the other eye and how his mouth is. closed by my lines Basilisk cannot use its tongue to defend itself again. After Freya landed his blow and the Basilisk was blind he went into fury mode, he broke the bones that held him and broke the lines that held his jaw, he was blind but sent a poison breath attack in our direction. "< Light Shield >" (Irina) "< Guardian''s Shield >" (Irius) Irina and Irius made two shields to protect us, Irina''s ear breaks with the pressure of the attack but Irius'' shield barely resisted, when it was starting to crack the attack was over, but when I looked around there was purple mist spread around the surroundings, I know this is poison so I raise my hands to use a mid-level wind element spell. "< Windstorm >" (I) With this magic, a powerful gale spreads with me like the center dispersing the poisonous mist. Basilisk didn''t wait, not knowing where we were he started running in circles hitting everything around, we had to take this opportunity as the reason to aim his eyes was to avoid his ability to petrify his eyes. "Attack from a distance!" (I) "Freeze him, Layla!" (I) While giving orders I used a Beginner water spell and put 200 MP in order to wet Basilisk''s entire body. "< Ice Tornado >" (Layla) Layla put her four hands forward and they started to glow with a bluish-white light, then a big tornado with sharp ice fragments comes out of her hands and grows bigger and bigger until reaching the Basilisk, unfortunately, the ice fragments didn''t hurt her resistance body, but that attack served to freeze his body. "Attack now!" (I) Irina uses her chains of light to bind the Basilisk''s neck while trying to use her ability to corrode the chains, Irius runs to the Basilisk with the blade of his sword glowing white and shoves it into the wound in one of Basilisk''s eyes, rica puts a purple magic circle on the Basilisk, Diana, Ibuki, and Sophia begin to hit the Basilisk with everything they have, Freya is joining her wind power into an arrow preparing a mighty attack, Layla uses her space magic to try to cut the same multiple times place and Kira with the help of Byakko uses a spiritual technique that hits the Basilisk with a powerful bolt while I do the same as Freya and prepare a powerful attack for when he breaks free of the ice. Baammm! After receiving so many attacks in a few seconds the Basilisk breaks free from the ice and knocks everyone away, Irius who was the closest was almost crushed if not for Ivan who was already dressed in his armor and held the Basilisk''s attack with his body. "< Piercing Arrow >" (Freya) At that moment Freya shoots a powerful and very fast arrow that manages to open a large wound on Basilisk''s head. "< Explosion >" (I) I use a beginner spell that dumps half of my mana creating a big red sphere that flies up to the Basilisk and explodes throwing it backward, at which point two giant ice spears hit where his eyes were while Byakko in his tiger form is in the top of Basilisk''s head with open mouth pointed at the grate wound that Freya caused. From Byakko''s mouth comes a continuous beam that hits the wound causing the Basilisk to scream and thrash around hitting its head on a giant statue crushing Byakko there. Without missing this opportunity Ivan and I run to Basilisk I thrust my sword full of my poison into the burned wound that received Byakko''s attack while Ivan uses his superior strength to deliver a powerful blow that hammers the sword into Basilisk''s head which lets out one last scream before falling to the ground causing a small shudder. Ding! Ding! Ding! I ignore the notifications now and run to see how Irius and Byakko are doing, Irius has a broken arm while Byakko has returned to his small form and is unconsciously being hugged by Kira. "How''s Byakko doing, Kira?" (I) "He''s hurt but he''s going to be fine, he turned his skin to iron before the impact that used up all the spiritual energy I put into him, so he didn''t take as much damage, he just needs some rest." (Kira) "So everyone is fine, Irius'' broken arm will heal with a HP potion and some healing spells from Irina." (I) "It was easier to kill Basilisk than I thought." (rica) "I said we could do it, I said the master was being too careful." (Diana) "Maybe you''re right, but this was only possible because we already knew Basilisk''s capabilities, so we were at an advantage from the start." (I) "But it doesn''t change the fact that the fight only lasted ten minutes, maybe less." (Sophia) "(I''m glad no one was seriously hurt, I made sure to think about these attacking strategies together with Diana, almost all of them worked well.)" (I) "Now let''s see what we''ve gained." (I) Chapter 202: Dungeon Treasure of the Great Serpent After we manage to kill Basilisk with a few wounds I realize that I spent almost all my mana and it looks like it was the same for the others. As soon as I see everyone is fine I go to Basilisk and bite one of his wounds and start drinking his blood until I can''t get any more, so I''m going to take a look at the notifications. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 2000 EXP from enemy kill ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Poisonous breathing: 1 ] ? [ Magic Resistance: 1 ] ? [ Petrifying gaze: 1 ] ? [ Robust body of the Giant Basilisk: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the strain [ Giant Poisonous Basilisk (Single): 100% ] ]> . . . <[ You have conquered the Dungeon of the Great Serpent and acquired the title [ Conqueror of Dungeons ] ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> . . . <[ Your work has reached the maximum level ]> I''ll leave it to integrate my levels and change jobs when I get back, it seems the amount of blood I drank was enough to get a pure bloodline and several abilities, I was also happy with the title. I look happy for this big dungeon boss who earned me a lot of EXP, but I''m left with doubt now. "(What are we going to do with a body that big?)" (I) "Layla, can you guard this Basilisk''s body with your space magic?" (I) "Are you crazy, master?" (Layla) "I wouldn''t be able to save even half of this gigantic thing." (Layla) "The storage items we have aren''t going to be useful with something this size either." (I) "Why do you want to take the entire body, master?" (Ibuki) "All we have to do is get the materials we want and then leave." (Ibuki) "That''s the problem, even if we all work together we won''t be able to get a lot of materials in time, the Basilisk''s body is too big and resistant, it will take hours to get everything." (I) "We won''t have that much time, the Dungeon will devour Basilisk''s body before we can finish getting everything we want." (I) "So the best thing to do would be to take the whole body, but we don''t have anything that supports something that size." (I) While everyone was trying to think of a solution to this problem, Diana takes an old-looking bag and goes over to the Basilisk, as she opens the bag and touches the Basilisk with her hand I see the startling sight of that giant body being sucked into that little one handbag. "As everyone can see, I had already thought about this problem when I heard about the approximate size of the Basilisk, so I asked Mari and Carlos for a storage item big enough to hold this large body." (Diana) "Very well thought out, Diana." (rica) "Nice job Diana." (I) With that problem solved everyone took a few minutes to get a quick rest, then we started looking for the Dungeon Treasure Room. Diana already had information that the treasure room is after the golden gate that is in the coliseum, so we started looking for this gate, when we found this five-meter high golden gate we entered and followed a corridor that leads to the stairs that go up into the highest point of the coliseum where a broken marble throne stands. Behind the throne was a door a little over six feet high that appears to be made of gold and is intact, this door is halfway open. When we enter through this door we come across a large round room with statues of several snakes and strong-looking snakes, in the middle of the room is a large golden chest similar to the chests we found while exploring the Dungeon. My eyes weren''t drawn to this chest like the others, what caught my attention was the large green crystal sphere that was floating on top of an altar with snake and serpent ornaments. "(That must be the core.)" (I) I was tempted to go to the core, but I didn''t, this dungeon is important to this city, so the core has to remain intact and in its place, in about ten or fifteen hours a new boss monster will appear in the coliseum. Then I see the others going to the treasure chest and I follow, I must admit I''m curious about what must be in there. "Kira, can you check if there''s any kind of trap in this chest?" (I) "You don''t need to worry, master." (Ivan) "The chests in the treasure room don''t have traps, only the chests scattered around the floors have a 50% chance of having traps." (Ivan) "My dad and mom told me the same thing, but this is the first time I''ve managed to conquer a dungeon and get to this room." (Diana) "Then let''s get everything in there." (I) I go to the chest and open it, inside I found global coins, jewelry, some metals, a crystal card, and a whip that resembles the appearance of Basilisk. I grab everything and put it in the storage item, so the golden chest lid closes by itself and I can''t open it anymore. "I hear these golden chests are part of the Dungeon, so they can''t be destroyed or moved." (Freya) "So we just need to go back now?" (I) "Yes, we can''t destroy the dungeon core, we''ve also killed the dungeon boss and got our reward." (Sophia) "All we need to do now is head back to the secure room and head back to the entrance so we can leave." (Sophia) "Preferably avoiding monsters along the way, the curse I put on that Basilisk took all my mana, I almost fainted." (rica) "The fight against Basilisk was quick, but we used almost all our energy in combat, we''re not in the best condition to fight the Grade A monsters on this floor." (Irina) "I think we''d better go back too, I''ll use my detection skill to dodge monsters as I did before, now let''s go." (I) ---------- As we drove back to Valen City we talked about the battle, some people weren''t very helpful in the battle because they didn''t have strong enough attacks to hurt Basilisk or techniques that could help others restrain or hurt Basilisk. The most helpful people for sure were Ivan, Kira, and Freya who did the most damage to Basilisk, even my final attack was just to let Ivan finish the monster. We keep saying this so we can show each other what we can improve. When we arrived in the city we go straight home, on the way Freya advised that the best person to dismantle the Basilisk corpse would be her and Caryna, her justification being their high levels in technical skills with knives, dismantling, and cooking. It seems that all corpses are considered ingredients so this skill increases efficiency and quality while separating monster parts. Everyone agreed on the matter since we trusted Freya and Caryna, but I asked how long they would take with this and Freya said that for a monster of this size it will take ten hours of work, not only that but they would need special knives for that as is a powerful Grade S monster. I asked if I needed to go buy these knives on the way, but Freya said that Anton has some that he made with the Grade A monster materials we killed in the Dungeon. As soon as we arrived I told everyone to rest first, so we had something to eat and cleaned up. After that I left the giant monster corpse outside and left the mother and daughter pair working, I must say it scared me to see someone as lovely and gentle as Caryna humming as she cut with extreme speed, precision, and dexterity that giant body. I was also reminded of the magic booster skill I gave Caryna when I saw her lift chunks of Basilisk meat that was easily triple her size. After they separated everything, we started distributing the materials, Tania took the skin and half the scales, Anton took the bones, teeth, and the rest of the scales, while Lyra took some organs, the two injured eyes and the tongue saying that they will be useful to do your alchemy studies along with some experiments. Nira said that we could keep the Basilisk core for now as we didn''t need the money for now and that it could be useful to Anton, Tania, or Lyra in the future, so I kept the core too. Freya and Caryna also took more than half of Basilisk''s meat, I was surprised that the amount leftover from Basilisk''s body was less than half after everyone took what they wanted, but luckily there was enough to fulfill the quests we took in the Guild of Adventurers. It was already dusk when I went to the Guild to finish the quests, but at the time the quests were completed the receptionist made me go to Carlos''s office on the top floor. As soon as I walk in I see Carlos sitting on a couch drinking a bottle of beer and his desk is empty with no paper today. "Looks like you won the Basilisk with great ease." (Carlos) Chapter 203: Serpent Eclipse "Looks like you won the Basilisk with great ease." (Carlos) I was in Carlos'' office, I was brought here by a Guild receptionist when I came to complete the Basilisk missions. I walk to a nearby chair and sit down before answering him. "It wasn''t so easy, I had to fight together with my group and we spent all our strength for it." (I) "But how do you know that?" (I) "Mari told me that you took missions concerning Basilisk, not to mention Diana had taken my storage item before." (Carlos) "I also saw you and your group entering the city while I was talking to Roger over the walls." (Carlos) "You could have come to talk to us then." (I) "I was sorting out some business, but why did it take you so long to get back here at the Guild?" (Carlos) "I went home to get something to eat and asked someone in my group to dismantle the Basilisk for me." (I) "Are you trying to increase the value of items already selling to the Guild with separate materials?" (Carlos) "This might not have been a good idea, it takes someone very skillful, strong, and with special tools to dismantle a Grade S monster, especially a unique monster like this Basilisk." (Carlos) "Don''t worry, the Basilisk materials are in excellent condition, everything is already sorted." (I) "..." (Carlos) Carlos looks at me in surprise and with a confused face, he even drops some of his beer. "You said you''ve already sorted everything out? Is the Basilisk completely dismantled?" (Carlos) "Yea." (I) "But it must have been only twelve or thirteen hours since you guys got back, right?" (Carlos) "How many people did this?" (Carlos) "It was just two people and it only took ten hours." (I) "Did you say ten o''clock?" (Carlos) "Yea." (I) "..." (Carlos) Carlos is silent for a few minutes, it was at this point that I realized that Freya and Caryna were much better than I imagined, suddenly Carlos'' eyes sparkled as he looked at me. "Who are these two people? Would you mind if I hire these two people?" (Carlos) "Usually it takes a team of five people and it takes almost fifteen hours to dismantle a Basilisk like this, if these two people you talked about worked for the Guild, our job would be much faster." (Carlos) "Give up Carlos, you won''t steal from my group." (I) "Don''t say that, it would be so much easier to have people with that talent working here." (Carlos) "I also have to say that I''m not going to sell all the materials, I''m going to keep most of them." (I) "Want to try to sell directly to a merchant to make a bigger profit?" (Carlos) "Actually there are some people that are in my group who have works focused on the creation, I let them get all the materials they want before coming here." (I) "So you want to use these materials to make items or weapons before selling them for an even bigger profit? But then you''ll have to split the profit with them which will lower your final profit, not to mention that it may take a while before those items are ready. " (Carlos) "Many adventurers think they can make more money like this, but it''s not that easy, it takes longer to see the money, you need trust between the adventurer and the person with the creative work, not to mention the problems when sharing the profits ." (Carlos) "This sort of thing lasts for a short time." (Carlos) "No need to worry, these problems you talked about don''t count for me, my group and I have our own way of doing things." (I) "I hope everything works out for you then." (Carlos) After this pleasant conversation with Carlos his wife arrived, when Mari arrived I left the missions, the materials for completing the missions, and some materials left over from Basilisk with her, while she left to take care of these things and get my rewards I kept talking with Carlos. "Now that you''ve faced the Basilisk, you know you can fight a Grade S monster, not to mention you were pretty quick during the battle." (Carlos) "For most adventurers fighting this Basilisk lasts an hour or two being fast, that''s because this Basilisk''s body is very resistant and its reflexes are very fast." (Carlos) "You have no more reason to deny the request I made, do you?" (Carlos) "You''re right, I will accept your request to clean the Dungeon of the Undead." (I) "Hahahaha..." (Carlos) "That''s what I wanted to hear, with that the last of the problems will be solved." (Carlos) "You sound like you know we''re going to make it, but don''t get too excited, you know fighting Basilisk is completely different with the mysterious boss of the Undead Dungeon." (I) "I must admit you''re right, we don''t have any information about this boss or the terrain he''s on, so it will be harder to prepare against him." (Carlos) "That''s my concern." (I) "I can help you by giving the maps we have of all the floors of the Undead Dungeon that have been explored so far, I can also take someone from your group to the safe room on the lowest floor I''ve preached before stopping." (Carlos) "I''ll accept the maps, but I don''t want your help getting deeper into the dungeon." (I) "I''ll start from the first floor, so my group and I will have more experience fighting Undead, this will be very useful when facing the boss of that dungeon." (I) "Nice words, that''s how a true adventurer should think." (Carlos) "Agreed, as expected from someone Diana respects so much, keep it up and you''ll get over that head of muscle soon." (Mari) While talking to Carlos about accepting his request to clean the Dungeon of the Undead, his wife Mari returned with a bag and the Guild cards of mine and my group that she throws to me. "That''s your reward, there''s also the money for the materials you wanted to sell." (Mari) "As the materials were separated and in a very well maintained state with excellent conditions, I decided to add an extra to your payment for the quantity." (Mari) "Thank you very much." (I) After getting the rewards and payment I was ready to leave, but Carlos pulls out a storage crystal and throws it at me. "This storage crystal has all the Undead Dungeon maps we currently have, it also has details about the monsters, traps, and terrain on each floor." (Carlos) "Thanks, I''ll make good use of it." (I) "When you decide to go to the Dungeon of the Undead, come here and take the special mission, you just need to talk to me or Mari for that." (Carlos) "I hope it doesn''t take too long, that dungeon is a big nuisance." (Mari) "I''ll talk it over with the others, maybe enter the Dungeon tomorrow or the day after tomorrow." (I) After that I said goodbye to them both and went back home, there were a few more things I wanted to do before calling it a day. First I''m going to find Nira, who I''ve left in charge of evaluating the Items we got from Dungeon. It was no surprise that the whip was a magical weapon with the ability to boost attacks and poison, unfortunately, no one in our group uses a whip, I''ll keep it for now, but if I need it it''ll be one of the items I''ll choose to sell, even Nira said that this weapon is worth a lot. Another thing was that crystal card, Nira said that it can grant poison resistance to armor or shield, while if used on a weapon it can grant the ability to poison enemies hit. I''ve chosen to keep the crystal letter, for now, plan on giving Kira a weapon in the future, but I need to see her and Anton first. With all that resolved I go to my room at the end of the night, this time I remember to put up the silence barrier, Layla is with me in the room ready to help me if necessary. I plan to merge some bloodlines today, plus I also need to drink my cup of Dragon blood as well. I''ll start with Dragon blood, if I start merging the bloodlines I won''t be able to drink Dragon blood later. I remove the same barrel of blood from my storage item, remove the lid spreading the blood scent, and grab a glass of blood before closing the barrel and putting it away. "This blood has a very pure and wild magical energy, I don''t think you should drink it." (Layla) "Don''t worry, other than the pain I''m going to feel there won''t be any fatal damage to my body." (I) "I think you should call Irina and Vanessa too, they have healing abilities and spells, they would be more useful than me who can only give you potions." (Layla) "You may be right, but just call Vanessa, the reason I don''t do this sort of thing in front of Irina is that she can''t stand that sort of thing, I can see from her look how much she suffers from not helping someone with who cares." (I) "Alright, I''ll just go get Vanessa then." (Layla) Layla flies out the window and returns a few minutes later through my bedroom door sitting on Vanessa''s shoulder. "Layla told me what you''re going to do and what you expect me to do, Dad." (Vanessa) "That''s good as it will spare me the explanation." (I) Vanessa looks at the glass full of blood I''m holding with a serious look. "I don''t agree with that, drinking this blood will cause you a lot of suffering, True Dragons are wise beings, but they are also beings with immense power and capable of extreme brutality, their blood must not be consumed by others or it may destroy a body inside out." (Vanessa) "Don''t worry, this isn''t the first time I''ve done this, I just want you to heal me after I''m done." (I) Vanessa still doesn''t seem to agree with what I''m doing but she nods in confirmation, so I drink the blood in one go. Arghhh!!!! "Ahhhh!!!!!!" (I) Once again I feel like I''ve been drinking acid or magma, I feel my throat burn and wild energies running through my body destroying everything, but this time I feel like I have similar energy in my blood that absorbs this wild energy until it disappears like it''s devouring her then the pain ends and I realize I''m on the floor covered in sweat with Vanessa healing me with a worried look. Ding! <[ Her lineage became stronger and purer [ True Dragon: 05%> 10% ] ]> "I''m fine now, this time wasn''t as bad as before." (I) "You''re an idiot putting yourself in danger like that." (Vanessa) "The master is not an idiot, he is a big idiot, and don''t forget that." (Layla) "You sharp-tongued Fairy..." (I) After about thirty minutes of rest and with my body completely healed I tell the two to get ready since this time it will be worse, merging bloodlines destroys my body much more than drinking Dragon''s blood. Ding! <[ Activating Synthesis ]> . . <[ Searching for selected targets ]> . . <[ Targets found ]> . . <[ Do you want to synthesize the strains? ? [ King Snakeman (Variant): 100% ] ? [ Infernal Serpent (Unique): 100% ] ? [ Giant Poisonous Basilisk (Single): 100% ] ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> "(Yes.)" (I) Ding! <[ Choose the energy you want to use for synthesis: ? HP: -1100 ]> "..." (I) I don''t have much choice, I can only fuse bloodlines using my vitality as a source of energy, but I must say I was scared by this amount, I''ll be half dead if I do. I was a little scared, but I ended up building up the courage and activating the ability. Ding! <[ Starting synthesis ]> This time I felt my whole body getting weaker, I wasn''t even able to lift my arm, when my body was at its weakest point was when it started, I felt three streams of blood inside my body running towards each other until they met in my heart which made me spit a lot of blood, my chest hurt so much that I even thought my heart had exploded. Suddenly the three streams of blood began to flow through my veins as they swirled together and intertwined, it made every vein in my body throb and ache, many even burst and I could feel the blood leaking out of my ears, nose, and eyes. The pain was so great and my body was so weak that I wasn''t even able to scream, soon I felt something pour into my mouth and gentle energy spread through my body lessening my pain and helping me to maintain consciousness. After what felt like an eternity the pain stopped and all I felt was a single kind of powerful flow of blood coursing through my veins. Ding! <[ Summary completed ]> . . . <[ A new lineage has been successfully created ]> . . <[ Name the breed created from this lineage ]> . . <[ You named the race [ Snake Eclipse (Unique) ] ]> . . <[ [ King Snakeman (Variant): 100% ] X [ Infernal Snake (Single): 100% ] X [ Giant Poisonous Basilisk (Single): 100% ] = [ Eclipse Snake (Single): 100% ] ]> After listening to the sound of the notifications and seeing that I had created a bloodline that didn''t exist I had to use my last strength to name the breed that would be created from that bloodline, as I was very tired I thought of something simple by putting the name together. "Serpent" which represents all the bloodlines I had to synthesize to create this bloodline and the name "Eclipse" which represents the name of this mansion and the name of my Eclipse Shadow group. After creating this name and seeing that the notifications ended, I gave in to tiredness and lost consciousness. Chapter 204: Dungeon of the Undead Part: 1 The next day I woke up in my bed, looked to the side, and saw Vanessa and Irina''s sleeping sitting by the bed. "This time I think I overreacted, I didn''t think that synthesis of lineages would be so painful." (I) "You worried them both a lot master, even I was worried this time, you were covered in blood and your vitality was so low I thought you were going to die." (Layla) Layla who was lying on top of me seems to wake up with my movements and starts talking complaining that I have put myself at risk, she has a sad expression and is almost crying, I take her in one hand and sit down, then start to caress your little head. "Sorry, I didn''t imagine that would happen, I think the more powerful the lineage the harder the synthesis will be, I''ll try to be careful from now on." (I) "Stupid master..." (Layla) After comforting Layla I get up and tuck my two daughters into my bed to sleep better, then walk out onto the porch and realize it''s almost halfway through the day. What happened yesterday crosses my mind and I remember that before losing consciousness I had to name the race belonging to that lineage, apparently after so many syntheses I ended up creating a new lineage. I try to use my ability to identify this bloodline, but nothing appears but question marks, maybe it''s because I don''t have any living beings besides me with this bloodline, like my other bloodlines I can''t feel any effect of this new bloodline. If I remember correctly the Goddess Selene advised me to merge these bloodlines with mine, she said that only then would I take the powers of those bloodlines for myself, but after what happened yesterday I''m afraid to do that, if a monster''s bloodline Grade S left me in that state, so the bloodline of a True Dragon or a Goddess will get me killed at the time of synthesis. Sigh "I think I''ll have to wait until I get stronger to find out." (I) I check my status to make sure I''m fully recovered, it seems the cures and potions have restored my vitality and energy. I look at the Eclipse Serpent bloodline in my status and remember my plan, I think I can implement it soon, but I''m going to make some changes. In the beginning, I wanted to find a Serpent-type monster and use my abilities on it and turn it into a familiar while granting a bloodline that I had created by synthesizing all the bloodlines of monsters belonging to the Dungeon of the Great Serpent, at least that was the planned initial. But I realized that it might be better if I use a humanoid monster or a Demi for this, but I can''t force someone to do that, nor do I want to use someone as an experiment for this plan. "What should I do?" (I) "... ... ..." (I) While thinking an idea came to my mind if I meet a criminal or someone who has done a lot of bad things I could make that person a guinea pig for my plan, I''m sure the person won''t die, my skill will also get rid of all darkness inside that person, the only thing that will happen is that person changes race and becomes much stronger. This seems like a good idea, so I won''t worry about what the person wants or doesn''t want anymore, I''ll also get one more strong person for our group, the question is where to get someone like that? "What are you thinking so much about, master?" (Layla) "I think I can tell you now, but keep it a secret from the others for now until I get everything sorted, okay?" (I) "Yea." (Layla) I spent a few minutes explaining my plans to Layla, I''ve been thinking about it for a long time, the reason I want to do this is out of pure curiosity, Layla was delighted with my idea, she gave excellent advice to look for a suitable breed for this bloodline in library books. That was an excellent idea from Layla, maybe I can even buy a criminal slave who meets the requirements I thought. I left the room and spent a few hours in the library with Layla looking at information on various races of humanoid monsters and Demis, I also researched their characteristics, affinities, and abilities. "I found the ideal master race here." (Layla) "Let me see." (I) "..." (I) "Sounds like a good option, but are you sure?" (I) "Yes, of all the races we seek this one will be the one that will make the best use of their powers and this strange bloodline." (Layla) "It may be true, now I need to look for this race, I''ll leave it until after conquering the Dungeon of the Undead." (I) "Why the rush, master?" (Layla) "I don''t think I''ve told you guys yet, but I plan to leave Valen City after we conquer the Dungeon." (I) "..." (Layla) Layla looks at me with a strange face a mixture of worry, sadness, and doubt. "I think it will be difficult to leave this mansion, I received the Blessing of the Goddess of the Fairies and she seems to want me to keep taking care of this place, maybe I will lose her blessing if I leave here." (Layla) "Don''t worry, I have everything planned, I also received her Blessing." (I) "I hope it''s true, pissing off a Fairy is often very reckless, I don''t even want to imagine making the Fairy Goddess angry." (Layla) "But you are also a Fairy." (I) "That''s why I know the importance of a Cradle of Fairies." (Layla) "..." (I) "Don''t worry, I already have a plan so let''s not think about it for now." (I) "We should focus on this Dungeon of the Undead first." (I) After having already discovered everything I wanted in the library Layla and I are going to eat something, today''s food was the meat of that Basilisk, I must say it was the best food I''ve ever had the pleasure of tasting in my two lives. Freya and Ivan told me that the higher the rank of a monster, the more flavorful its meat will be and the more powerful its body will be, so the materials of the higher-ranked monsters are better and so is their meat. After eating I asked everyone to gather in the usual room, I said I wanted to talk about conquering the Dungeon of the Undead. I''ve talked to everyone about this before, but it seems like everyone thinks the Undead Dungeon will make it easier for our group. While we were talking Vanessa said that she could use light magic and could use Holy magic too, she said that since she became a Vampire for the first time she could no longer use neither her Light element powers nor her holy powers, but as long as I made her my daughter her powers of Light returned along with the powers of the shadow that my race has, she also said that by becoming a priestess of the Goddess Selene she was able to regain her sacred power. Ivan said that with so many people having Light elemental affinities in our party it will be much easier to fight the Undead and if Vanessa joins the party while fighting inside the dungeon we will be able to clear the dungeon in a few days. I''ve listened to everyone''s opinion, everyone seems to agree that no matter who the boss monster of the Undead Dungeon is, it will be easier to kill for our group than Basilisk was, especially if Vanessa fights on our side, that''s as long as it''s a Grade S monster. I didn''t want to let Vanessa join the Dungeon with our group as she still hasn''t completely gotten used to her new body and new powers, but Ivan said it would be perfect for Vanessa''s training to join us and fight from the very first. walk from the dungeon. Ivan explained that this way Vanessa will get used to it faster as she joins our group. Ivan''s explanation was very convincing, the others also agreed, so he said that tomorrow we will start our mission to clean up that dungeon. I take the opportunity that everyone is gathered to remove the storage crystal for everyone to see the information Carlos gave me about the Dungeon of the Undead, rica takes a Reading Crystal and reads the information aloud for everyone to hear. After knowing so much information, we started thinking about combat plans for difficult places, we also thought about how to deal with floors that we consider more dangerous. One thing that made everyone happy was finding out that there are no Ghost or Specter monsters in this dungeon, these monsters are often difficult to deal with from what Irina and Irius said. After everything is resolved I say we are going out in the morning, so I go back to my room, this time I choose not to use synthesis this week until I clean the Undead Dungeon, I do this to make sure I am in my best condition to enter the Dungeon. so I lay in my bed to get a peaceful night''s sleep tonight. zzzzzz... Zzzzz... zzzz... ---------- The next day everyone woke up and got ready to leave, Vanessa wears an outfit that Tania spent the night creating for her after everyone is ready we left towards the Adventurers Guild. We''re just going to the Guild to get the special quest that Carlos asked for, after getting the quest we''re heading to the Dungeon inside the Forest of Blood. Diana guides us to the place where she faced the Undead a few months ago, when we got there we saw some soldiers taking care of the entrance to the passage and we showed that we were on a Guild mission, we entered the passage that is in the lower part of a Dead tree, we follow the tunnel from this passage to a cave where we see the entrance to the Dungeon of the Undead. Chapter 205: Dungeon of the Undead Part: 2 We are in a big underground cave where there is only the tunnel behind us that leads outside and a big skull-shaped door in the cave wall in front of us. This door appears to be made of some kind of iron in the shape of a silver and black skull. "So this is the Dungeon of the Undead?" (I) "Yes, all we need to do is touch the gate and it will open, according to what Mari told me if no one enters or leaves the dungeon the gate closes again." (Diana) "Before I go in I want to know what you plan to do?" (I) "With the maps, we were studying yesterday we''ll make it to floor number twenty today if we head straight for the stairs." (I) "I think we can go straight to floor number twenty, Vanessa can train fighting there as she doesn''t have any very powerful monsters on those floors." (Irius) "She can even take advantage of these constant battles to get used to her body and powers." (Kira) "You have some combat training, Vanessa." (I) "I learned to fight little martial art a long time ago, but my specialty is magic." (Vanessa) "While I was still in the Church of Light, I was sent to many places full of combat to boost the morale of the Church''s believers." (Vanessa) "I am strong enough to fight alone using only magic, but I also have many healing and purification spells." (Vanessa) "Okay, so Vanessa, Irina, Irius, and Ibuki will be the main attackers, the others myself included will stay out of combat and only interfere if they can''t defeat six enemies." (I) I''ll let these four fight until floor number twenty for Vanessa and Ibuki who evolved into an Inferior Oni overnight to get used to their new bodies and powers, even Ibuki who had evolved didn''t change a thing so I wouldn''t even have realized she evolved if she hadn''t told me. I chose Irina and Irius to fight them because they already have experience fighting Undead, Irius is a big mountain of muscle with full armor and defense skills, he will be the tank for them, Irina will be the support being in the back helping if necessary fulfilling its place as support of the group. With the formation already prepared, I touched the skull-shaped door, then the skull''s eyes sparkled and the door opens outwards, I try to look inside but it''s all dark after we enter we go towards the crystal column in the middle of the secure room to register our presence here before walking towards the hallway that will lead us to the first floor. ---------- The monsters of the first twenty floors were nothing much, they were just variations of skeletons and weak zombies, the four I told to fight was very good and the fights only took a few seconds. As they fought I could understand why Carlos wanted our group to handle this, the Light element does more damage than the fire element to the undead, even Irina''s favorite magic being her light currents that only serve to bind her targets did a great deal of damage to the Undead as if they were chains of fire. Every attack by Irius with his sword shrouded in light burned the Undead, they didn''t even have a hard time killing those monsters that should have been hard to defeat. Ibuki who had no affinity with the Light element was the one who showed me how difficult it is to fight the Undead. Every time Ibuki fought a Skeleton I could see that slash attacks had reduced effect as his whole body was made of bones, every time Ibuki ripped off an arm, leg, or even the head of a skeleton he could just take it back. and put in place or even use the limbs of another skeleton instead, the only way to defeat him was to rip or break the core inside his chest. It was also difficult for Ibuki to fight Zombies as the only way to kill them is by destroying their brains or cores, you can also try to rip out the same core with the skeleton but it''s harder as the zombies still have flesh on their bodies, other than that they will not die with any other type of attack other than the Light element or using holy power. Worst of all is that the Undead feel no pain, fatigue, or fear, as long as they are not destroyed they continue to attack without fear of being hurt or dying. There is still the problem that the Undead have several resistance abilities and attacks that cause abnormal status, they have several strange abilities like poisons, curses, diseases, illusion, etc. They are hard to fight against, Ibuki had a lot of trouble at first, but soon learned where the weak spots lie, so she started running up to the Skeletons and using her claws to break bones and pierce her hand into the Skeletons chest to ripping out the core, I also saw her dropping her swords and fighting with only her fists to break all the Skeleton bones using the martial arts I taught her. With her strength of hers, she could have used her swords to cut everything with ease, but it seems she is taking the opportunity to train and find out how to defeat these types of monsters as I said before, I''m glad she has matured so much. But what surprised me the most was to see Vanessa fighting, in the first five floors she fought just using some kind of military martial art that had direct punches and strong kicks doing attack combos to her target, she wrapped her body with her magic of Light to deal maximum damage to the undead. At first, she defeated her enemies taking advantage of being much stronger and faster than the Undead and also having the elemental affinity of light, but her way of fighting didn''t fit with her somehow, but in every fight she changed her way of fighting a little, making it more fluid and natural, from floor number ten Vanessa started to use her wings in her fight, her red wings glowed beautifully as she fought using her wings to defend against enemy blows or pushing her enemies away to reposition itself before attacking again. She said that her specialty was magic, but she didn''t use magic at any time, it seems she was doing the same as Ibuki and taking advantage of these weaker enemies to train and get used to her body, at first she made many mistakes when fighting with her wings beating them with her companions or bumping into walls, but when she got used to using the wings I realized from the way she moved that the Martial Art she was using also included how to use the wings in combat, that''s when I realized that it must be a Celestina martial art that she must have learned from her father in the past. As it didn''t seem like I needed to worry about these four fightings, so I started looking around while paying attention to other things, I noticed that with each floor the amount of miasma visibly increased, not only that but also the plots of each floor were more dangerous, the first fifteen floors were caves and looked like labyrinths filled with deadly traps growing in numbers, but it also had floors that looked like they were inside huge ruined Palaces or in the middle of dark swamps. This dungeon might be very difficult for other adventurers, but for me and my group, it''s been much easier than the Great Serpent Dungeon. As Carlos said, we have the advantage in elemental affinity, but we also have people with detection skills, trap detection, healing, and purification. My only regret is that apart from the two-floor bosses we faced giving each other bounty chests, we didn''t find any other chests anywhere. When we got to floor 21 I told everyone to register at the crystal column inside the secure room before we went back to the first floor, we''ve done a lot today and I have something I want to talk to Carlos about. ---------- When we left the dungeon we spent a few minutes walking before leaving the tunnel to the outside, out of politeness I said goodbye to the guards who are in charge of guarding this place, so I and the others head towards town while we talk. "You four did really well, especially Ibuki and Vanessa, you two were magnificent dedicating yourselves to training in a situation like that." (I) "I have to take every opportunity to become strong to accompany the master in the future or I will end up being left behind." (Ibuki) "You don''t have to worry about that, Ibuki." (I) "Of all the people here your growth is the fastest." (I) "That''s not counting the master, his growth is extremely abnormal, besides having a great talent he is also a training freak, so don''t compare yourself to this monster." (Diana) "That''s right, for someone who started out as a Goblin, seeing you reach that level of strength in a few months is amazing, so don''t compare yourself to this abnormality of the master." (Kira) "If you keep buying up with the master nothing good will happen, remember that the master is an anomaly that you can''t explain, so forget about him and find your own way of doing things." (rica) "..." (I) "Abnormal... monster... anomaly..." (I) "(What I did to be so insulted, I don''t think I did anything to be called a monster.)" (I) "(Can''t they see that I''m a normal person, don''t they realize that I''m just a little hardworking...)" (I) I suddenly feel two hands on both my shoulders. "Don''t cry Dad, they''re just talking about how amazing you are." (Irina) "Don''t be sad Father, the way you tirelessly strive to improve is something to be admired." (Irius) "What good children I have..." (I) While being comforted by my children we finally arrive in the town of Valen and I tell the others to do as they please while me and Layla who spent the day sleeping inside my hood go to the Adventurers Guild. Chapter 206: Dungeon of the Undead Part: 3 As soon as we arrive in town I tell everyone to go do what they want and I''m going with Layla to the Adventurers Guild, it''s already nightfall so I hope the Guild isn''t too crowded. "How can you sleep all day while we''re still inside a dungeon?" (I) "It was really annoying to see others fighting monsters so weak, besides what could happen in the first twenty floors of a dungeon that would endanger people who had defeated a Grade S monster?" (Layla) "You are making arguments as an excuse for your laziness." (I) "You have to learn not to let your guard down in unfamiliar places, your logic is also very naive." (I) "You know that unpredictable things can happen, an example of that was when we were in the Dungeon of the Great Serpent and we found the novice killers, then there was the Evil Seed break and the monster wave." (I) "Things like that can happen when you''re less prepared and with my luck, it will definitely happen, so I never let my guard down, you should do the same." (I) "The master is very serious, he should learn to relax and have more fun, there''s nothing wrong with taking a day off." (Layla) Sigh "(The problem is that you want to take every day off.)" (I) While talking to Layla I arrive at the Guild and ask a receptionist to tell Carlos or Mari that I''m here, so the receptionist goes up and back in a few minutes taking me to Carlos'' office where I only see Mari sitting reading some papers. "If you''re looking for that muscle head missed the trip, he''s at the Duke''s house." (Mari) "Is he still at work delivering reports on things that have happened to the Duke?" (I) "No, that idiot went drinking at the Duke''s house for finally finishing all the work we''ve been doing with the special mission Diana participated in, the new dungeon and the monster wave." (Mari) "And you didn''t complain about him going out for drinks?" (I) "No, he deserves this rest, the Duke is also a workaholic and doesn''t have many chances to rest, but with my husband around he won''t have much choice." (Mari) I walk in and take a chair across from Mari who is sitting in the Guild Master''s seat at her desk. "Well it doesn''t matter if he''s not here right now, I can talk to you about it too." (I) "Did something happen?" (Mari) "Nothing much, just a few of my doubts, as you already know today I went exploring the Dungeon of the Undead with my group." (I) "Yes, you came in the morning to pick up the special mission Carlos prepared for you." (Mari) "Did something happen inside the Dungeon?" (Mari) "Not exactly, just wanted to talk about something." (I) "Ask what you want." (Mari) "As you know me and my group have already conquered the Great Serpent Dungeon." (I) "But even on the top floor of that dungeon I''ve never seen miasma, this Dungeon of the Undead has miasma since the first floor and it only gets worse with each floor deeper." (I) "I know, that''s one of the reasons that place is giving us so much trouble, if it weren''t for you and your group to be here, then we would have a hard time getting rid of this dungeon." (Mari) "What I find strange is that the only time I felt so much miasma in one place was when I was present when the Evil Seed was broken, plus the number of monsters on each floor is very large compared to the Great Serpent Dungeon ." (I) "Those are good doubts, so starting places with a lot of Undead always has a lot of miasma, not only that but the stronger the Undead monsters, the stronger the miasma in the area." (Mari) "So imagine an Undead-only dungeon, a place like this will have a lot of miasma, but you''re right to worry, normally the miasma in this type of dungeon would only appear from floor 40 onwards, but the miasma appears from the first walk which I also find strange." (Mari) "But about the number of monsters being bigger I can say that you''re right, besides you don''t have any more adventurers entering that dungeon, so it''s normal to have more monsters." (Mari) "I see, thanks for the info." (I) "One more thing, Carlos and I got together with some friends to try and clean up this dungeon, but as you know we couldn''t because of the miasma." (Mari) "We were only able to get to floor number 51, which means that after that floor there will be a lot more monsters and chests as there was no one who went there before." (Mari) "From what I could see this dungeon doesn''t pose much danger to me and my group, so it doesn''t matter if there are more monsters." (I) "Brave words, but don''t get too confident." (Mari) "You''ll see, the master and I will conquer this dungeon in a few days." (Layla) While I was talking to Mari a nosy fairy got in the way of the conversation while sitting on my shoulder. "Finally decided to show off little Fairy? Seems like you have a lot of trust in your Contractor, don''t you?" (Mari) "The master is very smart, but he is also very careful, he would only accept your husband''s request because I convinced him." (Layla) "I know that Carlos told me about you, thanks for your help, have a cookie." (Mari) Mari opens a drawer and takes out a round biscuit that she throws to Layla, which she starts eating the moment she takes it. "What a strange Fairy you have Zenos, why does she hide her wings?" (Mari) "It''s also weird that she looks so much like you, her hair, her skin color, and her eyes...." (Mari) "Don''t try to dig my secrets Mari, not even the Assassin Guild master could, so don''t try." (I) "(I''ll use Lucas'' name to keep her from continuing her questions.)" (I) "I''m not investigating you, I just found her appearance curious." (Mari) "Besides, every adventurer has their secrets, even if it looks like you have too many secrets I''m not going to go any deeper into it." (Mari) "Thank you for understanding." (I) After that I got up and said goodbye to Mari, I already found out what was confusing me inside the Dungeon today, now it''s time for me to go back to the mansion. ---------- After I came back I gathered everyone to talk about the Dungeon, I said that I intend to go to floor 40 tomorrow and everyone agreed, I also delivered the monster materials that we got today to Nira, she will evaluate, distribute and sell whatever is leftover. After the meeting I called Vanessa to walk with me through the gardens of the mansion, I did this because I wanted to know more about her way of fighting, which impressed me a lot today. As we walked through the garden the Fairies and Infant Spirits would fly around me and every now and then I would throw some energy for them to eat away from me. Meanwhile, Vanessa explained to me that the Martial Art she used today was taught by her old father, this is a basic martial art for those who are learning to fight, she started using this martial art to adapt faster to her body, then From this, she started to use her own way of fighting little by little and tried to include her wings in her combat mode, which took a while to do. She said that she was happy with the resolve of the training she did, also said that she will use tomorrow to train with her spells and skills that she didn''t use today. After this conversation, I went to my room with Vanessa and Layla, as soon as we entered I put on the barrier of silence and get ready to drink Dragon''s blood. After filling my glass with blood I drink it all at once, feel my throat burn and the energies destroy my body, I try to resist the urge to scream and I endure the pain. After a few seconds or minutes, I feel similar energy in my blood again absorbing this wild energy then the pain stops and I see a magic circle around me that emanates comfortable energy. Looks like Vanessa was healing me at the same time she was being hurt, I thank her for that. Ding! <[ Her bloodline has become stronger and purer [ True Dragon: 10%> 15% ] ]> After that, I appreciate Vanessa and Layla''s help, so I''m going to sleep, I need to be in great condition for tomorrow, even if I''m not going to fight, I have to at least be ready to go into combat if I need to. zzzzzz... Zzzzz... zzzz... ---------- The next day everyone woke up early and got ready, after we eat I have a brief meeting explaining the monsters that are registered in the information Carlos gave saying that they appear on the floors where we are going tomorrow. After that we all left for the Dungeon, we were talking along the way, I noticed that Vanessa, Irina, and Irius are laughing and talking, it seems that as the three were once part of the Church of Light and are now my children ended up having a lot in common what made them create a bond of sympathy for each other, I''m happy to see them getting along that way. "Admiring your kids getting along well?" (Ivan) "Yes, their story is similar, it made them understand each other easier." (I) "They''re lucky you found them, master." (Ivan) "I and my daughter are lucky for that too, I dreamed for twenty years to see her smile just one more time, now I see her smile every day." (Ivan) "Don''t thank me so often Ivan, I wasn''t totally selfless in helping you guys, you know that." (I) "At least you''ve always made your intentions clear, you may not have noticed, but see how many different races are working for you?" (Ivan) "..." (I) "You treat us all equally, you treat us all like family, for me who lost almost all of my family this is very important." (Ivan) "This isn''t the time for these sentimental bone bag conversations, we''re almost there at the Dungeon." (Layla) Chapter 207: Dungeon of the Undead Part: 4 After we enter the dungeon we go straight to floor number 20 where we will face the boss of that floor. As we already have a map we go through the swamp that is this floor and goes straight to the place where the floor boss is, from the information we have the boss of this floor is a Skeleton Mage that uses innovation magic, in addition, he can use two other spells, one that creates a shield around you and the other that creates five shadow energy spheres that attack the closest enemies. Knowing this information about this floor boss, Vanessa asked to fight him alone, she wants to take advantage that the enemy is a single monster Mage to train her use of her own magic. I told her she could fight alone, but I also asked Diana and Irius to stay by her side if necessary. Not after an hour of walking around killing the Skeletons on this floor do we arrive at a kind of ruined building that resembles a library, as soon as we enter we see that the books are in terrible condition and are blank, the shelves form a circle around an empty area in the center. In the center of this empty area is a Skeleton in an intact black robe holding a book, as soon as we enter the Skeleton turns to us and lifts the book that opens in front of him alone, so a magic circle starts to glow on the floor and we notice that all this big empty area in the center of this library gives way to this magic circle. Soon cracks start to appear on the ground and Skeletons come out of these cracks which disappear later, the number of Skeletons is 15, most of them are using different weapons, there are only one of the Skeletons holding a staff who must be a Mage. "It doesn''t look like you''re going to have any problems with these monsters, so they''re all your Vanessa." (I) "Thanks, Dad." (Vanessa) Vanessa walks to the magic circle and takes out a beautiful red wooden staff with a white crystal in the shape of a heart on the tip, this staff is almost the same height as her. Vanessa enters the summoning magic circle and focuses her magic on the staff before slamming her underside hard into the ground, spreading a wave of white energy throughout the surroundings that makes the light in the magic circle on the ground go out. "< Magic Cancellation >" (Vanessa) "< Mana Barrier >" (Vanessa) The summoned skeletons don''t stand still, by the time the energy wave Vanessa caused was passing through them harmlessly, they were already running towards Vanessa, but before they reached her a transparent barrier appeared around Vanessa blocking all attacks. At that moment the Skeleton Chief raises a hand and five black spheres appear floating on top of him, Vanessa raises her staff and five white glowing spheres appear, Vanessa seems to use the same type of Magic, but even though she started after the Skeleton she ends up before pointing with your staff forward sending the five spheres to your enemies. "< Light Shot >" (Vanessa) The five spheres of light go flying at great speed towards the enemies, two hit the Boss barrier of this floor-breaking it, the third sphere hits the magical Skeleton that has just been summoned and seemed to be preparing to launch a magical attack, when if hit by Vanessa''s Magic the skeleton is blown backward and their bones fall to the ground with some smoke coming out of them, the other two Vanessa spheres hit the skeletons around them defeating three of them and pushing the others back. "< Blade of Light >" (Vanessa) Vanessa builds a white magic circle on the tip of her staff and swings her staff horizontally from left to right in front of you quickly creating a large blade of light that flies forward cutting through all summoned skeletons before disappearing. While Vanessa was creating this magical attack the skeleton''s five black energy spheres hit her shield causing explosions that make the shield ripple and cracks appear in various parts, but soon after the shield seems to repair itself and resist the magical attack, so Vanessa he raises his staff and the crystal heart at the end begins to glow with a powerful white light, then Vanessa points the staff at the Skeleton and a spear of light goes flying from the crystal at the end of the staff going at great speed towards the Skeleton. "< Light Spear >" (Vanessa) The Skeleton didn''t have time to react and the spear cuts through his chest making his body dismount and fall to the ground. "It''s still a bit difficult to control the large amount of magic I have, my limit is intermediate level spells apparently." (Vanessa) "You fought very well Vanessa, congratulations." (I) "Thanks for the compliment, Dad." (Vanessa) "But I still have a lot to improve, the cast time of a magic circle must be instantaneous to be used in fast combat, I also need to improve my control over my magic, I wish I had hit this Skeleton''s head and not its chest." (Vanessa) "One step at a time, you did well in this combat facing 16 enemies alone, if you think you can do better then see what you can use different in your next combat." (I) "I''ll do it, thanks." (Vanessa) Vanessa gives me a happy hug and a kiss on my forehead, if a person saw us now they would think she is an older sister being affectionate with her younger brother, no one would realize that I am Vanessa''s father. ---------- After Vanessa''s fight against the master of floor number 20 we took everything that could be sold or would be useful like the skulls of the boss of that floor and the Skeleton Mage he summoned, we also took the magic cores, we took the book that the boss gave floor held, we also took the tunic he was wearing since it was in good condition, we even took the Skeleton weapons on the floor and took the rewards from the chest that appeared after defeating the floor boss which only consisted of a few global silver coins and a magic book on basic shadow magic. After that, we spent the rest of the day descending to the next floors killing every undead along the way. When we got to floor number 30 I myself wanted to face the boss monster of that floor as I was tired of doing nothing until now. The boss monster on this floor was a 8-foot-tall Zombie in full armor and a large war ax in his hand. He was very strong and tough, but he was slow so I was able to dodge his attacks easily with my superior speed. During the entire battle with the Zombie I found out from Ivan that he was a Zombie Commander who didn''t use any skills or magic other than his melee combat techniques, so I understood why. His skills should be resistance type, as I was using him to train I didn''t use magic or strong skills to kill him, but my normal attacks did little damage to him, moreover, he didn''t even try to defend if it wasn''t in his head, if it were a living person it would already be dead from my attacks, but this Zombie Commander seems to have good resistance skills. After a few minutes exchanging a few blows and understanding how he was fighting I waited for his attack, then I dodged to the side spinning and took advantage of this spin to throw my dagger in his eye as he made the downward movement while trying to attack me with his axe. from top to bottom, no time to dodge my dagger hits the target piercing the eye and hitting the brain and the body of the great Zombie Commander falls to the ground almost crushing me. Ding! <[ You received 460 EXP for enemy kill ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> . . <[ Your work has leveled up ]> After that we got the war axe, full armor, and magic core from this monster, Irina also wanted to take some organs from this monster saying they might be useful for Lyra as they can be used in alchemy. This boss''s chest only yielded a few dozen global silver coins and a few gems, we took them all and continued on our way through the dungeon with great speed as usual. Only when we arrive at the safe room on the 40th floor do I say to end the day and head back to the city, our conquest of this dungeon is very fast, there is no challenge but it could be better I think. What makes me happy is that I learned a lot about the Undead in this dungeon, I''m still a little scared thinking we''re going to face a Grade S monster that we don''t have any information about, but after seeing how well prepared our group is to face the Undead I have a lot of confidence in winning even without knowing which monster it will be. But one thing I noticed as we went deeper into the dungeon was the large amount of miasma, now I understand why other adventurers were having a problem, the amount of miasma on this floor is incomparable to the miasma of the mansion, but it seems that neither I nor the others are affected by miasma, in fact, rica and Ivan said they felt stronger and stronger inside the Dungeon with each deeper floor we went. After returning to the first floor we leave the dungeon chatting as usual, then head towards the town of Valen and straight to the mansion, this time we have a lot of things for Nira to evaluate and distribute to the others later. Chapter 208: Dungeon of the Undead Part: 5 On the way to the mansion, I leave the others talking while I remember the way Vanessa fought today. I remember the spells rica and Irina taught me, the defense type spells are divided into physical defense to deter physical attacks, magic defense to deter magic attacks, elemental defense, and basic defense. Basic defense is variations of the same spell known as Mana Barrier, it is considered the best defense, but it is also considered the worst defense, the reason for this is that this barrier can deter all types of attacks, but each time that it takes to damage the Mage''s mana is consumed in the same proportion as the damage taken, this makes the Mage at a great disadvantage when using this spell as he runs the risk of running out of mana completely in the middle of combat. Irina told me that Mages usually use layered barriers, the way to do this is to put the Mana barrier first and put the other defenses in front leaving the Mana barrier as the last line of defense so the mage is as safe as possible. while trying to save your energy for battle. But I was confused why Vanessa didn''t do it the way I was taught, maybe she did it that way as part of her training? I''ll ask her later, today I saw Vanessa fighting very well using only magic, I could also see her fighting as a team along with Irina, Irius, and Ibuki. If everything keeps going well we''ll all be able to fight together when we get deeper into the Dungeon, at first I wanted everyone to get used to fighting the Undead, so I fought today too, in order to gain some practical experience fighting Count the Zombie Commander. I think I''ll have to start using the light spells Irina taught me, I don''t think I''ve used them before, normally I use more wind, fire, or earth element magic, it''s still very difficult to process so many attack variations at the same time during the combat, so I try to restrict the types of attacks I can make to keep myself in control of what I can do during a fight. ---------- While I got lost in my thoughts we arrived at the mansion, then Caryna appeared saying the food was almost ready, we could even smell the food, in this brief distraction we didn''t notice Ibuki''s disappearance. The next thing I hear is Caryna screaming as she arrives in the kitchen and Leo dragging a chained Ibuki still with a piece of meat in its mouth back into the bedroom. With Caryna having to start cooking again, everyone had time to shower and change into more comfortable clothes before eating. During the meal we were talking about what happened at Dungeon today, Ivan and Diana were telling me what I did wrong when facing that Zombie Commander, they also talked about what I could have done differently. Meanwhile, Irina, rica, and Vanessa were talking about magical attack patterns and their own fighting styles, it seems they were seeking advice from each other to get stronger. After the commode, I told everyone to go to sleep and I said I was going to try to get to floor 51 tomorrow, the same floor where Carlos stopped. The reason not to go deeper tomorrow is because the monsters will start to get stronger and more numerous from now on, so we''ll have to be careful and proceed calmly. After eating and talking to everyone I go to my room and stand on the balcony watching Byakko, Yomi, and Layla playing with the Spirits and Fairy Children in the garden. "Can I bother you a little?" (Ivan) "You never bother me, Ivan, don''t worry about formalities and talk any way you want around me." (I) "It''s hard for me not to be formal as I was raised the Prince of a Kingdom, losing old habits is difficult." (Ivan) "Do what makes you most comfortable, but what do you want to talk about?" (I) "I want to talk about the Dungeon of the Undead." (Ivan) "Since day one I''ve been feeling something strange in there, but I didn''t know what it was, all I could tell is that with each step deeper I could feel this strangeness better." (Ivan) "I thought that because I turned into a monster the way I felt inside the Dungeons had changed, but I didn''t feel that strangeness in the Dungeon of the Great Serpent." (Ivan) "The only thing I find strange is that amount of miasma, even Carlos and Mari think that miasma is strange." (I) "That was where I was going to get, today just before I left the dungeon I finally understood the strangeness I was feeling, it was the miasma, I was feeling some kind of presence mixed with the miasma." (Ivan) "A presence? From whom? Was it not some monster?" (I) "I can''t tell, it didn''t look like the presence of a monster, a person or a Demi, I couldn''t understand what it was." (Ivan) "..." (I) "Don''t worry, as we progress through the dungeon we can find out what is this strangeness you felt, what do you think?" (I) "All right." (Ivan) After a short conversation with Ivan telling him not to worry so much he leaves, so I call Vanessa into my room to watch over me while I drink Dragon''s blood. It wasn''t surprising that horrible pain ran through my entire body, but I was starting to take this kind of thing better, soon the pain was gone and Vanessa was healing me. Ding! <[ Her skill leveled up [ Great Pain Resistance: 3 > 4 ] ]> . . . <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ True Dragon: 15% > 20% ] ]> I was already finding it strange to have achieved a blood purity of 20% and still not have gained any kind of skills, this has never happened before. I would like to understand why this is, but since I have nothing to do about it I''m going to sleep to be in the best condition for tomorrow, so I lie down on my bed and go to sleep. zzzzzz... Zzzzz... zzzz... ---------- The next day Alice wakes me up at Freya''s request, after dressing me up as well as others we ate and left for the dungeon. Today it''s planned to go to the floor where Carlos stopped exploring which is floor 51, the boss monster on floor 50 is one I didn''t want to face and there are others in my group who think the same way as I do, for so I decided to tell everyone to attack so we can kill him as quickly as possible. Once we get to the dungeon we enter and go straight to floor 40, the boss monster of this floor is called Meat Golen, this is a monster whose entire body is made of rotten flesh, it has no weak points to attack, so The only way to kill him is to attack with fire, this monster doesn''t use magic and doesn''t have attack skills, but his defense and stamina are amazing making an enemy difficult to defeat. But that''s not the biggest problem, what''s worse was his appearance, which Carlos described in his briefings as a grotesque body made up of the rotting flesh of several different monsters, not only his hideous appearance but also his rotten smell. Just imagining such a creature is disgusting, if I could I wouldn''t want to face this monster, but Ivan said that as we don''t know yet which dungeon boss is, the best we can do is gain as much experience as possible fighting these monsters to be prepared. This time I wasn''t going to let Vanessa participate in the battle, this time Layla, Ivan, and rica will attack this monster, my plan is very simple, once we find this monster we will all use our strongest fire magic to defeat this one monster with a single attack. With that plan in place, we followed the map Carlos left to go straight to where the boss of this floor is and I used my detection skill to dodge the monsters until we got there. Once we got inside and checked where this monster is we followed my plan and quickly used our fire spells hitting it with Firebolts, fire spears, fire shots, etc. Ding! <[ you gained 720 EXP from enemy kill ]> The moment we spotted the monster we attacked without even giving it time to move, just seeing its appearance was far worse than anything I could think of, Layla and I continued using our fire attacks until there was nothing left of this thing''s body. beyond his core. After killing this monster let''s get its core and look at the chest that appeared, Layla, who was curious to see what was inside, flew off to open the chest, as soon as she touched the chest it opened showing several sharp teeth and a long tongue, then the chest tries to devour Layla with a single bite. "< Freeze >" (Layla) Frightened and taken aback by this surprise attack, Layla used a mid-level Ice element spell that froze this thing in a place like a statue of ice, it froze with its mouth open and tongue sticking out trying to eat Layla. After pulling away and taking a few deep breaths, Layla creates several blades with her space element and cuts this icy stay to shreds with a face filled with rage. Chapter 209: Dungeon of the Undead Part: 6 After defeating that Meat Golem we continued our trip through the dungeon, but I noticed a big difference from floor 41 to floor 50. The difference was that all these floors were forest environments full of traps and poison, not only was the environment forest as all the Zombies and Skeletons on these floors were of the beast type, that is to say, they were more fierce and faster than the humanoid types. Worst of all is that the forests on these floors were in a perpetual night, to make matters worse there were two floors that were full of fog that obstructed our vision and there was one floor where a torrential rain was continuously falling hindering not only my group of vision but also to continue on the path. The monsters also ambushed or attacked in groups, it seemed that the Undead on these floors were not affected by the environment like us, we were at a disadvantage. As things looked tough I left Kira to take care of the rear and started to lead the way using my abilities to see in the dark and detect nearby monsters avoiding the ambushes. As the environment itself had become an obstacle for the group I told everyone that we were going to fight together from now on, there would be no more training and I told them to be alert to the surroundings. The strangest thing was on floor 44 where birds began to appear Skeleton from the sky, I couldn''t understand how those things could fly being just a pile of bones, but after Ivan pointed out the reason I understood, these Undead monsters had the same ability as Ivan''s "Spectral Body", thanks to this ability they can use that greenish energy to create a body similar to living creatures, these birds used this ability to create transparent wings around their wings made of bone to achieve fly. After understanding this I realized that it wasn''t just the birds, even the Skeleton monsters on the ground where using this ability, that''s why they were so fast and moved like living beasts, they were using this ability to recreate spectral muscles so they could move. more easily and naturally. It seemed that this skill was quite versatile and useful for the Undead, but the beast-type Skeletons weren''t all the problem, the beast-type Zombies had poison breath-type attacks just like the Basilisk we faced a few days ago, even though his attacks didn''t have the same strength or range as that Basilisk was still uncomfortable. I as well as many of my group had resistance to the poison we acquired in the Dungeon of the Great Serpent or other ways, but unfortunately, there were still two people who didn''t have these abilities which were Irina and Freya, luckily that both Irina and Vanessa were able to heal that poison. Even though we were starting to have some difficulty on these floors it was still nothing to worry about, we actually managed to take advantage of this hostile environment to improve our teamwork. ---------- After hours of fighting through strange and dark forests, we finally reached floor 50, the monster on that floor was a bone Kimera, it looked like it would be a complicated enemy to fight against in normal ways, so we decided to use Vanessa''s Holy magic to defeat this monster. As this monster is large and composed of bones from dozens or even hundreds of monsters, it would be difficult to find its core, it would be even more difficult to hit an attack on that core. From the information you have this monster can use the bones it stores in its body to create Skeletons that it can control from a distance, in addition, this monster has magical and physical resistance which makes it very difficult to defeat normally, so let''s leave this one monster with Vanessa. But before facing this monster I tell everyone to rest for an hour in the safe room of swim 50, the Undead we faced wouldn''t be a problem if they attacked head-on, but they always try to attack with ambushes or in a group which ended up mentally tiring the group for keeping their guard up until we get here. While we''re in the secure room I gather everyone for a chat. "I know everyone is tired, the boss of this floor seems to be difficult to fight against, I also don''t know how much damage Vanessa''s holy magic can do to him, so if you prefer we can leave now and leave to face this boss of the walk tomorrow, what do you think?" (I) "You don''t need to worry about that, Vanessa will surely beat this boss easily, right Vanessa?" (Ivan) "Yes, one or two attacks will be enough to take care of that floor boss." (Vanessa) "..." (I) "You''ve never seen Holy magic, have you Father?" (Irina) I nod in agreement. "Holy Magic doesn''t use mana, it uses holy power, so this monster''s magic defense will be useless and because it''s an Undead it will take ten times more damage than normal from an attack made with Holy energy." (Irina) "That''s right, if it weren''t for Vanessa being here it would be more difficult to deal with this monster, but magic or attack skills that use the Light element would solve even if it took longer." (Irius) "If everyone looks confident then I''ll leave this monster in your hands Vanessa." (I) "I''ll do my best, Dad" (Vanessa) Sigh "..." (Freya) "What was Freya?" (I) "You have a very depressed face." (I) "I don''t think I''m being very useful in this dungeon, my arrows seem to not affect Undead, we''re already at floor 50 and I haven''t defeated any monsters with my arrows." (Freya) "It may be true that your arrows can''t defeat the monsters in this dungeon, but you''ve helped us a lot on these last floors." (I) "Your arrows fend off monsters or hinder their attacks and movements, you''re being useful in your own way, and don''t worry about these unnecessary things." (I) After cheering Freya up and taking a rest, everyone is ready to enter the small valley in the center of the forest on that floor where the boss of that floor is. We go in trying not to make a noise and walk towards the place where my detection skill is pointing. Soon we see the monster, it has a height of five meters and its body is totally white because it is made entirely of bones, at first glance, it looks like a white rhinoceros, but then it turns towards us, then it starts running in a big way. speed up to us making the ground shake with every step he takes. As he runs, the bones in his body move and rearrange, changing his appearance to a very large type of Tiger with claws, bone wings, and sharp teeth. In the brief moment, he moves I notice transparent greenish energy covering his body, then I realize that this monster also has the spectral body ability, at that moment the monster stops running and uses its wings to fly towards us increasing its speed. Just as I think the monster will reach us and I was ready to intercept it I notice a golden light on my side and I turn around, what I see is Vanessa with her staff pointed at the monster with the crystal heart at the end of the staff glowing with golden light and various magic circles around the staff''s body. "< Holy Column >" (Vanessa) At this point, a golden circle appears under the monster and a golden light exits the circle at high speed going straight up to thirty meters high, the spell only lasts ten seconds before it shrinks and then disappears leaving just a pile of bones on the ground. "..." (I) Then a chest pops out of the ground in the middle of the valley and I realize that the monster I thought it would be troublesome to defeat was vanquished with a single attack, at this point, I finally understand the power of Holy energy. "He looked strong, so I expended all my holy power on this mid-level spell." (Vanessa) "It was amazing magic Vanessa, but please be careful, I was almost scared to death with this magic so close to me." (Ivan) "Sorry Ivan." (Vanessa) After the monster is defeated I collect all the bones and core from it, then head towards the chest with the others. To make sure I use my detection skill to confirm that there isn''t another monster disguised as a chest, then I ask Kira to check that there are no traps, which I seem to have, as soon as Kira disarms the trap I open the chest. What was inside was a shield of bones, some global coins worth five gold coins, and a Grade B cleansing potion according to my Identification skill. After getting everything we go to floor 51 and head back to the first floor before heading out of the tunnel towards the city. "Rest well today, starting tomorrow there will be no more maps to guide us, we''ll have to explore each floor to find the stairs." (I) "This is going to be difficult, we''re going to have to be very careful as the floors up to the boss are going to have a crazy number of Undead." (Diana) "Not to mention that the Undead are getting stronger than they should be because of this miasma." (Irina) "It''s going to be really tough when we get to the top floor and have to face Grade A Undead empowered by miasma." (Kira) "Even though they are stronger, we have the elemental advantage with some of us having an affinity for the light element, we also have someone with sacred power, don''t forget that." (rica) "Plus the Dungeon monsters aren''t the only ones that get stronger because of the miasma, Miss Erica and I are also getting stronger inside the Dungeon as well." (Ivan) "You are right." (I) "I think we are doing well, but don''t forget that everything will be unknown going forward." (I) "Yea!!!" (all) Chapter 210: Dungeon of the Undead Part: 7 After we got home I gave Nira everything she could sell or distribute to others, just like I''ve been doing since the beginning I''m saving the bodies of some monsters for me to eat another day. When we were showing the items to everyone the cleansing potion was snatched up by Lyra who said she would study it, meanwhile the bone shield was taken by Anton who said he liked how it was done. After that Caryna brought out delicious food for everyone to eat, after enjoying our meal I met with Ivan and Diana outside the mansion to discuss what we will do tomorrow. We were sitting at a table near the garden. "How big do you think this dungeon must be?" (I) "Carlos thinks he should make it to the 65th floor, but maybe he can make it to the 70th, we won''t be able to know until we get to the top floor." (Diana) "Then it won''t be long to conquer this dungeon, but I''d love to know who would be the boss of this dungeon." (I) "I wanted to know too, but there''s no other way to find out than to go into the boss''s office." (Diana) "We may not know which boss it will be, but we can assume it will be much stronger than Basilisk and it will definitely be Undead." (Ivan) "If we''re guessing, from the monsters that have appeared so far it can only be one type of Zombie or Skeleton." (I) "I agree, the worst case would be if you were a Mage because there would be a high chance of being able to cast spells or summoning abilities for Grade A Undead, that would give us a lot of trouble." (Diana) "If it were a melee fighter it will be easier as Vanessa can use Holy magic, but a Mage would have ways to defend against Holy magic." (Ivan) "Over the last few days, I''ve realized that we''ve been getting overconfident because of this elemental advantage we have in this dungeon." (I) "I don''t like it, that''s why I called you here, I want to discuss some strategies in advance in case unforeseen events happen when facing the Dungeon Boss." (I) "I like your way of thinking, Master Zenos." (Ivan) "By preparing for the worst, we''ll be more prepared and safer, that mentality that keeps someone alive." (Ivan) "Actually I''m sure something unexpected will happen." (I) "You always worry too much, Layla is right when she says the master needs to relax." (Diana) "You know I worry about you, I''d rather make mistakes for preparing too much than crying for not preparing myself enough." (I) "The important thing is to form some plans for different possibilities, we have to keep things simple so that we can adapt quickly." (Ivan) "The most basic plan I can think of if it''s a Mage is for me to face him head-on while trying to break through his defenses so Vanessa can deliver the killing blow or at least weaken him enough for us to finish him off quickly." (I) "If it''s some kind of Mage it would be good to attack with light element magic to break the barrier and make Vanessa save strength for a true strike." (Diana) "That sounds good enough, but what if it''s a warrior type like Ivan?" (I) "So a single attack from Vanessa won''t defeat him, it will only weaken him, in which case I''d better come forward and face him, so Vanessa uses her Holy magic to weaken him, at which point Layla, Irius, and the master can finish off it with Light element magic." (Ivan) "But you risk getting hit if you get too close to him." (Diana) "I agree with Diana, it''s best that Irius and I attack him with Light element short-range abilities so we don''t risk hitting you by accident." (I) "Our attacks can hurt him little by little and then we leave it to Irina to restrain him long enough for Vanessa to land a fatal blow." (I) "I agree with this plan." (Diana) "So let''s go with that plan, but I don''t like taking risks, which will happen if the boss is a fighter and he has a summoning skill." (Ivan) "Others can take care of the monsters if summoned or at least hold them for a while." (I) "Freya will be of help with her arrows and rica can use a paralysis curse on them too." (I) "Those plans will be enough for now, it''s no use making too many plans, what we''ll need are just initial plans as a base, then we''ll adapt to whatever happens." (Diana) After an hour of talking we came up with some plans that could be put into action, so we went in and got together with every one to talk about those plans, after which everyone went to their rooms. I go to my room and drink Dragon''s blood with Vanessa by my side watching over me. Ding! <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ True Dragon: 20% > 25% ] ]> After that, I went to sleep. zzzzzz... Zzzzz... zzzz... ---------- The next day we leave early after a short meal from Caryna, head straight to the Dungeon, I''m planning on getting up to floor 60 and facing the boss of that floor today if possible. We entered the dungeon and started exploring each floor from floor 51 onwards as we don''t have a map this time. We calmly explored each floor but it was difficult, there were a lot of monsters, it even felt like those horror movies showing a large horde of Undead coming towards us in the middle of a desert at night, it was scary. But it was scary only for me that I associated this scene with horror movies from my old world in my mind, the others were happy it was a desert at night as we could see enemies approaching from far away or so we thought. The Undead came out of the desert sand often close to us which caught us off guard sometimes. After spending most of the day exploring each floor we only made it to floor 57 where we were facing an intermediate boss who was some kind of Zombie Sand Shark that was attacking us in the middle of a sandstorm. This damn sand shark zombie was attacking us from below which was making it very difficult for him to catch him, so I had an idea and told rica and Layla to use the most powerful fire magic they had on the ground along with me, meanwhile, I spoke for Freya to use her Wind magic to drive everyone up away from the sand. Everyone jumps and a gust of wind throws us up where a bubble of wind magic keeps us protected from the sandstorm and afloat, some, rica and Layla use our fire spells aiming for the sand below. "< Tornado of Flames >" (I) "< Fire Wave >" (Layla) "< Explosion of Flames >" (rica) Three intermediate-level fire spells hit below causing an inferno of flames to spread scorching heat to where we were standing. Ding! <[ You gained 544 EXP for enemy kill ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> . . <[ Your work has reached the maximum level ]> It looks like he''s dead, so I twice use an intermediate water spell to put out the fire below, which didn''t seem like a good idea with the blast of hot steam that came our way, but thanks to a barrier from Irina nothing happened. After the steam left we could see below even though the sandstorm continued, what we saw was that a large area of ??desert around us had turned to glass. "< Sword of Judgment >" (Irius) Irius comes out of the barrier and jumps on the glass below with his sword shining in black and white lights, the moment he hits the ground he pierces the ground with his sword spreading a shock wave that shattered all the glass and made everything shake. BOOMMM!!!!! That''s when we saw the mangled body of the Zombie Sand Shark, I keep the body which is a full ten meters in size in a storage item I asked Nira to buy, so we continued exploring until we reached the secure room on the floor 58. From the safe room, I decided to go back to the first floor and then back to the city, we were in the dungeon for a long time today and we weren''t able to advance as many floors as we planned before, the reason for this was a large number of monsters, not knowing where the stairs were to the next floor and the monsters getting stronger. When we left the dungeon everyone was tired and it was mid-afternoon, looks like we made it out before dark today. We return in silence to the mansion as we are exhausted, as soon as we enter we will first take a shower and then eat something, I leave the things I don''t want with Nira and go to my room with Vanessa to drink Dragon''s blood. Ding! <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ True Dragon: 25% > 30% ] ]> After that, I was too tired to think about why I''m not getting any skills, so I lie down on my bed next to Layla who is already asleep, and give in to my sleep and my weariness. zzzzzz... Zzzzz... zzzz... Chapter 211: Dungeon of the Undead Part: 8 The next day we got together after eating to discuss what we''re going to do today, I said we should rest today and only go to the Dungeon the next day, but Ivan said it would be better to destroy the Dungeon of the Undead as soon as possible. He said that the miasma on floors after 50 had a very high concentration of miasma and that''s why the number of monsters we faced yesterday was so large. Ivan said that the number of monsters was so large that there could be a wave of natural monsters in that dungeon, this would be very bad since all monsters in this dungeon are Undead difficult to kill, in addition, there are many monsters that spread diseases or that can cause an epidemic. Diana said the city of Valen would not be able to handle this wave of monsters as nearly half of the adventurers died in the last wave of monsters. From what Ivan was saying that miasma was accelerating the appearance of monsters, in addition, he said he felt some kind of presence in that miasma, but so far he can''t identify what that presence is, but it could also be a natural occurrence this wave of monsters. Ivan said that new dungeons appearing cause a wave of monsters, Diana thought the Skeletons and Zombies she faced in the special mission she participated in a few months ago were a wave of monsters caused by the appearance of a new dungeon, but it looks like that was just the beginning. of the monster wave, Ivan said that the reason nothing happened yet is because Carlos sent adventurers to explore the dungeon and eliminate monsters frequently, until he entered the dungeon and did that, because of that the monster wave was delayed increasingly. But it seems like the more time passed, the stronger monsters on the deeper floors were only accumulating more and more, now it''s at a point where the monster wave could happen at any time. Once again I''m thrown into trouble when I least expected it, but even though I''m frustrated with this situation all I can do is keep exploring the dungeon, hopefully, our group can clean up this dungeon tomorrow. I planned to tell Mari or Carlos about our findings, but rica and Kira stopped me, they said we have no evidence and we can''t present any evidence either, the only way would be to take someone from the Guild to the deeper floors to see for themselves, but that''s impossible since not even a Grade S adventurer like Carlos can resist the miasma of the deepest floors of the Undead Dungeon. Knowing that we can''t even take a day off, I tell everyone to get ready and then we head out towards Dungeon. As soon as we entered the dungeon we went straight to floor 58 and we started exploring from there, our progress was slow because of the horde of Undead that each floor had, floors 58 and 59 were cities in ruins in the desert, it was Its hell to explore such a place with so many places full of traps and monster ambushes that hide in the buildings of the ruins. The worst thing was always feeling like I was in a horror movie when I saw Zombies coming out of buildings heading towards me, I was in a ruined city in the middle of a desert at night with the Undead everywhere, they should congratulate me on getting to be in the most bizarre situation ever when all I wanted was to go home and eat delicious food. If there wasn''t something in this dungeon that I want it would have been gone a long time ago, but since it would destroy this dungeon one way or another, it doesn''t hurt to do this soon to avoid another wave of monsters. So we continued to explore the dungeon taking hours on each floor, the stairs to the next floor were always in the strangest places like the basement of a simple house or the back room of a destroyed gun shop. As the stairs were not traps I couldn''t detect them, all we could do was explore every inch of each floor and be lucky to find the place where the stairs are at the beginning of the exploration of each floor, but the luck seems far away for me, that''s why we always waste a lot of time exploring which makes us face a lot of monsters, so we have to spend even more time in the safe rooms on each floor to recover and make sure we''re in good condition to continue to explore the next floor. With these types of situations happening we finally arrived at floor 60 which turned out to be a giant city in ruins, this city had more buildings than the others and seemed to be in better condition, as if it had just been destroyed, as we always started trying to get there. to the city center where we think this might be where the boss of this floor might be. When we arrived in the center of the city there was a big square that was covered in blood and bodies everywhere, the bodies were decomposing and some were still moving even with the dismembered bodies. I was completely surprised by such violence and brutality to see a giant creature picking up a Zombie nearby and hammering it into the ground several times, now I understand why we didn''t find almost any monsters on this floor, they were destroyed by this thing. "Careful master, this is a Berserk Zombie, this thing is pure brutality and attacks anything that moves no matter who or what it is." (Ivan) "Let me handle this, but then I''m going to need Miss Vanessa''s help." (Ivan) "Are you confident in winning alone?" (I) "Yes, but it would be difficult for me to kill this monster, so after I immobilize it I will need Miss Vanessa to deliver the final blow." (Ivan) "Fine by me." (Vanessa) "You are the strongest among us so I guess I don''t need to worry." (I) "Thanks so I''m on my way." (Ivan) Ivan starts walking up to Zombie Berserk who has ripped a stone column out of a building and is hitting some dismembered Zombies with it. While walking Ivan started to emit dark energy that surrounds his body and then transforms into an evil-looking full body black armor, so he takes a sword that belongs to him from the safe room where I found him. The sword seems to be a magic weapon as it starts to catch fire as soon as Ivan holds it before Ivan gets too close the Zombie Berserk turns around and without wasting time runs towards Ivan still holding the stone column that seems light in your big hands. When Zombie Berserk is close enough to Ivan I can finally understand his size, he is over five meters tall and his whole body has gray sore skin all over his body, his giant body moves at an incredible speed that it looks like Kira''s, it surprised me to see something so big move at that speed. As soon as the giant is close enough to Ivan he raises the stone column to hit him, at that point Ivan''s image seems to blur to me and the next thing I see is Ivan spinning around and kicking Zombie Berserk in the head. which goes flying to the right like a cannonball and destroys a building covering a distance of tens of meters. KAABBOOOMMM!!!! When I thought the fight was over I see several giant boulders being thrown at Ivan from the place where Zombie Berserk was, then I see something fly out of that destroyed building and fall next to Ivan who cut all the boulders like they were made of paper with his sword. The one that landed next to Ivan was the Zombie Berserk that started attacking the moment it landed, I notice that the Zombie Berserk is missing his jaw just his tongue hanging out as he runs towards Ivan. This time Ivan runs towards him dodging the attack of his arms and slashing his arms with his sword, then Ivan runs past the Furious Zombie''s legs and cuts one of his legs, causing the giant monster to lose his balance and fall to the ground causing a small tremor. When I thought it was over I saw that dismembered monster use its one leg to stand up and then throw himself at Ivan who jumps into the air dodging his attack as he spins and cuts off the last leg of the Zombie Berserk. "< Bones Prison >" (Ivan) As soon as he lands on the ground Ivan uses his ability to create a circle around the monster''s giant body, then big sharp bones come out of the ground and hold the monster firmly in place, it looks furious struggling to get free. Meanwhile, Ivan is walking towards us making his armor back to black energy, and enters his body. "Now it shouldn''t be any problem to finish him off, so I advise using only Light magic, don''t waste Holy magic on a defeated monster, Miss Vanessa." (Ivan) "It was a beautiful fight, Mr. Ivan." (Vanessa) "I''m impressed with your technique." (Diana) "Looks like you''ve been holding back longer than we thought during training." (Irius) "You''re pretty strong for a pile of bones." (Layla) Everyone was surprised to see the strength Ivan showed, just seeing the body of that monster was enough to know that a normal sword would not even cut its skin, but Ivan managed to dismember him with great ease. Chapter 212: Dungeon of the Undead Part: 9 After Ivan defeated the Zombie Berserk we started to collect everything we could, Freya went to the boss of this floor to get the core and various useful parts of this monster, while the others started looking at the hundreds of zombie bodies scattered across the square in this city. destroyed to collect their core and any intact equipment they have. Kira and I head towards the chest that appeared after the boss was defeated, Kira checks to make sure there are no traps, after that, I open it and see a purple-bladed dagger, 20 gold coins, a scroll, and a ring green. I gather everything up to check later and then help the others gather what we can from the Zombies on the ground. ----------- After an hour we reached the stairs to the 61st floor which was inside one of the buildings near the square where we faced that Zombie Berserk. We took some time to rest in the safe room before continuing to explore this floor, what we discovered was a city that was being destroyed by storms and a tornado during the night, the city was also full of the Undead in simple clothes and some in white clothes. soldiers. It was a little difficult to pass this floor as the environment itself was trying to kill us, it took a long time to explore this floor because we were avoiding getting caught in this apocalyptic climate. To make matters worse, all the monsters on this floor were Grade A, they were numerous, so Layla, Irina, and Vanessa had to do a lot of area attacks from the Light element to be able to explore this floor. There was a situation where we found a chest with traps inside a building that resembled a store, while Kira disarmed the traps a tornado hit the building causing the whole store to collapse while we were still inside, Irius thought fast and used his defense skill to protect everyone until the tornado goes away. After this situation, we stop looking for treasure or wasting time dismantling the monsters we killed and walk to find the stairs to the next floor. Our exploration of this floor took more than five hours and we were without any energy, we had to rest and recover our energy in the safe room which took two hours. When we were in better condition, we started exploring this floor before ending today''s Dungeon exploration. But it surprised me to see this floor, it was a beautiful city in perfect condition with a beautiful starry sky in the sky, the city was so beautiful and well cared for that it was as if there were still people living in it. As we explored we discovered that this town was full of Grade A Undead that attack in large numbers, these monsters were all over the place. As we explored and killed monsters the hours passed and I began to understand this city better. Two things caught my attention, the first one was the large Palace near the city walls on the other side compared to where I entered, the Palace was surrounded by a large number of Zombie-type Undead in full armor and several Skeleton Mages with Mage equipment such as robes, wands, books, and staffs. There were hundreds of enemies standing like an army protecting the royal castle of their Kingdom, it seemed impossible to get through without having to defeat them all first. The second thing that caught my attention was that we found the place where the miasma was leaving, when we got to this floor we realized that the miasma was much more concentrated than on any other floor, another thing Ivan noticed was that every time we went closer to the center of the city the miasma became stronger. As we explored the city further, we ended up reaching the center of the city where we found a large church painted in black with various skeleton designs is a mural with carnage drawn, from the main doors of this bizarre church there was a huge amount of miasma coming out that flowed into the rest of the city. Ibuki and Kira were ready to go in and explore this Church, but Byakko, Ivan, and Vanessa stopped them saying we shouldn''t go there, between them I could see that Ivan looked terrified and when I asked him why he couldn''t answer, he just said that is too scared to approach this bizarre church. We decided to do away with the Undead exercise that guarded the castle, so first, we cleared the town of the Undead scattered around. After that I came up with the idea of ??setting traps all over town which took hours, those responsible for the traps were Irina, Kira, Vanessa, Layla, and me. After everything was ready I attacked the Undead army with powerful light magic and ran to the city being followed by the Undead army. As I ran through the city I passed all the traps we made which reduced the size of the army by more than half, the army didn''t stop following me or trying to attack me throwing spells, arrows, or spears, but as I was far away from them and had Layla sitting on my shoulder protecting myself from any attack that came too close I finally arrived in a narrow city street where after I passed I was attacked with light, fire and Holy magic by the rest of my group who were on top of the roofs waiting for the moment of the ambush. With that, we were able to exterminate the entire army of Undead, but we were without any energy, those who still had energy began to collect everything they could from this army of Undead such as armor, weapons, wands, staffs, tunics, etc. Meanwhile, I and those without energy continued to rest to recover, after that we went to the castle, when entering the castle grounds we started to explore and we found two things, one was the place where there was a three-meter high golden gate and the another had a black gate five meters high. It was at that moment that we realized that we were on the top floor of the Dungeon, these gates were the entrance to the Dungeon Boss Room and the entrance to the Treasure Room that will only open when the Boss is defeated. Upon discovering this I warned everyone to get out of here, even though we have recovered our energy we are still very tired physically and mentally, we are not in a condition to face a Grade S monster. With that decided we went to the safe room and went back to the first floor, when we left the dungeon I realized that it was already night, the guards who watched the entrance of this dungeon said that it was dawn, it seems that we lost track of time this time. We walked back to the mansion where everyone was worried about our delay, after saying that we lost track of time while exploring Caryna gives us some delicious food that she had to reheat for us. After that everyone takes a shower and goes to their rooms, I ask Vanessa to accompany me to my room to keep an eye on me as usual, so I drink more Dragon blood. Ding! <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ True Dragon: 30% > 35% ] ]> I was getting used to the level of pain I get from drinking Dragon''s blood, even though it was unpleasant and horrible, it was starting to become bearable, but I know part of the reason was because Vanessa healed me quickly, so I didn''t suffered for a long time. After all this, I go to sleep giving myself up to sleep and tiredness accumulated by this long day. zzzzzz... Zzzzz... zzzz... ---------- The next day I wake up with vom Nolan calling me, it seems Caryna left to wake me and the others later since we went to bed very late yesterday. After a delicious meal, I call Vanessa, Diana, and Ivan to talk. "Yesterday we were very tired so I didn''t say anything about it, but you know what I want to talk about, don''t you?" (I) "That black church, right?" (Ivan) "Exactly." (I) "I don''t know anything about that master, I''ve never heard of anything like that before." (Diana) "I''ve heard of something like this in the past, but I never thought I''d see something like this inside a dungeon." (Vanessa) "Do you know what this is, Vanessa?" (I) "There are records of Temples and Churches belonging to Demon Gods or Evil Gods who spread miasma around." (Vanessa) "But I didn''t expect to see this in a dungeon." (Vanessa) "You mean a god did this?" (I) "Maybe it could also be the result of an artifact of that God causing this." (Vanessa) "If it''s a divine artifact doing that, then I have no doubt it must be Evil or Cursed." (Ivan) "What do you want to do about that bizarre church?" (I) "Whatever this Church is there or whatever is in there doesn''t matter, I felt something really bad when we were around there, I don''t think we should approach this place again." (Ivan) "I agree with Ivan." (Vanessa) "There''s no reason to take any chances going there, all we need is to defeat the Dungeon Boss and destroy the dungeon core." (Diana) "If we do that the Dungeon will disappear and That Church with it." (Diana) "That would be for the best." (Ivan) "Then I think it''s decided, let''s do it this way and we''ll head to the dungeon in two hours." (I) "Be prepared to face the boss of this dungeon." (I) "Today is the last day of this dungeon." (I) Chapter 213: Dungeon of the Undead Part: 10 After the conversation, I had with Ivan, Vanessa, and Diana, I decide not to take any unnecessary risk out of curiosity, so I''m going to ignore that bizarre Church and just do what I was already going to do in that dungeon. With everything resolved I let the others know the decision was made, so after we spent two hours going over strategies that we can use during the fight against the Dungeon Boss everyone will get ready, so we all leave for the Dungeon. I ask if we shouldn''t tell Carlos and Mari about this Church on the top floor of the Dungeon, but Irina says it''s best not to, if we talk to Carlos about it he''ll have to investigate about it, and to investigate he''d have to get help with the Church of Light, that would be a very bad thing for us, so we decided not to say anything about it, anyway it won''t matter as that dungeon will disappear after today. When we arrive at the Dungeon it''s past noon, we head straight to the 62nd floor which is the top floor, and then start heading towards the castle inside the city. On the way, we encountered a lot of monsters, but luckily that army of Undead wasn''t there again. After resting and making sure we''re in top condition for this battle I head to the Door, when I put my hand on the door it opens on its own showing a dark room where I''m not able to see anything inside but a red carpet that follows. from that door to the front. "Be prepared." (I) We enter the room in formation with Ivan in front and Irius and Kira in the rear taking care of the rear, as soon as we pass through the door it closes quickly behind us and then crystals light upon the walls lighting up the entire room and shocking me. The room had a beautiful beautiful throne in front of us with a red carpet that goes from the throne to the black door behind us, this room is completely closed with no windows or doors beyond this one behind me, I see two hideous murals on either side of me on the walls of the throne room. One mural represents a battle scenario filled with death and carnage, the second mural represents a wave of Undead destroying a city and killing the entire population. The two images represent brutal scenarios full of suffering, pain, fear, violence, and death. But what scared me the most was to see that on the throne was what could only be described as a mummy with a dry body with skin stuck to the bones sitting on the throne, this mummy was wearing a black and gold robe reminiscent of the clothes of a priest, he also holds a staff that appears to be made of the spinal columns of several intertwined people, and on top of the staff is a large black skull with an open jaw and a green crystal inside the mouth attached to the jaw. Worst of all was that there was a being with transparent green skin wearing black armor and who had four arms, the top two arms held spears and the bottom two arms held giant swords, this Armored Knight had a height of 2, 5 meters, the mummy was only 2 meters tall as far as I could tell. As soon as the doors closed behind us and the lights lit up in this throne room we were held in place by two powerful Auras, one filled with hate and death, the other filled with violence and brutality. These Auras made me feel fear and pain, I felt like I was getting weaker and also like I was being hurt in some way feeling pain all over my body. Wasting no time, I start using one by one of my Aura abilities, at first I could only protect myself with one of my Auras, but with each Aura I used I was able to push the two enemy Auras away and envelop the party, with my Auras protecting and strengthening everyone, after using all four Auras, I managed to spread my Auras all over the throne room. All this happened within seconds of entering the throne room, but even though I used my Auras to fight the enemy Auras the two monsters didn''t stay still, the four-armed warrior ran to me and tried to pierce me with his two spears, he was very fast and attacked when I wasn''t paying attention, so I wasn''t able to completely protect myself from the attack, I used my sword to deflect one of the spears while trying to dodge the second, but I was still hit in the shoulder and thrown to behind. "The fight has already started, don''t stand still!" (I) "MASTER!!" (Layla) "< Ice Hammer >" (Layla) The rest of my group was distracted by the attack from the two enemy Auras the moment we entered, but as soon as I was attacked and I yelled to get them to focus on the battle it was Layla the first to see me flying backward with a bloodied shoulder, she used ice magic to create a large ice hammer and tried to crush the four-armed warrior but he used his two swords to cut the ice hammer into four pieces. "These are a Death Knight and a Lesser Lich, be careful as they are unique monsters." (Vanessa) As I fly backward I resist the pain of the wound and spin in the air to regain my balance and land on the ground already using my skills to recover, at that moment I hear what Vanessa said. "Ivan, Irius, Diana, Ibuki, and Kira take care of this Death Knight, in the meantime, I and the others will attack the Lesser Lich!" (I) "Vanessa prepare her Holy magic to use on the Lich!" (I) "< Light Spear >" (I) "Yea!!!" (all) Once I understand the situation, I start ordering everyone around while attacking the Lesser Lich with a mid-level Light element spell. Without noticing the Lower Lich had already risen from the ground and was creating a big black magic circle, when my magic was almost hitting the Lich it hits a barrier creating some cracks that disappear soon after. Without giving me or the others time to use any magic the Lich activates the magic circle causing 50 skeleton soldiers to start leaving the magic circle little by little, it seems he was summoning more monsters as we feared. "< Magic Cancel >" (Vanessa) At that moment Vanessa uses a spell that shoots a golden ray of light in the magic summoning circle making it disappear and the skeletons that leave the magic circle turn to dust. "< Wall of Wind >" (I) But unbeknownst to her Irius was hurled towards her, so I used a wind spell creating a strong flow of wind going up to a height of two meters forming a wall of wind near Vanessa, just as Irius hits my wall. wind his trajectory changes and he is thrown upwards where he spins and lands on his feet. "Thanks, Dad." (Irius) "< Blades of Light Storm >" (Irius) As Irius drops to the ground his sword starts to glow with white light, so he makes several quick slashes sending dozens of blades of Light flying towards the Death Knight, unfortunately, his attacks are interrupted by a wall of bones created when the Death Knight Death thrust one of his swords into the ground. It looks like they are having a tough battle with this monster, but not having time to distract me with their fight I try to run to the Lower Lich, since its barrier is defending our magic attacks, I will try to use physical attacks. As soon as I got closer I noticed that the ground was changing color and I sidestepped as tentacles of shadow came out of the ground and tried to trap me. "< Blade of Light >" (I) Wasting no time I use my sword and dagger and try to make several cuts in the barrier that protects the Lower Lich that starts to crack quickly, the Lich doesn''t stand still watching me break his barrier, he points his macabre staff at me and a black liquid does a sphere and comes flying towards me without giving me time to dodge. "< Magic Barrier >" (Irina) At that moment a transparent barrier appears around me protecting me from this attack when this black liquid hits the barrier it splashes around and I see the places on the ground where it fell being corroded, it seems that it was some kind of acid. "(Can''t let this hit me.)" (I) I keep slamming with all my might at the barrier that finally broke, but at that moment shadow hands reach out from the Lower Lich''s shadow and hold me in place, so he swings the tip of his staff at me creating several black needles that tempt me. turn into a hedgehog. "< Magic Reversal >" (rica) At that moment the needles that are almost hitting me stop in the air and then start to go towards the Lower Lich, throwing him against the throne behind him leaving his whole body pierced. "< Blade of Light >" (I) Without missing this opportunity I use my sword that I cover with the Light element to cut the bone hand of the Lich that was holding the staff, so I take the staff and tuck it away in my storage item away from him. "Master behind you!!!" (Freya) "< Streams of Light >" (Irina) "< Bones Prison >" (Ivan) I lunge forward as I turn and see a sword held in chains of light where I was a second ago, then I see the Death Knight trapped in bones that came out of the ground still holding his sword. "(That was close, very close, very close!)" (I) "Why the hell are there two Grade S monsters here??!!!!!!" (I) Chapter 214: Conclusion of the hard battle "Why the hell are there two Grade S monsters here??!!!!!!" (I) We can''t seem to be distracted for a second in this place, just as I dodged the Death Knight''s attack a blade of black energy comes out of my shadow and cuts my arm off. "Aaaaaahh!!!" (I) "DAD!!!" (Vanessa/Irina) "MASTER!!!" (Layla/rica) "< Sphere of Fire >" (I) I control my blood so it doesn''t come out and create a sphere of fire with the hand I still have and place it in the cut to try to close the wound. "Be careful with your shadows and don''t stop attacking!" (I) "rica help to paralyze him, Layla and Vanessa try to use Light magic on him now that he has no more barriers, Irina go help the others with the Death Knight!" (I) I resist the pain and urge to scream, try to stay as calm as possible, and start ordering everyone around, all the while using my line skills to tie the Lesser Lich as tightly as possible. "Vanessa, use your Holy magic now!" (I) "< Holy Column >" (Vanessa) A column of Holy light emerges from the ground beneath the Lesser Lich''s feet and submerges him within the golden light that lasts for a few seconds before disappearing. When the golden light disappears the Lower Lich is still fine and manages to break free of my lines, I notice there is a light layer of golden and black light covering the Lich''s body. "Holy magic has no effect on him, use light element magic!" (Vanessa) "< Sphere of Light >" (I) "< Mana Barrier >" (I) I use a lower level light element spell which is used to create a small sphere of light that is only used to light the environment, I use half of my mana to create a large sphere of light that covers the entire body of the Lower Lich, so I create a barrier that holds the Lich inside the light sphere, then I use the corrosion ability on the light sphere making that light corrode the Lower Lich as if it were dipped in acid. Meanwhile, I take a high-level MP potion and drink it to recover a bit for the Mana waste I''m having from wasting so much Mana on this attack. Suddenly I feel something pull me to the side then a spear goes through where I was and gets stuck in the wall, the force that this spear had when hitting the wall makes the whole wall crack and break forming a crater in the wall. Boooom!!! When I see who pulled me I discover it was Byakko in his Tiger form, then I look to where Ivan and the others were fighting the Death Knight, what I see is an uphill battle with Irius, Kira, Ibuki, and Freya''s attacks. barely managing to do some damage, so I look at the Lesser Lich and see that my magic and ability were interrupted by the scare I got when I was pulled, but luckily it looks like my attack was very effective as the Lich drops to his knees and his bones are badly damaged with his clothes reminiscent of a priest full of holes. "Layla, attack him with your light magic now!" (I) "< Light Explosion >" (Layla) Layla puts all four hands forward and a glowing white sphere begins to suck the light from the room and get bigger, then she fires the spell forward hitting the Lower Lich and exploding in drying light. Ding! When the light disappears I see the entire area around where the Lower Lich was, everything was burned as well as he was completely still on the ground, so I hear the notification noises, I ignore the notification noise and run to where the Knight of Death is fighting the others. Aaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!! When I was almost there, the Death Knight let out a scream and a wave of black energy threw me and the others away from him, so a large amount of miasma seems to be sucked into this room through cracks in the walls and a black circle appears behind the Death Knight. "We need to stop him, Dad!!" (Vanessa) "He''s using some kind of very powerful Summoning skill, we have to interrupt somehow!" (Vanessa) "Can you use the same magic as before you used to stop the Lich from summoning that Undead?" (I) "Yes, but magic cancel only works on spells, it won''t have an effect on an ability." (Vanessa) "Then we just have to kill him." (I) "ALL ATTACK WITH YOUR STRONGEST MAGIC AND SKILLS NOW!!!" (I) "< Sun Ray >" (Layla) "< Blade of Judgment >" (Irius) "< Tornado of Blades >" (Freya) "< Mana Absorption >" (rica) "< Strengthening in Area >" (Irina) "< Tower of Fire >" (Ivan) "< Blade Storm >" (Ibuki) "< Blade Storm >" (Diana) "< Spiritual Ray >" (Kira/Byakko) Irina uses all her mana to strengthen the others, Erica begins to absorb the Death Knight''s mana from a distance, Ibuki and Diana use the same skill that uses their two swords to send multiple blades flying like a storm at the enemy, Freya uses powerful wind magic creating a tornado where the Death Knight was, the tornado seems to merge with the flames Ivan created with his magic transforming into a fiery tornado full of blades, Layla casts a continuous beam of white light, Irius envelops her large sword with light and shadows launching a black and white blade from his sword advancing towards the Death Knight, Kira stands beside Byakko putting all her spiritual energy into a strange rune that keeps growing bright before releasing a powerful lightning bolt at the enemy. While the Death Knight received this shower of attacks his ability kept trying to summon something, even though his armor was falling apart and his ghostly body disappeared showing his true Skeleton form, the Death Knight still managed to resist the continuous attacks, soon a roar that filled me with fear and terror came from the circle behind the Death Knight that had become a whirlpool of darkness. RAWWHHHH!!!!! "(But what kind of monster is he trying to summon?!)" (I) Just as everyone heard the roar, the Death Knight falls still and his body disassembles into several damaged bones, the swirl of darkness behind him begins to shrink in size until it disappears completely. Ding! I ignore the notification and keep looking at the others who look confused by what was going on, then Layla turned to me and yelled in surprise. "What is that crystal in your hands, master!?" (Layla) "..." (all) When they heard Layla''s loud voice in this room, which was now completely silent, they all turned to me, Vanessa was the most surprised and the one who understood the situation the fastest. "But how? When? I couldn''t even see you approaching him." (Vanessa) "What are you talking about?" (Kira) "Looks like the master managed to rip out the Death Knight''s core without anyone noticing." (Ivan) "Great job, master." (Ivan) "Impossible, I was in front of the master and he didn''t get past me." (Diana) "..." (I) "Stay calm, all I did was use my threads to wrap around his core and then I pulled with all my strength." (I) "But how did you get through his defenses? My attacks could only scratch his armor." (Ibuki) "The Death Knight''s spectral body was so tough that even when I attacked between the pieces of armor I couldn''t do any damage." (Diana) "That''s why I made you attack, the Death Knight was just a Skeleton wearing a spectral body and armor just like Ivan, but he was stronger, so I made everyone attack with everything they had to break their defenses when he returned to his appearance of Skeleton I used my lines and made them reach him by crawling across the floor, after that I took advantage of his attacks weakened him to rip the core out of his body and finish him." (I) "..." (all) Everyone was silent listening to how I did it, but the truth is it was an improvised plan that had a lot of chances of going wrong, but I''m glad it worked. "Father, your arm, let me help you." (Vanessa) "Thanks." (I) "< Extreme Recovery >" (Vanessa) Vanessa runs over and grabs my arm that had been torn off and asks Irina to hold it in place while using high-level healing magic to put it back in place. Once my arm is in place I feel it a little numb but this feeling should wear off as I start to look at the condition of the others and realize Ivan is in his Skeleton form with many of his bones cracked Irius he was in shreds of armor and full of wounds, but now he is being treated by Irina, Diana seems to have a broken arm and Ibuki was full of wounds too. The others were fine with no apparent injury but just like me everyone is out of energy, Ibuki and Layla are lying on the floor saying nothing just looking at the ceiling as they rest, Irina and Freya sit together as they talk, everyone is settling down and relaxing to rest better. Everyone expended every ounce of energy we had in our bodies in this battle, so we deserve a short rest. I''m also completely out of strength, this battle that was supposed to be easy was harder than anyone imagined, a lot of strange things happened since we entered the boss''s room, to start with there were two Grade S monsters in the boss''s room, another weird thing was the Lesser Lich being resistant to Holy magic which should have been impossible according to Vanessa, what caught my attention the most was the invocation that the Death Knight was trying to do, I don''t know what it was but it was clearly a stronger monster than himself. There are so many strange things that have happened on this floor that I don''t even know where to start, that''s why I''m trying to leave out that strange black Church that released an infinite amount of miasma inside this dungeon. "(But what''s going on inside this place?)" (I) "(This battle was supposed to be easier than the Basilisk turn, so why did it happen?!!)" (I) "(I don''t think I want to know, I don''t want to run into any more problems looking for an explanation for these things, I''ll be happy for what we''ve done for now.)" (I) "(All that remains now is to get to the dungeon core.)" (I) Chapter 215: Undead Dungeon Core I avoided thinking too much about the strange things that happened here today, I''ll leave it to talk about it when we''re home safe and rested. I take this brief break that the others and I are having to take a look at the notifications that have appeared before. Ding! <[ You gained 3000 EXP by killing enemies ]> . . . <[ You have conquered the Dungeon Corpse ]> . . . <[ You have leveled up ]> . . <[ Your work has reached the maximum level ]> "(So that was the name of this dungeon?)" (I) After checking the notifications I get up and start rummaging through the bodies of enemies and picking up everything that seems to be worth something, this battle was tough so I won''t leave anything that might be useful behind. I collect the bodies of the two boss monsters, their cores, and their weapons. Unfortunately, the Lower Lich''s priest clothes and Death Knight''s armor were destroyed because of our attacks, so we won''t be able to do anything with these things, at least I''ll try to get the pieces of Death Knight''s armor back, I''m thinking about giving it to Anton, maybe he can melt these pieces of armor and turn it into something useful. After that, I look around the room and I don''t find anything that seems to be worth anything, so I wait a bit until everyone is recovered or at least recovered enough so we can go to the treasure room of this dungeon which is the golden door we found inside this castle. When we left the boss''s room, which already had the doors open, we went to the treasure room, when we got to the big golden doors I put my hands on top and they opened. When we enter it is a large circular room with a mural that stretches the entire circumference of the treasure room, these murals were just as gruesome and macabre as those inside the Dungeon Chief''s room, these murals told stories of torture, death, profanation, war, suffering, etc. Not only the murals, but there were also statues of grotesque beings throughout the room, but the most macabre statue was the largest one that was farthest from the golden door, it was a ten-meter tall statue of a being whose lower body it appeared to be made up of hundreds of columns with the bones intertwined forming a kind of hideous snake tail, the upper body was humanoid with six arms, had bone wings and had three heads of skulls that seem to belong to beasts with three horns each, the six arms seemed to hold something that was floating in front of his chest, this was a green crystal sphere smeared with black glows. "(This is the core of the dungeon.)" (I) But before I have to deal with that core, the others and I go to the golden chest in the center of the room, I open it and find fifty crystal coins, a large amount of gems, five bars of an unknown metal, two crystal cards and a bracelet made from tiny skulls. I tell Layla to pack everything away with her space magic, then tell everyone to wait by the golden door as I make my way to the dungeon core and stop in front of the statue where he is. This statue is so macabre and grotesque that I feel like I''m alive, if this thing represents a monster that actually exists then I hope I never meet him as just standing in front of this statue is making me scared. "(It''s time to do what I came here to do.)" (I) "(Wait a minute, I think I forgot to tell the others what I wanted to do in this dungeon, I think only Layla knows maybe.)" (I) "(Never mind, I''ll explain everything later, let''s start this soon so I can go home.)" (I) According to the information the Goddess Selene gave me I only need to use my Auras to take possession of this Dungeon Core, she also made it clear that the core will be influenced by my Auras and will become different, but she didn''t exactly explain these differences. Since I''ve never done this and I don''t know if I''ll get another chance to do it, I don''t want to run the risk of failing, so I''m going to use my four Auras from the start. I activate the Aura of Judgment, Aura of Martial Master, Presence of the Ruler, and Aura of Chaos abilities all at the same time, so I expect them to intertwine and merge into one powerful Aura, and I spread that Aura until I reach the Dungeon Core. When my Aura reaches the Core I feel like I can''t get into it like there''s something stopping my Aura, so I try to focus on one point, but I don''t know how to control my Aura well yet, so I jump to the core of the Dungeon and put my hand in it, then make my Auras merged into one out of my hand at that single-core point through my hand. I still feel a lot of resistance trying to keep my Auras from coming in, but this time I feel like I''m making little progress, little by little I feel my Aura coming in but I can''t lose concentration for even a second. After a while, I manage to get my Aura into the core and fill it in little by little, but all of a sudden it feels like the core is connected to something else, I realize it was this connection that was preventing me from getting my Aura into the core earlier. What confused me was that the Dungeon has no owner, so it shouldn''t be connected to anything and anyone, from the information the Goddess Selene left in my head, a Dungeon Core should already have its owner''s Aura imprinted inside it, but this core doesn''t, this core is a kind of unique link item, once marked, there''s no going back and there''s no way someone else can steal the core from you, making the owner a Dungeon Master. I can feel that there is no Aura of any kind other than mine in this dungeon core, so I''m confused about what this core is connected to, I also feel that this connection is preventing my aura from completely filling the dungeon core, I have to break this connection somehow. I try to touch this connection with my Aura to try to break it somehow, but the moment my Aura touches the connection I feel my body go numb and my whole body starts to shake, I feel a brutal and cruel presence slumbering through this connection, I also feel that when I touched the connection that presence or the owner of that presence woke up and turned his eyes to me, I felt like an insect about to be crushed by a tsunami. "(Which worm woke me up!?)" (Ghastly voice) Suddenly I start to hear a voice full of cruelty and coldness through this connection, realizing that I may have made a mistake I try to withdraw my Aura to escape as soon as possible from this dungeon, but I feel like I have something holding me and at that moment I realize this Green and black energy coming out of the Dungeon''s core and enveloping my body, I realize I have no way out, so I try to get in touch with Kira, Diana, or Layla but I can''t. "(The priest I raised and his bodyguard are gone.)" (Ghastly voice) "(You made this worm? Do you dare to mess up my plans?)" (Ghastly voice) That hideous, cold voice gets louder and louder, with every word I feel like my heart is going to stop beating. "(After I kill you I will make you my next priest as a reward for your boldness, be grateful hahahahaha.)" (Ghastly voice) Soon I feel as if the presence I was feeling through this connection with the core extends to me, I could feel the urge to kill in that presence, but at that moment a multicolored light and another scarlet red light come out of my body and into the Dungeon''s core, then I start to hear two other voices in my head. "(You are very arrogant for daring to call my son a worm, little Evil God.)" (Goddess Selene) "(Looks like someone is trying to do something on the sly, very smart for someone who looks hurt.)" (Goddess Aine) "(Witch of Carnage and Fairy of Destruction!? What is this, a trap?)" (Ghastly voice) The once cold and cruel voice was now filled with fear and surprise, the energy that once held me in place had disappeared and I don''t feel as scared as I used to, as I don''t know what''s happening I take this moment to fill the entire core with my Aura as it seems to be a good opportunity. "(How dare you call someone as kind and gentle as me with such a destructive name, I will crush you not to spread that name to anyone else!)" (Goddess Aine) "(I''ll show you what happens to those who try to harm my dear Zenos.)" (Goddess Selene) Ahhhhh!!!! Soon the core glows half a scarlet and the other half a multicolored light, so I feel the strange presence of earlier severing the connection with the dungeon core as I hear a scream of pain. "(Does he think he can escape me? I will make my Fairies find him, I will not let an Evil God who profanes the dead escape.)" (Goddess Aine) "(What troubled child are you becoming my son, first Baldr and now an Evil God?)" (Goddess Selene) "(Hahahaha, I like your boldness, thanks to you we found this Evil God, well done.)" (Goddess Selene) After that, the multicolored and scarlet energies come back into my body and I feel that my auras have completely filled the core which starts to turn liquid at the same time as the hideous statue where the core is turning to dust disappearing. I drop back down to the ground and watch the core float down and become smaller and smaller as its liquid form tries to take on several different shapes at the same time it changes between various colors. The core stops in front of me while it''s still continuously taking on various shapes and colors, then it turns a completely black sphere and hardens into a half-transparent crystal, so I see several different colored glow shining in the darkness of this crystal, I feel like this crystal sphere guarding a night sky full of stars, it even reminds me a little of the image I see inside the hood of my astral body. "How beautiful." (I) Chapter 216: Meeting Elsaris After I finally got the Dungeon Core I feel a strong connection to it, so I know this Core has lost its connection to this Dungeon, it looks like what I did was similar to destroying and rebuilding the Dungeon Core, now it''s completely different from before, I can''t tell if this was how it was supposed to be or if my Auras did something more, I don''t care either since that''s enough for me to proceed with my plans. Ding! Ding! I take the core that now fits in both my hands and stares at its beautiful appearance before checking what the notifications are saying. Ding! Ding! <[ You destroyed the Dungeon Corpse ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the title [ Dungeon Destroyer ] ]> . . . <[ You have taken possession of the Corpse Dungeon Core ]> . . <[ By imprinting your Auras on the Core Dungeon Corpse your will caused the Core to be destroyed and recreated to suit you ]> . . <[ Use Dungeon Core to create a new dungeon where you want them to meet the requirements ]> . . . <[ The Corpse Dungeon has been destroyed and will collapse within 10 hours destroying everything and everyone that remains inside until the deadline ]> Along with the notifications I feel some knowledge flowing from the Dungeon core to me, some of that knowledge is similar to what the Goddess Selene gave me, but there are a lot of things she didn''t explain to me that I now know, one of those things is how to activate the core, how to create a dungeon is the requirements of where to create the dungeon, it''s good information that I''ll need to study better to know the feasibility of what I want to do, from what I''ve seen I think everything will be fine, but I need to find out in detail how to do now that I have almost everything I need. I try to store the dungeon core inside my storage item but I can''t, I think because dungeons create their own spaces their core is considered a space item making it impossible to store it inside another space item. "(I''ll try to get Layla to keep it for me, it''ll be safe with her.)" (I) I start walking to the treasure room door where my entire group is looking at me with looks of disbelief, confusion, and surprise. "You always do interesting things, but this time I''m really surprised." (Layla) "I was confused when our connection was blocked, but after it got back to normal I noticed something more connected to you on a similar level to mine, but I didn''t think it was a Dungeon Core." (Layla) "How did you manage to do this?" (Ivan) "What are you going to use a dungeon core for, Dad?" (Irina) "Are you looking to create your own dungeon? Do you want to become a Dungeon Master?" (Vanessa) "Calm down, I''ll explain everything to you later, now I think we''d better get out of here." (I) "Master Zenos is right, you must have also received the notification." (Freya) "Yes, the Dungeon has been destroyed, we have 10 hours to get out of here." (rica) "Does the teleport inside the secure room still work?" (I) "It will work until such time as Dungeon collapses." (Diana) "Before you go, could you try to save this with your space magic, Layla?" (I) "I am going to try." (Layla) I lift the Dungeon Core near Layla who grabs it and tries to push it forward where space is rippling like the waters of a lake, luckily it looks like Layla manages to keep it. After that I start walking everyone out of the castle where we find out that there are still monsters on that floor, we dodge the monsters as much as we can while trying to get to the safe room on that floor. On the way to the safe room, we passed downtown where the bizarre Church was, I was surprised to see that there was no more miasma coming out of this Church and to see that half of the Church is destroyed in the rubble. Even in this state I didn''t approach this Church or let others approach it, now that I know this Dungeon was linked to an Evil God I know this Church should belong to this God, so I won''t go near that. We continued our walk to the safe room, in the middle of the way we had to stop to fight some monsters, which was difficult as we were low on energy and tired from the battle against the two dungeon bosses, but we managed to get to the safe room with few injuries and even more tired. We went straight to the first floor and walked out of the dungeon, we found it had just gotten dark, we told the soldiers guarding the entrance that the dungeon was destroyed and will soon collapse, they seemed surprised to hear this, but then they were happily talking that they would no longer need to stay here in the middle of this forest full of monsters. After saying goodbye to the soldiers we go to town, as I am very tired I go straight back to the mansion and tell Diana and Kira to go to the Guild to report that we have completed the Dungeon and soon she will disappear. As soon as I enter the mansion Layla gets a serious look on her face, she starts looking around before focusing her attention on the mansion, then she turns to me. "What was it Layla?" (I) "Looks like we have two guests, master." (Layla) "They also seem to be strong, I can say that as they manage to keep the miasma away from them." (Layla) "Thanks for the warning, we''ll soon know who they are." (I) I take one more HP potion and one more MP potion to recover, even more, I have to be in the best condition as every time I get a guest I find it''s just more trouble coming. When we''re near the door it opens and I see Nolan and Alice welcoming us. "Welcome back, master." (Nolan/Alice) "Thanks for the reception, looks like Freya has taught you both well." (I) "They learn very quickly, in a few more months they will be at the same level as the servants of a King, I can say that because I have worked with a King in the past." (Freya) "Thank you for the compliment, Mistress Freya, but I still prefer Miss Irina''s magic lessons." (Alice) "Looks like she has a great fighting spirit, Dad." (Irina) "She''s always excited when we study combat spells, even though it''s difficult for me since it''s not my specialty." (Irina) "After things calm down we can see that, try to learn some melee combat from Sophia since she''s been staying at the mansion, learning how to fight will be good for you Alice if you like." (I) "Thank you, master." (Alice) "I''ll talk to Ms. Sophia later." (Alice) Alice''s eyes lit up when I told her she could learn combat skills from Sophia, after which Nolan steps forward. "I''m sorry to interrupt, master." (Nolan) "But I must say that we have visitors, they are a woman from the tribe of Beastman Rabbits and a White Elf man." (Nolan) "That''s right master, they arrived about forty minutes ago and said they wanted to speak to you, Caryna is serving them in the garden, Sophia and Leo are watching." (Alice) "Why are you watching? Has something happened?" (I) "Miss Nira said she recognized the man, she said he is a Black Market employee, according to her he is also a Vampire." (Nolan) "Black Market Employee?" (I) "Mrs. Sophia also said she recognized the woman as the auctioneer for the auction." (Alice) "..." (I) "(What do these Black Market people want with me?)" (I) "I think they''re here because of me." (Vanessa) "What do you mean by that, Vanessa?" (I) "Let''s go inside I''ll explain inside." (Vanessa) "All right." (I) "Alice tell them I''ll meet them in twenty minutes." (I) "Yes, Master." (Alice) After we all go inside we will all get cleaned up and changed, after that, I spent a few minutes listening to Vanessa''s brief explanation. Vanessa told me she came from another continent, she said that the neutral Vampire faction has an agreement with the Vampire faction in that realm, so as she was coming here she warned them and was guided by them to their headquarters where she spent time talking to them before asking someone to escort her to my mansion, after which she didn''t contact them for days. She failed to explain many things to me, she said it was not the time for me to find out about the details of other continents or the agreement between the two factions of Vampires. I don''t like not knowing something, but I trust Vanessa, the time I spent with her was short, but she was always truthful with me. After that, the others go rest or eat something, Vanessa and I are guided by Freya in her maid outfit to the garden where our guests are waiting. The moment I saw the two I knew they were Vampires, not only that but I also realized that the Elf''s strength was close to mine, but the woman''s strength was greater than mine, she hid her Aura and is doing well to hide your strength, but after so many life and death situations, I know how to recognize a predator when I see one, your eyes are calm, but I can see a sharpness, coldness, and cruelty that only someone who has been through many battles would have, the master of the guild of Assassins and Carlos had similar eyes, but hers are more than their two. "(She is dangerous.)" (I) Chapter 217: Conversation with Elsaris Elsaris Pov: I was in a secret office with Jay to discuss what we''re going to do today. "Are you sure you want to do this, Mistress Elsaris?" (Jay) "Yes, we''ve already studied everything we could find out about Zenos and his group, but there are still a lot of holes in the information we got." (I) "There''s only one way to fill in these holes in the information that we already have, to go there and meet him face to face." (I) "I don''t think this is a good idea, we don''t know what his motivations and goals are, all we''re sure of is that he''s recruited a lot of people into his group since he arrived in this town." (Jay) "We also know he must have some connection to the neutral faction." (I) "That Envoy came here because of him, but we don''t know why either, all we know is that we haven''t heard from this Envoy since you took her to the Eclipse Mansion." (I) "I still think it''s risky, they''re hiding a lot of things in that place." (Jay) "We can''t continue our business in this town with an unknown factor here, we have to at least find out if they''re going to get in our way." (I) After some discussion, I get up with Jay and we sneak out of hiding using concealment and protection items so we can walk in the daylight. Let''s walk to the gates of the Eclipse mansion, as soon as I get there I''m surprised by this colossal barrier of concealment covering the entire mansion, I don''t even dare calculate the level of energy expenditure this barrier has if it''s the only barrier. Upon reaching the gates I deactivate my item of disguise and tell Jay to do the same, after which I press the bell at the gate and wait. "Are you sure it''s a good idea to make such an open entrance? I don''t like to disable our cover here either." (Jay) "I''ve already had our employees make their prying eyes disappear from here, plus I''d rather go through the front door this time to show that we''re not enemies." (I) After a few minutes a big man from the Beastman Lions tribe came to the gate along with a maid with long dark blue hair in a ponytail, her black skin makes her red eyes stand out, I knew immediately that it was a Vampire, but both she and the Beast Man beside her are too weak. "Good afternoon sir and madam, my name is Alice, what do you want in this mansion today?" (Alice) "Is the master of this mansion present?" (I) "The master is not present at the moment, I advise you to come back at another time." (Alice) "If he''s not there I can wait for his return, I''m in no hurry." (I) The young Rogue maid spoke well but the tone of her voice is very trained and stiff yet, she spoke well but it wasn''t very natural showing that she should be in training yet, meanwhile the man beside her was silent just watching me and to Jay as a bouncer. After hearing that I wanted to wait for her master''s return the young maid seems to get lost in her words and looks at the man beside her who nods his head at her. "The master must not return until after dark, but if you still want to wait for his return I will receive you." (Alice) "I thank." (I) "Leo go let the others know we have guests, I''ll guide them to the tables in the garden." (Alice) "Follow me please." (Alice) Jay and I follow the young maid into the gates as the Man-Beast leaves the other way, as we follow the young maid past the barrier and I''m surprised. Behind the concealment barrier, I discover that the entire miasma of the mansion is different, somehow it is no longer normal miasma, it seems as if the impurities were cleaned, I also noticed a lot of darkness in this miasma, from what I could see it is this miasma that maintains the barrier of concealment by using the element of darkness to lower the cost of maintaining that barrier. I could also feel like this place was overflowing with energy, the amount of Mana and spiritual energy in here and greater than outside. "(How did they do that?)" (I) Another thing I noticed was that I felt a lot of things around me, they were weak and I didn''t feel any kind of malice, but I don''t like not being able to see something, I turn to Jay and see a surprised face looking around in all directions like a child without understanding what is happening, I never thought to see Jay with a reaction like that. I use a telepathic communication item to communicate with him without others noticing. "(Why this surprised face? See something?)" (I) "..." (Jay) "(I''m sorry ma''am, I just didn''t expect to see so many Child Fairies in this place.)" (Jay) "(Are you saying the things I''m feeling flying all over the place are Infant Fairies?)" (I) "(Yes, but I''m also feeling a weak presence of Spirits, but I''m not able to see them.)" (Jay) "..." (I) I''m confused by this sudden information that I didn''t know before, how I could let something that big pass, not to mention that I can feel a lot of these things around here even though I can''t see them. We continue to follow housekeeper Alice into a beautiful flower garden that has a space in the middle for a beautifully ornate table and some chairs. "Please feel free to sit down." (Alice) "Thanks." (I) Shortly after we are seated, a White Elf maid comes in holding two trays and accompanied by the Beast Man from before along with a Black Elf. The White Elf who is wearing a very pretty maid''s dress sets the trays in front of us, one tray has sandwiches and the other tray has juice. "Good afternoon, my name is Caryna and I will be accompanying you until the master returns, if you need anything feels free to ask me." (Caryna) "Nice to meet you, Caryna." (I) We waited a long time in this place, but I didn''t mind, the sandwich I ate was amazing, I could see that it was made with Basilisk meat and various herbs that should be used in alchemy, usually, just a great rich nobleman or family member real would waste money that way just to eat but I must say this is the best sandwich I have ever had. After a long time the maid named Caryna lets us know that her master is back, she says he''ll show up right after he cleans up and gets ready. "(Did you notice we''re being watched?)" (Jay) "(Yes, I also saw something hidden in the tree next to us, if I''m not mistaken that is a Cursed Raven, but its way of acting is strange.)" (I) "(We don''t know anything about them, so I think it''s best not to do anything to become unnecessarily hostile to them.)" (Jay) "(I know that.)" (I) After another time of waiting he appears, a child with dark skin, red hair, and eyes of different colors, his appearance is just beautiful, for some reason, I feel I should be respectful to him. He was not alone, there was a woman beside him with white skin, long pink hair, two-color eyes, one red and the other golden, her body and face were beautiful, I felt a calm and warm feeling coming from her. The two seemed to have similar strengths to Jay, but their presence and their Auras had a special quality or characteristic that I couldn''t understand, I could also feel something stronger hidden somewhere in the mansion watching us from afar, he doesn''t try to hide his thirst of blood, it looks like it''s warning you that it''s present and just waiting for the moment of hostility to strike. "Nice to meet you, my name is Zenos, this one beside me is Vanessa." (Zenos) "Nice to meet you too, my name is Elsaris, this one next to me is Jay." (I) He greets us and then sits across from us with the woman beside him, soon after a White Elf comes towards us along with Caryna, they look a lot must be sisters possibly, they both bring trays with some more sandwiches and juice for all. "Good afternoon, allow this Freya to serve you tonight." (Freya) "Here are some more appetizers, feel free to eat." (Caryna) "Thank you both for that, I was really hungry." (Zenos) Zenos takes a sandwich and starts eating without bothering about etiquette, the woman next to him does just the opposite, she takes the sandwich and eats small pieces without getting dirty, as Jay and I also like this food and we start eating again. "Your cooks are excellent." (I) "Thanks for the compliment, I''m very proud of these two." (Zenos) So these two White Elves are the cooks. "So what do I owe the Black Market visit to today?" (Zenos) "..." (I) "Don''t pretend to be surprised, even if your hair color has changed, anyone who participated in that auction would recognize the auctioneer." (Zenos) "Of course, none of them imagine that this auctioneer is in charge." (Zenos) "Looks like someone told you a lot about us, was it the person sent by the neutral faction?" (I) "I only told him a little bit about you guys, it''s not like I know much either." (Vanessa) I look straight into the eyes of this woman named Vanessa, her words hint at something that hadn''t crossed my mind. "Are you the one sent?" (I) "Yes, you didn''t have to come here, I was planning to come to see you in two days." (Vanessa) She is totally different, last time her body was completely covered with many magic hide items, even her appearance was hidden, but now she shows her appearance easily and got rid of most of the hide items, not to mention that she didn''t speak before. and is now speaking normally. "(What''s going on here?)" (I) Chapter 218: Dragon Constitution All I wanted was to rest after I got back from the Dungeon, the fight against the two Grade S monsters was very exhausting, I still had that problem when I went to get the Dungeon Core, I thought I would come home, take a shower, eat delicious food and I would throw myself in bed to sleep. But what I find when I arrive at the mansion is a guest I didn''t expect to find, so far I don''t understand why they chose to come here today, it could have been any other day, but since I have nothing to do, let''s see what they want and then I''m going to bed. "Miss Elsaris, I''m a little tired so I''m sorry if I''m too direct." (I) "But I would like to know the reason for your visit? It must be something important for you to wait so long for me to return, right?" (I) "To tell you the truth I just wanted to meet you and find out what happened to the neutral faction envoy." (Elsaris) "As you can see I''m fine, I plan on staying with my Dad from now on." (Vanessa) At Vanessa''s words, I see Elsaris'' face change into an expression of astonishment, then she looks at me, the Elf next to her had a very similar reaction. "Yes, she is talking about me." (I) "..." (Elsaris) "The neutral faction intends to stay in this city?" (Jay) "You don''t need to worry, my Father is not from any faction, I am here only as his link to the neutral faction, I will not interfere in your business." (Vanessa) "Unlike Vanessa, I don''t know what your business is, I don''t care either, as long as you don''t interfere with me or my group don''t plan on interfering with you." (I) "I''m glad to hear that, but I''m worried about what you guys might be planning." (Elsaris) "I''m not planning anything else, no need to worry." (I) "You say that, but according to my employee this place is completely full of Spirits and Fairy Infants, doing something like that in the middle of a town is something no one would dare do." (Elsaris) "Looks like you can''t see them then, but don''t worry, I don''t plan on staying in this town much longer." (I) "As you may have seen, we are tired and we have a lot to do." (Vanessa) "Of course, sorry for the inconvenience, but I would like to ask if Mr. Zenos has any special healing abilities?" (Elsaris) "Why do you ask?" (I) "When Vanessa arrived in town along with Jay, she wasn''t even able to speak, we had to communicate with her through the use of telepathy, so how is she now able to speak so normally?" (Elsaris) "That''s a question you won''t get an answer to, I also suggest you don''t investigate." (Vanessa) Looks like the reason these Black Market people came here was to probe me and Vanessa, I can see they''re seeing us as potential threats. I don''t know their abilities but the woman from the Beast Man Rabbit tribe called Elsaris seems to be stronger than Ivan, I''m worried about that but I don''t think they want to be our enemies, it seems they don''t want to get involved with the neutral faction of the Vampires. After a brief conversation I accompanied them to the gate, I wanted them to leave soon so I could rest, so I tried to be direct when talking to them so I could finish this soon. After that, I joined the others for some delicious food before going to my room with Vanessa to drink Dragon''s blood. Ding! <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ True Dragon: 35% > 40% ] ]> After enduring the usual suffering I thank Vanessa and then go to sleep even more tired than before. zzzzzz... Zzzzz... zzzz... ---------- The next day I wake up feeling much better, there are a lot of things I need to do today, one of the things I wanted to do was test something first. I wake up Layla and ask to go get Vanessa, I want to try to drink Dragon''s blood twice a day to try to speed up the process, I need to do this before I leave this town, but I need to get out of here soon before someone from Igreja da Luz comes looking for me. When I told Vanessa about what I wanted to do she didn''t agree, she said that True Dragon''s blood is very strong and my body needs this time to adapt to it, by reducing this time in half will overload my body. I was worried about what she said, but I still asked what could happen, she said that every time I drank Dragon''s blood the suffering I would feel would be even worse as my body doesn''t fully support this bloodline yet. I thought it through and decided to stick with the plan, so I drink more of Dragon''s blood, as I drank it I realized the effect Vanessa spoke of being worse than the previous time, this time I felt that violent energy hitting my bones, my whole body was shaking, the blood in my veins took longer to consume that energy too. Ding! <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ True Dragon: 40% > 45% ] ]> When it was all over Vanessa said it took me five more minutes of suffering, not to mention that she was continually healing me during that time. But I told her I would try one more time tonight, I can''t waste too much time on this, even if I suffer a little it will still be worth it if we can get out of this town faster. Once I was on my feet again we went downstairs to eat something, then I step into Anton''s place and I hand over all of the metals, damaged weapons, damaged armor, and pieces of Death Knight armor to him. I tell Anton to think about what he can do with this and discuss his plans with Lyra, I tell him I want to make use of the crystal cards we have to make magic weapons of the highest quality possible for each one, at the moment we have very little of these cards. crystal so I''ll have to get some more. After that, I go to Nira and deliver everything we can get from Dungeon for her to evaluate, distribute to others, and sell anything I wouldn''t want. After that I went to talk to Diana who was training with Ibuki, I wanted to know what happened yesterday at the Guild when she said that we had already destroyed the Dungeon of the Undead. Diana said she will need to wait until today as she needs to confirm the Dungeon''s disappearance before receiving our reward. After hearing what Diana said I tell the others that we are going to the Guild for the night, by then the news of the Dungeon''s disappearance will have already been heard by the people of the Guild. After that, I spent the day relaxing to prepare for what I was going to do tonight, I also took the opportunity to talk to other people about why I chose the Dungeon core, I told them what I was planning and everyone was surprised calling me crazy, only Layla, Erica and Vanessa were excited about my plan, everyone didn''t even know if what I wanted to do was possible, but I talked about the great chances of working by the theory I have in my head. After nightfall I joined Vanessa in my room to once again drink Dragon''s blood, Vanessa was still against saying that I should go back to doing it once a day, but I continue and drink another glass of blood. This time it was much worse, I felt the veins in my body swell, more than half of them were tearing causing a lot of pain in me, the worst thing was that Vanessa kept healing me which only made me have to feel my veins tearing more than one time and having to feel that crazy energy coursing through my body out of control, destroying me from the inside, before it finally ended. Ding! <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ True Dragon: 45% > 50% ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the skill [ Dragon Constitution ] ]> At that moment I''m happy that the suffering is over, I was also happy that I finally got skill with this blood, it was at that moment when I was happy that everything started to go very wrong and go completely against my plans. Ding! <[ Starting body reconstruction by skill [ Dragon Constitution ] ]> I feel the energy within my blood, the same energy that absorbed this wild energy within me, I know this energy represents the Dragon lineage within me, but at that moment I feel this energy leaving the veins of my body and it started to travel. all my body. Before there was nothing wrong but a strange feeling, so I felt my body being destroyed little by little because of this energy, but at the same time I feel like this energy only healed me at the same time that it destroyed me, it threw me into a hell of Suffering. "What is this... some kind of transformation..." (Vanessa) "Dad I can''t heal you now, you''re going through some kind of transformation so try to stay awake, if you sleep or pass out you could die." (Vanessa) "Did you hear me? Try to stay conscious..." (Vanessa) In the midst of my suffering of having every part of my body being destroyed and continually healed, I could hear Vanessa''s voice, so I try to stay steady despite the excruciating pain. ---------- Elsaris Pov: I was in a hidden room that only Jay and I know where it is, he was my first child since I evolved into a Vampire, he''s the person I trust the most. Right now I''m holding a red crystal that has a White Rabbit frozen inside it. "Are you really considering this?" (Jay) "If the neutral faction needed his help to heal this woman named Vanessa, then he must have a very special and unique power." (I) "Perhaps my quest is coming to an end, you know why I joined the faction that is on the side of humans." (I) "But we still know next to nothing about him." (Jay) "He and those around him are strange, but I didn''t feel malice coming from either of them, I could also feel that they care a lot for each other, their union is very strong and apparent." (I) "You know I will go wherever you go, the decision is yours." (Jay) I look away from the crystal in my hands and walk over to Jay, kissing his forehead. "Thank you son." (I) "If all goes well, you will soon be able to meet her, for she was the one who did all this, the one who was always by my side and protected me until I was strong enough." (I) "I made a promise to always be by her side and I intend to keep that promise, whatever the cost." (I) I look back at the crystal and gently rub my hand with all the care and love I have as tears stream from my eyes. "Just wait a little longer, sister." (I) Chapter 219: Absurd skill The pain I was feeling was completely unbearable, at first I screamed like an animal being attacked, but then I lost my voice, every part of my body was continually being destroyed and rebuilt, it was true for my organs, flesh, nerves, bones and even my brain. At first, it just started with my flesh being destroyed and continually healing, it was difficult but not the worst, then came my veins and arteries I could feel like my blood was bubbling inside my body and burning my organs, then it was time to my muscles, tendons, and nerves. The pain I was feeling was the worst, the agony and suffering seemed to have no end, the thought of dying even crossed my mind, but disappeared soon after, even in my suffering I could hear the times of Vanessa and Layla crying to mine aside, I can''t let them watch me die. Then it came to my organs, I felt I was going to die over and over again, I thought I would suffocate as my lungs were continually destroyed and healed, but I was closer to Death as my heart was destroyed and healed continually being rebuilt by this process, each Once my heart was destroyed by that energy I thought it would be the end of me, those moments were when I almost lost consciousness several times, but I kept my will strong. When it came time for my bones to be destroyed my body was already in such a destroyed state that I felt like I was being punished by the Gods, at the same time other parts of my body began to be destroyed which were my skin, eyes, tongue, etc. This torture felt like it was never going to end, I had completely lost track of time, I was no longer able to see, hear or breathe, all I had left was pain and my thoughts, but soon even my thoughts were taken away from me. When I felt that wild energy going to my brain and starting to destroy it, at that moment fear took over me, I was afraid of what would happen to my brain going through this infernal process, the worst thing was that at that moment I was lost only with the pain, there was nothing but pain and a desire to rest that only grew and grew. "(Don''t you dare fall asleep, master!)" (Layla) "(Keep your conscience, fight to the end like you always did!)" (Layla) "(Don''t you dare leave me now, you have to stand by me, Vanessa, Irina, Irius, Freya, rica, Ibuki, Ivan, and the others!)" (Layla) "(So...so don''t you dare give up you big idiot!)" (Layla) When my conscience was hazier and I was more confused with everything around me that was when I heard a crying voice inside me, I didn''t understand what she was saying, I didn''t even know who was talking or why I was sad, but something strong I felt an enormous desire to bear the tiredness, pain, and suffering. Using this unbelievable willpower I kept conscious of this torture that never ended, not knowing how much time had passed and still a little confused I feel the energy that caused all this suffering to run through my body and disappear into it little by little. Then I felt something warm envelop me, I tried to open my eyes a little but my vision was blurry, all I saw was some silhouettes approaching me and hugging me, for some reason it made me feel good. "You did very well, Dad." (Vanessa) "Now you can rest, leave everything to us now." (Irina) Hearing these voices soothed me, at that moment I realized how weak my body was, so my eyes closed and I was submerged in darkness falling into unconsciousness that I was trying to avoid before. zzzzzz... Zzzzz... zzzz... ----------- I open my eyes and feel like I can''t move my body, I try to look at what''s holding me like this, that''s when I saw it was Irius who was sitting by the bed, he was lying on top of me preventing me from getting out from the room without waking him up, so I look away and see Vanessa sleeping with Layla trapped in her cleavage. "(What happened?)" (I) My whole body was sore, but for some reason, I felt different, there was something different in me that I couldn''t understand what it was, that''s when the images of the night before crossed my mind. "(So this was all caused when I got 50% purity in the Dragon bloodline, it looks like the skill I got from that bloodline did something to my body.)" (I) I tried to use my skill to identify this ability that I got from the Dragon Bloodline. <[ Skill identification result: ? [ Dragon Constitution ]--> A powerful ability that only Dragons or those who share their bloodline can possess, this ability represents the powerful body that Dragons pride themselves on. (2) boost for all physical stats (2) increase for elemental resistance (2) of increase for stamina (2) Increase for Magic Resistance (2) boost for Vitality (HP) ]> "(What absurd skill is this?)" (I) "(How can an ability have so many effects?)" (I) "(Could the pain and suffering I felt was this ability applying these effects to my body?)" (I) I had so many doubts and I was so confused that I decided not to think about it, for now, I still have a lot to do and think, I''ll think about it after I talk to Vanessa, it seems she knows something about it since she told me not lose consciousness. "I''m glad you woke up master." (Freya) While I was lost in my thoughts I heard a door noise and Freya enters the room greeting me. "Good morning, Freya." (I) "How long have I been unconscious this time?" (I) "Only one night this time, but I advise the master to stop doing things that make him unconscious, it makes it seem like it''s becoming a habit after so many times." (Freya) "..." (I) "(It seems that what they say is true, against facts, not arguments.)" (I) After that Freya woke the others up so I could get out of bed, when they saw me awake Layla flew on my head and hugged my face while crying calling me an idiot several times, Vanessa just smiled at me with tears in the corners of her eyes and Irius just he breathed a sigh of relief as he said he was worried. After that everyone leaves the room, except Layla who stopped crying and lay on top of my head saying that she would be glued to me from today to stop doing stupid things. I get up and take off my clothes in front of a full-length mirror, I have no reason to feel ashamed of my body, it''s also not the first to see Layla see me as she often enters the shower with me. "..." (I) I look at the mirror in surprise, my body is still very androgynous, but this time I see thin muscles in my body, seeing this my eyes get blurry and tears start to fall, finally, some muscles started to appear in this body, unfortunately, it doesn''t change much my appearance since it''s still a bit difficult to differentiate between my gender, but I hope I gain more muscle from now on. "(Looks like the body of a teenage athlete, it would be better if my face was a little more masculine.)" (I) After that I put my clothes back on, now that I''ve confirmed that my appearance hasn''t changed much I don''t feel calmer, so I look at my room and see something that catches my attention, there was a big red circular spot in the middle of my room. "This is your blood, Freya and Caryna tried to clean several times, but they couldn''t." (Layla) "It was horrible to hear your screams and see your body tear apart and regenerate continually, there was blood everywhere, I don''t think I''ll ever be able to forget about that." (Layla) "Sorry..." (I) "You should apologize to the others too, Diana arrived after it was over but passed out the moment she saw your state." (Layla) "Ivan had to stop Lyra from entering the room so he wouldn''t see you like that." (Layla) "Leo also prevented Caryna from entering, which was difficult as she has a lot of strength." (Layla) "I''m sorry I made you see something like this, I''ll try to be more careful from now on." (I) My body is still a little sore, but I feel a lot better than when I woke up, so I won''t be feeling anymore, I hope. After that I leave the room and go downstairs to eat something, the reaction of the others showed how worried they were about me, Ibuki did the same as Layla threw herself at me and hugged me while crying. Caryna looked tired and with dark circles under her eyes, it seems she couldn''t sleep well during the night because of me, I apologize to everyone for the trouble I caused and for worrying everyone. After a nice meal and apologizing to everyone I decided to go outside, I grab a big thick blanket and take it to a couple of trees and use my lines to build a hammock where I lie, this week has been very busy, I want to take this day to review my growth since I started exploring Dungeon Cadaver. I want to review my work, skills, and level to see how much I have grown during this week. Chapter 220: A new visitor I built a hammock for me to lie down near the garden of the mansion, it''s not even noon and the sky was clear, I decided to do this to relax and retrace all my growth this week while I watch the Fairies and Infant Spirits flying. I feel like it''s easier to remember things now, maybe it''s because of what happened yesterday, but it doesn''t matter as long as it''s beneficial to me. Now I think I''m going to start by advancing my skills. <[ Your skill leveled up [ Physical damage resistance: 8 > 9 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Group Coordination: 7 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Martial Art Fist of Lord Chaos: 2 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Great Pain Resistance: 4 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Leadership: 4 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Soul Damage Resistance: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Flexible Body: 3 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Self Improvement (Leadership): 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Spell resistance: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Super Recovery: 1 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Trap Construction: 3 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Magic Enhanced Line Production: 2 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Control and Line Manipulation: 3 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Corrosion: 9 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Non-elemental magic: 3 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Wind Spell: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Fire Magic: 1 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Night Vision: 5 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Sword Technique: 7 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Dagger technique: 7 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Blade of the Lord of Chaos Technique: 2 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Blade of Light: 2 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Magic Circle: 1 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Exceed limits: 3 > 6 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Elemental magic Basic light: 1 > 10 ] ]> . . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Elemental Magic Basic Light: 10 ] > [ Elemental Magic Light: 1 ] ]> A lot of skills have leveled up because of extreme situations like endurance skills and overcoming limits, I don''t even want to remember the situations that made my resistance to pain go up so much. What makes me happy is that I managed to level up the night vision since I can''t use this skill very often, that Dungeon Corpse was always night on the floors, so I managed to keep this skill active almost the entire time which was very useful there. My lines were also of great help in several things, they were useful to build makeshift traps and to fight monsters, it was even useful to defeat one of the Grade S monsters at a critical moment. Unfortunately, many of my skills weren''t very useful against the Undead, I couldn''t use any of my poisons in that dungeon, but luckily the Blade of Light skill was very useful, it was one of the skills I used the most there as it was the weakness of the Undead. The magic of the light element, which was a spell I learned a short time ago, was the one I used the most among my spells, as I have a lot of mana I could freely use this spell in the Dungeon which made it level up very quickly, but it only evolved after it I defeated that Lesser Lich. This dungeon was very dangerous, much more than we imagined before, but it helped me to get stronger, it''s just a shame I can''t evolve yet, I have a little more than ten levels to evolve again, even if I''ve cleared two Dungeons was not enough, it seems that with each evolution the difficulty to level up gets huge. I would like to level up as easily as I level up my work, sometimes I wonder if there is someone who has a skill that increases EXP to level up faster, if I find someone like that I won''t let it go. Now let me see my work history. WORK: [ Master of the Blades ] WORK LEVEL: 1/50 WORK EXP: 0/200 WORK HISTORY: ? [ Apprentice Wizard: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Warrior: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Martial Artist: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Hunter: 10/10 ] [ Novice Adventurer: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Thief: 10/10] [ Apprentice Trader: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Alchemist: 10/10 ] [ Novice Warrior: 20/20 ] [ Great Martial Master: 70/70 ] [ Novice Mage: 20/20 ] [ Novice Thief: 20/20 ] [ Novice Merchant: 20/20 ] [ Novice Hunter: 20/20 ] [ Mage: 25/25 ] [ Warrior: 25/25 ] [ Thief: 25/25 ] [ Merchant: 25/25 ] [ Adventurer: 25/25 ] [ Hunter: 25/25 ] [ Apprentice Killer: 10/10 ] [ Novice Killer: 20/20 ] [ Killer: 25/25 ] [ Novice Fire Mage: 30/30 ] [ Novice Wind Mage: 30/30 ] [ Newbie Earth Mage: 30/30 ] [ Newbie Water Mage: 30/30 ] [ Newbie Light Mage: 30/30 ] [ Newbie Dark Mage: 30/30 ] [ Newbie Thunder Mage: 30/30 ] [ Light Mage: 50/50 ] [ Fire Mage: 50/50 ] [ Novice Swordsman: 20/20 ] [ Swordsman: 30/30 ] [ Novice Blade Master: 30/30 ] I changed my job many times, I started concentrating on the work focused on magic, but when the levels started to increase a lot I decided to choose jobs that would help me in combat, as I use my techniques a lot with the dagger and sword, I ended up releasing the work of Newbie Blade Master, after getting this job I started to fight much better than before, if I didn''t have this job I wouldn''t have been able to do so fast on the barrier of that Lower Lich, I also only managed to use the Light Blade ability on my two weapons at the same time after getting that job. Jobs really help a lot when learning about things related to them, but I never get a new skill from these jobs, I think that''s why I should already have the skill I should gain from these jobs, I just hope that in the future when I''m with jobs best and high level I get some good skills. After seeing this I wanted to rest a little and reflect more on my skills, I have to think about how I will synthesize them from now on, I was thinking all day, when night falls I see Layla that comes flying towards me leaving a multicolored trail where goes by. "Master, master, I almost forgot something." (Layla) "What''s up? You weren''t out for something to eat?" (I) "I already ate, but importantly, as I ate I was reminded of the Shadow Fairy I met the other day." (Layla) "I think you told me something about this before." (I) "I told you that the Shadow Fairy would return here with her master within a week." (Layla) "Then he''ll probably show up here today or tomorrow." (Layla) "You told me that after I woke up a few days ago, but don''t worry, no matter when they show up we''ll welcome them." (I) "I know you''re excited as this is the first Fairy you''ve met since your rebirth so don''t be anxious." (I) "How do you know what I''m feeling?" (Layla) "Because you suck at hiding things, looks like a child, an evil child but still a child." (I) "Why does the master always call me evil?" (Layla) "I am a good and kind Fairy, anyone who sees me will realize that." (Layla) "That''s because people didn''t see you flying over dozens of Undead giggling as you destroyed them." (I) "..." (Layla) "You got me wrong, master." (Layla) "I was laughing because I was with the master, I was happy to fight by his side." (Layla) "Don''t waste your childish excuses on me, I don''t mind you being a little mean, I just want you to know how to be kind to whoever is kind to you." (I) "No need to say that, I always try to be nice to everyone." (Layla) This Fairy is problematic, but she''s really good, she just doesn''t like the Undead very much because of the Necromancer that did bad to her in the past, but she never treated Ivan badly, it shows that deep down she''s good. As I''m talking to her, she suddenly looks in the other direction, I follow her direction and I realize she''s looking at the gate, so she breaks into a big smile before turning to me very happily. "They are here, Master." (Layla) "The Shadow Fairy is here, she is together with someone who should be her master." (Layla) "Try to be nice to the Fairy and her Contractor, you always scare people or make them wary." (Layla) "I promise I''ll try to be friendly, but don''t forget that we don''t know your intentions so we must be careful, don''t get carried away by your anxiety." (I) "No need to worry, I''m not an idiot like someone who is always going unconscious." (Layla) "You little sharp-tongued Fairy, why don''t you go meet our guests?" (I) "All right." (Layla) "I''ll be waiting here, guide our visitors to the garden tables so we can have a chat while I enjoy this beautiful evening." (I) "Will the master welcome them in these casual clothes?" (Layla) "Yeah, I''m too lazy to change, maybe that can make them more relaxed too." (I) "Plus I like to wear comfortable clothes at home, this is still our rest day so I don''t want to change into formal clothes." (I) "(Actually, I don''t think anyone in the mansion has formal clothes, we only have casual or combat clothes.)" (I) "(Should I talk about this with Tania and ask her to make some formal and party clothes for everyone?)" (I) "I''m on my way to pick up our guests." (Layla) Chapter 221: Request for help Jana Pov: "Are you sure it''s safe for me to go too?" (I) "I''ve said several times that everything is fine." (Dora) "It''s easy for you, you can hide from most people''s view by being a fairy, but I can''t do that." (I) "If the humans find me they will attack me immediately, are you sure you warned me I was a Ghoul?" (I) "I didn''t find anyone else but that weird Fairy, that cat-like spirit and the bizarre Cursed Crow." (Dora) "But I said you were a Demi, they said the people in that mansion don''t care about races so it should be okay." (Dora) Sigh "I hope you''re right and the person we''re going to meet is who the Village Guardian spoke to." (I) "No mistake, I could feel his Aura from afar, I could feel the touch of the Goddess of the Fairies in that Aura, the only way for this to happen is if he is a Guardian of the Fairies." (Dora) "Then let''s get going, we don''t have all the time in the world." (I) I go with Dora through the night towards the city using my shadow element spells to hide in the darkness, luckily there are fewer adventurers in the forest at night. When we reach the city walls Dora flies to the other side to become a reference point, so I use a shadow spell to get to her by stepping inside a shadow. "< Path of Shadows >" (I) I step into the shadow of the wall and am pulled into the shadow where Dora waits for me, when I step out of the shadow I find myself in a deserted area surrounded by old buildings. "This is a residential area near the wall, there''s no one around to see us, now let''s go." (Dora) "Yea." (I) I cover my head with a hood and use my shadow magic to completely hide my face inside the hood so no one can see, that way I follow Dora for a while always passing where there are fewer people until I reach a place with big buildings. "This area belongs to nobles, so try not to attract attention." (Dora) I did my best to hide my presence by always staying close to the shadows, after a while we arrived in front of a gate with a sign written in the Common Language. "Eclipse Mansion." (I) "This is the place, let''s go in." (Dora) "Are you sure we should go in?" (I) "Look at this giant barrier, to put something like that I don''t think they''re going to like us getting in." (I) "Don''t worry, as soon as we get past the barrier they''ll know we''re here, we just need to stay put and wait." (Dora) "You don''t have to worry about the barrier, it''s just a concealment barrier, it won''t do you any harm." (Dora) "..." (I) "(What kind of power does one need to build such a huge barrier of concealment?)" (I) While I''m distracted looking at this giant concealment barrier, Dora starts flying over the gate, so I also jump over the gate and follow her through the barrier. "But what is this place!??" (I) "I think I told you this place was weird." (Dora) "Strange isn''t enough to describe this place." (I) "Because there are so many Child Fairies here, there''s the same amount as there were in our village, maybe even more." (I) "There are also Infant Spirits, you can''t see them, but they are flying around here too, but their numbers are much smaller." (Dora) "Infant Spirits too..." (I) As if that wasn''t enough I feel the miasma around me strengthening me, feeling my Affinity with the magic element of shadows get stronger just by being here, I try to feel the surroundings and find that the Dark element is superior to my element shadow is everywhere. "Are here." (Dora) While in shock I see a Black Elf coming towards me along with a White Elf, I also see a multicolored light trail coming towards us from the back of the Large Mansion in front of us. The multicolored light trail stops in front of the two Elves and I see that it was a Fairy, she seems to say something to the Elves before coming to where the three of us are together. As they get closer I can better see the appearance of the Fairy, she had eyes of different colors, hair of three colors, dark skin, four arms, and wings of seven colors. "(What a strange fairy, I''ve never heard of a fairy looking like that.)" (I) Once again I was distracted by the strangeness in this place, so when the three were close Dora flies ahead of me. "Hi Layla, just as we agreed I came along with my master." (Dora) "I thought you were coming tomorrow, but it doesn''t matter." (Layla) "I already spoke to the master about you, he is already waiting for you." (Layla) "Let me introduce you, the White Elf is called Freya and the Dark Elf is called Sophia." (Layla) Listening to the introductions I know I shouldn''t keep hiding my face, it can get me into trouble, so I break my magic and lower my hood. "Nice to meet you, my name is Jana and I''m Dora''s Contractor." (I) "Nice to meet you two." (Freya) "It''s been a long time since I saw a Ghoul, come let''s take you to the master." (Sophia) "The master is near the gardens, I will guide you there." (Layla) "Then I will prepare something for our guests." (Freya) I and Dora follow the strange Fairy around the mansion while the White Elfa goes inside the mansion, the Dark Elfa follows us as we go to the other side of the mansion. As soon as we reach the back of the mansion we are led into a beautiful garden with some pretty tables, then I see a boy lying in a hammock get up and come towards us. I knew right away that this was the fairy master by the name of Layla, that''s because he strangely has the same skin tone, similar hair color, and the same eyes. He was dressed in casual clothes, because of this huge mansion I expected him to be a nobleman in luxurious clothes, but it seems that is not the case. As we sat at the table he arrived walking casually, but I could feel a great presence in him, I felt like I was in front of the village leader. "Good night, my name is Zenos, what can I call you two." (Zenos) ---------- Zenos Pov: I decided to meet these guests outside the mansion to enjoy this beautiful starry sky, it helps me relax. After the guests arrived I calmly walked over to them while taking in their appearance. To start with the Fairy has the appearance of a black-skinned woman with Gray hair and eyes, she is 25 cm tall, she has bat wings and a pair of purple horns. The woman had gray skin, claws on her fingertips, golden eyes, pointed ears, short light green hair, could see fangs and sharp teeth in her mouth when she opened her mouth slightly, plus she appears to have a height of 1.72 meters or so, I can''t see her whole body because of the clothes she''s probably wearing to hide when she came into town, but her face is really pretty, she looks like she''s around 25 I think. Both the Fairy and the woman are very beautiful, if I''m not mistaken the woman''s appearance matches that of the Ghouls, I think in the books I''ve read they are described as monsters, but in my view, they look more Demis, from what rica told me in the past the ghouls are in the mountain range on the other side of the blood forest, this is my first time seeing one, I''m a little curious as to why it''s here. While thinking these things I reached where they were and greeted the guests. "Good night, my name is Zenos, what can I call you two." (Zenos) The ghoul woman stands stiffly. "My name is Jana and this is my Hired Fairy Dora, it''s a pleasure to meet you." (Jana) "I''m sorry about that, she''s a very serious person and is a little nervous to meet you." (Dora) "Why would she be nervous to meet me?" (I) "Her Aura of hers releases a very strong presence like that of a leader or a ruler, she was affected by being emotionally shaken by everything she saw here." (Dora) "That''s true?" (I) I actually have an ability with the presence name of the Ruler, but I''m not using it, is it a passive effect caused by my titles? I try to look to Sophia and Layla for an answer from them. "I thought the master knew." (Sophia) "I was waiting for you to find out for yourself, it was really funny to see that the master didn''t notice something so obvious, hahahaha..." (Layla) "You little Demon..." (I) I try to grab this little Demon, but she''s faster and always dodges while laughing. "After I deal with you, now what did you want to talk to me Dora?" (I) "Actually it''s not just me who has to say something, it would be better if Jana spoke about it." (Dora) The Fairy raises a hand that sucks in her shadow and transforms it into a large Black hand that she uses to slap her master Jana on the back of the back. "Get back to normal you idiot, how are we going to talk to you like this, get hold of yourself." (Dora) "..." (Jana) "Sorry about that, thanks Dora." (Jana) "Looks like I caused you some trouble, I''m sorry I still need some Aura training." (I) "I can teach you whenever I like, master." (Sophia) "Thank you, Sophia." (I) I sit in the chair across from the two guests and wait for them to be seated. "First of all, I appreciate you allowing a Ghoul to enter your home." (Jana) "I don''t care about your race, as long as you don''t do anything hostile to me or the rest of my group we''ll be fine." (I) "No need to worry about that." (Jana) "But I would like you to be to the point, tell me why you are looking for me?" (I) I see that my attempt to be direct has both of them change to a serious expression, the Fairy and the Ghoul look at each other before turning to me. "The truth is, we came to ask for your help." (Jana) Chapter 222: Mountain range problem Now I''m talking to a Ghoul and a Shadow Fairy who came here to talk to me, when Layla told me that visitors would come here in a few days I knew I would have more problems. Just as I thought, Ghoul named Jana said she came here to ask for help, I don''t know why problem after problem keeps appearing in this mansion, I have to get out of here before a problem arises that ends up killing me. "Do you want my help? Why?" (I) "Our village Keeper spoke over a month ago that she''s been feeling a strange presence coming from this direction, so the village sent me and Dora to investigate what it was." (Jana) "The Keeper said that this presence could help us, but no one but her could feel this presence, so we came." (Dora) "When we arrived we started looking for the forest of blood, it took us a whole month and we didn''t find anything." (Jana) "But one day, Dora felt a strong and strange presence coming from the direction of this town, so I sent her here as she could hide from most people''s eyes as she is a Fairy." (Jana) "If you entered the city you would have been attacked by the guards with no chance of explaining." (Sophia) "Yea." (Jana) "So this is how the Shadow Fairy found us?" (I) "I spent days searching the city without finding anything, but one day I felt the same presence again and followed her here." (Dora) "I was surprised by a lot of things after I crossed your barrier of concealment, but as I was talking to Layla I felt an Aura coming from the mansion." (Dora) "I imagine it was my Aura." (I) "Yes, I realized that the presence I felt before came from that Aura, I can feel it now coming from you, so there''s no mistake." (Dora) "The moment I felt your Aura I knew who you were and why the Keeper sent us after you." (Dora) "You are a Guardian of the Fairies." (Dora) "(How did she find out my title? Is it that apparent to the Fairies?)" (I) "What? The master is a Guardian of the Fairies?" (Sophia) I was surprised by Sophia''s reaction, she started looking at me like this was a big surprise. "I thought I told you guys about this, did I forget?" (I) "How can you forget to tell something that important, master?" (Sophia) "You also don''t need to have such a big reaction just because of that." (I) While we''re talking Freya and Caryna come walking with a large tray floating between them, when they get closer Freya and Caryna start to take things from the tray and put them in front of us, it was some snake meat skewers with sauce and a jug of juice that resembles a mixture of orange and lemon. "I brought you some snacks, master." (Freya) "Thank you, Freya." (I) We all started to eat and drink, our two guests looked like they were hungry for the way they were eating, I don''t even know how they had time to breathe like that. "I think I was right to let Alice make more appetizers while I brought these out, I''ll go get more." (Freya) While Freya returned to the mansion with Caryna and the food was gone, I restarted the conversation. "I understand how you found me, but you still haven''t talked about why you want my help?" (I) "I can explain that master." (Sophia) "Like a Fairy Guardian you will attract fairies wherever you go, that''s why fairies will feel safe and happy around you." (Sophia) "But it also means that you''ve been recognized by the Fairy Goddess as someone to trust, so when the Fairies are in trouble they''ll come looking for you." (Sophia) "..." (I) "A Fairy Keeper is someone very respected and loved by us Fairies, someone like that is the best choice to ask for help as even the Fairy Goddess has confidence in him." (Dora) "The master may not know it, but the title of Guardian of the Fairies can only be given by the Fairy Goddess Aine." (Sophia) So this was a more important title than I thought, but I don''t remember these things being written in the description, is it because they are not part of the title''s power, but rather a consequence of the meaning of someone having this title? Sigh "(I should have known that receiving a title from a God would cause me problems.)" (I) "You still haven''t said you need my help." (I) "It''s actually having a big problem in the mountain range, that problem started ten years ago and it''s been dragging on until now, it got worse and worse over time." (Jana) "Before I tell you about the problem let me ask you something, do you guys know anything about the mountain range?" (Dora) "I don''t know much, I heard about some races that live there like Ogres, Ghouls, and Orcs." (I) "I''ve also heard that the underground caves there are full of mighty Undead." (I) While talking to them and listening to the problem that brought them to me, I see Freya coming towards us with more appetizers. "Thanks, food is great as always." (I) "I''m glad you liked it, master." (Freya) "Master, it would not be better to listen to the explanation of these two together with the others." (Sophia) What Sophia is saying makes sense, others know this region better than I do, Diana must know more about the mountain range. "You''re right, but I don''t want to disturb everyone who is resting, let''s just call a few." (I) "Layla can you call Ivan, Diana, and Vanessa here?" (I) "Alright, I''ll be right back." (Layla) After Layla flies off I wait a few minutes while I continue eating some more appetizers and chat for a bit with Jana, she told me it''s been hard in the forest of blood because there are always so many adventurers there, I explained to her that this was why in a short time there must be a large wave of monsters. It only took a few minutes for Layla to get back together with the people I asked her to bring, when every one arrived I introduced them all, so I briefly explained what Jana had already told us before resuming the conversation. "Now you can go on, you said the problems started ten years ago, go on." (I) "To begin with, the mountain range has always been divided between three territories that belong to the Ghoul, Orc, and Ogre races." (Jana) "All the other intelligent races live in one of these territories, it works that way because those three races are the most numerous." (Jana) "Each territory has many villages, I was born in a Ghoul village as you can see, I''m a Shadow Element mage who managed to make a contract with a Fairy." (Jana) "Ten years ago everything was fine, the three races were far from each other''s territories with only a few small battles going on." (Jana) "But one day, the Ghoul leader who was a serious and wise person started talking that it would be good to expand our domain, he was someone calm back in the day but he started getting nervous often and punished anyone who didn''t obey him." (Jana) "Thus began the bloody wars, after each battle, the bodies of the warriors who died were always taken away by the leader and disappeared." (Jana) "With each passing month, the leader grew stronger and further removed from the man we all knew." (Jana) "After two years of war, he was a completely different person, not just him but more than half of our race as well." (Jana) "It took me a long time to realize that being close to the leader was influencing our race, those who stayed close to him started to have more fighting will and a more aggressive temper." (Jana) "When we realized this, we gathered those who hadn''t been too influenced yet and planned an escape." (Jana) "That was years ago." (Dora) "While we were looking for a place to live we found other Ghoul villages that were also just like ours and we invited those who wanted to flee to join us." (Jana) "I knew a place we could go so I took the Ghouls there, it was a small village with several races of small numbers living there." (Dora) "Everyone welcomed us there, that''s because the Village Guardian said we weren''t emitting malice." (Jana) "It was at this point that we found out that the other two races were facing the same situation like ours, there were some people who didn''t want to be part of the war and they fled, they told us what happened to their races." (Jana) "It was then that we realized that our race was the first to get that way, talking to the others we discovered something in common, the leaders started to change after entering the caves." (Jana) "Why did they enter the caves? Are there no powerful Undead there?" (I) "That''s exactly why, in order not to be attacked by the Undead we have to watch the caves regularly, but strange things started happening in the caves, so the leader has to be informed, but after the leader goes to investigate he comes back different, that''s it that happened everywhere." (Jana) "As time went by more and more people left their villages and the territories of their races to escape the strangeness that was happening, I and other people with contracts with Fairies and Spirits sent them to look for these people." (Jana) "With that, we built a big village little by little, but three years ago no more people arrived and two years ago things changed again." (Jana) Chapter 223: Farus Some of my group and I are hearing about the problems that have been going on for years in the mountain range, from what I''ve heard so far it sounds like some kind of internal warfare between the races that live there, but from what Jana has told us there seems to be more thing behind it. "What happened two years ago?" (I) I could see fear and despair in this ghoul''s eyes, she seems to have been distracted by some memory from the past. "Two years ago a being came out of the caves, a powerful Necromancer, he was a hybrid of Ghoul and Orc, his name was Farus." (Jana) "When he appeared the wars stopped and the three races gathered with him as the leader, the three strongest leaders of each race became his generals, he gathered all three races in one place and began to build a fortress." (Jana) "We realized that this whole situation must have been caused by him, but it was too late, in addition to the three races under his control, he also had an army of Undead that was made up of warriors who died in wars." (Jana) "That bastard used my father..." (Jana) "Jana!" (Dora) "..." (Jana) "Sorry I got a little lost in my anger." (Jana) "Was your father one of those who died in the wars?" (Ivan) "Yes, I looked for his body when the battle was over, but I found out that the village leader at that time took all the bodies away saying they had to be destroyed, but clearly that''s not what happened." (Jana) "It seems this Necromancer caused the wars to build his own army of the Undead, but I don''t understand how he influenced the village leaders of the three races." (Diana) "We came to the same conclusion, we tried to figure out how he did these things, but all we found was that it appears to be a power that he possesses, it also seems to take a long time to have an effect." (Jana) "I take it he didn''t build a fortress to live happily with his subordinates, did he?" (I) "After the fortress was half-built he began sending his troops across the mountain range to fight and enslave the other races that lived there." (Jana) "We knew that one hour would come to us, so we sent people everywhere and gathered as much as possible in our village, we wanted to build our own army to fight Farus." (Jana) "But from his face, it looks like it didn''t work." (Vanessa) "..." (Jana) Tears start to well up in Jana''s eyes and Dora sat on her shoulder and hugged her neck to comfort her. "In the beginning our numbers were similar, the battles were long and difficult, but there was still a balance." (Jana) "I see, you have forgotten the true power of a Necromancer." (Ivan) "Yes, we underestimate him." (Jana) I didn''t understand at first what Jana and Ivan were saying, but soon I did, I remembered games from my ancient world and the power the Necromancers have, they use Undead, so he must have revived his own dead troops and the enemy troops also like the Undead making their army bigger and bigger. "With each battle, our disadvantage increases as the Faros Undead army just got bigger and bigger." (Jana) "Our luck is that he hadn''t discovered our village yet, the village mages keep a powerful concealment magic active day and night, it consumes all our mana, but it was the only way to do things." (Jana) "Even though we were hiding we still had to keep an eye on Farus''s movements, he made his warriors enter Dungeons day and night to force them to evolve." (Jana) "The weak died in the Dungeons having their bodies pulled out and becoming Undead, the strong grew stronger and the weak became Undead, the power of their army just grew more and more, we got desperate, we knew that it was only a matter of time before he found us as he also sent troops searching the mountain range, we couldn''t hide forever." (Jana) "The Fairies and Spirits who had no contracts with anyone had to leave the mountain range, Farus was somehow spreading miasma all over the place which only strengthened his army more and more." (Dora) "Couldn''t you ask for help to a Realm or warn the Adventurers'' Guild? Why to look only for me?" (I) "That would be useless for them." (Diana) "The Guild would gather a subjugation force, but it would take time, plus they wouldn''t help the people of Jana''s village, most likely they would also be wiped out as a supposed second monster army." (Diana) "No Kingdom would help either, in fact, the smarter ones would pretend to help Jana''s village, but they would exterminate them first and get rid of the bodies, all just so the Necromancer couldn''t increase his army anymore." (Ivan) "..." (I) "Why do you think they would do something so terrible? It seems to me that the Ghouls are a Demi race." (I) "You''re right, Ghouls can be considered Demis, but they will always be treated like monsters in most Realms, not just them, but other races like Ogres, Orcs, Lamias, etc." (Ivan) "This is due to several factors, the Demis are monsters that have humanoid forms and can acquire jobs, these are the main factors." (Vanessa) "But there are other factors that also matter for society as a whole, such as eating habits, culture, and personality." (Vanessa) "Do you know the Ghouls'' favorite food, Dad?" (Vanessa) "No." (I) "Their favorite food is human flesh, so they are treated like monsters." (Vanessa) "It may be the best meat in terms of flavor for my race, but it''s not like we go around killing and eating other people." (Jana) "I know that I''m not in a position to say anything either since I''m a Vampire and I drink other people''s blood, but it''s because of the kind of food we eat that human societies don''t accept us, that will never change." (Vanessa) "I can understand that, no one will want to be around someone who likes to eat their race." (I) "I don''t know why you care, humans are always eating monster meat too." (Dora) "But it is for these reasons that I cannot ask any Guild or Kingdom for help." (Jana) "The only one I can ask for help is you." (Jana) "..." (I) "That got problematic..." (I) As I think about what I should do, I suddenly hear Layla talking mentally to me. "(It would be good if you agree to help, master.)" (Layla) "(But that can be dangerous.)" (I) "(We can''t let an Evil Necromancer loose, plus he might end up attacking this city in the future.)" (Layla) "(I like this town, but I won''t die to protect it, if I have to I can run away taking you all with me.)" (I) "(You''re considering it as impossible to beat this Necromancer, but the Necromancer himself doesn''t seem to be that strong.)" (Layla) "..." (I) I hate to admit it, but what Layla said is true, from what Jana and Dora have said so far, this Necromancer doesn''t fight directly, he uses schemes to achieve his goals, the biggest problem to face is his Undead, but my group has many people who have Affinity with the Light element and there is also Vanessa who has Sacred energy, we also have a lot of experience in fighting Undead thanks to the fights we had at Dungeon Corpse. "First of all, I would like to know if Farus has ever shown that he has the power to fight alone, do you know anything?" (I) "He never fights alone, in fact, he never fought in any battle, he stays in the back and waits for the moment when everyone gets tired or low on energy to turn the corpses of those who died into Undead." (Jana) "Once my mother said that Necromancers rarely learn some form of close-range fighting, that''s because they have little vitality in their bodies, my mother also said that their bodies are weaker than normal." (Diana) "But to compensate for these weaknesses Necromancers have a lot of mana and Intelligence, their spells mostly have to do with summoning, controlling and strengthening the dead, in addition, some of them may have powers of curse, disease or poison depending on their elemental affinity. " (Diana) "Do you know what element this Farus has Affinity, Jana?" (I) "This we know, he has affinities with the shadow and fire element." (Jana) "So his way of attacking must be with fire and curse, he''s similar to rica." (Diana) "... ... ..." (I) "I can see from your face that you have doubts about helping Jana''s village, Father." (Vanessa) "I don''t want to put any of you at risk, but I''m also concerned about letting someone else build an army of the Undead." (I) "I think it would be better to stop this Necromancer while we still can, letting this go on will be risky." (Vanessa) "If you decide to help, they must take into account that neither the Adventurers'' Guild nor any Kingdom will help." (Ivan) "I don''t understand why you all talk like fighting is the only option, wouldn''t it be easier to just help Jana''s village flee somewhere else and leave the Necromancer problem to someone else?" (I) "That would be impossible, the only place on this continent where a village the size of mine can live in peace is in the mountain range." (Jana) "She''s right, any other place would be discovered sooner or later, so her village would be treated like an army of monsters." (Ivan) "It would also be bad to leave it to other people, it would end up being left to the Church of Light to deal with, the extremist faction would use it to increase their influence, I''ve seen this happen before, they show themselves as saviors, but they can be worse than that. this Necromancer." (Vanessa) "This could be really bad if the Church of Light finds out about this Necromancer they can use this opportunity to lure him to this town." (I) "Yes, we don''t know the exact reason why they want to destroy this city, but I imagine they wouldn''t leave any opportunity to eliminate this city and appear as saviors after the city is destroyed." (Diana) "Why does it have to be so complicated..." (I) Chapter 224: Zenos decision I was having a hard time deciding what to do about Jana''s village, I really didn''t understand, why I who just met her and know nothing about her village have to go through this. "(Because I have to do something, I''m not some idiot hero who will run into danger with every call for help that comes up.)" (I) "(I feel bad for Jana and her village, but I have no reason to put my family at risk to help her village.)" (I) While I was trying to figure out how to turn down this request a strange thing happened, the Fairy Infants that were flying all over the place started to gather and fly in circles around the table where we were, then I started to hear a voice in my head. "(I like the way you think Zenos, but I need you to accept this young Ghoul''s request.)" (Goddess Aine) "What is it?" (I) "What happened to these Fairies?" (Ivan) "What''s going on here? Why are you kneeling at the table Dora?" (Jana) "Are you all right, master?" (Diana) "So that''s what''s happening." (Vanessa) "No need to worry, calm down, it looks like Father is just having a little chat." (Vanessa) When I looked at my hands I noticed that the tattoos on my arms were glowing, I also felt my mind getting heavy. "(I don''t have much time as you won''t be able to bear receiving my voice for a long time, so I''ll be direct.)" (Goddess Aine) "(You have to kill that Necromancer in the mountain range, a fairy king will be sent to you in three days to explain in more detail, so accept this ghoul''s request.)" (Goddess Aine) "(No, I appreciate everything you''ve done for me, but I''m not going to throw myself in danger for this.)" (I) "(Don''t be an idiot, this will help you too, this Necromancer has orders to go after you, kill him before he builds an army too strong for you to handle.)" (Goddess Aine) "Like this!?" (I) Suddenly my head, which was getting heavier, feels light and I feel my whole body relax and the tattoos stop glowing and go back to normal, I realize that my whole body is full of sweat and I''m panting as I''ve just run a marathon. "Haah... haahh... haahhh..." (I) "It looks like it''s over, you really surprise me, Dad, I didn''t expect that, but I think I''d better talk about it later." (Vanessa) "..." (I) When I looked around I noticed that the Fairy Infants had started to fly and spread all over the place again. "Damn..." (I) I look at Ivan, Vanessa, and Diana. "What are our chances if we fight this Necromancer?" (I) "We have a great chance of winning, most of your techniques and spells will be useless against us." (Ivan) "While I''m there, he won''t be able to turn the corpses into the Undead." (Vanessa) "The biggest problem is their numbers, but I think we can use the people in Jana''s village to help." (Diana) "Our village is strong, everyone would be happy to fight if it means defeating Farus." (Jana) I hate this kind of situation, the Goddess Aine didn''t say much, but she said that I should agree to help Jana and her village, she also said that this Necromancer has orders to come after me, I don''t know how she knows that, but no I can ignore what she said. "Then I will accept your request for help Jana, I will help her village." (I) As I say this Jana''s golden eyes take on a joyful glow and she starts to cry, I look over at her Shadow Fairy and see a look full of respect in her eyes as she looks right at me while keeping kneeling on the table. "But you''ll have to wait a few more days, I have a few things to sort out before you go, in the meantime, you can stay here if you like." (I) "Thank you so much for accepting my village''s selfish request, Mr. Zenos." (Jana) After receiving Jana''s thanks I ask Caryna to guide her to an empty room to settle in, so only the people in my group are here. "Now that it''s just us here, could you explain to me what happened before Vanessa?" (I) "What happened was similar to telepathy, a God came in direct contact with you." (Vanessa) "This would only be possible if you had the Blessing of that God." (Vanessa) "From the reaction of the Fairy Infants and the two other Fairies I''m guessing it was the Goddess of Fairies, am I right, Father?" (Vanessa) "It''s right." (I) I look over my shoulder and see Layla sitting and looking at me with a big smile filled with happiness, but in her eyes, I can see the coldness and cruelty that don''t match her appearance. "Are you happy now? You''ll manage to get your claws on a poor, innocent Necromancer." (I) "Stop joking masters, I''m just glad we''re going to help a village full of good people." (Layla) "With those eyes, no one will believe this lie, now stop thinking about the Necromancer or you will scare our guests when we enter." (I) Sigh This always happens, whenever I think I''m going to get away from a problem or I think I''ve solved a problem, I find there are more problems waiting, all I wanted was to get out of this city and maybe have a relaxing trip across the continent with my family. I turn to the other three members of my group who are still here, as well as Freya who is brown beside me in her maid uniform. "Why did you seem to want to fight this Necromancer?" (I) "Was it only I was concerned about the possible risks?" (I) "A Necromancer raising an army is always a big concern, I didn''t feel right letting someone like that loose when we''re well prepared to fight him." (Vanessa) "My friend is the Duke of this city, I can''t leave such a danger to him." (Ivan) "I also can''t let him associate with the Church of Light because of this Necromancer." (Ivan) "My reason is the same as Ivan''s, there are many people I know in this city, I can''t leave them in danger if I can help." (Diana) So many noble motives, but I can understand Ivan and Diana''s motives, they lived a long time in this city and there are people they care about here, in their place I would do the same too, in fact, the biggest reason I didn''t want to do this was to protect them. "Diana and Ivan, I want you to ask our guests about the terrain of the mountain range, the location of the Necromancer''s stronghold, the races that are on his side, the approximate number of his army, the approximate type of equipment they have, the general strength of your troops and the main warriors working for this Necromancer." (I) "That''s a nice list of questions, I''m impressed master." (Ivan) "But I don''t think she''ll be able to answer them all." (Ivan) "It doesn''t matter, any advance information will be useful for our preparation." (I) "Vanessa, you''re going to reunite Nira and Lyra, I want you to get as much HP, MP, sleep, and crippling potions as possible." (I) "How much time do we have?" (Vanessa) "Before I answer that, do you know if I can drink more Dragon blood now?" (I) "You said you got the [ Dragon Constitution ] skill, so you should be able to drink twice as much blood with no permanent side effects." (Vanessa) "Then we''re leaving in six days, get everything ready." (I) "Also tell Anton and Lyra to have the magic weapons ready by then." (I) "This deadline is a little tight, but I think we can make it." (Vanessa) After that each one went to do what they should be leaving just me and Layla alone, even Freya returned to the mansion saying that she would start preparing food for everyone. "What a big deal this is, but I''ll try to figure it out." (I) "You complain too much, master." (Layla) "You have to learn to have more fun, you get too focused on problems." (Layla) "If you haven''t noticed yet, but I''m responsible for every person in this mansion, each of you is people I consider my family, that''s why these problems are so bothersome, I don''t like to leave you in danger, that''s why I don''t I do nothing before making sure we have a chance of surviving." (I) "We all know how much you care about us, but we don''t like to see you sighing in the corners and wearing that tired face." (Layla) "That''s why I want you to look on the bright side, soon we''ll be somewhere where you won''t have to hide your race, none of us will have to." (Layla) "That will be good, but we''ll also have to face an army of Undead and other monsters." (I) "Things aren''t so bad, this time we''ll be able to handle it better thanks to everything that happened at Dungeon." (Layla) "I hope so, I hope that Necromancer''s monsters are not resistant to Holy magic like the Lesser Lich of that dungeon was." (I) "But first, it would be good for you to go learn some Aura control from Sophia." (Layla) "Speaking of which, where Sophia went, I didn''t even see her leave." (I) "She went to train, when she saw that the conversation was getting complicated she decided to leave it to you and the others and went to train with Alice." (Layla) "I''m going to look for Sophia tomorrow, I have a lot to do in the next few days, I''m tired just thinking about it." (I) Chapter 225: Capacity of a Ruler Vanessa Pov: Right after the conversation we had with that Ghoul named Jana, my Dad gave instructions to follow, Jana may not fully understand why Dad wants a few days before he leaves, but we do know. That madman is still trying to make his plan work, I think it''s possible, but it''s still absurd, again he''s not thinking about the consequences, but as my Father has Goddess Selene''s blood in his veins and lots of Blessings, maybe he doesn''t suffer a very big reaction. I''ve already finished doing what he asked me, it''s late, but I think Anton will spend the night working, Kira left saying that she found another four crystal letters, she didn''t say what she was going to do, but not because of her smile. it must be no good. "Are you still awake, Vanessa?" (Ivan) As I''m sitting on the roof of the mansion I watch Ivan jump up from the ground towards me. "I was thinking about what Ghoul said." (I) "You thought it was weird too, didn''t you?" (Ivan) "The way this guy Farus did things seems strange to me, Necromancers aren''t normally able to control living beings, I can''t imagine how this Necromancer could influence entire villages of Demis to work for him." (Ivan) "I thought the same thing, but after what happened with Dad during the conversation I think I already know why." (I) "That was very strange, the reaction of the Infant Fairies and that Shadow Fairy along with what you said makes me think that master Zenos has received a divine message, am I right?" (Ivan) "You''re only half right, my Father doesn''t have the oracle ability like I do, so he can''t receive messages from the Gods, but as he himself has the blood of a God and now his body has been rebuilt, he can mentally converse with a God." (I) "..." (Ivan) "The master is always surprising me, I didn''t expect him to be able to talk to Gods." (Ivan) "Even though it''s something amazing it still has a lot of limitations, you must have realized how weak he was after that." (I) "He can''t do that for long, he can''t get in touch with a God of his own either, the God in question must make contact with him, I also imagine it''s only possible with the Gods whose Father has the Blessings ." (I) "It''s a lot of limitations, but at least God can listen to him, right?" (Ivan) "Yes, theoretically he could converse with a God, unlike the oracle skill that only allows you to hear divine messages." (I) "The GM does things that others would think were impossible, but it''s funny how he doesn''t realize it himself." (Ivan) "He lacks common sense, I must admit." (I) Ivan and I spent some time in silence sitting on the roof watching the light show that is the Fairies and Infant Spirits flying around in the darkness of the night. Ivan looked like he wanted to say something but didn''t know where to start. "Speak up, I know you mean something, it''s written all over your ghostly face." (I) "..." (Ivan) "Alright, so I''ll try to be direct, like me have been with Master Zenos for a short time, but you must have also noticed his abilities, right?" (Ivan) "You''re going to have to be more specific, my Dad is very capable in a lot of ways." (I) "Did you notice how we fought the two Undead bosses in the Dungeon a few days ago?" (Ivan) "Yes, I was surprised by a lot of things that day." (I) "What I mean is the way we defeated the two monsters, both were defeated by the master." (Ivan) "True, even without an arm he kept fighting, Layla only managed to deliver the final blow because my father was interrupted, but that Lesser Lich was already half dead before receiving Layla''s attack." (I) "The way he took out the Death Knight was also amazing, he knew our attacks couldn''t finish him before he finished his summoning, so he used our attacks just to get rid of his defenses and ended up with the Death Knight the way you normally do with a weak Skeleton." (Ivan) "He adapted to the situation faster than the rest of us, he also kept his cool the entire time, even when he was the first to be attacked or when he lost his arm, what he did is not something anyone could do." (Ivan) I can see the respect and admiration Ivan feels for my father from the way he is talking about him. "That''s true, in critical situations like that it''s hard to keep a clear mind for most people." (I) "It wasn''t just that day, today after hearing the Ghoul story he gave us a list of questions to ask her." (Ivan) "All are very important questions that must be answered correctly if we are to fight this Necromancer." (Ivan) "Now that you say it, I remember him also saying that he knew the Ghoul wouldn''t be able to answer everything." (Vanessa) "Yes, but anything she says will be very helpful, it will help us plan things better until we reach her village." (Ivan) "The things he asked Lyra to do are also important, did you notice he only asked for potions to heal wounds and restore energy?" (Ivan) "The other potions he ordered are all non-lethal, he has already thought of countermeasures to prevent deaths on the battlefield and leave the enemy incapacitated." (Ivan) Now that Ivan spoke I realize that too, he thought of something like that in a few minutes, his questions and his preparation were perfect. "(I''m surprised, how did I not notice this before?)" (I) "Looks like you understand what I''m getting at." (Ivan) "Ability to think calmly and clearly in critical situations, abilities to analyze and judge difficult situations quickly while creating effective ways to deal with it, also its presence and Aura that you may have already noticed emits a sense of authority. " (Ivan) "What kind of person comes to your mind when you think of these abilities?" (Ivan) "A king." (I) A smile appears on Ivan''s face as I say this, but without realizing it I have started to smile myself, an image has started to form in my head, the image of my Father sitting on a throne with thousands of people kneeling in front of him. "But it''s no use just having the potential and ability if he doesn''t want to be a King." (I) "Unfortunately it''s true, the master has no ambitions, he''s happy to just live a quiet life." (Ivan) "Something that will be impossible considering whose son he is." (I) "Now that I''ve stopped to think about it, my Dad has a lot of potential people working for him." (I) "You took a while to realize, I figured it out the same day I met him." (Ivan) "He doesn''t even realize how great the potential of others is, the best part is that everyone tries their best for him." (Ivan) "What do you think will happen when he goes to a Village full of Demis that aren''t accepted in normal society?" (Ivan) "I understand what you''re getting at, but we don''t have any guarantees it''s going to be that way, it seems more like you want him to go that way." (I) Ivan looks at the two moons with a big smile on his face, in his eyes, I can see that he is looking beyond the now, he is seeing what my Father could be, how far my Father could go. "A gem cannot remain buried forever, with its abilities it is no longer a question of whether or not the master wants to be a King, but a matter of time before he can no longer deny what he is." (Ivan) "..." (I) I can feel a strong determination and desire in Ivan''s words, I can see that he really believes what he says, to tell you the truth, I think I''ve started to believe it too. It would be amazing to see him being respected by thousands of people, what son has no desire to see his parents in a position of prestige? That would also be best for him, he would have more people to keep him safe, he doesn''t know how dangerous it is to be the child of a God being so weak if people from other continents knew that one of the Goddess Selene''s children is here and that he has so little strength would be dangerous. I wanted to tell him these things, I wanted to tell him how vast this world is, I wanted to tell him about the enemies he will one day have to face, but I can''t do that, he''s not prepared and knowing himself just a little, I can already tell that he would do even more reckless things to keep us all safe. He needs people to support him, to help him with his crazy ideas, to be able to fight by his side, to be able to advise him when necessary, and to keep him safe. A son of a God is bound to attract people, Ivan thinks that going to Jana''s village will make my Father walk the path of a Ruler, I don''t know if that will happen, but even if it doesn''t, Ivan is still right to say it''s just a matter of time. I look at the sky, since I got here I seem to have acquired my Father''s ability to look at the starry sky, I never had time to do that in the past. "(How far will you go, Father?)" (I) Chapter 226: Determination of Elsaris Vanessa Pov: After yesterday''s conversation with Ivan, I was called by Layla to help Father, now that he knows he''s able to drink twice as much Dragon blood as before, he won''t stop. I was happy to see that it looks like his body is holding up better than I imagined, it seems that his body constitution helped a lot in adapting to this Dragon bloodline. After helping my Father heal him I went to bed tonight, I knew that today we would all have a lot of work with all the preparations we have to make. I myself am going out with Nira, Alice and Freya to buy several things that we will need, it seems my father wants to buy everything to stock up, he wants to buy various types of metal from the cheap to the most expensive for Anton to work with, he wants to buy a lot of ingredients for Lyra to be able to make a wide variety of potions and he wants Freya to buy many kinds of ingredients so we can have a luxurious meal right in the middle of the forest. Meanwhile, he spent a few hours in the morning producing a large amount of thread for Tania to work on. Everyone is doing a variety of things, we''re going to be very busy in the next few days, we''re actually going to go bankrupt as he looks like he''s going to spend all the money we''ve put together so far buying so many things. I don''t know why he gave such a long list of books to buy, not to mention he has so many banned books here. Right now we''re leaving the Alchemist''s Guide grabbing a large number of ingredients in our storage items. "Where to now?" (Nira) "We''d better go to the Commerce Guild, we have to buy Storage Items and Magic Chests with increased internal space to be able to store this ridiculous list of things we have to buy." (I) "Looks like we''re still going to need to spend the money Diana went to get as a reward for destroying the Dungeon of the Undead." (Freya) "That''s why my Father wants to bankrupt us all." (I) "I don''t know why to worry, if I need it we can always make more money." (Alice) "Alice is right, as long as we have Lyra, Anton and Tania with us we''ll always be able to make quick money." (Nira) As we were walking down the street to the Commerce Guild, suddenly a carriage pulled by a tiger-shaped golem passes by and stops. "What are you waiting for, bring those beauties to me now!" (man scream) The scream was loud and we weren''t very far from the carriage so we heard what the man inside said, then a man in a suit and three warriors wearing weapons and armor that looked brand new step out of the carriage and come towards us with a superior look. "Young and beautiful ladies, sorry to bother you, but my master seems to have enjoyed your beauty, so be happy." (man in a suit) "That''s right, the master is brother and advisor to the King of Valius." (warrior A) "You must be very happy about this, so please join us." (warrior B) I exchange looks with Freya, as we''ve struggled several times inside the Dungeon we learn to understand each other with a single look, she waves at me showing she wants to take care of the matter which is good, that''s why Alice is looking with disgust at the four men and I can see in the sky Yomi flying lower and lower probably taking orders from Nira. "I advise you to be careful with your attitude in this town, being from a small kingdom doesn''t mean anything here and in case you don''t know the Adventurers'' Guild isn''t too far away." (Freya) The three men who appear to be guards look around probably looking for the Guild and the man in the suit changes to a serious look. "By her attire, she appears to be a maid, so how dare you speak that way to a government official?" (man in a suit) "Why are you taking so long, bring these beauties to me soon!" (noble idiot) It seems the idiot in the carriage thinks his position in his Kingdom or his social status as the brother of a King of a small Kingdom allows him to do anything, I think he''s going to end up dying like that. "Don''t waste your time talking to these Freya idiots, let''s get going as we still have a lot to do." (I) "It seems to be true, from your eyes I can see that it will be impossible to have a civilized conversation." (Freya) We decide to ignore them and continue on our way, but the three guards appear in front of us ready to draw their weapons as a threat. "Where do you think you are going." (man in a suit) "We''re lucky Father isn''t here, it could have ended these idiots'' deaths." (I) "Maybe Master Zenos doesn''t have much patience when these things happen, he once made an adventurer fly for trying to get his hands on me." (Freya) "Want me to fix it?" (I) "Fine, it won''t be long." (Freya) "< Air Shield >" (Freya) Freya raises her hand making five air shields, four of these shields are on the heads of the three guards and the man in the suit, the last shield is around the entire carriage. I am impressed by this magic, it seems to block the air from passing through, I can no longer hear the voice of the man inside the carriage or the four idiots outside the carriage. In a few seconds, I see them look horrified and start pounding the shield over their heads desperately, but the shield doesn''t seem to take any damage. Soon a fat man climbs out of the carriage and collapses in a swoon, the other four seem about to lose consciousness before the barrier disappears and they begin to paint. "Next time don''t bother people on the street, that''s a very rude and rude thing to treat people." (Freya) "Nice magic, it doesn''t seem to use a lot of mana, but it''s pretty effective against living beings." (I) "The master taught me, he said it''s a variation he thought of the wind barrier, but those who have similar strength to mine can break the barrier, so it''s only good to use on the weaker ones." (Freya) We ignore the idiots on the floor and walk away, the crowd that was gathering to see this show moves away clearing a path through which we pass undisturbed, as soon as we''re a little farther away I turn to Nira who doesn''t say anything or has shown no reaction so far. "Don''t waste your time with those idiots, bring Yomi back." (I) "Okay, but if they bother again, they''ll turn into food for Yomi." (Nira) Soon I see Yomi flying on top of us again, he is flying higher and higher to get out of people''s sight. When we get to the Trade Guild we split up to be faster, after I buy what I need I see someone walk past me with a hood and walk into an empty shop, I follow that person and walk into that shop too. "Why are you looking for me?" (I) "I thought we had everything sorted out the other day." (I) The person turns to me and lowers his hood showing his long red Bunny ears. "There''s something I need to confirm with you." (Elsaris) "You can ask anything you want, but keep in mind that I won''t answer all your questions, some secrets shouldn''t be revealed easily." (I) I''ve already figured she''s stronger than me, but I know she won''t do anything to me, the Human faction Vampires are known to be rational and selfish only doing things that benefit them, Elsaris wouldn''t gain anything by doing me either bad, in fact, it would be a terrible thing for her as she would become an enemy of the neutral faction. "I already expected that the question I want to ask doesn''t need an explanation, just a yes or no answer will be enough." (Elsaris) "Ask the question, if it''s something I can say I don''t mind talking." (I) I realize that what she wants to say is of great importance to her, normally someone like her manages to keep all her emotions hidden, even though her face looks normal, her eyes are full of strong determination. "I want to know if Zenos has any safe way to help someone whose soul is out of sync with their body." (Elsaris) "..." (I) "(Didn''t expect this.)" (I) "That was a very specific question." (I) "Just tell me yes or no, if he can do that I want to ask for his help." (Elsaris) "From what I''ve researched on him, it doesn''t seem like he cares much about money, but he''s always looking for people with potential." (Elsaris) "My dad is really a weirdo, money doesn''t really matter to him." (I) "So what are you offering in exchange for this information?" (I) "I''m offering myself and my family, I''m a Vampire Matriarch and I have two kids, I''m sure that''s a good price for his help if he''s able to get my wish." (Elsaris) I know that Jay, the White Elf who accompanied me when I arrived in this town, is her son, but I don''t know the other son. I also know that Elsaris is stronger than Ivan, she has a Grade SS strength, she also has spy skills and a cunning mind, it would be great to have someone like that along with our group, especially now that we''re going to face this mysterious Necromancer who is in the mountain range. "Are you sure about this? Once you pledge your loyalty to my Father there will be no going back." (I) "I don''t care, as long as I can get my wish there''s nothing I dare not do." (Elsaris) "I''ll talk to my Dad first, meet me here tomorrow." (I) "OK." (Elsaris) Chapter 227: Elsaris Story It''s been four days since the night Jana and Dora came here, those days were very busy for both me and others, luckily tonight was the last day I needed to drink Dragon''s blood. After some suffering the pain starts to lessen as I am healed by Vanessa, I feel the last remnants of wild energy being absorbed into my blood. Ding! <[ Your bloodline has become stronger and purer [ True Dragon: 90% > 100% ] ]> . . . <[ Most of the power of your bloodline will be sealed ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the title [ Half Dragon ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Dragon scale production: 1 ] ? [ Dragon Wings ] ? [ Fly: 1 ] ? [ Dragon Force: 1 ] ]> I finally gained some Dragon skills that won''t tear my body to shreds, I''ll put those skills to the test tomorrow, I''m tired from the pain I''ve suffered now, but I''m also tired today because I ate so many bones from the Dungeon Corpse monsters I kept, I also gave some for Anton to make weapons. "Now I think it''s over, right?" (Vanessa) "Yes, I now have a pure Dragon Bloodline, but it looks like most of the power has been sealed." (I) "This is the blood of a True Dragon, normally it would be impossible to do what you did, the only reason this works is because you are the son of the Blood Goddess and have this unique strange ability." (Vanessa) "You should only be able to unlock the power of this Dragon Bloodline when you merge it with your Bloodline, but I don''t advise doing that now." (Vanessa) "Why not?" (I) "Because your body would possibly explode." (Vanessa) "..." (I) "I agree with you, I think it''s better not to do this now or maybe ever." (I) "You have to grow stronger to withstand the merging of mighty bloodlines, Father." (Vanessa) What she said makes sense, I shouldn''t be too greedy, I have to learn to be content with what I already have. "Thank you for the advice." (I) "Now changing the subject, Elsaris hasn''t contacted you yet?" (I) "Not yet, there''s no way she can get everything you asked for so quickly." (Vanessa) "This will be good for her too, so let her have a little work." (I) ---------- Three days ago, the day after Jana and Dora arrived, Vanessa came home saying she had a conversation with Elsaris, she told me that Elsaris seemed to want my help to cure someone with a soul problem, it seems she is willing to swear loyalty to me surrenders me to do this. I wanted to refuse this, but Vanessa and Ivan continued to say that someone with Elsaris'' strength and ability would be of great importance in the fight against the Necromancer, after hearing how everything they said I couldn''t refuse. At Vanessa''s request, Elsaris came to me the next day, she came along with her son Jay, before anything I said I wanted to hear about who she wanted to heal, so she said it was her sister. At that moment Elsaris started to tell about herself and her sister, she talked about how her sister was intelligent and kind, the two were born as monsters White Rabbits, a kind of weak rabbit and able to eat everything, including meat. Elsaris told how she was just like any other monster back then, lacking any intelligence and acting solely on instinct. Elsaris said that she was often attacked by other Rabbits when they were hungry or even by other monsters, she said that at that time she met a rabbit that was a little stronger than the others, that was her sister. Then she started to tell how her sister helped her when she was hurt, how her sister taught her to hunt, how her sister taught her to hide, how her sister taught her where to attack for more damage, and how her sister took care of her with care and love. Elsaris said that as she got stronger she was the one who started to protect her sister, she said that with each evolution she got smarter and stronger, she wanted to be strong enough to always be able to protect her sister, so she hunted every day always looking for stronger monsters. She said that during one of her evolutions she got smart enough to finally realize that her sister wasn''t evolving, in fact, she was getting weaker and weaker and at that moment she met despair. Elsaris didn''t know what her sister had at the time, she didn''t understand what she could do, so she looked for more and more enemies to get stronger, that was all she knew and when she evolved into a humanoid form becoming a Demi, her sister began to teach her how to assemble simple weapons and how to fight. She realized that her sister was much smarter than she should be, but she didn''t care, she started looking for villages to find help for her sister, she had already captured hundreds of monsters and made her sister deal the final blow, but she never evolved. The problem is that in most villages she entered she was attacked, even though she was a Demi at the time, her appearance was still very close to a monster, so people were afraid of her, one day she met a White Elf who was kind to She and listened to her story, the Elf used a telepathic technique to communicate with Elsaris'' sister and that''s how he found out she was an Outsider. The Elf was a Spiritualist and used several different techniques for days to try to figure out his Sister''s problem, then after days, he found the problem. Elsaris cried when she started to tell this part and had to be comforted by Jay before continuing her story. She told that her sister''s problem was that her Soul was not synchronized with her body, so it was impossible to evolve, she also said that the excess EXP in her body was harming her, her body had no way to deal with it, and when Elsaris heard that her heart was filled with guilt as it was for her trying to help her sister to evolve. She said that the Elf couldn''t help her, there was no cure for this situation that he knew, so she went out with her sister to find a way to cure her. After many bloody battles, she evolved into a Vampire becoming a Matriarch of her own lineage, after so many battles she became very strong and even learned to use magic, but even after years she still hadn''t found a way to heal her sister. Having no other way out Elsaris used a type of blood magic to seal her sister who was not even able to walk at that time, her sister to this day is sealed in a blood crystal where she is protected and alive even though centuries have passed. During all this time Elsaris never found anything and anyone able to help her sister, all possible solutions were too incomplete to work, she said she joined the Human faction Vampires by entering the Black Market just to gain access to more information, but even so, he hasn''t found anything so far. It was at that moment when Elsaris looked at me with eyes that burned with resolve, she said that when Vanessa got here she wasn''t even able to speak for herself, but now she''s completely fine. She said that it''s impossible for someone from the neutral Vampire faction not to have been able to find help in their faction and have to come here to be healed, the only possible reason for that would be if I had the ability to do something like the Vampires who are alive since the beginning of time will be able to do, so she sought me out. She wasn''t sure if I would be able to help her, until I saw Layla, even though her appearance is different she suspected, Layla for being in the mansion forgot to hide her wings and arms, so Elsaris saw that Layla had four arms and for her wings, she felt various types of elemental energy, as it was Elsaris who held the auction and it was Jay who accompanied Kira and the others to the auction, it didn''t take long for Elsaris to realize that Layla was the same grotesque Fairy she sold to Kira. Elsaris already knew that Layla had a serious problem in her soul, so seeing Layla looking so pretty and living normally was the only proof I needed, she got on her knees begging me to help her sister, I tried to get her up but she is much stronger than me. With Elsaris acting like that and having to listen to Vanessa saying it would be helpful to have her on our side, I couldn''t keep refusing and I agreed to help her sister. I warned her that what I would do with her sister would make her become my subordinate, but Elsaris said that as long as her sister is okay she doesn''t care, she says she''s been watching me since the monster wave and knows I don''t bully them. people who work for me. To help your sister I said I would need some things, I told her I would need several barrels of blood and that each barrel had to have the blood of a different rabbit monster, I told her to gather around 70 barrels in five days before returning. Elsaris didn''t say anything and ran off with Jay chasing her, I hope she comes back before we leave. Chapter 228: Conversation with a Fairy Queen During these days I managed to prepare everything I needed, in fact, I even have more than I needed, it seems that Kira is taking advantage of the fact that we are going to leave this city to rob several corrupt nobles and criminal leaders. With Kira''s current strength I don''t think anyone in this town has the ability to stop her from stealing besides Carlos and Lucas, Kira has been training a lot with Byakko and has mastered the basics of spiritual energy, she has many new tricks. Kira got four more crystal cards in addition to the four we already had, because of that Anton has been out of sleep for three days to create weapons where these cards can be used, Lyra seems to be helping him by putting magic circles on the weapons too, Lyra has been surprising me with the large number of potions she made, thanks to her we are well prepared. And when others did all these things I used water magic to create a big water sphere and threw all the bones I was holding into that sphere, then activated my corrosion ability, many of the bones melted in a few seconds, but there were some of took a few minutes. After that, I drank the big sphere which is easily twenty times my size. Ding! <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Aura of fear: 1 ] ? [ Aura of Death: 1 ] ? [ Magic aura: 1 ] ? [ Death Blade: 1 ] ? [ Throw: 1 ] ? [ Innovation Magic (Skeletons): 1 ] ? [ Shadow Magic: 1 ] ? [ Spectral Body: 1 ] ? [ Shadow Control: 1 ] ? [ Aura Sense: 1 ] ? [ Resistance to wind magic element: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Lower Insatiable Stomach: 3 > 4 ] ]> I must say I expected more skills, but I think I can understand, the skills I should get from eating bones I should already have. But that''s ok, I got a lot of good skills, I have nothing to complain about. The Aura Sense skill will be very useful when training with Sophia, she has been teaching me how to better control and use my Auras for the past few days. Now let me go over the skills I gained from the synthesis over the past four days. ? [ Magic elemental resistance (earth/thunder/wood/ice/wind): 1 ] ? [ Elemental magic (wind/fire/earth/light/thunder/wood/ice): 1 ] ? [ Weapon Master ] One I tried to synthesize my similar abilities as my magic resistances, my elemental magic abilities, and my various types of weapon handling abilities. To be honest, I have never used half of my Weapons Handling skills so I did that and I was very happy to receive the skill from [ Weapons Master ], this is a skill that has no level, this skill helps me learn quickly in Handling all types of weapons, unfortunately, it won''t be very useful for me as I only use my sword and dagger, but I''m sure I''ll find a use for it. I am trying to synthesize only similar abilities as it seems to be easier, I also thought about synthesizing my Aura abilities together, but after I learned that these abilities represent the characteristics of your own normal Aura, I was afraid it would have a bad reaction for me, so I decided to ask Goddess Selene during my next evolution. I was on my balcony looking up at the sky which was unfortunately cloudy today, but the sight of the Spirits and Fairy Infants flying around the mansion was already pretty enough for me to relax, so I see a green glow in the sky for a second then it disappears. "It''s been a while, Zenos." (female voice) When I turn around I see a beautiful woman who looks like a White Elf with green hair and eyes, her expression was kind, she wore a dress made of beautiful leaves and vines, she also had green butterfly wings and a beautiful wreath made of twigs on her head. "Queen of the Fairies, Hera!" (I) "I see you still remember me, it looks like you got a lot stronger than before." (Hera) The Wood Element Faerie Queen, I remember she was one of the five Faerie Kings who healed my soul when I saved Layla in the past. "Are you the Fairy Queen the Goddess Aine said she would send?" (I) "Yeah, I actually checked it yesterday, but something caught my eye so I took a while to investigate." (Hera) I was already thinking that I wouldn''t come, I''m very curious to know why the Goddess Aine wants me to face this Necromancer. "Do you know why the Goddess Aine wants to see me face this Necromancer?" (I) "Yes, I came here not only to explain the situation to you but also to repair the damage done after you''re done." (Hera) "Wait, didn''t you come to fight?" (I) "I can''t fight, if I interfere it will only increase the problem, I can''t interfere in this continent if there isn''t a Fae Taboo broken." (Hera) "..." (I) "I just came here to clean up that miasma in the mountain range, actually that''s what I''ve been looking into since yesterday." (Hera) "If I''m not mistaken, Jana mentioned that the Necromancer is spreading miasma there to make his army stronger." (I) "From what I''ve observed this miasma is not coming from the Necromancer, it is coming from the caves, but it appears that the Necromancer is serving as a means to lure this miasma out of the caves." (Hera) So the Necromancer does not have complete power over the miasma. "Do you know everything I talked to Jana?" (I) "If you''re talking about the young Ghoul, then yes, the Goddess told me everything." (Hera) "One of the things I need to do is tell you the identity of this Necromancer." (Hera) "Jana told us his name is Farus." (I) "I''m not talking about his name, I''m talking about the one he serves." (Hera) "After you got that Dungeon Core the Goddess Aine managed to discover the location of an Evil God, she found out that the God is on that continent, ever since I and other Faerie Kings have been looking for him." (Hera) "But we didn''t find anything, the Goddess is always watching you these days, she said she was worried about your plan but didn''t explain what that plan was, so she noticed the Ghoul''s arrival and heard your story." (Hera) "The Goddess suspects the Evil God may be hiding in the underground caves of the mountain range, if she''s right then this necromancer surely has orders from that God to go after you." (Hera) "The Goddess thinks this Necromancer might be a priest or servant of this Evil God, this God seems to be very hurt, so he is using this Necromancer to recover." (Hera) "And how would he recover?" (I) "Gods use their believers'' faith to gain strength and recover when they are weak or wounded, but there are other ways as well." (Hera) "Demon Gods use their believers'' desires along with their faith." (Hera) "The Evil Gods use sacrifice, this necromancer is using the lives of the races within the mountain range as a sacrifice and at the same time transforms the dead into the Undead to become new servants and believers of that God." (Hera) "If that''s true, then why won''t Goddess Aine or any other God take care of this Evil God?" (I) "They cannot descend into the physical world, the mere presence of a God would do more harm than it would help." (Hera) "So what to do about it?" (I) "If you do away with the Necromancer, I and other Fairy Kings will clear the miasma in the mountain range, it will make the Fairies and Spirits come back to live there, bringing balance to the ecosystem." (Hera) "Besides, this Necromancer must have a strong connection with this Evil God, when he dies his God will also suffer damage, this will allow me and other Faerie Kings to reach him." (Hera) "Are you strong enough to face a God?" (I) "No, but this God is weak and very wounded, it will be difficult but we should be able to seal him." (Hera) "So you want to use me to find this Evil God, is that your plan?" (I) "Yea." (Hera) "..." (I) "Do I still have time to leave this Kingdom?" (I) "No need to act like that, you should be happy, this God wouldn''t forget what you did, he would find a way to find you sooner or later." (Hera) "Besides, you''ll get a reward for what you''re going to do." (Hera) "What reward?" (I) "You won''t know until later." (Hera) "..." (I) "(I don''t like this situation, the Fairies are basically using me to find this Evil God, the worst thing is that he might do something to me if I go there.)" (I) "You don''t have to worry, gods cannot interfere with the physical world directly, the most he could do is send his subordinates and believers after you." (Hera) "Could you stop reading my mind?" (I) I''m not even able to feel any kind of energy, Aura, or presence coming from this Fairy Queen, her strength is so superior to mine that I''m not even able to tell by sight, she read my thoughts without me noticing or having a way to defend myself. "I already agreed, so I''ll continue what I''m already doing, we''ve already made all the preparations anyway." (I) "That''s what I wanted to hear, I''ll show up after it''s all over to deliver your reward." (Hera) After saying everything she wanted, the Fairy Queen disappears without a trace in a flash of green light. "I knew this problem wouldn''t be that simple." (I) Chapter 229: Awakening of a Sealed Spirit "What should I do?" (I) "... ... ..." (I) Today I got up early, I''m looking at the land around the mansion while I''m standing on the roof, I have to find the center of the land. "It must be somewhere over there." (I) I look around and realize that the place must be close to where the training arena Ivan and I destroyed earlier was, that''s where the center of the mansion is. "Now I have to think about how to hide this long enough for me to run away with the others." (I) "... ... ..." (I) "So you were here." (Byakko) While thinking of a way to hide the entire mansion, Byakko comes flying to me. "What is it, Byakko?" (I) "Kira asked me to call you, looks like the person you''ve been waiting for is here." (Byakko) "The only person I''m waiting for is Elsaris, but if she''s here does that mean she got what I asked for?" (I) "She was much faster than I initially thought." (I) "Where is she?" (I) "In Nira''s office, she seems to have brought some things from her list that Nira tried to buy from the Black Market these days." (Byakko) "Let''s go then." (I) I jump off the roof and attach my lines to a nearby wall swinging towards a specific window, before reaching the window I use non-elemental magic to open the window that was closed, then go in by closing the window afterward. "Nice entrance, master Zenos." (Nira) "Thank you, I really wanted to do this." (I) After entering I realize that the people inside this place are Elsaris, Nira, Kira, Irina, and Irius. "Why didn''t you come through the door, Father?" (Irius) "I don''t know, it sounded more fun this way, so I did." (I) "Carefree as always." (Irina) "..." (Elsaris) "Nice to see you again, Mr. Zenos." (Elsaris) "Hello Miss Elsaris." (I) "I brought what you asked for, it''s inside the two chests over there." (Elsaris) Elsaris points to two chests that are beside the door behind her. "As you requested, I brought 70 barrels of Rabbit''s blood, each barrel a different lineage." (Elsaris) "As you said that the stronger, rare, or special the race that has the lineage, the better, I decided to bring the lineage of two Grade S Rabbit monsters, I also brought 10 of Grade A races with special characteristics." (Elsaris) "You did a lot better than I expected, I didn''t think I could find so many strains of Rabbit-type monsters so quickly." (I) "Now that you have that, can you tell me how you''re going to cure my sister?" (Elsaris) "I imagine you''re going to use these bloodlines, right?" (Elsaris) "You are in part, right." (I) "But don''t rush, it will take some time to finish your sister''s preparations." (I) "If you need anything else let me know." (Elsaris) "I''ve got everything I need now, but I must say we''re leaving in a day or two, I imagine you''ll come along right?" (I) "Yes, I already told the Black Market that I''m leaving this place, so to avoid any problems I said I''m joining the neutral faction, if I didn''t I''d be dead by tomorrow." (Elsaris) "So you lied to them?" (I) "No, I actually joined the neutral Vampire faction, looks like Ms. Vanessa has enough authority to do that." (Elsaris) "You said you had family, what will happen to them." (I) "The two are coming along with me." (Elsaris) "Alright, I''ll give you a map, wait at the cabin for me, as soon as we get there to pick you up we''ll leave." (I) "Alright I have everything I need with me, I can go right away." (Elsaris) "Not yet, I have one last thing to do before I go." (I) "Most of the others will go with you, only Irina, Kira, Vanessa, and Layla will stay with me here." (I) "Are you sure you want to do this, master Zenos?" (Nira) "I appreciate the concern, but it''s okay." (I) I pull out a map of the Blood Forest that has an X on it and hand it to Elsaris, this is where I built my cabin along with Ibuki, rica, and Diana. "I''m leaving town before nightfall then." (Elsaris) After Elsaris takes the map she leaves, I tell Irius and Irina to call the others, then I ask Nira to call Freya to start getting everything, we''re leaving here today. I turn to Kira and ask her to let our two guests know too, they are also heading to the cabin along with the others. ---------- It was night guard I decided to start the plan, we must be in the middle of the night now, I asked Layla to confirm if anyone was around, after making some curious eyes faint and playing in some corner far from the city went back to the mansion. In the place I found to be the center of the mansion''s land Irina was setting up a ritual, she drew a large complex magic circle, now she is stacking global crystal and gold coins at various points of the magic circle along with the core of a monster of Grade The one in the center. I approach Vanessa and Kira who are just watching Irina finish her ritual preparation. "She hasn''t finished yet?" (I) "Not yet, but I think it should be over any minute now." (Kira) "A ritual for a powerful magical barrier big enough to cover all the grounds of the manor is difficult to do." (Vanessa) "Where are you, Layla?" (I) "I thought she came back before me?" (I) "She has already started to build illusion magic, as a fairy she doesn''t need a ritual, but she needs to concentrate and gather all the mana she can, she took a lot of gold coins too." (Vanessa) "I feel like she''s throwing money away." (Kira) "We''re really spending a lot of money here, but considering what happened when you helped me, I agree to prepare a little bit to hide what''s going to happen here." (Vanessa) "Exactly, that''s why I''m doing all this." (I) I wait a few more minutes for Irina and Layla to finish their preparations, then they both activate the spells they''ve been preparing. "< Superior Concealment Shield >" (Irina) "< Illusion of Shadows >" (Layla) When Irina''s magic circle was activated it started to glow, then I see the core in the center float three feet in the air, soon after all the coins disappear turning into a flow of energy that is absorbed by the magic circle and then leaves the magic circle going to the core, at this point a bubble starts to grow with the core as the center and expand until it covers the entire mansion. Meanwhile, Layla opens her eyes and points her four hands up, all the global coins with her turn into energy that she absorbs, then a black energy stream passes through her arms and concentrates on top of her forming a shadowy sphere, but I didn''t feel nothing else happens later. Irina and Layla come towards me now, they both look very tired, I take two MP potions and give them one each. "Here, have a drink." (I) "Thanks, Dad." (Irina) "I really needed this." (Layla) I wait for them to rest a bit before talking to them. "Everything is ready?" (I) "Yes, the barrier will prevent anyone below Grade S from entering, it will also prevent anyone from sensing what is happening here." (Irina) "It should last for three days." (Irina) "The illusion is also in place, it will last for five days." (Layla) "Now it''s my turn so back off." (I) "Layla, give me the Dungeon Core." (I) "Here." (Layla) The three walk away from me and go out of the mansion, I pick up the core that looks like a black crystal sphere with lots of beautiful colored light points inside resembling a night sky full of stars. Then I get a completely black crystal that resembles the shape of a diamond, this crystal was along with the Dragon''s blood, it was one of the items that Viper kept in the storage item hidden inside her body. I''ve had this for a long time, but I''ve never been able to identify what it is with my skill, I''ve also tried asking Nira to use her assessment skill, but it didn''t work either, I asked everyone, but nobody knows what it could be. All I know is that it belonged to the Church of Light, it was something they needed, so I knew that one day it would be useful. I only found out what this was when I received the letter from Prince Drago de Cartoza, that was when I captured Irina and Irius, according to Prince, that letter should be delivered to me and come from your sister. I didn''t know if I could believe what was in the letter, right after when I evolved the Goddess Selene told me not to do what the letter said, but in my last evolution she said I could do it now, she also gave me all the information what I needed. I gathered everything I needed, I have a True Dragon bloodline in my veins, I have a Dungeon Core and I have this black crystal. This crystal according to the letter and the Goddess Selene is actually a mighty and ancient seal, what is inside is a Spirit of darkness, a unique spirit that was born from the love of a Dragon with a Spiritual Empress. I don''t know the details, but it seems that in the past the Church of Light killed and sealed the soul of the Dragon Spirit inside that crystal, they did it because they couldn''t destroy the soul. I needed the core of a dungeon as a sacrifice to create a new body for this Spirit, then I should use my blood and powers to awaken this soul while I create a contract with this spirit, at least that was the initial plan that the letter from the Prince''s sister Drago proposed, but I started to think of a different way to go about it. "The time has come to awaken that Spirit!" (I) Chapter 230: Nix In order to release the soul of this Spirit Dragon I could use my abilities, but what I really wanted to do is use this Dungeon Core to be the core of this Spirit, for that I have to link this core directly with the soul of this Spirit. I use my non-elemental magic to make the dungeon core and the black crystal float in front of me, then take my dagger and cut my hand, I control my blood and cause a great deal of blood to come out of my body and float like a big one Blood sphere in front of me, so I use my ability to heal myself and drink a blood-replacement potion, I asked Lyra to make several of this potion two days ago when I knew it existed. After drinking the potion I feel a little better, so I make the core and crystal go inside my blood sphere, after that I activate all Aura abilities that landed, also activate Blood Servant and Vampire Servant abilities. I feel several Auras come out of my body and merge into one, each Aura enhances the effect of the other, so when all are merged it becomes a powerful dark red Aura, I use what I learned from Sophia these days to control this Aura a little by doing it forced its way through the black crystal, also two red energies came out of each of my hands when this energy came in contact with the blood sphere it began to bubble and glow. But no matter what I did, nothing entered the black crystal, as I had already done this Dungeon core of mine, it was easy to get my energies and Aura into it, but I wasn''t having the same ease with the black crystal. So I activate my [ Blood Pact ] ability, at that moment a claw comes out of my chest and pierces the black crystal, so I use this chance and fill the crystal with my Aura and energies, then I felt my spiritual energy and vital energy go out of my body little by little and be absorbed by the black crystal. Ding! <[ The seal of the [ Astral Body ] ability has been temporarily released ]> . . . <[ Ability [ Blood Pact ] automatically activates the Ability [ Astral Body ] ]> At that moment dark energy leaves my body and takes form, but once the strange being with a black cloak, shadow claws, and a starry sky inside the hood appears behind me. The hand that comes out of my chest before is his arm, so my astral body reaches out with the other hand and takes the dungeon core. Soon I start feeling something inside the black crystal, I feel something that is dormant and I send my Aura and energy there as I try to transmit my will through my Aura. "(Wake up, you''ve been more trapped, listen to my voice and break free!)" (I) After transmitting my voice through my Aura I realized that what I was feeling was a slight presence, this presence started to increase and increase, soon I heard a weak and sleepy voice. "(Help... help... I... I want... to leave...)" "(Accept my power and you will be free.)" (I) When I said that I felt something drain all of me, all of my spiritual energy, all of my Auras, even the red energies of the Servant Vampire and Blood Servant abilities. The worst thing is that I felt my vitality also being sucked constantly. "(It got dangerous too fast, I can''t stop.)" (I) Ding! Ding! <[ Spirit (True Dragon) chose to submit to his will ]> . . . <[ Pick a power to grant Spirit (True Dragon) ]> . . . <[ Trying to create a spiritual connection with the soul of Spirit (True Dragon) ]> . . <[ Spiritual connection successfully formed ]> . . . <[ Choose a power to form a spiritual bond with Spirit (True Dragon) ]> I was very happy to see that among the power it could bestow was the core of the dungeon, so I looked around until I found something I wanted, I found the astral body skill. I choose to grant the ability [ Astral Body ] and the Dungeon Core. At that moment my astral body lets out a piece of multicolored energy from inside the hood that flies into the black crystal that is still absorbing my Auras, spiritual energy, and vitality without showing any sign of stopping, I am already with a third of my vitality. Another thing I saw was the Dungeon Core lose its solid form and becomes a kind of black crystalline liquid with stars inside so that crystalline liquid flowed from the shadow claw of my astral body to the black crystal entering it. Then cracks start to appear in the black crystal and from these cracks red and black flames come out, soon the crystal starts to turn to dust until in the end there is only a sphere surrounded by two layers of fire, one red outside and one black inside. Ding! Ding! <[ Grant of power completed ]> . . <[ Successfully created spiritual bond ]> . . . <[ Do you accept that Spirit (True Dragon) will fuse your Dungeon Core and consume your spiritual energy for that? ]> . <[ Do you accept? ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> I accepted when I realized that this could be the last part of this process, I had to get it over with, the only reason I''m still standing is because of the limit push ability I just activated. When I accepted I see the black fire and the red fire intertwining and spinning faster and faster, then a crystalline liquid comes out of the fire and covers it becoming a crystalline bubble with a two-color fire burning inside. "(Name...give me...give me a...Name...)" Soon I could hear the voice again, it asked for a name, so I looked up and saw the starry sky, so I decided. "His name is Nix!" (I) "(Nix!!!!)" Ding! <[ By giving a name to the Spirit (True Dragon) you started the process of spiritual rebirth ]> . . . <[ Dungeon core has been activated ]> . . <[ Choose the location where the dungeon will be built ]> I had thought about this for a while, I wanted to travel and see many places, but by becoming a Dungeon Master I would be stuck in one place, so I looked for ways to not get stuck in one place, that''s when I realized that Dungeon''s requirements are to have an entry into the physical world, also the place where the dungeon will be built is compatible with the Dungeon Master''s power and Affinities. My element is the darkness which is a pure element, I also found that this element is composed of others like the shadow element, so I point to my shadow. "I choose my shadow!" (I) Ding! <[ Do you want to build the Dungeon in your Shadow? ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> "Yea!" (I) Ding! <[ Starting Dungeon Creation ]> . . . <[ Realizing area with Dungeon Master''s power around ]> . <[ Want to assimilate this area to Dungeon ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> This makes me a lot easier, I thought I would have to wait for everything to end before this option appeared, but since it appeared now, I''ll accept it. "Yea!" (I) The crystal sphere started to become solid again and future even closer to me and enter my shadow disappearing. Then a large amount of dark energy comes out of my shadow taking over the entire mansion grounds in a matter of seconds, then a large amount of pain runs through my body. "AAHHHHH!!!!!" (I) All this dark energy around me made it impossible for me to see what was around me and I squirmed on the floor. Soon the energy flow reversed and started to enter my shadow, when the last trace of black energy entered my body the pain passed. Ding! Ding! <[ Dungeon is complete and takes the name of [ Dungeon Eclipse ] ]> . . <[ You have acquired the title [ Dungeon Master ] ]> . . . <[ The Spirit [Nix (Shadow Spirit Dragon)] completed his body ]> . . <[ You have acquired the title [ Spirit Contractor: Nix (Shadow Spirit Dragon) ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following skills: ? [ Spirits Contract ] ? [ Dungeon Master ] ]> After the pain passed I looked around and realized that everything disappeared, the mansion, the gardens, the miasma, the Spirits, and Fairy Infants, everything disappeared leaving only a large empty crater with me in the center. "Thank you for releasing me from my seal and helping me create such a splendid body for my rebirth, master." (woman''s voice) I turn around when I hear a voice, but I don''t see anything, so I look down realizing that my shadow has started to grow and take the shape of a circle on the ground, from within that circle comes a large Oriental Dragon with a long body like a snake, this Dragon has four claws, Dragon''s head with two heads growing back, this Dragon has one golden eye and the other dark purple like mine, his scales all over his body are black, but the hair on his head is red Like mine, I can see in its wide-open mouth sharp fangs that could crunch anything. This Dragon is about twenty meters long, he has a beautiful appearance, his black scales seem to be made of black crystal and has sparkles of various colors in these scales as if each scale were a starry sky, his appearance is majestic and dignified. "I didn''t expect you to be this big, Nix." (I) "That''s not a problem, master." (Nix) "I can do this." (Nix) Nix turns a black mist that gathers in one place and forms a beautiful woman who appears to be in her twenties, her height is 1.85 meters, has brown skin like mine, long red hair in a braid, different colored eyes, and a body that could humiliate a supermodel in my old world. She''s wearing black leather pants and a white shirt along with an overcoat that looks like it''s made from her scales. "Is that looking better, master?" (Nix) "You look beautiful, Nix." (I) "(First Layla, now Nix, why do they all look similar to mine?)" (I) Chapter 231: Adeus Cidade de Valen I was surprised when Nix transformed into a human form, I was a little confused by his human form having characteristics that remind me of me as well as Layla. "Argh!!" (I) I think I''ll think about it later, the effect of the boundary-breaking ability is gone, so I feel a lot more pain and weakness now as a reaction. I feel my knees get weak, when I thought I was going to fall, someone holds me, it was Nix who held me, then Layla, Kira, and Irina come running towards me. "Thanks, Nix." (I) "I''m sorry, the master is so weak because of me." (Nix) "I''ve had worse times before, don''t worry." (I) As soon as Layla, Kira, and Irina approach and focus their gazes on min before looking at Nix, Byakko flies from inside Kira''s hood in the form of a cat. "Your crazy idea seems to have worked, Dad." (Irina) "A Spirit Dragon, that''s a rare thing to see." (Byakko) "My name is Kira, this is my hired Spirit Byakko, nice to meet you." (Kira) "My name is Irina this fairy flying around you is my father''s hired fairy, her name is Layla." (Irina) "You are so beautiful..." (Layla) "Nice to meet you, the name the master gave me was Nix." (Nix) "Can you leave it to talk later?" (I) "Can''t you see that someone is in need of help?" (I) When I speak everyone looks at me as if I''m being supported by Nix. "This is what you deserve for doing something crazy like that, we all said it would be better not to try." (Irina) "I''m sure there was a different way you could release that Spirit." (Kira) "..." (I) I could have followed what the letter was saying, it would have helped Nix too, but the Dungeon core would be destroyed in the process, plus I was fascinated by the idea of ??doing something like this. "I think we have a problem." (Irina) "The barrier I just built is gone." (Irina) Irina was looking around with a worried look, so she tells us she has no more barriers. "The barrier is broken perhaps?" (I) "Actually I devoured the barrier along with the mansion." (Nix) "..." (I/Irina/Kira) "Then why didn''t you devour the illusion I made too?" (Layla) "I avoided eating this illusion too, I wish I hadn''t devoured the barrier too, but I don''t have a very good grip on myself yet." (Nix) "What do you mean when you say you devoured the mansion and the barrier?" (Irina) "I don''t see the Spirits and Fairy Infants, have you devoured them too?" (Layla) "The mansion and surrounding land have become a floor of the dungeon, all the devoured Spirits and Fairy Infants have been sent there, they are safe, but the core of the barrier has had its power absorbed by the dungeon within me." (Nix) "From the way you speak, it looks like my plan worked, right?" (I) "I''m not sure what your plan was, master." (Nix) "What I do know is that the entrance to the Dungeon is in your Shadow, in fact, I have become one with your shadow." (Nix) "You can open a portal to your shadow''s dungeon directly or I can open it, there is also a doorway open all the time inside me." (Nix) "So my plan worked, as a Spirit you are immortal until I die right?" (I) "..." (Nix) "Yes, I think I understand what you wanted, master." (Nix) "As the core of the Dungeon is a part of me, it also cannot be destroyed while my contract with you remains." (Nix) "Besides, I don''t need to be stuck in one place, I can go wherever I want along with the dungeon, besides, as you have the dungeon entrance inside you what''s going to happen to what you eat?" (I) "As a Spirit, I have no need for food, I can only live on your spiritual energy, master." (Nix) "But in case I want to eat something, I can move the portal inside my body anywhere or change its size." (Nix) "Is there a problem with what I did?" (I) "No, this body feels really good, the only problem is that I feel the need to be close to you all the time." (Nix) "This is because of your contract with the master, I feel it too." (Layla) "You may be right, I can feel a strong connection with the master, I don''t think a normal spiritual contract should be that strong." (Nix) "There''s nothing normal about what happened here, you don''t have the dungeon inside you, it''s more like you being the dungeon itself." (Byakko) "A dungeon is a space building, it is within the shadow of the master, but the main door is with me as well as the core, what you said is right, but incomplete." (Nix) "This conversation is confusing and we don''t have time for this right now, without a barrier it''s dangerous to stay here longer, we have to go." (Kira) "Kira is right, we have to get out of here, we can''t explain the disappearance of an entire mansion along with all the surrounding land." (I) "I can carry the master, but I don''t know where to go." (Nix) "Let''s try to stay hidden, let''s all follow Kira out of town without anyone noticing." (I) "Here master, I have some potions with me, you can drink on the way." (Layla) "Thanks." (I) "Where''s Vanessa?" (I) "She went to deliver the letter you prepared to Carlos and Mari, she said she''ll go straight to the cabin afterward, Kira already explained where she is." (Layla) "All is well then." (I) I get a HP potion, a blood replacement potion, and a physical strengthening potion. "By now everyone should have arrived at the cabin." (I) I look at my hands holding the potions realizing how they are shaking and thin, they look like mummy hands being just skin and bones, I don''t have a mirror, but when I run a hand over my face I realize I''m very thin too. "(Looks like I lost some weight.)" (I) "Please master." (Nix) "What? No!" (I) "But this will be faster." (Nix) "Ignore his complaint, let''s go." (Layla) "No!!!!" (I) Nix, who was just supporting me with one arm, lifts me up and starts carrying me like a princess, even though I denied myself I didn''t have the strength to resist, I had to suffer this humiliation this time while Layla was sitting on top of me laughing at this situation. "(That''s so humiliating.)" (I) So we all go out following Kira as she goes to the poor part of town, then we go to a place where there''s an underground tunnel that we went through, we left in a hut outside the city, the people who took care of the tunnel were passed out, it looks like Byakko went ahead to do that. From inside the forest, the others and I stood for a while looking at the city walls, we were all silent. "(It was for a little while, but it was fun living here.)" (I) "(I met a lot of people, learned a lot, and fought my first wave of monsters here.)" (I) "(As soon as I entered this city I knew that one day I would have to leave, but I never thought that day would come so soon.)" (I) "Goodbye City of Valen." (I) "We will!" (I) We started running through the forest of blood, when I came to the town of Valen in the past it was a two or three-day journey on foot, but now with our current strength and speed it should take less than a day to get to the cabin. "How do you think the Cradle of Fairies is, Layla." (I) "I can feel it still exists, but I can''t say any more without being there." (I) "Everything should be fine inside the dungeon, I''d like to tell the master more, but you''re in no condition for that right now." (Nix) "After we get to the cabin and I can rest for a day or two we can leave for Jana''s village, you can tell me everything on the way." (I) "All right." (Nix) While I''m being carried by Nix I drink the potions Layla gave me, after that, I feel a little better. "(There are so many things knowing, since the wave of monsters I haven''t had time to relax, new problems always arise.)" (I) ---------- We arrived at the cabin at midday the next day, as soon as we arrived I felt the smell of delicious food coming from inside. As soon as we enter I see Caryna stirring a large pot that is on the fire while Freya throws a large amount of meat and chopped vegetables into the pot. "The master has arrived!!!" (Diana) The first to see us was Diana, after she warned the others with her scream, they all appear from the cabin or cave. "Master!" (rica) "What happened to you?" (rica) "I imagine it was a reaction to what he did, am I not sure Miss Spirit?" (Ivan) "Yes, but his condition is much better now." (Nix) "Let me introduce her to everyone." (I) "This is Nix, she''s my hired Spirit, I hope everyone gets along with her." (I) After we arrived I introduced everyone to Nix, but that was after I was taken inside the cabin where several beds were next to each other. At the cabin I met Elsaris and her two children, one of her children was Jay the White Elf, the second was a beautiful human woman by the name of Beatriz, even if I call Jay Elf and Beatriz Human I am referring to their original races since the two of them are now Vampires. One thing that surprised me was finding out that Jay and Beatriz are married, I must say it surprised me at first since by Vampire traditions they are considered siblings, but later Elsaris explained to me that this is normal among Vampires, it seems like forming couples inside from the same strain is perfectly normal and helps to increase the chance of getting pregnant, it seems that the Vampire race''s birthrate is the lowest there is. I decided to spend a day resting, I told everyone that we would leave on the second dawn. Chapter 232: Nixs Story In the late afternoon of the day, we arrive at the cabin everyone is outside the cabin talking or training, it seems that Jana is reading several magic books that we have since she doesn''t have access to this kind of knowledge in her village. Right now there''s only me, Layla, and Nix inside the room, Nix is ??inside my shadow, according to her, inside my shadow, it''s very comfortable and she can recover much faster, she also said she can absorb my spiritual power directly while inside my shadow, meanwhile, Layla is reading a book about Necromancers in bed next to me, she said she has to learn about her enemies. "Nix." (I) "Did you call, master?" (Nix) When I call Nix her voice comes from the direction of my shadow, somehow I can feel her inside my shadow. "I wanted to know how you were sealed inside that crystal, do you remember?" (I) "Yes, I remember everything until the moment I was sealed, after that I don''t know what happened." (Nix) "If you feel comfortable telling me more about it, I''d love to hear more from you." (I) "I don''t care if the master knows, let me out first." (Nix) I saw my shadow extend to the side of the bed and get bigger then Nix in her human form steps out of my shadow like an elevator going up, after that my shadow goes back to normal and Nix uses her own shadow to make a chair where you sit. "To tell you why I was sealed, I first need the master to know about my family." (Nix) "I am the fruit of a love between a Black Dragon and a very powerful Spirit." (Nix) "My father was a mighty true Dragon, but being a Black Dragon who is known to be the most brutal and powerful type of Dragon in battle he was feared by many, his affinity was with the element of Darkness." (Nix) "My mother was a Moon Spirit, she was a powerful Spirit with Affinities with the unique element of Moon, water, and shadow." (Nix) "When I was born I was only half Spirit, I still had a Dragon body at the time, my body was different from my current appearance and I hadn''t learned to shapeshift." (Nix) "At that time there was a great enemy who hated my father as much as my mother, they called my father the Dragon of Destruction and my mother the Moon Demon." (Nix) When Nix''s story got to this point I could see the anger on her face, it seems she harbors resentment towards this enemy. "Who was this enemy?" (I) "A hero of the Church of Light, he was a foolish man who was manipulated without ever realizing the truth, a fool who fought by listening to everything the Church of Light said to him." (Nix) "The Church of Light openly declares that it hates everything that is evil or that is against the way of the Light." (Nix) "They force their believers who were born with Affinities with shadows, curses, darkness or any other Affinities they don''t like to change their Affinities." (Nix) "I''ve heard about this before." (I) "But did you know that it can destroy your future path?" (Nix) "No, what do you mean by that?" (I) "Changing the Affinity someone was born with isn''t easy, plus the person will never be as good with their new Affinity as they were with their original Affinity, this is basically cutting their potential in half or even completely destroying that person''s potential. " (Nix) "..." (I) "Because of the teachings of the Church of Light, my Father and Mother were always hated as evil beings, yet they never had an excuse to attack as neither of them ever saw anything bad in the eyes of other religions or Realms." (Nix) "But everything changed when I was born, Dragons are able to bear children with any race, most spirits are not even able to bear children normally, but my mother was a powerful Spirit so she was able to give birth to a child, but It wouldn''t be easy as her fertility was so low." (Nix) "From what I understand, my birth came as a surprise to both of them, normally mixed-race children are avoided most of the time, but the way Spirits and Dragons see the world is different, so I was treated very well by both races." (Nix) When talking about her parents I could see her expression soften, I could also see a glint of loneliness in her eyes, but soon her face turned to anger and her eyes became cruel and full of brutality, I was surprised to see her like that. "A few years after my birth, word of me had spread, so rumors began about me being the incarnation of evil and the child of two atrocities." (Nix) "Anyone could imagine where these rumors originated, a few months later an army marched from the Church of Light led by their Hero, they announced that they were going to exterminate evil." (Nix) "The hero fought my Father and Mother, at the time some Dragons and Spirits that were nearby tried to help us, so it all turned into a big battle that lasted for days." (Nix) "When everyone was tired the Hero used a divine item to severely injure my mother, when my father was lost in his rage the Hero managed to lure him into a trap that held my father long enough for the Hero to get to me." (Nix) "I, who didn''t have the same power as my parents, didn''t have a chance against the Hero, I was killed without having a way to defend myself, but my soul was that of a Spirit, they didn''t have the ability to destroy me, so I was sealed." (Nix) "Inside the seal, I had no idea about time, I didn''t know what happened after that, the scene of that battle was the last thing I saw, after that came the void where I stayed for what seemed like an eternity." (Nix) "Then came the master, you woke me from my long slumber, you freed me from my seal, you gave me a powerful body with unlimited potential, you gave me a place to belong and I am grateful for that." (Nix) "You don''t know how much time has passed?" (I) "No, I don''t even know where I am at the moment." (Nix) "Look for Vanessa later, she must know something about what happened back then, she was a priestess of the Church of Light 500 years ago who was worshiped as a saint." (I) "Was she from the church of Light?" (Nix) "Yes, her family belonged to Igreja da Luz, but she ran away for not agreeing with the teachings there until recently she was in a very bad situation too, so try to talk to her later." (I) "It seems that there are people who can understand how distorted the teachings of the Church of Light are, I''ll look for her later master, thank you." (Nix) After talking to Nix she gets up and sinks into her own shadow which then moves to where my shadow is and disappears. "You don''t have anything to say about her story, Layla?" (I) "I thought it would be best for her to speak only to you, master." (Layla) "I''m not very good at listening to other people''s problems like you." (Layla) "But what''s your opinion on that?" (I) "I think it''s better not to let her get close to anyone from the Church of Light, if I were her I''d attack right away." (Layla) "I can still hear you, I admit I have a grudge against the Church of Light, but I won''t attack people for no reason." (Nix) "I hope not, you have to keep your anger in check." (Layla) "Says the hunter of Necromancers, when you heard Jana talking about Farus, it didn''t take long to try to force everyone to come." (I) "Why is the master always badmouthing me? Nix will think I''m a murderous maniac that way." (Layla) "You are not?" (Nix) "I''m not, how many feces do I have to repeat that I''m a kind and loving Fairy?" (Layla) "Your actions are worth more than your words, anyone who saw you laughing happily while killing those Undead knows the truth." (I) "Vanessa and the master also killed many undead." (Layla) "But none of us were laughing maniacally like you." (I) I took advantage of the evening part to explain a lot of things to Nix, I had to tell her a lot of things that have been going on and where we are going. I told you briefly about everyone here, I told you about the people who belong to our group, I told you about Elsaris and her two children who are joining our group, and I told you about Jana. I had to explain the situation about the mountain range to Nix, I talked about Jana''s village, I talked about the Necromancer by the name of Farus and I talked about what we''re going to do. Nix needed to understand the basics to know what was going on, the way I always acted was to let everyone know everything that was going on. I was surprised that Nix got it all quickly, she also thought it was best to finish off the Necromancer soon, letting someone who can assemble a loyal and tireless army-run wild is too dangerous from what she said. After spending so much time talking to Nix I feel like I know her better, I also feel closer to her, as soon as I ate something Caryna brought me I decided to go to sleep. Zzzzzzz... Zzzzz... Zzz... Chapter 233: Gathering of Gods Pov Goddess Selene: I was coming out of a portal that I had created, after I passed the portal closed again, the place where I find myself is on top of a big mountain where the floor is made of marble taking a circular shape and there are many different statues around in the edges of the circle, in the center there is nothing but a round table with ten seats. After I arrived two other portals open, a portal where two claws cut through space and tear a path showing silver energy inside, a man who appears to be in his forties, having two meters tall and a muscular body without a shirt and with white skin appears, he has short white hair, wolf ears, a lone wolf tail, and golden eyes, the man has several scars all over his body. The second portal is created with the space beginning to ripple forming a circle, then a woman with golden hair and eyes wearing a plain white dress that contrasts with her black skin comes out, she has golden butterfly wings glittering on her back. "You arrived together this time." (I) "It''s been a while Fenrir, how have you been?" (Aine) "I''m bored, it''s been a while since I had a good fight." (Fenrir) "Go fight one of the other Gods who like to fight." (I) "Everyone''s been busy lately, including me, the world has been quiet for a long time, we know this lull won''t last much longer." (Fenrir) "As a lesser God you don''t have much to do, for me, it''s been a lot busier, especially since I found my champion." (Aine) "It''s about time, you''re too demanding, you should have chosen a long time ago." (Fenrir) "I was looking for someone with potential and a good personality, so it took me a while." (Aine) "How is this Fairy?" (Fenrir) "Someone very much like Aine when she was younger, in her early centuries." (I) "What? What kind of killer monster is loose in the world right now?" (Fenrir) "You filthy dog..." (Aine) Aine creates a colored energy sword and tries to cut Fenrir, but he manages to dodge leaving only a slight scratch on his chest and a cut in the very space he passed through that closes soon after. "What are you doing attacking someone like that?" (Fenrir) "How dare you talk about my champion like that, if anyone hears this they''ll think I was some kind of horrible monster back in the day." (Aine) "All the Gods know what you were like, so stop playing nice, stop attacking Fenrir too, later the Beast God will show up, you don''t want that combat maniac on your foot." (I) "You are right." (Aine) "Thank you for defending me Selene." (Fenrir) "You should worry about yourself, that scratch will turn into a new scar, a wound caused by Aine doesn''t heal easily." (I) "He deserves it." (Aine) "You are as excited as ever." As we were talking we heard a voice that seemed to come from all directions, so I looked at the sky where a golden sphere with a red streak in the middle is like the sun. "How long are you going to stay there, come down here too, it was you who called us." (I) "You''re always looking to make bold, over-the-top appearances, Akatosh." (Aine) Soon the sky darkens when this strange sun is covered by something big or should I say when Akatosh blinks his eye, then that eye disappears and a big red sun is in the sky in its place, then a person seems to descend from the sky slowly. This person is a boy around 15 years old, he has five pairs of giant wings, has black hair, golden eyes, three large golden crystal horns on his head looking like a crown, and white skin. He is dressed in a simple outfit, a white t-shirt, a black accomplished cause, he has a very happy smile on his face showing all of his sharp teeth that are capable of shattering entire planets. "If you weren''t gods it would have scared you, I''ll do it with a mortal later, it''ll be fun." (Akatosh) "You''ll scare someone to death if you do this to a mortal." (I) "You look happy Akatosh, something happened." (Fenrir) "Is it that apparent?" (Akatosh) "What happened is that one of your descendants is now free." (Aine) "Which? How do you know that?" (Fenrir) "The daughter of the Black Dragon and the Moon Spirit, Aine knows this because she was watching over my son." (I) "How could I not watch over that lunatic, as he thought up such a crazy plan, besides I had to make sure that the transfer from the Cradle of Faeries to a Dungeon would go well." (Aine) "Your son actually did something really good, Dravos is crazy with happiness too, he made a promise to the moon spirit in the past, now he''s telling the new moon spirit everything." (Akatosh) "How is the Black Dragon? You must have told him already, right." (I) "He was very happy, that idiot did a lot of damage back then, Baldr was furious." (Akatosh) "You say so, but he became more furious with you that you destroyed your divine realm in a fit of rage." (I) "That also happened, I had forgotten, my memory is not as good as it used to be." (Akatosh) "If Baldr finds out she''s unsealed, he might want to go after her again." (Fenrir) When Fenrir said this it was as if time stopped, the skies turned red and space itself shook and began to crack for thousands of kilometers in all directions, this was all caused only by Akatosh''s bloodlust, his eyes once amused and happy now it only reflects endless death and destruction. "Calm down!" (I) "..." (Akatosh) With my words Akatosh calm down and look at me seriously before returning to the relaxed face with a big smile, the sky also turned blue and the space repairs itself. "I feel like I almost lose myself in my rage, thanks for calming me down, Selene." (Akatosh) "I know how you feel, but try not to lose your cool, what Fenrir said could really happen." (I) "That idiot Baldr, when he''s going to understand that his idea of ??justice and the beliefs he teaches his believers will never work, he''s been blinded by his arrogance." (Akatosh) "This time I won''t give him a chance, if he makes a move he''ll have to face the consequences." (Akatosh) "It''s about time you said why you called us here, isn''t it?" (I) Akatosh lands and sits at the round table as he invites us to sit too. "I just wanted to say that I have already spoken with Dravos, the Moon Spirit and the Black Dragon will not interfere with your son Zenos or my descendant." (Akatosh) "I don''t see the Black Dragon accepting this so easily." (Fenrir) "That''s because he didn''t accept it, it took many Dragon Kings and two Emperors to hold him until he calmed down, before he finished listening to the priest who transmitted my message he was already trying to fly away and look for his daughter." (Akatosh) "That must have gotten attention." (I) "Yes, but nobody knows why apart from those Dragons and us." (Akatosh) "I can''t blame him for wanting to see his daughter, but if he does it will only cause her problems, after he calms down he understands that too." (Akatosh) "Too bad Dravos already has a champion, if not he could choose her, what''s her name again?" (Aine) "Zenos named her Nix." (I) "A good name." (Akatosh) "She is now Zenos'' hired spirit as well as being a living Dungeon." (I) "I like this kid''s boldness, he''s heading in a good way, I''m glad he''s forging his own path doing crazy things like this." (Akatosh) "Me too, that kind of crazy stuff makes him unpredictable." (I) "But this kind of unpredictable and chaotic thing is getting him more and more mired in trouble." (Aine) "Unlike you, I haven''t watched him or my champion very closely, you have to let them face their own difficulties, only then will they grow and become stronger." (Fenrir) "I''ve been trying to do that, but it''s been fun to see how he does things." (I) "Someone like him is going to be good for this world, hard times are coming and he''s going to be involved in a lot of things whether he likes it or not." (Akatosh) "Whether in the past or now he never manages to live a quiet life." (I) "That''s impossible for him." (Akatosh) "He''s an irregular being, like a being whose very existence defines what chaos is he''ll never know peace, but he can still create a safe and chaotic place to live, that''s not what you''ve been preparing him for, Selene ." (Akatosh) "I''m just giving him the tools he''ll need, but that''s all his achievement." (I) "Someone like him would attract people one way or another." (Aine) "Speaking of which, tell Dravos to teach his descendant how to create a Spirit Cradle, it will be useful for him in the future, I''m sure Dravos will appreciate it too." (Aine) "Zenos won''t accept this." (I) "Just not an option for him, a reward so big he won''t be able to say no." (Fenrir) "What Fenrir said sounds good, I''ll talk to Dravos later since he can''t come this time." (Akatosh) "Now I have to talk to you about the Heretic Gods, it seems that many of them have been making strange moves and have become more active in recent years, warn your people to be careful." (Akatosh) "Selene and I found one that was on holiday, he seems to be stuck in a certain place, I put Zenos to help deal with this Heretic God''s Servant, if killing his main believer will weaken him further, so my Fairy Kings can do the rest." (Aine) "I wanted to help too, but if my believers make a move it will attract too many eyes to that continent." (I) "I''ll leave it to you then, Fairy Goddess." (Akatosh) After that, we started to share information about what has been happening while we wait for the arrival of other Gods. Chapter 234: Going to the mountain range People Nix: Since I freed myself from that seal the master was the first person I met, he was the one who freed me and allowed me to be reborn as myself, the master gave me an immortal body and unlimited potential. Being in the shadow of the master allows me to feel him all the time while being surrounded by his power, this body is still strange to me, but little by little I managed to get used to moving it. When we arrived at the cabin in the middle of the forest I was able to meet the people that the master described as his family, they are all employees or servants of the master, but the way they behave does not coincide with that. Of all these people the strangest is the Fairy with the name of Layla, her appearance has many characteristics similar to the master, she is the master''s hired Fairy and has a strong bond with him just like me. Layla seems a little strange, but she is easy to talk to and fun, but when I hear the things the master says about her, I think that this fun personality hides a great deal of danger. The master took advantage of a moment where it was just me, him, and Layla to know more about me, he seemed interested in getting to know me better, so I told him about my past. It was sad to remember what happened back then, if I could I would run to my dad and mom to show that I''m okay now. But I know I can''t do that, first of all, I need information, I have to know how long I was stuck on that seal, I need to know what happened to my parents that day and I need to know where I am. The master said that one of his daughters must know something, it seems that she was someone of high rank within the Church of Light a few centuries ago, so when I saw that everyone went to sleep but she was still awake kneeling outside from the cabin, I thought it would be a good time to talk, just me and her. "I hope I''m not interrupting you." (I) I get out of a shadow on the cabin wall and walk towards her, who gets up calmly. "I was just saying some prayers to the Goddess Selene, I was praying for a safe journey to our destination." (Vanessa) "What you want to talk about, I suppose there''s still a lot you don''t know, feel free to ask me anything." (Vanessa) "I talked to the master earlier, told my story and he said I could come to you for some of the information I want to know." (I) "I''m happy to answer if I know anything, why don''t we sit on those rocks over there so we can talk more relaxed." (Vanessa) "All right." (I) ---------- I spent some time talking to Vanessa, she was very kind to me, first I told her my story to her, I needed her to know from my parents to be able to find out something, she also told me a little about her past in return, it seems her family was not as united as mine since her own father was the one who hunted her down after fleeing the Church of Light. Vanessa seemed very surprised by my story, it seems like she knows something about it. "So you are the one the Church called the child of darkness, to this day the story of how the Hero of Light gave his life to end evil is told within the Church of Light." (Vanessa) "How dare you tell that unnecessary and violent battle that had no reason to happen as if it were a heroic story?" (I) "We didn''t do anything to deserve that, they attacked by surprise, if it wasn''t for having other Dragons and Spirits around I''m afraid of what could have happened." (I) "I never researched this story much, for me it was just one of several stories I was forced to learn, but I''m really sorry for everything you went through." (Vanessa) "From the stories I know you must have been sealed 4,300 years ago or so." (Vanessa) "Four thousand years... more than four thousand years have passed..." (me) "..." (I) It''s been a lot longer than I thought, how could I have stayed asleep inside that seal for so long? "Do you know what happened to my father and mother?" (I) "I remember the last time I saw my mother she was very hurt." (I) Sigh "I hate to tell you this, but the Moon Spirit did not recover from her injuries, she underwent a spiritual rebirth." (Vanessa) "So my mom is gone..." (I) "But you have at least one sister, the new Moon Spirit seems to have looked everywhere for your seal since she was born, her hatred for the Church of Light is also well known.." (Vanessa) "She may have my mother''s soul and memories, but she''s not my mother, maybe you''re right and I should consider her a sister now, someone born from the same mother, thank you." (I) Spiritual rebirth is death for Fairies and high-level Spirits, normally the body is destroyed and the soul is purified being reborn as a new soul with a new body, powers and memories are inherited and the being that is born this way is considered a son. or successor to its previous version. I was lucky, my spiritual rebirth was more a metamorphosis of my soul than purification of everything I am, thanks to that I''m still myself, but that''s thanks to the master. "Do you know anything about my father?" (I) "Yes, he is known to this day as an Evil Dragon and enemy of the entire Church of Light." (Vanessa) "After killing and devouring the Hero of Light in that battle, he wounded the Hero''s soul in such a way that he cannot ascend as a Servant of Baldr after death." (Vanessa) "That''s not enough for that scum, to come out with a soul he must have had to help." (I) "I have no information on that, all I know is that your father was consumed by his fury after the battle, he ignored any damage he suffered and killed every elite army that attacked you, unable to calm down he started flying across two continents during months destroying all Churches, Sanctuaries, and Temples belonging to Church of Light." (Vanessa) "From what I''ve heard, he only stopped when an Ancestral Dragon along with three Dragon Emperors managed to knock him unconscious." (Vanessa) "At least I know he''s alive." (I) "Since that time the Dragon and Spirit races have become hostile to the Church of Light, the Church, in turn, has declared these races evil and monsters." (Vanessa) "This has also caused some discord for the Dragon and Spirit races, it seems that the Heavenly Dragons and the Light Spirits have split into two groups, those who are together with the Church of Light and those who are hostile to the Church of Light." (Vanessa) "I can imagine that these two species of Dragon and Spirits have always been close to the Church of Light, it would be hard to separate completely." (I) "Yes, but that only made the situation worse, I don''t think that one day the Church of Light will be able to regain ties with the Spirits and Dragons again." (Vanessa) "Looks like I''ll have to be careful if the Church finds me I might end up causing problems for the master." (I) "You don''t have to worry about that, my Father will probably be hated more by the Church of Light than you are." (Vanessa) "Why would the master be hated more than me?" (I) "From ancient times until today, the greatest enemy of the God of Light Baldr has been the Blood Goddess Selene, because of this the Vampire race is greatly hated by the Church." (Vanessa) "My Father besides being a Vampire Patriarch with light resistance, he is also the son of the Goddess Selene and helped lift Baldr''s Blessing that was like a curse on me, so he has once marked a Heretic by Baldr." (Vanessa) "..." (I) "Hahahahahahaah..." (I) "It seems I chose well to become his hired spirit, this is the master I admire, hahahahaha..." (I) "I don''t know why you''re laughing so hard, it''s going to cause my Dad a lot of trouble." (Vanessa) "I don''t care, that means I''ll have plenty of opportunities to go against the Church of Light in the future." (I) ---------- I talked for hours with Vanessa, she told me that her two brothers Irina and Irius are also former members of the Church of Light, it seems that the master is determined to go against them, this is wonderful for me. On the morning of the second day everyone woke up and prepared to leave, everyone was on their feet and the master looks much better, I saw him drink a lot of barrels of blood last night before going to sleep, according to Layla this made him go back to his normal appearance that was very beautiful. I haven''t had many opportunities to talk to most people who serve the master yet, but I don''t need to rush, I''ll have a lifetime for it. After everyone is ready we start walking towards the mountain range with a Ghoul and a Shadow Fairy leading the way, from what I hear we are heading to this Ghoul''s village to help fight a Necromancer who serves an Heretic God. "(This time I will be strong enough to protect those important to me, I won''t be a burden, someone who needs protection while others are struggling.)" (I) With strong conviction and will, I step out of the master''s shadow and walk beside him towards the mountain range. Chapter 235: Dungeon Eclipse As we leave the cabin and start walking toward the mountain range, Nix steps out of my shadow and walks beside me. "Master, how long will it take to get to this village you speak of?" (Nix) "Didn''t you hear Jana explain yesterday?" (I) "I was sleeping in her shadow." (Nix) "Alright, the village is quite far away, so traveling on foot will take a month or so." (I) "Wouldn''t it be faster to travel by flying?" (Nix) "It would be, but how do you expect us to do that, apart from the Fairies and Spirits here, only Vanessa and I can fly." (I) "Not to mention that I haven''t even tested the skills I''ve gotten lately because of lack of time." (I) "You could travel inside the Dungeon while I fly to this village." (Nix) "..." (I) "(How did I miss something so simple?)" (I) "Now that I think about it, one of us has to stay outside the Dungeon, don''t we?" (I) "If you are worried about getting trapped inside the dungeon, then you can relax, even if we both enter the dungeon you will respawn in the same place you entered, it will only leave an exposed entrance where we were if we are both inside the dungeon." (Nix) "The entrance to a dungeon is its link and anchor to our world, so it is always open and cannot be closed until the dungeon''s destruction, my case is special as I have an open entrance inside me at all times." (Nix) "Which is impossible while I''m alive." (I) "Yea." (Nix) "If we were to travel inside the Dungeon with you flying it would attract a lot of attention, right?" (I) "If you''re worried about my dragon form, then relax, I can fly in my human form too, but I''ll be much slower and my power is reduced, in my dragon form the travel will be much faster." (Nix) "But from what Jana and Dora told us, Farus has troops scattered throughout the mountain range, it would be dangerous to fly." (I) "So we shouldn''t fly at night? Their vision will be impaired, right?" (Layla) "No, the undead have night vision, they will still be able to see us." (I) "Maybe I can camouflage myself in my Dragon form, my scales are dark and crystal-like with star-like glows, I can go unnoticed in the night sky if I fly high enough." (Nix) "That''s a really good idea." (I) "I had already imagined that Farus'' troops would notice us on the way to Jana''s village, but if we hide inside the Dungeon and manage to sneak into the village, that will give us the opportunity for a surprise attack." (I) "That''s if they don''t find me flying." (Nix) "But I don''t know how to enter the Dungeon, I haven''t had time yet to see what I can do as a Dungeon Master." (I) "As the Dungeon is part of me I have access to its stored information, I know everything about the Dungeon itself." (Nix) "For starters, the master can open a gate to the Dungeon using any shadow he comes in contact with, we just need to think that he wants to go to the Dungeon and the gate will open, if I am outside the Dungeon I can close the gate, but if I''m inside the dungeon, the gate will stay open until you or I leave." (Nix) "I think I get it, it sounds simple, but I''ll have to be careful where I open that gate." (I) As I talk to Nix, Layla sits on my shoulder listening to everything, I also noticed that Ivan and Diana who are nearby can hear us. "I wanted to know more about the Dungeon." (I) "I can show the master, see." (Nix) Nix reaches out to me palm up and a crystal pops out of her body only halfway down the center of her palm, then information starts to appear in front of me like it''s some kind of hologram. <[ Dungeon Status Dungeon Name: Dungeon Eclipse Dungeon Master: Zenos Dungeon Master Assistant: Nix Servants: 0/2 Monster Types: Bloodlines of the Dungeon Master floors: 3 DP per day: 10 Dungeon points (DP): 1300 Souls: ? SSS: 0 ? SS: 0 ? S: 0 ? A: 0 ? B: 0 ? C: 0 ? D: 0 ? E: 0 ? F: 0 ? G: 0 ]> <[ Options: ? Store (Blocked) ? Summoning ? Special Summon (Locked) ? Construction/Remodeling ? Treasure Room (Locked) ? Assimilation ]> The information was clearly described in front of me, thanks to my gaming knowledge I could largely understand what was written there, but there was still so much I couldn''t understand. I look around but it seems like no one is seeing it, even Layla is looking confusedly at Nix''s hand, as if she''s been waiting for something to happen, but nothing does. "Was something supposed to happen?" (Layla) "Can''t you see that Layla?" (I) "See what?" (Layla) "Only you and I can see this, master." (Nix) "I have access to the Dungeon information all the time since the core is inside me, but you need to use the core to verify this information, in our case you need to talk to me so I can show you the Dungeon information." (Nix) "I think I understand, but could you explain more about the Dungeon''s functions?" (I) "Sure." (Nix) "We''ll talk about this until it''s dark, then I''ll tell everyone about our plan." (I) ---------- I spent all day listening to the Dungeon''s explanations, Layla who was on my shoulder all day also listened while Nix spoke, but it seems that it was difficult for Layla to understand everything since there was a lot of information at the same time. I was able to quickly understand everything Nix was saying as I could associate the Dungeon information with the information from various games from my old world, but there were still some things that were hard for me to accept. What I could understand was that "Dungeon Points (DP)" are used for everything you do, are used to build or remodel a floor, are used to summon monsters, are used to build traps, and are used to buy items. From what Nix said I could understand that the "Dungeon Points (DP)" are not some kind of currency, but a representation of the energy accumulated inside the Dungeon converted into numbers to facilitate my understanding. It seems that a Dungeon absorbs Mana, Ki, Spiritual Energy, Vitality, etc. A Dungeon can absorb all of this and transform it into its own energy which is "Dungeon Points (DP)". It seems that every spell, skill, or energy that emanates from a person while inside the Dungeon can be absorbed to become "Dungeon Points (DP)", but not only energies, the Dungeon can devour the blood spilled inside it and it can also devour dead bodies of either people or monsters to turn into "Dungeon Points (DP)". Nix also said that killing someone inside the Dungeon gives many points at once, she also said that the stronger the person inside the Dungeon, the more "Dungeon Points (DP)" will be gained while staying inside the Dungeon and the more points will be gains if that person or monster dies inside the Dungeon. Also, it seems that the monsters summoned by the Dungeon don''t give "Dungeon Points (DP)" to the Dungeon and their deaths also don''t give DP, only when the Dungeon devours their dead bodies will it gain some DP. It seems that there are several ways to summon a monster, I can directly summon the monsters that are going to be the first generation and will not have reproduction capabilities, in addition, it seems that they will not have a soul being completely under the control of the Dungeon, they will only have a simple mind and a strong instinct that matches the type of monster. In addition, there is a special summons that is for Variant and Unique monsters, they are more expensive to summon but they are stronger, the only problem is that it seems that soulless monsters have no potential and therefore are not able to evolve. Nix explained to me that the Dungeon is able to store the souls of those who died inside the Dungeon, these souls can be used in two ways, the first is to release the souls in exchange for DP that will be calculated with the power and potential that the soul has, the second way is to use this soul during a special summon, this is similar to a forced reincarnation, it also looks like I will be able to choose to keep the soul memories or not, no matter what I choose the monster will still be completely loyal to me, that''s because he won''t be the person this soul originated from, he''ll only have their memories which may allow him to inherit some or all of their abilities. Nix said that soulless monsters cannot leave the Dungeon in normal situations, this will only happen if the Dungeon is super crowded, so a wave of monsters will happen forcing the monsters to leave the Dungeon. It seems that only souled monsters can enter and exit the Dungeon, but that doesn''t lessen their connection to the Dungeon itself. One thing I discovered talking to Nix was that I can''t choose the monster in a special to summon normally, if I want a specific type of monster I have to buy a certain item in the shop for that. Nix said that the shop allows me to buy materials from Dungeon monsters, Crystal Cards referring to Dungeon monsters or people who die inside the Dungeon, ingredients such as magical or medicinal herbs, metals, etc. It seems that the Dungeon also has a treasure room which is where all the items from the defeated monsters and people will be stored when their bodies are devoured by the Dungeon. The Dungeon''s assimilation function should be locked as well, but Nix said that he took advantage of the moment of the Dungeon''s creation to assimilate the mansion and surrounding land into the Dungeon, which made the function unlocked from the beginning. She said that this function helps to assimilate monsters, buildings, and places within the Dungeon, but there are requirements that must be met for this. Nix also informed me that some of the Dungeon features are locked until I meet certain requirements but she doesn''t know what they are and that''s how we spent an entire day with her teaching me about Dungeons. Chapter 236: Smooth trip The day was starting to get dark, I find a nice place where we can all stop and rest where there are some old fallen trees and we can sit. I want to tell everyone how we''re going to travel now, so after we''ve all sat down and started drinking water while eating something, I tell them about everyone going into the Dungeon and leaving Nix traveling overnight. "That''s a good way for Farus'' troops not to notice our group, we''re in a lot of people right now and we''ll be discovered sooner or later if we go on foot." (I) "In addition to taking longer if we go on foot, I can get there much faster by flying." (Nix) "I heard you guys talking, so I also heard your master plan, I agree." (Diana) "As I was close I also listened to you, my only problem with your plan is that we will still need a guide to get to the village." (Ivan) "Dora who can also fly will be the guide for Nix, she will point out directions and she will also know places where Nix can stop and rest on the way." (I) "It''s fine by me." (Dora) "..." (Jana) As we all talked about how we''re going to travel to our destination, I realized that almost no one was surprised when I talked about the Dungeon. Maybe Elsaris has been listening to my conversation with Nix all day and has warned her kids somehow since she shows no reaction. When I introduced Nix when we arrived at the cabin a few days ago, I told everyone just that she was my new Hired Spirit, apart from my group who already knew what they were going to do in Valen City before leaving, Elsaris and her kids didn''t know what to do I was going to do, the same goes for Jana and her Shadow Fairy Dora. Jana was the only one who was paralyzed by the shock of the things I said, it was funny to see her immobilized with her mouth open and looking at me with a confused look. I had to take some time to try to calm her down her Fairy looked surprised and confused too, but she took it more easily than I expected. After Jana regained consciousness I started to explain the plan again, this time Jana paid more attention to what I was saying, it was written on her face that this whole situation was surreal for her, but I made her say if what she was saying would work and she said that there was a good chance of getting to the village without being disturbed. "You really are someone weird, creating a Dungeon that you can take wherever you want like that, that''s something few have been able to do over the ages." (Elsaris) "If anyone found out that you managed to do this, then armies would be sent to finish you off, so do your best to hide it, Master." (Ivan) "In addition to the Realms that would want to exterminate you, there will also be people who will want to control or use you in some way." (Elsaris) "Certainly it will be dangerous no matter what kind of person comes after you, Father." (Vanessa) "So make sure you don''t go off talking so casually about the Dungeon as you did today, remember you never know who might be listening." (Vanessa) "..." (I) Hearing others saying how dangerous it will be if others know about the Dungeon or Nix made me see how irresponsibly I have been taking it, the only risks I considered were the ones I suffered while creating the Dungeon and releasing Nix, I never stopped to think about it the consequences on others finding out about what I did. "You''re already someone who draws attention to the wrong people wherever you go, if you''re not more careful it''s going to be dangerous for both you and those close to you." (Elsaris) "What do you mean when you say I get the wrong people''s attention?" (I) "In addition to your appearance that attracts attention in itself, you have many secrets that make you a mysterious being, so there will be people who will try to dig out these secrets in every way possible, and the more known you become, everything will only become worst." (Elsaris) "(What she says, unfortunately, makes a lot of sense.)" (I) While everyone was talking and I was starting to worry more and more about the future after hearing what everyone was saying, Freya and Caryna were serving various types of cut fruit for everyone to eat. I took advantage of this time while everyone was having a little break to test together with Nix how to open and close the Dungeon gate. "You just want to open the gate and imagine him stepping out of your shadow or a shadow that''s connected to yours." (Nix) "As simple as that?" (I) "Yes, now test a little." (Nix) It was strange to see this strange gate coming out and coming in through my shadow, especially because of the shape of this gate, every time I opened the gate a Dragon head just like Nix''s comes out of the shadow, this head is made of black crystal, so the head appears the mouth opens showing a five-meter high opening full of sharp teeth inside the mouth and with a swirl of darkness where the passage to the throat would be. It was a strange and bizarre sight, for a moment it reminded me of the entrance to the Great Serpent Dungeon which was similar, but the dragon''s head was much more realistic and fierce if it weren''t for Nix beside me in her human form I would be thinking that that head was Nix opening her mouth. "Sounds a lot like you, was it your idea, or did I do it without realizing it?" (I) "Unfortunately the Dungeon entrance is created automatically taking into account the individual characteristics of the Dungeon, if I could choose I would change it as it''s a little embarrassing for me, but it''s impossible." (Nix) "The only thing that was my decision was the top floor of the Dungeon." (Nix) "What did you do?" (I) "The top floor is where the mansion and the Cradle of Fairies are, while the dungeon was in the process of being created and you made the dungeon assimilate the mansion, I thought of creating a more comfortable environment, so I built a fake sky with the ability to change over time similar to where the dungeon is currently located." (Nix) "For example, now it''s night inside when the three suns rise in the morning outside, a single sun will rise on the top floor of the Dungeon, plus I made the entire floor forest." (Nix) "But that wasn''t for free, I spent a lot of DP that I got from absorbing the energy from the barrier that Irina had made." (Nix) "Why didn''t you mention this earlier?" (I) "Rebuilding the top floor just finished this morning, so I talked about taking everyone inside the dungeon with you just today." (Nix) "That''s why you only have that much DP now." (Nix) "Does the amount of DP we get increase just by being inside the Dungeon?" (I) "Yeah, it won''t be as much as we earn while the person is fighting or how much the person dies, but it''s still better than nothing." (Nix) "That will be enough, will the amount of DP also increase based on the strength of the person or monster?" (I) "Yea." (Nix) "So with all these strong people living in this mansion every day, we''re going to get a lot of DP right?" (I) "That''s quite possible for most, but those who have a strong bond with you like Layla and I won''t earn you any DP, the same goes for you who is the Dungeon Master." (Nix) "All right." (I) "Strong emotions make more energy and Aura leak out of the person too, so take that into consideration in the future." (Nix) "OK." (I) "I think I''ve figured out how to open and close the gate, let''s find the others now and enter the Dungeon." (I) I and Nix go to the others, then Nix opens a gate just like mine from her shadow, everyone enters the Dungeon without hesitation except for Jana and Dora, they looked scared at first, but Layla basically pulled them inside without giving much thought. choice. Nix stayed outside the Dungeon, couldn''t leave a gate open in the forest with no one around to watch, so after everyone entered Nix closed the gate. After entering the Dungeon for the first time I noticed that it looks like just a normal safe room, with the exception that the crystal in the middle of the room is shaped like a statue of Nix in her Dragon form and the crystal is black in color with sparkles of various colors inside like Nix''s scales resembling stars. "What a beautiful statue..." (Jana) "So cute..." (Ibuki) "This is not a simple statue, the Dragon''s head is similar to the Dungeon gate." (rica) "This must be the crystal in the safe room, we''d better register ourselves on it before continuing." (Diana) As everyone was heading towards the crystal, including me, a voice comes out of my shadow. "The master doesn''t need to register, in fact, he can teleport to any safe room in the Dungeon." (Nix) "Did you come in too? Weren''t you supposed to wait outside?" (I) "I''m outside, I''m just transmitting my voice through your shadow, master." (Nix) "I also forgot to mention that there aren''t any monsters or traps in the Dungeon yet, so don''t worry." (Nix) After listening to what Nix said the others registered in the crystal and we started to explore the first floor, somehow I felt like I already knew everything here and as I walked I quickly checked the stairs as if I already knew where they were. After that we continued until we reached the top floor, the first two floors were networks of underground caves, but just like Nix had told me before, the third floor was a forest, after entering the forest I followed a certain direction with the others following and I checked up to the Mansion in the middle of the floor, it was exactly the same as before, the Infant Spirits and Fairies were still happily flying around the mansion. After confirming that the mansion was the same, Dora went outside the Dungeon along with Layla to join up with Nix, Dora will guide Nix while she is flying through the mountain range. "Let''s have a relaxing and peaceful trip this time." (I) Chapter 237: Eclipse Mansion Missing Pov Mari: The suns had just risen and I was walking to the Guild alongside Carlos to start another day at work. "I''m glad we''re back to business as usual now that we''ve just dealt with the aftermath of the monster wave and the Undead Dungeon is destroyed." (I) "Don''t remind me of all that, these past few months have been horrible, nights and more nights I''ve been sleeping in my office where I''d wake up covered in a pile of paper the next day." (Carlos) "There wasn''t a single moment I could get away from work and drink my beer." (Carlos) "The worst thing was every time I thought I was finishing work and could rest, you came in with a pile of work you still had to do, I thought that hell would never end." (Carlos) "You did your job very well during these difficult days, but you know who to thank for that." (I) "Eclipse Shadow, if it wasn''t for them getting rid of that dungeon things would have gone bad by now, I have to thank Diana and Zenos later." (Carlos) "I''ll try to talk to Diana to arrange another day for a visit, without sneaking in again, okay dear?" (I) "It was only once I did it, you know I was desperate to destroy that ridiculous Dungeon, I couldn''t wait at the gate." (Carlos) "You don''t need to explain yourself to me, you just need to remember not to break into your friends'' houses, you''re not Lucas." (I) "OK." (Carlos) While talking to my husband we arrived at the Adventurers Guild starting another day of work. Carlos has gone to his office to try to finish off today''s work and I''ll be giving instructions to the receptionists while I help organize the Guild for when the Adventurers come to pick up their quests this morning. That''s when one of the receptionists said someone left a letter for me last night, he said that this person was a beautiful pink-haired woman who showed up right after Carlos and I had left. I pick up the letter and realize it''s named for me and Carlos, so I open it and read the contents of the letter. [ I''m writing this letter to say goodbye to you Mari and Carlos too, I''m leaving the city of Valen and I have no plans to come back, Diana and the others wanted to say goodbye, but I said it would be better not. Don''t get me wrong, I just didn''t want anyone trying to stop me from leaving or watching my steps, so I decided to leave this way. I want you to know that the time I spent in this city may have been short, but it was very important to me, you and Carlos helped me and the rest of my group a lot, so thank you. One of the reasons I don''t tell you two why I''m leaving or where I''m going is so I don''t have to lie when someone eventually comes looking for me, so please don''t forget to burn this letter afterward. I want to assure you that I will take good care of Diana, I know how much you both care about her, also thank you for referring Diana to Trigan Mansion when she wanted to buy a house in my name, living in that mansion was amazing and that''s where I built a house with everyone around me, I also have to thank you for that Mari. I don''t want the letter to get too big so I won''t say too many things, all I''ll say is me, Diana and the others will miss you, we''ll miss Carlos too, hope we meet again, goodbye. PS.: I''m taking the mansion with me since I bought it, if you see me explaining this to Duke Valen, hahahahaha... Zenos ] "..." (I) "What has this strange child done now?" (I) Sigh "The first thing I have to do is show this to Carlos." (I) I go quickly to Carlos'' office, had some Guild employees passing some information to Carlos while he signed some documents, I kick everyone out and put up a barrier so no one can hear what we''re going to say here. "What''s going on, honey?" (Carlos) "It must be something serious for you to have kicked out the other Guild employees and erect this barrier." (Carlos) "Read this letter and you will understand." (I) Carlos was confused by my reaction after entering his office, he made a serious face as he looked at me asking me to explain everything to him. I take the letter and hand it to Carlos who starts reading, at first he seemed to be reading it calmly, then his expression was one of sadness, but I noticed that soon his face went white and his expression was frozen in one of shock. "..." (Carlos) "That can''t be, he couldn''t move something that big, right?" (Carlos) "..." (I) "This must be a joke, if the mansion had disappeared this news would have spread throughout the city, that would be impossible." (Carlos) "Let''s go there." (I) "No, what he says in the letter is true, he had many eyes on that mansion day and night, his group strengthened at a pace that people could not understand, influential people in the city realized this and began to pay attention to him, looks like he realized that and walked away." (Carlos) "He didn''t seem to like attracting attention, but the letter hinted that an enemy of his was approaching, so he left without telling us anything or saying goodbye so as not to leave any clues." (I) "What you said makes sense, but for some reason, I still feel my head hurt when I look at the final sentence of the letter." (Carlos) "This smells like another pile of work to me." (Carlos) I could see Carlos'' face change between worry, sadness, doubt, and happiness. "I have no doubt he will treat Diana well, but it worries me that there might be someone after them." (I) "What I''m worried about is about the mansion, if that really disappears then it''s going to get a lot of attention, not just here in the Kingdom." (Carlos) "We''ll go there after dark, we can go without anyone noticing." (I) "I just hope that the last sentence is a joke..." (Carlos) ---------- After dark, Carlos and I put on our old black clothes that we used during some missions in the past, with some magic I used on myself and on him we were able to avoid drawing attention from the people watching. "(There is something wrong, this is an illusion, the mansion is not there!!!)" (I) Carlos looks at me I''m surprised by what I''m seeing, I''m using my skill, and thanks to that I can see a little bit through this illusion, there''s nothing there. I warn Carlos about what I''m seeing using a telepathic spell I cast before I got here to talk to him without revealing that we''re in hiding. "(What do you mean? That would be impossible, how would he make such a big mansion disappear?)" (Carlos) "(Let''s go inside, it doesn''t seem to have any sort of defensive or attacking Magic, so I think it''s safe.)" (I) We go inside hidden so no one can see us, after going through the illusion, what I see is a big crater, it wasn''t just the mansion that disappeared, all the terrain around the mansion also disappeared. "(How he did it.)" (I) Pfft... Carlos seemed to be holding back not to starting laughing out loud as usual. "(I must admit he knows how to make a great exit.)" (Callos) "(Don''t praise such an attitude, this is a new level of irresponsibility, I wonder if he has someone with a Space element along with his group.)" (I) "(Is that the only thing you can think of? What kind of powerful mage will be able to move all this gigantic area?)" (Carlos) "(This is going to give us a lot of work.)" (Carlos) "(Carlos, let''s get out of here.)" (I) "(Alright, let''s go straight to the Guild, it must be empty by now, we can talk there.)" (Carlos) Carlos and I went out while we were hiding, I didn''t want anyone to care what a big incident this is going to be with us after we get back we go straight to Carlos'' office and he goes to the bookshelves, he takes out three books and takes two hidden beer bottles, Carlos hands me a bottle and starts drinking his own. "I really hoped it was a joke." (I) "The Duke won''t believe it when he hears about this, the worst thing is that it didn''t break any laws." (Carlos) "Since it''s his house, he had the right to take her if he wanted to, I''m just surprised he managed to do that." (Carlos) "Haven''t you noticed? The miasma is gone too and not a single brick is left of the mansion." (I) "I think he did well to leave, I got a letter from the Third Prince of Cartoza, he said he''s coming to register as an adventurer here in a week and a half." (Carlos) "Why did he send a letter just for that?" (I) "Actually he also mentioned in the letter that he wanted to make a temporary group with Zenos, he asked to speak with Zenos if possible." (Carlos) "Having a noble keeping an eye on you is cause for concern, but having the Prince of a foreign realm paying attention is a sign of trouble one way or another." (I) "Yes, I hope Zenos will be okay wherever he goes and take good care of Diana." (Carlos) "By the way, I don''t think we ever told Zenos about Diana''s family, I don''t think she even told him." (I) "That''s their problem now." (Carlos) Carlos and I spent a few hours talking about Zenos'' letter and the mansion that disappeared. Chapter 238: The Busy Village Leader Chapter 238: The Busy Village Leader Pov Sapphire: My name is Sapphire, I am the leader of a village in the mountain range, in the past, my village was made up of 90% women of the Lamia race, just like me, apart from my race that only has women, there were also some men of other races who agreed to live in our village. Our village was small, but we lived peacefully with the only type of conflict we had been with the Arachne race, just like my race theirs is composed only of women, our two races also have similar cultures and characteristics being good in combat, possessing Affinity with poisons and being united as a family. But we always ended up in conflict, every year we had dozens of conflicts with the Arachne, but we were already used to that, there were always wounded on both sides, but fortunately, there were always few deaths over the years, I even felt that this type of conflict was good for the two races to get stronger with this rivalry. But one day something unexpected happened, the mountain range is divided into the three most numerous and strong races which are the Ogres, the Orcs, and the Ghouls. One day these three races who owned dozens of villages throughout the mountain range started a three-sided war, this war was unlike any conflict that had ever been in the past, it was a wildest and most brutal war. At that time I, as the leader of my village, decided to prevent any conflict from happening, I didn''t want to draw the attention of these three races and have my race involved in this war, other races with few numbers in the mountain range seem to have thought the same, they also tried to keep quiet during this period of war. This war lasted a long time, it lasted longer than any that had happened before, I felt that there was something wrong, but I wasn''t close to the other races to know any information, so I kept away, until one day a group of Ogres arrived. to our village. I welcomed them and helped them, just by seeing them I realized that they weren''t here to do anything bad they were injured and lugging a lot of luggage, there was a Fairy of the fire element with them, one of them explained to me that they were members of an Ogre village that wanted flee the war, so the Fairy who is hired by one of them brought them here. Our village has a Guardian, she is a Dryad whose body is a tree from the Forest of Blood, this Dryad has been here for over a thousand years and we Lamias see her as a friend and Guardian, she is stronger than anyone else in the village including me, but because she has taken root in this place she can''t get away from here, as a Dryad she is very close to the Spirits and Fairies, so many of them pass through our village or live close to us, so it didn''t surprise me to know that a Fairy has brought people looking for a new place to live to this village, this has happened a few times over the years. But as time passed I noticed that more and more groups of people came to this village, I also noticed that they were in large groups most of the time, as everyone arrived peacefully I received them well even with people of my moth being against it. With each group of people that arrived, I discovered more information about each of the three warring races and about the strange events of the war itself, listening to so many things I realized that this was a war without reason, it made me realize that something was very wrong. The worst would be having to abandon our Guardian, she is a great friend of my race, she also helped to defend us by raising some of these barriers, thinking about abandoning her in the low hope of saving a part of these people hurts my heart, but as a leader, I have to think about what''s best for the people of this village, no matter how much I don''t like it. Nobody wanted to do this, but desperate moments call for desperate measures. It was when this plan was being considered that the Guardian appeared once more, she came to warn us that a Fairy Queen had passed through the village to warn that the Ghoul and Fairy we had sent would soon return with reinforcements. This news filled me with happiness, the flame of hope that was almost going out inside me started to burn again, so I started to make preparations, I asked the Fairies and Spirits to go collect information all over the mountain range, I needed accurate information before anything else. One of these Fairies came back in two days with a worried face, she seemed to have discovered something but didn''t want to say, after some insistence the Fairy spoke, what I heard made me faint with sadness and fury. When I got up I realized I was leaning against the Guardian''s tree, I felt more comfortable and the Guardian comforted me knowing what had happened. The news I got was that my oldest daughter who had been missing for months and who I thought was lost forever had been found, but she was commanding an army of Undead from Faros while attacking one of the last remaining villages, I heard the Fairy say that she killed everyone while screaming wanting to face strong enemies. My oldest daughter has always been one of our best warriors, she was second only to me in strength, one of the things I admired about her was her quest to be the strongest, but it seems like I was underestimating what she would be willing to do for that, All this in order to be the strongest. I had heard that there was a Lamia vom Farus, but I didn''t know it was her. I already knew that Farus made the races that served him enter the Dungeons day and night to force them to grow stronger and evolve, but that course of action had a high mortality margin. Farus didn''t care how many died, he forced those inside the dungeons to bring the dead to him, then he used the bodies of those who died inside the dungeon to create more undead, Farus managed to strengthen himself whether people survived or died. into their macabre training plans. Knowing that my daughter was probably going through this kind of training made me fear for her life, but what really filled my heart with sadness was knowing that my daughter is willingly on the side of the enemy. Chapter 239: Wanted Chapter 239: Wanted Pov Nix: I was flying above the clouds while two Fairies were sitting in my head enjoying the trip. "Are you sure this is the right direction this time?" (I) "I am sure." (Dora) "You said the same thing the other two times and we still went in the wrong direction both times." (Layla) Dora seems to have trouble remembering the correct direction without being able to see the landmarks she knows on the ground. "We''re too high, I''ve never flown that high." (Dora) "Things look different from this height." (Dora) "Just try checking to be sure of the direction this time." (I) "This time I''m sure, we''re in the right direction." (Dora) "I just hope no more birds attack again." (Layla) Two hours ago we were attacked by a couple of big bluebirds, they were bigger monsters than me and they knew how to use wind magic, so they were fast. But their strength didn''t compare to mine, I used them to practice some combat on the advice of the master who was watching the combat through Layla''s eyes. The two birds'' attacks were too weak to hurt my body, but the master is talking in my head for me to dodge as a form of training, with my flexible body it was easy to dodge while approaching enemies. I wanted to bite them, but the master asked me to use only my claws and tail, he knows that the damage caused by my Bite will be much greater than that of my claws, he thought the birds would be able to resist my attack, but This did not happen. One of the birds missed its wind blade and decided to try to use its claws to cut me, I thought it was a little slow and I dodged its attack or I thought I dodged it, but suddenly its wings flashed and it shot right in front of me, in fright I decided to headbutt him and ended up killing him. My scales are very hard, so when he hit me at that speed and I was trying to head-butt him, it was like an egg hitting meat on a rock, half of this bird''s body turned to paste and covered me with blood. When I looked at the other bird I saw him trying to run to the other side, but before he got very far his head fell off, soon after the body lost momentum and started to fall too, while I was angry and trying to clean the blood from me, I see the bodies of the two birds float towards me. Layla used magic to grab the two bodies before reaching the ground, then I hear the master''s voice for me to eat the two birds sending them to the Dungeon, he said he would ask Layla to cut them for me to eat, but I said that I didn''t need to, I just asked to let them float in front of me. I can control the size of the Dungeon gate up to a certain limit within me, so I put the gate right in my mouth and open it while activating an ability, I feel my head getting stiffer and harder to move at the same time I feel my mouth open more and more. I feel the element of darkness covering my head and I know it now feels like my head must be three or four times the size it used to be, so I go over to the two bodies that were bigger than me before and swallow them both in a row, then go back to the normal after the bodies passed through the Dungeon gate in my mouth. I could see Layla''s mouth open in surprise as Dora looked at me as if she couldn''t believe what she saw, even the master stopped talking in my head, I must have surprised him too. The Duke asked me to look for clues about what happened, but I refused, so he asked for a formal request in the Guild with a big reward, but I know they won''t find anything, Zenos was very thorough when he fled, the only clue is the letter he left for me and Mari, but even that letter doesn''t help to find them and I already burned the letter. I even tried asking Lucas about it, but he just said he knows how they got out of town, it looks like they used one of the Black Market smuggling passes, but after that Lucas doesn''t know which direction they went. The disappearance of the mansion made the old stories about the curse of the mansion and the death of Ivan Trigan with his family come back up again, now they say that Zenos and his group are dead because of this curse, they say they were taken to the world of the dead together with every mansion. Rumors are always too fanciful, but the truth is also too crazy to believe, so far I''m trying to understand how Zenos managed to move not only the mansion but all the land around it, I''ve never heard anything like this before. I was in my office eating a snack with a bottle of beer by my side until a Guild employee rushes in with some papers in his hand. "Guild Master, something big has happened!" (Guild employee) "Stay calm, say slowly what happened." (I) "Inquisitors from the Church of Light arrived in the city today and they are spreading it around." (Guild employee) "" (I) He gives me one of the papers he was carrying, as soon as I take it I''m surprised, this paper is a wanted poster worth 100 crystal coins, the highest value I''ve ever seen in a bounty, the problem is the target. "Why is the Church of Light after Zenos?" (I) "They are spreading that he is a Heretic, they are also saying that he is a Servant of Evil who must be hunted down and exterminated." (Guild employee) "Do they have any proof or are they just causing trouble?" (I) "One of the Inquisitors came to the Guild to put the reward on the four of quests, but when asked about the target''s crimes he didn''t say anything concrete, just a bunch of bullshit about Zenos being an evil creature, they didn''t even have anything to use as proof." (Guild employee) "They won''t get anything here, no adventurers from this city will help them and without proof of crimes they can''t ask a guild quest about this reward." (I) "During the wave of monsters, Zenos'' group stayed on the front lines and even helped to rescue several adventurers injured during the battle." (I) "Also, Diana who is at his side is famous throughout town for how she fought the Undead during the special mission a few months ago, as well as being a respected and veteran adventurer." (I) "Cast out these Inquisitors, spread the word that the Church of Light is after a highly talented adventurer and is spreading slander about him." (I) "That won''t work, the townspeople may know Diana well who is a veteran adventurer in the town, but they don''t know about Zenos and how he helped the town until now." (Mari) While talking to the employee who brought me the news about the Inquisitors, Mari enters intruding on the conversation. "Those bastards from the Church of Light, if I could I would kill all these Inquisitors." (I) "I still haven''t forgotten who''s to blame for that wave of monsters." (I) "We can''t do that, we can''t even talk about it since we don''t have proof, just let them do what they want, Zenos isn''t here and I doubt anyone in this town knows where he is." (Mari) Chapter 240: Arrival In The Village Of Jana Chapter 240: Arrival In The Village Of Jana We''ve been traveling for five days and we still haven''t arrived in Jana''s village, during this time I took the opportunity to train with some skills that I was very curious about, among these skills the one that made my heart beat faster was "Dragon Wings" already that it would allow me to fly through the skies. I tried to identify all my new skills but unfortunately, I couldn''t, it seems that Dragons skills cannot be identified at the current level of my skill, the only one I got was the skill [ Fly: 1 ], it seems that this skill does not allow you fly, this skill refers to how well you can fly, in other words, this skill alone is useless if the person or monster doesn''t have a way to fly by itself. The first time I activated my Dragon wings I found they are very similar to Nix''s, my wings are bigger than I expected and hard to move, it took me two whole days just to get used to moving the wings, my mind couldn''t process the movement of something I''ve never had before. These are large bat wings covered in black crystal scales with sparkles inside the scales, the best thing is that these wings turn into energy and enter my body when I disable the skill, this skill also doesn''t seem to have any energy cost, but I feel like if I could use my mana or Ki on the wings to strengthen them. My only regret is that even after five days I still can''t fly, the only thing I can do is glide a few meters or float when I put mana in my wings, flying is harder than I thought it would be, but I''ll keep training, flying is the everyone''s dream. Now I was lying on a beautiful lawn in the mansion''s garden while looking at the sky that was starting to darken, I was exhausted from training with my wings all day. "I will resume the journey now master." (Nix) Yo?ur favorite stories at novelhall.com Just as the sky has gone completely dark, I hear a voice coming from my shadow. "It''s been days, can you tell me how much time is left?" (I) "The reason for the delay is because Dora got off track four times, but it looks like we''re on the right track this time." (Nix) "Dora said with my speed we should get closer to dawn." (Nix) "Finally, I''m tired of being stuck indoors." (I) "You can always go out a little, the others also take turns going out during the day." (Nix) "I can''t do that, I still don''t have complete control over my Aura, if I leave we could be noticed for a moment of carelessness." (I) "I''ve been training my Aura control, so I''m getting more familiar with it, I''ve been able to control my Aura to some extent, but I still can''t suppress it inside me completely, I''ll train a little more." (I) "I''m sure you will soon enough." (Nix) "Irina told me that you''ve been training every day with your wings, how''s it going?" (Nix) "Difficult, it took me days just to learn to move these wings, it also took me days just to get off the ground." (I) "That''s because you''re not used to it yet, with time and practice you will learn the strength needed to get off the ground, how to move the wings while flying, and how to increase or decrease speed." (Nix) "I''ve also had trouble learning to fly in the past, this sort of thing gets better with practice, so the master will be flying at will so relaxed when he''s walking." (Nix) "I hope so, I don''t want to crash into trees or fly low anymore, I want to fly through a sky full of stars in a calm and relaxed way." (I) I''m sure Nix is right, at the moment I''m like a baby bird trying to learn how to use its wings, just like human babies have problems when they''re learning to use their legs and walk, all I need to do is keep training and then fly It will be as natural to me as walking. - Pov Elsaris: "I can''t say that yet, maybe she''s different." (Beatriz) "All I know is that I liked this place and I''m sure you will too, Mom." (Beatriz) "I''ll try, among them there''s someone that even I consider talented." (I) "Are you talking about Nira?" (Beatriz) "Yeah, the only reason I wanted to get rid of her was because of the cursed energy she''s accumulated over years of evaluating cursed items." (I) "She wouldn''t survive long, but I couldn''t release her either, I tried to sell her at auction in hopes of being valued for her skill and well taken care of." (I) "It worked, Zenos and her group bought her." (Beatriz) "Yes, at that time I was inclined to turn her into a Rogue just like I did with you, but I couldn''t." (I) "You must be the only Matriarch with only two family members, all out of fear as usual." (Beatriz) "The image of sealing my sister in that crystal using my blood always comes up when I think about turning someone, you and Jay were special cases that happened in the heat of the moment." (I) "But you two are very talented, Jay is very good at combat and you have a shrewd business mind, you are an excellent thief and spy, you couldn''t have gotten better children for our line of work." (I) "I think that''s why Zenos accepted us, from what we''ve learned so far, he needs people to gather information." (Beatriz) "Yes, the only one he has is the Gray Elf named Kira, but she seems inexperienced yet, she has a lot of potentials, but we have centuries of experience in that." (I) "She can''t work alone either, work in groups is faster and more accurate." (I) "Now enough talking, let''s eat something, these Elves'' food is amazing." (I) "OK let''s go." (Beatriz) This place is great, my daughter is right, living here will be much better than living to hide and working with things that even I don''t agree with, working in the black market can be lucrative and I can have access to a lot of information, but it''s not at all aggravating, the things I saw and did there cannot be erased from my mind. But this place is amazing, a base inside a mobile dungeon, besides working for the dungeon master, I never thought something like this would happen, Zenos seems a bit inexperienced and naive at times but most of the time he is a mystery to me. The way he talks, acts, and thinks is strange, he seems to do things not for benefit but simply out of fun or curiosity, but still, he always acts rationally and thinks deeply about what he is going to do. I can''t tell if he is someone who gets carried away by emotions or is someone rational, the way he thinks is also strange, look at this group full of different races and with different abilities. Normally bringing people so different together would be impossible, but somehow he did it, he does a lot of strange things, I can''t predict anything about him, just now I was talking to my daughter while I was seeing him through the window with strange and beautiful wings with scales of black crystal, from the way he''s been training it looks like he acquired these wings a short time ago. - At dawn the next day I was in the living room eating fruit and reading a book when Jay walks in and comes over to say something close to my ears before he leaves. "Looks like we''ve arrived, let''s see how this village that Zenos came to help is doing." (I) Chapter 241: Meeting The Village Leader Chapter 241: Meeting The Village Leader Finally arriving at Jana''s village, I share the eyes of Layla who is outside sitting on Nix''s head. I look around and realize we''re landing in a small forest with nothing around. "(Are you sure we''re coming, Layla? I can''t see anything around.)" (I) "(Dora said the village is just ahead, but it looks like it''s hidden by barriers and illusions, so we can''t see.)" (Layla) "(We are landing now to continue on foot, Nix thinks this will be better so as not to scare the people of the village.)" (Layla) "(Tell Nix I''ll send Jana out as soon as you land, it''ll be better that way.)" (I) "(Okay.)" (Layla) I go over to where Jana is, she''s spent most of her time reading magic books or talking to rica about magic, so she must be in the library, as I walk in I see her sitting on the floor with piles of books scattered around her. "We''re here, it looks like we''re close to her village now." (I) "It was a lot quicker than I thought it would be, it would normally take two months of traveling on foot." (Jana) "I think you better go outside the Dungeon and guide Nix to your village, if you and Dora are there it will be easier to explain about us." (I) "I could spend days here reading all these wonderful books, but you''re right, I have to be there when we go into the village, they might think something happened if they see Dora and I''m not there." (Jana) "I will open a gate for you, the others will remain inside the Dungeon with me until we are in front of the village." (I) "Aren''t you afraid of people from my village finding out about the Dungeon? I thought you were going to ask me to keep quiet about what I know." (Jana) "On the way here I had some time to think, it will be impossible to hide about your village''s Dungeon as I have plans to use it as an advantage against Farus." (I) "How are you going to do that?" (Jana) "Don''t rush things, you''ll know soon, now I think you better go, I''ll ask Layla to create a space portal for you to get to the safe room on this floor faster." (I) "Alright, I''ll go now." (Jana) During these days Layla discovered that she can open space portals as long as the two destinations are inside the same floor of the Dungeon, she tried to do it outside the Dungeon but she couldn''t, she also couldn''t open a portal from one floor of the Dungeon to another floor or outside the Dungeon. There were also beautiful women who wore very revealing clothes, they would have looked human if not for the lower parts of their bodies being snakes, plus there was also what I could only describe as a Werewolf, a humanoid Wolf with a fierce appearance, all these creatures were in front of me on top of the stone walls with weapons in hand, looking ready to attack at any moment. Among these creatures the one that caught my attention was one of the Lamias, she was more beautiful and bigger than the others, she had beautiful white skin with a blue snake tail, her hair and eyes were also blue, she held a large sword with one hand that looks strange as she doesn''t look very muscular and the sword seems to be very heavy, by her features I can recognize her as the village leader Jana mentioned before if I remember correctly her name is Sapphire. "You took too long to get back Jana." (Sapphire) "We thought you and Dora were dead, but it turns out we were wrong." (Sapphire) Sapphire speaks seriously to Jana, she gives off an imposing and dignified presence, she speaks while looking at Jana at first but soon her eyes turn to us but as soon as her eyes and mine meet she focuses on me, she doesn''t look away for a second while narrowing his eyes. "Who are these people with you? Why is an Undead among them?" (Sapphire) When Sapphire says that I feel all these creatures on top of the walls directing a bloodlust grid towards us, it seems that this Lamia leader was able to see beyond Ivan''s human appearance quickly, I''m impressed since even Carlos wasn''t able to do that. "I''m sorry for the delay leader of the village, but I accomplished my mission, these people are our reinforcement and I can guarantee that this Undead does not serve Farus, please believe me." (Jana) Jana calmly responds to Lamia named Sapphire, I already knew that Ivan could cause some misunderstanding if it was discovered that he was an Undead, so I had already talked about this with Jana, I hope they understand. "What evidence do you have of what you''re talking about?" (Sapphire) "I discovered that what the Village Guardian felt months ago was someone''s Aura, I brought that person here and this Undead is a servant of that person." (Jana) During the whole conversation this Lamia doesn''t take her eyes off me, she even directs her Aura and bloodlust towards me, I allow her to do that, compared to the pressure I felt from the Goddess Selene when I evolved in the past, from the pressure of the God Baldr when I helped Vanessa or that Heretic God when I took Corpse Dungeon''s core, this Lamia''s Aura and bloodlust represents nothing. "" (Sapphire) "Are you done trying to test me yet?" (I) During these days that I spent inside the Dungeon, I learned to control my Aura a little better, I also learned some tricks from Sophia, one of those tricks is to completely hide my Aura inside my body which I have been trying to learn since before I left Valen city, the other trick is to let a slight trace of my Aura leave my eyes while using an Intimidate skill, my Aura strengthens the skill. I used the second trick now for just a second, I used a dash of just two Auras, which were "Chaos Aura" and "Ruler''s Presence" at the same time I activated my Intimidate skill for a second. As I did that I could see Lamia''s body stiffen and I could see her tighten her grip on her big sword as if she was getting ready for combat, to show that I wasn''t hostile I didn''t show any reaction other than saying a few words. "Looks like appearances are deceiving, don''t you child?" (Sapphire) "That''s what you''re saying." (I) Chapter 242: Village Situation Part 1 Chapter 242: Village Situation Part 1 Meeting the leader of this village was how I thought it would happen, I knew that if I was a good leader she wouldn''t trust a group of unknown people that appeared out of nowhere, I was sure she would try to test me somehow. But I must say she was much better than I thought she would be, she noticed that I was in charge and didn''t take her eyes off me, she also noticed that Ivan was an Undead with a single look. From the little I''ve seen she seems to be someone with great leadership skills as she has so many different races obeying her, her ability and strength seem to be very good, I''m not sure, but I think she must be stronger than me, but in a fight of Auras I still win since I have more Aura skills. "Village leader, they are reliable, I can promise that." (Jana) "The Guardian said that the presence she felt was comfortable and made her feel safe, I don''t feel anything like any of these people, especially this creature in the form of a child." (Sapphire) "Creature?" (I) "You''re being very rude to refer to someone you''ve just met like that." (I) "He''s right, Sapphire." (female voice) "He''s exactly who I felt, he might try to hide his Aura, but at this distance, I can still feel it." (female voice) Soon a female voice came out of nowhere, I try to find the direction, but I can''t, it seems that this voice is coming from everywhere. While looking for where the voice had come from, I suddenly feel a hand on my shoulder, as I walk away I see a beautiful dark-skinned woman, she has red hair and green eyes, this is a strange combination of colors, she is wearing a red and green dress made of leaves with vines decoration. This woman looked to be in her thirties, somehow I felt immense danger coming from this woman, I felt like she was everywhere and this body was just a part of a whole. "Guardian!?" (Sapphire) "How can you get so close to someone you''ve just met, let alone someone so strange?" (Sapphire) "We don''t know your true intentions." (Sapphire) "He has no malice, I also found out who he is, I may not know much about him, but I''ve heard of someone like that." (Dryad Guardian) "He''s a Fairy Keeper, am I right Dora?" (Dryad Guardian) "You''re right, he''s a Fairy Keeper." (Dora) This woman appeared out of nowhere, but from the way the leader of this village and Dora are talking to her I can tell she must be the Guardian, Jana talks about so much, a Dryad. It seems that this Dryad managed to realize that I am a Guardian of the Fairies, I thought she was hiding my Auras very well, she must have certain perception abilities. When the Village Guardian told me about me, with Dora confirming my identity, the village leader''s eyes widened for a moment in surprise. "Are you sure? His presence is too strange and chaotic for him to be accepted by Fairies who like harmony with nature." (Sapphire) "You don''t understand Sapphire, chaos is as much a part of nature''s circle as harmony." (Dryad) "There will always be opposites in nature like fire and water, light and darkness, life and death, harmony and chaos, etc." (Dryad) "Fairies and Spirits have a duty to give balance to nature, not harmony, remember that." (Dryad) "OK." (I) I start walking behind the village leader with the others beside me and behind me, as we walk I look around and see stone houses, wooden houses, and some shacks. Inside the village I see other types of creatures besides the ones that were on the walls or at the entrance, I see Hobgoblins, more Werewolves, some Lizardman and also some strange creatures that look like plants in humanoid form, they have leaves instead of hair, the skin of these creatures varies between different shades of green I can see branches and vines growing from some of them and their eyes are completely green instead of white with different colored irises varying for each individual I have never seen these creatures before but I remember reading about them in books, are treated like monsters but they look like Demis to me, if I remember correctly the name of their race must be Nymphs. If I remember correctly, they are beings that look like women but are not, Nymphs have no gender being like living plants in humanoid form, they are beings that live in forest areas and absorb vitality from other creatures. I was surprised to see so many different beings in this village, I didn''t think there would be so many races here, this village is much bigger than I initially expected, there are also many people living here, from the little I saw until I got to Sapphire''s house, there must be thousands living in this village. village. The village was simple but beautiful, the houses were big enough to accommodate families of three or four, but Sapphire''s house was a wooden cabin with a large stone floor, it only had the ground floor, but it was approximately 800 m in size, this place is probably not just her married, it must also be a meeting and working place for the whole village. As soon as we enter we are in a large room with a round table and several chairs of different sizes, Safira goes to a place where she doesn''t have chairs and settles down with her snake tail on the floor. "Please have a seat." (Sapphire) I sit in a chair opposite her, but the others stand behind me, the village leader looking at each one before turning back to me. "You have a very diverse group, I see some Demis among them, are the monsters from your Dungeon?" (Sapphire) "(Then she noticed that the gate we came out of was a Dungeon, I thought it might make it look like a space portal like Layla''s or some kind of teleportation magic, but it looks like she noticed what it really was, that might be good already that they would find out sooner or later.)" (me) "I''m very proud of my group, but of them are from the Dungeon." (I) "I guess we haven''t introduced ourselves yet, have we?" (I) "True, when the gate to the Dungeon opened and I saw this Undead, I considered you enemies, the only reason I didn''t attack was because I saw Jana and Dora with you." (Sapphire) "I didn''t even think about introductions at this point, as apologies for my initial hostility allow me to introduce myself first." (Sapphire) "My name is Sapphire, I am the strongest Lamia here and the leader of this village." (Sapphire) "My name is Zenos, I am a Vampire and leader of this group, at the request of Jana and Dora we came to help." (I) "I appreciate your help, but I must ask this as the village leader" (Sapphire) "What do you want in exchange for your help?" (Sapphire) "Jana and Dora have already explained your situation to us, so how about I propose that whatever my group gets is ours." (I) "Only that?" (Sapphire) She looks at me suspiciously, it seems it''s suspicious because I''m asking for so little. "Farus is exploring dungeons constantly, so he''s been accumulating a lot of items, plus he''s gathered all three main races of the mountain range." (I) "Therefore he must have acquired great wealth in his stronghold, asking for this wealth as well as anything we steal from him now as a reward will prevent future trouble." (I) "That''s considering we managed to win, Farus has an increasingly strong and numerous army, at this moment our chances are slim." (Sapphire) Chapter 243: Village Situation Part 2 Chapter 243: Village Situation Part 2 We are now inside what appears to be a meeting room inside the house of Jana''s village leader, she is a Lamia by the name of Sapphire, after some friction when we arrived, we are finally starting to discuss the current situation in the village. "How about if first of all you told me about the current situation in the village and about events that happened recently." (I) "Wouldn''t you and your group prefer to rest? The journey here must have taken more than a month at least." (Sapphire) "We are fine, instead of wasting time resting, I prefer to know the situation to start preparations." (I) "You talk like you already have a plan." (Sapphire) "I have some ideas, they''re not plans yet, I need the information to see if these ideas are viable and turn them into plans that we can use." (I) "It looks like your appearance is really deceiving, you look like a child, but I can see you have a good mind in that head." (Sapphire) "If we are talking about the situation in the village, then things are getting difficult, the food we had stocked up is close to running out since we erected the barriers no one was allowed to leave, only Fairies and Spirits could go outside in order to gather information." (Sapphire) "Why only Fairies and Spirits?" (I) "They''re more likely to be able to hide, and they''re more likely to run away because they''re fast." (Sapphire) "We found that almost all the villages have already been attacked, some seem to have tried to flee, others have gone into hiding, we managed to convince others to join us and others decided to do it their own way." (Sapphire) "Farus seems to be attacking the weakest villages and groups first, if he continues like this he will leave us for last." (Sapphire) "If it was a defensive battle, what would our chances be?" (I) "Neither, we would just be delaying the inevitable, sooner or later our troops would be tired and Farus would break through the gates or the walls, so that would be our end." (Sapphire) "Jana said you guys have an illusion around the village, but I didn''t see any of that, why?" (I) "We keep the illusion just above the village now to save our mana expenditure, our Mages are running out of steam, plus I have received news that shows that Farus must already know about the location of this village." (Sapphire) "How did he find out?" (I) "My daughter she she" (Sapphire) Sapphire closes her eyes unable to finish her sentence, she clenches her hands so tightly that blood starts to come out. "I discovered that someone I trusted joined Farus willingly, I have information that he even led an attack on another village." (Sapphire) "I understand." (I) "Other than that, is there anything else you want to know?" (Sapphire) "I have a few questions if you don''t mind answering them, they''re questions I already asked Jana when I agreed to come here." (I) "Do you mind if I ask?" (I) "I''m a warrior who uses a big sword, I''m good at melee and medium-range attacks using magic, I''m a magic warrior." (Sapphire) "Of the others, 2 are close-range fighters being an Ogre and an Orc, the other two are Mages being a Nymph and a Ghoul." (Sapphire) "I think I understand our and Farus''s level of strength now." (I) "Can you tell if he fights using tactics? Or is he just using his superior numbers and strength?" (I) "We thought it was just his numbers so we tried to fight him head-on but we lost 5000 troops that way, towards the end of the battle he always uses the same tactic of raising the battle dead, that way he always wins." (Sapphire) "So he always uses the same tactic?" (I) "Yea." (Sapphire) "So he''s a fool, he must have been blinded by his pride and winning streak by now." (I) "Do you know where your stronghold is? Do you know if there are other places where your troops gather?" (I) "We know where his fortress is, outside the fortress, he has nowhere else, he gathers everything he collects and all his army in one place, in the fortress." (Sapphire) "The fortress not only has the army protecting it at all times, but it also has a barrier against magical attacks." (Sapphire) "(This information is enough for now, I''m impressed that she was able to answer everything quickly, she''s an excellent leader apparently.)" (I) "That''s enough information, for now, I''ll take a few hours going over and analyzing this, I''ll come to talk to you after I get this all sorted and have more practical plans." (I) "Alright, I don''t mind answering a few questions if I got any more plans, I honestly haven''t been able to think of anything we can try." (Sapphire) "I just hope the Keeper is right about you and your group, we don''t have much time before things start to go terribly wrong." (Sapphire) "Tomorrow I should have something I can talk to you about, then we can start discussing how to start our attack on Farus." (I) "Hope so." (Sapphire) After all this conversation with Sapphire I realized how competent she is as a leader, she is also strong and has charisma. I can understand why all these races are obeying her but she is still shaken by her daughter''s situation, during our conversation she didn''t lose her cool or show any reaction to most of the questions but when her daughter was involved she would fill with anger and sadness, it must be hard knowing that you''re going to have to fight and maybe even kill your own daughter. But this is excellent for me, I will wait until I gain Sapphira''s trust before talking to her about my plan, her daughter being such a criminal means I don''t need to feel remorseful about using her in an experiment, I also need time to running some simulations in my head, I have to think of a plan to quickly finish off Farus, this before he knows it, I have to enjoy it while he seems to be being careless with his plans. I took advantage of being with Safira to introduce the rest of my group, I also asked where we could stay during our stay in the village. She said that we could stay at her house, I told her about the Dungeon and said that I would leave an entrance open in the room, after that we went to this room and I open a gate to the Dungeon, I make a group with Sapphire and I take her to the living room safe from the third floor for her to register with the crystal so she can teleport to speak to me in an emergency now. After that I spent the night going over all the information I got from Sapphire, I also talked a bit about all this information with the others, I also told them about my plans, I wanted their opinions on this, maybe I could think of a better plan that way. But I still haven''t forgotten the day''s synthesis, three more days and I''ll have finished synthesizing all the rabbit strains that Elsaris has managed, so I''ll be able to help her and her sister while getting more capable people on my side. Chapter 244: Zenos Plans Part 1 Chapter 244: Zenos Plans Part 1 Sapphire Pov: The moment I saw Jana and Dora I was happy, I was relieved that the two were okay, I was also happy to see that they were accompanying a Fairy and a red-haired woman, but when I saw that woman opened a Dungeon gate using her shadow, I thought it was an enemy, if not for Jana who knelt down asking not to attack, then a battle would have taken place there. As the Keeper had informed me that a Fairy King had passed through the village warning that Jana would return with reinforcements, I decided to trust Jana and not attack, but I almost changed my mind when more people came out of that Dungeon''s gate. I looked at each of those people and I was surprised by many things, the first thing that surprised me was the variety of races, the second thing that surprised me was that I discovered an Undead among them, at that moment I was about to attack when I saw that child with red hair and eyes of different colors. As a leader and also as the strongest warrior in the village for decades, one of the things I had to learn was to know how to quickly analyze a situation and also analyze the people around me, whether to assign a capable person to the most suitable job for them or to analyze an enemy''s strength to decide whether to fight or run. So, as soon as I saw that child, I knew he was the leader, I could see that he was trying to hide his Aura, I also noticed that all those people stood next to this child''s Tatras, but what surprised me the most was also realizing that The red-haired woman was a Spirit and her features looked a lot like this child, the same for the strange Fairy who was together with this child, she also had similar features like skin color, hair color, and different colored eyes. My instincts were telling me that this child was dangerous, if the situation had been different I would have attacked, but seeing Jana and Dora along with them, also remembering about the Fairy King''s warning that the Guardian informed me, I couldn''t be sure if these people were trustworthy. Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com I tried to test the child by directing my Aura and bloodlust towards him, to my surprise, he didn''t react, it was as if he didn''t care about me, when he looked at me an intense sense of danger ran through my body, I became alert and squeezed the handle of my sword, at that moment I was influenced by the Aura trace I felt in her eyes and I almost attacked, but at that moment the Guardian appeared, calming the situation and resolving the misunderstandings. I even found out that the red-haired boy was a Guardian of the Faeries, strange as he might appear to me. After these people entered the village I took them straight to my house, I wanted to try to talk more calmly with them to find out if they can be trusted and to see if they will be able to help us. The boy I discovered bearing the name Zenos wanted to start by listening to the situation we are in at the moment. I thought it would be a good way to test his ability and intelligence, I let him ask whatever he wanted. With each question that this boy asked, I could see that he has an analytical mind and that he knows how to see the big picture of a situation, most people wouldn''t ask such complete questions, he even said he had some ideas that we could use in this situation, but who would need some time before talking to me. I thought he might be making excuses, but if that''s the case, then he wouldn''t have asked for such a short time of a day, so I decided to wait and see if he''d actually come up with a good plan. During my conversation with him I was as honest as possible with my answers, he needed to know the truth if he was going to help me, so I had to save my shame and fury and talk about my daughter too, being betrayed by your own family is the worst nightmare for races like mine who see all of their community as family, knowing that my own blood daughter has joined the enemy broke my heart. After talking to Zenos and showing him his room, I was invited to briefly enter his Dungeon and then I left my house and went to the center of the village where the tree that is the Guardian''s true body is, it was a tree of 25 meters tall, all its leaves were red and the trunk was dark giving more contrast to the red leaves. I went to the tree and sat on the ground leaning against the tree, on a low branch the Guardian appeared sitting on it. "What did you think of him?" (Dryad) "Smart, weird, mysterious and dangerous." (I) "You''re right, it looks like you''ve grown to become a good leader, congratulations Sapphire." (Dryad) "Please don''t treat me like a child, I''m not that child you could pester all day anymore." (I) "Yes, I planned to introduce you from the start, but I was surprised she noticed you''re an Undead without my having to say it." (I) "She has good senses, she is also very strong." (Kira) "The way she held that big sword shows her strength, but that was to deceive, her movements were subtle, she must have a great fighting technique." (Irius) "Her Aura control was also great, in that situation, she directed her Aura only to the master and sent her bloodlust through her Aura, that''s not something easy to learn, she has full control of her Aura." (Sophia) "I like to hear your opinion on the strength of the village leader, but I would like to know what you think about her personality and emotional state?" (I) "I think we''ve all noticed that the only times she lost control was when she mentioned her daughter." (Irina) "She must be pretty shaken up still, I don''t think I should let her fight until she gets her emotions under control." (Irina) "I don''t think she''ll listen if I ask her not to fight, so we can only pray that everything works out." (I) "Master, during your questions I noticed strange behavior from this village leader." (Nira) "What did you notice, Nira?" (I) "It looked like she was testing you, she didn''t elaborate on her information, she just answered exactly what you asked." (Nira) "I also noticed that the way the village leader looked at you was like she was analyzing you, she probably wanted to see how far her questions would go." (Nira) "That''s because she was testing the master''s intelligence, probably wanted to find out if he could see the big picture." (Ivan) "She also tried to analyze the master at the gate when we arrived." (Diana) "This village leader made two tests for you master, the one at the gate was to see how strong you were and to find out how you were going to deal with an Aura like hers." (Freya) "Inside her house, the master was tested to know how smart he is, also to know the way he does things." (Freya) "I think she got a good first impression of the Lord, we should be fine for now." (Irina) "I think we should discuss the master''s plan." (lyra) "I understand that we are going to use the potions I made, but so far I don''t know how the master plans to do that." (lyra) "Lyra is right, I''ll start telling you what I have planned." (I) "I want to hear your opinions before I speak with the village leader tomorrow." (I) Chapter 245: Zenos Plans Part 2 Chapter 245: Zenos Plans Part 2 Right after talking for the first time with the leader of this village by the name of Sapphire, I meet with my group at the mansion inside the Dungeon to talk about my plans. "To tell you the truth, I had a plan ready before I even arrived in this village." (I) "The little information Jana told us was enough for me to come up with a viable plan." (I) "Then why did you say that to that Lamia who is the village leader?" (Ibuki) "He did it to buy time, Ibuki." (Lyra) "With that, he has until tomorrow to perfect the plan he already has or even switch to another plan." (Lyra) "You thought well Lyra, but you were also wrong." (I) "The reason I lie is because the village leader doesn''t trust me, even if I tell her my plan now, she''ll think it''s an improvised plan that I haven''t given enough thought to." (I) "I really wanted to know the latest and most accurate information, but more importantly, I wanted her to see me gathering the right information and asking for time to perfect a plan." (I) "I see, so when you tell her your plan tomorrow it will be easier for her to believe since she''s seen the steps she took to create the plan." (Diana) "Exactly." (I) "But what plan is this? You haven''t told us anything yet." (Vanessa) "The focal point of this plan is this Dungeon, Nix and Layla." (I) "I''m going to use this to win this war against Farus, he won''t be able to figure out what''s happening until it''s too late." (I) "What will you want me to do, master." (Nix) "It means I''ll have a lot of fighting chances, right? Right? Right?" (Layla) "Calm down, Layla." (I) "I''ll refrain from talking about details now as you''ll hear about it tomorrow, I''ll talk about the core part of the plan now." (I) "I decided to go back to my roots, most of you may not know, only Ibuki, Diana, Kira, and rica will know this, but I always started my plans using ambushes, this time I will do it again." (I) "Master''s ambushes are amazing, it reminds me of the past, the master was so nice and smart that I didn''t understand anything he did." (Ibuki) "That''s because you were a Goblin then, you weren''t very smart, now you''re a powerful Oni." (rica) "Your intelligence now doesn''t compare to before, out of all of us serving the master, you''ve grown the most, Ibuki." (Kira) Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com "That''s right, your strength is very close to me now, I think I have to start training more so I don''t fall behind." (Diana) "I think you are straying from the main theme, the master is telling us about our combat plans now." (Freya) "That''s right, don''t lose focus and listen carefully." (Sophia) "The malicious and cowardly part of the plan was unnecessary, I thought it was such a good plan." (I) "Your plan shows no honor, nor does it show any respect for your enemy." (Elsaris) "Your plan comes down to completely exterminating the enemy, right? Have you considered leaving any alive?" (Elsaris) "Of course not, if they die fast it will be better, there''s only one enemy I want to leave alive in the end, all the others will die." (I) "Exactly what I thought, few would have such ruthlessness and resolve even against an enemy, you did well, I have nothing to say about your plan." (Elsaris) "So why doesn''t anyone say anything? Why are they looking at me like that?" (I) "They just don''t know what to say, you say it''s a simple plan, but you have a lot of steps to take, plus they must be surprised at your plan." (Elsaris) While talking to Elsaris who seems to have liked my plan, I feel a hand on my shoulder, turn around and see it''s Nix. "This is an awesome master plan, we''re going to get a lot of DP from it, I''m going to work hard to make this plan work." (Nix) "As a former battlefield general, I can say that this is a very practical plan." (Ivan) "But as Miss Elsaris has pointed out before, this is also an honorless plan, few would think of such a thing, using this plan in a war would fill the hearts of other Realms with fear." (Ivan) "I didn''t know the master could be so brutal, I feel sorry for those who become his enemies." (Freya) "" (I) "You don''t happen to have a demonic bloodline, do you?" (Byakko) "You''re basically throwing your enemies into a hell of traps surrounded by enemies with no way out, all before the battle even begins." (Byakko) "Hahahahahaha hahahahaha this. let''s kill them all hahahahahaha" (Layla) After Nix spoke the others started to go back to normal, most of them didn''t seem to know what to say, but Ivan didn''t seem to like ambush plans like that, Freya didn''t seem to like that I planned to kill all the enemies, Sophia and rica they just nodded, Byakko was looking at me as if I was a Demon assassin and Layla was laughing hysterically like a maniac, her eyes were empty as if she was imagining the scene in her head, her smile was so evil that for a moment I thought she was had really become a Demon. "I thought the plan was so good, getting the enemy''s bodies out of Farus'' reach, throwing the enemies into an environment where we have an advantage, getting rid of the bodies easily, not leaving any kind of information for the enemies on how their troops disappeared and still earn a lot of DP." (I) "Should I arrest them instead of killing them all?" (I) "I don''t know if that would help, Jana and Dora said that those who are with Farus become aggressive and loyal to him." (Kira) "It must be some kind of power that causes Hypnosis, control, enslavement or corruption." (Kira) "Your plan might be a little brutal and cruel in leaving no one alive, but we can''t afford to leave enemies we don''t even know can be saved alive." (Kira) "I don''t know if the people of this village will agree to this kind of plan." (Irina) "It seems that there are a lot of people from other villages and races in this village, we can assume they know the people who serve Farus now." (Irina) "Irina is right, it might be difficult for them to use a complete extermination plan, but it''s also dangerous to hold prisoners, I don''t know how we can do things now." (Vanessa) What to do now, everyone seems divided about my plan, from what everyone says the plan itself is fine, the problem seems to be the part of killing all the enemies, so what am I going to do about it? Chapter 246: Discussing The Plan With Sapphire Chapter 246: Discussing The Plan With Sapphire What to do now, everyone seems divided about my plan, from what everyone says the plan itself is fine, the problem seems to be the part of killing all the enemies, so what am I going to do about it? "You can give your opinions if you want, but I have to say that the death of enemies from Grade S is not up for discussion." (I) "These are the toughest and most troublesome enemies, I can''t think of a safe way to trap them and we can''t afford to attack them with no intent to kill." (I) "Does that mean you don''t mind leaving the others alive?" (Ivan) "I''m not a cruel monster like Layla, the only reason I plan to consider killing everyone is because of the logistical problems after we decide to capture them." (I) "What problems?" (Vanessa) "For starters, where are we going to put captured enemies? We don''t have anywhere to put them at the moment." (I) "We also don''t have enough people to watch over the prisoners, you''ve heard from the village leader before, they are outnumbered." (I) "We also don''t know what Farus did to these people, we don''t have time to find out and we don''t even know if there''s a way to help them, from what Jana said the people who fled their original villages and came here fled before they were too affected. for whatever Farus did." (I) "The village leader also said that food will soon run out in this village, even though we have brought a lot of food, it is still not enough for this whole village, we cannot share it with prisoners." (I) "Even though my plan looks good, we''re still at a disadvantage in every area, at least that''s the way I see it." (I) "But if anyone has anything to add they can speak up, this meeting is still to perfect the plan if possible." (I) Everyone was quiet for a few minutes, I didn''t say anything else either, I gave everyone the time to think and analyze everything calmly. "The master may be right, we must use whatever means at our disposal during the battle." (Ivan) "I don''t even know why you''re doubting in the first place, didn''t the dastardly tactics start with this Necromancer using battlefield dead to increase his numbers?" (Lyra) "That''s true, if we think about it that way, the master''s plan might be our best chance of winning." (Ivan) "Actually, I don''t think we should waste time thinking about right and wrong, the final decision will still rest with the leader of this village." (Vanessa) "We are here as reinforcements, but the leadership is still with her, important decisions must still be decided by her and not by us, right Father?" (Vanessa) "That was always my intention, I''m here to help, but this village is not mine to decide anything, they who live here must decide for themselves." (I) "I don''t need that kind of responsibility." (I) "There''s nothing to decide, what''s the problem with getting rid of your enemies, the choice should be obvious." (Layla) "Also don''t think I didn''t hear what you just said about me master, we''re going to have a long talk about how beautiful, cute and kind Fairies are later, understand?" (Layla) "I don''t want to hear your lies, you can''t deceive me any more." (I) "Idiot masteridiot idiot idiot." (Layla) "Does anyone else have any useful thoughts on the plan?" (I) I ignore Layla''s light punches to my head. "Before you decide anything, talk about the plan." (Sapphire) - After an hour of saying the same things I had talked about with my group yesterday and adding a few more details to the plan, I had finished sharing the plan with the village leader. I noticed that the way she looked at me changed, I could see hesitation, caution, and surprise in her eyes. I had to wait a few minutes while she folds her arms and closes her eyes, looks like she was thinking about the plan, then she opens her eyes with some resolution and sadness in her eyes. "You surprised me, I didn''t expect such a complete plan, after some thought I can see that we still have hope if we use your plan." (Sapphire) "But it will be difficult for others to accept, you must know that one of the things I had to do to unite all these races was to create a village council, they are a group with a representative of each race who are just below me in the hierarchy." (Sapphire) "It will be difficult to convince them, alongside Farus we have friends, parents, children, and people we care about in the past." (Sapphire) "Asking them to kill everyone is hard for me." (Sapphire) "We can also immobilize and arrest them if you want." (I) "I checked to think about it, but in our current conditions it would be impossible to keep prisoners, let alone knowing the truth about them." (Sapphire) "What truth? What are you talking about?" (I) "During our battles with Farus, we tried to capture some of his soldiers, we wanted to get information at first, but it turns out he was the father of one of the people on the village council." (Sapphire) "He was aggressive and very loyal to Farus, he didn''t give any information even though he was tortured, but we didn''t kill him." (Sapphire) "We tried to find a way to cure him, but the more we found out, the more shocked and saddened we were." (Sapphire) "We realize that those who are on Farus'' side are basically dead, Farus ripped out their souls while still alive and then sealed the souls back into the body." (Sapphire) "Bodies are still alive and since it''s their own souls that are sealed in the body, they can still evolve." (Sapphire) "It looks like it''s not something done easily, the reason he increased the aggressiveness and instability of the three races before appearing in the past was to prepare them to be able to do that." (Sapphire) "There are those who will join him for a few months who haven''t gone through this process yet, he needs to increase their aggression making them unstable both mentally and emotionally, that''s before he uses this evil technique." (Sapphire) "What would happen if you killed Farus?" (I) "Almost everyone would die, maybe only a few dozen would survive, those who didn''t have their souls ripped out and sealed inside their bodies." (Sapphire) "The seal that Farus uses is attached to him, this prevents it from being broken, but when Farus dies the seal must break on its own, this will free the souls while leading everyone to death." (Sapphire) "Killing these people also breaks the seal by freeing their souls." (Sapphire) "For those who haven''t gone through this process, they must survive." (Sapphire) "But that doesn''t mean they can be cured, the instability that Farus causes in his troops cannot be cured easily, those from this village fled their original villages in the first effects of this instability, but those who stayed too long will no longer to recover." (Sapphire) "They were in a state of madness and aggression forever." (Sapphire) Chapter 247: Sapphires Decision Chapter 247: Sapphire''s Decision My discussion with the village leader took a few hours, it took almost half the morning, but it helped me learn some more information. During this time I realized that the village leader wanted to use my plan, according to her, there is no way to save those who are with Farus, she would rather kill them all and free them from Farus'' control than leave them as prisoners knowing they can do it nothing to help. The village leader said that she would talk to the village council, they will probably accept it, but she also told me to prepare myself as some people can go into a state of fury when they hear my plan. I also talked to her about the details of the plan, I wanted the rest of my group here so I could explain this just once, there are many steps in this plan, I wanted everyone to be able to listen at the same time. For my plan I would need the help of the village leader and her strongest soldiers, she said that she will provide whatever I want after the village council decides whether or not to accept my plan. At the end of the meeting I tried to ask her a few things in order to prepare myself, I needed to know about a village that would be attacked, I would stay close to that village and wait for the opportunity I would need to attack. I told her I would send someone from my group to investigate, but I would want someone to guide her through the mountain range. - I got back to the Dungeon at noon, everyone was already there when I arrived and Freya was putting food on the table for everyone. "I''m back, looks like I was the last to come back." (I) "Yes, everyone has already finished the tasks you asked for yesterday." (Freya) "I''ll listen to them after food." (I) While I have a brief conversation with Freya I go over to the table and sit down to eat too along with everyone else. "How was your meeting with the village leader, master?" (rica) "Her reaction was similar to the reaction you had yesterday, but she accepted the plan, but it looks like she will need approval from some representatives of the other races." (I) "Are you talking about the village council?" (Elsaris) "It seems you already know that another thing I learned as well was how Farus made all his soldiers so loyal to him." (I) "We already know, Nix overheard her conversation and passed it on to us about that part of her conversation." (Vanessa) "I thought it would be good for others to know about this, I hope you don''t mind, master." (Nix) "Alright, that even helps me since I won''t have to explain anything." (I) "I should also inform you that we have been holding Layla for a while." (Nix) "What happened?" (I) "When I told everyone about how Farus has complete control over his troops, Layla was the one who had the biggest reaction, I was afraid she''d go off frantically causing confusion." (Nix) "Looks like she still hasn''t gotten over what they did to her in the past, she knew it would affect her." (I) "You know Jade wouldn''t surrender alive, she''s just as stubborn as you are, but she doesn''t have your wisdom and your sense of responsibility, she only cares about power." (Dryad) "I know that too, but I''m still her mother, the thought of her death breaks my heart even though I know she deserves it." (I) While I was thinking about my conversation with Zenos, the Guardian appeared next to me from a root that came out of the ground. "The worst is yet to come, I have to convince the village council members to accept Zenos'' plan." (I) "That won''t be a problem, just like you they will also realize the benefits of this plan, everyone knows we can''t save those who are with Farus." (Dryad) "I''ve been thinking about it, from the latest information we''ve got, it doesn''t look like my daughter has already been subjected to Farus'' evil technique, maybe we can still do something." (I) "You may be right, but that doesn''t change the fact that she went to Farus willingly, her crimes are serious and even if she returns to the village, she will only be attacked by others, you would have to judge her for her crimes too. " (Dryad) Sigh "" (I) "You have to act fast, you know we don''t have much time, make your decision and live with it, I know you are strong enough for it." (Dryad) "The truth is that I have already made my decision, in this situation we only have one decision, we cannot afford to refuse this plan." (I) "So stop torturing yourself, you made the right decision, get over it and get ready, as one of the strongest warriors you will have to fight too." (Dryad) "Get ready to tell the representatives of the other races, you''ll need to talk to them today, it won''t be a pleasant conversation, but I''m sure in the end everyone will make the same decision as you." (Dryad) "But as we''re going to tell the rest of the village, this plan is too brutal, especially for more peaceful races like the Nymphs." (I) "Tell the truth and be honest, everyone will understand, even if they don''t like it they will see that it''s still safer than fighting head-on like we''ve been doing so far." (Dryad) After saying that, the Guardian disappears leaving me alone in my house, once again I''m alone with my thoughts until the doors open and someone comes running in. "Village leader, we have an emergency, a Fairy saw hundreds of Arachnes coming towards the village." (Ogre warrior) "What?" (I) "Transmit my orders, all warriors must gather at the gates, ask someone to go warn Zenos and his group too!" (I) "Right now ma''am." (Ogre warrior) With that the warrior runs off to do the tasks I''ve given him, meanwhile I go to the corner of the room and grab my big sword before heading outside. "Why are the Arachnees here? They can''t be willing to fight in a situation like this, can they?" (I) "Did the Arachnees join Farus too?" (I) "DICK! Why did this have to happen just today that I''m not in a good mood?" (I) I was one of the first to reach the gate, when I climbed the walls I could see a cloud of dust approaching quickly, at this speed it should take about ten minutes to get here. Chapter 248: Arachne Join The Fight Chapter 248: Arachne Join The Fight Sapphire Pov: The arachnees were almost here, I don''t know their intentions, so I have to be prepared, luckily the warriors are gathering, we are in greater numbers so it should be ok. "(This is really weird, why are you here after refusing to join us a few months ago.)" (I) "(I know the leader of Arachne village well, she would rather die than join forces with me, that hardhead.)" (I) Soon we were ready, more than 2000 warriors, with hundreds of archers pointing in the direction where the dusk was approaching. In a few seconds, they arrive, I was surprised by what I was seeing, there were hundreds of Arachnes, most of them were injured, there were even some that were being carried, they all look tired, there were even three that fell to the ground when they stopped running and are being helped by other Arachnes. "I am Sapphire, I am the leader of this village!" (I) "Why are you here!?" (I) With my questions aloud one Arachne stands in front of the others, I can see that two of her legs are missing, she is one of the ones being carried. I recognize her as one of the daughters of the Arachnee leader, I''m not seeing her mother around here, that doesn''t look good. If I''m not mistaken, her name must be Helena, she looks a lot like her mother, white skin, black hair, four doctored eyes, and a white Spider lower body which is very unusual among Arachnees. "I''m Helena, daughter of the Arachnee village leader, I apologize for showing up here in this state." (Helena) "We are here because our village was attacked, more than half of our family died fighting, my mother''s last orders were for me to bring the most talented of the village here and join the Lamia army in the fight against Farus." (Helena) "Don''t lie, your mother even in death would never ask for that, if you want our help start being sincere." (I) "" (Helena) Sigh "Very well, our village was attacked four days ago, they were outnumbered and we didn''t stand a chance, that wasn''t a battle, it was a massacre." (Helena) "My mother teamed up with our greatest warriors and mages to open a way of escape for a part of our family, she wanted us to go out of the mountain range, away from Farus." (Helena) "But as a proud Arachne, my sisters and I can''t run away, after seeing our family attacked and killed without being able to defend themselves, after seeing my own mother dying" (Helena) "" (Helena) "How could we run away carrying so much anger and hate inside us, how can I run away without having the chance to take revenge on the enemy who destroyed our home?!" (Helena) "Leader Sapphire is right, my mother would not approve of us being here, she respected you as a rival, for her to ask you for help would be the same as admitting defeat, she would never do that." (Helena) "But I''m not my mother, our two races have always been alike, even though we''ve faced each other on the battlefield, it''s always been low kill fights where we compete showing respect to each other." (Helena) "I am here today of my own accord and with the support of what''s left of my family to join the fight against our common enemy, Farus." (Helena) I share Nix''s vision and see the city walls below, it looks like Nix is flying while watching what happens below. Soon I see many warriors and archers on top of the walls along with the village leader, in a short time hundreds of creatures appear, as well as the Lamias, these creatures have the upper part of the body like human women, but the lower part of the body is of Spiders, unlike Lamias that the lower part of the body is snakes, another thing I noticed was that they have two pairs of eyes, because of their characteristics they seem to be Arachne, I saw many of these in games, I''m glad this world has the same names for the most creatures, saves me a lot of work. Through Nix''s eyes, I see that many of these Arachnes are injured, among them, one stands in front and seems to talk to the village leader who is on top of the walls, soon the gates open and they enter. It seems that many are injured, some are even being carried. "(Thanks for showing me this.)" (I) "(Actually it was a warrior who saw me on the way and warned me about what was happening, so I came to see.)" (Nix) "(You can come back, I''ll tell Irina and Vanessa to go help in the treatment of these Arachnees.)" (I) "(Okay.)" (Nix) "Did something happen, master?" (Ivan) When I opened my eyes I saw everyone looking at me with concern, to them it must have seemed like I suddenly closed my eyes and stopped talking, I have to be more careful not to worry everyone unnecessarily. "I''m fine, I was talking to Nix, it looks like a few hundred more people have arrived in the village, they are injured." (I) "Irina and Vanessa, could you two help with their treatment?" (I) "Alright, I''ll go now." (Irina) "If it''s only a few hundred then it''s going to be easier than it was yesterday, it should only take a few hours." (Vanessa) "Don''t try too hard." (I) After the two left, they must be going to offer to help treat these Arachnes. After that, I keep talking to the others and finding out a few more things, so after I''m done with that I go to my room and let go of Layla who is trapped in Irina''s chains of light. After releasing her I talk to her a bit to calm down, it seems that even though she was stuck for a while she was still angry at the Necromancer, but who can blame her. I spent the rest of the night next to Layla while doing some different things, the day was a bit boring for me, I spent most of the day inside the Dungeon. I think tomorrow I''ll meet with the village leader to start the plan, I want to end all this soon before unforeseen events happen. At the end of the night, I go to bed early, I want to be well-rested for tomorrow. Zzzzzzz Zzzzz Zzz. Chapter 249: Dryad Chapter 249: Dryad The next day I wake up and start walking around the village, even though I have listened to the report that the others have made, I will still need to feel and see for myself the state of this village. While walking I noticed that everyone is busy, I see that the village leader must have gotten the approval of the village council, I think that because I am seeing weapons, armor, potions, and various equipment being carried everywhere. That means they''re getting ready for battle, maybe at today''s meeting, the village leader will tell me to start the plan. I kept walking and I noticed that the Arachne are mixing well in the village, they are even helping in the preparation of the battle, I also see that they are healed from their wounds and fatigue. As I walked I noticed that some people looked at me differently, the Nymphs looked at me with admiration, the Werewolves looked at me cautiously and the Arachnes looked at me with curiosity. I think these people are not used to a Vampire, but among the Arachnees that were watching me, I could see the one who spoke to the village leader yesterday at the gate, this Arachne was looking at me in a strange way as if she was trying to analyze me when I looked back, she looked away and acted as if she hadn''t seen me. "Mr. Zenos, the village leader is calling you from the meeting room at her house." (Nymph A) "Thanks for the warning, I''ll go now." (I) I was trying to walk around the village before going to the Dryad tree, I wanted to have a chat with her before the meeting but it seems it took me too long, a Nymph approached While running to give me the message from the village leader about the meeting of today, after listening to I leave it to talk with the Dryad for later and go to the village leader''s house. - By the time the meeting was over it was mid-afternoon, it was a mentally exhausting day. This time it wasn''t just me and the village leader, representatives of the other races were also there, this includes a representative of Arachne who was the daughter of the previous leader who died, from her appearance I could see that it was Arachne who talked to the village leader at the gate yesterday. As there were so many people gathered this time, I was asked to explain my plan again, but this time in detail, everyone listened without interrupting me until I finished, but I noticed the expressions of many changing as I spoke. Some were looking at me in surprise, one was looking at me in fear and there was one who was looking at me in anger while emitting a great deal of bloodlust. Standing in front of people I don''t know to explain my ideas and plans reminded me of how I was obliged to present my work at school in my old world, I never liked doing that. When I finish talking, these people start asking me a lot of questions, I answered everything since I already imagined the types of questions. I told them that inside the Dungeon Farus'' troops would not be able to make contact with him, this would prevent him from getting information about what is happening to give us the element of surprise to our advantage for a while. I said that inside the Dungeon it would be easier to discard the bodies of the enemies since the Dungeon will devour the corpses, this to prevent the rest of the corpses from being used for the benefit of Farus or someone in his army who can create Undead. I said that this plan would also give us the opportunity to bring the enemies to a place that is advantageous to us, a place where we will be able to set traps and fight without losing too many people. I said that moving with the army inside the Dungeon will allow us to move more quickly and discreetly, we will run less risk of being attacked. "I learned a little about Dryads from books, and told you to seduce people to feed on them, how do you manage to live in the middle of a village?" (I) "The villagers bring me monsters for me to feed, in exchange I help protect them and in time I started teaching them about the things I know too, about combat and other things." (Dryad) "I''ve been alive for a long time and I carry a lot of knowledge inside me, I''m happy to be able to help the people of this village, for generations I saw these Lamias create this village, born, grow, train, learn, have children, grow old and die." (Dryad) "For me, this is my home and this is my family, I don''t see myself far from this place." (Dryad) "So I was happy when you arrived, just by looking at you and the various races that follow you I can tell you are special." (Dryad) "I''m not special, I just don''t care about other people''s races, to me they''re all the same." (I) "Those are beautiful words to hear, but also dangerous." (Dryad) "If a Human King or any other race heard this they would be furious and scared." (Dryad) "Why you say that?" (I) "Because what you said puts all races on the same level of importance to you." (Dryad) "Now look at the plan you presented to Sapphire, this was a complete extermination plan, few would be bold enough to use such a cruel plan." (Dryad) "Putting all races on the same level means that I would be willing to use this type of plan against any race." (Dryad) "Because everyone says my plan is cruel, they are enemies and we need a plan that takes into account several factors or we have no chance of winning." (I) "I understand and agree with your plan, I''m just saying how other leaders and rulers would view you, someone, who doesn''t show any hesitation in using a plan like this." (Dryad) "In our case, it might work well, but remember that people will consider you cruel because of this plan, so consider your enemies as well." (Dryad) "I can''t do that, even if people are afraid of me, I will always use the most efficient way to destroy any enemy that could harm me and the people close to me." (I) "This plan may seem cruel in your eyes and in the eyes of the village leader, but to me, this plan is the safest for my companions, this plan is the one that gives them the most advantage and security, so I won''t mind what other people will think of me." (I) "" (Dryad) "It seems we''ve been looking at it from the wrong angle this whole time, please disregard what I said earlier, do your own thing and keep your comrades and the people of this village safe, please." (Dryad) "That was my intention from the start." (I)Yo?ur favorite stories at novelhall.com Chapter 250: Plan Start Part 1 Chapter 250: Plan Start Part 1 Pov Troop Captain: Three days ago I was promoted to captain by master Farus, that''s because the previous captain was weak and died in combat, now he is an Undead who has to obey me. Only the strong are allowed to survive, only the strong must rule, all the weak must die, everyone who opposes the strongest army must die. By orders of the strongest, the great master Farus, we must annihilate a village he found the location and bring to him the corpses, either of the enemy or of the weak warriors who died today. As the number of enemies has not been confirmed, today we have two generals in the lead and four captains counting on me, each captain is in the lead of a troop of 1000 undead, with an army of 4000 we will annihilate all the enemies of master Farus. All captains are brave warriors who fought inside the Dungeons with me for weeks, I hope they are not weak beings dying in this attack, we must not disappoint master Farus. It''s finally a little closer to the village, now it''s getting dark, but as a Ghoul I have night vision, I also don''t need to worry about the undead since they can see in the dark. As we walked, I noticed that fog began to form, I hope it doesn''t delay us, I''ve been dead for two days now, we have to get to this village soon so I can have fun listening to the screams of the weak that I shatter. "Keep moving forward, it''s not long before we reach our target!" (I) Master Farus'' Undead are completely loyal to him, but when Master Farus orders the Undead to obey the generals and captains they obey us also because of Master Farus'' orders. The only problem with this undead is that they don''t have the same strength they had when they were alive. I keep giving orders to keep them together as I walk ahead, but it''s starting to get hard to see with this fog that''s getting thicker and thicker. "Where are the other troops? How can they get lost if they just keep going!" (I) "Useless bastards, I''ll kill them if they let Master Farus down!" (I) With this fog I couldn''t see or hear the other three troops anymore, I could only think that they were lost, as I looked back I realized that I couldn''t see all the undead, the fog is so bad it Was blocking my vision. "Keep walking, if we''re the first to arrive that means we''re the first to start killing, so be quick." (I) The groaning noise of the Zombies and the sound of the Skeletons'' bones bouncing were very loud, but in a few minutes, I noticed that this sound was getting lower and lower. I was getting angry at the thought that the Undead might be getting lost because of the fog, but I couldn''t see straight because of this fog either, I could barely see three feet in front of me. I also thought I saw something moving in the mist, but of the undead gave any sign of attack, so I thought it was just my impression until I was suddenly swallowed by a large jaw that opened from my shadow, I couldn''t even warn the others before I was devoured. The only thing I felt at that time was anger, I was angry for being so weak that I would die without even being able to see this creature, I was angry for not even having time to hit this creature, I wanted to be able to take this creature with me at least, it might be useful to Master Farus one last time. "Come on! get up! get up!! I have to get up to kill this one" (I) The last thing I saw was the edge of a blade right in front of my eyes. - POV Irina''s: My Father has already started the plan, there are several traps on the first two floors of the Dungeon, Father has marked the position of these traps on the maps he asked for last time and gave it to the village leader to make copies and give them to the leaders of this battle, I and the others we also have some. Many of the traps on the first floor are just deep holes where I spent the day drawing magic circles of light element magic along with Vanessa, as it was a ritual magic circle I could use my knowledge to create a light attack spell if it was a spell normal that is normally used in battle I couldn''t do that because I''m a white mage who doesn''t have attack skills. When the plan started, soon Nix started to devour the troops we were attacking, so Layla who was in the safe room started using her space element to launch this undead to this area of the dungeon, most of them are falling inside the holes and dying, but some are falling out of the holes. Everyone has been Undead, it seems that the information was right and these troops of Farus only have Undead, among the enemies that were thrown here a Ghoul with armor and a sword appears, he falls out of the holes and starts screaming gathering the undead that is out of the holes. He also tried using some sort of parchment but it cracked soon after, it must have been some kind of communication item he got inside the Dungeon. "Take advantage now and kill him." (I) Along with me are a few dozen warriors from the village, we are hiding, I asked one of the Ogres who is an assassin to attack this Ghoul from behind, the attack was successful, but the Ghoul did not scream or move. The wound was apparently bleeding profusely, but the ghoul turned around as if he didn''t even feel the wound, he turned around and tried to hit the killer Ogre, but he dodged and punches, but the ghoul doesn''t even try to dodge the punch and continues attacking, this way he was going to hit the killer ogre and couldn''t let that happen, so I use one of my barriers quickly. "< Reflective Barrier >" (I) When the Ghoul''s sword hits the barrier it flies out of his hand, so the Ogre assassin kicks him away, which makes him bleed even more. But the ghoul still tries to get up, but it doesn''t seem to be able to, so he starts screaming in rage until the moment when the killer ogre throws a dagger in her face, then the ghoul drops dead. "Seize this moment, let''s kill this undead outside the traps!" (I) "Yea!!!" (all) "(I hope the others are doing as well as I am.)" (I) Even after knowing that the Ghoul is dead I still kept looking at him, it worried me to see how he didn''t care about the pain or his wound which was deadly, in fact, he was laughing at first and then screaming in a rage since the moment he appeared he showed not for a second any sign of fear. "(That was weird, I have to warn my Dad.)" (I) Chapter 251: Plan Start Part 2 Chapter 251: Plan Start Part 2 Pov Irius'': I am inside the Dungeon along with Ivan, Freya, Sophia. My sister is on the other side of this floor where she has several traps for the army that will be sent there little by little, meanwhile I am at the place where Grade S generals will be sent. From the information we have they won''t be as strong as the Death Knight we faced a few days ago inside the Dungeon, so I think the four of us should be able to handle two, I''ve become stronger since that day, not just me, the others are also getting stronger every day. We have information that this time it will be over 4000 Undead and two Grade S generals, so I have to be prepared for battle. In addition to my group and my sister''s, there are still three more groups spread out at different points on this floor so we can fight without overloading ourselves, another problem is also that these tunnels don''t give as much space as I would like to fight. "No need to be nervous, Irius." (Ivan) "I''m not nervous, I''m just worried about the enemy''s strength." (I) "You and Sophia will do well against one of these generals, leave the other to me." (Ivan) "With the strength of you two everything will be fine, the master assigning this task to you shows that he also trusts you." (Ivan) "You two should stop talking, we all have to be ready since we don''t know how long it will be before Layla and Nix send these generals here." (Freya) "I''m always ready." (Sophia) While we were waiting, we decided to follow Freya''s advice and keep our weapons in hand, we decided to make a first attack the moment the enemy passed through Layla''s portal. After an hour has passed we see the space begin to ripple, we stay hidden behind some rocks and with Ivan''s signal, we start preparing our attacks. The moment a hand appeared, we released our attacks, but at that moment while launching attacks and skills at the enemy, he was still coming out of the portal, suddenly he turns around, seeming to pull something that throws our attacks. Boom! What he threw was an armored Ogre that was pierced, burned, and slashed by our attacks, he died instantly, without having time to think a spear comes flying towards Freya. It was so fast that I didn''t have time to react, but at that moment Ivan used his sword to slam the spear tip upside down, redirecting it upwards where it gets stuck in the tunnel ceiling. Freya who didn''t even try to deflect an arrow in the direction the spear came, she is aiming for a Minotaur''s head, but he doesn''t deflect, when the arrow hits his head it doesn''t even leave a scratch. "Looks like he has a high defense, better let you fight at the front, Ivan." (Freya) "You can watch out for the next enemy to appear." (Ivan) "< Explosive Kick >" (Ivan) Ivan uses an attack technique that causes an explosion when hitting the target on the ground, this increases his speed by taking him directly in front of the enemy that measures 2.5 meters tall while summoning his armor. "Trying to attack me with such a foolish ambush, I will kill you!" (Minotaur) The Minotaur held another spear in his hands and two in his back, he tried to cut Ivan, but he took the tip of the spear and turned in the direction the spear was going, Ivan was using the enemy''s strength while throwing him into the wall. "< Fire Enhancement >" (Ivan) After throwing the enemy he who is still holding the spear in his hands throws it at the enemy while the tip of the spear is on fire. "Finally a strong warrior, amuse me to death hahahahaha" (Minotaur) As I approach I see that this enemy is an Orc, he is unarmored but his weapons are the same as mine, a sword, and a shield. Bamm!!! "Die weak creature!!!" (Orc) "I''ll launch you forward, destroy one of the arms." (Sophia) The Orc tried to use his sword to cut me and stop my attack, the force of his attack would have broken my shield, but I received a kick in the back that threw me forward, thanks to that I managed to dodge the Orc''s sword in time and increase the power of my Charge when I hit the Orc''s shield causing it to crack a little more. "< Sword of Judgment >" (I) My sword starts to glow with white and black, so I take this opportunity where I''m close and try to cut off his unprotected head, I wanted to take advantage of it now that I''m holding his shield with mine. "These childish tricks won''t work on me, DIE!!!" (Orc) The Orc uses his superior strength and pushes me away with his shield, but I was already expecting that, I drop my shield and spin out of the way of the Orc''s push which makes him lose his balance, I enjoy the moment he pushed the Orc. shield and cut your hand off taking advantage of this opening. As the sword didn''t hit me I can imagine that Sophia protected me, but the Orc doesn''t seem to be affected by injuries or pain like that Minotaur fighting Ivan, that''s because he uses the arm I just ripped off his hand to hit me in the chest, his strength is so great that I run out of breath and I fly backward, hitting a cave wall and vomiting some blood, my armor broke with a single attack. "You will not defeat me with such ridiculous strength!" (Orc) When I looked, I could see Sophia punching and kicking the Orc, I noticed that every time Sophia hit the Orc a trace of her Aura entered him, even though all her attacks were interrupted by the Orc''s sword, her Aura went through the sword and entered his back, I didn''t understand what kind of attack this was since I didn''t seem to be doing damage to him. "< Storm of Blades of Light >" (I) I run-up to the Orc while using one of my abilities in succession. Without the shield to defend himself and being stuck in place while defending against Sophia, the Orc has no way to dodge, so all my attacks landed on his body leaving dozens of deep wounds open. "I won''t lose until I fulfill Master Farus'' orders!!!" (Orc) Even being so injured and losing so much blood, the Orc still doesn''t seem to care about his physical state, he moves as if he doesn''t feel pain or doesn''t care about the loss of blood. "< Heavy Sword >" (Orc) "< Aura Repulsion >" (Sophia) The Orc uses his sword to throw Sophia away when I dodge one of her kicks, but Sophia also managed to use this opportunity to disarm the Orc by throwing her sword away as well. "Defeat is not an option!!!" (Orc) "< Berserk Mode >" (Orc) The Orc starts to turn red and his size grows up to three meters, his eyes turn completely red and his wounds stop bleeding, he used a very troublesome skill, this skill lowers the defense stat by half while adding the same value in strength and temporarily closes all wounds, for an Orc that already has a very strong strength and defense he will be too strong for me to deal with, it will only take one attack to kill me if I can''t dodge it. This ability has the weak point of leaving the person being consumed by the will to fight and kill, it won''t differentiate between friend or foe if you don''t have a strong will, which is impossible for anyone who is on Farus'' side. "You fool, you just gave me the perfect opportunity." (Sophia) "< Explosive Combo Activate >" (Sophia) Boom!!! Unlike me who was already preparing for a tough battle, Sophia had a smile on her face as she pointed her hand at Farus and said something, then Farus''s belly exploded a big hole. Chapter 252: Plan Start Part 3 Chapter 252: Plan Start Part 3 Freya Pov: When the second enemy appeared, things got difficult, I had to help Ivan to finish this Minotaur soon. Ivan kept dodging the Minotaur''s attacks, each time he dodged he cuts points on his body where large amounts of blood come out, the Minotaur seems to be getting weaker but is still fighting tightly. I wait for an opportunity and stand with my arrow pointed, focus my mana on the arrow and use a spell creating magic circles around the arrow, with the quality of this bow and arrow I can put two magic circles on the arrow without breaking. So just as Ivan uses a blast of fire under the Minotaur, knocking him into the air, I shoot my arrow into his one good eye. "< Speed Boost > 2" (I) My arrow was very fast, it hit the target in less than a second, with that I managed to blind the Minotaur. When the Minotaur is starting to fall Ivan takes the opportunity and jumps towards him to use the force of the jump along with the force of the Minotaur''s fall, then he uses his sword to cut off the Minotaur''s head. Boommm!!! At that moment Ivan and I hear a muffled explosion, when I turn to see Irius and Sophia fighting I realize that their enemy is bigger than the last time, in addition he has a hole in his belly, as expected this enemy seems not caring about that hole in her belly and so much attacking Sophia and Irius. At that moment Ivan takes one of the Minotaur''s spears and throws it with all his strength piercing the enemy''s head, which appears to be a red Orc from behind. With this attack the enemy drops dead, so the four of us gather. "What happened to your enemy? Was he that big before?" (I) "He seemed to have the Berserk Mode ability." (Irius) "So you guys did very well to fight him and get so few injuries." (Ivan) "Actually you saved us with that spear, to be honest I was sure that hole in his belly was going to kill him." (Sophia) "I don''t know how you guys made that hole, but I can tell you that any normal enemy would have died or been paralyzed by the pain." (Ivan) "These two were strangers, they seemed to have no fear, no pain and no appreciation for life itself." (I) "That must have been what the village people were telling us about." (Irius) "Yes, enemies like that are dangerous, besides they were very aggressive." (Sophia) "What should we do now? As far as I know there were only two generals." (Ivan) "We were only in charge of fighting these two, so I don''t know what to do now either." (I) One of the things that helped us was that there was no one to lead these Undead here, so they were attacking without any sort of formation or strategy, unlike us, so it was an easy victory. After a while without any of the undead showing up we received the message that all enemies were killed, which included two generals of Farus, we were told that we were heading back to the village now, so I approached to talk to Vanessa. "You said your Father created this plan, right?" (I) "Yes, you must have seen him." (Vanessa) "Yes, but I didn''t imagine he would have children, he looks like a child." (I) "That''s because we are Vampires, my Father is a Patriarch." (Vanessa) "That makes more sense, at least it explains why your father is so smart, even though he looks so young." (I) "He must be a lot older than he looks." (I) "I must say that I am very happy that you are here, this plan would be impossible without you, apart from this uncle of plan I can''t think of anything else we could do to fight Farus." (I) "You said you wanted revenge for your mother''s death, right?" (Vanessa) "Yes, for the death of my mother and my sisters Arachne, so I''m glad I decided to come to the village of Lamias." (I) "With you on our side I hope to carry out my revenge." (I) "For all I know, those who seek revenge always end up badly." (Vanessa) "I advise you not to seek revenge, seek justice instead." (Vanessa) "Those who seek revenge are consumed by it, but those who seek justice are strengthened by its goals, remember that." (Vanessa) "" (I) "(I don''t care what you call it, all I want is to see Farus'' body wrecked on the floor like the dirt he is.)" (I) After Farus'' troops were annihilated we head back to the village the same way we left, with only two people who can hide in the shadows walking in the mountain range, while the rest of us are inside the dungeon. Today I return to the village happy knowing that I took the first step towards my revenge and that the entire village took the first step towards victory against Farus. As long as we keep fighting like this, we will be able to reduce the numbers of Farus'' army, I hope I can fight in all the battles, I want to be on the front line to destroy Farus and his servants with my own hands. I want to see everyone dead with those two sets of eyes. But I must not think about that now, as a new member of the village council and as the representative of Arachne in the village, I have to attend today''s meeting where we will review how the plan went. Chapter 253: First Win Against Farus Chapter 253: First Win Against Farus The plan was better than I imagined it would be, but not many participated, it seems that just like the village leader said, some people had a hard time accepting my plan. Not even half of the village warriors participated, I wanted to participate too, but the village leader wanted me around, she said that many of the village council members don''t trust me, so they don''t want me to participate in this plan this time. I didn''t like that, I wanted to use this opportunity to evolve, I''m already so close to my next evolution. But I don''t think I can do anything this time, these village council members will change their opinions after the news of our victory comes in, even if they don''t like my plan, they can''t deny the results. I was on the city walls eating fruit while waiting for the others to return, after a few hours everyone came back, I could see Nix and Dora appearing from within a shadow coming towards the village gate. I jump off the wall in front of the two of them while the villagers are opening the gate. "Looks like you guys did well." (I) "It was a complete victory, but Layla is not happy at all." (Nix) "I can imagine why, she didn''t like standing in the safe room, did she?" (I) "Exactly, she wanted to fight too." (Nix) "I''ll try to think of something to please her later." (I) "You could leave to talk inside the village, the gates are already open, we still have things to do." (Dora) "True, I have to release the dungeon people, I also think we''re going to have a meeting to talk about the fight." (Nix) "Yes, you''re right, let''s go inside." (I) After we enter the village, Nix opens a Dungeon gate and we guide everyone out of the Dungeon, they are bringing all the equipment and weapons that Farus troops were using while leaving the bodies inside the Dungeon. After everyone left Nix closes the gate, so I, the village leader, and the village council gathered in the meeting room inside the village leader''s house. "You''re happy now, the plan was a success." (I) As I was the last to enter I tried to get straight to the point, I''m tired of going around and around during these days just for them to accept my plan. "Actually it looks like it went better than we expected, just wait a few minutes while one of my Lamias is recording the number of dead and wounded." (Sapphire) "In the place where I was fighting, there was no death on our side." (Helena) "If I''m not mistaken, you were with Vanessa, weren''t you?" (I) "Yes, she is very strong, her light magic was of great help against so many undead." (Helena) "That''s why I spread out those who could use light element magic, that way it will be more efficient and safer to eliminate the undead." (I) "One of the things we have to consider is that this plan was largely a success because the enemies were Undead, but will it be of any help against the rest of Farus'' troops?" (Sapphire) "Actually it will be easier, you know that too." (I) "Why do you say it will be easier?" (leader nymph) "I already gave you the list of potions I have, I imagine the village leader shared the list with you, right?" (I) "Yeah, I have a copy too, but I haven''t had time to catch up on everything yet, so I''m a little late." (Helena) "But with the exception of the Arachnee leader, the other leaders of the other races who have been here longer must have read the list." (I) "Master, I brought Ivan, what do you want to talk about?" (Nix) "It''s a good time you two, just wait a minute while this Lamia gives her report to the village leader." (I) "OK." (Nix/Ivan) The village leader looks seriously at Lamia who has just entered, then the conversation in the meeting room ends while Sapphire speaks. "Step forward and say your report out loud." (Sapphire) "Yea." (Lamia A) Lamia takes one of the papers she is carrying and starts reading it aloud. "The holiday count on our side is 95 people." (Lamia A) "The number of dead is 18." (Lamia A) "We were able to confirm that the number of Farus troops this time matches our information from before the battle, they were 2 generals, 4 captains, and 4000 Undead." (Lamia A) "They were all eliminated and their equipment collected, their bodies left inside the Dungeon for disposal." (Lamia A) "The bodies of the 18 dead were also left in the Dungeon to prevent any kind of action that Farus could do, we did as we were told at the beginning." (Lamia A) "The wounded are already receiving treatment as well." (Lamia A) "You did well, thanks for the report, you can go now." (Sapphire) After giving her report to Lamia holding the papers she leaves the meeting room closing the door behind her. "As you have heard, the plan was a success with a small number of injuries and almost no deaths on our side." (I) "I have nothing to say when these numbers are presented." (Sapphire) "I think everyone has realized that Zenos'' plan was the biggest reason we won for the first time." (Sapphire) "" (all) Sigh "As an Orc I don''t like this plan" (Orc Leader) "But as someone who wants the best for his own race and for this village, I have to admit that this plan is our best chance of winning." (Orc Leader) "Unlike the Leader of the Orcs, my race doesn''t mind using ambushes against our enemies, I agreed with this plan from the start." (Werewolf leader) "Does everyone think so too?" (Sapphire) Sapphire looks at the other representatives of the other races, they all nod in agreement, then she turns to me. "This was the first time we used your plan, you showed in practice that your plan is effective against Farus'' troops." (Sapphire) "With this first victory, I hope the villagers who are still discontented will see the benefits of this plan and not refuse to fight next time." (Sapphire) "Now we have to keep thinning Farus'' troops before he realizes something is up." (I) "He must not realize what is happening for the next few days, but when he sees his troops disappearing, then he will change what he has been doing, so I propose to spend the next few days on the attack, we should find the troops that are still patrolling the chain of command.. mountains." (I) Chapter 254: Going On The Attack Chapter 254: Going On The Attack After all the representatives of the various races on the village council saw the outcome of the plan I created, we started to decide how we were going to implement the plan going forward. But before we heard Nix and Ivan''s report, the Orc representative was very shocked when he learned that one of his race managed to use the "Berserk Mode" skill. It seems that this skill is not easy to use or learn, this is a skill that is not normally used if people don''t have a great level of self-control, the Orc representative said that he had never heard of anyone of their race with this skill in the last fifty years. Hearing Ivan talking about the two generals was further proof that Farus'' troops are getting stronger, we can''t let this continue. The village leader opens a large map of the entire mountain range, she points out the places where Farus'' troops are currently patrolling. She said that she always keeps some Fairies and Spirits watching these troops from afar, so she even knows the route these troops are taking. There are three patrols each with five thousand enemies and being led by two generals, these patrols are a little far from each other, but according to the village leader, they don''t move very fast due to their large number. She also drew on the map where these three troops are and the path they are taking, among these troops she said that one is returning to the fortress of Farus, according to the representative of the Nymphs, the path they are taking will make them take five days to arrive, so we still have time to attack. We talked about the order in which we are going to attack and how we are going to attack, this time I said that I should take our whole army, but the village leader said that she could not leave people who cannot fight alone without protection. But at that moment the Dryad who was the Guardian of this village appeared from a root in the ground and said that she would protect those who cannot fight. After a few hours of discussion we decided that I will take 8000 of the total army, this will give us the numerical advantage, but we know that individually the warriors alongside Farus are stronger than ours. But if we follow the plan we will also have the advantage of the terrain inside the Dungeon and the traps. In the middle of the afternoon I left the meeting room where the village council and the village leader started to discuss the preparations, it was decided that we will leave tomorrow morning. As I started walking around the village, I noticed that people were a little more friendly to me. As a Nymph gave me some fruit to eat I see something shiny coming towards me from the sky, then it starts flying around me before landing on my shoulder and stealing one of the fruit. "Master, how can you look for food and not ask me to eat too?" (Layla) "Because I didn''t want anyone stealing my food." (I) "How can you say that about me after all you''ve done and how you tricked me?" (Layla) "What are you talking about now?" (I) "You told me I would be an important part of the ambush plan, but I couldn''t fight once, I couldn''t even see those Undead being destroyed." (Layla) "I didn''t deceive you, opening the portals to force everything that enters the Dungeon to the places we want is very important to the plan." (I) "But I want to fight too." (Layla) "Your chance to fight will come, just wait, I''m still going to need you doing what you''ve been doing for the next few days." (I) Layla was very annoyed that she couldn''t fight, she was so happy at first thinking that she could destroy the Undead, but I still need her at the Dungeon entrance opening portals to the designated places on the first floor. "I can''t summon monsters now, the dungeon is still small, plus with allied armies and enemy armies entering the dungeon it wouldn''t make sense to summon monsters now." (I) "I also want to save DP to create more floors and expand other floors, monsters can wait until after they manage to finish off Farus." (I) "I see, the second question is about a different topic that has been bothering me." (Nix) "Why doesn''t the master use his skills on the inhabitants of this village to make them stronger?" (Nix) "Are you crazy? I would die if I tried that." (I) "I''m not talking about using all your skills like you did with me or as I heard you did with others, the master can be considered Grade S now in terms of power, he just needs to have more combat experience." (Nix) "What I mean is that the master could use just one of your skills as one of your Auras to make everyone stronger, if you only use one of your skills the effects will be lighter on you." (Nix) "We are talking about more than 10000 people in this village, even if it was just one of my skills it would still be very dangerous, besides it would have almost no effect on them." (I) "It wouldn''t be necessary, the lord already told you that you have an ability that strengthens your subordinates, if everyone became your servant they would get stronger quickly." (Nix) "That''s not going to happen, I might be trying to help this village, but besides having my own intentions with it, I don''t want to get into any more problems or responsibilities." (I) "After we''re done with Farus, we can stay in this village for a few weeks, but then I want to go out and explore the rest of the continent." (I) "Alright, that was just a few questions I had, thanks for answering my weird questions master." (Nix) "You must prepare Nix, you heard at the meeting, right?" (I) "From now on we are going to attack, tomorrow we are going to hunt down Farus'' troops and you will be the main focus for this plan to work out." (I) "I won''t let you down, master." (Nix) During the night I had a meeting with everyone to tell them what we are going to do from now on, but it seems that Ivan had already told a little of what I was going to say, this was good as it saves me time with a lot of explanations. I talked in more detail about what I was going to do, I also took the opportunity to explain the changes I made to the Dungeon, they need to know about the position of the traps now. I also told them not to let their guard down, we still don''t know which enemies we''re going to face, so I told them to make their last preparations for the night. "I want everyone to be ready, tomorrow we are going to attack." (I) After saying that I went to my room to rest and do some of the last syntheses of the Rabbit bloodlines that Elsaris gave me, next time will be the last and most difficult synthesis. I called Caryna and asked her to speak to Elsaris that I wanted to speak with her in the morning before we left the village, so I went to sleep when I finished everything I wanted to do. Zzzzzzz Zzzzz Zzz. Chapter 255: Elsaris Discontent Chapter 255: Elsari''s Discontent Pov Elsaris: It''s been three days since we arrived in this village, according to Zenos he must have already finished the preparations to heal my sister. One of his subordinates, the White Elf by the name of Caryna came to me today, she said that Zenos wanted to talk to me during the morning before we went on the raid. The only thing I could think of was that he was going to heal my sister, I couldn''t wait any longer, because of this anxiety I couldn''t even sleep through the night. At the same moment that the only sun in the sky of this dungeon was born I ran to Zenos'' room, when I got there he was still sleeping, but I saw the Oni girl lying next to him hugging him with a big smile. As soon as I arrived she noticed me and her smile froze as she looked embarrassed at me, then she got up and ran over to me holding my shoulders as she spoke with a red face. "What are you doing here at this time of the morning, Elsaris?" (Ibuki) "" (Elsaris) "What you saw?" (Ibuki) "" (Elsaris) "Are you going to tell the master?" (Ibuki) "" (Elsaris) "Please don''t tell the master." (Ibuki) "" (Elsaris) The young Oni panicked and started shaking me back and forth while gripping my shoulders tightly, she kept asking questions in a low voice without giving me time to respond as she didn''t have any bad intentions behind her behavior I don''t I reacted and waited for her to calm down a bit before speaking. After she calmed down a bit and stopped talking, I was finally able to say something in a low voice. "Don''t worry, I won''t say anything, I apologize for interrupting you." (I) "Aren''t you going to say anything?" (Ibuki) "No, now would you please let go of my shoulders." (I) "" (Ibuki) After she lets go of my shoulders she runs out of the room, after she leaves I look towards the bed. "How long have you known, said Fairy?" (I) "How did you know I was awake?" (Layla) "Fairies have powerful senses, it''s impossible for you not to have woken up with someone other than your master so close to you." (I) "You''re not funny at all, not even the master knows it." (Layla) The strange four-armed Fairy who has physical features very similar to Zenos gets up from the bed and comes flying towards me. "You shouldn''t worry about Ibuki, all she does is hug the master some nights while he sleeps, she''s harmless." (Layla) "Is she the only one who does this?" (Elsari) "Sometimes there are some dangerous people that appear, but I always push them away, it would be dangerous to let them near the master while he sleeps." (Layla) I knew it had something to do with my sister, but still hearing such confirmation filled my heart with happiness, the happiness I hadn''t felt in a long time. "I understand that you are happy, here take a handkerchief for you to dry your tears." (Zenos) I accepted her handkerchief, but only later did I understand her words, I hadn''t realized she was crying, this is not something that happens very often to me. "That makes what I have to say now a little difficult." (Zenos) "" (I) "But I would like you to wait a few more days until the fight against Farus is over." (Zenos) "" (I) "Do you want me to wait? What if you can''t defeat Farus? What if you die during the battle?" (I) "How can I help my sister?!" (I) How can he say that, the only reason I left the Black Market and switched factions was to help my sister. I''ve come all this way and been following his orders all this time for my sister''s sake, how dare he say for me to wait longer. "I know I''m asking too much, but I have my reasons for it, come to my room overnight and you''ll find out what I mean." (Zenos) "I''ll even explain how I''m going to help your sister and why I needed all those barrels of rabbits blood." (Zenos) "" (I) After he finished talking I jump off the balcony and leave furiously, even though I feel like spanking him now, I don''t dare do that as I still need his help, so I get out of there before I do something I''ll regret. Two hours after my conversation with Zenos, the army of that village entered the Dungeon, thanks to the Nymphs and Arachnes many tents were built on the third floor near the mansion. Then we started moving or to be more precise, the Spirit of Zenos and a Shadow Fairy started moving through the mountain range while everyone stayed inside the Dungeon. The first day passed while the makeshift huts were being built, when it got dark I went to Zenos'' room as he talked during the morning. Before entering the room I could hear the voices of Zenos and Vanessa inside the room, in addition to being a Vampire who has strong senses, I was also from a race of Rabbits who have the strongest sense being hearing, so I can hear things from afar, in addition to having skills that improve my hearing even more. "Are you sure you said, Father?" (Vanessa) "Yeah, we still need her help, so the least I can do is explain why I want to put off helping your sister." (Zenos) "That''s not the problem, I can understand your motives and I can also understand Elsaris'' anger." (Vanessa) "But that''s no reason to share your secrets with her, especially a secret that could put you in danger." (Vanessa) "(What secret is this?)" (I) "But if I don''t, she might leave, she might think I''m deceiving her." (Zenos) "Besides, once you know how I''m going to help her sister, one of the things she''s going to realize is that it''s not going to be easy to find someone else who can do that." (Zenos) "But I still don''t like it." (Vanessa) "Stay calm Vanessa, sooner or later she would find out about this, she was very clear that she would join our group along with her kids, so sooner or later she would find out just like everyone else." (Zenos) "(Looks like Vanessa doesn''t agree with Zenos telling me whatever he''s going to tell me, meanwhile it looks like Zenos doesn''t keep secrets from those who serve him.)" (I) Chapter 256: Final Synthesis Of The Rabbit Lineage Chapter 256: Final Synthesis Of The Rabbit Lineage Pov Vanessa: When it was close to dusk I went to my Father''s room, it''s been a while since he asked me to do that. I was very worried since every time he calls me into his room it''s because he''s about to do something dangerous, he calls me to heal him knowing he''s going to be hurt more than his ability can help heal. As soon as I entered the room he was already there laughing at Layla who is dressed in a cute maid outfit, she even looks like a doll with her small size. Yo?ur favorite stories at novelhall.com I don''t know what Layla did, but Dad brought her tied-in lines to the kitchen where he threw her to Freya and Caryna telling her to make her work with them today as punishment. After she was released she tried to run away, but when Freya threatened to leave her without desserts for a week she came back with her head down in defeat, Fairies love sweets. When I entered the room my Father looked at me as he tried to stop laughing. "Hahahahaha" (Zenos) "Come in Vanessa hahahaha come see this little Demon wearing maid clothes, it''s very funny, ha ha hahaha" (Zenos) "You''ll pay me for this, you idiot master, laugh while you can." (Layla) "Did I hear someone asking for another day as a maid?" (Zenos) "" (Layla) "Hahahahaha I feel like I''m hearing things." (Zenos) My Dad talks about Layla like he''s a Demon all the time, but this scene just looks like he''s the Demon abusing a little Fairy, but everyone in the mansion knows the truth, thankfully there''s no one outside here. "Why did you ask me to come here, Father?" (I) "You''re not planning on doing anything dangerous again, are you?" (I) "" (Zenos) cough cough With my words he coughs twice and looks away awkwardly, his reaction already answers my questions. Sigh "Why do you always do these things? What is it this time?" (I) "I will merge four powerful bloodlines, I will probably be very hurt." (Zenos) "They''re rabbit bloodlines, right? It''s to help Elsaris'' sister?" (I) "Yea." (Zenos) "Haven''t we talked about lying to her and putting it off until after we''re done with Farus?" (I) "I don''t like to tell lies to our companions." (Zenos) "Technically she hasn''t joined our group yet, she''s not yet her servant or a believer in the Goddess Selene." (I) "Elsaris left the Black Market to follow us to a dangerous place like this for her sister''s sake, all without any concrete proof that he could help her." (Zenos) "She believed the things you and I said, she took our word for it." (Zenos) "You and I were telling the truth." (I) "We know that, but she doesn''t know that yet." (Zenos) "I can''t lie to her in this situation, so I want to prove to her that I mean it when I say I''m going to help her sister." (Zenos) "" (I) "" (Elsaris) Elsaris closed her eyes and started to think, I hope she understands what my Father is doing to help her sister. "Was that all you needed, a Vampire with awakening ability and some bloodlines?" (Elsaris) "Don''t be silly Elsaris, you know it''s not that simple, don''t think we''re naive to drop into your conversation and tell you more information you don''t need to know." (Vanessa) "I don''t know what you''re talking about." (Elsaris) "That''s not the only reason to call me here, is it?" (Elsaris) Elsaris says this looking at me, she must still be trying to understand why I''m here. "Vanessa is here to help me, I called you here to see me synthesizing the latest Rabbit strains." (Zenos) "After seeing this I hope you understand why I need to wait until after I''m done with Farus." (Zenos) "Just stand there and watch." (Zenos) "I''m ready anytime, Dad." (I) "I will start now." (Zenos) My Father sits cross-legged on the floor, then four types of powerful energies begin to emit from his body, I see him change from a calm expression to one of pain, then sweat starts pouring out in large amounts from his body. "Now that the worst part begins, I hope you understand what my Father needs to help your sister see this." (I) "What you''re talking about, it doesn''t seem to be that bad, these four energies are powerful, but they are equivalent to his strength." (Elsaris) "Look, it''s not over yet, it''s just begun." (I) Soon all of my Father''s veins begin to swell, and four streams of red energy begin to pass through his veins faster and faster until they all meet and collide where his heart is. "Agh!!" (Zenos) Even though I cannot see the collision within his body, with my current level of perception and senses, I can feel the force of these four energies and the force of their collision within my Father''s heart. As I expected he vomits a large amount of blood as he starts to leak blood from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. His face shows the pain he is feeling, but he still tries not to scream at that moment the four red energies begin to flow through my Father''s veins with a much greater speed and follow the same path as they intertwine with each other. My father''s veins can''t take it, every second the red energy gets stronger emitting more power out of his body, more and more wounds open in his skin at the same time his veins tear to not withstand that pressure. "< Accelerated Healing >" (I) "< Enhanced Healing >" (I) "< Physical Repair >" (I) "< Blood Boost >" (I) I use the four strongest healing spells I know to heal your wounds that are showing up more and more often. "Damn it!!!" (I) It takes thirty minutes for these four red energies that represent the bloodlines to finish merging into one, the final energy was very powerful, after only one bloodline was left it kept running through my father''s body causing colossal damage wherever it went, but every second it mixed more with his blood until the light was no longer visible through my Father''s skin and clothes. When I see that it''s over I run to him and give him a powerful HP potion that I asked Lyra to create and a blood replacement potion, that''s because this time he lost a lot of blood, where he was sitting there''s a big pool of blood, even his clothes turned almost completely red from the blood. "Irresponsible father, that''s why I told you to wait, if you had already evolved it would be easier." (I) "Haaa haaaa haaaa haaaa" (Zenos) "Don''t say anything, I''ll finish healing you so you can sleep until tomorrow, I''ll take care of the rest." (I) He nods, then falls asleep in my arms as Layla flies close to his face, she looks sad and worried. Chapter 257: Disagreement Chapter 257: Disagreement Pov Elsaris: I came to Zenos'' room at dusk as he asked, he told me how he would help my sister, told me a little about his powers, and showed me how he synthesizes bloodlines. It surprised me to find Vanessa in Zenos'' room at first, I thought it would be a conversation just between him and me, but then I understood why she was there. Zenos didn''t just want to talk to me, he wanted to show me what he needed to do to help my sister. As someone who has worked for many years in the Black Market, I had heard stories about the wonders of a unique Synthesis skill, I knew it could be used in many different situations, among those situations the one that made this skill most famous was Skill Synthesis. In the various stories I''ve heard, I''ve always thought that using this skill was quick and painless, so I was surprised that it was possible to synthesize bloodlines, and I was even more surprised to see the suffering Zenos suffered in the synthesis of bloodlines. I could see the damage to Zenos'' body and also feel the power of the bloodlines he was synthesizing, it was a power that made even me afraid. The only reason Zenos didn''t die was that his daughter Vanessa is here healing him constantly, the process was slow and torturous, but in the end, he made it before he lost consciousness in his daughter''s arms. "Do you understand now? Can you understand why he asked you to wait a few more days?" (Vanessa) "" (I) "You don''t know if it''s going to be days, as far as I know, the people in this village we''re helping have been fighting Farus for years." (I) "You yourself saw your father''s plan in action, you also already know what we will do in the next few days, if everything goes well more than half of Farus'' troops will be destroyed and we will be in the numerical advantage and with the element of surprise." (Vanessa) "It''s going to be difficult for Farus to find out what''s going on with his troops, not knowing what we''ve been up to will give us another advantage when it comes to the final battle against him." (Vanessa) "All this is guesswork, there are no guarantees in a battle, everything about Farus is still a mystery, we still don''t know his real strength or what kind of powers he has, I can''t take into account what might happen, I can only be sure what is happening." (I) "As far as I know, Zenos might die tomorrow in the fight against a monster, he might die in the battle against Farus'' troops, or he might even die fighting Farus." (I) "If that happens I''ll be back to square one again, I''ll have to wait a long time for another opportunity to save my sister." (I) Vanessa gets up and looks at me while still holding Zenos in her arms, she looked at me seriously and I realized that she wouldn''t leave me options to choose from. "Do you think the bloodline synthesis was bad? That at least is damage only to your body." (Vanessa) "Using his abilities on other people has its risks, the worse the state of the target of his abilities, the worse he will suffer and I can regretfully say that the damage to his body is the lightest of the side effects." (Vanessa) "You don''t know what state he was in helping me, you also don''t know what he was in helping Layla." (Vanessa) "Kira told me what happened back then, she told me about the auction you organized, she told me how Layla was doing at the time, and she told me what my Father had to go through to help her." (Vanessa) "(So I was right, Layla is that grotesque thing I sold at auction.)" (I) "(How has she changed so much?)" (I) What Vanessa said was not a lie, the chances of Zenos beating Farus are great, even if something unexpected happens, it doesn''t necessarily mean that we will lose too or that he will die, I was being impatient and pessimistic. As always I don''t think straight when my sister is involved, what I said was disrespectful to the person who is doing their best to help my sister, I have to fix this now, I can''t miss this opportunity, I can''t let my sister down again. Sigh "I admit I''m wrong, I apologize for what I said, when my sister is involved I lose control over the things I say and do." (I) "To my ears, it sounded like her real thoughts, so don''t try to apologize so superficially now." (Vanessa) Apologizing didn''t seem to help, I was starting to panic, I had to do something, soon I felt a lot of people approaching, the other people in the mansion must have felt this bloodlust being directed towards me. "Stop with that" (Zenos) "Dad, did you wake up?" (Vanessa) Zenos breathes heavily for a few seconds before he can speak normally, but he still looks tired and in pain. "I only lost consciousness for a few minutes, how could I not wake up surrounded by so much bloodlust?" (Zenos) "I don''t know what happened, but from the look on Layla''s face as she looks at Elsaris and the way Elsaris looks desperate I can imagine that she still hasn''t accepted having to wait a few more days." (Zenos) "Just get over it, I can imagine she''s just worried about her sister, just let her get her mind in order." (Zenos) "Why can''t I attack her now, especially after all she''s said?" (Layla) "Just calm down, don''t be dramatic adding to our problems, Elsaris is right to think about her sister''s best, so you don''t have to take everything she says seriously." (Zenos) "I really said bad things, I''ve already apologized for that, but you should think about what I said, I haven''t known you long enough to trust you." (I) "Dad, I''m going to accompany you to the bathroom, you need to get that blood out of your body, after that you have to rest until tomorrow." (Vanessa) "Don''t divert the subject Vanessa I know by your look that you''re angry so control yourself, you''re not a child." (Zenos) "You can go Elsaris." (Zenos) I guess I was lucky this time, if he hadn''t woken up to this amount of bloodlust, I wouldn''t have known how to handle this situation. "I''m sorry for what happened and what I said, but for me who''s been waiting for ages to help my sister, I can''t wait any longer now that I''m so anxious." (I) "I will wait until after the battle with Farus as you asked before, I apologize again for what I said." (I) After saying that I go out the window so I don''t run into those who are running up here towards the bedroom door. "(I never thought the day would come when I would be apologizing to someone from such a humiliating firm, even more to people weaker than me, but I do it for you sister.)" (I) Chapter 258: First Target Part 1 Chapter 258: First Target Part 1 The night I was synthesizing the latest rabbit strains in front of Elsaris, I had planned on showing her how difficult this is for me. I know she doesn''t care about me, she''s already made it very clear that she only cares about her sister and even though she hasn''t spoken I can tell she cares about her two children too. But I want her to see my sincerity in trying to help her sister, I hope she understands why I want to wait until after Farus is defeated, and I want her to trust me a little, which is why I did all that. I thought that everything was going to go well, but it seems that things went a very wrong way after I lost consciousness, I woke up due to the strong bloodlust that was surrounding me, after that, I had to endure my tiredness and pain to try to calm Vanessa and Layla. Somehow I managed to control the situation, but things weren''t resolved yet, Layla had too dangerous eyes for me to leave her alone, I told her to spend the next few days by my side all the time, I also told Vanessa to forget about this matter, but of course, that would not happen easily. In the next few days I received Elsaris'' children who came to apologize on her behalf, they said that normally she is someone who is always in control, but when her sister is involved she gets carried away by her emotions and doesn''t think straight. She spent the next few days in her room until we got close to our first target, an army of 5000 warriors most of whom are Undead. I asked Elsaria and her children to go investigate, I wanted more information about the terrain around, about the direction the enemies would appear, and where they were going, I needed to make some corrections to the plan that I can only make after verifying this information. - After a few hours, Elsaris came back with her kids with all the information I asked for, I check everything and then do some simulations in my head using parallel thinking like I always do. After some thought, I gathered the Water Elemental Mages, Wind and Lighting Skilled Mages, told them the positions they were going to be in and how they were going to spread the mist, I would also need some illusions to distract the enemy for Nix to have the opportunity to swallow them. After that everyone leaves the Dungeon to go to their positions, these Mages will not participate in the battle, they are the key to being able to ambush our enemies. Among the information that Elsaris got, I also discovered the two generals that will be there, they are beings with Crane S strength, so I had to pay attention to them. Turned out to be a Ghoul Mage and an Ogre Swordsman, I was worried about the Mage, so I told Nix to ambush the Mage first, that''s because he might realize that the mist is not natural, so I don''t want to give him that opportunity. After that I separated the teams, this time I want Elsaris fighting, I want her to fight this Mage I''ll send her alone while her sons help fight against Farus'' troops. The Swordsman I will leave with Diana, Irius, and Ibuki, I will leave Irina with them as a support as well, I believe these four should be able to fight well, I confirmed that these enemies have an approximate strength with the last time, so even if it is not easy for them I still believe they are capable of winning, it will be good for their training.. With all this resolved, we just have to wait for night to start the ambush. - Pov Elsaris: I was on the first floor of the Dungeon by myself, it seems more spacious than the last time I was there, I heard that Zenos changed the first floor a bit, it seems it is true. It was said that there is only one trap in the place where I am, it seems that this is to not disturb me during my combat, but there will be no combat. "Even though it''s been four days, it looks like Vanessa and Layla still haven''t forgotten what happened that day." (I) Irius still hasn''t received his new weapons and neither has Irina, but I think Anton is working on it together with Lyra who was the one who made the magic circles on our weapons, as she focuses mainly on Alchemy we always forget that she also knows how to use magic, so to be more precise she is the studious mage type. I stop checking my swords and head over to Ibuki who has been training for twenty minutes. "You should stop, Ibuki." (I) "You will get tired before the enemy arrives like this, our enemy will be a Grade S-strength Swordsman, it will be a strong enemy, it wouldn''t be smart to get tired before facing him." (I) "Sorry, I''m so happy with these swords that I can''t hold them and stand still." (Ibuki) Sigh "Because you''re the one who''s been with the master the longest, you caught his bad training habit, you two don''t know when to stop." (I) "Thank you for the compliment." (Ibuki) "That wasn''t a compliment, you and the master have to learn that there is a time and place to train or practice something, you shouldn''t get carried away and forget even to eat." (I) "But I never forget to eat." (Ibuki) "But the master forgets and if you continue with his bad habit you will stay the same." (I) "Don''t say something so cruel, I shudder with fear just imagining going a whole day without eating, it reminds me of bad things." (Ibuki) "Stop bothering her Diana, if you keep talking about food you''ll end up making her appetite wake up so she''ll eat the food we brought." (Irina) "It''s late sister, I just checked and the lunchbox is empty." (Irius) "What? When did she eat all that?" (Irina) "Even my Flame Snake meat sandwich?" (I) "She ate everything, even my cookies." (Irius) "I couldn''t train on an empty stomach, the master told me to always train after eating a good meal." (Ibuki) "Father wanted to tell you to have a good meal with just your food." (Irina) "What are we going to do if the enemy takes too long to" (me) "No need to worry about it, it looks like he''s coming soon, gets ready." (Irius) Irius points in one direction as he raises his weapons, we all look in that direction and see space ripple, then something seems to fly in. Chapter 259: First Target Part 2 Chapter 259: First Target Part 2 Pov Diana''s: We all took our weapons in our hands and prepared for combat, the enemy as soon as he was thrown out of the portal rolls on the ground and jumps up pulling his sword. "< Physical Reinforcement >" (Irina) "< Guardian''s Sacrifice >" (Irius) "< Storm of Blades >" (I) "< Storm of Blades >" (Ibuki) As he jumped into the air we all started our attacks, Irina cast her magic which increases our physical stats in general, she cast this magic on all of us at once. Irius uses a skill that he learned a short time ago after a lot of training alongside Ivan, this skill allows the owner of this skill to take half damage in place of the target of this skill for a period of time, Irius uses this skill on all of us. Meanwhile, Ibuki and I use an attack where we launch several slashes flying at the enemy, I who taught this attack to Ibuki, I''m happy she can launch it with a force similar to mine. The enemy was an Ogre Swordsman, he had the appearance of a Human, his skin was white with black eyes and messy short brown hair. He had a single thin horn resembling an upward curved blade, his body was moderately muscular and he wore armor only on his arms while dressed in a green combat outfit, his height was 1.90 meters. His sword looked like a normal 110 cm two-handed sword, with a golden cross handle, but the difference was that the sword''s blade was red, you could tell just by looking that it was a magic weapon. Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com "Careful, this is a magic sword." (I) "< Blood Court >" (Ogre) While on high the Ogre grins cruelly as he cuts towards us downwards with his sword, the movement of the sword leaves a red liquid behind creating a red blade that comes towards us. This red blade cuts my attacks and Ibuki''s while still coming towards us, we all jump back letting it hit the ground, then we see the red liquid dissolve the rocks as if it were acid. "We have to be careful with your sword." (Ibuki) "Don''t stand still, attack!" (I) As I speak and I''m already running, the Ogre takes advantage of the distraction his attack has caused us to land away from us and position himself with his sword. "< Speed Boost >" (I) "Thank you for coming to give me your head, woman of the wolf tribe!" (Ogre) The Ogre waits for me to get close, but at this point, I dodge to the side and try to go around him to the other side, so he''ll have enemies in front and behind causing more openings that we''ll be able to to to take advantage of. "You think I''m going to allow your childish plan!" (Ogre) "< Piercing Wind >" (I) "< Phantom Blades > 2" (Ibuki) Ibuki jumps and launches black blades that fly towards the enemy as I make two different attacks with my swords. "You won''t be able to beat me with that alone, you''re just handing me your heads, hahahahaha" (Ogre) "< Blood Boost: Activate >" (Ogre) The blood-like red liquid comes out of the enemy''s red sword and starts flowing down the Ogre''s arm and being absorbed into his body, soon the Ogre''s skin starts to turn red and his muscles become a little bigger, he flexes his muscles tearing Ibuki''s shadow tentacles. At that moment he dodges Ibuki''s attack, defends my "Wind Cut" with his sword with one hand, and uses the other hand to stop my second sword making it pierce his palm to the hilt, then he holds my hand while smiling disturbing in the face. "I got you your" (Ogre) Before he finished speaking, black blades came out of his shadow and cut deeply into his back pushing him forward, I take this moment to kick him in the face as I move away from him, going backward pulling my sword from his hand. He was fooled by Ibuki''s attack, his "Ghost Blades" can enter a shadow and stay there for a short time before she let them exit the same shadow in whatever direction she wants, she was aiming in a position where the Ogre dodging her attack would still hit her shadow, this was a trick the master suggested for her to catch her enemies off guard. "That''s right, fight harder, keep this fun until you die, hahahahahow fun" (Ogre) - Even with his injuries, the Ogre seemed to enjoy the fight, I must admit that his sword technique was very good and focused on his superior strength, he also seemed to have a lot of combat experience, Ibuki and I fought him for twenty minutes before of Irius to return to the fight with Irina. It was being an uphill battle for me and Ibuki, but even with the Brothers'' help it was still tough, but at least we were landing several hits on him now, but no matter how much the Ogre''s body was covered with cuts, punctures or other injuries, he always had a cruel smile on his face and an Aura filled with bloodlust. After Irius returned we continued fighting for more than thirty minutes, the enemy didn''t seem to get tired, we had already cut off even one of his arms with one of my attacks, but he never screamed in pain or made any expression of fear, he always kept the same disturbing smile on his face. We realized something was wrong when we noticed that the amount of blood he should have lost was much greater than the amount of blood he should have in his own body, that''s when Irina realized that the sword seemed to be sending blood to him somehow. We were starting to get tired so we couldn''t wait any longer, when Irina and Ibuki used their restraining spells at the same time to trap the enemy, I joined my two swords and activated their skill forming a Ki blade where I concentrated all my power for an attack. Final. Meanwhile, Irius held his sword with both hands and focused his elements of light and shadow on the tip of his sword as he ran towards the enemy putting all his mana into that attack. "< Ki Sword: Wind Cut >" (I) "< Judgement Piercing >" (Irius) Even without an arm, with wounds all over his body and trapped in two confinement spells, the enemy still managed to use his sword to deflect Irius'' attack that was going towards his heart making him pierce his stomach instead, But my attack was faster than he could dodge or defend in his current conditions before he knew it, he was decapitated by me. Sigh "Finally it''s over." (I) Chapter 260: First Target Part 3 Chapter 260: First Target Part 3 I wanted to fight a little too so I was left alone in a waiting place, asked Layla to send the last few hundred enemies to me and then come help me. The truth is that I want to take the opportunity to evolve, a few hundred enemies weaker than me will help me in this, it''s been a while since enemies of Grade A and below no longer pose a mortal danger to me. With the skills I have now I can finish them off, but what I really want to do is training, these enemies are different from monsters, the ones I''m going to face this time are not undead, they will be members of the various races that Farus has control. These soldiers of Farus still have a mind capable of thinking even if they are more aggressive, I need the experience of fighting enemies that use different fighting styles, enemies that have different abilities and powers, enemies that can coordinate in a group, and enemies that have combat experience. That''s why I want to fight these enemies, this is a type of combat that will help me to get stronger, a fight where the focus is to kill the opponent, it will be dangerous, that''s why I told Layla to join me, that will also make her calm down a bit since she hasn''t been fighting much lately. I wait a few hours before seeing the space in front of me ripple and several enemies appear, it starts with a few dozen being thrown to the ground by the portal before it closes. As soon as they see me they have positioned themselves and run to attack me, I use my lines in one hand and fill the threads with mana and ki then use my strength and speed to slash forward like a whip. The ten enemies in front were torn to pieces along with their armor, weapons, and shields. This is a technique I''ve been thinking about using, for a first try it went really well. Those running after didn''t care, they stepped over the mangled bodies of their companions with smiles on their faces, one of the Ogres picked up one of the more whole corpses and threw it spinning towards the wires. He was smart as the wires wrapped around his body, so I got rid of the wires, I decided to use my claws to fight this time, something I don''t normally do, I run towards enemies. They try to hit me, but I''m faster, as I pass them I use mine to slash necks, pierce hearts, and slash enemies'' eyes. Kira already taught me that when fighting a group alone the most important thing is to make each attack at a vital point or to weaken the enemy like hitting their eyes, ears, cutting their arms, etc. They were members of the three bowls that ruled the mountain range in the past, the ones who didn''t realize what was happening until it was too late, because of their differences in races, they had different heights, weights, speeds, strength, and perception. These differences were making it difficult for me to adapt to the rhythm of the combat, because of that I was hit a few times, but they were too weak to cause me any serious damage, because of the strength they show, it seemed that they were all Grade B. It didn''t take long for another portal to appear throwing dozens more enemies around, I''d only killed half of the ones that came before. I jumped up and cast some fire and light spells on the new group of enemies that contained some Undead. After that, I spread my wings high and I thrust down kicking an ogre in the head as I put my wings away, then I pull my dagger and sword from my waist, I can''t take too long dealing with each group of enemies. But before I could continue a portal opens above my head and I am buried by several enemies that have fallen on top of me, I use my wind magic to create a tornado around me that scatters these enemies in all directions. The number of enemies is increasing faster than I expected, but I can''t ask Nix to stop, she needs to do it faster so the enemy doesn''t have time to do anything. After fifteen minutes there were already hundreds of enemies and I had several minor injuries all over my body, I was also very tired, but even so, I throw myself at the enemies. "I preferred to use my energy more efficiently." (Layla) "By efficient you mean how did you use four spells to rip off all four limbs from that poor Ghoul Mage?" (I) "You could have killed him with a single strike." (I) "He deserved it, he was a Necromancer who was trying to use the bodies on the ground to create more Undead." (Layla) "Actually he did, you wasted so much time trying to make him suffer that he managed to finish his magic and create forty more Undead." (I) "It''s not my fault, no matter how much I hit him, how much I burned him or how much I made a tree grow out of his chest, he never stopped his magic." (Layla) "If you had killed him quickly it would have stopped his magic!" (I) "But then he was going to get off too easy, Necromancers deserve to suffer." (Layla) "(She''s hopeless, can''t talk to this psychopath.)" (I) Sigh "Talking to you is getting on my nerves, never mind." (I) "I''m just going to get some rest before I get up and head to the mansion with the others." (I) "After that, we have a meeting to do, we have to talk about the results of this battle and the preparation for the next battles." (I) "Are you going to let me fight again?" (Layla) "No, if all goes well I''ll let the village leader and the other representatives of the other races fight, I want them to try a little harder since this war is theirs." (I) "You say that like you don''t have things you won''t either, you still have your eye on the village leader''s daughter aren''t you?" (Layla) "I won''t deny it, she would be great to test this Serpent bloodline I created, plus as she is a criminal who has betrayed her family, friends, and her people I don''t need to worry or regret using it really as an experiment." (I) "I think you''ll be doing the village leader a favor, making her daughter your servant could save her life." (Layla) "Also, the chances are that the village leader''s daughter will be very strong at the end of the experiment, you will basically fulfill her wish for more power." (Layla) "To be honest I don''t know how big the changes are going to be, I wanted to test this before doing the same with Elsaris'' sister and Elsaris herself." (I) "For me, you can get rid of that stupid red rabbit, she spoke ill of you even after you tried so hard for her." (Layla) "Let''s forget about these matters, for now, I''m very tired, open a portal to the safe room and let''s go back to the mansion on the third floor." (I) Chapter 261: First Target Part 4 Chapter 261: First Target Part 4 Pov Leo: This time I got permission from the master to fight, I haven''t fought for over a month, and I couldn''t participate in the first battle a few days ago. But now I can finally fight to my heart''s content, it seems that since I started serving the master or should I say since the master helped to awaken my bloodline, my will to fight has become stronger. For me who was living happily with my wife Caryna with few opportunities to fight, it was a big change of pace, training started to become fun for me and fighting became a desire that never disappears from my heart. To get the master to trust me more, I trained more than anyone, I took the opportunity to be the partner in simulated fights for almost everyone in the mansion, I did it to be able to get used to fighting different types of people, I even called rica to fight once for me to have experience fighting someone who uses curses. The only one I never tried to fight was the master''s hired Fairy, that Fairy by the name of Layla scares me, my instincts scream that she''s dangerous, I can also see her eyes that always have a dangerous glint that I''ve seen in many bandits and assassins in the past, that glow of someone who likes to kill, I know the master and others in the manor have noticed that too, but they don''t care. But I won''t think about that strange Fairy now, the important thing is that with my hard training I became better at using my war ax and I became stronger, the master also seems to have noticed my effort, that''s why he allowed me to fight alongside today of the village people. Now I''m next to a few hundred people waiting for the opportunity to fight, so far the portals have only brought undead who died in the traps, but because of all the traps being deactivated after being used, so soon it will be our turn to fight. While waiting I was fighting an arm wrestling with an Ogre, he was very strong, but I still won by a little, that''s when other monsters started to appear from inside the portals besides the undead, these were the first victims of Farus for the what the master said, I''m sorry for them, but an enemy is still an enemy, I will show no mercy during the battle. At that moment we all put our weapons in our hands and started the battle, at the beginning, it was fast since we were in greater numbers, but after several rounds of fights, a Ghoul Mage appears, after looking around seeing that he was surrounded by enemies and that there were several bodies on the ground, he started to laugh, then he pulls out a purple crystal which shatters on the ground causing a magic circle to appear at his feet. From this magic circle come out tentacles of purple energy that surround this mage who was smiling maniacally, then his body starts to dry up until there is nothing left but a skeleton, his empty eye sockets light up then the magic circle expands a lot almost covering the whole the room we were in, then purple energy comes out of the magic circle and starts to enter the bodies of the soldiers of Farus that we just killed, the energy only affected the bodies that were alive before while ignoring the bodies of the defeated Undead. The bodies then rise like Zombies and start attacking us off guard, I stepped on the head of one that was at my feet before he could get up, so I raised my Ax and started to fight, my initial focus was to defend or save those who were taken by surprise and were wounded. I activated the transformation skill I got when the master awakened my bloodline, so with that power overflowing from my body I roared and started a savage fight against the undead. The worst thing was that even in this situation portals still appeared from time to time throwing more enemies here. Unfortunately, I couldn''t save everyone so a few dozen died before the fight was over, more could have died if it wasn''t for Lyra''s potions that were distributed to everyone before the battle. It was a bit of a bitter victory, we could have avoided it, but no one had information about that purple crystal, I have to let the master know after that, I''ll also have to order a new weapon and combat clothes. Because of the battle my Ax cracked, my clothes also ripped due to the blows I suffered, I''m glad my body was strong and resistant, but I also drank some potions to recover, Caryna would be worried if I came back injured, I can''t do that with Is it over there. - With my words, another portal appears throwing more enemies in front of us. I create some magic circles around my sword and gather mana into my sword blade, then slash it forward. "< Serpent Blade >" (I) The energy cut I made creates life by becoming a Serpent with a razor-sharp body that flies past all enemies that fall immobile to the ground. "Awesome attack." (Ivan) "Thanks." (I) "What impressed me the most was its accuracy in hitting all the cores." (Ivan) "What a waste of magic cores." (Vanessa) "No longer satisfied with the amount we have, even with my daughter, Tania, and Anton freely using these cores, we still have so many that it seems to have no end." (Ivan) "But I still think it''s a waste, we could have beaten them and still recover the cores later." (Vanessa) "I just wanted to finish off enemies quickly, I was always taught to finish off any enemy as quickly and efficiently as possible." (I) "Your thinking isn''t wrong, but you could have used that same attack to cut their heads off." (Vanessa) "It would have wiped out the Zombies, but the Skeletons would just get their heads together." (me) "Then you could have left the Skeletons to me." (Vanessa) "I must interrupt you two, there''s one more portal that has appeared, more enemies are coming, get ready." (Ivan) - This plan really made the fight a lot easier, the three of us always took out all the enemies in a few seconds, I noticed that Ivan''s strength is close to mine, Vanessa also seems to be strong, but her strength is still far from mine. After we finished with all the enemies we decided to walk back to the third floor of the Dungeon, we thought we''d see how the other places were during the battle, I do this because, besides the undead, the soldiers of Farus were mostly in the Grade A or B for strength, it must have been a tougher fight elsewhere, I just hope I didn''t have too many casualties. Chapter 262: Change Of Plans And Evolution Part 1 Chapter 262: Change Of Plans And Evolution Part 1 After my fight with Layla, we rested a few minutes before heading back to the third floor, we were heading to the mansion where I asked everyone to gather after the battle. When I got to the third floor I started walking from the safe room to the mansion instead of asking Layla to open a portal, I did it because I wanted to see the state the others were in, I wanted to know if there were many wounded among the warriors of Sapphire village. As I walked to the makeshift camp I passed the fruit trees that the Nymphs helped to plant here, they were trees that we uprooted from the forest of the mountain range and then planted inside the Dungeon with the help of the Nymphs, I used the Dungeon''s assimilation function to keep them as part of this floor so we have fewer food issues here, I wasn''t sure if it would work but everything went well. When I got to the improvised finish I could see that there were many wounded, but mostly they were light wounds, some with heavy wounds, and I also noticed a place where several bodies were lined up, there were more than a hundred and most were Hobgoblins. "(More died than I thought.)" (I) While I was lost in my thoughts trying to understand what was going on, trying to understand how so many died if we were outnumbered and fighting in a much more favorable environment for us, at that moment a big hand claps my shoulder, I turn around and acknowledge that''s Leo, he seemed to have some injuries, but he seemed to be fine, so I paid more attention to his clothes and Machado who were in a horrible state. "From the state of your Battleaxe and your combat clothes, I imagine you''ve had a hard fight." (I) "We were surprised during the fight with something we didn''t expect, do you want me to talk here?" (Leo) "No, wait until the meeting at the mansion starts, we''d all better listen together." (I) "As you wish." (Leo) "You should change, it''ll make Caryna cry if she sees you like this." (I) "You can be right, she doesn''t like to see blood, she also hates it when the people she cares about are hurt." (Leo) "I know that, that''s why I walk away from her when I have to do something that will hurt me." (I) "I appreciate that, I hate to see her sad or worried." (Leo) "Then try to be strong enough not to get hurt next time so she won''t worry about you so much." (I) "Talking makes it seem easy, but I''m not like you master, even though I train a lot I know I won''t become strong overnight." (Leo) After a little chat with Leo I leave, on the way I see Caryna, Alice, and Nolan taking several carts with food to the camp, I greet them and head to the mansion. "Welcome back, Master." (Sophia) "I''m back." (I) "Everyone is already here, you were the last to arrive." (Sophia) "I already imagined that I had to fight the last enemies, so it was inevitable that I would be the last." (I) "Where are Vanessa and Irina?" (I) "They are resting, in addition to having fought the two, they also helped in the treatment of several allies in the camp, as there was no one else very seriously injured I dragged them back to rest." (Sophia) "Good job, they can''t overdo it." (I) "By the state of your clothes I can tell it was an intense battle, are you ok master?" (Sophia) "I''m fine, I was in need of a battle like this where there was nothing around to worry about but the enemy, thanks to that I think I''m starting to fight better against large groups of enemies." (I) "I don''t know how the master got in this dirty state, I fought by his side and I''m still clean." (Layla) "You didn''t just watch the master fight without doing anything, did you Layla?" (Sophia) "Of course not, I fought too." (Layla) "She used a weird barrier to keep from getting dirty while she struggled." (I) While talking to Sophia who stayed at the mansion, I head upstairs to grab some clothes before going to take a shower, I can''t keep dirt and dried blood on me forever. - I took my time in the shower to check out the notifications I had been ignoring before. Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 21933 EXP for killing enemies ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Lower Insatiable Stomach: 4 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Improved Hearing: 5 > 6 ] ]> . . <[ Your work has leveled up ]> . . <[ You have reached the maximum level ]> . . <[ Your work has reached the maximum level ]> I already imagined that after defeating so many enemies this would happen, it looks like I''ll evolve tonight, I think I''ll take advantage of my relaxed mood to meditate and integrate this EXP. I spend a few minutes sitting with my hands on my knees meditating to better absorb the EXP in my body, after doing this so many times since I was born in this world I''ve gotten used to it. As soon as I finished I finished my shower and got dressed while thinking that it was a shame not to have more skills leveling up, it seems that it is not as easy as it was in the past, the higher you get, the harder it is to climb. I didn''t care much about the bloodlines I acquired, they weren''t of use to me at the moment, I also realize that it won''t be easy to acquire skills from now on, even after having killed so many and drinking their blood I only gained those few skills, I imagine that I should already have the skills that I would acquire from them. I also noticed that I acquired almost no abilities from the rabbit blood I drank in the past, I only received these. Abilities gained from Rabbit Blood: [ Reinforced Rabbit Horn Production: 1 ] [ Magic Rabbit Horn Production: 1 ] [ 3D Maneuvers: 1 ] [ Breath of Ice: 1 ] I only received these abilities from the dozen barrels of Rabbit blood I consumed, there were very few but I can''t do anything about it. But I must say it''s a shame I didn''t acquire abilities from the bloodlines I create by synthesizing other bloodlines together, I was very interested in the abilities I could get from the Rabbits'' final synthesis bloodline, the bloodline name was [ Mystic Rabbit (Unique ): 100% ]. This bloodline must be very powerful, but it is useless to me. knock knock knock "Master, are you still in the bath?" (Freya) While I was lost among various random thoughts, I heard someone knocking on the bathroom door and talking to me, it was Freya. "I''m leaving, Freya." (I) "Just wanted to say that the others are in the ballroom, a big table has been set up there for you, the village leader Sapphire and the village council representatives to gather." (Freya) "Thanks, I''ll be down in a few minutes." (I) After Freya''s warning, I dry off and get ready before heading downstairs. - After I was clean and tidy I go to the meeting place, Layla didn''t want to participate in this meeting which according to her is very boring, so she went to check how the other Fairies inside the Dungeon are doing and also went to see the Cradle of fairies. When I arrive I find everyone talking about their battles, one of the things I discovered was that all representatives of the various races have Grade A strength, the strongest person in the village really is Sapphire with a strength equal to Elsaris being in Grade SS. I walk in and sit in the only empty chair that was probably reserved for me, as soon as I sat down the village leader turned her face towards me. "Glad you arrived, we were waiting for you to start the meeting." (Sapphire) "Sorry I''m late, I needed a shower and a new outfit, I couldn''t walk around with dried blood trapped in my body." (I) "I can understand that, that was a problem for me many times when I was younger." (Sapphire) "But it''s been a long time since I''ve been covered in an enemy''s blood or even my own blood, most of them die in a single attack and I don''t even need to get close." (Sapphire) "I could have fought from a distance too, but I wanted to train in melee combat with a large number of enemies." (I) "I respect your way of training, many don''t have that boldness or courage, I''ve also done this kind of thing in the past, these experiences make you stronger." (Sapphire) "(Master we have a problem.)" (Nix) As I talk to the village leader, I suddenly hear Nix''s hurried voice in my head, I close my eyes to focus on her. "(What''s up, Nix?)" (I) "(I guess we''ll have to change our plans.)" (Nix) Chapter 263: Change Of Plans And Evolution Part 2 Chapter 263: Change Of Plans And Evolution Part 2 I was in the room where we are going to have the meeting after the battle, I was the last to arrive and I was talking to the Sapphire village leader when suddenly Nix contacts me through my mind, for her to avoid using my shadow to talk to me I mean that must be something important. "(What happened?)" (I) "(Why are you saying we''re going to have to change our plans?)" (I) "(A Wind Spirit just arrived, he was the one who was responsible for watching over one of the other two patrolling Farus troops that we were going to attack.)" (Nix) "(This Spirit flew here to warn you that the two troops have changed direction and are heading towards us, besides they will meet in less than a day and should arrive here in two days maximum.)" (Nix) "What!?" (I) Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com "How is that possible? Has he already discovered us!?" (I) "What''s going on Zenos? What are you talking about?" (Sapphire) I was a little shocked by the turn of events that I ended up speaking out loud rather than just conveying my thoughts to Nix, I only realized what I had done when the village leader spoke to me. "" (I) I look around and notice that everyone is looking at me, the room was completely silent while everyone looks worried as they look at me, even the village leader has a serious expression. "(Thanks for the info Nix, I''ll send Layla to get this Fairy.)" (I) "(Okay.)" (Nix) I contact Layla. "(Layla, get out of the Dungeon and bring the Wind Spirit that Nix points to the mansion, I need you to do it now.)" (I) "(Just when I thought I could rest, it''s ok, I''ll be right back.)" (Layla) "(Thank you.)" (I) "Don''t keep us waiting, say something Zenos." (Sapphire) "Sorry, I was talking to Nix and Layla, I''ll explain to you what''s going on." (I) I pull out a large map that represents the mountain range, then take a pen and set it next to the map. "I''ll be straight, the other two troops of Farus that we were going to attack one by one are heading our way now." (I) "The two troops should join in less than a day and arrive here in about two days." (I) "Did they find us?" (Sapphire) "I''m not sure, but we''ll find out more soon." (I) "How did you find this out?" (Nymph leader) "I just learned, the Wind Spirit that brought this information is being brought here by Layla." (I) "How many are now among the combined army?" (Ghoul Leader) "If the numbers of the two troops are the same as the one we won, then it will be 10000 soldiers, 10 captains and 4 generals." (I) "DANG! We''re going to be outnumbered again, we''re only around 8000." (Orc Leader) "Farus'' troops also surpass us in strength, it takes two of our own to defeat one of his warriors." (Ogre Leader) "If that''s true, then why didn''t this troop receive any visits from an Undead Bird?" (Nymph leader) "Because these troops were already on their way back, that''s why we chose to defeat them first." (Sapphire) "That makes sense." (Ogre Leader) "The important thing now is to decide what to do, we can fight or run back to the village." (Ghoul Leader) "We will really be in a bad position if we decide to fight, what do you think of this situation Zenos? Do you think we would win against these two troops together?" (Sapphire) "Even if it''s dangerous, I still think we should fight, our plans were to weaken Farus'' troops by decreasing the number of his army and killing some Grade S strength generals." (I) "Not knowing why these two troops are heading back to their base makes me worried, besides, we may not have another opportunity like this." (I) "How do you plan for us to fight so many enemies? Your plan may be of help so far, but I don''t think it will be useful this time." (Sapphire) "It will actually be very useful, the main feature of the plan we''ve been using is separating the enemies and throwing them where we want." (I) "You may also have noticed that we have people capable enough to face the generals of Farus, all we need is to attack the generals first, they are the biggest threat." (I) "Sorry to interrupt, Master." (Leo) "But before you continue planning our next move, I need to inform you about something that happened during our battle today." (Leo) "It must have been something important for you to want to talk about before we formed a plan against the two troops that are coming here." (I) Leo steps forward and stands by my side, he looks a little nervous about having interrupted our conversation, it looks like something important has actually happened, I imagine that''s what he wanted to tell me about when I arrived. "Go ahead and tell me what you want to talk about." (I) "The place where I fought today was the one that had the most deaths on our side, this is due to a Mage who appeared near the end of the battle, as soon as he saw all his allies on the ground dead and that he was surrounded by our allies he smiled, that Mage pulled out a purple crystal which he threw on the ground to shatter at his feet." (Leo) "When the crystal shattered a magic circle formed and began to absorb the power and vitality of that Mage, after that this Mage became an Undead as the magic circle expanded covering the entire room turning all the dead into Undead. " (Leo) "But I noticed that the Undead we had already defeated were not affected by the magic circle, only those who were alive before were turned Undead." (Leo) "This is new, I didn''t know they could do this without Farus, did you know that village leader?" (I) When I looked at the village leader I saw an expression of surprise and after concern on her face, it seems that she didn''t know that either. "I didn''t know that either, what kind of item was that crystal? Was it an item they got in the Dungeons?" (Sapphire) "No, it was probably a crystal with the magic stored inside." (Vanessa) Vanessa who was supposed to be tending to the wounded and then resting came back at some point without me noticing, she looks a little tired but her expression is serious. "Looks like you know what this crystal was, can you tell us more about it." (I) "Of course, but Anton would be better to explain everything about this crystal as it is an item used in the construction of weapons and magic items." (Vanessa) "First tell me what you know, I don''t need a full description about it, I just need to know how this crystal is used, I''ll also need to know how rare it is." (I) "This crystal is made using monster cores as a base by Alchemists, its manufacturing process is not difficult as far as I know, but the process is very time consuming and needs a lot of mana." (Vanessa) "There are many different types of crystal, from the purple color Leo mentioned it should be a crystal made using Affinity with curses." (Vanessa) "These crystals can store magic circles inside to help the Mage, using it as a disposable item as Leo mentioned might increase its power, but it''s a silly way to use it." (Vanessa) I understand Vanessa''s explanation, but it worries me that Farus may have more of these crystals, it could be dangerous from now on. Chapter 264: Change Of Plans And Evolution Part 3 Chapter 264: Change Of Plans And Evolution Part 3 There are simply too many things to consider, I thought we could keep doing everything the same way, I was naive to think that I would easily defeat Farus'' troops, but now I get two news that made me realize that things don''t always go the way they do. plan. First comes a Wind Spirit to give us the news that the other two troops we were going to attack are on their way and will meet before they reach us. As if the first news wasn''t bad enough, Leo tells us about what happened in the place where he fought and about the crystal that turned all the corpses into the Undead. "(Nix was right, there will have to be changed to the plan.)" (I) "This is the first I''ve heard about these crystals, if that''s true then Farus doesn''t need to be always present to turn corpses into Undead." (Sapphire) "It makes things more difficult than planned." (Ghoul Leader) Everyone started to discuss what they thought we should do again, I decided not to participate in the conversation now, I closed my eyes and started doing some simulations in my head using the new information we had. - I think it must have been almost an hour since I''m doing these simulations in my head, I''m already feeling mentally tired, I didn''t have time to rest after my fight, I thought it would be a quick meeting, I didn''t know it would turn into this one heated discussion. I open my eyes only to realize that the argument continues and that they have split into two sides, those who think it''s best to go back to the village and those who believe we should fight now. "You finally opened your eyes, could you think of anything?" (Sapphire) "" (I) While everyone was arguing I noticed that the people in my group were quiet without saying anything, they didn''t participate in the discussion, meanwhile, the village leader was doing her best to calm the others by serving as a mediator between the two groups, so she looks at me with a glint of hope in her eyes. When the village leader spoke to me, everyone stopped talking and looked in my direction. "I''ll be honest, things are difficult, but I think we should continue with our current plan with some changes." (I) "I must warn you that there will be many deaths, but we should still be able to win." (I) "Any warrior of my race is ready to die the moment he takes his weapons." (Orc Leader) "My race doesn''t like combat like the Ogres, but we''re not afraid to die to defend our people." (Nymph leader) "Every Arachne that came to this village with me was ready to die taking their enemies with them." (Helena) "As you can see, Zenos." (Sapphire) "Everyone who has entered this Dungeon to join the battle has the determination to fight even knowing the risks, as long as there is still a chance to win, so get straight to the point." (Sapphire) "We''re going to stick to our plans, we''re going to bring the generals into the dungeon, but we''re not going to fight them right away, we''re going to leave them trapped inside the dungeon while we fight outside against the army formed by the joining of the two troops." (I) "But if we do that we''ll be outnumbered again." (Ogre Leader) "But we''re going to have people with Grade S and higher strength, as long as we can defeat the troops in less than an hour, we can take care of the generals later." (Sapphire) "That''s what I thought, but that too will have its risks." (I) "I see, in a head-on battle like this many on our side will die, I can imagine that more than half of my people will die this way." (Hobgoblin leader) "If you who are the weakest race fight head-on, then you will have many deaths." (I) "But if you can arm the Hobgoblins at a distance and tell them to help others by attacking from afar, then you can avoid a lot of these unnecessary deaths." (I) "Arrows wouldn''t do much against Farus'' troops who don''t feel pain or fear during combat, they don''t even care about their wounds." (Hobgoblin leader) "But if these arrows contain various types of poisons from the potions Lyra made, then Hobgoblins can be of great help in battle while fighting from afar weakening the enemy." (I) After doing all this I make my bedtime preparations early. Zzzzzzz Zzzzz Zzz Ding! Ding! <[ "EVOLUTION REQUIREMENTS FULFILLED" ]> - Pov of a Dryad: A village is hidden in the mountain range. I spent most of my life in this place, before coming here all I knew was killing my enemies, I didn''t know anything else, but now the killing has just become the last option for me. I would do anything to protect this village, I would do anything to protect my children, I have watched them be born, grow up, have children of their own, grow old and die. This is my home, the people of this village are my family, but I can''t do anything to help my children, I have to watch my children go out to battle without knowing if they will make it back. All I want is to be able to go with them to fight Farus, to be there to defend them, but I can''t leave this place, all I can do is stay here and wait in the hope that they all come back safe. "" (I) "You look sad Dryad, are you worried about the people of your village?" I, who was always one of the strongest in the mountain range and who prided myself on my powers of perception, was once again surprised by a visitor whose voice I recognize. I look up and see a beautiful woman who looks like a White Elf with green hair and eyes wearing a leaf dress, she had a crown of twigs on her head and green butterfly wings on her back, this was the same Fairy Queen I met before. This Fairy Queen was sitting on one of my branches so close to me and I still couldn''t feel her until she spoke to me, I''m not able to measure such a level of strength, in her presence I just feel like kneeling down, but I do the same. possible not to do this. "To what do I owe your great presence once again, Fairy Queen?" (I) "You don''t have to be so formal with me, you can call me Hera." (Fairy Queen) "As you wish, Miss Hera." (I) "You know I like you, I''ve watched you since I came to the mountain range, for a dryad you are very peaceful and I can feel your strong connection with nature." (Hera) "Even now I can tell by your Aura that you''re frustrated, I imagine it''s being stuck in this place, right?" (Hera) "You''re right, I wish I could join the fight against Farus, if I was there less of my children would die in the battle." (I) "Most Dryads have more bloodlust or lust in their Auras, but what I feel from you is love, you love this village, you love the people of this village and you love nature." (Hera) "You enchanted me Dryad, but also made me realize something I can do for Zenos if he fulfills a request from our Goddess, thank you." (Hera) "(A request from the Fairy Goddess to Zenos? Who is this Vampire really?)" (I) "I was sorry I couldn''t help you with what was to come after the fight against Farus, but now I have an excellent idea, but I''m going to have to call a friend, see you more Dryad." (Hera) Without giving me another chance to speak, a light breeze hits the Fairy Queen''s body which turns into leaves and flies away along with the wind. "What does she mean by what''s to come after the fight against Farus?" (I) Chapter 265: Missing Troop Chapter 265: Missing Troop Pov of a Lich: I was in my laboratory making another magic crystal for master Farus, as we already have 15 ready the master allowed me to distribute ten among some Mages capable of activating the magic circle that the master placed in the crystals. Master Farus is close to completely conquering this mountain range, when that happens we will be close to fulfilling the objective of our great God. The Holy Tool that our great God bestowed on Master Farus is making the mountain range a much more comfortable place for us to live, this is pulling the miasma accumulated in the subterranean caverns to the outside. I am very proud to have been summoned by Master Farus to serve him, to have the chance to see so many creatures dying, to see the master collecting their souls for our great God. Unfortunately, I can''t go out and enjoy the carnage like the other generals do, my job to protect Master Farus and make these crystals is more important. "Great sir, we have a problem." (Assistant) My assistant, an intelligent young Ghoul with an Affinity with curses, enters my laboratory and kneels down behind me, I speak to her without interrupting the process of creating the magic crystal I am already finishing. "What troubles happened? I hope it''s important or you''ll become the new guinea pig for my magical experiments." (I) "This is important great sir." (Assistant) "Then speak at once!" (I) "As the lord ordered I sent an Undead bird that I created to be my Familiar to follow the army that was sent to devastate the village that master Farus found, I gave the item to collect the vital energy and souls to him as the sir ordered, but he came back today with the items empty and when I looked at his memories I realized that the village that should have already been destroyed is still intact." (Assistant) "WHAT!!!??" (I) "You mean that a small village that should have had less than a thousand creatures was able to defeat our mighty army of 4000 undead being led by 2 generals!?" (I) "That''s the weird part, I''ve looked through my Familiar''s entire memory, there doesn''t seem to be any signs of battle in the village." (Assistant) "As my familiar took the same way back I searched his memory and found no place with fight scenes, it seems as if the troops sent had disappeared, not even their bodies were found by my Familiar." (Assistant) "Something must have happened, this subject is very strange." (I) "You did well to come and inform me, it''s been a few days since this happened, so I must inform Master Farus as soon as possible." (I) "In the meantime, go inside the Tree Dungeon to see the progress of our elite troops, see how many survived, and bring back the bodies of the weak, even in their deaths they can still be of use to master Farus." (I) "Yes, great lord." (Assistant) The purple Aura starts to leave the master''s body as the symbol of our God on his chest starts to glow, then the master calms down and goes to a statue on the wall on my right side, this is the glorious statue of our great God representing her inspiring and dignified figure. It was a five-meter tall statue of a glorious being that had a lower body made of columns and bones intertwined forming a magnificent snake''s tail, its upper body was humanoid with six arms, had wings made of bones, and had three skull heads that appear to be of divine beasts with three horns each, such a magnificent image is only allowed in the master''s throne room, this statue was something the master brought back from the caves, a gift from our God Kaharak the God of death and desecration. The master steps over the Lamia stepping on it and walking to the statue where he kneels, then he closes his eyes and the symbol on his chest glows at the same time as a glow appears in the statue''s eyes. A magnificent presence is emitted from the statue that fills the throne room with miasma, I patiently wait for Master Farus'' next words as I know he is receiving the divine message from our God Kaharak. After a few minutes the master''s body is covered in sweat and blood starts to come out of his eyes and the symbol on his chest, then the presence that was being emitted from the statue disappears and master Farus gets up with difficulty, I reach for him to support and help him walk to the throne where he sits. "Our God said that he felt the presence of powerful Fairies in the mountain range, it may have been they who made our troops disappear so mysteriously." (Farus) "Fairy interference was not expected, maybe we will have to advance our plans, so order all troops outside the fortress walls to return, it will also bring back everyone who is still inside the Dungeons." (Farus) "Fairies may not dare make a move in this place where we worship our God." (Farus) "I will carry out your orders now, master." (I) "Also, get this green snake out of here, it''s not ready for conversion yet, but it''s not long." (Farus) "Yes, my master." (I) I raise my draft and shadow tentacles come out of my shadow grabbing this Lamia''s snake tail, then I start to walk as my shadow tentacles pull this Lamia through the hallways, I lead her outside to the courtyard where some of our armies are training and I leave her there. I have to summon some Dead Birds to send the master''s return messages, if I''m not mistaken there should only be three more troops patrolling the mountain range, one of these is coming back and should arrive in a few days, so I just have to warn the others two troops. I climb to the top of a tower where a magic circle the master drew is, I place some silver coins and place two bird-type monster cores, then focus my mana on my staff and hit my staff on the magic circle activating it again activating the magic circle. "< Summon Undead: Dead Bird >" (I) The silver coins turn to mana and are sucked into the magic circle just like my mana, so the two monster cores sink inside the magic circle, a few seconds later two purple energy cocoons come out of the magic circle and float in front of me. Soon the energy cocoons dispersed showing two birds made of bones with spectral bodies covering them the two birds landed in front of me as soon as the magic circle stopped glowing. I pull out two papers and a pen and write down the master''s orders, then roll them up and put them in a small tube that I attach to the birds'' legs, then place my skeletal finger on their skulls to transfer the information from the two troops'' locations to their heads. "They go!" (I) The two birds leave the tower window flying in the directions I gave them, it seems now that everything is ok I go down this tower and go back to my laboratory, in a few days the troops will be here. Chapter 266: Fairy Goddesss Request Chapter 266: Fairy Goddess''s Request The last thing I remember is going to bed early to rest after a long day, but now everything around me is dark and I''m alone not knowing what to do or where to go, I don''t understand what''s going on. "Why is he still sleeping?" (Goddess Selene) "Can''t you see that your soul is hurt?" (Goddess Aine) "" (I) "These are not injuries, at most they could be considered some bruises." (Goddess Selene) "This was probably caused by the God your Fairies are hunting now, it must have been caused when he took the Dungeon core." (Goddess Selene) "What are we going to do now? I don''t want to be healing him all the time, I''m not his private doctor." (Goddess Aine) "Don''t worry, something of this level of damage will heal on its own, it will even make your soul a little tougher." (Goddess Selene) "" (I) "So how do you want to wake him up? If you want I can shock him, it''ll be fun." (Goddess Aine) "If it''s you doing this, you''ll end up destroying his soul, let me show you the way a mother wakes her child." (Goddess Selene) While I was in that dark place I started to hear voices as if they were very far away, I heard it as if it was a mere whisper, but suddenly I feel a pain in my stomach and I feel as if I have been thrown into the air. I didn''t quite understand what was going on, but soon my likes seem to hit something flat and hard causing some pain, then my eyes opened showing that I''m in the same Throne room where I talked to the Goddess Selene last time, but this time Once my point of view was from above and I realized I was on the ceiling when I saw two Goddesses looking at me with smiles on their faces. With no time to process everything that was happening I start to fall and before I hit the ground, I spin in the air and drop to one knee on the ground, then I hear applause from the two Goddesses. "You woke up faster than I expected, it seems your condition is much better than I thought it was." (Goddess Selene) "Great way to fall, it was an excellent show." (Goddess Aine) "What''s going on here? Why was I falling as soon as I woke up? Why are you two here?" (I) "Nothing''s happening, we were just waiting for you to wake up." (Goddess Aine) "Welcome back Zenos, congratulations on evolving again my child." (Goddess) "Evolving?" (I) "(That''s right, I had reached my max level, I was going to evolve overnight, how could I forget that.)" (I) I stand as I look at these two Goddesses, I already expected to find Goddess Selene during my evolution, but I don''t understand why the Fairy Goddess is here either. The Goddess Selene snaps her fingers and suddenly we''re all on a porch sitting at a table with three cups of tea in front of us. "This place is more comfortable for us to talk." (Goddess Selene) "I don''t want tea." (Goddess Aine) Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com The Goddess Aine snaps her fingers making the teacup in front of her disappear and a glass of blue juice appear in its place. "You love sweet things as always." (Goddess Selene) "We shouldn''t be wasting too much time here, he won''t stay forever in your Selene God Realm." (Goddess Aine) "Fine, I''ll talk to Nix about it later, but it''ll have to wait until I defeat Farus." (I) "It''s fine by me." (Goddess Aine) Now that this is all over, there are some important questions I have to ask. "Now that this is all over, let me ask you a few questions." (I) "You can do it, I''ll answer depending on the question." (Goddess Selene) "I was wondering why I can''t synthesize my Elemental Affinities, do you know anything?" (I) "You''ll never get that, Elemental Affinities can only fuse with Affinities of the same Element until they solidify a pure element." (Goddess Selene) "If you try to force a fusion between Affinities of different elements then it will only bring about your own destruction." (Goddess Selene) "But then why was I able to fuse spells from different elements?" (I) "Magic is how you control and use your power (mana), but your Affinity is the very essence of that power, take your Fairy, for example, she has multiple elements, but they are all separate within her." (Goddess Aine) "You can harmonize these elements for more power by using them together, but you won''t be able to fuse them." (Goddess Aine) "I think I understand." (I) "Any more questions my child?" (Goddess Selene) "Wanted to know if it''s safe to merge my Aura abilities?" (I) "You can do this as long as it''s not a unique skill from this evolution, now your body and soul must bear it, but I must say it will be immense pain that you will have to endure." (Goddess Selene) "But it will only be a pain, it won''t do you any real harm." (Goddess Selene) "Aura skills are characteristics of one''s own normal Aura, merging these characteristics will make your own normal Aura stronger and deeper, it will also make it harder for others to read your Aura." (Goddess Selene) "Why can''t I fuse a unique Aura skill?" (I) "Because your body and soul couldn''t withstand the impact, you would need to be a Demigod at least to withstand it, the only reason you feel able to synthesize Aura''s abilities is because you''re my son." (Goddess Selene) "" (I) "Okay, I understand, I have a few more questions" (I) While listening to the explanation of the two Goddesses I look up to try to get my mind in order as I try to say something, but I see something so strange that I am paralyzed without understanding what it was. "(I think I saw it move)" (I) "Your time is up, until next time my child." (Goddess Selene) "Take good care of the people of that village, after all, they won''t have a place to stay for long." (Goddess Aine) "Wait, wait, what did you just say" (I) Soon I see my hand start to disappear faster and faster, I look away from above for a second to look at the Fairy Goddess hearing something very strange, but the next moment I look up I see it clearly this way time the sun moves aiming that line in the middle of the sun towards me as if it were an eye. "This time I saw it move, this time I" (I) Before he finished speaking, everything went dark again. Chapter 267: I Wish To Kneel Chapter 267: I Wish To Kneel Pov Sapphire: Sigh I thought everything was going as we planned, I thought the battles had been easy because we were outnumbered this time, but once I got to the third floor and passed the camp I realized how wrong I was. I stayed in the camp for a while to see people from my village coming back and I noticed that there were many wounded and there were more than a hundred dead this time. That was just a quick count I did, after that, I went to the meeting at Zenos'' mansion along with the village council and those of Zenos'' group. During the meeting two bad pieces of information come out, the first one is about a crystal that can turn the recently dead into undead. The other bad information was about our next two targets, it looks like the two have teamed up and we''re heading in that direction, if our deduction is correct they''re heading back to Farus'' stronghold. Knowing that the enemy was going to be outnumbered and thinking that they might have more surprises we don''t know about made me feel a little scared as the village council split into two sides, one side in favor of returning to the village and the other side in favor of continuing with our attack, the members of Zenos'' group were quiet without saying anything, Zenos himself had his eyes closed as he had a serious expression on his face showing that he was thinking about all this. I tried to calm the conversation until Zenos opened his eyes, he''s already proved to be better than me with planning, so I''d better let him think about it and see if he can get us out of this crisis too. As I expected, Zenos opened his eyes with a viable plan, in fact, it was a different way of using the plan that we were already using, we all listened to him, and even before he spoke the dangers of the plan had already been noticed. This was our best chance to end Farus, the more time we waste the worse our situation will be if we return to the village nothing will change and it will only be a matter of time until our defeat. As the village leader, I have to accept the weight of the sacrifices they will have during the battle, the lives my people lose are my responsibility. Even if many die, the chances of this Zenos plan being a success is still high, so I accepted, then we started to decide where we would attack Farus'' troops, after that we closed the meeting and continued talking with the village council about preparations that we will do before the battle. - I''m lying on the branch of a big tree with my tail wrapped around the branch, that''s one of the fruit trees we brought from the mountain range here into the dungeon, I''m eating one of its fruit as I look up to the sky and think of the battle that gets closer. I chose to stay in this place because I can feel a great harmony of nature in this place, it calms me down in the same way that talking to the Guardian always calmed me down. "Are you thinking about the upcoming battle?" (Ivan) While I was lost in my thoughts, that Undead from Zenos'' group approaches a strange girl. The girl has silver eyes and light red hair, she looks young but I can tell she looks like this Undead. "This isn''t the first time we''ve seen each other, but nice to meet you, leader of the village, my name is Lyra, I''m the daughter of this pile of bones." (lyra) "What a cruel thing to say, what part of this handsome man looks like a pile of bones?" (Ivan) "That''s just your spectral body ability, not your true appearance, father." (lyra) - Pov Sophia: "Your punches are very aggressive, how many times do I need to say that being aggressive is not the same as being strong, now repeat this sequence of punches 100 more times until I can do it without even having to think." (I) "Yes, Coach." (Alice) I didn''t participate in the meeting that the master held with the people of the village, of that mattered to me as I am a true warrior who swore loyalty to a master, no matter where the master sends me to fight, I will go. So I don''t care what they decide at these meetings, but even so, Freya always makes a point of keeping me updated, especially with the change of situation as our next battle will be. Instead of attending this meeting, I preferred to stay training Alice all afternoon until the evening part, not because I''m too demanding, but because she asked, Alice seems obsessed with getting strong for some reason, even the master noticed that and asked me to guide her to the right path. Alice is very isolated from everyone unlike Nolan who is always interacting with everyone, Alice only talks to Irina, rica, and the master. She seems to have a lot of respect for everyone, but I can see that she admires the master a lot, I''ve seen her spying on the master''s insane training more than once, I''ve even seen her spying on the moments when the master does dangerous things like consuming the bloodline of Dragon or merge powerful bloodlines, she doesn''t say anything but it looks like she is mirroring the master which is very dangerous, the master does these dangerous things but he has the potential to withstand this madness, unfortunately, Alice has no potential for combat. Alice''s body seems weaker than a normal Vampire''s, but it seems that she has talent with magic, but she doesn''t have the patience to learn little by little, I hope that with hard training she can better control her emotions and put her thoughts in order. "Coach, when are you going to teach me about Auras?" (Alice) "It would be useless to teach you now, learning about Auras without having an Aura skill as a starting point can be frustrating." (I) "You could spend years trying to learn from an Aura master and never succeed, take the master, for example, he has multiple Aura skills but he doesn''t have complete control over them, he can barely hide his normal Aura." (I) "It''s already night, we should stop your training and" (I) "What a magnificent presence this is" (Alice) "Master" (I) As I was going to ask to finish the training today, I suddenly feel an Aura spread all over the place, this Aura is very familiar to me, this chaotic, deep, layered and mysterious Aura can only belong to the master. Just feeling his Aura made me realize that it''s not one of his abilities, it''s not a characteristic of his Aura, this is the master''s normal Aura, his true Aura that exploded spreading all over the place and harmonizing with the environment in a way that I didn''t even know was possible. As soon as I felt this Aura I knelt down instinctively, being surrounded by the Master''s Aura makes me feel like I''m being embraced by him and fills me with power while making me feel safe. But I felt that the Master''s Aura was being sucked by something, it was almost imperceptible if you don''t have a lot of experience with Aura manipulation, so I see several glowing spheres appearing and I know they are Fairies and Infant Spirits. Soon these spheres absorb traces of the Master''s Aura as they create cocoons for themselves, I can feel traces of Auras starting to appear inside the cocoons as silhouettes form, then Fairies and Spirits are born from within the crystals in a magnificent scene I never thought would return. to see. "Since I left the side of the World Tree I never thought I would see the birth of Fairies and Spirits again." (I)Yo?ur favorite stories at novelhall.com Chapter 268: Strange Dream Chapter 268: Strange Dream Pov Goddess Selene: After Zenos disappeared I jockeyed out the teacup I was holding and created a jug of wine to drink. "I have to agree with you Akatosh, his reaction was very funny." (I) "Too bad he disappeared before the best part hahahahahaha" (Aine) "Ha ha hahahaha" (Akatosh) A light shines in the sky showing the usual red moon, so Akatosh reverts to his teenage form as he descends and sits in the spot where Zenos was moments ago. "He really is someone interesting, but his soul" (Akatosh) "I know, I know, you don''t have to worry, I''m doing an excellent job hiding him so no one will be able to see through him." (I) "I saw the change you made to his soul with that kick, are you trying to awaken what''s hidden there?" (Akatosh) "No, I just want his Aura to fully awaken, it looks like his Aura is in a kind of dormant state because of the excess Aura abilities he has, they hadn''t fully integrated yet, so I gave him a little help by making his power of devouring consuming the Auras with your soul, that should resolve it." (I) "That was interesting to see in more ways than one, I feel like he''s not just embodying chaos, he''s really embodying darkness and blood." (Aine) "That''s an odd combination, even for him." (Akatosh) "He''ll figure it out." (I) "You know what you''ve done will make your normal Aura explode in power with a stronger bond with your traits, right?" (Akatosh) "Yes I know, this could be dangerous if he were somewhere else as it would draw too much attention, but now he''s inside the Dungeon." (I) "Actually this is going to be an amazing event for me if what I hope happens to happen." (Aine) "What are you talking about?" (I) "Your Aura exploding in power during your evolution will affect the Cradle of the Fairies and the environment around you, this can help the Infant Fairies to harmonize with nature and finally be born considering the characteristics of their Aura." (Aine) "That would be amazing, if they are affected by his Aura at birth, then they will awaken their Auras very early as well." (Akatosh) "It''s going to be a lot of talented Fairies, not to mention it has a chance to affect the Spirits as well." (Aine) "If that happens, then Dravos will be very happy." (I) Zenos is growing bigger and bigger, with every step he takes he affects more and more the world around him without realizing that the light waves he is creating have become gigantic in the future. "You forgot to warn him about what will happen when he defeats the Necromancer." (Akatosh) "I wouldn''t warn him, he has to learn to do things himself, but it looks like Aine had a say before he disappeared." (I) "All this is part of my plans, you should be happy, if all goes well there will soon be a new city worshiping your name in the world." (Aine) "I think I feel sorry for the kid, you guys are basically playing with him." (Akatosh) "I just want to speed up the process, we don''t have all the time in the world to wait, this peace could be broken in months or years, we don''t have the luxury of sitting idly by." (Aine) "That''s true." (I) "Then why don''t you give it to him, if I''m not mistaken it''s inside your blood dungeon." (Akatosh) "It''s not at the moment yet, it needs to grow stronger first." (I) - Pov Zenos: Ding! Ding! <[ "EVOLUTION REQUIREMENTS FULFILLED" ]> . . . <[ "ANALYZING POSSIBLE EVOLUTION POSSIBILITIES" ]> . . <[ ANALYZING TITLES ]> . [ Chaos Mystic Rabbit (Unique) ] ]> I wasn''t seeing things, I''m sure that Sun looked at me as if it were a colossal eye, but for that to be true it means that the owner of such an eye would have to be bigger than a whole planet, that''s impossible. That must surely be an illusion or a joke from those two Goddesses, I always get the impression that this Fairy Goddess''s manner is similar to Layla''s, so that would be easier to believe. But let''s not think about it now, I''m in the middle of my evolution, so let me take a look at my options, but before I see I already know which one I''m going to choose, I had been thinking about it a few days ago. It seems that some races have disappeared and new ones have appeared, even if some seem interesting I don''t want to take any risks, as the old saying goes "don''t mess with a winning team". I think that this time I don''t need to waste time thinking, I want to continue with the same type of creature I am now, so I will directly choose the Race [ Noble Twilight Vampire (Archduke) ] Ding! <[ "NOBLE TWILIGHT VAMPIRE (ARCHDUKE) CHOSEN" ]> . <[ "STARTING EVOLUTION" ]> . . . . . <[ "EVOLUTION IN PROCESS" ]> . . . . . . <[ "EVOLUTION COMPLETE" ]> - After choosing my evolution I was in the dark space again, but I felt that this time it was different, it was as if I could feel something more than myself in this darkness. Devour! Suddenly I could feel some presences around me, soon I started to see silhouettes in the darkness, but something strange happens and a red light starts to shine revealing all dark space. Devour it all! That''s when I discovered that those silhouettes were me, they were images of me but their eyes were closed while they were turned towards me, I felt a strange sensation as if it were me and at the same time no, I had never felt anything like it, I looked at those other people who looked like me and I didn''t know how to recognize them. DEVOUR EVERYTHING! Without my noticing it a sensation grew inside me, a sensation that told me to devour and consume these beings that looked like me, this sensation only got stronger and stronger until I feel something moving in this space and I look at the floor. What I saw was my own shadow moving, my shadow splits and stretches towards all these beings linking them with me through our shadows, at that moment these beings begin to sink into the shadows and as they sink into the shadows their eyes open, when they are completely consumed by the shadows I can see eyes open in the shadows, they were eyes the same color as mine, one black eye, and the other golden eye. These shadows had the same silhouette as mine and they all seemed to belong to me, the strange feeling was gone, I felt like this was how it should have been from the start, felt like I was complete. At that moment the strange red light that was illuminating all this space starts to focus only on me letting the rest of the space go back to darkness, then I feel this light becoming red energy that sinks inside me until there is no more light in this space leaving just darkness again. But that wasn''t all, I was feeling something pulse inside of me, it was like there was something trapped inside me trying to get out, this pulse kept getting stronger and stronger until it felt like it was going to explode from the inside out, then something seemed to click inside me like pieces falling into place, I felt a strange sensation course through my body and explode like a wave of amorphous energy outward. As this wave of energy traveled in all directions like an expanding circle, the dark space was replaced by a place I knew. First, it was my bed, then my room, then the mansion, then the gardens, and as the wave continued to expand it was like I could see and feel all these places at the same time, it was like I could even feel people walking by everywhere, I was strangely calm at the moment. Soon I felt something else in this space, I felt several spheres appearing in this space, I could feel a primal will within these spheres, it seemed that these spheres wanted this energy that came out of my body, they seemed eager for it and it seemed that they were waiting for my approval. "If you like it, then you can take it." (I) I don''t know why, but a feeling of happiness welled up inside me, as if I understood what I wanted, this energy went to the spheres of its own volition and was absorbed by the spheres, so I felt as if the tenuous will I felt inside of the spheres grew more and more. I felt a strong familiarity forming between me and these spheres, at that moment my consciousness suddenly becomes blurry, so I fall into darkness again without understanding anything that just happened. All this time I felt like I was still in a dream, I couldn''t think clearly and just got carried away by the events. Chapter 269: Damn Evolution Chapter 269: Damn Evolution When I wake up the next day I feel a little weird, it feels like there''s a new stream of information coming into my brain that I''m not used to, I felt a little confused. Ding! Ding! Ding! The notification noises that start to sound in my head helped me to wake up a little more, so I tried to get my mind in order and identify what kind of information it was that was coming into my brain, I tried to understand this strange information by concentrating only on her as I closed my eyes. At that moment it was like I could see my whole room again, that was the flow of information in my head, I tried to identify where it was coming from and in an instant I found out, it was my Aura, I could feel my Aura all over my room and feeling everything through her, that was something I could never do before, it was like having a new sense like having a new eye or ear. I could see everything from different angles, strange angles that I wasn''t used to and that''s why my mind was so confused, looking at so many things at the same time didn''t let me understand things like left and right, up and down, etc. Also, everything was a little blurry. I remember feeling something similar when I first used my wings, it was a strange thing that I couldn''t get used to, I didn''t know how to move well with the wings back then. "How do I turn this off?" (I) I wanted to turn it off the same way I did with my wings, but I didn''t know how, I tried to think of some solution but I could only think that maybe Sophia might know something about it, out of all the people I know she is the one who knows the most about Auras. I feel something entering the room through the window, the truth is that this vision I''m having in my mind using my Aura is a little blurry, so I can''t see very well what came through the window. I feel something landing on me and other things flying through the window into my room, then I open my eyes and see a small white and black Serpent with wings looking at me, I also see some different birds flying around me and a small Fairy with red hair and skin. They all had strange eyes of different colors that were very reminiscent of my own eyes. "Do not enter the master''s room without his disobedient children." (Layla) Soon Layla also enters through the window screaming at the creatures that entered my room, when they see Layla they start laughing and flying around her as if they were having fun. "Layla what''s going on?" (I) "Don''t you know!? Haven''t you realized what they are yet?" (Layla) "" (I) I look at these creatures, somehow feel some familiarity with them, but ignore it for now as I watch these little creatures fly around Layla and finally understand what they are. "They''re all Fairies and Spirits, right?" (I) "Why are you in my room? Where are your Contractors?" (I) "They have no Contractor." (Layla) "What? Didn''t the village leader say that all the Spirits and Fairies without Contractor had abandoned the mountain range because of the miasma?" (I) "Idiot Master, can''t you tell just by looking?" (Layla) "They are children, they can be considered newborns, don''t you also realize that they all have one thing in common?" (Layla) "(I don''t like the direction of this conversation)" (I) "Look at the eyes of these Fairies and Spirits, do they remind you of anyone?" (Layla) "" (I) "Do they remind me of you?" (I) "Why are you asking? They clearly have your eyes, have you not realized what they are or just don''t want to admit it?" (Layla) "" (I) "It''s the Fairies and Infant Spirits that were flying around the mansion, they can be considered newborns because they managed to create a mind of their own and a body." (Layla) "So some of them were born? I''m surprised." (I) "Someha ha hahahaha" (Layla) Dexterity: 2100 Agility: 2500 Defense: 3400 Intelligence: 4900 Magic Defense: 2800 Charm: 700 Luck: -30 CONDITION: HEALTHY TITLES: [ \ ] [ He Who Awakens Chaos ] [ Transgressor of Worlds ] [ Last of His Race ] [ First of His Kind ] [ He Who Brings Chaos ] [ Named Monster ] [ Unique Monster ] [ True Master ] [ Elemental Mage ] [ Goblin Chief ] [ Grade B Adventurer ] [ Literate ] [ Thief ] [ Kidnapper ] [ Goblin Killer ] [ Friend of Spirits ] [ Blood Child ] [ Daywalker ] [ Patriarch (Vampires of the Twilight) ] [ Shadow Eclipse Party Leader ] [ Fairy Guardian ] [ Fairy Contractor: Layla (Chaos Fairy) ] [ Master Alchemist ] [ Pervert ] [ Monster Slayer ] [ Founder of Chaos Techniques ] [ Son of the Goddess Selene ] [ True Ruler ] [ Vampire Saint (Sealed) ] [ Heretic (Baldr) ] [ Dungeon Conqueror ] [ Dungeon Destroyer ] [ Half-Dragon ] [ Dungeon Master ] [ Spirit Contractor: Nix (Shadow Spirit Dragon) ] [ The One Who Brings Awakening ] ]> Looks like I really evolved, my race name had a little change from "Duke" to "Archduke", this proves that I''ve evolved. I was also happy with the increase in my stat, it looks like I''ll have to get used to these changes in the few days we have before the battle against the two troops of Farus. What made me the happiest was seeing that my luck increased from -50 to -30, even though it''s still negative it shows that I can still have hope. tap tap "Master, are you awake yet?" (Freya) Freya knocks on the door and I get dressed in a new outfit before opening the door. "Good morning, Freya." (I) "Good morning Master." (Freya) After greeting me Freya enters the room and makes my bed, she also looks at Layla trying to get the Fairies and Spirits out of the room. "Looks like Layla already told you the news, doesn''t she?" (Freya) "Isn''t this another one of her pranks?" (I) "Haven''t you looked out the window yet?" (Freya) I can only shake my head in denial at Freya''s question. "From what Sophia explained to us a few hours ago, you released your Aura as a blast during your evolution causing Fairies and Child Spirits to somehow absorb a trace of your Aura." (Freya) "That''s right because of you everyone was born that way, there are also many with a double element." (Layla) "The fault is mine?" (I) "You surprised everyone overnight, we had to explain to everyone for some time that this was an accident caused by your evolution to calm down the village leader and village troops who got scared by your Aura." (Freya) As Freya spoke I go to the window and look out, I see hundreds of creatures flying to and fro in the sky. "(So my evolution didn''t bring me any physical changes? Didn''t I grow even a single inch? Did I cause all this mess with the Fairies and Spirits? Did I get another request from the Goddesses? And what was that the Fairy Goddess said at the end?) " (I) "Even though it''s gotten stronger, why am I so sad? Why do so many things have to happen in a single night." (I) "What the fuck is this? It''s all this damn evolution''s fault." (I) "It''s not that bad, don''t cry master, take a tissue." (Freya) I automatically grab Freya''s scarf without taking my eyes off the Fairies and Spirits flying freely across the sky, it was a beautiful sight, but I knew it would cause trouble sooner or later. Chapter 270: Conversation With Nix Chapter 270: Conversation With Nix After drying my tears I go to the bathroom to get dressed and comb this unnecessary long hair, then tie it into a ponytail before going downstairs for something to eat. "Thanks to you I have to take care of hundreds of children, not to mention that there are still the Spirits." (Layla) UppTodated from "I didn''t do it because I wanted to, besides you can ask Nix to help you with the Spirits." (I) "That''s right, I''m going to let Nix take care of the Spirits, how come I didn''t think of that before?" (Layla) "Why do you have to take care of the Fairies?" (I) "Fairies are influenced by the Cradle of Fairies where they were born, they will acquire their elemental powers through that Cradle, moreover while they are inside the Cradle of Fairies they learn faster and become stronger." (Layla) "The Cradle of the Fairies makes us feel safe and united, it also makes us have great respect for whoever created the Cradle of the Fairies as their Auras and powers are ingrained in the Cradle itself." (Layla) "The Cradle of Fairies channels the Aura of nature itself which can only be felt in places where Fairies live, the Aura of nature is not felt by people, only Fairies and Spirits perceive it." (Layla) "That explains why I never felt anything." (I) "Your spectacle during the night somehow made your Aura harmonize with the Aura of nature itself, this period of harmony helped the Fairies and Spirits to be born by absorbing nature''s Aura along with their own." (Layla) "So that''s why they have my eyes?" (I) "Yea." (Layla) "The reason many have two elements is also their fault, they acquired one element from nature''s Aura and the other from their Aura, this allowed them to harmonize with these elements and use them to create their bodies." (Layla) "Fairies and Spirits with two elements are rare?" (I) "I don''t remember, most of my memory is a mess, I''ve given up trying to remember things, I''d rather learn again." (Layla) "To answer your master question, it''s rare for Fairies and Spirits to have more than a single element, Layla and I are extremely rare." (Nix) "What about Byakko?" (I) "He is a great Spirit, he is already special for many different reasons, I was very surprised to see him with you." (Nix) "Is he that special? Why didn''t you say anything before?" (I) "He may have a lot of potentials, but he is very weak now, I thought it best to let him grow on his own and I also didn''t want to put pressure on his Contractor." (Nix) "To tell you the truth I had heard stories that he was dead, I was surprised when I realized who he was." (Nix) "Then I think it''s best not to say that to Kira." (I) As I walked to the kitchen I was talking to Layla about what had happened during the night, but suddenly the conversation started to get off track and Nix entered the conversation talking through my shadow. - After eating I left everyone to do their own thing while I spent the day training to adapt to my new physical stats, I was also training to get used to this new sense in my Aura. While I was training the people of the village were in preparation for the combat that will take place tomorrow. Layla was trying to teach the Fairies and Spirits where they could go and where they couldn''t go with the help of Nix who had entered the Dungeon for a bit during the afternoon. "Yes, Layla''s memory is not very reliable because of the way I helped her, so there are a lot of things she doesn''t remember." (I) "In our case, it will be much easier, I am much stronger than an ordinary higher level Spirit, besides the master is also very strong." (Nix) "Thanks to what happened the night before, we also have several Spirits to help us when the process is over." (Nix) "Most importantly, we have a big environmental advantage here." (Nix) "Are you talking about the miasma?" (I) "Yes, normally a Spirit that is powerful enough should find a suitable place to create a Cradle of Spirits and then try to harmonize the environment with its Spirit energy." (Nix) "A Fire Spirit will search for a suitable volcano, a Wood Spirit will search for a forest or a World Tree, a Thunder Spirit will choose a storm cloud, and so on." (Nix) "The construction of a Cradle of Spirits is difficult, harmonizing a place is not as easy as it seems, especially places where the energies of the elements are unbalanced like the links I mentioned." (Nix) "The reason you and Layla managed to do this in the past by accident must be your master''s fault." (Nix) "Why is it my fault?" (I) "Your Aura has a chaotic quality, chaos is the opposite of harmony, but at the same time it gives meaning to it, chaos is part of nature so your Aura and presence blend in as easily with the environment around you as it did in last night." (Nix) "You mean that because I was helping Layla back then to harmonize the miasma, I ended up making her create the Cradle of the Fairies?" (I) "Yes, at least that''s my opinion." (Nix) "" (I) "(So it was my fault for all this mess? Why do I have to be so unlucky? How could I who have been in this world for so little time know these things?)" (I) Suddenly Nix jumps off her tree branch and lands on the same branch where I''m standing in front of me. "I can take advantage of a place on this mountain and create a Cradle of Spirits in a few hours with your help since I know what I have to do, maybe I can even create one with more than the element of Darkness." (Nix) "Then try to wait at least until the next battle is over, okay?" (I) "Okay, but I''m so excited about it, it reminds me of the Spirit temple my mother owned." (Nix) "What!? According to you you had to be a Spirit King to have a Spirit Temple, right? Wasn''t that the same as being a Demigod?" (I) "(Wait a minute, does that mean all the Fairy Kings I''ve encountered were Demigods?)" (I) "I told you my mother was a mighty Spirit, now she can be considered my sister since she went through spiritual rebirth." (Nix) Sigh "Too much information to process, I think I better get to bed before my brain starts on fire." (I) "Good night, master." (Nix) "Goodnight." (I) I jump out of the tree and re-enter the Dungeon going straight to the third floor and then to the mansion, I ignore all the Spirits and Fairies along the way and lie on my bed to rest ignoring the things that are flying around my room. "I hope I can sleep tonight." (I) Chapter 271: Hard Fighting Part 1 Chapter 271: Hard Fighting Part 1 I knew this was going to happen, there were so many things happening that I couldn''t sleep, I spent the whole night with my mind wandering about the various things I had to do like the Cradle of Spirits with Nix, the battle against the two troops of Farus and about various subjects that I have been thinking lately. Having lots of little creatures flying around my room didn''t help either, I can''t understand how Layla managed to sleep so well all night. As soon as it dawned, I got up and prepared for a stressful day, it will be tonight that we will fight against the troops of Farus, but first, there is something I need to talk to the village leader about. - After eating something I ask Alice to go ask the village leader to meet me behind the mansion for a chat. After waiting a few minutes the village leader arrives looking like she hasn''t slept either, she joins me on a walk through the woods behind the manor away from the camp. "Looks like you didn''t get a good night''s sleep." (I) Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com "It''s been two nights since I''ve slept, with what you did the other night during your evolution and the various things that have been going on, it''s hard to turn your brain off." (Sapphire) "I spend most of my day trying to train our troops, at night I think about what I can do to reduce the number of deaths, but the more I think the more I realize it''s impossible." (Sapphire) "You should expect that in a battle of this scale there''s no way to prevent deaths, you should be glad they''re not even 1/4 of our army by my reckoning." (I) "This is already a very big value for me." (Sapphire) "I''m not naive, I know I shouldn''t feel bad about such small losses compared to the damage we are doing to the enemy, I also know that this is only possible because of you." (Sapphire) "You know, there''s something I wanted to ask you." (I) "You''ve been helping us for a while, ask whatever you want." (Sapphire) "Wanted to know what you''re going to do when you find your daughter?" (I) "" (Sapphire) When I ask this question I turned to the village leader to see her face, because of our height difference I have to look up to see her expression which became serious as she looked at me. "She committed the great crime of betraying our people, if she had just run away it wouldn''t have been a problem, but she joined the enemy and attacked other villages leading enemy troops." (Sapphire) "By the village rules she must be killed, as the village leader the duty to kill her falls to me." (Sapphire) "I can see from her expression that this is difficult for you." (I) "Especially since she is my daughter I cannot forgive or accept what she did, but even so, my heart still aches every time I think of her death, sheshe is still my daughter" (Sapphire) Suddenly I notice that the village leader has stopped moving and started looking at the sky with a blank stare, I can see tears streaming down her face. "Do you remember the reward I asked for when I offered my help?" (I) "" (Sapphire) I can see the confusion on her face when I ask her that question. "I hope I''m not making a mistake and that you are even worse than Farus." (Sapphire) Leaving those words behind, the village leader starts heading towards the camp and away from me. "You didn''t give her any choice, the choice was between seeing her daughter with you or dead, so what''s the point of even asking her permission?" (Nix) "Just to ease my own conscience, I don''t care about the village leader''s daughter, but she is someone I respect, I would let a bitter taste in my mouth deceive her, so I preferred to make it all clear." (I) "But that made her suspicious of you." (Nix) "Alright, after she calms down and thinks calmly, then she''ll see that this way is better for everyone." (I) I keep walking through the forest among the trees while talking to my own shadow. "Now that it''s just the two of us, I remembered that with all that''s been going on, I still haven''t made the changes we''re going to need in the Dungeon." (I) "All you have to do and tell me what you want to do, you also have to make everyone leave the floor you want to change." (Nix) "Given the amount of DP you said we have at the moment, I''m going to want to expand the first floor even further and I''m also going to want to create a new floor." (I) "The new floor will be the third floor while this floor of the mansion will become the fourth floor." (I) "It won''t be a problem, we had a lot of souls captured inside the dungeon last time, just like you asked I freed them all getting DP as a reward, but once again you''re making us poor master." (Nix) "This will happen often until this Dungeon is big enough that I don''t need to invest so much DP in it." (I) "I''m going to go outside and talk to you about the changes I hope to make too." (I) "I think it''s better not to come out here, I''m almost at the point where we''re going to make the ambush and you attract too much attention, master." (Nix) "We can keep talking like this." (Nix) "Alright, what I want to do is" (I) - After the conversation I had with the village leader, I went to make some preparations for tonight''s battle, spent some potions in my last battle that I will have to replace. Besides that, my weapons were also a little damaged, so I left them with Anton for repairs, it''s time to get everything I''ll need. When it finally got dark we were all gathered on the first floor near the exit, I was waiting for Nix''s signal to leave and start the attack, Layla was already prepared to open the portal right at the entrance when needed. "They''re already here, get ready, the Mages will start the ambush any moment, get ready too Layla." (Nix) "OK." (Layla) "Be ready, as soon as we leave we will position ourselves as agreed and attack at the same time!" (I) Finally, the time for this battle has come, after that, I will be one step away from defeating Farus. Chapter 272: Hard Fighting Part 2 Chapter 272: Hard Fighting Part 2 A Captain''s POV: I am an Oni who has the honor of being chosen as captain of the master Farus'' troops even when he was an Ogre. Unlike the vast majority of Ogres, I had a talent for magic, when my village joined master Farus he separated the only one who had a talent for magic that was me, and made a Ghoul woman who was a mage teach me. Thanks to the study of magic and the constant fights inside the Dungeon I managed to evolve into an Oni a few months ago, that''s when I could really be of help to the master Farus and had a more active role during the attacks on the villages in the chain of mountains. Over a week ago I joined a troop that had 4 other captains and two generals to lead 5000 warriors on a patrol through the mountain range, there were two other troops that would do the same. Unfortunately, these patrol days were very boring, apart from a few fights against occasional weak monsters, we didn''t have any real combat, the truth is that there are almost no enemies left in this mountain range to fight, so everything will belong to the master Farus. On a certain patrol day an Undead Bird descended from the sky near one of the generals, from what I heard were orders saying to go back to the fortress, I was happy with that, as soon as I return I will ask to be sent to training inside the Dungeons where I can fight and kill as much as I want. A few hours after changing our direction to the fortress we found ourselves with another troop that was heading in the same direction, it seems they received orders to return too, so we got together and headed towards our base together. - I turn to the Werewolf who is also a captain beside me, his bloodlust is starting to bother me, it''s hard enough for me to control my own bloodlust but with him, by my side, it only gets worse if I could I would like to fight him to the death, but Master Farus has forbidden fights between ourselves. "Control your bloodlust, you idiot Wolf." (I) "I can''t, we haven''t killed anything for a long time, I feel like I''m going to go crazy if we don''t find enemies soon." (Werewolf) "I''ve also been without a good fight for a long time, but we have to control ourselves, you don''t want to disappoint master Farus, right?" (I) "Of course not." (Werewolf) While talking to this other captain I realize that we entered a valley full of mist, I didn''t remember having a place like this around here when we passed this place a few days ago. The generals didn''t seem to mind, so we continue our journey back to the fortress, even if it''s night and there''s fog it doesn''t matter as many of our troops gave us night vision, at least that''s what I thought before realizing that the fog was there. getting thicker the more we walked until a moment where I had difficulty seeing a meter in front of me. That''s when I hear a noise coming from somewhere, it sounded like the teeth of some kind of creature clashing, but I didn''t hear any screams, but I still drew my magic sword and got into a fighting stance. "We''re under attack!" "The general has been caught!" Soon we hear screams of anger and command, everyone around me puts themselves in combat position as well. At that moment I begin to see shadows and silhouettes of creatures in the mist, they seem to move too fast for me to follow with my eyes. "Another general has been caught!" I hear more screams than another general has been caught, but then I realize something, I haven''t heard any commands coming from any generals. "I just opened it, you can leave." (Nix) "Wizards and archers first, as soon as you''re out, position yourself to attack on my signal." (I) With my words, I wait for the Mages and Archers to pass through the Dungeon gate before I leave too, as I leave I notice Nix in front of me and I look back to see that Nix has opened the Dungeon gate in the shadow of a giant stone. Wasting no more time I run forward still with Layla on my shoulder and prepare fire magic creating five magic circles one in front of the other pointing towards the center of the mist dome in front of me, meanwhile, Layla is creating powerful space magic apparently. "SHOOT!!!" (I) "< Explosive Fire Spear >" (I) Various spells and arrows covered in poisons or potions are fired into the dome, as we have no view of the inside of the dome we can''t make an accurate attack, but that should be enough to hurt enemies and give us some advantage during battle. After a second wave of attacks, everyone stops attacking and Mages start drinking MP potions after casting their strongest attack spells. "Nix, leave that Dungeon gate open and close the one inside you, tell everyone to get away from this place, and leave only one Mage watching from afar to give a signal when the generals have finally left." (I) "I have already closed the gate within myself, master." (Nix) "Excellent." (I) I turn to the village leader not far from me and speak. "Tell some of the mages to create a barrier around the dome of mist so no enemies can escape." (I) "Good idea, I''ll warn the Mages now." (Sapphire) "Kira and Elsaris, attack the Mages mainly, don''t let them use the magic crystal if possible." (I) "Yea." (Kira/Elsaris) "Everyone else gets ready! Let''s attack now!!" (I) I hold my sword and dagger as I run ahead to the mist dome, just before reaching the dome I use a wind spell creating a blast of wind forward just to make sure I don''t get attacked by surprise as soon as I do. I pass through the fog. "< Burst of Wind >" (I) As soon as I enter the wind dome I see the enemy army running towards me full of bloodlust, just as I expected they are not afraid, there are even some who are running even though they are clearly very injured. "(It''s really a lot of enemies, I can feel a strong bloodlust too, they seem more mindless monsters than I expected.)" (I) "KILL THEM ALL!!" (I) "KILL THEM ALL!!!!!" (all) Chapter 273: Hard Fighting Part 3 Chapter 273: Hard Fighting Part 3 The fight began, I along with many other warriors threw myself forward holding my weapons, but this time I used my lines to create a powerful rope connecting the handles of my sword and dagger. As soon as I got to the enemies they are already half full because of a magic attack from Layla that is flying close to me. I run between the bodies going to the other enemies behind, throw my dagger into an Ogre''s throat then pull the rope made from my line as I spin using my sword to decapitate a ghoul, this makes the dagger fly out of the Ogre''s throat as I spin around me cutting others around me. "< Sphere of Water >" (I) I jump and create a sphere of water using magic, I place my two hands there and fill the water with all kinds of poisons I have while activating my corrosion ability, I keep myself in the air by spreading my dragon wings. "< Rain of Needles >" (I) I use the sphere to make another spell that will use the water from that sphere and direct the spell to enemies further away, the water needles don''t do much damage at the time of the attack because it''s an early level spell, but soon the corrosion skill does its effect by turning this water into acid which begins to corrode the body or armor of enemies, the wounds caused by the corrosion also allow the poisons I created to enter the bodies of enemies. Boommm! "Agh!!!" (I) While I was preparing and making this attack I was distracted and this did not go unnoticed by the enemies, six spells came flying towards me, I used my Dragon Wings and managed to dodge three attacks, but two fire spells and one wind spell hit me, I use my wings to defend myself, but I still have a cut on my arm and my wing is on fire, thankfully I have resistance to fire and pain. I give a boost with my wings pulling me up, it puts out the fire, then from above I do another boost throwing myself down to pick up speed while I heal my wounds. Then I use that speed to throw myself at an Orc that looks bigger than the others and cut him almost completely in half with my sword as I try to talk to Nix through our connection. "(Nix, attack from the other side.)" (I) "(With pleasure.)" (Nix) A few minutes after telling Nix that he could attack from the other side, I see a beautiful Black Dragon emerging from the shadows on the other side of the battlefield, then it starts crushing enemy soldiers with its tail, biting with its powerful jaw or slashing with its claws. Seeing Nix fighting like that was amazing, it felt like fighting a final boss of a game, Nix even started creating shadow tentacles from her own shadow to attack enemies nearby, every attack she received didn''t even cause a single scratch on its mighty scales, it was a one-sided slaughter. "< Ice Spear >" (I) "< Beam of Sunlight >" (Layla) The fight has been going on for a few minutes but the enemies still seem to be many, Layla and I are fighting together to cover each other''s blind spots, but this way I can''t see the others fighting, all I can do is hope they''re okay. I create lines from my ten fingers while making them as sharp as possible and coating them in poison, then use what I once learned from Diana to coat the Ki strands to further strengthen them. I use these lines as an attack as I run across the battlefield cutting enemies to pieces one after another. - In a few minutes, the number of enemies seems to have finally halved, but at that moment I see a burst of lightning at the top of the dome coming from a certain direction, so I run there, on the way I see Vanessa passing over me flying with her red wings. "Looks like they used one of the crystals, are you ready?" (I) "You can''t, you''ll be an easy target at the top, you can even defend yourself from some attacks, but if dozens of attacks are aimed at you, it''s going to be difficult to protect yourself." (Elsaris) "Elsaris is right, so the two of you will run there, I won''t, there are other places that need help, and Elsaris will be enough to protect you." (I) "Alright let''s go, I won''t let anything happen to you." (Elsaris) After seeing the two of them running I go in another direction to continue fighting, after a few minutes Layla came flying towards me covered in blood and dirt, she was very angry saying that that explosion destroyed her barrier and threw her in a place full of bodies. During my fights, I arrived at a place where rica, Ibuki, and Leo were fighting. I was very happy to see how the three of them work so well together, Ibuki seemed to dance between enemies without even an attack hitting her, every time she dodged an attack she would slash an enemy and when she had no chance to dodge shadow tentacles or spikes of shadows attacked the enemies, meanwhile Leo was in his large Lion man form with his new Ax fighting the enemies that tried to attack rica. When a magic attack tried to hit Ibuki I saw a purple shield appear then the attack came back to the Mage who launched the attack killing him. Knowing they are doing well on their own I kept fighting until I couldn''t find any more enemies where I was, there were still some fights going on but it felt like it was almost over. "GENERALS WILL LEAVE THE DUNGEON!!!" (Freya) Just when I thought everything was going well I suddenly heard Freya''s voice traveling with a strong current of wind across the battlefield to warn us that the most troublesome enemies are here. They left much faster than I expected, I thought they would take longer as I made the first floor look like a maze just to delay them longer. I''m still fine and I can fight, but I think most of our troops will be too tired to fight, this was a battle that only took a little more than thirty minutes, but it was very intense, plus there are still live enemies fighting our troops. "Layla, try to find the location of the enemies, get in touch when you see them." (I) "All right." (Layla) When Layla went to look for the enemy I went to find Elsaris, Ivan, and the village leader, these three are the strongest and will be the ones who will fight count the generals along with me, I have to find them fast. I use my wings to propel myself up high from where I can see the entire battlefield, it doesn''t take long for me to see the three of them, the village leader seems to be with Elsaris and Ivan is burning five enemies with a column of fire no very far from both. I go to Ivan who seems to be finished, then I go to the other two with him. "The four of us will fight the generals while the others finish off what''s left of Farus'' troops." (I) "It shouldn''t take long, there should only be a few hundred more among the enemies." (Elsaris) "I''m already ready to fight." (Sapphire) "Do you know where the generals are, master?" (Ivan) "Yes, they just broke the barrier around the fog dome, told Layla to warn the Mages to create another barrier once the generals enter." (I) "Now follow me, we go straight to them." (I) As we went to the generals, Elsaris said that her son Jay is with Vanessa, it looks like she went to help some wounded who wouldn''t survive until the end of the fight if they weren''t treated now. Chapter 274: Hard Fighting Part 4 Chapter 274: Hard Fighting Part 4 I had already met with Ivan, Elsaris, and the leader of the Sapphire village, in a few minutes we will win this battle that lasted a little more than thirty minutes, but before the fight is over I get the news that the four generals left the Dungeon, now let''s go having to face them ahead of schedule. "(I found them, master.)" (Layla) "(Thanks, Layla.)" (I) I use my connection to Layla to see through her eyes, after confirming the direction they had entered through the mist dome I open my eyes and turn to Ivan, Elsaris, and the village leader. "I already found them, follow me." (I) We start to run across the battlefield, with our speed it takes less than a minute to reach the place where the generals were, but as soon as we arrive I feel the village leader''s bloodlust rise, getting much stronger with the scene we see. "Calm down village leader." (I) "You bastards" (Sapphire) "I didn''t expect to see that kind of enemy here." (Ivan) What we see are an Oni with a spear, a very muscular Ghoul woman with two axes, an Orc with two giant swords, and a Cyclops with a great Warhammer. The Cyclops was over five meters tall and its hammer looked more like a large steel column. When we arrived we saw over a hundred bodies of our troops on the ground, the Ghoul woman was licking the blood off one of her Axes and the Cyclops had the body of a Lamia in one hand as he ripped her head off with his teeth to chew. It was a brutal scene, just looking at it you could understand that the generals not only killed our troops, the bodies were dismembered, crushed and shredded, it was in such a horrible state that it was difficult to even identify the race of somebodies. "That woman gives me the creeps, so I''m going to fight Oni." (I) "I''m going to fight that Orc then, his way of holding his swords shows he''s strong, it might be more fun to fight him." (Elsaris) "That Cyclops is mine, don''t you dare interfere." (Sapphire) "So I''m the one who''s going to fight that muscular woman?" (Ivan) "She''s all hers, Ivan." (I) As soon as we arrived I had to organize who each one will fight with, I could fight alongside Ivan since we did similar things inside the Dungeons, but I never fought alongside Elsaris or the Sapphire village leader, so it''s better for each one take care of an enemy. The enemy noticed us looking at them from afar, so they run towards us as everyone else in the surroundings is dead, the village leader and Ivan run forward attacking their enemies while pushing them away. "(Master I feel something strange in the sky, it seems to be an Undead.)" (Layla) "< Chaos Charge >" (I) I won''t give this Oni that chance, I use a Charge attack to have a burst of speed while I feel my Auras and mana surround my body like a whirlpool of black-colored energy with multiple glows around. "< Triple Attack >" (Oni) When I''m facing the enemy attack I do a somersault which displaces my shoulder due to the onslaught attack at the same time it raises dust, I take advantage of this moment to pierce one of the Oni''s legs with my dagger while taking me healing my shoulder. "This is what I wanted, a real fight, hahahaha" (Oni) The next few minutes were full of danger, this Oni and I exchanged several blows always on each other''s vital points, even though he was at a disadvantage with his spear, he could still use his arms and legs to attack me or shorten the place where he held his spear to pierce me with it. Each blow was becoming more dangerous for both of us as we were getting used to each other''s movements, but he was taking more risks as he didn''t mind getting hurt as long as he could hit me, that insane suicidal thought of his was doing I fall at the disadvantage As each attack was fast we didn''t have time to use skills, or so I thought, but I could still feel the magic of the wind element behind me, I had to jump up to not hit myself which made the Oni hit, it seems to have been a wind blade attack as the oni''s arm fell to the ground after being cut. "What a wonderful opportunity I missed to kill you child, hahahahah" (Oni) "Too bad I lost my arm with my own attack, I think I''ll have to put in more effort to get you killed." (Oni) This lunatic sent an attack that could hit him, by the cut he has on the ground behind him I can tell that even if I hadn''t dodged, the attack would still have cut him after hitting me. "Come to my companions, let''s show our master''s power to these fools, ha ha hahahahaha!!!" (Oni) "(This Oni seems to be up to something, I need to kill him fast.)" (I) When I was running towards the Oni an Ax comes flying towards me, but a blade of fire hits the Ax deflecting it, so I jump away when I feel something running towards me. Before long the other three generals appeared, I realized that the one that was in the worst condition was Cyclops, one of his arms was burned, the other one was hanging by a small piece of muscle, his intestines were dangling out of his belly through a big hole and his whole body was covered in wounds. The other two were in better condition, the Orc who used two swords has a cut on his throat and a hole in his chest, these are two attacks that should be fatal, but his appearance is different from before, his skin has turned red, his muscles got bigger and his height increased, it seems that the wounds that should be fatal have closed due to this change, if I remember correctly this is caused by an ability called "Berserk Mode", Irius has told me about this before. The Ghoul woman had one of her arms hanging with bones out, she also has half her face burned and cuts all over her body, it looks like she is already half dead with a tired appearance due to the amount of blood coming out of her body, if it continues like this, it won''t take long for her to die of blood loss. In a few seconds, Ivan, Elsaris, and the village leader came back and stood by my side, Ivan and Elsaris looked calm but the village leader looked very angry that her enemy had run from her. "Let''s show the power of our master, hahahahahah For the Glory of Master Farus!!!" (Oni) "For the glory of Master Farus!" (Cyclops/Ghoul/Orc) The Oni takes a purple magic crystal the size of a chicken egg out of the bracelet-shaped storage item, then places it in its mouth and swallows it. "(That doesn''t look good.)" (I) Chapter 275: Hard Fighting Part 5 Chapter 275: Hard Fighting Part 5 "Let''s show the power of our master, hahahahahah For the Glory of Master Farus!!!" (Oni) "For the glory of Master Farus!" (Cyclops/Ghoul/Orc) The Oni takes a purple magic crystal the size of a chicken egg out of the bracelet-shaped storage item, then places it in its mouth and swallows it. "(That doesn''t look good.)" (I) "Elsaris is going to get Vanessa now!!!" (I) "I''ll be back as soon as possible." (Elsaris) "What are you waiting for? Attack them!" (Sapphire) As I also had an affinity for curses I noticed a strong curse in that crystal, I also noticed that Oni and the other three generals are very calm, they are not even in attack position, there was something wrong. At that moment I felt the miasma of the surroundings gathering more and more towards the Oni and entering his body as if he was being sucked, it seemed that the enemy was wanting us to get close to them, I looked at Ivan and it seems that he noticed too, so I sent Elsaris to fetch Vanessa. I don''t know what will happen now, but considering that the enemy is a Necromancer, the chances of this oni and the generals close to him becoming Undead are very high, so I want Vanessa around. But maybe because she''s still annoyed by the scene of seeing a Lamia trying to get her head ripped off and eaten by Cyclops when we get here, the village leader is impatient and doesn''t seem to have noticed the miasma movement in the surroundings, she tries to go to the four generals with they look half dead, but I use my lines to hold her in place while Ivan stands in front of her without taking my eyes off the four generals. "What are you doing, they''re almost dead, we have to finish them off before the crystal activates." (Sapphire) "Don''t be impulsive, the village leader." (I) "I can understand your anger at what you''ve seen before, but don''t fall into the enemy''s trap." (I) "Master Zenos is right, didn''t you see how that crystal was different from what we''ve seen before? Don''t you see the miasma accumulating in that Oni?" (Ivan) "This is the scenario I most wanted not to happen, one more thing we didn''t know the enemy had or how it would be used." (I) "We don''t know for sure what that crystal can do, so it''s too risky to get close, we''d better stay away until we know the result." (I) "Damn" (Sapphire) I can see anger in the village leader''s eyes as she looks at me, but then she looks around and then at the Oni. "Alright now let me go." (Sapphire) "OK." (I) And I drop my lines and Ivan comes back to my side. "Can''t we even attack from afar?" (Sapphire) "Not knowing what kind of magic they''re using with that crystal is best not, it might have some effect that reflects the attacks back at us." (Ivan) "Erica has a spell that does just that." (I) "< Deadly Onslaught >" (I) The village leader is able to dodge the enemy''s attack using her flexible body and quick reflexes, the village leader also managed to do an energy blade attack that made snake-like motions while wrapping itself around the enemy''s giant arms leaving enough deep cuts to see the bones and ending up through the enemy''s neck. Meanwhile, the enemy didn''t even try to dodge or defend, he just threw himself at Ivan''s bone wall, going through it as if he didn''t even exist and grabbing Ivan''s head with one hand while managing to decapitate him with one of his swords. I tried to stop it by using a deadly charge attack on his chest, as soon as I hit his chest it sank and he went a little back, but it seems he didn''t care about the attack since his four heads were laughing, I also noticed something bad, everyone, the damage we did to him was healing at a surreal speed leaving him fine after a few seconds. "Damn, I was careless!" (Ivan) Ivan kicks his decapitated head up and grabs it with his hands, then he puts it back as if nothing happened while moving his neck a little causing it to snap a little. "He is very strong, it will be difficult to beat him if he continues to recover so fast." (Sapphire) "We have no other choice, with his strength and speed he would be able to decimate all our troops if we don''t hold him here." (I) "We have to find a way to defeat him." (Sapphire) "< Containment of the Holy Sword >" (Vanessa) Suddenly nine golden swords with red glow come flying over me, one of these swords is bigger than the others, these swords fly very fast and the biggest one goes through the zombie monster''s chest while making him fall on his back then the other eight swords manage to pierce the arms and legs of the zombie monster leaving him completely trapped in the ground while roaring in a bestial way. When I look in the direction the swords came from I see Vanessa flying towards me with her red wings and her staff with a crystal heart on the end pointed at the monster as it glows. "You arrived faster than I expected." (I) "I came as fast as I could as soon as Elsaris told me what happened." (Vanessa) While talking to Vanessa she couldn''t stop looking in the direction of the zombie monster that struggled while roaring louder and louder, I could see even the ground around her crack. "That''s weird, he was supposed to have already died due to the Holy energy of the swords." (Vanessa) "Looks like there''s something protecting it gives Holy energy" (Vanessa) Then Vanessa''s face changes to a very serious expression as she points to the pentagram symbol with three skulls on the Zombie monster''s belly. "That symbol is emitting a strange energy that resembles Holy energy, but it looks like an evil most, it looks like some kind of curse that is resisting Holy energy." (Vanessa) "Then maybe this will work." (Vanessa) "< Holy Purification >" (Vanessa) Two golden magic circles emitting a faint red glow appear one below the zombie monster and the other ten meters above, then a great torrent of golden and red light hits the zombie monster making him scream in pain and blinding our vision, then I hear something break, when the light disappears I realize that there is nothing left of the Zombie monster, just a speck of dust on the floor. "You did well" (I) When I go to congratulate Vanessa she starts to fall beside me unconscious, so I quickly grab her as I get a text from Layla in my head. "(Master I found some strange things.)" (Layla) Chapter 276: Conclusion Of An Uphill Battle Chapter 276: Conclusion Of An Uphill Battle When I saw that the Berserk Variant Zombie had died to dust I was happy, but then I saw Vanessa falling unconscious and I ran to catch her before hitting the ground. "Hi Vanessa? Are you okay? Wake up." (I) "Zzzzzz" (Vanessa) "" (I) "Master, what happened to Vanessa? Is she okay?" (Ivan) "Looks like she''s fine, she''s just sleeping." (I) "She must have used up all her energy with her last blow, there''s no use trying to wake her up." (Elsaris) "Why?" (I) "When someone passes out from totally consuming their energy, the person only wakes up when the energy is completely recovered." (Sapphire) "Besides some side effect, in Mana''s case, the headache would be the side effect." (Elsaris) "In her case, I don''t think it will have any side effects since it was Sacred energy that was heard." (Elsaris) While I was holding Vanessa the others came to talk to me. "This is not the time to be talking, now that the four generals are dead, we have to deal with what''s left of Farus'' troops." (I) "The fight is over master, everyone is dead." (Nix) While talking to the others about getting this battle over with, Nix appears walking towards me in his human form as he talks to me. "Good thing, to be honest, I''m tired of fighting and running around on the battlefield." (I) "You did your best to help in the places that were having the most problems in combat, the village leader was doing the same thing." (Ivan) "I had to protect my people." (Sapphire) I look around and see injured people and bodies everywhere. "Nix, can you take care of all these bodies?" (I) "If I have your help then I think I can fix it, I haven''t seen you use your spirit energy during combat so the master must have enough for that." (Nix) "Fine, but we have to do this soon, I imagine that Farus must also have his means of gathering information in the mountain range." (I) "He uses Undead birds as Familiars, I thought you knew that." (Elsaris) "I didn''t know, how did you find out?" (I) "My daughter Beatriz saw a bird-type Undead monster flying near the place where we made our first ambush." (Elsaris) Soon I notice a change in the shadows around, the shadows were moving like the waves of a lake, then thousands of black tentacles will come out of the shadows and attach themselves to the bodies on the ground pulling them slowly down, they were not entering the ground, they were being sucked into the shadows, I could feel it through Nix. "My energy is almost gone, is it already running out?" (I) "That''s not a technique easy for me to do with my current strength, master" (Nix) "But I''m done I just need a few more seconds Argh!" (Nix) Nix seemed to be doing her best just to keep this technique active, I could feel her body trembling slightly beneath me. "< Eater of Shadows >" (Nix) After all the bodies have been consumed by the shadows, Nix opens its big jaw and activates an ability, then I see a black vortex forming in front of its big mouth and sucking all the shadows around it into its mouth, it looked like a stream of thick black liquid pooling in his mouth until he had consumed it all, to be honest, I almost consumed all my spiritual energy now, a few more seconds and it would be zero. In the end, I looked around and there were no corpses around, there were no trees or blood either, it was barren ground. While I was distracted by the change in the landscape, I suddenly fall over as Nix loses strength and lies on the ground motionless, I get up and go to the side of her head. "Ahhh ahhh ahhhh" (Nix) "Are you okay Nyx?" (I) "Haaa I''m fine ahhh ahhhh" (Nix) "I''m just ahhh a little tired" (Nix) "We still have a few minutes until the dome breaks down, get some rest and then we can enter the Dungeon." (I) "Dora told me before of a cave an hour''s journey away from here, we''d better go there" (Nix) "Can you go back to your human form?" (I) "Yes" (Nix) Nix''s body becomes covered in darkness and starts to shrink little by little until it forms a smaller human silhouette, when the darkness disappears she is back to her usual appearance, her face is pale and I can see her body trembling weakly. "I will carry you to this cave." (I) I lift Nix''s body with my arms and follow the direction she is pointing, after some time I reach a deep cave, I enter and kill the Wolf pack that was there, they were dire wolves over two meters in length. height but they couldn''t move much in such a narrow space so it was easy to tie and cut them with my lines, after that, I gather all the blood with my powers and drink it before dragging the bodies with my lines to the bottom from the cave. Ding! At the bottom of the cave, I open a gate where I take Nix inside, leave the bodies of the Wolf monsters in the safe room on the first floor and teleport to the fourth floor going straight to the mansion. I take Nix to my room and leave her on my bed to rest, I also ask Caryna to prepare some food for Nix, then I tell Alice and Nolan to go with some people to get the bodies of the Wolves in the safe room on the first floor to make food for all. After that, I ask an Earth Mage to go out of the Dungeon and close half of the cave to hide the Dungeon''s gate in case one of Farus'' servants comes in to investigate the area around the battle. With all these little things done I let everyone know about a meeting to see how we''re doing after the battle and discuss what we''re going to do from here. I have to know what the village leader and her village council will want to do now, our plans went reasonably well, but it''s time to decide on the final battle. Chapter 277: Decisions About The Final Battle Part 1 Chapter 277: Decisions About The Final Battle Part 1 With the battle over, the time has come to see the state our troops are in, we need to know how many are still in combat condition and how many have died. In addition to these things we need to discuss what to do going forward, to be honest, I''ve been thinking about this for the last couple of days, but after what happened in today''s battle, after everything we learned about Fraus'' secret weapons which are these crystals magicians, looks like I''m going to have to rethink the initial plan. I''m in the meeting room waiting for the others to arrive, I think I''ll check the notifications while I wait. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ You gained 205677 EXP for killing enemies ]> . . . <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Weak fire resistance: 8 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Breath of Fire: 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Magic Enhanced Line Production: 5 > 6 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Control and Line Manipulation: 5 > 6 ] ]> . . . <[ You leveled up ]> . . <[ Your work has leveled up ]> . . <[ Your work has reached the maximum level ]> . . . <[ You acquired the bloodline [ Giant Wolf: 100% ] ]> "You said that this symbol belongs to this Heretic God you spoke of, but do you know anything about this God?" (Sapphire) "All I know is that this God is strongly linked to death, they say he consumes souls and that whenever his name appears he comes with an army of undead, but there is something peculiar about his stories." (Elsaris) "What would that quirk be?" (I) "I must say that this is just a rumor I heard over three hundred years ago, but they say that their believers are always Necromancers who can only create or control Undead that has a physical body, like Zombies and Skeletons." (Elsaris) "But that coincides with our current situation, that''s basically the description of Farus and his army." (Helena) "All of Farus'' troops are just that kind of undead with physical bodies." (Nymph leader) "As Farus himself is a Necromancer who controls this army and considering this symbol that appeared so much in the monster that his generals became when these two items." (Sapphire) "I think we can bear that Farus must be a believer of this Heretic God, perhaps even a Priest of his." (Sapphire) "" (I) "(I already knew that Hera who is the Fairy Queen of Wood had already told me about it.)" (I) I look at Elsaris and I can see her smiling at me because her gaze seems to see right through me, I was wondering if she read my expression or something. "You don''t know anything else about this Heretic God, Miss Elsaris?" (Sapphire) "I don''t know anything else, I only know what I just talked about because I worked at a Black Market branch where a believer of this God was our customer." (Elsaris) "I remember we sold a lot of Human bodies to that person, not long after I heard about a village that was devastated by a horde of Zombies." (Elsaris) "What did you do about it?" (I) "I didn''t do anything, that wasn''t my problem, I didn''t sell anything, I didn''t kill anyone either, you might also remember what kind of place the Black Market is." (Elsaris) "On the black market any commodity, no matter how rare, dangerous, prohibited or legal, can and will be traded." (Elsaris) "The Black Market also doesn''t care about the age, gender, nationality, race, origin, intention or plans of customers." (Elsaris) "All that matters to the Black Market is that the merchandise is genuine and that a fair price is paid for it whether you buy it or sell it." (Elsaris) "This kind of place makes life easier for people like Farus, did you work for a place like this?" (Sapphire) "I worked for centuries, I''m not proud of the things I''ve done during my work, but it''s been a long time since I didn''t care about that kind of thing anymore, after all, I''ve done I''ll always be a criminal, so I don''t care anymore." (Elsaris) "How can you have someone like her by your side Zenos?" (Sapphire) "She has her reasons for choosing this type of work, reasons that don''t concern anyone else in this room, besides, she said, even if the Black Market didn''t sell illegal goods, others would show up to do it, maybe even doing worse things than the Black market." (I) "There will always be this kind of thing, remember that village leader." (I) "But let''s not change the subject, you are straying from the topic that really matters, we are not here to discuss the Black Market, we are here to discuss Farus and this Heretic God." (I) I had to speak up to get the conversation back on track, normally I''m the one who strays off-topic without realizing it, but I had to continue this meeting somehow. It was also good for everyone to know about this Heretic God now, I was getting worried about it until now and I didn''t know if it was worth telling everyone. "The most important thing is to find out what those two items are." (I) "If you haven''t been able to find out I don''t know if she''ll be of use, but you can try asking Nira to use her appraisal skill on these two items." (Elsaris) "It''s worth trying." (I) "Freya could you call Nira to please?" (I) "Yes, Master." (Freya) Chapter 278: Decisions About The Final Battle Part 2 Chapter 278: Decisions About The Final Battle Part 2 After we''ve all heard what Elsaris knew about this symbol and the Heretic God it represents, I ask Freya to go get Nira to try and identify these two items, I hope she has better luck than I do. While we wait for Nira to arrive I speak to discuss the results of today''s battle. "If I''m not mistaken, it was the representative of the Nymphs who was responsible for collecting information on our current state right after today''s battle." (I) "You''re right, so it took me a while to arrive, but it seems I still managed to meet the village leader on the way along with other council members." (Nymph leader) "It was difficult to gather all this information so quickly, so I asked the Hobgoblin representative for help." (Nymph leader) "To summarize the information, we had 2000 slightly injured, 700 seriously injured and 1200 killed on our side" (Nymph Leader) "" (Village Council) "" (Sapphire) "It''s within the estimate that I had already thought, I was worried that I was being too optimistic thinking of such a low number." (I) "Low such a low number did he say that?" (Ogre Leader) Bammm! The representative of the Ogres seems to have become enraged by my words and hits the table while looking at me full of anger, he is the only one showing anger, the other representatives of the village council as well as the Village Leader herself seem to have understood what I meant as they show a sad expression. "Keep calm, you must also understand that Zenos told the truth, you yourself saw how strong every warrior in Farus'' troops was and how they seemed to feel no pain or fear." (Hobgoblin leader) "My race was the one that had the most deaths, but even then it was only less than half, that''s thanks to the advice Zenos gave me before the battle." (Hobgoblin leader) "" (Ogre Leader) "You were one of the first to join me and my village to fight against Farus, you may remember how each battle was full of deaths and yet we always lost as Farus grew stronger." (Sapphire) "I will admit that I also find this death toll very high, but it is true that Farus'' troops are stronger individually." (Sapphire) "The truth is that these numbers are still low, the number of deaths would be much higher if not for Vanessa and Irina healing our warriors throughout the battle, as you may know, there are only three Mages with healing ability in our village, two are here but one is still in the village." (Nymph leader) "But Vanessa alone is worth ten healing mages, Irina on the other hand helps with support, her upgrade spells and shields had a big impact in decreasing the number of deaths." (Nymph leader) "We won, so don''t complain, Zenos had warned that this battle would have many more deaths, you accepted it even knowing that, so don''t complain now." (Sapphire) "I understand you are both angry and also saddened by this information, but this is not the time to give in to your emotions, we still have more things to discuss today." (I) I understood the sadness and anger they were feeling, those who died were members of their races, they were people from their village and maybe even people they knew. The only reason I''m not as sad as they are is that I don''t have a connection with these people, I can sympathize with them and their sadness, but empathizing is not the same as feeling what they''re feeling since no one on my side has died. "You still have something else to say, representative of the Nymphs." (I) "I have to report that only 6500 are still in combat condition, 300 people have injuries that make it impossible to fight again." (Nymph leader) "But why would he wear these things? Is he not afraid of the consequences for breaking this kind of Taboo?" (Sapphire) "We can assume he''s still planning something, he shouldn''t be collecting souls and vitality to keep, that means he still has more that we don''t know about." (I) "If I may say something master, perhaps these souls and vitality are to use as an offering to the Heretic God." (Ivan) "You may be right, Elsaris said something similar just now." (I) "During my youth when I was still alive I had many teachers, one of those teachers taught me about the Heretic Gods." (Ivan) "The Heretic Gods accept sacrificial offerings, which can be a person''s vitality or soul." (Ivan) "So you think that Farus is using the people of the mountain range as a great sacrifice to his God?" (I) "Maybe so, but it could also just be that Farus is taking advantage of his moment conquering the entire mountain range to collect this offering, he''s already killing anyone who doesn''t join him, so Farus must be thinking it would be a waste not collect all that vitality and souls, it might even please your God." (Ivan) Goosebumps "" (Sapphire) "You mean that Farus has been handing over the souls of the people of my village as food to an Heretic God!?" (Sapphire) "My mother you mean that she can''t even rest in peace you mean that her soul too" (Helena) I was also angry to hear what Ivan was saying, I even saw that Leo was covering Caryna''s ears so she wouldn''t hear the conversation, that kind of conversation can be very heavy for someone so kind. But a bloodlust has started to spread throughout the meeting room, all the council members are red-eyed like a monster, even the usually calm representative of the Nymphs. The two who were the most bloodthirsty were the village leader and the Arachne representative, I can understand your feelings but I can''t let it go on like this. I release my Aura and use my deadly intimidation skill for a second, just long enough for everyone to regain their rationality and turn to me cautiously, some even took their weapons reflexively, but I felt the bloodlust diminish a lot with this one. my little trick. "I apologize for scaring everyone, I just wish you guys didn''t lose control of your emotions right now." (I) "I''m not going to pretend I know what you''re feeling, but I understand that you''re hearing things that must be shocking to you, but this is not the place or time for you to unleash this bloodlust." (I) "Save that anger and hatred for battle, use it as motivation to destroy Farus'' troops, don''t think about what has passed, you can''t change the past, we also don''t have time to cry over the lives that have been lost along the path." (I) "Wait to wail and weep only when the blood of Farus is shed, wait until you can proudly say that you have brought justice to him who has done you so much harm." (I) "We''re going to take a break from this meeting for twenty minutes, that should be enough time for you to get your emotions in order before we continue the meeting." (I) "Freya, could you bring some things for us all to eat, please?" (I) "Your orders master." (Freya) "Caryna and Leo, come help me bring everything." (Freya) Everyone heard what I said and tried to control themselves, but there was still a heavy air in this room and a slight bloodlust was still present, I should have known that just a simple speech would not be enough, I hope that after a delicious meal the spirits of everyone get better. I''m more worried as the Arachne representative, her body is shaking slightly and I can see the blood coming out of her hands clenched into a tight fist, she''s about to lose control, I can only hope she can handle it, I don''t think anything I say or do will calm her down. Chapter 279: Decisions About The Final Battle Part 3 Chapter 279: Decisions About The Final Battle Part 3 After a quick meal and some time for everyone to gather their thoughts, we resumed the meeting. I should have known that this could happen, the death toll was very high compared to the previous battles, but I had nothing to do, the plan we used was the only one I could think of that would allow us a better chance of victory. I also feel sad for all these deaths, but my sadness doesn''t compare to the sadness and anger that the village leader along with the village council is feeling, unlike me they have a strong bond with the people who died, they were members of their races, acquaintances, friends, and people who lived in their original villages before Farus threw the entire mountain range into this disaster. Sigh Just like I told them before, I shouldn''t think about these things either, worrying about it now won''t do anyone any good, I''ll do my best to leave it until after Farus is dead so I can leave the rest of the work to the Fairy Kings, I would love to see this Heretic God get killed, but I don''t want to be around to see this kind of giants fight when I''m still just an ant, I don''t want to be killed by accident during their battle. I look around and notice that the others are calmer, of them are releasing their bloodlust like before and the mood inside the room has become a little lighter. "It''s time to resume the meeting." (I) "Before I start talking about what we''re going to do from now on, I want to talk about what we discovered today during our battle." (I) "Are you talking about those two evil items?" (Ghoul Leader) "I don''t think so, he''s talking about the second type of crystal, the one that allowed the four generals to transform into that Undead monster." (Sapphire) "The village leader is right, but it''s not just that magic crystal, they had three more magic crystals of the kind we already knew, it seems they have one to raise a large number of bodies like undead and the other crystal to create a single extremely strong Undead using those who are close as a sacrifice." (I) "I noticed something while accompanying Vanessa to the place where the crystals were used, it seems that they need a lot of magic power to activate the first type of crystal, all enemies that had a crystal were Mages who were close to reaching Grade -S." (Elsaris) "Furthermore, the second type of crystal seems to have used not only the magic power and vitality of that Oni general, but it has also absorbed the vitality of the other generals as well in addition to the surrounding musdma." (Ivan) Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only "I didn''t follow Vanessa all the time like you Elsaris, so I''ll have to believe what I said, but this is something that makes sense after all this was supposed to be a powerful spell that Farus put in the crystal, I imagine not everyone will be able to activate it. this magic." (I) "The second crystal is more troublesome, I also felt it was much stronger and sucked up miasma from the surroundings long before it activated." (I) "If it wasn''t his daughter showing up like that to help us, then it would have been difficult to defeat that thing, even though he was an Undead he had powerful regeneration abilities, plus he had a powerful defense." (Sapphire) "The attack I used only made deep cuts on his arm, but normally I''m able to defeat dozens of enemies leaving them to pieces with that attack." (Sapphire) "Also, he has good reflexes and was faster than you would expect from a creature his size." (Elsaris) "When he was trying to attack Zenos, I ran in close and tried to hit his jaw and blow his head off, but he threw himself up and back causing most of the damage to be lost." (Elsaris) "That''s not all, he managed to attack both me and the village leader quickly and even broke through the defense I prepared, it seems that even in that bestial state he still had the mind of someone experienced in battle." (Ivan) "I agree." (Nymph leader) They''re right, looking at their faces I can tell of them are backing down right now, so I''ll cut to the chase. "I must say your plans have been the reason we''ve been winning so far, so please let me know if you have any plans." (Sapphire) "I have a plan, the only plan we can use right now, but I have to say that the death toll could be even higher than today, so it''s up to you to decide what you want to do." (I) "" (all) I can come up with various plans, but it won''t help if they''re not ready for the consequences, even after thinking for a long time I couldn''t reduce the number of deaths that will surely be. If they''re going to refuse the plan even before they hear what I have to say just because the death toll is so high, then there''s nothing more I can do for them. From their expressions, I imagine that saying this so directly to them must have come as a shock, even more so after the way they were when they found out about today''s death toll and about those two horrible items. But I have no choice here, there is no way of speaking that will lessen the impact of what I said, it is best to be as direct and sincere as possible, so even if it is painful for them to hear it will still be easier to understand. I was surprised there was no bloodlust coming from either of them this time, all I saw was their faces filled with sadness and then their eyes turning resolute as they looked at each other. "We know that if you''re talking about a plan, that means it''s the best option you could think of, right?" (Sapphire) Sigh "Yes, no matter what I think, there''s no way to fight that won''t bring deaths, all I could think of is to reduce the dead as much as possible, but even that will still be a huge number of deaths." (I) "Before deciding anything, we should listen to the plan first." (Hobgoblin leader) "Very well, I''ll tell you the plan I thought of." (I) "As you may know, we can''t do nothing, every day Farus'' troops grow stronger within the Dungeons." (I) "We also can''t keep doing ambushes as there are no more Farus troops outside the fortress, so that only leaves us with one option" (I) As I spoke I looked at the village leader and the village council members, I could see that the first to understand where I wanted to go was the village leader who widened her eyes, then the expression of the representative of the Nymphs and the representative of the Ghouls also changed to an expression of fear, they also understand what I meant. "Is your plan to attack the fortress?" (Sapphire) "Yea." (I) Everyone was shocked by my confirmation of the village leader''s question. Chapter 280: A Sincere Conversation Chapter 280: A Sincere Conversation Pov Elsaris: I was on top of the mansion''s roof, I was lying looking at the starry sky inside the dungeon. "A night sky where there''s only one moon, how strange even for a fake dungeon sky." (I) The meeting lasted a long time today, Zenos talked about the results of that battle, also talked about those two items his Fairy managed to get after killing the Bird-type Undead, we also talked about Heretic God Kaharak, I never thought I would hear this one name on that continent, we even talked about Zenos'' plan to attack Farus'' stronghold. "Because he''s taking such a risk, he could do it in a very different way, so he wouldn''t take such a big risk." (I) "Still thinking about what happened at the meeting?" (Jay) "You also know the plan is that way to cut down on unnecessary deaths." (Jay) "I don''t know if he''s doing this to make it easier for the villagers to accept or because he''s too naive." (I) "I don''t think this has anything to do with naivety, from what I''ve observed so far it seems that Zenos has his own ideas about what is right and wrong." (Jay) "His way of thinking is a little confusing and unpredictable, but it seems like he always tries to find a path with less risk." (Jay) "It doesn''t seem like that to me, if he wanted to take less risk then he would have left this place and let the Kingdoms of this continent sort it out." (I) "I think he''s doing all this for reasons he hasn''t told anyone, I''d really like to know what he wants." (I) "Even if you say that and it''s true, we also have to admit that he is making an effort to help the people of the mountain range." (Jay) "You also know that the other Realms didn''t help these people, that could put everyone in even greater danger." (Jay) "To me, this is all nonsense, whenever believers of an Heretic God have involved things get very complicated." (I) "It wouldn''t be surprising if a saint or some great Holy warrior came here one day to kill Farus and all these undead." (I) "Those associated with Heretic Gods are always hunted." (Jay) What has been bothering me is Vanessa, she seems to be a priestess of the Goddess Selene, not only that but she can also use Holy magic, so she must have a high position in the neutral faction, so why is someone like her on this continent and in a place of these without proper protection? If I''m not mistaken, Zenos himself seems to be special somehow, his Aura is something so bizarre that I''ve never felt anything like it in my entire life, the night of his evolution was something that completely shocked me, he might have some connection deep with the Fairies and the neutral faction of the Vampires since Vanessa is here. Another thing that is always bothering me is this weird Fairy and now this Dragon Spirit that Zenos has a contract with, Zenos himself is weird enough already, but somehow even his contracted Fairy and Spirit are weird. Sigh "No matter what happens in the next battle, I won''t let Zenos die." (I) "But you can''t stay by his side all the time, didn''t he ask us to get the Lamia called Jade?" (Jay) "I will, if she is as strong as her mother, then she will come to Zenos." (I) "You might be right." (Jay) I get up and see a glow coming from far away in the forest, I walk to the edge of the roof. "I''m going for a walk, see you later." (I) I jump and start walking in this quiet forest, after some time I reach the edge of this floor where I see Sapphire who is the village leader training with her sword, I can also smell blood. "(But after seeing all that Zenos can do, after seeing how tight-knit his group is, I think my sister will enjoy being in a place like this, after all, I''ve seen of Zenos I know he will protect her, for this I gave up doing any harm to him.)" (I) "His silence and that look on your face showing you''ve really considered this." (Sapphire) "The mere fact that you think about betraying who will help your sister proves what kind of monster you are." (Sapphire) "" (I) I listen to what the village leader says and look at my own hands, they may look clean to others, but in my vision, they will always be stained with blood. The number of people I''ve killed in my life far outweighs the number of monsters I''ve killed, this blood on my hands will never go away. "(Sometimes I wonder if my sister will still recognize me when she wakes up one day.)" (I) "You''re right village leader, I know that and I''ve accepted what I am a long time ago, your words won''t shake me." (I) "I just want you to understand that I will do anything to make Zenos safe, even if I have to die for it, so you need not fear that I will do something unexpected like run away at a critical moment or betray you." (I) "All I want is for Farus to die as soon as possible so Zenos can fulfill his end of the bargain." (I) Sapphire appears to be a competent leader, she has shown talent in leading different races against a common enemy and was also wise enough to seek help when she saw that her defeat was only a matter of time. As a warrior, Sapphire has also shown to have a lot of talent and experience in combat, so I know she has strong instincts. By recognizing these qualities of hers I can say that she will not believe my words, being honest so far has shown to be the right way, at least she has made her listen to me this far, she must have realized that I am not lying, but she knows that I am plotting something too. To show her that she can trust me at least during the battle I look her in the eye, I''m sure she''ll see that I''m firm in my decision when she looks into my eyes. Sigh She stays a few seconds looking into my eyes as if she is sizing me up, I wait in silence until she sighs and lowers her sword, and uses it for support as she relaxes her body. "Why did you want to tell me all this? Why waste time trying to gain my trust?" (Sapphire) "For my sister''s sake, I have to keep Zenos safe." (I) "The next battle already has too many variables that I can''t control, so I can''t allow another variable just because you don''t trust me during the battle." (I) "I don''t care how you think of me, but at the time of battle I want us to fight side by side, I was already thinking about talking to you, I was lucky to find you here far from everyone, it makes it easier for that kind of talk." (I) "If you''re done saying everything you wanted, then get out of here." (Sapphire) "Okay, I just hope you don''t keep overloading yourself before battle, use this time to rest and be as combat prepared as possible." (I) "" (Sapphire) Sapphire turns to the other side and leans against a broken stone, she doesn''t say anything else and doesn''t look at me anymore either, but I know I''ve accomplished my goal, her distrust has lessened a little, I hope this kind of conversation has been enough that there would be no problems between her and me during combat. I get up and start walking into the forest back to the manor, I can feel I''m being watched but I know it''s these strange Fairies and Spirits, they usually keep away from me but for some reason, they''re closed today. "Mom, where did you go? I went to bring you food, but you weren''t on the roof anymore." (Beatriz) "I just went for a walk." (I) I meet my daughter as I approach the mansion, Beatriz and Jay are the only ones I can count on besides my sister, I already told them both to leave but they don''t want to leave my side but I''m glad they''re having fun being here, it''s been a long time since I''ve seen the two of them so relaxed. "Come on, let''s go to my room." (I) Chapter 281: Cradle Of Spirits Part 1 Chapter 281: Cradle Of Spirits Part 1 This morning I woke up next to a smiling Nix, she seems to be doing better after a night''s sleep, but by her look of anxiety and expectation, I know she wants to settle this thing about the Cradle of Spirits. "Good morning Master." (Nix) "Good Morning." (I) "Why are you in my bed?" (I) "Have you forgotten? You were the one who brought me here yesterday after clearing the battlefield." (Nix) "(Now that she said it, I think that was it.)" (I) "Alright, give me some time to go to the bathroom and get ready so we''ll get something to eat before we leave." (I) "I''m glad you remember your promise, while you slept I talked to the people at the camp to find a good spot." (Nix) "Let''s talk about it after we''ve had something to eat." (I) "I''m going to need some food too, but a different kind of food." (Nix) "What kind of food?" (I) "Spiritual energy from one of the elements I have." (Nix) "Same as Layla, but she absorbs elemental mana." (I) "Yes, it''s not something we always need, but after what I did yesterday, I haven''t recovered as much as I''d like to." (Nix) "My spirit energy is completely restored, but my body is still a little weak and sore from using techniques my body still can''t handle." (Nix) "If you had told me about this earlier, then I would have found another way to resolve it." (I) "We can''t waste time, fighting outside the Dungeon was already a big risk, besides everyone was too tired, we had to get out of there, but we can''t leave so many bodies behind." (Nix) UppTodated from "What I did was a thorough and quick cleaning, you also know that was the best option." (Nix) Nix is right, I was the one who suggested that plan, but I was afraid of the enemies showing up before the fight is over or when everyone is tired, I know there were some among Farus troops who sent messages to the enemy base, I was afraid that Farus might have some way of moving fast like some teleportation magic. "I really appreciate your help, but don''t do dangerous things again." (I) "I promise not to do anything else risky if you do the same, master." (Nix) "" (I) I couldn''t promise that, I''m fully aware that sometimes I get carried away whether it''s training, testing something, researching something out of curiosity, or even making some crazy decision like the plan we used in the last battle. A lot of the things I do turn out to be more dangerous than I expect, sometimes I wonder if I hit my head too hard when I was still a Leech. Sigh "Dark elemental energy is not in harmony with this environment as it does not belong there, but I think with your help we can purify and harmonize this miasma into pure dark energy, it will be similar to what you and Layla did in the mansion." (Nix) "You know we don''t have much time, when I did this with Layla it took days, to be more precise, it took weeks." (I) "This time it will be faster, it should only take half the day, we should finish by dawn." (Nix) "We have many Spirits with the Dark element that will be able to help us as they will be able to harmonize with their Aura, later on, this is only possible because their Aura is what made them born." (Nix) "At least they''re being helpful, usually they''re just flying around me or stealing my food while I eat, not to mention yesterday when I went to shower and they came to play in the water." (I) "They feel comfortable and happy around you master, you should be happy, spirits tend to stay away from people, that''s because we are more sensitive to feeling people''s emotions and we don''t like negative emotions." (Nix) "So how do you feel about me?" (I) "" (Nix) "A whirlwind of emotions all the time, worry, curiosity, love, anxiety, happiness, etc." (Nix) "Most people try to hide their emotions subconsciously, but you expose it in your Aura, that''s part of your Aura as one of the many layers it has." (Nix) "But I doubt most Spirits can sense your emotions, your Aura is too confusing and chaotic to understand, I''m able to do that because of the contract I have with you." (Nix) "I imagine that the Spirits inside the Dungeon are able to do the same because my Aura helped them to be born, don''t you?" (I) "Exactly, it looks like you''re starting to understand." (Nix) We''ve spent a lot of time talking, I want to get this sorted out soon, to be honest, I''m worried that what we do might draw the attention of Farus or one of his minions. "So what should we do?" (I) "For now I''m going to get the Spirits inside the Dungeon, once you and I start they will instinctively follow suit because of your Aura, their presence will also help to stabilize the place at the end of the process." (Nix) After saying that Nix opens a gate to the Dungeon, it takes her an hour to get out of the Dungeon with a few dozen Spirits that start flying around me as soon as they appear. "Sorry for the delay, I had to go through each floor of the Dungeon as they weren''t registered in the crystals of the safe rooms." (Nix) Sigh "Alright, let''s just get this over with." (I) "I know you''re worried that this might get Farus'' attention, but that''s impossible, Farus and his minions won''t have Spirits on their side, I don''t think any of them have spiritual energy either." (Nix) "Usually only spectral-type undead have Affinity with spirit energy, I''m not saying it''s impossible, just that it''s rare." (Nix) "Besides, we''re more than two days'' journey from Farus'' Keep, from this distance they shouldn''t notice a thing." (Nix) "I hope you''re right." (I) Nix looks around, she seems to be taking stock of her surroundings as she looks for a good place to start. Chapter 282: Cradle Of Spirits Part 2 Chapter 282: Cradle Of Spirits Part 2 Nix spends a few minutes assessing her surroundings before focusing her attention on a certain place, then she focuses her attention on me. "I found a good spot, on the shore of the lake facing the waterfall." (Nix) "From that spot as the center the size, I imagine to be the same as Layla''s Cradle of Fairies should be enough." (Nix) "That size will include the entire lake, the waterfall, the flower field, and half the trees in the valley." (Nix) "So let''s start?" (I) "Before, it would be better if the master asked Layla to evacuate everyone from the 4th floor of the mansion." (Nix) "I had forgotten about that, well remembered." (I) "We''re going to need the empty floor to integrate this place into the Dungeon, but why would you want to put your Cradle of Spirits on the same floor as the Cradle of Fairies?" (I) "Because then it''ll be better for me to take care of him, besides that won''t be a problem, so you don''t have to." (Nix) "But I forgot to inform the master that while you were sleeping I freed all the bodies from the last battle on the second floor and got a lot of DP." (Nix) "I thought you ate them." (I) "I didn''t eat anything, all I did was absorb the shadows that were imprisoning the bodies in my shadow, my own body can be considered your shadow, after that, I released everything inside the Dungeon when I woke up." (Nix) "I see, I''m glad I got some DP." (I) "I wanted the master''s permission to expand the 4th floor with these points, may I?" (Nix) "Yes you can, I imagine it''s to have enough space for your Cradle of Spirits." (I) "Exactly that, so I''m going to need everyone off the floor, I could send everyone out of the Dungeon, but that would cost DP and would be a very rude thing to do to our guests." (Nix) "From what you said this will take a few hours, so it should be time for everyone to leave the mansion floor, I''ll let Layla know now." (I) I try to contact Layla but I can''t, I think it''s because she is inside the Dungeon, so I enter the Dungeon gate and go to the fourth floor safe room before trying to talk to Layla again. "(Layla, can you hear me?)" (I) "(Huh!? Master?)" (Layla) "(Ask everyone to leave the 4th floor, Nix and I are going to make some modifications, tell them to set up temporary camp on the 3rd floor for a few hours, I want the 4th floor empty.)" (I) "(You must be doing the Cradle of Spirits, right?)" (Layla) "(Yes, but we are also going to expand the fourth floor, don''t tell anyone what we''re doing.)" (I) "(Okay.)" (Layla) After talking to Layla I head back to the first floor before exiting the Dungeon and heading to Nix. "I already warned Layla, everything should be sorted out by the time we''re done." (I) "Then let''s not waste any more time." (Nix) I go down the waterfall with Nix and we use our very similar wings to fly over the lake and land on the lakeshore facing the waterfall. "This is amazing" (Nix) "" (I) cough cough "Now master, you can use the same elemental Affinities as I and I can use the same as you, we will both use these elemental Affinities to find the pure energy of the Dark, Moon, and Water elements." (Nix) "After that, we''re going to expel everything else other than these three from this space, so we''re going to use our spiritual energy to fill this whole place and try to purify all the malice that''s in here, got it?" (Nix) "Yea." (I) "We have to do this together, let''s get started." (Nix) Soon I feel these three types of energy that Nix talked about, but it didn''t just have the pure spirit energy, there was elemental mana, elemental Ki, and elemental spirit energy, but I felt that Nix wanted to get rid of everyone and leave only the pure energy that seemed stronger. This process was long, I didn''t even know how long it took, but I felt others doing the same as me and Nix, they must be the Spirits that Nix brought, it made the work a little faster. As soon as only these three pure elements were inside the space where my Aura and Nix''s were we started trying to purify the malice that the miasma spread, this was a disgusting process, the malice felt like some kind of dirt that sticks to everything it touches, Nix and I used spirit energy to wash away this dirt and push it out, it took longer than trying to flush out the other elements. I didn''t know how much time had passed when we were finally done, I felt tired, but I knew there were still things I needed to do. "Now we have to balance these three pure elements, they have to have the same amounts spread out all over this space." (Nix) "" (I) This was a quick job thanks to the experience of having done something similar expelling the other elements from this place, in a short time the elemental energies of Darkness, Moon, and Water were in the same amounts scattered all over this place. "We''re already on the last part, master." (Nix) "This time you can leave all the work to me, we need to use our Auras to harmonize with the environment while harmonizing these three pure elements with our Auras and the environment." (Nix) "Usually this is the most difficult step and it can take the longest, it''s also something that can''t be done anywhere, but thanks to you being a child of a God that''s no problem, you may not know it master, but there is a trace of divinity in your Aura, it doesn''t do you any good, but it can come in handy at such times." (Nix) "I know you can''t control your Aura, so let me control my Aura and manipulate yours to do this, you just have to accompany me, it should be quick." (Nix) I follow what Nix says, I feel her trying to connect with the environment, soon my mind that was already tired and bombarded with excess information again when the image of this whole place appears again in my mind, this time I feel more familiar with it. this place, but my mind is about to explode. Before long I feel like a connection is forming between my Aura and this place, I feel like my Aura and Nix''s are taking root all over this place, I also feel the pure elemental energy using these roots as a connection to flow throughout this place until something seems to click, then unique energy is born between me and Nix spreading throughout this place. At this moment I feel energy balls forming and I also feel the Spirits flying around me, at this moment I feel as if a part of my Aura and Nix''s have been engraved in this environment, so my Aura separates from Nix and no strength to control back inside of me before I fall backwards to the floor as I open my eyes. My body was covered in sweat and I felt weak, I could feel that my spiritual energy was completely depleted, I was struggling just to keep my eyes open to see this beautiful starry sky in front of me. "You did a great job, you can rest now, Master." (Nix) "" (I) I see Nix in the corner of my eyes, she comes closer and runs her hands through my hair, it calms me down and then I let myself be consumed by weakness and tiredness. Zzzzzzz Zzzzz Zzzz. Chapter 283: Kamelia Chapter 283: Kamelia Pov Nix: After a full day of effort, the master and I managed to create the Cradle of Spirits, I was right in thinking that it would be much easier to do this thanks to the master, because of him I had the freedom to choose anywhere. Usually, you need to be lucky to find a suitable place, after that the process can take years, but with the help of the master it only took a few hours, but I don''t know if he will ever be able to understand how difficult this is to happen. Ding! <[ You have successfully created a Cradle of Spirits ]> . . <[ The Cradle of Spirits has been successfully stabilized ]> . . <[ A strong bond has been created between you and the newly created Cradle of Spirits ]> . . <[ You increased your spirit energy capacity by 5000 EP ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the title [ Creator of the Cradle of Spirits ] ]> I increased my energy capacity by 50%, which is excellent. I look at the master who passed out and I see the Infant Spirits that have just emerged spinning around him, then I look at the Spirits I brought from the Dungeon, they seem at ease flying all over the place, I can feel them being accepted by the Cradle of Spirits. "I''m so happy to have been able to create a Cradle of Spirits that has the elements of Water, Moon, and Darkness, I feel like my parents are close by." (I) Memories of the past began to flood my mind in waves, the days I spent with my mother, the training my father gave me, and how we were all always smiling. "" (I) Tears I feel the tears running down my face, I tried my best not to cry in front of the master so as not to make him worried, but I''m still very shaken mentally and emotionally now that I''ve just created this place. One of the Childlike Spirits with different colored eyes and white hair lands on my shoulder and uses its small hands to dry my tears. "Thanks." (I) This is not the time to cry, I still have one last thing to do. "Why are you here?" (I) "I came to help a friend, but I can''t interfere on this continent, so I can''t help you." (Kamelia) "Don''t worry about me, I can take care of myself." (I) "But I wanted to ask if you have heard from my father or my sister?" (I) "Your father caused quite a stir when he found out about you, even without knowing your location he wanted to turn the world upside down until he found you." (Kamelia) "I can imagine that, many were injured trying to stop him?" (I) "Yes, but it''s quiet now, everyone is trying hard not to let the information about you slip." (Kamelia) "I didn''t even know where you were, I was very surprised when I saw you creating a Cradle of Spirits the way you promised your mother." (Kamelia) "Your sister is dying to meet you, she has her mother''s memories, but she''s scarier when she gets angry." (Kamelia) "I want to meet her too, but this is not the time, if anyone hears about me a war will happen again." (I) "I know you hate wars but I would love to have the opportunity to flay Baldr''s damn servants and believers, my biggest regret is not being there that day, maybe I could have stopped them from getting you, or I could have saved your mother." (Kamelia) "By the time I checked everything was destroyed, your father was already flying to vent his fury on every Baldr temple on the mainland and you were nowhere to be found" (Kamelia) Tears As she spoke tears started to come out of her eyes, when the tears hit the ground flowers were born in the dozens for each teardrop. "Don''t cry, I''m fine now, I have a new family and a goal, I''ll show you that this time I won''t be useless anymore that needs to be protected." (I) "You''ve become so mature, I wish I could hug you, but I think your father would be able to smell you on me, that could be dangerous." (Kamelia) "I can''t stay here long, so I have to go, I hope next time I can talk to this young Vampire, see you soon my child." (Kamelia) After Kamelia left I enter the Dungeon carrying the master, leave him in the safe room on the third floor with some people from the village and leave the Dungeon to close the gate and start walking away. - Pov Hera: I was in heaven watching Zenos'' hired Spirit closing the Dungeon gate and running into the forest. "Are you sure you can do without a hug from her?" (I) "I have to go visit the Dragons later, if I hug her father will smell her on me." (Kamelia) "If he started asking questions I wouldn''t know what to do, calming him down is something only two people in this world are capable of doing." (Kamelia) "Sorry, I forgot you knew her." (I) "Alright, just seeing her is a great joy for me, her human form is very beautiful, but I wanted to see her Dragon form too." (Kamelia) "You will have the opportunity, but now we have things we must do, you have to get out of here before the battle against the Heretic God begins, only the Fairies can fight this time." (I) "I know, now let''s see this Dryad you talked about." (Kamelia) Chapter 284: Assault On Farus Fortress Part 1 Chapter 284: Assault On Farus'' Fortress Part 1 I woke up the next afternoon to two Fairies with the appearance of Beastman children pulling my hair. When I woke up I noticed that the two Fairies somehow managed to get tangled in my hair and were trapped, it took me a few minutes to get the two Fairies free, after that, I released them and got ready before going down to the kitchen. There was no one in the kitchen, so I made myself some sandwiches and ate as I walked around the mansion with a plate in hand. I didn''t find anyone in the mansion, but after I finished eating I went outside and found Sophia teaching Alice behind the mansion, I noticed that Diana was also training while fighting Leo. I kept walking and saw Lyra and Ivan walking around the garden while they were talking, Lyra''s appearance was horrible, she had dark circles under her eyes and looked tired, I decided to let them have their father and daughter time in the hope that Lyra could get some rest, I started to think that I was demanding a lot from her. With nothing to do, I headed over to the camp where everyone was trying to fix their armor and combat clothes before the battle in the fortress. I noticed that Anton and Tnia were in charge of this, I also saw some Arachne helping Tnia in the combat outfit repair, I also saw some Orcs and Ogres helping Anton fix weapons and armor with various makeshift brick furnaces. Everyone seemed busy with something, that''s when I remembered the Cradle of the Spirits of Nix, so I used my Dragon Wings to throw myself up and hovered for a while looking at the entire 4 floor from above was much bigger than I expected. It didn''t take long to see a small mountain and a waterfall just a few minutes from where I was, so I got down to the ground and walked in that direction. When I checked into the lake and saw the waterfall I was shocked, it was beautiful. For some reason everything looked more beautiful than before, I could also see a thin layer of black mist around the lake, but this time it was pure dark energy, there was no malice. The water falling from the waterfall looked crystal clear and even glowed with the sunlight, the lake was beautiful and I could see the reflection of a starry sky with two moons on the lake all the time, even though it is still daytime, this place was amazing. I could see Spirits playing all over the place, some were even swimming in the lake and some were flying while dancing with their friends, there were also several Infant Spirits around here, I found this strange as there was no longer to be any more Spirits or Infant Fairies inside the Dungeon since my last evolution. I sit on the edge of the lake and watch the reflection of the two moons for a few minutes. "Have you woken up, Master?" (Nix) "Yes, it looks like our hard work has paid off." (I) "Are you at the waterfall?" (Nix) "Yes, I was taking a look around, so I decided to come here to see the result of what we did." (I) "Freya was looking for you, she got worried when you weren''t in the room anymore, so she came to ask me where you were." (Nix) "I''m just taking a walk, what does she need?" (I) "I don''t know, she''s already back at the mansion, you''d better ask her." (Nix) "Alright, thanks for the warning." (I) "I also want to say that we will be arriving at Farus'' stronghold tomorrow, so prepare yourself." (Nix) "Are you going alone?" (I) "Layla is with me, I needed her space magic to help me hide better, so you won''t see her until tomorrow." (Nix) "Fine, just don''t let her do anything stupid." (I) "All right." (Nix) After talking to Nix I get up and go to the mansion, I was wondering why Freya was looking for me. As I check in front of the mansion I see Freya waiting for me at the front door. I look up and see dozens of Undead birds flying in the sky, I noticed they''ve been flying slower since dawn, it seems they''ve even gotten weaker during the day. "Is everyone ready?" (I) "Yeah, we''re just waiting for your signal to attack." (Sapphire) "Let me check how Vanessa and Layla are doing first." (I) "Be quick, every second lost we can be discovered." (Sapphire) I go to the entrance of the Dungeon that is still open and enter, inside I see many Mages lined up for the exit of the Dungeon, I look around and go to Vanessa who was talking to Layla. "I see you''re ready, right?" (I) "I''ve just arranged everything, we also managed to measure the area around it, I don''t think I will have a problem with my part of the plan." (Vanessa) "Where''s Irina?" (I) "She''s making the final adjustments to the monster cores." (Layla) "I''ll start the plan in five minutes, so get ready and wait for Nix''s warning." (I) "Let''s be ready, now go back outside and don''t interrupt our preparations, master." (Layla) "Alright, I just came to warn you." (I) I exit the Dungeon and head back to the front where Nix is talking to the village leader. "We''ll start the plan in five minutes, let the troops know." (I) "Yea." (Sapphire) After the village leader went to warn the others who were hiding deeper in the forest I turn to Nix. "You can now close the Dungeon gate and enter my shadow, you already know what to do on my signal." (I) "Yes, but first I have to tell you to be careful master, I don''t like this plan, Layla and I should be on your side." (Nix) "Follow the plan, that''s the best we can do right now." (I) Nix leaves with a serious expression and comes back in a few seconds, then she enters my shadow without saying anything, when the five minute deadline was almost up the village leader comes back to my side next to Ivan, Diana, Leo, Irius, and Freya. "Now Nix!" (I) I take a few steps away from the others putting myself forward, then I close my eyes and transfer all my spiritual energy to nix in my shadow, at that moment my shadow grows behind me and a big dragon head comes out of my shadow. This Dragon''s head soon becomes three times larger and turns towards the main gate of Farus'' Keep, then opens its large jaws and a silvery light begins to focus on its mouth. "< Moonbeam >" (Nix) Soon a beam of silver light comes out of the Dragon''s mouth at a speed unable to dodge, this powerful attack hits an invisible barrier that instantly breaks, then breaks another two barriers before hitting a fourth black barrier, it takes a few seconds, but cracks begin to form and spread throughout the barrier before it breaks as if it were made of glass, then the attack hits the gates and walls of the Stronghold destroying the enemy''s defenses while opening a passage. "ATTACK, KILL ALL!!!!" (I) "ATTACK!!!!!!!" (all) I start to run ahead towards the fortress, right behind me comes my companions along with the village leader, and behind them were more than four thousand warriors. Chapter 285: Assault On Farus Fortress Part 2 Chapter 285: Assault On Farus'' Fortress Part 2 Pov Farus: Something strange is happening, for the last few days, my troops have been disappearing one after the other. Yesterday an Undead bird that was a lesser Familiar returned from an investigation where the only clue was a circle of wasteland where nothing existed, this was found on the path where the two troops I called back were supposed to take to get here, the remains of an Undead Bird were found, unfortunately, most of the body was destroyed. The worst thing is that two sacred items were lost, my only consolation is that I have two others, but that''s not what''s bothering me the most, the problem is that I don''t know anything about this enemy, the only thing I know is that I couldn''t to be that refugee village run by that blue Lamia. They weren''t a threat, I was saving them for last in the hopes they''d gather all the scattered villages into one place so I could get this all over with faster. But somehow an unknown enemy appeared, maybe I got carried away since everything was going according to plan for the last few years, I was careless. Because of this most of my army disappeared and somehow even their bodies disappeared, even though I received information about an attack for the first time, they were too far away, the fastest I could send reinforcements was three hours later, but there was no longer any troops of mine there. Sigh "Why is all this happening when we''re almost ready for the ritual?" (I) "Perhaps one of the other religions has noticed our presence, master?" (Lich) "That''s impossible, the reason I do this here is exactly that it doesn''t have eyes from any of the Kingdoms on this continent here." (I) "I''m not just doing this for revenge, this place is a great starting point where we can strengthen ourselves in hiding." (I) "I have also left several Undead Birds guarding the mountain ranges, but no creature of any kind has been detected entering here." (I) "Could our God give us the answers to this enemy?" (Lich) CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m "It''s been a few days since I''ve noticed that the great Kaharak is avoiding making contact, the last divine message I received was to beware of the Fairies." (I) "What about the Heretic the God Kaharak ordered killed?" (Lich) "Impossible, from the divine message we know he wasn''t in the mountain range, there''s no way he could come here and do all this without being discovered, a Vampire doesn''t have that kind of power." (I) "Bring me water to wash my hands." (I) In order to calm down I started working on a new project, a patchwork Zombie that I created with different parts of powerful monsters, I had to use the health of a few dozen of my servants, but I think it was worth it. "Unfortunately we don''t have enough material to give Kaharak''s Blessings to this Zombie." (I) "We''d have to give up half the army for that." (Lich) "He will still take a few minutes to get up, my magic is still strengthening his body, I had to use almost all the magic crystals you made on this, but he will be a great weapon against this unknown enemy." (I) I was covered in blood, the room around me is full of dismembered bodies and there was a creature several meters long lying on the floor, I spent the last two days putting these body parts together and using various spells and curses to make this thing useful. "I hope they don''t take too long." (I) "Looks like you''re sure about their next move." (Lich) "Yes, as unlikely as it is, I can only think of one thing to do" (I) "< Earth Thorns >" (I) So I use earth magic on the ground making earth spikes appear in their midst, but they all defended or dodged, but the important thing is that I separated them. One of them dies while dodging my attack with an arrow that pierced his helmet and his head, the arrow doesn''t stop until it breaks through the stone wall two meters away, Freya''s arrows are really powerful. I did this to separate them, I don''t always need to kill, causing chaos on the battlefield and preventing enemies from attacking in an organized way is enough. I look around and I see everyone fighting, the enemy number has already surpassed ours so we are losing, I see many of our troops being wounded or killed, only a few have the strength to fight against Farus'' troops that are stronger. When I was distracted watching the other battle scene I was hit by a powerful blow that broke my right arm while throwing me against the wall making a mark of my body stay there. Bammm!!! Blewhh!! cough cough When I hit the wall I felt one of my ribs break too and blood came out of my mouth, I vomited even more blood as I hit the ground. "" (I) I looked at the one that hit me only to see this one wearing full armor run towards me holding a two-handed sword. Without having time to think I roll on the ground and then I jump back opening a distance between me and whoever attacked me, I saw his sword cut a piece of the wall like it was paper and I tried to identify this enemy when he turned to me, it was then that I saw through the opening of the helmet that was a skull, looking better I could also feel an Aura of death around him. "I''ve felt this Aura before" (I) While thinking I drank a healing potion and used my abilities to heal faster. "< Light >" (I) I use beginner light magic and put a lot of mana to make a flash in front of this enemy, meanwhile, I walk away from a little more, while I run away a Berserk Zombie tries to attack me but a blade of light breaks his head in two and I continue running as I pull my broken arm to get the bone back in place, then let the healing take effect as I attack this enemy. "< Fire Blast >" (I) "< Light Spear >" (I) I use a blast of fire underneath him to knock him into the air then use a light magic attack to hit him before he hits the ground. "< Death Blade >" Without deflecting the enemy, use a black energy blade attack that cuts my spear of Light in two. "Now I remember, a Death Knight must be one of the three Undead Farus summoned." (I) I use my connection to Nix to speak to her in my mind before I get attacked again. "(Are you ready yet?)" (I) "(Not yet.)" (Nix) Chapter 286: Assault On Farus Fortress Part 3 Chapter 286: Assault On Farus'' Fortress Part 3 I was starting to get irritated and frustrated, I didn''t think it would take this long for the plan to be put into practice, this enemy is strong and isn''t even giving me time to breathe. Suddenly I have a bad feeling and I get down, then something big goes over me and hits the wall, when I look I see it was the village leader, she gets up and runs in the same direction she came from, it seems she too is facing a strong enemy, but I cannot afford to divert my attention from this Death Knight. "< Rise and Fight >" (Knight of Death) I was finding it strange that he didn''t attack me, but I soon understood why, black energy covered his sword when he stuck it in the ground, then this black energy spreads for ten meters around him, soon half of the corpses get up and come in my direction, that''s over twenty undead. "< Arrows of Light > 20" (I) I use the same attack as before to hit the heads of most of this Undead, this took care of them but gave an opening for the Death Knight who tried to attack me while casting the magic. But I already expected that, so as soon as I saw him move I used my lines in front of me and tied him down long enough to finish getting rid of the undead while he cut the lines. Just as I was about to attack this guy I feel a horrendous Aura cover the whole place, this Aura is filled with bloodlust and a feeling of Death even greater than this Death Knight''s Aura. I realized that those nearby were paralyzed because of this Aura so I use all my Aura skills at the same time to fend off this Aura, my Aura for some reason easily fended off this horrible Aura as it is so much stronger. At that moment I use my sword to deflect the Death Knight''s sword and focus on the direction where the Aura is heading back, there I see Faurs, his image was exactly as the village people told me, he looks like a mixture of the race of the Orcs and Ghouls, he must be the first hybrid I see in this world. I look at him and see a cold, cruel smile on his face, he points his staff in my direction, which appears to be made of black bones and has three skulls on the end. "I found the Heretic." (Farus) "< Killing Curse >" (Farus) As soon as I saw it he knew he would realize who was the source of the Aura that took the Aura away from him, this was a trap and I fell. The moment we looked at each other he launched an attack at me, a skull made of purple mist comes out of his staff and comes towards me, it was too fast for me to dodge or defend myself, the attack hits me. Argh! When the mist skull hit me it dissolved into the mist that started to surround me trying to enter my body, but at that moment a scarlet Light comes out of my body and burns this mist in scarlet flames. I feel that this power comes from the blessing that Goddess Selene gave to me after the mist clears I look at Farus'' angry face, I knew that for Goddess Selene''s blessing to have reacted it must be the power of another God. I try to run to Farus but the Death Knight from before puts himself in front of me and tries to stop me, I jump to the left side and use my lines to attach to his body and pull him with all my strength throwing to the left where I saw a Four-meter tall skeleton coming towards me. When the Death Knight hits the large Skeleton the two are trapped in sharp bones growing from the ground, then a column of fire appears from the ground going upwards to a height of ten meters consuming the two enemies inside. "< Bone Thorn >" (Lich) Being so close to this Skeleton I could understand that it was a Lich, its Aura was very similar to the Lich I faced inside the Corpse Dungeon. He used magic that made a big spike of bones come out of the ground and go through my belly, but I don''t let go of his core, I use corrosion on my hand as I open that core with all my strength, I wanted to break it. "Ahhhh!!!!" (Lich) "< Sphere of Light >" (I) "< Devourer of the Dead >" (Faurs) A magic circle my size appears beside me and a skull half the size of my body comes flying out of the magic circle and bites my shoulder as it pulls me away from the Lich. "Ahhh!!!" (Lich) But he doesn''t stop screaming, the red light in his eyes darkens and he falls to the ground crumbling into a pile of bones, in the place where the Lich was a sphere of light was glowing with an almost completely melted core inside. I used a spell that creates a defensive sphere around the Lich''s core while my corrosion ability was active, looks like one of Farus'' generals is gone. "Bloody Heretic, I don''t know how you ended up in the mountain range, but you will pay for interfering with my plans." (Farus) "COME!!!" (Farus) The shaking that was getting stronger and stronger had stopped at some point without me noticing, at Farus'' words a giant claw breaks through the walls of the building behind him and tries to grab me, but an arrow hits the ground between me and that claw causing a blast of wind that doesn''t push back the giddy Claw that continues to advance toward me, but I''m thrown twenty feet away in the opposite direction of the claw. "Looks like Freya saved me this time." (I) I cut to pieces this giant skull biting me with my sword and I take two bottles of blood then drink it as I keep trying to heal I see a green liquid in the bite wound on my shoulder I think that skull had poison in its teeth but it seems that it didn''t affect me because of my resistances. With no time to think too much, I turn to Ivan who is still fighting the Death Knight close by, then I turn to the claw that tried to hit me, soon the wall of the building breaks further and a grotesque being over eight meters tall comes out of the building and stands beside Farus as he roars upwards. It was a creature that seemed to be made with different parts of different corpses, it already seemed to have a shape close to humanoid, but its claws were of giant monsters, its body had several types of colors and seams everywhere, it had giant spider legs in the likes, a giant snake tail, and three wolf heads, he was very muscular in a grotesque and unnatural way. As if this monster wasn''t enough I noticed Farus using a magic circle that absorbed dozens of corpses and throwing several monster cores to summon another Lich behind this giant monster. In my despair, I hear what I have been waiting for so far. "(We''re activating it now.)" (Nix) Soon I see a pillar of light coming from somewhere nearby, then the pillar of light expands in all directions until I reach where we are at great speed and everything around us is covered in a golden light and a smile appears on my face. Chapter 287: Assault On Farus Fortress Part 4 Chapter 287: Assault On Farus'' Fortress Part 4 Pov Nix: As the master passed the walls of the Keep that I blasted my way through, I broke away from his shadow and circled the keep from the outside, releasing Mages every few feet. After all the Mages are in place I reenter the fortress and walk through the hidden battlefield to the inside of the largest building, then free Irina, Vanessa, Kira, Byakko, Layla, Elsaris, and their children. "Everyone already knows what to do, go!" (I) We didn''t have time to waste repeating what each one was going to do, everyone already knew their duties, Layla was going to steal everything Farus had hidden, this was to prevent him from using some other hidden card against us and to get something we''re going to need. Kira and the sons of Elsaris would kill the Mages and Archers who must position themselves to attack from afar, they have to kill everyone without drawing attention to themselves, as they all have training and experience as Assassins the master asked them to do. Elsaris will be responsible for searching and capturing the village leader''s daughter, on the way she will kill any enemy that doesn''t draw anyone''s attention to us. Irina and Vanessa go to the center of the fortress to complete the main part of the plan, meanwhile, I am responsible for protecting them, I cannot let them be interrupted. After everyone goes to do their chores I start heading in a direction along with Irina and Vanessa. "Come on, the center should be in that direction according to the measurements we made before." (I) "I hope the Mages outside aren''t attacked." (Irina) "The battle must still be going on inside the fortress, it will be too late by the time Farus notices what we''re doing." (Vanessa) "That if he notices, this plan is crazy, there must be a massacre happening on the battlefield right now." (I) "But this is our only chance to win, but we have to be quick before anything can happen to the master and the others, a man according to counts." (Vanessa) We arrived at what appears to be a weapons depot, there were a lot of soldiers inside, but I made shadow tentacles snap most of their necks while Vanessa used light magic on the undead. When we finished killing the enemies I locked the door from the inside and started stealing everything that was in there while the other two were setting up the center of the magic circle. The master''s plan is to build a magic circle that covers the entire fortress, this magic circle will serve as a means for Vanessa to use her Holy magic to purify the entire fortress, this should be enough to wipe out all the undead at once, and damage any type of cursed item that Farus may be guarding including magic crystals filled with curse spells. I was watching while Irina drew the magic circle using dust from monster cores that Lyra prepared, then they started positioning the monster cores that will serve to store and convert the energy that this magic circle will use, the core of this magic circle comes from a Grade S monster and will be positioned in the center. As they were finishing up everything Layla appears, she had a very happy smile, she left stacks and stacks of global gold coins with us before leaving and continuing her quest. Vanessa places her hand on the crystal and a stream of golden and scarlet energy leaves her body and the monster''s core grows more and more luminous until I''m not even able to look in her direction. "< Holy Purification >" (Vanessa) With Vanessa using her magic through the magic circle a strong light spreads through this place and I feel like it keeps spreading everywhere, when this energy touches my body I feel like all negative feelings and any bad feeling disappears. Ahhhh!!! Argh!!! Haaahhhhhh!!!! Soon I could hear screams of pain coming from everywhere, I had to wait until the light faded and see Vanessa lying on the floor, so I opened a gate to the Dungeon and took Vanessa and Irina inside, I tried to sink into my shadow but I couldn''t, maybe it''s because of that Light that hasn''t disappeared yet, so I just run out to fly over the walls going outside, so I could go around safely until I get to the place where the master must be fighting. - Pov Elsaris: As soon as I separated myself from Zenos'' hired Spirit I run everywhere, I avoid fighting any warriors and I only go after the Mages as they have weaker defense and vitality, the Undead I ignore as I keep looking until I finally find one. The only Lamia emerging from a cabin in the middle of a training ground, she was fully armed leading a group of thirty or forty warriors of various races. "< Paralyzing Shock >" (I) I use a Thunder element magic attack, this sent a cone-shaped electrical discharge in front of me hitting all enemies, while they were paralyzed I threw ten daggers while running until I reached Lamia. I was informed that her name was Jade, her snake lower body had green scales, she also had green eyes and hair, her body was well trained and she used a spear, she felt my attack and managed to protect herself. I attacked her with a kick, she used her spear to throw me up and I spin in the air throwing ten more daggers killing ten more enemies. Lamia tried to attack me with her spear, she was experienced in battle as the moment I dodged her forcefully it changed her movement to slash me instead of piercing me with the spear. Even admitting that she fights well I still have to take her before more enemies see me, so I grab her spear and pull her towards me, when she defends I give three punches to her tail that tried to hit me from behind, so I use my daggers to cut her in several places as my speed surpasses hers. After doing dozens of blows I threw a smoke bomb in her face, I took advantage of her getting slower and slower to do this. I used three different sleep poisons to make her pass out, I was trying not to hurt her too much after I saw her pass out I used my fire magic to burn the last ten enemies while I tied this Lamia down in a way that would be easier for me carry her since her body is very fulfilled. At that moment I feel something and then I see everything around me being taken by strong light, this light was calming and made me feel a little happy to know that the plan was going well, so I started to run taking this body that was bigger than the man, I was going to use that light as a cover to get out of the keep unseen. Chapter 288: Assault On Farus Fortress Part 5 Chapter 288: Assault On Farus'' Fortress Part 5 When the Light took over everything I found it difficult to see, I didn''t have any ability to see in such a light-filled environment, I wanted to attack Farus as I still knew his location but my detection skills were showing me some people between me and Farus, I could not attack without knowing whether they were friend or foe. Haaaaa!!!! HAAAAA!!! GGRRRRRRRRR!!!!!! ROAR!!! While I was in this dilemma I began to hear screams of pain from all sides, even a roar of pain that must have been coming from the giant creature that just appeared. It looks like the plan is succeeding, but I feel that this magic is much stronger than when Vanessa used it in the other battle, it''s not just the scale of the magic being bigger as planned, I feel the presence of the Goddess Selene in that light. "WHAT IS THAT FUCKING LIGHT!!!!!" (Farus) "MY undead that I worked so hard to create and gather!!!!" (Farus) "DICK! THE CURSES ARE ALSO BEING BROKEN, THE SOLDIERS I''VE GATHERED!!!" (Farus) "DURING HERETIC!!!!!" (Farus) "WHY CAN''T I USE MY POWER!!??" (Farus) I could hear Farus screams of fury, it seems I managed to catch him off guard this time, I bet he never imagined that an enemy would create a ritual magic that covered his entire fortress. This plan cost me hundreds of Monster Cores, as well as putting some of my group at risk, but it looks like it was worth it. Before long the light begins to fade and I hear no more screams of pain, even Farus has stopped screaming in fury. Soon I was able to see everything around me again, I saw that almost all the undead disappeared, the only ones I see are the grotesque undead that Farus brought that turned into a pile of rotten meat on the floor, smoking purple, besides two undead that is next to Farus, those were the Death Knight and the other Lich that was just summoned. The only two Undead still standing, but most of the Death Knight''s armor was destroyed and the Lich''s bones were exposed now that his Mage outfit was gone, every bone in his body was cracked, the two of them are smoke coming out of the body with burn marks all over. I looked away from them to see if Ivan was still safe, I looked around and saw Ivan completely unharmed covered by a golden barrier, I could also see that he was shaking a little inside the barrier, he was holding a scroll that was glowing in his hands, but then he rips the parchment making the barrier disappear, so he drops to his knees while placing his hand on his face that has reverted to a skull. "(Looks like the protection magic Lira and Vanessa created worked out as promised, that''s a relief.)" (I) I looked around and saw a lot of ash on the ground which must be all that was left of the Undead, but strangely there were also almost all of Farus'' troops lying on the ground or standing in their fighting stances with empty eyes, there was a purple mist coming out of their bodies, but I didn''t understand what was happening. Unfortunately, I didn''t have time for that right now, this was the opportunity we''ve been waiting for, I turn to the village leader who was looking at me from a 3rd-floor window of a building, I wave at her and look at Farus. All I could feel was Death, I knew it only took one move for everything here to be destroyed by this thing. I was completely imposing until several energy left my body and merged into my Aura, this made the pressure I had been feeling disappear and made my mind that was clouded by fear become clearer, I was still afraid, but I was trying to hold my ground, I couldn''t be overcome by fear here. I forced myself to look around only to see everyone on the floor as if they were being crushed just like I was. "(What''s going on!!?)" (I) The first thing I try to do is spread my Aura to those closest to me while keeping my Aura as far away from this thing as possible, even if it can''t help everyone it should still be able to help someone. "No, that''s not what you promised me!!!" (Farus) "You were weak and spoiled plans that took ages to get to where we are." "All of this is the Heretic''s fault, he infiltrated the mountain range without my realizing it, I didn''t know he would be here with a mighty Priest." (Farus) "But still you lost, if I hadn''t done anything I would have lost all the believers that was so hard to get." "But if I take your body, I might still find another Priest as my representative." "I have done everything you commanded me to do, I have made offerings of thousands of lives and souls to you my lord." (Farus) "And they were very helpful, you didn''t even realize how I used those souls to strengthen and shape your soul to be a more comfortable vessel." "I would wait until you''ve mastered the entire mountain range, by then I would have managed to modify your soul enough to be a vessel worthy of me, but now I''m forced to advance my plans before those damned Fairies ruin everything." "After all, I''ve done in your name, you were planning to use me from the start" (Farus) "HA HA HAHAHAHA" While I was trying to relieve the pressure on the others I keep hearing Farus'' voice coming from inside the creature, but I also hear a different voice coming from the creature''s three heads in response, listening to this conversation it wasn''t hard to understand that Farus was being used since the beginning. But the real problem was that now I was sure of the identity of this being, it wasn''t just the appearance that was the same, the voice was the same that I heard that day inside the Cadaver Dungeon, this being in front of me was the Heretic God Kaharak. I started to worry as Farus'' voice started getting smaller and smaller until I couldn''t hear him anymore, then the creature or should I say the Heretic God started laughing out loud with his three mouths, his voice was bizarre and creepy, suddenly he stops laughing and turns to me. "You''ve spoiled my plans twice now chosen from the Witch of Carnage." (God Kaharak) Chapter 289: Assault On Farus Fortress Conclusion Chapter 289: Assault On Farus'' Fortress Conclusion Hearing Farus'' voice speaking one thing from inside the creature and hearing a different voice coming out of the creature''s three mouths was enough for me to understand who was in front of me, I just had to consider their conversation and this creature''s appearance to realize that it was the Heretic God Kaharak. After finishing his laugh he looks in my direction making a shiver run through my body. "You''ve spoiled my plans twice so far, Chosen of the Witch of Carnage." (God Kaharak) "First you destroyed the Dungeon that would be an important resource for the invasion of this continent, not only that but you dared to steal something from me, you who are a mere mortal." (God Kaharak) "Now you come here to completely destroy plans from centuries of toil and wait." (God Kaharak) "I''m sure these Fairies appearing here must also be related to you, so I want you to speak your mind before I kill you." (God Kaharak) "" (I) Looks like this time I''m really going to have a big problem, he really wants to kill me, he''s not even trying to hide the endless bloodlust pouring out of his body, my legs won''t stop shaking and I''m holding myself up by willpower alone which is the only thing I have at the moment still useful. "If I''m going to die anyway, then why would I say anything" (I) Before I finish speaking I see a blur as I feel my body being dragged without being able to resist, I don''t understand what happened, all I know is that now I''m in one of Heretic God Kaharak''s four bone hands, he''s holding me forcefully breaking most of my bones. Arght!!!! "You''re going to tell me everything I want to know, that wasn''t a Vampire question, that was an order, even if I need to find out by digging through your mind and soul." (God Kaharak) I was doing my best not to scream, I didn''t want to give this bastard that pleasure, but I was also desperate not knowing what to do, after I died he would kill everyone else too. At that moment I feel several energies sprouting inside me, these energies destroy the hand that was holding me and heals my body, it took me a few seconds to understand what was happening and realize that these were the Blessings of the Fairy Kings and the two Goddesses protecting. "It seems that you are liked by the Fairy Goddess too, I can even feel the Blessings of Fairy Kings on you" (God Kaharak) "That''s because he''s very important to us." (Hera) When the energy of blessings surrounded me I was able to feel that the Fairy Kings were coming towards me and they weren''t far away. Their speed was faster than I expected, soon seven beings appeared flying in the sky, each one was holding a multicolored sword that pointed at the Heretic God Kaharak, then half of a multicolored energy humanoid form with the appearance of Goddess Aine appeared behind the Heretic God Kaharak with his hands on either side of him, then a multicolored energy sphere surrounds him. I look up and only see three Fairy Kings that I recognize were the Fairy Queen of Wood with the name of Hera, the Fairy Queen of Space with the name of Mavis, and the Fairy King of Fire with the name of Foros. "Did you find anything?" (I) "We found out that the bodies are alive, but they all don''t have a soul, if we leave it as is soon they will be affected by the miasma and either turn into monsters or be possessed by some wandering soul, maybe even a ghost." (Nix) "Farus really was very cruel, it seems he took the souls of his troops while they were still alive and then sealed the souls with a curse on their bodies." (Byakko) "Now that you say that, I remember that the village leader had told me about something like this before." (I) "Can''t we do anything for them then?" (I) "No, Vanessa''s magic broke the curse that sealed their souls, so their souls must have already gone to the God of the Dead and then back to the circle of reincarnation." (Byakko) "So it''s better to take everyone into the dungeon and kill them there, it might give us some DP, it might also prevent their bodies from being affected by the miasma that still covers the mountain range." (I) "I think it would be the best thing to do, it would let them rest in peace at least." (Nix) "Where is Farus?" (I) "That Lamia named Sapphire took him into the Dungeon, after that, we heard screams for a few hours." (Byakko) "I should have known this would happen from the way the village leader looked at him, but I think after all he''s done he deserved this ending." (I) "What do we do now?" (Nix) "Rest for today and leave for tomorrow, everyone is tired, I think we deserve a peaceful rest, plus we still have to clean all these bodies still on the floor." (I) "The master wants me" (Nix) "We''re not going to do the same thing again, unlike last time we''re not in a hurry now so we can take our time cleaning up these bodies." (I) While talking to Nix and Byakko we suddenly hear a noise that resembles something breaking, when we look in the direction I see something inconceivable. Space itself started to crack on top of some mountains in the distance, soon after violent energy comes out of the cracks and five whole mountains disappear in the blink of an eye, the ground didn''t even shake, the mountains were just there and in the next second, they weren''t more, after that a powerful energy radiates with the colors of the rainbow spreading a divine Aura in all directions. I hear Vanessa running towards me as she talks nervously. "This is too bad, we have to get out of the mountain range as soon as possible." (Vanessa) Chapter 290: Returning To Sapphire Village Chapter 290: Returning To Sapphire Village After such a hard battle and with so many surprises everyone was exhausted physically and mentally, in addition to seeing the crack in the sky and the disappearance of several mountains was shocking for everyone, but for some reason the most nervous was Vanessa. Vanessa urged everyone to go back to Sapphire''s village, so we finished cleaning the battlefield that the fortress became, and as I already knew that everything of value had already been taken by the others, I decided to leave towards the village. As we didn''t need to hide from Farus anymore I told Nix to go flying in her Dragon form to be faster, as Nix didn''t fight much this time I thought we could speed up the trip back like this since Vanessa seemed pretty nervous. While Nix takes us all inside the Dungeon we are safe enough to continue treating the wounded, I told everyone that we will have a meeting during the night, I did this so we can better understand our situation when everyone is rested. I was one of the most injured, but I had already recovered from my physical injuries, but my mind was exhausted, I was not in a position to think about anything else, so I left everything in the hands of others and passed out on bed until nightfall. - It was nighttime when Nolan came to wake me up, he had kiss marks and bite marks on his neck and face, he also had a strange happy smile, it wasn''t hard to imagine what had happened. "Sorry to wake you, master." (Nolan) "But Freya said she was asked to wake you up when the sky darkens." (Nolan) "Thanks for waking me up, I''m the one who asked since we''re having one more meeting today." (I) I look at that smile on his face. "Looks like you were having a lot of fun, doesn''t it?" (I) At my words, Nolan''s body petrifies in place and he breaks out in a sweat before trying to turn to me in an attempt to keep a calm face if it weren''t for the redness all over his face. "I don''t know what the master is talking about" (Nolan) "No need to hide it from me, besides your happy smile the kiss marks and bites make it clear what happened." (I) "" (Nolan) Nolan runs to the full-length mirror in my bedroom and freezes in place before pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and hurriedly trying to clean himself. "Damn! That''s why Leo and Ivan gave me that thumbs up when they saw me, why didn''t they let me know sooner?" (Nolan) "Don''t worry too much about it, so say did you have fun?" (I) "I didn''t expect to have this kind of conversation with you, master." (Nolan) "But the truth is, coming to the mountain range has been heaven for me." (Nolan) "Demi women are much more sincere and aggressive with their own desires than human women." (Nolan) "I know that Diana has told me this in the past, even though she''s not a Demi she said that the Beastmen are similar, they''re honest with what they want too." (I) It''s been a long time since I''ve had such a relaxed conversation on this sort of subject, I think the last time was in my previous life when I was 25 and listening to the love problems of a friend I grew up with at the orphanage. I don''t think I''ve ever talked to Nolan that much before, normally he acts very strict and professional around me, I hope after this conversation we can talk like that again. I talked with him for a while, I heard a lot of interesting stories, but I noticed something strange when I mentioned some things about the past when I met Diana, Ibuki, rica, and Kira. For some reason, he was looking at me like he wanted to tell me something, after pressing a little he was able to understand. He told me that the girls have tried to catch me off guard several times, whether it''s with me sleeping or in the shower, it seems like Layla, Freya, Irina, and Sophia have been doing their best to protect me in these moments. Nolan also said that there were many women from the village who wanted to come after me, but they weren''t able to approach me as there was always someone watching me from afar. I was shocked that I didn''t realize this sooner, it seems like everyone in the mansion already knew this except me. I would like to talk a little more with him about this subject, but Freya appeared in the room furious with Nolan for taking so long to come down with me, it seems that I spent a lot of time talking and everyone had been gathered waiting for me for some time. So I got dressed and went downstairs with Freya while Nolan was forced to clean the rest of the mansion. - When I checked into the meeting place I saw that the people in charge of the village were all present, in addition to my group being all here as well. After my conversation with Nolan, I started to notice a few things, the way my group is positioned for example. Irina and Irius were on either side of Diana as she looked straight at me, I felt a shiver down my back when I saw her eyes, it looked like a predator looking at prey. In addition, there was also rica who was next to Vanessa, I noticed that Vanessa was paying a lot of attention to her, when I looked at rica she looked at me while she had a smile on her face and ran her tongue over her lips, I don''t think I will have a clearer sign than that. Ibuki was unconscious with Ivan holding her, I don''t even want to imagine why she''s unconscious, Kira seems calm and isn''t even looking at me, but I can feel like she''s paying attention to my every move. "(I think I have a big problem that could end up blowing up in my face before long.)" (I) "Now that you are all present, we can start this meeting." (Sapphire) "I apologize for the delay, I scheduled this meeting because Vanessa was very nervous after she saw the crack in the sky." (I) "That must have happened due to the Fairy Kings'' fight against that Heretic God." (Sapphire) "I didn''t see this event as I had entered the Dungeon at the time, but people in your group have already told us what happened." (Nymph) "Since the reason for this meeting is you, then feel free to speak up, Vanessa." (I) Everyone looked at Vanessa, she also looked around before starting to speak in a serious tone. "To be as direct as possible, we''re screwed, we have to leave the mountain range as quickly as possible." (Vanessa) Chapter 291: Imminent Danger Chapter 291: Imminent Danger Everyone looked at Vanessa, she also looked around before starting to speak in a serious tone. "To be as direct as possible, we''re screwed, we have to leave the mountain range as quickly as possible." (Vanessa) "You said that when you saw the crack in the sky while we were still in the fortress, can you explain it in a way that everyone will understand?" (I) "As you all know, Farus was a Priest of an Heretic God." (Vanessa) "I didn''t see the battle as I was unconscious, but the creature that took Farus'' body must have been this Heretic God, but it wasn''t even 1% of his true power, it was just consciousness with a shard of power." (Vanessa) "From what Ivan told me, it seems that the souls that Farus collected and used as an offering to this Heretic God were being used on his soul, this Heretic God was modifying Farus'' soul without him realizing it to use as a vessel." (Vanessa) "He wanted to incarnate in this world using Farus'' body, all we did was spoil his plans, it seems that the Dungeon my Father destroyed was also part of this Heretic God''s future plan." (Vanessa) "I already understand all this, where are you going with this?" (Sapphire) "I think she wants to give context for those who didn''t see the battle to get a better overview, right?" (I) "Exactly, Father." (Vanessa) "Now I will tell you the most important part, who won this battle was not us, it was the Fairies, they were just waiting for an opportunity to get to where this Heretic God was." (Vanessa) "That crack in the space above those mountains must have been because of the battle that took place in a place where we couldn''t see." (Vanessa) "But that crack and the divine power that came out of it was felt probably by half of the continent, normal people won''t notice it, but the High Priests of any religion that have holy power will feel it." (Vanessa) "No, that''s too bad." (Ivan) "We must get out of here as soon as possible." (Elsaris) "I still did not get it." (I) "What do other religions have to do with getting out of the mountain range?" (Sapphire) I wasn''t getting where Vanessa was getting at, maybe I just didn''t want to admit it. "All religions have their own fighting forces, what do you think you will do when you feel an explosion of divine power unknown in a place uninhabited for centuries?" (Vanessa) "They''re going to come here to investigate, but not just a few people, they''re going to come armies." (Elsaris) "Like any army, they will want to set up a temporary base here, but for that, they will want to get rid of anything hostile in the area." (Ivan) "In other words, armies will appear here and kill all dangerous monsters, as you may already know, the races of everyone in the village are considered monsters by almost every Kingdom on this continent." (Elsaris) After Elsaris pointed out the main point of this problem the room was silent, almost everyone on the village council was showing expressions of anger or sadness. "I''ll admit we were running out of food, but that''s because we weren''t going out hunting, we had to hide so Farus wouldn''t find the village." (Sapphire) "The problem wasn''t just the meat, the miasma was starting to affect the fruit trees and crops my race tended." (Nymph leader) "Trees can become monsters, but if they stay too long in the miasma the fruits can become harmful because of the malice in the miasma because we had to discard large amounts of food." (Nymph leader) "Why didn''t I hear about this sooner?" (Sapphire) "It wouldn''t do to tell, none of us can do anything about it, even if Farus has been defeated the problem will still continue, there''s a lot of miasma in the mountain range." (Nymph leader) "Unlike most who are here, you seem to be a very calm representative of the Nymphs, maybe you already have a solution?" (I) "I already know what to do, but before announcing I need to talk to the other representatives and the village leader." (Nymph leader) "Depending on their response my race may separate from the village, so there are certain things that must be discussed first." (Nymph leader) "Alright, I won''t meddle in your village''s affairs, after all, I don''t intend to stay here long." (I) "Do you still have anything else you want to say Vanessa?" (I) "No, I just wanted to warn everyone as the mountain range is no longer safe." (Vanessa) "Besides, the Church of Light will surely be on its way, it must be one of the first to arrive because its headquarters are the closest." (Vanessa) "I don''t want to meet them, sure I''ll be hunted for being a Heretic." (I) "Of all the religions they are the most prejudiced against other races, the people who are going to come must also have strong detection capabilities, so it will be difficult to escape if we wait too long." (Irina) "After arriving at the village we will decide our next destination, how much time do you think we have before they arrive?" (I) "Maybe two weeks, they have Spatial Mages, they also have strong and fast mounts, they use Light Horses." (Irius) "I heard that these monsters can only be found in the Church of Light." (Diana) "They are monsters that have been converted, you need to capture a Shadow Horse and perform a ritual in a holy place to purify the element of shadows while granting the element of Light." (Irius) "But because of that this monster can''t evolve into any other race, moreover they lose their instinct which makes it easier to train them but makes them weaker too." (Irina) "They''re just puppets, a well-trained warhorse will still be better than them." (Ivan) "What I mean is that with these Horses of Light the troops of the Church of Light will quickly cross the mountain range." (Irius) "Then it would be good for everyone to rest for today, I''ll let the village people have their meeting as you have important decisions to make." (I) After saying that I left with everyone in my group, only the village leader and the village council stayed behind in the meeting room, meanwhile, I went to my room to rest some more, my whole body was still aching and I needed to be in good shape for what I want to do tomorrow. Chapter 292: Future Of The Village Chapter 292: Future Of The Village Sapphire Pov: I knew that we would have a lot of problems to solve if we were able to defeat Farus, but I was hopeful that with hard work we could find a way to deal with the monsters and the Dungeons, but with the Nymph representative talking about the food problem and about the revelation of religious armies on the way, I don''t see how to protect the village. I can''t count on Zenos'' help, he''s not going to stay here in the mountain range and he made that very clear from the beginning, it also seems that he already has some conflict with one of the religions that should send his army here, moreover I don''t know how far he can be trusted. Zenos may have helped us a lot in the fight against Farus, but he also seemed to have other reasons to help, besides what he said he would do with my daughter is still in my head, as much as I would like to believe him I can''t, in Deep down I know he won''t do any harm to my daughter, but until I see it myself I can''t take the doubt out of my heart even though I know it could save her life. When my head was full of the problems we are having and I was about to give in to despair, the representative of the Nymphs said that she already had a plan for her race, after she said that I realized that throughout the meeting she was more calm. I wanted to know what her plan was, of all the village council representatives she was the closest to me, we were all desperate for a solution. The representative of the Nymphs didn''t seem to want Zenos to hear about it, so after some time he left with everyone in her group, but some time later Vanessa and Ivan returned. The Nymphs'' representative was silent until they returned and sat down, then she looked at Ivan and nodded at him. "You can tell her, I just didn''t want the master to hear it yet." (Ivan) "What are you talking about?" (I) "I''ll try to be direct." (Nymph leader) "My race is very grateful to you and the entire village, perhaps if I hadn''t joined you I would already be dead just like my race." (Nymph leader) "So I hope you and everyone else on the village council make the same decision as I do." (Nymph leader) "I see no reason not to accept it if we can save everyone." (Helena) "All I want is the welfare of my race." (Ghoul Leader) Even Helena who had been silent until now seemed anxious, of all, she was the most shocked when she learned of the various difficulties we were going to face, she was very happy to avenge her mother''s death, knowing that her race was still in danger was hard to hear I imagine. "The solution I thought of was something that I took the liberty of talking to Ivan, I did it because I knew he was once a very important noble in some Human Realm." (Nymph leader) "Like the village leader, I had already realized some problems we would face after Farus died, this danger of armies being on the way only makes me realize how much I made the right decision." (Nymph leader) CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m "I decided to stay in this Dungeon, I want to permanently create a village for my race here." (Nymph leader) "Do you want to stay here? Do you want to live in a Dungeon for the rest of your life?" (I) "We are days in this Dungeon, look around you, this mansion is home to the entire group of Zenos." (Nymph leader) "My race is the weakest, I don''t see any possibility of surviving if a monster wave happens, besides we won''t be able to fight armies with our current numbers, so I also join the representative of the Nymphs." (Hobgoblin leader) "I have nothing to think about, I will take any chance to save my race, I will also go along with the representative of the Nymphs." (Ghoul Leader) One by one the people on the council chose to permanently move to this dungeon, but no one realized that it''s not enough just for us to accept to do so, the decision of whether to accept everyone is up to Zenos. "" (I) "I still have my doubts, so I won''t make a decision now." (I) "I greatly respect you Village leader, I would like all our races to continue living together as we have done so far." (Nymph leader) "I hope your answer is positive, I''m sure others agree with me." (Nymph leader) I looked around and everyone nodded, I shared suffering and happiness with them, I know I can trust them, but I still have my doubts about Zenos. "Looks like you two want us to join you too, but I wonder why?" (I) I look at Vanessa and Ivan asking this question, it seems like Zenos doesn''t know about this conversation, I would like to know why these two want to do this. "My Father is always involved in problems, even he admits that he may never have the quiet life he wants so much." (Vanessa) "I worry that one day he and all of us will face bigger problems than few people can handle, but my Father doesn''t want to increase our group too much, he doesn''t want that level of responsibility." (Vanessa) "The master underestimates himself, I just want to see him realize his full potential, I''ve always believed that sooner or later the right people would gather around him, all I''m doing is speeding up the process." (Ivan) "I know why the village leader doesn''t trust my father, it has to do with his daughter." (Vanessa) "" (I) "I will speak with my Father so that you can be present when he is dealing with his daughter, you will see that she was never in any danger." (Vanessa) "All we want is for the master to be surrounded by strong and trustworthy people, we want him to have a place he can call home." (Ivan) "I''m sure for someone like my Father, there will be many dangers and enemies along the way, this dungeon can serve as a stronghold where we can live, but it''s sad to live far from people." (Vanessa) "Ivan and I both know that my Father won''t like our idea even if it was inevitable and it''s only a matter of time, he''s very stubborn." (Vanessa) "But with your village coming together it will be easier, people who are hunted as their races are, people who don''t have a place to go or return to, these people will one day gather around my Father because in his eyes all they are the same." (Vanessa) "But this way of being of the master will also be what will make him feared and hated, everyone will think that their own races are more valuable, the master''s beliefs will be seen as heresy or even as a crime." (Ivan) After that kind of conversation I was torn, I didn''t much care about most of the things Ivan and Vanessa said, but it was true that there were few safer places for my race to live than this Dungeon, but I needed time to think. Chapter 293: Devils Madness Chapter 293: Devil''s Madness The next day I wake up feeling much better, my body is no longer aching and my energy has completely recovered. I still hadn''t seen the system notifications about the last battle, but I''d leave that until after I got to the village as I still had a few things to do today. After eating something in the kitchen, I am informed that we should arrive at the village in 5 hours. I wanted to take this time to take care of a certain matter that can no longer be postponed, I told Freya to call Vanessa and Elsaris. After a few minutes they arrived, I said we were going to go to our prisoner, Vanessa understood what I was going to do. Vanessa insisted that the village leader should be present so I said ok, while Vanessa went to get the village leader I went to the room we were using as a meeting room to get rid of the big table and chairs, I wanted to a little more space for what I''m going to do. When I was finishing up the hall together with Leo, my daughter Vanessa and the village leader arrived, I asked someone to go get the prisoner I haven''t seen so far. After ten minutes Leo and Elsaris brought Lamia who was Sapphire''s daughter, she was pretty and very similar to her mother, but her body was better trained with a little more muscles and her colors were not blue like Sapphire''s, the hair and scales were green in color. From appearances alone I would say this Lamia was Sapphira''s sister, they both look young and don''t look like mother and daughter. If I remember correctly this Lamia''s name is Jade, she is still unconscious and completely tied up, Elsaris said that she left her trapped in the basement being watched by her children, Elsaris also said that her children have been applying sleep and paralysis poisons every three hours. I asked Leo to go get Lyra, I needed to know if she was in good condition, I also wanted to know if Lyra could wake her up, I wanted to talk a little with her to get a sense of her personality before and after using my power. Lyra was in the kitchen eating something, so when she arrived she had a sandwich in her hands. I ask Lyra to wake up Lamia, while talking to Lyra the village leader Safira comes running towards us and stops in front of her daughter, her face was a mess of expressions of love, anger, disappointment, sadness, etc. "My daughter, why did you do all this" (Sapphire) "You can ask her, Lyra will wake her up now, right?" (I) "Of course, I always have potions with me, but when she wakes up she''ll be a little confused for a few seconds." (Lyra) "Alright, do it." (I) I look at the village leader and she stands next to Vanessa next to Elsaris, I want Elsaris to see what I''m going to do to know that it won''t harm her sister, but I''m still a little hesitant to show my power in front of her. village leader. "(Jade is her daughter, so I think she has a right to be present, I just hope she doesn''t tell anyone what she''s going to see here.)" (I) Lyra approaches the chained Jade and takes a small vial from one of the several pockets of her pants, she opens the vial and a drop comes out of it, in a few seconds the drop multiplies until it is enough to fill a glass, then Lyra caps the vial and put it away before waving her hand in Jade''s direction spreading the potion all over her body. In a few seconds, the potion seems to be absorbed by Jade''s body like a sponge, then Jade''s body struggles and she opens her eyes. "AHHHHH!!!!!!" (Jade) "Stop!!!!!" (Sapphire) After listening to the answer to her question, Vanessa faces Jade who is tied with chains and my lines on the floor, then she uses a light element purification magic, immediately black smoke starts to come out of Jade''s body as she screams, various burn marks and wounds begin to appear on his body. The village leader loses control and tries to attack Vanessa, but Elsaris stands between them, Vanessa stops her magic and takes a healing potion forcing Jade to drink it. "What was that all about?" (I) "Devil''s Madness." (Elsaris) "" (I) "This is a physical and mental illness, the mortality rate is high, even if you manage to survive, you will be overcome by bad thoughts and feelings, the person will become more and more aggressive and your actions have become more extreme, that''s why in your mind you don''t there will be differences between right and wrong." (Elsaris) "I didn''t think we''d find this here, monsters and Demis tend to have high resistance or even immunity to miasma, in fact, the miasma can even make them stronger and more fertile for the most part." (Vanessa) "You mean Jade has this disease?" (I) "Yes, the disease also seems to be at an advanced stage, it has already taken over the whole body and the mind has been affected for a long time, there is also the possibility that Farus has done something in his mind as this loyalty to him has nothing to do with to do with the disease, it may have made the situation even worse." (Vanessa) "But luckily she doesn''t seem to have any curses on her body, so I think Farus must have had trouble using his evil technique on her due to this illness." (Vanessa) "Are you saying she''s just sick? So she must have a cure, right?" (Sapphire) "After her body is already so contaminated by the miasma, plus the degree to which her mind has already been affected, I can''t do anything for her." (Vanessa) "You saw what happened with a simple purification spell." (Vanessa) "Can you tell me more about this illness?" (I) "As you already know, miasma usually has malice that comes from accumulated bad thoughts and feelings, this contaminates nature''s energies, usually mana." (Vanessa) "Normal people exposed for a long time to miasma end up absorbing it into their bodies, it won''t show any symptoms at first, but over time the miasma will corrupt the body and build up more and more, then it will start to affect the mind. of the person causing him to lose track of what is right and wrong, in addition, the person will become unstable and aggressive." (Vanessa) "Normally the miasma would destroy the body from the inside out which is the cause of the high mortality rate, but in Jade''s case the miasma in the body is causing almost no damage, maybe it''s because she is a Demi who has resistance to miasma or perhaps by its force." (Vanessa) "But your mind seems to have already been very affected, I don''t know what Farus did to it, but this may have aggravated the situation beyond the limit, for some reason the miasma is very ingrained in your body, I tried to test if it would be possible to purify it. the miasma, but my magic did damage to her body." (Vanessa) "In case she might even happen to become a Demon, the miasma of the mountain range holds far more malice than I''ve seen anywhere else, so it''s not impossible for her to Demonize." (Vanessa) Chapter 294: Live To Atone For Sins Chapter 294: Live To Atone For Sins When Vanessa said that Jade could even become a Demon the village leader turned pale, but it didn''t matter to me, I already had a Demon in my group. "If she can''t be purified what can we do?" (Sapphire) "Stop talking about me like I''m not here, just wait until Farus'' troops arrive, at that point I''ll have fun watching you all get killed, hahahahaha" (Jade) "I''ve heard enough." (I) "< Sound Barrier >" (I) I create a barrier that will isolate the sound around Jade, so I don''t have to keep listening to her nonsense, what I''ve seen and heard so far is enough for me to get a sense of her current personality, it will also be nice to have the village leader here to give us a reference of how she was before suffering from this disease. I was wondering how she will change later if I use my abilities on her, her appearance should change a bit, but how much of her personality can change? "I understand her condition, if the cause of this illness is the miasma and malice inside her, then you can leave the rest to me." (I) "Can you get rid of the miasma too?" (Vanessa) UppTodated from "In a way yes, my ability will convert that miasma and malice inside her into a power that will make her even stronger." (I) "(I just hope it doesn''t turn her into a Demon by accident like rica did.)" (I) "Everyone can walk away, I must also remember not to interrupt me as I don''t know what would happen to her if she stopped halfway." (I) "Are you sure my daughter will be safe?" (Sapphire) "I guarantee she won''t risk her life." (I) "(That''s if she doesn''t resist.)" (I) "Elsaris, what I''m going to do to Jade is the same as what I''m going to do to your sister, so just see, so you don''t have to worry anymore." (I) After saying that everyone backs away as I get closer to Jade, then I wave my hand causing the sound barrier to expand to cover a 10-meter space with me inside. "Who are you child, let go of me before I crush your head, I have to find master Farus." (Jade) "You will never find him again, how do you think we captured you? Do you think we broke into the fortress and left alone with you?" (I) "The truth is that Farus, as well as everyone who was still with him, are dead." (I) "LIE! Our troops are much stronger than the people of my mother''s village, besides the master, Farus has three guards with equal strength to my mother, you wouldn''t be able to defeat him." (Jade) "I don''t care if you believe it or not, that''s the truth." (I) "You say you wanted to become strong don''t you? So I advise you not to resist my power, then you will have what you seek." (I) "A child talking like he knows everything, someone so small and weak wouldn''t be able to give me the power I want." (Jade) "That you will soon find out." (I) I activate all of my Aura abilities and wait as they intertwine until I only have a single black Aura with rays of various colors glowing from within around me, then I start expanding that Aura to Jade. I see her face go pale as she writhes on the ground still trapped in chains, my Auras try to enter her body but she seems to resist, I activate my Blood Servant skill causing red energy to leave my hand and go towards her Jade. "(I don''t think I need to use my astral body with her, but I will use the blood pact.)" (I) I activate the blood pact also causing blood to flow out of the pores of my body along with my mana, spirit energy, and ki. . . . <[ Initiating dark energy transformation process to increase potential ]> After choosing the power and bloodline I wanted to bestow on her, two streams of liquid come out of my body and contain themselves in two ways, one was a stream of blood that left my body and joined together forming a blood snake, the other was a stream of purple liquid that coalesced into a skull, the two black shapes flying out to enter Lamia''s body. As soon as they enter her body my Aura inside her starts to burn like a black flame while making her body float, but it is not destroying her body, soon the flame changes color to purple and finally red, the colors keep changing between these three in an endless cycle, so a flame appears to crystallize into a large crystal cocoon. Ding! <[ Power grant ended ]> It takes a few minutes for this light show to show, then I started to notice that the cocoon light starts to glow in the rhythm of a beating heart, in a short time I start to hear the sound of this heart as I feel my energies being sucked from my body to this cocoon, but luckily it stops when I have 1/3 of my energy. The crystal cocoon explodes turning into grains of light that spread across the room then a body shows up in front of me, it was a two-meter tall woman with a well-trained athlete''s body, she had long green hair down to her waist, golden eyes, her skin was white and her body was curvy like a model. She was humanoid in appearance from the waist up, she also had black and white scales on her arms, neck, and face, her claws were purple in color, she had a long snake-like tail with two-color scales just like the rest of her body, in black and white. When she opens her mouth a giant snake''s tongue sticks out and I can see the thin, sharp fangs in her mouth. Her golden eyes were full of seduction that hid deeper a promise of danger, she was beautiful. She looked confused at first as she looked around, then she looks at her hands and then at her body which was completely naked now, a green and purple energy glows from her body, then I see her tail being enveloped by that energy as it glows in the green and purple wheels, in seconds the light disappeared showing that she now had two legs in place of a tail, in addition, the snake scales on her arms and claws were gone, I even noticed that her snake fangs in her mouth were gone, she looked completely human now. She looks at her body again and starts to cry, then looks towards the village leader for a few seconds, I wait to know what her reaction will be, then I don''t and I don''t say anything. Soon she turns to me and wipes her tears with one hand and walks with difficulty towards me, reminds me of the way drunks usually walk, she can''t balance and seems to struggle as she takes small steps almost falling several times until getting in front of me and get on my knees. "Thanks for stopping me, master." (Jade) "At some point, I lost my way, all I could think about was how much I wanted to be stronger, I was consumed by this desire." (Jade) "But I had forgotten why I wanted to get stronger, I had forgotten what I wanted to defend with this power I wanted so badly." (Jade) "No forgiveness for someone who has betrayed his family, his people and his beliefs for selfish reasons." (Jade) "I was seeing what I had become and the atrocities I had done in the name of Farus, but I couldn''t understand, all I felt was an ache in my heart that I didn''t know why." (Jade) "Thank you for bringing me back to reality, for giving me the opportunity to atone for my sins even if I have to die." (Jade) While Jade was still struggling towards me I made the sound barrier disappear so everyone heard Jade''s words. I take a cloak out of my storage item and throw it over Jade, then go down and place my hand on her shoulder. "Now that you''ve called me master, I won''t let you die." (I) "If you want to atone for sins, do it in life, death is an escape for the weak." (I) "Always remember that power and strength are not the same things, a strong person is not the same as a powerful person." (I) "" (Jade) As I spoke I noticed the floor getting wet, it wasn''t hard to find that Jade started crying again, I turn and walk away as the village leader runs to her daughter as she cries. Chapter 295: Being From The Forest Chapter 295: Being From The Forest Before I can leave the room my legs go weak and I lose my balance almost falling over so Vanessa comes to me, she helps me to my feet. "Are you okay, Dad? You look a little pale." (Vanessa) "I''m fine, I''m just weak from what I''ve done until tonight I''ll be fine." (I) "At least you didn''t pass out this time." (Vanessa) "Help me to my bed." (I) "All right." (Vanessa) "Hang on!" (Sapphire) As I was about to start walking back to my room being supported by Vanessa, the village leader called me. "This is not a good time village leader, my Father is very weak and needs to rest." (Vanessa) "Let her do the talking, Vanessa." (I) "I just want to ask a question, but first allow me to thank you for bringing my daughter back to me." (Sapphire) "Don''t thank me, you also know I didn''t do it just out of the goodness of my heart." (I) "I just wanted to know one thing, do you consider yourself a good person?" (Sapphire) I felt like there was more to this question than what she was saying, I also felt like her eyes were sizing me up, I don''t understand why doing such a thing now, but I have no reason to lie about this matter. "Of course not, a good person helps others without caring about himself, a good person is someone who helps without expecting anything in return, I''m not like that." (I) "I have my own rules, I also don''t help anyone, for me to think if I''m going to help someone I evaluate if the person still has a strong will, but if the person has already lost their will and surrendered, then I won''t help." (I) "I helped in the battle against Farus, but I still had my own reasons and you also still had a strong will to fight, I also gained many of the belongings that were in the fortress, and helping your daughter was something I already wanted to do for other reasons. " (I) "If that''s all I wanted to know, then I''m going to bed." (I) - Sapphire Pov: What I saw today is completely different from what I expected, it was something as surprising as the night when Zenos evolved spreading his Aura all over the place and causing those phenomena. My daughter''s body had changed a lot, her appearance became more beautiful and I can only say from her Aura that she is much stronger, the best thing is that she seems to have returned to the daughter I used to know. Ever since Zenos said he would use my daughter in an experiment I''ve held a grudge against him, but after seeing my daughter like this I realize I can only be grateful to him. At that moment the conversation I had with the other representatives last night comes to mind, maybe they are right and I should make the same decision as to them, my race has no future in the mountain range if I stay here. I ran to hug my daughter, but when I saw Zenos almost fall and see Vanessa going to help carry him to the room I realized there was a question I should ask. Zenos'' answer was something I didn''t expect, since the beginning, he has been helping my village and me, the village people look at Zenos as if he was a Hero, even in the attack against the fortress he was the spearhead opening a way for everyone, in every battle he was always concerned about the number of dead and wounded. In my view he is a good person, many would not take risks as he did, many would not strive as he did, even if he also had his own goals that''s nothing wrong, the important thing was the way he cared with the people of my village, he was always honest with me. "How do you feel? Is your mind clear? Has your strength increased?" (Elsaris) "I''ve been wanting to talk to you since yesterday, but you always seem busy or asleep." (Sophia) "What do you want to talk about?" (I) "When Farus had been defeated and the village leader was bringing him to torture inside the Dungeon I followed her and got some meat and a bottle of blood for you." (Sophia) "Thanks, but I''m not going to eat or drink this, as tempting as it is to get necromancy skills." (I) "Why do not you want?" (Sophia) "Farus had been possessed by an Heretic God, I don''t know if it''s safe to eat or drink these things." (I) "So should I just throw this away or should I burn it?" (Sophia) "Neither, talk to Vanessa first to see if this is safe, then give it to Lyra, she might have some use for it." (I) "All right." (Sophia) After a little chat with Sophia I arrive at the camp and I think it''s strange that there''s no one else there, it seems like everyone left, but for some reason, they left everything here. After that I walked to the safe room while sending some food to the Fairies and Spirits, creating some Mana spheres or spiritual energy to eat, because of that I spent about an hour walking. After I left through the Dungeon gate I was surprised to be already inside the village, the village people seemed to be getting ready to flee, everyone was packing their things in backpacks or boxes, it looked like they wanted to leave even today. "(I think they really are coming out of the mountain range, I hope they find a quiet place to live.)" (I) It took me a while to realize something very important, I was so distracted by the people walking to and fro, because of that, it took me a while to realize that the giant tree disappeared, that tree with red leaves could be seen from everywhere in the village due to its size, that tree was the body of the Dryad who is the Guardian of the village. I run there and all I find is a big hole where the tree used to be, I looked around but saw no signs of struggle. "You''re looking for me." (Dryad) I recognize the Dryad''s voice, when I turn around I see her looking around twenty years behind me, she looks different. "What happened to you? Where is your tree?" (I) "I no longer have a tree, I am no longer a Dryad, I have evolved into a Being of the Forest." (Forest Being) "All of this is thanks to you, thank you very much." (Forest Being) "What does this have to do with me?" (I) "Because in order to evolve into my current race I needed the help of a powerful Fairy and a Spirit of the Wood element, I was lucky to have the help of a Fairy Queen and a Spirit Queen because of you." (Forest Being) "The Wood Spirit Queen, Mistress Kamelia asked me to run a message for you." (Forest Being) "Who is Kamelia?" (I) "She''s an old friend, master." (Nix) "Then I''ll ask you to tell me more about her later, Nix." (I) "I''ll talk to you later, but before that, you have other things to take care of." (Nix) Nix who was nearby overhears my conversation and comes to talk to me, after that I turn to the Village Guardian to continue our conversation. "What was the message?" (I) Chapter 296: Shadow Village Chapter 296: Shadow Village When I arrive in the village I came across a big change in the village Guardian who evolved into a race called the Forest Being, it seems she had help for that, she also said she had a message from a Spirit Queen for me. "She said she helped me evolve into a wood elemental and a Holy Beast as a reward for you fulfilling the Spirits'' request, but it''s up to me whether I choose to make a contract with you or not." (Forest Being) "Wait a minute! What kind of reward is this? What contract are you talking about? And what do you mean a Holy Beast?" (I) "One question at a time, we have time, so I''ll explain it to you." (Forest Being) "I will start by explaining what a Holy Beast is, you already know that Fairies take care of nature''s mana and Spirits take care of nature''s spiritual energy, this helps nature to maintain its balance." (Forest Being) "Holy Beasts are monsters that can harmonize with nature just like Fairies or Spirits, their duty is to take care of nature''s Ki, normally only monsters from the 10th generation have chances to become a Holy Beast, the other alternative is to be chosen worthy by a Fairy and a high-level Spirit, so they could help the monster harmonize with nature as was my case." (Forest Being) "When a monster becomes a Holy Beast its body is transformed by the Ki of nature and a pure element, so the Holy Beast many feces becomes an elemental monster, in my case, I became a Wood Elemental, I am from a race rare call of the Being of the Forest." (Forest Being) "About contracts, it''s easy to explain, Holy Beasts can make contracts just like Fairies and Spirits, but it must be of their own volition." (Forest Being) "As for your reward, it looks like it''s the opportunity to form a contract with me, all they asked was for me to stay close to you for a while and see if I would agree to form a contract with you or not." (Forest Being) "I think I get it, but why would I want to form another contract when I have two at the moment? I''m happy with what I already have." (I) "This is something I learned a little while ago when I became a Holy Beast a lot of new information popped into my head." (Forest Being) "It seems that there are rare people who have the ability to use more than one type of energy, but there are also rare people who can train in three types of energy like you." (Forest Being) "You must know that forming a contract with a Fairy, a Spirit or a Holy Beast is not an easy thing, but for the rare who have managed to form a contract with the three types of beings that care for nature, they get a great gift." (Forest Being) "They earn the title of the trinity of nature, with that title one will be blessed by nature itself, that''s all I know." (Forest Being) Sigh "What kind of reward is this that I might leave with nothing?" (I) "You should be happy Zenos, the number of Holy Beasts is much less than Spirits and Fairies, they are also rare who choose to make contracts with people." (Forest Being) "Please don''t tell me that you also want to form some Cradle of the Holy Beasts." (I) "No, that doesn''t exist, a Holy Beast is not born, a monster needs to be worthy to become a Holy Beast, that''s a great honor." (Forest Being) "Do you Holy Beasts also have a God?" (I) "Yes, the Beast God Cratos." (Forest Being) I was surprised by the things I learned from the Village Guardian, after a long conversation I walked with her to the village leader''s house, soon I was leaving, so I wanted to talk to her one last time. As soon as I arrived I found the village leader and everyone on the council, they were silent as if they were waiting for something when I entered everyone looked at me with a face full of expectation. For some reason, Ivan, Freya, rica, and Vanessa were there too, as soon as I entered they came to me. "Looks like you found the Guardian, I was very surprised when I saw her earlier, but it''s a relief to know I don''t need to leave her behind, it was eating my heart out inside." (Sapphire) "I always told you to stop thinking about me and do your duty as village leader." (Forest Being) "You took care of me and everyone in the village from a young age, you taught and trained us, there is no one in the village who would leave you behind." (Sapphire) "Stop talking, you''re going to make me cry Sapphire." (Forest Being) CHeCk for new stories at novelhall.com your conversation, it looks like you guys decided to leave, right?" (I) "Yes, we chose to leave the mountain range, there is no future for us here." (Sapphire) "We would like to know if you would be willing to help us?" (Nymph leader) "Now I am happy to say that we have permission to build our new village in Dungeon Eclipse, now we welcome the new village leader Zenos!!!" (Sapphire) "ZENOS!!!" "ZENOS!!!" "ZENOS!!!" "ZENOS!!!" "ZENOS!!!" with the speech to the village leader I realized that she had already told the situation to everyone in the village, it seems that she even told that she was planning to create a village inside my Dungeon, at that moment I remember that the camp was with all the things still there, but no one was inside the Dungeon, it was then that I realized that she was already getting ready for when I accepted. When I looked at the people screaming my name I see that some people started to take the boxes with everything stored and take them to the Dungeon gate, the people who were putting everything away when I left the Dungeon were preparing for this moment. "I was tricked" (I) "Deceived is a strong word, we just knew you would accept it." (Vanessa) "I knew the master wasn''t going to leave the people of this village to their own devices." (Ivan) The village leader comes towards me with a big smile and taps my shoulder as she talks to me. "I''ll always be with you Village leader, you don''t know what a relief it is not having this responsibility anymore hahahahahaha" (Sapphire) "What?" (I) Ding! "Now all that''s left to do is give your village a name, choose a name that represents us." (Sapphire) "You who should be the village leader." (I) "The Dungeon is yours, so you''re the village leader, I thought it was obvious, now that you''ve accepted it, you can''t go back on your word, can you?" (Sapphire) "I was tricked" (I) "Let''s not cry village leader, at least choose a name for your village." (Sapphire) "Come on Dad, the days are going to be more fun with so many people." (Vanessa) I wiped the sweat that was running down my eyes, before surrendering to this situation. Sigh "Okay, looks like I have nowhere to run, so I''ll at least pick a good name." (I) "That''s how you talk." (Forest Being) I close my eyes and spend a few minutes thinking about the features of the village, I try to think about what makes this village unique, then I look down and see my shadow, at that moment an idea comes to my mind. "How about the name being Shadow Village after all the Dungeon is in my Shadow as well as the whole village." (I) "That''s a good name." (Sapphire) "Liked it." (Vanessa) "That name gives a certain degree of mystery." (Ivan) "May the Village of Shadows prosper under your command Zenos." (Forest Being) Ding! Chapter 297: Nest Of Darkness Chapter 297: Nest Of Darkness Pov Carlos: It''s been weeks since Zenos and his group left the city, shortly after people from the Church of Light arrived asking about him, it didn''t take long to find out that Zenos'' mansion was gone and that there was no trace of him leaving the city. During this time the Inquisitors have been asking almost every person in town about Zenos and his group, they want to know his race, age, appearance, origin, and the kind of powers he has, they want to know the same about the rest of Zenos'' group. More than once they have come to my Adventurer''s Guild to cause trouble, but even if I have the information they want they cannot force me to speak, even the Church of Light cannot afford to become the enemy of the entire Guild of the Adventurers. Every time the Inquisitors appeared they tried to get information from the other adventurers, because of this many adventurers have left the city to stay away from the Church of Light. The problem has become even worse because of the strong prejudice that many of the Inquisitors have against other races, there are many reports of people of the Demis or Beastman races being mistreated by people from the Church of Light. This sort of thing is causing traders of other races to leave Valen City towards the capital, it has become such a problem that even the Royal Guards have been sent to the city to try to calm things down. Just when I thought things were starting to go in the right direction was when an Archbishop arrived, he made strong accusations about Zenos being a spawn of the Demon race. This Archbishop said that Zenos used slavery or mind control techniques to kidnap the Inquisitors who were under his command, the famous Faceless Brothers. Since then it has only caused me more and more problems, we were already suffering from a lack of people because of the last wave of monsters, but now we are with even less people as adventurers keep leaving, new adventurers don''t want to come to Valen city. I got tired of this and joined up with the leaders of the other Guilds to speak with Duke Valen, so a meeting was arranged with this Archbishop to pressure him to leave the city. But during the meeting the Archbishop got up and ran to the window and stood looking towards the Forest of Blood, he started to say that he felt Divine power coming from the direction of the Forest of Blood, but he insisted that it was coming from much further away. So he contacted Church Headquarters and had over 20000 soldiers from his Church sent here using Mages of the Space element, this could have been the same as a declaration of war. The Duke and the Kingsguard wanted to protest, but just two days later more armies from the other two religions also came to the city, the next day these armies started to leave one by one. The Duke was worried about what might have happened to alarm so many religions, so a special quest was issued in the Guild, I accepted this quest along with my wife Mari, I also took some people with strong tracking or sensing skills to be able to investigate the What''s happening. After a week we arrived at the mountain range, so we started to investigate around, it took another three weeks and we were only able to investigate less than half of the mountain range, but we were worried about what we had already found. Now I am in a small destroyed village together with my group we have a bonfire where we are roasting monster meat to eat. "I miss my beer." (I) "This is what happens when you drink five barrels in two weeks, if you had just a little restraint it wouldn''t have happened." (Mari) "I thought I brought more, I remember I asked to bring twenty barrels." (I) "I left it at home, it was taking up too much space in my storage item." (Mari) "Where are the other two?" (Mari) "I asked to see how the religious armies are doing, at night it''s much easier to spy on them." (I) I take a knife and cut a piece of meat to eat, then drink some water since the beer is long gone. Visitt for the latest updates My subordinate also brought me something from there, he ran straight to me urgently, the item he showed me was a wooden board with some writing on it, but when I read what was written I burned that thing until there was nothing left. Plate: [ If anyone is reading this please send it to Archbishop Thomas Galaretto. You big dung heap in human form, if you''re reading this know that I haven''t forgotten about you, I''m simply busy with more important things than a worm-like you, but no need to worry, soon I''ll come to you as promised and remember that no one can protect you from me. ] "YOU FILTHY AND INSIGNIFICANT THING, HOW DARE YOU LEAVE SOMETHING LIKE THAT TO ME, I WILL FIND YOU IF IT''S THE LAST THING I DO!!!!!!" (I) - Pov Dragon Prince: I was in my room in the mansion that I was granted to stay during my stay in the capital of the Trigan Kingdom, I have already finished everything I needed to do in this Kingdom, I planned to stay longer in the city of Valen to train, but with what has been happening for there for the last few weeks it wouldn''t be safe to go there. I''m on my bedroom balcony enjoying the view of the night sky as I drink a glass of wine and hold an open letter in my other hand. "Master, new news has arrived." (Mia) Sigh "About Zenos?" (I) "No, his whereabouts are still unknown, but I have new news about the mountain range." (Mia) Mia hands me some papers where the situation of the mountain range is being explained, this is information that some spies infiltrated in the Church of Light army have obtained, there is also some information that a contractor from the Assassin''s Guild got. "The situation of the mountain range is very strange, the disappearance of inhabitants, the miasma, abandoned villages, disappearance of mountains, a mysterious fortress, and confirmation of divine power." (I) "Now I have an overview of the situation, I also understand why so many religions have sent armies there, but none of that matters to me." (I) "What happens in the mountain range doesn''t affect me or the Cartoza Kingdom." (I) "Keep looking for Zenos, as much as I try to search his past I haven''t found anything, it seems as if he didn''t exist before he appeared in the city of Valen." (I) "Why does the Prince try so hard for this adventurer?" (Mia) "You better not know, the fewer people who know them better." (I) "Then I will retire to continue the search." (Mia) After Mia leaves I go in and throw the daddies with the information about the mountain range on the bed, then I lift the letter I got from my sister. "Looks like she''s already started acting, I don''t know what relationship she has with Zenos, but I hope it doesn''t cause any problems for the Kingdom." (I) "I''m sure it was you who saved me that day Zenos, so I''m going to pray that this selfish, combat-maniac person doesn''t find you." (I) Chapter 298: Coming Out Of The Mountain Range Chapter 298: Coming Out Of The Mountain Range After Sapphire announced moving the village to my Dungeon she told everyone that from now on I was the village leader, in the current situation I had nothing more to say, Vanessa also made me see that many of the things that I''ve been doing since checking into this village are jobs that normally the village leader should do. Since I had already accepted this village into my Dungeon, that means I was accepting responsibility for this village and its inhabitants, so I will keep this until the end and make Sapphire a part of the village council along with the others, as well I can delegate some of my responsibility to them too. We spent the rest of the day getting everything into the Dungeon, most seemed happy about it, but the people who stayed behind in the village were confused, and sometimes I saw people who participated in the fighting explaining the situation to those who stayed behind. After the night came the village people decided to have one last party in their village before going, they wanted to celebrate the victory of our battle and the future of the new village. Freya and Caryana were happy to join the people of the village to cook tasty food made with the monster meat we still had, one thing I discovered during the party was that the Orcs knew how to make alcoholic drinks, so the party lasted until dawn. During the party I jump on top of one of the houses to be able to better see this festive scene, Jade jumps to sit next to me, but loses her balance and almost falls there is still not used to her legs, Layla who was on my shoulder goes to catch her and comes flying while laughing. "If you''re not used to using these legs, then go back to your Lamia form." (I) "I would like to, but I still haven''t gotten used to the shape-shifting model, I''m going to need some time for that, I also need to be able to move with these legs from now on." (Jade) "I didn''t have much time to talk to you, but Alice told me you spent a lot of time talking to your mother or Freya." (I) "Yes, I''ve been told what happened to Farus, I''m glad he was defeated, but I was shocked to learn that I would have to leave this village where I was born and raised." (Jade) "I thought you''d be happy with that, looks like you''ve been wanting to get out of the mountain range for a long time." (I) "I wanted to travel and face strong enemies, I always wanted to be strong enough to bring more prosperity to my village, at least that was my thought before I was consumed by my pride and selfishness." (Jade) "But I didn''t want to leave this place forever, every place here has memories of the best and worst moments of my life, leaving everything is not an easy thing, even more knowing that I contributed to this result." (Jade) "I''m sure a lot of those partying down there think as you do." (I) "But there''s no way to keep a life here, they know that too and they chose to move on." (I) While talking to Jade, Layla flew out and started swimming in a keg of a drink that resembles a lot of vodka, it was funny to see her start swimming and then pass out inside the keg, Nix ran to get her out of there. "How can I move on after all I''ve done" (Jade) "I still remember how I commanded the Undead to attack a village, I remember being the first to attack killing the village leader at first while she had a smile on her face." (Jade) "I remember how happy I was as I was tearing apart everyone who got in my way, the adrenaline and euphoria coursing through my body." (Jade) Tears "I remember how I killed how I killed children" (Jade) "The only thing you can do now atones for your sins, how you go about doing that is entirely up to you." (I) "The power I gave you was a test to save someone, I felt bad about testing someone innocent and I looked for a criminal, of course, I didn''t know about your illness when we captured you." (I) "I just wanted to test the level of the changes, you were never in danger, you can be right in saying that you don''t deserve what I did for you." (I) Saying words of comfort to someone who carries so much guilt and regret is useless, she would only fall into a deeper hole of despair. What she needs is to face what she''s done head-on, she needs a reason to keep fighting, the only thing I can think of that might make her stand up is to atone for her sins, to make that power that she managed to do for something. "So earn it, show me and your mother and the people of the village what you will do with this power, show how you will make up for what you have done, show that you will one day be worthy of this power." (I) "" (Jade) "You have this night to regret what you''ve done, but you can''t go on like this forever, so decide if you''re going to spend the rest of your life just crying and grieving, or you''re going to stand up and show how this power you have can be used." (I) "Your mother is not here, no one from the village is here, so put everything you are suppressing out now when the Suns rise in the morning will be the moment of your decision." (I) She spent the rest of the night crying and screaming until a pool of blood formed under her, I stayed there in silence, nothing I said would make a difference at that moment, I did what I could, now it''s up to her. Nix kept everyone away and waiting in the village, I asked her that because I didn''t want anyone to see Jade in this fragile state, I even wondered if what I was doing was right several times. When the sky lit up in the morning Jade''s tears had dried up for a long time, she was weak with red eyes looking at the sky while lying on the ground. Her eyes were blank for more than half the night, I thought I had failed and she had completely given herself over to guilt, but then I see her move, she raises her hand in the air as her eyes go from blank to full of conviction. "If I surrender to my feelings, then I''m just running away." (Jade) "I can''t change the past, neither will anything I do will make up for my crimes, but I will show the people I killed in the other world that this power will prevent innocent people from dying, I will show how a criminal like me is worthy of this power with my actions" (Jade) "Then get up and take your first step." (I) I saw her get up with difficulty, it seems that tonight took all her strength away, but at least I can see a strong will in her eyes, she and I walked to the village, she fell a few times along the way and I thought I''d help her, but her look showed that she wanted to go alone, so I just stayed by her side without helping until we reached the village. Sapphire was at the village gates waiting, I saw that she wanted to run towards us, but I waved my hand at her to turn gray, so when Jade reached the village gates she went straight into her mother''s arms. "I know what to do now mom" (Jade) "I''m happy my daughter" (Sapphire) After that the three of us entered the Dungeon as Nix closed the entrance and flew away, it was time to leave the mountain range. Chapter 299: Samira Chapter 299: Samira At the moment we are heading towards the coast of the mainland, we are heading in the opposite direction from where the religious armies must be entering the mountain range, I imagine they must be passing through Trigan''s Kingdom. What we are going to do is get to the beaches and go around the sea, if I wanted I could go to one of the cities of the Trigan Kingdom that has a commercial port, but I want to leave the Trigan Kingdom and go to one of the smaller Kingdoms, there are many eyes on the Kingdom Trigan at the moment also said I don''t know if Prince Drago is still there and I don''t want to find him. When I''m away from the mountain range I plan to take a few days to enjoy the beach, everything has been so hectic since I went to Valen town and all I want is to relax for a few days. At the moment I''m inside the Dungeon facing a new problem, I''m with Safira, Ivan, rica, and Nira. "Tell me again why this should be a problem? Wouldn''t it be easier to build wherever you want?" (I) "There are more than 7000 people, we have already passed the level of a village, that is the number of a small town." (Ivan) "Before starting to build we have to think about the configuration that would be the most suitable." (Ivan) "That''s true, I had a lot of problems when immigrants arrived in my village, there were a lot of houses to build and we had to defend ourselves because I said I let everyone build where they wanted and it was a mess." (Sapphire) "You have to know that it''s not just houses that need to be built, you have to build farms, schools, a place where the people in charge can gather to work around the village, etc." (Ivan) "What a headache, why do I have to solve all this, I don''t understand anything about construction." (I) "(When I built cities, towns, or Kingdoms in my games I basically copied the civil maps of various cities around the world, sometimes I left it to someone else at the game company I created, I don''t know anything about that.)" (I) "Does anyone from the village know how to organize the construction of a small town?" (rica) CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m "No, if there was someone qualified for this I wouldn''t have had any problems before, as villages grow over generations we usually don''t need to worry about that." (Sapphire) "I have a suggestion." (Nira) "Please speak up, these people are only bringing problems to me when I need solutions." (I) "Since no one here knows about these things, why not find someone qualified for it." (Nira) "" (I) Since I haven''t thought of something so simple, if I''m not qualified for something, I just find someone who is, then I can throw that problem at him and relax on the beach. I give Nira a hug lifting her up and around while I laugh, I really got carried away this time. The time has come to fulfill my promise to Elsaris, this is the time to take care of her sister and find out if Elsaris wants to go through this too. "I think you already know what we''re going to do, so let''s go to the salon, that''s the best place for it." (I) When I arrive in the hall I stand with Elsaris in the middle of the hall while the others walk away, I look seriously at Elsaris. "Do you want to go through the same as your sister? You know she will become part of my group after this, right?" (I) "I told you before that I will always stand by my sister, if she will be her servant then I will be too." (Elsaris) "Also I saw how Jade got stronger after you used her power, I would be an idiot to refuse that kind of power I can use to protect my sister." (Elsaris) "All right." (I) "Does your sister have a name?" (I) "No, but I know what name she wanted to have, the name of a Human who helped both of us centuries ago when I was still a weak Rabbit, we were both wounded and this Human tended to our wounds." (Elsaris) "Because of that I''m going to name this Human for my Sister, her name will be Samira." (Elsaris) "That''s a pretty name, so let''s get started?" (I) "Yea." (Elsaris) When I treated Jade I only used half my power so I think she would be able to handle two people at the same time, I''m also sure Elsaris prefers to go through this with her sister, I wonder how that will work. "Break the crystal and free your sister." (I) I take two cups and a knife, then slit my wrist and start filling both cups with my blood, while I do that Elsaris drew a magic circle on the floor using her blood and leaves the crystal where her sister is in the middle of the magic circle when she activates the magic circle, the crystal changes from solid to liquid, returning to blood spreading across the floor. I float the two glasses towards Elsaris, so Elsaris takes one glass to drink at once, then she takes the other and bends down to give it to the little White Rabbit. "I finally found a cure sister, drink this so we can get through this together." (Elsaris) As if understanding what Elsaris was saying, the Rabbit accepted to drink all the blood, so Elsaris leaves her sister on the floor and stands next to her. "We are ready, Zenos can start." (Elsaris) Chapter 300: Two Sisters Chapter 300: Two Sisters The Little White Rabbit looked weak, her ears were drooping and she was breathing hard, her red eyes were strangely clear, even though she was barely moving she looked around as if trying to understand the situation, her eyes stopped for a few seconds in Elsaris when I saw tears welling up in her eyes, then she turned to me and I saw the strong determination in her eyes. This Bunny is very smart, now Elsaris and her sister are standing next to each other and have already drunk their cups of my blood. Just like I did with Jade two days ago, I start activating all my Aura abilities, then wait for the Auras to intertwine until they form a black Aura with colored lights around me. I control my Auras while activating the Blood Servant and Vampire Servant skills causing red energies to come out of my hands, then I extend my Aura until it covers the two sisters in front of me at the same time these two red energies hit the two sisters. Neither of them seems to try to resist, so my Aura and these energies enter their bodies without difficulty, now I activate the [ Blood Pact ] skill, while my Aura and energy fill their bodies a red glow appears from within their stomachs. Soon drops of blood come out through the pores of my body along with my mana, spirit energy, and Ki going straight to these two sisters. Ding! <[ 2 individuals submitted willingly ]> . . <[ Choose a power to bestow on each individual ]> . . . <[ Skill [ Blood Pact ] activated ]> . . <[ You have the choice to grant power to each individual if you wish ]> I feel my energies leaving my body at a dangerous level, maybe it wasn''t the smartest choice to try to take care of both at the same time. Before long I was so tired that I dropped to one knee, I could see that my body was starting to get weak from the tiredness, but I was still able to keep going, I have done this several times and I have gotten used to this process. A very big pain hits my head due to the flow of information that invaded my head, I had to use the parallel thinking skill to get myself focused enough to choose the skills I had already thought about. I bestow the bloodline [ Mystic Rabbit (Unique): 100% ] to the two sisters. So I grant the skill [ Blood Elemental Affinity: 1 ] also to the two sisters, which should be a good skill for Vampires. After that four streams of red liquid energy come out of my body, two took the form of red liquid bunnies and the other two streams of liquid energy take the solid form of red crystals in the form of a drop. Each sister got one of each as their bodies absorbed this power I bestowed, then a red flame fully covers their bodies and makes them both float in front of me. An intense red glow comes out of these flames preventing me from seeing anything, then the flame crystallizes leaving two crystals of the same size floating next to each other in front of me. In a short time, a heartbeat sound can be heard and the lights of these crystals shine in the rhythm of this beating heart, between the heartbeats the brightness diminishes leaving me to see parts of silhouettes inside the crystals. At that moment my energy stops being sucked by these two sisters, so the pulse of these two crystals accelerates more and more. Ding! "Zenos was the person I found who could heal you, he is also our Father now as he is the Patriarch of our bloodline." (Elsaris) "Where is he? He''s that White Elf." (Samira) "No, that''s Jay my son." (Elsaris) "Zenos is the dark boy with red hair and different colored eyes over there." (Elsaris) As the two converts continue to embrace while naked, Elsaris slowly explains the things her sister asks until pointing at me, she was drinking the last drop from a bottle of blood this time. "Is that pretty child our Father? But he looks younger than you." (Samira) "I''m not sure how old he is, but I suspect he''s not even 100 years old, so he must really be younger than me." (Elsaris) "But age doesn''t mean much to a Vampire, what matters to us is a lineage, in time I will teach you about our culture." (Elsaris) "Alright, we have plenty of time now." (Samira) "I think you''ve already had your meeting, but how could you stop hugging and put some clothes on?" (I) Ding! "That might even be a little inappropriate." (Elsaris) "Why would I care about others looking at me? I''m so proud of this body my sister worked so hard to give me." (Samira) "It''s not about your shame, it''s about mine." (I) "It''s hard for me to know where to look, so please put some clothes on." (I) "Here, put these dresses on until Tanya sews new clothes for you." (Vanessa) "Thank you so much, could you tell me your name?" (Samira) "I''m Vanessa, I''m also Zenos'' daughter, so you can call me sister if you want." (Vanessa) "I''m so happy, now my family is even bigger, I always wanted to have a big family." (Samira) "We still have two other brothers, I''ll introduce you to everyone later." (Vanessa) "Aren''t you happy Elsaris? We have more people in our family now." (Samira) "If the sister is happy, then I am happy." (I) Vanessa comes to me after talking a bit with her new sisters, so she uses some magic to strengthen me, it will help me stand up and walk a little bit at least. While Vanessa treated my body, Elsaris was introducing her two children to her sister. After that I went to sleep, when I checked in the room there were dozens of Fairies and Spirits lying sleeping in my bed, I used my non-elemental magic to make them float and put them somewhere else on the bed, it was making a space for me to lie down too. After so much time living with Fairies and Spirits around me all the time I''m used to them, so I don''t care about these little things anymore like them using my bed, I lie down and let myself be carried away by fatigue. Zzzzzzz Zzzzz Zzz. Chapter 301: New Goal Chapter 301: New Goal The next day I woke up with even more Fairies and Spirits in my room, some were even sleeping on top of me, I carefully push them all away and get up. After getting ready I go down to the kitchen to get something to eat and see everyone eating around the table, so I sit down to enjoy everyone''s company. "Looks like I was the last to wake up today." (I) "The master is always the last to wake up." (Ibuki) "His sleep is strangely heavy, with his strong senses his sleep was supposed to be lighter." (Kira) "You had to see the beautiful scene of several Spirits and Fairies sleeping next to the master, I wanted to sleep like that too." (Caryna) "You only say that because you''ve never been kicked out of bed by one of those brats." (Layla) "I don''t know why they complain, Fairies and Fire-type Spirits always appear in the forge, thanks to them the work has been much easier." (Anton) "Speak for yourself, these Fairies and Spirits are always causing confusion in my lab, they fiddle with delicate tools, change the order of materials I use, and sometimes even randomly mix things up causing an explosion or doing something bizarre like a poison that spread a stench throughout my lab." (Lyra) "Why don''t you set up a barrier?" (I) "I''ve asked Irina many times, but something always happens and she is very busy with everything." (Lyra) "My sister and I have been getting very busy with the people of the village since we arrived in the mountain range." (Irius) "You have been a great help." (I) The food was delicious as usual, everyone was also laughing and talking. "I think everyone must have introduced themselves to Samira and Jade by now, right?" (I) "Yes, we''ve been talking to Jade since day one, she even enjoys training with Sophia." (Ivan) "It''s been really nice to have a spear-type weapon user to train, it helps me a lot to gain experience to fight others like her." (Sophia) "I felt that their way of fighting without weapons was different from the Ogres who rely only on their brute strength, so it has been very useful for me, in addition, it has helped me to get used to this body." (Jade) "Don''t even get me started, I kicked the edge of the bed in my sleep, it sent a piece of wood flying through the window, I just hope I didn''t hit anyone." (Samira) "I''ll help with your training sister, I''m sure you''re not used to a humanoid body yet." (Elesaris) "I''m glad to see everyone getting along." (I) We spent some time talking together, Diana offered to help with Samira''s training and Kira was trying to get Byakko to eat some fruit since this cat is only eating meat. I asked Tanya how her work has been and she said with a big smile that it has been a lot easier since some Arachne and some Nymphs have joined her to help. Anton also said that some Ogres and Orcs have joined him at his blacksmith shop, it looks like these two might be in trouble as their work areas must be cramped with all this extra help. I thought it would be nice to build a forge and a workshop for these two to be able to call more people to help, it''s also nice for them to have a bigger space to work now that there are so many people living here. When I mentioned this other orders started coming in, rica and Irina wanted to build a library, they said that the library in this mansion is already full and more than half of the books we own are stored inside storage items. Also, Diana and Sophia started asking for a bigger training area now that there are so many warriors who enjoy training in the Dungeon. As if those orders weren''t enough, Freya said that she would have to build a big warehouse where to store food and ingredients, Nira also said that she would need a warehouse where to store materials from monsters and miscellaneous items that we can sell or use later, Ivan also started to say that it would be nice to build a sewer system like the capitals of the various Kingdoms or even like the sewer systems of the city of Valen. Things didn''t stop there, Nix started talking about my shadow that now we can focus on expanding the Dungeon more and more and soon start putting monsters on the floors. There were so many things to solve that I wanted to go back to bed and forget about all these problems, but there''s no use running away from these situations, so I started prioritizing things, I told Nix that I''ll only start summoning monsters after we have ten floors. Then I told the others that before thinking about what we''re going to build, we have to find someone qualified in civil construction, I also suggested seeing a doctor. Those are our goals, for now, we have to have the minimum quality of life at least, so I want the buildings to be well planned to fit the culture of these various races, so everyone can live comfortably. I told Kira, Elsaris, Jay, and Beatriz that the four would be in charge of seeking information from people qualified for this type of work, I also mentioned some characteristics that the person should have to even be considered. 1. Must not have any kind of prejudice against any race. 2. Cannot be a believer of Baldr the idiot God. 3. Cannot be corrupt. 4. It must be someone who enjoys their work. 5. Must be someone competent. 6. Must be someone who knows the common language. When we arrived in the port city of some minor Kingdom they would look for this information, with that I could prioritize things and solve these problems temporarily at least. - After eating I left the Dungeon, spent the rest of the day flying on the back of Nyx''s Dragon form, I needed some time to think, I have to organize the changes since the last battle against Farus. My level has increased a lot with all these battles, but it seems like it might take a while to evolve again, another thing that happened was my skills, some leveled up because of the battle and others because of what I''ve seen. I still remember the notifications I saw the day after the battle against Farus and the notifications I have seen until yesterday. Ding! <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Physical damage resistance: 9 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Party Coordination: 8 > 10 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Chaos Lord''s Blade Technique: 3 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Vampire Servant: 4 > 5 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Blade of Light: 5 > 7 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Magic Circle: 4 > 6 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Martial Master Aura: 2 > 4 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Ruler Presence: 1 > 8 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Magic Aura: 1 > 3 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Elemental magic (wind/fire/earth/light/thunder/wood/ice): 1 > 2 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Chaos Aura: 5 > 6 ] ]> . . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Weak Light Elemental Resistance: 10 ] > [ Light Elemental Resistance: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Reinforce weak subordinates: 10 ] > [ Reinforce subordinates: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Sword Technique: 10 ] > [ Superior Sword Technique: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Daggers Technique: 10 ] > [ Superior Daggers Technique: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ Your skill leveled up [ Improved Sexual Stamina: 7 > 9 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has leveled up [ Boost subordinates: 1 > 5 ] ]> I like to see my skills level up, it shows I''m getting stronger, but why did the sexual stamina skill level up again? It must be the fault of the various things I''ve seen lately, I was a virgin in my past life and I''m still in this one too, I think having so many beautiful women around is affecting me more than I expected. I don''t think I need to keep repressing myself anymore, I''ll solve this right after a conversation with the girls. One thing that caught my attention is the ability to reinforce subordinates having gone up so many levels, it took me a whole day to think about it and now I can only imagine that the skill became stronger because it counted all the people in the village as my subordinates when I went recognized as village leader. Chapter 302: Unforgettable Night Chapter 302: Unforgettable Night After a long conversation with everyone to see how they are doing, I learned that Elsaris and Samira started training together to get used to their bodies, in addition, I learned that Jade spends all day helping the people of the village to start paying for their crimes. During the afternoon I called Ivan and Nolan over for a men''s chat, told them what I thought of me stopping avoiding girls'' Charges. Ivan said I should do this today, that''s because Diana is being a big problem on full moon nights, it seems her instincts get stronger and it''s hard for her to repress her desires. Nolan told me that on the last full moon night they had to tie Diana up, that''s because she looked like a beast without rationality, Nolan said he''s going to miss me since I''ll be dead when Diana finishes me, I know it was a joke, but the possibility of that happening worried me. I asked Nolan to warn the others to stop stopping girls when they try to come to me, I''m a little shy about taking the initiative in these things so I''ll wait for them to come to me. I thought it was a good plan, but seeing a pitying look when Ivan and Nolan looked at me, I didn''t dare ask what was going through their heads. Today would be the day so I wanted to be emotionally prepared, but just as I was walking down the hall of the mansion I was attacked by Ibuki who pushed me into an empty room. Freya who was nearby passed by the bedroom door and closed the door before leaving, after that I spent the next 4 hours trapped in the room with Ibuki. - When I left the room it was already getting dark, my clothes were in pieces and Ibuki was sleeping comfortably in my arms, I left the room carrying her and the first person I see is Freya waiting outside. "How long have you been here?" (I) "Just a few minutes master, I figured your activities were ending when I couldn''t hear your voices anymore." (Freya) "" (I) I was frozen in place as I imagined what Freya''s words meant. "Did you did you hear?" (I) "I think everyone in the mansion heard, now everyone must be making their preparations, so I advise the master to be careful, even with your strength I''m worried if your body will last until tomorrow morning." (Freya) "" (I) I was completely embarrassed, to imagine that everyone heard what I was doing, not to mention that Ibuki was tireless and only stopped when he passed out from exhaustion, I''m covered in sweat now. "Master, let me take care of Ibuki, I''ll help her clean up and then take her to bed." (Freya) "Wouldn''t it be better for me to do that?" (I) "I don''t think the master will have time for that." (Freya) "I advise you to start running." (Freya) "What are you" (me) Before I finished speaking I felt like something was watching me, when I looked around I didn''t see anyone but my instincts were screaming that a predator was nearby. UppTodated from "I advise the master to hurry, there are still two people wearing you." (Freya) Without waiting for me to say anything Freya leaves with rica in her arms, I do my best to drag myself to the potions and drink them both. It only took a few seconds to start feeling the effects of the potions, at that moment I see a figure passing in front of the doors, so I close the doors I take the pants that Freya left behind and I jump through the library window, during the jump I put my pants on while I run to the forest. Before reaching the forest I see the shadow of a beast jumping from the window that comes out looking at me with a fierce look, a look of a predator looking at its prey. I ran as fast as I could and tried not to run in a straight line, I used the trees to hide and changed direction several times as I ran, I even tried to use my hiding skills. "(I didn''t expect this kind of situation, why can''t my first time be normal like in romantic comedy movies?)" (I) "(Why does it have to be like a survival movie?)" (I) As I ran, I stopped hearing any sound, so I stopped on the branch of a tree where I hid among the leaves. "I got you" (Diana) Bamm! When I thought I was well hidden I feel something hitting me from the side and I''m thrown to the ground, falling out of a tree doesn''t even scratch someone with my status. After the impact I feel my body being pressed against the ground, when I look I see Diana on top of me ripping my clothes off. Diana''s eyes were like a beast''s, she destroyed my pants that I had just put on while tearing her own clothes, unlike rica who tried to talk at least, Diana didn''t try to talk and just acted wild. Diana was literally like a beast, she spent the whole night acting wild, my body was covered in claw marks, especially on my back. - The sky was starting to lighten when I finally managed to make Diana swoon, I found out she was the wild type but it took me longer with her I have no idea how long it was but she was nestled in my arms in the middle of the forest I thought that this night would never end. I was afraid of losing consciousness before Diana, I was afraid that she would continue even with me unconscious, I don''t know if my body could resist it, even now I was at my limit, I wasn''t even able to move a finger or say anything, my vision was getting very blurry due to exhaustion. I hear footsteps approaching, but I don''t even have the strength to turn my head. "Looks like the master is still alive, that''s a relief." (Freya) "Diana has always been our biggest concern, you were here for more than 7 hours, Ivan did his best to keep the people of the village away as Diana''s roars and screams were heard from afar." (Freya) I recognize Freya''s voice, she gives me three bottles to drink one at a time, by the taste I knew they were a physical boosting potion and an energy potion like the ones I drank before, the third bottle was blood. After drinking these three bottles I felt much better, but I still couldn''t move, but this time I was at least seeing better and I saw Freya carrying Diana away in her arms. "Try not to kill him." (Freya) "I would never let the master die, don''t worry, I''ll take good care of him." (Kira) I hear Freya saying something, then I hear another voice that I recognize as Kira''s coming from somewhere, then I feel something being dripped into my mouth and I fall into the dream world. Chapter 303: The Triumph Of A Survivor Chapter 303: The Triumph Of A Survivor It was already mid-afternoon when I went to get something to eat, I needed Irius'' help to get to the kitchen, my whole body was in pieces, I was so tired that I could spend the rest of the week resting. As soon as I arrived in the kitchen Freya already had food ready waiting for me. "I hope the master wasn''t upset that I didn''t help." (Freya) "You could have at least tried." (I) "It wouldn''t do any good, none of them wanted to be left behind, since you pleased one you would have to please all of them, but the master did very well for having managed to finish off Kira too." (Freya) "I had to use various skills to strengthen my body, I also had to use the ability to overcome limits." (I) "My father was half dead when I took him out of Kira''s room, I was with my sister to see if he was still alive." (Irius) "Irina is taking care of Kira while I came to bring my Father for something to eat after a good shower." (Irius) "Remind me to thank Lyra for giving rica and Kira so many suspicious potions." (I) "Lyra didn''t have much choice, she wouldn''t be able to escape if she refused their request." (Freya) "From what I hear she has been researching these potions since before we came to the mountain range." (Freya) "" (I) "That means" (I) "They were preparing to attack you, they only waited because of the urgent situation in the mountain range." (Freya) "I thought I was going to die, none of them wanted to give me time to rest." (I) "Father, you have to know that Demi women shouldn''t suppress their desires like Ibuki''s." (Irius) "rica is even worse, Demons are the race that has the strongest desires, so they have to satisfy their desires somehow or it can become dangerous as you may have seen." (Irius) Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only "For sure rica was the craziest of them all, my luck she doesn''t have the same physical resistance as Diana or Kira." (I) "From what I heard it was also Kira''s first time, she asked me a lot of advice on this matter to make sure to make the master happy." (Freya) "It was an amazing night, if it wasn''t for the fear of dying from exhaustion every second it would have been even better." (I) "Usually we Elves don''t have that much sexual desire, but you made her repress her desires for a long time." (Freya) "So they''re not going to be like this all the time, are they? I don''t think I''ll survive if it''s like this every time." (I) "You can learn something to help, for example, men and women in a brothel usually have the skills to give more pleasure to their partners, so they can satisfy their partners faster so they can serve other customers." (Irius) "" (I) "" (Freya) Freya and I looked surprised at Irius who always has the Aura of an innocent man, I didn''t expect to hear such things from him. cough cough "Don''t look at me like that, I have my needs too." (Irius) "With such a pretty face and body like that, I didn''t expect you to have to frequent these places." (I) "Before I met you my face wasn''t so pretty so I was never very popular, as a warrior I was always on the brink of life and death so when I came back from the Church of Light suicide missions I had to ease the tension somehow." (Irius) "" (I) "Hahahahahahahaha" (me) I can''t believe they made such a stupid bet, that''s what they deserve for doubting me, I have to make sure no one ever forgets this moment. - I spent the rest of the day relaxing, but it annoyed me to see Ibuki and Diana training so energetically in the late afternoon when I''m finished, I''d hoped they were at least in a similar state to mine. "(Guess I''ll have to get those skills Irius talked about.)" (I) "(I don''t know what I need to learn these skills, so the next town we go I''ll get those skills from the highest level brothel men and women I have in town.)" (I) "What are you thinking about master?" (Layla) "Nothing, I was just thinking some silly thing to pass the time, nothing much." (I) "Where were you, haven''t I seen you since yesterday afternoon?" (I) "I was following you yesterday, it was so much fun watching you being played with by the girls." (Layla) "You little Demon Fairy watched me run instead of helping your master" (I) "If you are a man then resolve these matters yourself." (Layla) "Never mind, I''m not in the mood to argue with you." (I) "I don''t want to fight either, I just came to say that Sapphire is asking about you." (Layla) "Call her, I was going to ask her to come anyway, talk to Diana, Ibuki, Jade, and Sophia to come too." (I) "All right." (Layla) After about twenty minutes everyone is present in the garden, we sit at a large table outside to talk about some cut fruits on the table, Safira was also here accompanying her daughter. "Before I start, Sapphire, did you want to talk to me about something?" (I) "Just wanted to know what you''re thinking of doing about the food that''s almost gone." (Sapphire) "I wanted to talk to all of you about this very matter." (I) "Tomorrow morning I''m going to ask Nix to stop in an area with a lot of monsters, so I want you to gather people for a day of hunting." (I) "That would be good, we have many warriors and hunters in our village, one day of hunting in a suitable area will be enough for weeks of food." (Sapphire) "I''ll also hunt, I''ll make sure to get the monsters with the tastiest meat." (Jade) "We could get some more fruit trees too, that would be nice to have more fruit variety." (Sophia) "Fine with me, ask some Nymphs and the Village Guardian for help, they should be of help with this." (I) "Will the master hunt with me too? Shall we hunt together like before?" (Ibuki) "Of course, it would be a good exercise for me." (I) "I called you here to divide into hunting parties, each of you will be in charge of a group of twenty or thirty people, so choose your group members well." (I) "You have this night to choose your groups, as soon as the Suns rise tomorrow we will start hunting." (I) "That won''t be a problem, I''m sure we''ll all be ready, master." (Diana) Chapter 304: A Late Visit Chapter 304: A Late Visit I had a good night''s sleep, no one bothered me that night but when I woke up my bed had 4 girls, three were in pajamas and one was naked. The only one without clothes was rica, all the others were wearing clothes, even Ibuki to my surprise, they were all sleeping in my bed like we used to do in the old days. I didn''t want to wake them up, so I got up making as few movements as possible, then I leave the room, when I notice that I''m still wearing my pants I''m sure nothing happened yesterday, it seems they just wanted to sleep with me. I start walking around the mansion while I wait for the others to get up, the first rays of light were already showing through the window, then I start to hear the sound of conversation coming from one of the rooms I was passing by. "Please sister, I''m tired of staying up all night" (Elsaris) "I''ve been waiting for this moment since you took humanoid form, the only reason I wanted to evolve so much was to do this." (Samira) "Someone might show up, Beatriz always visits me in the morning, at least wait until nightfall hmmm" (Elsaris) "Don''t pretend you didn''t enjoy the night either, you looked pretty excited when I kissed you after we walked into the room yesterday." (Samira) "Try to be rational sister, we have eternity to enjoy each other''s company, we don''t need to rush who''s there?" (Elsaris) "" (I) I was a little stunned by the meaning of what I was hearing because I was standing in the hallway facing the door when ten needles come flying through the door and almost hit me. I managed to narrowly dodge it, but when the needles hit the wall I saw a green stain on the wall caused by the needles, it wasn''t hard to imagine it was poison. As soon as I saw this I ran as fast and silently as possible, I don''t want to be found by this crazy woman, what the two of them do is none of my business. When I check into the kitchen I find Freya sorting some fruit, so she looks at me and then approaches. Sigh "Did the master bother Miss Elsaris and her sister?" (Freya) "No, no, nothing like that, I just woke up early and was walking around the mansion, not spying on anyone." (I) Freya reaches up to my neck and pulls something, when I look at her hand it''s a very final needle with the tip stained green. "When did" (I) "The master is lucky to have resistance to poisons, this here would be deadly for most people, it seems Miss Elsaris still resorts to instinctual murder when she is surprised by something." (Freya) "I was feeling a slight burning, I didn''t imagine she had managed to hit me." (I) "So it was the master? You were spying on me and Elsaris?" (Samira) While talking to Freya I am surprised by Samira who comes behind my back wearing a nightgown. "I wasn''t spying on anyone, I just woke up early and was walking around the mansion, I''m sorry if I heard something I shouldn''t have." (I) "I''m just kidding, I don''t care what others know, I''ve always liked bunnies since I went to Vegas in my previous life." (Samira) When I entered the mansion there were two people inside the mansion along with Nix, one I recognize, but the other woman with a flower-like crown floating on top of her head I don''t know who it is. "You''re finally back." (Hera) "Welcome back master, as you can see we have two guests." (Nix) "I already know the Fairy Queen of the Wood Element Hera, but who is the other beautiful woman?" (I) "My name is Kamelia, I''m the Wood Spirit Queen, I''m also an old friend of Nix." (Kamelia) I was nervous that a stranger had entered the Dungeon, so I try to stay away as I try to probe the identity of this beautiful woman, but she was sincere and direct in saying her identity, Nix even nodded in affirmation while smiling. After knowing this woman''s identity I wouldn''t dare be disrespectful to her, so I bow to the two women and sit next to Nix. "We both don''t have much time on this continent, so I''ll be straight, we''re here to give the reward the Fairy Goddess promised." (Hera) "We were supposed to go to the old village, but Hera was injured and had to wait for both legs to grow back." (Kamelia) "He didn''t need to know that part." (Hera) "You have nothing to be ashamed of, you managed to beat an Heretic God, you should be smiling from ear to ear." (Kamelia) "We didn''t come to talk about this." (Hera) After a little argument between the two the Fairy Queen looks at me. "I liked Driade a lot, she had a good personality and had well-defined values, because I liked her I called my friend to help that Driade as a reward for you, I imagine you must be grateful for the opportunity." (Hera) "But the reward that the Goddess Aine wants to bestow on you is a pure element, for that, I will need my friend''s help just as I needed to help the Dryad." (Hera) "I don''t mind helping the master Nix made a contract with, you don''t know how happy I am to get to see her again." (Kamelia) "Let''s get started, we have to leave soon." (Kamelia) With that said the Fairy and Spirit Queens stand up and hold hands, then a powerful Aura is poured between the two, after a few minutes a sphere of Green energy forms between the two, then they point at me. The green-colored sphere flies faster than I expected towards me, then enters my body, I look at myself but I don''t feel anything different. Ding! <[ You received the skill [ Wood Elemental Affinity: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ Your skill [ Wood Magic Elemental Affinity: 1 ] has been swallowed by the new skill [ Wood Elemental Affinity: 1 ] ]> Chapter 305: Beach Chapter 305: Beach When the notifications popped up I was surprised, I never thought that getting a pure elemental affinity was so easy, at least that''s what I thought before the maddening pain left my mind reeling. The next thing I remember is lying in a pool of blood inside a green energy dome, I couldn''t even move and my whole body was sore. Gradually I felt energy heal my body, when I was able to move again I lifted my head and realized that my clothes were destroyed in pieces. Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only I don''t know what happened, but I''m covered in dried blood and naked, at that moment the energy dome disappears letting me see that I was still inside the mansion in the room, the Fairy Queens and Spirits of the wood element were still there, they were looking surprises for me. "You adapted very quickly, it only took a week." (Hera) "I thought it would take a month, even if we were curing him, it shouldn''t be possible to adapt to an externally acquired pure element that quickly." (Kamelia) "We couldn''t give him innocent blood, so the only option was this way, even if it''s a little more difficult." (Hera) "What are you talking about?" (I) "It appears he has regained consciousness, his resistance to pain is commendable." (Hera) "You were trapped for a week while your body adapted to the pure element of wood, normally that would be impossible, but because you have divine blood you still have chances of success." (Kamelia) "I''m glad it worked, seeing your state during this process was horrible even for me." (Hera) "Now that everything is settled we are leaving, it was a pleasure to meet you Zenos, please take care of Nix for me" (Kamelia) Without waiting for me to say anything, the two disappear. Ding! <[ Your skill leveled up [ Great Pain Resistance: 9 > 10 ] ]> But what happened to me while I was unconscious? I don''t remember anything, the last thing I know was that green energy sphere entering my body and notifications popping up in front of me, after that I just remember waking up inside that green energy dome a few minutes ago. I shouldn''t think about it, of course, it was such a bad experience that my brain tried to block it out, so never mind. I get up and head straight to the bathroom to shower, when I thought I was going to rest a pair of hands pulls me under the water. - Two hours later I leave the bathroom more tired than when I entered, I was carrying a naked rica and sleeping in my arms when I was about to leave the bathroom the doors opened and Freya enters. "I''m sorry master, I didn''t realize that rica was in the shower when I realized it was too late and I didn''t want to interrupt." (Freya) "Alright, I just want to go rest now, so I''m going to sleep." (I) "Do it master, don''t worry about anything else, you need to rest." (Freya) I say goodbye to Freya and go straight to my bed, on the way I was reaffirming the skills I need to get in the next town, all the women around me are strong and have an inhuman resistance, if I don''t get these skills I''ll be dead from exhaustion in shortly. That''s true, maybe it''s because of Layla''s size that I don''t see her as a woman, I even change clothes in front of her without caring, but Nix has a much more human appearance and height, so I''m embarrassed to do the same things in front of her or sleeping in the same bed as her. Sigh "I don''t think I should be a hypocrite, Nix certainly doesn''t see anything wrong with this, so I''ll leave it as is." (I) "Where are the others?" (I) "Most are still sleeping, but Sophia is teaching rica about Aura control." (Freya) "Looks like rica managed to learn the Aura magic skill, so she''s trying to learn more about controlling Auras." (Freya) "I''m happy for her." (I) Now that I''ve stopped to think I''m talking to Freya about various subjects when I forgot to ask something important. "Do you know how long I''ve been sleeping?" (I) "The master was alone with the Fairy and Spirit Queens for a week, after which you slept for two days straight." (Freya) "So it''s been 9 days" (I) "Thanks for the info, do you have any food prepared?" (I) "Yes, a lot of people have been taking turns on the boat to fish, so we have a lot of fish to eat." (Freya) "I don''t think I''ve ever tasted a fish in this world, it will be good to change the taste a little." (I) "I will prepare for you now, master." (Freya) I went to get something to eat before looking to see how things are going at the camp, I am responsible for these people and I was away for 9 days, this was something I could not accept. I accepted that responsibility and couldn''t leave it all behind for 9 days, so after eating a fish that was bigger than my body, a fish that was spectacularly delicious, I went to the camp to see how everything was going. It seemed that nothing much happened during these 9 days, the only thing I learned was that the Shadow mage Jana had evolved into a Shadow Ghoul, with that her powers of the shadow element became much stronger, she also managed to learn a magical Aura skill, so I took her to where Sophia was teaching rica to learn how to control her Aura as well. I already figured out that Sophia was the best Aura user around here, so I gave her the task of teaching the others Aura control. After solving this I went out of the Dungeon, I am amazed at what I see, I was in a room made of wood where there was only the Dungeon gate, as soon as I left the room I was in another room twice the size where there were some boxes and a ladder leading up, there was an Arachne and a Werewolf carrying some big fish putting them in the boxes. After greeting them both I go up the stairs and open the doors that take me to the deck of the boat, for some reason it looked a little smaller from the outside, I also noticed that the boat hardly rocks. There were some people fishing but I didn''t pay attention to them, I went straight to the edge where I saw a beach not far away, there were many Lamias lying on the beach wearing very revealing clothes, I also noticed that the boat was a little over 25 meters long, it was bigger than I thought it would be, but inside it somehow felt bigger, I thought I must have seen it wrong. "Master, have you finally woken up? How do you feel?" (Jade) "I feel good, can you tell me what those Lamias are doing on the beach? Can you also tell me why this boat doesn''t rock and doesn''t move?" (I) Chapter 306: Eclipse Merchants Chapter 306: Eclipse Merchants After leaving the Dungeon I came across a lot of things that I didn''t understand, the size of the boat was bigger than I initially expected, moreover, the boat looked bigger inside than outside somehow, I even thought I was getting the wrong impression. Other things left me in doubt, the boat was in the ocean but even with the small waves hitting the boat it almost didn''t sway, besides I didn''t see any anchor, but even so the boat didn''t leave the same position it was in. One thing I also didn''t understand was why there were so many Lamias on the beach that the boat is close by, I also don''t know why the Lamias are wearing even more revealing clothes than usual. Luckily it seems that one of the people on deck was Jade, so she came over to talk to me and I took the opportunity to ask some questions that were running through my head. "I don''t know much about the boat, it would be better to ask Irina, Nira, and Lyra." (Jade) CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m "All I know about the boat is that all the best Wizards in the village worked on it." (Jade) "About Lamias the answer is simple, we are cold-blooded, so it''s hard for us to keep our bodies warm, that''s why we like physical contact, it makes it easier to keep us warm." (Jade) "But when the weather is nice and we have an area that gets so much sunlight, Lamias like to lie in the sun, that''s very comfortable for us." (Jade) "The master may not know, but because we Lamias are very affected by changes in temperature our bodies move by themselves during the night to fully embrace the nearest heat source, so we like to live in groups so we can sleep stuck together to keep us warm." (Jade) "(I can understand this if I compare it to the reptiles of my ancient world, so I think other races will have similar problems like the Lizardman and the Snakman.)" (I) "Thanks, your answers helped me understand things a bit." (I) "Nira and Ivan are in the room on the other side of the boat, if the master needs me I''m going to the beach to get some food for my mother and the other Lamias." (Jade) "Alright, try to enjoy those Suns a little too, I imagine you would like to relax a little together with them." (I) "I''ll do that, see you later master." (Jade) After Jade walks to the edge of the boat she jumps back into her Lamia form during the jump, then she swims like a snake in a zigzag to shore. After seeing Jade arrive at the beach, I turn my attention to other things like the beauty of this beach, the way these waters are crystal clear, how beautiful it is to look at the horizon of the ocean. I spent a few minutes enjoying these simple pleasures, at least until I saw what looked like a giant crocodile and whale mix jump to an absurd height with a big fish in its jaws, for how long it took the waves to reach where the boat is after that one monster fell back into the water I have a notion he was very far away, but that only freaks me out even more as it means the monster would be even bigger up close. For fear of being attacked by that thing I run to the other side of the boat and open the door where I find an office with some cabinets and a table with maps on top, Nira and Ivan was looking out the window when I entered. "That one was big." (Ivan) "Yes, but I wanted to know what he was eating." (Nira) "Why are you two so calm!?" (I) "Did you see that thing? We have to get out of here soon!" (I) "Master, have you finally woken up? Are you feeling better?" (Ivan) "We don''t have time to talk right now, how do we make this thing move? We have to get out of here!" (I) "Don''t worry master, we are safe." (Nira) "With the help of Lyra and Irina, I used a reading crystal to connect these spells to this reading crystal and connecting to the ship''s core, so we used a reading crystal as a key, so no one can control the boat but us." (Nira) "But this boat is only temporary, in the future, we will ask someone who specializes in shipbuilding to make a big ship for us." (Ivan) "That would be nice, but before that, I wanted to know why you asked for this boat, to begin with, Nira?" (I) "To get into the city easier, Ivan and I are registered with the Trading Guild as a traveling trade company, I used the name Eclipse Merchants." (Nira) "I thought about using the mansion''s name at the time, I guess I forgot to talk to the master about it." (Nira) "I like the name, it would also be easier for us to sell the things we have in excess if we arrive by boat, right?" (I) "That''s what I thought, this boat holds a crew of up to ten people, the others could stay inside the Dungeon until we leave town." (Nira) "Actually you gave me an idea to make a carriage where we could open the dungeon from the inside." (I) "I imagine the master is thinking this so Nix can be with everyone instead of always taking us around." (Ivan) "You''re right, I already have plans on that, but I need to acquire certain skills first." (I) "But before anything else I need to maintain priorities when we get to the city, we have to think about building the village first." (I) "It''s actually going to be a city since the number of people is comparable to a small town." (Ivan) "I don''t like to hear that, it makes it sound like I have even more work to do later." (I) "But changing the subject, do we know where we''re going?" (I) "We discussed and came to the conclusion of a good place where we should go, but first we have to talk to you master." (Nira) "What place would it be?" (I) Nira, Ivan, and I stand around the table where Nira stretches out a map, so she starts pointing out our approximate location before pointing out the place where she has a port of a small Kingdom. "We should be in this area by now, if we go underneath we''ll reach a small-sized Kingdom, but I don''t advise going there." (Nira) "Why that?" (I) "Because this Realm has strong commercial links with the Realm of Light, it is also a Human supremacist Realm." (Ivan) "Then forget about this place, it sure wouldn''t be nice to go there." (I) "But the Kingdom next door is a more liberal place, the level of prejudice is almost non-existent and this Kingdom only has this port city as a city, all the rest of the territory only has small villages." (Nira) "This is also a commercial Kingdom, we were thinking of going there, a boat trip should only take a week and a half." (Ivan) "Fine with me, let''s go to that realm you guys talked about last." (I) "Then it''s decided, we can leave whenever you want to master." (Nira) "We can go tomorrow, the Lamias seem to be having fun on the beach so let''s join them." (I) Chapter 307: Moros Kingdom Chapter 307: Moros Kingdom It''s been a week and a half, during that time I went back to my training to learn how to fly better during the morning, during the afternoon I did various tasks as village leader, during the night I trained my Aura control techniques that Sophia taught me. During that time I synthesized some skills and this was the result. [ Weapon Technique: 1 ] > This skill is the result of the synthesis of all Weapon Technique skills. [ Eclipse King''s Aura: 1 ] > This skill is the result of synthesizing all Aura skills, with the exception of unique skills. [ Weapons Technique: 1 ] skill was a perfect match with [ Weapon Master ] skill, it seems I can use any weapon now, the only skills I didn''t synthesize were my chaos lord arts, my own martial arts, and weapons techniques I created. The result of the synthesis of Aura''s abilities was a pain that I could not bear, it was not a pain in the body, it was a pain that was deeper and more unbearable, many times I thought I was going to go crazy, but after the first synthesis, I realized that my body was not being hurt, so this time I didn''t need anyone''s help and I was alone while I did these syntheses. The pain lasted more than an hour, but so as not to disturb anyone I put up sound barriers so no one could hear my screams. The Goddess Selene said that I could fuse Auras without sustaining injury as long as I endured the pain, but she never said how excruciating this pain would be, many times I wondered why I was doing this, but in the end, I came to the conclusion that I was curious, maybe the biggest flaw I have is my curiosity that leads me to do things I wouldn''t normally do, in short, I''m an idiot. It was that curiosity that made me do things in my previous life that a normal kid would never try to do, it was that curiosity that made me start in the video game industry, it was that curiosity that made me do such thorough research for my games and it was that curiosity that made me persevere as I drifted in and out of the coma until I was able to finish that last game I created just to see the end result. Just now I was curious about the result of these syntheses, as I already know that I am safe as long as I endure the pain, I wanted to know the result of what I was doing, in addition to making me stronger. I''m someone who leads a lot of people now, I need to be strong to protect everyone, it would also be nice if I get strong Aura skills to subdue girls when they come after me, I already tried to use my Auras to ward them off, but it seems like they only get stronger using my Auras which only made them last for a longer period of time. During these two and a half weeks, Diana and Ibuki came to me every night, but unlike the first time it only lasted half the time before which was easier in Ibuki''s case, but Diana was still very wild and I always ended up full of scratch marks. Kira was the most controlled and only looked for me every three days, she was also much more affectionate than the first time, it seems Freya was right in saying that was just because she was holding back for a long time. But the one that gave me the most trouble was rica, she was getting more and more perverted, she grabbed me every time I got distracted, in addition, she seemed to last longer and longer than the others. I was getting overwhelmed but still managed to balance everything out somehow, but one thing that caught my attention was that even my new Aura skill which had become a unique skill also had no effect on girls, they just got more energy and your physical stats increase a lot. One thing I''ve been doing is asking Irius to teach me more about his blade of light, blade of shadow, and blade of judgment skills and abilities. I already have the blade of light skill, but I acquired this skill by drinking Irius'' blood when I met him, I only understood after learning from him that I had no control over the skill, I was using this skill automatically when I could have used it my Affinity with the Light element to increase or decrease the power of this attack. "The Moros Kingdom and the Harnes Kingdom are the two main commercial Kingdoms among the smaller Kingdoms, among them, the Moros Kingdom has a culture where money speaks louder." (Ivan) "All nobles are merchants, in addition, the royal family treats the Kingdom as a large commercial enterprise, so if you don''t have a job and don''t pay taxes you will be treated as a debt slave when it is sold the money will be given to the government in tax place." (Ivan) "So money is all that matters in this Kingdom." (I) "So I can only imagine that there are a lot of corrupt people there." (I) "It''s actually the opposite, the Kingdom has strong business rules to prevent corruption, they do it to keep a clean name and not alienate future business partners." (Ivan) "But what Ivan is not telling you is that they also do business with the black market, they are an important business partner that we use to smuggle various things, one of the nobles of this realm is the leader of the black market branch of this realm." (Elsaris) "Looks like this Realm isn''t as simple as I thought it would be." (I) "There is no such thing as a simple Kingdom, master." (Ivan) "All Realms have their own culture, the way of this Realm makes it impossible for it to grow and prosper in the future, but it also consolidated this Realm as something necessary for other small Realms." (Ivan) "Why? I understand that trade is important between nations, but why would this Kingdom be important?" (I) "They are used as intermediaries between the various Realms, this keeps Realms from being able to sell and buy goods indirectly without knowing who the original supplier is or who the ultimate buyer is." (Ivan) "Wouldn''t that be bad? The goods would be more expensive, it would be better to buy directly from the Kingdom of origin." (I) "The small Kingdoms have a lot of conflict with each other, so there is a lot of mistrust or even hatred between many Kingdoms, all of which make it impossible to make direct trade routes between the smaller Kingdoms." (rica) "But if you sell and buy from a Realm like this indirectly, then you don''t need to know who the other party is, it also ensures that the only trading partner you need is this one, the other Realms don''t matter anymore." (rica) "Many of these small Realms start wars to conquer other small Realms in an attempt to become a medium-sized Realm and become more prosperous, so they don''t want to have treaties with many Realms that prevent them from starting a war." (Ivan) It seems that the situation between the smaller Realms is complex, but I don''t mind that, I don''t plan on staying in this Realm much. Sigh "None of that matters, but I''m glad to have an overview of the situation in this Moros Kingdom, thanks for the information." (I) Chapter 308: Pirates Chapter 308: Pirates I held a meeting to understand a little more about the Kingdom we are heading to, but I ended up hearing more information than I needed to. After a meeting that lasted about two hours we discussed about the people going to the city, that''s why I noticed that many people here can''t show up in the city. With those things settled, we were about to end the meeting when a Ghoul with a fishing pole in hand rushes in while Alice runs after him. "Village leaderVillage leader" (Ghoul) "I told you to wait!" (Alice) "" (I) I wave a hand at Alice to calm down, then she stops running as the Ghoul comes running to me, I stand up as he places a hand on his knees wearily, he takes a few deep breaths to catch his breath before he starts talking. "Village leader we have problems, we are under attack." (ghoul) "Calm down, tell me what happened." (I) "I and some others were fishing on the boat, then the boat rocks as if something hit the boat, when we look we see three boats attacking us from afar, they are coming towards us." (ghoul) "An Ogre stayed up there to try to get away from the three boats, but they''re approaching too fast." (ghoul) "I ran inside and came here as soon as I got to the 4th floor." (ghoul) "You did well to come here and let us know, leave the rest to us." (I) After I say that I nod to Alice who follows the Ogre to the door, then I go back to look at everyone who attended the meeting. "Sophia, Jade, Jay, Irina, Diana, rica and Freya." (I) "You will take care of these boats, if I''m not mistaken they are bandits, probably pirates." (I) "Want to capture them for a reward when we reach the port?" (Diana) "No, but I will want some people alive, you have to capture the three strongest enemies and the three with the most expensive clothes." (I) "They can kill everyone else." (I) "Make them unconscious, I want to interrogate them later." (I) "Layla, I want you to go along, I''ll watch everything that happens through your eyes, plus I want you to collect everything you find of value." (I) "If you already understand then grab your weapons and go, we don''t have much time." (I) Everyone left as I asked since the enemy won''t be waiting and everyone already had their weapons in their storage items, Layla opens a Space portal that leads to the safe room, then they go to the first floor and exit the Dungeon. I was seeing it all from Layla''s eyes, they wait a few more minutes as the three enemy boats approach, magic attacks hit the boat twice more before the enemies are close enough. I kept seeing through Layla''s eyes so I could help if the enemy was too strong, but to my surprise, it was the opposite, they were all too weak, Jade jumped on the deck of an enemy boat and released five drops of green liquid from her fingers killing five enemies that run towards her when the poison drops hit the enemies forehead pierces their heads causing them to drop dead. The last two enemies are captured by Jade''s tail, then an arrow passes through Jade hitting a Mage''s shoulder who starts screaming in pain. "Master, he is speaking the Elvish language, if you want I can talk to him." (Sophia) "Ask them their names, where they come from, why they are with these people, who these people are and what happened to them." (I) "I think everyone can imagine what happened to them." (rica) "These three boats don''t have any marks or symbols, so they must be pirates, they spend almost the whole year living on the boat as every time they return to the land they risk being arrested or killed." (Diana) "Even so, we need to confirm everything, I don''t like to work with assumptions." (I) Sophia walks to the cage and spends about ten minutes talking to the scarred man, in some moments of the conversation I could see an evil glint in the androgynous Elf''s eyes next to him, but even so, he remained silent while the scarred man spoke in tone aggressive with apparent anger. Sophia listened to everything and had a serious face, but spoke only a few times before speaking to me again. "They were the escort of a merchant who was attacked two weeks ago, the Elf with the scar''s name is Julius, he is a Swordsman." (Sophia) "The other Elf is a friend of his, he is a Water Element Mage, his name is Silvio." (Sophia) "When the boat they were on was attacked there were people inside the crew, so they were poisoned and didn''t even have a chance to fight." (Sophia) "When their clothes and belongings were taken away, Julius was left in prison the entire time and only received a few scraps of food during that time." (Sophia) "Other than what I''ve already said, Julius didn''t suffer anything else, but Silvio maybe because of the more delicate appearance he was targeted by the all-men crew, the master can imagine what happened." (Sophia) "Elves both male and female are very handsome, so that was to be expected, that''s why Elves are always kidnapped targets, these two were possibly being taken to be sold as illegal slaves." (Sophia) "" (I) "And the child?" (I) "He was captured yesterday, looks like he had a man who looked like him, but he was killed while being beaten up by the crew for fun and the body was thrown into the sea." (Sophia) "" (I) "Calm down master, you know things like that always happen, that''s the kind of thing thugs do, a lot of monsters do things like that too, you must still remember how you found me and rica." (Diana) "Master, if you don''t control your Aura you will end up killing the three inside the cage, please regain control." (Jade) "" (I) I know horrible things happen all the time in some parts of the world, but hearing about it while seeing the victims in front of me makes my blood boil. I look at the others and notice that rica is silent, but her eyes have a terrifying gleam, she seems to be normal, but I can tell she is anything but normal, it seems that Diana also noticed and put her hand on her shoulder. "You will have the opportunity to deal with them rica, just wait, I have a punishment that is perfect for them before I die." (I) "I''m very happy to hear that master, I hope it doesn''t make me wait too long, I''m a little impatient now." (rica) "Wait until Elsaris is done with those six, in the meantime I want Diana to keep an eye on rica." (I) "I''m already doing that, but the way she is, I can''t promise anything." (Diana) Chapter 309: Deserved Punishment Chapter 309: Deserved Punishment I was furious to hear the story of these two Elves, from what Sophia said they were on a mission to escort a merchant, but having bandits infiltrated the crew they were poisoned and couldn''t even fight to defend themselves. While waiting for Elsaris to come back I talked to Sophia to ask some more questions, I soon found out that Julius was about to retire and was just doing some missions with Silvio to help him. But it looks like now he won''t be adventurous again, he said he''s going to retire and take Silvio back to the village of the Elves, from what Sophia said it''s the same place where she lived, so she''s going to write a letter to her acquaintances that Julius will deliver on your behalf. When I asked why Julius couldn''t speak the common language he told Sophia he never tried to learn it, he always teamed up with other Elves and let them deal with the Guilds, plus he did a lot of quests normally just to deal with simpler things like escort someone, his main job was to be prepared to rescue illegally enslaved Elves and take them back, that was the job he was stopping, he only became an adventurer to acquire information about these things, he never really wanted to be an adventurer and why it refused to speak any language other than that of its native land. It seems that Silvio knows the common language, but in his current state he is not even able to speak, Julius said he will take Silvio back to the family, it may take a little longer he will return to normal. I broke the Cage with my claws and freed them, there was no reason to distrust them as their story was very similar to what I already imagined. I told everyone to keep the three victims on the boat, that was an indirect way of telling them not to take them to the Dungeon. Soon Elsaris comes back as she wipes off her bloody hand, she comes to me to tell me what she found out. Elsaris separated the six prisoners and asked everyone the same questions, those who tried to lie had to be persuaded by her to speak the truth, so she found out a few things. It seems we were right and they are pirates, another thing that Elsaris discovered was that many pirates and bandits have a trade agreement with the Harnes Kingdom which was the port where he didn''t want to stop after listening to the things others said about that Kingdom. It seems that Kingdom makes deals with bandits and pirates who steal from Moros Kingdom merchants, they said they wanted to sell the Elves for a good price, the Mage would be sold to an illegal brothel and the other would be a combat slave, the child too it looked like it would be sold to some nobleman with very specific tastes with whom they had made similar sales in the past. After listening to everything Elsaris said I already had everything I needed to know, so rica and I entered the Dungeon where Beatriz and Jay were waiting, I used my lines to arrest the six criminals and drag them away while Elsaris followed. Without knowing Layla was also following me when I was far enough away from the Dungeon''s entrance I started the criminals'' punishment. Since I synthesized my Aura skills I can do a lot of things, I still keep the effects of the skills before the synthesis, in fact, the effects got even stronger. I use my Aura to fill the six pirates with fear and terror, then I turn to rica. "Feel free to use them as guinea pigs for your curses." (I) "Can I do something with them too master?" (Layla) "How long have you been here?" (I) "You didn''t think I''d let an opportunity to punish bad guys pass, did you?" (Layla) "It doesn''t matter, maybe you can be of help, go to Lyra, ask for the aphrodisiac potions she made at Kira and rica''s request, I want the strongest potions she has." (I) "If you''re going to do what I think you''re going to do, then it''s going to be a spectacle, it''s going to be the perfect punishment for them." (Layla) I, Layla, and rica left the Dungeon leaving that behind, when I go back outside I see Sophia talking to Julius in the language of the Elves, when she sees me comes running. "Master, he''s asking if he can take one of these boats out." (Sophia) "Do you know how much longer until you reach the port of Moros?" (I) "From this distance, we should get there tomorrow." (Elsaris) "Sophia, tell him I''m taking everyone back to the Moros Kingdom tell him he can rest assured that we''re all going to Moros City." (I) "I will do this." (Sophia) I wait while Sophia talks to him, then I think of something I can try to do, I go to the Elf by the name of Silvio, then I try to do as Sofia taught me, focus my Eclipse King Aura skill on my right hand and I put this hand on his head. She does this normally to attack, but what I''m doing is different. Before long I feel the darkness within him, a great deal of bloodlust, anger, hatred, sadness, and despair. I then use my Aura to interact with this malice and at that moment I pull my hand out while I pull my Aura out of him too, soon I see burning black energy come out of Silvio''s body and I gather everything inside a spherical barrier as it continues to burn. After a few minutes, the black fire extinguished revealing a black orb, I take a magic-enhanced box that I have sinned among Farus'' treasures, then I put this orb inside the box and put it in my storage item. After what I did Silvio passed out, he was unconscious all night, the scarred Elf looked at me suspiciously, but I didn''t do anything else and just waited. I burned two boats and tied a rope to the last one I pull along with ours. We ate a great meal inside the boat, there were some types of fish that had been caught today. While we were eating maybe because of the smell of food, Silvio woke up looking all around, so I bring him a plate of food. He eats and we talk the rest of the night, it seems he wasn''t so depressed anymore, I could see a strong will to live in his eyes. The next morning we could already start to see the harbor from afar, I ask the two Elves not to tell anyone about me, about my crew, about the boat, and everything else they saw and heard so far. I''m relieved to see that they accept, I wouldn''t know where to start to get them to accept if they had refused. So I gave one of the bandits'' boats to the two Elves and left the child in their custody, I told them that it would be better since we were close to the port, they said that they would look for the child''s family, but if they didn''t find it they would take him back with them. I also left three gold coins with them, that should be enough to live well for the next few days. After the respective victims have left I tell the people who are not going to the city to enter the Dungeon and I let the others who are going to the city stay on the boat until they reach the port. Chapter 310: Port Of Moros Chapter 310: Port Of Moros Everyone had already entered the Dungeon after taking several boxes with the things we want to sell outside putting them inside the boat, after that I asked Nix to close the Dungeon gate. Now it was just me, rica, Kira, Diana, Nix, Nira, Vanessa, Samira, Leo, Freya, Irius, Elsaris, Jade, Beatriz, and Jay inside the boat. Nix was inside my shadow, Layla was hiding two of her four arms and her wings looking like a normal wingless Fairy, Layla was sitting on my shoulders humming. Byakko was hiding inside Kira''s hood, Yomi seems to have learned to transform in the time I haven''t seen him, his spectral shadow appearance has changed to a normal blackbird appearance, he has become much smaller being less than half his normal size, Yomi is nestled in Nira''s hair. I didn''t plan on bringing Nira with us, but Ivan said it would be nice as she can handle all the processes of selling and buying goods in the Trading Guild. After the three people we rescued left, Nira came to me with some lists for me to look at, these lists were for Ivan, Freya, Lyra, Tnia, Anton, rica, and Irina. Ivan''s list had the types of people we''re going to need for the prosperity and independence of the small town we''re going to build, we have to rely only on ourselves. Lyra, Tnia, and Anton''s list only had things they need for their jobs like books, tools, dyes, metals, etc. Freya''s list was about a few ingredients we don''t have in the Dungeon and various condiments she and Caryna would like to have for meals. rica and Irina''s list was made up of magic books, it was a list that the two put together after checking all the books we have at the moment, according to them both this list will complement the books we already have, there are also many books banned on the list that will be hard to find, especially the books about curses that rica wants. I approved everything on the list as these are things we will need anyway, money is no problem as we have all the treasure that Farus stole and amassed while conquering the mountain range. I had already talked to Nira as we were approaching the port of the capital city of Moros, the money we have is enough for everything. Before arriving at the port I go over each one''s tasks, Elsaris, Samira and Kira will go after the information regarding Ivan''s list, I want them to look in the Black Market and the Assassins'' Guild, I also asked them to buy the items from the lists which are prohibited if possible. Nira, Leo, Freya, and Jade will go to the Trading Guild where Nira will take care of selling the monster materials we don''t need and will try to buy the items from the various lists that are legal, Freya will also choose the ingredients she needs while is there. Vanessa, rica, Irius, and Beatriz will look around the shops to try to find some things we might need and to see if there is an interesting quest in the Adventurers Guild of that city. Me, Diana, Jay, and Nix are going to take a look around the slave market to see if we can find someone who meets the requirements on Ivan''s list. After going over each one''s tasks Nix stayed in my shadow the whole time and Layla said she''s going to remain invisible to normal people, I made Layla promise not to make a fuss while we''re here. Layla and Nix told me during the night that no Spirits or Fairies are going to be attracted to me this time, it seems these two used my connection to the Cradle of Spirits and the Cradle of Fairies to divert the characteristic of my Aura that attracts the Fairies and Spirits over there. But Nix warned that even if they''re not attracted to me they''ll still find it pleasant to be around me and will instinctively like me, she said that might be enough for some Fairies and Spirits without a contract to decide to follow me just for fun. "(Keep those souls, criminals like them who steal, kill and abuse others don''t deserve mercy, they even admitted they sold children.)" (I) "(I have no reason not to use your souls to create monsters later.)" (I) "(Then I will keep these souls.)" (Nix) I had a little conversation with Nix in my mind that the others don''t need to know, I don''t think they would mind, but there are matters that are best not talked about out loud. "When we arrive at the port we are going to transport the boxes how? Should we store everything inside storage items?" (I) "No, storage items are expensive, merchants usually only use storage items for things of great value or they don''t want to be discovered." (Nira) "The master may not know, but the amount of storage items we have is abnormal, that''s why most of them are stolen or obtained from the enemies we kill, few were bought with our own money." (Nira) "That''s why I prefer not to squander what we have that way, let''s do like other traders and hire a transport when we reach the port." (Nira) "There will also be people at the gate who help to unload the boxes, this will serve to show that we are merchants." (rica) "There must be some people at the port who are employees of Trade Guild, I can talk to them to sell everything, so they can take care of the transport themselves, this will save us having to spend on transporting the things we are going to sell." (Nira) "I''ll leave that part to you." (I) Soon we were very close to the harbor and I could hear the noise of people talking and working there, I could see the ships and boats docking and unloading things or loading things in. The harbor had several people running to and fro with boxes in their hands, they were mostly muscular men of various races in plain clothes, but there were also people in overly extravagant clothes walking around as if they owned the place giving orders to everyone around. When we arrived at the harbor a man from the Beastman bird tribe landed on our boat after asking permission and asked a few questions. After answering questions like how long we were going to stay and how much we were willing to pay to rent a space in the port, the man who had green and white wings pointed out a place where we can stop, when we get there this man gets off the boat to talk to a man white-skinned human. When we stop the boat this human man goes to a sign at the front of the boat and holds a paper there, then some men come bringing a ramp that they stretch to the boat so we can get off. When we get off the boat we are all wearing masks and the man asks for the identity of some of us, so Nira, Vanessa, and Irius show their Trader and Adventurer Guild cards to the man. Nira spends some time talking to the man to find some people to help unload the crates from the boat and to find some Trade Guild employees. After a while, Nira comes back saying that there is a shed where the Trade Guild employees do business here in the port. Nira said the boxes will be sent there so we decided to split up to do our chores, I told everyone to be back on the boat before dark.CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m Chapter 311: City Of Moros Part 1 Chapter 311: City Of Moros Part 1 Pov Nira: Me, Leo, Freya, and Jade are now tracking the crates with the monster materials we''re going to sell, this is something I''ve been wanting to do since we stole everything that Necromancer had in the fortress. The master already had a lot of monster materials, but now we have too much, it''s just taking up storage space inside the mansion, we''ve already separated everything we can use, what''s in these boxes now are the leftovers that are useless for us. When we arrived at the shed we found seven stacks of boxes with people nearby, by the marks on the boxes you can see that each stack of boxes is from a different trading company, to be here means they also want to sell their goods directly to the Trade Guild. Our crates are piled up too, after that an employee in the Trade Guild outfit comes up to us telling us to wait thirty minutes as they only have five appraisers and three merchants working at the moment. "So we don''t have anything to do, for now, let me see the list of what we need again in the meantime." (I) "Here it is." (Freya) Freya gives me several papers, the forbidden items are not on those lists, I just want to confirm one last time before going to the Guild. "I hate standing around waiting." (Leo) "You only say that because you wanted to continue your training, but the reason I want you here is to get some rest." (Freya) "I need to train to follow the rhythm of others, I''m not as talented as Kira, Ibuki, Irius, and Diana." (Leo) "I won''t even try to compare myself to a monster like the master, he learns too fast and it would be stupid to try to compare himself with him, but at least I don''t want to be the weakest of the bunch." (Leo) "But you''re not the weakest, I''ve seen several people weaker than you." (Jade) "You don''t understand, almost everyone who is weaker than me is people who are not combatants." (Leo) "Anton, Tnia, Lyra and Nira''s work is trade and manufacturing, they don''t care about combat, but make no mistake, they''re not as weak as you think." (Leo) "What Leo says is correct, Tnia is training with the Arachnees to use her lines in combat, Anton has greater physical strength even than Leo and can wield a Warhammer with greater skill than any warrior." (I) "Lyra may look small and frail, but her body was created to be strong, plus she has an incredible amount of energy, Lyra is also a talented mage and a combat Alchemist in training, unfortunately, she hasn''t had much time to train since who went to the mountain range." (I) "And don''t be fooled by Nira''s fragile appearance, she has been studying curses together with rica, Yomi is also always with her and shouldn''t be underestimated." (Freya) "I appreciate the compliment, but I don''t have combat experience, I''m also not as talented as rica in curses." (I) As I spoke I caressed Yomi who was on my head, then I take a small cookie and give it to him to eat. "What about the other three employees? Are they strong too?" (Jade) "Alice puts a lot of effort into her training, but her talent is not very great, but her personality is mature and decisive, she will get strong, but it will take time as she still has a lot to learn." (I) "Nolan is a denial, he is not interested in being strong, but he tries very hard to be a butler, he likes to be useful to others, his only fault is his addiction to games." (Freya) "I remember that the old master we served in the past once taught my daughter about meditation in my place, it seems that my daughter, because she didn''t have time to practice, tried to learn while working during the day." (Freya) "All I know is that she somehow managed it, so because of the meditation she keeps all the time her energy recovery is absurd, her concentration is also very good, that''s why she manages to do so many things at the same time taking care of the mansion." (Freya) "By using this skill so much it has already leveled up so much that it must have evolved, but I don''t want to ask her anything, even with all this talent that compares to master Zenos I still don''t want to see her on the battlefield." (Leo) "What surprises me the most is the control she has over her incredible strength and speed, she can clean the entire mansion by herself with that speed." (Nira) "This is already a monstrous talent, how can someone like that have such a gentle and kind personality?" (Jade) "When the village women kept coming after me and my wife found out it was hell, I couldn''t even see her move, all I know is that in the next second there were several women flying away." (Leo) I remember seeing that too, it was like seeing shooting stars going in the wrong direction, only then did I find out what was flying. "Looks like someone is calling us." (Freya) "Eclipse Merchants, your turn!" "We are going." (I) In order for us to talk quietly Freya was using a sound barrier around us, I hadn''t even noticed it before as I was distracted by the conversation, but she was paying attention around, and when she saw someone in the Trade Guild uniform approaching cleared the barrier. After we were called I went to the appraisers and gave them a list of everything we are going to sell, after that we spent an hour waiting while the Guild appraiser was looking at our merchandise. When the appraiser was done, he handed over the list I gave and a list explaining the quality of the goods to the merchant who works for the Guild. After a few minutes of the merchant reading the list and using a reading crystal to check some information he takes out a document and fills in most of it before coming to talk to me. I spend a few minutes discussing the prices of the goods until I arrive at a value that we both think is acceptable, then the merchant finishes filling out the document before handing it to me. This document is to be delivered to the Commerce Guild when I deliver there I will receive payment, I will also take the opportunity to buy everything I can in this city, I just hope they have everything. When we''re done, I leave the boxes where they are as they now belong to the Trading Guild, they''ll take care of transporting it. I and the others leave the port and after asking for information we go to a wagon that we ask to take us to the Commerce Guild. We''re all still hooded and masked, the master doesn''t want us to show our appearances if it''s not necessary. As we were riding in the carriage I paid attention to the streets, it reminded me a lot of Valen city with several different races walking along the street, but what bothered me is that there were a lot of people looking like nobles, there were a lot of overly decorated carriages, there were also a lot of carriages being escorted by what appeared to be soldiers in different uniforms. I also saw many adventurers, but thinking about the information I have about this Kingdom, I already know that there are no Dungeons here, whenever one appears they hire a team of adventurers to destroy the Dungeon. I imagine the quests for adventurers from this Realm are usually escort quests. But what really worries me is the number of people who are squandering their social status and their wealth, these types of people are horrible to deal with. "That could be a problem." (I) Chapter 312: City Of Moros Part 2 Chapter 312: City Of Moros Part 2 Pov Kira: After leaving the port me, Elsaris and Samira started walking through the stream of people walking down the street to lose those who are watching us, so I start following Elsaris who enters a side alley and starts walking through the alleys quickly before entering through a window of a small house while pulling his sister Samira. "Looks like you know everything around here." (I) "I said I already knew this town, this is an abandoned house without an owner, we can stay here for a few minutes but we''d better leave before others come through." (Elsaris) "Why did we come here? Wouldn''t it be better to keep walking along the main road?" (Samira) "We''ve had people watching us since we arrived at the port, probably from the Black Market, Assassin''s Guild, and maybe some workers who sell information to bandits." (Elsaris) "Why did you have so many eyes on us?" (Samira) "It was just their job, they are gathering information from everyone who arrives at the port, they probably only paid special attention to us because of our boat''s suspicious appearance and because we are wearing masks." (I) "These are weak people with few skills, none of them are professionals, Kira and I the notomas even before getting off the boat." (Elsaris) "Are the others okay?" (Samira) "Nira''s group will be fine, they go to the Trading Guild and then back to the boat." (I) "The others won''t have any problems either, even if they are watched there is nothing to hide, only we who are going to take care of some illegal tasks should avoid being followed." (I) "They have no reason to attack anyone, so don''t worry sister." (Elsaris) "I''m not too worried, I know everyone should be strong, I just don''t want to draw unnecessary attention." (Samira) "Neither of us wants attention." (I) Visitt for the latest updates We wait a few minutes until we feel that there are no more people around, then we start to discuss what we will do from now on. "During the morning we won''t be able to solve almost anything." (Elsaris) "I agree, but we can use this time to scout the city, maybe head to the Assassin''s Guild in the afternoon before heading back to the boat." (I) "We can talk to the master later, I''m sure he''ll accept that we go out at night to go to the Black Market." (I) "Why does it need to be overnight?" (Samira) "Black market customers usually have other matters to deal with during the day, plus at night it''s easier to hide and the streets being emptier is more evident if you''re being followed." (Elsaris) "For this reason, it''s only during the night that the Black Market opens its doors to customers, that''s where we''ll buy things from the illegal list that Nira compiled, we can also ask for some information there to complement the information we get from the Guild of Killers or to confirm any information we can." (Elsaris) As we walked down the street I remember seeing many fancy carriages, I think this Realm must have many noble visitors from other smaller Realms. "What we''re going to ask for information about, I want to add something." (I) "Don''t you want to talk about it with the master first?" (Elsaris) "I could ask him right now through our connection, but I''m sure he''ll approve." (I) "So what do you want to add?" (Elsaris) "We should ask for information about other smaller Realms as well, right?" (I) "Yes, it can be difficult to find suitable people in this Realm alone." (Samira) "So could we ask for information about the nobles who are in town right now?" (I) "Why would you want to know that?" (Elsaris) The saleswoman has kept a smile fixed on her face since she arrived, Elsaris exchanges a few words with the saleswoman talking nonsense and the saleswoman seems to be taking this as a joke, but soon the saleswoman takes us to the second floor where we are taken through a corridor of doors. "We have five rooms available, which do you prefer?" (saleswoman) "The last." (Elsaris) "As you wish." (saleswoman) The saleswoman starts leading us to the end of the hall where she has only one door on the left and one door on the right. "The door on the right or on the left?" (Saleswoman) "The front door." (Elsaris) "This way, follow me." (saleswoman) The saleswoman enters the room on the left and we follow her inside, then the saleswoman closes the door and goes to the bookcase, she pulls three books on different shelves making the booth move to the side showing a secret room where the saleswoman enters, Elsaris enters next with me and Samira close behind. As soon as we enter the secret door closes, the room is empty with everything dark around, there is only a table and four chairs, three chairs are on one side of the table while a chair is facing them on the other side of the table. The saleswoman waves us down as she walks over to the chair on the other side. "What would you like today, a mission request or information?" (saleswoman) "Information, we want everything you have from the best professionals in these areas of work on this list, I want information from this Realm and nearby Realms." (Elsaris) Elsaris talks handing over a sheet of paper with the professions we are looking for, the saleswoman looks before speaking. "What kinds of information do you want?" (saleswoman) "Everything." (Elsaris) "We have information on this Realm and some nearby Realms at the moment, if you want we can contact other branches to get information on other smaller Realms." (saleswoman) "Exactly what I wanted." (Elsaris) "I also want information from all the nobles present in this city so far." (Elsaris) "We already have this information, will you want this information first or will you wait until we have it all." (saleswoman) "Give me the nobles'' information first." (Elsaris) The saleswoman takes out a reading crystal and two storage crystals in the form of small cubes, then she fits the two cubes into the reading crystal, after a few minutes the saleswoman puts away a reading crystal and a storage crystal leaving the other crystal of table top storage. "The information you requested first will take seven days to be fully collected, the amount will be discussed after reviewing the amount of information collected." (saleswoman) "Nobles'' information will cost 1000 gold coins, the information is in this storage crystal." (saleswoman) Elsaris takes 20 leather bags out of her storage item and leaves them on the table, then takes the crystal and puts it away, the saleswoman opens each bag and stands to check the weight. "Do you want anything else dear customer?" (saleswoman) "No, just what I already said." (Elsaris) "Allow me to accompany you downstairs." (saleswoman) The saleswoman leaves the bags of money on the table and walks to the place we entered, she snaps her fingers and the door opens, then after the bookshelves close the secret passage the saleswoman opens the door and guides us upstairs below. "Always good to do business with you dear customer, have you seen us again." (saleswoman) Without saying anything Samira and I followed Elsaris out of the store then we started walking until we reached an inn that Elsaris rents for the day, the three of us enter the same room. Chapter 313: City Of Moros Part 3 Chapter 313: City Of Moros Part 3 Pov Vanessa: After we left the port, rica, Irius, and Beatriz followed the main street while wearing hoods and masks. "We''re being watched." (Beatriz) "Should I kill them?" (rica) "No need, I expected that, I''m sure they''re doing the same with the others too." (Beatriz) "You''re the expert, what do you think?" (I) "They''re just information gatherers, we''re not anyone''s targets, for now, they also have no reason to target us." (Beatriz) "Then let them do what they want, we have nothing to hide." (Irius) "Irius is right, we''re just going to some shops and the Adventurer''s Guild, we don''t need to hide what we''re going to do." (I) We walk through the streets looking around to familiarize ourselves with this city, after asking for some information we go to a shop near the port where we buy a map of the city. After confirming the location of the Adventurer''s Guild and the part of town where the shops are, we started walking in that direction. "The map is not very detailed, so let''s walk so we can see the shops, it also says on the map that there is a library there." (I) "We''ll stop by later, I might find some interesting books to buy." (rica) "We already have so many books and we''re still going to have Nira buy a lot of the books you asked for, so why buy more books?" (I) "I''m buying books from all areas of study and all elements, they''re not just for me, we need to think about others too." (rica) CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m "(She''s talking about the village people, so she''s helping the village mages to have books where they can learn more about magic.)" (I) "I understand, let''s stop by the library after the stores." (I) "We still have a lot of things to buy, have we brought enough storage items?" (Irius) "We''re not going to put the things we buy into storage items, we''re going to ask the stores to deliver it on the boat." (I) "Are you sure?" (Irius) "Have you forgotten what Nira said about squandering our wealth?" (I) "It would really be weird that so few people have that many storage items, normally a rich or powerful person would only have one or at most two storage items." (Beatriz) Sigh There were a lot of people inside, which I found strange since it was mid-afternoon, there shouldn''t be so many adventurers here. In addition, there were a large number of them coming and going all the time, there were lines at every bench to talk to Guild employees. I walk up to the second floor where the quests are posted, I go to the wall where the quests are displayed to have a look along with the others. I start looking but almost all of them are quests to escort some noble back to the Realm they belong to, escort some merchant to a specified city or escort some goods to another city. "Almost all are escort missions." (Beatriz) "But there are also some quests to hunt sea monsters or kill pirates." (Irius) "I don''t think we''re going to do any quests in this Realm." (I) "I think we can go back, nothing here is worth it." (rica) rica starts to walk out of the Guild and I go after her along with the others, it was really a waste of time to come here, the types of quests in this Guild are ridiculous, just from seeing this quest I can say that all these adventurers we have seen are just passing through this city, almost no one should live in this city. Usually, Guilds try to keep adventurers close by, so in a time of need adventurers who have a strong connection to the city or Kingdom might rise up to help, but this city seems to prefer to be a place where a large number of adventurers pass, through instead of a place where they would be willing to live. This sort of thing is ridiculous, in a moment of danger these adventurers will not want to risk themselves for a place where they have no friends or family, a place with no connection to them. While I was lost in my thoughts trying to understand what the rulers of this city are thinking, rica stops where she is while following someone with her eyes, then rica pulls Beatriz aside before heading back to where we are alone, her face serious. "What''s going on? Where''s Beatriz?" (I) "I''ll tell you when we get to the boat." (rica) "Now let''s leave as quickly as possible." (rica) It looks like something serious has happened, I exchange glances with Irius before following rica to catch a carriage and get back to the boat faster. On the way back I noticed that rica had her eyes closed and a serious face, after ten minutes I hear a knock on the carriage door while she is still walking, then rica opens the door and Beatriz enters, she sits next to rica. "Are you sure he won''t notice?" (Beatriz) "I''m sure, I''ve been studying this curse for a long time, one of the characteristics of it is that someone with a Curse Affinity like me can use this Curse in an undetectable way and from a greater distance." (rica) "Are you sure about him?" (Beatriz) "Yes" (rica) After Beatriz gets into the carriage, she starts talking to rica about something that Irius and I don''t understand, so rica looks at me and Iruis, and instead of talking, she moves her mouth so that we understand the word she''s saying, but that word only It left me even more confused and with a bad feeling. Demon Chapter 314: City Of Moros Part 4 Chapter 314: City Of Moros Part 4 After separating us at the port I go to the boat to have a last look at it, I look around and see that there are many soldiers around, also notice some archers and mages scattered around, it seems that this port has strong security. "(I think the boat will be safe, anyway I don''t think anyone will be able to take the boat since there''s a space magic holding it in place.)" (I) After checking the boat and seeing how tight security is in this harbor, I leave the harbor with Diana, Jay, Layla on my shoulder, and Nix who is inside my shadow. "You worry too much, master." (Diana) "For a city like this, the harbor will be the best-guarded place." (Diana) When we leave the port, I ask for information to know if there is any transport nearby and they point me to a place where there are some similar carriages, I think this can be similar to a taxi. I hire the carriage and ask the driver to take us to the biggest slave shop in town, this might be a good way to get some talented people without drawing attention. As Diana, Jay, and Nix, who is in my shadow, climb into the carriage, Jay seems to pay attention to his surroundings. "Looks like you noticed them too, don''t you?" (I) "Yes, but I don''t think we need to worry, they are just information collectors, I find it difficult to be targeted by someone." (Jay) "What are you talking about?" (Diana) "We''re being watched." (I) "The others probably went through something similar." (Jay) "They know how to take care of themselves." (I) "(Layla come back, they are not enemies.)" (I) "(Are you sure? I was going to take one by surprise now.)" (Layla) "(Leave the poor spy alone and come back here, don''t cause me trouble.)" (I) "(Okay, master idiot)" (Layla) While talking to Jay and Diana I get in touch with Layla who flew off my shoulder before we got into the carriage, soon she comes flying and enters through the open window of the carriage. "Are they still alive?" (I) "Yeah, before I could get one you called me back." (Layla) "You did well." (I) Sigh "Leave this garbage where it is and take this girl, maybe by selling her we can cover some of the concert costs" As the idiot in the white clothes spoke a sphere of light appears overhead shining brightly, the glow was so strong that even I couldn''t see anything, when the light disappeared there was nothing left, the chariot, the Golem, and the three worms were gone. The people who were so far silent looked shocked, then the woman who should have been unconscious started to open her eyes and the child who was with her started hugging her tightly. "Ready master, I also asked for the Golem since we can have a use for him later." (Nix) "Good job." (I) "The woman seemed to have hit her head, so I gave her a high-grade healing potion, I hope you don''t mind." (Nix) "You did well, I was very nervous with those three and had forgotten that the woman was injured." (I) Soon a shadow passes under the carriage door and merges with my own shadow, so I exchange a few words with Nix as the people who were in the way before start walking again now that the show is over. "Are you sure it was a good idea to do something like this in the middle of a city?" (Jay) "That was absurd, the worst thing is that nobody said anything about it, people just stood there looking." (Diana) "Let go of what happened, it''s all over now." (I) "We still have things to work out in the slave market." (I) While talking to the others Nix''s human-shaped head pops out of my shadow and opens its mouth, then Layla pops out of her drool-covered mouth. "If I''d known you were using your human form I wouldn''t have left now." (Layla) "You''re small so that was enough, don''t complain about that kind of thing." (Nix) "Use this liquid soap potion to get the drool off your body." (I) "Thank you, master." (Layla) After Layla is out of Nix''s mouth I give her a potion which she drops on herself, then she''s squeaky clean and sits back on my shoulder. "I dragged the three of them to the middle of the 1st floor and killed them there, I also stored the carriage in my storage space." (Layla) "Good job." (I) Layla had a smile on her face as she told what happened, Jay had his hand on his face as if he didn''t understand how things ended up like this, Diana was just looking out the carriage window and sometimes she could smell tasty food asking to eat something. When we arrived at the store that sells slaves, I discovered that it was a very large mansion, it had three floors and was very large, it seems that this store is close to the Royal Castle as I can see the castle not far away on the same street. Before entering I pass a food stall close by as I smell a delicious smell coming from there, so I go with the others there to buy what looked like a piece of meat stuffed with some kind of cheese, it was delicious, then from this small snack we go towards the mansion that serves as a slave market. Chapter 315: City Of Moros Part 5 Chapter 315: City Of Moros Part 5 Pov Nira: Me, Leo, Freya, and Jade are on our way to the Trading Guild to collect our payment for the sale of our goods and to buy various things we will need. During our journey riding in a chariot I notice that this Realm has many nobles walking the streets, I imagine they are from the smaller Realms and must have come here to spend their money or buy expensive things. I can only think about it since everyone I''m seeing seems to be vying over who''s the fanciest or the richest, these kinds of idiotic and incomprehensible people to me. "We must be careful not to attract the attention of these nobles, people who are so fond of showing off like this tend to do absurd things." (Freya) "This Realm is very strange, why are there so many nobles like that here?" (Leo) "This place can be considered the heart of commerce among the Small Kingdoms, so these people end up flocking here." (I) "Then why don''t I remember seeing so many people like that in the city of Valen?" (Leo) "I thought the Trigan Kingdom was considered the biggest trading Kingdom on the continent." (Leo) "That''s exactly why, in the Trigan Kingdom, those types of nobles who like to think they''re very important don''t dare to behave as they normally do, that''s because there they can be arrested, killed, or even humiliated by nobles from higher Kingdoms." (I) "But this place is different, this place is basically only visited by people from the lesser Realms, and if they do anything here they can get away with just paying a fine." (I) "What do you mean by that? Are you saying they won''t be punished?" (Jade) "I talked a bit with Elsaris and found out that this Realm has two types of punishment for criminals, one is to be turned into a criminal slave or killed depending on the crime you committed." (I) "The other type of punishment they can choose is to pay a fine, the amount of which will depend on the crime they committed, but for successful nobles or merchants there is no shortage of money, so they can basically do whatever they want as long as they have enough money." (I) "That must attract a lot of nasty people here." (Freya) "The government should be able to collect a lot of money like that, but anyone with talent in this realm will choose to move to another realm, now I understand why everyone was saying that this realm will never be able to grow beyond that." (Freya) "In a place like this we''re all in danger of getting into trouble if we take off the mask, now I understand why master Zenos made everyone do that." (I) "Why would going without the mask get us into trouble?" (Jade) Sigh "Look out the window to see the women in the streets, are they pretty?" (I) Jade looks out the window for a few minutes before turning to me confused. "There are some very beautiful women." (Jade) "How much more beautiful are these women than you, Freya, Elsaris, Samira or rica?" (I) "I think I''m very beautiful, I even have the impression that I''m more beautiful since I became the master''s servant." (Jade) UppTodated from "But I''m sure the women in our group are much more beautiful, there''s no comparison." (Jade) "Exactly, that''s the problem, unbridled nobles of this type like to be surrounded by beautiful women, they treat women as objects they can collect to feel superior to other nobles like them." (I) The receptionist was a white-skinned human with short blond hair who appears to be in her 30s. The receptionist takes the document from my hands and then pulls out a reading crystal where she checks a few things before putting the document away and making a new document which she hands to me. "This is the document that specifies payment made and goods sold, your payment is on its way." (Receptionist) Just as she''s finished speaking, there''s a knock on the doors, just as the permission-to-entry receptionist a 40-year-old looking man walks in and leaves a leather bag on the table before leaving the room. "Would you like anything else?" (Receptionist) I open the bag and notice that it has spatial magnification magic inside, these bags are cheaper than a storage item, but they are still very useful, I count the money inside and confirm that the value is the same as agreed at the port, is also the same value described in the document. "I would like to purchase the items on these lists, in the specified quantities if possible." (I) "Let me check what we have in stock at the moment." (Receptionist) The receptionist pulls out a storage crystal which she places on the reading crystal, then spends about 30 or 40 minutes checking various things while looking at the list I gave her. Soon she passes the reading crystal to me, I take it and see a list with the products I want and their prices, I check the prices of each item and took out some products that were priced a little high, the rest was acceptable, so I pass the reading crystal back to the receptionist. "Prices are acceptable, but do you have the quantities?" (I) "We have the quantities you requested and we can deliver them all tomorrow." (Receptionist) "Then you can deliver everything to a boat in the harbor, this is where we are moored." (I) I pass a paper with where we are standing at the port. "Do you need anything else?" (Receptionist) "I need a few other things, I''ll let my mate talk about it." (I) Since I''m going to get everything from the lists the master asked for, so I''m going to let Freya take care of the food and condiment items she asked for. After some time with Freya discussing the price and quantities of the foods and condiments I wanted, we got everything, what surprised me was that Freya also asked for a large number of seeds from several different plants, but it seems that the Guild only had half of those seeds. "Do you need anything else?" (Receptionist) I look at the others and they all shake their heads in denial. "We don''t need anything else." (I) "So the value of everything they requested will be 43700 gold coins, payment must be made in advance." (Receptionist) "Here it is." (I) The master left 100000 gold coins with me, he left a lot more in case the prices were too high, the master was convinced about this Kingdom being very corrupt and the values being much higher than they should, but the truth is that this Kingdom calls many customers here because their trade is very fair and impartial. It''s just the laws that are horribly favoring those with the most money. After the receptionist checked the payment we said goodbye and returned in the middle of the afternoon to the boat, the goods we just bought will arrive tomorrow morning. Chapter 316: City Of Moros Part 6 Chapter 316: City Of Moros Part 6 Pov Kira: We had rented an inn room where we spent the rest of the afternoon going over the information we had about the nobles who are in the Kingdom at the moment. It was almost time to head back to the boat when we finished seeing all the information. "The number of nobles in this Realm is much higher than I imagined." (I) "Looks like a few days before we arrived there was an auction on the body of a rare sea monster." (Elsaris) "They divided the body into pieces like skin, blood, bones, core, organs, etc." (Elsaris) "They sold everything separately with auctions, so many nobles from lesser Realms came here." (Elsaris) Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only "But it seems that this Realm usually has a lot of nobles from other Realms visiting." (I) "But it must be less than half of what I had this time." (Elsaris) "What surprised me was that none of the nobles of this Realm are corrupt." (Samira) "Perhaps because the royal family of this Kingdom treats this place as a commercial company they do not accept corruption, as far as we know so far corruption is such a serious crime that it leads to the death of the entire family and the auction of the title of nobility that can be purchased only by people of that Kingdom." (I) "This place is the symbol of extreme capitalism, this is madness, how can a nation survive like this?" (Samira) "They are only able to support themselves, but when a real crisis strikes, everyone will flee this place and see this Kingdom fall into ruins." (Elsaris) "Did you find any possible targets?" (I) "Some, I even managed to find someone that rica and Irina were looking for." (Elsaris) "Who did you find?" (I) "A famous theoretical Mage among the lesser Realms, it seems he has been a slave for over 20 years, he is in the Realm now along with the Prince of a nation." (Elsaris) "If he''s such a good Mage, then why is he a slave?" (Samira) "The information is a little vague, but it seems that the realm where he served as a royal Mage was attacked and conquered, he was captured and forced to be a slave, he was too competent in his job to be killed, but because he was an enemy before, turned him into a slave to make sure of his loyalty." (Elsaris) "He''s a Runic, there''s a description of what he looks like here, he was sent to escort the Prince back to the nation with various monster parts they managed to buy." (Elsaris) "What is this Prince-like?" (I) "He''s an intelligent person, but he''s also despicable, he seems to have been accused of rape more than 50 times in this Kingdom alone, but he escaped punishment by paying a very high cash fine." (Elsaris) "It also seems that this Prince is responsible for the commercial links between his Kingdom and this one, he is competent in his work." (Elsaris) "But from the information I have it seems that all of this prince''s servants are slaves, it seems a little strange to me." (Elsaris) "This is really weird, does it say anything about the Kingdom the Prince came from?" (I) "As I said before, the information is very vague, all it says is that this Realm has a history of 50 years, during that time they conquered 3 Realms nearby, this Realm is focused on a military culture." (Elsaris) "How can such a new Realm conquer so many Realms?" (Samira) "I also find that strange, they seem to have a higher military strength than they should." (I) The catalog was in a reading crystal that Algust passed to Jay, when he started to slowly go through the catalog I realize how many slaves there are here. Jay goes through the slave information slowly so he has time to read it carefully, there are many human slaves being more than 50% of the slaves for sale here, the other slaves are of several different races. I noticed that they have a large number of combat slaves and sex slaves, but I can imagine that they are the two types of slaves most sold, what surprised me was that the number of sex slaves was very equal between men and women, but the slaves of combat were more than 80% men. There were also various types of slaves with different abilities, such as Craftsmen, cooks, servants, etc. It took us two hours to look at the information on several slaves, but it wasn''t very detailed, it was still too vague for me. It was early afternoon when we asked for the maid who served us and was standing next to the door until now calling Algust who had left to attend to other customers. When Algust returns he sits on a couch next to us. "They have already chosen?" (Algust) "We would like more detailed information on slaves trained in these professions." (Jay) Jay passes the list of professions to Algust. List: 1. Civil construction expert 2. Alchemist 3. Doctor 4. Magic Engineer 5. Craftsman of accessories 6. Theoretical wizard Algust looks at the list before starting to fiddle with the reading crystal, after a few moments he turns towards us. "We have some slaves with experience in contraction, but they are all manual laborers." (Algust) "I also have many types of Alchemists, half of them are criminal slaves, but we also have Alchemists who specialize in research, there are only two." (Algust) "We have few slaves with medical skills, but if you''re interested I can look for one, and in a week I''d have one available." (Algust) "We have several Mages, but most of them are combat Mages, but we still have theoretical Mages for each element." (Algust) "Unfortunately, I don''t have any slaves with the capabilities of a Magic Engineer or Accessory Artisan." (Algust) "Here''s a list of the slaves we currently have that match what you''re looking for." (Algust) Jay picks up the reading crystal one more time and spends a few minutes looking at it while I''m still sharing Layla''s vision over her shoulder so I say a few things to Layla through our connection and she talks into Jay''s ear what I just said to her. "I don''t care about gender, race or age, bring me the best on this list, but I don''t need anyone who is prejudiced against other races." (Jay) "As you wish, I''ll go get them now." (Algust) Algust leaves the room to fetch the slaves and we stand and wait. Chapter 317: Buying Slaves Chapter 317: Buying Slaves While we waited for the slaves to be brought to us, I had Nix hide in the shadow of Algust who was responsible for bringing the slaves. I used my connection to Nix to share his vision, all I wanted was to know how slaves are treated in this world. From Nix''s vision, I saw Algust walking through corridors full of small rooms with iron bars in front, the rooms were, all the same, having a single bed, a basin, a chair, and a desk, in some rooms there was an open book on the desk. Most of the rooms were occupied by mostly human people, but there were also many of other races, all wearing similar clothes, simple pants, and a short-sleeved shirt. The slaves didn''t seem to have any injuries, they didn''t look hungry either, but I could see in their expressions that they didn''t want to be there, I even saw some crying. "(Looks like a good slave market treats its slaves well.)" (I) "(But that makes sense, slaves are the merchandise of this type of store, all stores should take good care of their merchandise to sell for a higher price.)" (I) "(If I remember correctly Freya and the others were also in pretty good shape when I bought them as slaves back then.)" (I) I kept looking through Nix''s eyes, after a while Algust came back with the slaves, at the door there was a clerk who handed some papers to Algust before entering. As soon as Algust walked in he made all the slaves with the traits Jay asked for line up next to each other in an open space in the room that should be used for this. "Here are the slaves, these papers describe their background, status, and abilities in more detail." (Algust) Algust hands the papers to Jay who starts to leaf through them calmly, meanwhile, I use my parallel thinking skill to share Layla''s vision that is still on Jay''s shoulders looking at the papers about the slaves, meanwhile, I''m also looking at the slaves. Nix takes advantage of the paper delivery moment to stay in Jay''s shadow, meanwhile, I noticed that some slaves were looking at us with fear and suspicion, in their eyes we must look like a suspicious group that is wearing hooded clothes and masks. The papers Jay is holding have detailed information about these slaves along with a picture of them. So I''m comparing the information with their appearances, the group with construction experience by the information were only able to build, this was useless to me, their skills were mostly enhanced stamina, enhanced strength, and group coordination. Their stats were also weak, they could be compared better than ordinary people, but Orcs and Ogres will be much more useful when starting construction. Among the people qualified for alchemy there was a White Elf, there was also a Beastman from the Cattle Tribe, and three Human Men. From the information the three humans are criminal slaves, they were assistants of an Alchemist who will be killed in a few days, this Alchemist will be killed for having been caught red-handed doing drugs, these three humans were his assistants but their punishments are lighter just forcing them to become slaves. It seems that this Alchemist had committed many crimes that amounted to such a large amount of fine money that he was not able to pay, so he will be killed. I don''t want to have anything to do with these three people who were drug dealers. The Elf and the Beast Man seem to have been from the same alchemy shop, it seems that the previous owner died leaving the shop in the hands of his son who didn''t know anything about alchemy, this man took all the money from the store and even asked for a big loan, so he fled to another Kingdom with the money, because of which this man''s shop, house, and belongings were confiscated by the government and sold. It seems that because these two were employees of this store they were considered accomplices, so they were forced to be debt slaves, the money from their sale will be to pay the debts of the loan that fell on them. From the information, it seems that the Elf is a researcher on potions in general, while the man is an Alchemist specializing in healing potions. Neither of them seems to have a family, the man is an orphan from a war years ago in another Kingdom, but the Elf abandoned her original village to become an Alchemist here, both are promising and will be bought. "The final value for all these slaves will be 12 crystal coins or 120000 gold coins, I think this is an acceptable value." (Algust) "I agree, let''s close on that value then." (Jay) "I will prepare the sale documentation, I will also prepare for the change of the slave owner." (Algust) Once again I see them signing contracts for each slave separately with three copies for each, one copy for us, a copy for the store, and a copy to deliver to the God of Commerce as an offering, which also serves to validate the contracts, for Because of that, it took a while. After the contracts ended the custody of the slaves was transferred to Jay, the shop provided a special carriage to help transport all the slaves to our boat, some slaves were scared of us but there was no reason to be, I don''t like to keep slaves and so I''m going to make a tempting proposition for them. I hope they accept the proposal because if they refuse, I''ll just release them to their own luck and leave, I''ll be giving them back their freedom, but they''ll have to take care of themselves. I don''t plan on letting anyone into the Dungeon without first confirming that they''ve accepted the lifetime job offer. After finally finishing everything and leaving the slave shop we hired another carriage to go back to the port, this time a big carriage with the back like a cage was following us with the slaves we bought. "< Sound Barrier >" (I) "Was the price much higher than I thought?" (I) "The master gave preference to the most talented and young, that increases the price." (Jay) "All the women and most of the men were beautiful, it raises the price, especially for women." (Jay) "There were Elves among the slaves we bought, that raises the price." (Jay) "There were women who still kept their virginity, that also adds to the price." (Jay) "The funniest thing is that most of the reasons the price goes up to don''t interest me." (I) "I believe they were good buys, I hope they accept to serve the master, it would be a shame to waste all that money just to let them go." (Nix) "I agree." (I) As we were riding in the carriage towards the harbor we started talking a little after I put a sound barrier around us. "Why didn''t master Zenos buy any sex slaves?" (Jay) "I thought this was a good time for you to get the skills you wanted so badly." (Jay) "And what would I do with that kind of slave after I get the skills I want?" (I) "Never mind, I can go to a brothel at night to get the skills I want" (I) "" (Diana) "The master said where are you going?" (Diana) It took me a while to calm Diana down, she said she''ll wait until later to have a good talk about it with the others. Chapter 318: Demons Part 1 Chapter 318: Demons Part 1 On the way back to the boat it was late afternoon, when we arrived I saw that we were not the first to return, so I waited for everyone to arrive while talking about the slaves we bought. While waiting I saw three large boxes being brought to our boat, I soon discover they are books and put them inside the boat. While we waited I started playing a game of cards Nolan had taught me, I did it to pass the time until dusk when everyone else had returned. She told everyone that we would talk later, first, we needed to deal with the slaves, but rica seemed to want to talk about something urgent. So I told Nix to open the Dungeon gate, before going in I take a paper where I explain the working conditions that I thought were irrefutable for these slaves, I leave it with Nira and Freya talking to convince the slaves to join us of their own volition if it doesn''t work out, I told Jay to release those who refuse to do what they want with their freedom. After that I enter the Dungeon together with rica, she also asked me to bring Beatriz, Kira, and Elsaris with us. rica didn''t want to go to the mansion either, so we stayed in the safe room on the second floor to talk sitting on the floor. "What happened that was so important that you were in such a hurry to tell me? Besides, why away from the others?" (I) "This has nothing to do with us, but I thought it was an important matter to tell the master." (rica) "Besides, I thought depending on your decision it would be better to have these three around." (rica) "First of all, I must first understand what is happening." (I) "I''ll tell you from the moment we left the Guild, in the late afternoon we were leaving the Adventurer''s Guild when I passed someone who shouldn''t be here." (rica) "Someone who shouldn''t be in this town?" (I) "No, someone who shouldn''t be on this continent." (rica) "Who I found was probably a Demon." (rica) "Why should that be important? You''re a Demon too." (I) "I know the master doesn''t care much about the relationship between the various races." (rica) "But the master should know that the Human and Demon races have been enemies for millennia, the hatred and resentment between these two races is something that lingers even now." (rica) "This continent can be considered the territory of the human race as most of the Realms here belong to Humans who are also the most numerous race on this continent." (rica) "The Demons stay on the continent closest to this one, they rule that continent." (rica) "Many wars have taken place with the humans attacking there or the Demons attacking here." (Elsaris) "These two races have too many different cultures to be able to live together, as if that weren''t enough, some religions are also against Demons, and there are also religions that are against Humans on the other side." (Elsaris) "Elsaris is right, for those reasons no Demons are allowed on this continent, myself included, but the same applies to the other side about Humans." (rica) It seems like the history between Humans and Demons is quite long, but to me, it feels more like the struggle between two very different cultures. For others, it may seem like the fight of good against evil, but these people are idiots, good and evil are not so simple to be differentiated by one''s race. Wars always happen for the same reasons that are money, religion, cultural difference, conquest, politics, etc. Most of the time wars start for silly reasons, the story that follows after a war won''t always be the truth either, the winning side can say what they want most of the time, wars are always things I can''t understand. "So you mean there might be a reason a Demon is here?" (I) "Exactly." (rica) "But you weren''t sure it was a Demon." (I) "" (all) When I say that, the three of them look at me with eyes like they''re judging me and saying that''s exactly it, I wanted to say something, but my negative luck prevents me from telling a lie that makes up for it. "That''s why you wanted to change plans." (Elsaris) "Don''t say that, you thought it would be a good idea too." (Kira) "I was going to talk about it later with you, master." (Kira) "Before I arrived at the Assassins'' Guild to gather information, I had an idea to look for information about some nobles who are in this Realm at the moment." (Kira) "I already figured we''d have to stay in this realm for a while, so I thought we might rob some noble scoundrels while we were here." (Kira) "Fine with me as long as you don''t get into trouble with innocent people." (I) "But I think this possible Demon must be one of those noble scoundrels, right?" (I) "Yes, but what stands out most about him is that a famous Mage is with him as a slave, he is a scholar of magic who was once a real Mage of two Minor Realms." (Kira) "Then he would be a good person to recruit, it would be easier for him to accept our proposal, plus I could leave him in charge of leading the Mages we bought today." (I) "With that, the people of the village could learn a lot more about magic, I and the others could learn more about magic too." (I) "I knew he would react like this, we''re lost." (Elsaris) "Come on don''t say that." (Kira) "With that face, it looks like the master is doing something wrong." (rica) "Just because he gets lost in his thoughts and starts planning a future where we already have this famous Mage, we can tell he''s going to mess with this Devil." (Elsaris) "You''re right, hahahahaha." (I) It was funny to see Elsaris react like that, she normally doesn''t like to get in trouble, I like to think that I am too, but I can''t let an opportunity to get someone so capable for our side pass. "I''ll want to research more about this Prince, we''ll also have to research the Kingdom he came from." (I) "You should know something, at rica''s request I put a tracking curse on him." (Beatriz) sighs "Beatrix" (Elsaris) "She asked, at the time it seemed like a good idea." (Beatriz) "That was an excellent idea, good job you two." (I) "Does that mean we can follow him?" (I) "Yes, this curse will last for a long time, besides it will consume his mana, not mine." (rica) "Are you sure he won''t notice?" (I) "He would only discover this curse if he had very specific skills for it, but the chances of that being the case are slim." (Elsaris) "Beatriz, you will follow this Demon from afar, you can talk to rica about how to follow him." (I) "I''m going to put the tracking magic in a magic crystal we already have, so it will be easier for you, Beatriz." (rica) "In the meantime let''s move on to the other things we still have to do." (I) Chapter 319: Demons Part 2 Chapter 319: Demons Part 2 I was surprised to hear about this Demon, at first I was thinking about not getting into this problem, but it seems that this Demon has exactly the kind of person we are looking for. I have been learning about magic from rica and Irina, apart from them I can only count on what I learn by reading the magic books we already have. But now I have the chance to get a famous Mage on our side, with that I will have a more experienced and knowledgeable person to teach me. This Mage can still be useful teaching Erica and Irina who have been learning on their own this whole time with no one to help guide them. I had already made up my mind that I would get this Mage on our side, I imagine it must be easy to convince him, I won''t let an opportunity like this pass me by. After deciding that I leave the Dungeon with Elsaris, the other two went to the mansion to get a magic crystal where rica will put the magic that Beatriz will use to follow this Demon. When I left the Dungeon I realized I was having an argument with the two Dark Elves, I couldn''t hear since there was a sound barrier around everyone, Freya must have done it. Before reaching them, I see Sophia talking to the two of them and I let them solve the problems. Soon the discussions stop and everyone is calmly sitting on the floor inside the boat. "Already finished?" (I) "Yes, we had some people who didn''t seem to want to believe our job offer, but we were able to work it out." (Nira) "Good job, Nira." (I) "So everyone did?" (I) "Yes, they would be idiots if they didn''t accept such an offer." (Nira) "Perfect, let''s start this now." (I) I wave my hand in front of everyone and activate the Blood Servant skill using my Aura through it. Soon the iron bondage collars around their necks break, that while the red energy leaves my hand, I don''t use my Aura fully because I don''t want to use mine powerfully on anyone. Just one Blood Servant should be enough for these people, no one can get any skills from me, luckily this skill won''t take that much of a toll on me. A few drops of blood come out of my body going to these people, their bodies absorb my blood but do not undergo any change. Then I see everyone kneeling in front of me, some are even crying, probably because they know they are no longer slaves, I wait for everyone to calm down before making them enter the Dungeon where I charge Freya to show the Dungeon to the new residents. With that resolved I call everyone to gather inside the boat, so we started to discuss what each group did today, Beatriz had already left to spy on the Devil. Elsaris and rica were present as were all of the other groups so we talked about what we did, everyone looked at me like they understood what I had done as I told the story about the three scoundrels Nix and Layla made disappear. "I didn''t know about these things, so they use pride as a way to keep members of their own race from falling astray, that would normally be impossible." (Ivan) "For any other race it would be impossible, but the Demons'' pride is very strong, they would even die to fulfill their desires, they are a somewhat obsessive race." (Vanessa) "A well-known story is about one of the greatest Mages among Demons, the wish he always wanted was to be immortal." (Vanessa) "There were many things he could do to fulfill that wish, he could have become a Vampire since there are Vampire bloodlines that only Demons can possess, he could have become a Necromancer to become an Undead, etc." (Vanessa) "Those would be easy paths, his pride wouldn''t allow it, he wanted to fulfill his wishes with his own ability, so he studied magic and alchemy his whole life, when he was old he managed to create a Homunculus body that in theory would never die as long as he had mana." (Vanessa) "That''s a very high level of obsession, he spent his whole life for this, I imagine he must have done the same as Lyra, put his soul in this body, right?" (I) "Exactly, what I want to show is that instead of trying to suppress your traits, the Demons chose to use those traits of your race in a constructive way." (Vanessa) "The people of this continent may not know it, but Demons are excellent trading partners, that''s why they will never break a contract they''ve made, that''s part of their pride, even the most lying Demons take their contractual agreements very seriously." (Vanessa) "So why can''t Humans and Demons get along?" (I) "Because of their very different cultures, the way they live, the way they see the world, and many other reasons." (Vanessa) "But the main reason is the hatred that these two women feel for each other, this hatred has lasted so long that it has become a prejudice within both races." (Vanessa) "I loved your explanation Vanessa, but you got a little lost on the initial subject." (Ivan) "That''s right, thanks for reminding me Ivan." (Vanessa) "The reason I start to explain about the Demons is that there are people in their race who are extremists, this type of person is considered despicable in their own race for tarnishing the pride they believe so much." (Vanessa) "They are also supremacists who think their race is superior to all others and has the right to do what they want, however, they want." (Vanessa) "The master said that this Demon pretending to be a prince did multiple rapes in this Realm, that''s something only an extremist would do, take the easy way out." (Vanessa) "For Devils, life is like a game, taking the easy way is something they would never do." (Vanessa) "If there''s an extremist here, then they''re planning something horrible, there''s also a good chance the demonic nobles on the other continent don''t even know about it." (Vanessa) "I can understand that, extremists are always a problem, take the Church of Light, for example, divided because of extremists in their religion." (I) "So you guys think my decision to finish off this Demon and take this Mage in his thrall might be a bad one?" (I) "Actually it just makes me want the master to continue with what he planned." (Ivan) "I have strong ties to this continent and I don''t want to see a disaster caused by ignoring a problem we saw in advance." (Ivan) The conversation with Vanessa and Ivan was very productive, when we finished and were heading back to the boat, I was dragged by Diana back inside the Dungeon with rica following us. Chapter 320: Black Market Blacklist Chapter 320: Black Market Blacklist Pov Elsaris: After Zenos gave permission we left to go to the Black Market for the night, who is coming with me are Kira and Jay, I hope we get everything we need today, I don''t want to go to the Black Market too often. One thing I''m sure of is that I''m blacklisted, the only reason I''m not hunted down and killed is because the Black Market knows I''ve joined the neutral faction, but that doesn''t mean I''m still welcome as a customer. The only reason I dare go to the Black Market branch of this place is because I know the person in charge here very well, she wouldn''t dare plot against me after all the times I''ve helped her, but still, I''m leaving Kira to take care of everything this time. I lead everyone to the brothel street, I go to a mid-level brothel which was quite full, it was a very large two-story building, as we enter we are greeted by a human-looking woman with long blonde hair, her hair has a fringe that hides the eyes, her skin is a little dark and my body is young and has many curves. "(She''s a little pretty, but she''s still a long way from my sister''s body perfection.)" (I) "Welcome dear customers, I''m the receptionist tonight, what kind of girl or boy would you be looking for tonight?" (receptionist) "I''m looking for 2 dark-skinned men, 5 young blonde women and you." (I) Visitt for the latest updates "Then we will have to find a new receptionist to take my place at the entrance, but first I must inform you that payment has to be made in advance." (receptionist) "It will be 70 silver coins." (receptionist) "Here they are." (I) The receptionist holds out her hands and I put in two silver coins first, then I put in five bronze coins and finish by holding a gold coin in front of her for her to take, then she snaps her fingers and another girl comes to the entrance. "Follow me to your room." (receptionist) The receptionist guides us forward down a hallway of rooms, we enter one of the rooms in the middle of the hallway where the door is locked after we enter. The receptionist walks over to a decorated statue that is in the room in a dark corner, the statue was of an armored knight holding his sword up and with a shield strapped behind his back, the receptionist pulls the shield back which triggers a mechanism that makes the bed rise showing that there were stairs under the bed. "This way." (receptionist) We continue following the receptionist down the stairs to a door which the receptionist opens and points us in, after we enter the receptionist closes the door with her outside. Inside the well-lit room, there was a table with a banquet, a drinks cabinet, pictures of beautiful landscapes, and some sofas, on one of these sofas sat a girl with short black hair who looked to be about 10 years old. "It''s been a while Elsaris, the last time was 15 years ago." (Nazai) "Hello Nazai, I''m just here to guide people, I''m not the one doing business with you today." (I) "You''re so brave to come in here after quitting, you should be glad we left you and your kids alive." (Nazai) "We both know this has nothing to do with me being left alone, the people in charge wouldn''t do anything to provoke the neutral faction." (I) "It still doesn''t sit well with me letting you in like this, I needed to say something." (Nazai) "But I''m glad to see you again, even if it''s different, I congratulate you on your evolution." (Nazai) "(Even though I''m hiding my Aura and my appearance she''s noticed that I''m different but still confused it with an evolution it seems.)" (I) "You can sit down, we have a business to attend to, right?" (Nazai) Nazai is silent for a few minutes while keeping her eyes closed, when she opens her eyes her face changes to a smiling expression, her appearance could be cute if it wasn''t for her sick eyes. "I will give the information about this Demon for free, the same for the information about the Makari Kingdom." (Nazai) "You want to use us" (I) "All I hope is that they create a big mess." (Nazai) "That will probably happen." (I) "So you can take this information for free, it would be great if we didn''t have to get directly involved as there are enemies around." (Nazai) "Is the demon faction here too?" (I) "Yeah, I don''t know how many, everything we know is in this storage crystal, you can take it, I already have a copy." (Nazai) Nazai pulls out a storage crystal and throws it into Kira''s hands. "I don''t know what you''re going to do, but if it''s something big, you can contact me and I''ll help, as long as you don''t involve me directly." (Nazai) "I''m sure yes." (I) I look at Kira and nod, then me, Kira, and Jay stand up. "I''m glad to see Jay, but it''s a shame I can''t see young Beatriz, she''s a wonderful girl, I''m sorry she has such a troubled mother like you." (Nazai) "You''re just jealous that my daughter is more talented in spying than your sons." (I) "Stop teasing people mom, we''re leaving, nice to see you Miss Nazai." (Jay) Nazai has always been like that, she acts straightforward without hesitation, but she is also always up to something, half the girls and boys in this brothel must be her children and grandchildren, for the human men and women shouldn''t be good enough or like toys, but they have no better time to extract information from men or women. "Thank that strange boy for stopping the Fairy from killing my son, he is young and still in training, I would be sad to lose another son." (Nazai) "I''ll say, see you later Nazai" (I) We all left the way we entered, the receptionist was still there, she is also a Vampire daughter of Nazai. After we leave the brothel we go straight to the boat, we have no need to go to the Assassins Guild to buy more information, if the demonic faction of Vampires is involved then the Black Market information will be more accurate as they used everything they have to get as much information as possible. "What happened in there? Why didn''t she want to collect this information?" (Kira) "Because she knows we''re going to get into trouble with this Prince and the Kingdom he comes from, it will give the Black Market opportunity to gather more information from their enemy." (I) "From what Nazai has told the demonic faction is also here, so it''s no surprise the Black Market is preparing like this." (Jay) "They want to use us to force a wrong move on the other side so they can learn more about them." (I) "It doesn''t really matter, it''s actually been helpful to us, a little collaboration with the Black Market is something we can consider." (Kira) "Let''s take this back, there must be a lot of information here." (Jay) Chapter 321: Prince Henry Makari Chapter 321: Prince Henry Makari I was with Nix fishing from inside the boat, we were with bottles of a drink that resembles vodka that Orcs make, the two moons are still in the sky, luckily it''s not a full moon night today. "Why do things have to be so complicated." (I) "Was the fight with the girls really bad?" (Nix) "Weren''t you listening to my shadow?" (I) "I thought I shouldn''t get into a couple of fights between you two." (Nix) "That was the problem, there was no fight, the girls were angry but not because I said I was going to the brothel." (I) "So why were you angry?" (Nix) "Why would I go without them" (I) "" (Nix) "Please tell me this is weird, I can''t believe this is normal." (I) "This really is a little weird, but I think I understand." (Nix) "If you understand then explain it to me, please?" (I) "The women around her are very liberal, Ibuki was a Goblin at the beginning, you must understand that there is no concept of a couple for Goblins, even if she is no longer a Goblin, she cannot forget things she learned from birth. and are rooted in it completely." (Nix) "Diana is an adventurer, she must have had fun with many women and some men." (Nix) "Combat and being close to death strangely awakens people''s sexual desire, because of this adventurous women often seek out other adventurous women to relieve tension as it is safer than looking for a man." (Nix) "Because of this more liberal lifestyle and considering that Diana has already said that her entire family is adventurers I can understand her decision." (Nix) "rica is just a pervert, they don''t have much to think about, we can''t understand her mind." (Nix) "But Kira surprised me, I didn''t expect that from her." (Nix) Vissit for updates "I was going to go to the brothel but I wasn''t going to have fun there, I was going to make the girl faint to drink her blood and then use a potion to close the wound that my teeth would make." (I) "I wasn''t going to leave any clues, I was going to leave there without doing anything, I tried to talk but they didn''t seem to listen." (I) "Give up on that idea, your plans won''t be so smooth." (Nix) "Let''s be happy master, they are beautiful women who are with the Lord, they are also very liberal, any man would kill to take their place." (Nix) "Any man weaker than I would die in my place." (I) "Girls are strong and resilient, just taking care of them is already very tiring for me, if I have more women then I might really be on the verge of death." (I) "Men who dream of a harem don''t stop to think about how difficult this is, how much it demands from me physically and in rica''s case mentally." (I) "Then why don''t you refuse them to go with you." (Nix) "Because I''m an idiot, saying something like that would hurt my pride as a man, if I''m going to die I''ll die with no regrets." (I) Sigh "What a stupid thing" (Nix) We spent some time with simple and relaxed conversation, it was a very quiet conversation while enjoying a beautiful view of the ocean at night, still catching some fish to eat. "And the strength of your servants and guards?" (I) "His servants are not combatants and they are all slaves, the guards are soldiers and we don''t have much information about them, but the Black Market people left information that estimated the strength of the guards to be at least Grade -A." (Ivan) "That''s enough for now, thanks." (I) "I need some time to think and talk to Beatriz who was watching our target." (I) After talking to Ivan I went looking for Beatriz to find out some things she had discovered, after that, I spent a few hours fishing while thinking about possible plans and doing some simulations in my head. In the middle of the afternoon, I went to Lyra to make some requests for her, so as I was leaving I went to talk to the new residents of the temporary camp. In the middle of the afternoon, the things we bought from the Black Market arrived. When it started to get dark I told Beatriz to go replace whoever was watching over the Devil, so I went looking for Kira and Elsaris to tell them the plan I had thought up. "I think that''s all for now." (I) "If we''re done here, then could the master accompany me for a while?" (Kira) "" (I) "III have tohave a meeting with the Mages who have just joined us, so let''s save that for later, sorry." (I) As soon as I finished talking to both of them, Kira smiled and asks me to accompany her, I had a bad feeling about this and was trying to get out of there with some random excuse, but Diana appears behind me. "Where do you think you''re going, master?" (Diana) "" (I) "Don''t worry master, I guarantee you will have a lot of fun." (Kira) "rica was very convincing about this plan, but we must also punish you for looking for prostitutes without telling us." (Kira) "Wait, wait I already told you that nothing was going to happen, I just needed to learn some skills from them I I was thinking of ways to please you more, I swear." (I) "(I''m not lying, I want to satisfy you guys faster before I die of exhaustion, just so I''ll have more time to rest.)" (I) "We understand, master." (Diana) "We were touched that you thought so much of our pleasure, so we also want to learn some techniques from professionals in the field." (Diana) "We will take turns accompanying you two at a time every night in these places for as long as our stay in this Kingdom lasts." (Kira) "I have to run away" (I) "You will not run away!" (Kira/Diana) "Let me go, let me go" (I) "Elsaris help me why are you looking the other way, help me you heartless Bunny" (I) "" (Elsaris) I tried to run away when I realized the risk of dying from exhaustion, I couldn''t understand how something that was supposed to be a moment of pleasure and happiness always ended up with me almost dead, when I thought I had found a solution it did. When I tried to run, Diana grabbed my arm on one side and Kira grabbed my arm on the other side, as they are both taller than I am it was easy for them to lift me off the ground and drag me where they want. I tried to ask Elsaris for help, but she was looking the other way in an attempt to pretend not to see anything, after all, I''ve done for her and her sister, that heartless person has abandoned me. As we were near the doors of the mansion Freya opens the doors and waved goodbye with an innocent smile while sweat dripped from my eyes, these are definitely not tears. Chapter 322: Capturing Enemies Chapter 322: Capturing Enemies Pov Rakan: Today was another hellish night where I needed to hear the screams of the women that this Devil made the soldiers kidnap in the streets on the way back, unfortunately, I can''t do anything but listen to their screams, no matter how many years go by, it never gets easier, at first I even tried to kill myself, but I couldn''t because of the mark of slavery that prevents me every time. This bastard knows how repulsive I find that, yet he always makes me watch the door to make me listen. It is only when he finishes and leaves to go to sleep in his room and the soldiers come in to collect the dead bodies of the women that I can get out of my position, after so many years I have learned to avoid looking at the state these bodies are in, that It will only torment me even more. I was sitting staring at the wall thinking how a real Mage, a Mage who was so happy spreading magic among people ended up in this deplorable state serving a Demon. "It would be better to be dead" (I) "Why do I have to keep suffering like this" (I) I looked at my hands and the images of the people this Demon made me kill to come to mind, the images of the atrocities they are doing in that place haunt my mind whenever I try to sleep. "Are you a thief or a murderer?" (I) "Maybe a little of both or there could be a third option." "Then why are you standing at the window for so long?" (I) "I was hoping you were in a better condition as your eyes look like someone dead." "I wish I was dead, but apparently it won''t be today unfortunately or you would have already done something." (I) "I don''t think it would be that simple, your traps and barriers would be a problem." "I am obliged to defend myself if necessary." (I) "(He is different from the spies who normally watch over us.)" (I) I had already noticed the presence of this person the moment I entered the room, I was hoping he would kill me, unfortunately, I had to activate the traps and barriers that I installed in the room, the orders to defend myself if attacked are one of the reasons I can''t die even wanting so much. I turned to the window where a small figure of someone in black clothes, a hood, and a mask was sitting at the window. His voice was probably being modified by some magic in the mask, but I was still able to hear his calm in this situation. I know he wants to talk to me, but I don''t understand why since I''m just a slave, nothing he asks me will be answered as much as I would like to share this Demon''s information, nothing he asks me I will be able to do since I am a slave to that Devil. "Say what you want or leave, I''m in a bad mood." (I) "I just wanted to ask you a question, do you want to be free?" "" (I) "Maybe you can''t answer, so I''ll just say this, I can give you your freedom, but you''ll have to serve me." "I will give you the choice." "You''ll have until tomorrow night to think of an answer, I hope it''s positive." "I hope you like the food." (waiter) Soon I see the Demon devour the fish with big bites, then he started to eat the soup, I slowly eat my sandwich in the meantime until I notice that the mana in my body has stopped circulating, I can''t speak either and my consciousness is slowly darkening. I try to look at the Demon but his head fell into the soup bowl, I noticed the two soldiers behind who were wearing helmets smiling, when I realized that a smile formed on my face before I lost consciousness. - Pov Nolan: This hairstyle is bothering me with the hair in front of my eyes, how do they want me to impersonate a waiter like that? I don''t even know why I was doing this, I was always very clear saying that I didn''t want to participate in these dangerous tasks, now I have to do this show for a Demon and a famous Mage, the master is not trying to get rid of me, it is not? I think all the times I''ve had to bluff at card games will finally be useful for something more than card games. I was doing my best to stay calm and used everything Miss Freya had taught me over the past few months. After bringing the food and seeing Jay dressed as a soldier tasting the food, it was all I could do to get the hell out of there before they realized I was sweating. Even from a distance I kept watching from afar as those two ate their food, the man who should have been the Demon the master spoke of, he was happily eating quickly, but the middle-aged Runic man was eating despondently. "(Caryna would be sad that someone was eating her food with a face like that.)" (I) It didn''t take long for the effect of the poison we put to take effect, the two lost consciousness and started being carried to the kitchen, I go after them and pull Caryna who was still cooking to leave through the back doors. As soon as we leave we continue walking through some alleys to lose those who are following us until we reach a place with an illusion set up, as soon as we are no longer being watched a big mouth appears around us coming from the ground. That''s a horrible feeling, even though you know this is Nix''s good and she''s sending us to the Dungeon, it''s still a horrible feeling to see a big jaw clench when you''re inside. "That was awful" (I) "Don''t complain, at least you didn''t have to eat poison." (Jay) "You ate the antidote, nothing was going to happen to you." (I) "Let''s stop talking and get these two to the mansion." (Jay) "I know we were in a hurry, but I forgot to take the pan off the heat, the food can burn" (Caryna) "Don''t worry, as I was leaving the kitchen I threw a dagger to release one of the waiters, so he should release these cooks and the others." (Jay) "It makes me feel calmer." (Caryna) "Let''s get these two before they wake up, I don''t want to fight a Demon." (I) "I don''t want to fight either, but Lyra said they should sleep a whole day, so stop being a coward Nolan." (Jay) "Cowards are the ones who survive, so that''s a compliment to me." (Nolan) "We''ll be back soon, I want to prepare the soup recipe I learned for everyone." (Caryna) Chapter 323: Rakan Chapter 323: Rakan The plan was more useful than I thought, after the two prisoners were brought to the mansion I asked rica and Irina to trap the Demon and give him more poison, just to make sure he doesn''t wake up. Meanwhile, I bring Rakan who was the Mage I wanted to hire to the room, I called Vanessa to take a look at him, I wanted to make sure he was ok since she is always accompanying a Demon. Vanessa decided to call rica when she found a curse on Rakan''s body, it looks like it was a slavery curse, which means it wasn''t just the slavery necklace around her neck, it seems that this Demon wanted to make sure that Rakan wouldn''t be able to free himself of slavery. rica was able to temporarily stop the effects of the curse and Vanessa was able to remove the bondage necklace by canceling the magic on the necklace. After they did that I called Lyra to wake up the Mage while she keeps her body''s mana frozen so he can''t use any magic. All I wanted was to talk to him, but for that, I had to make sure he would listen to me, after Lyra gave Rakan a few drops of antidote he soon starts to open his eyes. "Why am I still alive?" (Rakan) "I said I''d want to hear from him later." (I) "So the person with the mask was a simple Dhampir child?" (Rakan) "I may look like a child, but I assure you I''m not a child." (I) "Apparently not a Dhampir either, maybe a Vampire?" (Rakan) "So tell me, why don''t you just kill me like you did that Devil." (Rakan) "So you know he''s a Demon?" (I) Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com "After 20 years how could I not know?" (Rakan) "I said before that I can release you, I can still do that, but I also wish you could come work for me." (I) "Why would I do that? Trade one Demon for another." (Rakan) "I''m not a Demon, all I want is to hire someone talented like you, I needed a qualified theoretical Mage and you''re the best I''ve found." (I) "I''m flattered, but I don''t seem to have much choice, I''m in a place I don''t know, I can barely move my body and my mana is frozen." (Rakan) "I can''t trust you, who knows what you might try to do." (I) "Wise decision, but tell me, what would you do if I turned down your job offer?" (Rakan) "I won''t do anything, I''ll just let you go, but what happens next is none of my business." (I) "Do you really think I''m going to believe you''re going to let me go like this?" (Rakan) "Exactly what I will do, I don''t need to do anything against you, I have nothing against you, to begin with." (I) "But before you decide aren''t you interested in at least hearing my proposal?" (I) "" (Rakan) "My name is Rakan and I will be at your service from today, master." (Rakan) "It reminds me that I forgot to say my name, my name is Zenos." (I) "I hope you take care of me too." (I) "Now let me introduce the others to you." (I) So I spent some time introducing people to Rakan, he was very shocked when I introduced rica to him, it seems he didn''t think he would meet another Demon here. To make him calmer, I told him a little about rica, I also told him that she was human until a few months ago, it made him understand that Erica wasn''t bad. After that I introduced him to the improvised camp, I took the opportunity to introduce Rakan to his future subordinates when Rakan asked where we are I told him we were in a Dungeon which made him roll his eyes in surprise. After that I let Ivan and Freya take care of him, I''ll leave it to these two to explain the rest to him, I have a feeling that if I keep explaining things to Rakan we won''t get anywhere. As soon as I''m separated from Rakan I head back to the mansion and head straight to the basement where the Demon was still unconscious while being watched by Jade and Sapphire. After confirming that the Demon is still unconscious, I go to him and bite his neck to drink his blood. Ding! I drank a lot of his blood, his blood tasted peppery, after that I gave him a blood replacement potion and more poison. I''ll leave the notifications for later, so I went to meet with everyone to set up a meeting to decide what to do with this Demon. After a short meeting, everyone was informed of what was going on, the majority opinions were to kill the Demon and avoid future problems, but there were people who had different opinions. I allowed Rakan to attend this meeting to see how we do things here, surprisingly he didn''t want to kill the Devil, he wanted to interrogate the Devil, he wasn''t the only one who wanted that as Elsaris, Kira and Ivan wanted to do that too. But Elsaris said it would be better not to interrogate him here in the Dungeon, Elsaris said it would be better to interrogate the Devil along with the Black Market. Elsaris argued that we had no safe means of arresting a Demon that we were not sure of its true strength, Elsaris said that it would be best to deliver that Demon to the Black Market with some conditions that would be interrogating the Demon together and killing the Demon after interrogation. Elsaris said that if we do it this way we can get more information about the Makari Kingdom. At first, I just wanted to get Rakan and kill the Devil, but Ivan, Diana, rica, Freya, and Lyra kept trying to convince me to investigate this Makari Kingdom further. They were born and raised on this continent, so I think it''s normal for them to have the feeling of protecting their homeland, if it were up to me I wouldn''t get myself into these problems anymore, I would just expose the fact that the Makari Kingdom is associated with Demons and leave the other Kingdoms deal with it. During the meeting, I asked if it wouldn''t be better to expose the fact that there are Demons in the Makari Realm to the other Realms, but Ivan argued that this might make the Demons act sooner, so we couldn''t expose everyone about it. I thought about telling some Realm in secret, But Elsaris said that wouldn''t work, all Realms have spies scattered throughout the other Realms, the moment a Realm prepared to attack or investigate the Makari Realm the other Realms would know, it could take to complications and misunderstandings. In the end, it seemed like the best strategy was for us to work from the shadows with the assistance of the Black Market who will be happy to let others fight their enemies. Elsaris said that whatever the Devils are up to, they''ll want to keep up appearances, so anything we do won''t be known, we might even ask the Black Market to block information from us so no one can find out what''s going on. Irina surprised me by saying one thing during the meeting, she wanted to take advantage of this moment where we will be facing the Demons and the demonic faction of Vampires to collect a payment from the Black Market, but when Irina said what the payment was, Irius and I both looked at each other another and smile. Elsaris said there''s a high chance the Black Market will listen to our demands, so I think I have great motivations to fight this time, I''m even a little excited about the idea of fighting in the shadows hidden from people, it looks like a movie plot. Chapter 324: Makari Kingdom Chapter 324: Makari Kingdom The meeting lasted less than an hour, but it was decided what we would do from now on, tonight Elsaris and Nix will do the negotiations with the Black Market, I have already explained to them what they can do from there if they accept our demands. When the meeting was over Rakan approached me to talk, to my surprise Rakan remained silent most of the time during the meeting, the only time he said anything was when he said it would be better to interrogate the Demon than kill him, the same opinion some others had, but now Rakan has an expression as if he wants to say something. I turn away from the others and call Rakan outside the mansion, I sit at the foot of a fruit tree behind the mansion along with Rakan. "If you had something to say you could have said it in front of everyone." (I) "I still don''t know others well enough to know if I can trust them, I don''t even know if I can trust you completely yet, master." (Rakan) "After all you''ve been through I can understand that it''s going to be hard to get you to trust other people, but this is something you''re going to have to learn to do if you want to stay here." (I) Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com "I don''t usually hide secrets from those who follow me, you must have seen it during the meeting." (I) "But let''s leave that to time, I hope you soon learn to trust those around you." (I) "There are still many things for me to absorb, do you realize that everything I saw that day is crazy?" (Rakan) "These various races of monsters living together and speaking the common language, the slain Prince of the Trigan Kingdom who became an Undead, the Demon woman, the members of the three Elven races, this Dungeon and the absurd job proposal that you did for me." (Rakan) Rakan stops talking and looks around in wonder before looking at me like I''m some life form that needs to be studied. Sigh "I don''t even know how you managed to make so many Fairies live inside a Dungeon." (Rakan) "The more I learn, the harder it is to understand how all this is possible." (Rakan) "Believe me I know how you feel, but over time I''ve learned to stop thinking about complicated things, it won''t change what''s already been done." (I) "So your solution is to ignore these absurd things around you? Are you crazy? How did you do all this?" (Rakan) "" (I) "Will you believe me if I say most of this was an accident?" (I) "" (Rakan) "You mean you woke up one day and this was all around you?" (Rakan) "Please don''t insult my intelligence, I resort to believing accidents can result in this kind of situation, I can''t even conceive a thought of such a thing." (Rakan) "(Apart from the Dungeon which was my plan, the rest was all one big accident after another, rica became a Demon by accident, the Cradle of the Fairies was an accident, me meeting Ivan and his daughter was an accident, I becoming the leader of the village people was not an accident, that''s why I was tricked by my family into accepting it.)" (I) "(But even if I tell him these things, I find it difficult for him or anyone else to believe me, that''s because I''m fully aware that if I were in someone else''s shoes and heard everything that happened to me in this world, I wouldn''t believe it either.)" (I) Sigh "The forbidden medicine is just the basics for all soldiers, some are also required to undergo physical modification processes where monster body parts are implanted into their bodies, many go crazy during the process if they survive." (Rakan) "The King uses a magic item that has powerful mind magic along with his own magical curse to control these Kimera soldiers." (Rakan) "Sometimes I was forced to help during his experiences using my magical knowledge, he is a good man who never lost hope of one day freeing himself from his suffering, very different from me who had given up a long time ago." (Rakan) "" (I) I never expected to hear about experiments using Humans as guinea pigs, for someone who was once responsible for saving lives having to do these activities must now be a nightmare, but from what Rakan said it sounds like he still keeps his sanity clinging to hope. "The worst thing is that these Kimera soldiers only survive from 4 to 10 years maximum, their life expectancy is very short, in addition, they suffer a lot of pain in their bodies continuously, because of that they are almost Berserks." (Rakan) "This explains how he managed to win the three wars he fought in, Ivan was right to find it strange that he had such a quick military force." (I) "The most abominable thing is to see the King being adored and revered by the people." (Rakan) "Like this?" (I) "The Kingdom''s population increases every year, that''s why the Kingdom has low taxes, plus a 1-year tax exemption for new Kingdom residents." (Rakan) "Also strangely, there are always epidemics, internal strife or prolonged periods of famine in the Realms around the Makari Kingdom, but no one realized that these are things the King did to make people leave their Realms and migrate to the Makari Kingdom." (Rakan) "This is weird." (I) "Also, there''s something very strange that always happens when Renino Makari conquers another Realm." (Rakan) "For some reason, the King always gives orders to rebuild the capital of these Realms, I don''t know why since that''s a lot of money being thrown away on an already habitable city." (Rakan) "That doesn''t make sense, given where the Makari Kingdom gets so much money, spending on the grotesque research you mentioned, military spending, spending on rebuilding entire cities and not counting the normal spending that all nations have." (I) "Also, the Makari Kingdom keeps taxes low and even has a one-year tax-free policy for immigrants, so it''s not raising enough money from the population to do these things." (I) "So you noticed? You''re right." (Rakan) "The Makari Kingdom is the biggest drug manufacturer on the continent, they do it well hidden while the Vampires take care of distribution in other Kingdoms." (Rakan) "I''m sure the other Realms must know about the large number of drugs coming out of the Makari Realm, but they don''t know that the government itself produces these drugs." (Rakan) "Did you say Vampires?" (I) "Yes, there are many Vampires who pretend to be government officials or work in the secret labs, they are all loyal to the King." (Rakan) "That''s all I know, unfortunately, I''ve never been able to understand your goals, I don''t know about your plans either." (Rakan) "I''m going to talk to Ivan who has the Black Market information, after these five days he should have finished seeing everything, let me see if he will have anything to add to his information." (I) "Thanks for telling me all this, Rakan." (I) Chapter 325: Second Target Chapter 325: Second Target The conversation I had with Rakan gave me an insight into how the Makari Kingdom works, but there are a lot of holes in Rakan''s information, so I''m going to look for Ivan who has spent the last five days studying the information we''ve gotten from the Black Market. After parting ways with Rakan, I met up with Ivan in the mansion''s Library, Freya told me he''s been spending most of his day here studying Black Market information. As I entered the library I saw Ivan sitting in a chair by the window looking at a reading crystal, when I entered he looked at me and lowered the reading crystal as I approached to sit at the window. Vissit for updates "Why whenever you have a window nearby you prefer to sit by the window, master?" (Ivan) "Makes me a little taller, which is good since even Hobgoblins are taller than me." (I) "So, have you managed to study all of the Makari Kingdom information that the Black Market has given us?" (I) "Yes, I finished reading it all a second time, I did that to see if the information fit better." (Ivan) "And did it work?" (I) "A little bit, a lot of the information is incomplete and it also has a lot of assumptions written into the information." (Ivan) "I just had a conversation with Rakan about the Makari Kingdom, he told me everything he knew." (I) "Good thing I didn''t know why the master didn''t ask these things from the beginning." (Ivan) "Rakan told me that" (I) So I spent about twenty minutes recounting all the information I had just heard from Rakan, I thought that Rakan''s information might fill in some holes in what Ivan has already discovered, so he could enlighten me in a better way on this matter. - "So that was it, things start to make a little more sense." (Ivan) "Among the information, you''ve been reading, is there anything that adds to what Rakan has already said?" (I) "" (Ivan) Ivan was in his Skeleton form inside the library, he normally stays like that inside the mansion, he only uses his spectral body ability when I left the mansion, so it was a strange sight to see a Skeleton standing looking out the window with faint flames in it their orbits. "The Black Market information confirmed everything Rakan said, the Black Market already knew about the drugs the soldiers were using, they also already knew about the Kimera soldiers, but they didn''t know who was doing these experiments or where." (Ivan) "The Black Market also assumed that people from the Makari Kingdom government were involved in the drug trade, but they also didn''t know that it was the entire government." (Ivan) "The Black Market didn''t know about the King being a Demon either, the only thing I can add to the information the master already has is locations and one of the guesses someone from the Black Market left noted in the information." (Ivan) "The locations you are going to say we can confirm with Rakan later, for now, say more about that assumption." (I) "It seems that the capital of the Makari Kingdom and the capitals of the three Kingdoms that were annexed to the Makari Kingdom have many similarities." (Ivan) "For starters, the streets are made of a beautiful dark stone, another strange thing is that the streets are the same, every street system of these 4 cities in the same and strangely all the renovations were done under the command of the same man, that''s just a few of the reforms they made throughout the city." (Ivan) "What''s so weird about this man?" (I) "He is from an artistic family but works in the construction business, he is someone who was very famous before he was accused of a crime and became a criminal slave who was bought by the Makari Kingdom." (Ivan) "That smacks of conspiracy." (I) "The most important issue was that all manual workers always died." (Ivan) "How do they die?" (I) "After the rebuilding of the city is over, everyone always dies or disappears." (Ivan) "In the first city, they died when the building they were in suddenly collapsed." (Ivan) "In the second city, an epidemic that started a week earlier infected all the workers who died." (Ivan) "In the third city, the workers were attacked on the way to another city after the reconstruction of the city was completed." (Ivan) [ Thunder Demon''s Horn Production: 1 ] [ Spell Summon: Thunder Sword ] [ Demonic Language: 1 ] [ Enhanced Reflexes: 1 ] [ Mark of Slavery ] [ Demon Body ] [ Blade of Thunder: 1 ] [ Lightning Sword Technique: 1 ] ]> . . . <[ You acquired the Bloodline [ Demon: 100% ] ]> It seems that I got a lot of new skills, but that also means that Prince Henry was very strong, I must consider that he must have had many skills that he already had in addition to these, it seems I did well to avoid a direct confrontation. Luckily I didn''t get any titles from him either, any titles he had would be something I wouldn''t like to own. I was lucky that two skills also evolved, I imagine my poison resistance skill leveled up because of the poison we applied to this Demon. Soon I''ll be able to get out of this Kingdom that filled me with problems again, it reminds me that I got some good skills in the brothel that I merged into two skills, one passive and one active. [ Eclipse King Stamina: 1 ] [ Eclipse King Sexual Technique: 1 ] My Synthesis skill has even leveled up, this skill is taking a long time to level up lately. [ Synthesis: 4 > 5 ] These two skills had good effects, but I needed to learn techniques by watching how the prostitutes worked, but it was all worth it, now none of the girls can last more than two hours. My goal was accomplished, but I feel sorry for the prostitutes who had the skills and experience but didn''t have the physical stamina to keep up with me and the girls. One thing that scared me was when I realized that the girls, mainly rica and Kira, had managed to learn a lot of techniques from the prostitutes because that also shortened my uptime. The first two nights I had to be carried out of the brothel which hurt my pride as a man, plus it had been difficult in the mornings as my body was still weak. But now that I have these two abilities I can finally take care of these four girls without being on the brink of death, I''m so glad I was able to achieve one of my goals. "Master, it''s time for us to meet, the other three are waiting at the door of the mansion." (rica) "Wait, why are you four going today?" (I) "I noticed last night that the master''s stamina is much higher, so we don''t need to take turns anymore, and I told the others who agreed." (rica) "Now come on, we said your punishment would last as long as we stayed in town." (rica) "" (I) "(Can I take care of all four at the same time?)" (I) While I had this concern on my mind, rica took me to the others who accompanied me to the most expensive brothel in town. The next day I wasn''t able to get out of bed until mid-afternoon. Chapter 326: Questioning Chapter 326: Questioning Pov Elsaris: After master, Zenos told me everything he had discovered I went to Mage Rakan to get some more detailed information, after that Nix and I left the Dungeon. As soon as we leave the Dungeon she closes the gate before we get off the boat leaving only Jade, Nira, Irius, and Freya on the boat to watch until we get back. "This is a very useful skill for a spy." (I) "I know, sometimes the master asks me to do some spying tasks like the time we went to the Slave Market of this Kingdom." (Nix) "When we get there let me deal." (I) "Fine with me, but do you think they''ll accept the terms we''re going to propose?" (Nix) "I''m sure they would, they would kill the Demon after interrogation anyway, they won''t mind sharing their information with us either." (I) "The real problem is the reward that Irina proposed and that the master agreed to." (I) "I don''t think they will." (Nix) "Normally they wouldn''t accept it, but in this situation, I think they will, their enemies are attacking, they will spare no effort to get rid of them." (I) "They also can''t fight directly as it will draw attention to them, having other people fight in their place is the best thing that could happen for them." (I) "To guarantee our help they must accept our proposal and they know that they have no choice but to accept to give us the reward we ask for even if it causes them some problems." (I) "I hope you''re right." (Nix) On the way I was talking to Nix who was hiding in my shadow, but when we were close to the place we were silent until I arrived. After going through the same entry process as last time, we entered the same room where Nazai was sitting drinking a bottle of a Dwarven beer that is usually strong enough to make a full-grown Human male pass out after a few sips. "You never let me down Elsaris, ahahahaha" (Nazai) "This mess was perfect for us." (Nazai) "It looks like you''re happy, how many from this bottle have you drunk?" (I) "Few, I only drank five bottles, this drink is too weak for me." (Nazai) "But for you to come to me it means you have a business, so tell me what you need?" (Nazai) "I have Prince Henry, you may already know that, I was wondering if you would like to interrogate him together?" (I) When I say that Nazai stops smiling and drops the bottle-throwing it back on the shelf without breaking it, then she looks at me seriously. "What do you want in return?" (Nazai) "We already have a lot more information than I got from you, I''m sure you''ll want that too, but I have conditions." (I) "I''m listening." (Nazai) "After interrogation, he must be killed." (I) "All right." (Nazai) "For all I know it looks like I''ll have to alert all Black Market branches on the mainland." (Nazai) "Apparently, it won''t be long before they start acting, in fact, this would be the best moment." (Nazai) "But before you do anything, you still need to hear my business proposal." (I) "What if I told you that we can take care of this problem more directly while the black market only provides us with what we need?" (I) "That means you''re going to ask for something big in return." (Nazai) "What I''m going to ask for as a reward is" (I) - Now I''m wearing a different outfit and I''ve already taken a shower to clean the blood from my body, Nix is taking the Demon with us to kill inside the Dungeon when we get back. "She accepted our proposal more easily than she expected." (Nix) "But I expected that, compared to what the Black Market will lose if the Devils'' plans continue, it''s better to make this deal with us." (I) "Not to mention that there is always a chance that we will fail and die, if that happens the Black Market won''t have to pay anything, and thanks to us they will be able to find out more things by watching the Demons." (I) "Seeing it that way makes sense." (Nix) "But I''m surprised that Demon doesn''t know much more than Rakan does." (Nix) "His work wasn''t the central plan, it seems the King didn''t trust his own son very much." (I) "But who can blame the King, apart from combat this Prince doesn''t seem to be better at anything else, but I must admit he lasted longer than I expected, not many resist Nazai''s interrogation that much." (I) "The Devil''s state was really horrendous, but I don''t care, I know he probably deserved far worse for the crimes he committed." (Nix) "He is starting to speak like his master." (I) "You mean like our master?" (Nix) "" (I) "Come on, you can''t keep denying that the master is very good to you and your sister, so stop trying to pretend you''re not happy now." (Nix) "Let''s leave soon, we have to get out of this Kingdom and start acting." (I) "Diverting again, but that''s okay, we both know the truth." (Nix) "Besides, the master will surely come up with a plan, so leave everything in his hands." (Nix) I veered off-topic, but I must admit that since the sister got better it has been a lot of fun every day, my sister seems to enjoy talking to Caryna even more, plus my sister respects the master a lot for giving her a second life. I think it''s time for me to stop pushing people away or it might piss off my sister, I also admit that I respect the way Zenos completely does things. While thinking about that we went back to the boat, once we arrived Nix opens the Dungeon gate and we go straight to the mansion floor after taking out the Demon in the middle of the second floor and cutting his head off, then I leave the body there for the Dungeon absorb. We have to head straight to the mansion to arrange another meeting, Master Zenos will want the others to know what we''ve found. Chapter 327: Interrogation Results Chapter 327: Interrogation Results Pov Rakan: Everything in this place is crazy, there are so many races living here like Werewolves, Ghouls, Nymphs, Arachnees, Lamias, Hobgoblins, Ogres, Orcs all are Demis or monsters that are living in the camp nearby and even some others that are the ones that live in the mansion. This place itself is also strange, a small Dungeon without monsters, from what I heard master Zenos is the Dungeon Master of this place, among the many surprises I found here one of the biggest was finding Prince Ivan Trigan who should have been dead for decades. I talked to Ivan and he more or less explained to me about this place and the various things here, he also told me that they plan to build a city here, this was more of a surprise for me, a city within a dungeon, only a madman would think into something insane like that. But at that moment while exploring the forest I checked into a beautiful lake with a waterfall where I saw a beautiful red-haired woman, she didn''t look human. "Good morning, I don''t think we''ve met yet." (I) "I know about you Rakan the Mage." "How do you know me?" (I) "Layla and Nix come to visit me often, they''ve told me about you and what''s been going on lately." "Looks like Zenos is making another one of his plans, I''m really happy to see what he''s been up to." "You know my name, but I still don''t know hers." (I) "I still don''t have a name, at least for now." "But you can call me Guardian, that''s what the people of the village have always called me." (Guardian) "Why don''t I see you at camp?" (I) "I prefer to stay away, I like quiet places like this, plus I''m giving a space to see what Zenos is doing from afar." (Guardian) "Why do you need to do that, it doesn''t look like he''s hiding anything from anyone." (I) "I''m just trying to get a better understanding of him, so I have to try to be impartial, so I walked away so I wouldn''t be too friendly with him." (Guardian) "Are you testing him?" (I) "Yes, I have to be sure how much he cares about those around him and the way he does things." (Guardian) "So far I''ve liked what I''ve seen, he can be a bit unpredictable, but he''s going out of his way for the people of the village, and I like the way he treats his enemies." (Guardian) "What do you mean by that." (I) "Maybe you don''t know, but Zenos is a very strange person." (Guardian) "Let her go, it''s quite common for Fairies, Spirits, and Familiars to like being around their contractors, if I''m not mistaken the contract you have with Nix and Layla is stronger than usual, so I can imagine her reaction might be because of that." (Elsaris) "You''ve returned Elsaris." (Samira) "Sister!!" (Elsaris) As we were walking Samira appeared from afar and waved at us, then Elsaris screamed and ran out to hug Samira, she was talking about Nix and soon after does the same as her. - In the middle of the afternoon I gathered everyone for a meeting, Elsaris told me what they discovered during the Demon''s interrogation, I thought the others should know too since they are more connected to this continent than I am. After everyone was gathered in the hall I let Elsaris lead the meeting to explain everything to everyone, during these two days I had already told everyone everything I knew about the Makari Kingdom. "During the interrogation, we were able to confirm everything Rakan had ever had and we also discovered important locations for the Makari Kingdom." (Elsaris) "But most importantly, we discovered the reason why they always rebuild the capitals of the Realms they conquered, even though there was no need to do so." (Elsaris) "They''re rebuilding the city because they''re building a big magic circle to cover the whole city." (Elsaris) "What kind of magic circle?" (I) "We don''t know, the Devil didn''t know either." (Elsaris) "Do you know something, Rakan?" (Ivan) "During the 20 years I was forced to work for them, I worked countless spells and magic circles, but I can''t think of any that need to be that big, they wouldn''t say anything to a slave either." (Rakan) "You said that one of the strangest things for the Makari Kingdom was that you were attracting people to migrate there, you were doing it to the point of wreaking havoc on neighboring Kingdoms to attract more immigrants." (Vanessa) "Are you insinuating that they might be willing to make some kind of sacrifice on a grand scale?" (rica) "That''s my guess, this seems to fit in with the information we have at the moment." (Vanessa) "We have to identify the magic circles somehow." (rica) "If I know what the magic circles are I can know where to start looking, I''m sure I can find some clues, but first I have to know which magic circle they''re using." (Rakan) "We have to know more, the best way to do that is to find out who rebuilt the cities." (I) "Elsaris, do you know where this man called Leonardo is who was responsible for rebuilding the cities?" (Irina) "Yes, he''s in the former capital of the Third Kingdom they conquered, it looks like he''s trapped in the Duke''s mansion who is a Demon too." (Elsaris) "So we already have our next objective." (I) Chapter 328: Going To The Makari Kingdom Chapter 328: Going To The Makari Kingdom During the meeting we started to better understand the Demons'' plans, we also discovered the locations of many of their bases so now we know where we should go now. "Elsaris, has the Black Market accepted all our demands?" (Irina) "Your reward is guaranteed, but I have a feeling they believe we''re going to fail." (Elsaris) "If I''m going to do something I''m going to make sure the chance of success is as close to 100% as possible." (I) "That''s why I want Kira and Beatriz to get some information for me from the Assassin''s Guild." (I) "It''s just some information for me to get the general idea of the four great cities of the Makari Kingdom." (I) "Should our first target be the civil engineer? Let''s release him, shall we?" (Samira) "Yes, he''s going to give us important information, plus we still need someone to plan the city''s construction here." (I) "I have a doubt!" (Irius) "What was it Irius?" (I) "Suppose we manage to defeat these Demons and the Vampires on their side, what will happen to the Makari Kingdom? The people who don''t know anything?" (Irius) "They will be left without leaders, they will be left without a functioning government in their Kingdom." (Irius) "There must be some internal conflict in the first few days or weeks, but in the end, the surrounding Realms will divide the Makari Realm''s lands and assimilate into their own Realms." (Ivan) "So the people will be okay?" (Irius) "Yes and no, it will not be an immediate thing as there will be an adaptation period and there may be some resistance from the people as well, but in a few years everything will be normal." (Ivan) "I''m glad you care about the innocent population of this Realm, but don''t start planning what comes after a victory before the battle has even begun." (I) "Yeah, that was just a concern that popped into my head." (Irius) Irius has always had a good heart, he is a fair person, but he gets carried away very easily by his ideals, he has to keep his feet on the ground and know how to prioritize what he should do. "Vanessa, I heard that holy waterworks on Vampires, is that right?" (I) "Yes, but it would be more efficient to bless the weapons to do more damage, unfortunately, my blessings will not be useful as I am a Priestess of the Goddesses Selene, no blessing from me will harm Vampires." (Vanessa) "Then we will have to resort to light magic." (I) "It will be useful against Vampires, but it won''t be very useful against Demons." (Rakan) "Holy magic will be enough against Demons." (Vanessa) "For now all of you will make your preparations for battle, but this time it won''t be like in the mountain range, it won''t be an open war with combat tactics." (I) "I want to end everything as quietly as possible, this will make the enemy not realize what we are doing." (I) To help Jade in her training I called in an expert, Beatriz daughter of Elsaris. Kira also wanted to train and went to the forest along with Jay saying that she would stay there until we reached the Makari Kingdom. We''ve already got the information we wanted from the Assassin''s Guild, we''ve been in this Realm for over a week and it''s time to leave. During our stay here, Beatriz and Kira made a big mess with a wave of robberies against scoundrel nobles, some of the most despicable nobles were even kidnapped and killed inside the Dungeon, I now have 8 souls stored inside the Dungeon. I hope to find some use for these souls and this dungeon soon, but to get the best out of the dungeon you have to get to the 10th floor first. Now all I want is to relax a little, but before that, I still have one last thing to do, I called Ivan and Nira to plan our way to the Makari Kingdom, we gathered in my room since the ballroom we normally use for meetings it''s too big for just three people, plus the library has been taken over by the Wizards I found and Rakan. Because of that I took Ivan and Nira to my room, got a map that only represents the part of the continent where the smaller Realms tend to be. "We have to decide which route we''re going to travel, we can''t count on Nix flying in his Dragon form this time." (I) "Other Realms would notice her, it could bring us too much inconvenience." (Ivan) "We have to first mark where we are and where we want to go on the map, so we have a better view of the big picture." (Nira) Nira takes a pen and marks that Kingdom on the coast of the mainland then marks the Makari Kingdom by dividing it into four and also marks the four cities. "We''re lucky that the city we''re going to is the closest, if we went by road it would take a month by carriage." (Ivan) "That would take too long, isn''t there any shortest path?" (I) "If we were flying it would only take a week as we could follow a straight line to our destination while avoiding detours and mountains." (Nira) "But I won''t." (I) "Maybe we could use the rivers and travel there by boat." (Ivan) "It would only take two weeks." (Ivan) "Two weeks is still a long time." (I) "But this time will give us space to finish our preparations." (Nira) "There should also be enough time for last-minute training of the people who are going to participate in the plan." (Ivan) "" (I) I wanted to act faster, the enemies will probably hear about Prince Henry''s disappearance until we get there, which might make them more cautious. "I don''t think we have a choice, we only had three options from the start which were to go by land, sky, or water." (I) "We could teleport too, but it would be impossible for us at the moment, we don''t have qualified Mages for that, besides that we would need to set up a ritual magic where we are and in the place where we want to go, this is impossible for us at the moment." (Ivan) "So let''s focus on what we can do, tell Leo to take care of steering the boat, ask Sophia to join him." (I) "I''ll go talk to them." (Ivan) Chapter 329: Two Weeks Of Travel Chapter 329: Two Weeks Of Travel Pov Anton: Since joining this group I''ve worked harder than I ever have in my life, but I''ve been working without having to worry about money or selling the things I''ve created. Besides I always have the best materials to work with, I also don''t have anyone rushing me which gives me time to do a job well done, I can feel my forging techniques and skills getting better and better. Since arriving in the mountain range I have had many sleepless nights from overwork, but I have had a lot of help from Orcs and Ogres who seem to be interested in forging. With the people of the village around it was a lot of fun to forge surrounded by people serious in their work, besides the drink that the Orcs made was very good, they were all excellent drinking partners. Unfortunately, because of work, I didn''t have much time for my wife who was facing similar difficulties to mine, the only time we saw each other was at bedtime. One thing I''m sure of is that my wife is enjoying it a lot more than I am, with so many different races she can make many more different types of clothes than any other couturier, plus the skills she has to produce her own threads and also the possibility of using Arachne lines in her work makes her very happy. One thing my wife always tells me is that the master''s lines are much better than anyone else''s, she says she''s never worked with anything so amazing, the master doesn''t seem to mind giving her that line either, but she doesn''t like to use something so precious unnecessarily. Right now I''m drinking around a table where there are me, my wife, two Arachnees, three Orcs, and two Ogres. Everyone was passed out after hours of drinking, they will never beat a Dwarf when it comes to alcohol resistance, drinking alcohol is in my blood, my wife may be a Runic, but she has the spirit of Dwarves. "I expected more from Orcs, how do people who make such a good drink get drunk just for a few hours of drinking?" (Tnia) "I don''t know, that''s quite normal, the strange person is actually you." (I) "Remember how the other Dwarves reacted in drinking contests whenever they lost to you?" (I) "Everyone always thought a Runic couldn''t beat a Dwarf when it came to booze, they got what they deserved." (Tnia) "It was when we were tied in one of those contests that I realized how much I liked you for the first time." (I) "You were always too slow to figure things out, I only entered those contests because of you, but you only paid attention to me when I won." (Tnia) "At that time I was very focused on my training as a Blacksmith, when I wasn''t training I was drinking and vice versa." (I) "I know, it was this seriousness in what you liked that made me fall in love with you you idiot." (Tnia) Tnia and I drink another full mug before I pick up the last barrel and see that it''s empty. "Looks like the party''s over." (I) "Yeah, I''ll call Alice, Leo, and Nolan later to help carry these people to a more comfortable place to sleep." (Tnia) "No need to worry, Alice pops in here every hour to check on everything, we just need to wait for her to arrive." (I) "That means we can relax in the meantime." (Tnia) "Yes, having a rest day really is a great way to recharge." (I) "Says the person who needed to be dragged out of the workplace to rest." (Tnia) "You were also dragged outside by Freya." (I) "I was really excited about the combat outfit designs the master was suggesting, Samira was really excited too." (Tnia) "I had to abandon the research as it wasn''t yielding results, but with Tnia''s skill I can certainly create this type of combat outfit." (Rakan) "Furthermore, I found that the master can create lines with high mana conductivity, the master can even blend elements into the lines, so we can, in theory, create any kind of high-level combat outfit." (Rakan) "You look very excited." (I) "It''s been over 20 years since I''ve researched something I really liked, now I''m feeling the same way I did when I was younger and I started researching magic, I never thought I''d feel this way again." (Rakan) It seems that Rakan is adapting faster than he expected, I think everything will be fine from now on. - Pov Zenos: There are many things to solve at the same time, but I think everything is in order, I think I can let everything go the way it is until we reach the Makari Kingdom. We''re already on the way, but it will take a while to get there, I''ll take this time to train too, maybe I''ll talk to Elsaris so she can train me too. I have a lot of useful skills for plans like this, but I''m not used to using them, I''ll train those skills during the time I have. I''m starting tomorrow morning, now all I want is to enjoy my bath in this tub the size of a swimming pool. "You are very relaxed, master." (Layla) "Now everything is on track, I have nothing else to do until we reach our destination." (I) "I''m going to take this time to do some training too, but I won''t start until tomorrow." (I) "I''m dying to get there soon, I''m glad you included me in the plan this time." (Layla) "But you need to do some training too, your attacks are very flashy, use this time to learn more attacks using the Dark element." (I) "Nix told me the same thing, but the truth is that this element is harder for me to control, so I don''t use it often." (Layla) "But you used the element of Darkness a lot when you were creating this Cradle of Faeries." (I) "This was different, I wasn''t casting a spell, I was using mana directly around me." (Layla) "Then why don''t you ask Nix for some advice, she seems to be able to handle this element well." (I) "But she''s a spirit, she won''t be able to help." (Layla) "I''m not saying learn techniques from Nix, I''m saying learn more about the element itself." (I) "If you do that maybe you can control him better." (I) "" (Layla) Layla throws herself into the water and stays afloat, she is silent for a while, before getting up and flying to lie on my head. "I''ll try to do as you said, I''m already annoyed that this is the only element I''m having a hard time learning to control." (Layla) "Nix no longer has to stay outside to get us where we want to go, so you can spend your time with her to train too." (I) "I''ll talk to her tomorrow, thanks for the advice, master." (Layla) Chapter 330: Too Late Chapter 330: Too Late Pov Subordinate Vampire: I''m a Vampire with no bloodline, so I''m much more vulnerable to sunlight and silver, weaknesses that Vampires with pure bloodlines don''t need to worry about as much. I was a human who was a general of a Realm that ceased to exist 200 years ago, I associated with Vampires because I was afraid of death, I wanted to be able to live forever and after helping Vampires for years, I was finally able to become one, but at the time I didn''t understand how the Vampire hierarchy worked. Among Vampires those without any bloodlines are the same as slaves, so I have no rights, I don''t even have a slight trace of bloodline in my body, all I can do is work for those who have a pure bloodline in hopes of being rewarded one day with a trace of your bloodline, even if it isn''t pure, that alone would give me far more power and potential than I already have. Right now I''m a guard at the mansion of a Duke of Makari Kingdom, the person who turned me into a Vampire died a long time ago at the hands of Baldr''s believers, without help I wouldn''t be able to survive, so I looked for other Vampires in the same situation as me to protect me, when Vampires from the Demon continent arrived they promised us that they would welcome us as their servants, so we who were not part of any Vampire family accepted. Now we are all employees, servants, and guards of these Vampire families, I don''t like the work I do, but with our strength we can''t say anything about it, at least working for them I don''t need to hide the way I used to, besides we have items that protect us from sunlight. We Vampires with no bloodline become stronger by being around Vampires with bloodlines, as well as having the opportunity to get a bloodline, so even though I don''t like being a mere guard, I''m still willing to do this job. I even get a chance to be close to a Vampire Matriarch, she is the wife of the Duke who is his first child, she keeps herself hidden while leaving all political issues in the Duke''s hands while she takes care of the things we are doing hidden from the populace this place. I''m guarding the front door in the late afternoon, but soon I''ll have to switch with the guards inside the mansion for the night. "I think before my shift I''ll go get a drink." (I) "Weren''t you banned from eating for three days?" (Guard A) "It''s been two days, I''m hungry." (I) "As we passed through town escorting the Duke''s carriage, it almost drove me crazy when I saw all those people nearby, so many people with delicious blood" (I) "You were punished for killing one of the prisoners, you know we can''t kidnap people very often or they''ll start to suspect." (Guard A) "That was an accident, I had no way of knowing that two other people had already drunk her blood." (I) "Stop talking, it''s time to trade with those insides, the Suns are already set." (Maid) While we''re talking to another guard, one of the maids comes to warn us about the shift change so I walk inside the mansion past those heading to where we were. The guard work inside the mansion is more tiring since we have to stay up all night making rounds walking, I don''t know why to bother with that, with our senses it''s impossible to lose someone if they''re around. This mansion is very big, there must be 15 more guards like me inside, about 30 outside and the number of maids is more than 40. If someone really tried to get in here I can only say they are unlucky, he or she would become yet another source of blood to feed us, unfortunately only an idiot would do that in a Duke''s residence. "Drop her!!!" (I) I draw my sword and run towards the enemy while the guard beside me throws two daggers at the enemy, but at that moment a pair of wings come out from the back of the person in black. The wings hug the Matriarch while blocking the daggers and preventing my sword, then one of the wings hits me throwing me into the wall, this blow was so strong that the wall, as well as my bones, broke. When I looked at the enemy I saw the other guard being grabbed by tentacles coming out of his own shadow, then I see him trying to get something out of his neck, but in the next moment, his head separates from the rest of his body. I''m surprised to see the shadow tentacles pull the body into the shadow, when I turn to the enemy I can hear the Matriarch''s faint voice. "Me drop me I don''t want to die I''m less than 100 years old stop!!!" (Matriarch) The enemy doesn''t stop just because the Matriarch is immolated by life, soon I see her not even being able to speak, I was going to try to run, but then I notice a very sticky line sticking to my body, meanwhile, I also noticed the enemy leaving bite the Matriarch''s unconscious body, so he looks at her. "Too late to beg for life." Then he increased his grip on her neck crushing her at the same time he destroyed her neck causing her head to fall to the ground. - Pov Matriarch: A few minutes ago I''ve been a Vampire for less than a hundred years, before that I was a Demon, when we came to this continent to put our plan into action I thought I might have some fun. I made the bloodless Vampires of this continent become our servants along with others in my group, the next few decades were wonderful. I could eat as much as I wanted, all I had to do was create as many criminals as possible, after that, I could arrest them to say they were executed while I actually used them as an appetizer. Today I was very happy as after weeks I finally got the city''s five most famous adventurers into so much debt that they were forced to become debt slaves, all so I could buy them for fun. The five were very cute, so I took them to my room to have fun, after I got tired of playing with them and I was hungry I ended up killing them without realizing it in the heat of the moment. In my moment of distraction a luminous line wrapped around my body burning my skin, then I felt someone hold my neck from behind, when I thought I was in danger two guards try to defend me, but before they do anything I feel a bite on my back. my neck. I felt that he was drinking my blood with great speed, but I also felt that something was entering my body, I felt heavier and stiffer, at that moment I see the two guards running in a desperate attack, but they were defeated very quickly. I tried to beg for my life, but this person didn''t stop until they sucked all my blood, because of that I was so weak that I couldn''t move, in addition, I felt my body completely rigid, at that moment I was already dying, but I still heard part of the enemy phrase. "Too late." Chapter 331: Jades First Mission Chapter 331: Jade''s First Mission Pov Jade: My training with Beatriz was horrible, the first week she made me hide all the time, and every time she found me she lectured me on everything I had done wrong, then she took me to rica to serve as a goal in her curse studies Just remembering what that Demon was investigating makes a shiver run down my spine. To avoid being the target of rica''s experiments again, I tried my best in my training and I always asked Beatriz for advice, I even learned some skills to help hide myself, because of that I improved a lot, but Beatriz always managed to find me for the rest of the week and send me to rica, that heartless person sent me to that Demon every time. From the beginning of the second week Beatriz started teaching me murder techniques, she started teaching me about people''s bodies so I could identify the places I have to hit, but it was very difficult for me to understand, so she just taught me three places to hit which are head, neck, and heart. After that she started teaching me unarmed assassination techniques, as I was a spear user I couldn''t use daggers very well, it was very difficult to get used to the difference in weapon length, so I kept learning ways to use my claws for the assassination or using my tail discreetly to capture the target. The last three days were hands-on training where I had to fight stealth battles in the forest against Beatriz, I lost all the battles, but Beatriz praised me a lot for my quick improvement during practice, she said that I learned faster in practice than with her teaching in other ways. Unfortunately the spear Anton was making for me wasn''t ready yet, but that''s ok since at least I learned to use the poisons the master gave me, my training with Beatriz was very focused on that. When we arrived in the city where we were going to start the plan, the master said that he would be in charge of the Duke''s mansion where the two most troublesome enemies are, I was in charge of taking care of the government building, there would only be 30 enemies there, compared to other places this I had less, but I was happy with it as I was nervous about not knowing if I was going to be able to do it. At the request of the master, Lyra and Irina made magic crystals with powerful invisible barrier spells, we should use this at the beginning of the operation to not let anyone escape, Irina gave me two crystal coins that I should use to activate the barrier. I left for my mission wearing a black outfit that was glued to my body, this outfit was very comfortable and also made me feel faster while wearing it, in the city I went through the alleys until I reached my destination, I stayed on top of the roof to activate the magic barrier making a slight wave of mana diluting in the surroundings without leaving a trace. After that I entered through a window and started to move around the place the way Beatriz taught me, I feel that it was being easier than when I was training, maybe it''s because of this combat outfit since they said there was occult magic in this outfit. I was told that all the people in this building are Vampires and there are also two Demons, they said that even the guards and maids are enemies, so while I was hiding in a dark corner behind a statue I waited until two maids came close and grabbed their necks, I avoided getting injured as they warned that Vampires are very sensitive to the smell of blood, so I used my superior strength to break their necks, but they were still alive. So I forced a kiss into their mouths to pour my poison into them, in seconds their eyes darkened and died, it was Beatriz who gave me this advice that was very useful now. Once they were dead I stored the corpses in a storage item, then kept moving to get rid of the other enemies, I saw five people eating in a room, so I used my claws to move across the dark ceiling. From above the ceiling, I use the deadliest poison I have to drip on the food while they are distracted talking, as soon as I see the five weakly falling to the ground but still alive, I realize that killing Vampires really is difficult, it takes some of my energy to create a large amount of poison in a cup I had nearby, so I make the five of them drink until they are all dead and I guard their bodies as well before continuing my search. As I was passing through a hallway I saw another guard approach, I entered an empty room and left the door closed, as soon as the guard passed he looked into the room and then I curled up with my tail pulling him inside before he could scream I cover his mouth with mine when my poison killed he guarded his body too. That way I keep moving around the place killing everyone until there are only two men left in the office at the top of the building, their desks are far from the door and window, I can''t get close to both of them at the same time. A large window faces the door, the two men''s tables are on the walls on the right side and the other on the left cloth, they are facing each other. After that I put away the bodies while the Crow comes flying carrying the two Demons in his claws, I grab them both and start heading back to the meeting place. - Pov Kira: I was inside a room full of decapitated bodies, I was sitting on a couch eating fruit while talking to Byakko. "They were very idiots." (I) "I still can''t believe they really thought you were just a thief." (Byakko) "All I had to do was steal some stuff from the safe and run all over the mansion like I was trying to escape, the idiots joined in running after me not knowing I was luring them." (I) "You used the thunder runes well as traps in this room, it seems your training with Jay was useful." (Byakko) "I took these two weeks to retrain everything my mother once taught me, Jay with his heightened senses was the best person to train with me." (I) Byakko who learned to change into his Tiger form without needing my spirit energy starts to gather all the bodies together. "Don''t forget to pick up the bodies." (Byakko) "Yes, the master doesn''t want to leave any clues, this way is better." (I) While talking to Byakko I make my daggers that are as fulfilled as a sword return to their normal sizes by compressing the metal together with a rune of the Metal element that I have been training with Byakko. "While we''re here we''ll keep stealing everything they''ve got, Caryna seems to want a new set of china plates." (I) "Be quick, we still have one more place to go before heading back to the Dungeon." (Byakko) "The Demon worshipers, traitors who helped these Vampires and Demons do atrocities against their own people." (I) "They are weaker than Vampires, I think we can capture them." (Byakko) "It might be a good idea, Nix asked to capture the weak to kill inside the Dungeon." (I) Chapter 332: Rescuing Leonardo Chapter 332: Rescuing Leonardo Pov Nix: The master gave me the mission to take down a mansion with 3 Demons and 50 Vampires, it was an easy job. I traveled through the shadows, every time I found someone alone I made a shadow dome around them before killing with my bare hands, then I used my shadows to guard the body, so when I undo the shadow dome after a few seconds there were no left clues, I also didn''t have to worry about the blood of enemies alerting me to my presence. It took me less than two hours to kill them all and none of them noticed, but now I''m in some trouble. "Tell me again, why are these Lizardman trapped in the basement?" (I) "It was a gift for the King, he likes to eat more exotic meats, when we found a village in the swamps near the city we did our best to attack them without killing more than necessary." (Less Demon) "We were keeping them alive to make the meat as fresh as possible for the King later." (Less Demon) "(There must be about 70 people here, I can see the fear in their eyes, there are even children here.)" (I) I was in a half humanoid and half-dragon form, my legs and arms were Dragon''s, I also had two black crystal horns with sparkles inside on my head and a tail behind my back. "I''ll leave you alive for later." (I) I take a sleeping potion from a storage item and force the red-skinned Demon trapped by the neck in my claws to drink the potion, when he loses consciousness I release him to sink into the shadow prison. After that, I go to the cell and pull out the thick iron bars breaking into pieces before entering the cell where all the Lizardman were held. "Do any of you speak the common language?" (I) "" "" "" "That makes it difficult since I can''t communicate with them" (I) "" (I) After breaking the cell all the lizardmen look at me and look at each other, then with difficulty, they begin to kneel in front of me. "Thank you for saving what''s left of our people, Great Dragon." (Lizardman) "" (I) One of the tallest and strongest lizardmen, a man about my height with olive skin and green scales on his arms and legs, when he kneels you can see the scales on his shoulders and back as well, as well as his tail covered in green scales, his hair was black and his body had many scars, strangely there was a small white horn on the left side of his forehead. This Lizardman spoke the common language and thanked me as he kneels in front of me, not understanding what was going on but relieved that one of them was able to communicate with me. "Why are you kneeling?" (I) "The people of my village are believers in the Dragon God Akatosh, so we have immense respect for all True Dragons." (Lizardman) "I see some of you have horns." (I) "We are descended from a Dragonewt Knight, as such even after many generations the people of my village still have a trace of their lineage, sometimes some show a physical trait like me." (Lizardman) "" (I) "(Did you hear that, master?)" (I) "(Yes)" (Zenos) "(Could we welcome them to the Dungeon too?)" (I) "(There''s already over 6000 in the Dungeon, so what''s another 70? Why not?)" (Zenos) "(I still have other things to do, so deal with them yourself and if they don''t want to stay in the Dungeon, then don''t force them, just take them out of town.)" (Zenos) "(All right.)" (I) The master cut the connection, I turn to Barok and explain about the Dungeon, I also explain about other races living there without being very specific about which ones, after that I ask if they want to live in the Dungeon too, Barok smiles and turns to the other Lizardman speaking in their language. Soon Barok turns to me as he kneels again along with all the other lizardman''s, some are even crying. "I am honored to allow my people and I to live with you Great Dragon." (Barok) "Stop calling me Great Dragon, my name is Nix, that''s the name my master bestowed on me." (I) "As you wish Great Nyx." (Barok) Sigh "(Now I know why the master doesn''t like that kind of situation.)" (I) I open a gate to the Dungeon and tell them to wait in the secure room on the 1st floor while I go up to the 4th floor to talk to Sophia and Ivan about the new residents, then I let them handle it and exit the Dungeon, closing the gate behind me. - Pov Leonardo: My family has always been lovers of the arts and cultures of different places, my passion was the cities I visited since I was little, each city was unique. As I grew up, I started to get into the habit of designing houses, shops, buildings, streets, cities, etc. When I became an adult I started to work in the construction of houses and buildings, I traveled through many Kingdoms to learn different techniques, as time went by I became famous without realizing what made new opportunities open to me, I had the opportunity to even build an entire street of a city where everything had been destroyed because of an attack by a wave of monsters. But one day I was falsely accused of a crime I didn''t commit and I became a criminal slave, I didn''t know what happened at the time when I was bought by a King of some nation I thought I could be free, but I was wrong, he forced me rebuilding a city that didn''t need repairs, I found that strange, but I was a little happy as it would be the first time I was going to rebuild an entire city. As time went on I discovered that what I was doing looked very suspicious and at the end of the job the death of my subordinates was obviously planned. As the years went by and other jobs to rebuild cities I started to notice suspicious things around me, the death of my subordinates always affected me a lot, but I had understood that my becoming a slave was also planned, I had also realized what the King really was. When there was no more work I was trapped in the basement of a mansion, I thought I would be killed just like my subordinates until now, but it seemed like they wanted me alive until they put their plans into practice, it made me trapped for a long time. Until today something strange happens, a being dressed in black appeared out of nowhere in front of the cell where I am, he was the height of a child, but he managed to destroy the thick iron bars with his hands with great ease and enter the cell. He moved his hands once more destroying the chains that held me, then took off the mask revealing a beautiful child, but I was not able to tell if it was a boy or a girl, all I know is that the child laughed at me while saying a sentence to me that I never thought I would hear. "I came to rescue you, Leonardo." Chapter 333: End Of Mission Chapter 333: End Of Mission Ding! Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com <[ You acquired the following bloodlines: [ Demon Vampire: Original ] [ Vampire: 100% ] ]> I managed to kill all the Vampires in the Duke''s mansion, the strongest wasn''t even the Matriarch I heard the servants talking about, the Duke was physically stronger at least, but I found it easy to subdue them both with my Aura. I used the techniques I learned from Sophia to use my Auras only on my hand, with that I felt the Vampires surrendered easier, the Duke didn''t even try to fight back and just died, but the Matriarch still begged for life, even if weakly. I ignored the notifications about the XP I gained and only focused my attention on the notifications about the bloodlines. " %" should stay, that''s the kind of bloodline that only a Patriarch/Matriarch Vampire could have, I didn''t feel anything different inside me now that I have two of these original bloodlines counting on my own bloodline. After thinking a little about these bloodlines I went back to work, used my detection skills, with that I discovered a room where dozens of people were chained, they were men and women in the ages of 10 to 40 years old, all were pale, some were even breathing hard. They were all chained up, I used my lines to cut the chains, then I pointed towards the door to leave, almost all of them were injured and tired, I gave everyone a blood replacement potion before they left, of course, I remembered to deactivate the barrier to getting out. The vast majority of them are Humans, the others are Elves or Beastmen, so I know they will get help in the city, as soon as they leave I go down to the basement where is the last sign of life I found in this place. I found a hidden door in the Duke''s office, discovered that door when I forced the Duke to tell me where Leonardo was before I killed him. As I didn''t know if there was any trap in the door, I used my spiritual energy to create a black rune, then I sink into my shadow like Nix always does, then I go under the secret door, keep going like this to the basement before appearing in front from Leonardo''s cell. Leonardo was a White Elf who looks to be around 30 years old, he had long blonde hair tied in a ponytail and blue eyes, he would be a handsome man if he weren''t so thin and pale, it looks like he''s been here for quite some time and he hasn''t been eating very well. With my status, the normal iron bars are not a challenge, so I easily enter the cell and release the chains that hold Leonardo. I thought he might be afraid of a mysterious person with black clothes and a mask, so to demonstrate that I''m not an enemy I take off the mask and give him a smile. "I came to rescue you, Leonardo." (I) "" (Leonardo) He is silent looking at me with a gleam of surprise in his eyes, I reach out to help him up, then pull out a potion of stamina he drinks without asking questions, then offers him a sandwich that he devours faster than he can. Ibuki. "I really appreciate the rescue, the potion, and the food." (Leonardo) "But we should get out of here before they notice you." (Leonardo) "You and I are the only living beings in this mansion, don''t worry." (I) "" (Leonardo) "The Vampires are all dead, no need to worry." (I) "" (Leonardo) He looks at me for a few seconds as if to confirm what I say. "But I don''t have the time or the will to take care of this or the other three cities, I think people will know how to take care of themselves from now on." (I) "Have you no heart?" (Leonardo) "Yeah, he''s knocking too, but that doesn''t mean I''m going to be a Fantasy Hero helping every person that comes along, that would be stupid." (I) "(Now that I think about it, why does my heart still beat even though I''m a Vampire?)" (I) "(I''ll ask the others later.)" (I) "Without Demons as a big threat, people will have the opportunity to think about what''s best for them and have to take responsibility for their own decisions, I think what I''m doing is good enough." (I) "Just because I''m reaching out to help doesn''t mean I''m going to let them take my entire arm." (I) "" (Leonardo) "You may be right, I may have heard many heroic stories in my life, but they were not reality." (Leonardo) "I''ll tell you what I think." (I) "People are strong, even if some suffer from the fall of this city, as long as they are alive they will always have a better chance of prospering, letting people fight for themselves may not be the best thing to do, but it''s the most I''m willing to do." (I) My words may be a little insensitive, but I already have enough problems with building a city, I don''t have the time and mental strength to take care of another city or a Kingdom just because I''m fighting some enemies. People will know how to take care of themselves, what I''m doing is already more than many would be willing to do, so I''m not going to accept someone saying I didn''t do enough. Sigh "Alright, so why did you save me?" (Leonardo) "I came here because I want to hire you, besides I didn''t just save you, I also freed other prisoners." (I) "Do you want to hire me?" (Leonardo) "Yes, but we can talk about this later, now let''s go." (I) I pick up this Elf and carry him on one of my shoulders as I run out of the mansion and jump from roof to roof while using my ability to hide. Soon I arrive at an empty building, this place was a meeting place for the enemy according to how I died Prince Henry, but I''m using it as a meeting place because no one comes here, besides we''ve already killed the few enemies responsible for guarding this place. I waited over an hour in the building while I ate something with Leonardo who was still hungry, I also discovered that I was not the one pressed to return, Beatriz, Jay, and Kira were already there waiting for me. It seems the fastest was Beatriz and then Kira, Jay was the last of the three to come back, Byakko told everyone how Kira dealt with the enemy, Jay put his hand on his face while keeping an expression of sadness for having lost against someone who did something so stupid. Jay spent some time talking to Kira about why she didn''t do things stealthily like they''d been trained to do, but she responded that it was faster and easier this way. Amazingly, the last person to come back was Elsaris and Samira, but that''s why Elsaris took this moment to train her sister in a real situation since Samira has never fought other people. Even Lyra looked tired, besides she kept fighting very well, I sent Layla along with Lyra to make her safe. While we were all eating and talking, the others were arriving little by little, after everyone returned I introduce Leonardo to everyone, then I turn to everyone who is present now. "I declare the end of the mission." (I) Chapter 334: The Terror Of A Combat Alchemist Chapter 334: The Terror Of A Combat Alchemist Pov Lyra: A few hours before the mission ends. Before the mission, my father insisted a lot on coming, but I asked the master to do my mission alone, the master refused and let Layla come with me saying that she would be better than my father. The place we are going to attack is the illegal drug factory that exists in this city in one of the government buildings. I was already in the place that master Zenos said would be the factory, but all I see is a shed that appears to be empty. "Are you sure it''s here?" (I) "From the information we have, inside the shed, there is a hidden entrance to the underground." (Layla) "So there''s only one entrance and exit?" (I) "As far as we know, yes." (Layla) "Does the master know how many enemies there must be inside?" (I) "That''s why I''m here." (Layla) "< Spatial Detection >" (Layla) I was talking to Layla while we are on top of a building talking looking at the shed from afar, so Layla stretches all four hands towards the shed while using a spell, this makes a shapeless wave in space pass unfailingly through the place without being obstructed. So Layla uses the holographic magic the master is so fond of to show me a 3D drawing of the map of every location. Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com "It''s five floors underground, there seem to be about 27 people in there." (Layla) "Your map is very detailed." (I) "Thanks, I''m glad someone recognizes how awesome I am." (Layla) "" (I) Sigh "So let''s go?" (I) I start walking around this shed to a place in the back where there is a big hidden vent, I take three whole vials of potion and open it, then control the potions to come out entirely from the bottles this creates three spheres of a liquid standing in the My front. I then merge the three potions creating a whirlpool with the three potions, once the three potions become one potion I use my abilities to expand that amount many times over. Soon the sphere starts to grow and then I throw this big sphere into the air outlet while it turned into gas making the sphere evaporate, then I use simple wind magic to make wind in the air outlet, this will make the gas my potion has run out to create and spread more easily, so I walk to the spot where Layla''s map pointed out to be the entrance. This potion was meant to weaken enemies without them noticing, the master said to never let an advantage slip by. I see two guards, then Layla points her hands forward and two spear-shaped wooden logs grow from the ground where the guards were, this kills them before I enter the secret passage. Once inside, Layla uses some magic on me that covers my body with dark energy, so we keep walking until we find the first guard. The combat outfit I''m wearing has several pockets where different types of potions are stuck, the flasks are magic items that open and close at will, I open two flasks and take a small drop from each flask, then I mix the drops into only one. "Fine, but leave the next floor to me, I don''t like to just stare." (Layla) "OK." (I) After collecting the corpses, tools, books, and alchemy materials, Layla and I left going from room to room as there is no one else on this floor according to Layla''s magic. After that, we go down to the next floor where I see Layla flying away at great speed, after two minutes she comes back flying slowly while humming. "I thought we shouldn''t leave wounds on the bodies since Vampires can smell it." (I) "Don''t worry, they didn''t leave any blood behind." (Layla) "So what did you do?" (I) "I just used a new spell I created after Nix taught me more about the Dark element." (Layla) "None of the enemies left anything behind, including the blood when they were being devoured." (Layla) "Devoured?" (I) "You don''t need to know more than that, I haven''t even shown it to the master yet." (Layla) "" (I) My father and master Zenos are right, this Fairy is the real Devil here, I even feel a little sorry for the enemies who were killed by her here. Layla and I continued exploring every floor while collecting everything that could be useful, then we went down to the next floor which was empty, looks like this was their warehouse, there were a lot of drugs around here, but nothing that would be useful to us. I leave everything behind before continuing to the 4th underground floor, it was another warehouse, but this time for alchemy materials, so I put everything away before heading to the last underground floor. The top floor only had three enemies, Layla said there was a small passage hidden in a room far from the place we entered that leads straight to the surface. So we shouldn''t draw attention, so I let Layla go ahead and take care of the two closest people before continuing to the last room. This time Layla said that the person is heading towards the exit, seems to have noticed our presence, so I run to the door and enter kicking the door. The enemy tries to run to a drinks rack, but Layla freezes the rack where the exit should be and this prevents the enemy from escaping, who changes direction coming towards us as his skin changes to a light red color and small horns grow on his head. I mix some potions while increasing their amounts making a large liquid sphere before condensing into a sword shape, this only took 3 seconds. When the enemy tried to attack me head-on with a sword I parry their attack while bending the blade of my sword to penetrate his shoulder, then I step back while looking at the enemy standing like a statue in the same position in which he attacked me. I make my linked sword fly towards the enemy and penetrate their heart, before stopping controlling the potion and letting it go back to liquid. "The master was right, faking a direct attack makes enemies lower their guard." (I) "The idiot thought you created a sword, he didn''t even think you could bend the blade hahahahaha" (Layla) "The sword was still liquid, I could shape it any way I wanted." (I) I collected the body before searching all over the place for useful things, so I leave vials of explosive potion in each room as I make my way back to the 1st floor while spreading a flammable potion all over the floor, as soon as we get to the surface Layla sends a fireball up the stairs we climb as we run away, soon the ground starts shaking and muffled sounds of explosions follow those tremors. Then we continued walking back to the meeting point. Chapter 335: Leonardos Dream Chapter 335: Leonardo''s Dream After everyone is gathered and I see that they are ok, I end the quest as I open the Dungeon gate, tell everyone to come in, and leave Jay to help Leonardo as they are both White Elves, actually Jay is no longer an Elf but he once was, so it will be easier for Leonardo to adapt when he sees what''s inside the Dungeon. After everyone has entered the Dungeon, I close the gate and sneak out of town, getting as far out of town as I can before looking for a place to stay for now. I find an empty cave, it had a strong odor of rot, so when I enter I find several bodies of Goblins, Wolves and even some dead people, the bodies were rotten and eating this rot were strange small trees with arms and legs. As soon as I entered they tried to attack me, they were too slow for me, but suddenly vines come out from between the branches with leaves on their heads, they tried to capture me but it was useless, I just needed my claws to break these tree monsters in half. Ding! I guard the bodies of this monster I don''t know, then I use fire magic to burn all the rot in the cave to ash, then I use wind magic to blow all the dirt away. With that ready, I use earth magic to close the entrance to the cave and open a gate to the dungeon, as soon as I enter I go straight to the 4th floor. "But what''s going on over there?" (I) As soon as I get to the floor I open my wings to fly towards the camp where I see Leonardo passed out in Jay''s arms and the Lizardman''s running towards me, as soon as I land they kneel in front of me. While confused by what was happening Ivan, Sapphire, Nix, and Freya approach. "Do you want me to explain?" (Ivan) "Please." (I) "Leonardo was surprised when he learned that Irius, Irina, Elsaris, Samira, Jay, Beatriz, Nolan, and Alice were Vampires, coupled with his surprise to see so many Demis races and humanoid monsters in the camp made smoke come out of his head." (Ivan) "Jay managed to catch him before he hit the ground, that was the first person to act normal in this place." (Freya) "And these Lizardmen?" (I) "They did the same to me when I freed them." (Nix) "Before you guys showed up everything was going well, the Lizardman and Lamias were getting along well as we have a lot in common, even with the difference in language." (Sapphire) "Language difference?" (I) "Only one person among them knows the common language." (Nix) "Then he or she will be responsible for teaching the common language to everyone." (I) "We were already telling them that, but as soon as they saw you flying towards us, they ran over here." (Sapphire) Sigh "Can someone ask them why they''re on their knees? Also tell them to stop kneeling all the time." (I) "Let me take care of it." (Nix) "(I thought if I left all this to someone else and stayed outside to find a safe place away from the mess the city will be in, everything would be resolved inside the Dungeon, but it seems I was wrong.)" (I) I see Nix go talk to one of the Lizardman who looked taller than the others, then I see him say something to the others before all the Lizardman stand up as they look at me curiously, but a few among them who have a small horn on one side from the head looked at me with admiration. Soon I see Nix come back. "It seems that your Dragonewt bloodlines reacted to my presence and your Master Aura as we are True Dragons." (Nix) "" (I) "They can be very servile, but that''s just me and you." (Nix) "They were acting normal with me and the others." (Sapphire) "I have a lot of things to take care of right now, so Sapphire will be responsible for getting huts and food for these people." (I) "Ivan is going to bring Leonardo inside the mansion, before we leave this town we have to find out what the Demons really want." (I) Leonardo looks at me seriously as if trying to figure out if I''m telling the truth, then he looks at Rakan who nods in confirmation. "For some reason Rakan trusts you, so before I decide if I want to work for you, can I hear the reason for wanting to hire me?" (Leonardo) "That''s not a problem, the reason is I want to build a city." (I) "If you want to build a city, then why don''t you conquer the city like I said before?" (Leonardo) "I already told you I have enough problems, I may have helped these people get rid of the Demons, but I won''t get involved any more than that." (I) "But there aren''t many safe areas on the mainland where you can build a city, that would be the best place." (Leonardo) "" (I) I look at Ivan and Freya trying to understand what Leonardo is trying to say. "He thinks you are going to build a city on the mainland, as small Kingdoms are usually created." (Ivan) "Since you had a misunderstanding, let me explain it clearly so you can understand, Mr. Leonardo." (Freya) "What my master meant earlier is that he wants to build a city here, inside this Dungeon." (Freya) "" (Leonardo) "Damn, he passed out again." (Ivan) "Lyra, bring the hot sauce." (Ivan) "I think I''ll try a hotter sauce so he won''t be able to lose consciousness so easily." (lyra) "Stop you two, just use something with a strong scent to wake him up." (I) "Something with a strong smell." (Lyra) Lyra removes from her storage item a large chest that opens revealing many compartments and drawers where many potions are stored, she spends a few seconds searching until she gets a vial with a green liquid, then she opens the vial and passes it near Leonardo''s nose wakes up with a fright. "What was that?" (I) "I don''t know, it was the result of a failed mix, all I know is that it smells really bad." (Lyra) "But I can''t smell any." (I) "That''s because Freya is preventing the scent from escaping too far from the vial." (Lyra) "I don''t want that terrible smell pervading the mansion we just cleaned." (Freya) Leonardo wakes up pale and covers his nose, his face is even half green and he shows an expression of someone who is about to vomit. Freya takes a hot sandwich and passes it in front of him, I think she''s trying to make him forget about the other odor she smelled a few seconds ago, this works and he takes the sandwich and starts eating. "As Freya said before I want to build a city in this dungeon, if you come to work for me then money, materials, and a strong team will not be an issue." (I) "You will be responsible for designing the city and building it, there will be no specific deadline, but I would like you to take into account that the people of the camp are homeless." (I) "But know that if you accept, then it will be a lifetime job, just like Rakan." (I) "" (Leonardo) Leonardo looks at me like what he''s saying is unbelievable, then looks at Rakan who nods with a smile on his face, then tears start to come out of Leonardo''s eyes. "Hey I accept your proposal, I certainly do, I can''t believe that after the worst moment of my life I would be able to fulfill my dream." (Leonardo) "Not rebuilding a city following the plans of others, but building a new city with the freedom to do it my way" (Leonardo) "I''m glad you accepted, so welcome to Dungeon Eclipse." (I) Chapter 336: Plan Of The Demons Chapter 336: Plan Of The Demons It seems that Leonardo was very happy to accept my proposal, he also accepted the job offer easier than Rakan. With that I did the same as I did with Rakan and only used the Blood Servant skill, with that I broke any kind of control the Demons could have had over him before. After that was resolved, there was something more urgent to resolve, so I asked Freya to go call the others to have a big meeting, I wanted everyone to know what I''m going to ask Leonardo. The moment Freya leaves to call the others I give Leonardo a stack of paper and a few colors of pen. "First of all do you know what the Demons were planning?" (I) "I don''t know, all I did was follow your instructions on rebuilding cities." (Leonardo) "Do you still remember the renovations you made in these three cities?" (I) "Yes, I remember like it was yesterday that I was doing each of these renovations." (Leonardo) "If possible, draw on these papers the renovations you''ve made, you and Rakan can take your time with it, but if you find anything come let me know soon, we have to get out of this town by tomorrow." (I) Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com After talking to them I leave the two there and go take a shower while Freya is gathering the others. After about forty minutes when I was leaving the bathroom Rakan runs to me, what he says makes me very anxious, but Alice approaches saying that everyone is already present in the meeting room which is what we call the ballroom, I go there with Rakan and sit with the others. "This meeting would be to find out what everyone did, but now it will be a meeting to re-enter the city." (I) "Did something happen, master?" (Ivan) "Yes, it seems that Rakan managed to discover the Demons'' plans with Leonardo''s help." (I) "From now on I''m going to let Rakan speak, so it''ll be easier to understand." (I) After I spoke, everyone got serious expressions, then Rakan who was next to me started talking. "You all know that the three capital cities of the Realms that the Makari Kingdom conquered have been reformed." (Rakan) "But according to Leonardo, the capital city was also being renovated little by little over the decades." (Rakan) "Leonardo, having a good memory, could remember the designs of cities and the renovations he made." (Rakan) "After seeing the drawings he made and listening to his explanation, I found out what the Makari Kingdom is doing." (Rakan) "The streets of these cities form a three-tiered magic circle, one to amplify the magic that will be used, another that limits the magic to a specific area, and the last one that absorbs all energy within the area for the magic activation." (Rakan) "In other words, the streets are just to widen, power and limit an area for other magic." (Rakan) "According to Leonardo, there was another thing that was done to all the cities, a reform in their sewer systems that covers the whole city." (Rakan) "After seeing the drawings of the sewer network, I was able to recognize it as an innovation circle, plus it was a summoning magic circle that I modified myself." (Rakan) This is a horrible plan, so do these Demons really want to conquer this continent this way? "But that doesn''t make sense, wouldn''t the True Dragons kill these Demons and Vampires for summoning these monsters?" (I) "When they got here they wouldn''t be able to know who summoned these monsters, there wouldn''t be any evidence or witnesses either." (Nix) "The first cities to fall will be the 4 big cities of the Makari Kingdom, that''s why these magic circles will need all the energy they can get either mana or life energy." (Rakan) "So the four cities are sacrifices for this Summon." (I) "But how are Demons, Demon Faction Vampires, and Demon worshipers going to protect themselves from these monsters?" (I) "The center of the magic circle will be safe, plus Leonardo said there is a large underground hall in the center to keep them safe." (Rakan) I won''t let that happen, maybe I and the others will be protected if we stay inside the Dungeon, but I don''t want the people of Valen City to be slaughtered by these monsters. "How can we stop this." (I) "They must have a central magic circle through which they will control magic, we have to destroy this magic circle, in addition, we can destroy the streets and the sewer system." (Rakan) "These black stones have high mana conductivity, without them magic circles are just useless drawings." (Rakan) I spend a few minutes thinking about what we can do, then images of Nix putting things away in her shadow and Layla using her space magic to put things away as well. "So that''s what we''re going to do, Nix and Layla want you to take care of the streets and the sewer system, steal all these black stones." (I) "I think I can use the help of other Dark element spirits." (Nix) "The Fairies already have enough intelligence to follow orders, I''ll take the ones who have an affinity with the elements of space and darkness." (Layla) "Me, Rakan, Vanessa, and Elsaris are going to this secret room to destroy the central magic circle." (I) "Let''s do these things now, let''s go." (I) We had already finished with all or at least almost all the enemies, so I thought there would be no problems, as soon as I leave the Dungeon I close the gate and leave the cave where I was. I sneak back to the city and go to a dark alley where I open the Dungeon gate again, soon Nix and Layla come out of the Dungeon with hundreds of Fairies and Spirits. I''ve given orders to stay invisible while doing this work. Meanwhile, Vanessa, Elsaris, and Rakan leave the Dungeon before I close the gate, so we follow Leonardo''s information to enter through the sewers until we reach the central room that Rakan spoke of at the meeting. It took us over an hour to get here, there were six soldiers guarding the doors, I used my lines to kill them, they didn''t even have a chance to fight, after that I let Elsaris check that there are no traps at the door, but luckily there wasn''t. As soon as we enter I see a large rock hall, the dome that is more than five meters high, in the center has a very large magic circle and a giant crystal in the middle. Vanessa cancels the magic that holds the magic circle while I keep that big crystal, there was nothing else here so we went out only to see a big mess, the Fairies were stealing the black bricks at great speed, I and the others ran outside where the townspeople were running to and fro in desperation not knowing how the bricks in the street had disappeared. I waited on top of the city walls for two hours, luckily Nix and Layla came back with all the Fairies and Spirits and we left the city to the same cave where I close the entrance, then I open the Dungeon gate for everyone to enter. Chapter 337: Going To The Next City Chapter 337: Going To The Next City After finishing everything we had to do in the first town we go back to the Dungeon, I leave a big caravan carriage with the people of the village and tell them to change it to a simpler look, that''s because the carriage is very flashy. After that I left Rakan with the crystal I sinned, he can use it in his magic studies or put it to better use. I meet with Ivan, Elsaris, Vanessa, Nira, rica, and Diana to discuss which route to take to the next town. "We won''t be able to go by the river this time and by the sky, it''s still a no as we don''t want to be noticed." (I) "If it was a straight road we could get to the next town in less than five days, but if we go down the road it will take us a week and a half." (Diana) "If it takes too long for the next attack, the enemy can take precautions, so we''d better make the next two attacks as soon as possible." (Ivan) "What do you think if we go straight across the mountain on foot?" (Nira) "There may be some monsters, but in this region, they won''t be strong enough to fight us." (Diana) Vissit for updates "Then we can forget about the road and go straight up the mountain." (Nira) "So if we count on the rest time we''re going to have, it could take up to six days, right?" (I) "I think so." (Ivan) "Why don''t Nix and my father take turns so we can continue our journey faster." (Vanessa) "This idea is promising, with your speed we can get there in 3 or 4 days." (Elsaris) "So it''s decided, let''s do it." (I) "From the information we have, it will be easier to attack him there, that''s because the enemy numbers there are smaller." (I) "The problem is the mess we''re making by destroying the magic circle, have you seen the chaos in the city we just left behind?" (Elsaris) "They were just frightened by an unexpected event, but soon those who could see Spirits or Fairies will tell what they saw." (I) "Fairies are known to be playful, they might take this as a bad joke by the Fairies." (Ivan) "Once they''ve calmed down, they might as well forget the streets have disappeared, but the destruction of the city''s sewers is not something that will be easy or quick to solve." (rica) "That''s still better than someone activating that thing, that would be dooming the entire city while unleashing an enemy we couldn''t defeat." (I) "Forget about the mess we''re creating, this might even be a good thing since it''s going to draw even more attention from other Realms here, and besides, nobody knows about us." (I) "The Black Market knows." (Elsaris) "Others start training if they don''t have any preparation to do." (I) After this brief meeting, we decided how we were going to go to the next city and what we would need to improve on our plans. We''re not leaving until the next morning so I tried to spend some time with the lizardman, they were all more servile than Jade, every time they''re close to me they kneel down, when I asked Barok about it he said it''s an instinct within them that makes them want to serve me and Nix. When I went to talk to Nix about this she said that all kinds of races associated with Dragons are this close to True Dragons, she said that even though my bloodline has not fully awakened it is still marked in my Aura, furthermore my Aura has a strong presence of governance, all of which add up only makes them more servile around me. After that, I went to see how Leonardo was doing, but I discovered that he is in the kitchen being held by the neck by an angry Leo, when I was about to interfere I see Caryna put herself between them to try to push them away, but instead she threw them both against the walls in opposite directions. Leonardo had passed out again and Leo was getting up with difficulty, Caryna started crying when she saw that she hurt them both unintentionally, because of that Leo and I took some time to calm her down again while Alice took the unconscious Leonardo to an empty room. During the afternoon I went to the lake to refresh my head which was mired with problems and worries, at the lake I find the Guardian with her beautiful red hair bathing in the lake. As soon as she sees me she comes out of the water without showing the slightest bit of shame while her wonderful body is in view, but after she leaves the water green and red leaves grow from her body creating a dress of leaves. "Did you like what you saw?" (Guardian) "Yes, but you shouldn''t expose yourself so much in a place like this." (I) "None of the people in the village dare come here to try anything on me, that''s been true since I was a Dryad." (Guardian) "Why that?" (I) "My stamina for sexual acts is limitless, this is a trait that Dryads and some other races possess." (Guardian) "I''m not a pervert, but a Dryad''s instincts were hard to control when it started, this trait didn''t change just because I became a Holy Beast." (Guardian) "Then I''ll follow the example of the others and leave, I already have a lot to deal with just the four that are in the mansion." (I) "Don''t worry, I won''t do anything to you, I just like to see people look when they look at me, looks like you did before." (Guardian) "You are a tease." (I) "Every woman likes to feel wanted." (Guardian) I spent some time with the Guardian of the village, after she got tired of teasing me she talked about the things I''ve been doing, she seemed very worried about the Dragons of Destruction. She also talked to me about wanting to tell me something after she is done with this matter, it seems like she wants to ask me something. After I talked to the Guardian I went to the mansion where I found Leonardo shaking hands with Leo, with a conversation with them I discovered that Leonardo hugged Caryna due to the happiness of eating delicious food after so long, Leo got jealous which led to the scene I saw earlier, but now Leonardo explained everything to Leo to show he had no interest in Caryna. It looks like Leonardo was gay, but that''s not my problem, but I think I should warn him about how aggressive the women in this Dungeon are before he gets into trouble. Chapter 338: Broken Person Part 1 Chapter 338: Broken Person Part 1 The next day at dawn Nix was left alone, following the path we defined earlier to the next town. As Nix continued her journey I went to talk to Leonardo again, told him to take a look at the caravan carriage I stole and see if he can make it look more normal and bigger if possible. I have plans for this carriage, yesterday I left it in the hands of the people of the village, but I don''t want it to happen like it did with the boat, I don''t want something that looks so simple unfinished, I want something normal and that doesn''t attract attention. Leonardo said that he can make a drawing of the carriage, but he has no experience in woodworking, I said that it''s ok, as long as he has a good drawing for the people of the village to use as a base, I''m sure the Nymphs will be able to do a job yet better, I even gave the wood from the monsters I killed in the cave yesterday to use. After that, I spent the rest of the day training my control over the shadows and the Shadow Rune that Nix has been teaching me. When it got dark I switched shifts with Nix, during the way running through the mountains I ran into some adventurers I ignored as I continued my journey to the next town. I took this time to continue thinking about the plan we will make this time, as far as we know this next city is a little smaller than the previous one, also fewer places to attack. Aside from the government building, Duke''s castle, 2 noble mansions, and the underground secret room in the center of town, I don''t think there''s anything else to attack. The place that has the highest risk of having a strong enemy is the Duke''s castle, as far as I know, this Duke is a Demon and he''s in the capital, so he shouldn''t be in the city right now, but it''s been a long time and things may have changed. change, I must be prepared. I spent the rest of the night running at full speed before I saw the Suns rise over the horizon, so I open the Dungeon to trade shifts with Nix again. After sleeping for a while, I wake up and go back to training until it''s time to switch shifts with Nix again, we repeat this cycle until we get to the second city. As soon as we get to the city we have a meeting with everyone who will participate in the plan, I give the orders of who goes and I also tell everyone to finish everything tonight. This time I leave Nix and Layla behind to prepare, I want them to lead the Fairies and Spirits to steal the black stones across the city just like we did before. The black stones in the sewer are just on the ground and go up to the magic control circle from what I noticed in the last city. Because of that, he started taking me to his secret meetings where other Demons, Vampires, and Demon worshipers were present, sometimes I was naked, sometimes being forced to walk on all fours like an animal being pulled on a leash by him, sometimes she was beaten up in front of these monsters for their amusement and sometimes she was forced to kill or torture innocent people for their amusement. These meetings were a new way for the Duke to humiliate and torture me, but he was so sure I would never escape him that he didn''t hide anything from me as he talked to his companions. I had discovered that this Realm had long been in the hands of Demons and Vampires, I also knew that these bastards were hated even within their own race as extremists who hated Humans. It seems that what they are doing here is not known to the Demons of the dark continent, I also found out that these Vampires were from a demonic faction acting hidden here, there were two other factions that they called fools of the human side and Goddess puppets. I also discovered the atrocities they intend to do, but just knowing that was useless as I couldn''t do anything. Each day my hatred, fury, sadness, and despair only increased. Many times I thought I would go crazy, but I held myself in the hope that one day I would make him suffer, while I lived one day an enemy of his would come here and I could see his death with my own eyes, I didn''t mind dying as long as it was after watch your eyes filled with terror and despair before. Many years ago I learned not to go out of my room much, but when I went out I learned to hide from the lives of others so that I could walk around the mansion without being seen, I did this for two reasons, the first was to look for food, this for that all these years I could only eat the Duke''s leftover food or anything disgusting and unpleasant he found, there was even a time where he fed me poisons for fun, leaving me on the brink of death before he healed. Because of that, I needed to steal real food from the kitchen without being noticed this was very difficult as Demons have stronger senses than Humans. The second reason was to read books, this Demon was specialized in magic, because of that he had a large collection of books that I read entirely without him or his servants noticing, moreover I also knew where he hid his secret collection of forbidden books full of Demon magic, this one was more difficult to read as it was not in a language I could understand, I had to learn the Demon language to learn to read these books, it took me two years of study. But even after reading so many books, I can''t train the spells I''ve learned, I can''t even remove this enslavement mark from my body due to the orders I received the night this mark was engraved on my body. But I would not lose my will, I have discovered by reading these books that there is a possibility of becoming a Demon if my hatred completely consumes me, I also have the possibility of becoming a ghost if I die with a strong will and hatred. So I lived waiting for an enemy of this Demon to appear or for me to die, I no longer had any attachment to my race or life, all I wanted was for the last thing that Demon to see was my smile of triumph at the moment of his death. "It''s impossible for anyone to notice what they''re doing, I just have to wait." (me) Chapter 339: Broken Person Part 2 Chapter 339: Broken Person Part 2 Pov Duchess: Vissit for updates I was having a dream where this whole mansion is destroyed and this Duke is dead under my feet. "I don''t know how many times I''ve dreamed about this, but it''s always so much fun to destroy everything and kill these bastards." (I) That''s right, this is a recurring dream where I always destroy and kill these bastards, every time I wake up from this dream I feel renewed, but when I look in the mirror I no longer recognize the face I see. I''m 30 years old now, but I still look like I did when I was twenty, after everything I''ve read I''ve found that this is a side effect of all the potions and medicines I''ve been forced to take to heal my body almost every day since I married this bastard over ten years ago. All I know is that this dream is always when I feel most alive, in this place I can be myself. "You''ve proven your will by resisting this far, now wake up." "Wake up child, your wish is about to come true." "Who''s there!?" (I) "" (I) For some reason, a heavy voice appeared out of nowhere from all directions. "I am the one you asked for strength a long time ago, now I give you the opportunity to get it yourself." "Than you" (I) When I wanted to know more I felt a great pain in my head and I woke up, I tried to calm down and think clearly, I woke up on the floor beside the bed in my room, this is the place where I am forced to sleep due to the orders of that Hell, I''ve been sleeping here for over 10 years. "Am I awake? Did that voice wake me up?" (I) I get up and look out the window seeing it''s still the middle of the night. "That voice, I feel like I''ve heard that voice before, but when" (I) "Will" (I) I remember something five years ago, after so much suffering I prayed to every God or Goddess I was able to remember the name, but maybe because I didn''t have enough faith or they didn''t care about me, none of them answered my request of desperate help. So in the first Demon book that was in a common language that I could find I learned about a Demon God, his teachings preached about the will for revenge, his teachings talked about taking revenge, he talked about the justice of taking revenge for the right reasons and against the target right, reading that book all I could think was that this god was a god of justice, he preached that the victim should seek justice for himself with his own will, I think this was the first and only time I prayed to a god no hate in my mind. I still remember that I thought I heard a voice at that time, but as there was no one around I thought it was my imagination, but I remember what the voice was saying. "Prove your will." For some reason those words have always resonated in my ears ever since, it feels like a voice in the back of my mind like it wants to see if I''m strong enough to take justice into my own hands. "So all this time he''s been watching, the only God who truly cared for me, Vidark the God of vengeance." (I) "I can also see the hatred and fury in your eyes, that smile on your face can no longer be considered a normal person''s either." "So let me ask you, do you hate this Duke?" "Yea." (I) When he started to speak I felt like she could see what I really was, he could see through this face that doesn''t represent me and understand who I really am, a broken person even if I broke free I wouldn''t be able to live together to other normal people and I know it. But when he asked his question it felt like something awakened inside me, all the horrible memories of those years come to mind, all the pain, torture, abuse, humiliation, suffering, and sadness bubbles up from inside me releasing bloodlust I have contained within me for years, even I can tell how much my response was filled with the will to kill. "Do you hate the Demon or Vampire race?" "" (I) His question didn''t make sense to me at first, but I remembered the teachings of God Vidark that I read five years ago, I also remembered my early days here where there were Demons who didn''t want to harm me and died in front of me. I realized that I shouldn''t hate the entire race for the crimes of some, after all, there were even humans on the side of this Demon doing horrible things, all races must have good and bad people, this made me understand the teachings of directing your revenge correctly if directing all my hatred towards all of the Demon race I will be no different from that Demon. Sigh "At first I hated them all, but now my hatred is directed only at the Duke and his companions." (I) "Do you have any prejudice against other races?" "No, I was from a family of merchants, I was taught from an early age that prejudice only gets in the way of business." (I) "Do you have any attachment to your humanity?" "" (I) I look at my own hands for a few seconds, then look at the wall next to me where there''s a mirror where I can see my reflection. I''m looking at the face of a person who hasn''t been around for a long time, the face of a person who hasn''t been able to resist the loss of their parents. "I don''t have any attachment to my humanity, even if I''m Human on the outside, I know that on the inside to a darkness that no Human should have." (I) He takes off his mask revealing beautiful dark skin and red hair, his face is beautiful in its innocence giving a giant contrast to his shrewd and deep eyes, he smiles at me showing his fangs and I can see the seriousness and sincerity in his expression where not hides his race to show me who he is. "Then hold my hand, I will give the power to your revenge." "Join me and leave all hate behind, this will be your new life, what you do with it is up to you." "" (I) He''s also a Vampire, he didn''t try to hide it, in his eyes I can see sincerity but I can also see the depth that seems to suck everything into an endless abyss, he held out his hand and it felt like there was someone guiding my hand to hold his. When I held his hand, I could feel that it was warm and pleasant, this is the first time I have felt this heat in over 10 years, for some reason the tears that I thought had dried up a long time ago came back to my eyes, he pulled me away closer, wrapping me in his arms and allowing me to cry myself out of consciousness as if I were a child. "Put it all out, today you took your first step." Chapter 340: Cleaning Up The City Dirt Part 1 Chapter 340: Cleaning Up The City Dirt Part 1 Pov Vanessa: When we arrived in the second city, my Father called everyone who would participate in the mission to a meeting, at this meeting we went over what each one would do and my Father let Leonardo explain about the places we were going to attack, another thing that changed in the plan was also The way we''re going to collect these black stones from the streets, it looks like Nix and Layla have more creative and faster ways to do it during our travel time here. Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com When it got dark the plan started and everyone left in the direction of their targets, only Layla and Nix stayed behind as they have to wait an hour before starting their part of the plan so as not to alert the enemies. Me, Elsaris, and Rakan went out towards the secret underground room in the center of the city, this time the entrance to the sewers is close to the poorest residential area of the city, we went through there and followed a map that Leonardo left with us. It only took us 30 minutes to get to the place where the door to the room is, at first glance there seemed to be no guards, but Elsaris made me and Rakan remain hidden, meanwhile, she throws herself into the sewer water, a few minutes later we see the water turns red and a giant body floats out. As soon as Elsaris comes out of the water and comes over to us, I hand her a potion and liquid soap. "Why are you carrying this kind of potion with you?" (Elsaris) "I think I got this bad habit of my father''s, I can''t live peacefully anymore if I don''t have a potion of liquid soap close by." (I) "Master Zenos really uses these potions as if they were water, he even cleans his teeth with it." (Elsaris) "How do you know that?" (I) "He taught that to Samira, now she''s become as flamboyant as he is with this potion." (Elsaris) "For this rampant spending of this potion that Lyra no longer makes this potion forcing us to buy in large quantities." (I) "She did it right, she would never have time to make other potions if she was making liquid soap potions for master Zenos all the time." (Elsaris) "How long do you plan on going without calling him Father?" (I) "I understand your sister not doing that as she still doesn''t know Vampire customs and culture, but you know she''s a daughter of Zenos now." (I) "I''m sure you already have the title to prove it." (I) "" (Elsaris) Sigh "But what kind of conversation is this during a raid on the enemy base?" (Rakan) Because of that, I was happy to make friends with her. Our training went very well, I''m different from Beatriz who was mainly focused on espionage, I''m someone trained mainly for assassination, so I train more battle situations with Jade. As soon as we arrive in town and separate ourselves from the others we head towards our target, we are heading to a mansion full of Vampires. As soon as we arrive I position myself to activate the barrier, then we start cleaning the inside of the mansion. I went upstairs where the noble family members and the most important servants are, while Jade went to the backside of the mansion downstairs where the guards and servants'' quarters are. Jade''s side should have more enemies, but they will be weaker and will be sleeping, I left her to deal with these enemies because she managed to learn new magic with Rakan''s help, she can create a magic circle with her poison and create small snakes of venom that she can control, she can create dozens of these snakes, so she will finish her job quickly, I have to hurry. I identified the main room quickly, so I decided to take care of the strongest possible enemy first, I entered the room slowly and approached the bed where a middle-aged man and two women were lying. I go to the two women and pierce their heads with my daggers, at that moment a claw comes flying up to my neck, but suddenly the claw falls, when I turn Byakko in his White Tiger form has crossed his entire paw through the enemy''s chest, the paw that should have been white was silver as if it were made of metal. "The idiot really thought you wouldn''t notice he was awake." (Byakko) "Don''t talk so bad about him, it made our life easier as he focused so much of his attention on me that he didn''t even notice you attacking him." (I) "But now we have to run, the smell of that blood will soon make the others realize that something is wrong." (I) I leave the bodies where they are for now and divide myself with Byakko, when we were outside I confirmed that everyone was sleeping on this floor, this gives me a chance to kill them without having to hide too much, so I go from room to fourth to decapitate everyone while they sleep, there were two that woke up sensing danger, but I used the thunder paralysis rune to stop them from reacting. I just cleaned the second floor in 15 minutes and was picking up the bodies when I look out the window and see that everything is quiet, the bodies of all the guards were on the floor, I had Byakko go along with Jade to take care of them while I took care of the cleaning. When we finished collecting all the bodies, we started to search the mansion for anything of value, since the first city we have been stealing the stocks of food and condiments at Freya''s request, we have also been stealing all the books we found at the request of Irina and rica. At Caryna''s request, I also stole the mansion''s plates, cups, silverware, and cups, of course, I also stole the money and everything else I found in the safe. One thing we found was prisoners who must have been a food source for the Vampires of this place, as they all looked human, all I did was release them and give them some blood replacement potions so they could walk on their own while we left. After we''re done, I deactivate the barrier and head out into the city to the gates to head back to the meeting point outside the city. On the way, we saw people screaming and complaining as they looked at the streets that had become like ditches after the black stones were taken away. It looks like Layla and Nix have already passed through this part of town, we didn''t stop to watch the riot begin, we went straight back to the meeting point where we found almost everyone waiting for us to come back. I kept talking to Vanessa to find out how it was on her side while waiting for everyone to be back, even the master is back with a woman in his arms, he didn''t say anything about her, all he said was that he would explain things later. Chapter 341: Cleaning Up The City Dirt Part 2 Chapter 341: Cleaning Up The City Dirt Part 2 Pov Beatriz: Lyra and I were responsible for attacking one of the two mansions, the place we were going to attack also had a secret underground area where another drug factory was located. Leonardo has already confirmed the design of the place, we know that there are 4 floors, the first two floors are where drugs are produced, the 3rd floor is where everything is stored and the top floor is where the rooms and the office are. Already knowing that there must be an average of 20 enemies or maybe even less, I go along with Lyra to attack and destroy that place just as Lyra did with the last one in the previous city. When we arrived at the second city we separated from the others when the mission started and went straight to the mansion. As I did in the previous city, I position myself on the roof and activate the barrier, while Lyra seems to be preparing something. "The barrier is already active." (I) "What are you doing Lyra?" (I) "A poison, I''m making it to kill the enemies in this place, but I''m going to need your help." (Lyra) "What is on your mind?" (I) "I was thinking of filling the whole mansion with poison, what do you think?" (Lyra) "If you can do that it would be great, but it would be better to be a paralyzing poison." (I) "From what we found in the first city we attacked, there must be prisoners or slaves that the Vampires use as a food source somewhere in the manor." (I) "That''s true, I almost do something I would regret later, thank you Beatriz." (Lyra) "Wait just a few seconds while I change the type of poison I''m preparing." (Lyra) "Of course, but be quick, my magic won''t keep us hidden up here forever." (I) "All right." (Lyra) I was using illusion magic around us so the others wouldn''t notice we were here, but I can''t keep that up forever. Lyra, who had a small sphere of liquid in front of her before, opens a vial and stores the poison she was creating. Then she opens some vials making a few drops come out of each vial and merge in front of her, when a sphere of dark brown liquid is formed she makes the sphere spin faster and faster for a few seconds while creating a magic circle around the sphere. "< Extraction of Impurities >" (Lyra) When the sphere stops spinning I see that the liquid has turned light brown and there is a small stone in the middle, Lyra pulls the magic circle down making this dark stone in the center of the liquid come out and throwing it away, then the magic circle disappears as she stores the resulting liquid in a new bottle, all of which took less than two minutes. When we reach the last room that should be the office of the person in charge of this place, we knock on the door, when a woman''s voice allows us to enter I open the door slowly while Lyra throws a sphere of liquid inside that explodes releasing gas everywhere, the woman gets up and tries to use a spell, but before completing the magic circle falls dead on the table. This gas is poison, not even a very strong poison since we just wanted to capture her, we thought it could be a Vampire or a Demon, but apparently, it was only a Human. After we finish off all the enemies here Lyra spreads explosive potions while throwing a flammable liquid on the ground as we make our way back, when we are at the door of the secret passage I throw a fireball and soon we start to hear muffled explosions followed by tremors. After that, I deactivated the barrier and we walked out of there heading back to the meeting point outside the city. - POV Jay: rica and I went to attack the government office in that city, it was a three-story building, the streets around it were being patrolled by soldiers, but none of them approached the building, I managed to enter the building with rica. Inside the building we only found 15 enemies, there were 6 Humans, 8 Vampires, and 1 Demon. They were all in the same place that seemed to be a meeting room, from what little I could hear the Devil who was in charge of the meeting was talking about starting to raise taxes next week so they''ll be able to stock up on more money before the plan starts. "< Flaming Heart >" (rica) rica reverts back to her Demon form as she puts one hand on the floor and I see a magic circle appear all over the meeting room, then soon the 15 people started screaming in a desperate and agonized way. When we entered rica returned to her human form before starting to kill one by one and the others didn''t seem to even notice our presence, all they could do was scream in pain while holding their chests. After finishing all the enemies, we only stole things that would be useful and left the rest behind while we left there, deactivating the barrier that also prevents the sound from within, so no soldiers showed up here. As we leave the city to go to the meeting point, I talk to rica to ask a question. "What kind of curse did you use on them?" (I) "It was a curse that made them feel pain as if their hearts were on fire inside their body, this curse only causes pain and no real harm." (rica) "The pain level must have been very high given the state they were in." (I) "This curse was useless against Farus'' troops in the mountain range, this was the first time it was really useful." (rica) "I was starting to wonder how much this magic could be usable in battle, but it seems to be quite effective." (rica) "How long does the curse last." (I) "As long as the target of the measurement has mana in its body, I make almost every curse I use the enemy''s mana against it." (rica) As I listen to the way rica uses her curses, I''m amazed at how easy she talks about it and her happy smile as she says her work has borne such horrible fruit, she really is studying curses deeply. Chapter 342: Cleaning Up The City Dirt Part 3 Chapter 342: Cleaning Up The City Dirt Part 3 Pov Nix: During the days that would make the trip to the next city, Layla and I decided to try a different way to collect the black stones that were used in the streets and sewers. To do this, I went to talk to Leonardo to find out a little more about the construction of the streets in these cities. After a long conversation, we discovered that under the black stone there is a normal stone ditch that serves as a base for the street, the thickness of the black stone is two palms, this is necessary to resist even the attack of a wave of monsters, a normal Human would not be able to lift one of these stones with his strength. After talking to Leonardo I started to think about some plans with Layla, that''s because in the last city the Fairies and Spirits we led weren''t of much help, we both made almost noise and took a long time doing it which made us even attacked in the end by those able to see us. To avoid a risky situation for both of us, we decided to come up with a plan to do this work more efficiently, with every plan we thought of we would go to Leonardo to see if the plan was viable. Leonardo discarded most of our plans, but luckily we managed to think of a plan that could be used, this plan would need Layla and me working together, but it would be much easier and faster to collect these black stones. When we arrived in the city we were ready to put our plans into practice, but we would have to wait. The master said that we should wait an hour to start our mission so as not to alert the enemies before the others have managed to isolate them with the barriers. After waiting an hour we started running towards the city, on the way we saw Vanessa, Rakan, and Elsaris coming back as we started our plans. Our plan was very simple, we asked Anton to create a tool for our plan whose measurements and format we asked for Leonardo''s help, as it was a crude tool it didn''t need much care with the details, but still, Anton needed two days to create this tool. What we asked for Anton was a thick, curved metal plate almost the width of a street with a place to hold onto the back. I with my Dragon strength would push it under the black stones making them lift using this iron plate as a ramp, meanwhile, Layla would be flying above me using ice magic on the iron plate so that the black stones can slip more easily. Layla would also be responsible for letting her space magic activate on top of the iron plate to keep the black stones from flying backward or sideways, so we could do our task faster. Leonardo said it could work since the black stones are not attached to the ground by anything but their own weight, but doing that would take a lot of strength, but that wouldn''t be a problem for me. When the hour-long deadline was up, Layla and I went into town and removed some of the black stones from the beginning of a street so I could position myself with the iron plate. After that Layla used ice magic creating layers of ice on top of the iron plate, I do a partial transformation only on my arms and legs that become a little bigger and covered in black crystal scales with energy glows, then I hold it tightly to the iron plate from behind and start to run using all my strength. I thought it would be harder but it seems like It was easier than I expected, I managed to run at a reasonable speed making dozens of black stones fly upwards per second. With that we managed to clean an entire street in a few minutes, when we finished we looked back with smiles on our faces. "That was easier than we thought it would be, certainly easier than when we did it in the first city." (I) As soon as we arrived in the second city, I started the plan when the sky turned dark, the place that would attack would be the castle where the Duke of that place lives, from the information we have he shouldn''t be here, but from the information, we have everyone in the castle is Devils. The castle wasn''t as big as I expected, it was the size of a mansion, it looked more like a fortress than a castle. As soon as I got there I position myself in the center of the terrain to activate the barrier, then I start killing the soldiers outside, just by the scent of the monsters I smell from them I can guess that they are the Kimera Soldiers that Rakan told me about. In order not to take unnecessary risks I used my sword to decapitate everyone, I did it using wind elemental magic and abilities to increase my speed, I also kept hiding in the shadows, I killed and threw the bodies inside the shadows or kept inside an item of storage. It only took me a little over ten minutes to get rid of the twenty soldiers outside, after that, I entered the castle, first I killed those walking in the corridors which were some soldiers patrolling inside the castle or maids. I killed everyone in the first hit using only my sword and dagger, I was taking the opportunity to get used to it since I''ve only practiced without killing anyone inside the Dungeon. It didn''t take me long to clean the corridors and start attacking the soldiers and maids'' rooms, as they were sleeping it was easier and I took the opportunity to train my poisons in them. After I finished everything I was heading towards the upstairs rooms where the most important servants usually stay, I decided to leave the room with the biggest door for last knowing it would be the Duke''s room. With my detection skills, I knew that there was someone inside the room, I thought it might be the Duke, and just as I thought it might have already returned from the Makari Kingdom''s capital. With that in mind, I eliminate everyone else in the castle before heading toward that room, but before I enter the room the door opens and a woman steps out. She was a very beautiful woman with blonde hair and white skin, she wore a strange white nightgown full of red spots, she looked to be in her 20s, but her green eyes were what caught my attention right away. Her eyes reminded me of someone dead for a second, but then I noticed a pressure and intensity inside those eyes that were dead at first sight, this woman didn''t look strong but felt like she wasn''t what she seemed. I hid inside the shadows and followed her, it didn''t take long to realize that the red stains on her nightgown were blood, in addition, I felt that the smell of blood on the nightgown was the same smell I felt coming from her body, I also realized that that blood was already dry, it wasn''t something new and he didn''t understand why she wore something like that. As I continued to follow her I noticed that she was hiding at first, but soon realized that there was no one in the hallways and started to smile, it was the first time I could see a glint of madness and cruelty in her eyes along with a strange smile before she continued. walking into a room with big windows where she starts looking out. After she looked outside she started talking apparently to herself as if she was happy to realize that someone must be attacking this castle, but then she speaks as if she has noticed my presence directing her words to me. I step out of the shadows and talk briefly with her, I discover that she is the Duke''s wife and that she is Human, as she introduces herself with a disturbing smile and eyes full of insanity, she also lifts her nightgown showing her lower body where I see a bondage mark just like I saw on Rakan and Leonardo, but I also saw burns, bruises, cuts, and various other scars that I couldn''t identify. It was at that moment that I started to put the puzzle together, I don''t know exactly what this woman went through, but whatever it was she is broken beyond all return, her gaze can''t even be considered that of a Human anymore. I tried to take a test to find out what else she was hiding so I asked some questions, in the first question she released such a bloodlust it felt like I was in front of an insane monster, her eyes were full of the will to kill but in the next second it was back to normal as if nothing had happened, it seems that she is more broken than I initially thought, I could feel the great darkness that she suppresses inside her. I only have one way to break the mark of slavery made with a curse and that is to make her my servant just like I did with Rakan and Leonardo, but even if there was another way I couldn''t release someone like her in the midst of people, she never will being able to live among normal people, besides said depending on the environment she lives in, she can become a real killer monster. With that kind of thinking I decided that I would take her with me, my abilities can deal with her darkness just like rica did, but even then her mind is too broken so I don''t know if I''ll be able to get her back to normal, maybe she is beyond what I can help, but those around me are far from normal, so she won''t be that out of place. When I reach out to her, I take off my mask to show that I''m a Vampire, the decision must be hers, in my view the best way to deal with her strong intention to kill is to direct it to the person who made her suffer, I think it''s very fair that she has the opportunity to seek justice for herself, so I will give her that opportunity if she wants to. Chapter 343: On The Way To The Next City Chapter 343: On The Way To The Next City After making the proposal to the woman named Alessandra she started to cry as she took my hand, her eyes were still full of madness, but this time what I saw inside them was not hate or anger, it was sadness, when she started crying didn''t stop, after a long time, she simply lost consciousness in my arms while crying. "This Duke really managed to piss me off this time." (I) As I hugged this woman I noticed how thin her body was, moreover I could tell she was as strong as an average person, but when I used my ability to "Identify" her to see her status I was surprised at what I saw. She had high stats for intelligence, defense, and vitality which filled me with fury as I knew the way to increase stat was to train those physical traits. This means that to increase defense you have to be beaten and to increase vitality you must be on the verge of death if that weren''t enough the jobs she had in her history were slave, maid, and torturer. I couldn''t even think what this woman had to go through to get these jobs, but when I checked the titles my fury reached a level I haven''t felt since Diana''s life was in danger during the zombies'' mission to the Valen City of the Trigan Kingdom. Alessandra''s Titles: [ Duchess ] [ Garius'' Slave ] [ Garius Toy ] [ Garius'' Pet ] [ Crazy ] [ Lonely ] [ Broken Person ] [ Survivor ] [ Demon''s Will ] [ Vidark Believer the Demon God of Vengeance ] Seeing these titles made me want to meet this Duke Garius in person to do with him what he never thought possible, I will not allow this bastard to die even if he begs to do so. When I saw almost all of his abilities were resistance to different types of poisons, resistance to physical blows, resistance to spells, resistance to different elements, resistance to diseases, resistance to hunger, resistance to fear, resistance to pain, etc. All these resistance skills were maxed or close to that, plus she had the "insane mind" skill also maxed out, I can''t even tell how she managed to survive. All I know is that I was filled with fury and bloodlust that I hoped I wouldn''t feel again, I didn''t even know this woman, but what she went through is inexplicable, these skills and titles have no reason to be carried by an ordinary person. When I was almost losing control of my emotions I felt two different energies envelop my body calming me down, I could feel that these energies carried the presence of the Goddesses Selene and Aine, it must have come from my blessings. After I''ve calmed down a bit I hold this woman in my arms while I finish stealing everything from the vault, library, secret room, and kitchen. Leonardo was the one who renovated this castle too and he was the one who told me all the secrets of this place, after stealing everything I deactivate the barrier and leave to leave the city to the meeting point where I stay silent waiting for everyone to return. ----------- After a long time of waiting, everyone came back so I open the Dungeon to enter, I leave the woman in Nix''s arms talking to find a room for her in the mansion, as soon as everyone is inside the Dungeon I close the gate and go look for a safe place to plan our next step. "But this woman accepts that darkness, she clings to that darkness tightly, I think that''s what kept her alive, it was that hatred that kept her alive until now." (I) "..." (Freya) "I don''t know if she would want to become a Demon, she doesn''t seem to hold a grudge against the Demon race itself, but I don''t know what would happen if she were a Demon herself." (I) Sigh "In my long life, I''ve seen people like her, but never in such a bad state, I wish I could help her in some way." (Freya) "So help, when she wakes up treat her like you treat everyone, that will be enough until she decides what she wants to do." (I) "Regardless of what I think is right or wrong, the decision still belongs to her, I will leave the choice in her hands." (I) "Wouldn''t it be better to turn her into a Vampire?" (Freya) "I don''t know if it would help, my ability will still burn the darkness inside her and turn it into power that will be returned to her." (I) "She''s going to end up turning into some kind of Vampire Demon." (I) "But that wouldn''t be better, at least she would have a father and siblings who could be an emotional support for her, just like Erica used you for emotional support." (Freya) "rica did that for you?" (I) "No, Diana was the one who said that to me when she was drunk." (Freya) "I''ll give her that option too, but it''s her decision." (I) "But one thing that won''t change is that when I find this Duke I''ll leave it in her hands, no one else has the right to punish him." (I) "I can''t tell if it would help her or take her even deeper." (Freya) "I don''t even know if it''s right, but she needs it to move on." (I) It seems Freya was very affected by what she saw while giving Alessandra a bath, but I can understand her, I felt the same way when I saw her status. ---------- After talking with Freya for a while, I went to meet the others to find out how we would get to the next town, during the meeting we decided to continue on foot with me taking turns with Nix to the next town, but that will still take a week. I also told everyone about Alessandra, Sapphira showed respect by saying that she admired Alessandra for surviving so long and still having the will to fight, Jade had the same opinion as to her mother. Others had similar opinions, those different were Ivan, Vanessa, Lyra, and Leo who showed revulsion against the Demon who did this to Alessandra as well as pity for what happened to her. Elsaris didn''t show anything like her children, but Samira was crying, Caryana wasn''t here luckily, but Freya will tell her daughter about it later in a way that''s easier for her daughter to understand. The people who had the strangest reactions were Layla and rica, they had an evil gleam in their eyes but didn''t say anything. rica looked in my direction and it looked like she knew what I was planning to do, she said she wanted to talk to Alessandra, I didn''t know if it would be right to do that but I thought it would be good to find out how she reacts around a Demon who is not did anything to her. I told about her only superficially, I avoided talking about her titles, abilities, and scars, these are things I shouldn''t reveal without Alessandra''s permission, I just wanted others to know a little about her so I could help her in her adaptation to living here. After the meeting was over I went to take a shower and then I tried to sleep, but I couldn''t, what happened today made me lose my sleep. Chapter 344: Alessandras Decision Part 1 Chapter 344: Alessandra''s Decision Part 1 Pov Alessandra: I don''t know how long I cried in his arms that night, since the death of my parents I didn''t cry, since that day the pain and humiliation that that Devil did to me didn''t hurt as much as the sadness, loneliness, and despair I felt for the death of my parents. That day I knew there was no one else in the world I could count on, I knew I was alone and all I could do was endure until the day I could see that Devil suffer. But tonight for the first time in years someone reached out to me with a sincere smile on their face. For the first time in years, I didn''t feel alone, I could finally feel someone else''s warmth, for the first time in years there was someone who got angry for my sake. All I knew was that when the tears started to come out of my eyes I couldn''t stop crying while crying I felt as if a weight I had been carrying for a long time was disappearing with each tear until the moment my eyelids got so heavy that I lost consciousness. What happened next was that I was in that dream again, a dream where this hateful castle is destroyed and everyone''s bodies are mangled around me, but this time something was different.Vissit for updates This time everything in the surroundings was dark, in the middle of the castle''s rubble there was a gigantic throne where a being that couldn''t see was sitting, his whole body was hidden by darkness, all I could see was his intense red eyes looking at me while a boundless bloodlust was spreading to the surroundings. "You''ve proven yourself worthy, furthermore, you''ve shown that even as a Human you were able to control that darkness within you rather than being consumed by it." "That voice..." (I) This strange figure emanating this boundless bloodlust made me feel safe and calm, at some point I had knelt down without realizing it, but when the strange figure started to speak I recognized who it was. This was the third time I heard it this time, it was this voice that woke me up in time to meet that young Vampire. "I am the one who heard your prayers years ago, I am the Demon God of Vengeance, Vidark!" (God Vidark) "You have overcome an ordeal few have managed while maintaining your patience until the right time to seek your revenge." (God Vidark) "From this day forward you will not only be my believer, but I also give you my blessing to aid in your Revenge." (God Vidark) Soon a black light comes out of the darkness and covers my body, I felt a wave of being able go through my body. "Many in this world get lost in their revenge, choosing to blame people who did nothing to them simply because they are of the same race, gender, kingdom or status as the person they want revenge on." (God Vidark) "There are also those who give up their revenge out of fear or simply because the darkness within them has surrendered." (God Vidark) "These people don''t deserve my power and they don''t deserve to seek righteous revenge." (God Vidark) "Only those who are able to direct their vengeance to the right target and manage to control the darkness within themselves deserve my recognition and my blessings." (God Vidark) "Young Alessandra, you endured suffering you did not deserve and your revenge is considered fair, you showed self-control, patience, and wisdom during the time I was looking at you." (God Vidark) "Today you reap the rewards for what you conquered for yourself, those who seek revenge are destined to be reborn as new creatures, for either what they suffered or because they managed to get revenge, it will mark them forever and change them in a way permanent, will not be able to go back to what they once were." (God Vidark) "Now the time has come for your decision, the time has come to decide how you will be reborn and who you will be!" (God Vidark) As he spoke I felt great happiness to hear his words, he accepted my revenge, he recognized my efforts to this day, and gave me his power. Each of his words was eternally etched in my mind, his words bring me comfort. But I felt that as he spoke the surroundings got darker and darker until all I could see were those red eyes in the darkness, so I woke up. ---------- When I woke up there was a black and white snake lying on top of me, when I opened my eyes it lifted its head while looking at me. ----------- After eating the best meal I''ve had in years, the Elf named Freya guided me through the mansion as she introduced me to the people we met along the way. I started to realize that there were a lot of races here, so when I arrived at the library there was a Demon woman sitting reading a book, she had black hair and light blue skin with a thin tail waving behind her. "This is rica, one of the first to stand beside master Zenos, now let me show you the gardens." (Freya) "Don''t try to run with her Freya, I said yesterday I wanted to talk to her." (rica) "It would be better to wait another moment, she just woke up." (Freya) "Don''t worry about me, if you want to talk then come on, my name is Alessandra." (I) It seems that Freya wanted to get me out of there, from what I heard it sounds like they talked about me last night, but what caught my attention was the reason the Demon woman wanted to talk to me. I walk to the front of the Demon with the name rica as I introduce myself, she does the same and we sit at a table nearby, Freya exchanged glances with this Demon before leaving saying that she would fetch tea for both of us. "What would you like to talk about?" (I) "Nothing too important, I just wanted to get to know you better, but I realize the master told the truth." (rica) "What did he say?" (I) "That you were a broken person, looking into your eyes I can understand why he said that." (rica) "He''s right, I''m fully aware of my condition, but I''m glad at least one person is stating the obvious while everyone I''ve encountered avoids certain subjects." (I) "They''re just worried about you, they don''t realize these things don''t matter, in your condition few things should matter, right?" (rica) "True, I stopped caring a long time ago about what others say or think about me, but I must say I find it strange to be treated so well by everyone here." (I) "Everyone is treated like that, so get used to it." (rica) "I''ll be fine if I can eat food as good as this again." (I) "The food really is amazing, you will have meals like this every day." (rica) As we talked I felt that this woman was analyzing me, she was paying attention to my eyes, voice, demeanor, and face. Sigh Soon she sighs and shows me a sincere smile. "I''m surprised you don''t really feel any hatred or contempt towards me for being a Demon, I think the master won''t have to worry too much about you." (rica) "So you and Freya were worried about that?" (I) "He already asked me that question and I answered him sincerely that I have no hatred for the Demon Race." (I) "I don''t hate Demons, I only hate those who have done me wrong, especially my husband." (I) "The master didn''t go into details, he just said superficially what happened to you, I must admit that you resisted a lot more than I did, I respect that." (rica) "Thanks, it''s been a long time since I''ve heard someone say they respect me for something." (I) This Demon woman by the name of rica is very pleasant to talk to, her eyes are red and show an innate coldness and cruelty that she must possess, for some reason I feel some similarity between the two of us, so I spent some time talking to her in the library to learn more about Zenos and this place. Chapter 345: Alessandras Decision Part 2 Chapter 345: Alessandra''s Decision Part 2 As I wasn''t able to sleep during the night, I decided to walk around the mansion and watch the others sleeping, Diana was in a bed with several Fairies and Spirits while having a silly smile on her face. This was the first time I saw Diana''s room and I was surprised by what I was seeing, there were several plush dolls all over the room of different sizes, all very cute and cute, this one looked like a 7-year-old girl''s room or 8 years like this, none of it matched the strong Adventurer I see every day. But it reminded me of Diana''s tastes, of how she loves everything small and cute, so I decided to get out of there and visit Ibuki''s room. When I checked in there everything was a mess, there were swords and clothes scattered everywhere, there were also some dirty plates of food on a table, Ibuki was in a bed sleeping in a very compromising position while naked. I think this room suits her a lot, after that, I go out and go to rica''s room, she was lying on the table with her face buried in a book while she slept, I pick her up and take her to bed where I leave her the most comfortable as possible.The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) Then I look around and notice a bookcase full of books, there were also several strange symbols on the walls, rica''s room was that of a scholar, I decide not to look at the open closet where her clothes are, I don''t want to see those embarrassing things that shouldn''t exist in this world. "(What is Samira teaching people, why does she have cosplay clothes here and why such perverted clothes?)" (I) I tried to get that out of my head while going to see Kira, Kira''s room looked normal but my detection skill was showing that there were traps everywhere, other than that her room had a shelf where there were dozens of different daggers, I think Kira is making a collection. After I left her room I walked through the corridors, but I avoided entering other people''s rooms as many seemed to be with the company and I didn''t think it was appropriate to enter without permission from people I''m not intimate with. I spent the rest of the night lying in the garden looking at the starry sky. ---------- The next day I woke up in a tent, when I got up I see Jade and Sapphire sleeping on either side of me, I tried to get up, but I was stuck with their tails wrapped around my body, I''m sure if it was someone else in my place I would be dead by now crushed by the grip of those tails. I had to wait about two hours for these two to wake up, Jade explained that she saw me being carried by a group of Lamias and Ogras, so she rescued me by bringing me to her mother''s hut where she has been staying. When I woke up I spent some time at camp doing some simple work while helping everyone out, I just wanted some simple manual work to keep myself busy. In the early afternoon I return to the mansion where I find Alessandra and rica in her Demon form coming down the stairs, they seem to be talking normally. When the two of them look at me a shiver goes up my back, that''s because I noticed that the eyes of the two were a little similar, then I realized that two crazy people were left talking alone, I don''t even want to imagine what they might have talked. The two come to me and rica says goodbye with a kiss saying that she is going to look for Rakan, then I tell Alessandra to follow me to the living room to talk, I sit across from Alessandra to have a conversation. "Glad to see you well, hope you''ve enjoyed your time here so far." (I) "The people here are very nice, everyone treated me very well, Erica also told me a little about you." (Alessandra) "I hope she didn''t say anything weird." (I) "She told me a little about how you saved her, also told me a little about why she has so many races in this place." (Alessandra) "What did you think of rica?" (I) "I said in our conversation that I didn''t care about Demons, I have nothing against their entire race, my hatred is only against my husband and his mates." (Alessandra) "Do you want revenge on him?" (I) "I would love to continue living here, everything is so different and interesting, it seems so much more fun than reading forbidden books or planning murders all day." (Alessandra) She said with such a bright smile something that could be considered so disturbing, but I already understand that she is like that. "So I''ll be honest with you, I can turn you into a Demon, I can even heal your body in the process, but it will permanently bind you to me, so it''s your choice if you don''t..." (I) "I want, when do we start?" (Alessandra) "..." (I) She didn''t even wait for me to finish talking, she really didn''t stop to think about all this, by the look in her eyes I can see that she is being sincere in what she said, talking to her is like talking to a child who doesn''t limit herself in what she says, she speaks whatever comes to mind and makes quick decisions based on the moment. "Wait until after we get to the next town, I want you to think about it more as it concerns the rest of your life." (I) "No need to think too much, this place is fun and pleasant, there are many books for me to read, people treat me very well and you who were the first to extend a helping hand are here." (Alessandra) "The best thing is that you seem to accept my revenge, you''re even offering me a way to make myself stronger, I don''t need to think any more than that, I''ve already made my decision." (Alessandra) Sigh "..." (I) "I only have one request to make it possible." (Alessandra) "You can say what you want." (I) "You''re a Vampire Patriarch, right?" (Alessandra) "Yea." (I) "When you change me could you give me a new name?" (Alessandra) "Do you want to change your name?" (I) "The truth is, it''s been a long time since I recognized this face and name as mine." (Alessandra) "Alessandra was a daughter of successful merchants, she was a bold, ambitious and cheerful woman." (Alessandra) "..." (I) "But this Alessandra is already dead, this Duke managed to kill her a long time ago, when I look in the mirror I can''t recognize that face anymore, when someone calls my name I don''t feel it''s appropriate." (Alessandra) "What name would you like?" (I) "Choose one for me when the time comes, I don''t think a person should choose their own name so I want you to make me reborn into a new me to give me a name if possible." (Alessandra) "Fine, I''ll try to pick a suitable name for you." (I) "Thanks." (Alessandra) Chapter 346: Danger In The Next City Chapter 346: Danger In The Next City After my conversation with Alessandra I used the "Blood Servant" skill, I did it to free her from slavery just like I did with Rakan and Leonardo. After that I called everyone to the mansion to introduce Alessandra, so Kira comes to me to ask to change jobs as she had reached the maximum level of her current job, with Kira being the first others to start asking the same and so I spent some time changing everyone''s jobs, I also took the opportunity to change Alessandra''s job to apprentice mage. Alessandra said that she would spend her days with Rakan to learn more about how to use magic, she seems to have a great deal of knowledge about it but has never been able to practice it until today. After that, we started our trip to the next town, but I was worried about the long period of time of a week to reach the next town, so I went to talk to Ivan who was training his sword outside. We both sat near some trees as we walked away from the others who were also training. "You seem to be worried, has something happened, master?" (Ivan) "Since yesterday''s meeting I''ve been thinking that things are going too well, but with the time it takes to get to the enemy, it could be dangerous." (I) "I have to think about the possibility that the enemy will be waiting for us in the next town." (I) "But that''s obvious." (Ivan) "By the time we arrived in the first city, the King of Makari should already have known about the kidnapping of Rakan and Prince Henry." (Ivan) "We were lucky to get to the second city quickly, they must already know that we attacked the first city, there will probably be people being sent to this city and the next city to defend themselves from us." (Ivan) "Before we reach the next city, you''ll be ready for combat." (Ivan) "That''s exactly what I was afraid would happen, we''ll probably have to change the strategy." (I) "Actually we can continue with our plan, they still don''t know how we are killing all the enemies without being noticed." (Ivan) "But they will know the places we are going to attack, we always attack the noble houses, the government building, the drug lab, and the secret room with the central magic circle." (I) "True, they must realize this, they must probably use an ambush to catch us, but they may also have a different plan, so we better keep an eye out." (Ivan) p "We can have the advantage when attacking, but we don''t know what to expect either, we have to be prepared for everything." (I) "Ivan, tell everyone who is capable of fighting to stop what we are doing and prepare for the next few days, without knowing the number or strength of the enemies we have to be ready for any unforeseen." (I) Noble Demons continue to try to form deals with other races and accept other races into our cities, and they try to limit our right as a superior race to do whatever we want. Many of our group tried to convince the rulers to use many plans that would lead us to victory against the weak Humans, but they denied our ideas, saying that they were forbidden techniques or that they were plans that would tarnish the pride of our race. These fools don''t understand that our pride comes from reigning over all other races, they don''t understand that just because our noble and superior race exists our pride will always remain. Because of this, those who can see the truth have come together to do what the rulers lack courage, one day we will be hailed as heroes for our deeds, but for that this decades-long plan needs to be completed. I endured for 50 years to live among humans, I did my best to please and attract them to the Realm I created, every time I heard their voices calling my name I felt an urge to vomit, it was disgusting to see so many humans every day with smiles while I had to suffer alone. But now we were close to putting an end to our plan, we already have almost everything we need and we were just waiting for the most opportune moment, but when all the religions sent their armies to the mountain range a few weeks ago, I knew it was the It was time to start the plan, I sent my foolish son to get some more items we could use that would be auctioned in the Moros Kingdom. But that was the beginning of a big problem for me, a few days later I got the news that my son and Rakan had disappeared, that fool was careless as usual and let himself be poisoned. The day I got the news I sent people to the Moros Kingdom to look for him, I gave orders to kill if he finds that useless son, I can''t risk having someone like him around now that we''re so close to our goal, now that we''re so close to conquering this continent. The greatest possible danger would be if that useless son started to open his mouth and hand over our information, I also worry that Runico is with him, Rakan was very important to our plans, I used the magic circles he perfected in the cities. As the days passed, no news came about my son or that Runico, but news reached my ears that almost made me go mad with fury. One of the cities was in chaos, all government workers, nobles and those who worked in the secret drug labs were missing. Furthermore, the drug lab hideout was destroyed, the streets and sewers were also destroyed after the black stones we created especially for the magic circle were stolen, even the magic control circle in the underground hideout had been destroyed. The report we had was that Fairies and Spirits began to steal the black stones in the streets, that''s all, there was no report that explained the disappearance of the Demons and Vampires that were in the city. The worst thing is that the White Elf who was responsible for rebuilding the cities had also disappeared, if he and Runico are working to help the person who attacked us then we are in great danger, their knowledge could put the whole plan to lose. After calming myself by torturing some prisoners who were supposed to be food for the Vampires, I called everyone to the castle and sent some people to the two remaining cities, I can''t lose another city now. With that a few more days passed and another report came to me, when I heard that another city had been attacked and was in the same state as the first city, blood gushed from my mouth due to fury, in my lack of control I killed half of the castle maids who were slaves. I couldn''t lose any more, so I summoned a Vampire Matriarch who was useful to the plan so far, but who would no longer be needed if I died in the fight against this mysterious enemy that we don''t know strength of. When she was kneeling in front of me I give an order to release all my bloodlust, she has no right to refuse. "Go to the last town and use our backup plan, make sure that enemy is dead there, or else I guarantee you will die." (I) Chapter 347: Attack On 3? City Part 1 Chapter 347: Attack On 30 City Part 1 We finally arrived at the last city before heading to the capital, as soon as we arrived we realized that there was a barrier around the city thanks to Layla. After making Rakan see this barrier we find out that it is an alarming barrier, it will not stop people from going through it, this barrier will just warn the person who activated this barrier about people with a large amount of Mana coming in. When we look we also see that there are many guards on the walls and gates of the city, this confirmed that they are waiting for our attack. As soon as the sky darkened I go alone to one of the guards patrolling the gates while inside the shadows, then I step into the shadow of this guard who was switching shifts with another guard, I waited a while as this guard passed the barrier and entered the city to go to the walls. Once we''re in town, I move from shadow to shadow to an empty shop, then open the Dungeon gate for Vanessa, Elsaris, Layla, Nix, and Ivan to come out. Then I closed the Dungeon gate, so I start using earth element magic to open a hole in the ground, I don''t choose this store for nothing, this store is on top of one of the sewer tunnels. As she was making the hole deeper and deeper, Layla starts looking out the window with a serious expression. "There is a lot of Mana in this place." (Layla) "Do you think they''re activating the city''s magic circle?" (I) "I don''t feel anything in the streets, but it seems that mana is concentrating in this city, it can be almost imperceptible, I just noticed because we just entered the city and here it has more than twice the amount of mana than outside." (Layla) "Just as we expected, they are up to something, have they noticed our presence?" (Ivan) "Rakan said that if I hide in someone''s shadow the barrier won''t notice my presence, so it must be okay." (I) "This concentration of Mana is not something that can be done overnight, it must have taken days to do it." (Layla) "So this must be one of the traps they''re planning to use against us." (I) "To do something on this scale without using the magic circle of the streets, so I can only imagine a place where they could do something like that and get the attention of the townspeople." (Elsaris) "From what little I could see, the townspeople are living normally, so I don''t think anyone has noticed yet." (I) "How long will it take to make the hole?" (Vanessa) "It''s going to take thirty minutes to dig the hole as I''m trying not to attract attention, if I try to do it fast they might notice the earth tremor." (I) After tens of minutes, the hole is made, we all enter and follow the path straight to the secret room in the center of the city in the underground, on the way we find some soldiers that we had to kill before arriving. "We can''t do anything else here, the ritual magic is already working, this magic circle has a lot of magic power flowing through it which creates a natural mana barrier." (Vanessa) "So we can''t stop the summoning?" (I) "You may have captured me, but now you''re dead, you just don''t know it yet." "Along with the magic circle activation a barrier was placed around the entire city, you cannot escape." "Do you think some Kimera soldiers and you are going to scare us?" (Ivan) "Hahahahahaha!" "I must say that I didn''t expect them to enter the city unnoticed, because of that I had to use our backup plan, but that''s ok, we still have one last city for the Summoning Dragon of Destruction." She seems very calm and sure of herself in this situation, which worries me. "Kill her, after that bring Rakan here." (I) "Your effort is useless, at this moment every person in this city is being consumed by the magic circle, soon more than 5000 Demons and Vampires will be here being summoned from the dark continent, hahahahahaha..." "..." (I) "..." (all) In my fury, I went up to the woman and bit her neck draining her of all the blood that was in her body before throwing her body to the ground and stepping on her head. Ding! Everyone was looking at me not knowing what to do, what this woman just said scared everyone, but Nix was still fulfilling my request and had opened the Dungeon gate to go get Rakan. After a few seconds Rakan appears going straight to the magic circle, he looks worried, he stayed a few seconds looking at the magic circle while his face got paler and his eyes are filled with terror, at the end he got down on his knees saying what had discovered. "They didn''t use the sewer magic circle, they concentrated magic power into this crystal for quick activation of magic circles on city streets, that must have taken days." (Rakan) "Also there is one more magic circle added to the central magic circle, this one belongs to a summoning spell for a target marked by the mage who activated the spell." (Rakan) "So you''re not summoning the Dragon?" (I) "No, but this city is already destroyed, the magic circle has already finished collecting energy and is starting the process of locating the summon targets, that means the people of the city have already... died!" (Rakan)Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com Chapter 348: Attack On 3? City Part 2 Chapter 348: Attack On 30 City Part 2 I always try to keep the number of victims to a minimum, luckily I managed to win in the first two cities without any innocent victims, but life is not a fairy tale where good always wins evil. Unfortunately, we lost this battle, all we could do was see a city have its entire population killed, today we failed, but the fight is not over yet. That Rogue said 5000 enemies are about to be summoned, plus we''re stuck here with them. Even if we lost this battle, we still have a war to fight, if we are stuck here that means the enemies are also stuck with us and there are no more innocent people around to worry about. While I was distracted with a lot of things going through my head, I get a slap in the face, when I look up I see it was Vanessa. "I''m sorry for the slap, but you didn''t seem to be listening to what we were saying." (Vanessa) "I had a lot to think about, we were taken by surprise this time." (I) "We have to decide our next course of action, master." (Ivan) "First of all, we need a little more information." (I) "Rakan, do you know how long it will take for the summoning to end?" (I) "Do you know how long the barrier around the city should last?" (I)Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com "Do you know the strength of the enemies being summoned?" (I) "I need the answers to these three questions now." (I) "..." (Rakan) "RAKAN!!!" (I) "I''ll...I''ll check..." (Rakan) Just from Rakan''s expression, I can see that it affected him greatly, these magic circles were things he worked on while in the hands of the Demons. Rakan must be feeling responsible for what is happening, in his mind, the death of the population of this city must be his fault. Unfortunately, I don''t have time to comfort him or explain that none of this is his fault, it will have to wait until we are all safe. Rakan took ten minutes that seemed like an eternity in this situation before coming to talk to me after he had studied this magic circle for that long. "The barrier will only last for 1 day, so it will be the least of our worries." (Rakan) "The magic circle has already started the summoning process, we have 30 minutes before the enemies appear." (Rakan) "Can you discover the strength of enemies?" (I) "The summoning magic circle that was used is something they gave me 10 years to perfect, to use that specific magic circle one has to have a magic summoning skill, this is not a normal summon, they are force teleporting people that have been marked by the summoner thus far." (Rakan) "This sort of thing can be prevented if the target of the summon refuses to be summoned, but if that''s part of the enemy''s plans, then that possibility doesn''t exist this time." (Rakan) "The enemy''s strength will be below the summoner''s strength, at least that I can guarantee." (Rakan) "In the last message we received from Makari, he said that the plan would start in 1 month from today, for him to be calling us ahead of schedule means something has happened." (platoon leader) "We were already hoping that at the moment of the final steps of our plan someone might notice what Makari was doing." (I) "Exactly, that''s why we''re getting ready in case we need to fight as soon as it appears." (platoon leader) "I''ll arm myself too." (I) "How many more to arrive?" (I) "Should be a little over 230 to go, I hope they are out of the way of other people''s eyes, we don''t want them to know what we''re doing so fast." (platoon leader) "No matter if some find out, we have been preparing for decades for the forbidden rituals, we also have enough evil seeds." (I) "When the foolish government of those Demons who have forgotten our superiority as a race find out what we are doing and go to the Morror continent, it will be too late, they will no longer be able to fight against us." (I) "This is what we''ve waited 50 years for, our desire to bring the Demon race back to its place as rulers of all races is close." (platoon leader) After that conversation, I started to change clothes and put on armor and weapons that I haven''t used in over 20 years since I started working as a merchant to raise funds and materials for our cause. After a long wait we all get ready when the symbol we carry in our bodies starts to light up brighter and brighter until a wave of energy covers us, none of us can resist as we let ourselves be enveloped in that energy. Soon several magic circles appear on everyone''s feet and I feel something pulling me, I''m disoriented for a few seconds when I suddenly appear inside a room with the stench of Humans. "Hahahaha... it worked... this must be the Morror continent." (I) I look at the ground where a dead corpse is, I smile and step on top of him making him turn to dust on my feet. I break the window and go to the roof to get a better view of the surroundings. "What is it?" (I) I look around and am happy to see other of our companions appearing in the surroundings, but what caught my attention was the energy dome in the sky, I looked and realized that it covered the entire city. "Is that a barrier?" (I) I started to think about the reason for having a barrier around the whole city, but when I looked closer there was something written on top of the barrier. "Enemies are inside the barrier." "..." (I) When I understood the meaning I pulled out my two axes and started paying more attention to my surroundings. Boom! Baaammm!! BOOMM!!! Soon I started to hear explosions, when I looked in the direction of the explosions I only saw the bodies of my companions on the ground, it was then that I saw another Demon walking on the street until a magic circle appeared at his feet, then bone spears came out of the ground killing him, I looked in another direction where I see a Vampire being crushed by tentacles that emerge from the shadows and I see a Demon that was flying down to the ground making a magic circle appear over his feet causing an explosion that shatters his body. "BE CAREFUL, THERE ARE TRAPS EVERYWHERE!!!" (I) Chapter 349: Attack On 3? City Part 3 Chapter 349: Attack On 30 City Part 3 I tell the plan to everyone who was with me in the magic circle room. "We have little time to prepare." (I) "You heard the plan, so Ivan is going to get the Mages to set traps all over town." (I) "Rakan, you are going to coordinate the Mages for a surprise attack, I want you to use the Wind Element Mages to make a combined magic to create a tornado that will gather many enemies at the same point, meanwhile I also want a group of Mages from the fire element makes a combined spell to burn the tornado making a fire tornado." (I) "The difficulty level to make a combo spell is very high, but you want to make two combo spells merge in the middle of a battle?" (Rakan) "Yes, then make it work." (I) "..." (Rakan) "Maybe if I use two ritual spells the magic combination for each element will work, but how am I going to make the two elemental spells complement each other?" (Rakan) "The intense fire will consume the surrounding air very quickly, the magic will only last for a few seconds..." (Rakan) "The magic doesn''t have to last long, the enemies will already be inside the tornado, I just need it to be extremely destructive." (I) "I think I can do something about it, I have to gather the Mages now if I want to have time for this..." (Rakan) Rakan and Ivan ran into the Dungeon, meanwhile, I turned to Elsaris. "You will be responsible for leading alongside Kira and Helena a group of people with skills focused on ambush or assassination." (I) "I guess this shouldn''t be a problem for you, right?" (I) "It will be easy, I have fought alongside many assassins, I also know the skills of the people I will be leading." (Elsaris) "I''ll join them and go reconnoitre the city area to find better spots to ambush the enemy." (Elsaris) Elsaris also runs away, so I turn to Vanessa. "Vanessa, I want you and Irina to be prepared to heal anyone in the vicinity, avoid using your holy power if you don''t have to." (I) "Yes father." (Vanessa) Vanessa also runs out, probably going to get Irina, so I turn to Nix and Layla. "What do you want me to do?" (Nix) "Your Dragon form is very big and flashy, so fight in your Human form, try to stay close to weaker people to protect them if necessary." (I) "What do I have to do?" (Layla) "Slay all the enemies you want, show them what a real Demon assassin is." (I) "My plan is only good in theory, Rakan is trying hard, but what I asked of him would be impossible for anyone else, even for him it might be impossible." (I) "Wizards don''t have enough time to create many magic traps, the city is too big, plus maybe not even half of these spells will activate." (I) "Freya and the archers will only be useful against flying enemies, that''s why buildings and constructions will be a deterrent for them as ranged attackers." (I) "Elsaris won''t be able to explore the entire city, she also doesn''t have a very large group of assassins with her, neither Elsaris nor Kira are used to fighting cooperating with others like that." (I) "Besides we don''t even know where the enemies will spawn, according to Rakan they can spawn anywhere, all he can know is that a large group must be summoned near this square which is in the center of the magic circle." (I) "There are a lot of variables that I can''t control and I don''t have time to think of a better plan." (I) As I talk about what''s going through my head, Diana gives me a hug from behind as she strokes my hair tenderly. "You''re pushing yourself too hard, your plan is good enough for the time we have, I also know you thought to protect those in danger." (Diana) "Just trust us, no one here will let you down." (Diana) "..." (I) Talking to keep calm may be simple, but I am responsible for every person''s life here, this time it''s all very different from what happened in the mountain range, I can see the various holes in my plan, besides that nobody had time to train the things I asked for, everything will be done improvised, I just hope that everything works out. "Everyone be ready!" (Rakan) With Rakan''s scream, everyone hides and waits, I hide in a bell tower in the center of town with Nix, Layla, and Diana. Soon all the streets light up and magic circles start to appear everywhere, many Demons and Vampires came out of these magic circles, at first they looked confused, meanwhile, I noticed at the top of the barrier words start to form after the invocation ended, these words were a warning to newcomers. "Enemies are inside the barrier." Soon I start to hear explosion noises and screams, it seems that some enemies have fallen into the traps. Just like Rakan from this, over two hundred enemies are confused looking at each other and at the sky after being summoned I close my eyes and focus, this is the first time I''m going to use this technique that Sophia taught me. I concentrate on my Auras condensing into a single point, I do this until I can''t take it anymore and then I release it all at once while trying to spread my Aura to the surroundings, with this I force my concentration to the maximum and I even have to use parallel thinking to get it spread my Aura all over the city, so I do my best to keep my Aura that way. "Master doesn''t do that, spreading your Aura over such a big place will cause you great suffering, it''s a lot of pressure on your body and mind." (Nix) "Let him Nix, he won''t listen to what you have to say, you can feel it too, can''t you?" (Diana) "Master''s Aura is strengthening us, Also look at the enemies, they are suffering." (Diana) "While we are being strengthened, they are being weakened, the master chose to do that instead of fighting directly to protect everyone." (Diana) "You''re worrying too much, if you want the master to stop, then you''ll just need to finish off all the enemies as quickly as possible." (Layla) Chapter 350: Attack On 3? City Part 4 Chapter 350: Attack On 30 City Part 4 Pov Rakan: This is all my fault, I tried not to think about what the magic circles I worked with while I was with the Demons would be used, but I never thought it could end like this. At that moment I was in despair, I had fallen into a spiral of melancholy and guilt, but Zenos was different, he was only surprised for a few minutes and as soon as Vanessa woke him up from his daze, he started to think of a solution. So far I''m surprised at the plans he suggested so quickly, when he started telling me my part in his plans I thought it was impossible, I still think this magical combination borders on impossible at this point, even with the method of using ritual magic that I thought. I thought about saying I wouldn''t make it, but I felt pressure coming from Zenos like he wouldn''t accept a negative answer, I felt like it was a command that I had to fulfill somehow, so I couldn''t delay wasting even more time, every second counts. I gathered all my subordinates to help prepare the magic circle, we had to perfect the magic circles while drawing it on the ground as we didn''t have time, luckily we managed to finish it before the enemies showed up. The next step was to gather ten Fire Element Mages and ten Wind Element Mages to control this magic, this will make us able to control this magic better and also make it stronger. The problem will be energy consumption, so we had to use silver coins for these spells, I wanted to use gold coins but I was afraid that these Mages wouldn''t be able to control that energy level, I hope this is enough. When the enemies finally appeared they didn''t notice us at first as they were confused by the summoning. The problem is that two enemies appeared inside the place where we were hiding, I quickly took care of them using non-elemental magic, I created spears of condensed Mana that I pierced through their heads while they were confused. The Mages had already started activating the ritual magic, in a few minutes it would start, I could only hope that everything worked. It was at that moment that I felt that power, a powerful and gigantic Aura enveloped everything in the surroundings, I felt a great power flowing inside my body, I felt that it was easier to control my mana and that my magic power got stronger, I have never felt so well before. In addition, I felt an intensity in this Aura as if I was in the presence of a great being, I looked around and saw the surprised faces of the Mages who were still activating the ritual, I could see that they were making less effort now and that the activation of the magic circle it was getting better. "Where did that Aura come from?" (I) "This is the Aura of the master, look at the enemies, while we are being strengthened they seem to be weaker." (rica) "You have to stay here and protect them, I''ll start my killing spree." (rica) "OK." (Rakan) "< Hellfire Beasts > 3" (rica) Those who were with me were mostly Hobgoblins, there were also Arachnes, Nymphs, Lizardman, and Ghouls in smaller numbers. I train every day with the archers inside the Dungeon, so I''m very familiar with them. Me and the Lizardman who managed to hit more distant targets focused on that, meanwhile the others just have to aim at the closest enemies, as there are many places we can''t see on the ground, we''re just shooting down the enemies in the sky. Nix stayed close to us to deal with the approaching enemies, many spells, arrows, and abilities have already been launched towards us in a few minutes of combat, but Nix always protects us with a shadow barrier or with his wings. As I was watching from above I noticed the various enemies being ambushed, falling into traps, or even being killed by the combined magic in the center of the city. From above the government building I was able to see all of this, I imagine over 1000 enemies must have died at the start of the battle, but that was because of their initial distraction and confusion from being summoned here. Now everyone is grouped and organized, few are those who stay in the air and do this to be able to stop the arrows, the magic in the town square is also gone, it was quite flashy and caused a lot of damage to the enemies, but it only lasted a few seconds before of disappearing by spreading fire in the surroundings. I tried to find and target those who were using magic, but it was difficult as there was always someone protecting them. The Master''s Aura strengthened me as well as everyone else, but we weren''t being that useful here anymore, there was little chance that we could attack. The only reason to stay here was to keep pressure on the enemy, many Demons have wings just like rica, so to keep them from flying and becoming targets for us archers, I and the others have to stay where we are, so the enemies will be forced to continue on the ground where many warriors are fighting. Nix didn''t need to see the enemy to hit them, so even if the enemies didn''t get close to where we are, Nix always used Spirit Runes to create small Shadow Dragons to attack enemies without having to leave the place. It seems that she saw rica''s training with her new magic and was inspired to create this technique, unfortunately, it is not as destructive as rica''s magic, but it has the advantage of being more stealthy as these little Shadow Dragons can hide in the shadows to attack unsuspecting enemies. Nix tries not to use this technique too much, limiting herself to only 4 Shadow Dragons at a time, that''s why she''s still aware of enemies that try to approach where we are. From where I am I can see various colors belonging to hundreds of spells and abilities that are being used, I can also see explosions and hear screams. But strangely I saw a Werewolf that was ready to be cut by an enemy''s Axe, I wouldn''t have time to help from this distance, but before the enemy could deliver the final blow a large plant appears from the ground under the Werewolf devouring him as he returns to the basement. I was so shocked by this unforeseen scene that it took me too long to react, when I finally launched my arrow at the enemy, he managed to dodge it with his axe. After that, he ran behind a building where I see a spray of blood appear before a strange purple fire beast appears and runs in another direction. "Looks like rica is also using her new magic." (I) "But what just happened? What plant was that?" (I) Chapter 351: Attack On 3? City Part 5 Chapter 351: Attack On 30 City Part 5 Pov Kira: When Elsaris ran inside the Dungeon and told everyone what had happened, few were affected by the news of the death of an entire city. People in the mountain range have heard a lot of news like this over the years, so they won''t be affected by it if it''s not even connected to this city. The people who were affected at different levels were the group of Mages under Rakan''s control, even though I wasn''t affected that much. What really made everyone surprised and nervous was discovering that new enemies were coming here, so people started to prepare. "Did the master give any orders? Does he have any plans in mind?" (I) "He already has a plan in mind, I''ll tell you everything while we gather others with ambush and assassination skills." (Elsaris) "So let''s go." (I) ---------- Just before the enemies started to appear we divided our group into 4 with me, Elsaris, Beatriz, and Helena as leaders, each group went to a side of the city, in my group, there are 1 Ogre, 5 Hobgoblins, 3 Ghouls and a Werewolf with abilities of the shadow element. When the enemies started appearing it was our signal to act, during the initial confusion I was able to kill 15 enemies. I killed 8 throwing knives in the middle of the street, I hit them all in the head to be sure of their deaths, of the others I killed two that were side by side inside a store cutting their necks with my daggers, another that was further away in the room window I used a thunder rune to kill from afar, four had flown, I jumped across the roofs killing two while Byakko appeared killing the other two who tried to attack me. At that moment I see a tornado sucking fire and starting to burn a little further away from me, this made me distract myself which did not go unnoticed by the enemies. A punch comes towards me which I defended with one arm out of reflex, but I had underestimated the enemy''s strength which was so great that it made me go through three walls of a nearby building. The only reason I didn''t die or break my bones with that attack was the Metal Element Rune that Byakko used on me before being attacked. But even so, I was still in pain, but I got to my feet and climbed out the hole I came in, only to see a seven-foot-tall Vampire who looked like a mountain of muscle, his skin was a shiny black color like he was made of some black metal, his fists looked like war hammers they were so big, he looked to be in his 40s by the looks of it, and he was bald. This Vampire was having an intense battle against Byakko who had a completely silver body looking like a metal statue. The two exchanged intense blows and I would help, but more enemies noticed the fight and came towards us, as they approached I saw some being caught in wires and others being killed by swords from behind. Who killed them was Helena''s group that must have been nearby and came to help me, no time for thanks I go towards the Vampire who was fighting Byakko on top of a building, I throw a dagger that he catches with his hand, but then the dagger releases an intense shock that paralyzes him for a few seconds which was long enough for Byakko to bite his neck while shooting a beam from his mouth at the point-blank range this makes the enemy scream before the beam passes through his neck, Byakko lets go the Vampire who drops dead. When I looked around I saw that two of the Hobgoblins weren''t around while the others in the leading group were also fighting.Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com At that moment I saw the Ogre piercing his dagger into the heart of a female Demon at the same time that this Demon''s tail went through his back. I look in the direction of the Mage who hit me only to see him being torn apart by a large Ax that was being held by Leo in his Lion form. "As I was saying before, if you want to help the master, then end this fight as soon as possible..." (I) While I was trying to talk to Sophia, I see two giant plants appear from the ground involving two ogres that were about to be killed by fire magic, these plants went back underground with the two injured, the fire magic that hit the plant didn''t even leave a burn mark. "But what plant is this?" (I) "Must be the Keeper." (Sapphire) "I saw her leaving the Dungeon with Zenos earlier." (Sapphire) "Why is she only rescuing the wounded?" (I) "I don''t know..." (Sapphire) "< Serpent Blade >" (Sapphire) "< Wall of Bones >" (I) I use magic creating a wall of bones on my right side to defend myself from the Mana orbs that were coming towards me, meanwhile, I saw Sapphire using her Blade attack to kill three Demons. When I looked at Sophia she looked furious, her fists were glowing brightly, and her every punch was punching holes in the enemy''s bodies. I saw some enemies try to get away from Sophia flying up, but soon an arrow hit them, making their bodies fall again. When the last enemy has been killed I try to see if there''s anyone injured nearby to help, but I can''t find anyone. What I see is a big difference in the enemies'' bodies, the bodies near Jade have few wounds but some seem to be rotting from the poison. The bodies close to Sapphire seem to be in pieces, she doesn''t really show any mercy, the bodies close to Sophia seem to have been crushed, some had holes in their bodies while others were so broken that I don''t think they even have a single one whole bone inside the body. Meanwhile, the bodies around me are just cut, burned, or trapped between sharp bones, for some reason, I think those I''ve killed have suffered less. "Are the enemies over?" (I) "No, I can feel many Auras in two different directions, but in one of those directions I can feel Layla''s Aura." (Sophia) Sophia points in the direction Layla must be fighting, I can see a big mess of lights coming from that direction, I can also hear a very low laugh, but most importantly I feel a chill in my bones. "Layla can take care of herself, let''s go the other way." (I) "(I feel sorry for the enemies who are near that Fairy-shaped monster.)" (I) Chapter 352: Attack On 3? City Part 6 Chapter 352: Attack On 30 City Part 6 Pov Irina''s: Vanessa and I are inside a mansion in the city where we are treating the wounded that the Guardian is bringing. The injured continue to appear brought by plants coming out of the ground, helping us have Lyra and some Nymphs, so far we have managed to prevent everyone''s death. Irius is not here, he is fighting alongside Leo on the battlefield, meanwhile, Rakan appears through the door bringing one of the Dark Elf Sisters who are his subordinates. "What happened to her? I don''t see any injuries." (I) "One of the enemies was a Demon with a snake tail, she was bitten in the leg." (Rakan) "Lyra! I need more antidote here." (I) "It''s over, I''ll prepare more." (Lyra) I take the Dark Elf and bring it to Lyra, I managed to finish everyone''s treatment, luckily no one else was injured. "How''s the battle going?" (I) "It''s already running out, our initial attacks have greatly reduced the number of enemies, now it''s just a matter of time." (Rakan) "Did you see if my Father is okay?" (I) "He didn''t look too good, it seems that spreading his Aura over such a big place is getting to him, but don''t worry, I saw that Diana is on his side." (Rakan) "The fight is already over, I can see everything in the city." (Guardian) "Ibuki, Jana, Beatriz, and Layla are facing the last two groups of enemies." (Guardian) "Actually, the group that was fighting Layla is desperately trying to run away from her." (Guardian) "They''re smart, but they won''t be able to get away from Layla." (Vanessa) "You talk like the Fairy is some kind of monster." (Rakan) Lyra, Vanessa, the Keeper, and I exchanged glances before Vanessa spoke. "Let''s just say Layla has a very decisive personality when she fights enemies." (Vanessa) "When she starts fighting enemies she only stops if everyone dies or if the master tells her to stop." (Vanessa) "By the looks of you, I don''t think that''s the whole story." (Rakan) "Speaking of Fairies, Zenos'' Aura is attracting a lot of Fairies and Spirits, his Aura is affecting a little outside the Barrier, because of that these Fairies and Spirits are fighting the Soldiers on the walls." (Guardian) "My Father won''t like to hear about this." (I) "Isn''t it good that the enemies are being killed without us having to do anything?" (Rakan) "We could get rid of the Kimera Soldiers whenever we wanted once the barrier disappeared, we don''t need the help of these Fairies." (Vanessa) "But now we''re going to have hundreds more Fairies and Spirits who will want to follow my Father." (I) "If you have time to talk, So can one of you take these potions to the people who are still fighting?" (Lyra) "Let me take it, I''ll fly there now that there are fewer enemies." (Vanessa) I walk around the battlefield drinking my last mana potion, the square is already destroyed because of the tornado that Rakan helped to make, my curse magic did very little damage to the city, but that fire tornado was like an apocalyptic phenomenon this time. place devastating everything in the surroundings. I had full confidence that everyone would be able to win this battle, so I walked around the battlefield looking for any enemy that was trying to flee or hide. I found a vampire playing dead under a pile of bodies, I used my claws to pierce her head from behind. I also found a Demon running towards me, he wanted to make a surprise attack against me, but the magic he released hit my cursed barrier which reflected his lightning back to him. It was funny to see him die from his own attack. As I was walking around the city I could only see the ruins of a great battle, this time we destroyed this city a lot. Soon I notice a Rogue who is sitting on a roof doing nothing as she looks towards the bell tower where the master is, this Rogue has her eyes shining looking over there. She''s sitting up and doesn''t seem to be bloodthirsty, she looked at me and put her hands up. This woman is black-skinned with red eyes, her hair is silver to her waist, and she seems to have a fit body while she is also quite pretty, but for some reason, I think there are more things I''m not able to see. "Do you think just by surrendering we''ll spare your life?" (I) "My master is not in the habit of sparing enemies." (I) "I''m not an enemy, I was a spy in the group of these extremists." "Why do you think I would believe you? Even if I did, why would I care?" (I) "I may have some useful information for you." "I''m not a threat, so you want to risk losing a possible source of information?" "..." (I) "Very well, I''ll let you live a little longer, but depending on what you say it could end up worse than just dead, so be very careful what you say and I advise you to only tell the truth in front of the master afterward." (I) "(This woman is suspicious, I can sense a lot of indifference towards the people in the vicinity who are dead.)" (I) "I must say that I am surprised that there is a Demon that fights for the Morror Continent." "You don''t have to play these games to get information from me, I have nothing to hide from someone dead." (I) "< Hellfire Seal >" (I) "..." I use an original curse of mine on this Rogue, I can feel a Demonic Aura inside her, the master has already said that we should never underestimate an enemy while he is alive. This curse I used will seal her mana, if she tries to circulate her mana or use some magic then this seal will burn that mana while burning her body from the inside out, that would be deadly for many races but Vampires are hard to kill if it doesn''t aim for the heart or head, then it should only be temporarily incapacitated by it. "I advise you to behave yourself or you may die before you reach my master." (I) "(I''ll let the master decide what to do with this woman.)" (I) I start walking along with this woman heading towards the square, on the way I find Freya going in the same direction as me. "Are you also going to see the master, Freya?" (I) "Yes, who is this woman with you." (Freya) "Someone suspect I''m going to take it to the master." (I) Chapter 353: Ruins Of A City Chapter 353: Ruins Of A City Pov Diana''s: I would like to fight alongside everyone, I would like to be down there killing the enemies, but my greatest duty is to protect the master. Nix has already gone to where Freya is to protect the archers when we saw they were being targeted. Layla also once went into battle with a big smile on her face, she left saying that she will finish off the enemies as soon as possible. Meanwhile, I just stayed with the master in this tower next to the bell, but even though I was here, I still paid close attention to this battle. I could see up close the destruction in the town square with the combined magic that Rakan and the other Mages did, thanks to this we did a lot of initial damage against the enemy, but it was also because of this that the enemies moved away from the center of the city, they were afraid there would be more of these large-scale spells waiting for them. The square was destroyed, in addition to the hundreds of charred bodies on the ground, there were also houses and shops that were destroyed, the only place that was reasonably intact is where the Magi were. I could also see the archers in the distance hitting any enemies that were on top of the roofs or that were flying, Nix did an excellent job protecting them as you would expect. rica dealt a large amount of damage to enemy troops, her purple fire beasts making an attack against one enemy before running towards another. The enemies didn''t realize until it was too late that one attack was enough, when the fire started to burn it couldn''t be put out anymore, I saw a Vampire jump into a fountain of water, I saw a Demon tear another one apart to bathe in his companion''s blood and I saw a blue-skinned Demon using water magic. But nothing they did had any effect, the fire never went out, in fact, the fire spread through their bodies slowly, the attacks of the purple fire beasts were not very strong causing only light wounds, but it seemed that that was enough.Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com The only enemy that managed to get rid of the purple fire was a Demon who endured the pain and cut off his own arm that was on fire, but without the arm, he was killed by two Ghouls soon after. There were enemies who realized the danger of fire beasts and tried to destroy them before being attacked, but that was a bad idea, when fire beasts were destroyed, they exploded, spreading cursed fire around. When they realized that they could do nothing but run from these fire beasts, the enemies tried to attack rica after confirming that she was the one who brought these fire beasts here. But that didn''t help as there were always three of these purple fire beasts close to rica to protect her, and the only time there were too many enemies around, Ibuki and Irius went to help. Ivan and the other melee fighters were doing really well, as they were further away and there were a lot of things blocking my vision, I could only see a few things, but it looked like they were doing very well. I tried to look at where Layla was fighting, but when I saw a tree attacking the Demons that were trying to run, I decided to avoid looking in that direction. Unfortunately, I couldn''t follow the progress of Elsaris and Kira''s fight, I could only briefly see Byakko''s fight against a Demon that looked strong. I looked at the city, half of the city is completely destroyed, there were houses, shops, statues, and buildings destroyed everywhere, in addition, there were several parts of the city that were on fire and other parts of the city that were frozen. Everything was very confusing, the city was in ruins beyond repair. I look at the master and he was very sweaty, plus I noticed blood starting to come out of his nose and one of his ears. He''s trying hard, but if he continues like this I''m sure this fight will end soon, I just hope that the number of victims on our side is small. ---------- The battle is already decided, the number of enemies decreased little by little because we had some people who were individually stronger, and because of that, we were more efficient in killing enemies. "Master! Master!" (Sophia) Sophia comes running from roof to roof and leaps up to the tower landing beside me as she steals the master from my arms. "Why did you use your Aura like that? Didn''t I say it''s dangerous to do that kind of thing?" (Sophia) "Now look at your Aura, it''s a mess without any control, if a normal person gets close to you they might even die because of the pressure and intensity of your Aura." (Sophia) "I needed to dosomething." (Zenos) "The master could have fought like he always did." (Sophia) "I needed to keep the others...safe...my Aura can strengthen you." (Zenos) "We understand master, now rest, we can talk about this later." (I) I pull the master from this uneducated Dark Elf''s hands, then hug him back. "I have to know... how many people died... on our side..." (Zenos) "No one died, the Keeper protected everyone who was seriously injured and sent them to me, Irina and Lyra to tend to their wounds." (Vanessa) I could see the master''s serious expression relax a little knowing that this time he didn''t hear dead, which means that those plants I saw carrying the wounded must have been because of the Guardian. Sigh "Looks like she took care of her part..." (Zenos) "Of course, I took care of my part." (Guardian) While we were talking, a flower grew on the ground next to us, soon this flower grows and writhes until it forms a humanoid silhouette, then gradually takes on the appearance of the Guardian with her beautiful red hair. "Your appearance is awful." (Guardian) "He overreacted this time." (I) "But he always exaggerates, so he did the same as usual." (Layla) "Stop talking about me, I''m too tired to be lectured right now..." (Zenos) "Looks like we were the last to arrive, Freya." (rica) "This place is not very pleasant to talk to, please find a better place where the master can rest." (Freya) As soon as rica and Freya passed through the door, there was also a strange silver-haired woman next to them who stared at the master before kneeling down. Vanessa managed to deal with this woman. Everyone thought this was strange, but Freya was right in saying that this was not a suitable place, so Vanessa took us to the mansion where they were treating the wounded, the master will be able to rest better there and as soon as he is better we will be able to share the what to do from now on. Chapter 354: Worship Chapter 354: Worship Pov of a Spy: My name is Lilian, I''m a Dhampir being a hybrid of a Vampire Matriarch and a Noble Demon, in fact, it''s been a few years since I became a fully-fledged Vampire by evolving awakening my two bloodlines, this made me become a Matriarch of my own Vampira lineage, but due to my area of work I avoided creating my own family and I haven''t turned anyone until today. I''m over 1000 years old now, this was my second evolution, I''ve always avoided killing unnecessarily due to the kind of work I do, I''ve been the best spy in the Black Empire for over 800 years. My specialty has always been infiltrating enemy groups to obtain information, kill important targets, or sabotage the plans of the Black Empire''s enemies. I have already served two generations of rulers of the Empire, this time I am serving a Queen who can be considered my blood niece, she was chosen as a successor for demonstrating superior qualities to her brothers and sisters. To do my job I have to keep my strength level as low as possible, that''s because it''s easier to infiltrate if you''re not strong, that''s because the forts are more guarded, so if I keep a level of strength apparently weak I can be free from the eyes of people who are in charge. But this way of doing things wouldn''t last forever as my levels would end up going up over time after killing monsters or people in some unavoidable situations, which made my job more and more difficult as I received more attention from those who were in charge of the organizations in which it was infiltrated. That day the Queen called me into her office at night, no one but her maid and her personal guard knew of my presence there. "Auntie, you have served this Empire longer than anyone, unfortunately, few people know about you." (Queen) "I don''t care about that my Queen, I don''t need anyone''s recognition, I do this to protect the Kingdom I love." (I) "I know how much you love this Empire, perhaps you love it more than I do, so none of the previous rulers ever doubted your loyalty, so I have one last mission for you." (Queen) "Unfortunately infiltration jobs will no longer suit you, just espionage and assassination jobs." (Queen) "I know you don''t like that kind of job, so after this last job I''m going to release you from your obligations." (Queen) "You''ve done a good job training many of our spies, now it''s time for you to start thinking more about yourself." (Queen) "You''re a Vampire Matriarch who doesn''t have a family, because of the kind of work you''ve done so far, you haven''t managed to have almost any friends or a person to love, that''s no way to live." (Queen) "I knew what kind of job this was, I always knew what kind of life I would have and I was willing to do it, as someone with Vampire blood my life would be long, now that I''m a Vampire I have an immortal life expectancy." (I) "But that still doesn''t change the fact that you''ve already done enough for this Empire, even the former King told me to fire you, it seems like he tried to do that several times." (Queen) "There were a lot of problems during the time he was a King, he even commented on wanting to fire me many times but he still needed me." (I) "But this time is different, the last ten years have been calm, the few problems that appear can be solved by others besides you, so this will be your last job." (Queen) Shortly after I joined the extremist group the main members of the group left, but before a Rogue among them etched a mark on our bodies in easy places to hide, it was a summon mark. All I knew was that we would be taken to a place where the real plan would happen, but most members didn''t know anything else, there were only 3 or 4 members who knew about the plan. We were all told that we should stay out of hiding for the next few decades, plus special missions were given to hundreds of members without anyone knowing everything, this was their way of separating information in case someone was captured. Because of this, I had to be on hold for decades until the mark started to glow, when that happened I sent a message to the Queen using a magic item telling her everything I knew. When it was time to be summoned I was going to try to resist, but for some reason, the Goddess''s blessing on my body prevented me from resisting, this is something that has never happened before, but I trusted the Goddess and I let myself be carried away by the magic circle. When I recovered from the confusion I looked around to see an Arachne that tried to attack me, I stopped her attack and left her unconscious, inside what appeared to be a kitchen. When I left the building where I was I saw many Demons and Vampires armed, all carrying the symbol of the extremists, when I looked around I realized that I am in a city where I don''t see anyone else but the extremists. But as soon as I look at the street floor I see dead bodies, I touch the street which is made of black stone identifying it as bloodstone, this stone is created with a ritual that needs the blood of many Mages, I can''t even imagine how many died to make a street like this. While I was distracted I noticed that people were moving through the hidden shadows, I also noticed that there were many extremists looking up and I saw that we were inside a big barrier with enemies, possibly people who should be fighting the extremists. I wasn''t going to participate in any of this, so I went to the roof of a building that looked like an inn, from there I realized that there was an intense fight starting in certain places, I also noticed that there were people attacking from strategic points in the distance, so I position myself in a place where I will be out of sight, but I can still see the battle. I sat in the same place hiding my presence while watching this battle, the extremists were being massacred, the numbers were not much different but I noticed that there were many Demis and monsters among those who are fighting the extremists. At first, I was surprised by everything that was happening, but there was something that caught my attention, and Aura spread throughout this city leaving the extremists weaker while the opposite side grew stronger. But what piqued my interest was that when this Aura covered me I could feel my blood boiling inside my body, Goddess Selene''s blessing seemed to draw this Aura into my body and use it to clean the summon mark I had. This Aura was amazing, I could feel a touch of Goddess power in that Aura, but more importantly, I could feel a presence far greater than even the Queen or any other ruler I have ever known. My heart was racing, I could only keep looking in the direction where this Aura came from, I wanted to go there now, but then I would be treated as an enemy, so I waited until the extremists were eliminated, then I surrendered to a woman Demon who was surrounded by the magnificent Aura. When I convinced the woman to let me go with her to her leader, we went in the direction that Aura was coming, it was a tower with a bell, and when we arrived there were already others there, but only two people caught my attention. The first person was a woman with red wings whose clothes carried the symbol of the black crown with blood, the symbol of the Goddess Selene, the only ones who can wear this symbol are her priests. The other person that caught my attention was a boy with red hair and dark skin, his eyes were different colors like a Dhampir''s, but I could feel the presence of a pure Vampire bloodline inside him, in fact, I could feel it several lineages within it. It looked like he was suffering some kind of reaction for what he did to his Aura leaving him out of control, this allowed me to feel the presence of the Goddess inside his Aura thanks to my blessing, what I felt coming from him was different from a simple blessing, it was as if he were a part of her, moreover his presence was so magnificent that I couldn''t think clearly and before I knew it I was on my knees worshiping the being in front of me while my heart raced with emotion. Chapter 355: Prayer To The Dead Chapter 355: Prayer To The Dead It was strange when I saw rica and Freya entering accompanied by a woman with clothes similar to those of the enemy, the strangest thing was when the woman stared at me before kneeling down and lowering her head towards me. "(Who is this woman.)" (I) Before I can say anything Vanessa looks at her as confused as I am at first, but then seems to notice something and walks over to this woman''s front. "I am Vanessa, Daughter of Zenos and Priestess of the Blood Goddess, Selene." (Vanessa) "Raise your head and present your blood believer name." (Vanessa) "My name is Lilian, daughter of Gabriela, servant of the Black Empire and devout believer in the Goddess of Blood." (Lilian) "I kneel before Priestess Vanessa and ask for her blessings." (Lilian) "May my blood light your way in Selene''s name." (Vanessa) "..." (I) Suddenly something like a religious ritual started in front of me, in front of me with Vanessa introducing herself before the woman also introduced herself. After that Vanessa pulls out a knife cuts her fingertip and smears her blood on the woman''s forehead, Vanessa''s blood briefly glows before being absorbed into the woman''s body. "But how...?" (rica) Soon purple smoke comes out of the woman''s body, for some reason rica is surprised by something about it. "Stand up, Lillian." (Vanessa) "Yes, Priestess Vanessa." (Lilian) "Can you explain to me what''s going on, Vanessa?" (I) "I can, Father." (Vanessa) "As a Priestess recognized by Goddess Selene herself, I can know if someone has a Goddess blessing on their bodies, I can also know if they are Goddess believers, I can feel their faith in their Auras." (Vanessa) So this woman is a believer of the Goddess Selene, she also spoke earlier about being the servant of a Black Empire. "(Is she not part of this extremist faction?)" (I) I couldn''t make a decision about her right now, we still have a lot to do, so I''ll try to wait a bit before dealing with this woman. "Is this woman trustworthy?" (I) "Yes, she won''t dare do anything against me or you Father." (Vanessa) "Then don''t worry, alright Lilian?" (Vanessa) "Yes, Priestess Vanessa." (Lilian) "I trust you Vanessa, but just in case I want Diana and Layla to stay close to this woman for now." (I) I trust Vanessa, but I won''t take any chances with someone so suspicious we''ve just met. "< Cure > 2" (Vanessa) "I was there before, I will guide you there." (Vanessa) Vanessa guides us all to the mansion, on the way I could see how this city had been destroyed by our battle, everything was a mess and there were bodies everywhere. After everything that has happened to me in this world, I feel how much I have changed, a moment ago I was sad about the death of the innocent in this city, but now seeing the bodies of the enemies that the people next to me killed with my help, I almost don''t feel anything. As much as I don''t like to admit it, I''ve changed, but I still can''t know if for better or worse, maybe I''ll never be able to answer this question myself, all I can do is keep walking down this path that with every choice I make is the best possible and with the hope that the person I will become is not a heartless monster. ----------- After I arrived at the mansion I saw the several wounded, they were resting with bandages on the wounds, I also saw Irina and Lyra talking on a couch. I greet everyone as I go to a dining room that has a table big enough for everyone to sit down. "The others should take a while to get here." (I) "In the meantime let''s hear more about you Lilian, who are you?" (I) For some reason this woman didn''t stop looking at me the entire way, she didn''t say anything before because her gaze didn''t seem to be malicious, but that was already starting to bother me. "First of all thank you for keeping me alive until now, I''ve said this before to the Demon woman who captured me, but I''m not part of the extremist group." (Lilian) "Why would I believe you? As far as I know you were summoned along with them and your clothes bear the same symbols." (I) "I was a spy who has been infiltrating their organization for the past 50 years, I have served the Black Empire for over 800 years." (Lilian) She claims to be a spy, plus she seems to be the undercover type, that means she''s good at lying and manipulating people, I must be careful. "What is the Black Empire?" (I) "The Black Empire is the oldest and largest nation on the Dark Continent." (Lilian) "Why were you undercover among these extremists?" (I) "Perhaps you don''t know, but many extremist groups on the Dark Continent, no matter how many are eliminated, in a few years others appear." (Lilian) "The biggest reason for this is that there are always Demons who hate humans, or worship some Heretic God, or have a lot of greed wanting to usurp the throne of some nation, etc." (Lilian) "Most of them are weak organizations with little influence, they are eliminated as soon as they are discovered, but there are also organizations that manage to hide well while they spread." (Lilian) "This organization has a leader who left the Dark Continent 50 years ago with a plan that few people in the organization knew about." (Lilian) "Because of that I couldn''t do anything but wait until the summon symbol on my body started to glow and I was brought here." (Lilian) "If you''re a spy as you say, then why are you telling your secrets so easily?" (I) "I''ve always been a blood believer, I would never lie in front of a Priestess like Miss Vanessa." (Lilian) I look at her as I try to see through what she''s telling me, I want to know if what she says is true or if she''s lying to me, I want to know if she''s telling me everything. Then I look at Vanessa wondering if what Lilian has said so far makes sense. "She really is a blood believer, she is even someone with a strong faith in the Goddess, she even has a blessing from the Goddess Selene." (Vanessa) "What she said about lying in front of me is more a custom of those who believe in some God, if you believe that lying to a priest is the same as lying to God, moreover telling the truth to a priest demonstrates your sincerity and faith." (Vanessa) "For someone with a faith like hers, I imagine that even if she wanted to, she wouldn''t dare lie in front of me, but she could keep silent and say nothing." (Vanessa) Chapter 356: Going To The Capital Makari Chapter 356: Going To The Capital Makari After talking to Vanessa it looks like this Rogue isn''t lying, but could be hiding information still. "Do you know anything about the leader of this extremist group?" (I) "All I know is that there is a possibility that he is one of the current Queen''s brothers, plus the extremist leader was one of those who left the Dark Continent 50 years ago." (Lilian) "Do you know his strength?" (I) "If he is the person the Queen believes himself to be, then his strength was at the top of Grade +SSS, after such a long time it is possible that he has reached the Lower Catastrophe Grade." (Lilian) "Lesser Degree Catastrophe? What is this?" (I) "That''s a Grade of strength that no one on the Dark Continent or the Morror Continent should have, that''s what those who have surpassed the mortal power level are called." (Vanessa) "Those with this level of strength are considered to have the same strength as a catastrophe of nature, they can destroy a city by themselves." (Vanessa) "(How come I''ve never heard anything about there being greater degrees of power above Grade +SSS?)" (I) I wanted to know more about this but would have more time to ask about it later, now I must first know more about the situation. "I''ll want to know more about this later, for now, I want to know more about the extremist leader." (I) "As I said before, even now I have no confirmation on his identity, but as I said before if he is the Queen''s Brother we think he is, he has affinities with curses and the element of Thunder, plus he has great talent with handling the sword." (Lilian) Sigh "Damn! Why did it have to be such a strong person? What kind of shit is that?" (I) "If you weren''t sure before then we can confirm it for you, from the description you gave we can already assume that this person is the extremist leader." (rica) Prince Henry was a Demon with great sword-fighting skills, in addition, he had an affinity with the thunder element, we can assume that his father who would be King Makari taught his son to wield swords, in addition, we can assume that the talent with Prince Henry''s thunder element was inherited from his Father, this practically confirms our hypothesis. "This time we''re in trouble." (Nix) "We''ll think about it later too, we have to prioritize her first." (I) I look at Lilian who hasn''t shown any reaction since she started answering my questions, she is hiding her emotions and thoughts well without letting them show on her face. "Lilian, do you know about the extremists'' objective?" (I) "No, I didn''t even know you had come to the Morror Continent." (Lilian) "What do you plan on doing from now on?" (I) "I''ll send the information of what I''ve discovered so far to the Queen, I can use the Assassin''s Guild for that." (Lilian) "Are you going to tell about her about us?" (I) "..." (I) So I have no reason to keep her here, she doesn''t seem like an enemy, she hasn''t hurt anyone either as far as I know and she seems to have been sincere so far. "Is Miss Vanessa by any chance from the neutral faction?" (Lilian) "Yes, I came here from another continent to be my Father''s side." (Vanessa) "So he''s someone important to the neutral faction as I thought..." (Lilian) While I was distracted by my thoughts Liliana exchanged a few words with Vanessa before looking at me with a twinkle in her eye. "Do you happen to have the authority to accept new members for the neutral faction?" (Lilian) "I do, are you seriously talking about joining the neutral faction?" (Vanessa) "Yes, I want to serve the Goddess as best I can." (Lilian) "Let''s talk about this later, I need to think about it more." (Vanessa) "Thank you for listening to my sudden request, Priestess Vanessa." (Lilian) After this conversation I have a better idea about the Dark Continent, I would like to ask more about the continent and the Black Empire, but I think I will have to wait until a better time for that. I ask Freya to call Rakan who had returned to the secret underground room, after waiting tens of minutes Freya returned accompanied by Rakan, during this time most of the others arrived and joined us in the meeting where I learned how the battle went. "Now that most are here, I want to know how long will this barrier take to break?" (I) "As I said before, it should take another 25 hours, this barrier was made to last a whole day and only a few hours have passed." (Rakan) "Can''t we do anything to break this barrier?" (I) "Unfortunately no, the mana that was not used in the summon is being directed to this barrier, which means that to break the barrier we would need attacks multiple times stronger than anyone here." (Rakan) "Waiting wouldn''t be too bad, master." (Diana) "Consider this time to think calmly and let''s create the plan for us to use during the next battle." (Diana) "The biggest problem is that the enemy must have already started the process to summon the Dragon of Destruction, we will have to hurry when the barrier opens." (I) ---------- After waiting for hours the barrier finally opened, during those hours I was able to rest and I felt much better, but I was still having trouble controlling my Aura. When the barrier opened, hundreds of Fairies and Spirits ran towards me, in their games, they pulled my hair, ripped my clothes, and even lifted my body off the ground, I had to be rescued by Nix and Layla. After that I had to end up accepting these new Fairies and Spirits into the Dungeon, there wasn''t much else to do in this situation other than that. After this little problem, I made everyone enter the Dungeon, Vanessa also asked me to allow Lilian to enter the Dungeon, after that I left Layla together with Nix for the two of them to cooperate with techniques that will increase Nix''s speed, we have to get there fast in the capital Makari. Chapter 357: Vanessas Right Arm Chapter 357: Vanessa''s Right Arm Pov Vanessa: While my Father rested during the time that we were still trapped by the barrier around the city, I call Lilian for a chat away from the others, because of that, I take her to a restaurant that was with little damage from the battle. "I''m glad to meet someone like you Lilian, someone with such a true faith in the Goddess Selene." (I) "I am honored by your words, Priestess Vanessa." (Lilian) "I''d like to explain things a bit, I''m sure my Father won''t mind that." (I) "For starters, you may have already noticed that the red-haired boy who talked to you earlier is my Father, his name is Zenos." (I) "I realized it, there was no way to look away from such a magnificent creature..." (Lilian) Just as I thought, she can feel the blood of the Goddess running through the Father''s body, this is something that even priests would find hard to perceive, but she realized the moment she saw him, but she still doesn''t know what it is. She still hasn''t realized that her faith in the Goddess is also being directed towards my Father who is her son. Her faith in the Goddess is a wonderful thing, she also demonstrates the ability to deal with other people and has a shrewd mind, I can''t let someone so talented go. "You may have noticed during the Battle, but there are many on our side, people of many different races and in time there will likely be more, as much as my Father doesn''t like the idea." (I) "My Father doesn''t like to lead, but his talent for it is undeniable, plus he has the gift and charisma to attract people that others normally reject." (I) "I realized that when I saw Demis, humanoid monsters, an Undead, a Homunculus, Vampires and a Demon woman during the time I was here." (Lilian) She is very observant and also noticed what Lyra really is. "That''s a strange combination of races to have around, even on the Dark Continent you don''t see a variety of races like that together often." (Lilian) "My Father doesn''t know much about the Goddess''s teachings, but he has a way of thinking and doing things that coincides with the Goddess''s teachings." (I) "He did not know the ceremony of the dead and the condemnation of criminals." (I) "Because of that he doesn''t know that we cleansed that whole city in the name of the Goddess, but even if he did he wouldn''t care." (I) "When I saw his blood spilled during the ceremony of the dead, for some reason I felt a surge of power wash over me." (Lilian) "Your faith really is too great to notice that, I think it''s okay to tell you." (I) "That wave of power was his will, his will containing a sincere wish for the innocent to have peace after an undeserved death." (I) "He used a holy will to bless that ruined city using his own blood as a means, but he did it without realizing it, it was a mere accident." (I) "What did Priestess Vanessa mean by holy will? This is something that only a saint should possess, could it be..." (Lilian) "My Father is not a saint, if he were a saint his holy will would carry the will of the Goddess Selene, but that''s not what happened." (I) "That was your own holy will." (I) "But that''s impossible, only a demigod would have his own holy will from what I hear." (Lilian) What I told her is also the truth, I will need her help, there is no one in our group or camp that can help me with this as there are no Goddess believers besides me. That''s why I need Lilian''s help, she will be very useful as my right arm, but I still need to find more qualified people. Lilian accepted as quickly as I imagined it would, I didn''t even have to tell her that there is a great chance that I could become a saint one day, she simply knelt down while swearing her loyalty to me and my Father. "Get up, I still need to talk to my Father about you staying, you also don''t need to change your plan to travel the world, that''s the same goal as my father." (I) "But I thought he was going to build a city." (Lilian) "I said before that the city he wants to build is not that simple, so you''ll understand what I mean." (I) ---------- Pov Kira: After all the enemies have been killed I sit on the rubble of a house next to Elsaris, at that moment we feel the master''s Aura start to disappear. "Looks like the fight is really over." (I) "It was a quick flight." (Elsaris) "That''s because we had the advantage, we had time to prepare, while the enemies appeared already being attacked before being able to understand what was happening." (I) "One of the reasons for this is that the enemies don''t know our numbers, they must think we are less than 100." (Elsaris) "Yes, they must have no notion of our real fighting strength either, if they knew these things then we would be dead by now." (I) "They didn''t have enough information to plan anything, this must have been their last resort, but just like Zenos said before, they should already be preparing their final plan by now." (Elsaris) "So it doesn''t matter if we leave this city alive or dead, they will have already accomplished their objective by the time we get to the capital." (Elsaris) "It''s no use thinking about these things now, let''s pay attention to what we can do right now." (I) I point to the corpses on the ground that we''ve already killed. "I''ve already made everyone else run around town to collect at least three bottles of blood from every enemy killed." (I) "Are you doing this for Zenos?" (Elsaris) "That''s a quick way for the master to gain power, you know that too." (I) "You''re right, so let''s do that too, unfortunately, most of these Demons and Vampires have the same races, plus a lot of blood has already been wasted." (Elsaris) "Let''s just focus on what we can do." (I) With that, Elsaris and I began to collect the blood from the bodies of the enemies, we spent the whole day doing this until nightfall. When we get to the place where everyone was gathering, I find that the master is rested and that he had had two meetings while we were away. "(I think I''ll deliver this blood to him when he enters the Dungeon tomorrow.)" (I) Chapter 358: Arriving At Makari Capital Chapter 358: Arriving At Makari Capital While Nix and Layla are outside heading towards the capital, I gather with the others inside the mansion, discovering that Nix took advantage of these hours we had to wait in the city to kick everyone out of the Dungeon while creating three more floors. Nix also expanded the mansion''s floor twice, which was moved to the 7th floor. Now the floor of the mansion must be the same size as the Forest of Blood where I was born. Everyone was surprised by this, I didn''t even know anything since I needed to rest for a long time, but I had already given permission for Nix to make these modifications in the Dungeon when he had the opportunity. But this created a problem that we had to explore the three new floors until we reached the mansion floor, when we got there I was surprised with all that space, there was even a mountain now. On the way to the mansion I talked to Kira who said about the blood she collected from enemies, it was only at that moment that I realized I had forgotten to think about it, I almost missed an excellent opportunity to gain more skills and bloodlines. I thanked Kira and the others who helped to collect the blood, I was drinking that blood for the hours of walking it took to reach the camp. Vanessa spent all this time talking to Lilian, it felt like she was explaining the Dungeon to her. Vanessa talked to me earlier about wanting Lilian to join our group as her subordinate, and I didn''t see a problem with that so I allowed it. When we were all at the mansion Freya and Caryna started preparing food for everyone, after hours of walking everyone was hungry except for me who drank so much blood on the way that it had turned into a ball. After everyone ate was when we could start the meeting on what to do when arriving in the capital of the Makari Kingdom.The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) "To be honest, I find it impossible to avoid a confrontation, I also find it difficult not to involve the people of the city." (I) "From the information, we have the King is someone very strong, we don''t have anyone capable of fighting him." (rica) "We can''t forget that besides the King, there will be other strong enemies in the capital." (Sapphire) "But before thinking about the King and his subordinates we have to stop the summoning of the Dragon of Destruction which will probably be even stronger than King Makari." (I) "The problem is, the magic circle in the center of town will already be active when we get there, so Vanessa won''t be able to cancel the spell." (Irina) "I have a solution for that." (Rakan) "During this day that we were trapped in the city by the barrier, I spent all my time trying to find a way to stop this summoning." (Rakan) "I have found that once the summoning starts it cannot be stopped, in other words, we cannot allow magic circles in the streets and sewers to activate." (Rakan) "But by the time we get there, it will be activated for days." (Ivan) "No, it will be different." (Rakan) "In the city where we were, they didn''t activate all the magic circles, what they did was activate only the control magic circle to gather enough energy to activate all the magic circle circles quickly, only after the magic circle on the street is activated that will be able to collect energy from the population, but for that, they need to activate the sewer magic circle at the same time to have a place to send this large amount of energy." (Rakan) "In the last city they built up energy in the crystal to quickly activate magic circles in the streets, so I suppose they''ll do the same this time too." (Rakan) "So you''re saying we have to stop them before activating the full-scale spells?" (I) "Yea." (Rakan) "But how are we going to do that?" (I) "But you''re not planning on using your Aura on the entire city again, are you?" (Ivan) "That would be a very bad idea, your Aura would cause the death of every normal person who came into contact with it for the first time." (Sophia) "I''m going to use my Aura, but not in the way you''re thinking, in the next few days I''ll have to train this, but I''ll need your help, Sophia." (I) ,m "I''m always willing to help you, master." (Sophia) "As for the connection points, I''ll want two pairs to do this so as not to draw attention." (I) "The first pair will be Elsaris and Layla, you two will be able to work together for this, you both have good hiding, tracking, and sensing skills." (I) "The second pair will be Lilian and Nix, I hope I don''t disappoint you Lilian." (I) "This is the first time I''m trusting you, Nix will be watching you closely, I hope the two of you work together." (I) "I chose these four because they have better skills for a stealth mission like this, the others will be preparing for a coordinated attack against the enemies." (I) "Lyra, I want you to make a large amount of neurotic poison, make this poison become a mist capable of filling a room the size of secret rooms with magic control circles." (I) "I''ll do it easily, there won''t be any problems on my side." (Elsaris) "You don''t need to worry, I will demonstrate that I can fulfill the mission that was given to me, I will show that your trust in me was not wrong." (Lilian) "For this amount of poison I may need the master''s help and Jade, your poison is the most effective for me to work with." (Lyra) We spent the rest of the night discussing the details of the plan. ---------- Pov Goddess Selene: Zenos is doing things spectacularly, as usual, he is smart not only to rely on strength to solve his problems, thanks to this he was able to save two cities. He couldn''t save the third, but I suppose it would be difficult for anyone at his current level of strength to do anything in that situation, but it also allowed me to help fulfill the wish of two of my believers. Vanessa wanted a Vampire who had very specific skills and experience as her right-hand man, moreover, I wanted someone who had a strong faith in me, the best choice at the moment was Lilian who came closer than Vanessa wanted, any other choice would be a long way off from Vanessa and Zenos, this would also fulfill Lilian''s long-time wish to serve me. I''ve been liking Zenos'' actions more and more, he decided not to fight for himself to give his subordinates another layer of protection, moreover in the end he took the initiative to pray for the innocent people who died. He doesn''t even realize how incredible this was, asking Vanessa who is already almost a saint to do this ritual that offered all her blood as an offering to me, also allowed me to judge the souls of fools who deny their origins. But I realized only now the most incredible thing, in the ruined city the next night, all the bodies fell apart, both the bodies of the enemies and the dry bodies of the innocents were sucked into the square along with the blood that was all over the city, moreover, the mana that was too concentrated in the city was also sucked into the square. All this formed a tornado in the center of the square where it was liquefied into blood, in the center of the tornado a drop of blood containing a chaotic Aura rises up, this drop of blood has slight golden energy in it as it crystallizes. Soon the remains of the bodies and energy that was liquefied gathered in this crystal, at that moment the remnants of Zenos'' Aura that were still around the city are concentrated in this crystal and a blood-red cocoon appears floating in that square, I send my blessings to this creature if forming inside the cocoon to help birth. Too bad there is no one to see this creature being born, the energy inside the cocoon glows in the rhythm of a heartbeat, this lasts until the moment when the two moons are higher in the sky, then the cocoon explodes in light, the creature is born looking up at the starry sky with its different colored eyes before turning into a red blur heading towards the capital of the Makari Kingdom. "I didn''t expect him to create this kind of creature by accident, you are always surprising me Zenos." (I) Chapter 359: Zenos Gain A Knight Chapter 359: Zenos Gain A Knight During the days it took us to reach the capital, I trained in the techniques I would need for the plan I had, in addition, I used my power to transform two people, one on the first day and the other on the sixth day of travel. I did this to increase the strength of our group, the people I chose were the most motivated to fight which are Barok and Alessandra in my opinion. Barok had his village destroyed, he saw his people dying in front of him, and he saw those who survived being captured to be given to the enemy leader as food. Barok is more than motivated for battle, Irius who has been training with him said that Barok is an excellent warrior with great combat instincts. Alessandra won''t even comment, if she had enough power I can see her doing something unspeakable against her enemies in revenge for everything they did against her. I could have used my power to help strengthen more people, but there''s no use in power if they don''t have the motivation to fight, besides I''m finished the next day doing this kind of thing, two is the limit for me without affecting the time I need to train before the battle. Also, I have been switching my jobs correctly after leaving every city we went to, I also realized that I''m close to evolving again, I gained a lot of EXP in the previous fight due to having spread my Aura around the city. I also managed to merge the Demon bloodlines into one, this created the [ Twilight Demon: 100% ] bloodline. I was the one who chose that name, it seems that the synthesis of so many Demonic bloodlines ended up creating a bloodline that didn''t exist before, so I had the option to give the bloodline a name. I also synthesized the Vampire bloodlines, and the result was [ Demon Vampire of Nightfall: Original ], this is also a name I came up with, now I have my own Vampire bloodline and this one, but I don''t want to synthesize them now, for some reason I feel like it wouldn''t be safe considering how my body was destroyed with this synthesis. The two syntheses generated great results, but left me in a horrible state, but will still be useful for what I want to do now. The dozens of skills I got won''t be useful now as I don''t have time to train with those skills, so I''ll memorize this for after I''m done with this shit Kingdom. ---------- 1 travel day The trip should last 13 days, I plan to increase our chances in the battle as much as I can, so I call Barock to the mansion along with Alice. Sigh "Please raise your head, how many times do I need to say this until you and your people understand?" (I) "Even if I say that, every time I see the Great Zenos I get so anxious that it''s hard to control myself when I realize I''m already on my knees." (Barok) "For some reason during the last two days, I have felt a magnificent presence coming out of you." (Barok) As soon as Alice enters the now-empty hall while accompanied by Barok, but as soon as he sets his eyes on me he kneels down as he always does. What he''s talking about is probably referring to my Aura, I''m still not able to control my Aura completely, so I''m staying away from Alessandra, Leonardo, and Rakan''s subordinates who are the weakest people in the Dungeon, I don''t want to hurt them by accident. Barok is someone with a Grade A strength level, so he won''t die just from coming into contact with my Aura. After a while, it seems he manages to stand in front of me as he looks at me. "You must be wondering why I asked Alice to call you here." (I) "I''m always honored to be around Great Zenos, but I''m really curious if you need anything, I''m always willing to help." (Barok) "First of all, I need to know if you still have the will to fight the Demons and Vampires who have done so much harm to your people?" (I) "..." (Barok) At that question, Barok''s eyes widen before a glint of fury he tries to hide appears in his eyes. . . . <[ The body cannot resist the power of the Lineage ]> . . . <[ Starting the process of destroying and rebuilding the body ]> I feel chaotic energy leaving my body and forming a figure around me, I see that it is the being with a black hood with a chaotic space inside the hood with energies of various colors flowing without order inside the hood of shadows. But this time something was different, this was not a manifestation of the astral body, this figure looked more like a kind of illusion, he extended his arm from where a claw made of shadows normally comes out, but this time a Dragon claw covered with scales comes out crystal with chaotic sparkles inside when this claw appears I feel my body go weak quickly as pressure falls over the entire room. The claw goes to Barok who was having his body transformed by my power, then the claw cuts a fingertip and a drop of crystalline red blood falls on top of Barok who absorbs that blood. I see wings and a black tail growing from his back, I see the horn he had on one side of his head fall off as two crystal horns grow on his head, the green scales on his body turn black, his hair turns red and his eyes turn golden. Barok''s clothes ripped during his transformation showing his skin turning a similar color to mine, I see tattoo patterns similar to mine appearing only on his arms before he was floating down causing the entire mansion to shake. Ding! <[ Power grant ended ]> When Barok fell the Dragon''s claw goes back inside the clothes of this shadow being making the pressure that existed before disappear, then this shadow figure fades as the dark energy it is made of comes back inside me. Ding! <[ You have acquired the title [ Dragon Master ] ]> Looks like I got one more title, but this is not the time to get distracted. I look at Barok who stands up while breathing heavily, he stands up showing he''s gotten taller, he''s over 2.10 meters tall now and his muscles seem to have shrunk in size but I feel like they must be stronger than before. "I feel a great power coursing through my body, I''ve never felt anything like this before." (Barok) "Such a power, such a wild power, a power bestowed upon me by Grandmaster Zenos." (Barok) "< Dragon Sword >" (Barok) Barok stretches out his hand and a sword hilt appearing to be made of silver bones appears in his hands, he naturally pulls the hilt making it look like a large sword blade made of black crystal with chaotic sparkles inside comes out of the void. "From this day forward I dedicate this sword in your name, I will use this power to bring only honor to your great name and to judge those who dare to go against your will, this is the oath I swear before you Grand Master Zenos." (Barok) "..." (I) As soon as the big sword that is easily bigger than my entire body appears, Barok presents the sword to me while kneeling on a single knee making an oath to me, I look at his status and find that he has a new job already active, in addition, he has some new titles, but only one caught my attention. Job: [ Dragonewt Knight ] Title: [ Knight of Zenos ] Chapter 360: Lilith Chapter 360: Lilith Barok''s changes had been bigger than I expected that day, for some reason he inherited many of my features like the color of his skin and hair, also the tattoo on his arms, besides the sword he used looked a lot like the scales of my wings and the body of Dragon of Nyx. What surprised me, even more, was the job and title he was given, I didn''t expect any of that so I had to talk to Nix through my shadow explaining to her what happened as she continues on her way to the capital. Nix explained to me that even though my True Dragon bloodline hadn''t fully awakened yet, I already had the pact ability that I would normally only have upon fully becoming a Dragon by awakening my bloodline. True Dragons can choose Servants, Knights, and Priestesses to stand by their side, that''s why they need people to represent their will in many situations where they can''t appear anywhere, but that''s only for those at the top. True Dragons can use their power to help others awaken their potential, can grant power to others, and can even transform a person into Dragonewt. Because of this, they are considered demigods, but Nix said that most of them are not, only the True Elder Dragons are true demigods. Nix said that by granting my Dragon lineage to a warrior, I made him my Knight without knowing it, as he received my power, his body was transformed with my reference one, so his hair and skin were similar to mine. Also, Nix said that in the next evolutions of Barok his black scales can transform into the crystal scales that she and I already possess. Over the next few days, Barok trained alongside Ivan and Sapphira to learn to control his new body, I hope he has time to get used to his new power until battle. ---------- On the 7th day of travel As the days went by I finished the synthesis of the Demonic bloodlines and went looking for Alessandra who has been spending the last ten days trapped in the library or training spells with rica. rica has already told me that Alessandra has been learning several magical skills in the last few days, it seems that as she already had all the knowledge she needed, all that was left for her was to train in a more practical way. But a problem arose in Alessandra''s training, she had very little mana, besides her body was very weak making her not able to train as much as she would like and forcing her to interrupt her training several times. I asked Freya to call Vanessa and Alessandra to the hall we used as a meeting room, I had already taken her out of meetings here when I granted the power to Barok. Soon Freya is accompanied by Vanessa, Lilian, and Alessandra. Alessandra approaches me in the center of the room as the others retreat to the corners of the room. "I''ve waited a long time for this, I already thought you''d forgotten about me." (Alessandra) "You bestowed such a powerful body on Barok, but you haven''t sought me out for days." (Alessandra) "Do you have any idea how weak and inadequate this body is for my training?" (Alessandra) "You talk like your body is some kind of old outfit you''re trying to change into something different." (I) "That''s a great metaphor, but there''s only one mistake." (Alessandra) "I haven''t recognized this body as mine in a long time." (Alessandra) "(Her words are too heavy talking about herself like that while she has such a weird smile on her face.)" (I) As always talking to Alessandra is something that causes a strange and bizarre feeling in anyone, her eyes are always very intense and she says bizarre things as if it''s normal while keeping a smile on her face. I''m starting to think that giving her a demon bloodline might be a bad idea, but it won''t make any difference which bloodline I give her as she''s going to end up becoming a Demon one way or another. "Unlike Barok, I needed to do some preparation for you, I think you can understand why I chose to do this with you two, right?" (I) "Yes, you want those with the greatest desire to fight the enemy, but you made a mistake with Barok." (Alessandra) "Even though he hates the enemy, he''s already outgrown that hate, that''s because of you and your hired Spirit." (Alessandra) "I realized that too, the reasons why you want to fight is no longer for the destruction of your village, but mainly because they are my enemies." (I) "For Barok them being responsible for everything bad that happened to his people is just a bonus." (I) "But you don''t have to worry about me, my motives will remain revenge, brutal, bloody and wonderful revenge." (Alessandra) "..." (I) "Of course, I haven''t forgotten what we talked about earlier, I know this power won''t be free and I don''t mind serving you, in fact, I''m grateful for it as it will allow me to continue living in such a fun place." (Alessandra) "In the last few days, I''ve started thinking about things I haven''t thought about in the last ten years." (Alessandra) <[A large amount of malice found in Alessandra (Human) ]> . . <[ Initiating the process of malice being converted into potential ]> . . <[ Her Aura began to corrupt Alessandra (Human) ]> . . <[ Alessandra (Human) was successfully corrupted by her Aura ]> . . <[ Corruption has begun to integrate the bloodline [ Twilight Demon: 100% ] ]> . . <[ Demonification of Alessandra is in process ]> Soon I feel the dark energy forming the shadow figure again around me, then the shadow figure puts his shadow claw inside his hood pulling out a red crystal boss and a purple orb, the shadow figure uses the crystal horn red to pierce Alessandra''s heart as the purple sphere enters her head. Ding! <[ Interference detected from God Vidark''s Blessing on individual ]> . . . <[ God Vidark''s Blessing becomes stronger by bestowing a Stigma on Alessandra (Human) ]> At that moment I see the shadow figure release the red horn and lift Alessandra''s body while the red horn penetrates more and more into her body until it can no longer be seen, then blood starts to come out of Alessandra''s body through her mouth, ear, eyes, nose, and pores forming a sphere around it that starts to burn in red, black and purple colors. This lasts for tens of minutes while my power is being consumed almost completely to maintain this process until finally, the fire enters the sphere lit from within while showing a moving silhouette. Ding! <[ Power grant ended ]> . . <[ The individual wants a new name to be born ]> I wished to give Alessandra a name, I could also feel her craving a name more and more through the connection we were now forming when the notification appears as if in response to our wish. "From now on her name will be Lilith!" (I) When I say that name the sphere begins to crack like an eggshell, then explodes releasing a black mist similar to miasma around the surroundings obstructing the view. Within this fog I see a black eye and a gold eye looking at me, then I see a silhouette that kneels before hearing a dazzling voice talking to me. "Thank you for letting me be reborn so magnificently, Father." (Lilith) Chapter 361: Battle At Makari Capital Part 1 Chapter 361: Battle At Makari Capital Part 1 Everyone spent their time training, even the people at the camp in case they needed help just like in the last town. Barok has been training all these days and managed to get used to his current body, Sapphire even told me that she has been teaching Barok some sword techniques as she also uses a big sword. Lilith was the one who managed to surprise me, it only took her two days to get used to the body, and spent the rest of the time training her magic. Lilith''s new appearance is quite different from before, her skin has turned dark red, she has two black horns on her head, black hair, one purple eye, and the other golden eye. Lilith''s appearance now looks like a teenager, her claws are black, she has wings similar to rica''s, but hers are red bat wings and Lilith also has a much longer red tail than rica''s tail tip has a very sharp bone blade. Lilith became a Twilight Demon Vampire, she is able to drink blood and absorb mana with her tailor her teeth. Her face has completely changed from what it used to be, she doesn''t even look like the same person anymore and looks very happy about it, her mouth has a lot of sharp teeth but that doesn''t stop her from smiling which can scare an ordinary person as her eyes look even more intense now. Lilith is a very beautiful woman, she mostly dresses in clothes made from monster hides, she likes to wear long pants and cleavage shirts, she has very sensual curves as she seems to enjoy teasing people. According to Rakan and rica, she spent the last few days of travel training her spells, it seems that she mastered lower level spells in a few days and decided to learn some combat skills from Elsaris. Everyone was as ready as you could be in such a short time. ---------- Pov Vanessa: Today is the 10th day of the trip to the capital and everyone is training as much as they can, I am also training every day. It''s now overnight and I''m resting in my room when someone knocks on my door, it was Lilian I let in. "Need something?" (I) "I just wanted to know your opinion on the holy son''s plan." (Lilian) "I''m a little worried about his plan." (Lilian) "Are you worried that only you and three other people are responsible for sabotaging the magic circle?" (I) "No, that part of the plan I agree, a small, specialized group will be better in this situation." (Lilian) "So you''re worried about the town population part of the plan?" (I) "No, even if I think this part of the plan is good, I find it difficult for everyone to run away, but you can''t save everyone." (Lilian) "I''m worried about the part about the attack on the castle, we don''t know the strength and number of enemies there, besides the holy son is one of those who will attack the place." (Lilian)Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com "Are you worried about my Father participating in the plan?" (I) "I''m complaining about this whole situation, if it wasn''t for such a big crisis I wouldn''t get into this problem, but it had to be a plan to destroy a continent..." (I) "As far as I know, this is not the first time plans to destroy a continent have been used." (Kira) "From the stories I''ve heard, 200 years ago a hero of this continent led an army destroying half of the dark continent." (Kira) "I don''t care about the political and military problems of these two continents, I''m just doing this because this is home to so many of you." (I) "I know the master doesn''t like to do this sort of thing, I also know that you care about the people of Valen City." (Kira) "You just don''t want to admit that you also want to stop their plan." (Kira) "But would anyone else have figured this out to help?" (I) "I even thought about calling the black market people, but I don''t want them to know our secrets, I don''t trust them." (I) I spent some time talking to Kira while watching the city, I could see that there was also an alarm barrier around the city, and I could see the soldiers on the walls and patrolling the outskirts of the city. "(It takes a few hours to finish this problem.)" (I) ----------- Time passed and there were only less than two hours left for the Suns to rise, everyone was awake and ready. I do the same as I did in the last city, I leave everyone inside the Dungeon while stepping into the shadow of a patrolling soldier. I stay in his shadow until I get through the barrier, then I start switching from shadow to shadow as I walk away from the city gates, after that, I look for an empty shop or house that is above the sewers to do the same thing as last time. This time it took me a while to find an empty store or house like that since this city has a larger population and apparently a busy nightlife. But after a few minutes of searching, I found an empty house, when I walked in I noticed that there wasn''t even furniture inside, it must be a house for sale. I enter and open the gate to the Dungeon, then Nix, Layla, Elsaris, and Lilian exit the Dungeon. "Wait while I open a ticket for you." (I) I spent 30 minutes opening a passage to the sewers, then the 4 enter, after that I call the others to mix with the people of the city, from what I saw there are almost no soldiers inside the city, most are at the gates or on the walls of the city. Those who came out of the Dungeon were Jay, Kira, and Byakko, they are strong and will be responsible for killing the soldiers on the walls when the battle starts, that''s why the soldiers surely have orders to stop the population from leaving the city. After they left I closed the dungeon while I go somewhere else, I''m going close to the castle, I got close to the castle and sneaked into the castle grounds, I went to the weapons shed and opened the Dungeon gate there for everyone left. Once all the main combatants have left with Rakan, I close the Dungeon gate and exit the castle leaving them behind as I head for the center of town. Arriving downtown I enter an alley where I emerge from the shadows with a hood hiding my appearance and blend in with the people walking through the town square as I wait for the moment when the plan will begin. In the meantime, all I can do is keep walking around here without attracting attention, but it surprised me to have so many shops open with people walking the streets so late at night, at least it helps me to stay hidden in the crowd. Chapter 362: Battle At Makari Capital Part 2 Chapter 362: Battle At Makari Capital Part 2 Pov Nix: As soon as we left the Dungeon and entered the hole the master made to reach the sewers. In the sewers, Lilian and I went on separate paths from the other two, according to what Leonardo told us there are secret passages that lead to the 10 connections, Elsaris and I already know the location of these passages. Elsaris and Layla were responsible for destroying 8 of the connections, while Lilian and I were responsible for destroying only 2, but that''s because we have something else to do after that. "You''re ready?" (I) "Yeah, I don''t think we''ll have any problems with our part." (Lilian) Lilian and I follow to one of the secret passages while we stay hidden from the Kimera Soldiers, I hide in the shadows, but Lilian seems to disappear while hiding her presence completely. Once we arrive at the entrance we wait for the patrols to pass before opening the passage by pressing two bricks that open the passage, as soon as we enter I put on an illusion to keep the passage open without calling attention to a quick exit if necessary. It was a narrow corridor for one person that led us to a small room where there was a magic crystal floating in the middle of a magic circle, in addition, the entire room was made of black stone. "A pity to destroy a magic crystal of this size." (I) "I can see why we can''t destroy this and walk away, it has a lot of warning spells near the magic circle, it also has a barrier magic to defend the magic circle." (Lilian) "This would be useful against others, but rica''s cursed fire can burn its own mana as fuel, everything in this room will be destroyed, once the barrier disappears the magic circle and magic crystal will be destroyed in seconds." (I) "I''ve seen the damage this purple fire has done to the extremists, even if someone makes it this far they won''t make it through the fire or they''ll be seeking their own death." (Lilian) "What time is the crystal to be activated?" (I) "After the sunrise, in an hour and a half or so." (Lilian) "Where would be the best place to put the crystal?" (Lilian) "Freya told me you''ve seen the master bestowing power and bloodlines, so you only need to talk to him after this is over." (I) "I wouldn''t dare ask the holy son for anything..." (Lilian) "Looks like Vanessa has a few things in store for you." (I) "She said I didn''t need to hide the things she told me." (Lilian) "She''s right, the master doesn''t like to keep secrets from his companions." (I) "Then don''t worry about it, besides I can talk to the master about you later, but I think you''ll have to earn his trust first." (I) "The holy son still doesn''t trust me." (Lilian) "Actually, he already trusts you since Vanessa accepted you as a subordinate." (I) "He just has doubts about his motives for agreeing to stay with us." (I) "Just tell him the truth after this is over." (I) After a little conversation we started walking from alley to alley to the place that Leonardo spoke to me before, it was a side street where some houses were, I could see the lights off in the houses. I walked over to a two-story government building that houses maintenance tools and the entrance to the passage that the builders used during the construction of the sewers. The building is empty so we have nothing to worry about, I open the passage and we go inside, then I take the paper where Leonardo drew the tunnel system that looks like a labyrinth. Following the directions shown on the map, we arrive in a large room with stairs forming a dome on the floor, this is the top of the secret room where the magic control circle is. "This is the place, prepare the poison, as soon as the explosions start we will throw the poison in there and head towards the castle." (I) "OK." (Lilian) Chapter 363: Battle At Makari Capital Part 3 Chapter 363: Battle At Makari Capital Part 3 Pov King Makari: It''s been 17 days since we activated the magic control circle, there are still three days left before I get at least one successful summon of the Dragon of Destruction. I was very surprised 13 days ago when the curse I placed on that summoner broke, which means she must be dead. I was very confused when this happened, I really wanted to know if she was able to summon our troops to this continent. If she died it means they must have stopped her from doing the invocation or she wouldn''t be dead. I must say I didn''t expect them to be able to do something like this. They interrupted my plans several times before I even found out about them. I don''t even know who''s attacking me and I''ve already lost three cities. But I know they won''t be able to get here fast enough, even if they could I''ve already gathered my army on the city walls and in the sewers. The moment any sign of them is found I have given orders to activate the city''s magic circle and start the summoning. At that moment the barrier will be activated leaving everyone trapped, even if there is a small chance of failure by activating the magic circle before, this is still better than being interrupted again. Besides, failure will only cause the summon to go out of control, which won''t make much difference in my plans, it would be better to be a success for me to at least try to get control over the Dragon of Destruction, but I can''t put the plan to lose if enemies attack first. "What''s the matter, Makari? Are you still thinking about the enemy?" (Garius) "How can I not think about it? This time I don''t even know if we''ll be able to succeed in the plan." (I) "Even if we can''t destroy the entire Morror Continent, we should still be able to destroy more than half of the continent and weaken the other half." (Garius) "That would be good enough, besides we''re not sure if this enemy is alive? Maybe that Rogue managed to start the summon before she died." (Garius) "If that had happened, we would have heard from our comrades by now." (I) "But let it go, it doesn''t matter anymore as we just have to continue with this plan." (I) I look at my old friend, he created this group together with me and he must be the person I trust the most. "Where''s your wife? Tired of playing with that garbage?" (I) Sigh "I had left her behind while coming here, I didn''t expect so many things to happen, unfortunately, I didn''t have time to send someone to bring her before the city was attacked." (Garius) "Why are you sighing like that for a simple human, you can get anyone else to have fun with after the plan." (I) "You don''t understand, you have no idea how much effort I put into breaking her." (Garius) "The pain I caused her body, the humiliation I put her through, the things I forced her to do." (Garius) "With what happened in the other three cities, it was only a matter of time before the surrounding Realms began to investigate, but it didn''t matter if we managed to do the summoning this time." (I) "But now that shouldn''t be possible anymore, I don''t know what they did exactly, but the explosions from before seemed muffled, they must have come from the sewers, the magic circle must be destroyed by now." (I) "I''ll call the others to attack..." (Garius) "No need, they must come here, they never left anyone alive in the other cities, so they will come here, prepare the others." (I) "Yea." (Garius) "I will not underestimate them, so we will wait for them on a battlefield where we are more prepared." (I) ---------- Pov Nix: Lilian and I waited until the explosions started, meanwhile, we both sat there waiting in silence to make sure the enemy wouldn''t notice our presence on top of them. When the explosions started I exchange a look with her nodding, then I transform my hand and punch the top of the dome opening a big hole where we throw three barrels of poison, in mid-air Lilian used tornado magic breaking the barrels and spreading the poison that turned into gas as soon as it came out of the barrels. We ran out of there the same way we came, as soon as we left we hear the master''s roar spreading throughout the city, his roar is full of the master''s Aura which doesn''t affect me, but Lilian beside me was frozen in place while trembled. I give her two slaps on the face to wake her up before continuing, as we exit the government building where the walkway was, we see people on the streets running and we also see people standing still while looking in one direction. When I look in that direction I see a big Basilisk roaring in the sky, it looks like the master is already doing his part of the plan, now we don''t need to keep hiding like that. Lilian and I run to the square jumping from roof to roof as in the streets people are running over each other to run away from the square. ----------- Pov Kira: While I was sitting on the city walls and waiting for the signal to go towards the master, Byakko was in her cat form lying on my legs sleeping. Soon the explosion sounds can be heard, I can even see some houses shaking probably because they are close to the explosion, Jay appears next to me while watching what is happening. We''re both out of masks since they''re broken, but I still have my mom''s mask with me and Jay pulls a new mask from his storage item. At that moment a roar that seems to come out of nowhere comes from the direction of the square at the same time as a Basilisk like the one we killed inside the Great Serpent Dungeon in Valen City, but this Basilisk was much bigger. I stand up while holding Byakko in my arms and look back, on top of the walls there were many bodies and blood, in addition, there were also some strange body parts of monsters on somebodies. We had already killed all the kimera soldiers and enhanced soldiers up here, the poison that Nix and Lilian will use should kill the others who are in the magic control circle room, so all that remains is the attack on the enemy base in the castle. I jump off the wall fall on top of a building and start going from roof to roof towards the square where I want to meet the master before heading to the castle. Jay is following me closely as we watch an ever-increasing crowd rush out of town through the gates, it looks like the plan is working very well. But strangely I see a White Elf surrounded by children looking at me in surprise, I only looked at her for a moment before continuing running. Chapter 364: Battle At Makari Capital Part 4 Chapter 364: Battle At Makari Capital Part 4 I was walking in the town square and I stopped at a place to watch the Suns rise, soon I see even more people walking in the streets, I see children and adults, adventurers and vendors, men and women, people of the Human, Beastman, Dwarf races, a few Runics and Elves were also walking the streets. I''ve seen children playing, people eating, vendors opening their food stalls, and adventurers looking tired as they walk towards the gates in combat gear or discarded armor. Among the adventurers I saw an Elf who looked to be around 40 years old, she was the oldest looking Elf I have ever seen, she was sitting eating some kind of meat on the other side of the square while staring at me, she looked to be in normal clothes, but I realized that she has greater strength than she tries to show. She was watching me and didn''t even try to hide since I noticed her before dawn hiding in a room, maybe that''s why she gave up hiding, but I don''t feel malice coming from her, I can''t feel her Aura either. I smile while still hiding most of my face with the hood, so I use a rune on my shadow and create another one that I make go to this White Elf''s shadow, she followed the rune with her eyes but didn''t react letting the rune hit your shadow. "Why are you watching me?" (I)Vissit for updates "Because you''re up to something." "I''m just someone walking around the square to pass the time." (I) "I noticed your presence during the night, you walked aimlessly without ever straying too far from the center of the square and trying to stay close to the places with more people, you also didn''t talk to anyone and you''re hiding your face." "Everything about you is suspicious, you seem to be waiting for something." She and I started talking in low voices almost like whispering, so no one will be able to hear us, I can speak and hear her leave from our shadows. "Why are you trying to talk to me instead of running? Aren''t you afraid I''ll call the soldiers?" "Soon there won''t be any more soldiers in this city, you also noticed that there aren''t any around." (I) "..." "I can''t tell if you''re a passing adventurer or a spy for some nation, but I have a request for you." (I) "Why would I do anything you say?" "Like everyone else, I''m limited in the number of things I can do at the same time." (I) "Soon there will be trouble, please take everyone out of town, if possible try to protect the children gathered to your right with your Aura." (I) "What are you doing? If you don''t tell me I''ll have to stop you." Before long Lilian and Elsaris also appear, the Elf woman looks at me and runs along with the other people towards the exit of the city. After not being able to see anyone else around keeping the monster illusion while I make a big fireball and destroy some shops and houses where I didn''t feel the presence of people around, I did this to make immobilized people run to survive or do those who were trying to run towards the square to run back towards the exit. After that Kira, Byakko, and Jay arrived, I drink some potions and some blood to recover from all the energy I spent, I have to be at full strength for what''s to come as I don''t know if my plan will take effect. "Have you all finished your parts of the plan?" (I) "I and Nix finished our part as you requested." (Lilian) "All right on our side, master." (Nix) "That was an easy job." (Elsaris) "I didn''t have to do anything, I just sat on her shoulder while I left all the work to her." (Layla) "There were many enemies on the walls, most of them were just soldiers with Grade -B strength, there were only a few dozen Kimera Soldiers with Gra A strength." (Kira) "We managed to kill them all quickly, but we were exhausted afterward, so we rested until the moment of the explosions." (Jay) "Byakko is still resting." (Kira) It seems that everyone has done their part of the plan as best they can so far, all that remains is to finish off the enemies in the castle. Now that the magic circle is no longer a danger, I could just walk away, but I''m not stupid to let a sinister Demon have the patience for a decades-old plan like this that sure hates me to stay alive. I''m sure he wouldn''t rest until he found out you attacked him and ended his decades-old plans. I''m not going to let him live to cause me problems later, even if it''s risky, I''m going to end it all here and now. "Is everyone ready for battle?" (I) "Yes!" (all) "So let''s go." (I) With that, I and the others head for the castle at full speed to meet up with those who have already begun their attack. Chapter 365: Battle At Makari Capital Part 5 Chapter 365: Battle At Makari Capital Part 5 Pov Ivan: I and the others are still inside the castle grounds, while the others were still getting ready to blow up the connection points, we were doing our part of the plan too. Rakan was sent along with Beatriz to take a look at the magical defenses of the castle he created. "My heart is racing, I''m so happy it feels like I''m floating." (Lilith) "You''re floating..." (Jade) "..." (Lilith) "Looks like I still need to practice better using my wings, the master was right when he said it''s hard to control wings." (Lilith) Lilith has been impatient since she left the Dungeon, she knows her husband is here inside the castle and is anxious to find him. She didn''t even notice that she spread her wings and started to float, everyone is looking at her not understanding how she manages to smile in a situation like this, but I think they are still underestimating her madness. "Everyone stay prepared, for the time that has passed Beatriz and Rakan should return soon." (I) p It was just me talking and the two of them went through the door wearing soldiers'' clothes that they took into this room. "You took more than an hour, I thought it would be faster." (I) "There are many soldiers around here, it took me a while to give the slow-acting poison to everyone, I also managed to give the poison to some Demons and Vampires who were leading the soldiers, none of them had strength above Grade +A." (Beatriz) "As always Lyra does an excellent job with her poisons." (Beatriz) "My daughter is a genius, of course, she always does a good job." (I) I can''t help but smile on my face every time I hear someone praising my dear daughter, but I soon remember that I still have work to do. "Rakan, did you manage to sabotage the castle''s defenses?" (I) "Of course I did, I was the one who created these magical defenses." (Rakan) "I did just as you asked, but I left only the defenses active while I destroyed the attack magic circles, I also destroyed the control function, so they can''t control the spells installed in the castle." (Rakan) "Couldn''t you have transferred that control to us?" (I) "No, that''s the best I can do, besides they should find out what I did soon." (Rakan) "It doesn''t matter, look out the window, the Suns are already rising, so we should hear the explosions." (Vanessa) "But we need to wait until the master roars before acting." (Vanessa) With everyone watching the sky lighten, they stand in position waiting for the signal, a few minutes later the explosions started, but we kept waiting until we heard the master roar. ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! We hear the master''s roar, but it has no effect on us as we are his servants, only Sapphire was a little affected by fear, but it only lasted a few seconds as the master is far away and she has a strength close to his. When we were about to continue the invasion of the castle, I feel something coming towards us from the sky and I look there, it was the master who had arrived flying. ----------- Pov Zenos: On the way to the castle, I approached Nix to talk to her while Layla sat on my shoulder. "Nix, I want you to step into my shadow, you know the plan." (I) "All right." (Nix) Nix steps into my shadow, after which I spread my Dragon Wings and look at the others. "Try to keep up the pace, we have to speed up to meet the others before entering the castle." (I) After saying that I start flying towards the castle as Jay, Kira, Elsaris, and Lilian manage to keep their pace as they jump from roof to roof faster. When we passed the castle walls I saw many bodies on the ground, many of these bodies were deformed and looked more like monsters than people. I see Ivan and the others gathered near the bodies start to head towards the castle, but suddenly Ivan and Sapphire turn towards me as I approach to land next to them. "The master was quick, I was anxious for the master to arrive quickly to fight at his side." (Ibuki) I pat Ibuki''s head as I turn to the others seeing Kira, Jay, Elsaris, and Lilian along with them. "We are all together, let''s start the final part of the plan, have no mercy on the enemies, kill them all." (I) We all run to one of the walls that Rakan pointed out, so I punch with all my strength making a passage for us, just like I asked Rakan to disable the defenses in some parts to facilitate our entry. As soon as I passed the wall two maids tried to attack me, but both lost their heads before approaching. "(Ibuki''s sword attacks are getting faster, it looks like she has been training diligently.)" (I) When we entered the castle I use my detection skill to sense everything in the castle, I feel 4 strong presences in a large room closer to the top of the castle, one of these presences was very strong and released a great bloodlust directed at me, he can me notice by the way. I also feel hundreds of weaker presences in various parts of the castle, some are coming here running. "Lilith, you said you attended some of the extremist meetings with your husband, right?" (I) "Yes, he used these meetings to find new ways to humiliate or torture me in public." (Lilith) "Have you ever seen King Makari at these meetings?" (I) "Only twice, he always sat next to my husband and two others, one of those people being a bald black-skinned Vampire and the other person being the Queen a Demon." (Lilith) "Did those four people seem to be the leaders?" (I) "Yes, the others seemed to respect and fear the four." (Lilith) "So I already know where they are." (I) Chapter 366: Battle At Makari Capital Part 6 Chapter 366: Battle At Makari Capital Part 6 I already knew where the enemies were, I also feel that there was an underground space with many weak presences gathered without moving, they must be prisoners like the others I found in the noble mansions that I invaded in the other three cities. The important thing now is to pass the orders on to others. "Sapphire, Ivan, Lilith, and Layla come with me to what I think is the throne room, the others I want you to split into groups of three." (I) "Vanessa, there''s a group of Vampires in what I think is the hall, they''re gathering to get the best advantage probably, it looks like they''re all Vampires by their Auras, they''re heading that way." (I) "I''ll take care of them, thanks for saying that Dad." (Vanessa) "Be careful and don''t underestimate your enemies." (I) "Yes!!!" (all) After saying that I start to go upstairs while Layla and Lilith kill the servants along the way, I noticed that some are Demons or Vampires, but most of the servants were Humans, probably Demon worshipers. When we arrived in a few minutes running non-stop through the dozens of corridors of the castle I already knew because my Aura made me see everything in the castle in my mind. In the throne room, there were three men and a woman who directed a strong bloodlust toward me and my companions, but strangely I feel an even stronger bloodlust than theirs at my side, but it is not directed towards me. "I found you honey." (Lilith)Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com ----------- Irina''s People: I''m with Irius and Ibuki, the three of us were walking through the corridors, we decided to go to the north tower that is closer, our idea is to finish off the enemies as quickly as possible so we can help others. As we walk Ibuki goes ahead because he has the best detection skills among the three of us, plus Ibuki is smiling happily. "This is my first time hunting inside a castle, there are so many places to look, I''m so anxious..." (Ibuki) "< Phantom Blade >" (Ibuki) As we were walking down the hall someone goes through the door on our left and tries to cut Ibuki who defends with a sword deflecting the enemy''s attack while cutting with the second sword, the enemy tries to defend with the arm that is coated in metal, but when the second sword of Ibuki who was covered in darkness to the enemy''s arm, a blade of darkness comes out of the sword passing through the arm as if it were a mist before hitting the enemy''s head-splitting it in half. "Have you noticed the enemy yet?" (I) "Yes, he hid his bloodlust well, but I felt his eyes on me as I approached the door." (Ibuki) "He was very impatient, he must not be very good at ambushes..." (Ibuki) "< Shield of Light >" (Irius) "< Sword of Piercing Light >" (Irius) While I was talking to Ibuki, a mage tried to hit us with thunder-type magic, but my brother defends us as he creates a sword of light that cuts through a frame that starts to bleed. "They''re too impatient to fall for such a bait." (I) Everyone at Dungeon treated me and my people very well, Mrs. Freya and Mrs. Caryna made a delicious meal for me and my people the day we arrived. Mr. Ivan knew he was an inexperienced leader for my people, so he often came to talk to me to teach me what I should do to lead my people better. The lady Irina and the Ghoul named Jana came to me to learn the language of my people, the truth is that I am not good at teaching the common language to others and they both could see it, they started to learn our language even with someone as bad as me teaching them, all to be able to teach my people the common language later. Lady Sapphire taught me how to use a heavy sword, I have always used normal swords and made the mistake of treating the heavy sword in the same way, wasting its quality which is massive strength due to the weight of the sword. Lady Sapphire taught me how to hold the sword and swing it without using too much force, and taught me the moments where I should or shouldn''t use my strength during the swing of the sword to have the greatest effect. Miss Diana was also the one who discovered that I''m a Ki user, but she was the only one in my village who was able to turn stamina into Ki, so I didn''t have anyone to teach me Ki control. Miss Diana taught me every night how to feel, control, and use my Ki correctly, thanks to her I felt my power increase again with every combat training I had with Lady Sapphire. The Great Dragon Nix also came many times to teach me more about Dragonewt and Dragons, I had to know more about my own race. I had the great honor of being taught by the great Dragon Nix how to fly, for me using my wings was something very difficult, many times during the training combats these wings hindered me more than they helped, so I trained every morning with the Great Dragon Nix to learn to control my wings and fly. I''m still not able to fly, but at least my wings no longer get in my way during combat. Jay and I keep running without worrying about these little enemies that try to ambush us as Mistress Freya is killing everyone with her chips or with her wind magic while she talks in an easy way. The direction we''re going is where Jay says he feels several enemies gathered, we''ve already agreed that I''ll attack from the front while Jay attacks from the sides, Mrs. Freya will support attacking from behind. "They seem to have sensed our presence and gone there." (Jay) Once we get there Jay warns us that the enemy has moved into a room at the end of the hall. I run ahead already knowing it must be a trap, I bolster my body with my Ki and lunge while putting my wings forward. "Ahhh!!" (I) Before I even get to the door three trap spells activate, one on the wall to my left, one on the wall to my right, and one under my foot. "< Wooden Wall >" (Freya) "< Water Armor >" (Jay) Jay uses a rune on me that creates a water armor protecting me from the explosion beneath me, I punch the rock thorn coming from my left side breaking it into pieces and Freya hits the ground on my right side making the arrows logs grow on a wall standing trees intertwined blocking another rock thorn. "< Ki Fist >" (I) After these traps, I continue towards the door where I gather the Ki in my fist and punch the door. "< Dragon Sword >" (I) The enemies were just a few dozen Demons, with my initial punch I destroyed the door and threw some back making room for us to enter the room, meanwhile I summon the Dragon sword and use it to defend against a thunder spell that came from in front of me, Freya starts hitting the Mages with her arrows and spells, meanwhile, Jay has disappeared but must be killing the enemies while they are focused on me. I was able to kill the enemies with ease as my sword went through their shields and armor without ease, I even saw some decapitated enemies on the ground, probably Jay''s work, in ten minutes of fighting everyone was dead, I had some small wounds on my body for not being able to keep my Ki in the whole body correctly. Chapter 367: Battle At Makari Capital Part 7 Chapter 367: Battle At Makari Capital Part 7 Pov Vanessa: I was with Jade and Lilian, we were heading in the direction my Father pointed before, Lilian seemed to be emitting a slight bloodlust since my Father said that there would be Vampires gathered in this place. On the way we found almost no enemies, the few that were nearby were killed by Lilian. They were just two humans in servant clothes, Lilian threw two knives killing them before completing a spell. "I can already feel them, they''re not far away." (Lilian) "I can feel a strong bloodlust coming from the direction we''re heading." (Jade) "Probably the enemies, they should know we''re heading their way." (I) "I have the holy son to thank for the opportunity to kill these bastards who dare speak ill of the Blood Goddess." (Lilian) Lilian is very serious when the Goddess is related, she takes her faith very seriously, but I don''t hate these Vampires for not worshiping the Goddess Selene. Everyone has the right to choose the God they choose to worship or to remain unconnected with the Gods for life, everyone has the right to choose. But what I can''t forgive is that they did many horrible things to innocent people, they let themselves be controlled by their hunger and power, so they did many evil deeds against innocent people. Vampires are a race that was created by the Goddess Selene, everything we are received from her, and I cannot remain silent for those who misuse these gifts to make innocent people suffer. The neutral faction I am a part of doesn''t just take care of the religion of the Goddess Selene, we also take care of hunting those who tarnish the Vampires'' name. Millennia ago Vampires were hunted all over the world, that''s why many Vampires were lost in their hunger or power causing destruction and death wherever they went. It wasn''t until the older Vampires joined together forming what is now known as the neutral faction that things started to look up. The neutral faction in those times hunted any Vampire who used the gifts the Goddess gave us to do evil deeds so that we could be impartial when applying punishment to these criminals, the priests prayed to the Goddess that she would judge their crimes. The truth is that Vampires can drink any type of blood and don''t need to kill their prey to do so, nowadays there are many Vampires who, when building their houses, choose to hire Human servants or buy slaves to always be able to feed themselves, but that doesn''t mean that we need to mistreat them, on the contrary, the Vampires of the neutral faction treat them well, taking care of their health and food to ensure the quality of their blood. As many see it, Vampires nowadays are not so marginalized anymore, only some religions continue to treat us like monsters, but the reason we are still feared is because of these bastards who continue to tarnish the honor we fought so hard to achieve, that is Unforgiven. I, Lilian, and Jade arrived in front of a very decorated door, I could feel the bloodlust behind the doors, if I passed we would be attacked. "Can Jade handle the initial attack?" (I) "Clear." (Jade) "Lilian, when I come in, don''t let anyone interrupt me." (I) "I don''t know what you''re going to do, but I won''t let anyone near you." (Lilian) "So let''s start." (I) "< Devouring Serpent >" (Jade) Jade returns to her Lamia form, she has the spear that Anton made for her, this spear can be divided into three parts and has a chain made of a mixture of Magnetite and Mithril inside connecting the entire spear, that is to say, that the currents have a magnetic force at the same time we note that they have high mana conductivity. "Are you ready Lillian?" (Jade) "Yes, disable the barrier." (Lilian) "< Storm Wave >" (Lilian) Enemies make various attacks against the Jade barrier, they attack with swords, spears, spells, skills, etc. This brings the barrier to the point of breaking after ten seconds when Jade suddenly deactivates the barrier at the same time as Lilian casts a spell that creates a wave of wind that becomes a storm knocking all enemies away with all her mana. "< Piercing Spears >" (Jade) "O Blood Goddess Selene, may at the utterance of her name the skies become red and may this servant be bestowed with your blessings to bring judgment upon her enemies." (I) Jade takes advantage of this time that Lilian bought for her and slams the capo of her spear on the ground creating a magic circle that will make a copy of Jade''s spear appear in five places in the room piercing five enemies and killing only two of them. As I finish the Goddess prayer, I feel her blessing within me spreading its power through my body, I feel my Aura spreading across the room and I stretch my wings reflexively as I feel the Goddess''s eyes on me. Soon my Aura concentrates above my head condensing along with the holy power in a circle of red energy. At this moment I can feel everything in this room, this space is under my control, I look at the Vampires who were about to start attacking, they stop halfway and start to shake, meanwhile in the corner of my eyes I see Lilian kneel towards me and Jade is looking at me in surprise. "In the name of the Goddess of Blood, present your sins to me, may the Goddess use me as a means to judge these criminals." (I) "< Blood Chains >" (I) Streams of blood flow from my wings and pin all the Vampires to their knees on the ground. "May your blood prove your innocence or your guilt." (I) "< Blood Scale >" (I) The image of an illusory red scale appears on top of each Vampire, on one side of the scale is the symbol of a drop of blood and on the other side is the symbol of a red sword, the blood of all Vampires comes out of the body while in their minds if they pass the crimes they committed so they know what they are being judged for, the blood that leaves their bodies only goes to the sword side making only that side of the scale weigh. "Your blood has proved your crimes, may the sword of blood serve your sentences." (I) "< Sword of Blood Judgment >" (I) The scales disappear as the Vampires'' blood that was on the scales turns into a red crystal sword and goes through the heads of most as a death sentence. But two Vampires had the sword through their hearts, I feel them weaken and I see the fangs in their mouths fall before the swords disappear as do the chains. "Two survived the trial with a sentence of having their Vampire bloodline taken away as well as all power they possessed." (I) Three drops of crystalline blood come out of three corpses coming to me and entering my body. "The judgment ends..." (I) After the trial, I feel my Aura weaken and the presence of the Goddess leave my body, I feel a weakness take over me and I almost fall if it wasn''t for Lilian running to hold me, meanwhile Jade goes to the two who survived the trial and kills them. "The master said no mercy." (Jade) Chapter 368: Battle At Makari Capital Part 8 Chapter 368: Battle At Makari Capital Part 8 Pov Diana''s: I, Beatriz, and rica are going to the second floor of the castle, we are going to the place where there should be a meeting room, Beatriz says she saw through one of the windows earlier that there were many enemies there. On the way, Beatriz and I killed the enemies faster than rica could cast her magic. I sliced enemies to pieces with quick attacks while Beatriz always aimed at vital points killing enemies with single attacks. As we went to the second floor we kept looking inside the doors to make sure we didn''t have any more enemies, on the way we found some weak Demons and Vampires, it seems they were sent to explore and fight us. The strongest enemies must be using these little fish to make us expend our energies on the chance to facilitate their own battles, this is a simple strategy more effective in most situations. But this strategy is cruel to your own subordinates and companions, besides it is useless to send these weaklings who die on the first hit, there was one of the Demons who was not even able to see my movements and was laughing when his body was split in two. After about ten minutes we arrived at the place that Beatriz spoke about, but as soon as we entered there was nothing else there, there were no more enemies. "They must have gone somewhere else, they would be fools if they stayed here." (I) "..." (Beatriz) "We must hurry, soon they will notice our strength and some may try to run away, we have to kill as much as possible." (rica) "Wait..." (Beatriz) "..." (I) "..." (rica)Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om Beatriz points to a bookcase and throws a quill on the floor in front of the bookcase, the quill is blown as if a breeze comes from behind the bookcase. "(A secret passage.)" (me) "I don''t feel any presence from the other side, let me check for traps." (Beatriz) Beatriz spends a few seconds looking around the bookcase, I hear some noises and soon the bookcase moves by itself to the side revealing a staircase leading down. "There was a blast trap, but I deactivated it while opening the passage." (Beatriz) "I better go ahead..." (I) "Let me go first, my detection skills are better than yours, so it will be easier to avoid a trap or an enemy attack." (Beatriz) "You''re right, now let''s go, we don''t have all the time in the world." (rica) "It''s all right." (I) Beatriz enters the front with me in behind and rica behind me, our way was without problems until what seemed to be a long tunnel to somewhere. We follow this tunnel until we reach an open door, when we get closer we can hear an argument. "Damn it, all the Enhanced Soldiers and Kimera Soldiers are dead, even the Mages we sent to take care of control of this magic circle are dead from this vicious poison." (Voice A) "Seven of us also died from the poison when we opened the door." (Voice B) "You''re lucky I was able to create a barrier to protect us in time." (Voice C) "Besides the truth is that a group battle would be worse for us." (I) "Shouldn''t it be the opposite? If more of us fought together we''d have a better chance of winning, right?" (Byakko) Even Kira''s hired spirit woke up, it was about time for this cat to wake up, but it seems he and Rakan can''t see the whole situation at all. "Your thinking is the very simple cat." (I) "We already know that the enemy leader''s strength is above Grade +SSS." (Kira) "Our help would be very limited, in fact, we would only be a cause for concern for the master, so he separated us." (Kira) "Zenos only took with him the strongest and Lilith, it''s going to be a one-on-one battle." (I) "Why did he take that crazy woman with them instead of you who is stronger?" (Byakko) "I would be of little use against an enemy with thunder-type abilities and faster than me." (I) "Zenos chose Ivan because in addition to being strong he is also immune to fear, so the enemy won''t be able to intimidate Ivan who is an Undead." (I) "Sapphire is an experienced and very strong warrior, her body will take hits better than I can, and she is better at coordinating with others in close combat." (I) "Lilith was chosen because there was no way to stop her from going to her husband, plus someone like her won''t lose against the person she hates so much." (I) "I still don''t think she was a good choice, she gained her current power very recently, she doesn''t even know how to use her wings yet." (Rakan) "Don''t underestimate someone with so much hate, she must know her husband better than he does, I''m sure she already imagined thousands of ways to kill him." (I) "All we can do is trust them." (Kira) We talked along the way because there weren''t any enemies around that were worth it, when we got to the basement I destroyed the exit. After that, we look around and I see a lot of grotesque things, but it wasn''t the time to know that now, so we went back upstairs and started scouring floor by floor eliminating all the enemies we found. On the way we see the other groups fighting and we go different ways when we realize that they don''t need help. On the third floor we discovered an office where there was a Demon sitting at a table full of papers, he was chained to the walls and couldn''t go far from that table. He appeared to be unconscious. "That''s the doctor I told you about earlier, but it looks like they turned him into a Demon." (Rakan) "You said he was human, right?" (I) "Yes." (Rakan) ,m "So they transformed him to increase his life expectancy, they should have plans for him in the future." (I) "Wouldn''t it have been better to turn him into a Vampire?" (Kira) "Maybe we don''t know what exactly they were thinking, we can always ask him later." (I) "He''ll be safe here, leave him there and we''ll continue to inspect the rest of the castle." (I) "We can come to get him later." (I) Chapter 369: Conclusion Of The Shadow War Part 1 Chapter 369: Conclusion Of The Shadow War Part 1 In the throne room, there were three men and a woman who directed a strong bloodlust toward me and my companions, but strangely I feel an even stronger bloodlust than theirs at my side, but it is not directed towards me. "I found you honey." (Lilith) I ignored Lilith for a few seconds as I stopped her from advancing holding her shoulder, I look forward and see a man sitting on the throne, he has a golden crown on his head, his skin is white, his eyes are golden, he has long brown hair and large lunge horns on his head, he is not very muscularly built, but must be fit like an athlete. The man standing next to him had white skin and short black hair, his eyes were red, he only had a big black horn in the middle of his forehead, black wings and he looked very muscular. This was the man Lilith was staring at, according to Lilith his focus was magic so I can''t understand why he can have such a body, for some reason I started to hate him even more. On the other side of the man on the throne was another throne where a woman sat, her skin was red, her long hair was straight and black, her eyes were golden full of malice, she had two long horns turned backward following the line of head, she had bat wings and a red tail. This Queen''s red color was lighter than Lilith''s. The man next to the Queen also had red-colored wings, he had black skin, he was bald, his eyes were red and I could see the fangs in his mouth as he smiled, he was a Vampire, he was wearing a silver armor without the part of the arms showing muscles that an action movie actor would envy. This remark was made in mere seconds as I felt that the enemies were also sizing us up, soon the King looks straight at me as do the queen and the bald man, but the man beside the King looked curiously at Lilith. "So you''re the one who destroyed 50 years of work and effort in less than a month?" (King) "I never imagined I would be a Vampire so young." (bald) "I''d like to rip your head off your body right now, but I can''t stop thinking you wouldn''t come this far without taking precautions after all you''ve done." (King) "It seems that, unlike your son, you have some brains in your head." (I) When I say that the Queen looks at me with growing bloodlust. p "So it was you who killed my son''s fool?" (King) "Who knows? I don''t need to answer you." (I) "..." (King) The King spreads an Aura full of cruelty everywhere, his Aura is very powerful compared to that of other people, but it is nothing compared to the Aura I felt from the God Kaharak when he inhabited the body of Farus. I simply activate my Aura abilities to the fullest by pressing his Aura back into him, at which point the other three try to use their Auras, but it was useless against me. The others only felt a slight pressure and didn''t even have a change in their expressions, but the Vampire was different, I could feel him start to shake I felt the dread fill his eyes, unlike the others I felt he didn''t have defenses against me and my Auras penetrated his body with ease, the effects of fear, death, and corruption destroyed him from within. "Aahhhhhhhhh!!!!!" (bald) Soon my Auras will reach his veins and heart, I could feel his bloodline submit to my Aura and begin to destroy his body from within under my control until he drops dead without me even having to move. "(I didn''t think one of them would die so easily, maybe it''s because he''s a Vampire.)" (I) Garius was going to try to move but was stopped by the King who just watched his companion die. "Calm down Garius, this is not the best time to fall for their games." (King) "I knew there was something wrong with her, those eyes, I can''t help but remember that look full of hate." (Garius) It seems that listening to the King makes him calm down a bit, he stands up as he looks at Lilith, his surprise and disbelief replaced by an amused smile. "Looks like my toy was stolen while I was gone." (Garius) "Besides, it looks like you forgot your place just because you gained a little power." (Garius) "That''s right, if you surrendered so easily it wouldn''t be fun." (Lilith) "I want to see your despair show up little by little as you realize there is no hope or way out, hahahahah..." (Lilith) "Come on baby, keep fighting, keep resisting, allow me to see up close as you break, hahahahahah..." (Lilith) The more she talks, the more bloodlust she emits, her smile has already turned macabre due to the murderous glint in her intense eyes, her tail is waving behind her always pointing at Garius. As Lilith spoke to her husband, I continued to pay attention to the King and Queen, the truth is that the battle had already begun the moment we entered here. The King isn''t talking for no reason, he didn''t have information about me or my group until now, and he didn''t know our races, strength, or numbers. That''s why he started talking when we walked in, he wanted time to assess us, then he started testing how strong we were using his bloodlust, his Aura, and now his power. But I was doing the same, I knew the approximate strength of the King, but I needed to know the strength of others to make sure the others wouldn''t be in danger. The vampire''s death was a happy surprise for me, so I have one less enemy to take care of, but now there''s no need to continue this game. The King and Queen are standing by Garirius, the three releasing their Auras and their power, I pull Lilith back and I speak quickly to everyone. "Lilith will fight alongside Layla against Garius." (I) "Ivan and Sapphire will take care of the Queen, be quick in your battle." (I) "Yes!" (Lilith/Sapphire/Ivan) "First I will separate you from your mates." (King) "< Mana Shield >" (I) Faster than I expected the King disappears from his starting position as he makes a piercing attack with his sword appearing in front of me. I use a Mana shield in the palm of my hand as I fend off his onslaught and we both climb out the window and into the air before he throws me away. We are on top of the castle, I spread my dragon wings and he shows wings made of thunder on his back. "You destroyed everything I built over 50 years, I''ll make you regret what you did." (King) "Big words, but do you have that ability?" (I) Chapter 370: Conclusion Of The Shadow War Part 2 Chapter 370: Conclusion Of The Shadow War Part 2 Pov Lilith: It looks like the master went out the window with the King, which means I don''t have to hold on anymore, I can deal with my husband as I please. "You don''t have to worry, I''ll interfere as little as possible, he''s all yours." (Layla) "Thank you, Layla." (I) I look at my husband''s confident face, he was looking out the window with a confident smile on his face. Beside me, I feel someone speeding past and I know it must be Ivan or Sapphire starting an attack on the idiot Queen. My husband senses the enemy''s movement too, but he walks away from the throne without even looking at the Queen, he just looks at me with a smirk on his face, just like I knew he would. "I must say you surprised me, Alessandra, I didn''t expect her to turn into a Demon while she was away." (Garius) "Unfortunately that means I missed my opportunity." (Garius) "If you''re thinking about the folly of absorbing the Demon power of someone turning into a Demon, then forget about it as it would never have worked." (I) "Don''t talk about what you don''t know, how would someone like you know something about my research?" (Garius) "I''ve read every book you own, that includes your precious research that you left in the office whenever you were home." (I) "That''s impossible, it was in Demon Language." (Garius) "I know, it took me a long time to learn that language." (I) (speaking in Demon language.) "..." (Garius) "You taking me to your meetings and talking to myself in that language at home was very important for me to learn more about the pronunciation of the Demon language, until then I only knew how to write." (I) (speaking in Demon language.) "Looks like you''re a little smarter than I thought, I never expected that an inferior Human would be able to understand the complexity of the Demon language." (Garius) "I know all about your research, most of it was mediocre with no creativity of your own, just a few simple variations of other people''s spells and research." (I) "Your research on stealing someone''s Demon power while naturally transforming into a Demon was a joke, you forgot to consider the most important." (I) I stopped away from my husband, I wanted to humiliate him by talking bad about what he loves most in this world which is himself, he thinks he is very intelligent and superior to others, but he has no fulfillment of his own. He was always a fool who liked to listen to the sound of his own voice, there were many times he spoke in Demon Language while complaining about the past or thinking about his research aloud, he did this because he believed he didn''t understand the that said. "< Demonic Chains >" (Garius) A red and black magic circle appears on the ground at my feet, streams of condensed demonic energy filled with spikes come out of this magic circle enveloping my arms, legs, waist, and neck causing injuries to my body while immobilizing me. "What wonderful screams..." (I) "My eyes!!!!" (Garius) I can''t stop smiling when I hear his screams, I knew he wouldn''t accept to continue suffering in my hands, just like I thought he used skill by stepping on the ground making a strong wave of Mana spending all that was left of Mana in his body to get away from me. I knew he would do something, but his stupidity surprised me by wasting all his mana like that. He managed to knock me backward while taking his hand from inside my stomach, but I used light element magic creating two arrows to pierce his eyes at that moment, that kind of damage will be healed in a few minutes. "< Ice Hammer >" (Layla) Layla appears behind him creating a great ice hammer throwing him at me, I grab him with one hand and bite his neck absorbing his blood to the point of leaving him half dead. When I stopped drinking his blood, his eyes weren''t completely healed yet, so I took a healing potion and poured a little into each eye making it heal much faster. "This is the look I wanted to see, this despair, this helplessness, this anger, and this humiliation is what I wanted to see, hahahahahaha..." (I) "But it''s still not enough, I want you to feel everything I''ve been through, so look into my eyes darling." (I) "No... no... please stop..." (Garius) "Let me help." (Layla) Layla sits on his head and pulls his eyelids up so he can''t close his eyes, I happily stand in front of him looking into his eyes. "< Glance of Penance >" (I) This is a Demonic spell that creates a magic circle in my eyes and makes the target go through the same pain and suffering that was caused me using an illusion, this is a spell I learned in the book that talked about the Demon God Vidark, this spell is something I needed for my revenge. You can only make the target go through a situation that you yourself suffered, in addition, the target will feel all the pain, suffering, emotions, and sensations you felt, I chose to use all my Demonic power for him to feel everything I went through in these ten years. When I finished I was feeling weak and not knowing how much time had passed but I had a big smile on my face when I looked at my husband and he was horrified eyes filled with fear, blood was running from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. A smile crosses my face and I can''t resist licking the blood off his face before I move closer to his ear to whisper something to him. "Too bad dear looks like you couldn''t resist, now it''s time to end it." (I) "I''m sure your soul will be treated very well by the Great God Vidark." (I) "I dedicate this vengeance and this man''s soul as an offering to the Demon God of Vengeance, Vidark." (I) I use my claws to penetrate my husband''s chest and rip out his still-beating heart, then start eating him in small bites while Layla sits on top of my head humming. I could feel Vidark''s Blessing in my body becoming stronger and my power increasing. "Revenge is delicious." (I) Chapter 371: Conclusion Of The Shadow War Part 3 Chapter 371: Conclusion Of The Shadow War Part 3 Pov Sapphire: The Queen seems to be strong, I''m sure they had time to assess our strength as we did them. Zenos has already been dragged out by the enemy leader, must be fighting now, the other Demon man will be Lilith''s opponent, as the one who resisted everything this Demon did to her, nothing more correct than her being the one who will fight against him. I''m worried about Lilith, she''s very inexperienced in battle, plus she tends to take unnecessary risks without caring about injuries or pain during training, it''s very dangerous. But since Layla is with her, it should be all right if the two fight together.The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) I exchange a look with Ivan, I''ve trained with him hundreds of times, and I can easily fight alongside him without having to exchange words. After waving at him I dart forward using my sword to hit this shit Queen. "You won''t hit me with such a weak attack." (Queen) She stopped my attack with her claws, at that moment Ivan appears behind her and tries to cut her with his sword, but she deflects the attack by hitting the side of the sword with her claws that grow a lot. At that moment I pull her foot with my tail causing her to lose her balance and Ivan kicks her throwing her against the throne. She spins in the air and lands on the throne, then comes flying towards us, I can feel the Ki in her, by her appearance I thought she was a Mage, but apparently, I was wrong. "< Demonic Claws >" (Queen) "< Wall of Bones >" (Ivan) "< Serpent Blade >" (I) At the moment of her attack, her graces grow even more getting a layer of red energy around, Ivan uses a wall of bones to defend himself but she crosses, at this moment she faces my attack, she tries to dodge it with her claws, but my serpent blade wraps itself around my arm, slicing everything as it destroys part of the Queen''s dress. "Attack now while she''s lost the functionality of an arm." (I) "< Death Blade >" (Ivan) "< Elemental Enhancement: Earth >" (Queen) "< Heavy Claw >" (Queen) Suddenly the Queen rips her own clothes showing that she is wearing leather clothes underneath her dress, so the stones around her rush towards him turning to dust and covering her body before turning back to a layer of rock. She waves her arm with a claw that breaks Ivan''s attack and continues until it hits him throwing it away until it hits a wall. I run to her, wrapping my tail around her and pressing down trying to crush her with my strength, but she tries to resist with her own strength. "< Flaming Sword >" (Ivan) "< Blast Rocks >" (Queen) Ivan appears nearby and tries to cut her while she is trapped by my tail, but she uses a wing to defend herself which is cut by Ivan''s sword. At that moment she uses another attack that blasts the rock layer around her body to the surroundings, her attack made my body suffer several injuries from the rock shards at such close distance. I couldn''t keep the grip and she left while grabbing my tail and spinning to hit my body against the floor, but at that moment I held the floor using her strength against herself and I threw myself into the wall. "< Elemental Enhancement: Earth >" (Queen) "< Bones Prison >" (Ivan) "< Rock Crush >" (Queen) We watched for a few minutes while I drank some potions until Lilith released the Demon with a macabre smile, after which we saw her saying something we didn''t understand before shoving her hand inside the Demon''s chest and pulling out his heart. The strangest and most bizarre thing was that she started eating the heart piece by piece with great happiness as she walked toward us. "Are you sure it''s safe to be around her?" (I) "No, but if you stop to think about it, it''s also not safe to be around Elsaris, rica, or Layla." (Ivan) "Everyone is a good person deep down, just try to ignore those little obscure details and everything will work out." (Ivan) "..." (I) "I''m starting to think it might not have been a good idea to hand my village over to Zenos." (I) "By delivering you mean playing on him?" (Ivan) "Don''t talk like you didn''t help me do this, it was yours and Vanessa''s idea." (I) "What are you talking about?" (Lilith) "Anything." (Ivan/I) "You are strange." (Layla) "..." (Ivan/I) "(I don''t want to hear it from you two.)" (I) "Looks like you two finished off your enemy too." (Layla) "Are these burning pieces the Queen?" (Lilith) Lilith talks as she picks up a piece of the broken chair and starts poking an arm of the Queen that was on fire while humming. "Yes, we finished her a little before you did." (I) "Should we go to Zenos to help?" (I) "No, the master asked not to interfere in his battle, just believe in the plan." (Ivan) "The master asked to wait and that''s what I''m going to do." (Lilith) "Are you sure that..." (I) Boommm!!! Suddenly the whole castle shook as a cloud of dust comes from somewhere, when we look we see that there is a big hole in the wall of the throne room that goes from the ceiling to the floor. "(Rakan said it was for the castle walls to be reinforced.)" (I) When we looked up all I could see was a yellow light and a black light dancing as they hit each other, but the black light was always being thrown away or running away from the yellow light, there were also lots of thunder clouds around them. "Looks like the battle is getting intense." (Ivan) "I think Zenos is having a harder time than we anticipated..." (I) Suddenly a flash in the sky happens and something goes through the hole in the wall hitting the throne, when the dust settles we see Zenos covered in cut wounds or burns breathing heavily in a crater where the thrones used to be. At that moment lightning seems to fall from the sky through the hole and the King appears near Zenos with some injuries, he grabs Zenos by the neck and gets up. Chapter 372: Conclusion Of The Shadow War Part 4 Chapter 372: Conclusion Of The Shadow War Part 4 I was flying with my Dragon wings as I fought the King who had thunder wings in the sky above the castle. To keep fighting him I''m using every physical enhancement skill I have along with pushing limits and I''m using a technique that Sophia taught me to compress my Aura around me to use it during my attacks. Just in terms of physical strength I think we are on an equal footing, the truth is that I think I have an advantage in the amount of Mana, but he has much more speed than I do, in addition, his sword technique focuses on speed. He''s clearly an experienced swordsman from many battles, even though I''ve fought almost every day since I was born that doesn''t change the fact that I''ve been alive for less than 1 year in this world. The only thing that has saved me so far is that my technique that combines the use of sword and dagger must be very strange for him, besides it doesn''t seem to have a rhythm that he can follow, that''s why the chaos fighting techniques with guns or no guns were made to be unpredictable, it made it shitty to do animations for games back then which almost made me abandon this idiotic idea. "< Flaming Court >" (I) "< Blade of the Wind >" (I) "Your fight him is futile just accept his death." (King) "< 10 Lightning Cuts >" (King) I used a fire blade type attack on my sword and a wind blade type attack on my dagger making the two attacks collide going in the same direction, this makes the fire that was a little stronger consume the wind blade getting even stronger as he heads towards the King. In a flash of light, the King''s arm seemed to disappear due to his attack speed while ten attacks cut through my blade attack and hit me. I managed to dodge a few, but three attacks hit me causing cuts to my right arm, right leg, and face.Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om "It''s been a few minutes this fight, your strength doesn''t seem to be as great as I thought..." (King) "< Streams of Light >" (I) I take advantage of the moment he speaks to create a magic circle behind him causing currents of light to surround and trap him, at the same time I have corrosion activated to burn him. "That''s useless." (King) "< Lightning Sword >" (King) The King stretches his electric wings breaking the currents of light as he raises his sword which starts to glow when lightning strikes the blade. "< Judgement Dagger >" (I) "< Sword of Judgment >" (I) My sword and dagger are covered by the energies of light and shadow, with that I start to fight the King in midair. "..." (I) "Are you surprised I notice? Just by looking at the way you''re moving I can tell what''s going on, this kind of skill puts pressure on a person''s body, over time that pressure builds up making the body stiffer as it is in your case now." (King) "Also, you must be expending a lot of energy all the time to keep these skills active, that means your mana will run out before mine..." (King) "< Sphere of Water >" (I) As he speaks I create a sphere of water around him that makes his wings disappear as he is burned by corrosion in the water, but at that moment his eyes glow and a shock wave blasts the water away from him which starts to fall. "< Wings of the Thunder Demon >" (King) "< Vampire Claws >" (I) I use my Dragon Wings to push toward the King who creates new wings of energy, at which point I use my claws to thrust inside his body from behind. "Ahhh!!" (King) "Why don''t you surrender at once!?" (King) "< Splitter of Storms >" (King) The King reaches my other arm behind his back and tugs on me as he spins to throw me towards the castle below us. "< Burst of Wind >" (I) As soon as he threw me he makes the same sword attack as before to cut me, I use magic beside me causing an explosion of wind at the same time I take momentum with my wings, only then did I manage to dodge his attack that I hear beating in the castle. So we''re back to a close-range battle where he is noticeably slower, but even so, each attack of his sword is heavy throwing me away, but at least this time I managed to land more attacks on him, unfortunately, he hit me a few times too causing cuts and burns to my body, I put a large amount of poison in his body, but it doesn''t seem to be having the same effect I thought it would. "The poison you used is too weak to do me any real harm, so just accept death." (King) "< Storm Lightning >" (King) The King kicks me as he walks away and points his sword at me where several magic circles appear around the King''s sword blade as the lightning in the surroundings seems to gather on the sword. "< Mana Shield >" (I) I activate the Mana Shield a second before lightning comes out of the King''s sword and hits me while flinging myself downwards, I feel the impact as I hit the ground shattering my bones. I look around and see that I am in the throne room once again, but it seems that a battle took place here as it is very destroyed, in the wall, there was a large opening that goes from the ceiling to the floor where I could barely see the King coming in my direction at high speed while his body was surrounded by a layer of electricity. He slips through the opening in the wall and stands next to me before reaching down to pick me up from the pool of my own blood I''m in, holding me by the neck as he lifts me up to his eyes filled with bloodlust and contempt towards me. Chapter 373: Conclusion Of The Shadow War Part 5 Chapter 373: Conclusion Of The Shadow War Part 5 Pov King Makari: I still can''t believe it, after 50 years of hard work, after 50 years of enduring being surrounded by Humans, when our plan was finally about to happen it was all destroyed by a mere Vampire who couldn''t even be a hundred years old. But I must say that this Vampire is very strange, many races were on his side, besides that his Aura was stronger than should be possible with his current strength. While fighting him in the sky I noticed that he doesn''t have much air combat experience, but he was learning fast. Also, he was very creative in the combination of skills he used throughout the battle, he was weaker than me and he knew that the solution he came up with to fight me was to activate more than one skill to increase his physical capabilities. I wanted to kill him fast since I always had a bad feeling, but whenever I was going to deliver a fatal blow he managed to dodge or defend himself somehow. He even managed to injure me more than once, but the damage I suffered did not pose any risk to me, what really bothered me was the poison he put in my body, this was making me more reading while distracting my mind because of the pain. These poisons are not lethal to me, but that doesn''t mean they have no effect on my body, because of that the fight dragged on even more. The bad feeling I had only got bigger and bigger, I couldn''t understand what was happening as he was the one who was hurt the most, because of the number of skills he kept active to strengthen himself in an attempt to fight me mana He was being used up much faster than mine, I also noticed that his movements were getting more forced and stiff from the pressure his body is building up from using these abilities. Fighting him was strange as it was very difficult to predict his attacks, his combat techniques use strange movements, it was like fighting two different people in sync at the same time, one person using a sword and the other using a dagger. The fight dragged on longer than I expected but it was time to end it, for everything he''s done destroying my plans so far I wanted to capture him to show his allies being tortured and killed in front of him before making him go through the same thing. But I can''t let my guard down against this Vampire, he has many surprises that I don''t want to discover, I''ve already lost one of my teammates before the fight even starts, and I won''t give him time to use his schemes anymore. I manage to get away from him and hit him with my most powerful attack, it used up almost all my energy leaving only 20% of my mana, but this attack must have managed to finish this Vampire. He was supposed to be dead, but I wanted to confirm his death, I didn''t want to risk leaving such a troublesome enemy alive through carelessness and I went back down to the castle where his body should have landed. What I find when I enter the throne room is the Vampire still alive, he was much more injured from my previous attack, but he was still alive in a pool of his own blood. I had won the fight, but I couldn''t let him live any longer, I go to him and bend down holding him by the neck to lift him up to my eyes. I want to show him my winning smile, I want my face to be the last thing he sees, and I want him to know that he is inferior to me. But for some reason the strange feeling doesn''t go away, the bad feeling keeps worrying me and that''s why I look around which leaves me in shock. My wife was in pieces, I saw what was left of his head not far from me on fire almost completely charred, in addition, I saw Garius'' body across the room, unlike my wife his body looked almost completely intact if it wasn''t for a chest wound. I couldn''t understand how they could lose to these enemies, none of them seem to have a similar strength to them. "..." (I) "(It wasn''t supposed to end like this, I...)" (I) ...... ..... .... ---------- Pov Zenos: This fight was riskier than I thought, but as I had thought, there was no way I could win in a head-on fight, so I had several plans to use in succession if any one of them failed. I first tried to fight head-on, but it was obvious that it would only be a matter of time to lose. So I moved on to trying to put him in a sphere of acidic water, but that didn''t work either. I started the preparation to use my blood against him using a new skill I got called "Blood Crystal", so I attacked him with a dagger made of crystallized blood, luckily he hadn''t noticed the blood blade returning to its liquid state and running through. her body, I had to put my Aura in the blood to make sure it wouldn''t mix with his blood so I could control her. But to use this blood would still take some time, I needed some preparation, so I just left it as a last resort and tried to poison him, unfortunately, the poison had very weak effects on him. The more plans were failing one after another, the more desperate I was getting, I was already covered in wounds and his last attack almost killed me, but it created an opportunity for me. I couldn''t use Nix before because we were in the sky, there were no shadows I could discreetly use for Nix to help me as planned. But when we were inside the castle I saw an opportunity when I noticed I was in a pool of my own blood, when I noticed him coming into the castle too, I spread my shadow over a large part of the floor so he wouldn''t notice the attack until it was late too much. By the time he grabbed me by the neck I had already started to control my blood inside his body again, but I was afraid he''d notice before my blood reached my heart, so I tried to infuriate and distract him. When I realized that my blood had reached his heart, I controlled my blood as it crystallized into a large red crystal spike that pierces his heart from the inside out. At the same time, I controlled the blood that was on the ground to chain him, this to make sure he wouldn''t dodge Nix''s attack that bites him by putting a part of his Dragon head out of the shadow below him, I had created a claw from the shadows to hold me as all my bones were too broken to stand. Soon Nix who had devoured half of the King''s body appears behind me holding me in his arms as we watch the life drain from the King''s eyes. I''m glad the plans to use my blood and use Nix as surprise attacks came in handy, to be honest, I wouldn''t have another plan if those two plans had also failed. Sigh "With that... the victory is... ours..." (I) Chapter 374: End Of An Unknown War Chapter 374: End Of An Unknown War After the Makari King died I undo the crystallization of the blood in the chains letting it return to its liquid form letting what was left of his body fall. "You took too many risks this time, master." (Nix) "If I had fought by your side it would have been easier to win." (Nix) While Nix was talking to me he was giving me a HP potion and a MP potion to drink, I was also using my ability to heal my body in the meantime. "We weren''t sure... of his strength... or his abilities..." (I) "Keeping your presence... hidden until the end... was the best decision..." (I) "If I had fought by your side you wouldn''t have been so hurt, look at your state." (Nix) "By the strength, he showed, the two of us fighting Layla together should have been able to beat him." (Nix) "You don''t understand... he didn''t know my strength... so he was prepared... to run away if necessary..." (I) cough cough "His speed was too fast if he wanted to run away we couldn''t keep up with him." (I) "Don''t talk anymore, you need to rest, let us take care of everything." (Nix) "Don''t leave any... evidence..." (I) I''m too weak and tired to talk anymore, so I use my connection to Nix to tell her what''s to be done now. "(Nix, I want you to eliminate all enemies you find, after that you can steal everything of value from the castle and noble mansions.)" (I) "(Try to finish all this within 3 hours maximum from now, after that destroy the mansions and castle.)" (I) "(Discard all bodies inside the Dungeon and leave no evidence behind about Demons, about Vampires, about us or about this battle.)" (I) "I understand hiding about us, but why try to hide about Demons too?" (Nix) "(If the people of this continent find out about this might start a war with the Dark Continent, I don''t want to be dragged into a war between continents, which with my shitty luck is almost certain to happen.)" (I) "I don''t think we can hide what happened here, the King''s battle against you in heaven must have been seen by some spies." (Nix) "(It doesn''t matter, I''m sure there should already be one or two Kingdoms on this continent that were suspicious of the Makari Kingdom, but the important thing is the population doesn''t know if they find out there will be pressure for a counterattack.)" (I) cough cough "(I can barely keep my eyes open, just tell others what I said, Vanessa, Ivan, and rica will understand what I said.)" (I) "You can rest master, we''ll take care of everything and get out of here later." (Nix) The extremists of the church of light are not that different from these Demons, they would love this situation if it was discovered, I think the master is right in saying to clean it all up. "Let''s leave the conversations alone, I''m going to get Layla so we can collect this black stone from the streets and sewers." (I) "You guys will continue to eliminate enemies and then collect the bodies, when I get back I''ll get all these bodies before I start collecting the valuables." (I) Everyone nods and goes to do just that, the remaining enemies shouldn''t be a problem, I gather the remains of the four leaders'' bodies and put them away. After finding Layla who had left the moment the master fell asleep, I go with her to the streets where we use the same tactic as before the two of us cooperating to quickly collect the black stones. After an hour we made it back to the castle where we found everyone gathered, all the bodies in storage items that I gather to deal with later. So everyone split up to collect the things of value only from the noble mansions and the castle, after another hour we were all gathered again. Everyone said that they had already destroyed the mansions, so when I left the castle I told Rakan, Irina, and rica to activate the changes that Rakan made in the magic circles of the castle, causing Erica''s cursed fire to spread throughout everything destroying the entire castle. As we watched the castle burn, Kira said that they had rescued the doctor that Rakan had spoken with the master of before, furthermore, Elsaris said that having found several Mages with shattered minds trapped in glass cylinders, she saw that they could not be saved and killed him, everyone, after Freya gave permission. I was shocked at first, but the master would have done the same, apparently, Freya can already understand the master as well as Layla and I do. After everything is destroyed I open the Dungeon gate for everyone to enter, as soon as everyone is inside the Dungeon I close the gate and go flying above the clouds, for some reason it was starting to rain, but that was good as it would allow me to get out of here unseen. As we left the city I realized we didn''t have anywhere to go now, so remember something and I started flying towards the Moros Kingdom. ----------- Pov Zenos: When I woke up I was in a strange place, I was lying on a bed next to a waterfall. Everything around it was very strange, the waterfall appeared to be a large headstone with water falling from the top, the water in the waterfall was strangely red as was the water in the river below. But that wasn''t all, there was a ruined city near him where the city was taken back by nature, but mixed with the ruined landscape of this city there were several tombstones scattered all over the place. I look around to a forest not far away where I can see that there were also an endless number of headstones among the trees, even the place where I am standing by the red river has a lot of headstones. For some reason a feeling of sadness and desolation takes over me, tears of blood come out of my eyes without me understanding what is happening or where I am. I tried to see what was written on some of the headstones, but it was in a language I couldn''t read, all I could see was that these headstones gave a very ancient feeling. When I look at the sky I see that it''s daytime, but for some reason, there was a broken moon in the sky adding another feeling of desolation and death in that place, the feeling of sadness in my chest seemed to have no end as my tears of blood kept falling. "What is this place? Why am I so sad? How can this kind of place exist? I don''t understand." (I) Suddenly I feel a hand on my head and I realize that at some point someone appeared beside me, it was a beautiful red-haired woman who looked at me with pride. "You did really well this time, Zenos." (Goddess Selene) Chapter 375: Shadow War Chapter 375: Shadow War Pov Eleanor''s: I am an Elf who serves the Illusory Forest, home of the World Tree which is protected by the Elves, my name is Eleanor. An Elf who was passing through the Makari Kingdom a few months ago reported that the Fairy with whom she has a contract did not want to enter the city, the Fairy in question was a Moon Fairy, this type of rare Fairy has very strong senses and is able to see through illusions or falsehoods. Because of that, we notified the Grimo Kingdom with whom we have had a relationship for millennia, and started to investigate together. I am the leader of the team that was sent by the Illusory Forest, we spent months investigating that during this time we discovered that the drugs that left this Kingdom circulated throughout the continent were produced by the government itself. We also noticed the suspicious disappearance of people who were considered criminals, there was no record of where they were sent or if they were all killed, for many we were not even able to find a record of their alleged crimes. One of the things we also noticed was the architecture of the cities themselves, the fact that the Makari Kingdom insisted on remodeling the architecture of a city belonging to the Kingdom they conquered was very strange, even more so when we noticed the black stone that was used in all four great ones. cities. We tried to take one of these black stones, but we only discovered that this stone had a strange mana conductivity, it was at this moment that we started to map the streets of the cities and we realized that it was a magic circle, but it seemed that difficult to decipher what it did, it seemed that more than one magic circle was mixed up and it was placed in a confusing way so the people who would investigate would not find anything, which would be me and my team. Something strange was going on, so we decided to take a maid from an influential noble, but it turned out she was a Vampire. With this information, we started to investigate the nobles more closely and we realized that there were many Vampires and Demons hiding in the Makari Kingdom, but we still didn''t know why. Unfortunately, we were not able to approach the royal family''s castle, but we reported everything we discovered to our superiors, I learned that they shared information with the Grimo Kingdom who began to take their own countermeasures. But this month something big happened, the Prince had been kidnapped in the Moros Kingdom, and soon after news about the destruction of the cities started to spread. But when I asked my subordinates to investigate I found that the way the cities were attacked was strange, the streets and sewers had this black stone stolen, in addition, the nobles and government people disappeared. Nobles, servants of nobles, servants, and soldiers all disappeared in one night, but the townspeople were fine. These incidents continued to recur, so it was not difficult to assume that it would happen here in the capital as well at some point. But in the first two cities, it seems that the people didn''t even realize what had happened on the first day, the big incident happened in the third city, my subordinate who was sent there didn''t give any news, so I sent someone else who got in touch telling me a piece of news shocking. From outside the city I left the children with an adult and climbed up to a tall tree, from there I had the vision of the monster illusion destroying some houses in the center of the city that I remember seeing being emptied when their residents ran along with the crowd. This was all an act to force people out of the city, it didn''t take me long to associate this with what happened in the other city, these people were trying to protect the population by making them leave the city. ----------- After a while, the illusion stopped in the same place before disappearing after while, meanwhile, I saw faintly some glimmers of light coming from the castle in the distance. I tried to get closer without entering the city, then I saw two things flying into the sky after time turning into two different coloreds glows that kept colliding with each other in the sky above the castle. After a few tens of minutes, the fight seems to be over when the yellow glow hits a bolt of lightning in the black glow that hits the castle. After that, I didn''t see anything else for a while, but I still haven''t entered the city, after more than an hour I was already on top of the city walls getting ready to enter, at that moment I start to see the noble area with smoke rising, a little while later the whole castle starts to catch fire, but it wasn''t normal fire, it was a purple fire that gave me a shiver in my spine and that''s why I didn''t approach it. I saw something soar into the sky above the rain clouds that had started to appear since dawn. "But what was it all about?" (I) ------------ A day later I couldn''t find anything about what had happened and I didn''t find any new information about drugs, about Vampires, or about Demons. There were simply no leads to follow and I found no trace of those who caused all this, all I know is that the nobles, the royal family, and all the soldiers of the Makari Kingdom have disappeared, I used a technique to communicate with my superior the Leader of the Forest Illusory and I told her everything I discovered. "I see, so a war has taken place and they don''t want anyone to know about it, a war in the shadows that we know nothing about." (High Priestess) sighs "You did a good job, now come back." (High Priestess) "Yes." (I) Chapter 376: The Result Of All Wars Chapter 376: The Result Of All Wars I woke up in this strange place where the whole landscape mixed with tombs and tombstones as if the whole world was one big cemetery. In this place I am consumed by a feeling of sadness and desolation without understanding what is happening, that is until I hear her voice as she appears out of nowhere beside me. "You did really well this time, Zenos." (Goddess Selene) "..." (I) "You must be confused about why you''re here." (Goddess Selene) "You don''t need to know what this place is now, I just wanted you to look at this landscape to understand something." (Goddess Selene) "This is the result of all wars, no matter if the war has a good reason, if the war is inevitable or if it is a war to defend what you love." (Goddess Selene) I notice tears falling from the Goddess Selene''s eyes as she looks up as if she is seeing a very distant memory. "All wars cause death, depending on the scale of the war it can bring the death of more than just the lives of soldiers, it can bring the death of Realms, continents, entire worlds or even more..." (Goddess Selene) "Unfortunately wars will always exist, there are even wars to avoid bigger wars which may seem like a contradiction to many, but that''s exactly what you did this time." (Goddess Selene) The Goddess Selene looks around sadly before wiping away her tears and running her hand over my head like I''m a child as she pushes me into a portal I hadn''t noticed behind me. When I pass through the portal I find myself back in the throne room the time before, for some reason I couldn''t take my eyes off the portal until it closes, so I look down at my hands that are shaking for some reason before trying to wipe my eyes. "What place was that? Whose tombstones were these?" (I) "These were tombstones of soldiers and warriors from times older than the existence of this world, those who died in a war that was forgotten in the tides of time..." (Goddess Selene) "..." (I) "What you did in the Makari Kingdom was the right decision, don''t seek empty fame and glories, there will be better times for you to obtain these things." (Goddess Selene) "I don''t need any of that, it will only attract unnecessary attention to me, this sort of thing only causes more problems than it solves." (I) "You''re not far from the truth." (Goddess Selene) The Goddess smiles before waving her hand causing two simple sofas to appear to sit us down. "You can already guess why I''m here, right?" (Goddess Selene) "I''m evolving, this is the only time I meet you normally." (I) "You''re right, so I wanted to thank you for stopping the Vampires who were doing evil deeds, they were consumed by their own power and sense of superiority, but I didn''t like to see what they had become." (Goddess Selene) "The Vampire race was a race that I created my own image a long time ago, seeing members of that race doing such terrible things is not something I like." (Goddess Selene) "Why didn''t you send one of your believers to go after them?" (I) "Because their plans were doomed to fail, summoning a Dragon of Destruction would have killed them all and you wouldn''t have had to do anything about it." (Goddess Selene) "Why not stop them if you already knew what was going on?" (I) "Mortals'' problems must be solved by mortals." (Goddess Selene) Pov Goddess Selene: I hug Zenos while sharing some of my power with him to merge their bloodlines, I also try to make the latest changes to his appearance, so I don''t think anyone else will be able to know who he is just by his looks. Soon Zenos'' soul disappears from my arms back into his own body, his evolution should take a little longer this time. "So he was his son." (Vidark) "Yes, he is my child, someone with a lot of potentials to be my champion one day." (I) "I had already noticed his presence a long time ago thanks to his subordinates with rica, Alice, and the people of the mountain range." (Vidark) "As always seeing through the eyes of those who seek revenge." (I) "But I saw very little about him, but I thank him for the way he treated revenge as a victim''s right." (Vidark) "There are many ways to get revenge, one of the most difficult ways is to forget the target of revenge, that''s something everyone talks about but it''s not easy to do." (Vidark) "Sometimes forgetting can be the worst punishment." (I) "Yes, I wish my brother realized such things." (Vidark) "Why did you come Vidark?" (I) I look back to where a large red-skinned man with clothes with chains hanging from them appears, his face as usual covered in darkness allowing only his red eyes to be seen. "Just wanted to thank him for allowing and aiding my believer''s revenge." (Vidark) "I wish I had given my blessing to her sooner, but that would only hasten her transformation into a Demon and cause her death due to her husband, I couldn''t leave her without her revenge dying like this." (Vidark) "Even though she was Human she understood my teachings and took them to heart, she has true faith in me and was rewarded for it." (Vidark) "Did you know that someone would at some point go there, being my son was just a happy coincidence?" (I) "Yes, sooner or later an opportunity would arise, I needed her to bear her suffering for a little longer until this moment, I used it as an ordeal for her too." (Vidark) "The blessing I gave her was the accumulation of everything she suffered, at this moment she is almost a Priestess of mine, something I have very few." (Vidark) "I even received a soul as an offering, this would only be possible if her desire for revenge was great enough to reach his soul." (Vidark) "Thanks to that I have the material to work with on my gift that I''ll give Lilith when the time is right." (Vidark) "That''s why I wanted to thank your son." (Vidark) "Unfortunately I didn''t have the opportunity, but at least I thank you for your help, thank you." (Vidark) After thanking him he disappears, as usual, he didn''t come with his true body, he just used a will for that. I go to the throne and sit down before holding the black crown in my hands as I remember the image of Zenos crying in the graveyard. "After all this time his feelings still remain, finally his tears were able to reach their headstones." (I) I couldn''t help but smile as tears streamed from my eyes as they fell into the crown. Chapter 377: A Month Later And Worry Chapter 377: A Month Later And Worry I feel a great pain running through my whole being, but I wasn''t able to scream or move, I had no idea where I was or how much time had passed, I just know that comfortable energy enveloped me all the time in a warm way. When the pain was finally gone I finally heard the system sound. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ "EVOLUTION REQUIREMENTS FULFILLED" ]> . . . <[ "BLOOD GODDESS INTERFERENCE DETECTED" ]> . . . . . . <[ "ANALYZING POSSIBLE EVOLUTION POSSIBILITIES" ]> . . <[ ANALYZING TITLES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING WORK ]> . . <[ ANALYZING LINEAGES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING SKILLS ]> . . <[ ANALYZING BLESSINGS ]> . . . . It''s been a month since the battle in the Makari Kingdom''s capital, luckily it didn''t take the people of the camp to participate in the battle that day, it would have been difficult if the spies had seen them. Kira and Elsaris had to capture some spies who had seen us, we had to give a potion that Lyra created that affects the person''s mind leaving the memories of the last three days distorted or even erasing those short-term memories. It seems that this potion is considered a glitch as it has a lot of side effects, but it still works for this situation. After leaving the Makari Kingdom we came straight to the Moros Kingdom where we bought an inn to live in during our time here, the Dungeon gate was opened in the basement. We thought about staying here until the master recovered, the truth is that the master is evolving again, we all noticed that when in the middle of the night of the third day his Aura exploded as before, but this time his Aura was much more powerful. After that, his Aura compacted into a cocoon of energy that lasted until now, this cocoon of energy is floating on top of the master''s bed releasing its Aura weakly to the surroundings. His room was taken over by hundreds of Fairies and Spirits that always remain around, when I asked Layla about it she said that the Fairies were being influenced by the Cradle of Fairies to protect the master during his evolution, Nix said that something similar happens with the Spirits. It seems that Nix and Layla are not affected, but Layla seems to be taking advantage of the remnants of the master''s Aura to strengthen the Cradle of the Fairies with its other elements, Nix also took the opportunity to improve her Cradle of Spirits with the master''s Aura. Because of that Nix and Layla didn''t leave the Dungeon for weeks, other than that everyone was living normal lives. The busiest person in the Dungeon was Leonardo, who after weeks of talking to everyone and talking to Nira about the types of materials available had started designing the city. Leonardo said that within two months he will have all the drawings in the city ready to be shown to the master. Kira went along with Elsaris, Irina, and Irius to claim the reward with the Black Market, until the end the Black Market hadn''t discovered all the facts about what happened in the Makari Kingdom, but they knew that we killed all the army, nobles, and real family. Because of that, they seem to fear our strength now, they didn''t realize that we were only able to do these things because of the master. But thanks to that the Black Market promised us that within a month they would bring us the reward they promised, they were stupid to promise something so complicated to do, now they have no choice as they also have no information about our true strength. Vanessa seems to have spent all her time purifying the black stones we collected from the 4 cities, she purifies offering to the Goddess Selene. It seems that these stones were created with the blood of Mages using forbidden spells and techniques from what I was told, just having these stones was something forbidden, but Vanessa for being a Blood Priestess has purified these stones turning these black stone blocks into marble blocks red. Its appearance was completely different from before, moreover, according to Rakan, this marble was much better than the original black stone. Vanessa wanted to use this material to build a temple where the Goddess Selene would be worshiped mainly, in addition, she wanted a great magnificent temple, Leonardo instead of saying that she was asking for too much, was happy and inspired by the challenge. Alice and I collected the blood of all Vampires and Demons on the same day we were leaving Makari capital, that''s why we were going to give it to the master after he recovered, but Vanessa made the master drink it all that day while using her magic of healing on it, it seems that its magic was more effective if the person had ingested blood, after that, we discarded all the bodies in a random floor of the Dungeon where it was absorbed by the Dungeon. Alice that day acted differently, she was shocked to see the destroyed state the master was in, for the next few days she was focused even more on her magic studies and her combat training, but she had noticed something different in his gaze. Alice is someone who has always had darkness hidden in her gaze, the master was the first to realize this and did many things for her to overcome that darkness on her own. The master never talked to Alice about her past and didn''t let anyone talk to her about it, but had Irina teach Alice magic, had me teach Alice about being a maid, had Sophia teach Alice martial arts, etc. He did all this to open her horizons, with time I noticed the darkness in her eyes disappearing, she who didn''t open up to anyone at first, but over time she started to take the initiative in conversations with other people, it seems that Nira and Lyra became very good friends with Alice, but even so there was always a bit of darkness in her eyes, even Sophia said that she was very aggressive during training. But when she saw the state the master was in I could see that darkness disappear from her eyes as tears came out of her eyes, after that she seemed to have returned to normal, but I noticed that she was even more motivated than before, she seemed to be doing the same things but the reason why she did it was different, even Sophia said that she didn''t show being aggressive anymore like before, Irina also said that for the first time Alice asked about defense spells and healing spells. Alice never said it out loud, but I noticed from the way she looks at the master, that she has great admiration and respects him deeply. The master never spoke to Alice for a long time, but he shows what he feels with actions and not words, Alice knew that everything that happened to her was something that the master granted her, she knew that all these opportunities to dig harder and live so comfortably was the master who shared it with her. When she saw the master like that so hurt it must have been shocking to her, I always noticed that when the master was doing his dangerous bloodline syntheses or drinking Dragon blood, Alice peeked in secret, I saw it a few times. But after the battle against Farus in the mountain range I saw concern in her eyes, but this time I saw terror in her eyes, the master was so wounded that if he had been of another race he could have died from those wounds. I and the others already knew that something like this could happen, so we weren''t too surprised at the state the master was in, but as Alice had never participated in real combat she didn''t realize this fact. Now she is trying to get stronger so she can defend the master, she comes the day in and day out to the master''s room to see the energy cocoon, the others also come almost every day to see the master even me. No one likes to see the master like this, everyone was worried since no one had ever heard about an evolution taking so long. Even I was getting distressed by the master''s situation, we were afraid that something could have happened to him, we even asked for help from the doctor who had already become a Demon that we rescued from the castle, his name was Allan. He said he couldn''t help as he couldn''t even get close to the master''s body due to the cocoon, the person who kept saying that the master was fine was Vanessa, she said that the master was receiving the blessings of the Blood Goddess and why that this evolution was special. After so long we couldn''t do more than wait, even the people of the camp started to pray that the master would wake up soon. Chapter 378: Coming Out Of The Cocoon Chapter 378: Coming Out Of The Cocoon After evolution, I stayed in that unknown place not knowing what was around me or how much time passed, in that kind of place I felt like I didn''t have a body. I felt like I couldn''t move, I felt like something was continuously shaping itself around me, I had the impression that even though I had already evolved my body was still in the process of transformation, this is the first time I experience this in evolution, maybe or by the interference of the Goddess Selene. I couldn''t see my status but I could see my skills, I had a lot of similar skills and I was bored so I decided to start skill synthesis to pass the time, I thought this might be a good way to enjoy this time where I''m not able not even sleeping to do something more productive. One thing I noticed is that for some strange reason I don''t know there were more abilities than I remembered, did someone give me the blood of Makari Capital enemies while I was sleeping? During that time I was able to fuse a lot of elemental Affinity-type skills and with that, I got all the pure elemental skills I wanted, with the exception of the elements of wood and space. But at least I got all the elemental resistance skills that I was fusing together into one elemental resistance skill. I also noticed a lot of scales, horns, tails, wings, claws, and eyes type abilities. I decided to start synthesizing them all together with their skills of the same type just to take up less space on my skill list, but I didn''t plan on using most of these skills, I always had some scale or horn production skills that I never used as I was afraid of my appearance becomes evil, repulsive, or strange. I also did the synthesis of the Ki elemental abilities I had, with the exception of the elements wood, space, darkness, and light. In addition, I also synthesized similar skills with blade attacks, punch attacks, claw attacks, kick attacks, etc. I even started to wonder why I have so many skills, could I have turned into one of those hoarders I''ve always seen on TV, but instead of collecting antique objects, I was collecting skills? As I had a lot of time without doing anything I just looked at my list of skills realizing that I had many that I hadn''t even used in a long time. I was immersed in this skill synthesis process until suddenly something happened, the dark space where I was started to light up with streams of energy appearing one by one until I found myself surrounded by a space that resembles the starry sky. I was mesmerized at first by the contrast of several different colored energy flows around me going back and forth in seemingly no order. But soon I felt like something familiar in these energies and in this landscape, when I try to look around I realize that I''m on an ethereal path that seemed a dead end, but I felt I had to move forward, I couldn''t stay still. This landscape around me reminded me of the image I could see inside the hood of my astral body, moreover as I started to try to advance images of the people in my group began to appear beside me with every step I took. When I got to the end of the path I kept walking forward, I didn''t need to doubt or hesitate, the answer is simple if there isn''t a path all I need to do is build one myself. As I continued to walk I felt a weight hit me to throw me back, but I kept moving forward feeling the presence not only of my group but of everyone in the Dungeon behind me pressing me even further forward to continue on my way, in no way For a moment I looked back and kept walking forward as my own Aura left my body condensing in the path each time my feet descended. This continued for an indefinite amount of time until I felt something strange around me and the energy flows around me as it enveloped me as if I was trapped inside something, at which point I stretched my arms to make way for myself and felt as if my vision clears. Ding! Ding! Ding! "Are you afraid the pursuers will find us again?" (Nix) "Yes, the Church of Light will not rest until they find us, so we will not give them that opportunity." (I) "Besides, I was able to find out why my Father wasn''t waking up." (I) "Did you receive an oracle from the Blood Goddess?" (Nix) "Yes, it looks like my father''s evolution was supposed to have ended almost two months ago, but he did something he shouldn''t have and that''s why he delayed his own evolution even further." (I) "Hahahahahaha..." (Nix) "As you would expect from the master, he always makes things complicated, he''ll be very surprised when he learns our current situation." (Nix) Sigh "This is all his fault for taking so long to wake up, Irina won''t let anyone do anything about it because she wants to wait for our Father to wake up first." (I) "I''ll hang out with Nolan outside, he''ll be happy to hear that." (I) After that Nix gets up and goes out of the Dungeon, meanwhile I went to warn the others about the message I received from the Goddess Selene during my sleep. Everyone started getting ready for a party when my Father woke up, during the night while the party was still being prepared my Father''s Aura that was scattered all over the Dungeon floor went wild. Soon a powerful wave of Aura swept through everything making everyone unconscious as the Fairies and Spirits danced in the sky. Even I lost consciousness when I suddenly found myself behind a figure in black clothes as if made of shadow, this person was walking in front of me on a dead-end path, this being didn''t care and started walking forward normally. When I thought he was going to fall I felt my Father''s Aura leaving this being and condensing on his feet forming a continuation of the path, the shadow being didn''t even care to look as he continued moving forward creating a path with each step he took. I kept following him as more and more people seemed to gather around me following this person, there was a moment when a cocoon of energy formed around the shadow being that uses its claws to break free and keep pushing its way forward. Soon after coming out of the cocoon, everything began to lighten as the appearance of the shadow being disappeared, giving way to the image of my Father. When I woke up, I was lying in the camp like many others, getting up confused, not understanding what was happening. But I soon realize that my father''s Aura that was scattered all over the place was no longer present, when I realized this I ran to his room in the mansion at full speed. On the way I met others who thought the same as I possibly did, I was not able to see him clearly as there were many Fairies and Spirits lying on top of him, but at least now I know that the cocoon broke and he came out, it seems that he is sleeping now. I was relieved, I look at the others and see expressions of relief. Chapter 379: Guardian Of Shadows Chapter 379: Guardian Of Shadows "Wake up you idiot master, you''ll make me wait until when." (Layla) I am woken up by an ice hammer that hit me from top to bottom, destroying the bed I was lying on. "..." (I) "How long are you going to sleep like this?" (Layla) "I''m not even that lazy..." (Layla) When I look I see the ice hammer being thrown aside and I see a Fairy with strange rainbow-colored wings and four arms looking at me trying to lecture me with an angry face. "You little Devil..." (I) I get up and grab this evil Fairy before she has time to react, holding her tightly so she doesn''t escape. "Let go of me, lazy, idiotic master..." (Layla) "If you say anything else, you''ll spend two months cleaning the bathrooms at the mansion." (I) "..." (Layla) The moment I talked about the cleaning work she becomes quiet and starts to look the other way, as usual, she changes her attitude very easily. "Why do you have to wake me up so violently? If I were a normal person this ice hammer would have turned me into a meat slurry." (I) "It''s your fault for resting more than three months, every time I want to sleep people complain to me, so why can only you be so lazy?" (Layla) "Three months???" (I) I looked around and noticed many Fairies and Spirits flying around me that I didn''t notice before as I was concentrating on Layla, these Fairies were happy and were saying my name while partying. I try to calm down and think about what is happening, I collect my thoughts as I remember about the conversation with the Goddess Selene, I also remember the strange dream I had and waking up early just to go back to sleep. "How long have I been sleeping?" (I) "You spent three months inside a compacted cocoon of energy and Aura, after coming out of the cocoon you slept for another five days." (Layla) "..." (I) "(This time I stayed in a cocoon? Also why was the evolution so long this time?)" (I) I was confused as to why this evolution was so different from the others, but I figured it was due to the interference of the Goddess Selene. "Master!!!!" (Alice) While I was busy with my thoughts I am hugged from the side by Alice who starts crying hugging me as if I was a child, this was the first time I saw her act like that and I was very surprised, because of that I released the little Demon that flew away hello window. "Calm down Alice, no need to cry..." (I) "..." (Alice) "Glad to see the master awake, allow me to help with Alice until you can get some clothes on." (Freya) "Come on Alice, let the master get dressed and you can talk to him later, come with me to wipe that crying face, all right?" (Freya) "Alright..." (Alice) Toc Toc Toc "Master, are you okay?" (Freya) "I''m fine, Freya." (I) Maybe I took too long checking the changes in my body and the notifications weren''t that many, most of the notifications were about the syntheses I did while sleeping so I skipped them all, the only different notifications were these titles I got. But because of my delay, Freya came to see if I was ok, I tell her that I''m leaving and I finish getting ready with sadness to see that my clothes still fit me, this just confirms that I haven''t grown anything. Sigh "I''m leaving, did you tell the others I woke up?" (I) "Yes, I asked the Fairies to do this, so soon everyone will be here." (Freya) I open the bedroom door and see Freya waiting by the door alone, I look around and I don''t see Alice. "If you''re looking for Alice, I left her with Caryna while she calms down." (Freya) "I''ve never seen her like this before." (I) "You worried everyone, your plan was too risky and we all knew you would be very hurt, but Alice never participated in a true life and death battle so she didn''t expect to find you in a dying state when you were brought in. to the Dungeon after fighting King Makari." (Freya) "The poor thing cried a lot that day, you must understand that everything you did for her did not go unnoticed, she sees you as a father figure who is always taking care of her." (Freya) "Seeing you inside the cocoon and then sleeping without waking up was also difficult for everyone." (Freya) "I didn''t think she was so attached to me, I had very few conversations with her, the things I did for her were also very simple." (I) "They may be simple for you, but for her, they were things that changed her life forever." (Freya) "You have to understand that Alice was a commoner, she never had much schooling in her life, besides she was a slave when the master met her, her fate was not a grievous thing at the time." (Freya) p "Then in the darkest moment of her life, the master appears who gives her the opportunity to become a Vampire gaining an immortal life expectancy, frees her from slavery, gives her a decent and honest job, allows her to learn magic, allows her to training martial arts and Aura, allows her to study something that normally only wealthy and noble merchants are entitled to, etc." (Freya) "If you say everything together it makes it seem like a lot, besides most of these things weren''t me, for example, it was Irina who transformed her." (I) Sigh "Master, that day we all saw you calling Irina and Irius to another place to talk, right after Irina turned Alice and Irius turned Nolan, it wasn''t hard to see that it was your idea." (Freya) "All the other things were your ideas too, you insisted on their studies and allowed them to learn whatever they wanted, as well as giving them honest work, clothes, food, and a house." (Freya) "You also never asked for anything in return other than their loyalty, for Alice it was like giving them a new life without asking for anything in return." (Freya) "..." (I) "If you look into her eyes you should see that there is no longer any darkness inside, that''s thanks to you." (Freya) cough cough "I think we''d better go downstairs as soon as the others are waiting for us." (I) Sigh "You don''t know how to be honest with yourself..." (Freya) Receiving so many compliments like this is making me feel embarrassed, better get off the subject before I''m too embarrassed to leave the room, I''ll also ignore what Freya said in a low voice last. Chapter 380: The Black Market Bounty Chapter 380: The Black Market Bounty After the little conversation, I had with Freya when I left my room I head towards the stairs a little embarrassed by the conversation. As we head towards the kitchen for me to get something to eat I keep opening and closing my hand to try to understand my current power, I also try to throw some punches in the air but without a reference, I couldn''t understand how much my power had changed, I still I didn''t have time to see my status. "(I''ll check my status later, I think I''d better see everyone to show I''m fine as they must have been very worried.)" (I) On the way I watch Fairies and Spirits flying around the mansion laughing while having fun, I see many talking and some even humming. "How long have Fairies and Spirits learned to speak?" (I) "Inside the Cradle, Fairies and Spirits grow faster, and they get stronger much faster." (Freya) "According to Nix and Layla, the Cradles function as a place that contains power, knowledge, and food to develop faster." (Freya) "You mean their minds are wired inside the Cradle?" (I) "No, think of the Cradle as having a mind of its own, let''s take the Cradle of Fairies as an example, if a Fire Fairy is learning skills and spells, then the way that Fire Fairy learned is also stored in the Cradle of Fairies, the Fairies have access to the Cradle''s mind and can learn that way by sharing their knowledge, so the Cradle influences their growth." (Freya) "Does the Cradle of Spirits work the same way?" (I) "Yes, the food for the Fairies would be elemental mana which is produced by the Cradle of the Fairies, the same happens in the Cradle of Spirits." (Freya) "I see, you seem to know a lot." (I) "This is common knowledge for Elves, besides Nix and Layla explained it to me better, I''m sure Sophia must know something about it too." (Freya) "Because of the Cradles, Fairies and Spirits have already learned many things, besides they are always interacting with the people of the camp and the mansion." (Freya) "Do you know how smart they are now?" (I) "On the level of a 7 or 8 year old maybe." (Freya) "That''s an accelerated growth..." (I) "Master!!!!" (Ibuki/Diana) "You slept too much master." (rica) "Dad!!!" (Irius/Irina/Samira) While talking to Freya we arrived in the kitchen and the moment I opened the door I was attacked by an onslaught of Diana, Ibuki, Samira, and Irina who hugged me tightly while Irius put his hand on my shoulder. ---------- After about 30 minutes of trying to calm everyone down, I managed to get everyone to let go of me except Diana who made me sit on her lap while her face was buried in my hair. I tried to resist but she looked like she was going to cry, so I could only accept this humiliation while I was eating, I hadn''t noticed how hungry I was until now, I was enjoying the food so much that I forgot about the embarrassing situation I was in. While he was eating Freya''s delicious food, he was also drinking bottle after bottle of blood. It was after I finished the meal that I noticed that there were over twenty plates of food and over ten bottles of blood all empty. "You mean that..." (I) "He''s been with us for a month, because of that the people of the Church of Light decided to persecute us." (Irius) "Take me where it is, I want to see it with my own eyes." (I) "Do you want to go now?" (Irius) "Yes now." (I) As I ate I listened to what Irina and Irius had to say before going out with them to a house made of normal stone blocks, I noticed that there was a sound barrier around the house, apparently, it was inside, I looked around and no Fairy or Spirit approached this building. I walk in with Irina and Irius, in the entrance room I find Lilith eating a large piece of monster meat stuck on a bone, she was eating in large pieces, but as soon as she saw us she dropped her food and ran towards me. "Dad, why didn''t anyone tell me you woke up?" (Lilith) "Put me down please Lilith." (I) "(I forgot that she also became my daughter.)" (I) Lilith runs to me and lifts me into her arms as she spins around with a big smile on her face, she had an innocent smile on her face but her deep and intense eyes along with the bloodstains on her clothes gave me a bizarre feeling when looking at her. "Sorry, I''m really glad you woke up." (Lilith) "For you to be here means that Irina and Irius have already talked to you about him, right?" (Lilith) "Yeah, where is he?" (I) "It''s in the backroom, let''s all go together." (Irius) The four of us walk towards the door, when we enter I see a large cell at the same time that a terrible smell seems to punch me in the face when I enter. Irius and Irina have an expression showing that they don''t like the smell, but Lilith doesn''t seem to mind the smell and enters humming a happy song. What I see when I entered was that there were four prison cells, three were empty, but one of the cells had a person inside the cell was strangely dark, but I could still clearly see inside a place that has nothing, besides there was a lot of blood dry smeared on the walls, floor, and ceiling as if it were the scene of a massacre. There was a man full of scars, white hair, a single empty eye since there was a hole in the place of the other eye and skeletal as if he was malnourished, with my super sensitive ears I could hear his voice faintly deep alone, a voice from which I still remember. "Unclean beings... unclean beings... how dare you to go against a servant of God... I will kill them all... the Great God Baldr will punish them... ha ha ha ha ha..." (Archbishop Thomas Galaretto) "It looks like you suffered a lot while I was gone, but after so many things you''ve done you don''t deserve forgiveness, right worm?" (I) "..." (Archbishop Thomas Galaretto) "That voice... that hateful, repulsive voice... those different eyes... you finally appeared Zenos Demon!" (Archbishop Thomas Galaretto) "I don''t know how you found out my name and I don''t care, I said it wouldn''t matter where you were I would find you and make you suffer, now you''re in my hands." (I) The moment I speak to him, his one empty eye looks at me and he struggles to his feet as his face becomes filled with anger, hatred, and contempt. "You brothers who must decide if he''s had enough or not, as those who suffered the most at the hands of this worm that is your right." (I) Chapter 381: Conversation Between Two Outsiders Chapter 381: Conversation Between Two Outsiders After seeing the state Thomas Galaretto is in and the state the cell is in, I may not know how long he''s been here, but I think it''s been enough, but what I think doesn''t matter, it''s up to Irina and Irius. "I already broke up with him the first three days, I spent those days punching him breaking every bone in his body while Irina healed him." (Irius) "For us, that was enough, but I wanted to wait until you woke up, Father." (Irina) "Besides, Lilith said he needed to be punished even more, so she and rica spent a month torturing him." (Irina) I used my threads to cover this worm''s mouth while I tied the rest of his body together so I wouldn''t interrupt this conversation with his bullshit, so I turned to Lilith. "Why did you want to punish him, Lilith?" (I) "When I transformed months ago, I received some gifts from the God Vidark, among them I can feel in people''s Aura the accumulated desire for revenge of the dead, but only the desire for revenge of the innocent who died." (Lilith) "The Aura of this Archbishop of the Church of Light is tainted by the desire for revenge of hundreds of innocents, the more punishment he receives, the less will this desire for revenge accumulated on him, this serves as an offering to the God Vidark showing how much I follow his teachings." (Lilith) "So that explains why you''re so happy, did you say that to rica?" (I) "No, she just showed up and said that a bastard like him would be excellent at testing her curses, so I let her do what she wanted as it also served as punishment." (Lilith) "..." (I/Irina/Irius) "(As always rica has a strong hatred against a person who raped another, everyone in the mansion knows what this bastard did to Irina and Irius'' mother.)" (I) "If you think he still deserves some punishment, then we can come back later." (I) "I finished three days ago, so I''m happy, I even received a title from the God Vidark for fulfilling the desire for revenge of so many innocent people killed." (Lilith) "Punishment of bastards like him is very satisfying." (Lilith) "(How can she have such a happy smile in a place like this while she says such brutal things.)" (I) "Then let''s get this over with, just as I promised I''ll give you the final judgment." (I) I go to this worm and use my Aura to pull the darkness out of it, then I take out of my storage item the black crystal where the darkness of that Elf I rescued from the pirates is stored, just like back then I use my Aura to pull the darkness of this worm that is much bigger than I initially imagined and gather in that crystal before putting it away again. I still don''t know what I''m going to do with it, but I''ll think of a use for it one day, after taking the darkness out of him I ripped his head off with my bare hands, I was a little surprised at how easy this was, not even I had to exert a lot of strength. With that done with the Church of Light, I turn around and see that Lilith has gone back to eating her big chunk of meat without caring about the brutal scene I performed in front of her. "After the body and blood are gone, being devoured by the Dungeon, ask someone to check that there is no dirt left." (I) "I''ll check it out later, by the afternoon it should be clean." (Irius) "Yes, I''ve killed monsters and people, just today I ripped someone''s head off with my bare hands, but I''m still surprised how cool I am with it." (I) "You may not know your monster body influences you anymore, that''s quite normal." (Samira) "You may have heard that Outsiders who were born as monsters in this world go crazy causing chaos and destruction wherever they go, right?" (Samira) "Yes, I''ve been told about it, I''ve read it in a book too." (I) "That''s for the same reason you and I change so easily, because of our monster bodies." (Samira) "You should also know that in our ancient world a person''s age influences a person''s mentality, for example, 5 or even 9 year olds will not have sexual desire, that''s because their body is very young, but a teenager 17 or 18 years old will have a strong sexual desire." (Samira) "That sexual desire is already responsible for a teenager to see the world in a totally different way, but that''s not the only thing where the body influences the mindset." (Samira) "Our case is the same, our monster bodies affect our minds, even now that we are no longer monsters it is still affecting us, as Vampires, we drink blood which is something we found disgusting in our old world, but is now as natural as drink water." (Samira) "You mean our bodies are responsible for our changes?" (I) "Yes and no, our bodies just accelerate change, this is to help young monsters adapt quickly, so monsters have strong instincts to guide them, especially first-generation monsters that are born adults." (Samira) "But we outsiders already have a developed mind with a mindset of our own, when someone like that is born in a body that doesn''t match their mind and has instincts that a human shouldn''t have, it little by little affects the person leading to madness in most cases. In some cases, this is what Outsiders who were born as monsters suffered." (Samira) "In my case and yours is a little different, we use something or someone to maintain our sanity, and we have an open mind to accept our situation more easily when others try to reject until the end what they have become." (Samira) "Did you use Elsaris as an emotional support to keep your sanity?" (I) "Yes, but that was something unconscious or just luck, I only realized it many years later, at that time I didn''t know what to do, but when I saw her I knew I had to at least defend her, not knowing that saved me from going crazy too, diverting my mind to something other than myself." (Samira) "Our bodies may have accelerated our changes, but it doesn''t change the fact that our decisions further affected those changes along the way." (I) "I agree with that, our decisions always change who we are, so we build our own rules in our minds about what''s right and wrong, to try not to stray further from what we want to be." (Samira) "I just hope it doesn''t change into a real monster in the future." (I) "This world is very different from our old world, we cannot live thinking about the rules of another world." (Samira) "In this world killing someone doesn''t make you a criminal, but why you kill is what matters." (Samira) "That''s something I''ve come to terms with over the days and months, but that doesn''t mean I''ll stop worrying about how long I''ll be able to make those distinctions." (I) Samira pulls me into a hug and gives me a kiss on the forehead. "You think too much, all the people in this dungeon trust you, so stop worrying about the future and do what you can now, okay Father?" (Samira) "I''m gonna do my best." (I)The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) Chapter 382: New Goal Chapter 382: New Goal After my conversation with Samira I decided to stop thinking about what I will become, maybe I will keep changing or maybe I will continue to be what I am, maybe all these changes were just to adapt to this world, even if I would be considered a psychopath in my world old, but I''ll stop thinking about these things since I''m just going around in a circle with these thoughts never leaving the place, it''s just a waste of time. I''ll just try to do the best I can to not regret anything I do. Now I was lying on my bed resting after a long day as my mind tried to process everything I had been told today. I ended up leaving a lot of things for tomorrow, I have to look for Leonardo to see the drawings for the city which will take a few days, in addition, I have to see the needs of everyone in the Dungeon that fell on Nira and Ivan as responsible for trade, materials, and Ingredients. I have to see how Rakan and his subordinates have been, it seems that the theoretical Mages have been locking themselves in the mansion''s library and even sleeping there which has been causing some problems for Freya. Combat Mages seem to train alongside rica, Irina, Jana, Vanessa, Lilian, Lilith, and many other Mages at the camp or behind the mansion. There are so many things to take care of that have been piling up during these three months that I don''t know where to start. As if all of that wasn''t enough Nix also said that he has enough DP to increase the number of floors in the Dungeon to more than ten and expand the mansion''s floor even more, but he hadn''t done that yet because to expand the floor of the mansion or moving him around would have to drive people out, which he couldn''t do with the Church of Light chasing us. So I also need to discuss Dungeon plans with Nix and get the Dungeon started up, but that has to wait until I find a safe place. Besides, Vanessa seems to want to talk to me about the creation of a Temple of the Blood, I had already approved the construction of something like this since I can also be considered a believer of the Goddess of Blood, in fact, I am her son, but there are so many things that I have to do while I''m exhausted just imagining how busy I''ll be in the next few days. I was lying on my bed, I found out from Layla that many Fairies and Spirits made my room their resting place, but as I was also informed that they were trying to protect me during my evolution, I decided to let them do what they want. I was lying on my bed where there were a few dozen Fairies sleeping, in fact, there were hundreds of Fairies and Spirits scattered around the room on top of furniture or lying on the floor, I put my arm over my eyes in an attempt to rest ignoring this situation. Sigh "That''s been a long day." (I) "I have so many things to think about." (I) "I have so many things to do." (I) "I have so many things I still must know." (I) "I''m tired just thinking about all this, so what do you want to talk to me about?" (I) "So you noticed my presence?" (Guardian) "How could I not see you sitting on my bedroom balcony?" (I) "For you to take the initiative and come talk to me, so it means if you want to say something, please be direct, I''m very tired at the moment." (I) "I''ve seen how busy you were, there are a few things I want to talk to you about, but the most important is the promise you made." (Guardian) sighs "(If I remember correctly it''s something she wanted to ask for me, she mentioned it when she helped us in the third city of the Makari Kingdom that we attacked.)" (I) "I said I would help and I''m sorry it took so long, say what you want, I''m all ears." (I) "I want to go somewhere and I would like you to go with me." (Guardian) "What place would that be?" (I) "I don''t know where we are either, I don''t usually go out of the woods much so I''ll leave it in your hands, you know where to find me." (Guardian) The Guardian jumps off the balcony where she was sitting, I know that before I get to the edge of the balcony she will already be gone, so I just look up where I keep seeing the starry sky. Sigh "I just hope you don''t have any more problems." (I) "Who knows, maybe nothing bad will happen this time and this will really become a tourist trip." (I) "As far as I know the World Tree itself is calling us, so we''re being invited, there''s no reason for us to be attacked or something bad to happen." (I) "I have to stop being pessimistic, always thinking something bad is going to happen." (I) "I''m sure the World Tree is only paying attention to the Guardian because she''s a very rare breed with a strong connection to nature, so it shouldn''t be a big deal." (I) "That''s right, it''s going to be a smooth and simple trip where we can enjoy the trip, yes, yes, it will definitely be like that." (I) Tears "See, I''m just crying with happiness to finally have a vacation trip." (I) Tears This is the second time I have felt my heart broken today, if this continues I will have to see a psychologist or a cardiologist, that''s because if I don''t die of a heart attack they will go crazy since I''m not even believing the lies I tell myself. "I just wanted a few days off, is that asking too much?" (I) "The master needs to rest, he looks a little dejected." "I''m in need of rest, not physically, but mentally." (I) "Are you having a lot of problems?" "It would be easier to ask when I''m not having problems." (I) "So do things in your own time, try to solve them one at a time instead of trying to solve everything at once." "That''s excellent advice thank you..." (I) "(Who am I talking to?)" (I) "No need to thank me, I''m happy to help." "..." (I) As soon as I turn around I see something standing next to me that wasn''t there before, seeing this may be because of mental exhaustion, maybe because of the strong emotions of today, maybe because of the surprise request I just heard, or maybe because of this unknown creature that somehow appeared beside me, and I ended up passing out. ......... ...... ... Chapter 383: Orion Chapter 383: Orion The next day I woke up with a horrible headache, my mind was still a little confused from drowsiness, maybe that''s why I feel like I forgot something important. I get up and look around, my bed is still broken but there are fewer Fairies in my room than yesterday. I walk to the porch and look up, it looks like we''re almost halfway through the day. "I remember talking to the Keeper last night, if I''m not mistaken I think it was about one more problem in the big pile that I still have to solve." (I) Sigh "I think something happened after the conversation I had with the Keeper, but I don''t remember what." (I) "I must be more tired than I initially thought yesterday, I don''t even remember going to bed." (I) I go to the bathroom to take a long shower before getting ready and going down to the kitchen, on the way I see Nolan running after a Fairy who is carrying his shoes. When I get to the kitchen I have shocked to see Lilith, Vanessa, and Lilian talking to a strange creature, as soon as I saw this creature I understood what happened yesterday, that''s what I saw before I passed out. "The Goddess warned me that you would come, so nice to meet you." (Vanessa) "Nice to meet you too, your Aura is very nice, I can smell the master on you too." "I can smell the master on both of you." "Zenos is the one who turned both of us, so we are his children." (Lilith) "Lilith is right, maybe that''s why we smell similar to him." (Vanessa) "Why has this woman been on her knees for so long?" "Don''t pay attention to her, maybe she''s gone crazy to see you." (Lilith) "What''s wrong with me?"Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om "Your body doesn''t look very solid." (Lilith) "Sorry my younger sister, she can be a little impulsive in what she says sometimes." (Vanessa) "Alright she''s right, I know the condition of my body, but that will soon change." "Come on Lilian, you shouldn''t lose your rationality like that, I''m glad I didn''t tell you about my Father in front of him, it would have been even worse..." (Vanessa) "..." (Lilian) The scene was very strange, Lilith seemed to be having fun with the creature while Vanessa was talking a little formally with the creature, Lilith was kneeling with her forehead on the floor in front of the creature while Vanessa tried to get her to stand up. The creature was 1.60 meters tall and had the body of a wolf, the paws of a tiger or lion I''m not sure, five foxtails, and a wolf''s head with a single small horn on its head. The creature also had a pair of wings and its entire body looked like a flow of blood taking that strange shape, in addition, its body looked kind of ethereal and liquid. The creature had eyes the same color as mine, one of its eyes was golden and the other eye was purple, but its eyes looked like a tiger''s. "You finally woke up master, if you want I can prepare something for you to eat." (Caryna) "I''m sure he''s hungry, so prepare something tasty dear." (Freya) "Of course, mother." (Caryna) "I remember, it was a simpler and quicker ceremony than I thought it would be." (I) "It was from this ceremony that I was born." "Huh!?" (I) "The ceremony of the dead when performed by priests like myself purifies a place full of blood while ensuring that the dead rest in the embrace of the Goddess if they are innocent or put on trial for their crimes in life if they have committed evil deeds." (Vanessa) "During the ceremony, you must remember that we offer our blood to join with the blood of the dead, this serves so that our blood is a conduit for the power of the Goddess to bless the land around her by purifying her, in addition, it serves to guide the souls that remain until the Goddess." (Vanessa) "But your blood is different, Father." (Vanessa) "I don''t like the direction of this conversation." (I) "You are not a priest, you are a child of the Goddess, divine blood flows in your body." (Vanessa) "That day you took the initiative to do the ceremony of the dead in a genuine act of goodwill with the innocent who died in the city, unknowingly vice was following the Goddess teachings, you had a strong wish for the innocent to have peace in their deaths and presented his own blood to help these souls find peace." (Vanessa) "Furthermore, you had no control of your Aura at that time, remnants of your Aura were scattered throughout the city and your spilled blood not only carried the power of the Goddess, it also briefly awakened your own power that spread throughout the city through of your Aura." (Vanessa) "Lilian and I who are Goddess believers feel this, others may not have noticed because of your lack of faith, you didn''t realize why it was the cause." (Vanessa) "But how did this ceremony of the dead give him life?" (I) "His holy blood carried his power through the entire city, that place became a holy land, and the dead who found salvation left everything behind, their bodies, memories, and everything they were." "All life energy, mana, spiritual power, Ki, souls, flesh, and blood gathered in the drop of the master''s blood that was the Goddess''s link to this world, the Goddess took the souls but everything else was left behind." "All of that turned to blood through your power and your Aura spread across the city was sucked into your blood that became the core of my being when all that merged together giving me birth." "The Goddess said in her oracle that she bestowed her blessings on him during his birth to help create a body." (Vanessa) "I was born with all the powers, memories, and abilities of thousands of people, plus the blessings of the Goddess gave me more knowledge and helped me form my mind." "As soon as I was born I could feel your presence and I ran to meet you." "That means he''s been following us for over three months, it must have been exhausting." (Lilith) "Father, he is what we call the Divine Beast, a guardian who protects and serves the Gods." (Vanessa) "But he''s different because he doesn''t possess divine power like other Divine Beasts, that''s because he serves you who isn''t a God, still at least." (Vanessa) "Don''t joke about serious things Vanessa, it''s going to give me nightmares saying such scary things." (I) "What I''d like to say is that the Goddess asked you to name him, even though she helped in his birth, it doesn''t change the fact that you created him, so it''s your responsibility." (Vanessa) "It would be an honor for me to earn a name for you master." I just woke up and more shocking things happened, but this creature doesn''t seem to have any bad intentions, plus now that I''m close I''m able to feel my own presence inside him, there''s also the fact that he came after me alone for more than three months, I think it doesn''t hurt to give him a name. "In my ancient world, I studied many different things, among them myths and slows from different religions, among these myths I discovered a constellation formed by 81 stars forming a figure that represents a legendary hunter." (I) I look at the creature, he has claws, fangs, sharp eyes, a strong body, and wings, to my eyes he seems to be a versatile hunter for anywhere and everywhere so that name should suit him. "The name I am going to give you belongs to this constellation of stars, your name will be Orion..." (I) "What''s going on..." (I) Chapter 384: Orion Divine Beast Chapter 384: Orion Divine Beast "In my ancient world, I studied many different things, among them myths and slows from different religions, among these myths I discovered a constellation formed by 81 stars forming a figure that represents a legendary hunter." (I) I look at the creature, he has claws, fangs, sharp eyes, a strong body, and wings, to my eyes, he seems to be a versatile hunter for anywhere and everywhere so that name should suit him. "The name I''m going to give you belongs to this constellation, your name will be Orion..." (I) "What''s going on..." (I) Ding! <[ Blood Pact activated ]> . . <[ Forced activation of [ Astral Body ] skill in process ]> . . . <[ Divine Beast created by the Blood Goddess Selene''s offspring was granted a name ]> . . <[ Beginning the Divine Beast''s full awakening process ]> . . . <[ Divine Beast was named [ Orion ] by Zenos creating a connection and becoming its Guardian ]> . "Fine, I don''t mind." (I) I look at Orion who starts to walk towards me and lies down on the floor lowering his head in front of me. "I will stand by his side to protect you until the end of time, allow me to serve you master." (Orion) "Do what you want Orion and welcome to the Family." (I) I run my hand over Orion''s head and he wags his tails happily, soon many people started to appear running not knowing what had happened or what the roar was. Vanessa and Lilith helped me into a chair while Freya insisted on feeding me out of my mouth as my hands were shaking. This was a bad idea as it encouraged Diana and Erica to do the same, in the end, there was more food going into my mouth than I was able to swallow, I thought I would die if it wasn''t for Irius seeing me cry for help in my eyes and getting me out of there, this is a good son. ----------- I canceled everything I wanted to do today and rested for the rest of the day, so I walked over to the hammock I put in the back of the mansion where I lay all day just watching Caryna tend the flowers in the garden, watching the others train and talking to whoever came to talk to me. Alice managed to talk to me a little calmer today, she said with a big smile how happy she was that I was ok and said that she will train hard to be useful in the next battle. p I tried to say that there would be no next battle, but she looked at me awkwardly saying that for sure there would be a next battle, I wanted to say that she was wrong, but Kira appeared behind my back covering my mouth and saying in my ear that with my luck it was just matter of time until another big event happens. I wanted to say that everyone was wrong, but I didn''t have the courage to tell a lie that even I wouldn''t believe. All I could do is ignore the problem and focus only on the now, maybe if I don''t think about anything I can forget all this mountain of problems gathering around me, "what the eyes don''t see the heart doesn''t feel" is what they say. Orion spent the whole day near me, many were scared at first when he appeared, but Diana got along with him immediately, the person who liked him least was Ivan, he kept saying that Orion was staring at him all the time. It was at this moment that I tried to do a test, I still have the bones of many square monsters, so I threw a Basilisk bone into the air and before I knew it it was gone, when I looked I realized that Orion that was all the time lying next to me now he was holding a large bone between his paws as he chewed, grinding the bones like a cookie in his teeth. It seems Ivan was right to be afraid, perhaps because he''s a Skeletor he''s realized the danger Orion poses to him. Layla seemed very happy with Orion as well as many other Fairies and Spirits who were flying around him or lying on top of him. My day was pretty quiet for the most part, so when night came I went to bed early to be ready for tomorrow''s troubles. Zzzzzzz... Zzzzz... Zzz... Chapter 385: Going To The Illusory Forest Chapter 385: Going To The Illusory Forest The next day I woke up in my new bed or that''s what I expected, but as soon as I looked at the ceiling I realized it wasn''t my room, when I looked around there were four women in the bed with me. "(What''s going on here?)" (I) I tried to remember yesterday and I''m sure I went straight to bed early yesterday if I''m not mistaken I also remember the food tasted weird yesterday, besides the one who brought the food wasn''t Caryna or Freya, who brought me to food was rica who was smiling strangely. I look to the side where I see rica still breathing hard while sleeping, I remember it was she and Kira who was bringing me the food yesterday, it didn''t take long for me to notice what had happened. After thinking some more I started to remember flashes of memory, I remember that Diana appeared in my room and took me to rica''s room where Ibuki and Kira were already waiting, after that, I have a vague idea of what happened. "(Damn! How does Lyra manage to make such strong aphrodisiacs?)" (I)Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om I get up from the bed but am surprised to find that I''m not tired, but from the way the four of them are panting it must not have been over for a long time, this is the first time this has happened, I think I''ve really gotten stronger. I''m glad I don''t have to worry about it anymore so I look for my clothes but I can''t find anything then I realize my storage item is not with me I think I left the ring beside my bed before I went to sleep yesterday. With no other choice, I use my lines to make a sheet that I wear around my waist to hide my lower body as I head back to my room. When I enter the room I see Orion lying next to my bed sleeping, I leave him there and grab my clothes and my storage item, but before leaving I look at Orion who is awake now looking at me. "Are you back master? I hope you had fun." (Orion) "Weren''t you supposed to protect me? Why did you let Diana take me yesterday?" (I) "She was very honest with what was going to happen, besides Freya had already informed me about her relationships, so I didn''t see any reason to stop it since you were not in danger." (Orion) Sigh "Never mind, I''m going to eat something, want to come?" (I) "Yes." (Orion) I go to the kitchen to eat something on the table along with most of the others, after that, I call Ivan, Nix, and Nira to talk to them, meanwhile, Orion said he was going to explore the Dungeon. "I still don''t know where we''re going, you said we were being persecuted by the Church of Light, that means we''re on the move." (I) "Where have we been going since we left the Makari Kingdom?" (I) "I already talked to you about this the day you woke up, don''t you remember?" (Nira) "There were so many people talking and so many things to listen to that I don''t remember half of the things I was told that day." (I) "There came a point where my brain just gave up and stopped working, it was too much to listen to at the same time." (I) "A lot has built up during the time the master has been unavailable, everyone wanted to let you know what''s been going on, but I don''t think anyone thought we could be overloading the master." (Ivan) "Alright, just tell me where have we been and where are we going now?" (I) "It seems that ever since she became a Holy Beast she has been listening to the call of the World Tree." (I) "..." (Freya/Sophia) After saying what the Guardian told me the two are in shock, they look at each other in disbelief before Sophia takes the initiative to speak. "Master this is something very serious, the only ones who can hear the World Tree are the leader of the Elves of each of the three races and the High Priestess elected by the World Tree itself." (Sophia) "I''ve never heard of another being able to hear the World Tree, that''s a very dangerous thing to say so easily when you say it now." (Sophia) "So this is going to get us into trouble?" (I) "I''m not sure since I was just a warrior among the Dark Elves, but you can be sure the Elf leaders will keep an eye on you very closely." (Sophia) "The World Tree is surrounded by the village of Elves, this village is the capital of the entire continent, but no one can approach the World Tree without the permission of the leaders or the High Priestess." (Freya) "But if the World Tree itself is calling, then the leaders of the Elves and this High Priestess must already be expecting our arrival at some point, right?" (I) "That may be true, but you will still be harassed by the government, as far as I know, they will want to form some sort of connection with you and won''t stop until they do, at least that''s what the leader of the Dark Elves I know would do. " (Sophia) Sigh "I knew this would get me in trouble." (I) "Does the master really need to go there?" (Freya) "Even if it''s troublesome I''ll still go there, the Guardian prevented the deaths that would be on our side during the battle in the third city of the Makari Kingdom, that''s the least I can do for her." (I) "If things get too troublesome we can always leave with me riding Orion''s back or Nix turning into a Dragon and flying away." (I) "This could cause serious problems, but that would only be if we were associated with another Realm." (Ivan) "I don''t care about that, I just want to avoid unnecessary trouble, now can someone tell us where we should go?" (I) "Elf villages are named after the forests where they are located, this particular village is called the Illusory Forest." (Freya) "The Forest in which it is located is larger than the entire territory of the Trigan Kingdom, the Elf village is protected by powerful barriers, illusions and an army of Elves." (Sophia) "Furthermore, the forest itself is one of the most dangerous places on the continent full of monsters and dungeons." (Sophia) "This forest takes up almost half of the Grimo Kingdom''s territory, as we are already here it shouldn''t be difficult to enter the forest itself, but it will be difficult to get to the village." (Sophia) "You said you lived there, so you can guide us right." (I) "I can, but we can''t invade the place, let''s try to enter as guests." (Sophia) "So it''s decided, we''re on our way to the Illusory Forest." (I) Chapter 386: Tourism Chapter 386: Tourism Me, Sophia, Ivan, and Nira were discussing the route we were going to use to go to the village of the Elves, Freya can''t help much in this matter as Sophia knew a lot more than she did, so she went to finish cleaning Lyra''s room first. to do their daily magic and archery training. "The Elves of the Illusory Forest have strong and ancient links to the royal family of the Grimo Kingdom, so they could give non-Elves permission to come to the village." (Sophia) "That won''t happen, I won''t get in touch with any nobles from the Grimo Kingdom if possible, the problem of the Elves is enough." (I) "So the other way would be to go to a shop in a town that borders the Illusory Forest, that particular shop works to guide Elves to the village if they''re visiting." (Sophia) "Then it will be very easy, I just need to let you or Freya go to this shop while everyone else stays in the Dungeon and I go in your shadow so we don''t attract attention." (I) "That''s going to be impossible, they''ll have a Fairy or Moon Spirit around, so they''ll be able to see through all the illusions and lies, you can be sure we''ll be questioned and it won''t do any good to interfere." (Sophia) "Then we''ll just have to get there by telling the truth, I don''t think we''ll have any problems getting there anyway." (I) "But since we''re going to a place like this, do you know if there''s a place with a beautiful landscape or an interesting place to visit?" (I) "There are some places, the village can be considered one of those places, but why does the master want to know about it?" (Sophia) "Since I''m going to a potentially dangerous place anyway, it doesn''t hurt to try to have fun along the way, I''m tired of painful and bloody battles." (I) "So I''m going to enjoy the trip this time, I''m going to play tourist and try to relax." (I) "What is a tourist?" (Ivan) "I don''t know, it must be an Outsider thing, I''ll ask Samira later." (Nira) After that Sophia told us a little bit about the Illusory Forest, she also said which store we should look for and which city this store would be in. After some time talking about future plans it was time to talk to the coach driver to change direction. It seems that today''s driver was Leo, from our current location it would only take five days to get to the city, that''s why we were lucky to be close to the place, in addition, the carriage has monsters that are a mix of wolves with bears pulling the carriage. From what they say, it was Diana and Sophia who captured these monsters along the way, after that, they trained them. ----------- After the conversation I had in the morning about where we were going, I went to talk to Nix in my room to discuss things about the Dungeon, Orion as usual lying next to me participating in the conversation only when we asked him something. "You said we have enough DP to make it to the 12th floor, right?" (I) "Yes, besides that we would have enough to expand the mansion floor twice more and move the mansion floor lower." (Nix) "Why do you want to create these two monsters?" (Nix) "The Mountain Buffalo is a monster whose strength is around Grade C when alone, but when in a pack its strength grows to Grade B, its hide can be used to make light armor for adventurers, and its meat is delicious, we ate this the first time we were in Porto de Moros, at the time when I asked about this monster, I also knew that some retired adventurers like to breed them as in addition to the meat that has a high value, they also produce delicious milk, unfortunately still I haven''t tasted the milk, but this will be very important for the people of the Dungeon." (I) "I imagine you must have a similar reason for wanting a Cockatrice which is a dangerous Grade A monster." (Nix) "That''s right, besides the meat is also good, this monster lays eggs, that''s why I want to raise him in the Dungeon." (I) "But who are you planning on leaving creating these monsters?" (Nix) "The Nymphs will take care of the crops that will later turn into plant-type monsters, who I thought to take care of the monsters would be the others in the camp who don''t want to fight." (I) "Everyone in the camp is very strong, most are Grade A in strength, there are also some Grade S, but not all of them are willing to fight, I realized this in the third city of Makari Kingdom, so I intend to let these people take care of monsters while having a more peaceful life." (I) "If monsters are brought in from outside the Dungeon and raised from a young age, then it shouldn''t be too difficult to raise them." (I) "This seems like a valid plan, but what are we going to do with the rest of the Dungeon?" (Nix) "The first three floors will stay as they are, I plan on leaving some weak monsters there, but the rest of the floors I still need to think about." (I) "Then I''ll start creating the floors and modifying the 11th floor." (Nix) "Do it, later when we have some more DP, I''m planning to leave some weak monsters on this floor to be the food and form an ecosystem, this forest looks very dead without any monsters." (I) ----------- After talking to Nix, I went to talk to Vanessa who started to tell me about her plan to use the black stones that she purified over these months in the construction of the Temple of Blood, I have to admit that these red marble stones were very beautiful. One of the reasons for coming to talk to Vanessa is that I think it''s important to learn a little more about the Goddess Selene''s religion, because like it or not, I''m involved in it. I spend a couple of hours listening to Vanessa''s explanations before I stop and go get something to eat. After I ate I went to the camp where I spent the rest of the afternoon talking to everyone, I was trying to find out who no longer wanted to participate in combat or hunt monsters, I was surprised to find that half of them no longer wanted to fight. After a long conversation with these people, I discovered that most of them didn''t focus on combat before Farus appeared, they were artisans, alchemists, Blacksmiths, etc. With that, I talked about the ideas about the farm and almost all the Nymphs were willing to take care of it, there were also people of other races willing to take care of the Mountain Buffalo and Cockatrice farm. Many Hobgoblins seem to have given up on combat and were already doing various craftwork at the camp, some Ogres and Orcs were also helping Anton with blacksmith work, it was not news to me that many Arachnes were enjoying helping Tania by creating or repairing clothes. I actually heard a rumor that Samira has been visiting Tania and the Arachne a lot to suggest "exotic" clothes, these clothes seem to have become like a hobby among Arachnees, but after what I''ve seen rica wearing I''ll try to ignore it this rumor to preserve my mental health. Chapter 387: Current Status Chapter 387: Current Status The next day I wake up in my bed this time, as it is always full of Fairies and Spirits sleeping around me, I look around the room but I don''t see Orion anywhere, so I get up to go to the bathroom. After I''m dressed I go to the kitchen where I can smell the food that''s pulling me by the nose there. After a delicious meal, I go to my hammock behind the mansion to rest and think about various things. I lie in my hammock watching Alice take classes with Sophia, it seems that Ibuki is also teaching her some things, I can imagine what it would be like, the martial arts that Sophia uses are direct and effective, they are very practical during combat, but lack versatility. We can call the martial arts that Sophia uses military martial arts, very effective and direct, but without versatility, it seems that Sophia got around this with her combat experience transforming this martial art little by little. That means that she adapted this Martial art for herself, which means that she cannot teach this Martial art to Alice who is very different from her, teaching the military Martial art that she used would not be useful to Alice either, so she must have asked for Ibuki to help with the Martial art I taught her months ago which is very versatile. I must say that I was impressed by how good Ibuki was at teaching, but I soon realized that he is not good at explaining anything theoretical. While I was watching this scene I decided that I could train a little to get used to my new body, I ended up realizing that at every meal I have broken glasses, bottles, and cutlery because I can''t control my strength, but before training let me enjoy this moment of peace to check my status. <[ NAME: Zenos RACE: Blood Prince of Chaos (Vampire Prince) GENDER: Man LEVEL: 5/250 EXP: 67/4000 LINEAGE: [ Selene (Blood Goddess): 100% ] [ Vampire Lord of Chaos (Zenos): Original ] [ True Dragon: 100% ] JOB: [ Aura Practitioner ] WORK LEVEL: 1/100 EXP WORK: 0/2000 WORK HISTORY: [ Apprentice Mage: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Warrior: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Martial Artist: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Hunter: 10/10 ] [ Novice Adventurer: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Thief: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Trader: 10/10 ] [ Apprentice Alchemist: 10/10 ] [ Rookie Warrior: 20/20 ] [ Martial Grandmaster: 70/70 ] [ Rookie Mage: 20/20 ] [ Rookie Thief: 20/20 ] [ Novice Trader: 20/20 ] [ Novice Hunter: 20/20 ] [ Mage: 25/25 ] [ Warrior: 25/25 ] [ Thief: 25/25 ] [ Trader: 25/25 ] [ Adventurer: 25/25 ] [ Hunter: 25/25 ] [ Apprentice Assassin: 10/10 ] [ Rookie Assassin: 20/20 ] [ Assassin: 25/25 ] [ Rookie Fire Mage: 30/30 ] [ Rookie Wind Mage: 30/30 ] [ Rookie Earth Mage: 30/30 ] [ Rookie Water Mage: 30/30 ] [ Rookie Light Mage: 30/30 ] [ Rookie Dark Mage: 30/30 ] [ Rookie Thunder Mage: 30/30 ] [ Light Mage: 50/50 ] [ Fire Mage: 50/50 ] [ Rookie Swordsman: 20/20 ] [ Rookie Swordsman: 30/30 ] [ Rookie Blademaster: 30/30 ] [ Blade Master: 50/ 50 ] [ Master Awakening (Unique): 100/100 ] [ Novice Ice Mage: 30/30 ] [ Novice Wood Mage: 30/30 ] [ Wood Mage: 50/50 ] [ Ice Mage: 50/50 ] HP: 21000/21000 MP: 25000/25000 Ki: 15000/15000 EP: 15000/15000 Strength: 10000 Dexterity: 6000 "(My vitality and energies have grown a lot compared to before, this is a big change.)" (I) "(Also my physical stats improved more than double, this evolution made a much bigger change than I expected.)" (I) I was taken aback by the changes in my status in more ways than one, but I must say that now I understand why it''s been so difficult to control my strength on a day-to-day basis, this sudden change is too big for me to adapt quickly, so I''ll have to spend a few days training to adapt to that. "Thanks, Orion, if you want you can go do whatever you want, tell the others that I''ll be busy in the next few days training, so I don''t mind if it''s not something urgent." (I) "I will warn everyone, master." (Orion) After that I leave my hammock and go to a place a little far from where the others were training, I don''t want to disturb them. To start I repeat all the moves of my Martial art quickly as a warm-up, then I repeat again slowly trying to make the punches and moves with the minimum of unnecessary movements. After that I contract all the muscles in my body and start doing the movements of my Martial art again slowly, there are a lot more unnecessary movements than before, so I spent the day trained like this, there was already a puddle of sweat on my feet. All the muscles in my body were shaking, I felt very weak at that moment, but this was very helpful, I managed to remove half of the unnecessary movements which only happens because I was able to control my body better. It was really hard and my whole body was aching, but somehow I felt like my body was lighter and could move better than before. I was so exhausted that I needed an hour''s rest on the floor before getting up and heading to the mansion. I ate a lot of food and drank a lot of blood, after that I went to take a shower before going to my bed, or that''s what I wanted to do before being pulled into a room halfway through. ---------- After three long hours, I walk out of the room using a large monster bone I had in my storage item as a crutch. I was even more tired than before, maybe due to this exhaustion I didn''t notice them before, I was breathing hard and my body was in pieces, but I still managed to make it to the bathroom. After a long and delicious shower, I went straight to my bed where I fell asleep before reaching the surface of the bed. Zzzzzzz... Zzzzz... Zzz... ---------- Pov Sophia: I was training Alice with the help of Ibuki, I decided to teach different Martial art techniques to Alice to know which one would be most suitable for her, but I think the Martial art that the master taught to Ibuki is the most suitable after some time of training. When Ibuki started teaching Alice I noticed the sad master crying hugging Orion not far away, he didn''t know what was happening and was going to go to the master but Orion saw me and shook his head in denial showing me not to go there now. I was a little worried about the master, but after a while, the master seems to be better and gets up from his hammock and goes to a place a little further away from where we are training. I saw him start to perform his martial art moves that were even better than Ibuki''s, so I made Ibuki and Alice stop training to watch the master train that would be very instructive for both of them. I also took the opportunity to try to improve my martial art even more through the techniques that the master kept showing slowly in front of me. Chapter 388: 1? Dungeon Monster Chapter 388: 10 Dungeon Monster p Ding! <[ Dungeon Eclipse reached 10 floors goal ]> . . <[ Unlocking the [ Special Summon ] and [ Treasure Room ] functions ]> . . . <[ New items have been added to the function [ Store ] ]> . . . <[ Your Dungeon has the right to do the 1 Summon at no cost ]> The next day I wake up and do an hour-long morning workout before showering and going to eat. While I was eating I got in touch with Nix to tell him about the notifications I got. After eating, Nix called me somewhere else and guided me to the safe room on the 7th floor which is the floor where the mansion is. "Are the floors ready yet?" (I) "Yes." (Nix) "I already made the changes to the 11th floor as you requested, but thanks to the changes I couldn''t expand the 7th floor or the 11th floor." (Nix) "No problem, we can do this later after accumulating some DP, by the way, how much DP are we getting per day?" (I) "About 16000 DP a day I think." (Nix) "That amount is more than I initially thought." (I) "Master, you must remember that each additional floor costs more than the previous one to create, plus each one-floor expansion will have +20% more value, we have already expanded the mansion floor many times." (Nix) "So let''s take a look at the 11th floor, after a week we''ll be able to expand it a couple of times at least." (I) "Also, I already talked to you about the notifications I got when I woke up, what do you think about it?" (I) After that, we went directly to the 11th floor, when we left the safe room I was surprised by what I saw. It was a big field of flowers and there was no mountain, lake or river. I looked up and there was a blue sky with just sun and a few clouds, I could even feel a light breeze carrying the scent of flowers to my face. "This is an amazing view, but is there a river or lake on this floor?" (I) "No, not enough DP left to do this, it will take another 4 days for me to get the river and lake implemented." (Nix) "Then keep it that way." (I) "Now let''s go to the 12th floor, but first let me do something." (I) I make a chair of shadows come out of my own shadow, then sit back as I close my eyes. I concentrate while looking for certain things on my body, after a few minutes I use one of my claws to open a wound in the palm of my hand which I turn upwards, soon five streams of blood come out of the wound on my hand until it forms five small spheres of blood, so I heal my wound and look at these five little spheres of blood. Each blood sphere releases a totally different presence, that''s why each of these little blood spheres belongs to a different bloodline. Before I was not able to separate my bloodlines, but since I evolved I feel like my senses have improved a lot, in addition, I feel that my control over blood has increased a lot, now I can even feel the different bloodlines within my bloodline and separate from this one manner "Why did the master separate these 5 bloodlines?" (Orion) "To do this." (I) The five spheres came together blending perfectly, I don''t need to use my skill to synthesize these strains because they were part of a single strain before, I just need to blend them together. After mixing these bloodlines I continue to control the blood to rotate as I feel the presences mixing until they form one presence, this shows that it has become one bloodline. "< Crystallize >" (I) "It''s time to use this." (I) "< Synthesize >" (I) I crystallized this bloodline into a bright red crystal, so I take another crystal out of my storage item, but this crystal has a faint black light and dark energy flow inside, this crystal is something I created by synthesizing dozens of "evil seeds", then synthesize the "crystal sphere" with the malice of the Elf that I rescued from the pirates and the malice that I took from the Archbishop of the Church of Light, in addition, I also made another synthesis with a black crystal that Orion created with the malice and residual miasma of the thousands of people it is made of. I make a final synthesis of the black crystal full of miasma and malice together with the crystal made from the bloodlines I created, these bloodlines are the languages of Rabbits, Demons, Serpents, Common Dragon and Twilight Vampire. A large flow of black and red energy forms in front of me creating a very sinister light show, when the lights disappeared there was only a single crystal in the shape of a sphere, it was a black sphere inside a red sphere, the red glows and blacks mixed strangely. Ding! <[ Synthesis Result: item [ Heart of Darkness ] ]> "Now we can go to the 12th floor, this is what I will use to summon this monster, I''m very curious what it will become." (I) "..." (Orion/Nix) Chapter 389: Special Summon Chapter 389: Special Summon After thinking of a way to further improve the item I was going to use for the special summon I was going to do, I called Orion and Nix to the 12th floor, but they both got weird looks looking at me before looking at each other. "Master, normally the items that are used during a Dungeon monster summon by the information that the Dungeon core has, are used to have a chance to bring a monster that the Dungeon would not normally have." (Nix) "After summoning the item becomes a permanent part of the monster." (Nix) "But no matter how I look at it, this item you have is completely evil, you said you used dozens of evil seeds, a crystal with miasma and malice from thousands of people, also a crystal with the malice and darkness of two people who already possessed to synthesize it all together and yet made another synthesis with a strange mixture of powerful strains." (Nix) "Are you trying to create an evil creature, master?" (Nix) "Yes." (I) "..." (Nix/Orion) "Why did you give him that crystal, Orion?" (Nix) "It took me months trying to get rid of this malice and miasma inside my body, but I wasn''t succeeding and I talked about it with the master who helped me." (Orion) "After that, I left it with the master, but I didn''t know what he was going to do with it." (Orion) "You have to learn something very important if you want to be with the master." (Nix) "You should never try to understand what''s going through his head, so you should be careful what you say or this is the kind of bizarre thing that''s going to happen." (Nix) "I''m still here and I''m listening." (I) "I know." (Nix) "..." (I) "You''re starting to be as rebellious as Layla, what will become of me with a Fairy and a Spirit like that around me?" (I) It seems like Nix didn''t like my idea very much, but she doesn''t even realize why I''m doing this. This is an excellent opportunity to use a combination of factors to create a super-strong creature, I''m very curious to put all parts of the plan into action. "Master are you sure you want to do this?" (Nix) "On second thought..." (I) "Glad he gave voice to common sense for the first time..." (Nix) "I think I''d better bring Vanessa along, I might need her help." (I) "..." (Nix) "I''m giving up, he doesn''t understand what common sense is, he''s going to end up doing it anyway." (Nix) "Orion, can you bring Vanessa here? But please try to get her to come willingly and not drag her here like you did last time." (I) "Yes Master." (Orion) I waited on the 11th floor of the Dungeon with Nix until Orion came back, meanwhile, I was looking at the heart of darkness, it was a very strange item and at the same time fascinating. ---------- After more than twenty minutes Vanessa arrived mounted on top of Orion, so we started to explain some things to her. "Now that we''re all here, let''s go to the 12th floor." (I) We all went back to the safe room and touched the crystal column to go to the top floor of the Dungeon. As we exit the safe room I see that I''m in the same kind of underground cavern tunnel I''ve seen on almost every floor. "How did you let him do something like that?" (Vanessa) "< Activating Special Summoning Circle >" (Nix) "< Starting analysis >" (Nix) When Nix activates the magic circle all other circles begin to float around the heart of darkness, after a few seconds powerful energy starts connecting all magic circles and the heart of darkness. "< Starting Special Summoning >" (Nix) At that moment all the energy starts to form a cocoon around the heart of darkness, soon this cocoon starts to pulse while it grows little by little to a similar height to Nix, then the cocoon starts to change color to black. "< Selected Monster >" (Nix) "< Select the monster''s appearance from the available options >" (Nix) At that moment in my vision, a character configuration system appeared similar to MMORPG games, but this system was the most complete I''ve ever seen, unnecessarily detailed, but I think it makes sense since this wasn''t a game. Even though I can choose its appearance, it seems like it''s just an initial draft, by the time it''s born there will be more changes it seems. For example, I can choose the type of arm it will have, but I can''t see what the arm looks like. I spend about twenty minutes setting the appearance as I wish, I chose to gender as a female, humanoid appearance and a shorter height than I am, I''m tired of always having to look up when I''m talking to someone. This system also showed me what the race of this monster would be. "< Implementing Appearance Changes >" (Nix) "< Want to add a soul to the monster being summoned? >" (Nix) "Yes." (I) "< Select the soul you want to use for the special summon >" (Nix) <[ Souls: SSS: 0 SS: 1 S: 0 A: 0 B: 0 C: 0 D: 2 E: 40 F: 143 G: 230 ]> The system of souls stored in the Dungeon appeared in my view for me to select, after choosing the soul level it shows a list of souls with the name before they died when clicking I could see the types of skills that would be available. Since I was making such an effort with this special invocation, I choose the only SS Grade soul that belonged to Farus, I already knew that the Heretic God was modifying Farus'' body and soul to be a vessel for him in this world, but my interference affected your plans. I''m going to use Farus'' soul, that''s the reason I chose the female gender, I didn''t want it to have anything similar to Farus as I''m not sure what this monster''s final appearance will be and the people of the camp might not like it. "< Selected Soul >" (Nix) "< Implementing soul >" (Nix) "< Ending Special Summoning process >" (Nix) Chapter 390: Hela Chapter 390: Hela "< Ending Special Summoning process >" (Nix) The summoning is almost over, soon the energy cocoon starts to glow brighter and brighter as it turns into a crystal, then cracks started to spread through the crystal. When the cracks cover the entire crystal it breaks and its pieces revert to the energy that disappears into the surroundings. When the cocoon disappears the monster inside appears for all to see, her appearance was that of a girl with black hair and eyes, white skin, a snake''s tail, bat wings that seem to be made of black crystal, vampire fangs, ears long similar to that of the Elves, another pair of ears this time of Rabbits on top of the blackhead, a single horn on the forehead similar to Orion and scales on the arms, legs, and neck in black color. ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! As soon as the young-looking monster appears, it lets out a roar full of bloodlust, the Aura that comes out of its body is extremely malicious and full of brutality, what I''m feeling is very different from the appearance I''m seeing. "Don''t attack anyone!" (I) The monster looks at me and stares at me for a few seconds before turning to Nix, then turns to Vanessa and Orion as his gaze emits an apparent bloodlust as the summoning circle disappears around him. Maybe because of my evolution or my martial arts training, but I noticed the moment when the monster slightly changed its position and contracted its muscles, so I screamed before I did anything, but even so when the monster heard my scream already had gone halfway. Orion was already in front of Vanessa to intercept the monster, it seems that the two moved at the same speed, I managed to follow the movements of the two with my eyes, but I am not able to move at that speed yet at least. When the monster stopped in the middle of the way due to my order she stays a while looking at Orion as I walk towards her, I reach out my hand trusting what Nix told me before and I pat her head, I''m happy to finally have someone else shorter than me besides Anton who is a Dwarf. "Don''t worry, I imagine it''s hard to control so much darkness, but this will be over soon." (I) "Back off." (I) The others walked away already knowing what I was going to try to do, so I activate my Aura in a different way this time, instead of spreading my Aura around and sending it towards my target, I decided to send my Aura directly from my hand to the monster''s body. The monster didn''t even try to resist my Arua allowing it to enter its body, moreover, the moment my Aura enters its body I can already feel the infinite amount of darkness inside it, I spend 4/5 of my energy just to fill her body completely with my Aura. "May this darkness become your power, may you not be consumed by darkness but consume darkness." (I) I activate my Aura''s effect of using the darkness within the target to convert power and potential back to the target. Ding! <[ Awakening process starting ]> . . . <[ Large amount of malice found ]> After a few minutes, the black flames seem to be sucked inwards, decreasing in size rapidly until disappearing which revealed Hela inside absorbing these black flames inside her body. "I live to serve Grandmaster Zenos." (Hela) Her appearance has completely changed, her long black hair now had the tips of dark red hair, her skin was still white but now she had black chain tattoos on her arms and a tattoo of a black dragon with different colored eyes on her neck. Also, she was much taller measuring around 1.85 meters, she is more toned with the body of an athlete, but her beauty has increased, even more, she is as beautiful as Nix now. The serpent-headed tail she had, now looks more like a small Dragon''s head and the tail scales become thicker, her wings look like Vanessa''s angel wings but in black color, but behind the wings, it has a layer of black crystal scales with sparkles inside just like mine and Nix''s. She now has two black crystal horns with energy flowing inside like me, her eyes have also changed to a golden color. Her once normal ears are now long ears resembling those of an Elf, her second pair of Rabbit ears now have a transparent ethereal appearance appearing to be made of shadows. As soon as she came out of the black flame she kneels in front of me swearing her loyalty, but the problem is that since I summoned her until now she is completely naked, when she had the appearance of a child there was no problem, but at that moment I get a little confused not knowing where to look. "Here, put this on for now." (Vanessa) Vanessa realizes the situation and takes a cloak out of her storage item giving it to Hela. "How do you feel now Hela?" (I) "Much better, the first thing I thought of before was how to kill and destroy everything I could see." (Hela) "My thoughts were confused and violent, I couldn''t think straight or speak, but now I feel like my mind is clear." (Hela) "The destructive feelings I felt before are gone, I thank the master for granting me this while giving me so much power." (Hela) "There''s nothing to be thankful for, that was the plan from the start, I wanted the birth of a strong, comfortable, and loyal mate, so you were born." (I) "I hope it lives up to my expectations." (I) "I will show the master that I am worthy of his expectations." (Hela) I run my hand over her head again making a caress that makes her ears jiggle. "You can get up, I don''t know why everyone always kneels next to me..." (I) When Hela stands up and I see her height, I feel another crack appear in my weak heart. "(That''s my bad luck, isn''t it?)" (I) "(Because there''s no reason for a little girl smaller than me to grow so big so fast, other than to hurt my tender heart.)" (I) I was happy that my plans had worked, but at the same time, I was sad that Hela had grown so big. "Let''s go back to the mansion, we have to take Hela to Tnia, we have to get her some clothes." (I) Chapter 391: Border Town Chapter 391: Border Town I was a little tired, but it was nothing compared to how much I transform other people or empower other people, just using the darkness inside someone is so much easier. I look at Hela beside me as we are walking through the woods to the mansion, the changes in her physique are very big but what surprises me the most is the change in her Aura and presence. Before she was like a murderous beast, but now she seems like a wise person with an expressionless face most of the time, it seems like she doesn''t know how to express herself.Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om "Hela, do you remember your previous life?" (I) "If the master is talking about when I was Farus the foolish Necromancer who was tricked by an Heretic God, then yes." (Hela) "Why did I feel a little angry at the way you said that?" (Vanessa) "Why am I angry, this man''s memories are absurd, for now, it''s still a little scrambled in my head, but what little I understand I can clearly see that he was digging his own grave." (Hela) "I feel ashamed that my soul was such a foolish man in the past." (Hela) "Do you feel anything from those memories?" (I) "No, to me they''re just like other people''s memories or like I''m reading a storybook, nothing more." (Hela) "What is Hela''s race, master Zenos?" (Orion) "Her race is Kimera Dragonica of the Abyss." (I) "Yes, thanks to the master I was also able to awaken as a true Dragon." (Hela) "I''m glad for that, I wanted to give you the bloodline of a True Dragon when I was creating the heart of darkness, but I couldn''t synthesize with any other bloodlines, so I had to use a more common bloodline." (I) "The power the master bestowed on me in the end completely transformed my lineage, furthermore it freed my mind that was trapped in the suffering of thousands of people." (Hela) "Wait! What do you mean the suffering of thousands of people?" (I) "The item that the master calls the heart of darkness was with the suffering, fear, and death that all the thousands of people had, it contained all the negative feelings and all that was tearing me apart." (Hela) "But those bad feelings passed, all thanks to master Zenos." (Hela) "Have you confirmed your powers yet?" (I) "A few moments ago." (Hela) "My physical stats are all very high, plus I inherited all skills from Farus, I also inherited many skills from my bloodline." (Hela) "I learned to do that too." (Hela) "< Infernal Flame of the Abyss >" (Hela) "As you wish, master." (Orion) "Jade has been trying so hard the last few days, she didn''t like not being around when the master was fighting King Makari." (Vanessa) "The truth is that other people didn''t like to see your state destroyed master, you being unconscious for so long didn''t do much to improve everyone''s mood either." (Nix) "I''m fine now, plus it looks like a lot of people were motivated by this event." (I) "Yes, even Nolan started training with Irius, he says he wants to at least know how to defend himself so he doesn''t become a burden to the master." (Vanessa) While I was talking time seems to pass faster, soon we had arrived at the mansion where I separate myself from Vanessa and Hela who went after Tnia. On the way we passed the camp where everyone started to welcome Hela, I also met Lilith on the way who ran to us and greeted Hela. I called Freya and asked if there was still any room available in the mansion that already has so many people, but she said there was still one last empty room, I asked her to make room for Hela. When night fell everyone was gathered in the meeting room where I first introduce Hela to everyone, I say that I used Farus'' soul to create her, but no one seemed to care, it seems that without me noticing other people had already talked to her while I did other things during the day, everyone said she was nothing like Farus. There was only one person who was very irritating, that was Layla when she discovered that Hela had the Necromancer abilities that Farus had, Layla didn''t stop teasing Hela for the rest of the meeting, but to me, it felt like a child''s tantrum. After that I started talking to everyone about the next city we were going to, I said that this time it will be me, Nix, Jade, Layla, Sophia, Vanessa, Diana, Ibuki, and Kira. I wouldn''t take rica or Lilith with me because they''re Demons, I don''t want to cause a misunderstanding if anyone finds out these two are Demons. Also, I''m not taking any other Vampires for the same reason, I''m just taking Vanessa along with me because she''s a Priestess of the Goddess Selene, so maybe taking her is okay. After saying the list of who was going to go and the reason why I chose these names, Nira started to say that she would have to do something in this city, it seems we have a lot of stuff backed up that we don''t need, so Nira wants to sell a large number of things. From what Nira said, Leonardo left a list of materials he will need, in addition, he left a large list of materials he would need in building the city. I look at the list and Nix looks over my shoulder too, then she says that some of the things on the list can be produced inside the Dungeon if you build certain types of mountains, but that it would take two months for each mountain and there are 7 mountains in total, I can''t wait that long. It was then that Ivan said that we are almost at the turn of the year, normally this is when the waves of monsters usually happen, when he said that we realized that we could take advantage of this to accumulate a large amount of DP in a short time, but For this, we will need to make some preparations. ----------- A few days later we arrived at the city of Jargan, this city borders the Illusory Forest. During that time many things were done, the time was very short, but I managed to adapt completely to my body, besides that, I discovered something that surprised me. I was in a large carriage and clearly larger than the vast majority of the others around the city gates, but this carriage was named after the Merchants of Eclipse, the trading group Nira created in the Trading Guild. Inside the carriage was me, Freya, Sophia, Nira, Kira, Diana, Ibuki, and Jade in their human form. Layla was invisible to ordinary people sitting on my shoulder, Nix was inside my shadow, and Orion was in baby monster form clinging to my other shoulder. Orion had the appearance of a red wolf cub with a small crystal horn on his head and a fox tail, plus the only strange thing would be his different colored eyes, I told Orion to avoid talking without my permission, for now, the only The reason I brought him was that he ensured he had the ability to completely hide my Aura if he was around me, so I bring him since I don''t need any more Fairies and Spirits gathering around me. Chapter 392: Invitation To The Illusory Forest Village Chapter 392: Invitation To The Illusory Forest Village This was the first time since before my evolution that I''ve been outside the Dungeon, this is also the first time I''ve seen this carriage, on the outside, this carriage is three times the size of a normal carriage, but on the inside, thanks to the various modifications like the materials from monsters with space elements and wood, to the magic circles that Rakan made and Layla as well as other Fairies with special element helping, inside the carriage is +36% bigger than the outside. The carriage inside has space to take 4 people in the driver''s seat, has space to take 6 people in the cabin on the inside, and has a door that leads to the space where dozens of boxes can be stored, this place is also where Nix or I can open the dungeon gate without anyone knowing, but when the gate is closed dozens of boxes are placed here to disguise, this space has two doors, a door that leads to the cabin and a door that leads outside to load or unload the goods. Also thanks to the monster materials this wagon was built from, it is very sturdy, it also has a lot of protective magic circles on this wagon, I''m impressed with everything they did with the idea I came up with. This carriage has two monsters pulling it which according to Diana is called the Bear Hunter, this type of monster has great speed, strength, and stamina, so they are excellent for pulling big carriages like ours. I think the only disadvantage of this carriage is that it draws a lot of attention, the monsters that are pulling the carriage are very difficult to capture alive and even more difficult to tame them, besides the carriage is very big. But you can''t have everything in the world, at least the carriage fulfills our current needs and is of great help. Getting through the city gates was not difficult, outside the carriage in the driver''s seat are Kira, Diana, and Nira. Nira presents her Trade Guild card, then they survey the carriage seeing me and the other people inside, after which the soldiers look into a reading crystal for a few seconds before asking for a fee of one silver coin to enter. That was the fee for merchants'' carriages, if paid by carriage by visa, after we pass through the gates into the city, Sophia switches places with Nira, so I ask what the soldiers were checking out. "Do you have any idea what these soldiers were seeing in that reading crystal?" (I) "They were looking at the wanted posters." (Nira) "Not only that, but they also have descriptions of suspicious people." (Kira) "Yes, but they''ll see that there was no one on their list here, so they let us in." (Nira) "Weren''t we being persecuted by the Church of Light?" (I) "They can''t issue wanted posters to Realms other than their own or send them through Guilds as they don''t have a reason to chase us." (Vanessa) "So we''re fine, I hope we can enjoy the trip..." (I) I look out the window and am surprised at the number of Fairies and the few Spirits flying around the city, besides there were many Elves and humans almost in equal proportion in this city, there were also some Dwarves, Runics and Beastmen. I was a little mesmerized by the surprise of what I was seeing, but then I saw a problem and turned my eyes towards the little Orion on my shoulder. "Are you sure these Fairies and Spirits won''t notice me?" (I) "I may hide your Aura and Master Presence, but Fairies and Spirits will still find it pleasant to be around you, your very existence makes sense of the order of nature, and being a Guardian of Phases and Spirits is not just a title, it It''s something that is part of your very existence, so I can mask that, but they''ll still have goodwill and a good impression of you." (Orion) "I hope that''s enough or else I''ll have to leave it to others and go back inside the Dungeon." (I) "Are they trustworthy?" (manager) "Yeah, they won''t cause trouble if no one makes trouble with them." (Sophia) "Since you''re here and you seem to be telling the truth, I''ll skip most questions as they''re unnecessary, but I still need to know the reason for your visit." (manager) The Moon Fairy flies off the White Elf''s shoulder and flies around me before sitting on my head and going to sleep. "It''s not bedtime yet, come back here for a few more minutes and I''ll get you some candy, all right?" (manager) At the mention of candy, the Fairy lying on my head flies back to the White Elf''s shoulder, so I lower my hand, and from inside my clothes comes a green vine that was wrapped around my arm that grows to form the Guardian''s body. "This person is being called by the World Tree, that''s why we''re here." (I) "..." (manager) The White Elf gets up and kneels in front of the Guardian. "Your presence is an honor to me Holy Beast, had we known it was you no questions would have been necessary, the High Priestess has already warned us of your possible arrival before the end of the year." (manager) "You and your companions have the ticket released, wait a while while I get the invitations for all of you, but could you let me know your number first?" (manager) "The Holy Beast, Spirits, Fairies and Familiars do not need to be counted." (manager) "If this is so, then there are 8 of us." (I) "I''ll go get your invites now." (manager) The White Elf was very surprised when she saw the Guardian, but just as we were thinking, they had already been informed that we were coming at some point. The White Elf leaves for a few minutes before returning with 8 clear crystal cards with a golden tree marked in the middle. "This is the highest level of entry invitation we have, so you have a chance to meet the leaders and the High Priestess if the other party accepts." (manager) "The High Priestess has left a message advising you to look for her as soon as you arrive at the village if possible." (manager) "In three days the next group will leave for the village, be here before sunrise if you want to go together." (manager) "Thank you very much, we''ll be here on time." (I) I take the invitations and leave with the others as we say goodbye to the White Elf, on the way out, I also say goodbye to the attendant before leaving the store. Chapter 393: Growth Barrier Chapter 393: Growth Barrier After we left the store we started visiting various stores I put on a mask to hide my face, it might be a little narcissistic to say this of myself but even I was getting amazed at my beauty when I looked in the mirror every morning. If there''s one thing all clich stories have taught me it''s that beauty always attracts more trouble than it helps, so I wear a mask to hide my face, I also made others wear masks since there are so many beautiful people with us. But whenever I passed near a Fairy or Spirit they would wave at me happily, some of them even flew around me a few times before leaving every time Layla or Nix looked at them. Jade who was next to me looked like a person from a rural town on her first day in a big city, she kept looking in all directions trying to pay attention to everything at the same time, I had to hold her hand so she wouldn''t run away in some random direction. As everything happened faster than we expected to get permission to go to the hidden village of the Elves inside the Illusory Forest, it''s still too early to go to the Trading Guild, and find Nira and Freya. Ibuki clung to one of my arms while trying to pull me towards the food stalls, plus Vanessa seemed to look around for something. "Looking for something Vanessa?" (I) just trying to understand what kind of God is being worshiped in this city, it would be dangerous if there were too many believers of the God Baldr here." (Vanessa) "But I don''t think I have anything to worry about, I haven''t seen anyone with the Church of Light symbols on their clothes, I haven''t seen anyone staring at us other than the Elf spies." (Vanessa) "Leave them alone, after three days we''re going to leave this town, so let''s have some fun before we leave." (I) So we walked around town for a bit, Diana and Jade went straight to the gun shops to look at swords, and Kira insisted that we go to a restaurant she chose because it has so many merchants and adventurers. It seems that Kira''s goal was to eavesdrop on people''s conversations and discover interesting rumors, stories, news, and happenings, which is why she chose a place like this. "Zenos, Zenos, Zenos, buy us candy." "Yes, yes, we want sweets, buy them for us please." "..." (I) After leaving the restaurant we passed near a candy store, then two Fairies came out of my shadow asking for candy. I look at Layla who looks at me with an embarrassed face like she''s just remembered something now. "Layla, what''s going on here?" (I) "I didn''t expect this to happen, this can be a little troublesome." (Layla) "What is happening?" (I) "While the master was unconscious, you were continuously releasing your Aura, so Nix and I used it to further strengthen the Cradles." (Layla) "In my case, I did more than just strengthen, I added new pure elements using your Aura and mine." (Layla) "With that, the Cradle of Fairies became much stronger, enough to acquire the function of spatial concealment, this power allows the Cradle to create its own space in the place where it is to hide, along with that a door is created for only Fairies and people being brought in willingly by Fairies are able to enter or leave the Cradle." (Layla) "But in our case, it doesn''t matter much since the Cradle is inside a Dungeon which is already a separate space, so the Cradle has opened its own passage out of the Dungeon, that door is its shadow master." (Layla) "..." (I) "Thank you, Freya." (I) I take off my mask as Nix steps out of my shadow, everyone takes off their masks as Nix snaps her fingers creating a black rune that crumbles to another barrier around the room. "With this, the vision of any kind of skill, magic or technique to see inside the room will be prevented." (Nix) "Everyone is too cautious, I don''t think we''re in any danger." (Ibuki) "I prefer to be cautious whenever possible because my luck sucks, so I always try to be prepared." (I) I use my lines to make a hammock to lie on before turning to the others and asking what I''ve heard from adventurers on the way. "I was listening to some Adventurers on the way talking about a growth barrier, do you know what that is?" (I) "No one has told you anything about this until now?" (Vanessa) "Even I know about it, I had a lot of problems with my own growth barrier." (Jade) "Let me explain it to you, Master." (Diana) "A growth barrier is something that prevents one''s level from increasing, makes it difficult to learn skills, and prevents one from becoming stronger." (Diana) "Everyone has these growth barriers, most people are stuck in these growth barriers for the rest of their lives." (Diana) "These growth barriers start to appear for people with Grade B strength, after that, they appear in each full Grade upwards as it gets harder and harder." (Diana) p "That''s why there are few people who make it to Grade S or higher." (Diana) "According to you I''m in the Lower Catastrophe Grade which is above the +SSS Grade, so why didn''t I feel any of these growth barriers?" (I) "Growth barriers can be easier or harder to cross depending on one''s talent and potential." (Vanessa) "Father, you have hundreds of powerful bloodlines within you, you have a contract with a Dragon Spirit and a Fairy with a 7-element Affinity, you have dozens of skills, you have dozens of jobs in your history and most importantly, you are a son. of one of the oldest Goddesses." (Vanessa) "I don''t think anyone would say they have more potential or talent than you, Master." (Jade) "..." (I) "But it''s not just because of your master talent, you would have crossed these growth barriers anyway." (Diana) "The way to get through these growth barriers is by evolving, having strong emotions, or surviving a near-death situation." (Diana) "If you remember, the master went through many situations like this, the battles inside the Corpse Dungeon, the wave of monsters in the city of Valen, the battle against Farus the Heretic God, and the battle against King Makari." (Kira) "Actually the master could have crossed the +SSS Grade without going through life or death situations, but it also demonstrated his great potential." (Diana) Do they mean that even though I had the talent to get stronger safely, I went through difficult situations for nothing? "You can see from the people at the camp, many managed to reach Grade S due to the constant fights against Farus, but even so there are people who have not been able to level up since then, an example of this is the Hobgoblins." (Jade) "I understand the explanation thank you..." (I) Chapter 394: Entering The Illusory Forest Chapter 394: Entering The Illusory Forest During the next three days we all stayed in the city of Jargan, just as I had planned before, I am using this trip for tourism along the way, I visited many food stalls during these days, I even had to wear a different mask as I didn''t want to keep taking it off my mask to eat all the time. Everyone else is wearing the same mask I asked to modify, this mask is divided into the top above the nose and the bottom from the mouth down. On the first day, there was an adventurer who saw me taking off my mask and has been chasing me since then, she even proposed to me, and tried to hug and kiss me many times, but with my current physical status, her efforts were in vain. She was quite beautiful, appearing to be about 30 years old with chocolate-colored skin, very short brown hair, blue eyes, a well-trained warrior''s body similar to Diana, and an armor that only protected her chest, arms, and legs. But one thing that really caught my attention besides her insistence on chasing me was that her strength was in Grade SSS. This is the first adventurer I see with this strength, in my group the only ones who have this strength are Jade, Ivan, Elsaris, Lilith, and Vanessa. Me, Orion, Hela, Nix and I think Layla are in the Lower Catastrophe Grade, so this woman has never been able to catch up with me, but I must say she is being very good at motivating Diana and Kira. Every time she gets close Diana and Kira try to stop her, with that a very interesting battle unfolds in front of me where Kira and Diana always lose, but at this moment Jade always appears blocking the way of this woman who is frustrated since the strength of Jade is the same as hers. In fact, if Jade uses her poison this woman would not win, but no one is fighting with the intention of hurting or killing the other, even Kira and Diana didn''t use large-scale attacks so as not to hurt the people around. During these days we have been getting a lot of attention, but I am happy that Diana and Kira are getting stronger after each battle, even at night they are talking about what they could do differently to stop that woman who by the way is a sword user and shield just like Irius. Sometimes I see some people close to this woman before she runs to me, but I don''t mind paying attention to them as the woman''s presence is always a big annoyance. It seems that her tastes are similar to Diana''s, I just wanted to quietly enjoy this tour, but I think all this can be considered a good memory in the future. Even with this woman being a nuisance I still managed to visit many food stalls, in some of these stalls Freya took the initiative to talk to the cooks to exchange recipes. That''s how we spent our time in this city, I really felt like I was on vacation. But at dawn on the fourth day we all got up early to go to the meeting place, I thought we were going to the shop, but there was already a Gray Elf waiting at the doors of the inn for us. Diana went to take our carriage and we followed the Gray Elf to one of the city gates that leads straight to the Illusory Forest, at the gates there were two more carriages, one was clearly from a merchant being almost the same size as ours, the other was a chariot half the size of ours simple looking at first glance, but just as ours was being driven by a monster, I recognized the monster from the books, it was called Warhorse, this monster is twice the size of a Horse normal, his entire body is covered in powerful muscles, he has some bone plates protecting his back and head, instead of horse hooves he had claws. This monster was magnificent, it made me want to have a Horse too, but then I started to think about what kind of Horse this would be and decided to fix it later. In addition to the War Horse that impressed me, something that surprised me was seeing the powerful woman who had been chasing me during these three days gets out of that carriage and try to get into ours, the Hunting Bears didn''t even try to stop her as they walked away, clearly realizing they were weaker than her. I let this woman continue with her unfettered way of acting so far as it was fun to see how Diana and Kita were getting stronger with every battle, but this time we were going to go to a dangerous place and I couldn''t accept distractions. I looked into her eyes and used my intimidation skill with my Aura concentrated in her eyes, I did this to use the fear effect on my Aura along with the intimidation, it was only a second but the woman reacted by jumping back as her glass went weak and she loses consciousness, but a man comes at great speed from inside the War Horse carriage catching the woman before she reaches the ground, his speed was similar to mine. "I apologize for my mate." "No problem, just remind her that the forest is dangerous and I don''t want to distract myself from the dangers around me with pointless fights." (I) "I don''t promise anything, you must have noticed that she is very impulsive, I don''t know what you''ve done now, but she will probably like you even more because of it as she respects strong people." "..." (I) "Everyone is already here, so follow me through the Illusory Forest and don''t stray from the path." (Grey Elf) With this kind of group, we entered the Illusory Forest without knowing how long to travel or what to expect. Chapter 395: Illusory Forest Part 1 Chapter 395: Illusory Forest Part 1 When we entered the Illusory Forest we were following a trail, each person was in their respective carriages and the Gray Elf who was leading the way was mounted on a Shadow Horse, this is a rare monster on this continent and also a monster that the Church of Light hunts as well as all monsters from the elements of Darkness, Shadows or the undead. While we''re inside the carriage I look out the window for respective directions, then turn to Sophia with the intention of asking her a few questions. "Why are we still being followed even when we are being guided to the village of Elves?" (I) "Because this is another test, to get to the village of the Elves you must pass three tests." (Sophia) "What are these tests?" (I) "The test of truth, the test of strength, and the test of will." (Sophia) "The test of truth must be the questions they ask in Jargan City, right?" (Vanessa) "Yes, this first test is to find out why the person wants to go to the village of the Elves." (Sophia) "The second test starts now, the master has already noticed that there is only one person guiding us and there are 4 following us, right?" (Sophia) "Yes, just now I looked in the direction of 3 of them to show that I knew of their presence, but I made it look like I didn''t notice the last one to prevent them from calling more people out of being wary of me." (I) "As always you are the most cautious, Master." (Sophia) "Even if you had demonstrated that you noticed all of them it wouldn''t matter they must know you noticed the last one too or at least they must be suspicious since you noticed them very quickly." (Sophia) "Those who are following us are also part of the test, they are hiding to see if we are able to sense their presence and to protect ourselves if we are to be killed by the monsters of the Illusory Forest." (Sophia) "I imagined this when I realized that there was only one person guiding us, if any monster appears we are the ones who will have to fight for the visa." (Kira) "So they want to gauge our strength with these fights?" (I) "Yes, through battle they will verify our combat experience, our fighting techniques, the type of energy we use, the type of weapon we use, our elemental Affinity, our courage, etc." (Sophia) "But they protect us doesn''t mean there won''t be deaths, the risk of death still exists, but in our case this second test is worthless." (Sophia) "Why you say that?" (I) "Because the monsters that will appear in this Forest must be weaker than you, Father." (Vanessa) "Exactly that, the maximum strength of the monsters in the part of the Illusory Forest we are going to pass through is up to SS Grade, as far as I know, they won''t be a problem for us." (Sophia) "They shouldn''t be a problem for the people in that woman''s carriage either." (I) "I can still feel her eyes on our carriage." (Orion) The merchant was locked inside his carriage, but I got out of the carriage with the others, we set up a makeshift fire and took out pots for cooking. Freya pulls out a table and kitchen tools from her item storage, then takes out the body of a monster that looked like a horned Sabretooth Tiger that died from an arrow to the head while trying to run after I used my intimidation skill on him, Freya said that this monster had very tasty meat and that''s why she used her bow and arrow to kill him, I don''t remember the name of this monster, but I think he was Grade S. While Freya was preparing the meat, the others and I finished making the fire where I put two large stones on either side to use as support for the iron grate I asked Anton to make a long time ago. What I''m doing is a barbecue, the sky is very beautiful from this forest, besides the forest was magnificent, I would like to have a camera to take pictures of the many beautiful landscapes we passed today. Because of that I''m in a good mood and I thought a barbecue and beer would be ideal with this starry sky, so I took out one of the Orcs'' Beer Kegs. As a barbecue can always have more people I decided to call the merchant, the group of that insistent woman, the Gray Elf who guided us, and the 4 Elves who were following us. The merchant didn''t want to participate in the barbecue and looked at me like I was some kind of idiot. The strange woman''s group accepted being coerced by her, what surprised me was the Gray Elf and the other 4 Elves watching us accept to participate in the barbecue. The 4 Elves that followed us were Dark Elves, we all gathered around the fire while Freya started to put the slices of seasoned meat there leaving that delicious aroma in the air. "Thank you for inviting us to a meal, my name is Alan, these are my companions Priestess Bianca and Knight Darcia that you have met before." (Alan) "Nice to meet you, I am a Priestess of the God of Justice." (Bianca) "It reminds me that I haven''t introduced myself before, my name is Darcia, but if you want you can call me my darling, my red-haired prince." (Darcia) "I''ll just call you Darcia, besides my name, is Zenos and I prefer to be called that." (I) "I apologize for Darcia, she is normally someone very trustworthy, but she has a soft spot for beautiful people and things." (Bianca) "Alright, I can understand." (Diana) "You can understand her..." (Alan) "Exactly what you''re thinking." (I) "That''s why you managed to stay so calm these days, you''re used to that kind of person." (Alan) "Believe me when I say there are more difficult people to deal with, plus Darcia didn''t cause any big problems as her fights weren''t intended to hurt anyone." (I) "You are talking very quietly for someone who is roasting meat in the middle of a forest full of monsters." (Grey Elf) "We are doing this because there is no danger in the surroundings, the monsters are too weak to be a threat" (Kira) It was in this relaxed atmosphere that we spent the rest of the night eating and drinking. Chapter 396: Illusory Forest Part 2 Chapter 396: Illusory Forest Part 2 For the next few days, we had barbecues every night, the merchant always refused to participate, it seemed he thought we were all crazy for doing something like this every night. As you would expect, some monsters always appeared in the surroundings to attack us, but they always run when I use intimidation on them.Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om The Gray Elf and the other Dark Elves said that there was no point in continuing to hide if everyone already knew about them. My group and I continued to wear masks and the Guardian was sleeping wrapped around my arm like a vine all these days. The trip was very smooth and worry-free, just as I imagined, Darcia continued to pester me, moreover, when we discovered a lake, Darcia insisted that everyone should bathe there. But I refuse and use a potion of liquid soap in front of everyone get very clean, I would be a fool to accept the proposal of this woman who clearly has ulterior motives. I look at her two companions, they seem like more normal people to talk to. The man named Alan was tall at around 1.90 meters tall, he had a muscular body and had brown hair tied in a ponytail. He was a beautiful person and he had my dream physique, I was very jealous of his body, he has everything I wanted in my own body, he is tall, has big muscles and the characteristics of his appearance are very masculine. I was gnawing at this bastard with envy as I wondered why my luck is so bad, why I had to travel with someone who has a body like his, why I have to look the way I always wanted to look, I was so sad but didn''t want to show it, luckily I managed to put those things aside for the first couple of days. Nor can we forget about the beautiful Priestess of the God of Justice, she was a Mage, and her Aura displayed a great amount of Mana. In addition, she was a woman with white skin, brown eyes, and hair, large curves that draw attention wherever she went. Surprisingly she was very easy to talk to, she was also responsible for keeping Darcia from leaving her side during meals, so she has my thanks. During those days we had simple conversations without asking where each one came from, why they are going to the village of the Elves, or who each one was. One thing I''m sure of is that everyone knows I''m a Vampire, the Elves must have known from the start, but Alan''s group seem to know from the start that Vanessa was a Vampire since they could sense her Aura, as she calls me Dad, it was easy for them to deduce that I am also a Vampire. To do a test I drank a bottle of blood in front of everyone during the barbecue, but no one cared, it seems that Vampires aren''t as hated as I initially thought. That''s how we continued our trip through the Illusory Forest, on the fifth day we left the trail we had been following until then. When we left the trail and started walking through the forest I noticed that the landscape looked strange, it was difficult to perceive the distance from the trees as if they were moving, sometimes it seemed that there would not be enough space for the carriages to continue, but that was just a kind of illusion as if there is something interfering with our spatial perception. On the sixth day, Sophia said that we would soon arrive at the Trees of Desire site, about 2 or 3 hours later I realize that we had arrived at the third test site. That''s because I found myself in an illusion as if I was in a wooden cabin inside a calm forest, my whole group was with me and there was nowhere we should go or anything to worry about, it was the kind of life I would be want to have. "I''m disappointed, is this the kind of illusion I was worried about?" (I) I smile and shake my head in disappointment leaving the space around me shattering as it reveals that I''m still inside the carriage. "Are you okay, Master?" (Orion) "Yes, the illusion didn''t fool me, it just showed me something I''ll never have, but want all the time." (I) "Why does the master say he''ll never have that?" (Orion) "What I want is a peaceful life, but I am fully aware that this will not happen, I am a Vampire, I am the son of a Goddess, I am hated by an entire religion, I am surrounded by people that others consider strange and I have to admit that I get carried away by my curiosity doing potentially dangerous things like in Hela''s case." (I) "For someone like me to have a quiet life is an impossibility, but wishing doesn''t hurt anyone." (I) "That''s enough, thanks for showing me such a good memory." (I) I was happy while the world around me was breaking like it was as fragile as glass, when I woke up I was sitting on the floor with my head on the master''s legs who caressed my head. "By your smile, it looks like you took advantage of your illusion, so stop crying, tears don''t match that smile." (I) Tears I put my hand on my face and realize I was crying, I dry my tears and lay my head back on the master''s legs as he continues to stroke my head. ---------- Pov Layla: "Hahahahaha..." (I) How amusing, everywhere I looked there were Blackmancers trying to attack me, but none of his blows managed to hit the mighty me. It was so much fun cutting them to pieces, burning them alive, and hearing their screams made my body tremble with emotion. Some of them were even crying as they used their comrades'' corpses to defend themselves from me. These fools don''t realize that there''s no way to defend themselves from me, this illusion is amazing, I was right to let this illusion affect me, here the master won''t mind if I make a big fuss. "Die you worms... hahahahaha..." (I) "You are all trash, you all deserve to die, so scream harder, cry more, I want to hear you begging for life like I begged for mine in my five previous lives..." (I) I kept killing everyone, compressing the space around them into spheres of flesh or making trees grow inside their bodies was so much fun, I could stay here forever. "Enough playing, it''s time for food, wake up your little Devil..." (Zenos) "..." (I) I wake up and it''s already night out of the carriage, everyone is looking at me as they get out of the carriage, I''m in the master''s palm as he rocks me to wake up. "I''m already awake, already awake..." (I) "How was the massacre?" (Zenos) "Very fun." (I) "Necromancers?" (Zenos) "Yes." (I) "Now that you''ve had fun with your illusion, try not to be affected again, your smile was a little too distracting for others." (Zenos) "But it was so much fun..." (I) "I let you have fun for hours, that''s enough." (Zenos) "Alright... (idiot master.)" (I) Chapter 397: Illusory Forest Part 3 Chapter 397: Illusory Forest Part 3 When we arrived at the Illusory Forest area where the third test would be performed I came out of the illusion in five seconds as I wasn''t fooled by something of that level, Orion seems like he himself wasn''t affected by the illusion, Layla and Nix were affected by the illusion by will own using it as a form of entertainment. But Vanessa issued mild killing intent as she cried when she woke up from her delusion shortly after I finished talking to Orion. I got up from my seat and went to give her a hug, she hugged me tightly while crying, I just waited while hugging her, the others were waking up from the illusion one by one meanwhile. "Don''t cry, tell me what happened?" (I) "It was just an old wish that I had forgotten about, this is something I wanted over 500 years ago." (Vanessa) "If it''s something you wanted then why are you crying?" (I) "You know Father, when I decided to leave the Church of Light 500 years ago, the first people I told this to were my parents at the time, do you know what they did?" (Vanessa) "My mother tried to capture me and my father tried to kill me, when I ran away my father led the army that was hunting me, if the leader of the neutral faction of Vampires that later became my mother hadn''t saved me I would now be dead or worst." (Vanessa) "Up until the moment I was put to sleep, my greatest wish was that my Father and Mother had supported me and run away with me." (Vanessa) "Was that your illusion now?" (I) "Yes, but that only served to open an old wound, I was not deceived by the illusion, but the memories of the past seem to still be there." (Vanessa) "Maybe those wounds are always there, betrayal by someone who is in your heart is not something you can forget, but know that now you have many people by your side." (I) "Yes I know." (Vanessa) "Thanks, Dad." (Vanessa) After Vanessa calmed down a bit she was able to tell me what had happened, but at that moment a powerful Aura went out of control near me. "" (I) I try to run using my Aura to suppress the Jade Aura that was out of control as I approach her I also focused some of my Aura on my throat, I was using my Aura ruler effect on my voice to give an order that it made Jade open her eyes right away, moreover as soon as she saw me she cried silently with her hand on her face for a few seconds before saying something to me. ---------- Pov Alan''s: From the first time I saw them in the city I knew they were interesting people, they looked suspicious at first sight as they all wore masks, but a person doing suspicious things usually avoids drawing attention, in their case it was different. When I was walking on the city streets I always saw them walking around the food stalls, there were also some going to stores or restaurants, and they acted in a very normal way for such suspicious people, it was something that caught my attention. But Darcia was a big annoyance, the first day I saw them was when they were fighting Darcia, I thought they were going to completely lose since Darcia should be the strongest person in town after me at the moment. I was surprised to see so many strong people among the masked ones, when I asked later why Darcia was fighting I was surprised to find it was because he saw the face of the red-haired masked man who was the shortest. Darcia always does these things, my luck that she is not able to see Fairies or Spirits, or my suffering would never end in this city, I''m also lucky that people with contracts with Fairies or Spirits in this city make their Familiars invisible to normal eyes, It saves me a lot of trouble, but I think it might get worse when we get to the Elves'' village. It has happened more than once where she hugged Elves and Elves in the street simply because she thought they were very cute, exactly why I didn''t want to come with her, but I had no choice in that decision since Darcia even being a strange person is still the strongest Knight from the Grimo Kingdom, I met her in the Empire a long time ago when I was training there. Fortunately, Bianca is with me, as a childhood friend and Priestess only she can stop Darcia from doing this kind of thing, even though I''m stronger I can''t babysit Darcia all day. I was curious about the masked ones, but they never took off their masks, in fact, it seems they changed their mask after the incident with Darcia, and now they don''t even take off their masks to eat. From your Auras, I know that you have a strange Human, a Beastman woman from the tribe of Wolves, a Dark Elf, a White Elf, a Gray Elf, an Oni, a Demi woman who has an Aura similar to a Serpent, a Vampire and that strange person who seems to be the leader Darcia is so desperately going after. From the description Darcia gave he must be a boy, he has a strange wingless Fairy on one shoulder and a strange baby monster on the other shoulder, apart from that boy only the Gray Elf had a Spirit with her. I must admit that I was a little jealous of having so many women besides that boy, but I was more curious about the boy himself that I couldn''t feel anything about, I couldn''t feel his Aura or his presence, but to be surrounded by strong people he must be strong too, but I don''t know how strong it would be. On the day that we were finally going to enter the Illusory Forest to go to the Elves'' village, I was already prepared for the two tests that were missing. But I was very surprised to see the masked people there too, their carriage was quite big, Darcia looked very happy and ran towards them before I or Bianca could stop her. Just when I thought I would need to run to avoid another fight in front of the Elves before the trip, I suddenly feel something ominous and see Darcia with a serious face jumping back as she walks away from the masked carriage, she tries to get her weapons but passed out before Besides, I ran and caught her before I hit the ground. There was no doubt the culprit was the red-haired boy, but I didn''t know what he had done, Darcia wasn''t hurt, but her body was shaking and sweaty, it looks like he didn''t want to hurt her, just stop her from causing trouble before entering the Illusory Forest. I was going to take advantage of the tests to find out more about this mysterious group, while I had to get Darcia to behave, this wasn''t the time for her to be acting like this. Chapter 398: Illusory Forest Part 4 Chapter 398: Illusory Forest Part 4 p Pov Alan''s: During the trip the second test was useless, the five days of travel were smooth as any monster in the vicinity fled, with the exception of one that died due to an arrow that came flying from inside the big chariot. On the first night in the Illusory Forest, the masked group made a fire to cook and eat inside one of the most dangerous areas on the continent, at that moment I didn''t know if they were idiots, bold, or convinced of more of their own strength. But what surprised me again was that they noticed the Elves that were following us, I thought only Darcia and I had noticed. As strange as this situation of eating in this place was, I must admit that the meat was delicious, I thought it was on par with Imperial Palace food. On the fourth day of the trip, I was in our carriage talking to Bianca while Darcia was sleeping. "What do you think of them after these days?" (I) "I examined everyone with my Aura except the boy since he couldn''t." (Bianca) "From what I could identify none of them are criminals in the eyes of the Goddess of Justice, with the exception of the green-haired woman Demi." (Bianca) "The one that has the same strength as Darcia?" (I) "Yes, but it''s a little strange how I feel about her, the power of Aura that I have can assess the accumulation of injustices and crimes that someone has committed, it also allows me to know some things like if the person has already been judged if people have already received their punishment or whether the person is innocent." (Bianca) "Because of that I feel an equal amount of guilt and innocence coming from this woman, it also feels like she''s getting her punishment." (Bianca) "What would cause a state where a person is guilty and at the same time innocent?" (I) "This is rare, but there are still some cases." (Bianca) "Maybe she is innocent but she accepted to carry that guilt for some crime or she doesn''t know that she is innocent." (Bianaca) "You only know that about them?" (I) "Yes, but something strange happened when my Aura came into contact with the boy." (Bianca) "Yes, the God of Justice sent his oracle through the High Priest, I should begin my journey across this continent." (I) "Furthermore, they sent us to this subordinate Realm to find out more about our mission, then they sent us to this allied Elf village." (I) "The royal family of this Kingdom has been very dignified, the cities we passed through were very good." (Bianca) "The King said that the Elves of this place would know in greater detail about the quest, I hope they know something more useful than the spies of the Grimo Kingdom." (I) "Just remember not to be disrespectful, the village we''re heading to has a World Tree, plus they''re not underlings of the Empire." (Bianca) "I know, I won''t mess with the Elves, but I''ll try to charm a companion among the Gray Elves." (I) "It would be a good idea if you were a Night Watch, we don''t have anyone who is good at detecting traps or is good at reconnaissance, ambush, and espionage." (Bianca) "Exactly, we should take advantage of it since the Elves of this continent are more open to coexistence with other Realms." (I) "Also, that boy''s group has three Elves, among them a Gray Elf, so we should get a mate too." (I) "Just don''t forget about the quest just because you''re looking for a new member for our group." (Bianca) "You talk too loud, can''t you see I''m trying to sleep?" (Darcia) Soon we''ll get to the third test site, maybe there I''ll be able to find out more about this group of masked people. I must say that I would love to invite all of them to join me, but I don''t know if they can be trusted, I''ll wait until I get to the Elves village to know more about these people after I know more about them the quest. ---------- As time passed we arrived at the place of the third test, I only stayed a few seconds in the illusion before releasing myself, illusions do not work on Bianca as her mind cannot be influenced by external powers and her eyes are able to see through lies. The biggest problem was Darcia who needed help from Bianca''s magic to not be carried away by her wishes for the illusion, but we were already prepared for that. From now on, there''s only one more week to go to reach the village of the Elves, the trip has been much smoother and more pleasant than I thought. Chapter 399: Arriving At Illusory Forest Village Chapter 399: Arriving At Illusory Forest Village After seven days of traveling, we had finally left the place where the Trees of Desire were, one thing I noticed is that there were other monsters and plants with illusion abilities there. In addition to protecting the mind against illusions by maintaining a strong will at all times, we should also keep fighting some monsters. This wasn''t a problem as I continued to use my intimidation skill to fend off the monsters by killing just one of each race that I asked Layla to keep and take to the Dungeon through my shadow. It was a smooth trip for me, Nix wasn''t affected by the illusion again, Layla tried to let herself be affected, but I told her to stop doing that since it was so bizarre the way she was smiling. Orion was the only one who was never affected by the illusion, he just kept quiet most of the time if no one spoke to him directly. Vanessa after the first illusion managed to stand her ground, according to her it was difficult for her to resist these attacks on her mind for so long due to the illusion. Diana was a warrior, but her mind was well disciplined due to her family''s training, even in the horrible situation I met her and rica was still holding on with a strong will, so she found it easy to resist these illusions. Nira was the only one who didn''t need to resist the illusions as she had a very strong mind due to the suffering that the various curses on her body caused, according to what she said, she let herself be affected by the first illusion out of curiosity, but later Yomi, who was flying above the clouds, came down and entered the window, lying on her legs, helping her not to be affected by the illusions. Sophia and Kira were not affected by the illusions due to their training, at first, I was worried that Kira had illusions about her mother, but I think those illusions didn''t fool her for a second. Freya freed herself from illusions and resisted them very easily as she has no desire at the moment, according to her her life has been perfect being able to use a bow and arrow again, being able to see her daughter happy with her husband, she says her only wish is for everything to continue as it is. Ibuki said that the illusions were boring as she quickly saw that they were illusions, according to her all the illusions were hers spending time with me, but she found it boring as the illusion was not really me, so she easily resisted the illusions. The person I was most worried about was Jade, she almost completely fell into illusions earlier, that''s because she carries a lot of guilt for the things she''s done in the past, even without her saying anything she already knew that the illusions were about her desire to avoid those tragedies or redeem herself in some way, because of that she had a lot of trouble resisting illusions. She made a great mental effort all the time these two weeks and didn''t even dare to sleep staying awake all that week. "We have to talk to some people there, I can''t say more than that." (Alan) "The problem is this madwoman on our side, I still don''t think it''s a good idea to take her to a village full of Elves." (Bianca) "This could really be a problem." (Alan) "Don''t talk about me like that, you make me sound like I''m some kind of criminal." (Darcia) "From the way you insisted on chasing me into Jargan City or the way you tried to break into my carriage last night, I am very inclined to consider you a criminal." (I) "SHE TRIED WHAT LAST NIGHT!?" (Bianca/Alan) "..." (Darcia) cough cough "I can explain that, I just wanted to see if everyone in your group was okay... I had a bad feeling... I swear I wouldn''t do anything..." (Darcia) Her group is looking at her with scary eyes while trying to explain herself, the truth is that she couldn''t even get close to the carriage due to the barrier that was active, if she tried to break the barrier everyone would have realized what she was trying to do, for this she despondently returned to her own carriage, she didn''t even notice that Kira and I were watching her from inside the carriage. During the whole trip, the merchant didn''t join us once, besides after asking the Gray Elf about the merchant I found out that he is someone secret, besides it seems that this merchant makes trips to this village to do business about five times a year. That explained why he wasn''t in danger during the tests. After a delicious meal, everyone returned to their carriages to take turns sleeping, the next day the journey was very smooth again until we reached a place where there were two large trees intertwining in a wooden arch with engraved runes. Chapter 400: Do You Want To See Me Angry? Chapter 400: Do You Want To See Me Angry? After almost 20 days of traveling inside the Illusory Forest, we had finally arrived at the gates of the Elves'' village. Sophia had already told me that the entire village of Elves and the World Tree itself are hidden by powerful barriers that are maintained by the power of the World Tree. These two large trees intertwining in an arch are the only entrance to the Elf village, and it can only be opened from the inside. But one thing I noticed was that there are dozens of people around this area watching us, I''ve also noticed that since we left the area of the third test the number of Fairies and Spirits has increased. I''ve also noticed that some of the monsters around this area are keeping away but are still watching us which shows intelligence. This place really is different, maybe because I was too preoccupied with the illusions from before, but if I now realize that the whole forest around me is full of Mana, spiritual energy, and Ki. The concentration of energy was very high, but I hadn''t noticed it before because all this energy mixes very well with the surroundings in perfect harmony. "This trip was faster than initially expected, so we''ll wait here." (Grey Elf) "The gate will open in two days, just wait until then." (Grey Elf) "In the meantime, do what you want, you must have noticed that there were no monster attacks today, that''s why no monsters approach this place, so you don''t need to worry." (Grey Elf) The Gray Elf gets off his mount and tells us to stay at ease until the gate opens in two days, this implies that they can''t open the gate whenever they want, but Sophia already told me that if they wanted to, they could open the gate right now which has a way of communicating with the inside at the gate. In fact, she said that during the time she worked in the army there they never did. I noticed something was wrong, but I didn''t know what it was, so all I could do was wait and see. Sigh "(I knew there was something wrong with such a simple and easy trip here.)" (I) I get into our carriage to talk to everyone. "Sophia, do you know the maximum strength of the Elves in this village?" (I) "As far as I know the generals are the strongest with SSS Grade strength." (Sophia) "How many of them are there?" (I) "There are 6 generals, two for each of the three divisions." (Sophia) "You already told me about it once." (I) The Guardian was still sleeping, I tried to call out to her, but she didn''t wake up at all. While talking to everyone while drinking a few mugs of beer that I used magic to cool, I was always looking towards the village gate, a light fog appeared, but it was too weak to get in the way of our vision. After everyone had their stomachs full we went to sleep in our carriage, everyone was tired from this long journey. ---------- Pov Gray Elf: I was surprised when I got to the gate and it was still closed, that means something is going on, it was at this moment that my hired Spirit communicated with me mentally. "(Are you sure this is what you want?)" (I) "(Yes.)" (Noharak) "..." (I) I didn''t want to have to, but orders are orders. All I needed to do now is wait for the right moment to act, after a while with everyone eating and drinking a light mist appears, I pull out a bottle saying it''s water, and drink it all, this was a potion to not be influenced by the poison sleep aid in the mist. After more than two hours that everyone has gone to sleep I hold my dagger and go towards the big carriage, just as I thought the barrier is activated, I had already noticed this barrier on the way here, it''s not often you see such a carriage big and with so much magic inside. I didn''t touch the barrier so as not to alert the people inside, what I did was use half of my spiritual power to create a space element rune and make the space ripple in front of me, so I step across the space by a few inches and avoid the barrier. After that I enter the carriage carefully, I can feel that it is dangerous just to be here, but this is my only opportunity to fulfill the mission. I look around until I find my target, I should have known this was going to cause trouble the moment I saw her. My target was a young Gray Elf like me who wears a Night Watch mask, having that without being a Night Watch is a serious crime punishable by death. "..." (I) When I tried to approach her I was immobilized, an extremely violent, cruel, and brutal Aura started to press me from all directions as if it was going to crush me with just the pressure, I am not able to speak or breathe, all I can feel is fear when boundless bloodlust surges from behind me, I feel as if I turned my body around a horrible monster would be there with its jaws open ready to devour me. In all my centuries of service, I have never felt this fear, but when a voice full of murderous intent comes from behind me I understand who this monster is. "You Elves really are bold to plot against my group." (Zenos) "Do you want to see me angry?" (Zenos) He grabbed me by the neck from behind, but I couldn''t do anything to defend myself, all I felt was fear and death, I was sure that this was the end of me, besides this bloodlust was very strong and intense, he must have killed thousands to get such a bloodlust. Chapter 401: Zenos Warning Chapter 401: Zenos Warning As the situation was a little strange, I tried to keep my attention on the surroundings, even though I thought we wouldn''t be involved I always thought it''s better to be careful as my luck is rubbish. While everyone was eating, a mist started slowly, but we didn''t pay much attention as it was just a light mist that wasn''t blocking anyone''s vision. But as someone who has various types of poisons, I was able to recognize the poison mixed in the mist air, it didn''t look like anything harmful, just a weak sleeping poison that would hardly affect me or others. I looked at Kira knowing she had noticed too, but I mentally spoke to her through our connection to pretend and said the same to Diana. Soon everyone was pretending to sleep, but we were just waiting to see the reason for all this, I still hoped it was nothing against my group, but the moment I felt someone approach the carriage I felt disheartened to think that I had found one more problem. But when I realize that the person has passed the barrier easily and entered the carriage I wait to know what he''s going to do, then I realize he has a dagger in one hand and has started walking towards Kira. As he took the first step toward Kira I felt my blood boil and I unleashed my Aura against him using the effects of Fear, Death, Ruler, Judgment, and Chaos at the same time. "You Elves really are bold to plot against my group." (I) "Do you want to see me angry?" (I) He stood still as his body shook, I grab him by the neck while I''m still behind him, I can feel he was having trouble breathing but I don''t care, I''m not in the mood to keep waiting. I tried to be friendly and honest with them, but then they do it against Kira, someone who''s been with me most of my life in this world, I wouldn''t tolerate that. I am much shorter than this Elf, so I drag him by the neck as I go towards the Elf village gate, from earlier I feel a gaze coming from that direction, so I want to say something to this person. My group has stopped pretending to be asleep and gets out of the carriage, I wave them to stand still as I advance. "< Chains of Shadows > 17" (I) "< Shadowspears > 38" (I) At that moment the dozens of people who were in the surroundings tried to attack me from all directions, but I spread my Aura in all directions, those who were using magic or bow and arrow were trapped by chains that came from their shadows, the warriors who they ran towards me stopped midway due to my Aura and shadow spears came out of their shadows aiming for their heads. "..." (I) Soon a beautiful White Elf with green hair and eyes comes out of the gate as if she had come out of nowhere, she was wearing white clothes and was 1.70 meters tall. She was a White Elf with an appearance of about 20 years old, she had a green crystal on her forehead proving to be a High White Elf just like Kira, Sophia, and Freya. She had a serious look on her face as she looked at me, then looked at the Elves around, then at the Fairies and Spirits around before looking back at me. "I am the High Priestess of the World Tree of this continent, my name is Aredhel." (Aredhel) "Right now I don''t care what your name is or who you are, give me an explanation or they die." (I) "If you do this, all the Elves on this continent will be your enemies, do you think you can run away from this place?" (Aredhel) "Hahahahaha..." (I) I was laughing at this situation, she was trying to threaten me while I had the lives of so many Elves in the palm of my hand, this was a big joke in my eyes, a joke I didn''t have the patience to take at the moment. As I was laughing I released all the power of my Aura that I was trying to contain, this caused the Elves who were immobilized to start bleeding from their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth while still unable to move. Even this smug High Priestess turned pale as she looked at me, I could feel three more murderous intentions coming from Layla and Orion on my shoulders, also coming from my shadow where Nix was still unrevealed. "I''m doing my best to keep my cool, so I suggest you be careful what you say from now on." (I) "..." (Aredhel) ---------- Zenos didn''t know it, but in those months that he remained in this world he fought more than many adventurers fought their whole lives, in addition, he killed a large number of living creatures that can be considered thousands since he was born, among that number there were people from various races and monsters, but without him knowing the more he killed the greater the bloodlust and murderous intent he possessed, that''s why these things become stronger according to the number of lives and the type of lives that were killed by the people. He was so furious that he didn''t notice the large amount of bloodlust pouring out of his body, in the eyes of others he looked like a Demon straight out of hell, his speech and actions were calm but they were charged with fury and murderous intent making everyone fear even approach him. Chapter 402: Karina Chapter 402: Karina Pov Aredhel: As soon as we received the information that the Holy Beast that the World Tree itself wants to find had arrived as far as the city of Jargan and would soon be coming here along with the next group of visitors we started to prepare. But on the way I get the news that there''s a Gray Elf with a Night Watch mask, it reminds me of a report from Eleanor a few months ago. I called her and asked about the things she saw that day, but what I hear shows that it was the same as I thought, a red-haired boy who usually wears masks and who leads a group of masked people, besides that there''s a Gray Elf with a Night Watch mask along with him. I received reports of the strength of three of your comrades fighting in the city, I didn''t have much time to act and started to prepare things while they were on their way. I scattered some Fairies along the way to see the tests, but it didn''t go as planned, the boy had good senses and felt the 4 Elves following the group, he also seemed friendly, but we couldn''t measure his power as the tests were too weak for him. When he arrived in front of the village gate I texted the current group guide to lie to them while we prepared to do something later. I told him everything he needed to do and got everything ready, then time passed as I stood at the gate looking out waiting for how it would all turn out. "You have no idea what you''re doing, still time to change your mind." (Karina) "You''re just a visitor and shouldn''t meddle in our affairs." (I) "She''s going to be against it." (Karina) "I''m doing this for her, so try not to get involved." (I) I can''t trust these people, we don''t know their true intentions, we also don''t know if there''s an extra reason they''re here, but I can''t leave things as they are. ------------ As soon as the plan was put into practice everything went out of control very quickly, the bloodlust coming out of the carriage was something I did not expect, besides that Aura was horrible, when he got out of the carriage he came straight towards the gate straight up to me as if he could see me. The dozen of the strongest Elves in the village were positioned and started to attack him, but he didn''t even look away from me or stop walking towards me while dragging one of my subordinates. He acquired control of the entire environment in a matter of a second, all the Elves I prepared became hostages who could die before he could do anything. He didn''t even look at them as he passed them as if they didn''t exist coming towards the village gate, his Aura had spread all over the place but didn''t go through the gates, his mask that previously hid his face had been broken perhaps by the pressure of his own Aura, it revealed his face in front of me. I knew he couldn''t see me, but strangely it felt like his eyes were looking at me, I could see an overflowing fury and a great bloodlust in those eyes, these were not the eyes a person would have, these are eyes that only a monster would. I looked at the Fairies who weren''t doing anything and seemed frozen, but it was different from the Elves, it was as if they didn''t want to attack him. "..." (I) My blood was boiling with anger but I wasn''t an idiot, I realized that there was someone strong in this place and as much anger as I had now, it was not the time to do anything. I know it wasn''t this Dragonewt woman who did these things, her strength isn''t that great, so I turn around and walk to my carriage where the rest of my group are standing with weapons in hand as they scout out the surroundings. "Get off my arm now." (I) "You should thank me, if you''d gone a little further it would have been hard to get out of here alive, even for you, plus the others would be involved too." (Guardian) "..." (I) I''m angry that the Guardian stopped me, but that Aura was more powerful than I could have imagined, moreover it was in harmony with nature itself, the owner of this Aura is not someone I can face, maybe the Guardian is right, but no I am thinking very clearly because of anger. "Are you leaving like this?" (Karina) "..." (I) "Don''t you even want to know the reason for all this?" (Karina) "..." (I) "I understand your fury, but wait a minute Zenos." (Guardian) "If you want to stay, that''s your problem, I won''t stay in this place with these despicable Elves anymore." (I) I don''t care what others say, these Elves don''t deserve my trust, I won''t stay in this place where Kira is being targeted. "Wait! Let me explain..." (Aredhel) A spear shot out of Aredhel''s shadow towards her heart but was destroyed by green energy coming from the gate before it hit. "I''m leaving and I advise you not to approach me at the moment." (I) "..." (Aredhel) "Why are you all so serious? This was all a test, your mate was never in any danger, if you had interrogated the Gray Elf you would already know that." (Karina) "..." (I) Chapter 403: Explanations And Compensation Chapter 403: Explanations And Compensation What did she mean by that? A test, is this all a test? "..." (I) I try to talk to Nix through our connection. "(You can also be considered as a Moon Spirit, can you tell if this Dragonewt is telling the truth?)" (I) "(What she says is true, at least she really believes it.)" (Nix) "..." (I) I look at Dragonewt and then at the High Priestess of the Elves, then I turn to the Gray Elf who was once in my hands and who is now lying on the floor breathing heavily. "Answer what orders you received, if you lie I guarantee I''ll kill you faster than this person will be able to interfere." (I) "..." (Grey Elf) Sigh "Tell him, at this point it doesn''t matter anymore." (Aredhel) "My orders were to get into your carriage as discreetly as possible, take the Night Watch mask, and leave." (Grey Elf) "(He''s telling the truth, master.)" (Nix) "Then why were you holding your dagger in your hand as you approached Kira?" (I) "It was a matter of defense, if I was attacked I could move the dagger with better freedom to defend myself, but it was useless against you." (Grey Elf) "(He told the truth.)" (Nix) I can''t believe this was a test, I''m even angrier now. "Let''s go." (I) All of my group got into the carriage, but before I got to the carriage, the Elf named Aredhel makes a barrier between me and the carriage. "< Claws of the Night >" (I) I destroy the barrier with my claws as I keep looking without looking back, I can''t trust these Elves after doing something like this. "You don''t even want to hear the rest of the explanation? You don''t want to know the reason for this test." (Karina) "All I need to know is that these Elves can''t be trusted, I won''t let anyone from my group be in danger by going in there." (I) After saying that, I climb into the carriage and Sophia drives along the way we came. ---------- Pov Aredhel: "What you want?" (I) "I want to explain a few things to you, for starters none of your companions were in danger, Aredhel just wanted to find out more about you since you hid so well passing 2 tests in this forest." "I tried to be as honest and friendly as possible, but you guys didn''t treat me the same, I don''t think I can trust you." (I) "I can''t trust someone who tries to trick me." (I) "I promise we''ll be honest from now on, I might even make it up to you with something for all this misunderstanding, just come back with me to the village." "Before you decide anything, tell me why you wanted to take Kira''s mask?" (I) "The mask of a Nightwatchman is made in a special way, besides its main crafting material is the outer bark of the World Tree, this is an item that binds and grows together with the owner, so Aredhel couldn''t stand it seeing someone use it without permission, the mask would be collected and destroyed." "You were invited by the World Tree itself, no Elf of this village would dare do anything against you." "If you don''t believe my words, then ask the Dragon Spirit in your shadow if I''m lying?" "(She noticed Nix.)" (I) "She''s telling the truth." (Nix) "..." (I) I understand what she said but I''m still very angry and I don''t want to go back there but I must say I was very impulsive too. "Are you going to break your promise to me?" (Guardian) "Did you know it was all a misunderstanding?" (I) "I suspected, there was no way we could be attacked by Elves when the very World Tree that called me here" (Guardian) Sigh "Fine, I''ll go back, but Kira''s mask stays with her, the next one you try to take off her will be killed instantly, do you understand?" (I) "I''ll warn the others, so don''t worry." "I also want 50 crystal cards." (I) "I can only offer 15." "Neither me nor you, 40 crystal cards." (I) "25 is the most I can offer." "Then I choose these 25 from the ones you have." (I) "OK." "Then we have a deal." (I) It seems that everything was a misunderstanding, besides I don''t like to break my promises, so I''m going to vote for the village of the Elves, but I made it very clear that the next time I would be more decisive when it came to killing, besides the compensation was very useful since it is very difficult to get these crystal cards. Chapter 404: Village Of The Illusory Forest Chapter 404: Village Of The Illusory Forest I told everyone that we would be heading back to the elf village and Vanessa didn''t seem to like the idea, Kira didn''t mind from the start and Jade had a murderous look on her face that made me worried. Nira and Sophia looked at each other looking worried, Sophia said she understands me being angry but doesn''t want anything to happen in the village where she grew up. I spent some time explaining to everyone that it was all a misunderstanding on both my side and the Elves'' side, I was still upset about being tricked, but now that I''m calmer I can understand them wanting to know more about a group of suspicious people like us wanting to enter your village. I can understand their motives, so I can forgive them for what happened and I hope they forgive me for what I did anyway, but if they don''t forgive me I don''t care too much, I never cared what other people think about me. I have to admit that my own self-control surprised me, I didn''t kill anyone, the Keeper really did help at that moment, I wouldn''t have liked to have killed all those Elves because of a misunderstanding. We drove the carriage back to the Elves village gate, this time the dozens of Elves stayed away from me as they looked at me in fear, I was a little embarrassed to come back here after what I did, but I don''t regret it either. Even though the Elves were scared they didn''t run away, they just walked away so my carriage could go to the gate. In front of the gate stood High Priestess Aredhel, her expression an amusing mixture of anger, concern, and shame. "(It was worth going back just to see that face, hahahahaha...)" (I) The gate which was made of two large trees intertwining in an arch was different, the runes on the trees were lit and the space seemed to ripple inside the arch. Following Sophia''s instructions we kept going, as we passed through the gate the landscape changed completely, I was so amazed that I climbed out the window and sat on the back of the carriage to get a better view. "This is wonderful..." (I) "Welcome to Illusory Forest Village, master." (Sophia) Sophia leans halfway out the window as she smiles looking around nostalgically and welcoming me to the village she grew up in. The forest outside was already beautiful, but the village was something amazing, there were no constructions of houses as I knew, all the things I could see were trees, that''s because the trees themselves were the buildings of the village. It had from small trees to large trees, it was magnificent to see trees with doors and windows, there were even some with chimneys. Each tree was different, but it gave a sense of harmony and vitality. I could see trees that were two-story houses and big trees that were more than four stories tall, there were even some places that looked like they had houses built on top of big trees with rope bridges connecting them when I looked up. "Follow me, I''ll take you where you can live while you''re here." (Aredhel) I look around and notice that there are thousands of Elves in this place walking around, clearly, this was not a small village as I thought, this place seems to be as big as the capital of Makari Kingdom, maybe even a little bigger. I kept looking around and I realize that over 90% of the people here were Elves, but there were also Beastmen, Humans, Runes, Dwarves, and Lizardman. I also noticed the colossal number of Fairies and Spirits around, I had never seen so many, they flew everywhere without hiding in plain sight. It was at this moment that I noticed that the environment around it looks like a Cradle of Fairies and a Cradle of Spirits. This explains why I feel such a pure concentration of so many different elements here, and it also explains the great concentration of energy in this place. But without a doubt the most spectacular was the tree that was certainly the tallest here, I can''t even see the top of the Tree as it is above the clouds, this tree is the height of a gigantic mountain, its view was magnificent and imposing, was so big that I couldn''t even measure my distance from it. "(That must be the World Tree, magnificent!)" (I) This whole place is amazing, I feel like a child who has lived his whole life in a small village visiting for the first time the capital of a great kingdom, but I kept changing the direction of my head not knowing what to look at. We keep walking and I realize something, there are no old men among Elves, the oldest Elf I saw looked to be a little over 40 years old. I asked this the others and Sophia said that Elves keep a youthful appearance all their lives, Elves don''t age more than around 40 Human years. I was going to say this is unfair, but then I remembered that I''m a Vampire, my appearance will never age, so it would be hypocritical for me to say anything. I think we can stay for a few weeks visiting if nothing happens, this place is fantastic, I think I can go back to my sightseeing tour plans in a place like this. I thought it was amazing the way the sunlight crossed the tops of the trees forming rays of light that only brought even more beauty to this place. I could never have imagined that it was possible to live in harmony with nature up to this point. I was fascinated watching everything that I didn''t even notice the time passed and the carriage that was now being pulled by Freya stopped in front of a large tree that looking through the windows must be a house of about five floors. "This place is all yours for the duration of your stay, rest for today, tomorrow morning I''ll be here to guide you through the city." (Eleanor) After dropping us off here she left without giving us the keys, just as I was about to call Eleanor to talk about the house keys, Sophia gets out of the carriage and opens the door to enter. It wasn''t until I got close to the door that I noticed it didn''t have a keyhole, Sophia explained to me that no one tries to do anything wrong since Fairies and Spirits are everywhere in this place, so it''s hard to hide if you''re stealing or killing. After that, I go in with the others to learn more about this place where we will be living for a few days. Chapter 405: Problematic Promise Chapter 405: Problematic Promise When I enter the house I am once again fascinated, the tree was huge on the outside, because of that the inside of the tree looked like a mansion. The most fascinating thing for me was when I realized that inside the tree it was not cut or dug, it was as if the house had grown in that shape. The furniture inside the house on the other hand was created by a very good wooden craftsman, all were wooden furniture. When I went through the door I was in a room with sofas on one side and a big table on the other side, facing me there was a staircase that leads to the 1 floor, everyone was already looking and exploring the house while I was standing watching all this. I go to the nearest couch and plop myself on top of it. "You can leave Nix, it seems there''s no use hiding your presence." (I) "That Elf named Aredhel as well as everyone else present at that moment must have felt my bloodlust coming from her shadow, master." (Nix) "Yes, besides that person who was controlling that Fairy already knew about you, so you don''t need to hide anymore, go out a little and have fun with others." (I) My shadow expands beside the couch and Nix steps out in her human form. "Go explore the place with the others, I''m going to lie here a little longer, there were a lot of emotions for me today." (I) "Alright, I''ll enjoy and keep an eye on Layla so she doesn''t do anything to get us into more trouble." (Nix) It was only now that I look around and realize that Layla was nowhere to be seen, I didn''t even see the moment she disappeared, I was so fascinated by everything I was seeing that I lost sight of other things. "Just don''t let that little Devil do anything bad." (I) "I''ll do my best, but I don''t promise anything." (Nix) After Nix left it was just me and Orion in the room, at least that''s what I thought before Fairies and Spirits started to leave my shadow and spread through the house. "Why are you leaving?" (I) "They must have realized that they are in a safe and pleasant place, but you don''t have to worry as when they are tired they will come back here." (Orion) "So this is final, I won''t, even an idiot can say this will only cause me more trouble." (I) "You''d do well to think a little more, not going can also cause problems, the Elves might take this as a sign of disrespect to the World Tree." (Guardian) "..." (I) "Why did I accept that stupid request of yours?" (I) "Because I''m so persuasive, I''ve had centuries of life raising and teaching thousands of Lamias, I''ve seen people being born, growing up, training, having children, aging and dying." (Guardian) "I''m wiser than you in some matters because of that, another reason is that you didn''t even consider what my request might be when you made the promise, you accepted it too quickly." (Guardian) "..." (I) "I''ll think about it, but I don''t promise I''ll go, I honestly don''t think it''s a good idea for me to go." (I) "That''s halfway there, I hope you think about it, in the meantime I''ll look for a place where I can eat some fruit." (Guardian) "(There are so many things to think about, I can''t understand why the World Tree wants me to go, is it because I''m a child of the Goddess Selene?)" (I) I knew that one day being the child of a Goddess might bring some responsibilities, but I didn''t think it would happen anytime soon. Me being the son of a Goddess is the only reason I could think of, I don''t know what kind of power this World Tree has so I have to imagine that she knows I''m the son of the Goddess Selene if that''s not the reason for me to have to go with the Guardian, so I don''t know anything else. I spent the rest of the afternoon lying on the couch just trying to understand everything that had happened, Freya told me that there are three big bedrooms and a big bathroom on each floor of this house, plus the kitchen and food storage is here on the ground floor. This place looks less like a mansion than I imagined, it looks more like an inn, anyway, everyone had already chosen their rooms for the afternoon, they left the biggest room on the 5th floor for me before we went to eat something Freya prepared. After the food I went to the room where I find Kira and Diana waiting for me, tonight Kira was much more aggressive and passionate than I expected. When the moon is at its highest point in the sky the two were already passed out in bed, I had gone out the window and was at the top of the tree lying on the highest branch. I always end up resorting to my habit of seeing the night sky, it calms me down and relaxes me, this is one of the biggest constants for me in this world and something I can''t help but do. "May I join you?" Chapter 406: Sincere Conversation Chapter 406: Sincere Conversation "May I join you?" "..." (I) I just want to forget about my troubles while enjoying the night sky in this wonderful place, but I hear the same voice I heard during the earlier riot, the voice of the person who stopped me from killing those Elves. "I was wondering if you would come to me or would you be waiting for me where the World Tree is." (I) I turn to the side where there''s a young White Elf girl with black hair and a triangular gem on her forehead, she looks to be around 10 and a little shorter than me. "I thought I''d better-come talk to you before I go to the World Tree." "But first let me introduce myself, my name is Luthien, I am the Elf Queen of the Morror Continent." "..." (I) I was surprised by what she said, I didn''t expect to find the Elf Queen here, in fact, I didn''t even know there was a Queen, so I was taught the Elves have a leadership council with the leaders of their three races. But now this pretty girl, who I can''t feel Aura or power is calling herself the Elf Queen. "I thought it was the council with the three leaders who ruled the Elves." (I) "You are right, the Elf Queen''s duty is not to rule as the Kings and Queens of other nations do." (Luthien) "My duty is to protect the Elves and the World Tree, I have the highest authority among the Elves, but I interfere as little as possible with the government." (Luthien) "As someone with a strong connection to the World Tree I cannot be considered a Mortal being, so it is not right to rule over mortals." (Luthien) "You said you have a strong connection to the World Tree, but wasn''t Aredhel supposed to be the High Priestess?" (I) "She is the Self Priestess, her duty is to be my representative, she must convey the will of the World Tree when necessary to others." (Luthien) "Why don''t you do it?" (I) "I just observe, as I said before I don''t usually interfere in village affairs if it''s not necessary." (Luthien) "But you interfered when I was going to kill those Elves." (I) "Now you also know that all that was pointless, no death was needed, that would just make it difficult for the Forest Being and you to get to the World Tree." (Luthien) She is introducing herself and telling more about herself for me to understand, but to me, it seems like Aredhel is a public figure for the people of the village and the other nations, meanwhile she is hidden and protected without anyone knowing her taking care of everything from the shadows. "Yes they are beautiful, if you''re worried about finding out about it then don''t worry, I''ve known about your dungeon for months." (Luthien) "But how do you..." (I) "The World Tree felt the birth of a new Cradle of the Fairies, it also felt when this Cradle changed places which is not an easy thing to do, among the knowledge that I have a Dungeon it made more sense, but I didn''t know which type of Dungeon until I saw your Dragon Spirit earlier today inside your shadow." (Luthien) She was sitting next to me explaining how she knows all my secrets as she swings her legs and smiled in a carefree way, she looks like a normal little girl if it weren''t for the mature way she talks and acts. Sigh "Looks like there are no secrets I can keep from you." (I) "With the power I control and the time I''ve been alive, it won''t be easy to deceive me, but some things about you I only understand thanks to the information the World Tree shared with me." (Luthien) "Tell me something, if you''re as old as you say, then why do you look like a kid?" (I) "With the power of the World Tree I can change the age of my body as I want, this appearance is the one I like the most, it reminds me to always keep a simple and innocent mind like a child''s, to see this world as it is of truth, something that changes as a person grows and develops." (Luthien) "Besides with this look I can walk around the village from time to time without attracting too much attention, no one suspects a little girl." (Luthien) "I think I''m leaving now, it was nice talking to you, there are few people in my life who dare to talk to me in such a carefree way, everyone is always very formal, it gets tired sometimes." (Luthien) "..." (I) Before I could say anything she disappeared, I don''t know how she did it, I didn''t feel any energy fluctuation or Aura, I couldn''t see her movement either, she just disappeared. "What a strange person, but I didn''t sense any ill intentions coming from her." (I) "Looks like she just wants to make sure I go with the Keeper tomorrow." (I) That was a good conversation, but I didn''t like knowing that there is someone who discovered so many secrets of mine without me knowing. I''m lucky she doesn''t consider me an enemy, she''s stronger than I am by a big difference. I stand and look at the village below me, unlike a human city that is busy even at night, this place is now empty, I also don''t see many lights coming out of the windows of the trees, that must mean they are sleeping in most. But even at night, this place is fantastic, especially this night sky, I can even see the gigantic World Tree with a slight glow around it, I also see some streams of sparkles of many colors going towards this World Tree, this made the even more beautiful sky. "I think this trip might not have been so bad, this sky is the best view I''ve ever seen in my life." (I) After spending a few more minutes enjoying this beautiful view, I climb down from the tree and go back to my room, when I got back Kira and Diana were no longer there, Freya must have taken them to their respective rooms while I was gone. I would like to take a shower before going to bed, so I go to the bathroom of this place, there is a bathtub that easily fits three or four people in it, I take a long shower and then I go to my bed to sleep the sleep of the righteous. Chapter 407: Cap 406:Getting To Know The Village Of Elves Part 1 Chapter 407: Cap 406:Getting To Know The Village Of Elves Part 1 The next day I wake up with Layla tied in chains of shadows beside me, I also see Nix sleeping comfortably on my other side. "Huhh... already awake... master...?" (Nix) "Good morning Nyx." (I) "Good Morning." (Nix) "Why is Layla tied up?" (I) "She was bothering the Dark Elf soldiers, when I found her yesterday she had over 100 soldiers running after her, she was laughing at them as it will be exactly what she wanted, with her speed she could have left them all behind." (Nix) "I knew she was up to something, you did great Nix." (I) "I''d like to leave her like this for the rest of the day, but we might need her, so let her go." (I) "Alright, with the master around she should behave." (Nix) "< Release >" (Nix) "Zzz... Ugly Nix... Funny Elves... zzzzz... idiot master... A!" (Layla) "Who dares to hit the big Layla, I will..." (Layla) "I was the one who hit you, what are you going to do besides spend a few weeks working with Alice and Caryna?" (I) cough cough "Master, I was just going to ask you to wake me up more... kinder." (Layla) "Don''t you know how to treat a lady?" (Layla) "Where is this lady? All I see is a terrible Demon disguised as a Fairy who causes trouble wherever she goes." (I) "..." (Layla) Layla is speechless not knowing what to say as she looks at Nix who smiles at her then she turns to me and explodes. "What does it matter if I put some idiot soldiers in their place, they were trying to attack the master yesterday, I couldn''t let it go." (Layla)Vissit for updates "(Jade still has an angry look on her face, unlike Diana who is genuinely interested in this training, I think Jade just wants an excuse to vent her anger on the first Elf she sees.)" (I) "Those who are going to do this training, remember that this is just training, so no trying to seriously hurt anyone." (I) "..." (Jade) I say this looking at Jade who turns to the other side without saying anything. "I''m more interested in the market, I want to know what kind of things are sold in this place, by the level of monsters in this Forest I''m sure there will be good things for us to take." (Nira) "I hope I can get some better tea leaves than the human cities we''ve passed, some different spices would be nice too." (Freya) "You can get whatever you want." (Eleanor) "Then I think we''d better get going, we have plenty of places to go before dark." (I) We started walking around the village to get to know the surroundings, everything was amazing, this whole place was beautiful, I think I''ll ask Leonardo to do something like this. We passed the shops and Ibuki disappeared before I knew it, after a few minutes of searching we found her eating her 5th plate of food at a nearby restaurant. We had just eaten before we left, how can she eat such a large amount of food while being so small? After paying Ibuki''s bill and dragging her out we had to look for Diana who had disappeared, after some more searching we found her in a bar drinking an entire bottle of a greenish drink. The first thing I do is buy all the liquor stock from this place and then drag Diana out, every liquor I bought is stowed away in my storage item. After catching these two runaways we went shopping together, we bought many different things before heading towards the training grounds. At least that''s what I was going to do before they came after me and then got carried by a bunch of Fairies near the candy stores where I spent a fortune just for those Fairies to leave me alone. I feel like someone who has won the lottery and is burning money buying everything that comes to mind for family members. When I managed to get together with the others again I got hungry and we went to a restaurant where I ate the meat of the monsters in this forest, but unfortunately, I didn''t gain any skills or bloodlines, I think to get a bloodline I need to drink the blood of monsters. I told Nira later to get me some barrels of blood from various monsters. When we leave the restaurant I realize that Freya was not with us, when I asked the people who worked at the restaurant I discovered that Freya is in the kitchen writing down some recipes that the cook was giving her. Freya is someone very serious with her own work, whenever she eats something she likes she goes after the recipe, but since I also liked the food I decided to wait a few minutes until she finished writing everything down, after that we joined the others and We went to the training camps. Chapter 408: Getting To Know The Village Of Elves Part 2 Chapter 408: Getting To Know The Village Of Elves Part 2 Their training area is on the opposite side of the village from where the entrance gate is, as we were walking through the village I noticed that World Tree was not inside the village as I imagined, it is a little further away from the training grounds. When we get to the training camps I see many different training structures. There was a place full of logs standing far apart, I could see a mock battle between two groups of three people on top of these logs. This should help them learn to keep a sense of their surroundings while keeping their balance at all times, fighting in a place like this makes you have to pay attention to many things at the same time, that''s a good way to train, it seems that I''m going to have to change the Dungeon boot camp designs to add a few more things. I turn my gaze to a large arena made of stone, there were three groups of five people fighting using only martial arts in a three-sided mock battle, it looks like they are training to coordinate group fights. I turn to another place where there are archers training long-range target shooting, by long-range I mean around 1 km. There''s also another place where targets were launched into the air while a Mage changed the targets'' trajectories in the air, this to train aiming at moving targets. I turn to another place that seems to have a light show going on, it was another arena, but this one had a barrier around it and it had Mages battling inside, a true magical battle. I kept looking but something caught my eye, there was something missing in this place. "(There are Dark Elves and White Elves here, but I don''t see Gray Elves.)" (I) "This is our training ground, here our Mages and Warriors do daily training to always be up to their duties." (Eleanor) "We also allow visitors to use the training grounds as you can see there." (Eleanor) I look over to where Eleanor pointed and see Alan fighting Darcia using only his combat techniques, Bianca was reading a book in the corner without even looking at the arena where her teammates were training. Each strike of Alan''s two-handed sword created a gust of wind forward, but that wasn''t a blade-type skill, it was just the result of his superhuman punching strength. Darcia didn''t dare receive these powerful blows from the front, she used her shield on one of her arms to defend the angled blows that would make Alan''s sword change direction, this disperses most of the power of Alan''s sword strikes. ,m Darcia used these moments to use the sword in her other hand and hit Alan, but he could defend himself by hitting the side of Darcia''s sword with his hands or with great dexterity using the body of the sword to defend himself. Alan was clearly stronger and faster than Darcia, but Darcia was more skilled in combat, plus she used her advantage very well of having both a sword and a shield while Alan only used a two-handed sword. The way Darcia managed to wield the shield and sword at the same time in such different ways made me want to fight her, it reminds me of my own martial art. "Would any of you want to train? We can leave the crop fields for tomorrow if you prefer." (Eleanor) "..." (I) I look at my group and I see Freya looking at the archers, I see Diana, Sophia, and Jade looking at the group fights, I see Ibuki looking at Darcia, most likely she is thinking the same thing as me. Nira and Vanessa don''t seem to care too much about the rest of things, but most seem to want to stick around. "Then I guess we''ll stay here until late afternoon." (I) "Then I''ll leave you here, just don''t cause any fuss." (Eleanor) "Don''t worry, but before you go I wanted to ask you something if possible?" (I) "Ask whatever you want." (Eleanor) "Where are the Gray Elves?" (I) "I see White Elves and Dark Elves training, but there isn''t a single Gray Elf here." (I) "Besides, I won''t use my full strength, my physical capabilities are way above Ibuki''s, if I used my full power it wouldn''t make any sense in this training." (I) "I saw the master training at home after he woke up from his evolution, I couldn''t even see his movements." (Ibuki) "I will teach you this training as well, but that will only be when necessary, that training helped me to adapt faster to this body." (I) As we walked to the arena we were talking, Ibuki was excited to be able to train together with me like in the times when we were still in the Goblin cave. Alan stops his training and keeps looking suspiciously in our direction, Darcia tried to run towards me as soon as he saw me, but he hit his face in a magic barrier, Alan went to Darcia to stop him from coming to me. I wave at them while smiling, since yesterday I''m not wearing any mask, the others the same, apparently it was no use trying to hide our identities in this place, so there''s no reason to keep trying something so problematic here. After Alan managed to control Darcia with Bianca''s help he came to talk to me. "Why did you come back? How did the Elves let you into the city after what you did yesterday?" (Alan) "I wanted to leave, but someone convinced me to come back here, which was lucky since this place is beautiful." (I) "What was that that happened yesterday?" (Alan) "You may not believe it, but it was all a big misunderstanding." (I) "Were you going to kill all those people over a misunderstanding?" (Alan) "The misunderstanding was on both sides, so it wasn''t just my fault, I still say it''s their main fault." (I) "..." (Alan) "Don''t be nervous Alan, what he did yesterday, brutal as it was, can still be understood." (Bianca) "What are you saying? How can the carnage he was going to do yesterday be understood?" (Alan) "I heard some Elves talking yesterday as we walked in." (Bianca) Bianca moves closer as she looks at me like she''s trying to understand or analyze me. "You thought the Elves were trying to kill your groupmate, right?" (Bianca) "Yeah, that made me a little angry." (I) "Don''t you regret what you did yesterday?" (Alan) "No, if I thought any of my teammates were in danger, then I probably would have done a lot worse than I did yesterday." (I) "Stop looking at the master with those angry eyes, what my master does or doesn''t do is none of your business." (Ibuki) "That''s right, you idiot, idiot..." (Layla) "Stop it you two, he''s irritated is his problem, so stop teasing others, besides we came here for me to see your progress Ibuki, let''s go up to the arena now." (I) "Alright, let''s go..." (Ibuki) "I''m sorry about them, Ibuki has a bad habit of saying everything that comes to his mind and I advise you not to fall for Layla''s provocations." (I) After talking to them I go up to an arena with Ibuki, then I take off my cape and hood just like Ibuki, that way we won''t have anything that gets in the way of our movements. Chapter 409: Getting To Know The Village Of Elves Part 3 Chapter 409: Getting To Know The Village Of Elves Part 3 Pov Alan''s: I couldn''t believe that after all he''s done he still has the courage to come back here so carefree, it seems like yesterday he didn''t try to kill dozens of Elves. down, Alan." (Bianca) "What happened yesterday is his problem with the Elves, we shouldn''t get involved in it." (Bianca) "But how can he act so carefree?" (I) "He must have a guarantee that the Elves won''t attack him, from the way he said it sounds like the idea of coming here wasn''t his idea, but we shouldn''t investigate further than that." (Bianca) "Did you see the strength he displayed yesterday?" (I) "He has the same level of strength as me, maybe even a little more, plus he''s crazy, yesterday he was trying to kill the Elves and today he''s training at the Elves training ground smiling." (I) "Such a beautiful smile..." (Darcia) "A beautiful I mean, stop thinking about him Alan, he had his reasons for being angry yesterday, you might not agree, but he didn''t do that for nothing." (Bianca) "You have to stop arguing, what he did was well deserved for the Elves, I''ve been through a similar situation and killed all the enemies, he still tried to keep calm and talk, in his place he would have killed everyone at the same time." (Darcia) She tries to kick away, but Zenos uses his own leg to catch Oni''s leg in the air, so he makes an open palm with his hand before hitting the Oni who jumps with his other leg to dodge the attack that makes a wave of wind forward. Oni changes his position to hold Zenos'' neck with his legs, but he spins her in the air throwing it up, she takes advantage of this spin to give more power to another spinning kick, but Zenos punches Oni''s side leg changing his direction while grabbing his body upside down and to the foot near the head almost crushing the Oni''s head. After that, he lets go of her and gives her something, for some reason Oni seems excited, so they fight again, the last fight only took a few seconds and this one is even faster, it seems he is putting himself at the same speed and her strength, rather than him training himself, it seems more like he''s been training Oni. I look at his other teammates who are also training, the Demi woman from the snake tribe is fighting on top of the logs, her flexibility is exceptional even considering her race. She strangely doesn''t use her legs well during combat, it seems she doesn''t have much experience with kicking or movement techniques, but she makes up for it with her superb flexibility, dexterity, and balance. It seems like she is used to using her claws to fight, considering her race she must have poison skills to complement her attacks. Her eyesight is also very good, she seems to be able to see every move of the Elves she is fighting, she is stronger and faster than the Elves she is facing, but she is clearly holding back on their blows. The White Elf in the maid dress is also very good with the bow and arrow, she hit all the still targets, she was also spectacular with the moving targets always hitting, she looked very relaxed while shooting her bow. The Dark Elf and the Beastman woman of the Wolves tribe were fighting in a group against dozens of Dark Elves, their teamwork was perfect, they knew each other''s moves without needing to see, their martial arts were different, but they seem to have a lot of experience training and fighting together. All these people are strong, but I know they''re not the strongest, the Fairy, the strange baby monster, and whatever is inside Zenos'' shadow are the strongest. So many different races with this Zenos and they all come out so random I can''t understand a thing. "But who are these people?" (I) Chapter 410: A Fathers Thanks Chapter 410: A Father''s Thanks I spent the rest of the day training with Ibuki at the training ground, I was impressed by her punches in sequence, it didn''t look like she was planning these punches, it looked more like she wasn''t even thinking and just following her own instinct. But I noticed that the Chaos Fist Martial Arts I taught her wasn''t being fully utilized, after so long I think she trained a lot more with her swords than without weapons, this explains why most of her punches are done using her legs, that''s because she usually has swords in both hands. I spent the rest of the afternoon training with Ibuki to correct her Martial Art problems, while doing this I noticed that Alan and his group were watching me, I also noticed that there were Elves watching me the whole time. It was a little weird having this kind of audience watching me, so I couldn''t teach Ibuki the way I wanted to, all I could do was guide her leaving openings that would only be taken advantage of with the right punches, that way she would have to understand what needed to do. Sometimes I kept looking at the others and realized that Freya had entered a blunt arrow combat arena with another White Elf archer, I was surprised by how fast the battle between the two archers was, but I noticed something even more important. Freya had the advantage in a long-range battle, she was faster and more accurate using the bow and arrow, but the other archer noticed this and did something he didn''t imagine anyone specializing in archery would do, he started a melee battle against Freya who only managed to dodge her blows for a few seconds before losing. It was at that moment that I noticed something strange about the bow that this Elf was using, it seemed to have wooden blades without tips at the ends of his bow, he seemed to use a Martial Art that uses the bow and arrow as the main focus, I found this very interesting. p When I looked at Freya who had lost the fight, her eyes were shining, it seems she was very excited about what she saw. Diana had disappeared somewhere, I try to use our connection to find out where she is and find out through her eyes that she is in a bar with several Dark Elves drinking beer. Sophia was still at the training ground, but I noticed that she was training alongside an older Elf with serious eyes, there were hundreds of Dark Elves around her arena. This Elf looked to be around 40 years old, but considering he is a High Dark Elf must be over 700 years old, I figured this out because he has a white gem on his forehead. I almost finished my training with Ibuki to see this Sophia battle, I''ve never seen her so serious before in a training, without that I noticed disappointment and anger in her Aura. If I remember correctly Sophia was born and lived in this place, so you must know a lot of people here, maybe this Elf was her trainer in the past, I think that''s because many of her movements during combat remind me of Sophia''s movements. Every time he looked he saw a one-sided battle with Sophia getting beaten up in a matter of seconds, but he couldn''t do anything to stop it as Sophia''s eyes had a strong will to fight, and every time she fell she got up to fight again. Looks like I shouldn''t meddle in this battle, I also noticed they weren''t using their abilities or Auras, the Dark Elf wasn''t even targeting Sophia''s vitals so I let them continue but asked Layla to keep an eye out to help Sophia in case necessary if things go too far. ---------- Pov Sophia: As soon as the master said we were coming to this place I knew he was going to show up at some point, but I didn''t expect him to show up in front of me at the training ground like this without even saying anything and just inviting me to a game of combat training. At the end of the afternoon, Ibuki was already too tired to continue, I realize that Freya was also tired nearby. "You look happy." (I) "I''ve learned new ways to fight with the bow and arrow, but I still have a lot to learn." (Freya) "You''ll have time, I plan on staying here for 2 or 3 months." (I) "For now go back with Ibuki, from here I''ll go straight to the World Tree along with the Guardian." (I) "Alright, Sophia is back with Layla, I''ll get Jade who is still training, and go back with Ibuki." (Freya) "Do it, Layla and Nix will meet me here, I asked the two of them to talk to the Fairies and Spirits that came out of my shadow to keep an eye on Kira who will continue training through the night." (I) "Take care, master." (Freya) Freya left with Ibuki and Jade, so I walked to a bench not far away in the shade of a tree where someone had been watching me for some time. "Nice to meet you, it took me a while to understand who you were, but after some time thinking I noticed some similar facial features, besides the older age you seem it wasn''t hard to figure out." (iI) "My name is Ramon, but I don''t know if it''s right to call me Sophia''s father." (Ramon) Ramon has a rigid and calm face, his way of speaking also doesn''t show many emotions, others may find it difficult to understand what such a person is thinking, but his eyes show great sadness. "You should have told her how you felt." (I) "It wouldn''t have helped, I was never a good father to her, the only thing I taught her was to fight, besides I''ve never done anything else that makes me worthy of being called a father." (Ramon) "Even when she was in danger, I wasn''t there to help, when she needed to be saved, I was too busy drowning in my own sadness to do anything, now I can''t even speak in front of her due to my shame. " (Ramon) "But I''d like to thank you for saving my daughter, I hope you show the same level of protection you showed the Gray Elf yesterday." (Ramon) "..." (I) He''s the kind of person who can''t show what he''s thinking or feeling, even though he had such a rigid and dignified face he didn''t know how to deal with his own daughter. I guess I should be glad Sophia didn''t turn out like him. Chapter 411: World Tree Part 1 Chapter 411: World Tree Part 1 I was with Sophia''s Dad at boot camp, I was sitting next to him listening to his frustrations vent like a shitty dad. "When I first met Sophia her body was destroyed and covered in scars, she was barely able to walk on her own and had lost one of her eyes." (I) "..." (Ramon) "In the last few weeks I''ve noticed that the Elves have great warriors and spies, so why didn''t anyone go after her?" (I) "I thought there''s no way a nation can take care of every soldier or warrior it loses, but seeing their strength that is above Grade SSS, I just get even more confused." (I) "Someone with your strength must have a lot of influence in this village, maybe you''re even one of the leading members of the council that governs this place, so why didn''t anyone go after Sophia?" (I) "Sophia was on a mission leading a group to rescue Elves who would be sold into slavery, I gave her this mission myself." (Roman) "Sophia has always been an excellent team leader and a great warrior, but in a battle, anything can happen, the strongest is not always the one who wins." (Roman) "Her group was ambushed while fleeing with the rescued Elves, from what I heard she protected one of the subordinates and a space element magic hit her, they said there was no way to survive that." (Roman) "And you didn''t even try to look for your own daughter''s body?" (I) "I was consumed by anger, when I found out what happened, I for the first time in my life lost control." (Roman) "I was going to kill them all, I was going to destroy everything that stood in my way, not many people on this continent are strong enough to fight me, so destroying a city or a Kingdom would only be a matter of time." (Roman) "If you had done something like that, they would have turned her over to you just to stop this carnage, but it looks like you couldn''t bring yourself to do that." (I) "As you can imagine, for obvious reasons I was banned, I was locked up for five months." (Roman) But from what I understand they looked for my daughter when someone with her description was seen in a slave trader when we found out a group was sent to get her, but it was already too much trade." (Roman) Sigh "I don''t know how you raised her but Sophia is one of the most reliable people I know, she is also very responsible always teaching others." (I) "I don''t know why you opened your heart to me and not your daughter, she would have liked to hear such things from you." (I) "Sometimes it''s easier to open up to someone we don''t know, plus I wanted you to know how important they are to me so my next words will be easier for you to understand." (Roman) "..." (I) "My daughter is in her care and I appreciate that, but if anything happens to her because of you, then I''ll get you from hell if I have to to make you pay." (Roman) "(Her Aura''s intensity seems to be very similar in strength to Aredhel''s, so I think this confirms that he''s at a very similar strength level to mine.)" (I) After saying what he wanted he wiped his tears and left, I wanted to stay there for a while resting while I waited for Eleanor to come to get me, but I think I''ll go back to take a shower and change into better clothes. ---------- After I was ready and waiting I hear a knock on the door, Freya goes and looks for Eleanor to come in, I was already dressed in a non-combat outfit, I was wearing a white shirt, a jacket, black long pants and a shoe made of a monster''s leather. "I thought you''d be here early." (I) "I''ll take you to High Priestess Aredhel if you can accompany me..." (Eleanor) "Sure, let''s get this over with soon, right Guardian?" (I) "Yes, I''ve been waiting months for this." (Guardian) I talk to the Guardian who is still attached to my arm, she has been using my Aura to hide, she doesn''t like to attract attention. I start to follow Eleanor with Nix inside my shadow, Layla and Orion on each of my shoulders as we make our way behind the village towards the World Tree. Chapter 412: World Tree Part 2 Chapter 412: World Tree Part 2 During the night I was being guided to the place of the World Tree by Eleanor, the barrier that protects and hides the village from the Elves seems to be much bigger than I initially thought. As soon as we leave the village of the Elves accompanied only by the Guardian, Layla, Orion, and Nix we enter a forest where we walk for 30 minutes before arriving at a temple built of wood. This temple was very strange as even though it looked like it was built by a carpenter, the wood from which this great temple is built seems to still be alive and growing giving a touch of mystery to this place. Also, I could feel a lot of energy in the constant flow here, I''m sure a person with strength below Grade S would have died just from being in a place with so much accumulated energy. "This is the place, High Priestess Aredhel must be waiting for you at the temple gates up these stairs." (Eleanor) "Aren''t you going to come along?" (I) "I cannot enter the temple." (Eleanor) "Why?" (I) "You must be feeling a lot of energy around us, that''s my limit." (Eleanor) "But inside the temple, there will be even more energy, my body and soul couldn''t bear to stay there for long." (Eleanor) "..." (I) I concentrate more and I can feel the flow of energy going towards the World Tree, but I also feel waves of energy being continuously emanating from the World Tree, I can even feel that the closer I get, the greater the concentration of this energy will be. "Will you be here when I get back?" (I) "No, staying here too long is something that affects those who aren''t strong enough, so I''m going back to the village." (Eleanor) "Fine, then let''s get this over with." (I) I start to climb the stairs, which must have 50 or 70 steps, even without looking back I know that Eleanor is already gone and I can feel someone waiting for me after the stairs. "Are you sure I should have come here, this seems like a holy and pure place, not the kind of place that someone suspicious like me would let in." (I) "Stop worrying, you''ll soon understand everything." (Guardian) I keep climbing and feel the concentration of energy increase with every step I take, but I continue to walk calmly to the top where Aredhel is waiting for me. "Aredhel, how long without seeing you, you wouldn''t be avoiding me after a few words I said yesterday, would you?" (I) "Shut up you psycho Vampire, I''m only here because it''s my duty to guide you to my Queen." (Aredhel) Just as I expected, Aredhel is not at all happy to see me, in fact, I''m sure that if it were possible she would attack me now, the contempt in her eyes is something apparent, besides that, I see the anger in her eyes. "I''m sorry, I guess I forgot to mention about the pressure being stronger from now on, it''s also going to get harder with every step you take." (Aredhel) "This pressure is caused by the collision of these strong energies, this pressure not only affects your body but also your mind and soul, yet it is still safer to walk through the greenish marble paths." (Aredhel) "If you go outside the marble path, there won''t even be any traces of your body left..." (Aredhel) "Thanks for the thoughtful warning, it doesn''t always sound like the mad woman who nearly caused the deaths of dozens of Elves." (I) "Take care of your words, Vampire." (Aredhel) "Don''t think for a second that you have the numerical advantage here, you''re not the only one with contracts with Fairies and Spirits, in fact, you''ve always been at a disadvantage in my presence..." (Aredhel) "Enough of that Aredhel, we have more things to talk about, so follow him here." (Luthien) "Yes, my lady." (Aredhel) "..." (I) "(So she''s seeing us.)" (I) When this irritating High Priestess and I were about to start an argument Luthien''s voice resounds from all sides causing Aredhel to kneel down with a calm face immediately. It seems that Luthien has seen everything that has happened, but I can''t say if that''s since I entered the temple or even before that. The worst thing is that I didn''t even realize I was being watched, I don''t like to be taken by surprise like that, but I can''t help it since this Elf Queen has a level of strength unknown to me. "Follow me." (Aredhel) "..." (I) Aredhel gets up and walks ahead without looking at me telling me to follow her, I follow her through the marble path, every step I take increases the pressure as if I was going deeper into an ocean when we were close to the greenish marble platform the pressure was already so great that I was using all my strength to move. I look at Aredhel walking without difficulty and get annoyed that she does something I don''t understand, but I also realize that I''m the only one suffering this way. I look at Orion and Layla on my shoulders and it doesn''t look like they''re feeling any pressure, Layla is humming in my ear and Nix doesn''t seem to feel anything inside my shadow. As soon as I step onto the platform the pressure seems to disappear, I feel my body as light as a feather at that moment. "I guided him here as requested my lady." (Aredhel) "Good job, Aredhel." (Luthien) "Good to see you again, Zenos." (Luthien) Chapter 413: World Tree Part 3 Chapter 413: World Tree Part 3 As I climb onto the greenish marble platform the pressure of the energy around me disappears, I look around as Luthien greets me. This marble platform was about 500 m in size, but all there was here were two sofas, on the left side, a park bench made of greenish marble on the right side, a simple wooden table with three wooden chairs, and in the middle of the platform there was a source of crystal clear water. Luthien was sitting on the edge of the fountain with her youthful appearance, she even looked like an image of a girl in a city square if you disregard the place where we are. "Come Zenos, let''s sit down and have some tea." (Luthien) "Fetch me some tea and cookies, Aredhel, please?" (Luthien) "As you wish." (Aredhel) "Don''t try to put poison in Zenos'' cup." (Luthien) "..." (Aredhel) "..." (I) As usual this Elf Queen speaks everything with great ease, as if she were talking about normal things, but this High Priestess looks disappointed as she walks back down the marble path. "Come Zenos, let''s sit down while we wait." (Luthien) We sat facing each other at the wooden table, I couldn''t help but look up high now that I''m so close to this World Tree, looking like this from below it was magical, I could see its branches with multicolored sparkles in the darkness of the night. "I don''t blame you for liking this landscape, I never get tired of this place myself." (Luthien) "What was that pressure I was feeling before? Why didn''t I feel anything else when I got to this platform." (I) "That pressure was derived from the collision of various types of energies, you may have noticed that, the reason I don''t feel anything here is because I''m here." (Luthien) "My presence brings harmony to nature wherever I am, this is a gift I receive from being the Elf Queen." (Luthien) "I''m at your place, so I''ll listen to what you say out of politeness." (I) "That will be enough." (Luthien) Luthien and I drank a cup of tea and ate cookies in silence for a while, the cookies were very good, it was delicious. After we''re done eating and drinking tea, I pull out a potion and drink it to get rid of whatever was in the teacup. "I''ll forget what just happened if you give me the recipe for that delicious cookie." (I) "..." (Aredhel) "I knew you would notice, she didn''t put poison, she put a potion that makes your body itch, but she doesn''t know that this potion would have no effect on you." (Luthien) "But she''s still going to give you the correct recipe and no tricks this time, right Aredhel?" (Luthien) "Yes... my lady..." (Aredhel) I have to say it''s a little funny to see a child lecturing an adult woman, her appearances aren''t showing correctly who of the two is older, but it''s still funny. "I think it''s about time we got to the main business, so go out and sort this out Guardian." (I) "It was a little fun to see how things were going, but you''re right in saying it''s time to end this." (Guardian) The Guardian leaves my arm like a green vine heading for the empty chair where she grew into her beautiful humanoid form. "Nice to meet you Elf Queen and High Priestess of the World Tree, I am a Holy Beast and a Being of the Forest, I don''t have a name at this time, but you can call me Guardian as well as Zenos if you wish." (Guardian) "A pleasure to finally meet you, we''ve been waiting for your presence for months, but I''m not the one who wants to talk to you." (Luthien) "I''m the one who called you here." A female voice appears out of nowhere, I can''t tell the direction the voice is coming from, but soon I feel the energy outside the platform that was in chaos calming down completely just like it was inside the platform, then a multicolored sphere of light comes out of the Tree of World stopping in front of us. Chapter 414: World Tree Part 4 Chapter 414: World Tree Part 4 When the multicolored sphere appeared I was surprised, but I knew it was the spirit of the World Tree appearing very similar to the way a Dryad comes out of its tree. The woman who appeared when the sphere''s light disappeared looked like a young woman about 17 or 18 years old, her long hair was multicolored and kind of ethereal, her skin was dark and her eyes were white. This woman was beautiful and conveyed an incredible sense of tranquility, she was wearing a green dress made of leaves. Contrary to what I thought she doesn''t have a dominant and powerful presence, her presence is calm and pure, it seems weak at first glance, but a person could get lost in the depth and vastness of this presence. I can''t feel her power or her Aura like I did with Luthien, but I don''t feel like I''m able to fight her, in fact, I don''t even want to try to fight her. "Nice to meet you all, I am the World Tree of the Morror Continent, but if you wish you can call me Luth just like Luthien does." (Luth) "I use part of my name because that name belongs to you as does everything I am, but it would be weird for me to call you by my name, so I''ve shortened my name for you." (Luthien) "I don''t need a name, I am a part of a whole, a single name is not able to define everything I am and represent." (Luth) The World Tree spirit comes to the table and a small tree shaped like a chair grows for her to sit on, Aredhel at some point got to kneel a little way away from the table. "You can go now Aredhel, thanks for your help so far." (Luth) "It is an honor for me to serve the World Tree and the Elf Queen, this servant bids farewell." (Aredhel) Aredhel gets up and walks away leaving only me, the Guardian, Nix, Orion, Layla, Luthien, and Luth here alone. "You can go out, it''s no use hiding anything from them." (I) "Yes Master." (Nix) Nix steps out of my shadow and stands behind me in her human form, Orion jumps off my shoulder as a glow hides her body for a second until it disappears revealing her normal appearance of a large beast taller than me, Layla is enveloped by a multicolored glow before revealing its four arms and multicolored wings. "You have very rare companions, Zenos." (Luth) "I know, it just happened along the way, in some cases I tried to save a Fairy, in other cases I was curious about the outcome and in other cases, I was mourning the innocent who died." (I) "The case for each of them was different, but I don''t think there''s much point in thinking about these things." (I) "Chaos gives meaning to the harmony of nature, I''m trapped in the circle of life and can only create what already exists, but you create what should never exist, like this Fairy next to you." (Luth) "I can feel how powerful her soul is, I can also feel that it was created using five different souls, but for her and you to have the Fairy Goddess''s blessing means you weren''t the one who did this atrocity." (Luth) "Actually it was me, it was the only way to save her, if I hadn''t done that five souls would have disappeared." (I) Sigh "Exactly what I was saying, this is something difficult even for the Gods to do, something that creates chaos by doing something that shouldn''t be possible." (Luth) "..." (I) "She''s not judging what you''ve done in the past, she''s showing the result of your power." (Luthien) p "Yes, if your Aura''s out of control is going to keep bringing chaos, that could be dangerous." (Luth) "Chaos is something that is part of nature, it brings change, renewal, and transformation." (Luth) "Its power makes sense of the harmony of nature, but it is also opposite to harmony, too much chaos can destroy an environment and cause irreparable damage to the world by destroying the balance." (Luth) "..." (I) "But as you said before, there were times when I couldn''t control my Aura." (I) "Yes, luckily it happened when you were inside your Dungeon surrounded by the Cradle of Fairies and Spirits." (Luth) "But you must control that power." (Luth) "How would I do that, the way you''re talking makes it sound like you already have a plan to work this out." (I) "You''re right, the way to control this chaos within you is to use the harmony of nature, luckily you already have almost everything you need for that." (Luth) "If you have the power of nature''s harmony within you, then these incidents where you lose control of your Aura during an evolution will stop, the power of Chaos and harmony will balance each other within your body." (Luth) "Even if you lose control, there will always be someone to help you at that moment, those will be the contracts you have, but there is still a contract missing." (Luth) Chapter 415: World Tree Part 5 Chapter 415: World Tree Part 5 The World Tree spirit is saying that if I keep losing control of my Aura it can be dangerous, but what does she mean when she talks about contracts? "Wait a minute, that''s a lot of information at once." (I) "Why are you talking about contracts? What are you trying to say." (I) "I think it''s better to try to be as vocal as possible, it will be better for him to understand." (Luthien) "I thought I was being direct enough." (Luth) "Let me try to explain." (Luthien) "Zenos, you must have realized that you have the power of Chaos, that power is something that is mixed with your very essence, that power is mostly in your Aura." (Luthien) "I''m not going to try to explain to you about this power, find out for yourself, after all, you''ve been using it very well without anyone to explain it, maybe you''ll find better ways on your own." (Luthien) "Yes, I agree with what Luthien says." (Luth) "What you need to know is that everything has an opposite, it gives meaning to something while helping balance." (Luthien) "But the reason you sometimes lose control of your own power is that you don''t have balance, in fact, the balance doesn''t even exist in you." (Luthien) "So you want to use this power of harmony to match this power of Chaos that I have?" (I) "Yes, with that your potential should greatly increase, but unfortunately this is not something your body, mind, and soul would normally handle." (Luthien) "But Luth had an idea, that idea just happened to come the day this Guardian call became a Holy Beast." (Luthien) "Explain to him, Luth." (Luthien) "You have contracts with a Fairy and a Spirit, so I thought if you had a contract with a Holy Beast you could achieve the trinity." (Luth) "Are you saying you want me to form a contract with the Keeper?" (I) "Yes, but not a simple contract, it has to be a strong connection just like you have with your Fairy and Spirit." (Luth) "A regular contract isn''t enough, but unfortunately you don''t have the ability to do that right now without risk." (Luth)Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om "What do you mean by that?" (I) The spirit of the World Tree and the Elf Queen look at the Guardian at the same time. "You didn''t tell him?" (Luthien) "I thought it wasn''t necessary, when he was strong enough there would be no more problems." (Guardian) "But things can get dangerous in your next evolution like this, plus I can feel you''ve already made your decision." (Luth) "Yes, I made my decision three months ago, but he''s not ready." (Guardian) "Can someone also include me in the conversation? It''s me you''re talking about, right?" (I) It seems the Keeper didn''t tell me anything, but about her evaluating me to make a contract with her, I already knew, she had told me about it a while ago. "The trinity is a power that brings together the powers of mana, spiritual energy, and ki making you stronger." (Luthien) "Do you really want to form a contract with me?" (I) "Yes, you know since I became a Holy Beast I was already considering it, but after what you did in the third city of the Makari Kingdom..." (Guardian) "There were easier ways to have fought that battle, but you chose the one that would be hardest for you and you asked for my help, you won a difficult battle without losing anyone, you valued the lives of those who chose to follow you and that''s why I chose to form a contract with you." (Guardian) "I haven''t talked to you before because of the trinity, if you got stronger then your body, mind, and soul would get stronger making the process safer." (Guardian) "What do you think of the World Tree proposal." (I) "If you consider that you have a God who doesn''t like you and an entire religion looking for you, then it would be a good idea not to draw attention." (Guardian) "..." (I) I had to think this through, but I had some doubts I needed to resolve first, so I turned to the World Tree spirit. "How long will this process of harmonizing these three energies take?" (I) "Usually it takes a month, but being the child of a Goddess like you should last three weeks, if the Divine Beast helps then it''s two weeks." (Luth) "And would it have to be here?" (I) "Yes, plus I might add that you''re going to be in unspeakable pain all this time." (Luth) "..." (I) "I went through this a long time ago, in my case, it took three weeks, this happens because while the harmonization of the three natural energies takes place, your body and soul are being transformed." (Luthien) "Furthermore you must maintain consciousness at all times, you must bear this pain with a strong will." (Luthien) "The trinity will not only give power to you, but your three hired will become stronger also due to the power of the trinity." (Luth) "Will Orion also get stronger?" (I) "No, he is not so affected by the power of the trinity, he is a being that transcends nature and is close to the divine realm, the only reason for his current strength is the master he possesses having no Holy or Divine power to bestow upon him." (Luth) "Do I have to answer today?" (I) "No, you can come back another day if you want." (Luthien) I didn''t know what to do, I was inclined to accept doing it, but I don''t like making decisions too quickly and without considering a lot of things so I look at Orion, Nix, the Guardian, and Layla. "What do you think of this?" (I) "This is an excellent opportunity master, it can help you a lot one day." (Orion) "I think it''s a good idea, this would be the best place to do it anyway." (Nix) "I''ve already made my decision, that''s why I came here." (Guardian) "Just stop doubting and do it soon, it seems like you didn''t do things as risky as this before, I highly doubt you''ll stop now anyway." (Layla) "(Layla might be right this time, I''ve done a lot of risky things so far, so why doubt it at this point, besides just like Nix said this would be the best place possible.)" (I) "Alright I''ll do that now, but first I wanted to know, why are you so interested in me getting the trinity?" (I) Chapter 416: World Tree Part 6 Chapter 416: World Tree Part 6 I appreciate the help that the World Tree and the Elf Queen are giving me, the trinity seems to be something important for me in the future, it also looks like it will strengthen Nix, Layla, and the Guardian. But one thing I''ve noticed is that the World Tree seems too eager for me to get the trinity of nature. Also, I don''t believe in free help, there is always something the other person wants, in the case of the Guardian becoming a Queen of her race it will make more of her race appear in the world which is the wish of the World Tree, but for that, the World Tree is so interested in helping me? Maybe she wants to avoid the disasters in nature my Aura could cause in the future if I keep losing control, but maybe she has other reasons. Before I continue I must confirm this, so far I haven''t felt like they are lying to me, but it''s best to make it clear to everyone. "Why do you guys seem so eager for me to get the trinity?" (I) "That would be the main issue, for which we insisted that you come here with the Holy Beast." (Luthien) "We need help, but even after a long time we didn''t find anyone qualified, so when you showed up almost fulfilling all the conditions for the trinity we thought we''d speed things up and ask for your help." (Luthien) "This problem has been going on for more than 900 years, if we don''t solve it in the next 130 years something terrible could happen." (Luth) "What are you talking about?" (I) I don''t understand what they''re saying but it sounds like a serious situation, I don''t have much to do other than travel and build the city in the Dungeon, but that doesn''t mean I''m going to throw myself into a dangerous situation.Vissit for updates "It''s nothing too dangerous, we just want you to deliver something to a certain place and help put it in place." (Luthien) "..." (I) "Alright, maybe I should be more detailed with the order description." (Luthien) "We want you to take a seed to the Dark Continent." (Luthien) "Which place in the Dark Continent?" (I) "The village of the Elves where the World Tree of that continent is." (Luthien) "(What should I do?)" (I) She is making such a big request to me, it seems that things are very complicated for the Dark Continent, if it was someone else from this continent they would probably refuse this request as they would be happy to see the destruction of their greatest enemy. But I don''t have anything against that continent, the political differences and wars between these two continents don''t matter to me, but this crisis that the World Tree is saying about seems very big, from what they''re saying I won''t need to fight anyone either, I just have to take the seed there and plant it. "What will happen to the World Tree on that continent after I plant the seed?" (I) "As I said before, all of the World Tree''s power, vitality, and the body itself will be absorbed by the seed, but this is a very long process that takes centuries, we don''t have that long to wait." (Luth) "That''s why we need someone like you, your Aura will speed up the process, plus with you having the power of the trinity of nature the process will be even faster, it should only take a few weeks." (Luth) "I''ll give you something you''ll need for that later." (Luth) "Unfortunately my sister''s soul cannot be saved, it was not just her body that was injured, her soul was injured and contaminated." (Luth) "If it weren''t for your soul being in this state, then your soul would be taken to be reborn again as a World Tree elsewhere when needed." (Luth) "You said I could do things that others couldn''t, so I couldn''t heal the Dark Continent World Tree''s body and soul like I did Layla?" (I) "That way you wouldn''t need to use the seed right now and your sister would be saved." (I) "Looks like he didn''t understand." (Luthien) "He''s trying to help at least." (Luth) The Elf Queen and the World Tree Spirit look at each other exchanging a few words before turning back to me with a little sadness. "It would be impossible for you to heal the body or bark of a World Tree, you would have the chance if you were a Demigod, but you would only have a 50% chance of success." (Luth) "When the soul, you..." (Luth) "..." (Luth) Chapter 417: Sakura Chapter 417: Sakura I had thought about using my power to heal the World Tree''s body and soul, but only later did I realize that I was saying something unreal. Every time I use my power on someone the energy expenditure becomes greater according to the target''s strength and potential, if I tried to use my power on a World Tree it would be the same as committing suicide. I think my curiosity will one day end up leading to my death if things continue like this, maybe I should see a psychologist find out if there''s something wrong with my head. It could also be that being surrounded by so many crazy and weird people is getting to me, after all, I''m supposed to be the most normal person in the Dungeon. But I noticed that the World Tree had a change in expression midway through her explanation of why my power wouldn''t help in this situation. Soon the World Tree spirit was exchanging glances with the Elf Queen who was confused at first, but gradually her face changed to a surprised and then thoughtful expression. They stand for a few minutes in silence looking at each other, I can imagine they''re just as much a conversation on their minds as I do with Layla and Nix. Soon they stop talking and I can see a little hope in the World Tree spirit''s eyes, I could also see a little happiness in the Elf Queen''s eyes. "He is sure?" (Luthien) "It would be a better fate than disappearing, but I must confirm with her and our other sisters first." (Luth) "How long would the preparation take?" (Luth) "For such an important job? I would need two months and your help." (Luthien) "Just as I should expect from you, it will be quick, others wouldn''t be able to do it even if they tried for generations." (Luth) "I couldn''t do it either, but with your power, many shortcuts can be taken." (Luthien) "At least to a possibility..." (Luth) The World Tree spirit and the Elf Queen look at me with shining eyes, then the World Tree spirit affectionately pats my head. "Thanks for offering your help, but I can''t answer that right now." (Luth) "I need to confirm a few things first." (Luth) "How long are you planning to stay here in the village, Zenos?" (Luthien) "I was thinking about three months, if possible." (I) "The scenery here is magnificent, besides this village is in a good place where my companions and I can train, I imagine there must be some Dungeons in this Illusory Forest, right?" (I) "You can stay as long as you like, but about the Dungeons, there are only two and they are far away from here, each one is at a different end of the Illusory Forest." (Luthien) "That''s because the World Tree controls and harmonizes all kinds of energy in this place, so there''s no need for a Dungeon to be born to control the miasma and malice around here." (Luthien) "I understand." (I) "But if your goal is training, then there are many powerful monsters in this Forest, but none of them at the same level of power as you." (Luthien) "You must know that I have many more companions inside the Dungeon, right?" (I) "Actually I don''t know, it was Luth who told me about his Dungeon." (Luthien) "I can only feel the Spirits and Fairies inside the Dungeon because of the Cradles, I don''t know if there are more people or what they are doing." (Luth) "How many?" (Luthien) "A few thousand people?" (I) "Why are there so many people inside a Dungeon? Are you trying to build a city by chance?" (Luthien) "Exactly." (I) "..." (Luthien) . . <[ Spiritual connection successfully formed ]> . . . <[ Choose a power to form a spiritual bond with Holy Beast (Queen Incarnation of the Forest) ]> I feel the blood and Ki leaving my body and going into the Guardian''s body, but this time I''m not feeling the usual weakness, maybe because I''m much stronger than before. Soon black energy leaves my body forming the figure of my Astral Body which was a little different, this time it was a humanoid body still covered by a hood and cape seeming to be made of shadows, inside the hood there was still that image that resembles a starry sky, but which are actually the glows of my power flows within me. What was different was that the claws of the shadows were replaced by the claws of dragon scales of black crystal with the same sparkles that it has inside its hood, in addition, it had a pair of wings behind its back with an ethereal appearance, they were wings of black feathers that seem to be made of black smoke and inside the wings, you could see the same image from inside its hood that resembles a starry sky. Her sight became even more startling, this time my Astral Body turns to the World Tree, before turning to the World Tree spirit, then it turns to the Guardian stretching out its claws which sink into her chest. Then I feel a connection forming between me and the Guardian, and then the messages with the list of powers I can grant pop into my head, but this time I don''t feel the information overload I felt before. I didn''t have to think too much to choose the skill [ Elemental Affinity Darkness: 1 ], but there was still one more skill that I had to think about a few seconds before choosing [ Affinity with Blood: 1 ], I chose this skill because once the Guardian told me of the skills she has related to blood from being born from a blood tree, but she didn''t have this Affinity among her skills, with this skill she will be even stronger. Ding! Ding! <[ Power grant ended ]> . . <[ Spiritual bond successfully created ]> After that, the Guardian''s body started to float after my Astral Body removed his hands from inside her body, so the Guardian''s body is floating on top of the two claws of my Astral Body. Soon red and black energy leaves appear forming a small tornado around the Guardian''s body before compacting into a cocoon of leaves surrounded by the pure energies of the elements Darkness, Blood, and Wood. I can feel her inside the cocoon ready to come out for a little while, but it''s like she''s been waiting for something, then I start to feel her anxiety for something and I remember one thing, she wants a name. I close my eyes and try to remember a good name for it, then the image of a tree that I have never had the pleasure of seeing in person appears in front of me, all I could see were pictures and footage of that tree in my previous life, but its dazzling beauty impressed me, I will name this tree for the Keeper. "Her name will be Sakura!" (I) As soon as I named her a glow started to flash faster and faster and more intensely in this cocoon of leaves, I could see a humanoid shape inside the cocoon moving. "My name is Sakura!!!" (Sakura) Soon I hear her voice resonate from inside the cocoon that dissolves in energy to the surroundings revealing a stunning woman, her skin was dark like mine, her eyes were one golden and the other purple like mine, her hair was always red, but this time her long hair was the same red as mine. She looks like a 16 or 17 year old girl, but her sensuality and beauty surpass even the most famous models from my previous world, her beauty is on the same level as Nix and Layla, her height was around 1.75 meters, she is wearing pants and shirt made of red, black and green leaves. Ding! <[ You have acquired the title [ Contractor of the Holy Beast: Sakura (Queen Incarnation of the Black Forest) ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the skill [ Contract of the Holy Beast ] ]> Chapter 418: Reaching The Trinity Chapter 418: Reaching The Trinity I was surprised at how easy it was to do this time, every time before it was a huge pain, in some cases I almost died, and once I even hurt my soul. But maybe because I became stronger I feel like it was a lot easier. While I was surprised at how easily I used my power this time without suffering almost any reaction, my Astral Body turns back into energy and returns to my body, so I start to feel something different inside me, it was as if there was something awakening. Ding! <[ All Requirements to achieve the Trinity of Nature have been completed ]> . . . <[ Awakening the three natural energies that represent body, mind, and soul ]> . . . <[ Warning: the three natural energies must begin to harmonize within five minutes or the body and soul have collapsed due to the conflict of the three different energies ]> cough cough "Ahhh!!!!" (I) I felt three different energy flows inside my body, these three energies seemed to be alive all of a sudden and they started colliding with each other inside my body as if they didn''t want to share a place with the other energies. The pain I was feeling wasn''t just from my organs being destroyed, but a great pain was growing in my head and I could feel an even deeper pain coming from inside me, somewhere deeper and more important. A short time later I feel the three energies all over my body as it fills me with energy, but before I celebrate this energy rises to my mind, at that moment the pain in my head was so great that I really thought I was going crazy. These three energies caused such great pain that I couldn''t even notice the passage of time as these energies ran through my head. When it was finally over I felt my head light, but before I enjoyed this moment of relief I felt these energies going deep inside me, then an even worse pain seemed to be tearing my whole body apart, I felt these three energies continually collide with something else. making it feel as if with each collision of these energies I was punched and torn apart. In this part of the process, even with the pain, I was able to control these energies a little and then I started to help them. After another time unknown to me, the torture was over, these energies passed through my body, mind, and soul. It felt like I was whole, it was a strange feeling for me. Ding! <[ You have acquired the title [ Trinity of Nature ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the following skills: [ Incarnation of Nature ] [ Aura of Nature ] ]> I wanted to open my eyes but I couldn''t, I couldn''t even move, right at this moment all the exhaustion, tiredness, and pain I was feeling seem to hit me at the same time, so I let myself be carried away to dreamland. Zzzzzzz... Zzzzz... Zzzz... Chapter 419: Priestess Of The Dragon God Chapter 419: Priestess Of The Dragon God Pov Luthien: When Zenos started to make a contract with the Holy Beast I noticed his power influencing the environment a little. The World Tree is something that brings harmony to the surroundings, even if others don''t notice the Aura of the World Tree is all over the Illusory Forest mixed with nature in an imperceptible way to others, but I can feel it. Zenos'' Aura from the first time at the village gates has been going against the Harmonious Aura of the World Tree, this conflict of Auras enhanced the power of nature, even more, it felt like two pieces of a puzzle fit together, the two Auras gave meaning to each other. Now if Zenos achieves the trinity, he will be able to do it all the time, that kind of power will draw attention wherever he goes, plus it will be apparent in his Aura. I look at Zenos impressed by the Holy Beast''s transformation, its power has not increased much perhaps due to Zenos'' own power level not being very high now but his presence is much stronger, his potential has gone far beyond what even myself expected. When Zenos'' Astral Body appeared I was shocked, this is a skill that only very talented Spiritualists can learn, the Astral Body is created using a person''s will as a basis and using spiritual energy to create an ethereal body that can be used for many different things including battle, wounds caused by an Astral Body affect one''s body and soul. The Astral Body usually takes on the appearance that most closely matches various characteristics such as power, will, elemental affinity, Race, etc. In most cases someone''s Astral Body looks like the person with a few small changes, in some rare cases, it looks different like a Knight, Monster, or in my case like a Tree. This is because these appearances represent what these people really are on the inside. But Zenos'' Astral Body was very strange, perhaps it was the best repression of what he really is, a mysterious figure whose depth cannot be measured superficially, the moment he appeared I felt the energies around him becoming more and more chaotic. One thing I found strange was that the Astral Body looked at the bark of the World Tree before turning to Luth, only after that did the contract process begin. The process was quite different from what I had imagined, but the Holy Beast who was now named Sakura was much more connected with her Contractor than usual, the contract was so strong that even her appearance changed to something closer to Zenos. I looked at Luth and she was focused only on the Astral Body, she looked thoughtful and only woke up when the contract process ended and Zenos started screaming as the natural energies within him got out of control. After a while, I helped Zenos to a seat and Luth instructed the strange Fairy, Holy Beast, and Dragon Spirit on the positions they should take and how they should help Zenos. When they started to send their consciousness into Zenos and gain control of the three energies, a flow of these three energies formed between them and Zenos, there was a flow of Mana between the Fairy and Zenos, there was a flow of spiritual energy between the Spirit Dragon and Zenos, there was a flow of Ki between the Holy Beast and Zenos, the Divine Beast had one of its paws on Zenos'' back with a red energy emanating from its body to Zenos'' body. To help, Luth formed a dome of these three natural energies around them, this should influence the process, but these energy flows were very unstable and fragile at first, it took a whole day to become stable and strong energy flows showing that the three managed to gain control of the energies within Zenos. While I was watching this process I went through before, I realized that Zenos'' pain is greater than I went through, his body is also being destroyed much faster, soon I realized the reason, his Aura had already lost control again, but this time once lost control within his body, perhaps because he is maintaining consciousness this time he is unconsciously suppressing the Aura within himself. "What''s going on here?" (Karina) "I''m sorry to interrupt ma''am and great World Tree, but if I didn''t bring her here there could be a mess as this woman doesn''t know how to behave." (Aredhel) I was so distracted that I didn''t notice the arrival of Aredhel and the Priestess of the Dragon God. "You''re even crazier than your mother." (I) "It''s your decision what you will do, now whether he accepts is a very different thing." (I) "No need to worry, I know he''ll accept it even if he doesn''t want to, I just need to know when this will end." (Karina) "A little over two weeks, wait in the Village in the meantime." (I) "I just hope he doesn''t disappear again, I think I''ll use this time to get closer to his teammates." (Karina) After that Karina left with Aredhel, so I went back to follow the process where Zenos is acquiring the Trinity. Soon I see blood start to flow all over Zenos'' body, wounds also start to open one after another, his body is being destroyed by the three natural energies, his body started to collapse much sooner than I expected. But it seems that it is being healed at the same rate as it is being destroyed, the power of nature is integrating into Zenos'' body little by little, this excessive destruction must be caused by the chaos inside him going against the power of nature, the collision between these powers is destroying him. With that time passes, hours become days and days become weeks until finally, the process is over, the floor is smeared with remains of blood and flesh. Zenos kept his eyes open the entire time, but even though his eyes were empty, I could see the weariness in his expression. When he passed out the other three woke up too, I offer my help and Luth creates the big comfortable bed of sheets, I make everyone float and lie down on the bed to rest. When they were all asleep Luth goes to Zenos and caresses his face while he sleeps. "You''re not he..." (Luth?) Sigh "But maybe that''s for the best, don''t make the mistakes he made son of Selene." (Luth?) I could see through her eyes that this wasn''t Luth, his presence was different, I could feel from our connection that there was something else using his body, but there didn''t seem to be any resistance on Luth''s part, so I let it continue. "You two plan can work out with his help, I''ll leave a gift behind as compensation for borrowing my younger sister''s body, I hope you successfully save the other one." (Luth?) Suddenly Luth blinks her eyes and I notice her presence has returned to normal, she looks at Zenos and then at me, she looks a little tired, this is the first time I''ve seen this. "I''m going to get some rest, keep planning what we discussed before, tomorrow we''ll talk about it." (Luth) Luth fades into energy that returns to the World Tree, so I look confused at Zenos who is still sleeping. "What happened here?" (I) Chapter 420: World Tree Seed Chapter 420: World Tree Seed When I woke up I was desperate because I couldn''t breathe, I open my eyes and realize that Orion with his big body was lying on top of me. "Get out... from above..." (I) I push Orion with all my might, but before he gets too high he''s stopped by the Elf Queen, so he starts descending toward me. "What happened? Why was I flying up?" (Orion) "Because I was almost suffocating to death." (I) "Careful next time, the energies around this platform are very chaotic right now, it would have been dangerous." (Luthien) "I wasn''t thinking clearly at the time, thanks Luthien." (I) I thank the Elf Queen while stroking Orion''s head, then I try to look around and see Layla sleeping punching the air, Sakura was sleeping hugging Nix who was biting her head. After that I remember what happened and why we were there, I look at my own hand and I don''t feel any change in my strength, but I can feel a lot of energy running inside me, and I can feel my surroundings better. I for some reason was feeling very comfortable in this place, I get up and let the girls sleep, they helped me a lot and deserve to rest as long as they want. I get up and go to the Elf Queen, halfway I look at the sky to see the position of the sun, now I know it''s still mid-morning. "(Why am I so hungry.)" (I) "Good morning, Luthien." (I) "Good morning, it''s about time you woke up." (Luthien) "How long has it been?" (I) "Just as we estimated before, it took a little over two weeks to get the trinity of nature." (Luthien) "After that, you and they slept for three whole days." (Luthien) I pull out a bottle of blood and start drinking. "That explains why I''m so hungry, I haven''t eaten anything for days." (I) After I finish emptying that bottle I take another one and start to drain all the blood before emptying another bottle. "Apart from my vitality, mana, spirit energy and Ki which has doubled stronger, I don''t feel any difference anymore." (I) "The increase in your vitality and the three energies you possess is the smallest of your changes." (Luthien) "You won''t notice it now, but when you harmonized your body, mind, and soul you broke the barrier that exists between people and nature." (Luthien) "Now you can feel nature much better, all beings are connected with nature, but we didn''t realize this connection, but now you do." (Luthien) I escort the Elf Queen to a table, the same as last time, but this time there was already food and drink on the table, as soon as I sit in the chair a light comes from the World Tree and the World Tree Spirit figure appears already sitting in the chair. "You look very different, this is a tremendous transformation." (Luth) "What is she talking about?" (I) "He won''t understand if you say it like that, Luth" (Luthien) "You may not realize it, but each person''s mana, spirit energy, Ki, Aura, and blood is different." (Luthien) "People usually can''t see these things, all they can see is someone''s appearance, but beings like Spirits, Fairies, Holy Beasts or especially the World Tree can see much more than someone''s appearance." (Luthien) "That''s right, I can see and feel the huge changes in the structure of your body and soul, plus your Aura has completely changed, the three energies in your body are no longer flowing in separate ways in your body, and everything about you has changed to mine. eyes." (Luth) "Fine by me, but why am I still here?" (I) "I wanted to allow you to rest peacefully, plus it would be more convenient to talk to you when you wake up." (Luth) "What do you want to talk about?" (I) "Talk no, deliver." (Luthien) The Elf Queen stands up and stops beside the World Tree Spirit, while the World Tree Spirit''s hand penetrates her heart and comes out with a small multicolored crystal glowing so brightly that I can hardly look forward to it at the moment which this crystal appeared the energies around that are always in flux stop there and hither and remain motionless. I force myself to look at the crystal and see that it has a thinner and longer shape, plus the crystal seemed full of boundless vitality and had a strong presence, the crystal was the size of one of my fingers. "This is the seed of the World Tree, with it a new sister will be born in this world." (Luth) "You''d better keep this seed from now on, your Aura with the power of Harmony and Chaos will be something very nourishing for the seed, it can allow it to grow stronger and faster when it''s planted." (Luth) "..." (I) I was shocked by what I was seeing, but I was more shocked by what I was feeling, somehow I could feel that that little crystal was connected to everything around it, in fact, it was connected to the environment itself as if it were part of it. I didn''t even dare to get close to that seed, I could feel the total calm near that seed and so I didn''t want to get close. ,m "Stretch out your hand, the Seed needs to be linked to someone in communion with nature at all times, you will have to carry it in your body to the Dark Continent." (Luth) "I hadn''t been told I needed to store this in my body." (I) "Don''t worry, you won''t even realize it''s there, believe me, I''ve had it inside me for centuries" (Luthien) "..." (I) I reach out my hand reluctantly, then the World Tree spirit pushed the crystal on the back of my right hand. "Now you are ready to go whenever you want to the Dark Continent." (Luthien) Chapter 421: Sorry, Wrong Door Chapter 421: Sorry, Wrong Door When the seed of the World Tree entered my body I felt every trace of energy flow from my entire body to my right hand. When the seed was already inside my hand a multicolored triangular crystal was on the back of my hand with tribal tattoos that resembled roots around it. "What should I do with it later? How do I get it out of my hand to give it to the Elves of the Dark Continent?" (I) "You won''t deliver, you''ll plant the World Tree and about taking the crystal, you won''t take it, now that crystal is part of you just like the one Luthien has on his forehead." (Luth) "What? So how do I plant the World Tree without the seed?" (I) "The crystal is not the seed, it''s just the receptacle or shell for the seed." (Luth) "The body of a World Tree is not a physical thing, this is an ethereal Tree that does not have a physical body." (Luth) "You must think that this gigantic Tree behind me is my body, but you''re wrong, this is just my bark, it serves to protect me and at the same time contain my power, if it weren''t for that everyone on this continent would die with the small amount of power that emanates from my body." (Luth) "..." (I) "My true body is in a separate space within my shell, my body is made of pure crystallized energy." (Luth) "What you will plant in the Dark Continent will be the true seed in the form of energy and soul, the seed will leave the husk it was born with and form a new husk of its own using the energy of the Dark Continent, it should take a week to you now." (Luth) "Also this process will generate a continuous wave of monsters while the shell is not fully formed, remember it only has one chance and should not be interrupted." (Luth) "I feel like I was tricked, you told me there would be no battles." (I) "But you won''t fight, you''ll be too busy planting the seed for a week." (Luthien) Sigh "I already knew things wouldn''t be that easy." (I) "How exactly am I supposed to plant this thing?" (I) "You just have to put your hand in the soil and tell the soul inside the seed to come out, the seed will choose a tree that is nice and use it as a base to be its new bark." (Luth) "Meanwhile you will directly pour your mana, spirit energy, and Ki while covering the tree and the seed at the same time." (Luth) "(I don''t know why, but I think I''d better run as fast as possible.)" (me) As soon as I open the door and see her smiling at me I get annoyed for some reason so I close the door and use my lines on the door to keep her from leaving, I run to the training ground with Layla and Orion in her puppy form on mine. shoulders, with Nix in my shadow and with Sakura wrapped around my arm. "Wait! Why doesn''t this door open..." (Karina) With my current speed, it only took me a few seconds to get to the training ground where everyone is training, but as soon as I get there a figure descends from the sky in front of me. "Why did you run?" (Karina) "Why did you follow me?" (I) "I just want to talk to you for a few minutes." (Karina) "But I don''t want to talk to you, I feel like I''ll get in even more trouble if I do." (I) "You know you owe me for the letter I sent you." (Karina) "Exactly because of that, it makes it seem like I already knew that your brother was walking into a trap and that I was going there to finish off his attackers." (I) "That''s right, I knew he would be safe, I had found out about the faceless brothers when I first met them, I felt the chains that bound them." (Karina) "I was going to warn my family, but the Dragon God sent me an oracle during a dream not to do that, he also told me that my brother was not in danger and even told me what I should do afterward like the letter I sent... " (Karina) "Before you continue I want you to know that I don''t want to get involved with another God, besides I don''t want any more problems." (I) Karina laughs at my words, I also feel like the others were running toward me after noticing my presence. "I just need you to do something for me as payment for the letter." (Karina) "No." (I) "Are you sure?" (Karina) "Yes." (I) "What if I say I can awaken your True Dragon bloodline?" (Karina) "..." (I) Chapter 422: The Priestess And The Dragon Chapter 422: The Priestess And The Dragon "What did you say?" (I) "I said there''s a way to awaken your True Dragon bloodline, but you need to agree to do something first." (Karina) This Princess of Cartoza Kingdom is being a headache, ever since I received that letter I knew it would be a problem to find her, but what she said really interested me, the True Dragon bloodline is one of the most powerful I have, fully awakening this bloodline would greatly increase my strength. "Master!!!" (Ibuki/Diana) "Welcome back, Master." (Nira/Freya) "You took your time this time, Dad." (Vanessa) "I''m glad to see you, safe Master, I was starting to think something had been done to you." (Jade) "I tried to tell them nothing would happen to you, but you took too long to get back." (Sophia) "I''m fine, I was busy doing something very important." (I) "Where''s Kira?" (I)Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com "Kira has been training every day with the Gray Elves, the first few days she came back injured, but as the days went by there were less and less injuries." (Diana) "What did she say about the reason for the injuries?" (I) "She says it''s because of the training, I believe since most injuries are superficial in vital areas and in areas that will immobilize a person." (Diana) "I''ll talk to everyone soon, but first I have to talk to this troubled Princess so you can go back to what you normally do, I''ll meet you at the house later." (I) "Yes." (all) "Follow me to a quieter place." (I) I use my wings and fly to the forest near the temple of the World Tree, I noticed that that forest is too silent and calm for us to stay. Karina comes flying up behind me, I land where she has an old tree down and then I sit down as Karina lands in front of me. "Let''s talk here, so explain to me first what you want." (I) "Before that, I need you to know that I don''t care about my position as Princess of the Cartoza Kingdom." (Karina) "I am and always will be a Priestess of the Dragon God Akatosh." (Karina) "But I''m just a simple Priestess for now, as a Priestess I have the Dragon God''s protection, but that also limits my growth and potential." (Karina) "I need to become a High Priestess to leave this protection behind and obtain the Dragon God''s Blessings in its place." (Karina) "I still don''t understand what all this has to do with me." (I) "I just want you to understand the bigger picture, so maybe you can understand my decisions so far." (Karina) "Then go on, I want to know why you want to talk to me so badly." (I) "There are certain requirements to become a High Priestess, I already fulfill all but one that I am not able to fulfill without help." (Karina) "By help you mean me?" (I) "Why would I do that to you, it will involve forming a connection with you, I don''t want to do that." (I) "I am a believer of the Blood Goddess Selene, my daughter is a Priestess of the Blood Goddess, so I don''t want to have any connection with other Gods anymore." (I) "But it wouldn''t be without rewards, during the Awakening ceremony the power of the Dragon God will involve both of us, it will help you to fully awaken your bloodline for its next evolution." (Karina) "If you don''t take this opportunity you may have to wait a long time even for a Vampire like you." (Karina) I close my eyes like I''m thinking, but I''m actually communicating with Nix who knows more about Dragons than I do. "(Is she right, Nix?)" (I) "(Yes, a True Dragon''s bloodline is too powerful for your body, but even if she is telling the truth, you won''t receive the power of True Dragons, but your power should at least double again.)" ( Nix) "(What she''s not telling you is that for the True Dragons and the religion that believes in the Dragon God Akatosh, when a Dragon performs a ceremony with a Priestess is the same as marrying her, this is an ancient custom. )" (Nix) "..." (I) I''m confused for a second before I realize I''ve been considering this and shake my head with the truth that I was almost tricked into getting married. "You almost got me this time, trying to trick me like that, your answer is still no." (I) "Where did I try to trick you? I''ve been honest all along." (Karina) "Just forgot to tell me about the wedding part." (I) "..." (Karina) "Apparently your Dragon told you, but he told you only halfway, but your view of this is different from the truth." (Karina) "Then explain it to me, no fuss this time." (I) "Marriage is just a custom followed most of the time, it''s not always performed and it''s not a requirement either, but I must say that I will be strongly attached to you as my power will come in part from you." (Karina) "So you''re not trying to trick me?" (I) "(It was a very simplified explanation, but she told the truth.)" (Nix) "(Accept her Master''s proposal, it would be good to have more strong people before going to the Dark Continent, we have few people in SSS Grade, she is already quite strong, if she goes through Awakening her strength will be equivalent to yours.)" ( Nix) "..." (I) What Nix said makes sense, I don''t know about the forces of the Dark Continent, I think I''ll have to ask Lilian about it later since it''s her homeland. Also, the Elf Queen said something about monster wave for a week, maybe it''s better to have a little more strong people on our side. After a few minutes of thinking, I look at Karina sitting on another tree trunk looking at me expectantly. "You know that you will be subordinate to me after awakening due to my skill, right?" (I) "Fine with me, I heard from your mates that you want to travel, this is perfect for me as I don''t want to stay in this boring place forever." (Karina) Sigh I hope I''m not making the wrong decision. Chapter 423: Dungeon Changes Chapter 423: Dungeon Changes After what I talked to Karina she will follow me for a few days so I can get to know her better, and because of that, she will live with us for a while. I go back to the training ground and see everyone''s progress, Diana and Ibuki were having an unarmed fight using only their Martial Arts, it looks like Ibuki has been training his Martial Art the way I told her. One should not rely solely on training with swords or any other weapon, if one''s weapon is destroyed during combat or stolen by the enemy, one must know how to fight on their own. Diana and Ibuki''s combats are mostly speed-focused, I can see that Ibuki even mimics some of Diana''s moves incorporating that into what I''ve already taught her. I turn to Jade and she''s fighting a giant, she has no other way to call this ten-foot-tall man who looks more like a mountain of muscle. He seems to be quite strong and with a strong defense, but his speed is also quite high which I didn''t expect, but after a closer look I understand that just like Diana does, this Giant is using the wind element to increase his speed. He is being a strong enemy against Jade, but she has better reflexes and a very flexible body, it seems like she is using this to her advantage in an exceptional way. I turn to another arena and see Freya facing the same archer as before, but this time they are not using arrows, they are using the bow as the melee type weapon, I see that Freya''s bow has been modified to also have wooden blades at the ends. It seems that Freya has been practicing these strange hand-to-hand combat techniques with a bow. I look to the side and see Nira learning about Runes from an Elf who looks to be about 40 years old and walks with three spirits around her. Nira must be learning more about blow spiritual techniques. Looks like Nira has been training too, I''m surprised. I look at a place that is having an intense battle, who are there are Sophia and her father Ramon.UppTodated from The two are fighting but you can still see that Sophia is at the disadvantage without being able to land a single hit on her father, but I can see her growth, now she is giving her father a harder fight. "Yes, exactly as you wanted, master." (Nix) "I wanted to open the Dungeon here, outside the village, but with so few monsters it''s difficult." (I) "By the strength of the people of this village, it seems that there must be strong monsters in the Illusory Forest, with our strength we could capture them and kill them inside the Dungeon, this would give us more DP as we would win twice, we would win by killing the monster and for releasing the monster''s soul." (Nix) "But what about Dungeon absorbing the dead monster?" (I) "I thought we could keep the monster materials as Lyra, Anton, Rakan, and Tnia might have some use for the body parts of these powerful monsters." (Nix) "That''s a good idea, it will at least speed things up." (I) "How long does the master plan to stay in this village?" (Nix) "I was planning to stay 3 or 4 months, we can get a lot of resources in this Forest to build the city, besides that we need some rest." (I) "We may have an opportunity to get a lot of resources and at the same time get a lot of DP." (Nix) "What would that opportunity be?" (I) "I''m not sure when that will happen, but it should happen during the period you want to stay here." (Nix) "The Annual Monster Wave." (Nix) "This happens every year during the change from one year to the next, the energies of the world go out of control and frenzied for a period of 3 to 5 days, this causes hundreds or thousands of monsters to spawn depending on the amount of energy in the region, plus there are usually waves of monsters coming out of the Dungeons as well." (Nix) "It will be a good opportunity for us, master." (Nix) "(This looks more like an apocalyptic event to me.)" (I) Chapter 424: Leonardo Is Excited Chapter 424: Leonardo Is Excited The next day I get up early and put on my clothes after using a potion of liquid soap, but before leaving the room I cover Ibuki and Diana in my bed. I leave the room and find Orion sleeping on the bedroom door with Layla sleeping on top of him, I walk past them and go get something to eat.The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) After I ate I leave to go towards the forest behind the village, I find Luthien and Aredhel already waiting for me at the exit of the village. "Good morning." (I) "Good morning, we were waiting for you." (Luthien) "..." (Aredhel) "I already warned the Arachnes, asked Nix to talk to them last night, also asked her to explain what has been happening to the others." (I) "You can start calling them from tomorrow." (Luthien) "Did you explain to the Council leaders about the Dungeon?" (I) "No, I told them that their subordinates are arriving in the next few days, I also told them they wouldn''t need to pass the tests." (Luthien) "I assume you said the approximate number of them, right?" (I) "He said that there were thousands of people of various different races, he also said to use only the common language to communicate." (Luthien) "Thank you for that." (I) "Where do you want me to call the Arachnes?" (I) "Inside the forest if possible, I don''t want others to see your Dungeon." (Luthien) "OK." (I) Luthien is acting personally this time probably so there is no mistake, I thought Aredhel would have a more active role now, but around Luthien, she is meek and calm, but I still see the look of hostility from this High Priestess when she looks at me. The three of us head to the forest where they saw me opening the Dungeon''s gate, they saw a big Dragon''s head coming out of the shadows with its jaws open, then hundreds of Arachnes came out of the Dungeon. The one who led them was Nix who slept inside the Dungeon, Helena who was in charge of the Arachnes was beside her, in addition, rica and Hela were also with her. Hela comes up to me and kneels down, rica on the other hand runs to me and gives me a very long kiss. "You big idiot, how can you keep me waiting so long inside the Dungeon?" (rica) "Nix must have explained things to you and the others, I only had the opportunity to call more people because the head leader of this village allowed it." (I) "How long have you been following the rules of people other than yourself?" (rica) "You are very serious Carolina, you have nothing to worry about, they will be able to take care of their own food." (Luthien) "Anyone following Zenos won''t be a weak commoner who needs to be taken care of or protected, right Zenos?" (Luthien) "You''re right, I''m more concerned with what we talked about earlier." (I) "Don''t worry about it, you''d be surprised how welcoming Elves are, we don''t judge people by their race or appearance as humans tend to say." (Luthien) I spent a few minutes talking and found out that Carolina was Sophia''s mother, which shocked me again when I remembered that Elves shouldn''t be judged by their appearance. I also found out that Carolina was a member of the village council, she represented all the Dark Elves. It seems that Roman was just the general of the village, even though he is the strongest Dark Elf he doesn''t have the ability to run the village, Carolina seemed to be angry with him for something. After these minutes of talking I move a little away from the gate to a place that will not be visible from the gate to everyone else, so I open the Dungeon gate. At this point everyone from the Dungeon was leaving, Lilith was in a human form and that must mean she learned the transformation technique that rica uses, she looked like a sweet young girl, I worry that someone would believe this facade and try to approach her with ulterior motives, I feel sorry for the idiot who does this. Lilian also came out and knelt in front of me next to Barok who was already kneeling from having left a few seconds before. When Sapphire came out of the Dungeon I was surprised to see that she looked younger and her body got a little bigger, her presence is also much stronger, it seems that she evolved and was not the only one. Ivan was using his Spectral Body to appear to be Human, but his presence was very strong, he appeared to be the same as always, but his presence was not second to Sapphire''s which means he must have evolved too. One more person caught my attention, Leonardo appeared running from the Dungeon gate holding several large papers wrapped in his arms as he ran towards me with his eyes shining. "Master Zenos, master Zenos... Nix told me that I can add some Elf buildings to the city project, is that true???" (Leonardo) "(He looks very excited.)" (I) "We''ll have time to talk later, but yes it''s true." (I) "I always wanted to mix different architectures together, but after my proposals were turned down so many times in the past I thought I was the only one who saw the innovation of it." (Leonardo) "When you said that you would give me freedom for these things I was still trying to contain myself to the rational, but it seems I can make all the changes I thought of in my spare time and..." (Leonardo) I stopped paying attention to what Leonardo was saying, he was so excited that he opened the papers with the city maps and the design of different buildings on the ground and started drawing at the speed of light while talking to himself. "(Why are there so many strange people around me?)" (I) I didn''t have time to think about the excited Leonardo, I had to put the order in the situation that was getting almost out of control, I also had to get Barok and Lilian to stand up. I had to say hello to my kids coming out of the Dungeon, keep the Lizardman from getting on their knees in front of me, and stop Tnia and Anton''s quarrel over an outfit that one of Anton''s tools ripped by accident, I also had to run to stop Samira who wanted to hug the Elf Queen while drooling, she has the same weakness for cute things as Diana, but tend to have higher control, I can''t blame her as the Elf Queen''s appearance is actually very cute. "(I think it should stop Diana from getting close to the Elf Queen, I''m afraid of what she might do.)" (I) Chapter 425: Projects Of A City Chapter 425: Projects Of A City After some time I managed to control the situation outside the Dungeon, Nix closes the Dungeon gate and enters using my shadow as a gate to appear in the Cradle of Spirits, she will be busy taking care of the Dungeon modifications for the rest of the day. I tell everyone to behave while they''re here, meanwhile it looks like Luthien, Catarina, and Roman were surprised by the people of the village, but I can''t blame them. I was also surprised when I saw so many people coming out of the Dungeon of different races, I think after being away from the Dungeon for so long and seeing other cities it started to sink in how strange it is for so many races to live together like this. I accompany everyone to the village gates along with Roman and Carolina, Luthien doesn''t like to show himself to the village people, so she disappeared in front of us, it was only after that that Elsaris was able to control her sister. We all pass through the village gates and through the village to get to the other side where the houses are still being built, but it looks like it''s not long to finish so I decided to do it today. I tell everyone we''re going to be here for a few months before I leave, I imagine everyone already knows that. After that we organize where everyone will live, meanwhile, Sophia appears with Jade to gather people from the Dungeon to go hunting for today''s food, and hundreds of people go along. Caryna and Freya start moving things forward for when the meat arrives, so they start preparing the side dishes, including the French fries I taught them to make. Luthien laughed at how I was using an alchemy ingredient to make food for thousands of people, she said I was practically burning money but I didn''t care, who can live without a hamburger and fries throwing the first stone. While everyone was there I threw all the work of keeping everything under control into the hands of Sapphire and Ivan. So I went with Leonardo to talk about the projects for the city as he looked like a madman writing on his papers as he walked. I took Leonardo inside the house where we''ve been staying, we go over to the dining room table where I take everything off while Leonardo throws his papers open across the table. "Here we''ll be able to talk better, so take a deep breath and say what you have to say calmly so I can understand." (I) "..." (Leonardo) Leonardo puts down his pen and the reading crystal he was using as he draws on the papers on the table, so he takes a few deep breaths before starting to speak in a more normal way. "All the options and more..." (Leonardo) "..." (I) "(Why don''t I have the right to choose whether or not I want a castle?)" (I) It seems that I don''t have much control over my own city, I wanted to say that there will be no castle, but with these crazy people threatening Leonardo, I''m not sure if I would be able to defend him, due to the bizarre amount of sweat coming out of his body right now he knows it too. I don''t think his life would be in danger, but I''m not sure what these madmen would do to him. Sigh "At least tell me it''s going to be a small castle." (I) "..." (Leonardo) cough cough "Define small?" (Leonardo) "..." (I) Sigh "I give up, do what you want with the castle, I just don''t want to get into that topic again for the sake of my mental health, now tell me more about the other things." (I) "Thank you so much for making things easier for me master, thank you so much..." (Leonardo) "Alright, just continue with your explanation of the project." (I) "Alright, about the library..." (Leonardo) Chapter 426: Annual Monster Wave Information 1 Chapter 426: Annual Monster Wave Information 1 After spending half the day with Leonardo discussing the city''s designs and seeing the drawings he had done I said he can start construction as soon as he has the materials. Leonardo told me that we already had almost all the materials he needed, the ones that were missing are materials that he can get here, what he said we would really need was the techniques that the Elves use during the construction of these houses inside the trees or the houses up in the trees. I said I would talk to the Elves to see if there were any builders who could teach the Nymphs to do the same.Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com During the night I had been drugged again, I don''t remember much about what happened next, but I''m sure the one who drugged me was Kira. I''ve had very few opportunities to see Kira since we got here, but this time she''s been training alone, as part of her training she was probably chasing me all day in hiding, to help her in her training I always smiled looking exactly at the place where she was, so she would have the opportunity to try different things to hide. This time I had noticed her presence, but I hadn''t noticed the poison in the food until it was too late, this was a very strong poison. After a long night, all I know is that this room is a mess with clothes strewn everywhere, I get up and cover the four girls, then leave my room and go to the bathroom to take a shower. As soon as I ate something I went to meet with Ivan and Sapphire, it was no surprise to see everyone in the place where the Dungeon people are staying, besides Sakura was with Jade talking to Sapphire. I walk over to them, I don''t see Ivan around here, but he must be training at the training ground if I''m not wrong. "Good morning. (I) "Good morning, master" (Jade) "Good morning, master Zenos." (Sakura) "Good morning you big heartless bastard." (Sapphire) "What an aggressive way to treat someone, what did I do?" (I) "You left Ivan and me in charge inside the Dungeon for weeks, then yesterday you disappear playing Ivan and me to sort things out." (Sapphire) "I have a lot to think about and a lot to do, I didn''t have time to do everything so I left some things I knew you two would have done well." (I) "But now I need to talk to you and Ivan one thing, where is he?" (I) "Now that you say it, it''s close to that time of year." (Sapphire) "To be honest I had forgotten about it, after 20 years trapped in a secret underground room I didn''t even remember it." (Ivan) "Why do you want to know about this?" (Sapphire) "Do you know when this should happen?" (I) "Should be a little over a month from now." (Sapphire) "If we stayed inside the dungeon it wouldn''t be a problem, but if we stayed in this village then we would have a few months of battles, the first week is the worst part." (Sapphire) "For you to be talking about this, I imagine you want to fight in this village, right?" (Ivan) "Yes, but I wanted to ask how do people defend themselves from this Annual Monster Wave?" (I) "Realms always empty villages that could not defend themselves to walled cities, all Adventurers usually return to their hometown to help defend or stay in the nearest city." (Ivan) "The Kingdoms prepare all year for this, the Guilds also help in the defense, the defenses are always very strong, but even so the number of deaths should be between 20% to 60% depending on the number of people helping in the defense and the level of preparation." (Ivan) "If there aren''t enough soldiers or Adventurers, if there aren''t enough potions or healers, if the walls aren''t well-tended, or if the number and strength of monsters are greater than expected, then a city can be destroyed or in rare cases, a Entire kingdom can be destroyed." (Ivan) "..." (I) "But these are extreme cases, as this is something that we face every year, it always has defense plans and credible withdrawal plans that can come in handy." (Ivan) "People can take refuge in fortresses or castles as a last line of defense, I''ve also heard of cases of cities spreading poison throughout the city to kill or ward off monsters while the population stays safely inside a fortress." (Ivan) "This is more serious than I thought, does this happen every year all over the world?" (I) "Yes." (Ivan) "(That''s why there are so many strong people in this world, they face apocalyptic events every year, this world is crazy.)" (I) Chapter 427: Annual Monster Wave Information 2 Chapter 427: Annual Monster Wave Information 2 The first time I heard about the Annual Monster Wave it sounded like an apocalyptic event, but now after hearing from Ivan I''m sure this is an apocalyptic event. The people of this world treat the wave of monsters the same way the people of my old world treated tornadoes or tsunamis, a force of nature that will happen whether you like it or not. These people have been through this so many times that they have methods of defending themselves from it, now I understand how the master of the Adventurer''s Guild Carlos, from the city of Valen which is in the Trigan Kingdom, was able to defend himself so quickly to the wave of monsters, he must have used plans he had already saved and people already knew what they had to do, this explains how he got so many potions so fast. I look at Ivan before turning to Sapphire who has listened to this quietly. "How did you used to defend yourself against the Wave of monsters in the mountain range, Sapphire?" (I) "Before Farus appeared there were many villages scattered throughout the mountain range, all villages are composed of many strong inhabitants, besides children and disabled there were not many people to defend themselves." (Sapphire) "As there were many villages, everyone manages to fight so as not to leave too many monsters for other villages, over the years there were only a few villages that could not defend themselves from the wave of monsters." (Sapphire) "And when did Farus start destroying these outlying villages? How did you deal with the Annual Monster Wave?" (I) "We didn''t do anything, we stayed hidden and let Farus'' troops fight the Annual Monster Wave, thanks to which his army wasn''t that big." (Sapphire) "We even tried to fight Farus during an Annual Monster Wave, but it didn''t work out." (Sapphire) "The Lamias never had to worry about defending the village because that was when I fought to defend the village." (Sakura) "Yes the Guardian always protected us, we were the only village that had almost no deaths during the Annual Monster Waves." (Sapphire) "For you to be talking so much about the Annual Monster Wave, you must want to participate, right?" (Ivan) "Yes, I was thinking of doing it in this village." (I) "This is a good time to pick up more useful materials for the Dungeon and at the same time stock up on food." (I) "You''re thinking about the DPs, right?" (Sakura) "That too, but how did you know about that?" (I) "Nix has told me a bit about Dungeon in the past." (Sakura) "The Monster Wave should happen soon, so I want you to see who among the people of the Dungeon will want to join the battle." (I) "Those who don''t fight will be sent into the Dungeon where they''ll be safe." (I) "That''s good, there are people who don''t want to fight anymore and just want to have a peaceful life." (Sapphire) "Sakura, can you do the same as before and protect those who are no longer able to fight?" (I) "I can do it, but this time it will be more difficult, the battle will be on a larger scale and will be continuous for a few days, I can reduce the death toll a lot, but it will be difficult to save everyone." (Sakura) "But you can enjoy the New Year''s Festival which will take place at the beginning of the last week of the year." (Luthien) "What Festival is this?" (I) "This is a festival that is celebrated every year, in this festival we celebrate everything that happened during the year while we wish the next year to be prosperous, but it also serves for everyone to be able to spend their days with their family and friends if they don''t survive the Wave of Annual Monsters." (Luthien) "But the number of deaths in this type of battle is still lower than the deaths that happen during wars, most of the time since everyone prepares for it all year round." (Luthien) "I understand." (I) "(New year festival..)" (I) "Did you guys do that in the mountain range too, Sakura?" (I) "Yes, all villages did that, but because of the battle against Farus we haven''t celebrated this festival in a few years." (Sakura) "It will be good to celebrate this festival again here, I''m sure everyone at Dungeon will have a lot of fun." (Sakura) "I hope so, but I would like to hear more about how this festival is run." (I) "It is celebrated with dance, music, food, drink and with your family or friends." (Luthien) "There will be food stalls everywhere, there will be tables and chairs on the main streets throughout the village, there will also be music competition here." (Luthien) "Is this festival celebrated in the same way everywhere?" (I) "Most of what I said, yes." (Luthien) "But the music competition is something our village likes to do, in other places they can have different events depending on local customs." (Luthien) "So you guys like music?" (I) "Yes, Music awakens feelings, music can bring harmony to everyone around, moreover, Fairies and Spirits love music." (Luthien) "So that''s a good thing to do in a village that gets along so well with Fairies and Spirits." (I) "Can we also set up food and drink stalls?" (I) "Of course, I hope your food is good." (Luthien) "I''m sure Caryna and Freya will want to be a part of this." (I) "Also, the Orcs have a very strong drink that perhaps the most demanding Elves like." (I) I spent the rest of the day walking around the city after a few more minutes of talking with the Elf Queen about the festivals, I took the opportunity to go talk to Nolan, but when I found him he was already talking to a beautiful Elf woman, he wasted no time. Chapter 428: New Years Festival Chapter 428: New Year''s Festival Time started to pass quickly as everyone got used to living in the Elf village, one thing I noticed was that Sophia seemed happy lately. After a conversation with Sophia she said that her father had finally worked up the courage to come to talk to her directly, it seems she didn''t talk to him about the things I showed her. She pretended she didn''t know anything as she continued to see him every day waiting for him to talk to her about it of his own accord. It seems Sophia''s mother was irritated the first time I met her because of her husband''s lack of courage to talk to his own daughter. I was glad Sophia had reconciled with her parents, I already knew the answer, but even so, I had to ask if Sophia would still continue to serve me even when I left this village in a few months. As was to be expected, Sophia said that she would clearly continue to follow me, she swore an oath to serve me for the rest of her life when I first met her and said she was glad she could. During our stay in this village, Rakan and his subordinates have been working harder than ever, the theoretical mages were in paradise studying together with the Elves who had a great knowledge of magic and the battle mages spent their days training to perfect their magic while mages Elves with hundreds of years of experience told them. Rakan spent all day in the Elves'' library, I had to ask Lilith to drag him outside to eat. One thing I noticed was that Hela and Lilith had become very good friends, they even trained together, but Hela always won as she was much stronger. Luckily the two were in a more Human-like form, I didn''t even know Hela was capable of that until I saw her leaving the Dungeon the other day. The two of them are always coming after me, Lilith seems like a spoiled daughter always chasing her father''s attention and wanting to be close to me and Hela was even worse, there were days when I woke up with her waiting outside my room. Time passed and the day of the festival arrived, I must say that I was surprised by the celebration, it seemed that it would never end, it was three straight days of partying, and it even looked like the Brazilian Carnival of my old world. There were people eating, drinking, and dancing in the streets all the time, the music never seemed to stop, Fairies and Spirits were dancing in the air while shining all over the place, during the nights the view was magnificent. Anton, Diana, Sophia, Leo, Nix, and several people from the Dungeon always had a bottle of drink in their hands, they even had a drinking competition where Anton and Tnia were a tie who never stopped drinking. Freya and Caryna''s food stall was the most crowded of customers at the festival, their food became famous overnight, and there were even customers who ate crying. During this festival there were only people from the village of Elves and people from the Dungeon, the guests of the village were informed that they should leave two weeks ago, that''s because after the festival the Elves will start the final preparations for the defense of the village against the Annual Monster Wave. But I didn''t want to think about it at the moment, I never liked dancing, but everyone always dragged me to dance, it felt like I had no choice in the matter. I danced with my daughters, with my 4 lovers, and with other women from the village, but there were people in my group that were even more popular, my son Irius had many women around him including Elves. Irina didn''t dance with any man besides me and her brother, she spent all the remaining time dancing with other women who by the way were many who wanted to dance with her. Vanessa seemed to like to sing a lot, apart from dancing with me she didn''t dance with anyone else and spent her time singing, her voice was so wonderful that many times people stopped dancing to listen. Barok started an arm wrestling match with the men of the village and the Dungeon, as expected Anton and Ivan also wanted to participate, to my surprise, Anton almost tied with Ivan who lost against Barok. The parties were wonderful, everyone wearing colorful clothes and having fun, it didn''t even look like they would soon be getting ready for an almost apocalyptic event. Chapter 429: Annual Monster Wave Part 1 Chapter 429: Annual Monster Wave Part 1 On the third day of the festival, it was already the second sleepless night for everyone, it seems that people don''t know the meaning of the word tiredness. I didn''t want to dance anymore, I also had my stomach full of delicious food, so I walked away to enjoy the view, I was on top of a tree seeing that colorful and light-filled scene with everyone having fun, and a smile forms in my face. "Looks like you''re having fun." (Luth) I look to my side and to my surprise, the World Tree spirit was sitting next to me watching the festivities as well. "I''m surprised to see you so far from your body." (I) "I can go anywhere on this continent I want, but it affects the ongoing purification and harmonizing of energies, so I don''t normally do that." (Luth) "But the village isn''t far away, so it doesn''t matter if I come here, so I like to drop by sometimes and see people." (Luth) "Luthien is not with you?" (I) "She must be pretending to be a kid down there at the party somewhere." (Luth) "You should also go downstairs to enjoy the party." (I) "I already did that, you even danced with me, don''t you remember." (Luth) "..." (I) The World Tree spirit passes its hand in front of its face completely changing its appearance to that of a normal Elf woman with a sweet smile, I remember this Elf also pulling me to dance yesterday. Then she passes her hand in front of her face again and her appearance returns to normal. "This body you''re seeing is just a materialization of energy, it''s not an actual physical body, so I can shape it to whatever appearance I want." (Luth) "Why do so many people want to dance with me, even Luthien pulled me to dance on the first day." (I) "It was because she did that that they all started doing the same, seeing their eyes I didn''t dare say no." (I) "Stop complaining, you know you had fun too." (Luth) Sigh "Yes it was a lot of fun, I wish this moment would last forever." (I) I look up at the starry sky above my head and images of everything I''ve been through in this world flash through my head. "Since I came into this world, there have been few times I''ve been able to have fun and relax like these three days." (I) "Most of the time I was involved in battles or had some plan in place, I also know that more situations like this will happen in the future." (I) Mages were in preparation for ritual barrier spells or large-scale attacks, the archers positioned their tokens close to where they stood. Traps started to be set up around the village, the village has always been in the same place, the spatial barrier around the village just transports the person to the other side while a barrier of disorientation confuses people''s minds not to notice the difference in distance, but with such a large number of monsters, the space barrier won''t handle it. That''s why everyone who will fight receives a temporary mark on their bodies so they won''t be affected by the barriers around the city, so they''ll be able to fight without problems. All the barrier mages are being positioned to repair the barriers if necessary, but Irina is not among them, it seems that after a conversation I had with her some time ago, she has been training a new way to use her barrier barriers. more aggressive way. The Dungeon people will be led by me, Ivan, Sapphire, Freya, Sophia, Elsaris, Rakan, and Diana who are the ones who have high leadership skills. Me, Sapphire, Ivan, Diana, and Sophia will lead on the front lines. Freya will lead the archers which is something she has been doing better and better. Elsaris will lead the stealth attacks to kill the most troublesome monsters while defending the others against stealth-type monsters. Rakan will lead the Mages to large-scale attacks using ritual spells that are still being prepared now. But not all Dungeon Mages will be with Rakan, Mages who are more specialized in combat like Jana, rica, Lilith, and Hela will be fighting alongside groups of Warriors. Vanessa is leading two other Priestesses of the Gods of Forest and Battle, they will be supporting her back. Sakura will not fight directly, I asked her to be responsible for rescuing the seriously injured and those who are unable to continue fighting both on our side and on the side of the Elves, so she will be in the middle of the village as a central point to be able to do that. I told Nix to prepare by sending a few hundred of our warriors into the dungeon, I want her to send these monsters to the dungeon and who died there. Layla created a space portal that is powered by the energy of the gold coins, so she doesn''t have to stay there doing nothing, it seems she learned that from Rakan so she wouldn''t be standing all the time while the others fought. Orion, Nix, and Layla will run wild across the battlefield as they are strong enough not to be in too much danger, but even so, I said not to stray too far in case you need help I can help. While I was organizing the people of the Dungeon for combat, the Elves of the village were organized in a standard way as they had been through this situation in this place many times. Aredhel, the three village council leaders, and Ramon as the army general were in charge of everything. Looking at the way I organized my troops and the way the Elves organized themselves made me realize a big difference in things. My way of leading was to allow the troops the versatility to attack or defend depending on the situation, we divided everyone into groups of 30 to be able to move the right amount to where you needed it. But the Elves look more like an army splitting into a wall of shields in front, warriors in the middle, archers and mages in the back. The way they moved was well trained and coordinated, it shows how much they''ve all been training the same thing over the years. Their defense method is certainly better, but I don''t just want to defend, I believe that the best defense attacks. The small groups I''ve set up will be taking turns between the back row and the front row, so everyone will be able to rest and eat. We will attack in waves to finish off as many monsters as possible, I believe that this way the monsters will not accumulate which would make our work more difficult as time goes by. Chapter 430: Annual Monster Wave Part 2 Chapter 430: Annual Monster Wave Part 2 According to what Luthien said today or tomorrow the monsters will start to appear, she said that I would be able to notice since the energy would pile up until first-generation masts are born nonstop causing an imbalance in nature that I am able to feel now that I have obtained the trinity. Everyone is in their positions, but the truth is that the battle should be easy, according to what Luthien told me the monsters that appear are normally from Grade SSS and below. It seems that the only Grade Catastrophe monsters are the final boss of the two Dungeons that are at the ends of the Illusory Forest, and rarely does a first-generation Lower Grade Catastrophe monster spawn on this continent where energy density is considered low. The first day passes without anything happening, during the night we sleep in shifts in preparation for the wave of monsters to happen during the night. As if waiting for the worst possible moment, that''s exactly what happened, the ground shook, ripples of energy were felt by everyone and the sound of roaring began to come from all directions. "< They''re coming, get ready!!!! >" (I) I use the same technique I used in the Makari Kingdom capital to shout an order to everyone. With my shout everyone jumped up grabbing their weapons and heading straight for their positions, I myself run forward with Barok and Ibuki behind me. I stand at the front waiting, I can feel the earthquakes increasing, I can hear the roars getting closer and closer, and I can feel the bloodlust of thousands and thousands of monsters coming our way. "I will attack first, Ibuki will attack Grade S ones and Barok will go after those with large bodies, they usually have a lot of strength so I''m counting on you." (I) "Yes." (Ibuki / Barok) I can already hear branches and trees breaking, I can also see red eyes appearing from the darkness of the forest. When the monsters come out of the forest I realize that they are plant-type monsters, they were of different shapes and sizes, clearly, not of the same race, but as usual, the monsters of a Wave of Monsters seem to coordinate. "< Breath of Fire >" (I) I wait until these monsters get closer and take a deep breath concentrating my mana in my mouth, then I open my mouth releasing a sea of fire in a cone shape that devastates everything in a distance of about 500 meters. My attack that destroyed hundreds of enemies doesn''t even seem to have frightened these monsters, they throw themselves into the fire while still running toward me. "< Blades of Fire >" (I/Ivan/Elsaris/Layla/Barok) Me and the others who have Fireblade-type skills, nis approach each other standing side by side while we wait for these monsters to approach so we can launch an attack that will be strong enough to crush the weakest. It was already dawn and these monsters seemed to have no end, the more they were killed, the more of them appeared to replace the ones that died, it seemed that this would never end. I also noticed that the role of monsters has increased, Grade S monsters started appearing a few minutes ago. Now I''m avoiding using ranged attacks because of the Dungeons fighters around me. I now realize how much stronger I am, even after a night of fighting I was not tired, all I feel is my blood boiling from the heat of the battle. I stretch out my Dragon Wings and let my blood flow through those wings as I control to shape a specific shape before I crystallize the blood, thereby creating red crystal blades in my wings. As the enemies seemed to have no end I use my wings to fly before throwing myself spinning in the middle of the enemies spreading my wings and causing a shower of wood splinters. During this entire battle I didn''t have to give many orders as the attacks I was leading were doing a good job, besides that, I didn''t want to disperse our forces too much. I believe we should never underestimate our enemies, so I won''t let the groups I''ve formed with our warriors get too far away from each other and die. In the midst of my attack, I see a mountain of bones rise from the ground and show itself in a gate more than ten meters high. Roooooooo!!!! An evil energy form inside this bone gate and a roar spread through the surroundings, then a large snake-like head comes out of the gate, before I can understand what is happening another four heads like the first one come out of the gate followed by a single body with four thick paws linking these heads. There was no doubt, that this was a Hydra, but this monster was not alive, this monster had exposed flesh and organs, and this monster was half-rotted showing that it was clearly an 8 meter tall Zombie. As soon as this monster appeared, something jumped from the ground straight to this Zombie Hydra''s head, it was Hela who was still in her Human form, Hela points at the monster and the Zombie Hydra starts attacking. The monster''s acid breath attacks destroyed hundreds of enemies each time it was used, plus this Zombie Hydra was very strong crushing monsters like they were dry tree branches. Hela who was on top of the monster gave orders to him avoiding hitting the Dungeon warriors, this is maybe the first time I see Hela''s Necromancer skills, but I didn''t expect her to do that against such a weak group of enemies. After some thought I realize something is wrong, this Zombie Hydra had Grade S strength, even with its great size its power didn''t match its appearance. I imagine that Hela decided to nominate this creature so as not to show too much of her power. When I saw that Hela was saying that crazy thing, I worried about what Lilith might be doing. I tried to find Lilith and found her sitting on a large pile of dead monster bodies, she was sitting casting spells with excellent accuracy only on monsters that were in Grade S while humming with a smile on her face. Chapter 431: Annual Monster Wave Part 3 Chapter 431: Annual Monster Wave Part 3 Looking around everyone was fighting well, even Tnia, Anton and Lyra were fighting in different groups. Lyra looks a lot like an Elf girl, no one would think of her as a Homunculus, but this girl was very strong, her clothes were full of pockets and she had a big bag with dozens of compartments, both the bag and the pockets of her clothes were filled with potions or potion materials. Some people had already told me that Lyra takes advantage of her free time to train her Combat Alchemist techniques. I''ve been told that Lyra was spectacular during the invasions of the Makari Kingdom''s cities, but this is still the first time I''ve seen how a Combat Alchemist can be a terrifying enemy. Lyra never stops moving her hands, looking at her makes her look like she''s dancing on the battlefield, but her hand movements are to control the potion drops that float from the vials on her clothes or bag, there are always 5 or 6 liquid spheres floating around Lyra. These spheres were of different colors, Lyra used each liquid sphere differently, these spheres were temporary potions made with her power that must be used right away. She uses one of these liquid potion spheres to make it rain on dozens of monsters, when these drops of potions hit the monsters small explosions of fire happen to cause all the monsters to catch fire. But Lyra doesn''t just do this attack, she is using several potions at the same time and sending them where she needs them all at once, she at the same time made a liquid sphere of blue potion split into five and goes straight into the mouths of five people. of your group, by the color and concentration of Mana in the potions I recognized as MP potions. Lyra controlled another liquid potion sphere by throwing it at another group of monsters causing the sphere to explode in a huge explosion that tore to pieces dozens of monsters leaving a crater in the place of the explosion. Tnia wore special gloves that her husband made for her, these gloves had curved claws to be used during a direct attack or for her to be able to hold the lines without hurting her fingertips. Tnia used these lines with great dexterity, wherever these lines passed the enemies were cut into cubes, and those more resistant were rolled up by the lines and squeezed until they were crushed. Tnia led her group formed only of Arachnes as if it were a crusher making all enemies to pieces, thanks to these lines she could also defend against magic attacks or defend someone close to her, her ability to manipulate lines is more accurate than mine, maybe because she uses it daily in her work or maybe just natural talent. The group Anton led was made up of Ogres and Orcs, all of whom held weapons such as maces, war axes, or war hammers. They wore heavy metal armor and heavy weapons, they are a group made up of only those who have great strength and stamina, they are clearing their way on the battlefield crushing everything in their path. Anton even being the smallest in his group was the one who had the greatest strength, his war hammer had the ability to change the size, and each attack on the ground made the earth shake and crack. Each attack of Anton made the enemies into pieces of wood, and the few attacks that hit them seemed to have no effect as they didn''t even push him back, besides the orders he gave were followed by all of his group in a coordinated way. Anton''s group was fighting close to Tnia''s group, I think the two want to stay close to each other so they can help if necessary. I was happy seeing everyone fighting so well, the front line so far showed no sign of weakness and arrows hid the sky with our archers'' attacks being led by Freya in the back line, so far the large scale ritual spells have not been used because these monsters are still weak, we are reserving this for when groups of SS Grade or higher monsters spawn. Chapter 432: Annual Monster Wave Part 4 Chapter 432: Annual Monster Wave Part 4 When the night was coming again, a shift takes place, I take the opportunity to go eat something, almost all the monsters that are appearing are of the plant type, so I can''t drink their blood, I tried to drink the blood of a Nymph, but I found out the hard way that it was the sap. In the back row, I sit high up to keep an eye on the battlefield while I''m eating a three-foot sandwich and drinking a bottle of blood. Now that I don''t have to focus on my own fight, I have time to watch others fight. Leo is leading a mixed and balanced group, he has five Orcs in full armor holding shields and spears, he also has ten warriors who use sabers or swords from the Oni and Ghoul races, and he also has three werewolf assassins who use their claws to hit weak points of the enemies, there were also 5 or 6 Mages supporting them from behind with attack spells, defense spells, support spells, healing spells, etc. Leo is fighting fiercely, but he''s still not using his full power, he still hasn''t released his Lion transformation, but even then there''s no enemy that can stop his Ax even among the few Grade S monsters that are appearing. I look in the other direction and I see Ivan still fighting, he''s wearing his black armor and his sword of flames, what he''s doing can''t even be called fighting, it was a one-sided massacre, wherever he went dozens of monsters would go die with a single swing of your sword. Also as an Undead Ivan never gets tired, so even after almost a day, he is not tired or hungry, as he does not need to use his mana he can continue this battle for days without ever feeling sleepy or exhausted. Sophia was leading the group where Alice and Nolan were, Nolan was using daggers, he was staying away from battles and choosing the moments where he could finish combat with a single blow, I must say I was surprised by his dexterity in holding a dagger, his knife throws are also pretty accurate. Nolan''s only problem is that he is still very weak, he could be defeated even by one of the Hobgoblin archers, that''s because his level was very low, he had no combat experience and his fighting techniques were still a bit amateurish. But these mindless monsters will not see the flaws in Nolan''s martial arts, nor will they see the naivety of his attacks without experience, this is an excellent opportunity for him to grow. Alice on the other hand is demonstrating excellent talent, she fights using a sword in one hand and using magic in the other, she seems to have a talent for fighting while casting magic which speaks volumes of her calm and analytical mind. She is still a little weak, but her future is promising. Sophia who was leading the group where Alice and Nolan are is destroying all the monsters around, she is concentrating her Aura in her open hand which she is using as a sword to slash enemies. Her blows with her hands cut enemies like they were made of butter while her kicks crush enemies. The two were fighting side by side, Jade was not yet at her mother''s level, but she was close to reaching Lower Catastrophe Grade. Everyone was fighting splendidly, I even turned to my son Irius who was wearing his black armor with white details, he also wore a medium-sized shield and a long sword. Irius was the typical paladin, he was very tough and strong, but his speed left something to be desired, but he made up for his lack of speed with dexterity in the handling of his sword and shield. The group he led was mainly composed of Nymphs and Arachnes, he was the one who endured the continuous attack of monsters to protect others while making devastating attacks against enemies. But what surprises me the most in this battle is still my daughter Irina, it seems that she has listened to my advice and found her own way to fight. She used her great skill and knowledge to create, manipulate, and use shield or barrier spells to shape shields into shapes that could be used to attack. She spent months researching this alongside Rakan while I was either undergoing my evolution or receiving the trinity of nature. But it seems that she has achieved some successes in her research, with my eyes I see a shield shaping itself into a giant hammer that crushes dozens of enemies. Furthermore, the streams of light she always wore were given a layer of magic shield on top creating a surface full of sharp spikes. Now, these chains destroy monsters'' bodies brutally, that''s why Irina isn''t using the corrosion skill right now, otherwise, it would be really brutal. rica was sitting not far from me using her magic that creates those beasts of cursed fire, she is turning hundreds of monsters to dust after being burned. rica isn''t doing everything she can right now just like everyone else, I know everyone is saving their strength for when it really needs to be used. I''m glad everyone is fighting so well, I don''t seem to have to worry, so far I''ve only seen Sakura''s rescue plants popping up from the ground to rescue someone ten times, this proves that everyone is doing very well, I wanted to see how the Elves'' side is doing, but I don''t want to take my eyes off my people, letting your guard down during a battle of this size is reckless. I hope their side is doing well, but I won''t waste any more time thinking about them, it''s time for me to return to the battlefield after a nice meal. Chapter 433: Annual Monster Wave Part 5 Chapter 433: Annual Monster Wave Part 5 Pov Aredhel: This monster wave is being a little different from the previous ones, normally the Grade S monsters only start to appear during the second or third day, but this time they started to appear hours after the monster wave happened, something is wrong. I look ahead and see the shield troops enduring the relentless onslaught of the monsters that are soon decimated by our Mages and Spiritualists. The Fairies and Spirits are attacking from above, completely decimating the monsters below. The few monsters that manage to get through the first line of shield defense are destroyed by the warriors behind the shields. The Gray Elves are running among the monsters killing any troublesome monsters like those that use poison or illusions, these are the ones that caused the destruction of our strategies. One of our countermeasures is to not let these monsters grow in numbers as it can be difficult to fend off many of them. "All is going well so far Mistress Aredhel, but the number of monsters is worrying me." (Carolina) "Yes, me too." (I) I close my eyes and use the vision of the Fairies I have a contract with, I switch from one to the other to try to understand the situation as best I can. "(These numbers are higher than last year and previous years, the only thing that happened differently this year was the Heretic God dead, the failed attempt to summon something in the Makari Realm, and that Vampire getting the Trinity.)" (I) "(What happened to the Heretic God shouldn''t affect that much, let alone a place as far away as this.)" (I) "(At least the Fairy Kings who passed by here said so.)" (I) But when the Fairy gets there and I see what''s happening there through the Fairy''s eyes, I''m shocked. That Vampire''s troops were scattered in medium-sized groups that were fighting in different ways, it was all chaotic, one group didn''t seem to coordinate with the others. As I watch this amateur army I realize that they are focusing on versatility, I notice that groups move to areas that need it most quickly, even if I don''t agree with this type of strategy I can at least admit that it''s working so far. But this kind of strategy is very risky, they don''t have a line of defense, they only have a strong attack line, and besides that, they have troops resting in the middle, they also have archers and mages in the backline doing long-range attacks. It seems that they are rotating their attacking forces to maintain a stable condition to continue an ongoing battle. This will work now, but when the stronger monsters start to swarm they will have to use all their troops to attack, also without a line of defense to hold back so many monsters they always have to be aware of their surroundings, this strategy is very risky. But I was surprised to see the overall strength of their troops, they are a level stronger individually than our troops, so far it''s relying on this strength that they''re supporting, but how long will they be able to keep it that way? I keep looking and see the Dragon coming out of the shadows and devouring the monsters, I also see an unknown creature flying around while releasing bolts of dark energy from its jaws at the monsters. But what caught my attention the most was the Fairy, this time I could see her real dorma that she had been hiding all this time, she had four arms and her wings had the energies of several different elements. "(What kind of Fairy is this?)" (I) The strangest thing was the happy smile that this Fairy had while she was destroying enemies, she seemed to be happy with all this death and destruction, the worst thing is that this Fairy was not the only one, there were more people who seemed to be happy with this battle. "I should have known that anyone who agreed to follow that bastard Vampire would be crazy, now I''m sure." (I) I open my eyes and turn my attention back to just our battle, I can only hope that that Vampire and his followers are at least able to defend the other side of the village. Chapter 434: Annual Monster Wave Part 6 Chapter 434: Annual Monster Wave Part 6 Pov Goddess Selene: I was seeing Zenos'' battle against the Annual Monster Wave through the eyes of my Priestess Vanessa, I had a crystallized blood mirror floating in front of me showing everything that is happening. "Seeing the consequences of what you''ve done?" (Akatosh) "Go away you giant lizard, I don''t have the patience right now." (I) I''m very irritated ever since that bastard Baldr dared to send a message demanding that I go to him to give an explanation about his Priestess, his messenger was a subordinate God of his. I say "was" because now he''s dead, Baldr sent the most foolish and arrogant God possible knowing I would kill him, that bastard wants to convince the other Gods to go against me. "I see you''re still furious at Baldr''s senseless tricks." (Akatosh) "That bastard is playing childish games when we already have too many problems to deal with." (I) "You should have known that he would do something after stealing one of his Priestesses most likely to become a Saint." (Akatosh) "I didn''t rob anyone, I just saved someone who was trying to get away from this idiot." (I) "Also Baldr is proud and arrogant, he thinks he can face what''s to come with his current followers and his strength." (Akatosh) "I can''t tell if he underestimates his enemies or if he''s so foolish as to think he''s superior to everyone else." (I) "I think both, but he''s always been like that." (Akatosh) Sigh "If he keeps pissing me off like this he''ll get what he wants, so I think he''d better continue his little games with his believers in the mortal world like he''s been doing so far." (I) "Don''t do that, you know your forces are similar, a battle between you if taken seriously could destroy a third of this universe." (Akatosh) "I will not participate to help either side." (Akatosh) "Don''t worry, I won''t start a battle over anything like this fool, but I won''t back down if he tries to attack me directly." (I) "Then let him get on with his tricks, you also know that no God will be fooled by things like that." (Akatosh) "He did it to spread among mortals that you killed a good and just God." (Akatosh) "It doesn''t matter to me, it won''t affect my believers too much, all it will do is increase the conflict between our religions." (I) "Why not take advantage of this to strengthen your new son?" (Akatosh) "Huh?" (I) "I''m more worried about what she''s up to, since the last time I saw her I think she''s doing something." (I) "Don''t worry, she does things at her own pace, just leave her alone and wait for the show she''s going to put on." (Akatosh) "I heard that she went to meet the Beast God and the Spirit God, but I don''t know what they want to do." (Akatosh) "I think you''re right, let''s just sit back and enjoy the show." (I) ---------- Pov Zenos: It''s been three days since this Annual Monster Wave started, from the second day there were already several Grade S monsters attacking us, there were also some Grade SS monsters. Now that we are on the third day, there are already many Grade S monsters and several Grade SS monsters. I just signaled to use the ritual spells that we were keeping, I asked this to give a breather to the troops who are not having time to rest, we only have about 7 ritual spells ready to use. "Activate the first ritual magic!!!" (I) I give the signal and the front line retreats, then a magic circle in the backline glows and shoots energy into the sky above the monsters that keep running after the retreating troops. From this magic circle in the sky a gale starts across the battlefield, this wind was not something normal, this wind was formed by wind blades that were completely destroying enemies to pieces, this magic would last for about an hour with the amount of Mana that we put into it. Most of the troops were tired and out of energy, many were even injured, so I used this time for the troops to rest and heal using the potions Lyra had made in advance. After this rest time passed the ritual magic was starting to weaken, so I joined forces with Layla. I use Layla as a means for this a large-scale magic making a tornado of flames like the one we used in the capital of the Makari Kingdom, but this time it was just Layla and I doing that magic. The tornado was twice as big as I expected and it had a very big suction force, the monsters were swallowed by the tornado and turned to dust in a few minutes, and even the battlefield underwent major changes as the ground was being covered in magma due to the tornado heat is melting everything on the battlefield. The monsters that were closest to this magical attack were sucked in with no chance to resist, but the strangest thing for me was seeing the monsters try to keep running towards us even while passing over the magma or getting close to the fire tornado. They were just running to their death, I couldn''t understand how these monsters had no survival instincts and threw themselves to death like that. But thanks to this magic I got more time to finish treating the rest of the wounded and for everyone to return to their fighting positions in a better state than before. After twenty minutes the fire tornado disappears, but there was still magma on the ground, but the monsters were using the bodies of the monsters that died earlier to get to us. I make a compressed water sphere and throw it into the lava, the water sphere turns to steam quickly due to the high temperature of the magma, then an explosion of hot steam happens to kill some monsters nearby while the water helps to cool the magma into solid rock. After that everyone held their weapons tightly as they rushed to attack. One thing I noticed was that there was a SS Grade monster among this current wave of monsters, that is to say, that from here it will get more difficult, but one thing I noticed was that the number of monsters was decreasing as the strength of the monsters increased, I also noticed that the monsters were no longer coming in continuously but starting to come in waves with small intervals between each one. Chapter 435: Annual Monster Wave Part 7 Chapter 435: Annual Monster Wave Part 7 On the fifth day the intervals of each attack were over an hour, but this time all the monsters were Grade SS or Grade SSS. I was killing the monsters with the same speed as before as they were all weaker than me, but the troops were different, they were starting to be of less help, and the weaker ones were already taken out of the battlefield before they died. Sakura was of great help in the last two days preventing the deaths of thousands of our troops, besides that, I also noticed that apart from Freya, the other archers were no longer being of help, their tokens were not able to do anything against these monsters. So we only had Freya as an archer at the moment taking care of the flying monsters that started to appear since yesterday, these monsters were birds that camouflage themselves in the mist they create themselves. Everyone below Grade S was forced out of the battlefield, plus many people were being seriously injured and couldn''t return to the battlefield, so we were down to 1/3 of our starting troops. After days of fighting many were exhausted, but we were still managing to fight, I was already doing my best to finish off the monsters as quickly as possible. As I have been fighting a lot I managed to create a new technique that I learned during these continuous battles, I created a cape using my lines and blood, when I needed I could transform this cape into different shapes such as chains, tentacles, swords, shields, etc. I was running among the monsters cutting them as if they were made of paper, each swing of my sword or dagger created an attack of the blade of judgment that slashed several monsters at once. While my hands were busy my wings would cut the enemies beside me or my new cape would turn into tentacles with crystallized blood at the tip like a thorn piercing enemies. Nolan, Jana, Alice, and Samira were also ordered to retreat, their strength not matching the difficulty level of the current battle. Lilith was still in her Human form as was Hela, at least they are following my order, the same goes for rica. Lilith was destroying the monsters using dark magic to create weapons from the shadows of the monsters that killed them by surprise, in addition, Lilith was using a dagger to cut her hands to use their blood to make curses that absorb the enemies'' vitality. Nix was still devouring the monsters, but unlike before when she devoured the monsters alive to be killed by the warriors inside the Dungeon, now she is paying the monsters before devouring them by sending them to the Dungeon. Nix just like Layla and I were wreaking havoc on the monsters, Orion was no longer just flying and shooting bolts of dark energy, now he was running between the monsters tearing them to pieces with his claws or ripping the monsters'' limbs off with his powerful jaws. Also, I found that Orion can use all the elements that I can use, he makes continuous attacks like pressurized water jets or fire breath as I have also done. Diana and Ibuki were fighting side by side flawlessly, Diana had the speed advantage while Ibuki''s attacks were always the finishing blows, both are at Grade SSS strength. rica undid the various Cursed Fire Beasts she had before and created a five-meter-tall Werewolf-like creature made of purple fire that ran at great speed and had a lot of destructive power with its Cursed Fire. When a monster managed to kill him, a great emotion happens burning dozens of monsters in the surroundings, so rica makes another magic circle where a new cursed fire werewolf comes out. Everyone was fighting well enough for now, but it worries me that these monsters keep coming our way, even if I''m not tired right now, I don''t have the strength to do this forever let alone those weaker than me. Chapter 436: Annual Monster Wave Part 8 Chapter 436: Annual Monster Wave Part 8 After six days of constant fighting, the last monsters to appear were twenty Lower Catastrophe Grade monsters, they appeared alone without any other monsters next to them and at the same time. The worst thing is that we hadn''t noticed them at first, ten of these monsters were a herd of Illusory Hunters, they looked like Wolves, but their bodies were made of intertwined plants, they could completely hide in the mist, moreover, their illusions were due to hallucinogens that the plants on their bodies released into the air. By the time we realized these monsters were there, it was too late and ten Ogres and twenty Ghouls had died. Before we had time to deal with these enemies three birds fly across the sky towards us, these birds were more than five meters in size, these birds had greenish feathers and threw feathers that looked like sharp knives covered in poison, these birds were very fast and resistant. In addition, there were five Bear Kings of the Forest, they were ten meter-sized Bears with vine tentacles with poisonous spines on their backs and wooden armor around their bodies, these monsters were very strong and had an annoying resistance, their only weakness would be their speed, but they make up for this weakness with the tentacles of vines with spikes on their backs, these tentacles are very fast which makes it difficult to fight this monster in melee. The last two monsters were a 4 meter tall Cyclops looking like a mountain of muscle, he held a tree trunk like a staff as he approached. But the worst enemy was actually a Wood Golem, it had 8 crab or spider legs with spear-like feet, it had the rest of its humanoid body with two arms holding trees that it looks like it had just ripped out by the roots, this monster has hundreds of vines growing behind him, in addition, he uses poisons and illusions, I had read about this monster in a book in the past, I just didn''t think I would meet him one day, I don''t remember all the information about this monster, but I know it''s a variant of Wood Golem. This Wood Golem is a very rare variant to be seen from the information I read, its height is over 15 meters, and the only guaranteed way to defeat any Golem is to destroy the core that is somewhere in the body, meanwhile if not done there is no way to kill this monster as its body can regenerate quickly from what I remember from the information I read. All these monsters appear at the same time causing a big problem for everyone, I had to make everyone below Grade SSS leave the battlefield as quickly as possible. I couldn''t ask everyone to withhold their power because of being exposed, so I stopped caring about everything and gave everyone permission to use their powers to the fullest. Lilith, Hela, and rica release their true forms, Hela wasn''t exactly a Demon, she was a Kimera type, but her real appearance was certainly demonic. When the three unleashed their full power their Auras became ten times stronger. I spread my Aura across the battlefield to increase the power of my companions while at the same time I am weakening these monsters, I am also using all my Aura effects like fear, pain, and death to weaken these monsters as much as possible, but I realized that those effects aren''t doing much against monsters of equal strength to me. I contacted Sakura for her to come help as well, meanwhile, I use my lines in my hands to grab the ten wolf-like plant monsters and throw them away from the retreating troops, then I use a fire breath with all my strength, but the monsters haven''t died yet, their bodies are damaged and some are still on fire, but they''re still alive running towards me. "Leave those to us, Father." (Lilith) I thought this would make him give up his attack on me to dodge or defend himself, but I was wrong, he continued his punch sending me flying backward and crashing into the protective barrier of the village. Boommm!!! I thought he had been destroyed by the direct hit of my attack, but I had to confirm, that my injuries weren''t very serious and I only used a healing skill to get myself fully recovered. I fly over to where the Golem was and use the wind pressure caused by my wings to scatter the dust cloud while dodging another punch I noticed coming from within the dust cloud because of my Aura. "You''re tougher than I thought." (I) When the dust nine disappears it reveals that more than half of the Golem''s body had been destroyed, but the wood that makes up his body is growing and regenerating to its normal form quickly, in a few tens of seconds his body was completely intact again. "He''s a Golem, so his weakness has to be his core, but where is that?" (I) "That meteor destroyed more than half of his body, but it looks like it missed the core, so where is this core?" (I) "(I don''t know where the core is, so I just have to finish off the whole body.)" (I) "< Earth Pillar >" (I) I create a magic circle and drop it to the ground below me as I push to the ground with my wings, then spin in the air and land on the ground kicking with all my might at the magic circle that absorbs all that force, then a pillar 3 or 4 meters thick appears with great speed on the ground hitting the Wood Golem from below and throwing him up dozens of meters high. "< Prison of Flames >" (I) "< Mana Barrier >" (I) I activate the corrosion skill while creating a large sphere of fire by hanging the golem inside while he is still in the sky, then creating a barrier of Mana so the Golem cannot escape. With the corrosion ability that activates this fire besides burning is also acidic, that means it will destroy this Golem''s body twice as fast, in addition, I''m hitting his entire body at the same time this way, all I need to do is use each drop of Mana I have to maintain this barrier for this monster not to escape. Chapter 437: Annual Monster Wave Finale Chapter 437: Annual Monster Wave Finale I spent five hours with this resistance fight against the wooden Golem, all this time he kept hitting the barrier several times with all his might, many times the barrier was close to breaking but I quickly fixed the barrier using my mana. At the start of the fight I wasn''t at my full strength anymore as I''d been fighting almost non-stop for days, but with what I was doing now I was continuously expending my mana and wouldn''t be able to keep things that way forever. With my Aura, I knew what was happening inside the fireball so I realized that during those five hours this damn golem was regenerating continuously too, but its regeneration was slower than me using fire and corrosion skill at the same time to try to destroy him. With that little by little, I noticed the monster''s body decreasing in size and I also noticed him losing body parts like the tendrils of vines on his back that were the first to disappear or his legs that were thinner than his arms. After more than five hours had passed I noticed that the monster was no longer regenerating, its attacks became less and less frequent until it stopped completely, but it still wasn''t dead. I had to wait another thirty minutes before his death was confirmed when I felt no more vital energy coming from him, when it was over I used my Aura to check the battlefield below. As soon as I confirmed that there was no one below me and that there were no other monsters around, I undo my fire magic, the Mana barrier, and also deactivated the corrosion skill. With that, the barrier disappears releasing an incredible heat wave to the surroundings as the fire begins to diminish until it completely extinguishes. There were pieces of burnt wood falling and a lot of soot that looked like black snow from the way it was falling, plus I noticed a strange liquid falling, so I flew over there and collected this thick liquid in a jar made of red crystal. I then start to descend to land where everyone was gathered, when I got there rica, Lilith and Hela were in their Human forms. I looked around and didn''t see the people from the Elves village, there were only people from the Dungeon here, as I looked around, everyone gathered around me. "You were the amazing master, I can''t believe you could defeat a Life Golem alone." (Sophia) "Life Golem?" (I) "You didn''t know what you were facing?" (Sakura) "I thought it was a high-level variant Wood Golem." (I) Sigh "Master, a Wood Golem has a humanoid form, even the variants, they don''t have spider legs, sword blades and vine tentacles." (Sophia) "Besides, they wouldn''t even be half that colossal size." (Sophia) I can''t believe I didn''t try to use spiritual power against it, now that I think I didn''t even try to understand the monster''s weaknesses, as it was made of wood I just assumed fire was its weakness. "Why was that Golem''s name known as the Life Golem?" (I) "This type of monster is very peaceful and spreads life energy around, it usually appears as a Holy Beast or a Guardian of the forests." (Sophia) "That didn''t look friendly and peaceful as it attacked me." (I) "Monsters that spawn in an Annual Monster Wave are often very aggressive, it''s best to kill them if possible." (Sophia) "It must have been hard to maintain that gigantic magic the whole time, how are you?" (rica) "My mana is below 2000, but I''m still able to fight a little longer if I have to." (I) "Are you all okay? What happened to the other monsters?" (I) "Everyone is dead, we were resting while we waited for you to finish your fight." (Nix) "I spent hours there and didn''t pay much attention to the surroundings, weren''t there any more attacks from the wave of monsters?" (I) "No, everything was pretty quiet for a few hours, I think the monster wave is over." (Freya) "Good thing our Mages are exhausted, we also didn''t have any more ritual magic to use." (Rakan) "Potion stock is low, I''ve been using my skills to make the potions yield as much as possible." (Lyra) "Haven''t the village elves shown up yet? Are they fighting?" (I) "I went to check it out a few hours ago." (Orion) "They were fighting three Lesser Catastrophe Grade monsters, they seemed to be doing fine, so I went back and let them fend for themselves." (Orion) "If they didn''t need help, then you''re fine." (I) It looks like it''s over, so I use my lines to create a hammock using two nearby trees and lie down to rest.The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) Chapter 438: Not Over Yet? Chapter 438: Not Over Yet? After I lay in the hammock I made I ended up sleeping without realizing it, at least I slept until I was thrown out of the hammock and hit my head on the floor. "Wake up, we don''t have time for lazybones during a crisis." (Aredhel) "You fucking High Priestess, does it hurt to be a little kinder to the person who was fighting a short time ago to defend your village?" (I) "It costs me a lot, I already had to go to great lengths not to stab you in your sleep, so be grateful." (Aredhel) Sigh "I''m not going to waste my time talking to someone who doesn''t understand communication, but what can you expect from someone so childish?" (I) "I knew I should have taken my chance to stab you first." (Aredhel) "You talk a lot to someone who doesn''t even dare try." (I) "You damn Vampire..." (Aredhel) "Now let''s stop here, I''m too tired to deal with childish fights, so spare me that." (Luthien) "..." (I/Aredhel) As if it wasn''t enough to be woken up so aggressively, I still have to exchange words with this damned High Priestess with aggression issues. But before a fight starts, the Elf Queen appears sitting in the hammock with a tired face and yawning. "I told you to call him, not fight him." (Luthien) "I''m sorry ma''am, but I can''t bear to look at that bastard''s face." (Aredhel) Sigh "Never mind, since I''m here we''ll settle this soon." (Luthien) The Elf Queen who appears out of nowhere and looks exhausted waves her hand making two wooden chairs form from plants growing from the ground, so Aredhel and I sit down while the Elf Queen remains seated in my hammock. "First of all I would like to thank you for helping us this year, Zenos." (Luthien) "I must also apologize as the worst monsters seem to have gone to the side where your troops were defending, plus most of the Lower Catastrophe Grade monsters also attacked the place where you were." (Luthien) "Wait, wait, wait there!" (I) "What do you mean the worst enemies came to us?" (I) "Your side of the village was attacked by the vast majority of plant-type monsters, these are the worst as this forest is full of poisons and illusions, plant-type monsters also follow the same path as the environment they are in." (Luthien) "Furthermore, you faced twice as many monsters as our troops'' side, and many more monsters of the Lower Catastrophe Grade." (Luthien) "Why did this happen?" (I) "Maybe it''s nature trying to kill you..." (Aredhel) "Stop being childish Aredhel, you''re not a child anymore, so stop acting like one." (Luthien) "I apologize my lady." (Aredhel) "Answering your question, Zenos." (Luthien) "Maybe it''s just your luck that was bad this time, you have to understand that luck can''t favor everyone." (Luthien) "Lucky..." (I) Tears "(I knew this damn luck would get me killed one day.)" (I) Tears "(One day I will find a way to increase this luck, even if it means threatening the God or Goddess of Luck for that.)" (I) "That''s why I want to ask for your help in dealing with these monsters if possible." (Luthien) "..." (I) I would really like to leave, she said there are more than 30 Lower Catastrophe Grade monsters, I don''t want to face that kind of danger for no reason, I also don''t want to put my companions and family in danger. "This time you''re asking too much of me." (I) "I know, so I''m thinking of paying you." (Luthien) "I''m not such a greedy person to be driven by something like money." (I) "Actually, from what I''ve observed of you so far, I know you''re looking for something or more precisely someone." (Luthien) "Your information is wrong, I''m not looking for anyone..." (I) "You''ve been looking for a Magic Engineer, am I right?" (Luthien) "..." (I) "How do you know that?" (I) "It wasn''t hard to find out as his followers asked about some talented Magic Engineer in various cities." (Aredhel) "I know where you can find one, plus one with great talent and just as crazy as you." (Luthien) "Who are you calling crazy?" (I) "I can help you find him, but this will be payment for your help, what do you think?" (Luthien) "(That''s a good proposal, but I''m still more inclined to decline, I don''t want to put others in danger.)" (I) "I heard everything, we accepted." (Vanessa) "No, we don''t." (I) "Father, we easily finished with twenty of these monsters, this fight against the 32 will count with the help of the Elves too." (Vanessa) "We should never underestimate an enemy Vanessa, even if she is a stupid monster." (I) "You may not know it, but many Dungeon people are ready to evolve, so you should accept that, these monster waves are helping us too." (Vanessa) "Besides, we''ll have time to prepare ourselves against this wave of monsters, so why not accept it?" (Vanessa) "..." (I) "I can guarantee that others will also want to participate in this battle." (Vanessa) "(There really are a lot of muscle heads in my group so I guess they didn''t mind, plus I have time to do better preparation now that I know what I''m going to face.)" (I) Sigh "Alright, you''ve won, I''ll take it if this High Priestess says "please" to me." (I) "I will not do that." (Aredhel) The Elf Queen just looks at her with a smile and Aredhel breaks into a sweat. "That would be very degrading to me, my lady..." (Aredhel) "Aredhel..." (Luthien) "..." (Aredhel) Aredhel turns to me with anger burning in her eyes as she speaks, her words laden with murderous intent. "Please help us... Zenos..." (Aredhel) "Since you asked so politely I accept, ha hahahaha..." (I) As I was laughing vines grow from the chair where Aredhel is sitting to arrest her who tried to attack me. Chapter 439: Blessings Of Akatosh Chapter 439: Blessings Of Akatosh After I talked to Luthien and Aredhel I was a little worried about our current forces, so I decided to increase our forces by two or three more for the Lower Catastrophe Grade or at least try. The first thing I need to do is take care of Karina, from what I hear she was fighting alongside the Elves during this Annual Monster Wave because of a promise she made to stay in the village at least until the end of the year, she is said to have I did this so I could find myself when I came to this village. Karina is already very strong, this without having a blessing from the Dragon God Akatosh, according to what she told me before, what she has as a Priestess is the Protection of the Dragon God, this can protect her, but it doesn''t give any increase for its power and also has several impediments. In order for her to be able to transform this Dragon God''s Protection into Dragon God''s Blessings, she needs to undergo an awakening ceremony with a True Dragon, this will allow her to form a connection with the True Dragon and will make her become a High Priestess of the Dragon God. She told me that the reason she came to me was because of our high compatibility as I have all the pure elemental Affinities that she has, this will make her Blessing even stronger, later Vanessa told me that depending on what I do there is still the possibility of Karina becoming a candidate for Santa just like her, Vanessa even told me what to do to increase the chances. For these reasons, I chose to make Karia the first to try to raise her to the Lower Catastrophe Degree. But I couldn''t do anything else today, my body and mind are exhausted after so many days of battle. I need to get some rest and regain my energy before I try to do anything else. So I speak briefly with everyone and then I go back to the house where we are staying in the Elves'' village to sleep. Zzzzzzz... Zzzzz... Zzz... ---------- The next day I woke up in the middle of the day, I seem to have slept a lot, my body was a little sluggish and I felt slightly tired, but surprisingly there is no part of my body aching and my energies are completely recovered. I go to the kitchen where I find Caryna preparing the food with Alice, it looks like everyone else was still sleeping from what the two said. After I ate, I told Alice to go get Karina and Vanessa, so I woke up Nix who was sleeping inside my shadow, and ask her to open a gate to the Dungeon in the next room which is empty. After Karina arrives and eats enough food to feed five people, I take her to the Dungeon with Vanessa who was still eating a meatless sandwich and drinking a bottle of blood. Since Karina was with me, I was able to take her and Vanessa to the 12th floor where the mansion''s new floor was after the adjustments Nix had made a few weeks ago. Karina was surprised by what she saw, but I still fly up to the mansion with the two of them flying behind me, as soon as I arrive at the mansion I take them both to the hall where I always do that. "Here is where we will perform the awakening ceremony for you, Karina." (I) "The reason you''re doing this is different than I expected, but I''m still glad I took it." (Karina) "We have to be as prepared as possible for the monsters that are coming, you are one of the strongest beings at the top of Grade SSS, after awakening it is almost certain that you will reach the strength of the Lower Catastrophe Grade." (I) "I decided to do this here because it''s safer for both me and you." (I) "Vanessa is here to heal me if I need it, I''ve been through a lot to know that it''s better to be safe than sorry." (I) "Don''t worry about me, I won''t interfere with anything, I''ll just watch from afar ready to help my Father if necessary in the end." (Vanessa) . . . <[ Confirmed that all requirements have been met to obtain Blessings of Dragon God Akatosh ]> . . <[ You created a connection with Priestess Karina (Dragonewt) while being a True Dragon ]> . . <[ You and Priestess Karina receive Blessings from Dragon God Akatosh Akatosh ]> . . . <[ You have received the Blessing [ Akatosh (Dragon God) ] ]> . . . <[ Requirements for the complete awakening of the bloodline [ True Dragon: 100% ] have not been met ]> . . . <[ Awakening of the Bloodline [ True Dragon: 100% ] has been delayed until the body and soul requirements are met ]> Karina''s body floats a little away from me, then something lights up inside her chest and starts absorbing my Aura, energy, and blood leaving me almost dry as if she knows exactly how much she can take from me without killing me. Then a small energy dragon comes out of Karina''s chest and circles around her a few times before entering her again, then an energy runs through her body changing the color of her scales to black, in addition, a Dragon tattoo forms on her chest. Then she lowers herself until she is standing in front of me, at that moment I realize that in addition to her scales her body has changed a little, she has lost some of her muscles and her appearance has become pretty hands, but still had many similarities with her old appearance, her hair is still blonde but now she has streaks of red hair, just like my hair, plus she has a black crystal horn on her head. Chapter 440: Invocation Chapter 440: Invocation I was feeling dizzy from the weakness I was feeling but I held on even as my legs shook, this wasn''t the first time I felt this way and it probably wouldn''t be the last. Karina who opened her eyes looked at her hands and noticed that her scales changed color, then she noticed that her wings that should have been on her back were gone, but soon when she got scared not seeing her wings, maybe due to the fright one Black energy comes out of its back forming wings with black scales. It seems that now her wings can appear or disappear at will like Vanessa''s and mine wings. But Karina still hasn''t noticed that she is without clothes, her clothes were torn during the awakening ceremony. Vanessa who was far away comes to us and throws a blanket behind Karina to cover her body, then right up to me for support so I don''t fall due to the weakness I was feeling. "..." (I) "Thank you..." (I) "You''re pale, get some rest, here''s a blood replacement potion, an MP potion, a resistance potion, a Ki potion, and three bottles of Fresh Blood." (Vanessa) "..." (I) "No need to say anything, just drink it all, in a few minutes you''ll be feeling better." (Vanessa) I start drinking the potions Vanessa was giving me one at a time as Vanessa turns to Karina. "How do you feel?" (Vanessa) "I feel light as if something very heavy has been lifted off of me, I also feel a great power coursing through my whole body..." (Karina) "Haha hahahahahaha..." (Karina) "I''ve never felt so free and strong before... hahahahaha..." (Karina) An Aura full of power comes out of Karina, I can also feel a significant change in her presence, she seems to have more authority somehow. "Finally...finally I became a High Priestess of the Great Dragon God..." (Karina) "Now you must feel another form of energy inside you, right?" (Vanessa) "Yes, but I can''t use..." (Karina) Karina closes her eyes looking like she''s trying to feel something, soon after she seems to get frustrated with something. "This is Holy Energy, I''ll teach you how to use it later, but your priority should be training to adapt to changes in your strength and body." (Vanessa) "True, I have to be in the best possible condition for battle in a few days." (Karina) "Now let''s go back." (Vanessa) We all started to fly to the safe room on the 12th floor, actually, I was carried as I couldn''t put the strength in my wings to get off the ground. After I got back and spent the rest of the day resting, Karina seems to have found a good training partner calling Nix to train with her. While Karina was training I spent the rest of the day meditating to recover faster. ---------- That night I was at the top of the tree where we were living watching the starry sky when she appeared. "You finally showed up." (I) "How not to show up when you''re spreading your Aura all over the night sky?" (Luthien) "A skill." (I) "Summoning skills are more about creating a monster than summoning it from somewhere else." (Luthien) "Like this?" (I) "A Summoning ability uses the Summoner''s Aura to attract a creature''s soul before creating a body similar to a first-generation monster that is compatible with the summoned soul, the summoner''s power, and whatever. used as an offering during the invocation." (Luthien) "An offer during the summon is optional, but it helps to get a better summon." (Luthien) "But there''s still a chance the summoned creature won''t obey the summoner, so your idea might bring an enemy to you if you can''t suppress it with your power." (Luthien) "I only need a second to activate my ability, after that even if the creature resists it will only make the process last longer and turn into a fight of resistance." (I) "Accept his proposal, Luthien." (Luth) "With the power of the trinity, he should be able to control the situation safely, besides he can do it close to me for better security." (Luth) Suddenly the World Tree spirit appeared on my other side, she had an amused smile on her face. "I''m curious if he''ll be able to convert an Evil being into a normal creature, that''s something difficult even for me to do, maybe it''s a unique ability for an Incarnation of Chaos like you." (Luth) "Are you sure?" (Luthien) "In the worst case, you can just kill the creature." (Luth) "Truth." (Luthien) "How long have you been listening?" (I) "From the beginning, Luthien''s senses are connected to me." (Luth) "I even have the perfect monster core for you, it was from a child born of two Divine Beasts." (Luth) "I do not remember this." (Luthien) "This has been with me for over 80,000 years, I felt sorry for this child, so much wasted potential, the child was killed at birth." (Luth) "But a Fairy stayed with him when this Fairy came to ask me for something a long time ago, she gave it as payment." (Luth) "You can use this." (Luth) "What were these Divine Beasts?" (I) "A Unicorn and a Pegasus." (Luth) "..." (I) The fire of curiosity ignites within me, I would very much like to see these Divine Beasts that I have read many stories and myths of in my ancient world, I would also very much like to see the creature that was born from these two mystical creatures. "It was the God of Light who ordered his Divine Beast Pegasus to kill his own son, that''s because the Unicorn was the Divine Beast of the God of Beasts." (Luth) "At least that''s what I heard." (Luth) "Here are the two items, but I advise you to use your power after using your Auras on both items, otherwise it could cause disaster." (Luth) Luth seems to reach into the space, so she takes out two boxes and leaves them floating in front of me. "It''s all right." (I) Chapter 441: Ragnar Part 1 Chapter 441: Ragnar Part 1 The two boxes containing the objects I will use are floating in front of me, one is filled with an energy and Evil Aura that seems to be trying to escape from the box that is chained from the outside with chains full of Runes. The second box emits wild energy and pure Aura, it also didn''t have any current. The two boxes were wooden with hundreds of small magic circles drawn throughout their structures. "You just have to remember that using this Monster core will bring the God Baldr''s displeasure, but I don''t think that makes any difference in your case." (Luth) "I''m already hated by this God of Light myself, so this is just one more reason for me to use this core to piss him off." (I) "Don''t provoke the Gods too much, Zenos." (Luthien) "The God of Light''s hatred for the Goddess Selene is one thing, but if you become the direct target of this God, then you will have to be careful in the future." (Luthien) "I''m already being hunted by the entire Church of Light, what''s the worst that can happen?" (I) "God Baldr can send his Divine Beasts after you or even Light Dragons." (Luthien) "..." (I) "Don''t worry, Luthien." (Luth) "Zenos will just use this monster''s core, he''s not resurrecting the monster, it won''t be the same soul." (Luth) "If it was the same soul, then it could cause an even greater conflict between the God of Light and the God of Beasts." (Luth) "I find it difficult for that to happen, but for now I thank you for it, I''m sure it will be a strong creature." (I) "I''m going to the World Tree tomorrow morning to do the invocation." (I) After that, I say goodbye to the Elf Queen and the spirit of the World Tree, go to my bed and sleep until the next morning. ---------- The next morning I wake up and go get something to eat before going with Vanessa, Nix, Orion, Layla, and Sakura to the World Tree. When I get there Aredhel was waiting for me and escorts me to the World Tree where I need to go through that green marble path again to the platform where the Elf Queen is waiting for me. But this time I passed the marble path without feeling the same pressure I felt in the past, this time I didn''t feel anything and I walk with ease to the platform where I greet the Elf Queen. Soon after Aredhel leaves and the World Tree Spirit appears, so I begin preparations for the summoning. I take out the two boxes they gave me yesterday, then the World Tree spirit opens the boxes while putting a barrier around the two objects that came out of the boxes. . <[Yes / No]> "Yes, use this." (I) I lift the core I just created, when I do this the core floats from my hand to float in the center of the summoning circle. Ding! <[ Starting invocation ]> . . <[ Looking for a compatible soul ]> The summoning circle starts sending a strange energy to the core that glows brightly, so it feels like a beacon has been answered, my power and Aura start to be slowly absorbed for over an hour before any results happen. Ding! <[ Compatible soul found ]> . . <[ Starting the process of creating a suitable body ]> "Huuuhhh!!???" (I) Suddenly my blood, Ki, and vitality started to be absorbed in an accelerated way along with my Aura, I see these energies not entering the summoning circle, but going around the core floating on top of the summoning circle until completely blocking the vision forming a cocoon of flowing energy. Then this strange cocoon of energy grows to a height of five meters and begins to pulse in the same rhythm as the magic circle. Ding! <[ Summon complete ]> The summoning circle floats to the center of the cocoon and enters causing the cocoon of energy to be absorbed into the creature within. What was inside was being masked by a thick mist of miasma, all I could see were red eyes filled with hate and bloodlust. Chapter 442: Ragnar Part 2 Chapter 442: Ragnar Part 2 Ding! <[ Summon complete ]> The summoning circle floats to the center of the cocoon and enters causing the cocoon of energy to be absorbed into the creature within. What was inside was being masked by a thick fog of miasma, all I could see were red eyes filled with hate and bloodlust. "I can''t waste time." (I) "< Full Recovery >" (Luthien) Suddenly my whole body was weak and without energy is overflowing with power, it seems that the Elf Queen used an ability to help me recover faster. I waste no time and drink a few blood potions too to make sure I''m okay while using all my Arua''s power to suppress the creature lurking within the miasma. The creature tries to resist my Aura, but I feel that it is weak, maybe because it has just been born, I take advantage of this to force my Aura to enter the body, but even in these conditions that should be favorable for me, it is very difficult. "(Let me help this kid get a chance to grow up this time.)" "(It will always be my duty to help this child in its birth.)" "..." (I) Suddenly I start to hear two voices in my head and two energies run through my body, one energy was free and harmonizing, the other was brutal and wild, and both energies were of a level of power that I was not able to understand. The wild and brutal energy especially carried a presence very similar to that of the Goddesses Selene and Aine. These two energies travel through my body and use my Aura as a path to reach the creature within the miasma mist, at that moment I feel these energies completely subdue the creature, ending any resistance it has. Soon these two energies enter completely and easily inside the creature, then they started sucking my Aura into the creature at a speed that almost ripped the Aura out of my body. "Huh..." (I) When I feel that my Aura completely fills the creature''s body I activate my Aura ability and my Blood Pact ability. Ding! <[ You have successfully submitted Alicorn Demon Dragon ]> . . <[ Choose a power to bestow on Alicorn Demon Dragon ]> . . . <[ [ Blood Pact ] skill has been activated ]> .Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com . The black fire lasts for almost an hour before my Astral Body disappears, over time the bloodlust and evil presence would begin to subside until it completely disappeared, then the black flame crystallizes as a new cocoon. A weakness takes hold of my body, but I force myself to stand, controlling my shadow to keep my body steady, so I feel a connection forming between me and the being within the crystal. "(Give my child the name Ragnar, that was the name I was going to give him.)" "..." (I) I was exhausted but not a complete idiot, when the voice that had a free and harmonizing presence popped into my head again I am able to understand who it belongs to, I worry that the worst possible situation has happened, but what is done, is the fetus. <[ Choose a name for Alicorn of Nightfall ]> "His name will be Ragnar!" (I) Ding! <[ Divine Beast reborn by the power of the Beast God Cratos was bestowed a name by the offspring of the Goddess Selene ]> . p. <[ Beginning the Divine Beast''s full awakening process ]> . . . <[ Divine Beast was named [ Ragnar ] from Zenos creating a connection and becoming its Guardian ]> ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Ding! <[ You have received the title [ Master of the Divine Beast (Ragnar) ] ]> . . . <[ You have received the Blessings: [ Cratos (God of Beasts) ] [ Zoe (Divine Beast of Life) ] ]> "..." (I) The crystal cocoon explodes releasing the being within it that roars towards the sky releasing a wild and free Aura, its presence was calm and steady as if nothing in the world could shake its mind, its appearance was magnificent that left me eyes shining. "Magnificent..." (I) I was keeping myself upright by sheer force of will and also because I was controlling my shadow to support me, otherwise, I would be on the ground for a long time due to the weakness I was feeling. Chapter 444: A Single Race Chapter 444: A Single Race After a night''s rest, my energy was completely recovered, but my body was aching everywhere, I also had some lingering weakness. When I woke up I see many Fairies and Spirits sleeping in my room, I didn''t even have a place to step on the floor. "What is happening?" (I) "Wait! Where''s Orion?" (I) As I close my eyes and focus on the connection I have with Orion, I feel his presence downstairs. I open my eyes and use my magic to float to the door and leave without waking the Fairies and Spirits. After that, I go to the bathroom to wash my face and change my clothes before heading to the room where Orion was talking to Ragnar. "Good Morning." (I) "Good morning Master." (Ragnar/Orion) "Are you getting to know each other better?" (I) "I was talking to Orion about the duties we have as his Guardians, master." (Ragnar) "But it seems the Blood Goddess already gave him all the important information during his birth." (Ragnar) "Yes, but I would be happy to learn anything I can to help the master better." (Orion) "You two can get to know each other as much as you want, but why don''t you do it during combat, I feel that the strength of the two is very similar, this will also help Ragnar adapt to his new body." (I) "That would be nice, my body still feels a little strange to me." (Ragnar) "For me who haven''t had a physical body for thousands of years or should I say I''ve never had the opportunity to experience having a physical body before, this is a new experience for me." (Ragnar) "There''s so much information that my senses pass to my brain at the same time like the taste, aromas, touch, hearing, etc." (Ragnar) "I can also feel the ambient temperature, I can feel the temperature of things I touch and their textures." (Ragnar) "I can feel my heartbeat, I can also feel my blood and Ki coursing through my body." (Ragnar) "There are so many new things that I''m feeling it''s a little difficult to adapt." (Ragnar) "In time you will get used to it, so it would be better to leave the training for tomorrow, try to get used to your senses for now." (I) "But I''m surprised you have such good control of your Aura." (I) "For a long time I didn''t have any power other than my Aura, all things in existence have Aura, including a soul like me in the past, so I''ve had thousands of years to learn how to use my Aura." (Ragnar) I think putting someone who has never eaten anything in his long existence to taste Freya and Caryna''s top notch food might have been a mistake, maybe I should have started with street foods that have simpler flavors. ---------- Before leaving the house I call Kira, Sophia, and Freya to talk to them, I tell Sophia and Kira what I was going to do with Freya. The two were surprised at first, but then they started to congratulate Freya, I told the three that I would need to drink the blood of the three since I wanted to use a High Elf bloodline to synthesize the three Races into one Race. After drinking enough Blood from the three with their permission, I synthesize these three bloodlines into one. The result was the [ Ancient Elf: 100% ] bloodline. When I finished this lineage I felt a reaction in my Aura of Nature that started to emanate from my body growing nonstop causing branches and flowers to grow from all the Trees we were inside. I only managed to get everything under control when the spirit of the World Tree appeared next to me and put his hand on my shoulder making my Aura calm down and go back inside my body, then the Elf Queen appears shortly after and waves her hand doing everything that was in chaos in the surroundings returned to normal. "What happened here?" (Luthien) "I felt a presence I shouldn''t have in this world..." (Luth) "I was doing a lineage synthesis, then this happened." (I) The World Tree spirit looks at Freya, Sophia, and Kira before looking back at me, I felt like she was looking into me from the way her eyes sparkled. "You synthesized the three Races of Elves!" (Luth) "I can feel the presence of an Ancient Elf coming from you." (Luth) "Ancient Elf!?" (Luthien) At the words of the World Tree spirit, the Elf Queen looks at me in disbelief with wide eyes. "Why did you do something like that?" (Luth) "..." (I) The spirit of the World Tree and the Elf Queen already knew my secrets, so there was no reason to hide what I was going to do with them, so I told them what I was going to do with Freya today. The Elf Queen and the World Tree Spirit look at each other and start laughing, after a while the World Tree Spirit comes to talk to me. "The Old Elves are very few in numbers, they are the ancestors of the current Elves, their lifespans are as long as Vampires like you, but their birth rates are much lower than Vampires." (Luth) "Aside from natural reproduction, the only other way for an Ancient Elf to be born is through an evolution of an Elf who has achieved the trinity of nature, but even that doesn''t mean it''s guaranteed, the chances of getting it are only 10%." (Luth) "The Old Elves are also called children of nature, they are a race loved by us World Trees, if you really can make this Race prosperous again, then please do." (Luth) Chapter 443: Freyas Choice Chapter 443: Freya''s Choice I was keeping myself upright by sheer force of will and also because I was controlling my shadow to support me, otherwise, I would be on the ground for a long time due to the weakness I was feeling. But he was still surprised by what he was seeing, he was around 2 meters tall and over 2.5 meters long. He had a muscular body of a horse, his legs looked like those of a horse, but instead of hooves there were paws with very affiliated claws, his head was also that of a horse, but his mouth was slightly larger than a horse''s and he had many sharp teeth that seemed to be able to crush bones to dust.UppTodated from His body was covered in black fur, there were also black crystal scales covering the most important parts of his body like armor, his mane was red like my hair the same as his tail, and the tufts of hair on his paws, its mane and tail were like Orion''s tail, they seemed to be ethereal and always with a flourishing glow. His eyes were like a tiger''s, they were eyes as red as his mane, he had a pair of gigantic black bird wings covered in black crystal scales, and he also had a single horn on his head, but that horn looked more a red crystal blade than a horn. His appearance was imposing and proud, his presence was wild and calm, his eyes showed a glint of wisdom, and his roar to the sky after breaking free of the cocoon while stretching his wings were not the sounds that horses should make, it seemed more like roaring sounds of a monster. After he roared towards the sky this large creature lands on the ground folding its wings as it comes towards me and lowers its head. "Thank you for allowing me to be born again into this world, master." (Ragnar) "..." (I) Vanessa runs towards me with Nix, Layla, Sakura, and Orion close behind. "Are you okay, Dad?" (Vanessa) "Yeah... just... tired..." (I) Sakura takes one of my arms and Nix takes the other one behind their necks, this makes me hang between them and a little crooked since Sakura is shorter than Nix. "Can you move, master?" (Layla) "I don''t think he can move right now, Layla." (Orion) "So this is a good time for me to say that Freya made a cake that she was going to give us when we got back, but I ate it all before I came here." (Layla) "Why are you telling him that in this situation?" (Sakura) "Why Alice had seen me, he was going to find out sooner or later, but if he finds out now his anger will be stronger at that moment, when it''s later and he moves again he''ll be calmer, so the punishment will be less, that''s if he remembers a small matter like that after all this." (Layla) "I''m surprised, that was the smartest thing I''ve ever seen you say." (Nix) "Too bad that intelligence only works on weird things." (Vanessa) Why does it have to be this way, I can''t even say hello to Ragnar because these people are surrounding me and talking nonsense. "You...you..." (I) "I think he''s saying you''re in the way." (Luthien) "Aren''t you forgetting anything or anyone?" (Luthien) "..." (all) It seems that when I was doing the summon Ragnar''s mother noticed and ran to the Beast God, the two of them smiled as they looked at him before the Beast God grabbed him and threw him away without warning, the next thing he remembers is fighting. against an urge to kill and destroy everything in front of him that sprang from his insides. Listening to Ragnar just confirmed my assumption, I think this could lead to more problems in the future, I hope his father didn''t realize what I did as well as his mother did, that would be scary. ---------- After we get back to where we are living in the village, I introduce Ragnar to everyone, this time he was in human form wearing an outfit that resembles a suit with black scales. He looked like a 15 year old, his skin is white in color, his eyes are still red, his short hair is red and his horn that looked like a red crystal blade was in the middle of his forehead. Ragnar was someone who was calm and rational, his human appearance not at all coincident with his wild Aura. Ragnar says that sooner or later Orion will also learn the ability for human transformation, unlike Ragnar who was older than he appeared, Orion was young both physically and in his soul, he needed more time to mature. When we got back I went to my room to rest and asked Freya to meet me in the room to talk to her. "You''ve had two days to think, is your decision still the same?" (I) "Yes, I already hit my growth hurdle a few months ago." (Freya) "I''ve been training a lot since we arrived in this village, but my growth is slower than I expected, with time I''m falling behind even my own daughter." (Freya) "What does Caryna have to do with this?" (I) "The master may not have noticed, but she also participated in most of the combat during the Annual Monster Wave, she tried to disguise herself among the Ghouls, but I could see her using a large kitchen knife and a large fork as weapons combat." (Freya) "You must be kidding..." (I) "This is all Lilith''s fault, she told my daughter that if she wanted to fight without being afraid, just treat her opponents as if they were ingredients, so she wouldn''t be so afraid of combat." (Freya) "It had to be Lilith, didn''t anyone try to convince her otherwise?" (I) "Layla, Lyra, and Hela supported her." (Freya) I put my hand to my face in disbelief at what I''m hearing. "What the master asked me the other day was something I wanted to talk to you about for a few weeks, but I didn''t know how to bring it up." (Freya) "That''s why I said yes right away." (Freya) "I needed you to think hard about it, over time you would get stronger, so I wanted to be sure about your decision as it will completely change your body." (I) "I don''t care much about my own race, the only family I have is Caryna who doesn''t care about these superficial things either." (Freya) "What I want is to be strong enough to protect Caryna and our new home." (Freya) "Just to be sure, is that your final answer?" (I) "Yes." (Freya) Chapter 445: Ancient Elf Chapter 445: Ancient Elf I was surprised at what I had just heard from the spirit of the World Tree, it seems that this race of Ancient Elves was very important. "I''m sorry but I don''t think I''m capable of doing what you''re thinking, my skill links the target to me as you may already know." (I) "That''s true, but once an Old Elf is born, he can help a High Elf who has attained the trinity to evolve into an Old Elf." (Luth) "Didn''t you say that the population of these Old Elves was low? Why don''t you do that?" (I) "It''s not that simple, the Old Elves have many duties and responsibilities, and many requirements are required to do this, requirements that Freya may not fulfill, but you will fulfill what remains." (Luth) "I don''t understand." (I) "The requirements for an Elf to evolve into an Ancient Elf are as follows." (Luth) 1. Have gone through at least 1 evolution before, that is, you must be at least a High Elf. 2. Must attain the trinity of nature. 3. Must receive the blessing of a World Tree. 4. Must receive an Ancient Elf''s blessing. 5. They need the pure lineage of a God. "These requirements are all very complicated." (I) "The Elf has to be as talented as an Elf King or Queen, plus they need an Ancient Elf whose numbers are very small these days." (Luthien) "The World Tree Blessing is perhaps the easiest to obtain on this list, the hardest would be the bloodline of a God." (Luthien) "A pure lineage of a God, something difficult even for the children of a God to have, with a few exceptions." (Luth)Vissit for updates "..." (I) Sigh "That won''t get me any more trouble, will it?" (I) "It won''t cause any problems, in fact, it will make you a Hero to all Elves." (Luth) "I don''t want to be a Hero." (I) "You said you would like to visit various places around the world, right?" (Luth) "Yes." (I) "You can go to any Elf village with a World Tree and you will be welcomed as a Hero, plus you can easily trade with Elves from anywhere." (Luth) "It won''t cause you any problems and it won''t cost you anything either." (Luth) "According to what you said, the only one in this village capable of going through this would be Luthien." (I) . . <[ Choose a power to bestow on High White Elf (Freya) ]> Just as I suspected, I won''t be able to harness the same power twice, at least Bloodpact still works since I haven''t used it on her in the past. With the list of possible options, I can grant her popping in my head, I choose the [ Ancient Elf: 100% ] bloodline. Ding! <[ Power grant ended ]> . . . <[ You received the titles: [ Loved by Nature ] [ Guardian of Holy Beasts ] ]> . . . <[ The title [ Friend of the Spirits ] has evolved into [ Guardian of the Spirits ] ]> . . . <[ The titles [ Guardian of the Spirits ], [ Guardian of the Holy Beasts ], and [ Guardian of the Fairies ] combine and awaken the title [ Guardian of Nature ] ]> Freya had her body filled with my Nature Aura, she couldn''t resist my Aura and let me do it, so when the Blood Pact skill was activated and I bestow the Ancient Elf Bloodline to her, a blood crystal comes out of the seed of the World Tree on the back of my hand. This blood crystal hits the crystal on Freya''s forehead, it causes a blast of energy that makes Freya''s body glow, at that moment I feel a power arise from the environment itself and go to Freya. I also feel my Ki, mana, and spirit energy being sucked out of my body, and going to Freya was more than half of my energy before it stopped. After a few seconds, the energy disperses revealing Freya again. "Incredible!!!" (I) Chapter 446: One With Nature Chapter 446: One With Nature ,m Freya came out of the energy disorder looking completely different, her skin turned black, her hair turned silver and her eyes golden. On Freya''s forehead, there was a diamond-shaped crystal () with a golden seed inside, there were also tattoos that looked like thin roots using the forehead as the center and spread down the body and going to all the limbs of the body, these tattoos were of green color being made of fine lines on its body. Freya''s presence was very different from before, looking at her somehow made the image of an ancient forest come to my mind, Freya''s presence was so calming and natural. An Aura that I recognize very well comes out of Freya''s body as if she always had that Aura, it was the Aura of Nature that I received when I received the trinity. When Freya appeared I could feel her presence and her Aura gradually blending with the surroundings as if she were part of the environment where we are until I was not able to differentiate Freya''s presence from the nature around us. At that moment the seed inside the diamond-shaped crystal on her forehead starts to sprout and becomes a small red crystal tree. "A red tree, it looks like it''s more combat oriented than I imagined..." (Luth) "I didn''t expect to have the opportunity to see an Ancient Elf in this lifetime..." (Luthien) "You look beautiful Freya." (Nix) "Your presence is so attractive, am I the only one feeling like hugging her? It''s been so many years since I''ve felt this way, I thought I was too old for that, but it seems I was wrong." (Sakura) "Her presence is as comfortable as the master''s." (Layla) "Your presence blends in with the surroundings like the master." (Orion) "Her presence reminds me a little of my mother''s, that''s a little comforting to me." (Ragnar) "I didn''t expect the change to be so big..." (I) I don''t know how much others noticed, but Freya''s changes are much more profound than it appears on the outside, her body is completely different, even the scent of her body resembles the scent of the forest, and her heartbeat seems to resonate with nature around us, its breath feels like the spring breeze. Her presence has nothing similar to the previous one, in my eyes, she is a totally different person. "How do you feel, Freya?" (I) "..." (Freya) Freya seems distracted, she keeps looking around as if she is seeing something magnificent for the first time, but when she hears my voice she looks at me as if remembering something and her eyes gain a glint of wisdom as if she has just woken up. "Master?" (Freya) "You look confused, are you okay?" (I) Freya walks up to me innocently takes me in her arms and gives me a hug like it''s the most normal thing in the world leaving everyone who knows her shocked. The Freya we know is someone disciplined, responsible, serious, and careful, she would never do that. "What happened to her?" (I) "She''s adapting to her connection to nature." (Luth) "Now she is using senses that she didn''t have before, she is seeing, feeling, and listening to her own nature in a deeper way than you can imagine, this kind of thing is not something that can be done quickly, of a few hours for her to get used to." (Luth) "How do you feel?" (I) "I feel like I just woke up from a dream, I don''t really remember what was happening." (Freya) "All I know is that I felt like I was connected to something I couldn''t understand." (Freya) "I felt comfortable and peaceful, everything seemed to be the way it should be, but then I felt something different like everything was going downstream and there was something going downstream." (Freya) "I just felt like everything was in flux because of this one thing going against the flow, otherwise I wouldn''t have noticed the movement around me." (Freya) "I didn''t understand what it was or how it followed a different flow than the rest, but when I realized it felt like something made sense, then a desire to be closer to it welled up inside me, after that all I remember is feeling complete." (Freya) "The normal flow that I was feeling before started to change, the flow would sometimes get violent, sometimes change direction, sometimes it would be calm and sometimes it would explode and start all over again." (Freya) "That was you feeling the flow of nature for the first time." (Luthien) "I can still feel it, but it''s become more natural, the changes in the flow aren''t as fast as they used to be." (Freya) "I made these changes for you to understand what was happening faster, it helped to shorten your trance time." (Luth) "Thank you for your help." (Freya) "But you still haven''t said how you''re feeling now, do you feel any difference?" (I) Freya looks at her hands as she opens and closes her hands, then she starts looking at her own body and notices that her maid outfit is full of rips and holes caused by the turbulent energy around her earlier. But it wasn''t revealing much of her body, besides she didn''t have any wounds on her body, Freya isn''t someone who is embarrassed to be seen by others, so she didn''t really care about that, but she seemed to be worried about something else. "What is it, Freya?" (I) "Nothing, I just liked this outfit, but it looks like I''ll have to ask Tanya to make me another set." (Freya) "Forget about that stupid outfit, how do you feel now that you''ve changed Breed? Stop the suspense and talk crazy." (Layla) "I apologize for that, the truth is that I don''t feel very different physically, I''m a little surprised by the change in my appearance, but I don''t feel any different physically." (Freya) "What I feel differently is my senses that seem to have improved a lot, it also feels like I can understand things around me better, in addition, I feel an energy overflowing from my body." (Freya) "I''ll need some time to better understand these changes." (Freya) "I''ll help you in the next few days with that, so you''ll have better guidance to prepare for battle." (Luthien) "I thank you in advance for your tutoring." (Freya) "But she''s going to need your help later too, right?" (I) "If possible, yes." (Luthien) "But I won''t force anything, the decision is still yours." (Luthien) "You''ve been helping me a lot since we arrived, so I don''t see any reason to refuse." (I) "I''m always willing to help the great Elf Queen with whatever she needs." (Freya) Chapter 447: Battle Day Chapter 447: Battle Day After what happened with Freya we all came home, we were talking about Freya''s changes. One of the things that the World Tree spirit taught Freya before we left was about how to change her appearance, it was a technique that only the Old Elves are able to use that the World Tree spirit knows, it seems to be a simple magic the way fast that Freya learned. Now Freya is again with her light green hair and her skin color is back to white, but her golden eyes and the tattoos of thin roots on her body are still in place, in addition, the crystal on her head is still the diamond () twice the size of the previous crystal, but the Red Crystal Tree is no longer appearing inside. According to Luthien any Elf or anyone else will think that Freya received the Blessing of a God, the World Tree, or something similar. It seems like the chance of finding out that she is an Ancient Elf is almost zero, only a God or a World Tree will be able to see the truth. This will help us a lot since I don''t want the other people in the village to find out about Freya, so she comes home looking like a White Elf, but her appearance has become a little younger and a lot prettier, I think even for by Elf standards it would be hard to believe she is Caryna''s mother. When we arrived Caryna, Sophia and Kira were impatiently waiting, especially Caryna who was hugging her husband Leo so tightly she could almost hear her bones creaking to the point of breaking. As soon as we arrive and go through the door, I see Caryna release Leo who falls to the floor with foam coming out of his mouth as Vanessa tries to heal him, Caryna runs towards us and throws herself in her mother''s arms while praising her new appearance. After we all go to the room I ask Alice and Nolan to gather everyone, then I let Freya reveal her appearance to everyone, Kira and Sophia didn''t care much about Freya''s race change, what they saw was her presence that changed completely. Elsaris and her children were also keeping an eye on this as they realized the difficulty they would have to hide from such strong senses, I don''t know how they noticed this, but from what they said it comes from their instincts and the experience they have after so many years. The majority''s reaction was happiness for Freya''s increase in strength, they didn''t care much about her race itself, what everyone is seeing is mostly her strength. One thing I noticed was Nolan turning red and looking at Freya, I feel sorry for him, he won''t stand a chance, I think I''ll talk to him later before this womanizer hits something so hard it''s going to break his fragile heart.The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) According to what Elsaris told me, Samira is trying to become a Martial Artist as her main job, but Elsaris doesn''t know what kind of Martial Arts to teach her sister. Hela seemed to want to train her combat techniques more and try new necromancer magic, this could be dangerous to do outside of the Dungeon. Lilith also wanted to train dangerous things like curse spells and demonic spells, these types of training cannot be done in a place with such pure energy as this. So when I entered the Dungeon along with Orion and Ragnar, I also decided to take Samira, Lilith, and Hela with me. ,m ---------- With the passage of time, the day that the monsters would arrive had arrived, and everyone was in their positions and just waiting for the warning signal that the enemies were attacking. I was beside Ivan at the back of the army. "Are you sure it wouldn''t be better for us all to attack in the forest?" (I) "It would be a bad idea, we are not sure of the enemy''s abilities, so fighting here will be better, we also have ritual spells ready that can take care of one or two Lesser Catastrophe Grade monsters that pass you by as a guarantee." (Ivan) "This can be dangerous for troops who are below Grade SSS." (Ivan) "Leave that side to me and you can take care of the rest of the plan, master." (Ivan) "Alright, the others are already positioned, so I''m leaving before the monsters arrive." (I) I run and enter the forest disappearing from Ivan''s vision. Chapter 448: Battle In The Forest Part 1 Chapter 448: Battle In The Forest Part 1 Today everything was ready for the attack, I would be in charge of taking care of the Wood Elemental that is responsible for this attack, so I had to keep an eye on a large area while I wait, so I''m hiding between the leaves of a tree which causes illusions when surrounded by mist, so we made the mist spread for miles in this forest. Our initial target isn''t SSS Grade monsters and below, we''re looking at higher level monsters like Lower Catastrophe Grade monsters. I''ll let all the monsters that aren''t too much of a risk go through to deal with the army being led by Ivan and another Elf I don''t know very well. I am responsible for observing everything from afar until it is time to act, I will do this by spreading my Aura for 27 kilometers in all directions, this is the maximum range for my Aura to go before it starts to damage my mind, beyond Furthermore, I am unable to move in this state as my mind has to be completely focused, so I am hidden. I learned a lot in the last few days, one thing I thought about was how I was able to blend my Aura with the environment when I was evolving, I did that when I lost control of my Aura, but the important thing is that I was able to do that. When Freya became an Ancient Elf her Aura blended in with the environment and became difficult to detect, I realized that and also realized that she had the same Nature Aura that I have, so if she can do that, why should I? I can''t? I spent the last few days training this, sometimes I also asked for help from the Elf Queen who was teaching Freya. Over time I was able to do this in the Cradle of Fairies and Spirits inside the Dungeon on the mansion floor, after some time I managed to do it in other places in the Dungeon away from the Cradles, but how much I tried to say outside the Dungeon That''s when I ran into a wall that was hard to get over. The environment inside the Dungeon belongs to me which made it easier for me to mix my Aura into the environment, but outside the Dungeon it wasn''t so easy, I felt like I was trying to mix water and oil, it took me two whole days to get this done. I was only able to do this in the end because I had help from Ragnar who seemed to have a very deep knowledge of Auras, he was even able to do what I was training so hard to do. I was relieved to be able to do this in time for the plan, of course, this is still something difficult for me to do, especially in an area of 27 kilometers in all directions like now, but I''m sure someone expert in Aura manipulation would be able to from noticing my Aura almost immediately, I just hope this monster doesn''t have Aura abilities, otherwise, it will sense my location too fast and spoil the plan. I don''t want to go for plan B, that would be a direct attack which prevents me from predicting the outcome and I don''t like unpredictable things when my teammates'' lives are at stake. What I can do is stick with plan A for now. ----------- The Lower Catastrophe Grade monsters also have monsters that are less affected by the illusion and soon return to their path, but this time where they were confused was enough for me, now the weaker monsters are away from the stronger ones, this will make it easier in combats of others. I wait as the monsters get more and more angry, then I see a Moon Spirit going through the illusion unaffected and throwing a large magic crystal ball into the midst of the monsters causing a huge explosion in their midst. Just as I imagined, almost all of the Lower Catastrophe Grade Monsters survived, they were 32 monsters at first, but now there are 29, that big explosion that even made a mushroom cloud of dust only managed to kill 3 of them, but the objective It wasn''t killing them, monsters with that kind of strength aren''t that easy to kill, I just wanted to tear them apart and hurt them. Just as I planned they were launched in different directions but were still reasonably close to each other, I couldn''t let this opportunity pass. Everyone was on standby in the surroundings waiting for the signal that was this explosion, now it''s all over. The divide and conquer plan ends while the real plan of attack begins now. Just as I expected everyone to take advantage of the blast to start attacking, Nix was already waiting and just as a Cyclops was ready to fall to the ground with one less arm that he lost in the blast, he had a Black Dragon tail going through his chest before being pulled into a large shadow beneath him disappearing. I also saw a monster that looked like a three meter tall red lizard being torn apart into tiny pieces before landing on the ground by Layla''s spatial magic which causes a shower of disgusting green blood in the surroundings. A monster that looked like a Stone Golem went and fell to the ground right in front of Ragnar who was in his true form, he was calm while the Golem was recovering, when the Golem that must have been about 5 meters tall tried to punch him, the only thing Ragnar did was focus his Aura on his horn that looks like a red crystal blade and slightly shake his head. What happened next was the Golem was in pieces and a ditch was in the ground as if it had been cut by a great sword. Hela made a blade of bones more than three meters in the air and cut a monster that was heading toward her, in another place I see Lilith who creates a sword of blood and makes a small cut on a bird covered in silver feathers, in a short time the bird''s body starts to rot and he dies, so rica appears hidden on the other side. The two used powerful curses to kill this monster that was already injured by the explosion. Everyone takes advantage of this surprise attack opportunity to the best of their ability, but now it''s time for the real battle to begin. I see that all the monsters are going to have at least one person fighting them, so I bring my Aura back and stand up looking in the direction where the Wood Elemental is. "Now, it''s my turn." (I) Chapter 449: Battle In The Forest Part 2 Chapter 449: Battle In The Forest Part 2 Pov Freya: I was holding my bow and waiting for a monster to come towards me, but what came was a three-headed Venomous Hydra, this monster is a nuisance to fight, its defense is not as strong as others of its kind, but its regeneration is a great nuisance. Not to mention the Hydra Race''s unique ability to grow a new head to replace any head that is destroyed or mortally wounded. Its only weak point would be its heart or its core, poisons that are normally used against monsters with high regeneration or defense capacity will also not be useful as this monster has poison resistance abilities. "What should I do..." (I) While thinking about what to do, I see the 3.5 meter tall Poison Hydra hit the ground and get up, her injuries were serious but start to heal very fast. "My wind element won''t be useful, this monster will heal from any slashing or piercing attack, it''s the worst possible enemy against me." (I) "If I were the master here, I''m sure I would just destroy this monster''s entire body, but I don''t have the same massive destructive power as he does." (I) "I have to stop your wounds from healing somehow, but how..." (I) "(If I had Irina''s corrosion skill or rica and Lilith''s curse skill it would be much easier.)" (I) I start to think until an image that was once grotesque comes to mind, this happened in the mountain range during one of the battles against Farus'' troops. I remember Layla using an unnecessarily cruel technique, but that technique was perfect for me at the moment, but I''m going to need something.Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com I put something in 5 of my arrows and use what I learned from Elf Queen Luthien by focusing my Ki, mana, and spiritual energy into these arrows along with my Nature Aura to increase the power of this technique. "I''ve never done this before, I hope it works." (I) I place the 5 arrows on my bow and create three magic circles in front of the bow. "< Increase Speed > 2" (I) Pov Jade: I was ready to face any enemy, but why did it have to be a monster with Illusion abilities? My enemy was a monster whose upper body looks like a woman and the lower part has wooden tentacles, her eyes are completely green just like the color of her skin, she has tree bark growing from her arms and she can throw stakes with Mana-enhanced wooden spikes in large numbers on me. "What a troublesome monster." (I) I was surrounded by dozens of illusions of this monster, its attacks were fast, in addition, there were a few times that it tried to hold me with its wooden tentacles, but I used my tail as a whip breaking its wooden tentacles to pieces. Since then that monster doesn''t come near me anymore, all it does is keep its distance while throwing its wooden stakes or trying to cut me with wooden splinters. I can always defend myself using my spear, but I can''t land a direct hit like that. "Since I can''t fight hand-to-hand, I can only test it in combat." (I) "< Poison Serpents >" (I) I spit poison on the ground and control it to form a magic circle that I use to create ten large green snakes that automatically begin attacking nearby enemies. After a few minutes, I find the monster''s real body and use my spear to cut off one of its arms while the other arm reaches out, piercing my stomach. "< Acid Poison Breath >" (I) I hold that arm with one hand and breathe a venomous breath at the monster that eats its body then pierce its head with my spear ending this fight. "I was careless to be injured by this attack." (I) I take a potion to heal myself before starting to head in another direction to look for the next enemy. "I have to stop being so rushed to finish the fights, it''s making me have a lot of openings." (I) I reflect on what I could have done differently in this battle as I follow a Fairy leading me to the nearest enemy. Chapter 450: Battle In The Forest Part 3 Chapter 450: Battle In The Forest Part 3 Pov Orion: I was unlucky, no enemy came towards me, I had to fly to an enemy that was far from me, when I arrived I realized that it was not an enemy, they were two monsters. They were green fur tigers, their element seems to be the wind from the way the air moves unnaturally around them, their size is similar to mine. I can imagine they are monsters with a specialty in speed, they also don''t seem to be enemies that emerged from the Annual Monster Wave, I can see the wisdom in their eyes. I can feel a murderous Aura coming from them which shows that they must have killed many people and monsters until today, they are predators. As soon as I arrived they looked at me like prey they are going to hunt, that''s something I can''t forgive. The master gave me a name that represents a Hunter, the master wants me to always be the biggest predator, that I will be the one who hunts and never the one who is hunted. "I''ll show you who''s the Hunter and who''s the hunted..." (I) I can feel the anxiety and excitement of a hunt, I''m sure I''m laughing as I can see my reflection in the eyes of these two wind element tigers. I run into the forest hiding my presence, the two monsters think I''m running away and come after me, the master was right, blind trust always leaves people blind to such an obvious trap. They are following me to a place full of trees within the mist in the area full of illusions, now it is too late to retreat. "Now I''m going to show you how a real Hunter acts..." (I) I guide my two prey into my trap in a place where their speed advantage means nothing. The two monsters are confused not knowing where I am, the mist hinders their vision and illusions confuse their minds, just like the master taught I make noises in random places throwing things to confuse my prey. "(The master said that in an ambush the first attack must always be fatal or to immobilize the target.)" (I) "(I shouldn''t be in a hurry, they are standing still waiting for my attack, I can feel them gathering mana in their throats, do they want to attack me at the moment of my attack?)" (I) The master said that the most important thing for a hunter is not to have the greatest power, but to be the greatest observer. Observe the target, observe the environment, observe possible weapons, observe yourself, and most importantly, observe what the enemy wants to achieve.Vissit for updates "< Chaos Charge >" (I) Bammm!!! I use a Charge to appear in the middle of the two before they can react, so when they are going to attack me turning their heads towards me I jump up as I see whirlwinds of biting wind coming out of the jaws of the two monsters and colliding, this throws the two monsters away from each other in opposite directions. "Everything I wanted." (I) I stayed talking to Layla while I guided her to the next enemies, I hope there''s one more left for me to train my hunting skills more. ---------- Pov Nix: I stepped out into an open area in front of a large silver horned bull that was riddled with wounds on its body and looked at the Dark Elf sitting on top of the monster. "Looks like you ended your fight pretty quickly, Mister Ramon." (I) The one on top of the monster was the General of the Elf Village and Father of Sophia, he had some injuries from the fight but from what I can see they are all superficial, he may be resting on top of the monster but he is still paying close attention to his surroundings. "Not as fast as I''d like, taking an armored bull as an opponent is hard for me." (Roman) "The explosion didn''t do any damage to him, it just threw him close to where I was." (Ramon) "My enemy was pretty easy, he was badly wounded and I attacked him from behind as he fell, so he didn''t have the slightest chance." (Nix) While I was talking to Sophia''s father, some Moon Spirits come close to my ear, these are those who were born in the Dungeon and are serving as observers, and guides in this area full of illusions and messengers. "It looks like the fight is almost over." (Nix) "Yes, you took out the vast majority of them with great ease from the information I received." (Ramon) "My master always says that how much we attack should be to finish the battle as quickly as possible, we don''t fight to defeat the enemy but to kill them in the first blow." (Nix) "That''s a good mentality, but it doesn''t mean that all your fights are going to be that quick, sometimes you might come across enemies that are strong against your way of fighting." (Roman) Roman speaks as he hits the carcass of the monster he is sitting on. "You''re right, we have people who are having difficult battles, but our victory is almost guaranteed." (I) "The master has already started his battle, so now it''s just a matter of time." (I) "Let''s go back to the village and fight the weaker monsters just like the plan said." (I) "Right." (Roman) I guide Sophia''s father along the right path that leads to the village, this illusion doesn''t affect me at all, so it''s easy to know where to go even in this fog. "(If I remember correctly, Layla and Ragnar would go to the master as we all went back to the village after all the Lower Catastrophe Grade monsters were killed.)" (I) "(I just hope the master doesn''t get all hurt again.)" (I) Chapter 451: Battle In The Forest Part 4 Chapter 451: Battle In The Forest Part 4 After I got out of the tree where I was hiding, I''m flying in the direction where the Wood Elemental is. As he was close to the blast he was badly injured, but from the information I have about the various types of Elemental Monsters, I know that his regenerative abilities are strong, so I hope to get there before he is fully recovered. After five minutes of flying, I reach him and see the monster devouring another. The Wood Elemental was 6 meters tall and looked like a tree from a horror movie, it had a mouth and eyes on the tree trunk, it also had big wooden arms and used its roots like wooden tentacles to get around, on top of its head had branches with sharp bombs, leaves that looked sharp, and big vines that fell through the branches. When I arrived here this Wood Elemental was devouring a two-headed Lizard whose body was in pieces, moreover, he was already fully recovered from his blast injuries. "Looks like you used a mate to recover faster." (I) "< Spears of Fire >" (I) "< Stone Thorns >" (I) "< Thunder >" (I) "< Sword of Light >" (I) "< Dark Shot >" (I) This time I don''t make the same mistake as before and try several different elemental attacks to know which element is his weakness, luckily it seems that fire is his weakness. "< Elemental Blade > 5" (I) This is a skill I created after synthesizing all the elemental blade skills I had, now I can use the same skill to launch different elemental attacks faster than switching between skills, plus I can choose to use mana or Ki plans attacks. This time I switch between various elements while using elemental Ki on my sword to make sure these monsters are weak against Ki or mana. The monster realizes the danger and tries to attack the sword before it completely leaves the magic circle, all the leaves came out of the monster''s branches making a whirlwind of small blades that hit the sword, or at least that''s what the Wood Elemental expected. "Wait for a little longer, don''t be hasty." (I) I stood in front of the attack that breaks my cursed barrier, but I was again using my blood cloak technique and used it to defend myself along with my wings that I close in front of me. I managed to resist the attack with some superficial cuts and the 7 meter sword was outside the magic circle, the red sword is covered in purple flames spreading horrible heat around the surroundings. "< Run >" (I) I point to the monster that is controlling all the sharp leafless branches to try to pierce me and activate the spell as soon as the sword appears, with the activation password the sword that was floating turns its blade to the Wood Elemental and disappears. "..." (I) The next thing I see is the sword with its blade engraved on the monster that starts to catch fire all over, the spear-like branches that were coming towards me are in pieces on the ground also on fire. The monster screams, but it only lasts for a few seconds before falling to the ground, on top of what''s left of the monster''s body it was devouring before I arrived. I look over and see purple fire all around, so I lift my hand and that fire gathers in my palm before closing my hand and extinguishing the fire. "This spell is very powerful, but it still uses up a lot of mana, but it''s still better than what I had to do with That Life Golem." (I) "I hate to face monsters with high regeneration capacity." (I) With everything finished I got down and searched what was left of the bodies of the monsters, luckily I managed to recover the Core of the Wood Elemental, other than that everything else was in terrible condition. When I''m done with that I see Layla, Ragnar, and Hela coming toward me. "(I think the battle is over, it looks like everything went better than expected.)" (I) Chapter 452 [Bonus Chapter]Cap 450.5: Wish To Protect Chapter 452 [Bonus Chapter]Cap 450.5: Wish To Protect Pov Freya: Since becoming an Ancient Elf I''ve felt a need to be close to the master, I feel like being close to him completes me in some way. It took me a few days of apprenticeship with the Elf Queen Luthien to truly understand why this feeling. It''s actually a mixture of things, I feel comfortable around the master because an Ancient Elf''s body is one with the side of nature that brings harmony, peace, and prosperity. This allows me to harmonize with nature, but the master is the opposite, I can feel something in him that causes destruction, transformation, and evolution. That which I feel from the master seems to complete what I myself have become, according to Elf Queen Luthien, I can only perceive this because of the connection I formed with the master, this connection was also one of the things that makes me feel the most near him. But then I realized something else too, besides my daughter and her husband Leo, I haven''t trusted anyone for a long time, the previous master was a good person, but I felt that he treated us well as compensation for the mistreatment that his children caused us. Master Zenos may be far from perfect, but he''s the most honest person I''ve ever met after my innocent daughter.The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) The master gave us a true home where we can act freely, he cares about everyone even more than himself and is always willing to help us with anything. The strangest thing about the master is his way of thinking, for some reason he doesn''t consider himself a good person, his image of a good person seems to be that of a pure saint who doesn''t exist. The master may not know it, but during the three months he was unconscious during his last evolution, everyone was doing their best for him. Rakan devoted himself to his research to be prepared when the master needed him, Jade as well as other people who were saved by the master gave themselves to a hellish training to be of help to the master in the next battles. There was also Ibuki who was always by the master''s side, she was the only one among all of us who didn''t worry and firmly believed that he would wake up, but that wouldn''t make any difference since she was always the one who trained the most among all of us. With this power that I have now as an Ancient Elf, I will protect everything I love, I will not allow myself to lose another home, and I will not let my daughter go through what I went through so many years ago, this time I will be strong enough. Because of that I''ve been training as hard as possible in a way I haven''t in years. I cannot waste this power the master has bestowed on me and I cannot waste the efforts the Elf Queen has put into training me. I''m still not good enough at handling all three types of energy, but I''m trying my best to be as prepared as possible. This battle will be the place where I will see what I''m capable of during a battle, with that thought I enter the Illusory Forest along with the others to prepare for the beginning of the master''s plan against the approaching wave of monsters. The master asked me to do my best not to approach the monsters and try to fight from a distance with my bow and arrow. But that will have to be enough this time, for a first real combat experience being an Ancient Elf this will be enough as if I get in danger due to my inexperience in controlling this power, I might end up causing more problems for the master. With that mindset I go to the area that has been assigned to me. Chapter 453: A Cook On The Battlefield Chapter 453: A Cook On The Battlefield When I met with the others, I realized that the battle had been quicker and easier than I initially expected. With some time talking to others it was easy to understand why. One of the main reasons was that most of these Lower Catastrophe Grade monsters originated from the Monster Wave of a few days ago, that is to say, they were part of these very aggressive and stupid monsters. Thanks to that they used their great power directly and couldn''t fight in a way to use their powers as effectively as possible, they also didn''t have any combat experience, and because of that, it was easy to fight them. In addition, the explosion injured many of them, which made it easier for the others to fight. There were also many cases of others attacking the monsters while they were still in the air after being thrown by the magic blast which didn''t even leave these monsters a fighting chance.Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com While I was talking I was also spreading my Aura to have a better understanding of the surroundings, it seems that everyone has already finished their fights and all the Lower Catastrophe Grade monsters are dead. I will collect everyone and those who are in the worst condition are Roman who is Sophia''s father, Lilith, and rica. It looks like Roman encountered a monster with a strong body that was a bad match with him being a Martial Artist. Besides, rica told me that she has been fighting alongside Lilith to finish off the monsters faster with her curses, but the second monster they found was resistant to the curses, which generated a tough battle for both of them, thanks to that they are full of wounds, but luckily nothing serious. I don''t know any healing spells as I haven''t tried to learn any until today, so I could only give them some potions and hope to find Vanessa or Irina to heal them. When everyone was gathered I left the Illusory Forest heading back to the village where the battle was still going on. Caryna was treating the monsters the same way she treated the ingredients in the kitchen, she uses the big fork to go through the monsters while arranging the bodies in an orderly manner to pick up later. The way she slashes enemies is also abnormal, each slash she cuts off a limb from the monster''s body or takes out the organs, it looks like she''s preparing the monsters'' meat for cooking. The speed that Caryna was wielding her "combat weapons" was incredible, her movement precision was impeccable, but the strange way she fought was unpredictable to me. She dodged any attack as if it was the most normal thing in the world, when she needed to defend herself she used her "combat weapons" to deflect blows, or simply cut off body parts as if they were being presented to her for it. Plant-type monsters that could not be turned into food were destroyed on the first attack and thrown far away with their immense strength. I look around at the others and see that Freya is sighing as she sees this scene like a mother seeing her child doing something she doesn''t approve of. Others were having different reactions, some were looking in disbelief at what they were seeing just like I was before, some were watching with garlic interest that they had never seen before and some were watching with amusement as if it was some kind of show to watch. I always thought Caryna was the most normal of us all, so for me to see her like this was like destroying a fantasy in mine while she punches me in the face with reality. I should have known that it''s impossible for someone normal to live inside a dungeon, I have to stop having expectations of normality for those around me, in the end, I''m the only normal one and I have to be content with that. After all the monsters were defeated I couldn''t believe what I was seeing, everyone around me was surprised too as Hela, Layla and Lilith were laughing at the scene that was making Freya sigh as she brought her hand to her face. When all the monsters were dead, Caryna picks up a large thick metal tray that she pulls out of her storage item with one hand and goes toward the bodies she ordered during combat of the monsters she killed. She picks up the big barbecue fork and starts picking up the bodies and placing them on the tray in an orderly fashion before taking them to another place where she has big boxes to store the bodies. She really was treating all monsters like ingredients, it didn''t just shock us who were watching from afar, the people of the Dungeon and the village Elves were just standing there in disbelief at what was happening. Chapter 454: 2 Months Pass Chapter 454: 2 Months Pass After the battle came to the cleaning of all the mess that was left, but not everything was just cleaned, the monsters had many things on their bodies that could be useful in different professions. So now they were all tallying up the gains from the Annual Monster Wave that was a few days ago and this monster wave was caused by the Wood Elemental I killed. Leonardo was over the moon as they had a lot of tree-type monsters and a lot of Golems, that''s why he could use their bodies to make a stronger and more durable city structure. This may seem ridiculous to people in human cities, but there are many Demi, Demon, and other races who have big bodies, a lot of strength, or who are very heavy, so the streets must be able to support their weight. In addition, the buildings must accommodate everyone in the best possible way, so Leonardo was very attentive to the requests of Arachnes and Lamias about what they needed, he also paid close attention to what they would need on a daily basis while moving around the city he wanted to be designed. Leonardo even thought about the comfort of other races that we don''t even know until now like the Giants. Leonardo says that since I want to travel to many places around the world, we have to think about creating a city where all races can feel comfortable, so if we receive some visitors or new residents we will have a better prepared structure. I was surprised by his speech at the time, but I think it''s part of his dream, he wants to design and build a city that everyone can live in, it''s written all over his face whenever he starts talking nonstop about the city''s projects. I don''t think anyone else but me would listen to these things since the various raw materials you''ll need in building such a city would be an enormous sum of money. I''m basically using monster parts, expensive ores, blacksmithing ingredients, and alchemy to build this city.UppTodated from But from what Nira told me, there are still some things missing, which Leonardo needs to finish building the city, but we don''t have those things in the Dungeon or here in this village, so we can only go on our journey and try to find what we need most. I already have the location of the magic engineer we are looking for, and I also already have the location of the World Tree of the Dark Continent. The only thing left to do is transform the Elf Queen into an Ancient Elf, everything else has already been done, Sakura had even helped in the birth of several Incarnations of the Forest here in the Elf village as requested. After all these months everything was ready for us to leave, the Elf Queen had even prepared the construction of a boat to help us on our way to the Dark Continent. I was going to let Lilian guide us by boat as she knows the way better than anyone here as the Dark Continent was her homeland. In three days we were leaving, during which time we were all getting ready to leave. Nira was preparing everything we would need for a trip, Freya and Caryna were looking at the food which I don''t think are necessary since there are now monsters in the Dungeon that we can hunt for food. One thing that changed a lot in the last two months was the Dungeon that gained more floors and many monsters, Nix made all the changes I talked to her about. During these last few days that we will be staying here, Sophia has decided to spend some more time with her family before we leave. I must admit that I will miss this starry sky together with the image of this World Tree, this image is something that I will miss a lot, but at the same time, I am also looking forward to seeing the different landscapes around this world and to see how the night sky looks like seen from these places. Now it''s time for me to sleep, tomorrow I still have a lot to do. Chapter 455: Elf Queen Luthien Is Reborn Chapter 455: Elf Queen Luthien Is Reborn With two days to go before we leave this village, Freya and my Familiars are going to the Temple of the World Tree. When I get there I go straight to the marble platform where they''ll be waiting for me. "Are you sure you want to do this today?" (I) "Yes, there is something I need to finish before you leave, it would be better if I were an Ancient Elf for that." (Luthien) "Are you really going to need me and Freya for this?" (I) "You are much stronger than the two of us together." (I) "I know what you''re worried about, but what''s going to happen today has nothing to do with the strength of each of us." (Luthien) "Unlike the awakening you did with Freya, what I need is just some of her blood and Freya''s blessings." (Luthien) "Yes, it already meets all the other conditions besides those last two." (Luth) The World Tree spirit appears next to the Elf Queen, so she waves her hand causing the entire marble platform to glow brightly for a second before the platform becomes transparent revealing streams of multicolored energy flowing inside. A faint multicolored glow seemed to add a touch of the divine to this place, I could feel a great presence of nature itself here. "This will provide the energy of nature that you will need during the process of transformation and evolution." (Luth) "That''s my energy mixed with the energy of the environment itself." (Luth) "How long will this process take?" (Luthien)Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com "For another Elf, it might take a few days or even a few weeks." (Luth) "But for an Elf Queen like you, it should only take a few hours, maybe even less." (Luth) "I''m ready to start whenever you want." (I) "I''m ready too." (Freya) "And it didn''t, Freya is just feeling the pressure to create a seed of power for Luthien." (Luth) "She can''t do that kind of ritual for a month." (Luth) "Is she going to stay like this for a month?" (I) "No, she''ll be fine in a few hours, she just can''t repeat this ritual for another month." (Luth) "I''m fine, master." (Freya) "I''m just a little tired." (Freya) "If you want I can take you back on my back." (Ragnar) "Thank you so much, Ragnar." (Freya) After I''ve done what we needed, I leave with the others, as soon as we get back I ask Sakura to take Freya to bed. After that, I''ll take care of a few more things we need to take care of before we leave in two days. So at the end of the night, I go back to the top of the tree where we''ve been living for the last few months to enjoy it while I can, the view of the World Tree with this beautiful starry sky is magnificent. "This sight is always amazing no matter how many times I see it." (I) "I''m glad you like that too." (Luthien) "Even after thousands of years, I can''t get enough of this vision either." (Luthien) When I look back I see a black-skinned Elf child just like Freya, with golden hair and silver eyes with a large diamond-shaped crystal on her forehead with a Golden Crystal Tree inside emitting a faint glow. "You look beautiful, congratulations on your evolution." (I) "Thank you so much, but this is all thanks to you and Freya." (Luthien) "But I didn''t come here just to thank you, I came to ask you to come to the World Tree to talk to me on the day of your departure, I have something for you." (Luthien) Chapter 456: New Residents Chapter 456: New Residents In the last few days, we have been preparing to leave this village and start our journey to the Dark Continent, I must say that I am reluctant to leave such a beautiful and peaceful place, but I am also looking forward to going to new places and seeing amazing landscapes. But I must say that this trip to this village had many unexpected things happening, many events that changed me. When I came to this village I hadn''t decided where I should go, I only came here due to Sakura''s request, so I''m happy to leave here with a right direction of where to go, I can also enjoy tourism in the Dark Continent and see what a place full of Demi races. But there was something in the last two days that caught everyone off guard, the day before our departure that is, yesterday afternoon, Sophia came to talk to me with her parents, I received them and brought them to the dining room to talk after the initial greetings. "I imagine they came to try to ask your daughter to stay in the village, am I right?" (I) "It''s nothing like that, master." (Sophia) "They wouldn''t come here for such a useless request, the decision to follow you is mine." (Sophia) "My daughter has already spoken of her oath, so I''m sure she won''t go back on her decision, but this is the path she chose for herself." (Carolina) "The oath of a Dark Elf warrior is something worth its own life, so no one has the right to say anything against it, not even your parents, but I hope you take good care of my daughter." (Roman) "No need to worry, for me and the others Sophia is already part of the family." (I) "I''m glad to hear that, but we''re not here to talk about our daughter." (Carolina) "Then you can say what you want." (I) Sophia''s father has a serious expression as usual and looks like he just came along, he doesn''t look like he''s going to participate in the conversation. Carolina who is Sophia''s mother exchanges glances with her daughter before looking seriously at me, I have the impression that it must be something serious for one of the three village leaders to be here in person accompanied by the general since the matter seems to have nothing to do with Sophia. "By the look of your eyes, you can tell by now, but I''m not here as Sophia''s mother, I''m here as one of the three leaders of the Illusory Forest village council, to ask the leader of the Shadow City for a favor." (Carolina) "..." (I) "Hundreds of Elves have come to the council in the last month since the news of his departure from the village along with all his followers." (Carolina) Sigh "I''m looking forward to seeing it." (I) I get a little distracted from the subject when I hear that even Sophia has already gone to see the city, but then I look at Carolina again to talk to her. "I apologize, I get distracted very easily most of the time and I have a bad habit of getting off topic without realizing it." (I) "But I would like to know if these Elves will really be okay with coming with us, I don''t know if I will ever return to this continent or the dangers I will face during my travels, I can''t even promise that they will be safe." (I) "I''ve said all this to my mother and to the Elves who want to follow us, but very few have given up." (Sophia) "This is normal among younger Elves or those who don''t have a village attachment, usually they will live in cities of other Races or become adventurers." (Carolina) "Only half of each generation is content to live in the village, there are also many who choose to return after not liking what they find when leaving the village or retiring from their adventurous lives." (Carolina) "But these Elves who want to go with you seem determined, so I prefer that they all stay together in a place with people who will treat them well instead of letting them go to places alone, besides you are someone who cares a lot about the lives of that one by your side." (Carolina) "After saying so much, then they can come along, but they will have to follow Dungeon customs, but I imagine they must already know about that." (I) "Yes, they do, but some of them took it as a challenge to their abilities, Gray Elves especially." (Sophia) p "Their customs are very good at training people''s senses and caution in a natural way, unfortunately, that''s not something we can replicate here." (Roman) "Of course, we''re not going to replicate something so perverted here, no offense." (Carolina) "Alright, I agree with you, I also found it hard to get used to it at first." (I) "That''s because you''re always being protected, many women in the Dungeon still have you in their sights, they just don''t have the courage to attack." (Sophia) I try to pretend not to hear any of this, then after a few more conversations Sophia''s parents leave, then I give Sophia some instructions to organize these Elves who want to come along. After that, I spend the rest of the day doing a few last things before heading to the World Tree temple in the late afternoon to speak one last time with the Elf Queen and the World Tree Spirit before departing tomorrow morning. Chapter 457: Luthiens Gift Chapter 457: Luthien''s Gift It''s already dusk and I''m walking down the green marble path towards the platform where the Elf Queen is waiting for me. "I didn''t expect you to show up before dark." (Luthien) "During the night I have to help people get back to the Dungeon with the others." (I) "Well, it doesn''t matter since it''s been over for a while." (Luthien) "What are you talking about? Why did you want me to come here?" (I) "I have something for you, I''ve been working on it for the last few months." (Luthien) "Becoming an Ancient Elf made me do a better job, honestly I''m really proud of what I did." (Luthien) "What are you talking about?" (I) The Elf Queen waves her hand making the space beside her ripple then a large crystal cube comes out of those ripples in space and lands heavily on the platform where we are. This crystal cube had an amber color, it didn''t look like a normal crystal, it actually looked like crystallized amber, there also seemed to be a silhouette inside the amber. "..." (I) "That''s what I wanted to give you." (Luthien) "What is this? Also what silhouette is that inside?" (I) "I think I need to explain myself better." (Luthien) The Elf Queen walks over to a sofa on the right side of the green platform and invites me to sit on the sofa in front of her. "You still remember our request to you and the reason you were going to the Dark Continent, right?" (Luthien) "Yes, the death of a World Tree on the Dark Continent and I have to take a World Tree Seed there." (I) "Exactly, now do you remember the question you asked that day?" (Luthien) "..." (I) I close my eyes and cross my arms trying to remember that day, but I can''t remember anything very specific. As I''m not very good at manipulating the space element, I ask Layla to keep this for me. After that, I speak one last time with the Elf Queen before departing for my other tasks. ---------- Pov Luthien: After Zenos leaves with the cube, Luth appears beside me smiling. "He took it easier than expected." (I) "I thought he might refuse or at least be reluctant." (I) "After all he''s learned about the World Trees, he respects what we do and realizes the importance of our existence." (Luth) "He''s someone who tends to avoid trouble, yet he still offered to use his power on a World Tree knowing it was something that would get him into a lot of trouble sooner or later." (Luth) "He respects you and me, I think he wants to do it because of the sadness you showed that day." (I) "You''re wrong, he wants to do this simply because he thinks it''s right, nothing more and nothing less." (Luth) "Are you sure it''s that simple?" (I) "Zenos is someone simpler than you think." (Luth) "If he wants to do something, then he just does it, whether he has a reason for it or not." (Luth) "That''s one of the reasons he''s so unpredictable." (Luth) "Do you think he will succeed?" (I) "Even with the materials I used in building that Doll, even with the energy you stored in that cube, and even with Zenos'' help, the chances of the Dark Continent''s World Tree spirit are low." (I) "This body, even if powerful enough to contain a World Tree spirit, may not be compatible." (I) "Furthermore, the spirit itself is already seriously injured, even if it gets a new body it will still meet death as we have no guarantee that Zenos can heal these wounds in the soul." (I) "I believe everything will end well, he is someone who managed to surprise even me, so have a little more faith, Luthien." (Luth) Chapter 458: Leaving The Illusory Forest Chapter 458: Leaving The Illusory Forest After leaving the World Tree temple I went to the place where the dungeon people''s temporary home was. What I had to do there was something easy, I opened the Dungeon gate there and let them haul whatever was left inside and let people in to settle into their new homes. I also tried to get into the crowd a few times, but I was found each time, all I wanted to do was take a peek at the city. As I was a small person, I tried to go into the crowd, but I was unsuccessful. I tried to get into a box that would be taken to the Dungeon, but it has been found. I tried to use my skills to hide in the shadows of someone who was about to enter, but I was found too. I even tried to run to the gate at full speed, but I also failed. Nix, Ivan, Freya, and Ragnar kept stopping me every time, they said it was to not spoil the surprise later on.Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com All I could see was the store line that formed from people heading back into the Dungeon, everyone looked happy as if they had been on a trip so far, but they could finally go back to their homes. As everyone seemed intent on keeping me from entering my own dungeon, all I could do was accept to wait until the next morning while I was frustrated with the whole situation. After it was all over and everyone was inside the Dungeon, including the Elves who decided to follow us, then I close the Dungeon gate and go back to the Tree where we''ve been living for the last few months. On the way, I think about our current means of transport. The carriage we used to come here was rebuilt with better materials this time, in addition, the boat was also completely redone, in fact, it was already a totally different boat, only its magic command core was kept. This boat was built in collaboration between the people of Elf Village and the people of Dungeon, I had already seen the boat, or using a better name, I had already seen the ship. That was a big ship, but it didn''t bother me, Elves were told I like simple things and don''t like to draw unnecessary attention. When I arrived I tried to sleep, but there were four people who tried to keep me awake all night but lost consciousness in the middle of the night. "We already did it yesterday, it wouldn''t make sense to do it twice." (I) "Just take care of my daughter as you promised and have a safe journey to the Dark Continent." (Roman) "That''s all I want..." (me) Sigh "But I have to admit that this would be difficult, I can no longer deny that my luck won''t let this trip be normal." (I) "So I think you better be careful with the sea, there are many monsters, pirates, and other races there." (Roman) "I think I can handle monsters and pirates." (I) "Don''t underestimate the oceans, there are many inaccessible Dungeons at the bottom of the sea where waves of monsters happen with a certain frequency, because of that there are many strong monsters hiding in the water." (Roman) "Anyone who wants to travel to another continent must be strong enough for this kind of journey or choose their mode of transport wisely." (Roman) "That means the pirates who sail this kind of ocean are not the weaklings you may have seen before." (Roman) "I''ll take that into consideration, thanks for the warning." (I) "From here we''ll head to the northernmost port of the Grimo Kingdom, we''ll need almost two months of travel to get there." (I) "I wish you a good trip." (Roman) "Goodbye, Roman." (I) I get into the carriage and we start moving forward, Sophia who was driving the carriage waves to her father in farewell. As soon as we pass the gate I don''t look back, with that we start a new journey, I just hope I don''t find any problems in this nation until I get to the port and leave this continent. Chapter 459: Frustrated Hero Part 1 Chapter 459: Frustrated Hero Part 1 Pov Alan''s: I was only able to stay a few days in the village of the Elves with Bianca and Darcia, that''s why I couldn''t stay in the same place as Zenos. I couldn''t understand how the Elves who are known to be wise and cautious allowed such a dangerous being into their village that it was willing to kill dozens of them upon its arrival in such a dominant manner. How could they trust someone like him, on the way through the Illusory Forest I found him and his companions friendly and easy to talk to, but what I saw at the entrance to the village was a monster used to killing without hesitation. The creatures that were with him were also deceptive, I could feel the bloodlust of the little monster pup on Zenos'' shoulder, I also saw a Fairy at that moment, a strange Fairy full of bloodlust that looked more like a Demon beside I felt something else lurking in his shadow. I couldn''t accept that sort of thing, so I went after the information I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. But I was surprised by what I discovered, I came here because people from Grimo Realm said that there was information about Demons and Vampires within Makari Realm. This was a good starting point for me, there were also other strange situations happening on this continent, there was information about a Dungeon full of Undead in the Trigan Kingdom and a big event in the mountain range that mobilized armies of almost all religions to there. I had to investigate all this, this continent where there are few with the same level of strength as me will be a suitable place to gain real field experience. I know that I am immature, I know that I am not a fool like most young nobles who think they are invincible, I know that I have great talent, I know that I have received the best of training and I have received the best of forms of education. I even had the honor of being recognized as a Hero by the great God of Justice, I have two people of great talent by my side, one with great experience in real combat and the other who has a wise mind able to advise me in moments of doubt. My life is blessed and wonderful as it is now, but this comes as a responsibility and a great expectation of others in me, I will not disappoint anyone, I will demonstrate to everyone that I am worthy of what I have with my actions. With that in mind, I went to the Elf village to get information as the Gray Elves are known to be the best spies and information gatherers. But what I discovered in the Elf village was something surprising to me, the Makari Kingdom I was going to investigate had been destroyed, its nobles, its army, its treasures, and even its Royal Family had disappeared within the span of a month. Furthermore, we found that the reason the various religions sent armies to the mountain range was because of a wave of divine power that was felt there, but when the armies arrived, there was nothing there. I could not believe that such strange events were happening on a continent that should have been far from the dangers of this world. The energy density on this continent is very low compared to other continents, with my current strength it''s still something that doesn''t affect me, but when I strengthen myself a little more staying on this continent will start to make me feel bad. That''s why I can''t understand how such strange things happened here and now that I found what I needed, it was time to go on a trip to this continent. But over the course of my journey the strangeness only increased, it all started when we arrived at the Makari Kingdom and started to investigate there. ---------- Makari Kingdom: Inside an inn in the capital. We had just entered this inn and it was the middle of the night, after weeks of investigating this Kingdom we were already confused by everything we discovered. "We know that in two cities the citizens didn''t even realize what happened until it was too late." (I) "Also, there were destroyed places that looked strange at first." (I) "I know what they were, I found the remains of tunnels in certain places that must have belonged to the government with my magic, I couldn''t enter, but I used a Monster Tamer to get a sample of what was there." (Bianca) "With my knowledge of alchemy, I was able to discover it was drugs." (Bianca) "There was a rumor that a lot of drugs were coming out of this Kingdom, but they never found any proof as far as I knew." (Darcia) "If they were producing drugs using government buildings, then it would be difficult to find out anything, plus it would explain how they got such a large sum of money to rebuild 3 cities of the Realms they conquered." (I) "But something different happened in two other cities, one was completely destroyed and no survivors were left." (Bianca) "And in the capital of the Makari Kingdom where we are now, these people acted during the day and made quite a mess." (Bianca) "The destroyed city was very strange, there were no bodies or blood of anyone, but the state of the city shows that there was a full-scale battle." (Darcia) Sigh "That city is a mystery to me." (I) "I felt strange in that city, it was like I wasn''t entering a place that didn''t belong to me." (Bianca) "Besides I felt that place had already been judged, I think some powerful priest went there before us." (Bianca) "He must have gone to give peace to the souls of the people who died there." (I) "We''re not sure if they all died, but that would be the best explanation." (Darcia) "But from the order of the attacks we can assume that the capital was the last, the destroyed city must have been the previous one." (Darcia) "So they changed their way of attacking so they wouldn''t make the same mistake as the destroyed city?" (I) "I suspect so, the citizens said that a monster appeared in the middle of the city scaring everyone out of the city, but there are no marks of a large monster moving in the square where he was seen." (Darcia) "Were they forcing people to evacuate, maybe trying to save people?" (I) "That would be my guess too." (Bianca) "If we follow that line of reasoning, then the Royal Family was also involved, we also have reports of explosions happening in the sky that day, some people saw it." (Darcia) "A battle in the sky..." (I) "They''re also said to have seen a Dragon heading for the clouds at the end, but it might be like the monster they used before, a distraction to retreat." (Darcia) "It would make sense, but why hasn''t anyone announced anything about this?" (I) Chapter 460: Frustrated Hero Part 2 Chapter 460: Frustrated Hero Part 2 Pov Alan''s: Makari Kingdom Castle Ruins: After what we''d talked about the night before at the inn, there were still a lot of questions, not too much of what we thought yesterday was speculation without proof. The truth is, we don''t know the true intentions of the Makari Kingdom''s nobles or the true intentions of the people who destroyed that Kingdom. There aren''t enough leads to follow, the Black Market says they don''t have any information about any of this, and the Assassin''s Guild says they weren''t able to set up bases in the Makari Kingdom, so we don''t have any information other than what we can find for ourselves and the what citizens tell us. "We can be sure the King was involved in all this, look at the castle''s location." (I) "It''s outside the magic circle of streets." (Darcia) "Not only that, check out the castle itself, that''s amazing..." (Bianca) Darcia and I were heading towards the castle after coming down from the walls when we saw that the castle is outside the strange magic circle of the streets. Bianca, who had gone ahead to see the castle, runs to us to drag us to the castle and show us what she discovered. "What did you find, Bianca?" (I) "This entire castle has been greatly reinforced with magic, there are many types of defensive magic intertwining." (Bianca) "This castle will be strong enough to withstand even your attacks Alan, but now it is destroyed." (Bianca) "I still don''t understand why do all this? Why not announce it to everyone if the goal was to save people?" (I) "We''ve got lots of vampire and demon blood all over this castle, there''s one room, in particular, that has the blood of dozens of vampires, but even here there are no bodies left." (Darcia) "This only confirms the information that there are Vampires and Demons in this Realm, we can even assume that all Nobles were Demons or Vampires since there were so many in what should be the Castle of the King of the Nation." (I) "The most damage to the castle was done where the throne room is from what I''ve seen." (Bianca) "Let''s take a look." (I) We entered the destroyed castle, much of the damage was caused by fire, there are well signs of battles, but this could be due to the resistance of this Castelo from what Bianca said. As soon as we arrived in the throne room we saw that it was the most destroyed place, even with the damage caused by the fire we can still see the marks of a battle, that means that the strength of those who fought here was very great. "Yes, other than this suspicious village, nothing else was found, they say there are many Demi in this mountain range, but we haven''t seen any." (I) "I saw many signs of great battles, some are old, others maybe a few months old." (Darcia) "The fortress we found was especially destroyed at the entrance, there was a big battle there, but it doesn''t have any bodies." (Darcia) "After such a long time the monsters may have eaten the bodies of the people of the various Religions and took them away." (I) "After so long this is the most likely." (Bianca) "But this whole place is weird, we haven''t found information of large numbers of Demis moving around, it looks like they''ve disappeared." (I) "They could have gone by sea, so they could move around without attracting too much attention, after all, the sea is only a few days away." (Darcia) "That could be a possibility." (Bianca) "Even though that''s weird, the reason we''re here isn''t the missing Demi tribes." (I) "Have you ever felt something about Divine energy, Bianca?" (I) "Yes, the lake we found two days ago, but there was no power there, just a residual presence." (Bianca) "It looked like the presence of Fairies, moreover very powerful." (Bianca) "But we found no signs of battle on the lake." (I) "Yes, we did, I got old maps of the mountain range in the city of Valen, that lake didn''t exist before, there were supposed to be mountains there, but they disappeared." (Bianca) "The way I see it, whatever happened here, it''s not in our best interest anymore, we should leave." (Bianca) Sigh "Why is everything so different from what I expected?" (I) "First the Illusory Forest village, then the Makari Kingdom, also has the Undead Dungeon which has already been destroyed in the city of Valen and we have nothing else to do in this mountain range." (I) "This continent has been so frustrating." (I) Boom!!! I punch to the side, smashing through the wall of the cabin we''re in to vent my frustration. Chapter 461: Joans Daughter Chapter 461: Joan''s Daughter Pov Eleanor''s: I was drinking from a bottle on top of a tree when I saw the Gray Elf called Kira that accompanies that monstrosity, she was participating in combat training along with the two best Night Guardians of this place, at least not counting Nelson the Elf leader Gray on the Village Council and responsible for training the Night''s Watch. "Why did you agree to train her?" (I) "You know the answer." (Nelson) "I know, but we shouldn''t, she serves that monstrosity." (I) "It only shows that you were wise when you chose who to follow." (Nelson) "His reaction was very adequate considering the type of test we were doing." (Nelson) "He''s much stronger since the last time I saw him in the Makari Kingdom." (I) "It just shows his talent, plus he''s not an eyesore, we just happened to hit his weak spot." (Nelson)Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com "There are only two things that happen when you hit someone''s weak spot." (Nelson) "The target will be defeated or there will be an explosive reaction, you also knew that and tried to warn the High Priestess Aredhel, unfortunately, she did not listen." (Nelson) Sigh I look at Kira, I can see her mother in her movements, it looks like her mother taught her well before she left. Tears "I understand her sadness, the way she moves might be a little different, but clearly realizing the same way her mother moves, just a little different, she seems to have mixed a little more unpredictable techniques into what her mother taught. " (Nelson) "I had time to investigate after the Makari Kingdom, the moment I saw that mask I knew I couldn''t get it out of my head." (I) "Joan died in an epidemic in a small place because of a corrupt nobleman." (I) "The Joana who was the most loyal to her duties and the most talented died in a remote place and there was no one to protect what she loved most..." (I) Nelson puts his hand on my shoulder. "She knows we''re here." (I) "Yes, I think she is suspicious about her origins being from this village, but she also realized that no one tried to talk to her." (Nelson) "I wonder why she didn''t investigate her past herself until now." (I) "I don''t know if her past means much to her, if she''s like Joana, then she only cares about the moment." (Nelson) I can''t help but see Joana in the way Kira is fighting, the two are so similar. ---------- With that time passed, the days and weeks passed until they became months, now it''s time for Kira to leave, but so far she hasn''t sought to know about her or her mother''s past. It seems Nelson was right, she doesn''t want to know about her own past, knowing her mother I''m sure she didn''t tell her daughter anything, probably didn''t even tell her about her father, but those things depend on her in the end. Unfortunately, I''m not as good as Nelson, so I can''t teach her anything, at this point she''s better than me. They left today and when I arrived at the village gate they had just passed, Nelson seems to have come seconds before me as if he had waited for them to leave the village before he appeared, Roman had been there for some time, must have come to say goodbye of Sophia his daughter. "Looks like I was the last to arrive." (I) "Have you come to see the Gray Elf?" (Roman) "Yes, I at least wanted to see her go with my own eyes." (Nelson) "They''ve noticed you, I suspect Zenos must already know something." (Roman) "He knows, I already met him during a training night, even he knows it''s suspicious that I''m personally teaching his follower." (Nelson) "He must already know all the council leaders including you, from what I''ve observed of him, he is very careful." (I) "I don''t know your relationship with that Gray Elf, but you shouldn''t worry, from what he showed when he arrived, he has a strong attachment to those who follow him, so she''ll be safe." (Roman) I agree with General Roman''s words, but it still pains me to see her leave without even talking to her, but if I had I would have ended up talking about her mother sooner or later, so I kept my distance from her. "(I still don''t like you being with this monstrosity, I don''t know if you''ll be so safe, but at least you look happy Joana''s daughter.)" (I) Chapter 462: City Of Shadows Chapter 462: City Of Shadows After we left the village of the Elves we decided to take the shortest route to the port city in the northern region of the Kingdom of Grimo, for that we would have to go through one more city. The Elves gave us a map of the Realm and pointed out the path we should take, so I tell Nix and Orion to stay in the carriage for us to drive out of the Illusory Forest along the path marked on the map. Meanwhile, everyone else will enter the dungeon I opened inside the carriage, this will be the first time I enter the dungeon in months. ---------- As soon as I entered the Dungeon I go straight to the 23rd floor which is the floor where the mansion and the city are now. Thanks to the Annual Monster Wave we were able to collect a lot of DP, with that we were able to expand the size of the mansion''s floor more and we were able to create more floors. We even had more DP to create even more floors, but I decided to invest in modifying floors and implementing automatic monster spawn points. With that this dungeon finally became really functional, there are different monsters on each floor, in addition, all monsters in this dungeon are soulless variants, mid-bosses are unique soulless monsters and floor bosses are unique monsters with souls. I haven''t decided on a Dungeon boss, for now, I''m still thinking about it, for the monsters I put souls on, they are linked to the Dungeon, so even if they are defeated they will respawn sooner or later, moreover, they were all criminals. But it would be hypocritical of me if I treated them like criminals when they are not the same people as when they were alive, just like Hela, they remember their lives when they were alive before we killed them, but for them, it''s like seeing the someone else''s memories. That''s why I created three bosses for each floor, they will take turns staying in the boss room one day and then two in the city as a day off, but they are only allowed to come from their respective floors to the city floor, they are not able to leave the Dungeon. One thing I noticed was that all the buildings were very big and with big doors, it seems that Leonardo was serious when he said that he wanted his buildings to be adapted to various races regardless of the size or shape of their bodies. The places that had stairs always had ramps next to the stairs, probably to be more comfortable for races like the Lamias to walk through. As soon as I got out in the middle of the city I was amazed by everything around me and I started to explore everything. There were a few buildings that caught my eye, the big building with Roman architecture I saw before was something similar to an Adventurer''s Guild where people placed requests for things they needed from household chores to hunting dungeon monsters, there were even requests for the lines of Arachnees. It also had a beautiful five-story round building with an architecture that blends in with the forest neighborhood next door it had plants that grew around it giving a touch of color to its white surface. The town square was magnificent with a garden with various types of flowers and beautiful trees, in addition, in the middle of the square, there was a beautiful fountain and not far away from an open area where I think there should be something. Leonardo had already told me that he still hasn''t finished everything for lack of some materials. It also had a large building that seemed to be made with white marble and a type of red crystal marble, from the symbols on the building I imagine it was the temple Vanessa wanted so badly. When I entered the temple I saw that there was no statue, but there were separate places with plaques for some gods such as the Goddess of Blood, Goddess of Fairies, God of Spirits, God of Beasts, Demon God of Vengeance, God of Magic, Goddess of Wisdom and Dragon God. It seems that no statues have been prepared yet, it seems that even after months of work there are still many things to do, but I am surprised by the sheer number of things they have done so far. The movement of the city was incredible with so many races walking to and fro, everything was incredible, I feel like a child at Disney. Chapter 463: King Of Shadows Chapter 463: King Of Shadows One thing that caught my attention was the designs, ornaments and chain marks everywhere, it was something that could easily go unnoticed, it was just subtle details, nothing grandiose. But I realized that since these chains are the same as the ones drawn on my body, I can''t say if Leonardo ever saw this or if anyone told him about it, but I''m sure it was based on my own marks. This city is so happy with everyone walking to and fro with smiles on their faces, everyone who passes me greets me, but I can''t stop looking at everything, I keep walking to every corner of the city. I was fascinated in a way I didn''t expect, I could feel a warmth inside my heart that filled me with emotion. I knew the reason for this, this emotion overflowing from inside my chest was happiness, this city will be my home, the home we all built together, the home where I can always return to, the home where there will always be someone waiting for me me. Before I knew it, I was on top of the tallest Tree outside the city, my ration was revved up looking at that splendor. The city had no walls, it didn''t need something so useless in this place. "I knew sooner or later you would come to this place." (Kira) "Everything is magnificent..." (I) "I have to congratulate Leonardo for that, it exceeded all my expectations..." (I) "We tried to congratulate him, but he didn''t stay, he said he won''t accept anyone congratulating him for a job that hasn''t been finished yet." (Kira) "This place is much better than I expected just seeing the sketches of Leonardo''s drawings." (I) "Where is he?" (I) "That Elf fell asleep yesterday morning, he went weeks without sleep." (Byakko) I was so distracted by this town that I didn''t notice that Kira and Byakko were sitting on a branch talking next to me. "I told him not to overdo it." (I) "He is just like you, master." (Kira) "Once he puts something on his head, he never takes it off." (Kira) "He wanted to follow the construction of every structure in this city, he''s a very perfectionist." (Kira) "The maniac even cried with each completed construction, hahahaha..." (Byakko) "You shouldn''t laugh at this Byakko, this is Leonardo''s dream, I think it would be impossible to tell him to keep control of his emotions." (I) "I myself am finding it difficult to keep control of myself." (I) As we walked around town I told everyone about my new title, they said that everyone at Dungeon had been calling me for that title since last night when they entered the Dungeon. That''s why in the mountain range we named this place as Village of Shadows, but instead of building a village, we decided to build a city that inherited the name of the village and is being called City of Shadows. As I am the leader of everyone and at my children''s encouragement, it seems that everyone has started calling me Shadow King, but I hadn''t received the title until now for some reason. Maybe I only got the title now because I walked into the city and created a feeling of belonging there, or maybe it''s because of something else I don''t understand. ---------- After walking around the city we walked to the mansion which was not far away, I took the opportunity to talk to everyone about everything we saw in the city, Jade was especially happy to see how the city was adapted to the Lamias. I was relieved when I arrived at the mansion and it was still the same mansion I remembered, I was afraid they had built a castle as promised before. It seems that luckily they didn''t. We all enter the mansion and go to the hall where the meeting is always held, I had a lot to talk about with everyone, a lot of decisions to make. During the meeting everyone was talking about the city, but I had to change the subject a bit to talk about how we are going to get to the Dark Continent. The village of the Elves provided us with some maps, among these maps was one that showed the Dark Continent and the Morror Continent where we are. Nira opened the map on the table for all to see, according to what we know from what we were told by the Elves and from what Lilian told us, there is no 100% safe path between these two continents. I let Lilian take over the leadership of the meeting as she knew the way and knew everything about the Dark Continent. According to what Lilian said, the ocean is a very dangerous place full of monsters, Pirates and storms that can destroy the weakest ships. It seems that a ship made of normal wood would easily break during the first storm if it got unlucky, and Lilian said that ships must be reinforced with magic to withstand storms and monster attacks. Glad we have a suitable boat made from the bodies of Lower Catastrophe Grade wood-type monsters, Rakan also said that he had already reinforced the ship with spells and Runes along with the Elves. It seems that the only thing we will need to decide is where to go, according to Lilian there is a place where there are strong currents, because of that most monsters stay away from there, but because of that there are many pirates. Lilian also said that this is the way that many smuggling ships between the two continents pass. As we didn''t have a better idea, so it looks like we''re going to choose that path. With a path already laid out for the Dark Continent, now we only had to worry about reaching the port in about a month, that is, if there are no unforeseen events. We all decided to continue along the path that the Elves showed us on the map, during this path we will pass through a city before arriving at the port city where we are going to leave this continent, Nira said that he will try to find the materials that Leonardo needs to finish this city in these two cities. With that we continued talking about various subjects for the rest of the day. Chapter 464: Escape Chapter 464: Escape "Master, let''s fight, with our strength we can decimate them all." (Orion) "I know that, but we can''t do that right now, so just be quiet on my shoulder as I run." (I) "There is the Devil, take him in Baldr''s name!!!" (Templar of the Church of Light) "IN THE NAME OF BALDR!!!" "KILL THE DEMON!!!" "WE WILL DO JUSTICE TO HIS HOLINESS Archbishop GALARETTO!!!" (Templar of the Church of Light) "KILL THE DEMON!!!" I was running alone through the streets of a city with thousands of soldiers running behind me, many were riding on white horses, others were running on top of the detailed ones, there were also some who were running without mounts behind me. I could feel the killing intent of thousands of people behind me, when I looked back I could see the hatred and disgust in these soldiers'' eyes. I can''t tell if they''re like that because I''m someone wanted by their Religion, because I''m a Vampire, because I look like a Demon, or just everything together. I actually don''t think they know I''m a Vampire, plus I forgot the title "Heretic" I got from Baldr when I turned Vanessa into my daughter, but I didn''t know the effect of that title was so intense. "YOU ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A CITY YOU CRAZYS, STOP FOLLOWING ME!" (I) "Why did this crap have to happen, I just wanted a smooth ride..." (I) "Let me go to them, if we kill everyone we can go back to the trip in peace like you wanted..." (Layla) Layla is tied by one of my ropes and in one of my coat pockets, this little Demon is red-eyed and unleashing truly strong murderous intent, I can''t leave this monster free to do whatever he wants in the middle of a city. "Shut up, you psycho Demon." (I) "Do you really think I''m stupid enough to let you do genocide in the middle of a city?" (I) "There''s more attacks coming, master!" (Orion) "Damn it!" (I) "< Cape of Blood >" (I) I cut the palms of my hands and control my blood to leave my body as it wraps around the lines coming out of my hand, then in a matter of two seconds, a half-liquid, half-solid red cape is created as I throw it to my back and fall. attach to my shoulders. After months of training and perfecting this technique over and over, it finally became a skill, thanks to which it became much easier to control and maintain this cape. The cape transforms into several red crystal shields that fend off all attacks from these fools running after me, then back to their cape firm. I''m still wearing an outfit that hides my body and a mask, I''m also running because I don''t want to wear my wings in front of people. If I hadn''t been careless before, none of this would have happened. I run to the closed city gates and have a squad of hundreds of armed Church of Light army soldiers waiting for me. I keep running at full speed, when I am 40 or 50 meters from the gate, I accumulate my Ki in my legs and use my jumping ability to go hundreds of meters high over the walls. "As long as we''re in town, I''ll remain hidden within your shadow Nix, so even if there are any Church of Light informers in town, they won''t notice me." (I) "That''s what I call role reversal hahahahaha..." (Nix) "..." (I) "(Why did it all have to end this way...)" (I) I would like to just throw the blame on Layla, but she was only part of the problem, all of this happened due to an unforeseen variable of factors. ---------- The city of Barilla. One hour before. We have been traveling for almost a month now, we finally arrived quietly in the city of Barilla, which is our stop before the port city, which will take more than half a month to arrive. Against all my expectations, our trip was pretty smooth if we don''t count the monster attacks and bandits we killed along the way. We have avoided entering the villages and as we initially planned, we came straight to this city where we will stay 1 or 2 days to try to buy some things. But as soon as we enter the gate we go straight to the town square because I heard a soldier saying that there was a food stall that sold delicious food. While we were in the square, we see that there are many street stalls everywhere, some are food stalls like the one where we buy this delicious food that looks like meat, but there are also several stalls that sell different things like masks, books, accessories, weapons, ingredients, etc. Everyone split up to look for interesting things to buy for fun as we weren''t in a hurry and were going to stay in this city for a few days, I found the masks interesting and approached the two stalls that were selling these masks. One tent had monster masks and the other had very pretty ceremonial masks, I had Orion in the baby monster form on my shoulder and Layla flying around me. I was wearing a hooded outfit that hid my entire body, a mask to hide my face, and crystal horns. Even if my appearance is suspicious, it didn''t matter, one thing I''ve learned since coming to this world is that many people try to hide their appearance from nobles to criminals, spies, and even adventurers. So even if I look a little suspicious it doesn''t matter, even in this town if I look around carefully I should see at least one person using able to hide their appearance. What caused my problem was that I saw a large number of soldiers with Church of Light symbols coming down the street, there were some people wearing white armor not far from me who kept staring suspiciously while eating something from the street stalls. But at this point in a prank by Layla, she grabs a mask from the store and takes my mask off to put the other one in place, before I can say anything or stop her. This was an oversight of mine as I was distracted seeing these people in white armor reminiscent of the Templars I saw in the games. When Layla took off my mask this Templar looked at me in surprise, but soon his expression changed to one of hatred filled with a murderous will, then he let out a scream so loud that it ran through the entire city giving orders to all the soldiers of the Church of Light that gather with great speed as they chased me. ----------- An inn in the city of Barilla. Night. I was out of Nix''s shadow watching the night sky through the window. "What were these soldiers doing here? Besides, why so many?" (I) Chapter 465: Saving Slave Children Chapter 465: Saving Slave Children The next day we all woke up early, everyone had things to do, so we split into three groups. The first group would go with Nira to shop at the Trading Guild, they would look for items that were still missing from the Dungeon that Nira had on her list, and they would also look for the materials Leonardo needed to continue the contraction of the city and some other non-urgent items that those in the Dungeon are wanting. The second group was going to come with me to or should I say go with Nix to clean up the slave trade sites, the Elves have been very good to me and others so I thought I''d take a look at the legal and illegal Elf slaves to release them depending on each one''s situation. The third group will consist of Kira along with Elsaris and her family that we took from the Dungeon to help Kira, they will investigate why there was so many Church of Light soldiers in this city. After all, this was decided we parted after eating something, so I step into Nix''s shadow so as not to draw attention again since I don''t know if there are any Church of Light people still here in town. I spend the rest of the day together with Orion inside Nix''s shadow while Layla was sitting on Nix''s shoulder, Sophia was also coming along to help us know the best choices when deciding what to do. There were only two legal slave traders in town, one of them dealt with criminal slaves and the other with debt slaves. The merchants who handled criminal slaves didn''t have any Elves with them and after looking at their slave list through Nix''s eyes, we left as none of their slaves paid any attention to me. The debt slave trader had five Elves, three children who were 2 boys and a girl, and also had two adult White Elf men, the two boys were White Elves and the girl was a Dark Elf. After looking into their debts I discovered that none of them are blood related to each other, the two boys came from a village that is suffering from hunger and was used to pay the debt of the whole village, the girl inherited the debt of the Adventurer parents who died, the two adults were turned into slaves because of gambling debts. I also take a look at the rest of this place''s slave list just in case. I talked to Nix asking for a few minutes to think about the merchant who leaves her in the room and leaves for a while. "(Layla, make sure no one hears us.)" (I) "< Sound Barrier >" (Layla) I talk to Layla in her mind to create a sound barrier around the room as I want to make sure no one hears my voice as I speak from Nix''s shadow. "What do you think of these 5 Elves, Sophia?" (I) "Children being sold or used to pay debts is cruel, but common to do, unfortunately, for an Elf is worth more it can have saved a small village from turning over dozens of children or even adults to pay taxes." (Sophia) "Even if these kids decide to stay in the dungeon it won''t be a problem, there aren''t any kids in the dungeon right now, but there are many women and men who had family in the past who are desperate to have them again." (Nix) "I''ll let you handle it, but I''ll only accept children who aren''t prejudiced by the Dungeon races, otherwise send them to the Elves to take care of." (I) "That''s fine with me, but I think you''ll find you have nothing to worry about, kids can adapt quickly, plus they''re more open-minded than adults." (Nix) "Since how much do you know so much about children?" (I) "Vanessa and Freya taught me about it, I only saw that it was true when I saw the children of the Illusory Forest village reacting to the Dungeon residents." (Nix) After a little chat with everyone and a decision made, Layla deactivates the barrier and Sophia calls the slave trader. Nix takes care of the negotiations which go very well and we managed to get out of there with 28 children aged 5 to 13 years old. We took them all to the inn where we are where we stayed on the ground floor, that''s because there is a small restaurant where people can eat. Nix orders food for all the children as I leave the city, going from shadow to shadow, then I open the Dungeon letting Caryna and Rakan''s two subordinate Elf mages leave the Dungeon to enter the city with a large freight carriage I''ve sinned in the Dungeon. After that I lead them to the inn where we are while hiding in its shadows, I ask the three of them to take the kids out of town in the middle of the afternoon I also left a sleeping potion that has a slow effect for Caryna. The children should be sleeping when you open the Dungeon gate and only wake up when they are already in the City of Shadows so they don''t get scared. After all, the Dungeon gate is a Dragon''s head with an open jaw, any child would be scared, I was scared when I first entered the Great Serpent Dungeon. ---------- When the time came in the middle of the afternoon Caryna and the Elf sisters took the children out of town in the freight car. I stayed in the shadow of the carriage until we left town and then we went into the middle of the forest where I let the whole carriage into the Dungeon. When we entered, there were already several Elves inside waiting for us, I asked for this earlier when I came to call Caryna and the Elf sisters. The children are taken by the Elves to the city floor while the carriage is stored in the item storage until they reach the city floor where they will use it again to take the children to the mansion. I don''t want the kids to see the city for now, at least until I''m sure they want to stay in the Dungeon, I told them not to tell the truth about where they are and only say if they want to stay or go to the village of the Elves, in addition, I asked them to see how the children who want to stay react to the different races of the Dungeon, so I leave everything in their hands and go back outside closing the Dungeon gate and flying hidden into the city straight to the inn where we are staying. Chapter 466: Zenos The Criminal Chapter 466: Zenos The Criminal After taking care of the kids and heading back to the inn, I event Kira, Elsaris, Samira, Beatriz, and Jay at a table drinking wine. I go to Kira''s shadow and stand there, with her sense it was easy to notice me, so she waves to the others showing that I''m there. Soon after everyone nods and finishes drinking before paying the girdle and going to the room, then Elsaris takes out an item that creates a barrier inside the room. "Did you find out why the Church of Light was in town?" (I) "We found out, they came after you." (Elsaris) "They used to be looking for a criminal to enter the Grimo Realm with their army, but they had to swear an oath in the name of their God to do nothing but hunt down the criminal." (Kira) "Am I that criminal?" (I) "Yes, a heinous criminal by their words, check this out." (Samira) "..." (I) I''m talking to them while hiding in the shadows, unlike me, Orion doesn''t know how to speak from within the shadows, in fact, he is only able to mentally speak to me. During Samira''s explanation, she pulls out a paper on which an old image of me is drawn in a very accurate way I must say, but it was an image before I gained horns and scales. Underneath the image was listed my crimes as a Heretic, Murderer, Kidnapper, Thief, and Demon. I also had a bounty on my head, dead or alive, of 100 crystal coins. (Author''s message: remembering the value of coins: 1 crystal coin = 10,000 gold coins 1 gold coin = 1,000 silver coins 1 silver coin = 100 bronze coins) I was surprised at the great value they placed on my head, but why are so many false crimes on top of my head? "I didn''t think they would make up so many lies to come after me." (I) "I don''t think they invented anything, you know what you did." (Elsaris) "You stole items that belonged to the Church of Light like the Dragon''s blood and the crystal where Nix was." (Kira) "But the Illegal trade of this Duke I spoke of before, they kidnap Elves in this Realm to sell in another Realm, they do the opposite of the Black Market so they don''t make excuses to meddle in each other''s business." (Kira) "For you to be saying all this, I must assume there''s a slave shipment in town, right?" (I) "Yea." (Kira) "It seems the name of this clandestine trade organization is Grimorio Negro, a play on the name of the Kingdom, I must say that is very bold of this Duke." (Kira) "This duke must be a fool, the royal family here must surely know about him and even without proof it''s not hard to get rid of someone using assassins." (Elsaris) "But if that hasn''t happened until today, then he must be useful in some way to the Realm, something that makes up for the trouble that trafficking Elves can cause for this Realm that has a long history of alliance with the Elves." (Elsaris) "I don''t care, compared to the Black Market that is all over the world, this clandestine organization is just small staying in this one kingdom of this one continent." (I) "Have you confirmed that they have Elves with them?" (I) "Yes, we also know where they are." (Kira) "Their security is good, but compared to the security of the Black Market, it''s nothing." (Beatriz) "What will you want to do" (Elsaris) "We are going to rescue your slaves and at the same time we can steal from them." (I) "What happens next is none of my business, let''s do it tonight and leave this town at dawn." (I) "I don''t have the time or desire to pry into this Kingdom''s internal affairs, so let''s take what we want from these criminals and leave." (I) "Simplistic as always, I like it Dad." (Samira) "Fine by me..." (Elsaris) Samira looks at her sister and punches her with her elbow, then looks at her seriously as if expecting something, the two exchange a few glances as their expressions changed, they seem to be communicating somehow. Sigh "I''m fine... Father..." (Elsaris) "..." (I) "See, it wasn''t that hard." (Samira) Chapter 467: Slave Rescue Part 1 Chapter 467: Slave Rescue Part 1 I stayed up late at night listening to the information Kira and Elsaris had gathered from this clandestine organization, hearing about its security, its location, and the maximum force they found there. After that I started to plan together with everyone what we would do to rescue people, we also discussed what to do with the people we are going to rescue. These people who are slaves are not just going to be good people, they must also have bad people mixed in or people who are prejudiced against other races. Unfortunately, this clandestine organization''s slave catalog will not be as complete as that of legal commercial organizations that have physical, psychological, job history, titles, skills, place of origin, and reason for becoming a slave. Clandestine organizations like this Grimorio Negro only collect status information, job history, titles, and skills. They don''t care about anything other than the abilities and appearances of the slaves, furthermore, illegal slaves cost more than legal slaves, but still, the sales are very high from what Elsaris told me. One thing I asked Elsaris was how they manage to check other people''s status by force. Elsaris told me that there are several ways to do this, you can use an appraisal type skill that has many different types, you can use an appraisal spell that has as many variations as the skill of the same name even though it is weaker, you can also force the person to open their Guild card if they have it and a ritual magic circle can also be used, but unfortunately the last option has a very large expense in global coins, monster cores or magic crystals. After hearing this from Elsaris, I told Layla to go to the Dungeon and talk to Rakan to prepare this ritual magic circle to get more information about these slaves, at least that was my plan until I remembered that I didn''t need all this when I already had a skill To do this, I''ve been using this skill less and less with so many things happening around me, but I still have the ability to identify. When everything was resolved, Nira''s group returned to Nira''s inn after a long day of negotiations. I met with them to find out how everything went from inside the shadow and in the room with the barrier in place. "How was your shopping day?" (I) "We first sold various items from within the Dungeon like fruits, fabrics, dyes, monster meat and copies of original magic books." (Nira) "After that I used that money to buy seeds that we haven''t oared for the farm yet, buy books we don''t have yet, buy materials we don''t have yet to finish building the city, and buy a lot of ores with what''s left." (Nira) "I have some doubts, for starters, since how long do we have original books?" (I) I was happy to hear that there were results about the research that people were doing inside the Dungeon, I also don''t care about them spreading their knowledge and discoveries around, they deserve recognition for their achievements, but it seems they don''t want to share very important things, maybe this is common among those who research magic and alchemy. About the ores that Anton is requesting, I''ve just got an idea, but I don''t know how far this might be viable, I have to confirm with Nix first. "Nix, is it possible to build a mine inside the Dungeon?" (I) "Yes, but it will cost a lot of DP, in addition, it will have to be 1 or 2 types of ores per floor, the quality will also be different, they are also replenished from time to time naturally." (Nix) "That''s not to say these mines are the inexhaustible type." (I) "It won''t be mines, it will have to be the entire Dungeon environment adapting to each different type of ore." (Nix) "Which will only increase the cost of creating these floors further." (Nix) "So we''re still not able to do that, we''ll have to gather more DP since I spent everything we had." (Nix) "No problem, we''ll have time to work this out in the future." (I) "Just being able to find these ores within the Dungeon in the future will make us more self-sufficient." (I) "Just stop future modifications to the Dungeon and accumulate more DP, when we get to the Dark Continent we''ll see what we have and how we''re going to use it." (I) "Yes Master." (Nix) After talking to Nira for a while about the things she bought today, I tell her, Diana, and Lyra what we were talking about before they arrived. I tell you about the slaves, I tell you about where we''re going to attack, I tell you about the plan I thought of and how we''re going to do it all, I also said we''ll do it tonight and leave at dawn. After we finish the discussion I tell everyone to prepare for the attack in two hours, meanwhile I talk to Kira and Elsaris''s family to confirm if these clandestine organizations have any more escinderihonoy deposits besides the one we are going to attack. I want to know this because I''m going to steal everything I can, if I''m going to do something, then let it be completely, they are criminals anyway, so I have no reason to do things in a restrained way. Chapter 468: Slave Rescue Part 2 Chapter 468: Slave Rescue Part 2 But late when it was almost the middle of the night we were already leaving the inn for the attack. While waiting for the others to get ready I kept thinking about what to do with these illegal slaves, so I thought I could talk to Lilith to confirm if these people did bad things. This is because Lilith has the ability to feel revenge in other people''s Auras, whether the person who has a feeling of revenge against someone or someone who is the target of revenge from others. I''ll decide what to do after that, besides Nix already told me that Fairies and Spirits of the Moon element are able to see through all illusions and lies, so I''ll ask Nix to interrogate these slaves later. With that I think I can clean up the mess and leave only those who deserve to be saved, the others I''ll think about what to do later. Hey, I didn''t have much time to think since everyone was ready to go, I use Dark element magnet magic on everyone to make it easier to blend the shadows and be hard to see in the dark. Of all of us who are participating in this mission to rescue illegal slaves, Nira and Lyra are the least experienced in these types of situations, but they both have certain advantages. Nira has been learning magic and spiritual techniques, from what I hear she has a lot of talent in spiritual techniques, in addition to having beside her a very rare monster, the Cursed Crow, a type of Spectral monster of the Undead race. The young man of these monsters is Yomi, even though he cannot speak he is very intelligent and understands what others say, Sophia also told me that Nira has been training in martial arts along with her. Lyra is coming because she has demonstrated that she has a good fighting ability as a Combat Alchemist, in addition, she has experience hiding her presence and moving in darkness as she demonstrated during the attacks on the cities of the Makari Kingdom. All the others were experienced people and need not be mentioned, this plan must be done quickly and without leaving any clues as I want to get to the port city without getting involved in the internal problems of this Realm. Our goals are simple: 1 - rescue the slaves. 2 - take everything we can steal. "(Thank you.)" (I) I come out of the shadows with everyone in a place where no one is around, then I let everyone go to eliminate all the criminals. After that, I spread my Aura in the surroundings while mixing my Aura with the surroundings so no one notices, if it''s only for a small distance of a hundred or two hundred meters, then no one weaker than me should feel my Aura. With this I can confirm where everyone is since I see everything in my head, I can even see the secret rooms, so this will be quick. I open my eyes and draw my Aura into my body, then start walking around that sense of smell killing every criminal I come across. While killing the criminals he was also giving the children a sleeping poison so none of them would wake up for the next few hours. When I finished killing all the criminals I open the secret passage that leads to the floor that was hidden under this orphanage. I use my lines to kill the four criminals who are guarding the stairs at almost the same time, then I enter the underground lair of this clandestine organization. There are only two underground dancers here, the one where I am has more than 60 slaves trapped in 8 separate rooms, and the second underground floor has a single large area where they are keeping the illegal goods they buy and sell. As I already have the information on where all the bad guys are it was not difficult to kill them all as the strongest one had a Grade +A ability, because of that it was easy to kill everyone on the first underground floor without being noticed. After going to the second underground floor and killing another 25 or 30 criminals, I go back to the first underground floor where my companions were already putting all the slaves to sleep with Lyra''s sleeping poison. So I open the Dungeon gate for them as I go back down with Elsaris, Layla, and Samira to steal everything on the second underground floor. Once all the sleeping slaves were inside the dungeon, also after we stole everything, we snuck out of this orphanage the same way we entered, with me hiding everyone inside the shadows along with me after closing the dungeon gate. When we get to the inn I pull everyone out of the shadows and let them go back to their boys and wait until dawn to leave.Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com Chapter 469: Conversation With Vanessa Chapter 469: Conversation With Vanessa The next morning everyone leaves the inn and heads back to the carriage leaving this town, after we leave town I step out of Nix''s shadow. So I open a Dungeon gate where Nix and I entered going straight to the city floor, then we go straight to the mansion. Once there I check the status of all the slaves, including the children, while everyone is sleeping. After that I let Nix ask the questions we chose, I also let Lilith have a look at them, unfortunately, it looks like there were some criminals among them. From the horrible titles they had and the strong Aura of vengeance directed at them by innocent people according to what Lilith said, they didn''t even need to go through Nix''s interrogation. These people were killed regardless of their age or gender, that''s why I couldn''t release criminals in the world, I wouldn''t allow them to stay inside the Dungeon either, so I just had to kill them. After Nix finished the interrogation, I discovered those who were prejudiced against other races, so I set them aside to be thrown out once we reached the port city. Those who didn''t have particularly horrible titles, who had almost no revenge directed at them, and who had no prejudice against other races, those would be given the option to stay in the Dungeon if they so choose. It seems that of the people who have the chance to stay in the Dungeon, only half wanted to stay, less than I thought. For these people, I left it to Vanessa and Lilian to educate them about things and see if these people will adapt to this place before telling them where they really are. Those who want to go out and be free will be freed in the port city and will be on their own after being free if they are adults, children will be taken to the doors of the first orphanage they find. Those who decided to stay in the Dungeon were 18 people, among them there are people of several different races, they will all be included in the Dungeon if their adaptation goes well, I''ll hear what Vanessa and Lilian have to say after a week. It will still take us several days to get to the port city Yrima, in the meantime, I will let the others deal with the people who wish to stay in the Dungeon, in the meantime, I will retrain my Aura so that I can gain better control over it. ---------- As the days went by, people who wanted to be free were getting annoyed and suspicious because we weren''t freeing them, some even tried to run away, they don''t know they are inside a Dungeon, but Those who were adventurers in the past or who have some study were able to assume that they are in an isolated space separated from normal reality because of the only sun in the sky. They have no escape from this place, they are not registered on any of the floors of the Dungeon, so they will have to go through every floor if they want to get out of here, not to mention they will have to escape the people of the Dungeon where the weak hands have Grade strength -A. Everyone at Dungeon learned that only by being strong can they defend what they love, this is something that was born in the mountain range and is still being carried along with everyone who lives here, so even those who won''t participate in combat in their professions yet participate in daily training every day. If one day I have to defend this place, I know that every person here is prepared to fight, that''s something they''re proud to say, that kind of mentality is garlic I approve of because it will keep this city a strong place no matter how long pass. "I don''t have the luxury of letting things pile up, so I want to do it soon as it''s a fast target." (Vanessa) "Then I won''t take up too much of your time, I just want to know how the new residents are doing." (I) "They''re doing great, I''m teaching about the various cultures of the other races in the Dungeon, meanwhile I''ve left Lilian in charge of teaching about the Gods." (Vanessa) "Everyone was open-minded and very accepting of everything, I even introduced some people of other races to them." (Vanessa) "The most difficult issue was the communication barrier, so we are teaching the common language to everyone." (Vanessa) "Are they ready to live in the city?" (I) "Not yet, but they will be, plus they''ve been training to become stronger after we''ve taught them a little about the customs of the city." (Vanessa) "Let them, they will need to know how to defend themselves, especially the men, if they want to survive the women of the Dungeon." (I) "That''s been another problem, new people aren''t that open sexually." (Vanessa) "That''s their problem, not mine, that''s also part of training people here, it helps both sides, so it''s still maintained." (I) "If they are not able to adapt, then release them along with the others." (I) "Alright, the kids will be the easiest as they won''t be targets, plus they''ll have time to get used to our customs." (Vanessa) "If I may say so, I think the customs here are a bit strange, even the custom of morning training for the entire population is something I''ve never heard of." (Lilian) "I didn''t create these customs, I just learned to accept things as they are instead of trying to fight against everything I find strange, after all, there are only strange people here." (I) "Actually, it was vice who created these morning training, you train every morning which encouraged the others in the mansion to do the same, so the people of the mountain range also started following your example as they flocked against Farus." (Vanessa) "Over time it became a custom, but it started with you, plus the custom of men trying to conquer women started because of Nolan and the custom of women kidnapping men is something old that has centuries of history in the mountain range. " (Vanessa) "It seems that you have studied the many cultures of the various races well." (I) "This is my duty as a Priestess, I must meet those who worship the Goddess while spreading her teachings." (Vanessa) Chapter 470: Arriving In Yrima City Chapter 470: Arriving In Yrima City When we arrived in Yrima City I was told to go back to the carriage, when I leave the Dungeon I realize that we are on top of a hill. As soon as I looked at the horizon when I felt a strong wind hitting me, what I see is a city on the coast with dozens of boats in the harbor. The city looked beautiful from above, the blue color of the ocean highlighted with the colors of the city, this was a beautiful sight. Seeing this and smelling the salty ocean smell I realized this is the first time I''ve seen the sea in my two lives. I was always too sick to go on any public school outings I went to in my past life, as I got older my health just got worse and worse so I always ended up staying at home a lot of time and could only concentrate on my work since was all I had. When I was born into this world I was so confused and desperate that I thought of nothing but survival, as time passed and more people gathered around me, I was able to calm my emotions and mind to finally be able to enjoy my life. That''s why I want to travel the world, that''s why I want to do tourism in places full of beauty and mystery, because of that when I see this endless ocean my heart races beyond what I expected. There was only water as far as my eyes could see, it was an incredible sight. "Master, master... chord master... master..." (Leo) "..." (I) The voice I recognize starts calling me, interrupting this moment, in addition, I start to feel something shaking me to understand who it is. When I turn around I see that it was Leo who was calling my name, plus he had his hands on my shoulder as he rocked me. "What''s up, Leo?" (I) "Are you okay?" (Leo) "Of course, I would, why wouldn''t I be fine?" (I) "You left the Dungeon without saying anything to either of us, plus you had empty eyes looking at the horizon, so we were worried." (Leo) "I understand, I also haven''t gotten used to my new appearance and I get a little scared when I look in the mirror, I always think I''m seeing someone else." (Freya) "But this is a common problem when one evolves into another race, over time the master and I will get used to this current appearance." (Freya) ----------- After a quick chat with Freya and the others, we wait until dawn, after which we head out to sea around the city. We had to take advantage of this moment to put the boat in place without attracting anyone''s attention. "Is the ship fully assembled from the inside?" (I) "Yes, it has furniture, furniture and only the load is missing." (Nira) "I''m going to put some stuff for sale here, but we need to buy some stuff too, but what?" (Nira) "Buy fish and marine products, let''s enjoy the best this place has to offer." (I) "Also, it seems that merchandise from other continents arrives through this port, so you can explore to see if you find anything interesting." (I) "We can take advantage of the fact that we are here to learn some seafood recipes." (Freya) "You''re welcome, but don''t leave Caryna alone, she can be a little demanding and pushy when it comes to food preparation." (I) "It''s all right." (Freya) When the boat was in place on the shore of the beach where we were, I realized that it really is big, but at least it didn''t have anything flashy other than its size, it looked like a mix of a cargo boat with a cruise boat, it was beautiful and at the same time simple. "(I hope this ship doesn''t cause me too much trouble.)" (I) With the ship in place I open the Dungeon gate from the inside to transport any goods, we can sell, plus the ship''s crew will be the Elves and Lizardman. I''ll leave Nira in charge of the ship, for now, one of the things I have to look for in this town is someone to lead the ship as captain. Chapter 471: Port City Of Yrima Chapter 471: Port City Of Yrima The Elves seem to have already known the ship by the way they acted naturally walking and working on the ship. When I mentioned this to Ivan, he said that he had already talked to them about the ship several weeks ago, since then they have been studying the ship and the type of work they were going to do. Stop and since Ivan already knew what I would do, this time I didn''t let the freed slaves join the ship''s crew because I want them to mingle in the city for the next few weeks. A few days ago I left those who were approved by Vanessa and who were intending to stay to live in the city, everything has been going well these days but I want to keep it that way for longer. Those who want to leave are kept in the dark until now, they don''t know where they are, they don''t know who we are and they don''t know anything. But just in case I''ve been giving them a potion that affects memory, I asked Lyra to do it, this potion will serve as a catalyst for another potion that we''ll give them when we release them in the city, so what happens next is not my problem. We''re going to arrive at the port overnight, so I''ll release these people in a week, so no one gets suspicious of us. After an hour the city was in view, I was on top of the ship''s sail, I put on my mask while warning the others, and I also activate all the ship''s protection spells in normal mode. When we arrived at the port we are greeted by a team of soldiers, I go down with my clothes with able hiding my body and face, the others were mostly the same. Only the crew was in normal clothes using only a mask to hide their face. Just as we were stepping down from the ship calmly the troops in the harbor were on guard against us, but they didn''t have their weapons in hand yet. I look around and notice that in command of the troops were a middle-aged woman and a man who appears to be around 26 years old. On top of that, there was also a man dressed as a butler, there was also a smartly dressed young man with a smile on his face and eyes that were sizing us up. It wasn''t difficult to guess everyone''s identities, Ivan had already told me that something like this could happen due to the size of the ship. The woman and the man next to her who are in armor must be the knights who command the troops of this city, besides the young man must be a merchant of importance in this city, he looks Human at first, but I can tell he is a Runic as well as Tania because of her Aura. The butler who was a mystery to me, plus I have a feeling he must be a serious man from the Duke''s mansion who runs this town. I practiced this technique a lot because I thought it would be cool, besides, as I''m directly controlling my vowel strings, no one will notice any magic. "I don''t deserve so much, it''s not hard to recognize a leader when you see those around him, that''s something I must know how to see as a trader." (Ricardo) "You don''t have to be so servile, I''m nobody important, I don''t like formalities either." (I) "As you''ve already given the price, I''ll be renting the space you suggested earlier, here''s the money." (I) I reach inside his coat and pull out three crystal coins that I place in his hand. "About the Guild card..." (I) "Here it is..." (Nira) Nira who is next to me hands over her Trade Guild card to this Runico named Ricardo, he takes the card and checks it before returning it. "As you can see everything is fine." (I) "Do you mind answering a few questions and allowing the guards to inspect your ship?" (Ricardo) "I can answer your questions as I admit we look a little suspicious, but I will only allow one person to survey the ship accompanied by Freya." (I) "I don''t want anyone messing with my goods without someone I trust around." (I) "Then we won''t have any problems, follow me." (Ricardo) Runico points in a direction while waving at the middle-aged woman and the butler, so we all head to a building not far away, the ones coming with me are Nira and Freya. The woman a hundred next to the man beside her, the butler too. "(This female knight is quite strong, if she''s not mistaken it looks like Grade SSS, this butler too.)" (I) Chapter 472: Vacation Chapter 472: Vacation I was following the Runic merchant named Ricardo to the building while accompanied by Nira and Freya who are disguising herself as a White Elf. The woman and the man in armor are following us closely as is the butler, the woman continues to look at me seriously. The seven of us go to a room on the second floor of the building that is very well decorated, we are guided to this room that has a set of chairs and two sofas. As they stand still for a few seconds, I go over to the couches and sit on one of them with Nira and Freya sitting on either side of me. On the sofa in front of me, the Runic merchant and the armored woman sit, while the armored man and the butler sit behind their sofa. "Mind if I ask a few questions?" (Ricardo) "You can ask any question you want, but know that I may not answer all your questions, and also don''t bother hiding the crystal, I don''t plan on lying if I choose to answer any questions." (I) "Very well, before I begin let me introduce myself." (Ricardo) "This one next to me is General Hilda, she is the one who commands all the soldiers of this city, the one behind her is the second in command, Commander Fabio, in addition, we have the main butler of the Duke of this city to represent him." (Ricardo) "My name is Zenos, these are my companions Freya and Nira, we are merchants." (I) Not bothering for anything else, Ricardo leaves the crystal on the coffee table between the two sofas, the crystal continues to glow in a green light while our two groups were performing showing that we tell the truth. "Sorry to start with a question like that, but what''s the point of coming to this town?" (Ricardo) "This city is a path I was going to go through, besides that, I plan to buy some of the local products." (I) "Do you plan on doing something bad in this town or breaking any laws?" (Ricardo) "No." (I) "What''s your race?" (Ricardo) "..." (I) "How old are you?" (Ricardo) "..." (I) "Are you the leader of your group?" (Ricardo) "Yea." (I) When we saw that big ship appear out of nowhere and stop in the harbor, we thought it might be an attack, but luckily it looks like that wasn''t the case. The people who were on that ship wore masks, but only one person completely hid his body, the others we could tell were from the Elf and Demi races. As soon as they got off the ship I realized who the leader was, in addition to the way the others acted around him, there was also the fact that he was the only one with his whole body hidden. Fortunately, these mysterious people seemed to be rational and followed all the procedures to enter the city, one of the reasons I am insecure around these people is that the great general Hilda, hailed as one of the strongest people in our Kingdom, is so serious around these people. I''m a merchant so I can''t measure people''s strength just by looking at them, but I can see in the behavior of the three in front of me that they don''t feel any pressure to be in the presence of General Hilda, it shows me that they are not normal people. One thing bothers me about the way the leader of this "group of traders" acts, he seems too carefree, he didn''t seem nervous or worried at all, in addition, he avoided answering certain types of questions, because of that I even avoided doing more questions. After answering some of the questions and at least confirming that he doesn''t intend to be this city''s enemy, he leaves the building along with his two subordinates. "What did you think of them, General Hilda?" (I) "This person by the name of Zenos seems to be stronger than me, ever since I first saw him my instincts as a warrior scream at me not to fight him." (Hilda) "Do you think it''s the same Zenos the Church of Light is looking for?" (I) "Probably, but now that we know that and have seen it, I can be sure he has nothing against our Kingdom." (Hilda) "Can you share your thoughts General?" (I) "A few days ago I received information that in the city of Barilla, a part of the Church of Light army that we have been watching began to pursue their target throughout the city, but he still escaped." (Hilda) "You mean he''s strong enough to escape an entire army without a trace?" (I) "After what I saw today, I''m saying that if he wanted to he could have eliminated that entire army, but he chose to run away, it shows that he wanted to avoid a fight in the city." (Hilda) "I don''t know what kind of trouble he''s in, but as long as we don''t do anything against him, then there''s no reason for him to do anything against us." (Hilda) "But what if the Church of Light comes here after him?" (I) "He''s hiding his appearance, moreover if it turns out he''s here, it would only go without saying that we didn''t know who he was, after all, he''s totally hiding his appearance." (Hilda) "Tell that to the Duke too." (Hilda) "I will inform my lord right now if you''ll excuse me." (Butler) After that little talk, we all got out of here as we have a lot to do now that these mysterious people have arrived in town. Chapter 473: Fish And Relax Chapter 473: Fish And Relax After we get back to the ship I tell everyone what happened, meanwhile, I see the soldiers who were on duty dispersing after receiving orders. So I go along with Freya, Nira, Sophia, Lyra, Nix, Diana, Ibuki, rica (in Human form), Kira, Barok, Caryna, Leo, Rakan, Leonardo and Karina to the city to look for a place to eat. The masks we all wear won''t be an obstacle this time, after the masking problems we''ve been having, I asked Leonardo and Antnio to create masks for each one, then I asked Rakan to put the magic on so that only the person who put the mask on is able to take off, in addition, the underside of the masks can be separated, so we can eat without having to remove the entire mask. With that we all walk in a large group of masked people towards the city, I decided to leave Ragnar and Sakura behind, so they could keep an eye on Layla and the ship, I also remembered to close the Dungeon gate. Walking around the city I decided to make a game where we would choose the restaurant where we would eat using only the sense of the nose to decide the place with the best food. The place that received the highest number of votes would be the place where we would eat, so we avoided walking around the city center as these places usually have more restaurants and bars. To my surprise, the people most excited about all these food smells were Byakko, Caryna, and Ibuki. That''s because the smell we were smelling was mostly fish, a type of food we rarely eat in the Dungeon, but I''m already thinking of something to do about it. After a few minutes we decided to go into the first restaurant we saw, I asked if they had any separate rooms but apparently not, I just asked that because things are going to get noisy. We ordered all kinds of food they had and lots of it, I must say that everything was delicious, I was under the impression that the fish of this world were tastier than the fish of my old world, but that must be because it has been a long time since the last time I ate fish. Just as I imagined, when the food arrived the restaurant got very noisy, Ibuki started eating a whole fish without realizing it had several small bones inside, then it hurt her whole mouth, I cured her, but in anger, she started eating the fish again now taking care to grind to the bone with your teeth. When the beer and wine arrived, chaos ensued, Diana had a bottle of beer in one hand and a fish in the other hand as she argued with rica who had a bottle of wine in her hand. Also before I knew it Caryna and Freya were gone, when I asked the waiter I heard the two of them were in the kitchen talking to the cook about the food we were eating. "Why did the master decide to use this city for our vacation?" (Nix) "No specific reason, I just wanted to lean back in a chair inside the ship with a bottle of beer in one hand and a fishing pole in the other." (I) "I just wanted to experience this once in my life." (I) "Why not wait until we reach the Dark Continent?" (Nix) "Why wait when I can do this right here and now?" (I) "Besides, we''re not in a hurry, so let''s do things in our time, I wanted to fish as soon as I got here, so that''s what I''ll do." (I) "You are very impulsive, but that''s okay." (Nix) "Like you said, we''re not in a hurry, so why not make the most of the trip and have as much fun as possible." (Nix) After spending a few minutes enjoying the view of the city at night with Nix, I suddenly hear an explosion and when I run inside I see everyone passed out with red faces, plus Lyra was mixing several different drinks together and making it rain across the restaurant. I opened my mouth and tasted this cocktail, it was delicious, I couldn''t believe she''d made it while she was clearly drunk. I heal everyone in the restaurant while I leave Freya to pay for everything we ate and drank and broke. So I take everyone to the ship to rest, meanwhile I put a chair on the side of the ship and pull out a fishing rod. I spent the rest of the night relaxing by catching some small fish and throwing them back into the ocean. It was a very pleasant night for me and I hope it was for others as well.Yo?ur favorite stories at novelhall.com Chapter 474: Looking For A Captain Chapter 474: Looking For A Captain The next day I wake up still sitting in the chair with the fishing rod in my hand, it feels like I fell asleep while I was fishing yesterday. When I got up I started to stretch while looking around everyone cleaning the ship following Freya''s orders. "Good morning Master." (Orion) "Good morning, why didn''t you wake me up?" (I) "The master seemed to be sleeping soundly, so I let the master sleep and told the others not to disturb him." (Orion) "Also, there was a thief who tried to kidnap the master yesterday while he was sleeping, after capturing him I gave it to one of the Elves to take inside since I can''t leave his side." (Orion) "I''ll check on him later, but now let me clean up." (I) I take a potion of liquid soap to rinse my mouth and then throw it on top of my head cleaning all the dirt from my body. After that, I go to Freya who was giving instructions to the Elves and Lizardman''s on how to clean this ship. "Good morning, Freya." (I) "Good morning Master." (Freya) "Need something?" (Freya) "Could you find Elsaris for me?" (I) "She''s with her other daughters, she''s with Lilith, Samira, and Vanessa in the ship''s hold." (Freya) It reminds me that not long ago, at Samira''s insistence, Elsaris finally started calling me Father. I must say that I''ve gotten used to others calling me Father, I''m also starting to get used to these hierarchical Vampire customs. ,m "Thanks for the info, go back to what you were doing, I''ll go downstairs and talk to them." (I) I walk down to the lowest part of the ship but I must say it always amazes me how bigger this ship is inside, I really have to thank Luthien for this amazing ship. As I walk around the ship I greet everyone I pass, after a few minutes and two more flights of stairs I finally get to where my daughters are. They were in a room where there was a Human male without most of his clothes and full of bruises, cuts, and some burns. Just like Freya said, who was here was Elsaris, Lilith, Vanessa, and Samira who was also here. "There must be a lot of revenge targets among them, it''s going to be fun." (Lilith) "Don''t overdo it, Lilith, if you can finish your enemy quickly then do it." (I) I was going to ask Elsaris to do something, but I''ll leave her with this mission to eliminate this criminal group, hopefully, the other criminal groups in this city will realize that it''s a mistake to try to do something against us when they see what happens to this criminal group. I leave there after telling them to take this man to the Dungeon and kill him there, then I went to get Lilian who was writing a book in a room on the ship. "Good morning Lillian." (I) "Good morning, the holy son." (Lilian) "What are you doing?" (I) "I noticed that you don''t have detailed books on the culture of the Demon race, moreover at Rakan''s request I am making a book that teaches the Demon language." (Lilian) "It might take me a few weeks to write all the books." (Lilian) "There''s no need to rush with these things, so write when you have nothing to do and when you want to rest, let it go." (I) "My plan is for everyone to enjoy a vacation here, so try to have some fun." (I) "I''ll try, but why were you looking for me, holy son?" (Lilian) "I wanted to order something for you." (I) "Few people in the Dungeon have experience with ships or boats, so I wanted to get someone with real experience with these things to be captain of the ship during our voyage to the Dark Continent." (I) "This town is a good place to meet someone like that, but what do you want me to do when I meet someone? What are the requirements?" (Lilian) "A person must have experience captaining large ships, and I don''t care about their race, gender, or age." (I) "Get a list of preliminary information on each one, after that, we can choose between them." (I) "By tomorrow I will have everything ready, I will leave now." (Lilian) "..." (I) Lilian is very responsible, but also too serious, she has to learn to be more relaxed. After that, I leave the ship to get something to eat. Chapter 475: Danger In The Ocean Chapter 475: Danger In The Ocean Pov of an unknown pirate: I''ve been a pirate for over 30 years now, I can be considered one of the oldest among my comrades for being a survivor, but the reason for that is that I''ve always been smart, I''ve never tried to fight someone who couldn''t win and I''ve never been very ambitious. Even though I was respected for my wisdom and intelligence, I never tried to lead any pirate group, I was always a follower of those who showed the ability to lead, so I kept myself far from being hunted. Just now I was giving a briefing to the youngest pirate leader I''m following, he''s the opposite of me, he''s young, bold, and very ambitious. He rose to leadership by killing the leaders of nine pirate groups, and even at a young age, he has amassed a name that causes fear to those who listen, no crime he hasn''t committed, and no hesitation when it comes to doing something that others consider cruel. "Sir, it looks like our men managed to enter the city of Yrima as planned." (I) "In two days they will start the plan." (I) This man''s name is Ivan the Butcher, a cruel man whose greatest pleasure is to snatch everything from other people before he kills. "Great, soon that damn city will be on fire... ha haha hahahahaha..." (butcher) Only this man would be bold enough to make such an attack, I wonder how the Grimo Kingdom will react when they learn about the destruction of one of their main cities. After giving the report to the "butcher" I return to the deck of the ship to play my part in putting these pirates in order until the day of the attack. ------------ I must say that I found it fun to play cards until dark, I quickly learned the rules of this game because it wasn''t too difficult, and it didn''t have many rules. When it got dark, the wheels got ready to go out to eat, this time seaweed people would be going alone, Anton and Tania are going on a date alone, Caryna and Leo are also going out alone, and everyone else is coming along with me to look for a place to eat. Who chose the place this time was Irius because I won the fishing dispute earlier, to my surprise he chose a restaurant that served dishes made of large fish, the dishes were the size of the table. I have to say that the food was very tasty, besides this restaurant had no beer, it seems that it had run out, so there was only wine, eating in this place we were all happy, but after two hours of drinking and with the barrel full everyone started to chat happily while everything gets noisy. It didn''t take long for the same chaos as yesterday to repeat itself again, but this time I didn''t get nervous, all I did was look at the face of the restaurant owner who was terrified while he was watching his establishment being destroyed, I took some gold coins and I step over to him as I continue drinking wine and watching this group of hooligans tear this place apart. The only time I had to do anything was to stop Elsaris from killing a man who was picking up on Samira, I must say Elsaris'' eyes were as crazy as Lilith''s when I saw that. After eating and drinking to our hearts'' content, I pay the restaurant owner some more and we head back to the ship. I was grabbing Ibuki who was sleeping soundly, after we arrived on the ship everyone went back to the Dungeon and I stayed on the ship. I actually go to the top of the ship where I lie watching the starry sky, unfortunately, because of my various resistance skills, alcohol has minimal effect on me, imagine my surprise to learn that alcohol is considered a type of poison. "That''s what I call a vacation." (I) "Good food, good drink, wonderful scenery, and the company of the people I love." (I) "This is the kind of quiet life I wanted so badly." (I) Chapter 476: Freeing People Chapter 476: Freeing People The next day I get up with a smile on my face still remembering yesterday''s fun day. I decided to sleep on the ship while we are in this city, it gives a feeling of sleeping away from home as if I were sleeping in an inn or something, it gives a better feeling of being on vacation. After getting up I clean myself and get ready before leaving the room, this ship also has a mess hall on the second floor above, I go up there and find the same chaos I see in restaurants. Everyone is laughing, talking, fighting, and being loud, I''m used to that as I see it every day, I walk over to the table and dodge along the way while Anton was thrown by his wife. I sit down and start talking to Karina who is still stunned by this scene even after weeks of traveling. After eating everyone splits up, but Nira and Lilian come to me to give me reports on what they''ve been doing. I took the two of them to a room where there were already some comfortable sofas we could sit on. I let Nira speak first since she could guess what she was about. Just as I imagined, Nira gave me the report on the sales of the products that we had placed inside this ship since the Dungeon. After that Nira gives me the report of the things she bought and the things she ordered, it was a report that according to her I need to hear as the leader of the City of Shadows. After listening to Nira for almost an hour, it was Lilian''s turn, what could this Vampire spy achieve in one night? "Master, I have obtained information from all possible ship captains, ranging from those who have a renowned reputation to those who have an infamous name." (Lilian) Lilian hands me a list of more than ten pages. "Everyone on this list has excellent navigation skills, I discarded those who didn''t have enough skills from the list." (Lilian) "I also collected superficial information about each one." (Lilian) I flip through the papers and am surprised by the dozens of names written here, then I see the "surface information" that Lilian was talking about. "You call that superficial information?" (I) "Here is written their names, races, ages, description of their appearance, their crimes (if they have committed any) and brief information about their families." (I) "More still missing the statuses, go formations about their pasts and a more detailed description about their families." (Lilian) "That will be enough for me, I''ll take a look at your list for a bit, then I''ll choose who the candidate for captain of the ship is." (I) "You did an excellent job, you can rest now." (I) When I was fishing Vanessa and Irina came to talk to me. "Tell me it''s no longer a problem for me to solve?" (I) "It''s not a problem for you to solve anymore, Father." (Irina) "Serious?" (I) "Of course not." (Vanessa) "But it''s also nothing too serious." (Irina) "You left the new residents with me to take care of them and make sure they''re adjusting to life inside the Dungeon." (Vanessa) "As it was a lot of work for me, I asked Irina for help." (Vanessa) Sigh "Alright, what''s the problem now?" (I) "Actually it''s more of a report of what''s happening, the problem is solving itself." (Irina) "In the last few weeks, as you can imagine, the women of the Dungeon have been going after the men and some women." (Irina) "As these new residents are very weak and some have no training, they weren''t able to do anything about it." (Irina) "At first the men didn''t care, in fact, some even looked happy." (Vanessa) "At least until they realized their bodies couldn''t handle it, it''s now become a survival game for them." (Vanessa) "Did they go for help?" (I) "No, they''re too proud for that, they''ve started joining the morning training, plus they''ve been very diligent in their training." (Irina) "Who came to talk eaten were the women who seem to be also being targets of the women of the Dungeon, the men of the Dungeon, on the other hand, seem to be being very good trying to conquer the new women, in fact, an Oni is already dating." (Vanessa) "So the problem is already solved, just as we wanted, this environment in the Dungeon forces villagers to train and interact between different races." (I) "Yes, but just a few weeks or months of training won''t be enough for them to become strong enough to escape the hunt." (Vanessa) "Don''t worry about it, women aren''t so bad either, they will know how to control themselves when they see that someone can''t stand it anymore, so just let it happen, it will be an incentive to get stronger." (I) Chapter 477: A Good Husband Chapter 477: A Good Husband I''ve been here in the city for a little over a week, now I was on the deck of the ship looking at the papers that Kira and Lilian had already given me. "Is going out?" (Karina) "Yes, I have seaweed things to confirm." (I) I look back and see Karina in a ripped outfit, but she still has a smile on her face. "Looks like your training with Sapphire is going well." (I) "Yes, thanks to her I was able to adapt perfectly to my new power." (Karina) "I heard that the two of them were fighting with their swords for a week without stopping to rest." (I) "Try not to overdo it, that kind of training will ruin your health." (I) "You say so, but Hela and Ivan participated in that training as well." (Karina) "This is for training endurance and senses to the limit, my father has done this type of training several times in the past." (Karina) "But changing the subject, where are you going?" (Karina)Yo?ur favorite stories at novelhall.com something, no need to worry, I''ll be back in a few hours." (I) I say that and I''m swallowed by the shadows disappearing completely in front of Karina and the people guarding the ship. ----------- Yrima''s Most Famous Hospital: In a secluded room overlooking the ocean, a brown-haired woman was sweating in pain as she stared out the window. She had very pale white skin, brown eyes with dark circles under her eyes and her body was so thin she looks like she hasn''t eaten in weeks, her appearance showed the reason she was in this place, I don''t know what she has but it''s clear her health is going from bad to worse. "Who''s there?" (women) "My name is Carla, just like you said before, I''m just an ordinary woman, the daughter of an ordinary family." (Carla) "But I was fortunate enough to have a good husband who loves me more than I deserve." (Carla) "You mean the wanted criminal for illegal trafficking?" (I) At my words, she narrows her eyes, but I can see worry, fear, and sadness in her eyes. Sigh "So you really wanted to hear from him." (Carla) "He wasn''t always a criminal, when I met him, I fell in love at first sight." (Carla) "Back then I was a waitress and he was a fisherman, we both had no family, but we found a place to belong in each other''s arms." (Carla) "We were very happy, but soon my body got worse in a way that it was no longer possible for me to continue working." (Carla) "I''ve always had a weak body, but as the years and months go by it only gets worse and worse." (Carla) "Look at me, I''m not quite able to get out of this bed, if it weren''t for the potions and spells that are sprayed on me every day, then I''d be dead a long time." (Carla) "I had already accepted my destiny back then, but he didn''t, we didn''t know what I have, nor the magicians and doctors, everyone says my body is just too weak." (Carla) "But my husband didn''t give up, he knew that if he wanted to do something for me then he would have to have something none of us had, money." (Carla) "That''s when he started doing more dangerous jobs and committing crimes." (Carla) "It didn''t take long for him to become known as he always took the most dangerous jobs, things that no one else would." (Carla) "To protect me, he left me here where I could be taken care of while Bele stayed as safe as possible so I wouldn''t be used against him." (Carla) "What does he think of the kind of work he does?" (I) "He hates it, there have been a few days when he can''t control the tears coming out of his eyes in front of me, something he always tries to avoid so as not to make me worried." (Carla) "As I said before, I have a good husband." (Carla) Chapter 478: A Decision That Changes Lives Chapter 478: A Decision That Changes Lives Pov Marcos (Carla''s husband): It''s been two weeks since I last had a chance to see Carla, I can still hear her voice in my head. "(No matter what, I will always love you so stop what you''re doing, I can see how much this is eating you up inside Marcos.)" (Carla) I know she can see right through me, I''m not able to hide anything from my wife, I never have been. I know I can''t hide what I''ve done to her, I know she can see how much I suffer having to do what I''m doing, but I can stand doing nothing just watching her die. Tears No matter what I have to do, no matter what atrocities I do, no matter what criminals I work with, I will do anything to be able to stay just one more day with you, my love. Tears "(Not that I should sell my soul to the Demon God!)" (I) After so many years of doing the things I''ve been doing, one of the few gains that are important to me was my level going up, after killing so many monsters in the ocean, killing pirates who tried to rob me, and killing soldiers who tried to capture me. I don''t even know how many life or death situations I went through but it was all worth it, now I have enough money for a lifetime, I can buy slaves with powerful healing magic and alchemy knowledge to take care of my wife while we travel looking for a cure for Is it over there. While thinking these things I go through Carla''s bedroom window to see her one last time before getting everything ready for our trip. "< Wave of Blades >" (I) "< Consuming Shadow >" As soon as I entered my wife''s room I saw a Demon next to her doing something while she was sleeping, I tried to attack him immediately since his back was to me, but his shadow rises to form a wall that swallows my attack effortlessly. "Stop your attacks now!" "Argh..." (I) I''m pinned in place by a bizarre Aura, I''ve never felt anything like this before, not even in the seas where anything can happen.Yo?ur favorite stories at novelhall.com I''ve met people of almost every race, from Demons to Sirens, I''ve met many who were stronger than I am, but I''ve never been so afraid before. I don''t even put it between this suspicious figure and Carla, by the power I felt before I know I''m doing something futile, but I need to at least try to protect my wife. "Who are you? Why are you here?" (I) "As I said, I was talking to your wife, unfortunately, I couldn''t hear everything I wanted to know, but I heard enough to give you two choices." "Choose carefully, because there won''t be another offer." "(I don''t feel malice and his tone of voice is very calm as if this whole situation doesn''t bother him.)" (I) "Looks like I don''t have a choice, right?" (I) "You''re right, you''ll have to listen to what I say, depending on your choice, you may never see me again, so think carefully." "..." (I) "I want you to come work for me, if you do I can give you and your wife a new life in a place where no one will find you, plus I can have a way for your wife to get back to health." "You can also refuse my offer, so I''m going to leave here and let you get on with your life, I won''t bother you or your wife again." "..." (I) "Choose one of these options by tomorrow night." "Wait! Can you really heal my wife?" (I) "I cannot cure her, as you yourself heard from my doctor, she cannot be cured as her problems are caused by her weak body." "But still the other way to bring health to her, that is by turning that weak body into a stronger one." "You mean to turn her into a Demon or a Demi?" (I) "Yes, I can do either one." I look at my wife, her body is already so thin I can barely tell her apart from a skeleton, the doctor I pay to take care of her has already told me that she has been passing out more and more often, she may not have much time left. "I don''t need time to weigh in, I accept her proposal." (I) "As long as Carla is able to smile and get out of this bed again, I would sell even my soul for her." (I) Chapter 479: Correct Choice Chapter 479: Correct Choice I was surprised when in the middle of her story Carla lost consciousness, afraid that something could have happened I asked a Spirit to go get the doctor that we rescued from the castle of the Makari kingdom and who was turned into a Demon. But before Allan, who was the doctor, finishes seeing why Carla lost consciousness, I feel someone close by coming through the bedroom window. From the way he reacted, it was easy to assume that it was Carla''s husband and the person I''m thinking of hiring, Marcos, the illegal drug dealer. After Allan returned to the Dungeon through the Spirit portal in my shadow with the help of one of the spirits who had guided him, I spent the rest of the time exchanging a few words with Marcos. My plan was to let him think about my proposal until tomorrow night, my conditions were both surprising, but all I need to do is change Carla''s race to another which would be easy, plus taking them to live in the Shadow Nest would be a must since they will have to come together. To him, it must seem like a great thing, but for me it would be an easy thing to do, to be honest, I was surprised that he immediately responded to my answer without even thinking about it. He accepted before he even knew what kind of job I would give him, from what I heard he hates doing all these criminal jobs, but he chose to do it for his wife''s sake, I think he also accepted to work for me because of his wife already who said he was able to get her healthy again. But that at least makes the job easier, now I need to know more about it. "I''m glad you accepted my proposal." (I) "Tell me a little about yourself, plus tell me a little about your boat crew too, okay?" (I) "For you to have managed to find my wife, I''m sure you must already have detailed information about me." (Marcos) "As you may know, I am an illegal dealer, I take illegal things from one place to another, be it weapons, drugs, money, jewelry, slaves, etc." (Marcos) "My crew are all slaves, if possible I would like to bring them with me, I can imagine that whatever I have to do, it will be on a boat, right?" (Marcos) "You''re right, but why bother with these slaves? Do you consider them mates?" (I) "Yeah, the reason they''re slaves is because they''re all Demis and two of them are even Demons, so slavery was the best shield I could provide them, at least so far." (Marcos) "Don''t you have any prejudice against other races?" (I) "Neither I, my wife, nor my crew are prejudiced against any race." (Marcos) "You agreed too quickly to join me, you''re even answering my questions, aren''t you afraid of the consequences?" (I) "You''re clearly stronger than me, plus you have a Demon that obeys you, if you wanted you could have killed or captured me, but instead you gave me a chance which shows you don''t want to hurt me for some reason." (Marcos) "< Illusory Barrier >" (Irina) Irina raises her hand where a magic crystal is, then the crystal shines creating a great barrier of tens of meters hiding everyone and the boat inside, now no one will see or hear what happens here. After that I lower my hood and take off my mask, the others do the same taking off their disguises. "Irina go ask Carla the question." (I) "Yes father." (Irina) "What options are you talking about?" (Marcos) "For her to choose one of the races that Irina will say as her next race." (I) "I will free all your slaves with my power if you wish, but I must say that everyone affected by my power must be loyal to me." (I) "That won''t be a problem they''re loyal to me if I free them from slavery, they also know I''ll be loyal to you so they won''t resist." (Marcos) While Irina was talking to Carla I went to the slaves and used my Blood Servi ability on roses for them, it freed them from slavery and strengthened them all. After that, I go to Marcos who was watching from the side. "What will you choose? Will you change races like your wife or will you remain Human?" (I) "If I have the option, then I would like to be of the same race my wife chooses." (Marcos) After a few minutes of talking, Irina comes back to my side and tells me Carla''s answer. "Your wife has decided to join my family as a Vampire, do you still intend to follow the same path as her?" (I) "Yea!" (Marcos) "Very well then, they are yours, Irina and Irius!" (I) "Yes father!" (Irina/Irius) Irius comes to Marcos to receive him as his son as he was with Nolan in the past, meanwhile, Irina returns to Carla to receive her as her daughter as she was with Alice in the past. Chapter 480: Stealing From Those Who Steal Part 1 Chapter 480: Stealing From Those Who Steal Part 1 Pov Marcos: I was arriving at the meeting point he said yesterday, I''m bringing everything I need on this boat, what I wouldn''t need I sold as soon as possible, but most importantly my wife is in my arms now. "Do you think we can trust him?" (I) "You said yourself that he''s much stronger than he looks, plus I felt he wasn''t someone with bad intentions against us." (Carla) "He doesn''t gain anything by deceiving us, he could get what he wanted in other ways." (Carla) "..." (I) Sigh "I think you''re right." (I) When we arrived at the beach and I saw that he was not alone, I wondered how many people are with him, they are all wearing masks deferential to him that hides his whole body. When I leave my dear Clara in the bed I brought, I walk towards him who, to my surprise, asked one of the people with him to build a great barrier that covers all of us and my boat. Soon after he and those around him take off their masks, he shows off his long red hair, his dark skin, and his different colored eyes. I wasn''t even able to say his gender, all I knew was that his beauty was the biggest I''d ever seen besides my wife. But one thing I''ve learned during my years working with illegal traders and all sorts of criminals is to never show what I''m thinking, so I struggle not to change my expression as I try to ignore his appearance. Then I realize something else when I hear the woman who erected this powerful barrier calling him Father, I look better at his spout and see Vampire teeth, the same for the woman who erected the barrier, but I also see a Demon woman with him. The only thing that crossed my mind was that they could be from the Dark Continent, so if I accepted working for him I could go there where I wouldn''t have to hide since I''m not a criminal on that continent. Soon I see him using his power to free my crew from slavery, each of them were people who would be discarded or in other words, they would be killed, I had to buy them with an excuse to save their lives, some I already tried to free, but none of them have a place to go back to. ---------- Pov Zenos: I had already arranged a house for Marcos and Carla in the City of Shadows, so we took them there while I introduced everyone to the city. I was happy to see that everyone was impressed with the city and its inhabitants in a good way, which means we won''t have any problems. After that I let them be accompanied by Jade and Sapphira, the next day Alice looked for me to say that Marcos wanted to meet me, so I told Nix to bring him to the boat. A few minutes later Marcos arrives and sees me fishing with my body fully covered, he is wearing a mask and sits in the chair next to me taking the fishing rod that is there to join me on the fishing. "So the big ship that arrived in the city a few days ago was really his." (Marcos) "Yes, your job will be to be the captain of this ship." (I) "I''m going to need more people, my crew can take some checkpoints, but this ship is too big, that''s why I don''t even want to mention inside it." (Marcos) "You can choose whoever you want from the city, but I advise the Elves and Lizardman''s who have been working on this ship for a while." (I) "I''ll talk to them, thanks." (Marcos) "No need to worry about thanking you for such simple advice." (I) "I''m not thanking you for the advice, I''m thanking you for giving me an opportunity like this and for saving my wife, weak to you I was able to wake up next to her today with a real smile on both of our faces." (Marcos) "No need to thank me for that either, I didn''t exactly make a bone for the sake of my heart." (I) "Besides, did you just come to talk to me about this?" (I) "No, my last jobs have been for the same contractor, I thought you might like to know about him and the plan he has." (Marcos) Chapter 481: Stealing From Those Who Steal Part 2 Chapter 481: Stealing From Those Who Steal Part 2 I was fishing when Marcos decided to talk to me, at first he just thanked me, but then he wanted to tell me something, it seems something is about to happen in this town. "What kind of plan are you talking about? Besides who would that plan be?" (I) "You must know that as an illegal dealer, my job consisted of transporting things from one place to another in secret." (Marcos) "Because I was willing to take jobs that no one else would take no matter the danger, I ended up being very well known which gave me enough influence to make deals with people with more money." (Marcos) "That particular person is crazy, he''s a pirate, but he''s already conquered a fleet of dozens of ships." (Marcos) "He takes pleasure in making others suffer, he enjoys showing people off while he steals everything important before killing in the most sadistic way possible." (Marcos) "You said he conquered your pirate fleet, what do you mean by that?" (I) "He is someone very strong, so it was easy for him to incapacitate a pirate ship and torture the pirate captain for two in front of the crew, after that the result was obvious, everyone swore loyalty to him, and the same was done with other pirate groups. " (Marcos) "With that, he quickly built a reputation that filled those who hear his name with fear." (Marcos) "He is also bolder than other pirates, he has attacked coastal villages, he has attacked official ships and boats of the Grimo Kingdom and many other crimes." (Marcos) "His name is Ivan, but he''s also known as the butcher." (Marcos) "What''s your race?" (I) "He may act like a monster, but he still belongs to the Human race." (Marcos) He has the same name as Ivan, but maybe it''s just a common name, plus Marcos says he''s strong, but Marcos'' strength was only at Grade+A max. Now that he''s a Vampire he must be close to Grade +S, this Butcher guy must be below Grade SSS, there are many in my group who can fight him. "You were talking about a plan, but what plan is that?" (I) "To put it simply, he is planning to attack this city, one of the main trading cities in the Kingdom." (Marcos) "He''s been planning this for years from what I hear." (Marcos) "Do you know his whole plan?" (I) "No, I can only guess a few things since I made some deliveries for him." (Marcos) "..." When I entered the room I saw only blood and pieces of meat scattered all over the place, no matter how many times I come here, I will never get used to this place. I still had the misfortune to arrive at the butcher''s fun moment, he has spent the last two days torturing two pirates who sold our information to the dealer we normally use as a middleman to buy or sell what we need. We tried to find the dealer, but he disappeared from that yesterday, the same goes for his boat and crew. It looks like he ran away, but at least no one warned the soldiers of our plane as there was no movement from them. As soon as I walked in to say that we weren''t able to find Marcos the drug dealer, he rips their heads off with a smile on his face, then turns to me. "Any news from Marcos?" (butcher) "Unfortunately not." (!I) "Looks like he fled along with his crew and boat." (I) "Did he warn anyone?" (butcher) "Not yet, looks like he''s gone to town, but it must be to get supplies for the trip." (I) "Then let''s stick to our plan." (butcher) "How are the preparations going?" (butcher) "Everyone is ready, we just need to wait until the day for our men in town to finish their part." (I) "Send someone to clean up later, it was fun while it lasted, but I ended up making a really big mess." (butcher) "I''ll call one of the slaves again." (I) He''s covered in blood, and smiles like he''s just woken up in a good mood. Sigh "You two idiots." (I) As soon as he left the room, I fetch some slaves who were horrified to have to clean this blood-covered room. I hope the plan goes off without a hitch or I''ll be the next to be ripped apart alive. Chapter 482: Stealing From Those Who Steal Part 3 Chapter 482: Stealing From Those Who Steal Part 3 Pov Hilda: I was in my office even when most of the soldiers had gone to sleep leaving only those responsible for the night guard. As the general in charge of security not only for this city but for the entire region, I have a lot of work to see every day like expense reports, patrol reports, crime reports, soldiers'' performance, etc. For me, this has always been the best part of my job, which is why it means nothing important has happened, nothing that endangers the troops under my command or the civilians I must protect. This work can be boring and incessant, but at least it shows that everything is at peace. These situations where I stay up late here at the office working happen 2 or 3 times a week, it''s always something tiring for me, but at least when I''m done I can drink while enjoying the view of the ocean since my office is in one of the most city highs. Sigh "Finally finished..." (I) When I''m done with the last document, I put everything away for a few seconds before heading over to the shelf where I keep my private liquor collection. "..." (I) I look at my sword beside the liquor cabinet but shake my head knowing it would be useless. "Would you like a glass?" (I) "I would, I''m surprised you like to drink, doesn''t match your industrious appearance." (Zenos) "I''ve never met anyone responsible for leading others who doesn''t have a drink in their office, that kind of work is very stressful at times." (I) "I think I can understand that." (Zenos) I grab two glasses and a bottle of my strongest drink, then take them to the couch where my unwanted guest is and set the glasses on the table between us, filling the glasses afterward. "To what do I owe this middle-of-the-night break-in in my office?" (I) "I apologize for coming in unannounced, but I didn''t want others to know about our conversation." (Zenos) "I also thank you for not taking your sword." (Zenos) "Why not, it might be useful." (I) "But tell me about the attack first." (I) "It looks like a fleet of pirates is going to attack this city, besides they are using some tricks to weaken the city before the attack." (Zenos) "There could be hundreds of pirate ships from what I heard, plus the number of pirates is over 3000." (Zenos) "..." (I) I don''t know where he got this information from, but this is much more serious than I expected, even not counting the tricks to weaken us he talked about, those numbers alone will be able to destroy more than half of the city and I''m not sure if we would be able to win in the end. "That doesn''t make sense, pirates are greedy and don''t get along with each other, how would they be able to form such a large fleet? Besides, how would they be able to hide from us for so long?" (I) "From the information I have, they have a leader who has conquered many pirates using fear to make them obey, it seems he is a mad Human by the name of the pirates." (Zenos) "He is known as Ivan the Butcher." (Zenos) "What did you say..." (I) "But apart from his name, I can''t say exactly how you guys didn''t notice him, that''s your problem to find out later." (Zenos) "(I knew he was planning something, the smile he had on the day he disappeared was full of cruelty and hate, but after so many years without news, I thought he had died or gone somewhere else.)" (I) "(If it''s him, then with his strength he would be able to subdue the pirates, besides he knows how we do our patrols, so it would be easy for him to hide for so long.)" (I) "Looks like you already know him, from what I hear he has some strength, would you have someone capable of beating him?" (Zenos) "..." (I) "Yes..." (I) "Very well, why don''t I plan to help in the battle, that''s your problem, the most I''ll do is give you a plan you can use." (Zenos) "What is this plan?" (I) "The plan is..." (Zenos) Chapter 483: Stealing From Those Who Steal Part 4 Chapter 483: Stealing From Those Who Steal Part 4 After talking to the general of that city I leave her office and head back to my ship. I could easily stop this whole problem, but that''s no use, they must be able to deal with their own problems, always counting on a stranger to show up to save the day is something that only happens in fairy tales. I''m just giving a little help because I have something to gain from it, besides if the general follows my plan the townspeople can avoid death, the rest will depend on the soldiers. When I arrived on the ship, I held a meeting with everyone explaining the plan we were going to follow, and I also let Marcos talk a little about what we can expect. We already know that the plan will start in two weeks, my group and I don''t have to do almost any preparation, so we''re going to keep relaxing until the day of the attack. ---------- Pov Ivan the Butcher: Finally the day, I''ve waited years for this, my path has been long and bathed in blood, but it was all worth it. "The time has come to destroy this damn place ha haha hahahahaha..." (I) "Sir, it''s only an hour until nightfall." "Start preparations, we will mobilize the entire fleet to Yrima in thirty minutes." (I) "I''ll go over your orders." One of the pirates on my boat came to inform me, that it seems I don''t have to wait any longer, even if I don''t have information from my men in the city, it was part of the plan, that way there would be less risk of them being captured when trying to contact me. I already gave them all the information they needed, so there''s no way the soldiers can catch them, by now the plan must have started there. Imagine the surprise to discover that all the water in the city is poisoned, and the food and drink of today''s guards have also been poisoned. With the strength of the city in decline, it will be difficult for them to organize themselves in a short time. ---------- One hour later. Close to the port of Yrima. I can see the city not too far away, I couldn''t help but smile wide as I imagine the sight of this place on fire and the screams of despair echoing all around. With that, I manage to destroy this hateful place at the same time as I make a fortune stealing all the valuable things here and enslaving those who would have a high value on the Dark Continent when I went there with my fleet. While I was lost in my thoughts I realized that we are already at the perfect distance to start the attacks. "START THE ATTACK NOW!!!!" (I) Boom!!! Bamm!!! Boom! BOOMMM!!! "Ha ha hahahahaha..." (I) "< Wave of Blades >" (I) I gather the water elemental Ki into my sword blade and slash forward forming a wave of water cutting through the first five soldiers along with their horses, but that wouldn''t be enough for this bastard who cut my attack in two. I cut the soldiers that appear on the sides realizing that we were overtaken by the sides, a great battle unfolds, but I don''t care about the lives of these pirates, I cut the soldiers in my way as if they were made of paper. All I want is to get to her, killing her will be the only thing that makes this a good day again, when I finally get to her our swords collide causing a shock wave that blows everyone away. "Happy to see me again, sister?" (I) "Ivan, stop this madness, and maybe I''ll spare your life." (Hilda) "You''ve already committed too many crimes, so this will be your only chance." (Hilda) "Hahahahaha..." (I) "You talk like you can beat me, but we both know it''s never happened before." (I) "Besides, don''t wait for a second that I''ll spare you, today your blood will paint this city red!" (I) Our swords clash several times in the air, that''s because our combat styles are very similar, plus we''ve fought a lot in the past and we know each other well enough to predict each other''s attacks. My water ki covered sword has the upper hand against your water mana covered sword, unfortunately, it is making up for its lack of strength with angles that scatter most of the force of my attacks. "You took everything from me." (I) "I was supposed to be the heir of our family, I was supposed to be the General." (I) "I''ve always been stronger than you, I''ve always been superior, but still you got it all." (I) "You were always a wretch who used violence against those around you, all the soldiers who followed you were afraid, your combat tactics were dishonorable and cruel, our father saw the monster you were becoming, that''s why he chose to me as successor, the same happened when I was chosen as general, the soldiers respect me because they know that I think of the best for them." (Hilda) "SHUT UP!!!!" (I) p "< Oceanic Sword >" (I) "< Division of the Seas >" (Hilda) I kick that bastard away and raise my sword that grows into a big five meter sword of water, then I bring this heavy sword down on this bastard. cough cough "..." (I) She runs towards me with a light coating of blue glow on her sword, she knows she won''t be able to dodge my attack but I don''t think she even thought to dodge, she uses her sword to cut mine in half when I do I was surprised to see his small sword splitting mine, I didn''t notice his sword approaching until it was too late, both my hands were cut off and flew away. Before I was able to scream in rage at the realization that I lost to her, her sword slashed through my heart and her hateful face was the last thing I saw. "Farewell, Brother..." (Hilda) Chapter 484: Stealing From Those Who Steal Part 5 Chapter 484: Stealing From Those Who Steal Part 5 Pov Hilda: I didn''t have time to think about the heart in whom I''d stuck my sword, I didn''t have time to understand what I was feeling at the moment. The soldiers under my command are fighting with everything they''ve got, I can''t stand still now, I pull my sword allowing his body to fall, then rush into battle killing as many pirates as possible. The battle took a few hours as the pirates, when they saw that they were starting to lose, started to hide inside the houses and set up ambushes, this made this battle last a little longer than it should have. After it was all over I went back to the place where his body was, I can''t calm my heart before I resolve these feelings. I stop in front of his body and sit on the floor looking at his face, that face that froze in an expression of anger and hatred.Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) "Not even in death do you let go of all that anger and hatred, until the end you weren''t able to understand that it was these things that made others not choose you." (I) "If you had let go of this baseless hatred and anger you felt for everything and everyone, then our lives could have been very different." (I) I close my eyes with a memory from a long time ago when I was still a child. I was worried about my mother at that time, at that moment one of the maids took me to my parents'' room where I saw the doctor leaving. When I entered I saw my mother with a smile on her face with my father beside her, it was one of the puddles I saw my father crying, in my mother''s arms he was calm. I remember my mother asking me to come closer, she put him in my arms and looked at me with a smile, I still remember the words she said. "This is your little brother, Ivan, as the big sister you should be responsible for him, alright?" (mother) "I''ll always be there when he needs him, mom, I promise." (I) "Hahahaha... you''re a good girl, Hilda..." (Father) Tears I couldn''t help the tears that welled up in my eyes as that memory welled up in the back of my mind, so I open my eyes to see my little brother''s body and look around at the sheer number of bodies around us. "I tried so hard to be what you needed growing up, the only reason I joined the army was to help you when you had to." (I) "I''ve tried to advise, I''ve tried to help, and I''ve even tried to cover up some of your mistakes by thinking you didn''t do these things on purpose." (I) "Until the day you disappeared I tried to deny the monster you had become, but then when your various crimes began to come out into the light that''s when I realized that little child I once held in my arms was gone." (I) "I promised I would be responsible for you, as such it was my duty to take you into my own hands." (I) "The faction from that continent might not, but one of the factions from other continents might come after you, Father." (Vanessa) "They might even use you as an excuse to start a holy war, it wouldn''t be the first time." (Vanessa) "That sounds like something serious, but I agree with him, duty falls to the army." "..." (I) "..." (all) Everyone points their weapons in the direction of the voice, who was there was a Beastman from the tribe of Wolves, his fur was black and his body thin, his height was a little shorter than Diana''s. I don''t know who he is or how he got here, but he''s standing next to Diana, who''s barely raised a hand to her face. I was surprised that no one noticed it, but the truth is that we were caught off guard, no one thought the ship would be found and because of that no one was paying attention to the surroundings, we were careless this time. "You can put your weapons down, that idiot is my brother Hermes, he likes to take people by surprise." (Diana) "It would have been funnier if I could see someone''s face, unfortunately, everyone is wearing masks." (Hermes) "But I''m surprised you all put down your weapons with a single word from Diana." (Hermes) "Diana has our full confidence, if she said we can lay down our weapons then that means you are not an enemy." (Kira) "If you are Diana''s brother then you are welcome, we can talk..." (I) "Looks like they''ve arrived." (Karina) Everyone looks to the side that Karina pointed to, and we see several boats coming towards the port, as soon as they are close we see the attacks of the magic cannons destroying the city that must be empty if they followed my plan. After that, we wait until the cannons'' attack stops, as soon as they get out of the boats and run towards the city it''s time for us to act. "You know what to do, go!" (I) "Hermes, wait here until we get back." (I) "Can I use that fishing rod while I wait?" (Hermes) "That fishing rod is mine, so feel free to use it." (I) Saying that everyone leaves the ship leaving only Hermes and the Elves behind on the ship. Chapter 485: Hermes Message Chapter 485: Hermes'' Message After leaving Diana''s brother behind we each went to a pirate ship, from what I''ve observed these pirates have a maximum strength of Grade +B. These pirates are very weak so only one of us will be enough for each boat, plus there''s a Fairy or spirit of the space element with each one to help carry the pirates'' storage items. In my case, I have Layla coming with me since I can''t let this psycho Fairy go on a boat alone. Once I got on the boat I spread my Aura while blending it with the surroundings, this allowed me to form a real-time image of the entire boat. With that I saw that there were only five pirates here, apart from them there were some people wearing chains, they must be illegal slaves. "< Shadow Wolf >" (I) As my Aura is already spread all over this boat and I can see everything, so I control the shadows while using a spirit rune creating Wolves made of shadow, these Wolves come out of the enemies'' shadows already making a fatal attack under my control, with that I was able to kill them all in seconds without having to move. Ding! After that I go through the places I saw in my mind where storage items or other things of value were. The storage items I gave Layla to keep while she kept the rest in my storage items. The slaves that were on the boat I brought with me the Demi and the Demons, the others I leave behind for the people of this town to deal with, I just don''t leave this one here because the Demons will surely be killed and I''m not sure how the Demis will do be treated. (Author''s Reminder: Demi = half monsters/humanoid monsters) After taking only the slaves who might need help, I tell Layla to inform the others through the Fairies and contact Nix who is on another boat to do the same with their spirits, so I can warn everyone to only rescue the same types of slaves than me. As Nix and Layla are the leaders of their respective Cradles, they have a connection with the Fairies and Spirits that live there. Carrying the slaves was simple since we all have sleeping potions, plus Nix taught me the technique of trapping someone in the shadows while they''re unconscious, so I''m bringing them in my shadow. After I finished the boat I was the first to go back to the ship so I went to talk to Diana''s brother, he was fishing when I arrived, I go to him and get another fishing rod, I also pull a chair out of one of mine storage items where I sit. "So his name is Hermes?" (I) "Looks like in a few months someone will come to me and guide me to the place I need to go." (Diana) "What is this all about?" (I) I can see a little pride and doubt in Diana''s eyes before she tells me what''s going on. "I don''t think I ever said that to you, master." (Diana) "My family is a believer in two Gods who are the God of Adventure and the God of Wolves, that''s why my parents are Priests of these Gods." (Diana) "My mother is the Priestess of the Wolf God Fenrir." (Diana) "I had already received Fenrir''s Blessing, but I didn''t think she would be chosen." (Diana) "What do you mean by being chosen?" (I) "My mother received an oracle that I was chosen as Champion of the God Fenrir, it can be said that I will be his representative, but I don''t know if I should accept it." (Diana) "..." (I) "I can see you''re considering this, so why not take it?" (I) "A champion is different from a saint, master." (Diana) "A Saint represents the will of a God in the world, but a Champion represents the power of a God in the world." (Diana) "You mean you would be like a general?" (I) "Yea." (Diana) "Would you have to leave?" (I) "No, I would be as free as Vanessa who is basically a Saint." (Diana) "A Champion is similar to a hero for their Religion, my duties will be almost none, but I think I''ll have to talk to Vanessa more about this." (Diana) Chapter 486: Goodbye Continent Morror Chapter 486: Goodbye Continent Morror After we stole everything from the pirates I leave the slaves we took in Lilian, Irius, and Irina''s hands to take care of them in a separate place in the city, and I asked Lilith to check them out to see if there are any that don''t deserve our help. After Diana''s brother left and she told me about the message he brought, I let Marcos and his crew take over the ship to leave this continent while I went to talk to Vanessa to find out more about this Champion of the Gods thing. I found Vanessa in one of the rooms reading a book, I went to her with Diana as this subject is important to her. I let Diana explain to Vanessa what she had already told me before I started to clear up my doubts. "Congratulations, Diana." (Vanessa) "I knew you had great potential, but I didn''t imagine it was to the extent that the God of Wolves was paying attention to you." (Vanessa) "Thanks, but I still don''t know what to do..." (Diana) "That''s why we''re here, we want to ask if you know more about the Champions of the Gods." (I) "I know, there are three types of very special titles in this world which are Saint, Hero, and Champion." (Vanessa) "I''m going to explain the three so you can understand how they are different and at the same time complement each other." (Vanessa) "A Saint carries the will of his God within himself, in other words, he must be the image of his God in the world and must be respected as such." (Vanessa) "A Saint has the responsibility to guide the believers of his god and to be the one who transmits his will in the world, that''s the main, the other responsibilities can vary depending on the God." (Vanessa) "A Hero very different from a Saint must be short of being a symbol, one can become a Hero in two ways, the first is by recognizing people and the second is by recognizing a God." (Vanessa) "Heroes are symbols of ideals, they inspire people with their actions, their lives are like a sun illuminating the darkness and bringing hope." (Vanessa)Yo?ur favorite stories at novelhall.com "Heroes must have strong ideals and a determined heart, and they all have great charisma." (Vanessa) "Heroes who have been chosen by one or more Gods must be those who truly believe in and follow the ideals of those Gods, so they become a symbol of those ideals." (Vanessa) With Vanessa explaining I''m getting it, to be honest, I was wondering what the difference between a Saint and a Champion was, but now that she''s talked about Heroes, I must say I started to understand why these titles are so special. It must be very difficult to achieve such strange requirements. Sigh I hadn''t noticed until I sighed when I was worried and scared at the very thought of Diana leaving, but after listening to what Vanessa said I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off of me. When I looked at Diana I could see a glint in her eyes, it looks like she already knows what to do. "Looks like you''ve already made your decision, right?" (I) "Yes, thank you so much for telling me so much about these things, it brings me such a relief to know that I can stay here even if I decide to accept being a Fenrir God Champion." (Diana) "My mother has always been a Priestess of the God Fenrir and she was the one who asked my brother to bring this news to me, this is a great honor for me and I would be happy to accept it if you allow it, master." (Diana) "If that is your true desire then I will always support you, and if you ever need to fulfill your responsibilities then I will be there to help you." (I) Diana with a big smile jumps on me with her big body crushing me to her chest as Vanessa tries to save me before choking as I can''t breathe. Toc Toc Toc Vanessa manages to save me when Diana is distracted by the knock on the door, after she saw that I had run away from her embrace and was lying on the floor while breathing heavily she goes to open the door showing that it was Carla. "Sorry if I''m interrupting something, but I thought you''d like to say goodbye one last time." (Carla) "..." (I/Vanessa/Diana) We don''t understand what Carla means by that, but we still follow her to the deck of the ship where she points to the horizon where we see a small silhouette that I can''t identify. "I see, soon we won''t be able to see the Morror Continent anymore, this is our last view of it." (Vanessa) When I understood what Vanessa had said, I''m mesmerized seeing that silhouette so far away, the memories of everything we''ve lived in this world running through my head, meanwhile the others in my group come one by one to the deck. Everyone was looking in the same direction, some were saying their silent goodbyes to this continent while others were waving to this continent one last time. I silently jump to the top of the ship and bow in gratitude for everything I''ve lived on this continent, before getting up and watching as that silhouette disappears into the horizon. "Farewell, Morror Continent..." (I) Chapter 487: Raising Flags Of Disaster Chapter 487: Raising Flags Of Disaster After the farewell to the Morror Continent, I tell Nix to leave the Dungeon gate open in the room we prepared inside the ship, so everyone can come and go as they want, after that, I go to Marcos who is in control of the Ship. When I go up to the room where he''s piloting the ship I see him concentrating on what he''s doing and I wait until he notices me. Sigh It takes a few minutes for him to crack a smile and sigh before looking to the side where I''m finally noticing my presence. "Sorry for not noticing you earlier, when I''m at sea I have to pay close attention to everything, especially since it''s my first time with this ship." (Marcos) "Alright, I could see you were really focused." (I) "Need something from me?" (Marcos) "I just wanted to talk to you a little to understand a few things." (I) "Let me see something first..." (Marcos) Marcos looks at the ocean and then at the sky, then he smiles before calling for one of his crew to take control of the ship before descending with me to the deck. "Leo tells me you like to fish too, so why not talk while we''re relaxing?" (Marcos) "Fine by me, let''s go." (I) We go over to the place on the side where I always stay and I set up two chairs and pull two fishing rods out of my storage item handing one to Marcos. "What did you want to know?" (Marcos) "I wanted to know more about what it''s like to sail the ocean." (I) "As you seem to have sailed for a long time, including in dangerous situations, I decided to ask you." (I) "Navigating the normal ocean is simple, the hard part is surviving in the open sea." (Marcos) "Are there divisions at sea?" (I) "There is, the normal sea is the one around the continents where the water is shallower for miles, we are in that normal sea now." (Marcos) "How do you navigate such dangerous places?" (I) "The most important thing is to be careful and calm, see how the water is, look at the sky, make sure there''s nothing that draws the attention of a dangerous monster on the boat, etc." (Marcos) "But one thing that always really helps is luck, I''ve been in some situations where I didn''t even believe I was going to survive, but I''m still here today." (Marcos) "..." (I) Why did he have to say luck is an important factor so to me of all people, has no one said anything to him until now? Doesn''t he know I''m basically a bad luck magnet? Why can''t I just be happy for once and have a smooth trip? Why do you always have to fall short of raising the lucky flag like it''s some kind of tease for me? "I hope you''re wrong, I really do." (I) "(I really just want a smooth and peaceful trip, so if there is any lucky God I ask you to grant me this simple request.)" (I) "Why do you look worried all of a sudden, everything is going well, you have nothing to worry about." (Marcos) "Please stop raising flags, don''t test your luck with me around or..." (I) Boommm! "..." (I) Before I finish talking to Marcos, I hear the sound of an explosion and a very strong glow in the sky almost blinding me coming out of nowhere. "But what''s going on!?" (Marcos) "This is what happens when you raise a flag next to me..." (I) "(IF THERE IS A LUCKY GOD I SWEAR I''LL PUNCH EVERY BELIEVER I MEET!)" (I) "I FOUND YOU DEMON HERETIC..." Chapter 488: Weak Army Of Light Chapter 488: Weak Army Of Light Pov Templar of Light: We''ve been waiting days on this tiny island, our supplies will only last a few more days before we need more. I get up and see the thousands and soldiers occupying almost 70% of this island, staying so long in such a cramped place is not pleasant for anyone, but necessary to catch the Demon we seek. When he was spotted and escaped pursuit we could see that he had escaped our troops there, so we gathered all the troops scattered across the Grimo Kingdom to decide what to do. The chase and the attacks our troops made inside that city angered the Grimo Kingdom, especially when it was pointed out that the Heretic did not attack or cause damage at any time. Because of that, we had to hire people to get information to come up with a better plan next time. With the information we were able to gather from several suspicious individuals, we saw that in the city of Yrima a large ship arrived with the leader being someone of below average height, in addition, this leader completely hid his body and wore a mask. The odds of it being him were high, plus this was days after his escape from the city where we''d last seen him. Of all the places he''s been since before he came to the Grimo Realm that we are aware of, it wasn''t hard to speculate that he was heading towards the Dark Continent which must be his homeland. That means he''s running away from us, because of that we went around the way to go to a point where he would have to pass to go to the Dark Continent, that''s why we''re on this island. It''s been days since I''ve ordered scouts to gather information in case your ship is spotted, they''re spread out over miles, plus I keep a rotation to keep surveillance as long as possible. In addition to me being the strongest being in charge, there are three weaker Templars, including the one who let him escape. As we avoid passing through any city to avoid alerting him as we realize that he leads a larger group than we imagined, we use the skills of the Horses of Light, the armor of Light that the Holy Church granted us, and magic to allow us to fly above of the ocean, this saved us from having to face pirates or monsters while conserving our strength for the Demon Heretic we seek. While I was lost in thought I see a faint flash coming from one direction and a smile forms on my face involuntarily knowing what it means. "STAY READY!!!" (I) "But what''s going on?" (Marcos) "What is a Soldier of the Church of Light doing here?" (Marcos) "I think it might be an appropriate time to say that the entire Church of Light hates me and I''m a Heretic to them." (I) "You what!?" (Marcos) "Besides, he''s probably not alone, so I think you''d better go find Rakan now to activate those ship defense spells." (I) "Master, vij9 something coming from the right." (Nix) I hear what Nix says and look to the right, with my excellent eyesight and with nothing to obstruct I was able to see a bright white cloud coming towards us, straining my vision I realized they were the army of the Church of Light. "Damn! They arrived faster than expected, I don''t think I can just kill this idiot in the sky and walk away." (I) In a few minutes, the army has gathered in front of the ship while they are a few feet away from the water, they are keeping themselves aloft thanks to the white horses and the magic from what I can see in the rigid wing shapes of light on their backs. As they approached my companions also gathered from the deck along with me, Rakan was not seen, but when a barrier envelops the entire ship I suspected he must have done something from inside the ship. "DURING DEMON HERETIC, TURN-IN AND MAYBE GET A QUICK DEATH BY THE LIGHT OF SALVATION." I jump and land on top of Ragnar''s back who has returned to his original form, Orion jumps from somewhere returning to his great form and stretching his red wings, and those who could fly like rica, Hela, Lilith, Karina, and Vanessa joined to me, with the troops of the Church of Light at my side facing me. No one is hiding his appearance, only Nix is still in his half transformed form looking just like a Dragonewt variant and Kira is on top of Byakko who is in an even bigger Tiger form than before being bigger than the White Horses than the soldiers in mine front were using. I look at all enemy soldiers while spreading my Aura mixing it with the environment so that the enemies don''t notice, I do this to confirm the strength of this army, after a few seconds of silence I open a smile showing my fangs, this seems to annoy the Templar who was ahead with others behind him. "You have the numbers, but you''re too weak." (I) Chapter 489: Compassion Chapter 489: Compassion I found it funny so weak people coming after me, even if they are thousands, they are very weak being mostly Grade B, with a few hundred Grade A. The leaders should be the dozen Grade S with only a few Grade SS, the Templar at the front being the strongest in Grade SSS, he should surely be their leader. With my current strength, I could destroy 1/3 of that army with just one attack, just with those few people by my side we could kill them all in a matter of seconds. That''s why I was finding it funny the arrogant way they are acting and talking, makes it seem like their victory is guaranteed. "How dare you insult the Church of Light army, you damn Heretic!?" (Templar leader) "Do you see something in them Lilith?" (I) "You mean Revenge?" (Lilith) "Yea." (I) "Let me see..." (Lilith) "Don''t you dare ignore me your..." (Templar Leader) "" (I) I was tired if I listen to the nonsense these idiots talk, I''ll end up having a headache if I decide to start an argument with religious fanatics. To avoid this I stopped hiding my Aura that already surrounded them while activating the fear, ruler, and assassin effects. I also screamed at the same time using my Aura in my voice as I''m starting to get used to it, it makes my throat hurt a little bit but the effect is amazing as my voice can be heard all over the area. The idiots finally got quiet with the Templars at the front holding their weapons in their hands as they looked at me seriously and discarded their earlier useless arrogance. The other troops were in varying states with a few hundred being immobilized and the others visibly shaking. "That''s better, I''m a little upset with my luck at the moment and I don''t want to listen to your bullshit right now." (I) "Should we kill them?" (Layla) "I think I''ve made my decision." (I) I look at the Templar who must be the leader, he meets my gaze without fear but I can feel the anger and the urge to step forward to attack in his Aura, I increase the pressure of my Aura on him leaving him immobilized without being able to move a muscle. "I don''t want to start my journey with a bloodbath, so I''ll have mercy on you this time." (I) "Unlike the criminals and psycho psychopaths I''ve killed so far, you''re just idiots (following a foolish God), I won''t gain anything from your death." (I) "How dare an evil creature to speak of mercy near our army of light..." (Templar Leader) "< Deadly Intimidation >" (I) Before this Templar keeps talking some bullshit that might annoy me by increasing my Aura power over this army while using my ability to intimidate them. I see hundreds of people losing consciousness and falling into the ocean, the Templars who had not shown fear until now turn pale and I can see the fear in their eyes, moreover, I can feel the urge to flee in many in the army who just haven''t started to run because my Aura is holding everyone back. "I advise you to come back for me, I may not have the same mercy a second time." (I) I keep using my Intimidate skill but collect my Aura releasing them. Soon many begin to run, while the Templar I considered their leader looks at me one last time with uncertainty as he signaled his army to start heading in the direction the more cowardly ones had started to run before. I could see the embarrassment and humiliation in the expression the Templar Leader wore before he left, but that''s not my problem, they''re already in luck that I''m not killing them all right here and now. I head back to the ship followed by the others while ignoring Layla''s complaints that she was ready to start a genocide, I stop in front of Marcos. "Accelerate the speed, get us out of here before those idiots start thinking about dying with honor or any such stupidity." (I) "Yea." (Marcos) With Marcos rushing to regain control of the ship and the others scattering, Layla was taken in by Lilith and Hela who were talking about eating something sweet, meanwhile, Vanessa comes over to me with a smile. "You made the right decision, their death wouldn''t do you any good and it''s not like they deserve such an end either." (Vanessa) "I just didn''t think it was right, so I didn''t." (I) "Blood is a gift not to be spilled without reason, thank you for making the right decision." (Vanessa) Chapter 490: Fishing With Ivan Chapter 490: Fishing With Ivan After scaring this Church of Light army until they nearly pissed our pants, we set off continuing our journey. After things calmed down I went back to fishing alone, no one joined me for a while because they saw what I was thinking. After an hour Ivan appeared and sat in a chair he brought himself, besides he had a fishing rod in his hand, we exchanged a quick glance and spent a few minutes fishing in silence until he broke that silence. "Are you wondering if it was a good idea to let them go?" (Ivan) "No." (I) "I''m just surprised that after everything I''ve lived through so far, I''ve still made the decision to let an enemy live." (I) "No one would blame you for killing everyone, which we''d be able to easily do." (Ivan) "I know, initially I was going to kill them all, I was already planning how to kill them or run away when I realized their strength." (I) "Suddenly all my plans felt wrong somehow, I felt like they didn''t pose a threat, I felt like I wouldn''t gain anything by killing them other than EXP and blood." (I) "Few people would make their decision in that situation, most would take advantage of the enemy''s weakness and kill everyone for the sole reason that they are enemies." (Ivan) "Vanessa said she would have made the same decision..." (I) "That''s because she''s always thinking about the Goddess Selene''s teachings, but that wasn''t her case, right?" (Ivan) "Yea." (I) We went back to fishing in silence for a little longer before I broke the silence this time. "Do you think I made the wrong decision?" (I) ,m "Your decision was right, there was no real reason to kill them, wrong was everyone else who would make the wrong decision in their place, including me." (Ivan) "I still don''t know why I let them go, what I said to Vanessa before was just an argument that came to my mind later." (I) "Feelings don''t need arguments, your heart told you what was right and wrong." (Ivan) "That kind of decision should be hard..." (I) "You were born a monster, killing has always been a natural instinct, choosing who you are because killing is what made you a person long before you took humanoid form." (Ivan) "I had already stopped thinking and reflecting on myself, but letting the army of the Church of Light who are enemies who want to kill me go away like this..." (I) Sigh "It just reminded me of times when I didn''t have that mercy in my heart." (I) While I was thinking Ivan placed a cold, lifeless hand on my shoulder. "You''ve always had that mercy, this was just the first time you had to show it to an enemy, you knew they weren''t evil beings like that Archbishop, they''re just soldiers protecting what they believe is right without realizing how foolish they are." (Ivan) "They weren''t a threat, killing them wasn''t going to bring anything like you said." (Ivan) "So why don''t I feel good?" (I) "Why are you starting to doubt what''s right and wrong." (Ivan) "But it shouldn''t, just keep moving forward, let your heart and instincts tell you the direction to take as you always have since that''s what brought you here." (Ivan) "Trust yourself a little more, we all already fully trust you, master." (Ivan) I grabbed a random bottle of liquor from my storage item and emptied it in seconds. I spend the rest of the day thinking about what Ivan said as we fished, at least until he opened his big mouth to raise another flag. "Everything is so calm, we are lucky that no monsters have appeared..." (Ivan) "Be quiet before something..." () "We''re under attack!!!" (Marcos) "Group of monsters ahead!!!" (Marcos) Chapter 491: Nice Weather Chapter 491: Nice Weather After dealing with a few hundred Grade SSS monsters I came out of the water covered in blood and salt water, I wasn''t the only one with Orion and Ragnar in the same state. "Why did you pull me into the water too?" (Ragnar) "I could have killed the monsters while flying over them." (Ragnar) "It didn''t feel right me and the master fighting in the water and you staying away." (Orion) "You..." (Ragnar) "Shut up you two, I only fought in the water as training, this was my first time doing this so it was horrible, I think I need to have more fights like this before I meet a truly strong monster." (I) "But Marcos said that the chances of that happening were slim, the Dark and Morror Continents are close compared to the distance of other Continents." (Ragnar) "But even so, it''s still a weeks trip by ship, that''s why this ship is fast or we could take a lot longer." (I) While talking to my God Beasts Irina, Freya and Nolan would come over with towels for us to clean, but before that Nix uses a jet of water to wash the dirt off our bodies. "What are you going to do with those bodies?" (Freya) "I took the cores, the bodies leave them there, so some monsters must eat them." (I) "Tell Marcos to leave, we''re done here." (I) After a few hours another group of monsters was nearby, in the distance it looked like they were fighting, but when we tried to go around it seemed like we caught their attention so we had another fight. As we continued our journey this time through the night while we slept, a large group of bird-type monsters that I counted as thousands began to attack the ship, this could have been dangerous if not for the ship''s strong defenses and Grade S strength of these monsters. I left the elimination of such a large group to Erica whose spells were more specific to large groups. After the bird barbeque, we continued our voyage, but at dawn, we were confronted with a large bird monster of Lower Catastrophe Grade, the appearance was the same as the birds we killed during the night whose feathers are still around the ship. I didn''t want to deal with monsters anymore and let Ragnar take care of this one already, which looked excited. To my surprise, Karina who arrived a little late was saddened as she had been waiting a long time for a fight against a Lower Catastrophe Grade enemy to test her power. Sigh "What else can go wrong..." (Marcos) "..." (I/Diana) Diana and I stopped fishing and looked reproachfully at Marcos. "What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?" (Marcos) "Really? I just spoke and you did..." (I) "You''re not going to learn anytime soon, apparently." (Diana) "Why do you like to test your luck when you''re on my side? Are you a masochist by any chance?" (I) Marcos looked confused by the things Diana and I were saying, but sooner or later he would learn, I could only hope he was wrong about what could happen. During the night of that day, Marcos said that we should arrive at the open sea in the morning, so it would be good for everyone to be ready in case more powerful monsters appear. I went to sleep with a bad feeling or at least I would have slept if it hadn''t been for the girls'' nightly visit. The next day I woke up to the ship rocking a little harder than usual, when I got dressed and cleaned up with a potion of liquid soap, I went up to the deck. When I looked I noticed one of the people who were in Marcos'' crew looking back, when I asked what he was seeing he pointed out that we had reached the open sea, then he showed me the difference between the two seas. At first, I didn''t notice, but it soon became obvious, the normal sea was calm and the sea where we were now was much rougher. But I''m worried about something, since last night we haven''t had any monster attacks, everything is very calm which worries me, the flag that Marcos raised yesterday still showed no sign of appearing, but I had to enter the Dungeon to see how the things were going for a few hours. After hours inside the dungeon, Alice runs up to me telling me to run to the ship as fast as possible that big garlic was happening. When I ran out of the dungeon and went full speed to the deck I noticed that the ship was rocking a lot, I could only think that we must be under attack by another group of monsters, but what I found when I reached the deck was very different. What was in front of me was a torrential storm with dozens of tornadoes sucking water from the ocean up to the skies, it was such an absurd and crazy scene that I thought the Apocalypse was happening while everyone is rushing to control the ship. Chapter 492: Interesting Trip Chapter 492: Interesting Trip I had been urgently called out of the dungeon and out to the outside of the ship, as I ran to the deck I noticed that the boat was rocking more than usual, but it wasn''t until I saw the outside that I understood the point what was happening. A storm was raging and the sea was raging throwing the ship in all directions, but worst of all were the dozens of tornadoes that were pulling sea water up to the sky. "(I knew that disaster flag was going to catch us off guard, but why did it have to be something we can''t punch?)" (I) "Sir, I''m glad you''re here, my husband needs to talk to you now, we don''t have much time." (Carla) "..." (I) Carla comes running up to me with an expression filled with terror as she looks at me and then at the tornadoes that seem to be approaching. "Take me to him." (I) Carla has become faster since she became a Vampire, but she''s still pretty slow by my standards, her fastest was like I was seeing a turtle running around. When we get to the top of the ship where the ship''s control room is I see Marcos and two other of his old crew trying to keep all the ship''s defenses active while controlling the ship''s direction to avoid approaching these tornadoes. "I''m here, Mark." (I) "I don''t have time to explain much, so I''ll try to be direct." (Marcos) "Sir, I need to get rid of at least two of these tornadoes to get out of where we are without getting hit, even if this ship is very sturdy I don''t think it can withstand this kind of blow for long." (Marcos) I knew we didn''t have much time to talk, I looked through the front window and realized we were being pulled, so I run to the front end of the ship as I talk to Nix. "Do we have time to call the others?" (I) "I think not." (Nix) "Do you think we''ll be able to stop a tornado if it blows up?" (I) "(We are ready.)" (Orion) "They''re ready, now!" (I) "< Explosive Serpent >" (I) "< Breath of Darkness >" (Nix) The magic circle layered up to my hand so I get the warning, I tell Nix it''s time to attack, and at that moment I point my hand at one of the two biggest tornadoes, the magic circle that was glowing so bright I wasn''t even able to looking at him, my mana was leaking because it was too much for a mid-level spell to handle. The magic circle expands to twice my size and the fireball that was burning my hand with just the heat it was radiating, suddenly turns into a fire serpent whose thickness was two meres, it looked more like a Dragon. than a Serpent of that level. I found I couldn''t control the direction of this magic, but luckily it was heading straight for the tornado. Nix came out of my shadow that expanded behind me, actually only Nix''s Dragon head came out, then I felt my spiritual power being pulled from my body as Nix released a black bolt that seemed to be made of black mist from his great mouth in another tornado. When my attack hit the tornado it exploded spreading heat throughout the area at the same time it made the tornado disappear, Nix''s attack, on the other hand, didn''t destroy the tornado directly like mine, darkness spreads through the tornado as it disappears at once few. "(Now)" (I) Behind the ship were Orion, Ragnar, and Freya. The two Divine Beasts were flying by holding the back of the ship to push with all their might when the time came while Freya had prepared her most powerful magic not to attack but to push the ship along. When the two Divine Beasts heard my signal and Freya saw my attacks, they were able to further increase the speed of the ship in the gap we left while Marcos was doing the same by activating the ship''s own spells to increase the speed. As we passed through the gap that the two tornadoes left when they disappeared, I looked at the clouds where I could see two or three more tornadoes forming as they started to descend, luckily we passed with great speed and continued for a few seconds until it stopped. Sigh "This trip is really interesting..." (I) Chapter 493: Tasks During The Trip Chapter 493: Tasks During The Trip As soon as we get out of that near-death situation, I look around still a little bit because I''m almost out of Mana and spirit energy.Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) What I see are hundreds of tornadoes, but they were spread far apart for the most part, but I could see them moving slowly which made some collide with each other, at least that''s what I thought, I was worried that another situation like the one we just left was going to happen, so I ran to where Marcos was to talk to him. "Tell me we won''t have to do this again." (I) "..." (Marcos) "Wake up! We don''t have time for that right now." (I) When I arrived at the ship''s control room again, Marcos had his face in disbelief as he looked ahead, I think he was either surprised by our attacks or was surprised by the Dragon head that popped out of nowhere. "Don''t worry, it can be a little dangerous, but I have the confidence to navigate this place, unlike before there''s a lot of space between one tornado and another which leaves me with options that I can use different from before where we were surrounded." (Frames) "Good thing, I don''t think I could make another attack like that." (I) After that I told Layla to keep an eye on the ship that was rocking a lot, she would be responsible for letting me know quickly if something happens, but if it''s something she can solve, I''ll leave it in Freya''s hands who will watch Layla. I went back to the Dungeon and went straight to the city where it''s still stuck mid-afternoon, I sat in the first restaurant here and ordered some food and alcohol. Soon Vanessa comes over and sits down across from me, I tell the Hobgoblin waiter to bring double what I ordered now that I have someone along with me. "You look tired, did something happen on the ship? I heard someone brought urgent news and then you started running non-stop." (Vanessa) "Don''t worry, it was the storm and some tornadoes, it''s already taken care of." (I) "But you know I''m tired for other reasons too." (I) To be compared to these two in such a disturbing way, this bastard was a real piece of trash in humanoid form. After he started telling his story I felt like throwing up for the first time in my life in this world. I won''t think about the things he did anymore, but the way he became a slave on this continent while still being a Demon was well deserved. From what he said, he had a year Lara take her partner from the criminal of the criminal organization they both had, but he was discovered and forced to become a slave, after which he was smuggled to that continent in hopes of dying in the worst possible way. I wasn''t going to let someone like him just die, so I''ll be his fate leaving it in Erica and Lilith''s hands. He was the test material for these two curses for days, I didn''t even dare go near the place where they were, I know that when he has received the proper punishment Lilith will kill him, but I told them both to include Hela as well since he needs to train more of his Necromancy. After so many days this garbage Demon was still alive, I think Lilith still doesn''t think he''s suffered enough. I turn my eyes to Vanessa who was in front of me. "You still haven''t told me how the slaves are doing." (I) "They are fine, I think they will adapt very well, they all already know how to speak the common language, most of them are old adventurers or families of Adventurers." (Vanessa) "Those who didn''t know the common language learned it from other slaves, they were trying to escape, but their plans would never work." (Vanessa) "If you think they''re fine, then release them into town and see how they react to so many different races." (I) "Now if you''ll excuse me, I''m dead tired and I''m going to bed." (I) After talking to her I went straight to my bed without saying anything else, I didn''t even wait for the vomit or the alcoholic drink I ordered out of fear that she would get me more work if I was going to take more time with her. Chapter 494: Turbulent Journey Chapter 494: Turbulent Journey In the days that followed I had a lot to do, Ivan kept pulling me into administrative problems saying it was my responsibility. I didn''t want to solve so many things but Ivan kept saying it was better to do it now while there are still few people in town, the way he talks makes it seem like more people are going to join, this scares me as I don''t want more people to join. gather. Ivan said that we should at least organize city policies and some ground rules for everyone to live together. After what Ivan and I discussed for an entire afternoon, I ended up committing to seriously thinking about things that can help the city sustain itself for a long time, for generations. I always forget that I am a Vampire now, at least I think I can still be considered a Vampire, that means my life expectancy is immortal, if nobody kills me I will never age or die.Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) Because of this, I would like to think of policies that will not only allow these people who are living in the City of Shadows now but also allow future generations of descendants of these people to live in harmony. Ivan managed to convince me like this, he is not wrong in saying that it will be easier to do this now. I spent the next few days seriously thinking about this despite all the problems we were still encountering during our trip. After thinking so much about it, I came up with some rules that I would like to keep to promote the combat capability of the entire city, I also thought of rules that help in the administration of the city. Policies: 1. Morning training will continue, people from all over the city are encouraged to participate, but they are not obligated, this helps in the interaction between people and strengthens the city as a whole. Everyone seemed to like what was proposed, so I left them talking about other things and ran away from the Dungeon and went fishing on the ship. But as soon as I leave the ship I see a wave of tens of meters falling on the ship, luckily the defenses were up, so there were no problems. I wanted to fish, but with a manager like that it''s difficult, while trying to think about what to do with my free time, I decided to go to the town where Nolan plays his card games. I spent the rest of the day playing cards, but I only managed to win half the time, I thought Nolan was cheating, but I didn''t see anything and I had no evidence I could only accept that it was my loss for more than one reason. ---------- Our next days of travel were long and unpleasant, at least for me as I wasn''t able to fish, see the starry sky, and had to fight an almost infinite number of monsters. I wish I had had a smooth trip across the ocean like I always saw in the movies, but the always bad weather and the constant onslaught of monsters made this a bumpy ride at best. The bad weather I talk about was always something I saw in different apocalyptic movies, every time I see these things I wonder how people manage to survive in such an aggressive and dangerous world, but then I remember that there is magic, levels, and abilities in this world that help people get strong enough to do so. The monsters that have been attacking us since we arrived in the open sea have been thousands of SS Grade or higher monsters, plus we have seen more Lower Catastrophe Grade monsters, luckily they seem to have a bit more intelligence and didn''t attack the ship on sighting me, Karina, Orion, Ragnar and Nix. From what Lilian told us, at this level of strength monsters, even the dumbest ones, start to develop some kind of intelligence, but that doesn''t mean their murderous instincts have diminished. These monsters are just choosing their prey not to run straight into enemies they are not able to defeat, they are just following their survival instincts. Chapter 495: Lilians Information Chapter 495: Lilian''s Information The trip was longer and more tiring than expected, there were such a large and varied number of strong monsters along the way that we had to take turns to continuously fight them, not to mention this damn apocalyptic weather that didn''t show sunlight once. When Marcos broke the news that we had reached the normal sea of the Dark Continent I almost burst into tears with happiness at finally having the opportunity to see the sky again. Now I was inside the dungeon at the mansion for a meeting with everyone in my group, Sapphire and Marcos. "If we''ve already reached the normal sea, then the weather will improve, right?" (I) "Yes, there should be no more tornadoes, tidal waves, and torrential rains, but..." (Marcos) "What''s up, Marcos?" (Irius) "I don''t know if I should say that, Dad." (Marcos) Marcos talks to Irius who was the one who turned him while looking at me strangely. "You can say what you want, you don''t have to be so reserved." (I) "My father is right, if he has something to say we will all listen." (Irius) "I just find it all very strange." (Marcos) "I think I already know where this is going." (Elsaris) "Unfortunately, so am I." (Vanessa) "That was obvious even before we started the trip, was I the only one who expected this to happen?" (Nix) "What are you talking about? Why are you looking at the adsim master?" (Jade) "..." (I) After explaining this she remembered to tell everyone not to offend anyone for no reason and if offended try not to hurt their pride, the problem is that she said that while she was looking at me. I''m the most discreet person and cause the least amount of fuss out of everyone here, after Freya of course. Everyone listened to Lilian''s explanation very carefully, I had already talked about these things with her before, so I kept quiet while the others cleared their doubts. In the Dark Continent, the situation is almost completely reversed, Demons, Vampires, and Demis are normal to be seen on the street, people are not judged by their appearance either, that''s because in this continent appearance is often deceiving. People are judged by their actions, looking pretty here will only get you in trouble, that means Freya and I are going to wear masks. Another thing that became very clear to me was that we can''t leave a normal us walking around here, but it seems that Nira can walk peacefully if Yomi is perched on her shoulder. It looks like Nira won''t be treated as a human because of her Familiar, she''ll be treated the same way as the Necromancers as if she were a Demi. Lilian also advises that we could use more Demons to work on the ship, so I left that up to Marcos as I made him captain. Another thing that Lilian said that Marcos confirmed was that the route we are taking to reach the Dark Continent will pass through the smallest part of the normal sea on that continent, thanks to that it will only take us three days to reach the closest port. I warned Rakan to take care of the humans inside the Dungeon as I will not let any Humans out of the Dungeon while on this continent, with the exception of Nira. Another thing Lilian said that made Ivan very happy was that the undead with a mind of their own can walk the streets normally, even if they are a little rare, they are not feared or hunted here. But she said that almost 90% of this Undead are servants of Necromancers who were responsible for reviving as Undead, the other 10% are considered very special for being like Ivan, keeping his mind even after death just relying on his own willpower. According to Lilian, Ivan will be respected just for being himself, she also said to be careful when we make any deals here, for a Demon the deals are a demonstration of their pride as a race, this is imprinted on their minds and souls. But she also says that that''s why you have to be sure before making a deal, that''s because there may be some loopholes, but who will deal with these agreements if we make any will be Ivan and Nira, I don''t think I''m fit for that. ---------- As the two of them passed, we were finally a few hours away from reaching the nearest port that appears to be the capital of a small Kingdom according to Lilian. Chapter 496: Flames On The Horizon Chapter 496: Flames On The Horizon Due to the speed of our ship, which was much higher in the calm waters of a normal sea, Marcos said that it would only take a few days to reach the port of the nearest city. We all talked and decided to head to the Guilds as soon as we get to town so we''ll get some basic general knowledge. From the books I read and from what Vanessa and Nix had already told me, I knew that there were Guilds on all continents, besides that Guilds follow their own global rules, because of that the person''s race or identity doesn''t matter, the Guild he only needs to know that he is not a criminal and that he has real ability. One thing that Marcos and Lilian said about our first destination on this continent was that it was a place heavily controlled by criminals. This is because this port was used a lot for trade deals with the Morror Continent, often illegal trade which was why Marcos had come here several times before. p I had time to talk to them because I left Freya in charge of the ship as from now on only monsters with SS Grade strength or less will spawn, and they won''t spawn as often or with the same numbers. Freya can take care of enemies like this with her bow and arrow as she quickly stays away. With that time passed and we were getting closer, we would have arrived faster if it wasn''t for the pirate ship we found on the way, they were very weak, so we left it to Lyra, Jana, and Samira to take care of them, they were just a few pirate boats. Just as I imagined it was a quick job for them, but at least it still serves as an experience for them, but even though it was an easy job for them, Ivan was still paying close attention to his daughter. From what little I''m observing they seem to be around Grade SSS, but what impressed me was the way the two fought using only magic, they didn''t approach each other, it looks like a fight between standard mages that I''ve seen in several games on my old world. Come to think of it, the only Mage I fought was Farus, even King Makari was a magic swordsman, for some reason I had an image in my head that the Mages of this world also fought hand to hand, but that''s wrong, I have to talk to Rakan later to learn more about how the Mages fight. But the important thing is what is happening here, what surprised me is that the citizens are mostly hiding, I can see several boats that have left the harbor and remain close by as if they were waiting for this battle to end. When Layla leaves town on the other side of town I see that there are many people waiting for a little way away, I see the children gathered in a place with a barrier around them, but as I am only using Layla''s senses I am not able to tell what kind of barrier. I also see old people and a lot of women, the men seem to be sharing around along with some women, I see some Fairies around, they seem to be on patrol, I hadn''t noticed them until now, but I think I was paying more attention in the city destroyed and in battles. I told Layla to go back to the ship, the other Fairies didn''t notice her because she was hiding using her space element, but I can feel that she wants to participate in the battle and that''s not going to happen. I make her go back to the ship and then I go look for Orion who was training his Aura with Ragnar inside the Dungeon, I tell him to put on his monster cub form and I put him on my shoulder to help me hide my Aura in ways which I am not able to do yet. There are Fairies in this town and I don''t want them to come after me because they feel something in my Aura or presence that attracts them. After that, I go after Lilian to ask what is happening, as she comes from this continent and has already said she knows this city, maybe she knows what is happening here. But I must say this is a bad time to arrive, how unlucky do I have to be to arrive in the middle of a battle of this size when it''s our first time on this continent? Chapter 497: Civil War Chapter 497: Civil War I had to go to the Temple in the City of Shadows to find Lilian who was praying in front of an empty plinth with the name of the Blood Goddess Selene written on it. I waited a few minutes until she finished praying to talk to her, then we walked to a meeting room that is here in the temple. "What do you wish, Holy Son?" (Lilian) "For starters, would you please stop calling me Holy Son? Call me Zenos or master like the others, anything would be less shameful." (I) "There is no shame in being the youngest Son of the Great Goddess Selene, besides I don''t know if I can stop addressing you as I have, it''s an almost automatic reflex." (Lilian) Sigh "..." (I) "Master, I don''t think you came to Lilian because of this, right?" (Orion) "Considering our current situation, I think I should cut to the chase." (I) "The port city a little further ahead is on fire, I used Layla to see what was happening and it looked like a battle was going on all over town." (I) "That was fast, I knew it wouldn''t last, but it was still a lot faster than I expected." (Lilian) "Did you know this was going to happen?" (I) "The Dark Continent is not a very safe place, especially for people of weak will, the lesser Realms are always in the hands of greedy people with no true ability." (Lilian) "Even if there are suitable people to rule, if you are not capable enough, you will just be another dead King in history." (Lilian) "This port city is the only city in your Kingdom, in the last 100 years this Kingdom must have changed Kings dozens of times by my count, but the current King must have been very bad since he didn''t stay on the throne even for 1 year." (Lilian) "You mean this is a coup d''etat to steal the throne?" (I) "I suppose so." (Lilian) "Did you see if they were people in the same armor fighting each other?" (Lilian) After talking to Lilian I went to talk to the others about it, Nira ran to Lilian to ask about things like market prices on that continent to have a basis for thinking about the prices I would put on the products we are thinking about of selling. Lyra started the potions factory with the help of her two assistants and the other employees she hired, Anton was happy to hear that there is a place to sell the weapons and armor his employees have been making, it looks like he already had thousands of weapons in stock in storage items. It seems like Anton has been leaving the normal weapons to others to do and has been focusing only on special weapons. ----------- After we got close to the harbor we stopped the ship and waited like many other boats, I realized we were attracting attention but kept my mask in place. Lilian came to me to talk to me. "Holy Son, I know you''re worried that your appearance or that of others will draw unwanted attention, which can cause some problems." (Lilian) But on this continent, sincerity has great value, that''s because each person''s actions and words say a lot about their pride." (Lilian) "Hiding your appearance will make a bad first impression on people." (Lilian) "So you think showing our faces is going to be less trouble than wearing masks?" (I) "Yea." (Lilian) I reflect on what Lilian said, but I decide to follow her advice, that''s because she knows this continent better than I do, she knows what she''s talking about there. I take off my mask and call the Fairies through the portal in my shadow and tell them to warn others not to wear masks. As our trip was over I decided to stop wasting my time fishing and went back to training, there are many elements that I still don''t know how to control, besides I have a lot to study about magic and spiritual runes. I know I have a lot to do, but I also can''t forget about my combat training in the morning. With my training routine back on track, I still had other things about the City of Shadows to take care of, but for that, I decided to assign some people to government jobs. I put Ivan as my advisor, I put Freya as my secretary, and I put Elsaris in charge of intelligence, in other words, espionage. Now, all we have to do is wait a few days until this battle is over and enter the city to solve what we want before we start our journey through this new continent. Chapter 498: Dear Niece Chapter 498: Dear Niece Pov Demon Queen: It''s been a few months since my aunt left this continent, I was a little worried as I hadn''t heard from her for a long time, she hadn''t reported on the agreed date. I only calmed down when one of her former students brought me a message that came through the Assassin''s Guild. When I read the message I realized that my brother was the leader of the extremists, it also seems that my aunt found out about the extremists'' whole plan. What worries me is the group that my aunt is describing as an unknown who fought the extremists, she says in the message that she even defeated them all, this without alarming the people of the Morror Continent too much about what was happening. But one thing caught my attention, my aunt didn''t say anything about this group that destroyed the extremists, but she told me details of the extremists, besides she doesn''t describe anything about the unknown group, I don''t know their numbers, races, powers, appearances or if they have any name, I don''t know anything about them. "(She knows who they are, but she doesn''t want to reveal the information.)" (I) At the end of the message, she said that she will be traveling for a while and says that she has found a place to stay. I try to reread the whole letter, but it doesn''t have any code that we usually use, but it still has something weird. From all I know about her, I can assume she is indirectly indicating that she knows about this mysterious group and doesn''t intend to give me that information, meaning they are not a threat to the empire. For her to laugh, it sure means that the place she chose to stay must be with this mysterious group. I get up from the throne and go to the window where I jump out and spread my wings to glide to the gardens, I do this to think better. "(The way she seems to want to protect this group worries me, my aunt has always been the most loyal to the Black Empire, but even then for the first time she refuses to share their background.)" (I) "(If I''m guessing correctly and she''s with this group, then that''s even weirder, the level of trust she''s showing this mysterious group is abnormal.)" (I) Lilian explained to me that the castle is located behind the small mountain a little further away from the city, she said that this was to protect itself from attacks by boats or monsters coming from the sea. When I sent Layla in the direction Lilian warned the castle was I could see that another battle was taking place there, the castle seemed to have little damage for the number of explosions I was hearing, maybe it is fortified with magic. I sent Layla back because I wasn''t interested in the outcome of this civil war, the only thing I cared about was it ending soon so I could enter the city. I still can''t believe my luck to arrive in the middle of a civil war, but as the other option of traveling to another port would only take even longer, all I can do is wait a few days. ---------- Just like Lilian had said, we were quiet on the ship for the next three days, even though the civil war was over, it looks like they still wanted some time to regroup before starting to let people back in. First, they let the population back in, after that they waited 1 day before letting the boats and ships start disembarking at the port, but that was only for those who lived in the city. Then they let those who were just passing through the city in and then those who were unknown like us. When we were finally allowed to dock at the port, I could feel a lot of suspicious eyes on us, many of those eyes came from the soldiers, but I also felt a pair of eyes hiding somewhere. When we got off the ship we were directed to a room where we had to present some sort of identification, I used my Adventurer''s Guild card and Ivan''s Trader''s Guild card. After that, we had to answer some questions while tempting us for lies. They asked questions such as whether we intended to harm this Kingdom or this city, how long we are going to stay, the reason for being in this city, and what we thought of the new government. It was easy for us to pass these questions as I don''t care about this city or its government, and don''t have anything against them either, I also said that we were just passing through and wanted to sell some goods here. We were given permission to stay and do business, we were also told to look for a representative of the new government to discuss the trade of some items. Chapter 499: Tired Tradesman Chapter 499: Tired Tradesman The city was kind of destroyed, I watched the residents rebuild their houses and shops as I walked down the street, I must say I found it a little interesting to see the different types of Demons. Some Demons had wings, others didn''t, they had different eye and hair colors, different eye iris shapes, some had tails, and each one''s skin color was also different, but what they all had in common was the horns, even That horns have different shapes, colors, and sizes doesn''t change the fact that everyone has horns. It was interesting to see everyone interacting in such a normal way, they don''t look anything like the Demons from the myths, legends, and games of my ancient world. They look just like another race like any other I''ve come across so far.Yo?ur favorite stories at novelhall.com "This is the first time I''ve seen Demons, they look different than what I''ve heard." (Karina) "Let me guess, you thought they were all beings with murderous and cruel intentions?" (Lilian) "They''ve always been portrayed like that to me, I knew they were exaggerating, but now that I see them up close they look just like Humans or Beastmen." (Karina) "You must not fully believe other people''s judgments, you must know both sides before having a clear view of the situation." (I) "But that''s also normal here, Demons hear similar things about Humans." (Lilian) "The dispute of the two continents is old, old prejudices are hard to forget." (I) "I''ve never been prejudiced against Demons, but I must say that I may have been a little influenced by the things I grew up listening to." (Karina) I left the unloading of goods in the hands of Ivan and Nira, the Ghouls are helping them along with the Ogres. We follow Eleanor to the other side of the room where a small conference table is set up, she waves for us to sit opposite her. She seems to want her assistants to continue the work while she talks to us. "My name is Zenos, from your attitude I assume you already know why we''re here." (I) "Nice to meet you, lord Zenos, isn''t it whenever I see a Vampire looking so young, can I assume it''s a noble Patriarch?" (Eleanor) "A Patriarch yes, about nobility no, I''m just someone who likes to travel." (I) "This is already the 8th time I have taken on this role, I just hope that the current ruler can stay at least 100 years, this would be the first time in the history of this Kingdom." (Eleanor) I can feel the discontent and sarcasm in her voice, from what I can see she is tired of these situations and at the same time it demonstrates her competence for always being assigned to this type of work, in addition, she demonstrates a commitment to her work by the tiredness in her expression and still be working. "I imagine you came to buy the confiscated items or to sell something directly to the new government, right?" (Eleanor) "I''m just here to buy today, I''d like to see if there''s anything that catches my eye." (I) "Here is the list, it has the description, quantity, and price of the items being sold, the Commerce Guild has already rated all the items as genuine, there are also no illegal or restricted products on the list." (Eleanor) Eleanor pulls me a reading crystal and a storage crystal which she starts to use before handing me a well-described list of items with values. During our short conversation, she is being very objective as if she wants to get her work done and I''m getting in the way. Chapter 500: Trading With Eleanor Chapter 500: Trading With Eleanor When I took the list from Eleanor''s hand and started looking through it, I was surprised by the sheer number of things on the list. There were paintings, furniture, cutlery, swords, and ceremonial armor that only had one appearance, books of all kinds both original and copies, maps, various types of normal and rare metals, slaves, etc. It had many different types of stuff, and the prices on the sides seemed low, at least for items I knew the value of like metals. But what caught my attention were the large amounts of sea monster blood, all of the Lower Catastrophe Grade at least, one of them was written as unidentified, in fact, there were several items that were marked "unidentified" in their descriptions. I went through the entire list which took about twenty minutes before sending all this information to Kira who is next to Nira to see if she wants anything. After that I pass the reading crystal for Karina, Erica and Irina to see, from my experience I got from the city of Valen, women like to shop, besides I like to see everyone happy and money is not a problem for me. Eleanor didn''t sit around waiting all this time, she signaled to her assistants and the werewolf race woman brought a stack of dozens of papers for Eleanor to sign while she waited for us to finish checking the list. After another 30 minutes had passed the girls had just looked through the list and even Irius was able to see some things, they wrote some things down on a list at the same time I was writing a list that Kira was passing me that belonged to Nira. I also wrote down what I wanted to buy and started compiling the lists all together into a single list. What I ordered was half of the dining items and furniture that were nice but without unnecessary exaggeration, some statues of mythical monsters, Heroes of the past or Gods, all the original books, all the books that according to Nira we still didn''t have in the Dungeon, all base and rare metals, all alchemy materials, all reading and storage crystals, all maps, all storage items, and weapons and armor that have any magic or ability. I also had a list of slaves that I decided to take with me after seeing their descriptions. All this would make an astronomical sum of money that made up more than 65% of the list, what''s left are useless things that have no practical use or that just look exaggerated. I didn''t want to take the statues, but it seems that Leonardo has been bothering Nira with these kinds of things to decorate the city, what we don''t use we can sell later or give to someone who wants. When I handed the list to Eleanor I could see her eyes open before she controlled her expression and went back to looking at me more seriously, I felt that this time she was sizing me up trying to understand my identity. I can see the gleam in her eyes as she tries to analyze me, but it won''t work, these things aren''t that important to me, I mean it when I say I can just walk away. I don''t show anything in my expression, she also won''t be able to feel anything for my Aura being hidden by Orion. She takes a few seconds with her eyes closed looking like she''s making a very important decision before opening her eyes and saying like she''s giving up on something important. "Alright, 20% off is the best I can do, are you happy now?" (Eleanor) "Neither me nor you, 30% off, how about that?" (I) "It will be easier for you to enslave me and sell me to a brothel than for me to accept this robbery in broad daylight." (Eleanor) "I pay the full amount in global currencies, we can even sign a legitimate contract as proof that they''re not lying to each other, how about that?" (I) "Even in those terms 30% is still a lot, even if the Kingdom needs money right now, it''s not that desperate." (Eleanor) "I''m a flexible person, so I''ll drop it down to 29%, but you don''t have to thank me." (I) "You still call that being flexible? That''s the flexibility of a metal tower." (Eleanor) "I work with values, introduce me to your maximum and we can continue from there, what do you think?" (I) "This is my final proposal 25% off, the value would be 134,502 crystal coins." (Eleanor) "I will not decrease any more bronze coins in value." (Eleanor) "Very well, I accept this amount, we have a deal." (I) Chapter 501: Lilians Family Chapter 501: Lilian''s Family We left the Trading Guild after they prepared a contract that I read before signing with Eleanor, so the contract went through the same ritual of being handed over to the God of Commerce so that it cannot be broken, each of us was left with a copy of the contract. Eleanor said that she needs some time to gather everything, but that she could finish everything for me to pick up tomorrow afternoon, I said that she can meet me at the port and told me what my ship was. The things I''m buying are going to be taken away from the storage items I''m buying which will make it easier to transport, Eleanor will be there in person for delivery and to collect payment. I am now walking around the city to try to get an idea of what the city looked like before it was destroyed, I wanted to get a feel for the local culture and architecture. There are many food stalls scattered around here, and all are full of people eating happily, we passed by some, and most of the food was good, but some were almost inedible, but the price of these was half of what was tasty. What surprised me is when we were walking around the city was seeing the speed with which they were clearing the rubble, most of the cleaning had already been done by the place we passed earlier in the space of a few hours. In addition, I saw many earth mages rebuilding streets and simple buildings, they were also destroying buildings that were so damaged that they could not be repaired so it would be easier to build a new one. Sometimes I forget that this is a magical world, people in this world have better ways of doing things than people in my world, things like rebuilding a city that could take years in my world can take months in this world.Yo?ur favorite stories at novelhall.com I look around paying more attention to using magic to close small holes, as spells in this world aren''t just for fighting, maybe I should learn more about other fields of magic besides combat. With that kind of thinking, we went back to the ship in port, but Lilian asked permission to go and contact one of her former students who is a spy she noticed was in town, I allow it since I know I can trust her. ---------- Pov Lilian: The Holy Son has shown more and more confidence in me, it seems that my efforts in recent months are paying off. Priestess Vanessa said that if I continue like this she can accept me as her daughter, and it would be a great honor for me to be part of the lineage of the Holy Son. I must demonstrate more of my abilities in serving the Blood Temple and the Holy Son to show that I am worthy of her favor. Today I noticed my student watching us while we were talking to the local government trader, only one of my students would be able to do this, it must be horn 3. I don''t know their real names and I''ve never tried to find out, they don''t know each other''s names either, all I know is that the Empire brought them to me because they have the potential for this kind of spy work. After I''m separated from the Holy Son, I head straight for the spot where I imagine him to be, the tower of the old shop responsible for most of the city''s slave sales. "You raised us, educated us, trained us, and took care of us when we were injured or sick." (Horn 3) "Whenever we needed you to be there for all of us, even when one of us was captured and orders were to abandon, I saw you storm an entire fortress with hundreds of enemies to rescue one of us without hesitation." (Horn 3) Tears "I speak for everyone when I say that you have always been and always will be our mother..." (Horn 3) "..." (I) Tears I already knew that, I always knew that, these kids were never able to hide anything from me, they were always more to me than just students, but in this kind of work I couldn''t let that kind of relationship be shown to everyone. I couldn''t let the empire see that I cared so much about them or they''d think my judgment was compromised, I couldn''t leave them in the hands of anyone other than me. Tears I hugged Horn 3 as tightly as I could, I have nothing to say but I don''t need to say anything in this situation, he knows what I''m thinking, I don''t think I''ve ever been able to hide how I feel from them. "We all prepared for years by training other units to replace us, so we waited for the moment when you finally agreed to retire or were forced to leave." (Horn 3) "We''re all carrying out our last orders before resigning to go after you." (Horn 3) "Those of us with family like me, we have everything ready to leave, my mission is over in a few weeks when this government consolidates, after that, I can finally stand by your side." (Horn 3) Tears "But the empire..." (I) "Don''t worry, we''ve taken care of everything, we have people to replace us and we''re in a period of peace." (Horn 3) "After I''m done here I''ll let the others know and find you, Mom." (Horn 3) After that we spent a few hours talking, this was one of the most exciting days of my life. Chapter 502: Travel Route Planning Chapter 502: Travel Route Planning When we got back to the ship Ivan wasn''t here anymore, for some reason I couldn''t find Vanessa anywhere either, Nira told me that she went out to do something but took Hela with her so I think everything will be fine. I join Nira to talk about the deal I made today with government trader Eleanor. I told Nira everything and even gave her a copy of the contract where the list of items purchased was along with the total amount accepted by both parties in the deal. "You were a very good master, but you could have reached an even lower value, maybe even 32% or 31% if you had pointed out are war loot, but even so, the value is very good." (Nira) "War looting has a lower heat?" (I) "Yes, mainly because there was no expense to purchase the item, they received these things as a bonus that they can turn into quick cash by selling directly like this." (Nira) "The only thing I don''t understand is why not sell directly to the Trading Guild?" (I) "Because the value will be even lower, making direct deals is always more profitable than selling to the Guild that will resell to another merchant." (Nira) "If they sold to the Trading Guild the price would have gone up to 50%." (Nira) "Damn! If I''d known that I''m sure I could have put her up to 40%." (I) "I find this difficult, you should not underestimate a true master trader, always be wary of their words and expressions as they can be used to manipulate you into believing certain things to set a price they deem acceptable." (Nira) "But the price is still very good, apart from the decoration items, the other items are not very important, but they will still be useful." (Nira) "How was the sale of the things we brought in?" (I) "I managed to sell it all for a decent price, but it only made 1/4 of what you spent, master." (Nira)Vissit for updates "Weapons and armor were sold at triple the price, in addition, potions were sold at double the price and other items such as monster materials were sold at the market price." (Nira) "Well done." (I) During the night Lilian came back looking the same as always, bad I could feel a disturbance in her Aura, but I didn''t know what it was, the best judgment I could make was to see the gleam of happiness in her eyes, something very happy must have been happened to her, I just don''t know what caused it. I take Lilian to a building in the City of Shadows that will be used as a government building where the people who will run the city will be, I go straight to an empty meeting room where there is a big table where I open a map of the Dark Continent. This map has almost no markings that explain about the Dark Continent, even the geography of the terrain has almost no descriptions, but it should be enough for Lilian and me to discuss the route we are going to use to travel this continent. "Where do you want to go, Holy Son?" (Lilian) "Our ultimate goal is the Poisonous Forest, the Elf village we have to go to is there." (I) "We can go to the city closest to the Forest, there are Elves there who serve as liaisons with those in the village, we should get a pass easily." (Lilian) "No need, finding the village will not be a problem for me and Freya, it will also be easy for us to enter the village." (I) "I''m going to avoid this city since I know there will be a lot of eyes there." (I) "So you want to head straight for the Poisonous Forest?" (Lilian) "Of course not, my plan is to tour all the way there, plus I plan to make some detours if I need to visit beautiful or interesting places." (I) "If there''s something in one of those categories along the way, I''d be happy to take the advice of a resident of this continent like you." (I) "I think we can make some stops at these three points, there are two cities that are very interesting and a small Vampire city that was founded just a few centuries ago that is beautiful." (Lilian) "We can also pass through here, this is an abandoned land controlled by the undead, in the center of this land is an ancient ruined capital that has become a ghost town, there are several dungeons throughout the terrain being the most dangerous within the city. " (Lilian) "Why are you pointing out a place that clearly looks dangerous?" (I) "Because it''s a very mysterious place, full of monsters that are usually hard to kill and at the same time have a mysterious beauty." (Lilian) "..." (I) "(Is entering a ghost town the same as entering a ghost house?)" (I) Chapter 503: Surprise When Leaving The City Chapter 503: Surprise When Leaving The City The next day I spent my time sleeping on the deck with a beach chair I asked them to build for me. I wanted to relax a little since I had nothing to do in this ruined city, from the carefree behavior of the population of this city I could tell that this is not the first or second time this has happened, so they don''t need help. I waited until mid-afternoon when Eleanor personally came to finalize the deal, I asked her to board the ship and took her to a room where Nira was working with Yomi lying on the table. When we entered the room Eleanor stared at Yomi and I could feel the fear in her Aura since I''m next to her, Yomi apparently felt it too since she raises her head and looks at her until Nira''s hand caresses her body making him go back to sleep. "I didn''t know we had a visitor, master." (Nira) "This is Eleanor I made a business deal with yesterday, she''s here to finalize that deal." (I) "Nice to meet you, my name is Eleanor." (Eleanor) "The pleasure is all mine, you can call me Nira." (Nira) I tell Eleanor to hand over the items to Nira who takes the storage items and the contract where the items are described and goes to another room to check while I hand a storage item with the money to Eleanor who also checks the value. After about 30 minutes Nira comes back saying that all the articles are present in the conditions described. Soon after I escort Eleanor off the Ship, then we call everyone outside back onto the ship before departing this town. After a day of following the ship along the coast of the mainland I stop, I just did it so as not to show that we are changing vehicles. I guard the now empty ship, then pull the carriage down the nearby road that I already knew was here.Vissit for updates Everyone went back inside the Dungeon before we closed the gate and guarded the ship, so We followed the road, who was driving the carriage was a Ghoul, there will be three shift changes a day for those who are driving the carriage. When they realized they were surrounded with nowhere to run, some took their own lives without hesitation, but those who hesitated for a second were immobilized by my Aura before passing out as I increased the pressure on them. I go to one of the enemies that Karina has defeated and take off his mask, then do the same with five other enemies including one that was only passed out, that''s when I realized they were all the same race. "They''re Vampires...but it looks different..." (I) I looked better and see Vampire fangs in their mouths, but when opening their lids their eyes were all white, their ears were also normal humans, they didn''t have the slightly pointed ears of Vampires. I control the blood of those Karina killed and I drink all the blood belonging to dozens of people. Ding! <[ You acquired the Bloodline [ Vampire Slave: 100 % ] ]> . . . <[ Lesser Bloodline [ Vampire Slave: 100 % ] was immediately absorbed into the Main Bloodline ]> It seems my hunch is right, I could find out their races by drinking their blood, unfortunately, they don''t have the skills I need as I didn''t get any. On second thought, I could have used my ability to identify, but I was already getting hungry, so I thought I''d grab a snack while figuring out who these idiots are. "Vampire slaves?" (I) "Guess I''ll have to ask Vanessa or Elsaris about it." (I) Chapter 504: Blood Slave Chapter 504: Blood Slave I let Nix throw all the bodies into the Dungeon where they will be absorbed and become some DP, both the survivors, as well as those who died, have been stripped of all their items, weapons, and clothing for me to try and find a clue as to who they are. The survivors were taken to the Dungeon where they will be interrogated by Elsaris, Lilian, and Lilith. I let the carriage go back the way it had been planned after I got rid of the lines I''d spread around, then head to the hidden room inside the carriage where I left the Dungeon gate open. I went straight to the Temple of Blood where Vanessa spends most of her time, I find her cleaning the place up and call her into a room with me for a chat. "You look thoughtful, what happened for you to come to me this time, Father?" (Vanessa) "We were attacked by two or three hundred enemies, all with SS Grade strength." (I) "That was fast, how did you manage to get enemies so fast in the first city we just left?" (Vanessa) "We''re not even a week on this continent." (Vanessa) "Why does it have to be my fault?" (I)Vissit for updates "Father..." (Vanessa) "Don''t look at me like that, I admit my luck can be awful, but I''ve always been the calmest of us all and I''ve never tried to be anyone''s enemy." (I) "You''re wrong, the calmest of us is Freya with Ivan next, that''s why I''m not telling the naive Caryna." (Vanessa) "You really try to be as calm and rational as possible, but we both know that when you get angry even Layla''s insanity lags behind yours." (Vanessa) "Now you''re insulting me, I can get carried away when I get angry, but it''s not that bad." (I) "You were prepared for a carnage at the entrance to the Illusory Forest Elf Village, if not for Sakura intervening..." (Vanessa) "..." (I) cough cough "You know the "Blood Servant" and "Vampire Servant" skills for sure, right?" (Vanessa) "Yes, I have both skills." (I) "Every Vampire has the Vampire Servant skill, but only a Patriarch or Matriarch has the Blood Servant skill." (Vanessa) "When a Vampire gives their blood to someone to drink and uses the Vampire Servant skill that person becomes a Vampire by doing so willingly, the transformation cannot be forced." (Vanessa) "The person must accept it, no matter what it takes to do so like convincing the person, torturing, blackmailing, threatening, etc." (Vanessa) "The important thing is the person accepts, but most of the time or almost always the person accepts, otherwise the skill fails and can cause the person''s death." (Vanessa) "If the person didn''t drink the Vampire''s blood before being Affected by the Vampire Servant skill, then they will experience the same problems of having to accept the power, but they won''t turn into a Vampire, they will receive the title or race of Blood Servant." (Vanessa) "A Blood Servant has an increase in overall power and their lifespan is greatly increased, they still retain their personality and will of their own but are bonded to the Vampire they agreed to serve." (Vanessa) I already knew about most of these things, but I didn''t know you could force someone to accept it with such bad methods. "The Blood Servant skill that only Patriarchs or Matriarchs possess on the other hand can make Blood Servants much stronger and with lifespans tied to the Vampire they serve, this skill doesn''t require the person to drink the Vampire''s blood to function and can even turn the person into a Familiar in some cases." (Vanessa) "But there is a Taboo about this skill, if the person drinks the Vampire''s blood and is placed under the effects of the Blood Servant skill without agreeing the Vampire can use its Aura to invade the person''s body forcing a success, but the result is not will be a servant, will be a slave." (Vanessa) "This method will partially transform the person''s body into a Vampire, they will be completely loyal but have no emotions, coincidence, the mind of their own or will." (Vanessa) "They just have a monster-like instinct and the Vampire''s orders they serve, their souls are sealed inside their bodies, they can see everything they do and have no control over their bodies." (Vanessa) "But Erica has a similar title." (I) "The title is okay as it only shows the person''s absolute degree of loyalty, but the Vampire Slave race means that their bodies are being manipulated while their souls suffer, this is a very big taboo among Vampires." (Vanessa) "For those of the neutral faction like myself or those of the Temple of Blood, this is something unacceptable that must be resolved." (Vanessa) I don''t think I''ve ever seen Vanessa speak so much and as fast as she did now, I can feel the anger radiating from her with every word she spoke. Chapter 505: Lilith Has An Idea Chapter 505: Lilith Has An Idea Vanessa looked very serious and angry as she told me about the Vampire Slave race, I had never seen her like this. She seemed to be talking about something she didn''t want to exist, about something she didn''t accept to exist. "Where are they, Father?" (Vanessa) "You said there are survivors, right?" (Vanessa) "Calm down Vanessa..." (I) "How can I calm down when there''s some bastard that is staining this world just by existing." (Vanessa) "Turning someone into a Vampire Slave is more than cruel, it damages people''s souls due to the strong emotions they feel, in addition, souls feel the pain in the body when they are injured." (Vanessa) "Even if the Vampire Slave is treated well, over the centuries its soul weakens until it disappears because its connection with its own body no longer exists." (Vanessa) "But the kind of filthy beings that create Vampire Slaves won''t treat them well, they are usually hidden indoors for years and are fed just enough not to die, suffer physical and verbal abuse while being treated as disposable things." (Vanessa) "Calm down Vanessa, you''re missing the..." (I) "This type of Vampire is sickening, it makes me sick to know that this type of creature can be associated with the Great Goddess Selene just for being a Vampire." (Vanessa) Vanessa has lost control of her emotions, I''ve never seen her in this state before, her words are full of murderous intent, but I can feel an energy leaking from her body, a red energy that I recognize as Selene''s Blessing. I can feel that Selene''s Blessing is being influenced by Vanessa''s anger, now that I realize this I close my eyes and try to feel the blessing inside me, then I notice that it is also giving off an angry will, but mine is weaker, I wouldn''t even have noticed if I hadn''t looked. Vanessa''s is stronger because it''s being intensified by Vanessa''s own anger, I need to calm her down now. I spread my Aura while activating the harmony effect on my Aura, plus Vanessa is someone from my lineage which makes her feel the effect of many titles that overlap. With my Aura, she ends up calming down in a few minutes while slamming both hands on the table breaking it. "Calm down Vanessa, I''ll take you to the prisoners, but first you must calm down." (I) "I..." (Vanessa) Sigh Lilian reacted very similarly to Vanessa but showed enough self-control of her emotions but very strong murderous intent was being emitted from her body. Elsaris was the most normal, she had a serious expression but didn''t show any change in her expression. "At least that explains why they don''t have any Aura of Revenge directed against them but have a strong Aura of Revenge being emitted from them." (Lilith) "I knew they were victims." (Lilith) "In my 1000 years of life, this is the most repulsive thing I''ve ever seen someone do to another person..." (Lilian) "How dare such a filthy being use the power the Blood Goddess has bestowed on our race to do something like this." (Lilian) "Since I''ve never encountered anything like this during my centuries of work, what have I been doing to let it continue right under my nose?" (Lilian) "Calm down you two, now is not the time for this, we should try to get some information about the Vampire who did this." (I) "It will be impossible to get anything out of these people, they are no different from Golems created by Alchemists or Magic Engineers, they will only obey their masters." (Vanessa) "I''ve heard about Vampire Slaves, but this is the first time I''ve seen one." (Elsaris) "While these two were arguing outside I tried to get the prisoners to talk, but they don''t show emotion and their eyes are empty." (Elsaris) "It was great to talk to dolls, they probably won''t answer anyone, it must have been some order that this Vampire gave them if they were captured." (Elsaris) "Then let me take care of them, they deserve to rest in peace." (Vanessa) "Wait a minute, if we can''t get any information out of them, then wouldn''t it be better to use them to track down the Vampire we''re looking for with some kind of magic?" (I) "I know of some spells of this type that are used to track blood relatives with 1 generation differences, I also know others that can be used on Familiars." (Elsaris) "The first type of magic won''t work on Vampires, the second type won''t work either as Vampire Slaves are not Familiars." (Vanessa) "So I think Priestess Vanessa is right, we should let these people rest in Goddess Selene''s embrace in their deaths, it''s not right to keep them that way." (Lilian) "But they''re our only lead on this Vampire." (I) "Maybe I have an idea, but I''ve never tested it before, Dad." (Lilith) Chapter 506: Curse Tracking Part 1 Chapter 506: Curse Tracking Part 1 We were all wondering if it would be better to just kill the prisoners as it would be the most merciful for them, but I was still hesitant as if I killed them there would be no way to find the Vampire who did it. To be honest, I was mad at him for the horrible things he''d done, but I don''t have the connection to these people to be in the same state as Vanessa. The biggest reason I want to find this Vampire is because of Vanessa, Lilith, and Lilian. Vanessa is a Priestess of the Goddess Selene and it seems that this Vampire broke a Goddess Taboo, it seems to be important for Vanessa to find this Vampire and make him pay for what he did, so I will help, besides if this is something that the Goddess Selene really does hate it I will be happy to help as she helped me a lot in this world.Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) While everyone is trying to decide what to do, Lilith says she has an idea and runs away, a few minutes later she comes back with a book that has a leather cover with nothing written on it, but I could feel the slight demonic energy emitted from the book. Lilith entered already holding the book open and reading, she stopped for a few minutes reading the book and we all stayed quiet as we were curious about this idea of hers. "I thought, knew I''d read about it this month." (Lilith) "There is a tracking curse I can use to find this Vampire, I''ve never used it before, but it doesn''t seem to be difficult, the problem will just be the amount of Mana and demonic energy I''ll need." (Lilith) "Besides, I''m going to need the help of Father and rica." (Lilith) "What is this spell going to do exactly?" (I) "It''s going to be more of a curse than a spell, we''re going to use these people''s aura of vengeance and mix it with our demonic energy, then we''re going to activate a blood spell that will make that aura of vengeance go towards the target and mark a seal of condemnation on him." (Lilith) "This curse becomes more powerful with the amount of Vengeance Aura directed at the target." (Lilith) "The seal of doom can be used in many ways, but in this specific case it will serve for the curse caster as I know the target''s direction, it will also allow me to identify who the target is when I''m close." (Lilith) Chances are he was careless and one of the women took him, I hope you enjoy it. rica and Lilith come to me and start exiling how we are going to do this magic, it was only now that I found out that we are going to use a ritual as a catalyst for this curse. When they arrive they start telling me how to set up the ritual as I will have to do it, after spending a few minutes seeing the strange magic circle and the materials I will need to create this magic circle we go outside while we take it all prisoners out unconscious. Vanessa, Lilian, and Elsaris are present, but will not participate, Lilith made it clear that only rica and I should participate with her, besides it seems that who will be in control of the magic will be me while Lilith will only help me, rica will be there only to provide Mana, demonic energy and further strengthen the curse with its Curse Affinity. "Are you sure it''s safe to do this?" (I) "Yes, only you and I will be at the head of this curse, besides just by participating rica will be safe, so she doesn''t have to worry." (Lilith) "That''s not the part I was talking about." (I) "Father, you are the son of a Goddess and the King of a nation, I am a Priestess of the Demon God of Vengeance, no need to worry about that." (Lilith) "Correcting, King of a city, just a city." (I) "For now..." (Lilith) (whisper) "Did you say something? I swear you said something very serious." (I) "I didn''t say anything, you''re just imagining things." (Lilith) "..." (I) I still don''t like doing it, but Lilith seems pretty sure it''s going to be okay, Vanessa and Lilian also seem relaxed about it all, so I''ll just trust their judgment, even if Lilith is a little, and I mean, just a little, little insane, I know she cares a lot about everyone if she got attached to everyone very quickly, perhaps out of anxiety to have a family again. Chapter 507: Curse Tracking Part 2 Chapter 507: Curse Tracking Part 2 Even though I''m a little uncertain about this ritual and the great lack of materials you need for the effects I''ve been told about, I''m still going to go ahead and start creating the magic circle. We are all on a flat place in the middle of the forest behind the mansion, the prisoners are unconscious and tied up in the middle of the camp, and the three of us stand at three points around the dozen prisoners like the three points of a triangle. "I''ll start, are you ready?" (I) "Yea." (Lilith / rica) I focus and spread my Aura to cover myself, rica, Lilith, and the prisoners. I start to penetrate their bodies with my Aura until I reach their blood, then I tried to inject my Aura into the blood of both of them, I felt a greater resistance but I managed and they both felt it moving on to the next part of the plan. Lilith uses the bone blade at the end of her tail to slash the wrists of both hands, rica used her own claws to slash her wrists one at a time. When I saw them doing this I also slit my wrists, I do similar to Lilith using my black crystal tail which has a short sword blade at the end to slash my wrists. After that, I control my blood and the girls'' blood to come out of ours as they mingled in a sphere above the prisoners, when I thought the amount of blood was enough to stop it from flowing. After that, I use the mixed blood of the three of us to build a weird magic circle according to what Lilith showed me with the three of us around the magic circle outside of it while the prisoners were in the middle of the magic circle. When the magic circle is complete we start using our mana and Curse Affinity to the fullest, this causes the magic circle to start glowing red, purple, and black lights. Then the three of us started tossing the gold coins which dissolve into energy that is absorbed by the magic circle further intensifying these three lights. So we all exchange a look and say at the same time while blending our mana into our voices. This Rune turned dark red using our demonic energy, but soon a black and purple energy began to flow from the magic circle into the Rune which became completely black as the magic circle began to shrink until it merged with the Rune leaving it in the middle. Soon after, a purple glow surrounds the small magic circle with the strange Rune in the center and flies, seeming to enter space and disappear. I somehow could feel this curse going somewhere and hitting someone, I could feel where I was supposed to go, I looked at the other three girls and we ran straight for the dungeon exit, when we were outside it was like I could tell the direction where the convicted felon is, luckily the direction we''re heading, for now, seems acceptable. We all go back inside the Dungeon, we go straight to where the prisoners had woken up but weren''t moving, I looked at Lilith who nods in confirmation to me and then I look at Vanessa waving at her. "May your souls find comfort in the arms of the Lady in Red." (Vanessa) "< Holy Blood Spear >" (Vanessa) I feel Vanessa using her holy power in a spell that uses her own blood to create red spears that pierce the hearts of all prisoners. "I pray that the Goddess of Blood will embrace you in her embrace..." (Vanessa) After everything was done no one was in the mood to say anything, seeing these people who we know to be victims dying in front of us was strange even knowing that this was a kind of mercy for these people. After I tell Nix to release these people''s souls from the Dungeon and their bodies to be absorbed into the Dungeon, I sit down to recover a little, the other two were on the floor exhausted from trying to keep up with me as I''ve been walking back and forth all this time. right after this cursed magic ritual. I felt a lot of pressure and mental fatigue, besides that I spent a lot of my mana to do this, I know that Lilith and rica probably used all the mana since I have more than twice those two. This magic was stronger than I thought, now I understand why Lilith said that only those who have the right to judge others are able to use this curse, that''s why we too go on trial to see if we were condemning someone who deserves it. It seems that Goddess Selene used her power through the Blessing I have to further strengthen the curse, this was not written in Lilith''s book, but I think it''s ok, I could feel Goddess Selene''s anger through her Blessing, she really I wanted to condemn this Vampire we''re after.Vissit for updates Chapter 508: Arrival At Kadra Kingdom Chapter 508: Arrival At Kadra Kingdom It took me a few hours to fully recover from casting this curse, I wasn''t physically tired like Lilith and rica, but I was just as mentally tired as they were, maybe more. Elsaris, Lilian, and Vanessa who were nearby helped us back to the mansion where we gathered in the living room for a chat. "You were right Lilith, we are able to trace the curse and with that, we will be able to find the Vampire responsible." (I) "Yes, but I noticed that we can only do that when we are outside the Dungeon." (rica) Nix steps out of my shadow in her humanoid form. "That''s because the Dungeon is a separate space anchored in the normal world, inside you are separated from the rest of the world and that''s why various spell effects, abilities, and communication items don''t work to contact the outside of the Dungeon, it also won''t work to talk from one floor to another in here." (Nix) "Someone will have to stay outside to direct the carriage in the right direction." (I) "Zzzzz..." (Lilith) "Looks like Lilith has already given herself over to sleep, she was assisting you with the activation and control of the curse, but she doesn''t have your power level." (Vanessa) "Then I guess I''ll stay outside for today while rica and Lilith are resting." (I) "I will exchange with you in the morning, master." (rica) "Fine, but before I go outside, do any of you know why we were attacked? That still doesn''t make sense to me." (I) "We''ve just arrived on this continent and there shouldn''t be anyone who knows us, let alone someone who wants to kill us." (I) "Since when do you need a reason to do something bad to someone else?" (Elsaris) "They''ve been following us since we left town, you and I feel it." (Elsaris) "They probably attacked us out of greed at the sight of such a large ship, but as they were only Vampire Slaves they had no independence of their own to flee when they saw the strangeness of us changing from a big ship to a grand chariot." (Elsaris) "Was it just to rob us?" (I) "I don''t think so, something happened earlier while I was in town that I thought was unimportant to say at the time." (Vanessa) "What happened?" (I) "No, this is not from the curse of damnation, this must come from hundreds or thousands of people, these people can be dead or alive it doesn''t matter, the Aura of vengeance doesn''t disappear until the target receives an equivalent punishment." (Lilith) "If it''s coming from the castle, it could mean someone from the Royal Family or associated with them." (rica) "What do we do?" (rica) "I asked Beatriz, Kira, and Elsaris to go see this castle, they should be back soon." (I) After waiting about 15 minutes the three appear in front of me. "The castle has a tight patrol, in addition, Byakko noticed many magic traps in the walls around the castle." (Kira) Byakko, who normally fixes sleeping in her Cat form on Kira''s hood, stands up and lazily leans on her shoulder to speak. "I also noticed there were hidden presences everywhere." (Byakko) "I sensed it too, though I''d capture one, but that would alert us to our presence." (Elsaris) "I found a place with a barrier around it, it was the tallest tower you can see from here." (Beatriz) "The defenses there seem even stronger as if they had to protect someone." (Elsaris) "It must be the bastard we''re looking for, I can''t say for sure without getting closer, but it must be him." (Lilith) "They must have been protecting him since he was mysteriously attacked, but I don''t understand how they still haven''t removed the curse." (I) "Removing a curse is not simple, they must have tried, but the curse we used was very strong, they will probably need someone at Catastrophe Grade or stronger." (rica) "Even though you may not be able to, you must remember that the Goddess Selene used some of her power in the curse, perhaps she did it to not allow the curse to be removed." (rica) "It doesn''t matter, guessing won''t do any good, let''s go into town and start asking around." (I) "The problem is, they might have our information from when we were in the port city, so it would be better if anyone who showed up in the previous city would be seen here." (I) "So who''s going to investigate in the city?" (Lilith) "Let''s go back and have a meeting, I have an idea and I don''t want to say the same thing twice." (I) Chapter 509: Disguise To Enter The City Chapter 509: Disguise To Enter The City I go to a place that has a lot of trees and bushes with thorns, as soon as I try to go through these bushes with thorns it had to seem like it had disappeared to someone from the outside, but the truth is that I went through a protective barrier that is being hidden by an illusion. Inside the barrier was a small clearing where the Dungeon was open and dozens of Ogres and Orcs stood guard fully equipped for combat, all of them having Grade +SS strength. I wave for them to get up after kneeling when I show up, Inside the city, everything is always normal but whenever they are outside they act more respectfully, Ivan must be teaching everyone unnecessary things. I enter the dungeon with the girls and head straight for the town, everyone is already waiting in the meeting room knowing I''d just gone to do some preliminary recon before the meeting. The meeting room is in the government building downtown, I walk straight into the meeting room where I find everyone talking while they wait. I go straight to the nearest empty chair to sit down, Lilith and rica do the same, and conversations stop. "To start the meeting I will start by saying that this city is the correct place, the vampire is in the castle, possibly in the highest tower, but we still don''t have confirmation." (I) "Do we already know who the target is?" (Ivan) "No, but it must be someone from the royal family or associate since it''s in the castle." (I) "What should we do? Will it be a direct attack or infiltration?" (Sapphire) "I don''t know, we have some things to work out before that, we need information about the target before we do anything." (I) "Unfortunately, no one who left the Dungeon in the previous city can go to the city for information or risk warning the enemy of our presence." (I) "So who are you going to send to investigate?" (Samira) "Me, you, Beatriz, Barok, Sapphire, and Jade." (I) "I''m going too?" (Samira) I look in the mirror again and think that it would be difficult to change my eye color, but then I remember that I have an eye patch that I can wear, I wear it on my purple eye to just show my golden eye. After so many changes I look in the mirror happy with the completely different appearance, when I lower the mirror I notice that everyone else in the meeting is looking at me with disbelief except Ibuki who already knew this skill. But there were some eyes that were shining with admiration, those were the eyes of Elsaris and Lilith, I''m sure Lilith just found this amusing while Elsaris must have thought about the usefulness of this skill in her field of work. "If you all keep looking at me like that I''ll be embarrassed..." (I) "I have to stop surprising myself, I''m not sure my heart can handle so many surprises this often." (Vanessa) "This is an amazing skill, the possibilities to change appearance without using magical disguises are endless..." (Lilian) "From the sweat and pallor on your face, it looked like you were in a lot of pain." (Sapphire) "I''m fine, after all, I''ve been through this pain is bearable." (I) "This only makes me even more worried, for you who have endured the pain of having your body recreated by the True Dragon bloodline to say that this pain is bearable means that probably no one else in this room would be able to bear it, with the exception of Lilith." (Vanessa) "You''re wrong, Ivan would surely be able to bear it." (I) "I don''t feel pain, so it doesn''t count." (Ivan) "Shall we get back to the matter at hand?" (I) Most of them exchange glances before we get back to the topic at hand, now with my new look, I can enter the city along with the others. After another hour of meeting everyone leaves, leaving only the people I spoke to earlier, everyone follows me while we put on functional combat clothes similar to the Adventurers before leaving the Dungeon. So let''s all go to the nearest road, when I saw that there was no one nearby, I pull a carriage from my storage item along with a Golem similar to a type of Lizard half Horse that I got in the village of the Elves, I didn''t want to use the monsters that we normally use in our standard carriage. This was a new carriage, so I thought a different kind of thing pulling the carriage would be better. Chapter 510: A Day At The Restaurant Chapter 510: A Day At The Restaurant We queue to enter the city, as I don''t want to show any identification we have to go through a very simple question process just to confirm that we are not criminals, so we pay each one a silver coin which can be considered a very expensive cost high just to enter a city, but that''s just the cost for those who don''t have any kind of identification. Sapphire who was too big to get into the carriage stayed outside following closely and entered with everyone, the city gate guards didn''t care about her race, but there was a gate guard who tried to call her for a meeting. After we pass through the Sapphire gate who was previously nervous about the reaction of the people calmed down, I look at the city streets and realize that the difference between people was huge, Demons, as well as Beastmen, have many variants in their own race, plus on this continent, I''m seeing a lot more Demi races than I''ve seen during my time on the Morror Continent. Sapphire wasn''t even the only Lamia on the streets, but she was definitely the biggest, one person that caught my eye was a blue-skinned man with glowing Runes lit by various parts of his body. When I asked about them to Nix who was in my shadow, she says it must be a Runic that evolved, it seems that in her evolution the Runes are no longer hidden. There were also Werewolves tending a food stall, and there were Ogres, Orcs, and Minotaurs doing heavy construction work or carrying big boxes, the strangest thing I saw was a 2 meter tall Minotaur woman lowering a Dwarf that was almost my height, it was a slightly disconcerting scene due to the huge difference in size between them. There are more races in this city than in my Shadow City, plus one thing I noticed was that there were no Humans as far as I could see at least.Vissit for updates I stop the carriage in a dark alley where I don''t feel any other presence and put it in my storage item, then we head through the alleys until we come out onto another street. I walk into a busy clothing store and ask where the most popular restaurant among adventurers is, she points me in the direction without hesitation. One thing I''ve learned is that if you''re going to ask someone for directions in a place you don''t know, the best way is to go into a decently busy store and ask an employee, that''s because the information must be better than someone completely unknown on the street. "What kind of monster would it take to injure the former King without causing a big commotion?" (Adventurer B) "I don''t know, it could have been an assassin who took the old King by surprise, maybe." (Adventurer A) "See, you also know there''s something strange about this story." (Adventurer B) "There really is something strange, but we can all see that the number of soldiers patrolling the city has increased, Also when I was going to deliver the thief I captured for the mission to the guard post I heard them talking, it seems that the castle is on high alert at days with soldiers and the Royal Knights protecting the place." (Adventurer C) "I said, the old King was attacked, that just proves I''m right you idiots." (Adventurer B) "I still don''t believe any of this, if this was caused by an attack inside the castle it would mean the Assassin managed to escape, I don''t think it''s possible." (Adventurer A) Listening to the discussion of some Adventurers nearby gave me some information, something about the former King being a Vampire and having been attacked, he might be the Vampire we''re looking for. I nod my head creating telepathic magic with the people at my table telling me what I''ve found, then Samira tells me what she''s heard from the Noble children drinking on the other side of the restaurant. Samira said that they overheard her parents talking about the number of Doctors, Alchemists, and Priests that have been in and out of the castle for days, even though they were ordered to find capable people to send to the castle, but were not told anything about what was going on happening. The more I listen the more certain I am that our target could be this former King or someone in his family. Chapter 511: Seducing A Waitress Chapter 511: Seducing A Waitress We were all listening in on separate conversations for some time and we managed to get some information but I still have some things I want to know and I don''t know if I''ll find out if I just keep listening like this but then I realized that one of the waitresses was a Dhampir, plus it looked like being paying close attention to the conversations around you. "(She''s a gossip.)" (I) I watch her a little longer and notice that she is always around to listen when people start talking, besides that she always seems to enter other people''s conversations, and whenever she comes back for more food or drink I see her stop to talk to other waitresses. "(Master, what are you thinking of doing?)" (Orion) "(How do you know I want to do something?)" (I) "(Everyone at the table noticed, they''re all looking at you.)" (Orion) "..." (I) I look around and see my companions looking at me, Barok was the beginning who was concentrated elsewhere, he is looking at an Adventurer with a muscular body and a big hammer on the side, it seems Barok likes very strong looking women. I shift my attention back to Orion who was on my shoulder helping to completely hide my Aura, I was talking to him in my mind using our connection. "(Am I thinking of using the Aura tricks I learned from Ragnar?)" (I) "(Which one?)" (Orion) "(The one you said you would never use?)" (Orion) "(Yes, I thought of a way to use it while avoiding the worst case scenario.)" (I) "(But I''ll want help from him later.)" (I) "(I''ll need you to watch the surroundings so I don''t get interrupted.)" (I) "(Alright.)" (Orion) After talking to Orion and explaining to the others that I''m going to do something, I call the waitress to order more food, she arrives with a cake of notes to write everything down and we all order more food and drink. Barok had gone to the entrance to the restaurant which as most had a few rooms for rent on the second and third floors, he went to rent a room before returning at my request. "Are you going to cheat on your husband again?" (Waitress B) "Forget about that useless guy, he''s always on the brothel street and he thinks I don''t know, if he wasn''t good in bed I would have dumped him by now." (Waitress A) Sigh "I''ll help just one more time, but you''ll have to do the same for me when I need to go out with my boyfriend." (Waitress B) "Deal closed..." (Waitress A) I stopped before starting to climb the stairs to the third floor to continue listening to the conversation, I was surprised that she was married, but I was more surprised that the marriage was between two people so unfaithful. When I started to hear the noise of the stairs I finish going up the stairs and I go to how much, before I close the door the waitress panting for having run up the stairs prevents the door from closing with one hand. "Wait sir... I think you forgot something... forgot to enjoy dessert..." (Waitress A) As she spoke I smile and let her in while I reconnect my Aura with her, I''ve only been using around 20% of my Aura''s strength with her, I didn''t even need to use all the effects I wanted to test, but I think if I do it can cause some trouble, so I''ll just stick with Seduction, Lust, and Desire. "< Sound Barrier >" (I) When she walks in I use my strength to scoop her up in my arms and throw her on the bed, I poop a Sound Barrier around the room and sit on top of her while holding her hands behind my back. "First of all, could you tell me a little more about this Kingdom." (I) "Who cares about this Kingdom..." (Waitress A) I use the effect of my Ruler Aura without increasing strength. "Do you know why so many soldiers are in town?" (I) The waitress''s eyes were cloudy and she was breathing heavily as she squirmed beneath me trying to free herself, but my strength was much greater than hers so she didn''t stand a chance. I wouldn''t do anything to her, doing something to her like that would be like controlling her mind for fun, which I never will, I''m just doing this to get the information she must have collected over days working in this place. After I get the information I want I''m going to put her to sleep and leave, I''m going to let her dream whatever she wants and tell Nix to leave her naked on the covered bed so she can think something happened without causing me any more trouble. Chapter 512: Stories From The Kadra Kingdom Chapter 512: Stories From The Kadra Kingdom I spent an hour with the waitress in that room, I held her so that nothing happened that would become a regret for both of us, I used her desire for me to snatch every bit of information she had, among the various lewd things she was doing speaking, she told me everything she knew about the most turbulent time of this Realm, about the former King I overheard the Adventurers talking about in the restaurant, and about what has been going on for the last week. She told me a lot of things, a lot of unreliable information, contradictory information, and incomplete information. I had to sift through all the information to see what fit and what was just unfounded rumour. After I got the information I needed I let Nix undress the waitress while I was walking away from the bedroom window, from struggling to free herself the waitress was already very sweaty, besides that, I increased the effect of my Aura before putting her to sleep with a sleeping poison that comes out of my clutches. When she wakes up she will mistake what we talked about for the sex dream she is sure to have, a sex dream is inevitable as she was at the height of her lust when I forced her to sleep. ----------- I met up with the others during the night in the alley we had passed before when we entered the city, I wait a few seconds for Nix to come back and take the carriage to leave the city with everyone and return to the place where we are riding opening the Dungeon in the forest. Jade and Sapphire were a bit grumpy as they weren''t able to do anything this time, they don''t have any information gathering skills or experience, I already knew that and just took them to do a number, I wanted to show a group full of different races to blend in better in the city and that''s what happened. When we get back to the Dungeon I go back to the government building in the center of the city and tell them to call the others to have a new meeting where I would talk about everything I found out. I wait in the meeting room that now only had the people who went to the capital of that Kingdom along with me, we wait almost forty minutes before everyone is gathered in the Meeting room. The army was in shambles, the economy was even worse than when Alexander''s father was King, the surrounding villages were abandoned or destroyed, and traces of corruption on the part of the Nobles were starting to show now that there were none left great conflict to distract your attention. As Alexander began to investigate together with his subordinates who were still alive, Alexander realized that it wasn''t just the Nobles, the greatest Traders of the time were also stealing from the Kingdom. Over time he was destroying this cancer in his Realm only to find that they weren''t doing it for no reason, they had accepted bribes, threats, and blackmail from the Realms around them. It seems that he somehow managed to eliminate all the Nobles and Traders involved, he had also managed to kill an unknown number of spies from the surrounding Realms, but two of the Realms made a deal to attack from both sides and conquer the Kadra Realm, they planned to divide the territory in the middle between its two Kingdoms. The situation was impossible and everyone thought that the Kadra Kingdom was over, but King Alexander came up with a strong army that fought for months against two armies without fear, because of that the two Kingdoms worried about the dwindling of their armies and were afraid that other Realms trying to do to them what they were doing to the Kadra Realm offered a truce. After months of negotiating a non-aggression treaty that lasted for 300 years, since then the Kingdom''s problems had accumulated a lot during this terrible time, these problems started to be resolved very quickly in a matter of months. The two neighboring countries offered their food as compensation for the war, somehow King Alexander managed to attract new rich Traders to the Kadra Kingdom and managed to stabilize the economy quickly. He also accepted many immigrants from other Realms to increase the population of his Realm which was in a low after so many conflicts, King Alexander himself had become much stronger than he had been after being at the forefront of all these conflicts. Because of his military conquests and his wisdom in the Kingdom''s internal affairs, he has been idolized by the people of that Kingdom to the present day, even after handing over his crown to one of his sons 100 years ago, he is still known as the former King for all. ---------- That was all we knew about the history of this Kingdom and about this ancient King Alexander, in the stories he looks like the main character of some game or anime from my old world, but I noticed some things that don''t make sense in these stories. Chapter 513: Alexandre Kadra Part 1 Chapter 513: Alexandre Kadra Part 1 When we see the entire history of the worst times of this Kingdom and the history of Alexander himself who was the King during those times, there are many things that don''t make sense. Knowing that there are some things that seem strange about this information, I turn to Lilian as I speak. "Something''s not right, how did he evolve into a Vampire?" (I) "Besides in the end, how did he get such a strong army to withstand the onslaught of Two Realms for so long? Where did these elite troops go next?" (I) "The way he solved all the Kingdom''s problems in months doesn''t make sense either, that''s not the kind of thing that can be done that quickly." (I) "I also found all of this strange, but I wasn''t responsible for investigating this Kingdom at that time, I was busy with other jobs." (Lilian) "But one thing I''m sure of, the reason he became a vampire was due to the Demon God of Corruption''s blessing." (Lilian) "There''s even a Temple of Corruption in this city." (Lilian) "I''ve read about this Demon God, the beliefs he teaches are incredible." (Lilith) "I agree, this Demon God actually teaches the dangers of Corruption, he teaches the opposite of what he represents." (Vanessa) "Like this?" (Samira) "The teachings of this God are that the easy way can corrupt people, if in the face of difficulty someone chooses to take a path that goes against what he himself believes just because it is easier, then he has already begun to be corrupted." (Lilian) "In life there will always be easy and difficult paths, taking an easy path to achieve a goal is not wrong, what can be considered wrong is choosing a path that goes against your own ideals just because it is easier." (Lilian) "The Demon God of Corruption is one of the few Gods who have the ability to change the Race of the person who receives their blessing, furthermore, the person becomes stronger." (Lilian) "But the moment that person goes out of his way and onto the Corruption road his Blessing is taken away while his ability to evolve again disappears." (Lilian) "So one gets a punishment for not meeting the expectations of the God of Corruption?" (I) "This is not a punishment, the person was able to evolve into a race they shouldn''t because of the blessing, losing their ability to evolve can be considered a fair cost, but they only pay that cost if their blessings are withdrawn." (Lilian) My father always taught me that I needed to defend our Kingdom to the best of my ability and I have done so to this day. Even though my father is no longer the King, I always look to him for advice when I get lost in what to do, besides the secret troops and the Royal Guard of our Kingdom only obey my father for being the Patriarch of his line, I am just a Dhampir, I never wanted to become a Vampire because I''m proud of what I am. Today I was resting in the garden after a long meeting with the most influential traders in the Kingdom, I was discussing possible changes in imports and export to improve the Kingdom''s economy when my father passed by me absentmindedly without noticing me. I''ve never seen him like this, he usually notices anyone tens of meters away from him, but this time he seemed distracted and lost in his thoughts, I can even see a glint of fear in his eyes. As we are inside the castle neither he nor I need guards escorting us and we have more freedom to walk alone, because of that there is no one else around except for some soldiers who are always patrolling the castle for safety. "Dad, what happened to leave you in this state?" (I) "Huh!?" (Father) "Sorry son, I hadn''t noticed you, nothing much happened, I just received some worrying news from a subordinate who is in another city." (Father) "It must be something serious to leave you in this state." (I) "Don''t worry, as long as he follows my orders the matter will be resolved, have I ever had a problem that I wasn''t able to resolve?" (Father) "Come with your old father, I want to see my new granddaughter who will soon have her fourth birthday..." (Father) "But what is this..." (I) My dad even though he''s so old he still looks younger than me, he''s bald with half his face burnt, he has two big white twisted horns, blue skin like mine, he only has one red eye as he lost the other when half of his face was burned by a Mage''s attack before he became a Vampire. I was talking to him when we saw a red glow coming at high speed from the sky towards us, the Mages activate the castle''s defenses and barriers, but the red light goes through everything, and a brave soldier throws himself in front of us to defend, but the light passes through the guard''s body without doing anything to him. "HAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!" (Father) It all happened too fast for me to understand, all I saw was my father jumping and running, but the light went after him and hit him, but there was no explosion or noise, but the expression on my father''s face was horror before he screamed and start squirming on the floor. "CALL THE WIZARDS AND DOCTORS NOW!!!!" (I) Chapter 514: Alexandre Kadra Part 2 Chapter 514: Alexandre Kadra Part 2 Pov Current King of Kadra: Current time. It''s been days since the attack on my father, and even now the Mages can''t say how the barriers were so useless. I called doctors who work for the royal family and Alchemists to treat my father, but they weren''t able to do anything. The only thing we know for now is that my father was cursed, this curse was especially aimed at my father as he ignored everyone and went straight to him, plus it must be a powerful curse to cause so much trouble. During the days that followed I called Priests from every city of all religions, I also called doctors, Mages, and Alchemists of great ability, but none of them was able to do anything. All we know is that this curse left an ancient rune-shaped mark on my father''s chest where the heart is, and this curse weakens the body and causes pain. I had never seen my father who was a hero who participated in many battles feel so much pain that he screams most of the day, he hasn''t been able to feed, move or sleep for days, even for a Vampire as powerful as he hasn''t. should be able to hold out for a long time in these conditions. After the third day, he started apologizing several times, but none of it made sense, what was he asking for forgiveness for? This morning a black Mage who focused on curses came to me saying that he had found information about the curse that afflicts my father. When I met with him I listened to everything he had to say, but I nearly killed him in rage when he talked about the curse and the possibility of making the curse so strong. He said the curse is called the seal of doom, this is an ancient curse with very high requirements to use, but these requirements are not the rarity of the materials you need, but the requirement of the type of person who can use this. curse. I knew it was not my wish to build this city, I know it was not my wish for so many people to second me and I know it was not my wish to be a King. To be honest, I wasn''t forced to do these things either, every time I had the option and even then I chose this path because I believed it was right at every step, I always knew that these decisions would put a great responsibility on my back, but I''m happy with things like that, that''s because now I can say there''s a city I can call home, I can say there''s a place in the world where I''ll never have to hide or ask my group to hide. This city is my home, it can be a little strange place with an eccentric population, but that just makes it all the more interesting. What I''m starting to feel for this city must be the same as what this ancient King felt when he ascended the throne, but then all these problems surged one on top of the other without giving him time to breathe, just for the information to see what he played like. All to defend your Kingdom. Sigh I look at my hand wondering if I would make the same decisions as him, but the truth is, I have no way of knowing unless I experience the same things he did at the time, plus each person''s way of thinking is different. He took the wrong path, I don''t know if that alone makes him worthy of what will happen to him, but the worst was not what he did at the time, which we can only assume since we have no proof. The worst thing is that he still uses Vampire Slaves nowadays, his Kingdom is not in any danger of existence at the moment, from what I could see his captain is thriving very well, he could have just killed the Vampire Slaves, but he didn''t. "Master, it''s time." (Ragnar) "We are waiting for you, Master." (Sakura) "I''m going too, that''s my duty as a Blood Priestess, Father." (Vanessa) "Alright since Nix, Lilith, Orion, and Layla are also leaving, they are already at the entrance of the Dungeon waiting for me." (I) "We will." (I) Chapter 515: Alexandre Kadra Part 3 Chapter 515: Alexandre Kadra Part 3 Pov Sisor, Leader of Kadra''s Kingsguard: After King Alexander the second leaves for his third visit to Wizards'' Guide, I went straight to my Patriarch''s room still thinking about the things the Black Wizard said. The current King has always respected and admired his father, but he never knew the hard decisions we had to make in those turbulent times or how his father changed after that. He was never able to trust anyone other than family after the various transformations that took place, the only people he fully trusts are me who has been by his side since he was a child, and his son the current King. He himself knew he couldn''t take this Kingdom any further like that, so he abdicated the throne to his blood son, but he never told the secrets that this Kingdom keeps to his son, the secrets he keeps. After the description of the Seal of Doom that Black Mage spoke, I can almost be sure that she recreates it is right, it means that someone knows certain truths from the past that should not be known to anyone else, besides this person is not someone normal, the Black Magician said that he was someone who should have authority and the right to condemn someone. Sigh I climb the tower and enter the room where I look at my Patriarch trying to meditate to make the pain more bearable, only that makes him stop screaming, but he can''t keep it that way forever, it doesn''t lessen the pain either, it just makes his mind better prepared to bear the pain. There was no one else in the room, I close the door behind me and I feel in the sick chair for the bed while looking at his state, the bed is soaked with sweat and blood, his face is pale and his Aura is completely suppressed within him, perhaps it is another effect of the curse. "Dad looks like we won''t be able to fight this time." (I) "Unlike those turbulent days, we are not facing someone normal, I knew that one day we would be punished for this, I just wish you had listened to me at the time to avoid this situation." (I) Sigh I told him that breaking a Taboo would one day bring retribution, but in the situation we were in back then that was the safest option, but it wasn''t the right option. It wasn''t difficult to find the leader among them, all I had to do was pay attention to the behavior of everyone around the child, I soon realized that he was a Vampire, so maybe his appearance doesn''t reveal his real age. "You knew we were coming, right?" (enemy leader) "I assumed so, but I figured we''d have more time." (I) "Why not call the guards outside?" (enemy leader) "They''re weaker than I am, if I''m not able to beat you, then they couldn''t last more than a few seconds." (I) "I won''t let them waste their lives like that." (I) "Then why are you here." (enemy leader) "Because I swore to defend him and I will until the end." (I) "N... no... don''t interfere... Sisor!" (Alexander) "I''m sorry to have to disobey you for the first time, but I can''t let that happen..." (I) Before I can do anything the young man who leaves first appeared beside me without me even noticing and put his hand on my shoulder, at that moment I felt my whole body immobilized by an Aura far more powerful than anything I have ever seen, I was not even able to speak. The other invaders walked towards my Patriarch calmly as he looked at him, his body shaking with pain. "No... I didn''t expect... to end... like this..." (Alexandre) Chapter 516: Alexandre Kadra Part 4 Chapter 516: Alexandre Kadra Part 4 Getting to our target was not difficult, to get to where he was without alerting all the guards and soldiers in the castle the easiest way was through the shadows, getting so many people into the shadows would be a little difficult, but it could still be managed.Yo?ur favorite stories at novelhall.com The only way to find me would be someone stronger than me or with very high level detection skills. The most problem would actually be getting through the barrier, but then I remember what Byakko once said when we were still in Valen, Spirits, and Fairies can absorb mana directly from the magic circle, but it''s a slow process that could be noticed. Luckily we don''t need to break the barrier, we just need a small gap for the shadow we''re in to be able to enter. When we started to come out of the shadows I had already noticed that there were only two people in the room, a man lying in bed suffering and another man wearing comet armor where I feel a lot of Mana flowing. As I watched this armored man''s reactions I let the others leave one by one while Layla and Orion left along with me, but Nix remained in the shadows waiting in case a surprise attack was needed. I could see Lilith looking at the man on the bed so I was sure he was our target, but even without Lilith looking at him I already knew who it was, that''s why I can feel the Seal of Doom on him. The man in armor who was silent until now tries to attack us but it seems the man in the bed knows it would be useless, the man in armor himself knows he would only be seeking death but even so the determination in his eyes was incredible. I was getting ready to stop the armored man when I noticed Ragnar making a move against him, so I left the armored man to him and walked over to the man in the bed who had opened his eye. He looked like a young man between 20 and 30 years old, half of his face was burnt and he was missing an eye, from his appearance I can tell he was a Demon before he became a Vampire. I look at this man''s pale face and his body shaking with pain, I realize that just talking is being difficult for him, his appearance matches the information that Lilian told us. "No... I didn''t expect... to end... like this..." (Alexandre) "You know why we came." (I) "..." (Lilith) Cough Cough Cough Lilith approaches and sticks the tip of her tail which was a blade of bone in the chest of Alexander who was on the bed, but that didn''t kill him, he just coughed up blood before his body stopped shaking. "Thank you for stopping the pain..." (Alexander) "It would be difficult to talk otherwise, and besides, the end of your sentence is near." (Lilith) Sigh "..." (Alexander) The former King Alexander looks at me and the anger that was starting to show on his face disappears, he looks at Vanessa who has a damning look, and then turns to the man in armor who is not able to move his eyes while Ragnar he still has his hand on one of his shoulders. After that, he looks out the window as if there is garlic he expected to see. "I wanted to see the Sunrise one last time, feel the warmth of the light on my body, these light protection items haven''t allowed me that in years..." (Alexander) "Tomorrow is a hope, never a promise." (I) "That''s a phrase I heard a long time ago, but its truth as sad as it is made me never forget it." (I) "You won''t be past today, but I allow your last words to someone who will truly remember them." (I) "..." (Alexander) "Sisor..." (Alexander) My words when quoting a phrase I heard in a game in my old world seem to have had an impact on him, his eyes completely lost their luster, but even so, he looked at the man in armor. "Don''t be sad Sisor, we knew this could happen one day, you warned me in the past, but I got carried away by despair and didn''t listen to the person who was by my side at all times." (Alexander) "I''m glad you''re here to take care of this Kingdom and our family, I haven''t been able to draw a line between right and wrong for a long time." (Alexander) "You saw me before I became King, you saw me sit on the throne for the first time, you ruled by my side through the wars and stood by my side longer than anyone else, I''m glad it''s you here in the end." (Alexander) "Here, give this to my other son..." (Alexander) He takes a letter from his storage item and throws it toward the man in armor, Ragnar takes the letter and puts it in the hand of the man in the armor he found to close his hand to keep the letter from falling. "I''m ready..." (Alexander) "When he dies, what will happen to the Vampire Slaves?" (I) "You will accompany him in death, I hope you find peace in the arms of the Goddess." (Vanessa) "But you who committed such an atrocity will receive your punishment directly from the Goddess." (Vanessa) Chapter 517: Alexandre Kadra Part 5 Chapter 517: Alexandre Kadra Part 5 I take a step back and let Vanessa get closer to the former King Alexander, she stands by the bed and her red wings appear. "You will not be judged by me but by the Goddess, your judgment will not be to find out about your guilt or innocence, it will only be to judge your punishment." (I) Vanessa clasps her hands and closes her eyes as she begins her prayer, her every word making her Aura become stronger and different as if there is something merging with her. "I pray to the one who has control over life and death. I pray to the one who walks through oceans of blood to bring death to those who dare to go against her. I pray to the one whose name is a symbol of dominion and freedom." (Vanessa) "Make this servant''s words her words so that the buried truth will be revealed. Make this servant''s power the blade that will bring terror to your enemies. Make this servant''s body the receptacle for her will in this world." (Vanessa) "O Blood Goddess Selene, may at the utterance of her name the skies become red and may this servant be bestowed with your blessings to bring judgment upon her enemies." (Vanessa) Vanessa''s Aura converges to the top of her head where it becomes a floating red halo, her own presence is completely different and I can feel the Goddess Selene''s Blessing within me stir. Soon Vanessa opens her eyes to face Alexandre on the bed, he had a look of resignation in his eyes. "" (Vanessa) Vanessa''s eyes began to glow a bright red and her presence completely transformed, this wasn''t Vanessa''s presence, but it was still a presence I recognize even though it''s much weaker now. "" (Vanessa) The Goddess Selene has begun to speak in her own voice through Vanessa''s mouth, so she raises her hand and a red energy rips apart Alexander''s body before using those pieces to create a flow of blood creating a new body for Alexander. This bloodthirsty scene surprised me a lot, I must say I was shocked at how it was done in such a normal way and how a new body was created with the remains of the first one. I grab a cloth that I soak in some water to wipe the blood off Vanessa''s face as I strike up a conversation with Ragnar. "What happened to Vanessa?" (I) "A reaction to the Blood Goddess''s will, a mortal body cannot withstand something like this for long, especially when a trace of divine power runs through its body." (Ragnar) "So it was a divine power that did that to Alexander?" (I) "Yes, only divine power can kill and reincarnate someone so quickly, but that was only possible because the situation allowed it." (Ragnar) "Vanessa also only resisted due to her body and race being very compatible with divine power, in addition to being an almost Saint." (Ragnar) "The Goddess knew exactly how much her body would be able to take without doing any permanent damage." (Ragnar) "But still she ended up this way." (I) "From what I understand she asked for it, she was the one who called the Goddess of Blood and not the other way around." (Ragnar) "..." (I) Sigh I know she was the one who called the Goddess, she made it very clear that the Goddess Selene would judge the old King Alexander, she said that many times, I just didn''t think she would call the Goddess that way. "What happened to Alexander?" (I) "He became a Taboo hunter." (Ragnar) "What would that be?" (I) "This is a fate worse than death, they are immortal beings who hunt those who break a Taboo regarding their God, death for them only brings another start where a new body will be created, the only true way to kill one of them is to destroy the soul." (Ragnar) "They don''t eat, rest, feel pain or anything else, they just keep hunting for eternity." (Ragnar) Chapter 518: Tourism Finally Chapter 518: Tourism Finally I was on the balcony of my room when Samira jumped from the floor to me, she was sitting reading a book on healing magic while occasionally shifting her eyes to Vanessa. "What''s up Samira?" (I) "Are you still thinking about that Vampire or are you just worried about Vanessa, Dad?" (Samira) Sigh "It''s always so weird to hear people taller than me call myself dad, it makes me feel old when I''m actually the youngest here." (I) "That''s the hierarchy of Vampires, we should call you Father or Patriarch." (Samira) "Patriarch is very formal..." (I) "You''re changing the subject." (Samira) "..." (I) "I know Vanessa is fine, but I''m worried she hasn''t woken up yet, she didn''t tell me she was going to do that." (I) "She said yes, we just didn''t correctly understand the meaning of what she said." (Samira) "I don''t know much about the Gods, I was an atheist in our previous life, but I heard that the Goddess Selene saved her centuries ago and sent her to you to finish the job, so I don''t think this Goddess would do anything that might hurt Vanessa." (Samira) "I understand that in my head too, but my emotions won''t change until I see her awake and can lecture her." (I) "Just like she and Irina and the others do to you whenever you do something dangerous or reckless?" (Samira) "Did you come here just to pester me?" (I) "Our ancient world was not peaceful, there was crime, war, and terrorism." (Samira) "But these things were often far from the daily lives of ordinary people, I know that since you arrived in this world it must have been strange to see how life is treated so lightly here." (Samira) "There are more wars, the acts of terrorism are on a large scale and ordinary people are allowed to kill bad guys." (I) "In this world, there are no prisons, the slavery system can be something horrendous for both of us, but it works as a substitute for prisons, it''s not perfect, but what can be considered perfect." (Samira) Sigh Why do I always have to end up thinking about these damn things, why can''t I put it all behind me, how many times do I stop to wonder if what I''m doing is right? ---------- The next day Vanessa had woken up, she was completely fine with just a few weaknesses in her body. After spending most of the night talking to Samira and putting everything that was on my mind into words, I managed to organize my thoughts and calm down. I get everyone in the room together to discuss our new goal, vacation. The time had come to do the tourism we wanted, we have plenty of time to go to the village of the Elves on this continent and we don''t need to do anything else. This meeting was to decide our next stop, one of the cities that Lilian told me was interesting, a city inside a mountain completely underground. This is the place I have to go to know, Lilian even said that the place was beautiful, there are also some Dungeons there, but they don''t interest me, I want to know about that city and the inhabitants who decided to live in a place like this. This was the kind of life I was looking for, traveling the world, meeting new people, fighting some monsters, seeing beautiful scenery, and learning about new cultures. I talk to everyone about our next destination and most are just as excited as I am, the others try to understand how a city can exist underground far from the light of the Suns. Lilian tells us that from where we are it will take a month to get to this city, but I''m in no hurry, I''m just going to enjoy the trip. Chapter 519: Back To Basics Chapter 519: Back To Basics After we decided where to go, we left the Kadra Kingdom, what happens from now on I don''t care, but as far as I can imagine, nothing should happen to this Kingdom, the people of the Kingdom will be sad, but there shouldn''t be any disturb. I spoke to Vanessa after she woke up to find out what happened to the Vampire Slaves, she said they all died when Alexander was killed before he was forced to reincarnate. I was happy to hear that, it means they are saved. After the meeting about our tour plans, I take Vanessa to another room where I start berating her for what she''s done. ---------- Two days later. It''s been two days since we started heading to the underground city, and I''m sitting cross-legged on top of the mansion wondering what to do next. I''ve been summarizing some skills since I have many, but I just realized how difficult it is to have many things in my hand. I don''t know what to train, I can train my skills, I can train my magic, I can train my Spirit Runes, I can train many things, but spreading what I have to learn like that will make me not be able to specialize in something. I have to choose a specialty as a focal point to know how to develop my combat style, if this continues I will end up falling behind the others. As I have so many options, I don''t know which would be better to choose, I haven''t felt so lost in what to do in a long time, the last time was when I was thinking about whether to create an FPS or fantasy shooter game. p "Wait, why am I wasting time on this?" (I) "I just need to do the same that time, if I don''t know which way to go I create a third option." (I) I smile proud of my logic that I knew would make no sense to someone else, at that time I made a fantasy game where magical firearms were used by mages in a futuristic fantasy world in space, it was exactly that game completely crazy and fun which was my last creation before I died, it was a lot of work to do something like that while I kept slipping into a coma. "If I remember Ragnar well, that the Auras contain everything a person is, in addition, they contain something that defines a person." (I) Pov Sisor (Kadra''s Kingsguard Leader): I have never felt so weak and helpless before, all I could do was stand by while my Patriarch was destroyed and punished, I wanted to say something, I wanted to fight and die protecting him as I promised myself I would, but I was weak more even to move in their presence. Ding! <[ You have inherited the title [ Vampire Patriarch ] ]> . . . <[ Your bloodline became stronger and purer [ Vampire: 100% ] to [ Vampire: Original ] ]> When they were leaving they released me from the pressure that immobilized me, at that moment I wanted to draw my sword and attack, but I managed to control myself. I always knew that something like this could happen one day, if it wasn''t for them they would have been others, at least they didn''t do any damage to the castle and the people who were protecting the place also did everything quickly when delivering the sentence. The most surprising thing was seeing the Priestess or if it is right to call her High Priestess, she did something to invoke the sight of her God, this type of person should not be offended easily, and that''s what made me rethink my will to kill to all. But if I had attacked I would be dead and probably everyone in this castle. I hated them, hated them, even more, knowing that they were doing the right thing, all I could do was watch them leave while looking at the bloodstains on the bed, after hours I opened the letter that was still in my hand, that was the last thing he left for me. After a few minutes of reading the letter where my Patriarch said goodbye to me and everyone else while asking me to take care of this Kingdom in his place, shortly after finishing reading the letter the King entered the room, his shock at seeing the bloody bed and not seeing any bodies left him immobile for some time. I took a deep breath in preparation for a conversation that is going to be very long. Chapter 520: Hunt For A Heretic Chapter 520: Hunt For A Heretic Pov Archbishop of the Order of the Golden Light: Headquarters of the Church of Light. I''m in my office this morning looking at the reports about the battle against the Heretic God we''re fighting, it makes me sick to see the catastrophic results of that battle. knock knock "Archbishop Aurlio, I brought Inquisitor Andreia as requested." "Thanks, ask no one to interrupt us." (I) "As you wish, Lord Archbishop." As one of the church servants leaves, a black-skinned woman with golden tattoos enters my office, she spreads her white and gold wings as she kneels. "Who shall I hunt this time my lord?" (Andreia) "No one, I called her for two reasons." (I) "The first is that I want an explanation about the battle against the Heretic God of Wrath." (I) Andreia has been the leader of the Inquisitors for centuries, her entire family has served the Church for millennia, she is the strongest and most trusted Inquisitor we have, and her loyalty and faith is a symbol that even I respect. "This Heretic God had managed to gather a lot of strength while staying hidden indefinitely." (Andreia) "The heretics who served him did as we had hoped, after years of destroying them, finally they went to their last resort to bring their God into the world." (Andreia) "They used a city of 270 million people and an unknown artifact for their God to incarnate in their heretic priest." (Andreia) "Did you do as I ordered?" (I) "Yes, we stopped and destroyed the Taboo hunters who tried to kill the enemy heretics, their souls were used as an offering to the great God Baldr." (Andreia) "Our forces on that continent tried to hunt him down, but it seems he''s good at hiding, they had a confrontation with him at sea while trying to leave the Morror Continent." (I) "But even though they were in greater numbers they were defeated even before the battle started, according to the reports the Heretic''s Aura was strange and very powerful." (I) "We also know that he is not alone, it seems that he leads an unknown organization with individuals of various races and monsters, his powers are mostly unknown, the few that we are aware of are described in this information." (I) "I will personally finish him off my Lord." (Andreia) "You can''t, he must be on the Dark Continent right now, his power was estimated to be around the Catastrophe Grade, that''s the power limit of these two continents, if you go you would draw attention from our enemies and could even take you to death as energy level in these areas is negligible." (I) "What do you wish me to do, my Lord?" (Andreia) "Send your sister, I know she has studied about the traitor Saint and about other Gods like the Witch of Carnage, this might be useful for this quest, her power level is also at Catastrophe Grade and her reports show the same potential as you demonstrated in your youth." (I) "I want her to lead a team of people of the same power level as her, that should be enough to deal with this Heretic." (I) "But my Lord, my sister has not yet passed her Oath of Light Ceremony." (Andreia) "That matter can wait until she returns, when she succeeds in this quest her achievements can cause her to receive a mighty Blessing from the great God Baldr during her Oath Ceremony of Light." (I) "This is a great opportunity for her." (I) "I thank you for this opportunity, my Lord." (Andreia) "What would the name of the Heretic to be hunted be?" (Andreia) "His name is Zenos, he is a Vampire Patriarch with a youthful appearance, his orders will be to kill him and anyone on this Heretic''s side, his and the Holy Traitor''s bodies must be brought to us to expose their sins to the world." (I) "You can go now." (I) "I bid you farewell, my Lord." (Andreia) I close my eyes as I think about this quest, I am sending one of our most promising Inquisitors, she has an understanding about the Carnage Witch, about the Saint Traitor and has great talent in combat, but I didn''t tell all the information that the oracle revealed to us. "(We can''t leave the information that a new child of Selene was born, that damn Goddess has many supporters everywhere, I will just announce him as a Heretic to prevent others from interfering.)" (I) Chapter 521: A Day At The Waterfall Chapter 521: A Day At The Waterfall With two weeks of travel, I had already started to learn Aura techniques from Ragnar, Ragnar''s Aura control is his greatest weapon, he has existed for thousands of years without any power or body, everything he could train besides increasing his knowledge it was his Aura.Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) Ragnar has spent thousands of years being trained by his mother and the God of Beasts, and he is said to have met other Divine Beasts, Holy Beasts, Spirits, Fairies, and Gods. Sophia spends her days following Ragnar to learn more about his Auras, I took advantage of this trip to train my Aura to be able to use it as the core of my combat style, I want to use all my sample capabilities along with my Aura, that was the answer I came to. After talking to Ragnar he says that what I want was a people similar to the one he was already training with since he was reborn with powers and abilities he didn''t have before, but he also said that it will be even harder for me. Listening to the advice of someone more experienced on the subject than anyone else in the Dungeon, I decided to adopt a combat style more focused on control than offense or defense. It seems that with the powers that I have comes the ability to see everything inside my Aura in my head, that would be the best way to fight that I would have. This type of fighting style consists of being able to control the whole situation all the time, it''s not having the best attack, the best defense, or the greatest speed, but the ability to get around all those things that people who specialize will have, be able to deflect an attack too powerful to receive for example. With that I started training with Ragnar, he took the opportunity to test some of his theories with me, he said that I had a natural talent for the use of Aura even greater than him, so it will be easier for him to teach and learn from me, my results the things he found difficult to put into practice. I found everything he taught very interesting, it was a fun way to use the Aura, he taught me how to solidify the Aura, right? complex, and that''s what I''ve been training so far. After all these days of training Alice shows up to say that the carriage stopped near a beautiful waterfall, Alice came to inform me about this because I asked to be called whenever they found interesting things. This was a sightseeing trip for fun, so I told everyone they could have fun at this waterfall. Following my request, Nix opens the Dungeon gate beside the waterfall and everyone starts to leave, both my group and the townspeople. When I left the Dungeon and saw the landscape I realized that it was really a good place to enjoy our sightseeing trip. It was daytime, so there were 3 Suns in the sky and some gray clouds could be seen in the distance, maybe tomorrow it will start to rain. "You call this redundancy spending your time constructively?" (I) "Dare to say I''m not well and I''m going to throw you in that river, Father." (Samira) "How can you not like a bunny outfit?" (Samira) "But you''re already a Rabbit." (I) "Exactly, isn''t that fantastic, you should have seen Elsaris'' face when she saw me like this." (Samira) "What exactly did you do on the Internet on your cell phone to acquire these likes?" (I) "You don''t have to and you won''t know, let''s just say I had a lot of free time." (Samira) "You know you caused me a big problem talking to Erica and Tania about cosplay?" (I) "I needed to talk to Tnia, I don''t have the ability to create the clothes I imagine, I needed a professional in the area." (Samira) "Erica only found out because she accidentally saw the clothes." (Samira) Sigh "You created a big problem for me..." (I) "Master, master, you need to go to Sakura now, she is gathering a lot of creatures..." (Ibuki) "..." (I) Chapter 522: A Volcano!? Chapter 522: A Volcano!? It''s been over a month since we left the Kadra Realm, during that time between the Aura pieces of training I''ve been doing, we''ve also made several stops at what Samira and I call tourist spots. In addition to the beautiful waterfall where we had a delicious barbecue with everyone from the City of Shadows, we also stopped at a normal small rural village, stopped at the ruins of a small town that according to Lilian was destroyed during an Annual Monster Wave decades ago and stopped a town that was having a festival on the way. I''ve never had so much fun, everything is so fun, so far I haven''t seen any Humans, but I''ve seen a lot of Demi, there was even a talking Gorilla who worked in a bar, if I told this in my old world people would think it was the beginning from a joke, in addition, he prepared an amazing drink mix, Nolan mostly insisted that we stay in that city for a few more days, I allow it because I want him to learn from this Gorilla, I''m doing this out of pure selfishness and a desire to drink the best drinks you can. After so much time spent on tourism that according to Ivan was wasted during the trip, we are finally close to the underground city I wanted so much to see. As we were less than a day''s journey from the city, I decided to put away the carriage and go riding, my mount was Ragnar in a less dazzling form, he now only looked like a Warhorse with a strange red crystal horn shaped like a blade. I was riding Ragnar and the others were riding Shadow Horses which I summoned, as they are creatures I summoned I had to make a contract with them, but to my surprise, the terms of the contract were quite easy, this was to give them a place where they could live peacefully and follow Ragnar. The Shadow Horses seemed to be very smart, I accepted their terms after talking to Ragnar, he seemed happy to lead a group of monsters, he said that his mother also had a lot of horse type monsters under her leadership. It didn''t matter to me as Sakura had already formed a community of Dryads, Incarnations of the Forest, and Nymphs before I knew it. I knew that the Mountain Range Nymphs were always by Sakura''s side since she formed a contract with me, but I didn''t know that her charisma with monsters and plant-type creatures was so strong. Several days ago when we were at the waterfall, Sakura had gathered a group of hundreds of plant-type monsters, using her power as Holy Beast she placed them all as her servants making many of them evolve and be better able to control their instincts. With such strong mounts we could reach our destination fast but we went slowly while talking to everyone, the two races of Monster Horses were not able to speak the language of other races, but Ragnar and I could understand their language, Ragnar could understand all the Beasts and monsters, I could understand these two races because I made a contract with them. During our trip I talked to Vanessa about the Oracle she received from the Goddess Selene, it seemed like I would have more things to do on this continent, but first I would have to know more details. In this way, we continued until we reached the foot of a mountain, Lilian who had gone ahead was waiting for us on the road. "Welcome, this is the place I promised." (Lilian) "Are you sure this is the right place?" (I) "Yes, the city is under that mountain." (Lilian) I look at Lilian and then I look at the "mountain", I don''t know how you can call it a "mountain", there''s lava running down the side and smoke coming out of the top. "But that''s not a mountain, that''s a Volcano!" (I) I turn to the others. "That''s a volcano, right?" (I) Chapter 523: City Of Stars Chapter 523: City Of Stars I was surprised when we arrived at what Lilian presented as a mountain where there would be an underground city underneath, that''s because there was smoke coming out of the top of the mountain and a river of lava flowing from the top of the mountain to the middle where. No matter how I look at it, all I can see is a volcano, when I looked at the others they looked at me not understanding what I was talking about, Samira was the only one who had a strange expression on her face before she exchanged a look with me and nod in agreement. "This isn''t a volcano, with that negligible amount of lava it''s a far cry from what a real volcano looks like." (Lilian) "I agree with Lilian, the lava of this volcano doesn''t even seem to have magic inside, you can tell by the trees that are very close to the top." (Diana) "The fire elemental energy is probably not that strong, thanks to that it must have some monsters living in the lava and it probably made a nest on the top of the mountain." (Nix) "If this was a real volcano, then you could feel the heat even from this distance." (Vanessa) I didn''t imagine that magic could influence nature so strongly, if I''m not mistaken, I remember hearing that this continent and the Morror Continent are in a part of the world where energy is weaker, so I don''t even want to imagine the types of disasters which should be the environments in the high ambient magic zones. "I agree with you, Father." (Samira) "But we have to remember that in a different world things are different, what each world considers normal is different." (Samira) "But I don''t understand, if there''s lacquer coming out of this mountain or whatever you want to call it, then why is there a city under this mountain?" (I) When we arrived it seemed like no one had noticed us as they were only paying attention to Anton who was trying to hold his wife Tania who was getting annoyed with so many people blocking the way. As I didn''t want to draw too much attention, I let Diana and rica picked up the couple while we went in the front, as soon as we went through the tunnel which was a light descent for a few minutes, I see something glowing on the other side, once we get to the end of the tunnel and I can see the city is surprised. The city was a collection of buildings made of a variety of stones and decorated in bright colors, the glow I had seen was what was on top, the giant dome that was carved into or under the mountain had crystals of all shapes and sizes, shapes, and colors shining overhead as if they were stars in the sky. The city below had crystals scattered everywhere looking like a city full of neon, the place where we left gave a good view from the top of the city to allow everyone who entered to see the beauty of this city. It was also possible to see a lava waterfall that descended through a wall on the left side forming a small lake that leads to a river of lava that seems to surround half of the city. To get to the city at the bottom there was a ramp carved in stone that leads to the city, I was standing there enjoying this beautiful view. "Welcome to Cities of Stars, home to the finest craftsmen and blacksmiths from across the Dark Continent." (Lilian) While listening to what Lilian was saying, I kept looking at the city where I saw bustling rias everywhere, this was the first time I saw Dwarves on this continent. I could also see dozens of carts carrying piles of minerals or metals around the city, the vast majority of the people I was seeing on the city streets had muscles all over their bodies, even the women. This whole city was amazing, I thought it was a shame I didn''t have any kind of camera to start taking fireworks from everywhere, there was light magic that does something similar, but that''s not the same thing. Chapter 524: Gun Auction Chapter 524: Gun Auction This city was amazing, the name fits a lot with what I''m seeing, as you can''t see the sky from here, the ceiling of this big cave has shiny crystals that resemble stars, I imagine that for the inhabitants of this city it looks like it''s a night eternal since daylight never appears here. I was heading down to the city along with the others in a stream of people. "You were right Lilian, this city is amazing, everything is so shiny." (I) "Those crystals on top look like stars, I can''t get enough of looking up." (Vanessa) p "I can feel a lot of magic at the top, there must be a lot of protective magic hidden there." (Hela) "I also noticed, I think they''re hidden in those crystals at the top, they must be barrier-type spells, but I can''t be sure without taking a closer look." (Irina) "Stop looking for details about the city''s defense, Father wants everyone to have fun in the city, so let''s look for a place where we can get some good food." (Irius) "Did someone say good food? Where''s the good food?" (Ibuki) "I haven''t eaten anything for an hour, I''m really hungry." (Ibuki) "Forget the food, where is the bar? To have so many Dwarves means there must be good alcohol around here." (Diana) "I wonder what the blacksmiths in this city are like? What kind of techniques do they use? What metals are there on this continent?" (Anton) "We''re here to have fun, so I hope you''ll take me on a date or I''ll break one of your arms you metal freak." (Tnia)Visitt for the latest updates "Come on my dear, no need to be so aggressive, you know I love you more than metals." (Anton) "That''s the least I hope..." (Tnia) "Do they make jewelry here?" (Samira) "I don''t know, when I was on this continent in the past, I didn''t come to this city." (Elsaris) "Then we can pick it up while we walk around town." (Samira) "I can see another Undead on the street, bone looks interesting, what will the Undead of this continent be like..." (Ivan) Everyone seemed so excited about this city, I''m glad I came here, I think I''ll go to the city ahead and have a look. "Where do you think you''re going, master." (rica) "You owe each of us a date remember?" (Kira) "Someone stole my food, who was the bastard..." "The annual gun auction is about to start, come join in, it will be tonight." "Come and taste the best meat in the City of Stars." "Place your bets for the next champion of the greatest Black Continent tournament, don''t miss this great opportunity that only happens once a year." I was amazed by the noise in the city, I could faintly hear the noise of metal being banged everywhere, I could also unite many people advertising on the streets about their business. "This city is very lively, I think I''ll enjoy staying here for a while." (I) "That''s why I ask you to stop stealing Ibuki food." (I) "I don''t know what you... are talking about..." (Ibuki) "I''m talking about that meat stuffing your cheeks, I saw you taking that adventurer''s food." (I) "Bullshit, I was too quick to be seen." (Ibuki) "But I saw it and you just confirmed it." (I) "I was tricked..." (Ibuki) "Leave that aside, what really interested me was this weapons auction, I imagine they must be the best weapons in town." (I) "Actually I''m more interested in the tournament, it would be nice to watch." (Anton) "I''ll look for more information on these two things, but for now let''s find a place to stay." (I) I went to a shopkeeper and asked about the blacksmith tournament, I also asked about the weapons auction and where the trade guide was located. After that we went to Guida do Comrcio where I rented a house for a while, staying in an inn or hotel would be inconvenient with our numbers, so I rented a house that belonged to a rich merchant. This house was for sale, but I only wanted to rent it for two weeks as I have no intention of returning to this town anytime soon after I leave. With that resolved, we went to the two-story, 7-bedroom house where we are going to stay, after that we went to the place where the Gun Auction will take place, I asked Anton to separate their best hearts that still don''t have an owner to sell in this Auction. Anton agreed since that would be good for evaluating his own work against the blacksmiths in this town. The Horses that brought us here had already been taken back to the place where they are living inside the Dungeon, they entered using the Fairies and Spirits gate in my Shadow, and the Fairies and Spirits came to get them for that. Chapter 525: Evaluation Of Antons Work Chapter 525: Evaluation Of Anton''s Work It looks like the weapons auction will be held in a building on the north side of the city, while we were going there, Lilian explained to us a little about the Weapons Auction and the Great Hammer Tournament. It seems that the Auction is done with the best weapon the Blacksmith believes he has made during the year, the auction serves as a competition to see which of the weapons achieves the highest value. The Great Hammer Tournament is a competition where Blacksmiths compete against each other on equal terms, they use the same materials to make the same type of weapon within the same time limit, so Blacksmiths can compete to see who are the best fairly. Anton seemed very excited by the two events, but that was to be expected as he is a Blacksmith to the bone. As we were heading to the auction site we were impressed by everything we see, the city is very lively with so many races walking around. I also notice that the heat of this city doesn''t come from above since there is no sunlight here, it''s coming from the ground, when I point this out Lilian says that there are heat resistant iron pipes running under the whole city, in addition, there are lava passing through this pipe which makes the floor of the whole city to be heated and maintain a more pleasant temperature. When we arrive at the auction place, a receptionist comes in to say that we arrived early for the auction, so we say that in addition to participating in the auction we will also want to sell some weapons. The receptionist leaves to call a merchant from this establishment who guides us to a room on the second floor. I repeat everything I told the receptionist to this merchant and then I let Anton show him some of his weapons. Just as I expected, the merchant starts seeing weapon for weapon like swords, spears, daggers, claws, sabers, etc. The once calm and composed trader is a little surprised before standing up and saying he''s going to get his manager. After a few minutes, a very beautiful blonde White Elf woman enters, as soon as she enters I saw her eyes looking at each one inside the room before stopping at the weapons on the table, there were 10 weapons in total. "Good afternoon, my name is Nashara and I''m the manager of this place, how can I address you?" (Nashara) "My name is Zenos, these are my companions, I came because I wanted to sell these weapons during this auction, I would like to know if any of them meet the requirements of this auction." (I) "Was it your mate who made them?" (Nashara) "Yes, but I would like an objective and honest assessment from an outsider." (I) Nashara picks up one gun at a time and looks at each one in detail, this process takes about 10 minutes before she turns to us without showing any facial expression. "Conveniently we still have two empty cabins, I''ll call someone to accompany you to one of these cabins as some people are already arriving." (Nashara) "Thank you very much." (I) ---------- Pov Nashara: When one of my employees called me I thought it could be someone important, but when I entered the room it was just a group of Adventurers, I realized this for their clothes that were made with practicality in mind, even if they are beautiful clothes they are far from being clothes that a Noble would use. In addition, I realized that all these people were strong, I could even see a spirit in the form of a white Cat and a Fairy with eyes of different colors and without wings. After that I saw the reason why I was called, the 10 weapons on the table had weak magical Auras that anyone with magic training would feel, plus even seeing from afar I could see that they were weapons created to be used harshly and resist. After evaluating the weapons I had a level of respect for their creator which I assume is the Dwarf who is in the room, but for some reason, I felt a little uncomfortable with the youthful looking Vampire, I have seen many people in the 90+ years in I''m in the auction business, so I know he''s not a simple guy, so I make him a VIP. I grab the weapons and leave the room, telling an attendant to take them to one of the two empty cabins. When I leave the room I look at my shoulder where a little Fairy with different colored eyes was sitting, she had the appearance of a child and insect wings. "Why are you following me, little Fairy?" (I) "Zenos asked to keep an eye on you and make sure you don''t steal, at least that''s what Layla said." (Little Fairy) "I''m not going to do something like that." (I) "I hope not, Layla would be angry, that would be stupid." (Little Fairy) "Aren''t you leaving?" (I) "No, but I love candy, do you have candy?" (Little Fairy) Looks like I''ll only get rid of this Fairy at the end of the auction, these people don''t trust me, at least this little Fairy seems harmless, so it''s okay to stay with her for a few hours. Chapter 526: Start Of The Gun Auction Chapter 526: Start Of The Gun Auction I asked through my mind for Layla to make one of the Fairies under her command go with this White Elf woman by the name of Nashara. She had the weapons that Anton had created, I didn''t know this auction house or this woman to trust her, so I let the Fairy follow her to let me know if anything strange was done like stealing the weapons and running. When we left the room where we had this small meeting, we followed an assistant who took us to a VIP cabin on the second floor of the place where the auction will be held. The cabin where we were brought had a glass screen through which we could see the stage and the stands, similar to a theater, we could also see other cabins like ours facing us and on our sides, the glass of the other cabins was dark making you think that ours might look like this from the outside just like the glass of interrogation rooms you saw in detective movies. The room was spacious enough for me and my whole group because it was a single room for up to 20 people, it even had a table with snacks and a shelf with drinks. "This is a very nice place, I wish I had a palate to taste food again, it''s always so sad to see everyone eating." (Ivan) "That means there''s more food left." (Ibuki) "This cookie is really good..." (Lilith) "Can you guys stop behaving like children?" (rica) "That''s impossible for these four." (Vanessa) "Did you say four?" (I) "Look at the liquor cabinet." (Irius) "..." (I) When we were left in the VIP cabin alone, Lilith and Ibuki attacked the appetizer table like starving to death, when I turn to the liquor cabinet I see Diana drinking straight from a bottle and Hela filling a glass for her to drink. Sigh "(These people don''t have high control.)" (I) "I don''t know, I have no idea of prices." (I) "Answering your question, Hela." (Ivan) "Decorative swords of this type are priced around 100 gold coins, this one was even higher as it is an auction which arouses competition among rich people." (Ivan) p "In other words, is this a competition to see who is willing to spend the most?" (I) "The master simplified a lot, but that''s right." (Ivan) "This is to keep up appearances, to show others financial superiority." (Ivan) "All this is irrational to me." (Irius) "I don''t agree to spend money on something that isn''t useful." (Irina) "You two are minimalists because of the way you grew up, but Ivan and I as people who were born into wealthy families know that this spending of money is also a political game to keep up appearances." (rica) We were all talking about why something so useless was being sold, everyone had different arguments while others like Ibuki who kept attacking the food table that had been restocked, and Layla who kept eating sweets bigger than the owner''s body didn''t participate in the conversation about something that was not of interest to you. Time passed and various types of weapons such as swords, magic bows, staves, axes, and various other types of weapons were passing through the stage we found that the decoration items were few, most of the weapons in the auction were more practical. Diana, Kira, Irius, and Ivan managed to have fun betting the price each weapon could fetch, Anton was having more fun seeing real weapons and not those crap that only had looks. Anton began to analyze the works of the Blacksmiths of this city and was happy, but his wife had to stop him from putting on the weapons he thought were interesting just to get a closer look. We were all surprised when Anton''s weapons were left until the end, this showed that they were of great quality, they also fetched very high prices, but there were two weapons that fetched higher prices. There was a cursed sword which was the second most expensive item selling for 133 crystal coins and had a magic staff which sold for 509 crystal coins, the highest price by far. After the auction ended, an employee came to bring the money from the sale of the weapons, as we didn''t bid, there was nothing to take apart from the money I gave everything to Anton since he created these weapons and not me. Chapter 527: Anton Motivated Chapter 527: Anton Motivated After we took the money from Anton''s weapons that were sold at auction, the Fairy who had been following Nashara returned to the Dungeon through my shadow straight into the Cradle of Fairies. We leave there and go to a restaurant to eat on Anton''s expense, then head back to the place where we will live while we settle in this town. The place was pretty tidy for an abandoned house for several weeks, all we try helping Freya, Alice, Nolan, and Caryna clean up for the day''s stash. I couldn''t tell if it was night or day when I looked out the window. "I''m back master." (Nix) "Were you able to do what I asked?" (I) "Yes, it will start in two days." (Nix) "Do you think it''s okay to do this without talking to him?" (Nix) "Of course he will, he will complain, but it will all be out of hand, the truth is that he will love to participate." (I) "What are you two up to?" (Elsaris) "Nothing much, just some fun stuff." (I) "I''ll tell everyone now, are you in the room yet?" (I) "Yes, everyone is losing money playing Nolan, only Kira and I noticed his cheating." (Elsaris) "I don''t think Ivan, rica and Freya would be fooled by any tricks from Nolan." (I) "And they weren''t, they''re just having fun and encouraging Anton to keep betting, I think they made a deal with Nolan before we started playing." (Elsaris) "That looks like something Ivan and rica would do, Freya I don''t know." (I) I go to the living room where I see Anton playing cards and losing completely, I momentarily stop the game to talk to everyone. "Do you all want to watch the Blacksmith competition in two days'' time?" (I) "This sounds interesting, it would be nice to see the forging techniques of people from this continent, but before I think about it I have to beat at least once this Vampire who is sucking my money at hours." (Anton) "That''s what I wanted to hear, show everyone that my husband is the best Blacksmith, I trust you dearly." (Tnia) Tnia changes back to a happy expression and hugs her husband trying to cheer him up for the competition. "If you''ll excuse me, I have to prepare some new clothes, I''m so excited..." (Tnia) After Tnia is gone I step out of the shadows, Ivan raises his hand and his head comes flying to his hand before he puts it away and Irius gets up from the couch putting a hand on Anton''s shoulder to comfort the Dwarf. "I have to get better friends..." (Anton) I''m sorry for Anton, imagining a hairy and muscular Dwarf wearing perverted female cosplay clothes is sad, but I can''t risk getting involved in this because rica, Samira, and Diana have been chasing me for some time now with cosplay outfits for me to try on, I''ve been trying hard to get away and I can''t risk being dragged to an even worse fate. I''m sure Irius thought something similar, he knew that many Arachnes and Lamias come after him, unfortunately, it''s exactly these two races that took a particular liking for this type of culture that Samira incorporated in the Dungeon. "I won''t apologize for what I did, but I advise you to do your best to win." (I) "I will show you that I can win, I will not be humiliated..." (Anton) ---------- The next day Anton left early to look for information about previous competitions to be better prepared, Ivan and Hela went with him as they had nothing better to do. I took advantage of that day to walk around the city alone, the girls were leaving early together to urge the city in preparation for the meetings we will have, Irina went out with Vanessa to know the types of religions that have in the city and Lilian disappeared somewhere. Everyone has their own things to do or places they want to go so we''re all separate but the truth is I''m never alone, Layla is sitting on one shoulder and Orion in her puppy form on the other. I can''t stray too far from Orion while I''m out of the Dungeon lest I attract more Fairies and Spirits, especially after realizing that this city has a lot of them from the earth element. I was sitting in the place that looked like a small restaurant, I stopped here because I smelled a smell that I miss so much, I smelled coffee. "Here''s your coffee sir, your honey pie will be ready in minutes." (Waiter) "Thanks." (I) After the Waiter left I pick up the cup of hot coffee and take a sip, the taste was a little different and I could feel mana in the drink but it was undeniably coffee. "Delicious, nothing like a cup of coffee in the morning, if it''s morning, it''s hard to measure time here without a sky to look at." (I) Chapter 528: Margareth Chapter 528: Margareth Luckily I was able to find a small restaurant that serves coffee or at least a magical variant of coffee, but the thing I noticed was that the liquid was thicker and richer in mana, the shop was small, but a lot of people passed by to buy bottles of coffee and sweets. "I see you like coffee too, you don''t see many people your age who like it." An elderly woman sits at the same table as me, she''s a Vampire, but she''s disguising herself as an old woman in her 60s or 70s. "I like this coffee, but I think it would be better if it was a little sweeter." (I) "A childlike palate from what I see." I try to read that person''s Aura but I found that I can''t, in fact, if I can''t even feel that person''s presence, if I close my eyes it would be like I''m alone, I''ve never met someone who could completely hide from my senses beyond Elf Queen Luthien and the spirit of the World Tree Luth. "(This person is not someone simple, I only realized he was a Vampire because of my instinct, maybe because I''m a Vampire Patriarch, or maybe because I''m Selene''s son.)" (I) "(Also I just realized that his appearance must be fake because his fangs aren''t showing and as far as I know Vampires don''t age.)" (I)Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) "Who are you?" (I) "My name is Margareth, I''m just a vacation housekeeper." (Margareth) "I''m sorry if I don''t believe you, I don''t usually trust what people in disguises say." (I) "But you know I''m not lying, the disguise is just to avoid unnecessary trouble." (Margareth) "(She noticed me in addition to knowing about my moon element that allows me to see through lies.)" (Nix) It seems my luck is as bad as ever, I can''t even go for coffee in an underground tourist city without bumping into someone troublesome. Sigh I spent a few minutes talking about this city with Margareth, we talked about the lights that resemble stars in the tome of the cave and about the beauty of the lava waterfall, we also talked about the taste of coffee and she told me what she knew about the plant used to make this coffee. She even gave me some seeds when I asked if she would have it, she told me that the plant the coffee comes from is a peaceful plant type monster, but only from the 2nd generation just like all other monsters. After a little chat Margareth got up and left, with a smile on her face, I''ve never seen her true appearance, but I would recognize those eyes if I ever saw them again. Someone''s eyes always tell the truth about the person, there are no lies in the look, no masks in the look, everything can be seen about a person through their eyes if you know how to look. Margareth had a look that told an old story showing that she must be very old, her eyes had wisdom, intelligence, kindness, and happiness. She looks like Freya in many ways, but she has much more life experience, I know she was a Vampire and that she had a reason to be here, but unfortunately I can''t tell her intentions. I just hope that''s why Margareth came to me, it''s not anything that puts me or those close to me in danger. ----------- Pov Margareth: I was sitting on top of the mountain watching the lava flow down the side and fall into the hole that leads to the City of Stars, I close my eyes while meditating holding the red crystal in my necklace that I keep hidden inside my clothes. During my meditation, I enter a state similar to dreaming, in my dream I see the silhouette of my lady whom I have served for millennia. "I met him today, my lady." (I) "He''s a very interesting person, he''s got some very unusual Familiars, plus his companions are also varied and fun from what I''ve observed." (I) "He seems like someone smart, but seems to be having a hard time with the changes he''s going through, but that''s normal for a Vampire in their early years, his case is just a madman more troublesome to deal with being an Outsider, but I have the impression that it is managing to find its own way." (I) "He''s not ready yet, but I don''t think we''ll have to wait long until you meet your little brother." (I) Chapter 529: Tournament Of The Great Hammer Part 1 Chapter 529: Tournament Of The Great Hammer Part 1 Today starts the Great Hammer Tournament where Anton will participate to maintain his male integrity, we will all watch the tournament to cheer for him, so we arrived 1 hour early to be able to sit at the front. The Great Hammer Tournament is above weaving in the Adventurers Guild training ground, this training ground was large and had more than enough audience seats for this type of event, it must have been prepared with this sort of thing in mind, it even has a venue in the audience prepared just for Nobles where the seats have a chic look and more space from one to the other. As we arrived early we were able to choose seats in the front rows and away from the Nobles, with my horrible luck I want to keep myself as far away from problems as possible, it''s enough to have met Margareth yesterday and not know who she was or why she was there. When everyone was seated I ask Diana and Irius to use their Auras to keep people away if any stranger decides to approach with bad intentions. "Lilian, how does this tournament work? Do you know anything?" (I) "I''ve never watched it, but as far as I know the tournament is divided into two parts which are the preliminaries to eliminate those who are not qualified and the real tournament where everyone competes at the same time." (Lilian)Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) "What should a competition be like where people don''t have to hit or kill each other?" (Hela) "I''ve heard of competitions like this, they''re a great way for unsupported people to showcase their talents and attract customers." (Lilith) "A sufficiently talented but nameless person can achieve overnight fame with this type of event." (Lilith) "I think it''s good that this Dwarf shows everyone on this continent that my husband is the best Blacksmith, why not..." (Tnia) "You''re quite right about that, look at the number of Nobles who are waiting for the number of seats." (I) "Nobles and merchants from big companies come to watch this kind of tournament, it helps them to be able to hire people of great capacity." (Lilian) He waits for a few seconds while spreading a powerful pressure from his Aura to all the participants until about 14 fell to their knees and 1 passed out, besides these the others managed to keep up well, Anton and a few others didn''t even care about it. "Someone come here and pick up these useless ones." (Borges) With Borges'' words some people enter the arena and carry these 15 people out, one of them even started shouting that it was unfair to disqualify him without even showing his real skills. "If you don''t even have the courage to withstand a little pressure, then you don''t even have the right to participate in the preliminaries, a Blacksmith must have courage running through his veins." (Borges) "The first step of the preliminaries will be for you to analyze a metal bar and tell the types of metals that were used to create it." (Borges) With Borges'' words, a magician removed more than two hundred tables that were floating in front of each participant, there were 5 closed boxes on top of each table and a reading crystal. "Inside these boxes will have the same metal alloys for everyone, you must observe and analyze these metal bars and mark the types of metals they are made of in the reading crystal, do not try to cheat because there are many eyes on you." (Borges) "When I give the start signal you will have 15 minutes to finish figuring out what these metal bars are made of or you will be disqualified." (Borges) Borges'' words make many of the contestants nervous, I can see that just by their expressions, but there were a few dozen who were very calm, Anton was one of those who was calm. "I declare the start of the Great Hammer Tournament preliminaries!" (Borges) "Now begin!" (Borges) Finally, the tournament officially started. Chapter 530: Tournament Of The Great Hammer Part 2 Chapter 530: Tournament Of The Great Hammer Part 2 Pov Anton: I certainly will not lose this competition, any more than my life, my pride as a man would not bear the punishment my wife proposed. With a win or die, the mentality I enter the arena along with all the other competitors, the man who is in charge of this event seems to be very famous on this continent from what I could hear from the other competitors who were talking before we entered the arena. As soon as I heard what this man named Borges was saying, I realized that he is similar to me, the only difference between us is that I learned to speak more politely because of my wife, otherwise I like his direct way of speaking talking even with Nobles watching. I have listened to all the rules and agree with them, a Blacksmith who relies heavily on magic and skills will always be unable to push his limits, skills and other techniques serve to complement the Blacksmith''s ability, so I have always honed my own skills, I only use my skills when it''s necessary. When Borges spread his Aura and tried to intimidate the competitors I realized that he is very close to me in strength, in addition, I noticed the metal element in his Aura, I only noticed this because I have this element myself. The competitors surprised me for being so weak, almost wheels were shaking because of Borges'' Aura, some were even disqualified before the tournament even started for not supporting his Aura, I wonder why so many people who clearly don''t have enough capacity decided to enter in such a competition. When the first preliminary started I started opening the first box, I look at the metallic alloy, I take it with my hand, and I feel its texture and weight. "Interesting..." (I) I put that metal bar aside for the moment and went for the others that were easier to understand, it only took a look to understand what they were, but after almost getting fooled by the first metal bar, I respect them all, so I write down the results of everything on the reading crystal. I finished everything in 5 minutes, I could have done it faster, but I''m not here to show off, I just need to win. I look at Borges and start to laugh at his joke, I wonder how many people will be able to realize what he has done. "(One of the bars that was the first for me, had a clear separation of the types of metal, which makes it easier to identify the different types, but the weight is different, being very light, everyone will notice that and think that it has more some kind of light metal mixed in, but this is a trap, it''s light because there are bubbles inside the metal making it not have the full mass it appears.)" (I) "(I studied various newly forged weapons just for fun and to test my knowledge.)" (I) "(I never fail to do this, even in the Dungeon I check the work of other Blacksmiths and ask them to do the same with mine.)" (I) For me, analyzing this sword was as easy as reading a book or drinking a bottle of beer. I took the same reading crystal as before and put the metals that I discovered, I was restricted to the information that was asked for, but if I wanted I could have even put some of the techniques that were used to create this since they are basic techniques all of this it only took 1 minute. I look around and once again I was the first to find it, since I had time I started to look deeper into the sword, just for fun. When time ran out and another batch of competitors was eliminated, there were only 22 left with me. "You will be this year''s competitors in the Tournament of the Great Hammer, congratulations on having the bare minimum to be called Blacksmiths." (Borges) "We''re going to start the tournament right now, now that those who don''t qualify have been sent away." (Borges) "The rules are simple, all of you will clean the impurities from a metal alloy within 1 hour, the 3 who do the best job will go to the second and last part of the tournament." (Borges) "But first we must change the terrain a little." (Borges) Soon mages of the earth element created ovens to heat the metal and also made available the materials we would need, all of which only took a few tens of seconds to get ready. "From now on you are allowed to use any magic, skill, and technique you want, remember that only the result is what matters to a Blacksmith." (Borges) "Begin!" (Borges) Chapter 531: Tournament Of The Great Hammer Part 3 Chapter 531: Tournament Of The Great Hammer Part 3 As soon as the preliminaries ended the real tournament started, I was surprised at how fast the preliminaries were, Borges had no mercy in eliminating almost all the participants and not even saying how they got it wrong. Everyone was watching but didn''t understand a thing about analyzing a weapon or analyzing metal. Diana said something about being able to analyze how someone fights by seeing the sword that person uses, I imagine a Blacksmith should do a similar but deeper analysis. When the real tournament started we could see all the Blacksmiths working, thanks to my senses I was able to perceive a lot more things than the others in the audience, I''m sure it would be the same for my companions. Some of the Blacksmiths use the kiln the way I imagine it to be the norm, but two Blacksmiths use fire magic and ignore the kiln, there was also a Blacksmith who started shaping metal without even taking it to the kiln using magic, this one had Affinity with the metal element Just like Anton. Anton used magic too, but it was to control the furnace temper while heating the metal to high temper, so he took a Hammer the size of my head in one hand and waited while staring unblinkingly into the furnace, he looked like a statue where it was until the moment he took out a glowing metal and took it to the solid metal cube that I imagine he will use as an anvil. Anton placed the glowing metal on top of the metal cube and concentrated mana from the metal element into the Hammer he used before he started hammering. Every hammer blow from Anton sent waves of mana of the metal element through the glowing metal bar, with my vision I was able to see dark plates accumulating and breaking around the metal bar. Anton''s hammering seemed to follow some sort of pattern where every three hammers more of what I imagine to be impurities come out. Anton continued his work without bothering to look at what the others were doing, his eyes were completely focused on his work with a level of twitch that the other competitors didn''t show, some were even doing things that even I believed were unnecessarily exaggerated. "You have 3 hours, start!" (Borges) While Borges explained everything to the competitors and the public, one of the Mages who has been an assistant for this tournament placed 3 dagger handles on top of the three work tables of the finalists of the competition. Anton goes to the cable and calmly analyzes it while his two opponents run straight to their own metal bars, so far I don''t know what kind of metal this is, Borges talks like it''s obvious what kind of metal it is and the competitors looked know too. Soon Anton started to work, he didn''t run, he did everything with great calm as if it was one of his daily jobs, he took the metal bar and put it in the oven which was still hot, after several minutes when the metal bar it was glowing again and more malleable, he takes it out and starts hammering, every hit of his Hammer was filled with Mana from the metal element. He slashed until the metal bar became almost flat, then he cut with great ease in drawing a dagger blade using a magic item for the slash. After that he hammered a few more times and made magic circle patterns in the center of the blade before cooling it in the liquid he used before, with the cold metal he analyzed the material that was still raw before starting to sand the entire blade while highlighting the notches magic you did before, the next step was to sharpen the blade and finally polish it. The end result was an aggressive looking blade with a slight curvature and single-sided blade, and in a matter of seconds attaches the blade to the hilt, after which he enjoys his own work as he nods his head in approval before leaving it on top of the handle table. All of this was wind for almost two hours, Anton had been the first to finish again, throughout the competition he was always the first to finish, he also always does everything very calmly and doesn''t seem to mind being surrounded by people watching him work. When the time was up Borges took a look at each dagger, he seriously and carefully looked at each one before announcing the winner by slapping Anton on the back and laughing out loud, the prize of this competition was a Great Piece of Red Mithril, a variant of normal Mithril with high affinity to the magical element of fire. I just discovered that there are many varieties of Mithril. Chapter 532: 4 Strange Encounters Part 1 Chapter 532: 4 Strange Encounters Part 1 The Great Hammer Tournament went faster than I imagined, but one thing I noticed was that people weren''t watching just for fun, in the normal audience, or at least where we were, the audience was almost all Adventurers or Blacksmiths, Adventurers probably just wanted to know which Blacksmith would be best qualified so they could buy their gear from them. The Nobles were also watching with ulterior motives, when Anton was declared the Champion, I noticed many Nobles looking at him intensely. "That idiot did a good job hiding his abilities." (Tnia) "What do you mean hiding, he made a magic dagger." (I) "Yes, but few noticed, apart from some mages with strong magical senses, only the person responsible for this competition noticed what my husband did, the others only saw a dagger." (Tnia) "But I noticed, I''m also sure rica, Lilith, Hela, Ragnar, Layla, Nix, and Vanessa noticed." (I) "You might not realize it since you''re always surrounded by strange people, but everyone you just mentioned is abnormal in more ways than one." (Tnia) "I''m also fully aware that Anton and I are quite abnormal since you''re not even worth comparing with anyone, comparing you with normal people would be an absurd thing to do." (Tnia) "Tnia is right, most people must not have noticed the way Anton used his mana, even the Mages who did must not have felt the metal element in his mana, he is too far away to notice these things." (rica) "I''m glad he won, it would be very sad if he lost" (Ivan) "I knew he would win, what I said about his punishment if he lost was just to force him to take the competition seriously or that idiot wouldn''t even participate." (Tnia) I look at Vanessa and Kira who are looking at the Nobles'' accents. "These nobles can be a problem." (Vanessa) "Yea." (Kira) The next day I wake up saying pulled out of bed by a naked Diana, I remember the medicine tried to get the girls who were drunk to their rooms, but they had other plans. Diana made me wake up because today will be my date with her, before leaving we both took a shower together. After we left, I was surprised Diana, who is normally the least feminine, was so eager for a date, but with the place she took me first being a gun shop, all I could think about was how it made sense. "What do you think of this sword, is it too big for me." (Diana) "Your focus is speed and technique, so why not try this one?" (I) "But this sword stands out a lot, it has a lot of jewels on it." (Diana) "It seems a little excessive indeed, but it seems that these jewels are to enhance the wind element." (I) "I think I''ll prefer light armor, but which one is more comfortable?" (Diana) "It has to be one that doesn''t interfere with my movements..." (Diana) I was surprised that this situation that I''ve seen so many times on television is going to be happening in such a strange way with me, instead of being in a clothing store picking out things for the girl I''m on a date with, I''m in a weapons and armor store. After that, we went to a restaurant where we drank just the two of us before being carried in Diana''s arms to a hotel room where we spent the rest of the day. During the night the situation was reversed with me taking her in my arms back to the house I rented during our stay in this city. This first day of the meeting was very different, but I think that''s the way Diana always acts, the important thing was that she spent the day smiling, strangely this was the day when Diana was more feminine in my view at least. After leaving Diana in my bed sleeping I''m going to eat something in the kitchen to replenish my energies since tomorrow it will be the energetic Ibuki''s turn, I''m sure she still doesn''t understand exactly what a date is, but that doesn''t matter, we can just pin the two together all day, it will make her happy for sure. Chapter 533: 4 Strange Encounters Part 2 Chapter 533: 4 Strange Encounters Part 2 The next day I woke up with an excited Ibuki shaking me for me to wake up soon, when I woke up she was wearing combat clothes and had her swords on her waist. The definition of the date we were able to explain to innocent Ibuki was spending a fun day alone with me doing whatever she wanted. Ibuki''s defining fun alone time was for the two of us to go dungeon hunting, I should have expected that but even so, I was so surprised when she said it with such a big smile that I also started laughing out loud as I got ready to go to the dungeon with her. This city had two Dungeons, one was here underground not far from the city, this one was a Dungeon of Golens, the second one was in the forest on the surface near the mountain, that one was an Insect Dungeon. As I didn''t want to risk being attacked by a swarm of bugs, I thought it would be more fun to go to a Dungeon where the monsters were more focused on defense, it would make the fight more interesting. The Dungeon was SSS Grade only, so it was no danger to us, the Dungeon had 79 floors, and even though we will have no difficulty in a Dungeon like this, a single day would not be enough to explore the Dungeon until we reached an interesting floor, for That I paid an Adventurer who looked strong to take us to 71. The Adventurer thought I was crazy, but as soon as I showed some of my murderous intent in my eyes without directing anyone, he realized I was much stronger than he was, so he was happy to accept the money and we put it in his group and to take us to the 71st floor, after which he disbanded the group and left. Ibuki and I didn''t know this Dungeon, besides Nix and Layla weren''t with me, the only one who accompanies me all the time is Orion since he helps to hide my presence, besides all my Familiars he''s the quietest, many Sometimes I even forget he''s on my shoulder. The monsters I found on the floor were Crystal Golems, I had already read about these monsters, these were Golems that can use spells of various elements depending on the color they have. They were mostly slow, but they had decent defense and high attack power, if I had to compare them to anything it would be a tank. I imagine you usually need a group to fight these things, that if the difference in the Degree of strength isn''t too great, for me it''s easy to cut these Golems in half with any attack of my sword or dagger, so I''m fighting using just my fists as it is a good training opportunity for my Martial Arts. . <[ You have defeated the Rage Mountain Temple Dungeon Boss [ Lesser War Golem (Unique) ] ]> . . . <[ You conquered the Furious Mountain Temple Dungeon ]> I collect the entire body of the Golem and then I go to look for the treasure room together with Ibuki, the place where we are is a temple made of gigantic stone in ruins on top of a mountain, the entrance to this floor was at the bottom of the mountain which by the way is extremely high, normally it would take all day to get to the top, maybe even two days since you have to face other Golems on the way, but I came flying from the entrance of the floor to here at high speed which only took a few minutes. I found this ridiculous Golem inside this ruined Temple, it started moving as soon as we entered, after defeating this thing and finding the treasure room, we flew back to the safe room on that floor before heading back to the 1 floor and exiting the Dungeon. Inside the treasure room, there were only several ores, metals, and crystals, there were also many broken or damaged weapons that must belong to the Adventurers who died here or were abandoned in this dungeon, I take everything and look at the dungeon core before turning around and going through without doing anything else. Outside the dungeon, I walk with Ibuki pulling me from restaurant to restaurant eating dozens of dishes before we vote for our residency in town. When we arrived, Ibuki had an appetite to eat the dinner that Caryna had made. Chapter 534: 4 Strange Encounters Part 3 Chapter 534: 4 Strange Encounters Part 3 I wake up the next day with Kira lying next to me hugging me, we were both dressed in nightwear, plus it was just the two of us in the room and Byakko wasn''t around. "Good Morning." (I) "Good morning..." (Kira) When I greet her and I am answered with a loving kiss, she hugs me for a few seconds before standing up and looking at me affectionately. "I came to wake you up, but I didn''t have the courage when I saw how peacefully you were sleeping." (Kira) "Have you been able to think about what you want to do today?" (I) "Yes, I had plenty of time to think about those two days while you were with Diana and Ibuki." (Kira) I get up and take a shower before getting ready, then I find Kira in the tidy living room with a hunting set and a white tiger print blouse, it must probably be an outfit made by Tnia as it fits her body so perfectly from Kira. "You look beautiful." (I) "Thanks." (Kira) Kira holds my hand as she has a beautiful smile on her face and pulls me to the door, the first place we went was a street stall where we bought food on skewers. After that we walked around the city talking about random things and enjoying the view of this city with an eternal night, Kira talks about the fun things she does in her spare time, only now I find out that she likes to visit candy stores, she also still collects daggers that find interesting, I also talk about my habits of looking at the starry sky, I talk about my curiosity and how it brought me a lot of problems. It was a fun day, we went to a gun shop where we were looking for daggers for Kira''s collection, we passed a restaurant where we ate while talking about things from the past, I tell a little about my previous life and Kira tells me a little about her mother. At the end of the day we return to the residence where we have been staying and enter the Dungeon that I leave open in a room in the basement, Kira takes me to the mansion and straight to my room, when we enter I see a magic circle drawn there and with a book in the middle and a magic crystal of the Light element on top of the book. Rakan was also inside and in my curiosity, he explains to me that this is a ritual magic to turn the text of a book into images, after explaining this he activates the ritual magic and lets 100 silver coins be absorbed by the magic circle before out of the room, so Kira and I lay on my bed. In a few seconds the book and the crystal float on top of each other, then a stream of Mana leaves the circle of Mana to be absorbed by the book and then a new stream of Mana leaves the book and goes to the magic crystal as the book gets absorbed opens and flips through all the pages before going back to the beginning at the first page, then a light comes out of the book showing an image of a man on horseback arriving in a destroyed city. "You woke up a lot earlier than I thought, but no problem, we''ve already arrived at our meeting place." (rica) Laughs laughs I could hear Laughter from different voices, besides I could smell Lyra''s aphrodisiac potions, I also felt a heat coursing through my body. "(Damn, I let my guard down, I should have guessed she would do something weird.)" (I) I could smell different people, I wanted to try to free myself, but rica started to hug me from behind, at the moment when I was going to use my Aura to understand the situation that this Demon put me in the blindfold is removed. "But what..." (I) "You know, I don''t like that every night it''s the four of us who always lose consciousness, I liked the old days when it was you who couldn''t handle the four of us and your escape attempts that always failed." (rica) "That''s why I was very happy when I heard that you were going to the Dark Continent, that place has the kind of Demon I was looking for." (rica) I looked around to see dozens of women, most were of the Demon Race and appeared to be of the same race as their wings and tails were the same, their horns were different shapes and their skin color also varied from normal colors like white, brunette and black to exotic parent colors like blue, gray and green. The other women were of mixed races such as Beastmen women, Vampires, Werewolves, and Elves women. "I rented this brothel all day just for the two of us, there were always some things I wanted to do and it seemed like a good time to be a little daring." (rica) I noticed that these women were wearing rica''s perverted cosplay outfits, plus they all had cloudy looks and reddish streaks. "(Not this one... imagine that after everything I''ve been through I would die like this...)" (I) "rica... honey, I think you might be going a little... too far with your jokes..." (I) "Don''t worry, I have a lot of resistance potions with me, we can enjoy all day, so let''s get started." (rica) "(I''m dead...)" (I) Chapter 535: Leaving Star City Chapter 535: Leaving Star City I was being carried back on Orion''s back in his true form, Nix who is hiding in the shadows used a Dark Rune for us to hide so no one is watching us as we jump from roof to roof. "How did you just let rica take you to a place like that?" (Nix) "I was unconscious, when I woke up it was already there." (I) "When you saw that situation, why didn''t you run away? With your strength it would have been easy." (Nix) "I thought about running away, I really thought a lot about running away, but my male pride wouldn''t let me..." (I) "You pervert, you had fun, admit it." (Nix) "I''m not going to lie that I''ve thought about this kind of situation, maybe all men have thought about these things when they are young, but it''s only when you get older that you realize that these situations are not practical, and it can become a nightmare if you go the focus of so many people while exhausted." (I) "I tried to talk to them, and I tried to ask rica for help in the middle of the night, but to no avail, I had to use the Breakthrough skill in an attempt to make them tired before I died, with the perverted expressions on their faces not I was sure what could happen to me if I lost consciousness." (I) "You only arrived when it was all over, but I was there from the beginning, I must say that even I was scared by the aggressiveness of those women." (Orion) "Almost all of them were Succubi, these types of Demons live for this kind of thing, their sexual desire is mixed with hunger." (Nix) "rica went too far by hiring so many Succubi, she could have done it with the women of the Dungeon since there are many who would accept to do it for free." (Nix) "I''d rather she doesn''t do that again, look at my state, I can''t even move, I''m only able to speak because I''m using the body manipulation skill or I wouldn''t even be able to speak." (I) In the last few days, both men and women of this perverted religion have joined the brothel girls to chase me whenever I go out on the street, I can''t understand why this fixation on me. I''m already having problems with 4 girls, I can''t afford to have any more chasing me, plus men are a no, I don''t play on this team no matter how much I look like a girl. What surprises me the most is that the prettiest women in my group aren''t having these problems, they''re just watching with amusement without ever offering a helping hand. Because of these problems we go out in the middle of the night hidden so no one can see us leaving, we can decide our next destination or on the road. ---------- Pov Priest of Lust: I was returning from the home of a widowed lady who had become a devotee of the Goddess of Lust when I saw him entering the city. I was shocked, such a perfect appearance, a beauty incapable of being hidden and a charm that would make every person in this town''s head turn to her presence wasn''t being hidden in some unknown way. His gender cannot be identified by looking at his appearance, his long red hair steals the eyes of anyone who looks, his brown skin is something rarely seen on this continent, it is usually the Dark Elves who have this skin color, in addition to his eyes of different colors are so deep giving a sense of endless mystery. I had to warn others, just like me the other Priests and Priestesses were delighted to look at him, I know that people of our Religion are easily attracted, but I feel that this person is different, the High Priest of the city said that the blessing of the Goddess of Lust seems to react to him somehow. We tried to take the chance of the women from one of the brothels we controlled chasing him to do the same, but he was too fast and never seemed to let his guard down. One day when we realized he had disappeared everyone was shocked, but the High Priest wrote a message that he sent to our Religion headquarters, we can''t let someone like that get away so easily, in the end, everyone surrenders to Lust''s embrace. Chapter 536: City Of Vampires Chapter 536: City Of Vampires It''s been a day since we left the City of Stars, I enjoyed my time there pleasantly, at least when I wasn''t being chased. After we left there in our big carriage, we all entered the Dungeon and held a meeting to decide our next stop. We decided to go to the Vampire City they talked about earlier, I was a little interested in what a city full of immortal people would be like. Now I was inside the carriage with Lilian, who was driving the carriage was a Werewolf. "I wanted to know more about this town we''re heading to, could you tell me a little bit about this town?" (I) "Of course, its name is City of Blood, that name isn''t just because it''s a city for Vampires." (Lilian) "The city was built on a land sanctified by a Saint of the Goddess Selene millennia ago, there are stories that it had been the site of a brutal and bloody war." (Lilian) "If there is such a story, then why build a city in such a place?" (I) "Because no Vampire can be harmed by the light of the Suns in the city, in addition, their hunger also becomes less." (Lilian) "For this reason, the Vampires chose that place to set up their city, the city has a Queen, a Vampire Matriarch who was the founder of this city, she is also the oldest Vampire in the Dark Continent." (Lilian) "Wouldn''t she be one of those Vampires who hate the Blood Goddess?" (I) "No, she is not devoted to any God, nor is she against it, one of the reasons she maintains her neutrality is to mediate between the factions of the city that split into three." (Lilian) "The factions are the ones you already know, the neutral faction, the Demonic faction, and the Human faction." (Lilian) "The Human faction would be the people of the Black Market." (I) "Mostly yes, but there are also those who are against the Demonic faction." (Lilian) "Those from the neutral faction are just Devotees of the Goddess Selene, not people who actually belong to the Temple of Blood like Priestess Vanessa." (Lilian) "Because of that the roads to this city are always full of bandits, our carriage must look like an easy and juicy target for them." (Lilian) "I see, our carriage is alone without being part of a caravan and without any escort." (I) "Don''t forget that this carriage is very big, it attracts attention anywhere, the bandits must think there is something of great value in here." (Lilian) To me these bandits are idiots, they could realize that there are many suspicious things if they think for 1 second, such a big carriage alone in such a place is too good to be true, does that mean it would be a trap to attract bandits or are there people secure in their own strength within the carriage. "They''re idiots..." (I) "If they were smart or capable at something, then they wouldn''t become bandits, they''re usually poor people or incapable Adventurers." (Lilian) "Let''s get back to the matter at hand, you were telling me more about the City of Blood, tell me more about the city." (I) "The city was built with only one purpose, fun." (Lilian) "Vampires live for a long time, most of them don''t seek strength, they seek profit, Influence, and authority to live safer and more luxurious lives, but this usually only happens to Vampire Patriarchs or Matriarchs as they can build their own families. " (Lilian) "By the way, everyone who is a Vampire Patriarch or Matriarch is considered Noble in the City of Blood." (Lilian) "Including me, you, Elsaris, and Vanessa?" (I) "Yea." (Lilian) "As politics works like that, it looks like it''s going to be chaos." (I) "Politics is not focused on the Nobles, there is the Queen at the top of politics, then comes the 4 elders of the Council, 3 of these elders are representatives and leaders of the city factions, the last elder is a representative of the other races in the city that are not are Vampires." (Lilian) An interesting government system, with this 5 in charge they can maintain a balance of power between the factions while not leaving the other races aside, in addition, the government officials mostly must be members of the Vampire families of these people at the top of government, this would make it difficult for one side to go against the other openly. "(I''m a little interested in this city.)" (I) Chapter 537: Arrival At City Of Blood Chapter 537: Arrival At City Of Blood It''s been 3 weeks of travel, apart from the first week where we were attacked dozens of times by bandits, we haven''t been attacked since. The number of deaths was huge, there were hundreds of bandits killed in those days alone, unfortunately, the bandits were just the beginning, in the second week we had arrived in a city that had just been abandoned because of a Wave of Monsters that happened inside the city. city because of a dungeon that we found inside a house, we only noticed that because half of that house was destroyed due to the monsters that came out of the dungeon, and the buildings around were also half destroyed. Lucky I was in the carriage at that moment, so I was able to use my Aura to ward off the monsters without having to face the Monster Wave. Lilian told me that there should probably already be a subjugation team being prepared, maybe they would even be on their way to that city, so instead of staying and fighting we should leave so we don''t get into other people''s problems, I listened to her advice and left there. Since then we haven''t found any more towns or villages until yesterday when we entered a village where an Evil ritual was taking place, the whole village had been massacred with blood from all sides, the bodies were piled in the center of the village while a Fire Mage tried to use them as a sacrifice for a summoning spell. I let rica, Irius, and Irina handle this matter, they killed all those Mage''s lackeys and rica personally took care of this Mage. This Mage only had SS Grade strength, it was not a danger to anyone, the creature he was trying to summon was an Ifrit, this is an intelligent Demi monster race, they are a mixture of Demon and Fire Elemental, they are beings whose instinct is to destroy and kill, are true Monsters. p rica said that this type of monster is also capable of granting more power to those who have an Affinity to the fire element, but the person has to present a sacrifice for them. These monsters don''t exist on this continent, it seems that this Mage wanted to summon this monster using a forbidden summoning ritual using those people''s lives as a sacrifice before making a deal with this monster. After discovering this rica took care of this idiot by killing him inside the Dungeon so that his soul could be used by us to make more monsters in the future. We wasted an entire day in that place making graves for those people and we held a ceremony for the dead so that these souls may rest in peace, Vanessa performed the entire ceremony with Lilian''s help. After that we left, but still in my head the bodies I saw piled up, they were ordinary people without the power to fight, there were even old people and children''s bodies, the fury in my heart still hadn''t diminished since I hadn''t laid anything against it those bastards who did these things. All I could do was wait for these memories to subside, I was furious, but there was nothing to be done. Finally, my Dungeon looks ok, but there are still a few floors left for me to let outsiders in, I have to get to the 50th floor before thinking other unknown people enter. When I had just finished solving some Dungeon stuff, Vanessa comes flying up and lands next to me. "We''ll get to our destination soon, are you sure you want to go there?" (Vanessa) "You know there may be people who will be able to feel your presence, even if no one realizes your identity as the Holy Child of Goddess Selene, they will still associate you as someone from the Temple of Blood." (Vanessa) "I don''t remember joining any religion." (I) "You are a target of faith in our Religion, one of Selene''s children, this is part of who you are Father, you cannot deny that." (Vanessa) Sigh "Let''s just see what happens and act accordingly, no matter where we go, we''re always going to run into trouble and you know that, so I''m going to stop trying to avoid these things and do whatever I want or I''m always going to end up paranoid about random things. " (I) "You should pay the Queen a visit, she can help if something happens there, from what Lilian said, this Queen will notice her identity because she has strong perception abilities thanks to her lineage." (Vanessa) "I''ll think about it." (I) "We arrived, there''s a town nearby, we can already see it from the carriage." (Layla) Layla comes flying to tell you that we''ll be arriving at the City of Blood soon, it was a little faster than I expected. I tell the hundreds of fairies that were nearby to pray for the others and let them know that we have arrived in Vampire City, I asked Vanessa to go tell Lilian to meet me and I told Layla to tell the carriage driver to stop and not come any closer for now. Chapter 538: City Of Blood Chapter 538: City Of Blood When I leave the Dungeon to check out from afar what this City of Blood was like, I''m surprised. It appears that the Ghoul who was tending the carriage turned off the main road and headed up a mountain near the road when he received Layla''s order to stop. Thanks to the high location when I left the Dungeon I could see the entire city, the walls were high and looked old, the walls were made of some kind of marble I remember seeing in the Golems Dungeon I went with Ibuki in Star City, these walls were covered with large bloodstains of various colors and surface marks from battles that could be seen from afar. But the surprising hand was the city itself behind these walls, the city had interesting and fun architecture, the shape of the city was round like a pizza being cut into three equal parts by wide dark red streets. Outside of these streets, I was able to notice that the side streets that had more confusing and intertwined paths were also the same dark red color, I was only able to see that due to our high position, but it looked like the streets were veins. p The buildings appeared to be made of stone or marble and had different colors, they weren''t Star City''s jumble of vibrant colors, but it looked as if the colors complemented each other with the architecture and streets forming some kind of monumental art. "Leonardo will love this city." (I) In the middle of the city instead of a square, there was a castle surrounded by three towers, even from a distance I could see a large flow of people walking on the three main roads. "This is a beautiful city." (Nix)Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) "Yea." (I) I''ve been talking to Lilian during the trip to learn more about this city since I discovered this city is like Las Vegas in my old world, it has many casinos, it has a great theater, it has an equally large arena, and a large number of brothels. The motto of this city is fun, this city has become a tourist spot for this entire continent, successful adventurers come here and risk coming back poor, a person who has nothing to eat can leave here as a nouveau riche. This city has many ways to make money, but it also has many ways to lose money, and yet it attracts people from all over the continent. This city seems to be almost a must to go if you are on this continent, for me who just want to do tourism is exactly the kind of place I want to go. After getting everyone in the group together for a meeting and giving everyone a rundown of the city, we plan on going in in the morning. ------------ It was now night and I was on top of the carriage looking out over the city which was full of light, the city seems more vibrant and bustling during the day than at night. "Are you enjoying the view?" (Nira) "I''m thinking about the problems we''re going to have entered that city." (I) "Everyone was putting on their disguise items to pose as Demons, the most resistant to this were the two Priests and the three Templars we were forced to bring." (Angela) "Your opinions don''t matter, during this mission, they will obey my orders, tell them so." (I) "It''s all right." (Angela) "Darius came back, he said their ship was here just as we thought, but that was a long time ago, we don''t know where to go now." (Angela) "Now that it''s confirmed that they''ve been here, it''s easier, we can get information on his whereabouts from the Assassin''s Guild or we can let the Priests find him." (I) "You know you can only use this artifact once, better wait until needed." (Angela) Sigh "Alright, I''ll tell Darius to go to the Assassin''s Guild to get information." (I) ----------- We were in a magic tent as we didn''t want to stay in that harbor, the boat was wrecked as we couldn''t leave it behind, and my minions were by the fire outside eating while Darius entered. "Wait." (I) "..." (Darius) I take a metal box with several magic circles drawn on it and place a monster core in the top opening that automatically activates a soundproof barrier with a suitable space for some people to talk discreetly inside this tent. "He can talk." (I) "I haven''t met Zenos, but some of the people listed as related to him have been seen in the Kadra Kingdom which is a month''s journey from here." (Darius) "I also found out about a certain incident that happened in that Realm around the same time, here it is." (Darius) "Thanks." (I) "Did you get the other information?" (I) "Yes, the former High Priestess Vanessa was seen in this port city, plus she looked completely fine and was a Vampire wearing Blood Temple robes." (Darius) "So she was actually able to get rid of the God of Light''s Blessing just like the rumors say..." (I) Chapter 539: Queen Of The City Of Blood Chapter 539: Queen Of The City Of Blood Pov Athena''s: After Darius left the tent I read the information he brought and realized something was off. The reason for the sudden illness of this former Realm King of Kadra was a mystery, but it was written that no Alchemist, Physician, or Priest was able to cure him, nor has any information about this "disease". One thing I noticed was that this former King had been sick weeks before people related to Zenos were seen in the Capital City, but soon after he mysteriously disappeared, it was said that he died, but his funeral was not seen by anyone other than his family. "(I can''t understand anything about it, could it be Zenos?)" (I) "(Don''t think about it too much, it''s clearly missing a lot of information.)" "But it looks like something happened, but there''s no evidence or witnesses." (I) "(We already knew from the information from the Church of Light that he likes to keep a low profile, which is why we have so little information about him.)" "That''s true, there are many mysteries around him." (I) "(He looks like someone fun.)" "(I''d like to meet him soon, boredom is driving me crazy...)" "You''ll have to wait a little longer, I can''t let the Priests find out about you." (I) "(Can''t we go back to that port town? It looked like they were having a festival.)" "The less contact with the people of this continent the better for us, we can be attacked just for coming from the Church of Light." (I) "Just support a little longer, we are very close to our goal now." (I) I pull the crystal out of my clothes and hold it while I listen to the voice inside my head that comes from that crystal. "I imagine you must have important business to sneak up to my room at this hour of the night, but I don''t remember seeing you before, Mr. Zenos." (Viviane) "I''m a stranger who broke into her room, aren''t you afraid your majesty?" (I) "No, I can sense that you don''t have any malice, besides if you wanted to do something you could have done it while you were still flying above the castle without having to come down here." (Viviane) "It seems your majesty noticed me a long time ago." (I) "I''m proud of my greater senses than most, yet I still can''t see right through you, lord Zenos." (Viviane) "I''m sorry to have to show up here like this, yet another one of my teammates told me that my presence might cause some confusion." (I) The Queen looks at me more intensely and I feel a strange glint in her eyes before her smile gets bigger. "I see, someone with strong connections to the Goddess Selene, this will surely be noticed by her devotees in the city and by those who are against this Goddess." (Viviane) "That''s what I''ve heard, but I''d like to know how big this mess will be." (I) "At most some arguing and maybe 1 or 2 assassination attempts, nothing your Familiars will have a problem with." (Viviane) "No one in this town takes things too far, they know what happens to those who cause trouble." (Viviane) "So I can enter your city peacefully and have a stay for a few days without any problems?" (I) "Yes, but you''d better come to visit me more formally when you arrive, take this to introduce those to the castle guards so you can have a formal audience with me." (Viviane) The Queen gives me a dagger with a red city symbol on the hilt, and the blade is also red. "If they think you have connections with me, they won''t dare to do anything, besides I''d like to talk to you on better terms if possible." (Viviane) "I will come tomorrow morning, good night your majesty." (I) After saying goodbye I push with my wings to fly as high as possible before heading back to where the carriage is out of town. Chapter 540: Entering The City Of Blood Chapter 540: Entering The City Of Blood After leaving the hidden castle I met with the others in the same place outside the city, I told them that there should be no problem to go to the city in the morning, I also said that we would go straight to the castle since there was a way that would decrease any inconvenience we may have. While talking to everyone I said that it would be better to enter the city on our mounts instead of entering with the carriage as it attracts a lot of attention due to its size or minibus. This time a lot of people wanted to go to the city, even Nolan was interested when he heard about the various types of games that there are in this city, I gave a sum of 100 crystal coins for each one to spend as they wish in the city, that''s more than the fortune of a noble from a small kingdom, so I hope they don''t go bankrupt in this city. Leonardo, who normally doesn''t mind showing up at our meetings, made a point of showing up after he heard reports about the City of Blood, when he came out of the Dungeon at night to see the city they had their eyes shining even brighter than when he saw the City of Stars. According to Leonardo, the City of Stars was beautiful but lacked an artistic rock, but this City of Blood was a planned and monumental work of art where people could live. With everything resolved, all that remained was to wait until morning.Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) ----------- Pov Queen Viviane: I was surprised to see someone approaching the castle so brazenly from above, as it was very far away I couldn''t estimate its strength accurately, besides that, I was the only one to notice its approach in the middle of the night, but before I attempted an attack I realize that whoever it is has landed on my bedroom balcony. I went to my room ready for combat when I realized that this individual''s strength was close to mine, I pushed away from the guards who were watching near my room and told them to leave as they could get in my way if a battle happened. Pov Zenos: The next morning my entire group with Nira''s execution leaves the Dungeon and I summon the Demon Horses along with the Shadow Horses that are inside the Dungeon as I have a summoning contract with them. We guard the carriage and ride to the City of Blood gate where the Gate Guards were Vampires. We all get in line and in a short time we enter the city, when we pass through the gate I realize that we are on one of the three main roads that lead straight to the center of the city where the castle is. Walking through the streets I notice that half of the population on the streets are Vampires, but there were also many people of other races, with my superhuman hearing I could hear many talking about gambling or card games. The architecture of the city was beautiful and the different colors somehow complemented each other, all the buildings had more than 3 floors on the ground floor, I also noticed many women and men in revealing clothes calling people on the street in a sensual way, the stalls along the roads were divided into two types. The first type of street stall was the food like most cities, but I must point out that among these foods there was a wide variety of foods that contain blood or that sell bottles of blood. The second type of street stall sold various types of game-related things like cards, dice, etc. I was amazed at how full of life this town was, there were people who were laughing in the streets talking loudly about how they made a fortune, there were people with empty eyes as they cried mumbling about how they lost everything and there was even a funny couple where the woman was pulling her husband while arguing with him about quitting gambling. I would like to appreciate this city a little more, but before that, I have to go to the castle, so I follow the main road along with everyone else as I go to the center of the city where the castle is. When we got there we were stopped while surrounded by soldiers who were also all Vampires, after saying that we came to find the Queen and show the dagger she delivered to me yesterday, the Soldier with the best quality armor said to the others if dispersed and ordered another soldier to warn the people of the castle about guests, so he respectfully said that we should wait in a drawing room at the castle gates until someone came to guide us to the throne room if the Queen agreed to receive us. Chapter 541: Finding Queen Viviane Chapter 541: Finding Queen Viviane We had to wait just 10 minutes until someone from the government came to greet us saying that the Queen will meet us in the castle grounds, so he guides us there. Instead of entering the castle, we go around the outside, the 3 towers of equal size are close to the castle walls, and soon after comes a land that is divided between gardens, training grounds for soldiers and accommodation for servants of the castle, in the center is the castle. We are taken to the garden which is almost as beautiful as the one in my mansion inside the Dungeon, in the center of the garden was Amman a delicately carved stone table like a work of art where the Queen I met yesterday was sitting in a chair eating some appetizers morning. The Queen looks at us calmly, she looks briefly at me before looking at the others behind me, I feel her eyes linger on Vanessa, Lilith, Jade, Elsaris, Freya, Lilian, Karina, and Lyra. A new table is brought into the garden to be close to the Queen as the Queen''s table only has room for two more people. One of the maids goes to the Queen who gives instructions before coming to us, this maid guides my companions to the table that has just been set and also guides just me and Vanessa to the table where the Queen is. "Nice to see you again, this time correctly, Her Majesty." (I) "Nice to meet you, my name is Vanessa, Priestess of the Goddess Selene and daughter of Zenos." (Vanessa) "It is my pleasure to welcome a High Priestess of the Blood Goddess and you, lord Zenos." (Viviane) "I take it you noticed it while you were coming here, right?" (Viviane) Sigh "Yeah, some people who were doing their own thing kept looking at me while we were on our way here." (I) "I didn''t know any of those people, but some looked at me angrily while others had tearful eyes." (I) "I told you you wouldn''t be able to hide here." (Viviane) "My father is right, even I didn''t know it would be so easy for them to see through your disguise." (Vanessa) The Queen looks at me and closes her eyes as if she''s remembering something, she pulls a letter out of her storage item and places it on the table. "As Queen of this nation, I have to maintain a neutral position to mediate between the various factions that exist here, but that doesn''t mean I don''t have friends or acquaintances who are part of those factions." (Viviane) "One of them is also a Priest of the Temple of Blood, he sent me a message two months ago along with this letter that said to deliver to someone with your characteristics." (Viviane) "Is that why you wanted me to come here again? Is that why you gave me that dagger?" (I) "Yes, but I wasn''t lying when I said it will protect you for a few days." (Viviane) "A few days are enough for me." (I) Vanessa takes the letter open and reads it, after which she burns the letter with a smile on her face. "The letter was for you, but your daughter read it and burned it, it seems you trust her a lot." (Viviane) "Yes I trust." (I) After some more time talking to the Queen, she granted us a house to live in while we are in town, this house was actually the mansion of a merchant who was killed two years ago for stealing from the government. This mansion would be big enough for all of us, after thanking the Queen and saying goodbye, we head towards this mansion and I take advantage of the trip to speak with Vanessa. "What did the letter say?" (I) "The Goddess sent me an Oracle months ago but I couldn''t understand everything at the time, this letter had the other part of the oracle." (Vanessa) "What is this about?" (I) "A rescue mission." (Vanessa) Chapter 542: Rescue Oracle Chapter 542: Rescue Oracle After we arrive at the mansion that the Queen let us use during our stay in this city, I notice that it is in good condition and clean, before exploring the mansion I gather everyone in the dining room which I noticed is in the room next to the Entrance Hall. "What did you mean earlier about an Oracle of rescue?" (I) "A few months ago I received an Oracle, at least part of one, but I couldn''t understand it until now, so I didn''t say anything before." (Vanessa) "When I read the letter earlier, the Oracle information in my head seemed to fall into place and I finally understood what the Oracle was all about." (Vanessa) "But why did you only receive a part of the Oracle? Who was the person who sent this letter? Did that person also receive a part of the Oracle or did he receive the entire information?" (I) "The information from the Oracle is not sent to the mind, the information is sent to my soul which then transmits to my mind." (Vanessa) "When a Priest receives an Oracle, the information appears to be in another language and packed one on top of the other, it is up to the Priest to organize, decipher, and interpret the Oracle''s information." (Vanessa) "I''m too weak to receive an Oracle, the only reason I receive an Oracle is because I have an ability of the same type, besides my original race was a Celestine who has a great affinity with the Gods, but my current race has even more compatibility with the Blood Goddess, so I was able to receive Oracles even with my low strength and weak Soul." (Vanessa) "This time the Oracle was very big, so I didn''t fully understand it and I wasn''t able to fully receive it." (Vanessa) I think I understand what Vanessa is talking about, but I wonder why I, as a son of Selene, don''t get this Oracle guy. "This sounds confusing, so let''s just talk about the contents of this Oracle." (I) It''s no use continuing on this subject if I can''t fully understand what an oracle is, but in short, it''s a message sent by a God to one of his Priests, at least that''s the main part of what I understood. "Did you say something about rescue..." (I)Visitt for the latest updates "Yes, the Oracle was to rescue a rare Breed whose numbers are few across the world and almost none on this continent." (Vanessa) "It seems that a few hundred of these Breeds are in danger of their lives, they are trapped somewhere I still don''t fully understand." (Vanessa) I don''t know what to do, why do I have to save this Breed, I don''t even know them, so what should I do? "..." (I) "If people from the neutral Vampire Faction have known about this for months, why haven''t they sent people to this continent?" (I) "I also don''t understand why the Blood Demons stayed on this continent if they were so isolated from other races and had so many enemies." (I) "Even though the number of Blood Demons is small compared to other races, they still have thousands of people, they are also scattered on other continents." (Vanessa) "If there are people of this race on other continents, then why did those of that continent stay here?" (I) "This continent was where your race was born, moreover your ancestors were buried or sent to the world of the dead in this continent, leaving your home is not an easy thing to do, I can imagine that in the past they were divided because not everyone wanted to leave their home to go to other continents." (Lilian) Sigh "I think we can help if there aren''t too many risks for us, plus I''ll want to confirm the reason for their arrest." (I) "If what Lilith said is true, then the chances are high that they will be used as a sacrifice in some sort of unholy ritual." (Irius) "This kind of Ritual if you use hundreds of people of that race, it will be worth hundreds of thousands of sacrifices, it would also be easier to transport." (Rakan) "I''ve studied Sacrifice, but nothing comes to mind about such a great sacrifice other than some kind of forbidden summon." (Rakan) "You must be kidding, we''re going to find other lunatics trying to summon monsters just like in the Makari Kingdom." (I) "This is just a hypothesis, but they can be used for something else, sacrificial rituals can be used in many different situations." (Rakan) "I remember Farus would gather the vitality of the people he killed to give to the Heretic God he serves, I''ve seen him doing something like this before." (Jade) "I don''t think there''s any point in trying to guess what the Blood Demons are being held for, that would just be a waste of time, we have to follow only the information we have instead of wasting time guessing at random." (Ivan) Chapter 543: Casino Chapter 543: Casino We argued for a while but got nowhere as we had no idea where the Blood Demons might be. According to what Lilian said, the Blood Demons were nomads, so they didn''t have a fixed place to live, so we don''t know where to start the search. "(Maybe the Queen knows something? She seems to have lived a long time, besides the Blood Demons must have some connection with this city since the Devotees of the Goddess Selene live here.)" (I) After a long time of thinking I decide to stop everything until I talk to the Queen again, this time I must send a request to find the Queen again, it would be disrespectful to invade the castle a second time. I write a letter and give it to Ragnar and Freya to take to the castle, I didn''t specify the reason for the visit, I just said it''s an important matter. With everything temporarily settled we went to a small restaurant where our large group packed the place to eat. After the restaurant everyone splits up to do their own thing, Leo and Caryna as well as other couples went out to find love. Nolan went out with Ivan to play, Samira went out with her sister and Elsaris'' children for a family day, Jade went with her mother Sapphire to the Arena which was the Adventurers Guild''s training ground, and Ibuki made a group with the other people to see the Demon Dungeon he had near the city. Leonardo disappeared before anyone could notice, I sent the strongest Fairies in the Dungeon after him to protect this idiot who left without a word. Vanessa said she would look for the Temple of Blood in that city and Lilian went along, Lilith wanted to take the opportunity to see if she could find any Temple of the Demon God of Vengeance and went with Vanessa too, I asked Vanessa to take care of this crazy person for safety. Nix wanted to sleep and stayed behind resting in a relaxed way, I went along with Layla, Orion, and Sakura to see the city, and Karina wanted to come along with me since I haven''t spent much time with her since she joined our group. ---------- There were different card games where luck and strategy were used, there were also bets on the winner of some of these games, there were games similar to board games, but instead of chess, they were games with simulations of waves of monsters against an army, the player controls the army to defend against the Wave of Monsters completely random used strategy, but would also have to rely on luck. I noticed that there weren''t any sort of games based solely on luck like rosettes, dice, slot machines, and card games like 21. At first, I was confused by this as it is these types of games of chance that can be more easily manipulated to make people lose money, but I soon understood. In this world luck was a but a tangible statistic, a stat that could really influence a situation, for example, my luck was negative and I would probably lose any kind of game that relies only on luck, because of that I wouldn''t even think about participating of those games, but a strategy-based game where the deciding factor is still my ability is worth a try. The real problem would be if someone with great luck entered and played dice games, rosettes and other games of pure luck, at that moment the Casino will only lose money, because of that this world doesn''t have many games of chance, maybe that''s why it has so many types of bets made in this type of place. I even noticed that there was a place in the Casino for bets on the city''s Arena competitions that will take place this week. "I''ve never been good at card games, but I''m good at strategy, maybe I should give it a go, the magical simulation of this place doesn''t seem that difficult." (Karina) "I think I go to card games, Nolan has been teaching me this whenever I have spare time, I''m a little confident..." (I) I look at her and play various card games as she goes to the large table made of the reading crystal where she reaches into a box and chooses a small crystal storage cube at random and fits it on the table before starting to read a simulation that will play, it almost looked like a video game. Unfortunately, my games were horrible, I could never draw the cards I wanted, and because of that I always lost in every game I played, people even started laughing at me and offering to play with me just to steal my money. After 30 minutes without winning I stopped and declined any further game as I went to where Karina was, there was a crowd of people around her and the Casino employee had an angry face. When I approached she was laughing while drinking a bottle of some strong drink, and he was touching the simulation table with great speed while organizing his battle strategies, when I saw one employee waving to another with an even more annoyed expression I pulled her out of the Casino before heading to the street stalls. I was sad that I only lost while Karina kept talking about how easy and fun these games were. Chapter 544: An Old Friend Of Lillian Chapter 544: An Old Friend Of Lillian In the late afternoon we returned to the mansion that we are noticing in this town and I was saddened by my bad luck. I had tried that video game type strategy game that Karina always won since it didn''t seem to depend so much on luck, I managed to do well even though I tried to find what someone next to me said was the worst wave of monsters of all the simulations I''ve ever seen. I had seen it, but just when I thought I had a chance to win, a fight broke out and someone was thrown onto the card table, breaking the reading crystal. All my effort had been wasted and all the money I''d gambled had been lost, I wanted to take my anger out on the person who caused it all, but it was two drunken Demons fighting that were dragged outside by one of the staff. After this horrible experience I had to admit that games weren''t made for me, maybe I should just use betting as it doesn''t depend so much on my luck and other factors depending on what I''m betting on. When I arrived at the mansion Freya was finishing setting the dinner table while Diana did her best to hold Ibuki who was drooling looking at the dinner table. Ragnar comes to me and says that the Queen will receive me at the castle tomorrow morning, she asked just me and Vanessa to go this time, that wouldn''t be a problem for me. ------------ During the night I stayed on top of the mansion''s roof enjoying a beautiful view of the starry sky to cool my head after a day of losses at the Casino. After a while, the losses in the Casino didn''t matter anymore, what I didn''t lack was money since I got so much taking from the enemies that I defeated until today, my fortune is similar to that of a small Kingdom, especially since I remembered that the Dungeon had a safe where everything of value that consumed was kept. So losing a little money doesn''t mean anything to me, I was just upset that I missed the games, but I managed to put it all behind me. What was on my mind will act was the Blood Demons, to tell the truth I care very little about them, the only reason I want to do something is because of the Goddess Selene and Vanessa. Goddess Selene has been helping me a lot since I was born, I know she has something planned as I am not an idiot, but I also noticed her sincerity when she said she was proud of my achievements several times, she treated me like a son who needed guidance many times and supported me many other times with my bloodlines, advice and other things. I have also studied the teachings of the Temple of Blood, so I know that as cruel and brutal as she can be when facing an enemy, she has shown respect to all races, even the race she created herself like the Vampires has the permission to follow her teachings or hate her if they choose, the right to choose her own path. Even for me she didn''t tell me what I had to do at any time, I realized that she presented certain options in front of me, but she never forced me to do anything, the decision was always mine.Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) That''s why I''m willing to help the Blood Demons, but how much I help will depend on what I see in their eyes when I meet them, if they''ve lost their willpower then there''s no reason for me to strive for them. "You little..." (I) I go to another room to talk to Gaspar alone, I trust Gaspar a lot, so I tell him in parts what I have done, I avoid very important or secret topics, but I still briefly describe what I have been doing while he tells me about his grandchildren. "It''s about time you got out of that job, I always said that didn''t suit you." (I) "But it was something I chose a long time ago, and besides, I don''t regret what I did." (I) "You asked to call me here, I''m a little curious about what you''re up to." (I) "I''m just an old man, I''m not up to anything..." (Gaspar) I look at him showing that no matter how much time passes, he will never be able to deceive me. Sigh "Fine, as soon as you arrived in town I wanted to see you, but I knew sooner or later you would come to me." (Gaspar) "But I decided to call you here as soon as possible because your students sent me messages, some were very clear threats of what they would do to me if you left town before they arrived." (Gaspar) "..." (I) I was very surprised by what Gaspar said, my students were coming here, but they didn''t understand how they discovered me in this city so quickly. "All six are coming, should arrive by tomorrow or the next day." (I) "How are they so close? How did they know I was coming here?" (I) "You would come to this town at some point, they were supposed to wait for you here until you arrived, but it seems you arrived much faster than they anticipated." (Gaspar) Chapter 545: Location Of Blood Demons Chapter 545: Location Of Blood Demons I wake up the next day without being able to breathe, I get up scared and pull what was in my throat, it was rica''s tail that almost choked me. "More... I want more... Zzzzz..." (rica) rica had a predatory grin on her face as her face turned red, it looked like she liked the rude way I was holding her tail. "(I guess I better get up before these four wake up...)" (I) I let go of rica''s tail, get dressed and go to the kitchen to get something to restore my energy after a tiring night. After that I go out to meet the Queen again, this time I noticed that the number of people watching me thinking I didn''t even notice them has increased a lot since yesterday. I once again go through the castle''s security procedures before being allowed in as I am guided by a butler with a mustache whose ends have reached waist-length giving an eerie sight. I follow him into a double-doored room which he opens to reveal a beautifully decorated office with a table full of papers where the Queen was reading a document when she signaled for us to enter, then I enter the butler with the odd mustache closes the door behind me.. "Good morning, Your Majesty." (I) "Good morning Mr Zenos, I wonder why you came to me for the third day in a row." (Viviane) "I know I must have been a nuisance to you, I''m sorry about that, I just have a few questions I''d like to know if you''d be willing to answer, Your Majesty?" (I) "Your presence isn''t a nuisance, I''m just surprised by your sudden visit." (Viviane) "Before we start talking..." (I) I look around, signaling something the Queen seems to have noticed. "Don''t worry, the moment the door was closed the sound of this room was sealed in this place, no one can hear us." (Viviane) "Because it''s safer since we don''t have to fight more stealthily against other Realms or suffer from schemes to destroy ourselves before we form solid foundations there." (Viviane) "To the other Realms we must seem like a competent shield to control the situation." (Viviane) "Did you manage to find out what the kidnappers want with these Blood Demons?" (I) "I think they want to do some kind of sacrificial ritual, but what worries me is where they went, so I''m still investigating." (Viviane) "Is it okay for us to go there?" (I) "You can go normally, but I must warn you that very few enter that place because there will be deaths at some point." (Viviane) I take a paper that the Queen passes to me with the information she has on these kidnappers, these people haven''t been seen very often since they came in these people could be dead but I don''t think it happened or the Blood Demons will be dead too what would have been mentioned in the letter we received or in another Oracle. I read all the information and then pass the paper back to the Queen. "If you want you can go, but be careful as I don''t even know what these extremists are planning." (Viviane) After talking to the Queen for a while longer, I say goodbye and leave, after leaving I go back to the mansion where everyone is, I tell them what I talked to the Queen about and the location we have to look for. I looked around and didn''t see Lilian around, I wanted to ask her more questions about this dangerous place. Since I didn''t know where Lilian had gone I told everyone to think about it for a while to see what they think, we still don''t know what''s going on there, so I tell the others to be as prepared as possible. I''m going to talk to Lyra myself about making a new set of potions for us to take away, after that I went to bed as I was tired, I was also thinking about what I should do the next day, but I still didn''t know what I should do the next day. , I''m tired and went to sleep. "(I have a lot of things to do tomorrow, besides that I have to talk to Lilian about various things she should know about since she lives on this continent.)" (I) I had many things to think about, but now I had to sleep, I asked no one to sneak into my room, I wanted to be clear and calm tomorrow, so I close my eyes and let myself be carried away to dreamland. Chapter 546: Kidnapped Fairies Chapter 546: Kidnapped Fairies The next day I woke up refreshed, just as I wished my mind was rested and I could think better after a good night''s sleep. I get up doing some stretching exercises to get rid of the laziness brought on by the drowsiness I''ve just woken up, then I get dressed and go get something to eat in the kitchen. It seems I got up a little late as the kitchen was pretty empty, but as soon as I enter Freya will prepare something for me while Sakura and Layla appear with strange expressions on their faces, Sakura has a worried face and Layla has the eyes of a killer crazy while unleashing a strong murderous intent. "What happened?" (I) "I''m going to kill all these bastards... I''m going to dismember them alive and make them eat their own limbs..." (Layla) "I''ve seen that there''s no use arguing with a psychopath, so tell me what''s going on Sakura." (I) "It seems that some of the Fairies who were accompanying Leonardo were captured, when Leonardo came back injured and said that about 30 minutes ago, the others were no longer here, Alice took Leonardo to the Dungeon to be treated by Mr. Allan." (Sakura) "Now I understand why Layla is like this..." (I) That must have made some bad memories resurface, I just hope it wasn''t some Necromancer or Layla will end up killing all of them in this town, even the innocent ones. "Why didn''t you wake me up?" (I) "I was trying to calm her down first before she did carnage around town, I was going to wake you up now to tell you when I felt you in the kitchen." (Sakura) "I don''t think you need to send many people, I want you, Layla, and Nix to go find the Fairies, that should be easy since Layla can feel where they are." (I) "She didn''t say anything about it." (Sakura) "Because she got lost in her murderous fantasies, just make sure Layla doesn''t go bloodbath in this town." (I) "What do we do with the culprit?" (Sakura) "Let Layla take care of the culprit, just remember to get rid of the evidence later." (I) "Alright, I''ll find Nix and go now." (Sakura) I watch Sakura grab Layla who is still muttering disturbing things as she leaves to look for Nix. After Freya went to get my new clothes inside the Dungeon I went to eat the food she had made for me before leaving, while I was eating I was paying attention to what the girls were doing until the moment Nix came into contact with me inside my room head. "(What shall we do, master?)" (Nix) "(I won''t explain the situation as you must be seeing everything.)" (Nix) "(Take everyone in your shadow, enter that tower and find the Fairies, then leave the culprit in your hands if Layla the plan hasn''t changed yet.)" (I) "(What do I do if someone tries to stop the Fairy rescue?)" (Nix) "(Try to avoid too many kills, but if you think it''s necessary, then you can kill anyone in the way, but only if necessary.)" (I) I want to avoid deaths, especially within the castle grounds, but I will not forgive anyone who harms or kidnaps those close to me, even if I offend the Queen I will make sure the people responsible know what hell is. Following my instructions, the three entered the frogs using Nix''s abilities and Spirit Runes, after which they entered the tower through a barrier that Layla simply destroyed. Taking advantage of the confusion Nix enters through an open window just before it was closed, people were shouting about the enemy attack, but none of that mattered to me. The girls go straight to the top of the tower where an office was, I noticed that the captured Fairies were injured and inside a carola, there was a woman in high value clothes and short hair talking to a young man with long blonde hair. "I knew you would like it, these Fairies are all mid-level, plus they have 2 elements, that shouldn''t be possible, this type of Fairy is very rare, but these Fairies are in a group." (Blonde man) "They''re beautiful, where did Vice find them?" (short haired woman) "They were following a White Elf, I wanted to kill him but he ran away." (Blonde man) "Aren''t you afraid they''ll find you since you have a witness?" (short haired woman) "He has no proof, besides I didn''t do anything personally, I know it was a bit risky, but that kind of rare Fairy can serve to strengthen that sword." (Blonde man) "I don''t think it will be a problem as long as we haven''t broken any Taboo regarding souls." (short haired woman) "Other than that I''m willing to help with these Fairies as it can help my research on beings made of condensed energy, it can cause pain and maybe some will die, but nothing will be done with their souls." (short haired woman) "Let''s be quick, then we have to kill these fairies to leave no evidence of what we''ve done, the Queen is not known for being merciful..." (Blonde man) "(Leave them both in Layla''s hands, kill the two guards hiding in the ceiling and near the window.)" (I) Chapter 547: Envoy From Elf Village Chapter 547: Envoy From Elf Village The people at the top of the tower were talking about the Fairies laughing and treating them as if they were rare objects for their convenience, I got a little annoyed by this and told the girls to attack. Sakura captured the couple of Demons with roots that came out of the shadows or that''s what people would think seeing from Fira, actually, those roots came from her arms while her body was inside the shadow. Layla to my surprise didn''t go to attack the Demon couple, she went straight to the cage where the Fairies were trapped, I saw through Sakura''s eyes a magic circle at the bottom of the cage light up and try to push Layla away only for her to create magic blades with space magic. She cuts the cage to pieces before getting closer, much to my surprise the miniature psychopath learned healing spells which she started using on the Fairies who were crying when they saw her. "(Master, we have a problem, I feel like we''re being watched, I think I feel someone in the castle looking this way.)" (Nix) "(Must be the Queen don''t worry, I''ll talk to her later about it.)" (I) "(I''m going to destroy this entire tower and build a new one with the bones of all the people here...)" (Layla) I knew this will happen, after all the Fairies were much better after receiving Layla''s treatment, the psychopath turned her attention to the two people tied by Sakura, she used some sleeping poison that made these two idiots sleep easier to bring them to the Dungeon where I can accommodate them perfectly. Layla seems to start her disturbing architectural project with these two people I needed to do to stop her. "(You''ll have time to deal with those two later, now you need to get out of there.)" (I) "(But what about the others in this place? I must kill them too.)" (Layla) "(Don''t do anything, those two should be enough for you to take care of when you get back, so come back.)" (I) I figured Layla didn''t want to go back before at least tearing the whole place down, but I couldn''t let her do that, the Queen has been treating us well so far and it would be disrespectful to do something like that, so she just saw these two bastards. ---------- By mid-afternoon I was dressed in my most formal outfit made with my own threads, an excellent job, Freya was with me in a prettiest maid outfit while disguising herself as a White Elf. "Did you know?" (I) "Yeah, like I said before, we''re both old friends." (Viviane) "I guess he was the one who wanted to see me, right?" (I) "At first yes, but now I wanted to take advantage of your being here to explain the incident from earlier." (Viviane) "I only acted to rescue my comrades and friends." (I) I belt to them about how Leonardo was beaten and almost killed, I also explained about the Fairies, but not to mention where they are now, I also talk about the death of the two missing people, they haven''t died yet, but that will happen soon so very unpleasant for them as they will be in Layla''s hands. "You did well not to destroy the tower or massacre the people who live there." (Viviane) "I wouldn''t kill innocent people, I won''t take this problem to other people either, so I ended it with those two." (I) "I just hope this is the first and last time you do this, this place has laws and I wish you didn''t break the Laws." (Viviane) After that little conversation I turn my gaze to the Elf who was silently staring at her, then turns to me. "Let me introduce myself again, my name is Lawrence, I am a Night Warrior sent to look for you and I am also one of the envoys who are looking for you." (Loureno) "I thought it was early, have there been any problems in the last few weeks?" (I) "You''re wrong, I don''t want to rush things any further." (Loureno) "I''m just here to accompany you while I''m sure nothing will happen to you." (Loureno) After the brief conversations and information, this time I didn''t stay long, after talking to Loureno I realized that soon I will have to leave this city, but the truth is that I want to visit more places before arriving at the village of the Elves.Visitt for the latest updates Chapter 548: Blood Temple Chapter 548: Blood Temple After talking to the Gray Elf Loureno, I told him to come along since I was the reason he came, during our conversation I felt the respect and admiration he had in his eyes when he looked at Freya, I think if it wasn''t for the Queen Viviane in the room he would have kneeled in front of Freya. I don''t mind him coming and knowing the secret of the Dungeon as the Elves have been good friends to me, besides they need my help to fix their problems with the World Tree. The secret of the Dungeon is of little importance as no one can do anything about it even if they know the truth, I just want to keep it a secret so as not to scare people as I know very well how terrifying the idea of having someone with a Dungeon can be. mobile in and out of cities with ease. After another day of gathering information about this Capitol full of undead, I do a roundup for wheels before heading to a place with Vanessa. "I don''t think we should go now, we can wait until after the rescue." (I) "Father, you should take this opportunity, this is the only place in the entire Dark Continent that has a Temple of Blood from what Lillian told me." (Vanessa) "I''m a little curious about what this place is like, I just hoped it was at a better time when I was going there and not before I left for a place full of undead." (I) Vanessa takes me to the other side of town where we find several temples and churches close to each other. On the way I started to be persecuted by two different groups of people, these were the Priests and Priestesses that Vanessa recognized as being from two religions, the Temple of Lust and the Church of Fertility. I tried to hide from them but they always managed to find me, a chill crept up my back as I thought I had to keep a distance from these dangerous religions. I only managed to escape the chase when I entered the Temple of Blood, as I was running I didn''t pay much attention to where the stake was going, I was more worried about what was coming after me, it was Vanessa who directed me here. Looking at the statue made an image of the Goddess look fearless and full of courage on a battlefield, the expression on the statue''s face portrayed the infinite determination of one who would never surrender. The statue looked almost alive, it was very strange and it caught my attention a lot, but it was the image I saw in the corners of my eyes that left me frozen in place, I tried to look to the side wherein an unfamiliar corner I saw a painting of a red haired girl on her back holding a sword covered in blood, as she was on her back her face was not visible but it looked like her head was slightly lowered, for a moment I seemed to have seen the image of a man with brown hair and eyes blacks much like me smiling facing the child with a hand on his head in the middle of a ruin. Tears "..." (I) Tears "Dad, why are you crying? What happened?" (Vanessa) Tears When I got distracted by Vanessa''s voice and blinked my eyes the image of the man was no longer there, there was only the girl on her back holding a sword covered in blood, and the rest of the frame was a black background that didn''t show anything anymore. Tears I put a hand on my face as I noticed the tears coming out of my eyes nonstop, I also noticed that my heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. "What was that..." (I) Chapter 549: Praying To The Goddess Selene Chapter 549: Praying To The Goddess Selene For a few seconds my mind went blank and I couldn''t understand what was happening or what I had seen, Vanessa was talking to me with a worried face and when she shook me it was like waking up. I notice the tears welling up in my eyes and wipe them away with the handkerchief I pull out of my storage item. "Dad, are you okay? Are you feeling something? Are you sad about something? Do you want to leave?" (Vanessa) "I''m fine now, it was no big deal." (I) I don''t believe my words myself, so I wasn''t surprised to see Vanessa''s suspicious and worried look. To be honest, I don''t know what just happened, I felt like I was in a dream, it all happened so fast, but for some reason, it feels like it happened a long time ago, I''m confused by a lot of things right now. I wanted to understand what happened, but I couldn''t resolve this mess in my head, so I ended up doing what I always do, I tried to forget about it since I had nothing else to do about it. I look around to at least understand where I am and I go back to the picture of the child on his back holding a sword covered in blood, I walk over to this picture and Vanessa follows me. "What picture is this?" (I) "This painting is called "first sin", this painting has in all the Temples of Blood because it has existed since the Goddess Selene still walked among mortals in time immemorial." (Vanessa) "This is just a copy like many others, the real one is lost a long time ago, it is said that the Goddess herself painted the original using the blood of many creatures whose power can destroy worlds." (Vanessa) "That looks like something scary." (I) "If this painting is so important, then why is this one in such a hidden place in this great place, I''m sure a lot of people don''t even notice it normally." (I) "Why do many people get emotional seeing this painting even though it''s a copy, but I''ve never heard of a case as serious as yours though." (Vanessa) "(Not there anymore...)" (I) I was glad to hear her voice while still inside the Temple of the Blood instead of waking up in an unfamiliar place somewhere as usual, but it seems like that was just because I was her son, but even that puts pressure on my soul accordingly. with your words After listening to some of the things she wanted to say to me, I open my eyes and see Vanessa praying beside me with a smile on her face. After we left the Temple of the Blood I noticed that there were still other people of different religions waiting outside, I spread my wings and start to fly as far away from this place as possible. After we arrive, I continue to work with everyone to prepare the expedition to what Lilian calls the Capital of the Undead. I came up with some plans that will be useful along the way or during the battles, as this time our main objective was the rescue, so I had to try to hide until I found the place where the prisoners are. For these plans to work, we have to have a few people walking around that place, so I chose that in addition to my family members, the next ones who will accompany me will be Helga, Irina, Irius, Vanessa and rica... The others could be useful, but I have to stay focused on what matters, which is rescuing prisoners. After we had some plans ready, we all went to get something to eat and get ready to leave, I sent a letter to the Queen telling her what we discovered. With all this ready, all that remained was to sleep comfortably in my bed, as soon as I lie in bed, I feel like I have a great weight on top of me all day. Zzzzzzz... Zzzzz... Zzz... ---------- The next day everyone got ready in a hurry as every second was important, we ate a delicious meal before packing our things to leave. Almost everyone has returned to the Dungeon I close the gate and go out using it, with those things settled we set off on our weeklong bad guys trip. I did well not to be hot headed and to have waited until this moment to go, that''s why I got a lot of information about this ruined Capital, now I feel that we were ready to go on this rescue trip. Chapter 550: Entering A Land Full Of Death Chapter 550: Entering A Land Full Of Death After two trips we had arrived in the lands belonging to the old Kingdom that was taken by death. The capital might be the most dangerous place, but the cursed energy of death spread throughout the land of that Realm, which is why none of the surrounding Realms wanted to expand their borders in that direction. It was easy to identify that we were already inside the lands of this land cursed with death because the trees were dry and dead everywhere, the land was dry and hard, and the wind seemed to carry the sound of groans of suffering, and the air it was colder. The deeper we went into this place things got weirder, a mist started to appear the closer to our objective we got, also monsters started to appear, all were different types of beast-type Undead monsters, but those monsters didn''t matter much since they were all below Grade S. The scene was a little unsettling, but I''ve been to places like this before when I conquered Corpse Dungeon in the past, and thanks to that I''m not that scared. Those with me are Irius, Irina, Hela, Ivan, Vanessa, rica, and my Familiars. Everyone is mounted on their Shadow Horses, Undead Horses, or Demon Horses following the road undisturbed by the monsters, I am using my Aura to drive them away with the fire element Affinity effect that the undead hate. I didn''t want to waste time fighting such weak monsters, besides they were many, everywhere I looked there were dozens of them, that''s why I couldn''t see inside the forests where there should be even more. "They seem to be many." (I) "Probably the number has been piling up because of Monster Waves over the years." (Ivan) "Why didn''t they leave then." (I) "I heard Lilian say that there are many Undead Dungeons all over this place when Monster Waves happen these Undead must attack the nearby Realms." (Vanessa) "But they wouldn''t leave here for no other reason." (Vanessa) "Why you say that?" (I) "Vanessa is right, undead are very attached, because of this they are easily stuck in the same binds for centuries." (Irius) "There are also undead that get very attached to people or items, so we must be careful, this time the chance is high that we will see Spectral-type monsters as ghosts." (Irina) "How do you defeat a monster that has no body?" (I) "Master, Spectral-type undead have no physical body, so normal physical attacks will be useless, plus they don''t have health points or cores to hit, their cores only appear after their deaths during the crystallization of their powers." (Hela) Soon this Phantom Wolf looks around before fixing his eyes on me, then howls in a way that sounds more like a wail of pain than of warning causing dozens of other Phantom Wolves like him to get off the ground and stand in front of us. "I''ve never seen so many Phantom Wolves together, plus they seem to be able to coordinate during an attack." (Irius) "Bone means there might be a higher ranked and stronger monster nearby." (Irina) "It''s there in the middle, it looks like a variant, its tail is longer and its spectral body looks more solid." (Hela) "He must have some level of intelligence, he is trying to hide among the others, he must plan a surprise attack." (I) "These are Grade B Ghosts, the Variant Phantom Wolf might be a Grade A maybe, this is a good opportunity to use that Aura technique, master." (Ragnar) "But I still haven''t completed the technique." (I) "You need more hands-on experience for that, an easy fight like that would be perfect." (Ragnar) "Everything should be fine, they didn''t even try to get close, they are afraid of your Aura filled with the Fire element." (Nix) "(I guess it''s okay to try this technique.)" (I) "< Elemental Aura Needles: Fire >" (I) My Aura spreads around the entire group since we arrived in this place, as there are no Fairies or Spirits in this place, I didn''t need to worry about attracting more of them to me. My Aura this one writhes, spinning at several different points that extends like red tentacles with sharp spikes that pierce through dozens of Phantom Wolves at once. Too fast to be able to do anything when their bodies burned like they were made of paper, Aura''s tentacles that were red with the tips on fire explode soon after when I lost control of them. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! "You know, another failure." (I) I use my lines coming out of my fingers to pick up the cores I felt condense after the Ghosts died, but I didn''t have many, I only had 13 cores and one was slightly larger than the others, but they were all small as marbles. Chapter 551: An Interesting New Idea Chapter 551: An Interesting New Idea I was looking at those little cores that the Phantom Wolves dropped, I felt they were very different from the monster cores I normally see. "Monster cores normally have a slight warm energy inside them, but undead monster cores release cooler energy, that''s because monster cores have a trail of vital energy left over from the monster that just died, but the Undead- living are already dead from the beginning." (Hela) "You know a lot about the undead, Hela." (I) "I have the memories of my previous life as Farus, he learned a lot about Undead from the Heretic God Kaharak." (Hela) "Learning directly from a God whose authority of power lies in death would make Farus a genius Necromancer, that would be an opportunity any Necromancer kills for." (Ragnar) "He was an idiot, he let himself be manipulated knowing he was just a tool for that Heretic God." (Hela) "He was an idiot, his life decisions were one worse than the other, everything would have been different if he hadn''t surrendered to despair so easily." (Hela) "Let''s stop talking about the dead, don''t you see something dangerous happening?" (rica) "I don''t see any other Undead nearby." (Irius) "I don''t feel any danger either." (Ivan) "Not that..." (Vanessa) "You''re looking the wrong way... look at Father..." (Irina) "..." (I) As we talked I was holding the cores and an idea was starting to form in my head, I was still listening to what others were saying but I was using parallel thinking to continue my train of thought about my idea. "Wait master, could you tell us what you were thinking first?" (rica) "I don''t want to, you guys will find out when the preparations will be finished, it will be interesting when that happens... ha ha hahahahahahahshaha..." (I) I think anyone who could see what was going on here would find all of us water-crazy so casually in a place like this. ----------- The night turned to day and then turned to night again, a whole day had passed, along the way we noticed that during the day only half of the undead that have physical bodies are walking around, and the other half of the undead with physical bodies. physicists hide in shady places or choose to dig to hide underground, Spectral-type undead as they can pass through solid objects spend the day underground or inside thick trees, some even tried to possess weapons which ended up trapping them. them in these weapons after a long time becoming a monster called a cursed weapon. During the night everyone came out of their hiding places and became more aggressive, but what surprised me was that these monsters always ran towards us to attack even when they were almost defeated, if it wasn''t for my Aura that kept full of the fire element we wouldn''t even be able to rest. Another thing I noticed was that the number of Undead that I already thought was large seemed to get more and more the deeper into this land of death we entered. I also noticed that the mist was getting thicker and thicker which made it difficult for people to see, but it was useless against the Undead who could sense our location by sensing the vital energy in our bodies. Of course, this would only count for normal people, we can all perceive our surroundings using our Auras and skill-enhanced senses, me more than the others as my Aura was able to digitize everything into an image inside my head. Undead are the worst types of monsters, they don''t feel fear and that''s why intimidation skills are useless against them, undead don''t get tired and so they will fight until they are defeated. These are very troublesome enemies to fight, so I was worried about leaving Vanessa, rica, Ivan, Irius, and Irina fighting alone, but this was to make them stronger, these enemies were perfect for them as they have skills and affinities elementals that are the natural enemy against the undead. Freya had already told me that Irius and Irina were getting nervous that they were falling behind in strength to others, Airbus was spending his days training along with Leo and Irina was trying to create her own original magic which is very difficult even Rakan an expert and great scholar in the field of magic doesn''t have many original spells, this proves the level of difficulty of such a thing. I wanted to take advantage of this trip to help them become stronger, I chose all of them because they have great chances to evolve. cross this barrier killing as many minutes in a short amount of time. If they are in any danger I will be able to help at any time if needed, Hela is here because she is an undead expert who can provide me with information and help if needed. Now we only need three more days to reach the Ruined Capital of this ancient Kingdom, that place is where the most powerful undead are and the cursed Dungeon above the Catastrophe Grade, from the information we have it will be there that we will find the Demons of Blood. Chapter 552: Ghost Town Chapter 552: Ghost Town As we were going deeper and deeper into this place over the course of 4 days none of us slept, which is not a problem as we are mostly Vampires, Ivan being an Undead doesn''t need sleep, Hela says he could go a month without sleep easily and the person I thought would have the most sleep problems rica says she''s already gone a week without sleep with her magical research (Evil). Lilian had already warned us that it would be dangerous to sleep in this place as she has enemies that can possess our bodies or affect our minds when our guard is lower. I don''t know if any of them could affect someone with my level of strength, but I don''t need to test my luck to find out. During these few days, I noticed how much stronger everyone has become after thousands of fighting day and night, enemies can be weak below Grade S mostly, but some Grade S enemies have already started to appear. These enemy types are still too weak for rica, Irius, Irina, Ivan, and Vanessa who can either fight alone against Grade SSS enemies or team up to face enemies of Lower Catastrophe Grade. But the strength of these enemies is being their number which seems almost infinite, we have few moments of rest during the night and the numbers of the Undead never seem to decrease, I also noticed that mixed with the mist that is obstructing the vision has mixed miasma that strengthens more the Undead while disrupting other people''s detection abilities, senses, and Auras. Miasma for me is as comfortable to breathe as fresh air itself since I have Affinity with the element of darkness and with curses, thanks to that my senses and Aura are not affected by the miasma, but most of my detection abilities would be impeded with only a few still working with detect blood and vital energy being the most useful. After many battles I had already collected many cores of Undead monsters, I was separating those belonging to Spectral-type monsters from the others, that''s why I was still thinking about what to do with these things. As these cores are categorized as part of the monsters I can eat as long as I''m able to chew, but I''ve avoided doing that since this isn''t the time to do weird tests, I''ll wait until we get back to do that. As I was still thinking about my plan, I had to categorize all these monster cores by their race and strength by attaching tags to the cores before storing them. We encountered many types of Undead and I told Vanessa to avoid using her holy magic, so she is focusing more on her light magic. "This must be one of those cities." (I) "In the Adventurer''s Guild, they said that no one who entered the cities returned." (Ivan) "Did they say what was the maximum strength of those who entered these cities?" (I) "I remember them saying with regret that it was a group formed by Grade S Adventurers, since then no one enters these cities anymore, in fact, no one ventures that deeply into this place anymore." (rica) "That explains why there are so many undead, they let the monsters build up a lot over time." (Vanessa) "It doesn''t matter, I can imagine the strength of whatever monster is there, along the way I felt how the undead strength progressed the deeper we went." (I) "Enemies within this city must be SS Grade the strongest, I find it difficult to appear any Grade SSS." (I) "I think you may be right master, I also noticed the same thing." (Hela) "But be careful with sneak attacks and the unknown number of undead, if you need me and the others we will interfere in the combat." (I) "Let''s go now." (I) We all head towards this small town cautiously as we don''t know what we can find. Chapter 553: Different Meanings Of Ghost Town Chapter 553: Different Meanings Of Ghost Town We arrived in front of the city gates and we can see a part of the walls, clearly, a big battle took place here, the walls were broken with a big hole in place and the city gates which were made of wood as thick as my body seen from the front was completely rotted and splintered. The parts of the wall that weren''t destroyed were scarred by many different types of attacks, but all we saw were ruins that from a long time ago, there were moss and strange plants growing from the walls, and there were also clearly poisonous mushrooms growing from parts of the rotting gate of the City. "Clearly a big battle took place here." (I)Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) "There are a lot of rare ingredients around here, it worries me." (Ivan) "Like this?" (I) "The mosses on the city walls are called ghost mosses, they grow in places with a lot of ectoplasm, this is a substance generated by Spectral-type undead." (Ivan) "The plants along with the moss are another ingredient called Illusory herb, this plant grows by absorbing energy released from the spectral bodies." (Ivan) "The mushrooms near the gate are mushrooms of despair, it grows by absorbing miasma in places where wailing moans are constantly heard." (Ivan) "You learned a lot about ingredients..." (Irina) "One of my wives from when I was still alive was a Combat Alchemist, she went to many dangerous places just to get rare ingredients, I always listened to her stories and saw many of these ingredients with her, plus my daughter also has many ingredients and is always reading alchemy books, she also talks about her research." (Ivan) ,m "I understand where you''re going, you ended up learning a lot because of your coexistence with Alchemists of great talent." (I) "No master, he''s saying that all these ingredients are found in places where Ghosts gather, plus there''s a lot of those ingredients here." (Hela) "But the monsters at the gates we''re seeing are Zombies." (Vanessa) "I don''t see any Ghosts." (I) "They must be inside the city, let''s finish off these Zombies first." (rica) "< Fangs of the Infernal Beast > 15" (rica) Because of the mist and the miasma in the surroundings, the monsters that were previously hidden began to appear little by little, there were many Ghosts of different types of monsters, but the most complicated was a Ghost with a maid outfit that used wind element magic like Humans, she built magic circles quickly and was able to dodge everyone''s attacks due to her speed. In the end, it took an area attack to defeat this Undead, this Ghost was only Grade SS as predicted but it was very fast. The other was a giant Spectral monster that devoured other Ghosts and Spirits, as soon as it appeared it came towards me or should I say towards my shadow, it seems that it felt Nix and wanted to devour her. This monster was like a very fat person without a head, instead, it had a giant mouth in the barrel that could swallow me whole. His attack was a fog that caused hallucination and fired a bolt of paralyzing energy from his large mouth, Irius had to pretend to be paralyzed for the enemy to approach with the big mouth open only to be cut in half by a sword whose blade is glowing. with the element of Light. With so many battles going on in the middle of the day we took a long time in the city, when it finally became night and the light of the Suns disappeared completely we were already in the center of the small town where there were many mutilated body parts on the ground, they were just bone fragments, but it was enough to imagine the massacre that took place there. I looked around and everything was so dark with horrifying whispers in the wind possessed trees that moved strangely, it was at that moment when I looked around that I noticed something that made me laugh. "I just realized that some things have different meanings depending on where you are." (I) "What are you talking about, Father?" (Vanessa) "In my old world, it was called Ghost Town when the city was empty or abandoned." (I) "But in this world the meaning is different, the name Ghost Town expresses its meaning literally..." (I) When night fell, many Ghosts and Spectral-type Undead began to appear from the ground, trees, buildings, and even some items while others that had turned into other races as cursed weapons. Enemies blocked the sky with their sheer numbers, plus the environment itself suddenly became more terrifying. The stains of dried blood turned to fresh blood running down the walls, and the whisper of help or pain that he heard whenever the wind blew could now be heard clearly all the time. Among the Ghosts were Specters who were intelligent spectral-type Undead who could control Ghosts, use spells or curses, and could steal their victims'' vitality without needing to get close. "I think this time it might be a lot for these 5 to fight so many enemies, even more so with a smart one coordinating them." (I) Chapter 554: Fight In The Ghost Town Chapter 554: Fight In The Ghost Town As the day turned to night the ghost town seemed to come to life, the already terrifying scenery became horror movies, plus the large crowd of Spectral-type Undead was all in the sky after coming out of their hiding places now that the night has finally come. But this situation only lasted less than 2 seconds before all these monsters turned towards us. "Hello!" (I) "< Summon: Skeleton Dragon >" (Hela) Upon seeing this large number of Undead I spread my Aura over them and detected hundreds of SS Grade monsters, but I also had 8 SSS Grade monsters. Dust because of that, I told Hela to act since it wasn''t time for Vanessa to wear herself out using her holy magic. ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Hela calmly steps forward and a ten meter magic circle formed of blood appears behind her, then claws rip from the middle of the magic circle opening a completely black space of more than 10 meters. a deafening roar before bursting out completely. "Devour all enemies in the sky!" (Hela) "< Eater of Death >" (Hela) A black and gray energy opens up from the Dragon''s body along with a brutal Aura, then the Dragon opens its jaws in the direction the monsters were coming from and this energy builds up in a vortex that seems to suck the monsters into the Dragon''s jaws. Hela uses a magic circle at the end of the vortex funnel, gathering the miasma in the surroundings to maintain the magic circle. Soon all the monsters are sucked into the vortex as they try to launch different types of attacks on the Skeleton Dragon, but their attacks did nothing to this mighty Dragon whose bones are tougher than diamonds. When all the monsters were close to being completely sucked in, black chains covered in Runes began to come out of the black portal behind Hela through which the Skeleton Dragon had emerged, these chains began to latch onto the Skeleton Dragon''s body and pull him back inside from the portal, but the Dragon resists by firmly gripping the ground with its mighty claws, but even so, he is slowly dragged away with more and more ease with each new chain that clings to his body. The Skeleton Dragon''s resistance to being taken away was not in vain, before being taken away he managed to suck every last of the monsters into the vortex he created in his mouth. Soon the vortex disappears showing the middle of the magic circle that Hela had created at the end of the vortex funnel, there was a crystal sphere the size of a head with several Ghost figures moving inside. As this crystal sphere floated into Hela''s hands the Skeleton Dragon disappeared inside the completely black portal which then closed, Hela was a little paler than usual and knelt on a single knee in front of me as she extended the crystal towards me. me. "I deliver this Phantom Orb to you, Master." (Hela) "But connecting with her mind was too hard to bear I felt like my mind could be crushed with a single thought of hers, yet I still managed to convey all the information I have about the Phantom Orbs." (Hela) "This was unnecessarily dangerous, a normal person''s mind can be seriously injured by receiving a lot of information directly like this." (Vanessa) "I''m fine, I just have a little headache." (I) "I already knew that the master would be able to bear it, besides it''s not much information, it would only give a medium-sized book." (Hela) "Even I would have been in a coma with something like that." (rica) "This idiot has a very strong mind from having endured massive amounts of pain whenever he did stupid things." (Layla) "The master''s soul is also strong, as his Divine Beast I can feel it." (Orion) "That wouldn''t be enough, this spell is used by Necromancers when they want to teach something to the Undead they have, this is a stronger variation of an existing spell." (Hela) "As a child of a Goddess, I knew the master would be able to bear it, in fact, I was the one who couldn''t bear to come into contact with his mind." (Hela) While the others were talking about Hela''s recklessness, I was organizing the information in my head, it took me a few minutes to assimilate this new knowledge. "(Very similar to a Monster Core, this Phantom Orb only contains more than pure energy, it also contains the death energy that all Undead have and the Spectral energy that only Undead of this type have.)" ( I) "(Maybe this can be of great help to my plans.)" (I) "He''s making that smile again." (Sakura) "I''m curious what he''s thinking." (Ragnar) "Perhaps we should destroy this Phantom Orb?" (Nix) "Stop being cowards, something fun could happen." (Layla) "You and the master are the only ones who think so." (Nix) "(Other people''s Familiars are so good with their Contractors, so why do mine treat me with such distrust?)" (I) I was smiling thinking about how much my plan would benefit from this Phantom Orb and I was already thinking about how to improve the plan, but I was still paying attention to the conversations around me and I was upset with the way my Familiars talked about me. Chapter 555: Battlefield On The Way To The Capital Chapter 555: Battlefield On The Way To The Capital After I got rid of all those Spectral-type Undead monsters, I spread my Aura all over the city, because of the size of the city the number of monsters was much greater than this city would have inhabitants, besides that it only had those monsters, there were no other undead within the city now. As most of us were tired and Hela was almost unconscious due to exhaustion from Summoning the Skeleton Dragon, creating the Phantom Orb, and for relaying the Phantom Orb information to me. Because of these things I choose one of the sturdiest houses to rest in for a day, I also put a light barrier around the house, so I called some people from the Dungeon to scour this whole city to collect anything that might be useful. Unfortunately, anything this city had was worn out and destroyed after an unknown number of years, the only things we were able to find that were useful were parts of dead monsters or alchemy ingredients. But we found two strange things, the first was a church or temple that was in better condition than the whole city, it was also the only place that had not been contaminated with miasma and the things inside seemed to have been better preserved, unfortunately, there was nothing other than a half-destroyed statue that must belong to some god I don''t know. The second strange thing was a destruction path we found, the hole we saw in the city wall before we went in had a big straight destruction path that went through the whole city to the other wall that had another hole, it looked like a giant creature had passed through here destroying everything in its path. I hadn''t noticed this before because I didn''t go to see the hole in the wall more closely and I preferred to go through the entrance to the city, but I imagine that whatever passed through here must have been more than 10 meters high, otherwise I can''t say nothing more. ----------- The next day everyone was back to their full strength, I had already sent the others back to the Dungeon after exploring the entire city the day before. After everyone was ready we started to follow the path that led to the capital or should I say the path that we thought would lead to the capital if Ivan was right. One thing I noticed on our way out of the city was that the Undead had started to enter the city again, but that was because it was unoccupied, thanks to not having Ghosts to fend off the other Undeads, the ones on either side outside that aimless began to enter the city. I try to ignore most as we ride down the road on our mounts, Ragnar always maintains a constant speed so the others can keep up, but I know that''s not even half the speed he can go. We all followed the road at the same speed as usual, since it was daylight the undead were less aggressive and there were few Spectral-type undead, thanks to that our speed was very good, but I noticed that even though it was day, the weather was getting darker and darker as we headed towards the center of this death-filled land. "(This feeling is familiar, but where did I feel it before?)" (I) "What shall we do, master?" (rica) "Huh!?" (I) "Sorry, I was distracted by something else." (I) "Can you roughly feel the strength of monsters, Hela?" (I) "Unfortunately not, the miasma and malice is very strong here, it''s starting to affect my senses significantly." (Hela) I spread my Aura and try to harmonize with the environment, but I couldn''t, this place has an unbalanced environment, I''m not able to exert the harmony effect here, that means I can no longer hide my Aura from enemies when I want to use it to explore the surroundings, enemies might be able to sense my Aura now. "(Since I can''t hide my Aura anyway, so go anyway.)" (I) I quickly spread my Aura and a clear image of this battlefield comes to mind, there were bodies of monsters and horned people, some were without clothes, others were in tattered clothes or armor and there were also some with clothes intact. As soon as my Aura spread out these bodies on the ground started to stand up and look in our direction, not only that, but there were also Spectral-type Undead hiding underground that started to show themselves. "It was a trap, they were just pretending to be bodies on the ground, I also only noticed that 11 of them have Grade SSS strength, all the others are below that." (I) "You have ten minutes before they arrive to prepare, maybe less." (I) "..." (all) Chapter 556: Living Armor Chapter 556: Living Armor "You have ten minutes before they arrive to prepare, maybe less." (I) "..." (all) Everyone was surprised when I said that, but they wasted no time knowing I wouldn''t joke about such a thing. "< Superior Enhanced Defense > 5" (Irina) "< Light of the Great Warrior > 2" (Irina) "< Reflective Light Armor > 5" (Irina) "< Blood Frenzy > 3" (Vanessa) "< Improved Regeneration > 5" (Vanessa) "< Infernal Flaming Beasts > 20" (rica) "< Infernal Sword >" (Ivan) "< Guardian Self Improvement >" (Irius) Everyone prepared for combat with full force, rica after months of studying her original magic and a lot of practice in combat to experiment with this magic, she could now summon her Infernal Flaming Beasts to fight without her needing to control everything personally, in addition, she no longer needing to stand still while using this spell, she could fight by coordinating with her Infernal Flaming Beasts. I waved for Hela to come closer and spoke something in her ear, then handed the Phantom Orb to her who starts drawing a magic circle on the floor before placing the Phantom Orb in the middle of the magic circle made of blood. "They are coming!" (I) I was calm because I could interfere in the battle at any time, besides none of them were weak to die with a single attack from these types of monsters, this was a good opportunity to get stronger. As soon as I warned them the beast-type Undead monsters were the first to arrive, Ivan with his flaming sword that glowed with white light thanks to Irina''s strengthening magic rushed forward beside Irius. These monsters were fast but weak, the two managed to cut them and serve as bait preventing them from advancing further to where the mages are preparing their spells. Soon I see an 8 meter tall Humanoid Skeleton with a tree in its hands coming towards us, against all expectations this thing is pretty fast for its size. In addition, I saw Death Knights and a Lich in blue robes and a staff whose tip was a golden bird. But what caught my attention was a half-broken armor that was moving by itself, I could see that there was nothing inside, the only monster I could think of with this appearance was a Living Armor. "KILL, KILL ALL ENEMIES IN THE KINGDOM!!!!" (Living Armor) SHOUT!!!! Of course behind these strong enemies came the rest of the Undead army screaming as if responding to the Living Armor''s command. "That Living Armor can talk." (I) "It can, but it''s still far from being like Ivan, your Aura shows your lack of control, the only thing in your Aura is murderous intent." (Ragnar) "I heard him talk about the Kingdom, his mind is lost if he didn''t realize that there is no Kingdom anymore." (Sakura) "I''ve read in books that undead get obsessed easily, like Ivan being overprotective of his daughter or a Ghost being trapped inside the house where he died." (I) "He must be a knight or general very loyal to this Realm for that to be his obsession." (I) While talking, I just kept seeing the enemies running in a more orderly way while that Living Armor served as a spearhead while advancing. "I take care of Living Armor, Irius goes against the Giant Skeleton, Irina goes against the Lich, Vanessa against the Death Knight and rica takes care of the Undead army!" (Ivan) I was watching everyone from afar, they were out of my Aura''s influence, I did this because I didn''t want to receive any EXP for now. I was a little away from them watching the whole situation, Ivan''s commands were as fast and precise as ever. "He left rica with the army because he knows she''s the best at dealing with groups of enemies." (Orion) "Exactly, Ivan is a former general, I don''t think it''s strange that he has a talent for leading." (I) Chapter 557: Arrival At Capital Of The Undead Chapter 557: Arrival At Capital Of The Undead I can see everyone''s struggle from afar, rica was facing the weakest enemies, but the most numerous. I saw her casting spells from afar while her Infernal Flaming Beasts ran between the enemies, the spells used was a large magic circle with the size of hundreds of meters that began to glow with a black light that caused enemies to start on fire simply by being there, no kind of attack against the magic circle had any effect. rica also created fire tornadoes, fire arrows, and various other fire spells, her magic attacks seemed to have no effect against her Infernal Flaming Beasts which seemed faster in a fire filled terrain like this. When these Infernal Flaming Beasts hit the enemies they started to catch fire, this cursed purple fire spread through the enemy''s body, an attack that seems weak but leads to death. Any attack that defeated these Infernal Flaming Beasts would cause an explosion sending a wave of dust fire all around. I also noticed that whenever five or more of these Creatures made of fire were defeated, rica would summon more. The enemy army was already burning more than 70% and I didn''t even get close to rica even though she was at some distance casting area spells. Irina was having a much easier time with her enemy, instead of using light attacks she preferred to use water attacks which turned acid when she activated the corrosion skill, the Lich did his best to defend himself, this showed that he still conserved some of his intelligence even though he was unable to speak. Irina''s spells even when they were defended still spread water around the Lich''s surroundings, before he realized he had fallen into a trap, several spears of Water were sent from the puddles in the water around him breaking his barrier. At that moment the water in the surroundings came together trapping the Lich inside where his body began to rapidly dissolve, the Lich didn''t even have a chance to fight as a barrier of light was created around the water sphere. "(She used the strategy that I also use, this grants a guaranteed and safe victory.)" (I) Vanessa was fighting the Death Knight, she fought using magic attacks at point-blank range, the Death Knight was quite skilled and had quick reactions being able to dodge some attacks while her black bladed sword managed to cut a wound in one of the healthy wings of Vanessa. "(I hadn''t noticed that the sword was a monster either, it must be a Cursed Weapon.)" (I) Ivan makes a magic circle from which skeletal hands emerge which he uses to grip the sword and impede its movement, but this distraction leaves him headless as Living Armor grabs Ivan''s head and twists back as he pulls, but that doesn''t stop the sword of Ivan passing through the monster''s core causing it to fall like a pile of rusty armor. After that Ivan takes the Cursed Sword and uses fire magic to cover the sword with high-temperature fire causing the sword to melt while maintaining a firm grip to keep from running away. After the fight is over I go to them and keep a safe area to rest for a few minutes. "Master, here is the Phantom Orb." (Hela) I touch it to identify and confirm that the quality has increased to Ultra Rare (UR). "Keep it with you for now, after everyone is better we''ll head to the capital city." (I) ---------- After everyone was in better condition and I had collected everything that looked useful, including that Giant Skeleton''s entire body, we continued our way to the nearby town. In a short time we arrived at the city gates, I felt that the miasma and mist around here is even stronger even though the distance is not very great from the area where we fight. Also, the gate in front of us was made of metal and was 10 meters high, but what worried me was to see that one side of the gate was on the dented floor covered in rust while the other side of the Gate had a large claw mark. "Here we are, the capital of this crumbling Realm dominated by the Undead." (I)Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) Chapter 558: Memories Of A City Chapter 558: Memories Of A City I look at the destroyed gate and look at what I can see in this haze on the city walls that are damaged but still standing. An image of the destruction path that we saw having destroyed two walls and having made a destruction path in the previous city comes to my mind, so I look at the main gate of that city. "(Was it the same monsters?)" (I) "Now it''s time for everyone to leave, we can''t fight like we''ve been doing anymore, this is still a rescue mission." (I) "I still think you should bring more people, master." (Ivan) "We don''t know who the enemies are, we don''t know their numbers, we don''t know the strength of the Undead inside this city, and we only have a rough idea of where the prisoners are." (I) "Under these conditions, the best I can do is go alone with my Family." (I) All my Familiars have a strength above Lower Catastrophe Grade, besides they will be able to help me in many things, Hela and Vanessa stayed with me for now since we don''t know what kind of monster there is in this city. "The monster must have been dead a long time, these are ancient ruins." (rica) "But that could also mean that this giant monster has turned into an Undead." (Irina) "I admit I''m curious about this monster and the reason it came here causing so much destruction, but I also don''t want to take the risk of having to fight an Undead monster of that size." (I) "We can be sure that the place of a temple or church would be the right place for us to go, as we saw in the previous city, it would be the best place to stay being in such a hostile place." (Vanessa) "I wonder how these people got here with hundreds of prisoners." (I) "They might have some artifact, magic, or technique to ward off the Undead." (Hela) "If this is true, then our theory of them being inside some Church or Temple could be wrong." (Vanessa) "(Is this a dream? An illusion?)" (I) I kept looking at people loading their carts full of ingredients to street stalls being opened, children playing in the street, stores opening, and even a street robbery. There was a mother carrying three young children down the street, there were Adventurers coming out of town heading our way, and there were soldiers walking down the street greeting some street stall owners. I''ve reached out to one of the Adventurers coming towards us and my hand goes through him leaving a trail of mist as the Adventurer continues on his way unchanged. "I can feel different Auras from each one, this is not an illusion or dream, this feels more like a memory..." (Ragnar) "Some of them are Ghosts, this is normal among their race, to get lost in past memories reliving them over and over again." (Hela) "But I feel something else, an urge within the mist itself as if the mist is acting as a medium for something else spreading one across the city..." (I) "..." (Ragnar) Ragnar in his human form closes his eyes and I feel him spreading his Aura before opening his eyes again. "I could feel it now, a feeling of regret, sadness, loneliness, and guilt." (Ragnar) "The mist and the miasma are separate, but I can feel the curse energy contained in the mist itself." (I) We kept walking down the street and seeing a thriving city full of people going about their daily lives, but we weren''t able to hear anything, it felt like watching a silent movie in virtual reality. Boom! Screams! Screams! Screams! But everything changed after a few minutes, when we were a little further away from the city gates a noise happened suddenly it was the city gate being destroyed and something that looked like some sort of crocodile with a humanoid head and tentacles instead of limbs entered the room City. Chapter 559: What Caused This Kingdom To Fall Chapter 559: What Caused This Kingdom To Fall As soon as we entered this city we soon fell into some kind of illusion or should I say that I activated this illusion somehow, Ragnar and Hela say that this is not an illusion, Ragnar even says that it looks more like some kind of memory than the Ghosts do by continually reliving certain events. It was in this strange environment that that thing appeared through the gates of the capital city. I was shocked by the appearance of the monster which was some kind of crocodile with a humanoid head and tentacles instead of limbs entered the city, its body seemed to be made of a thick liquid substance that somehow managed to take the shape of this monster. Screams! Screams!!! "" Before this monster appeared no sound could be heard, the first sound I heard was the city gate being destroyed, after that, it was the screams of fear and despair of people who started to speak in a language I don''t know. Rooooaarrrrr!!!!!! The monster passed us, I tried to touch it, but just like earlier with the Adventurer, I tried to touch the place I touched it turned to mist before returning to the monster. The monster passed destroying everything in its path, it crushed people simply by going over them, in addition, its tentacles swung around the surroundings destroying everything, while the monster passed the city was destroyed and everyone in its path was torn to pieces. I saw Adventurers and Soldiers managing to land blows, spells, and techniques on the monsters using a strategy that sacrificed some, but it was all in vain, their attacks were for nothing as the monsters didn''t suffer any scratches. The monster even ate the bodies, and after a few minutes the monster destroyed more than half of the city, in addition, a strong miasma spread from the monster to the whole city as the monster destroyed everything, so even the normal people who manage to keep away from the monster were slowly dying. "" "< >" Soon an old man appeared before the monster, he had come from the castle, he didn''t look at the monster, he looked at a six-pointed star-shaped jewel on the monster''s back. "It has two Catastrophe Grades and almost all the others are SSS Grade." (I) "Can you take care of the spectral monsters, Hela?" (I) "If it was just a few dozen or maybe less than 200, then yes, but with those numbers, it''s going to be difficult, and that''s mainly because of the favorable environment for them." (Hela) "If I weaken them, can you use the Phantom Orb to absorb them?" (I) "Without help from the Skeleton Dragon or the magic I used before, so no, I can''t use either option at the moment either." (Hela) "I would have to take care of a few at a time, it would be faster and easier to just destroy the enemies." (Hela) "I take care of the Ghosts, so Sakura and Layla will distract the others and help us escape." (I) "Have we been discovered..." (Vanessa) "We don''t have time to think about it right now." (I) "< Spiritual Web >" (I) I manipulate lines that were created using my spirit energy, then use my Aura to increase their power while increasing my control over that line. I create a large spider''s web in the sky that quickly captures the spectral monsters that try to break free, but I control the web and tie these monsters'' wheels into cocoons that I grab to drag with me. I make the Fairies take this thing to the Dungeon and take it away from the city, I also left a message for the others to keep an eye on it until I get back. "< Fairy Illusion >" (Layla) "< Nature''s Prison >" (Sakura) Chapter 560: Treasure Of The Magic Tower Chapter 560: Treasure Of The Magic Tower After storing Spectral-type Undead Monsters in a large cocoon made of threads I produced with spirit energy, I keep an eye on others'' battles to see if they need my help. "< Fairy Illusion >" (Layla) "< Nature''s Prison >" (Sakura) Layla''s wings stretch out, glowing rainbow colors, so images of thousands of Fairies just like Layla begin to fly amidst the undead, each illusion of which has a faint trace of Layla''s Aura and vitality. Thanks to this the Undead tried to strike the Illusory Fairies, but as they are just illusions their blows land on other Undead, this situation created chaos among the Undead who were only focused on us a few seconds ago. After that Sakura used her power to control the hundreds of dry and strange trees in the surroundings to make them grow in the form of Ki reinforced walls, she locked the undead in a big box that would fit an entire city block inside. After the two are done they come to me, Layla looks upset about walking away from the battle and Sakura looks a little tired. "Are you sure we can''t just slaughter a few hundred undead? I promise I''ll be quick." (Layla)Nne?w n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com "I already told you we''re getting out of here." (I) "The two Enemies of the Catastrophe Grade will break my prison in 15 minutes." (Sakura) "That will be enough, we''ll be away by then." (I) I look around and spit some blood in a direction from where the space started to ripple, the blood I spit took the shape of a needle before crystallizing and disappearing in the place where the space was rippling. "No... I won''t be..." "Damn, he killed himself." (I) "What happened? What voice was that?" (Hela) Soon a man from the Fox Tribe of the Beast Men appears out of nowhere dropping dead with blood leaking from his mouth, eyes, nose, and ears. This man had a fox tail, large ears on top of his head, and white fur, and brown fur. <[ You acquired the [ Beast Man (Fox): 73% ] bloodline ]> "It''s been a while since I''ve had fresh blood, I was getting hungry too, now we can get out of here." (I) "< Ignite >" (I) I use a magic on the body on the ground that was already starting to move as miasma entered the body, I do this to burn it to ashes to ensure that this one also doesn''t become another Undead that we will have to fight with. "That won''t help master, your soul could end up turning into a Ghost or Spectre." (Hela) "If you had given me the opportunity, then I could have had a quick funeral service, it would only take 2 or 3 minutes." (Vanessa) "This will ensure that your body doesn''t turn into an Undead and your Soul goes closer to the Goddess." (Vanessa) "I didn''t think of that at the time, I''m sorry, I''ll remember that next time." (I) Hela and Vanessa call my attention to something I did wrong, they were right, I think because no enemy has risen after being defeated here, I ended up letting it go that this is an area full of undead and miasma, this has been proven with the body starting to become an Undead within seconds of death. As planned, we continue running through alleys and places where we can easily hide as we advance towards the area of the temples where we know the tower is thanks to the visions of the past that we saw upon entering this city. On the way Vanessa says that the Dungeon that was formed using the castle looked like a Cursed Dungeon, that means that this miasma permeating this whole place must come from this Dungeon, this explains why this city has such a thick miasma. When we get close to the area where the Temples are, we see a square where the tower is in the middle, there are two large buildings on the left and one on the right, the three still standing more damaged to different degrees, in front of where we were there was more a building completely destroyed in the rubble. I was only able to see all this because there was less miasma and fog in this area which improved our view, the square seemed to serve as a link between the different Temples, and the tower in the middle of the square was very different from everything else, it was the only building completely intact, this stood out very much in this ruined city. We could see dozens of people near the tower and hundreds walking around the square as if watching the place, there were no undead around. "Those people are mostly injured, their clothes are also worn out and stained with blood." (Sakura) "This city has a lot more miasma than usual, even in this place with so many Temples around it has miasma, because of that the undead can still come here sometimes, but I imagine most still keep away by instinct since Temples are a dangerous place for them." (Hela) "So this is the tower we have to go to? Isn''t it the same treasure tower where the dismembered old man put that big gem?" (Layla) Chapter 561: With Good Intentions Hell Is Full Chapter 561: With Good Intentions Hell Is Full I look up at the tower knowing Layla was the last to notice something everyone else had already noticed, but what I''ve been thinking for a while is that it must be this six-pointed star-shaped gem these people want, maybe it is that''s why they came here. From the beginning it seemed strange to me that an unknown group would come to this place with hundreds of prisoners, this place is very dangerous for normal people. "You were the last to notice these were the same tower." (I) "You never said that this city only had this tower, I thought it could be the same as City of Blood that has 3 towers." (Layla) "Valid point, maybe you still have salvation." (I) "Was that a compliment? I hope it was or else I''ll..." (Layla) "Try to behave yourself, Layla, this is not the time to be loud." (Nix) Nix pulls half her body out of my shadow and holds Layla in her hands while using one finger to cover this annoying Fairy''s mouth. While Nix takes care of Layla, the others and I are assessing the situation. I look at people walking around and I notice that there are few Demons among them, mostly they are Beast Men, there are also many White Elves and some Dark Elves but I don''t see any Gray Elves, I don''t see any Vampire either. "There are many half-elves among them." (Vanessa) "Now that I''ve noticed it''s true, the size of your ears is a little smaller than pure Elves." (I) "But it''s strange to have so few Demons among them, most of the population of this continent should be Demons." (Ragnar) "Ragnar, can you use your Aura to get some information from them?" (I) "Of course, the miasma here is weaker, I''ll try to feel if there''s any more inside the tower or in the temples around it." (Ragnar) "Thanks, your aura control is better than mine, even if you have someone of the same strength level with them they won''t be able to notice you, but they would notice me now that I can''t mix my Aura with the surroundings." (I) "But you would be able to gather a lot more information than I can, but I don''t think we have much choice right now." (Ragnar) In a few seconds, the flesh began to move and I saw the bones of the bodies being separated as if they were going to expel the bones from the body. As soon as the bones came out, the flesh and muscles that were left behind wriggled together before starting to form different grotesque beings that were coming out of this disgusting mass of rotting flesh writhing. The number of bodies was only enough for 9 Flesh Golems. Without delay, Hela puts her plan into action, during the Flesh Golems attack two more people were killed while one person was thrown towards us. I use my lines to grab that person and pull towards us while tying him up, I also gag him just to make sure he doesn''t scream along the way. We all head to a half-destroyed building that luckily was some rich inn where one of the rooms was still in decent shape. I placed a sound barrier around the room just by chance and also forced our guest to drink a potion similar to truth serum, it should help him talk. p The moment I took the gag off him I left my Aura covering just the two of us as I didn''t want to scare the others, I activated the effects of fear, ruler, murderous intent, and pain. With all this, he won''t be able to lie during the interrogation, feeling so much fear and pain, he won''t be able to invent anything, in fact, I think I''ll take the pain effect out since if he''s screaming he won''t be able to answer my questions. I started by asking a simple question, a question that someone of SS Grade like him should know, I asked the reason for bringing the Blood Demons here. The answer he gave was that all this was to save the continent, he said that his leader found a way to save the continent from a serious crisis, but for that, he needed a lot of sacrifices, but his leader had a kind heart and didn''t want to do such an atrocity to innocent people. That''s when their leader came up with the idea to use the Blood Demons as the sacrifice since the vitality of each one can equal that of 100 people, besides their dismissals they were known as Evil Demons that no one would miss. He kept saying that we should thank them for doing all this, all they want is for the good of the people of this continent, they kept saying until the end that everyone had good intentions, so I killed him. Sigh "Fools..." (I) "The way he spoke was like he was trying to convince himself..." (Ragnar) "There is no such thing as doing something bad with good intentions, even when I do something bad I have the courage to admit what I do." (I) "They will understand the hard way that hell is full of good intentions." (I) Chapter 562: Rescuing The Blood Demons Part 1 Chapter 562: Rescuing The Blood Demons Part 1 The person we captured for interrogation was also of the Fox Tribe Beastmen race, it seems Hela took into account what I said on the way here about needing more blood to get a pure bloodline for that race. Ding! <[ Her bloodline became stronger and purer [ Beast Man (Fox): 73%> 100% ] ]> "I am Vanessa Blood Priestess, may my blood guide this person to their judgment after death." (Vanessa) "Today I pray to the great Goddess Selene to judge those who have brought suffering without cause to her faithful." (Vanessa) "May those who committed crimes to be judged in her name, may crimes be paid for in blood." (Vanessa) "Today I let my blood flow so that this crime is judged in the name of the Goddess Selene." (Vanessa) I see Vanessa''s Aura react to every word she utters and the blood she drops onto the body on the floor has a faint red glow, when that blood falls on the body it disappears like some kind of energy inside the body. I soon see that the surrounding miasma is not entering the body, it is bypassing the body, and has no signs of reasserting itself into an Undead. "I still can''t believe this nonsense." (I) "It seems these people are desperate, this person clearly wanted to believe what he was saying, he also seemed to believe his leader." (Nix) "But what is this crisis that they think they can solve with this stupid sacrifice?" (I) "The only thing we know has ever been in that tower is that monster''s gem, but that was an unknown number of years ago, we''re not sure if it''s still inside." (Ragnar) "We also don''t know if there''s anything else inside, we have to remember that from the view of the past we had, this tower was already here before that monster appeared, so there must have been something important there before." (Sakura) "I''m still curious about this crisis, Lilian never said anything about it, I find it difficult for a spy like her not to have knowledge about something like this." (I) "If such a thing existed, then Lillian would have already told us about it." (Vanessa) "Aren''t they talking about the World Tree dying?" (Layla) "..." (I) "..." (all) As I haven''t thought of it before, it can only be the World Tree they''re talking about, from what I heard in the Illusory Forest Elf village, if the world tree dies and there''s no other one around here, it won''t just be this continent affected, it''ll be a much larger area whose energy will go out of control causing chaos and bringing death to countless people. "But something that can fix this would be hard to find, do they think something in this tower will work?" (I) "Even though this place helps keep most of the undead away, there are still many who show up daily, everyone is injured, and over 200 people have died." (Douglas) "The miasma is also affecting those weaker." (Douglas) I turn to the Half Dark Elf who has been working as my assistant for over 100 years, he already looks middle aged for not being a pure elf, but he has always been loyal and shares my beliefs, he is also the closest to me as a friend I have. "I know that, but I still need days to open the seals on this door, most of them have already been opened and I''m preparing for the last ones when we''re going to use the sacrifices." (I) "..." (Douglas) Douglas'' expression becomes despondent as he remembers the sacrifices, I know he doesn''t like it, I didn''t want to do it myself, but that''s the only way, I''ve committed many acts that give me nightmares at night to get here, I have to believe that this was not in vain. Sigh "I know you don''t like it, but this is the only way, if I could sacrifice myself in their place, then I would gladly do so, but you also know that what matters now is the quantity of vitality." (I) "I...I know..." (Douglas) "I was the one who suggested using Blood Demons..." (Douglas) "Don''t be sorry my friend, that suggestion was the only reason I considered this plan, that''s because the number of sacrifices would be too great otherwise." (I) "I don''t know if I would have the courage to kill such a large number of people..." (I) "We all know that sir, but now that we''re so close it''s hard to bear the guilt even if it''s for a good cause." (Douglas) "WE''RE UNDER ATTACK, IT''S FLESH GOLENS THIS TIME!" "You must go to the others, I can''t leave here." (I) "Sir...you..." (Douglas) "That''s nothing, just go." (I) "..." (Douglas) After Douglas leaves, I look at my ragged clothes and the curse marks on my body caused by breaking the restrictions of every seal in this room. "Even if I only live for another 9 years in agony from these curses it''s still worth it if I can save the World Tree." (I) I turn my eyes to the door and go back to drawing the layered magic circles for the next ritual before the pain returns. Chapter 563: Rescuing The Blood Demons Part 2 Chapter 563: Rescuing The Blood Demons Part 2 I go to the agreed part, and we all went to different directions to start the plan, after some tests, we realized that in each attack the same person enters the tower to report, that person is a White Elf woman without a door and one of the eyes, she must also have several internal wounds from the way her expression twists in pain with every movement she makes. With Hela being a Necromancer this plan became very easy, the primary objective is to rescue the Blood Demons, this to make sure they won''t be injured during combat or used as hostages. Everyone is separated to board these people as soon as he receives my orders, Nix was waiting at a point where he would be able to get closer to the Elf woman who is badly injured faster. "Now!" (I) Hela lays a pile of bones on the ground, the same bones from the monsters she used meat to create those Flesh Golems. Now she was using the bones to create Beast-Type Skeletons as well as high-level Skeletons that are capable of using the Poison Breath skill. Soon Hela lets the dozens of skeletons attack from the same side, in addition, she controls them to fight together, so enemies will have a harder time subduing these monsters. "WE''RE UNDER ATTACK AGAIN, A SKELETON GROUP THIS TIME!" All these people wear some kind of uniform, I asked Layla to get Lilian for me first to find out if she recognized this uniform, what she said was that it was the village uniform of the Poison Forest Elves, but she found it strange that none of the Uniforms had medals or insignia to demonstrate the rank of the army. Lilian said that this could mean that these people were expelled from the village of Poison Forest, this makes them criminals in the eyes of the Elves village of that continent. I look at the square where people are running, then focus on a person with a helmet that doesn''t match their clothing, but this was normal as several of these people were wearing helmets or gear that didn''t match the clothes they were wearing. ,m I focus on a specific person who walks past the severely injured woman and disappears when she steps into her shadow. Meanwhile, the Elf woman keeps walking until she enters the tower just like the previous times, it seems that no one noticed one of the people running disappear as they looked to see if more undead would attack them from outside the square, but they didn''t notice that the enemy already was with them. Nix was wearing the clothes of the man we interrogated and the helmet was a disposable I got from Makari Kingdom soldiers in the past. Nix managed to disguise herself among the enemies while they were running, so she moved among the enemies to get close to the badly injured Elf woman to get to step on her shadow, so she could quickly hide in the shadow without people noticing where she went had gone. I watch as the severely injured woman enters the tower unaware of the enemy she has invited inside. ---------- Pov Vanessa: After seeing my father enter the tower I go to the place where the unconscious enemies are being gathered, I try to ignore the scene of Orion feeding as I don''t like to see that sort of thing. "Still want to take them inside the Dungeon?" (Nix) "It would be for the best, why?" (I) "Why would half of us have to go in, I don''t like the idea of leaving the master alone so I was wondering if I could do something with them out here." (Nix) "Yes I can, no problem." (I) I create a wound in my palm and make a magic circle floating above the enemies'' heads. "Your crimes will be judged by your blood." (I) "< Judgment Blood Scale >" (I) The magic circle glows red and gold briefly before crystalline red energy enters these people''s bodies, then a scale materializes on top of each of the enemies. Soon the blood flows from the bodies of these people to one side of the scale, and in the end, all the scales weighed to the wrong side. The blood flows out of their bodies and becomes a crystallized blood sword that killed all enemies that were still unconscious. After that, I look at the tower about to enter, but I''m stopped by Layla. "What are we going to do with the bodies?" (Layla) "Nothing, those killed by the judgment will have their souls taken away by the Goddess Selene, moreover their bodies cannot be revived." (I) Chapter 564: Rescuing The Blood Demons Part 3 Chapter 564: Rescuing The Blood Demons Part 3 After telling Vanessa to take care of the enemies outside I enter the tower, outside I wasn''t able to use my Aura unless I tried more rudely, but I didn''t do that so I wouldn''t risk attracting a powerful Undead by chance. I always have to be very careful as with my luck the chances of bad things happening are quite high. As soon as I entered my Aura was separated from the outside, that means I could now spread my Aura all over this place while being unable to feel the outside. After a few seconds, a real-time image of this entire place pops up inside my head. "So there are only 4 people, but the 3rd seems to be the one I''m looking for." (I) "< Blood Crystallization >" (I) I could see everything perfectly inside my head, that means I could use my Enhanced Crystallized Blood Needles to hit my targets with precision. Thanks to that I killed three people, two people who were on the 7th floor seeing the destruction Nix made before leaving and one person hiding in a closet to stay alive. I kill all three and walk over to the third person I don''t recognize, he''s on an underground floor as far as I can tell, so I head up the stairs that are already in the next room. Thanks to my Aura I can see this whole place clearly, thanks to that I can walk around here as if I had lived here for years. It only takes me a few minutes to walk before I reach the great underground hall where it''s just me and a young-looking White Elf man, by the jewel on his forehead I can tell he''s a High Elf. He was kneeling on one knee, he was panting and groaning in pain with blood coming out of his nose and ears. He was facing a white door with five crystals attached to the door, the crystals had one in each corner and one in the middle, the corner crystals were off, but the middle one was glowing purple. "(I can feel traces of cursed energy in the unlit crystals and a strong concentration of cursed energy in the glowing crystal.)" (I) "(This High Elf''s aura is smeared with curses, even his body is apparently scarred.)" (I) I look closer and see that the hand on the floor has a purple Rune glistening with the flesh wrapped around it darkened with open wounds. "(His mana is high, but his Aura weakened like that of someone nearly dead, that doesn''t make sense.)" (I) "I''ve never said I''m a good person, I''ve killed many people and will probably kill even more in the future, but I have a clear conscience knowing that I''ve never killed an innocent person." (I) "I drink the blood of my enemies or I go hunting monsters for blood, which I do is the same as any hunter or adventurer." (I) "When I kill someone I don''t tell lies to justify what I do, can you say the same High White Elf?" (I) "It''s easy to say words like that without knowing the facts, the Elves have been hiding for centuries that the World Tree is dying, in a little over 100 years this continent will be doomed." "What are hundreds of Blood Demon lives in exchange for saving the entire continent?" "I know I''m doing something unforgivable, I know I''ll be remembered as a monster, but I can''t just sit around and DO NOTHING!" "(So it was really about the World Tree...)" (I) I look at the back of my hand where the seed of the World Tree is stuck, then I look at the pitiful man who did terrible things for a useless goal. I still have the Elves'' envoy inside the Dungeon, he seems to know the reason for my visit, it seems that others were sent to different places where I could go to meet me, they seem to know the reason for my visit, so why not I understand this person not knowing anything. He was trying to do something good the wrong way, his plan was flawed from the start. From what I''ve heard from Elf Queen Luthien and World Tree Spirit Luth of the Illusory Forest Elf village on the Morror Continent, the World Tree of that continent''s damage is to its outer shell, its true body, and its Spirit. A type of damage that would be difficult for even the gods to do anything about considering the World Tree has a power level compared to the Gods. I don''t know what''s behind the door, but it wouldn''t work, all his efforts were futile from the start. Sigh "What''s behind that door?" (I) "The only thing that might be able to save the World Tree." "The Fragment of a God." Chapter 565: Fragment Of A God Chapter 565: Fragment Of A God "What''s behind that door?" (I) "The only thing that might be able to save the World Tree." "The Fragment of a God." I look at the locked door and focus my Aura on my eyes but still, I can''t see anything, this is the only room in this tower my Aura hasn''t been able to access since I entered. "Do you really think there''s a God Fragment here?" (I) "I got a map from a survivor of this city in a ruin discovered 200 years ago, it took me several years to decipher the map and study the fragmented history of this ancient destroyed Kingdom." "There was a fight of a Hero against an Heretic God where the two killed each other, but even in death the remnants of a God are still pure energy and scattered, many Churches and Temples sought these Fragments to seal or completely destroy them, this city was no different." "But the Fragment contained a lot of power and took over someone''s body guided only by the Dead Heretic God''s remaining will, its power contaminated this land like a curse, and the God Fragment''s out-of-control release of power created a Wave of Monsters." "So it was a Wave of Undead Monsters?" (I) "No, they were normal monsters, the monsters were influenced by the God shard that became something similar to a monster and followed him to this city." "There are records that the greatest Mage of this Realm fought against the God Fragment, which was only possible because it was no longer a God, it was just a Fragment with some remaining power, it lacked the authority, essence, and divinity of the Heretic God that had died, that wasn''t even 1% of his power." I remember the destruction of the previous city and the destruction I saw in that city, but hearing that a Heretic God Fragment that had no power did all this made me think about the magnitude of power that Gods have. "If I could get this God Fragment, there could be hope for the World Tree, I know this Fragment will be here since it''s the only entire building." "I also know that the monster created by the God Fragment was defeated or it would have destroyed much more than just this Realm, so the only place to keep something with that much power has to be here..." "< Blizzard of Blades >" He told this whole story to distract me while he recovered and gathered the power to launch this attack, but that''s useless, he''s too weak. "< Breath of Fire >" (I) My fire breath can already be considered a flame breath attack with its current range. "Now I heard..." (I) While I was in doubt about what to do I hear steps and look back to see the others entering the room. I told them everything and Vanessa, Ragnar and Nix had very serious expressions on their faces, it seems this matter is as serious as I imagined. "That person was an idiot, the Fragment of a dead god is like a piece of his body, it may have some energy left over, but it''s not something others can use." (Ragnar) "Normally a God doesn''t split into Fragments like that when killed, what I can think is that this Heretic God when he was close to death must have done this to himself in hopes of being revived." (Ragnar) "Can he be revived?" (I) "Yes, but it would be close to spiritual rebirth, he would be born again with a new consciousness and with reduced power, he wouldn''t even be a Full God." (Nix) "As far as I know, the ways to deal with a God Fragment are to seal it, which must be what happened in this case, the other way would be to offer it to a God as an offering, so the God could bring the Fragment to him." (Vanessa) "What do you think we should do?" (I) "I don''t know, what do you think Ragnar, unlike me you''ve seen several Gods?" (Vanessa) "The master will be fine, he is the son of a powerful Goddess, he also has some blessings that will be able to protect him, besides the miasma and malice did nothing against him." (Ragnar) "Besides the master, Orion and I could take this too since we are Divine Beasts, so I think we can take this Fragment and get rid of it later, leaving such a thing in a place like this and even more with 4 broken seals would be dangerous." (Ragnar) "I can feel the miasma slowly entering the room, this must be due to the seals breaking." (Hela) Sigh "Can''t we just leave it all here? I don''t want to get involved with such a troublesome thing." (I) "I don''t know what kind of seal was used, but if they are all destroyed then this Fragment will try to complete itself, the first thing that will happen is the miasma and energy of the cursed one will come together creating a new mindless monster for the Fragment of God." (Ragnar) "After that, it would be another disaster where other Realms could be destroyed." (Sakura) "Why is this kind of thing always left for me..." (I) Chapter 566: Mythic Classification Chapter 566: Mythic Classification I arrive in front of the door and start to float so that I can more easily reach the magic crystal in the middle of the door that is two meters high from the floor. "How is he going to open the door? Wouldn''t it be better to get Rakan to do it?" (Layla) "I think I know what you''re going to do..." (Ragnar) I touch the crystal and see purple energy covering my left hand, I wouldn''t use my right hand to touch something that contains a curse as it could affect the World Tree Seed. "< Magic Devourer >" (I) My Aura concentrating in my hand and taking a Dragon head shape similar to the stigma on my back, then purple energy starts flowing from the magic crystal to the Aura Dragon''s mouth, this energy was refined by the unique characteristics of my Aura before entering my body and circulating along with my power throughout my body. This is a technique I learned with great difficulty and am not able to fully use at the moment, this technique uses the unique characteristics I possess to steal people''s energy from items while absorbing them into my body. This technique needs great Aura manipulation, it also needs a very powerful Aura, it needs someone with the ability to absorb energy and the ability to make that power their own. Normally this type of power would have several restrictions such as only working with one type of energy, with elemental energies similar to the person stealing the energy and being able to support that energy in their own body. In my case, I can only do this with mana for now, but I have my ways around this impediment, plus I have the unique skill [Chaotic Devourer], this is a passive skill that works for anything I devour or absorb. I also have the ability to absorb mana, plus I have all kinds of affinities and resistances which make it easier to absorb these energies without causing me damage. This skill needs a lot of concentration as I need to multitask while using it, this has been a deterrent for me so far, but I know with enough practice I will improve. The cursed mana is not doing anything against me that could harm me and slowly it is being completely absorbed by my body, the amount of Mana contained here seems to be very large. "Give me an energy crystal so I can transfer my excess mana." (I) "Yes and no, constantly absorbing that energy was what hurt me the most, but it''s true that compressing an Aura before making it material puts a lot of pressure on the person." (I) "But as you saw, the technique is still incomplete, I''m still not able to use it as I don''t know the most suitable form for my Aura." (Ragnar) ---------- After all that I rested for 30 minutes while Vanessa tried to use some healing spells on me. No one approached the door that should now be unlocked, everyone waited for me to recover which happened after a few more minutes of meditating to expel the curse energy from my body. When I got up I already had a bottle of blood waiting for me which came in full before thanking Sakura for bringing it to me. As soon as I felt better I stood up and walked towards the door, as soon as I did a little force the door started to open by itself revealing a small hall inside. There were magic circles and Runes on the back of the door, on the walls, on the ceiling, and on the floor, but now they were all off, I could see that there were dozens of magic crystals on the walls around them, but they were all off, I couldn''t understand much well nothing about those things, but I was still able to notice that all these magic circles were connected together, I probably absorbed all the energy from these crystals, that explains why I had so much energy. I look around to see if it''s safe before approaching the six pointed star shaped jewel on top of an altar, it seemed to have some pink energy around it, I look good and all I can say is that it looks like a carved jewelry. I feel my blessings activating within me and these energies flowing from my body, the energies of the color red and the color of the rainbow come out of my hand touching the pink energy. I who wasn''t able to bring my hand close before, now I''m able to touch this object, so I use my skill to try to identify it. Ding! <[ Item Identification Result: ????????: ??????? Rating: Mythical ]> Chapter 567: Ransomed Chapter 567: Ransomed ,m Pov Blood Demon Queen Eve: My race has always been shunned by others of this continuum, many people see our capabilities in combat and think the rumors about us are true. Unfortunately, few people really know about us, maybe because we didn''t stay in the same place for a long time, it contributed to this, but even so, I can''t accept what happened this time. We were poisoned when hunting prey, someone poisoned the monsters in the region just to capture us, when it covers the conscience I realize that I was the first to wake up, in addition, I was chained without being able to use my mana and my body felt weak. As the Queen of my race on this continent I failed to protect my people, it didn''t take long to see the enemy that captured us, but strangely his eyes were filled with sadness, he was a High Elf with a strength close to mine as far as I could observe. One thing I noticed was that the others who were keeping us locked up had guilty looks on their faces, all of my people just like me had to wear gags all the time, I realized this was so they wouldn''t hear our voices, we weren''t even given the right to speak. Every day we were forced to eat bread and water to a minimum so as not to starve to death and keep on the journey, all the while I didn''t give up trying to find a way to escape, but I couldn''t use my power and that''s why I always failed to run away. All that was left for me and my people was to pray to the supreme Goddess of Life and Death, the one whose power connects all living beings from the beginning to the end of many, the Blood Goddess Selene. We pray with all our hearts for a miracle, we keep praying day and night in our minds, I always hoped that we would be saved by the grace of the Goddess Selene, I myself possess the Blessings of the Goddess. But I was surprised when we were forced to enter this continent''s forbidden land of death when we entered a strange artifact that was used to bring hundreds of people safely to the Capital of this ruined Kingdom. We were forced to wait inside a Tower not knowing what was happening until a few days ago when that High Elf came to see us, I almost don''t recognize him seeing his pitiful state. His face was pale and he had dark marks all over his body, I also noticed some kind of Runa on his body, but it was barely visible because of the clothes. I tried to understand what they were talking to each other, but they used the language of the Elves that I don''t know, all I know was that on the way I heard some Demons among them dating something about sacrifice, and it made me understand why we were captured. These were not the first who tried to capture people of my race to use as sacrifices, the high vitality that the Goddess Selene has blessed us with has always been the envy of other races. "Let me release you first." She used her claws to cut the chains holding my body and the gag in my mouth. "Thank you... for saving my people..." (I) "Don''t worry about it, by the marks on your body and the sparkle in your eyes, it looks like you didn''t give up, the master will be glad to hear that." "Let me introduce myself, my name is Nix, I''m here to rescue you, but first let me release the others." (Nix) "< Moonbeam >" (Nix) I see silver rays of light coming out of the Rune that Nix draws in the air, these silver rays of light have broken everyone''s chains, then I see a Dragon''s head coming out of Nix''s shadow. "Careful...careful, behind...you." (I) "Stay calm, this is just your way out of this place." (Nix) As Nix explained, the Dragon''s jaw opens behind her showing a portal inside, I understand what it is with just one look. "(A Dungeon...)" (I) Soon people started to come out of the Dungeon, they were Elves, Ghouls, Orcs, Ogres, and several other races, they take those who are unconscious of my people and help them to enter the Dungeon. Tears "(Thank you Goddess...)" (I) Chapter 568: Losing My Mind For Being An Idiot Chapter 568: Losing My Mind For Being An Idiot Pov Athena: "(He wasn''t in the port city, he wasn''t in the underground city and he wasn''t in the cities around it, how does someone disappear like that?)" (I) "Ma''am, I have received word of his whereabouts." (Darius) Darius rushes through my bedroom door, we''re in a small town in disguised as Demons. "What did you find?" (I) "A Vampire merchant was passing by to buy wares in this city before continuing his journey, I heard him talking about a Vampire with dark skin, red hair, and eyes of different colors with a youthful appearance who lost a lot of money in a casino in the City of Blood." (Darius) With that description, there''s no mistake, but I''m worried that the place where he is is exactly the place I''d least want to go. "Damn, what are we going to do now..." (I) "What should we do? Go to the City of Blood?" (Darius) "We can''t go there, Viviane the ruler there has incredible powers of perception that she shares with all her bloodlines, for that reason no one dares to spy on that place." (I) "All we can do is hang around waiting for him to leave town." (I) "But what if he doesn''t come out?" (Darius) "Everything indicates that he is traveling around the continent aimlessly, all the places he has been going do not form a path that shows any clear objective, for this reason, we were not able to anticipate as we do not know where he will go next." (I) "Worst case we''ll have to use the Priests to find him." (I) "Go warn the others, let''s leave now." (I) "Yea." (Darius) ----------- After Darius left I activated the sound barrier item, then I pull the crystal from my necklace that I always keep hidden inside my clothes. "How much time do we have?" (I) "(Don''t worry too much, I might be weak but I''m fine, I was lucky to keep my conscience.)" "I''m more concerned with the false Hero''s soul." (I) "(Okay, I rescued the soul before the idiot that Heretic God who betrayed me could destroy it, but it still needs a body.)" ----------- Pov of an idiot: I''m entering the Black Empire dungeon, I''m sure he''s here, as soon as I free him I''ll get the location of that item I''m going to use to marry the Queen. "(I will have the most beautiful woman by my side on the throne that only I deserve.)" (I) "(When I am the ruler of the Black Empire I will declare myself the emperor, enough of the memory of a founder who is no longer here, it''s time to leave these old ways in the past.)" (I) I spent half my fortune hiring the people who brought me here and eliminated the Empire Troopers guarding this place, I went to a lot of trouble killing my brother and parents to inherit this fortune so it has to be worth the money. I pass through the network of underground tunnels where the guards'' bodies are still warm and the scent of their blood has permeated this enclosed space. "(Disgusting smell, someone like me shouldn''t be in such a lowly place...)" (I) Soon I arrive at the cells where the mercenaries I''ve hired are killing the prisoners as I don''t want witnesses to my presence here. When I arrive at a cell where a single Demon without honor whose two horns were cut off as proof of his humiliation, he is completely chained and with a gag, the insolent one dared to look me in the eyes, I slap his face to show who is in charge here before ordering the gag removed from his mouth. "I''m here for the mind control item you hid, I order you to tell me where it is or I won''t treat you as kindly as the Empire has done." (I) "Hahahahahahahaha..." "Finally a fool appeared, I waited longer than I thought..." "The smell of blood, how wonderful..." "< Blood Curse: Forced Control >" The blood of those outside the cell begins to float like Serpents reaching for me and all my men. "Free me idiot, besides I don''t want to hear your annoying voice anymore." When the Blood Serpent hit me I felt a great pain in my whole body while a red snake shaped mark was engraved on my wrist, then I felt my body move against my will, and I started to release this inferior being, touching the chains was tearing my flesh, there must have been some kind of protective curse in its chains, but I couldn''t stop or scream. When I finished letting go he was already covered in blood and my vision was darkening but even so, the bastard still held me by the neck to kill me. "Finally free, the time has come to find the bastard who left me here for 835 years, the time has come for my revenge on you, Ellen." "But before revenge, it''s time for a little snack..." The last thing I saw was his mouth warping as it grew grotesquely to eat my head. Chapter 569: Wish To Die Chapter 569: Wish To Die The energies of my blessings seemed to interact with the pink energy around the crystal which let me touch it, when I tried to identify what it was all I saw were question marks. The only thing of information I could see was the item''s quality or rating, it was a Mythic item. Also, my mind started to hurt a lot, like I was seeing something it shouldn''t, so I stopped the skill 1 second later. "(Let me go...)" I heard a voice filled with despair and sadness coming from the crystal, a virtue of death filling my head as fragments of random images appear in my mind. I saw a beautiful woman dressed beautifully with a golden headband, hugging an orange-skinned man with a crown on his head. I saw the same woman in a bed with two children in her arms and a big smile on her face. I saw the same woman using magic fighting monsters alongside an army. I saw the same woman in a miasma-filled valley with hundreds of soldiers beside her. I saw the same woman staring at a giant heart made of stone pulsing before a bright glow took place blocking the view. I see the woman in a dark place with screams of fear and pain echoing from every corner. I see the same woman open her eyes and realize that she is inside something like black mist, but it is still possible to see outside a destroyed city and an old man without one of his arms fighting tentacles. I see the same woman with tears in her eyes with images of horror flashing through her mind while trapped in an immobile crystal inside an empty room. The other images were all similar, but the woman was always with different emotions that she could somehow feel, emotions like anger, sadness, despair, guilt, loneliness, and even madness. The last image was of me touching the crystal, I was seeing myself, but the point of view was from inside this six-pointed star-shaped jewel. "(Let me die...)" The voice in my mind was filled with a deep desire to die and a great deal of guilt, my heart was racing because of it all. "Dad!!!" (Vanessa) "..." (I) I tell everyone everything I knew, I told that a woman I assumed to be the Queen was a mage and during an exploration in a valley full of miasma they found what I also assumed to be the Heretic God Fragment, this God Fragment took possession of her body and used the miasma in the surroundings to condense a body, during that time the woman didn''t know what was happening, but then the images of what this monster did to her Kingdom came driving her insane for a long time. "So she''s still conscious and alive inside the seal?" (Vanessa) "She''s alive but not conscious." (I) "You said she talked to you." (Sakura) "Her mind has been broken for a long time, it is far beyond any kind of healing or recovery, all she has is the subconscious still begging for death which was her strongest wish before her mind broke." (I) "What race is she from?" (Layla) "From the memories, I saw it looked like a Demon." (I) "So how is she still alive after thousands of years?" (Layla) "It must be the fragment that keeps her alive or at least keeps the host body alive." (Vanessa) "Are you going to kill her?" (Nix) "Yes, her will was broken along with her mind, all she has is the wish to die, there''s no point in saving someone like that and I don''t even know if it''s possible." (I) "Sometimes death can be a release." (Sakura) "You must not kill her yet, doing so may free the God Fragment from that seal." (Ragnar) "So what should we do?" (I) "You swim, but Vanessa can use the blood judgment to kill the woman even inside the seal, plus the body can be destroyed after the judgment leaving only the God Fragment inside the seal." (Ragnar) "Think you can do this, Vanessa?" (I) "Yes, but I''m a little tired, can we wait a few more minutes for me to recover?" (Vanessa) "Then I''ll leave that matter in your hands, we''ll be here for another two hours before I leave, get some rest." (I) Vanessa rested for a while, and after that, she prepared to make the judgment, I saw a scale materialize on top of the jewel, soon all the blood in the body came out of the jewel as if passing through the jewel, the scale marked that there was no crime considering she innocent. I thought that plan had failed, but then the body began to glow inside the jewel showing that the woman''s silhouette became a liquid that we discovered to be blood when it came out of the jewel with the same ease as before, this blood disappears leaving a transparent kneeling silhouette in the air while disappearing without a trace. Chapter 570: Time To Leave The Land Of The Undead Chapter 570: Time To Leave The Land Of The Undead After the body disappeared, I noticed an Aura spread throughout this room, I hadn''t noticed before because this Aura was dormant and integrated with the miasma around, but now that that woman has disappeared the Aura seems to awaken in uncontrollable fury applying a great pressure on all of us. "..." (I) "(Seal with your blood...)" (Selene) I could feel great pressure making my body feel so heavy as if gravity had increased 50, those around me mostly weren''t able to move. At that moment I hear Goddess Selene''s voice in my mind and information about a sealing technique pours into my already tired mind. I didn''t have much time to think, the Aura was getting stronger and stronger and something was glowing inside the six-pointed gem, so I stopped thinking and let my body be guided by instinct with the new information that took over my mind. "< Blood Ritual: Seal of the Trinity of Blood >" (I) I slit my wrist and control my blood to form a spiritual rune, a complex magic circle, and an oriental dragon with a serpent body. Soon the Dragon goes around the magic circle and bites the tip of its own tail, in addition, the Rune made of my blood separates into other Runes that have integrated into the magic circle. After that, I feel the blood seal is complete and I controlled it to hit the six pointed star shaped jewel, when this happens I feel the seal absorb my vitality and Aura continuously. "Argh!!!" (I) Ding! I hear a signal from the system, but I don''t have time to see it right now, my whole body is weakening. In a few seconds, I see a red energy spread through the room and suppress this Aura back to the jewel, in the end, the seal is completed with red Dragons that seem to be metal debts coming out of the ritual circle and getting stuck in the jewel, the ritual circle is turned metallic as if it were a lock and the dragons the chain. ----------- While recovering I saw Vanessa sweating with wide eyes as she walked from place to place, looks like she was seriously thinking about something so I left her with her thoughts, I know if it''s something really important she will tell me sooner or later. While resting I started to think about this place, during the travel time to get here we found some Dungeons, by the size of this place and the distance of each Dungeon we can assume that there must be around ten Dungeons or maybe even more in this place. We didn''t go into any since we were on a rescue mission, but I was thinking that if there were any dungeons that specialized in Spectral-type Undead it would be good to stop by, it would help increase the number of cores of these monsters or maybe even create more Phantom Orbs with the help of Hela. I was also thinking about the Cursed Dungeon in the castle, that place from what I hear is a Catastrophe Grade Dungeon, I''ve never been in a Cursed Dungeon, but I''m definitely not going to go into this one. Also, this Dungeon should never be conquered, this type of Dungeon does not have a Dungeon Core, conquering means defeating the Dungeon boss or ending the source of the curse. I''m not even going to try any of that, besides looking like too much work, it could start a war, this Cursed Dungeon is the main responsible for the miasma in this region with the other Dungeons giving periodic help during the Monster Waves. If this Cursed Dungeon that is possibly the highest ranked is destroyed, then it would only be a matter of time before people start destroying most of the Dungeons in this place while building new cities near the Dungeons that are left over to be a source of resources. Also without this place separating these various Realms around, there will definitely be a war to expand to this place, something like that would be bad, so I won''t go anywhere near that place. "(But if it wasn''t for concern of a possible war, then there would be an interesting thing to try.)" (I) "(This place has so much miasma, plus I have a good amount of DP accumulated, I would have to check with Nix, but I have a feeling it would be possible.)" (I) "(But I have to put those thoughts aside, the time has come to leave this land of the Undead and continue our journey.)" (I) "Why did this happen!?" (Vanessa) While I was lost in my crazy thoughts, I ended up listening when Vanessa exclaimed loudly, her voice full of frustration for something, I also noticed that everyone had worried faces. "Guess I''ll have to find out..." (I) Chapter 571: An Unexpected Blessing? Chapter 571: An Unexpected Blessing? As I get up from the floor I notice the others have worried expressions, it looks like something has happened, but no one wants to talk to me. I get closer and everyone looks at me awkwardly, they look at each other as if trying to encourage her to tell me whatever is going on, but in the end, everyone looks at Vanessa as they walk behind her. "I was going to let you tell me later if it was okay, but from the look on everyone''s faces that''s not going to happen, so tell me what happened?" (I) Vanessa seemed to be in a bad mood, she looked at the others who turned their faces away, then she looks at me still a little annoyed. "To put it simply, something unexpected happened." (Vanessa) "What? I didn''t see anything but you walking around." (I) "I wanted to know how you feel about conquering the Castle Dungeon?" (Vanessa) I looked at her not understanding why she was asking me this, but for some reason, a bad feeling was growing inside me. "No lie, I was really thinking about exploring some Dungeons, but we don''t have time for that right now, besides it''s not a good idea to decrease the number of monsters in this place." (I) "I realized that there are many Realms around this land full of death, they are all at peace and I imagine they must even have some kind of alliance to help each other during the Monster Waves because of the Undead in this place, at least I would have done it." (I) "If this place were no longer dangerous, then it would just be a land full of Dungeons and useful resources for any Kingdom, it could become a cause of conflict and then war." (I) "I thought the same thing." (Vanessa) "Castle Dungeon seems to be a Cursed Dungeon, I noticed that even from afar, maybe because he''s a Dungeon Master, Nix noticed it too." (I) "We already knew there was a powerful Dungeon here of Grade Catastrophe, I''m sure it would be that one." (I) "I haven''t confirmed it, but I imagine the other Dungeons in this place range between Grade S and Grade SSS." (I) "That assumption is based on the information we''ve obtained here and in Blood City." (I) I for some reason was unnecessarily prolonging the conversation, I was barely giving Vanessa time to speak, I knew I didn''t want to hear what she wanted to say to me. "That''s exactly the problem, we''ve already conquered a Dungeon..." (Vanessa) "..." (I) "Also, it was the Cursed Dungeon in the castle." (Vanessa) "..." (I) I couldn''t help but cry for how lucky I am, the tears just started pouring out of my eyes like a waterfall over my broken heart. I thought everything was settled, we spent days traveling in this land of death until we got here, we avoided big battles in this Capital so as not to lose the advantage of the surprise attack, we killed all the enemies, we rescued the Blood Demons and we still took care of the seal of the Fragment of an unknown Heretic God. I was so happy that all of this was resolved, I was so happy to get back on my sightseeing trip until I reached the Poisonous Forest to plant the World Tree Seed. I didn''t want any more trouble, I thought I could have a time of peace, I couldn''t even imagine on my list of worst things that would cause a war someday, it didn''t even cross my mind. "Why does everything have to be so hard for me?" (I) I was devastated by it all, Vanessa even gave me a hug followed by Sakura and Nix. "What should we do master?" (Nix) "..." (I) This was not the right time to get into despair, I had to try to resolve this situation, I can avoid getting into wars, but that doesn''t mean I want to be the cause of one. I tried to think of many different things, but each was more absurd than the last and less likely to work, but suddenly an idea I was thinking about before I heard Vanessa flashes back to my mind. This is by far the most absurd of the plan, especially after the last-minute additions I made, but I think it could work. I turn to Nix and mentally connect with her to pass on all the plan information I can think of, I must say Nix''s horrified face was a little amused. "Are you crazy? You don''t have enough energy to do this." (Nix) "It doesn''t matter that part, just tell me if the plan is viable if you forget about that part of my insufficient energy." (I) "It would be theoretically possible, but there couldn''t be other Dungeons." (Nix) "I already imagined that." (I) "We might as well wipe out all the Dungeons in this place." (I) "It''s not that part of the plan I''m worried about, it''s the end of the plan..." (Nix) "I have to think of something..." (I) I soon look at my status for the new Blessing I received, then I thought back to the plan, the plan was slowly taking shape. "How do I contact the Demon Goddess of Death?" (I) Chapter 572: Is This Plan Serious? Chapter 572: Is This Plan Serious? "How do I contact the Demon Goddess of Death?" (I) p After my question, everyone was looking at me strangely, especially Vanessa. "I know you''re upset about this, but you should be happy to receive a Blessing, especially one from a Goddess like this." (Vanessa) "It''s never a good idea to get annoyed with Demon Gods." (Vanessa) "It seems we have a misunderstanding, we don''t have time for that right now, what I want is to negotiate with the Goddess Kalistos." (I) "Hahahahahaha..." (Layla) "In my entire life, this is the first time I''ve heard something so absurd." (Sakura) "You''re even crazier than Layla and Lilith..." (Nix) "Who did you call crazy?" (Layla) "Don''t mind them, master, I''m sure you have a plan." (Hela) "You talk as if negotiating with the Gods is impossible, but the truth is the opposite, many do, the difficulty is in getting in touch with the Gods and if there is anything that can be negotiated." (Ragnar) "I imagined something like this." (I) After meeting the Goddesses Selene and Aine a few times, I thought that the Gods are not as far away as I imagined, there is even a God of Commerce. "If we leave everything the way it is, it will only be a matter of time before a war breaks out for possession of this place." (I) "Do you already have a plan, master?" (Orion) "I had a plan that I was thinking about before and I discarded it, but after discovering this new problem I realized that with a few additions we can get out of this situation without causing a war." (I) "I hope your plan is good." (Vanessa) "Maybe..." (Vanessa) I close my eyes and think carefully about my plan, I can already see a good possibility of working, but the negotiation with God worries me. "What exactly is your plan, Master?" (Ragnar) "Just like I said before, assimilating this whole place as a new floor of the Dungeon, after that having a lake in place with an island in the middle that serves as a temple to the Gods, a holy land where the surrounding Realms won''t dare to invade." (I) "It might be crazy, but it could work." (Ragnar) "The best would be if it were more than one temple, in which case it would be the Temple of Life and the Church of Death, considering this place would be the most ideal." (Ragnar) "Why these two specifically, wouldn''t it be a better Fairy Temple or a Water Goddess, maybe even the Nature Goddess." (Vanessa) "Demons don''t form contracts with Fairies and Spirits that easily, and besides, the Nature Goddess would do nothing in this situation but get angry." (Ragnar) "This place might be full of death and monsters, but it still had an adapted environment, assimilating all this place would be like stealing a part of nature, of course, the Goddess wouldn''t agree." (Ragnar) "With the Blessing we just received, I can use my Oracle skill to try to reach the Demon Goddess of Death, but I wouldn''t be able to contact the Goddess of Life." (Vanessa) So Vanessa actually gets to talk to other Gods besides the Goddess Selene of whom she is Priestess, from what she told me about this ability I figured something like this, I''m glad that part of the plan seems possible. "The Demon Goddess of Death and the Goddess of Life are twins, if you can convince the Goddess Kalistos, then your sister will be dragged along." (Ragnar) "Why are you so sure about this?" (I) "For the Goddess of Life to turn this place of death into a place full of life would be a wish come true." (Ragnar) "Do you know something about the Goddess Kalistos too?" (I) "I didn''t get to know this Goddess during the time she accompanied the God of Beasts, but I did meet the Goddess of Life." (Ragnar) While he was just a Soul, Ragnar spent a lot of time among the Gods, if he''s saying that I''ll believe him, it means almost everything is in place. "(Now what can I offer to a Goddess who controls death, maybe it''s easier to ask for a reward for doing what I''m wanting to do...)" (I) Chapter 573: Started From The First Part Of The Plan Chapter 573: Started From The First Part Of The Plan I kept thinking about the plan, if the Gods interfere even indirectly by sending their servants, then my plan will work. What Ragnar said about the Goddess of Life put me at ease, but I have yet to get in touch with the two Goddesses. It seems my only current problem is getting to negotiate with the Goddess Kalistos, if that goes well the rest of the plan will work. "Then your skill will be the best option for now, Vanessa." (I) "Make no mistake, Father." (Vanessa) "My Oracle ability allows me to contact the Gods, but it''s a one-way path like I''m sending a direct message to the God I have a connection with, so I have to wait for an answer if I have an answer." (Vanessa) "That means we won''t be able to negotiate with the Goddess, right?" (I) "Now it may be difficult, but she may appear in a hallucination to you or in a dream, perhaps she will even try to contact you directly by transmitting her voice in your mind." (Vanessa) "So we don''t have any better choice..." (I) "As I am a Priestess of the Goddess Selene I can use the Oracle with her more easily and without needing to use holy power, but for other Gods, I will have to use my holy power and it will take a lot more effort from me." (Vanessa) "What message do you want to send the Goddess, Father?" (Vanessa) "I have to think of something that makes her get in touch more directly, but what could a God care about?" (I) "Master, try to trade souls with this Goddess." (Hela) "Souls, if you''re talking about more sacrifices, then forget it, I''d rather let this war go on and go to another continent considering it all just an unfortunate accident at work?" (I) "You got me wrong, master." (Hela) "I meant to trade the souls of this land of the Undead, there must be tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of souls trapped in this place, counting inside and outside the Dungeons." (Hela) "But I have no power over souls, what kind of negotiation are you suggesting?" (I) "Gods associated with death have their authority in the concept of death, from what I studied inside the Dungeon, the Goddess Kalistos teaches about the release of imprisoned souls." (Hela) "Hela, can you raise the Phantom Orb''s rank even further?" (I) "No, that''s as far as I can compress the power of the Spectral Undead monsters." (Hela) "I see, but can you create more of these Phantom Orbs?" (I) "Yes, but the rating depends on the amount of Spectral energy, death, and mana compressed." (Hela) "Then create more of these Orbs, so focus more on these on the Spectral-type Undead." (I) "I''ll do it, master." (Hela) "I''ll go along with her." (Nix) "Then I''ll go along with Layla." (Orion) "Finally, I don''t have to just watch others have fun anymore." (Layla) "Nix and Orion, if anything happens, let me know." (I) I see Nix and Hela flying away, I also see Layla riding on top of Orion who starts flying in another direction. After they left a monster that looked like just a giant eyeball approached, as soon as he was close the iris in the center of the eye grew to reveal it was a circular mouth with more teeth than I could count. "You must be the ugliest, strangest creature I''ve ever seen in this world." (I) "< Blood Seal: Chains of Light >" (I) My blood turns into a magic circle where streams of condensed red light come out trapping this strange 2 meter high floating eye. While resting I had time to think about a few things, one of those things was organizing the information about Blood Seal knowledge. I''ve found that I can use this reset with various abilities, Runes, and restraining or binding spells using them as a basis to form a seal that only I can open. After taking care of that big eye I throw it inside the Dungeon in the same place where the Spectral-type Undead I captured earlier were. With this monster already defeated, I will talk to the others in the Dungeon to organize the people who want to fight, I want to divide the people to start an undead massacre and destroy all the dungeons in this place. Chapter 574: Blood Demons Chapter 574: Blood Demons I spent a few hours inside the Dungeon while I asked Irina and Irius to guard the entrance to the Dungeon, told everyone to avoid the floor where I left the sealed God Fragment, and talked about recent events. Many of the Dungeon are warriors and have been dissatisfied with the weak monsters inside the Dungeon, so everyone has agreed to participate in the extermination of the undead and the destruction of the Dungeons in this place, that is to say, more than half of the Dungeon will be fighting. I find it difficult to be able to hide so many combats from the surrounding Realms that you sure have your eyes watching this place, so I said to focus first on the destruction of the Dungeons and avoid battles outside the Dungeons so as not to alarm the Realms around about our movements, I don''t want to that there are misunderstandings about the movements of people in these abandoned lands, that alone would be a reason for a war. As there will be thousands of people in combat, we needed some preparation, mainly because large group fights within the Dungeon are difficult to carry out, so I use the plan we used on other occasions to divide into groups of 10, so cooperation will be easier between members of the same group and the movement speed will be better. Instead of letting people organize themselves, I set up the groups with the help of Karina, Diana, Sophia, and Ivan who are our combat specialists. Also, if I put the most capable people to lead each group, the functioning of many things inside the Dungeon would be disrupted as more than half of the population would be out for a few weeks or maybe even longer than that. The Elves'' envoy was confused about the events, but I said that he doesn''t need to worry for now, but that it would still take us a maximum of 2 months to reach the Poisonous Forest, luckily he understands that and knows that as important as the Tree of World be, we still have a lot of time before anything dangerous happens. I asked Rakan and his subordinates to work together with Lyra to create simple magic crystals of the light element so that Anton could add these light crystals to as many people''s weapons as possible. The Blood Demons'' appearance is that of people with red skin, black hair, a smooth tail with a white bone triangle at the tip, and golden eyes. They have fangs like Vampires but not the same hunger to drink blood, they have 1 to 3 black horns on their head, plus for some reason they are all very beautiful, it was unbelievable how they all looked so beautiful, that was a level of beauty that he only expected from the race of Elves. These were just my observations with what little I saw, I wanted to talk to them, but I was so busy that I didn''t even have time to sleep, but I noticed that they are always staring at me with bright eyes. I noticed that there was one person among them who didn''t have red skin but snow-white skin, but still had their other features like a smooth red tail with a triangle of bone at the end, black hair, fangs, and his eyes were also different being red instead of the gold of the others. My thought was that this woman was a hybrid with another race of Demons or maybe Vampires, but I didn''t have time to pay close attention, plus I''d only seen her twice. What surprised me a lot about the Blood Demons was their Aura, I had never felt an Aura so full of vitality, it was abnormal to the point that a withered flower returned to its beauty just because they were around, it was as if they fill their environment with vitality, I''ve never seen that before. The closest thing to that was the Aura of Nature that I felt from the Queen of the Elves in the Illusory Forest and that I feel from the Aura of the Incarnations of the Forest that follow Sakura, I also felt that from Freya who was an Ancient Elf, but all this was different, a thing was an Aura filled with the power of Nature and attraction was an Aura filled with vitality. With no time to think about it too much, I tried to put it aside as I continued with the hurried organization for the next day, with that a whole night passed and the next morning passed before it was all over and everyone left the Dungeon. Chapter 575: Message To Demon Goddess Kalistos Chapter 575: Message To Demon Goddess Kalistos The next day I was mentally exhausted, jobs that involve organization and planning are worse than simply doing things in practice with my own hands, plus I was already tired from everything that had happened the day before. My mind was swarming with things to think about, about the God Fragment, about the Blood Demons, about the Blood Seal technique I learned thanks to Goddess Selene, about the plan in action, about the negotiation I will have to do with a Goddess, etc. There were so many things on my mind to think about that I felt my head ready to explode at any moment, even though having the parallel thinking skill wasn''t enough, that skill just meant I would be doubly mentally exhausted. When it was already midday I managed to get back to the tower where Vanessa was eating with a smile on my face, I felt like hitting her for being so calm and relaxed while I could lose consciousness, I feel exhaustion at any moment, it was so unfair so much work has fallen on my head. "Good morning Dad." (Vanessa) "I''ve been waiting for you for hours, why did you take so long..." (Vanessa) "..." (Vanessa) "..." (I) Before she finished speaking her expression hardened as she looked at me for some reason, but it still turns out that she stopped talking, that''s why I was getting annoyed by her words. I was running from place to place doing multiple things at the same time to dispatch people to the dungeons we already know the location of, I had also sent Kira, Elsaris, and their family to investigate the location of other dungeons. Nix had given one of his scales to each of them after applying a few Runes, Nix said that since a living Dungeon was able to sense other Dungeons nearby, it was thanks to this that we found the location of so many Dungeons on our way here. With the scales of Nix the exporters would be able to find Dungeons by places they are passing, knowing the location Ivan will be able to organize the rest even without me around. But after so many things to hear someone say "why did you take so long" filled me with anger. "Are you angry about something, Dad? Did I say something wrong?" (Vanessa) Everything I''ve said is true, I''m sure this Goddess will find out through these Blessings we receive in the same way that Goddess Selene and Goddess Aine always seem to know what I do, so I hope that''s enough. ---------- After we finished eating the table and the dishes were taken away as Vanessa got on her knees spreading her red wings, she released her Aura completely quickly swirling across the room, a red energy with a golden touch emanating from her as she started to speak with eyes closed, head down and hands together. Her appearance makes me imagine a kneeling angel praying. "O Great Goddess Kalistos responsible for guiding souls to eternal rest, I am Vanessa a Priestess of the Blood Goddess Selene and I call for her attention." (Vanessa) When Vanessa finished speaking all of her Aura and holy energy were compressed inside her and disappeared in a matter of seconds as she turned pale having to lean on the floor panting. I waited for her to catch her breath and gave her a bottle of fresh blood, this is the Caryna blood I ordered earlier thinking something like this might happen, Caryna was very kind to accept to donate some of her blood. Vanessa emptied the bottle as if she hadn''t eaten in days, it looked like even Ibuki when she sees food. After a few more minutes of lounging on a makeshift cobweb bed I made for her, I start asking her a few questions. "It''s better?" (I) "Yeah, that was the first time I tried something like that, I almost couldn''t get through all of your message." (Vanessa) "Do you think she''ll be interested?" (I) "I don''t know, but I hope so." (Vanessa) I close my eyes as I try to think of possible changes to the plan, I have to think about what to do if this Goddess is not interested, that''s when it reminds me of the World Tree, if I can get this Seed to grow like I was asked, then maybe I can ask for help from the Elf Queen or the World Tree itself. "(This might work, if they aren''t able to help more directly, then at least they should help as intermediaries with the high level Fairies and Spirits who could help.)" (I) Chapter 576: Trading With The Goddess Kalistos Chapter 576: Trading With The Goddess Kalistos I was very worried if I had managed to get the attention of the Demon Goddess Kalistos, because of that I had already started to think about some modifications to the plan that could give us similar results. I spent the rest of the day resting, but even then I was still chipping away at some plans for the entire cleanup operation of this place to work without me. I needed to go to other places on this continent, I had to go to the Poison Forest to visit this continent''s Elf village, and then there was Diana''s rise as a Champion of the Wolf God Fenrir. I might need to go back to the City of Blood to speak with Queen Viviane, she could help us with that, or at least we could use the Temples and Churches in that city to get help. Perhaps Queen Viviane can even come up with a less crazy solution to this situation than mine. With all these things on my mind, I couldn''t stay in this place for long, especially visiting the Elves'' village, going there early might be the answer to this situation. Knowing that the trip would still be long and we didn''t have time to waste, I planned to leave the next day. By nightfall, everything was resolved here and most of the problems with the people who will be left behind could be resolved. I was lying inside the safest place in this place, the seal room, there were also guards watching the approach of monsters. It was decided that Anton, Lyra, and Tania would stay behind in this place to work as support, they will repair weapons and armor, create replacement potions if necessary and create potions if necessary, they will also repair combat clothes. With all this with the strength of all these people, the number of deaths must be low, I am sad at the idea of people from the Dungeon dying, but they are all volunteers who know the risk, and everything I can do to avoid as many of them as possible dead I''m already doing. I was so tired that I just wanted to lie down without thinking about anything and enjoy the starry sky, unfortunately, there is no way to see the sky of this old capital in ruins, I can only differentiate day and night because of the dungeon or even that would be something difficult to discover. I was so tired... ......... ...... ... ----------- It was late at night, the sky was beautiful and full of stars, I was lying on a soft blue grass. "This is a dream?" (I) I try to lift my head, but as I do, I find myself in front of a throne made of crystal headstones with engravings I don''t understand written on them. Sitting on this throne was an old woman drinking a cup of tea with kind eyes and a calm smile, when I blinked my eyes this old woman had disappeared and in her place was a very cute child drinking tea swinging her legs around the throne being too tall for her. I feel something more and more bizarre in this landscape and look around, a field of blue grass surrounded by trees with yellow leaves with a starry sky in the sky, there were also dark clouds of concentrated miasma. "Your plan can be carried out, but unfortunately you don''t have anything that can negotiate my help." (Goddess Kalistos) "And the release of the souls imprisoned in that land of death?" (I) "You also know that it''s only a matter of time before that place is cleansed by the surrounding Realms, it will free the souls that have been suffering for so long in that place." (Goddess Kalistos) "How about the Heretic God Fragment?" (I) "I don''t care, they''re useless to me, plus there''s no more Divine power in that Fragment." (Goddess Kalistos) "You must know why I''m doing all this, right? Then why do you keep such a kind expression while showing so much indifference?" (I) "I''m one of the oldest Goddesses in this Dimension, I''m older than Selene, besides, unlike her, I''ve always been a Goddess from the moment of my existence." (Goddess Kalistos) "I have seen more wars than the number of drops of water that fill an ocean, I have seen wars that have destroyed worlds, universes, and entire dimensions." (Goddess Kalistos) "I have seen fates worse than death, I can see this everything in existence impartially because of the way I see the world, as a Goddess I can see more from where I am than you can by walking among people." (Goddess Kalistos) "I know that any move I make will cause more problems than it helps." (Goddess Kalistos) "So because of the horrors of the past you''ve become desensitized to the lives of normal people?" (I) "On the contrary, for these reasons, I welcome everyone in my arms with affection at their deaths." (Goddess Kalistos) I have to convince her somehow, but she listens right, sooner or later the Realms around would realize the value of that land, the Goddess Fragment was called useless and my being a child of the Goddess Selene didn''t work either. "(What should I do now?)" (I) "This is still a negotiation, what do you want that would be worth your help even indirectly?" (I) "I wouldn''t say anything, after all not much that someone with your strength could do for me even though you are." (Goddess Kalistos) "But as I looked into your mind, I liked some of the things I saw in your mind, particularly what you intend to do with the Phantom Orb." (Goddess Kalistos) "..." (I) I knew she wouldn''t be interested in the Phantom Orb itself, she was interested in my plans of what I would do with it. "What do you really want Goddess?" (I) "What I desire is..." (Goddess Kalistos) "..." (I) I thought I was bold, but the Goddess is even more so, she should already know about my plans and just didn''t want to show her interest in it, I''m worried about what he told me, but I don''t have time to think about it now, still talking necklace everything in place for this plan to proceed. Chapter 577: His Successor? Chapter 577: His Successor? Kalistos Demonic Goddess Pov: I was surprised that the plan proposed by Selene''s son was so simple and naive, but incredibly feasible. But this plan relies heavily on those who are at a very distant level of strength from it to work, that''s why it''s so naive. He also knows that, so he didn''t try to hide anything from me by showing everything he had that could be part of the negotiation, but the truth is that none of that matters to me. I had known about that God Fragment for a long time, but it was still at a level that people would be able to handle without Divine intervention. The souls in that place was something I really wanted to free, but it wasn''t urgent and I knew that at some point someone would destroy that Cursed Dungeon, I even used that place as a test to find those worthy of my Blessing and they wouldn''t misuse it power they get from my Blessing. I thought a Hero, Champion, or maybe even one of those monstrous talents that are born from time to time would do that, I didn''t expect someone like the Son of Selene to do it by accident or should tell the Priestess of Selene. But it gave me a great opportunity to see him more closely, since he received my Blessing I noticed something strange, dealing with him allowed me to get a closer look at his Soul. But while I was doing that I was surprised once again with what I found, besides its origins, I also noticed that someone altered his Soul little by little, I''m sure other Gods wouldn''t be able to notice that, but I realized as soon as I looked at his Alma, it appears these changes were to change your spiritual and physical appearance. "(Must have been Selene to hide him.)" (I)Nne?w n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com I also noticed some injuries on his Soul, all completely recovered, I realized that he doesn''t even have 1 year to live, it made me confused by the experiences he went through that even many people at the top of this world might not have this kind of injuries in their Souls, it looks like someone healed his Soul since he''s still alive. I became interested in him, but unfortunately, the Chaos within him is not compatible with the things I seek, therefore he is not suited to be a Hero, Priest, let alone a Champion for me. I looked into his mind to see about this plan he had, in the midst of this I came across a very interesting idea in his head, it made me think that with some help I could get what I''d been looking for for so long. After he was sent away from my God Realm, my sister appeared sitting on the armrest of my throne. "The two are very different." (Mavis) "Yes, this Zenos is more chaotic and unpredictable than the old one." (I) "I see, a bit of chaos might be needed so this just makes my offer even better, I hope he manages to complete what I asked for." (I) I think about the job I''ll have in the future, and all I can do is hope it''s not as bad as it was then. "Have you already sent one of your servants?" (I) "Yes, it will be there in a few hours, a Divine Beast that was born a few decades ago, I like this Zenos, what he did helping a whole place to regain its vitality is something I appreciate." (Mavis) "I think I can send one of my Reapers, he''ll take care of it with the help of some High Priest." (I) "Forgot to send a Priest..." (Mavis) "I''ll take care of it for you, I was expecting that to happen." (I) My sister is more cheerful than I am, she has fun with new races coming into being and old races resurfacing, I''m sure that''s why she likes this Zenos. "(I hope you make different choices, Zenos.)" (I) ---------- Pov Zenos: I wake up suddenly in the middle of the night, I get up and go outside, then I go to the top of the tower where I have a view of a good part of the city and the fog that covers almost everything, I can see some sparkles inside of fog coming from several different points. "Looks like the city isn''t clean of the undead yet." (I) I look up, but unfortunately all there are dark clouds, I can''t see the sky of this damn ruined city. "The deal was easier than I expected, the Goddess agreed more easily than I expected, I thought she would refuse and was already planning on how to convince the Elves." (I) "Your only requirement is already underway, I''m glad my curiosity made me think of this other plan, I didn''t expect this Demon Goddess to be interested, this must have been one of the few lucky times I''ve been lucky in this world." (I) Chapter 578: Dianas Guide Chapter 578: Diana''s Guide Since waking up I haven''t been able to go back to sleep, so I waited until the others woke up to start preparing to leave this place. As all my companions would be left behind, I packed my things and started to think about the path I should take to get to the Poison Forest where the Elves'' village is hidden. After giving the final instructions and picking up the two rare-ranked Phantom Orbs that Hela had made during those two days, I hit the road with only Freya and Ragnar accompanying me. The others stayed behind to ensure the Dungeons were cleared in record time, as there are some people in Lower Catastrophe Grades and the strongest Dungeon should only be in Grade SSS, there should be no danger for them I hope. The trip out of this place would take another 3 days, during the trip I went straight without paying attention to the undead and dungeons, I was riding on Ragnar''s back as he flew, we would have been faster if he went in the maximum speed, but didn''t want to draw the attention of people who might be watching this place to prevent undead attacks in their respective Realms. After three days I arrived at a mountain where some of the grass was still a little green, looking at the horizon I could see a green forest and when I looked back there was only a strange land with dark colors. "We have reached the border, if we have followed the right direction, then our next trip will be..." (I) Before I finish speaking I draw my weapons and unleash all of my enhancement skills as I get into a combat stance with Ragnar at my side. In the direction, we were both looking there was only a gray fur wolf with a height of 4 meters and 2 tails. "You don''t have to fear me and point your guns at me." "Who are you?" (I) "He is a Holy Beast, I feel a little of the presence of the God of Wolves in him." (Ragnar) "My name is Wolog, I am a Holy Beast who serves the Great Fenrir." (Wolog) A Holy Beast is here means it must have come for Diana. "Have you come for Diana?" (I) "Yes, I felt you guys coming this way and I walked this far." (Wolog) "Ragnar, could you go get Diana?" (I) "It should take me 5 days to get back." (Ragnar) I look at Wolog whose body has shrunk to a height of 1.5 meters and must have done so so as not to attract anyone''s attention with his large frame. "Do you need her urgently?" (I) "No, but I also can''t stay long since the High Priestess is here and can''t stay long on this continent." (Wolog) They were few words, but they demonstrated knowledge about me and my goal, besides that those eyes looked like bottomless pits as they looked at me. "(Looks like a God, but with so few features I can''t figure out which one.)" "(Seems to know where Zenos is and our objective, but seems more concerned with the False Hero''s Soul.)" "Do you think I should go in the direction you told me?" (I) "(Do you know where you have to go?)" I didn''t know how to respond, the child pointed in a direction, but in the dream, I couldn''t tell where it was, she didn''t say the place either, but somehow I knew the direction and distance we should go. I opened the map of that continent and felt as if a specific place was very important, a city on the edge of a large area of forest. Comparing where we are now to this city and the direction that I feel is the right path, it seems to be this city. "This city for some reason seems to be this city, I feel it." (I) "(The city name is not on the map.)" "It doesn''t matter, we know the name of the forest that is written on the map." (I) "Poisonous Forest." (I) "(How are you going to explain this information to others?)" "I''m going to the town closest to here and come back after a few hours saying that this information came from a criminal I followed." (I) "(It should be enough, but should you kill this person so you don''t deny your story if they run after him?)" "I just need to kill him." (I) "(So let''s go with it.)" I tuck the crystal inside my clothes again as I sit cross-legged. Sigh "(Apart from this child, the rest of the dream was still the same as always, the images of that day, the day I was forced to stand by watching an entire city being sacrificed in horrendous ways knowing we could have done something to stop it.)" (I) "Never again..." (I) I further strengthened my determination for what was to come, but even so, the image of my sister was still in my heart, even though she was not the same sister I once knew. Chapter 579: Darkness Moves In The Black Empire Chapter 579: Darkness Moves In The Black Empire Pov of a butler: Today was another day like any other, I was serving my master who is a Duke of the Black Empire. Today I went with him to a house I didn''t know, this trip was last minute, he came here after receiving a message and when we entered we went straight to a room whose door was covered with complex magic circles. There were three more people inside the room talking heatedly, it was a bald white-skinned man with three horns on his head, I recognized him as an important general who a few years ago was promoted as the leader of the Royal Guard. The second was a very handsome Vampire with long blond hair, he had white skin and a horn on one side of his head, I recognized him as the finance minister of the Black Empire. The last person was a black-skinned woman, with two horns on the sides of her head and curly brown hair, her fiery red eyes are a symbol of her identity known to all as the Imperial Mage who commands everything related to magic in the Black Empire, she is known as the Incarnation of Demonic Flames. As we entered the three of them looked at my master and then towards me, when the door closed behind me I felt the master look at me differently for 1 second. Then the four of them started talking about shocking topics, things that made my hands start to shake with nervousness. Their meeting lasted a few hours before it ended, at the end the 4 looked at me, my master had a strange look as he approached me and put his hand on my shoulder. "I''m sorry to put you in this situation, thank you for serving me since the death of my old family friend." (Master) "Sir Duke, I... master..." (I)Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) "Unfortunately no one can know what you heard here today, I''m too close to my goal to take any risks, goodbye." (master) "< Puppet Master: Break >" (master) I felt that I had no more control over my body and I started moving all my limbs at strange angles as my bones broke, in less than 5 seconds my vision was darkening and I heard the master''s last words. "When I am the Emperor, it will all be worth it..." (master) Without listening to everything my mind falls into oblivion. ----------- "You were punctual as I expected." (I) "You knew how long I could cross that distance, you must have calculated how long it would take before giving the order to go, right?" (Ragnar) "I had a rough estimate, I wouldn''t ask for anything I thought was impossible to do." (I) After talking to Ragnar I focus on Diana, grab a bottle of water, and throw it in her face until I see her looking at me. "Are you okay?" (I) "Master... I''m fine..." (Diana) "Pleased to meet the future Wolf God Champion Fenrir, I am Wolog the guide who agreed to escort you to the place of divine appointment." (Wolog) "Friend or enemy...?" (Diana) "It seems to be an ally, just as I said it seems to have come here for you." (I) "Who sent you here?" (Diana) "It was High Priestess Lara." (Wolog) "My mother is here?" (Diana) I give Diana time to recover before I leave, Diana and I went on top of Ragnar as we followed the Gray Wolf Wolog to the designated spot. Along the way at a more comfortable speed, I was able to chat with Diana about how things were after I left, it seems like everything was going according to plan. The place we were going to seems to be a sacred place on this continent called Moon Valley. Our journey to this place took several days, but we still arrived early from what Wolog said. During the whole trip, he didn''t talk to me, he only talked to Diana and Ragnar while I was ignoring me, but he never said the reason for this different treatment. When we arrived at Moon Valley we were greeted by various types of Wolves and many Beastmen from the Wolf Tribe, there was a crowd looking at Diana with respect. Chapter 580: High Priestess And Mother Chapter 580: High Priestess And Mother When we arrived we weren''t even able to walk, there were many people trying to approach Diana, but everything was suddenly silent as people made a corridor through which we could pass, all this was caused by an Aura that spread from a Wolf in that direction. This Wolf had an ice horn on top of his head, his fur was white and his eyes were blue, just looking at him makes you feel cold. "Follow me!" The Wolf had a soft, confident voice as he stood up and headed in a certain direction, we all followed behind while the rest of the crowd lagged behind. We followed to a place full of energy, but I couldn''t tell what kind of energy, it was a clearing in the middle of the valley where a mountain can be seen nearby that resembles the shape of a Wolf with its head held high, from the position where we are. The White Fur Wolf stops in the clearing and looks at us, Diana approaches and hugs the White Wolf who licks her face. "Good to see you again, Mom." (Diana) "Glad to see you too dear, you got so strong and so fast, we''re proud of you." "All this was thanks to the master, I''ve always been the least talented in the family, it would have taken me another 10 or 15 years to get that strength if it wasn''t for him." (Diana) "Talent isn''t just speed you get strong, my dear, you''ve always been the most talented in my eyes." I was confused, was this Loba Diana''s mother? While I was having doubts in my head, the Loba separates from Diana and bows her head as she lifts one of her paws to her chest. "Let me introduce myself, my name is Lara, I am a High Priestess of the great Fenrir and mother of Diana." (Lara) "Nice to meet you, my name is Zenos, I''m your daughter''s mate, the pleasure is all mine to finally meet you." (I) "The one beside me is Ragnar, he is my Familiar." (I) "I was chosen and I was very happy that I didn''t have to insist that I do this, you have no idea how proud I am of you my child." (Lara) After that Lara starts to tell us how everything will be done, it seems that she needed to create a ritual by which the power of the God Fenrir will transform Diana''s body, mind, and Soul into something much stronger. This ritual can only be done during full moons when the two moons can be seen completely in the starry sky and the conditions for the ritual were ready, then Diana''s transmutation process will begin. Looks like we still have time for that, plus Lara said she will perform the ritual, I asked if there was anything she could do, but it seems I can only look from afar. The ritual was complete in this place where we are, probably this ritual is the strange energy I feel and I can''t identify. Diana asks about her responsibilities but seems to have none that she hasn''t been willing to do before, it seems her duty to lead armies is only in extreme cases, normally she will just be a representative of Fenrir, a symbol of his power. It seems that Diana''s Father is already a Hero of the God Fenrir, Lara''s mother let it slip during the conversation leaving Diana completely shocked, now I understand why Diana was always so good in combat, I could never beat her in a martial arts combat. It seems that even though Diana didn''t know about her father''s Hero identity, she''s like those main characters in fantasy stories. Lara also said that this Familiar she is using will be Diana''s after she is formally a Champion of Fenrir. I asked Lara what would happen to the connection I have with Diana, after all, she is my Familiar. The answer she got was that these connections could be severed or turned into something else, depending on the strength of the connection itself resisting the power of Fenrir that will flow through Diana''s body during the ritual. Lara also said that whatever happened, the fact was that Diana would no longer be my Familiar, she could be my servant or whatever, but she would be immune to bonds of bondage and Familiar. I had thought about it before and I didn''t care about it. With that time passed and the night when the two Moons were full arrived, we were camping, but when the day arrived all the people and Wolf-type monsters that we saw the day we arrived were kneeling around the ritual, in the middle from the ritual there was only Lara in her Wolf form and Diana wearing combat clothes that have a lot of exposed skin. "Looks like it''s about to start." (I) Chapter 581: Champion Of The God Fenrir Chapter 581: Champion Of The God Fenrir Diana''s People: The day has finally arrived, I am happy that my mother is the High Priestess who will perform the ritual, I am also happy that the master is here with me at this time. I was in the middle of the ritual that glowed with a silver glow sucking the light of the moons, the mountain that resembles a Wolf looking up seems to be alive tonight and my mother was between me and this mountain. "Are you ready, my daughter?" (mother) I look at the master up in a tree outside of the ritual, he looks at me and nods his head while smiling, I turn to my mother with renewed determination. "I''m ready." (I) "Then let the divine bestowal ritual begin!" (mother) AUUUUUUUUUUU!!!! As my mother howls into the air, a silhouette of her real body appears behind the Wolf serving as her Familiar. The wolf''s eyes turn golden as an energy that seems to come from the world itself surrounds us passing through the wolf''s body before going to the ritual circle where we are standing and finally coming to me running through my body from the bottom up before leaving the top of my head and spread across the world. This is communion with the world, where we are part of the world''s power flow, the first step in the empowerment of this ritual that my mother explained to me. Power fills my body, this is wild and bestial power that almost clouds my mind, but at this moment my Aura leaves my body and seems to gain power by consuming this power. Soon a pain begins to increase and gradually takes over my body as I feel saturated with this energy, it was at that moment that the voice of my return to be heard. "May the power of the Twin Moons fill the body of the chosen of the Gods." (mother) Soon visions of beast-type monsters pop into my mind nonstop, then I feel my point of view shift from the outside to the inside of a Wolf-type monster as it runs through the forests at night and howls at the moons on top of a cliff. In a second we attack each other without hesitation, I try to cut his eye out with my claws, but he bites my paw with all his might, breaking my bones. I ignore the pain and bite his neck, but before I can claim my victory, I''m thrown to the side with a swipe of his paw, and another Wolf runs before I can get to my feet trying to get away, but I won''t allow that to happen. I run after him, one of my paws is broken bones, but I don''t care, I ignore the pain and keep running, I feel blood oozing from the wound in my side, but the only thing in my vision is my prey. I chase the other Wolf through the woods enduring pain, then I chase him up the mountains enduring weariness, I chase him through deserts enduring thirst, I chase him through dark caves filled with the roar of creatures much stronger than I am, but I endure fear and I continue chasing my prey to a valley where dozens of Wolves surround me being led by the Wolf I was hunting. Even though I was surrounded I never took my eyes off my prey, the Wolves around tried to roar and howl at me, they even tried to get close to attack, but none of them dared to get too close when they realized I wasn''t retreating but advancing. When I started to run towards my prey I felt many teeth closing in my body, but I dragged them all with me to reach my prey crushing its throat with my teeth, at that moment the teeth stuck in my body came loose as the Wolves around them bend with their heads on the ground while I''m feeding on my prey, I eat his flesh, organs and break his bones with my teeth before devouring him until there''s nothing left. Howl!!!!! I howl in victory when my hunger is sated, my body begins to fill with power, it may not have been given but conquered by hunting. "Correct answer, a Wolf must gain power." In front of me, I look up where a Wolf the size of a mountain looks down on me, his colossal body radiating murderous intent and unparalleled ferocity. "I am the Wolf who dared to hunt even Gods, I am the Incarnation of the hunt, I am the Wolf God Fenrir!" (God Fenrir) "Today I acknowledge you as my Champion, you will be the Alpha among all Wolves, I grant you authority, but power will have to be won in every battle." (God Fenrir) "You will be my claws and my fangs, show your enemies the determination of an unstoppable hunter!" (God Fenrir) I feel a great power coursing through my body and my connection with the master trying to be severed, but I cling tightly to it, the connection with the master I chose will never be lost, I will not allow it. Soon this connection begins to transform, no longer a connection of servitude, but of equality, I feel the connection become deeper and stronger between the two of us until the moment my senses come back, my mother''s turn once again being heard. "May the Twin Moons behold the birth of the Champion of the great God Fenrir, Diana!" (mother) Chapter 582: Going To The Poisonous Forest Chapter 582: Going To The Poisonous Forest I stayed on top of the tree right next to the crowd that surrounded the ritual, my body was very low so my vision could be obstructed if I stayed with the crowd, so I stayed in this tree watching the ritual being performed. The ritual circle was strange to me having many strange shapes forming illogical patterns, there were also many different Runes scattered around, all this that was not visible before only showed when the full moons appeared in the sky, the light of the moons being absorbed by the ritual. When the ritual began, I was worried about the energy of the World circling Diana''s body and destroying her body, I found it strange that she endured this pain without screaming, I wanted to intervene several times, but I could feel the determination in Diana''s eyes and in her Aura that it grew stronger and wilder as time went on. The ritual took almost an hour, Diana''s body was completely enveloped in a silvery light and her Aura couldn''t be felt. Ding! <[ Her familial connection to [ Diana (Beast Man) ] tried to be severed by an outside force ]> . . . <[ Your Familiar Connection to [ Diana (Beast Man) ] transforms and she is no longer her Familiar ]> . . . <[ [ Diana (Champion of the God Fenrir) ] became her [ Chaos Hunter ] ]> I felt my connection to Diana being attacked, but it didn''t feel like it was on purpose, it was the energy coursing through her body being too strong for that connection to bear, but I felt Diana doing her best to keep this connection between us, she didn''t know that with connection or no connection, nothing would change between us, she wouldn''t be less important than the others just because of that. But her attempt made the connection deeper and I felt something flow from me to her, I also feel something flow from her to me, it strengthens the connection while transforming her into something else. "..." (I) "(It can''t be, I can''t have forgotten...)" (I) I felt my face heat up in embarrassment, my heart was racing from the nervousness of such a situation. cough cough "Where is Diana''s mother?" (I) "She cut her connection to her Familiar last night, she said this Familiar was for her daughter from the start." (Ragnar) "Good thing, so she must not have seen or heard anything..." (I) "She saw and heard many things before she left, she also left a message that she wants beautiful grandchildren." (Ragnar) "Damn it!" (I) ----------- We spent another 4 days in that place while Diana tried to get used to her new body, she had many mock battles with me and Ragnar, needless to say, we were beaten up as we didn''t use any skills. During those days she also made her Ice Wolf Familiar to her, this Wolf was a rare Holy Beast of the ice element, Diana named her Yuki. Besides, before we left we had something else to solve, the Beast Men and the Wolf-Type Monsters will come along with us, they were attracted here from all over the continent for not remembering a place to belong, they will directly serve Diana. The monsters are all from the 6th generation onwards, they are all with more developed minds and are no longer controlled by their instincts, many of them even understand the Common Tongue because they have lived with Demis races. I left Freya and Nira to take care of their registration part while I helped Diana, after a few days had passed and Diana had gotten used to her new body we decided to head to the Poisonous Forest. p All new residents entered the Dungeon, there were more than 2000. The elf village envoy will guide us to the nearby town of the Poisonous Forest where we will meet some representatives of the Elves before heading to their village. Chapter 583: First Dungeons Destroyed Chapter 583: First Dungeons Destroyed Pov Irina''s: Since the master left it''s been a week, so far none of the dungeons destroyed and 5 more have been found, the biggest impediment to quickly destroying the dungeons is their size and exploration, we always have to keep looking for the place where the stairs are and we don''t know how many floors each dungeon has. Fortunately, none of our Adventurers have been killed so far, many are happy for the combat and challenge they are having since they have been at peace for a long time, the last combat for most had been the Annual Monster Wave. Those in the most trouble have been Vanessa, Nix, Sapphire, Elsaris, and Ivan who have been in charge since my Father left. Elsaris is the one who is most annoyed by doing this kind of work, she was against doing the Blood Demon rescue mission and she is also against the plan to prevent a war that we are doing now. While my Father always says he wants to avoid trouble, he is always the first to step forward if he hears a reason he believes is right. But Elsaris is different, she is as selfish as my Father thinks he is, she doesn''t care what happens to people she doesn''t know and hates doing anything that isn''t for her own benefit. But she still does everything my Dad and Samira say even if she doesn''t agree. Vanessa is the one who is working the hardest as she has both holy magic and holy magic. Hela is doing her best too, this place full of death is her specialty, so she''s being consulted for every single thing we need to do. I was healing yet another group that has just returned from exploring a Dungeon, a Lamia is collecting the information from the monsters and the Dungeon map to share this information with anyone else exploring that place.Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) I wish my brother were here, but he''s leading another group in a different dungeon. "Sorry to interrupt you, but we have received information that Hela''s group has conquered the first Dungeon." (Nymph) "Finally, which of the Dungeons was conquered?" (I) "You''re right, tend to the wounded while I go there." (Jade) "Wait for me to treat the others, then we can go together, it''s going to take everyone to get the rewards accumulated during all this time." (I) "The storage items I have are almost all full of armor and weapons." (Jade) After we finished resting and everyone could walk, we went to the fortress where we found the golden door of a treasure room, when we entered I saw piles of gold coins, hundreds of weapons, and hundreds more of armor, which also had a core floating in the hands great armor equal to the monster we defeated to get here. "< Serpent Spear Attack >" (Jade) Jade makes an attack with her Spear from afar, and the Dungeon core is destroyed disappearing without a trace, so we started to collect everything, unfortunately, we didn''t have enough storage space to take everything, so I gathered everything that was left and made it float with magic inside of a sphere made of Mana. ---------- Pov Zenos: 1 month after Diana became Champion of the God Fenrir. "We should soon reach the city that borders the Poison Forest, this is also the first city of the Black Empire." (Loureno) "The name of this city is Venon Fortress City, it serves as a city of adventurers and a fortress city as it is one of the cities on the border of the Empire." (Loureno) After a long journey, we finally arrived, I had to come here to sort things out with the Elves before deciding on the next step, after all, it''s not just getting here and planting a World Tree like you plant garlic in the garden, I''ll be causing a wave of Monsters I won''t be able to participate in. The Elves need to make preparations for this, in addition, they need to warn those who live around the Poisonous Forest, this will be a preparation that can last a long time, so I came soon to warn them as I want to leave this continent this year. According to Nix and Vanessa, someone with a strength above Lesser Catastrophe Grade would find it difficult to stay in a low energy density area with that continent, so I''ve been avoiding fights, I have to keep my strength stagnant for now, but I don''t know if I can do this forever considering my bad luck, then I have to leave this place later this year as an Annual Monster Wave might force me to fight. Chapter 584: Does Danger Knock The Door? Chapter 584: Does Danger Knock The Door? After a long trip that lasted a month, we finally arrived at the destination place, it was Venon Fortress City, in fact, there are still a few hours to go. We took the shortest way here through dangerous areas off the normal roads, because of that we had to fight some monsters, by fight I mean the Horses fight. These Shadow Horses we''re using are very quiet, they''re as smart as people, and they''re brutal when they encounter enemies. Unfortunately, every time we encountered enemies we had to make a stop, that''s why the Shadow Horses must eat at least a part of their victims, they eat what they killed. Ragnar stayed out of battles knowing he shouldn''t get stronger for the same reasons I do, in fact, there are many in my group with the same level of strength as me, we''re all trying to keep our strength stagnant as much as possible. I left many in that death rule to fight, but they will avoid most of the combat and only fight floor bosses, they will also fight dungeon bosses. I tried to get everything in order there so I could come here, I wish I had arrived sooner, but we had to resolve Diana''s case. Now that we can see some of the tallest buildings in the city in the distance, I can finally start solving the problem of preparations for planting the World Tree. With 1 month of traveling eating, I was happy to see some beautiful and strange landscapes, but I missed seeing cities and the local people. I once found an Adventurer and almost killed him, that for his face only had a big red eye, it was Loureno the Gray Elf guide who stopped me, he said he was an Eye Demon, they are a variant race of Demons that feed from the mouths on the palms of their hands, they look similar to some monsters, but are very friendly Demons. After Loureno''s warning I stopped to talk to this Adventurer, he was looking for the rest of the group that broke up during combat against a monster, I helped him find the group while talking to him, it seems he had a racial skill that allows you to transmit your thoughts, some sort of one-way telepathy, but he has no Affinity with mind magic, his ability is something his entire race was born with and serves to aid in communication with other races. Stopping to talk to him was weird and fun, I was able to meet another race of Demons and I was surprised he had a girlfriend, a pretty one, by the way, she was another member of his group, I tried not to think about how their relationship works. After parting with them, we continued our journey here, I would like to be in less hurry during the trip, but I found that I can''t avoid getting into trouble, so let''s just finish everything we have to do on this continent and leave, restricting ourselves from this way is not going to be good for my mental health. "Ragnar, how long until you get to town?" (I) "We should reach the city in another 3 hours, if it''s at full speed I can get there sooner, but the Shadow Horses won''t be able to keep up with me." (Ragnar) "Mr. Zenos, we don''t need to be in such a hurry, a representative of the council won''t meet us until 1 week from now." (Loureno) "I know, but it''s too hot today, I''d like a cold beer." (I) This wasn''t caused by a simple barrier, I feel a familiar presence blocking out the environment forcibly. "Master, they are..." (Ragnar) "I know..." (I) "Now!" (Woman A) "< Chains of Light >" (Woman A) "< Light Sword Technique: Suppression >" (Man C) "< Poison Purifying Light >" (Man A) "< Seal of Light >" (Man B) "< Sword of Light Technique: Blades of Light > 13" (Man D) "< Sword of Light Technique: Evil Splitter >" (Man E) "< Sword of Light Technique: Wave of Light > 4" (Man F) Soon a flurry of attacks befalls me, currents of light much stronger than Irina''s grip my limbs as they pull in different directions. Magic circles appear around my frozen body the light around me to immobilize me at the same time as a large sword of condensed light appears above me causing great pressure to fall on my head, soon I feel as if gravity has increased by tens if times or a mountain was on top of me, even a crater formed in the ground around me and it was getting bigger little by little. In the same second attacks were coming towards me from all sides, blades of light rained down on me from above, and a great sword of golden Light came from the right. I also saw 4 waves of light coming in front of me while I was feeling the light burn my skin spreading a white spot that highlights my white skin, I could see it was some strange kind of poison. During the attack I finally saw my attackers, they were all people wearing clothes with the symbol of the Church of Light, there were even Celestines among them like Vanessa. "Church of Light..." (I) Chapter 585: Vanessa A Holy Traitor? Chapter 585: Vanessa A Holy Traitor? I was trapped by being trapped by 3 techniques, was weakened by two wide area barriers made with magic rituals, and had attacks coming from all directions with the intent to kill. I could feel that the power of all enemies was at the Lower Catastrophe Grade, but instead of the fear I should have been feeling, what I felt was my heart racing and my blood boiling, I could feel a smile forming on my face. "Kill me with a single blow? You guys don''t have that power..." (I) "< Cape of Blood >" (I) "< Court of Judgment > 4" (I) This is my favorite technique, besides being one of the first techniques I created, it''s also one of the best, I have a lot of resistance skills for my body and the "Blood Cloak" was created with my blood, lines, and scales. Because of that, it''s like doubling my defenses with the same skills having two layers of protection, plus I can control this cape as easily as I control my arms and legs. In an instant, my blood creates some wounds on my body to come out creating the blood cape, a red and black cape of crystallized blood layered with dragon scale crystals on top forms in less than 1 second. Blades of Light attacks are blocked, the sword attacking from the side got stuck as my cloak wrapped around it, and the Waves of Light were cut by my tail using my tail blade to use the Slash of Judgment skill 4 times. "A true monster just as the report described." (Man A) "A Heretic who manipulates blood, this evil must be eradicated today!" (Man C) Among the people who appeared the first one who spoke was a Priest by the clothes, he held a white staff with a sun made of gold on top, it was he who created to activate the barrier at the beginning, I recognized by the voice. The second one who spoke was a Man in Templar armor, it''s not the first time I''ve seen this type of armor, but I can say that this one was much more reinforced by spells than seen before, I can feel a strong murderous intent coming from him. "(Master, something is strange about the woman behind.)" (Ragnar) I glance back and see Ragnar right behind me, I fell off him during the attack, he created a layer of Aura condensed around him to defend himself from the restrictions of that damn barrier. "(Yes.)" (Ragnar) "< Armor of Light >" (Woman A) The woman who appears to be in charge has black skin, white hair, golden eyes, and white wings, a Celestina like Vanessa, she wears light armor that only covers her vital points while having a combat cap underneath her armor, she holds a One-handed sword that shines with Light more powerfully than the others, its Aura seems to be the strongest as well. She doesn''t fall for my taunts, she firmly commands others and ignores what I say while raising her hand creating a glowing white magic circle above her head, then the magic circle descended over her body causing her combat clothes and armor to change to a whiter color where the magic circle passed. "(I liked this spell, but it''s still too simple to be a transformation spell, for a moment I thought I was going to become a Power Ranger.)" (I) "Inquisitor we shouldn''t kill him before we know the whereabouts of the traitor Saint!" (Man A) "Kill the heretic first, he''s too dangerous to be arrested, we can get the information from the weaker Gray Elf." (Man C) "Quiet!" (Woman A) "< Light Sword Technique: Inquisitive Blade >" (Woman A) The woman runs towards me while commanding the others firmly, but what little I heard made me understand that they want to get Vanessa, it seems I''m not their only target. "< Sword of Judgment >" (I) I draw my sword and spread my Dragon wings, I cover my sword with the elements of light and shadow to fight the sword of this Celestine woman they call the Inquisitor. She flies towards me and we start to fight, I can''t fly due to the pressure of the barriers and this sword of light on top of my head, I feel like my body will weigh dozens of times more, but I use my wing as a distraction for my first attack. I give a boost to look like I''m going to fly towards her but I spin around giving a slash with my wing which she defends trying to cut my wing with her sword but then I hide my wings inside my body and aim my sword at her wrist, my aim was to rip her hand off, but she defends it with her armor. When my attack hits the armor a wave of light blows me away, it feels like the magic from before has done it. Chapter 586: Unexpected Change Chapter 586: Unexpected Change As I faced the others, my abilities were still working, I was trying to detect where the cores of these barriers were. It wasn''t in my plans to fight fair, I was just making myself a distraction while Ragnar was ready to stop the enemies'' summons and I was still trying to find the whereabouts of the barriers'' cores. I was using my parallel thinking to the fullest, I was multitasking searching for the cores of barriers, and fighting this "Celestine Inquisitor" with a strength equal to mine, she seems to have combat experience by her quick reactions. When I was pushed backwards after my blow I gathered the element of light in my grip. "< Elemental Claws: Light >" (I) Soon light claws leave my hands becoming 1 meter claws floating behind the back of my hand and moving along with my hands. This is a Ki skill that Diana learned a short time ago and taught me, I adapted it to be used with many different elements, but in this situation, the light element will be better as this whole space is saturated only with that element. "(Ragnar, now!)" (I) As I fought the enemies tried to do the invocation, but Ragnar acted at the same moment I spoke he stretched his wings and beat forward sending black feathers that were stopped by the Templar''s spy but exploded in darkness sending a wave of darkness that disturbed the summoning magic. "(That was weird.)" (I) I noticed something strange, before I spoke the Inquisitor was already looking at Ragnar, but she didn''t give any order, she doesn''t even move to stop him, I was waiting for that moment to use these claws of light, but she didn''t even moved from the place. "Why are you after Vanessa?" (I) "A traitor to the great God of Light, her crimes cannot be forgiven and are far more serious than a Heretic like you." (Inquisitor Celestine) (Changing: Woman A --> Inquisitor Celestina) "You speak too confidently for someone who can''t land any blows." (I) I tease her, but the charity is that I''m finding everything very strange, when my attack failed she could have hit me, but it didn''t do anything. "< Blade of the Army of Light >" (Templar) The pressure on me lessens as the sword of condensed light disappears, I feel 2 Templars and 1 Priest concentrating all their mana towards a golden sword the Templar was holding. The blade of the sword was glowing more and more and very fast, I realized that I wouldn''t be able to resist the kind of destructive power it would create, my only option would be to dodge algae. Before we do anything, other people appear walking in that direction, there were 6 people, and it looks like there were 12 in total. Inquisitor Celestine deactivates her magic on the sword, wings, and armor returning to normal, her eyes looking at me with a determination just as she had before. "(She has a strong determination, but I can see the darkness in her eyes.)" (I) She throws her sword to the ground and the others behind her do the same, so they all stand in front of me doing nothing. "I don''t know why you killed your mates, but I''d be an idiot not to take the opportunity to finish you all right now." (I) "Wait! I swear we''re not your enemies, I know you realized from the start what you were doing right?" (Inquisitor Celestine) "..." (I) The people who died were all those with murderous intent from the start, the ones in front of me now, or at least three of them are the ones who just had a determined look in their eyes. "(This explains why the Inquisitor''s actions were so strange, she planned to betray her comrades from the beginning.)" (I) "Why would I trust someone who betrays and kills his own comrades?" (I) "My name is Athena, they weren''t my companions, these are all my true companions." (Athena) "Those 5 were unwanted additions to my group." (Athena) "I''m sorry for not trusting anyone from the Church of Light." (I) "< Acid Hellfire >" (I) "Master, wait!" (Ragnar) "..." (I) "(I don''t feel their faith in their Auras, furthermore they don''t seem to have Baldr''s Blessings, if they did I would tell by their auras with the execution that they are stronger than me, which is not the case now.)" (Ragnar ) "(Think I should spare them?)" (I) "(Use the Fairy or Moon Spirit to confirm they are telling the truth.)" (Ragnar) "This is a good idea." (I)Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) Chapter 587: Athena Part 1 Chapter 587: Athena Part 1 Pov Athena: "Are you sure you want to do this now? I think one of the Priests suspects something." (Angela) "I know, I made him believe that I want to take all the credit for Zenos'' death." (I) "Why did you do that? I thought the plan was not to draw their attention." (Angela) "Because they already realize we''re up to something." (I) "They''re not idiots, they see you walking in and out of meetings with me, they realize that our movements since we arrived on this continent have been suspicious and that I''m hiding something." (I) "I was already prepared for something like this, so it was easy to fool them into thinking I want more credit for this mission." (I) "Do you know that this could cause problems if your lie is discovered?" (Angela) "They will never find out, I am from a family loyal to the Church of Light for countless generations, and my Elder Sister is the youngest and most talented Inquisitor leader in history, I have been a genius since my youth and have always followed the orders of my superiors." (I) "My being a traitor is something no one will think about, but if these people I was forced to accept into our group start investigating our movements, then you will be in greater danger as you have done the tasks I ask." (I)Fo?llo?w new stories at novelhall.com "They know you are loyal to me so I tricked them for that reason, now they must think I want more credit for this quest than they do, which is perfectly normal for someone on their first quest." (I) "Won''t that cause trouble during the ambush?" (Angela) "No, most of them don''t care about the credits for this quest, the Templars want to kill the Heretic who humiliated our Templars from the Morror Continent." (I) I took them all a little far from the city and we used the artifact we brought to locate the Heretic, thanks to that we confirmed his direction, from the information we have received from the Church of Light, Zenos likes to do things hidden, he does not draw attention to the things it does. So I knew that he would avoid a road that was long and full of witnesses, he would probably come towards this city in a straight line, at least that''s what I came to. We set up two powerful barriers with magic rituals I learned from books, we are using powerful light element magic crystals, Templars and Priests think this will all be used to kill the target but my goal is just to make sure I am stronger so I don''t die early too much. I could always save him if everything was going well, plus setting up the barrier rituals would split our group, it will make surprise attacks easier to eliminate these six nuisances. ------------- After a few days of waiting, three people were seen riding monsters coming from the direction the artifact showed Zenos was, when they got closer it was confirmed that Zenos was among them. As soon as they entered the barrier area the plan started, when he was restrained I thought it was ok, the barriers should have halved his strength and restrained his Aura but his eyes were calm as he looked at me and the others. Soon several attacks rained down on him, but he defended himself from everything even restricted, then he got rid of most restrictions and somehow cured the fluorescent poison. He was much stronger than the report described, it seems the Church of Light is still underestimating him. I tried to send discreet signals in the hopes he''d notice I wasn''t an enemy, I avoided making attacks, and gave orders that would just be a waste of energy in this situation, just as I hoped the summon was prevented by wasting the energy of the people behind me. I was doing my best to wait for the right moment to finish everyone off, but when Zenos managed to land an attack that could have ripped my hand off if it wasn''t for the protections I put on me, I realized I couldn''t wait long, he should already see me as an enemy, the longer this fight lasts, the worse his first impression of me will be. Because of that, I gave the signal while he prepared another attack, so I made my move killing 2 and wounding a third one that my companion finished killing, the other three must have been killed as well. I couldn''t do much more than demonstrate that I wasn''t an enemy now, even if I start talking now, he has no reason to believe me. I had to talk to him to call a Moon Fairy, so he would find out that everything I said was true, plus when we''re in a safer place I''ll be able to tell the real reasons I did what I did. Chapter 588: Athena Part 2 Chapter 588: Athena Part 2 I didn''t trust this woman, she is an Inquisitor of the Church of Light, moreover, she killed her companions without hesitation, her strength is also greater than her appearance suggests. I was going to break up with her for the sole reason that I didn''t want to take unnecessary risks by not trusting her, not to mention that I felt something strange about her, I couldn''t understand that, so it would be better to get rid of her. It was at that moment before I started killing everyone that she said that if I asked a Moon Fairy I would be able to distinguish between truth and lies. "(I wish Nix was here since it''s a Spirit with one of the elements being the Moon, but I won''t summon her just because of that.)" (I) "(I''ll try to find a Fairy or Spirit that can help.)" (I) I close my eyes and focus, the two Cradles within the Dungeon were created in Cooperation with me, my shadow is the gateway to them, I am deeply connected with both, but it took me a long time to realize that. I realized this by accident a few days ago, after I realized this I was able to connect with these Cradles so I could see what happens in them and communicate with the Fairies or Spirits inside the two Cradles. That''s what I was doing now, I was looking for a Fairy or Spirit suiting among the thousands inside the Dungeon. I started by looking for the strongest of the Moon element, then I selected the smartest, and finally, I chose the one that seemed to be on the verge of evolving. "(Come to me.)" (I) "(Zenos!)" Who I called was a Spirit, it was a big black and white Serpent, normally it stays near the waterfall and spends most of its day sleeping, it seems Lilith likes this spirit, she says it was the first friend she made before graduating my daughter.Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) This Spirit has an affinity for the pure elements of Light, Darkness, and Moon. As soon as I called a black rift forms in front of the Serpent Spirit, he enters leaving my shadow later, when he left he was already in a much smaller size, he was perched on my shoulder where I caress his little head. "Can you help me out for a while?" (I) "Where''s Mother?" "She''s far away, that''s why I called you." (I) "I don''t like to fight..." "I didn''t call you to fight, but I still think you should learn to defend yourself, I said that before." (I) "Waste of time, sleep is better." "Why betray the Church of Light?" (I) "What do you hope to gain from all this?" (I) These three questions were hammering in my head, this situation doesn''t make sense to me, this Celestina''s actions don''t make sense to me. She looks at her companions who nod at her with determination and confidence in their eyes, I feel how much they believe in this Celestina who looks into my eyes before starting to speak. "My family has belonged to the Church of Light for generations, even now there are people I called family still there, I grew up learning about the Church''s teachings of justice, peace, and loyalty..." (Athena) "Your story can be very beautiful and moving, but I want a summary, our battle may have been short, but your barrier must have caught the attention of the townspeople, so we have less than 30 minutes before we are discovered at this distance." (I) "..." (Athena) Sigh "You''re right, we can save the details for later." (Athena) "To sum it up, I discovered that the Church of Light is not what I thought, I saw with my own eyes something terrible being done without them doing anything, and after that, I discovered many other things that they did in the past." (Athena) "I studied about Saint Vanessa in my youth, but the things I heard were just what the Church wanted to reveal, when I started to investigate I found her diary, it opened my eyes once again." (Athena) "When I was chosen to come after you, I received all the information the Church of Light had collected, including that Saint Vanessa was with you." (Athena) "So your target is Vanessa?" (I) "No, my goal is you who were able to free Saint Vanessa''s connections with the Church of Light." (Athena) "My companions and I want to leave the Church of Light, but if we flee we will be found and killed." (Athena) "So anyone who enters cannot leave? What kind of religion is this that forces a person to stay?" (I) "Normal Kindred can choose to stay or leave as they please, but those of us who were trained to be Inquisitors were taught secret Church techniques, spells, skills and knowledge, things that cannot be spread." (Athena) "That''s why I wanted to find you, we want to be free like Saint Vanessa, please help us." (Athena) I look at the Spirit Serpent on my shoulder, she looks at me and shakes her head in confirmation saying it''s all true. I look into each one''s eyes that are full of determination and hope, Celestina Athena''s eyes were the most strong-willed. "What should I do?" (I) Chapter 589: Vanessas Decision Chapter 589: Vanessa''s Decision I was wondering what to do, this Celestina named Athena seems to be the leader and speaks on behalf of others, I like the willpower in her eyes. She has answered all my questions honestly from what the Serpent Spirit said, her situation can also be understood, just like Vanessa in the past, she saw the truth about the Church of Light and tried to run away. Unlike Vanessa who didn''t have a plan and acted without a practical plan in mind, in addition to telling her family what she was going to do, this Athena was cautious and thought about the consequences of what she was doing all along. Apparently, she waited for an opportunity to run away, and that opportunity seems to be me, she believes that because I am with Vanessa who is someone who has experienced the same difficulty that she is experiencing now, I would be able to help her in the same way. "(I like the way she thinks, but let''s see her character.)" (I) I look at her and the others behind her. "Before I decide anything, I want to sincerely hear what you think, I want the answer from all of you." (I) I look at everyone seriously and spread my Aura to pay attention to their expressions, eyes, and Aura at the same time, the only effect I activated on my Aura was ruler. "Do you have any prejudices against other Breeds?" (I) "No!" (all) "Do you have any prejudices against Demons or Demi?" (I) "No!" (all) "Are you prejudiced against those who have elemental affinities other than the light element?" (I) "No!" (all) "Do you have any prejudices against other religions and devotees of other Gods?" (I) "..." (all) "No." (Athena) "..." (I) I look at everyone and feel a fluctuation in their Aura with my last question, no one but Athena answers the question, I look at the Spirit Serpent who nods his head showing that everyone has answered the truth. "Why didn''t you answer the last question?" (I) One man among those who didn''t respond looks at Athena who nods at him before answering. "Your question was too vague, sir." "Many of us hate Heretic Gods and have our doubts about the Demon Gods, some of us are even survivors of situations where believers of the Heretic Gods have done atrocities." I send Sakura the information and images of everything that happened about these people from the Church of Light, inside the information I also had my questions for Vanessa about her decision about them. My connection with my Familiar only lasted less than 3 minutes, but when I opened my eyes again I was panting, this was more a reflection of my mental fatigue than my physical fatigue. "Let''s go somewhere else, we''ve been here too long." (I) I took them all about 5 kilometers away which took a couple of minutes with our mounts, Diana was riding Yuki her Frostwolf Familiar while the Church of Light people were on Shadow Horses, I did this on purpose to see their reactions, it seems they don''t mind being around a shadow element monster. After finding an area far away from where we fought, not forgetting that we took the bodies with us, I make everyone stop while I wait for the time to pass until the time I spoke to Sakura. I sit facing the people of the Church of Light, then close my eyes as I reconnect with Sakura and share her vision, she was facing Vanessa in a separate room with just the two of them. I spread my hands up creating a condensed light hologram of Vanessa, I plan to reproduce what I see so everyone knows what Vanessa says. With Sakura''s permission, I use her mouth to talk to Vanessa. "Could you think about what to do with these people?" (I) "I believe that whatever decision you make will be right, Father." (Vanessa) "But I believe these people should know that in order to free themselves from the influence of the Church of Light they must become Vampires, I would be happy to receive them as my children if they so choose." (Vanessa) "I know your faith in the Gods has been shaken, you don''t have to be devoted to Goddess Selene if you don''t want to." (Vanessa) "But know that staying by my Father''s side and my side has a cost, your loyalty!" (Vanessa) Vanessa''s last words were very firm and serious, she knows how much I value the loyalty of those around me, even though Lilian wasn''t someone to be trusted from the start. "My Father will give you all the freedom you want and a place you will always be able to return to." (Vanessa) "You have two choices, become part of the family or leave now, choose!" (Vanessa) I held on as long as I could, as soon as Vanessa''s last word was heard by me and transmitted through the hologram I created, I closed the connection with Sakura. My mind was heavy and my head was aching like it had a hangover, I put my hand in this one and realized I had a fever too. Sigh "Are you okay, master?" (Diana) "Want me to make you some tea or fetch you a potion?" (Freya) "I''m fine, I just need to rest, but first I want to hear their answer." (I) "I''m too busy to waste my time, so you guys have 15 minutes to decide, after that I''m leaving." (I) Chapter 590: Athenas Secret Chapter 590: Athena''s Secret I only gave them 15 minutes because I needed to rest a few minutes to cool my head, meanwhile, I drank a bottle of blood and a potion. I saw the 7 people talking, I could have listened to what they were saying if I wanted to, but I didn''t, but I was sure the others did. After 15 minutes I still wasn''t completely well, but at least my mind was clearer and the fever had improved. I look at the 7 people in front of me, it''s time for them to decide. "What is your choice?" (I) "I choose to go with you, we were ready for this from the start, we were talking about what to do next." (Athena) "Do you speak for all of them?" (I) "Yea." (Athena)Fo?llo?w new stories at novelhall.com "Then stand still and receive my power, it will free you from the influence of the Church of Light." (I) I spread my Aura and activate the Blood Servant skill, but I only do it with 6 of them and leave Athena out. The process was quick, they didn''t have those control seals that Irius and Irina had when I first met them, plus they didn''t have any bondage marks either. But they all had a symbol of a golden sun with a white sword embedded in it somewhere on their bodies, that was Baldr''s crest, the Symbol of the Church of Light. But I noticed that the sword had a Rune, this was not a Spiritual Rune as I know it, it was a magic circle in the form of a circular Rune, this marks an Inquisitor in the Church of Light or Baldr''s sword, they are tools to kill what the Church sa Luz considers impure or evil. This Symbol was carrying holy magic but it would be difficult for me to get rid of it with just one skill, while thinking about using other skills the Blessing of various Gods who possess seem to react to this symbol is a wave of energy passes through my Aura erasing all wheels Symbols along with Baldr''s Coat of Arms. With that finished I tell Freya to take the 6 to another place to talk about the things they should know before going to the Dungeon, meanwhile, I stay with Athena and Diana with me, and the elf envoy Loureno went with Freya. "I think you know why I pushed the others away and didn''t help you like I did them, right?" (I) "Of course, I already know your name, it''s only fair to start the introductions with me." "Unfortunately I don''t have a name, my old name was lost a long time ago." "But you will understand if I say that I am the Heretic God of Fun..." (The Heretic God of Fun) "Calm down!" (I) This person''s voice is strange, I can''t define a genre, moreover, all his words are spoken lightly and loaded with fun as if he was always making fun of everything. As soon as he introduces himself as an Heretic God, Diana grabs her swords as she transforms into her White Werewolf appearance with Yuki baring her teeth at her side, Ragnar focused his Aura on his blade horn as powerful killing intent pours out of his body, could also feel Freya pointing her bow in that direction aiming at Athena. Everyone was ready to attack if it wasn''t for me to broadcast my words through my Aura to everyone, they stop their attacks but are still in the position to attack at any moment. "You shouldn''t lie, your presence may be strange, but it''s still far from a divine presence." (I) "I''m not lying, the moon spirit on your shoulder knows that I''m just weakened for several different reasons." (Evil God of Fun) I look at the Spirit Serpent on my shoulder, it was wrapped around my neck with its head resting on my shoulder, but as soon as I looked at it I got a nod of confirmation. "Why would an Heretic God be with a Church of Light Inquisitor?" (I) "I''m with her by chance, it was a happy coincidence for me, however, I stayed with her because of you." (Evil God of Fun) "I want to hear everything." (I) Soon we spent a few hours in that place, at first I realized that the conversation could be long, so I put up a barrier with Freya''s help to keep us hidden. I''ve sent the Elves'' envoy Laurence ahead to the city with Nolan to reserve a house for us, and it would be good to let the Elves know of our arrival in order to bring our meeting forward. While they''re moving things forward in town, I''d have time to listen to what this Heretic God of Fun and this Inquisitor Celestine had to say. The other 6 were taken to the mansion where they will be watched over by the Fairies and Hawaiians by Nira, I want to know if there will be problems with them with the various races inside the Dungeon. Chapter 591: Crazy Evil God Chapter 591: Crazy Evil God I hear the whole story of why Athena''s faith in the Church of Light was broken and how she met this supposed Heretic God. I must say that even though I was surprised by what I heard, the Church of Light let an entire city become a sacrifice just to have the opportunity to defeat an Heretic God. I understand the logic behind it, it''s always the good of the many for the sacrifice of the few, in theory, it can be understood, but there''s no way to be shocked in practice, they accepted to break their own teachings and ideals in exchange for victory, they are willing anything for victory. This worries me since this is from an enemy willing to do anything for the victory I''m talking about. The mentality of the Church of Light is the same as that of any large organization that has been in power for a long time, they think they are above morals, and the law and that everything they do is right. These bastards made excuses to themselves about doing something bad for a good reason, maybe even they believe they are doing something right, but what surprised me the most was hearing that they sacrifice even a Hero as if it were some kind of disposable tool. "I never imagined seeing such cruel people try to appear righteous people and examples of purity in such a blatant way." (I) "Even their Hero was a mere tool to them." (I) "Actually he wasn''t the real Hero." (Athena) "But you just said..." (I) "I said what I saw at that moment, but I once heard my Sister talking to other people and calling the Hero a fake." (Athena) "Later, when I was already with this strange Heretic God, he told me that person was not a Hero." (Athena)Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om "How are you sure you weren''t a Hero?" (I) "Because your Soul was incompatible with your body, moreover the Soul doesn''t have the heroic will, all it had was pain and despair." (Evil God of Fun) p While he speaks the tone of amusement and mockery never leaves his voice, this makes it difficult to know when he is being serious or joking while saying such bizarre things. "You know your explanation could make anyone your enemy, right?" (I) "Don''t get me wrong, I''m fully aware that some things I find fun can be wrong, but I can''t deny my nature." (Evil God of Fun) "But I say I still have my own preferences for fun like anyone else, which are competitions, all kinds of arts and sexual acts, the last one I acquired a little while ago because of someone who was reincarnated, he was a big pervert but Your memories opened my eyes to a whole new avenue of fun." (Evil God of Fun) I give up on trying to have a decent conversation with this Heretic God, I feel like I''m talking to Lilith or Layla. "According to your story, you encountered this Heretic God during this combat where the other Heretic God and the false hero died, correct?" (I) "Yes, I was sent there to be part of the support team, so I was out of town the whole time until the end, but we had our ways of seeing what went on inside, plus the Heretic God wasn''t killed, a mortal wouldn''t be able to kill a God, he was defeated and sealed." (Athena) "This Mad God with me appeared because he was away from others, he was just a bright light that suddenly appeared in front of me." (Athena) "Why did you trust him?" (I) "Because I felt he wasn''t evil, he might be crazy, but he''s not evil." (Athena) "Besides, I needed to do something in that situation, I needed to save someone no matter who it was, that''s because everything I believed in had been destroyed in those days, the emptiness in my heart was eating me inside, it may have been my selfishness that did help at that time, but I don''t regret it." (Athena) "In the days that followed I was very bad, my mind was in a mess and my emotions were out of control, I wasn''t able to sleep and the scenes of what I saw that day never leave my mind, talking to him helped me keep my focus and investigate more about the Church of Light in the archives." (Athena) "This time I was seeing it all from a different perspective, I was able to see beyond the written lies and see the truth, that''s how I found the diary of Saint Vanessa, a woman loved for healing people and fighting evil." (Athena) "It felt like a sign to me when your file was handed to me, your information was Santa Vanessa''s name, that''s when I realized how to fill that void inside me." (Athena) Chapter 592: Entering Venon Fortress City Chapter 592: Entering Venon Fortress City After listening to everything I had a better understanding of the situation, basically, the Heretic God of Fun just wants to live peacefully having fun every day, the only thing that worries me is his way of having fun being too broad. Athena is lost, she clung to Vanessa''s image of Saint to fill the void left in her heart when her faith in the Church of Light was shattered, I can''t say if she even realized she''s using Vanessa as a crutch to keep her upright. The other 6 just wanted to run away and believed Athena about someone able to free them from the Church of Light, she happened to be right, but for her, there is no other option but to stay where Vanessa is. "(None of them seem to be lying, plus I''ve been using my Aura on that crystal to see if the Blessings inside me react in any way, but nothing happens.)" (I) I look at them both and think that Athena might be a powerful force in the future, but I don''t know what to do with an Heretic God. He said that he is no longer technically a God but something called the Living God, he used some kind of technique to reincarnate himself as a mortal, and because of that he lost his Divine power. The weirdest thing is that he''s happy with it, he just wants a body and living having fun without the restrictions that the Gods have to put up with. I was wondering what to do with them, but the story about the Church of Light worries me a lot, nothing is more terrifying than an enemy capable of doing anything and having no limits. I know I have limits like many people, limits of what I''m willing to do, I have my own morals, I have my own definition of right and wrong, and I''m not willing to cross the lines I''ve set for myself. I don''t think I''d like to find out what I would become if I crossed those lines, I just know it wouldn''t be me anymore. I still didn''t know what to do about the fake Hero''s soul, but I could ask Nix later about it, maybe I could use Dungeon as a means to send it to the Goddess Selene, I could even send it to the Demon Goddess of Death, but I''ll leave it to think about it later. "Will you be able to fight the Church of Light or even your family in the future, Athena?" (I) "I am more than a Vampire Patriarch, I am the child of the Goddess Selene as your report on me says." (I) "More people from the Church of Light will come after me in the future, standing by my side will be the same as becoming an enemy against the Church of Light." (I) "For me this is perfect, I''m disgusted that I''ve been so faithful to them, the worst thing is knowing that my family knows and accepts all this..." (Athena) panting panting "Damn... damn..." (Athena) Tears "Even my blood... all contaminated... Damn..." (Athena) Tears Diana walks up to Athena and puts her hand on her shoulder, I could see a look of comfort on Diana''s face, it took a few minutes for Athena who had fallen to her knees to recover, and Diana helped her up. She looks at me with respect and gratitude, but there''s still a hint of sadness in her eyes. "Thank you, thanks to you I now know that even my lineage had been influenced by the Church of the Light, perhaps it is the result of generations of fools serving a religion without ideals." (Athena) "Now even my blood ties to my family have been severed, thank you." (Athena) "Just remember that there is more than one kind of family, it''s up to you now to build your own family in your heart." (I) What I said might be a little corny, but it was the truth, as much as she was determined to walk a separate path from her family, knowing that her blood ties had been severed must have come as a shock, she needs to find a new family with which to connect to, I hope your friends and Vanessa can fill that void. ----------- After everything is resolved, Athena puts on her strange necklace containing a mad Heretic God and the Soul of a false Hero, then she uses an item of disguise to die along with me, Ragnar, Freya, and Lawrence the Elves'' envoy to Venon Fortress City. We entered the city through the front gate, as expected there was an ID check which we passed easily. Those walls being seen up close were huge, I also only noticed something when I got closer to the city, but around the city under the walls, there was a flower used as an ingredient for antidotes scattered everywhere. I could even smell the sweet aroma of this flower wafting through the air around us, when I asked Loureno about it, he said that this is a way of preventing poisons that can spread from the Poisonous Forest to the city, it also helps to keep the Poison-type monsters away from the city in normal situations. Chapter 593: Venon Fortress City Part 1 Chapter 593: Venon Fortress City Part 1 As soon as we enter the city I realize that all the buildings are made of smooth stone, this city could be intact after an earthquake with such robust constructions.Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) The architecture was minimalist but the colors were vibrant, and everyone around them had some kind of weapon, I also noticed that most people''s Auras were well trained. "(They all seem to be Adventurers.)" (I) The local population was mostly Demons, but there were also people of other races, so maybe that''s why the miasma in this city was a little thicker. This entire continent has miasma with different concentrations, so this environment is perfect for the Demon race to live in, according to Lilian people of other races after generations have created greater resistance to miasma and that''s why they are able to live on this continent. As this city seems to have a large population and mostly Demons, I think it must be normal to have more miasma here, but it seems that monsters are not born in here due to all these Auras all over the place. "This city is very interesting." (I) "I didn''t want to be here, the item I use isn''t perfect, it might change my appearance but it doesn''t do the same to my Aura or smell." (Athena) "Don''t worry, that Heretic God with you is hiding his Aura all the time, didn''t you notice?" (I) "What!? I hadn''t noticed before." (Athena) Athena stares at the crystal on her necklace for a few minutes as we walk through the streets, she seems to be silent but must be talking to this Heretic God in her mind. "Looks like he''s been doing this for a while, but how did you find out?" (Athena) "Let''s just say I knew that." (I) "(Since we entered this city Athena''s Aura has been inaccessible to me, I only realize the reason for this because of the power of the Trinity of Nature in me.)" (I) "It seems like he''s been doing this for me whenever I''ve entered a city, that''s why my Aura would draw a lot of attention." (Athena) "I imagined that." (I) While riding our mounts we ended up attracting attention from many, maybe because our mounts are high level monsters or maybe it''s because of the beauty of the girls. "Do you have any local fruit dishes? I''d also like a glass of juice." (Freya) "Looks like not all of you are Adventurers, are you passing through town?" (Orc Waitress) "We''re only staying a few days, besides, how are you so sure we''re not all adventurers?" (I) "Any Adventurer arriving here orders at least half a barrel of beer and lots of meat dishes, that includes Elves." (Orc Waitress) "I understand where you''re going." (I) This Waitress likes to talk, I can use this to learn more about this fight in the middle of the place. "Do you know anything about this fight? Why doesn''t anyone try to stop them?" (I) "This happens every day, in the end, the loser will be forced to pay for the concerts, besides the bets are always split with the restaurant." (Orc Waitress) "Stopping a fight between Adventurers is very difficult, moreover it is something that happens often, so instead of stopping the owner thinking it would be better, over time Adventurers started to be the main customers of the restaurant." (Orc Waitress) This restaurant allows customers to fight inside the establishment, it seems they even allow bets on such a thing, I''ve never heard of anything like this before. While I was distracted thinking about this strange restaurant, the waitress had already left to notify the kitchen of our order. For the next few minutes, while I waited for our order, I watched the two drunken Adventurers fight, the fat one winning when he punched his opponent in the jaw and he collapsed in a faint. People watching had different reactions, some were happy they had bet on the fat one, but there were also people grumpy for having a bet on the loser. One of the waiters came out of the kitchen, it was a Werewolf with a scar on his face, he wakes up the loser and forces him to pay. Soon a group of 4 people enter the restaurant, when this happens everyone looks at them, some with fear, some with respect, and some with admiration. A man from this group looks at our table and approaches with eyes full of lust, he stops next to us with a confident smile. "See what we have here? Such a beautiful and precious thing in this wild place, allow me to accompany you, my dear." Chapter 594: Venon Fortress City Part 2 Chapter 594: Venon Fortress City Part 2 Soon a group of 4 people enter the restaurant, when this happens everyone looks at them, some with fear, some with respect, and some with admiration. A man from this group looks at our table and approaches with eyes full of lust, he stops next to us with a confident smile. "See what we have here? Such a beautiful and precious thing in this wild place, allow me to accompany you, my dear." The adventuring party that arrived was composed of 2 Demon men, 1 Dark Elf man, and 1 Runic woman. This group of Adventurers seemed to be very capable, their clothes, armor, weapons, and other equipment on their bodies had energy inside showing that they have abilities, effects, or spells in them. I also noticed that all this equipment was being well taken care of, but it was still worn out due to battles, that''s because it has scratches, cuts, and stains, among other things showing that this refinement is not just for show. By their Auras all 4 are Adventurers above Grade +S, the one that came towards us seemed to be the strongest among them being around Grade -SS. From their movements, Auras, and the way they assessed the restaurant''s atmosphere the moment they entered, I realized that they are quite experienced. The one who came near our table was one of the Demons, he had a big muscular body, he was shirtless revealing several scars all over his body, he has light brown skin with short purple hair, he has a half broken horn on his head. "(Another idiot drawn to the beauty of the women around me.)" (I) "We''re eating, so leave the girls alone and go back to your group, please." (I) "I admit the women at this table are all beautiful, but the one that caught my eye was you little gem." "..." (I) A shiver runs down my back as I hear what he''s said and see him looking at me with those lust filled eyes. "(Can only be kidding with me, be mistaken for a woman...)" (I) I glare at this man. "I''m not a woman, besides I''m not interested in people of the same gender, get out." (I) "So you''re a man? But don''t worry, that little impediment is fine for me, with a face like yours everything will be fine." This idiot didn''t even care when he said he was a man, what he did was lick his lips in front of me, I wanted to kill him instead, I just needed one hit, but Freya put her hand on my shoulder as Diana put between that Adventurer and me. ---------- Pov Ivan: I was in a meeting room with all the groups to discuss what we are going to do in the next few days and talk about our rapid progress. There have already been 12 Dungeons destroyed, those that have already been confirmed the location are on the map, there are still 10 more Dungeons to destroy. Of the ten remaining dungeons that already have people exploring in 8, we will be able to put an end to that. "All of you have done your jobs very well, we are close to destroying them all if we haven''t found more Dungeons already." (I) We are close to finishing our part of the plan, after that we will move on to the next part of the plan which is to finish off all the undead outside the dungeons. "Hela, you''ve been such a help as Vanessa." (I) "But don''t you think you created too many Phantom Orbs?" (I) "The master told me to get as much as possible, the point is that places with lots of Ghosts really help a lot in creating these things." (Hela) "In the meantime, I''d like to know about the eyes we''ve found watching this place." (I) "Are they spies or scouts to investigate us, I captured all of them I could find." (Elsaris) "Let''s leave it at that for now, after the master''s plan is finalized we can release them." (Vanessa) After the meeting I went back to fighting on the front lines, I want to enjoy as many battles as possible, there are few levels left for me to evolve, I''ve been waiting for this for a long time. I know that Irius and Irina are also about to evolve. One thing that helped us a lot in conquering this large number of Dungeons was the Blood Demons helping a lot. The master is looking to finalize this plan before other Realms in the vicinity decide to intervene with this place. I hope we manage to do everything the master wanted, even though this is a very pleasant place for me, I can''t stay here forever. It was with this mentality of fulfilling the master''s expectations that he wanted to run to the next Dungeon, Elsaris has already found spies, that means that soon they will realize that their spies are not flying, we have to have everything prepared. Chapter 595: Meeting With The Elves Chapter 595: Meeting With The Elves After some delicious food and a beer that looks like it was mixed with some kind of honey, we headed to the house Nolan said was ready to move in. Lawrence informed us that the Elves might take a few days to arrive and I spent that time studying magic and training various techniques. After a 5 days of wait a Wind Fairy comes to warn us that the Elves have arrived, Loureno leaves to meet them first and decide where the meeting will be, I told him to call them to this house as it would be easier to talk here. In the afternoon of the same day, a White Elf arrived at the mansion where we are living together with Loureno and 3 other Dark Elves with light armor. Freya opens the door for them, the 3 Dark Elf guards scrutinize Freya from top to bottom while Lawrence just waves at her, but the White Elf who felt stronger than her guards looked at Freya in surprise before dropping to her knees. Seeing the confused expressions of the guards and Loureno was funny, but I saw Freya having a hard time getting this Elf to get up and follow her to the room where I was watching everything through the window. "Master, these are the Elder of the council of the Elves of the village of Poison Forest, his 3 guards, and the lord Loureno who accompanied us here." (Freya) "Thank you, Freya." (I) "Let me introduce myself, my name is Zenos, nice to meet you." (I) "My name is Joseph, I am one of the Elders of the Poison Forest village, I speak on behalf of our entire village when I say that it is our pleasure to welcome you." (Joseph) Elder Joseph is his guards as well as Lawrence, they all have forehead jewels showing they are High Elves, I also noticed the silver Toad-shaped Spirit on top of one of Joseph''s shoulders. "(A Moon Spirit, that must be how he saw through Freya''s disguise.)" (I) "Freya bring some appetizers while she invites our guests to be seated." (I) "Yes Master." (Freya) "Please sit down." (I) I lead everyone to a couch, but only Joseph sits down, his 3 guards stand behind him while Loureno stands next to the couch. "How far do you know the reason for my visit?" (I) "I know everything, our Queen may be long dead, but she left a worthy successor behind who conveys to us the words of the World Tree." (Joseph) "So you must already know the reason for this meeting here instead of in your village, right?" (I) "Yes, all the Elders have been informed and we have already started the process of warning various Realms about the disaster we are about to cause." (Joseph) "Did you tell me about why I''m here?" (I) "We don''t say anything about it, we just say that we''re going to solve the World Tree problem, now if they understand that we''re going to cure the World Tree it''s because of their own thoughts." (Joseph) "You just delayed the problem and you know it, it''s possibly going to be even worse now." (Kalistos) "But he''ll be more prepared by then." (I) I still remember the day he left, I was there, and I saw it with my own eyes, Zenos looks so much like him, but at the same time, he is so different. "I''ll let it go this time, after all, you also have authority in death, but avoid interfering in such a blatant way, even though it''s your son it will draw attention from others." (Kalistos) "Apparently it caught your attention." (I) "Yes, he might be the way for me to get a Champion or at least a Hero." (Kalistos) "Your Sister already has both, for her who has so many worshipers it''s much easier to choose." (I) "By the way, you''re not going to interfere with my other daughter, are you?" (I) "Let her and her maid do what they want, I want to stay away from any of your daughters, they are all always a headache." (Kalistos) "I know, I wonder how they ended up this way." (I) Sigh "..." (Kalistos) Kalistos appears at my side, she always comes here just like me, she is the oldest of all the Gods and knows everything about me. "You know your son isn''t him, right?" (Kalistos) "I know..." (I) "He chose the path of sacrifice, it helped many, but it made him have a miserable life until the end, my son, on the other hand, chose to create a path of free form, I can''t even imagine what there will be at the end of a path like that." (I) "Why did you name him Tabu?" (Kalistos) "That was the only name that popped into my head, when he arrived the emotions buried inside me started to rise, maybe it was a mistake, but I still think he deserves that name that once shocked everyone." (I) "The will of Chaos within him has changed." (Kalistos) "I know, now it''s part of him, became what he is..." (I) "You''re the same crazy as always." (Kalistos) "That to me is a compliment." (I) Chapter 596: Prime Minister Of The Black Empire Chapter 596: Prime Minister Of The Black Empire Talking to this Joseph made me understand the problems that will arise, but it also gave me an idea to avoid or at least minimize the damage I will cause when planting this seed. For the next few hours we discuss the defensive measures that the various Realms will be taking, we also discuss the time it will take for all this preparation to be ready. After that we talked about the possibility of saving the World Tree Spirit, it seems that Joseph and the other Elves didn''t know this, they all started crying when they found out that even the World Tree Spirit was seriously injured. I tell them about the plan to save the World Tree Spirit, but I say it will stop being a World Tree, but they didn''t care, Joseph almost dropped to his knees in thanks. He came in looking so calm, wise, and rational, but now he looks desperate, I think the World Tree of that continent didn''t let the Elves know about his real condition, maybe he did something he shouldn''t by telling them that. "So we have to wait another 3 months?" (I) "Unfortunately yes, for me we would do that today, but it would cause the fall of dozens of Realms and the unnecessary death of thousands of people." (Joseph) "I was thinking that maybe I might be able to slow down or even stop this Wave of Monsters asking this World Tree for help after transferring its Spirit into the new body." (I) "..." (Joseph) Joseph is speechless with wide eyes, so he puts on a thoughtful expression before returning to speak uncertainly. "I don''t know if that would be possible, I need to talk to the Queen for confirmation." (Joseph) "I don''t know if it''s possible either, but it doesn''t hurt to try if it has the possibility to save many lives." (I) "I must say that your youthful appearance belies a very cunning mind, Mister Zenos." (Joseph) "Your ideas for defense during a Monster Wave and your bold plans managed to open my eyes today." (Joseph) "Talking to you also helped me understand a number of risks that I overlooked without realizing it." (I) "I''d like to talk to you more, but I have to get back to the village ahead of schedule." (Joseph) "Many of the things you said should be discussed with the Queen and the other Elders of the village council." (Joseph) "This matter must not leave this room or it has caused panic among the Elf race of this continent, you understand." (Joseph)Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om "Yes, the first Elder." (all Elves) "When will I be able to meet you again?" (I) "Why did you come here? I thought I made it very clear that you shouldn''t approach me in the capital." (I) "I came to inform you that I already have all the information you asked for, besides that, I have news about the Horn squad." (number 0) "For you to be here means they left just as predicted, right?" (I) "Yes, everyone has already resigned to the Queen and left the same day, just as we planned by forcing the retirement of Horn 0." (number 0) "Because of Lilian my plans were delayed by over 100 years, it was hard to pretend for so long with her eyes on me all the time." (I) "I wanted her dead, but that would attract the attention of the Queen and her subordinates." (I) That bitch was a huge headache for me, I''m lucky she forced herself to stay below the Lower Catastrophe Grade for all this time, otherwise, her already keen senses might have picked up on something. "Tell me what you found out about?" (I) "My subordinate has returned from the Morror Continent, it seems that the plan to use the prince to wreak havoc on that continent has failed and all of his troops have been defeated." (number 0) "I thought this could happen, too bad this preemptive strike failed, but at least we managed to force a war between the two continents again." (I) "I''m sorry to inform you sir, but that''s not going to happen, people on the mainland don''t know that it was Demons behind what was happening." (number 0) "That''s impossible, it has been confirmed that the troops we helped him gather for his foolish cause were successfully summoned." (I) "There is nothing left behind, whether the troops summoned, those already on the mainland, or even the traces of the prince''s plans, nothing was found, even their bodies were taken and any facilities or clues were destroyed by someone." (number 0) "We still don''t know who did this or why, but we''re sure the rulers of the Morror Continent didn''t know either." (number 0) "Damn! That would be impossible to hide, these plans were made to cause a war to be hit or miss, the cities themselves should be proof that Demons were involved if that proud prince followed my suggestions." (I) "It seems that the sewers were destroyed and the black stone is stolen, as far as I can find only one city was completely destroyed, probably the place of summoning troops, but even there nothing was found, not even a single drop of blood." (number 0) Blood starts to drip from my hands as I squeeze hard making my claws hurt my palms, it was very difficult to manipulate that prince over the years for him to create this terrorist group, it was also difficult to hide them long enough to grow to a proper stage, but now all is lost and I''m back to square one. "I have good news sir, we have managed to find a noble foolish and influential enough to force the Blood Manipulator release." (number 0) "At least good news, by the records he''s someone smart, but he''s too proud and likes to be the center of attention, it''s going to be an excellent distraction giving us more freedom to start our movement." (I) "All according to your plans, Prime Minister." (number 0) Chapter 597: Returning To The Land Of Death Chapter 597: Returning To The Land Of Death After yesterday''s conversation with the Poison Forest Elf village representative, I was worried about how big the Wave of Monsters my companions would have to fight would be. I started thinking about the plans I''ve been making, I think it''s time to fulfill the Demon Goddess of Death''s request. This is going to be something I''m going to have to do to complete the plan I''ve named the "Holy Land foundation" to end a potential undead hotbed that could pose more problems during this Monster Wave I''m about to cause. If my plans for that place work out, no monsters will come out of there, at least no undead. I hope all the fighting in that place has strengthened the people of the Dungeon, the stronger they get the better the preparation to plant the World Tree Seed. I hope Hela managed to accumulate enough Phantom Orbs for what I want to do, I also have to take a look at the souls inside the Dungeon that aren''t being used on monsters. ----------- The next day we all leave, just as Joseph said, there were 10 Elves of the three races waiting in front of the door, I spoke briefly with them before handing them the key. I don''t really care about this mansion, I only bought it because I didn''t want to stay in a simple inn and needed a big place to accommodate several people. I ride away on top of Ragnar with Freya, Diana, and Athena following me on their respective mounts. The trip should take around 1 month, I hope that by then Ivan and the others have finished the first part of the plan, I hope to find all the Dungeons in that place destroyed and the number of undead reduced to the minimum possible. With these thoughts, I begin my journey. ----------- Pov Alan (Hero of the God of Justice): Continent Morror, Kingdom of Grimo, Capital. In the gardens of the Royal Palace, early morning. I was eating some snacks after finishing the Royal Guards training, I''m doing this as payment for the hospitality that my group and I have been receiving over the last few months. "..." (Darcia) "I know, but they are out of our reach, if we do anything else we run the risk of offending the entire Church of Light, be content with what we have accomplished on this continent, and leave the rest in the hands of the people of that continent." (I) "That''s not fair, we represent the God of Justice, we should judge evil and not be content to just weaken evil." (Bianca) "You know there is no such thing as perfect justice, we do what we can with what we have, small wins are still better than defeat." (I) "I''d still rather go in that place and behead those idiots, they wouldn''t be able to do anything about it." (Darcia) "That would cause unnecessary conflict causing even more death, plus a more powerful Church of Light might come after us." (I) "That would be worrying, they can be very persistent, I don''t want those Templars or Inquisitors coming after me." (Darcia) "One day I will yet reveal the horrible secrets that the Church of Light hides behind the excuse of guiding the weak and purifying evil." (Bianca) ------------ Pov Blood Demon Queen: Since we were rescued our life has completely changed, we were no longer subject to discrimination from people who only believe in rumors about my race, in addition, we were surrounded by allies who treat us with respect. We were able to find several devotees of Goddess Selene among them, they were of many different races, I was also honored to meet a High Priestess, we were fed and healed when we were released. When I learned that these people would fight the Undead I had to do something, so I stood up with the rest of my people to offer our strength in this battle. Thanks to that I was able to witness the strength of our saviors, I could also see someone who shocked me deeply, he looked young, but his presence made my heart tremble with emotion, and a desire to kneel invaded my mind. Unfortunately, I couldn''t spend more time with such a glorious being, he was in charge of this attack, he planned it all and chose the leaders as he left, and upon finding out about his plan my mind exploded. He spoke calmly about his plan, but his boldness was limitless, he wanted to change the maps of a continent forever just to stop a war. After he left and the expeditions to conquer the Dungeons began I was able to talk to many people and learn more about the one called Zenos, he was a Vampire son of the Goddess Selene and blessed by several Gods, bearer of the Trinity as Nature and leader of the city who received us during the rescue. I made a decision, I would break an oath that our race has carried for millennia, but it has been centuries since there is no longer a place for my race on this continent, if I can have the opportunity, I would like my race to follow the Holy Son of the Goddess of Blood, that would be the greatest honor for my people. "May the Blood Goddess grant my wish..." (I) Chapter 598: Servants Of Life And Death Chapter 598: Servants Of Life And Death During the month of travel, I had time to talk more with Athena, and thanks to that I noticed that she was more shaken than she showed.Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) Abandon everything she''s ever known, abandon her own family, abandon the dreams and ideals she once had. These things took a heavy toll on her, she became desperate to find an emotional anchor. She wanted something to believe in, a place to go back to, someone who understood what she was feeling and that''s why she came after Vanessa. Her willpower is commendable, she didn''t give in to the despair of what she left behind, she chose to find something to fill the void in her heart, and she hopes Vanessa will give answers to her who can''t see what to do in the future. I still don''t trust her, that''s because she still has doubts about herself and her choices, as long as she doesn''t have a path on which to walk steadfastly won''t be trustworthy. As for the Heretic God of Fun, the conversations I have with him were enlightening, as disturbing as the way he sees the world is, he actually believes that life should be fun. He likes to see people having fun together, but he also hates people who ignore the fun in front of them for silly reasons. He said that he chose to become a Living God for fun, but it left him vulnerable, because of that his body was destroyed and his Divine Soul was sealed in an artifact where it was proven of any fun for a long period of time. He wants my help to get a new body, he doesn''t want to take someone else''s body, he wants his body, but I won''t do anything until I''m sure about this Heretic God''s character. ----------- Halfway through the trip, we passed a town that had a Temple of the Blood, I went inside to pray to the Goddess Selene in hopes of speaking to her, which fortunately happened. "You have made me very proud, Zenos." (Goddess Selene) "You''ve been causing a lot of trouble, but you''ve also been bumping into things that others ignore without even realizing it." (Goddess Selene) I was on a mountain surrounded by a forest of trees with red leaves, the sky was blue and there was only a strange sun that was missing a part. The Goddess Selene was floating above me with a creature''s body falling apart in one of her hands. ,m "It would help him recover from his injuries and maybe build a new body." (Goddess Selene) So I already have a way to get rid of that God Fragment, having something like that in the Dungeon was making me nervous for a while. "You should know that in a few days guests will come to you, follow their instructions if you want your plan to work." (Goddess Selene) "Today are you being too direct with your answers or is it just me?" (I) "That''s because we have little time, in fact, none..." (Goddess Selene) Everything around me seems to change when I see myself in front of a statue of the Goddess Selene as I kneel. When I open my eyes I realize it''s already dark, it seems like I wasted all day here, but at least I have a confirmation about the Heretic God of Fun. ---------- It took over a week to get close to the same hill where I found that gray Wolf 2 months ago. I stop and look at the land of death whose border was close by and could be seen from here. When I looked I noticed that the miasma had lessened a little, besides that there weren''t as many undead as before. Soon I feel a strange sensation, somehow I felt the energy in the area in conflict, and nature seemed to be out of balance. Soon two people were approaching me riding monsters, one of these mounts was an ostrich with a cat''s head and sickle-shaped wings, the other was an all white Golem that I realized was made of bones when I was closer. The mounted people were wearing simple robes, one pink and white, the other black and gray. Both people had their faces covered, but I noticed a strong vitality coming from one while the other looked like some kind of Undead like Ivan, not able to feel anything but death coming from him. At least that''s what I felt when my Aura made contact with them, they must be Priests of the Goddess of Life and the Demon Goddess of Death. Chapter 599: Henrique And Yara Chapter 599: Henrique And Yara Even seeing from afar I could already bear the identity of the two people coming toward me, their Auras and their mounts were giving away who they were. I made the others wait for our guests to arrive, they could only be Priests or Servants of the Demon Goddess of Death and the Goddess of Life. When they got close to me and got off their mounts something strange happened, the one who had an Aura of death around stepped on the grass causing it to die while the one next to her stepped on the grass making flowers grow. This very different view next to each other was confusing my mind, but even so, I approached them. "Nice to meet you, my name is Zenos." (I) "Nice to meet you, I''m a new High Priest of the Church of Death, my name is Henry." (Henrique) "Hello, I''m the High Priestess of the Temple of Life, my name is Yaramaki, but you can call me Yara." (Yara) After I introduce myself the two reveal their faces as they lower the hood. The one called Henry was a completely white Skeleton with gray Runes etched into the bones, he had a gray light inside his eyes and was very polite when speaking. The one next door called Yara was a teenager, she had light pink skin, white hair, 3 side by side horns curved upwards like it was some kind of tiara, her ears were longer than the Elves'', but they were down to her take off the hood, so the ears jiggle a little before they stick up, it even reminded me of a Rabbit''s ears. Henrique didn''t have a spectral body like Ivan, I can''t tell if he didn''t want to show us his face of how much he was alive or if he didn''t have the spectral body ability. Yara seems to be very lively and smiling, she looks like an innocent girl, but her bright eyes reveal the wisdom that comes with age. "It seems that by my luck I got to the two of you." (I) "That''s not luck, our Goddesses warned the moment we should leave to find you here." (Yara) "I believe you understand why we are here, correct sir Zenos?" (Henrique) "Yes, but you two already know why you were sent here?" (I)Fo?llo?w new stories at novelhall.com On the way Henry was silent, he seemed to be thinking about something, he was probably trying to understand the message of his Goddess through what she said to him. Yara was talking animatedly with Ragnar and me, her good mood and joy are contagious, but after what Henrique said I wonder how old she must be, I''m also curious about her strength since I wasn''t able to see her movements at that moment when Henry lost his mind. It took us 3 days to get to the Capital, along the way we didn''t find almost any undead, I also didn''t find any of the Dungeons I had seen the last time. It seems that these 2 months I was away were enough for the first part of the plan to go well, the only thing that confused me was the undead we will send, they didn''t try to attack us. I also noticed that something was different about the miasma in the surroundings, the miasma had not diminished, but it felt less oppressive somehow. When we finally arrived in the capital Hela and Lilith were already waiting for us at the city gates, as soon as they saw me, Lilith ran to me jumping into my arms. "Father, father, father, father...." (Lilith) "Let''s go, so I can''t get into the city." (I) Lilith continued acting like a child hugging me while calling me Father several times, it took a while for her to calm down, she sat behind me while riding Ragnar to hug me until we reached the tower where the others were. ,m When I arrived everyone was training there, the surroundings were very different, and the entire area of the temples had been restored and cleaned. "MASTER!!!!" (Ibuki) People were going in and out of the tower, as I approached Ibuki screamed from somewhere and before I knew it something attacked me from the side, she had come from my shadow and ripped me from Lilith''s arms. Before I realized what was happening I felt another person pulling me, before I was surrounded by a crowd, everyone was talking about different things, but I wasn''t able to understand so many people at the same time. "Master!" (Orion) I was soon rescued by Orion who bit my clothes to pull me up away from these excited people. "Why all this madness all of a sudden?" (I) Chapter 600: Mass Evolution Chapter 600: Mass Evolution "Why all this madness all of a sudden?" (I) Orion was a lifesaver for me this time, I looked down and noticed some strange things, there were some races I didn''t know mixed up in the crowd. "Everyone is happy that you''re back, but more than that, they want to show how much they''ve improved." (Orion) "With Ibuki running to you, the most anxious ones lost control and got carried away by the moment, especially the Lamias." (Orion) "(Now that he''s spoken, I think I felt something wrapping around me earlier.)" (I) "Take me downstairs, let''s settle things for good." (I) "Right." (Orion) Orion takes me downstairs, with that there were already people to appease the situation like Ivan, Vanessa, Irius, Irina, Kira, and Karina. Sakura was tying up Someone whom I suspected from the screams was Erica, I noticed that many looked a little different. ----------- After a few minutes of controlling that situation, I talk to everyone congratulating them on a job well done and giving everyone rewards. After asking Nira to take care of sorting out the rewards for everyone, I head inside the tower along with the people in my group to keep up to date on everything that''s changed while I''m gone. Some among my group had evolved like Ibuki, Ivan, Erica, Alice, Irius, Irina, Lyra, Vanessa, Rakan, and Leo. These are the races of everyone that evolved: Ibuki --> Oni of the Abyss Ivan --> Royal Knight of Death Erica --> Demon Witch Alice --> Vampire Countess Ghouls also evolved within their own race, their external changes being mostly minimal with only a few growing taller or more muscular than before. People of other races participated in far fewer battles than the races I talked about before, so few among them evolved, the same as the recently added Blood Demons who didn''t have any evolution in their group. ----------- Now I was alone with my group inside the Tower, Nix has been sunk inside my shadow the whole time and Layla had to be tied up as she wanted to beat me to the satisfaction that she was mad at me for being away for so long. I introduced Athena to everyone, let her tell her story to them, and then introduced the Heretic God who accompanies her, Vanessa was very interested in the story and especially in the Heretic God in question. Diana had already spoken to everyone and anyone among us could see how much stronger she was than before. What surprised the others were the two Priests I brought along, but they were forgotten when the Heretic God of Fun was introduced to everyone. Henry formed an immediate friendship with Ivan, in his words anyone able to materialize a stable mind after death without a Blessing from a God associated with death deserves his respect. Yara on the other hand liked everything and everyone, she said she loves seeing so many races living together in harmony, but she was happier to know that the Blood Demons are well, a race with such vitality that they bring life wherever they go it''s a blessing to simply exist in your opinion. After a night and day of partying that insisted a lot on being held, everyone was exhausted, but I had no way of knowing any of that since I was stuck in a room for all this time. The next night I staggered out of the bedroom with an outfit that I haphazardly grabbed from my storage item as the previous outfit was in pieces somewhere in what was left of that bedroom. "Why didn''t you help me?" (I) "I won''t meddle in your relationship with the girls." (Nix) "But it still didn''t go away either." (I) "Of course not, I''ve been away from you for a long time, a bond with you is by far the strongest of all your Familiars and Divine Beasts." (Nix) "Staying away from you is like pulling a fish out of the water to me." (Nix) "I won''t be out of this shade for a week, it''s very comfortable here." (Nix) "Why didn''t you tell me that sooner? I could have taken you with me." (I) "To be honest, I didn''t know that either." (Nix) Chapter 601: Assimilating The Land Of Death Part 1 Chapter 601: Assimilating The Land Of Death Part 1 The next day I woke up to a Zombie biting my leg, its teeth were too weak to scratch my skin, but its drool was still disgusting. I just grabbed his head, swung his body around, and with all my strength threw him out of town. "What a bad way to start a day..." (I) "Nix, Nix!" (I) "5 more minutes... Zzzzz... Zzzzz...." (Nix) "Wake up or you''ll be without Caryna''s food for a week." (I) "Master without a heart, I''m already awake, I''m awake, what do you want to interrupt a woman''s sleep so early??" (Nix) "Why am I in the middle of these ruins and have to be woken up by an Undead trying to satisfy my hunger?" (I) "I don''t know, after a sleepless night due to you and the girls making so much noise, I got so comfortable in this shade that I fell asleep without realizing it as you walked." (Nix) I didn''t want to argue with anyone in the morning, so I spread my Dragon Wings upward, from up there I was able to locate myself and head back to the tower. As I was flying I noticed that those walking near the Tower were almost all women, I saw almost no men, and those I did see were in very bad shape. When I landed at the door of the Tower I found Sapphire who was talking to a female Ghoul, she sees me and comes to talk to me. "Good Morning." (Sapphire) "Good morning, do you know why all the men are in this state? Besides, where are the other men?" (I) "Last night was the end of a big party, what do you think happened to people who fought for more than 2 months and were full of accumulated lust?" (Sapphire) "..." (I) "I''m surprised to see at least 1 man standing, I even feel sorry for your son." (Sapphire) "Irius goes out with some Lamia?" (I) "Yes, with the worst possible, my daughter Jade, I''m worried if he''s still alive." (Sapphire) First, it will be Henrique''s ritual, then it will be my ritual followed by assimilating this entire place into the Dungeon, and finally, it will be Yara''s ritual to transform the terrain. After all, this is done these two Priests will pray to their Goddesses to bless this place turning it into a holy land. This all took a while to prepare, we need a full day for everyone to be back in the Dungeon with all the stuff we brought. While they were doing this, Henrique, Yara, and I finished the preparations for our rituals in three different locations. Rakan helped me create the ritual mana absorption circle, with that I can continuously absorb mana from items, if the mana is mine it will not have any side effects and the mana transfer will be faster, this should be a simple ritual, but I needed to make changes due to the large amount of Mana that will be transferred to me. After Rakan finished he went back to the Dungeon with Layla taking him by my shadow, who I''ll need to act will be Nix right helping as the Dungeon Core. I was alone with Nix in the center of the deity, this place would be where I would start, but first I must wait for the right moment. Henrique was out of town with Hela, soon the two would start and when they finished I would know why the very miasma in the surroundings would lose the morbid energy it has, that would be the signal for me and Nix to start. Yara and Freya were in the sky, they set up their ritual to invoke the powers of Nature and life in the sky above the city at the height of the clouds. "I''m starting to get nervous..." (I) "I really should, I''ll be fine, but the master will have to put up with a lot of pressure." (Nix) "I thought you might try to comfort me by telling me that everything is going to be okay." (I) "But it won''t be okay, at least not for you, this plan is now just dangerous, but before calling those two Priests it was a suicidal plan." (Nix) "Then why didn''t you say that before?" (I) "Would you have listened?" (Nix) "Teria, I always listen to everything you say." (I) "Would you have given up on the plan?" (Nix) "Maybe I made some changes..." (I) "See? You were still going to go ahead with the plan, so why waste my effort, running the risk of the master coming up with a worse plan, which is almost always what happens." (Nix) Chapter 602: Assimilating The Land Of Death Part 2 Chapter 602: Assimilating The Land Of Death Part 2 While I was talking to Nix about worries about what''s about to happen, but Nix started to vent her worries and frustrations. With that, the other two Priests must have already managed to finish their ritual. ----------- Pov Hela: I agreed to help Henrique with the ritual because I found it all very interesting, in the last two days I managed to learn a lot from Henrique about Spectral-type undead about which I know very little. This ritual was also very interesting, it seemed to serve to amplify an Aura with dark attributes associated with death, then activate the effect of an item that Henry brought. What was at the center of this ritual was a green skull covered in blue Runes, the moment he showed me that skull I felt the miasma in the surroundings stir and the death energy in the surroundings slowly being absorbed by this skull. "What item is this?" (I) "This is an item called the Sinner''s Skull." (Henrique) "This was the skull of a person who killed only for pleasure, a person who chose to be surrounded by death until the day he died." (Henrique) "So a criminal?" (I) "The worst kind, killing for a purpose can be understood regardless of whether it''s a good or bad cause, but killing for no reason other than fun and on an ongoing basis is unforgivable." (Henrique) "This type of criminal will suffer for centuries as a tool to purge the suffering of others in their deaths." (Henrique) I understand what he means, the energy of death comes from the opposite of life, this energy is very similar to miasma, this energy imprisons people after their death as it spreads.Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om The negative emotions that people feel at the time of their death affect this energy, whether it is higher or lower, normally this energy fades away when after some time of the person''s death, but in a place with so many deaths on the same day like this energy has accumulated to become a prison of souls. "When we start you will see and hear the voices of Souls trapped in this place, try to ignore that and stay focused on the ritual." (Henrique) "It''s all right." (I) ------------ "We''ve lost contact with those people who were convinced to kidnap the Blood Demons." (number 0) "That''s nothing new considering where they hid, just wait for that fool to get the God Fragment, when he''s consumed and turned into a monster we can lure him to a better place to kill." (I) "In the last few months, I have noticed something different in the land of the Ruins of Death." (number 0) "The number of Undead has decreased a lot, besides that I noticed someone moving deeper in that place." (number 0) "Send more people, I have to get my hands on that God Fragment." (I) "I''ve sent people out often, I''ve even tried to use the surrounding Realms to investigate with their spies, but no one left after entering." (number 0) "Those followers of that foolish Elf wouldn''t be strong enough for that, I believe someone else found out about the God Fragment and wants to steal it." (number 0) "If we can''t get in, then let''s wait for them to leave, watch the surroundings from all sides, I want to know who''s getting in the way of my plans." (I) "Also take experiments number 276 and 1025, we have little data on them in battle and can be very useful considering the terrain." (I) "Remember to keep me informed, also don''t let others find out about the God Fragment." (I) "I will follow your orders." (number 0) After number 0 left I started to think about how unlucky I''ve been, so many of my plans have failed after all these years. "If I find the bastard spoiling my plans I''ll kill everyone in his family." (I) I go back to the meeting, I can''t stay outside long enough not to raise suspicions about me. When I got back I started talking to other nobles, but I was distracted with many things on my mind, so I say goodbye before leaving. ----------- Pov Margareth: I was watching from afar, I saw someone in the sky and I saw a green glow below. "I would love to show you this, ma''am, your brother is doing something else crazy." (I) Chapter 603: Assimilating The Land Of Death Part 3 Chapter 603: Assimilating The Land Of Death Part 3 Pov Hela: High Priest Henry places the green skull filled with blue Runes at the center of the ritual we performed using bone dust and blood. The High Priest and I stood on either side of the skull within the ritual circle, we had our hands on the skull as we used our affinities with death magic to activate this arbiter. "< Consumer Ritual of Death: Activate >" (Henry/I) At that moment, the global gold coins that High Priest Henry brought, as well as some magic crystals, have their energy absorbed by the ritual circle. The expense just for this ritual is the fortune of a nation, apart from the ritual the master is using which will have no expense, the ritual in heaven must be as expensive as this one. Soon the ritual begins to glow with a light blue hue due to the pure mana of the global coins, but gradually this glow fades to gray. "Now I''m going to use my Aura, in the meantime, I won''t be able to keep control of the ritual, I leave everything in your hands." (Henrique) I nod my head as I feel the weight in my mind increase so much, I also feel High Priest Henry reveal his Aura and send it to the green skull. High Priest Henry''s Aura was calm and silent, it gave a feeling of loneliness and death, his Aura was stronger than I expected. When the Aura enters the green skull, a gray energy starts to rise from the ritual contracted by me and go to the green skull whose eye sockets had two gray flames grow continuously until the entire skull is surrounded by these gray flames. "< Consumer Ritual of Death: Will of Death >" (Henry) After a few seconds, the Aura controlled skull begins to flip upwards, then a wave of Aura rapidly expands in all directions. Through the ritual I can feel how far this Aura continuously spreads, I was also able to perceive a gray and black energy separating from the miasma around us. The Aura waves keep spreading further and further separating these two forms of energy. "< Consumer Ritual of Death: Consume >" (Henry) I felt when High Priest Henry''s Aura passed over me several times as it spread out in all directions in waves, I felt the changes in the surroundings. The gray and black energy are very dangerous, I can but it''s too spread out for me to do anything, after a while, I felt these energies being pulled in the direction where Hela and the Priest of Goddess Kalistos should be. I saw on the horizon a tornado forming going to the clouds and sucking all that energy and Aura at high speed forming energy flows in the sky, it was very beautiful, but I realized that I could die if I was hit by that kind of energy. I waited longer than I imagined before, when the tornado finally disappeared over the horizon I noticed that the miasma became lighter and the element of darkness was more predominant, I also realized that it was easier to feel the malice contained in this miasma. "Our turn, are you ready?" (I) "Yes, hold my hand." (Nix) I and Nix were in the middle of the magic circle, but this magic wasn''t useful to Nix, it was just to keep my mana long enough to do this. We sit across from each other, then we hold hands intertwining our fingers, Nix''s eyes completely change color as his voice turns emotionless like a machine. "[ Does Dungeon Master Zenos wish to assimilate the surroundings into the Shadow Dungeon? ]" (Nix) "Yea." (I) "[ Select an area involved with your Aura that is attuned to your power to begin the assimilation process. ]" (Nix) I felt like Nix was connecting with me this time, her Aura connects with mine, but before I start I activate the mana transfer spell, the magic circle absorbs all the energy crystals I brought and is several meters above from my head as a sphere of mana grows in the center of the magic circle. Soon the edges of the magic circle became rings around the mana sphere swirling above me, so the mana began to flow into me. At that moment I hold Nix''s hands tightly as I feel the pressure of all that mana passing through my body. With the preparations completed, I begin to expand my Aura in all directions as my dark element mana harmonizes with the miasma wherever it passes. I felt that this time the harmonizing process was much easier than when the Cradles of Fairies and Spirits was created, maybe it''s from the experience of being the 3rd time doing it, maybe it''s from having an Aura with the power of harmony and having the title of the trinity of nature. I was getting to harmonize at the same time that my Aura passed quickly, it was a quick process. Chapter 604: Assimilating The Land Of Death Part 4 Chapter 604: Assimilating The Land Of Death Part 4 I felt my Aura expand little by little, with Nix''s help it was getting easier for the first few kilometers, but over time the distance was increasing and becoming a burden on my mind. Also, the miasma I was huddled with was starting to lose control and trying to eat away at my conscience, I had to keep my will firm to bear it. It took 5 hours for my Aura to travel all over this place stopping only where there was no more miasma, I also managed to keep the rhythm of harmonization, my pure dark element mana harmonizes perfectly with the miasma. Nix was a big help for this, but in the end, I needed Layla and Sakura to help me, each of the three represented an energy aspect like mana, spirit energy, and Ki. They made it easier to withstand the pressure on my mind and maintain attunement even as my will was corroded by malice in the miasma all this time. My body was covered in sweat and sores, and the mana sphere on top of my head almost disappeared, moreover in the end my mana was being drained faster than I could replenish it with the help of that magic circle, I had to use my Ki and energy spirit to lower the mana cost before it ran out of mana. During those 5 hours, my body became just a means by which energy went in and out, because of that I couldn''t stand it, even with my unique body and bloodline it was still unbearable for someone of my strength to do something like that, now I know why Nix said that it was suicide. Fortunately, everything I did was not in vain, I had managed to endure until the end, even with a seriously injured body and with my mind on the verge of losing consciousness, I was happy that I had not suffered anything too serious, even though my current state is bad it will only take a few days for me to recover, perks of being a Vampire Patriarch and having True Dragon blood. "[ Do you want to select this area for assimilation? ]" (Nix) "Ugh!!" (I) "Yes..." (I) In my mind, only the information of the area that my Aura reached, which is this whole place, appeared. With Nix''s robotic voice in his Dungeon Core mode, I accepted this entire area for assimilation. "[ Starting analysis of the designated area. ]" (Nix) Soon the wounds on my body had healed, but my mind was still exhausted to the point that speaking was difficult, I was placed on Ragnar''s back in his normal form and taken to the skies as everyone floated up away from the crater. As we climbed higher and higher I closed my eyes and began to meditate, I cleared my mind, calmed my emotions, started to focus on my blood circulation, then the circulation of every energy I can use, and finally my heartbeat. p I fell into a trance where my energy started to recover faster as I unconsciously devoured the energy around me, furthermore my mind became lighter and lighter while I was meditating. I lost track of time, I didn''t know if 10 seconds or 10 hours had passed, I just know that when I opened my eyes I saw a completely different scene from what I saw before. ---------- Pov Freya: From the sky we were in a much better position to see what was happening on the ground, even with the fog and miasma getting in the way we were still able to see the waves of High Priest Henrique''s Aura outside the city, we were also able to see that tornado if forming and dangerous energy flows being absorbed by the tornado before disappearing. After that in the center of the city that should be below us, I felt Master Zenos'' Aura spread, when he got to where we were I felt him harmonizing the miasma in the environment with his power. After a few hours, I feel the space itself trembling, then I feel something on the floor consuming the space around us, but at the same time, I feel the space rebuild itself to the same extent. My vision was blocked, but as an Elder Elf, my connection to nature made me understand what was happening. But even knowing what was going on and having knowledge of the plan, I was still surprised by the giant crater left in the place, the area of an entire Realm had disappeared. While I was distracted looking at the crater when I see a little far away Nix, Sakura, Orion, Layla, and the master. Near them, I saw the High Priest Henry with wings of bones covered in a spectral body membrane and Hela with her wings flying close by the others. "Get ready, Freya." (Yara) "Yes, let''s get started." (I) Chapter 605: Assimilating The Land Of Death Part 5 Chapter 605: Assimilating The Land Of Death Part 5 Pov Freya: High Priestess Yara and I hold hands in the middle of the Ritual, the 4 artifacts representing the pure elements of Earth, water, wood, and wind were positioned in four directions of the ritual circle. These artifacts were statues of 2 women and 2 men, one woman had a transparent crystal on her chest that looked like it had a tornado spinning eternally, a woman had two blue crystals in place of her eyes where water flowed non-stop as tears, a man with armor holding a shield with a yellow crystal giving the feeling of being a mountain that cannot be moved from its place, a man with his hands together holding some earth from where a small tree starts to grow and there was a green crystal stuck in it a little tree. These four statues appeared to have been sculpted to incredible perfection, giving the impression that they could come to life by opening your eyes at any moment. Between me and High, Priestess Yara was just a magic crystal filled with pure life energy. "< Nature Propagation Ritual: Activate >" (I/Yara) The High Priestess sent her Aura to the magic crystal in the center while I send my Aura to the 4 artifacts containing the pure elements, meanwhile, the other global coins brought by High Priestess Yara were absorbed by the ritual. I feel my Aura pass through the four statue-shaped artifacts that fill my Aura with their respective pure elements, then mine passes through the statues and enters the ritual circle before climbing up the middle hitting the magic crystal with life energy underneath. "< Nature Propagation Ritual: Harmonize >" (Yara) High Priestess Yara makes several Runes in the air by drawing with her fingers at high speed, these Runes enter the magic crystal that glows intensely with a golden and pink light. I soon feel my Aura harmonizing with High Priestess Yara''s Aura before exploding out of the crystal going in all directions. It only took a few seconds to feel the High Priestess stop the expanding Aura, I could feel the giant size of the Area my Aura was able to reach in such a short time. "< Let water be the beginning; Let the earth rise; As my Aura was together with the High Priestess''s I could see changes in the environment in formation on that island, the black and gray energy were integrating the island itself, and the plants, land and even the water around that island became different. After another 1 hour everything was ready, a big lake with two islands next to each other, two islands opposite each other. One island was full of life with vibrant trees and flowers full of life, the other island was covered in gray mist, the leaves and trees had darker tones, and a feeling of desolation affects people just by being near this island. I was very tired mentally but was glad it was finally over, the ritual began to fade as the High Priestess released my hand. Sigh "Now there''s only one thing left." (Yara) As the High Priestess spoke the other High Priest approaches with wings of bones with a spectral body membrane. "Want to get some rest first? It doesn''t have to be done now." (Henrique) "Let''s not put off something that can be done now." (Yara) "As you wish." (Henrique) I didn''t know what they wanted to do, but I took advantage while they were talking and went to see how the master was doing, I was worried to see blood on his clothes and skin, but luckily he seemed to be completely fine. He seemed to be meditating, I asked Nix what happened to the master, and she told me the price the master paid to be able to do something beyond his current ability, according to her someone else would have died doing it. The master only survived by being the son of a Goddess and being almost a True Dragon, thanks to the various quirks of the master that make him so special, he was able to survive. I took a cloth and wet it with water from a bottle I have, then I started to clean the master''s face, I didn''t want to interrupt his meditation, but I couldn''t leave him in that state either, so after cleaning his face I fix his hair disheveled. Chapter 606: Holy Land Of Life And Death Chapter 606: Holy Land Of Life And Death When I opened my eyes I noticed someone messing with my hair, but it was behind me, what I noticed in front of me that surprised me was the completely different vision. I was in the sky above a large lake of crystal clear water, there were two islands next to each other, one of these islands was full of life and lush, but the other island was almost a horror movie image where the trees, plants and even the earth had darker tones. In addition, the second island had a mist covering all of it, it also had a barrier crumbling around this terrifying island. "Finally woke up, useless master, missed the beautiful show that transformed this whole place." (Layla) "How long has it been?" (I) "About an hour and a half since we finalized our part of the plan." (Nix) "Thank you for the explanation." (I) I remember how difficult it was to maintain consciousness while my body had largely recovered, but my mind felt like it had been hit by a truck. I hadn''t realized how taxing this could be on my mind, my body is still stiff, and all my joints are creaking like rusty hinges on an old door. "You still need some time to recover, let Sakura and Freya take care of you." (Ragnar) "It''s all right." (I) I look at this beautiful landscape that I helped create and I feel a little bit of pride, unfortunately, my participation was just removing the rubble to make room for this wonder. "I know what you''re thinking, master." (Ragnar) "But it''s not over yet, the most important step in your plans is missing." (Ragnar) "Most important step..." (I) "..." (I) My head is a little slow and that''s why it took me a while to understand what Ragnar meant, but in the end, I understood after noticing the surroundings. "(I don''t feel the same presence I felt from those abandoned temples, I don''t feel any holy presence around, I just feel vitality and death.)" (I) "So all they have to do is finish it?" (I) "Right." (Freya/Ragnar) Ragnar takes me flying to the haunted island next to the pillar of light where Henry is kneeling, with difficulty I get off Ragnar''s back and walk towards Henry, the pillar of light luckily does nothing against me. I put my hand on Ragnar''s shoulder and send my Aura to him, at that moment I feel like there is something sucking my Aura and I can feel my Aura mix with this pillar of energy, I took the opportunity to activate the harmony characteristic of my Aura. After a few seconds, I feel the waves of energy that spread out from that pillar charging some of my Aura, at that moment I feel another wave of energy collide with mine for a second before it starts to blend in, but then a third type of energy tries to resist, it was nature itself around us, but little by little my Aura along with Freya''s Aura managed to weaken these resistances and allow the energies of life, death and nature to mix. But I was in no condition to help at that moment and before I knew it my consciousness darkened. ----------- When I opened my eyes I felt my whole body warm and full of energy, I was in a small lake held by Nix and Sakura, and my body felt lighter. "Where I am?" (I) "This in a lake that still contains a strong concentration of vital energy, High Priestess Yara helped us heal you when your blood started to dry up." (Sakura) "Let''s just say that staying inside a pillar with death energy was a bad idea." (Nix) "Freya was much luckier staying comfortably on a pillar filled with vital energy, her skin was even more beautiful." (Sakura) "You only survived because you had the Goddess Kalistos'' Blessing." (Nix) "The good part is that the plan was a success despite the various problems faced along the way." (Sakura) "The entire lake and the two islands became one Holy Land." (Sakura) "(Why am I always the worst off?)" (I) I was glad Freya was okay, but at the same time, I was wondering how long it would take my horrible luck to kill me. "The Priests, how are they?" (I) "They''re completely fine, they''re just tired, you were the only one who got hurt." (Nix) "(I don''t know if he was happy or sad about it.)" (I) Chapter 607: Blessing Of Life Chapter 607: Blessing Of Life Ding! It seems I was only unconscious for a few hours, I spent all this time immersed in that lake, after that I managed to walk alone, but my body was aching as if Godzilla had danced Carnival on top of my body. "Master, do you know how long it''s been since I''ve eaten something nutritious? It''s been months and I''m very hungry." (Layla) "Should do like me, devour the energy through his shadow, you can also do like Sakura and take it while he sleeps." (Nix) "Sakura does what?" (I) "She is embarrassed to ask for your Ki, so she takes some while you sleep when she gets hungry, whereas I devour the surplus spiritual energy through her shadow, which is much easier for me." (Nix) "I''ll talk about it with her later, about you from her Evil Fairy, wait until tomorrow, I''m very tired now." (I) "But I''m with..." (Layla) "I know you''re hungry, but that''s the most I can do for now." (I) With some difficulty I gather some mana in my hand and throw it to Layla who opened her mouth and sucked the mana like she was drinking water. "I''d rather it had some pure element mixed in..." (Layla) "Stop being greedy you little Devil, I almost couldn''t do it." (I) I keep walking outside and I see Leonardo along with several people from the Dungeon walking around carrying materials, there were also several earth element mages using their magic all over the place. "What''s going on here?" (I) "The people of the Dungeon wanted to help build the two Islands." (Freya) "Leonardo said he had designs he didn''t use in the city inside the Dungeon that could easily be used here." (Freya) "It seems that during our time helping the master in the bath, they quickly moved forward with the start of construction." (Nix) I look around realizing I''ve been walking down a simple hallway, plus it has walls everywhere, earth mages can shape stone into various shapes, they''ve made a simple structure to begin with, but that''s work that people from my world old one would need days or even weeks to make. "(Magic is amazing.)" (I) I walk past the workers greeting everyone, Leonardo doesn''t even pay attention to me, that Elf was too focused with the drawing in his hands for weeks to pay attention to me. Another thing I noticed was Rakan talking to his subordinates close to Leonardo, they are probably creating a magical structure for this place. Freya and Nix took me to the place where the Dungeon gate was open, there was a simple cabin there where High Priestess Yara was talking to Vanessa. It even looked like two medium-sized pools in those big hands, to get to them there were stairs, for one they were stairs full of vines and for the other they were stairs made of bones. That statue was a little far from the two islands being on a small island in the middle, I could see some Minotaurs and Ghouls working on building two bridges that will connect this small island with the other two. "This is the Dungeon of Life and Death, it has two entrances to two completely different parts of the Dungeon that meet in the middle of the Dungeon." (Yara) "Why did you create a Dungeon?" (I) "That was the will of our Goddesses, they wanted a place of pilgrimage for the talented young people of our two religions to test themselves." (Yara) "The Goddesses will also be able to test those qualified for their blessings." (Yara) "From now on young people of our two religions will come together here to train, study and gain life experience, a true Holy Land." (Yara) "(I hadn''t thought about what those two Religions would do with this Holy Land, but I guess it doesn''t matter in the end, it''s not my problem.)" (I) "I''ll stay here for a few days resting if it''s not too much trouble, if the others want to continue helping with the construction for you, then negotiate between yourselves." (I) "You who helped create this place and have the Blessing of the Goddess of Life Mavis, you are always welcome." (Yara) "I have Blessing from whom!?" (I) "(I don''t remember having such a Blessing, if it turns out there''s a notification I''ve been ignoring since I woke up...)" (I) Ding! <[ The Goddess of Life Mavis is interested in you ]> . . . <[ You Received the Blessing [ Mavis (Goddess of Life) ] ]> . . . <[ You the Skill [ Aura of Life ] ]> "..." (I)Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om Chapter 608: Envoys From The Realms Arrive In The Holy Land Chapter 608: Envoys From The Realms Arrive In The Holy Land I already had so many Blessings that it didn''t matter anymore, about the new Aura skill I received, I would wait until a time when I was in better condition to do an Aura synthesis. After noticing this new Blessing I talked a little more with High Priestess Yara before taking a better look at the island next door, it wasn''t too far away and it was visible from where we were. The second island was dark with black clouds overhead and a gray mist spreading across the island, I could only see the outline of the trees, they were all distorted and strange shapes. The island I was on looked like a paradise island while the other one looked like a horror movie island. One thing I started to notice after checking the surroundings so many times was the sacred energy present in the environment, in addition to this, I feel an energy of the same type coming from the statues that form the entrance to the Dungeon of Life and Death. It was so strange for me these two very different islands to be next to each other, I wanted to get together with the others, but before that I went to drink some blood, Freya insisted it was her blood saying it was more nutritious. Freya wasn''t wrong, she possesses the powers of the three natural energies just like me, plus her blood was delicious, so delicious that I was afraid to even get addicted to its divine taste. After that quick meal I went to rest before an evening meeting. During this meeting, High Priest Henrique joined us, as well as High Priestess Yara, from my group there was only me, Layla, Vanessa, Diana and Lilith. There were only people who represent different Gods, it was only then that I realized how much I am involved with Religion in this life, this was something I didn''t imagine before I was reborn since I was an atheist. The two High Priests asked permission to have people of their people in my Dungeon, I asked Vanessa for her opinion and she was happy with that saying it was her plan to do something like this. After that Nolan arrives saying that they were sent from the surrounding Realms, some were riding what he could only call Hippogriff and others were on birds as strong as the Hippogriff being Grade S. They all had letters from their rulers, who received them were the Blood Demons who unfortunately still haven''t had the opportunity to have a decent conversation. It was my idea this to see the reactions of these different Realms, the Blood City envoy was a Vampire who ran to hug one of the Blood Demons when he arrived, looks like she was his girlfriend. There were two Kingdoms whose envoy had a bad reaction, one of them was disgusted and didn''t want to deliver their King''s letter to a Blood Demon, the other envoy was a Demon woman who had no problem with Blood Demons, her problem was against the other races that were not Demons. These two were sent away, the two High Priests preach about equality between all races, for the Goddess Kalistos all races are equal in death, this includes the immortals as they can still be killed. It seems that the Goddess Mavis also preaches that all living beings are equal, she believes that discrimination against other races is a serious crime against the value of life itself. In the end the two High Priests used my idea to measure which Realms could be used to trade, these islands would not be for producing food and other daily necessities, because of that they needed trusted Realms to do business with. ----------- That night after watching from afar as the others solved the problem of the envoys, I was left wondering how these Realms reacted to what they were seeing a few days ago. I''m sure they were able to tell the moment the High Priest Henry and Hela Ritual had begun. I''m sure I must have thought it was an enemy attack or a Wave of Monsters, if they had known that there were people inside these desolate lands they might have sent armies. At the end of the night I just laid my head on the network of lines I created, spent a few hours thinking about looking up at the starry sky, I had a lot on my mind to sort out and this time was as good as any time to do that. Chapter 609: Eva Chapter 609: Eva I took advantage of the fact that I was resting for the next few days to do some things I haven''t had time for until now, like meeting the Blood Demons. The commercial and diplomatic problems of these two islands do not interest me, I want more than Yara and Henrique, who are responsible for this place, to solve this. All I did was give the envoys a little help, let the people who wanted to help with the construction do whatever they wanted, and have a few conversations with the two High Priests. I don''t plan on helping any more than that, I''m just not leaving right now because I''m too tired and this place is too nice to rummage through until I''m fully recovered. As I didn''t want anyone to hear what I was going to talk to the Blood Demons, I went to meet them for a conversation inside the Dungeon in my mansion''s room. To my surprise there was only one person from the Blood Demons to meet me, she joined Alice while I waited in the room, she sits opposite me and a few seconds later Freya arrives bringing delicious food as an aperitif while she pours wine. "Pleased to finally meet the Holy Son of the Mother Goddess, I am the Queen of Blood Demons, my name is Eve." (Eve) "Nice to finally be able to talk to you, my name is Zenos, I''m the leader of this place." (I)Ne?ww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com "I am honored to be in the presence of the Holy Son and King of this Holy Land." (Eve) She looked to be in her mid-30s, she had a well-trained body with some scars all over her body showing that she has vast fighting experience, she was around 1.75 meters tall, her long black hair was tied in a braid, she it had white fur, a smooth red tail with a triangular tip made of bone, it also had red eyes and fangs. She''s very beautiful, her Aura was already close to reaching the Lower Catastrophe Grade, but it''s not there yet, I remember seeing her among the Blood Demons before, but unfortunately I didn''t have time to talk at that moment. She must be a hybrid by her looks, but her strength really was something to be proud of, her Aura was full of vitality like the others, being with her in the same room so close was almost therapeutic as my body relaxed just by her being close. At the first exchange of greetings Eva kneels in front of me like a subordinate meeting his King, to be honest I still don''t like this kind of situation. I already had enough problems with Barok and Lilian who acted like that, not to mention the Lizardman, they always end up kneeling in front of me, I managed to convince almost everyone to stop it, but it seems there are more of these crazy people now. ---------- For the next few hours I listened with pleasure to a summary of the Blood Demon Race''s long history. According to their beliefs they are a sister race to the Vampires and are also children of the Goddess Selene, beings who were created by the power of the Goddess of Blood. They are warriors by nature, all of their kind are warriors or mages, they have great talent for magic and blessed bodies for a warrior, but they lack the ability to use spiritual energy. Usually members of your race are born with the talent to be mages or warriors, they have great regeneration abilities and the ability to withstand living in hostile environments for long periods of time. They have a culture focused on the teachings of the Goddess Selene and protecting those too young to defend themselves. They believe they are blessed from birth with great talent and therefore feel the need to extend a helping hand to the innocent in need. Blood Demons understand the value of life and believe it is their duty to protect the lives of the innocent, because of these beliefs they interfere in countless wars throughout history where they mainly rescue orphans and people unable to defend themselves. Because of their interference they became known as bloodthirsty mercenaries, everyone who faces the Blood Demons in battle knows the terror of a perfect warrior who doesn''t fear death. Also it seems that the leaders of the Blood Demons are always women who are talented in both the use of Ki and the use of magic, those types of women who still have enough wisdom are able to evolve into Queens one day, just like Eve with who spent hours talking. The reason for this also lies in their culture that grows around the teachings of the Goddess Selene, they believe that because women are those who have the ability to generate new lives, they have the Blessing of the Goddess Selene, so their hierarchy is based more on a Matriarchy. But Eva said that there is not much difference between men and women, she said that the biggest problem for them was the low fertility of their race, but that was because their life expectancy was even higher than that of the Elves, and could reach up to 1500 years of age. I was surprised by many of the things I heard, the Blood Demons were very interesting, their strong vitality even affects the surroundings of where they are, because of that they constantly travel to areas where the crops are bad and there are diseases, just because they are nearby things can improve for those residing in these areas. Unfortunately because of their good deeds they were misunderstood, generating a huge misunderstanding that resulted in the rumors that to this day make them hated by most of the continent. Chapter 610: A Choice To Make Chapter 610: A Choice To Make After hours of talking to Eva I discovered a lot about the Blood Demons, what surprised me was how much their willpower was able to withstand the insults and slander across the continent while maintaining their beliefs without ever giving in. I was in awe of them, it reminded me that after being rescued they still chose to stay behind and fight the Undead along with the other sa Dungeons. They really are a warrior people, but I''m surprised they don''t have aggressive Auras, their Auras in addition to the vitality they naturally possess, also contain calm and firmness that must be deeply ingrained in them. But Eva who by her looks has clearly been through a lot of combat has a calm and glowing Aura in front of me. The only thing I can think of for them to be like that is that they are a very positive people. The reason they adore me so much was also obvious, but I asked anyway, the answer was that my Aura was magnificent to them, my presence filled their hearts with peace and a feeling of kneeling down to serve me. She said that it wasn''t until later when she was able to talk to the Dungeon people and Vanessa that she learned more about me. She insisted on saying that the Goddess Selene was too kind to send her own child to their rescue, she has no idea that I was chosen just for being the closest able to deal with this problem. ------------ After hours of talking I was getting hungry and the appetizers were too light to satisfy my hunger. I invited Eva to follow me and told Freya to warn everyone that I''m having a barbecue, it was just supposed to be something simple with the people in my group. But I soon discovered that I was terribly wrong, we ended up having a big barbecue for the whole city that felt like a festival. In the end, it became a celebration for the completion of the plan and High Priestess Yara joined the party alongside High Priest Henry. There was music, dancing, food, and a few other things I choose not to comment on, it seems like anything is an excuse for a party for the people of this dungeon. "By drastic decision do you mean leaving this continent?" (I) "Yes, our ancestors had their ashes scattered across this continent, we defended many innocent lives in reckless wars where those in power had only greed in their eyes, this is our homeland." (Eve) "I was going to ask this later, but why don''t you join us here at the Dungeon?" (I) I had already considered something like this since I accepted this quest, I figured this could also be Goddess Selene''s will, but that would depend on my opinion of Blood Demons. It will act that I know a little more about them, that I have seen what they can do in battle and have spoken with their leader, all I feel for them is admiration and respect for staying true to their beliefs in this way. "We already have a place for you in the city, there are several other races that live here and your people won''t have to keep moving anymore, what do you think?" (I) "But...but that means..." (Eve) "It means leaving this continent sooner or later, I have no plans to stay here." (I) "It''s your decision, I just think you''ve done enough for this continent, you don''t have to answer now, think about it until the day you leave these islands." (I) "But be aware that being together with me means a lot of trouble, my luck is horrendous, I''m very impulsive with my curiosity and I''m always involved in other people''s problems or causing them problems." (I) "So don''t expect a peaceful life if you decide to follow me, but I guarantee you will always have the respect and loyalty of everyone in this dungeon, I will also expect the same from you and the rest of your people." (I) I stand up while Eva keeps a surprised face, what I had to say has already been said, now it''s up to her alone, my presence here will only influence her final decision, but what I want is an answer coming from her sincere beliefs. After leaving her behind I threw myself into the waters of the lake for a swimming exercise, the water was so clear and refreshing that I couldn''t resist taking a dip. But I was too distracted to notice the big monster inside the lake that swallowed me the moment I was walking backwards, it was a really bad surprise. "DAMN LUCK!!!!!" (I) Chapter 611: Plan Of The Phantom Orbs Part 1 Chapter 611: Plan Of The Phantom Orbs Part 1 I was so nervous to the point that my blood was boiling with rage as I came out of the water covered in blood and chunks of flesh. "Hahahahahahahahahaha...." (Layla) "..." (I) "I''m not... not laughing..." (Sophia) "Are you okay, master? Do you have any injuries?" (Jade) "Hahahahahahahahahaha...." (Layla) "I appreciate the concern of at least one of you, I''m fine." (I) "I just need a shower to get this dirt off of me..." (I) "Hahahahahahahahahaha...." (Layla) "You little Devil, stop laughing!" (I) "Hahahaha... someone help me... hahahahaha... I can''t stop... hahahaha..." (Layla) When I get out of the water I see Jade and Sophia with weapons in their hands, both of them were covered in sweat and scratches all over their bodies, it looks like they were having a friendly fight. For some reason Layla was squirming with laughter near a tree as tears came out of her eyes, she was holding her belly and laughing for a few minutes which only made me angrier. Sophia had her hands over her mouth trying to keep from laughing like Layla was doing, the only one who didn''t laugh at my plight was Jade who ran up to me in her Lamia form with a worried face. The monster that swallowed me was big, but it was only Grade S at best, I still don''t know how that thing got here, most likely it came from the rivers. It was very unlucky to find this kind of encounter while I was swimming, now my clothes are soaked in the blood and guts of this monster I ripped to shreds. "(Can''t I ever let my guard down?)" (I)Fo?llo?w new stories at novelhall.com I went back to the mansion to take a decent shower, but on the way, I used a potion of liquid soap to clean myself, but I still needed the feeling of bathing, so I went back to the mansion. ----------- "Why Zombies?" (I) "They''re just doing rough work, they''re stronger than Skeletons normally, I''m using them to do rough jobs while I leave the rest to Leonardo to decide how he wants to build things here." (Hela) "Leonardo has been very interested in my requirements to build the Church of Death on this island." (Henrique) "Keep an eye on him, if he gets too excited he can overdo it when it comes to construction." (I) "I''ll keep that in mind." (Henrique) After we find Hela we go to another place where we can talk, it was another cabin, but this one is empty. "Now that Hela is present we can talk about a subject that my Goddess has already discussed with lord Zenos." (Henrique) Something I talked to the Demon Goddess Kalistos if I remember correctly was just things relevant to the plan that gave rise to these two islands. But after a few seconds of thought, I realized that I also had the plan that made her accept to participate in the Holy Land plan. "You mean about the Phantom Orbs plan?" (I) "Yes, unfortunately, I don''t fully understand my Goddess''s message, but she wants her plan to be carried out here on this island." (Henrique) "This is going to be difficult, I need weeks of preparation, I have a lot of Phantom Orbs still to synthesize to get the plan started." (I) "That''s what I wanted to discuss with you, part of what I understand from my Goddess''s message is how to help you finish this synthesis faster." (Henrique) "Rest two more days before coming back here, then I''ll be able to help you with that." (Henrique) "Of course, does that mean you know about the plan?" (I) "No, that''s why I wanted to talk to you, I wanted to know more about this plan and why this plan is appreciated by my Goddess." (Henrique) "That interests me too, master." (Hela) "I still don''t know why you asked for so many Phantom Orbs." (Hela) I look at them and realize I don''t need to hide my plans from them, this plan is something the Demon Goddess Kalistos wants so High Priest Henry will approve and Hela will find it interesting I''m sure. Chapter 612: Plan Of The Phantom Orbs Part 2 Chapter 612: Plan Of The Phantom Orbs Part 2 I decided to explain what I was going to do with the Phantom Orbs in detail to Hela and High Priest Henry. It was no secret, I just hadn''t told anyone yet because I didn''t want anyone trying to stop my plans like when I tried to summon Ragnar and Hela. The three of us were sitting at the table inside the hut, Henrique served tea, it was a tea made from a Poisonous plant, but it was very tasty, as we all have resistance to poisons we could enjoy this delicious tea that few dared to drink. "When I first entered this land full of Undead and saw the Ghosts, I had an idea, so I started gathering the cores of the defeated Ghosts." (I) "My plan was to summon a Ghost or a spectral monster as a new Familiar or Minion." (I) "I can see a lot of problems with that plan." (Henrique) "Synthesising so many items would take a lot of time, plus the cores would have more than just spectral energy." (Hela) "Exactly as Miss Hela says, it could have been any Undead monster." (Henrique) "I didn''t know that, but it seems I did the right thing in changing my plans, but I did it with efficiency in mind." (I) "When Hela first managed to create the Phantom Orb in front of me, I was surprised by the item description I got of my skill and the things Hela told me about its uses." (I) "I realized that I could use the Phantom Orb for summoning, it would save me a lot of trouble with synthesizing Phantom cores." (I) "Master, the Phantom Orb contains spectral energy far more pure and condensed than any Phantom core." (Hela) "This will be excellent for your plan, so the chance of another type of Undead being summoned has become null." (Hela) "Yes, I also realized that I could synthesize with Phantom Orbs when you weren''t able to continue accumulating spectral energy in the same Phantom Orb." (I) "I was very curious about what kind of creature would be summoned using an Orb containing the spectral energy of all the Ghosts in this place." (I) ,m "..." (Henrique) As I told my plans I felt that Henrique spoke less, in the end, he seemed thoughtful about something. "So if it''s a strong Soul, will it be able to maintain consciousness like you or Ivan?" (Hela) "It seems that our studies together are being useful, Miss Hela." (Henrique) "You were right, but that doesn''t mean you would be the same person you were when you were still alive, maybe you just have the emotions of your previous life or the memories, but most likely you don''t have either." (Henrique) I close my eyes to review my plan, I think I made a mistake making this kind of plan without talking to an expert first. "(A high level Soul? Where will I find one like this?)" (I) I look at Hela, the only high level Soul I had was the one from Farus that I used to create Hela months ago, all the others are very weak. "Talking to you really made me understand my Goddess''s message better, she sent this message before coming here but it was the biggest message I''ve ever received, I was unconscious most of the trip because of it." (Henrique) "It must have been difficult." (I) "If I hadn''t been dead before, I''m sure I would have died at that moment." (Henrique) "But my Goddess said..." (Henry) "(How hard is it to receive messages from the Gods?)" (I) "(Vanessa makes it look easy, plus I''ve met some Gods, I think I might be misunderstanding what can be considered difficult or normal.)" (I) "(Am I losing my common sense?)" (I) I look at Henrique and realize that I got lost in my thoughts and didn''t hear what he was saying, but from the look on Hela''s face it seems like it was something important. "Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts for a few seconds and didn''t hear what you were saying earlier." (I) "Okay, it must be a lot for you to understand, we can leave this conversation for another time if you want." (Henrique) "I''d rather talk about it than act while I get my mind in order, it makes it easier for me to organize my thinking around the best solutions." (I) "If you prefer it that way, then continuing with what I was saying earlier, my Goddess said that she sent a suitable Soul in her direction, do you know anything about that?" (Henrique) Chapter 613: Soul Of A False Hero Chapter 613: Soul Of A False Hero I was surprised by what High Priest Henry said, did he say that the Demon Goddess Kalistos sent a suitable Soul to me? I don''t remember receiving any Souls, did you send them to the Dungeon? If you were in Dungeon Nix you would have informed me about this a long time ago, so I don''t think you are in Dungeon. "Me not wondering where this Soul is and who it could...be..." (I) Suddenly a possibility flashes in my mind, there is a Soul that came to me a short time ago, a Soul brought by others from someone I''ve never met, but that must be strong. "You mean the False Hero''s Soul?" (I) "Soul of the False Hero!?" (Henry/Hela) "(This reminds me that I haven''t talked about this with either of them before.)" (I) I sit down and talk about Athena and the others from the Church of Light, I speak leaving the details aside, and just say that they fled the Church of the Light. Henrique and Hela were surprised when I talked about the False Hero''s Soul, but they were even more surprised when I said about the Heretic God of Fun.Ne?ww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com Hela had a strange look on her face when she heard what I said, I think she doesn''t have good impressions about Heretic Gods because of her memories of Farus. "Should we get rid of this Heretic God?" (Hela) "Strange my Goddess not mentioning this Heretic God, if she sensed this Soul from this supposed false Hero, then she should know about this Heretic God." (Henrique) "It looks like this Heretic God isn''t an enemy, it looks like he''s something called the Living God." (I) "Living God? Looks like he''s a lot weaker than he should be." (Henrique) "That explains how he kept his soul in the mortal world, his power must be similar to that of a mortal at this point with most of his powers sealed away until he reaches Divinity again." (Henrique) "I''ve never heard of an Heretic God doing that, in fact, I''ve never heard of any God giving up their power like that." (Henrique) "If he lost even his body, then he must be looking for a way to create a new one, even in his situation as the Living God a Mortal''s body could not contain a Divine soul." (Henrique) "What was the real Hero''s name?" (I) "His name was Neji." (Athena) "When he was summoned in the past, they say he came by that name, a name he chose himself." (Athena) "But he would need to find a body to let go or my spirit will deteriorate." (Evil God of Fun) "I already have a solution for this, there is a God Fragment here in the Dungeon, but it doesn''t have a Divinity, can you make use of it to heal yourself?" (I) "Do you have a God Fragment? I could use it for much more than healing myself." (Evil God of Fun) "Maybe it''s possible until I create a new body, but I would need a few things." (Evil God of Fun) "What will you need?" (I) "The body I''m going to create will almost be a first generation monster, but that won''t be enough, I need a strong bloodline in the body to support my spirit." (Evil God of Fun) "(Use your blood.)" (Goddess Selene) Suddenly the Goddess Blessing within me awakens and a red energy emanates from my body, for a brief moment I hear Goddess Selene''s voice in my head. "(Does she want me to use my blood?)" (I) "That''s a good idea... hahahahaha..." (Hereful God of Fun) "Did you hear?" (I) "Of course I am, am I still a God or should I say I was a God?" (Evil God of Fun) "But I must say, Selene is still someone cunning, she wants to make sure I don''t make her enemy." (Evil God of Fun) "What are you talking about?" (Athena) "Using his bloodline who is a son of a God would be perfect for my body, but at the same time I would be bound by bloodline as a seal, but that''s fine with me, I never planned to be your enemy." (Evil God of Fun) "Being blood-bonded with you will be so much fun... hahahahaha..." (Hereful God of Fun) Chapter 614: Thinking Of A Name For An Heretic God Chapter 614: Thinking Of A Name For An Heretic God I was talking to Athena and the Heretic God of Fun, I talked about my plan to use the Soul of the false Hero for them, how was it they saved that Soul from going back to God Baldr, and the decision on how to deal with that Soul is theirs, that is their responsibility. It looks like the Heretic God of Fun is using this Soul as a vessel to keep himself in this world or maybe to keep himself hidden, I don''t understand enough about Gods to know the truth so I can only assume he''s hearing the truth. I tell them about the God Fragment to them, I thought it might serve them to deliver this Soul to me, what would I do would cause the complete separation of this Soul from the Church of Light, even though I have my selfish motives to satiate my curiosity, which I''m wanting to do will be great for that Soul, not everyone has a second chance in life. Talking about the God Fragment was the right choice, but I was surprised about the requirements that this Heretic God still had, he wanted to create a new body to reincarnate again without having to be born again. But for that, he would need the God Fragment and Blood which contains a strong bloodline, if only that wouldn''t be a problem, thanks to me many people in the Dungeon have powerful bloodlines. But it seems that the Goddess Selene wants me to use my blood, but I can''t say if it would be a good idea to share a bloodline with an Heretic God. But then it looks like Goddess Selene is speaking this as advice, it looks like my bloodline might serve as some sort of restraint on this Heretic God and he knows it. What intrigues me is that Heretic God knows all this and still wants me to do it. I look at the necklace with a crystal held in Athena''s hands, this crystal is glowing and flashing its light as this Heretic God within speaks. "Why do you look so excited like that?" (I)Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com "As a god, I''m used to restrictions, this one, in particular, is completely useless, this restriction only does two things." (Evil God of Fun) "The first thing is to stop me from doing anything to you, your family members, and those who have your lineage." (Evil God of Fun) "Isn''t that a problem for you?" (I) "Of course not, I never meant to hurt you or those close to you." (Evil God of Fun) I think deeply for a few seconds doing some simulations in my head, I also do some calculations to be sure of what I thought before opening my eyes. "If I were in better condition I could have this amount of blood ready for tomorrow, but as I am now it will have to wait a week." (I) "I do not mind about it." (Evil God of Fun) "But I have a request, I want a new name, as you are sharing your own blood and lineage with me, I would be happy to receive a name from you." (Evil God of Fun) "You are a God, why take the name of a mortal?" (I) "Your thinking is wrong, many Gods got their names from mortals, besides, it makes no sense for someone to choose their own name." (Evil God of Fun) What he said is logical, but the truth is that I hate naming other people, I''ve always had the creativity to create games, stories, and characters. But names have always been my weakness, so the names I''ve given so far are references to various things like games, movies, cartoons, myths, legends, etc. I try to think of everything I know about this Heretic God, I know his taste for fun, but I also know how broad the concept of fun can be for him. Charity is that I think he''s a crazy, weird and chaotic God. It makes me think of a name that might suit him, the meaning and origin of the name I thought might not be completely compatible with it, but it will do. I still remember the conversations I had with the nurses at the hospital where I spent my last years, one of those nurses was a girl who grew up in the same orphanage as me, but in a different generation, I remember hiring him for a year so she would have enough money to her college after leaving the orphanage, in the end, she became my nurse, I enjoyed talking to her. I remember that at the time she asked me to name her cat, I gave that cat the same name I thought now, it brings back memories. "He is fine?" (Athena) "He just got lost in his own thoughts." (Evil God of Fun) Chapter 615: See You In 1 Month Chapter 615: See You In 1 Month Just as promised to that Heretic God, for a week I collected my blood daily, always before meals, that''s because my body produced a lot of blood, you could even say that there was more blood inside my body than people could imagine given my size. I found out that after the fight against King Makari, the amount of blood I lost back then was more than three times what it should have been. After that, I did some tests and found that the amount of blood in my body should be more than 10 liters, besides that it looked like I could recover more than 5 liters of blood in a few hours of rest, if I took a potion it would be even faster. A Vampire''s body really is amazing, so I knew I would get the amount of blood that the Heretic God wanted easily, I just wasn''t in a hurry, so I took my time calmly so as not to interfere with my recovery. During that week I talked more with Sophia and Ragnar, since I wasn''t in physical training conditions at the moment and I couldn''t read books anymore, I went to train my Aura with those two. It seems that Ragnar has been training Sophia for a long time, she has reached a growth barrier that according to her is showing signs of breaking, she wants to make sure that in her next evolution she will become a more Elf-oriented type of use Auras, so it has learned from Ragnar. Ragnar also told me that she has been making preparations to get a strong Familiar, she will ask for my help with the summoning but wants to prepare everything else herself, in addition to being mentally prepared. In addition to the normal Aura trainings, I thought of different ways to use my Aura, according to Ragnar Auras can be used directly on the body to strengthen or give certain characteristics that the Aura has for the body. You can also use Aura on weapon or armor, it seems that Aura can even be used on spells, Spirit Runes, and skills. The problem is the level of control required to do such things, even Ragnar can''t do these things, mainly because he''s gotten used to just using the power of the Aura, merging it with other powers is something new for him in what Sophia is being of great help to him. I noticed during that time that every time I passed by the temple Athena was there talking to Vanessa, one of those times I found even Athena crying while Vanessa was hugging her. I think she''s opening up to Vanessa who is someone she looks up to, plus Vanessa has been through similar situations, maybe the conversations she''s having with Vanessa haven''t even had her friends who followed her here. "Yes, thanks to you I''ll be able to have fun again, thank you." (Evil God of Fun) p "What will happen to the False Hero''s Soul?" (I) "Nothing for the next 3 days, what''s left of my power in this crystal will protect this Soul." (Evil God of Fun) "So don''t delay doing what you need, unfortunately I''m going to miss this show, I''m going to need more than 1 month to complete the body, but I''m still in doubt about the gender, I think I''ll use both, this can bring more tools of fun... hahahahaha..." (Hereful God of Fun) "(I really don''t understand this Heretic God, this madman is even treating his own body that he hasn''t even created yet as a diversion tool...)" (I) "When it''s time for my rebirth you''ll know or should I say you''ll feel it in your blood, at that moment give me a name, names have power, they represent people, give identity, and prove their existence." (Evil God of Fun) "I already thought of a name, so don''t worry." (I) "See you in 1 month..." (Hereful God of Fun) The Heretic God of Fun comes out of the crystal as a small transparent sphere, I can feel him trying to control his presence so as not to hurt anyone present, so he dives into my blood where the God Fragment is already, after that the coffin lid covers it closing completely. I step away, letting the Runes and ritual circles begin to glow in varying colors more and more intensely, then the large ritual circle on the floor piles up in rainbow colors as the coffin floats dozens of feet into the air. The ritual circles crystallized on the floor begin to float and separate into dozens of different circles each rotating in a different way in different directions with the only common one being the coffin in the middle which was engulfed by the multicolored light. After seeing this strange sight a little more, I and the others leave, I look at the crystal in my hand and take it out, it''s time for another preparation. Chapter 616: High Priest Henry Enraged Chapter 616: High Priest Henry Enraged The same day we left that Heretic God alone to rebuild his own body, I go overnight to the Isle of Death to meet Henry. After a week, the Igreja da Morte was more than half ready, of course, there was still a need to put in the details that would take more time and could only be done after the construction was finished, but I had already told Leonardo to leave the details and decoration to the Priests who will stay here. There''s no reason for us to do all the work, let the people who are going to live here finish the work, Leonardo didn''t like to leave a work unfinished, but he understood what he meant and said he would do it. When I entered the main building that was finished and where the statue of the Goddess Kalistos was, I see that it had already been decorated and the details had been done. There were paintings showing different detainees of death, from a person dying in their sleep to someone dying from being eaten by a monster, but all the images had a Lady''s hand holding these people''s hands at the end of their lives. There were painted skulls and bones serving as decoration, there were also statues that were built purely of bones, and there was also normal decoration like chairs, tables, magic chandeliers, etc. I make my way to where Henrique is kneeling in front of the statue of the Goddess Kalistos. The statue as always is made of crystal, after talking to Ragnar, Rakan, and Nix I learned that things made of crystal are very common to be found, that''s because these crystals are made of crystallized energy, so in Temples and Churches the statues of the Gods are always crystal, the difference in the color of the crystal often signifies the element or other characteristic contained in the statue. I look at the statue of this Demon Goddess of Death and I see a lady in a simple dress with a beautiful body wearing a veil to hide her face, at her feet, there were skulls of different creatures but her arms were open as if she wanted to hug everyone while a slight gentle smile was the only thing visible through the veil. "(All one day ended in her sweet embrace...)" (I) Seeing this statue up close I don''t feel fear, sadness, or loneliness as expected when it comes to death, all I feel emanating from this statue is peace. I look at Henrique who is silent, still kneeling, I know he has noticed my presence, after all, I''m not hiding, but he doesn''t move from his position, he looks like the skeleton of someone who died praying like that. I realize he must be offering his prayers to his Goddess so I wait for him to finish, I could also say a prayer but I don''t want to risk meeting with Goddess Kalistos every time I do this in a temple or Church like I do with the Goddess Selene. The less contact I have with the Gods the better, I know this will be impossible considering my origins as a child of a Goddess, but I can still avoid praying inside the Temples and Churches just in case. "May I?" (Henrique) "Feel free." (I) High Priest Henry holds out a boned hand and I hand the crystal to him, watching as his empty eye sockets glow gray as the light of the same color envelops the crystal in his hand. For a few minutes, everything is quiet and High Priest Henry stands still again, I wait in silence as I''m not sure what he''s doing. Soon the light fades from his empty eye sockets and the crystal he was holding, but even so, he keeps looking at the crystal for a few seconds, I feel his mood go dark and a slight sense of anger escapes through his Aura before he hides. "Where did you get that Soul?" (Henrique) I tell everything I know about this Soul to High Priest Henrique he gets even more angry and this time he can''t hide it completely, the stones at his feet start to crack under the pressure of his desolating Aura. "I''ve heard rumors before, but seeing it with my own eyes is outrageous!" (Henrique) "Now I know why my Goddess''s Taboo Hunters don''t come back, to do this with a Soul that shouldn''t even be here..." (Henry) "Even if it''s a God, doing it by invading a domain that doesn''t belong to you is the same as the Heretic Gods do..." (Henry) "Please calm down, High Priest." (I) "Tell me what happened?" (I) "..." (Henrique) Henry seems to have regained his senses, all traces of his anger disappear, I can tell by the red fire in his eyes that he didn''t calm down, he just controlled his emotions, whatever they did to that Soul was enough to let him go enraged. Chapter 617: The Rebirth Of The False Hero Part 1 Chapter 617: The Rebirth Of The False Hero Part 1 I wait while High Priest Henry regains his composure to explain to me what they did to this false Hero''s Soul to make him so enraged. "Did you manage to talk to this Soul?" (I) "No one could tell me his name, that''s why everyone is calling him a fake Hero." (I) "I managed to exchange a few words, but what infuriates me is the state of that Soul, that Soul was deformed, forcibly strengthened and something was done to the Soul, they implanted something that shouldn''t be there!" (Henrique) "They didn''t just interfere with a soul, what they did went so far as to contaminate the essence within the Soul!" (Henrique) "All I could feel was a will to live, a will to be free and a lot of pain." (Henrique) "..." (I) "(What did the Church of Light do to this Soul?)" (I) ---------- I had to wait a while for Henrique to calm down enough to calm down, the statue of the Goddess had surrounded him glowing and he got down on his knees to pray, I had to wait 30 minutes for him to get up. After he calmed down more he came to explain to me better what he had seen. He told me that one of the methods for a Soul to become stronger are few, one of these methods is evolution, and the other method is to endure great suffering, apart from these methods there are also more forbidden ways as the Heretic Gods do. That Soul was tortured continuously and constantly to get strong enough, the Soul became deformed because a fragment of another person''s Soul was placed inside that Soul and sealed inside. Henrique explained to me that the Aura that comes out of the Soul does not belong to her, her Aura is constantly suppressed by a more powerful Aura, and the essence that stays inside the Soul is being corroded by that fragment of someone else''s Soul. After hearing this I got angry too, but my anger doesn''t even compare to High Priest Henry''s, he doesn''t just consider the act itself unforgivable, he considers it an invasion of his Goddess authority, a slap on his beliefs. After listening to him I was able to support a theory and asked him, just as I feared, I was right. This Soul fragment should belong to the true Hero of the Church of Light, they implanted this fragment in this Soul to be able to deceive others, but according to Henry the Soul of a Hero is special, so they had to strengthen the Soul to resist even if temporarily. "It''s all right." (I) Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! I activate my synthesis skill all 7 times I''m able to do it now at the same time, bullshit the moment the notification noises start popping in my head. Ding! <[ Demon Goddess Kalistos interference detected ]> Soon a gray energy starts to come out of the Goddess statue and spread around the Phantom Orbs, at that moment this gray energy becomes a whirlpool and various collision sounds can be heard from the dark gray whirlpool. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! At that moment there were many notification sounds in my head at the same time, I could feel chilling energies mixing in that whirlpool. I had to wait a long time for the whirlpool to start picking, when it disappeared there was only a gray crystal sphere with a dark silhouette inside, it seemed to have thousands of points of light circling that dark silhouette. I tried to get closer to get a better look at what that item was, I needed to touch it to use my ability to identify it, but I knew instinctively that it would be dangerous to get any closer. "Looks like it was a success." (I) "I feel the power of my Goddess in this item, so I think it was more than just a hit." (Henrique) "But the spectral energy is much stronger than I expected, it would be dangerous even for me to get any closer." (Henrique) "Is it safe to use my Awakening-type abilities while I throw Soul in there?" (I) "Yes, the power of my Goddess shouldn''t hurt this Soul, if you are in good settings could solve the problem now, my Goddess will help." (Henrique) "If she''ll be of better help to me." (I) I take the crystal where the Soul of the False Hero is, I''m thinking about during the process to collect this fragment of Soul from the inside, I will also try to help with my Astral Body just like I did with Layla in the past, I hope it works. Chapter 618: The Rebirth Of The False Hero Part 2 Chapter 618: The Rebirth Of The False Hero Part 2 I needed to calm down for what I was about to do, needed to calm my nervousness and fear, and anger. I sat cross-legged and with my hands on my knees while breathing steadily, I cleared my mind and tried to slow my heart that was beating wildly. Thanks to my meditation skill which was one of the first things I learned in this world, I quickly fell into a meditative trance. It only took a few minutes to stabilize my mindset, so I got up, unfortunately, I couldn''t use synthesis on the Phantom Orb and the fake Hero''s Soul crystal. What I did is wave High Priest Henry away, then I make the catalog with the Soul float closer to the Demon Goddess Kalistos statue, then I start activating my Auras to envelop the crystal, the Phantom Orb, and the Goddess statue. I felt a powerful and infinite energy inside the statue, I know the statue could rip my Aura to pieces and I''m glad I didn''t. The crystal with the Soul hasn''t had any resistance to my Soul so far, but I can''t get my Aura to enter the crystal either. The Phantom Orb didn''t even let my Aura get close, but other than getting close with my body, I wasn''t afraid of my Aura being so close to the Phantom Orb, this could be an opportunity. "< Blood Servant >" (I) "< Vampire Servant >" (I) "< Blood Pact >" (I) I activate all three skills at the same time I use the full power of my Auras, this must be the first time since my Aura got so powerful that I use it with all effects to the fullest. I felt a little relief that I didn''t have to hold on, it felt like my body was lighter. I cut my hands and controlled my blood to make my abilities work, I enveloped the crystal with the false Hero''s Soul with my blood as the red energy of the two servitude skills entered the crystal. Ding! <[ Skill [ Blood Servant ] and [ Vampire Servant ] activated ]> . . . <[ You are trying to submit Soul of Heroic descent (Infected) ]> . . . <[ Neji''s Soul Fragment (Hero of Light) is trying to stop the Soul Submission it is infecting ]> <[ Power grant ended ]> . . . <[ Demon Goddess Kalistos (Demon Goddess) interference has been detected ]> . . . <[ Analyzing Soul Traits, Granted Power and Blessings ]> . . . <[ The Demon Goddess Kalistos (Demon Goddess) began to purge the Blessings of the God Baldr (God of Light) from the Soul of Heroic descent ]> . ,m. . <[ Soul of Heroic descent allows the purge of God Baldr''s Blessing (God of Light) ]> At that moment I see a golden glow being burned by gray flames until nothing is left, then a cocoon forms where nothing can be seen inside. Ding! <[ Awakening process starting ]> . . . <[ Awakening process finished ]> Chapter 619: The Rebirth Of The False Hero Part 3 Chapter 619: The Rebirth Of The False Hero Part 3 Even as the cocoon formed I felt my energy, mainly my nearly depleted spirit energy being pulled into that cocoon, a gray energy was also being sucked from the Demon Goddess Kalistos statue. Because of this process, I can feel everything in this space, so it feels like the statue calls out to what is inside the cocoon while a presence that I can''t discern extends from the statue to the cocoon, but something seems wrong, I just can''t say what. Soon the cocoon begins to pulse, with each pulse the vital energy of the surroundings is absorbed, I can clearly feel it. It feels like something inside this cocoon is empty, I can feel an Aura slowly spreading out of the cocoon, this Aura was almost blank, all I could feel was fear, innocence, fury, and curiosity. These were such contradictory feelings, this Aura was spreading around the surroundings, but I felt it focus first on the Goddess statue, then on my Astral Body before getting more and more involved. "(Empty...how to fill...)" A strange, misshapen voice was sounding in my mind, I could feel an endless loneliness in that voice. "(Does that voice come from the cocoon?)" (I) I take a closer look at the situation and realize that it was because of the Aura that came out of the cocoon, it is functioning as a means for the creature inside to communicate. Perhaps the emptiness that speaks is caused by the lack of the Soul fragment that was inside him or the lack of something else he considers important. "(Regardless of the reason, the answer will always be the same for me...)" (I) "Everything begins and ends with desire, what makes a person get up in the morning is the desire to get up, what makes a soldier fight is the desire to protect, what makes a child study is the desire to learn." (I) "What''s your wish?" (I) ----------- Pov Henrique: I don''t know what exactly is going on, but this seems to be the special awakening ability that Zenos possesses that the Goddess transmitted to me via her message.Ne?ww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com I''ve never seen or heard of anything of this magnitude, Zenos can affect both body and soul at the same time, but he doesn''t do it selfishly, it seems like he''s trying to give a shape following the High''s desire for his skill. I look at the strange dark being he''s summoned, it''s supposed to be an Astral Body, but the form it has taken seems to mean something far more than what I see in Zenos. Right after the energy cocoon formed and started to pulse, I suddenly felt something, Zenos'' gaze was surprised and then serious as he looked around before stopping at the cocoon, then he started talking loudly. I heard his words, those words carry enormous weight, I can feel a mixture of emotions and a depth in these casually spoken words. Also, I can see Zenos'' own Aura vibrate with every word he says, when I look into his eyes I only see an eternity of endless darkness that makes me take a step back. . . . <[ Beginning the Divine Beast''s full awakening process ]> . . . <[ Divine Beast was named [ Hinata ] from Zenos creating a connection and becoming its Guardian ]> Suddenly the cocoon breaks completely, but its fragments have been absorbed by the silhouette enveloped in a thick mist, so the misshapen Aura that has spread around the surroundings focuses on this figure as it enters its body. Soon the mist disappeared but nothing was there, when I feel something strange behind me and I turn around, there was a child, a girl with pale white skin and long gray hair, she was wearing a black shirt with a large vertical white eye drawn on the front, gray short pants and a gray crystal scale jacket that looked like it had eyes inside the crystals. Her eyes had black sockets with purple and golden irises, and her appearance may appear Human, but with these eyes, her non-Human nature can be seen from afar. "Will you fulfill my will?" (Hinata) Her voice was sweet but strangely monotone, her face showed no emotion, but her eyes were bright with anticipation. "Only you can fulfill your will, only you can deny your will, what do you want?" (I) "Family..." (Hinata) The little girl smaller than me grips my hand tightly, her words carry a great emotional weight that her face doesn''t show, I feel like I''m in the orphanage again having to take care of many younger siblings who were eagerly waiting to belong in a family. "This is what you want?" (I) She nods her head innocently, she was so cute I can''t resist rubbing her head. "Then we will be a family." (I) Ding! <[ You have received the title [ Divine Beast Master (Hinata) ] ]> Chapter 620: Hinata Chapter 620: Hinata The girl in front of me was shorter than I was, she looked like a 7 or 8 year old, but her expressionless face and unsettling presence only enhance those strange eyes. I wasn''t afraid of her, I run my hand over her head, and it surprised me that her will was something others consider as simple and basic as a family, but as someone who grew up in an orphanage I understand the feeling of not having strong bonds like a family. family with no one, the feeling of having no one you can always trust, the certainty that no matter what happens there will be someone you can count on. A child and sometimes even an adult, don''t understand that if you don''t have a family, then just create one, it''s not blood ties that create and maintain a family, a family exists in a person''s heart. A friend can often be like a brother to another, for example. I look at the girl who starts to hug me, then translucent tentacles come out of her back to wrap around me, but they''re not holding me, they''re not squeezing. "My family..." (Hinata) When I try to open my arms, they go through the tentacles as if they were mere illusions, I bend down a little as I break away from the little girl''s embrace to be able to look her in the eye. "Nice to meet you, my name is Zenos." (I) "Welcome to the family, Hinata." (I) At my words, the little girl''s face remains expressionless as if frozen in that expression for eternity, but her eyes that should have been frightening were filled with gentle feelings as tears streamed from her eyes. Tears "..." (Hinata) It was strange to see someone cry without showing any expression on their face, but I was starting to understand that instead of looking at their facial expressions, I have to pay attention only to her eyes to find out about her emotions. "I''m glad you became a Divine Beast and more of a Familiar like Ragnar, but why didn''t you become a Champion of the Demon Goddess Kalistos." (I) When I ask this question, the girl''s tentacles return to her body and she separates from me, drying her tears. "Goddess Kalistos said I wasn''t suitable in the end, I had the potential but I didn''t have the right personality according to her." (Hinata) "(So personality matters?)" (I) I found it strange for the Goddess to let someone with so much potential pass by, according to the system notifications, Hinata''s Soul is of Heroic descent, whatever that is, it was further strengthened, it also had the body I created for it. her, even though she looks like the body of a cute and innocent little girl I know this body is not physical as much as it looks, her skin is cold as ice, and I don''t feel any kind of vitality in her body, i also can''t hear her breathing or heart beats. Your body may look very realistic and even appear to be a physical body, but I know the truth, the energy in your body is a mixture of spiritual energy and spectral energy, I also feel a lot of death energy. I use my identification skill on the little girl who is calming down and is curious to know her race. <[ Result of Individual Identification: "I know, her presence now resembles that of the Divine Beasts, I can feel it coming from her, but I find it strange that she doesn''t have Divine energy." (Henrique) "She''s probably she''s being limited by me like Ragnar and Orion." (I) "I''m worried that I haven''t fulfilled my agreement with the Demon Goddess Kalistos." (I) "As I understand you have kept your promise, unfortunately, the young lady with you was not as suitable as we thought." (Henrique) As I turned to talk to Henrique, Hinata started to float and shrink in size before sitting on top of my head. "I''m not young, I''m over 97." (Hinata) ,m "Then why do you look so young?" (I) "I don''t know..." (Hinata) Sigh I had to lean on a chair nearby, my legs are shaking, I look at my status and see I had less than 50 spiritual energy left, plus my vitality had dropped to 1/5 after all this. I look around and notice the floor that was just built all cracked, in addition, the windows of this room were broken. "(My Astral body is gone before I know it, I must be more tired than I realize.)" (I) "I think it''s time for me to go, I need to get some rest, I''ll see you tomorrow High Priest Henrique." (I) "Come on Hinata, I''ll introduce the others to you." (I) "See you later Skeleton." (Hinata) I stagger out of the building, outside Nix steps out of my shadow and brings some Shadow Horses to take me to the other island. "Hinata, let me introduce you to someone, this is Nix, any questions you can talk to her or Freya, I''ll introduce Freya to you later." (I) Hinata jumps out of my head as she grows back, so she gives Nix a hug. After that, we climbed onto the Shadow Horses and set off. In addition to resting and eating something, I also want to talk to Hinata, I want to know more about her, and understand why she looks like a child. I also want to know if Hinata has any memories of what was done to her. Chapter 621: Hinatas Story Chapter 621: Hinata''s Story After we arrive at the island paradise where we see Tanya dragging a drunk Anton tied in lines away, I start introducing Hinata to everyone. Everyone welcomes her with open arms, Orion seems to have liked her at first, Ragnar in his human form even tries to hug little Hinata. I explain to wheels about her race, she is an Undead of the spectral type, but unlike Ghosts who have the ability to possess other people, Hinata told me along the way that she can''t do that. After the introductions, Freya arrived with a lot of food that I really needed and a few bottles of Blood. While eating I remember information on Hinata''s status, I pay attention to two things. The first was in that positive 3-digit luck, that filled me with envy, I wanted so much to have positive luck, even if it''s just for 1 point. The second thing I noticed was the titles area, it had very few titles considering how little we know about it, I was hoping to have at least a few titles, but it doesn''t have any. While I was lost in my own thoughts eating, Hinata was talking to the others, the most dangerous of all was Diana, she is drooling as soon as she saw Hinata, in fact before reaching the island Diana was already running towards us with full eyes of obsession. I had to use a mixture of skill and spells that only made me even more tired to stop Diana, so she was bound in red chains. Everyone was ignoring her, only Yuki the Frostwolf who is Diana''s Familiar was trying to break the chains to release her master, unfortunately, she won''t be able to do that, these chains are made from my crystallized blood with lines forming spiritual runes inside and magic circles drawn on the outside, this is so reinforced that it could even hold me if it wasn''t done by me. After eating and thinking for a while I stay with everyone while they talk to Hinata, thanks to that I was able to listen to her story. After the fragment entered her body she felt like she was constantly being suppressed so that she couldn''t even speak, so the experiments on her body began which lasted for months of suffering. In the end, they used forbidden techniques to make her obedient, she said that after that she only remembers fragments of memories without context until the day the Heretic God of Fun arrived. When she died she felt her soul being pulled to a place she felt was dangerous, but she had no way to resist the attraction, the Heretic God of Fun entered her Soul, but he did it asking for her permission, moreover he made the pain in her Soul stops letting her finally get some rest without that Soul Fragment causing her pain. So the rest of the story I know and explained to others, she said she met with Goddess Kalistos in her mind, information about herself was delivered to her, furthermore, Goddess Kalistos cleaned her Soul by transferring everything to Soul Fragment of the Hero of Light before using it to create a curse for breaking a Taboo. It was because of this that Hinata didn''t keep any of her old titles. ----------- Upon hearing this story, many had different reactions, but the strangest reaction was that of Lilith who was smiling, she hugged Hinata in a gentle and loving way that I''ve never seen her show to anyone. I think she saw a little bit of herself in Hinata. I asked Hinata what she could do, and instead of answering me talking, she put her finger on my forehead to transfer the full information to my mind, it saved hours of unnecessary conversation but I would think about it later. I went to my bed and Hinata wanted to accompany me, since she was born she hasn''t left my side for a second, most of the time she''s stuck with me, I think she just wants to have someone else with her as an emotional support. After spending hours talking to her, I noticed that even though she looks childish, she has a mature mind, but she still maintains a childish demeanor that doesn''t match the way she talks. Now I was lying in my bed with Layla sleeping on my chest, Hinata clinging to my arm, and Nix sleeping beside me, as I was very tired I let myself be carried away to dreamland. Chapter 622: Getting Ready To Leave Chapter 622: Getting Ready To Leave It''s been a week since Hinata joined us, and I was already completely recovered. That day I was training my Martial Arts when Alice came to tell me about the arrival of many people on the island, it seems that the Priests we were waiting for finally arrived. Sophia who I was training with stopped fighting knowing there were things to do, we were both just training our Martial Arts without using any kind of energy, getting too reliant on power and forgetting to perfect the technique can lead someone strong to their death, I won''t make such a big mistake. According to Alice, until the Temple of Life, whose initial construction had already been completed, I found more than 100 people of different races and genders, all of them wore robes with the symbol of the Goddess of Life, the same symbol I''ve seen on the Goddess of Life statue before. It looked like all these people were gathered together receiving a lecture from High Priestess Yara, there was a Dwarf male beside her as she spoke. I was distant, but I could hear as clearly as if I were right next to her thanks to my high-level senses. "All of you have a lot to do, as you can see the main construction was finished by friends, we were also presented with drawings about the future constructions that we can adapt as we want, all of you will be responsible for finishing our temple and the abode of the clergy." (Yara) "The one beside me is the new High Priest Tharos, he will be in charge of this place, you must heed his orders and you must be diligent in your respective duties." (Yara) "I won''t be there for the next few months, so everyone will have a lot of work to do until this place becomes a learning center where we will spread the word to everyone who wants to hear the importance of life..." (Yara) I stopped listening when I saw a chain tying a Skeleton a little further behind High Priestess Yara, this chain stretches close to High Priestess Yara''s feet. I look at the Skeleton and notice the Runes on his bones, I also notice his clothes and his Aura, that was High Priest Henry of the Church of Death. "(What''s going on here?)" (I) "Something wrong, master?" (Alice) "No." (I) "Should we do something?" (Sophia) "He doesn''t seem to be scared or angry, which in itself is pretty weird, so I won''t get involved." (I) "Are they talking about High Priest Henry tied up in chains?" (Alice) "Yea." (I) "Earlier I was on the island next door delivering Mr Leonardo''s latest drawings for the buildings he thought would be suitable there." (Alice) "The Priests of the Church of Death also arrived and I could see High Priest Henry giving a lecture there until the moment High Priestess Yara arrived." (Alice) "It would be nice to interact more from now on so we can all be less formal, right?" (Yara) "..." (I) As I was distracted by laughing so far at Nolan''s situation, I ended up not noticing High Priestess Yara approaching. I see a chain in her hand, then I look behind her and see High Priest Henry still tied up being carried away like luggage with a chain slung over her shoulder. "What do you mean by that?" (I) "(By your look and smile I know your words have another hidden meaning.)" (I) "As we agreed, two Priests would be assigned to stay in your Dungeon and be part of the Temple being created where our two Religions were allowed to enter." (Yara) "You mean..." (I) "I will be that representative, I hope to have a good time with you, Zenos." (Yara) "Henrique was stubborn, but he''ll be coming too if it''s not a bother." (Yara) "I think it''s been a nuisance to him." (I) Sigh "Even after centuries he still clings to safe and calm places, he has to learn to come out of his cocoon and venture a little into the unknown." (Yara) "Believe me when I say that staying close to the master will be the closest to the unknown that will come, you will be lucky if you ever have peace." (Alice) "Come on, you''re exaggerating..." (I) "Stop telling everyone these things, you''ll drive people away if you tell everyone the truth Alice." (Sophia) "You''d better see for yourself when the time comes." (Sophia) "(Why does everyone treat me like a disaster charm...)" (I) While lost in thought hands once, I am knocked by something from the side and thrown into a nearby tree which breaks into pieces. "(I think I broke a rib or maybe my spine, I can''t feel my legs.)" (I) Chapter 623: A Familiar Summon For Sophia Chapter 623: A Familiar Summon For Sophia Not understanding how many bones I had broken, I took out two bottles of my storage item, a bottle that contains a powerful healing potion still in testing, and a bottle of Freya''s blood. I also use some healing skills and spells, so I''m able to recover within seconds of impact, of course being a Vampire is the main reason I recover so easily from something so serious. Sigh Being better I look at what hit me only to see Hinata hugging her arms and legs around me. "(I think tests aren''t working, she can''t even stay away 30 minutes.)" (I) For the last few days I have been working with Freya to make it easier for Hinata to stay away from me, the little girl is actually an adult now, she is using me as a pillar of support for her heart, and because of that, she spends every day clinging to me. I''ve had her interact with other people and sometimes I ask to spend time with Freya, but each time ended with her running up to me and hugging me until she calmed down. Sigh "Come on, you can''t be stuck with me all the time, you have to at least learn to hang around with other people." (I) "But I get nervous when I''m away from you..." (Hinata) "You know everyone is a friend, try to get along with everyone little by little, okay?" (I) She just nodded in confirmation. She has spent most of her life alone, whether in an empty room during experiments or in her mind when being controlled by others, loneliness scares her more than anything else. I think it''s good that she''s not a Ghost, they aren''t able to control her volatile emotions, with the power that Hinata has it could have been more dangerous. After a few minutes she lets go of me and I can get up, everyone was waiting for me as I took care of calming Hinata, she still has no idea her new stats must be lower than when she was a fake Hero. "Are you okay, Master?" (Alice) "This time his body seemed to be bent over in an awkward position." (Sophia) "The statues of the Gods are a construct of Holy and Divine energy." (Vanessa) "Sacred energy comes from a high level Temple or Church representative, I meet the minimum requirements for this as a High Priestess." (Vanessa) "Divine Energy can come from a Divine artifact of the God in question or from the God himself as proof of his blessing to the place to be worshipped." (Vanessa) "What about the consecration you talked about earlier or why the statues haven''t been created yet?" (I) "Statues can only be created on consecrated ground, my wish is that the Dungeon itself be consecrated to bless all who live here, so I''m waiting for the right moment." (Vanessa) "What time right?" (I) Vanessa just laughs and doesn''t say anything else, this girl is hiding something from me, but as much as she wants to know I don''t think she''s going to tell me. After this conversation I go out to help Sophia in her summoning, as I promised, it will be easy for me to do that due to the skills I have. Sophia was confident she would get the most suitable Familiar for her, I took Sophia out of the Dungeon because she told me the traits she wanted in her Familiar. I''ve been studying about the summons for months alongside Rakan, one of the things I learned was that the environmental factor like the type of place and the prevailing energy in the place are factors that influence during a summon where the objective is not predetermined. All I''ve done is create a familiar summoning circle and increase its effectiveness with my summoning skill, so Sophia sits in the middle of the summoning ritual circle. Following what Ragnar and Rakan told her, she sat cross-legged while meditating keeping a clear image of the Familiar to what she desires, her mental image had to be faithful not only in appearance but also in the characteristics, personality, and presence of her target of an invocation. During her meditation her Aura and Ki were being absorbed by the summoning ritual circle, after more than 40 minutes sweat was covering her whole body, but she remained steady until the moment the summoning ritual circle starts to rise through her entire body from Sophia. Then it stops on top of her head as it expands when it reaches three times its original size a column of energy goes up to the sky and when it disappears a fierce beast was there. I was amazed to see this fantasy creature, a lion''s body, an eagle''s head, and front claws along with great wings. An intelligent, fierce creature whose commanding presence is always seen in many fantasy stories from my former world. A Griffin. Chapter 624: Departure Day From The Holy Land Chapter 624: Departure Day From The Holy Land By the morning everyone from the Dungeon had gone back inside, the only ones outside were me, Ragnar, some of my Familiars, Sophia, and her Griffin who was named Aurora, looks like it was a female, something you wouldn''t notice from the appearance. Sophia later told me that this was no ordinary Griffin, it was a variant race called the Wild Griffin. This Griffin had the ability to use Aura in combat and use Ki for energy, so it was a monster feared by many Adventurers. "Are you sure you''re ready for this already?" (I) "Yes, I spent all night flying inside the Dungeon, Aurora has been patient teaching me little by little, but flying in a limited sky is difficult when we can''t see." (Sophia) "You''ve settled in quickly with your Familiar." (I) "Yeah, I didn''t think it would be that easy." (Sophia) "So let''s go, Ibuki has already gone ahead with Karina, Kira, and rica." (I) "Master, are you sure it was a good idea to ask Rakan to teach Ibuki that magic?" (Sophia) "Many of us are able to fly somehow, so I thought I''d let everyone learn this magic, Ibuki is a genius for being able to learn in a few days and already be able to fly." (I) "She''s more of a talented monster, she learned to fly quickly using just her instinct like monsters normally do." (Ragnar) "This spell is also easy to learn as long as you meet the requirements." (Ragnar) The spell Ibuki learned is called elemental wings, this spell tries to recreate Fairy wings for mages to allow flying, this spell has requirements on the amount of Mana the mage has if the mage has any pure elements and is under the control of manna. Ibuki was happy to be able to fly, she looked like a kid heading out to the amusement park for the first time. After finding them we all go together until dusk, it took five days to get out of this big lake, luckily there weren''t many monsters in these waters yet and so we were able to go straight without interruptions until we saw the edge of the big lake. Right after coming out of the lake, several trap spells were activated around us, we were attacked with electric spheres, fire spears, wind blades, and a blast of dark energy where I could feel an energy full of malice. I had noticed these things before, but I didn''t do anything about it, it wasn''t necessary. Ragnar just flapped his mighty wings making these attacks spread out in different directions. At that moment hundreds of chains made of a blue metal came from the ground trying to bind us, but instead, they were torn to pieces when the thunder came out of Byakko''s mouth hitting all these chains. At that moment I realized that some kind of poison had been spread across the area, the poison seemed strong but it would be useless against me. "< Air Collector >" (I) I use a spell that shouldn''t even be used in combat to gather the air from around the area in the palm of my hand into a sphere made by a barrier of the wind element. The surrounding air was sucked in by the spherical barrier in my hands, I could see some white clouds inside, but I also noticed that there were a lot of purple clouds. "That''s a lot of poison..." (I) Soon ten people appeared on top of the trees a little further on, at the moment that everyone turned to see these people, an attack came from our back, it was lightning bolts, dozens of them. "Did you think something so simple would work for me?" (I) Chapter 625: Ambush At The Start Of The Trip Chapter 625: Ambush At The Start Of The Trip Their ambush had several layers of strategy to prevent it from failing, they set up magic traps in the air waiting for us to pass this route, and they used poison they must have spread around the surroundings a long time ago, plus this poison is strong enough to kill someone of the Grade SSS, also used 10 powerful people as bait to draw our attention in a direction as if to start a head-to-head battle, but that was a distraction to open up an opportunity to attack from behind with those dozen fire ray spells. I don''t even do anything, I had already noticed these spells being activated by someone else in the back, so I stayed a little further back. When the fire ray spells hit me it didn''t do anything to me, these spells have a power to kill someone of Grade SSS, maybe even hurt someone of Lower Catastrophe Grade. But to the misfortune of these people, I have resistance against fire element and resistance to magic, I am also in Lower Catastrophe Grade, these spells had no chance to harm me. But I avoided a direct blow so as not to tear or soil my clothes, I stretched out a hand where I use one of my fingers to injure my palm, so my blood comes out becoming a shield that defends all attacks perfectly without suffering anything. "They are stronger than anticipated, attack together, we are outnumbered!" Soon 20 more people appeared, in addition to the 10 in front of us who appeared first to get our attention, there were 10 more on our left, 5 more on the right and there were also 5 more behind where the fire beams'' the previous attack came from. "Want me to finish them off?" (Ragnar) "No, let Ibuki and the others deal with them, it will be good for her to learn to fight while she''s in the air." (I) "Want to try it too, Hinata?" (I) Soon the insect woman had her entire body being torn to pieces, her body was cut at the joints and her pieces fell to the ground as Kira landed unharmed. Kira appears to be hit by something invisible in her view was one of the enemies who had several scales growing out of her body and stood behind one of her larger companions while her body appeared to become transparent. He moved faster than the others passing them and reached where Kira had just landed trying to slash her with a short sword, he thought he did when his blade pierced his body, but unfortunately for him, it was a trap. That was an illusion created with electricity, the moment it was cut there was an explosion of lightning that killed the invisible man. Meanwhile, a quick Kira was in the opposite direction from where the enemies were running, her body was no longer covered in a silvery hue, it was now covered in Electric Beams, she ran up to the enemies'' backs and drew a large Spirit Rune without being noticed. When she activated the Rune dozens of streams of lightning came out of the Rune and trapped the screaming enemies as they were electrocuted and restrained by those streams. The 5 enemies on the left were screaming in terror as tentacles filled with hundreds of mouths wrapped around their bodies devouring them, moreover, they were submerged in an Aura filled with death, their cruel enemy was just a small girl with a finger pointed at them and expressionless. "(I know her intention is not to scare, but I think with those powers and appearance anyone will feel terror...)" (I) The 5 in the back were about to attack, but one of them stopped the others when noticing my calm, that one was smart, he looked at me and then around noticing his men being defeated easily, but I noticed in his eyes a madness that intrigued me. "(What are you planning to do?)" (I) I smile and look at him hoping to see what he''s going to do, of course, I never let my guard down. Chapter 626: What To Do With Enemies? Chapter 626: What To Do With Enemies? The enemies at the back were a little further away and that''s why they were the last to act, they also transformed in different ways, only one of them managed to keep the clothes after the transformation, it was the one that stopped the others next to him from continuing the attack. It was also that I saw his eyes full of madness, his clothes didn''t rip because his body didn''t grow much, it was his arms that were 3 times their original size and full of yellow scales. I was always watching all of them, none of them noticed, but my Aura was mixed with the environment in all directions, I even noticed the two of them hiding 200 meters away, but those were already captured by Nix without anyone noticing. The one who had the giant arms and looked like the leader of the last 5 enemies was decisive, he waved to the others who hesitated a bit as he took a sharp purple crystal and penetrated his own heart with it. The other 4 upon seeing what I assume is their leader do this, look at each other before pulling out those same sharp purple crystals to stab their hearts. "Did they commit suicide?" (I) "Looks like not..." (I) "Their Aura is growing again." (Ragnar) "Look at their bodies, this seems like a second transformation, but their vitality..." (I) As their bodies began to distort, even more, their strength reached the Lower Catastrophe Grade, but their vitality was waning. Their bodies looked like Demi monsters before, but they still maintained their humanoid form, but now they have grotesque forms. Their bodies distorted until they lost their humanoid forms, this time they were no different from monsters. The man I thought was the leader who had giant arms with yellow scales became a 7 meters high and 10 meters long Lizard, but the strangest thing was that their faces still retained some human traits, this man for example, in addition to the face, his arms were longer than his body needed and a purple jewel was stuck in the chest of the Lizard who no longer had any glint of intelligence in his eyes. I look at the others and notice that their bodies are completely twisted, one of the 5 remaining enemies even became a mass of flesh that wasn''t able to move, but groans of pain still came out of this hideous thing. "This really exceeded my expectations..." (I) "Should we kill them?" (Ragnar) "No, I will capture them." (I) I had many things I needed to know, the questions were many and of great importance. Who were they? Why did they attack us? How did they change like that the first time? How did they transform for the second time? What purple crystal was that? Where were they from? What were your goals? Who do they work for? These were all very important questions because it was clear that these people were waiting for us, they somehow knew that we were going to go exactly that way. They were also too strong to be bandits, they were all Grade SS when they appeared normal, and that alone was at the top of this continent''s strength. When they transformed for the first time I noticed their power going up a whole rank until reaching Grade SSS. When those 5 last transformed a second time, I noticed that their strength had increased again, this time it was at the Lower Catastrophe Grade. In the second transformation, they kept their intelligence and their vitality was higher, but those who chose to transform a second time had their strength increasing a lot, but I felt that they lost almost all of their intelligence becoming almost the same as the first generation minutes. Another thing I noticed was his vitality slowly dropping, it seems that this second transformation was the same as committing suicide in exchange for a few hours of power increase. These people were enemies and they showed that they wanted our deaths, I don''t need to think about treating them with humanity, I''m not human and they are much less. Also, I believe that we should treat people as they deserve, I''m thinking of doing some experiments on these people if they are considered big criminals who don''t deserve forgiveness. I needed to know more about these strange transformations, so some tests on their bodies might be useful.Fo?llo?w new stories at novelhall.com Chapter 627: Venon Fortress City Again Chapter 627: Venon Fortress City Again After putting all the surviving enemies into the Dungeon, I climb on Ragnar''s back to continue the journey, I want to get out of here before more enemies get close, after all, I don''t know if these are the only ones or if there are more of them scattered around. For hours our trip was very smooth, as the weather was cloudy today, I took the opportunity to make everyone fly above the clouds, which was a good idea at the beginning. But soon the clouds turned dark and the lightning tried to attack us from below, the attacks were random with no kind of pattern to anticipate. "Why always with me?" (I) "This is interesting, so stop complaining, master." (Ragnar) "How cute..." (Hinata) "I admit the landscape is beautiful, but also deadly." (I) "You say that, but these rays can''t seriously injure you, at most they can kill someone in Grade S and maybe seriously injure someone in Grade SS." (Ragnar) "Even if you don''t get hurt, getting hit still hurts, plus there''s a lot of lightning." (I) "Tell that to Byakko who is eating the rays." (Ragnar) "One of the two pure elements he possesses is thunder, for him, this place is a pool full of food." (I) I look close to me where Byakko is always throwing herself in the highest concentrations of lightning while laughing. Kira had all her hair standing on end due to the electricity surrounding her, Byakko seems to have forgotten about her on her back due to the excitement of the moment. p Ibuki was using the lightning to train his dodge while flying and Karina was using her sword to cut the lightning that was going towards him, it looks like she is training too. "Everyone is so diligent with their training." (I) "Yes, it looks like everyone at Dungeon has gotten used to the daily training." (Ragnar) I can no longer tell if the negative lucky number I have is correct or not, first an ambush and now an upturned lightning storm? I know this is a world full of magic and crazy things, I myself have seen crazy things for a lifetime, but I never imagined seeing something like this. "< Storm Accumulator >" (I) I create a magic circle in front of me to use thunder element magic, a transparent square appears in front of me in time to block dozens of lightning bolts that were coming my way. The rays do not collide with the transparent square, when they get close they are attracted and absorbed by the square, this spell only serves to accumulate rays, I learned this spell a long time ago, but it is almost useless in combat and in daily life, at least it served for something now. I look at the square the size of my head that has multiple spokes inside, it was a little interesting to see that. The trip went very smoothly until nightfall, Ibuki and Karina got tired from their training, Ibuki was unconscious clinging to me while drooling and Karina was sitting behind me using my head as a pillow as she is taller than me. Kira had her clothes in tatters, her skin was half burnt and her hair was standing on end, her eyes were showing a cold anger as she sat on top of a Byakko with a battered feline face, now he is behaving and avoiding diving into the rays. The lightning storm we went through was very big, it took us many hours to get out of there, now that night has fallen I was looking for a place to spend the night, I was going to set up a makeshift camp before entering the Dungeon to see the prisoners. ---------- After we found a good place to rest, I let Freya, who had left the Dungeon, prepare some food for everyone while I went to talk to Lilith. "I know, I was really scared when that Dragon claw came out of my shadow, I thought I was going to die." (Horn 2) "What are you doing here?" (I) "Before anything..." (Horn 2) He runs over and gives me a hug, as always a very caring person, a shame someone like being in this dark line of work. "Good to see you again, Mom." (Horn 2) "I heard a few days ago from you, Horn 3 left a message for me" (Horn 2) "Are you in the middle of work?" (I) "Finishing a job, I would ambush these people during the attack, after which I would come back to report the completion of my mission before resigning." (Horn 2) "Was it undercover?" (I) "Yes, it''s been 1 year." (Horn 2) Sigh "I didn''t imagine they would be defeated so quickly, I didn''t even have time to act, I was going to kill the other man with me the moment I was captured." (Horn 2) "How far were you from the conflict?" (I) "About 200 or 250 meters." (Horn 2) "So the Holy Son and the others knew about Vice from the start, that''s probably why Nix was sent to capture you and the other man." (I) "Now let''s have a long talk, I want to know more about your mission and if you know anything about these people who attacked us." (I) "It all began..." (Horn 2) ---------- Pov Zenos: 1 month later. Close to Venon Fortress City. I was in line to enter the city this time I didn''t enter using a carriage, I entered Ragnar who hid his horn and wings, but even so, his appearance was magnificent and caught the attention of many. It doesn''t take long to get through the queue, I pay the city entrance tax and head straight to the mansion I bought in this city when I was here for the first time. As soon as I stepped into the city I could feel the eyes on me, everyone was hiding and watching me, I didn''t like it, but there was nothing to be done about it. I try to ignore these people watching me as I go straight to the manor, there were Elves in the mansion that will be my connection to the Poison Forest where the Elves village was where I needed to go. When I got to the front of the door, people in the shadows hiding appear in front of me bowing. I look at them and I realize that they are all Elves, they must be the ones who were here in the manor and will serve as a liaison to take us to their village. Chapter 628: Ellen, My Love Chapter 628: Ellen, My Love POV of a psychopath: I was smoking a blood herb cigar, those are hard to find on this continent, I was very lucky to find some here. I was enjoying my cigar while enjoying the beautiful view of the night sky, it had been ages since I had seen the stars or these beautiful moons. "You know, it''s been a long time since I''ve been deprived of many things, it may not seem like it, but I''ve spent a lot of time trapped in a place where light from these beautiful moons would never reach." (I) That damn place, if I close my eyes I can still hear the incessant complaints of those mediocre criminals or the insults of the soldiers there. "D3since I freed myself I tried to enjoy life to the fullest, I did everything I thought of during my imprisonment, I thought it would bring me some happiness..." (I) I pop the cigar in my mouth, the bloodstains adding an extra flavor to this rarity, then turn to the beautiful woman sitting on the bed behind me, her body still hidden by the darkness of the room. I smile seeing her sitting like this, then turn to the window I open to get a better view of this beautiful sky. "You know, I used to talk a lot, but since I was released, I think it''s the first time I''ve talked to another person this much." (I) I hold the cigar between my fingers as I smile. "It''s really nice to have someone to listen to, I think I can tell you a little bit of my story." (I) "I think I can tell you a little about her, the love of my life... Ellen..." (I) "She who is also the one I hate the most in this filthy world!" (I) Anger takes over my body making me almost destroy this beautiful cigar in my hands. Sigh "Thinking of her reminds me of the past... I still remember those wonderful days." (I) "It all started..." (I) ----------- It was 850 years ago, I was one of the most influential and strong people in the entire Dark Continent, my base of operations was in the weakest realm near that place full of undead, that place had the perfect environment for my business. "How many mercenaries have we lost?" (I) "Everyone, I used them as a sacrifice to activate the magic crystal you gave me." (Ellen) "Excellent work as always dear." (I) "Aahhhh!!!!" "How long will this take, it usually only takes a few seconds." (Ellen) "He''s a noble of the Black Empire, it looks like there''s something in his body preventing my artifact from messing with his mind, maybe some magic used on his body, but that will only make him suffer longer." (I) "He should have accepted our first wake up proposal, idiot." (Ellen) "Yes, he thought he could steal the throne with the help of two enemy Realms, an unprepared idiot." (I) "If he were smart he would have done the same as me, building his strength little by little and outside the Empire, so they wouldn''t notice, I''m sure they''ll be surprised when they see most of their nobles under my control... hahahahahaha..." (I) We were happy, while I finalized an excellent deal, I also hugged the woman who would be my wife one day, we had plans for the future, we would go to the top together, and nothing could stop us. But then like all dreams, the illusion was shattered and all that was left was emptiness. "What is... this... my head..." (I) "Looks like it finally worked, it took longer than I thought." (Ellen) "Ellen, what... did you... do..." (I) "You don''t need to know, goodbye my conspirator fool..." (Ellen) "Ellen..." (I) I remember the disbelief I felt that day, my body was so weak that even with my great power, I was not able to gather strength, my vision and other senses were becoming confused, and speaking and breathing became difficult. As I sat my conscience slipping away, I could see one last time my Ellen''s face smiling coldly at me, her words breaking my heart. The last thing she said was her name, but for the first time, I spoke that name full of hate and murderous intent, unfortunately, it was useless. Chapter 629: Damn You, Ellen!!! Chapter 629: Damn You, Ellen!!! POV of a psychopath: "That damn DAY!!!!" (I) Boommm!!! As I told my story the cigar ran out, I jockeyed it on the floor and stepped on it while imagining I was stepping on Ellen''s head. I put in so much force that I blew a hole in the floor that made the smell of blood from the room below rise to the room where I was. Also, I had punched a statue next to the window, the statue turned to dust and scattered all over the room. "I loved her, I gave her everything, there was a lot of jewelry on her body all the time." (I) "How could she betray me? How was she not affected by the blood curses I put on those jewelry!?" (I) I look at the woman still sitting on the bed, this time the moonlight had already reached the bed illuminating this beautiful woman covered in her own family''s blood and empty eyes. "When I woke up I was in a hole chained up with a gag in my mouth." (I) "My glove that was my lucky charm had luckily been saved, I had a spell ready to transport my glove to a hiding place in case I lost consciousness, I did it in case I was ambushed by enemies." (I) "But I never imagined aahhhh!!!!" (I) Bammm!!!! I throw a punch that completely breaks through the wall to another room, the pressure of the punch was enough to break two more walls before stopping the destruction. "Wake up soon, don''t leave me talking to myself!" (I)Ne?ww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com "Now that I think about it, most of the women I''ve been interested in in the past or now that I''m on the loose are vampires." (I) "Sounds plausible, I''ve never noticed this kind of specific interest." (I) I stop when I realize something else, a long time ago I left a curse hidden in Ellen''s body, a curse to track her, I did it out of fear that some enemy might do something against him to get to me. This curse is weak and difficult to notice, besides it is difficult to clean too since it was made in a special way, I can feel this curse now but it feels like it has been broken, what I''m feeling is just remnants of the curse that are disappearing with time. "She''s here, it also seems like she just discovered my curse, it must have been a few months or she wouldn''t have restarted anything curse until now." (I) A smile forms on my face, then his face appears in my mind again. "So you''re in Venon Keep City too, my dear Ellen? I think we can have a little reunion after 825 years apart." (I) "Finally I''ll have you in my hands... hahahahahaha..." (I) ---------- After sensing the direction she was in, I went first to prepare myself, I may want to take revenge but I''m not stupid, a lot of time has passed and I don''t know the strength of Ellen or the people around her, gathering information is the most important thing. I should find out everything I can in the next few days, I just hope she stays in town long enough for me to be able to plan calmly, otherwise, I''d have to act first, I can''t let this bastard get away. I go straight to a clothing store and buy what I need, an outfit that will help hide my face and body, plus a combat outfit similar to what Adventurers wear, this is a city with a lot of Adventurers, so I should get it to avoid drawing attention. After a while of following the streets with her at a distance, I keep away from her, even far away I can see her clearly due to my strength, so I spend the next two and a half hours following her. One thing I noticed has changed is her strength, clearly, she is already in Grade S, plus how two of her eyes were red, it means she either became a Vampire matriarch or was turned by someone else. "(Wait just a little longer, we''ll meet soon, Ellen.)" (I) Chapter 630: A Meeting After 825 Years Chapter 630: A Meeting After 825 Years Pov Lilian: I was surprised that one of my students was among the captured people, out of all of them Horn 2 has always been the best when it comes to infiltration, that''s because he is from the race of Demon Shapeshifters, and his ability allows him to change his own appearance, but unfortunately only the appearance changes. He was the most difficult to train, changing his appearance takes great concentration and mental discipline, and just having the skill is not enough, in addition, I had to train his observation and spying skills. I had to train him to be able to change his voice, and accent, change his way of moving and speaking was also very difficult. I taught him to watch his targets to learn everything he can before taking their places, I had to teach him to choose his targets well, that''s why he had to choose targets that had some abilities similar to himself. Of all my students, he was the most studious as he needs a great deal of comprehensive knowledge when taking someone else''s place. "Mom, are you sure you''re going to do this?" (Horn 2) "The plan may be simple, but it will work." (I) "Not all plans need to be complex." (I) "But you will be in danger if..." (Horn 2) "Don''t say any more, I know what I''m doing, I''m over 4 times your age." (I) "..." (Horn 2) "You should focus on yourself, get back to your appearance soon while I warn others about you." (I) "You know, I don''t really like the way I look..." (Horn 2)Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com "This is normal for your race, but it''s wrong." (I) "Now I have to go, before I do anything I need to notify High Priestess Vanessa and the Holy Child." (I) These mansions are located in less populated areas of the city, in addition, they usually have barriers around them to prevent invasions, knowing that they may even have barriers to prevent magical espionage. I didn''t get close and I could feel the barriers, I only needed a few seconds to confirm my hypothesis. "I knew I would be right, even after 825 years still the same, old habits of those who work in the criminal underworld." (I) These barriers are all at SS Grade at least, it seems that there is something of value in the mansion, that means there will be few people and they will all be slaves, she always did things like that because she didn''t trust anyone. "< Open Barrier > 2" (I) To cross a barrier is not difficult, either you break it with superior power head on, or with superior knowledge, unfortunately, these barriers were made with great dexterity, but people were weaker than me, moreover, it seems to have been made by a scholar since their weaknesses are so predictable. I use my mana on my finger tips and hit 37 different points in a certain order, this interrupts the flow of mana in the barrier in an area of the barrier creating a hole where I walk, in a few minutes this hole will close. "It was harder than I remembered, maybe it''s rusty." (I) "< Presence of the Damned >" (I) I cast a spell on myself, a kind of curse that I can undo at any time, this curse is using my vitality to function instead of using my mana, but that amount of vitality doesn''t matter to me. I start to walk calmly towards the mansion, on the way I didn''t see any guards, but there were some maids, they were of several different races, they were all pretty and wore maid robes while doing chores. Anyone would think they would be employed without noticing their hidden Auras so perfectly, their way of moving is like that of someone trained for combat. As I walk they all ignore me, they all turn away when I pass by, that''s the effect of this curse, they choose not to look at me. With that I walk until I reach a room that looks like an office, the door is half open but I can feel the protection magic on the door, this seems to be a trap but it must be paid for by me. I can see Ellen sitting inside looking at a book in her hand while standing by the bookshelf, she was beautiful but all I felt in my heart was the desire to make her suffer in the cruelest way possible. A smile forms on my face as I enter the room, her eyes blurring before disbelief takes over her face. "(As I waited for this.)" (I) Chapter 631: Who Are You Calling Ellen? Chapter 631: Who Are You Calling Ellen? POV of a psychopath: I was thrilled to walk into that office like that, to see her face covered in disbelief, I know she''s scared but she''ll never show it. Even though my eyes don''t leave her, I''m still paying attention to my surroundings, he''s someone who always has something planned, someone as treacherous as she must have traps in her office. But it doesn''t show the wariness on my face, I just smile as I calmly enter. "Surprised to see me, Ellen?" (I) Her eyes are calm again. She hides her emotions just like I''ve taught her in the past, this sort of thing might work for others, but it won''t work for me. "So you''re still alive, I thought you''d be dead ages ago, it would have been better that way." (Ellen) "I''m sure you''d be happy about that, but dying is something I''d like to avoid." (I) "You must understand the reason I''m here, right?" (I) "Killing me, at least bone is what you think to do." (Ellen) "I''m going to do a lot more than just think, I''ve had over 825 years to think about you honey, you missed me." (I) "How could I not miss you? It was the easiest fool of my entire life." (Ellen) "..." (I) "(Damn, does she think I''m just going to talk to her? Just keep standing there.)" (I) "First of all, just tell me the reason for cheating on me that day?" (I) "Don''t play the victim Randel, you can be many things, but never a victim." (Ellen) "Says the woman who kept me locked in a hole for 825 years." (I) "Do you think I didn''t know about your plans?" (Ellen) "You were already planning to kill me, you just needed my help to use my business as a front for your crimes." (Ellen) "I didn''t plan on killing you, it would be a waste." (I) "I just wanted to control you, being my slave would be an honor when our plans come true." (I) "My job was to ensure the destruction of your entire family, over time I realized I destroyed your criminal gang from the inside out." (Ellen) "Seducing you was easy since I noticed your interest in Vampires." (Ellen) "I''m going to kill you, you bastard, I''m going to skin your body to meat paste." (I) "You bastard, I''m going to kill you, Ellen." (I) "You know, my name isn''t Ellen." (Ellen) "My name is Lillian." (Ellen) I try to make my power circulate through my body, but I can''t, it was like my energy was frozen. I tried everything, but without my energy, I couldn''t use any magic or skills, I look better at these chains noticing with horror the magic circles and Runes in them. In addition, I could feel someone''s blood entering my body through the wounds that the chains were leaving on my body. "It''s time to end this, Lilian." "As you wish, Holy Son." (Ellen) This voice seems to come from all directions, but I feel the chains where I''m trapped tighten, even more, Ellen seems to be just a servant. That means there''s someone else in this room than she is, but as much as I look around I can''t figure it out. It was at that moment that someone came out of the ground, more clearly came out of my shadow as if it was the most normal thing of all. As soon as this person appeared I felt my blood freeze just by his presence, he seemed to have a similar strength to mine, but for some reason, I feel a feeling of terror. I understood that I have no chance of making it out alive, plus from the name of the woman in front of me, I finally understand that she was a spy. "What should we do with him?" (Lilian) "Of course, we''re going to kill him, I won''t let someone like him let her go." The one Lilian (Ellen) calls the Holy Son has strong murderous intent aimed at me, apparently, I''m going to die anyway... "Let''s take this garbage to Lilith, she''ll know what to do with it." The last thing I could see was the cold stares of the young man in front of me after day. After all that, my plans went wrong once again, and my conscience slowly faded, I knew I might never wake up again, but it shows that this time I was a fool. Chapter 632: The 6 Horns Of The Black Empire Chapter 632: The 6 Horns Of The Black Empire After this idiot loses consciousness I step out of his shadow, Nix steps out of the shadow of a statue near the wall. I look at the Demon with blue skin, white hair, two broken horns, and a scar that runs from cheek to neck, looks like it was made with some blade. "You were right, he is very arrogant." (I) "He''s always been very cautious, but his arrogance makes him believe he''s always the smartest person wherever he is." (Lilian) "He''s realized that I''m not stronger than he is, he''s also realized the barriers we created yesterday, the unnatural strength of what servants should be, and the traps Rakan created in this office." (Lilian) "I thought he''d leave seeing the level of security in this place." (I) "He hasn''t seen you for centuries and he has no idea of the people around him, he didn''t even know if there was someone hiding with the same strength he did." (I) "He''d have to think the barriers have alarms at least." (Nix) ,m "Maybe he didn''t notice the alarm on the barriers?" (I) "He broke through the barrier without sounding the alarm, he realized and still managed to break in, his magical knowledge is very solid when it comes to these things." (Lilian) "Perhaps his biggest mistake was not understanding that I was a spy from the start." (Lilian) "It was my fifth job at the time on behalf of the Empire, but it was the first one I had to infiltrate." (Lilian) "As I was afraid of disguising myself or altering my personality too much, I continued to look like no one else knew and just tried to act more arrogant so it would be easier to keep the cover up." (Lilian) "You said he was trapped, so how did he get loose?" (I) "Someone from the Empire leaked information about Randel to an idiot." (Lilian) "Well it doesn''t matter, he came after you, so you choose what to do with him." (I) This time I almost killed someone important to Lilian, not knowing that one of his students was among the people we captured when we left the holy land. Spy work really is dangerous. "I think we can kill him, but I know Lilith will definitely want to spend time with him." (Lilian) "He was always someone cruel and sadistic, he exploited those in need, killed often just for fun and liked to put on macabre shows for his own entertainment." (Lilian) "In other words, he''s hopeless trash." (Nix) "Exactly." (Lilian) "Nix, take him to Lilith." (I) Sigh "Looks like we''re going to need more healing potions." (Joseph) "I thought there would be many." (I) "The ingredients for this kind of potion are not to be found around here." (Joseph) "Everything that grows in this forest is poisonous, we have many potions to cure different types of poisons, but to heal wounds it won''t be enough, we have to buy those imported from other Kingdoms." (Joseph) "So we''re leaving in 2 days, that should be 9 enough since I''m expecting a few people." (I) After talking to Joseph, I walk him to the door, this time talking to him alone. For the next few days, I just rested and thought, I was planning ways to fight during the Monster Wave we''re going to cause. ---------- After a whole day has passed, during the night I realize that I am being watched while I am training my Martial Arts in the garden, I can feel 5 people. "(Nix, we have some guests.)" (I) "(I know, my spirits with shadow elements are around them, just one command and I can capture them all.)" (Nix) "(Wait a little longer, I want to see what you mean.)" (I) I had every muscle in my body contracted as I moved slowly repeating the same strange movements that others didn''t realize the meaning behind. While I trained I left some gaps and blind spots for them to take advantage of, of course, this was just to attract them, my Aura was spreading around the surroundings while blending into the environment so no one would notice. The moment they attacked they would be captured or killed, but no matter how many times I left an opening, they did nothing. When I was confused as to why they were standing still, suddenly Lilian, Vanessa, and Horn 2 come out of my shadow. The moment Lilian steps out of my shadow, all 5 hidden people are attacked at once. 2 came from the right, 1 from above, and 2 from the front. At the moment I was going to finish them all, Vanessa stops me, then Lilian takes a step forward, she takes the person''s hand on top with a rope made of my lines and throws the person behind her, at that moment two people are crushed by his companion while the 2 in front disappear were just illusions. Then she coats her hands with the element of wind and slashes the sword of the person attacking from the right, while her other hand twists at an awkward angle and stops at the neck of the person attacking from the left. After taking care of these people Lilian turns to me with a bow. "Holy Son, I present to you my students, the 6 Horns of the Black Empire." (Lilian) Chapter 633: Meeting Lillians Family Chapter 633: Meeting Lillian''s Family "Holy Son, I present to you my students, the 6 Horns of the Black Empire." (Lilian) The one who was on top of the two was thrown into a tree by one of the people, a woman with short black hair, black eyes, and pale white skin, her height is around 1.65 meters. "This is the oldest of my students, Horn 1..." (Lilian) The woman runs to Lilian and hugs her tightly with tears in her eyes. Soon the other one who had been crushed along with her gets up and looks towards the direction where the bigger one had been thrown before walking towards Lilian with a smile, then bowing to Lilian. He has thick black skin with red runes all over his body, his eyes are red like fire and his short hair is also red, he has small pointed ears and 2 horns that contour his head backwards, he has a slim body and a height of 1.70 meters, maybe a little more. "Madam." She nods at him with a smile before speaking. "That''s horn 4, it''s been my student for over 180 years." (Lilian) He goes to Lilian''s side, while another who had Lilian''s hand as a blade on his neck, who was wearing a hood, decided to take off his hood to hug Lilian with a smile. This one had blue skin, had 3 short horns in the middle of his forehead making the three points of a triangle, his hair was purple going to his shoulders, at first I thought it was a boy, but then I noticed that it was a girl with a height of 1.50 meters, his eyes as well as his hair were purple and were very beautiful. "Mother" "It''s the okay little one, we''ll have time to talk soon." (Lilian) "That''s Horn 6, it''s only been with me for a few decades." (Lilian) The one who came along with Vanessa and Lilian goes to her nervously over the menacing eyes of the woman called Horn 1, Lilian has already told me of him who is called Horn 2. He is a thin man with white skin, golden eyes, two white horns on his head, brown hair, and a height of around 1.70 meters. I still can''t say if that''s what he really looks like, according to Lilian, he likes to change faces every day when he''s not working so he can always practice his skills. I look at Lilian surrounded by her students, I don''t think I''ve ever seen her eyes so bright or her smile so big, her students are no different, everyone is clearly thrilled to be all together. "(A real family.)" (I) ----------- After their introductions, Lilian introduced us to her students, but I made a mistake, I let her introduce myself, I always forget that she is almost a religious fanatic. She started to introduce me as if I were a King of a nation and kept calling me her holy son, it was just a short time before she started calling me God. I needed Vanessa''s help to help Lilian come back to reality. After that the introductions continued, it seems that all of Lilian''s students are worshipers of the Goddess Selene, perhaps because of Lilian''s influence. After the introductions some of Lilian''s students said they had family, Horn 3 has an Orc wife who works as an Adventurer and the Wolf Man called Horn 5 who has a wife and two children. Lilian had already talked to me before about her family coming to live in the city inside the Dungeon, I of course allow it, there are already thousands of people inside, and a few more won''t make any difference. In addition, Lilian''s family wishes to be closer to her, they all talked about becoming her Vampire children, but she seemed against it, according to her the transformation to members of other races is not as easy as with Humans, and the chance failure can be costly. But it depends on the wishes of her students and Lilian herself as to what should be done, but if she wants help she would be happy to help.Ne?ww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com Chapter 634: Entering The Poisonous Forest Chapter 634: Entering The Poisonous Forest That same night the families of Horn 3 and Horn 5 were brought to the mansion we are occupying in Fortress Venon City. I was very surprised to see Horn 3''s wife, I knew she was an Orc woman, they are usually tall and strong, but his wife was a mountain of muscles bigger than him, his wife was 2 meters tall and her muscles look like be enough to defend against a missile. Lilian explained to me later that Horn 3 is a muscle fanatic, but I could only think that he is more fanatical than me, at least I like muscles for being practical and a demonstration of one''s power, but he likes it much more than only that since his wife is stronger than half the Orc men in the Dungeon. Horn 5''s wife was a Demon woman, her appearance was very human with caramel colored skin, but she also had two horns on the sides of her head like a bull, other than that she seems to be a gentle person, but the scars on your arms tell me of a strong warrior as well as your Aura. Horn 5''s kids were two boys, one 4 years old and one 1 year old, their family seems to be very happy, I''m surprised someone who should work in spying has a family like that. After we all get to know each other better, I call Lilian and her students for a chat away from everyone else, before I go on with this I have to be sure about her opinions about living in a Dungeon. I explain to the 6 students about the Dungeon, the city within the Dungeon, the religions within the Dungeon, the races within the Dungeon, and the fact that the Dungeon is within my shadow instead of having a fixed place. Horn 2 who has been inside the Dungeon for 1 month since he was captured, explained to his brothers about the Dungeon and Lilian explained even more about the people in charge who are me, Vanessa, Nira, Kira, Freya, rica, Nix, Rakan, Sapphire, and Ivan. One thing I highlighted was the politics and culture within the Dungeon, people are very free there, but even so, there are still some rules about aggression, discrimination, and hunting companions. In fact, inside the Dungeon, there is total chaos, but this chaos is comforting when everyone has smiles on their faces. The next morning I open the Dungeon gate for Lilian and all her family to enter, I also take the opportunity to explain about the Dungeon floors, and after that take them to the city, I took them to the house area in the city forest, they chose 6 trees side by side where they will live. I introduced Leonardo to them who proposed to make connections between the tree houses since they are all side by side, everyone liked the idea and was happy, but Lilian said that she will continue to live in the temple with Vanessa and Athena. After that I left everything in Lilian and Vieira''s hands for the mansion, today was the second day and Joseph was supposed to show up to tell me something about the time of our departure. At the end of the afternoon, he appears just as I thought, he tells me what gift to leave the next morning as soon as the Suns rise on the horizon. He said the gate at which he will be waiting for me and I say that I will only go, I will leave everyone else in the Dungeon and I will fly with Ragnar, Orion, and Nix through the Poison Forest, so it falls faster. Joseph had a Hippogriff and he would come with me flying, this time he came with many Elves to get supplies, but on the return trip he would fly alone with me, with his strength and mine will have no enemies in this Forest until they can harm us. ----------- The next morning I wake up and go eat with everyone, I was still a little sleepy from getting up at dawn, but even so, I do everything I have to do and everyone goes to the Dungeon the moment I''m leaving the Mansion. As agreed, I meet Joseph at the gate facing the Poison Forest, I greet him before the two of us take to the sky on our mounts towards the Poison Forest. Chapter 635: Impossible To Have A Smooth Trip Part 1 Chapter 635: Impossible To Have A Smooth Trip Part 1 The first day of traveling through the Poisonous Forest was smooth, we didn''t encounter any aerial monsters and no monsters on the ground tried to attack us. When it was night we stopped in a cave that was already known to the Elves, as soon as we entered the cave that was hidden by an Illusory barrier, Joseph throws some silver coins in a magic circle near the entrance, then two barriers were activated, one was for defense and another for illusion. Inside the cave were some simple beds, a magic stone of light, and some chairs. I sit down on a chair and Hinata who was invisible sits on mine on my shoulders. "Don''t you have a better place to sit?" (I) "No." (Hinata) p Sigh "..." (I) Joseph is startled to see Hinata, but then he sits in another chair, sometimes he looks curiously at me and Hinata. "Is she a Ghost or a Wraith?" (Joseph) "A Specter type, but don''t worry, Hinata is one of my Familiars." (I) I grab a bottle of blood to drink while Joseph grabs some fruit. "There''s still more than half of the trip left, but I''ve already warned them of our arrival." (Joseph) "Tell me more about this Poisonous Forest." (I) "There''s not much to know, its name describes this place well, everything here is poisonous, whether it''s the trees, plants, fruits, monsters, weather, or even the air we''re breathing right now." (Joseph) "Even the air?" (I) "Many poisons can spread through the air, so since this place has so many poisonous things, the air itself has become poisonous." (Joseph) We both flew away, Joseph once again leading the way, while I watched the forest below in case I came across any interesting monsters or other fruit trees. ------------ "Let''s go higher, the weather is changing, the clouds are starting to gather, let''s stay on top of the clouds." (Joseph) I follow Joseph since he''s the expert on this place but I look at the clouds he pointed out the clouds were colored in green and purple hues any idiot could see they were full of poisons that''s when I realized what Joseph said earlier. "(Even the weather is poisonous...)" (I) I may be resistant to poisons, but I don''t want to find out if I can withstand a downpour of what I imagine are various types of grandchildren mixed together. When we''re above the clouds, I go to Joseph''s side. "Is this kind of rain normal?" (I) "Unfortunately yes, even monsters protect themselves from this rain so they don''t die... damn..." (Joseph) Me and Joseph look in the same direction, I look calmly as he gets nervous about the black cloud coming towards us above the clouds. There''s only one big problem, that''s not a cloud, it''s thousands of black birds. "Birds of the deadly wind." (Joseph) "They are weak individually, but the problem is that they are many and they are always in groups, but I have never seen such a large group." (Joseph) Sigh "Looks like this isn''t going to be as smooth a trip as I imagined." (I) I look at the birds while waving for Joseph to do nothing, then I look at the birds approaching and I release my Aura to cause fear in the birds, which keep coming towards us, but when they are some distance away the cloud of birds opens up avoiding getting too close to me because Joseph was around was fine too. The birds had a horrible stench that made me sick it was so bad. Chapter 636: Impossible To Have A Smooth Trip Part 2 Chapter 636: Impossible To Have A Smooth Trip Part 2 After the cloud of poisonous birds passed, did we go our separate ways, did we encounter aerial monsters a few more times? None of them as numerous as those black birds from before. On the second night, we had to blast a hole through the poison clouds to get to the ground, the poisonous rain that started in the afternoon was still in full swing but Joseph knew where we should go so we only stayed 10 or 15 minutes in the rain poisonous before arriving at a stone hut. As soon as we enter the stone hut Joseph throws some more silver coins into a magic circle on the wall which activates after absorbing the coins, so three spells were active. The first was a barrier against physical attacks, the second was a barrier with detox effects and the third was an Illusory barrier. "< Wash >" (I) "< Dry >" (I) "< Detoxing Light >" (I) I use some spells to make the place cleaner and get rid of any traces of poison while Joseph lights up the room with a magical stone of light. I look around and see some simple beds and some chairs, much the same as in the cave last night. I sit on one of the beds and realize it''s not comfortable, so I use my lines to make a bed for myself like in the old days when I was still a Goblin. "Want me to create one for you too?" (I) "I would very much appreciate that generosity." (Joseph) "Alright, it''s no effort at all." (I) I created a bed of webs for Joseph too. "Is this rain going to last long?" (I) "I hope not, hopefully in the morning the sky will be clear again, it would make our trip much better." (Joseph) "Why is this place so poisonous?" (I) "I understand a monster being poisonous or even some plants containing poison, but I can''t understand how everything in this great forest can be poisonous, even the weather being poisonous is already too much for me to understand." (I)Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com ------------ The next morning the poison rain had stopped, but unfortunately, the weather was still cloudy with those macabre clouds full of poison. Also, the smell of poison is very strong everywhere, and pools of poison were everywhere, this would be a nightmare for someone who didn''t have a way to deal with so much poison, but for me, it was just a strange smelling place. Joseph and I went back to flying on our respective mounts, according to him we should arrive at our destination the following night. Late in the morning we suddenly noticed something, the wind was getting stronger and stronger, and in a few minutes the wind got so strong that the flying monsters started to be blown away by the wind, but of course, that wouldn''t bother Ragnar or a Hippogriff who continued flying. It was at that moment that a tornado formed, a green tornado, it was a poison tornado, but the worst was not that, the worst was that it wasn''t just one tornado, there were dozens. "Why do these things always have to happen!?" (I) The tornadoes weren''t just pulling us in, they were concentrating the area''s venom in one place making it hard to breathe. "< Cyclic Barrier >" (I) I create a barrier around me and Ragnar who is spinning with a powerful wind magic, with that I manage to ward off the poison and give Ragnar the opportunity to fly between the tornadoes which took 30 minutes due to the large number and strength of the tornadoes, but in the last tornado suddenly a green tentacle came out of the tornado trying to cling to us, luckily the barrier defended but it broke. As soon as the spinning tornado pulled that tentacle in again, I took this opportunity to get away as quickly as possible, when we leave the tornado area I stand next to Joseph. "What was that?" (I) "I''m not sure, but it could be a poisonous slime." (Joseph) "That was too big to be a slime." (I) "Should be a Great Poison Slime, they form when dozens or hundreds of Slimes come together." (Joseph) "(A defense mechanism like schools of small fish?)" (I) Some small fish in my ancient world gather in large schools to ward off predators, Joseph probably means that Slimes do something similar. After the tornadoes the trip was pretty smooth, probably the tornadoes scared the monsters in the area that hid. Chapter 637: Arriving At The Poisonous Forest Village Chapter 637: Arriving At The Poisonous Forest Village After the poisonous rain one day and the poisonous tornadoes the next, I was already expecting something for the next and last day of the trip through the Poisonous Forest. That night we stayed in a tree house, a rare tree that wards off the poison from the area, thanks to that the monsters of this place do not approach and the air here also becomes pure. This is by far the most beautiful place in this Poisonous Forest so far, the tree is in the middle of a crystal clear lake, the tree had white wood with blue leaves, and its purity was a glow in this place full of poison. I spent the night talking to Joseph again, in addition to getting more information on what to expect on this final part of the way to the Elf village, I also asked about this tree. Joseph said that it was his grandfather who planted this tree here, he said that this tree was placed here to be a safe point in the center of the Poison Forest where travelers can rest before reaching the Elf Village. I look around while listening to this, I didn''t get a correct view of this Poisonous Forest from above as I flew all the way, but this seems to be the most beautiful place so far, an oasis of purity amidst a swamp of poison. "You must know that our current Queen is still very weak compared to others on other continents." (Joseph) "But even if your strength exceeds what the energy density of this continent has, that will be a problem you will have to deal with." (Joseph) "Why is this something I''m going to have to solve? I only promised to help the World Tree." (I) "We know that during the planting of the World Tree, our Queen''s weak connection will be lost until the process for which you are responsible is over." (Joseph) "That means it will be too risky for her to fight the Wave of monsters, so she will remain by your side as the last line of defense." (Joseph) "She agreed to this?" (I) "It was her idea." (Joseph) "When her connection to the World Tree was severed from her Aura and energies were thrown into disarray, she found it difficult to concentrate and manipulate her own powers." (Joseph) "Most likely, her lack of power could hurt allies during battle." (Joseph) "What if she gets in the way of planting the World Tree?" (I) "I don''t think it''s a problem as long as you don''t use her power." (Joseph) It looks like I won''t be alone during the whole process as I imagined. For the next few hours, I pulled cards to play with Joseph as we passed the time before we went to sleep. ---------- The next morning we flew smoothly the rest of the time without any problems, but I noticed something, something very serious that is making my whole body shake. "Huh!?" (I) What I realized wasn''t with my eyes, it was with my Aura, I could feel that the balance of nature was somehow broken, I could feel the differences more and more as we were heading deeper into the Poisonous Forest. "..." (I) "What is it, master?" (Ragnar) We got off and stopped in front of the giant stone door, looking closer I realized that the cracks were a lot more than I imagined, this thing had been broken but they put it together piece by piece again. Joseph takes a step forward as he points to the stone gate. "We''re here." (Joseph) As soon as we arrived in front of the stone gate, I could see why the barrier had cracked like that. As I have pure Affinity with many elements, I was able to perceive many things that others did not, in addition, I acquired the trinity with nature which gives me a much stronger connection with nature. Thanks to that, I was able to perceive the collision between the energies in chaos, it also seems that the barrier is not very firm, it seems to be weakened. "How do we get in?" (I) "Like this." (Joseph) Joseph approaches one of the stone pillars that form the gate and puts his hand on it, then a stream of mana comes out of his body to the stone pillar. Soon a passage opens revealing a village that was not visible before, on the other side of the passage there were many soldiers wearing light armor wielding weapons, they all looked at Joseph who was in front, and lowered their weapons before getting on their knees. Joseph waves them back to their positions and so they do, then he looks at me waving inward. "Follow me please." (Joseph) I join Joseph while Orion is still on my Shoulder and Hinata was taken into the Dungeon by Nix, Ragnar also returns to his humanoid form and walks beside me. We pass the soldiers who greet us respectfully, but with confused eyes not knowing who we are. "Let''s go straight to where the Queen is, I''m sure she must already know of our presence." (Joseph) I follow Joseph through the village as he begins to walk, paying attention to his surroundings as if checking out what has been going on since he left. I look around as we walk and notice many things, I see troops training to handle weapons such as Swords, spears, and daggers with different teachers for each weapon. I look at the village as we pass by, the people are normal, but I see few smiling, I also noticed that there were many people of other races living in this village, much more than I imagined. Everyone watched as we passed, but that was because of the identity of Joseph who was one of the leaders of this village. But what caught my attention the most was that I wasn''t seeing many Fairies or Spirits. I kept looking, but I didn''t see almost any, almost everyone I could see seemed to be with other people. "(Why are there so few Fairies and Spirits around here in this village?)" (I) I followed Joseph to the center of the village where we entered a circular building, we went straight to the second floor where there were several people talking. When we enter the room everyone looks at us, unlike the people outside who only had eyes for Joseph, the people in this room had eyes only for me, especially a Dark Elf who was in the center of the group of people. "(I think I know who she is from the reaction of the people in this room.)" (I) Chapter 638: Elf Queen Lolth Chapter 638: Elf Queen Lolth When we arrived at the large wooden building in the middle of the village of the Poison Forest Elves, Joseph took me to a meeting room that was already full of people, there was a large mass in the shape of a half moon. On the straight side of the table were three people, a Dark Elf woman who was the prettiest of people here by far, a Gray Elf man who had a scar on his neck, and a Dark Elf man who had a monster by his side. This monster was a Bear with purple spikes on its back and two blades stuck in its arms, the monster''s gaze was calm and it seemed to have some intelligence, but I can''t tell if it''s a tamed monster or a Holy Beast that has a contract with this Dark Elf. "I''m sorry to interrupt the meeting, my Queen." (Joseph) "Alright, it was just a report on the last preparations we''ve been making." (Elf Queen) "But now I see that our guest has arrived." (Elf Queen) "This is Zenos, the person we''ve been waiting for." (Joseph) "Nice to meet the Elf Queen and all of you." (I) "The pleasure is all ours, your presence in this village means a lot to everyone, Mr Zenos." (Elf Queen) "You can call me Lolth if you like, as you may have noticed, I am the Queen of this village." (Queen Lolth) "Those beside me are..." (Queen Lolth) For the next few minutes, everyone was very formal, Queen Lolth who was the beautiful Dark Elf introduced those in the room to me, the two next to her were part of the village council along with Joseph. The others were responsible for different functions in the village such as commerce, military, etc. It seems they''ve been having daily meetings since Joseph left to be as prepared as possible. Perhaps sensing my annoyance with the formality of this meeting, Queen Lolth asked the others to go out and give tasks to each one, even the village council members had tasks assigned to them. In the end, it was just me and Queen Lolth left. As soon as I laid my eyes on her I realized many things, she is at a much higher level of strength than I am, I am sure of this because I am not able to feel her strength. "Doesn''t this affect other Elves?" (I) "Mostly, no." (Queen Lolth) "But it can affect those with a connection to nature, in cases like mine, it can lead to death for others, if it weren''t for my willpower and the remnants of the World Tree Blessing, I wouldn''t have been able to last this long. " (Queen Lolth) I think about what I was seeing on the way here, for a place that has a World Tree and full of Elves who must have close relationships with nature, this village has almost no Fairies or Spirits. "Is that why there are no Fairies or Spirits here?" (I) "Sadly yes." (Queen Lolth) "Once there were gates to the Fairy world and the Spirit world in this village, but those gates have been gone for over 100 years, even the Fairy Temples and the Spirit Temple were destroyed in the battle that wounded the World Tree." (Queen Lolth) The amount of damage that this village has suffered has been many, so much damage that it is still far from recovering. "If there is a completely healthy World Tree will everything go back to normal?" (I) "In time, yes, I would be able to sort out everything else, as long as harmony spreads again in this place." (Queen Lolth) I could see a hint of sadness in the Elf Queen''s eyes, but then it faded and she started to smile again. "You know what''s going to happen, right?" (I) "Yes, the World Tree told us a long time ago about its arrival and what would happen." (Queen Lolth) "After Joseph told us about the conversation they had months ago, I''m glad the World Tree has the chance to save itself." (Queen Lolth) "I can help, but I can''t promise it will work, and I can''t do it alone." (I) "I will need your help and also the help of the new World Tree." (I) "That won''t be a problem for me, but how much I can help will depend on the World Tree you plant." (Queen Lolth) Chapter 639: Natures Pain Chapter 639: Nature''s Pain I spent the next few hours talking and talking to the Elf Queen Lolth about my plans, then she started talking about the preparations they had made so far. After that, I took off the glove I was wearing so she could see the World Tree Seed in my hand. As soon as she saw the seed she got down on her knees, I realized this had more than one meaning as tears started to well up in her eyes as she smiled. A World Tree is something essential to exist, I can see how important it is for the continent just seeing the deterioration of nature in this village. Also, from what I learned from Freya and Sophia, a World Tree is like God in the eyes of the Elves, for the people of this village, especially for this Elf Queen in front of me, this seed is their hope. ---------- As we had arrived late in the afternoon, it was almost halfway through the night when I managed to get out of that meeting room. The Elf Queen herself allowed me to stay at her house here in the village, according to her, she hasn''t been able to keep herself in the Temple where the World Tree is. She said that in the morning she would accompany me to where the World Tree is, but in the meantime, I could stay at her house here in the village. It seems that among the preparations they had to make, many people of other races volunteered for this battle, but they are all friends or family members of the Elves. Because of that, there are no empty houses, all these people were with a house or even sharing their houses with others. Knowing this, the Elf Queen invited me to stay at her house, which was a 4-story tree that was inside a big tree. That night I couldn''t sleep, the environment I''m in must be having some effect on me, that''s because I could feel the World Tree Seed trembling inside my hand. Now I was at the living room window while thinking, I look at the rest of the village and I realized that the houses (trees) that others live in are not right, some of these houses are a little crooked, some are peeling, some look like dead trees and some are cracked. I place my hand on the wooden wall and try to feel the vitality of the tree, but I feel that the vital flow of the tree is wrong. It seems the more I see it, but I think this place is in a really bad spot. "The others are ready, they can be called at any time." (Nix) "Fine, it will probably be tomorrow or the day after tomorrow." (I) "How is Hela?" (I) "She said she''s finished the preparations." (Nix) "Is Irina confident or not?" (I) Right after a delicious meal I follow the Elf Queen out of the village, the place will be on the opposite side of the entrance to this place. Soon I see that even the plants and grass were dry, when we arrived at a half-destroyed temple, it was worn out, in addition, full of cracks. The plants in the surroundings are dead, when we enter, I see that the temple is empty, apart from me and the others in my group, there was no one else inside. This temple looks abandoned, but at the same time, I noticed something in a certain direction. Queen Lolth brings me along in the direction I wanted to go without me having to say anything. I kept walking until I came to a big garden, but all the plants were dead, and even the space became heavy. When I look at the tree in the middle of this dead garden, my first thought is that the World Tree itself was magnificent, because the entire bark is cracked. The space itself trembled at times, that seems dangerous. The leaves weren''t glowing as brightly either, quite the contrary, it looked like something was glowing and we thought it was nothing of importance. I could feel the chaotic energies around the area wreaking constant havoc, on the bark, there were several wounds, but the scariest was a dozen meter bite to the World Tree''s body. "(What kind of creature leaves a toothmark that size?)" (me) I keep looking and realize that the World Tree spirit hasn''t appeared yet, I needed to talk to her to know what I should do. I also saw black marks smearing the World Tree''s body, these marks look very dangerous even to me. "What do you want to do now?" (I) "I cannot do anything without first notifying the World Tree Spirit to seek guidance from its will." (Queen Lolth) I keep thinking about what I have to do as I look around, even the green clouds are here. "Shall we start today?" (I) "Maybe tomorrow." (Queen Lolth) "We have to get everyone in place to fight as we don''t know how long it will take to get everyone in order." (Queen Lolth) "I''ll get my side ready too." (I) I could almost feel Nature''s pain as if I had a wound in this place. Chapter 640: The Decision Is Mine Chapter 640: The Decision Is Mine It was when I got the trinity with nature on the Morror Continent that I realized the importance of the World Tree, it''s one thing for you to know the theory, but it''s another thing to see with your own eyes how the World Trees interact with nature in a way that benefits to all. I could only see a part of it before, but I was soon able to feel it. Now looking at this destroyed World Tree with its dry bark, full of cracks and being consumed by these black stains, my heart aches. I can feel the World Tree Seed in my hand vibrating strongly, I can also feel the pain of nature, this is something I never thought I would feel before. "As you can see, apart from the two of us, no one else would be able to get here in the village." (Queen Lolth) "Natural energies are colliding with each other, the elements are pulling apart, and space itself is becoming fragile." (Queen Lolth) "When the Monster Wave happens, this place..." (I) "Yes, it will happen here too, probably in the village too." (Lolth) "..." (I) This means that monsters will also appear behind the walls, we have to pay attention inside and outside the village, but what worries me the most will be what would happen here where we are. From what Queen Luthien once told me, near the World Tree monsters don''t appear because the energies are being controlled and harmonized, but here everything is different. Even though they are right under the World Tree, they have nothing that can be called harmonious. "This is going to be a problem, I won''t be able to move when I start the process of planting the seed." (I) "I''ll be here to protect you, but my power can make things worse, you''d better have people able to withstand this environment to stay here." (Queen Lolth) "(My Familiars should be able to, I''ll have to ask Nix and Ragnar later.)" (I) "Let''s go back, looks like I have to change my plans." (I) "But I would like to speak with the Spirit of this World Tree." (I)Ne?ww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com "You can use the seed as a means for this, just walk up and touch your hand to the World Tree." (Queen Lolth) "Would it be safe in this situation?" (I) "That''s why I have a proposal, it will make your work easier by planting the seed and the chances of success." (World Tree Spirit) "I refuse." (I) "Are you sure you don''t even want to listen?" (World Tree Spirit) "You want me not to save you, right?" (I) "It would be best for everyone..." (World Tree Spirit) "With all due respect, I''m the one who decides that, besides I said I made a promise and I don''t like to break my promises." (I) "I will do my part and hope you can cooperate with me." (I) Since that place is inside your mind, maybe I can take advantage of this brief connection, I try to transmit information from my mind to the World Tree, this will be much faster than just explaining. "This is a plan that can reduce the damage on this continent, but for that, I will need..." (I) "You''ll need me..." (World Tree Spirit) "Yeah, you can do that, right?" (I) "Perhaps, but only with my little sister''s cooperation with you." (World Tree Spirit) "But that will make the Monster Wave in this place even worse, are you sure?" (World Tree Spirit) "What is the maximum strength level of Monsters?" (I) "The maximum strength level will always be based on the energy density of the location which for this continent is Lower Catastrophe Grade." (World Tree Spirit) "But the amount will be unpredictable." (World Tree Spirit) "Let''s do it then, it will still be safer than the alternative..." (I) Before I finished speaking I started to disappear at the same time my mind felt like it was going to explode. "I will be waiting, son of Selene..." (World Tree Spirit) Chapter 641: Planting A Seed Part 1 Chapter 641: Planting A Seed Part 1 When I woke up I was lying on a bed, when I looked towards the nearest window I realized it was dark outside. "How long have I been unconscious?" (I) "For half a day." (Hinata) "Elf Queen Lolth had to bring you." (Orion) "Please say she didn''t carry me in her arms..." (I) "She brought the lord floating after her." (Orion) Sigh "(At least not duo carried like a princess, that would be too humiliating.)" (I) I lift my head which is still aching a little, I remember what I was doing before I lost consciousness. "I think it was too much for my mind." (I) "No mind, your soul couldn''t stand it, I felt it." (Hinata) "But I forced the separation before I did the damage." (Hinata) "Thank you, Hinata." (I) "There aren''t many Fairies or Spirits here, so go gather the others, Orion." (I) "Yea." (Orion) Orion runs out and cocks out the window, but then comes back stopping at the window. "Forgot to tell you, but Nix has already opened a Dungeon gate here in the village." (Orion) "Alright, we have nothing to hide for now." (I) After warning me, Orion jumped out the window again. ---------- The next day I, my Familiars, Freya, and the Elf Queen Lolth head towards the temple of the World Tree. "Thank you for allowing people to take refuge in your dungeon, I know it must be inconvenient for you." (Queen Lolth) "That was the only safe way to do it, with battles going on in the village, it would be impossible to fight having to defend normal people." (I) "All we can do is leave it in someone else''s hands now." (I) With that we arrived at that temple again, as soon as we entered I noticed a different presence, there was also a person standing at the door. It wasn''t actually a person, it was a humanoid silhouette of multicolored energy, the same shape I saw when I talked to the World Tree Spirit yesterday. "Great World Tree." (Queen Lolth) Queen Lolth kneels in front of the World Tree Spirit, but the World Tree Spirit just runs a hand through her hair. "My little one, I''m sorry for causing so much trouble." (World Tree Spirit) "Don''t say that big World Tree, we''re so close to solving this situation." (Queen Lolth) "I can''t say how much of this can be resolved, a lot of me has already been corrupted, my power is fading every second, I can''t even create a spirit body to stay." (World Tree Spirit) "Soon you will be fine, that is the wish of everyone in this village." (Queen Lolth) cough cough "I''m sorry to interrupt, but we have a lot to do." (I) We all follow the World Tree Spirit to where that colossal sick tree is, everyone stays close to the World Tree Spirit as we get close to a zone where the roots are. "This is where it will start, so it will be easier to absorb my energy and devour this body." (World Tree Spirit) "Everyone in your positions, let''s get started right away." (I) I close my eyes and take a deep breath to calm myself before pulling out the cube where the wooden body that Elf Queen Luthien created to be the vessel of this World Tree''s Spirit. I look at the others waving at me and then I look at the crystal (World Tree Seed) on the back of my hand, it was already glowing and a whirlwind of energy was running through my hand, it feels like the seed knows it has reached an hour. Chapter 642: Planting A Seed Part 2 Chapter 642: Planting A Seed Part 2 The preparations are ready, I took the amber crystal cube bigger than me from inside the space that I created with space magic, this cube is full of energy from nature, in addition to the body created by the Elf Queen Luthien that I can only see the silhouette inside of the cube. Before starting to plant the seed, I close my eyes to review in my mind the entire process of what I will have to do. The moment the seed is planted, it will start cannibalizing this world tree, at the same time I will have to make the World Tree Spirit go to the seed and keep it there until the World Tree is planted, only then will I have the help of this new World Tree to use that seed as the core for the body within this amber crystal cube. "(Sounds simple, at least in theory.)" (I) Sigh Not to mention that this whole process will take at least a week and I will have to keep a part of my concentration on the seed in my hand. Having already in mind what I need to do, I start walking to the roots of the World Tree, place my right hand on the World Tree and reach my other hand towards Freya who takes my hand while placing her other hand on the World Tree. "Keep your mind clear, harmonize your Aura with mine and make your power circulate in my body along with mine." (I) "Don''t lose concentration and ignore everything around us, follow my Aura to do what you need to do, otherwise forget everything else." (I) "Yes Master." (Freya) Sigh I look at Elf Queen Lolth and my Familiars, of all those who look the most nervous, is Hinata as she can''t get close to me for a week, I just hope this helps her to let go of me a little bit. After that I look at the energy silhouette which is the World Tree Spirit, it will come to me and then enter inside the World Tree I try to take some of my concentration away from the will and presence that was coming from the World Tree itself serving as a guide for this new presence that came out of the seed. My Aura that touched this World Tree presence started to break, but I felt the World Tree spirit using my Aura as a medium and entering the seed in my hand. "(It... hurts...)" (I) Suddenly I felt the seed in my hand burn at the same time I felt my entire right arm being crushed until my bones turned to dust. This is just because my Aura touches the weakened World Tree Spirit. Because of the intense pain, I opened my eyes slightly, but I kept my concentration as best I could to continue the process. When I opened my eyes, I saw multicolored energy glow through the cracks in the shell, but that was only a few inches around where my hand is. I could see this light gradually spread, I also felt energy flows entering my body and flowing into the seed before joining the presence that came out of the seed, this strange energy was coming from nature itself around me and started to heal my arm crushed from the inside out. Unfortunately, this nature energy only added another layer of pressure to my body, by the time my consciousness was almost going dark, I was fighting my will not to fall asleep. Before I knew it my body had become an intermediary for multiple things, as the presence within the seed invaded the World Tree, the Spirit of that World Tree was going to the Seed and the energy of Nature was passing through my body making all this faster process. It took me a while to understand that Freya''s help must be responsible for the energy of nature is flowing into my body since it was something I didn''t expect. But all this pressure felt like it could crush me, I felt like I couldn''t move, my body just became a medium through which all these energies connected and so allow it to continue. I fell into a trance to forget the pain and pressure, I knew I wouldn''t be hurt, so I didn''t worry about this brief torment, I soon lost track of time and my senses, all that existed was the double process I was maintaining to help two World Trees. Chapter 643: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 1 Chapter 643: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 1 Pov Nix:Ne?ww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com As a Spirit, I could feel the imbalance in this place where the World Tree is, I could feel the collision of energies and the separation of the pure elements. Just being in this place bothers me, but I know that if it weren''t for my contract with the master, I wouldn''t even be able to be here without getting hurt. It pains me to see such a thing, by the expression on Layla''s face and her silence all this time, I know she isn''t happy about any of this either. Me and the others are only here for one reason, to protect the master, what he''s doing is something he didn''t even know was possible, I know there will be risks involved, but he''ll be fine. My mother always said that nature takes care of those who take care of her, she also said that she attacks those who attack. Plus she has two World Trees involved in it, one new and one old, so I''m sure the GM will be fine throughout the whole process. What worries me will be something else. As colored light began to flow into the World Tree, a wave of energy began to spread further and further from the World Tree, I could feel the energies already in chaos stirring. "It started ahead of schedule." (I) "I think it''s better for everyone to take care of one another, let''s be around the World Tree." (Sakura) "Me, Layla, and Nix can take care of the sky." (Ragnar) "Fine with me, the others can take care of the floor." (I) "I will help." (Hinata) "Something is happening!" (Layla) "What is it?" (I) Soon I could see energy flowing towards the master and Freya, I also noticed a flow of colored energy flowing from the World Tree into the crystal in his hand, at that moment the master''s arm was shattered with blood flowing from numerous wounds, but soon it began to heal alone. Sigh "He managed to keep his mind in focus..." (Queen Lolth) "The master has already endured a lot of pain, he will need more than that to distract him..." (I) "Mainly for being an idiot." (Layla) "Layla!?" (I) "12 Lesser Catastrophe Grade monsters from the start..." (I) I look at Zenos and the World Tree again, I don''t have a connection to the World Tree, but from what Zenos said yesterday, I''m assuming his plan is working, the Monster Wave''s influence must be being less than expected in the whole continent. "But it will cause more problems here, I hope this village survives." (I) I glance at the Astral Body behind Zenos, that was a strange shape for an Astral Body, but their leader was amazing, he was with his big in the World Tree without collapsing. In a few seconds, they have 12 bodies on the ground, first generation monsters have strong instincts and are very aggressive, but their minds are simple, for those of the same strength level it is easy to defeat them. "The problem will start when there are more of them, I just hope that more of them appear here than outside the village, at least here I can do something if necessary." (I) ---------- Pov Nix: ,m Taking care of these monsters was easy, I didn''t even have to go back to my Dragon form, but that doesn''t mean it will always be like this. I look at the bodies on the floor and nod to Layla, she keeps everyone in her magic space, we have to be careful these minutes don''t become undead or be controlled by other monsters so they can''t stay here. After these monsters have been taken care of, I look at the World Tree, this time the multicolored glow has spread over several meters, and the crystal behind the master''s hand is also glowing much brighter than before. Soon I look back at the surroundings, I can feel the energy shaking in the points where the accumulated energy will explode generating new monsters, this time they are in 27 different places around us. "Looks like it''s going to get harder and harder." (I) I look at the master again, facing these monsters is the easy part, the hard part is being done by him, I know it from the expression on Freya''s face the green glow around her body doesn''t hide the pain on her face. "There''s more of them!" (Hinata) "Want to take care of them?" (I) "I can?" (Hinata) "They are all yours." (I) With my permission, Hinata puts her hands on her chest and opens her own body tearing it in half while I''m pulled to both sides revealing a giant mouth full of teeth from which dozens of tentacles come out that pulled 6 monsters that had just emerged into her before of the mouth to close. "I was hungry?" (I) "No, but it would be better not to leave bodies, right?" (Hinata) "Smart girl." (I) Chapter 644: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 2 Chapter 644: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 2 Pov Ivan: First day. I look around at the great army I''m leading, this is for sure the strongest army I''ve ever been in command, I never thought something like this was possible when I was alive. Just like we did during the Annual Monster Surge in the Illusory Forest Elves village on the Morror Continent, we''ve divided our attention in two, and I''m leading thousands of Dungeoneering warriors on one side of the village while the Elves fight on the other side alongside those they called to help. If it worked in the past, this strategy will work again, but this time it''s different in just one thing, we''ll be on the defensive. The numbers and strength of monsters will be higher than in the past, the Monster Wave itself will last longer. I''m glad everyone has become stronger from the beginning of the year until now, everyone is also equipped with great quality items, I just hope the casualties are few. "Calm down, Ivan." (Vanessa) "How can I calm down..." (I) I look at a girl who is in combat gear and has a big bag over her shoulders. "It''s her decision, so trust her a little." (Vanessa) "I trust her, but I''m still a father, my reason to exist is to care about her." (I) "She will be with Athena''s group, she will be safe, I''m more worried about Ibuki and rica." (Vanessa) "I don''t know why to worry, rica will wipe out entire groups of monsters with her spells..." (I) In the middle of my conversation with Vanessa, a wave of energy passes through us, I almost didn''t feel it, but I knew its meaning. "I''ts about to start." (I) "Yea." (Vanessa) "ALL BETS!!!" (I) As my words all focus their attention towards the Poisonous Forest, all hold their weapons tightly and drink their poison resistance potions. After a few more minutes, noises and roars began to come from the forest, these noises were getting closer and closer, but before they arrived a wave of energy appears in the midst of the troops along with a strong red light. What emerged from the Light was a Volcanic Turtle, a Lesser Catastrophe Grade monster 30 meters tall, this is a monster that carries a volcano on its back, has a high physical defense, and uses magma attacks. I don''t know how Anton noticed the monsters, but thank the Gods he was here, my miscalculation could have cost many their lives on the first day of the Monster Wave, it would have lowered the troops'' morale and weakened their will to fight, what death can mean for an army. "Calm down Ivan, this is not the time to think, we don''t have time for that right now." (Sapphire) "..." (I) Sapphire came up behind me, slapping me on the back that nearly dismantled my bones with her force, then pointed her snake tail to the right where a bright light could be seen. "Must be either a big monster or a group of monsters." (Sapphire) "We have to check this out, send a scout." (I) "Already sent, Nira is in charge and leading them, Yomi is flying over all the time while dealing with the few aerial monsters with help from Fairies and Spirits." (Sapphire) "She''s always been a smart girl." (I) "Yes, she said that this is not the only big point of light, she has dozens of them all over the forest further away, plus there are thousands more going on." (Sapphire) "This Monster Wave has started in full force, it''s going to be hard like this." (I) "The baits don''t seem to work either, it seems like it was a waste of this village''s time to do that." (Sapphire) "No, now we know they''re being drawn here, we know their numbers will be higher because of it." (I) While talking to Sapphire, I kept my attention on the surroundings, soon a Fairy came flying towards us. "It''s Slimes, many, many Slimes." "What''s the color?" (I) "Nira said green." "So they are poisonous, ask the fire mages to take care of them." (I) "Yea." After listening to my orders the Fairy leaves flying, it was a Wind Fairy, so it was very fast and excellent for quick messages, I am using many Spirits and Fairies, the strongest are fighting and the weakest are messengers. The information was about the Monsters that emerged from the great light near here. "We could have sent Erica." (Sapphire) "It would be a waste, leave her for more difficult situations." (I) Chapter 645: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 3 Chapter 645: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 3 Pov Kira: Me and Elsaris were responsible for the village, but I didn''t seriously think it would be that difficult, lots of Elementals popped up all over the place, and this is the worst kind of enemy for me. "< Lightning Speed >" (I) "Save your spiritual energy, they are many but weak." (Byakko) I made Thunder Element Runes on my legs to run between groups of monsters, my targets were Wind Elementals and Water Elementals, that''s because it was easier to destroy them. Elementals of all types don''t have cores but are weak to Spirit and magic energy, all I need to do is destroy their bodies with swift slashes with my Lightning-covered daggers. The water evaporates from the heat of my dagger beams, wind bodies were even easier as the wind spreads easily. While I was doing that, Byakko just destroyed the Stone Elementals with his claws. Samira and Elsaris were fighting side by side, it looked like they were also saving as much energy as Byakko, but I had to finish these enemies soon before more appeared, Elsaris understood that. It only took one look from me for her to understand that it will be her turn later when I run out of energy, doing it in turns would be the best option, but that will only be possible with weak monsters like that. If the monsters become stronger it will be difficult to save strength, it will be difficult if their numbers are also large. "Careful! There''s a Metal Golem among them!" (Elsaris) "Byakko!" (I) "I got it." (Byakko) I transfer some of my spirit energy to Byakko as his eyes turn silver. "< Silver Claws >" (Byakko) It waves its paws creating large silver blades from its claws that rip the Golem to shreds. "Who dares to talk about metal around me... hahahaha..." (Byakko) "This is no time to slow down." (I) With as much speed as possible, I run and keep counting the weak monsters, unfortunately, more and more of them keep popping up, so I run towards Samira and Elsaris. Pov Irius: When the monsters emerged, I let myself be on the spearhead to finish them off, but Athena and Anton went ahead of the monster elimination. But that made no difference as more and more monsters started appearing over time. By mid-afternoon, many were already feeling tired, but these are the weakest whose help will not be needed until tomorrow. That''s because the strength of the weakest enemies are at Grade A. It looks like this Monster Wave is trying to eliminate everyone if you any other town or city. But we have no one to defend in the village and we have no worries other than the master who is in the safest place with those strongest in the Dungeon protecting him. "< Field of Judgment of Blades >" (I) When three large poison-encircled trees were approaching, I push my group away and place my sword in my waistband. I summon a sword with my magic and slam it into the ground causing hundreds of blades of all shapes, sizes, and types to surge out of the ground smiting the monsters'' big feet. Soon these blades come out of the ground and start flying towards the enemies cutting them to pieces, after dozens of attacks on each one. "Do not exaggerate." (Irina) "Don''t worry, it was time for my break." (I) "< Fire Blast >" "< Sea of Lightning >" "Damn, they''re getting carried away, STOP!" (I) It seems that some of our warriors saw me use an area attack and decided to do the same, the battle is difficult, but some stronger people in the army must be finding the monsters too weak, besides seeing that we don''t have any casualties. This makes a lot of people make the wrong decisions out of overconfidence, they didn''t realize that this is just the first day of the Monster Wave. I got everyone in order in time to fight one last time before taking a 2 hour break. I run to the enemies that are Ogres of the Forest, all are armed, I defend the attack of the first by bending down to dodge the attack and cut his leg, when he lost his balance I cry to him with all my strength throwing him on his companion''s spear. "They''re dumber than I thought..." (I)Nne?w n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com Chapter 646: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 4 Chapter 646: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 4 Pov Athena: The second day of Monster Wave. "Damn! What kind of Monster Wave is this." (Angela) "These monsters keep appearing, the intervals were minutes at first, but now they''re seconds." (Darius) "Also the strength of these monsters is on top of what this continent can generate, it shouldn''t be possible for so many Lower Catastrophe Grade monsters to appear in a single Monster Wave." (Angela) "Come on, it''s not that bad, at least no one died." (I) "There were more than 30 monsters just yesterday and more of them are still appearing today." (Angela) "Also, no one has died yet because these people are very strange, from their combat tactics to the overall strength of their army, this kind of army shouldn''t even be on a continent like this." (Angela) "All troops are using equipment designed for individual use and have powers from various areas that complement each other, they are like an army of adventurers working as soldiers." (Darius) "They really are more competent than I thought, many have grown stronger after constant battles against the undead." (I) "This kind of situation helped prepare them..." (I) "(These people are very careful with everyone''s lives...)" (I) All day yesterday, I was responsible for leading my group in rescuing those with the most difficulty or eliminating certain types of monsters that were difficult to deal with. Because of this, we run all over the battlefield, fighting like this is nothing new for anyone in my group, but something like this has only happened once before and it was inside a Dungeon. Facing a constant attack of monsters is not an easy thing, thinking about the energy expenditure, physical fatigue, and mental and moral fatigue of the combatants, all this must be taken into account in these moments. But these people are using the turn-based strategy to allow for rest, which may seem simple, but it works. They are also consuming resources that no nation would accept, they are drinking potions like water. In addition, all equipment is of high quality and individually prepared for each one. "It was an Acid Ant..." (I) "We have problems, a large number of monsters are coming from the left." (Yomi) As I explained to Ivan what I was worried about a possible monster attack, suddenly Yomi lands on Ivan''s shoulder and the voice of Nira one of the main Dungeon leaders comes out of her Familiar''s spout. I look over at Ivan who nods and rises to a certain height as I head in the direction the bird pointed with its wings earlier. From the top I could see the big group of monsters moving, they were coming straight here and when I got closer I could see that they were Acid Ants, monsters that are earlier 1.5 meters tall and have acid attacks. After that I go back to Ivan and tell him what I saw, he thinks for a few seconds while giving orders to deal with monsters that are already attacking us, then he asks me to take rica along with me to where these monsters are. Ivan also asked me to give rica a message, so I went to get her from the group of mages waiting for the moment to be useful. rica spreads her Demon wings and comes after me, we stop at a point where the monsters won''t be able to reach us, we ignore the other monsters to focus only on the Acid Ants. "Can you defend me while I cast my magic?" (rica) "Yes, but first Ivan asked me to convey a message to you." (I) "What message?" (rica) "So you don''t destroy the forest." (I) "Who is he thinking that I am? Layla?" (rica) "I know what I have to do." (rica) "< Blade Birds > 3" (I) I use a spell that uses my Aura and sword to summon mana constructs in the form of birds, their wings are powerful blades capable of cutting as much as my sword. "They will defend you while I deal with most of the air monsters in this area." (I) "Thanks." (rica) After waving at her I''ll deal with the Ice Birds that just appeared and were heading our way. Chapter 647: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 5 Chapter 647: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 5 Pov rica''s: While Athena is slaying some aerial monsters I look down to where a swarm of Acid Ants is heading towards the Elf village. I take a deep breath to clear my mind before casting my first spell creating a magic circle beneath me as I keep myself in the air. "< Aura Amplification >" (I) Unlike the others, I don''t have a lot of time to spend studying Aura control, so my Aura control is pretty basic. But that doesn''t mean I don''t know how to use my Aura, real magic users don''t directly control their Aura, we use magic to control and direct our Auras for specific effects that match the capabilities of our Auras. This time what I need is Amplification, making my Aura spread over a much larger area than I can directly control, this will make the next spell more accurate. I spread my Aura and mana encompassing all the Acid Ants that stopped while they were looking up. "Looks like I''ve been noticed, but it doesn''t matter." (I) "< Curse of the Damned >" (I) I focus my magic creating a purple magic circle, then use some of my Demonic energy to make the magic more powerful. After that, I pour my mana creating copies of this magic circle in quick succession, hundreds of them per second which are directed towards the Acid Ants below guided by my Aura, because of this kind of work I have to keep my concentration all the time while ignoring everything around. I had to wait a few minutes while doing this, but after finishing marking all the Acid Ants with my magic curse, I open my eyes in time to see a few monsters being ripped to shreds by Athena''s magic that is protecting me. When I look down the Acid Ants are up in the trees trying to reach me, I look in the middle of them where there are over 100 Acid Ants 3 times their normal size surrounding an even larger Acid Ant with golden stripes. I smile before creating a new magic circle in front of me, I focus my affinity with the fire element while using cursed energy. "< Fire of Damnation >" (I) "< Fire Arrows >" (I) "< Ice Dance >" (Alice) I look at Alice using a mixture of the techniques the master taught with the techniques Sophia and I taught, she is fast moving while her short sword makes the poisonous beetles attacking us to pieces. Her sword not only slashed the enemies, but it also froze them in a position that turned the enemies into walls of ice and stayed with the monsters that were still coming out of the forest. "You improve at an incredible speed, congratulations Alice." (I) "But I think it''s a good time to get some rest." (I) "It''s all right." (Alice) ----------- POV Sophia: I was flying on Aurora''s back, and I still had a bit of trouble fighting in the air, but after a full day of air battles yesterday, I already feel like I''ve improved a little. "< Aura Fist >" (I) As I was flying, I had two big transparent fists at my side that I could control as if they were my own hands. This was a technique that took me a long time to train and needed a lot of help from Ragnar to learn, but since yesterday I''ve noticed how well my effort has been rewarded. I can use these big Aura hands to attack or defend, plus I had good control over these invisible hands to be able to increase or decrease their size as needed. At this point, I use one of my big hands to defend the metal feathers that come flying towards me while I use the other hand to crush the metal bird behind me. Aurora meanwhile had torn apart another of these monsters with her claws, after which she creates pressure with her strong wings to fend off a flying fish''s water jet attack. "Damn, they never seem to slow down!" (I) No matter how many mortals I killed, there always seemed to be more, I was already exhausted, using Aura doesn''t consume energy, but still has the physical and mental exhaustion of doing it, finishing off those few around me I''ll take a few hours rest and let the mages take care of things. Chapter 648: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 6 Chapter 648: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 6 Pov Elf Queen Lolth: Dawn of the third day of Monster Wave. It''s already the third day and the World Tree is already completely taken by the multicolored glow that can be seen through its cracks. Looking up you can see the leaves burning in strange multicolored flames, looking up it looks like the sky is on fire. But this amazing sight is also very dangerous, the energy in the area around the World Tree was once just a churning river, but now it looks like an ocean during a storm. The energies collide with each other so hard they create small bursts of energy and all the monsters that appear are now Lower Catastrophe Grade. I look up where that strange Fairy has dozens of orbs made of elemental energy from several different elements casting spells in quick succession against a flock of Stormhawks, the monsters being torn to pieces brutally being hit by dozens of spells without time to do nothing. The situation with the other Familiars of Zenos were not that different, the Alicorn who seems to have Demon Dragon blood was only using his Aura as a weapon while flying around armies of Swamp Giants, he was as brutal as the Fairy. The Spirit that appears to be a Dragon was in its true form, unlike the others it used less skills, but that was because of its powerful body being enough to destroy any enemy that showed up, at least until more than 20 Lesser Dragons appeared that she has been fighting above the clouds creating massive explosions. The strange Incarnation of the Forest that is closest to me has made dozens of trees grow around it, all the approaching monsters only pierced by branches as sharp as spears, cut by leaves as sharp as swords, or devoured by giant flowers whose petals look more mouths full of teeth. The Red Wolf with wings kept going around hunting only the toughest enemies like those that have camouflage, extreme speed, have superior intelligence or regeneration skills, he would find these special enemies as if he was hunting them and always attacked in your blind spots. But the Ghost or Specter was strange, there were always several bodies around her, but I could never see her attacking, but I felt there was movement around her, the few times I saw her move was when a monstrous head emerged from her arm and devoured a Poison Fire Frog. "This is a strange group of Familiars, but I suppose they match their master." (I) I look at Zenos, he seems to be standing in the same place all this time with one hand on the World Tree and the other holding the Ancient Elf''s hand. I can see the whirlwind of energy enveloping them, even approaching them would be suicide, plus that Astral Body standing behind Zenos seems to be sending some kind of energy to the World Tree, I can''t identify what energy this is, but it doesn''t look like it be nothing harmful. "How does it feel knowing that your dream will soon come true?" (Margareth) "I''m happy but at the same time frustrated not being able to help." (I) "Few would be able to do what he is doing." (Margareth) "Do you know what energy that Astral Body is using?" (I) "No, maybe my lady knew, but whatever it is, it seems to be cleaning up the corruption and turning it into power." (Margareth) "That''s why I said you had to practice ingesting weak poisons daily, that''s how I got my poison resistance skill." (Elsaris) "Thanks but no." (I) "Who would be the madman who would drink poison on his own?" (I) "I''d rather train my dodging skills so I don''t get poisoned than do crazy training like that." (I) "This training is perfectly normal, this training is almost mandatory to have for any Assassin or influential person in the criminal underworld." (Elsaris) "I don''t intend to be a criminal, nor will you continue to be, we already talked about this..." (I) "Mother!" (Jay) "< Flame Mine >" (Elsaris) Elsaris catches me and jumps behind me, then a big tentacle of rocks pops out of the ground where we''re standing. "< Enable >" (Elsaris) Soon the ground burns at a high temperature for a few seconds, when the fire goes out all that was left was a well of magma. "..." (Elsaris) "Do not say anything." (I) "Why would I say anything." (Elsaris) "I think it''s good or I''d have to punish you." (I) "Would you punish me for a few words?" (Elsaris) "I have to keep my little sister well educated, that''s my pride." (I) Elsaris looks at me and smiles, then points to the magma pit. "I told you so..." (Elsaris) "Your..." (I) Chapter 649: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 7 Chapter 649: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 7 Pov Vanessa: The afternoon of the 4th day of the Monster Wave. I was healing a few dozen people who had just been brought to me by one of Athena''s friends. After 4 days of battles, either during the day or during the night, everyone was tired, but luckily the number of monsters remained the same, so far only 8 people have died, which is already a victory considering the thousands of people fighting. Those who died had either already used the lifesaver bracelet or had their arms ripped off during combat dying before they had a chance for the item to activate.Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com Unfortunately, we don''t have time for funeral ceremonies during this Monster Wave, so the best I can do is guard the bodies while we wait for things to calm down. "How do you feel about fighting alongside these people you were taught to kill before?" (I) "I don''t know..." (Athena) "I understand how hard it is to see a new reality so different from what you grew up believing, so just keep seeing it with your own eyes." (I) "Now go, in this kind of situation every second counts to save lives." (I) "..." (Athena) I''ve waited until Athena brings in some wounded to see how she is, I see a lot of myself in Athena, I understand what she''s going through, and I also see how she spends her time watching others, I know the reason for this but I don''t have sure if she herself knows why she does it. What I just talked to her about is to look at her reactions, I want to see if she''s ready to make her decisions without being influenced by momentary things. Maybe at the end of this Monster Wave is a good time to have a conversation with her. These monsters have ethereal bodies made of shadows, their upper body has a humanoid silhouette, but their lower body is just a black mist. They do not have a mouth, they feed on the energy of their victims, and they make shadow constructs like claws or large blades from their arms. They are immune to physical attacks, plus they are silent and their presence is so faint that they are almost impossible to feel. These monsters, even the first generation ones, are very intelligent, they hide in the shadows and inconspicuously approach their enemies by hiding in the dark. The weakest are of the Lower Catastrophe Grade, they are monsters that are normally alone and avoid being in groups, from what Nymph told me about what happened, these 4 Shadow Assassins were acting separately while killing or trying to kill people on our side. The Nymph who was one of the last to be brought in had lost one of her hands, but soon a new one will grow as she is a Nymph, it will only take a few weeks. The Nymph told me that Irius killed one of these monsters with a blade of light, rica used her cursed purple fire to kill another one, and Angela who is Athena''s friend killed another one with her light magic. It seems that Ibuki fought the 4 Shadow Assassin but wasn''t able to kill him, but that doesn''t surprise me as her elemental affinity is shadows. This monster''s weakness is the light element, but in this case, it seems that the one who killed him was Athena who was already hunting these monsters after all those attacks. Thanks to these 4 wretched monsters 41 people died, more of them could have died if not for the lifesaving bracelets. Unfortunately, this also means that these people have already used this miraculous item, so they won''t get another chance if they''re at death''s door. After I took care of everyone, I looked in the direction of the World Tree, that''s because the barrier that hid the World Tree disappeared and we can finally see the World Tree from where we are at the village gates. I was speechless looking at this multicolored flame on its branches at the height of the clouds, this sight would be magnificent if it weren''t for the dark spots all over the World Tree''s body. I know my dad and the others are there, but I myself wanted to be there for him in case he needs healing, which is almost always necessary. Chapter 650: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 8 Chapter 650: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 8 Pov Hela: Morning of the 5th day of the Monster Wave. Today has been a strange day, the number of monsters has increased, but their strength, in general has decreased, this means that it is easier to fight the Monster Wave as we have people capable of clearing large groups of monsters quickly like rica with her area spells, Irina with the creative way she uses her corrosion ability and Jade with her venom even deadlier than the venomous monsters we''ve been fighting. The master trusted me to deal with most enemies knowing I could turn dead monsters into Undead slaves to fight on my command, which went terribly wrong when I tried it on the first day of Monster Wave. The monsters I turned into Undead got out of my control, and the energies in this forest and this village are out of control, this is affecting my spells to control Undead, which makes me just create more monsters that we will have to defeat. That''s why I stopped doing it, but that didn''t stop the bodies of defeated monsters from starting to become Undead on their own from the 3rd day of Monster Wave. It''s me, the Fairies, and the Spirits who have been dealing with the bodies. I have a spell that helps me to guard dead bodies, this spell has been very useful, but it has a limit of bodies I can store, I have been bypassing this limit by using a special magic crystal that contains a Phantom Orb and an Evil Seed that Lyra did for me. I remember it was the master who asked Lyra to make this Weapon for me, according to him it''s not complete yet, but we didn''t have time, so only this crystal was given to me as it can greatly increase my Necromancy magical capabilities. With this crystal, I was able to increase my magic to guard bodies by more than 10 times, in addition, my spells to summon Undead are working perfectly, but I have a limit of creatures that I can summon at the same time, a limit that increased by 3 times thanks to this crystal. With that, I have controlled an army of 2900 Undead, from warriors to Lich who can use magic. Thanks to that I''ve taken on the entire direct side of the combat field, as the maximum strength of these trades ranges from Grade S to Grade SSS, I try to focus on fighting only problematic enemies for Undead or Lower Catastrophe Grade that are too strong for our troops. For me, fighting in person is not a problem, since I was born I have been training to make the best possible use of this body that the master gave me, I spend every morning training my hand-to-hand combat techniques and during the afternoon I do my research of Necromancy. I tried to converse while resting when more enemies approach the place where my people and I caught our breath. After days of fighting having little or no time to sleep, not to mention we have little time to even eat, so when the monsters took a break from appearing, I stopped for a while and asked someone to confirm the state of the people in my village. I must say that everyone''s development is excellent, the master gave me forms of training that would be useful for wheels, moreover, Diana comes often to teach me using her combat experience. So when several Poison Mist Beetles, more than 600 of them will start flying towards us with their big 4 meter tall bodies, I tell everyone to be prepared. The master advised me to read some books, at first I wanted to refuse because I thought it was a waste of time, but I couldn''t deny anything he said, I know how wise he is, so I knew he had a reason for it. These books made me understand a lot of things, and from those things, it was to understand the monsters better. I hold my sword tightly and manage to kill all the monsters after almost 2 hours of fighting. These monsters only have poison based attacks, many of my people have resistance against poisons and so it has been doing well, but this time they were of very little use. The shells of these monsters are very strong, I try to use a normal sword on the dead body of one of the monsters, but the sword breaks, I try to use my Dragon sword, my sword only cuts halfway and that is with me using all my strength. Looks like I did it by aiming at the joints, eyes, and mouth to kill these things. But before I can go back to rest, a Poisonous Ice Serpent appears, I run forward and count in two the large ice crystal heading towards my people''s warriors. I fight while the others walk away, it takes me more than 30 minutes to fight just this monster because he has a body covered in hard scales and still wears an ice armor that he repairs every time I manage to break it. "< Breath of Fire >" (I) I fight until this damn giant Serpent tries to swallow me, then I use my strength to keep that big mouth open as a torrent of fire leaves my mouth and goes down the throat of this damn Serpent who struggles for a few seconds before dropping dead. Chapter 651: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 9 Chapter 651: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 9 Pov Lilian: Beginning of the night of the 6th day of the Wave of Monsters. This is the first battle alongside my Students after a long time, I was in the village fighting alongside Kira and Elsaris'' family. As I''m holding a purple Lizardman in my hands by the neck, I look at the World Tree in the distance, it seems something has changed again. "Looks like something serious is going on there." (Horn 3) "It looks like it''s dying." (Horn 1) "It''s more about to be consumed than dying." (I) The World Tree had lost some of the glow it had kept since it came into being when the illusion that was hiding it disappeared. Even the multicolored flames in the clouds have dimmed a lot, I can also see a green light flashing in the distance, plus there''s the green line appearing from everywhere on the World Tree from bottom to top. The more the light of the World Tree dims, the higher these green lines get, I still couldn''t understand what those green lines were, but now it looks like they are children, I only noticed this because the green lines became thicker. My students are right, this World Tree is dying, but that''s only part of the truth, I know more than they do because I''ve been with the Holy Son longer. These branches growing underneath the World Tree belong to another World Tree that is devouring its predecessor as it grows. It might be a sad fate, but from what Priestess Vanessa told me, this was the only way to make the process of growing a World Tree accelerate from what Elf Queen Luthien said when we were on the World Tree of the Morror Continent. "Don''t worry, the Holy Son will take care of it, he came knowing what he''s going to do and he''s prepared." (I) "It''s calm..." (Hinata) "There are no more monsters to hunt." (Orion) "It''s calm because the new World Tree is already starting to Harmonize the environment, I can see that." (Queen Lolth) The Elf Queen Lolth is with us around the fire. "I can see the three natural energies flowing all over the place without colliding with each other, but it also shouldn''t be long before the elemental energy doesn''t cause any more problems." (Queen Lolth) I look at the World Tree again, those little tree buds that grew between my master''s fingers who are holding the World Tree with time became bigger and bigger quinquennium its branches are piercing the trunk of the ancient World Tree. Soon 1 branch became a few, then a few branches became hundreds and soon those hundreds of branches became thousands until these smaller branches had destroyed the entire lower part of the World Tree. "The Spirit of the new World Tree has already consumed the World Tree from within, now it is just consuming the bark while creating its own." (Queen Lolth) "I can feel the Spirit inside the World Tree, but it seems to be focused more on Zenos than finishing everything." (Queen Lolth) I look at the World Tree again, but this time I focus my vision on the master, I noticed that there are streams of energy coming out of the master''s body, more specifically the crystal in his hand. "What''s going on with the master?" (I) "The crystal that was once the shell of this new World Tree Spirit is not supporting a fully developed World Tree Spirit is causing that crystal to break." (Queen Lolth) "The World Tree must be trying to help Zenos bear some of the burden, otherwise he would be dead already." (Queen Lolth) "But will he be okay?" (I) "Yes, you may not be seeing it, but his body is constantly being destroyed and healed at the same instant." (Queen Lolth) Chapter 652: Zenos Causes A Monster Wave Part 10 Chapter 652: Zenos Causes A Monster Wave Part 10 Pov Freya''s: The moment the master started planting the World Tree and our Auras connected, I felt the energy of Nature create harmony passing through my body and I directed it to the master, we controlled these energies and followed his lead to accomplish this big task. Little by little I got lost, first I lost my senses one by one as my concentration increased, then I lost track of everything around me and then I lost track of time. All I knew and was on my mind was the World Tree and the master, I can''t say how much time passed with me in this state, but I could feel that the planting was not over yet. "One of us got lost..." (Voice A) "She didn''t get lost." (Voice B) "She''s fine, at least for now." (Voice C) "But your connection to this place will be severed." (Voice B) "That''s why I say she got lost." (Voice A) I started to hear voices, they were all female voices, they seemed to be discussing something important about a member of their family. ,m Even without asking I could understand the origin of these voices, but I was surprised to be able to hear other World Trees. "Do you forget that we still have a new sister?" (Voice D) "I can feel this new sister''s connection getting stronger, should we help?" (Voice B) It seems that soon this would end, I had no idea how much time had passed, but it didn''t matter now. I look at the master and notice what is happening to him, on the outside he seems fine, but I can tell what is happening inside him because I am connected with him through our Auras. An energy is destroying the master from within, this energy is coming from the crystal behind one of his hands that was the vessel of the World Tree Seed before. It doesn''t seem to be on purpose, the master''s body just doesn''t support such a unique and different energy within him, but at the same time he is suffering internal damage, he is recovering with the help of the power of nature that enters my body and goes to he. Strangely it seems that this power of nature has a will of its own, it splits in two going one part to the World Tree through the master and the other part stays inside the master healing him. "(I hope this ends soon, for his own good...)" (me) ---------- Pov Zenos: There were three streams of energy going through my body, I didn''t know what was happening exactly, at some point I lost control and everything was following a natural flow using my body as a means to get from one place to another. At some point, I stopped feeling pain, lost my senses, and couldn''t perceive the passage of time, all I could feel was the endless flow of energy passing through my body as if I was a mere conductor being used. I thought about resisting at first because I wasn''t in control of everything, but then I realized that everything could go wrong if I tried to do anything, besides that it felt like everything went into a semi-automatic state, this is maybe the best option so I left everything like that and just focused on keeping that. I could also feel the World Tree Spirit wounded inside the crystal in my hand, must have realized it was doing me harm as it tried to get out of the crystal probably trying to go to the body inside the amber crystal cube, I was hoping that it worked as I noticed the Spirit getting weaker as time went on, I don''t know why, but maybe it''s because it''s separated from its body that''s being devoured by the new World Tree. After I don''t know how long, the energy flows passing through me start to decrease and the pain starts to increase, the energy of Nature is slowly stopping to pass through me which leaves only the crystal energy with the Spirit of the Tree of World destroying my body, I realized my danger, so I prepared to start the process of putting this Spirit into its new body, I hope that the reason Nature''s energy is decreasing is because the World Tree''s growth process is ending and so on is to be able to help me because otherwise, I will have a big problem. Chapter 653: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 11 Chapter 653: Zenos Causes A Wave Of Monsters Part 11 Pov Adventurer''s: One day I was drinking at the bar with the Adventurer Group to which I belong, I am a Wolf Demon, I have mixed blood with the Beast Men race, so I was abandoned as a child. But luckily a veteran Adventurer with no family saw potential in me and trained me, he raised me as his son while training me to be an Adventurer like him. It was at the time of my first mission that I found my wife, a beautiful Dark Elf who almost killed me when I met her, I fell in love at first sight with that incredible warrior. It''s been a few years since then, the life of an Adventurer is difficult, but also amazing, I don''t know if I''ll be able to live without it one day, just today I was hunting a Metal Eater, a Lizard whose scales are made of the metal they eat, this monster was attacking merchants'' carriages, to beat him we had to use poison and attack his eyes, during his scream our mage used a high level thunder element magic inside his mouth. We accepted this quest precisely because we knew it was perfect for our group, now we are celebrating at the bar with a share of the quest money as usual, at least until a friend pulled me out of the bar. He was a Gray Elf friend of my wife, he told me that a Monster Wave was going to happen in a few months, I had heard rumors about it, but I didn''t take it seriously, but now I see it was true. He said that the village of the Elves in the Poison Forest was in danger, even before he finished I knew what he was going to say, they want my help, not only my help, but they must be calling many others besides me. I immediately agree, knowing my wife, I know very well that she will be on the front lines without fear as this is the type of Warrior I fell in love with. Everyone did their part and it remained that way until the day they arrived, I heard that one of the village council elders personally went to look for someone, that''s why when he came back everyone was curious about this person, my wife told me it was a guest of honor from the village that the very Elf Queen I have never seen would personally receive. I was near the center of the village that day and I saw the elder Joseph, he was with a young Vampire, but I knew he was not normal by his eyes, any real Adventurer could see the danger inside those calm eyes, that was a horrible monster disguised as a child. But strangely I wasn''t scared of him, even though I realized he was dangerous and possibly someone of Grade SSS, I just felt he wasn''t an enemy, he walking around the village felt right as if he was always here, which was strange already that this was supposed to be his first time here from what my wife told me. After this Vampire boy arrived things started to move quickly, the very next day thousands of people came out of nowhere to help in the battle against the Wave of Monsters, these people were of several different races, some of them were even Humans which would have spawned trouble in a normal situation, but in a crisis, every extra person was appreciated, even if it was to be used as a shield of flesh. Soon I found out where these people came from, I found out that the Vampire boy was a Dungeon Master, I had never heard about it, but that day I discovered the meaning of that title and how dangerous that boy really is. Fortunately, that monster was on our side, and thanks to him we had a completely safe place for children, the elderly, and non-combatants to be able to hide in complete safety. During the days that followed it was carnage, the monsters were far stronger and more numerous than any Monster Wave I''ve ever been part of. Also, many could have died during the days the Monster Wave lasted, luckily only 852 people died, a much lower number than anticipated. This was thanks to the large number of people fighting and the lifesaving bracelets that the Dungeon people gave to everyone, otherwise, we might all have died in this Monster Wave, my wife was one of the people saved by this miraculous item, and by that, I will be eternally grateful. Chapter 654: New Emperor? Chapter 654: New Emperor? Pov Queen Melissa of the Black Empire: 4 day of the Monster Wave. Thanks to the Elves'' warning we were able to mobilize our troops to remove people from their villages and send everyone to cities with walls capable of withstanding a Wave of Monsters. To prevent any possible mishap as this was not a normal Monster Wave, I contacted the Adventurer Guild to place a quest across the Empire, I did this to ensure that all small towns had at least five Adventurers of Grade S to defend and the mid-sized cities have at least Grade SS Adventurers, so my Imperial Knights who are in Grade SSS could focus only on the city and capital suits. Unfortunately, we only have five people in the Lower Catastrophe Grade in the Empire counting on me, I sent 3 to the most important cities in the Empire while staying in the capital prepared to act if necessary. As I saw it was very necessary, during the first 4 days more than 50 Lower Catastrophe Grade monsters appeared, but the strange thing is that the reports I get say that no other city has seen monsters of this level of strength other than Fortress Venon City. I was on top of the city walls when another monster appeared, this time it was a Demonic Kimera Spider, for some reason most of the monsters were Kimera or Demonic type. At the moment I didn''t have enough time to think about these things and I just kept fighting, this cursed Demon Spider had a Spider''s body but its legs were screaming arms where the fingers were replaced by sharp claws, its head was that of a deformed skull with two big horns. This monster used curses and hallucinations, but I found a strange thing, this monster was very intelligent, smarter than I expected to see from its race being a first generation monster. But even so, I killed this monster after a few minutes of fighting, I bound him with chains made of the dark element before using demonic energy to destroy his body. Today was the 4th day of battle and I have had very little time to rest, we also had few casualties, but I feel that something is wrong. "My Queen, someone wants to find you." (employee) "Who are you?" (I) "I''m the new maid hired 6 days ago, being a former Adventurer I was given the task of accompanying your majesty here on the city walls." (employee) "I think I remember something like this..." (I) "Who''s looking for me during a Monster Wave?" (I) "The Prime Minister, Duke Gregory Roux." (employee) "I thought he was on the other side of town taking care of the monsters there, what did he come here for?" (I) "Did he say anything about the reason for his visit?" (I) "Not your Majesty, he just said it was urgent." (employee) He comes close to my ear to mock me before twisting the blade wanting me to die faster, I take one last look at the Generals smiling and the one General who lost his mind before I knew it, before losing consciousness I smile and use my last strength to squeeze the crystal in my necklace destroying it. "..." (I) ......... ...... ... ----------- Pov Duke Gregory Roux (Prime Minister): When the Vampire Blade has stopped absorbing Queen Melissa''s vitality and I don''t feel any signs of life in her body, relief washes over me. "Hahahaha... finally, I finally got it after over 100 years of planning... hahahahaha..." (I) I look at the Generals and Strategists "convinced" to stand by me, then I look at the fool who knew he was too stubborn to be convinced and now has his head on the ground. "Warn the others, the plan must be finalized today before news of the Queen''s death is known." (I) "Send a message to Summoners to stop calling our valued Kimera warriors, we no longer need to fake attacks from Lesser Catastrophe Grade monsters." (I) I lost 1/3 of the Kimera Warriors we''ve created over these 100 years just to force her into positions full of poisons and use the cursed equipment to weaken her enough to kill her that way, even though she''s in the Lower Catastrophe Grade like her, I know that I''m still not capable of winning if I attacked head on or I would have done that a long time ago. "(You were always very attentive and suspicious, I had to do everything very slowly for this to work, this Wave of Monsters was a blessing from the Gods for me, I couldn''t let this chance pass, even if I had to lose 50 valuable warriors to deceive you.)" (I) I look at Queen Melissa one last time, seeing her necklace fragment on the floor and the slight smile on her face makes a shiver run through my body along with hints of a bad premonition for my plans. "(This must have been to warn others of her death, but that won''t help, I already have people scattered all over the Empire.)" (I) "< Incinerate >" (I) Fire magic isn''t my specialty, but this low-level magic should be enough to deal with a dead body. "Now the time has come for this Empire to abandon the old traditions and have a true Emperor again." (I) "I will lead this Empire to conquer this continent, something that should have been done a long time ago and then finally annihilate the cursed Humans of the Morror Continent!" (I) Chapter 655: The End Of The Monster Wave Chapter 655: The End Of The Monster Wave Pov Diana''s: On the 1st day of Monster Wave, I was leading my new subordinates into battle, it was the first time I led alone, so I avoided fighting as much as possible to pay special attention to them. It wasn''t until the 2nd day that I started fighting personally, it was also from that day that the mages started using their traps and rituals to eliminate entire groups of monsters in the forest before they got to where we were. From the 3rd day onwards, a greater number of Lower Catastrophe Grade monsters started to appear making me have to take battles more seriously. That day I had to fight more than 300 monsters Grade Catastrophe, to fight so many I had unleashed all my power, as a Champion of the God Fenrir I gained an ability that turns me into a great Wolf, unfortunately, I still haven''t gained complete control this skill and I''m only able to turn the skill on or off. As a 7 meter tall white fur Wolf I ran forward to the group of Trolls that were coming, these minutes have a strong defense, strength, and regenerative capabilities but I didn''t give them a chance to recover. I acted almost on instinct, I bit the top of one''s head and squeezed it, crushing its skull with my jaw, when the others tried to hit me with the trees they had uprooted, I spun around, taking advantage of my control over the wind to push them away as I focused my Ki into my claws making them grow to twice their size. I start running between enemies by slashing the chest of one of the Trolls before releasing a sphere of pressurized air that explodes inside him, sending pieces flying nearby. The others were killed in a cruel way too, that''s because killing these things is very difficult, they were spreading poison simply by being there, because of that I fought them alone since I''m immune to poisons. Every movement of mine caused the air to bend to give me more momentum and speed, I felt like a fish in water being able to move as I pleased without hindrance. The monsters were too weak for me, plus even after days without sleep and having little time to eat or rest, I was still feeling well enough to fight for a few more days easily. I felt so powerful that it was incomparable to before, I needed these days of combat to learn more about my new power, so I didn''t let Yuki fight by my side even though she was my Familiar, instead, I used her as a means of getting in touch with the leaders of the troops under my command who are my followers. I had some time to train with the help of master Zenos during the time of our trip here, he taught me how to properly use the bond with my Familiar. Everyone fought very well, I could see them fighting through Yuki''s eyes, I was proud of their performance, my troops didn''t lose any lifesaver bracelets, and everyone knew the right moment to fight or not fight a monster. According to my orders, they chose their targets based on their own compatibility with their targets, there were people who were watching from afar and the monsters and passed the information to the leaders who then passed on their orders to the troops sending them to the places where they would be most helpful, it was excellent. That day I noticed that the World Tree was different in appearance than before, its leaves, shapes, and color were different, but I only noticed this because I felt a presence expand without limit in all directions as the energies in chaos before returned to normal. For the rest of the day, I noticed that the monsters weren''t spawning anymore, that only means one thing. "Looks like this Monster Wave is finally over." (I) Chapter 656: Silvia Part 1 Chapter 656: Silvia Part 1 I don''t know how much time has passed, but I must end it now, if Nature''s energy stops flowing from Freya to me, then my body will be ripped to shreds. The pain that was starting to grow helped to take me out of the trance I was in without realizing it all this time, when I open my eyes I realize that Freya next to me is also in a trance. I look at my Astral Body which takes its hand from the World Tree and uses its claws to grab the crystal behind my hand which was glowing brightly. "(Finally you woke up, a little more and her body would have been torn to pieces for not bearing my presence inside the crystal in her hand.)" "(I need to get in touch with the new World Tree, I need it to help, I don''t have the strength to put you in your new body even with the help of the amber crystal cube.)" (I)Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com "(It won''t be necessary, as a new World Tree it will be unable to do anything other than its function during its adaptation, but it already has a World Tree ready to use its power through it to do that once it starts.)" I was relieved to be able to mentally converse with the World Tree Spirit within the crystal in my hand. It seems that she created this possibility to talk to me, but as I was in the trance I was not able to hear her voice. From her information, it looks like another world tree is going to take control of this one shortly to help get her into her new body. "(What''s your name?)" (I) "(I don''t have a name, none of us do, it''s our chosen ones who give us names if they wish since my chosen one died the name she used to call me also lost its meaning.)" "(But I need a name for you, or I use a name you already have or I''ll have to choose one for you, at least that''s how my power has always worked until today.)" (I) "(I don''t mind being given a new name if necessary.)" "(Any name preference?)" (I) "(If possible, I would like the name of my first chosen one, she was the one who stayed by my side the longest and dreamed of traveling when she was a child, her name was Silvia.)" "(So that will be your new name.)" (I) With what I''ve learned so far like in the case of my Familiars where most of them didn''t have a name or wanted a new name like in the case of my daughter Lilith, I think it''s an obligation to name during the awakening process using my powers, perhaps it is with any such power. I didn''t have time to think of a name right now and I wasn''t in good shape for it, so I left it to her to choose her own name, with that decided, I use my power through my Astral Body. "(I''m starting.)" (I) <[ [ Blood Pact ] skill has been activated ]> At that moment when my Aura began to be pulled into the crystal on the back of my hand, I felt a new presence touch my Aura and let it be sucked into the crystal, at the same time that new energy full of harmony and life flowed from the World Tree for me by decreasing the pressure I was feeling and regaining all the power being sucked out of my body. Ding! <[ Interference was detected from a World Tree ]> . . . <[ Choose 3 powers to grant Spirit Creature (World Tree) ]> Then that horrible feeling of having my head hurt as much as if I had someone punching my head for non-stop fun. My mind is filled with possibilities about powers that can be bestowed, I''m glad I learned a long time ago to choose in advance the power to be bestowed, so I can ignore all that in my mind and just go with what I''ve already chosen. ,m I chose: 1. Aura of Chaos 2. My lineage 3. The body in the amber crystal cube With that decided my blood on the ground swirls around the amber crystal cube, the swirl around me, and the blood swirl around the amber crystal cube curve in the air becoming a whirling arc. I grit my teeth at the pain I feel as my Astral Body rips the crystal from my hand leaving a hole in its place. Soon the crystal where the World Tree Spirit is found floats in the hand of my Astral Body while a stream of black energy with light inside comes out of its hood forming two rotating rings around the crystal. After that, the crystal begins to pass through the whirlpool arc to the other side while absorbing the energy and blood that form the whirlpool arc. When he gets to the amber crystal cube, he enters it as if it were made of gelatin, then the crystal cube starts to turn red while a black light shines inside, at that moment branches or maybe roots come out of the ground surrounding the crystal cube, I can feel an unlimited amount of pure energy flowing through these roots as they form a cocoon around the cube. Chapter 657: Silvia Part 2 Chapter 657: Silvia Part 2 I felt once again what it was like to be a conductor of a power that didn''t belong to me, but I was relieved by it, I could feel the power of the World Tree passing through me and going into the cocoon of branches or roots (I still don''t understand which of the two are). At the same time, I could feel that my body was rigid in place, I was maintaining two processes at the same time, the last stage of the World Tree''s growth and the awakening process of this ancient World Tree Spirit. It seems my role in the first process is already over, but because I was the one who started it, I''m still held in place until the end by the flows of power around me and the presence of the World Tree that still passes me by. The second process, on the other hand, is using me as a conduit for the power of the World Tree to help your sister. At least I know that as weird and bizarre as my situation is, I''m safe, I just don''t know how long I have to keep it that way. But my reflection on my situation ends when my Astral Body moves by itself to where the cocoon of branches is and closes it with its sinister wings, I don''t know exactly what it is doing, but it must be part of the awakening process. I look up and see that several new branches at the height of the clouds are growing, and leaves of many different colors are appearing one by one. The energies around the World Tree are already completely harmonized, but I still have a strange feeling as if something is missing, maybe when the new World Tree is fully grown this feeling will disappear. -------------- After hours of waiting I felt with my Aura as if something had clicked into place, it seemed that everything was the way it should be, the environment became pleasant and the pressure on me seemed to be decreasing while the presence I felt coming from the Tree of Mundo disappeared as if blending in with its surroundings. Soon I felt as if a wave of invisible energy came out of the World Tree spreading in all directions. After that I still had to stand and wait while the awakening process was still going on, it was only in the part of the night that there was a change. Ding! <[ Power grant ended ]> . . . <[ Awakening process starting ]> . . I hear a different voice speaking as if coming from all directions, I could feel a mixture of emotions from that voice like kindness, affection, relief, concern, happiness, and gratitude. This was a different voice from someone mature and with life experience, it must not be the World Tree that just grew up, at least I don''t think so, so it must be the Spirit of another World Tree that connected with it and that''s who helped me with Silvia''s awakening. "If you want to thank me, then pay me something, at the moment I''m accepting a meal, I''m very hungry." (I) "..." "Are you still there?" (I) I mean it as a joke, that''s because I''m going to have a party full of food whether they like it or not, in fact, the people of the Dungeon will end up having a party even if they don''t say anything. "She''s already gone..." A clearly younger voice appears. "Are you the World Tree next to me?" (I) "Yes, thanks for helping me... I''d like to talk more... but I''m sleepy... zzzzz..." "..." (I) "Really? Can a tree sleep?" (I) I look back when I see myself surrounded by a black mist, my Astral Body disappeared, when this happened I felt that if someone had been holding my heart tightly and had now let go of it, using the Astral Body seems to take a lot of mental toll on me, even more so for so many days. I look at my hand and realize that this was the first time I used my powers during an Awakening of someone where I didn''t get tired or half dead. Actually, I look at my status just to be sure and it seems that I was right, my three natural energies are completely full as well as my vitality, it seems that this is due to the remnant of the World Tree energy that was healing me until a short time ago. I look to my side in time to notice the Fairy hugging my face as she manages to get both of her four hands into my eyes, in addition, I felt tentacles enveloping me. Even without seeing I knew that this was Layla and Hinata''s thing, I hug Hinata with one hand while I hold Layla by the leg and pull her to let go of my face, but she clings to my nose as I continually try to pull her out of my face. Sigh When I finally free myself from this Fairy''s embrace, I look around recognizing a floor full of craters and battle scars. I look beyond that and focus on the people walking toward me with a smile, it''s time to talk to them to find out how the Monster Wave went. Chapter 658: Coronation Of The Elf Queen Lolth Chapter 658: Coronation Of The Elf Queen Lolth As everyone approaches, Orion licks my face while Sakura and Nix just give me a friendly pat on the back. "How are you, master?" (Ragnar) "To my surprise, I''m doing really well, I actually feel refreshed." (I) "Of course he''s fine, he stood still for a week doing nothing, we were the ones who had to fight..." (Layla) "Even you don''t believe what you''re saying, so don''t interrupt." (Sakura) Layla as usual can''t be honest with the things she says, but her expression always tells the truth, maybe it''s because Fairies aren''t a race known for lying. "Your body looks fine." (Nix) "Your Aura is normal, your presence is also a little stronger." (Orion) "That''s because he''s been leveling up with the monsters we''ve killed." (Ragnar) "..." (I) What Ragnar says reminds me that I didn''t confirm my status in much detail, so I open my status and notice a change, I had reached the maximum level, besides that, I remembered that I haven''t changed jobs in a while, but that''s because I have avoided getting into battles. I had forgotten that even if I don''t fight directly, my Familiars still count as a part of me, meaning I get a share of the EXP from the monsters they kill. "(I''ll think about a job later, I''m more worried about my level, I didn''t want to evolve while I''m still on this continent, I don''t know if it''s safe because of the energy density of that continent.)" (I) "What''s the problem?" (Hinata) "From the look on his face, you must have seen that he''s about to evolve again." (Nix) "Doesn''t he realize how fast his evolutions are compared to others?" (Sakura) It seems like all I need to do is accumulate this formless and ethereal energy of EXP in one place inside me and keep it sealed with my vitality, this can only be kept inside my body, besides being temporary, but it will serve to avoid evolve for now. ----------- When we passed through the village, we saw that there was no village left, everything was destroyed, not a single tree was left behind, and even the ground was scarred by battle. I was surprised to see all this destruction, but around the World Tree, it was much worse. In the village I was hugged from behind before realizing it by Kira, soon she tells me everything that happened here, so we go near the gate where the Elves fought, everything was in chaos there, there were thousands of people seriously injured, in addition to a large number of bodies lined up with cloths covering the body, were the corpses of those who died during the battle, it seems hundreds died. But before taking care of the corpses there were still more things to be done, the worst part of the Monster Wave had passed, but there were still many monsters loose in the Poison Forest that emerged from the Monster Wave. After going to where the Dungeon people had fought under the command of Ivan, Diana, and the others, I could confirm that we had fewer deaths than the Elves, everyone welcomed me, but Erica and Diana hugged me with worried faces, and Vanessa also seemed being worried, I think they realized something was wrong, Ibuki was the one who gave me a hug and slept in my arms, she must have tried really hard. ----------- Three days later. For three days we focused on rebuilding the village''s defenses as a priority, after which the Elves held a funeral service for their dead and we did the same for our own. During those three days, I refused to sleep because I knew the result of it, I knew I would be sleeping for days and there were still many things I needed to do, the most important being the funeral ceremony where we pray for the dead. I received a lot of thanks from the Elves, but I also noticed that many among those called by the Elves to help looked at me suspiciously, some even looked with hatred, maybe they blame me or those next to me for something, but for their own good I hope they stay quiet or meet their own deaths. On the third day, the World Tree that had been quiet all this time lights up and soon flowers and trees started to grow everywhere hiding the destruction caused by the Wave of Monsters. That night the Elf Queen Lolth herself came to me telling me about her coronation taking place in a few hours, it seems that the World Tree Spirit appeared before her forming a bond with her as her representative. The coronation that will take place will only serve to make official what all the Elves in this place have already chosen to accept, they all adore the Elf Queen Lolth. The coronation only had me, my group, the elders of this village''s Elf council, and the most important people in the village, the coronation was the Tree Spirit appearing to deliver a crown made from its branches to the Elf Queen Lolth. Chapter 659: They Love A Party Chapter 659: They Love A Party After the coronation, as soon as I got into my bed I slept for days, from what I knew when I got up, I slept for 5 days straight. But I knew it wasn''t just me, there were many who slept for days due to accumulated fatigue, many were in body aches, mentally exhausted and some had mental trauma that may never recover. I learned that there were three monster attacks during the days I slept, but they were all exterminated by the people on guard at the time. I also learned that 9 people were killed by Lilith, all were people the Elves called, it seems they tried to attack the Humans living in the Dungeon who were helping to tend to the injured alongside Vanessa and Irina after the Monster Wave. I commended Lilith for if it were me I would have done the same thing, no need for pity when dealing with idiots. Lilith told me that she killed these people for trying to get revenge through innocent people, which goes against the teachings of the Demon Goddess of Vengeance she believes in. Looks like we didn''t do anything too wrong, Joseph said they would have either been killed or turned over to the Black Empire to be turned into slaves, so Lilith only added to their punishment. After I woke up I had to face another problem which was the destroyed village, I could leave it like that and leave, actually, that was my plan, but it turns out that my group was already planning a party while I was sleeping. Turns out, a party wouldn''t be accepted very well when people didn''t even have a house to live in, I said I''d rather go away, but everyone wanted to celebrate. I heard that Anton teamed up with the Orcs and Ogres to make various types of alcoholic drinks for this party, Caryna and Freya have been researching recipes with the Elves of this village and also thinking about the party. Alice had even assembled a group with Nolan, Rakan''s subordinates, and Jade to hunt some monsters through the Poisonous Forest in preparation for this party. "Are you serious?" (Queen Lolth) "Yea." (I) "We have to create new houses, for that new trees need to be planted and I''m still waiting for the envoys from the Kingdoms from all over the continent, not to mention that the funeral ceremony of hundreds of people took place a short time ago." (Queen Lolth) "I''m aware of most of these things, Joseph had told me about it." (I)Nne?w n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com "Then why do you still want to have a party?" (Queen Lolth) "I don''t want to have a party." (I) Queen Lolth looks at the World Tree Spirit who is silent only smiling as if she already knows the answer so she looks at me. Sigh "I think a little partying won''t hurt." (Queen Lolth) "(It''s going to be a lot more than just a little bit.)" (I) "(I wonder how many days this party will last?)" (I) When the Elf Queen Lolth and I announce the party to everyone, the people of the Dungeon begin to scream with excitement, the Arachnes use their lines to make simple tents in the trees that grew the day before with the power of the Nymphs and the Incarnations of the Forest. Anton and many others at the Dungeon took out hundreds of large kegs of liquor as the Dungeon cooks rushed to fire up the grills. The party started with only the Dungeon people before the Elf Queen''s speech was even over. Of course, not everyone liked that, half of the people from this village indulged in the festivities, but the other half who were mostly made up of people from outside the village who came to help didn''t like that. Soon Sakura takes the front of a stage that she herself created making thick wooden roots stick out of the ground, on stage Sakura starts to sing, and soon some Nymphs and Incarnations of the Forest join her as a background choir. I admit I was surprised with such a magnificent voice, Sakura''s voice seemed like the melody of nature itself, the flowers in her surroundings bloom and the very energy of nature around us seemed to resonate with her voice. It was a song with no lyrics but for some reason, it was full of emotions that made my heart race, their music was filled with a feeling of courage and will to fight at first but soon that feeling becomes one of mourning and grief. At that moment I noticed that there were people quickly spreading drinks among the crowd, it didn''t take long for me to see people crying and starting to drink, then the music changes and builds up to something full of hope. At this point, everyone was reveling in the various feelings that this song aroused and sent people away before anyone realized it. After a little while the smell of food spreads, so I look at the Elf Queen Lolth who just like me was sitting on a tree stump watching this party from a high point. "Looks like the party was well received." (I) "It''s more about their followers influencing others to join the party, for a moment I thought I had someone with the ability to mess with people''s minds with them." (Queen Lolth) Chapter 660: What During This Party? Chapter 660: What During This Party? It was no surprise to me what happened at that party, some spent the entire time drinking to drown out the sadness of losing their homes or someone who died due to battle. Other people chose to take advantage of the lubricant that is alcohol to let everything they felt out at once, there were also those who started fights, it was impossible to avoid violence with so many warriors present. I said to let people who want to fight to beat themselves up as much as they want, but always have people stop the fight in case of emergency. If someone was a strapless bag or an idiot picking fights with everyone, maybe even one of the bigoted bastards, I told them to use some potion or curse to knock those idiots unconscious for a few days so they wouldn''t spoil anyone''s party. As always after a big battle, there were many people avoided, but there were no houses for anyone, but nothing that camp tents couldn''t revolve around. Unfortunately, I forgot to warn the injuries of this village about the Dungeon customs, so many single people found themselves dragged into the darkness, when it started I had to take the kids to bed early with the help of other responsible adults so they wouldn''t hear the indecent voices spreading around. At least I tried before I was kidnapped by four people, luckily there were people responsible for taking the kids to the Dungeon and getting them out of this lust filled environment. Before I fully understood what was happening I had four bottles being stuffed into my mouth, by the taste I knew it wasn''t alcohol. ------------ After that I lost consciousness as if I had been drunk, all I know is that I woke up in the dark in a place that only had a circular entrance and exit, my head was spinning and my body was weak, but still, I managed to crawl out over the bodies of other people who tried to grab me in my sleep. When I popped my head out and realized I was inside a big cocoon made of my lines the size of a house, I jump out of the hole that was the only passage of this thing. I tried to land on my feet, but I was half full and I fall on my back to the ground, I spend a few seconds looking at the cloudy sky, it looks like it''s going to rain later. "(What happened last night...)" (I) "(When did I create this big cocoon?)" (I) "Huh! My head... feels like it''s going to explode..." (I) I try to remember what happened, then I realized I hadn''t passed out yesterday, I was just in a drunken-like state. I remember being forced to drink the contents of 4 bottles, I know that no type of alcohol inside the Dungeon would be able to make me drunk with my poison resistance, so there was only one option.Nne?w n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.comn! Used Lyra''s potions again...)" (I) I try to remember what happened next, but even if I try I only see some pointless flashes, I remember doing some nasty things but everything was spinning, I heard music, I danced with someone, and I remember a swimming pool at some point. I try to remember something else, but everything that comes to my mind is blurred. "Master, you look awful." (Nolan) Suddenly I see an upside down face, it was Nolan with his face covered in kiss marks and disheveled. "..." (I) As everything was silent and they were close, I could hear Jade saying something in a low voice to Irius that made him blush before speaking to me, so I look at my Body and notice that I''m like I came into the world. I pull a cover off my storage ring to cover myself, then look at Nolan. "Why didn''t you warn me about being naked earlier?" (I) "I thought you knew." (Nolan) "What kind of person do you think I am?" (I) "I try not to judge other people''s tastes." (Nolan) "(I feel like punching him.)" (I) "Looks like you woke up, it''s about time, I was coming to ask for your help to look for the Queen..." (Joseph) "Master, where have you gone!" (Ibuki) "My head hurts a lot, I think I drank one of the options that was for the master by mistake." (Kira) "Just 5 more minutes... zzzzzz..." (Diana) "I slept a lot this time..." (Freya) "I need a shower." (rica) "What''s that noise outside..." (Queen Lolth) "I think I heard my daughter''s voice..." (Sapphire) Soon I started to hear you that I recognize coming from inside the cocoon where I was, then three people stuck their heads out of the hole I came out of, it was Ibuki waving at me completely naked, Sapphire looking outside with a sleepy face and the Elf Queen Lolth wearing a blanket looking out. "..." (I) "You are my Hero, Master..." (Nolan) "Mother!" (Jade) "Queen..." (Joseph) "But what happened during those days!?" (I) Chapter 661: News Of A Coup Detat Chapter 661: News Of A Coup D''etat I look at the hole it exits where the Elf Queen Lolth''s head is showing and then I look at Joseph who has a look of disbelief on his face. "Mom, you look awful." (Jade) "Shut up, the Dwarves'' drink was stronger than last time." (Sapphire) "I''m going to take a shower, do you want to come along?" (Jade)Nne?w n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com "I will, I''m wet with sweat." (Sapphire) "I''ll go along with you, I''ll bring her too." (rica) "Let go of me, I want to be with the master..." (Ibuki) "Have some offspring and cover your body, plus you drooled all over me in your sleep, so go take a shower." (rica) "I''m going back to sleep." (Kira) "I have to help my daughter with the food preparation, it''s already too late." (Freya) "..." (I) While I was confused by the awkward situation of being complimented by the pervert Nolan, being stared at by my son Irius, and having a statue of disbelief of Joseph nearby, the girls are all acting normal. Sapphire talks to her daughter without caring about this situation, at the end the girls start to come out of the cocoon with wrinkled clothes going in the direction where the Dungeon gate is open. "Master, you forgot your clothes." (Freya) "Thank you..." (I) Freya before leaving puts on some folded clothes for me before running in the direction the grills were if I remember correctly. "What did I do during the party?" (I) "To be honest, I''m not sure, I was very drunk, unlike most of you, I don''t have poison resistance skills, so all those drinks were too strong for me." (Nolan) "Hah!..." (Nolan) "Shut up Nolan, his voice is too loud... master!" (Alice) "..." (I) "..." (Alice) I asked a question that was hammering inside my head and I didn''t expect an answer as I was asking myself, but Nolan tried to answer it for me but was talking loudly without realizing it until a shoe hit his face as Alice appeared from the cocoon screaming at him while his hair was disheveled. "..." (I) "No need to be embarrassed, it was just a bit of fun, it had been a few decades for me and you with your trinity with nature had a very attractive Aura." (Queen Lolth) "How did so many people get mixed in there?" (I) "rica called me and I went, Sapphire seems to have asked Diana if she could come along, I also remember Sapphire grabbing that young Vampire maid with her tail and pulling her inside with a smile on her face." (Queen Lolth) "How did Freya join in this?" (I) "She appeared with the Gray Elf with the name of Kira if I''m not mistaken..." (Queen Lolth) "Ma''am, we have urgent news." (Grey Elf) "What happened?" (Queen) "The envoys from several Realms have just arrived, among them, two envoys from the Empire started attacking each other and one ended up dead." (Grey Elf) "It looks like something serious has happened." (Queen Lolth) "When asked about the reason for the combat and the assassination, he reported something troubling that had happened in the Black Empire." (Grey Elf) "It appears that Queen Melissa has been killed and a coup is underway in the Black Empire at this time." (Grey Elf) "..." (I) "(If I''m not mistaken Lilian and her students were spies for the Black Empire, Lilian also said something about being the aunt of the current Queen of the Black Empire.)" (I) Elf Queen Lolth is silent for a few seconds with a thoughtful look on her face, then she looks at me with some sort of meaning I don''t understand. "I want to talk to this envoy within 1 hour." (Queen Lolth) "As you wish, my lady." (Grey Elf) The Gray Elf disappears in a blur, I remember this Gray Elf being one of the Elders of the Council of this village. "I wish you were here to listen to this envoy of the Black Empire if possible." (Queen Lolth) "I imagine you want someone else along with me, right?" (I) "Their parentage was already known, her description made it easy to recognize her at the party, but there was no reason to speak to her before." (Queen Lolth) "But now it''s different." (Queen Lolth) "I''ll be here, let''s talk about it later." (I) "I was going to say the same thing." (Queen Lolth) Chapter 662: Civil War In The Black Empire Part 1 Chapter 662: Civil War In The Black Empire Part 1 After I left the World Tree Temple that was in the process of rebuilding, I warned my Familiars using our mental link to find Lilian. After a few minutes, Hinata was the one who found her along with her first Student, Horn 1. When I go to where Hinata warned Lilian was, I reach one of the pods made by Arachnees, just to make sure she wasn''t doing anything too private, I tell Hinata to see if they were all dressed, and Hinata sticks her head through the wall and takes it off saying that''s all right, so I walked in to find Horn 1 and Lillian looking at me. "You have arrived at the right time, Holy Son." (Lilian) "I was thinking of calling you later." (Lilian) I enter and realize when I enter a sound barrier, so I sit next to Lillian and Horn 1 while Hinata lies with her head on my legs. "Then I suppose you already know why I''m here." (I) "Yes, I was near the gate when the envoys started to arrive, I arrived in time to see the fight." (Lilian)ViiSiit for latest novels "Associating the arrival of the Black Empire envoys with you making Hinata look for me was easy to think about what could be so urgent." (Lilian) "Speaking of which, this Specter has no finesse to investigate, she just walked in and said she found it before she left." (Horn 1) "I was just asked to find Lilian, so I did." (Hinata) "You did well." (I) Lilian tells me how was the combat between the two envoys of the Black Empire, it seems that one of them had arrived before and made an ambush seriously wounding the other, that''s why the fight took so little time. "After that, I learned the rest from Horn 1." (Lilian) "I told you everything I knew, check this out." (Horn 1) Horn 1 shows me a small broken crystal, it is smeared with blood. "This crystal was given to several people trusted by the Queen, if the crystal she had been carrying all along was broken, everyone would know she was killed or captured as our crystals were also broken." (Horn 1) "As the existence of these crystals was a secret, everyone kept the crystals inside their own bodies." (Horn 1) "That doesn''t make sense, how strong is he?" (I) "Lesser Catastrophe Grade, but your progress in increasing your strength has been unnatural in recent years." (Horn 1) "If he''s that strong, then he had no reason to fear Lilian." (I) "It wasn''t me he was afraid of, he feared my ability as a spy, he knew that I knew a multitude of ways to deliver a last message before I died, it would also be impossible to capture me." (Lilian) "If his plans were interrupted because of an oversight, it would all be over, so he was always cautious around me." (Lilian) "That''s why you were forced to retire and we announced our departure after one last mission." (Horn 1) ,m "They wanted to force him to act faster." (I) "Yes and it worked, but this Monster Wave seems to have been too much of an opportunity for him to pass up." (Horn 1) ----------- I spent about 40 minutes talking to Lilian and her student to better understand the situation, during that time I started to better understand this guy Gregrio Roux. It seems that it was not out of ambition that he is carrying out this coup d''etat to take the throne of the Black Empire, his motivation comes from hatred for Humans and the Morror Continent. I even found out he was helping that Demon who became King Makari, Lilian said there''s a good chance he''s responsible for freeing that crazy assassin we killed in Venon Stronghold City before coming here. Also from hints of that Prime Minister experimenting with Kimera, it seems that after receiving the message Lilian sent when we were still on the Morror Continent, they were able to find more evidence about Kimeras'' study in the Black Empire, but were never able to make any connections with the Prime Minister. ---------- After talking to these two spies, I take them both to the Elf Queen Lolth to let her know about it, I want to get involved as little as possible in all this, but I have a feeling that the Elves will get involved since it was the World Tree that caused this Monster Wave. Strangely after listening to what Lillian and Horn 1 said, Elf Queen Lolth just got a sad look. "I knew that this man would one day do something extreme, but I hoped that after so many years of silence he had put the hate aside." (Queen Lolth) "..." (I) Chapter 663: Civil War In The Black Empire Part 2 Chapter 663: Civil War In The Black Empire Part 2 I was confused about Elf Queen Lolth''s reaction, it seemed like she already knew something like this could happen, plus she talked about hate. "It seems that not even the legendary shadow of the Black Empire was able to stop him." (Queen Lolth) "I kept him under surveillance, but that only made him hide, even more, I didn''t trust him and even thought about killing him, but the previous King asked me not to." (Lilian) "He felt guilty for the tragedies of that war between continents, in the end, both sides lost, but the biggest damage was here as the war took place on this continent." (Queen Lolth) "What war? Was it one of the wars between the two continents that I heard about and that generated the hatred you feel for each other?" (I) "Yes, it was the last war, it wasn''t the worst of them, but because it was the last one, it''s the one everyone remembers, especially Gregory Roux." (Lilian) "His wife and son died in that war, died brutally and cruelly by Humans who were only able to see monsters when they looked at them." (Lilian) "At that time I wasn''t the Elf Queen yet, so I had the freedom to choose what to do, what I chose was to stop the war with the help of others of equal strength like the former King of the Black Empire." (Queen Lolth) "When we managed to make the Humans go away was when I saw him for the first and last time." (Queen Lolth) "We were in a meeting when he entered the room, at the time he wasn''t even Grade S, but he burst into the room screaming to continue the war, to chase the Humans to the Morror Continent and annihilate them." (Queen Lolth) "I never forgot that day for one reason, his face." (Queen Lolth) "His eyes were filled with sadness and despair as he entered the meeting room, but when he heard the King of the Black Empire say that the war would end there..." (Queen Lolth) "He was a traitor, someone belonging to Duke Gregory Roux who is trying to seize the throne of the Empire right now." (William) "Why are you here?" (Queen Lolth) "I come to ask for your help on behalf of Queen Melissa who is currently weakened." (William) "Gregory Roux wants to conquer every continent, by now he already controls 47% of the Black Empire''s territory, after dominating everything he will head to the surrounding Realms before marching through the rest of the continent and finally his final destination on another continent." (William) "I have come to seek your help in joining Queen Melissa against Gregory Roux." (William) "If that is the sole reason for your visit, then I must make it clear that the Elves will not be involved in any nation''s infighting." (Queen Lolth) "With all due respect your majesty, but Gregory has an army at his disposal consisting of Kimeras, so far more than 7000 soldiers have died on the battlefield in a few days of combat, these are just the numbers we can confirm." (William) "Queen Melissa is someone I respect, but we''re not in a position to help others, you must have seen it, right?" (Queen Lolth) From the beginning of the conversation he made it clear that he would not help, but this is understandable, his village is destroyed, his weapons and armor are in terrible condition, his potions are exhausted and the Poisonous Forest is still full of monsters that survived the Wave of monsters. Entering an internal dispute of another nation under these conditions would be dangerous, not to mention the fact that the Elves are far fewer in numbers than the Demons. During his conversation with the Elf Queen, this guy William looked several times at Lilian, it looked like he expected Lilian to stand by her side to convince Elf Queen Lolth to join the war, but that didn''t work. Before he left the Queen asked him some questions, thanks to this we know that there is a civil war within the Empire, Gregory Roux quickly took 40% of the Empire during the Monster Wave, in fact, these places already belonged to his associates. After the Wave of Monsters, he took advantage of the moment of weakness to attack other places and claim more territory, at the moment everything is quiet because he ceased attacks, but this is far from being the end. Chapter 664: Greg贸rio Roux Chapter 664: Grego?rio Roux Pov Gregorio Roux: Boom! Boom! Good! "Lord calm down..." (Bruno) "Over 100 years... do you have any idea how long I endured!?" (I) Boommm! "There were so many occasions where I just wanted to break her neck or just stick a sword through her heart." (I) Ahhhh!!!! Boommm! "I held back my hate, buried my murderous intent and rage, all because I knew I needed a plan to achieve my goal." (I) "Lord, we can still get it, as things are, we can act directly to get the throne..." (Bruno) "I DON''T WANT THE THRONE!" (I) "The throne was only a means to my ends." (I) "Melissa was supposed to be dead now and my followers scattered across the Empire have killed all the nobles who aren''t on our side, that way we could have the entire Empire without losing our strength, that way we could pressure the lesser Kingdoms to join us or simply conquer the fools who resist without giving anyone time to make preparations." (I) "But now more than half of the people under my command scattered across the Empire ready to kill the nobles have died and the others have been unable to find their targets." (I) "Also, look at the information that came in!" (I) "Damn Melissa is still alive, the one I killed was just a surrogate, which means she already knew about my plans." (I) So much work, so many times I held back this hate just to keep the plane safe, but it was all in vain. It doesn''t matter anymore if we are going to get the Empire or not, this civil war will alert the other Kingdoms, I''m sure they are getting ready at this moment to defend their nations, in addition, we are spending resources and soldiers in this civil war, even if we win we will be weakened by more to conquer the rest of the continent, let alone attack the Morror Continent. "..." (I) ----------- The next morning I was sitting on top of my mansion inside the Dungeon watching the city not far away until Nix emerged from my shadow. "What did you find?" (I) "The envoy was telling the truth in yesterday''s meeting, besides he''s trying to hire capable people as mercenaries." (Nix) "No one in the Dungeon accepted, but some who fought alongside the Elves were mercenaries from the start, so he''s getting good fighters." (Nix) "Did you find out anything from the other envoys?" (I) "Yes, one of them was someone working for this Gregory Roux guy, looks like he killed the real envoy on the way and took his place." (Nix) "Killed him?" (I) "No, after yesterday''s meeting I thought I''d give it to Lilith." (Nix) "Don''t do that, give it to Athena and her friends, it will be a good starting point for them." (I) "Why test them now? I still don''t understand." (Nix) "I want to know how they act when I''m not around." (I) "But we have already confirmed that they are not prejudiced against other races." (Nix) "Having no prejudice and understanding other races are two different things." (I) "When they got here, all they knew were things they learned in the Church of Light, their minds were shaped as they grew up in a certain way." (I) "I want to know how much their mindsets have changed since they arrived, I want to know if they''ve learned anything or think they already know everything they need to." (I) "You say that, but you also want to help Lilian." (Nix) "I won''t deny it, but helping Lilian doesn''t mean I''m going to get into a civil war, each with their problems." (I) "Taking care of the leader is the best I''ll do, you can accompany Lilian if you want, I''ll spend the rest of my time resting inside the Dungeon, I''m thinking about learning to draw." (I) Chapter 665: Athenas Quest Part 1 Chapter 665: Athena''s Quest Part 1 Pov Athena: I get up from my bed in the Temple inside the Dungeon and look around my room which only has an empty bookcase, a simple desk, a bed, and a table with two chairs. I''ve been given permission to change whatever I want in the room, I can do whatever I want, but I still don''t know what to do. Just like every day, I get up and change, then go to the bathroom to wash my face, but I am distracted by looking at my own face which has many similarities to my mother and sister''s. If I close my eyes, I can imagine what she would say to me. "(You are a disgrace to our family, siding with a damn Heretic!)" (Andreia) "(You shame our lineage and history, you shame everything I fought for and our father fought before us!)" (Andreia) "Athena..." (Angela) "(I''m ashamed to be the sister of a traitor, I''m going to kill...)" (Andreia) "Athena! Can you hear me?" (Angela) "..." (I) "Are you feeling something? Why are you crying." (Angela) "I''m fine..." (I) "No, you''re definitely not okay." (Angela) I wet my face once more to wash the tears from my eyes and take a deep breath before looking up at my best friend''s worried face. "You''re right, I''m not okay..." (I) "But I''ll stay..." (I) "(Sister, I know you must be enraged every time you think of me, by now it must be known to all my betrayal, but I don''t regret what I''m doing.)" (I) "I just hope you''re right..." (I) It didn''t take long to get this fake envoy to talk, after a few hours of torture he told a lot, but just to be sure, we used one of the memory affecting potions on him and started everything from scratch. Just as I thought, he answered different things to each question, it seems he was lying, disinformation is a trick that anyone with espionage work or in the criminal business knows, but applying it during torture is something few would do. After using several potions and Darius being insistent with his questions, we finally had the answers we wanted, but there was little information. After that we went to the village of the Elves to meet the envoy of the Empire by the name of William, I intend to go back part of the way with him to get some information. He told everything he knew about the enemy, but he was cautious in answering about the situation of his allies, but even so, I got additional information with what we had already obtained during the interrogation. With that I don''t know where we can go, I''m going with everyone inside the Dungeon where it''s safest to have a conversation about what we should do now. I open the map showing the city where we are going and depending on what we find there we can go to one of the three options of places where we can find Gregory Roux for the information we collect. We''re leaving the next morning, I''ll talk to the others to make their arrangements and I''ll speak to Priestess Vanessa. "Are you worried about the mission my Father gave you?" (Vanessa) "Yeah, what does he want by giving something so easy to us?" (I) I was in the basement of the Temple where Priestess Vanessa was counting the inventory of items stored in that Temple. "My Father never does anything without a reason, even if it''s a silly reason sometimes, so don''t try to guess what he thinks, it would be a futile effort." (Vanessa) "Just do the quest the best you can and no regrets, that will be enough." (Vanessa) "What do I do if the mission target is not alone?" (I) "Think for yourself what you should do, but I advise you not to take this mission for granted, sometimes looks can be deceiving." (Vanessa) "Being close to my Father means that things are rarely going to turn out the way we imagine." (Vanessa) ----------- The next morning we were all ready and heading towards where Kimeras'' troops are, the best thing to do is interrogate someone in command to find out where Gregory Roux is. With all the preparations we''re leaving, but I''m nervous about this mission, I feel unsure how to complete this mission without interfering too much in the events of this nation. Chapter 666: Athenas Quest Part 2 Chapter 666: Athena''s Quest Part 2 Pov Athena: After 2 weeks of travel we arrived in the city we planned, as we were told this place is full of enemies. Just by being here and seeing everything I can tell you about the atrocities these people have committed in their quest for power. The Kimera Soldiers were not being controlled, they were talking to each other and were proud of their undeserved power. Soldiers weren''t a common type of Kimera, they were Demons who had monster parts implanted in their bodies, apart from some physical deformity they looked normal, but their eyes showed an obsession I''d seen before. Getting past them was not difficult, with our Aura training we were able to hide our presence and use our superior speed to enter the city unnoticed, after that to avoid attracting attention we spent a few hours looking for an abandoned place, and we were able to find one abandoned store that we''re going to use as a base. I tell everyone to go investigate and come back at midnight while I set up protection for our temporary base. ----------Alll latest novels at novelhall.com Midnight that day. Everyone had already returned, the wards of this place were in place, so normal people won''t approach and we''ll be warned if anyone tries to enter. Angela, Darius, Michael, Flvia, Renato, and Thomas had returned, as you know the way I create the protections of our bases manage to enter without activating the traps I placed. "What did they find?" (I) "As it was said, all Soldiers are Kimeras, idiots who accepted being experiments in exchange for power." (Darius) "The ones I saw seemed to have monsters below the S rank being used as materials for the process of being turned into Kimeras." (Darius) "My magic confirmed that their bodies emit miasma, the amount is small but as there are so many in this town it is accumulating." (Michael) "On this continent that''s not a problem, Demons like to live on this continent precisely because there''s miasma everywhere, so it doesn''t matter." (I) "I know I said, but we also have the Information about Master Zenos'' Fight from almost 2 months ago, he also fought Kimeras, right?" (Michael) "I had forgotten about that." (I) "No, he''s a fanatic full of hate, pain and torture won''t work against him." (Angela) "I still have some Lyra potions with me, I''ll take him to the next room and see if he becomes more chatty." (Darius) "All of him." (Angela) Darius picks up the Demon and takes it to the next room, after which a sound barrier has been activated around the room. "Did you get anything at the mansion?" (I) "I heard some useful things, besides there was a vault with a curse trap in the secret room where he took me, after purifying the curse with my light magic, it was easy to open a vault like that." (Angela) "I found this inside the safe." (Angela) I take the papers and maps that Angela gave me, I look at the maps that belong to the Black Empire, they were full of dots marked with some symbols. Then I look at the papers, most were descriptions of poison preparation, its effects, and possible improvements. There was also a list of names of important people from the Empire on their side and their positions, we can deliver this to the people on the side of this Queen Melissa, they made better use of that information. Fortunately among the papers was a letter from Gregory Roux giving orders for this man Angela had brought. Thanks to this letter we confirmed a place where he would be going, there was also information about some secret project that will be put into practice, but it does not specify what it could be. "Now we know where he will be, we just have to be there before him." (I) "Are we going to ambush him on the way?" (Michael) "No, he''ll be with a small army, it looks like there''s a secret tunnel that goes through a big mountain and leads straight to the place where Queen Melissa was confirmed to be." (I) "Let''s get there before everyone else, because of this map and our information, this capital is less than a week away from this place." (I) "Yes, I thought the same thing, which is probably why this letter was sent here, being closer to the capital and being able to join them in this attack." (Angela) With that, we already know where to go. Chapter 667: Athenas Quest Part 3 Chapter 667: Athena''s Quest Part 3 Pov Athena: We arrived in less than 3 days in the capital of the Black Empire, from the information we have this must be the place where Queen Melissa is hiding and Gregory Roux has already discovered this. Our target must not be here yet, from the letter we found it will still take 1 day to arrive at least. Entering this city was much easier, I borrowed a letter of introduction from Lilian before coming, this was to meet the people of the Empire to seek information if possible, but this time I need their help. With this letter that bears the 7 horns mark on the flag of the Black Empire, the normal soldiers did not recognize it, but their commander was surprised to see the symbol and let us in, actually guided us personally to the second floor of a restaurant. "I want your best fruit plate, I''m not a meat fan." (I) "Should you eat in that kind of situation?" (Angela) "We must not fear them, besides, poisons from this continent will be useless against us." (I) When we reach the second floor we go to a VIP room where a middle aged waiter appears to take our order while the commander of the gate guards leaves. "Athena is right, they have no reason to do anything against us and even if they did it would be useless." (Darius) "The best thing for us is to show that we are not a threat, we are here to do something that will help them, even if it''s another reason it doesn''t change the fact that it will help all of them." (I) "I''m curious to know how much of your words are true, I would also like to know where you got that letter." A woman appears to appear out of nowhere as if she''s been transferred here using space movement magic, but the truth is she was using magic to hide in this room before we even entered here. "My name is Melissa, I am the Queen of this Empire." (Queen Melissa) "I already knew, nice to meet you, your majesty." (I) She had long straight black hair, golden eyes, snow white skin, and 4 Horns, 2 of these Horns are on the side of her head and the other 2 are on the corners of her forehead, the 4 Horns seem to form some sort of crown, I can''t see her wings and tail, but she probably has the common ability to hide these parts of her body. "How is she?" (Queen Melissa) "As always, striving to serve the Blood Goddess alongside the High Priestess, furthermore she asked me to tell you which students of hers are with her now." (I) "I already knew that when they left with their families it could only be to be by her side." (Queen Melissa) She smiles as she talks about Lilian, but soon her gaze turns serious as she looks at me. "I take it you are my aunt''s companion, right?" (Queen Melissa) "Yes, we serve the same High Priestess of Blood, plus we live in the same city." (I) "(Unfortunately I can''t reveal more than that, I hope it''s enough for her to agree to cooperate in our mission.)" (I) "Did you say something about some kind of mission, what is this about?" (Queen Melissa) I spend the next few minutes explaining our mission to kill Gregory Roux, in exchange for their cooperation I''ll pass on important information about their troops. "Just killing him is useless, otherwise I would have killed him a long time ago." (Queen Melissa) "I''ve waited a long time, even before I was crowned Queen of the Black Empire." (Queen Melissa) "I''ve waited for this idiot to try to take the throne all this time, it gave him plenty of opportunities he refused to take advantage of, unfortunately, I was caught off guard when he finally made his move this time." (Queen Melissa) "Did you want him to cause a civil war?" (I) "No, I never thought he would have spread his influence so much across the Empire without being noticed, I''m glad that Monster Wave gave him the conditions to advance his plans, probably he wanted to wait until the turn of the year for the next Annual Monster Wave." (Queen Melissa) "But even if it was on a larger scale than expected, the result was still something good when they''re all dead." (Queen Melissa) "You mean..." (I) "This whole uprising helped me find all the conspirators hiding in the Empire or at least most of them, thanks to Gregory Roux I can now openly attack to cleanse these plagues that corrupt this great Empire." (Queen Melissa) Chapter 668: Athenas Quest Part 4 Chapter 668: Athena''s Quest Part 4 Pov Gregorio Roux: ,m I was in an underground cave near the Capital of the Black Empire, my main testing lab was done here, a place where no one visits normally and there are few monsters, a perfect place for me. I was on the 12 underground floor which is also the last one, this place is a big shed where a rectangular box 30 meters high is shaking strongly making the whole place shake, if it weren''t for the thicker chains that my body holding it, so this place would already be destroyed. "Are you sure you''re ready?" (I) "Yes, but unfortunately it cannot be controlled perfectly and its lifespan will be only a few weeks." (Maleg) "Should be enough, how many of our elites did you need to use?" (I)Nne?w n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com "Less than I expected, I only used 285 of them." (Maleg) "Don''t speak so casually of our brothers'' lives, they volunteered to know the importance of this for our future plans." (I) "Sorry for sounding insensitive, but after the things I''ve seen and done, I''ve learned to care only about the results, all for the death of damn Humans." (Maleg) "The time for the Humans has not yet come, we have to conquer the continent before then, only then will we have enough strength to annihilate all the inhabitants of the Morror Continent." (I) Facing this big box that contains the sacrifice of several of my people who, like me, cannot forget what those damned Humans did. "I won''t stop as long as there''s still a trace of life left in this body, no matter what I have to do..." (I) ---------- Pov Athena: After a few hours of talking, we were able to get along with the Queen of that Empire. It seems that her plan was to take advantage of the revolt that Gregory Roux would cause to identify and purge everyone who still had malice against Humans, it seems that the hatred against Humans has become so great on this continent that the simple fact of not having a war has caused many impatient people. She knew that Gregory Roux was a perfect symbol for such hatred and she used him, waited for him to join forces with others who think as insanely as he did, and then finish them all at once. But she underestimated his intelligence and caution, she didn''t even realize how big those numbers were. In the end, Gregory Roux is the leader for bringing them all together under the same ideal, so she sees no point in killing only him as another will take his place and the conflict will continue. "It''s been a long time in the shower, let''s go out, there''s still a lot we have to do until tomorrow." (I) ---------- Pov Lilian: After Athena and Angela exit the bathroom, I climb out from under the water where I''ve been holding my breath. "Angela is a smart girl." (I) "Yes, but it''s weighing heavily on the master, I''m sure the reason for this mission must be something simple." (Nix) "But I must say I''m surprised they came to Melissa." (I) "With the information that will be passed on to Melissa, the civil war is just a short time away." (I) "Don''t think too much about the future, we''ll just keep watching, there might still be something unexpected happening." (Nix) "That might be true." (I) ----------- Pov Zenos: The last few weeks have been so relaxing, I spent my time drawing and discovered something, I''m terrible at it, but Samira seems to have been influenced by me and shows great talent. Now she was on the balcony of my room in the mansion inside the Dungeon enjoying the dungeon''s starry sky. "(Master, why did you give this quest to Athena and her friends?)" (Nix) "Because..." (I) ......... ...... ... Chapter 669: Athenas Quest Part 5 Chapter 669: Athena''s Quest Part 5 Pov Lilian: I keep watching my niece through the window, I''m glad she''s alive and well, but I wish she had told me about her plans, I would have supported her with all my might. "I know you''re there, you can show up." (Melissa) I enter the room like a breeze through the window and make myself visible by canceling my ability as I''m sitting in front of her. "How do you know when I''m around?" (I) "I don''t know, I repeat that phrase whenever I''m alone, sometimes it works." (Melissa) "I''m surprised something like this works." (I) "We both know who taught me that when I was just a kid." (Melissa) I look at her, and we both smile at each other. "Why didn''t you tell me about your plan?" (I) "Because he was wary of the Empire''s best spy, so he had to keep you away." (Melissa) "How are you? I heard you were weakened." (I) "I''m fine, I''m the one who created these rumors to make them let their guard down." (Melissa) "I just didn''t expect them to attack so immediately." (Melissa) "He even created rumors about attacking another city as a distraction." (Melissa) "What are you going to do now?" (I) "I''m going to attack him, but he''s wrong if he thinks I''m going to do that inside the city, I would never put my people in danger." (Melissa) "You know I can''t help this time." (I) They act faster than expected, they keep going in the same direction, but this time they''re going at twice or even triple their previous speed, it seems they''ve lost interest in being cautious now that they''ve been discovered. As they ran, they were attacked by even more people, this time it was the troops of that Empire attacking the enemies. "(She is not among them.)" (I) Just like she said, she''s keeping herself hidden for a time when she''s needed. Even having achieved the first attack and being in greater numbers, soon the Empire troops are at a disadvantage, fighting in a forest is not an easy thing, in addition, the enemy troops have already started their transformations becoming true Kimeras, they have complete mastery of their bodies showing that they have done an arduous training and thanks to that they move through this Forest as if it were their home using this terrain in their favor. Soon the surroundings are ravaged by area-of-effect spells that destroy the forest giving a suitable terrain for both sides to fight, this takes away one of the worst disadvantages for the Empire troops. The fight continues, but this time they are more equal in power, then I see someone with a hood appear and shout something, then half of these Kimeras take a few steps back away from their enemies even at the risk of receiving some hits, which happens injuring many and killing less than 10 of them directly. So these enemies pay the purple crystal I heard about and hit the chest, even from this distance I realize that these crystals contain some kind of curse. "She should have shown up by now." (I) "She won''t show up...look at the city." (Darius) I look at the city which is not far away, something colossal was in the middle of the city hidden by the smoke caused by the fire in the city, there seems to be someone flying around that thing fighting this giant. "What is that,?" (I) "I don''t know, but should we get involved?" (Darius) "Yes, you guys deal with that monster, I''ll stay to continue the mission alongside Angela and Michael." (I) "Master Zenos won''t like us to help in this war." (Darius) "It doesn''t matter, I won''t let another city be destroyed while I''m just watching from afar..." (I) "I found him, I''m sure he''s the person who shouted the orders now, the man in the hood." (Angela) I look at the man who just appeared and is hiding his face, if he is our target then he will be killed now. "Now, it''s my turn." (I) Chapter 670: Athenas Quest Part 6 Chapter 670: Athena''s Quest Part 6 Pov Queen Melissa: I was on the city walls looking in the direction of the information this Celestina gave me yesterday. Since yesterday my best mages have cast several trap spells in this direction of the forest, my troops were also ready to mobilize at any time I give the order. I look at the clouds above the forest, they are hiding in some of those clouds waiting for Gregory to show up, could only wait and see what happens, if I show up from the start it will lower my troops'' morale and I could be falling into a trap of Gregory. I have to wait until I''m needed and identify the danger level of the enemies so I can take advantage of the element of surprise to finish off the most troublesome enemies first. "Ma''am, there seems to be movement a few kilometers further in the forest." "We wouldn''t have noticed such weak reactions as this before strengthening area detection magic." "Any idea of the numbers?" (I) "Reactions were weak even with the magic boosted, but it''s a few thousand at the very least."Nne?w n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com I look ahead and notice the movement of birds changing in an area not too far away, but other than that there''s no more evidence of enemies approaching. With those numbers, they shouldn''t be able to walk in a forest with terrain as uneven as this one, let alone so quietly. At that moment I remember the information I got from Celestina and my aunt, there is also the report of those who fought against Gregory''s rules. Gregory seems to have secretly developed an army of Kimeras, this explains the monsters I faced during the Monster Wave, they were all Kimeras of various different types, Gregory was trying to weaken me with that and I didn''t notice. Being further away I saw what that thing had, it had a body similar to that of a fat giant, but it had thick spider legs made of bones, in addition, it had four arms that had silver claws like metal, and it had no head, but it had 2 large eyes on its chest and a large vertical mouth that runs from the top of its chest to the bottom of its belly, it also had six tree-thick tentacles on its back. This thing''s body was not proportionate at all, some areas of its body had different colors and its body seemed to be coated in these hard. "How can something so big be so strong and at the same time fast?" (I) This thing wastes no time, its attacks started without warning, and its tentacles on its back started flailing around the outskirts destroying the center of the city, at the same time the big mouth opens in a way that the body of this thing seems to be splitting in half. Without letting out any kind of roar or sound, the fire spreads from the mouth burning the city and the castle, everything was so fast that I didn''t have time to react. All he knew was that this thing was very aggressive, it started attacking the moment it freed itself, also unlike most monsters this thing didn''t make any sounds other than those produced by its attacks. My capital was already starting to catch fire when suddenly rays of light shoot out of the eyes of what should be the monster''s chest, they seem to have a will of their own as they curve in the air until they reach me. "< Annihilation Shots > 5" (I) I use my pure Demon magic for a spell that creates 10 spheres capable of annihilating almost anything it touches, these spheres are condensed, frenzied Demonic energy. I created 50 of these orbs that rain on top of this colossal monster for over 25 meters, my orbs make a lot of holes in its body, but the damage was much less than I expected. The monster seems to feel no pain as it continues to tear the city apart, but this time one of its eyes has turned towards me along with one of the tentacles coming towards me. I tried to rip this tentacle off, but just like the wounds my energy spheres created, everything was healing at great speed and a new tentacle grows, so this monster turns towards me trying to use its arms to crush me. "This one is going to be hard." (I) Chapter 671: Athenas Quest Part 7 Chapter 671: Athena''s Quest Part 7 Pov Athena: I was hiding inside a cloud with my companions, waiting for Angela and Michael to find in it Albus that is Gregory Roux, this while a battle was going on below between the Empire troops and the enemy troops of Gregory Roux. When Angela identifies our target as the hooded person I attack with those who stayed while the others went to town to help against the giant creature we noticed too far away. "< Speed of Light >" (I) I cover my body with a glow belonging to the light element using an ability, this increases my speed far beyond my limits allowing me to get in front of the hooded person before he has a chance to react. "< Assassin Cut >" (I) Being this close to the enemy I use another skill as I grip my sword with reinforced firmness, my sword cuts his head off his body. But the moment I turn to another enemy to continue attacking, a shiver runs through my body and I jump forward, but I still get knocked away. "Good instincts for a weak Celestina, now die!" (Gregory Roux) I look back and notice that thin tentacles come out of Gregory Roux''s headless neck and towards his head. Soon after reaching, the head floats back to its place on the body, it doesn''t take long for the wounds to start healing. But something was different, the body was taller and stronger, and the right arm had a large curved blade coming out of the forearm, but the left arm had disappeared leaving in its place five tentacles that had sharp points that resemble very different types of claws from various monsters. His body was still distorting when 2 pairs of wings appeared on his back, but the strange thing was that each of the 4 wings were different as if they each belonged to a different monster, this formed a strange sight where the 2 pairs of wings did not match each other. Soon I saw what hit me earlier, his tail was some kind of Serpent, in addition, I realized that his Aura was strange, it looked like several different Auras trying to occupy the same space, and this formed a pressure that is slowing me down. "One Celestina, what is someone of the race enslaved by the Gods doing on this continent?" (Gregory Roux) "< Quintuple Attack >" (Gregory Roux) "< Palm of Purifying Light >" (I) Gregorio Roux had almost all of his clothes being ripped to shreds, which is why I could see the various changes in his body, but what surprised me, even more, was the amount of scarring on his body. These were old scars, as someone who has cut many people so far and been injured many times in the past, I can safely say that these scars were not made by monsters or during combat. When he attacked me with his clawed tentacles back-to-back, I dodge using everything I''ve learned in my training as I approach him, so I use another light element skill, but this one focuses on breaking curses. I approached him while dodging his tentacles even though it was dangerous to test a theory, so as soon as I was close enough I used that palm swipe at his heart. p The heart is always the center of the body''s functioning, by the miasma coming out of Gregory''s body, he must be using some kind of curse, the chances of this curse being engraved in his own body is great, so the heart would be the best choice for him that. I dodge and take advantage of his great weight to kick a leg, grab his arm and throw him away, taking this opportunity to use my armor magic. "< Purifying Liz''s Darts >" (I) When he runs towards me, instead of dodging as I''ve been doing so far, I took the opportunity to cast a spell that I mixed with one of my abilities. Several darts keep popping up with the amount of Mana I use on this spell, so a large number of darts at great speed rain down on Gregory Roux, but he seems to ignore it as he comes towards me, opening his grotesque mouth. Then a bolt of miasma hits me, but I throw my sword at Darius as he is positioned behind Gregory Roux. "< Scintillating Sword >" (Darius) Darius'' sword lights up with the energy of the light element building up, he lowers his sword and cuts off the only arm he had. But the arm grows back so fast that Gregory grabs Darius by the arm and slams him back and forth to the ground, I had to attack to knock him down to have a chance to save Darius. "< Sword of Pursuing Light >" (I) I use a spell that creates a sword of condensed light next to Gregory Roux at its most monstrous edge, this sword is stuck in the side of the body hit his organs. "< Great Dart of Light >" (I) I don''t stop my attack, I create a big Dart of light magic, these Darts have a lot of speed and this Dart was very big. "Die!!!" (Angela/Darius) Soon a spear pierces Gregory in the back and a sword goes through Gregory''s head, but the biggest problem will be the people around him. It took me some time to, but I had managed to destroy the enemy, I just need to pull out what was left of this head to serve as proof of the conclusion of mine. "I''ll take the body, let''s go now, we don''t have to fight here anymore, we have better things to do in town... "(I hope to arrive in time to help in the city... )" (I) "Damn it!!!!" (I) "< Shield of Light >" (I) Suddenly the body I was trying to carry attacked me without a head. "How is he still alive!!!!" (I) I send this body I thought was dead flying with the sword still attached to his side that I used to make him miss. "If you''re going to keep coming back, then let''s see how you recover if you don''t have more body to heal." (I) Chapter 672: Athenas Quest Part 8 Chapter 672: Athena''s Quest Part 8 Pov Athena: I can''t believe I was almost killed by someone who should have been dead after my last attack. "Did you think it would be that easy to kill me? Do you think I would let my revenge and plans be affected by something like dying?" (Gregory Roux) "Shut up!" (I) "< Corrosive Gloss >" (I) I apply a spell to my sword at the same time as I activate a sword skill that creates a double-sized sword around it made of light. The magic I used on the sword transforms the sword''s light into something poisonous that will penetrate the body burning from the inside out, this is an elemental poison type magic, there are thousands of variations of this magic for each element, but I chose to learn this one in the past on my sister''s advice. "< Demonic Corruption >" (Gregory Roux) A black and red energy comes out of Gregory''s deformed body, this energy seems to draw a black pattern on his body as his skin turns blue and his horns get even bigger. I recognize this magic, it is a forbidden magic that only the Demon race can use, they use all their demonic energy and part of their vitality to perfect the body permanently. This magic lowers the lifespan of the one who uses it while affecting the mind, demonic energy is wild, this kind of aggressive energy can make someone like a Berserk who only wants to destroy everything. Gregory Roux''s already grotesque appearance becomes even more unsettling now, his eye turning completely red like a monster''s. I, the magic circle that appeared under it had such a sinister energy that I couldn''t get close, it was as if my body didn''t want me to approach that energy. "(Come on, move your idiot body!)" (I) When the barrier was hit multiple times by arrows of Demonic power I lost almost half of my mana, when I look in the direction these arrows came from, I see the prison of light broken with tentacles coming out of there. Soon Gregory breaks free with wounds all over his body, but the wounds begin to heal quickly. "< Demonic Summoning: Fire Demons >" (Gregory) Gregory uses his own blood to summon Demon-type monsters, they are creatures that normally only appear in Dungeons and have similarities with the Demon race, but they are cruel and brutal beings discharged by their evil instincts, the vast majority of them have little intelligence and those with intelligence are extremely dangerous. The ones Gregory was summoning had red skin and hair like fire, golden eyes, 2 horns on the side of their head, a long tail with a flame at the tip, and wings with black scales. "Kill her!" (Gregory Roux) I remove my Mana Barrier and extend my palm in the direction my sword was thrown, so my sword goes straight back into my hand. I run towards these 5 Fire Demons that have been summoned, I can''t let them attack first and I''ve already lost half my mana with the previous attack, so now I''ll just use my sword for these weaker enemies. I run towards the closest one and cut her head off with my sword, but her body bursts into flames that slam into my light armor doing nothing to me. After that I run towards the other 4, I dodge a breath attack and a fire claw attack, then I parry an explosive punch with my sword cutting the attacker''s fist and using my wing to hit one over the head making him miss the attack. When I was ready to make an attack, I was forced to dodge dozens of red blades that came flying towards me, I''ve been doing my best not to lose Gregory Roux from my vision, that''s just why I managed to defend myself from these attacks. That moment gave a gap that the Fire Demons took advantage of to make their attacks, I had no way to defend myself, so I take advantage of this great fire attack to hide myself while I follow the direction of the flames to where Gregory was. My light armor protected me, but so did my own resistance to the fire element that had been trained for years. "This time you stay dead." (I) Chapter 673: Why Is It So Hard To Kill!? Chapter 673: Why Is It So Hard To Kill!? Pov Queen Melissa: This colossal monster that had a body similar to that of a fat giant, but had thick spider legs made of bones, in addition, it had four arms that had silver claws like metal, it had no head, but it had 2 large eyes on its chest and a large vertical mouth that runs from the top of the chest to the bottom of the belly, it also had six tentacles the thickness of a tree on its back. I tried to rip off one of the tentacles but the other one grew too fast, I use my attacks but nothing seems to have any effect on it. "< Weapon Summon: Demon Guardian''s Staff >" (I) I wave my hand forward gathering my mana and demonic energy to summon a weapon that I have a contract with, with this staff, I will lack less of my energy, my attack power doubles, and my demonic spells become easier to control. "< Drain Vitality >" (I) Since this giant monster seems to have a lot of vitality and high regenerative capacities, that''s why I decided to steal some or if possible already a large part of its vitality, all this to make it harder for it to recover from the next injuries I inflict. At least that was the plan, but the moment the magic circle forms and several tendrils of demonic energy trapped the monster''s body, I noticed an incredible amount of vitality within this monster and knew it was impossible for me to withdraw any significant amount of energy creature''s vitality, its vitality is simply at a much higher value than should be possible. I''m only able to steal an amount of vitality equal to mine, but that amount is nothing compared to what this creature has in vitality. "Damn, why did it have to be in the middle of town?" (I) "I have to be careful with the blows I use or I will be the one who will destroy the city!" (I) People are still withdrawing, I have to wait a little longer. "< Field of Shadowthorns >" (I) "< Demon Ray >" (I) I make the shadows under this creature and the shadows around this creature spikes that trap the creature while I create a magic circle in front of the staff pointed at the creature. Gradually my Demonic energy focus on the staff and goes to the magic circle, when I fire the Demonic energy beam I cut the colossal creature in half but then it heals again in a matter of seconds. My breath attack is similar to a breath attack, but I know it''s weaker, if I used a spell or skill that would be like that, then catastrophe could happen to this city without knowing the number of people still hiding. Not even an attack hits the monster that has great speed to attack, but I didn''t want a giant monster, I wanted to fight other people like Gregory''s Kimeras army. My previous attack corrupted the creature it hit, its body started to wither, moreover, their hearts had already been destroyed, but the monster did not stand still. "Why do not you die!?" (I) "< Eater of Shadows >" (I) Nothing I do seems to be working against this insane regeneration, half of their hearts are already healed to my regret. I use an area spell that I manage to define an area where we can use it like now. A large number of tentacles come out of the magic circle filled with hundreds of mouths each, these tentacles started to wrap around this gigantic body while their small jaws eat the body of this monster, besides that is the only solution I thought of. ----------- Pov Lilian: Seeing the city being attacked from afar while I''m standing there just watching, it seems strange to me to be doing nothing all this time. "We should at least consider helping deal with that monster." (I) "I don''t think bossa help will be needed, so just sit back and relax while the others struggle." (Nix) I look at the monster in the distance in the middle of the city facing Melissa, so she uses various types of spells or physical attacks that she''s already tried. "In the forest, everything seems to be going well too." (I) Everyone was trying really hard to get a moment of peace when it was all over. Chapter 674: Children And The Elderly Are An Exception Chapter 674: Children And The Elderly Are An Exception I was sitting drinking a beer with my eyes closed after stopping the horrible drawings I was doing. After so many days of training to improve my drawings, I still couldn''t get where I want to go, but it was a good distraction from all the fight and death that unfortunately I got used to in this world. "These designs are very good, but these armors are ridiculous, what woman would wear something that exposes so many vulnerable parts of her body?" (Karina) "It basically makes the armor concept useless." (Karina) "I know, I was just trying different types of drawings to test if I find what''s missing in the drawings I do." (I) "I think your drawings are amazing for an amateur." (Karina) "No, they only have form, they are empty of meaning, empty of emotion..." (I) For a second the image of the painting I saw in the church of the painting of the girl from the back comes to my mind, I vaguely remember for a moment seeing the image of a man touching the girl''s head with affection, I felt a great emotion and a meaning I couldn''t understand, but I can''t tell if that was an illusion or real. "Why are you drawing? It would be better to take your time to train more." (Karina) "I''m tired of training, besides this break is to lighten the load on my mind due to constant training and battles." (I) I don''t feel that load, but I imagine it''s there somewhere, I''ve heard that normally people don''t feel the weight of their own load until it disappears, so they feel the feeling of lightness. "As it has been for you, I know the rebuilding of your body is still in progress." (I) "Freya told you?" (Karina) "No need, the two of us are connected remember? I can feel some kim flowing towards you, plus your Aura is getting more and more different every day." (I) "It has been difficult when I was awakened by your power before I thought the whole process ended there, but I was wrong, the last part of the process of becoming a Dragon Priestess linked to you, true Dragon, started days after that." (Karina) "In the beginning, it was my body, it strengthened itself, but for that its power ran through my body destroying my bones and organs." (Karina) "Sorry about that, I''ve felt something similar before and I know how painful it can be." (I) "That wasn''t too bad as it happened slowly and in parts it took months to finish but the result was amazing." (Karina) "It was when my mind was attacked in my dreams that it was difficult, there were days I didn''t even wake up from the illusions created from your mind." (Karina) "What kind of illusions?" (I) "Your illusions, sometimes I had to fight, sometimes I had to understand something through the things you said, and the last time I had to answer a question that I didn''t even know I had inside me." (Karina) "Freya was a big help taking care of me while I was sleeping, plus it took some time to sort my head out after that, everything was really hard." (Karina) "I had a lot of trouble adapting to you..." (Karina) "Why are you keeping your eyes closed all this time?" (Karina) ----------- Pov Darius: I arrived in town just in time to see a child being swallowed by a plant before being dragged underground, soon a foot stomped where the child was, but the child was no longer there. I look around and see black shields rising from the shadows to defend people and Queen Melissa fighting the giant monster we saw from afar. The 3 of us came this far, but I don''t know if it''s necessary for us to help with anything. I look at the monster and I notice something strange, when Queen Melissa hurts him, I can see some kind of crystal inside the monster, I realized that there is a barrier around the crystal. I thought about telling Queen Melissa, but from the way she''s been directing her attacks, I think she figured it out along with me. Her attacks are accurate, but the monster doesn''t stand still receiving attacks, during one of her attacks the monster opens the spout causing an acid mist to come out of its mouth. Seeing from afar seemed like one of the best options considering the current scenario, it was only when it allowed me to stay still that I thought about what to do now, but nothing. Everything is going the way we initially thought. ------------ Pov Athena: "Why doesn''t he die!?" (I) This time I trapped him with spears of light passing through his body, the light poison in his body should already be burning his organs, but still, he keeps fighting. "How long can you last, Celestina?" (Gregory Roux) "Much longer than you after so many injuries." (I) "These aren''t wounds, there''s only a true wound inside me, what you did to me will never do the same level of damage that this wound did to me." (Gregory Roux) "< Curse Eater >" (I) I create a magic composed of five different layers of magic, with that a sphere of light forms to absorb the curse in the environment, but when it reaches Gregory Roux, the sphere of light went to where he is and was floating above his head. The sphere pulls in constant streams of Aura and stuff from Gregory Roux, but it doesn''t seem to stop or slow down, in fact, my magic also serves to locate curses. Thanks to that I''ve noticed that something is heading towards the city, it seems that the curse has formed some kind of link. I bring one of my rings up to my mouth and talk to Darius wanting to know what this monster we saw earlier from the clouds looked like. Looks like the monster was pretty bad, it was just as hard to kill as Gregory is being for me. After that I listen to Darius tell me more about the monster, furthermore, I realize that this monster might be the cause for Gregory not dying from my attacks at his end points. Chapter 675: I Know How To Kill You Chapter 675: I Know How To Kill You Pov Athena: Using the ring that allows me to continue communicating with Darius who is in town, I hear more information about the monster that appeared there, but one of those pieces of information caught my attention. "Tell me more about this crystal you saw inside the monster." (I) As I speak I keep away so as not to be interrupted, I continue to attack him from a distance with light element magic. "I only saw a part of the crystal, but I could see that it was purple in color and had some Runes engraved on the crystal." (Darius) "Was there a silhouette inside the crystal?" (I) "I wasn''t going to talk about it as it was only for a few seconds, but it looked like the silhouette of a foot." (Darius) "This worm has so much disrespect for himself that he''s gotten so low!?" (I) I look at the grotesque monster that Gregory Roux has become, he was managing to defend himself better from my attacks after so long of fighting, and now I understood why I couldn''t kill him before. He used a curse that normally only some Heretics or few Necromancers use, he used the Curse of Life and Death. This curse is a heinous act where the Soul has to be separated from the body before being sealed with a crystal, this makes the person immortal, but it has several inconveniences like not having any feelings anymore, the person becomes more aggressive and miasma starts to be emitted steadily from your body. The worst kind of punishment falls to the soul, over time the Soul is weakened over time, if it takes too long to release the Soul, then when the seal is broken the Soul can shatter as it is too weak. This curse may seem attractive, but it makes a person live a cursed life and when he finally dies he finds that he will have nothing as his Soul will disappear. He turned into this grotesque thing and still condemned his own Soul. "You''ve become a being worthy of pity, I think I can use that on you." (I) I land on the ground and spread my wings, unfortunately, I can''t use my Aura very well since I unfollowed God Baldr, but I can still use it. In the end, his skin started to dry and crack making more openings through which the light came out, it didn''t take long for the body to burn from the inside out and the body to disappear into dust. Ding! [ You won... ] All this took just a few seconds, in the end, there was no body left to regenerate, but I fell to my knees on the floor with blurry vision. I can hear the system, but I ignore it as I''m not in a position to see it right now. Sigh The clothes around my arms were torn to shreds and I could feel my arms hurting so much that even moving them was difficult for me. "Damn! It''s not the time... for this... there are still enemies..." (I) I try to pull a potion but it falls out of my hand, before I try to pull out another potion someone shoves one in my mouth while pushing my head back. In a few seconds, my vision improves and I see Michael covered in blood, I look around and see more than twenty bodies, I hear sounds of fighting and I see Angela tearing apart two enemies a few meters away. "We have to get out out of here." (I) "I don''t know if we should, the Empire troops might not resist." (Michael) "We''ve already done more than... we should have." (I) "The strongest enemies..." (I) "Angela just took care of the last two, we were keeping them away from your battle, the rest of the army may have noticed something wrong now that the barrier we made was destroyed by you." (Michael) I look around better noticing that there is a barrier flashing around us, I look towards the direction in front of me where I see a growing ditch that made a path of destruction through the forest in front of me, there was also a cut in the barrier where the path of destruction continued deeper in the forest. "Let''s go out, now." (I) Chapter 676: Please Help! Chapter 676: Please Help! Pov Queen Melissa: This damn monster doesn''t seem to die, I''ve tried to kill him with almost all my most powerful spells or skills, but nothing seems to work, he somehow defends or heals in seconds. I already know that he heals because of the many hearts in his body, the magic I used to create this big eye helped me to see for a while inside this Kimera and the energy flow inside her, that''s how I realized these hearts for a while. where a lot of energy and miasma passed. I also saw some sort of crystal inside it, but it wasn''t doing anything, I figured it was the way they were controlling the monster, so I tried to avoid hitting it. This monster is already being dangerous enough as it is now, if it loses control it can cause even more damage in this city and kill even more people. My Mana won''t last forever, I''ve already spent more than half of my energy reserves, but this thing doesn''t die, I''ve even tried to pierce all hearts, but it moves inside the body changing its positions, I''ve already tried to destroy the whole body, but it will rule itself at the same speed I can destroy. I still have means by which I could destroy his entire body, but that would destroy all of Cida along with it. "Maybe I can as I haven''t thought of that before." (I)Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com I was so focused on killing this thing that I stopped considering options other than killing. I can trap this monster by sealing it temporarily, it will take all the power I have left, but it will be worth it. "Let''s get this over with." (I) "< Seal of Sin: Pride >" (I) I use blood to build the same magic circle in ten layers, after that all my mana and demonic energy to activate this magic. "May my pride chain forever." (I) The circle spins as the demonic energy takes a form of mine, but more savage and demonic, then it goes flying towards the monster, the monster''s claws and tentacles passing right through it which was made of pure energy. When she arrives at the monster her arms and legs come apart as they become thick chains going around the monster to the other side, so the moment they meet a barrier is formed locking the monster from the inside. "Yea." "Would you be able to take care of this monster?" (I) "Yea." "Going to help me?" (I) "No." "..." (I) "I''ve already helped enough, Gregory Roux is dead, the most vulnerable in the city have been evacuated and the rest of the population has mostly managed to get out." "The rest is your business." "(When did he do a city evacuation?)" (I) I look around and I don''t really see anyone, my Aura doesn''t notice anyone either, it looks like he''s telling the truth, that means Gregory''s death is also true. "I can''t let the city be devastated, besides I don''t know if the creature that comes out of the seal I created will make it to another city, I can''t do nothing." (I) "(His voice is male but looks young, he also looks smart for having evacuated the city without me noticing.)" (I) "(My aunt says she has the Blood Temple now, so the chances of him being a Vampire are high, maybe a Priest.)" (I) "(He seems calm, so he must be strong or has experience with situations like that, which only increases the possibility that he is strong.)" (I) I start to think about the owner of this mysterious voice, I realized that I can''t end this battle, so he will be my only option to save this city and maybe even the other cities across the Empire that can be destroyed by whatever comes out of the seal I created. "What do you want as a reward for helping now? Please help!" (I) Chapter 677: Maddened Monster Chapter 677: Maddened Monster Pov Queen Melissa: "What do you want as a reward for helping now? Please help!" (I) I had no other option but to ask for help, I know I can''t handle this situation the way it is right now, so I have to try to ask this mysterious man for help as I''m the only one in a position to help right now. "(I just hope I''m right and you''re someone strong.)" (I) "We don''t have much time, so I''ll be straight, I want Nicolas the Magic Engineer." "..." (I) I look at my shadow, I can feel him watching me, so I try to keep a neutral expression, but I didn''t expect him to know about Nicolas, no one should know he''s with the Black Empire or on this continent. "We have many Magic Engineers in the Empire, but I haven''t heard of any Nicolas, but I can look for him if you wish." (I) "(I won''t let him take Nicolas, that madman shouldn''t be out in the world...)" (I) "Good luck with your colossal Kimera monster..." His response was so quick and without hesitation that it interrupted my thoughts. "Wait, don''t you want something else? Anything?" (I) "..." "I can give you a peerage." (I) "Can I give 1000 crystal coins or maybe you want some rare item? Maybe you want both?" (I) I look at the seal I created about to break, and an extremely violent Aura started to leak, for some reason, this Aura resembles Gregory''s but is much more powerful, brutal, and Evil. "(What an absurd amount of malice.)" (I) "Just say what you want!?" (I) I don''t know if I''ll be able to beat this thing even if it was in good condition, this Aura clearly shows that it''s on the limit to surpass the Lower Catastrophe Grade if that happens the monster may even die, but it will take days, meanwhile, during that time it can destroy the entire Black Empire. "..." "(He''s still listening.)" (I) "Just wanted to say I''m going to wait 3 days, after that I want you to deliver Nicolas on that bell, so see you in 3 days." "..." (I) "Are you still there?" (I) "(That damn bastard...)" (I) ------------ Pov Zenos: I was watching things from afar along with others after evacuating the children and elderly, to my surprise most of the adults also managed to save themselves. I saw Darius with two others running around helping to evacuate injured people and facing some enemies hiding in the crowd, Kimera''s Auras are easy to spot so I think it''s ok. After seeing all of Queen Melissa''s useless battle against that huge creature, they were impressive attacks, but none of them were able to kill the creature, besides that monster healed very fast. If I had been in Queen Melissa''s shoes, then it would have taken me a while to think of a way to defeat this thing, time I clearly wouldn''t have easily. I contact her through our shadows after seeing her sealing the monster, that''s because I felt this monster''s Aura and the concentration of energy building up in it. Lilian who was with me was looking strangely at me, meanwhile, Layla is laughing as she listens to my conversation with Queen Melissa. She wanted to pretend she doesn''t know who Nicolas is, but the Elf Queen Luthien had already told me about it, thanks to her I know that he is in the possession of the ruler of the Black Empire, and that''s why I agreed to come here. After convincing her to accept the deal, I asked Freya to fire the special arrow I had created with everyone''s help. This arrow was created from my blood containing all my Ki, Mana, and spiritual energy. After that this blood was crystallized in the form of an arrow with some magic circles and runes to increase the arrow''s power, furthermore, I put my Aura at full strength on the arrow. Vanessa used her holy magic along with her Aura to give the arrow''s Purifying effect, thanks to the holy power that Vanessa is putting into the arrow I already know we''re going to defeat a monster being ripped to pieces. But this was the first time I made an attack of this scale with everyone''s help, the power really was. I was going to help anyway, but it didn''t hurt to try to win something up, I was never going to let that happen in a place important to Lilian. So she kept quiet while I talked to Queen Melissa.Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com Chapter 678: One More Step, My Lady! Chapter 678: One More Step, My Lady! After we got rid of the monsters, I was surprised by the power of the arrow that contained all the power of Freya, Vanessa, and mine. I have to admit that it was an improvised experiment that worked very well, I didn''t expect such a level of destruction, Freya had a lot of problems controlling the arrow''s direction as she normally does, but as she had my blood, I helped her send this arrow to up just in time it hit that weird seal of Queen Melissa where the creature was. The explosion in the clouds was beautiful, those colored lights taking over the sky and scattering the clouds, it was beautiful, very destructive, and slightly scary, but it was a beautiful sight for something improvised. The wind caused by the force of the energy blast was so great that it made a chair fly towards me hitting my head, this momentary distraction prevented me from seeing the wall of a nearby building flying towards me right behind the chair. When I realized I was already being crushed in a tree hundreds of meters from the city wall where I was before. Sigh I sigh just resigned to my bad luck, I was a little weak from having used up all my energy from the previous attack, but I still managed to use my wings to get back to the city walls where a Layla was writhing on the floor laughing while the others were clearly trying hard not to start laughing. "Am I the only one who got hit by something like this?" (I) "Hahahahaha... of course only you would be such an idiot to be..." (Layla) Layla starts to mock me between her laughs, but Sakura makes a plant grow by trapping Layla while she gags her to keep her from talking nonsense. ------------ Pov Margareth: I didn''t expect Zenos to keep gathering more and more talented people, but accepting these people also means accepting the problems that come with it. "Your brother is someone strange, my lady." (I) "But I must say that he knows how to identify a real enemy, many would have been deceived by what they see before them." (I) "I know you would be deceived too, but that''s what I''m with you for, I''m the one who says what you missed so you''re well informed before you start punching people." (I) I was sitting high above the clouds like wings made of blood, thanks to a magical item my mistress gifted to me a long time ago. I was holding the red crystal in my necklace to communicate with my lady, she cannot speak normally in her current state, but I can still feel her emotions, which is enough for me to understand her whom I have served for millennia. "This is interesting, I didn''t think a Kimera Berserk would appear here on this continent, much less in the middle of the Black Empire capital of that continent." (I) The necklace light becomes stronger according to the strong emotions my lady feels, she can see and hear everything through me while she is wearing this necklace. "I know, this Kimera is still incomplete or would already be above the Lower Catastrophe Grade." (I) I could see everything that was happening in the forest and in the city, it was a great sight the big fights happening in two different places, but neither side was for the easy way to defeat their enemies, I could see through their Auras that Kimera Berserk had something inside with a different Aura, the same Aura of the one fighting Celestina who joined Zenos. "Yes, but now he''s dead." (Lilian) Gregory was careless in the end, I expected him to try to take over the Black Empire slowly advancing slowly while dividing his forces to control all the terrain he conquered, that would be when I would start my attack, at least that was the plan that would be used before being caught off guard a few days ago. "Yes, but the damage he did was too great." (I) I look at the destroyed Forest that should be repaired next week, plus the capital will need repairs after that big monster attack. I also need to think about the nobles, many died because they joined the enemy or during battles, I need to appoint new nobles who understand my ideals going forward. "By the look on your face, it looks like you still have a lot of work to do." (Lilian) Sigh "Yes, but the most important thing is to eliminate the enemies that remain, such as those he used as a distraction elsewhere in the Empire or those still in the territories Gregory conquered." (I) "I would ask for your help as I will need someone with your abilities, but I know you will deny it." (I) My aunt comes out of the shadows and sits next to me, holding two bottles of what I hope are good drinks, she hands me one bottle and Kills the other. "I have other responsibilities now, besides you have people of reasonable level to do this kind of work." (Lilian) "I know, but I would like to know who was that man who forced that deal on me?" (I) "If it''s any consolation, he would help even without a deal." (I) "I know, I thought about it that very day and came up with this answer." (I) "But at that dangerous moment, I needed reassurance about his help, so the deal was inevitable." (I) "He''s a weirdo, but you''d like him." (Lilian) "I would like to punch him in the face." (I) "I advise you not to do that, there are some people who may not like this, one in particular who likes to mix fire and curses can be very dangerous for someone who hurts him." (Lilian) It seems like he has other people besides my aunt beside him, but I still wonder who he was and who else is with him. I''ve heard the reports of the rescue in the city. "I still think it would be a mistake to hand Nicolas into his hands." (I) "Nicolas may not be a bad person, but he was one of the big culprits or directly responsible for entire cities destroyed and an entire kingdom destroyed." (I) Chapter 679: The True Enemy To Be Defeated Chapter 679: The True Enemy To Be Defeated Pov Lilian: I was with my niece, and now that I''m no longer a subordinate spy for the Empire, I can treat Melissa just like my niece instead of the formalities a subordinate must have with her master. It had been 2 days since the defeat of Gregory Roux and I was sitting on the walls near the battlefield where Gregory was killed, I was talking to my niece to find out how she is with all this happening around her. It didn''t take long for her to talk about the Holy Son, it seems she feels a mixture of anger and gratitude for him, but I can''t blame her for that, she just has to be careful not to cross the line, some people are very protective of the Son Holy, the scariest would be rica, Priestess Vanessa, and Lilith. About Nicolas, I had heard about him a long time ago, I remember he was brought from another continent by someone, but I never saw him or know where he was, even though I knew his name, I didn''t know he was a Magic Engineer or about his story. From what my niece is saying, it sounds like he''s someone dangerous, but that decision depends solely on the Holy Son. I look at my niece, this is the first time I''ve seen tiredness in her eyes. "You shouldn''t try so hard, the fight against the real enemy has just begun, so try to focus on what you need to do now." (I) She looks at me confused for a second as if she''s trying to understand the meaning of my words, then she laughs, bringing her hands to cover her eyes as she sighs. "So you understand?" (Queen Melissa) "It was easy to deduce the answer by looking at you and him acting in such strange ways." (I) "Besides, how old do you think I am?" (I) "I''ve been alive for centuries, I''ve seen kingdoms built, I''ve seen Kingdoms fall and I''ve experienced more than you can imagine." (I) "It was enough to observe things a little for me to notice the strangeness." (I) In my mind I remember the meetings where the Holy Son said that we would not say anything to help the Black Empire, I also remember even me asking for his help, he only sent Athena and her group to finish off Gregory Roux. "Gregory Roux was someone respectable in the beginning, I remember how he changed after the death of his family, his gaze was always full of hate." (I) "Yes, that''s why I made this plan, I wanted to purge this hatred from within the Empire." (Queen Melissa) "Gregory did me the favor of showing all these worms hiding in the shadows, it wasn''t the way I imagined it, but it still worked." (Queen Melissa) I look at my niece, she tries to show her dignity as Queen of this nation, but I know she''s grieving for the way it all turned out. "Gregory was a symbol for many who thought like him, his death will shake that kind of person." (Queen Melissa) "The people of this nation were able to see who attacked us and I made a point of saying why everyone saw Demons attacking other Demons because of their hatred for Humans." (Queen Melissa) "Even if no one talks about it openly, it should still be etched in everyone''s minds for a long time." (I) "I hope so, that''s why I did all this." (Queen Melissa) "Talking about hate would be pointless, no one would listen." (Queen Melissa) "Unfortunately people only learn when they feel the result of their actions, this time everyone saw the extent to which this hatred can consume them." (Queen Melissa) "Athena told me Gregory was using the Curse of Life and Death." (I) Sigh "A false immortality that leads to the destruction of the Soul itself." (Queen Melissa) "This curse makes people lose their emotions as well as many other horrible side effects, but even so Gregory continued to express his hatred until the very end." (I) "He lost his hatred the moment he used the Curse, but the obsession that was born out of that hatred still stayed, even though he hit rock bottom, he still remained trapped in a false hatred created by his obsession." (Queen Melissa) "A sad life and a death without honor or pride, the worst ending for a Demon." (I) Chapter 680: Crazy Magic Engineer Chapter 680: Crazy Magic Engineer Pov Vanessa: It''s been 3 days since Athena fulfilled her mission, it wasn''t the way I expected, but from the smile my Father has made, it seems that everything is in line with what he wanted to see. I am with him today on a floor of the Dungeon where the Heretic God of Fun is still sleeping on the effect of the Awakening that my Father granted him. My Father is not happy that this Heretic God spent such a long time sleeping when he could have helped in so many ways, the same can be said about the World Tree Spirit that is inside that strange Dragon Egg. My Father spent some time complaining about this useless Heretic God before we returned to the city within the Dungeon more prosperous than ever. "What are you going to do today?" (Zenos) "I''ll take care of the Temple, as usual, later I have to teach the future teachers of the school together with rica." (I) "In other words, you''re free until later, right?" (Zenos) "In a way, yes." (I) "Then I''ll leave it to you to find Queen Melissa." (Zenos) "Why me? It should be you, Father." (I) "I don''t want to get punched in the face, so I''m doing what everyone always asks, delegating obligations." (Zenos) "Or running away from responsibilities..." (I) "Exactly, so I leave everything in your hands, I go to the library to finish reading the story I found the other day." (Zenos) "Dad, wait..." (I) Sigh "He''s quick to get away..." (I) In the end, I arrived at the Temple and went straight to my room, since I would have to find a Queen of a great Empire, I thought I should wear one of the most beautiful clothes that Tania made for me and I didn''t have time to wear it until now. -----------Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com "Where did we stop our conversation? If I''m not mistaken you were saying something about us making a mistake." (I) "..." (Queen Melissa) From the look in her eyes, I know she must be thinking that Diana, Ivan, and I are mocking her, but we''re not, everyone said exactly what they were honestly thinking. My Dad is someone who makes a lot of mistakes, he''s usually the one who pays for those mistakes, so no one cares knowing he''s going to be okay. But there are also cases where other people pay for their mistakes, like getting into a battle they shouldn''t, creating a holy land, or walking across the ocean knowing they''re terribly lucky. Talking about mistakes with anyone in the Dungeon is useless, no one is afraid of making mistakes there. About her saying that the magic engineer is crazy, it doesn''t matter, we have many crazy geniuses inside the Dungeon like Lyra, Tnia, Nira, Rakan, rica, and Anton. They are all geniuses in their respective fields, but they also have different degrees of madness, not to mention the craziest person in the Dungeon is my sister Lilith. "As absurd as our conversation may seem, we were serious, we''re not trying to offend you, Lilian always speaks highly of you." (I) "We''re just trying to show that Nicolas will fit in well with us, I''m sure he won''t stand out too much." (I) Queen Melissa walks to the side where a large box that looks like a square chest with handles is standing, she grabs it by the handle and lifts it up easily before walking over to us, dropping this chest in front of me. "What is it?" (I) "Nicolas is in there, the madman has turned himself into a Golem." (Queen Melissa) "It also has the last body he created for him before he was captured." (Queen Melissa) "He did what?" (I) p I look at the box in front of me, I''ve heard of mages who transfer Soul to Homunculus to live longer. But I''ve never heard of anyone choosing to become a Golem. I bend down and see a magic lock with a password, I don''t know how to fix it, so I look at Queen Melissa who waves a piece of paper in front of me. When I take the paper, there is only one password, I use the password to unlock this suitcase, when I open it there is only a dismantled body and a magic core in the middle of the suitcase in the center. Chapter 681: Nicolas Part 1 Chapter 681: Nicolas Part 1 Pov Vanessa: I was surprised when I opened the suitcase, when I opened it there was only a dismantled metal body and a magic core inside the suitcase. The suitcase itself already had several barriers, but around the core, there was another barrier, I realized it was a sound barrier. One thing I noticed was an Aura I felt coming from that core, I didn''t feel that Aura before when this chest was closed, but I could also feel a presence in that core. I look at Queen Melissa who doesn''t seem to like seeing this core. "This idiot is very persistent about being free, he doesn''t mind being trapped, he minds not being able to do his research." (Queen Melissa) "How do I get him into this body?" (I) "I don''t know, ask him later, but do it when you''re not here anymore." (Queen Melissa) "It was a pleasure doing business with you." (I) I didn''t need to check anything, I''m sure Queen Melissa wouldn''t go back on the deal she made with my Dad, even if I did something so stupid, my Dad wouldn''t just sit around accepting it idly. Knowing him these months, I''m sure he''d do something crazy and steal Nicolas right from under Queen Melissa''s nose, maybe even steal the Black Empire''s vaults just for revenge, I can see him doing that kind of stupid thing. I take one last look at Queen Melissa, she doesn''t like how this ended but I can''t tell if it''s from losing Nicolas or not having the chance to punch my Dad. I can''t blame her, a lot of people want to punch my Dad for doing stupid things. ------------ Pov Zenos: After Vanessa went to meet Queen Melissa, I went to the library. I was in the library with a notebook in hand, I was trying to think of better ways to entertain the people of the Dungeon when Freya walked in a little dejectedly. "What happened?" (I) "I remembered something, I remembered something very important." (Freya) "To make you look like that depressed, it must be really important." (I) "We forgot about the Elf Queen Lolth." (Freya) "What''s with her?" (I) "We forgot to make her an Ancient Elf..." (Freya) "..." (I) "..." (Freya) "(I really forgot about it...)" (I) I close the notebook in my hands, then put my hand to my face trying to think of an excuse to forget something so important. I know we are under no obligation to do these things, but this is something that helps the Elves who have been the friendliest race to date to me. Also, Freya enjoys helping Elves, especially helping those connected to the World Trees, she feels happy and proud to do so. I look at her between the fingers of my hand still on my face, her eyes are distracted like she''s thinking about something else, plus she''s still depressed. "Come on Freya, no need to be depressed, we can go back to Elf Village to do this, what do you think?" (I) "I don''t know." (Vanessa) "I don''t know what a robot is, but what''s inside that chest is the Magic Engineer Nicolas." (Ivan) "..." (I) I look at Vanessa and Diana confused, but when I hear Ivan''s explanation, I look at him and then into the trunk. The next few seconds were a repeat of me lifting my head to look at Ivan and then looking down into the trunk. I must have looked like an idiot for someone watching from afar, but I couldn''t help it after how unbelievable this news was. "(Nicolas is a robot!?)" (I) "You seem to be confused, but I can understand this, this news is very strange." (Ivan) "According to Queen Melissa, this genius Magic Engineer turned himself into a Golem." (Vanessa) "A Golem..." (I) I keep looking at the separate pieces inside the Chest, there were arms, legs, head, and back. Everything was made of metal, the head was just a metal box with magic crystal spheres for eyes. "(No matter how I look at it, this is a robot.)" (I) "Can a person transform into a Golem?" (I) "As far as I know, no." (Vanessa) "I don''t know how he did it, but he was a fool to do something like that." (Vanessa) "I can feel an Aura..." (I) I could feel the Aura originating from what appeared to be the core, it was this very core that had a sound barrier around it, bone gave me the idea that he was able to speak. I close the trunk and take it to the mansion''s hall where I usually do the awakening ceremonies, but this time I chose this place because it''s secluded and spacious. I lift the core with big wooden tongs I stole from the kitchen, I won''t touch something I don''t know what it might be. "Free at last, thanks for letting me out of this cage without sound, my good boy." (Nicolas) "What is your name?" (I) "My name is Nicolas, nice to meet you..." (Nicolas) "My name is Zenos, these are..." (I) I spent the next few rounds talking to Nicolas who was just a core, a sphere that couldn''t do anything but talk. I introduced myself and did the same for the others, after that I asked Nicolas to tell me more about him, Nix was all the time in my shadow ready to focus if he lied about something. During our conversation he said he was an Outsider just like me or Samira, he said he always liked technology but never specialized in anything, to help the family when he was younger he started working in construction together with his father. He said he was Korean, he said he always liked technology but learned almost everything on his own, he said he only remembers sleeping and when he woke up he was being born in this world, he was born as an Elf, as he had a long life. He has dedicated his life to magic, but not the practice of magic like most people, he sees magic more as a source of energy, a type of energy he could use to fulfill his life''s dream, robots. He started talking much faster and more movingly as he talked in detail about his ideas boiling in his head. He studied some blacksmithing, magic, and spiritual runes, he talked about how he cried when he saw books about Golems when he was still young. He never seemed to stop talking, even when I asked him to stop, so I put him back inside the trunk, inside the sound barrier to silence him. Chapter 682: Nicolas Part 2 Chapter 682: Nicolas Part 2 After we got Nicolas, I stayed two more days in the Black Empire, but I don''t leave the Dungeon. Even so, I left Nira making deals with Queen Melissa about various types of books they have here, knowledge is always important, if you can get it just by paying money it''s worth it, as long as you have money left over, which is my case by the way. But while Nira got copies of books and useful materials for various types of production work, I let Lillian and Elsaris'' families steal all the forbidden books from the Empire, I also let them steal half of the treasure that Gregory Roux amassed in hiding. During the last battle where Gregory Roux was killed, I had made several Fairies and Spirits with the element of shadows stay hidden watching Kimera Soldiers troops from afar. I asked the Fairies and Spirits to follow anyone who tried to escape, this would be very useful to track down their base and could help me steal them before the people of the Empire found the base. I found all the research on body enhancement using various types of techniques and all the research on Kimeras along with many reports on the practical use of this research. A small fortune was also found along with a book of contributions, it seems that Gregory''s supporters gave all their fortunes to Gregory to fund this operation or stole it from others, they had records of everything, even expenses, and they were well organized. Of course, Elsaris killed everyone inside the facility, I don''t need prisoners and I can''t let these idiots who know anything about this research on Kimeras loose around. As the attack on Gregory''s base was fast and during the battle, it was unexpected for the enemy, in addition to books, various materials, and money, we also found out about the location of two other bases that I will attack. The other two bases were quite a distance away, so I let Elsaris take her family to one and Kira took a group she had trained to the other base. As a core he can''t move on his own, the only reason he''s able to speak is that he put that option in the various magic settings he made on the core. But being able to speak and listen is all he can do, he can''t see, feel things, touch, or smell, he can''t feel any kind of energy or Aura either. After I let him talk for a few hours, everything became easier, he seemed to calm down and wasn''t talking in the same uncontrolled way as before. What he said the whole time was about his projects, it seems like he spent a lot of time thinking about his research during his time in isolation, that''s what kept his sanity maybe. I let him talk, but I understand little of what he said or almost nothing, to be honest, he used a lot of technical terms and spoke very fast, it was as if he was putting out everything he kept inside him during so many years of solitude. After letting him talk for hours, I told him a little about myself too, nothing important other than a common conversation to make him more comfortable, after a few minutes I left his core in the mansion''s room which was where everyone sat for talk or rest so he would have more people to talk to even while he was busy with something else. The next day, the night before leaving the capital of the Black Empire, I was finally able to have a more serious conversation with him, the things the Queen said about him did, in addition to the things Lilian discovered during her conversations with her niece were not good. It seems like he has done a lot of things wrong his whole life, he personally has never intentionally killed anyone but his experiences have already caused explosions destroying his lab and everything around that might just be his house, sometimes some houses around, other times an entire block or maybe even a village. Also, he can be easily fooled as he thinks little of those who buy his creations, he accepts the money by investing everything in his research but doesn''t care too much about the rest. I asked him if he didn''t feel guilty that his creations were used to kill people, but he replied with a question "if a Blacksmith felt guilty that his sword was used to kill?", it was a valid question that made me understand how he thinks as he gathers everything he hears. Chapter 683: This Is Extortion! Chapter 683: This Is Extortion! Pov Nira: Since we arrived in the Dark Continent I have been feeling very good in the short time I''ve been out of the Dungeon, I thought that a place with miasma spread throughout the environment would be more aggressive for me as a Human. But to my surprise it was very comfortable, I felt the same thing even stronger when we entered the land full of undead, that place felt as pleasant to me as being on the beach, and it made me start to wonder what was wrong with me. When I went to talk to the doctor, Dr. Alan was a Demon that we saved during the battle in Makari, he was a very kind man, he spent his day helping the townspeople with their health problems or just walking around in a carefree way. He still had many tools that he brought with him when he was rescued, unlike what others might think, he didn''t mind being forced to become a Demon, in fact, it brought sharper senses to him that he used during his medical appointments. After going through some checks of his gadgets and spells, he said there''s nothing wrong with me, he said he probably knew the reason I was so used to places Humans should avoid. He said few magic books explain this but contract with some Familiars who become very attached to their master, at a very deep level they can change the master or the Familiar, maybe even both. This explanation made sense, Yomi was a Cursed Crow, he lived in environments full of miasma, besides that his race is always in places where cursed energy is concentrated, like that land of the undead. I understood why, so I was relieved not to be sick again, plus this was good news for me as the doctor said that it was much better suited to staying in miasma places like Demons and had greater resistance to curses. ----------- I had a lot of jobs in every city we passed but I was also having fun, finding difficult materials or trading with merchants was a cunning contest that I always found fun. p When the master gave me permission to trade a large volume of things with Queen Melissa, the ruler of the greatest nation on this continent, I was very excited at the thought of the amount of things I would be able to trade. When I arrived at the government building that was half finished, because of the monster''s attack, I was taken directly to the room where Queens Melissa was, it seems that as her castle is very damaged and the reconstruction reforms haven''t even started yet, she is using this place to work for now. As soon as we enter the room where she is in a meeting with several officers on her duty, we have to wait for her to finish which takes about 10 minutes, once the officers have left she looks at us with a frown. "Nice to meet you, her majesty." (I) "My name is Nira, I am here in the service of Zenos." (I) I started with books that the public normally doesn''t have access to, after a long discussion, I showed her that we''re not interested in Empire secrets, but we want the truly important books from the various areas of creation. We also deal in various metals and other materials at fair prices. The books could always be copied, so the negotiation was easier as they wouldn''t lose anything, but the materials were different, they are also going through a lot of reconstruction in the Empire and will need materials, so I didn''t get much, but I think that I can not complain. We signed another contract knowing that the worst part of the negotiation would be after that, before continuing we went to a restaurant close by, it would be good to go out and refresh our heads. In the middle of the afternoon, we resumed our negotiations, this time I had my eye on items from the treasure room and forbidden books. ------------ "I already told you that the Cursed Night Blood Books are out of the question." (Queen Melissa) "You''ve been saying the same thing about all the forbidden books." (I) "There''s a reason these books are banned!" (Queen Melissa) "Yes, but there are not only these ways to use these spells, a scholar in the field of magic can use these spells as a reference to create others or alter those same spells." (I) "The answer is still no!" (Queen Melissa) Sigh "Then I don''t think we will be able to enter into other agreements." (I) "Fine by me..." (Queen Melissa) "Just now I was thinking of placing the location of a base for Gregory Roux and his Kimera soldiers." (I) "That''s extortion!" (Queen Melissa) Chapter 684: Nicolas Part 3 Chapter 684: Nicolas Part 3 Pov Nira: "That''s extortion!" (Queen Melissa) "No, this is negotiation." (I) "Do you have any idea what treasures Gregory Roux has amassed by stealing dozens of the nobles by his side? Not to mention the things that must have been siphoned off while he was pretending to work for me." (Queen Melissa) "I imagine a lot." (I) "But that doesn''t change the fact that I have information to trade and you have items I consider of value." (I)Nne?w n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com "..." (I) She doesn''t show it with her expression, I''m also not able to feel her Aura because I''m very weak, but Yomi felt the danger and crossed a wall to land on my shoulder. "How about in addition to the forbidden books, adding about 100 crystal cards?" (Ivan) "I think that''s very fair." (I) Queen Melissa had dangerous eyes turned towards me and Ivan, she was very angry, but her expression didn''t show what she was really feeling. "You really don''t expect me to accept such a deal, do you?" (Queen Melissa) "I honestly hoped so." (I) "(This will prevent the master from doing something outrageous to get at least copies of these forbidden books.)" (I) "Even without your help, I would be able to find these secret Gregory bases in a matter of days." (Queen Melissa) "That might be true, a place like this where Lilian has spent her entire life certainly has the wherewithal to do so." (I) "But I wonder if that time can become precious time and that when I get there, everything is empty." (I) "You already went in there, right?" (Queen Melissa) "You still don''t tell me why you did this to your body." (I) "Why is this amazing!" (Nicolas) "A body I created myself, materials that had been selected after years of deliberation." (Nicolas) "I was so happy building that body, I remember balancing the spells was really hard." (Nicolas) "A mechanical body is the best thing that can exist, never feeling thirsty or hungry, not feeling pain, not feeling tired, all this is amazing enough but the real degree of happiness comes from the working of magical interactions, I''ve spent over 100 years in my research to achieve a better understanding of applying programming logic using magic." (Nicolas) "I''ve tried something like that too, that''s perfectly possible, it helps put spells in their best condition." (I) "It also helped while I was studying layered spells." (I) "I tried using spells to program, but it went terribly wrong, but I found that I still had some use in that knowledge." (Nicolas) I spent some time talking to this madman, he was always into technology and wanted a body more suited to his robotic beauty standards. He spent years gathering the materials he would need, the magic he had heard of several that would be essential to be able to control this body, but the biggest problem was that he needed spiritual Runes to link a soul with that body. He used the magic as if they were computer programs that he placed in that core, then he used Spirit Runes as part of the programming language to control the magic programs. He did this by using a slave Necromancer to do everything he ordered, this Necromancer was a spirit energy user, Nicolas said he was a very annoying crime slave who spent all day complaining about how he was going to turn him into a Ghost and then put your soul in a stone for daring to keep ordering him. Nicolas with the help of this Necromancer managed to place his Soul in this very special core. He said that in the past he asked for help from an Alchemist who possessed the unique ability of Synthesis to fuse the core of a Multi Elemental Golem and a magic crystal made from the core of a Specter. He said the two were national treasures that he had to steal when the rulers refused to make a deal with him. He calmly told how he destroyed one of the castles to steal what he wanted and how he took advantage of an Annual Monster Wave to dig a well beside the castle to steal what he needed from the national treasure vault. He''s a madman who doesn''t even realize what he did wrong, he talks about these things as problematic ways to get rare materials, and he even talks about how these two nations kept going after him even when he only took these two items and nothing else, he actually left the settlement money he offered earlier in the safe. The voice that comes out of the core where he is seems kind of robotic, but it seems that it was done by him on purpose, it was strange to hear his stories, he seems unable to realize what he did wrong, he believes he only did things necessary for his search. Nicolas seems to live only for his technological research, his main focus is robots, he said his dream was to build a giant robot. Chapter 685: Nicolas Part 4 Chapter 685: Nicolas Part 4 Pov Queen Melissa: It''s been two weeks since my aunt left with those who came with her. I am truly grateful they helped us, but I can''t stand this Zenos guy, he was bold enough to try to openly manipulate me by demanding things from me using important situations to force me to grant things he needs. I hate people like that, selfish people who get everything they want one way or another, that kind of person can''t be trusted, I don''t know how my aunt manages to stand by someone like that. "Ma''am... I''m sorry, Ma''am... Ma''am?" "Huh?" (I) While I was distracted thinking about my aunt and this unreliable fruit along with her, one of the new servants of the castle walks in, her green skin looking paler than before and her gaze strange, this doesn''t look good. "Please say it''s not bad news." (I)Rread latest chapters at novelhall.comn! Damn! How much bad news do I have to get today!?)" (I) A few days ago we found information about a secret door in the forest from the same direction that Gregory Roux''s troops of Kimeras Soldiers came, it was an Adventurer who found it, but he didn''t have the courage to enter and so he came to report in exchange for a safer reward. Unfortunately, that place was empty, only bodies were found there, luckily there were many documents that helped to discover the location of 2 more secret bases. Earlier today I received the information that these 2 secret bases are also empty, all there were were more bodies and documents that show everything that this Organization commanded by Gregory Roux has done so far. I know it was this group that that bastard called Zenos is a part of that took everything from these places. I''ve sent people to find them, but it''s like they''ve disappeared without a trace, just thinking about them fills me with rage. Sigh. "Just tell me what happened." (I) "..." "Madam..." "..." (I) "Sorry." (I) Upon realizing who was the real culprit, I momentarily lost control of my Aura, this made the Demon who came to give me this news fall to the ground. ---------- Pov Zenos: I spent days talking to Nicolas, I realized he''s someone obsessed with his research, he treats his job more like fun. He said that his dream is to build a giant robot, but he also admits that it would be unfeasible with a cost of production and maintenance that would not be worth it. To this day he has worked on the side to earn money for his high-value research, but he is naive and undervalues his work, unable to put a price on it. Worst of all, he''s terrible at judging people or the situation, he''s the type of person who goes at his own pace. I talked to him during these days while a Moon Element Spirit watched from afar, thanks to that I know he wasn''t lying if the Spirit was able to see through the lie of a disembodied core. I realized that he was someone straight and reliable, he doesn''t have any kind of prejudice, but he made it very clear that for him there are only two types of creatures, the first is robots and the other is all the others. He considers Golems and Autonomous Puppets to be robots, while Golems are made for heavy work, Autonomous Puppets are used for more delicate and precise work. The metallic body inside the chest where Nicolas was was a test Golem of his, he had built an Autonomous Puppet to serve as his body, but it was destroyed while his Soul was still in the adaptation period of being transferred into an object. Nicolas used a curse for his Soul to be trapped in this object, he said he was very sad when he woke up and heard about his new body being destroyed while he was being expelled from the continent, that''s how he was brought to the Dark Continent. I made a proposal to Nicolas, I promised him a laboratory, books, money for his research, and almost complete freedom for his work, he could even find his own assistants if he wanted. The only demand I made was his loyalty to me and the people who live in this dungeon, he didn''t even think, he agreed before I finished telling him what to expect from him, all he wanted was a perfect place for him to make his research, I''m handing it over to him because he knew he would accept it. For the rest of the day, I followed his instructions to assemble the robotic body that came with him in the trunk, after which I placed Nicolas''s core inside. Chapter 686: A Day In The City Of Shadows Part 1 Chapter 686: A Day In The City Of Shadows Part 1 Pov Sapphire: I still wake up with a little ache in my body, training the troops has been a tiring job that has gotten to me over the last few months, mainly because I don''t want to do administrative work. I wanted to get up, but it''s hard with five people on top of me. I look at the 2 Lamias above me, the 2 Ogres, and the Human who are all sleeping, I also look at the other people around sleeping clinging to each other. "(Shouldn''t have drunk so much yesterday, damn Helena, she''s better with alcohol than her mother.)" (I) I remember the Arachnee leader here at the Dungeon and second in command serving as my right arm, I look around and find her in a web of cobwebs on the ceiling sleeping with a small smile on her face, there are a few more arms showing but I can''t see whose are. I use a Ki technique that I have been training to make my body as flexible as a river, I try to contort my body slowly as people slip from my skin which becomes moist with my water element Ki. After that I pass people on the ground with difficulty because of my big body and long tail, doing this proves that my training since evolving has shown results now that I can control this big body so well. "That''s good, it''s still morning." (I) When I leave the basement of the house where the common room is, I head towards my room where I get some more casual clothes, today is a day off, so I don''t need to train the troops today. I see through the window that it''s still early in the morning, so I head outside to where Nolan stands shirtless in front of a large grill grilling vegetables and placing them in bowls on a large table. "Good morning, Sapphire." (Nolan) "Good morning, looks like one of the girls pulled you in again." (I) "This time it was Helena, it''s always a pleasure to spend time with Arachnes and Lamias." (Nolan) "But I''m always shocked by your house, the group here is quite large." (Nolan) "Helena is living with me, as we are both leaders within our race, things tend to end this way, but I think a lot of girls must be about to get pregnant so things will calm down for a while." (I) "I hope so, I might be fine, but there are many men even among the most robust races who find it difficult to keep up with you." (Nolan) "How many did you save yesterday?" (I) "Also, don''t call him Rei, you know he doesn''t." (Nira) "He''s someone weird." (I) "Look around you, who in this damn place isn''t weird." (Nira) When I walked into Nira''s office, she was at a desk where I could only see half her face up, that''s because it was full of papers and documents on top of her desk, just thinking about doing this kind of work gives me goosebumps column. "I''m perfectly normal." (I) "..." (Nira) She looks at me as she pushes away the stack of papers in front of her, and I see a smile on her face. "Tell Lamia that he took advantage of the drunk master to sleep with him." (Nira) "Can''t blame me for that, half the women in the Dungeon want to sleep with him, he''s by far the most handsome man here." (I) "You say that I agree that he is very handsome to the point of looking like a girl, but I can''t see him as a capable Man, especially his size and his are very different." (Nira) "Sometimes looks can be deceiving..." (I) I still remember that night, I was also a little drunk and got into the flow when I was called by one of the girls, but I was really surprised by what came next, in a very positive way. "Let''s get straight to the main subject, did you come for the materials you asked for?" (Nira) "Yes, I need a bigger sword since my evolution, but Anton has been busy, now he has finished most of his work and has time to make my sword." (I) "I already gave everything to Anton, the master also gave some of his Dragon scales, so expect a very strong sword." (Nira) "Thanks, I''ll talk to him when I see my daughter." (I) "She''s not home?" (Nira) "No, she''s been spending more time with Irius the last few weeks." (I) Chapter 687: A Day In The City Of Shadows Part 2 Chapter 687: A Day In The City Of Shadows Part 2 Pov Irina''s: "You could at least use a sound barrier." (I) "Sorry, but in my defense, I was dragged by her." (Irius) "Don''t lie to me, you are physically stronger than she is, I could have resisted if I wanted to." (I) "If I resist it might be worse, she loves a challenge and it''s already very difficult the way it is." (Irius) "I don''t care what you two do, just remember my room is right next to yours, there are certain things I don''t want to hear my brother doing." (I) "Sorry..." (Irius) I was walking through the halls of the mansion inside the dungeon next to my brother who I found leaving his room next to mine, while I couldn''t sleep and I was tired, he was bright and with a stupid smile on his face. After we get to the kitchen early in the morning, I see Ibuki sleeping on top of a table with a belly bigger than his own body while having big empty plates around him, Caryna was humming while cooking and her husband Leo was picking up the empty plates. "Good Morning." (I/Irius) "Good Morning." (Leo) "You guys got up early, good morning to you both." (Caryna) "Ibuki ate all the food again?" (I) "Yeah, we just turned around for a few minutes to get some fresh fruit from the garden, when we got back she was like this." (Leo) Sigh "Let me take her to her room." (I) "Thanks, that helps a lot." (Leo) I take Ibuki in my arms and take her to her room, she doesn''t even sleep here normally, but it''s still her room. "You might be right." (Vanessa) It seems Athena harbors a lot of resentment against the Church of Light, it worries me how she will react when we start to see more members of the Church of Light. "Have you come to see me for what purpose?" (Vanessa) "I wanted to know how you were and I wanted to see your preparations for school." (I) "Leonardo is starting construction tomorrow." (Vanessa) "All these fights in the holy land that we helped create left him without the manpower to do the work, so it took so long." (Vanessa) "Thank goodness there are a lot of people coming to me in the library to learn magic." (I) "No one is looking for me." (Vanessa) "You are a Priestess, nobody expects you to teach about magic, they think you will. About your religion." (I) "Ask to speak with Erica." (Vanessa) "Almost everyone is afraid of her, besides she is very focused on her magical research on curses." (I) "What about Rakan?" (Vanessa) "He sleeps half the days in the library, he only thinks about research, in addition, he often gets lost in big magical explanations that are difficult to understand." (I) I talk to my sister for a bit until I hear a noise, then I look outside and see Hela fighting Lilith in the sky above the city, they are fighting without magic using only their melee combat. Luckily neither of them is fighting seriously or half of this city would be destroyed, the way they move and aren''t using full force in their punches shows that this is just training. After the two flew away from the city during their combat. I say goodbye to Vanessa and go to the mansion, while walking I enjoy seeing people of various races walking around. "(I never thought my life and my brother''s would be like this one day.)" (I) "(I never thought I''d be so happy for such simple things.)" (I) Chapter 688: Returning To The Poisonous Forest Village Chapter 688: Returning To The Poisonous Forest Village During the trip back to the Poisonous Forest, I let Nix go on her own with Kira and Sophia keeping her company, so the trip would be much shorter at the speed of these three. During this time I formally introduced Nicolas to everyone, his Golem body was like a large metal puppet a little taller than me, his appearance very reminiscent of a robot. At the turning of the eyes he only had two magic sphere-shaped crystals attached, he used these crystals to see and use some utilitarian type magic. The Core that is where his Soul is was placed in a space in the chest of the metallic body, the head had no hair, mouth, nose, or ears, but the functions were all working from that body from what Nicolas said. Nicolas was still sad that this was just a test body from the past and not the body he took so long to build. Nicolas and Rakan quickly became friends, I think they saw the passion for magical research in each other. Nicolas also became good friends with Anton, he was very excited to have a Dwarf with an affinity for the metal element to help out, he made a point of befriending him, purely for reasons of interest. Nicolas hasn''t met Lyra yet, but I''m sure the two of them will get along, I realized they''re the same kind of person, the kind that drowns in their own work. Nicolas''s metallic body had very rigid and restricted movements since it was a test body as he had said before. I asked if he would want to build a new body, but to my surprise, he said no, it seems that around the time I left him in the room as a simple disembodied core, Lilith talked to him and told him about my awakening abilities. He was very fascinated by my abilities and knew it could be useful to bind his soul more permanently into a body he builds, so he wants to show that he deserves such a gift. When I enter the Village with Orion''s puppy form and little Layla on the other shoulder, I have difficulty walking because Hinata clung to me from the front, I had to ask her to let go of me to be able to walk better, so she started to fly by my side. When we entered the village I was surprised to see a small forest well organized inside with streets passing between one tree and another. In almost all the trees that were quite big, there were people using magic to modify the trees by creating houses inside the trees, there were also some people building houses on top of the trees. I look around and I don''t see the destroyed remains of the houses or the holes married by the battle that I had in the past, they had put a lot of effort in rebuilding. As we passed many waved at us, mainly children and women, there were also some men among them. These were people who stayed hidden in the Dungeon, those who didn''t wave to us still had smiles on their faces when they saw us. We were guided to a set of five trees that combined into a complex set of interconnected houses with inside trees and houses on top of trees. It was very beautiful but too complex to move around inside, and it was still under construction with dozens of Elves working on it. I was taken inside, it seems that even though the construction is not finished, there were already people working there, according to our guide who guarded the gate we entered through, this was the government building where all decisions are made. I was taken inside straight to a meeting room where only Joseph had piles of papers around him. He sees me with a smile on his face and many thanks, it looks like his family was among the families that went to take refuge in the Dungeon during the Monster Wave. Joseph wanted to sit down and tell me how everything has been about rebuilding the village, I sat down with him to listen as I was interested in how the rebuild was going. Chapter 689: BOOOOOMMMMM! Chapter 689: BOOOOOMMMMM! Author''s Note: The events of this chapter are something that happens around the same time that Hinata underwent her Awakening Ceremony being saved by Zenos. Recall that the Demon Goddess of Death, Kalistos made an arrow using the Hero Soul shard and the various control curses imposed on Hinata''s Soul. The arrow shot through space at that moment, you found out where that arrow went in that chapter. ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- ---------- - ---------- ---------- Pov Andreia''s (Executor of Light): Today is a day of great honor for me, I am in the Realm of the Perpetual Sun, a separate space containing the Floating Island that serves as the sacred land for the Church of Light, the holiest place that contains the power of the Great Baldr for having been created to protect and guide those who fight for the purification of all the evils of the world. I had the honor of having spent a few years in this place being educated by the best teachers and guided along the path that I walk today with great pride. I am here to deliver the seal of the Heretic God who was defeated a short time ago by our strategy, in addition, I was also nominated to receive a stronger blessing that the Supreme Priest of Light will personally grant me. I was brought in a Floating Ship to get to the island, normally I could come flying that distance with my wings, but one of the protection measures prohibits flying there, only the correct Floating Ships can fly in that space. Seeing the big magnificent island from above always fills me with emotion, a place as pure and bright as this is the reason I''m fighting, for the whole world to be like this one day. No more unnecessary death, no more disease, no more crime, no more hunger, and no more darkness.Nne?w n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com That''s why the Inquisitors fight like the spearhead throwing themselves into fights in the worst places there are, so we are willing to sacrifice anything, to bring salvation to our corrupt world. "Lady Inquisitor, we''ll be there in seconds." "Thanks, I''ll be right down." (I) I head downstairs and arrive in time to see the door open, then a light comes on like a path between the Floating Ship and the dock where it is parked. I walk the light path until I reach the dock where I am approached by one of the security personnel, I follow the protocols showing my identification and the reason for my presence. "Sorry for the inconvenience, Enforcer of Light." "Fine, you''re just doing your job, keep it up." (I) I say goodbye to the officer and walk back along the dock towards the Hall of Light, the island is as big as an Empire, but the biggest building here is the Hall of Light which is over fifty floors high, it has three Towers with two being the same size and the middle one being slightly larger with a sphere of white fire glowing to light up the entire island. The Hall of Light looks like a magnificent Palace whose sole purpose is to show our absolute worship of our great God. . . <[ You have been granted the opportunity to switch to the [ Holy Swordsman ] job ]> . <[ Do you want to switch to this Job? ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> "Yea!" (I) Ding! <[ You switched to work [ Holy Swordsman ] ]> . . . <[ You have acquired the Title [ Holy Warrior ] ]> I could feel the sacred energy inside me, before it was something I had to be given by my God, every time I used I had to pray to recover while I received it from my God, but now I could feel that this energy was part of me as much as my mana. I could feel a great power coursing through my body, I never felt so good in my entire life. "You have some words to say to her, I know her words are something she will take with her from now on." (High Priest) "You honor our family, my daughter, may your sword be a demonstration of your servitude to God..." (Father) BOOOOOMMMMM! Just as my father who was the fully clothed warrior in his armor that is my father was speaking, a giant explosion seems to happen and everything starts to shake, at a glance I could see an energy coming in this direction through the grate window, but before I could discovering what it was already too late was so fast and powerful that it broke through the defenses around it. Soon pieces of the roof began to fall off before he could understand what was happening. Chapter 690: Finding Elf Queen Lolth Again Chapter 690: Finding Elf Queen Lolth Again When I met that night with the Elf Queen Lolth, she was accompanied by a younger version of her, plus there was a man with fire for hair and someone whose gender I couldn''t tell. I had just arrived at the World Tree Temple which is far from the village, on the way I saw that all the damage from the Wave of Monsters had been repaired. In addition, the Temple that had been half-destroyed due to the fights of my Familiars was now completely new and with a natural charm with beautiful plants all around. Elf Queen Lolth was waiting for me at the doors of the World Tree Temple with a smile on her face. As I get closer, I realize that I''m unable to feel the two people''s presences, the only reason I know they''re there is because I''m seeing them. As a visitor, I maintain my politeness by making a point of introducing myself first. "Nice to see you, Elf Queen Lolth." (I) "Nice to meet you both too, my name is Zenos, I''m a traveler." (I) "Nice to meet you both." (I) The two were laughing in my direction even from afar, the big man with hair made of flames looked friendly with an approving smile as if he was sizing me up. The other who can''t figure out the gender has been looking at me with undisguised curiosity. "Good to see you again, knew you''d be back." (Queen Lolth) "Let me introduce these two to you, this flaming brawn is Vari, a Fairy King of the Fire Element." (Queen Lolth) "This genderless seducer on the other side is Irian, a Spirit King of the Water Element." (Queen Lolth) "I like you, those eyes full of determination are hard to find." (Vari) "Don''t listen to Lolth, not having a defined gender is very normal in our race." (Irian) "For those of lower level, we usually end up choosing more defined genders for our looks as we get stronger." (Vari) "But it''s really hard to choose, so why bother? In the end, it doesn''t really matter." (Irian) During the performance of the Fairy and Spirit Kings by the Elf Queen Lolth, the two began to argue as if they were old friends. "Nice to meet you." (I) ----------- After entering the World Tree Temple we all started talking, Queen Lolth told me about other things since Joseph had already told me about rebuilding the village. Elf Queen Lolth told me that she was able to contract with a Fairy, Spirit, and Holy Beast since our last visit, she said she was not able to do that before because everyone kept away from the World Tree because of the imbalance in the nature near the World Tree. The imbalance in natural energies and elements was already dangerous for people who have a weak connection to nature, for beings who live with strong ties to nature, this kind of environment is aggressive beyond anything most of them can bear with except for high-level ones. Because of this all the Spirits and Fairies as well as the Holy Beasts left, that was a long time ago, before the Elf Queen Lolth assumed her current position as Queen. "You almost killed his Hero and destroyed one of the main bases he built himself in the past." (I) "That''s what he gets for letting his worshipers commit a Soul Taboo." (Kalistos) "If it weren''t for the divine barrier around that place and half the energy was wasted crossing space, then that fool who calls himself a Hero would have died." (Kalistos) "You know you almost made him summon another one, right?" (I) "I don''t mind as long as you don''t break my Taboos again." (Kalistos) "In answer to his previous question, Baldr knows that if he doesn''t do anything else, he thinks that because he''s the only one fighting for a peaceful future everyone has to follow him." (I) "Naive dream, even though he sees the impossibility of what he desires, he doesn''t realize that the more he seeks it, the further away he goes." (Kalistos) Kalistos appears beside me and sits down in another chair, I leave a glass of juice floating in front of her as we talk, she takes it and drinks it as claws seem to stretch across the deep space squeezing the big slit and forcing it closed. Soon the rift closes as it collapses disappearing from everyone''s view with those claws now squeezing the empty space before disappearing. "Why does he always have to act so over the top?" (I) "Dragons are creatures of extremes, he likes to show his power." (Kalistos) "Waste of strength, I imagine you''ll be weak for a few hours from materializing your arm." (I) "Now that we have time, I wanted to talk more about your daughter." (Kalistos) "Which one?" (I) "The aggressive one, I''m aware of what she''s trying to do." (Kalistos) "She just wants to take advantage of a bad situation and turn it into an opportunity." (I) "She already has Divine power, she might even be stronger than some of the younger Gods, dropping all that might bring an unwanted imbalance." (Kalistos) "Everything is fine, nobody knows about her and even if they did, they can''t do anything." (I) "It will be an interesting family gathering." (I) The silence remained for a few minutes as I imagined my daughter and her maid''s plan working, at least until Kalistos spoke again. "Do you know that the time of sanctification is coming?" (Kalistos) "Yes, but it''s not the time yet, that''s going to get a lot of attention." (I) "I don''t think I can wait any longer, the conditions are almost all met, I warn others." (Kalistos) "They know, just like you and I, they can feel it." (I) "(I didn''t want him to depend on me so soon, but I think in that case it would be good for my Priestess.)" (I) Chapter 691: Kingdom With 2 Rulers Chapter 691: Kingdom With 2 Rulers Three days later we left the Village of the Elves, I had already taken care of everything with Freya''s help, after that, we didn''t stay long, one of the reasons was the large number of Fairies and Spirits that gathered close to me when I was away from Orion. But the few days I spent in the village of the Elves helped me to discover some things and I decided to make one last sightseeing trip before leaving this continent. A commercial city that according to Lilian has a questionable reputation. Lilian told me that the city is full of secrets, and also said that it has two rulers, the first ruler is the King known to be more merchant than King, but very fair and honest, he rules in the light for all to see. The second shadow cave ruler is his name is unknown, he leads all the bandits, pirates, traffickers, and clandestine organizations of that Kingdom. The two rulers do not interact with each other and tend not to disturb each other''s business as much as possible. This kind of balance seems to work because the criminal ruler cruelly punishes anyone who crosses the line, that Reina''s criminality sets its own rules making it one of the safest Realms ironically. ----------- I was traveling in my carriage as Nix wants to reign the Spirits inside the Dungeon now that they have enough intelligence, she even made a bet with Layla that she will do the same with the Fairies, I gave this advice to Nix because it will motivate Layla to do something productive with your time. I could go flying to this Realm, but I was in no hurry to go anywhere, so I was inside the carriage with Hinata lying on my legs and Ibuki drooling on my shoulder, Lilian was sitting in front of me. "What kind of ruler lets crime run wild?" (I) "The royal family in that place has always been more like Merchants, they only think about profit and loss, it''s not a wrong thing, but I admit it''s an incomplete way of ruling." (Lilian)Nne?w n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com "How long are these rulers from the same family?" (I) "Since before I was born, they''ve been Demons whose family has the same obsession with commerce." (Lilian) "So they are very focused on capitalism, focusing more on the financial area than the rest?" (I) "I don''t know what Capitalism is, but anything can be bought in that Kingdom, even things from other continents." (Lilian) It was an incredible sight, even more so at night, the lights of the two moons and the stars seem to reflect on the metallic trees creating an incredible light show. I was mesmerized by a place like this, but I also realized the danger from the flashes that must be a result of fighting within this forest, it''s happening in many different places, but I''m only able to see it due to my position at the top of the cliff. This is the kind of landscape I expect to see from a world of magic, this kind of pleasant journey is what I need, no Monster Wave, no terrorists, and no extremist religions. "~~Master~~~~" (Diana) "Huh!?" (I) I look up and notice that one of the moons is full, so I look at Diana''s face who is hugging me from behind and kissing my neck, her eyes and her breathing are very unusual. "(Damn! I forgot to pay attention to the state of the moons, luckily there''s only one full moon.)" (I) "Calm down Diana, let''s at least go back to the mansion..." (I) "It''s suddenly so hot..." (Ibuki) "rica what did you do!?" (Kira) "My head is spinning..." (Karina) "Calm down Kira, it''s going to be fun... hahahahaha..." (rica) "..." (I) I look back and realize that rica did something with the food, it seems I did well not to eat anything this time. I look at Lilian and my Familiars but all I see is them entering the Dungeon without looking back with Nix dragging Hinata with her into the Dungeon. "(My own Familiars betrayed me...)" (I) "Wait...not outside...WAIT..." (I) Chapter 692: Floating Ship? Chapter 692: Floating Ship? After another week of travel we had arrived in a small rural village, they were independent and did not trade with other cities, they were all retired Adventurers and their families. It was easy to spot a retired Adventurer in this place because of scars, missing limbs, or their Auras too strong to be ordinary people. I was relieved that everyone seemed able to cause common language in this place, in most villages or small towns we passed many are not able to speak common language so I have to let Elsaris and Lilian take care of everything because they know the Demon language. What made me very happy was to see the variety of food they grew in that village, each family grows something different, many of these foods were things we already had, but there were things we didn''t have. I made a seed exchange with them as they don''t care much about money here because they live isolated. After that we went back to our smooth ride, I changed from the carriage to a ride on Ragnar by land, I must say it was faster and more exciting. Ragnar moved through a forest better than a Wolf, he could even run over the calm trees, his ability to maneuver with movements in all directions was a lot of fun, I can move like that myself, but it''s always fun to see the someone else do it. As I ran there was always someone running beside me to talk to, whether it was Diana riding her Family Wolf or Vanessa on a Nightmare Horse. I took the opportunity to talk to Elsaris and Lilian about this Kingdom we are going to, this time I wanted to know more about the dark side of the Kingdom. One of the things he was interested in was how the ruler of that Realm''s criminals was chosen, but Elsaris replied something that Lilian later confirmed with more details. It seems that the leader of criminals changes every 50 years, but whoever chooses is the current ruler, according to Elsaris they always evaluate the most competent, favoritism by friends or family always ends in death, and the chosen one must have the ability and respect of other criminals to occupy such a position. I was a little surprised that criminals followed a culture that takes skill and reputation, I always thought only cruelty and money were worth it to them. I saved the Golem Core to give it to Nicolas later, he''ll be put to better use. I''m sorry for the mages who worked hard, but I couldn''t miss this opportunity and I leave resuming our journey, after 4 more days we arrived early in the morning in the capital city of Vartry Kingdom. The first thing I noticed was the solid defense of the defensive walls and the strength of Grade B and above the guards in the surroundings. But all this was diverted from my attention when I saw something amazing, right over my head and heading towards the city was a ship as big as the one I have kept inside the flying Dungeon. It was a flying ship, I was completely blown away and I''m sure my jaw dropped to the ground I was so shocked. Unfortunately, I wasn''t on high ground, so the Flying Ship disappeared behind the city walls, but I was still shocked. Soon an idea started to form in my head, a very fun idea. "We''re not going on a Floating Ship!" (Nix) "How do you know what I''m thinking?" (I) "It''s basically written all over your face." (Nix) "But it looks like a lot of fun, imagine the landscapes we would see..." (I) "Riding a ship on the ocean with you nearly leads to death, I don''t want to find out what kind of horrors traveling with you on a Floating Ship can cause." (Nix) Chapter 693: Vartry Kingdom Chapter 693: Vartry Kingdom I was in awe of the boat flying through the sky, every man is born dreaming of flying, at least that''s a saying I saw in a movie that I agree with. Unfortunately, not everyone sympathizes with my reaction to this flying wonder. "Forget the Floating Ship, think about the trouble you''re going to cause other people." (Nix) "Where''s your positivity? It''s going to be okay." (I) "Master, sorry for the sincerity, but nothing ever gets too close to you." (Nix) "You make it sound like I''m some sort of bad luck charm." (I) "It''s more like an incarnation of bad luck." (Nix) "Huh, that kind of mean comment breaks my heart." (I) "It''s not a mean comment if it''s a fact." (Nix) "Besides, figuratively hurting your heart rather than seeing your bones actually break when everything inevitably goes wrong." (Nix) "..." (I) Deep down I know she''s saying this for my own good, but after seeing that thing flying through the sky, I feel a youthful desire in my heart to get into one of these just enjoying the ride. "You''re not going to give up, are you?" (Nix) "Probably not." (I) "Do you know you have wings? Ragnar you are riding now has wings." (Nix)Alll latest novels at novelhall.com "You can even fly on my back or Orion''s, so forget about the Floating Ship." (Nix) "Don''t you understand, that would be different from flying on your own or riding one of you." (I) "It must be very nice to travel that way, from the looks of it, it must land on water, it must be very interesting." (I) Sigh "We are lost..." (Nix) "Come on, be more excited, where''s your excitement?" (I) "Why don''t you say anything, Ragnar?" (Nix) "It would be useless, I see his eyes, even with everything you''ve said, he''s still going to do that, speak seraninutil." (Ragnar) "It hurts to have my own Familiars treating me like this." (I) I was faking hurt feelings while imagining the scene of Titanic in front of one of those flying ships, then I thought of something even more exciting, if there are flock ships in the sky, then there could be sky pirates. "His eyes are shining." (Ragnar) It seems like thinking a lot made me realize something that would have landed me in prison, while I was worried about that I pass through the gate to the other side and I''m impressed to see two more different ships flying over the city left is very big, the city is even larger than the capital of the Black Empire. All the buildings were three floors up, plus the streets were very busy, there were many signs of stores and my nose smelled the aroma of many types of food nearby. The city''s colors were completely built apart from rocks, I didn''t see anything nearby that looks like it was built with wood. "This place looks like fun, but first let''s try the local food." (I) I was starting to get hungry, so I spot a food stall and go there almost drooling. After eating a leg of some sort of grilled giant crab monster along with Ragnar who has returned to his humanoid form and Nix who has come out of the Shadows, these two are very fond of eating. Ragnar ate 5 times his weight in food from the nearby food stalls while asking for the recipes for the foods he liked to jot down in his notebook. Ragnar always writes down the recipes he likes to show Caryna later, he likes to eat and Caryna likes to cook, the two have a strange friendship that revolves around food. After eating I decided to take notes with them around the city until I found a hotel to stay in, this time I don''t want to buy a house just to stay a week, but maybe it''s good to rent a house instead of staying in a hotel. As we were walking down the street, I saw many different races, there were many Demons and Demis, I even saw a Centaur, he was in a group of five Adventurers, they were all of the different races. But what surprised me was to see a Celestino among them, his wings must be hidden, but I can feel in his Aura traces of this race that I already felt in Athena, but he seems weaker and still has long ears that are a little smaller than the Elves, must be a hybrid of the two races. I kept looking at the various races, but I didn''t see any Humans anywhere, there were also a few Vampires. As we walked I realized that I don''t know the surroundings, so I went to an alley where Nix went to get Elsaris and Lilian to act as a guide for us. "You shouldn''t be in this city, everything here is more complicated than it looks." (Elsaris) "Don''t worry, I know what I''m doing, I''m not walking around alone either." (I) "We''re looking for the Commerce Guild, let''s rent a house for the week." (Nix) "No need, I have a house here, I had a lot of jobs in this city, so I bought a house 491 years ago." (Lilian) "Don''t you mind if we use it?" (I) "It would be a pleasure to host you, but we would have to hire some maids as the place has been abandoned for over 70 years." (Lilian) "We have some in the Dungeon, many Hobgoblins have chosen jobs that are not combat-focused as they find themselves falling behind from the battles on the Morror Continent." (I) "There seems to be a lot that she has learned from Freya and Caryna, but as Freya didn''t want to train everyone to have time for herself to train with her bow." (I) "They''re not the only ones, there are others like the Nymphs and Incarnations of the Forest who do work on farms and other places." (Elsaris) It reminds me that I haven''t seen any Nymphs for a while now, I haven''t even visited the farm for months as it''s on another floor of the Dungeon, I''ll check it out later. "We''re going to stay here for a week while we can explore the various types of transport to see where we can go from here." (I) "But no Floating Ships." (Nix) "I do not promise anything." (I) Chapter 694: One Punch And So Much Chapter 694: One Punch And So Much We followed Lilian as she led everyone through the streets. "Did you buy this house using a different name?" (I) "Yes, I had to work for over two decades at this place, even before that I had to come back here many times due to certain aspects of my jobs." (Lilian) "Having a house made sense, so I bought one." (Lilian) "The house must have been abandoned for a long time." (Nix) "Actually, it has never been abandoned, there are three families who live there." (Lilian) "Are they your subordinates?" (Elsaris) "More or less, these are families that I saved during my work, I made a deal with them using the God of Commerce as a witness." (Lilian) "I understand, so they can''t fail to comply with the parties to the agreement that will be included if they don''t talk about you." (Elsaris) "Yea." (Lilian) "What are these families like?" (I) "They take care of the house and have different jobs to act as my informants." (Lilian) "A family takes care of one where people have a very bad reputation." (Lilian) "The second family runs a restaurant in the center of town where many merchants and Adventurers like to go." (Lilian) "The last family only takes care of the house and the land around it." (Lilian) We continued talking along the way, at that moment I see a young girl of the Beast Man race of the cat tribe, she was beautiful and with a delicate appearance, and she had a kind face. I saw a Werewolf grab her band as she walked by, he was chuckling as he continued squeezing the girl''s ass delicate and smaller than him. I noticed his friends turning to look at him, one was a one-eyed Demon and the other a muscular Half Elf, they laughed as they saw their friend approach the little girl and drag her into an alley. The two followed their friend with eyes filled with lust into the alley. "That''s going to be brutal." (Elsaris) "Probably, but I won''t stay here to watch, let''s keep walking." (I) "We should go blind in about 20 or 30 minutes of walking at our speed." (Lilian) "Wouldn''t it be better to intervene?" (Nix) "Some people are dumb, don''t bother saving them." (Ragnar) "Are you going to let them do this to such an innocent girl?" (Nix) "From what you got it." (Ragnar) "She didn''t notice." (I) "She''s suppressing her own Aura, maybe that''s why she didn''t notice." (Ragnar) "I didn''t use Aura to figure it out." (I) "I noticed the killing intent, it was weak, but I got it." (Elsaris) "I can tell from the movements, you sure know how to fight." (Lilian) Before I could finish speaking the woman took a punch from Elsaris that threw her into the nearest alley with precision. People walking the streets ignore the discussion, but part of that was because of Ragnar''s Aura manipulation making most people pay attention in another direction, a trick I''m not able to pull off. The woman who was punched by Elsaris somersaults in the air to land on her feet throwing Fairies towards Elsaris'' head who uses her Bunny ears to deflect the knives slamming into the sides of the blade. Using Bunny Ears to defend throwing knives is awesome. "I advise you to leave." (I) "You think I''m here..." "Don''t count on your 9 friends, they won''t help." (I) "..." As the Queen woman appeared in front of us, I and I imagine the others sensed the approach of others who were hiding, I used my lines to capture them all. "I''ve captured them all now." (I) While she was distracted, I used a few more threads to tie her body, then looked at Elsaris. "That was quite a punch." (I) "Thanks, she reminds me of your grandma, it felt good to punch that bitch in the face." (Elsaris) "Do you know her?" (I) "No, but with that face and demeanor, not to mention the familiarity in her Aura, I know what family she belongs to." (Elsaris) While talking to Elsaris I made my shadow go in 10 directions to swallow these people. "I''ll leave them to you, get some information about the city or the Kingdom, then you can release them." (I) "I''m not going to kill the thief from before for stealing from me, I''m not going to kill those 10 for trying to get your friend either." (I) After that we walked to Lilian''s house, Elsaris went back inside the Dungeon, I know people were thinking about leaving, but I''m glad everyone is tied up. When we finally arrived at Lilian''s house we discovered that it was a large mansion that must belong to some noble, it doesn''t look like a lair to me where a spy could live for months. The house had 4 floors and was very big, but people still approached. I left Lilian talking to them while I went back to the Dungeon, there I find Elsaris talking to the captured people. I pass them and go to the mansion to eat some more things since I was starving. I ate something Freya had prepared that was delicious as usual, but when I came out Ragnar had a pile of empty plates beside him. I join them for a lighter meal, I started to eat some light things, the food that Freya prepares is the decision. Lilian introduces everyone to her employees after that introduces her employees to us. We spent the night at Lilian''s mansion as usual I go up on the roof to get a clearer view of the night sky, today the moon was luckily not full or that would cause me more problems. I just stood on the roof enjoying the beautiful scenery and wondering what to do with this thief and the 10 people who came to rescue. Elsaris told me they''re all local thugs and this kid was just training his skills for a test I make the most of my life to be fun, but sometimes I keep remembering unnecessary things. Now I''m less remembering that cat girl. Chapter 695: One Night At Lillians House Chapter 695: One Night At Lillian''s House When we arrived at Lilian''s house, we were surprised by the size of the place, but I was more surprised by the people who worked for her. After the introductions we were taken to the guards that we will be occupying for the time we will be here. During the night I went to see the starry sky, something that never tires me, somehow this habit I acquired since I cursed in this world helps me to think more clearly. Because of that my mind turned to that cat girl, she seemed innocent and kind to those who didn''t pay attention, just as my companions were able to see right through her using different points of view, I have to remember to always try to see beyond of simple appearance. Appearance can be manipulated in many ways in my old world, in this world there are even powers capable of completely transforming someone''s appearance, more and more I am reminded to always see deeper into things. I close my eyes remembering the naive characters who traveled to another world to live adventures in the stories of my old world, the truth is that it always seemed wrong to me how simple things were. Now I understand better, a world full of magic like this has many adventures, but there are dangers everywhere, those who think that monsters are the only danger will live little. The environment can kill someone, people can kill someone, and sometimes the person himself can run towards death without realizing it. In this world, people''s lives are less valuable than I''d like to admit, killing criminals here is not wrong, it''s actually encouraged, and we might even get a reward for killing wanted criminals.ViiSiit for latest novels But the same goes in reverse too, criminals kill people more easily and with less reason, wars happen with great frequency and entire Kingdoms can cease to exist leaving ruins behind. "Why are you up here alone?" (Nix) "I''m seeing the stars while I think a little." (I) "Please say it''s not a reflection on you anymore." (Nix) "Here, drink this and stop thinking, Lilian is preparing a feast for us." (Nix) "Huh..." (I) Nix shoves a bottle of booze containing magic into my mouth, I could resist but I just drank it all, the booze was amazing and made me a little dizzy showing it to be high quality to overcome my poison resistance. After that Nix pulled me inside the mansion straight to a dining room with many different types of food on the table, seated at the table was my group counting on Lilian and her staff. ----------- After an amazing dinner, I knew more about the families that live here in Lilian''s service, they were all involved in the crime in some way and were in a situation where the whole family could die, but it was in this moment of crisis that Lilian arrived to save them. These three families were under her protection which ended their problems and helped them find new jobs while also talking to them about becoming her subordinates in this town. Everyone talked it over to discuss a deal they all agreed to, then signed contracts that were presented to the God of Commerce, so no one would dare break the contract. It was Lilian who spoke about it as these people looked at her in disbelief for revealing a secret from these families and from Lilian. Then she said she must have realized that we are trusted by for Lilian and they became more talkative as everyone talked. ---------- After eating I let Nira, Ivan, Samira, and Erica out, I also let my children Irius and Irina out of the Dungeon, they all left the shadow Kinshasa accompanied by a Fairy or a Spirit. In the morning Nira and Ivan will be heading to the Trade Guild, Irina and Irius will now go as guards for these two, they may not be the strongest, but they are more sensitive and trained to recognize subtle things than most. Nira will be responsible for making these deals for the shops in the Commerce Guild. Chapter 696: Brutal Politics Chapter 696: Brutal Politics The next morning I get up still with some persistent drowsiness, while I got up like a zombie coming out of the grave, I feel someone helping me change my clothes, at first my mind was still off from sleep, but little by little I got more awake and I noticed that it was Freya. "Thanks for the help, but I can dress myself." (I) "I''m just doing one of my duties, master." (Freya) "Lilian asked me to come to wake you up, but when I arrived I found you getting up and I decided to help." (Freya) I let her help, I''ve heard that nobles have servants to help them put on their clothes, I always thought it was ridiculous, but it seems Freya likes to help, I know she''s been worried about losing her maid role having her daughter take over more and more the place that once belonged to her. Freya has been training a lot with her bow and arrow, in addition, she has been an instructor for the Dungeon archers and started her Aura training which she has neglected until now. I might feel ashamed if it was someone else, but she''s seen me in more humiliating conditions, so that''s okay. ---------- When I went down to the dining room, I found a large tray with a white skeleton of some kind of monster with no trace of meat left, there was only Layla, Ibuki, and Ragnar at the table with their mouths smeared with some kind of sauce. Freya takes me to the kitchen discreetly so the hungry don''t notice the direction we''re going, Freya takes me to the kitchen where she prepares a sandwich with the help of some of the Maids who work for Lilian. After I ate I went to the room where Elsaris, Lilian, and Nira were already talking. "Good morning everyone." (I) "Good Morning." (All) I sit on a couch and place a hand on my forehead still slightly hung over from yesterday. The reason everyone obeys is because they are being heavily watched by the ruler''s assassins, they are also watched by other criminal groups who have gained a lot by taking the business of the fool who tries to do something out of line. Those at the top of the power pyramid make a contract with the ruler that forbids them from going around each other and around the ruler, so they are more aware of those at the bottom waiting to take advantage of those more foolish with eyes hungry for greed. In this brutal system, the death toll is huge, only the truly capable and skilled rise while the greedy ones with no real ability are swallowed up by the others. The ruler is always chosen every 50 years, he must be smart, strong, cunning, and cruel. Candidates participate in a brutal competition where only the winner comes out alive being the first test of courage and daring to participate in the competition. For criminals origins, race, age, gender, or any other crap doesn''t matter, only true ability can survive in a world where only predators live. The greatest duty of the ruler of criminals is to keep everyone in some order to do their business without causing major disturbances or getting in the way of the rulers of this Realm. The Kingdom knows this and turns a blind eye to many crimes, as long as there''s nothing too serious going on, but that doesn''t mean crimes will still be investigated and criminals dealt with according to the law if they aren''t able to do everything in secret. This system of government is brutal, any mistake leading to death. One thing Elsaris said was that the Black Market only supports the ruler of criminals, they do it because thanks to this cruel system money is able to flow faster. The Black Market just like any other type of business likes to run things smoothly, this Realm is a central point for this entire continent. ------------ After listening to Lilian and Elsaris explain the crime in this Realm, I was surprised that something like this was happening, but what I didn''t like was what Elsaris said last. Looks like the people we captured earlier today are agents of this ruler of crime, the woman Elsaris punched is the ruler''s right hand man. Looks like the boy I caught was a potential new recruit being trained, they saw us but couldn''t stop the boy in time, they realized we were strong too late. Chapter 697: Agreements Between Merchants Chapter 697: Agreements Between Merchants Pov Nira: During the morning I get up next to Irina, it took me a while to get her to let go of me without waking her up, so I put some clothes on before going to the bathroom and then going down to the dining room that Yomi already warned me was full of food. ----------- When I came out of the bathroom I noticed that my clothes weren''t suitable for the mission, so I went into the master''s room and asked Nix to take me to the mansion through the Spirits'' portal in the master''s shadow. As soon as I got to my room and went straight back to the dining room I already knew where it was, I found Lilian finishing her meal with Elsaris and Ivan. I greet everyone before sitting down. "Are you ready for today, Ivan?" (I) "Of course, I don''t need to do anything and just let Vice take care of everything." (Ivan) "I wish you would take your responsibilities more seriously." (I) "I take it very seriously, but I''ll admit you''re better at negotiation than I am, meanwhile I''m better at management." (Ivan) "He''s right, that''s why the Holy Son always calls you when it comes to any kind of trade." (Lilian) "You''ve always been my best salesperson, so don''t complain and get the job done." (Elsaris) While we''re talking one of the employees gives me a glass of fresh juice, I drink and grab something to eat starting another topic of conversation. Yesterday after the master went to bed, I had time to talk to Lilian, thanks to that I have a more detailed notion of the commercial culture of this place, the master may not have thought of ours before, but we can find many things of value in this city that I can try to acquire. But the more valuable and rare things would be hard to find, maybe I can take advantage of this auction to attract more valuable things that we can buy.Alll latest novels at novelhall.com I told Lilian and Elsaris my idea, and they both agreed it was a good idea, I talked to Ivan that he would be in charge of the auction, as he was once a Nobleman, and he will know how to deal with East Timorese detained by nobles even better than I do, especially if someone from the royal family interferes, considering how heavily influenced they are by trade, that''s not impossible. I show my Guild card at the front desk along with Ivan, then request a meeting with a responsible business while handing over a letter of introduction for the business in question. A business manager is a high level employee within the Trading Guild, any big money flow business with the Guild must go through one of them, the Guild Master only takes care of things that affect the economy of the entire city or special cases. Ivan and I continued walking around the stores to get to know the Guild''s public movement better while we waited for an answer that came faster than expected. While we were talking in front of a magic item shop, a Guild employee comes up to us saying that the business manager will meet us for a meeting. We follow him to the top floor of the Guild where we are taken to an office where the walls are decorated with landscape paintings. "Welcome, my name is Bryan, I''m one of the 3 business leaders of the Vartry Affiliate Trade Guild." (Bryan) "Nice to meet you, my name is Nira, the one next to me is my mate Ivan." (I) "Nice to meet you." (Ivan) We exchanged a few greetings before taking a seat in front of his desk. "Your business plan caught my attention, do you want to open 6 different stores within the Guild?" (Bryan) "Yes, I would like to see if you have that many stores available or any stores willing to lend their space for a little over a week?" (I) "We have 3 stores available, one of which is already in the process of being leased to a local merchant, to get what they are asking for we would have to find merchants willing to give up their spaces for that period of time." (Bryan) "We are willing to negotiate values, we are just passing through and we have a variety of people in the creative business wanting to set up temporary stores." (I) "If the products are of good quality, the Trading Guild would be willing to buy all your merchandise, of course with a price still to be discussed." (Bryan) "Usually we do this, but these 6 people will be having a competition of who can raise the most money in that period of time." (I) "Interesting, a commercial competition between members of the same company." (Bryan) Chapter 698: Finding The Ruler Of Crime Chapter 698: Finding The Ruler Of Crime Pov Nira: I talked for a little over 30 minutes about the 6 stores and the Trade Guild employee by the name of Bryan said he could find some traders willing to leave their stores inside the Guild for the time I mentioned to him. We entered into an agreement that he would talk to these merchants, he also told me that he would hold the last two stores for me and delay the delivery of the second one if the merchant in question allowed. I wrote a draft of an agreement for him to present to these merchants, to present fair terms and an attractive price for the time I''m asking, I hope this streamlines this whole process. After that I started talking to him about the Auction, according to him only the Commerce Guild is authorized to hold auctions, but I could talk to the Guild Master to host an Auction where we will be in charge of everything with a Guild employee supervising everything closely. In addition, the Guild would be entitled to a still-to-negotiate part of the Auction''s earnings. In other words, they will give up the space and we will manage the Auction while closely watched, but I expected that my only concern would be with the values they will ask for. After finalizing everything, Ivan and I leave, with an appointment for tomorrow where we''ll discuss more details. ----------- Pov Zenos: While I ate something after I woke up, I took the opportunity to talk to Elsaris about the 10 prisoners. She said the woman was the right hand of the ruler of crime and the others were agents working for her, the boy who tried to rob me was just an apprentice with potency who was being trained. Elsaris said that a Moon Spirit was nearby and confirmed that she told the truth. "I''m still amazed at your luck, you managed to capture the right arm of the greatest criminal leader in the Kingdom within minutes of arriving, we still hadn''t even arrived at Lilian''s house." (Elsaris) "It''s not my fault, I just caught a thief and some people with bad intentions against us." (I) "Dad, it''s always your fault, I knew something was going to happen, we all did, I just didn''t expect it to be so fast." (Elsaris) "At least it''s not a volcano." (Hinata) Hinata appeared crossing my body with her spectral body, it made a shiver run through my body. "Get out of there Hinata." (I) "I didn''t see it, rica said it was amazing." (Elsaris) "That wasn''t my fault, we were just passing through at the wrong time." (I) "The moment we were next to the volcano?" (Hinata) "Irina looked angry as her new clothes burned a little from the heat." (Elsaris) "Wasn''t it so hot?" (Hinata) "It was just a coincidence what happened to her, so I''m leaving her and her friends here." (I) My shadow extends behind the armchair and 10 unconscious people come out lying on the floor. "As you can see, nothing was done with them other than a few questions." (I) "You put me at a disadvantage for knowing so much about me, Mister Zenos." (Jonah) "..." (I) "Don''t be surprised that I know your name, the Church of Light is very keen to go after you, there is a generous reward." (Jonah) "Thank you for the warning." (I) "Thank you, your help in saving this continent''s World Tree allows us to continue acting as we always have." (Jonah) "Fine with me, I just don''t want anyone interfering with my affairs." (I) "If I may ask, why are you in this town?" (Jonah) "Tourism." (I) "Tourism?" (Jonah) "I''m just having fun, travel should be fun, going to new places, meeting new people, and experiencing new cultures." (I) "Then I hope you like this beautiful city." (Jonah) "Me too." (I) I look for the first time at the man beside me, he was a half Demon, from his ears it looks like he has Elf blood too. I stand up and wave at him before falling into my own shadow. ---------- Later that night. I had just returned, and everyone was waiting in the living room of Lilian''s mansion. "I talked to him and got his subordinates back, he seems pretty smart so I hope he doesn''t come after me." (I) "I still think we could kill them all, it would be so much easier..." (Layla) "Stop talking nonsense, you psycho Fairy." (I) When I finished scolding Layla, I look out the window from afar, the truth is that my Aura was all over the mansion. That''s why I felt these more than 30 presences surrounding us. Chapter 699: A Warning With Blood Part 1 Chapter 699: A Warning With Blood Part 1 While looking out the window and seeing nothing I''m sad that my trip was for nothing, I look at the sky a little cloudy like my current mood. Sigh "What expression is that, say something stupid master..." (Layla) "Master, it looks like..." (Orion) "I know." (I) "How many?" (Ragnar) "A little over 30." (I) Elsaris appeared from somewhere and was silent, Orion hidden inside my hood jumps off me to the ground as he returns to his normal form, and Ragnar at the same time gets sharp-eyed as he maintains a combat ready stance. I had already sent an order to Nix and in a few seconds, Lilian and Kira appear through my shadow accompanied by Nix. "Kira, Elsaris, Orion, Hinata, and Lilian will take care of this, kill them all and bring their heads while you dispose of the rest of the bodies." (I) I focus my Aura on my fingertip with a bit of concentration, then I touch the forehead of the 5 with my finger. "During the next 10 or 15 minutes you will be able to feel my Aura clearly, with this I will guide you to where the enemies are." (I) "I want it too..." (Layla) "No, you don''t know how to act without attracting attention, if you do something you''ll blow up half the city for fun." (I)ViiSiit for latest novels "Don''t be exaggerated, it would just be a few mansions at most." (Layla) p "It''s still a no, you''re going to stand next to me doing nothing." (I) "What do I do?" (Ragnar) "Your Aura is the strongest after mine, besides having more control than me, protect the servants of Lilian''s mansion." (I) "I would be very happy for that, thank you." (Lilian) I close my eyes realizing they''ve just surrounded the mansion. "< Cursed Territory >" (I) Pov Killer C: I was with 5 other people, we were at the back of the mansion to make sure no one would escape, at least that was the plan. "Keep quiet, we have to attack by surprise." (Killer 1) "But I feel like something is watching us." (I) "It''s us watching you idiot, knew we shouldn''t have brought an Adventurer." (Killer 2) "He''ll be one of us after today if he wants to live long enough to pay off his gambling debts, right?" (Killer 1) "Yes." (I) "Now where are the others?" (Killer 1) "They were looking at the back." (I) I turned back to where the other two were, but I didn''t see anything there, but I smelled an unmistakable odor, threw a knife into a bush and a disembodied head fell. "Which???" (I) I turn to the side where one of the Assassins was, but there was nothing else, I threw myself to the side as I turned when I felt danger, but all I saw was the body of the other Assassin being devoured by Shadow Orbs with mouths full of teeth sharp. "Master said to get them all." Suddenly a little girl hugs me without me even knowing where she came from, but all I felt was fear, her expression completely empty of emotion and eyes without terrifying. After that, the small body split open to reveal teeth sharper than daggers and an infinite darkness into which I was sucked into complete terror without even having a chance to scream. ------------ POV Killer D: Before I realized that a mist had spread around the surroundings, a black and blue mist, I couldn''t speak, and moving my mana was very difficult preventing any effort to use magic. I was with 7 more on one side of the mansion, we were getting ready to invade the mansion when this two color fog started. The last thing I saw was a woman of the Beastman race of the Rabbit tribe, she had red hair and a bloodthirsty smile on her face while holding daggers in both hands. In a few seconds, she passed all of us using an attack on each one always hitting vital points, I only survive because of a life saving item I stole from a Noble a long time ago but it was useless when he threw a date covered in flames on my forehead, the feeling of warmth inside my head was the last sensation as my consciousness faded. Chapter 700: A Warning With Blood Part 2 Chapter 700: A Warning With Blood Part 2 Pov Killer E: From my position I could see someone being pulled by tentacles and I ran as far as I could, when I was close to the walls of the mansion, thinking I was close to the exit, suddenly a crack opens and hands made of shadows come out of this crack I like my whole body who starts to stiffen with me being petrified, the last thing I know is a childish voice coming out of the shadows. "No one will escape." ----------- Pov Killer F: Unbeknownst to the others, I put magic items on his clothes when everyone was still gathered, these magic items serve to detect vitality and absorb small amounts, they don''t cause any kind of damage and only serve as a warning. The item becomes even superficially bonded to the person from whom it absorbs vitality, this means that when the person gets rid of the item it darkens, but if the person dies with the item walking on their body, then it breaks. This item can be linked to another with a simple magical resonance, with this I was able to see the 34 crystals quickly shattering in a matter of minutes. I was on top of the roof of a mansion looking at a mansion nearby, nothing seemed to be happening there, I didn''t hear any kind of combat noise or light from any magic. I never approached that place, all I did was point the way to those Assassins, after that, I stayed behind watching from afar to secure the plan. "Was it her or was it this Vampire?" (I) "It doesn''t matter anymore, you''ll be coming with me."ViiSiit for latest novels "Ahhh....." (I) At the same time, I heard a woman''s voice behind me, a pain ran through my body and soon my vision darkens. ------------ Pov Zenos: I sat in the mansion''s largest window while Layla was eating her candy off my head. Heads fell on everyone''s food, but the people of Jesse place didn''t feel fear or disgust at this brutal sight, their murderous intentions towards me only grew bigger, one of them, a thin old Demon had the highest intention to kill. "I didn''t send them, I always keep my share of the deals." (Jonah) "I know it wasn''t you." (I) "I see..." (Jonah) Jonah looks at me for a second before turning to the other people at the table, I look at the Old Devil with the most disturbing smile I can muster. "You know, I don''t like people trying to kill me." (I) "< Blood Curse: Body Ruin >" (I) "< sound barrier >" (I) I use a powerful curse that turns blood into an acidic poison, it can only be used on weaker people, much weaker than me, making it useless in a fight, but very useful in a theatrical demonstration of a bloody warning. I even put a sound barrier around him so as not to hear his final wails, everyone in the room was surprised before standing up with weapons in hand, I also felt this separate room from the restaurant surrounded by people and magic being prepared. The only one who remained unfazed was Jonah, he had a slight smile on his face as he continued to eat his food. I used my Aura using only half the fear effect, it made everyone in the room stand where they were without attacking, same as the hidden security guards. "That was a very firm warning, Mr. Zenos." (Jonah) "I hope next time I won''t need that sort of thing, so don''t interfere with me." (I) "I don''t want to do anything in this town, so don''t interfere with me." (I) "I''m sure I speak for everyone when I say we''re going to stay away from you." (Jonah) The other 4 look at each other before nodding their heads. After that I turn around and walk out of the room knowing I''ve made my point very evident, I hope this saves my time next time by preventing another attack like this from happening. Chapter 701: A Dangerous Person Chapter 701: A Dangerous Person Pov Jonah''s: As soon as he passed through the city gates he heard about him, and many people from other continents come here to shop away from the eyes of others. Because of that many kinds of information pass through here, I heard a lot of rumors about him in the Morror Continent from the Human slavers, but they were just rumors with nothing to back it up.Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com It was different when he arrived on this continent, my eyes reach this entire continent, and I know the things he did, I may have my doubts about some of these things since many mysteries surround this Vampire. But one thing''s for sure, he''s strong, very strong, besides being more dangerous than he looks. When I learned that someone had captured my right arm, I was eager to show the mistake they had made, but I hesitated when I learned who it was. Alexandra has SS Grade strength, she was trained as an Adventurer and later as an Assassin, she is smart enough to know when not to fight, for her having been captured along with her subordinates means it was someone who surpassed her in strength by a large margin. I was thinking of a way to meet him, but I couldn''t seem weak, reputation is often the strongest shield for those who live the way I do. But when I got to my room and saw him, I knew I didn''t have to worry anymore, what he did getting past the security of this place and the various traps show a lot of his ability. I sat next to him for a few seconds, he blurted out a little, I''m sure this whole encounter was a big warning not to bother him. After I left, I spread my Aura to force Alexandra and her subordinates to wake up, she looks around and gets up to stand in front of me. "I''m sorry Jonah, it looks like I kicked a Dragon scale this time." (Alexandra) "Alright, he doesn''t have to be an enemy." (I) "Did you find out anything while you were trapped?" (I) "Somewhat makes me more certain that making an enemy of him is the path to death." (Alexandra) "Tell me more." (I) "I was trapped in a room the whole time, I noticed bloodstains and the smell of death, but I didn''t recognize the architecture, it could be anywhere." (Alexandra) "All I know is the person who asked me questions initially, it took me a while to recognize her due to her physical changes, but I''m pretty sure it was a Vampire named Elsaris, someone who works for the Black Market." (Alexandra) "I''ve heard her name before." (I) ,m "She''s someone smart and strong, but what stands out is her boldness, she always kills with a smile on her face, she was the one who attacked me first, I''m surprised she didn''t try to kill me." (Alexandra) "In addition to Elsaris, I was also interrogated by the young Vampire, her Aura was terrifying, it was the first time I felt as afraid as I was at that moment." (Alexandra) "It seemed to be an effect of his Aura or maybe some ability, but I''d bet it''s his Aura." (Alexandra) He came here to show his strength and paint a blood sign saying that anyone in his path will die. A person who kills someone is not dangerous, the really dangerous one is the one who does it brutally and calmly while still thinking about the repercussions. Right after he left, I''m leaving, I have nothing else to sort out here actually I used magic to inform my subordinates to attack the territories of the idiot who died, I couldn''t let it all go to waste, I can use this to raise a lesser criminal leader idiot to take the place of the fool who died. --------- Pov Nira: I returned the day after the first meeting for the Commerce Guild. I met up with Bryan again to talk about the Auction, and everything was resolved with less hassle. The price paid to use the Trade Guild infrastructure and resources for this auction will be 500 Gold Coins, plus 5% of Auction earnings. This seemed above expectations and I offered as a counter-offer to pay 350 gold coins in advance and 3% of the Auction''s earnings. After a long time of talking ended up with 370 gold coins and 4% of the auction profits, the truth is that the price was fair, but with arguments about using our own people for the Auction. Also, he managed to talk to the other traders yesterday, he gave me documents talking about the traders who accepted the deal directly and those who wanted to make another proposal. I accepted the two who accepted the proposal I wrote the last time, which makes me get 4 stores without counting the two without an owner in the Guild. The last two wanted a different proposal, one of them wanted double the amount in the agreement, this one I tore up the paper to disregard such an idiot. The second wanted to accept the proposal with an increase to earn 5% of the store''s profit during these days, I found the proposal better presented and rational, so I didn''t tear it up and asked Mr. Bryan to notify the merchant in question that I refuse his increase, but I can add 10% to the total value of the previous proposal. There were a few other merchants, many of whom demonstrated suitable offers, but I declined any other than a direct, upfront payment. I can''t promise anything related to the store''s profits, it could negatively influence the competition. After a while, Yomi enters through the door to land on my shoulder. After a few more minutes I was able to sign a contract with the 6 stores that we are going to need, I also organized the days when we will need these stores, and the day we would keep the stores was agreed. After this long morning of negotiations where Ivan didn''t help at all, we finally got back to the mansion with good news, we can start plans for 3 days from now. I will suggest to the master to start with just the 6 stores and after they close the doors on the last day to hold the auction. So their name should already be a little known, which in turn will raise the value of the items up for auction. With that all should be resolved, now I can concentrate the rest of my time looking in the stores, I think I''ll ask for help from the Gray Elves of the Dungeon to find those various materials that Nicolas made a list of, I hope to find everything quickly. Chapter 702: Commercial Competition Part 1 Chapter 702: Commercial Competition Part 1 I was leaning back while sitting on a tree branch with Layla sleeping on my head and Hinata reading a book sitting on my lap. Sakura and Ragnar were having a card game under the tree while Orion was chasing Nix as training for his tracking skills. Soon Freya comes bringing a large floating tray with Nira beside her, they stop under the tree and I get down while holding Hinata in my arms. "I brought you a meal." (Freya) "Do you know where rica and the others are?" (I) "rica, Irina, and Lilith went looking for books, I saw Ibuki going to the Adventurer''s Guild with Diana and Kira went to the Assassin''s Guild." (Freya) "Diana and Ibuki are going to find some monster to fight, I''m worried about what kind of book rica and Lilith want, but why was Kira the Assassin''s Guild?" (I) "She didn''t tell me." (Freya) "She wants to get some scoundrels to kill, she thinks we''ve spent too much money without having a steady financial income, so she''s going to rob the person she kills." (Nira) "Fine, I''m sure whoever she agrees to kill will be garbage in humanoid form, but we''ve got a lot of money." (I) "I could fill a small lake with that much money and swim in it, that''s actually an interesting idea." (I) "No swimming in money, furthermore I disagree with you, as traveling merchants, we have a better monthly income than some small towns have in 1 year." (Nira) "Products made at Dungeon are of high quality at a considerable price, plus we always have plenty of materials and food to sell." (Nira) "Whatever big city we stop in I can always get a large sum of money if I don''t spend it all buying the endless shopping list on my desk." (Nira) "Speaking of shopping, how are the 6 stores doing?" (I) "The renovations will be completed today, tomorrow the stores can open." (Nira) "Excellent, I''ve been thinking about the rules of this competition, it''s time to call these 6 to say the rules." (I) "I''ll ask Alice and Nolan to fetch them." (Freya) "Okay thank you..." () "You can sell any way you want, but you can''t force a person to buy, it has to be the person''s own will." (I) "I know you all speak the common language, but I also know that you don''t know the Demon language, so I suggest you find people who can interpret if necessary." (I) "You will have freedom of what you will sell and how much you will sell for, but try to maintain fair price margins, no pricing too low to sell in large quantities or prices too high to extort interested customers." (I) "Ultimately, the winner will be the one who manages to raise the most money from the store in the next 7 starting tomorrow." (I) "Does everyone understand the rules?" (I) "Yea." (all) The rules I''ve come up with are pretty obvious and simple, they''ll have a great deal of freedom in their stores to make almost anything they want, but I can''t let them force others to buy, I''m sure one of Lyra''s potions would do that. Nicolas created a magic item with the help of Hela allowing him to use the spectral body skill, with that he created a ghostly androgynous body. He is also using a second illusion magic item to make this appearance seem more real. "I can already imagine what kind of stores you will open, but say so anyway." (I) "Of course, it will be a potions shop." (Lyra) "A magic item shop, obviously." (Nicolas) "An art store, I have a lot of things I make in my spare time to sell." (Leonardo) "A weapons and armor shop, maybe a little repair if you''re in the mood." (Anton) "A clothing store, I will sell everything from normal clothes, to combat clothes and maybe some clothes to wear on more intimate occasions." (Tnia) "(She''s not planning on selling those perverted things, is she?)" (I) "I''m going to make a magic shop with books I''ve created and magic scrolls I''ve been making, I have a lot of them since dungeon people don''t like to rely on disposable items." (Rakan) Just as I imagined, they all went to their specialties, to be honest, I''m not sure how skilled they are in their respective areas of work, but from what Nira says, they must all be pretty good. "The reward that the winner will receive will be..." (I) Chapter 703: Commercial Competition Part 2 Chapter 703: Commercial Competition Part 2 Pov Anton: Today was the first day I opened the shop inside the Commerce Guild, this place is bigger than I heard, my shop was set up just the way I asked for it, earth element mages specializing in construction really do a quick job. I had 2 Ogres, 1 Orc woman, 1 Oni, and 1 Ghoul as assistants, they are my main assistants within the Dungeon too, they are excellent Blacksmiths. My shop is full of armors with different types of spells or abilities in them, it also has the swords, spears and other weapons, not all of them are jobs that I did myself, there are also jobs that my assistants did, I want to see how the people of this city do react to it. Just after I opened the door a man was already outside, a Dragonewt with very short hair and two imposing horns on his head. When I opened the doors he wasn''t even looking at me, his eyes were stuck on the wall at the back of the shop sra a shield made of black crystal scales, I made it with the master''s scales he lost during his training, it felt like a waste to play it was such a rare material. I made this shield as a test or that''s what I wanted but when I started crafting this thing my Blacksmith instincts started messing with my head, I threw myself into work for over 2 weeks while using several very rare items I got in the dungeon vault. This shield ended up becoming a growth item, this type of item binds to the owner getting stronger along with it, in addition, it needs to be taken back to a good Blacksmith to be perfected to the next level, this type of item is destroyed when the owner dies. It was the first growth item I made and I''m not even sure how I made it, that was my pride, so I left it as a decoration in a visible place. I look again at the Dragonewt in front of my door, he seems frozen in place, and his eyes never move, it seems that even when the door was closed he could see the shield. "It is not for sale." (I) "..." It seems like when I speak he wakes up, he blinks his eyes before looking at me a little confused, then he looks back at the shield before looking at me. "Where did you get that shield?" "I did it." (I)Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com "Did you make a Dragon shield? Where did you get the scales? I''ve never seen Dragon scales like this before." "Are you going to buy something or are you going to ask my trade secrets?" (I) "I buy it, give me that shield, I buy it at any price." Few ordinary people would spend their money on something that has no functionality, only Merchants and Nobles spend their money on these things for the emotions they evoke in people. I have a few statues made of stone, wood, and one of crystal, but most of my art is in paintings and drawings. I have always believed that we should paint with our feelings and draw with our vision of the world, traveling with master Zenos I was able to experience many things and see many places, it seems that I never lack inspiration. I don''t make art with what I imagine or dream, I make art with what I see and feel, that''s why I love helping to create cities, a work of art where people can live, a work of art that is constantly changing and full of life, this is the pinnacle of art. I open the store door with a big smile, I must be the only one who entered this competition with no intention of winning, even with such a tempting prize. All I want is to know how people will see my art, I want to see if people can connect with these precious moments for me. ----------- All through the morning, a lot of people passed by my store, a lot more people than I expected, they were walking around my store like it was an exhibition where they could see everything for free. I allowed it with a smile because I was happy with people''s reaction. "Excuse me, are you the owner of the store?" Suddenly a beautiful man with hair as red as fire and skin as white as snow appears, this was a beautiful man. "Yes what can I do for you?" (I) "Could you tell me who is the artist who created this city?" I look at the painting of the city he was pointing at, it was a city in ruins, it was full of bodies everywhere and the sky was darkening as the twin moons rose on the horizon, in the middle of this scene there was a woman with pink hair and red wings praying on their knees, there were also people of various races with their heads bowed while a red haired child holding a dagger close to his outstretched arm let his blood fall to the ground mixing with the blood of the fallen. "That would be me, what can I do for you." (I) "This painting is incredible, it demonstrates the destruction of battle, the desolation for the dead, and the homage of the living through blood." "Not many know the ancient traditions of a Blood Temple funeral service." "What''s the name of this painting." "Blood Burial." (I) Chapter 704: Commercial Competition Part 3 Chapter 704: Commercial Competition Part 3 Pov Tania: I called 3 Arachnes, 1 Succubus, and 1 Lamia to help me in the store, they are the same ones that help in creating clothes inside the Dungeon. The 3 Arachnes help me with the sewing and threads, Lamia is amazing working with monster leather, and Sucubo has incredible creativity in creating new clothing designs almost comparable to mine, I wanted to call Samira but the master forbade saying that she is more perverted than the Succubi. He''s not wrong, but Erica is still worse than Samira, in fact, I brought many models of clothes that I left in the back of the store in a hidden room only for a few to see. Apart from these clothes to wear in intimate moments, the rest of the store was full of models of normal clothes with some magical effects, there were also combat clothes. The store not only had women''s clothing, but it also had a lot of men''s clothing, even if it was in smaller numbers. When I opened the doors, a lot of people started to come in, everyone being attracted to some model of clothes, I already expected that beautiful clothes will always attract people. ---------- It was mid-afternoon as I was talking to a woman coming out of the back room, she was very pretty but tall and wore full body armor. "I can''t tell if he would like that kind of outfit." "He''s a man, so he''ll like it, but the most important thing is that you like it." (I) "I was embarrassed to wear something so provocative, it doesn''t seem to suit me." p "With such a beautiful woman, anything goes, that''s the easy part of my job." (I) "Thank you." The store was very busy, there were many people coming and going, and those who left were always taking at least one piece of clothing. I was surprised at the number of men passing through here, but these were Adventurers looking at combat clothes or so I thought so far. "You wouldn''t have that model of clothing, but a little bigger." The one in front of me was a man with red skin and pink hair, he had a single big horn on his head. The young man approaching with a serious expression suddenly stopped, I thought he was waiting for me to finish serving this customer before talking to me, but it looks like they are a couple from the way they left here holding each other. "You are the owner of the store..." Soon a new client comes to talk to me, this time a White Elf, I''ll meet her and answer her questions, from the moment I opened it I can''t stop seeing so many clients we have. This competition is already won. ---------- Pov Nicolas: This body is still very rigid, it''s getting in the way of the spectral body''s movement, and it''s horrible to do my job. So I had time to create my best stuff, but at least I created normal use items like Reading Crystals and Storage Crystals, I created them in different shapes and sizes. I also created some simple magic items like magic cameras and refrigerators, I wanted to make a magic stove, but the materials I needed were already in Anton''s hands. Fortunately, some Elves and Runics accepted to be assistants here at the store, the Dungeon people are very friendly, unfortunately, I didn''t have much time to make friends with most people. Now that I can move, I''ve been doing a lot of work transcribing my knowledge into books on a daily basis and making these magic items simpler as complicated ones are impossible with these rigid movements. To be honest, this competition doesn''t interest me, I can''t compete against others with such normal items, but I''m accepting to do repairs on magic items to see the kind of thing that is used these days since I''m away for a long time. ------------ Pov Zenos: I was eating a delicious meal next to a happy Ibuki when Freya came over to talk to me. "She seems to really want to participate." (Freya) "Did you explain to her what I said earlier?" (I) "Yes, but my daughter was excited about the idea of a restaurant or street food store." (Freya) "But Caryna can''t participate, with that kind of food she would win out over the others." (I) Chapter 705: Commercial Competition Part 4 Chapter 705: Commercial Competition Part 4 Pov Lyra: This competition is already mine, I have hundreds of types of potions and from my research, I know that there are two Dungeons near this city, in addition to being a center of Commerce of this continent. I have potions to use in combat like acids, poisons, and explosions. I have healing potions to heal external wounds, heal broken bones, increase vitality, restore Ki, restore spiritual energy and restore mana. I have potions to increase resistance against various element types, to increase physical resistance, and to increase magic resistance. I have potions to clear various types of affliction like sleep, charm, madness, different types of poison, and petrification. I even have potions for the most intimate moments like helping the soldier to be ready, to increase libido, to increase the energy that lasts longer, and to prevent pregnancy. I wanted to sell the most exotic potions I created, but the master forbade it saying it was dangerous to sell to unknown people. The master even forbade me to sell the potions I make for rica to use on him, which I agree, those potions would kill a normal person since I made them thinking about overcoming the various resistances he has. Even the lust, libido and sleep potions I''m selling have restrictions, the master has a Moon Spirit by my side during some questions I have to ask where these potions will be used. Nira told me that most of these potions are banned on the Morror Continent, but Elsaris and Lilian said they are allowed on this continent, so I think everything will be fine. I called some Elves and Lamias as my assistants, they are the ones who help me in my work normally. When I opened the store I left a sign on the door talking about the promotion of stamina potions in the Demon language, I studied this language with one of my moms when I was younger, she taught me several languages so I would be able to study a greater variety of books magicians. ----------- It was late at night when a big client came in, he came early and knew he would be back after his performance. "I see you liked my potions." (I) "I loved your potions, I was able to serve triple my daily customers and we''re not even busy yet." "I told you you were missing a great opportunity." (I) Magic scrolls were very varied and single-use for a reason, a magic scroll has a predetermined level, this means that the strength, elemental affinity, or ability of the owner has no bearing on the strength of the scroll. A magic scroll can be activated using global coins or the person''s own mana, unlike a ritual spell that must be controlled during its activation, a magic scroll is easy to control as its effect is already determined. Magic scrolls are more expensive than potions but cheaper than magic items. Unlike potions that cannot be used continuously because of their diminishing effects, a magic scroll can be used continuously as long as it has the energy to activate. Because of this, almost all Adventurers like to have a few magic scrolls to save their lives in a life-or-death moment. Strangely, Dungeon people don''t like using magic scrolls, they only believe in their own personal strength, they don''t even like using attack potions from what Lyra once told me. I like their mentality, relying too much on external items can get people killed, I myself saw this happen to that Demon prince I was putting up with when I was forced into slavery in the past. ----------- I was having a really fun discussion with one of my clients, she was holding one of my books in her hand. "The theory of elemental affinity conversion using a ritual magic circle with a magic crystal sounds very interesting, how did you think of it?" "At the time I was taking orders from an idiot, he made irrational requests, I had all the materials I needed, but I was always acting alone." (I) "Because of that, I had to improvise a lot, creating magic rituals following this theory allows one to use any kind of ritual magic, but it has the drawback of increasing the cost in mana and in magic control." (I) "That makes sense since you would have to create layered or interlocking magic, those two problems would be impossible to get rid of." "Yes, so even if this theory is valid, it is still recommended to seek help from mages specialized in the necessary element for the ritual magic you need." (I) I was content talking to this woman, she was a Witch, their Aura is unmistakable, and their love and obsession with magic is also well known. Many are afraid to befriend witches as they are easily obsessed with things they like and their minds are incapable of being bound by rules, laws, or morals. rica who evolves into a Witch Demon is a perfect example of this, her research on curses would be against the laws of any nation I can imagine, and her obsessions with studying her magic and Master Zenos are also very well known, not even Master Zenos can control her completely. "You know, I''d love to continue this conversation later." "I would really like that..." (I) Chapter 706: Eclipse Merchants Fame Chapter 706: Eclipse Merchants Fame I was lying on the floor resting with Diana, Ibuki, Karina, Sophia, and Hela lying on the floor covered in sweat just like me. We were all training in Martial Arts without using any skills, so it was no surprise that in the end, it was just Karina and Diana in the end, Sophia lasted a long time, but the difference in status was too big for her to keep up. We were training in Lilian''s backyard, I thought of that to bring a higher level of difficulty as we were careful not to destroy Lilian''s backyard or garden. The combat was all against all, this helps to train area perception, martial arts, and strategy. Sophia had an excellent strategy of being on the edge but the status difference left her behind, Ibuki had almost the same problem but Ibuki''s biggest problem is that she has no strategy, she fights using only instinct as you would expect of a monster. "Master, I can''t move." (Ibuki) "Then get some rest, in a few minutes you''ll feel better." (I) "But I''m hungry." (Ibuki) "I''m getting hungry too." (Sophia) "I''d like a big piece of meat." (Karina) "I want a beer..." (Diana) ---------- In the middle of the afternoon, I was reading a book on Demon magic in the living room of Lilian''s mansion when Nira came to see me. "How are they doing?" (I) "In three days, they tripled the amount I spent to organize all this." (Nira) "How are the other traders handling this?" (I) "They''re complaining to the Trading Guild, but there''s nothing they can do, Kira and Elsaris are watching from the shadows." (Nira) "I knew that everyone is very talented in their respective fields, but I didn''t expect something like this." (I) "Their talent is not the only factor, within the Dungeon you provide all kinds of materials, a lot of books from their work areas, and a comfortable environment to do their jobs." (Nira) "I''m not doing anything crazy I think." (I) "Let''s just say fishing." (I) "Fishing?" (Nira) "That''s all you''re going to get out of me, now if you''ll excuse me, I still have a book to finish reading." (I) --------- Pov a merchant''s: I am a merchant for 71 years, I made a name for myself and my store, and with time and a lot of effort I built up my store by making deals with many suppliers. Today I have 8 stores, 5 of which are in this city, each of the 5 stores is something of a different business that are Alchemy, weapons, armor, clothes, food, and jewelry. I was thinking of moving one of my stores from the mall to the Commerce Guild where the clientele would be more selected, this would increase my profit, I had already closed a store lease deal when the Guild came to me. I was presented with a proposal to allow another company to use the store I just purchased, I thought about turning it down, but the value they offered was tempting for the short time they asked, so I thought I''d try to negotiate a better proposal like a share of the store''s profits during that time, but it didn''t work. I decided to accept the proposal anyway, it was only 7 days and I still had 5 other stores since I hadn''t closed the store that I would transfer to the Guild. Unfortunately, I had made a terrible mistake, during the next 5 days, my top financial clientele disappeared causing my daily income to drop to less than half. p "Did you find out anything about those DAMN stores!?" (I) "Yes, they all belong to the same company, Merchants of Eclipse." (Secretary) "I didn''t know they were making deals with others, they stole 80% of my business." (I) "From my research, it appears that all stores are temporary and will be closed in another 2 days." (Secretary) "2 days is a long time for a merchant, during those 5 days I lost hundreds of gold coins, what I lost cannot be compensated with the amount I gained from lending my store." (I) I had already tried to send bandits to rob their stores, of course, I knew about the security inside the Guild, but I just needed a quick attack to watch the customers of those stores. Unfortunately, it seems that they are protected beyond expectation, all the crooks I sent have disappeared since then others do not want to accept the service. Chapter 707: Commercial Competition Winner Part 1 Chapter 707: Commercial Competition Winner Part 1 "Lilith, where are you going, come back here." (I) "< Tentacles of Shadows >" (I) "Why all this, I was just going to take a walk." (Lilith) I woke up to Nix calling me saying that Lilith left the Dungeon with Layla through my shadow. Lilith is very focused on this revenge thing, I know she avoids taking revenge on most people since everyone can make mistakes. But this city with so many dark things going on and people from other continents passing through, I''m sure there are some big bastards with a lot of revenge heaped on them. That''s why I''ve avoided letting Lilith loose, she''s too unpredictable to be left in this city, and she''s crazy enough to do horrible things out in the open if she wants to. "What a ride you''re going to take with your torture kit strapped to your belt and that combat outfit." (I) "A pleasant walk through alleys and houses, nothing too bad, maybe a little blood here, some limbs ripped off, but I promise not to use curses." (Lilith) "I''ve said it before, and I say it again, no blind revenge, at least see if the person really deserves what you would do to them." (I) "If I didn''t deserve it, I wouldn''t have such a brutal Aura of revenge." (Lilith) "It can''t be that bad." (I) "I can only feel half the city from where we are, but there are at least 13 people with vengeance of thousands accumulated." (Lilith) She''s a Priestess of Vengeance so I can understand what she wants, also I won''t be defending the horrible people who must have done a lot of bad things to thousands of people to have these Auras. "At least ask Elsaris and Beatriz to take a look at these people before doing anything." (I) "Why do I have to wait?" (Lilith) "If you wait I''ll make you a flower cake." (I) "I think I can wait 1 day." (Lilith) "5 days." (I) "And if they run away..." (Lilith) "Caryna was also asking for ingredients for a poison salad, she thinks she can use 17 poisons in this new recipe." (I)Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com "I think Beatriz might be getting bored, maybe a little spying alongside Jay will help her." (Lilith) I undo my shadow magic by releasing a smiling Lilith who takes me in her arms as we fly booted to Lilith''s mansion. "Let''s invite Hela to eat, she''s been working so hard on her research." (Lilith) "Let go of me, I know how to fly." (I) "Ivan was there to see his daughter on the last day and try to help." (Nira) "No, please tell me he didn''t kill anyone." (I) Ivan is very protective of his daughter, Lyra is a very pretty girl even compared to the beautiful women of the Dungeon, the only reason no one runs after her inside the Dungeon is because of her very young appearance for being a Homunculus. "He tried, Kira and Lyra worked together to hold him back before they were all kicked out of the Trading Guild." (Nira) Sigh "Is anyone following this noble?" (I) "Yes, Beatriz is following him, seems to be one of Lilith''s 13 targets." (Nira) "Ivan will be very happy when he hears about this." (I) "Please say he didn''t die in the other stores." (I) "He had no kills, but he had 2 other attempts." (Nira) "Someone from the Royal Palace was trying to hire Caryna, it was a very fat woman, she almost tried to kidnap Caryna." (Nira) "I remember that Leo was helping her, so he must have defended his wife." (I) "Yes, but they didn''t participate in that competition, which was good for the others as Caryna would have won." (Nira) "I know, that''s why I didn''t let her participate." (I) "What was the other fight?" (I) "It was at Rakan''s shop." (Nira) "Why would a fight happen there? I thought they only sold magic scrolls." (I) "The fight wasn''t about the products either." (Nira) "Looks like Rakan slept with a married woman, a Witch." (Nira) "Rakan did what!?" (I) "In his defense, the woman being married was unknown, it seems he only found out when her husband showed up with 10 other men to get him." (Nira) "And I thought I was unlucky..." (I) "The worst is now, the woman seems to want to leave her husband and stay with Rakan, which only made the situation worse." (Nira) "Who''s helping him?" (I) "No one, he trapped everyone with his magic inside the store while trying to resolve this situation by talking." (Nira) Chapter 708: Commercial Competition Winner Part 2 Chapter 708: Commercial Competition Winner Part 2 I was surprised that so many things had happened in a single day, I was also surprised by Rakan''s romantic problems. I didn''t expect such bad situations to happen in a single day. Some of these situations are a little funny, but I wasn''t expecting something like this, luckily it looks like Nicolas didn''t have any problems at his store. Sigh "At least one of them didn''t have any problems." (I) "..." (Nira) When I say that Nira who was eating freezes in place and looks away to the side. "Nicolas didn''t even have a problem, right?" (I) "Define your concept of the problem..." (Nira) "Must be kidding, he only had simple magic items, I just made him enter the competition to get him out of the library and the house where he''s been creating his magic items." (I) "I''m sure he was the only one who didn''t sell even half of his items." (I) "His work was of high quality, but it is true that there was nothing interesting about it." (Nira) "So what kind of trouble could he have caused." (I) "He was holding magic item concerts." (Nira) "He didn''t break anything, did he?" (I) "Actually, every item he repaired was almost twice as good." (Nira) "That''s a good thing, how could there be a problem?" (I) "Why have people from other continents tried to kidnap him at least 6 times so far." (Nira) "I know he''s good, but it shouldn''t be for that." (I) "After interrogating one of the idiots who ordered one of the kidnapping attempts, we discovered that they had tested Nicolas'' abilities by taking special magic weapons and other special magic items to repair." (Nira)ViiSiit for latest novels "Things a normal Magic Engineer shouldn''t even have access to." (Nira) "So why did that idiot fix these things?" (I) "Why can he, he is very naive and didn''t realize what they were doing, he doesn''t even know he was attacked since every time he was protected." (Nira) Sigh "Looks like we need to keep an eye on Nicolas, get him some assistant who can help in the administrative area." (I) "I''m already doing that." (Nira) I finished eating my sandwich and drinking my coffee, then remembered that I had strayed from the main subject at some point. "I think we veered off topic." (I) "You still haven''t told me about the trade competition winner." (I) "The winner was..." (Nira) ----------- Later, during the night, inside Lilian''s mansion. We were all around a dinner table with food made by Caryna, which is to say, everything was delicious. I waited for everyone to eat while we talked about the interesting things that had happened in the last few days, the only one who didn''t eat was Nicolas who was almost a robot or should I say he was a robot. After everyone was satisfied with their meal, I gathered everyone in the room to announce the winner of the commercial competition. "Before announcing the winner, I have to say that everyone did very well, Nira can''t stop praising the rivers of money everyone brought to Dungeon." (I) "Which makes no difference with the fortune we have..." (Layla) I point 2 fingers at this fairy talking nonsense and two lines come out of my fingers hanging this damn fairy that Hinata grabs to hold, I''ll think if I let go of her at the end of this meeting. "As I was saying before someone interrupted." (I) "Everyone did a good job, even Leonardo who left the competition early did an excellent job." (I) "The name of each of you is famous throughout this city, one day your names will spread across the world." (I) "The money was good, but the real reason I did it was for fun, I hope you enjoyed it." (I) "I liked it, there were many different types of people with different tastes, even the most intimate clothes I kept sold out, I also had a lot of new ideas for the next collection of clothes." (Tnia) "These days were very productive for me, even though I had few sales, I had the opportunity to see many interesting magic items which allowed me to discover the current level of Magic Engineering study." (Nicolas) "Then I have to talk about these last few days with you, Nicolas." (I) I want to talk to Nicolas separately later, I hope I can get some sense into his head. "As I was going to say, the winner among you is the one who sold the most making the most money during that time, you came close Tnia." (I) "But the winner is Lyra, who won over 100,000 gold coins, congratulations." (I) Chapter 709: An Incredible Reward Chapter 709: An Incredible Reward "But the winner is Lyra, who won over 100,000 gold coins, congratulations." (I) "Hahahahahahaha..." (Ivan) "I knew my daughter was going to win, I knew it from the beginning... hahahaha..." (Ivan) "Let me go Father..." (Lyra) Ivan grabs his daughter lifting the little Homunculus aloft while spinning with happiness, while Lyra wanted to be released from her father''s clutches, he was just laughing out of control. We had to wait a few minutes for Ivan to calm down before continuing the conversation. "Master, so the reward you promised is now mine, right?" (Lyra) "Can I assemble everything as I want?" (Lyra) "As the winner of the Competition, you are entitled to the prize of creating your floor in the Dungeon." (I) "But I warn you that the floor must still be functional, it cannot be a safe floor like the floor of farms and the city." (I) "Besides, Nira and I will interfere whenever you''re making up something really stupid, okay?" (I) "Fine by me, so I can set up a perfect floor to collect Alchemy ingredients, finally I can just ask someone to go there and get it." (Lyra) "I''ll never have to interrupt my research for days waiting for Nira to get the ingredients I need." (Lyra) "It''s not my fault if the town we''re passing through doesn''t have any ingredients, or if you use up those ingredients so quickly." (Nira) "Stay calm." (I) Nira really is the one that asks for the greatest amount of resources from Nira, Alchemy has always been a job that needs a lot of financial investment. There are many types of tools, skills, and ingredients, not to mention the amount of study involved. Many creative jobs are expensive, so it often takes time for these people to achieve success in their careers. In the Dungeon it''s usually different, that''s why I give full support to all of them, I provide all the money, knowledge, and materials I have at hand, when you need more things they were to ask Nira, that''s because she is the responsible trader to leave the Dungeon stocked. "You can do it however you want, but the Dungeon has its own rules and limitations that we will explain to you during the Dungeon floor building process." (I) "Yes, but he did it in front of me at incredible speed." (Greg) If this Magic Engineer is as talented as you say he is, then we can test him a bit. "Do you still have the damaged weapons I sent you?" (I) "Yes, they are in the warehouse as their pieces still hold a high value." (Greg) "Have each of the others bring these damaged weapons to these people." (I) "Yea." (Greg) ----------- On the night of that day. Once again Greg runs after me as he exits the bathroom, he pulls out a sheet of paper that I pick up to read. It was a summary report of what I passed on to him earlier, it looks like this mysterious Magic Engineer is as good as Greg said he was. From this information, he managed to fix all the weapons, but he also managed to improve all the weapons, this seems to be getting weird already. "Did you go to the Assassin''s Guide to buy information from this Magic Engineer?" (I) "I''ve already done that, but it looks like they didn''t have anything on it." (Greg) "It''s going to be a little risky, but we could change our lives if I turn this Magic Engineer into a slave under my control." (I) I think a little about our options, this city is not as simple as it appears, it may even have more people eyeing this Magic Engineer. "Contact Assassin''s Guild, I need 4 of our allies while together with some local contractors to get this Magic Engineer inside the Trading Guild or when he is leaving the Guild." (I) I''m going to be able to get this Magic Engineer, I''m going to need this opportunity to get out of this errand boy life, I''m just a delivery boy, this kind of life is a mere one, so I have to create a path for myself. ---------- After some days. Damn it, no matter how many people I try to send out to get that bastard Magic Engineer, but it looks like someone is protecting him. Chapter 710: Meeting An Acquaintance Chapter 710: Meeting An Acquaintance I had been laying around in a pool all day when Lilian appeared talking to Vanessa. "I don''t remember having anything like that in my house." (Lilian) "Why didn''t I, I just did it during my Spirit Runes training, I even heat the water to make myself more comfortable." (I) "But why make it so big? What happened to the garden?" (Lilian) "The garden is floating there." (I) I point up to where a garden the same size as this pool was floating. "Later I''ll leave everything as I found it, don''t worry." (I) "Aren''t you too carefree for someone who has survived so many assassination attempts?" (Vanessa) "They were futile attempts, any low level poison would be useless against me, plus I''m taking Lyra''s disease resistance potions, the curse is also something that will hardly work." (I) "I apologize, I feel ashamed of what is happening to the Holy Son, I should kill everyone..." (Lilian) "I already said no, at least wait until we find the mastermind, luckily they''re dumb enough to think I haven''t noticed anything so far." (I) "My Father is right, I just hope to find something out soon, I really wanted to kill them before we left." (Vanessa) "I want to kill these ingrates now." (Lilian) "Just wait, everything''s been going great for us so far, a little rowdy but okay." (I) "We are leaving as soon as the Auction is over, preferably the next day." (I) "Carlos is preparing the Ship inside the Dungeon." (Vanessa) "No need, I''ve already arranged a transport for us." (I) "Kira has already returned the Floating Ship tickets you purchased." (Vanessa) "What? When did she do this?" (I) "Do you really think we didn''t know about your plans? You made it very clear what you wanted to do when you arrived in this town." (Vanessa) "What''s the problem with wanting to fly through the sky to our destination in a quiet and calm way?" (I) "Dad, nothing with you is ever smooth or calm, remember the ship trip to this continent?" (Vanessa) "I have no control over the weather or the monsters, you can''t blame me for something like that." (I) "I''m not saying you did that, I''m just saying none of it would have happened if you hadn''t been there." (Vanessa) "Now you''re just being mean to me." (I) "If you want to blame someone, blame the Goddess or God of Luck for putting this curse on me." (I) "This is not a Curse, even though it often feels like one, your bad luck can only be blamed on you." (Vanessa) Me, Bianca, Darcia, Vanessa, Lilian, Nix in my Shadow, and invisible Hinata following me went to an upper class remainder where we paid for a secluded room. We are taken to the second floor where I create a sound barrier over the appraising eyes of the Priestess of Justice, Bianca. "I know you don''t trust me, but you don''t have to look at me like that, it''s just a sound barrier." (I) "Being too careful can be considered my weakness and strength." (Bianca) "Allan should be arriving by now." (Bianca) "In the meantime, could you tell me what Humans are doing on this continent?" (I) "I''m sure you two already know that, so why are you on this continent." (I) "Someone from the Temple of Justice made the suggestion that Allan and we could learn a little more about Demons." (Darcia) "Even on our continent, Demons and Humans never got along to the point where discrimination between the two races persists to this day, but on our continent, the level of strength is too high for us to try to enter a Demon Realm." (Darcia) As she explains, she kept trying to get closer, but Bianca kept getting in the way. "I had the idea to come to this continent where there are no humans to see how Demons live in their daily lives." (Bianca) "Actually it''s all normal, I don''t see much difference in the everyday life of Demons and Humans." (I) "The real difference is in the Demonic culture, but something necessary for them." (I) "We know that, but knowing isn''t the same as seeing." (Bianca) "Bianca and Allan may not know it, but even when someone is teaching about Demons in our Nation, they always have a prejudiced tone and tend to demonstrate the errors of their culture." (Darcia) "I always thought of Demons as perverts from what I''ve been told." (Darcia) "But after getting here, I finally realized that they have their own rules and laws." (Darcia) One thing I also noticed was that Demons are very open to their sexuality to the point that single friends sleep with each other, more than once I realized that alleys in cities aren''t just places where bad guys hang out. "Whoever taught me about Demons had no prejudice against them, but still learning from books is very different from seeing for myself." (Bianca) "I may not agree with everything I see, but I appreciate how Demons don''t judge by appearance and how they control their desires by channeling them into positive things." (Bianca) "I can understand why Demons'' pride is so important to them, their culture was built around that pride." (Bianca) "I''m glad to see someone from the Temple of Justice being so impartial." (Vanessa) "Impartiality is at the heart of my religion and the teachings of the God I serve." (Bianca) "Talking about fairness is easy, but not everyone is able to live up to it." (I) "One more has arrived." (Hinata) "I know, I noticed your Aura approaching the stairs." (I) "Who spoke now?" (Darcia) Darcia seems to have heard Hinata''s voice now and started looking around for someone she hadn''t noticed before. Chapter 711: A Hero Who Doesnt Like Me Chapter 711: A Hero Who Doesn''t Like Me I was talking to Darcia and Bianca when he walked through the door, I noticed his eyes were glued to me before the door opened, Allan still seemed to have some grudge against me. His eyes were full of suspicion looking at me with a slight hostility, I also noticed that his Aura was much stronger than before, his strength could even be a little higher than mine, at least that''s what I thought since his Aura was quite strong, the effect of his Aura seems to be one of retribution, which makes sense for the Hero of the God of Justice. "Nice to see you again Zenos, Vanessa, and Lilian." (Allan) I didn''t know he knew Lilian. "Nice to meet you again..." (Vanessa) "Let''s stop the falsehoods, please." (I) I stopped Vanessa from saying hello to Allan, I could see from his eyes that he''s disgusted to meet me again, so there''s no need to keep a facade, I''ve always hated falsehoods, and I don''t need to hide what I feel from others and I don''t like being done to me. "I know Bianca is wary of me, but at least her opinion is neutral with no hostility towards me." (I) "Darcia likes me because of her personal tastes and demonstrates this with fervor by being honest with how she feels." (I) "So please don''t be fake in front of me, her eyes show that she doesn''t like me, so act the way you want, I hate fake." (I)Alll latest novels at novelhall.com "Says the Vampire who threatened to start a massacre in the village of Elves and then defend the same place from the Annual Monster Wave." (Allan) "See? Don''t you feel better about being honest?" (I) "Sorry about my Dad, he prefers people to talk to him honestly even when they don''t like him." (Vanessa) "That''s an interesting way to treat other people." (Bianca) "I like that, it makes everything simpler." (Diana) "..." (Allan) "We may not be friends, but we''re not enemies either, so how about some conversation? But if you want we can leave too." (I) "..." (Allan) Allan exchanges a look with the two girls in his group without moving from the door, it seems that they are communicating just by looking, it seems that they have been together long enough to understand each other like this. "A conversation never hurt anyone." (Allan) "Good thing, because it would be you guys going out, I heard they have a really good Alcoholic soup here and I want to taste it, so I''m not going out..." (I) "Father! It was you who invited them." (Vanessa) "Yes, so if they don''t want to talk, they''re the ones who have to leave, I want to eat that soup that Diana said was really good." (I) "I''ve had this soup before, it''s really good, they have 3 different types of soup." (Lilian) "One based on seafood, one based on monster meat, and the last one based on plants." (Lilian) "I''ll order all three." (I) "I''ll have the meat one, anything that has meat must be good." (Darcia) "The vegetable one must be good..." (Vanessa) "I''ll go get the waiter, he''s taking too long." (Lilian) "..." (Allan/Bianca) ------------ Pov Allan (Hero of the God of Justice): After we leave the restaurant we go to the Assassins'' Guild to get the information we need while we chat along the way. "Why do you still hold a grudge against him?" (Bianca) "That Vampire can''t be trusted, I can feel in his Aura the judgment and condemnation that shouldn''t be with someone so unbalanced." (I) "His mind works strangely, he acts lightly and says what he thinks best, he doesn''t care about laws or rules when they are not useful to him." (I) "You''re just jealous that he''s prettier than you are." (Darcia) "He may be prettier, but he''s crazy, someone who resorts to slaughter so fast is beside himself." (I) "He might be weird, but you''re just looking for faults." (Bianca) "You''re supposed to be on my side, so why do you want to go to this auction?" (I) "Do you know how horrible it was to enter that cursed Dungeon? There were so many specters immune to physical attacks, I''ve been looking for a good sword for a long time to fight these types of enemies." (Darcia) "I can get you Darcia, but seriously Bianca? Aesthetic potions?" (I) "Shut up, what will a man understand about a woman''s concerns?" (Bianca) "Since we left the Morror Continent, the salt of the sea and the various places we''ve been through that we''ve had to fight have destroyed my skin." (Bianca) "Local products are unsuitable for me as a Human, they were produced exclusively for Demons." (Bianca) "But it could wait until after the mission..." (I) "We''re going to this auction with or without you, so stop trying to convince me otherwise." (Bianca) We arrived at the meeting point near the Assassin''s Guild, after getting the information we needed, we headed back to the rented house where we''ve been. Let''s go to the room where I pull out the sound barrier item, I can''t feel anyone spying on this place, but I prefer to be cautious. "How was your part of the mansion?" (I) "We took the item from the Black Market, I don''t like to go there." (Bianca) "We didn''t have a choice, a crystal containing the blessings of a ruler of the Elves next to the World Tree, this kind of item is not easy to find even on our continent." (Darcia) "Do we know how to activate this thing?" (I) "I know, it''s going to be a little bad for me, but if it gets worse at least we''ll be prepared." (Bianca) "I also have news, the mission target is close to making his move." (I) "I still think we better get him now, the longer you wait, the more dangerous it will be for this town." (Bianca) "We can''t, there''s a good chance he won''t be responsible for more than all the evidence points to him." (I) "He doesn''t demonstrate the appropriate level of intelligence for this type of project, so he must be being manipulated by someone." (I) "I don''t like it..." (Darcia) I know how they feel, but we have to be careful, capturing the puppet doesn''t help when we still haven''t figured out who pulls the strings. Chapter 712: Eclipse Merchants Auction Chapter 712: Eclipse Merchants Auction On the day of the auction, I helped with very little, I don''t know enough to help Nira with the paperwork so I let Ivan handle it, Leonardo was bringing some things with the help of some Onis and Ghouls, these are the Auction items that come from the Dungeon. There were also some beefy Demons carrying large crates containing rare and high-value goods that Nira approved of being sold at auction.Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com The auction was only supposed to last one day, but now it will last two days, the place where the auction takes place is big enough for 5000 people, and it also offers 20 VIP lounges on a higher floor, I took one of these lounges the second largest for For me, the biggest would be in the hands of the Royal family from what I hear. I''ve already looked at the list of Auction items, there''s nothing I want, but I told Nira to show the others, if anyone wants something I could buy it, I asked them to put together a list with whatever they want to send me later. The one who would take care of everything on stage would be Elsaris, she has done this kind of work many times in the Black Market, so should do well as Auctioneer, Samira also insisted a lot on participating and will keep her sister company on stage. Barok, Leo, Irius, Irina, Karina, and Diana will take care of security, I know Nira is looking to find more flaws in the Trading Guild to get more money out of them, but in case something really happens I still want to ensure the safety of the items and the public if possible, so I let these 6 handle security. The Auction will take place in the early afternoon today, we are finishing the preparations, the Auction tickets have already been fully sold by the Commerce Guild, they charge for the ticket so they don''t let people in just to watch for free, they want everyone in the auction to have the intention to buy. When I took the stage, Irina and Rakan were creating a magic circle to protect the stage, which will be hidden under the rug. I look around and notice that there are already people watching the surroundings, some are disguised as Guild members while others are hiding in discreet corners, but their surveillance eyes give away who they are in an almost empty environment like this. I could also feel the magic on the walls and ceiling, probably protection spells and barriers. Almost everything was ready and I went out next to Nira to get something to eat. "Almost everything is ready, where are Elsaris and Samira?" (I) "They went out on a date, but they''ll be here before the auction starts." (Nira) "Have you talked to the others about the items in the auction?" (I) "I left it on the bulletin board inside the Dungeon next to a piece of paper to let them know if they want anything, but nobody wanted anything." (Nira) p "I try very hard to be self-sufficient." (I) As far as we find out, only one of Lilith''s original targets was spared, he opened an orphanage and rescues children to take to the orphanage, he gave up his life of crime and chose to live in penance helping others, in his case the children were the targets for your change. Just to be sure I let Nix have a conversation with him next to Lilith, from the stories of his past I was very surprised at the kind man covered in scars I found looking through Nix''s eyes. He escaped being targeted by Lilith, as far as I know, he was the first and it helped when I explained to Lilith that not everyone deserves punishment, often the path of redemption is more painful than the punishment of someone''s crimes, so few choose to admit your mistakes and redeem yourself as this man did. ---------- Soon it''s time to start the auction, Elsaris and Samira are getting ready while some Elves are welcoming the Auction participants with tickets. Those with VIP tickets are being joined by Alice, Nolan, and a few others wearing patterned black and red outfits with an image of an eclipse. I was already in my VIP cabin with Vanessa, rica, and my family members to watch the Auction. "Finally will start." (I) "Kira just left, I think the master must know that Hela went along." (Nix) "Why did Hela go with them?" (I) "She and Lilith have been training with Kira to improve her concealment skills, Kira said it was a good time to put the results of the training to the test." (Nix) Sigh "They could have warned me sooner." (I) As I talked to Nix, rica was drawing magic circles with my blood to create tracking curses. "Do you already know the targets?" (I) "Of course, I won''t let them get away, that way it''s much easier to follow them to the second part of the plan." (rica) Chapter 713: Stopping The Auction Because Of The Weather Chapter 713: Stopping The Auction Because Of The Weather Soon everyone was present inside the Auction place, the VIP rooms are isolated to not allow to see, hear or feel what happens inside these rooms, these are defenses that the Commerce Guild made for these facilities. The Commerce Guild is protecting the outside, also have some inside, my people won''t move if not necessary, Freya is by my side after finishing helping Nira and Ivan with organizing this Auction. I look out the windows and I see all the chairs full, I see all the crystal reading boards at the bottom of the VIP lounges lit up showing that they are all full and I see the stage lights come on showing two beautiful red Rabbit women, they are the sisters Elsaris and Samira with big smiles starting the show. "Very good afternoon to all gentlemen and ladies this afternoon." (Samira) "All are welcome to the Eclipse Merchants Auction in collaboration with the Trading Guild." (Elsaris) "My name is Samira." (Samira) "My name is Elsaris." (Elsaris) "We will both be your Auctioneers today." (Elsaris/Samira) Their presentation was very good, I heard that the two train and spend a lot of time together, now I realize how true this is since they didn''t have time to rehearse it, for something improvised it was very good. "To start this Auction in the best possible way, let the first item enter!" (Elsaris) Soon Alice pushes a cart to the middle of the stage between Elsaris and Samira before leaving the two sisters in the spotlight. "This item was created by a great painter who became famous in recent days in this city." (Samira) "He is an Elf who seeks his art form in allowing everyone to interact with it." (Elsaris) The two hold the cloth on two sides at once before tossing it back to reveal a painting of a metallic forest seen from atop a cliff with the twin moons glowing overhead. The painting showed two warriors with shattered armor and swords about to be destroyed on the whole of that cliff in a fight running towards each other as if prepared for the final blow. A beautiful painting that I was tempted to keep for myself, I asked Leonardo for a copy and he said that no two paintings are alike, even if he portrayed the same thing in another image, it would never be exactly the same. "A night in metal." (Samira) "A painting depicting metal in harmony with nature in the trees, reflecting the beauty of the Twin Moons, showing their rigidity in Warriors'' armor and how metal blades carry a Warrior''s will to the bitter end." (Elsaris) But what caught my attention the most were two other things, the first was Freya next to me who fell to her knees holding her chest in pain, the second thing was feeling how the energy of Nature was getting out of control and getting out of control sudden way. "Freya, are you okay!?" (I) I run up to Freya hugging her as I try to figure out what''s wrong with her, when I couldn''t understand what happened to her, I was ready to go get the Dungeon doctor when Freya holds my hand. "I''m fine... I was just surprised... the sudden pain made me... lose control." (Freya) "You''re clearly not okay." (I) "I can feel it, nature is frying." (Sakura) "Yes, something serious...happened..." (Freya) "Are you talking about this disharmony I''m feeling?" (I) "Yea." (Freya) "Probably." (Sakura) Me, Freya, and Sakura are the ones who have the most connection with nature, that''s why we notice the changes faster, so I see Nolan running to the stage while Alice comes running through the door. "Master, we have a problem, a storm has started." (Alice) "Was that noise and shaking just now caused by the storm?" (I) "Yes, a building facing this place was blown to pieces by lightning, the weather was clear just a few hours ago, the weather closed in out of nowhere." (Alice) I leave my Familiars to take care of Freya while I run outside with Sakura, when I reach the street I am hit by part of a wall that almost throws me away because I am too light. When I look around I notice a big storm with ice rain that looks like spears of ice falling from the sky, tornadoes all over the city, thunder clearing the sky all the time, and the energy of Nature getting more and more out of control. "I think we''re going to have to stop the auction." (I) "I think they''re already doing that." (Sakura) Chapter 714: Fury Of Nature Chapter 714: Fury Of Nature I was confused as to the reason for all this, it was just out of the blue, every moment the ambient energy seems to collapse making the weather phenomena worse. Soon I see Freya and my other Familiars running after me, they look up and Freya seems to close her eyes trying to understand something, so she opens her eyes. "Nature is raging, this is a catastrophe of punishment and it''s just begun." (Freya) "Punishment? Punishment for what? I thought it was only when some idiot destroyed nature that this kind of thing happened." (I) "Some idiot must have done something drastic against nature, it must have been some serious environmental damage for it to be like this." (Nix) "What should we do?" (Orion) "I don''t think I can kill a storm." (Layla) "I don''t think this is a problem you can solve by killing something." (Ragnar) "All problems can be solved by killing something, I just don''t know what to kill now." (Layla) "Should we run? Return everyone to the Dungeon?" (I) "You know it''s not that easy." (Freya) "Do you have any plans?" (Sakura) "Sadly yes." (I) "Zenos!" (Allan) I look at a group of people running out of the Auction, it was Hero Allan''s group, they had serious expressions as they ran towards me. "Zenos, I need your help." (Allan) "No." (I) "You don''t even know what I''m going to order." (Allan) "You are a Hero and a disaster is happening that will destroy this city, it doesn''t take a genius to connect one dot to another." (I) "You bastard, are you going to let this city be destroyed?" (Allan) "I sympathize with the people of this town, but what is happening is retribution for someone''s stupidity, my only duty is to my group, I will not kill myself or let my group be in danger for something we have no power to stop." (I) "You''re going to need our help too." (Sakura) "I would like to do something about it, my mother hates to see nature like this." (Ragnar) Ragnar''s mother is a Unicorn, a super powerful Divine Beast that protects nature from what I''ve heard. All my Familiars showed up with Nix coming out of my shadow, Orion returning to her normal size, and Hinata no longer being invisible, she still has no expression, but after so long I can understand her emotions through her eyes, she also wants to help. "You''re turning things around, I was supposed to be the reckless one and you, with the exception of Layla, to be the voice of reason." (I) "What did you mean by that!?" (Layla) "Damn, damn, I''m sure I''m going to regret this." (I) Bianca is looking at me with hope and Darcia seems to be more concerned about the surroundings, she is Diana stopped some blows of nature against us, rica on the other hand stayed inside to help Rakan and Irina with a barrier not knowing what is happening here outside. "I''ll buy you some time, thank Freya and the others for that." (I) "Thanks." (Allan) "We will!" (Allan) Allan and his group run towards the harbor, I hope they''re not running away and leaving this problem in my hands, at least their eyes aren''t those of someone running away. I turn to Freya whose White Elf disguise has disappeared revealing her beautiful black skin and silver hair in plain sight for all to see. The diamond-shaped crystal () with a golden seed on her forehead was flashing a faint glow now that I got a better look. "I still don''t like this idea, but since they want to do it, let''s go because we don''t have time." (I) I still remember the things the Elf Queen Luthien taught me in the past alongside Freya, so with the help of all my Familiars it will be more effective, especially with Hinata having death energy and Freya life energy, Freya is not my Familiar like the others, but she still has a strong bond with me because of the Awakening ceremony that turned her into an Ancient Elf. "Vanessa, I''ll call the others from the Dungeon, you and Diana are in charge to protect and hide us, don''t let anyone see what we''ll be doing in the sky." (I) "I''m gonna do my best." (Vanessa) "Nix call Sapphira, Jade, Ibuki, Athena and their group." (I) "I will as soon as possible." (Nix) Nix sinks into my Shadow going through the Spirit Gate into my Shadow, I hope she''s quick.Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com Chapter 715: The Blind Greed Chapter 715: The Blind Greed Pov of the 8th Prince of Vartry Kingdom: "Are you sure you want to follow this plan, Prince Gordon?" (Jennifer) "I don''t have a choice, I need to do something, or I won''t have a place in this town." (I) "But could you..." (Jennifer) "NO!" (I) "I''m not going to be just any official at the Palace, I''m not going to be working for my little brother." (I)?iscover new chapters at novelhall.com "I''d rather be condemned for my actions than live a mediocre life!" (I) "I''m sorry for interfering in your affairs, a maid shouldn''t..." (Jennifer) "Say no more." (I) I hug Jennifer, she is a Devouring Demon, as her mouth can open up to 5 times more than other people, in addition to having mouths in the Palms of her hands. She is over 100 years old and took care of me for the 26 years of my life, she was more than a maid to me, she was my teacher, my friend, and my mother. She was the only one in this Palace who chose to stay by my side regardless of anything else, for me she is the only irreplaceable person. I know I''m above average in ability considering traders across the continent, but in this family, my ability is just average, for a trader, all that matters is results and mine are mediocre for someone in my position. I can''t live like this, I don''t accept living an ordinary life and I certainly won''t serve any of my brothers when the next King is chosen. I even considered giving up my position as Prince altogether to try to get a foothold with the shady merchants of this city, but I''m not foolish enough to think I''d have a chance. The criminals in this city have maintained a certain balance of power with our family for many generations, this has been beneficial to both sides, but neither side would accept someone from the other side into their circle of influence. If I tried to enter this city''s criminal circle then I would be killed in a matter of days, even if leaving for another Realm I would have to start from the bottom, and without any contact, life would be very difficult and with little chance of rising to the top as I wish, I will not accept a life as another normal trader. One day someone from another continent approached me and offered me a business proposal that I could not refuse, with that, I would earn an absurd sum of money and items of great value, and with that, I could leave this continent and start a new life in one of the great continents. No influence from the forces of that continent to stand in my way or hunt me down for what they would have to do. The proposal that that person made was to buy from me a certain item that is extremely rare and prohibited on all continents, it is called Flow Coral, I know little about this item and that person would not tell me anything other than what is something prohibited worldwide. But none of that would matter, they may distrust me, but there''s no evidence against me, so if I leave this continent I can live in peace without being hunted on another continent. To make a deal we used a cursed contract, so neither side could break the terms we agreed to, he told me about a secret passage in the Palace that was off the record and had been forgotten for centuries. With this information, I was able to bypass the dangers and the eyes that were watching this item that was at the bottom of the ocean in an extremely dangerous area where no boat dares to approach. So far I''ve taken 1/3 of the Flow Coral, in the few records I''ve found it doesn''t describe what it does, but it has descriptions about the disasters that collecting it can cause, so I didn''t commit too much at the same time, I wanted to test if gallery changes as I collect, but I haven''t noticed anything until now, so it should be safe for me to take another 1/3 off before I go. With that I would have withdrawn 2/3 in total, I hope that''s enough to cause any disaster, but even if it does, there''s a lot of powerful people in the capital to defend, so everything will end well. Chapter 716: Justice Is Not Merciful Chapter 716: Justice Is Not Merciful Pov Prince Gordon: One of his sisters rebelled against the trade, becoming a leader of the Palace''s research sector, she is the one who lives by the same demands for the Palace as the others, but in accordance with the King''s orders not to hunt no one who keeps his head under the shadows of this city. When she found out for something being smuggled off the mainland, I needed to act so the cargo wouldn''t be intercepted, but it left a trail I know even a few days back to me sooner or later. My only option is to accelerate my plans, I have to get out of here before they get to me. I have I use an idiot that I tricked to buy slaves, from killing that idiot and keeping the slaves, I made sure it gets locked inside the secret passage of the Palace, I use these slaves to excavate the Flow Coral with the special excavation items that that man gave it to me. Now I was going through this passage and found the slaves full of wounds, they were still digging when they arrived, the Metal Flow Coral was made of some kind of coral with colored transparent metal spheres all over its surface, I used tools special tools to excavate in the beginning, I didn''t just make special tools to pull out parts of this Flow Coral with great effort.?iscover new chapters at novelhall.com This Flow Coral is at the bottom of the Ocean, but strangely it has a barrier around it that doesn''t let water in while maintaining a garden environment inside, it was a magnificent place at first, but over time it all died, the Coral glow of small stream comes few and the barrier around to. Flow Coral was a cluster of colorful metallic corals the size of a 6-story building or at least it was in the beginning. As their slaves died, now digging into Flux Coral, they grew weak and sick, their bodies and they died half deformed and they died from them until they died, now no loose ends, no loose ends. The Palace''s secret passage leads to a room where a teleportation magic circle leads straight to this place, I don''t know why this is here and I don''t care. As soon as we can see the amount of Flux Coral we have one thing I learned that it was not possible to have Flux Coral on storage items, but it was possible to check on items with space spells that make the inside of Greater than the outside are cheaper items so was surprised it worked. I keep everything the slaves collected, I wave to Jennifer along with the slaves, there were more than 20 of them, and they were all in terrible condition, I think I''m doing them a favor by killing them all. "< Stone Spear > 10" (I) "< Stone Spear > 10" (I) "Please... ahhh!" "No!!!!" Pov Allan (Hero of the God of Justice): I run with my team towards the Palace, the destruction falling under the city now means the worst case scenario has happened. "Calm down, Allan." (Bianca) "How can I calm down, all this is happening..." (Allan) "If you''re going to speak up for us, I''m going to punch you." (Darcia) "..." (I) "Not being able to stop it doesn''t make us responsible for what''s happening." (Bianca) "But I''m a Hero, I was supposed to be responsible for protecting people." (I) "This is not a children''s story about Heroes, we cannot protect everyone and it would be foolish to try to do something impossible." (Bianca) "We just discovered the target a little while ago and we couldn''t break into the Palace to get him without evidence or we''d have to fight the entire Vartry Kingdom." (Bianca) "I''m glad you want to help everyone, but you''re not responsible when other people hurt someone close to you, so don''t be a naive idiot." (Darcia) "..." (I) I understood what they meant, in my head I did, but in my heart, I still feel responsible, we know that one of the Princes was responsible, Prince Gordon Vartry, the 8th Prince of this Kingdom. The Temple of Justice heard of a shipment of Flux Coral arriving at a certain port before disappearing, after interrogating one of the ship''s crew we found that it came from that Realm, but the man knew nothing else. "Are you ready to judge Gordon Vartry?" (I) "I''m not sure if it will work, but chances are good." (Bianca) "I hope you''re right, that''s the only way to save this place." (I) Chapter 717: No Time For Explanations Chapter 717: No Time For Explanations After the heroes left and I left my orders to Diana and Vanessa, I gather Freya and my Familiars close to me while Vanessa is creating a temporary barrier using holy magic to prevent others in town from seeing us. "I have a way for all of you to help, you all have pure elemental affinities, but everyone''s bond is with me." (I) "That means your power would have to be gathered within me to act together for this to work, which it won''t." (I) "Your body wouldn''t resist." (Nix) "Exactly, that''s why I''m going to create a crystal with my blood through which everyone''s power can be channeled." (I) "That will work?" (Ragnar) "The blood is still a part of him, so it should work." (Sakura) "I hope so because if it doesn''t work I''m going back to the original plan and abandoning this place." (I) "None of us would want to hurt you, so there''s no reason to do something so risky." (Freya) "What we are doing is already riskier than what we did in the holy land, I at least had time to prepare everything back then or I wouldn''t have done something so risky." (I) "What should we do?" (Sakura) "After I crystallize my blood, Freya and I will be facing each other while touching the crystal, the rest of you will be around us in a circle transferring your powers and Auras to the crystal." (I) "You must keep the supply of Aura and energy constant, with Freya''s help will use our trinity with nature to harmonize these energies and Auras with ours." (I) "Layla and Nix know the rest of the process, it was the same for creating the Cradle of Fairies and Cradle of Spirits." (I) Layla takes a serious look at her surroundings, the playfulness fading from her voice as she looks at me with concern. "The weight of all this will fall on you master." (Layla) "My Cradle of Spirits was smaller than this city back then and you almost didn''t make it." (Nix) "The master is not alone, I will carry half the burden, this time we don''t need it to be perfect harmony, our goal is just to delay the collapse of the natural harmony of this place." (Freya) "Buy time..." (Hinata) Pov Allan (Hero of the God of Justice): "Is he going to be at the Palace?" (Allan) "If he survived, yes." (Bianca) "This disaster happening now means he must have been there, I hope he doesn''t die or I won''t be able to activate this thing and the city will disappear." (Bianca) "Bastards are hard to kill, they''re good at picking the right time to run." (Allan) We''re running to the Palace as the city crumbles around us, the earth is shaking and cracking giving way to thorny plants growing to destroy the surroundings as the rain of ice spears continues to fall all over the city, people are hurting themselves or dying as we run to the Palace, I can''t help but look around as I run full of frustration. "..." (I) "Stop thinking about what you can''t do, we have to get to the Palace if we are to have any chance of saving this city." (Darcia) "I know..." (I) "Then stop looking you idiot, you''re already helping them." (Darcia) "..." (I) When we arrive at the Palace after running at full speed for more than 10 minutes, we see that the barrier is erected to protect the Palace. "Are we going to have to talk to them?" (I) "We do not have time." (Bianca) "Then it''s going to be the hard way." (I) I focus my Ki and mana, my fist, and my Roma Aura out of a large chunk around my arm to further amplify the power of the blow using all my strength. "< Fist of Condemnation >" (I) I feel my blood boiling as I focus all my power on my fist which turns metallic as it grows to 3 times normal size as my surrounding pine shaped Aura becomes almost solid before I hit the barrier around the castles creating a wave of shock on impact. The barrier was more powerful than I imagined, but a crack formed where we passed before it closed, no guards or soldiers would be able to stand in our way in this place and we didn''t have time to explain the situation.?iscover new chapters at novelhall.com Chapter 718: The Price Of Justice Chapter 718: The Price Of Justice Pov Allan (Hero of the God of Justice): Arriving inside the Palace my group and I went straight to the 8th Prince Gordon''s room, the Soldiers, Knights, and Guards were not able to stop us as they couldn''t keep up with our speed, Bianca would have difficulty if it wasn''t for the item that increases her speed to follow us. When we got to the room he was nowhere to be found and it looked like a lot of things had been taken. "He''s not here, where is the passage where we found the records?" (I) Bianca takes a map out of her storage item and we ran after her to the secret room, but it was also empty, we found a broken teleportation magic circle, it must have been him to erase her tracks. "He must already be heading for the escape route." (Bianca) "But which one? We don''t have time to look at all the escape routes he''s prepared that we''ve found so far." (I) "With the city being destroyed he must want to leave fast, he must be in the Palace harbor on the new ship he built." (Darcia) "Come on, we can catch him on the way, he shouldn''t be far, on the way keep looking for him." (I) We started running towards the river behind the Palace, this river leads to the Ocean and only royalty can sail this river. As we were running there we saw two people in the middle of a crowd, but while the crowd of servants was running towards the Palace to possibly protect themselves from the disaster happening all over the city, these two people were heading in the opposite direction. While I thought Darcia had already acted, she stopped in front of the two suspicious people and took off their hood, just seeing the two of them was enough for me to recognize the man as the 8th Prince Gordon, I recognized him from the images I saw of him during the investigation. "I found you." (I) I use my Aura to scare nearby people away from me, when Darcia moves to grab the 8th Prince the second person next to him moves to stop Darcia, but I grab his hand and throw the Maid up. "Huh!?" (I) "Jennifer." (8 Prince) "Young master, run." (Jennifer?) I look at my hand and see a bite on the side of my hand where green goo oozes out, from the slight numbness it seems to be some kind of paralyzing poison. "< Constraint > 2" (I) Her every word makes an image of a scale become more and more solid as it absorbs her Aura and the holy power of her body. "< May I be the means by which justice is served. May I be the means by which crimes are revealed. May through me the one who bears the Divine responsibility to bring justice to the world make the judgment. >" (Bianca) Soon the scale becomes almost solid, the simple scale contains a bloodstained silver sword on one side and a multicolored feather on the other side. "< God of Justice Justhos, I who serve your justice ask you to judge the evils of the world. May your impartial eyes judge criminals by bringing retribution for their crimes. May justice be fulfilled by means of the scales to which I place myself at your service. >" (Bianca) At that moment Bianca removes the crystal containing the blessings of an Elf Queen outside, holding it in one hand while pointing to the 8th Prince Gordon with the other hand. "< Reveal Your Crimes >" (Bianca) The once transparent chains and handcuffs restraining the 8th Prince turn golden and his eyes glow as the image of a large translucent eye forms above his head, when this eye opens what contains within it are images of the 8th Prince''s crimes passing in quick succession. "< Judgement >" (Bianca) The scale leans completely to the side of the bloodstained sword, as the sword leaves the scale and pierces 8 Prince Gordon from the top of the head through the entire body to the ground. His body is incinerated in golden flames as strands of energy of all kinds emerge from the flames to be absorbed by the crystal that begins to light up. "May your crime be punished by using your energy to atone for your crime during your death." (Bianca) When the golden flames went out there was nothing but the sword which was no longer stained with blood, the sword was completely clean when it returned to the scales disappearing as the crystal containing the Elf Queen''s blessings turned to green energy that becomes a flow of green energy going somewhere in the city. I look into the distance not knowing what will happen now, I just hope this is enough to save the city and the people who live in it. I look at where the 8th Prince Gordon once stood, there''s nothing left of him, then I look at the maid still in chains, her eyes were shedding tears nonstop as her eyes became empty. "That''s the price of justice when doing something so wrong for clearly wrong reasons must be ready for justice in the same proportion." (I) Chapter 719: A Representative Of Nature Chapter 719: A Representative Of Nature Every second was a struggle of resistance, we were expending huge amounts of energy to keep the situation under control longer. But we couldn''t do anything more than that, my Familiars must be in a little better shape, but Freya and I were having to control these energies. The energy of the elements of my Familiars, the energy of life that Freya and I possess, the energy of death that I and Hinata possess, in addition to the Auras of all merged together with these energies in perfect harmony. All of this was only possible because of the bond that all these people have with me, but that was only stopping the current situation from declining while weakening us all.Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com I was getting more and more anxious when I noticed that the crystal was falling apart, this crystal made of my crystallized blood was falling apart creating a red mist spreading around the surroundings. I had to use more of my blood on the crystal to repair the damage just to last longer, but that didn''t stop the crystal from falling apart, the most it did was I had to continually repair the crystal using my blood, that meant it would last less than anticipated. As a Vampire I have a lot more blood inside my body than my appearance suggests, I don''t know if this is a Vampire thing or because I am a child of the Blood Goddess. But the important thing was that regardless of the amount of blood in my body, it was still a finite resource, at some point, there would be no more blood to repair this crystal that drove this whole process to prevent the surrounding environment from collapsing. Now I can''t say which will happen first if it''s going to be a depletion of energy interrupting all this great effort we''re making or it''s going to be the crystal breaking, which will also interrupt everything in the same way. "Master, I feel something in the clouds." (Orion) "..." (I) I know that I could also feel something dangerous in the clouds since before we started doing this, but before it was just instinct, now it was possible to feel a slight presence above the clouds, I don''t know what it could be, but for me to feel that it is dangerous says a lot about what we can expect. Her golden eyes glowed like lanterns, Freya''s Aura started to do something we were unable to work together until now, her Aura blended in with the environment around us while harmonizing the surroundings. It felt like Freya was a tree taking firm roots in this place, her Aura becoming more and more natural blending in with her surroundings until it felt like she was part of this place. Suddenly the image of a tree begins to form behind Freya, at the same time that it looks like a tree, it has a feeling as if it is Freya herself. The image of the tree absorbs the Aura and power that Freya''s body was emitting as it became almost real, then a fruit started to form on the tree branch, it was a single golden apple-like fruit when it just formed. Freya stretches out her hand and the fruit leaves the tree to stay in her hand, Freya throws the fruit towards the Ocean with a speed as if she had fired a cannon. After about 3 seconds an explosion of green and golden light happens in the Ocean spreading a wave of energy of the same colors all over the place. As this wave of energy passed through me I felt the power of nature and harmony contained in the energy, looking around I could feel the energies and elements in the environment coming back into harmony. I noticed the glow on Freya''s body fading and I run to hold her in my arms before she falls to the ground. I looked at Freya in my arms, she was unconscious but ok, she was just sleeping. I look around and see the cracks in the ground close, I see the plants growing from the ground forming beautiful trees and bushes as the cloud-filled sky becomes sunny. The rain and strong wind disappearing along with the clouds, the city was no longer being destroyed, but it was still in ruins from what had happened. The sight was beautiful, but this beauty of nature hides the destruction and death that has been caused up until that moment, nature is capable of great destruction without mercy, but it is also capable of creating a beauty without limits, this duality so extreme surprises me every time I see. "I don''t know what that was, but if it fixed the problem then I don''t care." (I) Chapter 720: Sneaking Out With Gifts Chapter 720: Sneaking Out With Gifts Pov Allan (Hero of the God of Justice): I was still shaken by what happened, not shaken by the end of the 8th Prince of that Realm, that man paid for his crimes with his death, as far as I know, may his Soul rest in peace and in his next life choose more righteous paths. What shook me was the maid who was with him, the way she stood, the emptiness in her eyes, the unwillingness in her Aura. It seems that her bond with that Prince was stronger than I could have imagined, I don''t know if it was her heart or her mind that broke when she witnessed his end, maybe both. After the conviction of the culprit of all this and the activation of that crystal, I felt a strong presence arise in the center of the city, this was not the same presence that had spread through the city before, it was different, it seemed to be nature itself incarnate. Soon after I saw a beam of green and gold light go towards the ocean before the explosion of energy from Nature happened and solved the whole problem. We saw all this from the Palace while we were surrounded by soldiers, I was carrying Bianca who fainted from exhaustion, and Darcia tied her up and was taking care of the maid who was next to this Prince, but I think it was not necessary, this maid had already perfidious to live. We could have left whenever we wanted, these people didn''t have the strength to stop us and they knew it, so they didn''t approach us. I chose to stay to settle everything with these people, I would tell them what happened and why we were here, I am responsible for my choices and I will act accordingly. ------------- After more than an hour a knight in black armor approached to listen to our story, I was calm to see that we had been behaving for all this time. I told him everything except the part about us being Humans, I told him that we came from another continent following clues about a smuggling of forbidden items, I didn''t mention the type of item due to having too many eyes and ears around, but I implied that it was this item that caused this confusion that almost destroyed the city. So I told him that we were investigating the 8th Prince Gordon who was our prime suspect who we were sure was at fault, but unfortunately we didn''t have any evidence yet, so we didn''t act sooner. After listening to us this man left before returning a few hours later when we were invited to a meeting with the King of that Kingdom. When I confirmed that there was no one but my team, myself, the King and two people the King said to be of great trust in a room closed off by magical barriers, I told him everything in hand details and why we had to kill his son. As we talked I drank my wine while looking out over the Ocean on the Ship I Bought in this town, as our mission accomplished it was time to return home. "He got away very fast, we don''t even know if he bought time until we got to the culprit." (I) "Now you are making excuses, we know it could only be him, we could feel part of his Aura mixed in that power that spread through the city." (Bianca) "Let''s stop talking about that maniac, we have to get back soon, we still have to get the person who was buying the Flow Coral." (I) The Flow Coral only grows in aquatic places of convergence of various types of energy, it takes centuries to grow by absorbing all these energies and harmonizing them together as a perfect conductor. The uses for this type of item are myriad, but it is an extremely controlled item, it might be safe to take a piece or another over the centuries, but doing what this Prince Gordon did is reckless beyond all consideration. Bianca was smart to think about the possibility of the mission failing, it was thanks to that that we considered a plan B, which was the acquisition of that crystal that Bianca activated. Without that that city and its surroundings would have been devastated, we too could have died there. "Bianca, when do you think I''ll meet Zenos again?" (Darcia) "It shouldn''t take long, that Vampire is always in a lot of trouble, we''re sure to find him again." (Bianca) "I hope you''re wrong, I don''t want to see that lunatic anymore." (I) "Speak for yourself, I want to see him, I want to hug him, I want to kiss him, I want to do..." (Darcia) "Darcia, please stop drooling, behave like the warrior everyone thinks you are, no one needs to know about your perverted tastes." (Bianca) "Tells the Priestess he couldn''t stop looking at Celestina beside him." (Darcia) "I don''t know what you''re talking about." (Bianca) Chapter 721: Hitching A Ride With Criminals Chapter 721: Hitching A Ride With Criminals I woke up inside a small dark room with Freya sleeping next to me, Kira was playing cards with Jade nearby. "Why do I keep losing?" (Jade) "You only use Serpent-type monsters and poison cards, their strategies are very simple." (Kira) "In a real battle, simplicity is better for a strategy." (Jade) "These games were created to increase tactical thinking, so it should..." (Kira) "Looks like you woke up master." (Kira) "Good morning Master or should I say good night?" (Jade) "Hello girls, how long have I slept?" (I) "About 2 days, it''s the night of the second day after Freya stopped the city''s destruction." (Kira) I remember taking Freya and the others to one of the more destroyed houses to hide, meanwhile, I passed orders to everyone before sitting down to rest for a while, then my eyelids felt heavy. I look at the dark room, the floor is made of smooth stone, the walls are made of wood with various magic circle designs and the ceiling seems to be made of metal with a big magic circle the size of the room drawn on it, there seemed to be a skylight in the ceiling in one corner of the room along if a ladder. "What is this place? Where are the others?" (I) "Most have returned to the Dungeon." (Jade) "Me and Elsaris along with our subordinates followed the original plan, but I asked Elsaris and her sister to join Athena''s group to carry out her last orders." (Kira) "I suppose it must have all been very easy." (I) "Yes, with so much chaos all over the city, a lot of crimes started to happen, the death toll from murder caused by people taking advantage of the chaos is over 200." (Kira) I knew that the worst part of this destruction would come later, there will always be opportunists trying to turn a major disaster into something profitable even at the expense of the suffering of others. I look at Jade and Kira, they both look fine, then I turn to Freya sleeping beside me, her clothes are new and clean, it looks like someone changed her clothes, then I look at my clothes which to my horror was a pink dress very feminine and cute. "Was it rica or Diana?" (I) "The idea came from Lilith, but rica and Diana were delighted with the idea." (Kira) "Wait a minute, did you say 15 people captured?" (I) "I said he''d notice." (Jade) "Damn, I owe Nolan 20 silvers now." (Kira) "What are you talking about?" (I) "Nolan and Kira made a bet about you not noticing the two extra people in the captured people numbers when Kira would report to you." (Jade) "I thought sleepiness might help me." (Kira) "After you pay Nolan, tell me about these two people first?" (I) "I captured them on the way to taking care of the other 13." (Kira) "Can you tell me about them in a little while, how''s the rest of what I ordered?" (I) "We recover all items from the auction that was canceled for obvious reasons, so as requested was only the items that belong to us." (Kira) "We''ve also taken care of everything to get out of the mainland, we''re going to take a boat belonging to traffickers of stolen goods." (Kira) "Excellent, will this get us a few more things along with a ship when we leave?" (I) "Tomorrow, as soon as the twin moons are in the sky and the Suns are gone." (Kira) "During the night, I understand." (I) It seems that everything has been resolved the way I asked, and our escape route is also ready. "Did anyone see what we did that day?" (I) "No, Athena and Vanessa hid you." (Kira) "What about the Hero and his two companions?" (I) "They left today, looks like they bought a ship and left, they were looking for you before they left." (Kira) "I don''t want to meet them anymore, Darcia looks a lot like Diana and for me, a Diana is enough, I don''t even want to talk about that straight Hero." (I) Chapter 722: Leaving The Dark Continent Chapter 722: Leaving The Dark Continent I wanted to continue listening to Kira''s explanation of what has been happening, one of the things I wanted to know was why they captured 2 more people than planned. But before that, I had to eat, as soon as I said that Nix came out of my shadow. "You slept for some time master, when I saw you woke up I went to get you some hot food." (Nix) "Perfect timing, I was just talking about being hungry, thank you." (I) I had a hamburger with three types of meat, fries, five bottles of blood, and a slice of delicious fruitcake. "(I would like to eat something with chocolate, unfortunately, I haven''t found anything like it yet.)" (I) After eating I felt much better, I woke up feeling only slightly tired, it wasn''t as bad as in previous times when I woke up after an Awakening ceremony full of pain, but after eating I was completely fine. "Now that I''ve eaten something, could you explain to me where those two extra people you captured came from?" (I) "Of course, they''re a Demon couple, working for one of the 13 maniacs that were on Lilith''s list." (Kira) "When I followed him to his hideout I realized it was a base of operations for his business, he had more than 10 people working there." (Kira) "What was the target''s business? For him to be marked as Lilith''s target he must be someone truly despicable." (I) "Organ trafficking." (Kira) "..." (I) I don''t understand, to have organ trafficking means you have to have organ transplant surgeries in this world, but here there are regeneration skills and healing magic, there are even healing potions capable of closing wounds without leaving scars or miracle potions that can even make lost limbs grow back. "I told him he wouldn''t understand if you talked like that." (Jade) "Most people don''t understand, that''s normal." (Nix) "Master, you must be confused as to why anyone needs other people''s organs." (Kira) "I found them in a separate room with a girl about 16 years old, she looked like a Vampire with a powerful regeneration ability, she was missing both arms and both legs, but there were 4 boxes containing dozens of arms and legs of the same color of your skin." (Kira) "The man was covered in blood and holding several small blades in his hands, the woman was sitting nearby with a glass of wine and a half-eaten sandwich." (Kira) "I think I know what you''re getting at." (I) Unlike the other criminals who were more cruel and brutal making people suffer more, this girl seems to have a powerful regeneration ability which to these people must have sounded like an infinite source of products they could sell. "The girl, did you give her a good end?" (I) "I brought her along with me, she clearly suffered longer than the other victims, but her eyes burned with fury so I saved her and brought her with me." (Kira) "How is she?" (I) "Okay, it looks like she can''t talk anymore, but it doesn''t feel like a physical problem, it feels more like a mental trauma." (Kira) "Do we know her name?" (I) "She doesn''t seem to have one, we looked at her status but she doesn''t have a name." (Kira) Looks like we''re going to have to think about what to do with this girl down the road. ------------ The next day during the night I was inside the dungeon with Freya, I was waiting for the signal that Layla brought me after a few hours, then I leave through the dungeon gate inside a wooden ship that smells of blood. I go up to the top where all I see is Dungeoneering people and bloodstains all over the place. When I get to the bow of the ship I look around realizing I''m already in the middle of the ocean, I look to the back where I can only see the silhouette of a city from afar. "Farewell Dark Continent." (I) My time on this continent was a little longer than I anticipated at the beginning, but it was fun, it had its hard times and it also had its fun times, but everything ends at some point. Chapter 723: For The Glory Of... Chapter 723: For The Glory Of... I was looking into the distance when Leo approached me carrying a padded beach chair, very reminiscent of those hotel pool chairs that need 5 minimum wages to enter. "Master, you can leave my mother-in-law here while we finish cleaning the Ship." (Leo) "Thanks, Leo." (I) I place Freya in the chair gently, I was told to stay close to her at all times as my Aura helps her recovery. I look around and see many Hobgoblins cleaning the floors, walls, and other things that were stained with blood with the help of some Fairies. "Marcos is already organizing everything with his team?" (I) "Yes, his wife is organizing the cleaning, Carla works really hard at work." (Leo) "I haven''t been paying much attention to them, how are they doing?" (I) "I train sometimes with Marcos, his strength just reached SS Grade and that''s why he became a Vampire, he doesn''t have much talent for combat techniques." (Leo) "He is a ship captain, very talented by the way, I didn''t expect him to be good at fighting, his current strength is already good enough." (I) "I don''t think he agrees, he''s been training magic with Erica, he seems to respect him a lot for the way Marcos treats his wife." (Leo) "I didn''t know Erica was a romantic." (I) "I knew since she treats me similarly, she also really likes talking to my wife, but I can''t say if I like the things she teaches Caryna." (Leo)Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com I can imagine the kind of thing Leo is talking about, but I won''t get involved. ----------- A few hours later Marcos comes to me with a regretful face, I think something happened, he sits next to me while Freya is lying on the other side still unconscious. "What happened this time?" (I) "Nothing, at least not yet." (Marcos) "What''s it?" (I) "We''re heading into a storm." (Marcos) I look through a window to see a clear sky and nice weather. "Doesn''t look like it, the weather is great outside." (I) "The clouds are too far away to see, but the sea is already rougher and the wind is getting stronger." (Marcos) The barrier around the Ship was protecting the ship from acidic rainwater, but that wasn''t the only problem. "Where are these 10 meter high waves of acid coming from?" (I) "No idea, but Nira is going crazy with the amount of mana we''re spending on the ship''s shield defenses." (Irius) "My sister seems to be getting tired of speeding up the shield concert." (Irius) "But there''s nothing we can do, I can''t let acid rain hit the ship or deflect the waves, they always seem to come our way." (I) "I swear I just wanted a smooth ride." (I) ------------ Pov Andreia (Executor of Light): After the attack on the Church of Light''s stronghold, the shrine was badly damaged and the true Hero who was being defended while unconscious was severely injured, his body and soul badly damaged beyond what holy magic would be able to heal. After a hard investigation, we were able to find out that something connected to the Hero of Light was used to target this place, so the attack came towards him, but we still don''t know who did it. But an oracle came soon after telling us to kill the Vampire called Zenos and the Celestina Traitor Athena, my sister. It looks like my sister must have been controlled, it shows that she wasn''t ready for this kind of mission yet or she really is a traitor like Saint Vanessa. "Lady Enforcer of Light?" "Are the troops ready?" (I) "Yes, I have been informed that the honor of leading our army has been bestowed on you." "Correct and we''re leaving now." (I) I will be leading 1,000,000 elite soldiers to march to the Dark Continent, the time has come to put an end to that heretic, the traitor saint, my little sister who brought shame to the family and that entire continent filthy with miasma. I stop in front of the troops before starting our journey to the enemy. "For the glory of the please God Baldr!" (I) "For the Glory of Baldr!!!!!" "For the Glory of Baldr!!!!!" "For the Glory of Baldr!!!!!" "For the Glory of Baldr!!!!!" Chapter 724: Save By Chance Chapter 724: Save By Chance "Sister, the barrier cracked on the right side!" (Irius) "I''m fixing the crack that opened in the back, ask Rakan to take care of it!" (Irina) "Rakan passed out from exhaustion!" (Samira) "Where''s Erica!?" (Irina) "She said she was going to take care of the monsters!" (Irius) "Where are Rakan''s subordinates!?" (Irina) "Me and Diana took everyone to the Dungeon, they''re worse off than Rakan!" (Kira) "There''s another wave coming!!!" (Marcos) "What an incredible view" (Leonardo) "Are you going to stand there and do nothing?" (Sakura) We were in the middle of an acid rain storm, there is miasma so thick that it became a mist obstructing our view, we are being attacked by many monsters and huge waves keep crashing into the Ship continuously damaging the barrier. While everyone is running around trying to maintain the barrier, destroying waves, trying to see through the miasma fog with different techniques, and facing monsters. I was in a bed made of my lines with a Freya sleeping beside me, all while eating a delicious sandwich the size of my arm. Everyone is trying hard except Leonardo who just wanted to draw this apocalyptic scene for fun, this idiot has no sense of danger at all with the dungeon people around, he is smart enough to know if something extremely dangerous happens to me or anyone among my Family members will intervene. "Why should I do anything? They''re doing fine." (I) "Bad situation..." (Hinata) "They are fine, this is excellent training for everyone." (I) "Your training methods are always the worst." (Nix) "Says the Dragon that does not leave my shadow." (I) "This rain will ruin my scales, I hate acid." (Nix) "I understand you, acid does horrible things to my leaves." (Sakura) "It''s not that bad..." (Hinata) "The chance was 26%, but the crew would be fine, I think." (rica) "..." (I) "Quickly bring me more MP potions." (Irina) ------------ Pov Andreia (Executor of Light): I was in front of one of the dozens of Armored Floating Ships of the Church of Light heading towards the Dark Continent, we were close to reaching the coast of the Central Continent and reaching the Ocean. In addition to the Floating Warships, there were also many Light Horses flying in the vicinity along with Templars, unfortunately, I could not bring the Light Dragons, involving them would draw even more attention to what we are doing, we are already close to breaking many agreements with other religions doing this. "Lady Inquisitor." "What''s it?" (I) "One of our informants from a port city gave us information about an advertisement for Temple of the Seas." "So it must be some weather problem, what''s the threat level for us?" (I) "It appears to be a major storm in an area that has been reported to have a lot of accumulated miasma." "The storm is very strong and extensive, it also looks like it will last several days, but it does not pose a risk to our troops." "If it''s like you said, then it poses a great risk, not about the danger to our troops themselves, but to our resources." (I) "These storms strong enough for the Temple of the Seas to make an announcement can be a major inconvenience to our shields by consuming more global coins and magic crystals than necessary." (I) "Not to mention an area with a lot of miasma means a lot of monsters." (I) "All this will waste resources that will be useful to us." (I) The Dark Continent may be weak as a whole, but its environment isn''t suitable for people with our level of strength, so we can''t spend too much time there. We should also expect interference from some Religions or even the Black Empire, I heard that continent was where their emperor was born a long time ago and still maintains a certain connection, they are troublesome enemies. I''m only taking that risk because that Continent no longer has the protection of a World Tree, our spies also reported that they don''t have any high level Fairies or Spirits anymore, which may indicate that they don''t have any more Temples for Fairies or Spirits in that one continent. We have to seize this opportunity and attack with full force as quickly as possible while destroying all the main targets. "Even if it''s slower, try to dodge this storm while we''re away, save resources for an unforeseen." (I) "Yes, lady Inquisitor!" Chapter 725: Traveler Island Chapter 725: Traveler Island We''ve been in this storm for two weeks now, yesterday we even passed through an area where it was raining magma, which shouldn''t even be possible. Not counting the large number of Water Elementals attacking us earlier today, Layla had to turn the surrounding ocean into a field of ice. I was looking forward to skiing a bit as it was something I always wanted to do, but the storm was a horrible thing for me as I had a very light body. "Master, High Priestess Yara wishes to see you." (Freya) "Let her in, I haven''t seen her in a while." (I) "I''m already here." (Yara) Yara is the High Priestess of the Temple of Life, she''s someone particularly strange, she doesn''t look her age, I''ve always found her eyes and way of speaking to be very old, but in this world, I learned a long time ago not to Judging by appearance. "What do you need, Priestess Yara?" (I) "You can just call me Yara, I''ve told you that more than once." (Yara) "But what I have to ask is that you change the ship''s direction if possible." (Yara) "Do you know where we are?" (I) "Of course, it is, from the types of monsters appearing you can roughly understand where we are." (Yara) "I did not know that." (I) "I think this is only true for monster scholars and people with a lot of life experience." (Freya) "I guess you better not be calling me old because I''m a beautiful young woman in my prime." (Yara) cough cough The more she says it, the more I think she is much older than I can imagine. "Is the direction you''re pointing towards the Central Continent?" (I) That was our next destination, Vanessa said it would be good to go now, she said the ambient energy level there is the highest in the world, and it also has the greatest variety of mixed races on the same continent. The Central Continent seems to be very interesting, but Vanessa and Nix haven''t told me anything about this continent until now. She knows how to convince me to do something, she stirred my curiosity, and now I''m curious about this island, I no longer doubt it in a world where Ghosts, Gods, and magic are real. "Freya, could you go warn Marcos about the new direction?" (I) "Your orders master." (Freya) I see Freya leaving and I go with High Priestess Yara to see the battle Layla was doing alongside Diana in her direwolf form. "How big is this island?" (I) "Remember the holy land you helped create on the Dark Continent?" (Yara) "Is it the size of the two Islands in that lake?" (I) "It''s the size of the lake, maybe a little smaller." (Yara) "This is too big..." (I) It would take me days to cross that entire lake area. ------------- After changing the ship''s direction for over 4 hours I noticed something, the miasma seemed to be moving in the same direction we were going. We continued the journey, this time I stopped everyone''s struggles while maintaining a strong barrier around the Ship using large sums of money to protect us from the weather, I just realized how correct the saying about burning money is. The monsters no longer approach the ship because of my Aura that I spread around the surroundings while activating my intimidation skill making everyone run. After these hours of travel, I finally noticed that the clouds in the sky were thinner and sparser showing a real improvement in the weather. I also started to see signs of large silhouettes in the distance and they keep getting closer, I soon realized that it formed the outline of mountains that became bigger and bigger as time went by. After another 1 hour, we finally came out of the thick miasma mist to a finer mist that runs along the surface of the ocean water. When my vision was no longer impeded, it was already night, the sky was clear and full of stars. I look at the big island in front of me, it looked like there was a city on the island, but other than that it just looked like another island, or what I would like to say if it wasn''t for seeing this island move. The island didn''t seem to have beaches, on its coast, there were only roses, the city was not very visible from where I was, but I noticed something strange, a feeling as if I was being watched. "Welcome to the Traveling Isle of Cyrion, also known as the Isle of Training." (Yara) Chapter 726: Cyrion Chapter 726: Cyrion I look at the giant island in front of me, it has mountain and at least a city as far as I can see, I look around and I can''t see the size of the island, I just know that this must be the island that High Priestess Yara talked about why is it moving slowly. Then I realize that the miasma is being drawn towards the island, so it was getting weaker as we got closer. I look back and realize that there''s still a storm going the way we came, but for some reason, this place where the island is has clear skies and tropical weather. "This is weird." (I) Everything about this island is weird, clearly, there are a lot of things wrong with this place, but it doesn''t feel dangerous, in fact, my curiosity level has peaked. "How are we going to end up on this island? I don''t see any harbors." (I) "Just head towards the city that way, we''ll be taken to the harbor." (Yara) "How are we going to be taken?" (I) "You will see." (Yara) ----------- Everyone on the Ship was looking at the beautiful island in motion in awe as Marcos approached the ship in the direction High Priestess Yara pointed. As we walked I noticed an Aura for a second before disappearing as if it were part of the environment, but it didn''t seem to be an enemy. As we approached from the direction High Priestess Yara spoke, we had a better view of the city, from afar all I could see were buildings of all colors, but somehow they complement each other. I thought about expanding my Aura to take a look at the city and this island, but Sophia who showed up along with the rest of my group said it would be misunderstood with an insult, so I didn''t. As we get closer we see someone walking towards us, stepping on the surface of the water calmly towards us. He had a humanoid body with a tortoiseshell shell on his back, and was dressed in a very eccentric floral-patterned suit and pants. He was dark green skinned, bald, with a slightly larger head making his body a bit disproportionate, he had two large eyes and an equally large mouth, he had no ears or nose as far as I could see. He appeared to have a slim build with the tortoiseshell on his back being very large, he appeared to be approximately 1.75 meters tall. He doesn''t seem hostile so I wait for him to reach us, when he gets to our ship he jumps to land at the front of the ship where I''m with everyone. "Welcome to Training Island Cyrion, I''m Alvin and I''ll be your guide today." (Alvin) I stepped forward with High Priestess Yara on one side and Vanessa on the other. "Nice to meet you, my name is Zenos, those next to me are High Priestess of the Temple of Life Yaramaki and Priestess of the Temple of Blood Vanessa." (I) "Good to see you again High Priestess Yara, didn''t expect to see another of you here at the same time." (Alvin) "I was around when I felt you guys around, in a place like the ocean in the middle of a storm, it wasn''t hard to imagine it was this island." (Yara) "Nice to meet Miss Vanessa, I believe the people of your Temple will welcome you with open arms." (Alvin) "What''s wrong?" (I) "They are all Temples or Churches of several different Religions." (Vanessa) "..." (I) I look again, but this time cautiously, my impressions of Religions have dropped a lot due to some things I''ve been through during that time. I thought about using my Aura at that moment just to make sure there was no one from the Church of Light here, but I gave up at the last moment, one of the reasons was that they could have learned from their mistakes and be more capable from now on. We were taken to the lake where our ship stopped at one of the docks before the clouds disappeared. "Very well, now that we''ve arrived we could start teaching you all about this place." (Alvin) "This island is a training ground, more than 70% of Cyrion Island''s population are young people in training." (Alvin) "I must also inform you that many religions are present on this island, for millennia this island has been an important place to train people of all religions." (Alvin) "What if battles of large numbers of people started on this island and those people were members of two religions?" (I) "Then the two religious communities will be expelled, plus there are some rules." (Alvin) Alvin arranges a notebook he took from somewhere and leaves it in my hands, at least for a few seconds before someone snatches the notebook from my hand, it was Freya who started reading without wasting time. "This notebook contains information about the city, about which religions are present with basic information about each one." (Alvin) "You can take a look later or you can come to me for any questions, the way to charm me is on the front page." (Alvin) As we start to get off the ship the turtle man guides us to a building where we register for being here. "This island has 9 different dungeons where you can train almost all kinds of things." (Alvin) "We don''t have our own arena in the city, but we do have a coliseum inside a dungeon." (Alvin) "Another thing to be warned, any conflict will be resolved using duels and duels only." (Alvin) "Even the various Religions resolve any conflicts they may have through friendly competition." (Alvin) "Can we buy a house here?" (I) "I''ll ask my superior, I''ll answer you tomorrow." (Alvin) After registering our arrival on this island we were briefly guided by Alvin, the turtle man. Alvin showed us where we could eat, where the shops are, and where we could spend the night at least for today. "You don''t have to worry about anything about accommodation, leave everything in my hands." (Yara) As we walked through the streets I saw many races of people walking around, everything was so colorful in this city, things here are amazing. A tropical island that is full of people of various religions and races, this place is very interesting, maybe stay a few days or a few weeks for fun.?iscover new chapters at novelhall.com Chapter 727: Prestigious Position Chapter 727: Prestigious Position The turtle man called Alvin guided my entire group through the most important parts of the city that are located at the harbor and the center of the city where the Guilds are located. On this island there are only 3 Guilds, these would be the Commerce Guild, the Adventurers Guild, and the Mages Guild. By Alvin''s explanation, most of the population of this island are young people between 14 and 30 years old who are here for training, besides that, almost all of them belong to some religion. For this reason, there are many churches and temples on this island, but they are far from the city center, it is also one of the reasons why fighting inside the city is prohibited, but conflict is allowed by other means such as discussions, games, betting and other forms conflict where no one gets hurt. They do this to promote the rivalry that different religions often have while encouraging their own empowerment. The Guilds that are allowed on this island aim to link this island with the rest of the world, thanks to this island having 9 different Dungeons many rare materials can be found here.Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com The Adventurer''s Guild posts quests that mostly come from other parts of the world to collect materials that can be found on the island. The Commerce Guild buys the surplus materials to sell elsewhere in the world for prices that can reach up to five times the value, they are also responsible for bringing various products from all over the world to be sold to the people residing on the island. The Mages Guild produces various magical items and does magical research with materials that are only found here, it also serves as a training ground for theoretical mages from other continents or combat mages who are not related to any religion. This entire island was thought to be a neutral training center for everyone, so even discrimination is a serious crime here. In addition to what Alvin told us, I also asked a few questions whose answers surprised me. I asked about the government of the island and Alvin said that there is no government, this island belongs to someone who allows people to train here as long as they follow the rules Alvin told them about, but other than that they don''t require anything else. There are many Turtle men like Alvin on the island, they seem to be natives and only supervise that these rules are followed, they also serve as mediators for various types of conflicts or judges for their competitions. There seems to be no such thing as taxes in this place as almost the entire population here is just passing through. Alvin doesn''t say who the person the island belongs to is, but I imagine it must be someone powerful to be able to keep all these religions submissive while they''re on his island. I saw her face go pale as the lead Vampire spoke her name and not mine, so before she dragged me into her troubles I hid in the shadow of Nix who was beside me. It was a little funny to see her looking around looking for me, but the glint of anger in her eyes at the end had me worried. Sigh Sigh "Please stand up Mr Vladimir the Third." (Vanessa) "I appreciate your welcome, but this is not the best place or time for something like this." (Vanessa) After sighing twice, Vanessa shifts to a more dignified posture as she speaks calmly to the people kneeling in front of our group. Their leader who introduced himself first looks around before getting to his feet and bowing to Vanessa one last time. "Sorry for causing this commotion, but when I heard about your arrival I couldn''t think straight." (Vladimir the Third) "Don''t worry Mr Vladimir." (Vanessa) He looks at Alvin and then the rest of our group, he even glances at Nix''s shadow where I was hiding for a few seconds longer, then introduces himself to everyone before looking back at Alvin. "Looks like I interrupted your presentation of the city to them, I apologize Mr Alvin." (Vladimir) "Alright Mr Vladimir, if everyone accepts we can go to the Temple of Blood later." (Alvin) "I would like this." (Vanessa) "That would be our honor." (Vladimir the Third) After that Vladimir and his group of Vampires said goodbye to leave for the Temple of Blood for Alvin to continue guiding us. Chapter 728: A New Kind Of Danger For Zenos Chapter 728: A New Kind Of Danger For Zenos After the Blood Temple Vampires left and Alvin continued to guide us through a few restaurants, I slipped out of Nix''s shadow to walk alongside everyone else and Vanessa came to stand beside me. "It''s not right for a Father to abandon his Daughter in a desperate moment, did you know that?" (Vanessa) "I''m a terrible father." (I) "Then show some guilt or remorse." (Vanessa) "For that, I would have to feel remorse, which I don''t at all." (I) "I''ll get you..." (Vanessa) "You weren''t in any danger, everyone is from the Blood temple." (I) "I''ve always hated that part where people suddenly appear to be on their knees, people around looking." (Vanessa) Sigh "When they came, I thought it was for you?" (Vanessa) "Clearly you have more prestige than I do." (I) "Everyone knows about me, my mom said they teach everyone about me." (Vanessa) "I''m not yet a Saint." (Vanessa) "You are not a simple Priestess either, we all know you will soon be a Saint." (I) "But it''s too early to start treating me like a Saint." (Vanessa) "They should have kneeled down to you." (Vanessa) "I didn''t want that, so I was relieved when they got to you, but I still hid in case." (I) As we walked we were being watched by many people, perhaps because of the diversity of our group, or because almost everyone was wearing clothes with no symbols of any religion other than Diana, Vanessa, and Karina. I''ve been feeling many types of stares, but the ones that worry me are some stares that give me a shiver down my back, for some reason since leaving the body I''ve felt like prey being watched by the predator. But there were so many people paying attention to us that I couldn''t tell which direction it was coming from, but my instincts were telling me to run. I once again considered using my Aura, but I know it will cause more problems than helping me, so I try not to think about who is watching us, as long as they don''t make a move against us. "We have no more doubts, for now, thank you very much for guiding us." (I) "I''m just doing my duty, plus your house should be ready in a few more hours." (Alvin) "Can we go get something to eat, Ibuki is almost fainting from hunger." (Diana) "Food..." (Ibuki) I look at Ibuki with empty eyes and drooling dangling from one of Diana''s arms. "So let''s take a look at these restaurants we saw earlier." (I) On the way, I noticed that some people were surrounding us, but strangely they didn''t seem to be hostile, but I still felt very uncomfortable for some reason. It didn''t take long for us to be surrounded by people in pink clothes, almost all of them were very beautiful women, but there were also some men, for some reason they were all looking right at me. "Nice to meet you, my name is Zenos." (I) "May I know what you want?" (I) "I would like to welcome you to Cyrion Isle, I am a Priestess of the Fertility Goddess, my name is Amelia." (Amelia) "May I know why they''re holding us back, Miss Amelia?" (I) "Sorry, we''re just so thrilled to meet someone as unique as you, I can feel so many bloodlines inside you..." (Amelia) The way she talks in the middle becomes weird and at the end, she licks her lips with a red face, plus she''s not the only one, all these people in pink are looking at me in a similar way, but Amelia is still by far the most close to losing control, his body is even shaking. "Imagine the great family we could raise, so many children, so many races, how wonderful..." (Amelia) "Master, I think you should run." (Diana) "Yes, this woman has eyes very similar to Diana''s, that could be dangerous for you." (Vanessa) "That was needless to say." (Diana) "But it wasn''t a lie." (Kira) "But you don''t have to tell others that." (Diana) While they argued I used the element of water to create mist and fled into someone''s shadow before being taken away by a bunch of perverts. Chapter 729: Eating With The Family While On Vacation Chapter 729: Eating With The Family While On Vacation One thing I was happy about was finding out that all the restaurants in this city have separate rooms to receive customers, probably so people of the same religion can run around undisturbed by people of rival religions, at least that''s what I thought. In one of these rooms on the second floor of a restaurant, in one of the largest rooms, my entire group was sitting around a round table eating seafood, I was also eating with everyone. "That wasn''t nice to do for your own Father." (I) "That was because you ran away leaving the Vampires for me to deal with." (Vanessa) "They were there because of you." (I) "And the Fertility Church was there behind you." (Vanessa) "Stop arguing you two, it won''t go anywhere." (Irina) "You say that because you didn''t have to lose dozens of perverts." (I) "I agree with Father, those people are worse than Diana and rica." (Irius) "Was that an offense? Want to break some more bones at our next training?" (Diana) "I agree with the Master, saying where he was hiding wasn''t a good idea Vanessa." (Ivan) "It was funny to see the master running with a terrified look." (rica) "I didn''t find anything funny." (I) "You are making a fuss over something normal, this kind of situation happens all the time in the Dungeon." (rica) "The master is not used to it, no one dares to go near him to do these things in the Dungeon." (Ibuki) "That''s because you, Kira, and Freya are always getting in the way." (rica) "No one will steal Ibuki''s master unless Ibuki goes along." (Ibuki) "No, no one is taking the master against his will, he is already too busy with his responsibilities and training." (Kira) "You are very prudish." (rica) ----------- "This food is amazing, this sauce is also a new flavor." (Ragnar) "This salty sauce goes well with seafood, especially fish." (Freya) "Imagine the wonders Miss Caryna would do with that sauce..." (Ragnar) "You see, I left it on the table last night." (Samira) "Are you saying those strips of cloth are bathing suits?" (Elsaris) "What did you think it was?" (Samira) "..." (Elsaris) "This is serious, we have to find a beach and fast." (Elsaris) ----------- "How do you manage to sleep all day?" (Orion) "Practice, why would I waste energy running around?" (Byakko) "If Kira needs help she knows she can always call me." (Byakko) ----------- "They all seem to have decent Aura control, plus the Fertility Church people had good moves." (Sophia) "I don''t think it''s a good idea for you to train with them." (Sakura) "Maybe there are people from the Temple of War here, why don''t we look for it later?" (Alice) "That''s a good idea, we can also go to the Adventurer''s Guild, there are usually training places in these branches, I can find someone new to train there." (Sophia) ---------- Everyone was talking about different things around the table with people who are closer, it was a lot of different subjects, but everyone seemed to be having a good time. Good food with a noisy family in a city on a beautiful tropical island, that''s a vacation trip. I think this place might be interesting to spend a few days, I''m also interested in these Dungeons, as far as I know, Dungeons don''t form close to each other naturally. The only reason for this to happen would be that someone created these Dungeons here, that means there is a Dungeon Master around here, maybe it''s this mysterious person who owns the island or one of his subordinates. But none of that matters to me, I don''t want to know who this island owner is or the strength he possesses, just knowing that Alvin is probably stronger than I say this mysterious person must be stronger. I don''t need to get into any more trouble, the only thing I want to do is enjoy my time here for a few days before I leave, that''s because the seal on my EXP is getting hard to maintain, but I can''t evolve in a place with so many Religions close by, it would be very dangerous. Every time Evolves something strange happened, I''m not stupid to think that this time would be different, I also don''t need another Religion behind me, the Church of Light is enough on my feet. All I want is a time of peace without Heretic Gods, World Trees, armies of Kimeras, or Undead to give me more trouble. I''ll let everyone do what they want while I put my feet up on the most comfortable couch I can find while wearing a flowered shirt and shorts, it would also be nice to find out what the most popular local alcoholic beverage is. Chapter 730: Church Of Fertility Chapter 730: Church Of Fertility We lost track of time while we were in the restaurant, what I do know is that I spent over 50 gold coins on food and drink in just a few hours. That would be a normal person''s income for a decade, maybe more than a decade, for me to have spent so much in so few hours means we''ve consumed a lot of food. I may not be in financial trouble, but I haven''t lost track of the value of money either. When we left the restaurant it was late at night, we were all tired and a little drunk, so we went straight to the house that was prepared for us. Knowing we were in danger of running into the Fertility Church, so I went back inside Irina''s shadow just in case. After everyone separates to choose their rooms, I go to the roof of the house, after so much time inside that horrible storm I was longing to see this starry sky. "I never thought I''d create such a habit." (I) "Many people share this habit." (Vanessa) Vanessa descends from the sky beside me and sits next to me. "They''re not around." (I) "They might be a little excited, but they''re not criminals, they won''t kidnap you in the middle of the night like we do inside the Dungeon." (Vanessa) "Earlier today they looked ready to kidnap me." (I) "They looked more excited than I had ever seen them before." (Vanessa) "I thought it was strange at first, especially when they started chasing you, but then I understood why." (Vanessa) "The reason is that they are as perverted as Diana, but with less self-control." (I) "They''re a little perverted, but not that much, they looked more like Priests than the Demon Goddess of Pleasure." (Vanessa) "Is there a Goddess of Pleasure?" (I) "Of course, the Demon Goddess of Pleasure and the Goddess of Fertility are sisters, both are daughters of the Goddess of Love." (Vanessa) "Wow, how humble." (I) "I''m proud of the way I look, that was a gift you gave me when you saved me, Dad." (Vanessa) It reminds me of how weak and suffering Vanessa was when I first met her, she couldn''t even speak. "I guess I have to keep some distance from these 2 Religions." (I) "This is going to go very wrong, these 2 Religions are scattered all over the world, I think it''s better to think of a better plan." (Vanessa) "Running and hiding won''t work?" (I) "You know not." (Vanessa) Sigh I think I''ll have to talk to the Priest in charge about this to keep them away from me, Vanessa is right in saying that there''s no way to run away forever, it''s also not the best solution to run away from problems. "Can you talk to them for me to set up a meeting with their local representative?" (I) "Preferably in a place of our choosing where I don''t have to fear being attacked?" (I) "That will be easy, but expect some sort of deal." (Vanessa) "We''ll be there to make a deal." (I) "Not among you, among the Goddesses, you carry a Divine lineage, the Goddess Selene is sure to meet the Goddess of Fertility." (Vanessa) "That would be even better, have you ever thought if I had to make deals every time I ran into members of the Church of Fertility somewhere?" (I) "Are you still going to want to find them?" (Vanessa) "No, for now, let''s pray and hope this problem gets resolved, it would save me some trouble." (I) I don''t have the time or patience to run around every member of the Church of Fertility I come across, I''m not going to make thousands of kids either, and I''m sure I wouldn''t be a good parent to kids, I know better than anyone that I went crazy a long time ago, already I accepted that and so I move on normally. "It would be great for at least one problem to solve itself." (I)Upstodatee from Chapter 731: An Old Friend Of Yara Chapter 731: An Old Friend Of Yara Pov High Priestess Yaramaki (Yara): Everyone had gone to get something to eat while the house was being finished, but they didn''t realize how much a house, even a temporary one, means in this place. All the houses in this place are temporary, with the exception of Cyrion''s servants and a few people who were allowed to live here permanently. The various Religions have dormitories inside their temples, even Adventurers stay in dormitories organized by the Guild or in one of the available Hotels on the island. Very few have temporary homes, Zenos got this because of possibly being the son of the Blood Goddess. It was interesting to see everyone acting so freely during the meal, it seems like none of them noticed it, in fact, everyone is taking this whole situation lightly. After everyone has left the restaurant I separate from them and head for the city gates where I find Alvin waiting for me. "Sorry for the delay." (I) "Don''t worry about it, Mistress Yaramaki." (Alvin) "Are you sure he can see me? Is he awake?" (I) "He''s sleeping as usual, but he''ll be awake when we get there." (Alvin) "He knows everything that happens here, we are always connected to him too." (Alvin) "So come on, let me see how this old man has been doing all this time." (I) "If he lets me." (Alvin) Alvin and I walk through the gates as white mist pours out of the shell behind his back, then becomes a cloud beneath our feet. At that moment we both stopped walking and the cloud started to fly over the trees, there was a barrier around us preventing the wind or the attacks of the few aerial monsters during our way to the front part of the Island, the part that is to the direction the island is heading. In about 10 minutes we reached the coast of the island again, then we went down below the water for a few tens of meters where a gigantic round cave was, the barrier around us keeps the ocean water away, as the island was in constant movement the cloud in where we are standing remains at the same speed as the island while maintaining a fixed distance from the cave. Me and Alvin stand facing the cave, Alvin kneels while I remain calm as we wait for the old man to open his eyes. "(It''s been a while since I''ve seen two of your family together.)" (Cyrion) "(That''s because our purpose is to get scattered around the world.)" (I) "(Also, I will not participate in the battle, there are still worse enemies than Baldr, others like me will wait for the right moment to act.)" (Cyrion) "(You must be the laziest creature there is.)" (I) "(That''s because you haven''t met the Goddesses of Sleep or one of Selene''s daughters if I''m not mistaken she''s been arguing a Dragon lately.)" (Cyrion) ----------- Pov Zenos: The next day I woke up still on the roof with the sun on my face, I think I fell asleep while watching the stars. After waking up I go downstairs to the kitchen where Alice is in charge of today''s food. ----------- Some hours later. I was hanging out with Vanessa, Diana, Yara, Karina, Nix, and Hinata. Today''s plan is to make some visits to the Temples and Churches that they are a part of, the notebook that the turtle man named Alvin gave us yesterday contains the location of several places, including Churches and Temples. Reading that notebook I was happy that the Church of Light really isn''t in this place, I wouldn''t want to be on an island with those persecuting maniacs. "Are you sure it wouldn''t be better for everyone to split up?" (I) "Yea." (all) "You have to come to the Temple of Blood with me, besides you should go with Diana to the Temple of Beasts." (Vanessa) "There''s someone I''d like everyone to meet." (Yara) "I need you to come with me to the Dragon Temple, there''s a ceremony we both have to go through to prove I can become a High Priestess." (Karina) "I want to know more about my father, so I also want to go to the Dragon Temple." (Nix) Sigh "(I just wanted a vacation, is that asking too much?)" (I) Chapter 732: Revered Chapter 732: Revered Pov Goddess Selene: I was in the Fairy world, this is a place of pure energy where everything that exists is materialized energy, because of that a Deity is able to descend into the world, so Aine is able to rule this place personally. "Why did I agree to this? I can''t stand Them." (Aine) "Especially that degenerate Ariel." (Aine) "You say that because he''s always trying to seduce his Fairies." (I) "I can let the others in here, but not that pervert." (Aine) "Don''t worry, I didn''t call the daughters, I called their mother." (I) "I don''t like her either." (Aine) "Everyone likes her." (I) "That''s why I don''t like her." (Aine) "She is the Goddess of Love, she was a great friend of her predecessor." (I) "Exactly, but instead of avenging the Fairy Goddess of Epoch like you did, she just stood there." (Aine) "She''s been taking care of you, her priorities aren''t combat, she sees more deeply than most Gods, she knew it was more productive to take care of you who were confused after birth." (I) I was in a beautiful garden with leaves that have beautiful crystal petals and the colors of a rainbow, I was in front of a simple log cabin with a table full of fruit beside me as I talk to Aine. Soon arms appear behind me, hugging me affectionately, when I turn around she is smiling at me, a woman with long shiny golden hair, a white skin smoother and softer than any woman would dream of having, her pink eyes always bright looking at everything with tenderness. As always, he dresses in a way that shows off so much of his sensual body that any man or woman would fall in love with her at first sight. "Hello Selene, it''s been decades since I''ve seen you" (Ayrin) "It''s good to see you again, Goddess of Love." (I) "Don''t be so formal with me, I already told you I prefer you to call me Ayrin." (Ayrin) "When did you get here, you old lady?" (Aine) Next to us was the Vampire we met yesterday who was leading those who knelt in front of Vanessa, we were all inside a room that should have been his office in this Temple. The only thing I didn''t expect was that instead of him kneeling in front of Vanessa like he did yesterday, he kneels down with his forehead resting on the floor in front of me. "I''m sorry for my discourtesy the day before, Divine Child." (Vladimir the Third) "As I had been the only one to notice your Divine presence I chose to keep your identity a secret from the eyes of untrustworthy people." (Vladimir the Third) "If you say that, then why do that scene where you kneel in front of Vanessa calling her Santa?" (I) "Because your identity as a future Saint is already common knowledge among people at my level of authority." (Vladimir the Third) "You mean they used me to divert attention from my Father?" (Vanessa) "No, we all really admire your journey, but even after 500 years, your escape from the Church of Light is still a widely known subject, so what we did yesterday will just be considered normal." (Vladimir the Third) "How did you know about my Father?" (Vanessa) "As soon as I saw him I knew, I am a High Priest and a Patriarch of my own lineage, but the moment I saw the Divine Son yesterday my blood began to boil in my veins as my heart filled with a desire to stay knees." (Vladimir the Third) "I had little time to think so I went on to meet Santa Vanessa." (Vladimir the Third) "Alright, we get it, so please raise your head and stand." (I) Vladimir does what I asked with respect, it was at that moment that I saw his eyes filled with tears with a look full of happiness on his face. "I think you understand why we came here, right?" (I) "Complete Saint Vanessa''s transition to a High Priestess, correct?" (Vladimir the Third) "Yes, that''s the last step for me." (Vanessa) "I''ll have everything ready tomorrow night, we can do it right here." (Vladimir the Third) "We''ll be here." (I) "Also, I would like to know if you have a painting of a girl with red hair on her back?" (I) "Unfortunately not yet, but I would like to have such beauty." (Vladimir) It seems that unfortunately, they don''t have the painting I wanted to see, but at least we solved a problem for Vanessa, now we have to continue to the next Temple. Chapter 733: Images Of Hell Chapter 733: Images Of Hell The ceremony for Vanessa to officially become a High Priestess was simpler than I thought. We were taken to the main hall of the Temple of Blood where the red crystal statue of the Goddess Selene was, this statue showed the image of the Goddess seated on a throne with an open book in her hand. The ceremony was simple, Vanessa knelt in front of the Goddess statue saying the same prayer she does when her Aura makes that ring on top of her head, but unlike the previous times, her Aura didn''t explode with power. After that, Vanessa made a cut on her palm, and a drop of blood came out of the wound to float between Vanessa and the statue which started to glow while Vanessa started to swear an oath with eyes full of determination. As Vanessa took her oath the floating drop of blood was turning into the crystal with every word of her oath, at the end of the oath the drop of blood looked like a jewel made of ruby that went to the glowing statue and was absorbed as it took on the woman''s chest statue. The other Priests who were around were shocked by this, it seems that the place on the body where the blood crystal is absorbed by the statue says something about what the Goddess expects from the High Priest or so they believe. They said the expert means that the Goddess has appreciation for Vanessa and expects great things from her, at that moment everyone was calling her Santa while crying. But one thing I noticed during Vanessa''s ceremony was that when the statue began to glow towards the end of the ceremony, I heard Goddess Selene''s voice in my ear as if she was right next to me, her words made me worried. "Accept the agreement of the 3 goddesses and good luck my dear Zenos." (Goddess Selene) Her words gave me a bad feeling, what three Goddesses was she talking about? I wanted to ask Vanessa, but she was overjoyed, so I decided to wait until I got home to talk to her about it. ---------- After leaving the Temple of Blood with great difficulty, we all went to the Temple of the Dragon, it seems that this Temple was not in the city, it was on the small mountain next to the city, Karina told me that the Temple of the Dragon is always built on mountains by tradition. I found it strange that we were able to walk around the city without being stopped again by any Priest or Priestess of the Fertility Goddess. We met them along the way, it was hard not to notice them when they were all staring at me the same way Ragnar looks at his food. They kept away from me for some reason, I wanted to know if this had anything to do with what the Goddess Selene told me. "The Priests and Priestesses of Fertility don''t usually act like this, they must want you very much, master Zenos." (Karina) "I want to get away from them." (I)Vissit for updates "And you should stay away anyway, they''re after giving birth to their children." (Diana) "I''m too young to have kids." (I) "Shall I remind you that you already have 6 children?" (Vanessa) "This is different, I didn''t have to raise you as a child or change diapers." (I) When we arrived at the door of the Dragon Temple there was a dark woman with piercing golden eyes, two horns on her head, light green hair tied back in three braids, and tiny green scales on her arms, legs, and neck. She was a normal height around five feet, she had the muscles of an athlete like everyone here, and was very pretty, she had a big smile as we approached and was looking at Nix a lot. "Good to see you again, we''ve been looking for you for over 4000 years." "I missed you so much." "..." (Nix) "..." (I) Before I understood what had happened I was watching two of these women when another one appeared giving Nix a hug as she rubbed her face against Nix''s chest, but it didn''t seem to be out of malice. As soon as the first image fades, it was what they called the afterimage, it moved so fast that there was an image of her in our vision before our minds processed that she left. The woman looked very happy as she hugged Nix, also seemed to know her, which I find very difficult to be true considering I don''t know who this woman is, Nix is always around so I should know this woman. But she also said something 4000 years old, maybe she knew Nix before her Soul was sealed by the Church of Light, but that means this woman would have more than 4000 years to live. "I''m sorry to interrupt your meeting time, but in order not to become a one-sided situation, we''d better know her name." (I) The woman didn''t let go of Nix, but she looked from Nix to me and then to the rest of the people who came with me, then she looked back at me. "Your boyfriend? If so I hope he''s just hiding his strength, because otherwise he''ll be ripped to shreds by his father." "I''m hiding my strength, at least from those weaker than me, but I''m sure I''m an open free for you." (I) "My relationship with him isn''t romantic, I''m not interested in that sort of thing." (Nix) "You say that, but he smells similar to yours, plus I see similar scales on both of them." "You are creating a lot of misunderstandings." (I) "Can we talk somewhere else?" (I) I don''t know who this woman is, but she is clearly very strong, besides I can''t perceive anything coming from her, and I''m not even sure if she''s standing next to Nix, besides my sight and hearing I''m not able to perceive her with anyone else sense, including my Aura. "Yes, come with me." "By the way, I haven''t introduced myself yet, have I?" "I am the High Priestess in charge of this temple, I am also a True Wind Dragon, my name is Vestyne." (Vestyne) Chapter 734: Nyxs Old Friend Chapter 734: Nyx''s Old Friend Now I understand why I can''t feel anything coming from this woman, I knew she was powerful but I had no idea how much, now I understand it''s because she is a True Dragon. I still remember the power that that True Dragon blood I consumed had, it was just remaining power, but it almost destroyed my body every time I consumed it, I''m sure if it wasn''t for my unique skill, my blessings at the time, my affinity natural with the blood and the fact that he was a child of the Blood Goddess, then he would be dead for trying to do that idiocy. But this woman by the name of Vestyne is a living True Dragon with full power, I still don''t understand the level of power a True Dragon possesses, but I suspect it is equal to or greater than that of an Elf Queen, Spirit King, or Fairy Queen. Also, this True Dragon is a High Priestess of the Dragon God Akatosh, that could mean that she has access to Holy power just like Vanessa, I''ve seen how much Holy Power strengthens Vanessa every time she uses it, I can''t even imagine a True Dragon using it Holy power. ------------ We followed High Priestess Vestyne into the Temple which was very different from what I had expected, once we passed the entrance hall full of Dragon statues, we arrived at a training ground next to a recreation place. It was strange to see people fighting hard enough to hear bones breaking on one side and on the other side having hammocks, beds, pasta with lots of food, and a bar. "This place reminds me of home..." (Karina) "Is this normal in a Dragon Temple?" (I) "Yes, the Temple teachings are very similar to how Dragons live." (Karina) "Dragons are confident, carefree, true and determined." (Karina) "The Dragon Temple is always built with these things in mind, if you want to train then train, if you want to sleep then go to sleep, if you want to eat then go hunting." (Karina) "She''s right, Dragons are a lot simpler than you''d expect." (Nix) "It''s a great way to live, I don''t understand why other races and religions complicate things so much." (Vestyne) "Could you let me go a little?" (Nix) "No, I missed you so much..." (Vestyne) High Priestess Vestyne barely spared a glance at us as she hugged Nix walking ahead, I could overhear their conversation if I wanted, but I thought it best to leave Nix in charge as this High Priestess seems to know Nix. "Do you really want to talk while you''re like this?" (I) "I''m not stupid, I know she''s in a contract with you son of the Blood Goddess, I can feel the strong bond between you, since I can''t stay with her long, I''ll enjoy it while I can." (Vestyne) "Alright master, she''s always been like that, but I''m worried she hasn''t changed in 4300 years." (Nix) "Of course, I have changed, my normal size is bigger than this building, I also learned to eat fruits, I learned to speak, I learned to hunt by myself and I am very strong." (Vestyne) "Good girl, you tried really hard, didn''t you?" (Nix) "Yea." (Vestyne) "So I''m sure you can eat fish, right." (Nix) "..." (Vestyne) "Look here a fish..." (Nix) Nix pulls a fish out of its shadow but it was a cooked fish it must be leftovers from yesterday''s food but as soon as the fish appeared High Priestess Vestyne turned pale and sweating as she looked at the fish which disappeared without a trace, I look at the wall and I see a big hole through which I can see the sky. "Keep that disgusting thing away from me!" (Vestyne) "I still don''t get it, doesn''t she like fish?" (I) "She hates fish, she had a Queen of Spirits who always cooked for us, but she only prepared fish for us to eat." (Nix) "That wasn''t food, I say she wanted to kill me, I''m sure it was poison." (Vestyne) "Because of that Vestyne started to hate fish." (Nix) "Just keep those disgusting things away from me." (Vestyne) "I think everyone strayed from the matter at hand, certain Priestess Karina." (Yara) "We can''t do anything since Nix has found an old friend." (Karina) Chapter 735: Temple Of The Law Chapter 735: Temple Of The Law Pov rica''s: After the master left with the others to visit some Temples and Churches, I called Elsaris to help me with something. Now we were both sitting on a street bench as we looked at a white Temple with the image of chains, books, and a scale with a book on one side and chains on the other side of the scale. The Priests of this Temple wear combat clothing rather than normal robes, all carrying manacles and chains. "So it was them?" (I) "Yes, I knew immediately when I spotted the first one looking down an alley." (Elsaris) "Why is the Temple of the Law after us?" (I) "So far we''ve been away from them, this must be the first time we''ve seen them in person." (I) "Why are they watching our house?" (I) I had placed several tracking curses around the mansion where we are staying, I know trouble always comes with the master, so I can''t let my guard down. Just as I thought, my curse had been activated a few times, but I''m not good at stalking or spying, so I asked Elsaris for help. "These idiots are after us for being criminals." (Elsaris) "I''m not a criminal." (I) "Please, how many people have you tortured and killed alongside Lilith?" (Elsaris) "They were trash." (I) ,m "Trash for you, but for this temple, they were entitled to a trial before being condemned by their respective laws." (Elsaris) "This sucks." (I) "I know, but I''m not blaming you, they would have come after us anyway." (Elsaris) "All the Priests of the different religions have sensitive senses, in the case of Lilith it is revenge, in the case of these Priests of the Law it is crime." (Elsaris) "I remember studying this in my childhood, but I heard it wasn''t perfect." (I) "Because escaping those senses of the law is easy, you just have to hire someone to do the dirty work for you, so that person will be breaking the law." (Elsaris) "I''ve had a hard life and a flexible mind on how to deal with problems, but I''m sure you won''t do anything to me, Priest." (Elsaris) "Lucky for you." "Unfortunately this island has its own rules that allow scum like you to walk through the crowd while we''re forbidden to act." "You must be careful what you say, Priest, the definition of scum varies greatly from person to person." (I) "I can feel the criminal Aura emanating from you, an Aura like that means a very long list of crimes, at this point the only proof I need is a confession." "Don''t try to reason with rigid-minded people who think they''re always right, it''s always a waste of time and saliva." (Elsaris) "Just stay away from us, we don''t want trouble and I don''t like causing trouble for the master." (I) "Speak of the Heretic wanted by the Church of Light, that criminal one of these days will receive what he deserves." "I''m sure he''ll get what he deserves, like respect, admiration and a few other things that aren''t polite to speak in public." (I) "Keep mocking child, but you won''t always be under the protection of this island." "But at the moment they still are and I apologize for my intervention High Priest." (Alvin) "You spend a lot of time intervening in our affairs, even when we never break the rules." "That''s because you always come dangerously close to breaking the rules while trying to mold them into something suitable for what you want." (Alvin) "You dare say I don''t follow the rules of this place?" "I say you follow the rules but don''t respect them, discussions about throwing you and your religion into the sea and kicking everyone out has been discussed more than once." (Alvin) "The problem with things that are too rigid is that it''s easy to get around them without breaking." (Elsaris) "I think it would be to the benefit of the young ladies to go back to their homes, wouldn''t you?" (Alvin) "Yes, thank you very much for your help, Mr. Alvin." (I) "I just do my duty." (Alvin) "We will." (I) Elsaris and I leave under the scowl of the High Priest of the Law, we head straight back to the mansion where we await the master''s return to tell him about all this. Chapter 736: 2 Ways To Do The Ceremony Chapter 736: 2 Ways To Do The Ceremony After the conversation of old friends of Nix and High Priestess Vestyne who is a True Dragon, we would finally get to the topic that brought me here, to begin with, and for that I let Karina do the talking as it mostly involves her. "I am Priestess Karina, I am linked to the True Dragon Zenos." (Karina) "I''ve noticed the connection between you, I''ve also noticed that your body hasn''t fully adapted yet." (Vestyne)Upstodatee from "Unfortunately not." (Karina) "How many times have you slept with him?" (Vestyne) "Only one, but that wasn''t the ceremony I''d tried." (Karina) "The servitude ceremony doesn''t always work with Priests, especially when the affinity between the two parties is very strong." (Vestyne) "But this Vampire is a special case for many reasons, anyone would have a high affinity for him making the joining ceremony the most recommendable." (Vestyne) "I figured that would be the case as my body improved greatly after that night." (Karina) "You must do it a few dozen more times until your body fully adapts to the power you receive from it." (Vestyne) Karina had told me this before, the ceremonies we tried to perform in the past were where she swore to serve me while using my awakening power on her, but since then there are days when she can''t even get out of bed due to the power flowing from me to her. She said she wanted to come here to find out what she should do, as well as wanting to be officially recognized as a High Priestess by the Dragon Temple. She''s also talked to Erica and the others, so no problem. "There''s one thing I can do, it''s two different Ceremonies that would solve your problems completely." (Vestyne) "The first is for me to use Holy power during your ritual, but it would be dangerous for you as I tend to lose control a little and get carried away by the moment." (Vestyne) "The second Ceremony would last for three days and three nights without rest within a ritual circle either controlled by me or controlled by about 10 High Priests." (Vestyne) I look at her, unlike before, she shows some insecurity as she clings even tighter to Nix. I exchanged a few glances with Nix before she nodded in confirmation with a smile, if that''s what she wanted then fine. "Looks like she has more to talk to her about, but don''t try to do anything she doesn''t want to." (I) "What kind of Dragon do you think I am, I''m proud to say I''ve never forced anyone to do anything." (Vestyne) "See you later Nix, until the next High Priestess Vestyne." (Vanessa) "Try not to seduce your friend Vestyne." (Yara) "Get out of here you old lady." (Vestyne) I say goodbye to Nix and leave with the others, Nix is in no danger, this High Priestess Vestyne is a little strange, but her eyes when she looked at Nix were filled with pure happiness. We were guided by another Priest who appeared after a shout from High Priestess Vestyne, this woman is very free in the way she acts. ------------- After we left the Dragon Temple we went to another temple that was also outside the city, it was actually a set of temples that were in a place like some kind of village in an open field surrounded by forest. The people in this village wore clothing made of leather from monsters mainly of the beast type, in addition, their races were mostly Beast Men, but there are also some beast type Demons and a few of other races. One thing I also noticed was that there were a lot of beast type monsters roaming around what looked like a village, some of them had a presence reminiscent of Sakura, and it took me a while to recognize them as Holy Beasts. Unlike normal monsters, Holy Beasts never become Demis in their evolutions, in addition, it takes many generations of monsters before at least one Holy Beast is born, they are creatures with powerful bodies, strong affinity with Ki, they are closely linked with nature and they are smart. One thing I only learned long after forming a contract with Sakura was that Holy Beasts with Humanoid form like her are very rare. This village is actually a set of Religions with the Beast Church as the main one and the other religions around it, this also includes the Temple of Fenrir which is our current destination. Chapter 737: Pack Leader Chapter 737: Pack Leader This village in the middle of the forest was a place where several Religions with close relationships get together, the whole village is made of wooden houses, but I can tell just by looking that this flag comes from monsters trees, that''s why the body parts still have Aura traits. Auras of monsters are aggressive and wild driven by instincts, and Auras of plants and trees have a harmony with their surroundings, I only noticed these details after acquiring the trinity with nature, and because of that, I realized the truth of the wooden buildings of this place with a single look focusing my Aura in my eyes. All the buildings were single-story, normal wooden houses, but there were a few that were 3-story and even seen from afar. Diana pointed to one of the buildings, but before we went there we had a problem to deal with, on the way all the Beast Men looked at Diana, those from the Wolf Tribe immediately got on their knees, and the Wolf-type monsters nearby also lower their heads before her. "So it really happened." (Vanessa) "Their reaction is greater than the Vampires'' reaction to you." (I) "She''s a Champion, even though hiding her Aura completely is not an easy thing to hide from those under her responsibility." (Vanessa) "She has a strong influence over all Wolves, at least those with a mind in their heads." (Yara) In that moment I was glad I hired Nicolas to make our magic items because ever since Diana became a Champion I''ve had a worry on my mind. I asked Nicolas to make a certain magic item for Diana, a magic item that stores her clothes when she transforms into a Wolf, her other items change shape to adapt to her Wolf form, but it would be weird to do the same with her clothes. Imagining a 20-foot wolf wearing clothes is funny, but ripping clothes also seems like a waste, so I asked Nicolas to make a magic item that can instantly put on and take off clothes. I feel Diana''s Aura resonating with the Auras of those who knelt before her, as if expecting something from her, felt Diana''s instincts bubbling through her Aura as she took a few steps forward. With each step Diana takes, her hair spreads more over the rest of her body, her height increases, and her clothes are enveloped in a light that makes them disappear leaving Diana Naked as her head transforms more and more into that of a Wolf. In the final steps she puts her hands on the ground as they transform into paws with sharp claws, in the end, she has become a magnificent 7 meter White Wolf with her head held proudly above everyone here. When I looked over to where that ordinary looking Wolf was, there was a middle-aged Beast Man from the Wolf tribe who was making a reference in Diana''s direction. ---------- After the show outside the village, we were invited by the half-dada man from the tribe of Wolves, he introduced himself as High Priest Garcia and we accompanied us to one of the 3-story buildings in the center of the village that was the Temple of Fenrir where we were going. "I know why you''re here." (Garcia) "When I accepted the power of the Great Fenrir, I was away from one of his Temples, I didn''t have the opportunity to go through the Temple''s acceptance." (Diana) "You expect to go through an acceptance ceremony, but you no longer have to." (Garcia) "Like this?" (Diana) "Why did you just go through the Ceremony, right lord High Priest?" (I) "You are right, the ceremony is not something we do consciously, it must be guided by instincts and show everyone the superiority of the Alpha, the one who carries the haste of the Great Fenrir." (Garcia) "Today you revealed to everyone who you are, your courage, determination, free spirit and cruelty." (Garcia) "A wolf''s howl has many ends, commanding the pack is one of them." (Garcia) "From this day forward you will be recognized as the Champion of the God Fenrir in every Temple of Fenrir you pass through, each of us will follow your orders when combat begins." (Garcia) "Thank you for the explanation, High Priest." (Diana) "I just show my loyalty to the Champion and my faith in the Great God of Wolves." (Garcia) Chapter 738: An Agreement? Chapter 738: An Agreement? I think the place where we spent the least time was the place that I started to call the village of the Beasts since there are only religions linked to the Beasts there. Diana unknowingly performed the ritual or ceremony she wanted the moment she arrived, High Priest Garcia told us that according to historical records it was supposed to happen instinctively. No prayers, oaths, or anything else was needed because Diana was not a Priestess or servant of the God Fenrir, she was his champion and representative of his power in the world. Vanessa once explained to me that a Saint is the voice of God in the world, he spreads the teachings of God by simply being present, he is the authority of that God in the world. She also explained to me that just as a Saint, the Champion of a God represents God''s power in the world, he is the final judgment of those who go against the central dogma of God''s teachings, and he represents a religion''s sword and shield. Vanessa said that in times of peace the Saint is the leader of a religion, but during times of war, the Champion leads. Vanessa told me that the difference in power between a Saint and a Champion is quite big, she took herself as an example when she explained that when she needs great power, she borrows it from the Goddess Selene, but she also explained that a Champion doesn''t borrow the power of the God, as long as it is necessary, the power will always be available for him to use. I found these concepts strange in a religion since I arrived in this world, religions in this world have their own authority and armies, some even have nations from what Vanessa told. This is a little weird for me, but I don''t think I have the right to complain about it being new to this world and being the son of who I am. ------------- After we left what I call the village of Beasts, we returned to the city, there are still two places I want to visit today, one is the Temple of Life to meet the person that High Priestess Yara wants to introduce us to, I find it strange the way she smile when you say that. The other place I have to go is the Fertility Church, but I''m not going to personally go into the monsters'' lair, I''m not stupid, I''ll send Hinata or Sakura in my place, Sakura is inside the Dungeon, but I can call her with a summons now that we have a contract. Also maybe it''s not a good idea to send Hinata, she''s a bit unpredictable and often extreme, she doesn''t have any limitations when doing things so there always has to be someone around to not let her go too far, my luck that she doesn''t have the same malice as Layla or else it would be really scary with the powers she has. ----------- I wasn''t going to go into that place, so I took out a bottle of blood and started drinking it, before summoning Sakura. "< Summon Holy Beast: Sakura >" (I) A magic circle forms in front of me instantly, the magic circle absorbs my mana and my Ki evenly before I feel something start to emerge, then a Sakura in her leafy dress appears eating a fruit that looks like a shrunken head, belongs to a very strange fruit tree that is on the floor of the land of the dead. "Do you need me for anything Master?" (Sakura) "Actually yes." (I) I explain the situation to Sakura as she looks around, meanwhile, she finishes eating her strange fruit down to the seeds, she always does this to leave seeds inside her, after a few months she can use these seeds to create Dryads or Incarnations of Forest. "You''re not planning on creating a Dryad from this tree, are you?" (I) "No, at least not yet, I''m trying to learn a new skill, so I''m studying this tree from its seeds inside my body." (Sakura) Sakura enters the Fertility Church without fear, the Priests ignore her as I thought, she is a being that does not get pregnant and so is far from the focus of her religion. "Welcome Familiar of Zenos, won''t your master do us the honor of receiving him?" "He won''t come in here, but he will speak through me." (Sakura) "I hope you''ve come to accept our deal, please follow me to my room." I was seeing and hearing everything through Sakura when a stunning woman appeared in front of her, the woman was clearly pregnant, but her beauty was incredible and she possessed a natural maternal presence. Once again some tic of the agreement was cited, but I still don''t know what that is. "But what deal is this?" (I) Chapter 739: Family Training Part 1 Chapter 739: Family Training Part 1 Pov Irius: After Dad left in the morning, my sister came up with an idea of practical training in Dungeons of this place, but her idea was for us to get the family together. That''s why it will be me, Irina, Samira, Lilith, Hela and we also call Athena, she is not yet family, but it will be in a short time, Vanessa has already said that she will transform her as soon as we arrive on the other continent, she is waiting to evolve first. This place has 9 Dungeons, we chose the one more focused on strength-type monsters, there will be a good variety of monsters to fight there and we will give you time to acquire some group coordination. Aside from me and Irina, the others don''t have any experience working with the rest of our group, so I''m bringing Ragnar along. Hela can be considered as a sister as she carries the Vampire and Dragon lineage from Father, even Father keeps telling her to stop calling him master. I asked Elsaris to come along, but it looks like Erica would need her help for something, so only the 7 of us came. The dungeon we entered was on the other side of the lake where we could with the ship, so we all took a small boat to the other side. After that, we entered the dungeon which had the entrance in the form of two claws of some monster open as if to catch someone. The first 40 floors were very easy to go through, it only took us 6 or 7 hours to go through all these floors, one of the main reasons for this was that we got the maps for the first 50 floors of all the Dungeons, we bought these maps from the Adventurers Guild, so you can trust 100% on the authenticity of these maps. With our strength it would be useless to wander around floors full of weak and dumb monsters, we also don''t trust the people of this island to take us directly to the lower floors, so we are taking the long way. ------------- "I still don''t know why you''re worried, we''ve already been told that you can''t have fights on the island." (I) "The look of that group was very malicious, they were ready to attack Lilith." (Samira) "I don''t want to fight them, it looks like they''re going to start a tiresome and boring sermon during the fight." (Lilith) "They were from the Temple of the Law, so they would probably start talking about paying for their crimes." (Irina) "I hate them, remember how they always started fights when we arrived in a town where they were?" (I) "Yes, they were always about who committed the crimes and not why the crimes were committed." (Irina) "They sure were furious when they saw Lilith." (Ragnar) "Which direction should we go?" (Hela) "The entrance to the next floor is in that direction." (Ragnar) "Yes, but we''re going in the opposite direction." (I) "Why? What''s in there?" (Samira) "Raw metal, the Guild said that this one has a lot of quests to collect the metal from this floor, I thought I''d check what kind of metal this is." (I) "Want to take it to Anton?" (Lilith) "Yea." (I) "So come on, after this walk, I want to go back, I''m starting to get hungry." (Irina) "No blood bottles?" (Hela) "I do, but I like to eat the fresh food that Caryna and Freya make." (Irina) "I agree, I don''t even need to eat, but I sure as hell won''t skip a meal." (Ragnar) "I think I know which monster this floor is." (Samira) What he was seeing towards us was a group of very ugly muscular men, their wide eyes, big nose and ears, big chunks of rock in the shape of clubs, and dark gray skin. They might look like people, but they were monsters normally feared by Adventurers of the same level, they have heights of 6 to 9 meters, strength as great as you would expect from these huge muscles, a thick and resistant skin that works as natural armor, they also have a regeneration that heals any medium or small wound. "I hate fighting Giants." (Irius) "They are Rock Giants, their defense is even greater than their strength." (Ragnar) "At least they''re slow." (Samira) "There''s another group a little further back." (Athena) As Samira said, her main weakness is her speed, but it''s useless if her defense is able to withstand any attack. Athena who had only been listening in silence until now spoke up when she saw another group approaching a little further behind the first group of Giants. Chapter 740: Family Training Part 2 Chapter 740: Family Training Part 2 Pov Irina''s: When we saw the Rock Giants approaching in a group, we stayed in our positions, my brother took the front with Hela, Lilith and I stayed behind to attack with magic while Athena who was quiet all this time is ready with Samira to attack the sides. Ragnar came along but is not participating in the attack, he is here more to help in case unexpected situations occur. "Brother, let me and Lilith take care of the back group, the rest of you take out the front group faster." (I) They all nodded, and they all overlay their Auras with different effects like Lilith''s Revenge Retribution or my regeneration Enhancement Aura which enhances the body''s natural ability to heal. My brother and Hela rush forward, Athena creates swords of light that float around her as she flies out to attack enemies from above. Samira who is the fastest had already left her position when I looked, she was falling like a meteor on top of one of the Giants, but instead of the giant in question dodging, he tries to hit her with his rock club. "< Demonic Curse: Blood Corruption >" (Lilith) "< Barrier >" (I) "< Prison of Blades >" (I) While the others started their attacks, I used a barrier to defend Samira, she took advantage of the decrease in the Giant''s attack power to somersault in the air with her heel hammer to the Giant''s head, this shouldn''t have been a problem considering the size of a fly that Samira was compared to the Giant, yet half of the Giant''s head sinks to pieces as his body is thrown to the ground with force. Meanwhile, I created a barrier around the second group of Giants with sword points facing inwards, while I started to lower the barrier little by little, it''s hard to change the shape of a barrier once it''s ready, otherwise, I could close this one faster barrier. At this moment I see the veins on the Giants'' bodies writhing under the skin like snakes, the Giants were screaming meanwhile trying to hit the blades inside the belly, but each broken blade returned to normal so it was a futile effort. Even though I say the barrier was slowly decreasing, that was just by my standards, the barrier was still decreasing at a decent speed that took away all the space to move for these thrashing Rock Giants. I could feel the resistance of the bodies of these Giants as my barrier blades had difficulty piercing their skin, so I activate corrosion in my barrier which turns acidic corroding its way to destroy these monsters. The fight this time was exactly what we were looking for, coordinating as a group, so we were careful to use as few skills as possible as we wanted a longer fight. I focused on using only common barriers to defend the group and interspersing a few hits over time. My brother used his sword and shield to be the front line, meanwhile, Athena focused on dealing as much damage as possible, which with her strength was one hit kill. Lilith in turn was using Demonic magic to get through the defenses of monsters, among all of us she is the one with the least combat experience, she is well trained while in the Dungeon, but it''s not the same thing as being in a real fight. Lilith''s Demonic magic does a lot of damage almost ignoring the defense of these monsters, Hela was ripping off another monster''s head before throwing it hard enough to push the other monster back a few steps. Samira was running between the monsters using her powerful kicks to hit the monsters'' joints giving large openings which Irius was taking advantage of to quickly kill opponents. "Watch the floor!" (Ragnar) "< Moving Barrier >" (I) At Ragnar''s warning the ground shook and a big mouth appeared from the ground, it was some kind of fish with rock scales instead of normal scales and it was covered in magma, it was tens of meters long and its mouth was big enough to swallow half of the battlefield, which he did. I created bubble barriers around everyone and pulled them away from their battles while the monsters that were still alive were swallowed by the giant fish-like monster before hitting the ground causing the surroundings to shake, then back down of the earth leaving a large pool of magma in place. Before the monster left, I realized that its strength was at the Lower Catastrophe Grade. "Looks like this was a mid-boss." (I) "He looks like a lot to deal with right now." (Athena) "Would it taste good with some hot sauce?" (Lilith) "Stop thinking about food, let''s continue." (Irius) Chapter 741: Family Training Part 3 Chapter 741: Family Training Part 3 Pov Irius: We faced a few more monsters until we got close to a place covered in black mist or at least what we believed to be mist, when we got closer we realized it was soot. When we passed through the soot cloud that covered the entire area, we noticed that the place that the Guild map we had led to a volcano. This volcano was not very big, but the temperature around it was very high, in addition, there were lava and stone Elementals around the volcano, there were a few hundred of them, but it was not a problem for our group, it was actually a good experience of group training. During this fight we used all our power to finish off these monsters as quickly as possible, the monsters were very strong, but they were slow, so dodging their blows was not difficult, the biggest problem with these monsters was the ability to regenerate using corresponding elements in the environment that was abundant, to finish them we had to do it with a single blow, destroying the whole body. Irina mostly used her water magic getting on the magma elementals turning the monsters into rock statues, the rock elementals in turn were blown to pieces with Hela''s claw attacks, using my shield to hit them like a hammer and Samira destroying their bodies with kicks that threw the monsters at their companions behind them due to the force of Samira''s blows. After finishing off the monsters we started looking around, then we found a cave and entered, inside we found some types of metal and magic stones, Hela used the monster bodies she collected so far and several other smaller monsters to collect these materials that we keep in our storage items. ----------- After citing everything we could see superficially we left, we didn''t want to waste too much time mining and Ragnar was starting to get grumpy about mealtimes. We went straight to the exit this time, we''ll go to the next floor and then come back from the safe room on that floor or that''s what we wanted to do. "Ragnar, have you noticed them?" (Athena)?iscover new chapters at novelhall.com "Yes, it''s been a few minutes." (Ragnar) "I can feel the vital energy of 2 people, I can''t tell their strength." (Hela). "They are Lesser Catastrophe Grade, by the way, they move They are expert in stealth, they are hiding their Auras well." (Ragnar) "How long have we been followed?" (I) "As I said before, just a few minutes." (Ragnar) "If you point me in the direction I can punch them for you." (Samira) "You guys should get out of our way, we don''t want trouble." (I) "Then follow us to the Temple of the Law, we just want to confirm if they are being wanted to enter somewhere, if there is no wanted poster they will be released." Sigh "As always, idiots who think they''re righteous..." (I) "Offending me and my companions will do no good." "I just wanted to get you out of the way since they said fighting is forbidden on this island." (I) "Fights are prohibited on the island, not within the Dungeons, but even then there are rules of combat only at the same level of strength." "And are you foolish enough to think that larger numbers at the same level of strength guarantee your victory?" (I) "Trying to intimidate me with your words is useless, will you, the girl who looks like your sister, Celestina, and the Devil accompany us for good or will we have to be rude?" "Then don''t say I didn''t warn you when your teammates start dying, NOW!" (I) "< Demon Mist >" (Lilith) "< Summon: Nightmare Ghosts >" (Hela) "< Aura Suppression >" (Ragnar) "< Illusory Barrier >" (Irina) On the way to the exit, we were already preparing everything we would need before arriving, my Father always said to be as prepared as possible and never be confident in your own strength if you don''t fully know the enemy. Lilith, Irina, and Hela had already made their preparations, Irina could cast her Barrier spells almost instantly creating the magic circles, Hela had a bracelet made using a Phantom Orb making the process to summon Phantoms very easy and fast, Lilith created the circle magic inside his own body while accumulating demonic energy to cast that spell and Ragnar is the strongest person in using Auras of his level, these people wouldn''t have someone I can go head-to-head with his Aura, that means the Auras of everyone was suppressed into their bodies negating the effect of their Auras. Soon a great barrier envelops the entire area which begins to ripple and change as a thick red mist blocks vision and senses within the barrier at the same time as eerie groans are heard from within the mist. "Advantage belongs to whoever makes the first move." (I) Chapter 742: Family Training Part 4 Chapter 742: Family Training Part 4 Pov Athena: As Irius approached one of the members of the Temple of the Law, I was choosing my targets, I have to be ready to kill the two who were following us at the moment of the signal. Samira is still not strong enough to fight someone in the Lower Catastrophe Grade, so I''ve been accumulating my mana in my wing feathers and my Ki in the two swords at my waist. I also already have 4 magic circles ready, two in my palms, and two that are hidden inside my wings that I''ve kept for decades to hide, so I keep listening to Irius'' conversation waiting for the signal. I was behind the others as my two targets were hiding behind us as if we hadn''t noticed them. "Then don''t say I didn''t warn you when your teammates start dying, NOW!" (Irius) "< Demon Mist >" (Lilith) "< Summon: Nightmare Ghosts >" (Hela) "< Aura Suppression >" (Ragnar) "< Illusory Barrier >" (Irina) When I heard the signal, I acted at the same time as the others without delay. "< Light Feather Storm > 2" (I) "< Light Sword Throw > 2" (I) Before the barrier and the Demon Mist closed us in, I saw Celestina attack the two places where our observers were waiting to act, it seems that they had already noticed their presence for a long time, something I didn''t take into account. Unfortunately, we would not have time to act in favor of both, the barrier distorted my vision as it showed me blurred images of trees and people in the midst of the fog that blocked my senses, I also felt that the fog was slowly absorbing my mana and vitality. But things were worse than I imagined when a powerful Aura encompassed all of us, this Aura was cruel and wild, I felt suffocated as if I was being crushed by a great beast, but I didn''t have time to surrender to these different sensations. I remained as calm and attentive as I could in this situation as I returned to being close to my companions, each knowing what to do and looking in different directions to cover each other''s blind spots. Soon we saw claw attacks that we tried to defend, with shields and barriers, some worked while others were useless to defend with the claws going through the shield of one of my companions to hit his chest, luck that another noticed and pulled him back, but even so the claw still pierced a few inches in his chest. After learning that shields and magic barriers work best, we were able to see our attacker, they were Ghosts, moreover after losing 5 companions who took advantage of being focused on Ghosts, I managed to rip off a hand holding a sword that tried to cut off the head of one of my companions. One of my companions lost his composure when a red tail pierced his heart, so as a last act before he died he used a sacrificial attack that blew his chest apart and turned his ribs into throwing daggers that disappeared into the mist. We were facing an enemy and Ghost attack in an environment we can''t identify our surroundings, with our senses and Auras suppressed. At that moment the will to fulfill our purpose was what kept us focused on our enemies, even though some had died, we were still outnumbered, we were ready to fall, taking criminals with us if necessary, but no matter how much we waited, they did not come, only the Ghosts attacked. That''s when I tried to leave with my companions, forcing our way through the Ghosts'' attacks. Luckily the barrier wasn''t meant to trap us there, so we were able to get out, that''s when I noticed the two bodies nearby and no enemies nearby. "They ran away..." (I) Those two words came full of hate from my mouth. Chapter 743: An Agreement To Consider Chapter 743: An Agreement To Consider I was watching Sakura follow the pregnant woman inside, the inside of the Fertility Church had a little more provocative carvings of sexual relations, they weren''t very perverted things, they were very conservative and I think it was more for the meaning of getting pregnant than the act sex itself. "Sorry for the delay in introducing myself, I''m the High Priestess of Fertility in charge of this branch of the Church, my name is Korinne." (Korine) "My name is Sakura, I am an Incarnation Queen of the Black Forest, I am a Holy Beast." (Sakura) "I know about the Incarnations of the Forest, as Queen, you possess the sacred power to propagate life, just like our church." (Korine) "Our paths may be different, but the purpose is always the same, to propagate life." (Korine) "I agree with your point of view." (Sakura) I continue to observe the entire situation through Sakura''s eyes as she escorts this High Priestess into a room with two sofas facing each other, each taking a seat on a sofa. "I assume your master is watching and listening, right?" (Korine) "Yes, if necessary he will answer through me too." (Sakura)?iscover new chapters at novelhall.com "I assume you know about the agreement between our Gods, right?" (Korine) "I don''t know anything, my master doesn''t seem to know either." (Sakura) Even without me directly conveying what I think or my will to Sakura, the connection between us is open, because of this she can perceive my emotions and I weakly perceive hers. "All the High Priests had a dream about the Goddess Asya last night, including me." (Korine) "We all received the same information, but as you might expect, our minds strangely understand what we received directly from the Gods, but thanks to compiling everything everyone dreamed of, we were able to come to what I believe to be an agreement." (Korine) "But before I talk about the deal, I''d like to give you some context, I imagine you know why the Priests of my Church persecute you." (Korine) I''m listening to the High Priestess, so to answer her, I extend my will to Sakura''s body as I lose track of my own body, I do it to talk to the High Priestess. I didn''t like hearing this, I guess I''ll have to go back to the old mask-wearing plan, I don''t want perverts after me. "Unfortunately I can understand these two religions going after me, I don''t like the explanation, but I understand." (I) "But I suppose none of this has anything to do with the Temple of Love, I find it difficult for their religion to judge by strength, appearance or lineage." (I) "Correct, the Demon Goddess of Pleasure Ariel and the Goddess of Fertility Asya are sisters, the two are daughters and subordinate Goddesses of the Goddess of Love Ayrin." (Korine) "Our 3 religions may be different, but they are very united, so I know just by looking at you the love that surrounds you, the world itself loves you and is in harmony with you." (Korine) "(Master, I think she''s talking about the Trinity of Nature.)" (Sakura) "(I thought the same thing.)" (I) Can the Trinity of Nature be interpreted as being loved by Nature? "But you don''t have to worry about your chastity with the Priests of Love, but I imagine they would still be a nuisance." (Korine) "I assume this agreement is to resolve this." (I) "As I said before, this agreement has been accepted by the three Goddesses and the Blood Goddess, but the agreement must be accepted by you, that is one of the conditions." (Korine) "..." (I) "What are the terms of this agreement?" (I) ----------- High Priestess Korinne started to tell me the terms of the agreement which in the end boils down to a promise of restriction for the interaction of these 3 religions with me, but this with the promise that the Saints and Champions of these 3 Religions are allowed to live in my Dungeon. When I asked why, High Priestess Korinne said she wasn''t sure, she said she assumed it was for safety, these 3 Religions are not combat focused, they have powerful people, but their numbers are not the same as other religions, and besides have many enemies. I told her I would think about it and come back tomorrow morning to give my answer. Chapter 744: How To Deal With The Temple Of The Law Chapter 744: How To Deal With The Temple Of The Law After Sakura left the Church of Fertility we decided to go back to our house, but on the way we found one of the Turtle Men, they are all very similar, but the presence next to each one is different, that was the only thing I could simulate to differentiate they. This Turtle Man was preventing the discussion between two Celestines, one of them had skeleton wings on his back while the second had pure white wings, and they were directing strong killing intent towards each other. I approached the Turtle Man, careful not to draw the attention of these two or the surrounding crowd to me, so I asked the Turtle Man about where to find Alvin, the Turtle Man who had guided me the day before. After I get an answer I leave with the others back to the house, I have no interest in arguments from others, I already have Neusa problems of my own to deal with and I don''t need to borrow from others. "I don''t know why you were afraid to come in, that High Priestess was very nice." (Sakura) "After their Priests ran after me yesterday, I wouldn''t go in there." (I) "What do you want to eat when we get back?" (Vanessa) "I''m tired of eating sea monsters, maybe some red meat with a glass of beer, better still a keg of beer." (Diana) We were talking to the house where we are staying, and on the way, I noticed that there were many injured people with torn combat clothes talking, with my senses I managed to gather part of the conversations of several different groups. After listening to everyone I realized that they were returning from the Dungeons of this island, most were still talking about the events of combat within the Dungeons and some were talking about fights against other groups within the Dungeons. I found it strange to hear about direct combat after hearing Alvin say yesterday about the ban on combat on the island, I take the notebook I received yesterday from him to read it again. To make a quicker reading I look for keywords like Dungeons or fights, after turning a few pages I find an excerpt that says that fights are allowed inside the Dungeons, but only against people of the same strength, it also says that life and death within the Dungeoneering is not guaranteed. "That could be a problem." (I) "What''s up Father?" (Vanessa) "Let me confirm something." (I) I close my eyes as I try to connect with Ragnar. "(Ragnar?)" (I) "(Master? Need something?)" (Ragnar) "(You said you were going to a dungeon today, right?)" (I) It took me a few seconds to stop my anger from clouding my mind, I have to remind myself that I''m not invincible, just today I''ve already met several people stronger than me, running to the Temple of the Law to start a massacre would only get me slapped and die like a fly. Also, the people of the Temple of the Law were following the rules of this place which further indicates that the owner of this island is of a level of power that no one here dares to offend if I dared to do something against their rules I would be finished, I''m sure that would be expelled or in the worst case killed. Sigh Sigh I calmed down and thought for a few minutes, I to the others who are looking at me worriedly, I don''t need to ask why, I know my flaws better than all of them, I also know that my Aura was leaking along with strong murderous intent. "I am fine." (I) "No, you''re not fine." (Irina) "I''m calmer now." (I) "Then why is your murderous intent still growing?" (Irius) "Because now I know how I''m going to deal with the Temple of the Law." (I) "You know you can''t run over there and start a riot, right?" (Kira) "Of course, I won''t, who do you think I am?" (I) "I''ll walk calmly over there to create a fuss, I have no reason to run." (I) "..." (all) "What? Why are you looking at me like that, it was just a joke." (I) "The gleam in your eyes says it wasn''t a joke." (Vanessa) "I''m just going to talk to them, a friendly talk to understand why they stayed away from us." (I) "That''s worrying, he has the same smile as Layla." (Freya) "I think we''ll be kicked out soon, so I''ll pack my bags." (Diana) Chapter 745: You Have Two Choices Chapter 745: You Have Two Choices After hearing what happened in the Dungeon it took me a while to calm down, but after thinking about the rules of this island and everything that happened, I already knew how to handle this situation. Just to be sure what I was going to do, I reread the entire notebook that Alvin gave me yesterday when we arrived, after that, I''ll accompany my Familiars with Nix''s execution who asked to continue in the Dragon Temple with her friend. I hang out with my other Familiars, Barok, Hela, Freya, Jade, Vanessa, Athena, and Ivan. The strongest people in the Dungeon were gathered and going to the Temple of Law with me, of course, there were still more people inside the Dungeon strong and Nix, but I don''t need to show everything I have, I just need them to realize that there are more people with me than they''ve seen so far, so I called Barok and Jade from inside the Dungeon. I explained to everyone what I was going to do before leaving and asked the rest to stay at home, I already had my doubts about bringing Layla who was training inside the Dungeon for the last few weeks, but I warned her to be quiet this time, I stayed surprised that she listened without saying anything, I think she realized I was serious this time. ---------- Pov High Priest of the Law: I''m a few days in this place, like the other Religions, we change our people who are in charge here once a year, this time I was selected to take care of our young hopes for the future. This island is an excellent place of training, so all the High Priests of all religions leave the young people to make their own decisions most of the time, this is because it serves to train their mindsets. For us it is even worse, Priests with great talent are able to perceive and see the crime of people, for those young people this can be a problem to control themselves when they see criminals, it is not always possible to act quickly, knowing how to deal with each situation with adaptation is the best answer we can have against criminals. "High Priest Alfred, a group of Priests have returned with many wounded and some dead." "What happened?" (I) "After talking to them..." ---------- Sigh "Good afternoon, Mr. Alvin." (I) "Good afternoon, good to see you again, lord High Priest Alfred." (Alvin) "I''ll cut to the chase, I don''t like your Temple and I don''t want to deal with your Priests again." (Zenos) This Vampire is someone I know the name, he''s being wanted by the Church of Light, and his name was registered in the criminal information we have. "You have a lot of nerve to come here, child." (I) "You attacked my children and Familiar, so don''t expect any respect from me, I don''t care about your religion or your strength to have any inclination to respect you." (Zenos) He''s keeping a calm expression and normal voice, but his words are acid, plus his fury and murderous intent is very visible to me, I''m surprised he''s able to contain himself like that. "I came here to propose a deal, you have two options." (Zenos) "The first option is to order the other Priests of your religion to stay away from us." (Zenos) "The second option will be for me to kill all the Priests of your Religion that I find in the Dungeon." (Zenos) "..." (I) He is more dangerous than I thought, his plan may seem all and naive but the rules of this island are in his favor in this case, he can massacre our Priests inside the Dungeons, and he has found a way to do what he wants in this situation already that I can only send people at the same level of strength after him. I could ask the Priests to leave since I would be banning their training, that would be a difficult thing. Just looking at it I know he would dare to do that, his fury is pretty apparent for me to see and I''m sure he didn''t just start a riot because of me, other than the rules of this island. "Alright, we..." (I) Chapter 746: Threat Chapter 746: Threat It took me a while to get to the Temple of the Law, but even along the way, I couldn''t calm my anger. I could understand the Church of Light turning against me considering my mother, considering me having saved Vanessa who was supposed to be a Saint of the Church of Light, or having accepted the traitors of the Church of Light by letting them join me. I can understand some organizations or governments we''ve been through coming after us considering what we''ve done, I can even understand extremists coming after us.Upstodatee from But from what I can understand, the Temple of the Law acts like a mixture of religion and a world police organization. The very concept of this is idiotic considering that each nation has different laws and different ways of applying those laws which are also different. Now a religion I''ve never been involved with before, a religion I''ve never done anything against comes after me and my family accusing us of being criminals without having any proof is something I refuse to accept, such nonsense is outrageous even from think. I know it may seem hypocritical considering the way they identify us as criminals is similar to how Lilith identifies her targets for revenge, but at least I research those targets to see if they deserve whatever kind of horror Lilith does to them. Not long ago we even discovered a man who seems to have changed his life and now runs an orphanage, that''s why we left him alone, even Lilith recognizes that the memories of the horrors the man committed in the past would be enough torture for him and removed the man from his hit list. But these people from the Temple of Law went after Irius, Irina, and the others in the Dungeon not knowing anything, we marked us as criminals not knowing what kind of crimes we committed and why. Thinking these things only made it worse, I was mad with rage, the level of arrogance that considers yourself worthy of judging others for things you know nothing about is nothing but tyrant. When I arrived at the Temple of the Law I was waiting for, I knew that this Temple must have some strong High Priest like the other Religions I went to today. From the looks we received from the Priests in the surroundings, I knew that soon he would be informed, besides that his wounded Priests must have already returned with those who died in the Dungeon, I''m sure they would report everything to their superiors. Before long a middle aged Man who appears to be a Human came by, he had a serious and calm expression, by the way, he looked at everyone, I knew he was sizing us up. "Those who were attacked were my family, if any of them had died because of that, it would be a war that would start between our two religions." (Vanessa) "Don''t make empty threats High Priestess of Blood, the Champion of Fenrir could do that, but you can''t speak your Religion around like she does." (Alfred) "Not yet, but that day will come." (Vanessa) The High Priest releases his Aura but I can''t feel anything, I knew it was there but it was like a solid wall blocking me from feeling or seeing anything. The High Priest tried to do something, but an equally imperceptible Aura came out of Alvin to block him. "Your Aura is too strong to be used for investigation in this way, High Priest Alfred." (Alvin) "I was just a little curious, sorry." (Alfred) "I will stop the Priests of this place from doing anything against you and your group, but you have just committed a threatening crime against Priests of the Law, our conversation could be considered a confession, so expect to be approached once more in the future, this once again with evidence of their crimes." (Alfred) "Good luck when the time comes, I hope your Religion is prepared to lose people again when the time comes." (I) "I really don''t wish to make enemies or get involved with your religion again, but I will always defend my group and I won''t give in without a fight." (I) "Those who follow the Law need never fear persecution, keep this in mind so as not to increase their crimes further." (Alfred) "I think the matter is settled, better come back now, Mr Zenos." (Alvin) High Priest Alfred is someone smart, he kept a calm demeanor while gathering information, I noticed that but there was nothing he could do, he even noticed Vanessa and Diana''s identities, surprised me he didn''t notice mine and Freya''s, maybe he has just didn''t talk about it. I returned with everyone home without saying anything else, I know the Temple of the Law will treat us like criminals from now on, but I''ll have to think about it more to know how I''m going to deal with them. Chapter 747: Mermaids!? Chapter 747: Mermaids!? Pov High Priest Alfred: I see the Vampire leaving with his group and I turn to Alvin, one of Cyrion''s Servants, he was looking at me. "I''ll keep my end of the deal, don''t worry." (I) "I know you will do your part, but there are troublesome people in your temple." (Alvin) "If I order them they will obey, our Priests strongly respect hierarchy and rules." (I) "For someone who talks so much about rules and laws, the people of your temple spend a lot of time and effort manipulating these things to conform to what they believe." (Alvin) "It''s not your duty to judge what we do." (I) "Then stop making trouble so often with other religions." (Alvin) "They''re young, let them make mistakes as they wish, a lot of what happens in this place is left out because it''s a training place." (I) The truth is that there are criminals in all religions, some religions are even completely full of criminals like religions that worship Evil Gods or Demon Gods. The young people we send to this island are just the most talented and with the greatest potential, but this makes many of them arrogant, and often don''t realize the mistakes they make. In the case of this Vampire and those around him, there are many mysteries involved, clearly, there are more people or organizations behind him, I could take them all to trial, but without evidence, it would be worthless.Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com Besides, I can''t act here, my role is to guide and watch over our young talents, and missing the opportunity to come to such a perfect training place would be a huge blow to our future. "(I''ll just send what I have to the Main Temple, if an opportunity arises we''ll have to capture them in the future, but until then we should investigate their pasts and pay attention to them from now on.)" (I) ----------- "That was different, we attacked them all at once, it was a quick attack that didn''t give them time to react, if they had taken the initiative it wouldn''t have been so easy, besides that Irius and Lilith were injured." (Athena) "Fish!?" (Hinata) "What is it, Hinata?" (I) While we were talking on the way back, Hinata who was floating a little higher comes to me pointing in one direction, when I approach the place that was the port, I see several people being brought by clouds created by Turtle Men. These people who were brought in or who are still being brought in had fishlike appearances. There were beautiful women in leather clothes with scales and underparts of fish or other sea creatures, I saw a big Mermaid among them that had a tail more like a shark from the waist down, this Mermaid caught my attention because it was wearing a piece of armor and was missing his arm from the elbow. When I noticed her other injuries on the rest of her body I started to pay more attention to the others, there were more types of Mermaids with lower body parts of fish, octopus, and even shrimp. Most of the others were unharmed, but they looked very thin and with haggard faces. I watched as more people were brought in on the Turtle Men''s clouds, in addition to them there were also flying carpets, flying boats, and big monster birds bringing these people that were not limited to Sirens. There were also people with humanoid bodies but with fish scales, some had fish scales all over their bodies while others had fish scales only on some parts of their bodies like arms, legs, and back. These people also looked like they had fish gills, but they also had noses, it made me wonder for a few seconds how their bodies work, and why it felt like they had two different respiratory systems, but I soon let that go. I noticed that more Mermaids and these fish people are injured, few of them had weapons and armor, and these even more injured, as we arrived more and more of these people I noticed what they were, refugees. I realized this because this scene reminded me of a refugee movie I saw in my previous life, while thinking about this revelation I realized that Vanessa was among those people as well as many other Priests of various Religions using spells or healing abilities on these injured people. Upon seeing this I also noticed that Freya was there, as well as Sakura, Athena, and Jade who cannot heal wounds but can treat poisons which seems to be of great help to some of the most injured people. I also went there to heal, my skills were not good for healing, but I learned a lot of spells for that from Irina, among these spells a powerful water element magic that creates a fragile barrier, but that increases the natural healing ability of all people inside, I used all my mana to strengthen this spell as much as I can in a large area. After creating the barrier I drank a potion of MP and went to try to treat the less injured, I realized that the most due were being well taken care of by experts, so I focused on those who were being neglected momentarily because they were in better condition. Chapter 748: War At The Bottom Of The Ocean Chapter 748: War At The Bottom Of The Ocean During the night I was on the roof of the house looking at the starry sky while trying to calm down. During the fishfolk training, I was able to occupy my mind with their treatment, but after we got home and saw Irius and Lilith''s injuries I was irritated again by the inability to resolve the situation with the people of the Temple of the Law of a satisfactory way. "Are you still thinking about the Temple of the Law?" (rica) "No, I kind of feel like starting to punch them, but I''m thinking of something else." (I) "About the refugees?" (rica) "I had never seen Mermaids and Tritons, at least not in person, even in the books I read in Valen City, they were only mentioned briefly." (I) "But in my ancient world Mermaids were creatures of myth and legend, the Pop culture used them in many things after that, but mostly they were portrayed as if Mermaids were beautiful, intelligent, graceful, delicate, and in some cases even mischievous. " (I) "But what I saw today was pain, sadness, despair, and death." (I) "This is a war, you should already know that, we always find wars, I''m sure we must have seen more wars in these 2 years than most Adventurers." (rica) "But the reason for this war is so stupid." (I) ---------- As I was treating many people who had minor injuries, I heard many people vent now that they had found a safe place. Some of them started to talk about what happened and where they came from to understand what happened, but many surrendered to despair talking about the death of their friends and families, there were also those who talked to themselves about the things they would have done differently or about the hate they feel. I asked everyone to listen to people talking, so we were able to compile more or less what happened. Sigh "War probably won''t lead to anything, a war that started only out of hatred won''t end so easily." (rica) "I feel sorry for the refugees, but I don''t plan on getting more involved in this matter." (I) "Nor should I, but I have something to ask." (rica) rica lays next to me hugging me affectionately. "Would it be about leaving the island?" (I) "Me and Vanessa took a look at the notebook with information about the island." (rica) "There are still other religions that could be a problem, not to mention there seems to be a hidden city on the other side of the island just for Demonic Religions." (rica) "That''s exactly why I want to stay here a little longer, this is a relatively safe place for us to get to know other religions better." (I) "Better to do it in a place like this than to be attacked suddenly during our travels." (I) ----------- I took the opportunity earlier today while caring for the refugees to ask Alvin about something, I asked him if I could leave my Dungeon open and the thousands of Dungeon people out to stay around town. To my surprise he said that I could, but I would have to take care of his accommodations myself, that wasn''t a problem as I could get everyone back to the dungeon overnight with curfew. So after we got back to the house I left the Dungeon entrance open in the basement, I told Irina, Irius, Vanessa, and Ivan to explain the island rules to the Dungeon residents, I also spoke to explain the rules I created including the touch of to recall. Chapter 749: Refugees Chapter 749: Refugees Pov Renegade Soldier: "Lady, you must rest." "Please rest, your body is very weak..." "Ahh... my arm hurts... why does it hurt so much..." (I) My vision is very blurry and my body is weak, I don''t remember much about the last few days, I know that everyone swam without rest and that I had to fight the monsters many times, all this while fighting against the current used by a great storm. I moved relying solely on my purpose to keep civilians alive, that was the duty I placed on my shoulders when I left the battlefield to save those in need along with many others who thought like me. I refused to sleep knowing that if I closed my eyes I might not open them again due to the many injuries I carried. Tears "Lady, there is no longer a... an arm to feel pain..." Tears "..." (I) My vision was still weird, but my ears work, hearing what those around me said through tears I tried to use my other hand to feel my arm aching. I tried to hold my wrist which hurt from holding my trident for so long without rest, but no matter how many times I tried to hold my wrist, I was always wrong for not seeing well. Tears "Lady, please rest, your wounds will open again." Tears "..." (I) I could hear the voices of people around me crying, their voices filled with sadness, but I couldn''t stop, the pain in my arm was bothering me so much. I was very weak and seeing very badly so I tried to hold my shoulder before going down to the wrist where the pain was worst, a soldier''s hands are of great importance during combat, I need to know more about my injuries, I have to know why does my arm hurt so much. I grab my shoulder and start to lower the arm, but after the elbow, I lose the grip on the rest of the arm, my haste is getting in the way, and I have to grab my shoulder once more and go down more carefully to get to the arm. Tears "The children... where are the children?" (I) "They are fine, thanks to you and many others, most of the children were saved..." "Most..." (I) Tears I couldn''t save them all, I was weak again if I had paid attention on the battlefield if I had attacked instead of holding back if I had done more. "Nothing will change like this, get out of the way..." "Wait, she''s still not..." "Shut up, talking affectionately won''t help her." Suddenly I feel something lift me up and I''m taken to another place, I feel it''s something small by the two tiny hands on my body, my vision still wasn''t very good and I couldn''t see well, but I saw long red hair when I looked down. "Miss soldier..." "The pretty lady is here..." "You woke up..." "Thank you for saving my little brother..." "Thank you. Thank you very much..." Soon I am placed on the ground where several indistinct figures surrounded me, some of them started to hug me and I could hear children''s voices talking one over the other, little by little my vision improved and I realized that it was children around me. "Don''t mourn a lost arm for something that was worth it, you did more than you needed to and those were the lives that were saved so don''t mourn the loss of an arm this is a world of magic there are ways to make that arm come back You idiot." I could hear a voice that seemed to be said next to my ear, it was the same young voice of the one who carried me here, I look around and notice someone walking away, I could only see their back as they walked away, their beautiful red hair caught my attention a lot. There was some kind of Spirit or Ghost of a young girl floating next to the red haired person, he was moving away, but his voice seemed to be carried by the wind to my ears, I could feel the person''s will in the voice. This person wasn''t consoling me like the others, this person didn''t feel sorry for me for the loss of my arm, this person was just showing me the result of having lost that arm, he was congratulating me on my courage. Tears "Thank you..." (I) Chapter 750: 1 Month On The Island Chapter 750: 1 Month On The Island During this past month, I decided to accept the agreement with the three religions, but before that, I went to know more about them. I went to the Temples and Churches of these religions to learn more about their dogmas, history, and the general personality of their Priests. I''ve found that these three Religions are really quite out of combat, not weak religions, but their focus not being combat and having few occasions throughout their histories where they come into direct combat. The Church of Fertility desires the preservation and prosperity of all races, it also rejoices in new races and hybrids, their religion allows children to be born among members of all races, and they can decide whether the resulting child from the mixing of races will be born purely from one of the two races or be a hybrid of the two races. The Pleasure Demonic Church desires and teaches all forms of pleasure, their Priests, oddly enough, are not complete perverts, they are not just propagating ideals about sexual pleasures, they teach about all forms of pleasure like the pleasure of eating something delicious, the pleasure of being in a pleasant environment, the pleasure of doing what you want, the pleasure of fighting, the pleasure of teaching, the pleasure of winning and of course all forms of sexual pleasure too. They were hard to find since they were in the hidden city on the other side of the island, their church had many explicit paintings and sculptures, but their Priests preached to people to do what they liked and to indulge in it, I understand how the idea of indulging in pleasure can corrupt a person, which is why this is a Demonic Religion. The Temple of Love was more or less what I expected, they have as Dogma all forms of love, such as the love of a family, the love of a friend, the love of a romantic, the love for a nation, the love for an ideal, all forms of love that touch a person''s heart leaving a mark behind, not temporary pleasures, but a love that changes how you see the world. I must say it was the first time I cried with emotion like that, the love stories I read in the Temple of Love were incredible in many ways, all of them being real cases only made me sadder in some cases like tragic love stories or me made her very happy in love stories with happy endings. After visiting the temples of the three religions, always using the bodies of one of my Familiars as some of these places I found the idea of entering very disturbing. Killing those super talented Adventurers caused a lot of problems with the Guild, but part of that was because we were already considered troublemakers on the Island, which I can''t deny. Diana, Jade, Barok, Sophia, Karina, Sapphire, Ivan, and Ibuki challenged most of the Warriors or Fighters you can find on this island, they lost many times, but as they were competitions being held outside the Dungeon, killing was forbidden, so it was a very good training way, they packed dozens of times a day. Nicolas spent these days making bets, as he was smart and knew the strength of his teammates, he was able to predict the outcome of some of the fights, so he profited a lot and made a lot of people angry with him. Freya encountered some Adventurers who use bows and arrows and fought them amicably while improving their techniques. Alice looks like she went after real combat experiences and delved into many dungeons during her time on the island. Caryna was going to every restaurant to learn new recipes, she mostly visited refugees to learn about their local cuisine, she also started to learn dagger techniques when she saw a street performer using combat techniques to dance, she thought she could use the same theory to learn dagger techniques for cooking. For some reason the Blood Demon Queen became very active, she would walk all over the island following the others, sometimes she would go to the Dungeons to train, sometimes she would join the duels to fight, and sometimes she would learn to cook with Caryna and I''ve heard that in the last few months since she was rescued she''s been learning how to be a maid with Freya. But instead of a maid, she liked Nolan''s clothes better, saying they were more elegant and easier to wear during combat, so she dresses more like a butler. Come to think of it, she has a lot of troublesome people in the Dungeon. Chapter 751: Last Warning Chapter 751: Last Warning Pov Andreia (Executor of Light): Dodging the storm delayed our attack by weeks, and also made others notice our movements, luckily the storm will make them too late to intervene, even if I only have one day to act, it will be enough to make the entire Dark Continent In pieces. "Lady Enforcer of Light, we are approaching the coast of the Dark Continent." "We won''t waste time looking for the Heretic and the traitors, prepare the Hero''s relic." (I) "Yes ma''am." The soldier who informed me went to the Floating Ship in the center of our combat formation, meanwhile, I move to the front of the ship where I am and spread my wings bathed in the Light of salvation. I flew to the front of the army that when they saw me in combat readiness, I stayed in front of the army until I reached the shore where someone was floating right in front of us. I stop hundreds of meters from her, a distance like that can be easily crossed at any time, my troops stopped behind me, as well as the Floating Ships.Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com "So your people got a new Elf Queen?" (I) The one in front of me was an Elf, but something was wrong, she appeared to be some sort of Dark Elf with green hair, but that was clearly an illusion, but the ability to keep me from seeing the truth behind this disguise says a lot about the strength of this Elf. "I am Elf Queen Lolth of Poison Forest Village, I am here to stop you from proceeding." (Elf Queen Lolth) "I know this filthy continent has some half-decent fighters, but none of them have your strength, so how do you intend to fight my army?" (I) "Whoever said we need to fight, you don''t have the power or the authority to invade this continent of Baldr''s Mad Dog." (Elf Queen Lolth) "< Purifying Light Rain >" (I) I have nothing against Elves, but I''ve always hated their leaders, people with so much power to make a difference in the world but refuse to act to purge evil. "What does that mean? No Fairy King or Spirit King should be here." (I) A Fire Element Fairy King is not something you can clash with, its flames are as powerful as that of Elder-type True Dragons. Also has a Water Element Spirit King, they are a bad combination against the light element, he can use his water to deflect my attacks back to me, and even if his attack isn''t that strong, I wouldn''t be able to touch him that could hit me with a force greater than mine. "That''s my last warning, Baldr''s Mad Dog!" (Elf Queen Lolth) "Get out of here and go back to your Church with a warning that you are not welcome on this continent, don''t think I don''t know about your involvement where our World Tree was hurt!" (Elf Queen Lolth) "..." (I) "(What is she talking about, defaming the sacred purpose of my Church like that!)" (I) Just as I was considering using our secret weapon I noticed a silhouette appear behind the Elf Queen, it was similar to her in appearance, but her presence was something of a completely and fundamentally different magnitude. "(The Spirit of a World Tree!?)" (I) "(How is that possible? So she''s a complete Elf Queen?)" (I) "(That means the gates...)" (I) I look around there is nothing in the surroundings but I spread my Aura in all directions and I notice the elemental energies gathering at two points, at one point was the mana of various elements gathering and at the other point the spiritual energy of several elements came together. "If I continue..." (I) "Looks like she figured it out, looks like there''s still a brain in that luminous head... hahahahaha..." (Fire Fairy King) "Bastards... WITHDRAWAL!!!" (I) Chapter 752: Petty Revenge Chapter 752: Petty Revenge "I know I agreed to this, but I was drunk." (Samira) "It sounds like you didn''t find the idea interesting before we started." (I) "In my defense, I thought it was a joke, as this is beyond insane." (Elsaris) "That was just revenge for what happened 1 month ago, right?" (Samira) "There''s a saying in my old world, revenge is a dish best served cold, like ice cream." (I) "Everyone loves ice cream." (I) "Ice cream." (Hinata) "I think the saying wasn''t like that." (Samira)Upstodatee from "What is ice cream?" (Kira) "Ice flakes with a sweet syrup on top." (Elsaris) "That sounds kind of simple." (Kira) "Simplicity can also be delicious in cooking, but what Elsaris said is a slushie, ice cream is different and uses milk, I think?" (I) "I''m sure the name was ice cream when I bought it, it was on a tropical island where I went to meet some pirates, I''m sure the seller said the name was ice cream." (Elsaris) "Is there no ice cream in this world? How do you make ice cream?" (Samira) "I don''t know, there are a lot of things I didn''t bother to research in my old world." (I) "They veered off topic." (Byakko) "The master always got down to business." (Nix) "They are coming!" (Eve) "What!? It was too fast." (I) "< Shadow Prison >" (Nix) ----------- 3 hours later, inside the Dungeon Mansion. "They pursued us more intensely than expected." (I) "They put a spear through my stomach." (Elsaris) "Your fault, Samira could easily dodge that." (I) "I couldn''t take the risk." (Elsaris) Sigh "You''re too overprotective..." (Samira) "I wanted to hang out with you..." (Ibuki) "I needed you in sight." (I) "Of all of us, you are the only one capable of imitating the master''s every move and expression." (Kira) "I want more food, please." (Byakko) "Here it is." (Alice) "Ibuki only gets that because he''s always watching Father." (Samira) "Thank you for the compliment." (Ibuki) "I don''t think that was a compliment." (I) "Two masters..." (Hinata) Inside the mansion I was lying on the couch with a copy of me lying on top of me, this was Ibuki who drank a potion from Lyra to look identical to me and used an item to hide her Aura just like I''ve been doing for weeks. Me, Kira, Samira, and the others were wearing the clothes of different religions, the same clothes we used during the robberies, we did this so if we were seen the blame would be placed on another religion, I wanted them to keep fighting each other to forget about me that should be in plain sight fishing, at least that''s what I asked Ibuki to do. "Now just sit back while I play innocent." (I) Chapter 753: Being Childish Is Strangely Satisfying Chapter 753: Being Childish Is Strangely Satisfying I was going to the lake where I fish every day, as usual, I was not alone as Leonardo, Safira, Rakan, and Ivan were with me. We were wearing shorts, a flowered shirt, and special fishing rods for catching monster fish, unfortunately I don''t like flip flops in this world, so I was going barefoot while we laughed during our relaxed conversation. "I still think I could spend my time better in the Mages Guild." (Rakan) "Let your subordinates handle the theoretical discussions, the only person in that place who can have that kind of discussion with you is the Mages Guild Master." (I)Yo?ur favorite stories at novelhall.com "I want that witch away from me, how can a magic master be so focused on power and not pay attention to control, that''s a shame!" (Rakan) "She says the same thing about you from what I''ve heard, your two magical arguments can be heard from the street outside the Guild." (Ivan) "Until I met that woman, I never thought I''d call a mage of such a high level of muscular brain, but that''s exactly what that witch is!" (Rakan) "You''re lucky no one can fight on the island outside of duels, because I''m pretty sure she wants to incinerate you." (I) "No, she made it very clear that she wants to rip my limbs off to beat me with them, leave me under the influence of a pain spell for 3 days, and then use various healing spells on me while making firepower tests of her spells until my body doesn''t even have particles left." (Rakan) "That was an extremely descriptive and violent scene." (Leonardo) "I think you''d better stay away from that woman and not accept any kind of game or duel proposal she makes." (I) "She has actually made several such proposals, of course, I denied them all, she may be a magical muscular brain, but she certainly knows more about magic than I do because she has lived longer than I have and in an environment that favors those who seek the magic..." (Rakan) "We have a visitor." (Ivan) "There are also some fights going on a little further on." (I) While we were talking we got close to the harbor where the boats and Ships are, when we get there I see people in the distance arguing in a heated way with several Turtle Men trying to calm the situation. I also feel someone walking towards us with apparent calm, but I can feel the murderous intent in his gaze, that was High Priest of Law Alfred. "Are you enjoying the spectacle caused by your actions?" (Alfred) "You and your subordinates are big troublemakers." (Alvin) "Come on, don''t say that, when did I get in trouble?" (I) "Are you seriously going to say that?" (Alvin) "Master is always innocent." (Hinata) "Good girl." (I) Sigh "..." (Alvin) I rubbed Hinata''s half transparent head, even though she''s a Specter she loves physical displays of affection due to her lonely past, meanwhile, Alvin shakes his head after a sigh and disappears leaving an after image, it took me a few seconds to find him in the middle of the confusion ahead with the other Turtle Men. "You look very happy now." (Sapphire) "The master''s smile doesn''t match this scene of chaos at all, but it would make an excellent painting." (Leonardo) "Please stop painting weird things." (I) "Are we still going fishing?" (Sapphire) "I think we''d all better get back to our chores, so I''ll get some books..." (Rakan) "We came to fish and that''s what we''ll do, let''s go." (I) We continue to approach the port where there are very nervous people, seeing these people arguing is very gratifying, that alone was worth the risk of this plan. Even happy with all this, I continue my usual routine and go to the port where I take a boat to take us to the middle of the lake as usual, but I decided to do it differently this time and stay close to the lake shore of a place with privileged view of the discussion going on near the harbor. "Are you Zenos, the Dungeon Master?" Chapter 754: Refugees Are Looking For A New Home Chapter 754: Refugees Are Looking For A New Home "Are you Zenos, the Dungeon master?"?iscover new chapters at novelhall.com I was at the end of the boat that I and the others were using to fish near the shore of the lake where I have a vision of the quarrel caused between religions that I stole yesterday when suddenly a voice comes from out of the boat from the water. I go to the edge of the boat and see the Mermaid Shark without an arm that I first saw when the refugees arrived. "Good morning, what should I call you?" (I) "My name is Zila, just Zila now..." (Zila) Last time I saw this Mermaid, she was almost unconscious and wearing scraps of armor in pieces, in addition to her missing arm, she also had several injuries all over her body, but in addition to her large size compared to other Mermaids, which What caught my attention was his unfocused eyes that day, but full of determination. I remember her determination when she was around treating the children, it was an unshakable determination, so when she saw she was safe and was dismayed to finally miss her lost arm, I took her to the children who couldn''t stop talking about how much she was amazing. I look at her again now, her wounds completely healed and almost no scars, the magic really is amazing. She looks more energetic than the last time I saw her and also looks more confident, looks like the loss of her arm has affected her less than I expected as she has recovered so quickly, her eyes have that unshakable determination once again. "Do you need anything from me, Miss Zila?" (I) "Yes, but I don''t want to disturb you at your leisure, can we arrange another time to talk?" (Zila) "I don''t mind being now..." (I) "This is not a good time, Zenos." (Sapphire) "Look at the coast." (Ivan) "..." (I) The tip of Sapphire Serpent''s tail hits my shoulder, her big body takes up half the space on this boat, so she and Ivan point me toward the harbor. When I look over there I see many people watching, some with curiosity and others with suspicion, it seems that that idiot High Priest Alfred managed to draw others'' attention to me during his earlier accusations, maybe that was his purpose from the start. "I think it would be difficult to have any kind of conversation in this place, could you meet me at the house where we''re staying? Do you know how to get there?" (I) "I know how to get there, before I found you here at the lake, I was thinking of going over there to talk to you." (Zila) "It might show up as soon as it gets dark, everyone should be back by then." (I) "Just accept the compliments silently." (rica) "..." (I) "It''s too early to change the subject, so what do you want to talk to my Master about?" (Freya) "I would like to know if Sirens and Mermen can move into your Dungeon?" (Zila) "..." (I) She said something so shocking in such a normal and serious way that it''s almost strange, she said it in the same way as someone in the family asking if they can come for a few days. "I knew that was it, it took you longer than expected to come to that conclusion." (Ivan) "Are you sure you don''t just want a ride to another underwater city?" (Irina) "No, my people and I want to move to your dungeon if possible." (Zila) "I had my doubts, but it looks like I lost the bet." (Irina) "Don''t be grumpy, Irina." (Ivan) "Shut up, I''ll bring the painting to you later." (Irina) "I said betting on politics against a former Prince was stupid." (rica) "You said that after I took the bet!" (Irina) "Of course, you would, if I told you before you wouldn''t bet." (rica) "You bastard..." (Irina) "You don''t have any focus!? Leave your bets for later and stop deflecting the subject." (Vanessa) "I apologize for such behavior at a time like this, Miss Zila." (Freya) "I don''t worry about that, but how did you guys know what I was going to order?" (Zila) "I would also like to know that, it would be nice to know how you also came to the conclusion to ask me that." (I) Chapter 755: Seeking To Immigrate To Dungeon Eclipse Chapter 755: Seeking To Immigrate To Dungeon Eclipse I was a little shocked by Zila''s request to want her people to be able to immigrate to my Dungeon, I was even more surprised that the others expected this and made a bet on it. "Before listening to what the rest of you have to say, could you explain to me how you came up with this idea Miss Zila?" (I) "If possible I prefer that they use only my name without honorifics." (Zila) "I''ll take that into consideration." (I) "About our reasons, I was chosen as the leader of all my people, I''m not the strongest, but it seems that because I was the first to act to refuse to participate in a senseless war, I was considered to be the most reliable." (Zila) "From what I''ve heard about how you lost your arm, that choice was a wise one for your people." (I) "I was a Soldier, I always refused promotions in the hierarchy because I knew my true place, I was not born to lead anyone." (Zila) "A true leader doesn''t choose to lead, people simply choose to follow these remarkable individuals." (Ivan) "Even when they are excessively against it." (rica) "Why is everyone looking at me!?" (I) Sigh "How many times should I ask them not to divert the subject?" (Freya) "Sorry." (all) "Forget about them, pick up where you left off, Zila." (I) As usual, the people around me aren''t even capable of carrying on a normal conversation at a serious time like this. "When I was chosen as leader, I couldn''t refuse, but as I said before, I know I''m not up to the task, so I chose people of ability among my people to discuss what to do next." (Zila) "The first thing we did was talk to the servants of the island''s owner about various things, we were even given permission to become permanent residents of this island, but we were all against it." (Zila) "This place is not suitable for raising children or living peacefully." (I) "But that would come at a price, nobody does anything for free." (Zila) "If that''s true, then what kind of price do you think I''m going to ask?" (I) "That if I''m going to accept you and your people?" (I) "Manpower, our people are experts in creating magical accessories or jewelry, plus your nation is still growing because it''s new, nations like that always welcome immigrants from other places." (Zila) "Is she right, Ivan?" (I) "Yes, a new nation lacks many things, in addition to still being structured, this makes immigrants from other places always useful, so there are always agreements with nearby places to accept new people." (Ivan) What Ivan said makes sense, and I can also see the logic behind it, to be honest, I don''t see any problems in accepting these people, there are already several inside the Dungeon that a few hundred more won''t be a problem, I''ve even made a deal where a few dozen of people from other 3 religions being accepted into the Dungeon in the future. But I don''t want to accept anyone too quickly, I want to investigate them first, maybe ask Lilith to take a look at these people later. I turn to my teammates after spending a few seconds thinking, they all nodded in agreement so I think it''s more or less decided. "Before giving a final answer to your request, please accompany my daughter Irina for a while, she will explain about Dungeon customs and our laws, maybe until then you don''t want to continue with this anymore." (I) "If you feel that way, then I would very much like to hear about this new information, thank you." (Zila) "Follow me to another room, please." (Irina) I wait for Irina to go out with Zila who has big scaled legs due to the Mermaids'' ability to transform. "Vanessa, I could go with Lilith to check on the refugees." (I) "I''ve already done that, they''re clean." (Vanessa) "I''ve also spoken to almost everyone, they all have open minds about other races, that''s why they fled the war." (Ivan) "I think your decision is already made, right master?" (Freya) "Yeah, now it depends if when they come back they''ll still want to go on with it." (I) Chapter 756: Last Travel Preparations Chapter 756: Last Travel Preparations A week passed after the conversation about accepting refugees in the Dungeon, during which time Mermaid Shark Zila talked to her people about the things she learned from Irina, but it seems there was no problem with that, so it was decided that they would move out to the Dungeon in a week that would be today. It took me a week to do some research with the Tritons and Sirens about the amenities of a place suitable for their daily needs. I had a lot of DP accumulated since I was accumulating DP to do the walk that Lyra asked for as the winner of the competition, she really didn''t hold back with her choices, but for that, I''ll have to do some preparation, which I managed to do on this island luckily, I also had to of a lot of DP as the various ingredients that Lyra wants on her floor are too expensive in DP to add to a single floor. I consulted Zila and the others of her people to make some changes to the city floor within the Dungeon, at first I thought about creating a new floor, something I still intend to do in the future in a different way. I realized later that keeping Mermen and Sirens separate from other races would cause problems in the future, the city must be a place capable of welcoming all races to generate companionship over time. As a Vampire I can live thousands of years, that means I will see several generations ahead and I know that at some point I run the risk of having problems due to prejudice, this is inevitable in any society, there will always be idiots everywhere. To avoid or at least minimize future problems, I want this city within the Dungeon to be able to welcome all races so that they can live together for generations. I presented the idea of adding a water district to Leonardo who was delighted, I presented all the needs of the people of Zila and my own ideas while the construction project was created, instead of doing everything myself, I will leave most of it to Leonardo. Meanwhile, with Nix''s help, I created many rivers inside the Dungeon floor three of these rivers will go through the city with bridges going over where there used to be streets, I also created a small pool inside the safe rooms to help them, there was even a water path leading out of the safe room. The other things Leonardo can take care of, I asked him to focus on the housing now, as far as I know, he started the construction 4 days ago, Nix informed me that there is already a place for everyone to live, but only sharing housing with others. ---------- "I really apologize." (I) "Alright, it''s not like you''ve visited almost every religion on this island except the Temple of Life." (Yara) "I''ve been so busy, but I should have made the time to come here like you asked, I''m sorry." (I) "Better late than never, almost everyone else has come here at some point, just missing you." (Yara) After that, I didn''t do anything else for the rest of the day as I couldn''t stop thinking about those things and left the preparations to leave in the hands of others. ------------- Pov Aldrich (Prince Triton): "You damn, why don''t you kill me!!!" (I) "Hahahaha why end the fun so quickly? I need someone from your filthy family alive after I win the war." (Queen Eloise) "You say that, but you''ve already killed half my family, you think I don''t know that you just want to humiliate me!" (I) The beautiful Mermaid in front of me is considered the most beautiful in her Kingdom, the Mermaid Queen Eloise. Her beauty is second only to the size of her cruelty, her army is not only composed of Sirens but also Demis, she joined these filthy beings to invade and destroy our Kingdom out of a grudge from the past. "You started this war... all of it out of a grudge from generations ago..." (I) "Shut up!" (Queen Eloise) "You talk like you''re some kind of victim, but how many Sirens has your kingdom sold into slavery in the last 10 years!?" (Queen Eloise) "How many times have your hunters invaded the outskirts of my Kingdom to kidnap my people!?" (Queen Eloise) "You think I don''t know about your plan to use your precious national treasure against me!?" (Queen Eloise) "Don''t pretend to be fair just because I''m the one chained in front of you, your smile while initiating a massacre within the city was apparent for all to see, you didn''t spare..." (I) "Why should I spare any Triton? You are the scum who think they are superior, you all deserve death as soon as the next battle is over, I will be the one to Reign in the end!" (Queen Eloise) Chapter 757: AAAHHHH!!!!!! Chapter 757: AAAHHHH!!!!!! Pov Random Mermaid General: Today, following the orders of our Queen, we head towards the capital of the Blue Coral Kingdom, today this war will end. "Ma''am, are you sure we should do this? At this point, can this still be called a war?" "This is a war, it may seem cruel what we are doing, but it would be even crueler to release the population into the Ocean to be devoured by monsters." (I) "I understand enslaving adults, but children..." "Either they are slaves or they die, you know they do much worse to Sirens like me, used as toys and sold to faraway places." (I) "Do you think the people don''t know? Do you think they don''t approve?" (I) "The people encourage this behavior, I myself was one of those slaves in the past, I was dragged through the streets of this capital with people laughing at me, even children you consider innocent." (I) "..." "There is no one innocent among the Tritons, they are all despicable, disgusting, and cruel beings that must be exterminated to the last." (I) "..." I look at my soldier, a talented Demi who joined us a short time ago, he has a Shark head and a humanoid body much like the Fishman, but instead of just having scales on some parts of his body, his entire body it is covered in blue and white scales, its race is very common among soldiers, but this one has shown great talent until now. "Don''t be fooled, our attack will be the distraction to break the barrier, our Queen will be the one who will eliminate the royal family from this place as soon as she manages to steal their millenary national treasure." (I) ,m "If this treasure is so important or powerful, then why haven''t you used it until now?" "Because we don''t have any opportunity, this item can only be used once before needing to recharge, which takes from 10 to 100 years, so we had to split our forces throughout the war, so even if they used such a weapon of destruction en masse would not be able to completely exterminate us." (I) "Even now we are divided attacking two different sides, but they will be forced to use such a weapon or they will lose, you can even say that this national treasure is their last chance." (I) ----------- Me, my Family and the others are walking to the port, I''ve done many things on this island, and I have no more reason to stay, so after we arrive at the port on the lake, I withdraw my Ship and enter along with the others, Alvin uses the clouds that come out of its hull on its back to envelop the ship, then we take it to the Ocean. There was no one who came to see our departure, but I could feel the eyes of some people watching in the distance. After arriving at the Ocean, I wave to Alvin goodbye as he floats off on a cloud to head back to the island. I take one last look at the island as Nix opens the Dungeon gate to call Carla and her husband to take care of the ship. One of the reasons I wanted to go today was that the storm had disappeared around the island, which is a relief. ---------- Pov Vanessa: 1 day later. We were already traveling comfortably during this only day of travel we had, there was also no change in the weather or attacks by monsters, this day was so peaceful that I went fishing with my Dad to pass the time. "Why did you let Zila stay on the ship and not inside the Dungeon with the others?" (I) "She asked, I think she wants to try to be useful, she doesn''t seem to like doing nothing..." (Father) Out of nowhere a blast of water element mana comes out like a beam of water energy at such a speed that I didn''t have time to react, but my Father seems to have reacted in time as I was hit by a tentacle of blood coming out of his body, he threw me out of the ray range, but I still lost one of my wings. I wasn''t the only one either, all of my Father''s Familiars acted in sync pushing the others away. But what made my heart and mind sink in despair was that he couldn''t get out of the way, I saw half of his torso disappear along with an entire leg and part of his arm. Also, Layla had her body completely erased. The energy beam only lasted a second, but in that single second my Father is on the brink of death and many others have been seriously injured. "AAAHHHH!!!!!" (rica/Ibuki/Lilith) "DAD!!!???" (I) Chapter 758: To Be The Only Queen Of The Seas Chapter 758: To Be The Only Queen Of The Seas Pov Mermaid Queen Eloise: I was in the middle of a magic circle surrounded by mages of the royal court waiting for the moment to initiate the plan. I give the last order to one of my best Generals, a Siren who escaped the capital of the Blue Coral Kingdom taking every opportunity she can while leaving a trail of blood along the way, she is someone who understands the importance of ending this despicable race. "My lady, are you sure to keep the King imprisoned? Rumors have been circulating throughout the Kingdom." (Tatariny) "My husband tried to override my authority to make a deal with them, the only reason he''s not dead yet is that I want to show him what I''ve always promised, a strong Kingdom built on the bodies and blood of Triton scum. " (I) "Majesty, the barrier around the capital of the Blue Coral Kingdom has been broken, we can start the ritual whenever you want." "Start now, I''m sure that old man will run to that place since it''s his last hope of Kingdom." (I) I reach down and pick up Prince Aldrich unconscious on the floor, his body surrounded by chains that cause pain but stop the bleeding, after all, I don''t want to get dirty with his filthy blood. I stand still in the middle of the ritual as the court mages activate, soon the magic circles surround me as they make me float, the magic circles turn into an oval barrier with me inside, so the water and space spells mix as they send me through long distances to the desired location like a projectile. I can still see the passage blurring as I go all the way through at enormous speed, I can also feel the collisions with everything in my path until one last collision followed by the barrier breaking down. "..." (I) "< Elemental Avatar: Queen of the Seas >" (I) I look around quickly realizing that I stopped exactly where I intended, the back of the Blue Coral Kingdom''s Royal castle, I was right in front of the natural Blue Coral wall larger than the castle that gave this Kingdom its name. Wasting no time I approach and push open the door that opens revealing a large room filled with all sorts of treasures, but I ignore it all to see the altar in the center with a transparent staff and a blue orb stuck on top with a crystal eye inside. I smile seeing the prize I''ve always wanted in my hands and run over there ignoring everything around me. "ELOISEEEE!!!!!" (Wassily) I keep running without looking back knowing that that old man arrived faster than I expected, I don''t have the illusion of beating someone with a lower King Grade strength, I never thought of beating him head on, if it wasn''t for his disease I know my Realm would have already been destroyed by him. I hold the Staff of the Ruler of the Watcher of the Seas in my hands and look at that old man blasting my Elemental Avatar with one punch, which makes my body shake as large amounts of blood pour out of my mouth from the reaction of losing my Elemental Avatar. "You bastard, how dare you kill my grandson and my family? I should have killed your grandmother instead of exiling her back then!" (Wassily) "Just die!!!" (I) The moment I held this staff in my hands I knew how to use it, it was as if the information to use this staff was always in my head, I look one last time at the old man with blood running from his eyes and ears from forcing himself to use his strength on a body weakened by disease. "< Seawatcher''s Ray >" (I) The moment that old man tried to attack me from above, I could only react due to the increase in power the staff gave me, but that was temporary, the moment I pointed the staff at this old man kept from Wassily, an Energy Ray containing great concentration of the water element hit his body as he continued going upwards through the walls of Blue Coral towards the surface. "Hahahahahahah...haahahahaha...hahahaha..." (I) So much power, a power far greater than anything I could have imagined, I could see that old Triton''s body being ripped to shreds and valued with the power of this attack, without this old man there is no one else to stand in my way. "From now on I will be the only Queen of these seas!!!" (I) Chapter 759: Zenos Fury Part 1 Chapter 759: Zenos'' Fury Part 1 Pov Vanessa: I cannot give in to despair and sadness, my Father is a Vampire Patriarch with a True Dragon bloodline, he is not someone easy to kill. I wasn''t the only one running towards him, Lilith and Freya were also coming, and my only concern was to see him, as I approached I realized that his body was more damaged than it looked, his internal organs had turned to porridge, his heart was the whole thing inside its body, but it was covered in broken scales and bone debris puncturing it. Before I can begin to do anything, my Father''s blood drains from his body as it washes away the shattered remains of bones, then takes the form of a red wolf cub. "The master is very injured, but something is blocking his regeneration." (Orion) I look through the wounds and notice remnants of water element energy around most wounds. "I take care of that energy, Vanessa cure it." (Freya) "I don''t know if I''ll have enough time..." (Vanessa) "< Life Bind Curse >" (Lilith) Lilith who has been quiet until now seems to have spent her time creating a magic circle with her own blood before activating using demonic energy and mana, so a red line forms between her and our Father. "Now his life is linked to mine, that should give us both a few hours to live." (Lilith) "That will be enough, thank you." (I) "I pray to the one who has control over life and death. I pray to the one who walks through oceans of blood to bring death to those who dare to go against her. I pray to the one whose name is a symbol of dominion and freedom." (I) "Make this servant''s words her words so that the buried truth will be revealed. Make this servant''s power the blade that will bring terror to your enemies. Make this servant''s body the receptacle for her will in this world." (I) "O Blood Goddess Selene, may at the utterance of her name the skies become red and may this servant be bestowed with your blessings to bring judgment upon her enemies." (I) "< Field of Holy Blood >" (I) "It took 4 hours... but he... is whole again." (Vanessa) "That energy... from the water element was... mixed with an Aura, so... it was so hard... to control." (Freya) "What''s up." (I) I get up and notice that one of Vanessa''s wings was missing, I look around and see Nix unconscious with many scales all over her Dragon body broken, lucky the ship was enlarged and able to support her large size lying curled up. I look around and see everyone injured to some degree, most had just scratched albums, and there were also unconscious people like Erica, Ibuki, and Irina. I look around and see all of my Familiars, I can feel them or should I say almost all of them. I keep looking around and I don''t see one of my Familiars, the nightmare images I was having came back to my mind along with the vivid image of the attack that came from the ocean. "(It was by instinct, I felt that something had touched my Aura and it was very fast, I remember taking over the bodies of all my Familiars and pushing them away as much as possible, but it wasn''t enough...)" (I) "Master calm down, your Aura can hurt others as it is now." (Ragnar) "..." (I) When I heard Ragnar''s voice I realized that I was releasing a great killing intent along with my Aura in the surroundings, knowing that the others were still not well I managed to suppress the strength of my Aura within me. "Who made this?" (I) "We don''t know..." (Vanessa) "I collected the remains of the Aura that accompanied the energy attack, here." (Ragnar) Ragnar seemed to be suppressing his Aura too, but I could see the brutality in his gaze, he shows me a sphere made of Aura, of his Aura, but it had a blurry image inside. "That will do." (I) "Master, wait, sir, are you..." (Freya) "I know what I''m doing, don''t interrupt me." (I) I cover my hand with my Aura which looks like flames burning intensely will act due to the fury I can barely contain, I look at what looks like a small Siren made of featureless water inside the Aura sphere, this is a condensed form of Aura, took the most natural form for the person who has this Aura, that means it was a Siren. "You can''t escape me no matter where you are!" (I) Chapter 760: Zenos Fury Part 2 Chapter 760: Zenos'' Fury Part 2 Pov Zila: The attack was sudden, and the first thing I noticed was Mr Zenos pushing those around him, others who told me were his Familiars also acted in sync with him, but everyone ended up injured. One of the women became a large Dragon that was grazed by the attack, its scales that looked like they were made of dark crystal shattering under the attack. Some kind of creature that looks like a strange Unicorn with wings and full of scales also appeared from somewhere, and with a lunge managed to save another person. But there was also the Fairy who, even though she managed to save someone, was still hit and disappeared. But the scariest thing was Zenos when a tentacle of blood came out of him to hit one of his daughters to save her, he didn''t have time to dodge, this was strange by the time of his reaction he should have been able to move, but he kept standing in the same place and was hit full-on, but the attack didn''t catch all of his body. Zenos'' wound was something no person could survive, half of his torso is gone, but it seems that Vampires are hard to kill and his daughters are working with the Elf to save him. I myself run to help the Dragon along with someone else, all those who managed to maintain consciousness ran to help the injured, the ship with the Damage it suffered shouldn''t stay afloat for long or that''s what I was thinking before I saw the wood start to grow like trees forming a strange image when the damage was repaired with these trees. ------------ After no one but Zenos was in danger of life, I calmed down enough to notice something troubling. The remaining energy from the attack was still floating around in the surroundings and there was an Aura mixed with that energy, I hadn''t noticed before, but as that strange Unicorn with wings was manipulating a powerful and wild Aura to gather this Aura mixed with the energy of the attack, I was able to understand. This Aura was one I''d felt before, an Aura I hadn''t thought I''d feel again since I left the battlefield. That was Queen Eloise''s Aura, but the power of this attack was way above what she should be able to do, besides that it would be impossible for her to come to the surface to attack us, there was no kind of follow-up attack and this attack didn''t seem to target anyone in particular, it doesn''t make sense. But then I remember what the General in charge of my soldiers unit said to me when she was trying to give me yet another promotion that I turned down. I ignore the messages in my head and turn my eyes to the source of that fear, but what I find only makes me fear it, even more, it''s eyes filled with hate, anger, and murderous intent. Those eyes as deep as the ocean held a promise of boundless cruelty and death, those eyes of different colors was like having two monsters looking at me. Ding! <[ Your Skill Leveled Up [ Fear Resistance: 9 > 10 ] ]> Because of that frightening Aura, everyone was silent, but I don''t dare to look away from him, my warrior instincts were trained to never look away from danger and at that moment the greatest danger is him. I could feel as if the surroundings were shaking, maybe it was my imagination reacting to fear, but when someone approached him handing over a strange sphere with an image of a Mermaid inside, I remembered what it was. That was Queen Eloise''s Aura that was gathered by that strange Unicorn, I didn''t know what they were going to do with it, but in the silence of that place I could hear a voice that seemed to come from hell dripping with malice and murderous intent, that voice came of Zenos. I saw the calm and cheerful young Vampire harshly replying to one of the people who saved him as he grabbed that Aura sphere speaking words filled with hate. "You can''t escape me no matter where you are!" (Zenos) After that, the energies started to get out of control as the Young Vampire transformed before my eyes. Intense energy radiated from his body destroying what was left of his clothes as the scales on his arms and legs spread to the rest of his body, his jaw grew to reveal black metal-like teeth, his horns grew to three times the size as his red hair becomes ethereal and its tail with a blade becomes even longer. I was horrified when the arm that held the Aura sphere grew to double the size while more resembling a monster''s claws. Soon blood came out of his eyes like tears that floated around him and little by little magic circles began to form as more blood poured out of his body opening new wounds. "(Queen, what kind of monster have you awakened?)" (I)Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com Chapter 761: The Drop Is Higher When Its On Top Chapter 761: The Drop Is Higher When It''s On Top "You can''t escape me no matter where you are!" (I) I can still feel traces of a curse on me, it feels like Lilith has done something to help me, I can also feel some sacred energy and nature, Freya and Vanessa have also done something, for the three of them to work together to help me means my state should be very bad, but what caught my attention was Lilith''s curse which gives me an idea. I don''t know who the attacker was and I don''t care, the only thing I know is that I won''t forgive the one who killed Layla.Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com Over these two years, I''ve accumulated a large number of skills from all the monsters and people I devoured, I''ve been doing the synthesis of these skills calmly because I don''t want to be weakened at any time like in the past. Among all the skills I have, there are some that I don''t like to use and others that I don''t want to use for fear of turning into a monster. One of those abilities is one that allows me to create scales, fangs, bones, exoskeletons, and horns. Another one of those skills was the one I got from that Slime in my early days, a skill that allows me to control my body however I want, which was useful in many situations, but I never made full use of this skill as moving my body this way is followed of great pain. But now I don''t care about those worries anymore, I activate all these skills by transforming my body little by little, I will transform my body into a weapon that can increase my capabilities to the fullest without worrying about my appearance. I start by creating scales all over my body attached to an exoskeleton underneath that have greatly increased my defense, I increase the size of my claws while putting different curses on them, and I do the same with the fangs I create in my mouth while manipulating the bones of my jaws to have a bigger mouth. I enlarge my horns while changing their internal structures to place various Augmentation Runes for certain skills, and change the structure of my veins creating a physique augmenting magic circle. I use my Ki, spirit energy, and mana to use three physical stat boosting skills at the same time while activating the ability to overcome limits to maintain this state of continuous energy expenditure. I keep my Aura hidden inside me so I don''t harm anyone, but I''m already using all my Aura''s countless effects to the fullest, I''m sure my appearance must be monstrous now, but I don''t care, with the sphere in one of my hands where I concentrated the biggest changes, I start creating two curse rituals using my blood as a conduit. As the blood leaves my body forming the magic circle, I spread my wings to float away from the ship, not wanting to hurt my family by accident. "DAD!!!" (Vanessa) "Vanessa, don''t come any closer!" (Lilith) "..." (Hinata) "..." "I know you don''t agree with any of this, but you''ll thank me when you''re Queen, my daughter." (I) "The reason for this war will be an eternal shame in our history, you should have heard what the father was trying to say." (Fyria) "Your father is an idealistic fool, he never understood our hatred, and his plans would never work out as he thought." (I) "At least his plans didn''t kill thousands of innocent people." (Fyria) "There are no innocent people among Tritons, ask any Mermaid that has been rescued, this Realm has been rotten for centuries." (I) "Now be quiet, I need to show the heads of the royal family from this place to kill any hope of rebellion from the captured Tritons." (I) "Where are you different from them, mother!? Just as they fell for you, one day you will fall for your actions." (Fyria) "The fall is always worse when you are at the highest, especially for those who act like tyrants." (Fyria) I ignore my eldest daughter, she is the best able to assume my position when the time comes, but she, unfortunately, grew up listening to my husband''s idealistic daydreams, but that doesn''t matter anymore now that our old enemy is gone. I left my daughter behind and swam above the city for everyone to see as the heads of the entire royal family floated behind me, needing to crush her hopes to avoid future trouble. I still need these people as manpower in rebuilding after the war, after they serve their purpose, I will sell them all into slavery just as they did countless Mermaids over the centuries. "Look at your precise rulers! Just as they fell before the justice of the Sirens, you all received the same punishment, you will be treated the same way you treat the Sirens you enslaved in the past..." (I) In the middle of my speech, I feel great pain as my vitality is slowly being sucked out of me, then I feel a sinister presence connect to me as an image forms in front of me of a monstrous being. The Aura that comes out of this image spreads around the surroundings full of murderous intent and brutality, I have never felt such a heavy and suffocating Aura before. The person in the image looks directly at me with hatred while speaking in a voice that seems to come from the sea abysses. "You''re going to die today!!!" Chapter 762: Monstrosity Chapter 762: Monstrosity Pov Mermaid Queen Eloise: "You''re going to die today!!!" This monstrous figure appeared out of nowhere directing limitless murderous intent towards me. "< Deadly Onslaught >" "< Water Prison >" (I) Before I understood what was happening he disappeared from my sight in a sudden attack that I reacted by pure instinct using an ability of my trident. The water around him condenses into several needles that should stop him from moving, I say should because he ignores the water needles going through the force in a suicide attack, then tries to cut me with his claws, he was faster than me, so I use the Staff of the Seawatcher to defend myself and even then I was pushed more than 100 meters back through a nearby building. "< Layered Mana Barrier >" (I) "< Claws of Judgment >" "< Ocean Current >" (I) "< Lightning Breath >" Without waiting for a next attack I create 25 barriers in layers after being slammed into a building, after stabilizing I feel the water shift behind me and I turn around in time to see its big claws breaking most of my barriers. I take advantage of the reaction time my barriers have bought me and use a water element spell creating a strong maximum current to hammer him into the ground while he''s too close to be able to dodge, but against my expectations, he slightly opens his big jaw using a thunder element breath attack that interrupts my attack while electrifying the surrounding water served as a secondary attack. "Who are you!?" (I) "WHAT ARE YOU!?" (I) "< Explosive Fist >" The repercussion of the collision of our two attacks caused what was left of my barriers to shatter as some burns appeared on my body. An attack came from my back, when I looked I realized that my own Shadow had hit me and before I could react a big jaw was right in front of my face trying to close with my head inside, I dodged my head hastily but he bites my while grabs my body to rip my shoulder away from my body. "AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!" (I) "< Blood Eater >" "..." (I) "Majesty!!!!" (all) He was smiling as a part of his Aura that was injected inside my body seeped into my veins, then my blood started to burn like acid as I felt things moving inside my body, the pain was so much that I couldn''t even scream. It didn''t take me long to know what these things were moving inside my body when one of them opened up a wound with teeth in my skin protruding out of my remaining arm, it was some sort of red Worm or Leech with a circular spout full of teeth crystal glasses. "Those who hurt my family have never received my forgiveness!" "Die being devoured from the inside out by your own blood!" "NO!!!" (all) Before I could understand what he was saying or who was yelling, one of my eyes exploded as another one of those things popped out of my eye and I felt several more coming out all over my body as my vision darkened. ,m "(Was my daughter right in the end!?)" (I) Gradually the pain and my senses were leaving one by one as I fell into an unnerving darkness. I knew I was dying, but not being able to lead my people to the prosperity I promised when I had finally destroyed our ancient enemies filled me with grief. All I could say was count on my daughter from now on, I hope she abandons her naivete to become the Queen I know she can become. "(Even if I die it doesn''t matter, the Sirens will be safe...)" (I) In this way, even my mind went blank as I fell into the oblivion of death. Chapter 763: Idiot Master Chapter 763: Idiot Master It was a great pleasure to realize that my target''s strength wasn''t that great, I already guessed that from the strength of the Aura traits that Ragnar gathered, but confirming that the enemy only had Lesser Catastrophe Grade strength was a great joy. "(I''m burning energy too fast to maintain my current power level, I''ll only be able to maintain this for a few more minutes.)" (I) "(Gotta get this over with fast.)" (I) The fight was a little more difficult than I expected, but that was due to two strange factors, one was because this Siren''s movements were inconceivable to be done in the air where we were fighting, but I understood that she was actually fighting inside the air water while I was fighting in the air. Her movements were fluid and natural since she has lived her whole life in the water, but for me who only started flying less than 1 year ago, I still lack experience. Also, the various improvements and forced changes I made to my body are hampering the accuracy of my attacks, I didn''t think about it due to fury, but throughout the fight, it became more and more evident as she manages to dodge my attacks very easily that should be unpredictable. I had to rely on sheer raw power and tactics to win before time ran out, plus it was only during combat that I realized how restricted I was, I couldn''t use my poisons and I was expending twice as much energy as normal with my attacks, possibly a unexpected effect of one of the curses. My time was running out so I started to use my Aura and curse affinity more actively, since two curses were connecting the two of us, I thought my curses might reach her. When I finally got close enough to her, I fought using only my arms and legs even though I saw that she dodged all the attacks, I did it so she wouldn''t notice me concentrating cursed energy on the blade on my tail, so the moment I saw her get distracted by something thing attacked before being sent flying away with one of its attacks. After that, I used my Aura that I''d been infiltrating her shadow to control the shadow in an attack that brought her closer to me while the curse caused by my tail caused another moment of distraction. When she was close I tried to rip her head off with my jaws, I wanted to finish it quickly since I was running out of time, but she dodged once more, so I was content with her shoulder that I ripped off along with one arm, I also took advantage of that moment to inject my Aura within her, I used the curse, the corruption skill, my Aura, my control and blood affinity to create an attack she would not be able to parry or deflect. "I''m not..." (I) "You are a King, so shut up!" (rica) "(If I''m a King, then that''s not a good way to treat a King.)" (I) "You treated Freya and the others who were worried about you badly, you fought alone against an enemy of unknown strength using a clearly ineffective method, and you forgot about Layla." (rica) "You got carried away by anger and forgot your priorities, duties, and what was important." (rica) "Everyone was injured or discouraged, we weren''t sure what the attack was about, we didn''t know if there would be another attack or we didn''t know who had attacked." (rica) "This is the second time I''ve seen you acting out of hate alone, that time Diana was saved by it, but this time you took unnecessary risks." (rica) "(I feel like I''m in the orphanage getting scolded by the nuns again.)" (I) But even though I was treated like a child, I kept quiet acknowledging the various mistakes rica mentioned, mistakes I wouldn''t normally make since I like to think and plan everything I''m going to do. But in the middle of rica''s sermon something caught my attention, she talked about forgetting Layla, it made me sad again when remembering her death, but soon I hear something in my mind. "(Idiot master, now that the fun is over, remake my body.)" (Layla) "..." (I) Chapter 764: Admitting Mistakes Chapter 764: Admitting Mistakes "How could I forget that!?" (I) "(Because you''re such an idiot master, I thought that was clear.)" (Layla) "That was a rhetorical question, you annoying Fairy." (I) "(Annoying you for letting me die!)" (Layla) "I didn''t let you die, I controlled everyone''s body at the same time, but you were the only idiot who resisted." (I) "(You started controlling my body out of nowhere, I was confused.)" (Layla) "If you were fine, then why didn''t you speak up sooner? Why did you let me do all that?" (I) "(I had just died, so my Soul was dormant for a period of time, normally it was for a Fairy to return to the Fairy world to create a new body before being summoned again by her Contractor.)" (Layla) "(But my bond with you is stronger you idiot, so my Soul returns to you where I will absorb your mana to recreate my body, idiot master.)" (Layla) "(I only woke up when I felt the curse that a certain idiot master threw on himself, but I was a little confused when I started to wake up.)" (Layla) "(When I realized what was happening, you were in the middle of a fun battle, which by the way I must commend, rip off an arm and have the enemy devoured from the inside? It was an amazing show!)" (Layla) "You''re a devil!?" (I) I was lying completely still on the ship that had been partially repaired by Sakura, the truth is that my state after the attack was much worse than I imagined and it became even worse after putting so much pressure on my body in that totally unnecessary combat. My injuries weren''t just physical, my biggest damage had been to my Soul which was injured when I forcefully controlled all of my Familiars at the same time to save others from the attack on the ship. To make this damage to the Soul even worse, I even used two curses on myself to be able to fight that Siren, not to mention the damage I caused to my body with so many unnecessary improvements. When rica found me floating in the Ocean, I was so weak that I can''t escape her scolding speech, some people still haven''t woken up like Ibuki and Nix, it seems Ibuki had a big mental shock to see me in that state due after the attack and Nix needs me to help with recovery, something I can''t do at the moment. I still can''t believe I forgot that Fairies and hired Spirits don''t die permanently, that''s something I already knew, I even remember being a reason for happiness knowing that Layla and Nix would always be safe as long as I was alive. "Unfortunately I can''t, if I sleep in the state I''m in now, I''ll evolve, the growth barrier I created for myself collapsed during my previous rage." (I) "But if you evolve now..." (Kira) "I can''t say what could happen as my body is very weak and my Soul is injured, not to mention the energy density here is too low for anything above the Lower Catastrophe Grade." (I) "Can''t you remake this growth barrier?" (Freya) "In the state, he''s in, it would be impossible." (Kira) "Exactly, the most I can do is stay awake to stop the process of natural evolution." (I) ----------- It took me days to get back on my feet and the first thing I did was find Nix who had spent all this time sleeping in her Dragon form on the ship''s deck. Healing her was relatively easy as I only needed to feed her with my mana, when she got up I made her revert to her Human form and open the Dungeon on the lower floors of the ship again. Ibuki also woke up during this time, since getting up she has been like Hinata always clinging to me, she spent a whole day crying when she woke up, and it took a long time for her to calm down. Diana seems to have been very affected by what happened, she spends her days quietly training her Aura with Ragnar''s help, Sophia on the other hand has been talking a lot with Freya in secret and everyone has been acting strange. It was only after talking to Irius that I understood what happened, they were blaming themselves for what happened to me, everyone thinks that if they had noticed the attack like me they could have acted faster so I wouldn''t have to save them. Only Ragnar and I realized how silly this is, my Aura and senses are special due to an accumulation of factors impossible to replicate, and for that reason, I had to train a lot to be able to process all the information that my Aura and senses pour into the my mind. Knowing this, I made everyone attend a meeting to try to exile it, but it was like talking to a wall, when I realized this, I passed specific training plans for each one, they were training plans that I had thought of before, but I never showed why I thought to be better each follow their own training path. I realized that everyone always trains to improve their strengths, so I did training methods for their weaknesses, the same type of training I always try to do. I have a lot of strengths because of the large number of skills that I have, because of that I know that I will never become an expert in all these skills, so I focused on acquiring the ability to use these skills freely to fight using my creativity, in addition to I do trainings to cover my flaws. In other words, I will never win against a mage with magic or against a swordsman in combat, but using my creativity and the large number of skills I have, I can adapt to any kind of situation easier and better than anyone else, was so I managed to beat that siren so fast and even that was with a lot of preparation while I was running out of energy like a broken dam. Chapter 765: Margaret Makes An Appearance Chapter 765: Margaret Makes An Appearance Pov Mermaid Princess Fyria: ,m Seeing my mother fighting that thing was far beyond what I could have expected, that monstrosity dominated my mother from the beginning of combat, no kind of attack stopped her advance, a power that cannot be stopped and a fury that knows no limits. ?iscover new chapters at novelhall.com Her aura dominated the center of the capital making everyone including me tremble in fear, but I still noticed something when I saw the attacks of our greatest warriors pass him while my mother''s attacks had even the slightest effect. My suspicions were confirmed when I saw my mother drop dead and the image of that thing disappear just as mysteriously as it had appeared. "(Was that some kind of curse? But from whom? Did the royal family of this Realm do anything before they were killed?)" (I) "..." (I) I look around still not able to move, I''m not as strong as our Warriors and Generals, my strength doesn''t come close to my mother who was the strongest in our nation. That''s why I can''t get up yet like many others who are still on the ground due to that horrifying Aura, at least I kept my consciousness. "My Queen, let me help you." (General Glennda) Suddenly one of the warriors who had tried to fight alongside my mother appears beside me, her face marked with grief and sadness. "I''m not..." (I) "Now you are the only Queen." (General Glennda) "..." (I) "I, like all the other Generals and Ministers, know how much you were against this war, but I hope you can..." (General Glennda) "Later... I want to see my mother..." (I) "How to order." (General Glennda) "You have to learn that not everything is solved by violence." "I thought, let me check if it''s hereyes that''s it." The Elf was talking to herself, but it seemed as if she was only listening to half of the conversation, maybe she has some communication item that she is using to talk to a companion outside. She moves my mother''s body gently as she checks every piece of jewelry and accessory she owns, then stops at her hand where she pulls out a ring with a blue pearl. The Elf gently pulls on the ring before taking the Staff of the Seawatcher out of the ring that was my mother''s favorite storage item, something my father gave her a long time ago from what I heard from him. "It might be useful, but it''s sealed." "Are you sure you want to ask her?" "She owes her brother a favor, not you." "Of course, she hates you, every time you meet you start a fight with her." Sigh "Yeah, I know where to go now, and forget about doing that." "I will not attack an army relying only on disposable items." She walks forward and jumps out of the window, I never saw her face but the moment she jumped out the window the red color fades as water rushes through the doors and windows back into the room. It was no surprise to see several things being pushed by the water and some people being pushed, but I run to get my mother''s body and the ring that the Elf from before left on top of the body after taking the Staff of the Seawatcher. After the room is filled with water again, I realize that General Glennda and the other two warriors were at the window where the Elf came out looking around, it seems they didn''t find her. "Who was she?" (I) Chapter 766: Someone Invited To Dinner Chapter 766: Someone Invited To Dinner Since that attack, we learned that an Aura would be able to ward off most monsters, so I asked Nicolas to create a magic item with the help of Rakan and Irina. This magic item creates a barrier that combines with different Auras, this barrier is slightly stronger than the previous one while also serving to intimidate monsters weaker than the Lower Catastrophe Grade. Thanks to that, monster attacks became less frequent, and the weather was a problem there, but at least it''s not always storms like before. But there were still days when the weather was fine, I was taking advantage of one of those good days to have a barbecue, I made a point of taking care of a barbecue. It''s been over a month since the attack, Nix and everyone else is fine, Layla already has a new body that needed five days where I stayed inside her Cradle of Fairies to absorb my mana to build her body. The first thing she did when she had a body again was try to punch me, but her strength was too cold for that. I also needed to stay awake for more than a week after fighting that Seria to stop my evolution until I reached the new continent, now I''ve already created a new temporary growth barrier. I had time to talk to everyone a little bit, I also talked to Zila about the Siren I killed, that''s how I found out I killed the Queen Zila had abandoned. To my surprise Zila didn''t seem to care much about the Mermaid Queen''s death, she said she didn''t agree with the things the Queen did, and that''s why she and many others left their homes to flee the war while looking for a better place to live. ------------- During the barbecue, we were eating the meat of the monsters hunted inside my Dungeon as it was the only kind of meat we had.Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com Everyone was uncomfortable to continue eating sea monsters and fruits for more than a month, everyone wanted to give their food a variety. Now it was night and the barbecue wasn''t over, Sakura increased the size of our ship''s deck to accommodate the increasing level of people who came out of the Dungeon to party. It got to the point where the size of the deck was twice the size of the ship, honestly, the only reason this ship is still floating is because of the magic, because there is no explanation for this thing to support the weight of that number of people inside. "Today was beautiful, the food is delicious and I don''t even want to mention the drink, I''m very happy with the flavor that Anton produced." (I) "The food was really good, especially from the Elf named Caryna." "Her food is really delicious." (I) "But as I was saying, the day is amazing, the weather is good, there have been no monsters attacking since the morning and everyone managed to leave their respective trainings for a relaxing day." (I) "All I wanted was to enjoy this barbecue, chat with some friends, and spend time with my family." (I) "Looks like your plans are going well." "Yes, they were going well until someone unknown sneaked into the party." (I) "I''m sure that person was just hungry." "Who are you? Why are you here?" (I) Standing next to me picking things up from the grill to put on a large tray on a pile of food was a Dragon-headed man with long straight golden hair, he stands at 6 feet tall with golden eyes and two growing horns on the sides of the head, contouring the ears downwards. I can''t feel his Aura, his scent, hear his blood circulation, or his heartbeat. I was very calm since with such a high power level, I couldn''t run away, fight, or do anything else, so even worrying becomes useless in this situation. "Could you tell me why you''re here?" (I) "I already said, I''m not with the Church of Light, not all of us agree with them, but because we have powers coming from the Light element and we have a long history of cooperation, all other races started to move away from us." (Luminus) "From what I hear, the Church of Light has gone a long way with the things they do and the Dragons of Light seem to have joined in with them." (I) "But it''s not completely true, many of us abandoned the Church of Light and our ancestral home because of this." (Luminus) "We have tried many times to talk to other Dragon races or other races, but many of them won''t even agree to have a meeting and even when they do, they don''t trust us enough to believe our words." (Luminus) "What does all this have to do with you stealing half the meat from this barbecue?" (I) "He wants a mediator." (Nix) "Yes, but not only you, but also your Hired Spirit, we need her to speak with her father." (Luminus) "Do you want to talk to my Father?" (Nix) "Yes, unfortunately, we can''t get close to him, he hates everything to do with the Church of Light." (Luminus) "Why would I do that? I don''t trust you either." (Nix) "Why would I be a mediator? Sounds like a lot of work and considering my luck, I''m going to end up creating a war." (I) I didn''t want any more responsibility beyond what I already had, being a mediator between two parties can be challenging, especially if there are deep grudges in the middle of it all. "You haven''t fully awakened as a True Dragon yet, but it shouldn''t be long, a few decades at the most." (Luminus) "You seem to have affinities with all the elements, plus you have blessings from gods Fairy Kings and Spirit Kings." (Luminus) "It would be perfect to make you a mediator for us." (Luminus) "Your Hired Spirit would also be able to give us an opportunity to converse with the Black Dragon, something that would be impossible any other way." (Luminus) "The answer is still no." (I) "I like you, denying my request so outright is something many others would be oblivious to for fear of even thinking about it." (Luminus) "You wouldn''t have much of a problem, being a mediator is very easy, you would just have to provide a place for the meeting, the security of the Meeting, and mediate while the two parties discuss." (Luminus) He made it look easy, but being a mediator doesn''t seem right for someone with my level of strength. "I was lucky to find you, I was following a Church of Light army, I was curious when so many of them came to such a weak continent." (Luminus) "They apparently hate you too much to send an army like that against you." (Luminus) "An army came after me? Tell me more about it, please." (I) Chapter 767: Diplomatic Work Chapter 767: Diplomatic Work Luminus, who entered our barbecue party uninvited, said that an army came after me, that sounds more than dangerous. "After the attack on the Church of Light''s main Temple, they were very angry with you." (Luminus) "Wait! What attack!? I didn''t attack anyone and I don''t even know which Temple this is." (I) "No need to explain anything to me, any idiot could see it was a punishment from the Church of Death, you would just alleviate the humiliation they felt." (Luminus) "..." (I) "You speak of armies, but I''ve never seen one since I left the Morror Continent." (I) "I was following the army, but I wasn''t going to interfere, I just wanted to get a better sense of the situation." (Luminus) "But to my surprise, an Elf Queen appeared on that continent and drove the army away." (Luminus) "I knew she was strong, but how strong was that army?" (I) "She could be strong, but not strong enough, the real problem was the ability of Elf Queens and Kings to make contracts rom Spirit Kings or Fairy Kings, the ability to open gates to their worlds and ask for help." (Luminus) "The army left knowing it wouldn''t be the easy fight they imagined, but they''re still looking for you." (Luminus) It seems that I escaped from that Continent at a good time, but I am worried about what might happen in the next Continent, as far as I know, there the energy density is not as weak as I am used to, and I will be in real danger. "Master, this is not the time to fall into your own thoughts." (Nix) "Yes, I''m sorry." (I) "I have a purpose for you." (Luminus) "I have an item with me that can hide you from tracking by anyone other than your Familiars, if you would agree to be a mediator for us I would give this item to you." (Luminus) "Alright, I accept." (I) "..." (Luminus) "Master, I think you should talk a little more with the others before making this decision." (Nix) Pov Loki (Evil God of Fun): "You know you can''t beat me." (I) "That''s because you''re stealing." (Shako) "That would also be part of the game if I was stealing, after all, if I get caught I lose." (I) I''m sitting at a gaming table the size of a large Kingdom, the landscape is full of games or cards floating everywhere, plus there''s a square sun in the sky in the shape of a dice with three black dots on it. "I missed you, the other Gods think gambling is a waste of time." (Shako) "They are fools, they don''t understand that what they do is also a game." (I) "Yes, besides they are all very active in the last few centuries as they make their moves hidden from others." (Shako) "You too, I doubt you''ll stay out of the fun." (I) "You''re right, but unlike other Gods, I don''t have a Temple or devotees, the simple act of playing any game is a prayer for me, but I don''t like to interfere." (Shako) "Is that why you''re keeping me in your God Realm?" (I) "Do you want me to be your Champion?" (I) "Yes, we think alike, plus you surrendered your divinity to me." (Shako) "I did this because I''m tired of sitting around looking at a board all the time, I want to be one of the pieces now, to be at the mercy of luck and choices, an infinite number of choices that lead to a path I can''t see. " (I) "Will be amazing." (I) "Is that why you''re thinking about staying with Selene''s son?" (Shako) "Of course, he has terrible bad luck, besides he is an Incarnation of Chaos, being around him will bring endless fun and the way he thinks is interesting." (I) "Will you accept my proposal?" (Shako) "Why not? It can be fun, especially with your unpredictable powers." (I) Chapter 768: Surrounded Chapter 768: Surrounded Pov Vanessa: "How do you feel?" (I) "I feel amazing, I''ve never felt so strong and free before, Mom." (Athena) "You were the one who adapted the fastest to the changes, the others still have a hard time controlling their new powers." (I) "Their biggest problem is their wings, none of them have had wings before and I''ve heard they are different to control than light wings magic." (Athena) "I suppose so, but you can teach them, it should still be a week or two before we reach the Central Continent as the Energy Density has increased." (I) "Lilian is still delaying turning her children." (I) "Seems like the one they call Horn 1 has been asking her every day, but she''s always sidetracked." (Athena) ----------- Pov Freya: "Have you made your decision yet?" (Freya) "Yes, but I don''t know how to broach the subject with him." (Sophia) "You''ll have to find a way, I can''t help it if you don''t have the trinity with nature." (Freya) "I''ll talk to him after his evolution." (Sophia) ---------- Pov Alice:?iscover new chapters at novelhall.com "I don''t understand why you want to be a maid, why don''t you stay a Warrior?" (I) "I want to always be useful to the Holy Son, not just be useful during combat." (Eve) "I wish I had your strength, I always have to stay out of fights, all I did was fight monsters." (I) "If you want I can teach you how blood techniques are very useful for Vampires who have powerful bloodlines." (Eve) ---------- Pov Nicolas: The structure is almost ready, but the enchantments and Runes are still missing, I also need what I asked Miss Lyra to do. I look at the metallic skeleton in front of me with the synthetic organs and equipment I need, I keep looking like something''s missing. "I know what''s missing, but space would be an issue, I''ve already done the internal expansion, but it would be so much easier if I could use storage items instead." (I) I feel something go through my arm and spin around before I do a high kick, but my foot is grabbed, so I choose my foot to get close to the opponent with a kick, but I get thrown into something hard and I fall to the ground exhausted. "You have to understand what your Aura perceives with your mind and not your instinct." (Diana) "This is difficult, why didn''t the master give more different training?" (I) "Because the goal is to train our flaws, yours is your Aura, especially the way you use it." (Diana) ---------- Pov Zenos: "I''m saying I''m fine, I just wanted to try a new spell I thought of while reading a book." (I) Since the fight against the Mermaid, there''s always been someone watching me to make sure I don''t do anything stupid, which my Familiars don''t count on. They treat me like a child who needs a babysitter to take care of, it could be humiliating for other people but I didn''t care, what bothered me was the ban on doing any kind of training or experiment, it was killing me. I''m naturally curious, when I think of something interesting I''m in the habit of testing it right away, but they''re holding me back every step of the way. "Father, your body may be healed, but your Soul is still injured, we can tell from your Aura." (Irina) "It''s not that bad..." (I) "I''m not feeling anything anymore, I''m sure it will recover on its own." (I) "Do you know how small the number of people who suffered Soul damage and survived?" (Irina) "This is the kind of damage that permanently scars a person, it''s rare for those who have experienced it once, but you''ve already experienced it like 5 times!" (Irina) "More than half were out of combat, so it doesn''t count." (I) Sigh "I can''t believe I''m going to say this, but Layla is right, you are an idiot." (Irina) "You hurt my feelings by talking like that." (I) "No matter the reasons why you suffer a Soul wound, the important thing is the fact that it hurts your Soul, haven''t you seen that even a World Tree almost dies because of it?" (Irina) "I know, but..." (I) "Sorry to interrupt, Mom." (Carla) We were inside the ship talking, in a luxuriously comfortable and large room, then Carla, Marcos'' wife, who is the captain of the ship, enters to say something with a worried face. "What happened, my daughter." (Irina) "I feel old talking..." (Irina) "We are surrounded by ships from the local navy." (Carla) Chapter 769: Stuck? Chapter 769: Stuck? I was talking to Irina when Carla, Marcos'' wife who is the captain of the ship, appeared with a worried face. "We are surrounded by ships from the local navy." (Carla) "..." (I) I''m silent for a few seconds, processing what she said. "How do you know they''re from the local Navy?" (I) "I''ve lived most of my life in a port city, I can tell from afar when it''s pirates, traders or military." (Carla) "How many?" (Irina) "There are more than ten ships the same size as ours." (Carla) "It''s dozens of Lower Catastrophe Grade." (Hinata) Hinata appears through the ceiling of the room. "Let''s get this sorted out, I''ll ask for some help in the meantime." (I) I close my eyes to connect with Nix who is inside the Dungeon. "(Need something, master?)" (Nix) "(Bring Diana and Vanessa to boat, also bring the rest of my Familiars, maybe some battle is needed.)" (I) "(We''ll be there in 5 minutes.)" (Nix) "Let''s go upstairs, I want to see for myself who these people are." (I) I walk outside the ship and stand on the edge of the deck as I see the various Ships surrounding me, all ships are the same in shape and color, and also carry the same flag with some kind of boat and a wave. Thanks to my excellent eyesight, I can see perfectly the crew of these ships wearing armor or leather clothes, the two pieces of clothing are patterned, there are almost 40 ships around us and they seem to be waiting for a reaction from us as I see several magic circles pointed for us. "Pirates sure aren''t." (I) "What should we do?" (Irina) "Wait, for now, they''re keeping away from our barrier and are waiting for a reaction." (I) "My name is Zenos, nice to meet you Commander Wagner." (I) Commander Wagner held out his hand for me to shake, I hesitated a little longer as I looked at him trying to pick up some clues before reaching my hand out of the barrier, but ready to rip that arm off if necessary. As soon as our hands touch I feel my brain work faster and a mental bond form between the two of us. "(Good evening sir Zenos, I am here to escort you to the Royal Palace of the Navary Kingdom.)" (Wagner) "(Is that supposed to mean something to me? Who are you?)" (I) "(I am the 7th Prince Wagner Navary, my family wishes to meet with you and send you away from our Kingdom without causing too much trouble.)" (Wagner) "(Why should I believe you?)" (I) "(My family, at least most of my family are devotees of the Church of Fertility.)" (Wagner) "(I''ve been asked to say this and say that there are people behind your group waiting at the port.)" (Wagner) "(I assume all this acting is to deceive someone among your troops, right?)" (I) "(Yes, we have to keep an eye on those we don''t trust)" (Wagner) "(I don''t know who you are, but information from the Church of Fertility I believe is correct.)" (Wagner) "(He''s speaking the truth.)" (Nix) The moment I felt a new mental connection form in my mind, even a temporary connection like this, I opened up the connections I have with my Familiars to be in the conversation as well, but they''re only told to me, so the Prince or Commander Wagner can''t hear them. "(I''ll be in your care, Prince Wagner.)" (I) Soon our mental connection weakens and Prince Wagner lets go of my hand, for the others, it must have been a handshake of a few seconds, when in fact it was a conversation of a few minutes. "I hope we can resolve this whole messy situation." (I) "I hope the same, they could..." (Wagner) After that there were a lot of questions about where we''ve been during the last week, then they ask about the reason for our trip and a lot of other things. They were generic questions that I only answered with the truth or in some cases I answered with half truths. After answering his questions, which were very general, we board our ship again as we are escorted towards the mainland by a fleet of ships. Chapter 770: Navary Kingdom Part 1 Chapter 770: Navary Kingdom Part 1 After returning to the room I tell most people and all the Demons to go back inside the Dungeon, then I tell Nix to close the gate while Marcos follows the fleet of ships that continues to surround us back to the Continent. I made those who had already been seen stay with me, the voyage in this way lasted some 6 days, we were not approached once more by people from the other ships. It didn''t take long to see the silhouette of the Central Continent after 5 days of travel, and I felt the big change in the environment. The elemental energy and the 3 natural energies were much stronger, and the balance of nature was also stronger than I had ever seen, because of all this I noticed something else, but I had to confirm once we got to land to be sure. ---------- As we got closer to the Central Continent, the more boats and Ships we were seeing, I even started to see some Floating Ships, it reminded me of the Floating Ship I stole in the Dark Continent, I hope Nicolas manages to do a good job with that, I have high expectations. One thing that surprised me was when we got close to the port because I started to see weirder things like people flying using some kind of magic or technique, flying mounts, floating carriages pulled by flying mounts, boats that appear from under the water, carriages that walked on water or freeze the surface of the water to walk. There were a lot of strange things that made my eyes light up at the thought that this was what a magical world was supposed to look like. I look at the port city that we are approaching and shovel everything made of marble of various colors, but what stands out the most is a large Palace 100 meters high made of white marble with light blue grooves, the sunlight seems to illuminate such a magnificent Palace. In addition, I noticed that the city seems to have no end extending in both directions, I also noticed the large number of ships with the same colors as those escorting us, there were even dozens of these ships flying. "Have you heard of this Navary Kingdom, Vanessa?" (I) "Yes, they are a somewhat unique Kingdom in their way of thinking." (Vanessa) "They have the common language as an official in the nation, their military strength on land is almost zero, but their military strength in water is easily the largest on the continent." (Vanessa) "I imagine that for merchants and even travelers it must be safer to arrive in this Kingdom and travel through its streets until they are closer to their destination, right?" (I) "Exactly, this is a Kingdom with a history of thousands of years, more than half of its population is made up of travelers who are just passing through." (Vanessa) This Kingdom is very interesting, I understand the main idea of the rulers of this Kingdom, or at least of its founders, was to monopolize maritime trade, a very ambitious idea. "Why do other Kingdoms and Empires allow them to occupy so much space on the coast of the Central Continent?" (Diana) "Because of its size, it should be relatively easy to invade and dominate the city since it is so extensive, even more so if several Kingdoms act together since this Navary Kingdom must border several Kingdoms." (Sakura) "The reason is simple, convenience, am I right?" (I) "As expected, you''ve noticed the main problem." (Vanessa) "Like this?" (Diana) "This Navary Kingdom serves as a great shield for other nations to stop the waves of Monsters coming from the Ocean, it should also serve as an excellent trading partner." (I) "Exactly, but that''s not the whole reason, there will always be greedy Kingdoms that think they can attack them, but realize too late that it''s impossible to hold these lands." (Vanessa) "When they are attacked they flee to the warships, then the siege of the warships against the invaders begins, as the whole city is very close to the coast, there are no places outside the range of the ships'' attacks, so the attackers always are forced to return." (Vanessa) "Soon after, all trade treaties with that nation are cut for 100 years and only come back after that period if they pay compensation triple the value of damages caused by the conflicts." (Vanessa) "That''s a very interesting tactic." (I) Chapter 771: Navary Kingdom Part 2 Chapter 771: Navary Kingdom Part 2 As we approach the city, we don''t go to the big busy port where I could see many people coming and going, we go to a smaller port surrounded by dozens of navy warships. We were escorted there where our ship remained surrounded while all the crew were forced to descend, Prince Wagner who is pretending to be Commander as far as I could understand, escorted me, my Family, Diana, and Vanessa to the Palace that was close to the Palace over 100 meters, this is easily the biggest building I have ever seen in this world. We were heavily guarded by many soldiers, we were also searched for weapons and forced to wear a bracelet that restricts any kind of spatial effect from activating, that is to say, they allow us to keep our storage items, but with this bracelet, we will not be able to activate our storage items or any kind of teleportation magic. It seems that this item only works with space magic, but it''s very interesting how they think about it for the protection of their Royal Family. With such an item they don''t have to worry about guests whose intentions are unknown, I also imagine that no one would hand over six storage items to someone else. Layla was very nervous about wearing this item, even more so that this item that can adjust the size couldn''t reach the size of a Fairy, so Layla is using the bracelet as some kind of metal belt. Nix was trying to get into my shadow and succeeded, but couldn''t get into other people''s shadows or pull people into my shadow. These tests were done quickly, and after that, we were invited to have a light meal and access to a bathroom to take a shower, we could not directly meet the ruler of the nation who seems to be very busy and I can understand this perfectly. We took the opportunity to eat delicious food that was not poisoned, took a bath in what looked like an Olympic heated swimming pool that would fit Nix in his Dragon form, and then we were presented with a selection of formal wear. None of us wore the formal clothes, we asked for permission to pull clothes out of our storage items, which we were allowed with supervision to ensure we weren''t pulling weapons, we also had to let an appraiser see the clothes we wanted to wear to find the King, once they confirmed that the only abilities the clothes gave were defense or resistance didn''t bother us anymore. If any of us wore clothes that weren''t made in the Dungeon for no good reason, then we''d have to face the wrath of a very violent Seamstress who takes great pride in her work. After that, we were left waiting in a room where Prince Wagner appeared dressed in clothes very different from the Navy Commander clothes he wore before. It seems that the reason for the delay in finding the King was a meeting with ambassadors from another nation, who told us this was Prince Wagner who was acting more friendly now that he didn''t need to pretend to be a Commander. ,m "Some formality must still be followed when we have guests." (Wagner) "All this formality is useless, because of these unnecessary things that always take so long to sort out." (Queen Sheila) "It may be true, but some things can''t be helped." (King Gareth) Saying this the King and Queen rise to bow in our direction leaving even the Prince, as well as the shocked knights and wizards. "I am honored to be welcoming the Champion of the God of Wolves and Combat, welcome Miss Diana." (King Gareth) "Our Kingdom rejoices in the presence of the future Saint of the Temple of Blood, welcome Miss Vanessa." (Queen) When the King and Queen bow to Diana and Vanessa announcing their identities the entire room freezes, but a few seconds later all the Knights and Wizards kneel towards us, even Prince Wagner shifts position to kneel towards us. "Please everyone stand up, I''m no saint yet and Diana doesn''t like formalities." (Vanessa) "Vanessa is right, everyone stand up please." (Diana) "Having a King kneel to you is strangely satisfying..." (Layla) "Just shut up you little Demon, take care of her Sakura." (I) "Yes Master." (Sakura) As Diana and Vanessa try to resolve this uncomfortable situation, that little Devil who was laughing from ear to ear when the King and Queen kneel down, she starts bragging like she was the cause of it all. Chapter 772: Daughter Of A Saint Chapter 772: Daughter Of A Saint After Vanessa and Diana managed to sort out the problem of everyone in the room by kneeling to us, the King and Queen invited us to another room at the back where just the two of them, Prince Wagner, and my group entered. It was a beautiful comfortable marble room with marble walls, light brown wooden floors, lush decor, and a large window from where you can see the city, the sea, and the various types of ships coming in and out of the harbor, we can see everything. this at the same time from this window. "Please have a seat." (Queen Sheila) "This was the informal place that I wanted to welcome you from the beginning, but Gareth insisted on keeping the formalities." (Queen Sheila) "As King, I have some formalities to follow dear." (King Gareth) We sit on sofas, I sit with Diana on one side and Vanessa on the other while the others stand behind me, not forgetting that Layla is being held by my lines in Sakura''s hands. The King sits opposite us with the Queen beside him while Prince Wagner sits alone in a chair that looks more like an armchair. "Son, please." (King Gareth) "Yes father." (Wagner) "" (Wagner) Soon the luxurious and comfortable room reveals several magic circles and glowing Runes, I noticed that Irina became very interested looking back and forth at this powerful barrier around us. "With this, without the spies inside the Palace they will be able to spy on what happens here, and we can talk freely." (King Gareth) "Do you know there are spies in your house?" (Diana) "Every existing nation at some point faces espionage crises, for commercial or very large nations, these things are very frequent." (King Gareth) "We can say that it''s impossible to keep the house squeaky clean, but we can use that to our advantage if we play well." (King Gareth) "Disinformation, a counter-espionage move." (I) "You''re smart, it took my son a few months to realize that." (King Gareth) "If you had told me that directly instead of leaving me hanging around the entire Palace always looking at my back in fear, it would have been better." (Wagner) "Due to my lineage, I might be able to impregnate anyone, so my mother introduced me to Gareth who was looking for a way to sire offspring." (Queen Sheila) Their story is a little interesting, but I don''t understand why they''re telling this to a stranger like me, what does that have to do with me? "I understand your story, but why tell us this?" (I) "To understand that we don''t want to be your enemy, I know that our actions can seem suspicious, and sometimes showing a little vulnerability or sincerity can make everything clear for everyone to understand each other." (King Gareth) "I would take my wife''s advice to help you get out of this Kingdom quickly just to avoid confusion within my city." (King Gareth) "But I figured you''d be a good friend if I treated you honestly." (King Gareth) "You say that because of Vanessa and Diana." (I) "Actually the son of the Blood Goddess who has a Saint daughter and a wife as a Champion." (King Gareth) "Which?" (Wagner) "You are someone with a bright future ahead of you, you would be a great business partner." (King Gareth) "I just hope you protect my mother well." (Queen Sheila) "Your mother?" (I) "My mother is the saint of the Church of Fertility, so I wanted to help you because you are going to help my mother for what the Church of Fertility warned me about." (Queen Sheila) So she is the daughter of one of the three Saints I have to allow to stay in my Dungeon, that explains why they help. But I didn''t expect to find a daughter of one of these Santas, in fact, they didn''t even tell me who these Santas are knowing that I could avoid them if I knew who they are, something I really thought about doing. "I appreciate your help." (I) "(Everyone is telling the truth.)" (Nix) Regardless of their motives, I''ve been keeping in touch with Nix to see if they''re telling the truth or not, but it seems like they''re being honest about their motives, at least I can understand selfish natives like the King wanting to befriend someone he considers capable. to do great things in the future. Chapter 773: Situation Of The Central Continent Chapter 773: Situation Of The Central Continent In the safe room inside the Navary Kingdom Palace, my group and I managed to meet the Royal Family. I discovered the reasons why they were supposedly trying to help us, and I''m inclined to believe them. We spent a few hours talking to them and I discovered several things. 1. An army from the Church of Light flew over your Realm a few months ago heading towards the Morror Continent. 2. The Church of Light army returned with the same numbers and looking intact as less than 3 weeks ago 3. There are wanted posters for me and half of my group posted by the Church of Light in conjunction with the Temple of the Law. 4. There are people from the Temple of the Law waiting for us in various parts of the city, the same can be said of people from the Church of Light. 5. The fact that I am the Son of Goddess Selene is no longer a big secret, the Church of Light spread rumors about me to entice even more people to kill me. 6. It also seems that contracts to catch me have been accepted by some branches of the Adventurer''s Guild. 7. I have also heard that many Kingdoms are preparing for a great battle, so we are in a pre-war period on this continent. 8. It seems that other Champions and Saints have been popping up in recent years, so everyone believes that a time of turmoil is approaching. I listened to a great deal of information about what to expect on this continent and made mental notes on what to pay more attention to. King Gareth said he would like to get me out of the city to avoid my pursuers, but he wouldn''t stop me if I wanted to walk through the city. King Gareth has made it very clear that he is willing to help me behind the scenes, but he will not openly act on my behalf because the direct aggression of the Church of Light could make even his Kingdom cease to exist. Prince Wagner seemed shocked ever since he heard about me being the son of a Goddess, he didn''t interfere in the conversation, after calming down he listened to everything the King and I talked about. "I think we better stop talking about my grandmother, we should get back to what matters now." (Wagner) "My son is right, I have already told you about the general situation on the continent, but it remains to discuss what you are going to do now, Mr Zenos." (King Gareth) "I wanted to visit the city, but I imagine everyone must know I''m here now, I imagine that was part of your plans." (I) "You didn''t break any of my laws to get arrested or expelled, so I can''t force you to leave, but I imagine you have little choice now beyond that." (King Gareth) "Sorry my husband, he has read many reports about the damage that has happened in every town you pass through and is afraid of what might happen in our nation." (Queen Sheila) "I have to preserve the integrity of my Kingdom, so I won''t apologize for that, but I hope you understand." (King Gareth) "I''d like to say it''s wrong, but against facts, there''s no argument." (I) "I''m leaving your Kingdom, but I''d like to buy some things if possible." (I) "Leave a list of the things you need with me, I will quote the prices of the products for free for you, we can deliver to a city that borders our Kingdom." (Wagner) "I''ll leave everything in your hands son." (King Gareth) "Do you have any list of products commonly sold in your city by any chance?" (I) "Yes, but the list is too long to be seen in a short time." (King Gareth) "I suppose so, I will compile a list of goods by tomorrow morning when I leave your Kingdom, but if I had a map of the Central Continent I would be amazing." (I) "I can sell a Trade Map, it highlights the Kingdoms, Empires and Capitals of the continent, but other than that it doesn''t say much beyond superficial things." (King Gareth) "That will do, for now, thanks." (I) Chapter 774: Strength Level And Where To Go Chapter 774: Strength Level And Where To Go We were taken to one of the Palace towers that was reserved for us, many Knights and soldiers are patrolling the entire Palace, not to mention the tower itself has several defenses, so it should be ok. We''re in the common room where I create a barrier with Vanessa''s help to make sure we''re not overheard by others as we decide what to do next. Sigh "I wanted so much to enjoy the city, but I guess I''ll have to wait until next time." (I) "Are you really going to listen to the King''s request and get out of here?" (Ragnar) "I think this is the first time you''ve made a prudent decision since I met you, master." (Sakura)Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com "I really want to visit the city, but I know our enemies are probably stronger than all of us, at least now." (I) ,m Vanessa and Ragnar explained to all power rating levels from the Lower Catastrophe Grade just now. ------------- Basically, Dungeon people have an advantage until they reach Grade SSS because of my influence over them, but usually, the various growth barriers along the way make it very difficult for a person to keep getting stronger. Diana had already explained to me about the growth barriers, she herself was suffering with one of these barriers to achieve a lower catastrophe degree strength. Now that Diana is a Champion, she won''t have any of those barriers like me, same goes for Vanessa being a Saint. It seems that the people in my group have growth barriers that are easier to cross than usual, in addition to needing less levels to evolve, this is all an influence due to me being a child of a Goddess, growth barriers prevent me from acquiring EXP work or normal to evolve, but Barriers also prevent even skills from improving, many people are stuck in a barrier for life, something I will never experience by what they say. So from Grade SSS, there are many levels of power rating, which are: Lower catastrophe > Catastrophe > Upper catastrophe > Lower Lord > Lord > Higher Lord > Lesser King > King > Higher King > Lesser Emperor > Emperor > Higher Emperor > "I thought the problem was solved, just follow the Royal Family''s plan to get out of this Kingdom and outwit our pursuers." (Diana) "I''m not talking about our pursuers, I''ve gotten used to that while I''m together with the master, we''ll always be pursued by someone." (Nix) "You make it sound like I''m someone everyone hates." (I) "Everyone is a strong word, let''s just say 60% of people hate you." (Sakura) "I like you, you can be kind of stupid, bossy, and distracted, but I like you, master." (Layla) "I like the master..." (Hinata) Layla leaves it on top of my head and caresses one of my horns while Hinata hugged me with a completely expressionless face but bright eyes. "If we consider that more than half of the people the master meets die, then I can understand what Sakura means." (Orion) "You killed Kira''s entire band of bandits and nearly killed her too when we found her in the Blood Forest." (Diana) "We also killed all the Demons on the Morror Continent with the exception of Lilian." (Vanessa) "There were circumstances for all of this, you guys make me look like a villain." (I) "You look for people to kill, kidnap and rob in every town we go to." (Ragnar) "I just take the garbage from each city and use it to earn something from it..." (I) "Father, your life is full of situations with circumstances for your actions." (Vanessa) "..." (I) "(Why does everyone always have to be so hard on me?)" (I) It always happens, everyone always blames poor Zenos for everything that happens. "As I was saying before, I think we should solve our most urgent problem before thinking about anything else, for that I advise you to go to an Elf village that has a World Tree." (Nix) "But what urgent problem are you talking about?" (I) Chapter 775: Leaving The Navary Kingdom Chapter 775: Leaving The Navary Kingdom "Huh!" (I) The next morning I get up next to Diana who has some blood running down her lips as she has a small smile so I put my hand to my ear and see that she is bleeding. "That''s a bad way to wake up." (I) I get up and go to the downstairs bathroom, as the entire tower was reserved for us as guests, I hadn''t put on anything but some pants as I was going to take a shower before putting on my real clothes. "How can I help, sir?" (creepy butler) "I... I''m... I''m fine, I''m going to... I''m going back to the room." (I) "(I think I can take a shower after leaving this Realm.)" (I) But along the way, I met a butler who was clearly stronger than I was, and I was very scared. What scared me was not the strength of this butler, it was the look of lust in his eyes looking at me so I ran out of there as fast as I could flying to the bedroom and putting on full clothes after using a simple water spell to get me to wash. I wouldn''t go into a bathroom alone after seeing that butler. ---------- After everyone woke up we went to eat something in the dining room dedicated to visitors in this tower, I really liked that there was no seafood at all. The food was delicious with flavors I''ve never tasted before, a purple meat was especially tasty, there was also a boiled egg my size on the table which was delicious, the fruits that I''m sure were put on the table just for decoration were delicious and I hadn''t seen them until now. "Ibuki will be very angry when he hears about this feast he didn''t attend." (Diana) "Lilith too." (Vanessa) "I think Caryna and Freya got angrier, they both love to try new foods and ingredients." (I) "Don''t worry, Ragnar ran to the kitchen dragging one of the maids to talk to the cook." (Vanessa) "He''ll want to know the name of all the ingredients and the recipe." (Sakura) "Looks like we''re going to expand the menu again." (I) "I want candy, why don''t you have candy!?" (Layla) "Candy in the morning isn''t very healthy, I''ll get you something later." (I) "Some of these items are prohibited or have strong restrictions on their purchase." (Wagner) "I don''t understand the laws and rules of this continent very well, I arrived here yesterday, so just discard these items as it would not be possible to acquire them." (I) "I can acquire all of them, as a Trade Kingdom we still have connections in the underworld, but we do this to compare dangerous items before certain people get their hands on them." (Wagner) "Alright, just discard these items." (I) The illegal items he talks about are likely the pieces of magical engineering that Nicolas put on the list as he had taken out the poisons Lyra asked for before handing over the list. "Here is also a list of things I can sell you." (I) I pass another storage crystal which Prince Wagner takes and swaps with the other on his reading crystal as soon as he places the small crystal cube and starts looking at the list but to no surprise. "Are the items on this list very well described, have they been evaluated by someone specialized, or do you have direct contact with the artisans?" (Wagner) "..." (I) I just smile at him without answering, so he smiles back, trying to get answers out of me wouldn''t do any good, I''m not that naive. "I will talk to the Commerce Guild about these items, but these dresses are..." (Wagner) "Provocative?" (I) "Yes, the various effects, resistances, and other things are nothing new to us, but this type of model is very interesting, I''m sure it would sell well." (Wagner) "Don''t I see normal people buying these things?" (I) "You''re wrong, you never know what a person is doing in the comfort of their home, plus there are certain types of work that will benefit from these clothes." (Wagner) "We can negotiate something after you take a look at the rest of the items on the list." (I) ------------- After leaving the shopping list and sales list with him, we made a deal about certain products I would like to buy for his Kingdom, told him that I would have his order ready when we meet in 1 month. After that I left with my group accompanied by some guards wearing Adventurer''s armor, we entered a commercial caravan and left for the city towards the gates. Sigh "I arrived yesterday and I''m leaving today, what a pity." (I) Chapter 776: The Black Dragon Emperors Annoyance Chapter 776: The Black Dragon Emperor''s Annoyance Pov Ortiz (True Star Dragon): I am the assistant of Dragon Emperor Arash, he rose to the top of all Dragons by his batch from a Serpent Dragon, a monster until evolving into a Dragon and further on evolving again into a True Dragon. He is admired by all Dragons, besides he was responsible for protecting Dragons for a long time, his deeds are legend and the results of his battles are responsible for great changes in geography wherever he fights. For beings like us True Dragons who live such long lives, we end up being too conservative and accommodating, so those who lead the Dragons are not chosen purely in power, but also those who possess wisdom, boldness, and most importantly, have an understanding of the which is "strength". Dragon Emperor Arash possesses great wisdom and daring, but he is also greatly feared for his power and what happens to those who become his enemies. His name is synonymous with inconceivable brutality, cruelty, destruction, and fury. The greatest of all his stories that the Dragons know is the tragedy that befell his family, an attack without any reason or warning, an attack that led to the death of his wife and daughter. All Dragons and Spirits went into a rage that day from what I heard, battles took place in all parts of the world due to the indignation of Spirits and Dragons, but the greatest destruction was done by the True Black Dragon, lord Arash. He brought destruction to the Church of Light''s largest bases and wiped out most of its army, his fury spread miasma across two continents, and even badly wounded he never stopped the attack. The Elder Dragons had to intervene just to stop him for fear that he would also kill himself during these attacks, he was 1000 years chained and guarded by the Elder Dragons until he regained the consciousness that had been taken by their fury. But during those 1000 years, his roar of fury, hate, sadness, and loneliness was heard by half the continent, I remember my childhood hearing that, the pain in that roar is something I can still hear when I close my eyes. But almost two years ago we heard from an Oracle sent from the Great Dragon God Akatosh that the daughter of the now Dragon Emperor Arash was alive. As soon as he heard about the living daughter he started to fly away, he didn''t even wait for the Priest to finish talking, but it seems that there were already many Dragons prepared to stop him, the fight was taken to a separate space, but even so, it split the space and destroyed things a lot, but they managed to calm him down enough. All the Dragons watched him all the time for fear he would run away, they all knew that him approaching his daughter would only bring him more pain later, but stopping him is a difficult thing. But everyone''s concern was over when she arrived, the one known as the Living Nightmare. ------------ The Dragon Castle was carved using an entire mountain, I work as an assistant to the Dragon Emperor, I do various jobs for him and I really enjoy my work. He is in his Human form a 2 meter tall man, two red eyes, black skin, short unkempt white hair, and a muscular body full of black scales on his arms. The living Nightmare was lying on his lap, a beautiful little girl with silver hair, blood red eyes, pale white skin, and an appearance that reflects youthful innocence, something she is not. She controls all kinds of abnormal effects, illusions, and deceptions, known for her laziness and the way she tortures her enemies in a world of eternal nightmares. "Who are you guys talking about?" (Dragon Emperor Arash) "..." (I/Relius) ---------- Pov Zenos: "Do you think I did well by just letting them go?" (I) "Yes, no one will know them and they are smarter to know what they should do, more so than certain people." (Irina) "Everyone stayed inside the Dungeon while we were on the island, so they should be fine on their own." (Irina) It''s been 2 days since we left the Navary Kingdom and just today after confirming that we weren''t followed, I gave the quest to Lilian and her family who will be returning to the Navary Kingdom. As a realm focused on commerce and with such a long history, I have no doubt that it will be the best place to get information and certain forbidden items, so I left it to them to take care of that as they fared better and are not known. "Where do we go from here?" (Irina) "We are abandoning the merchants'' caravan, I''ll take public transport from here." (I) "But why does it have to be me?" (Irina) "Could be you or Irius, the two of you were very calm on Cyrion Isle and must have gone unnoticed so you''ll be fine with me in your shadow for the trip." (I) My plan is to change the person making the trip to our destination several times, so no informant we have the misfortune of seeing will know what to report. Chapter 777: Kingdom Haffes Part 1 Chapter 777: Kingdom Haffes Part 1 After leaving the Navary Kingdom I went from shadow to shadow of the people in my group that I thought were not known, after 1 month of travel we finally arrived at the Haffes Kingdom, a rural Kingdom that produces food for 1/4 of the continent. This Realm has little military power, but it has agreements that make the surrounding Realms its protectors, in addition, this Realm is quite large with many small Dungeons, this makes it a perfect place for new Adventurers to stay. I tried to avoid the capital and chose a city where a lot of ingredients pass through before heading to the capital, besides it is close to some SSS Grade Dungeons, so there are too many Adventurers here so I don''t draw attention to my group. --------- In a rented house, overnight. "They should arrive in 1 or 2 weeks." (I) "That would be nice, but it could take longer." (Karina) "Why do you say that, we have yet to find an Elf Village with a World Tree for me to safely evolve." (I) "My body still hasn''t completely gotten used to its power, 6 days ago I awakened the pure element of metal, that shouldn''t even be possible." (Karina) "That should be good news." (I) "My body is being remade because of me being your Dragon Priestess, I''m afraid of what will happen to me when you evolve." (Karina) "I haven''t even awakened an affinity with the element of space yet." (Karina) "So what do you plan to do." (I) "Speed up the process." (Karina) Karina takes a pile of potions out of her storage item, as soon as I see the color and smell the faint odor coming out of those glass bottles, I know exactly what potions these are. "That amount of potions..." (I) "You''re not passing..." (I) "I''ve already talked to rica and the others, they understand what I''m going to do and they''ve accepted, we have a lot of stamina potions and we''re only going to stop to eat and sleep." (Karina) "Wait, we have a lot to do in this Kingdom, we are also waiting for Lilian to return with her family and the arrival of the people of the Navary Kingdom with our products." (I) "Freya will take care of the things of this Kingdom and will get everything you ever planned, Nira and Ivan will take care of the people of the Navary Kingdom, Vanessa and Irina will get Lilian''s report when she arrives, besides the soundproof barrier is already in place around the house." (Karina) "But the others..." (I) 4. Lilith 5. Elsari 6. Samira 7. Freya 8. Nira 9. rica 10. Diana "The people on this list are going to take more active roles on this continent, we need to have more masks for others and try to create something for Father as well." (Vanessa) "Is there any use in creating a mask for him? We all know we''re going to meet our pursuers sooner or later because of him." (Ivan) "The mask can still give extra protection, the problem is his Aura is too strong, could the mask..." (I) "Anton already said that none of these materials would be useful, what makes the mask capable of hiding our Auras is the Aura of the master contained in his blood." (Nira) "So what do we do?" (I) "The list the master gave Lilian to look for in the Black Market is exactly what we need, but he said wait for the evolution first, his Aura might change again by then." (Nira) The master''s evolution is being a problem on everyone''s mind, but another problem is Loki and Silvia still haven''t awakened since their awakening ceremonies, months have passed and now I''m afraid of the commotion that the awakening of an ancient Heretic God or a ex World Tree can create if they awaken here. "How are Loki and Silvia doing?" (I) "Athena visits the place where Loki''s cocoon is often found and Silvia''s egg is still inside my Father''s blood pool." (Vanessa) "No change in either of them." (Vanessa) "When the master evolves can the same happen to them? As happened to the Infant Fairies in the past?" (Nira) "I can''t say Loki, but Silvia''s egg will definitely be affected by the master''s aura when it explodes, but I don''t know if it will be enough to wake up." (I) "We don''t know anything about what can happen in any situation we think about, I don''t like that." (Ivan) "There''s not much we can do about it, it''s not situations we can predict." (Vanessa) Chapter 778: Haffes Kingdom Part 2 Chapter 778: Haffes Kingdom Part 2 Pov Lilian: My time in the Navary Kingdom was very peaceful, none of my students were noticed, either by the people of the Navary Kingdom or by our persecutors. I asked half of them to look for information about our pursuers while the others and I go looking for the requested things. Finding what we want can be dangerous due to the amount of prohibited items being purchased, so it was better to find a broker to act as a go-between for us. The best place for this would be the Black Market, they would be able to add everything on the list without arousing suspicion or asking questions. Finding the Black Market on the other hand took days, but that''s mostly because they were on a ship, at least their office is a sunken ship near an uninhabited island. Finding this place was very difficult, so I had to make them find me, I asked questions in places where they should have informants to get their attention when they came after me it was more difficult to get the information. That''s the right way to do it without having a referral. Negotiation with them was quick as I was paying more than usual for some of the products, but this was to make sure they would speed up the delivery time. The things I asked for are books, weapons, materials, ingredients, poisons, and information. The information I asked for was relevant to our pursuers, the situation on the mainland, and several other strange things the Holy Son asked me to find out. Some of the questions I asked made even the Black Market representative who served me look doubtfully at me, but I couldn''t blame him as asking someone who works in the criminal underworld about the most beautiful and interesting places on the continent is something that only a madman would. After taking care of a few things there I arranged to get some Hippogriffs for a trip to a point where we could take a quick trip running to the Haffes Kingdom. With that 1 month passed and I was returning, an air trip proved to be a little dangerous, but we managed to solve everything, we also made sure that we were not being followed before arriving in the Haffes Kingdom, so we go straight to Torga city. --------- Pov Freya: I was going to take Karina and the master''s food, my daughter has been doing this for the last 3 weeks, but today I released her from this duty to go out on a date with Leo, plus I''ve been worried that I haven''t heard from the master until now. In less than 20 minutes I arrive at the house where they are, as the barrier was made by Irina, she manages to confirm my identity by my Aura, so I can enter without being impeded by the barrier around each house. "That would be for the best, you''ve been given a lot of power for a body you shouldn''t have." (I) "I know, I thought my body was going to explode more than once, I don''t know how he keeps so much power in such a small body, especially since I only received half the power he has." (Karina) "Just come eat, where is the master? Where are your clothes?" (I) Since she opened the door, she was completely naked and walked with me to the dining room talking normally, so I got tired of being patient and waiting for her to come to her senses. "My clothes were torn apart by a small storm of blades, look." (Karina) She points to another room and I see that everything was destroyed inside, after that, I started looking around at the house almost destroyed inside, burn marks, a puddle of water, pieces of ice, and stones. "But what happened here!?" (I) "While my body can take it, I lose control a little bit, to be honest, I don''t know how this house is still standing." (Karina) I look at her and then at the half-destroyed house. "Freya... it''s you..." (Zenos) "Master!" (I) I look at the master walking down the stairs leaning against the wall and I am startled by what I see. He was just skin and bones, his skin was pale and his hair disheveled, he walked slowly and bent over as if just walking was tiring for him. I run to him and lift him up, and with that, I realize he''s much lighter than he should be. "Are you okay, master!?" (I) "I''ll stay after... a meal... and a bed..." (Zenos) "Look at his condition, Karina." (I) "In my defense, he was fine until last night, in the final phase of the adaptation I found he needed a lot of energy that was pulled from him, that''s why my body was like this." (Karina) Chapter 779: Double Visit Part 1 Chapter 779: Double Visit Part 1 "So this all happened." (I) "Yes, we have already finalized the deal with the Navary Kingdom both the purchase and the sale of goods." (Nira) "Did we earn anything, or did we have more expenses?" (I) "We had more expenses, the volume of things we ordered was on a much larger scale than what we sold to them." (Nira) "We also had Lilian''s expenses while she was on her mission with her family." (Nira) "From the list, I''m looking at, you''ve put everything we''ve acquired on the same list, thanks for that." (I) It had been 4 days since I stopped living alone with Karina, after that, I spent a few days sleeping most of the day and getting up only to eat. ,m Now I''m sitting next to Nira going over everything that was done while I was with Karina. It seems that we have already acquired a lot of seeds from everything this Realm produces, we also got the goods I bought from the Navary Kingdom and the illegal goods that Lilian bought for me in the Black Market. After a cursory glance at everything, I pass the list back to Nira and look to the side in confusion at something I''ve noticed. "What is it, Master?" (Nira) "..." (I) "I think it was just my imagination." (I) I try to feel something with my Aura, but I can''t, and I can''t hear anything new besides the people who were already in the house. "The information Lilian brought you, did you take a look at it?" (I) "Yes, Ivan was thinking of compiling some of this information on the map of the Central Continent with Leonardo." (Nira) "This saves me some trouble as I was thinking of doing the same thing." (I) "But I''ll still have to look at everything in detail." (I) I look at the table where a mask with raven features is on the table. "That mask, why does it have my Aura?" (I) "I already planned to get to that, actually..." (Nira) "Wait!" (I) I get up and run to the window looking at the two unfamiliar people in front of the house talking. After a few days, I arrive in one of the rural towns of the Haffes Kingdom, I was above the clouds looking at the city from above when I see another person looking at me due to the crystal on my neck reacting. "It''s been a while, Shiro." (I) "What are you doing here, Margareth?" (Shiro) Shiro looks around scared before his attention focuses on me again, for a True Dragon he looks very scared and I know why. "She''s not here right now, don''t worry." (I) "You''re a sensible person, I don''t know what it was like to serve someone so violent." (Shiro) "Everyone has their faults, we shouldn''t judge others for that Shiro." (I) "Your master''s faults have destroyed my home." (Shiro) "That was a request from a friend of my master''s, plus you teased her that day." (I) "But why are you here?" (I) "I am on a mission for my Emperor." (Shiro) I feel my master''s feelings for the crystal, but I already imagined how this would happen when he arrived on this continent. "Looks like we came to see the same person." (I) "I thought the same." (Shiro) I look at Shiro who looks worried as he looks around. "I already told you she''s not here." (I) "But she will come, right?" (Shiro) "If she came, then she would be with me, so relax." (I) He and I went down in front of the place where I feel Zenos is, he was spreading his Aura around the city while we were talking, I wouldn''t be able to feel it but my master felt it and warned me. "Who should speak first? You can go first if you want, I''m not particularly in a hurry." (I) "We can go in together, I feel him looking at us from inside the house, he might find it suspicious if only one enters." (Shiro) "You might be right, let''s go in together then?" (I) I look at Shiro one more time, I''ve never liked him but I think I can wait and see how Zenos handles whatever Shiro came to do. Chapter 780: Double Visit Part 2 Chapter 780: Double Visit Part 2 I knew that these people are stronger than I am, but I didn''t know how much stronger, besides that, I could only think of the identity of one of these people. I imagine that the Dragonewt with so many shades of white in his body is who the True Dragon Emperor of Light Luminus said he would send. I was worried that the person in question had been waiting for me in the Navary Kingdom this whole time, I have no idea how he found me here, but I planned on talking to him anyway. But the one who is making me intrigued is the Elf, looking closer, I realized that she was a Vampire, I thought it could be someone from the Temple of Blood, but I didn''t see the Goddess Selene''s Crest on her maid clothes. I was trying to figure out the identity of this woman, but nothing came to my mind, I have no idea who she could be, but to be wearing maid robes, that means she is taking orders from someone else, maybe she is even a servant of this Dragonewt. "Master, I have brought the guests." (Freya) "Thank you, Freya." (I) While Freya went to receive these strange guests, I put some new ways to welcome these guests, when Freya opens the door to the living room for them to enter, I greet the two as I ask them to sit on the sofas I prepared for them. "I must say I didn''t expect visitors." (I) "My name is Shiro, I am a Dragon King of Light, I am here in the name of the Dragon Emperor of Light, lord Luminus." (Shiro) "(A Dragon? A True Dragon? I thought it was just a Dragonewt.)" (I) "(Also, he introduced himself as a Dragon King, he must be very strong.)" (I) "You may not remember as I''m a little different from when we first met, but my name is Margareth." (Margareth) "I''m the one who had a cup of coffee with you in the Dark Continent''s underground city." (Margareth) "(I knew that old woman''s appearance was fake, but I hadn''t realized she was an Elf.)" (I) "Nice to meet you both, my name is Zenos." (I) "How can I help you both today." (I) I can understand the Dragon since I promised to be a graduate for the Dragons of Light who are not joined by the Church of Light, but I don''t understand why this woman followed me from the Dark Continent. "Mind if I speak first, Miss Margareth?" (Shiro) "As I said before, I''m in no hurry, make yourself comfortable." (Margareth) With that it looks like they were talking outside and the two already know each other, the True Dragon will start talking about what he came here for. "I came to deliver the information of the places where you will find different neutral nations or that we still have a chance to talk." (Shiro) Sigh "Dragons are powerful but we are not invincible, my people are in a delicate situation right now and everything I do is to help my people be in a safe place." (Shiro) I look at him, and all I can see is sincerity but he must be thousands of years old, he could be faking and would never know, I don''t know him or I can feel his Aura, I can only count on what I see but I don''t know until point is true. "The only thing I can do is promise to help as much as possible." (I) "I hope this day means a change for my people." (Shiro) Shiro stands up and holds out his hand for me to shake, which I do. "I''ll let you and Margareth talk, I''ll go out to do other things." (Shiro) "Until another day, Mister Shiro." (I) After that, he walked out the door at the same time as Freya came in with a tray of snacks and coffee. ---------- Pov Shiro (Dragon King of Light): A few minutes after talking to the Blood Goddess''s son. "Are you sure Living Brutality isn''t around?" (I) "Yes, we looked at everything in the surroundings." (Spirit of Light) I was hiding above the clouds talking to a Light Element Spirit who is my subordinate. "Are you sure to do this?" (Spirit of Light) "I didn''t expect Living Brutality''s maid here, that means sooner or later the truth will be exposed, I can''t afford a failure now." (I) "Then act fast, if Living Brutality shows up we''re dead." (Spirit of Light) "I know." (I) "< Dragon King''s Condensed Light Cannon >" (I) I open my jaws in the direction of the house I just left, then fire an ultra fast light cannon, my attack that valued the house, and in less than 3 seconds the rest of the city leaving only a large crater that goes up to a few tens of meters deep. "Goodbye Zenos, I hope that in another life you will be more aware of not meddling in matters that don''t matter to you." (I) Chapter 781: One More City I Couldnt Save Chapter 781: One More City I Couldn''t Save After Shiro says goodbye and leaves, I look to Margareth to talk to her this time, her conversations with Shiro left me intrigued about her identity. "Yes, my lady." (Margareth) "What are you..." (I) "We don''t have time to explain right now." (Margareth) She stole the storage item on my wrist, so she pulled out the white Crest Shiro had just given me. I could see something glowing under her clothes, so she opens the blouse a little letting a red crystal come out through the opening before closing the blouse, this crystal was trapped in chains of crystallized blood that Margareth wore as a necklace. The red crystal floats to the white Crest in Margareth''s hands then a faint red glow comes out of the crystal to envelop the Crest before returning to Margareth whose expression changed as she went to a window. The red crystal on her necklace floats in the window beside her as it flashes a red light. "But if he does that..." (Margareth) "If I could have more..." (Margareth) "Damn it." (Margareth) "< Blood Lure >" (Margareth) Margareth extends her hand after talking to herself, she uses a magic that attracts me and Freya who has just entered close to her, then wings of blood come out of Margareth''s back enveloping the three of us as the red crystal on her neck releases a powerful energy in that barrier made with wings of blood. I had tried to resist being pulled, but it was as if the blood inside my body was pulling me towards Margareth, I thought about attacking, but I stopped myself from doing it because I had some suspicions. "I''m sorry if I scared you guys with my actions, but we didn''t have time..." (Margareth) "What is...." (I)Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com "..." (Freya) BOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!! Suddenly a drying light took over everything in the surroundings and I felt the barrier around us shake as a deafening noise attacked my ears. I was a little disoriented by the combination of the intense light and the deafening noise, perhaps it was even worse for me due to my heightened senses. I was seeing a big white spot in my vision and my ears have a ringing that seems to be ringing inside my brain. I was disoriented and a little confused, but I improved quickly, when I could see I realized I was in a place without light, Freya was beside me with her big ears down and Margareth was drinking a small bottle of blood. I thought about using my Aura to explore the surroundings, but the barrier around us prevented my Aura from leaving. "What was this!?" (I) "One attack, Shiro decided not to take any risks, that coward." (Margareth) "Wait! Are you saying that the True Dragons of Light attacked us? But why?" (I) "I don''t think this is the best place to talk about it, let''s get out of here first." (Margareth) "It''s been a few minutes, he wouldn''t dare stay, he must think we''re dead." (Margareth) I look around noticing that the barrier around us has several cracks but it was still working, the space inside the barrier was the size of half a car so we were a little tight inside this barrier. The barrier started to move and I realized we were inside the earth, I don''t know how or when this happened but it must be a result of the previous attack. But as soon as we went out to see the Suns again, I watched myself with the scene in front of us, we were inside a huge hole, and we had to wait for the barrier to go up this big hole in the meantime. "Where are we? Did you teleport us?" (I) After entering, Freya used wind magic to remove the accumulated dust from the house, so Margareth and I sat in a room with a small dining table. "I want to know everything, I want to know why we were attacked? Why did the city have to be destroyed? Why was Shiro so cautious around you?" (I) "But the most important question now would be, who are you?" (I) "Last time we met, I was in disguise to meet you, but know that this is what I really look like." (Margareth) "As for my identity, you can be considered my uncle Vampire, that''s because, in addition to being your sister''s daughter, I''m also her only employee since the day I was turned." (Margareth) "My sister? What sister are you talking about." (I) "I serve Living Brutality, daughter of the Blood Goddess, Miss Natasha." (Margareth) "Natasha?" (I) "You said you work for Living Brutality? My Father used to tell me stories about her, a bloodthirsty Warrior who lives for combat." (Nix) "True Dragon Shiro was afraid of my master, he feared she was around." (Margareth) "He fought my master a long time ago, and because of that he is afraid of her." (Margareth) "But what made him the most nervous was handing this to you." (Margareth) "I noticed the look he gave you at that moment." (I) Margareth took the white coat of arms to show me, it was broken into three parts. "This scale does not belong to Luminus, the shape, thickness, and texture are different." (Margareth) "This scale belongs to Shiro, he can hide his Aura inside that Crest, but it still wasn''t enough to stop me from seeing the truth." (Margareth) "You''re lying in the last part." (Nix) "..." (I) "Alright, alright, it wasn''t me who found out about the scale, it was thanks to the crystal that I discovered it." (Margareth) "Nix!?" (I) "Everything she''s been saying is true." (Nix) "Why are you here?" (I) "Because your sister needs your help, but I see this is not the time to talk about it." (Margareth) "Yes, let''s solve one problem at a time." (I) I close my eyes and think, I use the parallel thinking skill to test multiple theories at once. Soon I understood what was happening, I was a nuisance to certain people who didn''t want Light Dragons who are not with the Church of Light to unite with other races. That''s the only thing that makes sense, Luminus could have killed me in the Ocean or captured me to take to the Church of Light, but he didn''t. This True Dragon Shiro seems to be against it, but I can''t tell if he acts alone or if he has more along with him. "(What do I do now!?)" (I) "First of all, we have one more thing to do." (I) "We''ll have to act fast if we want to do this, it must have attracted other people." (Nix) "Come on, we owe at least that much to the dead in this city." (I) Chapter 782: Titan Of Nature Chapter 782: Titan Of Nature I leave the house and run back to the crater site, less than 30 minutes have passed since a city was there.Vissit for updates But now all that exists here is this emptiness, there is nothing left, bodies, blood, houses, or traces that a city was once here. "I... I couldn''t do anything..." (I) I''m standing on the edge of the crater, and my emotions are burning so hard my chest hurts from the force of my heart, I think I should cry with sadness for the death of the people of this town, but all I can feel is anger, an rage so strong that if I had the power I would go after that Dragon to make him pay for all this in the most brutal way I can imagine. "I was very confident with my strength, plus I thought I was very smart, when did I become so arrogant?" (I) I looked at my hands, I know some of these people''s blood is on my hands, Shiro came to this city because of me, he launched this attack on the city because of me. He acted strangely since I saw him talking to Margareth, the way he spoke seemed to have double meanings and he was very wary of Margareth''s presence. "He gave a lot of signs, I noticed all this, but I didn''t do anything." (I) Deep down, there wasn''t much to do, I couldn''t escape an attack of this scale, and I couldn''t save the people of this city, but even so, the naive idea that I could have done something doesn''t leave my head. "I could have taken people to the dungeon by force, at least some people would have been saved." (I) It would be impossible, I had no way of knowing about it, and I wouldn''t be able to do anything since I didn''t know about this attack, I never imagined things would escalate so fast. "Dad, I know what you want to do, but it won''t help, we should get out of here." (Vanessa) "But we should at least..." (I) "This time is different from what happened in that city of the Makari Kingdom, there is nothing left of the bodies, and their souls will no longer be here." (Vanessa) "The element of light has the natural ability to purify, especially if you are a True Dragon using this element." (Vanessa) "RUN!!!!" (I) I extend tentacles of blood to everyone and spread my Dragon Wings while activating every possible speed boost as I fly away carrying them all away. I only stopped when I felt something break, so I look back, I was far away, but I had a lot of skills that helped me to see what was happening from a distance, I realized that an energy sphere had formed within the circular energy flow, then everything explodes in a hurricane of energy as the energy flow cracks and breaks. The energy hurricane did not destroy the surroundings, quite the contrary, I noticed that the trees and plants in the surroundings are more full of life, and the energy in the surroundings was completely harmonious. But the hurricane or at least what I thought was a hurricane of energy condenses in the form of a bird made of a storm, the bird turns in various directions as if looking for something, including the direction I am in, and when that happened I felt scared, so much afraid my body went rigid in place. Soon the bird that must have been miles long looked in the other direction and disappeared, I only knew that it had followed the direction it last looked because of the trail of clouds cut in a straight line that was left. "A Titan of Nature." (Margareth) "Was that a Nature Titan?" (Freya) "Yes, the destruction this time was very big, it caused a lot of damage, that Titan of Nature will chase Shiro until one of the two is destroyed." (Margareth) "Is he going to die?" (Nix) "Probably not, he must have gone to a place he deems safe, but even then he will be mortally wounded, these things cannot be destroyed until the natural energy their bodies are made of is completely spent." (Margareth) "We should get out of here, if the disappearance of the city doesn''t draw anyone''s attention, then the appearance of a Nature Titan will draw a lot of attention." (Nix) "I''ll take care of it." (I) "Nix devour." (I) I make Nix Devour everyone else by sending them into the Dungeon, then I drop to the ground and start running towards a place I still remember from what little information I can remember from the map. Chapter 783: Help My Sister? Chapter 783: Help My Sister? I kept running through the forest while always following the path with the least blood smell, after 1 day of running without rest I arrive in a city where I enter using Diana''s Adventurer identity is when I hide in its shadow. Once inside, I buy tickets for a trip to another Kingdom known to be religiously neutral and non-discriminating. Now he was in a rented house, lounging in a chair in front of the window, watching the people walking down the street. "You have to talk to her sometime." (Freya) Freya appears from somewhere holding a tray of coffee and a sandwich, I catch it thanking her as I listen to her advice. "I don''t know if I trust her." (I) "We both know you trust her or you wouldn''t have let her into the Dungeon." (Freya) "..." (I) "Nix already said she''s telling the truth about her identity, so why do you avoid talking to her?" (Freya) I look at my hand, it may look clean to others, but I know it''s stained by the blood of people and monsters I''ve killed, but now the blood of innocent people from two cities is included in that blood. "I don''t trust myself to make a decision about anything right now, I need time before I hear whatever she has to say." (I) "Are you still angry?" (Freya) "Yes, that''s why I''m afraid of exploding depending on what she says." (I) "You don''t look so angry to me." (Freya) "That''s because I''m trying to control myself, rationally I know it''s pointless to be angry with someone much stronger than me, but no one controls emotions." (I) "All I can do is put that anger in a box and leave it there until it''s useful, but that''s easier said than done." (I) "Master, that wasn''t your fault." (Freya) Sigh "Yes, it was, but it will be just one more thing I''ll have to accept." (I) "So what does she need help with?" (I) "To be reborn, he died in a battle against an Heretic God." (Margareth) "..." (I) I pull out a bottle of the strongest drink Anton makes, then drink half the bottle before turning back to look at Margareth. "Does she want me to use my Awakening power on her?" (I) "Yes, it will be reborn much faster without having to wait centuries or thousands of years." (Margareth) "She will become weaker, but this seems to make her more excited as she will be able to fight a lot harder." (Margareth) "..." (I) I drink even more from the bottle in my hand, then look back at Margareth. "Please say you''re kidding." (I) "It''s not a joke, it was actually your older sister''s idea." (Margareth) "Why would she tell them to come after me?" (I) "Silvia was a World Tree, I needed the crystallized energy an Elf Queen gave me for that and I still needed help for that, Silvia is no longer a World Tree now and she wasn''t even born." (I) "Loki who was an Heretic God or just the Soul of an Heretic God, I had to use a divinity fragment to help him be reborn, but in these two cases there were specific situations where I had what was needed for the job." (I) "But you want me to do this to a demigod?" (I) "No need to worry about energy or assistance if we go to a Temple of Blood in a Holy Land." (Margareth) "Both are children of the Goddess Selene, she will provide help, but for that, she will need to be in a suitable location." (Margareth) I start to think and it makes sense, I am the son of the Goddess Selene and I am doing something to help my sister, the most logical thing would be for the Goddess to help us, but for that, it must be in a place that has a strong influence from her. From what Margareth is saying a normal Temple of the Blood won''t do, but where do I find a place like this? I emptied the bottle in my hand, in these moments of stress, I realize that having resistance against poisons can be a little cruel to anyone who needs a drink. Chapter 784: Next Desert Destination Chapter 784: Next Desert Destination I was sad that the effect of the drink lasts so little, but I look back at Margareth who had a glass of wine in her hand. "Sorry, I forgot to offer you a drink." (I) "Alright, I understand this is not a good time for you." (Margareth) As it was just the two of us in the room, not to mention Nix who was in my shadow to make sure that Margareth would tell the truth, so this wine was taken by herself. "(How does anyone expect me to help a demigoddess?)" (I) "(Even though she''s my sister, it''s not like I''ve met her before or have any kind of feelings for her.)" (I) Sigh "(But this is also the first time I have blood brothers, at the orphanage everyone was my considerate brothers and I did everything to help them, so how can I not help my own sister?)" (I) "I will help her, but only if there is no risk to me." (I) "There will be no risk, probably..." (Margareth) "..." (I) ---------- That day I talked to the others about Margareth''s identity and her request, I also explained in more detail what I suppose happened in the Haffes Kingdom after hearing some things from Margareth. Most likely Shiro was against Luminus'' plans to re-establish relations with the other races, which is why he did all this. If it was Luminus'' idea then it wouldn''t make sense to leave all of us alive when we were in the Ocean, this also explains about the information Shiro passed on. I shared this information with Vanessa who has lived on this continent, and also with High Priestess Yara and Margareth, who I discovered already knew each other. Everyone says the information seems to be correct, probably this information was passed on to Shiro to deliver to me by Luminus himself. The Crest I have, which is now broken, was made with the scale of Shiro, he probably planned to track me down with it and do something to make me disappear later, but he rushed his plans because of Margareth, which led to that attack in the back Haffes Kingdom. It just makes me want to work alongside Luminus even more, just to annoy that bastard Shiro, also for protection, I can''t always protect myself from someone that strong, so looking for Luminus and telling him the truth would be ideal, he could keep an eye on Shiro and maybe even kill him for treason or something. "I know the Elves like to keep people in a town close to their village to communicate with outsiders." (I) "I know where to go, Kingdom Arima." (Margareth) "This Kingdom has its cities located in the Oasis of the desert, this is a Kingdom focused around Adventurers as all cities are surrounded by Dungeons and the desert itself has many monsters." (Margareth) "How did we get there?" (I) "The passage you got leads to a Realm that has a teleportation gate, we can use that to have a safe journey." (Yara) "I don''t have any money." (Margareth) "That won''t be a problem, we can go inside the Dungeon and Zenos just needs to summon Nix when he gets there." (Yara) "This might work." (Margareth) "What are you talking about?" (I) "Passing through a normal teleportation portal is difficult if you have space items like a low quality storage item, bags with increased space, and other things that interfere with space." (Margareth) "Those with an affinity for the space element have no problem using a teleportation gate, but Fairies and Spirits of the Space element may find the experience uncomfortable." (Yara) "But the worst part would be Nix, a Dungeon going through a teleportation gate could be dangerous for her, probably." (Yara) "I see, so you want me to go to the other side myself and summon her from the other side." (I) "Bone might work, but what about the Spirit and Fairy gates in your shadow?" (Vanessa) "Me and Layla can keep the gates closed." (Nix) "Would that be enough?" (I) "Should be enough." (Margareth) "Probably." (Yara) "..." (I) I didn''t like their uncertainty about my safety, but at least now I have a plan, my priority now is to get to a World Tree, this must be the best place for me to evolve without drawing attention. Chapter 785: Teleportation Gate Chapter 785: Teleportation Gate The next day I boarded a Floating Ship, everyone was in the Dungeon so no problem, I was wearing an eye patch and had changed the shape of my face so no one would recognize me while Orion was on my shoulder in his puppy form to help hide my Aura. "This one looks more like a yacht than a ship like the others." (I) "It''s quite big, it seems to have a lot of interior space full of corridors, it would be difficult to fight inside a place like that." (Orion) "We''re not going to fight, we''re getting the most expensive and safest transport on the market for a reason." (I) "What if we are attacked?" (Orion) "Let''s just enjoy the trip, if there are any monster attacks then security will take care of them." (I) --------- 2 weeks later. The trip was very interesting, when the Floating Ship arrived at its destination, in the capital of the Kingdom where the teleportation gate was, the Floating Ship was in pieces. There was a hole in the side of the Floating Ship, and lots of burn marks, claws, and dents, this thing was so wrecked from the outside I don''t even know how it kept flying. So it landed in a place with supports to keep it in place, but a part of the Floating Ship fell. Passengers were terrified and scared as they almost ran down from this Floating Ship, but I descended calmly with Orion in puppy form on my shoulder looking around. "I''m surprised we made it this far without casualties." (Orion) "Say that to those who lost limbs defending the Floating Ship." (I) "If the limbs were reattached or regrown, then they haven''t permanently lost their limbs." (Orion) "Even if she was weak, her mates weren''t." (I) "rica would have put a curse on them." (Layla) "I''m sure yes." (I) "Nas was a little amusing to see her fall to the ground unable to get up." (Layla) Today was the scheduled day for me to finally use the teleportation gate to go to the Arima Kingdom, I am returning from a restaurant where I ate something before leaving, there was a group of loud people partying at the table next to me, one of the women in the group, the weakest from what she could feel, got drunk and started to pester me, tried to kiss me more than once and wouldn''t let go. Since she wouldn''t stop and I didn''t want to use force against someone who wasn''t in her right mind, I ended up giving her what she wanted, I gave her a kiss and transferred my Aura to her through our tongues, I used the lust effects, charm and love in my Aura. That was enough to make her legs go soft and her friends unable to see anything I''d done other than kiss her, I learned to do this to get rid of Ibuki when I''m busy, with the others it doesn''t work. After I left there I went straight to the place where the teleportation gate is, it was a place with a dome around it heavily guarded, I focused my Aura on my eyes allowing to see many things like the building protections and barriers around. In order to get in, I also have to go through some verification, answer a few questions to confirm that I''m not a criminal, verify that I look real, and make sure I''m not using any crappy storage items without protection from spatial interference. I left all my storage items inside the dungeon and only had two of the best quality possible with me, Layla had already returned to the dungeon, she and Nix closed the gates on my shadow. Nix stayed inside the rented room where I stayed these two days, when I get to my destination I''ll summon her close to me. Also, the fake face I''m wearing was made by reshaping my bone structure and muscles, so any kind of check will just show that it''s my real face. After I went through all these checks, I was taken to the great hall where a door 10 meters high and 8 meters wide was, the door was in the middle of a complex magic circle and with thousands of Runes around the crystal frame of the giant door. "Those who are heading to the Arima Kingdom, stand in position where I am, we will open the gate in 10 minutes!" "Looks like my turn is near." (I)Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om Chapter 786: Kingdom Arima Chapter 786: Kingdom Arima When the teleport gate activated, I feel the space element being taken from magic crystals and the energy being taken from an armored box that is on the side of the teleport gate, this must be where they drop Global Coins to activate the teleport gate. "Activating the gate to the Arima Kingdom, Garrath City." During the warning the lines of the magic circles on the floor and the Runes on the gate frame light up, I can''t fully understand the concepts behind it, my knowledge is still very superficial. The inside of the door starts to ripple, and the space inside itself started to ripple, these ripples started slowly and gradually grew as some of the Runes in the gate frame lit up even more than the others, so the space itself inside the gate began to spin. Soon an image showed up inside the gate, an image of a room very similar to this one, but I realized that the people on the other side were different. "Everyone can pass!" The man in charge commanded everyone to go through the gate, everyone walked through the gate, I got a little anxious and tried not to think about the movie "The Fly" as I passed through the teleportation gate. The moment I touched the water-like surface of the open teleportation gate, I felt that it was impossible to go back, I could feel the space element around my hand pulling me, so I couldn''t resist and keep going through the gate letting the space element surround my body, Orion who was on my shoulder also clings to me. In what felt like the blink of an eye, it''s as if my body had crossed through a marine current that pulled me from one point to the other, but that was more of a space current. My senses only started working again when I got to the other side and the space element was no longer around me like a protective cover like before. "(The gate, the Runes, the magic circle, and the room are very similar, but the people are different.)" (I) "Those who arrived through the gate, please head towards the checkpoint before leaving." "..." (I) I look around to see that the people on this side were very different, almost all humans were brown or black skinned, and there were many races with reptilian resemblances like Lamias, Lizardmen, Snakeman, and Dragonewts. I follow the people who left the gate with me to the requested place, I enter a queue where in a few minutes I go through a new verification process that I went through with ease. I noticed that the clothes of the people working here were different, they were loose warm weather clothes. I hadn''t understood since it was a desert it was for people to protect their bodies more since the Suns should be crueler here, but when I got outside I understood. As soon as I got outside it was like being punched in the face by heat, it didn''t bother me too much as I''m resistant to heat or cold, but the difference in temperature was stark. "It''s too hot, the sun is too strong, do people in this world have skin diseases?" (I) "Welcome to Sleeping Knight, how many nights do you want to stay?" "I''m only staying 1 night for now." (I) "One night is 50 bronze coins." "You will want to take a bath or eat, a bath will be 1 silver coin and food 3 silver coins." "A little high value, isn''t it?" (I) "Your first time in the Infernal Waste, Lord?" "The water here comes from strong storms that happen suddenly, but at times it can take weeks for a storm to happen, so access to water can be a little expensive." "The value of the food is due to the importation of most of the food, but it is valid for 2 meals, a meal tonight and a meal tomorrow morning." "I just want the room, thanks." (I) I only give him 50 bronze coins, I noticed some people looking at me from across the street, I don''t want to draw attention if they are bandits. After taking the key which has a small plate on it, I look and I notice that on one side there is something written that I don''t understand, on the other side there are numbers written using the common language, the lizardmen explain to me that one number represents the floor and the other number represents my room. After I go upstairs, I go to my room, it has a bed, a table with two chairs, a chest and a window. "Simple but very clean and tidy." (I) "< Enable >" (I) I activate a magic item that creates a powerful barrier to prevent people my level or below from knowing what goes on inside the room. So I push the chairs and table back, close the window and start to draw a magic circle using my blood while I am crystallizing it, I also create some Spiritual Runes inside the ritual circle, and when everything is ready I place a magic crystal full of my power in the quite. "< Spirit Summon: Nix >" (I) The magic circle glows and some of my spirit energy, the ritual ignites and silver flames ignite consuming the magic crystal, then the ritual circle itself begins to be consumed as Nix in her Human form begins to rise from the ground. "Welcome back Nix." (I)Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com Chapter 787: Cap 785:A Letter Arrives From The Morror Continent Chapter 787: Cap 785:A Letter Arrives From The Morror Continent After I summoned Nix, she entered my shadow, so we went out to get some information, I asked the Lizardmen I found at the reception where the Adventurers Guild and the city gate were. When I left I started walking around the city, I was trying to think of a way to find the Dark Elves that are in this city, but I don''t know where to go. "I''m an idiot, how did I forget this?" (I) "(Nix, go get Margareth for me, please use the Spirits Gate)" (I) "(Yes.)" (Nix) I mentally ask Nix to go get Margareth, she must know how to find the Dark Elves. "(Is it over yet?)" (I) "(Yes, I already got rid of them.)" (Orion) "(Did you find anything?)" (I) "(I didn''t understand what they were talking about, but their murderous intent was unmistakable.)" (Orion)Vissit for updates "(Devoured the bodies?)" (I) "(Yes, I''m also coming back.)" (Orion) Soon a little puppy comes running up to me from an alley and jumps on my shoulder, I keep walking. "Where can I call her?" (I) I keep looking through several alleys, but there''s always something going on in these alleys, besides all these alleys smell of blood. After searching for a while, I happened upon an alley between two stores, I was following a prostitute who was trying to use some kind of magic or charm technique on me. I followed her down an empty alley thinking she was going to try to rob me, but contrary to what I expected, she started to take her clothes off, so I hit her in the back of the head and she fell unconscious. "That was unexpected." (Orion) "Yeah, I was sure she was going to try to rob me, I was going to kill her right now and use this alley, but it looks like she saved herself." (I) Soon Margareth, Freya, and Kira appear wearing masks, Margareth was wearing a red mask with nothing but the holes for the eyes while Kira wore her mask inherited from her mother and Freya wore a black metal mask with green details that resemble a tree. "I brought the three of them since Freya and Kira wanted to come too." (Nix) "Alright, we won''t be the only ones wearing masks anyway." (I) To my surprise I noticed some people wearing masks, some were Adventurers, by the way, they were dressed and others I don''t know, but I noticed that no one paid special attention to them just because they were wearing masks, so it doesn''t matter. "If we''re going to find Elves, I thought it might be useful." (Freya) "I understand, the Arima Kingdom cannot know about you." (Margareth) "Yeah, so I have to do some acting, but no one expects me to actually do anything to you, everyone knows people around you are scary, which brings us to your current friends." "Let me introduce myself, this is the Adventurer''s Guild Master of this town and link to the Bone Desert village, sir Randel." (Margareth) "Nice to meet you." (Randel) --------- Pov Uryma (Grey Elf King): I was holding a letter in my hands, I didn''t expect to receive a letter from the Morror Continent after so long. But the contents of that letter can be troublesome, it can awaken a good man''s dead heart or drive him mad. Sigh "Should I give this to him?" (I) "Of course he is, he''s already close to the truth anyway, they have a right to know." (Ury) "He is much stronger than he thinks, this letter will ease his pain, so stop fearing something that won''t happen again." (Ury) "A lot of people died at the time." (I) "People who deserved it, we know it was for the best, you''re just too indecisive." (Ury) "You''re right as always." (I) "Call Klaus here!" (I) "Yes, at your orders sir." --------- Some minutes later. A Gray Elf with golden eyes as sharp as an Assassin''s blade appears in front of me, his white hair cropped short, slender, well-trained physique, and scars that tell a cruel tale of the past. "Called me, King Uryma." (Klaus) "A letter has arrived for you from the Morror Continent, here." (I) "Morror Continent..." (Klaus) As soon as he hears the name of that continent his eyes become sad and unfocused, he must be thinking about her again, he takes the letter but doesn''t open it right away, I can see the hesitation on his face. I can imagine how much this letter can be a reason for hope and fear for him, but the decision to open this letter or not must come from him and only him. Chapter 788: I Am A Father? Chapter 788: I Am A Father? Pov Klaus (Moon Butcher): When I was called I thought it was to be called attention due to my investigation, I''m sure she knows what I''ve been doing. But I couldn''t help it when from my subordinates I said that I had seen someone like her in the Dark Continent. I finally managed to get information about a Gray Elf with the same characteristics as her, I won''t give up, I can''t give up. When I was getting ready to go get more information from someone from the Church of Light who seems to be looking for someone with her characteristics, the King called me. But I never expected it to be because of a letter, let alone a letter from that continent, this letter has the seal of her village and is addressed to me. "(It could be a letter from her, maybe someone found her or maybe something happened.)" (I) My mind kept producing infinite ideas of what would be in that letter, but I had an idea that I couldn''t bear to think about, an idea that filled me with fear. "Whether or not you want to open this letter is your decision, but just remember not to regret your decision." (Ury) I look at the World Tree Spirit standing in front of me, she runs her hand over my head the same way she did when I was a kid, nowadays only she would dare to treat me like that. "Joan..." (I) I close my eyes, the image of that beautiful woman eternally etched in my heart, her courage, daring, and sense of duty unmatched. Her beautiful straight black hair, her eyes like purple jewels that sparkled in the starlight, and her smile that lit up the darkest of nights. I open my eyes and look at the envelope in my open hand, as it was addressed to both me and King Uryma, I''m sure he''s already read it. I take the letter and open it to read, every word of the letter hurts my heart in such a way that no torture I have ever endured has ever been able to compare. I stopped halfway through the letter, I couldn''t read anymore, and my vision was blurry from tears that wouldn''t stop. "Joana... it''s my fault... if I were stronger..." (I)Fo?llo?w new stories at novelhall.com The letter describes that she had lost an arm and a leg in combat and that she spent her entire life in a poor village until she died of illness there. "She''s gone... if she''s gone forever..." (I) "You still haven''t read the second page of the letter my son." (Uryma) "..." (I) "Have you changed your appearance?" (Randel) I take off my eye patch and start to reshape my face, the flesh and muscles are a bearable pain but moving the bones in such a way that it should have been impossible was a pain I never get used to, my luck the changes were small in size my face. Sigh "How did you know?" (I) "He is well?" (Kira) "I''m fine, thanks for worrying." (I) "Interesting disguise technique, unlike what Gray Elves do, reshaping the muscles is one thing, but such subtle changes in the bones..." (Randel) "Don''t get lost in your analyses." (Margareth) "Yes, yes, of course, sorry about that, but I like analyzing skills, I hope I didn''t make a bad impression." (Randel) "Fine, I don''t mind." (I) The Guild Master looks at me again, but this time it looks like he''s been checking out my appearance. "The appearance matches the information, so I assume the other Elf in the maid dress must be Miss Freya." (Randel) "You seem to know a lot about me." (I) "I have been ordered to escort you two to my village if you wish." (Randel) "Whose orders are these?" (I) "No, I was just told to be courteous and treat you with respect." (Randel) "I was also informed about your appearance, so I was confused earlier." (Randel) "They said you were the son of the Goddess Selene, so it made sense to be with Margareth." (Randel) "That makes things easier, that''s exactly what I would ask for, we want to go to your village." (Margareth) "Alright, none of you need to go through verification, I''ll take you all tomorrow before the Suns rise over the horizon." (Randel) "Thank you, Randel." (Margareth) "Just go away, being in the room too long can make others suspicious, so I''ll yell at you as you leave, I apologize in advance." (Randel) Chapter 789: Separate Space Chapter 789: Separate Space We left amid screams of fury from the Guildmaster and glares from people clearly more powerful than I can handle. I know the Adventurer''s Guild master is faking this overflowing anger, but I would like to know why these Adventurers hate Margareth so much. I don''t feel anyone following us, but I''m sure someone would try to follow us in the way that Margareth hated in the Adventurer''s Guild. "< Shadow Illusion >" (I) "< Path of Shadows >" (I) Thinking about it, I enter an alley and fall into the first shadow in the alley pulling the girls with me at the same time as 4 images appear from the shadows, then run further into the alley before breaking apart. At that moment I appeared three streets earlier in another alley where a robbery was happening, I ignored it and continued walking in another direction, this time alone while the others were within my shadow. After a few minutes, I rent a room elsewhere with a different face, as soon as I arrive I put the barrier back on before the girls step out of my shadow. "You thought about it, they were following us, but how did that feel?" (Margareth)Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om "I didn''t feel it, I just thought it was something that was very likely to happen." (I) "They must have quickly realized their mistake, but it bought us a very good few seconds." (Margareth) This time he was in a slightly better inn than the other, the room was still as simple as the previous one, but this room was slightly larger. I throw myself on the bed, then start asking questions. "Why do they hate you so much, Margaret?" (I) "The Guild Master seemed friendly to you when we were alone in his office." (Freya) "Besides, why did the Guild Master have to pretend to hate you?" (Kira) After getting some fruit for everyone to eat, I get back to the matter at hand. "How are we going to get to the Elves'' village if the place is so dangerous?" (I) "The Bone Desert valley is a part of the Infernal Desert, there are many Dungeons there, so there are no villages or cities near there, the maps of that area change often due to the battle of the powerful monsters that made their territories there." (Margareth) "How are we going to get through that place?" (Kira) "We will cross using the Sea Separated Space in the Desert." (Margareth) "If I''m not mistaken, a Separate Space is a Space pocket, is there one here in this desert?" (I) "Yes, this is a large Separate Space, almost the size of the entire Infernal Desert, it has 5 entrances, one of which is close by, the blue stones all over the city come from there." (Margareth) "Are we by any chance going to use this Separate Space to travel to the village of the Elves?" (I) "Yes, the truth is that the true number of entrances is 6, but this 6 entrance is controlled by the Elves, so no one can use it without their permission." (Margareth) "There are a lot of monsters in there, but it will be safer than the alternative." (Margareth) --------- The next day I wake up at dawn, and everyone has entered my shadow, I take a fruit left over from yesterday and leave the inn towards where Margareth said was the place where the master of the Adventurer''s Guild would be waiting for us. Soon I arrive on an abandoned street with garbage scattered everywhere, everyone has blank eyes. I follow Margareth''s instructions until I reach a half-broken dry fountain, the Guildmaster was right there waiting for us to arrive. "Come on, we don''t have much time before morning comes." (Randel) Saying that he points to the broken fountain releasing a part of his Aura from his finger, soon the bottom of the bridge falls forming stairs down that the Guild Master passes down with me right behind. Chapter 790: Sharks!? Chapter 790: Sharks!? When we came out of the small tunnel, we were in a big tunnel, this place was big enough for a train to pass through here. "Be careful, this tunnel was dug by a Desert Worm." (Randel) "I''m surprised they go near this town, with so many water rocks around here." (Margareth) "This tunnel was dug before the city existed, it is abandoned now, but other monsters try to make these places into nests, criminals also use these tunnels." (Randel) "Where are we going?" (Kira) "We are towards the underground river and from there we go to the Oasis of da Cachoeira." (Randel) "Should take 4 days one-way travel." (Margareth) "Does that mean it''s 4 days there and 4 days back, can you stay away from the Guild for that long?" (I) "Yes, I told you I''m going on vacation so I don''t have to deal with the people from the Temple of Blood." (Randel) "Would they accept something so irresponsible on your part, running away from a situation you were supposed to resolve?" (I) "I don''t care what they think, I''m not a government official and I don''t need to follow their orders, there''s also no mission against Margareth, so in the eyes of the Adventurer''s Guild, everything is normal and they were the ones who agreed with my vacation." (Randel) "I seewhat?" (I) "Strange, this thing wasn''t supposed to be here." (Randel) "..." (I) As we walked through the tunnel talking, suddenly the Guild Master disappeared, when I realized, he was already right in front of me with his arm outstretched to hold something behind me. I feel something drip onto my shoulder, so I look up to see some kind of humanoid Cockroach with four bladed arms instead of hands or paws. The Guildmaster crushed this Cockroach''s head by clenching his fist. "Sand ambushers, these pests are very common throughout the desert, they feed on blood and can go weeks without food before they begin to weaken." (Randel) "Disgusting thing." (Margareth) "How did we not notice him before?" (Freya) "These things have very high defense and speed, their blades are also very sharp." (Randel) "We''re already arriving, it''s on the other side of town." (Randel) We walk into town and I notice that the air is cooler here, plus it''s not so hot, we cross town to a small mountain on the other side of town, the mountain had a steeper side where there was a cave at the top of the where the water fell into a large lake, the water from that lake that crosses the city was left until it fell on that cliff to reach the underground tunnels. "Let''s go to the top, the passage to the Separate Space is in that cave." (Randel) We walked through the night until we reached the less steep side of the mountain where we climbed a stone path. Upstairs we enter another cave that connects with the cave that the Guild master pointed out, after passing through the cave we see people from the Mages Guild and the Adventurers Guild protecting what looks like a large crack in space where an amount of nonsense of water comes out. The Guildmaster goes with all of us to where the Adventurer''s Guild officers are, I try to listen to their concert. "." (Randel) "." "." "." (Randel) "Come on, we''re going in." (Randel) I didn''t understand what they were saying, but I realized that it was the same language as in the previous city, and besides, the people of the Adventurer''s Guild were very respectful of the Guildmaster. "< >" We get closer to him, and he climbs into a small boat where someone from the Guild is sitting on land, we climb into the boat and it starts to float at the command of the Guild person. A barrier forms around the small floating boat before forcing its way through the water to enter through the crack in space. On the other side I realize that we are underwater, the barrier around the small boat protects us from the water as it floats to the surface. After reaching the surface we are dropped off on a nearby beach before the boat heads back the way it came. "It will be 3 weeks of travel until we arrive, let''s go." (Randel) After the Guild Master finished speaking, I noticed several jets of water coming towards us, Randel waves his hand that was full of Ki making these jets of water spread just with the pressure of the blow. I look at what made that attack, but what I saw surprised me. "Sharks!?" (I) Chapter 791: Arriving At The Dark Elf Village Chapter 791: Arriving At The Dark Elf Village It''s been a week since we''ve been in this Separate Space, this place is almost completely water with many islands scattered around. I found out that all the monsters here are some kind of Shark Variant. Those who attacked us as soon as we arrived at this place were some kind of small horned sharks, their attacks are those jets of water. There is also a monster that looks like a whale with a shark''s head, but instead of staying in the water, this monstrosity is flying through the sky, luckily this thing only attacks large numbers to eat, so it ignored us. There was also a Tornado Shark, this wasn''t a tornado full of Sharks like in that movie I remember, it was a tornado shaped like a Shark. The Adventurer''s Guild Master said that it was a wind and water type of Elemental monster. This Cursed One was shown to be immortal, any damage we did to it healed almost instantly, whenever it was low on energy it sucked in more of the air or water it had in the whole damn place. In the end, the most we could do was lose this monster and run away from it, there were also Shark-headed Wolves and Shark people on the islands. This whole place was full of some kind of Sharks, they are all very aggressive, Randel was leading us down a path where we were supposed to encounter fewer monsters, but for some reason, the opposite is happening. At least I drank a lot of blood from various types of Sharks, in addition to those I mentioned before there were dozens of other types, there was even a Shadow Shark that tries to attack us during the nights we try to camp. It was interesting to see so many variations of the same type of monster, I felt the same way inside the Great Serpent Dungeon in the Morror Continent. Unfortunately, I didn''t gain any new skills, but seeing these monsters I understood why, I already have skills to move in water or air, I have affinity with these elements, I have poison attacks and many other skills. We all walked to the mountain, and when we got closer something similar to roots made of blue stone came out of the ground forming the arch of what I imagine to be a portal. Soon the inner part of the arcade is filled with water that undulates weakly, an image as if it were a reflection is shown in the arcade, showing a cloudy sky in the middle of a rain. Randel goes through the portal without hesitation and we do the same, so we come out wet from what was a lake surrounded by roots and blue stones. "Welcome to Bone Desert Village." (Randel) ---------- We were well received by the Dark Elves, their village was like an oasis full of lakes and tropical plants, and their houses were not built inside trees like the other villages I went to before. The houses and other constructions in this village were made underground in burrows while a tropical paradise was above their houses, everything was beautiful, and there were also many monsters all over the village. I discovered that on this continent there are 3 villages of Elves, each village has one of the three variant races of Elves, and in this village are the Dark Elves. They received us well, it seems that they already know something about me, one of the Elves who works directly for the Elf King of this village, said that he could leave my Dungeon open in this village without any problems, so I did that. It looks like the Dark Elf King is recovering from a skirmish that took place elsewhere in the Bone Waste, but I don''t know much about that. It was said that the King woke up a few days before I arrived, but had some things to do after waking up while still trying to recover, he will receive me in 3 days when he is fully recovered. Meanwhile, I was given full access to the village, the one who was most excited was Sophia who left the Dungeon to train with the Dark Elves of that village, plus I was taken by rica and Ibuki who I have been leaving aside with so much going on. I took advantage of these 3 days to rest and spend time with my family. Chapter 792: The Central Continent Is On The Move Chapter 792: The Central Continent Is On The Move Pov Heston (Dark Elf King): I was reading last month''s reports while I was unconscious, I can''t believe they started to move and at the worst possible time. "You should rest longer, even my power has limits to heal wounds caused by a Nature Titan." (Hest) "I can''t spend any more time resting, so much has happened in the last few years." (I) "That criminal group has managed to evade the Gray Elves and they continue to cause wars between nations that should be allies." (I) "The worst thing is the weapons they sell in these wars, this is increasing and destabilizing natural energy across the continent." (I) "It''s more than clear what they want." (Hest) "Yes, that''s why we can''t let them get it." (I) "Furthermore, the Church of Light has been making bolder and bolder moves, an entire city has disappeared, and we still have the conflict with the Evil Gods." (I) "That''s why you need to recover faster, pushing yourself that way doesn''t help at all." (Hest) Sigh "If that damn Dragon of Light hadn''t lured that thing over here." (I) "Did we find out who it was?" (I) "No, he was very quick to escape while you were fighting, he tried to use an illusion, which didn''t work, so we know he was a Dragon of Light." (Hest) He clearly came here knowing that only someone like me would be able to stop a Titan of Nature, these things don''t need rest, they have infinite regeneration and absorb the energy of nature itself, only someone connected to nature like me would be able to stop a Titan of Nature. "I''m sure it wasn''t the Church of Light, they don''t do anything with their own hands that would cause this, we can assume this is a reaction to the missing city in the Haffes Kingdom, the dates give us a plausible timeline." (I) "The only True Dragons of Light who are not with the Church of Light would be the Luminus Group." (I) Luminus claims to be the leader of the Dragons of Light, but he still shows uncertainty on the path to take, not taking a side in what is to come is the same as not being trusted when that apparent peace falls. ---------- It was late afternoon when I finished reading the last of the reports, this one was about someone who was waiting. "He is here." (I) "Didn''t expect that, thought I''d go to the Gray Elves first." (I) "You need to rest before you meet him." (Hest) "Yes, but I also need to try to find Luminus, I need to find out who the bastard was that brought that Titan of Nature here." (I) "They won''t say anything without knowing our motives." (I) "(Where are you my daughter?)" (I) ---------- Pov Zenos: I''ve already been in the Dark Elves'' village for two days, these two days the pain in my whole body has increased a lot, at first I thought it was because of the fatigue of the constant battles inside the Separate Space, but I soon realized the real reason. The temporary growth barrier I put on myself is cracking, I''ve been months with this thing preventing my evolution, and I imagine that after killing so many monsters inside the Separate Space, the accumulation of EXP has been too great to continue to maintain the Growth Barrier Growth. "Are you okay, master?" (Ibuki) "I am, I just felt a little uncomfortable, don''t mind." (I) Today I was doing some Martial Arts exercises together with Ibuki, so we have a small duel without using our energies or skills, just to practice our unarmed combat. After practicing alongside Ibuki for a few hours, I went to spend some time with Kira, she had been asking some questions about the Gray Elves in the other village, it seems she wanted to know if their culture was the same as the other continents. "It seems that Night Warriors exist on every continent." (Kira) "Do you want to meet them?" (I) "Yes, I want to learn more from them, I''m sure I can learn new ways to fight along with Byakko with them." (Kira) "Sophia is learning a lot here these two days." (Kira) "That''s because there are others in this village that have a Gryphon as a Familiar." (I) "She seemed really excited about it." (I) "Here, prove it." (I) "Delicious." (Kira) I was walking around the village with Kira, and we were tasting some local fruits, Kira, like most people, spends a lot of time inside the Dungeon training, but she is afraid of acquiring bad habits for not diversifying her training more. As we''re walking she''s having you stay in the Dark Elf dry spot, and is trying to hide from anyone who looks her way, but those things aren''t going too well. "Many here are stronger than I am, I can''t hide from their senses." (Kira) "So don''t hide, try to blend in with others in your surroundings, use them as camouflage for your presence." (I) "(I saw this in an anime in my old world, but I still couldn''t do it.)" (I) "My Aura control is not very good, I focused a lot on hiding my Aura during training." (Kira) Chapter 793: Finding Dark Elf King Heston Chapter 793: Finding Dark Elf King Heston After waiting a few days I was informed that I will be able to meet with the leader of this village tomorrow morning. Now it was night and I was on top of a tree looking at the starry sky with Margareth standing beside me. "Are you sure about this?" (I) "Holy war is inevitable, everyone knows that, but they don''t know why." (Margareth) "But you know?" (I) "Yes, but it''s no use telling you, not with your current strength, you have no place in the great events to come." (Margareth) "Your master could help, why doesn''t she take care of herself to be at full strength when needed?" (I) "My master doesn''t know how to act in a group, which will be necessary, she is strong but too impulsive for this conflict, she knows that too." (Margareth) Sigh "Then why do I have to get involved?" (I) "You and my mistress will get involved willy-nilly due to the Goddess Selene, plus you have Saints and Champions around you, so give it up." (Margareth) I already imagined that something like this could happen, but I didn''t know it would happen so soon, the way Margareth talks makes it sound like it could happen in the next few years, it worries me, I and the others are very weak right now, the people of this continent have higher levels of power. "(Gotta get stronger.)" (I) ----------- The next morning, Diana, Vanessa, Freya, and my family members go to meet the Elf King of this village, I heard about his fight against a Titan of Nature, the Dark Elves are warriors by nature and like to talk about their conquests in combat. One thing I''ve noticed since coming here is that I don''t see any World Trees, that''s not the kind of thing you can easily hide. We followed a Dark Elf with blonde hair, her skin was a little lighter than the other Dark Elves, but her muscles were bigger than anyone else I''ve seen in this village, her name is Xannyr. "I meant, this gentle lady beside me is the spirit of the World Tree." (I) "I''m Zenos, these are Diana, Vanessa, and Freya." (I) "The others are my Familiars Ragnar, Nix, Layla, Orion, Sakura, and Hinata." (I) And I introduce myself to the others as the woman who led us grows wings on her back and flies away through the open wall behind the garden of trees. "I heard that Margareth, the servant of the Living Brutality was with you." (King Heston) "She said she didn''t want to come." (I) "But I do." (Hest) snap The woman snaps her fingers and Margareth appears in a bikini and full of water, she was in a swimming position when she fell face down on the ground. "That wasn''t funny." (Margareth) "It was a little." (Hest) "Why did you bring me? I was swimming in a competition, and I was going to win..." (Margareth) "You were last, the Mermaid Warrior was first followed by the great Lamia." (Hest) "True, I was never going to win that, now I don''t need to call the bet I made anymore." (Margareth) "I think we can all sit down for a chat now, follow me." (King Heston) A red mist envelops Margareth for a few seconds before she appears in her usual Warrior Maid outfit. We all walked together behind Dark Elf King Heston as we crossed the tree garden to the other side where we found a wooden table at the foot of the World Tree. Chapter 794: Asking For Help Chapter 794: Asking For Help We all sat at the table while Fairies brought fruit to place on the table before walking away laughing. "You are already famous Holy Blood Son." (King Heston) "Please, no titles or formality, just call me Zenos." (I) "It would be better to do this for everyone if possible." (Vanessa) "Hahahaha... this is perfect for me, so call me Heston." (King Heston) "He also never liked formalities, whenever he has to meet people of high status he talks nonsense." (Hest) "It''s not my fault that people don''t like honesty." (King Heston) "You crushed a King''s head in a diplomatic meeting requested by the Gray Elves." (Hest) "Nobody had warned me about the experiments done on Elves that were done in that place, when he started talking proudly about it..." (King Heston) "Let''s just say I was very kind in crushing just his head." (King Heston) "He reminds me of you, Zenos." (Diana) "The conversation always goes astray..." (Sakura) "Old people like to reminisce about the past." (Margareth) "Let''s get back to the point, as I was saying, you became famous." (King Heston) "I think I can guess a few things." (I) "You saved one of my sisters, plus you brought back a race that didn''t exist in this world millions of years ago." (Hest) "Yes, just being around an Ancient Elf reminds me of the feel of that big tree." (King Heston) "Your name has become famous too, Freya." (King Heston) "All I do is follow my master''s wishes." (Freya) "Don''t lie, I always agree with the things you want to do." (I) It seems that what we have been doing has been communicated to everyone, I imagine this information is being shared by the World Trees so that their villages are ready for us to receive. "I have a favor to ask." (I) "I would like to evolve here, near the World Tree." (I) King Heston and the spirit of the World Tree looked at me, their gaze seemed able to see right through me, I felt completely naked in front of their eyes. "So you''re using the technique to create a temporary growth barrier?" (King Heston) "I understand." (Hest) "Your body and Soul are still not fully synchronized, something all Outsiders go through to a greater or lesser degree upon rebirth." (Hest) "This normally fixes itself when evolving, but your case was a little different, but why?" (Hest) The World Tree Spirit eyed me doubtfully as if I was some kind of puzzle she wanted to know the answer to. "I imagine there is some reason behind this request, is this something that would put someone in this village at risk?" (King Heston) "No, that''s just going to cause some commotion if the worst happens." (Vanessa) "You should already know about the Dungeon I have, I will evolve inside the Dungeon, but each evolution of mine causes an explosion of my Aura and power in the surroundings." (I) "So far this has been restricted by the Dungeon, but I''m afraid this time will be different." (I) "Your power will certainly draw attention." (Nix) "The power of chaos... I see." (Hest) "Anything to worry about?" (King Heston) "No, if such a thing really happened, I would be able to suppress such commotion so that no one would notice." (Hest) "Exactly what I expected, thanks." (I) "If Hest accepted, then this matter is settled." (King Heston) --------- After that we spent a few hours talking about how to organize the transformation of the Old Elves, it was decided that Freya would only help the Dark Elf King and he would take care of the others with enough time. I was also asked to wait a few more days for my evolution since a guest was arriving, they don''t know if he would be an enemy and they want to discuss the matter regarding the wounds of the Dark Elf King. But the one who was coming was someone I also wanted to meet if possible. Chapter 795: Luminus Fury Chapter 795: Luminus'' Fury Pov Luminus (Dragon Emperor of Light): "THAT DAMN!!!!!" (I) "LUMINUS STOP!!!" (Lux) "..." (I) Sigh I was in my Dragon form almost releasing my rage in an indiscriminate attack on the surroundings, but luckily my moment of rage only lasted 1 second before being stopped by an old friend. Causing such massive destruction with all my might would only make a situation worse than it was already bad. "I know you''re furious, but you knew it wouldn''t be easy taking on the role of a ruler." (Lux) "Do you know how much I fought all this time? How many times I stood between life and death fighting even Abyssal Creatures? How many times did they distrust me simply because of my race!?" (I) "I know..." (Lux) "I endured all this while fighting alone until I reached my current level of strength while everyone said I couldn''t, halfway through I still had to protect myself from True Dragons from my own tribe!" (I) "All we''ve done for the last few thousand years is try to rebuild our reputation and position!" (I) "You''ve done far more than anyone thought possible." (Lux) "Then why!? Why was I betrayed when I thought I was finally stepping forward!?" (I)Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om "No one could expect Shiro to do such a thing." (Lux) "He was always the most fervent in keeping the Dragons of Light safe." (Lux) But when he talks about the Dragon of Light that caused the fight, his gaze turns dangerous, I felt a shiver of fear run through my body. But the description of the Titan of Nature and the mention of chasing a Light Element Dragon reminds me of something. I look at Margareth, Nix, and Freya who were present that day, Margareth seemed calm as always, but Nix and Freya had serious expressions on their faces, they clearly thought the same as me, after all the timeline of what happened in Haffes to the battle of the Dark Elf King Heston versus the Titan of Nature makes sense. "I can tell you more about this Light Element Dragon." (I) "What do you know? How do you know?" (King Heston) "I was in the missing city of the Haffes Kingdom, and I saw this Titan of Nature form, what I saw that day matches your description." (I) "Were you in that town?" (Hest) "Yes, we can say that part of the blame for that city disappearing is mine." (I) "It wasn''t your fault, you were a target..." (Freya) "Exactly because I was a target, that''s why that happened..." (I) "The culprit is who the Titan of Nature decided to pursue, so tell me more about that Dragon of Light." (King Heston) "He is a Dragon King of Light, a True Dragon who was there because of me, his name is Shiro." (I) "Do you mind telling me about your relationship with him?" (Hest) "It all started with a barbecue on the ocean..." (I) After that I told him about how I met Luminus, about the proposal he made to me, then I told him about hiding in the Haffes Kingdom where I was found by Margareth and Shiro. I told him about Shiro''s sudden attack and about what we talked about before that, even he realized the strangeness of such an action and spoke about the meeting he will have with Luminus in a few days, he asked me to be there to resolve everything perfectly. Chapter 796: Childrens Book? Chapter 796: Children''s Book? After we leave this village''s World Tree Temple, I take a walk to find a suitable place to open the Dungeon. I take the opportunity to go into the Dungeon library and get some books to read, no magic books or anything like that, I didn''t want to do research, I just got storybooks for entertainment. I go to my mansion inside the Dungeon, a place where I spend very little time lately, even though it''s my home. I pick up the only children''s book I can find in the library, at least it''s the only one that looks like a children''s book being so colorful and full of drawings depicting the events of the book''s story. I sit on my bedroom porch to read that book first. ---------- The 7 Sacrifices A long, long time ago there was a Prince who was born in a certain Kingdom. The Principle was wise, loving, kind, and just. Everyone in the Kingdom admired and loved the Prince as he grew up, he always tried his best for everyone, always trying to do everything to live up to everyone''s expectations of him. As time passed, the Prince grew to become the next King, having already accumulated many achievements that brought prosperity to all of the Kingdom. The young King married a noblewoman from another Kingdom and together they had a beautiful couple of children, the King loved his wife and children very much. The Young King displayed magnificent talent in leading his people, his leadership becoming a legend that reached across the world. But no one knew that the young King was born with a unique skill, a skill called [ Will ] that overcame all obstacles using only his willpower. One day an injured Dragon came to his doorstep falling near his capital, the King went to the Dragon to save him and as a reward, the Dragon told the King of a powerful enemy approaching. When the King heard about the enemy, he took a sword and led his army to face the enemy forces, through the Dragon, he knew that this enemy was causing death and destruction wherever he went. As the years passed, the young man had become an experienced King who not only led his army but who unified the entire continent as a single army to fight the powerful enemy, an endless army of beings who sought only destruction. King who was once kind was gripped by fear, he was afraid because the army of creatures seemed to have no end while his own army grew in strength but decreased in numbers after each battle. One day a Spirit of the Moon told the King a terrible truth to the King, that truth scared the King even more, but also gave the motivation for him to win. In that battle, the enemies had taken control over many innocent people using some Evil method while the innocent people gradually turned into hideous monsters. On that day the King made his first sacrifice, he abandoned his pure heart as he took the lead in a massacre against the people being controlled, during the battle the King wept, but his power increased far beyond what it had ever been. After that battle, the King realized, his skill [ Will ] had absorbed his feelings of suffering and pain with his strong will that sacrificed his pure heart to protect the people of the continent where he reigned. After such a battle the King entered a state of fear that consumed him as he imagined his precious kingdom being destroyed from the inside out by his people and his family turning into monsters like those he killed. Soon a devastating attack fell on his continent, and the King rushed to the front of the battle, but the fear of what would happen to his family in his absence distracted the King during the battle and he was seriously injured. Days later the King wakes up to find that in his sleep what he feared most had happened, his capital was under attack and he himself was too wounded to fight. It was then that his unique Skill once again surpassed the limits of the possible using his unrivaled will to save his family to awaken the will lingering in the blood of hundreds of millions of fallen warriors in the battle where he was wounded. I, on the other hand, am in formal wear, a black suit with a red trench coat with purple accents and doctorates, and my hair was also tied back in a ponytail. I was wearing the prettiest, most formal outfit I had thinking the situation called for such a thing, but seeing Elf King Heston makes me realize my errors in judgment. As if it wasn''t enough that the ruler of this place was already like this, soon another person with the head of a Dragon appears, he was being followed by a beautiful woman. "I haven''t been punched yet, so I guess we can talk, right?" (Luminus) "I''m not in the mood for jokes." (King Heston) "I think his concerns are very real and plausible." (Hest) "..." (I) "I said no need to worry, let''s sit down." "If I may..." (Luminus) Luminus was wearing light combat clothes, he had white scales and piercing golden eyes, the woman next to him was beautiful, white skin and golden hair the same as her eyes. The two sit at the table like me, Luminus looks at me with relief, I''m surprised that I can understand the expressions of a Dragon. "I think we can start the meeting..." (King Heston) "Before starting the meeting, let''s start with the introductions." (Hest) "I''m Hest and the one next to me is Heston, I think everyone in the world knows who we are." (Hest) "I am Vanessa, High Priestess of the Temple of Blood." (Vanessa) "I am Diana, Champion of the Fenrir Wolf God." (Diana) "I am Freya, servant of lord Zenos." (Freya) "I am..." (Layla) "You do not say anything." (I) "These are my Familiars starting with Layla, Nix, Sakura, Orion, Ragnar, and Hinata." (I) "I am Zenos." (I) "I am Luminus, Emperor of the true Dragons of Light of the neutral faction." (Luminus) "I am Lux, a Fairy Queen of Light and Lux''s old friend." (Lux) "Now that we''ve all started talking, can we try to reach an agreement to keep this meeting restricted to words only, without the need for fights if possible?" (Lux) "I agree, we don''t need bloody fighting in this place, but better watch out what is said here." (Hest) It seems that this meeting began in a seemingly good mood with everyone calm and speaking normally, but the tension was almost palpable with the will to fight burning in Dark Elf King Heston''s eyes. "(I hope this meeting goes well.)" (I) Chapter 797: Diplomatic Meeting Chapter 797: Diplomatic Meeting I was in a meeting together with the Dragon Emperor of Light Luminus, who is said to lead a part of the Dragons of Light to move away from the Church of Light, and Dark Elf King Heston, who leads this village and protects the World Tree. Luminus arrived together with a Fairy of Light, he looked anxious as he looked at the Dark Elf King, he was acting very different from the way full of confidence and arrogance during the barbecue on my ship. Luminus strangely also showed relief when he saw me, I don''t know what goes through his head, but I''m certain now that everything that happened in the Haffes Kingdom was not his fault.Vissit for updates "I think I already explained in the message why I called you to this meeting." (King Heston) "I know you think it''s my fault and you''re not completely wrong." (Luminus) "I wanted to call you here at the beginning to find out who that bastard was who dared to bring a Titan of Nature here." (King Heston) The Elf King looked calm in appearance, but the killing intent pouring out of his body caused my body to start shaking as it left Luminus and his Fairy friend in position to respond to any attacks. "We are not here to fight." (Hest) "I know." (King Heston) "This young Vampire Patriarch told me what happened, he told me the identity of that bold Dragon and a few other things." (King Heston) "I already know the answers to those things." (Luminus) "So you know the name of this Dragon?" (King Heston) "It was my second in command, someone I believed to be trustworthy, his name is Shiro." (Luminus) The Dark Elf King looks at Luminus and then at me before nodding as if confirming something. "The same name the boy gave me, I wasn''t suspecting the information, but hearing the same information from two different sides confirms the culprit." (King Heston) "He may have been the cause of this situation, but that doesn''t change his guilt." (King Heston) "But as I investigated those close to him who didn''t leave, I found that he doesn''t believe me, he doesn''t think I''m capable of protecting our people." (Luminus) "It seems he has been talking about how the Church of Light would be able to protect our people with other Dragons, Fairies, and Spirits of the light element, trying to take others away with him." (Lux) "I was so focused on our relationship with other races and nations that I forgot to look inward, to look at those who were following me." (Luminus) "These are your problems, take care of them yourself." (King Heston) "What I want is that Dragon, I want his location." (King Heston) "I don''t know where exactly he is." (Luminus) ----------- The next few hours were a discussion of compensation, concessions, and liability. I didn''t understand why I was there, I was sitting between them, but I had no place to speak, my presence in the room was as important as the chairs we were sitting on. The others also kept quiet, at least listening and seeing everything from the outside I had the time and impartiality to understand what was happening. King Heston was pitting himself against Luminus as he pointed out every mistake he made, he was acting with a bit of false hostility, it was easy to see that his real intentions were to teach Luminus the right way to rule. But instead of telling him what he needed to do, he was showing the flaws, mistakes, and problems left behind by Luminus, he wanted Luminus to learn on his own from what I can tell. In the end, it was decided that the compensation paid by Luminus would be a large pile the size of a mountain of True Dragon materials. Other than that, nothing else was discussed, but it was clear that the Fairy Queen of the light element noticed King Heston''s true intentions, I imagine Luminus will also notice when thinking about this meeting later. But even helping Luminus, King Heston still didn''t make any alliance with the Dragons of Light. Also, strangely I was called at the end of the conversation where Luminus apologized for Shiro''s betrayal and promised me compensation later, he also asked me to continue serving as a mediator between him and other races. I accepted only to go against the plans of that bastard who destroyed that city. Chapter 798: Problem Evolution Part 1 Chapter 798: Problem Evolution Part 1 Pov Luminus: We are flying back to the house after leaving the Elf village. "I still don''t understand, why help me that way after what Shiro did?" (I) "I don''t know, but it doesn''t seem to be doing anything to us." (Lux) "What he asked for compensation may be considered valuable to others, but for us, they are things that fall in our daily lives or during combat, for us, it is the same as garbage." (Luminus) "It might be for you, but he must want to build weapons and armor for his people, everyone is preparing for what''s to come." (Lux) "Besides, I don''t think he was just teaching you how to govern, there were more people at that meeting." (Lux) I remember Zenos and his group, taking my order at the end of the meeting and the introductions when we arrived, none of them said anything. "I get the impression that King Heston was using his various mistakes as a benchmark of what not to do for him." (Lux) "Zenos must find it useful, from what I heard from some drunk people at his barbecue some time ago, he is a King of his own nation." (I) "Where is this nation?" (Lux) "Probably in your Dungeon, Zenos is a Dungeon Master." (I) "That explains a lot." (Lux) "What''s it?" (I) "I felt a Faerie Gate in your shadow, someone tried to hide it, but they couldn''t hide it from me." (Lux) "Zenos was what allowed us to have this Gathering, I know the timing wasn''t ideal due to Shiro''s betrayal, but I''ve come here several times over the last few decades and I haven''t been welcomed once to enter." (I) Sigh "The first two times I was even attacked." (I) "Don''t give up, this could have been an important first step for you." (Lux) --------- Pov Goddess Selene: "Are you sure?" (I) "It''s just a matter of time." (Aine) "We already have enough problems to deal with, Baldr is trying to reincarnate his Hero." (I) "Bone can be a bit of a problem, but it''s not a big deal." (Aine) "He wants to do this with all of his memories, personality, and abilities and modify his soul to repair the damage inflicted." (I) "This is going to be a problem, the Goddesses of Life and Death don''t like to dismiss others and their jobs, they are also extreme when they take action." (Aine) "But these idiots will do some damage if they are released." (Aine) "Besides, it wouldn''t be safe for us to send Divine Beasts and Oracles to gather many strong people there." (Aine) "Yes, if there is a combat of this kind of proportion in such an unstable place, a new dimensional rift will form." (I) "They made a mistake by leaving it like this for so long." (I) "They thought it was permanently sealed." (Aine) "Any kind of seal can be broken given enough time and will." (I) "What we do?" (Aine) I leave it on my bed and unseal the temporary growth barrier, then I start meditating integrating all that EXP that was previously sealed, it only took me 2 hours to do so, so I lie there ready to sleep. As I was anxious because of evolution, it took me a while to fall into the sweet embrace of sleep, but I slowly gave in and let myself be consumed by this growing desire to sleep. Zzzzzzz... Zzzzz... Zzzz... Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ "REQUIREMENTS FOR EVOLUTION FULFILLED" ]> . . . <[ "ANALYZING POSSIBILITIES FOR EVOLUTION" ]> . . <[ ANALYZING TITLES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING WORKS ]> . . <[ ANALYZING LINEAGES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING ABILITIES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING BLESSINGS ]> . . . . . . . Ding! Chapter 799: Problematic Evolution Part 2 Chapter 799: Problematic Evolution Part 2 I just felt alone, for I don''t know how long, I couldn''t feel anything, I couldn''t see anything, I couldn''t think about anything and I couldn''t even recognize my own existence. All there was a feeling of incompleteness like something was missing, this feeling was getting stronger and stronger until it overshadowed the other feelings completely. As all that existed for me was this feeling for an unknown period of time, I was able to recognize its origin and thereby understand what I am, gradually returning my other emotions, senses, and my mind. When my senses returned, I was in a room where only a large bed exists, along with a painting of a man on his back, in front of the man countless creatures struggling in the shadows trying to reach him, the painting was lived as if it were coming to life anytime. Apart from the painting and the bed, there was also a veranda on the side with a large arched door revealing the image of Suns and Plants from an unknown universe. "You regained consciousness faster than I expected, my child." (Goddess Selene) "..." (I) I turn to the bed I was on before and notice the most beautiful woman I''ve ever seen lying in bed, but unlike other occasions where she was always glorious and powerful, this time she was weak and exhausted. "........." (I) "..." (I) "?????!?" (I) "Don''t try to speak, the sync has just started, it will take a while before you regain all your functions and power." (Goddess Selene) "(But I can still think, I''m sure a Goddess like you can see inside my mind.)" (I) "Yes I can, I also understand your feeling of concern to see my condition but don''t worry, I''ll be fine in no time." (Goddess Selene) As she spoke I noticed a formless energy accumulating in this room, I instinctively felt that this energy came from countless mixed presences and the Goddess Selene was absorbing this energy. This energy coming from these countless presences had an inconceivable number of emotions and intensity, it felt pure beyond anything I had ever felt before. "This is the power of Faith, this sustains the power, Authority, and existence of a God." (Goddess Selene) "I''m surprised you''re able to see that, maybe it''s because of my lineage." (Goddess Selene) "His Human mind was fighting everything his monster instincts told him, that contradiction can drive a mind insane." (Goddess Selene) "(As in my case, I know I''m not the same as when I was born, I killed, devoured others, tortured people, and stole.)" (I) "(I even used Souls of bad people I killed to create monsters, I accepted my madness a long time ago.)" (I) "But not everyone has an open mind, some try to deny who they have become, which makes their situations worse by preventing a synchrony between the Soul and the body during their evolutions." (Goddess Selene) "In your case, it was a little different, my interference was one of the factors that prevented you so far from fully synchronizing your body and Soul, but the other reason was the various damages your Soul suffered from the reckless things you did." (Goddess Selene) "What you felt earlier was these two pieces trying to connect for real, this should have taken longer, but you were faster than I expected in subconsciously finding how to do this." (Goddess Selene) So that state was my Soul and body synchronizing. As we speak the Goddess Selene recovers more and more until she looks the same gorgeous as when I first met her, then she rises to stand in front of me. "With the sync taking place, I will use your unique ability to transform all of your bloodlines into 1 single bloodline while your body is being rebuilt by evolution." (Goddess Selene) "!!!!!" (I) The Goddess reaches out her hand and I feel like something is sucked out of me, a screaming pain courses through everything I am and some things start to come out. First came out various types of red glows that took the form of a Dragon, the form of the Goddess Selene, and my form. Soon I feel something else being pulled out, then a yellow light comes out from inside and becomes a kind of transparent bubble where red lights with different shapes enter. A whirlwind of energies swirling inside the bubble before a single red energy rushes out and enters me followed by the bubble reverting back to its yellow light form, then the pain stops as I feel tiredness steal my awareness again. "Be well my child, for times have become hard." (Goddess Selene) ......... ...... ... Chapter 800: Troubled Evolution Part 3 Chapter 800: Troubled Evolution Part 3 Pov Nix: When the master''s energy began to leak out of his body and it began to glow with a red light, he knew that the process of evolution had begun. "You two get away from him and be prepared, we don''t know what could happen." (I) "Worried..." (Hinata) "We''re all worried, that''s why we''re here." (Sakura) "I''m not worried, I''m just waiting." (Layla) "You''re not thinking about that stupid plan, are you?" (I) "The plan is great, it will work out great!" (Layla)Vissit for updates "He''ll get pissed if you don''t tell him first." (I) "But I warned him, I spoke in his ear while he was sleeping, as he didn''t deny it, so it means he accepted." (Layla) "What are you two talking about?" (Ragnar) "That idiot wants to use the energy that the master releases during evolution to..." (I) "Prepare yourselves!" (Orion) With Orion''s warning, everyone managed to get into position to resist the wave of Aura coming out of his body, as he is doing this unconsciously his power is at its maximum. As we are his Familiars, we managed to resist the effects of his Aura very well, but I must say that it is at a level of power that I did not expect. "Back off, it''s not over yet." (Orion) Soon waves of Aura came out of the master''s body every few seconds, his body also began to attract the Power of Nature from this entire floor, it was as if he was breathing in the energy of Nature and exhaling his Aura that spread to the surroundings. As a Spirit I noticed something else in the master''s Aura, I could feel more of his Soul''s presence in the Aura, but I didn''t understand the reason. "Time to start!" (Layla) While everyone''s attention was focused on the master, Layla began to absorb the master''s energy and Aura while serving as an intermediary leading all of this to the Cradle of Fairies. "Damn it!" (I) I had to start doing the same, our two Cradles are next to each other in harmony, but if I don''t do the same as her now, then that harmony will be broken and I don''t know what will happen to the Dungeon in the middle of this. I could feel the Holy power growing in that light. "Finally the time has come, I was afraid I would have to wait longer." (Vanessa) This is a feeling I felt in the most sacred places of the Church of Light in the past, this feeling is similar, but at the same time different. "What''s going on, Mom?" (I) "Consecration, my Father is consecrating his territory as a holy land, much like what we did in the land of the dead in the Dark Continent." (Vanessa) "But weren''t we the ones..." (I) "I know, but it''s easier here, this whole Dungeon already belongs to him, his connection with this territory already exists, that''s all that was missing, Holy power." (Vanessa) "Not holy power from a God whose blessing it is, but holy power that belongs to him alone." (Vanessa) "He''s becoming a Demigod?" (Athena) "No, at least not yet, but this is the first step of a journey, as the son of a Goddess he always had the potential to have Holy power, but he was never able to use it until now for a single reason." (Vanessa) "Now the final step has been taken." (Vanessa) ----------- Pov Dark Elf King Heston: I was sleeping comfortably in my hammock after a long day getting my work in order, but then I feel Nature Energy stir and a tyrannical presence arise with a Roar being transmitted by a wave of Aura. "..." (I) I teleport to the top where I float while spreading my presence around. "Calm down, is everything okay?" (Hest) "What was that now?" (I) "I thought a muscle head like you wouldn''t notice, looks like I got it right." (Hest) "Don''t you recognize that presence? It might be stronger, but you should be able to know." (Hest) I look in a certain direction where a pillar of multicolored light appears near the World Tree, this hill of light and energy does not go far, I feel the World Tree suppressing this pillar of light and presence in one area, then I remember who was there. "I had my doubts about his request, but I think I understand the commotion he spoke about." (I) Chapter 801: Problem Evolution Part 4 Chapter 801: Problem Evolution Part 4 I don''t really know what happened, but when I regained consciousness I realized that I was in the am in that starry space that I always see inside the hood of my Astral Body, this place has no defined directions, all that exists are stars and energies in an orderly flow none, all this is my power. I look around and notice many people around me, all are familiar faces from my group and behind me were many people I remember from the Dungeon. Without realizing it, I was at a crossroads, but instinctively I felt that none of the paths led me to where I wanted to go, so I started walking through a place where no path existed while my steps created a path where those around me could follow. But at the end of the path, after having walked for an indefinite amount of time, I found myself in a place like before, full of stars and flowing colored energies, but this time there were no people or paths around me. "You''ve come this far on a different path." "Who''s there!?" (I) I try to look around, but I don''t find anything, until a black nebula as if it were fog appears swirling in front of me then an image of me with completely black eyes comes out from within the nebula and the same voice from before emerges from the nebula while my Champion stays standing silently looking at her with a confused face. "I want to know what your answer is, what will you choose when a tough decision is all you get?" "He will choose the same as always." (copy) "I don''t know who you are, but thanks." (I) "I knew you would say that." (copy) "I never thought I would go through a situation like this." (I) "Imagine being on my side." (copy) "You seem very comfortable with an unknown voice and a copy of yourself inside you." "I may not know who you are, but the very fact that you''re wasting your time talking to me says that you can''t directly harm me or don''t want to." (I) "Besides, I already know who this is, I just didn''t expect to face him so directly." (I) "He''s emotional going through the evil twin scenario he''s seen in so many stories." (copy) "Can you blame me for that? How many people have had the opportunity to go through that?" (I) "I suppose not many, but don''t take this lightly." (copy) "I do not promise anything." (I) I''ve seen this evil twin thing in movies, soap operas, series, drawings, and games many times, a scenario that I''ve seen so many times in works of fiction is happening to me now, how can I not be moved? "Hahahaha... let''s see if you still have time for games." "And off we go." (copy) "I don''t know, answering that would be pointless, but I''m sure it would do something reckless and potentially dangerous." (I) I walk over to my copy and hold out my hand for him to shake. "He doesn''t understand you." (copy) "No surprise, I don''t understand myself." "Ever changing..." (Copy) "But always unchanging." (I) "You know it doesn''t make sense, right?" (I) "We never made sense..." (copy) My copy has become a silvery energy that starts to flow through our handshake back to me. "Do you accept the monster inside you?" "I''ve been Human before, born a monster, been a criminal, a Heretic, a Savior, a King..." (I) Sigh "As a person lives he becomes many things, trying to choose just one of these multiple faces to represent someone is foolish, as is trying to deny one of these faces just because he doesn''t like it." (I) I look at the nebula calmly, the nebula condenses into the shape of my Astral Body, a creature with a face like the starry space around us wearing a cloak of darkness. Crack "You accept what you''ve become and try to remain who you are, this contradiction is not something a mind is capable of maintaining." "I went crazy a long time ago and I know it, it would be strange to keep a sane mind after everything I''ve seen and done." (I) Crack "We''ll see what it becomes, the path it creates..." Crack Crack CRACK! RRROOOAAAAARRRRR!!!!!! Soon the space around us shatters and a monstrous silhouette flies out Roaring with a feeling of release and in that moment I feel the energies around me go into chaos as my consciousness darkens once more. Chapter 802: Problem Evolution Part 5 Chapter 802: Problem Evolution Part 5 Pov Freya: It''s been 1 week and the master is still sleeping, we suspect this could happen, at least we are not being chased by the Church of Light while he is unconscious like last time. After its evolution began, the waves of Aura and Nature energy were something we expected as it had happened before, but when that column of Holy Power enveloped the entire mansion and rose through the boundaries of the Dungeon to the outside, that was something we didn''t expect, apart from Vanessa who was looking forward to it and couldn''t stop talking about how wonderful it was for her. As long as the column of Holy Power remained, no one was able to move, but after a few minutes, it disappeared. I remember when I went up to the master''s room I found him trapped inside what looked like a large egg lying on its black crystal scales with energy flowing inside, in addition, Layla and Nix were on both sides of the egg absorbing some of the power emanating from the egg. The others were watching and not letting anyone get close, but just seeing that egg I could see the energy of Nature pulsing like a heart around it, it was as if nature was helping in its evolution. Since then 1 week has passed, and some people come to see the master all of his like his sons, his mistresses, and his most faithful followers like Ivan, Jade, and Barok. Also, I''ve been hearing some strange things inside the mansion, and in the city, people are dreaming of walking on a red crystal path in a starry space, I dreamed about it myself. In my case the dream is a vague memory, it seems that the more I try to remember, the more I forget, but that feeling of comfort that I felt in the dream is still there. As far as I know, this is something that others felt too, no one clearly remembers the dream, but they have a vague memory where I was chasing something in front of me, but I don''t clearly remember what it was. "Freya, I was looking for you." (Rakan) "If it''s another request about Dark Elf strengthening magic, I already told you to talk to Sophia, she''s been training with them." (I) "It''s not about that, but since you brought it up..." (Rakan) "..." (I) "Don''t look at me like that, fine, I won''t talk about it anymore." (Rakan) "What did you want to talk to me about?" (I) "I haven''t been able to enter the Temple of Blood for days, could you talk to Vanessa to reopen the Temple?" (Rakan) "No, others have asked me before, but Vanessa seems to be busy with something." (I) "I feel the energies being drawn there, but I don''t know why, I''m a researcher, but how can they stop me from seeing something so strange?" (Rakan) "Give it up, as far as I know, Vanessa asked her kids to make sure no one tries to break in." (I) God of Wolves, Fenrir God of Beasts, Cratos Goddess of Life, Mavis God of Spirits, Dravos Goddess of Love, Ayrin Goddess of Fertility, Asya Demon Goddess of Pleasure, Ariel Demon Goddess of Death, Kalistos Demon God of Vengeance, Vidark Looking at all these glorious Divine statues emitting different presences fills me with happiness, I know better than anyone that the only other Temple or Church that enshrined so many Gods in the same place belongs to the Church of Light. I take a closer look at the blood molding itself onto the pillars forming the Different Coat of Arms that symbolize each God. "It''s hard to breathe." (I) "It was more difficult before while the statues were still in the process of being built." (Athena) "That''s true." (Lilian) "Didn''t you leave here, Athena?" (I) "I wanted to see it, I wanted to feel it, they are so different." (Athena) She looks at the statues and I know she is talking about the presence emitted from the statues, I remember the first time I felt the presence of the statue of a God that was not the God Baldr, ironically it was the statue of the Blood Goddess. The presence of the statues carry a bit of the presence of the God they represent, they are symbols of their Gods, the presence of the Baldr statues were glorious but heavy, and the Blood Goddess statues have a deep and mysterious presence in contrast. "You''ll get used to it, these presences should fade a bit when you''re done." (I) "I''ve waited a long time for this." (I) Chapter 803: Problem Evolution Part 6 Chapter 803: Problem Evolution Part 6 <[ "REQUIREMENTS FOR EVOLUTION FULFILLED" ]> . . . <[ "ANALYZING POSSIBILITIES FOR EVOLUTION" ]> . . <[ ANALYZING TITLES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING WORKS ]> . . <[ ANALYZING LINEAGES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING ABILITIES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING BLESSINGS ]> . . .Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only . . . . Ding! <[ FULL ANALYSIS ]> . . . <[ LOOKING FOR SUITABLE EVOLUTIONS ]> . . Once again my consciousness falls into an abyss as I feel various types of energies flowing within me. ......... ...... ... ---------- Nicolas Pov: "I think it''s good, it''s perfect to tell you the truth." (I) "Your assistants have already fled." (Rakan) "Forget those slackers, complaining about going without sleep for just 6 days, what kind of lazy researchers are there these days?" (I) "Not everyone can be like you who don''t need sleep." (Rakan) "You haven''t slept either." (I) "I let myself be guided by curiosity, I asked Erica to lend me one of her cursed items, one that deprives the target of sleep." (Rakan) "Will there be any side effects?" (I) "No, it''ll just make all the sleep hit me at once, I''ll probably spend a few days sleeping." (Rakan) I was finalizing the construction of my new body, after I finished the entire physical structure and the programming of the various magical functions, I needed to call Lyra to help me use synthetic skin, I thought I would use some kind of synthetic skin to serve as one more layer of defense, this synthetic skin is stronger than ordinary armor, Rakan even spent days with me to put various types of resistance magic into this skin. "I must say Miss Lyra is a genius, using that special liquid made from slimes in this way is amazing." (Rakan) "I thought and even tried to do something similar in my day, but I failed when I realized how much it needed a specialization in alchemy." (I) "But you did really well with the auto repair and storage functions." (Rakan) "I''m proud of my work, but the automatic repair of the skin is proving to be a bit of a problem." (I) "What I did should help with that, but the organic stuff has to come from somewhere." (Rakan) "To think that I would still need to put in such useless functions." (I) "I don''t know why you guys are so insistent about it." (I) "I understand your desire to give yourself to your research completely, but the best ideas come in moments of relaxation and pleasure, eating something delicious will bring you comfort when your experiments fail and morale when you are stuck on something." (Rakan) Inside that body, the liquid made using a synthesis of metallic slimes will serve to transport repair materials to the entire body and some other things. I as a researcher and magic engineer know that the aesthetics of a magic item must be functional while maintaining static beauty, I also know that there are fools who only look at appearances to judge and I will not allow them to look down on my creation just for the looks of it, so I swallowed my preconceptions on this topic and followed Master Zenos'' advice on this. I went looking for Leonardo who is an Artist, I gave him the parameters of size, movement, and functions of the new body that I have been building. The drawings he brought me after that had a lot of useless stuff and I kept discarding everything, parts of the body I would be interested in are a big no, but he was very excited about every refusal, it seems he took it as a challenge to his art, but at least but that showed his results when he brought a design that wouldn''t get in the way of the things I designed, plus it had a nice appearance that could help interact with other people who keep complaining about my metallic goalkeeper appearance. "Now I''m going to need Miss Hela Lara to put the crystal with my Soul back there safely." (I) "She''s outside the mansion, while Zenos doesn''t wake up I find it difficult for her to leave." (Rakan) "What a big waste of time." (I) I look one last time at this body, the hands and eyes mainly, the hands are as delicate as I wanted, some jobs need delicacy and these hands made my work faster, these big eyes were something I needed, I put so many magical functions in these eyes that it became impossible to make them smaller than that. I had to spend many of the square crystal cards in the treasure chest, Miss Nira was looking at me with eyes that almost rust my base structure, she thinks I''m wasting too many rare items on one body. I was lucky Master Zenos agreed on the list of materials I needed early on, in fact I even added a few things following some good advice from him, I''m glad he understands how important this project is to me. "You bastard, how long are you going to make me wait for... this is a visual, it opens up a lot of possibilities..." (Tnia) "Wait! Why did you break down my door? Drop my precious body..." (I) Chapter 804: Awakening Moment Finally Chapter 804: Awakening Moment Finally Pov Athena: I was in my room trying to meditate, when another pulse of power comes from the direction of the mansion, it disturbs my concentration. Sigh "It''s been two weeks, maybe he''ll wake up any moment, the pulses of energy are shortening the intervals." (I) I get up giving up meditating and go to the pool of Blood which is almost empty now except for the red crystal with a multicolored glow at the bottom. This thing keeps absorbing energy, besides I''ve been feeling some kind of presence arising from this thing, maybe it wakes up before Zenos. "This thing wasn''t here before, looks like fun." Suddenly I realize I''m being hugged by a naked woman and I hadn''t realized her presence until I heard her voice. I try to attack her, but then she disappears, and the next thing I know I''m sitting in a chair facing the stage where the same woman as before is wearing very busy men''s clothing. "Ladies and gentlemen, actually just miss as unfortunately we no longer have an audience." "Who is..." (I)Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only "Today we''re here to introduce someone making their spectacular debut..." In the middle of the woman''s speech, another wave of energy from Sense appears destroying everything in the surroundings and revealing it to be an illusion, in fact, I am still in the room with the pool of blood that will act is dry. I look over at the woman whose clothes had also disappeared leaving her naked once more, she was transfixed as what I believe was an illusion shattered. "That was so embarrassing, having my first show fail so badly." "Who are you?" (I) I could feel I wasn''t an enemy, I hardly think any enemy would be able to get to where I am without being noticed by Miss Nix, but something about this woman feels familiar. "I don''t know who you are, but I..." (I) "You''re always like this, you have to learn to have more fun or you''ll end up alone..." "Shako might be able to create the body, but I wanted something to mark important things, you helped me a lot so of course, it would be one of the important things, I also have a tattoo of letters with Shako''s name on it, a tattoo of a Dragon bathed in blood for Zenos, a heart within beauty for his frightening sister..." (Loki) "I want to sleep, go somewhere else." (Vanessa) Saying that my mother walks back the same way she came, when I look at Loki again she is dressed, but then another pulse of energy comes breaking the clothes and leaving her naked again. "Don''t look at me like that, clothes are also an illusion, I was just born, so if you had some clothes..." (Loki) "Follow me, you idiot." (I) ---------- Pov Silvia: I was having a dream, a dream about a child in an orphanage, he had a fragile body but a curiosity that transcended his condition, he was deprived of a family dozens of times, but he never closed his heart. I saw him reach out to those ignored by others while he himself sometimes ignored those who asked for help, his often contradictory actions were a mystery to me until I realized that he decided who to help using his own way of judging a person. I watched this sweet, gentle child grow more and more deprived of life''s pleasures as his body grew worse and worse as he never let go, so much strength in a dying body. I didn''t understand what I was seeing at first, it took me a while to understand that it was someone''s memories, these memories were meaninglessly scattered everywhere and I took my time trying to put it in order since I had nothing else to do. But before I finished I felt something surrounding me one day, it''s been a long time since I felt very comfortable, but lately, it''s been even better like I was being hugged all the time in a loving way, but this time it was different. This energy was chaotic, but it was accompanied by a tyrannical Aura and a Holy Power that I don''t recognize, it looks like the Holy Power of the daughters of the Goddess Selene, but it was different from those 3 girls. It was thinking about these things that a memory that seemed to be old arose little by little in my mind, the day I was injured, the day I was saved and the boy who saved me. "(Zenos...)" (I) Suddenly that name comes out of my mouth or maybe my mind, not this energy that has been comfortably in my sight for a long time, these new energies, the tyrannical Aura and Holy Power to have reacted to that name. All this came towards me and entering me that I lose consciousness at the same time as I feel my own Aura arise spreading as it grows. Tutum Tutum Tutum I can hear the beating of a heart that it took me a while to realize was mine when I completely lost consciousness, so I found myself walking a red crystal path in a starry space. Chapter 805: Awakening From A Dream To A Nightmare Chapter 805: Awakening From A Dream To A Nightmare I was dreaming for a long time about something bizarre, I dreamed that I was reincarnated as a Duck, then I took a long journey from a Duck to becoming a Dragon Duck flying over a city that I destroy by sitting on top of it, my nest was a large pool where I was swimming on the surface of the water, then a giant baby appears who treats me like a toy while bathing in the pool that was my nest. But suddenly I feel that the baby is squeezing me tighter and tighter and I can''t breathe, so I open my eyes realizing that I''m in my bed. Ding! Ding! Ding! "But what..." (I) The moment I open my eyes several bells start going off in my head about system notifications, presumably to talk about the various evolution changes, but I''ll skip all that to see later, I have other things to check before then. The first thing I wanted to know was who was squeezing me so tight, so I lift my blanket where I realize there are others on the bed. I look around and realize that all my Familiars were sleeping nearby, Ragnar was in his Human form sleeping on top of Orion, Sakura was cuddled with Nix in a nearby armchair, and Layla and Hinata were in bed with me, but it wasn''t those two squeezing me. In addition to my two familiars, there was someone else, a dark-skinned Elf girl, she also had multicolored crystal scales on various parts of her body, her scales and hair were white in color, and she had three horns on her head made of multicolored crystal, but these horns had a surface reminiscent of tree bark as well as their scales. The girl looks small like Hinata, but I can feel a great power coming from her, a power that is very reminiscent of Freya, the power of nature, this girl was naked, which allowed me to see a multicolored crystal on her chest that had lights of many colors flowing in circles continuously.T/his chapter is updated by This girl was the one squeezing me, her strength clearly far outweighing her frail appearance. I thought about waking her up, but I thought it would be better to let her sleep, it would be hypocritical to wake her up when I don''t like being done to me. "(If she''s here it means the others have allowed it, so I won''t bother with her.)" (I) This energy is Holy Power, I know this because I''ve felt Vanessa using it a few times, but the feeling is a little different from what Vanessa said, she said that Holy Power comes from the God we have Faith in, but I''m not a Priest and I don''t feel that this Holy Power is connected to Goddess Selene, the feeling is different from the Blessing of Goddess Selene that I possess. "Are you awake, master?" (Ragnar) I open my eyes and see Ragnar standing in front of the bed, he looks at me as if he just realized something and avoids looking directly into my eyes. "How long did I sleep?" (I) "You slept for 3 weeks, caused some commotion as we thought." (Ragnar) "I figured that out, but I''d like to know why you''re avoiding looking into my eyes?" (I) "I don''t know what you''re talking about, I''m looking at you right now." (Ragnar) He tries to look into my eyes but his eyes avert after a few seconds, I close my eyes and use our connection to see myself through Ragnar''s eyes. But what I saw was an even more feminine body with brown skin, red hair and two large crystal horns that have energy flowing inside, the shock of seeing this appearance made me move my tail to remove the sheet covering me, so I realized happily that even though my face became so feminine and cute, my friend was still there, that was a huge relief for me. But suddenly I noticed something that made my heart race, it was strange to see my nervousness through someone else''s eyes, but even so, I looked my body up and down several times expecting a different result each time, which never happened. My height of 1.25 meters had decreased to 1.22 meters, how could that happen, my hopes, I could accept not growing any more since my height hadn''t changed in the last two evolutions, I could accept not growing, but why Why did my size decrease? "(I thought you grew up as you got older, so why is the opposite happening to me!?)" (I) Chapter 806: A Scary Dad Chapter 806: A Scary Dad After two days of being very depressed about my height, I was dragged out of my room, and by dragged I mean rica dragged me across the floor holding one of my legs before throwing me out the window. I spun in the air landing on my feet in the garden of the mansion where Diana was training, as soon as she saw me she rushed towards me catching me in her arms, her eyes were scary as drool was leaking from her mouth, but I in the midst of the flood of The kisses she was giving me suddenly went still, so Lilith helped me out of Diana''s immobile arms. "A paralysis curse?" (I) "Yes, I''ve been practicing new ways to curse my opponents or just for fun." (Lilith) While Diana was paralyzed by the curse, Lilith bit her fingertip and used her blood to draw on Diana''s face, but in the middle of drawing Diana grabs Lilith''s arm, it looks like she can only move her arm for now, so I''m going to leave out of here before she can move any further. "Dad, can you give me a little help?" (Lilith) "I couldn''t get her to let go, so good luck." (I) I run away before Diana can move again, Lilith can take care of herself. ---------- After getting back inside the mansion I must say the shock of being thrown out the window made me forget what I was upset about long enough to compose myself. Sigh "(I have to accept that I will never be tall or muscular.)" (I) Going back to the mansion I meet rica and Ibuki, I thank them for trying to cheer me up and I go to eat something before taking a shower. While eating I realized that I hadn''t checked my status or seen the system notifications that appeared after my evolution, but I think it''s better not to check now in case there''s anything else that makes me depressed again. After eating I leave the Dungeon but the first thing I find was a Gray Elf who wanted to talk to me, he didn''t tell me his name, but he just appeared in front of me when I passed outside the Dungeon. "Are you Lord Zenos, Holy Son of Blood?" "Who are you?" (I) "Please refrain from using the Familiar in your shadow or the Specter behind me, I only wish to speak with you." "I was discovered..." (Hinata) "Go back, Hinata." (I) ---------- Pov Klaus: I was in a hidden room inside a certain Kingdom waiting for my moment to act when I noticed the communication item react, so I pulled the crystal plate and used my Aura to make it work. "Why are you logging me?" (I) "Mister Klaus, I am the one chosen to be on standby in the Bone Desert Village, I have news about your daughter." "Did you find her? Is she there? Is she safe?" (I) "Sir, she''s here and safe." "Her appearance and her name match, she is also accompanied by an Ancestral Spirit, Byakko the relentless destruction." "(So the rumors were right, Byakko was still alive and among the Gray Elves, besides beside my daughter.)" (I) "She is alone?" (I) "She accompanies someone named Zenos, he appears to be a Dungeon Master, he also has the Trinity with Nature and appears to be the youngest son of the Blood Goddess." "He seems to be under the protection of the Warrior King Heston and the World Tree itself, I also confirmed that the Servant of Living Brutality was with him." "I already knew about his presence, what is your assessment of him?" (I) "He''s a smart guy, he knew my strength from the beginning and if it wasn''t for that he had a double preemptive strike prepared, he knew he wasn''t an enemy from finding him near the World Tree and he didn''t feel afraid of me for a second." "Interesting, what else?" (I) "I have confirmed that he has a nation of tens of thousands of people of various races within the Dungeon." "He seems to have at least 4 confirmed lovers, one of those lovers would be his daughter." "What!?" (I) "I''m going to find this bastard and see for myself how daring he is to be with my daughter while having relationships with other women!" (I) "If I think he''s not worthy of my daughter, I''ll tear him to pieces just for daring to go near her!" (I) Chapter 807: Getting To Know Silvia Chapter 807: Getting To Know Silvia As I looked around the village, I noticed that everyone was looking at me strangely, this was even more true for those I recognized as being stronger than me, this left me confused and I decided to stop my search for information and return to the Dungeon. I realized that before leaving the Dungeon I should have a clearer understanding of the changes in me, that''s because those stronger than me can see right through me, so it bothers me to know that they will know more about me than I do. As soon as I got back to the Dungeon I went to the mansion, knowing that my room had become a recreation place for Fairies and Spirits, I go to the office where Nira used to work before moving to the city government building. "Let''s start by looking at what I''ve been ignoring." (I) I open the many system notifications I haven''t seen yet. Ding! <[ Evolution Completed ]> . . . <[ Your Body and Soul are fully Synchronized ]> . . <[ All your bloodlines have been merged into one ]> . . <[ You have acquired the Bloodline [ True Dragon of Holy Blood: Original ] ]> . . . <[ You have fully awakened your True Dragon bloodline ]> . . . <[ You Acquired the Skill [ Dragon Awakening: 0% ] ]> . . . <[ Your Affinity with Nature has increased ]> . . . <[ You partially awakened as a Demigod ]> "What the hell is this, I don''t even want to turn into a Dragon, besides who wants to be a Demigod!?" (I) "..." (I) Sigh "Calm down Zenos, before you start freaking out again, let''s finish looking at the rest of the notifications." (I) Ding! <[ Your skill has evolved [ Vampirism: 10 ] > [ Blood Eater ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Insatiable Stomach: 10 ] > [ Monstrous Stomach: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Blood Affinity: 10 ] > [ Blood Authority: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Superior Mana Sense: 10 ] > [ King of Magic Sense: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Curse Affinity: 10 ] > [ Cursed Bloodline: 1 ] ]> <[ Your skill has evolved [ Non-elemental Magic: 10 ] > [ Magic King Magic: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Ki Control: 10 ] > [ Ki Master Control: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Spirit Control: 10 ] > [ Shaman King Control: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Detection (life/blood/presence/trap): 10 ] > [ King Eclipse Detection: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Poison Secretion (paralyzing/necrotic/deadly/sleep/hallucinogenic): 10 ] > [ Poison Dragon Secretion: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Eyes of the Eclipse King: 10 ] > [ Dragon Eyes Judgment Dragon ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Multi Elemental Magic: 10 ] > [ Nature Magic: 1 ] ]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Multi Elemental Rune: 10 ] > [ Nature Rune: 1 ] ]> . . <[ His skill has evolved [ Eclipse King Production (thorns/scales/blades/bones/claws/threads/horns): 10 ] > [ Blood Dragon Production (thorns/scales/blades/bones/claws/threads/horns): 1]]> . . <[ Your skill has evolved [ Multi Elemental Breath: 10 ] > [ Destruction Dragon''s Breath ] ]> This is a large number of skills that evolved, it seems that many of my skills created from the synthesis of other skills that were part of the name of King something, ended up evolving, I also have some skills with the name of Dragons, but not I like the names with Demon or Destruction, they seem like villain names from some fictional story, even the one called Dragon of Judgment seems bad somehow. I don''t like to judge anyone, but I also can''t deny that I do this quite often with those I consider criminals, so I''m going to stop thinking about it. This [ Holy Blood True Dragon: Original ] bloodline makes me confused, this is the first time my race and bloodline seem to diverge so much. But at least I can understand about Holy Power without asking Vanessa, as a child of a Goddess I myself can be considered a fragment of the divine, isn''t it strange for me to have at least Holy Power on my own and maybe even Divine Power one day, the what was strange is never having even the Holy Power until now. "Perhaps I never had Holy Power because my Soul was not synchronized with my body, but as this problem was solved, this latent potential within me was released." (I) "Master, are you busy?" (Freya) "Not much, do you need something?" (I) "It''s been two days since you''ve kept someone waiting, and besides, you''ve been in here for over an hour." (Freya) I spent more time than I expected looking at these various messages, it seems I let my mind wander too long with this new shock. "I have any idea what you''re talking about, is she there?" (I) "She''s running through the woods right now, Diana starts chasing her every time she sees her." (Freya) I still have a memory of that lovely young woman in bed, she''s so cute, which can be dangerous around someone like Diana. "Thanks for reminding me, I''ve been depressed for a few days because of my height and since earlier I''ve had a lot to think about." (I) Sigh "Looks like I''ve been leaving some things out." (I) "Want me to go get her?" (Freya) "No, I''ll take care of it another way, otherwise Diana will chase her down here." (I) "If you need me, just ask a Fairy or Spirit to call me." (Freya) "I''ll do that, thanks." (I) After Freya leaves the office, I move some furniture away so they don''t get in the way of building the summoning magic circle. "< Family Summon: Silvia >" (I) The magic circle glows when I let a drop of my blood fall into it during the Summoning, a few seconds later the girl appears in front of me, she is a little smaller than me and was wearing a set of green shorts, white blouse with drawings of trees and sandals. She was sweating and had a confused face. "Nice to finally meet you, Silvia." (I) Chapter 808: Use Whatever It Takes To Win Chapter 808: Use Whatever It Takes To Win Pov A Revolutionary''s: Empire Arorus, Capital Arorus. We were inside a warehouse used by the food stall owners to store food carts and merchandise. We have used this place by bribing the owners of these food stalls to serve as informants and as intermediaries to pass weapons, money, and certain goods to our group members or associates. This place also serves as a warehouse for weapons and other goods, this made it possible for us to set up our base a little further away without compromising our potential to fight within the city. "Rafael, I don''t know if we should use this, the number of deaths will be too high." (I) "I know, but we have no choice, this will be our only chance." (Rafael) "Why should you choose that, we could have chosen one of the other weapons." (I) "It won''t do any good, we have few really prepared for combat and even among them, none would be able to fight against a Knight besides me." (Rafael) "The items that person was selling were attractive, but we wouldn''t be able to make effective use of them." (Rafael) "But this item... this bomb..." (I) "It was the only thing that didn''t require combat experience for us to use that would make a difference." (Rafael)Updated chapters at novelhall.com "That is if this bomb is as powerful as that salesman claimed it was." (I) "I had a friend check it out, he can''t say what the material used in the core is, but he said the effects of the item, it matches what the seller said." (Rafael) "Is this friend reliable?" (I) "He''s trustworthy but doesn''t want to get involved with what we''re doing, he helped me this time with a promise never to look for him again." (Rafael) "Yes, my friend said that this thing uses a type of energy that draws from the surrounding environment, so until it is active it will be imperceptible and when it is activated it will be too late." (Rafael) "I don''t care what nobles will be there, they are all supporters of the Idiot King, my only regret is the castle embargodos." (Rafael) "Let''s go over the plan, there should be no flaws." (I) ---------- Pov A General''s: Kingdom Zildicar, borders of the Kingdom. We were currently at war against another Kingdom, this war started with the opposing Kingdom trying to take possession of the territories that include a very important city for the trade of our Kingdom. This war has been going on for more than 1 year, at the beginning we had the advantage, but soon we realized that the enemy army was bigger when the casualties in our soldiers kept happening after each battle, we realized this fact. The longer this war lasts, the worse our situation will be, our King is a good person, but he is naive, they have been trying to seek help from other Kingdoms to intervene, but that will not happen. "Sir, we are gaining control of the western part, the Knights are leading the soldiers to chase the enemies." (Soldier) "Tell them to stop, they could be led into a trap, order them to stay in position awaiting my next orders." (I) "Yes, General." (Soldier) These Knights are our most powerful warriors, they are stronger than anyone the enemies have on their side, but the difference in numbers made the difference in strength little obstacle for them. The only thing I could do when it was not possible to increase our numbers was to increase our fighting power even more, but I had to do it in a short time, so the best option was to invest in powerful weapons. I used this entire year''s military budget behind the King''s back to get powerful magic weapons that my knights are using, these swords and spears are able to break through the opponents'' armor and magic barriers, which made their mages only targets for us. These swords and spears have a light blue tint to their metal and Runes that none of our mages recognized, I was afraid to use this as I found the seller very suspicious, but in this situation, I will use whatever it takes to win this war. Chapter 809: Klaus Mission Chapter 809: Klaus'' Mission Pov Klaus (Moon Butcher): I was reading my subordinates'' reports on my reading crystal, when I finished I smashed the crystal into dust. "They''re smart, they''re selling items made from Flux Coral and spreading them across the continent." (I) "But they must be stopped, these weapons are disrupting Nature''s natural flow of energy." (Naraka) I look down at the blue-bladed dagger in my hand, I don''t notice anything much with that weapon myself, but my Hired Spirit seems to understand better than I do. "We did well to work together with the Temple of Justice, at least we stopped supplying more Flux Coral and got leads to keep hunting these bastards." (I) "What are you going to do now? And don''t say you''re going to look for your daughter!" (Naraka) "I would love to find her, but I need to keep the continent as safe as possible for her sake." (I) "We lost our target when he committed suicide, but we have a lead on where he''s been before." (I) "To the capital of the Arorus Empire." (I) ----------- A few days and a teleport later. I''ve been in this Kingdom for a few days now, I came directly to the capital and it was easy to find out what''s been happening.Updated chapters at novelhall.com After some investigation it was easy to figure out how an arrogant idiot came to be the ruler, actually, it was too easy. In addition, the changes he has made in this empire reveal a lot about the person himself, reveal his selfishness, sense of superiority, and stupidity. Anyone would see how much his actions as ruler would bring this entire empire down in a short time, but I think that was the point. "This ruler is just a puppet, apparently there is no evidence to convict him of the deaths of those in his path to becoming the ruler, but someone so stupid would not be capable of such a plan." (I) "Do you think the organization we''re investigating is doing all this to poke this asshole in charge?" (Naraka) "Perhaps it could be someone else simply using him, this whole situation becoming known to the people, and yet there being no evidence against him shows a certain level of intelligence that he clearly lacks." (I) "But the reason doesn''t matter, we confirm that this idiot doesn''t have what we''re looking for, from the information I''ve gathered it''s most likely in the hands of the rebels." (I) From what she said, Nix is helping her with her refinement to master her new Dragon abilities, it also sounds like Silvia is very happy to spend time with Sakura who has a strong connection with plants. Silvia also tells me that Barok and his other people are delighted to have more Dragons joining their ranks, and Karina seems to be talking to her to fulfill her duty as Dragon High Priestess. "I''m glad you enjoyed your new life." (I) "All thanks to you, I thought that was the end of me." (Silvia) "You''re a lot weaker now, are you okay with that?" (I) "I''m weaker, besides this body isn''t as resistant as my previous body, but on the other hand I''m free to go where I want without staying forever in the same place." (Silvia) "Have you managed to adjust to your new body yet?" (I) "A little." (Silvia) I only stopped talking to Silvia when night fell, then someone else came to talk to me, that was Loki, it looks like this Evil God finally decided to wake up. I talked to him after dinner, and he claims he is no longer a God, he doesn''t possess Divine Power and not even Holy Power, in his own words, she has become mortal. She said that now she wants to live the freedom of mortals, it seems she has been up to a lot while she was in my room. ---------- Pov of a cultist: I was inside a stone room with a magic circle drawn with blood, I let my own blood fall on the magic circle while active with my mana. Soon a shadow covered the entire wall and two red eyes emerged from that shadow, the two eyes covered the entire wall, as soon as they appeared they looked directly at me, then a dark energy came out of that shadow and entered my body. I feel a surge of power coursing through my body as the disease subsides, and I feel my body becoming more and more like that of a well-trained person. After so many years of servitude I finally gain the power I always wanted, finally, my beloved master recognized my efforts. "I thank you for your blessings, my master." (I) "Now go, finish the quest more power will be granted to you." Chapter 810: One Who Communes With The Gods Chapter 810: One Who Communes With The Gods Pov Heston (King of the Dark Elves): I was holding a cubic crystal, a storage item that contains a lot of information about something, there are reports, evidence, plausible assumptions, and various other things. Sigh "They came back..." (I) "We were already suspecting this before, but confirming what we were thinking only makes the situation worse." (I) "You just didn''t want to accept that you didn''t manage to kill everyone that day." (Hest) I close my eyes and remember the battle of that day, it was the first time I saw more than one Titan of Nature together in the same place. I still remember the smell of burning flesh, the hot Blood running through my body, and the screams of pain across the battlefield. "I was naive, I believed I was insurmountable when in fact I was just reckless." (I) "I was tricked and because of that everyone who died was used as a sacrifice for them to break a part of the Seal." (I) "Now they''re back and they have a plan to break the second seal." (Hest) "What should I do? Unlike then, I''m the King of the Dark Elves now." (I) "Unlike back then, you know you shouldn''t act alone." (Hest) I look at the World Tree Spirit, she smiles at me, even after thousands of years her smile is always the same. "They may be back, but they are acting differently, back then they were more brutal and fearless, they even used each other as sacrifices to fulfill their goals." (I) "This time they hide in the shadows and act indirectly, their members also seem to be weak, but we don''t know their numbers." (I) "There won''t be many or they wouldn''t need to spread the Flux Coral weapons, they could do it themselves and much faster." (Hest) "I will send the new Old Elves to help the Gray Elves, they can use the strong connection with nature to reverse some of the damage happening in different parts of the continent." (I) "You know what must be done." (Hest) "Yes, we will need help, the Dragons must also coordinate with us." (I) "Looks like I''m going to have to ask them one more favor." (I) As soon as I find it I feel the difference, I can feel the various Blessings within me react the moment I step into time. Besides the statues of the Gods, I don''t see anything different here, that means that only the statues are the change, I can also feel a little of my presence in the statues. I sit and pray to these Gods, I do this more to celebrate the completion of the Temple than for religious reasons. Ding! <[ Several Gods have their attention turned towards you ]> "(I feel the Blessings inside me go berserk...)" (I) "Huh!?" (I) I feel the power of the Blessings within my body bubbling out while I feel a similar power of the Blessings coming out of most of the statues of the Gods, so the power of my blessings connects with the power of the corresponding statues. At that moment I feel like I have formed a connection with the statues and the Holy Power within me flows to the statues and then flows to me again, this repeated countless times, each time faster than the last until I couldn''t count anymore. I feel like each time my Holy Power comes back a little different than before and these differences are forcing an evolution or transformation in my Holy Power. I had lost track of time when the connection broke and I noticed some of my Aura being emitted from the Temple itself, but with no time to worry about those things now, I sit down and start meditating. When I look inside myself with meditation, I notice that my Aura and Holy Power have changed a bit. I feel something Holy in my Aura now, moreover, my Holy Power has an intensity that resembles that of my Aura, as if several things are mixed together, but while my Aura is like that by the synthesis of many different types of Auras into one, my Holy Power seems to have mixed some of my various Blessings together to become much stronger. I also noticed that the amount of my Holy power increased by 6 or 7 times, I hadn''t even gained complete control of my new body and countless abilities, and now I feel that another significant change has taken place. When I open my eyes at the end of my meditation, I realize that Vanessa, Lilian, Karina, Irina, Irius, Barok, Athena, and their friends, all were kneeling facing me, behind me, there was also a crowd of all races equally kneeling. Ding! <[ His Holy Power was strengthened from communion with countless Blessings from Different Gods ]> . . . <[ You have earned the title [ He who communes with the Gods ] ]> Chapter 811: Proposal For Building A List Chapter 811: Proposal For Building A List After what happened I went to an empty room inside the temple while dragging Vanessa with me. I made her explain what was going on and she said she didn''t know, but at the same time she was very happy, it seems that because I''m becoming stronger it''s making everyone stronger, one of my abilities that evolved was one that strengthens my subordinates, this seems to be an ability only King-type monsters have. After talking with Vanessa who didn''t know how to answer me anything, I went back to check the Temple, it was very busy with many people coming and going. Nothing else happened inside the Temple, but because of what happened I went to look at other parts of the Dungeon, I went to look at the Cradles of Fairies and Spirits. But I was surprised with what I found, the Cradle of Spirits had a waterfall in the middle along with a lake, when I got there I felt something different, when I looked at the waterfall I felt an Aura reacting with something that I was not able to see, when I concentrated my Aura in my eyes I was able to see a large translucent door in the waterfall. I spoke to the Spirits there, they said they can see the big door perfectly, but they weren''t able to touch the door, I had a bad feeling and I ran to the Cradle of Fairies near the mansion, in the middle of a big tree there was another translucent door and the Fairies there said the same things as the Spirits. I ran back to the mansion to look for Irina, nothing happens in this Dungeon without her knowing. --------- I was in Irina''s room where she was organizing her magical bookshelf, I asked her about the doors I found. "I thought you already knew, your power was used to build the doors to the Spirit and Faerie worlds." (Irina) "Wait! What do you mean my power was used? Besides, where do those doors go?" (I) "During its evolution, a large amount of Aura and energy was leaking from its body, Layla took this moment to nourish the Cradle of Fairies with her power and Nix did the same." (Irina) "I can understand putting something to use that would go to waste, but what does that have to do with those translucent doors?" (I) "These doors when opened lead to the world of Faerie and the world of Spirits, are a requirement to evolve a Cradle into a Temple." (Irina) "Where did you learn this?" (I) "We can''t ask for help from those of the Church of Death this time, we don''t have good relations with the Fairies and Spirits either..." (I) The Church of Light is not prepared to treat damage to the Soul at this level, but we also have no other allies to ask for help in this regard. "I will seek advice from the High Priest on how to proceed with the Hero, keep taking care of everything, may Great Baldr give you strength." (I) "I am honored to serve." After the key administrator left, I go back to reading the reports we got, it looks like Zenos arrived at Navary Kingdom as we predicted, but escaped before we found out about him. After that, we lost sight of him and his companions, but the date of his arrival matches the destruction that happened in the Haffes Kingdom, it could be connected with him, but here it says that a Dragon of Light was seen. "(This could get bad if it was one of our Dragons that did this, I''ll look into that too.)" (I) --------- Pov Zenos: I was in a meeting for Hours with everyone in command positions within the Dungeon. I set up this meeting myself to talk about different topics related to Dungeoneering, about the continent, about our next destination after leaving this village, and about a proposal that popped into my head. The meeting was pretty quiet for most of the time, but at the end of the meeting, I presented my proposal which divided people. My proposal was to hold the Awakening Ceremony for loyal and willing individuals to strengthen our side, this continent has shown to have many strong people, so I want to increase our overall strength and this would be the easiest method for that. Half the people were for it while the other half were against it, those who were against it were worried about me knowing that most of the time I did this I ended up in bed for days. But in the end, everyone agreed, and it was decided that everyone would build their own list to present at the next meeting where each name on the list would be discussed by everyone. Chapter 812: Traveling To Relatives Chapter 812: Traveling To Relatives I was in the garden of my mansion receiving some guests, so I made breakfast for everyone with Freya''s help. "This sandworm pizza is delicious." (King Heston) "I had my doubts, but as the master insisted on it, we ended up doing it." (Freya) "When you''re making pizza you have to be bold to try new flavors, maybe we can make a sweet pizza next time." (I) "Looks like you really are an Outsider, they introduced a lot of things into this world, nothing major, but cooking was the most affected." (King Heston) "If you want to eat a sweet pizza, you should visit the White Elves, they make pizza like this in your village, here you can find more meat dishes." (King Heston) "I''ll think about doing that, I''m not planning on staying much longer." (I) "That''s what I wanted to ask about, I''d like to know where you plan to go from here." (King Heston) "I''m thinking of going through 2 cities for Adventurers where we can increase our strength more and some places where we can relax enjoying a beautiful view." (I) "We''re also thinking of visiting family in the meantime and stopping by the other two Elf villages." (I) "Thank you for that, it''s only now that I realize how an Ancient Elf can be of great help, we can solve problems that we usually avoid because of this new connection with nature." (King Heston) "I really appreciate being spared the care of others." (Freya) "I took care of everyone at once, Hest helped me with that." (King Heston) I''m looking forward to leaving soon, Ivan is taking care of our departure arrangements with Irius, we have a lot of places to go on this continent. Diana wants to meet her parents, and maybe meet her siblings if possible. Nix doesn''t talk about it, but I know she wants to see her father, I also know she wants to meet her sister who took her mother''s place. Vanessa, like Nix, doesn''t talk about it, but I know she wants to see her Vampire Mother, the one who rescued her from the Church of Light and tried to transform her in the past, she must be on that continent. In addition, I also want to meet my other two sisters, not to mention that I still have one of my sisters to be reborn here in the Dungeon with Margareth. From what I''ve studied about this city, I know that the buildings vary a lot in size, those in the city center have around 10 floors while the others in the rest of the city decrease in size as you move away from the city center, this is an interesting style to build a city. The city was very busy, security also seemed so-so as someone tried to grab me from behind, as I didn''t feel murderous intent I guess it was a kidnapping. I lead the couple who tried to capture me to an alleyway where I remove them from within my shadow, they both look at me in surprise before looking around, but then their gazes lock on Ibuki, she has evolved into a Demon Race called Spawn From the Underworld, she''s prettier now, her skin turned blue and her eyes turned purple, her single horn on her head seems to be made of black metal, other than that she still looks like someone in her 17 years old with a well-trained body. The couple sensed Ibuki''s killing intent while she was smiling, the way they got into a combat stance shows that these aren''t simple banishments. "" The woman started to speak while showing a dagger, I thought she was threatening us, but I soon realized that she was pointing to a symbol on the dagger''s blade. "If neither of them can speak the common language, then I will kill them both." (I) "I could kill them right now just for daring to do something to you, master." (Ibuki) I avoid using my Aura in the city, but Ibuki is using her Aura over the two of them, her Aura has the effect of madness and fear from what she told me. "I apologize, but you look a lot like someone we''re looking for, I swear in the name of Justhos, God of Justice that I''m telling the truth." (Man) "(He''s telling the truth.)" (Nix) "Do you have any proof of what you''re saying?" (I) "See, we''re looking for her, a small girl with long red hair." (Women) "When we saw you from the back we thought it was her." (Man) "We are Adventurers on a quest, the girl has disappeared." (Women) I look at the girl in the photo, and I realized that this photo was made using magic, this was done by a skilled Mage or an expensive magic item, so this child must be the daughter of a nobleman or a rich merchant. "I''m not who you''re looking for, and I''m a man, so leave before I change my mind." (I) I see the two of them looking at me and Ibuki before the woman drags the man by his collar back out into the street. Chapter 813: Cartise City Chapter 813: Cartise City Me and the others were starting to wear the mask when we left the alley, I don''t want to be recognized by people from the Church of Light, but I also didn''t want to be mistaken for a girl again. Tears "(Let''s not cry, master.)" (Nix) "(With your appearance anyone can mistake you for a girl, a beautiful girl.)" (Nix) Tears "(This is not helping...)" (I) "(We can''t do anything about your appearance, but look on the bright side, you''re beautiful.)" (Nix) Tears "(I could change the structure of my bones and body, so I would be able to have some masculine characteristics at least.)" (I) "(You don''t want to live a lie, just accept who you are, only then will you find true happiness in your life.)" (Silvia) "..." (I) Suddenly I hear Silvia''s childish voice inside my head as she talks to Nix telepathically, and I can feel her Aura inside me going to my eyes. "(How did you do it?)" (I) "(I have spent hundreds of thousands of years using Elf Kings and Queens as my representatives with the rest of the world, I know that the connection between Master and Familiars is not a one-way street.)" (Silvia) "(Because of that I know how to manipulate our connection far beyond what you can imagine, with that I felt your sadness and tried to see what had happened through your eyes.)" (Silvia)Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only "(But I soon find out that this is because of her appearance...)" (Silvia) "(This is a very important matter for me.)" (I) ---------- For the next few minutes, I spent most of the time telling Silvia not to use me as her eyes and ears without warning. While talking to Nix and Silvia in my head, I was still paying attention to the surroundings, something that caught my attention was a group of Cyclops, but these weren''t monsters, they were tall and had only one giant eye that occupied almost half of their face, but unlike the monsters I''ve fought in the past, this group was wearing Adventurer clothes made from monster leather while acting like normal people. I clearly understood that they were Demis, they seemed to be Catastrophe Grade in strength, but they are still weaker than me, so I could sense their Auras while hiding from them. Besides them, there were many other races, but most of them were still Humans, what made me most disconcerted was seeing a group of Adventurers composed of Humans and Demons laughing together. It seems that the hatred of those who live in the Dark Continent and the Morror Continent does not extend to the other continents. I also noticed the street patterns in the city, one thing I always paid attention to was these things to make sure I''m not inside a big magic circle like it was in the past in the Makari Kingdom. This lizard was bigger than me, as the monster attacked me right away, I just let it continue, to my surprise a scratch was shown on my chest as I was thrown back, so I switched to the test of scales, when I went attacked on the scales, I realized that my defense was better than before my evolution by a large margin. ---------- I end the day for a rest in the rented room, I''ve been avoiding looking at my statuses anymore, but I can''t seem to let it go. I change clothes to get more comfortable, then go to my bed where I sit to meditate for a few minutes to get my mind and body ready, then open my statuses. HP: 199040/199040 MP: 270000/270000 Ki: 270000/270000 EP: 270000/270000 PS: 50000/50000 Strength: 97200 Dexterity: 61000 Agility: 65900 Defense: 70000 Intelligence: 300000 Magic defense: 100000 Charm: 200000 Luck: -99 CONDITION: HEALTHY I skip my race, Jobs, titles, and lineages which are things I already know, then I go to my body stats, the increase in energy levels and physical characteristics are exorbitant to me. I like anyone am happy with my vitality getting stronger, but another thing I noticed was my Luck increased by just 1 point, it was so ridiculous that I felt like punching someone in the face. Another thing I was thinking about is this addition to my status, this PS thing must be Holy Power. My stat boosts have been quite large, it looks like I''ll need some time to adapt to my newfound strength. I''m thinking of going to the Adventurer''s Guild tomorrow before going back to the same Dungeon as today, this time I''ll look for stronger monsters for my training. I took one last look at my very different statuses than I had imagined, after the shock of my new status, I didn''t know how to react to it, it was a good thing to feel so much power coursing through my body continuously like this it''s amazing. Chapter 814: Training In The Dungeon Chapter 814: Training In The Dungeon The next day I was eating something at a street stall with Ibuki, Irius, and Irina before heading to the Dungeon. "I think we can go to the 80 floor, I''m not able to train with the monsters we''ve encountered so far." (I) "At least you fought, I couldn''t do anything." (Ibuki) "We''re all going to be able to fight this time, it looks like this particular floor has almost no Adventurers going." (Irius) "Did you hear anything from the Guild earlier?" (I) "It looks like this floor has a lot of hordes of monsters, plus the terrain is tricky." (Irius) "The whole place is an ice wasteland that has many areas with natural pitfalls such as cliffs hidden under thin ice, mountains of snow that crumble creating avalanches, and ice storms that create sheets of ice." (Irina) I closed my eyes where I imagine these scenarios, I imagined that in addition to these things there will still be attacks from Catastrophe Grade and higher monsters. "That won''t be a problem for me or you guys." (I) "I do not like cold." (Ibuki) "I''ve already prepared some magic items with thermal barriers, this will help protect us from the cold." (Irina) "I have cold and ice resistance, so I''ll be fine." (I) "I don''t have that stamina so thank you very much sister." (Irius) After Irina gave necklaces to Irius and Ibuki, we headed straight outside the city, while on our way to the Dungeon I went over the previous day''s experiences. I have more or less figured out about my defenses and strength, but I still don''t have a very clear view, I would also like to know if my healing ability has improved with evolution. ---------- Forest of Beasts Dungeon, 80 floor. When we reached the 80 floor, the safe room had a normal temperature, but as soon as we left the safe room, a cold gust of wind hit us, I noticed small ice spikes along with the wind, but the moment they hit me, they broke. "That was dangerous." (Ibuki) "Someone is hunting us..." (Ibuki) "..." (I) Sigh I can already imagine what Irius meant about this monster''s regeneration being a problem, Golems use the elements they are made of to regenerate. I look around only to see ice and snow everywhere, with a body that big, its core could be anywhere. "Time to test something." (I) I stand on top of a small ice mountain waiting for the big monster to approach, while I wait I continue to gather mana from the elements of darkness and fire, I also create a magic circle for curses using demonic energy in front of me. I wait until this giant monster gets closer, it was when he was tens of meters away from me that I noticed his height of more than 50 meters, he looked like a fat person covered in snow, but to my surprise, he attacked first than I did him a circular opening formed in what should have been his head, then a white tornado was heading towards me. "< Hell Phantom Flame Breath >" (I) At that moment I opened my mouth and black flames came out in a cone shape at high speed going forward, my energy was being consumed quickly, but I continued for a few seconds, and my attack passed through inside the magic circle in front of me singing a light tone red before hitting the enemy, his attack was destroyed by mine while already mist of steam spread out. After a few seconds, I stopped my attack and looked forward, but all I could see was a mist dissipating quickly, soon I could see that the appearance of the surroundings was melted into a small pond giving off steam, the monster had disappeared from the top half of the body leaving only half-melted legs still standing in the hot pond. "Father the core!" (Irina) I hear my daughter and I see a sphere floating with black flames around it, but before I do anything the sphere spins and I see the surrounding snow being sucked forming a snow tornado around where the monster was with the core as the center. In a short time, the monster was whole again, its body was exactly the same as when it was coming before my attack, the previously half-melted surroundings were frozen again, and even the lake under the monster''s feet was frozen again. "Now we know where the core is, let''s attack." (Ibuki) "No need, look." (I) I point to the monster that starts moving forward again while raising one of its arms that becomes a big ball of ice as it grows. But before the monster can lower its arm in a new attack against us, its body begins to crumble little by little, soon we see inside that huge body, a reddish black glow, then the whole body of the monster collapses and we see the core of the monster that before it was white, but now it was completely gray and full of cracks as it fell. "This attack resembles Erica''s attacks." (Irina) "I mixed my fire element with darkness to consume the enemy''s energy, I also mixed it with a demonic curse so the flame would not go out until the target was completely depleted of energy." (I) "If the core is being continuously damaged by the flames, then the regeneration of the rest of the body doesn''t matter, well thought out Father." (Irius) Chapter 815: Lower Relative Chapter 815: Lower Relative Pov of an Assassin: The night Zenos arrived in the city of Cartise. I was sitting at a food stall on a busy street, and I was waiting for someone, the person I am waiting for is late, but I am a patient man, I need to be very patient in my line of work. "I want another grilled fruit skewer." (I) "I want some too and a stiff drink if you have any." (Riley) "I have something here, but it''s not very strong." "Then give me the bottle." (Riley) "You don''t look well, lass." (I) "Leave me alone." (Riley) I reach out to touch the woman''s shoulder, but she taps my hand before touching her, thus activating the telepathic magic. "(You''re late.)" (I) "(Sorry, it took a while for the hypnosis magic item to wear off.)" (Riley) "(I hate wearing this thing, my head feels like it''s going to explode.)" (Riley) "(Tell me you didn''t kill Adventurer.)" (I) "(I thought about taking my anger out on him, but I was alone when that thing wore off, after that, I came straight here when I realized it was past the agreed time.)" (Riley) "(Did you make contact with the target?)" (I) "(In the last 3 days we found 21 people whose features resemble the target, but only 5 were boys.)" (Riley) "Looks like you got dumped, I''ll get you a glass of juice on the house, here''s your food." "We can''t always be lucky, but thanks buddy." (I) I continue to eat and drink as does Riley as our mental conversation continues without anyone noticing. "(Were any of the boys Target?)" (I) "(None of them seemed to be Vampire, but there were two that caught my attention, one was being accompanied by a Dragonewt and the other was being accompanied by a female Demon.)" (Riley) "Is that a Lesser Familiar?" (Irina) "Yes, I call them Shadow Leeches." (I) "When did you create this thing?" (Irius) "I''ve been trying to create these Soulless Familiars since we left the Dark Continent, I needed to study more magical theory to do this, and I also needed to spend a lot of time meditating to figure out what form to give them." (I) "It has to be a shape that has a strong connection with your mind, something engraved deep within you." (Irina) "That''s why I chose something I once was, I chose the shape of the race I was born into this world for." (I) A Lesser Familiar is a soulless creature that feeds only on the energy of its creator, its power and abilities depend entirely on who created it, but these things cannot evolve and follow only instructions. "I sent this little friend along with a few others into the shadows of the couple who tried to get me yesterday." (I) "I thought they were Adventurers." (Ibuki) "One of them was, but the other person, the woman was the one who tried to attack us today inside the Dungeon, I felt her Aura and in that brief moment I told this little thing to come back to me leaving the others in her shadow." (I) "If I meditate I can connect with them, but I can''t fully connect with them like I do with Nix and the others." (I) "What do we do?" (Irina) "I''ll send two specialists to get her." (I) As soon as I finished speaking, two people come out of my shadow accompanied by Fairies who go back inside the Dungeon after finishing delivering these two people. "What did you call us for?" (Elsaris) "Is this the city full of Dungeons?" (Kira) "I have a little job for you two." (I) "Who do we have to kill?" (Elsaris) "Who spoke of killing someone?" (I) Elsaris turns to Ibuki, so I can see that Ibuki is giving off slight murderous intent. "We''re not going to kill anyone, at least not before we get some answers." (I) I place my finger on Kira''s forehead and Elsaris meanwhile do non-elemental magic for simple telepathic magic, then share with them the information my little Familiar has given me such as where this woman is, what she looks like, her name, and a sample of her Aura. "Bring this woman, she is SSS Grade so it shouldn''t be difficult for you." (I) Chapter 816: Kidnapping An Assassin Chapter 816: Kidnapping An Assassin Pov An Assassin''s: But what was it? I was following them since the morning and I heard them saying about going to one of the Dungeons, I even heard the floor of the Dungeon where they were going, I went ahead to wait for them. But I didn''t expect them to notice my attack, plus the way they blocked my attack demonstrated a level of power that made me worried. "Damn, they''re clearly above Catastrophe Lesser Grade, the kid didn''t even try to defend himself and still almost found me." (I) If I didn''t have that detection item I wouldn''t have discovered those lines in time, the decision to run was the best I had. Unfortunately, my plan B will also fail, I managed to lure that troublesome immortal Floor Boss, I wanted to lure them further into the floor first, but as I had to flee earlier than expected, I had no choice but to use the Floor Boss to divert the their attention from me. "They were still close to the safe room, when they realize how impossible that pile of snow is to defeat, they will be able to escape easily..." (I) Sigh My only two plans failed, but at least I know this job is above my level, I''ll go find that idiot and leave everything to him, Victor can take care of him with ease. I run straight to my hideout, a room underneath a clothing store as soon as I enter I lock the door while activating the alarm, I''d like to activate a barrier, but these things can draw attention, so it''s better without barriers. "I have to think of a new escape plan, my mission failed, but before I have to find Victor tonight, I have to tell you that this boy has a high chance of being our target." (I) --------- I spent a few hours inside the room waiting for the moment to meet Victor, but something was making me uneasy. "(Why won''t this feeling go away!?)" (I) During my wait, an uncomfortable feeling grew inside my mind, I felt watched all the time, but I already confirmed that I was not followed before arriving at this hiding place, the detection item also did not capture any Aura, magic, Ki, or vital energy, so why doesn''t this feeling go away? I look at the clock, and seeing that it''s already close to the scheduled time, I''m ready to leave, and I left the store like any other customer wearing normal clothes. I choose to enter through empty streets or alleys so as not to focus on the crowd, my detection item would be of no use if I was walking through the main streets. "But what..." (I) "We got you..."Updated chapters at novelhall.com "Why would I drink something so bitter?" (Kira) "You can put sugar." (I) "Then I''d rather have a glass of juice, much better in this heat." (Kira) "It''s not that hot..." (I) I look around down the street noticing even most people are wearing less clothes than they were yesterday, plus many are covered in sweat. "Let''s get to the main subject, did you get anything from our guest?" (I) "Yes, member of the Assassins'' Guild, it appears there is a contract for your head." (Kira) "Do you know who placed that contract?" (I) "The Guild doesn''t divulge the applicants for the contracts, but we can assume it''s the Church of Light." (Kira) "How did she manage to lie to Nix when we found her the first day?" (I) "She didn''t lie, he put himself into a hypnosis using a mind magic item with a temporary effect, so she believed she was telling the truth that day." (Nix) "Find out anything else?" (I) "She works with a man named Victor, but she knows that name is false, he also took that contract and seems to be much stronger than her." (Kira) "Before you ask, she doesn''t know how much stronger he is exactly, it seems that besides him they will eliminate 4 more boys with characteristics similar to you." (Kira) "They don''t know my identity?" (I) "Apparently not." (Kira) "Other than that we don''t have any more useful information." (Kira) "Kill her after Lilith is finished." (I) "What will we do?" (Kira) "Nothing, let''s act normal, if we run away after she disappears we''ll attract attention, let''s act normal and leave in a few days." (I) Chapter 817: A Childish Smile With A Big Shadow Chapter 817: A Childish Smile With A Big Shadow Pov An Assassin''s: The day after the meeting with Riley, I found the boy, he has a Security guard that protects him at all times, and he seems to have the same strength as me more or less from what I can see of his Aura without being discovered, that means that his strength is around King Superior Grade. I watch them for a few hours, they walk aimlessly through the city, the boy always has a smile on his face saying where he wants to go, and the security guard says little only when the boy talks to him first. The security guard seems to have more developed muscles in his arms, I also see a sword on his waist, he is always watching the surroundings, but his movement is a little stiff, he must be a Soldier, maybe a Knight from somewhere, that means this boy must be a Noble. "If this Dragonewt''s focus is on strength, then I''ll be able to outrun him in speed, I don''t need to fight back since my target is just the boy." (I) I form a plan in my head with the information I''ve learned so far, I''m going to use my speed and full strength to kill the boy in the first hit after that I just need to run away. Trying to fight Dragonewt will cause destruction in the surroundings and draw attention that I don''t need, so I have to eliminate the boy and run away, even if I''m chased by Dragonewt afterwards it won''t matter, it will be easy to lose him. "Now let''s put that plan into practice." (I) ---------- I follow the boy to a food stall, it''s already the 8 he passes just today, this stall is empty and it''s close to an alley, besides there''s no one else on that parallel street. "An opportunity." (I) "< High Speed Water Flow >" (I) I wait for Dragonewt to put the food in his mouth, so at that moment I hold my short sword in one hand while activating two physical enhancement skills using Ki and Mana of the water element, my sword has an effect that ignores magic barriers. I was on top of a 4 story building, in the shadow of another larger building, I was positioned on the boy''s right side while Dragonewt was on his left, I was positioned perfectly for my plan. This time I really realized that I kicked an Orichalcum plate, this time while the boy was talking I heard two voices talking at the same time as a big shadow appeared behind the boy. One voice was childlike and calm, this was the voice of the boy who was decapitated a few seconds ago, the other voice was coming from that shadow and had a macabre tone in the voice as each word carried palpable killing intent that shivered through my body filled with fear. This giant shadow was only composed of 2 big red eyes and a mouth with sharp shadow teeth, with a smile similar to the boy''s. "I will dispose of the corpse, Lord Shadow." (Dragonewt) I wanted to speak, scream and if it worked even beg, but I couldn''t move or speak, it was like the shadows were sucking my power. All I could see was that creature in the form of a child approaching me, little by little. ---------- Pov Zenos: After finding out that I''m being wanted by Assassins, I started thinking about possible situations that could happen, I didn''t say this to others, but there could still be a chance that the next Assassins will be much stronger than me. "Do you have any ideas what to do about the Assassins?" (I) "You don''t have to do anything, your appearance and Aura have changed a lot, it would be difficult for anyone to recognize you, but the same cannot be said for others." (Elsaris) "I think we can stay here a little longer, from the information they didn''t know if it was you, that''s why someone so weak was sent." (Kira) What Kira says makes sense, maybe I''m getting overly worried about nothing, nobody has any evidence about me being with her yet, so Rudolfo should be fine. Feeling a little more relieved, I start thinking about what else I have to do in this city. Chapter 818: A Plan Unfolds In The Shadows Chapter 818: A Plan Unfolds In The Shadows Pov of a cultist: I was honored to be chosen to stand beside the Lord of Shadows in his new vessel during an important mission, I know that I was only chosen for my appearance which is intimidating to others because I am a Dragonewt. Fools often judge by appearance, so having someone strong and intimidating like me around was a decision to prevent people from getting close to the Lord of Shadows. But I didn''t expect us to be targeted by an Assassin being only 3 days in this city, everything was going according to plan and I never let my guard down, but it seems I didn''t put enough effort into my duties. "Looks like he had a good plan to escape." (Lord of Shadows) I was on my knees after smashing the food stall vendor''s head and burning the body, I was waiting for the Lord of Shadows to finish feeding on the Assassin who ripped the head from its receptacle. "Sir, excuse the impertinence, but shouldn''t we have questioned the Assassin?" (I) "That was my idea too, unfortunately, he was smart and had a plan to escape." (Lord of Shadows)The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) "That body was a Homunculus, he used a curse to trap his Soul in that body until death, so after death, his Soul would be sent back to his body which must be somewhere safe." (Lord of Shadows) "So he ran away?" (I) "He had a magic item inside his body, it was activated when all of his energy was absorbed by me, he thought this plan would be enough for him to escape in the worst of situations." (Lord of Shadows) "His Soul was injured by my shadow, his Soul may have escaped, but he took death straight to his real body, in a matter of minutes he will be dead." (Lord of Shadows) So the Lord of Shadows didn''t Devour him without reason, he caused his own death to escape, a fool who doesn''t know that escaping from the Lord of Shadows is impossible. I look around at the barrier, it''s been a few minutes, and someone must have noticed what''s going on. Soon Ibuki goes down and we run again, the next monsters were Ice Golems, these were problematic enemies for Ibuki to fight against, so I throw myself in the middle of them unarmed, as these Ice Golems look like Humans with armor, I thought of calling them ice soldiers, I fight them just using Martial Arts. I concentrate fire element ki in my hands and start fighting them, even though they have humanoid bodies they fight very differently from people, their limbs twist into strange positions and attacks can come from any part of their bodies. I take advantage of this rare scene to better train my control over my own body, but they were too many and I was needing it if I didn''t do something, Ibuki seeing that I wanted to continue fighting that way to train and join the fight. Ibuki and I started to fight with just our fists and legs, while we hit the ice golems we were circling each other as if we were dancing together, thanks to my Aura I could perfectly follow Ibuki''s movements, but it surprised me that she did the same with me without using her Aura. While I landed blows that sent chunks of the Golems flying away, Ibuki landed blows that apparently did nothing against the Golems, but over time I saw their white or blue bodies getting black spots, I soon noticed that those with these spots got weaker, and slow, when the stains spread until they reached the core of the Golems they broke into shards of ice on the ground. After hours of fighting hundreds of clearly strong Golems, we came back with a big smile on our faces. ----------- Pov of a cultist: "Sir, I think we found the place of the Cursed Dungeon." (I) "Yes, it can only be here." (Lord of Shadows) We were in a square on the west side of the city, in this place there were 4 churches, a Church of Light, a Temple of the Law, a Church of Wisdom, and the Temple of Life. "That''s why it was so difficult to find, the Holy Aura of these holy places is interfering with my senses, and that must also be why they managed to seal that place for so long." (Lord of Shadows) "We know it''s not inside any of those places, so it must be underneath..." (Shadow Lord) After that, we started making preparations for our mission. Chapter 819: Im Dreaming? Chapter 819: I''m Dreaming? Pov Nicolas: "I wanted to say no to this drawing, but you may have given me an excellent idea." (I) "I knew that at some point I would be able to convince..." (Leonardo) "I needed more space for energy storage, but I would have to change a lot of the structure for that, if I put in breasts, I can use them as extra space without making big changes." (I) "So we should..." (Leonardo) "It doesn''t have to be very big, the magic cores I created with Lyra''s help are compact, I just needed more space to store mana, but maybe I could use the other one for extra processing use." (I) "I don''t think he''s listening to you." (Rakan) "We''ll be back later?" (Leonardo) "Perhaps I could take advantage of these modifications to coat the magic cores with Orichalcum scales, that way I could put many different types of defense, I can also use the curse idea that Erica suggested." (I) "I''m leaving, he has entered his own mind, he must not even realize that we are in front of him now." (Rakan) "I can use curses as links between the items and the body, so I can prevent other people from stealing my body like in the past." (I) I was imagining the various changes I can make to my body, I have to say that the only drawback of not having a real brain was the decrease in my creativity, that''s why the main processing core was done especially with the crystallization and synthesis of brain of many different races of people before making the synthesis with magic crystals of various elements, with the crystallized blood of Zenos and the core of a powerful Golem. My body will have a total of 5 Cores and 2 magic crystals, this counting the additions I just thought of, they will have multiple functions, if I use the same binding curse on the whole set, maybe that will prevent others from taking possession of my body or parts of my body as in the past, it will also prevent others from trying to separate my Soul from my new body. "Zenos''s Awakening Ceremony might be better, but maybe this Curse could be improved or replaced with something better during this Awakening Ceremony." (I) "I think another 1 or maybe 2 weeks should be enough to finish these modifications, it will depend on the speed Anton finishes manufacturing the Orichalcum scales and the time Ragnar will take to put the defense spells on these scales." (I) When I finished making mental notes about the various changes to my body and future plans that I will have to discuss with my collaborators, I realized that I was sitting alone in the room, my visitors gone. "Where did they go?" (I) "The people in this Dungeon are very rude for leaving unannounced like that." (I) "When it comes to your sister, you''re not capable of thinking rationally, which in the case of someone as violent as you makes everything worse, would be the same as sending you to your death." (Austin) "The only ones capable of performing an Awakening Ceremony are powerful Spirits, Fairies, and True Dragons, all of that without considering the Gods." (Austin) "You would have brought yourself to death by seeking out any one of them." (Austin) I try to think back to what I was like back then, which he says isn''t too far off from what I really could have done, but still, I can''t forget that I could have freed my sister centuries before. "You as well as all new Vampires have the same problem, everyone thinks the same way as other races." (Austin) "We are immortal, we can be killed, but we will never age or die naturally, so we have to take our time and consider all possibilities." (Austin) "I knew that in time you would gain the wisdom that comes with age, I knew that one day you would find some way to help your sister, it was just a matter of time." (Austin) "You achieving this before the age of 1000 and the way you did it was a surprise to me, even more so with the Father you chose to follow." (Austin) "You know about Zenos..." (I) "Any Vampire my age or older will know about him, the youngest and most mysterious son of the Blood Goddess." (Austin) "Don''t look at me like that, I won''t do anything to him, no Vampire with any intelligence would do anything to someone of the Goddess bloodline." (Austin) "As much as everyone wants to argue or deny it, we are favored by her power, even when we are against her, nothing happens to reach us, that''s because we are harmless in her eyes, but the moment she sees that we are a threat to her children, then death may be the least of our problems." (Austin) ---------- Pov Zenos: For some reason I was in front of a spooky mansion surrounded by mist, there seemed to be countless red eyes within the mist looking at me while I felt the killing intent of thousands of people around me even though I was alone. I was confused not knowing where I was or how I got here, I didn''t understand anything that was going on, which only made me more confused. "Wait!" (I) I tried to remember the last thing I was doing before showing up here, that''s when I realized I was going to sleep after returning from the Dungeon with Ibuki, at that moment I realized where I was, as real as it seems. "I''m dreaming?" (I) Chapter 820: Younger Brother Chapter 820: Younger Brother I could remember going to sleep, other than that nothing else happened and I don''t remember waking up, so this could only be a dream or a nightmare. I look at this macabre mansion and the black fog around it with these countless devil eyes, everything seems very real, it''s not just what I see, I can smell the grass and blood, I can feel the wind already on my skin, I can feel the my heart beats and I can feel the countless presences hidden by the fog. I can rationally understand that this is a dream, yet there is a voice that never seems to go away inside my head trying to convince me that this is all real. "What''s going on? A mental attack? Another God appearing in my dreams? What''s this all about?" (I) "A strong will, I''m impressed..." "I won''t do anything to you, come in..." "Who are you?" (I) "Come to me, I''m too lazy to come to you, I don''t like to strain myself unnecessarily..." "..." (I) "Don''t make me wait too long..." I tried to identify where the voice was coming from, but each word seemed to come from a different direction, his last sentence sounding like he was whispering right in my ear. "(I don''t have much choice.)" (I) In that situation there wasn''t much I could do, dragging myself into this dream by force or entering my dream and changing it like that shows a level of power I can''t match, trying to resist would be futile. I start to enter the door of the macabre mansion, I wanted to at least find out who was coming for me this time, I could only hope that it wasn''t an enemy. As soon as I walked through the door I was in the middle of a strange garden, the flowers were all silver or blue, there was a lake with strange yellow from which I could smell a fruit that I know also there were a few trees that had strange things like fruits, there were a tree that had bottles of thick red liquid instead of fruit, also had a tree whose fruit was a variety of sandwiches. I look up where I see even more absurd things, there was just a big silver moon that looks like it was carved with eyes and a smile like a blue light shining inside, plus the stars in the sky form various constellations that came to life moving in the sky nocturnal as if feasting. "I feel inside the mind of a madman or maybe the mind of a child." (I) I remember my previous vision, there was a little boy who drew a pizza tree, this place is surreal nonsense. "Welcome to my room, have a seat." "Good boy, good... good..." (Caitlyn) "..." (I) Soon the terrible presence I felt coming from her disappears as if she had never been there and pats my head as if praising me for doing something right, she was treating me like a child. When I called her big sister, I noticed her eyes shining with happiness, she even had a slight smile, which was the first time I saw any emotion on her face until now. "I''m going to be a good big sister, I''m going to be the best big sister, yes... yes..." (Caitlyn) "Can you get off of me, please?" (I) As I say this the bed changes shape and before I know it I''m lying with my head in her lap. "Good boy, everything will be fine now, big sister will take care of you." (Caitlyn) "I''ll rub it in the faces of the other two that I found you first." (Caitlyn) "..." (I) "I found you first, right?" (Caitlyn) "..." (I) "Who was it? The boring one or the idiot?" (Caitlyn) "I am hosting Margareth..." (I) Before I could finish talking I was facing her with our faces inches apart as I was she was grabbing my face in both hands with a ghastly look in her eyes. "The idiot is dead, Margareth was taking care of her Soul, that doesn''t count, you didn''t meet her in person, so I''m the first Big Sister..." (Caitlyn) Before she can continue I feel a red light flash and I feel like she hears someone laughing in my ear loudly. "I''ll trap you in a nightmare for 10000 years you violent idiot..." (Caitlyn) In the midst of my sister''s curses I woke up in my bed with Margareth next to my bed, there was also a red crystal floating above me as it glowed. Chapter 821: Initiating The Shadow Lords Plan Chapter 821: Initiating The Shadow Lord''s Plan Pov of an Assassin at the Gates of Death: Cough Cough Cough Cough "Like... like that damn... boy..." (I) Cough Cough Cough Cough I am filled with fear when I was captured by that monster using the boy''s body to hide, I realized that I was finally going to put my final escape plan into practice, this escape plan is something that needs years of preparation and a fortune to used, it will take me years to make another body like this, but it will all be worth it now. Fortunately, the shackles of shadows were absorbing my energy, when I felt the effects of the energy running out and the activation of the explosive magic item near my heart. After that I don''t remember much about the rest, I remember the pain I felt, I remember the feeling of desolation of death and the shock of waking up in my hiding place. I thought I had escaped, but when I opened my eyes all I could see was a secret underground room, at that moment a pain I have never felt in any kind of torture that has ever been laid on me. The pain was the only thing on my mind for hours, but as I got weaker, I lost my senses one by one, the pain seemed to subside, and that''s when I could get my mind to work. I couldn''t move due to the great weakness I felt, but when I saw my arm completely covered in gray and rotting with me still alive. "(Am I going to die? In a hidden place like this? Alone? This way...)" (I) Before I could finish my thought, I felt something inside of me break, in that moment my consciousness sank, being consumed by darkness. ---------- Pov Caitlyn (Living Nightmare): I was always the youngest, and because of that everyone always compared me to those two, everyone always talking about how I was a disappointment and how unreliable. Also, those two always thinking they were superior just because they were born before, but when I found out about the existence of our new brother I realized that I would never be the younger sister again, that for the first time someone called me an older sister. From the mother''s request and the information that the True Dragons possess, I knew that this stubborn Dragon''s daughter was with my brother, so I thought I could wait while I slept here and let the Dragons take care of me. But in one of my countless dreams I thought about a bad situation, I thought about how bad it would be if the other two found him first. Pov Cultist: During the night we were in the rented house we used as a base, I was doing maintenance on the Shadow Lord''s vessel. I was using potions to repair damage to the Vessel''s body from the use of the Shadow Lord''s power, this temporary Vessel cannot withstand its power. Fighting that Assassin made him weaker. "What will be our next step, my lord?" (I) "Should we attack the Cursed Dungeons seal or attack the City Government warehouse?" (I) "Neither, I need to make some preparations for this body to withstand my power long enough for these tasks." (Lord of Shadows) "I have to be able to channel my power through a body to be able to carry out our plans." (Lord of Shadows) "I will follow your orders." (I) "Let''s go to the Dungeon, one of the normal ones to be able to get some sacrifices." (Lord of Shadows) ---------- We were inside one of the largest Dungeons in terms of the size of the floors in this city, this place was excellent for me to find what the Lord of Shadows needs. "Do you need anything else?" (I) "Now we can continue with my plan." (Lord of Shadows) The Lord of Shadows was sitting on a pile of half-eaten corpses as he pointed one of my arms in the direction we should go. The corpses where the Lord of Shadows sat began to be completely devoured by Shadows. "Now let''s find the node to open the seal of the Cursed Dungeon so that we can enter without being noticed by the 4 religions." (I) With that we return to the city without leaving any body parts behind, nobody will know what happened here today. Chapter 822: Nicolas New Body Part 1 Chapter 822: Nicolas New Body Part 1 I had woken up in my bed with Margareth next to my bed and a red crystal floating above me, I recognize this crystal being the one that Margareth always carries as a necklace, she told me that this crystal is where the Soul of one of my sisters is. "Was it you or she who woke me, Margareth?" (I) After I speak the red crystal falls as it gets dark, but before I can grab it Margareth grabs it. "It was my master who sensed what was happening to you." (Margareth) "Was it Miss Caitlyn?" (Margareth) "Yes, she reminds me a lot of Hinata, but much worse and more volatile." (I) "Miss Caitlyn''s emotions change easily, not to mention her constant wiggling." (Margareth) "But you shouldn''t be fooled by her lazy and innocent appearance, she is a master of all kinds of abnormal effects, she was once in a bad mood when the war between two Kingdoms destroyed the hotel she had broken into to sleep." (Margareth) "Because of that, she put 80% of the continent''s population to sleep within the same nightmare." (Margareth) "That seems pretty extreme." (I) "I''m not done yet, within that nightmare she made the rulers of these two Kingdoms become monsters that preyed on other people in the nightmare." (Margareth) "This can be a little disturbing, even more so for someone used to the luxury of being a ruler..." (I) "It only lasted a few hours in the real world, but within the nightmares, it lasted for years, when everyone returned to normal the rulers of these two Kingdoms had gone mad, their minds had long since broken and they believed themselves to be monsters." (Margareth) I understand her being woken up by her room falling on top of her, but this was way beyond over the top.Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only "Did people just accept it?" (I) "That was a mild one, you should see what she does with those she considers enemies." (Margareth) "Actually, better not see it, not a nice thing to talk about, so let''s change the subject." (Margareth) She is very interested in this skill because she can use it to get back to eating, she always sees everyone eating Caryna and Freya''s food, so I imagine that this sparked her interest in eating, this was the solution she and Hela thought of for this. I open the door and enter the workshop, as soon as I enter I see boxes and more boxes with pieces of different sizes. I go through the rooms and I notice that each room has something different, in one of the rooms I see several artificial limbs, some were even moving. In another room, I see several monster cores, magic crystals, and some tools that I don''t understand. In another room, there were diagrams and drawings of something too technical for me to understand, so I didn''t even waste my time trying. In another room, there were shelves with several bottles with names labeled on each bottle. After seeing all this I have to admit that I don''t understand even half of what I''ve seen, I go straight to the big doors at the end of one of the corridors, if I remember correctly it was the one with the most space, so I''m sure it will be his main office. I open the doors and step inside, only to be met with a scene that could be in a horror movie. There was a naked, bald teenager having her face ripped off by a robot muttering incomprehensible things while surrounded by cursed magic circles, plus I realized that there was a liquid that was my blood mixed with something else. "Nicolas can you tell me what this is?" (I) "..." (Nicolas) "Nicolas!" (I) "..." (Nicolas) He didn''t seem to have noticed my presence, but as I approached I could see better what he was doing, under the teenage girl''s skin there was a silver metal skull with some details in red and gold, if it was completely silver I would think Nicolas was planning send this girl back in time to prevent a supposed savior from being born. "Why did one of the robot girl''s fingers fall to the ground?" (I) "What!? How did it fall? Where is it? Zenos Masters!?" (Nicolas) "Hello Nicolas." (I) "How did you get here? In fact, where is the finger you were talking about? These things are very delicate since rica placed her Curse." (Nicolas) Chapter 823: Nicolas New Body Part 2 Chapter 823: Nicolas New Body Part 2 Pov of a cultist: We spent two days making the preparations, I took care of the items we could buy in the Black Market, meanwhile, the Lord of Shadows was taking care of the ritual, as I had to stay a few days away while he was below the sewer in the secret room where the Dungeon was sealed. When I entered there, I saw hundreds of people tied up, all of whom emit Auras of the Lower Catastrophe Grade or the Catastrophe Grade, but looked weak while bound by tentacles of shadows. I put all the items I bought in front of the Lord of Shadows, his vessel was very different from how it was two days before. His nose had fallen off leaving a grotesque hole in its place, one of his eyes was rotten, his body was covered in hideous sores, his horns were cracked and his hair had fallen out. There was nothing left that could resemble the childlike, innocent appearance this Vessel once had. But even in this horrible state, he acted normally, pain didn''t matter to him, besides this Vessel was expendable from the beginning. "Everything is here, Lord of Shadows." (I) "You did good, now I want you to do this for me." (Lord of Shadows) I pick up the reading crystal to read, it was instructions for creating a humanoid Kimera. "Are you sure they were it?" (I) "The Black Market is an older and more powerful Organization than you can imagine, as long as I give them instructions with the specifications I want like I''m doing now, they''ll get an Alchemist to do it." (Lord of Shadows) "One of the inconveniences I have to endure, this Vessel will break beyond repair upon activation of the ritual." (Lord of Shadows)Updated chapters at novelhall.com "If I don''t have that Vessel I asked for then I''m going to use your body, so better not fail me." (Lord of Shadows) I know very well that it won''t just be a matter of death if he takes my body, he consumes the Soul of the body he steals, and that''s why he keeps them alive. I like everyone else swore loyalty to the Lord of Shadows in exchange for power, I can''t escape him and if I try I will die in seconds while my Soul will be consumed by him. "I will not fail you sir." (I) I turn and walk away letting him continue building the ritual, I saw him grab one of the bound people with a large hand of shadows as he crushed her letting his blood and energies build the ritual circle. With that, I take off running so I don''t waste even a second as I run straight to the Black Market. . . <[ Nicolas (Otherworld Soul) agreed to be subjugated by you ]> At that moment I feel my mana, spiritual energy, vital energy, and, incredible as it may seem, my Holy Power started to leave my body and enter directly into Nicolas''s new body. Ding! <[ Choose 3 powers to grant Nicolas (Otherworld Soul) ]> I choose to give him the synthesis skill, I give him the parallel processing skill, and lastly, I give him a drop of my blood to perfect the blood already inside this robotic body. Ding! <[ Power grant ended ]> . . . <[ Wake-up process starting ]> . . . <[ Wake up process completed ]> I feel my power being sucked into him, I endure it until I realize a mist of blood was forming around Nicolas''s new genderless body. This time I had a lot of power, so I didn''t feel the exhaustion from the accelerated consumption of energy. Nicolas is trapped inside a bright red crystal that I imagine is my blood, what makes me more worried is what will come out of there, I didn''t know I have the slightest idea what he will miss tomorrow. Chapter 824: New Receptacle Chapter 824: New Receptacle Pov of a cultist: I came back two days later carrying a metal casket, luckily they managed to create Kimera very quickly, but I made sure I followed through to make sure every step was being taken seriously. I didn''t see who the Black Market Alchemist was since he was wearing a mask, but his assistants were all slaves with purple Runes all over their bodies, clearly under a powerful curse engraved on their bodies by these Runes. The process was something I had seen before, they used a child who was a slave, just as the Lord of Shadows requested this child had Pure Affinity with the Shadow element and high Affinity with magic, unfortunately, they did not find a boy, but as the gender did not it was on the Shadow Lord''s roster requirements, so it should suit any gender. The young girl was a Demon, as requested her heart was replaced with that of a Rune, her eyes were changed with the eyes of a High White Elf, and her blood was drained replacing it with the Blood of a pure Vampire bloodline and a Phantom Orb was placed inside his body. I was scared when the girl''s body started to reject the various procedures, but I was impressed by how the Black Market Alchemist was able to keep everything under control and finish off the Kimera, the girl''s mind is basically broken by the pain of everything that has happened it passed leaving her more like a murderous beast, but none of that matters as her body will be taken over by the Lord of Shadows soon. I carry the metal coffin containing Kimera through the sewers and through the Illusionary barrier created to hide the hole we made to get to the secret room. The secret room was built using the base of a natural cavern that was where the Cursed Dungeon originated, a place that was used to bury death row inmates centuries before this city was built on top of the remains of the ancient city that once stood here. As soon as I arrived in the room I see a blood tornado connecting the floor to the ceiling with two large ritual magic circles one on the ceiling above the blood tornado and the other on the floor below the blood tornado, there were also dozens of magic circles floating around the room tornado swirling around him. From the location inside this tornado must be the entrance to the Cursed Dungeon, I was only a little surprised by this turn of events, but I soon started looking for the Lord of Shadows. "I am here." (Lord of Shadows) He appears beside me before I know it, his body can no longer be recognized as that of a child, he has no eyes, no ears, and one arm is missing, his skin is dark gray and full of cracks, and his body is thin with her skin stuck to her bones, the few wounds I can make out on her body that looks more like a corpse, weren''t bleeding, I doubt there''s even a drop of blood left inside her body. "< Activate >" (Shadow Lord) Ahhhhhh! Haaaaaa! Ggrrrrr! Purple and dark energies pour out of the Shadow Lord''s body and shadow entering the tornado of blood that glows brightly as what''s left of the Shadow Lord''s body crumbles away leaving only a shadowy figure behind. Crack Crack Crack Soon sounds of cracking and breaking began to sound as a mist of miasma began to spread around the surroundings. When the energy stopped flowing from the Lord of Shadows to the tornado, then the shadow that holds the outline of a person stretches its shadow arm towards the Kimera pulling it. The Kimera disappears into the shadows that have started to diminish, and little by little the body becomes visible again as I see the shadows coming in through her mouth, ears, nose, and eyes until there is no shadow left. Kimera''s body struggled for a few seconds while floating in the air while her hair changed to red, and her horns turned black, then she lands on her feet when she opens her eyes it looks more like the eyes of a person with the red iris. "Not as comfortable as the old body, but still good, too bad my strength has become more limited in this body." (Lord of Shadows) He looks at the still swirling tornado of blood and then looks at me again. "This ritual will take three days, we have to get what we need by then, let''s go." (Lord of Shadows) I rise from where I''ve been kneeling and follow the Shadow Lord outside. Chapter 825: A New Body For A Genius Chapter 825: A New Body For A Genius I was wondering how long it would take Nicolas to get trapped in that crystal, but before I could move from where I was, I noticed something and looked at the crystal again. "This time it was fast." (I) The crystal started to crack as its brightness diminished, then a presence comes out of the crystal as if looking for something, then I feel an Aura accompanying this presence as if looking at the surroundings. Soon I feel this Aura attach to mine, it was as if I was asking for something and the crystal kept cracking, this Aura was strange. "(I will allow it just this once.)" (Goddess Mavis) "..." (I) Suddenly a white glow breaks through the wall and passes through me, I feel the Blessing of the Goddess of Life within me awaken as my body fills with vitality far beyond what I should possess, and this vitality passes through my Aura into the strange Aura my grip finally enters the crystal which turns white as the cracks are repaired. Soon I see the crystal that had a solid shape become gelatinous as it changes to a pulsating oval shape, I could feel a new Aura arise among the crowd that was watching, I turn around and see that it is High Priestess Yara''s Aura. Her Aura was full of vitality, it was warm, confused, and radiated everywhere, this Aura joins mine being absorbed by this gelatinous thing that starts to pulsate in the rhythm of a heart. The pulsations became more frequent as the speed increased, and I saw the gelatinous thing that had been a crystal shrink in size. When I thought that everything was being absorbed by Nicolas, I saw that I was wrong, the gelatinous thing took a humanoid shape, attaching itself to Nicolas'' body showing the outline of that body. It didn''t take long after that for this gelatinous layer around Nicolas'' body to dry until it was as thin and frank as a sheet of paper, then this layer of paper began to tear on its own as its pieces were floating around revealing a body underneath little by little. Soon the new poultry body was in plain sight, she looked like a teenage girl, her hair was red like mine, her skin white with silver tattoos that resemble a circuit board on her arms going up her shoulders and neck to her cheeks, her eyes they were gold with 4-pointed stars similar to crosses in the middle of the iris.Updated chapters at novelhall.com Her body was thin, with little curves and modest breasts, but her beauty was unmistakable, looking like a smart and modest young woman who seems to go well with a pair of glasses, I have to remember to give this suggestion later. What I found strange was that several parts that didn''t have before appeared now, the parts of a woman''s body, but even so, no one rushed to deliver an outfit to her, that''s because the pieces of the thin white layer that covered her body even before were floating around her body. At that moment her eyes sparkle full of life and those white pieces have gathered on her forehead forming a white crystal horn on one side of her forehead. Ding! It seems that the shock of becoming a girl did not occur, I think that for her the problem of gender is less than having her body modified, which she was so proud of having designed. "I can explain what happened, but we''d better go somewhere more private." (Yara) "You can say it right here, I don''t care if you listen, I have nothing to hide." (Nicole) High Priestess Yara was looking at Nicole with amusement, she was taking full advantage of this situation. "No one but me, Miss Vanessa, Miss Freya, Miss Silvia, and Zenos have heard the voice of my Goddess." (Yara) "But only I received your oracle, you were going to speak in this attempt at rebirth, your Soul realized this and attached itself to something by instinct due to the Ceremony of Awakening, it attached itself to Zenos." (Yara) "That place is still a Temple where my Goddess is enshrined and she heard your wish for her to live." (Yara) "She bestowed upon you the gift of life once more, completing your rebirth and permanently linking your lineage with Zenos." (Yara) "But that came with a lot of concessions that you have no choice but to follow." (Yara) "For starters, she helped define her gender by following the designer path her body took." (Yara) "Besides, you''ll be hungry even if your body doesn''t feel the lack of food, that hunger will increase if you don''t eat, plus you''ll have a big appetite." (Yara) "She also made sure you feel sleepy so you''ll need to sleep every night, she did all this to make sure you live your life longer and not waste your whole life inside a room." (Yara) "The changes in your body don''t change what you planned before, in fact, you came to life as a spectral creature, that''s because your Soul is inhabiting an object that shouldn''t have life." (Yara) "Also, give up body-swapping for no reason, you can live in Spectral form temporarily outside your body, but you cannot enter another body or possess other objects while your body exists." (Yara) "My Goddess also made it very clear that this current body of yours can evolve and grow along with you, but that comes at the cost of, even if it is destroyed, every body you have will have the same specs and appearance." (Yara) "What the..." (Nicole) "My Goddess also asked me to convey that the next time you try to cheat death you will send your Taboo Hunters after you, so try to keep yourself in line from now on, Miss Nicole." (Henrique) Right after High Priestess Yara finished speaking, High Priest Henry of the Church of Death steps forward to convey the will of his Demon Goddess of Death. Chapter 826: Centuries Of Preparation Chapter 826: Centuries Of Preparation Pov a Cultist: I accompanied the Lord of Shadows while we invaded a house, I didn''t even have to kill the family, that''s because he used the whole family as food. "These Kimeras need a lot of nutrients and vitality to adjust their adaptability, but this one needs a lot more food than the previous one, it seems that a hurried job can''t be as good as I thought it would be." (Lord of Shadows) "You need to take one and find normal clothes, Lord of Shadows." (I) "I know, that''s why I chose this house, the girl I saw through the window looked the same size as this new Vessel." (Lord of Shadows) As he spoke the blood the same color as his eyes and hair dripped from his lips, he spoke normally even in the middle of the massacre where we were, he even points to the corner of the room where half a head was, that''s what was left of the body of the young woman who was the first to be devoured. "While I finish my meal and clean up, find me something to wear." (Lord of Shadows) "Right now, Lord of Shadows." (I) ----------- Some hours later.The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) Less than 3 hours later we were walking down the street to a large government building, we stopped in front of the building while I await instructions from the Lord of Shadows. "It took millennia, but I''m close now, just this plan took centuries of preparation." (Lord of Shadows) The smile on his face is haunting, his eyes seem lost seeing something that hasn''t yet happened, I know I''ve sworn allegiance and worship to something evil, all for power, I''ve bathed in more innocent blood than I could wash away even if I wanted to, but even after all the harm I''ve done, looking into your eyes or smile still fills my heart with fear, being by your side is like always being beside a predator that could kill me at any moment or even worse. "Want to invade from the front?" (I) "Not yet, I don''t want the guards or the Adventurers to be on guard, so the more of them die in the initial attack the better." (Lord of Shadows) "Follow me, tell me we want to talk to Mister Barbosa, he says he''s an old friend named Tranogh." (Lord of Shadows) We enter the building, then head straight to the reception where an ordinary Human man is standing. "Lift your head, you know why we''re here." (Lord of Shadows) "Everything has been ready for years since we haven''t captured anyone else for the past 2 years, I knew the time was approaching." (Barbosa) The old Dwarf stands up, what I see in his eyes and absolute devotion, not the sign of fear like me, seems to be one of the fanatics. "Take us to the location, it''s in this building, right?" (Lord of Shadows) "I thought they might be suspicious if the boxes were taken from here, so for the last year I''ve been moving them to a house I bought in town without anyone knowing." (Barbosa) "A commendable plan." (Lord of Shadows) "Would you like me to take you there?" (Barbosa) "It won''t be necessary, just give me the location and the house key." (Lord of Shadows) Barbosa gives us a key and a map to his house, I take it from him before we leave, then I follow the map to a high-value residential area of the city, took over twenty minutes on foot. As soon as we enter I follow his instructions and go to the second floor of the house in an unused guest room, while I push the closet that reveals stairs that lead to the basement, there are 10 boxes of black metal full of Runes of 2 meters in length height and 2 in width. I can faintly feel an evil presence coming from these boxes and that''s because I''m very close, but my Aura cannot pass through these boxes. The Lord of Shadows goes to the boxes and runs his hands over them, then his smile widens even more as he lifts the boxes one by one. "It looks like the amount is what you expected." (Lord of Shadows) "Are those safe boxes with spatial magnification magic?" (I) "That''s right, they''re full of Evil Seeds, I''ve made various types of people bring Evil Seeds to this city over centuries only to be captured by the Soldiers, so Barbosa could keep them in a safe place." (Lord of Shadows) All this not to draw attention, now I have to take this from here, which will be easy since this house is close to the city sewers, in the instructions Barbosa gave us there is a marked basement wall that I destroy leading to the sewers. "We will." (Lord of Shadows) Several spare arms lifted 8 boxes while I carried the other two in my arms as we made our way through the sewers to the secret room. Chapter 827: Testing The New Body Chapter 827: Testing The New Body That day Nicole spent the rest of the day in the Temple facing the statue of the Goddess of Life complaining about her body, her project, and creation that took months of work to complete to be medicated by others would be a crime. But all she got out of it was silence as High Priestess Yara laughed at her reactions. But I can understand Nicole, this whole crazy process of sending her own Alma into a robotic body was to turn her back on all the things she considers useless distractions like eating, sleeping, showering, getting sick, etc.Updated chapters at novelhall.com She wanted to get rid of it all, but now she has it all back with a robotic body, plus from what High Priestess Yara said her appetite has increased even more now. The Demon Goddess of Death even forbade her from trying to switch bodies again to escape death, but with her half-Spectral race now, I think that even switching bodies won''t change anything. --------- The next morning I went to the temple where Nicole had slept in front of the statue of the Goddess of Life to take her elsewhere at Vanessa''s request. But as soon as I tried to lift her I realized something, even though her appearance is that of a girl, she still has a robotic or Golem body for the people of this world, her body is very heavy, it must weigh almost 1 ton, I had to use both arms to carry her with great effort to another place. I took her to the mansion where I woke her up using a beginner Thunder element spell. "Where am I? What happened?" (Nicole) She stands up as if she hadn''t even felt the electrical discharge in her body. "Master, why are you here?" (Nicole) "I have to talk to you and Silvia about what you''re going to call me later." (I) Sigh "I want you to look for Tnia to make some clothes and then check her body to understand the changes." (I) ---------- Pov Nicole: It was already night when I managed to leave Tnia''s place of work, she kept making me try on different types of clothes, but at least she respected my demands for pants with lots of pockets and functional clothes above all. I don''t care about the beauty of clothes as long as they are useful. I was in a bathtub in the mansion, this skin is no longer synthetic, I found that it has become real skin, and its defensive and regenerative properties are maintained at least. While I was in the big bathtub in the mansion I tested stretching my wings, just like I wanted are wings that can be hidden, but not in storage items as it was designed, a tattoo of wings appears on my back, my wings are part of my body now, but they are still made of metal and feathered with flexible metal with many defensive upgrades included. My hand fingers no longer swap with the internal parts of various tools, but instead turn into crystals that I can shape into the various tools I would use, I can turn my hands or fingers into large blades of crystal, and I can turn my fingers into various tools or stretch them up to 5 times their length and I can connect directly with Reading Crystals or Storage Crystals. I''ve also tested the various functions I put in my eyes, including the electronic interface I created to help me, all of which still work, my strength and speed are amazing too. But one thing that has been bothering me are the senses, I cannot turn them off as previously programmed, they are always active and all of this is a large amount of information that my mind has not yet gotten used to processing. Sigh "I haven''t tested it yet, but it looks like the synthetic organs like lungs or stomach are now real, I''m glad I didn''t put a synthetic heart in the project." (I) "Aside from the disadvantages I''m going to have to learn to accept, I have a lot to get used to with this body." (I) While thinking about it what Zenos said earlier makes sense, I can''t waste my time complaining no matter how unacceptable this situation is, my time will be better spent on these trainings, and it will help me test and control this body better. Chapter 828: 3 Days Of Training Chapter 828: 3 Days Of Training I spent my next 3 days training in the Forest of Beasts Dungeon I had a lot of new skills and skills that had evolved to test, it was one thing for me to read what each skill did with Identify, but it was another thing to actually know how to use the skill. Now I was on the 90 floor facing a troublesome monster, it was a Wolf of 10000 Blades, just as its name suggests, it is a type of Golem in the form of a Wolf whose whole body is made of swords or daggers. This monster is very troublesome and managed to cause me a lot of trouble during the 1 hour I''m fighting him.Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com "Dad, let me help..." (Irina) "No, it was really hard to find such an enemy... guhuhhh!" (I) In the middle of answering Irina who wanted to enter the battle alongside rica and Irius, I ended up getting distracted and the monster didn''t miss this opportunity. The monster throws dozens of daggers under the ground that came out from under me, one is stuck in my right leg, two are stuck in my stomach and one in my side, 3 tried to hit my heart, but I used my arm as a shield and with that my right arm was cut off. I was thrown upwards with the great force those daggers hit me, but even so, I spread my wings as I spin in the air to regain my posture as a tendril of blood shoots out of the wound where the rest of my arms should be, this tentacle of blood has spread to where my amputated arm was flying and luxuriates to me where I use my lines and blood to put my arm back in place. "< Dragon''s Breath of Destruction >" (I) On the Snow Golem monster that I defeated on the highest floors I used a weaker variation of this skill to test, I was afraid to know the power of this attack, and so far I tested other variations against other monsters, but now I will use the full power of this skill. The moment I fully activate this skill, I feel the energy of all the Elements within me gather in my mouth along with demonic energy, with Blood energy, with my poison, and with cursed energy. Just the feeling of all these dangerous things accumulating inside my mouth as it spins fills me with dread, but I do my best to keep my composure as I open my jaws towards the Wolf of 10000 Blades. The beam of energy that came out of my mouth looked like my scales, a mostly black energy with various energy streams of various colors flowing inside in circles. That hit consumed more than half of my energy reserves but what I saw showed the power of this attack that made a great ditch of destruction for kilometers in front of me. This ditch had a depth of 3 meters and a diameter of five meters with flames that looked like the night sky burning everything. "Die!" (I) The Leech completely swallowed the monster that had no way to move, inside this Leech still has many other small Blood Leeches to bite enemies, but I imagine they won''t be able to do anything against an enemy completely made of metal. The Leech is completely linked to my shadow, so it has a maximum range, but thanks to that the Mana of this monster is being absorbed by me quickly recovering my own Mana. After a few minutes swords began to fall through the Leech''s mist body falling to the ground, the monster was not able to make any more sound other than the metal shaking until the end. Ding! After I hear the notification sound confirming death, I undo my Ability and use my lines to retrieve something that was falling. What I retrieved from the monster was a crystal in the shape of a short sword, it wasn''t carved, and its curves and lines are natural in its simplicity, plus the feel of this crystal is something I''ve noticed before. "That''s a strange monster core." (I) "I think that wasn''t a Golem, that''s a Metallic Core, a very rare sword-shaped variant of a Metallic Core." (Nix) "This is rare?" (I) "This is very rare, but only because the type of monsters that create these things are very strong variants of Metal Elementals." (Nix) "I''ll give it to Anton later, he should know what to do with it." (I) "How''s your arm, Dad?" (Irina) "Good fight." (Irius) Three days of training and combat made me more used to this body. Chapter 829: Final Part Of The Plan Chapter 829: Final Part Of The Plan Pov of a cultist: After 3 days waiting in the secret room just me and the Lord of Shadows next to that tornado of macabre Blood of his ritual to break the seal of the Cursed Dungeon, we had nothing to do and he decided that we would wait where we were. The only time I went out was when the Lord of Shadows ordered me to get food for him, so I went to the poor area to get some people to bring to him.The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) One thing I''ve discovered being so close to the Lord of Shadows for so long is he never misses a thing, he''s always mindful of every thing I do and say, I just can''t tell if he distrusts me for some specific reason I don''t know or for me not being one of the religious fanatics like most of the cult. Unlike most of them, I just follow the Dragon philosophy of seeking strength, for me the strength of the Lord of Shadows is in his wisdom, confidence, ruthlessness, and power. No matter how strong I get, I am unable to imagine being able to defeat him or even escape him, for me to follow him has always been in pursuit of the power he can bestow upon me and if the moment comes, to die in combat like a true warrior. "It''s been 3 days, I''m afraid that if it takes longer the ritual might be noticed by people in town." (I) "That''s not going to happen, the ritual has several containment spells around it, besides, there''s little time left to complete, no one can stop it now." (Lord of Shadows) The Lord of Shadows looks at the tornado of blood and smiles. "You know, the purpose of this Cursed Dungeon wasn''t that, I''m recycling a plan I abandoned a long time ago." (Lord of Shadows) "Was it you who created this Dungeon?" (I) "Unlike other Dungeons, a Cursed Dungeon is very easy to create, all it takes is someone full of malice, lots of miasma, and nature does the rest in an attempt to stop the miasma''s contamination." (Lord of Shadows) "< Shadow Sight >" (Shadow Lord) After going to a far and safe city, we go to an inn where the Lord of Shadows uses a spell to see the situation of the Cursed Dungeon through his Familiars of Shadows that are scattered throughout the city. ---------- Pov an Adventurer: I was drinking in a bar when the miasma appeared, I thought this was happening inside the bar and went outside where I found out it was happening all over the city, an incredible amount of miasma was spreading better and better, I start evacuating the common people just like many other Adventurers like me are doing all over the city I''m sure. But before I get distracted with my task of saving the innocent people from the miasma, something happens, the amount of miasma that was slowly spreading before seems to spread like a bomb now, making evacuation out of the city impossible, so the Adventurers and Soldiers have begun moving people into shelters only used during Monster Waves, the wards there should keep the miasma at bay. CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK Soon cracking sounds are heard throughout the city but I couldn''t see anything that was happening that could make these sounds, then suddenly a magic circle appears from the ground going to the sky while breaking, then a big crack formed in the space above city as a great stone sword grows out from under the city''s floor. Before anyone could understand what was going on, a large number of monsters started pouring out of the crack that was right above the mysterious giant stone sword. They were not normal ores, they were of the Demon type, among them there was an especially frightening one, a giant being that was trying to get out through the crack in space by force, he was not visible, but he seemed to wear silver armor due to the gauntlets on his hands. "We''re all going to die..." (I) That was my last thought before being cut in half before realizing by a creature that I only saw the bulk, the last thing I saw was something colossal flying across the sky. Chapter 830: I Take Care Of The Big One, Go! Chapter 830: I Take Care Of The Big One, Go! On the 92nd floor of the Forest of Beasts Dungeon. "Irina Now!" (I) "< Field of Light and Shadows >" (Irina) We were in the middle of an attack inside a city in ruins that nature had already claimed back, in this city there were three types of monsters, some kind of boxing Gorilla whose bodies are coated with layers of metal, some kind of humanoid Cat that uses the Thunder element to increase speed and some kind of Harpy whose body is covered in flames. These monsters work together taking on different roles in their attacks, one of them defends, the other attacks head-on, and the last one tries to ambush us while we try to deal with the other two. There are hundreds of them all over the city and they move around this ruined city with great experience. To deal with these monsters I let Irius, Kira, Irina, Ibuki, Karina, Ivan, and Jade fight while I test another one of my evolved skills, a skill that increases my stat and those who follow me when I''m leading combat, I want to test it too the power up of my allies within range of my Aura by another of my abilities. I went to get the others after reaching the 91st floor, I went back outside the Dungeon and asked them to come to me and I summoned them, all the most important people in the Dungeon have rings which are contract type magic items that allow to be summoned by me, that''s because of my powerful summoning skill. I spread my Aura all over the city while the others spread out to attract the monsters to one spot like it was done now, even if they can fight in a group it doesn''t mean they have knowledge of group combat tactics to know what we are doing. Once everyone has gathered most of the monsters, Irina activates her most powerful spell, a Light and Shadow combination spell on a barrier. With that, she activates corrosion only in the Light element throughout the combat field that her barrier reaches while Shadows protect her companions from her attack in the area, she thinks about using variations of this magic, and for that, she has studied a lot. Soon the entire city center is covered by a triangular barrier with a strong light burning everything inside, but I can still see black dots moving inside the barrier. After several minutes the barrier disappears revealing a flat land with a smell of burning everywhere, so the others gather as Ibuki and Kira hold their noses. "That burning smell is different from roasting their meat." (Ibuki) ---------- We all went back to the safe room on the 1 floor of the Dungeon, I was planning to take the others back to our Dungeon when we left this Dungeon, but as soon as we passed through the entrance of the Dungeon we noticed something shocking. Leaving the Dungeon we see a large sword stuck in the ground, this escape was so big that we saw the hilt of the sword above the trees, it was in the direction of the city. Furthermore, there was a large crack in the sky above the sword that was releasing a ridiculously large amount of what I imagine to be miasma like a waterfall of black mist, there was also some kind of creature trying to force its way through the crack. I use my senses that have become much better since my Enhanced Senses Skill became Eclipse King''s Enhanced Senses. "This is really bad, really bad..." (I) I was seeing hints of flames, and beams of energy of various colors, I could feel Nature''s energy churning more and more, and I could see a large number of monsters coming out in the middle of the miasma waterfall. "The city is being destroyed by a Wave of Monsters, but... but I don''t think we should do anything..." (I) Even from this distance, I could tell that the creature trying to pass through the rift in space is comparable in power to a Nature Titan, I can''t do anything against that, I would probably be killed just by the look of this thing, I''m sure there will also be many powerful monsters in there, it would be suicide to go there, nor can I put others in a place that I myself dare not go. "I take care of the big one, go!" The voice came from above like thunder to my ears, when I look at the clouds what I see is a colossal silhouette flying towards the city. "..." (I) "Do you want to go to the city?" (I) "Yea!!!" (All) "Then let''s get ready." (I) Chapter 831: The 2? Goal Must Be Met! Chapter 831: The 20 Goal Must Be Met! I look around and I don''t see any Adventurers or people around, normally it would be full of people here at this time of day, but with this attack, I imagine that those who didn''t run away went towards the city to help. "< Summon... > 10" (I) I perform several Summons at the same time, starting with the people in my group who have the rings to be summoned, as well as the rest of my Familiars, then I summon most of the Shadow Horses and Demon Horses. "Listen everyone..." (I) I spent the next five minutes explaining to everyone what was going on in a superficial way as I myself don''t know much of what is going on so I asked who would be participating but as I figured everyone said they would help Diana herself summoned a large number of Wolves using an energy that reminds me of the Gods I''ve met. "We only have 2 objectives, so listen up!" (I) "The first objective is to rescue the townspeople, we are not going to fight monsters, so avoid combat as much as possible." (I) "The second objective is the most important, I want you all to come back alive, so I''m ordering you to prioritize your lives above everyone else!" (I) I made a point of blowing up my Aura so everyone could feel the resolution of my words, I want to help those townspeople who are innocent, but I''m not going to endanger people I consider family because of people I don''t know. "You will divide into groups of 3." (I) "Ivan, go with Safira and Samira." (I) "Kira will go along with Elsaris and Orion." (I) "Ragnar will go with Barok and Jade." (I) "Irina will go along with Irius and Sakura." (I) "Lilian will lead her 6 students." (I) "rica will go with Hinata and Lilith." (I) "Diana will go along with Sophia and Hela." (I) "Athena, you will also lead your group of six." (I) "Vanessa will go with Yara and Karina." (I) I look at Nicole and see that she was already doing what I asked before her summoning, so I nod to her who releases bracelets for everyone to put on at the same time. "These bracelets have a short-range telepathic communication capability that should suit the size of this city, it also has a tracking curse that will allow it to track all of you." (I) "Just form an image of the person you want to talk to and the bracelet does the rest, it speaks to close the communication with the person." (Nicole) I look at everyone making sure they have the tracking items. "Layla, Freya, and Silvia." (I) "You 3 have the element of space, are you able to create portals?" (I) "I learned a little while ago with Layla''s help, so I can only open short-range portals." (Freya) "Can you make it into town?" (I) "Yea." (Freya) "If you go into town there won''t be any problems." (Silvia) "Sure I can." (Layla) "Then be prepared, we will teleport the wounded here." (I) "Nicole!" (I) "You can''t rush this kind of work, but I''m done." (Nicole) "< Interface N activating Phase 2 >" (Nicole) Soon a bubble of 4 meters in diameter was around Nicole, then multiple screens started to appear, a big screen with the map of the city that had some green dots running in groups of 3, it also had blue dots, white dots, and red dots. There were also nine screens with limited images of the teams'' surroundings, the other large image appears to be near the giant sword and the rift in space. "The red dots are monsters, the blue dots are people fighting the monsters, the white dots are people deemed unfit to fight, and the green dots are our groups." (Nicole) "Right now my only source of information is what the groups are seeing, so that''s all the information we have." (Nicole) "Layla and Nix, pass the information the Fairies and Spirits acquire to Nicole." (I) "It''s all right." (Nix) "I can''t let you two help, I''m sorry." (I) I look at Silvia and Loki, neither of them have had the proper training with their bodies yet, so I''m not going to send them there. "Okay, I much prefer watching from here, thanks to this new girl I''ll be able to see everything much better from here." (Loki) "I understand, in your place, you wouldn''t let me fight either." (Silvia) I also wanted to go fight, but from here I can look at the whole situation and make a quick decision, and if necessary, we can use the girls'' Teleportation to get where we need to be as quickly as possible. "This is as much as I can do, I hope that''s enough." (I) Chapter 832: Rescue Mission Part 1 Chapter 832: Rescue Mission Part 1 Pov Ivan: As soon as the master gave the order, everyone left, I joined Safira and Samira heading towards the city. In the middle of the way, many Fairies and Spirits passed over us, entering the city from above while we had to deviate our path. "Can we leave the tracking to you, Samira?" (I) "You can, my sister made sure to teach me about tracking techniques and skills." (Samira) We all jump over the city walls as the gates are in chaos with people trying to clear the gates. When we got closer to the gates we saw what I think were Knights and Soldiers fighting monsters that looked like Centaurs with the upper part of their bodies being that of Demons with red bodies. I also saw a few dozen people being protected by some soldiers. That''s why I made everyone go astray. "Wouldn''t it be better if we helped the people near the gate?" (Sapphire) "They were of our strength level than us, our presence in combat would have messed up their trained coordination." (I) "Besides, my Father said not to engage in combat." (Samira) "Master Zenos just wants to rescue people, fighting here won''t contribute to that." (I) As soon as we get to the city we see the city in ruins, there are explosions and fire everywhere, I can also hear screams of death and battle cries everywhere. "< Serpent Blade > 30" (Sapphire) "< Mist of the Dead >" (Ivan) As soon as we reach the ground we are attacked by dozens of Demonic monsters, I exchange a look with Sapphire and she initiates an attack to stop the initial onslaught of the monsters while I create a fog of death that blocks the senses of all living creatures. We use it to escape the monsters, before on the way to the city all groups will receive a telepathic overview of the city, so we separate it by regions. I hold Safira and Samira''s hands as I throw myself into the city''s confusing alleys, it''ll be best to avoid being seen like this. "Under that rubble!" (Samira) Suddenly I hear Samira say something as she points to a house that has collapsed, I look at Samira, her eyes and rabbit ears have an aura condensed in them. I run to where she points and focusing my mana into my hands after releasing both, I run forward using a mana pulse to find magical reactions underneath the rubble. "< Bone Stake >" (I) Dozens of bone spikes rose from beneath the rubble, pushing him out of the way as I rescued a man who was buried by the rubble, there was a body next to him, it looked like a woman''s body, but the skull was crushed. "I found a child." (Samira) "(We are opening a teleport door, you have a few seconds to bring in the wounded.)" (Nicole) "Did you hear that?" (I) ---------- Pov Ragnar: "What should we do?" (Barok) "Nothing, the master ordered that we should not fight." (Jade) "She''s right, we wouldn''t be useful in this fight anyway, you must have noticed." (I) "..." (Barok) We had already been here for 20 minutes and had saved over 80 people, now we were looking at a fight between Adventurers and monsters. For us from the outside it is clear that the Adventurers are going to die they are exhausted by the intensity of the battle while the new ores keep coming, all are above the Upper Catastrophe Grade, they are above our strength level making it impossible for us to do anything. "Let''s focus on why they''re fighting." (I) "Are you sure? They''re far from the building." (Jade) "There must be some sort of barrier, but it seems the focus isn''t completely sealing off the Aura, just enough for the monsters not to notice." (I) "They''re luring the monsters away from the building." (Barok) "I believe so, so don''t waste this chance." (I) In addition to the group of 8 Adventurers in their last moments of fight and the hundreds of monsters surrounding the Adventurers, I was focused on a building where I feel light traces of Aura of hundreds of different types. I approach the building in my humanoid form with Barok and Jade at my side, then I control my Aura to touch the barrier without forcing it, I do this to transmit my voice through my Aura to the people inside the building which seems to be some kind of warehouse do not be afraid. "We''re here to rescue you, so get out quickly, we don''t have much time." (I) In a short time, another Adventurer opens the door, this one had lost an eye and was bandaged in the chest, by the size it must have been a big wound. "Are you from the Guild?" "No, but we''re here to get you out of town, we have to be quick." (I) "In between..." "Damn it, we don''t have any more time, RUN OUT NOW!" (I) "(Nicole, OPEN THE PORTAL!)" (I) My biggest fear has finally happened, the giant creature that was trying to get out of the crack in the sky has put half of its body out and is slowly getting out. It was humanoid in shape and wore armor, but the head was grotesque with a large eye where the beak should be and screw-shaped horns protruding from the eyes, there were also 2 pairs of metal wings like blades on its back. "(Everyone go through the Teleport door, NOW!)" (Zenos) I saw people passing through the teleportation door that looks like an oval door that came out of my shadow, after the last of them passed I went through the door with the others appearing in an open field far away from the city in time to see the creature completely leave the room crack that closes behind him. The creature was the size of a mountain, it must be dozens of meters high and its Aura was making me shiver even though I was far away, at that moment a large head of a Black Dragon descended from the clouds, swallowing half of the creature''s body. "I took care of the big one, make do with the rest." Chapter 833: Rescue Mission Part 2 Chapter 833: Rescue Mission Part 2 Pov Caitlyn (Living Nightmare): I came here to find my dear little brother and make sure he calls me big sister before the others so that I will be the first big sister. As I had promised to take care of Arash and not let him cause unnecessary destruction or draw attention to my brother, I wouldn''t be able to part with him, so I decided to take him with me since everyone knows that Zenos is my brother it won''t be awkward I meet him, if Arash is with me it should be fine. I told him that we were going to see my brother and he could find his daughter, but he would have to wait for a suitable time to speak with her. When we arrive at the place where I felt him to be because of the dream we shared, what I see is a city being destroyed. "A Wave of Monsters originating from a Cursed Dungeon." (I) "I have to help my daughter, that''s where she is, right?" (Arash) "If you move to the ground I''ll put you to sleep and you won''t be able to find her." (I) "You know I can kill you, right?" (Arash) "You may be strong, but your mind and soul are no stronger than mine, so behave yourself." (I) "..." (Arash) "Don''t release your presence, that will make the monsters run away in all directions." (I) "(I don''t want to fight, even more so having to be careful with so many people, this will be very tiring.)" (I) I look down and see the large amount of miasma and a smile forms on my mouth at the sight of such a good feast. "I''ll have a snack, in the meantime don''t fight any monsters, and don''t interfere with the things below." (I) "If that thing leaves the Dungeon I won''t stand still." (Arash) I look at the crack the Cursed Dungeon has made in space, whatever it is trying to get out must be the dungeon boss. "I''ll do whatever I want, but only with him." (I) "< Realm of Nightmares >" (I) Saying that I go to my nightmare space, a mental Realm created with my magic. "< Dream Slave >" (I) "rica looks fine." (I) "She was injured by spiritual damage and is unconscious, Hinata was also injured but is resting inside the master''s necklace and Lilith was hit by the Knights'' attacks who mistook her for another of the monsters." (Nicole) This time Nicole changed her expression a little while talking about our companions, it seems that the other groups didn''t have the easy journey that we had. ---------- Pov Zenos: cough cough "You need to rest, master." (Nix) "I''m fine, it was just a few broken bones and cuts." (I) "You can''t fool me, you only superficially closed the wounds, you''re not healing." (Nix) "..." (I) I looked away from Nix, just as she said, my wounds aren''t healing, there seems to be some kind of Aura or magic in these attacks, I didn''t fight even 10 seconds and almost died, that''s why I was running away instead of fighting, otherwise would have died in 3 seconds. "I won''t rest, you know that." (I) I look around many healing mages, Alan the doctor from the Dungeon, and Lyra with her potions are healing the rescued people of the city, I look around and see that everyone is back, Ragnar''s Group was the last to appear along with many people. I look at where the city is, I was there when that thing just went through the crack and that Dragon''s head came out to eat half of this colossal monster''s body, only the Dragon''s head was already the size of a mountain. "(From the color of the scales it shouldn''t be a Dragon of Light, besides he was looking at me before he killed that monster.)" (I) That Dragon''s gaze was piercing, I felt as if he could see everything in me as if under his gaze there were no secrets I could hide from him. "Are you okay master?" (Nix) "I am, how are the Fairies and Spirits?" (I) "Half died, the other half have already returned with some wounded, within 1 or 2 months everything will be fine and those who died will have new bodies." (Nix) "Sorry about that." (I) "Master, we have problems..." (Ragnar) Chapter 834: Rescue Mission Part 3 Chapter 834: Rescue Mission Part 3 "Master, we have problems..." (Ragnar) "What''s it?" (I) "One of the monsters is coming towards us." (Ragnar) Ragnar points towards the monster and just looking at its eyes from afar shows that it is strong, its humanoid body had numerous open mouths with tentacle-like tongues protruding from within, and it had gray skin, blue horns, and bat wings. I was close to giving everyone an order to retreat, but suddenly I saw something in the distance, there was a little girl sleeping on the monster''s head. When I looked away to talk to the others I realized they were all sleeping on the floor, thinking it was because of the monster I look at him again but the monster disappeared and the sleeping girl had her face inches from mine as she was lying down in the air upside down. "I''m sleepy." "Wait! You are..." (I) "You have one chance." (Caitlyn) "..." (I) "Big sister..." (I) All of a sudden she was giving rates in my head like I was some kind of kid. "Well done..." (Caitlyn) I look at the others and see that they have disappeared, then I look at my sister once more and notice that she has a glass in her hand with some kind of black liquid in her hand. "I am sleeping?" (I) "Yes, I forced you to sleep to recover the damage to your Soul, it was just scratches, so in a few minutes it will be ready." (Caitlyn) "So the reason rica and Hinata are sleeping..." (I) "If you''re talking about the Demon girl, then I''m taking care of her too as it seems to be important to you, she''s just going to wake up tomorrow to someone else I don''t know who it could be." (Caitlyn) "My Familiar, the Specter within my necklace." (I) "Then it will recover on its own, Undead monsters have better recovery from spiritual damage." (Caitlyn) "Why are you here?" (I) Suddenly Nix and I released our Auras together with all our spiritual energy completing a four row of Runes each of us, then an image of sun appeared behind me while an image of light appeared behind Nix. From our shadows, a shadow figure tries to run, but before he can, two streams of energy emerge involving his body, a stream of silver energy and another white mixed with gold, so he was forcibly pulled into the middle of the Sun and Moon that started to circle around him. When we did that, the two representatives of the two Guilds appeared beside us looking at the shadowy figure, I''m sure he wouldn''t have managed to escape, but I wanted to make sure I caught him alive. "Hahahahaha... you''re interesting..." (Shadow Figure) The shadowy figure suddenly opens two red eyes and a wide smile, then a childish voice, maybe even a little girly, starts talking, then the shadowy figure looks at me before looking up. "Who are you... gone." (I) Suddenly the shadowy body disappears like smoke, I can tell it didn''t run away, it looks like it was a Lesser Familiar, the person must not be around. "Who are you two and why are you pointing that spear at me?" (I) "You have some questions to answer." (Adventurous?) "Put that spear down, you idiot!" (Mage?) "Didn''t you feel that Aura? I noticed effects of slavery, death, and corruption within that Aura, I''m sure there was even more." (Adventurous?) "I can answer a few questions depending on the type of question, so please put your weapon down." (I) "You have no voice here, Vampire." (Adventurous?) Sigh "I admit I''m not as strong as you are, but are you going to be able to fight and protect people at the same time?" (I) "I knew I couldn''t be trusted..." (Adventurer?) "Put him down, Now!" (Nix) "I don''t want to cause a commotion, so behave yourself." (Silvia) "Think carefully about why you are here Adventurer, depending on your actions, blood will run across this plain." (Vanessa) "That idiot..." (Wizard?) By the time the others noticed the spear pointed at me, a commotion had already started with Nix, Silvia, and Ragnar taking their true forms revealing two Dragons, a Blood direwolf with wings, Diana also in direwolf form, and an Alicorn black. Furthermore, all my companions were ready to attack, I even saw another Dragon made of bones appear with Hela on top of it, I''m sure the people we rescued must be terrified by now. Chapter 835: Guild Special Quest Chapter 835: Guild Special Quest My situation was not good, but I was calm because of the life-saving bracelet I have on my wrist, in addition to the expression of frustration on the face of this Envoy of the Adventurer''s Guild, I know that he will not attack me. "Put that spear down and we can still talk, otherwise you know what can happen." (I)Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com "One way or another this will not go unpunished." (Diana) Diana spoke in a low voice, but with the strength that everyone here has, there is no one who has not heard her words. "Hodin! Put that weapon down at once, you''re not dumb enough not to realize how much more harm than good you''re doing." (Mage?) The Wizard looks around and I can tell by the change in the Adventurer''s gaze that he has noticed something and looks at the same places the Wizard looked before which are High Priestess Yara, Diana in direwolf form, and the two Dragons. "Damn Edmundo, don''t say I didn''t warn you before, Vampires are not to be trusted." (Adventurous?) They tried to hide their mind talk, but this Adventurer named Hodin sucks at hiding things, he seems to be too direct a person. I can see the Wizard who seems to call himself Edmund put a hand over his face in frustration for his unreliable partner. "Could you warn the others not to attack us Mister Zenos?" (Edmund) "How do you know about me?" (I) "The Church of Light has spread many posters about you, as a scholar I like to stay on top of important news, and a new Demigod is very important." (Edmund) "Demigod..." (Hodin) The Adventurer named Hodin tightens his grip on his spear as his eyes change from anger to caution, and he begins to observe his surroundings better. "Everyone calm down." (I) "Master, we should..." (Kira) "Listen, my Father, we must calm down." (Vanessa) After everyone has calmed down I just call the magician to talk. "Since you''re here, I''ll leave these people with you and go." (I) "I apologize for my teammate acting like this, so if possible could you help us?" (Edmund) "No, I don''t trust you and much less that Adventurer." (I) "I know what you want to do, talking to the girls won''t help, we''re leaving now." (I) "I still haven''t gotten used to my Dragon body, it''s different from my normal Humanoid body." (Silvia) This was the first time I saw Silvia in her Dragon body, unlike Nix''s Eastern Dragon type, Silvia''s Dragon body was a slightly more Humanoid Dragon body with Dragon legs that bend backwards and 2 pairs of wings multicolored scales that look like tree bark with a Dragon''s head that has nothing scary about it. If I had to describe Silvia''s Dragon appearance it would be graceful and beautiful, while Nix possesses the dangerous beauty of the night, Silvia possesses the radiant and glorious beauty of the day. ---------- Pov Silvia: I was going to talk to the space element mage who was already making preparations for her magic. "I wanted to talk to you, but you can continue your work, after all, we are still in an urgent situation." (I) "Thank you for understand." (Edmund) "I know you realized who we are, so I hope you control your friend, my Father likes to reveal our secrets and I know he didn''t notice everything you noticed." (I) "Hodin was so focused on seeing Zenos as a threat that he missed the touch of Blessings." (Edmund) When he speaks his expression is serious, I don''t think even my new Father understands how much his Aura reveals about him and the impact that this large number of Blessings leaves on his Aura. "The truth is that if something happened to him, blood would flow not only on this plain but on the entire continent, so think about it carefully while you pray to Baldr." (I) The Mage stands still as he looks at me, but instead of anger, he has a smile. "My faith in the Gods isn''t that great, I''m not a Priest, so don''t worry." (Edmund) "I hope these are your true thoughts, nature may seem welcoming and kind, but there is nothing crueler than nature." (I) I reveal my Aura only to him, I know he won''t discover the truth about me, but it will make him realize that I am not a simple Dragon, the depth of my Aura stems from millennia of existence and unlimited wisdom that all World Trees share. "..." (Edmund) I watch him put away the symbol of his faith and erase the part of the magic circle that would warn the Church of Light. "Was I that obvious?" (Edmund) "You are still too young to be able to hide anything from me, child." (I) I turn away knowing he won''t try to trick us with half truths again, just like he said, he''s not part of the Church of Light, he''s just one of countless worshipers of his religion. Unlike Priests, he won''t risk getting himself into a situation he doesn''t understand against so many unknown forces without having a big picture view of the situation, which is impossible for him. Chapter 836: I Like This Special Mission Chapter 836: I Like This Special Mission I just watch the ritual being performed, a big pile of Crystal coins and a space element magic Crystal are used along with other materials, then the girls come in to help. They use their affinities with the element of space along with the Wizard named Edmund to create an illusory image of a door 3 meters high and 2 meters wide. I see this door becoming more and more realistic until it''s no different from a real door, this whole ritual only took 15 minutes, and it was way faster than I expected. I look at the tired mage drinking a Mana potion before jumping to stand beside the door inside the magic circle, so he waits being. "What he is doing?" (I) "This port is just a receiver, in other words, it''s just like a normal port, the tunnel that will connect with this port must be coming from a Permanent Teleportation Gate of another big city." (Nicole) "Then why did he sit there?" (I) "I don''t know, I haven''t finished reading the theory behind the teleportation gates yet." (Nicole) After another 10 minutes the door opens by itself, then hundreds of people started to pass through the door to our side, soon after boxes and more boxes came forming piles. As the new people arrived they started to look around as they fanned out as if to keep the area safe until the door closed. The mages started fortifying the defenses while enlarging the area, the earth mages started to quickly build roads for the rescued ones, a magic item was thrown into an unoccupied area where it glows brightly before becoming a large wide two-story house. "Edmundo told me that you are responsible for this area and you rescued these people, thank you." "My name is Adelina, I am a Gold Grade Adventurer." (Adeline) One thing I learned when I arrived on this continent was that Adventurers with have a different rank above Grade +SSS, which are: 1. Crystal 2. Platinum 3. Gold 4. Silver 5. Bronze 6. Iron "(As far as I know an Adventurer''s rank doesn''t just depend on her strength, but it''s one of the requirements, I wonder what that woman''s strength will be.)" (I) "My name is Zenos, but I imagine from the look in his eyes that you already know that." (I) "..." (Adeline) Adelina stops talking while putting on a serious expression, she glances quickly at them several screens for a few minutes, then she looks back at Nicole, this time with an expression of shock. "Really impressive." (Adeline) "Thank you so much... I mean thank you... I have to learn to change gender terminology." (Nicole) "What do you plan to do?" (I) "The simplest strategy proves to be the best in this situation as we are short on time." (Adeline) I look at her, a little concerned, something about the way she says we''re short on time gives me a bad feeling. "What are you talking about?" (I) "Haven''t you ever seen a Wave of Monsters from a Cursed Dungeon?" (Adeline) "No, is there anything different from a normal Dungeon?" (I) "A normal Dungeon has a Core that is always close to the Dungeon." (Adeline) "But a Cursed Dungeon is different, it doesn''t have a core, what holds the Dungeon together is the curse on the Dungeon Boss." (Adeline) "What do you think happens when the boss of the Cursed Dungeon the core of the Dungeon itself is separated from the Dungeon or destroyed?" (Adeline) "The Dungeon was conquered?" (I) "No, there is a Dungeon Break, the Dungeon collapses, that means all miasma, monsters and treasures will be spit out at the same time." (Adeline) "This causes a giant miasma contamination that if left unchecked could spawn a Titan of Nature." (Adeline) "..." (I) Adelina appears to be thinking as she goes back to looking at the information Nicole has gathered so far. "Thankfully it looks like something is sucking up the miasma, that might buy us time while we get people out of town." (Adeline) "The monsters won''t be a problem, it seems to say well in raising the strength level of the Adventurers we would call." (Adeline) In the end, it seems that the plan will be simple, all participants will focus on the monsters of their level, so everyone can participate with less risk, in addition, Nicole will continue to be the logistical support of the operation, this increases the effectiveness of the combat. "(I like her plan, that way me and the others can just fight and dump all the problems on her.)" (I) Chapter 837: Just Kill Monsters Chapter 837: Just Kill Monsters Since the giant monster appeared and was killed it''s only been a little over 1 hour, that means it''s been around 2 hours since this Monster Wave started. I''ve talked to others who also want to help out in town, luckily it looks like we won''t have to worry too much about particularly strong monsters since there are strong Adventurers that have arrived. Before anything started I had already sent rica back to the Dungeon through the Fairy Gate in my Shadow, I don''t trust the people of the Adventurer''s Guild enough to leave rica who is unconscious here with them while we are fighting in the city. Silvia and Freya would stay behind to look after Nicole who will be the focus of strategic management. ---------- "Now I''ve mentioned the monsters and everyone sees a map of the city, you know the monsters you should focus on!" (Adeline) "We have to clear the city as soon as possible before the Dungeon Break or the situation could get out of control, if you find someone in need of help forward them to the points where the rest of the population should be protected!" (Adeline) "All of you received short-range communication magic items before coming here, so let us know about monsters you can''t handle, let us know about survivors or anything weird!" (Adeline) "Don''t try to play the Hero, just start fights you can win or run away while reporting the situation!" (Adeline) I was behind the people sent by the Adventurer''s Guild, there were hundreds of people that I could only sense the Aura of less than 200 and all of these were people with strength between Lower Catastrophe Grade and Upper Catastrophe Grade. But they were only 40 to 45% of the people who came here, besides them, there are also people from the Mages Guild and some Priests from Church of Nature, Temple of Life, and Temple of Justice. People from the three religions are taking care of the rescued, they are also helping with other things like the administration of this place that I imagine will become a planning center when they are rebuilding this city. Adelina was a Human woman, her appearance was that of someone over 50 years old, but even so, the atmosphere around her was wild like a beast, she is dressed in leather clothes with only a few parts in metal like the chest, joints and in parts from her arms, she also carried a fencing sword that I don''t remember the name of, but I know it''s a sword focused on speed and thrusts. Then I run towards the army of Fire Demons coming towards us, these monsters are not very strong but they formed an army of hundreds, Renato ran ahead because there was a group of people covered in blood fighting these monsters. I give a strong thrust with my wings and try to cut the first one with my sword, but he reacts by defending himself with his own sword, my sword cuts his before decapitating his head, so I spin in the air as the blades that are part of the my armor on my wings deal damage to nearby enemies. I use this time to throw myself into hand-to-hand combat, not knowing how many monsters are left in this city and its surroundings, I try to save my strength for when it''s really necessary. So I keep fighting using the same two spells, I boost upwards dodging the fire actors while a shower of feathers from my companions causes a good distraction for me to run between the enemies. I pierced the neck of one with my sword while pushing 3 with my wings towards earth spears created by another of my companions, I do a somersault landing a top-down kick to another monster whose head was crushed. During combat, beams of light, waves of water, and stone spikes continue across the battlefield, and people who were previously being cornered began to fight more aggressively. Spells that create swords of materialized Mana that are being controlled from a distance, spells that weaken enemies, and barriers that trap groups of enemies. These people have few strikers but have good skills. "Athena watch out!" (Angela) "< Air Hammer >" (Darius) The Focus Demons we''re facing have red skin, white horns, and flames instead of hair, all are wearing soldier armor with weapons like swords, spears, or axes. When Angela tried to warn me I noticed something coming from behind my back, so I threw myself to the ground while giving a low kick across the ground that didn''t hit anything, that''s because the enemy that came from behind my back was a Slicing Bird, these things have energy demonic in their bodies and the feathers on their wings are as sharp as daggers, they also have the element of wind and are capable of using wind magic. "< Obscured Court >" (I) These things are fast, he managed to dodge Darius''s attack, but gave me the opportunity to cut him with one of my attacks, he dodges the blade coming towards him without realizing that it was an illusion and the real blade of my sword was further behind giving me time to adjust its direction to cut off one of the monster''s wings, then finish by crushing the thing''s head under my boot. Chapter 838: A Fathers Tears Chapter 838: A Father''s Tears Pov Diana: I was furious with that Adventurer, daring to point his spear at Zenos out of prejudice against his race, even in a situation where he had clearly helped a lot of people. An Adventurer more than any other must not have any kind of prejudice, you never know when they will need to meet with a specific Noble, escort someone somewhere, or fight alongside other Adventurers, in these situations prejudices like this hinder the completion of the quest mission or may even lead to death. As in that case, if not for this Adventurer''s strength, he would have died here, of that, I have no doubt. ---------- On the way to the city, Sophia seemed restless, but I wonder why. "You were going to talk to him today, right?" (I) "I wanted to give him time to get used to his new body." (Sophia) "Talk to him when we leave this place." (I) "< Poison Rain >" (Hela) Right before we even reach the city we are confronted with dozens of Infernal Storm Birds, according to the explanation of the monsters of that woman from the Adventurer''s Guild, these monsters fight in groups and are above the Upper Catastrophe Grade. "(Nicole! We have dozens of Hell Storm Birds going to...)" (I) "< Rune Combination: Winter Incarnation Storm >" Hela was the first to notice and tried to get the attention of these monsters while buying time for us, I used that time to communicate with Nicole, but before I finished speaking a group of Runics passed by naked using the magic that creates magical wings. These Runics were 5, all had a spirit nearby, they created a storm where instead of normal snow there are birds made of snow forming ice storms that come from all directions from the monsters. After a few minutes'' battle, the monsters lost to the unlimited number of snowbirds that the storm spawned, so the dozens of monsters became statues of ice that shattered on the ground. "Hello beautiful ladies, hope to have..." "Shut up, we don''t have time in the middle of a special mission to vice hit on girls, you idiot." "(What happened Diana? Do you hear me?)" (Nicole) One of the Runics tried to fly towards us with a big smile on his face but was pulled by the collar by one of his companions who flew back towards the city. "(I was going to warn of a group of monsters, but another group of Adventurers took care of them.)" (I) "(Alright, from the information I''ve been getting, it looks like there might still be people in the poor neighborhood, the master is going there, what are you going to do?)" (Nicole) "(I''m going there too.)" (I) I turn and start running across the sky in my Wolf form as the other two come flying after me. ---------- I look at the two shivering Dragons with their heads down. "They may be monsters, but they don''t appear to be first generation or their Aura would have no effect." (Nix) "Normal dragons are not able to go against True Dragons, your roar just now was the same as an order to surrender on their heads." (Nix) "I make the Spirits take these two to the Dungeon, leave them in the land of the living dead where no one lives." (I) "I''ll decide what to do with them later." (I) "It''s all right." (Nix) ----------- Pov Arash (True Dragon Black Emperor): I can''t believe how beautiful she was, now she can transform into her Humanoid form. "I had long discussions with your mother about what she would look like in human form." (I) Tears The images of that time are still as fresh in my mind as if it were today, that curious young Dragon, that beautiful woman I was honored and proud to call my wife, I had it all. Tears My only arguments with my wife was who our daughter would be more like, I used to laugh saying it was an easy win for me, after all, she was a True Dragon like her father. "Her red hair and different color eyes are beautiful, unlike me and her mother, but at least her face..." (I) Tears I close my eyes and I can see the resemblance, it seems my wife was right in the end. I open my eyes to see her fighting, she possesses the element of the Moon like her mother and uses it to perfection in battle. Tears "You shouldn''t go there yet, thanks to this happening there are many eyes in the city." (Caitlyn) "Do you have any idea what you''re asking of me? Do you know how long I''ve waited to see my daughter? How long I''ve waited to hug her!? To hear her voice at least!?" (I) "You would put a target on her, you better than anyone should know about those who would love to discover her weaknesses." (Caitlyn) "She''s not strong enough yet, you might have had the chance if none of this had happened." (Caitlyn) Tears I look at her one more time, she is so close that if I reach out my hand will reach her, but it still seems like I will never reach her. Chapter 839: Dungeon Break Chapter 839: Dungeon Break I was running through the streets of the city''s poor neighborhoods, and I realized early on that I would be an easy target if I was flying, I also can''t spread my Aura since it could attract a stronger monster than I can face. After taking care of those 4 Demonic Dragons I go back to running through the alleys, sometimes I find people fighting monsters, so I deviate to another direction if they don''t need help. On the way I see many monsters with strength Grade SSS or below, I kill them with one hit or bottom are in big groups, and I use poison attacks. I don''t waste my time fighting these monsters, after a few minutes running between the houses in disrepair the wall next to me breaks and a black Ogre with a yellow horn jumps at me. I dodge throwing myself to the ground as I spin kick his hand that held a dagger. BAAAMMMM!!!! When I was going to try to fight this monster I just feel a big blow breaking my bones as I go through many walls. I feel the damage to my organs, my broken bones, and a powerful pressure as if there is something pressing me to the ground. I recognized it being an Aura, it had no effect other than this heavy weight that could crush me at any moment. "Are you okay?" (Voice 1) "Is he still alive with that blow? Call a healer!" (Voice 2) "Leave him to me." (Nix) ---------- Pov Silvia: I got left behind but once what a shame I would like to fight more monsters but I know I''m not ready yet. "Miss, are you related to Zenos?" (Adeline) Suddenly as I was watching the mages working on building structures using the elements of earth, metal, and wood, the woman responsible for this entire operation approaches me. "Yes, I''m one of your daughters." (I) "Daughter?" (Adeline) She looks at me suspiciously, it looks like she''s as smart as she looks. "You don''t need to know the details, so don''t waste your time trying to look right through me with your Aura." (I) "Sorry for the rudeness, as an Adventurer I''ve gotten used to knowing what''s going on around me, it''s the things you ignore that can get you killed." (Adeline) "Dig into other people''s secrets too, so know when to step in and step back." (I) In my eyes she looks like a child trying to get something out of me with this indirect talk, even the act she shows her murderous intent in her gaze as a test for me, but that means nothing to me, even the Gods don''t scare me anymore. "I appreciate you dismissing the Priests of the Church of Light." (I) "You knew they would come? Is that why you tried to help the man from the Mages'' Guild?" (Adeline) "I''m sorry for the manipulation, but you wouldn''t do it if I just asked, would you?" (I) "It took me a while to recognize your Father, it would have been really bad if that oversight had caused a battle here." (Adeline) When I managed to open my eyes I could see Nix giving me some of his blood, but his Spirit blood is just liquid spiritual energy, it doesn''t even count as blood, but what counts is the intention. "Thanks." (I) I get to my feet and pull one of my shoulders back into place, the two bottles of blood from earlier helped me a lot to speed up my recovery. I close my eyes and feel that my organs and muscles have already healed, moreover, the muscles and bones are still fractured but are starting to heal. I open my eyes to see the surroundings, I realize I''m in a hole in the wall somewhere, when I look in the other direction I see a straight line of destruction as if a bulldozer had cleared the way pushing everything to the sides. Next to me were pieces of bodies, the head or at least part of the head of the Ogre I was going to fight, and a lot of rubble. "I need more blood." (I) I took out 40 bottles of blood from my storage item putting them all on the floor, then controlled the blood to come to my mouth drinking it all in a few seconds, I could feel the recovery speeding up a bit, and soon I was almost recovered. Sigh "I''m already fine, let''s continue the mission." (I) "Yea." (Nix) This time Nix doesn''t step into my shadow and comes running beside me, I look at my state realizing that my combat clothes were in pieces, no longer useful for combat. "< Robes of Blood >" (I) Blood oozes from the pores of my skin taking the form of dark red fabric as my lines intertwine with the blood, at the same time small black crystal scales grow on the arms, legs, and chest of the clothes. The result is a red and black tactical combat suit that doesn''t hinder my movements and regenerates itself using the vitality contained in the blood it''s made of. After taking care of my clothes, I continue running with Nix while we kill as many monsters as possible, we did this for almost 1 hour and did not find any survivors. The closest to rescuing someone was when one of the Adventurers ran towards us leading monsters towards us, this happened 2 times by the same Adventurers. As the places where the shelters were, seemed to be gathering stronger monsters due to the constant battles, I avoided going there, but in the end, it didn''t matter when the giant sword that is still in the city starts to crack. "The shelters have already been evacuated, we are bringing everyone back, enter the teleportation door." (Nicole) As soon as I heard Nicole''s voice in my head the teleportation door opens out of my shadow. ---------- When we got back I saw Adelina with both arms bandaged while a green Aura covered her body. "Good job." (Adeline) "How were you injured?" (I) "Had to go rescue one of the shelters when the troublesome idiot got there..." (Adelina) Before Adelina finishes speaking, a black fog hides the entire city in the blink of an eye, then strange lights and explosion noises begin to be heard. "Activate!" (Adeline) At that moment a green light circles the city with a distance of 3 kilometers around the city, I know this from the images seen from above that Nicole is providing. Chapter 840: Lets Go Chapter 840: Let''s Go Pov Arash (True Dragon Black Emperor): The Dungeon Break happened hours before it should have happened, from the separate space where I was looking I could understand everything without anyone noticing me. "The amount of miasma is abnormal, and the people of this city were clearly not prepared." (I) When a Dungeon is about to break apart, it shows signs like irregular Monster Waves and increased miasma leakage. If such things had happened people would have prepared for it, which they didn''t as far as I can tell. I look at the crystallized monsters that little freak is using to collect this miasma. "She''ll get indigestion from so much food." (I) The crystallized monsters are still soaking up the miasma, it seems the Adventurers have stayed away, that''s a good thing for them, these statues are crystallized nightmares, attacking this would cause an explosion while the culprit would be hunted down by one of that little freak''s nightmares. I look at my daughter, she keeps looking around calmly, but her restlessness is impossible to hide from my eyes, I know she recognized me when I attacked that monster. "I could..." (I) "(Don''t even try to go down there...)" (Caitlyn) "Damn it! Why don''t you go take care of your food or go to sleep, leave me alone." (I) ---------- Pov Shadow Lord: "Hahahahahahaha... hahahahaha..." (I) As I watched the Adventurers leave the city with most of the population I started to laugh. Those fools think they''ve won, nobody realized the real reason. I look at the images of the various Shadow Familiars who watched the events of the Cursed Dungeon Break from afar. "They just delayed my plans, but it was still a success... hahahahahahaha..." (I) I close my eyes to use the curse on my slave who is standing by the seal. "(How much of the 8 seal was opened?)" (I) "(The seal has only weakened, it hasn''t broken or opened yet, master.)" (Shadow Slave) "(Use the arrangements I left to perform the Soul Desecration Ritual, then attack the seal, it should be enough to break it now.)" (I) "(How many sacrifices should I use?)" (Shadow Slave) I think for a few seconds as I do a quick calculation. Pov Adelina: 5 hours after Dungeon Break. I was looking at the city that was now visible after more than half of the miasma disappeared, from the information about crystal monster statues around the city that the Adventurers talked about earlier, also about the ability of these statues to absorb miasma, I can imagine the calamity that is located in this city. "I hope you''re having fun." (I) "How did you notice me?" (Caitlyn) "I didn''t notice but I felt something was watching me, call it instincts if you must Miss Caitlyn." (I) There is no way not to recognize this face, at least this time there are no screams of agony in the surroundings like that day. "Where is he?" (Caitlyn) "Your brother is no longer in town." (I) "Bye then." (Caitlyn) "..." (I) She didn''t even bother to talk to me, she just disappeared in front of me. Sigh "Coming and going as you please..." (I) "At least thanks for the help, all that miasma was a big problem." (I) The Living Nightmare, few are those who recognize her when they look at her, it would be hard for anyone to associate a little girl with a destroyer of nations. There''s no way to fight someone who knows your worst fears, who knows your biggest secrets, and who doesn''t know forgiveness. ---------- In the past I lived in a city whose main trade was slaves, I was one of many slaves who passed through there, a fool saw a girl sleeping under a tree in the forest and took her. I was at the Slave Auction when I heard someone growling in her ear to force her to wake up, seeing such an innocent and delicate looking girl have her face get serious as she looked around was strange. But the strangest thing was when she started to laugh or should I say laugh, her childish laugh was slowly not only heard by my ears and was being heard in my mind as her childish voice turned into something macabre. That day I was on a stage being sold as a combat slave, I saw myself alone in a dark place with a mirror in front of me that showed my reflection, I saw my whole life in that reflection, and when I realized I was back on stage waking up in the floor. In the surroundings, many were screaming in agony, pain, and endless fear, when I went to the streets it was the same, the whole city was the same with the screams of horror on all sides. I remember the black mist building up over time and a person who was screaming getting up with his eyes completely red as if possessed, then he kneels down as the body crystallizes, I clearly remember noticing the black mist being sucked into the crystal statue. "Anyone who angers one of the Living Calamities will know hell in life." (I) Chapter 841: Is He Bipolar? Chapter 841: Is He Bipolar? When we arrived in the city we found out that it will take 5 days for us to be able to use the Teleportation Portal, it seems that they are using it to send help to the miasma filled city to help speed up the process of recovering the city. As I was afraid not to know the city, I rented an entire floor of an inn near the Adventurer''s Guild. One of the reasons for my fear was knowing that the Church of Light was in that city, and also, due to the number of people who looked at me with displeasure, it didn''t take me long to realize the reason for that. Thanks to the title of Heretic, worshipers of the God of Light will get a bad impression of me from the start, I''ve noticed that before. I was wearing a Mask and a hood like the others in my group, but none of that mattered, at least it served to hide my identity since there was a wanted poster for me everywhere. I take one of those posters where there is some information about me. [ Younger son of the Blood Goddess Selene, an evil deity creator of the repulsive race of Vampires. An evil being in the form of a child who committed countless murders and crimes wherever he went. ] [ REWARD: 1000 CRYSTAL COINS ] "Wow, that''s a real fortune, even I''m thinking of turning myself in now..." (I) "I used to be very focused on money in the past, it was difficult to fund my research." (Nicole) "You stole national relics." (Irina) "Not everything can be bought with money, it seems, I could not interrupt my searches for such idiotic obstacles." (Nicole) "I think you forgot to tighten a screw when you were building this body." (I) "This body doesn''t have a screw, I fixed its parts with magic and I can control it to a certain extent..." (Nicole) "Please don''t start another rant about how splendid your body is and blah blah blah..." (Lilith) "Not even my tortures are so cruel." (Lilith) As we were walking in a large group, people kept to themselves, at least that should prevent anyone coming close to cause confusion. "The way they portray the Goddess and our race is abominable, this is pure prejudice." (Vanessa) "The Blood Goddess has always been the most opposing Deity against the God of Light, which is why in all the books Vampires are portrayed so badly." (Irius) "I find the way they portray the master revolting, but I also cannot deny the accuracy of what is written." (Ragnar) "Many more crimes are missing, I think the sheet wasn''t big enough to put everything on, that''s why they made it so short." (Diana) "Come on all of you, you''re making me look like a criminal." (I) "This here is amazing..." (I) "Let me go." (Lilith) "I won''t let you dive in there, I won''t let you take your clothes off in public either." (Vanessa) "What''s the matter, my body is beautiful, my Father who gave me this body..." (Lilith) Suddenly the landscape disappears in darkness and when I realize I''m on the roof of somewhere facing someone masked giving a hug to Kira who has electric rays being emitted by the body, besides that Byakko in her great form was trying to bite his head behind, but to no avail. "Master, help me." (Kira) I look at him, the way he hugs her is with affection, he''s not holding any indecent part of her body or any vital spot. I also don''t feel any kind of aggression towards Kira, maybe he''s an acquaintance, after all, he brought me here with him. "Could you let her go, please?" (I) "No and I wait a little longer and I''ll deal with you." "Let go of me soon, I don''t even know who you are!" (Kira) "Let her go or are you going to make me use force?" (I) "< Shadow Immobilization Curse >" Suddenly my body was super rigid, I couldn''t move my body at all, it was like I was frozen in time. "Calm down, I''ll explain everything, I''ve thought about this a thousand times, just give me a moment to remember..." "That mask, that Aura..." I see him taking off Kira''s mask very carefully as he stares into her face. "That face... reminds me so much of her face... my dear Joana..." Tears I can see tears streaming from the mask he wears, he''s crying but I don''t understand why. "As for you, I have to have a long and maybe violent conversation with you" He changes from calm to confusion, changes from tears of sadness to murderous rage and his emotions are not stable at all. "(I think he''s bipolar.)" (I) Chapter 842: Getting To Know Klaus Chapter 842: Getting To Know Klaus I was paralyzed on top of a building with a man hugging Kira in front of me while ignoring Byakko in her tiger form biting her head. The strangest thing was that this man didn''t seem like an enemy, I say this for his strange actions, the way he hugs Kira is affectionate, he doesn''t seem to be acting perverted or malicious, plus he seems to know Kira from somewhere or was Which I thought until I heard him say Kira''s mother''s name. When Kira hears her mother''s name she is paralyzed looking at the masked man, her mother has always been the biggest weakness in her mind, it must have been a shock to hear that name from someone in those conditions. Furthermore, this man for some reason seems to dislike me, in fact, his murderous intent is as blatant as if he was warning me that my death was already certain. "Master!" (Nix) "Dad!" (Irius/Irina) "Bastard, release Kira now!" (Diana) "Wait!!!" (Vanessa) Soon everyone else arrived, I knew they would come at some point, and my Familiars would be able to find me in no time after noticing that I disappeared along with Kira. I wish I could have contacted them but I couldn''t, whatever he did to me seems to be preventing any means of communicating with me. Vanessa did well stopping the others, unfortunately, I can''t roll my eyes, but at least I can listen. "I don''t know who you are, but could you let go of our family?" (Vanessa) "Family..." The killing intent directed at me disappeared, then for the first time I see his head move to look towards those who just arrived and then towards me. "Looks like you have good companions." "Stop that show, Klaus." (Silvia) ---------- Soon I hear Silvia''s childlike voice, then I see the masked man stiffen before turning to face the direction I heard Silvia''s voice from. "We already met Miss..." (Klaus) "I''m not here to explain my situation to you, so either you start talking or I have to talk to my sister?" (Silvia) "..." (Klaus) "No reason to hide Klaus, just say so." (Naraka) "I''ve thought of so many ways to say this, but now that I have to... my mind feels blank..." (Klaus) Sigh I see the man called Klaus exchange a few words with Silvia, then he looks at Kira who hasn''t stopped staring at him in silence ever since she heard her mother''s name. He removes his mask as he throws back his hood revealing himself to be a Gray Elf, his white hair cut short, his golden eyes shining brightly as tears run down his face which has some scars but something about it looks a little familiar. "My name is Klaus, Leader of the Guardians of the Night of the Village of Nightmare, many call me the Butcher of the Night, several years ago when I was traveling in training across several continents I met a woman." (Klaus) His eyes were looking at Kira, but he looked as if he were seeing something else as a smile formed on his tear-stained face. "This woman was weaker than me, but something about her caught my attention, it took me a long time to notice that it was her unshakable determination, even during training she only stopped when she lost consciousness regardless of her injuries, I''ve never met anyone so stubborn..." (Klaus) Tears "She was very talented, I knew that one day she would become too strong to continue on such a weak continent, as the days turned into weeks, the weeks turned into months and finally 1 year had passed, for the first time I saw her coming back wounded on a mission, it was on that day that the fear of losing her made me realize my true feelings for her." (Klaus) Tears "Do you know what she did when I ran up to her with a box of potions in one hand and a White Elf healer in the other arm that I rationally convinced to come and treat her wounds?" (Klaus) "She took me in her arms and just said ''I love you too'' before kissing me." (Klaus) Tears His tears wouldn''t stop flowing, his face a mixture of emotions with the main one being sadness. Tears "The name of that wonderful woman I married on the same day was Joana..." (Klaus) Chapter 843: How To Destroy A Strong Man Chapter 843: How To Destroy A Strong Man "The name of that wonderful woman I married on the same day was Joana..." (Klaus) Tears started to fall from Kira''s eyes midway through Klaus'' story, everyone in the room extended who Klaus is now. "Wherewhere were youwhere were you when shewhen we needed you the most!?" (Kira) I saw fury flood Kira''s expression and saw her get to her feet as she sobbed while pointing her finger at Klaus. In her unfocused eyes, I could see a myriad of thoughts or memories pass through her eyes, through the connection I have with her I can feel a storm of emotions. "My mother died sick and hungry surrounded by unreliable people who chose the easiest way to solve their problems when put against the wall!" (Kira) Tears "..." (Klaus)CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m "Where were you when she needed you!? Where were you when she was hurt!?" (Kira) "..." (Klaus) Tears I wanted to get up to stand beside her, but luckily Diana put a hand on my shoulder to stop me, as difficult as this can be for Kira, it''s still something she needs to get over on her own. "(I know that...but it''s still hard to see her like this.)" (I) I''ve never seen Kira this agitated before, I''ve never seen her lose control like this, I can feel her mixed emotions and I know just by seeing how lost she is. "Some of those enemies I left behind in the past somehow found out about me, but back then I was too strong for them to do anything to me directly, so they did what bastards and cowards do, go after a target to take out all of it hatred that could hurt me even indirectly." (Klaus) "They attacked Joan at least 5 times in a few days, she came close to death many times before she managed to return to her village, so as soon as her wounds were reasonably healed, she disappeared" (Klaus) "The people of her village said they searched relentlessly, but that didn''t stop me from scouring that continent trying to find her until I was dragged back to this continent." (Klaus) "I didn''t know if she was dead or alive, I didn''t know where she was or who exactly was responsible, all I knew was that she disappeared and knowing Joana if she was alive I might never see her again." (Klaus) "The pain, loneliness, and sadness consumed me until all that was left was hate, so I used that as motivation, I chased after everyone until there was none left, but I never stopped looking for her, I wouldn''t be able to bear to stop looking Is it over there." (Klaus) The killing intent coming out of her body was something evil, I could even smell blood through the shed at that moment as if I was in a field full of bodies. "Until one day I felt an endless void, I felt like a hole had formed in my heart, a hole that would never close, I knew she was gone forever because she was the only thing that could hurt me so badly." (Klaus) "Until a few months ago, I never knew that Joana was pregnant, that''s why the letter that the people of the Morror Continent was such a shock." (Klaus) I throw myself on the floor on my knees with tears in my eyes but a big smile in my eyes. "You are Joana''s legacy, you are the living symbol of our love, you were the one she most wanted to protect, her greatest treasure." (Klaus) "You are my beloved daughter..." (Klaus) Kira threw herself into Klaus'' arms as they both cried, Klaus, kept asking forgiveness for being a terrible father, for not being there for her or his wife, and for not being able to protect either of them. I thought they needed some time alone so I left the two of them there, and told Sapphire and Nix to stay behind while we headed back to town with the help of the Black Serpent which I found out to be Klaus'' Hired Spirit, he sent us into town again. I left a letter in Nix''s hands to be delivered to Kira later, I said in the letter for her to spend these days with her father, to get to know each other better. They needed some time alone so we went to a restaurant to get something to eat before flying to the Hotel where we were staying, I''m sure everyone is tired monthly after listening to Kira''s father''s story. Chapter 844: An Unlucky Thief Chapter 844: An Unlucky Thief Pov of a Thief: "Are you sure about them?" (I) "Yes, I had a friend check their strength, none seem to be above Catastrophe Superior Grade, but he said that many among them were hard to pinpoint strength even with their Unique Skill." (Jones) "From the information I''ve collected so far, they are special, it seems they have the recommendation of the veteran Adventurer Adelina, also known as the Queen of Combat." (I) "Miss, I am against this whole plan, these people hide with masks and hoods, they also seem to have the support of the Adventurer''s Guild, they must be important people." (Jones) "You know your father doesn''t like to draw attention to his business." (Jones) "I''m the only one in charge of my operation, as long as it''s successful he won''t say anything as usual, for him all that matters is success." (I) "Want me to call the others?" (Jones) "No, I take care of it myself, just to make sure there are no failures." (I) I''ve been following these targets since they left the Teleportation Portal, a group with masks like that draws attention, especially with the number of magic items on everyone''s body. After sending Jones away I put my clothes back on and pay the prostitute before leaving the brothel, in addition to some fun these places have an excellent security system, so I love doing business here. Now it was the middle of the night, I read Jonas'' information and it looks like these people haven''t come out of their rooms since they entered, it looks like their number has decreased by one but it doesn''t matter. "Let''s start." (I) I go to the nearest alley and activate my magic items, my clothes are part of a set of clothing-type magic items that improve when worn together, Night Sparrow Clothing. I also activate many other magic items that I use like rings, mask, and belt. In addition, I activate my abilities and spells to aid my concealment. "Wow, this is harder than I thought." (I) In addition to the absurd Mana drain, the weight on my body is also glaring, which is why I don''t like to do risky work like that. Sigh "But I''m going to need that money to pay off that stupid debt without my dad knowing, he would spank me again for losing so much money at the casino." (I) I look at the door waiting for one of the employees to come out to take out the trash, something all Hotels do on a daily basis, so I want her neck and I put the body in a storage item while I use several identical illusions layered to be more difficult for others see through my illusion. Then using her appearance I go up to the floor where these people''s rooms are, unlocking these doors is simple, but the problem is getting through the barriers around the rooms these people used. "We will." (I) I go into the first room and it''s empty, I walk past the door of another room and I don''t go in, I can''t hear anything from inside, but the smell of two different people in the same room at this hour, I''m not that big of a killjoy. I go into another room and only find the child, I approach and see that she is very beautiful, red hair, brown skin, tattoos, and scales, each and seems to have fangs. "(I can''t identify her race, but her appearance is wonderful, could be worth good money if sold as a sex slave, the more exotic the better the price.)" (I) At the same moment these thoughts formed in my head they also disappear, this girl is a Vampire, and her age may not match her appearance, I''m also not sure what lineage she has, they could trace her to my base, I''d rather not risk it. I look around and see a lot of magic items, so I take the mask, clothes, accessories, and a beautiful necklace. Pov of a Thief: The next day. I was in a dark place with many doors, I was sitting on a magnificent golden throne, then from my shadow comes a copy of me with my father''s head in my hands. "The number of voices I''ve thought to kill this bastard is many, but beyond my satisfaction, there would only be loss with his death." (I) "But you''d still like that, wouldn''t you?" "We know you do." (I) I get up from the throne and step on the old man''s severed head smashing into the ground, I can''t help but smile at that, as does my double, then we start walking between the doors. I open a door just to see a reminder of my training days, I can''t even remember how many times my bones broke a week. I open another door and see my idiot brother, he was angry that I slept with his friend, so he killed his friend in front of me, of course, he did it because he thought I was in love with his idiot friend. "He never knew the truth." "At that time I discovered the password to his safe, I''ve been stealing from him for years and he never noticed, an idiot indeed." (I) "Everyone in the family is trash, they don''t realize how superior I am." "You''ll never notice, we all think the same thing, so we keep an eye out for each other when we do business together." (I) "What our brother does doesn''t compare to With our work." We pass through other doors showing memories of how my brother does business, he is an illegal slave trader but unlike me who built my thieving operations alone, this idiot is our Father''s dog, he did everything with Father''s support not realizing it''s just being used, that fool. "I have to start finding someone I can trust to talk to, I''m talking to myself more and more." (I) "You don''t trust anyone, so don''t lie." "True, in the end, I can only rely on myself." (I) --------- The next day I get up from my bed, it was just a few hours of sleep, and I didn''t have much time to sleep, maybe that''s why I still feel weak. I take everything with me while I change my clothes before heading out to grab a bite to eat at the street stalls, these are the best places to eat as I can see the food being prepared and the surroundings. After eating, I walk to the hiding place of the clandestine organization I belong to. "(It would be so nice to get the organization''s treasures.)" "(A pity it would be impossible, my father is always with him, only he has access.)" (I) "I wish I had more freedom to do what I need to, always helping the idiot wastes a lot of time." (I) "(I''m sure it''ll be about that again)" "(Surely my brother must have done something bad again, that idiot sucks at his job.)" (I) For some reason I couldn''t stop talking to myself, my mind was boiling with thoughts arising, and also many memories were coming back. Chapter 845: Family Business Chapter 845: Family Business Pov of a Thief: I walk through the streets past some people clearly from noble families, many of them come to visit this city to have fun, I choose those who don''t seem to be accompanied by competent guards and steal a few things along the way, usually some jewelry, magical protection items or storage, these more normal things just for practice. When I arrive at a hotel, I go straight to the floor I wanted and look for the right door that has the dagger symbol, then I use my key to enter, and as soon as I turn the key in the lock the magic is activated opening a door teleport directly to the base. Our base has no known entrance or exit, if only my father would know, the keys that the organization''s executives have are the only way in and out. "You''re late." (Brother) I look at the idiot who was throwing knives at a target on the wall, as usual, he is an impatient man. "Shut up, as far as I know, nothing has been scheduled for any specific time." (I) "(Look at those bloodstains on his clothes.)" "(As usual, I wonder how many slaves were mistreated by him today just for fun.)" (I) "You''re lucky dad always protects you, not many dare to talk to me like that." (Brother) "That''s because they''re afraid of their father and not you." (I) "(An idiot who only causes trouble, he mistreats his own merchandise without realizing that this decreases the value.)" (I) "I won''t waste my time arguing with you, let''s go." (Brother) He and I walked side by side through the underground floors to Father''s meeting room. "(Maybe I should visit the facility later, see if there''s anything that might be useful.)" "(I was lucky that no one noticed me in the last robbery, maybe I should look for a stronger poison.)" (I) While walking through the corridors on the top floor I can see the alchemy tanks full of drugs or poisons, I also passed by the information gathering places, and I can hear screams coming from there. Knock Knock "Come in." (Dad) I walk in and notice Dad is covered in sweat, I look at the door at the side of the room half open, and I can see the women lying on the floor, at least they''re still alive, it saves me having to find more. "OK." (I) With that, we spent a few hours preparing for our attack, going over the information on the number of enemies, the strength of the enemies, and the location where the closing of the deal would take place. After that, I went to get some things while my dad and brother were going ahead, before I start doing my part I feel a chill. ------------ 1 hour later. I suddenly realize that I am entering the shed where the plan will take place, the place where my brother will meet the Red Storm group. "How did I get here? When did I get here?" (I) "(I remember seeing my Father and Brother leave earlier to position the others.)" (I) "(I also remember preparing the poison and the trap.)" "(Trap? What was the Trap again?)" (I) "(How could I forget, I''m holding her.)" "That''s right, what''s happening to me today?" (I) I look down at my hand, I''m holding a suitcase with spatial expansion magic. So I enter the shed where I find my Father and Brother talking, I go to them and hand the suitcase to my brother while I distribute a potion to everyone. "Corpse Worm Poison, very concentrated, odorless, colorless and quick to act." (I) "Unfortunately it doesn''t spread much, so make sure their leader opens it, even if he has poison resistance, this one doesn''t just affect the body, but contaminates people''s mana in miasma." (I) "I don''t remember having this poison, would it be from your secret stash?" (Dad) "A woman needs to be prepared." (I) "These potions will help protect you from the poison." (I) "Their leader wouldn''t just die from this, but it will help me take care of him quickly." (Dad) I look at my brother''s employees, they are all empty-eyed slaves, but at least they are strong, let''s see how many he will lose with this. Chapter 846: What Am I Doing? Chapter 846: What Am I Doing? Pov of a Thief: I stayed away, my role was already over, and my men were around the shed to ward off onlookers and prevent anyone wanting to escape later. I stand in a dark corner ready to hide my presence as best I can when it all starts.UppTodated from y brother has his usual guards, and combat slaves he spent most of his money buying. Soon I get a signal from my men and wave to my brother that they are here. In a short time, a group of 17 people and two large carts pulled by Golems in the form of Centaurs enter the front of the shed, one of the 17 people riding a Galloping Lizard approaches my brother. Even from this distance, I can hear everything perfectly since I am responsible not only for the robberies but also for collecting information. "Charles my friend, I hope you have the money because it''s been a long journey and I have your merchandise." (Wendel) "First let me see, if they are of poor quality I will lower the payment." (Brother) "Men! Show our partner here your order." (Wendel) I see fifty women and children getting down from the wagons, all are Beastmen from different tribes, and their clothes have been torn to show that they are not badly injured and are healthy. "As you can see, the best quality, on top of that, there won''t be anyone looking for these people, I made sure not to leave any loose ends." (Wendel) "Are there any virgins? Anyone with combat training?" (Brother) "5 of them are from the same Adventurer group, they are classified as Iron Grade, I lost 1 of my men because of them, there are also 8 with Grade +S strength." (Wendel) "You are 1 day late on schedule." (Brother) "We had to take a detour, some people have been persistent lately." (Wendel) "Now that''s enough bullshit, show me the money." (Wendel) "Here." (Brother) My brother tosses the briefcase to Wendel who is the leader of the Red Storm, he catches it with a big smile as he opens it and sees the pile of silver coins. "(The time has come.)" (I) "Always a pleasure doing business Cough" (Wendel) I see a blur that I imagine is my Father reaching Wendel before the 2 disappear, my father must have used the combat isolation curse, with that only one of the two will come back alive. Next day, morning: I spent the night at the central base recovering from my wounds. During the night I had another strange dream, this time I was walking lost in a dark place, there was a child''s hand pulling me forward more and more, for some reason I couldn''t say no. I don''t even know what exactly happened in the dream, it was all so confusing and strange, my mind only cleared when I woke up, but I was feeling weaker than yesterday. "But what''s going on?" (I) "(My mind blanked twice yesterday, this has never happened before.)" (I) "(Everything''s fine, now it''s all over.)" "Yes, now everything..." (I) In the room where I was being treated I realized that many people were missing, I look around where I see a mirror that reflects my image full of bandages, but what caught my attention was the necklace around my neck. "That necklace..." (I) I look at my reflection realizing it''s the same necklace I stole two days ago, but I don''t remember putting it on today, nor do I remember seeing it until I looked in a mirror. "Since when?" (I) I look down finally seeing the necklace and try to take it off but I can''t, it seems stuck around my neck. "(Is this necklace cursed!?)" (I) "(I don''t think I need to fake that voice anymore.)" "(Communicating like this is much easier than talking.)" (Children''s Voice) The voice that was just like mine in my mind that I thought was my thoughts gradually becomes more childish and emotionless resembling a child. This revelation made me realize that I started listening to the voice after picking up this necklace, but why didn''t I realize this before? "..." (I) I wanted to say something but I couldn''t, I tried to move but I couldn''t either, it was like I had no control over my own body. "(You can''t speak, it would be bad if someone noticed, after all, we still have things to do, right master?)" (Children''s voice) "(It ends today.)" (Male Voice) Chapter 847: It Was Set From The Start Chapter 847: It Was Set From The Start Pov of a Thief: The voice that I thought was mine was that of someone who had taken over my body without me noticing it, but suddenly a new voice appeared, this time this new voice was male, but it still sounded like a boy. I didn''t know who did this to me, but I didn''t have to think too hard to know the reason, my brother and many of his illegal slaves died yesterday, my father didn''t notice, but there were few fatal injuries, and now I know why. "How are you feeling? Are you better?" (healer) "I''m fine, just a little dizzy, where are my clothes?" (Me?) "I''ll bring it now." (healer) "(Don''t listen to her, that''s not me talking you idiot, how do you not realize I''m being controlled?)" (I) "(No one will notice, I''ve had a lot of time to see your memories, Miss Nancy, I can easily act like you without being noticed other than that I killed your brother.)" (Children''s Voice) "(I will kill you.)" (I) "Here are your clothes, ma''am." (healer) I can''t move my body, I feel like there''s something wearing my body like clothes, plus I feel something terrifying all the time, a shiver that never ends. ---------- I see her get dressed and go out with my body as if it were hers, I try to regain control of my body, but I can''t, I don''t know how. "(You bastard of her, give me back my body!)" (I) "(I''ll think about it, it''s been a great test after all.)" (Children''s Voice) I see her walking around using my body, she goes to the system that allows fresh air from outside to circulate here and on all floors even though it''s underground. "You know, that plan was in your memory, so I appreciate it." (Me?) "(You motherfucker, give me back my body!)" (I) No matter how much I scream, I can''t help but watch, she pulls out a poison that I recognize by its appearance, Cloud Poison. A white gas very similar to a cloud, but they are actually a powder from a plant, they enter people''s bodies through their breath, wounds, or mouth. "Rest in peace." (Male voice) "< Incinerate >" (Male Voice) "You know, these women told me how you kidnapped them to deliver to your Father, they hate you more than they hate him." (Male voice) "Your Father was a big problem so I needed to be creative on how to get rid of him, unfortunately, most of the things I thought would be pointless according to what Hinata discovered in her memories." (Male voice) His voice was cold and cruel as he looked at the flames burning the women''s bodies, but that coldness was directed towards me, I could feel his Aura inside my body boiling with rage. "I thought long and hard about just ending you, stealing everything of value from your organization and leaving, but Hinata doesn''t like people like you and your family who treat others like disposable objects." (Male voice) "That''s why I suggested a plan that I only agreed to continue after I got the approval of these women, they were happy to help even if it meant their death." (Male voice) That''s why they were smiling even in such horrible states, they were some kind of trap, by my father''s state it could only be poison or curse, but even here there is no poison that leaves him in that state, so it could only be some kind of curse. "< Summoning: Nix/Layla/Silvia/Loki/Jade/Nicole >" (Male Voice) After the flames had burned the bodies to nothing, he made a Summon to six people of different Races, all of whom looked at him strangely. "Kill them all and steal anything you find of value, then destroy the rest." (Male voice) "< Sin-Eater >" (Male Voice) After watching everyone running away, I feel all the power that filled my body fading away until I couldn''t stand, that''s when I noticed Leeches coming out of my shadow biting my legs. When I was so weak that I felt like I could lose consciousness the strange Leeches disappear and I feel something coming out of my body, as a sense of freedom flooded my body I saw an arm and then a head followed by the rest of a ghostly body of an innocent little girl who it just floated in front of me. "Hinata wants to take care of you herself." (Male voice) "But I want you to know that your end was decided from the beginning when you targeted us." (Male voice) "Thank you..." (Children''s Voice) The small girl''s serious face soon became completely expressionless as the male voice morphed back into the child''s voice. "Don''t wait, please NO!!!!" (I) To my horror the innocent girl turned into a horrible creature as her hair turned into snakes, her hands became 3 times bigger with claws stopping small swords and the biggest part of her jaw opened in half to her stomach revealing a frightening amount of teeth. For the little moment of life I had left, all I wanted was the mercy of death. Chapter 848: Kiras Father Chapter 848: Kira''s Father It was a surprise for me when I woke up that day and found that the necklace where Hinata was sleeping was gone, but Silvia stopped me from going after the person in question. Silvia noticed the intruder, but it seems that Hinata started asking her not to interfere, when I heard that the first thing I did was try to communicate with Hinata, but I couldn''t, it was only after a few hours that Hinata contacted me through our connection and told me everything. She wanted to take this opportunity to test her new abilities to possess the thief''s body and influence the mind, it seems that this thief was part of a big organization in this city, Hinata said that she could connect with her target''s mind, but she needed more time. As time went by Hinata learned more about her skills and even gained new skills, but I only gave her 3 days max to continue with her training, I also kept in constant contact with her to make sure she was safe. I was worried when I saw so many strong people in this organization, but at Hinata''s request, I thought of a way to end them all, with the information I got from them through what Hinata got from the thief''s mind I thought of leaving this aside because it was too risky. In the end, I ended up following Hinata''s request with a plan I didn''t want to do, but in the end, we won without ever revealing ourselves. ----------- 2 hours later, inside the Hotel. I had used my Summoning Skill again to bring everyone here after they ended up at the criminal organization''s base, the one who had sent there are those immune to the poison I released at that place, as all the enemies were dead or weakened, my companions came back unharmed. "What did they get?" (I) "I didn''t have time to catalog everything, but there are many types of poisons, drugs, weapons, armor, magic items, storage crystals, and tools of all kinds." (Nicole) "I''ll leave it to Nira, that''s more in her field." (Nicole) "Do that, but the storage crystals want you to take a look at the information with Elsaris and Lilian, I want a compilation of all the crimes that this organization has committed and the people associated with them." (I) "All right." (Nicole) "Who are you going to give this to?" (Loki) "So you noticed?" (I) "I used to be a God, reading people is a basic requirement, not counting my kind of specialization." (Loki) I tried to extend a helping hand to Kira who didn''t know how to proceed with this, but the truth is that I''m scared, her father is very scary, every time Kira smiles at me I see in his eyes the desire to kill me, it seems that he''s one of those crazy dads who threaten to kill their daughters'' boyfriends, the biggest problem is that he has that ability. "I''m Zenos, I''ve known your daughter for 2 years, and our relationship is...engaged?" (I) "I don''t think we ever stopped to think about it." (Kira) "You''ve been with her for 2 years and why haven''t you married her? Are you implying that my daughter isn''t good enough!?" (Klaus) "Let''s calm down, things between me and the master are a little complicated." (Kira) "Like the fact that you have a blood slave title?" (Klaus) I could feel like I was surrounded by guns pointed at me ready to kill me at any moment. "I already explained that to you, it happened because of how we met." (Kira) "But you still call him master?" (Klaus) "Old habits, but he never treated me like a slave, he was always considerate, kind, loving and trustworthy with me." (Kira) "The only other person who treated me so well without expecting anything in return or with some ulterior motive was my mother." (Kira) "Joan..." (Klaus) Suddenly the aggression drained from his face, his eyes glistening with tears threatening at the mere mention of that name. Kira and I recounted in detail everything that happened on the Morror Continent, how I met her, how I became a Vampire and then a Dragon, how I met the others, and how I created a Dungeon, and we spoke vehemently about the various battles. Kira''s father listened quietly at first, but with Kira''s support, he began to quote me a little bit about himself, he also told me briefly about Kira''s mother, even after years have passed it seems he still loves her very much. "If you hurt my daughter or let her get hurt, you''ll beg for death." (Klaus) "I would never let anything happen to her." (I) Chapter 849: A Memory Of Happiness And Pain Chapter 849: A Memory Of Happiness And Pain Pov of a cultist: I look at chains with the thickness of a Human''s body, these chains were previously invisible being made of pure multicolored energy in flow taking the form of chains, but now these chains were very visible, there are 8 chains of which 2 have already been broken if turning crystal shards on the ground. Now one of those 6 remaining chains has become completely red and solid like some kind of metal with screaming faces popping out at times. "How much longer will it take?" (I) "The job is done, now we''re going to need the Lord of Shadows to break the seal." (Shadow Slave) "It won''t be necessary, he''s busy with other plans, I''ll do that myself." (I) "You''ll need a special weapon for that, if you touch it directly you''ll be contaminated by the curse." (Shadow Slave) "I''ll get what I need, there''s a Cursed Weapon that belonged to a Hero in the past, I know where it''s sealed and I''ll get it." (I) "How long will the damage done last?" (I) "In its current state, it will last for 2 months before the curse starts to be cleared by nature''s energy." (Shadow Slave) "It will be enough." (I) With that resolved I return to my Dragon form flying to get the weapon I need. ------------ Pov Klaus: "Dad, you need to let go of me." (Daughter) "No, I will never let you go." (I) "I have to go, we''ve already talked about this." (Daughter) "I don''t like that brat." (I) "He doesn''t appreciate you." (I) Sigh Pov Goddess Selene (Goddess of Blood): I still remember those days when hope didn''t exist, where every day could be the last and all that existed in everyone''s hearts was darkness. I was just an ordinary child back then, far from the Goddess who protects the legacy of the past to give hope to future generations in the form of the bloodline, far from the woman who bathed in the blood of entire planets, and far from the one who decided to face the unthinkable for few. That child who had witnessed the worst was talking to the only being who showed him, love. She looked at him and even though she was a child she already knew that the man in front of him was walking a path where all that existed would be endless sadness. "Why did you do that!?" (I) "Because we are in dark times, everyone has lost hope, enemies are limitless while our numbers keep decreasing, with each battle the destruction only increases regardless of whether we win or lose the battle." (Zenos) "That doesn''t answer my question you idiot." (I) "Why do you have to sacrifice so much?" (I) "Because I already know how this is all going to end because that''s my will and I won''t accept any other outcome." (Zenos) "But you''re already..." (I) "Shhhh!" (Zenos) I can still feel his hand on my head like that day while he has that confident, goofy smile on his face. "I know, but even so, to have a future, even if we win, there needs to be a light however dim it may be to give hope to those who long ago had their hopes dashed." (Zenos) "You want to be that light? But everyone hates you." (I) "I will not be the light, my dear Selene, I will be the fleeting flame from which that light will arise." (Zenos) His words that day were a mystery to me, but something in what he said filled me with sadness, only at the end did I understand and I couldn''t help but watch. When I open my eyes to wake up from this memory of a time before any existing record, I am faced with the night sky of my Divine Realm, so I change to the blue sky he was so fond of. "A flame that burned everything in its path, a flame that burned even the worst darkness to generate light..." (I) Tears Chapter 850: Busy Life Chapter 850: Busy Life I was waiting for Kira in the center of the city in front of the big shed where the Teleportation Portal is located, it was early in the morning with the sun rising a few minutes ago, and our departure time will be the first one today, half of the people who are passing through the Teleportation Portal today are from our group. "Sorry I''m late." (Kira) "Don''t worry, you made it in time." (I) I was waiting with everyone else when Kira arrived on Byakko''s back. "What do you know about this town we''re going to?" (I) "As we changed our plans, I got few things about this city, but from what I could gather information, this city has 3 Dungeons of medium difficulty, one of the Dungeons is in the forest, another is in the mountains near the city and the last one is in a lake a little further into the forest." (Nicole) "We''re going to have lots of places to train." (Diana) "I want you to train Loki and Silvia, you are the one with the most real combat practice among us." (I) "I''ll do my best, but what are you going to do?" (Diana) "I''ve already got used to my body and I can fight well, but I need to test the skill combination synergy and also test a skill that I haven''t used so far." (I) While we were talking we entered the building similar to a shed where we were guided to stay with the others who are going to the same place, in less than 10 minutes the Teleportation Portal is activated and we all enter. ----------- Booommmmm!!!! As soon as we got to the other side I heard an explosion and a person was thrown through the wall in front of us, that person passed by us hitting two people who crossed the Teleportation Portal with us pushing them together to pass through the portal that was destroyed soon after when a large body fell through the ceiling, this large body belonged to a monster and it smashed the arc of the Teleportation Portal preventing any chance for us to go back. "..." (all) "Don''t look at me like that, it''s not my fault..." (I) "..." (all) "You can''t blame me for every little thing that happens..." (I) "Civilians take cover and those who can fight are being recruited by the Adventurer''s Guild together with the City Government to fight!" "I''m sorry about all this, but we didn''t have time to interrupt the Teleport when the Dungeon opened over..." I go over to the lying person, by his strength it should be around Grade SSS in strength, I lightly slap him on the face to make him wake up. "I need you to tell me where the Adventurer''s Guild is." (I) "Come on my friend, we need information..." (I) "I found the Adventurer''s Guild through one of the Ghost Crows." (Nicole) "Show me." (I) I drop the wounded Adventurer who is still unconscious and go to Nicole, I place my hand on the blood crystal where I follow Nicole''s Aura to the right Ghost Crow flying around a large building with architecture that reminds me a little of Greek. "Let me see what I can find out." (I) I close my eyes and take possession of the Ghost Crow''s body that is just a Soulless Lesser Familiar. I control the body with ease since it''s my Familiar, I fly it up to a high window where a Beastman male from the Lion Tribe wearing an eye patch is looking in my direction. "Do you work at the Guild?" (I) "I''m the Guild Master, who are you?" (Guild Master) "I''m a very unlucky person who just passed through the Teleportation Portal in the middle of this mess." (I) "Interesting familiar of yours..." (Guild Master) "I''m sorry I''m in a hurry, but can I open a short distance teleportation door here?" (I) "Yes, open in my office if you prefer? Are there many people?" (Guild Master) "Less than 40." (I) "Then follow me." (Guild Master) He leads me out of the room in a hurry as he drags two people in uniforms with the Adventurer''s Guild symbol, he brings them all to a room with an auditorium. "I this place will do." (I) I open my eyes and call Layla and Silvia with a hand they hold, then I share the location of the place using the connection I have with the Ghost Crow, in a short time the two open a door that we all go through before closing, thus arriving inside of the Adventurer''s Guild.Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com Chapter 851: Aerial Dungeon Chapter 851: Aerial Dungeon Even though it''s a special short-range teleportation-type magic, this magic still consumes a lot of energy and couldn''t stay active for a long time, so we all quickly passed along with the people who were still inside the now-broken Teleportation Portal building. I don''t waste my time looking at people who are fine, I look directly at the Guild Master who wasn''t even looking at me but at Diana. "I am honored to receive someone of such high esteem in this time of need, my name is Dargon, and I am the Master of the City Guild" (Dargon) "< Aura Crush >" (Dargon) "I''m sorry about that, as I was saying, I''m the master of this branch of the Adventurer''s Guild." (Dargon) "Nice to meet you..." (Diana) He gets down on one knee as he bows toward Diana, I can see by the look in her eyes that he doesn''t like the formal way the Dargon Guildmaster carries himself. Also in the middle of his presentation, he looked away to the side and I smelled a large amount of blood rising nearby. "You should act naturally, someone chosen by Fenrir would never be like nobles who like formality." (Silvia) "Thanks for the advice little miss." (Dargon) I stand and look at my group pausing his gaze for over a second on several individuals before settling on me. "I take it I don''t need formalities with either of you?" (Dargon) "Is that correct, can I just call you by your name?" (I) "No problem, you must be the one wearing that strange Familiar, right?" (Dargon) "Yes, my name is..." (I) "I already know, so no need to say it." (Dargon) I look over at him and see him eye signaling some people he brought with me from the building where the Teleportation Portal was. I take a closer look at these people and see necklaces, rings, or pieces of cloth with the symbol of the Church of Light. "Follow me to my office." (Dargon) A simple and efficient plan, I like things like that, but even so, he must have already called for reinforcements from other places. "(Are you going to take these people to our Dungeon?)" (Nix) "(No, I can help however I can, but no one enters the Dungeon without being trusted.)" (I) I can put myself at risk if I choose to, but I will never itch those inside the Dungeon who choose to follow me at risk. "One of my daughters is good with controlling, coordinating, and managing groups, can I leave her here?" (I) "A field tactical specialist, she can keep track of information up to what scale?" (Dargon) "From the whole city, but I''m going to need more..." (Nicole) "How many were destroyed?" (I) "Only 3 were... now 4 were destroyed." (Nicole) "What are you talking about?" (Dargon) I explain briefly about my Familiars and Nicole''s ability to use my Familiars by sharing a bloodline with me. "Looks like you guys will be much more useful than just fighting strength." (Dargon) After that, we discussed for a few minutes between us with some simple strategies, this time we''re all going to fight within the same area to stay close to help each other. ---------- When we were leaving the Guild I noticed that the Guild Master was the only combatant taking care of the entire building, I can only assume that he did this to spread the Adventurers all over the city since even though he is strong he is still only 1 person. "Let''s go to the area where the most intense combat is going on, this will protect us from facing monsters much stronger than we can handle." (I) Everyone who was with me was strong and had the ability to fly, so let''s fly to the area where the Dungeon opened, on the way while we were fighting I had a clearer view of the Aerial Dungeon. It was a golden ring with six pairs of open wings floating at the height of the clouds, there was a green and white energy swirling inside the ring where the monsters keep coming out. "(It doesn''t seem to be spreading miasma, so it''s not a Cursed Dungeon, that means it either naturally formed here or this supposed Dungeon Master as well has the ability to move the location of his Dungeon.)" (I) Chapter 852: Large Scale Aerial Combat Chapter 852: Large Scale Aerial Combat While we were flying I saw my Familiars scattering to all corners, they could hide from everyone but me since I could feel them. We were all wearing masks to hide ourselves, but those masks were made to fit in certain ways like opening the bottom part of the mouth to eat or using attacks fired from the mouth, it also opens the part of the eyes for the same reason. "That could be a problem." (I) I was using magic just like the others while we were flying to kill or drive away the monsters until we reached the combat area I wanted, but when we were close I worried, there was a big air battle for miles, "Let''s just stay on the periphery of combat, don''t go too far into the middle!" (I) "They go!" (I)CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m Who was with me was Silvia, while I created claws of crystallized blood around my hand, I placed different Runes in each claw. "< Rune of Thunder: Chain Lightning >" (I) "< Wind Rune: Blade Tornado >" (I) "< Space Rune: Distortion >" (I) "< Space Control: Rain of Petals >" (Silvia) I aimed my claws by launching different Spirit Rune attacks so that I wouldn''t need to rack my brain with related spells now, mainly because I couldn''t use area attacks to not hit other Adventurers. I saw a group of Harpies heading towards me together and I used a lightning attack that chained them all, then I left them aside when I saw another group of Adventurers flying in their duration. I used an attack creating a tornado full of wind blades near the great Harpy that had magic circles around it summoning bird type monsters, this wasn''t enough to hurt the great Harpy but it was enough to interrupt its indications while killing the little monsters she summoned. While I was flying towards the Great Harpy I used another magic in the surroundings to prevent more monsters from attacking me while I fought against it, I chose this monster when I realized it was of equal strength to me. "< Bite of the Vampire King: 1 >" (I) As I fought and saw that the feathers as well as the body of this great Harpy were very resistant after stopping several of my attacks, I waved to Loki who immediately understands what I want to do, advantages of someone who was once a God like millions of years of experience. He uses his magic that decreases defense While improving strength by the same value, with that the Harpy''s defense was zeroed at the same time as I used a triple acceleration skill using the elements of space, wind, and thunder. With that I quickly arrived in front of her while I bite the right side of the back tearing off a large piece of meat, I take advantage of this hole in her body to stick my arm and crush her heart. Ding! As the monster''s body begins to fall, I manage the blood to drink before putting the large body away. "In a valley battle..." (I) I was thrown to the ground from above, when I look at what hit me, it was a giant water sphere and I wasn''t the only Adventurer who was knocked to the ground. ---------- Pov Nicole: I was seeing the scene from the eyes of more than 132 Ghost Crows, and at the same time, I was sending this information to the screens that I accumulated in a large holographic wall. "Send the A12 group to the Igreja da Luz area, they are closer." (Dargon) "Warn the C5, C6, and C10 groups to go to the right to go to the second entrance to the government shelter, their current path is having a fight..." (Dargon) I was listening to this city''s Adventurer''s Guild Master''s continuous commands, he was seeing all these images as fast as I was, but unlike me, he knows the city and monsters much better. With the two of us working together we''re achieving a level of efficiency that''s pretty good by my calculations, apart from the few breaks he takes to exterminate the monsters that approach the Guild. Chapter 853: Just One More In Combat Part 1 Chapter 853: Just One More In Combat Part 1 After dealing with the Harpy that was summoning more monsters I look around, I try to be judicious with the monsters I fight to improve the strategic situation of this combat. "More are coming out of the Dungeon!!" (Irius) "Damn, I don''t have time to think..." (I) "< Spiritual Rune: Spiritual Wave >" (I) "Hela, Silvia, and Nix!" (I) I launch an attack that cuts through physical defenses to mentally and spiritually target the monsters Hela was fighting. The Spirit Wave knocks her enemies away while leaving them confused for a few seconds, during which time I see Hela summoning giant flaming skulls to fight in her place as she comes at me. Nix who was fighting not far away in his humanoid form comes to me after pushing the ice-covered blue Griffin he was fighting. Silvia interrupts her area attack that had an uncanny precision to approach me. "Breath Attack!" (I) "< Dragon''s Breath of Destruction >" (I) "< Breath of Night >" (Nix) "< Cataclysmic Breath >" (Silvia) "< Venom Breath >" (Hela) "(This is harder than I thought...)" (I) I was using my Aura to harmonize our 4 Breathing attacks, but that was really hard. Luckily it worked while the 4 attacks were being swallowed down until only 1 breath attack was left stronger than the 4 individually. Our combo attack should deal a little area damage without hitting any ally as these monsters were leaving the Dungeon and I asked that they hadn''t reached the combat area yet, but at this moment our breath attack collides with a beam of red energy disappearing while the energy beam deflects a few meters hitting only half of the monsters. "Do we do another attack?" (Hela)Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com "No, we can mess up whoever made that attack again, clearly their attack is stronger." (I) "< Curse of Flames >" (I) I use a curse of flames on this wind elemental, so as long as he has mana in his body the flames will never go out, as his own body is made of mana he will not be able to defend himself while the flames consume the air from which his body was made done. "But what..." (I) Suddenly I''m hit from the back, when I look I see that it was Nix pushing me, but before I say anything I see a big foot made of lightning passing by where it was before. "Thanks." (I) She waves at me and goes back to fighting, tearing the monsters to pieces with her Dragon-shaped arms. "Let''s make these monsters disappear." (I) ---------- Pov Diana: "< Fangs of Wind >" (Diana) I hold my swords as I run between several enemies slashing them at high speed until I get in front of a golden Storm Wolf, this Wolf is still young being mine 5 meters tall, I put my swords away while unleashing my power. "< Awakening of Fenrir >" (I) Soon I''m in my Wolf form a little bigger than my enemy who has lightning all around. "Come!!!!!" (I) I run forward using my claws to attack, but he dodges while trying to hit me with his tail surrounded by lightning, so I bite his tail taking the electrical damage while throwing the monster towards the big Bird that tried to attack me from the side. "< Wind Incarnation >" (I) My body is covered by wind energy as I run towards the two enemies, one of my paws was grabbed by the bird, but I bite one of its wings causing it to lose balance as the force of its pull broke the bones of its wing. "< Wind Whip >" (I) When the Bird released me, I attacked the Wolf that was in front of me once more with open jaws, but at this moment my tail hits him from below upwards with a strong current of wind throwing him backwards. I run towards him stepping in the air as if I were stepping on land, then I bite his neck taking the life from him before turning to the bird that now had an arrow in its head. I look around but I don''t see anyone I recognize so I run to the next enemy continuing the fight relentlessly. Chapter 854: Just One More In Combat Part 2 Chapter 854: Just One More In Combat Part 2 That day''s battle lasted all day, I was happy that I was able to use the Teleportation Portal to reach this city when I woke up this morning, but the reality that hit me when the same Teleportation Portal was destroyed leaving me in a city locked in a intense battle makes me frustrated. With that I spent the whole day fighting, the morning parts were the worst since many attacks from other fights in the surroundings were coming towards me, and because of that, there was a moment where I even lost a hand when it was incinerated by a ray of fire. As the fight continued until late afternoon many Adventurers were descending from the sky exhausted and injured, I didn''t have much time to rest at that time as more monsters kept coming. As a Vampire, I could use blood to recover my energies or heal myself, so I could last in combat steadily without rest, the same can be had from my Vampire children at least. Silvia, who was a Dragon, said she could feed on the energies of nature itself, Hela fed on the vitality of her victims, Ivan was a Living Dead that never tires, Athena was and her group were also Vampires, as such they were learning as this was advantageous in combat, Vanessa was being assisted by healing or in combat as needed. My Familiars are using my energy reserves as their own to keep me in combat, which only increases the burden on me. I even had to summon other people from the Dungeon like Sophia, Samira, Elsaris, Sapphire, Lilian, Barok, Erica who had recovered, and Eva the Blood Demon Queen. It brought everyone to fight because it was getting harder and harder as the Adventurers slowed down, this continued until night fell. At that moment I saw hundreds of people coming across the sky in the distance, when they got closer I saw that they were raising the flag of the Adventurer''s Guild. When they arrived they went straight into combat and I ordered all my companions to retreat and return with me to the Guild. ---------- When we arrive at the Guild I see that all the civilians I had seen before are gone, all who are here now are Adventurers with destroyed armor, covered in wounds, and some even missing a limb, there was also a corner where dozens of individuals were lying with sheets whites covering the body, I could imagine that they are those who fell in combat. I walk past them heading straight for the room where I left Nicole earlier this morning, meanwhile telling the others to stay here with the other Adventurers. Vanessa and Irina could heal some of the injured, Hela and Jade could help the poisoned ones while Erica took care of those with some simple curse, if she couldn''t help then Vanessa could use her Holy power. Leaving that part of the Guild for them to help or rest as they wish, I head upstairs where I find Nicole still surrounded by her bubble of holograms. Guild Master Dargon was facing a holographic wall full of screens giving Nicole various orders, but when I arrived I warned by touching her shoulder. "I said the same thing to her." (Dargon) The Guild Master sits down as he explains to me about what he''s been up to with Nicole, it looks like the entire town has already been evacuated, so only the Adventurers fighting the monsters remain. It seems that Nicole has also been taking regular breaks to keep herself up and running, 10 to 20 minute breaks at a time. I look at her sitting in a chair with her eyes closed like a doll without energy. "Without her help, many more people could have died." (Dargon) He explains to me how they managed to direct rescues to avoid areas where heavy fighting was taking place or where powerful monsters were roaming. In addition, they were able to direct Adventurers to areas where monsters were being let loose, they were also able to see when Adventurers were about to be defeated and sent other Adventurers nearby as reinforcements. It looks like Nicole was really helpful, but from what I saw when I walked in, Guild Master Dargon didn''t just sit around and do nothing, he actively worked with Nicole. "Are these Adventurers who just arrived the reinforcements you were hoping for?" (I) "No, they''re from the nearest town, I managed to get a message to them earlier, but they only got through now." (Dargon) "Before you arrived I was directing them around town using the Familiars you left with young Nicole." (Dargon) "Do you plan to let them fight alone?" (I) "Yes, they will fight during the night while the other Adventurers heal, rest, and prepare to return to combat during the morning, let''s keep shifts to keep the battle constant." (Dragon) Soon he explains to me that in order to prevent damage to other nearby cities, he wants to keep the situation under control here, he doesn''t want to give the monsters a chance to spread to the surroundings. Now that he has no more civilians in the city, he''s thinking about stepping up the combat. I spend a few more minutes talking with Guild Master Dargon and Nicole before joining the others downstairs and beginning our own preparations. Chapter 855: Just One More In Combat Part 3 Chapter 855: Just One More In Combat Part 3 After talking with the others about whether I should do the awakening ceremony for my sister and asking for her help in this battle, they all said no. They were also against me doing the Dungeon People''s Awakening Ceremony on the list that was already ready. They argued that I shouldn''t get tired or unconscious in such a situation where I have to make important decisions if necessary. It was then that I realized that I was already doing a lot for this city, the people of this city were already safe, and the Adventurer''s Guild just wanted to keep the situation under control by restricting the Monster Wave only in this city without giving it an opportunity to spread. Seeing that I was thinking too much about a matter that wasn''t my problem, I realized that I''ve been getting arrogant by always being involved in big situations, but this time I was just one more in the crowd of Adventurers struggling. This time my involvement in planning or anything else wasn''t necessary, my ability to fight was necessary but it wasn''t essential having many people stronger than me already in combat, we can even say that people like Vanessa and Nicole who can heal or helping with strategic management are more important than me in this situation. Realizing this made me realize that I''ve been thinking too much of myself, getting carried away with the things I''ve done, so I stopped thinking about the bigger picture that I didn''t care about and spent part of the night talking to my teammates about the monsters we faced, how we could fight together if necessary and under certain rules so as not to face unnecessary danger. ------------ The next day I had managed to sleep a few hours and I wake up when I see meadows with soup being distributed among the Adventurers by the uniformed Guild employees when they reach us I refuse. Then Fairies step out of my shadow carrying a feast that I enjoy alongside my companions, I can feel the eyes of envy and anger from the other Adventurers, but I''m not the only group eating something other than soup. There''s a group having a barbecue using fire magic and condiments they got from somewhere, it smells really good. There was also an all-female group eating slices of pie not far from us, there were even other Vampires drinking what I assumed was a mixture of blood and alcohol. The fight took a while as they fought as if their minds were connected attacking and defending together. Even when we used fire attacks, they created a blast of wind that scattered the flames, my only solution was to use Spirit Runes of the element of Light that couldn''t be blocked with just wind blasts. Normal light attacks did nothing against them, I found that when light element spells and light blade attack just went through the armors without showing any damage, but Spirit Runes ignore the physical to target the ethereal, so I quickly saw the results when a number of arrows of light stuck into their bodies before exploding. It took us almost 40 minutes to deal with these hundreds of monsters, the others weren''t able to help much, only Kira, Silvia, and Freya were able to help me with the attack. After that, we went back to the main battlefield, as soon as we got there along with many other Adventurers we saw in the Guild before, the Adventurers who were fighting started to slowly move away knowing that the time for the change of shifts had started. "I start." (Lilith) "< Blood Curse: Lure of Beasts >" (Lilith) "< Void Teeth >" (Layla) "< Disable >" (Lilith) Before anyone started Lilith and Layla threw themselves in front of everyone smiling like kids at an amusement park. Lilith had cast a curse on herself that attracted monsters with high instinct and low intelligence, when she successfully opened dozens of monsters nearby, they were pierced by transparent Serpents that become visible due to the blood bathing their bodies, these serpents seemed to swim in the ocean space and can even hide. "Don''t do that again you..." (I) Chapter 856: Something Is Not Right With This Dungeon Chapter 856: Something Is Not Right With This Dungeon Pov of a Silver Grade Adventurer: "< Sea of Flames >" (I) "< Wrath of the Wind >" (Miura) "< Spatial Distortion >" (Khatori) We were on what was left of a floating island when an army of Celestial Harpies, they are 3 meters tall completely white Harpies that have wings on their backs and normal arms, wear white armor or white tunic, still have the legs of birds and their feathers are all golden. These annoying things have high physical, magical, and spiritual resistance. They are extremely difficult to kill and are still working together, the few surviving Bronze Grade Adventurers we brought died here, and many more died on the way here. I as a Mage of the element used my strongest magic making everything in the surroundings be covered in flames, Miura who is a Mage of the wind element with whom I have been a partner for years uses her own magic creating hundreds of tornadoes at the same time as the Magic Knight of the Void that we know before entering this Dungeon uses its element of space to compress enemies along with our attacks causing much greater damage. Ding!Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com When our energy reserves are depleted and our attacks dissipate, we see the charred bodies of the monsters. "It''s over... it''s finally over..." (I) Sigh "Haaa... haaa... haaa..." (Miura) "..." (Khatori) We were exhausted as we fell flat, this battle lasted over 2 hours, and this floor''s difficulty level was 10 times that of other floors, this was clearly a death trap, no matter what angle we look at it. "The bodies you burned them too" (Khatori) "Damn..." (I) I look to the side, a few dozen meters away was half a skeleton turning to dust. I look down at my own body, my robe was destroyed to the point where I was almost naked, luckily I managed to avoid most of the direct attacks, with the exception of that one attack that took my leg away. I look at Miura who is pouring our last healing potion on the remaining half of his face, the idiot Khatori is the only one who suffered minor injuries as he was wearing the best armor and the enemies were clearly focusing on the mages behind, which is me and Miura. ----------- I look at Miura crushed on the ground and Khatori who looks equally crushed, I look down at my wrist realizing that the lifesaving bracelet has broken, looks like these things are worth every Gold coin I used to buy them. I try to look around and I come across a completely white looking man in front of me, he has white skin, hair, and clothes, I also see some white scales on his arm and neck. "Damn..." (I) "You actually survived Runico, I''m impressed." "What is someone like you doing here? You are the Dungeon Master..." (I) "..." (I) He looks at me like he''s going to crush me if I say anything else, so I keep quiet in hopes that a miracle will happen to keep me alive. I could already bear this man''s identity, especially from the big tail that crushed us earlier, he is a True Dragon of Light. "Don''t treat me like a Dungeon Master of this place, this foolish woman is nothing like me, she doesn''t even understand that she is being used." "I already got tired of playing, so she dies." "..." (I) ----------- Pov Shiro (True Dragon King of Light): I was impressed with the persistence of these fools, especially with the way they ended up with the Celestial Harpies, it was gratifying to see that woman''s servants die. "(I wouldn''t need to stay here if I wasn''t healing.)" (I) After receiving so many injuries from that Titan of Nature, I had to take refuge in the Church of Light, but after the attack on their Central Temple, they were afraid that the Black Dragon Emperor would come to attack me, so I came to hide during my recovery time in this dungeon. "(They went through the labyrinth on the previous floor without realizing that there was the real exit there.)" (I) This Dungeon is just a branch of another Dungeon that is elsewhere, this is just one of several such branches, each with its own gate that can fly on its own. "Looks like they''re over while I was lost in my thoughts, time to end them." (I) I bring my tail down on top of them, that should be enough to finish them off, I can''t let the Church of Light''s plans be interrupted so quickly. Chapter 857: Recycling Souls Chapter 857: Recycling Souls It''s been 3 days that we''ve been in these endless battles against those damn birds, I''m sure I faced the same enemy at least 4 times during that time, it was the same big Harpy that kept summoning more bird monsters. When I asked this of my other companions, some realized that something like this was happening to them too. This made me think that the Dungeon was somehow recovering the souls given to the monsters, but I couldn''t say how, as far as I''ve learned a Dungeon can only take a soul from someone dying inside the Dungeon. These monsters even if they came from this Dungeon are dying outside, how were the souls being guided back to the Dungeon? I like any intelligent person looked for an expert to answer me, and that expert was not Hela, even though she is a talented Necromancer, she doesn''t know everything and her study focus is for combat, she started studying about Spectral type Undead less than 1 year ago, so I went looking for his teacher, the High Priest of Death Henrique. I hadn''t revealed until now that I was also a Dungeoneering master, the other Adventurers must just think that I''m a Magic Warrior with indicator skills, so I asked Nix who goes in and out of my shadow to go back to Dungeoneering since for being part of the Dungeon I can maintain my connection with it even if I am inside the Dungeon. ----------- Inside the Dungeon I take possession of Nix''s body with her permission and head straight to the Communal Temple where all the Priests spend most of their days discussing their different dogmas.Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com I found High Priest Henrique teaching some young men who showed a talent for Necromancy. "You are dismissed today, but remember to read the Chronicles of the First Rising." (Henrique) "Yes, High Priest..." (all) "We can talk inside the Temple if you prefer." (Henrique) "Of course, but I don''t have much time." (I) We enter the Temple which was being renovated to have its internal space enlarged using spatial magic, each leader of one of the several churches had his own office and we go to the one belonging to High Priest Henry. "Come in and pull up a chair." (Henrique) "..." (I) When I enter I am faced with a colorful room full of vases with beautiful flowers, this is not the kind of place I expected from someone in charge of the Demonic Church of Death. "But from what has been described its effect makes the Soul return to a specific place or item after death." (Henrique) "I see..." (I) In other words, the Dungeon master creates a monster with the soul stored inside the Dungeon, he uses a curse on the Soul so that when the monster dies outside the Dungeon, its Soul returns, it doesn''t matter if it is for a place or an object, as long as the Soul enters the Dungeon can be used again, after all, I myself already realized that monsters created with a Soul are more intelligent and stronger. "(He''s recycling the Souls, but that''s a little disturbing even for me.)" (I) "(You do something similar, remember?)" (Nix) "(The souls inside our Dungeon are those of heinous criminals, but even they are released after serving their punishments, I don''t treat them as a monster-enhancing material that can be reused.)" (I) I look at Henrique noticing that his bony hands are tightly clenched, it looks like he''s doing his best to hold back his anger. "By your reaction there must be more, right?" (I) "Going through death is something that marks you, an Undead usually creates trauma by the way they died, it took me a long time to overcome my fear of lightning myself." (Henrique) "Death marks you in one way or another, going through this process over and over again without a break will wear out Souls." (Henrique) "Many Dungeons do like you, they use Souls only on floor bosses and always taking turns with the Soul, using a Soul as something expendable in this way is hurting the Soul by accumulating wear, there may come a time when these Souls... break if they are too weak." (Henrique) "Can we release these Souls somehow? Release the curse or steal the Souls?" (I) "Holy Power can break the curse, but it depends on the power of the curse, plus the caster will feel it if the curse is broken." (Henrique) "..." (I) So there''s nothing I can do, if I break the curse and get the dungeon master''s attention, then I might become the target of monsters I can''t defeat, even if I manage to seal the Souls I''ll end up getting attention. "(We don''t need to do anything, I have sympathy for these Souls, but it''s not worth the risk.)" (Nix) "(There may be a way.)" (I) Chapter 858: Let The Dice Roll Chapter 858: Let The Dice Roll After talking to Henrique I open my eyes giving Nix''s body control back to her again as I head upstairs, the only reason I have this freedom is because of Nicole only listening to me. Guild master Dargon already realized that if it depends only on Nicole''s goodwill, this city could explode that she will have little interest, she doesn''t care about people she doesn''t know, but I learned that she cares a lot about people she knows and has a call. Because of that, she obeys me, in her eyes I''m not a Father, I''m a friend who is always supporting her with everything and helped her dream come true, so what I say has a big impact on her. As soon as I enter the room I give a signal for them to take a break, by the Guild master''s expression I know he didn''t like it, but if he wants to continue receiving help from Nicole he has serious things he needs to put up with. I tell the Guildmaster everything High Priest Henry said, I know he didn''t realize the strangeness of the monsters because he''s not fighting them directly, but after listening to me he asked me several questions and then called leaders of others Adventurous groups to confirm what I said or add some new information. After that, I left that problem for him to think about while I went back downstairs to sleep before the next combat shift change. I didn''t even try to give any ideas, Guildmaster Dargon is stronger than me, more experienced, and must not be an idiot since he got a job where he commands others, he will think of something of his own. ---------- After waking up and eating something I start to check my equipment before the shift change, but at this moment several Priests with different clothes enter, 6 of them were wearing Church of Light clothes and tried to attack me the moment they entered. "Die Heretic!!!!!!" (6 idiots) "Stop! I don''t need any more trouble now, get out of here!" (Dargon) The 6 idiots attacked me inside a hall full of Adventurers without saying anything, they didn''t even look around and just suddenly started an attack, I think my presence is much more provocative than I thought for Priests devoted to God Baldr. Guildmaster Dargon did not appear, but his voice was heard from all directions as a bloodthirsty Aura seemed to appear out of nowhere surrounding the 6 Priests who fell to the ground as if gravity had increased hundreds of times. Soon they seemed to be grabbed by something that threw them out, the other Priests of other religions had expressions confused by these events, but knowing that this was not the time to ask questions but to act, they followed the nervous Guild employee upstairs. "..." (I) "My Ability just now is something I''m still learning, it helps me channel your power in the form of something similar to an Avatar of yours, so it must have your name." (Karina) "But it''s hard for me to form a clear picture of you, and it''s also very draining for me." (Karina) "Stop talking, there''s more coming." (Lilith) "< Field of Madness >" (Lilith) "We tested your luck." (Loki) "< Dice of Power >" (Loki) Soon hundreds of Harpies come towards us, all with Catastrophe Grade strength, they are Harpies with most of the female body including the face, but they wore metal armor molded on their bodies, they had wings instead of bird arms and legs. They fight using their feet while maneuvering in the air naturally and cooperating with each other, their screams are sound attacks while their songs cause various status effects like confusion, hallucinations, delirium, pain, sleep, and many others depending on the Harpy, they are very complicated monsters to deal with. As soon as they got close Lilith throws herself forward expanding her Aura to the surroundings and using her Aura as a means to spread a curse not on the Harpies but on the space around her creating disharmony in the controlled nature that should amplify the effect of madness of your Aura since I see some Harpies attacking empty places or attacking each other. At that moment Loki steps forward while bowing as if he is at a stage show performing in front of an audience, then a Golden die forms on top of his head sending out waves of energy to the surroundings that are only directed towards the Harpies. New golden dice form on top of their heads, I realized that this dice is intangible when the Harpies'' confused attacks pierce through the dice. Soon the 6 sided golden dice change their colors with 3 sides having red colors, 2 sides having green colors, and 1 side having golden color. The dice on top of Loki''s head have 5 green sides and one red side, so the dice start spinning at the same time and 3 seconds later they all stop at the same time while the side facing up glows. Those with the red color have streams of energy sucked from them into the exploding dice, while those with the green side glowing have a portion of the streams of energy from the others turned red being directed towards them. It was no surprise that Loki got the green color with big advantage dice, but even among the Harpies there were more than 10 that had a green result getting stronger, but that only made worse the massacre they were doing to each other. Only one of the Harpies was unlucky enough to acquire a golden side of the dice, at that moment his dice became completely golden and a mouth full of teeth devoured it causing the dice to change to a golden sculpture of a Harpy that began to attack its companions seeming to be unaffected by the area of curses or Lilith''s Aura. Chapter 859: The Priests Arrive On The Battlefield Chapter 859: The Priests Arrive On The Battlefield It was a one-sided massacre as the golden Harpy avoided the empowered Harpies and only attacked those who had half their energy stolen and survived explosions, it only lasted 2 minutes before Lilith''s curse field broke down, but by then there were only 3 Harpies left strengthened. "< Light of Judgment > 3" (Athena)Findd new stories at novelhall.com Soon 3 beams of light emerged from Athena''s raised sword piercing the hearts of the Harpies that fell to the ground. Of course, I wasn''t standing around doing nothing, I was recording everything with a magic item called a recording crystal, I was also collecting the Harpies'' blood into a special barrel to drink later. "Let''s continue." (I) As we continue flying, I get close to Lilith and give her some of my blood to drink, just a few sips was enough for her to fully recover from the energy she spent, that is a powerful attack, but I saw many failures. If there was only 1 enemy, then he would blindly launch attacks in the surroundings when losing control, besides the energy expenditure for her to maintain that cursed field is too big. There were a lot of things wrong, but Loki seemed to already know this technique from Lilith and came up with the right attack to complement Lilith''s technique. While thinking about these things, we continued on our way to the Dungeon location for another day of battles. ---------- Pov Hela: As we were flying towards the battlefield I noticed the large number of body parts and even whole bodies all over the city. "I know what you''re thinking, but the miasma problem has already been resolved." (Irina) Irina appeared beside me as if she knew what I was thinking, she pointed in a direction where I see a group of people wearing religious attire using spells on corpses and some even using holy energy. This spell drains a lot of my energy when used, but after it''s done I can use corpse aberration to steal mana from the monsters I kill. "Sometimes just being rough can be an adequate solution." (I) I can use my senses through this Puppet as if it were an extension of my body, then I throw myself into battle summoning 4 great cursed bone swords. My real body is safe inside the bones with 4 layers of defense around me, so I attack without fear. I can easily use the 4 arms to make 4 different attacks, I slash a large Harpy that defends itself with a spear, I attack using the side of the sword to hit dozens of Harpies coming from my right, and I attack by throwing a sword at a Mage between the Harpies who looked like they were trying to do a magical ritual and parried a spear-throwing attack dodging with my last sword. "< Underworld Water Streams >" (Irina) I manage to do all of this at the same time as Irina comes with currents of Acid Water trapping the large speared Harpy that I attacked first, so I use that free arm of that enemy who will have a painful death and slash the enemy who had launched his spear at me when approaches. The sword I threw at the Harpy Mage earlier comes back to me along with a body trapped in its blade, I swing the sword downward causing the body to fall off the sword as I throw myself into battle against enemies of my level, using my number of arms advantage to defeat enemies of the same level. We spent a few hours fighting and I kept my bone puppet all that time, but I had to replace the bones a few times when they were too damaged. When I was surrounded by many Air Elementals, I was calm in the knowledge that I was safe inside my bone puppet. At that moment I see the Priests of various religions that we saw earlier before leaving the Guild appearing and casting holy magic in a large area. This caused my large Skeleton to disassemble as my Necromancy spells were broken with waves of purification magic and breaking area curses. This left me exposed in the midst of many enemies with no protection. "Looks like I''m going to have to change my approach." (I) Chapter 860: Is Running Away? Chapter 860: Is Running Away? When I saw the Priests from earlier arrive on the battlefield and the type of spells they were using I understood what Guildmaster Dargon was wanting to accomplish. He wanted to try to break the curses on the Souls of these monsters preventing them from going back to the Dungeon, that way the fight became easier with less deaths every day since the monsters won''t be able to work together like they have done until now.Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com But there was a certain problem with what the Priests were doing, and because of that, I went to Hela and Lilith who were fighting using their curse skills a lot. "(You have to go to Hela, help her.)" (I) "(I''m coming.)" (Orion) I saw Hela surrounded by monsters, but she didn''t seem to be panicking, so I sent only Orion to help her, but Lilith was in a sticky situation when the blades of black blood around her turned red while purple smoke came out of them. "< Blood Claws >" (I) I create crystallized blood claws while using a skill that increases the damage of this attack, with that I almost managed to tear off half of the back of the body of what appeared to be a Man with a bird''s head, wings on his back, and two arms holding swords. But he recovers from my attack as fast as I could recover by drinking blood, then I notice a current of air from all directions being sucked into him, he was absorbing the air in the surroundings to recover. "I see..." (I) Lilith was using curse on her blood blades to bypass their regeneration abilities, but with these Priests using those AoE spells it''s going to be hard to do anything. "Let me handle this one." (I) When I turn around I see Lilith run towards another monster as she waves goodbye to me with her hand. "Good luck, Dad." (Lilith) "Die." During the days of battles in this city, most Adventurers realizing that their attacks can hit other Adventurers by accident have been more conscious in the way they use their skills, spells, and techniques. But this may not always be possible, especially for the strongest Adventurers where each of their skills are so strong that they have repercussions like shockwaves. When I felt safe I took the blood of the Harpy I just killed to drink, it helps my recovery more than potions. ----------- For the next few hours, the battle continued, each day more difficult because the Adventurers are accumulating physical and mental fatigue with this routine of relentless combat. But that day was different, in the middle of the afternoon the big golden ring or ring with 6 pairs of wings that is the gate of this Aerial Dungeon, the monsters stopped coming out, so the 6 pairs of wings of the Dungeon gate started to move like if it was a living being as it flew out of the city at an ever-increasing speed. In the beginning, there were Adventurers who tried to follow the Dungeon, but in the end, everyone stayed behind just watching the Dungeon disappear into the horizon. I was holding a Harpy''s wings from behind trying to rip them off her back while the blade of my tail went through the head of another Harpy who tried to attack me from behind only for my tail to go through her head from bottom to top. Finishing off these two monsters and seeing that monsters of my strength level were already being finished off by other Adventurers leaving only the strongest monsters fighting. Realizing I wasn''t needed, I stared at the horizon, not understanding why the Dungeon fled. That''s right, the impression it gave hurts that the Dungeon ran away, this is an inconceivable thing for me to understand and make me think that this Dungeon could be alive as in the case of Nix. "Wasn''t that a living Dungeon? The feeling was very different from mine, it felt more like a normal Dungeon, that golden ring with wings must be a feature of the Dungeon itself." (Nix) "So you think the Dungeon Master has decided to back off?" (I) "Yes, this has all been for nothing, I don''t see how it helps the Dungeon or the Dungeon Master, with these Priests breaking their curses it only made things worse by making the Dungeon lose important resources." (Nix) "I understand." (I) Chapter 861: Two Plans In Action Chapter 861: Two Plans In Action Pov of a Cultist: I traveled to retrieve the cursed weapon I need to break one of the seals, if I remember correctly it was sealed in a temple to the Goddess of Life.Findd new stories at novelhall.com I remember where I last saw it, but after thousands of years, I''m not sure if that city still exists or if anyone discovered the seal of the Justice God Hero Weapon. When I get close to the place I remember I notice that the surrounding terrain is very similar, one of the mountains to the north seems to have been cut off, but other than that the landscape hasn''t changed much. I change back to my human form as I land on top of one of the city buildings below. "As I suspected, it''s not the same town." (I) The buildings are different, the statue in the center of the city is no longer there, and the temples are no longer on the west side of the city but on the north side, it also seems that the population of the city is almost completely human. "I can feel faint traces, it looks like the seal has weakened after so many years, but at least I know it''s still here." (I) I was getting ready to go to the place where I was feeling the faint traces of the weapon, I could only feel it because I''ve seen the sword in the past. When I was close to doing something I notice something strange approaching across the sky in the distance, I move away from the city to identify first what is coming. "What is it doing here?" (I) What I see approaching the city was a large golden ring with 6 pairs of wings, I know this Dungeon very well and the woman it belongs to. The Dungeon stopped above the city after a few tens of minutes Waves of Monsters started to come out of the Dungeon to attack the city. "I didn''t feel anyone very strong in the city, so I don''t think it will be long before everything is destroyed." (I) Just as I suspected, the Soldiers and Adventurers around the city weren''t able to withstand such a sudden air strike, it''s taking too long to kill the monsters, which means that as long as the Waves of Monsters continue, the monsters will be piling up. In a few hours, I see the hard Battle turn into a defensive struggle while the city is in shambles. "I must warn the Lord of Shadows." (I) I enter the gardens and wave my right claw at the ground opening a large ditch, soon soldiers of all kinds surround me, but I wave my other hand tearing these nuisances to pieces. I looked at the large ditch that revealed an ancient buried building, I floated down and with a heavy foot stomp a hole where I passed. Inside were a few things, but nothing important to me, I just look at the sword with the shiny purple blade and golden hilt. "I remember when that blade was silver as the moon." (I) I grab the hilt of the sword expecting a reaction from the Sword Spirit, but to my surprise nothing happens, there is no resistance, all it has is a powerful cursed energy trying to invade my body, but then it was stopped by the curse I already carry. "It was easier than expected, it seems to be weaker, perhaps the curse has destroyed the spirit of the sword and with it some of its power." (I) "But it might still do what I need it to." (I) I spread my wings and fly through the hole in the ceiling of the room straight into the sky where I turn in the direction back to the seal. ---------- Pov Andreia (Executioner of Light): I was kneeling in front of the High Priest giving a progress report on our plans. "The attacks seem to be going as planned, some Dungeons had to withdraw earlier in exactly the cities we expected to have problems, but nothing affects our plans." (I) "How is the Hero doing?" (High Priest) "We put him in one of the cities that would be attacked, it looks like he did well, his talent is amazing, but it doesn''t seem to be like in the past." (I) "You did your job well, now go back to keep that dirty Harpy under control, we can still use her in the future." (High Priest) "Baldr''s glory." (I) I stand up with a final bow before leaving, it''s time to give the promised reward to this Dungeon Master, as long as she can be easily manipulated with her greed we can still use her. Chapter 862: Rumors Of The Hero Of Light Chapter 862: Rumors Of The Hero Of Light Pov Allan (Hero of Justice): "< Blade of Retribution >" (I) "Bianca!?" (I) "< Judgment of the Heavens >" (Bianca) We were sent along with many others to reinforce a city suffering attacks from a Wave of Monsters coming from an Aerial Dungeon, fortunately, the call for help from the city was quick and they managed to protect the highest priority infrastructure, which allowed us to pass with security through the Teleportation Portal. We''ve been here for days and the fight hasn''t been that hard, our duty has just been monster hunting, just like many others. A Necromancer warned us yesterday about a curse attacking the Souls of these monsters, since then those who can use holy energy like Bianca and I are taking more active roles in battle as of now. I was surrounded by Harpies, thanks to my armor and many strengthening or defense skills I was able to survive the constant attacks, waiting until the last second to activate the skills that my sword and I have in common. Thanks to this double skill activation my power quadrupled allowing me to finish off those Harpies in minutes, meanwhile, Bianca was doing an area attack across the city using a ritual along with many other Priests following her orders. Her ritual using holy magic caused a lightning storm to appear out of nowhere, each lightning strike hitting an enemy of equal or lesser strength than Bianca, which is true for more than half of enemy monsters. After dealing with this large amount of monsters, the Priests and Bianca were exhausted as a powerful enemy rushed to finish them off, it was a Hurricane Eye, a natural Spectral type of wind element monsters. He is a large eyeball that uses tornado tentacles to attack, this is a King Grade monster at the very least. "Darcia, get them out of there!!!" (I) "< Sword and Shield As One >" (I) "< Immovable As A Mountain >" (I) I keep my sword in my right hand while I draw a large shield with my left hand, with this Skill I share the powers of the two items with each other, this increases the Shield''s attack and the sword''s defense. I also use an ability that increases my global defense while remaining Immobile using up all my energy. I don''t have time to worry about the Priests, but I hope I can buy them a few seconds of time. "..." (I) "Don''t look at me like that, the fight is over, the Dungeon left that day, a few minutes after you lost consciousness." (Bianca) "Thanks to you Darcia was able to rescue me and other Priests, even if it was only a few seconds it was enough for a high level Mage from the Mages Guild to arrive, he was the one who destroyed the monster." (Bianca) "..." (I) "(I want to know...)" (I) "I''m sure you''re hoping to learn more about that Dungeon." (Bianca) "But all I know is that it was a mobile Dungeon, it flew away, and more than one, reports came from all over the continent saying that the same Dungeon appeared in several cities, but the time does not match." (Bianca) "So the only explanation would be that there are several of this Dungeon or that it was a single Dungeon with multiple entrances." (Bianca) "(The way this was done is weird, what''s going on?)" (I) I was lost trying to find a reason for these attacks, if it was just a Dungeon it would be one thing, but from what I just heard, it''s clear that someone is up to something, but I can''t tell what lying in a bed without the ability to well speak. "I also need to tell you something, a new Hero of the Church of Light has emerged." (Bianca) "We received orders to investigate him as soon as possible, as you are like this I sent Darcia to investigate the city where he fought." (Bianca) "I also got the basic information that the Temple has from him, many things are strange about him, his strength doesn''t match his techniques, and his Aura control is also above his strength level." (Bianca) "He fought in one of the attacked cities, thanks to that we''ll have some better information on him once Darcia returns." (Bianca) "But I heard some rumors by Adventurers who just arrived in the city, this Hero of Light seems to be very impulsive and extreme, it seems that these rumors are starting to spread throughout the continent." (Bianca) As she talks, she continues cleaning my body, it bothers me to be in someone''s care, I just can''t tell if it''s a mean thing or a bad thing to be one of my group members. But even in that situation, I''m doing my best to pay attention to the things she says, mainly because I understand how important the role of a Hero is not only as a symbol of her religion but also as a representative role for her religion, there have been cases in the past of people being incompetent in such an important role. "I also heard that Zenos was in one of these attacked cities." (Bianca) "..." (I) Chapter 863: Strengthening Project Chapter 863: Strengthening Project After the Dungeon ran away, that''s right, the Aerial Dungeon ran away, things were very easy for some reason, in my view, the Dungeon master decided to leave so as not to lose more Souls, some of these monsters could even talk showing that they were created using Very good ranked souls. After the Dungeon left I relieved Nicole of her duties, I know she doesn''t like to do those things and there''s no need for her to do that now since someone else can do it. Guildmaster Dargon was very insistent on hiring Nicole as an employee of the Guild, but instead of talking to her, he came to me realizing that I was the one who decided about it. But he didn''t realize that the reason Nicole listens to me is exactly because I protect her from these things, her job is with me. Me, Silvia, and Sakura created a house on a land where there was only rubble, a three-story house more like a simple mansion using marble stones that I picked up from the city''s rubble and wood that grew to mold to what we wanted, even without help Leonardo''s work was beautiful. This house might only be temporary for us, but I made sure I had the Trade Guild''s permission to build it along with permission to sell it when I left town. Actually, the Mages Guild, Commerce Guild, and Adventurers Guild were working together to rebuild the city, but all the money for this was being funded by the government at no cost to the Guilds themselves logically since they are not charities. We were also asked to help rebuild the city when they saw our small mansion, I released it to anyone who wants to help do whatever they want. Meanwhile, I used this makeshift house to go back to the Dungeon where I called Nira for a meeting. "How is everyone?" (Nira) "Okay, Nicole is taking advantage of her time away from her lab to make plans for her future projects." (I) "But I called you to find out about the volunteer list." (I) "Here it is." (Nira) Nira hands me a storage crystal, I take the small cube and fit it in a reading crystal I have with me, then I start to look through the volunteer files, there were many names, but most were crossed out. Among the prominent names were the Ghoul I met in the city of Valen in the past, the Shark woman from the Sirens who joined us on the way to this continent, the Blood Demon Queen we rescued in the Dark Continent, and Sophia and Alice. "We are still analyzing some names, those highlighted are the most suitable if you start..." (Nira) "If possible I would like my Master to be at the top of the list." (Margareth) "Margareth!?" (I) "I can understand your concerns, but your best option would still be your sister." (Margareth) "..." (I) I had already thought about my sister, but I considered leaving her later because I''m too busy right now, I''m afraid helping her now will make me unconscious for days again. At least now I have confirmation of performing an Awakening Ceremony with normal people without being knocked unconscious, but someone who is a Demigoddess will clearly not be normal. "(At the end of the day she is still my Blood Sister, putting other people in front of her is not right.)" (I) Sigh "Fine, I''ll do that, but just later, I have to do some preparations." (I) "But master..." (Nira) "I know, but family first." (I) I''ll have to wait until late afternoon for what that Priest said. ---------- Pov Klaus (Moon Butcher): "I tell you, I tell you anything you want to know, just let her go." "Then tell me more about this Lord of Shadows." (I) "Anything but that, you don''t understand what''s going to..." "Ahhhhhh!!!!" (woman) "You bastard, what did you do, I speak, I said I speak." "Just answer my questions, don''t waste my time or your daughter''s time." (I) "No one knows who or exactly what kind of creature the Lord of Shadows is, he is a creature made of shadows, but he needs a living body to inhabit and use his power." "What is he planning?" (I) "I don''t know, I swear by the Gods I don''t know, I''m just an intermediary for them, one of many." "Do you know where to find him?" (I) "Right here Mister Moon Butcher... hahahaha..." (Shadow Lord) I was interrogating a Noble of the Black Empire, a Demon full of greed who does everything for money, my investigation led me to one of his clients and then to him, it was this Man who passed on half of the weapons containing Flux Coral scattered throughout the northern part from the mainland. I destroyed his eyes and contained his Aura and senses using Spirit Runes, I was also using a voice change Rune to model his daughter''s voice, which is possibly the only thing he loves more than money. But then suddenly the shadow envelops his body which begins to bleed as a smiling face with red eyes emerges from these shadows speaking to me in a voice that does not belong to my prisoner. "So you are the Lord of Shadows?" (I) "Yes and please spare me this pathetic attempt to track me, this man has never known anything worthwhile, and trying to track me with these Runes will be futile too." (Lord of Shadows) "(So he knew I was baiting him.)" (I) "What do you plan on doing causing all this mess? You can''t keep hiding forever." (I) "You don''t scare me, Butcher of the Moon, so save your speech, besides I won''t have to hide anymore soon." (Lord of Shadows) The shadow disappears leaving a twisted, bleeding body on the ground, I stand up looking at my shadow. "Didn''t get anything?" (I) "Nothing, he knew about me, in fact, he tried to track you down by throwing a curse at your shadow as he spoke, but when he saw me resisting he left." (Naraka) "But I managed to contain a trace of his power that he tried to use on you." (Naraka) "So there''s still something we can do." (I) Chapter 864: Youre Welcome, Sister Chapter 864: You''re Welcome, Sister That late afternoon I went to the Communal Temple, every time I enter here I can feel the Holy power within me becoming more active as it reacts to the environment, this is one of the things I haven''t trained in until now and I see my mistake, could have been of great help in the last battles of that city. "Good to see you young Zenos, Nira has already spread the word, everything is ready." (Yara) "I noticed, the temple is empty today." (I) "Nobody wants to interfere with their sister''s Awakening Ceremony." (Yara) "As Vanessa is out of the Dungeon I ended up being responsible for leaving everything organized, the other High Priests will be present, but they stayed away." (Yara) Sigh "Thanks." (I) I enter the Communal Temple and feel the various blessings, blood, and Holy power within my body stirring, I can even feel the presences of the Gods from the crystal statues in the other room. "I''ll never get used to this." (I) "Yes, you are immortal, one day you''ll get used to almost everything." (Yara) "..." (I) I look at Yara, I know her true identity, I know that this High Priestess of Life in front of me is just one of many who are individuals separate from her main body, someone who has lived longer than I can doubtless imagine. "Margareth is apparently already here." (I) Inside the Communal Temple, I can feel everything, there''s nothing that can hide from me in here when I''m present, possibly because my power helped create this place and that''s why it''s strongly connected to me. I''m walking to the main hall where the statues of the Gods are, as soon as I enter I see Margareth in front of the statue of the Goddess Selene, she was holding the red crystal where my sister''s Soul was sleeping. "You are early." (I) "I look forward to meeting my master again." (Margareth) "I remember you saying that she always caused a lot of trouble." (I) "Yes, but solving these problems for her has been my reason for living since the day I chose to serve my Master." (Margareth) Sigh "Let''s get this over with..." (I) I talk to her as I approach, then the crystal floats, to be between me and the statue of the Goddess Selene, some glowing orbs float around the red crystal coming out of it. Each sphere had a different presence, I didn''t understand what they were but they knew they didn''t belong to my sister since they didn''t have the same Aura as the crystal. "What are these spheres?" (I) "These are things my master collected over the last year before I was reunited with you." (Margareth) "My master and I know more about the Ceremony of Awakening than those who follow you, we know that during the Ceremony certain powers, bloodlines, skills, and items can be used to build or rebuild a body during awakening." (Margareth) "Some of these spheres have things that belonged to my master, things that she conquered with violence... I mean, that she conquered for herself and other things that I collected along the way following her will." (Margareth) "I don''t guarantee it will work, as far as I know, there is something about compatibility." (I) "At least I''ve always tried to think that way." (I) "You''re right, the power must come from you or it must come from a compatible external source." (Margareth) I already knew that, somehow I could feel these things after performing so many Awakening Ceremonies. 2. Lineage [ Goddess Selene: 100% ] 3. Skill [ Aura of Nature ] These 3 options were more than just highlighted, they were glowing like neon signs in my mind, so I chose them thinking that the Goddess Selene and my sister had chosen these options. Ding! <[ Power grant ended ]> . . <[ Wake-up process starting ]> . . . <[ Natasha (Demigoddess of Blood) began absorbing various external powers on her own ]> . . <[ It has been identified that all external powers have more than 70% compatibility with Natasha (Demigoddess of Blood) ]> . . . <[ Natasha''s Resurrection Process (Demigoddess of Blood) has been started ]> . . . <[ Natasha''s (Demigod of Blood) power and Authority will be limited to the level of Zenos (Demigod of Incomplete Blood) ]> . . . <[ Wake up process completed ]> Soon I feel three streams of power surge from me and enter the crystal that has lost its solid form as tentacles that seem to be made of blood pull the spheres that orbit the red crystal from the beginning inward. An amount of blood began to pour out of the crystal that now had a star shape, this blood took on a humanoid form as it continued to surge, then a scarlet light surged from the statue of Goddess Selene to cover the humanoid form with blood, like a crystal cocoon. Tu-Tum! Tu-Tum! Tu-Tum! Tu-Tum! I could feel and hear stronger and stronger heartbeats arise, and I could feel a previously ethereal Aura and presence now becoming solid, but what surprised me the most was a feeling of familiarity arise within me, I felt connected with whoever was inside from the cocoon, it wasn''t a connection like the one I have with my Familiars, that connection was more natural as if it was always there and I only noticed now as if it had been enhanced. "You''re welcome, sister." (I) Chapter 865: Natasha The Living Brutality Part 1 Chapter 865: Natasha The Living Brutality Part 1 I was facing the cocoon where my sister was, and it took me a while to understand this feeling that arose within me. Tu-Tum! At first, I thought someone was messing with my mind, someone having a strong feeling for another person they''ve never talked to must be impossible, at least that''s what logic always made me believe, even my companions weren''t people I loved from the first time I''ve known but something that was built over time.Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com But facing this cocoon now, I can feel a strong feeling of love, not romantic love, but the love of a family, I have felt this before in my previous life while growing up in the orphanage and in this life, with the family, I found in the path of this new life. It took me a while to understand that this feeling didn''t come out of nowhere, she was always my blood sister, even though I never met her in person, it doesn''t change the fact that this connection between us was always there and with the Awakening Ceremony of now I touched her Soul just as she did the same to me strengthening that connection that was always there. But during the Ceremony, I felt this feeling most strongly when the Goddess Selene began stepping in to help with the Awakening Ceremony. Tu-Tum! "(Did it originate from her?)" (I) "Master finally" (Margareth) Tears My thoughts were interrupted when I hear Margareth''s crying voice as she hugs the cocoon. "That was pretty impressive." (Yara) "..." (I) Tu-Tum! High Priestess Yara circles the cocoon before touching its surface, with each passing second the smile on her face grows. "A new life for the one who took countless lives, a fresh start to pursue a new path..." (Yara) "Wonderful, what a great life choice is, the audacity to open a new path." (Yara) "What are you talking about, High Priestess Yara?" (I) "The rebirth of a Demigod is not something that can be rushed, even if it is possible for several very specific reasons it would still come with a cost." (Yara) "The Temple of Law has always hated her, everything she stands for goes against her teachings, someone who doesn''t respect hierarchy, law, rules and acts wild wherever she is." (Yara) Tu-Tum! Tu-Tum! Tu-Tum! Tu-Tum! "I''m the one who decides how to live!" "..." (all) Suddenly in the middle of the conversation where I''m learning more about my sister, a voice I don''t know comes from inside the cocoon along with the sound of heartbeats that filled the main hall of the Communal Temple. When I turn to the pod I see a pair of red eyes staring back at me, then the pod cracks in its entirety before exploding in all directions as large wings full of red crystal scales unfold. After a few seconds, a red mist takes over the entire room before being sucked in by the breath of the one who was inside the cocoon a few seconds ago. "I finally have a body again, I don''t need to be carried back and forth by Margareth anymore, I can also eat the various types of food I saw that White Elf make, and most importantly, I can go back to punching people." (Natasha) "M... master..." (Margareth) "..." (I) I turn to the painting of the mighty Wild Warrior facing an army, then look back at my sister, my eyes keep wandering over and over from her current body painting. "Huhhh!?" (Natasha) "Why are you all looking at me like that? There''s something wrong with..." (Natasha) "That was unexpected" (Natasha) Her hair is still long and wild with the color of blood red, her skin is still black and her eyes are still red, but otherwise, her appearance is completely different. She has 4 horns on her head, 2 horns backwards following the curves of her head and 2 horns diagonally upwards a little curved, her horns seemed to be made of crystal like mine, but her horns were dark red in color differing from the tone of her hair and eyes, in addition, she has small red crystal scales on her arms, legs, back, and neck rising slightly to her cheeks. Her wings were like mine, but while my wings appear to be a night sky-like crystal like scales, her wings have red crystal scales like the rest of her body, she doesn''t have a tail like me from what I can see, also her appearance looks like someone coming out of adolescence around 18 or 19, her body no longer looks like a fighter, she will act more like an olympic athlete body with lean muscles, along with her natural wild presence she has more beauty with more defined body curves. On her chest is a star shaped crystal which in the middle looks like my scales like a night sky while the star points are red, the crystal is not only attached to her body but follows the curves of her body as well as her scales. Her face is also beautiful, in the painting it seems to bear little resemblance to the Goddess Selene, but now I can see much more of the Goddess in her expression. "You should put some clothes on." (I) Chapter 866: Natasha The Living Brutality Part 2 Chapter 866: Natasha The Living Brutality Part 2 I was surprised by the change in Natasha''s appearance, but it wasn''t the first time I''ve seen such drastic changes, Lilith also owes big changes in the past. "Come with me, mistress." (Margareth) "Clothes are useless, they hinder my movements, I haven''t even tried this one yet..." (Natasha) "I don''t care, going around naked is not a decent thing to do." (Margareth) "..." (I) "As carefree as ever." (Yara) Margareth simply grabbed her arm dragging Natasha to another room for a few minutes, my sister who didn''t seem to care about her lack of clothes didn''t even try to resist, which made me think about the kind of relationship that this master and servant have. ---------- After a few minutes, the two came back, Natasha was wearing long black pants, a white blouse, and a black leather jacket, her clothes were very basic, and they also seemed to be a little baggy in her body. "Not very comfortable." (Natasha) "There is a magnificent seamstress here, we will go there after you talk to your brother, master." (Margareth) "Yes I have to talk to him, would you?" (Natasha) "I already expected something like that, please wait 1 second without destroying anything." (Margareth) "About what..." (I) "< Fool''s Door >" (Margareth)Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com Suddenly Margareth and Natasha started talking in a way that I didn''t understand, Natasha looked anxious as she looked at me with bright eyes, but it looked like she was waiting for Margareth to do something. Soon Margareth pulls a rectangular metal door full of drawings of magic circles that glow before opening a passage to a forest, I didn''t understand what was happening until Natasha disappeared. I had already confirmed that I was still inside the Dungeon and on the same floor as the city, but I was in one of the many forests on that floor of the Dungeon, I also confirmed that there was no one around. The poison cloud spreads when I aim for the ground, I have no doubt this poison won''t work on her, I used this skill more as a smokescreen to hide myself while hiding my Aura. "Nice trick, but it doesn''t work on me." (Natasha) "Damn..." (I) Even within the poisonous smoke, she appeared underneath me head to spleen delivering an upward kick that was supposed to hit my jaw if she hadn''t defended with her arms. For the next two hours, let''s say fighting hand-to-hand, I couldn''t use any magic and was avoiding wasting energy on skills when I already had half of my energy reserves. Natasha didn''t leave my side for a second, she didn''t stop to rest, eat or drink anything during that time, not to mention that she wouldn''t get used to her body so quickly. The few chances to land a hit on her at first became increasingly slim as she seemed to be adjusting her strikes to adapt to her current body. After hours of me being badly beaten, she stops and stretches with a satisfied smile on her face, then she looks over at me throwing a towel to dry my sweat. "That was fun, really nice meeting you little brother." (Natasha) "But what''s going on...here?" (I) Soon Margareth, who was sitting on a nearby tree, appears. "My master believes that the best way to get to know someone is through combat alone, she always does that kind of thing when she wants to get to know someone better." (Margareth) "How can she learn anything from me...through combat?" (I) "I''ll explain to you let''s go into the mansion." (Natasha) "Wait..." (I) I was grabbed by the head as I was pulled by Natasha as she ran over the top of the trees heading straight towards the mansion. Chapter 867: Gateway To... Chapter 867: Gateway To... Pov Nix: I was going with Layla to the Fairy Temple, the one who was guiding us was a Fairy Priest, the Religion of Fairies or Spirits is different from other religions in many ways. We only have Priests who have a strong connection with our races, maybe even some descendants, above the Priests are the Fairy Kings or Spirit Kings, who I suppose are the ones who called us. I look at the Priest who called us, he has white hair and wise eyes, but he maintains the appearance of someone in his late 28s or 30s. "Are they still following us?" (I) "Don''t worry young lady, they won''t approach, but I''m surprised you noticed them." (Priest) "I didn''t notice, but I knew they wouldn''t pass up an opportunity if we left town." (I) "I wouldn''t be able to..." (Layla) "No way." (I) "You didn''t even know what I was going to say, how come you''re already denying it?" (Layla) "I imagine there would be something idiotic about luring them into an ambush, ridiculing their efforts or going for an attack that was sure to be suicide." (I) "..." (Laila) "I was just going to ask if it''s possible..." (Layla) "I will intervene if they attack, but I will not start an attack against them." (Priest) "Okay, don''t listen to that crazy faerie, she''s easily inclined to violence." (I) The Priest guides us out of the city, but as soon as we arrive in the forest I can feel the element of space interacting with our surroundings as if it were shortening a distance that should be greater, with that our walk of few minutes since we entered the forest has left us in an amazing place. It was an open field with trees, and flowers, there was a river with crystal clear water and the big tree, this one wasn''t a World Tree but it was still special somehow. Even though I don''t have much Affinity with the space element, I still managed to perceive the interference of this element along the way since I am also a living Dungeon, as such I can feel certain aspects of space that others may not notice even without this elemental Affinity. She dragged me back to the mansion at a run, I wanted to resist but I was too tired for that. When I arrived at the mansion she went straight to the kitchen where she started to eat like a wild animal, I took advantage of this time to recover with that barrel of blood. "Why did you have to attack me like that?" (I) "I thought it was obvious, I wanted to get to know you better, little brother." (Natasha) After she finished eating, she walked to the living room where she laid down on a couch with a bottle of beer she got in the kitchen, I take the opportunity to question her about everything that happened. "How can hitting me like that..." (I) "I learned a lot from you, I learned more than from a conversation, during combat you cannot hide your true self, each person''s way of fighting is unique." (Natasha) "Even though I started by attacking you by surprise, you didn''t get desperate and think of a plan to trick me into the next attack." (Natasha) "You were also always looking for opportunities during combat, when opportunities didn''t come up you created opportunities." (Natasha) "It shows a cunning mind." (Natasha) "Your every attack was ready to become a defense or an evasion if necessary, every defense was a trap for me, every evasion was a chance for a counterattack, and you didn''t let yourself fall into any kind of pattern." (Natasha) "You also used your surroundings very well throughout combat." (Natasha) "It shows that you are open-minded and extremely adaptable." (Natasha) "Even after hours without managing to land any critical hits against me, you avoided using too much of your skills knowing that if you ran out of energy first you would lose, after all, you were weakened." (Natasha) "It shows an incredible calm, something that is usually difficult to maintain after hours of combat." (Natasha) "But mostly I realized that you have a strong will, as more time passed I got more of an advantage as I got used to my current power and this new body." (Natasha) "But no matter your disadvantage, your eyes never lost their edge, you never acted in fear or doubt, you were always analyzing me, every attack and every situation with acceptable willpower." (Natasha) She looks at me as she smiles and points with her bottle, her words of acceptance showing a level of appreciation she didn''t expect from someone with her history of being a battle freak. Chapter 868: Fairy World Chapter 868: Fairy World Pov Nix: When I passed through the Fairy Gate, I could feel my body, which is made purely of energy in a physical state, being forcibly converted to a state of pure energy. It gave my body a strange tingling sensation, but I was glad, when I was younger at the time I was still with my parents, I wasn''t able to enter the Spirit World with my mother, that''s because I had a body real physique at that time. But now that I''m purely a Spirit, I was able to cross over to the Fairy World, that means I can visit the Spirit World one day. When I completely pass through the Portal, an explosion of energy overwhelms my senses, that''s because I could feel mana everywhere, in fact, I could feel that mana is everywhere, everything around me was made of energy, I felt dizzy with this strange realization for my mind to accept. Sigh "I I can still feel him" (Layla) I suddenly felt Layla in my hand completely fine, it was as if she was ignoring everything in the surroundings while keeping her mind on the connection we have with the master. But one thing I noticed during Layla''s sigh was the energy, it was then that I noticed that my breath wasn''t sucking air into me, but elemental energy from the wind. Even the earth under my feet was just earth elemental energy and the plants were wood elemental energy, everything was made of energy, the feeling was similar to the real one, but I could feel the difference. "I have to get used to it..." (I) "Good to see you again Nix, you look great Layla." (Hera) While I was trying to get used to these new sensations, suddenly someone just appears in front of us, a beautiful woman in a leaf dress that we already know before, the Fairy Queen of Madeira, Hera. "..." (I) "What is this" (Layla) Layla tried to fly out of my hand but landed straight on the ground or so I thought before I saw her appear being held up by one of her 4 arms by the Fairy Queen''s fingers. "You two are not used to an environment made of pure energy, it should take a few minutes for Layla, but for Nix, it will be strange since there is no spiritual energy here." (Hera) After an hour of meditating, I was finally able to walk, see, hear and speak normally, this place was giving me a new experience simply by being here. While I was adapting to the strange environment made of pure energy, Layla was already flying all over the place entering large aerial rivers or dancing along with other Fairies. Soon she and I went inside the tree house, the Queen of Fairies of the Wood element was waiting for us there, we sat on the other side of the table facing her. "Was it you who called Layla here?" (I) "No, she''s just another guide, right?" (Layla) "You''re right, I''m just here to help you adjust, how did you notice?" (Hera) "One of the fairies cleaning outside told me you''re not from around here." (Layla) "Goddess Aine said that you should come home at least once, I think you understand why now, right?" (Hera) "The portal, it''s still too early, besides this place might be fun, but it''s not my home." (Layla) "..." (I) "My home is near my master''s asshole, inside that Lizard." (Layla) Layla flies up over my head where she sits, so she speaks with absolutely no respect for a Fairy Queen. "I don''t see a problem with that, your home will be wherever you choose to return but to complete the fairy gate you''ve already created, you should come here at least once." (Hera) "You will also have to visit the Spirit World in the future, Nix." (Hera) After that we stayed a few more hours until Layla was completely comfortable in this place, I wasn''t comfortable myself, but at least I managed to get used to all that elemental energy. Soon we passed through the Fairy Gate again discovering the sensation of our bodies becoming less energy and more physical, I was relieved when I returned to the normal world. Finding the same Priest still waiting near the Fairy Gate, we asked them to escort us back, we were lucky he accepted. Chapter 869: I Will Teach You Little Brother Chapter 869: I Will Teach You Little Brother Pov Cultist: When I flew back to the seal, I noticed the two giant bodies on the ground, one looked like a beast made of several trees while the second looked like some kind of bird made of ice. I could feel traces of Nature''s energy coming from these bodies, they were Titans of Nature, I walk past them to the area of the seal where I find the person in charge of the Sacrifice Rituals. "Why were the Titans of Nature here?" (I) "After thousands of years space has closed most of the rift, what we are doing is causing space to tear itself apart again and that is in turn affecting the natural balance that has always been fragile here." (Shadow Slave) "Our luck is that the energy leaking from the seal is poison for these Titans of Nature, as soon as they arrived they died in a few minutes." (Shadow Slave) I look at the seal, the chains are still visible with the faces of the sacrificial victims all along its length, I could feel a sinister energy similar to that of the Lord of Shadows, it wasn''t some kind of elemental, Demonic, or miasma energy. "(The energy seems almost alive and is avoiding me and the shadow slaves.)" (I) I looked at the surrounding trees, their wood was bleeding, and their leaves had fallen, but the shade of the trees looked just like leaves. It was clear that this energy was gradually corrupting the surroundings, even the amount of miasma was greater than when it left.Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com "That could be a problem, someone might notice that energy or the miasma buildup." (I) "I already informed the Lord of Shadows, and he believes we still have time, besides while you were away another seal weakened and I had to perform more sacrifices, you can break two layers of the seal." (Shadow Slave) "I am going to try." (I) I release all my energy and Aura as I draw the cursed sword, I make the sword absorb all my energy and Aura as I take position. "< Demon Dragon Blade >" (I) Crack!!! I use every muscle in my body for this swing, my sword hits the chain but only a sliver comes out as cracks start to show, I keep pouring my power into the sword with maximum effort. Crack!!!!! Crack!!!! In that moment of extreme exertion, the chain breaks as it turns into a red mist spreading across the surroundings, then I see space ripple as a crack forms in space. "How is the damage." (Shadow Slave) "(I hope I''m wrong about her.)" (I) "Look little brother, I''m not going to make things difficult for you, while you''re here I can help by teaching you things I''m sure you don''t know." (Natasha) ----------- Pov Vanessa: I was meeting with the Adventurer''s Guild Master that night, I was guided to his office where I see him with a huge pile of paper on top of the table. "Thank you for coming, High Priestess Vanessa." (Dargon) "I wonder what the issue might be for bringing me here." (I) "I''m short on time so I''ll be blunt, I apologize if I seem disrespectful." (Dargon) "I''m requesting several groups of Adventurers to oversee the Dungeons near the city, your group may have an average strength, but they are still around Iron Grade with some bordering Bronze Grade." (Dargon) "You have a solid group of Warriors, Healers, Mages, and Assassins." (Dargon) "I would like you to join the exploration of the Dungeons along with the other groups." (Dargon) "Why not talk to my Father about it?" (I) "We both know he''s in a place I can''t reach him, so I decided to talk to you who seem to be one of those in charge." (Dargon) I look at him, his face is calm and yet his eyes seem to be telling me that he knows where my Father is. Sigh "How long have you known?" (I) "From the beginning, that''s why I kept you under surveillance." (Dargon) "I guarantee no one else noticed." (Dargon) "I appreciate you not talking about it, but I can''t help with what you''re asking." (I) "The Church of Light will not interfere with you inside or outside the Dungeon, I already made an agreement with them, I can''t have problems happening during such a difficult time." (Dargon) Chapter 870: Holy Power Chapter 870: Holy Power Pov Athena: "< Shadow Blade > 2" (I) "< Shadow Stalker >" (I) I was in the middle of a fight against 2 Jungle Ambushers, they are beings with bodies similar to large 2 meters wolves apparently without a head where it should be, but having 3 beast heads at the end of 3 long tails capable of unleashing attacks of Poison-type breath. I use my Blade of Sombra to cut one of his legs with 2 attacks making him lose his balance while a copy of me attacks from the front, meanwhile, I''m behind. Once the monster''s attacks destroy my shadow copy, I have an opening to get close enough to slash my sword through the base of the tails where I dig into the monster''s brain. During its death its true mouth opens letting out a death scream, the heads are decoys to hide the true mouth that extends from the back to the belly of the monster. "I still can''t use it efficiently, I always feel this delay in energy circulation." (I) "You''ll get better, using the shadow element is hard, it took me a long time to master it and my sister still has issues with it." (Irius) We were inside one of the Dungeons of the attacked city, my new mother accepted the Guildmaster''s request after Patriarch Zenos'' approval. "Should we really forget about our mission?" (I) "It''s not a quest, it was a request from the Guild Master to explore and investigate, we have no reason not to take this time to train." (Irius) "Then why am I the only one training here?" (I) "Because you''re strong enough to train alone, your fighting style actually doesn''t suit group coordination very well." (Irius) "I was trained since I was a child to lead, so I have to adapt to different groups." (I) "It just means that you adapt to a group with good coordination, you identify the weak points of a group and go there, your subordinates have already told me that." (Irius) "That''s why group training is still far away for you, let''s look for the next monster, and this time fight only with Shadow magic." (Irius) ------------ Pov Zenos: Ding! <[ Understanding and mastery of Holy Power achieved ]> . . <[ Your maximum Holy Power storage capacity has been increased ]> . . . <[ Your Holy Power will be flowing to your Familiars from now on ]> . . <[ Your Holy Power will be flowing to your Dragon Priestess (Karina) now ]> "..." (I) I suddenly feel like a barrier has been destroyed within my body, I can feel the holy power within me flowing to my Familiars through my connection with them, the same goes for Karina who is my Dragon Priestess. The energy is flowing to them, but it''s not like it''s being sucked out of me, it''s more like I''m a source from which sacred power flows like a river to them without emptying the lake from which it originated that is me. "Looks like it''s finally over, I was wondering if I should start calling you." (Natasha) "What...why is it dark?" (I) I look around realizing that it was already night, more precisely dawn, I don''t understand how this happened in just a few minutes. "You''ve entered a state of understanding, I don''t know how much time has passed, but you''ve been standing in the same place for hours." (Natasha) Chapter 871: What I Am? Chapter 871: What I Am? It was hard for me to understand how so much time could have passed like this, I was sure it had only been a few minutes at the most, but the single Moon that shows itself inside my Dungeon is irrefutable proof of the passage of time. "I think it''s better to go back to the mansion, we can continue tomorrow." (I) "Yes, I have something I want to try tomorrow too." (Natasha) "Are you going to keep teaching me about holy power?" (I) "Of course not, you should understand now." (Natasha) "For you who finally fully understand the origin and characteristics of your sacred power as a Demigod, it should be easier and more intuitive to use than your own Aura, how you use it is up to you." (Natasha) "Trying to teach you more about holy power would be like trying to teach you how to move your own arm, it''s the kind of thing you learn on your own." (Natasha) My sister and I go back to the city floor and head straight to the mansion while I am getting familiar with my holy power. When we got back to the mansion there was a big feast with a wide variety of meats of all kinds, it was the kind of feast that appears in vegan nightmares. Margareth asked Caryna for help in preparing this feast in celebration of my sister''s rebirth. It was no surprise when the buffet got bigger and bigger as more and more people seemed to spill out of the ground, before I knew it the celebratory feast had become yet another festival in the manor''s Garden that lasted until sunrise. -------------Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com In the afternoon of the next day. I was together with my sister on the same Dungeon floor yesterday, I didn''t know what she wanted to do today, but I''m sure I''ll learn a lot from her. "What''s it going to be about today? I remember you saying it''s not going to be about holy power." (I) My sister was looking at me with an amused smile on her face. "Do you think I didn''t notice what you call our mother? You treat her like the devotees and believers, you don''t even call her mother even though you are the most favored by her." (Natasha) "I lost interest in training today, let''s go back and see if you think about what I said, if you have that mediocre thought tomorrow I''ll beat you up, got it!?" (Natasha) My sister punched me in the face which sent me through some trees, she continued to lecture me like I was some kind of stubborn child. I understood what she said, these are things that pop into my mind sometimes, but because they are subjects I don''t want to think about, I always push them to the back of my mind. Sigh "(What I am...)" (I) ------------ Pov Natasha (Living Brutality): When we arrived at his house, I flew out to get to know the place better, before I realized it Margareth was already at my side. "My lady, why did her brother look so shaken?" (Margareth) "Why did I tell some truths, the idiot is denying who he is without realizing it, he wants to deny being a True Dragon or being the son of a Goddess, an idiot!" (I) I couldn''t accept something so ridiculous, someone, who is leading others this way, someone with so many followers to deny himself like this is offensive. "Young Zenos has been in this world for a short time, he hasn''t been here for 5 years, in his previous world he wasn''t anyone important either." (Margareth) "He can''t understand the position he''s in, he thinks he doesn''t deserve it, he thinks it can be normal." (Margareth) "This is something more than idiotic, we are special and that is a fact both for good and for bad, denying it is the same as running away like a coward, it is also meaningless since you cannot stop being what you already are it became." (I) "If tomorrow he''s still undecided, I''ll pummel his head until I crush that cowardice in his brain with my fists!" (I) Chapter 872: Enough Of Running... Chapter 872: Enough Of Running... My sister and I walked back to the mansion shortly after leaving, and the whole way she looked at me like I was some kind of idiot. I understood why she was angry, they know who she is, maybe he always had that certainty about her, that confidence. Maybe it''s normal for someone to accept who they are easily, even in my group there are people like that, with that confidence and absolute certainty about themselves, many of them are like Kira, rica, Ibuki, Diana, Hela, Vanessa, Lilith, etc. Now that I stop to think about it, I think they are all like that, each one of them always knew who they are, even those who were lost in the beginning, I helped them to get back to their ways as it was with Kira in the past. "How can I try to help others if I don''t follow my own advice!" (I) I was at the top of the mansion, I was looking down at my hand that had been shaking since I talked to my sister earlier. When we got back to the mansion I came straight here, I wanted some time alone to think, the others know that when I go to the roof I want to be alone with my thoughts, even the Fairies and Spirits are a little away from me in those moments. "Why is it so hard?" (I) I have several skills or techniques that create Leech forms, I never cared about it, I never thought much about it. "But when I remember those early days..." (I) Those first days where I struggled to survive 1 more day, I fought monsters stronger than me to survive, always afraid that the next fight would be the last, always afraid of falling into a trap like I did with the monsters I killed. "I got it... now I get it..." (I) Sigh Reliving those memories with her words still ringing in my ears, I understood. I''m afraid not to lose my humanity, I''m sure there isn''t much left of it anyway. What I''m afraid of is that feeling, that mix of emotions that ate me up inside, it was at that time my mind broke, that first day when I decided to devour that first Leech. I''m afraid to go back to those days, I remember when I thought of evolution, I first thought of a humanoid body, I was so happy when I evolved into a Goblin, I felt comfortable finally having the feeling of having arms and legs again. I know that being a child of a Goddess comes with dangers and responsibilities that I may ignore, but what I am immensely grateful for is all the attention that the Goddess Selene has given me. She found me at every evolution, he gave me powers, helped me merge lineages, taught me many things, and always supported me. She is not the image of a mother I had in my mind as a child, but she was still a good mother to me. "Not doing it from the beginning was disrespectful of me for everything she did for me..." (I) Unlike the other problem, this one was easier for me to accept since it was my choice, I just needed some thought to admit that I would never fit into the normal that I once imagined, I have to stop denying reality about every little thing, I am who I am, my mother is who she is, I have to stop running around in circles like an idiot. ------------- That night I slept on the roof and when I woke up the next day my mind was clear, my body was light and I felt great. I haven''t felt so good in a long time, so light as if a weight had been lifted from me. The next day, back on the training floor with my sister. "Looks like my little brother still has some salvation left." (Natasha) "You were right, I just needed some time to get my head together." (I) "That''s your biggest problem, you think too much, you sound like our big sister." (Natasha) "Just take it as it is you, idiot, you''re special, not unique, being special doesn''t mean a sea of beer, it means we''re easy targets to target." (Natasha) "Everything that sticks out is a target, we''re no different, plus our mother pisses off a lot of people." (Natasha) After chatting for a few minutes with my sister it was time to start training, she seems to want to start with a warm-up, she wants to warm her fists on her face by the way she is laughing. "(I think tomorrow I''m going to get out of this Dungeon, stay away from that violent person.)" (I) Even with complaining in my mind, I still braced myself for this few minutes confrontation with my sister. Chapter 873: Sibling Training Chapter 873: Sibling Training "Where am I..." (I) Suddenly I woke up with sunlight in my eyes, I was lying in a place full of grass and flowers, and when I look around I see several humanoid holes in the ground, rocks, and trees in the surroundings. Soon the memories of the "warming up" that my sister mentioned came back to my mind, I look at my body while using my hands to check if everything is in place and if there is any wound, but to my surprise, there is no wound on my body. "I need to wear more normal clothes to train with this violent..." (I) "With such violence, what!?" (Natasha) "With this violent woman out of control!" (I) "Hahahaha... good, good, be honest with everything you want to talk about." (Natasha) For half a second I wondered if I should change the sentence for fear of getting another spanking, but I chose to continue with what I was going to say, I won''t be scared of her just for getting hit a little bit, she''s not the first woman to do that, in fact, the her way of training is very reminiscent of Diana. "You could have gone easy on me." (I) "I healed you after you lost consciousness, so don''t complain about some warm-up." (Natasha) "Come let''s train our Dragon form little brother." (Natasha) She is a violent person, but at the same time honest, training with her is hard, but at least I''m starting to understand better this sister I have. "Who goes first?" (I) "I''ve already experimented with the transformation ability while you were unconscious, I found that the first activation hurts a little, but that''s only during adaptation." (Natasha) "But anything else I should know about?" (I) "The ability is partially blocked, so we can''t use its full power, but I can''t say exactly why." (Natasha) "I only managed to reach 5% skill activation." (Natasha) "..." (I) It reminds me of when I was drinking the True Dragon''s blood, my body couldn''t handle the full power of a True Dragon, at first, I needed to be continuously healed just to be able to drink that blood. Sigh "What was your activation percentage?" (Natasha) "It was 3%, but I never imagined that just that would be so much power." (I) "Calm down!" (Natasha) Suddenly my sister appears in front of me, so she tries to put her hand on my shoulder, but before she can, I grab her wrist and throw her away. "Looks like I don''t need to hold back, so let''s start training." (Natasha) "< Awakening of the Dragon >" (Natasha) The truth is that I wasn''t controlled by my impulses, I just thought that with that power I could review the beatings my sister gave me so far. When she activates her skill her scales also become bigger, but also spread out more going up to her shoulders. I ran towards her and we started exchanging blows, during the fight we were both laughing, and as the fight continued I realized that all my stats had increased, and my senses had also improved. None of us used any skills, we only fought with our bodies. I lunge forward with my wings to feign a punch, but midway round I swing my body to deliver a kick to his elbow, my intention being to break his arm at the elbow joint to lessen his fighting ability. My kick landed but was parried by my sister''s scales, all I managed to do was wound and break some scales but she didn''t care, she used her wing to slash me from top to bottom before I snapped back into a stance of struggle, a kick hits my body breaking some ribs. Our fight was devastating the surroundings with each strike creating shockwaves, the fight was intense but neither of us were targeting vital points, which was good for me as I was losing faster than before. After less than 1 hour of combat, she grabs me by the horn as she dodges my kick, and throws it to the ground. I hit the ground hard, but I get up still a little dizzy, she lands in front of me as she returns to normal with her new scales turning into energy particles that disperse. "If you can''t beat me before, then now there''s no chance, I managed to reach 5% transformation while you only managed 3%" (Natasha) Sigh "No... it was hard to try..." (I) I was tired, but I still paid attention to my body while trying to Deactivate the skill, unlike before there was no pain or discomfort. I see that the energy particles on me are mostly black, when it deactivated I feel a little weakness take over me, it seems that this skill takes a little from the body. Chapter 874: The Three Living Calamities Chapter 874: The Three Living Calamities After the battle, I created some sofas with my threads where I lie down to rest. "Why can''t I use the transformation skill as well as you can?" (I) "You already have many different kinds of power within you, little brother." (Natasha) "All of that is amazing, but it''s also a weight on your body, a weight you''ll always carry." (Natasha) "Imagine a pitcher, that''s your body." (Natasha) "Now imagine you putting several types of liquids of different types and colors inside, it will be a mess." (Natasha) "Try putting something soluble inside your pitcher, because of the different types of liquids inside it will take longer for the solution to spread." (Natasha) "Now if you look at me, my pitcher is only filled with one type of liquid, the soluble item I use will spread easier." (Natasha) "Your great talent is holding back the advancement of this skill, you will take time to master this skill, but you will still get there." (Natasha) In other words, my body is overloaded due to everything I''ve mixed inside myself until now, at least that''s what I understood from everything she said. "Tell me something, why can''t I damage you?" (I)Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com "The first time we fought I''m sure I broke some of your ribs, but you didn''t even show a reaction, today I managed to crush your foot and I got to see your foot healing at a fast pace." (I) "That''s my power, I can heal from anything." (Natasha) "Did you learn healing skills then?" (I) Sigh "Apparently you still don''t understand." (Natasha) "Do you know anything about me or our other sisters?" (Natasha) "I know you''re a battle freak known as the Living Brutality, I''ve also met our sister Caitlyn, your power seems to be over mind." (I) "I had forgotten that the lazy girl had sought you out." (Natasha) "Each of us has a unique power, a variation of our mother''s power, I''ll explain it in more detail later, now you just need to understand it." (Natasha) "She''s very lazy and the youngest after you, but when she takes action and judges everyone she finds guilty, she''s the most extreme of us." (Natasha) "Elizabeth is the oldest, she''s the most responsible of us, she''s known as Tirania Viva, you should meet her, she might teach you a thing or two." (Natasha) "The 3 of us are Demigoddesses, we are known as the 3 Living Calamities, we even have that title in common." (Natasha) "Do you know where the others are?" (I) "Caitlyn is with the Dragons at her mother''s request, Elizabeth is away for a few years." (Natasha) "Like this?" (I) "She''s not in this world, I forget exactly where she was sent, but I pity her target." (Natasha) "Fighting her is nearly impossible even for me." (Natasha) "Wait! You mean there are other worlds?" (I) "Are you an idiot? Of course you are, do you think there''s only life in this world?" (Natasha) "..." (I) "It would be chaos among some Gods if there was only life in this world, although things won''t stay calm for long." (Natasha) "What do you mean by that?" (I) "It doesn''t matter to you now, forget about those things and concentrate on entertaining me... I mean training with me, little brother." (Natasha) I think she''s let some very important things slip right now, whether it''s about my other sisters or about other worlds. But she''s right, it would be too much to try to think about these things now, I have to focus on what I can do now, I have eternity as an immortal creature to see this and other worlds one day. "It''s been time for you to heal, now let''s start again." (Natasha) "I want to experiment with this skill some more." (Natasha) She gets up and pulls my leg to get off my super comfortable couch, she only thinks about training or in this case fighting, I''m sure she''s only bringing me because she can train with someone with the same skill. "Try to last a little longer this time." (Natasha) Chapter 875: Using The Power Of Others To Threaten Chapter 875: Using The Power Of Others To Threaten Pov Silvia: I was in a Dungeon with Hela and Loki, we were sitting eating some fruit I brought while we were talking. "So you''re not going to train seriously?" (I) "I''m training seriously, I even managed to learn a new skill." (Loki) I look around at the large number of monster bodies on the ground, there were more bodies than that, but the Dungeon is disappearing with the bodies. I still remember how Loki made monsters kill each other, I saw a Wyvern rip off its wing before falling into a room full of monsters that ripped its body to pieces. "You''re making monsters kill each other." (I) "I''m just testing my control skills, plus I find it really amusing when they start committing suicide." (Loki) "Your form of control is very inefficient if only you could." (Hela) "Don''t give her advice on that, we don''t want to scare off the people who are following us." (I) "Just leave it at that, it''s been heartwarming to think about their frustration." (Loki) We can''t feel or see anyone, but we know we''re being followed since we left the city, that''s why the forest told me, even though it''s no longer a World Tree, I still have a strong connection with nature to the point of sharing the senses of nature as extending my perception using the trees of a forest that are connected by their roots. That''s how, before entering the Dungeon we are in, I noticed people in Adventurer''s Guild uniforms closely following people wearing clothes with the Church of Light symbol. We know we are being followed, but we are also being protected as promised, I think the reasons for asking for our help was to use everyone as bait to force a movement of the Church of Light, I just don''t know the reason for all this yet. "Don''t overthink it, none of that matters to us." (Loki) I look at Loki, someone like her must understand what I''m thinking, she understands that we don''t have the strength at the moment to do anything about it, I can see her frustration at being just another piece in a game that she can''t see the whole board. "Where do we go from here?" (I) "We are 1 week inside this Dungeon, it''s time to go back." (Hela) While we were eating there were some Zombies collecting the important body parts, I looked around to see that they were already finished. "Let''s go back." (I) ------------ Pov Zenos: I was in the middle of a fight against my sister, different from what happened the previous days, this time we were both using 5% of our transformation. "You still don''t understand!" (Natasha) "Ghuh!!" (I) For the first time, I managed to burn my claws into her side, but she took advantage of this to knee me in the stomach and break my arm. I took advantage of her blow to pull away, then I see once again the wounds I caused her body disappear without leaving so much as a scar. "That healing power is a big cheat you know that!?" (I) "Stop complaining like a child!" (Natasha) Finding a Guild Master isn''t easy and its fine about that, I''ve only managed to find Guild Master Dargon before because he was useful in that situation or rather because Nicole was useful. Now I needed to send a message through one of the Guild Receptionists to find out if the Guild Master would meet me or not. "The Guild Master will welcome you, please follow me." "Thank you, lead the way." (I) I was guided to the room I already know, the Guild master''s office, as soon as I enter the Receptionist leaves and closes the door leaving only me, this Beastman from the tribe of Lions who is the Guild master, and a mountain of papers so large that it could create snow on top. "I knew you would notice, probably your daughter did, right?" (Dargon) "Who noticed doesn''t matter, I''d like to at least know what''s going on." (I) The message I sent through the Receptionist to ensure I found the Guild Master was "Fishing game is over, this bait will disappear today", I did this to make it clear that I already knew about his plan. "I don''t owe explanations to..." (Dargon) "..." (Dargon) "Looks like you haven''t spent this time idly, Mr. Dragon." (Dargon) "I just want to know what you put my family through or I''m leaving now." (I) "Don''t be arrogant boy, I admit I won''t act violent towards you, but I don''t owe you an explanation." (Dargon) "Very well, then goodbye." (I) I get up and leave the room, but as soon as I pass through the door an Aura pulls me inside before fixing the door, this Aura was wild and calm at the same time, I couldn''t resist before I was sitting in front of Guild Master Dargon. "You don''t have to act like that either, I can feel the fury and murderous intent in your Aura, I''m surprised you manage to keep up a calm facade." (Dargon) "I already knew you would notice, but why did you stop me from leaving?" (I) Sigh "Because I''m not an idiot, I won''t let someone with your connections walk around with an Aura full of murderous intent, this city should be in enough trouble." (Dargon) "You say it like I''m guilty of something, but I did my part to protect this city, you had help from my daughter to help with the logistics of both the battle and the refugees, but now you''re using my comrades as bait..." (I) "I won''t talk about it, as I said before, this matter doesn''t concern you, but I can assure you that these comrades were never in danger." (Dargon) "I''m sure they were safe, if anything happened to any of them this town would no longer exist." (I) "I could tell you wouldn''t dare, but those aren''t the eyes of someone who would lie about such a threat." (Dargon) I can see the Guildmaster''s nervousness, he knows I''m making a threat not using my power but rather my connections which he can only surmise. He knows that Freya, Silvia, Karina, me, Vanessa, and especially Diana are not normal, but he doesn''t know enough about us, the only identities he discovered are mine, Diana''s, and Vanessa''s. He doesn''t know that his biggest concern is regret would be Nix and Kira''s parents, Kira''s father is some kind of super Gray Elf Assassin, and there''s also in Nix''s Father that I could only see the head in the past but from the stories about since he attacked the Church of Light in the past, erasing that city would be easy. I don''t like to use the power of others to make a threat, but the safety of my comrades is above any idiotic pride I may have, I''m sure the Guild Master can tell by my Aura that I would do exactly what I''m saying. He also knows that he wouldn''t be able to stop me since if he did something to me, others would act the same way. I can see the frustration on his fierce face, I imagine being threatened by someone weaker must be frustrating for him. "Fine I say, you little bastard." (Dargon) Chapter 876: Adventurers Guild Investigation Chapter 876: Adventurer''s Guild Investigation I was in the Adventurer''s Guild master''s office, he was in front of me with his face that has Lion features filled with frustration. But at this point I couldn''t care less, any level of respect or trust I had in him is gone, I don''t care about his motives, he was using my teammates, my FAMILY as bait without them knowing. Before I leave this place, I want to know why he was doing this. I''m much weaker than him, I know I can''t hide anything from him since with that difference in power he can read my emotions in my Aura, that means she knows I''m repressing my anger and murderous intent. He doesn''t know enough about me or the rest of my mates to understand the repercussions of what he''s done if certain fathers of my engagements knew what he''d done, but what little he does know is enough for him to know that he''s angered a Demigod, a future Santa, and a Champion. He also knows that his strength would not be the best way to resolve the situation, just the quickest way to commit suicide when they came after him. "You little bastard, can''t you understand that this is a Guild quest?" (Dargon) "I don''t care about the Guild, I know it can read my Aura very well even with me doing my best to hide it." (I) I look into his eyes, in that moment if I had the strength I would have stormed into this Guild like a bulldozer destroying everything in my path and tossing this stupid feline for Lilith to play with until she broke just for daring to do this to my mates. "Since I can''t hide what I''m feeling from you, then let me be clear, today I''m threatening you with borrowed strength, but if I were strong enough this town wouldn''t even exist anymore." (I) "Say what you want, even if you had the power, you wouldn''t do that, I know you believe what you say, but you''re kidding yourself, I watched you during the fights, you were also the one who offered your help as soon as you arrived in town." (Dargon) "You should know that when it involves my mates, I can lose control..." (I) I''ve lost control when I thought Kira was in danger in the past, and when I thought Layla was dead I did something very reckless fighting that Siren like that, unfortunately, I''m very sensitive about what happens to my teammates. "You know about me, I saw your surprised face when we met, plus I know that the Church of Light knows about my family and they sure let that information leak to other people." (I) "Then you also know that even if I couldn''t fulfill what I want today, in the future I would be capable of much worse." (I) "Your companions were never in danger, they are being watched by our best Adventurers and the Church of Light is being watched very closely." (Dargon) "Do you think I would risk the lives of people who have fought since the first day here!?" (Dargon) "I don''t care what combo you think or your damn motives, you can say all the reasons in the world I won''t care." (I) "The only thing that matters to me is what you did, so tell me why." (I) I can see the frustration turning to anger on his face, I can feel his Aura bubbling with anger now, having someone like me act so arrogantly in front of him must be unnerving. "Before I say anything, I want a promise that you won''t do anything against this city or me now or in the future." (Dargon) "It was then that we noticed that every city attacked many Demons or Demis along with other races, this is the kind of thing that goes against the most extreme tenets of the Church of Light." (Dargon) "It also allowed us to pull old history." (Dargon) "A few thousand years ago within a Separate Space a certain Dungeon was found by an Adventurer, he entered with his group, but when they realized that they were incompatible with the Dungeon''s type, they came with the Adventurer''s Guild closer to report about the dungeon." (Dargon) "So you know about this Dungeon?" (I) "At that time people from the Church of Light together with their Hero went to the Dungeon, it took weeks for the Hero to reappear and the Dungeon disappeared, we thought it was destroyed." (Dargon) "Are you saying this is the same Dungeon?" (I) "All we know about this Dungeon from the past is a drawing and some notes left by the Adventurers." (Dargon) "They said that Dungeoneering was Air-type, they also said that the main types of monsters were Harpies." (Dargon) He takes out a new piece of paper with a design on it, the design was of a large flying ring made up of several golden rings with wings. By describing the notes left and looking at this drawing, it was easy to tell where all this came from. "We knew almost nothing about this Dungeon at the time, so when it disappeared and the Hero at the time announced that he had destroyed the Dungeon, we had to believe it." (Dargon) "Then why aren''t they acting?" (I) "We can''t act without evidence, all we have are assumptions if there''s no real evidence." (Dargon) "If we act without proof, then we face the weight of the various nations would fall on us." (Dargon) "So you wanted to use me and my companions as bait to force a movement from the Church of Light!?" (I) "The idea didn''t come from me." (Dargon) "But it proved to be very effective, people from the Igreja da Luz tried a lot to follow their companions, with that we noticed the number of people beside them." (Dargon) "That was all I wanted to know, now I''m off." (I) "..." (Dargon) I get up and leave, I was still furious but I wasn''t stupid to try something against someone I''m not able to fight yet, at least I got some stuff out of him, that''s enough for a while. I leave the Adventurer''s Guild without being stopped again by either the Guildmaster or the staff. Upon arriving at the mansion, everyone was already gathered in the small improvised mansion to discuss where we would go after leaving here. Chapter 877: Learning To Control My Emotions? Chapter 877: Learning To Control My Emotions? When I returned home that day everyone was present, Kira and Ibuki were the first to see through my facade knowing I was full of rage, Diana and Erica, on the other hand, knew how I would look from the start. I gather everyone in a room where we discuss where to go and how we''re going to get out of here making sure we don''t get followed. Elsaris gave some suggestions, but in the end, I decided to go to the Gray Elf Village because of Kira, after that I would go to the White Elf Village. I wanted to spend a few months away from the cities and away from these problems, I also needed time to integrate holy power into my combat style. With that decided to send a Lesser Familiar like the Ghost Crows to where the Fairies are outside the city, they could be our way out of this city. ------------ Pov Dargon: After he''s gone I look at the shadow of the bookcase where a pale-skinned Rune and glowing black Runes emerges. "You made an enemy today Dargon." (Lyefh) "I had no choice, it was orders from above, you know that." (I) "His teammates are not normal in many ways, we know next to nothing about them, but what we do know reveals he has great potential." (Lyefh) "How did they find your men?" (I) "I don''t know, none of them are strong enough for that, I didn''t notice anything either, maybe there''s someone protecting them from the shadows, if so, then it only makes what you did worse." (Lyefh) "I''ve met a lot of people like him, his words in a moment of anger are not true, but it doesn''t change the fact that I lost a future great connection because of this idiotic plan." (I) Headquarters'' plan was simple, use these people as bait to force a movement of the Church of Light and give an excuse to grab them by the tail, of course, we wouldn''t put people who helped us at risk. Just like I told the young Demigod earlier, I did my best to ensure the safety of his companions, but he didn''t care. "We already have enough problems, settle your disagreements with him." (Lyefh) "Impossible, you felt it too, if he was strong enough then I would be dead by now and so would you, he just cares too much for his comrades, more even than we anticipated." (I) As soon as Freya left my sister came in wearing leather clothes looking like she was from some kind of biker club, she sits down across from me and pulls out dozens of bottles of very strong liquor that she must have stolen from Anton''s warehouse. "Calm down you idiot, if you let anger overwhelm you every time something like that happens then you won''t be able to protect them." (Natasha) "I know..." (I) "Easier said than done?" (Natasha) "..." (I) She takes one of the bottles and cuts off the top with her claws using the bottom of the bottle as a large drinking glass. "A little weak, but tasty." (Natasha) She empties the bottle into her mouth as if she''s drinking water before reaching for another one where she rips off the top to drink one more time. "Your talent and mind are adequate, your mind mostly, but your emotions are too volatile." (Natasha) "Counting my two lives, I''ve been alive less than 50 years, I''m sorry I''m not emotionally stable enough to be calm when discovering others endangering my teammates." (I) "It may be true that with age you learn better about controlling your emotions, but that''s not the only way, any well-trained Warrior or Soldier learns about mental discipline and how to block emotions." (Natasha) "Do you suggest I learn to block out my emotions?" (I) "No, mental discipline restricts one''s mind, and blocking one''s emotions makes one''s instincts worse, this load of rubbish causes a lot of trouble for those who always seek to push their limits." (Natasha) "The best way is with experience like I did, but if you want intensive training I know a faster way, but it will be horrible." (Natasha) "I can handle pain well." (I) "Correction, you handle physical pain well, there are things much more unbearable than that." (Natasha) "You will not be training your body, it will be your mind and heart, failing this training will shatter your mind, even if you succeed it will be an experience that will mark you forever." (Natasha) "..." (I) I look at her, her eyes are serious and I can see a slight glint of concern, she came to me to say this to me knowing it was risky, she also seems a little unsure about it so why tell me? Chapter 878: Going To Dragonland Chapter 878: Going To Dragonland After my short conversation with my sister, she didn''t say anything else, we stayed facing each other drinking until one of us lost consciousness, of course, I was the one who lost consciousness. I woke up a few hours later or rather was woken up 2 hours later by Ibuki with her big smile. "Master wake up, wake up soon, let''s go!" (Ibuki) "Five more minutes and a hangover medicine please..." (I) "We have news from the Forest Fairies." (Ibuki) "..." (I) Sigh "It''s okay, it''s okay, I''m awake, I''m not sure I''m okay, but I''m awake." (I) "Why does a Vampire, Dragon, or whatever I am have to suffer with a hangover?" (I) "Wait! I''m an idiot..." (I) I look down at the ring and bracelet I''m carrying, they''re storage items, so I pull out a brown potion I''d rather not know what it''s made of from the bracelet, I open the lid and drink it all at once before the urge to vomit from the taste that''s assaulting my palate hits me. "Now I know why I prefer a hangover, I don''t know which is worse, the cure or the disease..." (I) After a few seconds, Ibuki gives me a bottle of blood that I drink while she guides me to a room in the small improvised mansion where we are, there we find a Fairy with purple hair, eyes, and clothes, just looking at her made me strange since I could feel the space around her not fixed but in flux with her at the center. "I am Farrari, I am a Space Fairy Princess." (Farrari) Before I knew it she was hugging me with a smile, and everyone was calm about it, from her introduction I can tell that she is a high level Fairy, her eyes seem to contain a tangible depth. "My name is Zenos, nice to meet you." (I) "I know who you are Guardian of Nature, any Fairy will know who you are as soon as they look at you." (Farrari) "They said you want a trip, where?" (Farrari) "Dragon Castle." (I) "I can''t go straight there, lots of defenses and interference in space, but I can drop you off at the beginning of the mountain range where Dragon territory begins." (Farrari) "..." (I) Before starting to meditate, I had sent a message to the Fairies through a Minor Familiar, I asked for help from a Space Fairy to go as far away from this city as possible and that we were in danger here, at that time I planned to go straight to the Tree of World of the Gray Elves, but after talking with my sister I changed my mind. "Why are we changing plans?" (rica) "I thought we were going to the Gray Elves." (Diana) "I''ll let the others know, but Nira is still checking Guild rewards." (rica) "How much longer will it take?" (I) "It will take about 3 hours." (rica) "Could you take Margareth ahead to arrange accommodation for everyone?" (Natasha) "Fine, I have nothing else to do today." (Farrari) With that Margareth and Fairy, Farrari went to another room while everyone began to speed up the preparations to leave this city. ------------- While everyone was doing everything necessary before we left, I went back to meditating, since waking up with a hangover I woke up happier, I had been calmer. I hadn''t forgotten yet, but I didn''t need to spoil my days with stress, I spent the next few hours testing out ways to use holy power, ratios to mix with my other 3 energies, and how the recovery rate works. Unlike other energies, holy power seems to recover slower, I can mix it perfectly with my other energies up to the same ratio as maximum and that makes the power multiply by 3 times or more. ------------ Pov Natasha: I was drinking while looking out the window at the destroyed city, looks like it was an interesting battle, too bad I lost. "Excuse me, Miss Natasha, can I ask you a few questions?" (Freya) "Maybe, but he''s fine." (I) "If that''s true, why were you looking so worried at him?" (Freya) "I just hinted at a certain type of training for him, something drastic, he seems to want to do it anyway." (I) I haven''t told him what kind of training it is exactly, knowing now will only make it worse for him. "What kind..." (Freya) "He has problems with his emotions, he has to learn to master his emotions and not the other way around, the stronger he becomes, the more emotions negatively or positively affect our capabilities." (I) "He doesn''t have time to learn this slowly, he needs to learn it now." (I) Many Evil Gods have come in the last 100 years, and the Church of Light has been acting more arrogantly and aggressively, moreover, the cracks of the abyss keep opening, there was one that needed a God to close. That''s not to mention what''s been happening on this continent that I didn''t pay attention to before when I was strong enough to ignore these things, but now those same things can harm me. "You don''t have to worry, I''ll take care of my little brother." (I) Chapter 879: Welcome To Colosseum City Chapter 879: Welcome To Colosseum City Pov Dargon: I was signing the last pay report for the Adventurers who participated in the battle, but I still had to sign damage reports, potion usage reports, and the reports on engagement with the other Guilds during this crisis. "You''re a few hours early, did something happen?" (I) I tear my eyes from the paperwork and look straight ahead to where Lyefh is sitting, I only feel him why he allowed this, this ability I hired him to watch over the Church of Light. "He''s gone." (Lyefh) "..." (I) It took me less than 5 seconds to understand what those few words mean, so I remained silent for a few more seconds before I started asking questions. "What direction did he go?" (I) "I don''t know, but I suspect there was help from the Fairies, a few hours ago one of his Lesser Familiars went towards the forest, and one of my subordinates followed to the border of the Fairies'' territory." (Lyefh) It seems he acted faster than he expected, to escape without being followed must have been through high-level space magic, so it might have been one or more Space Element Fairies helping out. "(He was fast, much faster than he expected.)" (I) "Any movements from the Church of Light?" (I) "No moves, but without the kid here, they won''t be easy to keep teasing." (Lyefh) "Alright, you did a good job, I''ll prepare the promised payment." (I) I really put everything to waste this time, I thought that with the boy leaving town I could force the Church of Light to act, but he was able to leave without anyone knowing, putting an end to my last plan. "You little bastard..." (I) ----------- Pov Zenos: We were all enveloped in a bubble of bluish energy, so I feel the distortion of space, I looked at Freya and Silvia, it seems that they also felt it as well as Layla. The sphere of energy we are inside was transparent before, but in a short time, it becomes opaque, preventing vision. When we regain our vision after a few seconds we are already in front of a very strange mansion that left me amazed. "100% made from monsters defeated by my master during the founding of this city long ago." (Margareth) "So these rocks are from Golems?" (Diana) "Yes, as I said before, all the house and furniture in this town come from monsters, the wood comes from plant-type monsters, stone and metal comes from a variety of Golems, and even the food comes from monsters." (Margareth) I look again at the mansion, I can feel a dominant and wild presence of the mansion, but I thought it was some monster trapped somewhere, but from what Margareth is saying it seems that what I feel comes from the mansion itself. "That doesn''t make sense, that would be a huge waste of high-end materials, and the consumption of those resources would be unimaginable." (Ivan) "Trade must be crazy." (rica) "I guess they still don''t understand hahahaha" (Natasha) "I think there was some misunderstanding, I said that this mansion was built with the parts of monsters my master defeated, that goes for everyone in the city." (Margareth) "I get it, everyone in town has houses with monster parts, what''s the problem?" (Ibuki) I look at my smiling sister and at Margareth who seems to be having fun being vague on purpose, then I think about what she''s said so far and I notice something hidden in her vague words, something absurd. "You don''t mean that the homeowner has to hunt for the materials to build his house, right?" (I) "That would be absurd, as well as making no sense" (Kira) "As expected of lord Zenos, you are correct." (Margareth) "You can hire the builders, but you must bring the materials yourself, it cannot be bought, and you cannot hire someone to do it for you." (Margareth) "Can have family members, party members, Summons and Familiars to help, but the person himself must play an active role in the battle." (Natasha) "What if someone wants to buy a ready-made house, already built?" (I) "Impossible, the house can be inherited by a descendant or next of kin, but at the time of sale the construction will be destroyed for the new owner of the land to start his own construction." (Margareth) "Of course when destroying the house the materials belong to the previous owner of the land and not the person who bought the land." (Margareth) "..." (I) "..." (all) This place was absurd, this way of doing things was completely insane. Chapter 880: Taking Insanity To Another Level Chapter 880: Taking Insanity To Another Level We are all speechless with what we were hearing about this city, I know that my sister said that strength is the essence of the culture of this city, but this is on another level, even to have a house here you need strength to be able to build the House. "Wait, so what if someone just buys land and doesn''t have the power to gather the materials?" (Ivan) "There is a period of 10 to 30 years to build, otherwise you lose ownership of the land, and there will be no refund." (Margareth) "I''m starting to get excited." (Diana) "Me too, this place is heaven." (Karina) "Are they crazy?" (Kira) "Sounds like fun in here." (Loki) Everyone was having different reactions to what we were hearing, but everyone was surprised except for 3 people, it seems that Nix, Silvia, and Vanessa already knew about this strange city. "I haven''t finished the explanation yet, better listen carefully." (Margareth) "What I just said is not restricted to buildings, weapons, armor, and clothes with magical effects or abilities cannot be purchased in this city either." (Margareth) "The various types of artisans in this city will work with the materials that people bring to them, which must also be hunted by the person himself." (Margareth) "These Blacksmiths, Seamstresses, Alchemists and Jewelers are considered among the best in the world." (Margareth) The people who created this kind of culture in this city are on another level of insanity, I have no words to describe how absurd it all is. "Please tell me we don''t have to hunt our own food every day." (I) "No need, there are many restaurants, but you have the option of bringing the ingredients to the restaurant to prepare your food, this lowers the bill." (Margareth) "At least that''s acceptable." (I) "In this city, your home, clothes, and weapons are status that show your strength, they are things you conquer with your power and without tricks." (Natasha) "Who is the ruler of this city?" (I) "The Dragon Emperor, but another True Dragon is left in charge." (Natasha) "With this kind of culture, the Trade Guild must be mad not to have these materials being sold or bought." (Freya) "You were going to say yes anyway, so I thought I''d cut it short." (Natasha) "Now let''s go to the city, I have more things to explain to you, but it would be better to show you." (Natasha) We all follow my sister, but as soon as we reach the gate and catch a glimpse of some of the surrounding mansions we are stopped by Margareth who looks at my sister. "Ma''am, I think you forgot to tell them something." (Margareth) "Did I forget something?" (Natasha) "..." (Margareth) Margareth looks at the gate and then up, I don''t understand the meaning of this, but the gleam in my sister''s eyes says he understands. "Yes, some houses like mine have barriers to make the guests more relaxed, when we pass through the gate try to get used to the presence." (Natasha) "Just as I feared." (Hela) "The savage presence that is given off by the remains of the bodies of so many monsters huddled together." (Margareth) "How have you not seen the Undead?" (Hela) "There are many Necromancers in this city, they help to remodel bones, they also help with the purification of the dead, so there is no risk of Undead appearing in houses." (Margareth) Sigh "The more I listen, the more unnecessarily complicated I find it to build something in this city." (I) After we were warned, we passed through the gate and I felt that I was going through something, then a wild presence appeared as if it hit my face, I was surprised by the amount, but because I was warned I was prepared, but even so I was confused for a few seconds. I closed my eyes and tried to understand this presence, it was formed by countless traces of Wild Aura, but they were just that, they had no particular effect, they were just remnant traces, I felt something similar in my sister''s house, but here it was much worse, the quantity was on another scale. "Don''t be soft, it doesn''t even hurt anyone it''s just a little pressure." (Natasha) I open my eyes and check my companions, they all resisted well, some still had a little confused looks, I wait a little longer until everyone is ok before continuing to follow my sister. As we walked I noticed many houses of completely different shapes, all ornamented in different ways, I even passed a mansion that was made entirely of bones in the shape of a wolf lying down, this was bizarre for more than one reason. But everything just got weirder when we left the mansion district and headed for the downtown area, or at least what I thought was the downtown area. Chapter 881: A Wild City Chapter 881: A Wild City Pov Shiro''s (True Dragon King of Light): "Thanks for coming." (Andreia) "Where is it!?" (I) "It''s in a safe place, I did it for you..." (Andreia) "You have a few minutes to return what you took, I am not a believer of your God and much less a servant, I agreed to the covenant with certain terms that will be broken today if necessary!!" (Shiro) I and the True Dragons of Light under my command came to the Church of Light since my betrayal would be revealed in a short time after what I did, I couldn''t let all those who followed me die and I moved forward with our plans. I even agreed with my comrades to use our power to move the secondary Dungeon Gates, but I didn''t think that when I returned I would find that the Executioner of Light had taken the Spear that Pierces the Sun, one of the greatest treasures of my tribe. "This weapon could be of vital importance..." (Andreia) "Don''t try to reason with me, I''m here to retrieve the Spear, so hand it over!" (I) My Aura and hers collide in mid-air as this Celestina changes expression to anger, she must have thought that she could treat me just like she does her other subordinates. "The Spear will be handed over to the Hero of Light just like in the past." (Andreia) "No! The Spear belongs to us, it always has, even if you take it it won''t be useful to someone so unworthy." (I) "Do not force me to break an alliance that was just forged, Executioner of Light." (I) "You wouldn''t dare, your life would be in danger without our protection." (Andreia) I spread my wings as I start to prepare for combat, the floor around me as well as the walls of the room starting to crack from the pressure I''m putting out. The best explanation would be like walking into a perfume store where all the products are uncovered, creating a mixture of odors that offend anyone''s senses. I look around the people are all wearing combat clothes or some kind of armor, they all also look like Adventurers by the way they dress. As I walked through the city I was constantly trying to block out this overwhelming presence, this presence didn''t even have any will, it was just there, but it was like gravity pressing me down to the ground. "How many people live in this town?" (I) As we walked around the Coliseum I noticed the great movement of people, they were of all races, but there were almost no children, also the number of people was very large. "There are more than 100,000 people, this is an ancient city, it is also a training point for all fighters on the continent." (Margareth) "Are there any hotels here?" (I) "Yes, many and staying in these hotels is something only visitors do." (Margareth) I look around and I don''t see any hotels, there are only street food stalls, shops around the Colosseum and further ahead I can see a large building that I imagine to be a Guild. After tens of minutes we arrive in front of the entrance to the Colosseum where a large flow of people is coming in and out without stopping. I look at the Colosseum and see people with smiling faces, others with frustrated faces and some with clothes in tatters while having bloodstains. I wanted to try to hear what people were saying, but there were so many voices that it was information overload for my mind. The entrance to the Coliseum was a large door over 5 meters high, we were guided inside where there was a large hall decorated with statues of various types of people in combat position. There was a big board full of names in some sort of ranking with shapes and numbers next to the names, this big crystal board looked like a big screen changing the positions of the lowest numbers as if it was updating the ranking. "I think we made it in time." (Margareth) "At what time?" (I) Chapter 882: Colosseum Of Bones Part 1 Chapter 882: Colosseum Of Bones Part 1 "What do you mean we made it on time?" (I) "Do I tell them now?" (Margareth) "No, let''s go to my private room first." (Natasha) I see my sister go to 1 counter out of 5 counters, the one she went to was the emptiest one, she stands a few seconds before a Dragonewt with blue scales comes guides us to a large room with sofas, buffet table and a drinks cabinet. "Can you explain now?" (I) "It''s not bad at all, just according to local customs, something very normal." (Natasha) "I sent Margareth ahead with some errands, that was tidying up their rooms and setting up debut matches for everyone." (Natasha) "What are debut matches?" (Irina) "Something people who are in town for the first time do." (Natasha) "It''s called debut combat, a way to present yourself in this city, you demonstrate your skills in a combat, the winner can enjoy a buffet night in a VIP room, the restaurant in question is very good." (Natasha) "Is this mandatory in the city?" (I) "No, but as this was created at the time of the founding of the city along with many other rules, it became a custom that everyone does." (Margareth) "Hahahaha... there''s no better way to perform than in combat." (Natasha) "Why does she look so happy?" (I) "It was my master who created this tradition, she is very proud of having maintained it until today." (Margareth) "..." (I) What a strange thing, a tradition where people have to fight each other in an arena, that doesn''t make sense to me. "Could you tell me more about this Colosseum? What types of combat are there." (Ivan) "All types of combat are held, twice a week there are group fights, every day individual fights are organized and once a year a big tournament starts." (Margareth) "Can I place bets here?" (Loki) "..." (I) I suddenly felt a chill run down my back from the way she looks at me, it made me sure I had no choice but to win. ------------- Some minutes later. When I''m on stage a crystal sphere rises and 4 large holographic screens form around it showing me that I''m wearing a hooded overcoat and I''m also wearing a mask. I was in an arena, a large arena that seemed even bigger when I walked in, the sound of what''s going on outside I can''t hear, maybe the barrier around the arena is more than defending against critical hits. After a few minutes some people raised their hands then a gray light flashed in everyone''s heads before there was only one left with his hand raised and the gray light covering him. The one in front of me was a Dragonewt that came flying, it had silvery scales its Aura was almost solid and it was compacted in a thin layer around their body. He had a chain with a scythe on one end and a spiked metal ball on the other end, his appearance was normal among the Dragonewt. "Let''s see what the rookies are like today." As soon as he comes towards me I can "< Physical Enhancement >" "< Metal Body >" "< Triple Enhancement >" (I) I feel like he used mana, so he''s a magic type, his element seems to be metal, I use a similar technique to overcome his speed and strength, but I use the three nature energies at the same time. With a superior speed I concentrated my Aura along with my Aura, I was compressing it into a Rune in my palm. "< Impact Wave >" (I) As soon as he got close enough to me I dodged and landed a palm slash on his stomach. He falls to the floor throwing up before losing consciousness, I look at him testing his skin, it was very rigid, then I look at his stomach, it was completely intact. I realized that his specialty was defense, so instead of fighting his strong defense I try something to break through his defense, my technique worked and apparently the blow was better than I imagined for him to faint with just one hit. At the end of the fight, announcing my name as the winner, I go back walking the same way until I reach my sister''s private room. Chapter 883: Colosseum Of Bones Part 2 Chapter 883: Colosseum Of Bones Part 2 My battle was fast because I realized my enemy''s flaw, during my training with Diana in the past, she taught me that many people during non-lethal combat use the first seconds or minutes of the fight to test the opponent''s strength. Knowing this, it was easy to identify what the opponent wanted when he got so close to me using only a physical enhancement, I also realized that his elemental Affinity was the metal element. As his strength was chosen based on my rank, I knew I had the advantage in certain areas, that''s why I beat him so fast, using a single powerful attack that ignores defense was crucial, but I was afraid of him dodging, so I waited until the last second to take advantage of the opening caused by his attack on me. "Hahahaha..." (Natasha) When I entered the room again, I noticed that the wall in front looked like glass, I could see the entire Colosseum, it was only now that I noticed the existence of 20 combat arenas. I also noticed that these big windows weren''t glass, it was clear glass, on one part of the clear glass wall was playing a recording of my fight. "Hahahaha... I can''t believe this idiot... hahahaha..." (Natasha) "I think Zenos didn''t understand the proposal..." (Diana) "I think he was too weak, approaching head-on is stupid." (Ibuki) "It was boring, only 74 people bet, I won almost nothing." (Loki) "It''s coming back, master." (Freya) I entered without anyone noticing it but Freya, I go close to the wall where the others are and Diana talks to me. "I think you misunderstood something about the fight, it was supposed to showcase your power, at least some of it to others, you finished it in seconds with 1 single hit." (Diana) "You know me, I don''t like wasting my time on these things, that was enough power." (I) I understood what Diana was saying, but I don''t like wasting effort on something meaningless, when I''m fighting I always look for the best way to win, I''m not going to change my way of doing things. "You did well, your opponent who was careless must have assumed it was going to be more of a rookie fight, he also seemed too confident on defense to leave gaps so obvious." (Natasha) "Who will be the next participant?" ------------- Pov Arash (True Dragon Black Emperor): I was on top of a mountain looking into the distance, but in my mind, only the vision of her constantly came up. Her eyes may be a different color, but other than that they''re the same as her mother''s, calm eyes that always look beyond appearances, eyes that don''t judge anyone. I''m so glad she became a Spirit so she can go to the Spirit world, that''s something her mother always loved and couldn''t take her. Her contractor seems like a decent guy, he fights alongside her, plus he always seems to be around, but I still won''t approve of him until I test his qualities myself. "You''re not going to try to run again, are you?" (Caitlyn) "No, now I know she will come to me." (I) "I know you''re thinking about my brother, but remember to leave him alone." (Caitlyn) "I promise I won''t kill him." (I) "Sir, we have a message from Colosseum City." "I hope it''s something important because I already left another one in charge..." (I) "What message is this? Speak up or I''ll put you to sleep." (Caitlyn) "The Servant of one of the Living Calamities, she sent this message saying that her master the Living Brutality, and her Younger Brother will be in town with someone named Nix..." "< Illusory Chains >" (Caitlyn) My body was trapped by chains materializing around my body, this prevented me from reaching the Dragonewt who brought the message. "Stop creating a scandal, now we know where they are." (Caitlyn)Alll latest novels at novelhall.com Chapter 884: Nyxs Father Chapter 884: Nyx''s Father We ended up spending all day at the Coliseum, almost everyone''s fight was quick, but there were some unexpected fights that took a long time, these were the fights of Irina, Nix, and Karina. Irina had the misfortune to face an enemy immune to corrosion, Dragonewt with dark skin and green scales, he spit acidic mist, and his claws also had acid. Her fight took a long time because without her corrosion she had to fight using only her barriers in many forms, which ended up becoming a battle of resistance that she only won by having more than twice as much Mana as her opponent.Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com Karina''s fight was against a Man-beast with wings, she couldn''t identify her tribe precisely, but Diana said it was a condor, he was very fast and used Ki from the wind element just like Diana. Karina''s battle was an incredible aerial martial arts battle, the battle lasted 5 continuous hours, and she had a smile on her bloodied face just like her opponent, it was two battle maniacs fighting without rest. In the end, she won, but her body was as battered as her opponent''s body, at no point did she use my power to strengthen herself, she only fought with her own power. When she entered the room, my sister gave Karina a congratulatory slap on the back, who soon after began receiving treatment from Silvia and Vanessa. Nix and Ragnar were the last to fight, but Ragnar was the only one to lose, that''s why his opponent, who was a very handsome demon with blue skin and red hair, declared himself to him the moment he stepped into the arena. That man instead of fighting started running after Ragnar to lower him, I almost died laughing watching that scene, my sister laughed so hard that she fainted with tears in her eyes, Loki, on the other hand, was recording all this with a storage crystal, rica he was rooting for his opponent to catch Ragnar. It wasn''t surprising when he gave up and ran out of the arena just as he walked into our classroom. Nix''s battle was very interesting from a different perspective, she was fighting a Gray Elf accompanied by a Shadow Spirit, and they fought in a place that no one could see, inside the shadows. All it showed in the arena was a space with shadows floating everywhere, I was the only one in our group who could see through Nix''s eyes, sharing in her senses, so I used a spell to project a holographic image for others to see. It seems that the fight was quite intense, but Nix was unharmed as well as her opponent, the two shook hands before Nix''s opponent admitted defeat after more than 1 hour of combat. After everyone finished their battles we went to the restaurant to claim our prizes and free food in a private room. I was ready to leave but in the next second as I turned towards the door that was behind me, I slam my face into the abdominal muscles that feel like a metal wall of this man, he was looking at me sternly with his red eyes. I didn''t even see him open his eyes, get up or walk behind me, it wasn''t just his movement, I couldn''t feel his Aura or the air movement during his movement, he just appeared in front of me. His appraising eyes were full of weight as if the gravity over me had increased simply by looking at me, I felt like he could see right through me like looking through a brand new window. "Looks like I finally got to meet you, Son of Selene, where are your Familiars?" "Who are you..." (I) "I''m not here to argue with you and I don''t want to cause a scandal, now tell me where is your Contracted Spirit!?" "..." (I) "Where did she... zzzz... zzz..." In the middle of his words, his eyes start to think and he falls unconscious, when I think about putting him to bed and maybe tying him up just to make sure I don''t take the bullet in the head. "I leave him alone for a few minutes while I go buy some sweets and you arrive?" (Caitlyn) "Besides, you soon appear near him? Why didn''t you go say hello to your Father?" (Caitlyn) "I wasn''t sure what to say or do." (Nix) "Wait! Is that Nix''s father?" (I) Who appeared was my Sister, the youngest of my 3 older sisters, as she spoke I realized that the words were not directed at me, so Nix leaves my shadow with her eyes fixed on the man who was taken in his arms by a little girl to the bed. Chapter 885: This Is Not Training! Chapter 885: This Is Not Training! Pov Allan (Hero of Justice): "Hugh!!" (I)Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com "I told you to take the day off, so stop mumbling." (Bianca) "Damn it, why do these wounds take so long to heal." (I) "You can go to a more powerful healer." (Bianca) "No! The idea of us being here is to train at our level, I can''t always need help from others." (I) "That Demon was really strong, you know why he won, don''t you?" (Bianca) "Yes..." (I) We were returning from the Colosseum, we are a few days away from Colosseum City, this is the perfect place to train while gaining combat experience against different enemies every day. Upon entering this city I warned my group that we are on our own, we have to grow up and deal with our own consequences. The level of skill and ability of the people in this city is on another level, but this pressure was what I lacked, there are very few people in this city who care about my position as a Hero, what everyone wants to know is just whether I am strong. Thanks to that I had many chances to fight every day, but 2 two ago I fought a Demon, he didn''t have eyes or ears, but his use of Aura was amazing, he didn''t have blind spots being able to know everything that happened inside the range of your Aura. I was better than him physically, he was not equal to me in strength or speed, our fighting techniques were close to the same level, but my physical advantage disappeared when he was able to predict my movements at a certain point in the combat. Furthermore, the wounds I was suffering from were coated with his help, and this prevented the wounds from healing, in the end, I won, but if it was a real life and death battle, then I would already be dead. Even though it''s been a few days, I haven''t been able to heal fully until now, I have to use my Aura to expel his, which has been challenging, otherwise, I''m not able to fully heal my wounds. "At least I had better luck with my opponent." (I) "Darcia should change her tastes or at least know how to control herself." (Bianca) Yesterday Darcia was walking down the street when she saw a beautiful Runic girl, a teenager, before she knew it she was at the girl''s side with an arm around her waist. When her fiance arrived, we can say that it was not pleasant at all, so let''s just say that in the end, she was much worse than her opponent. "She has to learn some self-control." (I) "She lost some great battles today." (Bianca) "Yes, I only saw a few of the rookie fighters today, but that aerial battle was amazing, unfortunately, that''s something I suck at." (I) "I think most newcomers today are from the same group." (Bianca) "It''s not about that, but if you''re offering a few dozen barrels I''ll take it." (Natasha) "If you admit you love my wines, then maybe I''ll give you a free claw." (Caitlyn) "Wouldn''t it be better to talk about the matter at hand?" (I) "We still have to go out to eat." (I) Neither of them was taking the conversation seriously until now, but I noticed that Natasha who suggested this training wasn''t touching the topic, it was like she didn''t feel like talking about it. With me insisting we get back to the main topic so many times, Natasha looks at me and her smile fades, Caitlyn who was lying lazily with her head on my legs, notices the change in the weather and sits up for the first time looking at Natasha. "I have a reason for calling you here." (Natasha) "I already knew that, just tell me what you want." (Caitlyn) "I need the King''s Spark." (Natasha) "(What is King''s Spark?)" (I) "What do you want that for? Who do you want to torture?" (Caitlyn) "(Torturing...)" (I) "I need this for training." (Natasha) "King''s Spark would be useless against you even more, wouldn''t that be a... wait." (Caitlyn) Caitlyn looks at me with surprise on her childlike face before turning to Natasha with a face full of rage. "You told him it was training!? You want to do this to someone who hasn''t even lived 100 years!?" (Caitlyn) "He can''t control his emotions..." (Natasha) "The other ways to solve this, safer and less horrendous ways!" (Caitlyn) "He''s growing up fast, more so than I have in the past." (Natasha) "Do you still remember when you lost control of your emotions in the past?" (Natasha) "There''s a lot of potential in emotions, but also risk, something that few realize, you know that." (Natasha) "Do you know what you''re asking? Do you know what I would have to do? Against someone innocent no less!" (Caitlyn) "Against someone in the family!!!" (Caitlyn) Chapter 886: Kings Spark Chapter 886: King''s Spark Pov Natasha (Living Brutality): I was on the main hall balcony with my eyes closed, it took me a while to snap out of the nightmare Caitlyn had put me through, this kind of thing hasn''t affected me in millennia. "I know it''s there." (I) "Looks like diminishing her power didn''t affect your senses." (Caitlyn) "I didn''t feel you, with my current power it would be impossible, but I''ve known you since the day you were born." (I) In our family we always take care of each other, we cannot intervene as long as our relatives are not at risk of life, but when I was born I was raised by the older sister who took care of me until I was able to take care of myself. I did the same for Caitlyn with her older sister doing what she could to help when she wasn''t busy, so I was there when Caitlyn lost control of her power, I myself fell victim to her power many times until the moment I didn''t more effect on me, it helped to strengthen my heart and mind to the limit. "That name is a joke, enough of the hell this curse creates, I didn''t want it to have a name that reminds me of what this thing does to its victims." (Caitlyn) "But it''s still a very fitting name." (I) "Natasha! I know his mind is older than the time he lived in this world as an Outsider, but his world was peaceful, he won''t resist." (Caitlyn) "You were in his mind, I''m sure if I realized that training with him a few days then you noticed it too when you entered his mind in that dream." (I) "..." (Caitlyn) "He''s not ready, not for the King''s Spark." (Caitlyn) Caitlyn floats on her cloud pillow, a magical item she created herself to make her sleep comfortably anywhere. I was leaning against the porch eaves when she floated to stand in front of me. "Does he know what this curse does?" (Caitlyn) "No, I preferred to let an expert tell him." (I) "Why would you want him to do that? Do you know what will happen if he fails?" (Caitlyn) "I know..." (I)Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com "At best he would have trauma from which he may never recover and at worst his mind would be irreparably broken." (Caitlyn) "I already said I know." (I) "Is afraid?" (Caitlyn) I only noticed her when she spoke, I get up from the bed and look to the side she was floating while lying on a big pillow made of clouds. "Not going to lie, I''m a little scared." (I) "She didn''t tell you anything, did she?" (Caitlyn) "Only the consequences, not what will happen." (I) "King''s Spark is a curse I created a long time ago to torture the King of a certain place, it was both torture and judgment." (Caitlyn) "This curse traps the target in a nightmare of death, everyone you care about will die, die and keep dying in worse and worse ways in front of you without being able to do anything." (Caitlyn) "This will go on for a long time for you, your mind will be racing from the curse, so time for you will pass much faster." (Caitlyn) "So it''s all a dream?" (I) "Yes, but for you, it won''t matter, you will hear their voice of agony, you will see their blood and tears in an uninterrupted hellish cycle." (Caitlyn) "Everything will be so realistic that you won''t know if it''s real or fake, even if you keep saying in your mind that it''s fake, it won''t change what you''re seeing, it won''t change what you''ll keep seeing." (Caitlyn) "You will always be put in a situation where it''s impossible to do anything but watch them die, the more you love or care for someone the more your heart will be trapped by your emotions that will torment your mind until it breaks." (Caitlyn) What she was describing with numnroatonswm expression was torture, I could understand what she was saying because I''ve felt it before, it was the same when I thought Layla had died in the Ocean, at that moment the pain of her death, and hatred took over me to the point that I forgot that Layla was safe. When you are consumed by emotions, reason becomes meaningless, and nothing else matters, that is the trap of emotions. "Why did you say it was also a trial?" (I) "Because the curse only lasts 1 day, for the target it can last for years, but that''s because your mind will be racing." (Caitlyn) "If you reach the end of the curse without having your mind broken, then it means you''ve learned to accept your emotions without being swallowed up by them." (Caitlyn) "This curse tests your willpower, mind, and heart." (Caitlyn) "Are you still going to want to do this after everything I''ve said?" (Caitlyn) "..." (I) "I decide..." (I) Chapter 887: Endless Nightmare Chapter 887: Endless Nightmare I look into my little sister''s eyes, maybe because I''ve spent so much time with Hinata who shows almost no emotion in her expressions, I''ve come to better buy into what people feel through her eyes. I can see concern in my sister''s eyes, I remember the first time I met her in my dreams I thought she was scary, seeing her trying to hide her emotions like that makes me feel better knowing she cares about me. "I decided to continue." (I) "So let''s do it now before that daughter-obsessed Dragon wakes up." (Caitlyn) "Lay in bed." (Caitlyn)Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com I lay on my bed, I was a little anxious and very scared of what was to come, my heart was beating so fast it could explode, but even so, I was determined to continue, the mere fact that my sister Natasha mentioned this method of training shows I should as she clearly hesitated to jump right into this topic with Caitlyn. "< Reality Barrier >" (Caitlyn) "< Illusory Chains >" (Caitlyn) "This will keep others from interfering while also preventing you from causing harm to others when you start to lose control." (Caitlyn) "Is it going to be really bad?" (I) "It''s going to start bad and it''s going to get worse by the end." (Caitlyn) "..." (I) "Alright, thanks for helping mebig sister." (I) "..." (Caitlyn) "Try to remember my words all the time, there is only one you among different masks." (Caitlyn) "< Nightmare World: King''s Spark >" (Caitlyn) My sister put up a barrier that I could barely see around the bed, she also chained my arms and legs, it only scared me more and I still wanted to keep going. Soon a chilling Aura shot out of her body along with a power she wasn''t able to comprehend forming a crown that seemed to be made of sharp purple crystal shards. The moment I saw that macabre crown it was like I was seeing a horrible monster, there was a voice in my head telling me all the time to run, to run away as fast as possible, I''ve never felt so scared before. "You can still stop if you want, when you get this into your head even I can''t do anything but watch." (Caitlyn) "..." (I) "There are other ways for you to learn emotional control, even if it is slower it will still be safer." (Caitlyn) Suddenly I woke up in bed in my sister''s mansion, as much as it happened, I thought it was over when I noticed the barrier around the bed and the chains trapping me. "I... I... get out of that... hell???" (I) I look around and my sister Caitlyn is nowhere to be seen, I see Vanessa sitting on the bed with her back to me and I tap her on the shoulder to turn her towards me, I really need a hug right now. "No... no... why is that..." (I) When I turn her around holding one of her shoulders, she falls onto the bed with blood pouring from her eyes, nose, and mouth. She was completely dead, her lifeless eyes staring at me. ------------ Pov Caitlyn (Living Nightmare): I look at Zenos, my little younger brother, I followed his and Natasha''s wish even though I didn''t agree. He had the cursed crown on his head with blood pouring from one of his wounds and tears streaming from her eyes. "HAAAAHHHHH!!!!" (Zenos) "NOT!!!!!!" (Zenos) "Just bear it, learn from the pain, accept the anger and hate inside you, every emotion is just another mask we wear, they are all true, but you must learn that each of these masks doesn''t change who you are." (Caitlyn) "Learn not to control these emotions, but to use them, a true King is one who accepts everything while standing firm, don''t deny your emotions, don''t try to control your emotions, just accept it." (Caitlyn) I land on the ground and place my hand on his face, I know everything he is seeing and I can feel his emotions through his Aura exploding out of his body. I look out of the barrier I''ve created and see Natasha looking at us, I know she can''t see or hear what''s going on here, I did it so no one would interfere and not make others suffer by seeing him like this. I walk out of the barrier to stop in front of her. "How is he?" (Natasha) "The first few hours will be the worst part, he will be consumed by pain and sadness, he will try to deny what he is seeing, he will try to convince himself that nothing is real." (I) "Only after he gets past that will be when he starts to accept his emotions fully, that is if he can get through the pain." (I) "He will succeed, it will strengthen his mind and Aura, as well as accelerate the awakening of his Authority." (Natasha) "All we can do now is wait." (I) Chapter 888: Waking Up From Hell Chapter 888: Waking Up From Hell Pov Nix: Me and the other Familiars of the master were around his Sister, the Living Nightmare. "What did you do with the master?" (I) "He''s sleeping, you can talk to him tomorrow." (Caitlyn) "Master... suffering..." (Hinata) "He''ll be fine." (Caitlyn) "Why can''t I connect with him!? Why can''t I feel him right!?" (Layla) "She''s using a Barrier with her Authority." (Ragnar) "Very good to see that, Son of Zoe." (Caitlyn) "We can still feel that he is suffering, but not how much." (Orion) "What you do with him?" (I) "You guys are annoying, but I''m surprised your connection isn''t completely severed." (Caitlyn) "Anyway, he asked for it even though I warned him of the consequences." (Caitlyn) "Then why the barrier? Why can''t we have him?" (Sakura) "Why would it be worse, your connection to him would be a nuisance we don''t need, it also prevents anyone from seeing him that way." (Caitlyn) "He is fine?" (I) "No, he''s not fine." (Caitlyn) "..." (I) "< Sleep >" (Caitlyn) We were all around one of the most powerful people in the world because we were worried about the master, she answered our questions for a few minutes, but then she lost her temper and snapped her fingers making everyone fall asleep but me. "Why put everyone to sleep but me?" (I) "Because someone wants to talk to you." (Caitlyn) That anger over time turned to hate, and a voice in my head started whispering to forget everyone, if I didn''t care about anyone their deaths wouldn''t make me suffer anymore, all I needed was to give up on everything and everyone, it was so easy to just agree with that voice. "Father..." (Vanessa) "I''m here, my dear..." (I) It was after all these emotions had surged like tsunamis inside me, wrecking my mind over and over again that I remembered what my sister had said. "(Try to remember my words at all times, there is only one you among different masks.)" (Caitlyn) I was on a battlefield with body parts scattered everywhere, these bodies were my companions, this battlefield was the city inside the Dungeon completely destroyed and Vanessa who was dying with half of her body missing was in my arms. It was at that moment that I realized that I would never be able to sever my connection with them, I could never deny how important they all are to me. Even if I had to endure the worst of pain or the worst of despair, everyone''s image in my heart will always be my greatest treasure. All this time I tried to resist these feelings or let myself be consumed by these feelings, but now I just accepted them. It was then that my sister''s words came back to me, I accepted my fear and madness a long time ago, I even accepted the part of me that was a monster, I had accepted those parts of myself in the past because I could see clearly that I wasn''t a monster it was more that man in a hospital bed just waiting to die. That man died, I am what I am, nothing more and nothing less, but even accepting what I''ve become, for any living being it''s difficult to accept everything in itself. Everyone wants to deny hate, everyone wants to suppress anger, everyone wants to pretend they''re not sad, and everyone wants to forget what despair is. These are common, but very strong emotions that can drive a person crazy. "She was mistaken, these are not masks, she did not realize that the name she gave is very suitable..." (I) "They are sparks and like any spark can become a big fire destroying everything in its path." (I) "I don''t need to deny or control, I just need to consume these feelings instead, let this fire become power in times of need, use this madness to protect everyone." (I) I look down at Vanessa in my arms and plant a kiss on her forehead as I use my own blood to heal half of her body and use my Aura to spread my blood across the entire battlefield using this pain I''m feeling to expand far beyond my limit my Aura and rescue those who are at death''s door. "I won''t lose anyone else!" (I) CRACK CRACK CRACK I see the world around me shattering once more like so many times before, but this time I feel something pulsate inside me and these fragments scatter. Soon I open my eyes and see the chains on my body as well as the barrier around me. Ding! Chapter 889: Awakening Of Authority Chapter 889: Awakening Of Authority When I opened my eyes I was alone lying on the bed inside the barrier and chained, I didn''t even remember that I was chained, I felt like a lot of time had passed, it could have been months or even years, I''m not sure, it was so consumed by my emotions that I was out of my mind most of the time. The nightmares were so real that I''m still not sure if I really got out of that hellhole. "What do I do now?" (I) "< Release >" (Caitlyn) Suddenly I hear my sister''s voice, then the chains and the barrier disappear, when I look I see her lying on a floating cloud pillow upside down looking at me, I can''t tell when she arrived or if she was always there. "You surprised me, it only took 20 hours before you broke the curse, I didn''t think I could do that." (Caitlyn) "Wasn''t that the point?" (I) "The goal was for you to last 1 day, 30 hours total." (Caitlyn) "That would be equivalent to 1 or 2 years in the nightmare world, enough time for you to delve deeply into many emotions you normally avoid." (Caitlyn) "So what happened?" (I) "Natasha underestimated you, she said she could but she didn''t know how far it would go, you broke the curse." (Caitlyn) "This curse has many unique characteristics, you will never be affected by this curse again, that''s because your heart doesn''t have a vulnerability, you are no longer dominated by any emotion." (Caitlyn) "Until today only 5 people managed to do what you did, two of them are me and Natasha, the other 3 people I won''t mention." (Caitlyn) "What about our older sister I haven''t met yet?" (I) "She was always the most stable one, the curse never had an effect on her from the beginning." (Caitlyn) I stand up and look at my body, my clothes were in pieces as well as part of the bed, there were bruises in the form of chains on my body, the bed was stained with many things, but the place where my head was lying was very stained with blood and some other liquid. I run my hand over my face and realize I have dried blood in my eyes, my nose is running too. I take off what little is left of my clothing and use a potion of liquid soap to thoroughly clean my body by throwing it over my head, then put on another outfit that I took from my item storage. "Did the others see?" (I) "No, just me, the barrier blocks the sound and sight of those outside." (Caitlyn)Alll latest novels at novelhall.com "It was pretty bad, wasn''t it?" (I) "Yes, but once you start you can''t stop." (Caitlyn) "< Mana Barrier >" (I) "< Incinerate >" (I) I float the bed and create a barrier around it before incinerating the bed inside the barrier to dust. "They don''t need to know." (I) "Don''t you hate me?" (Caitlyn) I look at her, her words are spoken matter-of-factly and show almost no emotion on her innocent face, but I can see the curiosity in her eyes. <[ All of your Awakening, Control, Enslave, and Servitude skills have been buffed ]> . . . <[ You are immune to non-Authority blood effects ]> . . . <[ All your powers, techniques, spells, Runes, Affinities, and blood-related skills are greatly strengthened ]> . . . <[ You can now feel the power of Authority ]> . . . <[ Those with strong connection to you can use a fraction of your Authority ]> "..." (I) I look back at my hands, and now I''m understanding the changes I''m feeling, I thought this strangeness was because of the changes in my mind and heart, but it seems the changes were bigger than I imagined. "Looks like you didn''t realize it until I told you, didn''t you?" (Caitlyn) "Can you explain to me what this Authority thing is?" (I) "I can, but I think you should rest first, there are many people in this place worried about you." (Caitlyn) ------------ After I left the room I was taken for a detailed examination of my daughters Irina and Vanessa, after which I had to explain what happened, but I refused despite everyone''s insistence. I know from Nix and Sakura''s expressions that they are the wisest that they know anything, it would be difficult to hide such a volatile emotional state from my Familiars. That night before going to sleep I had to explain why the bed I slept in disappeared, I invented some vague answer and made a big bed with my lines. I had a lot of company that night with the girls and my Family members wanting to hang around, who surprised me the most was Layla who hugged my hair and didn''t let go even when she fell asleep. I lay in bed with a smile on my face to see so many happy faces nearby, to finally replace those horrible images with smiles. To my greatest surprise, I wasn''t afraid to sleep or dream that night, I don''t remember how I dreamed it, but I woke up the next day feeling refreshed and happy. Chapter 890: Arash And Nix Chapter 890: Arash And Nix Pov Natasha (Living Brutality): "I didn''t think he''d be able to go this far." (I) "Yes, he also awakened an Authority similar to his mother, I could feel it." (Caitlyn) "It''s like a True Dragon and Demigod Authority mixed together." (Caitlyn) "That''s not surprising, his power over blood was already known." (I) "But it would be good for our sister to be here, her Authority is similar, and she would be better suited to train him." (I) "He reminded me of you, managed to break the curse while keeping a clear mind." (Caitlyn) "No, his solution and path are different from mine, I felt it in his Aura and you felt it too." (I) His Aura was marked by his will to break everything in his path to impose his Authority of rebellion and chaos. "You''d better train him, my Authority is very simple, also the weakest in our family." (I) "Weak isn''t the word I would use, but you really wouldn''t be able to help him." (Caitlyn) ------------ Pov Zenos: When I woke up the next day, I discovered that I was being closely watched by my Families, mainly by Layla, who wouldn''t let go of me. "Come on, can''t we just let this go?" (I) "No, your idiot!" (Layla) "What Layla means is that we''re wondering what happened." (Sakura) "Hiding it doesn''t do any good." (Orion) "I don''t hide anything from you, I said it was really bad, I just don''t want to go into details." (I) "Nix wants to talk..." (Hinata) "Where is she?" (I) "With Father..." (Hinata) Tears I lost track of time while I was in his arms remembering the happiest moments of my life. "Thanks for bringing her back to me." (Father) "The pleasure was mine, your daughter is very important to me." (Zenos) "Master..." (I) "But don''t wait for my approval yet, I have to see if you are worthy of having my daughter by your side." (Father) "Father, please don''t talk to my master like that." (I) Suddenly I hear the voice of the master and I turn back, my master was standing at the door of the room, he should have been waiting so as not to interrupt my reunion with my Father. After the master appeared, we went to another room, Layla was sleeping on mine''s head and Hinata was in her necklace poking her head out sometimes, the others noticed the mood and left for the time being. "Father, let me introduce Zenos, he is my master and the person who rescued me." (I) "Master, this is Arash, my Father and from what I''ve heard True Dragon Black Emperor in charge of all Dragons." (I) "I know about you Holy Son of Blood, the Dragon God told me about you some time ago, thank you again for finding my daughter." (Father) "The position I have today is more about keeping myself in check, I didn''t have much of a choice at the time as I caused so much destruction while looking for my daughter." (Father) "I found your daughter by luck, but it was my desire to help her, at the time it was more out of curiosity, but now her daughter has become irreplaceable for me." (Zenos) "I see a lot has changed in the short time that brat has left me asleep." (Father) "I was also sleeping this time, let''s just say certain things happened." (Zenos) The rest of the day was strange, I felt that my Father was acting strangely with the master, he was grateful for the master saving me, but he also bombarded the master with many questions as if it were an interrogation. Master was very patient, more than usual as he answered all the questions as best he could, we ended up having to tell a lot of things that happened in the past since master found the crystal where my soul was sealed until today. The only answer my Master made to my Father was whether there were any enemies for me for being his daughter. "There will always be danger for her, her existence is still a Taboo for the Church of Light, but as a full Spirit now, they don''t have as much freedom to do things their way anymore." (Father) "Apart from them, there are many who hate me, but everyone will think twice about going near her if she''s here, annoying many Religions and Gods at the same time is something even the most foolish avoid." (Father) "You''ve talked enough already, I can''t wait all day, we have some things to talk about." (Caitlyn) Chapter 891: I Dont Stand A Chance Chapter 891: I Don''t Stand A Chance After my sister suddenly appeared in the conversation I was having with Nix''s Father, his expression became irritated. By that time it was mid-afternoon and everyone was hungry, so we ate while my sister told us what she wanted. At the end, my sister said that she would be training me, but in the middle of that Arash said that he would also help with training at the same time as helping his daughter with training. In the end, it turned out to be a group training with all my Family members and Karina getting involved, it would be a training on Authority, and my sister Natasha was called in to help, it seemed that my Sister Caitlyn didn''t want to waste energy teaching too many people. Training was actually going to take place the next day, but tonight we were going to learn more about Authority. In order not to attract anyone''s attention, we entered my Dungeon, Nix''s Father seemed very happy to see the entrance gate of the Dungeon being a copy of his daughter''s head. Inside the Dungeon we go to a new floor that I asked several days to be created, this is the training floor, there are no monsters, all that exists is a forest, some small mountains, and a plain. I noticed something different when I entered the Dungeon this time, I could feel the connection I have with the Dungeon, this connection is different from the one I have with my Familiars, but now I can feel my control over everywhere, I felt like I was inside from the movie The Matrix being able to see the lines of computer code all around me. When I mentioned this to Nix, she said that she always saw the Dungeon like that and thought it was the same for me, I think her connection with the Dungeon is stronger, after all, it''s part of her body. ----------- We were in the clearing where Nix''s father calls me away from the others, my sisters seemed to know what he wanted and stayed away. "That''s not what I''m thinking, is it?" (I) "Are you afraid, Son of Selene?" (Arash) "Please stop calling me a son of the blood or a son of Selene." (I) "Just call me by my name, Zenos." (I) "Besides, it would be stupid not to feel fear in this situation." (I) He smiles as he looks at me. "Well done, Zenos." (Arash) "I don''t want to fight you, it would be useless and I don''t know if I can hold back enough not to crush you by accident, being afraid is natural in this situation." (Arash) But when I activated my ability I felt a surge of energy and power bursting from within me pushing the limits of that ability much further than I was able to do before. Like the previous times when this skill reached greater power, my body was wracked with pain, it felt as if an electric current was coursing through my body as a boiling liquid flowed at high speed through my veins. In addition to the pain in my body, I felt my mind become confused with the new sensations in my body, it was as if my senses had suddenly improved, and that together with the pain was a lot for me to understand at the same time. "Roooooaaaaaarrrrrrrr!!!!!!" (I) "Very interesting, the integration of the Authority was instinctive as it is with our people, but it is still incomplete." (Arash) "Haaaa... Haaaa... Haaaa...." (I) Sigh "..." (I) When the pain in my body disappeared, I was finally able to organize my mind to suit the new information my senses gathered from my surroundings. In a few seconds I open my eyes feeling a feeling of euphoria and power trying to dominate my mind, but with everything I''ve been through that wouldn''t happen, so I realize I was kneeling on the ground and I get up so I try to use my Aura to have a vision of the changes in my body. My once red hair is now completely inky black, my scales tearing at my clothes as they grow larger spreading across my legs and arms. I also noticed that my horns were bigger, my wings were spread out without me noticing and they were bigger than before with big crystal scales like armor further protecting them, even my tail was much thicker, longer and the crystal blade on its tip now shines like my scales looking like a starry sky. Seeing my face through the perceptions of my Aura, it had also changed, my fangs were bigger and my eyes were different, the white part outside my iris became black as well as my hair, this enhanced the red and purple colors of my eyes even more eyes with different colors. I look at my hands surprised by the changes in my body, my hands don''t even look human anymore, it looks like I''m wearing a gauntlet of black crystal scales with sparkles of stars. "This is... different..." (I) "From your scales, I see that you are a variation of Black Dragon like me." (Arash) "Looks like my daughter inherited a lot of her traits when she was reborn, it pisses me off a bit, but I''ll forgive." (Arash) "But first of all, show me your strength!" (Arash) A mountain-heavy and brutal Aura engulfed everything in the surroundings, it was just as powerful if not more powerful than I remember being at the time when the Evil God took over Farus''s body in the mountain range of the Morror Continent. "I really don''t stand a chance... but I won''t back down..." (I) Chapter 892: Like A Fly Chapter 892: Like A Fly I was facing Nix''s father using my Dragon transformation skill which improved a lot. "Here I go." (I) "< Multi Elemental Incarnation >" (I) "< Blood Curse: Strength Defense >" (I) "< Triple Enhancement >" (I) I used my pure Affinity of all elements for a Ki elemental Incarnation skill, I used all these elements to perfect my body far beyond the limit, I was never able to do this before as my normal body cannot bear this load, but this body of Dragon is much more robust. I use a curse that uses half of my defense as a sacrifice to increase my strength, I also use the three natural energies that are Mana, Ki, and Spirit Energy to further enhance my body. With that I''m in my most powerful state possible, far above any limits I have, of course, I can''t maintain this for long, even now I feel like my body is going to break any second. "< Garment of Blood >" (I) I collect my Aura while using my skill creating armor made with my crystallized Blood, Scales, threads, and Aura. This doesn''t increase my power, but it does give me more attack flexibility and helps resist the heavy load I''m feeling. It only took me a few seconds to prepare like this, I probably won''t last more than 5 minutes of combat, but I never planned on winning. "Interesting, but useless in a sense." (Arash) I smile as I use my big wings to propel myself forward with great speed. Nix''s dad had one hand in his pants pocket as he looked at me, he was waving his right hand for me to start the attack and that''s what I did. I try to punch him in the face, but he blocks with his right hand without difficulty, blocking completely. I try to throw a lot of punches and kicks while changing the rhythm as well as the directions of the attacks for each blow, but he always blocks with the same hand if he moves no part of his body other than his right arm. I knew that a direct attack would have no effect, but I needed at least a few seconds to understand this super-enhanced body, or I wouldn''t be able to use the full potential of the power I put into my own body. "Lowering your defense for more power is risky, as well as foolish to do." (Arash) ----------- Pov Zenos: Something was wrong, it took me a long time to realize it, but he wasn''t just blocking my attacks. Only during the breath attack did I realize, this was the most powerful attack I''ve ever used, but it wasn''t just being defended, nothing was happening in the surroundings, this attack should at least destroy everything in a straight line, but it seems to disappear when comes to his hand. When my energy reserves were almost empty I stopped my attack and disabled all the upgrades I was using until now. Sigh "I was worse than I expected." (I) "Why did you stop? There must still be some energy left in you." (Arash) "I have less than 10% of my energy left, also my body was already at the limit for a few seconds, so I thought I''d stop." (I) "You gave up quickly, but I can understand why." (Arash) "I know you just wanted to see my power, so I showed you everything I had from the start." (I) "I don''t think you understand, I don''t care about your power, as a rising Demigod and a True Dragon, you already have a lot of potential, I never doubted your power." (Arash) "What I wanted to see was your strength, what is the spark inside you that directs your path." (Arash) "..." (I) "My daughter must have told you, True Dragons seek the meaning of strength, for you, it is the will, it was quite clear to me." (Arash) "You would never win, but even with that truth in front of you, you keep going forward without being discouraged or hesitating for a second." (Arash) "You tried a layered plan to distract me, you tried using your full power and none of it worked, so you give up." (Arash) He looks at me with a hard smile. "Throughout all of this your willpower has not been shaken, by any emotion or thought, even when giving up your willpower remains in your Aura." (Arash) "(Even though he was beaten like a fly, the whole time he didn''t move out of place using only one hand.)" (I) Chapter 893: Authority And Territory Part 1 Chapter 893: Authority And Territory Part 1 I was tired and in a lot of pain all over my body, but I stopped before I overloaded my body too much, besides that still wasn''t all my power exactly, I could have used holy power to get even stronger. Holy power would definitely increase my power even more, but it would be another layer of pressure under my body and I had the impression that I still wouldn''t be able to resist that level of pressure built up under my body. "How did you defend all that? How can everything be intact in the surroundings?" (I) I look at the surroundings seeing that even the grass around us was not damaged, I knew that it would be useless to fight him, but this is beyond what I imagined. "That''s my Authority, I used it to annihilate your power without a trace." (Arash) "I hold the Authority of the Shadow of Destruction." (Arash) "I destroyed even the energy and shock waves, we will train here and it would be a waste of time to look elsewhere." (Arash) "(Did he use the power of Authority? How did he do it without me noticing? To me it was like he was using only one hand the whole time to defend himself against kim with ease.)" (I) Soon the others approached, my sister Natasha approached Nix''s father and I hear them talking. "How was he?" (Natasha) "His strength is based on will, many Dragons choose to walk that path, myself included in the past." (Arash) "But wanting is not achieving, the strength we seek must represent us, the will may seem simple, but there is complexity in simplicity, in addition to requiring someone naturally arrogant to follow that path." (Arash) "What can I say, my family is arrogant by nature." (Natasha) "I know that well and looking at the people I''ve met so far, it seems he did something to everyone, they have a trace of him in their Auras." (Arash) "These are your Familiars and your Dragon Priestess." (Natasha) "These are fine, I''m talking about the other people who were at your mansion." (Arash) "Before you begin, ask your questions, boy." (Arash) "How did you know?" (I) "I can feel it through your Aura, I can feel your doubts." (Arash) "As I rested and watched everyone, I remembered one of my skills, a skill I used on all of them and my sister." (I) "I see, the Awakening skill you have has an Authority name, right?" (Arash) "Yes, the name of the skill is [Demon Dragon Authority: 1]." (I) "Let me guess, your Authority has a different name than Skill?" (Arash) "Yes, I wanted to know the reason for that." (I) "A Skill can be obtained in many ways, but all Awakening Skills are fragments or should I say parts of your Authority, some people acquire these skills before the Authority itself, but that''s because they already have the spark within them waiting for the moment to become a flame." (Arash) "Not everyone can awaken Authority, the only race that has it within them from birth is the True Dragons." (Arash) "You are the child of a Goddess, like your sisters, you have a part of your mother''s Authority within you from the beginning." (Arash) "Only those who possess Authority are able to acquire Awakening abilities." (Arash) So from the beginning I already had the potential, my sisters say that I already have Authority, so it must be normal for me to have it too, now that I remember my first skills related to Awakening were given by the Goddess, it was that skill I used with Ibuki when she was being attacked after saving her. Now that I remember, I learned that only powerful Fairies, Spirits, and True Dragons have Awakening abilities, I remember being confused by this when I learned it since at the time it wasn''t any of those things. But I don''t understand one thing, thinking about it, the person who suffers an awakening and gains power gets what he wants, I learned that at the time, but what does the person or creature who has the Awakening ability gain from using that ability on someone weaker? As far as I''ve learned, powerful Fairies and Spirits have Cradles or Temples of their own filled with people of their races who have followed their orders, True Dragons are also worshiped by many races and are strong enough to have as many servants as you want just by snapping your fingers. So I don''t understand why these powerful beings would use this skill on someone, it''s a risk every time it''s used, I get weak and sometimes I may even lose consciousness, so why would these high level creatures bother to use it? this skill in anyone? Chapter 894: Authority And Territory Part 2 Chapter 894: Authority And Territory Part 2 I was still in doubt about why someone powerful would feel like using an Awakening skill on someone weaker, without being able to think of a good reason for that, I decided to ask about it to Nix''s father who was already looking at me strangely. "I see your doubts remain, so speak up." (Arash) "You know, I was thinking..." (I) I tell him my doubts about the Awakening skill and the reason for anyone with that ability to use this skill, I often used these skills out of necessity or curiosity, but I can''t expect others to use such an important skill in such a futile way as I. "I suppose your Sister didn''t tell you, not surprising since she herself doesn''t like having too many people under her command, the same can be said for the brat zzzzz" (Arash) "He fell asleep out of nowhere?" (Nix) "Really? Will you stop interfering with him while he''s teaching us?" (I) "He called me a brat!" (Caitlyn)Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com sure it wasn''t mean, he calls me boy all the time." (I) "I''m more than 3 times his age! I can call him a brat if I decide, I won''t take that one..." (Caitlyn) "Stop the Games, you Brat... zzzz..." (Arash) He wakes up to say something and in the next second, he goes back to sleep, while my sister Caitlyn just looks at him, in a few seconds he wakes up again and stares at my sister. "Okay, I''ll call you by your name, happy?" (Arash) "Why would I be happy? You should have done this from the start, it would have saved me wasting my time and being able to do this." (Caitlyn) "..." (Arash) "...." (I) After saying what she wanted, my sister Caitlyn who appeared out of nowhere also disappeared out of nowhere leaving a super powerful Dragon with several veins popping out of her forehead. "Let''s go on, you asked why we would use an awakening skill on others, right?" (Arash) "Now, if you have someone who submits to you of their own free will, then a bond is formed, as the individual becomes stronger and more deployable, you are seeing a proportionate increase in your Authority." (Arash) "I must say that many times the difference is not even noticeable, you yourself have many people who accept to submit to you during the awakening, I can feel it, that was one of the reasons for awakening your Authority so early." (Arash) "That''s why we don''t use awakening so freely, we prefer to choose individuals that we consider capable of doing this in common agreement." (Arash) I was able to understand the Awakening skill better now, but his explanation made me think of something else that I realized. "You''ve talked before about the concept of Authority and that people use it every day, but how is a government''s Authority different from ours?" (I) "The concept of Authority is an idea, an ideal, its power lies in whether people choose to follow it or not, nothing more." (Arash) "Now the power of true Authority is the control you gain over something, your ability to rule over a concept you fully understand." (Arash) "In my case it is destruction, Authority is understanding, concept, control, and will." (Arash) "I can impose my Authority on others during combat because I am marking the person with my Authority." (Arash) I understand, similar to Auras, a wound caused by the enemy''s Aura will not heal properly, it needs another Aura to counter. "The only way to resist someone''s Authority is with Authority." (Arash) "This is all hard to understand." (Nix) This is all really hard to understand, but for some reason, I feel like it''s making sense like I already know these things. "That will be easier for him to learn, he feels the Authority within him and instinctively knows all about it." (Arash) "The Authority you two will learn to use won''t be yours, it will be his, so what I just explained will be more important to you both." (Arash) "So I''ll explain it one more time to you two." (Arash) "The Authority is" (Arash) Once again he explained the same thing to the two of them, I listened in silence, unlike me, he explained in parts because of my questions, and this time he is explaining in detail to the two of them. Chapter 895: Authority And Territory Part 3 Chapter 895: Authority And Territory Part 3 The first day of training was explanations of what the Authority was, I was able to understand that easily, but it seems the girls had problems with it, at the end, I asked the others about their training. From what everyone said, my sisters and Silvia also explained about Authority, and each one used different ways to explain, in the end, we lost a whole day with it and only me, Ragnar and Hinata understood the explanation at first. After talking to them it seems that Ragnar already knew these things from having spent thousands of years alongside the God of Beasts as a simple Soul, so he learned a lot about Authority. Hinata had the Soul of a Hero she is descended from within her or at least a fragment of that Soul, it seems that the reason she was enslaved so easily was by the power of Authority in the Soul fragment of the Hero of Light, it seems that these tragic moments they also gave him an instinctive understanding of the power of the Authority. ------------ That night Nix and her dad went out into the garden to talk alone, Nix wanted me to come along, she still feels uncomfortable being around her dad but I told her she would have to face it sooner or later and she went alone with him. Meanwhile, I find one of my sisters sleeping and the other drinking in the kitchen. "Come, get a drink..." (Natasha) "She is fine?" (I) "She''s fine, sleeping is her favorite activity." (Natasha) "Why does she like to sleep so much?" (I) "A person''s dreams and nightmares are created unconsciously, using a person''s mind and emotions." (Natasha) "In a dream or nightmare there are no lies, no matter how much someone lies to themselves or others, the truth will still be in dreams, that''s something Caitlyn appreciates more than anything else." (Natasha) I sit down after picking up the bottle of liquor my sister has tossed to me. I sit on the floor and done meditate, this has always been something I do for all my trainings, I start mapping inside my body using my Aura, then in a place deep inside me, the same place where my Aura originates, I felt Authority. As soon as my perception reached I was shaken with the vision of that dark space full of starry sparkles representing my powers, in that place energy flows ran everywhere and there was a red crystal path where I was stepping. I couldn''t see how far this path led, it wasn''t possible to see the whole path, but I felt as if it was still incomplete, on the other side, in what I felt was the beginning of the path, there was a hammock caught between two trees, one of the trees one was white with black leaves while the other was the opposite being black with white leaves, the first tree had crystal fruit that looked like it had a nebula inside while the second tree had rainbow-colored crystal flowers. The net itself was strange, the lines of the net had starry scales like the scales on my body, but those scales had energy streams the colors of my tattoos silver, gold, purple and black. Behind this net was a magnificent landscape of a golden Sun and a purple Moon, the two heavenly bodies appearing to be the same size as they orbited each other. For some reason, I felt my heart skip a beat when I saw this hammock where I suddenly had the compulsion to lie down, but I resisted it and tried to wake up from the meditation where I tell Nix''s bread everything I saw. "What you saw was your Inner Realm, the Grid is your mental representation of a throne, the symbol of your Authority." (Arash) "We can talk about this later, for me to continue the training of my daughter and Your Dragon Priestess, you must sit on your throne or should I say in that hammock you told me about, then you will instinctively know what to do." (Arash) "Okay I will try." (I) I close my eyes again and begin to meditate once more, soon seeing it the same path as before and the same ever-changing landscape, when the "Throne" that Arash spoke of appears in my vision, I go to it and try to sit down, but it was so comfortable that I ended up remembering until I was lying in the hammock. I was so comfortable but didn''t let it distract me too much, I could feel the Authority contained in the net and trees around me as well as the two celestial bodies behind me, I feel several connections within me open where I knew the Authority could flow, but it was waiting, waiting for my command. When I wanted to let Authority flow freely, I could feel as if a part of me went along with this flow of power and slowly I feel these connections becoming stronger. "This is strange" (Nix) "I can''t pinpoint what this power is, but it feels so good" (Karina) "..." (I) Chapter 896: Authority And Territory Part 4 Chapter 896: Authority And Territory Part 4 When I let my Authority flow freely through these connections I felt, I felt that they were just derivative parts of my Authority flowing, different parts for each one, and it felt right somehow, I didn''t understand how or why. When I listened to you from Nix and Karina, I lost concentration and opened my eyes, this time I felt that the Authority was in my body and it was no longer still, I could feel it flowing slowly through my body along with my blood. "You two, sit down and try to meditate, interact with this new power within you, get used to it." (Arash) "Yes." (Nix/Karina) When I stopped focusing on this change in my body, I realized that I can feel two people behind me, I can also identify who they are without having to use my Aura or look at them, not only these two, but I felt 5 more people in places where I couldn''t see, knew exactly the direction they were. "They have their Authority within them, that means they can''t hide from you, but just as you granted your Authority, you can also revoke it." (Arash) "I understand, but I won''t do that, at least not with them." (I) I see Arash put a hand on each of their shoulders, then I feel something I don''t like, I feel anger well up inside me all of a sudden, if I hadn''t been through that nightmare hell I wouldn''t have been able to resist being consumed by rage right now. I tried to pinpoint the reason for this sudden anger, it could only have been whatever Nix''s Father is doing to her and Karina, so I tried to focus on them not only from the outside but also using my Authority within them to understand what is happening from their point of view. "What is this? Could it be..." (I) I tried looking from the outside, but I didn''t feel or notice anything, so I tried using my Aura and I noticed something, but I couldn''t understand what I was feeling, it was confusing.Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com So when I used my Aura inside the girls to try to understand what was going on, that''s when I felt more clearly what my Aura almost couldn''t feel, it was Authority. It was his Authority that was generating my anger, it took me a while to understand what he was doing and why it generated so much anger in me. It felt like my Authority inside Nix and Karina''s bodies was clashing against Arash''s Authority, of course it felt like a leaf hitting a metal wall, but even so, my Authority continued to conflict with his who didn''t fight back. ------------ After many hours of conversation with Arash, while we waited for Nix and Karina to better understand my Authority, I learned to move and use the Authority within my body. "So I can use my Aura to guide my Authority?" (I) "Yes and no, your Aura is a part of you, so you can use your Aura to delimit an area where your Authority can flow." (Arash) "This is called Territory, in your territory, no kind of abnormal attacks will affect you, in addition, all your attacks and defense will be improved, your enemies will have their Auras suppressed, their energy recoveries and heals will be reduced, and they will also suffer from pressure mental and spiritual constant of his authority." (Arash) "But that comes with a cost, right?" (I) "Creating and maintaining a territory takes a lot of concentration, in addition, the territory is fixed in the place of creation, if you leave the area the territory disappears and it will be more difficult to create it in a short period of time." (Arash) "You will also have to suffer the pressure of Nature, creating your Territory means taking possession of the Territory of nature where you are." (Arash) "How many kilometers can you expand your Aura naturally? I don''t need to know the total maximum." (Arash) "I can spread it over 15, maybe 20 kilometers without difficulty." (I) "A much stronger Aura than those of the same strength level, but if you used your Authority to create a Territory, then the size would be 10 times smaller than that and would need great effort to maintain." (Arash) "Are you going to teach me about Territories?" (I) "No, your sister will do that, Territories is her specialty." (Arash) He didn''t say which sister''s name to look for, but I think I know who he''s talking about. "Caitlyn..." (I) Chapter 897: Forcing The Conflict Chapter 897: Forcing The Conflict Pov Neji (Hero of Light): When I woke up in the middle of that ritual circle months ago covered in that viscous liquid I was furious, something was missing, there was an emptiness inside me that I didn''t understand and I was in a lot of pain not knowing where all this pain was coming from. It took me days to regain my emotional control and many spells or potions to be calm enough to try meditating to achieve that control, but even then the anger was still there as well as the pain. When I calmed down I was told what had happened, it seems that the succession process I started before being sealed away to remain alive was succeeding, but someone interfered putting everything to waste while revealing the secret to the Church of Death that attacked us in then. Knowing that I was feeling this emptiness inside me because a fragment of my Soul had been completely destroyed, even more so knowing that my real body was destroyed while my Soul now without a piece had been severely injured. I knew that the anger, emotional disturbances, and this pain were because of these injuries, when I found out about all this I wanted to kill everyone around me, but I was too weak, all my power was gone, and my Authority was broken and my Aura was so weak like that of a common Adventurer. The shock of having fallen so low only made it worse, I who was once adored by millions was in such a deplorable state, I also noticed that they used Plan B. I don''t know which woman they chose to give birth to me, but forcing that body to develop took its toll. Barely existent muscles, weak bones, oversensitive senses, and a weakness that bothered me for the next few months I threw myself into training. I wouldn''t accept being in such a sorry state, I was still a Hero, I''ve walked this path once and I''d do it again with much more speed this time with everything I knew. While training the Central Church I was looking for members for my group as requested, weak as I am I would need to seek combat to raise my level once again. When I regained my strength I would go after those responsible for spoiling my initial plans, how dare they go against the will of the greatest of Heroes!? ------------- Months later. I was in a mansion after defending a city with many faithful of the Church of Light with my group, we were following the plans of the Church. The attacks on several cities served to weaken cities that could serve as strategic points in a conflict a little, but also served for my name to rise again after a long time dormant. The plan itself didn''t matter to me, this was an excellent opportunity to regain my strength, to achieve this while we were fighting the Harpies I made many Adventurers die quietly. I was in a mansion in another city right now, I was in a room discussing with my group while keeping one of my group''s people in my sight. My group is made up of 5 people including me, which are: High Priest: Malagai Templar General: Milena Adventurer Queen: Hirlina Storm Warlock: Ugo They are all human with the exception of Malagai who is a Celestine, they are all very combat competent, we were having a discussion now about future plans. "Lord Neji, we can''t stay much longer in this city." (Malagai) "I know, but we can''t just run, they don''t have proof of anything, plus we were a standout in that city''s defense, they don''t even have an excuse to come after us for now." (I) "My magic detects many Gray Elves throughout most of the city." (Ugo) "They are distractions, if they wanted something we wouldn''t be able to feel any of them." (I) "So what do we do?" (Milena) ------------- Pov Zenos: I''ve been training the last few days with the Father of Nix, during that time I learned how to move my Authority through my Aura, and I realized that my Aura was the intermediary I could use to fuse my Authority into my attacks. The others also learned this, so we started going to Dungeons to train, my sister Caitlyn and Nix''s father didn''t come with us, they can''t be seen in this city, it could alert their enemies and interrupt our training. The Dungeon I chose to enter was exactly the Dragon''s Nest, all the monsters in this Dungeon are derived from Dragons. We were on the 101st floor now, we were wearing our masks to hide our identity just like we did in the Colosseum. I was facing a Magma Dragon, its scales were made of some kind of raw metal and its body gave off such heat that the ground it walks on melts into magma. He is more than 15 meters tall and his weight is enormous. "Normal physical attacks aren''t working, so how about this." (I) "< Aura Blade >" (I) I focus my scrutiny on my sword which has an effect to increase resistance so it doesn''t break easily. The blade of my sword turns black, but an energy to take root from the hilt of the sword to the entire blade. I was using my Authority on my sword, this was something difficult to use in combat yet as I needed concentration, my luck the Dragon in front of me was strong but very slow. I attacked him once more, I wasn''t using any kind of skill or any other kind of technique anymore, that''s because I wanted to see the differences between my normal attacks and attacks using my Authority. I was flying above the Magma Dragon when I lunged towards it and hit its back with the sword, so far the damage I''ve done like this has been almost none. But this time my sword cuts through its scales as if it were cutting paper, and a large wound opens on the monster''s back which was the strongest area of its body. "Looks like it works pretty well, let''s try that." (I) "< Multi Elemental Blade >" (I) I try to use a flying blade attack, when I slash forward the attack hits the monster doing the same damage as before, the problem is that this was a skill, this would be its normal damage, I noticed that even if the attack was faster, the flying energy blade did not carry my Authority. "I can''t fuse with my skills yet." (I) "< Demon Dragon Sword >" (Karina) Karina appears under the Dragon''s head when he looks up, this was just an unintelligent Dragon following his instincts and that''s why it took a long time for him to notice me. Karina appears from under his head and her sword grows into a blade of energy in the form of a sharp black crystal tooth, then the great blade slams out of the kontrob''s neck and loses its head. "Where are you, Nix?" (I) "Taking care of there..." (Karina) When I look in the direction Karina pointed, I see Nix in her Dragon form, she is much bigger than when I first met her. Nix was carrying 1 human body in his teeth and another 3 in his claws when he landed in front of me. "Who are they?" (I) "Church of Light, I was watching from afar and I hid in the shadow of one of them, they were watching from afar, I heard them saying something about confirmation of the target and that they would notify the Church of Light." (Nix) I look at the clothes the Adventurers wore, then find symbols of the Church of Light. Chapter 898: War On The Horizon Chapter 898: War On The Horizon Pov Andreia (Executioner of Light): I was in front of the High Priest, I had just given the death report of the Hero of Light and his group, as well as the oracle. "He died too soon, this could disrupt our plans." (High Priest) "We also received a divine revelation, it seems that the Hero''s Soul has disappeared." (I) "I already expected this, he wanted to announce to everyone that he was the same Hero of the past without realizing that the difference in his new body would be noticed." (High Priest) "We tried to make his appearance as close to his previous body as he was when he was young, but we couldn''t do anything about changing his Aura and energy signature." (I) "We were going to use him as a sacrifice to summon a new Hero, now we''ve been backed against the wall." (High Priest) The Black Emperor has been gathering his armies and his ambassadors have been active in other nations, he has been doing so since the failed attack on the Dark Continent. Others have also been putting more and more pressure on our Church of Light to the point where they don''t have time to go after the traitor I once called sister. "What shall we do next, High Priest?" (I) "We have to attack first, we need to make them focus on us until we finish the Door." (High Priest) "Let''s act as if we were preparing for war, right now it''s just a matter of time, when the Door is finished it will be our victory." (High Priest) "Baldr''s glory!" (High Priest)Alll latest novels at novelhall.com "Baldr''s glory!" (I) --------------- Pov Klaus (Moon Butcher): I was back in the village, I was kneeling before the Elf King after telling him all about my investigation. "So it''s the Demonic Shadow..." (Uryma) "Most likely, it was the only one we lost back then." (Ury) "Can the Seal resist?" (Uryma) The blade on my tail takes advantage of the open wound on the chest to pierce even deeper into the monster''s body, so I start absorbing the blood from its body, for a monster that size it should take a few tens of seconds, but I felt a very high absorption speed bigger now, in less than 10 seconds the monster''s veins were dry. When the monster fell to the ground, I threw my sword at its eye making the blade go through piercing to the brain. "You fought well, but your movements were still too tight." (Natasha) My sister who was watching me fight came out from behind the tree where she was hiding so as not to interfere and started teaching me faster ways to use my Authority. ------------- Pov Silvia: "You are doing well, as a representative of a God, you are the Embodiment of his Authority, so you must feel that Authority within you." (I) "I can''t, I don''t feel any of that." (Diana) "That''s because it''s still early for you to awaken that Authority." (I) "Zenos is already learning, his Familiars and even Karina are learning, I don''t want to be left behind." (Diana) I''ve seen many like her, people who feel they are being left behind and want to try to force a way forward. "You don''t need to hurry, as a Champion will get there sooner or later." (I) After taking care of Diana, I went back to Sakura, she was still meditating inside the big flower she created. "It''s still not good, it will need more time." (I) ------------ Pov Orion: "How it was?" (I) "They died, we don''t know anything else yet." (Nix) "Then we have to go back to training, I still can''t use the Master''s Authority, I have to train more." (I) "You''ll make it, just keep trying." (Nix) After leaving the Dungeon with Nix, we re-enter the Dungeon Nest of Dragons, while returning to the area where the master is training. Chapter 899: Arrival Of The 3 Saints Chapter 899: Arrival Of The 3 Saints Pov Vanessa: "Are you sure we shouldn''t notify the Patriarch?" (Athena) "My Dad already has a lot of things to focus on, we''ll sort that out for him." (I) "The Holy Son has already accepted it anyway, he doesn''t usually go back on what he decides." (Lilian) "Even when I should." (I) I was with my daughters Lilian and Athena to pick up 3 people who are arriving in the city of Colosseum. We were going to the teleportation gate that exists here in the city to wait for their arrival. "The power of Authority is unique to each one I''ve studied." (Athena)NewW novels updates at novelhall.com "In addition to certain races that have a known path to acquiring this power such as True Dragons, Spirits, and Fairies, there are also certain individuals that have the ability to attempt to acquire this power." (I) "Vampire Patriarchs or Matriarchs have that spark within them, people like Saints and Champions use the Authority of the God they represent." (I) "Could you use the power of the God of Light, mother?" (Lilian) "No, I was just considered a Saint by people, I wasn''t a real Saint yet." (I) "Now that I think about it, maybe it was that doubt I always had that kept me from becoming a Saint of Light back then." (I) I still remember those days, everyone treating me with kindness and affection wherever I was, everyone''s face always smiling, but now I know it was never me they were seeing, I was fooled too long by the glitter on the surface and I stopped see the darkness behind the light. "At least we''re finding peaceful people today, but I''m worried about some of them." (Athena) "Who worries you?" (I) "You will see, it would be difficult to explain, it will be easier to show." (Athena) "..." (I) "Where is Athena?" (I) "She went looking for Loki to find out the reason for the fight going on there." (Lilian) I look where Lilian has pointed and see Athena walking back, I notice her face is a little flushed as she speeds back to us. "That fight is going on between two friends, it looks like they both slept with the same woman and found out now." (Athena) "Did you hear anything else in the crowd?" (I) "..." (Athena) "It seems that more than half of the Crowd knows the woman in question and they were talking about certain things... which I prefer not to think about too much... I''ll just say that this woman is trying to stop the fight right now." (Athena) I look at Athena and then at Lilian, it seems that Athena didn''t notice anything, as her face is still red, she must be thinking about the things she heard, she is not very good with perverted things, but Lilian, like me, has already noticed what is happening. "How should we approach them if they''re surrounded like this?" (Lilian) "I don''t know, but I have other concerns at the moment." (I) "Wait, you mean..." (Athena) Listening to Lilian''s words, I think Athena has finally connected the dots, she looks at the 3 parts of the crowd. "I should have known that any kind of Saint draws a lot of attention, but these three Saints are off-limits category." (I) We already knew that the Saint of the Goddess of Fertility had more than 10000 children, just counting her family which must include grandchildren and great-grandchildren we can assume that she could create a small nation with just her family. We should have known that the other two saints would be just as outrageous as the Saint of Fertility, in my day I remember reading stories about the Saint of Love stopping wars just by having both armies fall in love with her. The Saint of Pleasure, I remember we had a shelf full of books about all the Saints of Pleasure, my mother always forbade me to read those books saying they would stain my mind with filthy things, so I never read anything about it, but I can imagine how much damage this Saint could cause for the Church of Light to pay so much attention to her. Sigh "Let''s get this over with." (I) Chapter 900: Start This Damn War Chapter 900: Start This Damn War Pov Julius (Black Emperor): "How are the troops?" (I) "They are being trained as instructed, we also have enough light element resistance items." (General Razir) "How are the other preparations going?" (I) "The routes for our army are secured, we also have information on the movement of troops from the Church of Light." (General Razir) "Is the Grimo Empire moving?" (I) "No, they seem to have chosen to take a neutral position." (General Razir) "That would be for the best, we have a non-aggression agreement, they are strong and the other neutral nations have been on guard against them." (I) "Have the allied nations of the Church of Light shown any movement yet?" (I) "No apparent movement, but our spies have confirmed movement of strange resources, far above normal, all being sent to the Church of Light." (General Razir) "We''ll talk about this later, now I need to know more about the Hero of Light, any news about the murder?" (I) "They are blaming us, but that would be impossible, any Demon who had done that would have proudly announced what he did for glory." (General Razir) "But it''s still not known who did it? No leads through our allies?" (I) "No one knows anything yet, all we know is that all the bodies of Neji''s entire Hero group were dismembered, cause of death for everyone still a mystery." (General Razir) "If it was one of our allies there would be no reason to hide it from us, in fact, you might even receive a reward." (I) "This Hero of Light claimed to be the same as the past, but he was more aggressive, impatient, and lacked the authority of the Regent of Light." (I)Upstodatee from "But he was still strong, his growth rate was very fast, abnormally fast, the Church of Light would use him in this war." (I) "If I may Emperor, his death favors us, so why do you look so tense?" (General Razir) "Because this demonstrates that there is a third force involved, someone is trying to hasten the start of this war." (I) Dbora was an Adventurer, I remember the day Razir came back bringing her to a ball, it was before he succeeded her father, and at the time she was still an Adventurer traveling across the continent. There were Demons who did not approve of a Human woman at the ball, but as my guest, no one could do or say anything against her, I remember the idiotic smile on Razir''s face, I remember the way the two of them looked at each other throughout the entire ball as if only the two of them were there. "I will not apologize Julius, I know I am doing something Heinous, I know I betrayed her trust, but I would do it all over again just to eradicate them from this world, they have no right to exist in the world she loved so much, I WILL NOT ALLOW IT THAT!" (Razir) As he spoke his Aura didn''t try to fight me or the curse that had been influencing him since he entered the Palace, he knew he wouldn''t be able to survive and he wouldn''t be able to escape me either. I stood there in front of him, I watched him slowly die, his eyes even at the end staring at the wedding ring, no more words needed to be exchanged, I knew what he had done, the message I received from the Elves told me everything I needed to know, he also knows that there would be only one reason for me to act against him. "Goodbye my old friend..." (I) A single tear fell from my eyes when I realized that all that was in front of me now still kneeling was a body, this was the third time I had cried in my life. "I know you can hear me, without his presence to mask yours, there''s nowhere left to hide your Familiar." (I) "As expected of the great Demon Emperor''s grandson, you showed no mercy even to your friend... hahahahaha..." Razir''s shadow begins to move, consuming his body until all that''s left is a shadowy, red-eyed silhouette with a twisted smile, lifting his head at me. "I''ll make you pay no matter where you are." (I) "I''ll be waiting..." "< Demonic Curse: One Death for One Death >" (I) "A minor inconvenience, I was never alive, to begin with." "Let this damn war begin... ha haha hahahaha..." "But their containers do." (I) The shadow disappears along with the glowing purple light of the curse I cast, someone like him will get rid of the curse sooner or later, but that will buy time, maybe a few months if you''re lucky. I look down at the ground, nothing was left of the body, I had nothing but the memory of the past to remind me of my old friend. "Where did I go wrong..." (I) Chapter 901: A Holy Family Chapter 901: A Holy Family "Nix go right, Karina attack from below and leave the rest to me!" (I) "< Blood Territory: Crystallize >" (I) "< Field of Red Stars >" (Nix) "< Demon Dragon Judgment >" (Karina) We were being chased by thousands of monsters of the Dragon Men race and its variants, as expected of me, I stepped into a trap that threw a curse on me, attracting all the monsters on this floor of the Dungeon''s Nest of Dragons. With no time to think, I started running while Nix and Karina wanted to help me by running with me, my sister who accompanied us stayed behind while she was laughing at me, a few seconds we passed near a mountain and I saw her sitting on top drinking from a bottle with two others by her side. No time to stress now, I started to think of a plan, but I didn''t have more than a few seconds, as I gave simple instructions to the two following me, Nix who knows me very well must have understood what he was going to do while Karina just trusted in me. One thing I''ve been practicing all these days that we''ve been coming to this Dungeon is the interaction of my Aura with my Authority, now there was the time to apply everything I learned. Studying my own Authority I realized that there were some things mixed up, there was blood, chaos, nature, and Dragon among the characteristics of my Authority, as I couldn''t create a Territory with the 4 characteristics at the moment, I chose 1 single characteristic of my Authority to explode along with my Aura while mixing it with the surrounding environment, I only got less than 2 kilometers, but it was enough. Using my Authority I managed to force my clearance into all the monsters that have blood easily and started to crystallize their blood, due to the area of effect it was taking 1 or 3 minutes, but during that time all the monsters stopped in the air due to sudden pain, their movements became more rigid and their Auras were crushed by mine returning to their bodies. At that moment Nix uses some skill that makes stars come out of his scales like red glows that take over the entire area where my Territory is, so this red son was absorbing the energies of monsters such as vitality, Ki, and mana. Karina didn''t stand still, she made an indistinct energy Dragon come out of her shadow and explode, releasing dozens of black and white Dragons, the Black Dragons started to devour the monsters as it grew while the White Dragons entered inside certain monsters controlling them to attack their companions as their bodies slowly changed until they turned white. In less than 20 minutes all the monsters were dead, all that was left were Nix-sized Black Dragons and dozens of White Dragon Men with much more Humanized appearances, these Black and White Dragons stand still until Karina flies to the center of my territory and raise the hand. "< Seal of Zenos: Absorption >" (Karina) Soon the red stars of Nix, the black Dragons, the White Dragon Men, and my Aura along with my Authority that was forming the Territory were sucked onto Karina where her hand was raised. "Are you the only Crimson Knight along with them on this trip?" (I) "Yes, all the troops under my command and the other Temple divisions are preparing for war." (Arthur) "Since our destination was the Dragon-controlled City and we were coming through a Teleportation gate, we saw that the risk was almost zero." (Arthur) "You mean the war against the Church of Light?" (Lilian) "Yes, since Hero Neji''s death 2 days ago it''s like the flames for war have finally been raised." (Arthur) "Did the Hero of Light die?" (Athena) "He and his group were assassinated, but it seems no one knows by whom, even his identity as the former Missing Hero is still in doubt due to his current strength being incompatible with the past." (Arthur) So the war is so close, Elsaris and her family who are around town investigating news from the continent have already spoken about it, but the news of the Hero is new. "I still don''t know where we''re going, I''d like to get there as soon as possible, I''m sure some of my brothers noticed what I did." (Arthur) "We''re staying at a mansion here in town, we have to walk for some time before we get there." (I) "Whose mansion? As far as I know the only mansion associated with our Temple here would be..." (Arthur) "Yes, we are going to her mansion." (I) "..." (Arthur) "I think it would be better if we stay in a hotel, maybe I can build a house." (Arthur) As soon as we talked about the mansion his red face started to turn pale, none of us said names, anyone in this city will have senses strong enough to hear a conversation dozens of meters away, the name of Living Brutality is too flashy for talk in the middle of the city. Chapter 902: A Conversation In The Hut Chapter 902: A Conversation In The Hut Pov Realm A Commoner: Today was another ordinary day, I got up giving my wife a kiss, and took my daughter to buy some fresh bread for us to eat before I left to open my stall. "I must still have time to..." (I) "Good morning, do you have anything to eat?" Suddenly someone calls me behind my back while I was finishing up the preparation of the tent, the fruit soup still needed to be heated, but I wasn''t going to lose a customer. "Good morning my friend, I have a wonderful fruit soup, but if you want I also have some meat sandwiches." (I) "The weather is about to get cold, I think I''ll have some soup." "Wait just a few minutes, it''s heating up as we speak." (I) I managed to buy this magic item that has been a great help for cooking, thanks to which I don''t have to spend money on wood anymore. I look at this new customer, he looks friendly, but by the way, his expression changed with the Beastman who was together with a group of Adventurers, I finally realized who he was, the symbol on the sword he carries on his waist only confirmed. "What is a great Soldier of Light doing in our small town?" (I) "You have a sharp eye." "No, I just noticed from the symbol on your sword, many of you have been passing through town lately." (I) "(These bastards scaring away some of my older clients are just causing trouble.)" (I) I keep smiling trying to talk to him to take his focus off the streets, giving them a lot of attention has proven best to divert their attention away from people of other races, any dislike quickly becomes a fight with these extremists, so I stopped praying for Baldr, I don''t want to be involved with people with such rigid minds. "You have been great customers, as expected of Soldiers who defend the Church of Light." (I) "We are just passing through your capital, there are Demons threatening the peace and this Kingdom may be in danger, our Church provides reinforcements to protect this Kingdom from these Demons." "I hope nothing happens, wars increase the price of food and decrease the number of merchants, not to mention the decrease in travellers." (I) "A Jumping Rabbit that beat you up, I''ve heard that story many times." (I) "Hahaha... I''m old what can I say? I like to tell my stories that I''m proud of." (Juliano) "It was after that first story that my mother, who was an Adventurer before, gave me the secret of victory." (Juliano) "The only true weapon is the will not to give up." (I) "That''s the family motto." (I) "It was those words I didn''t understand at the time that came back to me at every point in my life, that same phrase was what I said when I was crowned Emperor by creating a place that would defend our continent from forces outside and within." (Juliano) When he stopped talking I could feel the murderous intent so great that it seemed that time itself had stopped. "Knowing that our home, the land where my parents are buried and which gave birth to our Empire could have been exterminated by those worshipers of the most tyrant God of all..." (Juliano) "If the World Tree hadn''t recovered, if there wasn''t someone to protect our home just thinking about it fills me with fury" (Juliano) Soon his eyes returned to normal as the killing intent disappeared. "You cannot fight." (I) "I know, you came to make sure of that, didn''t you?" (Juliano) "Your presence will prevent the High Priest and his Guardians from entering, but if you show up..." (I) "They would also appear" (Juliano) A battle of this magnitude would be catastrophic, many would be killed both on the enemy side and on our side, plus the damage to their own will continue if their Territory is not enough to contain the damage. "You must keep our Empire safe, so I can go forward and fight on the front lines." (I) "Take care, my grandson, watch the shadow on your back." (Juliano) "I will, I will not forget these shadows..." (I) Chapter 903: Meeting The 3 Saints Part 1 Chapter 903: Meeting The 3 Saints Part 1 I was on the ground watching my sister go down with the Dragonewt woman while I have Karina in my arms, she lost consciousness but had a smile on her face. I didn''t understand what had just happened, I didn''t know what those crystals Karina created were and why I was so happy about it, but I knew it must be something important. I looked at Nix she had a shocked face, it looked like she had a clue about what was going on. Since I didn''t have time to ask anything since my sister was already arriving with the woman who had the crystals in her hands, I was also very tired, creating a Territory during this fight was mentally exhausting. "I think you know who they belong to." (Natasha) "Yes, the presence is the same as his, I was seeing everything from a distance for a while now." "Here are the Dragon Seals, I''m sorry if I scared you, my shock was so great that when I realized what I was doing I already had them in my hands." "..." (I) I didn''t even need to pick up the crystals, Nix who was shocked until a few seconds ago picks up the crystals and starts looking at each one. "That''s not possible..." (Nix) "I know how you feel, my heart is racing even now." "But the master is still too weak, he hasn''t even completed his Dragon transformation yet" (Nix) "Are you forgetting who he is? Our family does things that are considered outrageous all the time." (Natasha) "Can someone explain to me what''s going on? What are these crystals? Who is this woman that appeared out of nowhere? What did Karina do?" (I) "I don''t even know where to start." (Nix) "Don''t start anywhere, let your father tell him, I really want to see the face he''s going to make... hahahahaha..." (Natasha) "My name is Callisto, and I''m a Silver Grade Adventurer, I was exploring this floor when I saw the monsters gathering, so I followed the monsters until I saw them chasing you." (Calisto) "I thought everyone was very calm for someone who was being chased, so I watched from afar." (Calisto) As she introduces herself and tells how she got here, I can see the glint in her eyes, it feels like admiration. "I didn''t think I would meet a True Spirit Dragon and a True Transcendent Dragon." (Calisto) "Transcendent Dragon!?" (I) His face suddenly turned pale as he started to look around, it just makes me wonder why they''re so feared, I''ll admit Caitlyn''s powers are ghoulish and Natasha''s personality is horrible but other than that they''re not hard to figure out. if talk. "Calm down, there''s no reason to be scared of them if you haven''t done anything to offend any of them." (I) "Right you''re right I was just shocked" (Arthur) He''s still pale, but at least he''s regained his composure. "Can we talk along the way? I have to put Karina on..." (I) "I take care of Miss Karina, master." (Freya) "Thank you for your help." (I) "You have guests awaiting your return, allow Sir Arthur to guide you to the room." (Freya) "I''d be happy to do that, in fact, I was heading to the front door to await your return." (Arthur) "Guests? Waiting for me?" (I) I look at Arthur who must have come along with these guests, so they must be from the Temple of Blood like him. "Fine, but I think I''d better take a shower before meeting any guests." (I) "I already left the master''s clothes in his room along with a bottle of liquid soap potion." (Freya) "Thanks again, Freya." (I) I walk to my room along with this man named Arthur, I try to talk to him about these guests, but I get worried when he talks vaguely about these guests. When I got to my room I take off my dirty and torn clothes and pour the potion bottle on my head washing away all the bad smell along with the dirt, it''s always a refreshing feeling to use this liquid soap potion, but it doesn''t compare to the relaxation of a real bath. I see the clothes that Freya has prepared for me, they are simple and elegant clothes, she knows me well, I get dressed and I leave the room trying to fix my hair, having long hair is a problem, but whenever I say that I want to cut it everyone complains. "So these guests aren''t from the Temple of Blood?" (I) "No, but they are allies who came especially for you." (Arthur) I had a bad feeling, but even so, I went with Arthur to the room where these guests were waiting, when I entered I was startled by the three women who were talking to Vanessa, Lilian, and Athena because I recognize the three Coats of Arms on their faces. clothes and I finally realized who they are. "(Damn it! I had forgotten about that promise.)" (I) Chapter 904: Meeting The 3 Saints Part 2 Chapter 904: Meeting The 3 Saints Part 2 When I entered the room I saw Vanessa, Lilian, and Athena talking to 3 other beautiful women. Uma was having a conversation with Vanessa with a loving and cheerful smile, she was around 1.67 tall, long curly light red hair, looked like a White Elf with pink eyes, her age appears to be around 19 maybe 20 years old, and her body and appearance are magnificent, she also wears white clothes with pink details with the symbol of the Church of Love, her clothes are a white dress with an almost transparent gray overcoat with the symbol of her Religion. Another girl was talking to Athena, this one appears to be around 30 years old, height of 1.73 approximately from what I could see, without a doubt she is from the Demon Race with a spiral horn curved upwards with lines of white crystal through all horn, her skin was light brown with golden eyes, her long purple hair was curled in a horse lightning, she had a black tail with a heart on the tip, if I had to guess I would say that her race is a succubus, she was wearing a tight-fitting dress that emphasized the curves of her body as a symbol of the Church of Fertility. Athena seemed to be having a strange conversation by the way her face was as red as a tomato. The last girl seemed to be around 25 years old, she seems to be a woman from the Beastman race of the Lion tribe, her brown and red hair was full, her height seemed to be the biggest of the 3 being around 1.90 s and I''m right, she wears revealing and provocative leather clothes like a closed black jacket along with skintight black leather shorts, her eyes were red and her body was divine, when I looked at him, I noticed that she ran her tongue by the lips in a seductive way making my blood boil. Sigh "(Calm down...)" (I) I just stood there for a few seconds, surprised by the three women in the room, I could already imagine their identity. "Father, we were waiting for you, we received news of the saints'' arrival and I went to get them while you were training." (Vanessa) "Let me do the introductions, this is Daphne, Saint of the Goddess of Love, Ayrin." (Vanessa) "Very pleased to meet you, I am grateful for your hospitality during these turbulent times." (Daphne) "This one along with Lilian is Naomi, Saint of the Demon Goddess of Pleasure, Ariel." (Vanessa) "I''ve heard that the city under your care is very liberal, I have high expectations." (Naomi) "This one along with Athena is Abigail, Saint of the Goddess of Fertility, Asya." (Vanessa) "How nice to see such a hardworking young man, some of my children have talked about you, but I''m surprised... your lineage seems so unique... hmmmm~~~~" (Abigail) Just like the Fertility Priests I''ve encountered in the past, in fact, I can almost see hearts in her eyes as she takes a step towards me, just at that moment Arthur appears beside her placing his hand on her shoulder. "Please mom, try to hold back your instincts." (Arthur) "But they would be such strong and healthy children, so many different races~~~~" (Abigail) "I''m not afraid of you, I''m not one of your servants or slaves, but I can assure you that it would be much better for me if your plans came to fruition." (Tarllic) I was together with a Necromancer specialized in Souls, servant of an Evil God associated with death, he was the most capable person I could find to break the last seal. "(The Vampire boy from that day is interesting but too weak, his Soul wouldn''t be useful if he doesn''t have Authority, the other Heroes and Saints are well protected or too strong for me to go after, so this fool has to be enough.)" (I) "Lord of Shadows, we have received reports of a conflict between the Black Empire and the Kingdom of Soleri breaking out." "Great, start the preparations for the sacrifice..." (I) I fell to my knees when my third body died due to that curse that Demon cast, it has been a huge inconvenience for me. I abandon this body that rots within seconds of leaving. "Bring me another vessel now!" (I) ------------- Pov Black Empire Soldier: Border of Soleri Kingdom, night. "Trust the mages, they will intercept the ranged spells! Focus on the enemies in front." (Captain) "Yes Captain!" (all) I run forward with my short sword, use my sword to slash through a Human soldier''s neck, then parry a side attack by slamming the enemy''s spear from the side with my other hand, but before I can make a second attack someone pulls my tail back making me lose balance. "< Lightning Blast >" (I) I caused a blast of lightning with my magic knocking enemies away from me temporarily, this will draw attention in the surroundings to me, but that''s ok. "< Earth''s Fury >" Hundreds of Rock spikes come out of the ground in the surroundings killing dozens of Humans or seriously injuring them, my attack from before was a signal trained with my companions. "Forward!" (I) Chapter 905: Ibukis Training Chapter 905: Ibuki''s Training Pov Ibuki: Unfortunately, I can''t participate in the same training as master, so when I left the room before he woke up today, I went to the new training that master''s sister suggested. I grab my mask and clothes and run to the Colosseum after eating a few meat dishes to give me strength for the day. When I arrived at the Colosseum, I show my identification that I got the other day and permission from the master''s sister to be able to use her VIP room while I''m here. "I arrived..." (I) "You''re late, Ibuki." (Sophia) "She hooked up with Zenos last night, so give her a break." (Diana) "This data is very interesting, how did I not think of this before?" (Nicole) "What is she doing?" (I) "The master gave her a tip, told us to keep an eye out while he collects information from the various daily combats here in the Colosseum." (Sophia) "Has the combat of my Grade of strength started yet?" (I) "It will start in 1 hour." (Diana) The best way for me to train is not against monsters, I need to fight against people of equal strength and who know how to think, fighting in a simple way will not work against cunning enemies, that''s why I can never touch the master, he always predicts my attacks, the same with Diana. --------------- 1 hour later, arena. I was in the arena facing a Dark Elf, and along with him was an uncertain monster that has scythes instead of arms and legs that look like spears. "[Begin!]" "< Shadow World >" (I) "< Hidden Shadow >" (I) It was funny to see the drunken Dragonewt take Barok who was bigger than her in her arms and carry him inside like a princess, I don''t think I''ve ever seen him so embarrassed, but she was much stronger than him, so there was no way to resist. After I stopped laughing and closed the Dungeon, I went looking for Nix''s Father, I still wanted to know what those crystals were, I found him in the garden talking to another man who disappeared before I got to him. "Who was that?" (I) "A Dragon he came to give me an update on some things, it seems that the war has started between the Black Empire and one of the Kingdoms that supports the Church of Light." (Arash) "(Has the war already started?)" (I) "(I''ve only been focusing on myself, maybe I should do what Luminus asked of me, any help against the Church of Light will be a breakthrough.)" (I) "Arash, I''d like to talk to you about something." (I) "About the Dragon Seals I guess, I was surprised, shocked actually when my daughter talked about it." (Arash) "At first I wanted to talk to you about this, but another matter occurred to me that I''ve been pushing with the barrel for a long time because of training." (I) "So talk." (Arash) "You must know who the True Dragon of Light called Luminus is, right?" (I) "That bastard tried to come to this town 4 times and tried to invade the Dragon Mountains 1 time, of course, I know who he is." (Arash) "Do you know why he did it?" (I) "I see, he asked for your help, didn''t he?" (Arash) "I know he''s trying to lead some of the Dragons of Light back to our side." (Arash) "Then why don''t you talk to him?" (I) "Why do I want them all DEAD!" (Arash) Saying that I see his eyes turning black only with red irises as a murderous intent started to leak for just 1 second from his body, but it was enough to make my whole body shiver and drench my back in cold sweat. When I realized, he was gone. Chapter 906: Arashs Hatred Chapter 906: Arash''s Hatred I was left standing there in the middle of the garden after Arash disappeared before I could talk to him about Luminus. "I hadn''t thought of that, but it makes sense." (I) "Teacher!?" (Hinata) Hinata steps out of the necklace looking around, her expressionless face hiding the fear I see in her eyes as she searches her surroundings. "His murderous intent must have surprised you, but don''t worry, it''s okay, he''s gone." (I) "..." (Hinata) Hinata didn''t want to go back inside the necklace where she usually rests, she joined me in a smaller form hanging on the glue of my shirt. I look at the sky, and from the garden, I have a free view to see the night sky, there are many silhouettes in the sky and some clouds, but that doesn''t bother me. Sigh "This is a family matter, should have left it to her from the start." (I) ------------- Pov Nix: I was in the shadow of the master before he decided to see my Father, when I saw his expression change during the conversation I changed shadows knowing that he would feel me, I wanted him to be calm without having to interrupt their conversation, but it didn''t work, my father exploded and ran. I didn''t see his movement, and when I realized I was on top of a mountain outside the city, I had a view of the entire city from where we were, it was at that moment that I noticed that I was out of his shadow, I didn''t even notice that he took me out of his shadow. "You should tell your master to leave this matter alone." (Arash) "..." (I) I turn around following his voice, I didn''t feel the presence of anyone around, but when I turned around he was sitting there on a rock looking at the moons in the sky. "Father, I know you hate them, I also know the reason for your hatred." (I) "If they hadn''t arrested me I could have killed the rest of them, I could have extinguished them from this world!" (Arash) She would never fail to reach out to someone repentant and trying to do right, the woman I remember would be the first to reach out and say "welcome back" to someone who had lost their way. "Stella...why? What do I do with all this anger? Why do I have to be the one who loses!?" (Arash) "..." (I) He looks at the Moons in the sky, I do the same, since I came back to life from that seal, I have accompanied my master whenever he wanted to contemplate the stars. I was very happy about that, it was like I could see my mother every night making us the same, whenever she had a problem she would contemplate the night sky, I still remember her words when I asked her why she did that. "(Honey, the stars are in the sky to light up even the darkest times and give us hope.)" (Mom) Seeing my Father looking at that sky now, I know it''s not hope or comfort he seeks as my teacher. My father is looking for her, his only hope is to see her face in the sky and not the moons. "Luminus was not in that attack, he never did anything against you, he is currently without allies in a world that has already taken a step towards war." (I) "You are the Dragon Emperor, don''t get carried away by selfishness when you''re in a position to reach out to someone trying to do right." (I) Sigh "Using her phrases? Need to use such a strong attack against your Father?" (Arash) "The only attack that could go through the muscles you have in place of the brain." (I) "Now it does sound like my daughter." (Arash) I give him a hug, and feel his hands shaking on my back, I know it''s hard for him to let go of all this anger and sadness, but it will be good for him. We sat for a few hours watching the Moons in silence, I knew he was thinking seriously this time, I felt his murderous intent twice more as if he was struggling to make a decision that should have been simple before talking to me. "I promise I''ll listen to him, nothing more than that." (Arash) "As long as you do it with an open mind to consider what he has to say." (I) "I said I''ll do it, so I''ll do it." (Arash) Chapter 907: War Tactics Chapter 907: War Tactics In the middle of the night, I was up on the roof of my sister''s mansion, I was holding a sandwich the size of my body in one hand and a case of blood beer in the other hand. The last few nights I''ve been doing this every night, it helps me relax and think better about everything I''ve done during the day. When I was in the middle of my sandwich, the Father of Nix descends from the sky with his 4 pairs of black wings. "Was your conversation with your daughter productive?" (I) "Good idea to get her to talk to me, if I were you then I would have ripped her head off." (Arash) "I didn''t say anything to her, it was just her will." (I) "I know there must be a way to communicate with him, let him know I''ll be waiting at the castle, I''ll listen to him and that''s it for now." (Arash) "The decision is yours, do what you think is right." (I) "..." (Arash) He steals one of my beers and drinks it, it doesn''t seem to bother him that they''re made with blood. "I''m leaving, I have an active role in this war that I''ll be happy to participate in, but so do you, right Gray Elf?" (Arash) "Didn''t expect to find the Dragon Emperor here, I''m Klaus, leader of the Night Guardians." (Klaus) "Are you Klaus the Butcher of the Moon?" (Arash) "Unfortunately yes, I don''t like that title very much." (Klaus) "Klaus? When did you get here? Did you come to see Kira?" (I)Upstodatee from "I would like to see my daughter, but I have matters I must discuss with you first." (Klaus) "I heard you don''t have a family, what do you mean you have a daughter?" (Arash) ------------- "This... this has been... hard..." (I) "All to bed, we don''t know how much time we have to rest before the next attack!" "Better sleep." (I) I was in one of the many frontier camps of the Black Empire, my profession was an Adventurer, but the Black Empire is my home, my family lives here, so I came back and joined the volunteers like many Adventurers. The war has been tough even if it''s only been 2 days so far, yesterday when it started it was a bloodbath, I saw one person being burned by lightning bolts and another person being pierced by dozens of arrows. The battles were only in the young army, I know enough of combat tactics that as brutal as this first battle is, it''s just a test of strength for both sides to know the level of each other''s army. It was on the second day that it was today that the fights escalated in level, there was a battle in the sky whose noise of explosions and lights distracted those with less focus. It was a battle between people who could wipe out armies on the ground, but no shock wave reached us, yet I didn''t look up for fear that a moment of distraction would cost me my life as I saw others do. All I had was my spear skills and techniques to always fight focused on one enemy at a time. Unlike other Demons, I focused on my body, I was never good at using magic, but I always had a strong body and good instincts that helped me survive my first years of adventure. That''s why I accepted to be the spearhead of the attack, I throw away the sword I was using at the beginning having already seen my target, a healer, as soon as I launched the sword from my hand it explodes before reaching the target becoming hundreds of needles that broke through the barriers around the target before hitting him. With him dead, we no longer have to worry about his heals and area magic boosts that have given us so much trouble since day one. What I did killed our main target today, but it drew attention to me. At this moment a hail of magical attacks surrounded me allowing me to reposition myself further back as I pierced a Light Templar in the heart with my spear and used his body as a shield to avoid some attacks as I retreated. "Well done my friend, without that healer it will be more..." "DAMN IT! THEY HAVE ANOTHER HEALER!" (Captain) "Is this serious? Then why did I take such a risk!?" (I) With no time to feel frustrated, I waved at the others, as Adventurers learn that life is death is in how quickly we can adapt to a situation, my nod was a signal to abandon strategy and unleash all our power on more powerful area attacks before retreating. Chapter 908: War Goals Chapter 908: War Goals I walked with Klaus into the mansion and we went into what would have been a ballroom if this was a normal mansion, but this was clearly a bar with liquor cabinets everywhere along with paintings of various detainees from different battles. I sit down on a sofa and Hinata pulls out some bottles for the two of us to drink from my sister''s stash. One thing I''m learning is that the stronger you get, the harder it is to find a drink whose alcohol content still works. "Are you sure you don''t want to call Kira?" (I) "Better not, at least while we''re talking, what I''m going to tell you is a secret that few on the continent know, if you want to tell everyone later it''s your decision, but my duty is to tell only you." (Klaus) "You know I''m not going to get involved in this war, right?" (I) "You are already involved, one of the many battlegrounds is in the desert, and the Dark Elves are already preparing for what will be a fierce battle." (Klaus) "The Ancient Elves..." (I) "Yes, the Ancient Elves of that village are their main force in this war, they are individuals that the Church of Light does not yet know about." (Klaus) "That''s exactly what I came to talk to you about under the orders of Gray Elf King Uryma." (Klaus) "I think I can imagine where this conversation is going." (I) "They want me to visit the other two villages." (I) "They want to create more Old Elves." (I) "Yes, it would be better if it were as soon as possible." (Klaus) I have no reason to refuse, it doesn''t look like I''ll need to fight directly, but this is still a way to make a big difference in the war. "Before accepting any requests, you said something about telling the details of the war." (I) "Yes, how was I going to say..." (Klaus) -------------- "I know that the Church of Light has armies of Templars, but they also have True Dragons of Light on their side, if such a Dragon fights someone of equal strength alongside the Demons just the shock waves of battle would decimate the armies for close, so wouldn''t it be easier to send only the strongest into a fight to decide the winner?" (I) "Don''t be naive, those who are strong also get tired, in addition, everyone has weaknesses, there are weapons called dragon slayers for example, hundreds of mages can perform a magical ritual to defeat an enemy hundreds of times stronger." (Klaus) "The stronger someone becomes, the more strategic their participation during a war, they must be ready to intercept enemies of equal strength or conquer strategic points." (Klaus) "As you said before, there are those who if they fight in the war can kill everyone with just their shock waves during their battle, but it brings up the problem that their power is destroying the surroundings." (Klaus) "It would be a disaster if a Titan of Nature appeared in the middle of the War." (I) "Yes, but not only that, when more powerful someone becomes, but their power threatens the world itself, there are those who can affect the world in proportions you can''t imagine." (Klaus) "Therefore, the stronger one becomes, the more the world restricts his power." (Klaus) "Does the world make the strongest weak?" (I) "No, to be more precise the world itself has an Aura, this Aura is all around us now, people like the Dragon Emperor from earlier are constantly suffering pressure from this Aura, it doesn''t weaken him, but this pressure increases as if rejecting If he causes a lot of destruction in the world, this meal is temporary but can give enemies an advantage during a battle." (Klaus) "I''ve never felt anything like this." (I) "And you won''t even feel it, you are in harmony with nature." (Klaus) "What I''m saying is that there are beings so strong that their powers can destroy the very space around us, so the laws of the world weigh more heavily on them." (Klaus) "Are there ways around this limitation?" (I) "Fight in separate spaces, fight within a Territory owned by someone with Authority, or form an Aura Field." (Klaus) "Do you know what I''m talking about?" (Klaus) "I understand about the first two, but what is an Aura Field?" (I) "You know about Authority? Well, that makes it easy to explain." (Klaus) "An Aura Field is when someone with those limitations I talked about spreads their Aura in an area while trying to balance with the Nature Aura by pushing without rejection, this creates a bubble that prevents damage from expanding." (Klaus) Chapter 909: Objectives Strategy Chapter 909: Objectives Strategy That night I gathered all the leaders in the room, my two sisters were there wanting to know what I was going to say and what I was going to do, apart from the two of them, I called Vanessa, Elsaris, Ivan, my children, Nira, Freya, Diana, rica, Ibuki, Kira, Athena, and Rakan. I told everyone everything I knew, making clear the situation of the continent and the war, Elsaris complemented some things she found out, but it was just the nations that are participating in this war on both sides. Kira also adds some things saying the places where the battlefields or at least the ones she knows so far are located, gathering their information I asked Nicole to use a holographic map with her magic that she adjusted according to the information. "It is very clear that the Dungeons were the work of the Church of Light, look at these points, they were the places of attacks, they are all points where the battles are taking place and are within the territory of the allies of the Black Empire." (Ivan) "That everyone has noticed, but that only gave them a slight advantage, they are still outnumbered." (I) "Just as far as we know, we don''t know what cards they have hidden." (Ivan) "I don''t think we''re qualified for this discussion, we wouldn''t be able to fight this war." (Irina) "Our objective is not to fight, our objective is here and here." (I) I point to two locations on the map that everyone already knows about, they are the locations of the two Elf villages that we haven''t been to yet. "These places are close to battlefields." (Freya) "We can take a Teleportation Gate and..." (I) "All Teleportation Gates or at least the vast majority of them will be inoperative if they aren''t already." (Vanessa) "That should be obvious, a gate behind enemy walls through which an invasion can take place, in any war, they turn that thing off." (Athena) What they say makes sense, during a war an army can use these Teleportation Gates to invade in disguise and make an unexpected attack from within, at least I would do that. "We can use a Floating Ship, the White Elf village is closer and it''s on a floating island." (Rakan) "The problem would be the monsters, the sky is completely open, we would be targeted by flying monsters and monsters on the ground with long range attacks." (Diana) "That''s not counting the war, we''re going to be going close to one of the battlefields, not to mention all kinds of people are going to take advantage of the chaos of war." (rica) "Theft of military supplies, ambushes of troops, betrayal of mercenaries and attacks on small towns, these all happen during wars, let alone wars, but these things happen while people aren''t looking." (Nira) "Hahahaha... the great Dragon Emperor making excuses for losing?" (I) "I still won most of the time, I have 32 wins out of 47 fights." (Arash) "Number doesn''t matter, last one to win wins." (I) I throw him a bottle, getting alcohol that would get someone like him drunk was really hard back then. He drinks from the bottle and I get another one to drink too. "Talk, why did you call me here, I know it''s not to remember the past." (Arash) "You must know the current situation, there is someone among the Dragons of Light that only you could fight." (I) "No! He''s dead! I killed him that day!" (Arash) I had to spread my Authority around the area before he arrived knowing something like this was going to happen, I knew those slurred words would be enough for him to figure out who I''m talking about. Anger at him turned his eyes completely red as his Aura smashed my beautiful cabin into rubble, I used my Authority to keep the situation under control as best I could. "Calm down Arash!" (I) "..." (Arash) "Are you saying he''s still alive?" (Arash) "I know he''s alive, I''ve known that for a few decades." (I) He moves towards me at such a speed that a ditch forms in the ground the way he walked, I grabbed his hand before he could get to the glue of my shirt. "It wouldn''t do any good to tell you, he wasn''t in this world, he''s still not in this world even now." (I) "By invading the mind of a certain Guardian of Light far away from here I discovered this and I knew what you would have done if you told me at the time." (I) "Let''s talk somewhere else." (I) Chapter 910: The Executioner Of Light Part 1 Chapter 910: The Executioner Of Light Part 1 Pov Mercenary (Oni): Damn, I keep trying to use my right arm for another 1 hour, little by little it moves better and better, there is still some discomfort in its response time, but what to expect from a cheap prosthesis. Sigh "That should be enough to fight." (I) The delay time has improved a lot, I think that only during combat I will be able to adjust better, it was like the previous prosthesis too. "How''s the arm?" (Mary) "Awful, but I can''t afford a better one." (I) "Magical engineers don''t come to the battlefield, but if you do well, you might get something better as a reward." (Mary) "It would be nice if that really happens, I had to stop being an Adventurer to become a mercenary because of that arm." (I) "The Guild doesn''t expel people for having prosthetic limbs." (Mary) "I did this because I''m a combatant, facing monsters is harder for me, unforeseen events happen more often, their resistance is higher, they have fewer weaknesses and have a lot of vitality." (I) "Killing people is easier and as a mercenary, I''m more likely to earn money by fighting people than as an adventurer." (I) "That is if you don''t think too hard about who you''re fighting for." (Mary) "In a normal war, there is no right or wrong side, I just don''t fight against my nation, that''s why I''m on that side." (I) The participation of one more person doesn''t make much difference, it''s not like the side I''m fighting for is going to win just because I''m participating, but this time I''m fighting for my house, I''m going to do what I can. "..." (Mary) "What''s wrong?" (I) I was outside the city gates, I''m a melee fighter and would be useless in a defensive fight on the other side of the city, so stay here fighting to kill as many enemies as possible. I wave to other Mercenaries who make a line side by side and then all use a charge skill pushing enemy troops back leaving a clearer path for our troops to deploy in a more orderly fashion. Soon after I use it and two others use area attacks to be able to retreat safely, I use my great sword in the earth making swords of rock come out of the ground in a cone-shaped area in front of me. It left me exposed standing in the same place for a long time, an arrow surrounded by a cyclone hit me, and I try not to resist to be thrown back, it lowered the arrow''s damage at the same time it threw me back away from the rest of the enemies. "Damn, what is this!?" (I) "" No time to think when I looked up, thousands of spears of light covered the sky, I could hear countless voices that seemed to come from all corners mixing in words I didn''t understand, but with each word the glow of the spears of light seemed to intensify. I felt an Aura invade the battlefield, this Aura was of a power that I couldn''t see the end of. This Aura was extremely aggressive and felt condemning as if I was being condemned without even having a chance to be judged, a tyrannical Aura that smashed down on me so hard that I had trouble moving. I noticed from the corners of my vision that the enemy army was not being affected by the Aura as they advanced towards us with weapons in hand, meanwhile the people near me were in an equal or worse state than I was, there was even a Demon in the ground frothing blood at the mouth as it writhed. "You really showed up, Executioner of Light." "< Temple of Victory >" Suddenly a male voice appears along with an Aura full of will to fight, this Aura as powerful as the other seemed to push the other Aura away while leaving me focused again on complete, I took 10 magic items in the form of triangles and threw them in the high. "< Activate >" (I) The magic items open releasing a dense fog of poison that causes paralysis and hallucinations while the fog itself is also obstructing vision, I take this moment to pick up the Demon on the ground and run back to the city. What I did is a signal to retreat, everyone already took the antidote in the morning, and as soon as they see the fog they will retreat at the same time as the remaining archers and mages will rain attacks on that area, that''s why I ran without looking back while carrying that one more next to me who was unconscious. "Damn, damn, damn! What''s going on!" (I) Chapter 911: The Executioner Of Light Part 2 Chapter 911: The Executioner Of Light Part 2 Pov General Theodore: I was in the campaign tent at the gates still looking at all the information we have on the battle after the strategy meeting ended a few minutes ago. "Something isn''t right..." (I) I looked at the magic maps with the simulation of enemy troop movements and their approximate numbers. "They pushed too hard to approach the city, this is basically begging for a defensive battle, why?" (I) I couldn''t understand that, even if they had reinforcements the situation wouldn''t improve, a defensive battle could last for weeks and our allies are closer, they could arrive in days. I don''t understand what they''re doing, no matter how much they''re underestimating us, no General or strategist would be so foolish as to come up with a plan like that, there must be something behind it. "This is driving me crazy, I need a bottle of Infernal Alcohol." (I) "You and those awful drinks, you old bastard." (Rodrick) "You idiot, did you get a new arm yet? Make sure you don''t destroy this one too fast." (I) "Here, you left this horrible thing with me last time." (Rodrick) "Wonderful, you are my savior, I will hire you as my butler or Knight or whatever... ha hahaha..." (I) "I''m fine as a mercenary, besides that bottle was just gathering dust, alcohol has to taste good and not just be too strong." (Rodrick) "You and your childish palate, always enjoying that ridiculous sweet stuff, could drink barrels of that and not get drunk." (I) "I don''t have time to waste with you, I need to get myself another suit of armor, take this letter, Adventurer Mary asked me to bring it to you." (Rodrick) "(If I remember correctly the only Adventurer in the mercenary squad is the support and information specialist.)" (I) "You are Human, why fight defending these filthy races?" (Andreia) "The prejudices of your Church are foreign to me, the only thing that matters to me are allies or enemies." (I) "Breed differences are too small a thing to worry about so much." (I) "If you stand in my way I will crush you along with this city." (Andreia) "Yes, everything I wanted to hear." (I) "< Magic Distortion Wave >" (I) As we were talking, she was preparing a way to cancel the spears of light, someone like the Executioner of Light would not hesitate to fire this gigantic magic even if it hits her allies, the only thing that matters to her is winning. That''s why I''m using all the mana stored in my clothes that I leave as a reserve to activate one of the spells imbued in my Halberd, this spell uses pure mana to interfere with other spells if only a very skilled Mage could keep control of his magic, but something of this scale needs the cooperation of dozens at the very least, they wouldn''t be able to keep it under control enough. A surge of mana goes in all directions, it should disrupt those on the battlefield below me, but they''ll have to endure it. The surge of mana passes through the spears of light that go out of control, a chain explosion ensues destroying most of them as the force of the explosion causes a shock wave which the Light Enforcer uses to get at me. "< Tide Splitter >" (I) "< Holy Blade >" (Andreia) Her sword meets the blade of my Halberd, in a contest of strength I would win and she knows it, that''s why her sword was not meant to hit me, he forced me to use my halberd while his wings become rigid with Ki of the light element running through its feathers, so it tries to cut it. "< Hardened Body >" (I) My body becomes hardened with one of my skills, it increases my total defense much to the liking of my speed, but I laugh as her wings brush across my skin leaving only white marks without managing to make even a scratch. Thus began our long battle that lasted all day, our fight took place inside the Temple of Victory, a Skill that creates a battlefield where none of the Auras can be used in combat at the same time that creates a powerful Aura Field preventing our struggle interfere on the battlefield.Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) Chapter 912: Leaving Colosseum City Chapter 912: Leaving Colosseum City Once Nicole had all the necessary information compiled into her holographic map, we continued the meeting, at which point it was past midnight. "This is the map I put together with all the information gathered, but let me be clear that most of the information may be slightly off." (Nicole) "Battlegrounds can shift, troop movements can take detours, new battlegrounds can emerge, and there''s always the possibility of monsters moving to get away from war zones." (Nicole) "Thanks for the explanation, we are all aware of that." (I) "I wasn''t aware of that." (Ibuki) "Me neither." (Layla) "I do not care." (Lilith) "Why bring these three to a strategy meeting?" (Irina) "..." (I) I try to pretend I didn''t hear anything as I focus on the map, Nicole has given very detailed information. "It seems that there are many trade routes, can we use these routes?" (I) "Yes, but you''d better think about which routes to take because some of them are going to change." (Elsaris) "Like this?" (I) "War brings a lot of profit to certain types of merchants." (Elsaris) "Trade in Weapons, Armor, Metals, Monster Cores, Potions, etc..." (Nira) "So can we expect these outlying routes to change?" (I) "That feels right, traders won''t miss out on a chance to make such big money." (Ivan) "And if we go to that city and from there to the capital of that Kingdom, then we''ll have a direct route to Floating Island." (I) "These routes must be very busy, so they must be safe." (Nira) "But the last part doesn''t seem to be as busy even though it''s the shortest route." (Diana) ------------- Dawn. The Suns were rising over the horizon, and the time to leave was approaching, I didn''t think I would be leaving this city so soon. "I''m not going with you, I have another place to go, but I left a mark with Margareth to find you if I need to." (Caitlyn) "You go where..." (I) Before I finished speaking she had disappeared, but my sister Natasha was coming as she dragged many large boxes along with Margareth. "What''s in those boxes?" (I) "Food, your Dungeon lacks variety and my Mistress Natasha has decided to take our manor stock to make up for it." (Margareth) Margareth goes to the Floating Ship that is floating above the mansion, the modifications Nicole made are just huge, she basically destroyed the Ship we had and the Floating Ship we stole when we left the Dark Continent to build this Floating Ship. I look up to see the underside of the ship which was made using bones, the entire main structure was made using bones similar to a spine and ribs, and the rest is made of wood with metal accents. Just looking at the Ship that is bigger than the mansion, you can see that it has spent a lot of resources, I can feel the Aura Barrier in the old Ship in this new model, and I can also feel a great amount of spiritual energy and mana flowing throughout its structure, a lot of that energy is leaking out of the Ship, that must be what she was talking about improving the ship''s functions. The ship now has a different sail that was made almost entirely from materials taken from me, the sails were made using my thread, scales, and blood to harvest energy from nature rather than using the wind as a propellant. On the front of the ship is the head of a black Dragon with different color eyes like mine along with 6 stars around the neck strap of different colors, the Dragon itself is representing me while the 6 stars represent my Familiars, or at least at least that''s what Nicole told me. All the design, ornaments, and aesthetics of the Ship were planned by Leonardo, it seems that the construction was commanded by Nicole under her strict supervision with the help of people from the Dungeon who were personally approved by her. The Ship was wonderful to look at, but I''m concerned that it''s not 100% finished yet, I know Nicole well enough to know that she doesn''t just want to make an ordinary Floating Ship. "Is everything ready yet?" (I) "Yes, everyone is inside, Kira''s Father is searching inside for safety and his Sister ran inside as soon as she heard Irius talking about the training area." (Freya) "Is there a training area?" (I) "Yes, my daughter is in the kitchen organizing everything with the help of Alice and Margareth, most of them are already inside." (Freya) "Your guest is not happy, but your group is delighted." (Freya) "Then it''s time to leave, let''s go." (I) Chapter 913: Invited To The Trip Chapter 913: Invited To The Trip Pov Alan (Hero of Justice): I was in the Colosseum that day, it was the first hour of daylight in the morning, as every day since we arrived in this city we were occupying our morning time in the Colosseum to improve our combat experience with different enemies. This time I was facing a Space Element Shaman, it made it impossible to dodge his Spirit Runes that hid in space or could pass through space, and the entire arena could be full of traps invisible to me. The worst of all was the Spirit he had a contract with, it was a pink bird with 5 eyes that was perched on his shoulder, I could feel that damn Spirit trying to freeze the space around me every time he tried to attack. "Let''s get this over with." (I) "Just give up, you haven''t landed a single hit on me so far." "< Elemental Avatar: Knight of Judgment >" (I) I use my mana and Aura to summon my Elemental Avatar using my Affinities with the elements metal, thunder, fire, and wind. A 3 meter long armor rises with white flames coming out of the armor''s gaps, a cape that seems to be made of thunder element energy is on its back while in its hands is a translucent sword, chains filled with magic circles are wrapping around the other arm his. A representation of everything I believe and want to be, a Knight who will fight for justice. "Now I will..." (I) "< Special Shards of Death >" Suddenly the space itself cracked around me as previously invisible Runes appeared, then the space around me shattered in a few spots as these shards pointed towards me from all directions, I knew there was no way to dodge this attack and even defend myself it would be impossible without using my holy power. "I lost." (I) "[The winner is...]" ---------------- I was leaving the arena when I meet two masked people, I''ve seen them fighting in the arena before, both are dual sword users, one focused on speed and technique, while the other is focused on instinct and deception. The tallest one had a mask with a Wolf design while the lowest one had a mask with a Demon design. "You should have used everything you had from the start." (Wolf Mask) "Fights are for training, so I have to fight longer to gain experience." (I) "In a fight, your enemies won''t want a lasting battle, they will want to kill you with every blow, don''t create bad habits." (Wolf Mask) "Let go of me, I don''t want to come in, let go of these damn chains..." (Darcia) I see the Priestess of the Temple of Justice pulling her chained companion into the Ship and out of my sight, meanwhile, the Hero Alan who has been making a horrible expression since he arrived comes to talk to me. "I didn''t think you would be the masked ones." (Alan) "That was the goal, there are a lot of people looking for us." (I) "I should arrest you, do you think I don''t know about the crimes you''ve committed?" (Alan) "You can try, but we both know you won''t make it." (I) "Why did you let us come along?" (Alan) "You''re a Hero, I''m sure you want to be in a place where you can make a difference, we''ll be passing near or even in the middle of some of these battlefields, so why not take you along?" (I) "I had received a letter yesterday, but I didn''t know how to travel with the shutdown of the Teleportation Gates." (Alan) "Do you have a destination in mind?" (I) "No, the letter I received told me to help where I believe it''s best, our dogmas teach us to seek our own justice without harming the innocent, so the orders are usually vague for me to choose the path for myself." (Alan) "Good for you." (I) "(I can''t tell him that his presence is very important to balance the scales of luck.)" (I) During the night when the meeting ended, Ibuki told me that in the Colosseum he heard the Hero talking to his companions and heard that the Hero has 4-digit luck, that''s more than enough to balance my almost cursed luck. "While you''re here you''ll be a guest, so try not to fight with anyone..." (I) "Honey, why are you here? Your sister didn''t do anything wrong this time, I take it?" (Abigail) "Mom!?" (Alan) "What are you doing here? My brother said he would take you and my sisters to safety." (Alan) "Don''t look at me like that, it wasn''t my idea." (I) Out of nowhere, the Saint of Fertility appears from inside the Ship, then I discover that the Hero of Justice is also her son. "Little Zenos is letting us stay at his house, I''ve never known such an interesting place, his sister Naomi already said she''s never going to leave here, the last time I saw her she was with a group of Lamias." (Abigail) Chapter 914: Calamity Number Chapter 914: Calamity Number While the Hero was talking to his mother, I left unnoticed, it was written on his face that he didn''t like to know that his mother was staying with me. When I entered the inside of the Ship I immediately realized what Nicole did, spatial expansion magic, I can feel the spatial element in the walls, floor, and ceiling. But I don''t know how far it went with this magic, I can''t say how much it expanded the space, but it could be up to 30% bigger than the size of the ship itself, that means that the real size of the interior is already that of a castle. Undaunted by the first thing I noticed, I kept walking, I saw people of many races carrying boxes, arranging new furniture, cleaning the corridors, putting up paintings and some had parts of the walls open as they seemed to be doing maintenance on something. I kept walking and noticed that some of the corridors had all the walls open showing countless magic circles along with countless Spiritual Runes all over the wall, I who only study attack magic didn''t understand what I was seeing. I also saw a lot of magic crystals with many different shapes and metal magic items on the walls, I could feel the magic leaking from these magic circles being wasted, that''s what Nicole said that still needed more work before finalizing. I didn''t understand what I was seeing but it was still very interesting, I''ve always been curious so I''m not going to miss an opportunity to see more of this Ship. I kept walking until I found an open door, what was inside was a luxurious room with hundreds of paintings stored inside, this must be where they kept these things until they finished packing the Ship. I keep looking and find several things, a large room full of tables that must be the cafeteria, a large room with a heated pool, and a room that I''m sure was made with Lilith in mind from the scary things I found there. I also found a room with a pink door that when I entered I noticed that the entire floor was padded and a scent of flowers was in the air, there were paintings that would leave a person drawn red as a tomato paintings on the walls. "I think it''s best not to think about it too much." (I) I keep walking and I see a library, it''s not a big library, but when I saw the books I realized that it only had stories, there was nothing for study, it seems that this was made for people who are looking to relax. I visited many rooms realizing that there was even a casino until I found the place where my sister was facing Diana, it was a room that had shelves with different weapons on the walls. The place had a seating area for a few dozen people to see those who were inside a dirt field surrounded by a barrier, this room was huge. "No, she might be weaker, but as far as we know the other two Living Calamities aren''t, just don''t let it cause any major confusion." (Bianca) ------------- Two hours later I was at the bar drinking with a beautiful High Priestess. "So you think it won''t work?" (I) "You didn''t understand until now, did you?" (Yara) "In stats, there are usually no negative numbers, at least not normally." (Yara) "There is no such thing as negative strength or negative agility, just as there is no negative defense or negative intelligence." (Yara) "But it''s a fact that my luck is negative, I''ve been unlucky since the day I was born, I''ve been close to death more times than I care to remember, and absurd things happen so often it makes me wonder if the world is trying to get me kill." (I) "The only possibility would be a curse or abnormal status effect, and even then, as far as I know, a negative number represents more than you realize." (Yara) "Negative numbers are against the natural order of things, each negative point represents 100 positive points, if your luck is negative then the number you are misleading, multiply by 100 or 200 to have a more real number." (Yara) "That''s why negative status numbers are known by some as the Calamity Number." (Yara) "..." (I) "A normal person would have 30 to 100 luck, Heroes would easily have more than 500 luck and can reach up to 1000 while Champions and Saints can exceed that." (Yara) "That... that''s... a scary thought..." (I) I''m (-99) lucky, just multiplying that by a hundred is (-9900), just that thought drenched my back in a cold sweat and made me want to cry. Chapter 915: A Battle Along The Way Chapter 915: A Battle Along The Way Pov of a Merchant: I was reading his orders from our current client while licking my lips with a smile, just this order equals 6 months profit. "What a wonderful war... haha hahahaha..." (I) I was overjoyed with the profits, but we couldn''t forget the risks, so I took the map to see the best route for me to send my merchandise, with something of such high value I have to be careful how I ship it, I might have to ship it myself take along. Looks like a supply troop will meet us halfway there, so there should be other Merchants along, I''ll have to go myself to make sure none of them sabotage me and thieves steal. I have to prepare crates with expansion magic, this will prevent storage items from being used to store my goods, and this prevents someone stealing from me without me noticing, now I have to think about the escort to take me to the temporary supply camp point. ------------- Pov Zenos: The Floating Ship was still very busy, especially when it almost hit an invisible mountain, yes the whole mountain was invisible hidden by a dense fog, there was also an attack of some monsters, but they were weak monsters that died being devoured by Orion who is keeping an eye on the surroundings. It''s been 3 days and we''ve covered a long distance, the ship''s efficiency has improved, but Nicole doesn''t stop working, she was irritated today that she passed out from exhaustion and slept for more than 6 hours wasting her time from work, she kept complaining about the curse they put on his beautiful robot body that he now has to sleep and eat. "There is still a 29% wastage of energy across the frontal region, the sails are releasing energy instead of harvesting it a few times a day and the deepest part of the Ship has been taken over by miasma." (Nicole)Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com "You must concentrate on the miasma, the rest can wait." (I) "Vanessa went to purify the area, after that it will be easier to identify the source if it continues, but for now I am focusing on the candle, this is a type of magic technology that I have never used, now I am doing it on a large scale, but if it continues like this it may explode." (Nicole) "If it releases energy at the same time as it''s absolutely energy it can overload causing an explosion whose force we wouldn''t be able to predict." (Nicole) "Fix this ASAP." (I) Boommm!!! Another explosion happened, but this time there was no cracking noise, I was running carrying rica in my arms, my speed is far above her speed, with that I was able to reach the deck where others were already present and others were arriving including the Hero''s group. "< Reflector Magic Barrier >" (Irina) "< Demon Curse of Retribution >" (Lilith) As soon as I arrive I see Irina in the middle of a layered magic circle holding a magic crystal in her hands, then a giant barrier that seems to be made of mirrors appears around the entire Floating Ship. Soon after Lilith throws a barrel of blood in the air which Irius cuts in half spilling all the blood Lilith controls creating a magic circle that fills with Demonic energy when she drips her own blood, then Irina''s mirrored barrier around the Floating Ship creates a reddish hue with a purple glow. Still not understanding what was happening, I soon see a large number of spells and a thick beam of energy hit the barrier that belongs to the glow quickly, but luckily it didn''t break, so most of the attacks seem to be absorbed by the barrier before returning through the same way they came from, but it doesn''t seem to have worked with the great beam of white energy as before. I look at the direction these reflected attacks are coming from and I see 3 white Floating Ships surrounded by light, the middle Floating Ship was a little bigger than the other two and had golden details, looking closer at it I noticed a cannon in front of the m Ship. "Church of Light!? How did they get here? We''re within the borders of a Kingdom that''s staying Neutral, aren''t we?" (I) I was taken aback by the completely unexpected attack, but I reacted quickly knowing I didn''t have time to learn anything else right now. "< Family Summoning: Ghost Crows >" (I) I run to Nicole as I pull out a magic crystal made from my crystallized blood. "Analyze the enemies, leave one of the crows with you." (I) I spread my wings and go outside while preparing a big attack at the same time as the Ghost Crows enter through the forest below or clouds in the sky to better hide themselves as they make their way to the enemies. "< Multi Elemental Magic: Nature''s Revolt >" (I) Chapter 916: Wrong Place And Wrong Time Part 1 Chapter 916: Wrong Place And Wrong Time Part 1 Pov Marramuth (Light Inquisitor): I was reading the orders of High Inquisitor Andreia, the one I admire both for her title of Executor of Light and for being the leader of the Inquisitors. "We can''t let them get this." (I) According to the information our spies got a load of armor with resistance to the light element and crystal cards with Affinity to the element of darkness. "As long as the war is balanced, we can''t let them break that balance, so we have to make sure we crush them here." (I) "Sir, we spotted a large Floating Ship passing the hidden route as you said."NewW novels updates at novelhall.com I turn to the Soldier of Light who came to bring information, as an Inquisitor the first thing we learn is never to leave an escape route for our targets, we kill or we die, but we never let go. I suspected that the Demons or their collaborators might notice us, it would be normal to send a group ahead to be safe, so I left people on a hidden route that would be the only option to sneak past us. "Are you sure this Floating Ship is our target?" (I) "The Floating Ship in question looks like a Demon Warship decorated with bones, its size is also very large as if it was made to carry large numbers of people or cargo." "We''ve also detected a strong barrier around the Floating Ship, its defenses are above what merchant groups or transports would use." With all these characteristics, the chances of being our target are high, we didn''t know which means of transport they would use, but it seems that they chose to go through the sky. "Prepare the light cannon, warn all mages to prepare their ranged attack spells, and position our ships in front of them, we''ll attack before they realize they''ve been discovered!" (I) "At your service!" "Also warn my two apprentices to prepare!" (I) I see the Soldier run out, then look back down at the letter in my hands as I grip the hilt of my spear. "The time has come to stain my spear with the blood of the impure who reject the light of Justice." (I) Sigh "I knew it wouldn''t be that easy." (I) "[They are preparing for]" (Nicole) "I know, I can see them, send everyone who can to join me, the rest remain on hold." (I) We all get into position as the white Floating Ships of the Church of Light are stopped in front of us. "Wouldn''t it be better to attack now?" (Ragnar) "No, the longer this lasts the better for us, they are in enemy territory, what I did besides revealing their strength certainly drew attention from the city that is 5 hours away in that direction." (I) "Because..." (I) "Die Heretic!" "I think not." (Klaus) I feel murderous intent overhead, but before I have a chance to react, a dagger appears above my head, parrying what felt like a spear that was about to go through my head. The person holding the Spear was a human male with white skin and long red hair sticking out through his helmet, his armor was mixed with a leather suit with metal plates only where the vital points were. The one holding the dagger was Kira''s father, I couldn''t give orders to him like I do the others, but it was implied what his role would be, to go against the enemy leader that no other in the group can face. As soon as I saw that the enemies had done nothing but get into combat formation, I knew they had already made their move in a way that I wouldn''t notice, but I was sure someone like Klaus would be able to see right through that kind of thing. "Let''s go somewhere else." (Klaus) "ATTACK!!!" "KILL THE HERETIC!!!!" As Klaus pushes the enemy into the clouds, he shouts attack orders and several shots of magic come towards us. Chapter 917: Wrong Place And Wrong Time Part 2 Chapter 917: Wrong Place And Wrong Time Part 2 As Klaus took the strongest enemy away, I see various types of spells fire at us as the enemies maintain their positions. "Diana you take care of the ship on the right, take half with you, the others come with me to the ship on the left." (I) "Sister, can you go with Hinata to the middle ship?" (I) "Now you''re saying good things... hahaha hahahahaha..." (Natasha) "We will!" (I) Before I finished speaking my sister had already spread her Dragon wings while transforming laughing and headed towards the Floating Ship in the middle. No time I tell everyone to go, this time we don''t need a complicated strategy. Me, my sister and Diana are the only ones who can face Bronze Grade people head on, so each of us goes to a Ship. "< Dragon''s Awakening: 19% >" (I) I myself used my transformation while going on the attack, which is why I didn''t spend my own energy on the first attack before. ------------- Pov Knight of Light: "How long until the light cannon starts working again!?" (I) "It was damaged when we reversed the mana flow to direct it to the barrier, we are trying to change the paths of..." Boommm! "What was this!?" (I) I look out the window where I see the weakened barrier after the Inquisitor in charge left being destroyed, then a Dragonewt was standing on the Cannon of Light. "Kill her!!" (I) I rush to the attack myself, but when I read giving in that I was the only one with any experience being in charge I had to step back to lead everyone. I immediately noticed that this Dragonewt was a Blood Controlling Vampire, so there was a high probability that it was a Vampire Matriarch. I saw our injured troops being unable to heal through magic or potions, at this point I focused more on this enemy who is clearly one of the enemy leaders, I realized that it was the only one to attack us while two groups attacked the other two Ships. As soon as I''m facing the enemy ship I activate my Skill while for the first time using all its power, my body grows to 2.5 meters in height, unlike previous times my body doesn''t completely transform into a Wolf, I feel my head turn become that of a Wolf as the fur spreads across my body and my tail grows even longer. Bracelets appear on my wrists and ankles as silver battle clothes are built right into my body as I grip my swords. Yuki, my Familiar has also changed, I feel some of my power flow into her as her body grows to be 5 meters long while icicles float around her neck like a necklace and ice armor covers her body. Soon I use my Aura to activate a Skill I never used, it was Silvia who told me about this skill and how to use it, Fenrir''s Aura mixes with mine while the surroundings of this Floating Ship become different, like a forest full of Howling Wolves and a giant Moon in the sky, in that place any Aura except mine are blocked. "A Champion of Beasts, a representative of the Gods, fighting the Supreme God." "There is no Supreme God, but there are arrogant Gods of Light." (I) "You dare to slander the Great Name of Baldr!?" "< Thunder Wolf: Devour >" (I) "< Light of Doom: Slash >" I create a 20 meter Thunder Wolf that runs towards the Floating Ship, then a flash of light comes out of the ship cutting the Thunder Wolf in half, then a Celestine Man appears in front of me wearing an Armor of white metal scales holding a golden sword in hands. "As my Inquisitor, it is my duty to hunt down those who dare to go cintra the great God of Light." I knew from the last move that his focus was speed like me, I also felt him using his mana, that sword is his Light Elemental Avatar, I can feel it''s a mana and Light Element build. "< Wind Incarnation >" (I) I become the wind itself using my elemental Ki by fusing it into my body, with that my speed multiplies and our high speed battle begins. He flying I running solidifying the air to run in the sky. Just like Vanessa, he fights using his wings, Athena does the same, my blows are fast, but his movements are fluid and calm, he uses his only sword to deflect the attacks he can''t dodge. As I fight him I see the others fighting the people on the Ship, I feel sorry for anyone who finds Lilith or Layla, I saw Lilith ripping someone''s head off along with the spine to use as a whip and I don''t even want to see what Layla is doing. "You''re lucky I''m the only one to face you." (I) "< 1000 Wind Slashes >" (I) "< 1000 Slashes of Light >" We both use the same type of Skill, and our strengths are tied, I think I could win with enough time, but at this step, the others will finish first, and then he will be finished. Chapter 918: Wrong Place And Wrong Time Part 3 Chapter 918: Wrong Place And Wrong Time Part 3 I was heading towards one of the Ships and I waved to Silvia who transforms into her Dragon form, I mount her head and we both use the same type of Skill. "< Dragon''s Breath of Destruction >" (I) "< Cataclysmic Breath >" (I) We both have nature abilities and our Breath attacks have to do with the elements, so it was easy for the two to blend in increasing their power. I never saw the sense in long battles where you only use the strongest power last, when I attack it is to kill in the first blow. "< Astral Body: Judge and Executioner >" "< Judgment Room >"Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com Suddenly an Aura mixed with holy power and the light element spreads around, my attack and Silvia''s start to break apart in the middle of the way, but it still hits the Ship that had no barrier since my attack in the previous area. I felt a weight settle on me, but there were things I needed to do. "Circle around, don''t let anyone run." (I) Everyone scatters following my orders, that''s because I used my Lesser Familiars to see magic circles appear behind the Ship. "So you are the Heretic, son of the Witch of Carnage." Soon the same female voice as before can be heard, then I see a Human female, she appears to be young around 18 or 19 years old, she wears full body armor made to follow the curves of her body, and she has brown skin with eyes golden hair and short blond hair, in his hand, a book or maybe I should call it Grimorio for the amount of magical power I feel coming out of it. She was sitting on the shoulder of a female figure wearing a white hooded robe where only the outline of her face can be seen inside, she holds a book in her right hand and a sword in her left hand. Just looking at this figure I could feel the spiritual energy and Aura of this woman, I also felt a similar sensation with my Astral body. "I can feel it in your Aura, the mark of a Heretic, an enemy of God." "And I don''t care." (I) I endured the pain I was feeling, I got used to the pain a long time ago, so I paid attention to my surroundings. I could feel that all elements except the light element were pushed away but it wasn''t hitting me directly, I could feel her trying but the Authority in my body wouldn''t allow it, I smile at her. During all the time she was speaking a pressure was hitting me directly in my Soul, it was like a tidal wave beating constantly and it only stopped when her Astral body disappeared. It was clear to me that she specializes in Soul damage, I should have realized that since she used an Astral Body, she is a Spiritualist, and my reinforced body and thick scales were useless against this type of damage. My Aura and Authority served as an armor for my Soul that lessened the strength of the blows, but the biggest difference was the strength of my Soul that was injured many feces for my irresponsibility. "She was the only strong enemy, the others were wasting their strength on summoning magic circles that were destroyed by her Territory." (Vanessa) I undo my Territory at the same time as I undo my Elemental Avatar, so the woman''s naked body falls, I draw my lines to make a cocoon trapping her. "Orion!" (I) "Yes Master!" (Orion) "Take it back to the Ship..." (I) "Could you leave her with me?" (Alan) The Hero of Justice appears at my side, I had forgotten that he was with us when we left the Ship. "What are you going to do with her?" (I) "I suppose the same as you, let''s interrogate her, Bianca is a Priestess of Justice, she knows how to do a fair interrogation." (Alan) "I don''t mind if you want to interrogate her, but then what?" (I) "I''m not thinking of letting her live, maybe I will, it depends on what Lilith says about her." (I) "The Priestess of Vengeance? All right." (Alan) "She and Bianca have similar abilities, I don''t care about a guilty person being convicted, that is if they are worthy of their sentence." (Alan) "So Bianca and Lilith can debrief her together, let''s go back." (I) Vanessa was the first to return to my side, but the Hero surprised me, when everyone returned to me I was thinking of leaving some to take care of what was left of this Ship that, by a miracle, still manages to float even if crooked. I look up and am astonished to see nothing, at no time before, during or now after the fight did I not notice any kind of combat taking place in the highest sky. Chapter 919: Wrong Place And Wrong Time Part 4 Chapter 919: Wrong Place And Wrong Time Part 4 Pov of a Merchant: I am surprised how safe this trip was, I was relieved because of this, it took us a little longer to leave due to the delay of one of the merchants, but it was a delay of only half a day where I managed to increase my sales because my company was the closest to try to make up for the delayed goods. When we left the temporary camp where the Black Empire army troops were, all the merchants were saying that we would go to the hidden place where there would be a Floating Ship waiting for us. I was happy at that time but soon found out that there was no Floating Ship, we were guided to a cave where we were taken to an underground river where several small boats were waiting. All the merchants as well as myself were confused by this, but the Demon who was in charge had a big smile on his face, as I took the same boat as him since they divided the merchants, I managed to hear some things while he was talking to a subordinate. Seems they discovered some spies and used it to pass false information, it made me break out in a cold sweat, this big chance of profits was riskier than I thought, I could have died. ------------- Pov Zenos: When I returned to our Floating Ship others stayed behind to look at the three white Floating Ships, mine oddly enough was not the most damaged. Diana tore the enemy Ship to pieces during her combat, when I ended the fight I saw her in combat fighting on equal terms against a man, both were focused on speed, I thought about helping, but I used my Aura to strengthen Diana while harming her opponent, just that difference was enough to break the balance of power making Diana win, she cut his head off.Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com When I came back Kira''s Father was nowhere to be seen, I looked up but saw nothing, there was no sign that there was a fight going on above the clouds. "Nicole, what''s the status?" (I) "The enemies were almost all killed, the only ones who brought prisoners were you and Hinata." (Nicole) "Of the 3 Ships, the biggest one is almost intact, the one you boarded is badly damaged and the last one is in pieces full of cut marks everywhere." (Nicole) "Did someone run away?" (I) "No, but I noticed a caravan that stopped far away from us, someone tried to spy on us from afar, but it seems to be Adventurers escorting a Noble along with some soldiers." (Nicole) "Any sign of Kira''s father?" (I) "No, he seems to have disappeared." (Nicole) "Prisoner..." (Hinata) Hinata who was floating nearby approaches with her usual expressionless face and opens her chest where only a head wrapped in tentacles was, it looked alive, and could see that it still had a neck, it also seemed to be breathing. "If you don''t put your sword down I''ll rip your arm off before I throw you off my Ship." (I) "But this mo..." (Alan) "Alan! Stop being naive, there are no enemies here, so put your sword down!" (Bianca) "Know how to differentiate who your enemies are." (Darcia) "..." (Alan) When a wraith-like Hinata stood beside me, opening her chest to reveal a still-breathing head surrounded by tentacles, the Hero drew his sword and pointed at her. Immediately I and everyone around us looked at him, knowing that this scene can be shocking for those who see it for the first time, I give him a warning of what he would do if he continued with that, I was happy that I was able to act calmly without showing intention assassin in a situation where I would normally have lost my temper. "I advise you to go inside and be calmer to think, you are lucky that I learned to control my emotions a short time ago, normally I would not warn before attacking you for what you did to my Familiar." (I) "But not everyone is as patient as me, so..." (I) "What''s going on here?" (Klaus) "Was it just a moment of carelessness on the part of the Hero, how was it with his opponent?" (I) "I couldn''t capture him, I had to kill him, but at least I managed to find out that we weren''t the targets, we were in the wrong place at the wrong time." (Klaus) "So this whole thing was just" (Darcia) "Hahahahahaha... I knew it, I knew it would be fun to be around you, hahahahaha..." (Natasha) A blood-covered Natasha comes flying in. As I go, Margareth appears from somewhere pouring a potion of liquid soap on my sister''s head. "(Wrong time and wrong place...)" (I) I knew this was caused by my bad luck, I only wanted to bring this damn Hero because I''m someone lucky, but it seems my luck is worse than expected and after what he did pointing his sword in Hinata''s direction I''m tempted to throw him off that ship now. Chapter 920: Luminus Has His Chance Chapter 920: Luminus Has His Chance Pov Luminus (True Dragon Emperor of Light):Fo?ll0w current novE?ls on n/o/(v)/3l/b((in).(co/m) I was looking at a destroyed battlefield, and the two armies retreated, the armies were weak but they were numerous. The battlefield was completely destroyed, and people collected the bodies but didn''t take care of the rest, in fact, that seems to have been someone''s plan, and that''s why one side is retreating much further than the other. "Should I do something about it?" (I) "No, if this was done on purpose, then it was a foolish act, this kind of destruction is nothing, your Auras are too weak, so regular Fairies and Spirits can take care of the rest, you see." (Lux) Soon I notice the Fairies that I ignored before because they are too weak, they are certainly fixing the damage little by little. "You''re scared, I understand that, but this is not the time to be distracted." (Lux) "I''m not getting distracted, I''m thinking about what might come next." (I) Lux looks down, by the expression on her face I know she understands what she means. "Maybe we won''t participate." (Lux) "Depending on what happens today, I want to participate, I want to show everyone that we are not allied with the Church of Light." (I) "Then we have to go." (Lux) I look at Lux, the Fairies of Light have suffered as much as we have, our journey has been a long one and everything will be decided today. "I know it''s heavy, unlike us, even the Dragon God" (Lux) "What was done that day was very serious in many different ways, but we cannot continue like this." (I) "Someone has to step forward, even if it''s to face a monster''s teeth." (I) "We will." (I) Lux and I left in the direction of the Dragon Castle, a construction made by carving an entire mountain at the time of the creation of this world. On the way I had a lot of time to think, as a Dragon I know very well who I will meet today, I don''t think for a second that I can beat him, either in terms of experience, losing, strength or Authority. I don''t know how many Dragons of Light he killed that day, his hatred for my tribe is well known by everyone. On the way there we entered Dragon territory, we passed many True Dragons who were very open with their hatred and murderous intent directed at me, I know I did nothing to deserve this, but the sins of that day and the betrayal of my brothers are burdens I have to carry. I can see his disappointment in my lack of reaction, it just confirms that this was a test, I knew things like this could happen, it was just the slightest of things I thought might happen today. Soon we arrived in front of the great doors of the throne room, the Star Dragon stops in front of the door and stands aside waving to the door. "I only come this far, come in if you like, but the Dragon Emperor asked me to give you a warning before you arrive, this warning is only for you and I don''t know what I can say to your friend." (Ortiz) "He promised to meet you and listen to what you have to say, but he doesn''t know what will happen when he meets you in person, be warned that once you''re in, you may not come out." (Ortiz) "I was already prepared for this when I entered Dragon territory." (I) I step forward and open the doors without hesitation with Lux following close behind. ------------- Pov Zenos: I was studying Spiritual Runes alongside Nix when someone enters the Ship''s library. "No need to apologize again for your friend." (I) "Alan has a strong sense of justice, but he often gets carried away by his ideals." (Bianca) "No need to explain, I know he doesn''t like me since that day at the entrance to the Elves'' village on the Morror Continent." (I) "I honestly don''t care what he thinks and does as long as he doesn''t point his guns at my family again." (I) "Just to be clear, everyone on this ship with the exception of you is my family and companions." (I) "I respect the way you protect those important to you, but what Alan hates about you is your ease with being cruel to anyone outside your inner circle." (Bianca) "I know perfectly well who I am, just as he has his sense of justice, I have mine, I haven''t had the easy life of a Hero who always had a whole religion to support him." (I) "In my early days, I had to kill and devour what could be my brothers to survive before entering a forest full of monsters every day after that while being the weakest creature there, being cruel is something I needed to survive and I won''t change who am I to please him." (I) "I would never ask that, justice has many faces, be it law, revenge, order, rebellion or destruction, justice is not about good or evil as many people think." (Bianca) "I just ask that you give him a chance precisely because he''s been through things he hasn''t experienced." (Bianca) "That depends on how he acts from now on, so talk to him." (I) "Besides, there are others on this Ship who don''t have my newly acquired level of patience, so he better realize that one misstep could be his last, we already have too many religions as enemies, and I don''t want to add the Temple of Justice to the list." (I) Chapter 921: The Law Always Finds Its Way Chapter 921: The Law Always Finds Its Way Pov Bianca: I walked into the large room we used to meet, to find Darcia holding Alan by the collar again in the same way as before I left. Sigh "I thought I separated you before I left." (I) "But he made my dear Zenos angry with me." (Darcia) "I''m sure he was avoiding you before..." (Alan) "Nobody asked you anything." (Darcia) I know Darcia is just trying to lighten things up, I sit on the sofa while I pour myself a cup of tea, I don''t know what blend of teas this is but the aroma is very relaxing. "How did it go with the Vampire?" (Alan) "The Vampire has a name, but he''s well, surprisingly calm." (I) "This is bad." (Alan) "Yes, but it was your fault." (I) "Is his being calm bad? I thought it would be good for him to be calm." (Darcia) "It means that earlier he said exactly what he was thinking of doing, without being affected by strong emotions like anger." (I) "That should be fine, considering what we know of him, if he wasn''t calm then he would have acted rather than warned." (Darcia) "Darcia is right." (I) Alan''s face got even darker, I already explained to him the mistake he made, I know he didn''t think at that moment, he just considered Zenos''s Familiar a monster and his body reacted before realizing it. But there is no doubt that this was only because he never considered Zenos as an ally but as an enemy, I''m sure because of his own prejudices against the way Zenos does things. "I''ve always said, you have to accept justice from others." (I) "What justice is there in someone who kills and tortures with ease, you also heard that Fairy talking to the Priestess of Vengeance." (Alan) "They can be cruel, but they direct it to those who deserve it." (I) "Besides, nobody becomes cruel because they want to, talking to him reminded me of that." (I) I read the information he wrote down, it seems to be a summary of a battle with some highlights I wrote down. 1. Various Iron Grade individuals. 2. 4 Floating Ships with only 3 being White. 3. A bloody battle with large number of monsters being on the 4 Unidentified Ship. 4. Sighting of small Dragons, possibly Monster Dragons and not True Dragons. 5. It also has information on some of the sighted individuals that the Adventurer in question believed were in charge. "(A Dragonewt with red hair that controls blood, crystal scales that look like shards of the night sky, a Celestina with red wings, a Fairy capable of manipulating various elements, a red direwolf with wings, and a black Unicorn with wings of appearance evil.)" (I) I smile at the thought and grab documents from a shelf checking the information, looks like I might be able to catch a major criminal this time. "(The law always finds its way.)" (I) "You can go now Wagner, you''ve done a great service this time." (I) "I''m just doing my duty to the law, so goodbye Judge Michael." (Wagner) "Wait! Which Order of Knights did you say you were joining?" (I) "I didn''t say, but that''s not a big secret, I''m going to the Order of Knights of Redemption." (I) He answers me as he leaves, I know the Order of Knights he spoke of, belongs to the Church of Light, those who are outside the Church have to join this Order of Knights where they must prove themselves worthy before ascending in the hierarchy. "Trying to use me to get ahead? It''s okay since you''re also helping me." (I) After that, I gathered those I could following the stipulations of our doctrine before going full speed ahead leading to the criminal who dared to threaten our Religion and is the criminal who killed many of our Religion''s youth on Cyrion Isle. -------------- Pov Zenos: I was in the Library when I heard the explosions and Nicole''s announcement so I used my Lesser Familiars to see what''s going on, the attacks came from the ground so I can see hundreds of people on the ground and dozens riding Wyverns above them. Nicole who was inside one of the Ships with several magic items floating around her was looking at them as she spoke with a microphone shaped item in her hand. "Who are they?" (I) "From the symbol on their armor, they must be from the Temple of Law." (Nicole) "Temple of the Law?" (I)NewW novels updates at novelhall.com Chapter 922: Blind Law Chapter 922: Blind Law I get out of the Ship surrounded by my Familiars and the others, the Hero and his group also appear, we all look at the people who are on our side. Before leaving the Ship I had already given my orders to Nicole and those who were checking the enemy Ships, now they are all outside the Ships and close to us. "I won''t help you this time." (Klaus) "Okay, Nicole already confirmed their strength." (I) "Can you at least protect the Ship? I don''t want it to get damaged and delay our trip to the other Elf villages." (I) "Naraka is already protecting, but the defenses would hold anyway." (Klaus) "Are they seeing us?" (I) "Yes, I can sense multiple Auras around the Ship, plus they are looking directly at you." (Ragnar) "Master, your mask..." (Freya) "It wouldn''t make sense to use in that situation, it''s clear why they came." (I) "They are coming." (Sophia) "How is Rakan?" (I) "Erica said they''re done." (Sophia) As I spoke I waited, the attacks stopped when we all came out to see, for a few seconds they didn''t move or say anything. But soon some people on the ground spread their wings showing that they were from the Beast Man Bird tribe or they were Demons, they came to join with 5 people riding Wyverns and a Man with a well decorated robe from the Celestine race who was approaching. The clothes of the man in question are traditional to the point of recognizing his function from what I have studied of the Temple of the Law, he is a Judge. "All of you must come with me, this is a warning to avoid any bloodshed." (Judge) "Enough of your nonsense, state your real intentions, Mr. Judge." (I) "My name is Michael, Judge and High Priest of the Temple of the Law." (Michael) "You are Zenos, Vampire Patriarch and a new Blood Demigod." (Michael) "You have committed acts of murder, theft, trafficking in stolen goods, buying and selling illegal goods, attempted murder, kidnapping, and various other crimes." (Michael) I see the Hero and the Priestess of Justice out of the corner of my eye wanting to say something, but I raise a hand to them as I shake my head in denial, I don''t want them to interfere. "As someone who has committed so many crimes, including threatening a high ranking High Priest of our Temple, you will be arrested for trial, and if you resist I am allowed to pass a death sentence on the spot." (Michael) I stopped the Hero from speaking as this matter is my responsibility, your opinion doesn''t matter in this situation and I hope you realize that. These people did not come to dialogue or comply with the law, they came to judge and condemn, my warning to them was their only option to leave, but just looking at this Judge is already an answer to my warning, they will not leave. "ATTACK! KILL THE CRIMINAL AND ANYONE WHO INTERFERES!" (Michael) "< Teleportation: Activate >" (Michael) "< Space Arrow >" (Freya) He retreats using a magic item teleported back along with those around him, but I had expected him to at least have a method to safely retreat when he appeared, so I had Freya prepared. As soon as he activated his magic item, Freya fired, when he came out in the back along with his companions, he had an arrow stuck in his chest. "Finish them off." (I) "Let them fight, there''s no need to go yet." (Natasha) --------------- Pov Alan (Hero of Justice): I see Zenos fall behind as his Familiars and companions move forward to attack, I look at Bianca who shakes her head in denial without me saying anything. "Why not?" (I) "This fight is not ours, do you even know what you will be fighting for?" (Bianca) "He''s right, the decision to let enemies live or die is his, for a Judge to come in person means he was prepared to pass judgment and with so many soldiers there could only be one conclusion." (Bianca) "Why am I wrong? Just because I don''t think it''s right to kill everyone?" (I) "You saw his eyes, even if someone surrenders, he will kill everyone." (I) "They came prepared for this." (Darcia) "It''s only fair that they get the same treatment they were willing to give when they arrived." (Bianca) "I''ve said it before, you must have the determination to cover yourself in blood when you choose the path of justice in this world, there are many who bend right and wrong or even laws to achieve what they want, that kind of person will always exist like now." (Bianca) Bianca keeps looking at the Judge who is in the distance, she has a serious face, when I look at the Judge he is laughing. "There are many people who don''t deserve a second chance, some don''t even deserve what they already have." (Bianca) "..." (I)Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com Chapter 923: Fighting Without Taking It Seriously Chapter 923: Fighting Without Taking It Seriously Pov Orion: I spread my wings to throw myself off the Ship and into the forest, the thrill of the hunt taking over me, this time I can hunt to half a heart''s content. "< Predator''s Cloak >" (I) I use an Aura technique I learned from Ragnar to blend in with the nature around me, this will hide my presence with a cloak of natural Aura. This technique along with my hunting skills will be enough for them to only notice my presence when it''s too late. "< Hunting Ground >" (I) I adjust my size to move freely as I run through the trees while creating a red mist with the blood that makes up my body speculating that mist around the area. This will block detection abilities and spells while also obstructing their vision. "(Master said never to be seen, fear of the unknown will give me more opportunities.)" (I) While running I already detected the closest enemies that were looking for me, they must have seen me descending in that forest. They are all close to each other, but there are blind spots. "< Hunter''s Fangs >" (I) Using my vitality and mana I created Blood Wolves that run towards the enemies, as soon as they turn towards the enemies that just appeared I attack from behind, devouring the head of one while cutting the heads of two others with my wings, without losing one second I pull another creating the forest back calling the attention of others who neglect the Blood Wolves and are injured. This time they are more attentive knowing I''m hiding but wasting no time I attack from above while they only look from the sides, I return to my normal size and land on top of three tearing them to pieces while I use my tail to smash another fur my back and bite one that got scared in front of me. "Now for the next ones." (I) I suck all the blood out of their bodies before rushing to the next ones. ------------- Pov Lilith: What should I do, there are ten men running after me. "Die, criminal!" "Dying is not good, my Father and Hela would be sad." (I) "< Blood Insanity >" (I) I run towards them, grabbing at them with my claws as I get slashed by their swords, my blood splattering as it splatters on them never realizing they are only making shallow wounds. In a few seconds, everyone already has red eyes, at this moment they are not only hitting me but also attacking each other until there is only one crying in the end. At the moment I could only create 3, but one day I will be able to create hundreds, I alone will have an army''s worth. "< Aura Hammer >" "< Aura Blade >" (I) While I was fighting a Runic that looked more like a giant of almost 3 meters comes attacking me with an Aura cintra technique which I used a technique of my own. "An Aura master?" (I) "You are not an ordinary monster, you must be a Holy Beast." "Divine Beast to be precise, not that it changes your fate today." (I) Someone tried to take advantage of my apparent distraction to attack me from behind but was crushed by one of my copies of Auras. "I won''t waste my time..." (I) "< Berserk Onslaught >" Seems like he''s more focused on defense, this fight might last longer than I''d like, or so I thought before a card landed between me and him, our two Auras canceled and I used my blade horn to slash through his chest his. "Coward..." "Thanks for the help, Loki." (I) "It was over faster than I thought, good reaction." (Loki) "Couldn''t it have taken at least 1 hit earlier?" (Layla) "..." (I) "Don''t look at me like that, it was just a friendly bet, I bet you would win without taking a hit." (Loki) "It''s not fair, you interfered..." (Layla) "< Earth Rift >" (Layla) "< Massacre Breeze >" (Layla) Five people approached, and my copies stopped them, but during the combat, cracks opened under their feet the moment they were going to step, it took their balance, at that moment a wind blew carrying hundreds of blades of wind that they could not defend. "Stop playing games, we still have enemies to fight." (I) Speaking of which I found another Strong Aura not far away and started an intense battle, it was more of an Aura master, but unlike the last one, on defense, this one was focused on adapting while fighting without weapons. Our battle was intense and I felt like I was facing the master, it was hard to predict what she was doing, at one moment she attacked head on like a hammer, other times she launched attacks from afar and there were times she created traps for me by changing the form of your Aura in the middle of an attack. It was a tough battle that made me the last one to finish. Chapter 924: Hela Cruelty Chapter 924: Hela Cruelty Pov Nix: When I got off the ship, I went straight to the largest number of Soldiers riding Wyverns, it seems that the people of the Temple of Law have underestimated us. I spread my wings and go towards them while expanding my Aura around me, I may be a Spirit but I''m still a True Dragon. Wyverns can''t even be considered normal Dragons, the Aura of a True Dragon must frighten them to the point of being immobile as they are now. "Move, you damn Wyvern!" "< Lunar Reflection >" (I) "< Shadow Crush >" (I) I use a Moon Element Rune empowered by the Master''s Authority, this was enough to throw the enemies into an illusion for a few seconds, long enough to use a chain of Dark Element Spiritual Runes, and with that I took control over the shadow underneath of their armor and clothing, then crush them through their defenses. "< Enslave >" (I) I add another Dark Element Rune along with the master''s Authority to enslave these Wyverns. "You can still be useful to the master." (I) ---------------- Pov Silvia: I don''t mind fighting, but there''s no point in it, the initial battle is a simple one, they don''t have the necessary strength or the necessary numbers to be a threat. Sigh I look at the Judge in the distance, my sisters told me how those of the Temple of the Law were fervent in difficult times keeping order and giving security to the people. "How did they fall to this level..." (I) "So you noticed?" (Natasha) "It may not seem like it, but I was once a World Tree, there are few things I don''t know about this world." (I) "But I''m still amazed at how those of the Temple of Law fell." (I) "So you don''t know?" (Natasha) "That was before I was created, as far back as I can remember they are like that, twisting their beliefs to fit what they want without ever breaking their Laws." (I) "With the arrival of long periods of peace, the governments of the various nations were able to maintain control without constant help from the Temple of Law." (Natasha)CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m "Are you sure they''ll be there?" (I) "[Yes, but tell me something, how is my voice?]" (Nicole) "It''s strange, it seems like when I heard her voice on the ship giving the attack warning." (I) "[Damn, robotic voice doesn''t look good coming out of a crow, their magic is getting in the way.]" (Nicole) "Which way?" (I) "[27 meters to your right, then go forward another 35 meters.]" (Nicole) I continue to follow her indecisions for a few seconds while hiding my presence, then I see an area that looks normal just like the rest of the forest. "Are you sure it''s here?" (I) "[Yes, but are you sure he allowed it?]" (Nicole) "He said as long as they attacked I could do whatever I wanted, but without involving their Soul." (I) "I was going to hunt down some criminals with Lilith in the next town we passed, but since we have volunteers..." (I) "< Trees of Death >" (I) "< Demon Corpse Beasts >" (I) I place my hand on the ground while sending my Aura to every corner under the earth, in the middle of a forest it wasn''t difficult to find remains of bodies and parts of dead trees. It didn''t take long to use my Necromancer magic along with Demonic energy to turn everything that was once alive into Undead. Thin black trees emerge from the ground at the same time that rotting monsters come out of the ground, some missing body parts, the skeletons that emerge gradually have rotting flesh covering their bodies giving them a more hideous form. "Ahhhhhh..." "What is this...we''re under..." "A tree suddenly appeared... aahhhh!!!!" "That should be enough." (I) I point to the place that looks normal, the monsters attack and seem to pass through something that causes ripples in the space ahead before disappearing. I can hear the screams, the trees I made rise from the ground within their illusion, but the monsters I had to make go there. "Now that the vanguard has gone, my turn." (I) Chapter 925: A Judges Last Resort Chapter 925: A Judge''s Last Resort Pov Hela: As soon as I entered the barrier it wasn''t difficult to kill everyone, that''s because they were almost all mages with few Warriors. There is a reason why I used a Deadly Tree and Demonic Corpse Beasts, the trees are as strong as weapons and attack any living thing relentlessly from all sides except me while the Half Rotten Beasts also like to attack any living thing, but these Undead have the characteristic of spreading their odor around causing various abnormal effects such as necrotic poison, confusion and some types of diseases. As soon as I went through their illusion I saw the few Warriors trying to fight the 3 trees and without the time to fight the much weaker Rotten Beasts, but these monsters don''t need to be strong, they can spread the abnormal effects even dead while their bodies don''t are burned, moreover, they are numerous and do not know fear, they will continue to attack until no one suffers. "< Phantom Imprisonment >" (I) I got behind a Mage, he was using a Barrier, but it''s no use since the barrier is focused in front of him while I was behind, I gave a strong blow to his neck throwing him to the ground already unconscious and using a magic that creates rings of energy trapping him while slowly absorbing his energy. I didn''t want to waste my energy on a won battle, so I only used the moves the master taught me on these weakened enemies. The mages, having weaker bodies, were easy to knock unconscious, they noticed my presence, but they didn''t have time to use powerful spells being constantly attacked by hundreds of monsters, the more powerful a spell the more time it takes to use. I kept knocking them unconscious one after the other, some tried to run away, but I always took advantage of this to catch them off guard before trapping them in the same way with the first one. After that, I had to deal with Soldiers or Knights who weren''t able to get away from the trees that wouldn''t stop attacking long enough for them to flee. "These are all if I''m not mistaken there are 109 people, not all are human, many are from races with great vitality." (I) "[It was faster than expected.]" (Nicole) "The secret is to attack the vulnerabilities, they had the numerical advantage and many among them were of the same strength level as me." (I) "Now let''s get started, maybe I''ll do it above the forest, I don''t want to cause any problems in the wild." (I) "[Are you going to do it here?]" (Nicole) "No, this is just one of the preparations." (I) I build a large magic circle using the element of darkness and Demonic Energy, I used some Spiritual Runes I learned from Silvia at some points of the magic circle. After that, I throw several gold coins that dissolve into pure Energy before being absorbed by the magic circle while controlling it to go higher, enough to be a little distance from the tops of the trees. "That''s good, I''m wrapping up now." (I) Inside the magic circle, there are only dry lifeless bodies, I already took everything I wanted from them, after that I pull the Magic Crystal made from the Core of a Unique Lich, a Core of a Dark Elemental, the core of a normal Dragon and some Evil Seeds. The magic crystal was dark gray the size of my head when I threw it in the middle of the magic circle, and then the magic circle was sucked into it before coming back to me, now with a pattern drawn all over the crystal just like the magic circle of now little, the crystal is now black with some spheres of light inside. "This will be very useful, it will be worth everything I spent to gather the materials." (I) "[Hela, go back now, the Judge seems to be making his move, it looks like he was waiting for everyone to die before acting.]" (Nicole) "I''m going." (I) ---------------- Pov Zenos: I was sitting on the edge of the Ship watching the battle, the vessel if something unexpected happened I was ready to intervene anywhere, but to my surprise, the battle was very easy. The soldiers and Warriors fighting were too weak in numbers or explosive power to fight, but they lacked technique, adaptation, and combat experience, they were all too weak, and something is not right. "I know what you''re thinking, but that was to be expected, they are the reserves." (Ivan) "Like this?" (I) "The real fighters are at war, probably helping the Church of Light, they have an ancient alliance." (Ivan) "..." (I) "Little brother, it looks like the Judge is finally using his last resort, so get ready to fight." (Natasha) "What do you mean, last resort?" (I) "You didn''t think that idiot was standing by this whole time just calmly watching his men die for nothing, did you?" (Natasha) "I thought he was buying time waiting for backup..." (I) "No, this idiot like most Judges only thinks about himself, everything must be going as his plans wanted, at least that''s what he thinks." (Natasha) Chapter 926: A Judge Without Character Chapter 926: A Judge Without Character During the whole battle, I thought everything was very easy, apart from Lilith, no one was hurt since the enemies seemed so inexperienced in real combat. They had strength and training, but it was useless if they didn''t know how to take full advantage of their combat potential, their attacks are too concentrated in power and lacking in creativity making it easy to predict what they do, even I who am less than 5 years in this world can see that. But it wasn''t just them that intrigued me, the Judge who remained strangely calm as his men died was what had me worried, my sister seemed to know something, even Silvia seemed to know something, but I couldn''t hear them talking, my sister blocked my senses from getting close to them with its Aura. I didn''t waste much of my time looking elsewhere for more than a few seconds, that''s because his lack of reaction to his subordinates'' deaths worries me. Hela''s actions were a little more drastic than I had imagined when she came to me a few days ago with the results of her Necromancy research.Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com "So what are you going to do now?" (I) When I see Hela finishing off the last of the enemies, I keep an eye on the Judge, he gives a slight smile as his eyes fill with confidence, the wound that Freya made with her arrow has already healed with the potions he used, now it gives a step forward with the 3 others who were with him keeping their distance from him. My sister prevented anyone from attacking the Judge after Freya''s attack and prevented me from entering the battle until the end, it seems she wanted me to face the Judge at this time because of that last resort you just talked about. The judge takes the pendant from his chest that I imagine is the Crest of the God of Law and holds it up while smiling. "I am Michael, High Priest of the Temple of Law, Judge of the Temple of Law is a law enforcement tool to punish all criminals who destroy the order of the world!" (Michael) "Today I accuse and condemn the people present for the crimes of resistance to law enforcement, murder of servants of the law, disregard for the laws that maintain order in the world, and genocide before the presence of a Judge recognized by the Temple of the Law!" (Michael) "As a Judge, I take for myself the Authority of the laws here broken to apply condemnation to criminals who go against the order of the world!" (Michael) "< Holy Verdict >" (Michael) As the Judge spoke his Aura grew in power until it took over the entire surrounding area, I could feel his words gaining more weight with each "crime" he claimed we had committed, his Aura growing more powerful with each crime he spoke to in varying degrees. "You are a fool for going against our Temple of Law!" (Michael) "< Knights of Law >" (Michael) He raises his hand causing Holy power and Authority to condense materializing into a form of 4 Silver Knights in full armor, each of them holding a weapon, one of them wielding a two-handed sword, another wielding chains that had a metal ball with spikes at the end, another had two axes, and the last had a spear. As all that energy leaking out of his body becomes these 4 Horsemen along with the Authority that he borrowed with their laws, a barrier formed around him. "I condemn you and all your companions to death!" (Michael) The 4 Horsemen come to attack me, but in that moment when their weapons are about to touch me, they pierce through my body or should I say, the illusion that I left in my place when I step out beside the Judge giving a slash with my sword. "< Blade of Judgment >" (I) "This is pointless... but what..." (Judge) I use my Dark and Light power on my sword, while also putting my holy power and Authority, then I swung the sword with all my strength downwards hitting the Barrier, but the only thing I managed to do was make a slight crack. I use my wings to push away to get a space from these 4 Knights this Judge created. "(That thing is pretty sturdy, how can I get through that damn barrier... wait.)" (I) During the slash, I felt that the damage I dealt had disappeared, but it wasn''t negated or blocked, the feeling was different, then I realized that I only received 3 attacks when I ran away from close to the barrier. "(I see, a Knight''s duty is to uphold order and laws, the barrier only appeared after they emerged.)" (I) I look at the Knight with the two-handed sword, one of his arms is shaking, but I don''t feel afraid of him, in fact, I don''t feel any emotion from either of them, so it must have been my attack on the barrier. Chapter 927: A Bloody Practice Chapter 927: A Bloody Practice I had just realized that the damage on the barrier around the Judge was being transferred to the Knights somehow, so what I had to do was simple, finish off the 4 Knights before killing this damn Judge. "(I have to take care of them first.)" (I) "< Incarnation of Thunder >" (I) I felt the Thunder Element Ki coursing through my entire body integrating into me, my body was covered in lightning and suddenly things seemed a little slower before returning to normal. "< Thunderblade Rune >" (I)Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com I write the Runes on the blades of my sword and dagger before going on the attack, from their movement from before I realized that all 4 of them have the strength of a Bronze Grade Adventurer, so they must be around Lesser King Grade at the very least. I chose the thunder element for speed and explosive power, I am outnumbered and cannot maintain my current power for long periods of time. That''s why I was the first to attack, using my speed that is a little faster than them now, I ran into their midst, piercing my sword through the eye opening in the armor with the chains while my dagger pierces an opening in the Knight''s good arm with the two-handed sword. "Damn, I should...ghhhhh!" (I) I was knocked back by the metal ball from one of the Knights'' chain before being pierced by the spear that would have gone through my chest if it hadn''t dodged and hit my shoulder. "< Claws of Thunder >" (I) But I use my claws to break the spear as I spin away from these wretched Knights. "Fighting the law is futile..." (Michael) I decided to stop paying attention to this idiot, for a second I thought about asking my Familiars for help and looked at my Ship, my sister was smiling the same way she does during the beatings she calls training. "< Storm Barrier >" (I) I use two spells at the same time creating a barrier of water rotating at high speed and inside a spatial distortion in which I activated my Corrosion Skill making the space itself acidic, of course, I also used the power of my Authority to strengthen the two spells together with my Aura. "That should be enough..." (I) "You fool, do you think your tricks will work?" (Michael) "You''re insufferable, just shut the fuck up..." (I) "Damn it!" (I) "< Dragon''s Breath of Destruction >" (I) Soon a single half-melted Giant Armor comes out of the water sphere, it was more like a Golem now, it was made of melted pieces of armor, it had 5 arms and 3 weapons being the chain, the Ax, and the Spear that now has its tip replaced by the blade of the two-handed sword looking kind of wavy. I felt this thing trying to get out and I prepared myself before using a good part of my strength in a Multi Elemental breath attack using my Holy Power, I expected to finish him off with this attack, but he approached me very fast and when he was hit like this my attack opened a giant hole in his chest, but even so, he wasn''t defeated and his chain bound me before throwing me to the ground with force. Before I reached the ground, the large spear was thrown towards me, piercing my chest until it crossed and was stuck in the ground when it fell, forming a crater. "< Wind Bomb >" (I) "< Corrosive Shadow Prison >" (I) As soon as he came to attack me I threw a compacted wind sphere into the hole in his chest before making it explode sending pieces of armor everywhere, then I use the shadows in the surroundings to suck the pieces of armor in while it continues to fall apart by corrosion. So I look up, the panicked Judge looking my way as the barrier around him cracks more and more, so I stand and drink bottle after bottle of blood to recover faster. "Now I will deal with you." (I) Chapter 928: The Judge Has Been Judged! Chapter 928: The Judge Has Been Judged! Pov Alan: The way they all fight is different from me, half of them clearly haven''t received any kind of combat training, and even those who are mages use their spells in the middle of combat expecting openings. I may not agree with the genocide they are committing, but Bianca is right that this decision is not mine, I don''t have the power to force them to stop and I can''t think of any arguments that would convince Zenos to spare the people who came to do it bad for him. As the time all died and I saw the Judge make his move, this infuriated me even more, his men were numerous but clearly inexperienced, and he sent them to their deaths so that he could use this last resort, he distorts the Authority his God gave to the Clergy. A power to bring justice even in the most hopeless of days, now being used by sacrificing her own people, but I know Bianca is more enraged at this Judge than I am, as a Priestess, she cannot accept someone who holds a higher rank than her that she in another Religion do such macabre acts in a predetermined way. "We should do something! Why do you insist on standing still?" (I) "This is not our fight, can''t you see!? He''s going alone." (Bianca) I look at Zenos, but once he uses this weird Dragon transformation, it doesn''t take long for combat to start and my hatred for the Judge reaches new heights. "(As expected of a coward, he lets others fight for him until the end while hiding behind a strong barrier.)" (I) The fight was difficult, I know from the movements of the armor that they are empty, as they are not monsters, and they will not have Cores either, so they do not have any weak points. When he cut his own leg I saw his familiar spirit try to go to him, but the woman named Natasha doesn''t allow it, she knew from the beginning about this sacred magic, she even stopped Branca from talking about it earlier today. I keep watching Zenos fight, he is strong, but not as strong as me in terms of destructive power, but I must admit that he has something that I lack flexibility. He switches between fight and flight techniques with fluidity, he also knows when to use his spells or Abilities without interrupting his combat rhythm. But I didn''t understand those minutes where he was just defensive, there were many ways for him to get away, but as he didn''t do that he ended up taking hard hits, in the end, he ended up using some magic, I didn''t understand his magic choices, neither of them would hurt these types of enemies, but somehow there was something else, when the armor came out there was only one, moreover its giant half-molten body was similar to that of some Golems. "But I would never betray people who have given me their loyalty as you have, so I will find you guilty of treason against your subordinates." (I) "Your sentence will be a little experiment with that poor Leech, I''ve never tested that, and I didn''t want to test it either, but I think you''ve done your bit to get such a reward, so enjoy it for the time it takes for your brain to break down." (I) "He''s all yours, little one." (I) The Leech jumps out of my hand and seems to sprout wings as it flies at high speed and enters the middle of his forehead, then a 4-jeweled Leech tattoo appears on his forehead. I make a cocoon and then put a sound barrier around it before floating it along with me back to the ship where everyone''s eyes were on the cocoon. I try to float there without my wings that are still injured, but the closer I was getting to the ship, the more my vision became wavy and a feeling of weakness started to arise in my body. Cough! Cough!!! "Damn..." (I) Unaware of what was happening to my body, I started coughing up copious amounts of blood as internal and external wounds that I thought had healed reopened. "I think you''re more inattentive than I am if you haven''t noticed that." (Natasha) Cough! Cough!! "..." (I) I feel someone wrap their arms around me for support, then I feel myself being carried up and placed on a hard floor where many contours are around me. "(I feel like I''m back on the ship, I must have worried everyone now, but I don''t know what''s going on with my body.)" (I) "I could heal you, but that''s good practice too." (Natasha) Chapter 929: Definition Of Justice For Idiots Chapter 929: Definition Of Justice For Idiots Before I could reach the Floating Ship my body lost strength as I felt all the damage I thought I had healed returning, my mind was clear as the pain and weakness didn''t affect me as much mentally as it used to. My sister brought me to the ship where I was surrounded by blurred silhouettes, I could hear their voices and I knew they were my companions, but it was my sister who crouched next to me to tell her that she would not heal me. Even though I''m in such a difficult situation, this maniac still wants me to keep training. "You idiot, you thought the injuries those knights from before were normal? Did you forget what they were made of?" (Natasha) If I''m not mistaken the Knights from before were made of mana and Authority that that hypocritical Judge gathered, I think there was also Holy Power involved. "Your Holy Power will get rid of any holy damage, perks of being a Demigod, but Authority is different." (Natasha) "In many ways, Authority shares characteristics with Auras even though they are very different." (Natasha) "When injured by an enemy''s Aura-empowered attacks, the wounds can only be treated after expelling that intruding Aura, same with Authority." (Natasha) "(Is she telling me to use my Authority to expel that Knight''s Authority?)" (I) I didn''t even notice the Authority, I thought he only used it on the barrier since no Territory was created, but from what my sister is saying that''s not quite what happened. It seems that all of his attacks contained the Authority, I didn''t realize that before because I didn''t pay attention, I''m an idiot. I try to use my Aura and Authority to scan my body paying special attention to the places where I feel injuries. In a short time, I noticed the same Authority as before in my wings, chest, and several other wounds, but the worst was the chest wound from before, this wound had much more Authority and seemed to be worse than before it healed. I didn''t realize it before, maybe because I didn''t concentrate enough on these points before, the burst of healing from before was due to the large amount of blood I was drinking, but it was only superficial, in a few minutes the wounds opened up again leaving me in this state and getting worse. I try to focus on one place at a time like I''ve never done this before, starting with the smallest wounds using my Aura and Authority together to trap the invading power in a bubble before pushing it out of my body. ------------- 5 hours later, inside a room on the Floating Ship. Sigh I let out a sigh after finally pushing out the enemy Authority that was wreaking havoc in my lungs. "What a bad day." (I) I look at the Hero, his eyes are thoughtful, and it doesn''t look like he''s mad at me like he usually does, I wonder what he wants this time. "So, say what do you want to talk about?" (I) "My mate helped me realize something during this battle, I''m always judging everything by what I believe is fairness." (Alan) "From the Morror Continent, I distrusted you because your way of doing things didn''t follow any pattern I could understand, your motives for doing anything were ridiculous and yet the Elven leaders respected you." (Alan) "I didn''t like you and I thought it was because of the ease with which you killed or the ease with which you committed crimes." (Alan) "I''m not going to apologize for any of this, nor do you expect me to turn myself in to answer for these crimes you talk about." (I) "That''s not what I want to talk about." (Alan) "Today I finally understand why I don''t like you." (Alan) "You have your own justice, you do what you think should be done for the only reason you can." (Alan) "You don''t care about laws or rules anywhere and just follow your own justice just like today, even if I don''t agree." (Alan) He looks at his hand still thoughtful, I stay quiet to try to understand his reasoning and know what he''s talking about. "While you follow what you believe, I am that I was chosen as a Hero of Justice by the Great God Justhos, I am following what I was taught by others, I never stopped a second to think about the definition of justice and I always believed in what I was taught." (Alan) "I was angry with you out of envy, it took me a long time to realize that and now I don''t know what to do, I''m even doubting what I''ve learned." (Alan) Sigh "Wow, when I don''t think you can be more childish, you still manage to exceed my expectations." (I) "Definition of Justice... what a stupid thing." (I) "Let''s start a class and see if you mellow out a bit because I''m getting annoyed with you." (I) "The name of this class will be, Definition of Justice for Idiots and you will be my first student, I also hope you will be the last." (I) Chapter 930: Arash Face To Face With Luminus Chapter 930: Arash Face To Face With Luminus Pov Luminus (True Dragon Emperor of Light): I enter the throne room, to my surprise, it was half destroyed with claw marks, cuts, holes, and cracks everywhere, but I didn''t have much time to think about the surroundings when all my instincts forced me to stop. I could feel enormous pressure on me, but it wasn''t an Aura, Authority, or even murderous intent, it was just my own instincts trying to force me to run as if an enemy was right in front of me. I knew that not feeling any Authority, Aura, or murderous intent in this room meant that at least I could speak, but I also knew that he was trying to suppress his presence, which goes to show that his emotions are not in control at this point. My body was rigid forcing me to stand still for a few seconds, my eyes roamed almost throughout the room, which made me realize the destruction in the surroundings, but that was because there was only one place in the room that I didn''t want to look, the direction of where I felt eyes watching me right in front of me. "Approach... Dragon of Light." (Arash) "Luminus..." (Lux) "I... I know..." (I) Sigh I''ve walked too far to be gripped by fear now, I came here prepared to die if necessary, that won''t stop me. I squeeze my hand tightly as I take another step forward with great difficulty as I roll my eyes forward, sitting on a large stone throne decorated with black crystal scales was him in his Human form. A man 2 meters tall, two red eyes burning with hatred, black skin, ruffled short white hair, a muscular body full of black scales on his arms, and a sinister presence, even without his Aura or murderous intent I can still tell how much he hates me, every muscle in his body is tensed as he clenches both hands together. "(His hatred for me or should I say for my race is greater than I imagined.)" (I) He was forcing himself to stay still, I could see how hard he was trying not to attack me, he had trouble even saying the name of my race. I walk towards him a few more steps before kneeling down, but the moment my knee touches the ground I feel for a split second an Aura that seems to come from hell filled only with hatred and murderous intent fall on top of me, even My Authority trembled with this macabre presence, I couldn''t stop my body from shaking, but I didn''t move from my position with one knee on the ground, even though it took all my strength to keep myself that way. But that brief moment passed when I felt that Aura being pulled back before I stopped feeling it. "Shiro, a piece of trash that annihilated an entire city and enraged the Dark Elf King." (Arash) "Guess my surprise when I learned his true target!? Especially when I found out who sent him there!" (Arash) "He is a Traitor, I was foolish to trust him and sent a message in my place, I didn''t know he..." (I) "What a surprise, a traitor among the Dragons of Light, it seems that the passing of thousands of years has not changed anything." (Arash) "But say what you have to say, I will listen, I made that promise to her." (Arash) He doesn''t want to listen, just as I feared, most likely anything he says is pointless, talking about my innocence and my brothers would be pointless, the only reason I made it out of this territory alive every other time was because of this, but that doesn''t change his hatred for me. "(The most I can do is...)" (I) "I ask your forgiveness, I know that my tribe committed an unforgivable act in the past, something that can never be repaired was taken from you, I can say that you were not present as well as many others and the same can be said of the Fairy by my side, but I hope it at least gives you a chance to redeem..." (I) "TO REDEEM!!!????" (Arash) "You think you can redeem yourself before me!?" (Arash) He raises from his throne his Aura and Authority now exploding in fury, this time it lasted several seconds, enough to see what was deeper in his Aura, something that was masked by hatred and anger. What I felt was an endless sadness, an emptiness that would never be filled, just touching that aspect of her Aura made me almost go crazy. "You can ask the Dragon God for Redemption if you want, the only reason I didn''t hunt down every damn Light Dragon, Light Spirit, or Light Fairy was him and the other Gods sending people to stop me!" (Arash) "Nothing you two say or do will ever make up for what your people did to me!!!" (Arash) "What did you do to her!!!" (Arash) "Stop whining about her you idiot!"Chee?ck out latest novels at novelhall.com Chapter 931: What Would She Say? Chapter 931: What Would She Say? Pov Luminus (True Dragon Emperor of Light): The Dragon Emperor lost control as I spoke, it seems I didn''t choose my words well, but I couldn''t expect him to explode so quickly right at the beginning of the conversation, but before he could do anything a voice came from the balcony in pieces of the living room throne. "Stop whining about her you idiot!" Soon a woman appears, or perhaps I should call it a Spirit, a youthful appearance with wavy silver hair, skin as black as the fairest night, and eyes as blue as the ocean. She was only a Spirit Princess at best, she couldn''t really feel her strength while being crushed by the Dragon Emperor''s Aura, but she entered here as if it were her home, fearlessly walking towards us. "What are you doing here!?" (Arash) "I knew something like this would happen, I was lucky Caitlyn warned me before she left, she knew you wouldn''t be able to hold her temper." "Go away, this is a matter for the Dragons, you shouldn''t be here!" (Arash) I almost couldn''t move my neck, but I still did enough to see the Dragon Emperor turn his body to face this Spirit, also felt him pulling his Aura back inside his body releasing the pressure that was crushing my body. "Lux, are you..." (I) "I''m fine, he was more focused on you so be careful." (Lux) "You''re hopeless, after all this time and you still can''t spend 5 minutes looking at me." "I said go away!" (Arash) "Or what are you going to do? You can''t even look me in the eye." I didn''t expect to see the dominant Dragon Emperor from before acting like this now, at first I didn''t understand what was going on, but the more I looked at this Spirit, the more I realized who she was.Chee?ck out latest novels at novelhall.com "Lux, she is..." (I) "..." (Lux) I look at Lux, I can see the shame on her face as she looks down, just like me, she chose to carry the burden of her people, she took upon herself all the sins our predecessors did, it means the shame of that day. "You should listen to them, you know it has nothing to do with that day..." "What do you know about that day!?" (Arash) "Nothing more than vague memories, but manage to comprehend what they did! I should have exterminated every damn thing" (Arash) "ARASH!!!!" "Seeing one of the people he cares most about acting so childishly, blaming the innocent and attacking people who are bowing down and asking for forgiveness for things they didn''t even do!" "You two, go away, come back in 2 days when things calm down." "But I must at least..." (I) "If you want him to listen, then go back when I told you, if you continue, you''ll only get a pointless death, so go." "Thank you, Spirit of Dark Nights." (Lux) Lux grabs my arm to force me out with her. ------------- Pov Arash: I let those two go, I''m not in the mood to kill today and sit back on my throne while keeping my hand over my eyes. "Just go away! Looking at you is..." (I) "Say, for once in my life, finish saying." (Stella) "You look so much like her, your hair, your eyes, your face, and even her voice..." (I) "But even so, you''re not her..." (I) "I will never be her, I also know that nobody expects that, not even you." (Stella) "Why are you here!?" (I) "Why are you regressing, the you you are now looks like the same one that had to be sealed away for centuries to not commit something you would regret." (Stella) "I know that meeting your daughter didn''t just bring back good memories, but you don''t want her to see a father like that." (Stella) "Leave Nix out of this." (I) "Turbulent moments are near, it''s time to forget the past to be able to look ahead." (Stella) "I will never forget that day." (I) Sigh "Looks like this is going to be as difficult as I thought." (Stella) Chapter 932: Experience Life And Grow Chapter 932: Experience Life And Grow "The name of this class will be, Definition of Justice for Idiots and you will be my first student, I also hope you will be the last." (I) I still can''t believe this idiot came all this way for such an idiotic reason, how does he not notice something so obvious? "Follow me." (I) "Where are we going." (Alan) I look at him before getting up and heading towards the door beckoning him to follow me, I''m tired of being in this room. If you''re going to have that kind of philosophical teenage talk, let it be with a pretty view at least. I go to the outside of the Floating Ship, open it, then jump onto the sails where I sit leaning back as if on a tree rooster while leaning back on part of the sail, the Hero of Justice sits a little in front of me looking at me. Before saying anything I look into the distance, and I can see the 3 Ships of the Church of Light that we defeated today, by the lights I know that it is still being dismantled, it seems that Nicole wants to take everything she has. "Why did you want to come here?" (Alan) "Because your question was kind of stupid, that''s the kind of thing that anyone knows without asking someone else, or at least I thought so." (I) I look at the sky, unfortunately, today is a little cloudy with clouds, it must rain these days I think, and because of that, only some parts of the starry sky are visible along with 1 of the two Moons. "Your earlier comment is wrong on so many levels that I needed some fresh air before saying where you''re going wrong." (I) "For starters, you''re overthinking something that comes naturally, that''s the main problem." (I) "What do you mean thinking too much?" (Alan) "What you call justice has many names, personal rules, character boundaries or right and wrong." (I) "Each person has their own definitions about these things, but to live with other people you have to accept certain basic rules, that''s how laws came about, unfortunately, that''s also how some people started using those laws to manipulate people, but I digress now." (I) "This is something that every elderly person knows, with every difficulty you go through in life, this "Justice" will be hammered again and again, what remains, in the end, will be what you are looking for, your own Justice." (I) I spoke every word looking into his eyes, I gave examples from my own life for him to understand, the truth is that I don''t care much about him, but maybe that''s one of the habits of when I was in the orphanage, I can''t see someone lost trying to find a way without extending a hand. He may be an idiot but he''s not an enemy, I also respect his work to help people, as long as he doesn''t keep pissing me off I can consider this conversation as an exchange of experiences. I look at him to see how he took everything I said, I can see in his eyes that he''s thinking about everything I said but he won''t come to a conclusion now, this is the kind of question you think about your whole life, I myself still think about it in hopes of not straying too far from the correct path. "How do you define right and wrong? Where to draw the line not to cross?" (Alan) "These are good questions and I wish you the best of luck finding the answers, as they are things only you can answer." (I) "But let me say my point of view, right and wrong or good and bad, it''s often a matter of views." (I) "If you consider white on one side and black on the other side, then say which side is good while the opposite side will be evil, do you know what''s left in between?" (I) "A gray line not to be crossed." (Alan) "Wrong you idiot, a gray abyss we all live in, good and evil are extremes, what''s in between is almost all there is, but that''s something I believe, feel free to find your own answer." (I) I jump on the ship''s sail and go inside to hunt for something to eat in the kitchen, that is if I can find the kitchen. "It was a beautiful speech, master." (Nix) "No, it was awful and clichd, but it still makes sense to me and it should work for him." (I) "Now let''s move on to more important things, where is the kitchen? I''ve run out of food and I''m hungry." (I) "I''ll guide you through here." (Nix) I start to follow Nix out of my shadow as I think about what I''m going to eat. Chapter 933: Weird Dreams Chapter 933: Weird Dreams It took us the rest of the night to get everything of value from the attacks we suffered that day, Nicole didn''t want to leave anything useful behind and Hela took the opportunity to get the bodies, she said that all that meat would be useful to her later in the ritual she was going to do. The next few days after that weren''t too bad, we managed to get to the town that was on our route as planned without facing another big problem, which was awesome. I had a lot of time to relax from all the training I usually do and took the opportunity to study a little more about Spiritual Runes, the study of Runes has more to do with understanding certain concepts than theoretical study itself. If I had to explain I would say that the Runes are the feeling of what I feel about the meaning of the Rune, this is different from magic where everything can be studied and controlled with precision. While I spent my time like this with help from Silvia and Nix, the Hero spent his days thoughtfully, Hinata told me that he talked to many people on the Ship about different hypothetical situations, it seems he is trying to understand his path while comparing himself to many others. observing the different choices of each one, a very rational way of doing this, I''m sure this idea didn''t come from him, that Priestess must have told him to do it. Having a few quiet days during the trip, I had time to spend with the girls, unfortunately, I''ve been spending little time with them, so I took advantage of these days to give them all the attention they deserve. ---------------- Pov Kira: "How long do you plan on sleeping? You''ve been sleeping for days the last few months." (I) "Lately the memory of my past has been easier to recall while I was sleeping." (Byakko) "In the album attacks days ago you didn''t even participate." (I) "I realized, but it seemed like everything was under control, so I went back to sleep, I''ve been learning a lot from my dreams." (Byakko) I was talking to Byakko while we were running through the forest in front of the Floating Ship to explore the area, we are doing this because in the city we passed Lilian discovered that there were suspicious troop movements near the city. Knowing how lucky Zenos is, everyone agrees that we should be extra careful and some of us are urging the surroundings. "Just be prepared next time." (I) "I learned some new tricks from my memories, we''d better practice a little." (Byakko) "Hang on." (I) "< Luminous Court >" (I) "..." I was in the middle of the battle, I was part of the troops under the direct command of the Executioner of Light, after the Warrior Priest, the One Man Army appeared preventing our plans, and our leader fought against him several times for days. Meanwhile, we follow his orders to attack the next city and end their resupply. Now I was inside the city, they had almost nobody defending the city and so it was easy to force our way, we soon realized that there were almost no Humans in the city with the few there snooping alongside the Inferior Races. Fighting broke out and it was an easy victory, they were outnumbered and were defending the townspeople who tried to flee. I was attacking with everything I had killing these inferior races, but in the end, they managed to flee too far from the city and I had to go back, I didn''t understand the language of this Kingdom, but I could understand the horrible things they said by their expressions. When I got back the rest of the troops were preparing for the next part of the plan. ------------- Pov Zenos: "Are you saying we can''t change course?" (I) "It would take more days of travel to reach the Floating Island." (Klaus) "Unfortunately of the 3 we walked, one is very suspicious, the other is too close to the Battlefield, and the last one that seems the safest would increase the travel time a lot." (I) "I think it''s best to follow the path Kira explored." (Karina) "But it''s very suspicious, those people from the Church of Light are close by that route, Kira saw one of her lookouts in the area." (I) "At least it would be a known risk, you could prepare." (Klaus) "I''ll see first what we''re dealing with." (I) With that, I leave the room to look for Hinata, Kira, and Lilian who went to gather information, I wanted to know more about this route before making a decision. Chapter 934: Prove Whose Side Youre On Chapter 934: Prove Whose Side You''re On I was next to Klaus in a room, Hinata was next to me, and I was saying everything Kira told me earlier while showing Klaus an area pope. "It looks like they split into two groups, the largest group is outside the city, about 20 minutes walk from the city." (I) "The second group is only made up of mages, they are building a big magic circle inside the city." (I)CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m "It looks like some of the city''s population escaped, but most are dead." (I) "This city''s position is between the strong city on the border of the Kingdom and the capital, have they already destroyed the city on the border?" (Klaus) "No, the battle is still going on there, plus it looks like there are some heavyweights fighting there from the information we got on our last stop." (I) "Do you know the magic circle they are using?" (Klaus) "No, but I already sent someone to our specialist to find out, but I suspect it''s a teleportation or summoning spell." (I) "You think it''s a pincer attack to wipe out the town on the border, don''t you?" (Klaus) "Yes, but you don''t think so." (I) "You''re right in one sense, that magic circle is called Summoning the Army of Light, they can reposition troops very fast because of that magic circle." (Klaus) "What they want is to attack the capital." (Klaus) "Why?" (I) "I don''t know, we don''t have enough information, but why only talk to me?" (Klaus) "Because others are preparing and I needed someone to think along with me about their movement." (I) "I knew you would have investigated by now, you just need to send your Familiar." (I) "I want to kill them, I don''t want to let them carry out this plan." (I) The Church of Light is the enemy, any opportunity I can give a surprise kick I will take advantage of. I just wanted to have a peaceful trip, but it seems impossible, I even think there might be a target on my back. ---------------- I knew that no Dragon would ever forget the mistakes my tribe made in the past, especially the Dragon Emperor. For that, I was willing to soil my claws with the blood of my brothers and always be branded an Assassin of my own tribe. "It may prove so, show that they are renegades, it will work for other races to see you as allies, but it won''t be enough for the other Dragons." (Arash) "We can accept the Fae who show their power in this war, but you and the other Dragons of Light will be judged for the betrayal of that day." (Arash) "What do I need to do then, if necessary I am willing to die if my brothers can return to our home." (I) I was prepared to die from the start, dying to give my brothers another chance is not a bad way to go. "No, you, as well as others must become an example, you must bear Akatosh''s mark on your bodies." (Arash) "..." (I) Carrying the symbol of the Dragon God on our bodies is the same as placing us as his representatives, that would be more than an oath, it would be a servitude even after death. "I accept." (I) "Luminus..." (Lux) "Don''t feel sorry for him Fairy of Light, we can accept you again as an ally as they always were in the past, but the Goddess of Fairies is not known for her mercy." (Arash) "I know, my people''s sentence is done, a rebirth with only one left to remember." (Lux) She had to kill all of her people by forcing a spiritual rebirth with her own hands, she was left to lead them herself after being reborn. "Before you go, know that he still lives, be prepared to meet him one day." (Arash) "Him?" (I) "Rhaegal the traitor." (Arash) "Alive..." (I) Rhaegal, the former leader of the True Dragons of Light, the one who caused our people to betray our own race and nearly be wiped out. The fury and hatred I always felt for this traitor was awakened at this moment, there is no Dragon of Light that does not know this despicable name. But I look at the Dragon Emperor, and I know that even the hatred of all my people cannot compare to his hatred, I now understand his outburst that day. Chapter 935: Merchant Ship? Chapter 935: Merchant Ship? Pov Arash: After I make the two traitors leave I can no longer contain my anger and create a Territory around me to contain the explosion of my Aura in the surroundings just for this throne room. "That''s not enough, nothing will ever be enough to earn my trust!" (I) "Calm down boy, you did well, acted like a true ruler." (Akatosh) A young man with 3 large crystal horns on his head, golden eyes, white skin, and black hair, he wears simple clothes like residents of farmers'' villages, but his eyes filled with a strength and confidence that knows no bounds would not fool anyone. He walked through the space that shattered into his body form as he simply walked out through the space to appear in front of me. "I should have killed them..." (I) "You can say what you like, but it wasn''t my decision to let them live in the past and it wasn''t now either." (Akatosh) "I had the other Dragons arrest and seal you back then to keep you from destroying yourself with all those continuous battles." (Akatosh)CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m "I know... but that Spirit is right, she wouldn''t want to see me kill someone who wasn''t part of the events of that day." (I) "You did the right thing today, the reason I didn''t interfere in this matter was my trust in you that you always knew the right thing to do." (Akatosh) "You say that, but if it was up to me, maybe I would have killed them both." (I) "But it didn''t." (Akatosh) I look up at the youth shorter than me, the Dragon God Akatosh, whose mere presence within my Territory is causing the space to crack little by little. "Enemies are many in this current age, and the Church of Light is only 1 of them, as leader of the Dragons you always knew you would need more allies, so don''t turn down someone who could become a valuable ally because of your prejudices." (Akatosh) "I know, that''s why I did it, I said the traitor''s name to know which side he was on." (I) I spoke the name of the ancient Dragon of Light that led his tribe at that time, Luminus'' reaction was more explosive than I expected, but it showed that he is not allied with that traitor. "I would have killed him here if his reaction was different." (I) "I want to know something, did you know he was alive?" (I) "Yes." (Akatosh) "To show the opening she left, I could have won there if I wanted to, but I was afraid of hurting her too much." (I) "Could have killed her, looks like she needs more training." (Diana) Diana understood what I was going to do as usual, if it was a real fight I could have gathered blood in my mouth before it crystallized into the form of a dart or needle that would pierce the target''s head at this close range. Even without using skills, I could have pulled out one of my nails or teeth to use as a projectile at this distance, my lungs are strong not only from my current strength but also because of being a Dragon. While I was talking with Diana and Karina, the Hero decided to approach me while his friend Priestess was tying up her other maniac friend with chains. "I wanted to ask you something if it''s not a problem." (Alan) "Just say what you need to, but if it''s another class on justice bullshit and stuff I''m going to decline." (I) "It''s nothing about that, you were right that I need to find the answers myself, what I want to ask is something else." (Alan) "Then you can talk." (I) "I saw your fight training with that Demon, your way of fighting is strange, you manipulate your opponent in certain points and in others you deceive them, where I trained they would call it dirty fighting." (Alan) "Clearly they''re idiots." (I) "Yes, any Adventurer must know how to trick his opponents during a fight." (Diana) "A real battle has no rules, restricting your choice of moves is the same as fighting with restrictions." (Karina) "Both are right." (I) "I agree with you, in Coliseum City I saw many fighting like Zenos and I lost many times to this type of opponent in the Coliseum." (Alan) "That''s why I wanted to know if I can train with you, I need an opponent of at least equal strength to train with, plus you''ve demonstrated exactly the kind of practical techniques I need to learn both to use and to defend myself with." (Alan) What he''s saying doesn''t sound bad, maybe I can learn a little from him too, knowing how a Hero fights for example. "Alright, we can train..." (I) "Master, a Floating Ship belonging to a merchant company stopped beside us and asked for a meeting." (Freya) "Floating Merchant Ship?" (I) Chapter 936: Sharp Eyes Chapter 936: Sharp Eyes I was in the Floating Ship''s training room when Freya appeared saying that another Floating Ship was standing next to us and they are a Trade Ship. I followed Freya out while the others stayed in the room, Diana wanted to come with me but I thought it best to see who these people were first. I was still a little sweaty and in my training clothes, but I didn''t care as I was led outside by Freya. As soon as I arrived on the deck of the ship, I noticed that there was another ship less than half the size of ours standing next to us. This Ship was completely made of metal with green paint, there was also a symbol of an open chest with a parchment and pen inside, it must be their symbol, I guessed. "This is Mr. Leonsio and his daughter Isabela." (Freya) "Nice to meet you, I''m Zenos, I''m the leader of this Ship." (I) "Nice to meet you, I''m Leonsio, head of the company Negcios de Ouro." (Leonian) "This lovely young woman is my daughter Isabela, greet the lord Zenos my daughter." (Leonian) "Nice... nice to meet you..." (Isabela) The man was a Beastman from the Rabbit Tribe, he wore glasses and a cloak that looked like it was made with high quality fabric. The girl he presented as his daughter was also of the same race and had very similar features, really appearing to be father and daughter. She seemed to be shy hiding behind her Leonsio, and also looked to be less than 6 years old by the looks of it, I couldn''t help but close my eyes for a few seconds to control my emotions seeing these two. "Are you all right?" (Freya) "Yes, I''m just a little tired from training." (I) "I apologize for showing up in this state, I was training when I was told we had visitors." (I) "I must apologize, we suddenly appeared near you." (Leonian) "(Master, we are in the midst of preparing for battle, we shouldn''t have people here now.)" (Nix) "(There are still a few hours left for everything to be ready, Klaus was going along with his daughter to investigate the city, so we have time.)" (I) "I would like to know why Mr. Leonsio approached us?" (I) Little Isabela had a purple liquid with a horrible smell coming out of the wound, it didn''t look like blood, I don''t think this body should even have blood inside anymore. "Disguising yourself as a child is useless with those eyes." (I) "Looks like you have pretty sharp eyes." (Isabela) From the moment I looked into its eyes I knew this thing wasn''t a child, its eyes were empty and it didn''t have any kind of emotion, but it''s still very expressive with its body, expressive in excess. Also, I hadn''t smelled blood on her, as a Vampire I got used to smelling blood still inside people''s bodies as long as I was close enough, but I didn''t smell anything from this child. But even without telling you all that, I refuse to believe that there is a father who would take his young daughter inside a strange, unmarked Floating Ship, with several types of races and an unknown Vampire. All this without bringing their escorts, this made no sense from the start. "Now tell me, how many innocents are inside that Ship Mister Shadow?" (I) "The ship is empty, it was just a way to get closer." (Lord of Shadows) The child''s body darkens when his shadow begins to climb up his leg until it takes over his entire body. "What do you want with me?" (I) "I want you to stop interfering, it seems like you''re always in the worst possible places." (Lord of Shadows) "I have a unique luck, what can I do." (I) "Ahhh!!!" (I) "Did you really think I wouldn''t notice? I''m immune to curses." (Lord of Shadows) While we were talking to him my tail was still inside his body, I was trying to cast a curse on him, but I failed. "Next time it won''t just be a warning." (Lord of Shadows) With that, the child''s body turns to dust, and the man who pretended to be a merchant was dead, I felt some kind of curse activate before his neck broke, when I looked at the Ship the supposed Adventurers were on the ground with the crooked lesbian. "He cleared the trail." (I) I was furious when I saw a child''s body being manipulated by that creature, but I needed more time to find out more, this bastard is exactly as Klaus described it. Chapter 937: Fair Division Chapter 937: Fair Division After confirming that Floating Ship was completely empty and without anything of use, I went back inside the Ship where I found a Hero looking at me doubtfully and Klaus waving with a smile on his face. "You did well, but why did you lie to the Lord of Shadows?" (Klaus) "Why would I tell him the truth of how I found him? I''d rather he believe that lie and keep being careless." (I) "You lied? Then how did you know that child was a disguise?" (Alan) "Not everything was a lie, but they are things that I realized later, the truth is that I felt the curse in everyone''s bodies except the girl, not to mention that I couldn''t feel her Aura." (I) "You shouldn''t give information to an enemy, that was just a Familiar, the real one wouldn''t come here." (Klaus) "But it looks like he''s doing his best to make this war last as long as possible." (Klaus) "Do you know anything about this?" (I) "I know, but there''s no use talking about it now, we have another problem." (Klaus) "Come on, let''s talk inside." (I) ------------- Kira''s Father gives very bad news, it seems that the people of the Church of Light are not so unprotected. He has 2 people with the same strength as Klaus along with the army, while he has 3rd in the city and seems to be a Space Element Mage. "That would be enough for me to change my plans, we shouldn''t get involved in that." (I) "I could hold off the other two who are Templars, but a space element mage would be a problem." (Klaus) "They would just be targets of opportunity for us, but even if we don''t fight directly, there might still be something we can do." (I) "How long for them to activate that magic circle?" (I) "A few hours, if you''re thinking of asking for help, there wouldn''t be time." (Klaus) "Aid wouldn''t exactly be an ally, in fact, there''s a high chance I''d be the first target." (I) In the room, there was only me, Klaus, Nix, and Freya. The two are not interfering in the conversation, but when I brought up an idea, I felt their attention on my face, I know I''m not very reliable in these situations as my plans are a little reckless, but let''s see how this plan goes. "What I''m thinking about is..." (I) --------------- After some time of discussion where I told my plan, Klaus was thinking with his eyes closed, but Nix and Freya have their hands on their face and I feel like they are thinking bad things about me by the way they look at me. "I take you." (Nix) Nix takes Freya using the Spirit Gate in my shadow, leaving me alone with Klaus. "This plan has another problem, the number of people." (Klaus) "I know, I''m still thinking about who else to use." (I) "I''m thinking of leaving that army outside the city to rica, Jade, Irius, and Irina while a few others take care of the rest in the city." (I) "4 people against an army?" (Klaus) "I know, it''s not fair to the army, rica lacks self-control in combat." (I) ------------ Pov Alan: I was in the dining hall with Bianca, since I entered this Ship, or rather, since I entered that city of Dragons, I have learned more about the world than I have in my entire life. Today''s fight scene was something that surprised me, Zenos wasn''t the only one being creative with the attacks, that Demon called Ibuki was also trying to win, but Zenos could understand what she was doing or adapting during the fight to avoid her attacks. He won by taking advantage of her mistakes every time, he was showing her where to focus her training. Furthermore, there was also that Floating Ship, I didn''t realize they were enemies and I almost attacked Zenos when I saw the child being injured. Sigh "Thanks for stopping me, but early." (I) "You don''t think straight when kids are involved." (Bianca) "Did you realize they were enemies?" (I) "No, but I knew they were strangers, I couldn''t feel anything from them, their Aura of justice didn''t exist." (Bianca) "How is this possible?" (I) "I only know of one way to do this other than the power difference being too high." (Bianca) "Slaves, all were slaves of that creature, as such, all their acts were because of the creature and the Aura of justice rests on it." (Bianca) "Hey, are you here? We''re being called." (Darcia) "What happened?" (I) "They want us to participate in the attack." (Darcia) Chapter 938: Where Did That Come From!? Chapter 938: Where Did That Come From!? Pov Light Templar: "What should we do if someone shows up?" (Soldier A) "No one will show up you idiot, the rest of the troops are close by, they will stop anyone who approaches." (Soldier B) "He''s talking about the truly strong enemies you idiot, like Silver Grade or maybe even Gold Grade Adventurers." (Soldier C) "That''s exactly my concern, they''re taking too long with this magic circle." (Soldier A) "Many people managed to flee the city, the siege did not go as well as we had hoped." (Soldier C) "They are worrying too much, we are normal Soldiers, leave that concern to the people in charge, besides, we have strong people on our side too." (Soldier B) "You three! Stop talking and go patrol!" (I) "Sir, yes sir!" (all) I was passing between the houses where the merchants seem to have lived looking for survivors who couldn''t escape, and that''s when I heard these three Soldiers talking in an alley. I know everyone is tired, our journey here, then the attack, and now the state of alert until the magic circle activates. The troops are exhausted, and so am I, but I can''t let anyone relax until we finish these damn Fiends. "They are right to be afraid, but that''s why everyone should do their best, it''s all for Baldr''s glory." (I) The attack a few days ago led by the Executioner of Light was a gimmick, the Inquisitors have creative ways of fighting that a Templar like myself wouldn''t think of. When our army was teleported to the other side of that city, we followed the plan and we divided so that they thought it was a pincer attack, with that we hid the presence of our troops who came to that city without drawing attention, we had to be quick because the every second we ran the risk of being discovered. Now that our plans are almost finalized everyone is on edge, but I can''t blame them, I haven''t had a decent night''s sleep in days. I arrive at the center of the city where the camp is in the middle of the magic circle, the High Priest in charge has Affinity with three elements being Light, Space, and Fire. He is the strongest within the city, the others who are my Commander and his son are along with the rest of the troops outside the city. "Global coin boxes must be taken to the 7 points marked on the map, don''t forget not to touch the magic crystal that I left in these places." (High Priest) "Yes, High Priest!" (Wizards) What was coming was a Gatekeeper of Death, these monsters are only found inside a Cursed Dungeon, they are Specter-type Undead and at the same time Demons, they are the union of countless fragments of tormented Souls. This thing that is more than 30 meters tall can summon countless Undead around it while spreading a poisonous mist in the surroundings. His body is resistant to magic and almost immune to physical attacks, his Aura makes any living being scared with fear, but worst of all is his ability to open a door to the world of the dead bringing entire hordes of enemies. He is a large mass of twisted flesh in an almost humanoid shape with purple armor, he has no weapons other than his large claws and long arms, his large body does not mean slow, he is fast. "All together!" (I) "< Magic Combination: Sword of Light >" (Soldiers and Templars) "< World of Light >" (High Priest) I, along with the other Templars and Soldiers, combined our magic into one creating a great sword of light, this is normally a magic for military use in wars to face stronger enemies, so it is perfect in this situation, unfortunately, the mana expenditure is very high and we cannot use magic crystals without a ritual magic circle. The High Priest knowing that he is an Undead uses his holy magic creating a field of holy light that occupies the entire city, this will disrupt this monstrosity preventing him from using his most feared skill. The monster didn''t stand still receiving the attacks, it stretched out one of its arms and grabbed the blade of the light sword, the problem with a group spell like this is the control, so it was difficult to make it let go. "< Streams of Holy Light >" (High Priest) "< Purifying Light >" "< Holy Light Burst >" "< Sun Rain >" Hundreds of magic circles appear around the creature holding onto its body, I signal for everyone to deactivate the magic so as not to waste our strength without reason at the same time as the Mages'' attack begins. But the creature let go of the chains in seconds, it was enough time for our spells to hit him, but the damage was very little and he continued the attack. As I ran towards us, Ghosts were appearing, but as the surroundings were filled with holy light thanks to the High Priest, the Ghosts were disappearing just as easily as they appeared. "< Closed Space >" (High Priest) But even with the High Priest using his magic to defend us, we immediately realized that it was no use, the creature''s claws broke through the spatial barrier killing several Mages. "Don''t stop attacking!!!!" (I) Chapter 939: How To Burn Money Fast Chapter 939: How To Burn Money Fast I was inside an illusory barrier next to the city occupied by the Church of Light, this illusory barrier was made by Silvia using nature''s energy, so it must be extremely difficult to realize what we will be doing here. Those who came with me are my two daughters Silvia and Lilith, Hela, and Rakan and my Family members also came. "Nira was enraged." (I) "The master is using 68% of all global coins in the treasury with this plan, money for which she already had plans for the next decade." (Rakan) "We can always get more money." (I) "You mean steal more money." (Nix) "We can sell some stuff, there''s a lot of useless stuff in the dungeon''s treasure room." (Orion) "There''s nothing useless in there, it''s just stuff we don''t need right now." (Sakura) "Useless..." (Hinata) "There are many rare items, they may not be useful now, but the time will come when they will be useful." (Hela) "You say that because you''re always going to get things there without talking to Nira." (Layla) "I just take what I need and always talk to the master." (Hela) "He says yes to almost everything, he doesn''t even know the work Nira does." (Nix) "Can you guys stay focused? I''m designing an untested ritual magic circle to summon something evil with intent to destroy a city, I don''t want to accidentally activate this thing with everyone inside the magic circle." (Lilith) "Are you okay Lilith? Are you sure you aren''t feeling sick?" (I) "I''ve never seen that maniac speak so seriously." (Ragnar) "She wanted to use this magic circle for a long time, she''s looking forward to it." (Hela) "Of course I''m excited, imagine what kind of creature will come out of this, could it be a giant skeleton, maybe even some kind of Demon? I''m so curious." (Lilith) Her eyes sparkled with the hypotheses that popped into her mind as she spoke. When I regain consciousness I see a crack in space from which a thick black mist and a sinister cold come out in the surroundings, then a deformed hand with claws appears and I see everyone jumping in my shadow accompanied by Fairies. I felt the weight on me increase as they left, I felt the surge of magic coming out of the magic circle affecting my body as purple veins burst and spread across my body from my hands. "Argh!!!" (I) I feel the magic spiraling out of control, but that''s to be expected, but I just need to keep it from exploding. GGGGHRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!! At that moment he looks at me and roars, he was a giant of twisted and rotten flesh, his arms much longer than normal and wearing armor, and his Aura only contained death and madness. When his Aura hit me I felt my own Aura being torn to pieces, the only reason I resisted was my authority that protected me. "(Nix, now!)" (I) When I saw the creature almost completely exit the rift in space, I gave the command to Nix who poked his Dragon head out of the shadows and swallowed my entire body. The next thing I know is the secure room on the first floor of the Dungeon, my body numb and stiff. "Are you okay, master?" (Hela) "No, but I will stay." (I) My body was suffering from the strong cursed energy and death, they are the kind of things that will take me a while to recover from. I could feel that creature latching on to me, I hope Nix manages to escape. "Help me back to the Common Temple." (I) "As you wish, master." (Hela) "How long does the summoning last?" (I) "No time, he needs to be defeated." (Hela) "..." (I) Chapter 940: The Hero Enters The Battle Chapter 940: The Hero Enters The Battle Pov Klaus (Moon Butcher): I was watching from afar when the creature appeared, I didn''t expect it to be a Gatekeeper of Death, that would be a very bad idea if it was any enemy other than the Church of Light. I expected the monster to be almost dead, just as I imagined, the monster withstood the attacks and wore down the people of the Church of Light. But even though they have magic resistance, the weakness of all Undead has always been holy power and the element of light. "Just a little more..." (I) I had to wait for the monster to be almost defeated since it would be impossible for me to defeat this thing. When I see one of his legs get caught in space currents, I attack. "< Moon Killer''s Cloak >" (I) "< Moonshadow Dagger >" (I) I cover my body with a skill that increases my acculturation to the limit, then I run between the enemies until I get behind the spatial element mage, by his clothes he must be a High Priest. "< Space Lock >" "Did you really think I hadn''t noticed you?" "Using such a monster as a distraction revealed that Assassin was hiding." "(Now...)" (I) "< Space Barrier >" "Stop giving me trouble...gahh!!!" When I went to attack him from behind, I felt the space around me freeze, so I listened to him speak while focusing more of my spiritual energy on my dagger that I threw at him. As expected from a Mage of this level, he erected a barrier and protected himself, but my dagger still managed to make a hole in his barrier, at that moment the shadow of the dagger moves towards him becoming a black Serpent biting his face. "They always fall for it." (Naraka) "Let''s go." (I) Naraka''s bite contains a special spiritual poison, it ignores most non-spiritual resistance abilities, and it has the ability to corrupt the Soul. For someone who has already expended more than half of his strength in battle and expended almost all of his holy power, there''s no way he could recover from a fast-acting poison like this. As I walk away I notice healing spells being cast at him, but none of that will work on a spiritual technique. At that moment, hundreds of Great Wolves made of purple flames began to attack the army of light. My brother helps me with defense by strengthening the wall I created around us. "Looks like there were more of them hidden, as we suspected." (Nicole) "Where were they?" (I) "A barrier that just fell apart, they''re going where you are." (Nicole) "Looks like being suspicious pays off sometimes." (I) One of my Father''s Inferior Familiars in the form of a crow lands on my shoulder crossing the barrier I put up, so Nicole, who is still on the Ship following the whole situation from afar, starts talking about the progress of the plan. -------------- Pov Alan: I, who was on top of a tree, see the large creature attacking the city while several spells and skills are directed towards it, then I look elsewhere when I feel a wave of magic that did not come from the city, this one came from not far away, then a barrier dome that was previously invisible to me comes into view as it falls apart. Behind this barrier were hundreds more enemies, this time all with strength equal to or greater than Lesser Catastrophe Grade. "Is ready?" (Diana) "I think I better be, because they already noticed us." (Karina) "Let me get started." (I) "< Awakening of the Hero of Justice >" (I) "< Field of Judgment >" (I) I feel my power boil as I strengthen my body beyond the limits of my level in compensation for my expended energy, as I spread my Aura while casting Holy Magic in the area. My magic creates a field where no amount of Auras Less than mine can go against mine while lowering the defense of those who have a guilty conscience of their crimes or at least aware of their crimes. I run to the nearest enemies that have guilty Auras, killing them was easy, but there were still many others to go against and not all of them are going to be that easy. "Blade Shield" (Darcia) Out of nowhere, spears are hurled at me, but Darcia launches a flying blade of energy that spins in front of me to parry the attack. "Don''t lose your mind and stick around." (Bianca) "Let''s see how far I can go." (I) Chapter 941: Fierce Battle Part 1 Chapter 941: Fierce Battle Part 1 Pov Irina: The barrier I used was taking too many hits early on to the point where it was taking a lot of mana to maintain, which wouldn''t have been possible if my brother hadn''t reinforced the barrier. But as time passed they no longer had the opportunity to attack us, Jade spread poison everywhere making those with healing spells waste their strength. rica was controlling direwolves of cursed fire, her wolves were very strong and fast, but her defenses were weak. When the first Wolf was defeated they found out why the Wolf''s defense was so weak, and that''s why the defeated Wolf exploded spreading its flames over a large area. These flames burn not only the body but burn the Ana within enemies. "< Reflective Barrier >" (I) "< Reflective Barrier >" (I) "< Green Serpent Attack >" (Jade) rica was busy controlling the Wolves while my brother and I took care of the defense and Jade took care of any enemy that was trying to break the barrier. After a few minutes, I noticed that there were other battles going on, it seems that everyone is in their places. "rica!" (I) "Fine, I''m ready." (rica) "< Infernal Barrier >" (I/rica) I sit in front of her and we hold hands making our mana circulate between the two of us, then we make a magic circle that we activate creating a barrier that takes the entire battlefield making all of the fire element stronger, this makes the cursed flame spread burn even more strong while diminishing the power of those of the water element like me. "< Hell Blast >" (rica) Boommm!! Boommmm!!! Soon we heard louder screams and activated for each other before rica exploded all her Wolves, so everything in the surroundings was covered in flames. I let the barrier fall as rica and I got up, the attack now to kill all those below Catastrophe Grade that would only be a hindrance while we hurt the others, with any luck you might even kill some. "< Field of Barrier Swords >" (I) "< Rain of Cursed Flames >" (rica) After seeing that more than half of the enemies were incapacitated, we threw ourselves into a more direct battle, my brother and Jade ran forward while I, with Erica''s help, covered them. I create a field of swords molded from hundreds of absorbed ones I control when fighting enemies in the surroundings, of course dividing my attention like this, takes away from the accuracy of my attacks but that''s ok.?iscover new chapters at novelhall.comn it." (I) "< Piercing Blade >" (I) "< Double Shield >" "< Fang of the Wind >" (Diana) From above I spot Diana and make a sign along with my attack, a sign with eyes that any Adventurer would recognize, then I attack the person in armor defending the healer, and the moment he focuses his attention on me, Diana in Werewolf form White appears behind him, cutting the healer in half before slicing one of his blades into the shield man''s neck from behind his head. "Thanks." (I) "Save the thanks for later." (Diana) "< 1000 Cuts >" (Diana) "< Mana Barrier >" (I) "< Sun Fist >" "< Wind Flow >" (Karina) With no time even to say thank you for the help we had to defend ourselves from attacks, I created a barrier around me while Diana used her two swords along with a skill to intercept the attacks. But before any of us realized it a great golden fist descends from the heavens on top of us, before the fist reached us a rush of wind pulled me and Diana out of the attack area. But before the fist lands, the floor disappears revealing a Celestino wearing a destroyed golden timeless outfit. "That''s one of the ones in charge." (I) "Must have escaped Klaus." (Diana) "What we do?" (I) "< Kingdom of Light >" "Argh!" (Diana) "Urhhh!!" (I) "..." (Karina) Suddenly a tyrannical Aura spreads while everything is filled with light everywhere, I can feel the sacred energy in that Aura, when I look again at Celestino who appeared injured, I notice that he has a golden Luminous ring on his head. "This is bad..." (I) Chapter 942: Fierce Battle Part 2 Chapter 942: Fierce Battle Part 2 Pov Alan (Hero of Justice): When that tyrannical Aura appeared out of nowhere, I noticed that Karina and Diana weren''t affected much, they were both close to me and I could feel their Aura containing something that rejected Celestino''s Aura. But I couldn''t resist, my Aura was beaten into my body to the point of feeling like I was being burned by the light, in the corners of the shortcuts I saw Darcia retreating holding one of the arms that was cut and Bianca pale with her body shaking. "(This can''t go on like this.)" (I) "(What are you going to do when you can''t even move.)" Suddenly it was as if everything was slowing down as my mind raced with panic, I realized that Darcia was being chased, I realized that several attacks were being launched in Bianca''s direction and I realized that Diana, Karina, and I were being surrounded. "(No, this can''t end like this...)" (I) "(You are outnumbered and against an opponent that even wounded is too strong to face.)" The army of light troops were moving, the Aura that was oppressing me seemed to be strengthening them. "(I have to do something.)" (I) "(I must do something!)" (I) "(Faced with a greater power, your will is worth nothing.)" I suddenly realize that Darcia is managing to run even under this pressure, I can see the exhaustion and pain in her expression, and that''s when I realize the direction she''s running. "(She''s trying to defend Bianca...)" (I) "(All this is useless, she won''t arrive in time.)" I wanted to run to Bianca, but I was being surrounded and that pressure wouldn''t allow me to move like I normally do. even in this slow world, I noticed that Karina and Diana looked normal, their faces were serious, but they didn''t show fear, I couldn''t understand what was giving them such strength. "(Their fight is also useless, they are too weak.)" At that moment I remember something that my history teacher, a Priest of the Temple of Justice once told me. "(You must remember that all Soldiers and Warriors fight for their ideals, for them that is Justice, it gives them strength to face a battle they may not come back from, so never belittle soldiers just for being stronger, their resolve may surprise you.)" (teacher) "< Shield of the Innocent >" (I) "< Lightning Field >" (I) I integrated my Aura and Thunder Element with my body, I ran towards Darcia while ripping off my armor throwing it towards Bianca while activating her ability to betray attacks in a certain aerial. When I reached where Darcia was I stopped between her and her pursuers before pointing my sword forward making lightning fall from the sky onto the soldiers, but unfortunately, my attack was blocked by a feather that created a shield around the soldiers. "I will doubt no more!" (I) Ding! I felt something rise from within me and suddenly the Aura didn''t seem to weigh on my body like before. ----------------- Pov Diana: When Celestino appeared I thought of using all the power of the Fenrir God, my body might not support it, but I know Zenos wouldn''t let me die, not without trying something stupid. But as I considered whether or not to use my power as Champion to the fullest, I felt an Aura shift beside me, it was the Hero''s Aura, I could feel threads of Authority rising before he exploded in power and dashed out of the enclosure he was in we were heading towards his companions. It was only then that I realized Darcia and Bianca were in a difficult situation, but at that moment when I was about to do something reckless a red blur appears like a comet hitting Celestino while pushing him into the forest leaving a trail of destruction along the way. "what was this?" (I) "Help." (Kira) "< Embed Spirit: Byakko >" (Kira/Byakko) I hear a voice close to me, then a light flashes, and something very fast goes through me, hitting all the Templars that were surrounding us. But that wasn''t the only change, I saw Lilian and Elsaris joining the battle with their families as well, I couldn''t help the smile that spread across my face as I exchanged a look with Karina beside me. "Is ready?" (I) "To fight? Always!" (Karina) He and I ran to join the battle. Chapter 943: Battles End And A Sisters Rage Part 1 Chapter 943: Battle''s End And A Sister''s Rage Part 1 Pov Silvia: After my Father took care of everything with that summoning we took care of the rest, before Nix withdrew like the others, she helped bring everyone who was hiding in the first safe room of the Dungeon out with me. When we left the Dungeon we found Nix exhausted as well as my Father who we left lying in the safe room before leaving. When I looked around I saw the monster they summoned, it will be useful for the plan, but it would be dangerous to let this thing loose, but because it is a creature considered evil by the Church of Light, so they will not let it escape, even if they want to let the creature escape, that won''t happen as long as there''s someone alive around. We wait until the creature is dead and Klaus has gotten rid of the enemy commander who was the space element mage. "Are you going to join Klaus?" (I) "No, the Holy Son has asked to be on standby nearby in case anyone needs help fast." (Arthur) "But I''m worried about the few people he chose, why not call the army inside the Dungeon?" (Arthur) "Besides your brother still not being trustworthy, he doesn''t want to draw attention to the Dungeon." (I) As we watch the situation from above the city walls, I talk to the Blood Demon who accompanies the Saints, he didn''t leave after arriving and he wasn''t the only one, but I won''t talk about her since she''s not participating.?iscover new chapters at novelhall.com "Mister Arthur, your help looks like it will be needed, one of the Templars managed to escape from Klaus." (Nicole) "Looks like the time has come." (I) "Point the way." (Arthur) I see the Blood Demon spread its red wings to fly into the distance with one of the Crows that is serving as Nicole''s eyes and ears on his shoulder. But I didn''t have time to worry about him, I looked ahead and when I realized that the creature was finally dead, I attacked along with the others. "Warned the others?" (I) "Yes, go ahead." (Nicole) "< Labyrinth of Nature >" (I) I activate the magic that I had already prepared, making the ground of the whole city shake when the houses began to fall apart, rocks and trees rose from the ground while a white mist appeared everywhere, disturbing all the senses. This tactical control type spell uses various elements along with my Aura to create a natural labyrinth in an area, the design of the labyrinth is already known by everyone, so it should be fine. "< Full Onslaught >" Holding his large shield forward he rushes towards me trying to bring the fight to me. My blades that were supposed to go through his defense were deflected to the ground as he ran towards me, but as he ran he didn''t realize that one of the blades went into a shadow before coming out of his shadow hitting him from behind. "Argh!" "< Demon Shadows >" (I) "< Shadow Demon Poison >" (I) "< Ray of Light >" "< Streams of Light >" "< Healing Light >" "< Arrows of Light > 2" I make countless clones dressed in shadows as if they were holding red swords, the attacks come from all sides focused on the Templar, but the mages or Priests behind didn''t just watch, they created a shield around him as a healing spell hits him, the others made attacks against me and my copies. But they realized too late the tentacles coming out of their shadows pierced their chests, my attack against the Templar was just a decoy while my real attack was on the 5 who were unprepared for my surprise attack. "Now all that''s missing is you." (I) "Evil creature, die!" ------------- Pov Athena: I was on the city walls when the labyrinth formed and the others will start the attack, but I stayed still, something was wrong, I could feel something, and that''s when I felt a slight killing intent, it was almost imperceptible coming from the clouds, it was then that I realized that the discomfort I was feeling was someone''s eyes on me. "Should have known she wouldn''t let it out of her sight, controlling as ever." (I) I spread my wings and climb into the clouds where I find a slightly luminous white bird, it was the most common type of Infer Familiar of the Light element, harmless, but could be used for many things due to its low energy cost and easy control. "Don''t you trust your own subordinates, sister?" (I) "Don''t address me in that traitorous way! You''ve sullied the whole generational history of devotion in our family!" (Andreia) Chapter 944: Battles End And A Sisters Rage Part 2 Chapter 944: Battle''s End And A Sister''s Rage Part 2 Pov Athena: I should have thought of this before, my sister always likes to see things with her own eyes, she doesn''t trust everything has been done right if she doesn''t see it for herself. "No use yelling and complaining at me, I was ready for it when I left." (I) "You are the disgrace of our family, our mother almost committed suicide for giving life to a creature like you." (Andreia) "Enjoy and tell her I''m a Vampire now." (I) "I will kill you and seal your Soul away to be an eternal symbol of what happens to traitors." (Andreia) She thinks she can fool me with all this talk and apparent anger, my sister doesn''t speak or express her emotions with words, she takes matters into her own hands showing her emotions with actions. "Let''s end this scenario here, you''ve noticed, haven''t you?" (I) "His equipment is similar with the only difference being the color, but it''s not the same equipment, the symbol on his body is also gone." (Andreia) "I changed my equipment on the way to the Dark Continent, I did the same for my friends, I was very surprised by the truth about those equipment." (I) Loki told me when we were still inside the Church of Light, that equipment was made with Tracking magic and Runes of Binding Runes. In addition to serving to track anyone who uses it, the equipment itself can serve as a way to immobilize someone if necessary. But what shocked me the most was the tattoo he wore on his back, it was the Crest of the Church of Light, but it was done using an assassination technique, a curse using Holy Power, the others had something similar on their bodies, but it was a lower version without Holy Power. "You put that Crest on my back, you were ready to kill me long before I betrayed the Church of Light." (I) "I didn''t mean to kill you, all people of greater talent or importance are given this Crest, and I am no exception." (Andreia) "It protects us from being used as weapons against the Church, I didn''t expect you to pull that off." (Andreia) "< Embed Spirit: Byakko >" (I/Byakko) When I activated the technique, I transformed Byakko into energy, then I created a drawing of Byakko with Runes of the Thunder and Metal elements. Then this design made of Runes attaches to my back as my body changes in a way I''ve never seen someone else''s body using this technique change. My fingernails became blade-like claws, an extra pair of tiger ears grew on top of my head, two white tiger tails grew on my back, white fur streaked with cream black down my arms and legs. I also felt more teeth becoming sharper and larger, especially my fangs, but the biggest change I felt wasn''t my body, it was the power coursing through me, and the instinct to fight uncontrollably against everything my eyes could see. I didn''t even notice that I was already fighting, my body moved on its own hitting everything in the surroundings that luckily were enemies, the wild instinct was very strong. "(If you control Kira, keep a strong image in your mind to use as an anchor until I learn to control my power better.)" (Byakko) "(What is it...)" (I) "(Don''t waste time, do what I said now!)" (Byakko) I did what Byakko said, I resorted to the strongest image I have in my mind, the image of mine, even at the end she had a smile on her face, I never saw her sad or unhappy even once in my childhood, today I know that she did this for me, endured everything for me, not the strongest image for me than her image. As she felt the tears streaming down my face, I felt myself regain control of my body, I wiped the tears from my face as I dodged the attacks coming my way. So I feel like I can control that power, not perfectly, but enough for now. Since I couldn''t completely control my current power, I avoided using various skills for fear of hurting any of my friends by accident, so I ran between enemies providing them with my claws and Lightning strikes that I found I managed to release from my hands. With that it didn''t take long for me to be in the right place to help when someone needed it, I''ve never been this fast before, and my body felt weightless. Soon there were no more enemies left standing when Karina sliced the last one in half with her hands. "This is the end." (I) Chapter 945: Klaus Extreme Techniques Chapter 945: Klaus'' Extreme Techniques I was confused, there were a lot of sparkles in motion and the space itself was shaking, I felt like I was surrounded by the universe as I was fighting things I didn''t understand with the only detail that I wasn''t controlling my body. "!!!!!" "!!!!" "." (I)Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com Voices clearly filled with anger and murderous intent spoke in a language I didn''t understand, but what shocked me was the voice coming out of my mouth speaking in the same language, also because that voice was female. Also, I knew I was hitting garlic and I was being spawned too, but it didn''t really feel like I was looking at something from a person''s perspective, like I was in a space virtual reality game in the middle of a fight, with the difference that I don''t control anything. "(You''re disturbing me, wait a little longer, we''ll meet soon.)" "(But what...)" (I) "Haaaa... aaafff.... affff....aaffff..." (I) Sigh "Are you all right, Master?" (Alice) "Need something?" (Eva) "..." (I) "I''m... I''m fine..." (I) Suddenly I lift my head panting and covered in sweat, I realize that I''m in my bed in the mansion inside the Dungeon, who was next to me were Alice and Eva. I looked down at my hand that was still shaking, my body was physically exhausted, I didn''t have any open wounds or bruises, but I knew I wasn''t okay. "(The circulation of mana is weird, instead of being a single stream running through my entire body, it has become 6 streams with various branches dealing continuous damage throughout my body.)" (I) My mana was acting out of control, luckily I was low on mana right now, but even this low mana is doing continuous damage to my body, damage that is being healed at the same time, I think if it wasn''t for my abnormal regeneration ability, could be in a sorry state right now. "How do I fix this!?" (I) "What''s the matter master?" (Alice) "I am fine." (I) I look at him and I don''t see his Contracted Spirit, then as if he''s noticed my doubt he opens his mouth revealing the Serpent exiting his throat before turning back. "He is taking care of my blood flow, if I had to do it directly I would have to meditate all the time." (Klaus) "..." (I) I look around at everyone and see I wasn''t the only one asking that question, Kira is still staring blankly at the hole in her father''s chest. "Do all Night Guardians know this technique beyond extreme?" (I) "No, this technique needs the element of darkness or shadow and a lot of control, some prodigies with Affinity for the element of water might be capable of something like that too." (Klaus) "..." (I) "Don''t make a face like that, you can literally change your body structure and arrange your organs however you want." (Nix) "Interesting..." (Klaus) "He can do what!?" (Bianca) "As expected of the Holy Son." (Arthur) "I cannot compare everyone to my standards, I am fully aware of my abnormalities." (I) Not everyone can steal Skills from beings they devour like me, even if they could, I don''t know if they would be able to use Skills that way. But even so, I still need my heart, at least I think I do, I don''t want to try learning a skill or technique like that. "Let''s change the subject, could someone tell me why the Hero is the only one unconscious?" (I) "My little brother seems to be having a hard time, but it looks like he''s not the only one." (Arthur) "What difficulties?" (I) "You would know if you could use your Aura, this idiot just awakened as a true Hero, he awakened his Authority." (Natasha) "What!? Seriously!?" (I) "Now come here, let me take care of you." (Natasha) As she spoke she approached me with an unsettling smile on her face, then she thrusts her hand into my stomach leaving everyone in the room startled and me in a panic. Chapter 946: Complete Recovery Chapter 946: Complete Recovery When my sister''s hand penetrated my body I felt an Aura and Authority that were not mine invade my body, but instead of facing my Aura and Authority they did something different, it was nourishing my body. Incredible vital energy coursed through my body as I felt the weakness disappear, I was no longer feeling the numbness in my arms or the tremor in my legs, my eyes were no longer blurry, and the pain I was enduring disappeared.CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m I felt like new, but I soon realized that my mana flow hadn''t returned to normal, just my body had healed back to peak. When I feel good again, I feel the slight pain of my sister pulling her hand away from my stomach before the wound immediately closes without leaving even a scar. "Did I really need that sick smile and that scene?" (I) "But it was funny, come on, admit you thought it was funny too." (Natasha) "I was too panicked to bother looking at the others." (I) "This is very interesting, allow me Father." (Vanessa) Before I knew it, Vanessa was at my side running her hand over my belly where my sister had just removed her hands. I felt Vanessa using her Aura to analyze the area and I tried to stop my Aura from rejecting her, so she takes my hand where she opens a wound on my wrist, and draws some of my blood, she analyzes it with several spells and a magic item before drinking. "Interesting, she had more vitality than usual, plus there was something else I can''t identify." (Vanessa) "But I can safely assume what it must be." (Vanessa) "Your assumption is correct, did you learn anything from it?" (Natasha) "Unfortunately not, but you already expected that." (Vanessa) "This is not something that others are able to learn, there have been others who have tried, but that''s not how it works." (Natasha) -------------- After a few more hours of questions, all the wounded were already healed, and my sister had to take action personally to heal Klaus, now he doesn''t even have a new scar since the hole in his chest was closed. "Where''s Nicole?" (I) "Need I ask? She and Rakan are looking around town." (Irina) "Who are they with?" (I) Later, my room was bare with Silvia on one side and Freya on the other side, I was inside a sphere full of pure mana from various elements. My sister was around seeing everything without interfering, this was a treatment for my mana diversion problem, the mana from the sphere that was controlled by the girls was in a single continuous flow as it tried to integrate with my own body''s mana flow, which took hours. When I entered this sphere I wasn''t naked, but my clothes were ripped to shreds by the concentrated mana, the treatment was slower than I initially expected and to my surprise, it wasn''t painful. I had to meditate for a long time before I was able to bring my body''s natural flow of mana back to normal, when I did that the treatment stopped. Sigh "That was weird." (I) "I think I need a... ugh... rest..." (Silvia) "I need a... break too..." (Freya) "Rest you two and thank you so much for your help." (I) I watch the two leave as I get dressed, this time I wasn''t tired, I was full of energy. "Thank you, sister." (I) "The treatment method is simple, the only problem is normally finding someone with the same elements, even more, so this treatment that needs 2 people." (Natasha) "So tell me, what do you want?" (I) "I felt your eyes on me since you healed me during the meeting." (I) "I want to ask you something." (Natasha) "Have you been having visions? Strange dreams? Have you heard sounds or voices you shouldn''t have in your mind?" (Natasha) "..." (I) Her question made me think of the two dreams I had, I thought it might have been my other sister since she has that kind of power, but she didn''t appear in the visions, that was also different from my normal dreams. Sigh "Your expression is already an answer for me." (Natasha) "Tell me more about it." (Natasha) Chapter 947: Island In The Sky Chapter 947: Island In The Sky My sister seemed to know something about my dreams, I knew they weren''t normal things, everything felt very real, and the sensations were strange too. But no matter how I asked her, nothing came out of her mouth, she said something about which I would find out sooner or later as she left thoughtfully. Hours later, Vanessa told me that she saw my sister sitting in front of the statue of the Goddess Selene in the Communal Temple inside the Dungeon. The only thing I could think of was that I wanted to talk to the Goddess, since then I started to wonder if these strange dreams have something to do with the Goddess. ----------------- Pov Alan (Hero of Justice): I wake up in my bed inside the Ship, so the first thing I do is look around, I was alone. Sigh "I didn''t expect that..." (I) I look down at my hand which was still shaking, I couldn''t believe what I just learned. "Where are Bianca and Darcia?" (I) "I need to know if anything else happened after I lost consciousness, maybe it''s good to know how long I was unconscious." (I) I got up realizing I was covered in sweat but I didn''t have time to take a shower right now, there were so many things I wanted to do so I took off my clothes and dumped the contents of a bottle of liquid soap potion to clean myself up. When I''m clean, I change into a training outfit and go find the rest of my team. In the middle of the hall, I see a door fly into the wall when someone naked comes running out, it was a red-winged, dark-skinned Celestina, she had her clothes in her hands and an exhausted face as she ran. After her, two other half-dressed and exhausted-looking people ran out of the same room, one of them was the Golem woman named Nicole and the other person was Bianca who didn''t even notice my presence when she ran out. The three seemed to be running for their lives, I was curious about that room, but before I could do anything, two naked women emerge from the room, one of whom I recognized from the images being a half sister of mine, the Saint of Pleasure Naomi. The second person was one of the daughters of Zenos, a Demon woman who gives me goosebumps every time I see her eyes and smile, if I''m not mistaken her name is Lilith. "They ran away..." (Lilith) "I said they wouldn''t accept it if I spoke directly." (Naomi) "My father tells me never to lie because if I start lying, no one will be able to tell when I''m lying." (Lilith) "I''m sorry to bother you, ma''am, but could I have a little chat with..." (I) "If you want to talk, then stop your formal manner and don''t call me ma''am, use my name or I''ll kick your justice ass off this ship." (Natasha) She said it normally, but I felt the certainty in her voice, I didn''t doubt her doing exactly what she said. I sit down next to her at the table where she is eating. "I can feel the power of Authority in you, I would like to clear some doubts with you if possible." (I) "You have no doubt, I know that during your unconscious time, you were learning from the best possible teacher." (Natasha) During my sleep I was with the God Justhos, he told me about Authority and showed me everything about it, but even so, I don''t feel prepared. "I don''t know if I''m ready." (I) "What you lack is confidence, so just use it until you get used to it, I have nothing to teach you that your God hasn''t already taught you." (Natasha) ------------- Pov Zenos: I was reading the book that Nix''s Father left before he left, the book that talks about those crystals Karina made, I still didn''t know anything about them and I''ve been putting that aside for a long time until now. If that''s going to give me any leverage, then I''m going to take every opportunity I get to make myself stronger. I spend hours reading this book, some parts of the book I read more than once just to be sure of the content. Sigh "Why can''t it be easier?" (I) Knock Knock "Master, are you there?" (Freya) "What is it, Freya?" (I) "We arrived at Sky Island, we can already see our destination." (Freya) "Thanks for letting me know." (I) Chapter 948: Elemental Island Village Chapter 948: Elemental Island Village I was sitting on a sofa on the deck of the ship looking up, there was a large island in the distance surrounded by scattered clouds, some of these clouds are strange colors. "What is that?" (I) "The climate on that island is a little bit special, just as the name suggests." (Arthur) "Huh!? Arthur?" (I) "Good to see you again Holy Son." (Arthur) "Please stop calling me that, it was hard enough convincing Lilian to stop." (I) "This is a difficult request, maybe you don''t realize it, but just as your Aura is disgusting to the people of the Church of Light, to me and anyone who is a worshiper of the Blood Goddess, your Aura is Holy." (Arthur)UppTodated from "Not only yours, but your sisters too, you are living symbols of our Faith, I''m sure some of the most fervent worshipers will find it difficult not to cry in your presence due to strong emotion." (Arthur) "That looks troublesome..." (I) I understand what he means, but I don''t like it, I don''t like getting those eyes full of admiration all the time, I don''t like drawing attention without having done anything for it and I don''t like people calling you names instead of saying my name. Sigh "Never mind, I don''t want to lose my temper over these things." (I) "You know Arthur, I''ve been looking for you these past few days, I wanted to thank you for your help in the last battle." (I) "No need to thank me, going against the Church of Light is always a great pleasure, besides my brother was in the battle." (Arthur) "Yes, I heard that the Hero of Justice is your brother." (I) "My family is big, being the son of a Saint already grants great talent to all of us, so everyone has some degree of social status whether good or bad." (Arthur) "You must not know all of the family, right?" (I) "No, but I know many, mainly people of great importance like Santas and Heroes, there must be no one in the family who doesn''t know about him." (Arthur) "I''m feeling ice, earth, fire, wood, and even metal." (I) "You are sure." (Silvia) "But that doesn''t make sense." (I) "No matter what you think, feel it and it will be clear." (Silvia) While we were talking with Silvia, Arthur was gone before I knew it, so I pulled out another couch for the girls. After that I look up, we were much closer to the island now, you could get an idea of the large size of this island that floats without any explanation. I could feel the spatial element around the island, and I could see the spatial distortion clearly, but it seems others couldn''t see it as clearly as I could. Silvia was right, it''s not the space inside that was enlarged, it was the entire island that was diminished by the forces of the spatial element. The only question was how much this size is being changed, what is the true size of this island and how can we get to it, I can''t think it''s a good idea to approach the spatial distortion around the island. Aside from the various elements I was feeling, I also realized something, I realized Authority. It wasn''t something I''d felt before in other people like us Gods, in that idiot Judge, the Hero, the Father of Nix, or my sister. It was more like the Authority of nature itself that I feel every time I try to form Territory. But this Authority is different, it works differently even though it''s the same thing, I''ve never felt anything like this, moreover, I can feel something else inside, something that seems to merge with this Authority. "I don''t understand..." (I) Soon the ship is on the same level as the island and I don''t need to look from above anymore, so I got up and went to the edge of the ship to look at the island. "Forests, mountains, and ice?" (I) I was more and more confused with everything I was noticing about this island, now that I was on the same level I realized that the island''s geography itself was strange, but even stranger was seeing the elemental energy flows flowing strangely through everything I could see from the island. "As you can see, approaching the island normally isn''t very safe, but I''ve already told Nicole and the others where to go." (Silvia) "Thank you for that." (I) Chapter 949: An Aggressive Reception Chapter 949: An Aggressive Reception As we get closer to the island I realized a point where space distortion was the lighter, it was like a safe tunnel in the middle of a storm. I didn''t even have to say anything since the floating ship was going towards this point, Silvia must have warned about it before. "We haven''t even arrived and I''m already feeling my skin is half numb due to all this elemental energy." (Karina) "I feel comfortable, it looks a lot like the feeling of how close to a tree in the world." (Freya) "The feeling is similar but still different, I can feel a separation in harmony now that we are closer." (I) "What separation?" (Karina) "..." (I) I look at Nicole who ran with a big smile from inside the ship, she makes countless spells in front of her while her holograms with information come up, and her eyes are also shining like flashlights as she keeps a firm vision on the floating island. "Could you take care of your sister?" (I) "Trying to advance the solution of the problem?" (Silvia) "You will surely know how to answer her better than me." (I) "I can''t control her if things get out of control I''ll call you." (Silvia) "I hope it doesn''t get to it, but that''s okay." (I) I see Silvia approach Nicole seconds before she begins to look around, so Nicole holds her by the shoulders and starts talking, they are inside an automatic sound barrier that I asked Nicole to use whenever using her operating system holograms.?iscover new chapters at novelhall.com I talked about it weeks ago with Nicole since she has a habit of thinking while talking to organize her thoughts, she didn''t want anyone improper to hear the things she talks about without realizing it since some of these things are secrets. "How did you know that Nicole would look for Silvia?" (Freya) "Nicole just as you have affinity for many elements thanks to me, your focus being research gives her more accused meanings and a better understanding than your senses perceive." (I) "No, your face is already known and they must be waiting for me, my village warned them of my arrival." (Klaus) "I hope it''s right..." (I) It took 30 minutes of travel to reach the floating island, I couldn''t help but pay attention to the smallest detail all this time, feeling natural energies was as normal for me as breathing to the point of feeling overwhelmed by the environment when we arrived on the island. After going through the distorted space I found that it still has a large area around the island that is not under the effect of distorted space, I saw many flying monsters everywhere. One thing I noticed was also the absurd number of fairies and spirits, near us has thousands, but could see much more the distance on the island. When we have just passed through spatial distortion suddenly many people arrive around us with weapons in hand, and hundreds of magical circles and runes appear around us ready to attack at any time. The people who appeared all were flying using spells, monsters, or any other kind of technique. There were hundreds of enemies and everyone was looking at us with caution, but I felt that some were looking at Diana strangely, these were the race man, so I supposed to be because she was a champion. "Who are you and why you are on Argos Island?" "..." (I) I look at others and Klaus takes the lead calmly to speak, the person who approached us was an elf medium, his ears were smaller than the normal elves and otherwise, his appearance was the same as the rest, showing that his other lineage must be human. "I''m Klaus, I''m from the Floresta of the Nightmare, my presence was already expected." (Klaus) "So stop your Harthos games, we don''t have time for these things now." (Klaus) "How did you know it was me? You''re embarrassed as always Klaus." (Harthos) Soon a light -skinned human arises, and I had difficulty knowing his race and gender. His appearance was young and slender, his skin was white as snow and looked smooth as a silk, his bright wavy black hair was long and stuck in a ponytail, his eyes were light green, and his voice and appearance were no other feminine Opinion, but his posture, behavior, and the little I realized from his aura made it difficult to differentiate his genre. He had a height of 1.65 meters, wore leather clothes, and was flying on a metal bird, clearly a golem. Chapter 950: The Provocations Of A Father Chapter 950: The Provocations Of A Father When that strange person appeared had a playful smile on his face as he looked at Klaus, when he was in the crowd I didn''t realize him, but when he spoke he became the focus of attention. He suddenly disappears and appears inside the ship in front of Klaus trying to hug him, but was stopped by a shadow hand in front of him. "Don''t you want to hug an old friend?" (Harthos)UppTodated from "Who would be a friend of a pervert?" (Klaus) "Come on, are you still sad because that time?" (Harthos) "Please Harthos, do not tease him anymore or I don''t know what can happen." (Naraka) "You are very serious..." (Harthos) Sigh "Your bastard, where is my drink?" (Natasha) "Honey!? How long, come give me a hug..." (Harthos) When my sister speaks he looks at her with surprise as if only now he recognized her, so disappear in front of her with open arms just as he did with Klaus, but different from Klaus''s refusal, my sister takes him lying in his arms giving a one Hot kiss that leaves him without breath and with a red face like a tomato. "Stop acting all confident as we both know it''s all staging, don''t try to tease me again." (Natasha) "..." (Harthos) Cough cough "Let me guide you to the city... Follow me." (Harthos) He still comes out with his red face coming back to his bird -shaped golem flying away, while my sister has a fun smile on her face. "Don''t look at me like that, I just wanted to end the pretense, he loves to tease people, but deep down he''s weak against aggressive people." (Natasha) "Do you know him?" (I) "With my age, I know a lot of people, especially the fun." (Natasha) We are guided to a port city where instead of water, there is a large cloud of light blue full of water element. There was this port city where all the buildings seemed to have space magic applied to them, could feel the space magic in every city to where my senses arrived, the city itself was made of stone, marble and wood, and there were gardens everywhere full of flowers or Fruit trees, I realized this because of the view from above that had because of the height of the ship when it landed in the port. I was surprised by the light blue cloud to behave like water when the ship landed on it in the port. The others around us dispersed again as a small part of them came down to Porto. "I met your son once, incredible as it may seem it was also on a ship near a port." (I) "What color of his hair?" (Razor) "Black hair came to bring a message at the time." (I) "I also met his wife or should say that I just talked to her." (I) "She is an amazing woman, a pity that her only daughter has not sent a single letter." (Razor) "I told her that if she found a partner someday, she would have to introduce her family, but instead she went to travel the world." (Razor) Sigh "I think I''ll have to tell some people the story of a beautiful rabbit with horns winning a 14 -year -old girl over 50 times..." (Razor) "It was a unique monster that had several speed increased skills and only lost 28 times." (Diana) "Will you still be without greeting?" (Razor) "I don''t fulfill a idiot who leaves without saying a word." (Diana) "Says the girl who fled to become an adventurous." (Razor) I recognized who he was with a single look, his eyes are the same as those of Hermes and Diana, and his hair is also the same as Hermes. Diana was embarrassed to meet her father again after so many years, I can understand that, I''ve seen it in the past. Diana comes close to the man as tall as she and punches his arm as he laughs, so he delays her with an arm sides as we walked to town. "You know, I always knew she would choose someone with few male traits, her tastes were always strangers, but I never imagined it would be someone so feminine." (Razor) "Don''t judge Zenos for their appearance, I know stupid old man." (Diana) "I''ll treat him depending on tonight." (Razor) "You know we''re not here to drink, do you?" (Diana) "Daughter, what are you talking about, there is always time to drink, what did I teach you?" (Razor) "I still need to find..." (I) "Don''t worry, the elves will be there." (Razor) We followed Diana''s father for a while, the others walked away knowing it was a family meeting, but as I was stuck in Diana''s arms I had to listen to the duo''s discussion until I reached a restaurant. Chapter 951: Test Of A Father Part 1 Chapter 951: Test Of A Father Part 1 When we arrived at the restaurant there were already many empty tables set up as if they were waiting for us, Diana''s Father takes us to a large table where a White Elf was already sitting next to the man from earlier with the name of Harthos. "Let''s talk here today, the one next to me is the son of the current Elf Queen." (Harthos) "My name is Fariel, nice to meet you." (Fariel) I introduce myself to the Elf, then Klaus, Vanessa, Silvia, and Freya introduce themselves leaving only my sister arriving with a keg of beer on the table. I introduce Kim and the others to both Harthos and Fariel, at our table only we were sitting to talk about some matters, Diana went along with Father to another table. "You can say anything you want, no one can see or hear what we''re doing at this table." (Fariel)UppTodated from I look around and I don''t notice anything right away, no matter what I do, I don''t notice anything different. "First of all, I would like to express the honor of being in the presence of the Nature Dragon and Miss Freya." (Fariel) "Mr. Zenos mainly has my admiration, his deeds spread throughout the world, and the way he risked himself to save Miss Silvia will be marked forever in our history." (Fariel) "You shouldn''t thank me, my motives for doing these things were selfish, I was never a selfless person." (I) "Everyone has reasons to do something, I am not ashamed of the reasons that led you to such achievements." (Fariel) "You mentioned them, but what about me? Nobody''s happy to see me?" (Natasha) "I was instructed to avoid interacting with you, mainly not to make you nervous." (Fariel) "What did you do on this island?" (I) "Nothing, I swear, I''ve only had a few relationships." (Natasha) "..." (I) "Don''t look at me like that, it wasn''t too bad, what happened next was a surprise for everyone involved." (Natasha) "I guess I don''t want to know, sometimes ignorance can be bliss." (I) "I think we should keep the conversation focused." (Klaus) "Then let me talk about the current situation" (Fariel) ------------ He takes a bronze global coin and throws it in the air as we stand on either side of the arena. I hope always keeping my eyes on him, as soon as the coin hits the ground my attack begins. ---------------- Pov Klaus: I was in the town square which is still very busy when Harthos appears holding flowers with a smile on his face. "These flowers..." (I) "Don''t look at me like that, I''m not stupid to bring you flowers again" (Harthos) "Someone proposed to me and gave me flowers." (Harthos) He and I sat on the bench in the square. "How''s the situation, is there anything you didn''t mention at the meeting?" (I) "I can''t speak now for the same reason I didn''t speak sooner." (Harthos) "Where and when?" (I) "When we get to the World Tree." (Harthos) "We came across some spies in the early days of the war, there are also many eyes on the island, I think you can understand." (Harthos) "Yes, but I''m going to need to know sooner or later." (I) "It was always my plan to tell you, but in the end, it doesn''t change what happens." (Harthos) "How long until the next attack?" (I) "We don''t know, but it must be close." (Harthos) I look around, there are almost no civilians in the city, most are Elves or Adventurers, and it seems that many of them are on guard as if expecting an attack. "When can we go?" (I) "The best would be tomorrow, but probably in 3 days, you guys were lucky to arrive earlier than expected." (Harthos) Chapter 952: Test Of A Father Part 2 Chapter 952: Test Of A Father Part 2 As soon as the coin hit the ground, I run forward doing a somersault followed by a top-down kick with my heel. "You''re going to need more than that." (Razor) He catches my foot in the air, but I grab his hand in between my feet as I spin around to take his balance, my tail was stuck in the ground and I use that to pull myself trying to make him fall. But instead, he lifts me higher pulling my tail off the ground and waving his arm sending me flying into the wall. "An interesting idea, but even limiting my strength is still greater than his." (Razor) "I''m still far from done." (I) I run at him one more time, I don''t want to end this in one blow like usual, that''s why I couldn''t, so let''s try to find an opening. This time I throw myself into a non-stop punching match, and he parries my punches and kicks with his single arm with ease. He deflects a kick from me by slamming his elbow into the side of my foot while using his hand in sequence to stop several attacks. "I see, your focus and deception, interesting." (Razor) "Let''s see how to handle this." (Razor) This time he started attacking, his arm seemed to be attacking from all directions, if I tried to defend an attack I felt that another one would hit me, so I just concentrated on dodging until I found an opportunity to grab his arm and spin around taking advantage of the strength of her swing to throw him aside followed by the fastest attacks I was able to pull off.The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) But he just did the same thing I did before, he kept dodging my attacks, but unlike my dodges by a hair, he dodged my attacks with ease. I stopped as soon as I realized the ineffectiveness of this attack before it left an opening he could use against me. I move away from him while I''m thinking about how I can hit him, but he doesn''t give me time to think, he runs towards me, I reach down to land a low kick on his foot, but I soon regretted it, I felt like I''d quoted a steel bar and not a leg. Then I spun to evade attacks from above as he pulled me away. "I may have managed to limit my speed and strength, but my defense still matches my strength level." (Razor) "To get to know each other better, fighting is the best way to get to know what someone is really like." (Razor) "I trust my daughter''s choices, but a parent still needs to know the person she has chosen." (Razor) "I hope you liked what you saw because I''m going to be sore tomorrow." (I) "Your way of fighting is adaptive, I''m sure you must have a lot of skills or spells that you use to make yourself more unpredictable, am I right?" (Razor) "Yes, my focus is not duels like this, I prefer to fight with everything I have, preferably to finish everything in the first attack if possible." (I) "You know, I met his other wives, my daughter made sure to introduce them to me." (Razor) "You''re not going to say anything like I have to separate myself from everyone, right?" (I) "No, if you have the ability to deal with them and everyone''s consent, you can do what you want, they talked a lot about you and I saw how they treated my daughter as if she were part of their family." (Razor) "In the past, I had many girls I liked, but when I met my wife I only had eyes for her, no one could compare." (Razor) "Just treat my daughter well, I know she can take care of herself, but no parent likes to see their children sad." (Razor) "I always treat her well." (I) "So we''re clear, let''s go back." (Razor) ------------- That night we stayed on the Ship, we could have stayed somewhere in the city, but the ship was more luxurious and our rooms were already ready, I was in bed next to the girls who were sleeping. I couldn''t sleep, since I arrived on the Island this sensory explosion is hammering my head, I can even see the almost infinite number of Infant Fairies and Infant Spirits. But another thing I noticed better was something that didn''t make any sense, the nature inside the island was different, fundamentally different from anything I''ve ever seen in this world, that didn''t make sense, nature is one thing, and anyone who has Affinity with nature realizes this, everything is connected forming one thing. But this island seems to be out of place, I couldn''t put these feelings aside, while instead of sleeping I decided to meditate all night to try to at least get used to it so that it wouldn''t continue to be an inconvenience tomorrow. Chapter 953: Finding Luminus Again Chapter 953: Finding Luminus Again The next morning I found Nicole doing combat training alone in the training room inside the Ship while in the middle of a circle of floating crystals. "What are you doing?" (I) "Pause test 37, stop and save recording." (Nicole)UppTodated from "Good morning Dad, I''m in the middle of some tests." (Nicole) "What kind of tests?" (I) "Do you know how Golems move?" (Nicole) "I imagine that like robots created by science, they must be programmed somehow." (I) "You''re half right, magic makes a lot of things easier, but the electronic languages of 0 and 1 don''t work here, normal numerical calculations can be used in many situations, but not everything can be perfectly quantified in numbers." (Nicole) "Normal Golems have only one core, it''s called Golem Core or Central Core, it serves as the brain to control the whole body and also as an energy center making energy run through the body." (Nicole) "We have to put the information directly into these Cores, a clear image in our mind or recording, from there the various spells do the rest, but I won''t go into details." (Nicole) "The important thing is that I want to make some Battle Golems, they will serve to protect me and for different tasks." (Nicole) "While we were in Colosseum City, I collected a lot of information and recordings of combat, so I''m going to use that information as a basis for my Golems'' battle mode." (Nicole) "What I was doing was compiling these moves as I learned from them for a more detailed picture when I was going to use them on Golems." (Nicole) "I know you like to work alone, but if you''re testing about combat, try asking Sophia for help, she''ll be able to guide you in areas you don''t understand." (I) "Huh!?" (Nicole) "..." (Nicole) "Might be a good idea, I didn''t consider using an expert in the field, thanks for the fresh point of view." (Nicole) "Just let me know if you need anything, but remember we''re low on resources." (I) I leave the training room leaving Nicole with her things, then head to the dining room, a large dining hall that looks like a restaurant. "It can''t be because of Nix, right?" (I) "No, that comes before that, but it''s not my place to talk about that." (Luminus) "I guess whatever happened to Nix''s family didn''t help with his prejudices." (I) "You would be right." (Lux) "Sorry to intrude, we''ve met before, your the Fairy Queen of the Light element, my name is Lux." (Lux) "Nice to see you, Miss Lux." (I) "Only Lux is fine." (Lux) I look at the beautiful woman dressed in white and I notice that some parts of her body seem almost transparent like her entire right arm, part of her waist, and one of her eyes that is closed. "I told you not to go." (Luminus) "I needed to talk to the other Fairies, without their support the situation could get worse." (Lux) "What are you talking about?" (I) "The Fairy Queen almost killed me, she was stopped by the World Tree and other Fairies." (Lux) "I take it you didn''t go there to fight." (I) "No, I went there to apologize, I thought it would be better for me and Luminus to go separately, it wouldn''t be good if we both went together." (Lux) If she hates the two of them so much, as does anyone else with an affinity for the element of Light that much, I can see why it wouldn''t be a good idea for the two of them to go together. After that I talked for a few minutes with the two until my sister walked through the door, her face broke into a big smile when she saw the two, I also noticed the panicked face that the two made when seeing my sister Natasha. But when I saw that the situation was complicated, I ran away while no one was paying attention to me, I''m not an idiot to be in the middle of anything between these three, I wouldn''t know if I could escape with my life afterwards. I head back to my room to read some more about the crystals in Karina''s hand before I join her and my Familiars for some decisions. I was thinking about resuming the buff project for a few people on the list, so I wanted their input, maybe call Vanessa and rica to ask for their input as well. Chapter 954: Fragment Of A World Chapter 954: Fragment Of A World During the afternoon I was meeting Harthos again, but this time I was alone with only Orion next to me, for some reason Nix and Layla disappeared somewhere, Sakura and Silvia were doing their thing in the city, and even Ragnar went out with Freya to visit all restaurants in town. In short, it was a free day for everyone, so I decided to walk around the city with Orion, I don''t even count Hinata since she spends most of her time sleeping on my necklace, it seems she can still see and hear everything that happens while resting, at least that''s what she told me. I found Harthos walking surrounded by Adventurers, he saw me first and before I knew it he was at my side, so we went together to a temple where I find Loki, the temple itself was in ruins and seems to have been taken over by nature being the only place in this city in such conditions, it was right on the edge of the city in an uncrowded area. "What are you doing here?" (Loki) "He brought me here, I still don''t know why." (I) "I noticed you since yesterday, your Aura reminded me of this place." (Harthos) "I didn''t expect to see a Homunculus like you, did you receive his blessings?" (Loki) Loki points to the abandoned Temple behind him, I don''t understand much of their conversation, but I understood when Loki said that Harthos was a Homunculus, the only one I know so far would be Lyra daughter of Ivan. "Can someone tell me what Temple this is? Also, why did we come here?" (I) "So you realized it was a Temple? Most just call it a historic ruin and don''t know what it really is." (Harthos) "..." (I) "There was no way he didn''t know." (Loki) Loki is right, I realized the moment I saw it, the presence of this place may be different, but it''s still very similar to the Communal Temple inside the Dungeon, I can feel holy presence in this place even if faint, also something divine, but it''s almost imperceptible. "What place is this Loki?" (I) "I''ll tell him." (Loki) "If you know, then feel free, I came here to explain to him about the Island." (Harthos) "This world is special, that''s why this fragment was kept here, there are some other fragments in a Separate Space whose entrance should be closer to the middle of the island." (Loki) "I knew it, you''re an Evil God...or should I say, you were once an Evil God?" (Harthos) "Loki is no longer a god, he has but the power of a god." (I) "But it still has the mind of a the knowledge of a God is tempting, so try not to spread it too much." (Harthos) I look at the temple behind Loki, she looked almost sad when I arrived, but I didn''t notice anything like that when we arrived on the island, it also doesn''t seem like he cares much about the people of his world, so what about this Temple made him like this? "Did you want to tell me that Mr Harthos?" (I) "Today I''m a lady, but can you just call me Harthos?" (Harthos) "..." (I) "His body changes genders, I don''t think you have much control right." (Loki) "Yes, a punishment for trying to escape death by transferring my Soul to another body." (Harthos) Then he tried to change his Soul to another body just like Ivan and his wives did with Lyra in the past, but as far as I know, they weren''t punished by any God, maybe it was judged not necessary since their suffering was greater than any punishment. But now that I think about it, Nicole was punished for something like that, her punishment might seem light to other people, but it was something that really impacted her and almost took away her reason to build her body. It felt like the punishment was on what was precious to Nicole, that might be something, I look at Harthos, maybe he was also punished where it mattered most to him at the time. "This island is very unique in this world, the Elves want you to know that the World Tree on this island comes from another world, it is the reason this fragment manages to remain here as part of this world." (Harthos) "But not everyone likes that, for thousands of years this place has been attacked on several occasions, the Church of Light has always been the most fervent when the destruction of this island." (Harthos) "Why tell me this?" (I) "I don''t know but I was asked to tell so I did, it''s not a big secret anyway." (Harthos) Chapter 955: A Symbol Of Life And Renewal Chapter 955: A Symbol Of Life And Renewal I look at Harthos who waves to the side and the rocks on the floor shape into a stone table where we sit. "I would very much like to understand why you brought me here." (I) "I already told you, I was asked, I''m sure you must have noticed some strange things about the weather on the island." (Harthos)Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com "Like the clouds on fire or the floating river?" (I) "I''m told you have a high affinity for nature, so you must have realized more than that." (Harthos) "This island is almost completely taken over by Temples or Cradles for Fairies and Spirits." (Harthos) "I''m sure those of you who have contracts with these two races understand what I''m talking about." (Harthos) "Yes, but this..." (I) I know this very well, I have two Cradles inside the Dungeon whose gates are in my shadow, so I know about how they can distort the space around them to hide in separate spaces. "Wait! Maybe the space around the island..." (I) "I know what you''re thinking, but you''re wrong, it was the world itself as well as the World Tree that distorted the space around the island, an eternal defense layer." (Harthos) Harthos looks at the ruined temple, I can see that for him or her, I am honestly confused on what to call this person whose gender changes without control, but what I noticed is that Harthos looks at this ruined temple with a twinkle in his eye. "I was told you were coming, that''s why I''m here, my duty is to guarantee your safety until the moment of departure." (Harthos) "So did they tell you why I''m here?" (I) "Yes, so I want to talk to you about something." (Harthos) "Master, Loki has entered the ruins." (Orion) "You can go after her, I feel something is not right." (I) "I am going." (Orion) After Orion ran off toward the ruined Temple, I looked back at Harthos. "I''ll take the beer, but I''m already taken and even if I wasn''t, you''re not my type." (I) "Daughter, you don''t need to keep attacking, some blows are just too cruel." (Razor) When I looked at my father and back to look at my opponent, he was crying, I just acted like I used to back then that I was just an Adventurer, but I think it could be another way. Before I could apologize he ran off. "Was it that bad?" (I) "It was awful, I remember when your mom said that to me, and then I kept going after her for weeks." (Razor) "The fights I had with her were the best" (Razor) "Dad, shut up." (I) cough cough "Well, as I was saying, your fighting style has changed a little, before it was more focused on speed, but it was rough, it lacked delicacy." (Razor) "Now it looks like you''ve learned what was missing." (Razor) "I would like to say that this was the result of my training, but I would be lying, after so many fights over the last few years, I had so much combat experience, I didn''t even notice how much I had changed until I fought him." (I) I look at my Father finally understanding something, better put me to fight that man because of that, his way of fighting is similar to mine before I met Zenos. "You have grown my daughter into a magnificent Champion." (Razor) He suddenly hugs me, I can feel how proud he is of me, but I also feel his hand shaking, I''ve never seen his hand shake like I''m feeling right now. "I''m fine Father, this is the path I chose." (I) "I know." (Razor) "Now let''s get back to training, your next opponent will be me, let''s see the limit of your power this time." (Razor) "I may not be able to win, but I won''t lose as easily as I used to." (I) Chapter 956: How Long Has It Been Dear? Chapter 956: How Long Has It Been Dear? For the rest of the day I walked around the city learning more about the situation, it seems that everyone in the city is prepared for combat at any moment, and it made me think that we should do the same. That night I was returning to the Ship when my vision began to waver and random images flashed in succession, I felt my body spin heavier and heavier as I felt a weakness come over me. "(... hahahahaha...)" (I) "(!)" "(........)" "(Arghhh...)" (I) "(...)" cough cough "(Huhhh...)" The last flash lasted a few seconds where I saw myself holding the head of a woman whose hair was made of strands of golden energy and her skin was white with golden tattoos, there were two people in front of me, a man with only half a body and two wings Wounded left, the other man was all limbs, but golden blood flowed from countless wounds on his body like a fountain. The place around was strange, the space seemed cracked and even broken in places, the sky was full of stars and planets without any cloud, below there was only the red ocean and various fragments of some kind of building were floating everywhere like if there was no gravity. The two were talking looking at me when the half person was suddenly pulled into a red ocean by a tentacle, then I see a blur, and when I realize I''m on Orion''s back who was flying over the city arriving on the Ship. "Orion... what happened?" (I) "The gentleman began to stagger in the middle of the street, in the end, he fell to the ground and did not respond to anything he said, but he had a strange smile on his face." (Orion) "I''m fine... maybe not as fine as I''d like... but I''m fine..." (I) "I don''t mind, I''m taking you to Vanessa and High Priestess Yara." (Orion) Sigh "All righ..." (I) Those flashes were strange, this time it wasn''t just a dream while I was sleeping, it was much stronger, moreover, it happened while I was walking down the street in the middle of the day. In a world like this, I won''t take any unnecessary risks, maybe I''ve been poisoned, cursed, or something else like that, man I don''t know what to think, but I know I''m not normal. "The battle was intense, life force almost depleted, several wounds on the Soul, but I gave enough healing for now, I can continue later." (Natasha) "What you mean?" (I) "Is my Father hurt? How was his Soul hurt?" (Vanessa) "Explaining is boring, I''ll let someone else explain." (Natasha) Soon Natasha takes her hand off my stomach and I feel something different, I feel my blood pulsing inside me, then my black crystal scales that normally have lots of energy flows and sparkles, suddenly become a big flow of red energy that assembles diagrams from my veins. "Just one cut should suffice." (Natasha) Natacha takes a knife and penetrates my stomach before withdrawing the knife, then I see her licking my blood from the Blade. "Always a delight, even in this situation, as expected of my little brother." (Natasha) "What are you doing stabbing him like that!?" (Vanessa) "..." (I) "For my Mother''s sake, not even a low level Vampire would die from such a ridiculous injury, don''t make a fuss." (Vanessa) "Besides, we have someone here who needs to do some explaining!" (Natasha) Suddenly I feel my blood moving towards the wound as if it had a will of its own, then from my stomach is a tentacle of blood whose tip takes the shape of an indistinct red head. I was shocked seeing that, I was speechless and my mind couldn''t help but think of a certain space movie. "You could have warned me, it''s not normal for you to do irresponsible things like that." (Natasha) "(Didn''t have time, fell into a trap.)" "What the..." (I) Suddenly I heard a dreamlike voice in my head, but from Vanessa''s expression, I wasn''t the only one listening. "Hahahaha... look at their faces, it was worth not telling... hahahahaha... but now you must explain." (Natasha) "(I think I have some explaining and an apology to give.)"Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com Chapter 957: Elizabeth Chapter 957: Elizabeth "(I think I have some explaining and an apology to give.)" I was shocked and terrified when that tentacle of blood came out of the wound Natasha made in my stomach, I was only more terrified when that tentacle became a misshapen head of blood, my blood. "(I can''t control my blood.)" (I) "Calm down idiot, let her talk." (Natasha)Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com I didn''t say anything, but my expression should reveal what was going through my head, I only found it even stranger when the misshapen head made of my blood turns towards me and I started to hear his voice in my head once more. "(I guess I have to start by introducing myself.)" Her voice was calm and sounded beautifully full of strong will. "(My name is Elizabeth, I am the first daughter of the Blood Goddess and Guardian of the Temple of Blood.)" (Elizabeth) "(Nice to finally meet you Brother, I apologize for our first meeting being in such an awkward situation.)" (Elizabeth) "..." (I) "..." (I) "Is she really?" (I) "Yes, this is our first sister, one of the 3 Living Calamities, Elizabeth known as the Living Tyranny." (Natasha) "(Stop this nonsense Natasha, I''m too weak for this right now, but I can still leave you with the usual punishment.)" (Elizabeth) "You always have to spoil the fun." (Natasha) "(Sorry once again for this, please ignore this aggressive woman.)" (Elizabeth) Sigh "Please, let''s start with an explanation I can understand about how you''re talking through my blood? Why can''t I control my own blood?" (I) "(I am not speaking through your blood, my Soul has taken your blood as my temporary vessel, so, for now, your blood is no longer yours.)" (Elizabeth) "What!?" (I) "(I''m really sorry about that, but I didn''t have time to talk to you about it, but it''s some consolation it was a random choice.)" (Elizabeth) The more I listen the less I understand she said she''s possessing my blood, but how did she do that? Also, she doesn''t seem to care about what she''s done, she''s just apologizing for how she did it, my will is to try and use everything I have to drive her out of my blood. "Don''t think about it, I know that glint in her eye, no trying to do stupid things on the spur of the moment." (Vanessa) Suddenly Vanessa puts her hand on my shoulder, before she can even try to do something to drive this person out of my blood, I''ve never felt so literally and figuratively invaded before. "Can you start by explaining why it''s in my blood?" (I) "(I''m sure you saw some things, I felt your presence inside me at times.)" (Elizabeth) "(But to sum up, I was facing 8 Demigods, I finished them all, only one managed to escape with his life, but I died.)" (Elizabeth) "So what does all this have to do with you being in my blood?" (I) "(I see that you have awakened the power of Authority, so this makes it easier to explain, my Authority is over Blood, I used my Authority to force a connection with someone from our lineage by creating a way to send my soul to that person after the my death.)" (Elizabeth) "But why me?" (I) "Now let me continue seeing her condition." (Natasha) "Fine, but try not to stab me again." (I) ------------ Pov Kira: I was reading a letter from my Father that was in my room, I just noticed that he disappeared during the night. "What should I do?" (I) "Don''t do anything, the letter says he went to get what you need." (rica) "I still don''t understand why I tell my father but not the master... I mean Zenos." (I) "Why do you need this and if Zenos finds out, then he will abandon other more important tasks." (rica) "It wasn''t that, it was Byakko who told him." (I) "But will you find it here?" (I) "They can''t find it here, can they?" (I) "Calm down, all you can do now is wait." (rica) "Speaking of which, how is the other matter?" (rica) "Here the book says nothing but it''s blank." (I) "No, it''s just hidden, it seems to resonate with something, I just need to figure it out with what." (rica) I gave rica the book that the Father of Nix gave to Zenos, she wanted to read this thing to be able to guide Zenos, if you let him do what he wants, everything could go very wrong. I stop thinking about Zenos and think about Father, he went to get two materials that I need to adapt my body to the new transformation I do with Byakko. "(I just hope he comes back well...)" (I) --------------- Pov Zenos: I spent hours with Natasha and Vanessa, they were checking my condition while I was being healed along with my older sister inside me. Thanks to that I discovered many things. After the two left I managed to talk to my sister Elizabeth again, but this time I didn''t have to hurt myself, she spoke directly into my mind from inside my body. She still didn''t like the idea of having other people inside my body without my consent. Elizabeth told me that she doesn''t want to change her bloodline as much as Natasha, who wanted his bloodline to be a True Dragon. Elizabeth only wants her mother''s bloodline, the Goddess Selene, and my bloodline, it seems she has noticed something in my blood that she likes. I''d like to do that now, but Vanessa has made me reconsider, I think I can leave that until I''ve worked things out with the Elves. "[ Attention, Attention everyone, please gather in the dining hall! ]" (Nicole) "What can it be this time?" (I) I just hoped it was nothing and I could go back to bed some more, I was so tired and my body felt awful. Chapter 958: Invaders And Sabotage Chapter 958: Invaders And Sabotage I found the others going to the hall we used as a cafeteria, I still wasn''t feeling well, I felt a strangeness in my body. At least I could walk, nothing was as bad as before where I passed out in the street. Soon I arrive at the cafeteria where everyone is already gathered, Nicole was on top of a table with her holographic screens floating around her. Next to Nicole was a Fairy the size of a small child eating a slice of some kind of pie. I walk over to the patient to find out what''s going on, as I approach the table a holographic screen appears in front of me while a sound barrier rises around me and Nicole. Before saying anything I start by reading the screen, the information was a bit surprising. "Who told?" (I) "The Faerie floating beside me, Harthos sent this Faerie with the information." (Nicole) "I''ve already gathered almost everyone scattered on the Ship here, shall I start?" (Nicole) "Yes, will they take long to arrive?" (I) "Kira, Athena, Ibuki, and Diana are taking care of everything." (Nicole) "You acted well." (I) It seems that we had rats inside the Ship, they entered and started messing with the circuits or spells inside the walls, Nicole has a strong connection with the Ship the whole time she is inside, so she knew exactly when they started and how many there are. There are 12 people divided into 4 groups, the Ship has no way of detecting their strength, but the simple fact that they are not able to hide their presence from Nicole reveals that they are not strong at our level. ------------ Pov Kira: I didn''t think it would be so easy, everyone had strength below Grade S, and a single thunder element attack knocked everyone unconscious to the brink of death. "I didn''t expect it to be so easy, they''re too weak." (I) "That''s good, it makes getting rid of them easier." (Byakko) "No, that just makes things worse, let me confirm." (I) I reach down to rummage through their clothes, there are no items, so I rip off their clothes to look at their bodies, there are no recognizable scars, marks or tattoos. "That wasn''t funny, too weak." (I) "[Come back Ibuki, thanks for the good work.]" (Nicole) Sigh I didn''t even attack them, I just tried to use my Aura to threaten them, but as soon as my Aura covered them, they all started screaming before falling to the ground drooling and empty-eyed. "I should have left them to Erica, but I thought it was strange how she insisted on going the other way." (I) -------------- Pov rica: "You''re going to tell me everything I want to know." (I) "I''ll never... aahhhh!!!!" "I didn''t ask, it was a statement, sooner or later you''ll say it, so maybe I''ll let you die." (I) "You Devil... aaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!" I knew what these idiots wanted from the beginning, and out of curiosity I followed the construction of this Ship, the points that Nice said they were at were very close to where half of the 8 mana crossings were. That''s why I sent my Hell Wolves to take care of the 3 idiots while I came to the independent maintenance room every Ship''s power core passes through. Nicole''s senses didn''t notice anything, but I had to confirm, when I arrived there was a Celestina woman finishing a magic circle, I used my cursed flames to burn the magic circle to Ashes while I was holding the woman who was weak. "You wanted a diversion but that was silly, even if you sabotage this thing nothing will happen, Nicole has full control of this Ship as long as she''s here." (rica) "You know, you''re going to make an excellent prisoner, I really need to try out some spells I''ve been studying, I hope your body can handle it." (rica) ---------------- Pov Zenos: I talked to Nicole a bit while I was seeing some of the things the girls did when fighting the intruders, it was a one sided massacre but well done. "Everyone, allow me..." (I) I speak to everyone gathered in the dining hall amplifying my voice, I talk about the invaders and that everything has already been resolved, in the middle of the speech Harthos arrived with some men, and I handed over some of the captured invaders to him. Chapter 959: Church Of Light Air Raid Chapter 959: Church Of Light Air Raid Today is the day after my Ship was invaded, Nicole and Rakan studied the items found with all the invaders to find out what they wanted, it was no surprise when they discovered that their plan was to blow up the Ship causing damage to the city while injuring those in city, all while destroying a Heretic (me) and two traitors (Athena and Vanessa). That plan would never have worked, at least not while Nicole was around.Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com After a night''s rest, my body was much more normal, if you don''t consider my ability to use my energy, in other words, without skills, spells, and such. Now I was in a restaurant drinking coffee, a coffee that I brought since they don''t have it on this island, who was with me was Natasha. "Are you sure there''s nothing I can do?" (I) "I know being unable to access your power can be frustrating, but just bear with it for a few more days." (Natasha) I open my hand when I feel my skin being ripped open, then a little blood oozes out as it crystallizes into the shape of a miniature crystal doll with female outline. "(I apologize again for doing this without telling you before.)" (Elizabeth) "Not without warning, you should have asked at least." (I) "(I didn''t have time to ask and I didn''t want to fight those opponents without insurance, so I won''t apologize for saving my life, but I admit that I could have done better.)" (Elizabeth) Sigh "I don''t want to mention this matter anymore, I wouldn''t want to let you die anyway, so it would be all the same." (I) "(I appreciate your consideration, but I need to say that you can still use your power, but there would be consequences.)" (Elizabeth) "You shouldn''t teach him this, it''s too soon." (Natasha) "(I can give a little help, at least it won''t explode.)" (Elizabeth) "I don''t like where this conversation is going." (I) "Just speak and let me decide what I''m going to do." (I) It was strange to have a small crystal doll whose feet are still in liquid form connecting with the wound, for some reason I wanted to mold it into some fun appearance, but I had no control over my own blood. "Where is Klaus?" (I) "He said he will move between areas that need reinforcement." (Ivan) "I understand." (I) "Did you call everyone from the Dungeon?" (I) "No, just a few, the others are too weak for this battle." (Ivan) "Is Barok''s stalker here too?" (I) "She was a few minutes ago, but it seems that a relative of hers was in the city, and when he felt her presence he came to drag her to the battle that will take place on high." (Ivan) "How are the Ship''s defenses?" (I) "Irina along with other Mages are inside the Ship strengthening the defenses, she assured that even if many of those with King Grade strength attack the defenses, it should be enough to withstand 2 or 3 attacks." (Ivan) "At least we have a useful defense..." (I) "Listen, we don''t have much time, this attack is more intense than the last one, these Ships of theirs have powerful spatial magic and they arrived teleporting." (Harthos) "They are strong enough to resist spatial distortion, so this time there will be ground fighting too, I hope we can count on you." (Harthos) "We''ll be happy to help." (I) "But you must understand that we are not going to throw ourselves against enemies that we are not capable of defeating." (I) "No need to worry, the worst battle will take place outside the spatial distortion." (Harthos) Harthos leaves after giving some more information, I explain to him about Nicole''s area control capability during combat and information gathering. I wanted to participate in the fight more directly, but I''m not stupid enough to do something so reckless under my current circumstances. Instead, I joined Nicole, we scattered my Lesser Familiars, the Ghost Crows over a large area around the city, let these Crows close to the people in the lead, then passed on the preliminary information Nicole had gathered so far, which isn''t much, but at least it''s something. Chapter 960: This Is War Part 1 Chapter 960: This Is War Part 1 When the Church of the Light invaded there wasn''t much I could do directly, I could only command and help Nicole. The special magic that Nicole created was based on computers, but the operating system of the screens was something created by Nicole, it was very intuitive for someone like me who spent my days awake in front of a computer screen. There were hundreds of small screens around me and hundreds more around Nicole, if it was in the past, it would be impossible for me to pay attention to 5% of these screens, but for me now it''s very easy. I think faster and I can also think about more things at the same time, I also have some passive skills that further hone these mental characteristics.Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com I could pay attention to all the screens, even if my eyes couldn''t see all the screens at the same time, I could still use my Aura to see everything around me. The size of the screen also doesn''t matter much since with the repeated evolutions all the senses increase a lot, I can pay attention to all those small screens with ease. "Nicole, I want a bigger screen in front of me with the map of the battlefield, also put names on my Lesser Familiar pictures to differentiate between groups." (I) "I was already preparing the map, I''ll finish in a few seconds." (Nicole) "Who will control the Ship if you help me here?" (I) "I already took care of it, left it in good hands." (Nicole) When I received the map, I configured it with the vision images of my Inferior Relatives, one thing I learned studying a little about magical engineering was that programming language does not exist in this world and will never exist, but programming logic is used a lot to the point since new configuration ways have been created using magic, I''m basically using this to configure my map to make it easier to identify the situation. After just a few minutes everything was ready and the battle had not yet started, they were all stopped, the Church of Light on one side of the spatial distortion and us on that side. "Has everyone been warned?" (I) "Yes, but how do you want to do it, what''s the plan?" (Nicole) "I don''t have a plan and it wouldn''t do to make one, I don''t have a clear sense of the situation because I can''t understand the level of strength of many people on both sides." (I) "So let''s use someone else''s plan, in the last few minutes Orion and Ragnar were talking to one of the Fairy Queens, thanks to your information we have a decent plan." (I) "You just said you didn''t have a plan 27 seconds ago." (Nicole) "It''s not my plan, I''m just going to go with it." (I) This Fairy Queen was strange, she was kind of translucent as if she weren''t here, even just sharing senses with Orion and Ragnar was enough to know that all the Fairies had their attentions on that Fairy Queen, so she must be important. "It seems that the battle of those above Emperor Grade will take place far away from us, I don''t know exactly where, but as long as it doesn''t interfere with the battles here I won''t care, those of Emperor Grade will fight outside the spatial distortion and those who will enter are mostly Lord Grade people or we can call it Bronze Grade as Adventurers classify themselves." (I) "There will be a lot of Grade Kings, but those will have to fight in the sky, the plan is not to let those from this level and above pass the sky, they can''t hold off all the enemies and so they must be selective." (I) "Our numbers are different, so we can expect to see some Grade Lords here." (Nicole) Whatever the Church of Light is going to do, two things are certain, the first is that it will burn a huge amount of resources, and the other thing that it will wear out to do it. Letting the enemy make the first move can be dangerous, but this method can have its advantages. "Zenos, look over there, do you feel it?" (Natasha) "..." (I) "Damn..." (I) In the distance, I still couldn''t see anything, but a faint presence I could make out, or should say my instincts were telling me about them. In a few more minutes Dragons the size of Ships were flying towards us, they seemed to be very big and they all had white scales, one among them even had white horns and had a slightly different body shape, he had a big medallion hanging around the neck with the Coat of Arms of the Church of Light. "Dad, that one is" (Nicole) "I know..." (I) At this moment I really wish I was strong enough to crack open someone''s skull with my bare hands, I knew just by looking that it was this Dragon, the Elf King of Dark Elf Village told me about that Dragon. When he emerged he looked directly at us, I could see the hatred in his gaze, but then he turned his fierce head in another direction, from the images of the Ghost Crows he was able to see them better, there were 28 True Dragons. That was a huge force, I saw everyone go quiet with fear, but the Dragon I hated the most was still looking at the surroundings with eyes full of doubt. "Diana, do it now." (I) "< Awakening of Fenrir >" (Diana) "< Will of the Alpha >" (Diana) ROARRRRRRRRR!!!!! Diana transforms into her Werewolf form, her height almost doubled as her clothes and weapons adjust to her new size, then she roars into the air using her Aura and Authority creating a wave of energy coursing through everything in the surroundings. This is a Skill that Silvia taught her, with that all those who are of the Man-Beast Race or who are worshipers of the God Smite will gain a Wolf symbol on their bodies that increases their stats for a whole day, this will give the same effect as stretching into Diana''s Aura even if the person is far away from her. This ability still puts a lot of pressure on Diana''s body, so I planned to let her use it at the last second, but with the arrival of the Dragons of Light, I couldn''t wait any longer. "(That bastard, how dare he show up after destroying an entire city for nothing!?)" (I) I was worried, but also nervous since the True Dragon with the medallion around his neck was Shiro, the True Dragon of Light who tried to kill me while I was there and destroyed an entire city in the process. I wanted to kill this bastard with my own hands, but I''m too weak, my only consolation is knowing that soon he will be in for a very big surprise. Chapter 961: This Is War Part 2 Chapter 961: This Is War Part 2 Pov Diana: I was just sitting there taking a rest, using the skill just now puts a lot of pressure on my body, so I need to get some rest while I still can. "Let me help." (Natasha) Suddenly I hear a voice behind me and I receive a slap on my back that makes me stand up with the force of the blow, I also felt a current of energy pass through my entire body causing a wave of pain. But in the next second, the pain is gone and my body feels light, I''m at full strength again. "Thanks." (I) "I don''t want to let someone like you fight at a disadvantage." (Natasha) She says that and leaves with a smile on her face, then I feel my wrist vibrate, it was the magic item Nicole gave us earlier, I try to remember what she said, so I use some of my mana to activate it and a small translucent screen appears in front of me. I see some orders from Zenos and the mention of groups, soon after another message appears with my photo and 2 other people, this should be my group. "Nice to fight by your side again Diana." (Irius) "Leave the defense in my hands." (Irina) "Remember, we have to have a defensive fight, don''t chase enemies too far." (Diana) They both nodded, I know I''m stating the obvious, but I''d rather sin by repeating a warning than regret not saying anything when I should. "See, it''s about to start." (Irina) "At least it''s not aiming here." (Diana) The True Dragons of Light that arrived were all accompanied by what I imagine to be Priests from the Church of Light, large magic circles appear in front of each of the Dragons when they use their Breath of Light attacks, and the ray of light that comes out of their jaws passes through by the magic circle giving the tone of a golden light to the ray of light. The ray of light was incredibly fast, but its speed seemed to slow down at a certain point in space which must be where the spatial distortion is, but even then it only takes a few seconds before crossing the spatial distortion and arriving on the island, but of course people here they did not stand still waiting, all attacks were defended. When the attacks ended, the sky had a circular golden hue at certain points, even if I don''t understand how they did that, I still know that these are passages to enter here without being impeded or killed by the spatial distortion. I hold my two Swords that are as big as my Werewolf form now, my skill creates the heads of two Wolves on the blades of my swords making each attack of my swords equal bites dealing much more damage. This Skill has my Aura and Authority mixed together, this makes it almost impossible for them to defend themselves from me, the only option being dodging, if they are faster than me. I go running between the enemies that didn''t see us until we were close, I run towards one of them, cutting off his head before a Templar appears in front of me defending my attacks with a large shield while mounted on top of a Pegasus. "< Luminous Blade >" "< Air Flow >" (I) As he prepares to attack me, I use my Authority along with my Wind elemental Ki to pull the air inside my Aura into my palm, this includes the air in his lungs causing him to suffocate, so his attack is interrupted and I use that gap to pierce its eye to the brain with my sword. "< Wind Blast >" (I) When I''m being surrounded by Soldiers of Light I use the wind accumulated and compressed in the palm of my hand to explode around my surroundings sending everyone back, two are trapped by Irina''s chains of light while one of the others is in a sword fight that will soon lose against Irius. I try not to spend too much energy, this battle can last all day or even longer and my energy is not unlimited. "(Diana, there are more coming after you, they will attack from above.)" (Zenos) "< Tornado Wolf >" (I) I suddenly hear Zenos''s voice in my head and look up as I gather the air around me as I create a Tornado that charges towards the enemies above while taking the form of a Wolf. "IRINA!" (I) "< Crushing Shield > 2" (Irina) My attack wasn''t meant to defeat the enemies but rather create an opening which was followed by two energy shields on either side of the enemies before smashing them in the middle. They were just Priests trying to use a ranged attack to defeat us, my attack from before destroyed their defenses and injured some of them without giving them time to see Irina''s attack. "This is just beginning..." (I) I think as I see dozens more enemies coming towards us surrounded by light. Chapter 962: This Is War Part 3 Chapter 962: This Is War Part 3 Pov Loki: I was lying down eating what was left of yesterday''s cake when the attack started, after kicking Athena out of bed we go out of the Ship. I couldn''t help but smile as time passed and I saw the Battleships of the Church of Light arriving, then the Dragons, and ending with the bridge of light they created using holy magic together with the Dragons. I was overjoyed, the situation could be challenging due to the difference in numbers, but it would be a lot of fun. It was for uncertain moments like this that I stopped being a God, it was for moments like this where I can have fun without those uncomfortable restrictions that I wanted so much to be mortal. "Hahahahaha... he''s completely crazy... hahahahahaha..." (I) The daughter of Zenos magic item was interesting, it would have been useful for me to have the battlefield rules and know where to stand, but what I found completely hilarious was the group plan. The group he chose for me was just amazing, he put Hela and Lilith in my group, and I couldn''t help but laugh. "She is fine?" (Hela) "I think she''s just happy or she thought of a really good joke... now I want to know if it was a joke." (Lilith) "It was a joke for sure, the best one..." (I) I was already happy when the two approached me, but when Zenos'' voice spoke in my head because of the telepathy in that magic item I have on my wrist, I just got happier. "(Fight only in second option, your job is to cause chaos in the enemy ranks to end the harmony of your military combat pattern.)" (Zenos) "You made me so happy now... just ask me to have fun with these soldiers..." (I) "(I never said have fun, I told you...)" (I) "Hela get ready, you too Lilith, today we are going to have the best of days." (I) "Do you have pizza?" (Lilith) "No, but there are a lot of people full of accumulated revenge coming in waves." (I) "I still wanted pizza, does their blood taste like pizza?" (Lilith) "Did you have breakfast?" (Hela) "No, I ran here when Lyra dragged me here." (Lilith) "I got some pizza from yesterday, but you can have it." (Hela) "You are the best Hela!" (Lilith) "Come on you two, we don''t have time for this... do you have pizza for me too?" (I) "Let''s start the show... hahahahaha...." (I) ------------- Pov Lilith: I look at Loki facing hundreds of enemies and I look at Hela. "I thought it was to avoid fighting." (I) "She''s thinking about me." (Hela) "Are you going to use them?" (I) "The master doesn''t want me to summon the island''s dead." (Hela) "So Come on, she''s already calling us." (I) I spread my red wings and come to Loki''s side, then grab her hand before I start spinning to throw her away. "They''re all hers." (I) "< Nightmare Ghosts >" (Hela) I leave everything here with Hela before I go after Loki. "Needed this?" (Loki) "Father asked to cause confusion and avoid fights." (I) "It wasn''t a fight, it was a show..." (Loki) "We have more places to go." (I) I separate from her going to a place where thousands of Soldiers were in battle against the Adventurers, most of them seemed to be of Catastrophe Grade, so I went to them spreading my Aura, it was at that moment that I realized the power of Loki''s Authority along with my Aura, this made my Aura reach 3 times the total area it would normally reach. "< Abyss of Madness Lure >" (I) My Aura causes madness, but I controlled it to only affect people from the Church of Light, I also used a Demonic Curse that causes Madness in an area and used my Aura to target the curse''s targets. "My work here is done... hey, that was my arm..." (I) Of course, those idiots didn''t just stand around being cursed, they tried to attack me and my arm went flying after being ripped off, so I went after him leaving the rest behind. "How did she do that!?" (I) I look to the side and see the flesh falling off the bodies of some soldiers as if it were melting away leaving only the skeleton wearing the armor of the Church of Light stained with blood. Chapter 963: This Is War Part 4 Chapter 963: This Is War Part 4 Pov Harthos: I was removing a sword from my stomach when that strange crow landed on my shoulder. "[A few dozen inquisitors were invisible while coming in the city.]" (Nicole) "Where did you go?" (I) "[I don''t know, these family members are not mine and have no useful skills in this situation.]" (Nicole) "Point the direction." (I) "Julio!!" (I) "I''m busy... you bastard." (Julio) "< Massacre dance >" (Julio) "< Freezing Flow >" (I) "Thank you, but what you need." (Julio)Nne?w n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com I look at a place near me where a hybrid killer half-dwarf and half-life of the cat tribe was fighting, I saw him use his daggers in a dance that made blood along with pieces of armor spread, but he He stopped taking the archer in the distance. I use my skills to multiply a drop of freezing potion in a large mist by killing that archer next to those hidden around him to attack anyone who tried to approach. "We have invisible inquisitors of unknown level of force in that direction, I leave with you." (I) "Okay, let''s kill these bastards." (Julio) After saying that she disappears at high speed, after seeing him disappearing in the distance I make the cloud of poison around me fly to the bottle from where I took. "War situation." (I) "[We are on a stalemate, they have the larger number, but in a matter of strength both sides are on the same level.]" (Nicole) "..." (I) While that young man''s voice comes out of the bird, I hear everything he says before giving my orders to the other adventurers and soldiers. "It was a great help." (Ivan) rica and Kira were with me, I left them to help Ivan''s group while the two took care of ten Templars coming from us. When I looked at them I saw Kira take his arm from the last Templar chest before they two approach me. "(Ibuki, has enemies to his right, how many?)" (Zenos) "Damn, there are over 300 Templars..." (I) "Can I follow the plan?" (rica) "(It was close to asking this, do.)" (Zenos) "< Target Locked >" (rica) As soon as rica and Kira approach me the magic item on my wrist vibrated when I started listening to the master''s voice in my head, by the expression of others I know they are also listening. When we turn towards the direction he spoke we see the Templars advancing in his Pegasus of Light, so he gives an order to Erica that pulls a purple magical crystal that shines strongly as she points to the direction of the enemies, in a short time a multi -elemental radius comes from the direction of the ship reaching them. After 2 or 3 seconds the lightning stopped and when we can see, we find that the one of the enemies are falling while those who tested are injured. "Let''s end them..." (Kira) When we were preparing to end them, suddenly Layla appears between them, so the space in that area seemed to be a bump for a few seconds. As soon as the ripple is over everything that was left were twisted bodies and crumpled armor, Layla had disappeared somewhere. "< Bone Shield >" (Ivan) "< Dragon Sword >" (Barok) "< Barrier Cursed >" (rica) "< Guardian Shadow >" (I) We all use defensive skills when we feel the danger coming from behind, so a large cross -shaped sword made of light comes towards us crossing all our defenses before penetrating Barok''s body that used oneself as a shield to protect us. We ran to Barok to help, but the enemy already had another sword of these coming towards us, but before we hit the sword of light broke when Kira''s father appeared, so he ran toward where the sword had come. Chapter 964: This Is War Part 5 Chapter 964: This Is War Part 5 I was using the information that Nicole got in large quantities to order our companions from where to go and which enemies to face, I didn''t say to any of them, but I was avoiding places where I couldn''t determine the enemy''s strength. I try to pay attention to everything, but the more the battle advances, the more things for me to pay attention to, I don''t know how Nicole can do it without losing the pace, the battle started a short time ago and I''m already mentally tired. In addition, I feel increasingly anxious and frustrated by seeing my companions being injured in combat when I saw the broken arm of Ibuki or Barok being seriously injured I felt a great desire to drop everything and run to them. Honestly, if I had not learned to control my emotions I would have led me by these emotions, it is always easy to get lost in emotions when important people are in danger. But I kept calm and warned someone who was around to help, fortunately, it seems that Klaus was around and did something he himself. But still, I made Layla who was around to bring them to the ship, being here I let Freya heal Barok that was the most due, even if I was in a position to use my energy, I was never good at healing others, I always studied Ways to fight, all the spells and techniques I know are of combat. "Dad, it looks like something is happening." (Nicole) "..." (I) Near the ships, the space seemed to crack and a few seconds later a thin kitchen escaped the cracks by destroying a part of one of the white ships of the Church of Light. Of course, few people have paid close attention to it, getting distracted by anything in the midst of the battle is the same as going to the cemetery to buy his own coffin. Only I and Nicole pay close attention to this event because we feared that one of the dragons of light could have returned. "Good thing, the crack is closing." (I) The crack that opened out of nowhere began to close alone after the light disappeared. "(The dragons are fighting in a separate space, the cracking must be a repercussion of their attacks.)" (Elizabeth) "(Thanks for saying.)" (I)Nne?w n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com "Nicole, there''s more of them." (I) I suddenly realized from the vision of one of the birds many Templars from the forest, but before their heads arrived in the city were torn by fairy out of the wind. "Besides my father said this is an important struggle to Ragnar." (I) I know his story, his father killed his own son who had just been born for no reason, was a cruel act ordered by the god of light, he failed as a father and continues to fail, I can see in the eyes of this celestina the emotional disorder, She came here when reacting his aura, must be for the blessing she has. "There''s more of them coming, I''m going ahead." (Orion) "< Bloodflow >" (Orion) I see Orion fly toward two other celestins using Templar armor while spreading red mist around the surroundings, so I turn to another direction. "If you don''t show up I will kill your friend." (I) "< Spatial crushing >" (I) Suddenly the space in an area distorted as if he had been kneaded by an invisible hand so blood spread when a body that was not there before fell to the floor, was a man with clothes from the Inquisitors. "It''s no use running." (I) "< Speed Flash >" "You fell... Ghahh!!!" "< Wooden Dragon >" (I) I was inn on the floor watching the second enemy try to escape still invisible, but suddenly his speed increases and he appears behind me, but before I could attack me the attack I was preparing comes from the floor right under him, a dragon made from wood of the roots under the earth. "Being invisible near someone with affinity with the space element is useless." (I) A tree of the world manipulates the space around it often, of all the elements in existence this is the first we use and the one we use most often. My senses include a spatial perception that allows me to feel everything in a space around me to some distance, no matter if anyone hides from my eyes, there is no way to hide their presence in their own space. "Damn, how many of them came." (I) Chapter 965: This Is War Part 6 Chapter 965: This Is War Part 6 Pov Ragnar: "What is your problem!" (I) "< Aura Blast >" (I) "< Aura Sword >" This Celestina ran towards me with red eyes ignoring everything and everyone in her path, I knew why the moment I saw her, even though I was stronger than I could perfectly sense her Aura due to her altered emotional state. I could feel the anger, contempt, and shame in her aura, but none of it seemed to be coming from her, it was all coming from something deeper inside her. If I didn''t know what it was, maybe I wouldn''t have recognized it, but I know that presence very well, it was the second presence I knew and the last one I felt before dying in the past. I hated the owner of this presence for thousands of years, there were times when I met him in person while accompanying the God of Beasts. He who is the definition of blind loyalty and servitude, the Divine Beast known to be the Guardian of Dawn Oros, the Solar Pegasus. The fool who killed his own son without hesitation for the words of a petty God, a fool who betrayed my mother''s trust and love to whom she swore eternal love. My hatred for this deplorable being has long since turned to pity because someone like himself having an eternal life will never know happiness, all he is and will always be will be a miserable servant. "< Aura Beast >" (I) "< Pegasus Aura >" I''ve tried many types of Aura attacks, and I already realized that I''m better at manipulating my Aura than her, but her raw power is still greater than me, with this I''m being more and more pressured, all while her Aura is still trying to suppress the my. She cut my Aura blast creating a sword with her Aura and now that I used my Aura technique to create a copy of me with 5 times my size to attack her, I see a similar attack from her, but instead of being a copy of her, it was a Pegasus made from your Aura. It took me just 1 second to understand that unlike me who used a technique created by me, she used an Aura skill, something she didn''t make the effort to learn like me and yes she was presented along with her Blessing of the hypocrite to whom she swore loyalty. "You can stop playing games now, I know you can hear me and I also know that if you ask this Celestina she will willingly surrender her body to serve as a medium for you Oros." (I) I revert to my human form, I like my appearance that way exactly because it has none of that man''s traits. "We both know if he could have done anything he wouldn''t have wasted his time talking to me, really as despicable as Baldr." (I) "You are right that I cannot move this body, it cannot contain my power, but I warned you what would happen if I dared to insult the Great God of Light." (Oros) His Aura begins to spread as I feel the Authority being emitted from Celestina of the Templar''s body as blood begins to leak from the corners of her mouth. "You bastard will kill even one of your worshipers for something so foolish, always the same despicable and cruel man as always..." (I) "This time your mother won''t be able to protect your Soul like in the past." (Oros) I feel his Aura and his Authority holding me in place, even breathing was difficult, I know this is not even 5% of his power, a simple Blessing would not form a strong enough connection for him to use his power through others, he it''s pushing the boundaries of that connection. "Gahhh!!!" (I) "Huhhh..." (I) I tried to use my Aura but it was overwhelmed by his Aura, I tried to use Master''s Authority but it was only a fraction of his Authority, it at least served to protect me. "A filthy Authority containing the essences of blood and corruption, something so disgusting" (Oros) "(Ragnar, leave it to me.)" (Zenos) "(The master doesn''t need...)" (I) "(I know, but he needs to hear some things.)" (Zenos) "(Are you going to be alright?)" (I) "(Yes, maybe... never mind...)" (Zenos) I feel the master''s power coming to me through our connection I feel he is not forcing himself on me, he is waiting and I let him in, I feel his power spread through my body, and I feel his Aura merge with mine and spread out from my body to protect me from the Aura de Oros, but even then it was only enough to push the Aura de Oros away from me a few inches. Then I feel the full power of his Authority flood my body, I leave my body for him to control. Chapter 966: This Is War Part 7 Chapter 966: This Is War Part 7 I was watching the movement of enemy troops around the city to know how to move my teammates safely. "rica, take your Group to join Diana and Ivan who are nearby, and head in the direction I''m sending, Loki and his group managed to cause a great confusion among the hundreds of enemies that we must take advantage of." (I) "(I''m already going.)" (rica) Loki is doing a good job wreaking havoc on enemy lines, I never thought he''d say this, but Lilith is doing an excellent job too. "(Sakura, collect 1000 enemy corpses from the ground and bring them close to the Ship.)" (I)Nne?w n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com "(Yes master.)" (Sakura) I contact Sakura through my connection to her as my Familiar to give a task I thought of just now. "Hela, come over to the Ship." (I) "(Yes master.)" (Hela) "Alan, there are Inquisitors heading your way, they''ve split into two groups trying to surround you." (I) "(Thanks for the warning, but I still need to finish those.)" (Alan) "So be quick, I don''t have anyone around and they''re 20 seconds away from where you are." (I) "(I take care of them.)" (Bianca) The Hero of Justice is fighting alongside us, I''m surprised he''s following all the instructions, but he''s clearly lost in the war not knowing where to go. "(Nix, these Spirits around town are...)" (I) "(They wanted to help, but I let only the strongest ones participate since they need to gain combat experience, Layla did the same with her Fairies.)" (Nix) "(Fine, just don''t let them get in danger.)" (I) "But your light only blinds your own darkness, someone like you whose words undying love meant nothing when you attacked the mother of your child, the despicable pride that drove you to kill your own son and a simply laughable obedience to a God known to his boundless arrogance." (I) "You talk a lot about the sins and mistakes of others, but how many innocents have you killed, how many lives'' blood has filled your stomach?" (Oros) "I am what I am, I don''t hide behind a false light and I never considered myself fair, I''ll probably drink a lot of blood in my life, but the blood of a few worms like you will be very delicious when the day comes." (I) "Do you think a corrupt being like you will manage to" (Oros) "No empty threats, we both know you don''t dare come into this world personally, you also know that I am an enemy with eternal life just like you, I have time to grow stronger and one day it will be your blood in my stomach." (I) "I''ll be waiting for that day to find out if it''s not your blood I''m cleaning from my hooves." (Oros) As I was talking to this supposed father of Ragnar, the body he used to communicate was tearing itself apart, starting with blood coming out of his mouth, then his eyes and nose. After a few seconds the armor he was wearing started to crack, his body started to burn and yet he spoke as if nothing was happening, he doesn''t have any kind of respect or feeling for someone who followed his teachings and received his Blessing. "Real rubbish, it disgusts me..." (I) He wasn''t here to listen when the body crumbled to dust, nothing was left of Celestina, but her Soul remained, that''s why I didn''t let her Soul be taken away, as his Aura and Authority were weakening, I expanded my Aura creating a Territory small around Ragnar, in the end, I managed to do it seconds before the body fell apart leaving only her Soul. I use a curse along with Runes and Spirituals to seal her soul using the blood on the ground that crystallized into a sphere. "Bring me her..." (I) I couldn''t stand it any longer as my power and consciousness receded back into my body. Cough Cough Cough Cough "Damn it!!!" (I) "(You overdid it...)" (Elizabeth) "..." (I) Chapter 967: This Is War Part 7 Chapter 967: This Is War Part 7 Pov Hela: I look at the floor full of corpses and the enemies outnumbering us, I can see that everyone in our group is using potions, we may have a large number of potions but our allies don''t. I also don''t want to keep using corpses as a sacrifice or creating zombies, that''s a waste of meat that will be useful later on, normal Ghosts and Specters are useless in this situation against enemies that use the light element. "Let me try this..." (I) "< Necromancer Summon: Phantom Parasites >" (I) I spend my mana and the Authority that Loki lent me on this spell, and the magic circle becomes almost 1 kilometer, this is a mid-level spell, but I will need a lot of summons. I pull two magic crystals, one of them containing pure Dark element mana and the other containing Demonic energy, are excellent for this specific summon. Soon thousands of translucent purple worms come out of the magic circle falling to the ground, I manage to control them by sharing the load with the two magic crystals and my mind, but even so, I don''t think I''ll be able to use another magic while I''m in control of these creatures. I see those closer to me going through the corpses of the Church of Light on the ground, these worms are Specter type monsters, they sink inside the corpse to control it like a puppet. When they take over a corpse they start to produce neurotic poison inside the possessed corpses, moreover, they can control the body using all of the body''s physical stat, much better than Zombies whose strength decreases compared to when they were alive. Also when they are in a group they tend to move together, as they are just moving the corpse, normal purification and light magic has no effect as long as it doesn''t hit the parasite inside the body, not to mention the parasite continually Kobe through the body, this makes an enemy difficult to defeat. He doesn''t have any ranged abilities and his intelligence is low, but in this situation, he will be of great help. They all looked at me when I use this opportunity to convey my orders, first was the permission to use the bodies of the Church of Light, then it was the order to attack those with the characteristics that I passed to them, I used the souvenirs of the uniforms that the Church of Light are using. "Kill them all!" (I) Without a corpse to inhabit they are almost defenseless, they have no attack or defense power, and their only redemption would be their speed. "A simple but good plan." (Loki) "But why not use other things, I could have used the same number of bodies as a sacrifice for a stronger summon." (Loki) "He looks fine, what happened?" (I) "< Spiral of Lightning >" (Freya) "I don''t know, at one point we were doing our work command the strategy and ninoutrovepe fell." (Nicole) "Did anyone see if there were any enemies coming close?" (I) "No one came close, anyone who tries to fall will be sent flying away by my arrows." (Freya) Freya was on top of the highest part of the Ship using her bow and arrow to attack from afar all enemies who dare to approach, her task is not to kill the enemies with her arrow, but to drive them away or buy time until another alley takes care of the enemy. Suddenly a wound opens in her chest and blood seeps out taking the outline of a person before I start hearing a woman''s voice in my mind. "(He''s fine, he just mentally overloaded himself and his body was on edge for a few seconds.)" (Elizabeth) "Elizabeth, correct?" (I) "(Yes, besides, already answering your next question, he just needs rest.)" (I) I think a little, from what she said is seeing her impeccable condition, the only thing I imagine is her inability to keep herself safe, I''m sure it was something reckless. "Lilith, get him inside before you go back to battle, we don''t have time to lose." (I) "But I want..." (Lilith) "Do as I say." (I) Lilith enters the Ship with our Father in her arms being carried in the way he doesn''t like. "Nicole, where am I going?" (I) "I''ll look and I''ll talk to you about it." (Nicole) I look up at the sky with flashy abilities flying all over the sky, being surrounded by people so much stronger than me while fighting is beyond weird. Chapter 968: This Is War Part 8 Chapter 968: This Is War Part 8 Pov Priest of Light: I was surrounded by hundreds of Soldiers and dozens of Templars, I am one of the strategists of the attack and as planned, I command a group that came in the second wave of attacks to take some of the buildings as a base, from here we can give orders to our army and serve as bait for those who want to attack. I look at the statue in my hand, it was actually crystal containing powerful attack spells, it would be both for us to defend and attack. But unfortunately, no one came to me, they all kept their distance or were pushed away by the troops around me, this was also one of the possible situations I thought possible. Since we outnumber them and my group is stuck in one place, they must be thinking they can handle me later. But the truth is that this was the best option for us, I started working on the sacred Summoning circle, the statue-shaped magic crystal is full of Holy Power, and it will be the core of the magic ritual. "Sir, it looks like we have movement coming from the forest." (Templar) I remember those Fairies and Spirits that we saw from afar were the ones that did the most damage, there were more Fairy Kings and Spirits here than we imagined. "Is it the Fairies or the Spirits and from which direction exactly?" (I) "Show it on the map." (I) I open the map on the table and the Templar approaches, he spends a few minutes explaining his report, he says the direction and how many there are, he also said that they are the Fairies. "Are they just coming to town...or are they coming for us?" (I) "Lord what happens...finally." (Templar) "Tired of talking..." (Templar) Suddenly I feel my vision blur and I slightly lost my balance, I tried to use magic but I couldn''t, the energy seems to have been drained from me without realizing it until I got so tired that even standing up is being a problem. I look at the Templar from before, he looks different, and the way he talks and looks at me are different from a few seconds ago. I try to pick up the statue but it''s nowhere to be seen, I know where I left that statue before, if it''s not there it means he''s already taken it before I know it. "What are you...aaaahhhhh!!!" (I) Suddenly a girl''s body comes out of the Templar''s body, the girl was a little transparent, clearly an evil Spectre. "Stop crying... you idiot..." (Shiro) I look down, the Dragon under my paw was my friend but now he has lost his wings and one of his arms his legs are injured and his neck has the mark of my jaw. "Now all Ihope is that youare right." (Shiro) "Now end it..." (Shiro) "I''d rather it be you than... someone like Arash or that inquisitor." (Shiro) I was very nervous, one thing was killing the other Dragons, but Shiro was very difficult, I spent a lot of time with him. Sigh "Goodbye old friend." (I) I use my claws to crush his head, at least I wanted to cause him the least amount of suffering possible. "..." After finishing off all the True Dragons of Light that came, I spent an unknown amount of time staring at my blood-soaked claws. Then I remember the words of the Dragon God Akatosh when I received this stigma on my body. "(We Dragons are symbols of power.)" (Akatosh) "(But that''s just a part of who we are, that''s because we are also symbols of strength.)" (Akatosh) "(A True Dragon does not betray, does not lie and never turns against its own race.)" (Akatosh) "(Your strength is not your destructive power but who you are.)" (Akatosh) I still remember what he said but it still doesn''t make what I just did easy, I feel an emptiness inside me. "Luminus, it''s time to leave and you''ve finished your battle." (Lux) I dispose of my Territory along with my Separator Space after storing the bodies, if I could I would like to leave their bodies in a tomb in the Cemetery of Dragons, but even that will not be possible.Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com Chapter 969: This Is War Part 9 Chapter 969: This Is War Part 9 Pov Natasha: I was sitting on top of a mountain with hundreds of bodies, most of my clothes were torn, but my body was completely unharmed. "My lady, please put on clothes that cover your body, take off these rags." (Margareth) "The battle isn''t over yet, what''s the use of putting on another outfit only to have it tear when you''re injured?" (I) "Healing my body is easy, but I don''t know how to mend clothes." (I) I use Impose Aura to draw blood from the corpses I''m sitting on to drink, at this point I don''t have my old power, all I can do is drink blood or potions to recover my energy. But I still can''t get the smile off my face, so many fun matches, it would be impossible to find so many opponents if I still had my power at its peak. "My lady, you must" (Margareth) "Finally someone worth his salt, prove yourself an Inquisitor." (I) "I didn''t expect to be discovered, as one would expect from one of the Living Calamities." I look to the side to see the space fold to reveal a Human wearing the white combat clothes of the Inquisitors, made from the hides of monsters with an affinity for the element of Light. A man well trained by the way he moves and observes his surroundings, he tries to pretend calm while trying hard to pay attention to everything in his surroundings.Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com "How did you notice me so quickly?" "I noticed you more than an hour ago when you arrived, I was getting tired of waiting and didn''t want to listen to Margareth''s sermons any longer." (I) His face broke the pretense of calm, he must be very confident of his abilities believing he hid for a long time from one of the Living Calamities, a young and naive fool. "Don''t make a face like that, at least wait until I destroy your body." (I) "It will be difficult being already dead." My walk through his trap only took a few seconds, I''m sure he was shocked, all those overconfident people who believe they are the smartest wherever they are always react the same way. "< Elemental Incarnation: Wood >" (I) I may have acquired various types of Elemental Affinity through training, but Elemental Incarnation skills have a much stronger effect with the most suitable affinity for the body, which in my case is wood. "< Executioner''s Sword of Light >" "Die!!!" He runs towards me, and I can see that his focus is not on speed since I can match him after the transformation, so I faced him head on while he holds a sword made of Light. I use my Aura, not on my entire hand, I use my Aura along with my Authority only on my claws concentrating my power only on the attack. I dodge his sword from above and try to hit him from below when I''m met with a kick from the left, I catch his leg using his strength to throw him. "< Ghost Blade >" "Idiot." (I) Instead of deflecting this attack, I run towards him, the attack hits me breaking my scales and almost splitting my body in two, then comes the second Phantom attack behind the first flashy one just cutting my body. Tendrils of blood shoot out from the two halves of my body tangling at great speed to be together again, this time he doesn''t get caught in his shock, he tries to attack me again but falls to his knees midway. "What did you do to me!?" I smile at him as I approach, I don''t need to tell him what I''ve done, I use my claws to pierce through the upper inner part of his mouth as he speaks, I pierce his brain thus dropping him dead. "You shouldn''t have disregarded the little scratches I made." (I) When I threw him away before, I cut one of the main veins in his leg, I used my Aura to numb the area and he didn''t notice even in death, his wound that seemed superficial bled without stopping causing weakness and in a few dozen more seconds to death, but I wanted to speed things up. "Power isn''t everything in a fight." (I) Chapter 970: This Is War Part 10 Chapter 970: This Is War Part 10 Pov Nicole: The battle took several hours, and many people died in the battle outside the island, even in the battle that took place in the sky many died, but it was only an average of 36% mortality, less than I initially anticipated. Bodies are on the ground everywhere, one of the places with the fewest corpses is where we are close to the Ship, that''s because there''s nothing important here, even our strongest allies aren''t fighting here, that diverted people''s attention from the Igreja da Luz to the places and people they considered main targets, those who would have a more important participation in the battle. From start to finish they were oblivious to my presence and what I was doing. I finished analyzing the surroundings to get information about the damage suffered and about the openings they made in the spatial distortion around the island. "Where is my Little Brother?" (Natasha) "My father was reckless and passed out a few hours ago, but he is fine now, he is resting inside the Ship." (I) I finish gathering the information I wanted, then turn off the spells that kill my system holograms to help me. I look at Natasha, she''s in brand new and clean clothes, I''m glad Margareth made her wear something, even by my standards Natasha''s lack of shame is problematic. There was 1 dead and 8 wounded who were distracted by her fighting completely naked, this created an opening that her enemies did not allow to pass. "I thought he wouldn''t fight because of Elizabeth inhabiting her body." (Natasha)Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com "My Father didn''t leave my side and didn''t act personally, he channeled his chose to channel his power through one of the Familiars." (I) "I can see how that crossed his mind, but it was naive of him." (Natasha) While talking to him I realize something and close my eyes while holding the blood crystal I use to control my father''s Lesser Familiars, with that I use the eyes of some Crows to see the Hero. It seems he lost control of his Aura momentarily, there were some Adventurers nearby holding various Church of Light weapons and armor. From this information, I can assume that the Hero was not happy to see these Adventurers going after the spoils of war. "Did something happen?" (Natasha) "No big deal, just someone seeing war for the first time." (I) "But moving to a more pressing matter, I would like to request your assistance in a settlement." (I) "Yes I know, that''s why I killed and fought as much as I could, but I don''t need to like it." (I) I look at my shredded armor, its defensive effects long gone, even the life bracelet I had was lost when it protected me from an attack I don''t even know where it came from, to activate it must have been a strong enough attack to kill me in one blow. "Thanks for stopping me, I don''t know why I''m so nervous about the Adventurers taking what they want from these bodies, they were enemies, we can put these things to better use." (I) "But even so, dead things seem wrong somehow." (I) "Stop thinking so naively, we all wear stuff from the dead, your leather boots for example came from a dead monster." (Darcia) "Repurposing something that might still be useful is the right thing to do, especially in a war where resources are very important." (Darcia) "..." (I) I''ve fought many times, and I''ve killed more people than I care to remember, but I''ve never seen so much blood, bodies piled up in spots, and so much blood. I know I had no choice since I took a stand against the Church of Light, I also know that they came here looking to kill everyone, but it still doesn''t make it easy to see so much death. "I need a drink..." (I) ------------- Pov Zenos: I woke up in my bed inside the Ship, there was no one in the room with me, and I couldn''t feel Nix in my shadow or Hinata in my necklace either, it seems I''m alone. "Everything hurts..." (I) My whole body was in pain, and I also feel a little dizzy, I close my eyes and concentrate, and thanks to that I can feel my Inferior Familiars, with them I look at the city and the ship, listening to snippets of other people''s conversations I managed to understand that I am unconscious for a few hours, the battle ended w0 minutes ago or so. It seems that the wounded are still being treated and they are looking for the dead allies, there are also people collecting equipment. "Did something bad happen while I was unconscious?" (I) "(I don''t know, I''m always with you, so I stayed in this room this whole time.)" (Elizabeth) I managed to see most of my companions through the Ghost Crows, so everyone must be fine, that''s at least a relief. Chapter 971: Meat Trade Chapter 971: Meat Trade Pov Nicole: I went with Freya and Natasha to see Harthos, he is our contact on this island, during that last battle he was the one who convinced the others to listen to an unknown person like me, he was also the one I always see taking the lead most of the time since we arrived. "Are you guys crazy? This is going to be so much fun to watch." (Natasha) "I think our proposal will be very suitable for our contributions, we will also be solving a problem for them." (I) "I think our request has a great chance of being accepted, I don''t see the problem that Vanessa and Freya have been saying since before." (I) "Did she really not understand?" (Natasha) "I always thought you were weird, but you''re on another level." (Natasha) "Don''t mind her, unlike the GM who sees the bigger picture, Nicole can only understand rational solutions, so she participates in few battles." (Freya) "All these struggles would be an impediment to my own research." (I) "..." (Natasha) The only reason I agree to do these things during battle is for Dad, as well as the large amount of information relevant to my research that I manage to gather while others are fighting. After a few minutes of running over the detailed ones, we arrive at the center of the city where the bodies are being piled up in piles, there were also bodies being lined up. I don''t even need to look around too much, I still have my Father''s Lesser Familiars flying around, I know where Harthos is. I fly to a hut surrounded by Adventurers, they tried to stop us from entering, but Harthos told them to let us through, inside the hut was Harthos covered in wounds and bandages, he was really hurt with a map on the table and a pile of paper on the floor. "There''s my pretty lucky star, if I could get up out of that chair I''d kiss you on the mouth." (Harthos) "I prefer to avoid intimate contact with strangers, I already have enough problems with certain insistent people." (I) For some reason there are always people trying to drag me into these wastes of time, I''m glad they''re attracted to this body I''ve created, but I''m disappointed that it''s for the wrong reasons, they''re just seeing what all the things I''ve done in this world look like body is the most insignificant, they fail to see the beauty hidden within this body, the amount of time, research and effort I put into creating this masterpiece of robotics. "Is she okay? She was suddenly silent." (Harthos) "She seems to have picked up the master''s bad habit of getting lost in thought, please accept my apologies on her behalf." (Freya) "I understand." (I) "I''d like to do a deal where we''ll give up our spoils and bounties in exchange for something." (I) "You may be rushing ahead, your help mainly was the most outstanding, thanks to the information you provided us all the time we were able to significantly reduce the number of deaths." (Harthos) "Then accept the deal, it will come out at no cost to you or the city." (I) "You say a lot of things, but you haven''t talked about this deal yet." (Harthos) "I want to exchange all the bounties for the corpses, only those belonging to the people of the Church of Light." (I) When I say this he shows no expression, but just by his look I can tell he''s thinking, it takes a few minutes for him to respond still without changing his expression. "Before answering your question, I would like to know what the bodies will be used for?" (Harthos) "They will be used as a sacrifice in a Necromancy ritual." (I) He still doesn''t show any expression, but his eyes stray from me to Freya before looking at Natasha, then he turns his eyes back to me before he speaks. "I assume it''s a request from that Monster Kimera, I noticed that she is a Necromancer during the battle." (Harthos) "You are sure." (I) "Do you two know about this?" (Harthos) "I don''t mind." (Natasha) "I know all about it, my master too, he was the one who asked his daughter to come here." (Freya) He is silent for a few more seconds, this time with his eyes closed before answering. "I accept, but I don''t want any kind of ritual being performed inside the island." (Harthos) "I will collect all the bodies and" (Harthos) "Leave the collection to me, we can do it real quick." (I) Chapter 972: A Door To Reach The Destination Chapter 972: A Door To Reach The Destination I get up and walk off the ship, outside before I know it I''m hugged by Diana and rica. "Can you get through any battle without losing consciousness?" (Diana) "Don''t say that, I''m not doing anything to get hurt willingly." (I) "Ragnar told us everything, your intervention may have been helpful at first, but in the end, you unnecessarily overreacted just to provoke a God Beast into full power." (rica) "It''s not like that, he wasn''t in full power, and he wasn''t teasing him that much either." (I)Nne?w n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com "I just can''t stand a bastard who kills his own newborn child and still has the shamelessness to feel so proud." (I) "I know he didn''t mind my words, but I wanted to have the pleasure of telling him how despicable he is to his face." (I) "Can''t argue with that, the Divine Beasts alongside the God of Light prove to be just as despicable and hypocritical as God Baldr himself." (Diana) I really was very angry, I know that Ragnar got over everything he felt for his Father a long time ago, but there are certain things that must be said and expressed to get fed up of the past. I look around and there are several people working on cleaning the Ship, I look around and see a table full of items, there was a blood crystal among the other items that Nira was identifying. "Was that blood crystal the one with Ragnar?" (I) "Yes, it contains the Templar''s Soul from what he said." (rica) "Actually it was a woman, a Celestina to be exact." (I) "Why take her Soul?" (Diana) "You know him, you want to do another experiment like Hela, Jade, and Freya." (rica) "Actually, I didn''t have anything planned until now, I just didn''t want this Soul to go back to Oros or Baldr." (I) "But rica gave me something to think about, I can use that Soul in my empowerment experiments." (I) I''m already starting to think about what to do with it, I think that first of all I should take it to the Dungeon and release it there, so the Dungeon can take care of cleaning the Soul leaving only the good parts like skills, memories and potential like it did with the Hell''s soul. Sigh "Fine, I''m just looking forward to another battle like this one." (I) --------------- It was a crazy thing to see overnight Hela creating a large magic circle for 2 hours before spreading her Aura all over the city. Soon after, lights came out of the magic circle hitting only the Church of Light bodies that melt into liquid, everything be it blood, brain, flesh, organs, or bones. This disgusting gelatinous liquid forms streams in the sky as it gathers in the magic circle forming a grotesque floating river, just looking at it is sickening, I''m sure there must be a lot of people passing out or vomiting all over town right now. The magic circle also pulled out the miasma that had formed in the surroundings because of the bodies. All of this only took a few minutes, which was pretty quick compared to the time spent creating the magic circle. In the end, there was just a gigantic mass of flesh that had shrunk down to the size of a human head, Hela comes back with a smile on her face with it floating beside her. "All ready?" (I) "I think so, but I want to spend a few more days on research, I don''t want to waste all these materials." (Hela) "Take your time." (I) ------------- The next morning I was in the square with my companions, on the way here we received many different looks, from grateful looks to disgusted looks, many of these looks were directed towards Hela. Hela doesn''t care about these things, she''s walking while leafing through a book that looks like it was made with skin, but I''d rather not delve deeper into that, just remind myself that he''s not an evil Necromancer. When we arrive at the square, which is now a crater full of ice, I find Klaus talking to Diana''s Father named Razor and Harthos, the three of them turn towards us as we approach, but soon the two look to the opposite side of the square which we are coming. The space slowly distorts while a door seems to appear out of nowhere, the door seems to be made of wood from a tree that has already grown in this door format. The door looks like it was made for a giant, when it opens several Arm Elves come out, some of them injured, on the other side of the door all I see are ripples in space, the Elves point to the door without saying anything else, then the 3 in the In front of me they entered without hesitation, so I entered followed by my companions, when I regained my sight I realized that I was facing a village with a colossal tree behind it, a Tree that was surrounded by nature itself, the World Tree. Chapter 973: Village Of The Elemental Forest Chapter 973: Village Of The Elemental Forest The Elf village was like the others I''ve visited in the past, they were houses inside trees or houses built above the trees with rope bridges connecting everything, but this village in particular was magnificent. The trees were of different colors and seemed to be representations of various elements, there were trees whose wood was black as coal and the leaves were flames in the shape of leaves, there was a stone house built above that tree. There were also trees that seemed to have been created by carving rocks whose leaves were made of colored crystal. There was even a translucent tree made of ice, the leaves at its tips looked like large snowflakes. Just seeing it from the outside was magnificent, but my only problem was the headache I felt from the excess information my senses are collecting with all this absurd amount of elemental energy everywhere, there was so much elemental energy that it was palpable for me. Even the air I breathed had a lot of elemental energy mixed in, in my current conditions where the circulation of energy through my body can do more harm than help, that was a problem, so I stopped breathing for the time being, I can probably stay a couple of hours and a half without breathing easily enough. While I was distracted by all this around me I didn''t notice the large number of Fairies and Spirits gathering around us, they were flying around us singing a melody. At first, the melody didn''t seem to make sense, the melody seemed to have many variations which made it confusing, but I could feel the element flows in the surroundings going back and forth from the World Tree, the element flows seemed to make a slight sound like a river. The melody being sung was almost identical to these element flows, in fact, each variation seemed like a different flow, when I realized this I felt my Aura flow to the surroundings mixing almost automatically with the environment making the elements of my Affinities interact with the Elements of the environment that flow through my body. "Ugh!!!" (I) I feel an ache in my body, a meal in my veins for those elements that, without having a place to go, destroy my body from the inside. I feel people around me and the melody stopped, then some very strong presences are around me suppressing my Aura inside my body preventing me from interacting with the environment. "(Why can''t I hear, feel or see anything?)" (I) "(God senses were cut off for your own good, you are being taken to a place where you will be safe for a while.)" (Elizabeth) "(What happened now?)" (I) "I apologize for the children, they wanted to give you a gift, but in the end, they did not notice your guest." (Ellyana) "By children do you mean fairies and spirits?" (I) "Yes, they realized they weren''t connecting with nature and they tried to help, they didn''t do it to harm you." (Ellyana) "I imagined something like that, this would be the first time a Fairy or Spirit wanted to harm me." (I) I look around further and see nothing, no Fairy or Spirit of any kind, it seems I''m alone with her here. I get up feeling my body so much lighter, I can still feel my sister inside my body but she feels different, my blood is flowing much stronger and faster than usual while some kind of energy flows with it but I can''t figure out what, my sister''s presence doesn''t let my senses or Aura would go any further to find out. "Your sister of hers is being healed, the news of what she ten is known to all the Trees in the World and has reached my ears." (Ellyana) "Healing your wounded Soul is the least you could do, just thinking about those 8 wrecked idiots hahahahaha" (Ellyana) She starts laughing with a cruel look on her face, suddenly I see the same darkness in her eyes that I once saw in Alice''s eyes, seeing that in the eyes of someone with that level of power seems dangerous. "(No need to worry, she knows where to direct that hate, at least most of the time.)" Suddenly I can hear a voice in my head, then a young woman appears next to Ellyana, this young woman was my height and looked like a child version of Ellyana with her long hair tied in a braid decorated with flowers. "Elly, what did you tell him?" (Ellyana) "Just that you know who to hate most of the time." (Elly) "I always know who deserves my hate, I''m a great judge of character." (Ellyana) "As long as the person doesn''t have the Light element." (Elly) Chapter 974: Reunion Of An Old Friend Chapter 974: Reunion Of An Old Friend I was standing there looking around when the White Elf Queen disappeared along with the World Tree Spirit, I didn''t want to walk aimlessly since I didn''t even know where I was. I also didn''t know if I could leave, even though my sister seemed to be being healed, so I stayed here watching the surroundings. Being so close to the World Tree I could see the energy flows coming up here, it looked different from what I''ve seen in other World Trees. The energy being drawn to the World Tree seemed to have two different sources for each energy or element, it didn''t take long for me to associate the two with one being from this island which had otherworldly characteristics, and the second type being our world''s energies. This energy was continually being harmonized, but it also had much stronger fluctuations in space around the World Tree than I saw in other World Trees. But I also noticed something I didn''t want to check, something my senses barely noticed, I felt a different Authority than the World Tree emanating from her, my curiosity was torturing me to know more. I knew my body was in no condition for me to use my power, I also didn''t want to use either my Aura or Authority near the World Tree, bad enough what happened before. "This World Tree came along with this island, they are not of this world, this World Tree was strengthened by the sacrifice of its sisters to reach this world." "That means the other Trees in the world..." (I) "They died, but with the help of some Gods this island got here." I turn around and see a black-skinned woman wearing long flowered pants, a black shirt, and a jacket made of leaves. Her hair was almost completely green, but towards the ends it became multicolored, her face was very reminiscent of someone I''d seen before, but I didn''t feel the same Divinity that I felt from her. "You wouldn''t be a Fairy, would you?" (I) "Looks like you have some idea who I am, I''m Lorraine, also known as the Fairy Empress of Life, a Demigoddess like you." (Lorraine) "Daughter of the Fairy Goddess Aine." (I) She looks like the Fairy Goddess, but in that the Fairy Goddess was full of energy and unrestrained, this daughter of hers seems more calm and loving. "You look a lot like your mother, but your personality is quite different." (I) Loki looks at me and nods, she looks once more at the same spot on the World Tree before approaching Lorraine. "I imagine everyone here knows, but I''ll explain so Zenos understands." (Lorraine) "Let me explain." (Loki) "I already told you about this island, so you know my world is no more, but what I didn''t tell you was those who saved this place." (Loki) "Opening the space to such a large distance was very difficult, doing so weakened and injured was even worse, especially since the Gods who brought this place here were protecting the people." (Loki) "For a God to come down to earth is already breaking a rule and Gods are made of rules, but to do that we need to create an Avatar to inhabit, a physical form." (Loki) "At that time the Gods had lost the Avatar they had created for each one during the battle, even worse were the injuries, so every moment they used their powers was wasted, this continued until everyone died, even their Souls shattered." (Loki) "The Last of them was the one who came this far by closing a deal with the Gods of this world allowing this island to stay here, but she also died, her Divinity broken as well as her Soul..." (Loki) "She was an old friend, the first face I saw when I opened my eyes, someone I respected, maybe the only one in this world." (Loki) "I thought losing her, for a god who has no ties to a world, was like losing my sanity, but the anger of that day brought me back." (Loki) "(You''ve always been an idiot.)" "That''s why only an idiot would worry about you." (I) "(Have you become a woman now?)" "I lost a bet." (I) "(Good see you...)" "My name is now Loki." (Loki) Suddenly a transparent silhouette appears to stand in front of Loki, the two talk, but I can only hear that person''s voice in my head, she must be doing it with everyone, but who is she? Chapter 975: Old Friends Greeting Chapter 975: Old Friends Greeting The transparent silhouette that appeared out of nowhere stood in front of Loki, her voice was feminine as she spoke, but her voice was only in my head, no sound came out of that silhouette. "It''s been a long time, why are you showing up only now?" (Loki) "(Why did an idiot only come here now.)" "I can feel it, you lost your Divinity, you lost even your Authority, you are not it." (Loki) "(I am her, but at the same time I am not her.)" "I see, you chose the same as me." (Loki) "(For me it wasn''t a choice, it was the only way left, otherwise it would just disappear into nothing.)" "(My Divinity was broken on the way here and my Authority was crushed by this world that rejected this piece of our world.)" "Because it was a stupid idea, I said abandoning the world, taking people''s souls somewhere else to start from scratch, would be a less risky gamble than that." (Loki) "(I couldn''t kill those who asked for salvation...)" Suddenly Loki punches the silhouette in the head which shatters like glass falling to the floor, then the whole body cracks and shatters. "Idiot, if you were really here I would throw a lot more than 1 single punch." (Loki) "(What happened to you? It used to be more fun.)" A new silhouette emerges from the World Tree, it emerges from the exact point that Loki was looking at when he appeared here, it was a silhouette equal to the previous one. "(I can''t make many of these bodies, so stop breaking them.)" This is the first time I''ve seen Loki angry, his expression always smiling as if everything around him was a joke, this time he was absent for the first time, I could see sadness in his eyes even though his expression was angry. "She must have been important to him." (I) "She was very happy to see him, this is the first time she has spoken to anyone other than me." (Elly) The Spirit of the World Tree in the form of a child speaks to me standing next to me, she had a smile on her face. "She doesn''t talk to anyone else?" (I) "She had her Soul severely damaged, if she wasn''t a Goddess she would have died, in the ultimate sense with her Soul disappearing." (Elly) "I kept your Soul alive in a way, inside me, that appearance is something created with what little energy you have, your Soul is still inside." (Elly) "What message? If it''s about this crap here... then I''ll throw it away..." (Loki) Loki pulls a stone shield from his own space that has the image of an island surrounded by stars, you can see a large tree on this island and jewels of various colors that I can associate with the colors of the various elements. "So you found" (Elly) "I didn''t even have to say where I was." (Lorraine) "(I left this for you to pay off that bet...)" "Let''s get one thing straight, you didn''t leave me anything, I broke into your ridiculous temple and stole this thing, so don''t make up stories about paying me back with something I took from you or you''ll get another punch." (Loki) "You know what I''m going to ask and you''re going to take it, you never broke your word to me and no matter what happened I don''t think you''re going to deny it now." (Loki) "Then just wait." (Loki) Loki came up to me, she was looking into my eyes and didn''t say anything, she knows me well enough to know that I understand what she''s going to ask, after listening to all this and seeing everyone''s reaction, only an idiot would not understand. She doesn''t open her mouth since I know what she wants to ask, she also knows that nothing I say will add anything to what I''ve seen and heard here, but still, she''s standing in front of me looking into my eyes. I have no reason to help, in fact, I have no reason to do anything, but for some reason, this seems interesting, Loki isn''t as associated with me as the others, but he''s still been with me for a while now, this old friend of his seems to be someone I''d like to talk to, she had enough willpower to drag this island through space here while suffering serious consequences, that alone is enough points for her and if she stays by our side it will be a great help. "You know, when you beg someone else for something, many choose to kneel." (I) "As if that changes anything for you." (Loki) "That''s true, a demonstration that would be useless to convince me." (I) "Apparently you already accepted." (Loki) "Why do you say that?" (I) "You wouldn''t make those jokes for another reason." (Loki) "I haven''t actually accepted anything yet, but I''m leaning towards it." (I) "So it''s basically decided, but I wanted to know why?" (Loki) "One of the reasons is that you want this, but the biggest reason is her willpower, bringing this island here is already something that I can respect the resolution of her will." (I) "Thanks." (Loki) "Thank me after it''s done, I won''t do anything until I solve another problem." (I) Chapter 976: Welcome Back Elizabeth Part 1 Chapter 976: Welcome Back Elizabeth Part 1 After my conversation with Loki, he departs with Lorraine leaving just me and the White Elf Queen while Loki''s friend returns to the World Tree with Elly. I sit down to eat some fruit next to Queen Ellyana, a table that by the way wasn''t here before and has appeared out of nowhere. "Thanks for the food, I''m really hungry." (I) "I know, I can feel the hunger in your Aura, unfortunately, I don''t have blood here and we''re not close enough for me to give my blood." (Ellyana) "Fine, I can get some blood when I get home if I can get back." (I) "You can come back any time you want." (Ellyana) "But I still feel an energy flowing in my blood, along with my sister." (I) "That won''t be a problem, your sister should be fine in a few hours." (Ellyana) Looks like she''ll be fine in a few hours, if that''s true I can try the Awakening ceremony just like I did with Natasha just today while I''m still feeling fine. I can''t keep her inside me forever, the load on my body is being much more than I imagined, it''s wearing me down physically and mentally. "Why did you agree to help that ancient Goddess?" (Ellyana) "For the reasons I told Loki, she never asks for anything and I''ve never seen her face as serious as today, not to mention that I respect this ancient Goddess for what she did, I respect those with strong wills." (I) "But I have to take care of my sister first, then we can take care of this Goddess." (I) "Are you implying that I''m going to help?" (Ellyana) The ice tree was covered in frost and snow, the water tree had a lot of vines and there was light rain falling from underneath and streams of water falling from certain places sometimes forming rainbows when the light hit the water. The wood element tree was easy to identify as it had several other stunning plants clinging to it and various types of beautiful flowers were on its branches, just getting close to this tree made me feel the strong life energy. I entered the house, climbing with my wings to one of the wings on top of these trees, I was impressed by the wonderful view. ------------- Late in the afternoon, I was in a hammock with a bottle of blood in one hand and a fruit sandwich that turned out to be magnificent in the other hand. I was alone on the porch of one of the cabins in the trees, I was enjoying the view and relaxing when I felt a strange movement inside me as a cut forms on my chest as it rips my shirt, then the doll of crystallized blood that my sister makes appears once more when I heard his voice in my head. "(I feel great, how much time has passed?)" (Elizabeth) "Less than 1 day, it seems that someone helped to heal us, in your case they healed your Soul, how do you feel?" (I) "(I feel great.)" (Elizabeth) "Do you feel well enough to go through the Awakening Ceremony and get your body?" (I) "(Do you really want to get rid of me?)" (Elizabeth) "Hell yeah, I can''t even use my power with you there, for someone with my luck, I don''t know how long I have to live if this continues." (I) "(Then we can do it today, you can do the same as you did with Natasha, but remember that I only need your Vampire bloodline and our mother.)" (Elizabeth) "I get it, let me make some preparations." (I) Chapter 977: Welcome Back Elizabeth Part 2 Chapter 977: Welcome Back Elizabeth Part 2 I was standing in front of the statue of the Blood Goddess, the one who is my mother, there was no one else in the Communal Temple, I asked them to move the wheels, I was just waiting for Natasha and Vanessa to arrive along with all my Familiars before I started. "Do you really just want my bloodline and that of the Goddess Selene?" (I) "(It will be enough for me.)" (Elizabeth) "(If you want to give me something else, give me a Blood Dragon Bloodline, the power of a Dragon might come in handy.)" (Elizabeth) "Why does everything have to be associated with blood?" (I) "(I am a blood ruler because we are children of the Blood Goddess we can draw more power from everything related to blood.)" (Elizabeth) "(I don''t need lots of random powers like Natasha, I just want to be the best version of myself and I know exactly who I am.)" (Elizabeth) Her origin, her power, and her understanding of everything is linked to blood, maybe she''s not wrong, but in my eyes, it borders on obsession. "If that''s what you want, but why my bloodline?" (I) "(Because it has many mixed bloodlines that I can make excellent use of.)" (Elizabeth) "All good." (I) I look at the pool of blood not far away, all that blood is mine, I filled it up between the Authority trainings I had with my sister, I know a lot of it will wear off and I''ll have to fill it again. "We''re finally going to settle this" (Natasha) ------------- About twenty minutes later everyone had arrived, Natasha had been the first while Nix and Layla were the last. After everyone was here I tell again what I''m going to do, after that, I kneel in front of the statue of the Goddess Selene while praying. The ceremony would be held in front of the statue of the Goddess Selene as it was in the past with Natasha. I look around and wave to the side waiting for everyone to leave, when it''s over I close my eyes to collect my mind as I prepare myself. "I''m starting." (I) I positioned myself in front of the statue of the Goddess Selene with a little space between me and the statue, then I ripped one of my arms with my claws while all the blood drained from my body until the last piece gathered in a humanoid form of more than 3 meters high. I feel my vision swim as half of my strength leaves my body, I still have some connection to that Blood and I can feel the power contained in it weakening every second away from my body. I didn''t have time to do anything else, my priority was to start the process as soon as possible. "< Demon Dragon Authority >" (I) Ding! <[ Ability [ Demon Dragon Authority: 1 ] activated ]> . . <[ Wake-up process starting ]> . . . <[ Elizabeth (Demigoddess of Blood) began creating a new body ]> . . <[ It has been identified that all bloodlines have full compatibility with Elizabeth (Demigoddess of Blood) ]> . . <[ Initiating merging of 4 bloodlines into 1 ]> . . . <[ Elizabeth (Demigoddess of Blood) Restoration Process has started ]> . . . <[ Elizabeth (Blood Demigod)''s power and Authority will be limited to the level of Zenos (Blood Demigod: Incomplete) ]> . . . <[ Wake up process completed ]> It was at that moment when I was distracted by the notifications of everything that was happening that I missed the moment when the blood that was in the pool had started to flow towards the giant of blood that was evaporating. That blood vapor wasn''t dispersing, it was staying around the blood giant all this time, but it was only noticeable now when the amount of red vapor increased, the Dragon claw went back inside my body while the Blood giant disappeared into what was now a red mist around him. Sigh "I did what I could." (I) Chapter 978: Welcome Back Elizabeth Part 3 Chapter 978: Welcome Back Elizabeth Part 3 The blood giant had disappeared within the mist of blood that had risen from his body evaporating with the blood that made up his body boiling. Before I thought it was just steam, then this steam built up enough to notice that it didn''t move away from the blood giant until it became a mist that hid him inside, but now it looks more like a cloud around him, a red cloud blood. I took advantage of my Aura and power stopped being absorbed while only red energy continued to come out of the statue for a few more seconds before also stopping, I took advantage of my work being basically over to pull a barrel of blood twice my size into to drink. It took me just a few seconds to drink all of this, I felt like I had spent years in the desert without seeing water once, and now I can finally fill my stomach with this wonderful liquid, and in this analogy, this liquid represents this absurd amount of blood that I just drank drink at once. "I''ve had worse..." (I) Sigh I felt the rapid digestion of this blood while I felt my veins dry before, now I try a few drops of blood appearing, halfway through the Awakening Ceremony I had already lost the connection I had with the giant made of my own blood, it was as if the connection was changing. I look down at my hand with a start when I realize it looks like a mummy''s hand, it was just skin and bones, it was at that moment that I noticed that my previously perfectly fitted outfit is now loose enough to fit another person inside. I was completely dry, I ran my hands over my face and I only felt the hardness of my bones, it was a strange sensation and I hadn''t even realized how fragile my state was until that moment. I was very shocked by my state, but suddenly I saw a glint out of the corner of my eye and came to look at the place where my sister was still going through her Awakening Ceremony. That''s when I realized that the cloud of blood around him was a sphere flowing in circles. In addition, it seemed that within these clouds there were lightning and thunder of different colors, but they were not emerging from the center, they were emerging from the edges and reaching the center causing lights to appear from within from time to time revealing a smaller and smaller silhouette. I look towards the pool of my blood realizing that it was now empty, in addition to losing all the blood in my body, I also lost all the blood that was in the pool that was also mine. "Aren''t you going to pull away?" (Natasha) "Not yet, I don''t think it will take that long, I''d like to see it through to the end." (I) The flashes within the cloud became more and more frequent, the flashes more and more intense to the point where the silhouette within was no longer visible. I also started to feel my presence disappear from the cloud sphere completely, the same for the presence of the Goddess Selene, the only presence left was the one I felt inside my blood before when my sister Elizabeth was still inside my body. "Aren''t the others coming over?" (I) A tyrannical Authority that demands not obedience but respect. An Authority that does not allow itself to be contradicted or denied, its sovereignty cannot be denied, I could feel that Authority, but I was not affected by it. Crack "Looks like the time has finally come." (I) "I think you better get away from me for a bit." (Natasha) "Why?" (I) Crack Crack Soon cracks began to appear on the sphere''s surface and a red glow began to seep through the cracks. "I might have done something... Urgh!!!!" (Natasha) Crack Crack Crack Boommm!!!! Suddenly I felt a gust of wind and the next thing I knew Natasha wasn''t next to me, she went through the wall behind me flying away, next to me there was another person who was surrounded by red mist. When I trace where it came from I notice that the fog trail around that person leads to the sphere that has a huge hole now. "I''m fine now, I''ve wanted to do this for a while." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) The presence, Aura, and Authority that previously emanated from the sphere disappear, but I can feel traces of them coming from this person that I''m sure is Elizabeth, even her voice is the same one I heard in my head before, a voice full of extreme confidence. "I don''t know what that was but..." (I) "Welcome back Elizabeth." (I) Chapter 979: Absolute Trust Chapter 979: Absolute Trust "Welcome back Elizabeth." (I) I was surprised when Natasha was thrown out of the Common Temple through a wall without me noticing, so all I could do was shake hands with the one who landed the blow. As I welcomed my first big sister, the sphere she came out of dissolved, and the red mist around her disappeared revealing her appearance. "This body is too weak, this blow took all my power and what was left of the mother''s power." (Elizabeth) "Before you talk, shouldn''t you put on something to wear?" (I) While talking to her the mist around her disappeared completely revealing her whole body, I must say that my sister is very beautiful, in fact, she is as beautiful as the Goddesses I have met so far. Her beautiful straight red hair flowing down her sculptural body like a waterfall to her waist. Her deep red eyes filled with boundless confidence and tyranny as if she was always at the top of the food chain, a being that doesn''t accept being challenged. Her olive skin was tainted by a black tattoo on her chest that went down to her stomach. Her sculptural body has no flaws, her curves capable of seducing any creature, and her discreet smile, which draws attention. Red crystal scales line his arms from the back of his hands to his elbows and from his feet to his thighs, there are also scales on his neck and back.Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com 4 horns meet on her head as if forming a natural crown for her attesting her sovereignty. Even though she is naked she shows no embarrassment or any other reaction, she acts normally as she walks and speaks with natural elegance as she pulls me into her arms. "You did a great job Zenos, my little brother." (Elizabeth) "It''s not like I have a choice." (I) "We both know you could have kicked me out of you." (Elizabeth) "But I had confidence that wasn''t going to happen." (Elizabeth) "Believing someone you''ve never met?" (I) "I trusted that my lineage would not run through the veins of someone who would abandon one of their family." (Elizabeth) "I should have braced myself, I thought I still had a few seconds left." (Natasha) Strangely Natasha didn''t seem to be angry, she stood beside me calmly as we watched Elizabeth pray. "You seem calm for someone who''s been punched for no reason." (I) "She had spoken to me a few decades ago not to fight a certain Evil God or she would punch me the next time she saw me." (Natasha) "So you fought that Evil God and ran away?" (I) "No, I let that Evil God go back then since he hadn''t done anything, but years later I fought him and died." (Natasha) "..." (I) "That was relatively recently." (Natasha) "I think she was right." (I) "That God was an idiot, but she wanted to use him to train a future Hero for the Vampires, which never happened." (Natasha) "I didn''t have time to find one, since someone spends their days traveling to fight and someone else is always sleeping, all the work falls to me." (Elizabeth) "I''m always the one who has to close dimensional rifts, I''m always the one who has to put order among the most ambitious Vampires when they forget who''s at the top, and I''m always the one who has to solve problems with other Demigods." (Elizabeth) "How does solving problems mean picking a fight when they say they won''t follow through on what you said?" (Natasha) "It''s not my fault that some people don''t understand when I''m being reasonable." (Elizabeth) "..." (Natasha) "..." (I) "Don''t look at me like that, you should know that between the three of us, I''m the most reasonable, at least I can have a civil conversation without punching someone or traumatizing a nation with nightmares." (Elizabeth) "There''s context to that, but I can''t argue that it''s fine to hit some people sometimes." (Natasha) "(Why does my family have to be so weird!?)" (I) Chapter 980: Responsibility Of Those With Power Chapter 980: Responsibility Of Those With Power After Elizabeth had finished praying before the statue of the Goddess Selene, I personally introduced her to Vanessa and my Family. It turns out that Elizabeth already knew Vanessa, but this happened while she was sleeping, it seems that Vanessa is my sister''s granddaughter, Vanessa''s Mother who rescued her from the persecution of the Church of Light in the past is my sister''s Daughter just as Irina is my daughter. This means that the leader of the Temple of Blood and leader of the neutral Vampire faction is my older sister''s daughter, which makes Vanessa her Granddaughter according to Vampire lore. This got a little confusing for me, but my two sisters say that this confusion between Vampire clan relations is normal. After that we left the Communal Temple, which will now have to be repaired due to the hole in the side, leaving there we went to Tania''s atelier where Elizabeth spent hours seeing many clothes and placing some orders. So I walked around the city with Elizabeth while we chatted casually, she asked random things based on where we were passing, such as things related to the content available for reading in the library, about the topics covered at school, about the more than unusual architecture of the city, about the Dungeon and about the various races she saw on the streets. It all seemed like random conversation based on the surroundings as we walked, Natasha even made sure to tell her about the morning workouts the whole town does. In addition, as it was already night when we left Tnia''s studio, Elizabeth saw firsthand the nocturnal hunt, where women go hunting men while men try to escape or hide, this was basically the first policy that was implemented in this city even before it was built. My sister asked in depth about this "cultural movement" in our city, I explained to her how it started, why we keep it, the training benefits of this practice, and the limits imposed on not involving couples or minors for obvious reasons. Actually, we weren''t sure either, but we all had high levels, experience, and skills. When we arrive at my mansion inside the Dungeon, I go to a room to talk only with my sisters. "I think I gave you a decent presentation about the city and the Dungeon." (I) "Yes, it sure was very interesting, the culture you''ve developed in this city to always seek personal improvement and diversity is amazing." (Elizabeth) "I only cause the fall if there is no chance of getting back on track." (Elizabeth) "Those with power have responsibility, there will always be people and resources gathering where those with power are, not always combat power will be what determines this, it could be economic power, ideological power or even religious power." (Elizabeth) "It''s up to those with power to guide people, to be an example to be followed and the one to show the right path for future generations." (Elizabeth) "But if the person in charge forgets about their reason for being there, if they forget their duty and responsibility, then they don''t need to be at the top anymore." (Elizabeth) "She has set herself above any King or Emperor and if you don''t meet the minimum standard she sets then there will be nothing left before long." (Natasha) So she is called the Living Tyranny because of this, she is literally a tyrant who creates or destroys nations at her will while claiming to be doing right. "Not everyone has what it takes to lead, many don''t even understand the responsibility of such a position, so I just clear the way for the most competent or depending on how rotten a nation is, it''s better to start from scratch." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) I spent the rest of the night answering many questions, other than how much she was inside me, and spent most of the time quietly resting, now that she has a body she has become much more active. She wanted to know more about the city, in fact, she wanted to know everything, the problem was that she was too tired, the Awakening Ceremony is too exhausting for me. I luckily ate a lot along the way and my body was back to normal, at least outwardly, but I was still tired. I told her that I distribute my tasks and point out who to look for, magical things are in Erica and Rakan''s hands, civil administration is in Ivan''s bony hands, and things related to trade, economics, and materials are in Nira''s capable hands, things related religion is in Vanessa''s hands and things related to the architecture of the city itself are in Leonardo''s hands. I said all this to get away from her, she didn''t care about my weak state, so I went to eat some more and then went straight to bed to rest. Chapter 981: Luminus Comes To Visit Chapter 981: Luminus Comes To Visit My night''s sleep was wonderful to the point where I only got out of bed because I was dragged out of the room by Diana. It seems that besides me no one else had a good night''s sleep because of my sister who wanted to meet everyone, so after I ate something I went outside the Dungeon where my two sisters were. It was there that I found my Elizabeth talking to Nira, their conversation a bit complicated and Nira stops talking when she sees me. They were in the middle of one of the rope bridges between the treetop huts. "Master, your sister won''t leave me alone, I still have a lot of work to do." (Nira) "I could have talked sooner, so I''ll let you work and we''ll talk later." (Elizabeth) My sister gets up and leaves with a smile after hearing what Nira said. Sigh "Finally, because of her, I lost the order list." (Nira) "What order list?" (I) "Hela needs some materials for her ritual, I had the list of materials in my hand and now I can''t find them." (Nira) "Then talk to Hela again or take her with you to get the materials." (I) "I''ll do it after I eat something, see you later master." (Nira) I walk in the direction I saw Elizabeth go, look around to see her sitting on the edge of the balcony looking down at the White Elf Village. "Looks like you haven''t slept all night." (I) "After the Awakening Ceremony I am full of energy, even if I wanted to I wouldn''t be able to sleep." (Elizabeth) "But you could have let the others sleep." (I) "I was curious about the type of people around you, out of everyone in the family you are the only one who went down that path." (Elizabeth) "You can call me what you want Professor, my rapid increase in strength was thanks to surviving your training." (Luminus) "Luminus was so cute when he was younger, I found him injured after being slashed by a celestial shark." (Elizabeth) "Even injured he kept getting up, it was inspiring." (Elizabeth) "I''ll let you..." (I) Suddenly the space opens sucking Luminus in before closing, everything happened so fast to the point where if I had closed my eyes for half a second I would have missed it. "This could be bad, we have to hurry." (Elizabeth) My sister spreads her wings and starts flying towards the World Tree, so I do the same, after a long night of sleep along with all of the morning considering with the Suns being at the highest point of the sky, I managed to rest very well, I have not completely recovered my strength, but I am almost completely recovered. -------------- A few minutes later we arrived near the Temple built around the World Tree, we weren''t stopped until now, which I found very strange since in some moments I felt eyes on me. Even though we found it strange that we managed to get here without being impeded, we went down to the garden where it was the day before, in front of the World Tree right in the middle of this temple. While we were still going down I see Luminus kneeling on the ground while bleeding and the Elf Queen I met yesterday had blood on one of her hands while the World Tree Spirit was floating beside her holding her wrist as if trying to stop her. I was seeing that the situation was serious, but I feel how bad it was when we pass through some kind of barrier when that happens a very strong killing intent appears like a wall hitting me making me dizzy for a few seconds. Even getting closer to the Elf Queen was difficult, but my sister didn''t seem to care or feel a thing as she descended to the ground calmly approaching the Elf Queen. Even without getting too close, I could see the fearful Elf Queen''s arm showing the strength she was doing to free herself, her face before calm when I first met her, was now filled with fury as she only looked at Luminus with her eyes almost red with anger. "Good to see you again Queen Ellyana." (Elizabeth) "Let go of me Elly..." (Ellyana) "Are you calmer?" (Elly) "No, but I won''t do anything else." (Ellyana) When my sister appears standing in front of the Elf Queen, blocking her view of Luminus, the Elf Queen looks at Elizabeth before turning to whoever holds her wrist asking to let go. Chapter 982: Finished Gate Chapter 982: Finished Gate Pov Light Templar High: Today the day started like many others, I get up before sunrise, and take care of my hygiene in the morning before going to train with thousands of other Templars. After 4 hours of training where I was the teacher of the use of spears to 5 battalions, I went to wash up and eat something before putting on my armor to go to my post for the rest of the day. I am one of the 20 elite Guards who protect the High Priests by taking care of the construction of the "gate" that we heard the High Priests talk about. We were instructed not to mention anything about this project or those involved even among our peers, but even knowing what this "gate" really is, we don''t know anything. There are a total of 40 elite Guards with a strength equal to mine, we take turns dividing the day in half so that everyone can rest and always be in the best possible condition for our task. I had just entered the main hall of the Great Cathedral which was reconstructed after the great attack, I reported myself to the service before going straight to the place, on the way I met another High Templar like me, unlike me who am a user of spear, he fights using a great sword that bottle but back. "Varchari, his face looks terrible, if he couldn''t sleep again he should look for one of the High Priests specialized in healing." (I) "I already went to one of them last week, I''m completely fine with them." (Varcari) He''s not wearing his helmet so I can see the dark circles under his eyes which are also very red but other than that he looks fine, his skin has always been that white hue, he doesn''t look pale, his lips aren''t dry either and he doesn''t looks slimmer. Also, his Aura doesn''t look any different than normal, if he had to point something out it would be his slightly negative emotions. "Spying on a teammate''s Aura is against the rules, so what do you think you''re doing?" (Varcari) "I apologize, but you''ve been looking bad for weeks, I wanted to know if you were still up to the task." (I) He puts on his helmet as we reach the plaza where the "gate" is being built, we pass through the various barriers thanks to the insignia we carry, then enter the plaza which has been renovated to contain the large 200 meter high gate. The "gate" was formed of 7 large sections in the form of legs that complement each other forming a circle, it seems to be made of various types of metals with its color being mainly white with several golden magic circles drawn throughout its structure. On the floor below is a large multi-layered magic circle with Spiritual Runes written on each layer, furthermore, there are 10 pillars made of magic metals with various magic crystals inlaid by their structure arranged around it. Outside the magic circle are various types of rare materials and dozens of scholars, they are modifying various parts of the magic circle and other things. I don''t know what they''re doing exactly, and my knowledge of magic is very limited, I only studied enough about magic to be able to fight a Mage efficiently. Varcari and I started walking, but I noticed that Varcari was looking around more than usual, his gaze lingering for a few minutes on the "gate" floating in the center. I can''t see his face well because of the helmet, but his dissatisfaction with all this is well known, he also made it very clear that he didn''t want to be here. "(He has to learn that we will stay where we are ordered, that is our only duty, we must rely on our superiors and Lady Grace of the Great God Baldr.)" (I) ------------- After changing shifts, we begin the patrol checking the materials against the pre-approved list, checking the scholars'' identities, and checking the surroundings again until something catches everyone''s attention. The magic circle on the ground lit up as the "Gate" began to rotate, I could feel the light element being drawn into the "Gate" as its interior filled with luminous white energy. The amount of energy being channeled through all this was very large making the space itself vibrate in the surroundings. "Why did it activate all of a sudden!?" (I) I look at the scholars who seem silent, but the other Elite Guards like me are just as confused as I am, it hurts to go check the "gate" while me and three others go towards the scholars, we need to know what''s going on. Chapter 983: What To Do With A Bad Gate Chapter 983: What To Do With A Bad Gate Pov Light Templar High: I run to Church scholars to find out why the "gate" was acting like this, as far as I was let know, it was not supposed to be activated without the presence of the High Priest. "What is happening!?" (I) "The gate activated, I can''t believe we finally made it... hahahahaha..." (High Priest A) "Turn it off now, instructions are..." (I) "We know what the instructions are and we''ve already tried to deactivate it, but we couldn''t." (High Priest B) "We temporarily activated only a part of the Magic Circle on the ground to test whether the conversion from the Light element to the Spatial element was happening efficiently." (High Priest C) "Yes, but then everything got out of control, the magic circle activated completely generating a chain reaction that ended up activating the gate." (High Priest B) "I already tried to deactivate it, but I can''t..." (High Priest B) "Is it working the wrong way?" (I) "No, it''s working correctly, it seems to connect with the established destination, actually there''s something strange." (High Priest A) "What''s up, any new problems?" (High Priest C) "No, I already found out and analyzed what he noticed, was it the Space current vector?" (High Priest D) "Yes, the direction..." (High Priest A) "Yes, after a quick analysis it appeared the other side was the one who forced the activation, what we did generated a slight connection that lasted less than half a second, but somehow they were prepared and forced the gate open..." ( High Priest D) "Hey, tell your teammates to stay away from the Gate!" (High Priest B) "..." (I) I was understanding little of what they were talking about, but it was enough to know that magic is no longer under their control, but as long as they''re not panicking it doesn''t matter, it shouldn''t be a risk. Soon one of them points to three of the Elite Guards running towards the gate, by their Auras I know who the three are. When that thing was activated I noticed his Aura, it was different than it once was, it had a touch of Divine and irritating now. I was hidden for weeks in this useless guy''s nightmares and now I have to rush my plans because someone didn''t know how to wait. "(Now that I''ve gotten rid of that idiot''s mind.)" (I) "This body is mine." (I) I blasted my Aura to the surroundings, unfortunately, it''s impossible to use territory in this place, but I use my Aura to activate the magic I placed around while this idiot was patrolling without realizing that he was controlling his steps to create a magic circle underground. "< Mental Destruction > 79" (I) Since I was acting, I took the opportunity to kill everyone present, including the two who lingered this body with their sword and spear. They all fell to the ground with blood pouring from their eyes, mouth, nose, and ears, their bodies still alive for the time being, but their minds shattered. "< Spatial Collapse: Activate >" (I) My magic circle rises from the ground to float around the long distance teleportation gate. Soon the energy of Darkness and space interferes with the magic causing the pillars in the ground to crack as the gate itself shakes. "WHO DARES!!!!!???" "Someone prettier and smarter than a traitor!" (I) "I''ll show you what to do with a shitty gate like that!" (I) Doing this from a distance is really a bad idea, especially when my Aura was broken when Baldr''s presence coming from the main Temple starts to crush my Aura. "Damn, I don''t have time..." (I) "< Denial of Reality >" (I) I use my Authority together with all my power causing space to break apart by force as an imaginary world takes its place, the combination of this with the magic I activated that causes the long distance teleportation gate to break completely as I destroy everything in the surroundings. But the rift in space that was being closed was forcibly held open by two white claws, that was the last thing I saw when this borrowed body was torn apart, but even in the imaginary world, my real body was not able to run away from the energy that traveled through the connection. "You goddamn bastard...aaahhhh!!!!!" (I) Chapter 984: A New Tenant Chapter 984: A New Tenant After the Elf Queen calmed down with my sister blocking the view of Luminus who was still on the ground kneeling and injured, Lorraine arrives accompanied by Loki who walks to my side. "Did he come here?" (Lorraine)Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om "He didn''t have time, Ellyana dragged him before he got here of his own accord." (Elly) Sigh "Let''s settle this in a secluded place." (Lorraine) Lorraine snaps her fingers and space seems to ripple causing her, the White Elf Queen, and the World Tree Spirit to disappear before space returns to normal leaving only me, Elizabeth, Loki who just arrived, and an injured Luminus who is still on the ground kneeling. "Can someone explain to me what''s going on?" (I) My sister goes to Luminus who still doesn''t move, she tries to kick him knowing she won''t land, her leg stopped 10 centimeters away from him. "The space around him is trapping him in that position, she always acts extreme, it''s like Natasha." (Elizabeth) Sigh --------------- After a few minutes of sitting at a table in the garden waiting, Elizabeth tells me the story of Ellyana, something that happened even before the Nix family incident thousands of years ago. It seems that an Empire at the time was having a war with a new Kingdom that had been created by Demons who fled from the Black Empire. This Human Empire asked many nations for help, but none accepted to participate in the war with them directly, this request for help came even here on the Floating Island. At that time it was less than 100 years since Ellyana was the Elf Queen, she already had a son, a half Elf who was considered a genius for being born with Pure Elemental Affinity with 3 elements being Darkness, Water, and Thunder. Her son convinced her to accept helping that human Empire, but his way of helping was not to fight, he wanted to serve as a mediator between the Human Empire and the Black Empire from which those Demons fled. But when the son of the White Elf Queen went to that Human Empire to make the proposal, he didn''t come back, as well as everyone who accompanied him, they were all killed by a Saint of the Church of Light at that time, my sister said that this Saint was one of the 8 that she killed before losing her body far from this world. It seems that the Elf Queen learned everything through the Fairy who had a Contract with her son, as the Fairy died first than her contractor, her Soul was sent back to the Fairy World and after building a new energy body she managed to tell everything to Ellyana. Sigh "It can only be a joke..." (I) I was in the middle of one of the corridors inside the Ship, I start to walk towards the exit, and I hear strange noises and voices everywhere, but I ignore everything until I get out of the Ship that is rocking as if in a storm. When I finally walked out the door, I found myself in a garden with a small bed, in the middle where a small girl was sleeping, but I noticed that her clothes were a little torn and there were some bruises on her body, I sit down next to her and rock her body lightly until she opened her eyes. "Please tell me this isn''t what I''m thinking." (I) "Is that any way to treat a wounded little girl?" (Caitlyn) "As far as I know, you are older than my previous world, so I won''t be fooled by your illusions... big sister." (I) "At least it still has some respect." (Caitlyn) When she lifts a mountain hut forms around us and I find myself sitting on a sofa in front of a candle fireplace with a tea in my hands, my sister sitting next to me her clothes now completely mended but the bruises remain. "Are these wounds an illusion?" (I) "No, my real body was burned by Baldr''s power, he used my connection he had with a puppet within his holy grounds to reach me." (Caitlyn) "What you are seeing is an illusory body that I am using as my Soul''s vessel, unfortunately, I am a little too injured and I need your help." (Caitlyn) "But why always me!?" (I) "Because of your Chaos power, it helps you do things that wouldn''t be possible normally, like obtaining bloodlines that aren''t yours or changing your race so drastically." (Caitlyn) "One of those things is the ability to create a body with more potential like you did with Natasha, that''s why I came to you" (Caitlyn) Why does my family have to be so intrusive? In fact, they just come to me with various demands, but what can I do? "You already know what I want, until then it''s been a vacation in your mind, it might cause some hallucinations, but that should be it." (Caitlyn) She''s giving a new meaning to the phrase "renting an apartment in someone''s mind" putting it that way, too literal a meaning for my taste. Chapter 985: I Will Wait For A Delivery Chapter 985: I Will Wait For A Delivery When I open my eyes I realize I''m still sitting at the table with my sister and the others talking, I don''t move. "Looks like she released you early." (Elizabeth) "I wish you hadn''t even come..." (I) "You don''t have to worry about me, unlike some people, I won''t cause you any trouble, at least not while you''re awake." (Caitlyn) "How did you..." (I) I was still a little dizzy, it felt like someone had run a train over my head, but as I was talking to Elizabeth, I suddenly heard Caitlyn''s voice, I didn''t hear her voice inside my head, I heard her voice with my ears as I tilt my head back and see a miniature version of her floating on top of a stuffed toy shaped like my head. "What were you doing to die like that?" (Elizabeth) "Before that, what are you doing out of my body? I thought you were without a body." (I) "That''s an illusion, but it must be said that it fooled my eyes for a few seconds." (Loki) "Actually this is an illusory body, a Lesser Familiar I created using my power, I''m still inside its head." (Caitlyn) She points at me nonchalantly, but at least I know it''s just an illusion, I try to grab her with my hand, but find it impossible when my hand crosses her body. "I know what you did, so please tell me?" (Lorraine) "I destroyed the long distance teleportation gate, but there was someone already on the way, he prevented the collapse long enough to get through." (Caitlyn) When Caitlyn said this I noticed a change in Elizabeth''s and Lorraine''s expressions. "It was him?" (Lorraine) "It could only have been, out of the 8 I fought, I''m sure of the complete death of 6, I''m also pretty sure the 7th must have met the same fate, only the 8th escaped, but he was still injured enough to be gone for a few centuries recovering." (Elizabeth) "Then the only one in that place would be" (Lorraine)Vissit for updates "Yes, it must be him." (Elizabeth) "If it was a fight against him, then I would have managed to win after a few days of fighting, but Baldr acted quickly in attacking me, I barely had time to destroy the teleportation gate." (Caitlyn) "Who are you talking about?" (Ellyana) I noticed that the Elf Queen''s eyes were turning red as a strong presence filled with murderous intent spread out, scaring even me. "I won''t tell you." (Lorraine) "Why take so many risks?" (I) "I''ll tell you later I''m getting sleepy, I also still have to wait for a delivery." (Caitlyn) "Goodnight." (Caitlyn) "..." (I) Before I could say anything else she disappeared, in the end, I managed to get a few things out of her at least. I go outside the hut where I am and sit on a higher tree branch enjoying the view while still remaining in this village. "So many things to do..." (I) Sigh I enjoy the view of these magnificent trees and beautiful sky as I go over everything I still have to do in my mind, it''s always best to think of a place where you feel comfortable and can relax. -------------- Pov Loki: "Are you sure about this? There''s no going back." (Karina) "I was prepared for this all along." (I) "Then I''ll help, but have you spoken to Athena yet?" (Karina) "I don''t need to, no matter what happens, nothing will change between us, she''s a great friend to me." (I) "I thought they had something more romantic." (Karina) "Haha hahahahahahaha..." (I) "Come on, you really don''t understand anything about romance, I may have had fun with her a few times, but she has feelings for someone else." (I) "Who is she in love with?" (Karina) "Ask Zenos... it really wouldn''t do any good, he''s too distracted to notice these things, ask Freya as most people should already know." (Karina) I look out the window remembering the last time I saw her, I remember the earth cracking and the bodies everywhere, I remember the screams and the blood, but mostly I remember her taking the few survivors away while I stayed behind. "(Why were you the one who ended up in such a state while I was free back then?)" (I) "(I won''t take my eyes off you from now on.)" (I) Chapter 986: From Today, Wherever You Go, Ill Go Chapter 986: From Today, Wherever You Go, I''ll Go When I went to sleep that night, I found myself lost in an illuminated temple, the only colors that repeated were white and gold while an authoritative presence emanated from every corner. But when I walked through the halls all I heard were horrible words, hate speech, and prejudice. The statues were crying blood and the pictures looked like they were painted using blood, the furniture looked like it was made of humanoid bones and a smell of rot existed in the air. Before I realized it I was in front of golden doors that when I opened it I was forced to close my eyes due to the intense brightness, then when I opened my eyes again I was in that garden where I found my sister earlier. Caitlyn was still in bed, this time she was wearing some sort of bed-print pajamas, the bruises were still etched on her body, but they looked a little better. My little sister looked like she was having a nightmare, she tossed and turned in bed with a serious face, she didn''t notice my presence so she didn''t bring me here, I must have gotten here on my own somehow. I walk over to her and lay down on the bed next to her, then I put my hand on her head and try to sleep, maybe it''s because of her childlike appearance, but I remember my time at the orphanage, I remember one of the first times a foster family left me. At that time it affected me a lot, I was deeply sad since I didn''t understand why they abandoned me, I remember going to sleep crying, then I vaguely remember having a nightmare that I didn''t remember after I woke up, all I know is that when I opened my eyes two of the older children were sleeping next to me, one of them is cuddling with me on the bed while the other was holding my hand as I was sitting on the edge of the bed. I remember that moment when I realized that even in the orphanage I had a family, there were others who went through the same thing as me, others who were willing to comfort me even if it wasn''t from their families. "Sleep tight..." (I) I plant a kiss on Caitlyn''s forehead as that memory plays in my head, then close my eyes to sleep. --------------- The next morning I woke up with Ibuki in my bed again, I actually woke up because of her biting my shoulder as she repeated the word meat. After getting up and taking care of my hygiene, I went to eat something with everyone, nothing better than eating something at a table full of people I like in the morning. "(I am no longer a god, a simple mortal life would be better than disappearing and I would be fulfilling an old debt.)" "If everyone is in agreement then I accept it, it''s not like I''ve already thought about how to use these Dragon Seals anyway." (I) I own 4 Dragon Seals, I already read about them in the little book Arash left behind before he left, I know what they do and how to use them, I can use them without an Awakening Ceremony, but using them in a greatly increases more its effect. I looked around and didn''t see the transparent silhouette that Loki''s friend wears, but since I heard her voice in my mind like before, I think she''s speaking from inside the crystal this time. "As everything has already been said, then we must begin, we removed her from inside the World Tree, staying too long like this could harm her condition." (Ellyana) "I will stay out as my presence might interfere." (Lorraine) Saying that, Lorraine disappears without a trace, it was at that moment when I looked around that I noticed many distant silhouettes watching, I realized that it was Fairies and Spirits watching from afar. "They''re just curious, don''t worry." (Elly) "All good." (I) I look back as I wave everyone away, my sisters and Familiars step outside the circle of stones, and the White Elf Queen and the World Tree Spirit do the same, that leaves only Loki and Karina beside me as we approach the large crystal in the center. I stand a little way back from the crystal as Loki continues to approach until he''s right to the side so everyone is positioned to start. "You know how to do?" (I) "Yes, for me it''s almost instinctual." (Karina) "So let''s start." (I) Chapter 987: Veronica Part 1 Chapter 987: Veronica Part 1 I was in the middle of the circle of colored stones next to Karina while in front of the big crystal where Loki''s friend is, Loki herself was next to the big crystal. "Loki, draw the shield." (I) "Karina, bring the Dragon Seal." (I) Karina brings the crystal out, and as soon as it appears I feel like it''s a part of me, the black crystal with starry sparkles and a Serpent-type Dragon shape with different colored eyes inside, it was very flashy. She was left holding it in her hands, the crystal itself wasn''t very big. Soon Loki also picks up the same shield he showed earlier, his friend''s shield that was in that ruined temple, the shield that appears to be made of stone with the design of an island floating in space being depicted on it. This shield appears to have her friend''s Fragment of Divinity on it, the shield will be used to create a new body for her and the Dragon Seal will be used to connect her with Loki permanently forming a connection between the two that can no longer be broken. "I''m starting." (I) "< Demon Dragon Authority >" (I) Ding! <[ Skill [ Demon Dragon Authority: 2 ] activated ]> . . . <[ A Skill containing the power of Authority was used to influence a being above the skill owner''s level ]> . . <[ Notice (War Goddess) has had her Divinity broken and can no longer be considered a Divinity ]> . . <[ (Demigoddess of War) agreed to cooperate with you ]> I activate my power while expanding my Aura along with my Authority to the surroundings, enveloping the entire circle of stones, this was not on its own accord, it felt as if these stones were resonating with my power forcing my Aura and Authority to spread throughout the area. As my Aura and Authority spread across the stone circle, lines formed connecting the stones together while new lines formed within the stone circle, the pattern of lines was not a magic circle, it seemed to form the design of a magnificent tree. But while the drawing of the tree was still not complete, the crystal in the middle started absorbing my Aura and Authority with ease, there was no resistance whatsoever. Then my Mana, Spiritual Energy, Ki, and Holy Power explode out of my body along with drops of my blood coming out of the pores of my skin. All this mixed with my Aura and Authority as it entered the crystal, and it took a long time to fill the big crystal. Ding! <[ Identified the interference of Elly (World Tree) in the awakening of (Demigoddess of War) ]> . . . <[ Choose 3 powers to bestow on (Demigoddess of War) ]> Soon the drawing representing a magnificent tree is ready while a rich energy of all the elements is concentrated inside the circle of stones, all this energy uses my Aura as a channel to enter the crystal causing a sensation as if I was being burned, but I resisted pain as the giant crystal was now completely black. At that moment when I was already used to it, a flood of information goes through my head, the weight of so much information always causes a big headache for me, but this time it''s worse, maybe it''s because of the mental pressure I already feel due to my connection mental with my sister, my mind feels like it''s going to break. I was smart to have planned ahead what I would choose to bestow on her. 1. Bloodline [ Nephilim: 100% ] 2. Skill [ Summoning: Weapons ] 3. Bloodline [ Ancient Elf: 100% ] <[ Wake up process completed ]> I couldn''t believe the amount of energy building around me, I saw that the shield that was close to the crystal melted as it was absorbed by the large crystal that now had cracks in all corners emitting light. In the next second finally, my energies and the energy of the surroundings stopped being absorbed by the crystal, then soon it starts to crumble into dust, but this dust looks like snow in the sense that it melts into a liquid that surrounds the crystal as it crumbles following the same pattern until there is nothing left of the big crystal. In its place was a blinding light blocking the view with a stream of multicolored liquid acting surrounding the light, I could only think of this scene as a Sun with a ring around it. I couldn''t see what was inside, but I could feel my hand of shadows still there, soon a black current formed between that light and my other hand that was wrapped around Loki. This black current of energy represents the slight connection I managed to make between the Loki and his friend. All I needed to do now was wait, which didn''t take long as all of the energy from the various elements was pulled into the light forming a cocoon that looked like it was made of colored metal. My shadow arms come undone revealing Loki while looking the same as before, then I look at the cocoon which rips open like a flower opening revealing a beautiful woman within. Veronica had white skin with a thin and very feminine body, she was around 190 cm tall, she had black wavy hair, black eyes with golden irises, there were translucent wings on her back that seemed to be fair if pure energy. She had a really nice body that I couldn''t help but stare at for 1 second before getting an elbow from Karina who I just remembered was still beside me. She steps forward and I place my hand on her back between her two wings as I send my power, Aura, and Authority through her body, then the crystal in her hands glows and becomes a Star Energy Dragon with links of different colors which flies around the two straight ahead, Loki and his friend who I''ve just named Veronica stand facing each other holding hands as the Dragon wraps itself around the two. ding <[ Initiating binding of the Seal of the Dragon (Zenos) to Individuals Loki and Veronica ]> . . . <[ Individual Loki was influenced by Veronica''s Divine Bloodline ascending to the same bloodline ]> . . . <[ Individuals Loki and Veronica are considered twin Heroes by Zenos'' dual blessing ]> . . <[ Loki and Veronica''s power will be restricted to the level of Zenos (Blood Demigod: Incomplete) ]> . . . <[ Do you want to grant titles to your Heroes? ]> . [ Yes / No ] I didn''t know how to use the Dragon Seal by myself and I left it to Karina who is my Priestess to do that, but she needed my power and Authority for that, so I could see the notifications that it was a doubt for me if they would appear for me or just for Karina. I was surprised by many of the notifications, that''s why I wasn''t expecting this Heroes thing or choosing titles, this was the first time I used this Dragon Seal and I''m already shocked by the results. I try to put this title stuff aside for later having other things to think about now. While still a little disturbed by some of the notifications in my vision I was still looking at the Dragon in front and it dissolved into energy being absorbed by Loki along with her friend. Loki''s clothes explode in pieces only half of the upper part of the body completely exposing his left arm that now had a tattoo of a black dragon with stars on the body and eyes of different colors along with chains, this tattoo was on Loki''s left arm while the same tattoo formed on Veronica''s right arm. I was very surprised by everything when it finally ended. I was just mentally tired with all that happened, luckily most of the energy didn''t even come from me, it made me save a lot of my energy and that''s why I had more than half of my energy reserves even after the end of the Ceremony of Awakening. One thing I was sure of now was the connection I felt with Loki and Veronica now as if they were my daughters. Chapter 988: Twin Heroes Chapter 988: Twin Heroes My head was hurting to the point of bursting, but that alone was something I could easily bear, luckily my body wasn''t weakened and my energy wasn''t depleted like on previous occasions. Sigh As I breathed a sigh of relief that my condition was so good, I took a look at Veronica being dressed in some leaf clothes that formed directly on her body, it seems that this was Elly''s thing who was the first to appear next to her. Loki simply took off his half-dressed shirt, not bothering to show his body in public, then put on another shirt that he pulled from his storage item. I kept seeing Veronica and Loki looking at each other from where I was, then the two smiled almost at the same time, when I thought they were going to start hugging, suddenly the two extend their hands towards each other. I thought it strange that they tried to use a handshake after being apart for so long, but I soon realized that they weren''t extending their hands to make that common greeting. The two slap each other''s cheeks at the same time, then a slapping war ensues as they only hit each other''s faces without trying to deflect or protect. "I think they need a break." (I) I look at Karina beside me, she looks at me already knowing what I''m going to ask, so I''m just silent waiting for her answer. "I know you were going to turn them both into your daughters, but it didn''t work, only Veronica was going to become your daughter of the Dragon bloodline because your Awakening Ceremony has just been performed." (Karina) "From the things Nix''s father left behind before he left, I know there were other options besides Hero." (I) "But none of them were an option for two people at the same time, it had to be their descendants or Heroes." (Karina) Sigh "Anyway, they are now linked to you." (Karina) "..." (I) It''s not just these two I''m thinking about, I read in the book that Arash left that only a True Dragon Elder or an Emperor like Arash could create Heroes, an elder''s chances of creating a Hero being possible only if he has Divine power, something that I don''t own. "(You don''t have Divine power, but you have your own Holy Power, you are also a Demigod, we can create a Hero, but it''s not easy.)" (Caitlyn) "I can''t tell if he''s mocking me or praising me." (I) "Knowing her, then I can tell she''s doing both, she''s mocking and praising at the same time." (Veronica) "Don''t interrupt my introductions, as I was saying, it may not look like it, but this little boy is a True Dragon, a Vampire Patriarch, a Rising King, and a Demigod." (Loki) "Let''s forget about her, my name is Zenos, nice to meet you Veronica." (I) "The pleasure is all mine, thank you for saving me from this prison that has kept me alive until today." (Veronica) I can understand, even for her who was a Goddess in the past, being confined just a few meters away from the World Tree for thousands of years must have been difficult, even knowing that it was for her own good it''s hard to bear being alone for so long time. --------------- The others join in before long, and I introduce Veronica to my Sisters and Familiars. As she greeted everyone, I took the liberty of using identification on her, because of our connection it is easy to use, that''s how I saw her titled Fallen Goddess, Goddess of War, Dragon Hero (Zenos), Twin Heroes and many other titles to do with combat or wars. I was frustrated by her title, I''m sure Loki will have something similar, other than that I ignored the other titles, Loki already told me that she was a Goddess of War, so having so many titles that represent her complete mastery over various types of weapons it''s just normal considering she already hurts one day. Veronica thanked the World Tree a lot for helping her for so many years, and the same for the Elf Queen and Lorraine. I still had a headache, so I didn''t want to stay too long and went back to our temporary residence with everyone else while still trying to accept having the Heroes follow me around. -------------- In the middle of that night, I was on the roof of the cabin leaning against one of the branches of the tree we are on top of. I was looking at the stars while trying to think about the repercussions of having Heroes with me, the problem wasn''t that they were both Heroes, the problem was that they were my Heroes. "You''re overthinking something simple." (Natasha) "Just be happy, the Heroes chosen by a Dragon are different from the Heroes of the Gods." (Elizabeth) "A Dragon Hero is weaker than a normal Hero in terms of overall potential, a Dragon Hero only surpasses normal Heroes with their stronger bodies, the rest you''ll see in the next few days." (Natasha) Chapter 989: Is This Still Training? Chapter 989: Is This Still Training? The next day I wake up inside the Dungeon, I woke up because I felt my mouth dry, when I open my eyes and my mind clears I realize that I have a mouth full of dirt, so I got up in a hurry while spitting out the dirt and washing my mouth with a canteen of water. It was then that I realized that my bed was next to a crater with a cloud of dust still slowly floating back to the ground. I look around realizing I''m on a floor of the Dungeon, the floor we used to train on, then I look down at the crater again and find the Hero of Light unconscious with half his limbs broken. "Good morning Holy Son." (Arthur) "Good morning... what''s going on here?" (I) "I was training with my brother, but the technique he is trying to perfect still has a lot of flaws." (Arthur) "A technique? Not a skill?" (I) "Yes." (I) A technique is usually something that falls into two categories, using Aura or combining skills, these are things that don''t become a skill itself, I have some techniques myself. "But why is the Hero in my Dungeon?" (I) "His group already found out, their Priestess seems to have seen some people hiding inside the Dungeon during the last battle." (Arthur) "But you don''t need to worry about him, the Holy Son isn''t the only Dungeoneering Master, so even if it''s a secret, it''s not of much importance." (Arthur) "That doesn''t change anything, the Dungeon has a big surprise advantage, so I hide it about it." (I) Sigh "But I''ll let it go, I was going to tell him later anyway, maybe in a few days after watching him more." (I) I could see the blood oozing from their fists, it was at this point that they started to use their whole arm, whether it was attacking with the elbow or defending with the arm. Then came the moment when each one used their legs to attack, the fight between the two was very intense, they fought like this for about 40 minutes or so. The fight continued a little longer until the two used their strength to knock each other back, that''s when the two held weapons, my sister had a heavy sword this time that she took from her storage item. "< Summoning Weapons: Sword That Pierces the Void >" (Veronica) "..." (I) Soon my sister started laughing like a maniac, then Veronica creates a small magic circle next to her with a sword hilt sticking out, then she used the sword that looked more like a Katana with a black blade. The two look at each other''s weapons and run into another fight, this time the fight was more intense, my sister used a lot of raw power along with her combat experience, but Veronica is fighting using a fighting style that consists more of technique, but unfortunately that won''t work, my sister seems to be getting it. As time passed their fight got stronger, so the fight continued with Veronica receiving a cut in the stomach at the same time as I jumped back to disperse the force of the blow as I walked away. In the end, I was surprised by the aggressiveness that the two have, bruises, and other injuries all over the body. It didn''t take long for something more serious to happen, but in the end, someone lost an arm and that someone is Veronica, but at the same time a sword was summoned behind Natasha that simply hit her in the back. Where the attack landed it made a big wound, but it should be all right. I thought they would stop fighting, but that didn''t happen, all we got was to see an even more brutal battle, it wasn''t long after that where I felt something strange in my body like something was leaking. At the same time, I felt this energy an attack coming from the sky once again with her body all broken, she gets up and I feel my energy flowing inside her body healing her wounds. I let it go on, I was starting to see the difference between the two types of Heroes. I sit and think about how brutal this training is if it can even be called training at all. Chapter 990: Dragon Hero Chapter 990: Dragon Hero As the fight continues between my sister Natasha and Veronica who became a Hero of mine I started to notice some things, their battle was being very brutal, they were even aiming at each other''s vital points. "(That flow of energy flowing from me to her is vitality, but I don''t feel my vitality decreasing...)" (I) It took me a few seconds to realize that it was my natural recovery rate, it seems that it was being diverted towards her helping to heal her wounds at a faster rate than mine. The only explanation would be if my own resilience was being tamed her resilience. "(I feel like I can stop this flow of energy if I want to.)" (I) "(You can, but that''s not just her vitality, she just like Loki has access to her Mana, Ki, and Spiritual Power recovery ability.)" (Caitlyn) "(You can also send your energy and vitality to them if you wish, you can also store your Holy Power inside them and they can only get more if you send it to them.)" (Caitlyn) "..." (I) I look up, my sister ripped off Veronica''s arm but had 3 swords piercing her back. "That''s enough you two!" (I) With my scream they stop and go down with panting breaths, my sister looks happy probably because of the intense battle, even I am not able to fight her at this intensity. I walk over to where Elizabeth and Loki were resting so the 5 of us can talk about what Caitlyn told me. "Do you guys need to go that far in your training?" (I) "Don''t worry, even if it hit my heart and brain at the same time it wouldn''t kill me." (Natasha) "I apologize, I got carried away after so many years away from the heat of combat." (Veronica) "You were a War Goddess by what Loki told you." (I) "Yes, combat is part of my nature, even if I am no longer a Goddess, my nature will never change." (Veronica) "But Loki said you used a shield." (I) "As a Goddess, my duty was to protect, shields are my favorite, even though they are made for defense there are many techniques to use them in attack, but I am also a master in handling all weapons and even fighting unarmed." (Veronica) As we were talking I saw a flow of energy come to Veronica and focus on the wound on her arm that she lost, meanwhile her arm seems to heal. "I didn''t know you could do that." (I) "I can''t..." (Veronica) I turn to her realizing that yes as I don''t understand what is going on then I look at her arm which was far away, it was dissolving into energy that is doing this. "That''s interesting..." (Loki) I turn to Loki only to see a letter in her hand with a mended heart drawn on it. "Don''t look at me like that, that''s my weapon." (Loki) "..." (I) "It was interesting to fight her." (Elizabeth) "What are these letters?" (I) I look at Loki''s waist where there was a rack where many cards were stored, a deck of cards. "I asked Lyra to make it for me with Rakan''s help, these cards are made with many precious materials, but at their base are magic crystals made to assume this form, then various spells and other things are placed." (Loki) "I thought about it later..." (Loki) "Never mind, I think I can understand." (I) I was on the fence about what my daughter ordered, I don''t know how far that is a good idea. "Still in doubt?" (Naraka) "I don''t know if I want her to change..." (I) "People don''t change easily, you know that better than anyone, so stop worrying." (Naraka) I still don''t want to do this, but I know it''s in my daughter''s best interest, so I''m going to find her and deliver this. ------------- Pov Barok: I was sitting by the lake of the Spirits, this place is always peaceful and the view is always amazing while drinking a bottle of Wine of the Seas, my favorite drink. "..." (I) I''ve been feeling down these last few days, I know why, but it only makes things worse. "You don''t know anything about her, so forget about her beautiful brown eyes, forget about that short black hair tied back in a little ponytail, forget about the way she wielded that big halberd." (I) "What are you doing here, Barok?" (Sapphire) I look back where I see Jade''s mom, a training buddy, and friend, maybe she knows what I have to do. ------------ After spending some time telling my problems she looks at me with a confused face. "Why are you looking at me like that?" (I) "Why are you wasting your time here, go after her." (Sapphire) "I can''t go, I don''t even know where she is?" (I) "You fell in love with her my friend, it''s more than obvious." (Sapphire) "..." (I) I remember when I met her, it was a short time ago, she just ran up to me and carried me in her arms against my will with a stupid smile on her face, I remember calling her crazy before receiving a headbutt losing consciousness. The next few days were intense training where she was always scolding me, she always acted seriously during training but afterwards, she always acted in a very intimate way, it bothered me at first. "(When did it stop bothering me?)" (I) "(Calisto, where are you?)" (I) "She was taken by a relative in the last fight and has not returned." (I) "You searched..." (Sapphire) "She didn''t die, I already checked that, I just don''t know where she is." (I) "Ask the others for help, Kira and Elsaris might be able to find it for you." (Sapphire) -------------- Pov Zenos: I spent the rest of the day together with Veronica and Loki, thanks to which I was able to learn more about both of them, mainly learning more about Veronica who I just met. When I got back to the hut outside the Dungeon I was told that Freya would not be back today, she will already be near the World Tree and I can imagine what she is doing there. "Let''s get some rest." (I) Chapter 991: The List Part 1 Chapter 991: The List Part 1 Pov Kira: "Are you going to talk to him too?" (I) "No, he sent for me." (Zilla) "He wants my answer to his last request." (Zilla) "From your expression are you thinking of refusing?" (I) "I don''t want to owe him more than I already owe him." (Zilla) I look at this giant mermaid, she really seems to be thinking about these stupid things. "You owe him your life, not to mention you''re living in his Kingdom, you owe him too much already to stop now, actually that''s a good way to repay him." (I) "Get stronger to be someone capable of fighting alongside all of us, that will be how you can pay your debt." (I) She seems to be considering my words as she heads towards Zenos'' hut. "(She is very serious about these things, thinks too much about an opportunity to become stronger.)" (I) ------------- Pov Barok: Today I was walking through the village of the Elves looking for someone to deliver a message to me in the city on the coast of the island where we were, then I feel an Aura that I know involve my body and in a short time, I feel someone''s arms around me. "I''ve been looking for you for a long time." (I) "My Uncle didn''t want to let me go back, he has other mercenaries preparing in case another attack happens." (Calisto) She was a little shorter than me but her strength was several levels above me, I didn''t even realize when she appeared or which side until she scooped me up in her arms and at that moment none of it mattered. I take her into my embrace as I rub my forehead against hers in a gesture of intimacy. "I want to be with you..." (I) "I also want to be with you..." (Calisto) Without saying anything else we look into each other''s eyes and go to the place where we are staying, I occupy one of the huts and throw Irius out. Hours later we were cuddling in bed and I heard his voice in my ear. "I want to stay, but would he have me?" (Calisto) "He accepts for sure, otherwise he wouldn''t even have been allowed to enter the Dungeon." (I) "I fell in love with you the moment I looked into his eyes." (Calisto) "The same eyes as my father, eyes that hold doubt and full of boundless will." (Calisto) "I''ve met a few people like that in my life, more than half of those people have changed over time and the others have silly motives like money and success." (Calisto) "But the moment I looked at you, I knew, I was sure of your personality." (Calisto) "A simple and clear Aura that doesn''t mask emotions, a loyalty, and sincerity that overflows from her Aura along with a boundless will..." (Calisto) She lifts her head and steals a kiss from me as she squeezes me tighter. "I''ve always looked up to my father, even in his death he was standing between a monster and our family." (Calisto) "When I looked at you that day it was like I could see an image of him behind you." (Calisto) "Then the real war will begin at last." (I) In the reports there are reports about many strange situations where the Church of Light is retreating from the battlefields and concentrating all their forces on my borders, it seems that they don''t want to buy any more time. "At least not everything is bad." (I) I looked at the reports about the captures or deaths of those important to the enemy ranks. "But I still don''t understand all this they are doing, but something is wrong, it seems as if they are..." (I) "Looks like you figured it out." (Julian) "..." (I) I was so uneasy about all of this that it took me a while to notice the person sitting in front of me, the Founder and my ancestor, Juliano. "Why did you leave the hut?" (I) "Why are they here, they may be fewer in number than they originally intended, but they are here." (Julian) "..." (I) It seems that this is the reason for the mobilization of the Church of Light troops, they have so far scared all our allies away from my Empire. "What should we do? Can we attack?" (I) "No, we still have time to prepare." (Julian) He spent the rest of the day talking with the founder going over everything in preparation for the attack. --------------- Pov Veronica: I was testing my skills alone still inside the Dungeon, this body is very different from my previous body it also moves differently. Sigh I let out a sigh as I look at hundreds of weapons of all types floating around me. Each sword, spear, or any other weapon had different properties, their Summoning speed was slower. After testing with this skill for a few hours I think I can use it better during combat. "Now I need to get used to this body." (I) "I can help with that." (Natasha) I look to the left and see Natasha descending from the sky, I wave to her and we both take a fighting stance on the ground this time. I run towards her giving a punch attack while turning my wrist inwards, when she grabbed my fist I kept running while bending my arm transferring the strength of the punch to an elbow that hits her in the chest. After that attack, we separate and I look at my arm that is crooked, this body is more fragile than I expected, I may have to train this body more before entering a real fight. "I think before I continue with these trainings, I should go back to the basics to build this better body." (I) "Do you have an Alchemist?" (I) "Yes, her name is Lyra, what do you need?" (Natasha) I approach her as I write a few things down on a piece of paper before handing it over, she reads it and nods in confirmation before leaving. "This will help me, I need to make this body stronger and more flexible before moving on to the next part of the training plan." (I) Chapter 992: The List Part 2 Chapter 992: The List Part 2 That day I went to meet everyone who was on the list to become stronger, these were Zila, Sapphire, Eva, Alice, Barok, and Athena. They all have great talent and effort in their training, Eva and Alice do training together every day, Alice still has little real combat experience since there are few opportunities that I let her participate in, but I think I can leave after today. "(You''re really going to do that, you''re a Demigod who has awakened Holy power, even though your awakening was incomplete having so many attached to you like that)" (Caitlyn) "(What are you talking about?)" (I) "(Don''t you know?)" (Caitlyn) "..." (I) "(All people with a connection to you become devotees, they will no longer be normal people and will be considered as direct servants of a Deity, even if we are not Gods, we are still Demigods.)" (Caitlyn) "(Does this have any effect?)" (I) "(They receive your blessing, you can feel your connection with everyone who has ever performed the Awakening Ceremony, right?)" (Caitlyn) "(Yes, but only when we''re close, I don''t feel them when they''re far away like I do with my Family members.)" (I) "(That''s because you''re still weak, but when you fully Awaken as a Demigod that connection will grow stronger and your blessing will be much stronger, at this point it will be like the blessing of a Fairy King or Spirit King.)" (Caitlyn) "..." (I) I spent the rest of the drive thinking about what Caitlyn had said, I wasn''t too surprised, being a Demigod is such an important thing, I guess one would expect someone who is a Demigod to be able to give a blessing. The Ceremony of Awakening clearly says that I have the choice to bestow power on my chosen ones, I always do this because I want those around me to be strong, but this bestowing of power should be considered as a Blessing, in addition to the Ceremony of Awakening it helps to awaken the full potential of a body and maybe even increase that potential, when I think about it logically it becomes clear the similarities that blessings have with this. --------------- . . . <[ You have acquired the unique skill [ Lightning Storm Aura ] ]> . . . <[ The unique Skill [ Lightning Storm Aura ] was consumed by the existing Aura Skill ]> Suddenly disappearing an electric current runs through my body before disappearing, so I feel my Aura a little stronger, I raise my hands and a sphere of very thin black rays appears, I didn''t wait even 1 second before making it disappear. "(I can test this later, this is neither the place nor the time to test a new skill.)" (I) "(With the large number of skills I''ve consumed to date, it''s been a while since I''ve gotten a new one.)" (I) -------------- After confirming things with Kira and then exchanging a few words with Byakko himself before going with Kira to greet her father, it seems that he was the one who got these two bloodlines for me to help his daughter. After exchanging a few words with him, I call out the name of everyone on the list to speak with each one last time before starting the Awakening Ceremonies. I talk to each one about what I''m going to do, I didn''t want to force any of them to do anything, and I made it very clear that I would only continue if they accepted what I proposed and nothing would be done if they chose to refuse. Fortunately, everyone decided to continue, the truth is that not everyone will go through the Awakening Ceremony, and Barok will only receive one of my Dragon Seals. Chapter 993: Plan Of The One Who Lurks In The Shadows Chapter 993: Plan Of The One Who Lurks In The Shadows Pov Shadow Lord: I was in front of 18 modified Kimera bodies, all with humanoid form reticent to various races, I looked at my arm where the skin is halfway torn and the flesh was soft, that body was at the limit, with the Seals of Space Separated, broken in the vast majority, I managed to concentrate on the main body, which made some of the Divine power run through me, unfortunately, these bodies are not lasting more than a few days. "My lord, these bodies were made using bodies of High Priests and those with Heroic bloodlines, as ordered we also let the alchemist use the Blood of the Hero of Light to make the liquid that runs through these bodies." (Shadow Slave) "I''ve spread the knowledge to make a Kimera for millennia and I still can''t get a body capable of withstanding Divine power." (I) I look at each body lying in front of me and touch them letting some of my energy run through their bodies and see how they behave. I used the best possible materials and even though half of these bodies will not even be suitable containers, only 8 of these bodies will be able to become air containers. I look between the bodies that look suitable, there are 3 child Elf bodies, 1 Giant body, 1 Human body, and 3 Demon bodies. I look between them and choose the body of a Demon, a thinly muscled, middle-aged male body, not the best of bodies, but I like the way it looks. I move closer and place my hand on his forehead, then roam around the current vessel''s body absorbing every last trace of energy before using my hand as a to enter the new body. After that, I spent a few minutes adapting to the new body and confirming that it is not being eroded by my power. "That should do for now." (I) After I get used to this body enough I go to the wall where various types of clothes are before leaving this room and going out of the house. "Sir, I don''t understand why you continue to wait, we can break the last seal at any moment." (Demon Dragon) "There''s no reason to be in a hurry, there are still certain steps to be taken before that." (I) I look at the Demon Dragon who became my servant, I created him by corrupting a Dark Dragon, his only problem is his aggression and lack of long-term thinking. That big barrier would be a nuisance, but luckily there''s a way to get rid of that barrier before they even get a chance to use it, that''s what my last preparations were for. "Be prepared, we will act in a few days, now that reinforcements from the Church of Light have arrived, they will have other things to look at." (I) I couldn''t help but smile at the thought of all in flames, these fools were so easy to manipulate. --------------- Pov Juliano (Founder of the Black Empire): I was sitting in a room while Julius was in the throne room commanding his Generals. Meanwhile, I was sitting on a chair looking into the distance, I was waiting for him when I felt his proximity and used teleportation to get in front of him miles away from the capital. "Don''t try to stop me, Julius, you''re not strong enough for that." (Arash) "I need you to stay calm, we can''t be the first to act." (I) "I appreciate your help, but you must understand that acting rashly only puts everyone in danger." (I) "You knew he was alive." (Arash) "Yes, I''ve known for a while, but where he was wouldn''t be a place you would be able to reach." (I) "I know your hatred and I will not stop your revenge, but there is a time and a place, you must also take into account that you are expected at some point." (I) "I''ll wait, but I think he''d better come like you said." (Arash) I was confident they would attack here first, all I need to do is wait for the right moment, his target is not my main concern but I''m sure it will be coming too. Chapter 994: A Delivery Chapter 994: A Delivery I was prepared to start strengthening those on the list, so I started with Kira, of course, she would be the first, the Awakening Ceremony process was simple as I just gave her the Bloodline she asked for, but the strange thing was that the changes to her were almost none, the only thing that changed in his appearance was his hair turning white and two white tails with black stripes appearing on his back. I didn''t spend too much energy on Kira and avoided giving any other Bloodlines or abilities as it might be detrimental to her purpose, at least that''s what I thought was right as she didn''t want to become an Ancient Elf, so I just stuck with those two languages. After taking care of Kira who left right after giving me a kiss, I went to take care of Barok which was just as easy.Ge?t latest novel chapters on nov(e)lbj/n(.)c/om Me and Barok went in front of the Dragon God statue in the Communal Temple, so I call Karina who brings my Dragon Seal, after the last time I used it I learned a little how to use it, so this time I controlled it together from Karina. Ding! <[ Do you want to add Barok (Dragon Knight) to your True Dragon Bloodline? ]> . <[ Yes/No ]> . . . <[ Do you want to upgrade Barok (Dragon Knight) to a Dragon Paladin? ]> . <[ Yes/No ]> I watch this and think Barok would do better as a Paladin, his whole image reflects servitude, plus I don''t want to have another tall, muscular son when I can''t get a body like that myself, just thinking about it opens a wound in my heart that I prefer to forget. Ding! <[ Barok (Dragon Knight) received the Blessing of the Dragon Seal (Zenos) and was raised to Dragon Paladin successfully ]> . I place the two Eggs in the center of the pool only to have them float to the top of the pool as two small tornadoes of blood come out of the pool filling the two Eggs. With that done I left the Communal Temple and after the Dungeon, I returned to the Elf Village a little tired, it seems that I wasn''t strong enough to take care of everyone on the list as I initially expected. Outside the Dungeon I found Freya who told me about what she did with the other Elves, she looked a little tired. "Master, someone came saying they have a delivery for you." (Sakura) ------------- Pov High Priest of Light: I walk over to the chamber where our guest from afar has been recovering for the last few days, as soon as I enter I see that he is already strong enough to stay in human form. He is 1.80 tall, short golden hair, and slightly brown skin with white scales on his neck rising a little to his face and arms from what little I can see, his eyes are almost completely golden with only his iris being white, in the on his back were 3 pairs of Celestine-like wings folded over, with the only difference being that he was twice as big, he was wearing an elegant white and gold suit with Baldr''s Symbol. "Looks like you''ve recovered." (I) "I''m still not fully recovered, being crushed by space causes wounds not just in the body." (Rhaegal) "We need you for the plan." (I) "I know, that''s why I came here, unfortunately, it seems there was a plague on this holy ground that should have been under your protection." (Rhaegal) "I know, I was naive to think they wouldn''t try something so risky, but it won''t happen again." (I) "I also know that this incident has reduced the number of our reinforcements, but that is secondary to your help." (I) "I know, I will be completely healed in 1 or 2 weeks, only then can we take the final step." (Rhaegal) "Longer than expected, but we can''t do anything about it now, I will make final preparations." (I) "Baldr''s glory!" (I) "Baldr''s glory!" (Rhaegal) Chapter 995: The Rage That Covers An Entire Continent Chapter 995: The Rage That Covers An Entire Continent Pov Arash (True Dragon Emperor): "You don''t understand, every second I know he''s within my reach only increases my anger." (I) "It is not within your reach, even you cannot trespass on territory claimed by the Gods." (Juliano) "..." (I) I know he''s here, I can feel his presence just because he''s a Dragon, I can feel Akatosh''s rejection of him, it only encourages me to go after him more. "They will come here, we know that and they also know that we will be waiting." (Juliano) "That is, as long as we have the Hallow." (Juliano) "I told you to deliver it to the Temple of Blood back then." (I) "I can''t, it represents the pride of all Demons, our origin, I understand the importance of such an item, but my pride" (Juliano) A Demon''s pride is more important than their lives, they are proud of who they are, they are proud of their power, they are proud of their achievements, they are proud of their bloodlines and they are proud of their origins even when almost none of them know about it. "More than once I thought to let my people know about it." (Juliano) "That would only bring suffering to them." (I) "Don''t sully that person''s will by doing the opposite of what he wanted." (I) "..." (Juliano) "It''s hard for me to see his name erased from history, to know that people don''t know who he was, what he did, what he sacrificed..." (Juliano) Just by saying that the clouds in the sky darken and the Aura normally hidden from the world revolts, I put my hand on Juliano''s shoulder to stop him from talking. "There are things that shouldn''t be said out loud." (I) "..." (Juliano) "(I didn''t come to discuss Akatosh''s mistakes, I came to talk about something I heard recently, it seems your daughter managed to break free and come back from the dead.)" (Rhaegal) I locked my killing intent on the exact spot where he is, he may have lost his Bloodline as a True Dragon, but it doesn''t change the fact that he''s always been a Dragon, much to my chagrin. "Arash calm down, I don''t know what''s going on, but don''t get carried away by your emotions." (Juliano) "..." (I) I felt my Aura being pressed by Juliano''s Aura and many others, so I took the scale that I carry on a cord and looked at it, it was a black crystal scale with sparkles inside that resemble stars of a cloudless night. One of my daughter''s scales that I''ve carried with me at all times since I left her side because of this damned war. I take a deep breath and use the memory of my daughter to calm myself down, this time I''m not alone anymore, I can''t let myself be consumed by anger and make a mistake, detail I need to be calm and think before I act so I don''t let my daughter run away danger. "(YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO HIDE INSIDE THE CHURCH OF THE LIGHT FOREVER AND THIS TIME I WILL NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF LEAVING YOUR SOUL WHOLE.)" (I) I close the mental connection he formed with telepathy, doing my best to keep my irritated tone until the end even as I managed to calm down. "He''s trying to provoke me and he''s succeeding." (I) "Has Rhaegal contacted you?" (Juliano) "Yes, just like you said it would." (I) "He wants you to repeat your recklessness of thousands of years ago, back then you almost killed yourself in your rage, but this time they would be prepared against you." (Juliano) "I know, he knew he couldn''t manipulate me, but even though he tried, Rhaegal is being cautious." (I) "Let''s start preparing ourselves too, the next battle will be more than difficult, are you sure you don''t want to talk to your daughter?" (Juliano) "No, if I''m next to her it will generate a bigger target in her, I can feel that Rhaegal was stronger than before, I only realized that after calming down" (I) His power is different now, I could feel that his mind was much stronger and I also felt a touch of Divinity within him. I can only imagine how much he must have tried to become stronger, Rhaegal has always been very vindictive, this time he will be targeting me. Chapter 996: Rift In The Sky Chapter 996: Rift In The Sky The next day I was very lazy, but I was completely recovered from yesterday''s energy expenditure, I was also going to do the same today to finish those missing from the strengthening list. "(Won''t you take care of me first?)" (Caitlyn) "No, you will be the last one as I don''t know how I''ll be when I''m done with you." (I)Vissit for updates I get up and see the now empty barrel I left in my room, the contents of that barrel are in another container that is now stored in my item storage. What was inside that barrel that was delivered yesterday was a Demonic Bloodline stronger than the True Dragon Bloodline that I consumed years ago, it was strange to feel that danger coming from the Blood in front of me the same way I felt it years ago with the blood of the True Dragon. I knew this was an instinctive response that I was only able to feel because of my Blood Affinity, thanks to this I can clearly sense the Aura in Blood deeper and more fully than most I imagine my sisters are able to do the same. "Unlike Elizabeth who was slowly destroying my body, you only give me a slight headache, so you''ll wait for me to do everything I need to before taking care of you." (I) I get close to the barrel and look inside, the wood it was made of was not normal and there were many magic circles drawn on the outside, but inside the wood looked corroded while a miasma-like energy still lingered inside. "(I don''t think I''ll be able to consume that blood easily, so we''ll do it little by little.)" (I) I leave the hut and do some morning exercises training with my martial art like I used to before my life became so busy. -------------- A few hours later I was inside the Dungeon waiting in the Communal Temple for everyone to arrive, today I have to take care of Athena, Eva, and Alice. I''ve thought a lot about these three, I know Eva has a thing for me, so I have something special squared for her for later, maybe in a few days, Athena will be the easiest of the three, I''ll just turn her into one of my daughters like Vanessa. As for Alice, I have something special prepared, she has been making an effort since the day I met her while buying slaves, in the beginning, she was someone consumed by hatred and over time I saw that empty girl inside become someone as competent as Freya. She surpassed my expectations a long time ago, but I always thought that I should wait for the right moment to help her go to greater heights, that moment will be now. Sigh "That''s not our responsibility, the Elves can handle a little rift." (Natasha) She said it was a small crack, but it seemed to be tens of kilometers in size, if she considers that small, then she asked me what a big one would look like. "That was my fault." (Caitlyn) Caitlyn passes some of her energy through me and a miniature image of her forms in front of me, this is another one of her illusions for her to use to interact with other people. "The technique you used was different from mine, otherwise this wouldn''t have happened." (Elizabeth) "The path I created to cross wasn''t the problem, it was the destruction of the Church of Light''s long distance teleportation gate." (Caitlyn) "I can''t say how it happened here." (Caitlyn) "I was her Soul, the distortion in space caused a temporary weakening that they utilized, but as a rift would be impossible to open in hallowed ground, they followed her Soul''s trail here..." (Elizabeth) Elizabeth seemed calm, but her usual confident smile was not present, it seemed that this matter was very serious for her. "I don''t like her idea." (Elizabeth) "It wasn''t her idea, it was my idea." (Lorraine) "This is a good experience for everyone." (Lorraine) "But this is not the time, we are in the middle of an open war while our eyes are open to enemies hiding in the dark, we must not lose focus..." (Elizabeth) "Shut up, wasting this opportunity would be foolish, we''ll join in." (Natasha) "I''ll let her know, it should start in 30 minutes." (Lorraine) Chapter 997: Training Space Chapter 997: Training Space I was confused about everything that was going on, that crack was more than strange, I couldn''t feel any recognizable energy in it. The worst were the creatures that I only saw at a glance trying to get out of that crack, they were strange in a way that didn''t make sense, but I didn''t know where the problem was. I looked at the Faerie disappearing before looking at my sisters who seemed to be talking about something they didn''t understand, I mostly looked at Natasha as I waited for her to say what exactly she agreed with. For the next 10 minutes, Elizabeth gave me a cursory explanation of the situation. Simply put, the rift is a dimensional crack that leads to a non-existent place, a place where the concept of existence does not exist, this was contradictory to me in many ways, but I kept listening. The creatures coming out of there are similar to Fairies and Spirits in the sense that they built a body for themselves when going through the rift. These creatures in the vast majority do not have intelligence and rely only on instincts, they also do not have Souls or emotions, their primary instinct is the elimination of all life, and their senses are extremely sharp to perceive vitality, Aura, and Authority. Even realizing these three things, these creatures do not have Vitality or Authority, but all have a hideous Aura capable of corroding other Auras, corrupting the mind and even injuring Souls if you destroy the Aura first. These creatures don''t get tired, don''t need to eat, and are immune to any type of Poison or Curse that doesn''t carry the power of an Aura, the same goes for physical or magical attacks that also need to be supported by the Aura to harm these creatures. Aside from Auras, Life Energy, Holy Power and Power of Authority can also injure them. These creatures are able to regenerate infinitely even when having limbs torn off, they don''t have vital points like brains and hearts, they are like Golems having a central Core hidden somewhere in their bodies, and destroying that Core is the only way to destroy them. These creatures are cruel, ruthless, mindless, and never get tired, my sisters said they are called Creatures of the Abyss. Our conversation was brief, but it made me understand things better, it seems that Lorraine convinced the White Elf Queen that instead of simply destroying all the Creatures of the Abyss while repairing the dimensional rift, she should use this opportunity to train her Warriors to get used to fight these creatures. Natasha seems to want to participate in this match and insists that I participate too, something that strangely all 3 of my sisters agree. "I agree, let''s attack." (Sakura) "We can go all out, can''t we?" (Nix) "It''s going to be so much fun ripping them to pieces... Hahahahahaha..." (Layla) "What happened to them?" (I) "I don''t know, but Hinata looks almost drooling if that''s possible for a Spectre." (Ragnar) "Nix, Layla and Sakura seem to have strong murderous intent." (Ragnar) "Me and Ragnar seem to be doing well, how are you master?" (Orion) "I''m fine for now but we have other things to worry about, they''re coming." (I) "(Fairies, Spirits, and Holy Beasts who watch over nature hate Creatures of the Abyss who are opposed to everything that represents nature.)" (Caitlyn) "(As for that Specter you have as a Familiar, she must be feeling the death energy that naturally builds up in Creatures of the Abyss.)" (Caitlyn) "Master, what have we done?" (Orion) These things seemed to be approaching from several directions, so they knew where I was, in this situation, I have no reason to hide, so my Aura explodes in all directions while trying to assemble an image of the surrounding area in my mind and these Creatures of the Abyss coming my way. With this I could see the position and approximate strength of the enemies, they seemed to be around my strength level, but I couldn''t get a clear picture of them in my mind, it looked like they were covered by a very aggressive Aura that was repelling my Aura. "I''m not going to wait here, let''s go!" (I) Chapter 998: Creatures Of The Abyss Part 1 Chapter 998: Creatures Of The Abyss Part 1 I wanted to know more about these creatures before they got closer, fighting a creature I know absolutely nothing about would be stupid, the last time I heard about this type of creature was in the story Ivan told about his past and the way he his entire family died. But Ivan''s explanations were very vague at the time, knowing that he doesn''t have all the time in the world to think I''m going with some generic plans anyway. I use parallel thinking to split my mind into several different thought processes that I use to mentally give orders to all my Familiars at once directly into their minds. "(Nix, I want you to capture 3 or 5 of these monsters while immobilizing them.)" (I) "(Layla, I want you to test all the elements on these monsters and find out which one does the most damage.)" (I) "(Orion, try ripping off limbs, breaking bones, or even splitting these creatures in half so we know their regeneration speed for different levels of damage.)" (I) "(Ragnar, I want to know how much damage the Aura does to them, I also want to know if it interferes with their super awesome regeneration.)" (I) "(Sakura and Hinata will stay with me while we face these enemies.)" (I) "I''m pointing out in the vices mind where they should go, so go!" (I) "Right." (Nix) "I was about to go, let''s see how they''ll handle it... hahahahahaha..." (Layla) "Seeing the level of damage we''re capable of doing against an enemy like that will be good." (Ragnar) "I along..." (Hinata) "I can try absorbing their energy, I''d like to know what they''re like..." (Sakura) I simultaneously gave orders to everyone while informing everyone about where to go and what to do. After that I kept my thoughts divided as I watched all my Familiars not to be hurt by unforeseen situations against these creatures. It was a little heavy keeping my minds divided while keeping my Aura around, my head was hurting, but I held on by force. Everyone running in different directions while I went towards a single one of these enemies that was stronger than the others due to the size of its Aura. It only took me less than 1 minute to reach the Creature of the Abyss, in that time I realized that the closer I was, the more the environment was in disarray, I also realized that the presence of these Creatures was spreading death in the surroundings by simply being there. I noticed death energy in their Auras, but it wasn''t emanating from their Auras, more like it was being drawn to them or part of them. Orion was running nearby, I also told him to use his Holy Power. I had understood enough to be able to fight these Creatures of the Abyss while seeing my Familiars. I pass new orders to everyone as I go to Hinata who had something in her mouth, when I ask what she has in her mouth, then she puts a hand on each side opening it as much as she can revealing an oval crystal that looks more like a piece of coal emitting miasma, this was clearly the core we must destroy. Seeming my intention to destroy these crystals, I see a glint of happiness in Hinata''s eyes as she starts to chew on the crystal. I wanted to ask why he did that, but instead of being concerned about it, I pass instructions to others and realized that these crystals that function as nuclei are not always in the same places. Ragnar killed his enemy by cutting his body into pieces until he found where the crystal was, but even with the body in pieces the Creature of the Abyss was still regenerating, it seems that the crystal really is the only thing we can use to kill them. I also saw Orion devouring one while his body was covered in red Flames, that was Holy Power, so he spits out one of these Christians before stomping on it crushing it completely. I also saw Nix transform into her Dragon form and crush everyone below her along with her crystals among them, this is also a way to kill these things. "There''s more coming." (Sakura) "< Consuming Seeds >" (Sakura) I see Sakura launch seed shots that attach themselves to the monsters'' bodies, but this time I noticed that one of the monsters had tough scales on its skin that protected it from Sakura''s seeds. Another thing was that the monster that didn''t protect itself started to tremble when plants started to grow inside it destroying everything inside its body including the destroyed fat crystal. I run at the other still with the swords of my Blood I created earlier floating around me as I attack, but in the middle of my attack a third arm grows from his back and his hands become coated in scales as he tries to hold my swords with your hands. I take advantage of what he tried to do and cut him using my claws to rip his head off, I didn''t do it without thinking, I used my Aura to feel his body looking for these crystals and found them in a short time, in case this one was inside yours head that crushes completely. "What to do now?" (Sakura) "There are more coming, we can''t be surrounded." (I) I run to an area where it will be more advantageous for me to fight while paying attention to my Familiars'' battles to confirm something, these things were adapting during combat, my enemy took a long time to defend himself and understand what that thing was doing, but now it was clear why their appearance was changing. These Creatures of the Abyss are adapting while they are fighting, they adapt during combat to meet the challenge of the moment. "< Blood Field >" (I) I spread my blood by creating some traps around the area which was a strong defensive area with many places where I was able to hide my traps. Soon I hear something and I turn around only to see dozens of monsters like the last one coming towards me with no concern for anything but killing me and my Familiars. Chapter 999: Creatures Of The Abyss Part 2 Chapter 999: Creatures Of The Abyss Part 2 During the next few minutes, I pushed my mind to the limit as I made all of My Familiars try to attack the Creatures of the Abyss in different ways, some things were a bit surprising.Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com The creatures were transforming and adapting, they weren''t getting stronger, but they were taking on traits that made them stronger. I saw the Creatures of the Abyss that fought Ragnar die quickly from his Aura attacks, it was so easy and fast that I was doubting what I saw of others. Nix tried to capture the Creatures of the Abyss and failed, I didn''t understand how they were able to cross barriers and even get out of the shadows where they were imprisoned, but it was just one of my many doubts about these things. Then I saw Nix using his Dragon form to deal massive damage, which in turn crushed the crystal core hidden in some random body part of these Creatures of the Abyss. Orion used holy power as I asked, as my Familiar has the ability to use my Holy Power, I realized that the effect of Holy Power was very similar to the power of Auras in terms of the damage they are capable of inflicting on Creatures of the Abyss. When I used my Authority to kill that Creature of the Abyss I was facing before, it was unexpected to see that they focused more on me, he already wanted to kill me, but now that feeling was even stronger. What I suppose is because of the Authority, it seems that they are more in those who have the power of the Authority, maybe I could be wrong about that since it hurts just a feeling I had, but for now, I leave this doubt can seek to know more after that all this is over. Layla was the most interesting to see facing these Creatures of the Abyss because she took the longest to finish off her enemies. I saw her using various types of attacks from many elements, at first the Abyss Creature she was facing was being mercilessly beaten, its appearance was similar to the one I encountered. He had a thin body, long arms, a head with nothing like ears, nose, eyes, mouth or hair. It was interesting to see this creature change and as it adapted, it grew scales that became natural thick armor on the Creature of the Abyss'' body, this protected it from attacks from rocks or wood. Two wings grew on its back allowing for greater maneuverability in the air and agility to protect itself from strong winds. His body seemed able to withstand the heat of the fire more, but the water attacks seemed to be stronger causing more damage until in his head 10 eyes opened giving him vision from all directions, as this he was able to dodge Layla more easily who was having fun. I told her to get rid of the enemies right away without playing with them, so her next attack was using Holy Power, with that I realized that they were harder to defeat, but they weren''t stronger. As soon as all the monsters in the area were dead, that is if we can call the Creatures of the Abyss monsters, I soon met with my Familiars, I stopped using parallel thoughts, but I continued using my Aura already in the area to see all of us in the surroundings waiting for the next one group of Creatures of the Abyss. "So they can change and transform in that way..." (I) Before I started talking to my Familiars I saw 2 groups of Elves running towards me, the first group was running away and their Auras were strange, they were cracked as if they could be broken at any moment. The second group had weakened Auras, but not at the same level as the first group, they were also fighting as they retreated away covered in injuries. "< Revenge of the Forest >" (I) I wave my hand forward creating a 7 layered magic circle while activating using my mana, the magic circle explodes in red and green light as incredible vitality courses through the surroundings. Before the Creatures of the Abyss manage to get any closer, various trees, branches, leaves, bushes, and roots appear from the surroundings as all these trees turn red and pink. Without waiting for anything, they begin their attacks against the enemies that are overwhelmed after attacks, without waiting for the trees to break the limbs of these Creatures of the Abyss, then used the wounds to make the leaves fall on the wounds that remain instantly. The monsters are being outnumbered by my magic, but I know it won''t wipe them out like this, so I stretched out my hand creating another magic circle. "< Deadly Black Flames >" (I) Unfortunately, this attack doesn''t create a Fire Black Dragon no matter how hard I tried, what it did was form thousands of hands of black flames reaching out to grab everything in the surroundings inside. These are flames I created using Curse, Death, Aura, and Fire. These are flames capable of reducing everything with strength equal to mine or less to ash, it only took a few seconds for all enemies to disappear. After that, I jumped in the air in time to dodge a tail attack from the two enemies that the first group brought, as soon as they arrived I was looking at them noticing the increase in their bodies, the two had a tail that looked more like a black thread than the other which I had to dodge. "Hinata, devour!" (I) "< Territory: Spectral Field >" (Hinata) "< The One Who Devours Death >" (Hinata) Hinata uses her Territory using my Authority''s death trait, and as she changes expression, her childish expressionless face changes as she begins to smile slowly widening the smile far beyond what anyone''s mouth should reach revealing a number scary teeth. She walked towards the two enemies as her body grew to an adult appearance with each step, it was as if her every step on the ground was equivalent to the passage of 1 year until she became a beautiful young woman in her mid-20s. She was dressed in something different, instead of her normal simplicity, this adult Hinata just stood there looking at the two monsters coming towards her without changing that predatory smile. She takes her hand and an inky black Aura comes out of her body forming a grotesque head full of teeth that attacked the two enemies, one of them had half of his body devoured before he had time to move while the second tried his body trapped by countless ghosts that seemed to be part of space itself. "< Claws of the Ruler of Death >" (Hinata) The adult Hinata raised her hand and moved in a blur disappearing from my vision before seeing her with her hand inside the enemy''s foot that trembles before collapsing with her body falling apart, that''s when I saw the remains of crystal in her hands. Chapter 1000: Creatures Of The Abyss Part 3 Chapter 1000: Creatures Of The Abyss Part 3 Pov of a White High Elf A: I was just buying a new sword in the village after I managed to gather Essence of Mithril, a super rare metal, I was lucky to find this in one of the Dungeons I was exploring, I''m used to using Mithril swords because I''m a Magic Swordsman. But this metal is much better, in addition to increasing the effects of conducting Mana, strengthening Magic, and resisting magic by 40% compared to Mithril, this metal has much more durability requiring less maintenance, and increases the effects of Elemental Affinities. I was very happy to get my sword that day because I got the materials I was able to get someone just to forge the sword, which by the way came out with a higher value than I initially expected. While walking the streets happily something happened in the sky which started to crack forming a rift, it was later said that the situation was under control when the rift in the sky disappeared, so several Spatial Element Fairies flew all over the Village while some landed to create doors while explaining the situation to everyone. At first, I thought that with my new sword, I could do anything and I almost went in alone, but luckily I found some companions that I made friends with in my years as an Adventurer, thanks to which we were able to put everyone together in a group with ease. From what they said we''d be safe inside, so none of that mattered, even if we couldn''t defeat these Creatures of the Abyss, we''d be saved before we died and so it was an excellent place to test my new sword. I was very confident, but as soon as we walked through the door that the Spatial Element Fairy had created, I was surprised to find myself in a forest. When I looked I realized that half the people with me had disappeared. I didn''t know where they had gone or where I was at that moment, at least I was with some of my companions and we quickly decided to continue exploring the forest around us until we found our companions. "This place is strange... seems... lifeless..." (White Elf A) One of my oldest companions was restless, she is a very skilled Wind Element Mage, and thanks to that she tends to be more sensitive to what happens around her. I looked around and quickly noticed what she described, I also understand the reason for that. "There is nothing in the surroundings, nothing with life but plants, no monsters big or small." (I) "An almost completely dead forest..." (I) "I feel something strange from that direction." (White Elf B) We soon found prey, the lack of monsters could mean that the things here we are feeling could be these Creatures of the Abyss and us who are using these monsters to train. "Let''s go that way." (I) We started walking and halfway through I noticed a fool expanding his Aura over a wide, very wide area. "(Who can be so strong and yet so stupid to aim such a big target at him in such an empty forest?)" (I) I didn''t notice it before because of the Aura from before that expanded over a long area, but when I got closer because of my attack, I finally realized how unbearable it was to be near him. I was in range of his Aura which covered me from what felt like a sea of rot, my skin was crawling and burning as I felt my Aura being pressed as if it was being slowly crushed. This Aura was not wild, it was calm at the same time that it was out of control continuously attacking me, I felt as if all this creature wanted was my complete elimination. His attacks kept changing as his body shifted from a standing posture to a more bent posture and finally getting more on the ground. I couldn''t stay within the range of its Aura any longer, I felt my heart racing at high speed as fear dominated my mind, I even started to see this Creature differently, it seemed taller and more ghastly than I previously thought. "< Water Blast >" (I) "< Streams of Water >" (I) "< Water Pillar >" (I) My fear while trying to move away prevented my quick reaction and because of that I got hit several times while trying to activate several attacks in succession, but each attack was worse than the last, he was not receiving almost any injuries and he was slowly managing to dodge mine attacks, the worst was seeing the few wounds that were completely healing as dozens of others joined behind him. At that moment I didn''t feel like fighting anymore, I didn''t want to be around this horrible monster anymore and when I looked back there were already people running from my group without looking back. As soon as the first one started running the rest followed close behind. I ran while launching several blade attacks backwards, I didn''t want to fight anymore, all I wanted was to survive. Seeing that their speed was better than mine, so I started to run a little ahead to dodge towards the idiot person who spread his Auras earlier all over this area. When I arrived almost without energy where I supposed to be the direction of origin of that Aura, it was then that I noticed that young Vampire, a child being here, I had already seen the person in question outside this place when I was still in the village. That tyrannical Aura shows that he must be strong enough to finish this thing off or at least distract it long enough for me to get away. I run trying everything to keep these creatures away from me, my heart was beating so hard it was the only sound I heard the whole time. When I finally ran up to the Vampire boy, he just stood there looking at me and I took the opportunity to pass him, one of my friends got caught by these creatures on the way, but he wasn''t able to help and I kept running, I felt guilty running past the boy, but I couldn''t stop my legs, every part of my body was screaming to run as fast as possible without ever stopping, but when I looked back I only saw a blur before I felt something cover my body, it was some kind of gentle energy. When I realized I was already in the village square next to one of the healers who started using mafia on me, it took me a few seconds to understand what had happened. In my dread I forgot that we were safe inside, I was so scared that my mind stopped working, so everything that happened there was repeated in my head filling me with shame for the cowardly and shameful way I acted. "What happened to me..." (I) Chapter 1001: Creatures Of The Abyss Part 4 Chapter 1001: Creatures Of The Abyss Part 4 Pov White Elf Queen Ellyana: I was sitting on a wooden throne full of flowers with both hands raised towards the sky, Elly was looking at a small tree less than 2 meters high, each leaf of this tree was made of crystal and showed a different image of what it was happening within the space I created with my Territory using my Authority. "How are they doing?" (I) "Most of them chose the worst approach, they tried to treat the Creatures of the Abyss as special Monsters." (Elly) "I told you this would happen, it would be very difficult for most people to understand the terror of the Creatures of the Abyss." (I) "Finding their core is difficult, so even if their strength isn''t great at first due to the limit of attack variations they have, over time they adapt to become a more efficient killing weapon for each situation." (I) "Their Auras are the worst part, their Auras slowly eating away at opponents'' minds, sapping the other Auras and driving those nearby to insanity." (I) Creatures of the Abyss are horrible for their adaptation and Aura, not to mention they never get tired, spiritual attacks that target souls are useless against them because they don''t have a Soul, and trying to drain their vitality is also useless since they were never alive, your energy is infinite, any type of prolonged combat will be your advantage giving you time to adapt more and more and how much more your opponent is shaken at the same time that you desert friendly energies. "Learning this now is already a victory, at least for those who haven''t had their minds broken by mental trauma." (Elly) I avert my eyes from the sky where I created a Territory large enough to contain the Rift, I look up at the small tree and quickly take in all the leaves. "Looks like we have some good seeds this year." (I) Some Elves were smart to attack from afar to test these new "monsters", thanks to that they discovered their high infinite regeneration. This fact alone made those smarter to be wary of these filthy creatures. "..." (I) "But the energy of death..." (I) "There''s a Kimera along with her collecting this death energy, she seems to be an experienced Necromancer as she can deal with death energy directly." (Elly) "..." (I) The death energy in the Aura, body and surroundings of the Creatures of the Abyss are not their own, this is an effect of the world itself trying to kill these things, but the effect of this is almost none, it often becomes more of a problem for those fighting against it these creatures. But what surprised me was that someone would dare to absorb the Aura of these Creatures of the Abyss, there are some Demons who do that, but even a Demon would not be able to withstand the madness and insanity in these Auras, no kind of sane mind would be able to withstand it that. "There are also two people successfully using poison against the Creatures of the Abyss." (Elly) "Pay more attention to these two people, being able to make poison work against them is an excellent weapon that can be employed in the area..." (I) "One appears to be a Variant of some Mythical Serpent monster, but I don''t recognize the lineage, it uses Aura in its Poisons." (Elly) "The second seems to be a Combat Alchemist, her poisons and potions are also full of her Aura, in addition, she seems to be immune to the Aura of Creatures of the Abyss." (Elly) "Keep an eye on them, maybe they can help train some people from our village, unfortunately, we don''t have Alchemists who have been fighting for thousands of years here, but we have some who have poisonous skills, we also have several Alchemists who might have some interest in becoming Alchemists Combat." (I) Having someone capable of doing area damage against Creatures of the Abyss is always important, I''m managing to limit these creatures from pouring non-stop from the Rift while I close it, but there are still thousands managing to get out, these creatures are never alone, so having ways to deal with large groups it will always be good, poison that is effective can attack the whole body from the inside making it unnecessary to look for weak points. "Looks like this Vampire has good people on his side." (I) Chapter 1002: Creatures Of The Abyss Part 5 Chapter 1002: Creatures Of The Abyss Part 5 Pov Ivan: I was inside the Dungeon spending my day with my daughter who was currently tied to a chair while I fed her a delicious cake. "I don''t know why, but I''m uneasy that you gave the tremor." (I) "I''m worried that you pulled me out of the laboratory, I was almost discovering a new way to freeze blood while still inside the body, a much more effective way..." (Lyra) "You''re like your mothers, your obsession with work knows no bounds, which only causes this pile of bones to worry." (I) "I don''t see the problem with being dedicated to my work, especially when it''s so much fun." (Lyra) "When was the last time you slept?" (I) "It was this morning after I got up to go..." (Lyra) "You haven''t been home for two days and according to your own assistants, you haven''t even stopped your research to eat." (I) "Has it been two days? Time really flies without us realizing it." (Lyra) "..." (I) Sigh This daughter of mine only causes me concern, I would like to see some grandchildren, with the amount of increasingly frightening enemies that the master makes, I am afraid of really dying one day, I would like to know that someone will be taking care of my little princess with love and affection when I''m gone if that day comes. I let go of the ropes that bind her which were almost melted due to a yellow liquid, so I tell her to eat alone while I lead the conversation to other subjects that are not about Alchemy or this girl will just talk about the same subject without stopping until she lose in your own mind again. Suddenly one of Layla''s Fairies arrives to give information, when I hear the name "Creature of the Abyss" coming out of the little Fairy''s mouth the images of that night come to my mind. That mindless creature destroying everything. "(No matter how many years pass, this pain never goes away, it''s always there to remind you that I wasn''t able to protect them...)" (I) I wouldn''t miss this chance to fight these things, I''ve waited too long to find these things to have the pleasure of destroying their bodies with my bare hands, I wouldn''t miss this chance for anything. Even my daughter wanted to come, she may spend most of her days in the lab, but a genius really is scary for getting so much better with each training session. My daughter and I entered through the door that the Spatial Element Fairy created, but when I realized I was alone, my daughter was not around and neither was anyone who entered with all of us through that door. I was only worried for 1 second about my daughter before I remembered what they said, there is no risk of death here, this place was created for training by people much more powerful than the master, even he trusts these people. "If Lyra is fine then the rest doesn''t matter, it might be good for her to have a little more combat experience on her own." (I) "Now this place..." (I) I look around and immediately notice a big problem, I don''t feel life energy anywhere. I am an Undead, and because of this I am used to being surrounded by vital energy that I can feel all the time, but in this place, apart from the vital energy or vitality of plants, there are no living creatures. I was confused about it when I felt an Aura approaching, but when I focused my attention in that direction I still wasn''t feeling any life energy. But it was unmistakable that there was something approaching, so I keep my sword in my hand while controlling my Aura to cover the sword, I still clearly remember the Fairy who created the door that brought me here saying that Auras were one of the weaknesses of Creatures of the Abyss. I thought I would be calmer when I found that thing, but the moment it appeared I felt the same kind of presence as I did that night, a presence full of cruelty, insanity and death. Before I knew it the hellish flames around me had turned black as they blended with my Aura, I could feel the hatred cloud my vision, but allowing it to continue, I couldn''t keep suppressing that hatred forever. There was no one else around, so I don''t have to hold back, and I don''t have to worry about innocents or companions nearby. So I let all the hate from that night well up to use as a weapon against this thing running in front of me. "Death... DEATH DEATH DEATH!!!!" (I) All he could think about was taking those things to pieces with pleasure until there was nothing left but dust. Chapter 1003: Creatures Of The Abyss Part 6 Chapter 1003: Creatures Of The Abyss Part 6 Pov Ivan: I look at the creature that keeps attacking me, it uses its long arms to slash me with its claws, I dodge with minimal movement, but it doesn''t seem to be attacking seriously like they did that day, years ago. "Were you always so weak or did I become stronger?" (I) He tries to pierce my body with his claws, but I manage to dodge his wild attacks with ease, dodging each attack with the minimum of movements was just the beginning, little by little his previously wild attacks created a more efficient way to attack.Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com "So that''s the adaptability I''ve heard." (I) His arms thicken as his attacks become stronger and faster, two eyes form on his previously blank face, eyes empty of any emotion. I was dodging his attacks because I was trying to calm my emotions, even if I''m using all my hatred, I can''t let that hatred consume me, disturbing my rationality during combat. I dodge another blow before using my sword covered in black flames to slice the arm off, but in less than 2 seconds a new arm has grown in its place. "Looks like that''s not enough yet." (I) I started to attack with my sword, and this time my black flames were with more Aura than before, with that my sword cuts were leaving cuts covered in flame erasing in less than 1 second. Those black flames were made to burn vitality, so it wasn''t working as I wished. While dodging his attacks I continued attacking his body with my sword, but without the flames, my attacks became much weaker. At least with my Aura reinforcing the sword in my hands, the cuts were no longer instantly healing. "< Skeleton Army >" (I) Suddenly many skeletons appeared at my call as the land around me died and turned black, the Skeletons rise and attack the Creature of the Abyss who ignores them still threatening me. I could see one of his arms turn into a blade to try to attack me. "Die!!" (I) Two Creatures appeared, it was two of the Spirits I invoked, without saying anything they knelt in my direction before I passed. The Creature of the Abyss may be injured, but it is without a doubt far from dying from those wounds alone. "I still can''t control this technique, but it doesn''t matter." (I) While my skeletons are distracting this Creature of the Abyss I look down at my hand, all I see are bones coated in green energy taking the outline of a hand. "I find it so strange... so much hate that I feel like my own body is on fire, but in reality, this body is as cold as any or corpse... I don''t have the blood to boil with this anger... I don''t have the eyes to cry this sadness... I don''t even have a heart to race with these emotions..." (I) To someone watching from the outside, I might look calm, but my insides were on fire as I circulated my mana and Aura together through my bones. "< Death Flame Berserk Knight >" (I) I feel the flames igniting inside my bones as black flames cover my bones. "< Infernal Incineration >" (I) I point my sword forward making more black flames surround my sword before it is launched from the sword towards him. "Too bad the body and whatever''s inside those things don''t taste good." (Lilith) "At least your Auras are delicious." (Lilith) I see Lilith''s Aura taking the form of a red Leech that devours the Aura of these monsters, this after I drained the death energy from their bodies. While thinking about Lilith''s Aura I noticed that the strength of her Aura is getting bigger and bigger, in addition, her Aura is acquiring other characteristics at the same time that it increases the effects of other characteristics. For example, her Aura seems bizarre, the mere ability to sense Lilith''s Aura now is strange. -------------- Pov Irius: "I hope you''re wrong this time." (I) "I''m not, it''s pretty obvious actually." (Irina) My sister was talking as we walked along after finishing off a new group of monsters. My sister was saying her theory that one day we will have to fight these Creatures of the Abyss and it won''t be because of training as it is now. "Just think, use your head more than your body, this type of training can be anything but normal." (Irina) "I bet sooner or later these things will pop up again and the Elf Queen wants to take this time to prepare her people." (Irina) "..." (I) I prefer to think she''s wrong, that''s because if she''s telling the truth it would be awful. During the time we spent fighting these things, I almost couldn''t stand her Auras, there were many we saw disappearing with empty eyes and some even laughing in insanity. I am fully aware that these monsters are not going to have a strength of that level, they must be stronger and just that thought makes me think how scary such a creature could be. "< Corrupt Court > 10" (I) In the middle of my thoughts, I turn to something flying towards us, I knew from the bizarre Aura that it was a Creature of the Abyss, so I drew my sword and used the best skill to use against them. Each slash of my sword was swift followed by the body flying towards us being torn to pieces as a shadow corrupts the body along with my Aura causing the entire body to crumble in a few seconds. "Is their number decreasing?" (I) "No, on the contrary, it seems to be increasing." (Irina) In the last few minutes, we have been encountering more and more of these Creatures of the Abyss, fortunately, we have gotten used to facing these things and we already know which skills or techniques work against these Creatures of the Abyss. "Let''s find Father, I''m worried about him not being able to fight one of his sisters inside him." (I) "You should worry about both of us, he''ll be fine." (Irina) She may be right, but unfortunately, we don''t have time to continue talking about it, there''s a streak of light in the sky, it was clear there was a fight nearby. "Let''s take a look." (I) Chapter 1004: Creatures Of The Abyss Part 7 Chapter 1004: Creatures Of The Abyss Part 7 Pov Ivan: It seemed that the more I struggled, the clearer my mind became as the flame of hatred grew and grew colder, the Berserk hatred that was previously difficult to bear became an eternal glacier bit by bit. "(Use your hatred to attract those marked by death.)" Crack Crack Ding! Ding! "< Death''s Call >" (I) GGGGGRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!! The Creatures of the Abyss weren''t coming, but I couldn''t let them escape, I didn''t want to stop planting every single one of these plagues of existence. That''s when a female voice and as cold as my hatred spoke in my mind, it seemed for some reason that almost emotionless voice seemed comforting to me as if inviting me to an eternal embrace. At the same time, I heard his voice I felt something inside me crack completely, but it didn''t break, it was like something was missing, but from the cracks inside me, a cold energy ran through my body as the black flames around me gained traces of mixed blue color. After that I felt Skills rising within me while other Skills evolved before being sealed, but right after the Seal formed it opened temporarily. Then I open my jaws as I scream like a true monster, a scream that sounds like a bestial roar coming from hell itself. I could feel the death energy in a much wider Area than my Aura could reach, I knew from the Abyss Creatures I had killed so far that the death allergy was being attracted to them, so the various energy accumulation points of the death I was being laughing could only be these filthy things. I felt my Aura being consumed by my body as it traveled through my voice creating a link with these various accumulations of death energy before pulling them towards me. "None of you will escape, I will kill each one, I will destroy each one and I will erase everyone from existence..." (I) All of my army were destroyed at some point, but I kept going even when my energy ran out, I slashed them countless times in different places on their bodies until I found their core to kill these things. With the efficiency of destroying these things falling I ended up being surrounded at some point while accumulating injuries, but even so, I continued until the moment when my head was about to be devoured by a large jaw coming from one of these things flying in the sky. At that moment I feel a full of life and vibrant energy taking over my body before my vision distorts throwing me out of that space. -------------- Pov Zenos: I''m starting to get really tired, I also don''t know what to make of a certain someone lying in a pile of dust from the bodies of these Creatures of the Abyss while rubbing her full belly. "Get tired of eating?" (I) "Good, very good... delicious..." (Hinata) I don''t understand why she enjoys eating these cores so much, but I can feel very pure death energy building up inside her because of our Connection. "Eat as much as you want, just stay there for now." (I) I spread my wings to fly higher, I try to see something since I stopped using my Aura 2 hours ago because I couldn''t bear the mental weight of keeping so much information in my mind. I try to use my vision to find something in the surroundings, but I don''t see anything, there''s no combat nearby or Abyss Creatures visible. "What to do now?" (I) I''ve already been here for 1 full day, at first, all the Creatures of the Abyss we found were the same, but after hours they changed their forms and changed their attack patterns, but other than those things their strength and speed didn''t change much, they didn''t even have different abilities or powers. While I was thinking about what to do, I saw a green glow in the sky illuminating everything in the surroundings while my vision became blurred, when I realized I was flying in the sky above the tree where we are staying. Chapter 1005: Blessed With Death Chapter 1005: Blessed With Death Pov Ellyana (White Elf Queen): After half a day I managed to finally close the rift while preventing the strongest Creatures of the Abyss from coming out, I had an easier time doing this than I imagined which worries me. "How are things at training?" (I) I approach the small tree and look at the crystal leaves revealing the various images as I walk over to stand beside Elly.Fiind updated novels at novelhall.com "It was as I imagined, many Elves and Visitors had the wrong mindset, all thinking of the Creatures of the Abyss as special monsters." (Elly) "Fools, even giving so much information." (I) I close my eyes and let the memories of Elly come to me, I see many White Elves being kicked out of training for not being able to handle the rapid regeneration and adaptation of the Creatures of the Abyss. "A lot of discrepancy in the results, but we can say that the lack of experience in dealing with this type of creature was the biggest reason most of them lost." (I) "Even those who didn''t have problems with the Auras were unable to adopt more flexible strategies." (I) "But there were also many who had weak mentalities, it was mainly those with most skills aimed at ranged attacks like archers, mages or support specialists." (Elly) "For those, just the Aura was enough to finish them off, they had lost even before the combat." (Elly) "It seems that those next to Freya are more flexible, their stealth and tracking skills are pretty good overall, too bad they''re a bit useless against Creatures of the Abyss that can know where every living thing is." (I) "They are good at dealing with the adaptability of Creatures of the Abyss, Zenos especially, he has too many skills which makes it impossible to fully adapt against him." (Elly) I see Elly''s memories of that Vampire''s battles, his coordination with his Familiars is poor, and they fight more separately than they should wasting one of the greatest advantages of the Familiar connection, but otherwise he has a cunning mind. His children are also good, but those brothers, their main element is light, the way they fight has many similarities with the Church of Light. "Calm down your anger Ellyana, are they deserters from the Church of Light or should I say they were rescued?" (Elly) I look at Elly who knows more about this than I do, I''m sure another World Tree has told her some things. Soon she tells me the story of some people from Zenos'' group who stood out to me. The brothers'' story made me put aside my anger towards them, at least I know that they also hate the Church of Light. "I don''t like how Almas are so severely injured or destroyed, I can understand that kind of combat, but your daughter clearly had other possibilities." (I) "I knew Baldr wouldn''t just let those Souls go to the netherworld." (Selene) "But that''s not all, what do you really want?" (Selene) "I want your cooperation to save a world, it is not within my Authority to interfere there, but it is within yours." (I) "I made a promise once and I intend to keep it." (I) "Fine, but what are you going to do." (Selene) "I found someone close to your son who I''ve been watching..." (I) ---------------- Pov Lyra: These creatures are horrible, my poisons have a reduced, very reduced effect. I was sitting looking at a Core in my hand, the only thing left after destroying these Creatures of the Abyss. "They''re not coming anymore, thanks for the help." (Jade) "I just did my duty, how do you feel?" (I) "A little dizzy, I didn''t expect your attacks to be so effective against me." (Jade) "Unfortunately I don''t have anything that can be used against death energy." (I) "But as we''ve seen so far it should be safe, a lot of people in a bad situation were saved by the green light, so just take the time to test your poisons." (I) "My poisons aren''t being as effective either, but I think I can improve them, I''m still learning how to mix my Aura with my poisons." (Jade) "I think it''s strange that we haven''t found anyone stronger, is there more than one space like this?" (I) "Probably, otherwise it wouldn''t be training for everyone." (Jade) Jade was never affected by the Aura of these Creatures of the Abyss, but I felt it clearly when I first encountered one of these things, it was the same feeling as when I was transferring my Soul from body years ago. Chapter 1006: Activating Combat Mode Chapter 1006: Activating Combat Mode Pov Nicole: When I entered the gate that the Fairy of the Space Element opened, I immediately noticed the variation in the energy of the space, I also noticed the change in the reading of the environment. "A mountain, silence, elemental energy of the environment in disarray." (I) I quickly and superficially assessed the area around me to formulate an effective plan of action. When I realized that I was in an apparently safe place with a low probability of being attacked for the next few minutes at least, I knew that I would have time to prepare myself. "My Father is not present to assist me with his Lesser Familiars or to give me a second point of view, nor are allies nearby as far as I can gather." (I)Fiind updated novels at novelhall.com I couldn''t rule out the possibility of meeting other people inside this place, but I also couldn''t rule out the possibility of being totally alone, in the end, none of that mattered, all I wanted was not to be disturbed while I was here. "The ability to test combat configurations and various weapon types in a controlled environment where I''m not taking unnecessary risks." (I) "I hope these Creatures of the Abyss are as their characteristics have been described." (I) I rethought the initial plan when I ran into a problem, so I spread my wings normally kept inside my body to fly higher. "The space in here is much larger than expected, wasting energy without knowing enough information would be foolish." (I) I stay high, but this time I focus my attention solely on my senses, pushing them to their limits as I gather information from my surroundings. That''s how in a short time I found something, I saw a tree sway in a different way from the rest and I went there, then I found a strange creature. I spent the next 10 or 15 minutes testing various approaches on this single specimen as I needed to confirm the information I''d gained so far before getting into it. After almost 20 minutes I had collected enough information, thanks to which I confirmed everything that was informed to us at the same time that I discovered the physical limits of such fascinating creatures. Killing them isn''t too difficult using the simple approach of using Auras, something I haven''t fully mastered, but I''m still able to use in combats like this. I tested various types of elements with my Aura strengthening and without my Aura''s intervention, with this I also confirmed the limits of its regeneration, its ability to break restrictions, and immunity to abnormal elements such as poison, curse and I suppose diseases as well where can I see. The regeneration was completely abnormal, even for me who see Vampires like my family, plus the way their body falls apart was strange, but what intrigued me the most was detecting death energy being attracted to these Creatures of the Abyss. I don''t know enough about this energy to continue the analysis of what I''ve discovered so far, so I file this information away along with many pure ones for later research. "Their regeneration is higher than I thought before, but their adaptability is wonderful." (I) "Beginning elimination." (I) I make my Aura travel all over my body filling each of my feathers and weapons. Soon 18 Creatures of the Abyss come out of the forest flying towards me, I turn my eyes towards these impressive creatures without stopping to move my hands. "< Reinforced Lightning Spears > 18" (I) "< Space Cannon >" (I) The moment my eyes landed on the 18 targets I had the same number of my feathers filled with the thunder element going to the center of 18 spells floating around me along with many others, these 18 spells move to the direction my eyes point creating extremely fast thunder spears enhanced with my Aura. At the same time I turned my cannon arm to my back where one of these Creatures tried to jump at me, this one unlike the 18 that acquired wings flying towards me, the one I didn''t even bother looking at had an incredible height but was slow. My 18 spears hit the enemies'' heads penetrating their bodies to the inside of the chest, that while an electrical discharge wreaks havoc inside their bodies, it probably would have worked to use the strong electrical discharge to destroy the cores still inside their bodies. As the 18 fell back to the ground, a strong sound happens behind me, when I turn around the space in front of me is rippled as a body in pieces has half of its body disappeared as a trail of destruction continues after this Creature of the Abyss destroying the trees next to the land. "I need to adjust the Cannon''s energy output more, this seems to be the only way to control the power of the attack." (I) "The element of thunder has proven to be very effective, let''s continue." (I) I continued fighting at the same time that the Creatures of the Abyss were appearing, thus preventing the enemies from joining, it seems that I was having an easy victory, but the truth is that after more than 2 hours of combat, I had to expend all my energy, including the energy reserves I hold in the cores within my body. As I reviewed all the information collected inside my head, I was pleasantly surprised by the many things I saw from these Creatures of the Abyss. "< Battle Mode: Mechanic''s Dragon >" (I) As I descended from the sky deactivating the magic circles and turning my 2 arms back to normal then my Armor rippled on my body as it flowed down my wings as the Crystal Feathers turned into blades as my wings left the formation of a circle on my back. With no time to finish getting ready, I use these wings to slash two Creatures of the Abyss. After finishing that one I continued with the transformation of my hands into metal claws, in addition, my own vision changes to focus more on visual details as I stop thinking about magic. I try to use the Martial Art I created after compiling everything I have about the Martial Arts I''ve observed so far, unfortunately, it doesn''t seem to be working as I wish. It only took 20 minutes for my body to become disfigured from the many blows I suffered, but at the moment of the final blow, a green light appeared, hugging my body as it pulled me out. When I realize I''m floating above our temporary residence with everyone back, some have smiles on their faces, but there are also those with unhappy faces. Chapter 1007: Natural Enemy Of Creatures Of The Abyss Chapter 1007: Natural Enemy Of Creatures Of The Abyss Pov Silvia: While everyone was preparing to participate in the real combat training that was soon to begin, I was flying high hidden in an illusion waiting for someone. "Sorry for the wait sister." (Elly) "I can understand, sister." (I) "Closing the rift is a priority, but from the test they''re running it looks like no Abyss Apostles came." (I) "Yes, but I can''t say if that''s good or bad, maybe they know there''s a World Tree here." (Elly) "We can''t predict what they''re going to do, maybe we got lucky." (I) The one I was waiting for appeared, the Spirit of this World Tree, when she appeared an image of the Rift appeared in front of me along with the image of the Separate Space where millions of Creatures of the Abyss are spreading out. "You know this training can traumatize many of your people, right?" (I) "Times are changing, you know that as well as I do." (Elly) "With each millennium violence spreads, people become more easily corrupted, the amount of miasma grows so much that the number of Dungeons spawning continues to rise every 500 years without mortals noticing." (Elly) "That''s not such a big concern, all the Gods are making their moves, I have my suspicions about Baldr''s aggression, but for him to choose this moment to make this war just means he''s also making his move." (I) "He knows that your roots in this world are weaker than some Gods, in the last few centuries while you were still suffering, the Church of Light has already dominated 38 worlds." (Elly) "And our sisters who were in those worlds?" (I) "Some did what I did, they fled to other worlds, there are also those who chose riskier paths." (Elly) I look at the Fairies flying over the village as they scatter, it seems the moment has come. Soon the leaves detach from the tree while being carried away by the wind forming a tornado whose tip goes towards the Creatures of the Abyss. The leaves are as sharp as my claws as my Aura strengthens them, and the bodies of all enemies are effortlessly ripped to shreds, destroying them along with their cores with ease. I look at the pile of bodies crumbling to energy and dust with indifference. "I am a Nature Dragon with a Soul that was once a World Tree, the amount of life energy contained in my body and my Aura far surpasses that of half the normal people on this continent combined." (I) "My Aura filled with the energies of Nature''s elements and life energy can be considered the greatest weapon against them." (I) "For them, I may be their biggest target, but I''m also their worst enemy." (I) I look away and see a few more Creatures of the Abyss coming over the top of the trees. "I knew they would be drawn to me." (I) ----------------- For the next few hours, I continued to easily kill these horrible creatures, during this time I even tried to fight for a long time against one of the enemies, I made the fight last more than 1 hour, and in the end the Creature of the Abyss became almost my size, with 3 tails that looked more like tentacles, 5 eyes, a big mouth, and 6 arms. After using it to practice with my Dragon body for a while, I release my Aura once more while making my Aura flow through my claws, then create a large claw in the shape of my hand above the Creature of the Abyss before squashing this one thing on the floor without mercy. "It was good training." (I) After hours of facing enemies that I can easily defeat, I had to let one of them adapt to me enough and when I limited myself to using only my body to put up a proper fight, at least an enemy that regenerates infinitely makes an excellent teammate training. Soon the green light covered everything in the surroundings throwing me out of the Separate Space, I had already felt that the energies of nature were in perfect harmony, which meant that the rift had been completely closed, so I finished off the enemy quickly. When I returned I was on one of the rope bridges that connect the huts on top of the trees where we are residing, in front of me was one of my Father''s Wives, the Gray Elf Kira. For some reason, she looks kind of sad. Chapter 1008: Kiras Failure Chapter 1008: Kira''s Failure When I showed up at the Elf village again the first thing I did was check out those who had entered with me. I didn''t want to spread my Aura and start something bad, I know more than anyone how abnormal my Aura is, I''m sure there are many people in this village who are not feeling well after coming out of this training, my Aura is not something who will want to try. I look down from the sky while flying to see everyone''s condition, at least superficially, most were normal, and some were even excited. I saw Nicole go straight to where Hela was and drag her into a corner, it looks like Nicole wants to know garlic and isn''t going to take no for an answer as if she''s ever been able to take the word no. Sigh I look around at the others, all my son and daughters looked fine, and my two sisters were talking with smiles on their faces. For some reason, I noticed that Lyra had a look of doubt on her face, next to her I saw Ivan who was her father, but he looked different, the flames in his eyes had a faint blue glow, and it also seemed that his presence was a little different. When I look at the Hero''s group, I noticed something very different, they all had pale faces, but the worst was the Priestess of Justice, Bianca. The Hero had a strange look on his face, it looks like he was trying to clear his head, meanwhile, his other companion was sitting on the ground less pale than the other two as she hugged an Elf girl I''ve never seen before. I look away to continue checking everyone, then I noticed that Kira who is on one of the rope bridges had a sad expression and I went to see what had happened. When I land next to her while I close my wings, I realize that Silvia was nearby, she doesn''t show any changes, she is as calm and intact as she looked before starting that training. "How was training, Silvia?" (I) "It was good, better than nothing, but now I have someone to see." (Silvia) "So see you later, Dad." (Silvia) I watch the space fold around her like some kind of cloth before she disappears, so I turn to Kira still looking down at her hand as she leans against the bridge rail. "What happened?" (I) "After 1 hour of fighting continuously I thought I understood all my physical changes, but I was still having a little trouble with my senses which had improved more than I initially expected." (Kira) "After that, the Creatures of the Abyss were coming in greater numbers and I noticed that their bodies were more and more different from each other, some were even flying." (Kira) I could tell she was telling all this in a flat, emotionless voice, but her face was contorting as I noticed her face turning a little red with embarrassment. It looks like she''s too embarrassed to continue to tell what happened to her, but whatever it was, it makes me worried that she might be feeling ashamed of something. "It''s okay if you don''t want to tell me." (I) "Okay, it wasn''t anything that serious, I''m just in disbelief about what I did." (Kira) Sigh "When many Creatures of the Abyss gathered, I tried to use the technique again to merge with Byakko, this time I didn''t feel the same problems as before..." (Kira) "It was so natural being this way with Byakko, but at the same time it was so different from anything I had felt before." (Kira) "My body became very fast at the same time as my senses that I still couldn''t control well became even stronger all at once, all while being surrounded by the bizarre Aura of these Abyss Creatures." (Kira) Sigh "It was then that I lost control of one of my abilities when I tried to activate it to ward off one of the enemies that had jumped towards me, this caused me to be thrown into the mouth of another enemy for not having been able to perceive the presence of that enemy, not being able to control my own power and not being able to make it to the end." (Kira) "A single mistake and I could have died, the only reason I was unharmed was the green light that pulled me out of there." (Kira) I give her another kiss and don''t say anything, I just keep stroking her head as we enjoy the view, I know she doesn''t need advice or lectures, she already knew what she had done wrong and she knew what she had to do. Kira is also not the type of woman who wants to be comforted by others, she just wants to be quiet for a while to get her head and emotions in order, that''s exactly what I''m going to do. "I''m here, so just try to rest." (I) Chapter 1009: I Am The Barrier Chapter 1009: I Am The Barrier After spending the day with Kira until she felt better, I went to meet the others, and we all shared what we learned during this training. I didn''t learn much myself, everything I learned was related to these Creatures of the Abyss, and even that knowledge still had holes in it. I know my powers well and I''m always thinking of new ways to use my power, so this training only served to push me to the limit to evolve. For some reason those Creatures of the Abyss were worth much more EXP than I could imagine, it was Elizabeth who told the reason for that, it seems that these Creatures of the Abyss deny the very existence of everything and therefore the strength of their existence has more weight than the normal for their strength levels. When she spoke of this, what I understood simply was that the world gives a greater reward for eliminating these Creatures of the Abyss, at least that''s what it seemed to me. Hela after getting rid of Nicole told everything my daughter wanted to know and everything she did with Lilith, I was shocked that these two crazy women treated this training like a feast. The one who was most discouraged was Diana, according to her it was just a waste of time, for her who is a Champion, fighting these almost mindless Creatures without any kind of attack power was a waste of time. Diana wasn''t the only one to complain, Elsaris and her sister Samira also complained, because both of them were trained to end their fights quickly and had good senses, they were able to kill these Creatures of the Abyss with just one blow. They weren''t the only ones who found the fights too easy, but there were also those who found the fight too difficult, the Hero group even after several hours had passed, were still visibly shaken. I had to call Darcia to talk away from her group because of my curiosity, of course, she wanted to hug me as she told me and I let her do that while keeping my guard up to stop any progress beyond hugging. "Why did you guys have such weird expressions before when you get out of that training?" (I) "The Creatures of the Abyss themselves were a bad match for us." (Darcia) "We don''t have anyone good at tracking or with heightened senses, so we were taking our time finding the cores of each Creature of the Abyss." (Darcia) "One of the worst problems was the speed at which his body changed, so the longer the fight took, the worse the combat was and we still ran the risk of being attacked by more Creatures of the Abyss, which eventually happened causing enemies to accumulate along the way time without leaving us time to rest or catch our breath." (Darcia) "Don''t you have any skills or techniques that deal great damage to the enemy''s entire body?" (I) "No, but it''s funnier." (I) I answer Bianca while still looking at the confused faces of those two who don''t understand what happened, so I turn around and go back to my group. -------------- I was one more morning jumping at the stars and some of the colorful clouds of this island while lying on a high branch of the tree where our temporary accommodation is located. Sigh "I wasn''t sad, master." (Nix) "Yes, you knew this could come to pass at some point." (Sakura) "But not in a situation like this, I''m not going to lie, I''m really frustrated about it." (I) "Many wouldn''t even have made it this far if it weren''t for you, not to mention that without your help becoming stronger would be much more difficult." (Nix) "..." (I) "(She''s not wrong, you being a Demigod is indirectly helping all of them, much more than it might seem on the surface.)" (Caitlyn) Right after our brief meeting where everyone just chatted while they were drinking and eating, I discovered that many were ready to evolve, that includes my Familiars, but because they were attached to me whether it be because I was the Patriarch of the lineage because I was a True Dragon or foot being the Contracted master, the people around me are unable to move forward with their evolutions. I remember the various notifications that popped up during the Awakening Ceremonies, it''s only now that I''m seeing the real problem with it. Now because of that, I ended up becoming the growth barrier for each of them, I need to evolve and increase my strength before they can manage to do the same. But the worst part is that even if I''m also at the maximum level, I can''t let myself evolve while I still have my sister inside me like that. I''m so frustrated by all of this that I can''t let go of it, so they''re trying to get me out of this horrible mood I''m in.Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com Chapter 1010: What Are Creatures Of The Abyss Chapter 1010: What Are Creatures Of The Abyss That night I couldn''t sleep, so I spent the whole night on the same tree branch looking at the sky and the movement of those colorful clouds that I''ll never get used to. My family members wanted to stay close to me because they knew I wasn''t well, so I let them sleep next to me. "(You shouldn''t feel guilty.)" (Caitlyn) "(But I feel, during the morning some of them could have turned into a stronger version of themselves, but because of me they will have to wait.)" (I) "(You''re immortal, some of them are too, so why worry?)" (Caitlyn) "(I know you''ve been looking through my memories, so you must know that my bad luck almost killed us all a few times, Layla would have been dead on one of those occasions if it wasn''t for my Contracted Fairy.)" (I) "(Need I remind you that we are in the middle of a war against one of the greatest religious powers in the world and we still have a hidden enemy doing something shady while we are distracted!?)" (I) Suddenly my sister started talking to me, I had the impression that she didn''t like to talk when I met her for the first time, but it seems that she just doesn''t like talking when she''s in her physical body, apparently her laziness is not so strong in your mind. After I finished speaking I felt an energy spread through my mind before my consciousness was pulled into the dream world. When I found myself I was in front of my sister, she was eating a fruit from my world while lying in a hammock caught between two trees looking at me while standing. "I know you''re leaving the guilt in your mind on purpose, being able to pass the test I did with you breaking the curse the way you did, I''m sure I could easily control the guilt." (Caitlyn) "I can, but feeling guilty in this situation is normal, I learned my emotional control to no longer be consumed by strong emotions, it wasn''t with the aim of suppressing my emotions." (I) "Sometimes I forget how young you are... such naivety..." (Caitlyn) Sigh She threw me a piece of fruit, but when I grabbed it was a slice of chicken and cheese pizza, I remember eating this pizza a lot back when I was still able to eat solid food and my dietary restrictions were looser, there was an excellent Brazilian pizzeria on the street next door. "Still delicious..." (I) "I would like you to ask your cooks for more pizzas of different flavors in our world, the meat of creatures in your world is not as good as the meat of monsters above Lower Catastrophe Grade." (Caitlyn) I said hello to everyone before grabbing an entire carafe of coffee to drink, then sat down facing Elizabeth and back to Natasha in an attempt to forget what I just saw, which I assume is what everyone here is doing. "Did you have a good talk with Caitlyn?" (Elizabeth) "It was more her calling out my mistakes while she called me naive." (I) "She''s not wrong, but I like her naivety, otherwise such an interesting nation wouldn''t exist within her Dungeon." (Elizabeth) "But let''s talk about something more serious, I was waiting for you to talk about the Creatures of the Abyss." (Elizabeth) "..." (Elly) Elizabeth looks at the World Tree Spirit who is still talking to Freya, but she also looks away at my sister, so Elizabeth looks back at me. "I think we should ask a simple question first." (Elizabeth) "What are Creatures of the Abyss?" (Elizabeth) "This may seem like a simple question, but you must understand its importance, correct?" (Elizabeth) "Why talk about it now? Why not talk about it yesterday?" (I) "Everyone needed to rest and a certain someone started to get depressed." (Elizabeth) "I thought a night for everyone to rest would be good, but today I thought I''d just talk to you." (Elizabeth) "You are the one who leads your people, so what to do with everything I say is up to you." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) I knew that she and Natasha knew more about these Creatures of the Abyss, yesterday they said very little, which is not normal for either of them. They knew something and didn''t tell anyone, this is starting to pique my curiosity again. Chapter 1011: Elizabeths Lesson Chapter 1011: Elizabeth''s Lesson I was with Elizabeth inside the Dungeon, she seems to want to tell me more about the Creatures of the Abyss and insisted on talking to me in a place far away from everyone, so we went to the City of the Undead place that I acquired in the Dark Continent. The Undead here are too weak to go against the two of us and the 4 Black Dragons I left here seem to be more intelligent than in the past, they are staying away from me but not taking me out of their sight. "Why did it have to be here? Wasn''t there a more normal place to talk?" (I) "This place will do, people from your Dungeon don''t normally come here, with the exception of a few people who are here often." (Elizabeth) Even without her saying it I knew that the people who come here the most are Hela, Nix, Silvia, and the High Priest of Death Henrique. "This place has become the hunting ground for those Dragons that follow you." (Elizabeth) "I had forgotten they were here, but they look different, are they smarter?" (I) "Yes, I gave them some of your blood, you should have done that earlier, first generation normal Dragons benefit greatly from the blood of True Dragons." (Elizabeth) She points to the Dragons and waves to them as if she understands her way, the 4 come to us and stop in front of me, I can feel their Aura getting glued to mine as they look at me with sparkles in their eyes. "They are average, but at least they are Black Dragons with Demon bloodlines, so if trained well they can serve as your guards in the future." (Elizabeth) "What would I want Guards for?" (I) "Your nation may be small now little brother, but over the generations, it will grow and you will become someone important sooner or later." (Elizabeth) "When that day comes, you will need guards, emissaries, and servants of absolute trust to do the most mundane tasks for you." (Elizabeth) "And you want me to use Dragons?" (I) "You are a True Dragon, that''s quite normal." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) I run my hands over the Black Dragons'' heads before trying to wave them away and they oblige showing that they understand my gesture, looks like I''ll have to think about them more in the future. "The only thing I was willing to do, I gave ''advice'', but the point of ''advice'' is just giving a light in hopes of illuminating a path, but it''s still up to people to find that path and use that light." (Elizabeth) "I am a Demigoddess who has a power comparable to the Gods, my actions can always lead to future consequences, that''s why I don''t like to interfere personally and I leave everything in the hands of those who have the potential." (Elizabeth) "If the Gods and Demigods were to interfere directly in the world, then everything would be controlled, there would be no real freedom anywhere, and stagnation would be the only result." (Elizabeth) I think of her words as I look down, the destruction of this place is great, but as she said Kingdoms rise and fall in the river of time, and my ancient world was no different. If there was an existence above all others always guiding everyone to the right path, never allowing others to err or fall, then no one would ever think for themselves, and there would be no creativity or learning, it would truly be stagnation. "(If you don''t have the freedom to fall down to try to get up on your own, then would you still have the freedom?)" (I) "..." (I) ------------------ I found myself reflecting on a world completely without freedom, as I don''t know enough about the history of this world, I did this reflection using my ancient world as an example and I didn''t like what I imagined. Maybe the world would never have left the Middle Ages and there would never have been any kind of technology, people would live in peace, but it would be a miserable peace at the cost of restrictions that maybe nobody even saw, a world totally ignorant... ------------------ I got lost for a few minutes in my thoughts and when I turn my gaze to little sister I see her smiling, so I understand what she wanted. "Did you come all this way just to try to teach me like you did your students in the past?" (I) "No, unlike them you already have your way, I just couldn''t resist giving you a lesson when an ideal situation arose." (Elizabeth) She hugs me and strokes my head before letting go, so her eyes get a little unfocused as if she''s concentrating on an image or memory in her mind before she starts to speak. "I want to tell you about the Origin of Creatures of the Abyss." (Elizabeth) "Tell you about the origins of Order and Chaos." (Elizabeth) Chapter 1012: Too Early To Know Chapter 1012: Too Early To Know I was looking at my sister, this was the first time I''ve seen such a serious expression on her face, but before she tells me anything I feel my head hurting as a life size version of Caitlyn appears in front of me. "Elizabeth, are you crazy?" (Caitlyn) "You shouldn''t make an Illusion like that yet, the weight on his mind..." (Elizabeth) "Just so to stop you, it''s still too early for him to know about it." (Caitlyn) "I don''t believe being prudish about these things, sometimes knowing the big picture can be better than seeing just a part." (Elizabeth) "There''s no point in him learning about it with his current strength." (Caitlyn) The two are arguing and I''m worried about what my sister was about to tell me, by her expression I knew it would be serious, but it seems to be something I really don''t want to know. "If it''s something that important, then I''d rather not know, I don''t want to get involved in more problems than I already have to solve." (I) They both look at me in the same way, as if this is bound to get to me sooner or later, I would love to say that I will never get involved with these Creatures of the Abyss, but that''s never a long time for someone immortal. "Okay, I''ll wait until I''m done with the Church of Light, at least in this world." (Elizabeth) "Should wait until he catches up...you know." (Caitlyn) "Delaying too long won''t change anything." (Elizabeth)Fiind updated novels at novelhall.com My head was aching to the point where it felt like it was going to split when Caitlyn turned her back to Elizabeth before she disappeared, then Elizabeth turned to me without saying anything for a few seconds before falling back to the ground. "I was serious when I said I didn''t want to know anything about..." (I) "You''ll find out sooner or later and we both know it." (Elizabeth) "Caitlyn is not completely wrong in her argument, but I always like to make everything very clear to everyone, so I wanted to tell you now since her evolution is so close and she also managed to face some Creatures of the Abyss in her initial phase." (Elizabeth) Sigh "I need you guys to heal me with my sister''s help too." (I) They both looked at me, but I felt that only the World Tree Spirit''s gaze was different. "Are you sure you want to do this? Rushing isn''t always the best option." (Elly) "It seems you understand what I want to do, but to answer your question, I''m sure." (I) "I understood because I saw it coming, I couldn''t ignore that barrel." (Elly) "Care to explain for me, Elly?" (Ellyana) As the World Tree Spirit explained everything to the White Elf Queen, I realized that she really knew what I wanted to ask for, she even perfectly guessed my request as soon as I talked about healing, it seems she knows a few things about my abilities. With the two of them talking I looked around one more time and noticed that there was no one of the Light Element around, it seems that this Elf Queen really has a strong prejudice against those with the Light element. ---------------- During the night I was already back in our temporary accommodation in the village, it seems that everything went well with the Elf Queen and she accepted what I asked, I already imagined that I was only asking to cure them they would accept, I am not asking for something very important. After telling others about my plan, it was no surprise that I got one big lecture each time, everyone was complaining about my recklessness and stuff, but none of that was going to change my mind after I decided something. During the evening I found time to meet alone with my sister Natasha to talk with her, she was happy to help. Not knowing what the day has in store for me tomorrow, I tried to make everything perfect to slow down as much as possible so as not to get hurt. With everything resolved I went to sleep early with Ibuki by my side while rica was drinking with Nix, Diana, and Nicole while they played cards on the table, I was surprised that they managed to delirious her from her laboratory. After the things that happened today, I could only hope that nothing happens from now on, we all need to rest. Sigh "(Let me try to go to dreamland this time.)" (I) Chapter 1013: 3 Days Of Suffering Chapter 1013: 3 Days Of Suffering That day I came to the place that serves as our temporary home while we are in this village, I didn''t want to disturb the meeting or celebration that the Elf Queen, the Spirit Kings, and the Fairy Queens were having. On the way back I preferred to walk back, on the way I saw Luminus with her friend Lux, a Fairy Queen of the Light Element. The two were looking at me while sitting on the floor.Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com "Were you expecting me?" (I) "Yes, I wanted to know how the Elf Queen''s mood was." (Luminus) "She looked fine to me, why the question?" (I) "At this distance, she must know we''re here and yet she didn''t attack me, last time I had lost one of my arms before I got this far." (Lux) "Looks like we might still have a chance." (Luminus) I look at them, then remember that no Spirits or Fairies of the light element were in there at that meeting. "If I may ask, why are you trying so hard to talk to the Elf Queen?" (I) "She doesn''t want you here and she made that clear from the start." (I) Luminus had a confused face as his friend placed one of her hands on one of his shoulders before nodding at him. "The Elf Queen Ellyana is not the only one to hate my race or the Light Element Fairies, everyone has their reasons and I understand." (Luminus) Sigh "You have to understand that I was willing to be humiliated, tortured, and even killed when I decided to take leadership of my race for myself." (Luminus) "What she''s doing may be drastic, but she''s far from what we expected before she came." (Luminus) "We are willing to do this so that the new generations have a chance." (Lux) "This hatred has to end in our time, we want to ask for forgiveness so that we can continue with the eternal fight we decided to face." (Lux) "Our efforts are paying off a lot if we manage to make her at least forgive..." (Lux) Suddenly a boundless bloodlust surged enveloping everything in the surroundings and leaving me paralyzed, but it took less than 1 second before Lorraine appeared beside me. "You know about him? Why didn''t you tell me earlier?" (I) "Because I didn''t want to discourage you, this blood is definitely more powerful than the True Dragon blood you consumed in the past, I can feel that blood inside you." (Natasha) I already knew that, but I still don''t like it when they say that in front of me, I can perfectly see how powerful this blood is. "I advise you to remove your clothes before starting." (Ellyana) "Do I really need to do this?" (I) "It''s not that you need it, it''s that these clothes will be destroyed if you keep them." (Elly) "..." (I) I try to imagine scenarios of how my body being healed could destroy my clothes and I don''t like what''s going through my mind. I preferred to stop thinking about it and take off my clothes, it''s been a long time since I stopped feeling ashamed of showing my naked body, after seeing so many shameless people inside the Dungeon, common sense starts to disappear before you know it. "Okay, you can start." (I) Elly approaches me and her finger turns to wood as it creates a sharp point that penetrates my forehead, then in a few seconds I feel something running through my body before she withdraws her finger before licking the blood off it. "Will he stand it?" (Ellyana) "Yes, but we can''t do it all at once, your body and mind can take it, but we don''t need to risk your Soul being injured." (Elly) "We can do it in three shifts." (Elly) "One a day?" (Ellyana) "Yes, in three days of much suffering for half a day it should be possible." (Elly) I look at the two of them talking like I''m not even here, as I realize that Natasha is creating a magic circle on the ground with her own blood. "Stop fighting, we don''t have time for these things right now." (Natasha) The three positioned themselves forming a triangle while I stood in the middle of them. "I hope you make it through the next 3 days and I''m so sorry for what''s about to happen." (Elly) Chapter 1014: Caitlyn Rises Part 1 Chapter 1014: Caitlyn Rises Part 1 It seems that the White Elf Queen and the Spirit of the World Tree were right about something, what was done to me that day was suffering that I have never felt before, at least not in situations like these. It all started when Natasha told the blood in the barrel to come to my mouth so I could drink her a half-finger-thick stream of blood. That''s when all hell broke loose, Arminda''s blood was heavier than iron, and the weight didn''t match the weight of the barrel, that wasn''t even the biggest problem, I was feeling like this blood was some kind of molten metal as it ran down my mouth and throat burning everything. I also felt the strong energy of the dark element and Demonic energy in that blood rush through my body the moment that blood hits my stomach. I felt like a flame was burning my body from the inside out as I was being run over by a parade of women trucks. Every bone in my body was being crushed by the weight and pressure of this blood, my body was being ravaged to the point where I could feel my eyes boiling. But the physical pain was just the beginning, there was an ancient presence within the blood, a presence full of murderous intent and cruelty, a tyrannical presence that was hammering away at my Aura like thousands of miners digging into a mountain. The pain of such a thing was hitting me straight in my mind, it was like someone was hitting my head on a wall before trying to drown me for a few minutes before hitting my head on the wall again, it came to a point where I didn''t know what that was going through my head because of the pain confusing my mind. Even my Soul wasn''t safe, I felt the Demonic energy and the miasma of that blood trying to corrupt my soul, luckily I wasn''t affected by the miasma, but the same cannot be said of the Demonic energy that was like acid trying to corrode my Soul. The pain attacking from three directions was unbelievable, but even that pain couldn''t compare to what I felt in the nightmares my sister gave me to learn to control my emotions. I clenched my jaw resisting the pain as long as I could without losing consciousness, but it was becoming a chore as time passed, this pain was so horrible that I wasn''t able to distract myself to know what time it was or how much time there was past. The next two days my suffering continued, but it wasn''t as bad as the first day, it seems the more blood I had absorbed the easier it was to continue. During these three days, I had to stop once again the project to strengthen the list, which was half done at the time, not to mention that I had to interrupt any type of training or study I was doing because I was unable at that time. After the third day, I finally got a pure bloodline. Ding! <[ You have acquired the mythical bloodline [ Ancestral Black Demon: 100% ] ]> I also got some other Demonic Skills, but they were things I could already do using Demonic magic, so I''ll leave it at that. But that still wasn''t enough, there was one last step, I had to merge this language with mine, that would be the complete integration of this lineage with me. To do what I want I went back a fourth day, I knew something like this could happen, bloodlines much lower than mine are completely consumed by my bloodline nowadays doing a complete integration, but very unique bloodlines like the one I just acquired have to be through the synthesis skill. It was no surprise my ragged body at the end when all my blood left my body to merge in midair before descending on me causing a wave of massive destruction causing my bones to turn to dust. But thanks to my sister''s Authority and the World Tree I was able to survive, that was my intention from the beginning, that''s why I didn''t want to drink that blood before, my instincts were screaming with fear knowing that it would be certain death if I did that again carelessly and without help. "Now it''s time to take care of you sister..." (I) "(It''s about time.)" (Caitlyn) Chapter 1015: Caitlyn Rises Part 2 Chapter 1015: Caitlyn Rises Part 2 Pov Ellyana (White Elf Queen): I was inside a separate space created with the Territory of Fairy Empress Lorraine. This place full of life with all kinds of flowers, trees, and landscapes, a boundless forest with snowy mountains, volcanoes, and even with a black mist taking part of this forest giving a mystical presence. I was in a large ruin overrun by nature with a large marble table in the center facing me, the only people besides me here are Elly, Lorraine, and the two individuals who keep pestering me. "If you made me come all this way because of those two, you''re wasting your time." (I) "I know that nothing I say will make you forgive them, I also know that you are aware that they are innocent." (Lorraine) "Then don''t try to bring me here for this!" (I) "You must calm down Ellyana, no one in this place is in a position below yours, control your emotions." (Elly) "Unlike my sister and mother, I try to be more tolerant, but don''t test me Elf Queen." (Lorraine) I feel the very space around me freeze under Lorraine''s serious gaze, so I keep quiet, I won''t gain anything by falling out with the Faeries. "You know I brought these two here because your way of resolving things is taking too long and you don''t seem to be doing anything to change it." (Lorraine) "Your behavior has harmed harmony among the Faeries and I am told the same is true on the Spirits'' side." (Lorraine) "You exclude Fairies and Spirits with the elements of light from matters of importance on this island, and you also forbid Elves to enter into contracts with them." (Lorraine) "You are thousands of years old and you act unreasonably, your actions are harming many." (Lorraine) "I know everything I''ve done and I won''t make excuses about it, I don''t regret it either, I''ve always acted within my rights and unfortunately I know my conduct is not being appreciated by many." (I) "But I don''t intend to change my mind about them." (I) I know my actions are irrational, but I''m not able to let go of that feeling, I''ll never forgive them. "I''ve said it in the past and I''ll say it again now, you must put your emotions aside and do whatever is necessary as the Elf Queen." (Elly) ---------------- Pov Zenos: I was in my room in the mansion inside the Dungeon sitting on the edge of the bed, Ibuki was lying still sleeping behind me while looking at my arms whose veins were writhing like snakes. "This is different from before..." (I) "(His blood is very strong now to the point of acquiring almost a separate consciousness from yours.)" (Caitlyn) "That sounds really scary, like, really scary..." (I) The image of my blood ripping my body apart from the inside out comes to mind. "(Actually that''s a good thing, your blood will still be a part of you, it will be like an echo of you or you could use your Familiar.)" (Caitlyn) "Which one?" (I) "(The blood wolf, if I remember right, his name was Orion.)" (Caitlyn) "(Have him stay inside you for a few days, this will strengthen him while deepening your connection.)" (Caitlyn) "If I do that there won''t be anything about blood creating its own consciousness, right?" (I) Sigh I take a deep breath before releasing my Aura that surrounds me, the temporary illusion that contains Caitlyn''s Soul and the statue of the Goddess Selene. "< Demon Dragon Authority >" (I) Ding! <[ Skill [ Demon Dragon Authority: 2 ] activated ]> . . . <[ A Skill containing the power of Authority was used to influence a being above the skill owner''s level ]> . . <[ Caitlyn (Demigoddess of Blood) agreed to cooperate with you ]> I feel my Aura being sucked by her illusion, the more she absorbs my Aura, the more her body materializes leaving her aspect transparent. When my Aura stopped being absorbed by her body so voraciously, I feel my Mana, Spiritual Energy, Ki, Vitality and Holy Power leave my body as they joined together forming a black energy Dragon that rushes towards her only to be absorbed by the screen body without even having time to think. His body is enveloped in red and black light at the same time as his body is hidden by these lights, then the headache arises once again seeming to want to crush my skull while thousands of information about bloodlines, abilities, and their variations appear in my mind. Ding! <[ Identified the interference of the Goddess Selene (Goddess of Blood) in the awakening of Caitlyn (Demigoddess of Blood) ]> . . . <[ Choose 3 powers to grant Caitlyn (Blood Demigoddess) ]> I endure the pain and put the things I''ve already discussed with my sister to choose from. I looked at the notification but couldn''t confirm anything until I was done with the choices I have to make. 1. Bloodline [ True Dragon of Darkness (Zenos): 100% ] 2. Lineage [ Goddess Selene: 100% ] 3. Bloodline [ Black Demon Ancestor: 100% ] I chose these three bloodlines to bestow on my sister with her help, when I chose the headache eased a bit as the information was slowly fading from my mind. It was at that moment that I saw the statue of the Goddess move as if to see her daughter, then raise her hand letting a red crystalline energy flow. This energy is trapped in Caitlyn''s illusory body as it crystallizes into a distinct red crystal silhouette as this energy continues to surge from the restituta and into Caitlyn. "I''m almost done..." (I) Chapter 1016: Caitlyn Rises Part 3 Chapter 1016: Caitlyn Rises Part 3 The statue of the Goddess Selene continued to give more energy to the crystal that formed around Caitlyn who now has a humanoid silhouette. But it was at that moment that I realized that the crystal that was once bigger than me was shrinking and the space around us is starting to ripple. "What is that!?" (I) I wanted to look away but wasn''t able to as I felt my energy still being drained, all I know is that a breeze started to blow at some point carrying the scent of flowers. I couldn''t look around, but I didn''t need to when the very scenery in front of me was changing, the Temple Communal room we were in was overlapping with another image that before long took its place as the space finally stopped rippling. "But what is this..." (I) "Why do you help that evil spawn!?" "Mommy, Mommy, why don''t you wake up?" "Damn you! Damn all Vampires!!!!" "Die, you filthy child!!!!" "AAAAHHHHH!!!!!" "..." (I) The setting looked like a flower garden, but there was something bizarre, there was part of a Palace or mansion where a woman with a crown on her head was lying on the ground still breathing while a little boy who must have been less than 6 or 7 years old tried to wake her up. There was also in this large flower garden a place that looked like a street full of rubble with bodies sleeping while monsters were devouring them with only one old man looking up while screaming in terror.NewW novels updates at novelhall.com I could also see a place where a middle aged man was on his knees with his eyes closed while crying, he was in between some trees like he was in some kind of forest, and he was talking bad about Vampires. At that moment my energy finally stopped being absorbed and I started to look around at this garden with flowers that I had never seen, throughout this garden, there were several "scenarios" as if it were a stage representing several stories, with the only thing in common between all the stories being the tragedy. "What''s all this!?" (I) "Let her die, such a monster doesn''t deserve to be alive." "Look at everything she''s done, do you really think you know her!? A creature that pretends to be a child has actually lived hundreds of thousands of years." "She''s a monster, let her die, just interrupting this Awakening Ceremony all that accumulated energy will explode getting rid of her Soul." "Let this plague perish for all the harm it has done..." "I don''t think we left the place, but the landscape is very realistic..." (I) "One day it will bring calamity to you as well." . . <[ Caitlyn''s (Blood Demigoddess) Rebirth process has been started ]> . . . <[ Caitlyn''s (Blood Demigod)''s power and Authority will be limited to the level of Zenos (Blood Demigod: Incomplete) ]> . . . <[ Wake up process completed ]> When the notifications come up a still of energy forms in front of me going in all directions including going through my body while erasing everything in the surroundings, the garden and the various tragic scenarios simply disappear as if they had never existed leaving only the Ghost-like Creatures of smoke behind still close to me. When the wave of energy passed through them it was as if the smoke that made up their bodies was blown away revealing a completely black child both in body, clothes, and even in the eyes, this child was an identical image of Caitlyn. When these children raised several rays of energy, they appeared from the sky, destroying them until there was nothing left, I didn''t even have time to say one last thing before disappearing. "Thank you..." (Caitlyn) I heard her voice as if whispering in my ear, then the space that was now pure white cracks and shatters revealing once again the room inside the Communal Temple where the Ceremony of Awakening was being finalized. The Goddess statue that had moved earlier was back in its initial position and the Goddess Power was no longer interfering with the Awakening Ceremony. I looked around and everyone was sleeping on the floor except for my sisters Elizabeth and Natasha who were looking at me with smiles on their faces. I turn to face me where the red light is fading and what looks like a multifaceted mirror glass orb is floating where Caitlyn''s illusion once was. Because of that, I couldn''t see what was inside, all I could see were the reflections in the mirror. But what was being reflected in the various faces of the mirror was not what was around it, it was several scenarios of what I imagine to be Caitlyn''s memories, some of them were similar to what I saw in that garden moments ago. "You did well, it looks like your emotional control is doing much better than you thought." (Elizabeth) "Now we just need to wait..." (Natasha) While I was distracted by the orb of mirrors my sisters came to stand beside me without my noticing. Chapter 1017: Caitlyn Rises Part 4 Chapter 1017: Caitlyn Rises Part 4 My two older sisters and I stood side by side in front of the mirrored hatch that had Caitlyn inside waiting for the moment when she would come out. I had a lot of headache at the beginning, but as I had been having a headache for days I was able to endure even this stronger pain, at least until Natasha put her hand on top of my head, at that moment the pain I was feeling was so much in my head and the pain I felt in my body disappeared in a matter of seconds.NewW novels updates at novelhall.com "Thanks." (I) "Thank you for not being swayed by Caitlyn''s past." (Natasha) "So what I saw before..." (I) "They are her memories and at the same time her biggest nightmares." (Natasha) "..." (I) I look at the orb of mirrors where several images are now passing, I assumed they were memories before, but now I have proof from Natasha. A man who tried to run from a little girl in a forest while begging for salvation, a city where everyone was sleeping during the day leaving only silence, a city where monsters emerged from the minds of people sleeping on the ground before destroying and killing everything in the surroundings. There were many images showing different things, but from what I felt before when I was still in that garden, they were situations of emotional extremes for her. "Unlike me who was always able to control my own power and Natasha who had to train to acquire power, Caitlyn like me had great power from the moment of her birth but was not able to control that power." (Elizabeth) "A child with the power that is only limited by his imagination and without any control, you can imagine what he went through..." (Elizabeth) "Every time she closed her eyes everyone around her also slept, every nightmare she had was responsible for great destructions and massacres, every time she felt fear, that power materializes her fears in reality." (Elizabeth) "So much power in the hands of someone who didn''t have the ability to control it..." (Elizabeth) This is scary in many ways, but it doesn''t make sense, why did these things happen, she is the youngest of my 3 sisters, could it be that they weren''t able to help her? It also doesn''t make sense for the Goddess Selene to leave her daughter in such a difficult situation, I myself had her help in many situations and whenever I found her it seemed that she was guiding me to the place where I wanted to be, maybe I wouldn''t have gotten this far if I hadn''t it was for the Goddess Selene, so I can''t imagine her leaving her daughter in such a situation. "Don''t make such a naive face, a God cannot freely interfere, our mother must have spoken to you during your evolutions, she did the same to us all, but she can only advise and guide us, she cannot control our power or make our decisions on our behalf." (Elizabeth) Sigh After the greetings, Caitlyn looked around seeing everyone sleeping, and let out a sigh. "Fortunately, they''re just sleeping, I got scared." (Caitlyn) "Are we going to be able to wake them up?" (I) "Not for the next few hours, it looks like I caused a bit of a fuss." (Caitlyn) "Nothing that couldn''t be handled, don''t worry, remember anything?" (I) "More or less, it was a little blurry in the middle." (Caitlyn) I grab everyone who was sleeping with a float spell and head back to my sisters, as we are walking Caitlyn throws herself into Natasha''s arms talking. "Carry me." (Caitlyn) "Why don''t you go floating around with your pillow as usual?" (Natasha) "I lost it, I have to make another one." (Caitlyn) "But why me, there are those two, ask for them." (Natasha) "Zenos is tired and Elizabeth is boring." (Caitlyn) "I''m not boring, how can you..." (Elizabeth) "I understand, fine, but just for today." (Natasha) "You two will pay me..." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) I just ignored those 3''s arguments, but at least that felt like almost a normal family, as close as I''ve ever come to it at least. Chapter 1018: Childish Story!?? Chapter 1018: Childish Story!?? The next day after my sister''s return I didn''t even get out of bed, everyone knew that I wanted to rest at least for a day, I didn''t need a physical rest, but a rest for my mind that was under pressure for so long. Without wanting to do anything during that day I took a book from the shelf in my room in the mansion inside the Dungeon, I wanted to read something to pass the time and without realizing it I picked up the same strange children''s book that I started to read in the past, but never finished.NewW novels updates at novelhall.com "The 7 Sacrifices." (I) "Let''s just read it, I think I left it marked where I left off." (I) (Author''s Note: Part 1 of this story is in Chapter 794, I advise you to read it if you forgot or skipped it.) ----------- The brave King until that moment had made 2 sacrifices, first his pure heart by slaughtering those being controlled by the monsters to save at least their Souls, and the second sacrifice was his humanity by absorbing the power, blood, and will of millions of warriors who fell in the same battlefield where he was seriously injured, all this to be able to save his kingdom being attacked by the terrible enemy he has been facing for years. With his power reaching heights he never dreamed of, the King was able to arrive before his enemies managed to invade his Capital, but otherwise, all the rest of his Kingdom had fallen. The King crossed the enemy lines alone to reach the walls of his capital where he placed himself on top of the gates, he placed himself as the last line of defense of his Kingdom. The defensive battle lasted for days and defeat was inevitable, the King''s mighty army was not able to keep up with his speed and would not arrive in time. The King having lost almost all the forces defending the capital used his own life force to create a barrier around the entire capital. In the King''s most desperate moment, the Moon Fairy from before appears once again with tears in her eyes. The King, knowing he would never forgive himself for such an act, used his blood as a weapon, creating 3 needles that lingered on his family''s forehead, leading everyone to a painless death. Endless pain and suffering took hold of the King, driving him to madness, his only wish was death, and an endless will to die took hold of him, he knew what would happen to him next, he knew that being killed by these creatures was a risk worse than death and he wanted such an end for the horrendous act he had just committed. But at this moment a light flashed in front of him and a transparent image of his wife appeared before his eyes bringing his mind back from insanity only to see her become a sphere of light and enter his body while saying only one word in his mind. "Alive!" Such unacceptable words for the King were heard, and the King could feel his wife''s soul inside him and knew why he did this, the Queen knew that the King would not allow his Soul to be tainted by enemies, the Queen hoped that her act would allow for the King to fight to survive now that he didn''t need to protect anyone and if the King found the worst of ends for his enemies, the Queen would leave beside him, accompanying the King until the end. The King did not know that the act of will to die activated his unique ability and the desire to protect his wife''s Soul gave function to the power he would acquire, the will of the citizens responded to the Queen''s act of love and just like on that battlefield the will of an entire Kingdom rushed to the King along with the blood healing his body. For the next few days, the King gave himself over to madness, he fought alone with his body continually being torn to pieces and healing at the same speed without ever resting until the last of his enemies were dead. When his army finally reached him only the King was kneeling in the middle of a ruined city kneeling weeping bloody tears in wail, the Soul of the Queen having gone to see her husband safe at last. That day he committed his third and fourth Sacrifices while throwing himself into a pit of eternal suffering. ----------- "What the fuck, how can this be a children''s book!!!???" (I) "Dammit dammit dammit!!!!" (I) For some reason, I felt my heart squeeze so hard as if it was being crushed and I couldn''t see anything else with tears that wouldn''t stop coming out of my eyes. Chapter 1019: Origin Of Living Calamities Chapter 1019: Origin Of Living Calamities Pov Natasha: I entered Zenos'' room through the window when I felt a surge of power that I know coming from there, that''s when I saw the brat floating over his bed while his hand was on Zenos'' head. "Why did you put him to sleep?" (I) "I''m more sensitive to emotions than you are, I felt a surge of negative emotions and came to check it out." (Caitlyn) "..." (Elizabeth) I look across the room where I see Elizabeth with a book in her hand as she is leaning against the wall flipping through the book. But there was something strange, I could tell by the look in her eyes, so I walked over and she closed the book. "What''s in the book?" (I) "Just a story of legends." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) I try to pick it up and she lets it, so I look at the cover of the book written in a language I''ve never seen before, I try to leaf through the book, but all the pages were written in the same language, plus the images in the book were blurred making it impossible discern anything. "I don''t know that language..." (I) "Let me see." (Caitlyn) I throw the book at Caitlyn while still looking at Elizabeth who looks indifferent, I saw the way her eyes were moving before, she was reading this book which means she knows this language. "(It must be a language lost before my birth, which means it''s very old.)" (I) "What are you hiding Sister?" (Caitlyn) "I hide nothing, but certain secrets are not mine to reveal." (Elizabeth) Elizabeth starts to swim towards the door and I sense her mood was somber as she looked one last time at Zenos before walking away, her eyes seemed to hold over a thousand words before she left the room without hesitating for more than 1 second. "How is he?" (I) "He''s fine, it was just an emotional spike, his mind is still tired because of me, so I wanted him to take the day off." (Caitlyn) "Thousands of people happy and living comfortably, who by the way don''t need my interference in administrative matters." (I) "What do you want, Zenos?" (Caitlyn) I change my expression remembering what Elizabeth and Natasha said about Caitlyn''s past, I also remember a little about each other''s past, but in the end, I still know almost nothing about my own sisters. I sit in the living room with them as I get everyone some strong drinks. "I want to know more about all of you, I still know little about my own family and I don''t know if I can believe the things I hear from other people, there seems to be a lot of incorrect rumours, rumors, and legends in this information." (I) "I can understand what you''re thinking, but our lives are too long and eventful for us to talk about it that way." (Elizabeth) "We don''t need to tell you everything, we just talk a little about ourselves, what he''s asking is pretty normal." (Caitlyn) "What you want to know?" (Natasha) "..." (I) I think a little to know what I''m going to ask, as they said, I know little about them, but I think the best thing would be to start at the beginning. "Why don''t you tell me a little bit about your origins, preferably briefly or we won''t leave here today." (I) "I think it makes sense, in fact, we already know a lot about you, our mother spoke to all of us." (Elizabeth) "But we don''t have much to say, I was born to our mother in a more traditional way." (Elizabeth) "Who was your father?" (I) "I didn''t have one from the beginning, our mother used her power over lineage, life and death to create me in her womb." (Elizabeth) "When I was born I already had a lot of knowledge and power contained in my body, it also only took me a few hours to reach my adult appearance." (Elizabeth) "Wait!? You were born directly from the Goddess Selene?" (I) "Yeah, don''t look at me like that, we all share the same mother so don''t look too shocked." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) I was not shocked that she was the daughter of the Goddess, as she said we are all brothers, what shocked me was knowing that she came from a pregnancy of the Goddess while I was generated in a pool of blood in some forest. Even the way we are born is already such a difference, so I look at Natasha and Caitlyn wondering how they were born. Chapter 1020: From Weakest To Strongest Chapter 1020: From Weakest To Strongest Now that I didn''t have any of my sisters'' lives on my back and my part in this war against the Church of Light was over, I thought I might as well learn a little more about my sisters. I was surprised when Elizabeth talked about her birth, she was born directly from the Goddess while I was born from a puddle in a forest. "Now it''s your turn, Natasha." (Elizabeth) "My birth was probably the only accidental one among us all." (Natasha) "You complain a lot, you''ve had the least problems." (Caitlyn) "You don''t know anything, when you were born I had already participated in countless battles." (Natasha) "Stop fighting and you can continue your story, Natasha." (Elizabeth)NewW novels updates at novelhall.com I didn''t understand what they mean by accidental birth, how could a Goddess have a daughter by accident? "Unlike Elizabeth, I wasn''t born directly to our mother, I was born in the middle of a big war." (Natasha) "I was actually born in the middle of the battlefield, the first color I saw was red, the first odor I smelled was burnt flesh and blood, this is the kind of place I was born." (Natasha) "Just for context, at this time the Gods were more active and it would be fair to say that they were the ones ruling the universe, it was right at the end of that time." (Elizabeth) "It was a time when our mother was not called the Goddess or by her name, which is Selene." (Elizabeth) "The Witch of Carnage, a title she earned a long time ago before Elizabeth was even born, but it was a title that suited her." (Natasha) "It was in a place that served as a battleground for Champions, Heroes, Saints, and Gods." (Natasha) "At the end of the battle only the vessel that served as our mother''s body was standing and her blood covered almost every battlefield, without her realizing its divine power and all the blood on that Battlefield gathered its power with the Soul of a Warrior who died of Persian blood, so I was born into adulthood." (Natasha) "I was very scared not knowing what was happening, one moment we were celebrating a victory, but the next moment we were on guard against a new presence that appeared out of nowhere." (Elizabeth) "But I still remember your punch." (Natasha) "As I was saying, I was born from the blood of countless warriors, I had a strong body compared to ordinary people and had potential as a daughter of a Goddess, but I didn''t have the power to fight after a few hours of my birth for sure people." (Natasha) "My base strength was compared to a Grade +A Adventurer at most." (Natasha) "Do I need it? That''s a lot of work..." (Caitlyn) Sigh Caitlyn was slumping down on a sofa with sleepy eyes, but all it took was one look from Elizabeth for her to sigh and start talking. "I was born to a Blood Saint who was blessed by her mother and accepted to carry her lineage, in my case." (Caitlyn) "I was born, destroyed 2 or 6 Kingdoms, killed a few million people by accident, and went insane for... how long was it?" (Caitlyn) "It was for 200 years, it was a big headache." (Elizabeth) "What are you complaining about, I was the only one affected by her powers, it was a problem for me." (Natasha) "Serves you right for being a brawn of brawn." (Caitlyn) "..." (I) "(So Caitlyn was born of a Saint!?)" (I) I think that out of all of them, Caitlyn was the only one who was born in an expected way, this also explains why she went through so much suffering, she was the only one other than me who was born far away from the Goddess Selene. "Should I talk about myself now?" (I) "No need, we already know everything about you, the mother told us." (Elizabeth) "It was because I knew of its power that I went into a fight with the possibility of dying." (Natasha) "It was because of your familiar that I had to babysit that stubborn lizard Arash." (Caitlyn) "Just saying, but I didn''t die on purpose like Natasha nor was I sent on a mission because of her, I was just ambushed and I happened to die." (Elizabeth) "So tell me more about yourselves, do you have any other family, kids, friends?" (I) After that I spent the rest of the night until the next day talking to my sisters, Elizabeth only spoke of her Students and the Kingdoms or Empire they created, she spoke full of pride. Natasha only spoke of her proudest struggles in great detail, so Caitlyn was the only one who said little having to be woken up from time to time by Elizabeth, all she talked about was nice places to sleep and eat. Chapter 1021: End Of The List Finally Chapter 1021: End Of The List Finally With the rising of the Suns outside the Dungeon, I was training in a specific area for this inside the Elf village, I noticed that the place was quite empty and I took the opportunity to train my Martial Arts as I used to do.NewW novels updates at novelhall.com Slow movements while straining every muscle in the body, concentrating only on breathing and blood circulation, entering a state of automatic meditation. "Teacher." (Ivan) "Huh!?" (I) Sigh Suddenly I feel a hand on my shoulder and when I turn around I see Ivan beside me, his body was shaking and I saw many Elves looking at me from afar. "Calm your Aura and return to normal please, our hosts are getting restless with your Aura." (Ivan) "..." (I) It was at this moment that I realized that the top part of my clothes had been ripped to shreds and my body was in its Dragon form, I also realized that my Aura was exploding out with all of its features at the maximum. I control my Aura by making it go back inside my body, then deactivated the Dragon''s Awakening that I didn''t even remember activating, then I see the Elves looking at me strangely, especially when the Fairies and Spirits started dancing next to me. "What happened?" (I) "I don''t know, but I felt your Aura explode all over the place while I was in the tree house and I ran over here where I found these unhappy Elves." (Ivan) "Your body is spiraling out of control follow me" (Elly) Suddenly the Spirit of the World Tree appears beside me and before I know it I am back at our temporary residence where Elizabeth is sitting reading a book with a cup of tea that is floating beside her. "You can explain the rest to him, I still have something I need to do." (Elly) "Thanks, I''ll take care of the rest." (Elizabeth) Their conversation took about 5 seconds before the World Tree Spirit disappeared leaving just me and my sister alone. "Can you tell me what just happened?" (I) "Your body is under a lot of pressure and it''s spiraling out of control, I thought there would be more time, this usually takes months." (Elizabeth) "But I don''t feel anything, what pressure are you talking about?" (I) "Also, as my body is losing control, I feel great." (I) "Woke up full of energy despite the few hours of sleep after our family talk?" (Elizabeth) "Did you really need this!?" (Caitlyn) "Sorry to interrupt your miasma collection, but it looks like we''re going to have to stand guard for 2 days, maybe even longer." (I) "What happened?" (Natasha) "Did he lose control?" (Caitlyn) "Yes, did you notice while you were inside him?" (I) "Of course, it was impossible not to notice, is he going to Evolve today?" (Caitlyn) "No, he wants to do it tomorrow, he seems to want to finish something today." (I) "What are you two talking about?" (Natasha) "You interrupted my meal so you explain to her, I''ll stay close to him, we both know his next evolution is going to be tricky." (Caitlyn) "All good." (I) -------------- Pov Zenos: I was inside the Communal Temple waiting for everyone to arrive, so I took the opportunity to go take a look at Zila and Sapphire who were still inside the eggs inside the blood cyclones. "You guys are taking longer than I expected, I thought it would be faster." (I) I look at the amount of blood in the pool and realize there''s still a lot of it, so I turn to leave before stopping and looking back to feel two faint presences. "Maybe they won''t be so late..." (I) I go to the place where the statues of the Gods are, I like to always do the Awakening Ceremonies here in the hope that if something goes wrong, one of the Gods who have the Blessing can help me. I look over and see that the three people are already here. Eva, the Blood Demon Queen I saved in the Dark Continent. Athena, the Celestina who fled the Church of Light who became my Granddaughter and will soon become my daughter. Alice that I bought as a slave years ago and also became my granddaughter, someone marked by hatred and who is now my personal servant alongside Freya who became my assistant. "Today we are going to put an end to this list, I hate to keep putting things off." (I) Chapter 1022: What Did I Do? Chapter 1022: What Did I Do? I nod to Eva who steps forward, this time she is not wearing her maid clothes but her ceremonial clothes made of black leather meant for use in combat. Sometimes I forget that the Blood Devils are a Warrior Race, but with their appearance now, that''s undeniable. "Are you ready, Eva?" (I) "All I wanted most was to be useful to you, Holy Son..." (Eva) As she answered me, she dropped to one knee as she bowed slightly with tears in her eyes, she and her people are always like that. "Please stand up, let''s get started." (I) As soon as she was on her feet and the others walked away, I close my eyes for a few seconds while I control my power so I don''t lose control in case something unforeseen happens. Eve''s Awakening Ceremony was very simple, I used a mixture of my pure Vampire bloodline and pure Demonic Bloodline, these two bloodlines have many other bloodlines of the same race mixed together. I''m also going to give her something I''m sure she wants very much. "< Demon Dragon Authority >" (I) Ding! <[ Skill [ Demon Dragon Authority: 2 ] activated ]> . . . <[ Eve (Blood Demon Queen) accepted to submit to you ]> I exploded my Aura to cover just me and Eva, I feel her body shaking, but she doesn''t try to resist my Aura and lets it enter her body until it fills her, her eyes glowing in a black light like lanterns. Soon my blood, Mana, Ki, Spiritual Power, and Holy Power pour out of my body forming an Energy Dragon as it mixes with my Aura before advancing into Eva''s body disappearing inside her body. Ding!Fiind updated novels at novelhall.com <[ Grant 3 powers to Eva (Blood Demon Queen) ]> At that moment, Eva''s body was surrounded by a mist of blood, a mist made from my blood, so several options for bloodlines and abilities appear in my head, but having already decided before starting, I don''t waste time and choose the three things I had already thought about. 1. [ Ancestral Black Demon: 100% ] 2. [ Sovereign of Blood (Zenos): 100% ] 3. [ Zenos'' Blessing (Demigod of Blood) ] Ding! <[ Eve (Blood Demon Queen) Received the Blessing of Zenos (Blood Demigod) ]> . . <[ All bloodlines were merged by Zenos'' Blessing (Demigod of Blood) ]> . . . <[ Zenos (Demigod of Blood) created an Eclipse Priestess ]> . . <[ ]> . . . <[ Awakening process completed ]> I didn''t understand what was happening, but I felt all my power drained as my Astral Body disappeared back into my body and my Territory regressed until my Authority returned to me. The Awakening Ceremony ended and I had less than 5% of my power left, but I was still standing, I saw a pale Karina turn to me with a smile on her face, she approaches me without saying anything leaving a big flame crackling burning behind it slowly shrinking until it crystallizes into a black crystal full of bright lights inside. Then I see the Blessing of the Goddess of Blood and all the other Blessings within me stir in an uproar, then Goddess Selene''s energy flows through me into the crystal, but it doesn''t enter it, it actually floats the crystal into the pool of blood that is not far away and join the two Eggs that were there surrounded by my blood. While this was completely clueless as to what just happened, I was particularly concerned about the system notifications being blocked, it means that some things I did were beyond my limits. I looked at my sisters and their reactions were all different, Elizabeth had a hand on her forehead as she looked at me with a slight smile, Natasha was laughing so hard there were tears in her eyes from laughing so hard and Caitlyn was looking at me like I was an idiot that how much has a creepy smile on his face. "Congratulations master." (Karina) "..." (I) "What did I do? What just happened?" (I) "You have a new Priestess, isn''t that what you wanted?" (Karina) Karina looks at me confused but I didn''t want any of that, things got out of hand too fast and somehow that was the result. It''s like I''m walking across the street and I kick a ball in my path while distracted by some thought and before I know it the ball I''ve kicked has hit a goal past an entire football team in a field next to the street, a impossible result derived from a series of coincidences of which I had no idea. Chapter 1023: Release All Your Restrictions Chapter 1023: Release All Your Restrictions I looked at the pool that was now with three objects bigger than me each covered by its cyclone made of my blood that is in the pool, looking like 3 small tornadoes of blood. The first thing I did was question Karina, but she knew less than I did, all she talked about was knowing that a Priestess of mine was being created because she felt some sort of connection with this person who plays a role similar to hers. According to Karina, she is my Dragon Priestess, but this other Priestess will be representing the Blood, because I am a Demigod I imagined, after all, it is something I inherited from my mother the Blood Goddess. I went to question my sisters who confirmed everything, but they said that the information is a little incomplete, but these 3 useless ones didn''t want to say anything more, Elizabeth was silent, Natasha was just making fun of me and Caitlyn went to take a nap. I still had two more people to take care of, but I needed time to rest, recover, and think about everything that just happened. That''s why I told everyone to come back here tomorrow, I analyzed my current state and just to be sure I also asked Natasha to check on me, it seems that besides being depleted of my energy I was completely fine, which was a relief, must be the first time I do something by accident and not end up with a pile of rubbish. I walk back home to the mansion while drinking a few bottles of blood to think about all this, I''m going to rest until the next day in my bed. ----------------- The next day. The Dungeon Sun has just risen, I enter the Communal Temple completely renewed of my energies, and my body is also in great condition, once again my family and Familiars were present, the last two on the list were also Athena and Alice. But before I start I look at the pool of blood across the room, it''s the same as I left it yesterday, looks like I have to wait for them to wake up, but I don''t know what''s going on, maybe it just takes a while like it was with Silvia. Sigh "Athena, come closer." (I) "I am here." (Athena) "Are you sure about that? You seemed happy just being Vanessa''s daughter, what I''m going to do will completely change you." (I) "Thank you for your concern and for everything you''ve done for me, but I need power, much more power than I have right now." (Athena) "You don''t strike me as someone just looking for power, so what do you want?" (I) "I want to protect my mother Vanessa, I want to protect my friend Loki, I want to protect my sisters and brothers who accompanied me here." (Athena) <[ Grant 3 powers to Athena (Fallen Celestial Vampire) ]> At that moment my mind is filled with infinite possibilities of what I can grant, thanks to the large number of skills and lineages that make up my body after these years. I had thought about it a lot since last night, which was a mistake for someone who tends to be driven by curiosity like me, so I thought of a mythological being that might be ideal for Athena. She had chains binding her, chains from her past and that she put on without realizing it, I wanted her to break free of all her restrictions. 1. [ Ancestral Black Demon: 100% ] 2. [ Ancient Elf: 100% ] 3. [ Zenos'' Blessing (Demigod of Blood) ] Ding! <[ Activating [ Astral Body ] skill to bestow Zenos''s Blessing ]> . . . <[ Temporarily invoking the Soul of Eve (Priestess of Zenos) to be the witness of her Blessing ]> Once again my Astral Body forms above me, I thought that everything would go on as before with Eva, but it seems that things never turn out the way I think they should. RRRRRROOOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!! The Dragon representing my Astral Body roars once more while my Authority expands by itself creating a Territory as it happened before, but instead of Invoking Karina as it was yesterday, which by the way I had already left notice for her this time. Breaking everything I expected, my Astral Body invoked the Soul of Eve, one of the small tornadoes of blood shines and a red light surrounded by those strange stellar flames appears taking the silhouette of a woman with wings, besides that there were already more characteristics besides of being all red with strange flames around it. She faces where Athena is and reaches out her hand making some of my blood that is in the pool float over here, then she uses my blood to make the same Coat of Arms as yesterday, then the lights come out again from the Dragon''s body above me. These lights stayed above my Crest which was above Athena, at least for now. Chapter 1024: Conscious Recklessness Chapter 1024: Conscious Recklessness My Crest was floating above where Athena was surrounded by light and mist when the three stars representing the three powers it bestowed on her remained above the Crest, I waited a few seconds before the Crest started glowing and absorbed the 3 stars before down and where Athena was. I noticed once more the Coat of Arms burning in the crackling flame as I am beginning to call it by looking like an image of the night sky filled with stars. These flames surrounded Athena, but just like yesterday, these flames do not emit heat or cold, I don''t even fully understand what they are, but I must admit that they are beautiful. When Athena was inside the flames I focused on my connection with the Ceremony of Awakening to try to understand all of this, but no matter what I tried, it was all very confusing, it was like trying to understand an abstract painting, look beautiful to some or simply a mess for others. But at least I knew that Athena was fine, she seemed to be in a trance inside the Flame that started to diminish little by little, and when it finally reached a height of just over 2 meters, she noticed the flame becoming crystallized. Ding! <[ Power grant ended ]> . . <[ Wake-up process starting ]> . . .Alll latest novels at novelhall.com <[ Athena (Fallen Heavenly Vampire) Received the Blessing of Zenos (Demigod of Blood) ]> . . <[ All bloodlines were merged by Zenos'' Blessing (Demigod of Blood) ]> . . . <[ Zenos (Demigod of Blood) created a new Eclipse Hero ]> . . <[ ]> pd-.. . . <[ Awakening process completed ]> In the end, I had at least 13% of my Power, and I was in better condition than before, this time I controlled my energy as I knew what to expect, and I wasn''t caught by surprise like yesterday. This time I paid attention to my energy expenditure and did my best not to let fuel swim out so I kept everything under control. I look at the crystal and the notifications and wait, just as I imagined all my Blessings awaken, but only Goddess Selene''s Blessing has its energy flowing out of my body into the crystal, just like yesterday that energy was used only to take the crystal to the pool that is commenting to be with little space, without against the blood forming a new mini tornado around it. "I''m fine, the pressure you''re talking about was minimal, don''t worry." (I) Elizabeth looks at me and moves away to be close to the others, so I was alone with Alice in front of me, unlike Athena and Eva who came with special clothes for them, like combat clothes, Alice is wearing a maid dress as usual, in black and white colors with details in purple colors. "Are you ready Alice?" (I) "I''ve been waiting a long time for this, master." (Alice) "Very well, I just wanted to confirm." (I) I look at the way she''s nervous, but I only realize that because I''ve known her for a long time, because her bearing today is elegant the way she learned it with Freya, but her eyes are full of will. One thing I''ve always paid attention to in all people is their eyes, that''s because a person''s determination, resolve, and willpower can be seen through their eyes. Long ago Alice''s eyes only held endless hatred, even when she found out I was a Vampire she wasn''t afraid, she saw it only as an opportunity for power, in her eyes even me like everyone else that day were just stepping stones to her hatred, so I did not bestow my power on her that day. What I did was make her learn from Freya and Irina in hopes that she would leave that hatred behind, she wanted to show that there are other emotions besides that hatred. "(You''ve grown.)" (I) She let go of her hatred for a long time and started to show her hands expressions, but I could still see the darkness in her eyes, it was fading with time, but it was always there. I close my eyes remembering how surprised I was when I noticed that darkness was nowhere in her eyes anymore. But even though that darkness is gone, her eyes are still as strong and full of will as the day she chose her among the slaves, but this time it''s not a dark will. Her eyes shine with intelligence and determination, she''s put a lot of effort into learning how to behave with Freya, learning magic from Erica and Irina, and learning how to fight and control Aura from Sophia. She has even fought monsters on several occasions, shown to be able to fight alone or in a group, I also saw how she trains every day without leaving almost any time to rest. She doesn''t have Eva''s adoration, she also doesn''t have Barok''s loyalty or Athena''s desire to protect, the will in her eyes is something I find hard to distinguish. "(I prepared something special for her, let''s see how everything goes this time...)" (I) I look down at my hand still a little anxious from the curiosity of what might happen, I know I''m about to do something reckless but I can''t help but be curious about the outcome. I started by repeating what I did yesterday just to get a little bit of control over what I''m going to do now. "(I hope I''m not in a very sorry state at the end.)" (I) I take a deep breath and focus myself to have a calm mind. "We are starting." (I) "Yes Master." (Alice) "< Demon Dragon Authority >" (I) Ding! <[ Wake-up process starting ]> . . . <[ Alice (Servant of Twilight) accepted to submit to you ]> "(Now there''s no turning back, I''ll show you how much I appreciate all the effort you''ve made so far.)" (I) "(If it''s to be reckless, then at least be reckless with conscience... hahahahaha...)" (I) Chapter 1025: Did I Overdo It? Chapter 1025: Did I Overdo It? "< Demon Dragon Authority >" (I) Ding! <[ Wake-up process starting ]> . pd-.. . <[ Alice (Servant of Twilight) accepted to submit to you ]> "(Now there''s no turning back, I''ll show you how much I appreciate all the effort you''ve made so far.)" (I) "(If it''s to be reckless, then at least be reckless with conscience... hahahahaha...)" (I) This time I knew something unexpected was going to happen, that''s because I''m going to do something I''ve never tried and chances are I''m doing something that goes beyond the limits of simple recklessness, but at least I''m doing it on purpose and not by accident. I exploded my Aura to surround myself with Alice while using my Authority to form a territory from the beginning, this time this territory was based on everything I am, it wasn''t holding anything back and so it was difficult to maintain the Territory, even a small one like this. I was lucky that the Territory along with my Aura became stable without me needing to keep myself in control, it seems that the Awakening Ceremony can keep the Territory stable and I hope it lasts until the end. Sigh "(It would be a lot of effort to keep this under control from the beginning to the end, it saved me a lot of work.)" (I) Soon my Aura easily enters Alice''s body filling her completely, her Aura didn''t try to resist against me, which made the process much easier. The energies like Mana, Ki, Spirit Energy, and Holy Power were flowing through my Territory instead of exploding out of me while forming that Dragon of energy like the last two times. My body was torn apart, my skin and flesh were ripped all over the place, many of my bones are fractured from the total runaway energy, and my organs can be considered gelatin. Honestly, I feel a lot like my body was chewed up and spit out, I think the only reason I wasn''t killed right away was the Blessings within me awakening and preventing more of my vitality from being taken away, but I still felt like I lacked energy, I took two special potions that I always carry with me made by Lyra. As soon as I drank it I felt my bones recovering and my flesh regenerating, I take a barrel of Blood from strong monsters and empty it in 5 seconds, thanks to these 2 potions, half of my injuries healed and my vitality returned to 80%, at least less than 1 second before I felt my health being sucked in a more controlled fashion from this scene until I was down to just 30% of my health. This time whatever was sucking my power decided to stop as if that was enough, it was only at that moment that I saw everything that had been sucked out of me becoming like a storm cloud with the aspects of that bursting flame, the storm clouds they seem to be parts of the starry sky moving like clouds with colored rays coming out of the stars. Ding! <[ Activating skill [ Astral Body ] to serve as an intermediary for the Authority to be granted ]> . . . <[ Temporarily invoking the Soul of Eve (Priestess of Zenos) to be the witness of the Ceremony of ]> . . <[ Invoking Karina (Priestess of Zenos) to be the witness of the Ceremony of ]> "Hurgh!!!" (I) Sigh "Maybe I overreacted this time..." (I) Chapter 1026: Cap 1024:How Many People Can Fill A Swimming Pool? Chapter 1026: Cap 1024:How Many People Can Fill A Swimming Pool? Ding! <[ Activating skill [ Astral Body ] to serve as an intermediary for the Authority to be granted ]> . . . <[ Temporarily invoking the Soul of Eve (Priestess of Zenos) to be the witness of the Ceremony of ]> . . <[ Invoking Karina (Priestess of Zenos) to be the witness of the Ceremony of ]> "Hurgh!!!" (I) Sigh "Maybe I overreacted this time..." (I) This time I felt my Astral Body forming inside that crackling cloud, sometimes it was as if I could see its silhouette moving inside the cloud, but because of its cloud-like appearance, it seems as if it was camouflaged. Soon the Dragon representing my astral body partially comes out of the clouds, its body much more realistic than the previous times, this time it could be mistaken for a living Dragon. RRRRROOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!! It roars making my Territory tremble as two bolts hit the ground in front of me, then two individuals appear, one of them was just a female form made of energy that is the Soul of Eve. The second individual was Karina who was out of my Territory until a few seconds ago, they both looked at me and I felt like they were wanting to get closer when they saw my ragged state, but I waved them on. Then the two floated until they were one on each side of where Alice was still surrounded by energy, only now I noticed that most of the rays that came out of the clouds above were reaching Alice, these rays were full of my power entering her body little by little. "< May you be the testament of his will now and forever by being the one who proclaims his Way. >" (Karina/Eva) "< Receive the Power your will desires! >" (Karina/Eva) "< In the name of Zenos, I testify! >" (Karina/Eva) "< In the Name of Zenos, may his will be Hallowed! >" (Karina/Eva) I felt their Aura explode and mix with my Territory, Karina''s eyes were black with stars just like the clouds above and Eva who was only present in her soul had her energy body turning totally black with stars filling the darkness just like Karen''s eyes. Soon the two began to speak the same words in perfect harmony while drawing my Coat of Arms with the rays coming out of the clouds, they were crystallizing the rays to form the Coat of Arms, which took the exact time while they spoke. RRRROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!! But this time something different happened, instead of stars coming out of my Astral Body it roared once more, then three Dragons came out of their scales as if they were coming out of the night sky. . . <[ ]> . . <[ ]> . . . <[ Awakening process completed ]> . . <[ Ceremony of completed ]> I wanted to read the notifications but I was too wrecked and exhausted to read those things now, I put them down to see later so I lean on Karina who approaches me. Before I breathe a sigh of relief thinking it was over, the tornado crystallizes into the shape of a serpent type Dragon much like my coiled Astral Body with its head resting on top, the inside of the crystal looked like a starry sky, it was impossible to see what was inside. Just as I thought my Blessings would go into an uproar, none of that happened, what came next was far worse. Ding! <[ You acquired the Title [ ] ]> . . . <[ Interference from Various Gods related to You caused the title [ ] to be temporarily sealed until certain requirements are met ]> I felt something awakening inside me, but at the same time as I was becoming filled with dread, the statues of almost all the Gods that are in this Common Temple hall seem to glow, so I was surrounded by a powerful light and presences that caused my body to all shaking. When I felt relief take over me, the energy coming out of the statue of the Goddess Selene went to the Dragon-shaped crystal where Alice is and takes her to the pool where she stays with the others, it doesn''t take long for this new crystal to also be surrounded by a small tornado of blood. I glanced at the now full pool, I was still weak but starting to get worried about those girls all together there with no sign of when they were going to get out. I could only think how many people it takes to fill such a pool, but that thought only lasted half a second before I felt my Aura and Aura pour into my body and I let the tiredness win taking my body to its deserved rest. Chapter 1027: Baldr Chapter 1027: Baldr Pov Goddess Selene: I was seeing how Zenos was doing things, he acts more recklessly than Natasha in her youth, at least he still has some intelligence to notice the opportunities within his reach. "Your son is a madman, where did he get such a strong Awakening skill?" (Aina) "He made a fusion between some similar skills, it was a good idea, but he didn''t realize the danger he was in." (I) "He doesn''t realize the danger he''s in now." (Aina) "You say that, but you have a big smile on your face." (I) Aine and I were watching how Zenos was performing his subordinates'' Awakening Ceremony, but his recklessness made us act to save him. "It is proving to be more useful than expected." (Aina) "It''s going a lot further than we anticipated." (Aina) "I know, but that must be good, he''s on his way this time." (I) "Selene, he is not" (Aine)Ne?ww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com "I know, but yet he''s so similar to himself at the same time he''s still so different." (I) I know all this but I can''t help but see his shadow in Zenos, at least my son is moving forward in his ways. I was watching my daughters take care of their brother when I felt something and got up. "I''m going out, let the others know what happened, they could have interfered without knowing everything." (I) "You shouldn''t go." (Aine) "There''s nothing he can do to me." (I) "Just avoid a battle, don''t let him piss you off too much" (Aine) Aine had her fingers and the space split in front of her taking her to Akatosh''s must be, meanwhile I go where he dared to step. "You remain a fool, do you think you can lead the conflict to come?" (I) "You know that yes, I don''t want those days to repeat themselves, I can tolerate a false Goddess like you, I can even tolerate your Vampires, but I will not allow these corrupt beings and these wild creatures to remain!" (Baldr) He still hates the Devils and Beastmen, he doesn''t accept the indifference that their races showed while hiding in other Races'' territories, especially the acts that the Devils of that time did, this was before the sense of pride spread through his race. "Don''t try to argue, what you''re doing is lowering our numbers, your hatred of the past will lead to your downfall." (I) "Remember that day Selene, remember that I extended my hand in consideration of those days, but it was you who continued to side with those who defiled so many worlds!" (Baldr) He turns and leaves, I don''t know why he did all this, he knows I would never side with him, someone who is so tied up in past grudges is also blinded by what the future holds. I look at the lake of blood and walk over to where I stand looking at the sword stuck in the mound of dirt in the middle of the lake of blood. "We can''t get stuck in the past, Baldr." (I) "You never understood that." (I) His intentions are good, but only for those who follow him, for everyone else life or death is luck, that''s always how he saw things. ------------- Pov God Baldr: I returned to my Divine Realm with a smile on my face. "Selene, both then and now you still hold back." (I) I needed to know if after so long of conflict between the two of us, she was still reluctant to start a fight, it also seems like she doesn''t expect me to fight. "You don''t understand Selene, you never did, nothing can withstand the light." (I) I walk to my throne and draw the sword I''ve never used before, a sword made from that fool''s Blood. "With this sword, I can summon my Champion, it should strengthen him enough to serve as a vessel for me, when that happens, this entire universe will belong to me as it was meant to be in the past." (I) It took me millions of years to purify the filth of this sword to return to being just pure Human Blood as it was in the beginning, now it''s perfect. Chapter 1028: We Must Prepare Chapter 1028: We Must Prepare Pov Elizabeth: I was surprised when Zenos managed to give a Blessing to two of his subordinates, this is something that as a Demigod we are capable of doing, but he wasn''t supposed to get that with his current strength. I don''t know the result as his Authority got in the way of us feeling what the two girls became, at least immediately after his Authority was gone we were able to feel their Aura and realize what he did. I could accept the Priestess and the Heroine, now he has 3 Heroes in his service, which is of no use as they will be suppressed by his power level just like me. But now he''s broken all the rules, even without feeling it because of his Authority, I can understand what my eyes are seeing. Creating a Saint is something that would be impossible for a normal Demigod to do, even before being reborn I couldn''t create a Saint, that''s because it''s not just a matter of power, but of Authority itself. Me and my sisters are Demigods because of our mother''s power, if we can ascend to Goddesses we could create Saints, but to do that while still being an incomplete Demigod... "Wake up Elizabeth, you didn''t hear me!?" (Natasha) "No, what is it?" (I) "How did he do it? It should be impossible for a lot of reasons and you know it." (Natasha)Ne?ww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com "I don''t know... I need time to think..." (I) "You two are missing an important factor." (Caitlyn) "He has the energy of Chaos within him, it''s not just within him, it''s actually part of him down to the Soul." (Caitlyn) "..." (I) "(Caitlyn is right, Chaos is imbalance, its function is to break restrictions, but that alone wouldn''t explain unless...)" (I) I finally understand, the Ceremony of Awakening fulfills and the Temple itself fulfills some of the requirements, there are also thousands of people in the Dungeon who put their faith in it, even if the numbers are too small for now. Pov Zenos: I didn''t know what was happening, I know I was facing a landscape like my Coat of Arms, but my body was that of a small Leech, the Dragon like my Astral Body flies until it has its big head in front of me, comparing my size to his would be comparing the size of an ant to the size of an airplane. Before the Dragon blocked my view it looked like there were 5 shadows next to the throne, but I didn''t get a chance to get a better look and the next thing I see are cracks as everything around me breaks. The next thing I see is that red forest where I was born, I was back in that hut I built together with the girls, it was night and I was lying on top of the roof of the hut. I looked up at the sky but immediately realized that it wasn''t the same starry sky I remembered, it was the replica of the starry sky inside me that my scales have, with the only constellation being a Dragon moving through the stars, just like a ellipse where there should only be the moon. "What''s happening to me?" (I) I tried to calm down, I knew I was inside my mind and everything I could see was fake, but I had to calm down to understand what was going on. After calming down and thinking for a while, it was easy to remember what happened, and with the memory came pain, and the next thing I knew I was opening my eyes on my bed inside my room in the mansion. I look around and see no one but rica sitting on the edge of the bed with a book on magic in her hand, so looking at her seems to get her attention when our eyes meet. "Looks like you woke up, how do you feel?" (rica) "I feel fine, how long have I been sleeping?" (I) "A few hours, the day just dawned 1 hour ago." (rica) "Was I really bad?" (I) "Before taking Lyra''s potions yes, but after that, it wasn''t so bad." (rica) "But you''re going to get bad again soon, your sisters seemed itching to talk to you and I don''t think it''s possible to hide from them." (rica) "..." (I) I looked at rica and it didn''t seem like a lie, so my sisters must be furious with me, but in their place, I would be the same if I had a brother as reckless as I was, I needed my Blessings not to die this time. Chapter 1029: Is This Still An Evolution? Part 1 Chapter 1029: Is This Still An Evolution? Part 1 Pov Caitlyn: After talking to Elizabeth I put away my Cushion and spread my wings flying as fast as possible out of this Dungeon while grabbing one of my little brother''s Familiars. "Stop resisting, we don''t have time for this, so just follow me." (I) "What''s going on? I should stay by the master''s side now..." (Nix) "He''s in Natasha''s hands so he''ll be fine, we have other things we''d better do now." (I) With our speed and the help of Fairy Layla who saw my movements and made a portal to the entrance of this floor, thanks to that I was able to leave the city much faster, but that means that she heard what I was talking to Elizabeth, that little meddler. When we leave the Dungeon I make everyone who was still outside enter while the Saints leave accompanied by Elizabeth, then I tell the Dragon Spirit to close the Dungeon gate. "I still don''t understand what all this has to do with the master." (Nix) "His next evolution is close, that''s the problem." (I) "But why make everyone go back inside while the Saints were forced out?" (Nix) "I don''t understand having to move the Dungeon either." (Nix) "You must have seen several evolutions of Zenos, how was each one?" (I) "Normal at first, but it was easy to see that each new evolution was more explosive... to say the least." (Nix) "This is quite normal for 2 reasons, the first being that he is an Outsider, his Soul, and body were not in perfect sync at the beginning, which in turn caused his Evolution to be a more complicated process." (I) What I don''t tell her is that this Outsiders problem resolves itself in the first or second evolution, now it looks like my little brother has gotten over it at least, but I don''t understand what our mother was doing to drag this problem out for so long. "But the second reason is his identity as a Demigod, he has this potential within him since birth, and this makes his evolutions different from normal ones, it''s not only a process of qualitative transformation for him, but also a process of awakening the potential that you already own." (I) "I don''t think her Evolution will generate enough Chaos energy to be of any use to you." (I) "At this point, I accept any help." (Elly) Ellyana seems to be already choosing her successor, apparently, she hasn''t been able to let go of her hatred. "Good luck with your future mate." (I) "Take care of Freya, Chaos energy can have an effect on her if not able to control it." (Elly) "I will see what I can do." (I) I go back inside the Dungeon, this time I''m lying on my Pillow since I finished my sister duties. -------------- POV Soldier of Light: I was faced with the new armor I received today upon being accepted as my platoon Captain, but it came with responsibilities. Today I was in a strategic meeting in the midst of hundreds of other platoon captains listening to the commanders and generals discussing, as a captain I cannot say anything in this meeting and when I listen, I can only speak when appointed to Kim to speak by superiors. Today we were discussing about the war against the Demons, it seems that we are going to start a massive attack on 8 different points, but I didn''t understand very well what the superiors said, it makes it seem that our strongest warriors will not participate in the combat and it seems that they do not expect the same from the Demons. But something changed when a man with horns entered the meeting hall, even though he had horns, no one treated him like a demon, that''s why his holy presence silenced everyone, some of the commanders even got on their knees to receive him. It took me a while to understand who he might be, but all I could think of is that he must be a member of the Dragons of Light, beings who have cast aside their race and given themselves over to the path of justice for the sake of peace. It reminds me of the Commander of my old squadron, he had as a companion a Dragon of Light who fought by his side, but he died to those Demons because of those countries that spoke against the war, but sided with the Demons. "(This time we''re going to end these damned Demons!)" (I) Chapter 1030: Is This Still An Evolution? Part 2 Chapter 1030: Is This Still An Evolution? Part 2 When I woke up I found rica who was smiling at me, but soon he gave me a brief explanation of what happened, then the door opened revealing the Ibuki comet that broke some of my bones when it threw itself at me. It seems that Diana was taking care of her own training and would not come now, Freya who brought me some food exiled that they were taking turns, that''s when I heard that Kira was here before rica. rica explains to me about my sisters and tells me that it has been decided that I will be punished one way or another at a later date for what has been described as an act of idiotic suicide. I''d like to say it was all planned, but I''d be lying, I was fully aware of the risks, I just didn''t think it would happen so quickly. I had mana, blood and recovery potions with me during Alice''s Awakening Ceremony, I thought that whatever was going to happen would still have enough time for me to take some action, I never thought that I could die from draining my vitality in a single instant without even realizing what happened. My Blessings saved my life this time, it gave me precious time that allowed me to use some of what I was saving, I think I should be more aware that I won''t always have time to act. After everyone left I stand up and try to see how my body is, I don''t feel anything bad with my body, but my mind was still a little slow, maybe it''s because of what happened. Sigh "Should I do this today? What do you think?" (I) "Are you asking me?" (Klaus?) Suddenly he comes out of the shadow of the bookcase, I look into his eyes, they are calm and serious, other than that he is wearing his usual clothes, but I don''t see a Shadow Familiar. "How did you discover me?" (Klaus?) "I didn''t know where you were, but it wasn''t hard to tell when someone was looking so intently at me." (I) "So what do you think of my previous question? Should I evolve today?" (I) "It will depend on your conditions, but your body seems to be fine and it seems like it can talk, so don''t delay too much, people seem to be getting anxious out of concern because of you." (Klaus?)Alll latest novels at novelhall.com "You must be right, my sisters said something similar." (I) Sigh Maybe if I get more rest today during the day, I can get my mind right at night, I don''t want to delay this any longer. "I don''t know if I should do this here or at the Communal Temple." (I) "It can''t be here as usual, master." (Orion) "I don''t think so, the Temple would be safer for him and everyone else." (Ragnar) "We''re also going to have to stick around." (Sakura) "This time it won''t just be a matter of his Aura and normal powers, he has his Authority and Holy Power." (Sakura) "I thought the same thing, using these things while evolving is a possibility." (Ragnar) I couldn''t deny it, I don''t know how my previous evolutions were beyond the reports I heard from others, but the explosion of my Aura and my energies seems to happen with some frequency. "Your sisters said they want to do this at the Communal Temple, that place will help contain your Holy Power if it gets out of control." (Layla) "You''re right, could you let the others know?" (I) "I''ll ask the other Fairies to do it." (Layla) After that I ate something and flew to the Communal Temple, I found my sisters waiting for me. I talk to my sisters and then my wives before I finish talking to my children, I never know how long my evolutions take, it could be minutes or days. After talking to everyone I enter and walk to the statues of the Gods in the main hall, I focus on my knees before the statue of each of those who have a Blessing to thank for protecting my life at Alice''s Awakening Ceremony. After that I''ll take a look at the Blood pool, it looks like the pool is fuller than before and it looks like it''s still just my blood, but I didn''t know when they did that. "Sleep well..." (I) I look at the five that were still there one last time before going to the room on the floor above this hall, I lay down on the bed and my Familiars all stand by, so I sit on the bed with my legs crossed meditating to integrate the EXP accumulated so far, when I started to integrate into that experience my body''s energies were agitated, but that was because I broke the temporary growth barrier I made for myself. Sigh "Now all that''s left is sleep." (I) Chapter 1031: Is This Still An Evolution? Part 3 Chapter 1031: Is This Still An Evolution? Part 3 It wasn''t easy to go to sleep being very anxious and nervous, many things started to cross my mind, but after a few minutes I managed to do the same as I did in my childhood, I kept thinking about looking at a blank wall until I fell asleep out of sheer boredom. Zzzzzzzz... Zzzzzzz... Zzzzz... Ding! ------------- Pov Vanessa: I was standing inside the Common Temple outside the main hall when my daughter came up to me. "You shouldn''t be this close." (Lilian) "Don''t be scared, nobody''s going to get hurt." (I) "But even so, we don''t know what might happen." (Lilian) "But I know what will happen, my Dad will make a spectacle of himself again and wake up with another absurd thing on his list of things that define him." (I) "Besides, it''s already started..." (I) "Like this?" (Lilian) "I can feel my blood bubbling as it rushes through my body much faster than normal, I also feel the growth barrier cracking." (I) I realize now that it won''t be as simple as the other time, I can''t stay here. Sigh "I''m going to my room, I''m sure my brothers will do the same." (I) "Let me take care of the rest." (Lilian) I start walking towards the stairs, I go up to my room and wait there, I don''t know when my growth barrier will break or if I will have any control over my evolution when the barrier is gone, so I will stay in my room until then. ------------- Pov Elizabeth: I was at a lake in the middle of the forest looking up where the Spirits and Fairies were moving around differently than usual. "Looks like it started." (Natasha) "Yes, it looks like many are being affected." (Caitlyn) "No surprise, we are also being affected." (I) I can feel my blood reacting and the power within my body pulsing more and more, our brother may have been able to help us with these bodies, but he also limits our true power. "What are those affected doing?" (I) "Going into their rooms, it''s mostly their children and those very connected to them." (Caitlyn)Ne?ww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com "It''s going to be interesting, even the Fairies and Spirits are reacting." (Natasha) It didn''t take long for me to feel that presence beneath me once more, but this time I knew who it was when I heard the voice. "(Do you accept my Gift, Servant of Zenos?)" (Goddess Kalistos) "I am honored by your gift, thank you my Goddess." (I) "(So today awaken fully as the one who brings the end of all life, my new Champion.)" (Goddess Kalistos) Ding! ----------------- Pov Zenos: Zzzzzzz... Zzzzzzz... Zzzzz... <[ "REQUIREMENTS FOR EVOLUTION FULFILLED" ]> . . . <[ "ANALYZING POSSIBILITIES FOR EVOLUTION" ]> . . <[ ANALYZING TITLES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING WORKS ]> . . <[ ANALYZING LINEAGES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING ABILITIES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING BLESSINGS ]> Ding! Chapter 1032: Is This Still An Evolution? Part 4 Chapter 1032: Is This Still An Evolution? Part 4 I don''t know when it started, but I was in the orphanage where I grew up in my previous life, and from the point of view it looks like I''m a child again, I even look at my hands which were a little small for a teenager. It wasn''t hard to realize that I was dreaming of my memories of my old world. I got up from the bunk bed I shared with another younger child, I slept on the bottom bunk because of my weak body, and because of that I bumped my head on many occasions on the top bunk. Because of this, as I was getting out of bed I was very careful not to bump my head. I look into the room where a second bunk bed is next to a table and two closets, other than that there''s only a mirror and the window that faces the street. I was alone in the room and it was night, but even so, the dim light from the streetlight in front of the building lit up the room a little, so I go to the window where I don''t see anything, it was as if there was only this streetlight outside, everything most seemed immersed in darkness and could not see the moon in the sky, all that was there were stars of different colors shining much brighter than would be possible for anyone who saw it in a city. I turn around and go to the mirror, the truth is that I had a concern since my first day in this world, something that was not a problem for my daily life, but was always a doubt when remembering the past. Sigh "Just as I thought..." (I) I was in front of the mirror seeing my reflection, or at least that was my intention, but my face was blurred, I couldn''t remember what I looked like at that time, in fact, I can''t even remember my name, that''s since the first day of this world. "Forget the past, will you?" (I) I look around, this dark room lit only by the light coming from the window looks like a horror movie set or at least the scene where they find the corpse in a crime movie. "The younger kids were always scared, I remember when I was younger I would always go to the bathroom turning on all the lights along the way." (I) Nowadays I am no longer afraid of the dark, I look in the mirror one last time and see my current appearance, I have already resigned myself to this childish appearance, but I cannot get used to my face, I would like at least some more masculine feature. I turn and walk to the door, hallways empty as usual, hallway light always flickering, electrical fault that took years to fix, remember I used my first 4 paychecks to fix this exactly. "Is that all you brought me here for?" (I?) "I didn''t bring you here, did I?" (I) "..." (I?) "Sorry, I didn''t mean to, but it was kind of weird walking around in that place when it was so empty, normally it was endless noise." (I) "Just stick with what you''ve decided, I''ll be waiting to see how long you can stick with your decision." (I?) I look at the darkness, it was unnerving in a way since I couldn''t tell if there was something ahead or if there was at least the ground below, but I don''t even hesitate as I take a step forward causing the darkness itself to crystallize under my feet forming a way, so I stop to speak without looking back. "I will change for sure, we all change with the passage of time, but my decision will always be the same because no matter how much we change on the outside, on the inside we will always be the same." (I) I''m not sure if I said it to him or to myself, after all, he''s a part of me, but after that, I kept walking, I didn''t look back even once, but I could hear more and more footsteps behind me following from close, then I came across a large wall that looked like a crystal wall. I looked up and couldn''t see an end to it, I looked left and right with the same feeling of seeing a way forward. "Just create a path." (I) With my current strength, breaking large chunks of stone with one punch was nothing, so I kept advancing, interspersing a punch and then two steps. I don''t know how long I did it, but I didn''t get tired of it, that''s because this wasn''t a real place, I was in some kind of trance because of my evolution, I knew that, but I still had nothing else to do with it anyway. I kept walking without caring about the time, until I had passed this big crystal mountain, when I looked at my hands they were transformed into their Dragon form, I don''t know how long it was like that, but I didn''t care. I kept walking and without noticing the darkness was being replaced by stars that lit up one by one with my every step, soon all the darkness had become the starry sky that I was only able to see in the sky earlier. After looking up I looked at the ground and noticed the blood at my feet, so I kept walking while I felt those behind me move to my sides, but even so, I didn''t look at them, I just continued walking to where a Dragon colossal opened one of his eyes to me making everything disappear. Chapter 1033: Is This Still An Evolution? Part 5 Chapter 1033: Is This Still An Evolution? Part 5 Pov Irina: I was isolated together with my brother in the Training Camp when the waves of Aura and Authority started to sweep everything around, we didn''t have time to go elsewhere, so I asked Sophia to take everyone away. My whole body was on fire from the inside out as the blood in my veins seemed to be bubbling, my own heart was beating so fast it felt like it would explode at any moment. CRACK I looked at my brother he seemed to be going through the same pain, he was empty clenching his teeth as he fell sprawled to the ground, and before I could do anything I felt something break inside me as a wave of energy exploded inside me making my conscience fails before everything goes dark. pd |, Ding! ------------ I don''t know what happened next, my mind was confused and I felt a lot of energy coursing through my body aimlessly. I was in total darkness, I couldn''t see, hear or understand anything around me, I didn''t know if I was standing or lying down, and I didn''t even know how to differentiate what was below or above. I wasn''t able to understand anything or do anything, I didn''t even know if I was moving or not. I don''t know how long I remained like this when even my sense of time was affected by the darkness, it could have been seconds or days, but at some point, for the first time, I felt something other than my own thoughts, at first it was so faint as to be imperceptible if it weren''t for this place with nothing that could distract me from this feeling. Soon I realized that this presence was approaching and that it was very comforting to me, it didn''t take long to know whose presence it was and shortly afterwards I saw something emerge from the total darkness, at first it was just a slight glow that stood out in this complete darkness. "Nix!!!" (Layla) "I know!!!" (I) "Take care of the master!!!" (I) I look at Layla and she opens 2 portals, she enters one without warning, and seeing this I enter the other leaving the portal behind me to fall apart. I returned to the waterfall where my Cradle of Spirits is centered and I reverted to my Dragon form as I threw myself into the waters of the lake below the waterfall. Layla must have voted for the mansion where her Cradle of Fairies is located, for our Evolution the most important thing is to be connected with these power points. Layla and I are strongly connected to this place, and evolving away from these places is now dangerous for both us and our little followers. "Madam!!" "Miss..." "Take care of the master..." (I) I saw the older Spirits approaching me with worried expressions, but I didn''t have time to finish my sentence when my conscience went numb and my eyes closed. Ding! Chapter 1034: Is This Still An Evolution? Part 6 Chapter 1034: Is This Still An Evolution? Part 6 The next thing I remember was lying on a large stylized black crystal throne, the throne was big enough for me to lie on it and still have room for several people, it felt like the throne for a giant. I couldn''t move to look at the surroundings but I was looking up where there was a starry sky with an eclipse right above me, the Dragon that seems to be made out of the starry sky itself was flying in circles with the eclipse in the middle with its tail close to its jaws. I felt my heart beating faster and stronger until I noticed that the Eclipse itself above me was pulsing in time with my heart. I didn''t know what was going on, but these days not knowing what''s going on is everyday for me, soon my eyes got heavy and when I closed my eyes that''s when it happened. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ "REQUIREMENTS FOR EVOLUTION FULFILLED" ]> . . . <[ "ANALYZING POSSIBILITIES FOR EVOLUTION" ]> . . <[ ANALYZING TITLES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING WORKS ]> . . <[ ANALYZING LINEAGES ]> . .Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com <[ ANALYZING ABILITIES ]> . . <[ ANALYZING BLESSINGS ]> . . . . . . . Ding! . . . . . <[ "EVOLUTION COMPLETED" ]> As soon as I chose I felt something inside me awaken and my body started to shake, my consciousness was decreasing more and more until I fell into a deep sleep once more. -------------- Pov Ragnar: I wasn''t even able to maintain my humanoid form, being so close to these pulses of holy energy, Authority, and Aura was bad enough being so close to my own Evolution, but now my own power within me is resonating with the power of the teacher. "Sakura, we won''t be able to take it..." (I) "I know, Hinata can''t stand it anymore and Orion will lose consciousness the moment he can''t maintain his concentration." (Sakura) "Orion has a strong connection to the master''s blood, it must be much worse for him." (I) "I don''t think any of us will be able to maintain consciousness, the master is safe here at least." (Sakura) "You can rest Orion..." (Sakura) With Sakura''s soft words, the Orion C lays aside as its body dissolves into pure blood that coalesces into a floating orb of blood. "Someone should at least watch over the master." (I) "But there are already a lot of people watching I''m sure." (Sakura) Sakura was leaning on the Goddess of Life statue to keep herself upright as she looked at the other statues of the various Gods, so she landed in a sitting position still leaning against the statue as her eyes closed. "I see, I hope everything goes well..." (I) I myself surrender to unconsciousness to begin my evolution. ------------- Pov Natasha: I was putting my clothes back on, the worst part has passed a few seconds ago, Zenos'' Holy Power explosion caused a resonance with the three of us making our Holy Powers also explode. With that resolved, nothing else should happen that makes us lose control, fortunately, most of our Holy Power was absorbed by Silvia. She suddenly reverted to her Dragon form and her body had several branches growing up to hide her head among the branches. Her body was immobile looking like a strangely shaped tree with bark in the form of large scales, while her claws took root in the ground and her wings were covered in flowers while stretched out, it was an interesting sight. Silvia absorbed all our excess Holy Power and more the power of my little brother that got here, this only made its branches grow more, and its crystal leaves shine in the colors of the rainbow. "Should we keep an eye out?" (I) "No, we wouldn''t be able to interfere if something went wrong anyway, so let it all take its course." (Elizabeth) "It''s actually not that bad, it seems like a lot of his surplus power is being sent to others, so maybe the World Tree''s help isn''t necessary..." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) "Can this still be considered an evolution?" (Caitlyn) Chapter 1035: Finding Mother Again Chapter 1035: Finding Mother Again Pov Yara (High Priestess of Life): I was sitting in the town square, this is the place that has received the most renovations in this city, there was once a statue, a fountain, a tree, a garden and a lot of other things, but now it''s a mixture of all of these. It has a beautiful big tree in the center with benches around it and lake gardens behind the benches along with waterways a little in front of the benches that run through the gardens into small pools in the middle of the gardens. "This place is very nice, don''t you think?" (I) "Yes, but how can you act so carefree when this is happening!?" (Lorraine) I look in the direction Lorraine pointed, that''s where the Communal Temple Zenos is using to evolve is. Since a few hours ago it was emanating waves of Aura and Authority in all directions, as if that wasn''t shocking enough, it also started sending waves of Holy Power in all directions. Since all this energy comes from Zenos, it''s all being absorbed by the Dungeon with ease as it spreads throughout the Dungeon. I noticed that most of those energies are being sucked into two spots where two of Zenos''s Familiars should be, but that wasn''t surprising. What was absurd was the image in the sky now, it wasn''t the sky of this Dungeon, it was an image created mainly above the Communal Temple of a starry sky with a big Creature in the middle of the stars, it wasn''t very visible, but its presence was monumental. "Zenos is going far..." (I) "His Territory has already surpassed the level of an Area Territory, it''s already at the beginning levels of a Border Territory, not to mention that in the middle of the stars." (Lorraine) "What did you expect from the Evolution of a Child of the Blood Goddess?" (I) pd-| "I still remember that Natasha girl evolving from her Territory while in the middle of a War, it was really hard to keep her alive when her body was being ripped to pieces every few seconds." (I) "Be glad he isn''t making a massacre like Caitlyn did, poor girl, I was called to try to help those unlucky enough to survive the terrifying Territory she created in the midst of Evolution itself..." (I) As one gets older, memories come back to mind at the strangest of times, Zenos is doing something outrageous, but at least he conforms to his ever outrageous family. "You know he''s too young, how is he creating... wait, the Dungeon!?" (Lorraine) "Exactly, that''s a huge Advantage that only a Dungeon Master has, the Dungeon itself is a shortcut to mastering the use of Authority and Territory." (I) This whole place belongs to him, technically speaking we are out of the world, this whole place belongs to Zenos, he can mix his Aura with the surroundings without resistance and he doesn''t need to take control of an area to set up a Territory, this whole place is his to begin with, so he can move faster than others with it. "The only thing I''m surprised about is the Ascension he''s going through, I didn''t expect him to wake up so quickly." (I) "He''s not the only one, I can feel his sisters outside the city, their power levels are rising more and more, I also feel many entering Evolution right now as we speak." (Lorraine) "Zenos does a lot of Awakening Ceremonies, he has his advantages when it comes to increasing potential, but the disadvantages are being limited by their master." (I) "Look..." (Lorraine) "..." (I) I look up at the sky again, an eclipse has formed between the stars and the Star Covered Area has increased. It looks like Zenos is steadily entering the Border Territory level. ------------- Pov Zenos: I don''t know what was happening, I felt my whole body burning for an indeterminate amount of time, everything around me was darkness and endless stars. But at some point my eyes open and I stand up stretching my hand, it took me a few seconds to notice that I was still in the Communal Temple, I looked around and there was no one else around. I looked around realizing something else, the statues were gone, the statues of the various Gods had disappeared and only the statue of Goddess Selene was still in its place. "Something is wrong..." (I) I try to look at my hand and it''s the same as before, even my scales are the same and I can still feel something burning inside me, but that feeling seems far away. "The pool of blood... isn''t there either..." (I) I looked to a place a little further away, it was where the pool of my blood was with the 5 girls still waiting to wake up there. I get up and walk over to the Goddess statue, I could feel that many things weren''t right. "Thank you for having me once again, Goddess..." (I) "You should listen to your sisters and call me Mom." (Goddess Selene) "What gave me away? Was it the other statues? Was it the pool? Maybe it was the lack of your companions around you?" (Goddess Selene) "All those things, but mostly the fact that in all my evolutions I''ve run into you and it hasn''t happened yet." (I) The Goddess statue gains color and moves as she returns to normal to sit on the altar where the statue was enshrined. "Why try to trick me like that?" (I) "Your mother likes to mess people up." When I looked back there was a boy eating a meat skewer, he was dressed in simple leather clothes and looked to be around 15 years old by appearance. His glossy black hair shows a level of care an ordinary person wouldn''t, and his golden eyes are piercing as if he''s facing the teeth of a colossal beast. "I just wanted to put him in a comfortable place, I thought a picture of the Temple he built for us would be a good place." (Goddess Selene) "Now just say what you have to say, don''t try to keep your other appointment waiting, Akatosh." (Goddess Selene) "That wretched kid can call me as many times as he wants, it won''t help, what he did that day pisses me off to this day!" (Akatosh) "That''s why you sent her? You want to make him die?" (Goddess Selene) "Don''t make me dream, we both know she won''t interfere." (Akatosh) "..." (I) I didn''t understand what was going on, but it felt like I was in the presence of two Gods who are talking about something I don''t understand, but I still don''t know why I''m here or why they''re here with me. Chapter 1036: There Should Be A Limit To Hypocrisy Chapter 1036: There Should Be A Limit To Hypocrisy Pov Juliano (Founder of the Black Empire): I was facing the direction from which the Church of Light will march here, I was on top of the walls of the city of Fortaleza, which is being evacuated at the moment by orders of my descendant. "They are coming." (Arash) "Yes, the killing intent is so strong I can feel it from here." (I) The murderous intent of millions of people, this is the kind of thing that is expected of the Church of Light, is coming for the sole purpose of exterminating my race. "What happened?" (I) "Nothing, just something I had a hard time deciding." (Arash) Sigh Arash looked calm, the fury of knowing his enemy is alive hasn''t faded, but he knows the fight is inevitable at this point, as is my fight with the High Priest. But he seems conflicted about something, it must be serious to be thinking about it at a time like this. "How long until they arrive?" (Arash) "From what the explorers say, it should be about another 3 or 5 days." (I) "Looks like they''re not coming in full force." (Arash) "They don''t have to, as long as those two are with them, the fight won''t end." (I) "I called the Dragons to attack your Base when the fight starts, this is the best result for us." (Arash) Arash seems to be going along with the plan, but he still looks down on the Church of Light too much, they have the upper hand in many ways this time around. ----------- "All I did... was use my mind... and my power... to get rid of an... enemy!" (Rhaegal) Sigh I still hold his Soul, but I stopped causing him pain so I could listen to what he has to say, if he keeps talking like that I was wasting more of my time with this garbage. "Using my mind and influence that day only proves my strength." (Rhaegal) "The Dragon Emperor would choose someone who only had raw power and nothing else to lead us! He wouldn''t listen, so I showed him how unworthy Arash was of such a position!!" (Rhaegal) "Beautiful last ones, feathers I didn''t bother to listen to, but I''m sure they''re as useless as their existence." (I) I pull his Soul into Arash''s Divine Realm and grab him by the neck, he tries to transform into his true form thinking that size means something in front of a God. I the tip of his teeth and started swatting him back and forth, his body as big as this island, then I stopped on top of his head stepping with my feet while looking into one of his eyes that was as big as a big tub, he tried to move, but I put a little force on the step making his whole body creak as if it were going to break. "Let''s end your act of foolish pride now, for starters you don''t have a pride to keep, even among the Dragons of Light your name is a weight they have to carry." (I) I release him as he sees his human form, which I did didn''t do him much damage, there are others who wish him dead more than I do, and I wouldn''t want to interfere more than necessary. "Now speak at once why you''re here." (I) "It''s no use waiting for Akatosh and not even trying to get his attention, my being here is already a mercy for him." (I) Akatosh would likely extinguish his Soul without leaving room for speech, this piece of trash''s gratuitous and petty betrayal against his own race in such a cowardly manner is something that filled Akatosh with fury in a way I''ve never seen before. "..." (Rhaegal) "I came here to apologize for my son, he doesn''t need to be involved in all this." (Rhaegal) "Hahahahaha... I can''t stand it... hahahahaha... you... hahaha hahaha... I can''t even speak... hahahahaha..." (I) After a few minutes laughing I try to hold back my tears from laughing so hard, I spend a few more seconds taking deep breaths to calm myself down in an attempt not to start laughing again. "Come on, you can''t be serious, there must be a limit to hypocrisy." (I) Chapter 1037: I Chose My Path, But He Didnt Chapter 1037: I Chose My Path, But He Didn''t Pov Aine (Goddess of Fairies): As I stood before Rhaegal, the former True Dragon Emperor of Light, the traitor to his race and the most hated Dragon alive, I was hearing perhaps the biggest joke of my life. "Don''t be a hypocrite Rhaegal, you caused the death of Arash''s family and now you ask your family to be forgiven?" (I) "Your foolishness knows no bounds." (I) "Almost all of my family and my Dragon Priests were killed, but they all had the same goal as me, they made their choices along with me." (Rhaegal)Ne?ww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com "Even my followers didn''t all make the same choice, some chose to follow different paths from me thinking I was wrong." (Rhaegal) "Only those who chose to follow me joined me that day." (Rhaegal) "Which didn''t change much since because of you all the Dragons of Light were marginalized as traitors." (I) "You have brought over 4000 years of suffering to the Dragons of Light." (I) "I would still do the same thing again, I don''t regret the decisions I make Fairy Goddess, I only regret the decisions I don''t make." (Rhaegal) "My youngest son tried to stop me until the end, the path of strength he chose was different from the one I see." (Rhaegal) "I chose the path I''m on and I will walk it to the end wherever the end is." (Rhaegal) "But he didn''t make the same decision as me, in his eyes I may be nothing, I may even seem like someone without pride, but I don''t want my son to meet his end when he was the only one in my family to take a different path." (Rhaegal) A true hypocrite, his actions led to the death of many Fairies of Light and the removal of the Spirits of Light, but now he pleads for his son''s life. "Your joke isn''t funny anymore Rhaegal, your son will probably die by his actions, it may not be fair to him but it''s destined that you pinned him down." (I) "Don''t look for an opportunity to save your lineage, just by being your son your fate has been doomed." (I) "I knew this would be the answer, but it was still a decision I needed to make, it was something I owed my son." (Rhaegal) "I will help as I promised." (Akatosh) "For now let''s wait and see how it all unfolds..." (I) "Zenos has already gone back there, I''m also curious what it will be like from now on..." (Akatosh) ------------- Pov Elizabeth: I was walking around the city, people might not feel it, but every place emanates Holy power from him, this entire floor of the Dungeon has become holy ground. "Your Father went far this time..." (I) "He always goes the distance, but at least this time I managed to benefit a lot." (Nicole) "You will train with Caitlyn starting tomorrow." (I) "And before you think about refusing, know that she can make you sleep forever if you disobey, in other words, no more research ever..." (I) I came to talk to Nicole because the Children of Zenos awakened the Holy power because of the lineage they share with Zenos, not everyone awakened after these 5 days, but everyone will need training, even their Auras have changed a lot and there will be chances of awakening one or more characteristics of the Authority of Zenos. "Why do you all keep wasting my time...my research is going to stagnate like this." (Nicole) "Stop complaining, you are immortal, time is something we have plenty of." (I) Of all his daughters, this one is the worst, so much potential wasted being locked in one place for days. I''ll leave this useless existence with Caitlyn, meanwhile, I''ll take care of the Demon and the Priestess once they wake up, I''ll leave the sibling duo with Natasha, I think she''s thinking the same thing since she went to check on them. I look at the Communal Temple, it is no longer emitting its Aura, Authority, and power as it did before, even its territory has already disappeared happily, but in compensation what appeared inside the Communal Temple, just remembering it I can''t help but crack a smile. "(You will be so surprised little brother...)" (I) Chapter 1038: Am I Locked? Chapter 1038: Am I Locked? I didn''t know what was going on, I woke up in this copy of the interior of the Communal Temple because of the Goddess Selene, I already expected to find her, because I find her in all my Evolutions, but I didn''t expect to find the Dragon God Akatosh. The worst thing was that the two started talking about things that I don''t understand because I don''t know the context, I felt like a child being excluded from an adult conversation. "Just be careful Akatosh, Aine can be more violent than me." (Goddess Selene) "Believe me when I say this, no one can be more violent than you, me included." (God Akatosh) "..." (I) "(I who will not meddle in a conversation between Gods.)" (I) "I think we can start, we don''t have all the time in the world to explain things." (Goddess Selene) Suddenly the Goddess Selene waves her hand and everything is blurred, when I realize we were the 3 sitting at a table holding cups, I feel the aroma of coffee from my cup and drink enjoying the magnificent taste. "I think I''ll start the explanation." (God Akatosh)Ne?ww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com "Go ahead..." (Goddess Selene) "First let me congratulate you on achieving this Evolution boy, for a moment I thought you were going to burst into pieces." (God Akatosh) "Wait! Could I have died?" (I) "Of course, the only reason he stayed alive was the place where he chose to Evolve, if he had done that outside his Dungeon he would be dead by now." (Goddess Selene) "Let''s get into this later, first I must explain some things to you boy." (God Akatosh) God Akatosh wants to drop this subject after bringing up the fact that I could have died, but there''s no way I want to change the subject about it, in fact, I think I''m breaking out in a cold sweat now knowing I was close to death without even noticing. "I wasn''t planning on meeting you so soon, but now that you are becoming a King among Dragons at the same time as becoming the progenitor of a new race, I must show up." (God Akatosh) "Wait, wait just a second, what do you mean about Rei?" (I) "He does not know?" (God Akatosh) "He never knows." (Goddess Selene) "That''s one way to do it, but there are other ways, I''ll send an Oracle to your Dragon Priestess." (God Akatosh) "Now it''s my turn." (Goddess Selene) Before I knew it, I was sitting on a sofa with my head on the legs of the Goddess Selene as she ran her hands over my head, I could feel energy coursing through my entire body. "You''ve been doing well, but I''d like you to stop calling me Goddess all the time, call me Mom from now on or I can make you even more feminine if you know what I mean..." (Goddess Selene) For a second I put my hands between my legs just to check if there was still something there, I felt as if my heart would stop beating for a second with such a frightening threat. "I understand... mom..." (I) "Good boy, now let me talk about... it seems that time is up, what a shame..." (mother) "Wait what!?" (I) Suddenly I felt something pulling me away and I couldn''t resist when my vision went dark, so I suddenly got up and hit my head on something hard, I looked around and tried to look for a way out, but it seemed like I was trapped. -------------- Pov Selene (Goddess of Blood): "Looks like he disappeared..." (I) "The way you wanted it, you didn''t want to tell him from the start." (Akatosh) "This time it wasn''t urgent at all, an Oracle for my new Santa can solve that and I don''t need to spoil the surprise he will have when he wakes up." (I) "You seem very happy, well I''ll leave you to your things, it looks like the hassle is gone and I have things to decide." (Akatosh) I saw Akatosh simply break the space in front of him as he walked to leave, so I turned my eyes to my daughters. "How could I not be happy..." (I) My daughters have chosen different paths with only Elizabeth sticking to my path, but she only wants to be at my service, Natasha is all about combat and Caitlyn is the most carefree doing only what she wants. "I''ll be expecting my child..." (I) Chapter 1039: What The Fuck Is This!? Chapter 1039: What The Fuck Is This!? When I woke up I was inside something hard, even being able to see in the dark I wasn''t able to see anything, but I could feel various types of energy around me, my energies, but that didn''t matter now. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! I had to avoid the notifications now, my mind was still a little fuzzy but I know I''m stuck, I have to try and get out of here before anything else. I thought about trying to explode it with a punch but before doing that I remembered the energy surrounding me, and I tried to pay more attention to this energy that I could feel was mine, that''s when I realized that my body was absorbing this energy little by little. "But what''s going on here!?" (I) I couldn''t tell what that energy was, it seemed to belong to me, but it was different. I didn''t know what was going on, but I didn''t seem to be in any apparent danger, so I sat up on my legs and tried to clear my head. It only took me a few minutes to get my mind in order, then I remembered my encounter with the Gods, I also remembered my Evolution or what little I know about it. I tried to use my Aura to cross this prison and know where I was, but my Aura doesn''t go through, the walls seem to be made of something smooth, but just by the texture I can''t tell what that is. I kept thinking about just using brute force to get out, but before that, I decided to get rid of that energy first, since my body was absorbing it anyway, so we''ll do it faster. I sit cross-legged and place my hands on my knees before starting my meditation, spread my Aura all over this little prison, and start absorbing all this energy by sucking it into me. It was at this moment that I noticed that the more of this energy I sucked in, cracks appeared on the smooth surface of this prison, it made me suck in this energy even faster until there was no trace of this energy left behind. When I opened my eyes I could see cracks in every corner, I just pushed a little, and the prison that Nantes seemed so resistant crumbled into black dust. "That damn light..." (I) My vision was being blocked by the light which was like a punch in my eyes after coming out of that darkness, it took me a while to adjust my eyes to this brightness. It was then that I realized that I was inside the Communal Temple, I looked at my feet that were stepping on something soft, it was the bed where I had my evolution. sure my sisters..." (I) "They''ve been too busy training the others, you might have noticed there wasn''t anyone else here." (Vanessa) "Yes, I found it strange, especially Hinata who doesn''t leave my side." (I) "His Holy power and Authority is flowing much more to them now, they weren''t able to control their new powers well, but as their Familiars are they are still doing well." (Vanessa) "It''s my sisters who are worse off as well as Irius." (Vanessa) "What''s wrong with them?" (I) "Her Holy Power is running down her lineage to us, but as I am a Saint only the power of the Goddess Selene flows through me, but the same cannot be had on others." (Vanessa) "All evolved?" (I) "Yes." (Vanessa) It was listening to Vanessa that I remembered something and I turned back to where the pool is, I wanted to take a look and see if those 5 had already woken up, but before that, a mirror was placed in the front plug, I also noticed that there is a curtain that was not there before separating the area of the statues from the place where the pool of blood was. "You should at least check your appearance." (Vanessa) "I must say I''m fine..." (I) My red hair is still red, my eyes were the same color and my horns grew a lot, I took my clothes off again just to check, my body was very nice and fit, but it was far from the muscular body I wanted, another thing I confirmed was my height reaching 1.30 meters. I was so happy that my height had finally increased, but I didn''t have time to think about it knowing that Vanessa was trying to distract me, I put my clothes back on and started walking towards the curtains. That''s when I saw what was hidden on the other side, in the place where the pool of blood should have been there was only a black crystal statue with stars of light inside me, there wasn''t a drop of blood inside the pool and there was no sign of the girls. "But what is that statue!?" (I) Chapter 1040: Not Just A Dragon King Chapter 1040: Not Just A Dragon King When I walked through that curtain that was never there before and saw a statue of me made of Dark Crystal, I went crazy. "I think I must be tired, maybe I''m still sleeping, yes that must be it, I''m in the middle of a dream." (I) "It''s not a dream Father, that''s why I didn''t want to show it yet, I wanted you to be able to get used to the idea little by little." (Vanessa) "Idea? What idea?" (I) Vanessa looked at me a little confused before her expression lit up like she just realized something. "You still haven''t seen your notifications after evolving?" (Vanessa) "I didn''t have time, I woke up trapped in a dark place, and as soon as I freed myself I saw you." (I) "That explains your reaction" (Vanessa) "Please, don''t scare me like that, I don''t even want to hear about these notifications anymore..." (I) "..." (Vanessa) Vanessa looks at me and then at the statue before looking back at me. Sigh "You are not a God, Father" (Vanessa)Alll latest novels at novelhall.com Vanessa began to explain to me that the Statue formed from my blood in the pool and the presence of a Priestess of mine, me going through my evolution releasing large amounts of Holy Power so close was the catalyst that started the process. It seems that when the girls who were in the pool woke up from the Crystals, Cocoons, and Crystal Eggs where they were until now, they didn''t fall apart, they started to pull more of Kinshasa Energy, Aura, Holy Power, and Authority that it was already releasing to all sides, the blood and the crystal fragments were sucked forming this statue of mine. "I think you better remember your identity, you are a Demigod." (Vanessa) "It seems that your sisters also have statues and from what they say it is proof of your awakening as a Demigod." (Vanessa) "(If I remember correctly my race was characterized as being Demigod, in fact, all race options were like that, maybe it wasn''t because of the race itself but because of me.)" (I) I look up at the eight-foot-tall statue made of black crystal that seems to reflect the starry sky. The statue was my current appearance with the wings and tails very apparent while I am standing wearing a simple outfit, there was also a Dragon circling my body and having its head above mine, it was the same as my Astral Body. One detail I noticed was my Coat of Arms that I saw during the Awakening Ceremonies marked on the Dragon''s head of the statue, I also noticed that there were 6 stars of different colors shining inside the statue. I wanted to understand more about the statue so I approached, I touched the statue, and the stars on it started to shine, so I can feel myself inside the statue. I could feel my Aura, my Authority and my Holy Power inside the statue. "..." (I) I was very confused about this so I just turn around and walk out of this place, I follow Vanessa silently into one of the rooms of the Temple Communal. Vanessa asked one of the other Priests who take care of the Communal Temple to warn the others, she didn''t notice the Fairies and Spirits that were nearby running in the same direction after they saw me. "I''d like to talk to you more, but I think you need to understand things better first." (Vanessa) I nod at her and start reading the notifications, I skipped everything about the Evolved Skills because there were too many I left it for later and just focused on the new stuff. Ding! Ding! Ding! <[ Your Evolution Completed ]> . . . <[ You have fully awakened your true dragon bloodline ]> . . . . <[ The Unique Skills [ Blood Eclipse Dragon King Authority ] and [ Blood Eclipse Demigod Authority ] spontaneously merge together awakening the Transcendent Skill [ Blood Eclipse Dragon Demigod Authority ] ]> . . . <[ Your Aura Skills were all synthesized during Incubation after Evolution and merged back into the owner ]> . . <[ You Awakened the Transcendent Skill [ Chaotic Blood Eclipse Aura ] ]> . . . <[ It has been detected that your current container does not support Transcendent power and therefore all related Skills will be partially sealed ]> "..." (I) Sigh "Let''s just pretend I didn''t see anything, that''s right, nothing just happened, I''m just an ordinary Dragon King out there." (I) "Father, what are you..." (Vanessa) "Forget!" (I) "I think we were talking about the weather, weren''t we?" (I) "Seems like such a nice time..." (I) "..." (I) ------------ Pov Elizabeth: I was with my sisters talking about the group training sprawled on the floor. "The Familiars are doing better, especially the Dragon Spirit, just as we thought it would." (I) "She is a Familiar just like the others, but she is also the Core of the Dungeon, her connection to Zenos is greater." (Natasha) "Zzzzz..." (Caitlyn) "How''s her Territory doing?" (Natasha) "Worse than I thought, it seems your identity as the Dungeon Core is proving to be a hindrance to your training." (I) "Zzzzzz... Zzzzzzz..." (Caitlyn) "At least it seems possible." (Natasha) "Maybe Zenos can help with that... wake up soon and stop relaxing!" (I) I punch this irresponsible girl sleeping in the head without even paying attention to the conversation, but my punch hits her floating pillow which absorbs all the impact of my blow as my arm sinks into it. "What''s wrong with a nap?" (Caitlyn) "Looks like we have news..." (I) I look at the Fairies and Spirits coming towards us like a cloud. Chapter 1041: Armies Face To Face Chapter 1041: Armies Face To Face Pov Julius (Black Emperor): This whole situation is going worse than I imagined, because of the War against the Church of Light, old wounds that were slowly being only in the history books are coming back. Reports of discrimination against Humans are rising every day, with rumors of the great battle leaking from army troops to the citizens of the Black Empire, information about our allies not sending reinforcements to what could be the worst battle has been spread to all, and like any rumor, every day the truth is distorted more and more, moving away from the truth, there are even stories that our allies joined with the Church of Light to attack us. "Sir, if I may." (Mayara) "Come in, how are the troops?" (I) "They''re doing well, but the weather is worse than you thought." (Mayara) "Was it the rumors?" (I) "For some maybe yes, but most of them know better than to believe rumours." (Mayara) "What is causing the growing hatred of the troops seems to be the War itself, at this point everyone already knows someone who died in the previous battles and there are many among them who saw Humans killing their comrades, even if it was a war, for them... " (Mayara) "I know, this is what I feared..." (I) Hatred and bloodlust are feelings that are difficult for Demons to resist, all this negative feeling can boost our troops during tomorrow''s battle, but it will come with a price sooner or later. "Lord, is it really that bad?" (Mayara) "You''re still young, Mayara." (I) "You are under 50 and have lived your entire life in what may be the most peaceful period in our Empire." (I) "We are Demons, it''s our instinct to give ourselves over to our emotions and desires, but it''s our pride to know where to direct it to be able to stand on our feet with our pride." (I) "But the problem is that hatred doesn''t have many places where it can be useful, what will happen when the war happens? Will the Demons forget their hatred for Humans?" (I) "Even worse, with the large numbers of our army this hatred will accumulate in one place full of mana due to the number of people together in the same place." (I) "That hatred and Mana during battle, where there are sure to be spells and abilities flying from every corner, all that hatred and mana will turn into miasma." (I) The worst possible outcome would be for this miasma to come together to form a Cursed Dungeon, this would result in a Monster Wave that could destroy any organization and military strategy we make. "In the past they were successful, but today everyone can see the lies that the light hides!" (I) "Look behind me, the city you are seeing is not what we are defending here today!" (I) "Look at the approaching enemy, it is not his death we seek today!" (I) "Now look at yourselves, the reason we fight today is so that those who come after us don''t have to fight just because they are Demons!!" (I) "Today we fight for the pride that keeps us standing, for those who fell before getting here and for those who are yet to be born!!!" (I) "So fight by my side, fight without taking a step back, and show that our pride will not be shaken even in death!!!!" (I) "FOR OUR PRIDE!!!" "FOR THE BLACK EMPIRE!!!" "FOR OUR PRIDE!!!" "FOR THE BLACK EMPIRE!!!" "FOR OUR PRIDE!!!" "FOR THE BLACK EMPIRE!!!" "FOR OUR PRIDE!!!" "FOR THE BLACK EMPIRE!!!" I can''t say how much of that hatred I was able to suppress or redirect towards the Church of Light and not the Human Race. "(Now we''ll see what their next move will be.)" (I) In a few tens of minutes the Army of Light was facing my army, their murderous intent apparent even from a distance, now that they were close I could see to my satisfaction that we are on the same level. Everyone gets into a fighting stance on both sides as the killing intent of the two sides collide I pull my sword out to get it in hand but before I start I look to the spot where I felt the collision of power the day before. "(Today let''s put an end to all this...)" (I) Chapter 1042: Great Leap Of Power Chapter 1042: Great Leap Of Power There were some problems when I tried to leave the Communal Temple, though I tried to run from there to avoid the subject of changes in my body. I had tried to change the subject and even brought up a pointless subject like the weather, but Vanessa kept trying to look at me with those judgmental eyes for dodging the subject like a child. So I made the mature and responsible decision, I ran from there as fast as I could, jumping out the window, and that''s when the problems started. When I jumped out of the window I used so much force that I destroyed the window along with part of the house on the other side of the square, I crossed the house head first stopping two houses later and without a single scratch. I wasn''t understanding at all, but that wasn''t because of the destruction I caused, I was confused by the absurd amount of power coursing through my body, I could feel much more power coursing through my body than I had ever felt before. But that didn''t make me happy, quite the contrary, I was terrified, I could feel some of that power flowing out of my body and even my Aura was very different, I couldn''t control my own power and I was in the middle of a crowded city of innocent people he was supposed to lead. That''s when Lorraine appeared holding my shoulder as she pulled me away using a spatial portal that just opened and closed behind us. When I realized I was outside the Dungeon and I was thrown into a chair made of wood and crystals. "Can you take care of him?" (Lorraine) "Yes, but my help is limited, he must do things for himself." (Elly) "But I can at least hide his presence and harmonize his power when it gets out of control, but the effect is temporary, he must do things for himself." (Elly) "Can someone explain to me what''s going on?" (I) I didn''t understand at all when the Fairy Empress appeared out of nowhere beside me, but I was still relieved to leave the city, my biggest fear was accidentally hurting the townspeople. But I didn''t understand why she took me straight out of the Dungeon, I also didn''t understand how she walked straight out of the Dungeon without using the Dungeon gate or the Fairy Gate. Not to mention that she threw me right into this weird wooden chair with different colored crystals. "Why can''t I move?" (I) "You seem calmer than I expected." (Elly) "I''m not calm at all, if I could I would possibly be sinking my fist into each one''s face before asking any questions." (I) "As expected of a Blood Demigod, violence before questions." (Lorraine) "I think he''s very calm, at his age Natasha would have attacked even knowing she would lose and wouldn''t listen to a word." (Elly) "I would appreciate it if you could answer my question, as I imagine it wasn''t meant to do me any harm, after all, I just helped your Elves, am I right?" (I) "Young people are very impatient" (Elly) "Well that must have felt almost like torture, I can understand the murderous intent in his eyes." (Lorraine) I try to calm down even more to suppress my killing intent, even if I tried a thousand times I would lose every time against these two, even with the help of my sisters and everyone inside the Dungeon the result would not change, one of the reasons is my sisters being limited by me while the other reason being these two being on a scale of power I can''t comprehend. "I''ll keep it simple since you seem to want a straight answer and not an explanation of the details." (Elly) "You weren''t prepared to control your power after Evolution, so we did it for you before something disastrous could happen." (Elly) "After something like what happened during your Evolution, we expected something like this to happen." (Lorraine) "..." (I) I look at my hand and try to feel the power inside my body, it''s really flowing easier and I''m managing to control it better than before, even my Aura isn''t as bad to control as it was before inside the Dungeon. "(So much power...)" (I) Now that I was a little more in control, I was able to feel the power within me much better than before. "(This power is far beyond what you could imagine... with just one Evolution...)" (I) Chapter 1043: Jumping Power Ranks Chapter 1043: Jumping Power Ranks I lost myself for a few seconds in the feeling of power coursing through my body, the feeling of power was almost intoxicating. "I imagine that so much power must be incredible, you must be feeling invincible and full of desire to use your power, but these are just illusions created by the great leap in power you went through before and after evolution." (Lorraine) "You jumped from a Power Level of Higher Catastrophe Grade and could max out to the limit of Lower Lord Grade when using all your power." (Lorraine)Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com "But now you''re at the Superior King Grade, you''ve skipped 7 power ranks at once, you''re at the top Gold Grade Adventurer level considering just raw power." (Lorraine) Superior Catastrophe Grade > Lesser Lord Grade > Lord Grade > Superior Lord Grade > Lesser King Grade > King Grade > Superior King Grade "I''m sure you know this isn''t your full potential, I felt higher levels of power but your current body wouldn''t be able to withstand the levels of power I felt." (Elly) "When someone Evolves normally they go up 1 level in the power rating, that alone requires some adaptation time for the person to be able to control the new body and the new power, I''m sure you must have gone through this more than once for what my sisters told." (Elly) "But in rare cases, there are those who by a series of coincidences or special situations increase 2 or 3 ranks of power at once during evolution." (Elly) While they were explaining I stayed quiet because I was starting to understand where they wanted to go, I also remember the feeling of loss of control that I was starting to feel inside the Dungeon. "Someone who jumps 3 power ranks might end up getting hurt due to being unable to control their own power, almost every major city on this continent has safety protocols on what to do in these situations, in most cases it is the responsibility of the Adventurer''s Guild already who are most often responsible. (Elly) "I''ve seen a Rune Mage evolve into an Ancestral Rune Witch because the Fairy she had a Contract with became a Fairy King." (Lorraine) "The result was not only the lack of control of her own power, she went mad from the amount of power and mana in her body being more than (10) what she had previously, her mind was lost by the euphoria of power leading to her near death along with an entire city if not for her Fairy holding her back with everything she had." (Lorraine) "Can you explain to me what you did with that chair?" (I) "This chair was made with parts of my body, I used it to circulate your energy from you to my body before returning to you, redoing this cycle several times your energies and Aura were harmonized which facilitates control, at least temporarily." (Elly) "How much time?" (I) "In a case similar to yours but with another individual probably half a month, but being you it should last up to 4 days max." (Elly) "Your chaos energy interferes a lot with your power, in normal situations, it doesn''t matter, you can control it naturally and you''re used to it, but in the current circumstances it becomes a very big problem." (Lorraine) --------------- I spent a few hours with the World Tree Spirit and the Fairy Empress, both of them ran some tests on me, which meant poking me with magic things I didn''t know and using weird spells. After my current state was confirmed, I headed back to the Dungeon or at least that was the plan, but Lorraine advised against it, my power outage is expected to happen in a few days but you never know if it could end up happening sooner. Lorraine advises me not to leave the World Tree until I am able to fully control myself, neither of them will help me with that, Lorraine seems to be busy with something while Elly is tending to the new White Elf Queen. Because the two were busy I decided to ask my sisters for help, but before I could call them, I was surprised to see the 3 coming out of the Dungeon Gate not far from where I was. I could feel their power being at a totally different level than before, but their appearance was the same, I can''t say if they evolved or not, their power increase cannot be explained by normal evolution alone. The three have smiles on their faces as they approach me, I explain the situation to them while asking them to teach me how to control my power, then they talk about the others who were receiving training from them for the same reasons. Chapter 1044: Blood Eclipses Familiars Chapter 1044: Blood Eclipse''s Familiars As soon as my sisters got close to me I could feel their Auras probing my body, their Auras were different than before, it wasn''t just stronger, it was at a level without comparison to before.Ne?ww chapters will be fully updated at novelhall.com "Hahahahaha... you did it this time, you little bastard." (Natasha) "Thanks for taking care of him Elly, good luck with your new chosen one." (Elizabeth) "Don''t make a fuss." Natasha just laughs as she slaps me on the back so hard it feels like my lungs are going to shoot out of my body. Elizabeth looks up at the World Tree and speaks as if Elly were present here, but even so, she gets an answer, the petals of the nearby flowers come together to form a sentence in the air. "She knows everything that goes on on this island, keep that in mind." (Elizabeth) "Stop playing teacher." (Caitlyn) "Look, I hope you''re grateful for all the work I''m doing because of you, got it!?" (Caitlyn) "Work? What work are you talking about?" (I) "We are helping your Familiars and the rest of your family to control their powers." (Elizabeth) "They were also..." (I) "Their strength rise was not like yours, your Familiars may have skipped 4 Power Ranks, but the others were only 2 or even 3 for some special cases." (Natasha) "As the 3 of us were present, it was easy to help them because we were at levels far above them, it also helped not to wake up all at once since we couldn''t be everywhere at the same time." (Elizabeth) From what they''re saying, I''m not the only one to jump several Power Ranks, not to mention they must have gone through this too. "Thanks for the help, but if you guys can help then why am I the only one who had to go through this torture with those two?" (I) "You talk to him, I''m going to take a nap... Zzzzzzz..." (Caitlyn) "We could help them because they are several levels below us, but you are at our level, at most we could contain you for a short time." (Elizabeth) "So you also jumped several..." (I) "Don''t be an idiot little brother, our case is quite different." (Natasha) "We''re not climbing power levels like you, we''re getting back the power we''ve always had, maybe with some improvements, but nothing that causes us problems." (Elizabeth) "What controls the power whether of the mind, body, Aura, Authority or energy will always be the Soul and the Will, our Souls are Divine, and we will not face this level of problem ever in our lives, at least not again." (Elizabeth) "The only thing holding the 3 of us back at that level of strength was you, just like you''re doing now, we can go even further in the power rankings than this if it wasn''t for you limiting our power to this level." (Natasha) "But you seem stronger than me, the pressure I feel from your presence is stronger than mine." (I) "That''s because you don''t have control over your own power, you''re keeping tight control over your power instead of manipulating your power freely." (Elizabeth) "In other words, you are using chains to contain yourself, once those chains are thrown away you will be closer to our power." (Natasha) "But before we talk about that and your training, let''s call a few who have been waiting for you." (Natasha) "What are you talking about?" (I) "It was very difficult to get her out of the Communal Temple to train, since she was the one who needed it the most, her Aura was causing fear in the townspeople." (Ragnar) "I like her Aura, I feel good like looking at the empty sky during a night where the Moons hide leaving only the stars in the sky." (Sakura) "A very beautiful image you described, but I don''t know how it ties in with Hinata''s Aura." (Ragnar) "Orion''s aura... worse..." (Hinata) "He is a hunter, but his Aura is like that of a bloodthirsty monster." (Sakura) "But I''m always bloodthirsty, my own body is made of pure blood, so nothing more suitable." (Orion) "Calm down everyone, and stop arguing, to my eyes you all look amazing, except you Ragnar, you look the same." (I) "That''s not my true master form, you know that and I don''t possess the size and shapeshifting power of Orion or Hinata." (Ragnar) "So your real body..." (I) "Perhaps it''s because of your influence or the Dragon lineage you bestowed upon me in the past, but my Dragon traits are swallowing up the others." (Ragnar) "My body has also changed a lot, now when I''m at my normal size my body looks different." (Orion) "Does anyone else look different?" (I) "I don''t have anything different than what you''re seeing, but Hinata has some things inside her." (Sakura) "Parts of me..." (Hinata) "Can''t you two show me your true forms?" (I) "They can''t, it might cause a commotion since they can''t control their own power well." (Elizabeth) I had forgotten about my sisters while I was talking to my Familiars until now, but as Elizabeth spoke, I realized that their Aura was like mine before I sat in that chair, it was in a wild state. "Idiots, they forgot to tell him." (Natasha) "Tell me what?" (I) "Take a good look at their bodies, they all have their Crest somewhere on their bodies." (Natasha) "..." (I) I look at Sakura and she turns her back revealing her dress is open in the back revealing a tattoo with my Crest. I look at Orion and he lifts his head showing my coat of arms on his chest, that''s when I noticed that in parts of his body, he had red crystal scales with the scales on his chest being black highlighting the coat of arms. Ragnar lifts the hair on his forehead revealing my Coat of Arms inside shaped scales (), I hadn''t realized why his hair covers it. Hinata without getting off Kinshasa head stretches her arm a lot until she is in front of my eyes revealing my Coat of Arms on the back of her hands. "We all carry your Crest on our bodies now." (Sakura) "We all also gained the same title after our evolutions, [ Blood Eclipse Familiar ]." (Ragnar) "Yes, we all got that title, only Layla and Nix we''re not sure as they haven''t woken up yet." (Orion) "They''ll be fine." (I) Chapter 1045: Spartan Training Chapter 1045: Spartan Training I chatted with my Familiars for a while before they went back to the Dungeon, everyone had to continue their training and couldn''t go back to the city floor. It seems that my Familiars as well as some of my children have been in the Undead City for the past few days since the monsters there aren''t much of a threat to them. After my Familiars left, my sisters began my training, which clearly started with me screaming not in pain, but in the fright of having my entire arm ripped off by Natasha. "You''re crazy... what the..." (I) Before I could finish my sentence that would be as delicate as a plane falling on top of a flower garden, my arm that had been torn off grew again, in fact, the blood came out of the wound taking the shape of an arm until it was completely the same to the arm I lost. The arm that had been torn off dissolved into red energy that came back to me, this cannot be called just regeneration, this is immortality. "That''s a Demigod''s regeneration, any kind of just physical damage of any kind would be useless." (Natasha) While I was distracted with my arm and listened to her explanation, another attack came, this time she used her claws, cutting off only my hand from the arm that had just healed. My hand was cut into three pieces that fell to the ground leaving only part of my wrist bleeding in place, I didn''t expect another attack after they ripped my arm off. But something was different this time, my hand wasn''t healing like my arm did, it was much slower, as I wasn''t able to use my Aura very well it took me a while to notice that the wound was full of traces of Aura that were being expelled by my Aura. "As you can see, physical attacks using Aura still deal normal damage to you." (Natasha) "Keep it down... Zzzzzz..." (Caitlyn) "Since you were without any protection, you took full damage, but if your Aura had been around your body as usual the damage would have been equivalent to less than half, maybe your hand would just have a deep cut instead of being cut off." (Elizabeth) "You could have told me those things without having to rip off parts of my body... guuhhh!!!" (I) "I said I want to sleep, SHUT UP!" (Caitlyn) I was irritated that they were explaining normally while my body was being ripped apart by things that could only be spoken. "Other than healing and regeneration, what else can I expect from my body?" (I) "Just normal for those who have just gone through evolution, all of their physical stats have increased a lot." (Natasha) "Do your Martial Arts physical training extremely slow which I see you do often, it will be a good start for you to feel your whole body and the changes it has gone through." (Natasha) "Fine, is that going to be all?" (I) "..." (Elizabeth/Natasha) The two exchange glances while having small smiles on their faces, then before I could do anything their Aura fell on my head like a hammer falling on top of a nail. I almost fell to the ground but forced myself to my feet at the last second before looking at the two of them. "What are you doing!?" (I) "Calm down, our Auras won''t try to suppress or attack yours, all it needs is a little constant pressure to get you used to it faster." (Elizabeth) "You''re going to do everything within this Aura pressure, you''re going to eat, sleep, train and when we think you''re ready you''re going to fight, all of this always within Aura." (Natasha) "I can''t evenmove" (I) "That''s exactly the problem, we have the same strength as you, our Auras even together shouldn''t have as much effect on you as they do now, you need to improve your Aura control as soon as possible." (Natasha) "One of us will stay in the Dungeon training the others and we''ll take turns knowing who stays inside the Dungeon, that way there will always be two of us to stay here." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) I was understanding what she meant, I could feel my Aura respond against their Aura, under that pressure I can feel my Aura constantly and I can train it continuously even without realizing it. "(Might be a good idea.)" (I) Chapter 1046: Hello Arash Chapter 1046: Hello Arash Pov of a Demonic Soldier: The entire army was ready, just as I wanted the Church of Light is with its army right in front of us, I retired as an Adventurer to become a Soldier of the Black Empire, I am even willing to follow my commander''s orders when he is weaker than me, that''s as long as he can kill these bastards. "Calm down, you mustn''t break out of combat formation, let them attack first, soon it will be our chance." "Yes commander..." (I) I had my Spear in hand ready to start a bloodbath against these bastards of the Light. "Sir, on your sign." (I) I see the army of Light getting closer and closer both by land and by sky, their numbers are not as many as I imagined, but their numbers are many just the same, I could be in heaven together with other Demons to go after those with my power level and save some soldiers on our side, but my mission is more important. As soon as they reached a certain distance a rain of spells fell on top of them, they are ritual spells that we use knowing that they would be able to defend, the best strategy is to make them spend their energy. "Now go!" "< Underworld: Hunting Ground >" (I) "< Family Summoning: Ripper Ant Colony >" (I) I dive into the ground as if it were a lake before summoning my Familiars, the Queen of Ants is always at the bottom of the ground by my orders, it was monsters that I managed to transform into my Familiar, and to my surprise, at the time I ended up taking her entire Ant Colony Rippers. "(These are her Target locations and images.)"Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com "(I don''t know how many I''ll get, but I''ll do my best.)" (I) I receive my orders through telepathic ritual magic, this was to not be detected by the Church of Light and to share various people''s information with me. Soon I received an image of the area seen from above, then several locations had their images highlighted on certain individuals, some of them were together and surrounded by Templars. "I''ll only have one chance at most." (I) "Your King Commands, Conquer All!" (I) Those fools came full of murderous intent, but my Territory feeds on murderous intent, I pick up my sword and can''t help but smile as I stand in front of the Imaginary Demon army to fight. -------------- Pov Arash: Juliano and I flew to a hill where our enemies were coming, we could feel them approaching as they were exploding their Auras to lure us away from the two armies. I expected other things from the coward Rhaegal, but from his Aura full of useless confidence, I imagine he wants to prove himself superior to me after I devoured his children in front of him. I was shaking with anxiety, it was hard to stop my body from flying towards that bastard and I sank my teeth into his heart as I ripped his body to pieces, but he''s not alone. Before they arrive I turn to Juliano, he seems calm, but I know he has something in mind, this idiot always has a scheme in mind. "Can you fight him?" (I) "He must believe not, that''s why he started the war so early, he always thought he was superior." (Julian) "That''s not what I asked." (I) "Our forces have always been equal, this time is no different, I don''t know if I can kill him." (Julian) "But can you stop him from interfering with my combat?" (I) "It won''t be a problem... they''re here." (Julian) We both looked towards the same direction where two trails of light approached, one trail of white light and another trail of golden light. The trail of white light was bigger and when they stopped a little ahead of us, I could no longer hold back my killing intent which exploded making space itself ripple to the point of almost breaking. "Hello Arash..." (Rhaegal) Chapter 1047: My Pillars Chapter 1047: My Pillars Shortly after my sisters spoke to me about my training, I was on the floor with everything around me covered in red and clothes turned to bloody rags. "Let''s stop here today since there are other people wanting to talk to you." (Natasha) Before I could say anything, Ibuki threw herself into my arms and stole my lips, I didn''t let that go unpunished as I grabbed her body in my hands as I pulled her body closer to mine. Unfortunately, someone separated us, it was Diana who lifted me up before hugging me, she was out of breath and it was clearly not just a kiss she wanted. Before Diana can do anything, rica pulls me into her arms where she gives me a fierce hug along with a passionate kiss as if she is trying to steal the air from my lungs. But instead of just holding myself to her, I was thrown into the air where Kira just grabbed me in a tender hug. --------------- After a few minutes I was all calmer, they were missing me, I spent days Evolving without being seen by them. Even though we can''t be together all the time for the chores of our daily lives, I always try to spend some time with them. When everyone calmed down they started talking about their Evolutions, with the exception of Diana being the only one among them who didn''t evolve, I won''t tell Kira why I forced Evolution on her in our last Awakening Ceremony. Ibuki seems to have only absorbed my Demonic energy during my evolution, she didn''t do that on purpose since she was also undergoing her evolution, it was other people who witnessed this and told her, and maybe because of that she was able to evolve into a Demon of Night. I didn''t know anything about this race, which by the way didn''t have the lineage, but rica being a Demon herself and having curses as the focus of her research, studied a lot about rare Demons. rica seems to have already talked to Ibuki before, but my sisters also talked to her, it seems that Ibuki''s race has an inherent ability to transform its own body into the Darkness element, gaining very limited immortality for short periods of time, becoming almost an Elemental of darkness. It seems that Ibuki has been training more with Caitlyn who had more knowledge about this race among my sisters. rica appears to have managed to Evolve into an Evil Duchess, an ancient Demon race that only female Demons who have become cousins have a chance to attain. It seems that, unlike Ibuki who absorbed my Demonic Energy by accident during her own Evolution, rica absorbed my Magic on purpose. She gathered various items like my blood, various magic crystals containing my mana that she collected, and various Evil Seeds that she stole from the dungeon''s treasury. Thanks to her preparation and having already met several other requirements, she Evolved inside a ritual magic circle that she prepared with all these items. She asked for my blood on several occasions and I didn''t know why, I didn''t ask either because I knew she didn''t want to tell, but I didn''t realize she was trying to Evolve into a specific race, I didn''t even know it was possible to do that kind of thing like that. That''s when I realized that the ones approaching were Elizabeth and Lorraine. "The training is already taking effect, congratulations." (Lorraine) "He has a strong will, that makes things a lot easier." (Elizabeth) After they exchanged a few words, the two looked with serious gazes in the same direction she was looking before, but the expression on their faces was quite different. My sister Elizabeth was as calm as ever, but she had her face serious, Lorraine on the other hand had an angry expression, her eyes even glistened in a dangerous way. "Do you guys know what''s going on?" (I) "Is it okay to let him know?" (Lorraine) "It''s your decision, I don''t care if he knows or not." (Elizabeth) "What you sense is Arash the Dragon Emperor''s murderous intent." (Lorraine) "But what''s going on?" (I) "This is all just war, it''s not because you can''t see that nothing is happening." (Lorraine) "Today the armies of the Church of Light and the Black Empire are in what could be considered the worst part of this war." (Lorraine) "He already knows enough, now let''s get back to what matters to you..." (Elizabeth) "You can come in." (Lorraine) I wasn''t understanding anything when Lorraine looks back and three people walked in, they all looked different, but I still managed to make out each one of them. Those who entered are Eva, Athena, and Alice who should be training inside the Dungeon, but for some reason, I just feel closer to them now. "May your will be worshipped!" (Eve/Alice/Athena) Suddenly the three knelt down before me while they were saying the exact same thing, then they all looked at me in different ways, be it admiration, respect or fanaticism which by the way is very dangerous. "Don''t put on that serious face and forget the killing intent from before." (Elizabeth) "These three are part of your Pillars like this and you should understand better about it, so I''ll be teaching you a lot of things for the next few nights, so get ready." (Elizabeth) Chapter 1048: World Tree Was What!? Chapter 1048: World Tree Was What!? It was the first time I was seeing these three after days, they were all different than I remembered, but I feel closer to each one of them. I can feel a connection with them but it''s different than I feel with my Familiars, my connection with my Familiars is two way but my connection with them seems to be one way, I have that feeling but I can''t explore more about it because I can''t control my power well. Eve now had white skin with red hair and eyes, her wings were still red but now they weren''t bat-like wings, they were bird wings with black feathers, but even though her wings are different and her horns are gone, she still it has its red tail. Eva''s presence was now much stronger with her Aura having something similar to my own Aura, but I couldn''t make out what it was, on her forehead was an Eclipse Symbol that almost looked like a third eye. Athena, on the other hand, was different, now she had two pairs of black wings, and her wing feathers were made of black crystal, I wouldn''t have noticed if I hadn''t seen this type of crystal so many times on my own body. Athena now had Dragon scales on her arms as far as I could see, her eyes were now golden and two silver horns rose and followed the contour of her head from the sides, her ears were long now like an Elf''s. She still had dark skin, but the glow and smoothness of her skin seemed to be levels above before, she didn''t even look like a Warrior, Athena now had a very similar presence to me in certain ways. Athena''s Aura was tyrannical and predatory as if it could crush someone, Her Aura was also full of my Holy Power I felt the same in Eva but I could feel that in Athena''s case, there was something more, I could feel a characteristic of my Authority. But when I turned my eyes to Alice, surprise marred my expression, I could literally see myself reflected in her Aura like a mirror, her Aura seemed to contain mine within. Alice now had brown skin with eyes the same gold and purple colors as mine, Alice had a pair of wings on her back with black scales with glittering stars inside just like my scales, she had these same scales on various parts of her body. On Alice''s forehead, there was no Horn but there was a round black and white jewel with a tribal tattoo around it, I looked at Alice and could feel a strong connection. "Why don''t you say the titles you received?" (Elizabeth) "I was honored to receive the title of High Priestess of Blood Eclipse." (Eve) "I received the title Blood Eclipse Hero." (Athena) "I have been graced to carry the title Saint of the Eclipse of Blood." (Alice) "..." (I) "As you can see, you''ve advanced to a level you shouldn''t have, now it''s too late." (Elizabeth) I look at my sister without understanding, the three who were on their knees just looked at my sister without saying anything, I think they already had this conversation and don''t want to interrupt. "What are you talking about?" (I) "Don''t try to act like an idiot, do you know the name of the type of entity that has Priests and Saints in their name?" (Elizabeth) "..." (I) Elizabeth just smiled, as I looked to the side Caitlyn appeared through Elizabeth''s body, it seems like it was just an illusion and Caitlyn appeared with an amused smile on her face. ----------- Pov Luminus: At the moment I was facing the Mountains of Light, a mountain range filled with the element of Light that is close to one of the most important places in the Church of Light, this place was sanctified by them as a holy land. This place is big, it looks like a paradise for those who only see the appearance, but I can feel the enemy presence everywhere, it''s my bonds of servitude to the God Akatosh that are protecting me and my followers who carry the same marks. "You see, this is where the traitors who buried the name of our race in the mud hide, they have lived here since they committed the worst kind of sin and today we will demonstrate that we are not like them to raise the name of the Dragons of Light!!!" (I) "KILL THE TRAITORS!!!!" "KILL THE TRAITORS!!!!" "KILL THE TRAITORS!!!!" "KILL THE TRAITORS!!!!" "KILL THE TRAITORS!!!!" "KILL THE TRAITORS!!!!" The truth is that this is already a won battle, those who remain in this place are only the weakest, those really strong who would be able to stand up against me are not here, they are in that Battleground where the Dragon Emperor should be. "< Territory: Frontier >" (I) "< Land of Light >" (I) I return to my Dragon form joining the others as I activate my Territory with all my might taking this entire range of mountains may be a Holy Land for Baldr, but I am a Servant of the God Akatosh, my Authority and Power have become an extension of his will. I could feel the Dragon God Power flowing from me to my Territory, this to buy me time to attack. "Kill them all!!!!" (I) "< Holy Magic: Rain of Light Swords >" (I) "< Breath of Light > 39" "< Descending Sun Dragon >" (I) I started with a wide area attack and I could feel that the number of kills was less than 200, a number lower than we imagined. Then I followed up with a focused attack on an area where several Dragons of Light had gathered, then I created a magic circle in the direction of the Suns gathering the energy of the Suns to release a Dragon made of condensed and materialized light element energy. At this moment my attack lands among the enemies I saw coming from this direction, the Dragon of light becomes an explosion of light burning many around or disappearing with them. Chapter 1049: War Of Extermination Chapter 1049: War Of Extermination Pov Light Templar High: These accursed Fiends went to attack our healers just as we thought, but their means are as underhanded as one would expect from this filthy Breed. "Templars, use Ground Light Wave now!" (I) "< Wave of Light >" (I) "< Light Wave > 5600" I use my Aura as a signal of the correct moment, so everyone stomps heavily on the ground sending the scatter attack to the ground all together, this made all terrain on the battlefield. This move usually sends a wave of light to the surroundings to ward off enemies, but with so many people using this move directing it to the ground, it wasn''t a surprise the strong earthquake followed by the cracks. "On top of us!!" (I) "Raise the barrier!!!" (I) They think they are clever with their cowardly touches, attacking from the ground and the sky at the same time, all of them are nothing more than monsters with humanoid form. They think they can wear us down with their attacks, but the damage they do to us is minimal. I channel to those behind as I see those who normally defend the High Priest surrounding the Demon Emperor and the Demon army getting closer and closer as we approach. "Now!!!!" (I) "< Sun Descent >" The 10 Archbishops and 3000 High Priests are positioned creating a combined magic circle, when the magic is activated a large sphere of light forms in the sky, then rays of light begin to hit the Demons coming from the large sphere of light from above. "They''ve stopped the ranged attacks, attack now!!!" (I) We knew they would use ranged attacks to slow our advance and wear down our strength, but we used that against them. Once the biggest problem was isolated from the battle, our plan begins, with the magical Sun we created attacking hundreds of times per second indiscriminately they had to put up a barrier and stop their long range offensives. When they have done so I spread my wings forward with the Templars under my command, I charge my blade with holy power and open their barriers allowing the army to advance. The last seal was broken, and the gate opened just like I wanted so much, the constant wars and the spatial violation that Rhaegal created were of extreme importance, and thanks to that I was able to open the Separate Space much more silently than I thought possible. "Sir, we can only keep the portal open for a few seconds without drawing attention, any longer than that will be impossible to keep without those watching outside noticing." (Shadow Slave) "Start!" (I) The Demon Dragon lost his arm from the energy that the last seal released, but I can deal with that later, I can''t wait any longer, I can feel him. As soon as the passage opens a torrent of Evil energy pours out, and as he emerges covered in darkness, she walks through the portal that closes shortly after as she reaches out to me. "I fulfilled my mission my lord..." (I) He holds my hand making the flesh, blood, and bones melt away leaving only my body of shadows being absorbed by him. "(Finally being one again...)" (I) ---------------- As soon as I passed through the gate I saw the separate entity that I once left behind, I absorbed it again and a great amount of memories invaded my body. "You thought you were strong enough to face me, maybe it would still be true if I was the same as those days, but now..." (I) I look at my hands, the power of Darkness, Death, and Demonic. I didn''t expect the fight against those two to be so difficult, much less that it would help open my mind, allowing me to resume what I once was. "All hail the lord!" (Shadow Slave) "All Hail The Lord!!!" "..." (I) "My old name no longer serves to represent what I''ve become, from now on call me Sartury." (I) With that name I will get what I want, this time you can''t stop me Elizabeth, this time I will become a god and make those who took everything from me pay. When I close my eyes I can still hear the screams, I can hear the desperation in everyone''s voices when the sentence was passed without even listening to what we had to say. "(You will pay...)" (I) Chapter 1050: Sarturi, The One Who Devastates Chapter 1050: Sarturi, The One Who Devastates Pov Sarturi (Evil God of Devastation): Days before the Church of Light''s all-out attack against the Black Empire. In a city in the central region of the continent. "Now that I have my shadow back these memories have been a nuisance, my body is still adapting." (I) "The entire city has already been cleared, my lord." (Demon Dragon) I look at the city, I can see all the blood and flesh scattered around, this sight was disgusting, it seems that my shadow got lost in the hatred I had thousands of years before I was sealed in that Separate Space, it forgot our initial objective. "Start the ritual, I need it for the next part of the plan." (I) "Yes, my Sir." (Demon Dragon) I wave my hand making all the blood and flesh go to the same place downtown, I may not like all this death but it''s still necessary for my purposes. I look at the Demon Dragon disappearing towards the center of the city, then I turn to my guest chained by golden chains covered in red Runes. "I know you can see and hear me through your High Priest." (I) "You took everything from me so I will also take everything from you, I know that the life of all things is important to you for without life there can be no death, your useless cycle that only causes stagnation." (I) "I will destroy everything and recreate how it should have been from the beginning." (I) "Nobody needs to be hungry, nobody needs to die and there doesn''t have to be disease." (I) "A place where everyone will always be safe and no one will know the feeling of loss, no one will know pain or suffering." (I) "I will be a better God than you..." (I) I was lying on the ground with my body half beaten, it''s been 2 days since the meeting where the Spirit of the World Tree told everyone that one of the 3 World Trees of this continent was destroyed. It reminded me of the state Silvia was in before I planted that World Tree in the Dark Continent, at that time she was only mortally wounded and that was because she was attacked by an Evil God, yet she was able to last for centuries. It just makes me wonder what kind of existence would destroy a World Tree like that. While I was thinking about these things, I put a hand to the side of my head, defending a kick from Natasha. "Your training of her is going much better than expected." (Natasha) "I''ve gotten used to this body almost completely, but I''m still struggling a bit with Aura control and I don''t even want to mention my energy control." (I) "You have three more days to take care of it, so don''t lose focus, you need to be in top condition..." (Natasha) "If I could do something with that damn pressure from your Auras..." (I) "Do you really think we don''t know that 3 doesn''t act as strongly in your body anymore." (Natasha) "Now get up soon before I..." (Natasha) I get to my feet, but before I do something drastic, I wanted to get used to my body, I can''t even think about using my powers now I tried testing last night and went back to the hell chair for a few minutes. I put myself in position and Natasha starts to attack me, she starts with a punch in my face, I defend with my hand while I try to kick her, but class kicks my other leg making me fall to the ground where I turn my body to create distance from Natasha and get a chance to reposition. But before I have the chance she appears on my back grabbing my neck from behind before throwing me to the ground again, I always end up losing to her with ease, under these conditions I have no chance of making even a scratch on her body. "Get some rest, then come back to continue training, so enjoy the next few hours." (Natasha) "Thanks." (I) I walk away from her heading in the direction where Freya is, I just hope I find something to eat with them before I head back. Chapter 1051: Im Ready Chapter 1051: I''m Ready On the fifth day after the announcement of the fall of a World Tree, I was sitting meditating, today my 3 sisters were present and cooperating to increase the pressure under me to the maximum, but it no longer has the effect of the first days.Nne?w n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com Sigh I open my eyes as I sigh in relief, this time I can feel that the energy is completely under control, and I am also able to use my Aura normally. My body was the first thing I was able to gain control of, but it was my Aura that caused the most problems, it took me a long time to realize that only by using the Aura would it be possible to grab control over my energy again. I got up effortlessly, my sisters'' Auras are as heavy as carrying a backpack of books, it can be a little uncomfortable, but it''s not difficult. "I think I''m ready." (I) "Yes, I also think you''re ready." (Elizabeth) "You can stop." (Elizabeth) Elizabeth talks to the others and they collect their Auras, then the three approach me, and I use my Aura to manipulate the earth beneath us to create a table and 4 chairs. "Looks like you understand how to manipulate the elements, did Elly teach you?" (Natasha) "No, I just realized that I had these elemental manipulation skills and never used them, I just got used to shadow manipulation." (I) "But now I can feel like I have that ability, I feel like I can connect better with the world." (I) I feel like my Aura is completely different, it''s blending in with the surroundings almost naturally to the point where I have to prevent it from happening. "How are the others?" (I) "Everyone has already finished their training." (Natasha) During these days I met with everyone, my children did not change at all, the only difference is that they all received the title [ Children of Blood Eclipse ]. Those who had big changes were Safira and Zila who left to receive big changes in their bodies, as the two are warriors, they have been training with Natasha since they woke up. Now the one that made me the most surprised was two people, one being Hela who had huge changes in her body when going through her evolution, and the other person being Ivan, it seems that he became the Champion of the Demon Goddess of Death. ------------- Pov Hela: I was in the city of the Undead inside the Dungeon, this has been my training ground since my evolution, a perfect place for a Necromancer like me. Also, the Dungeoneering monsters won''t attack me if I don''t attack them, that''s because I''m still a Dungeoneering monster, so none of the Undead since walking disturbs my training. After days of training, I felt ready, I quickly got used to my body, my Aura was a little too Evil from what others have said, but Lilith and the master don''t seem to mind so I don''t mind. Right now I''m going to the place where someone else was training, he was in the center of the city and all the Undead stayed away from him. "Ivan!" (I) "I see your training is over, I can feel the death energy in your Aura more stable, unfortunately, my training is a little slower." (Ivan) "Your changes from him were greater than mine, but that''s not why I came here." (I) "The ritual?" (Ivan) "Yes, I was worried about doing this before, even though I already had everything I needed, but now that I''ve evolved and feel the master''s power..." (I) "You were created by his blood and within his Dungeon, you even received the same title as Vanessa, so stop calling him master." (Ivan) "I said the same, but it''s not easy for me, he will always be my master." (I) "Fine, I won''t talk about it anymore and you can also do the ritual, it''s not like you''re resurrecting someone." (Ivan) "Do you want my help? I don''t know much about magic or Necromancy, but I can help with other things." (Ivan) "Thanks, but no, I must do this alone." (I) "Wait Zenos, he''ll want to be around to see." (Ivan) "Exactly what I thought." (I) Chapter 1052: Unable To Accept Your Existence Chapter 1052: Unable To Accept Your Existence Pov Arash: I couldn''t bear to look at him, tears fill my eyes as my murderous intent burns through my Soul, the images of that day, the image of Stella''s death, my daughter''s death. All these damn images burn my Soul even after thousands of years, the one responsible for all this is right in front of me once again. "Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha..." (I) "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... HAHAHAHAHA..." (I) "It was to be expected." (Julian) I couldn''t help but laugh out loud even though I was burning inside with a mixture of anger, hatred, and murderous intent. I could see the High Priest looking at me with scorn and hatred, he wasn''t even alive when I destroyed almost everything the Church of Light built for what they did, his scornful expression just makes me laugh even harder. "As crazy as ever, how could they choose someone as inappropriate as you?" (Rhaegal) "Say what you will, traitor." (I) "I must thank you, Rhaegal." (I) "You don''t know how happy I am to have the opportunity to tear your body apart once more, to see your strength as you devoured your children''s heads." (I) A whole crazy family, betraying their own race, betraying everything it means to be a True Dragon because of greed and still using excuses about who is more suitable, but in the end, they were all traitors, every single one of them was a fool to believe in that traitor and follow him, every one of them a criminal I took pleasure in killing in front of his eyes. "It''s no use talking about it Arash, unlike you I don''t mourn the loss of my family, they fought and lost, I just wasn''t strong enough at the time and I made the mistake of underestimating you, but that won''t happen again." (Rhaegal)Alll latest novels at novelhall.com Rhaegal spreads his wings as I feel his Aura explode around him, I can feel the divine power in his Aura, it feels like he has become a Divine Beast of Baldr. His Aura and Power really aren''t what they were in the past, at that time he relied on his Light Affinity being superior to my Dark power to make our power difference smaller, as arrogant as it always was which led to his downfall. "I admit I lost to you" (Rhaegal) "< Territory: Ruler >" (I) "< Dragon Graveyard >" (I) "I need him with all limbs and breathing tomorrow before I leave." (Elizabeth) "I''m gonna do my best." (Natasha) "You are bad sisters..." (I) ------------ Pov Vanessa: "How does it feel to get everything you''ve ever wanted?" (I) "I didn''t even know what I wanted, but somehow he gave me just that." (Alice) I was in front of the statue of the Father together with Alice, unlike me, she doesn''t have Priestess or Saint clothes, that''s why we still have to create one. "I always thought you wanted to be one of his wives." (I) "I love the master, he gave me everything I have, he gave me a family, friends, a home, he made his own daughter teach me, even the power I possess now came from him..." (Alice) Alice smiles weakly as she looks down at her hand, her blood seeping through the pores of her skin and forming an image of Father. "You know, I was the daughter of a noble, my mother was a maid and slept with this noble to try to be one of the concubines since the noble besides having his wife had 2 more concubines." (Alice) "Of course, to ensure that she had the noble in her hands, she spent all her savings on a potion to increase fertility, and as a result, I was born." (Alice) "Neither of them loved me, I was just a disposable piece, the noble didn''t accept me as a daughter, but he didn''t fire my mother, the wife found out everything and made my mother''s life hell." (Alice) "When I finally reached adulthood my mother sold me into slavery, that''s why 5 years before she was finally fired, we lived on the street for a while, my mother never loved me so it was easy for her to throw all the blame on me, her daily screams, the times she made me steal for her." (Alice) "I never understood why she didn''t hit me, at least until I was sold, she waited until I was an adult so she could sell me and didn''t want marks on my body that would lower my price." (Alice) I look at her as she speaks calmly, her eyes focused on the statue''s face. "When he found me I only had hatred, I felt hatred for my mother who left without even looking at my face after selling me while smiling, I hated that noble family that made me grow up being humiliated, I hated the Kingdom in the which I was born that ignored my suffering and hunger." (Alice) "But he changed all that, I didn''t realize what he was doing until the end, it was only in a dream during one of his Evolutions that I could see some of his memories and thoughts." (Alice) Chapter 1053: O Plano De Sarturi Chapter 1053: O Plano De Sarturi Pov Haros (Demon Dragon): I''m still getting used to this Demon Dragon''s body, this body is far inferior to my original body. "How is your new body?" (Sarturi) "Still adjusting, it may be weak, but it has great compatibility because it''s the same breed." (I) "But did I need to devour his Soul? I could have created a new child with that Soul." (I) "We don''t have time for that and I wouldn''t send a Soul with that much information to Kalistos." (Sarturi) Sarturi remains the same, he will be an excellent Demon God, and he will cause many conflicts where I can fight as much as he wants. "What will be the next step, you didn''t take my Soul out of the Prison of Souls just to talk to me." (I) "No, we will be attacking a World Tree in 3 days, be ready." (Sarturi) "You know where there''s a town nearby, a secluded one preferably, I don''t want anyone interrupting my meal." (I) "I haven''t eaten in millennia, even you look tasty now." (I) "In that direction, it''s a distance of 83 kilometers, take one of the Shadow Slaves with you to help keep in touch with me." (Sarturi) "Then I''m going..." (I) I grab the head of one of the Shadow slaves and go flying in the direction he pointed. -------------- 2 days later. I go back to the city, and as soon as I came back I can feel his Evil energy and many Auras, but they are just remnants, it seems he kept himself busy while he was away. I joined him and we left for the Gray Elf village, it seems to be in a place called the Nightmare Forest. We were in a group of Adventurers being manipulated by Sarturi''s curses, so I took that time to catch up on things. "You seem well informed, when did you get back?" (I) "Only 1 day before calling you back to this world." (Sarturi) "But I left a Familiar with a small part of my Soul behind, I already got most of its memory, so we can use its initial plan to our advantage." (Sarturi) "Can I fight?" (I) "You can fight all you want, just don''t overdo it, you''re far from full power." (Sarturi) "I just need more Demonic energy, if I had enough I could rebuild this body to be more fit and that would accelerate my growth back to the peak of my power." (I) "In a nutshell, I need to eat more people, the stronger the better, I can turn their life energies into Demonic energy." (I) He did his best to hide us, but it seems that it didn''t work, the Gray Elves would never be fooled by it but for less, we are closer. "They are watching us now, wait for their trap." (Sarturi) "All right..." (I) "Sounds like it''s going to be fun." (I) I reinforce my entire body with Demonic energy and start the fight by crushing one of them with my tail while trying to hit me from behind. "< Breath of Evil Flames >" (I) When everyone rushes towards me I drop my jaw to the ground and let out a huff of breath causing the flames to spread as they retreat. I waste no time and give a boost with my wings without being harmed by my own flames and attack one of the weaker ones only to find it was a fake made of shadows, I look at the first one that I squash with my tail and there were no more either nothing there, not even blood. In my moment of distraction, the dagger only pierces halfway to my right side, but I also manage to use my claws to slash from his waist to his shoulder. I pull out the dagger and lick the blade still dirty with my blood, I can also feel other things on it. "Poisons are useless against me." (I) "< Poison Mist >" (I) Before I changed into a Demon Dragon in the past, I was a Poison Dragon, poisons will hardly have any effect on me. "< Thousand Shadow Blades >" "< Heavy Blow >" (I) I catch the first closest attack and punch with my energy concentrated in the fist that hit the enemy''s blade throwing him back while sending 7 more daggers that lingered in my stomach. Our fight goes on for over 2 hours, and strangely no one else showed up, I thought he was biding his time but that doesn''t seem to be the case. Every blow we make makes the earth shake, my body was full of cut marks caused by his daggers, he tried to use low types of poisons and even tried to use a curse, but none of that worked for me. Actually, this Elf is being of great help for me to get used to my new body. But he was in worse shape than me, I took one of his eyes and put a Curse that must be eating his body from the inside. The area around us has constantly prevented me from using my Territory and I''m sure that''s why he hasn''t tried yet. "Let''s end the prank." (I) "< Demon Corrosion >" (I) My attacks were full of Demon energy and my Aura, with these blows I landed on him I managed to accumulate enough Demon energy that I now detonate, but instead of the Blood and flesh I was waiting to feast on his corpse, what I saw was just shards of wood flying in all directions. I get closer and see that the scattered body parts were just wood, it was a wooden doll, it made me smile because I could fight that Gray Elf harder next time. Soon Sarturi returns, his face set in anger as he holds a wooden arm in his hands. "Looks like both of them are fake..." (I) "Let''s end this now!" (Sarturi) Saying that Sarturi''s body mute as he becomes a giant over 70 meters tall, so without expecting anything he went towards the World Tree and uses his claws to open a large wound where he enters before large amounts of miasma starts to sweat all over the World Tree. "Now your power will be mine." (Sarturi) The World Tree has black lines running through its body very fast, little by little I can feel its Aura coming from the World Tree. "It looks like he will need a few more hours to complete, it looks like it was hard for him to defeat his enemies." (I) Chapter 1054: The Saint Of The Eclipse Of Blood Chapter 1054: The Saint Of The Eclipse Of Blood Pov Alice (Blood Eclipse Saint): I spent some time with Vanessa, it must be the first time we''ve talked just the two of us for so long. Seeing the master''s statue and the realization of who I am today compared to my past all got me stuck in the memories of how I got here. Memories of how I became what I am now. I still remember that first day. When I learned he was a Vampire, I almost begged him to change me, a Vampire is so much stronger than a Human, I wanted the power to kill and destroy everything that hurt me, just the thought of the carnage I wanted to do brought a smile to my face. I wasn''t afraid of him just because I was a Vampire and I wasn''t afraid of losing my Humanity. My race mattered as much to me as other people''s lives, it was worthless. But I found something of value that day, it was power, the power to fulfill all my desires, the power to do the killing I always thought of. I didn''t pay attention to anything else but that, I didn''t care about anything else but what I would do with this kind of power. All I wanted was that and I would do anything to get that power, I didn''t care if it was the child or one of his so-called children, all I wanted was the power of a Vampire. For a commoner like me, the tales of the great power of Vampires and how immortal monsters they are were things that one heard from the voices of fear of those who spoke about it. I couldn''t let this opportunity pass, being a Servant, maid or slave didn''t matter to me as long as I obtained that power to release all the darkness within me onto others. It started as hatred and obsession with power at first, thanks to which I stopped seeing other things that I was going to gain that day. "You could have used me as a sex slave, as an experiment for your curiosities, or maybe even turned me into a monster and I would gladly have done all that back then in exchange for a lesser amount of power than I possess today." (I) I look at my hand, and I can feel the power within my body, this is so much more power than I ever dreamed possible, but not just power, I also feel the Authority he has entrusted to me and the responsibility of being a Symbol that represents him. "How can someone be a symbol of a madman... hahahaha..." (I) In the past, right after I was transformed into a Rogue, I threw myself at every opportunity to strengthen myself that I needed, in other words, I put my best effort into my magic studies and combat training. I didn''t mind my cleaning or cooking tasks, they were just big time wasters for me, but I had to do this kind of work perfectly, and that''s why there was still more power to gain. I wanted to be as qualified as possible, which is why I didn''t like Miss Freya''s classes and classes on different subjects such as languages, calculations, and general knowledge. I learned these things to show how competent I am, I also did my best to always be useful to someone. I look at Athena, now that I have the power of Authority I know she would never awaken that kind of power in her life, that''s why her heart is not able to see herself, everything she sees is her past. She can''t see the real her, at least before today, I can see her eyes much clearer and sharper than before. "You saw it too, didn''t you?" (I) "..." (Athena) "You saw that Dream, you saw the path it opened." (I) "Yes, I heard rumors about something like that, but I didn''t think it would be true." (Athena) "High Priestess Yara told me about these same rumors." (I) Rumor has it that when a Saint or Hero is undergoing an evolution their fellow close hands dream of walking on a path where they meet that Saint or Hero. "I once asked my sister about this, she said she didn''t know anything about these Saints or Heroes." (Athena) "But she said with great pride that when she received the title of [ Executioner of Light ] she had a dream of walking a great bright path." (Athena) I think there''s a lot I still have to learn as a Saint, I have to ask Miss Vanessa and Miss Yara to help me. "I know what a Hero should be, a shield and sword to protect those at your back, that''s the kind of Hero I want to be." (Athena) "I want the power to protect this place, that was my greatest desire when I decided to go through this Ceremony of Awakening." (Athena) "I''ll back you up, but try not to dream anything." (I) I look out over the city from where we were standing and it was amazing the way it was possible to see it. After a few seconds, the sun disappeared leaving only darkness. I was happy, looks like it wasn''t just me wanting to beef up our defenses so everyone is safe. Since our Evolution, I can feel that we are connected. After the master has just given us this power I want to use it for the good of them and everyone around. When night fell I went back to the mansion, I''ll have to think about how I''m going to get used to this. "Hoping this time everything works out for all of us, I don''t want any more surprises happening, my heart is overloaded pounding as blood rushes through my body at will." (I) Chapter 1055: The Plan Of The Elves Part 1 Chapter 1055: The Plan Of The Elves Part 1 Pov Haros (Demon Dragon): It looks like they just wanted to buy time, I''d like to go after those damn Gray Elves to kill every single one of them, but we can''t waste too much time. I look at Sarturi, he has a calm appearance, but the very space cracking around him reveals the fury burning within him. But I can''t blame him for that, I look at the floor at my feet, just wood chips and an equally wooden dummy, I look to where Sarturi was seeing only pieces of wood. "You should leave that for later, soon others will know what we did." (I) "I''m fine, let''s stick with the plan, but be careful, the Gray Elf King must be close by, the Elf Kings never abandon their World Tree." (Sarturi) "Yes, but I don''t think he''s here right now, haven''t you noticed?" (I) "I noticed, but I thought it was in preparation for our arrival." (Sarturi) I look around and even though I''m so close to the World Tree I don''t see any of those creatures, the Fairies and Spirits are nowhere to be seen. If I with my limited perception can see this, then Sarturi must have realized this a long time ago, his problem is his straight way of thinking, and his biggest defect is understanding the minds of others. "Let''s continue, something seems to be wrong." (Sarturi) He extends his shadow in front of him and a door appears from the darkness breaking the space, he opens it, and before I can say anything I am pulled forward when I go through the door I realize I am in front of the World Tree. "Then they..." (Sarturi) Before I had time to assess the surroundings and prepare for a fight, Sarturi had one hand on the World Tree. "Bastards!!!!" (Sarturi) When he shouted in rage, the entire Temple around the World Tree was torn to pieces, and clouds of miasma appeared in the sky swirling around the World Tree. "Wait, why isn''t the World Tree absorbing the miasma!?" (I) I look around more carefully, being so close to the World Tree and with Sarturi''s angry presence taking over the surroundings, I wasn''t able to use Kinshasa Aura to sense the surroundings more fully. All I could do was use my normal eyes and senses, but I was still able to notice the streamlines of energies that should be being absorbed by the World Tree but were instead confusingly dispersing and adding to the miasma created by Sarturi. "They knew about my plan!? Would that be impossible!?" (Sarturi) "Sarturi! Calm down before you blow a hole in space." (I) I talk to him and he soon appears at my side with red eyes and a strong murderous intent that is soon replaced by a predatory smile. "What''s wrong with this World Tree? Why are you so angry?" (I) At this time the energies of nature within the World Tree tried to resist Sarturi''s energy who felt nothing, but I felt the blood in my throat due to the blow of this collision of great forces. "Now!" (Sarturi) "< Demon Corrosion >" (I) Soon I use my Unique Skill along with the power that Sarturi was investing in my body, my technique grows in power as a Purple Aura leaks from my body slowly enveloping these 74 magic circles. But unfortunately, this body was being destroyed from the inside out, the blood was drying up in the veins, the organs were being crushed and a Core of power was growing in my chest proving that this body is going to be torn to pieces for a little while. After that, my head started hurting more and more, and no matter the pain, I had to keep going, this was a Demonic ritual of the type that there must be no failures or I will be killed. Sarturi starts sending his Authority to the ritual through me who will serve as an intermediary, then my unique ability being empowered by the Ritual starts to corrupt what tested this World Tree, so this process will take me a few days, I let Sarturi know to bring others to defend us while we are busy. -------------- Pov Klaus (Moon Butcher): After leaving a subordinate in my place knowing that he would be suspected sooner or later, someone with Authority would be able to destroy the illusions and lies, so he would be found out sooner or later. I have been appointed general for the raid against those hiding near the Seal. But when the fight started there was no one left, I ran upstairs and realized I was fighting a dead body. I''m fighting him for hours with 3 more people being my companions during combat. I was running towards one of them before that person dodged turning part of his body into a steel hard substance. While he was distracted, one of my subordinates comes out of my shadow, piercing his heart, but at the same time, another of my students appears, thrusting a sword through that monster''s eyes before piercing his brain. "Now." (I) I couldn''t help but be surprised when I left the place where I was and emerged among the monsters, I took the few seconds I had to activate and break the magic crystal by releasing this magic while falling into the shadow once more. When I came to myself, I was far away from the mountain while a large sacred magic circle was forming on top of the lifeless mountain, then a column of green light that started out as thin as a hair, increased its impact area until it engulfed the entire mountain. "Why do you always get so confused about teleportation using shadows?" (Gurog) "Your power is different from my familiar spirit, I always appear in horrible places." (I) "Do you know how difficult it is to score teleportation points in the middle of a battle of this scale and being far away?" (Gurog) "I wish...but what..." (I) When the green light disappeared there was no more mountain, but that wasn''t what surprised me, what made me put my guard up was the big eye that appeared from the crack. "This is going to be hard..." (I) Chapter 1056: The Plan Of The Elves Part 2 Chapter 1056: The Plan Of The Elves Part 2 We were going to leave the Floating Island today and so I left everyone to do what they wanted while I continued my training, even though I was able to control my body, Aura and energy after this traumatizing training, I still find my Authority, the change in my Authority is too great to be understood in such a short time. Now it was dawn and Hela appears in front of me, Hela''s appearance has changed a lot, her body before was a little disproportionate with her arms being bigger and other things, she was the representation of a natural Kimera and not those artificial Kimeras that we killed in the past. Hela now had gray hair, and the whites of her eyes were replaced by the blackness of a bottomless Abyss with the irises of her eyes being purple in color. Hela''s skin has turned snow white, her tail is now made of bones intertwined with a Spectral Body in the shape of a Dragon, which matches the small Dragon skull at the tip of her tail. Another thing that changed is her height reaching 1.95 meters, her arms are now proportionate to her body and she has the same type of star crystal scales as me on her arms, legs, and other body parts. One thing I noticed were her teeth, they all became extremely sharp causing her smile to look scary to others, her wings also changed, and I can now see the bone wings covered in purple flames. "I would like to speak with you if possible, master." (Hela) "Don''t speak formally to me and I told you to stop using ''master'' when talking to me, do as others do, and call me Dad." (I) "But I.." (Hela) "I understand it''s hard for you, but there''s no denying it with the title you''ve been given." (I) "..." (Hela) Sigh "I will do my best, Father" (Hela) "That''s better." (I) I understand what she means, I also have difficulty calling the Goddess Selene as Mother, but at this point, I can''t but deny calling her as such and Hela also can no longer call me Father when she received the title of [ Daughter of Blood Eclipse ].Alll latest novels at novelhall.com "So? Why did you come to see me at this time of night?" (I) It was dawn, I was out of the Dungeon for days since my evolution and I was enjoying the view before leaving this place, as soon as dawn I''ll be leaving with everyone. "Since I Evolved my amount of energy as well as my ability as a Necromancer are much stronger, so I feel safer to do the Ritual." (Hela) "I remember, with all the blood and meat we collected on our way here it should be enough, I imagine you prepared the other items." (I) "Yes, I have the Evil Seeds, 10 Dragon Cores, and 1 True Demon Dragon Core, I also have large amounts of death energy stored." (Hela) "Have you talked to Henrique yet?" (I) "He didn''t seem to like the idea, but he approved, knowing that you might be in doubt, I went to Ivan who approved with ease." (Hela) "Are you going to want to do this here? Is that why you came to see me?" (I) "I''d like to do it inside the Undead City if possible and I''d like the master... I''d like the Father present." (Hela) "So let''s go, I imagine the magic circle should be ready as well as all the materials in place, right?" (I) I feel worried, but I can''t let this thing slip away. I start to concentrate and try to reach Naraka, our contract still holds, so if I make an effort I can reach him, someone with your strength must be close to other Strong Spirits and even if there is no one else around you, it must still be enough. I keep concentrating while ignoring the roar, Aura, and Evil energies coming out of this creature. Soon I can feel him and I try to achieve this by pushing my Aura through this connection as much as I can. cough cough "Damn it!!!" (I) Soon I managed to catch up with him, but my mind is not capable of sharing his senses, everything was a confusion of colors and energy for my perception, this confusion could have bothered someone else, but it didn''t affect me so much. I resisted the pain in my mind as I sent Naraka what he needed to do so he and I created one Rune after another at the same pace. "(I don''t have enough power... so I just have to...)" (I) After fighting hundreds of monsters and creatures left on the mountain, then I get my last vial of spirit potion before continuing, but still, the potion was not recovering my energy at the same speed as it was being spent. That''s why I had to use my vitality to complement it while I was continuing to create each Rune. "(No matter what happens, don''t lose consciousness, remember Kira, are you going to leave her alone again!?)" (Naraka) "HURG!!!" (I) After 180 Spiritual Runes were lined up as if forming a sentence I slit my wrists to use my blood as a catalyst. "< May the Serpent that stalks the shadows of the world hear my call and come before this enemy of the world, Come Swaharak. >" (me/Naraka) I realized that his body was halfway out of the passage and thousands more of these other grotesques were passing behind him, it was possible to see the world behind the passage, a dark place with a red sky, massive amounts of miasma oozing from the great passage that the monster made covering the sky with more and more clouds of miasma. I wrote the Runes at maximum speed with Naraka who is in the Spirit World, with the two of us working together we were able to perform the summoning ritual. My entire body suffered from the strong pressure of the Spirit World since Naraka is not here to be the conductor of the Summoning ritual of this Shadow Spirit King, this role is left to me. My body was taking massive amounts of damage, but I endured it with everything I had, my shadow stretching to become a doorway through which a 5ft 6in man calmly walks through. "< Shadow Predator >" (Swaharak) He stepped out of my shadow with Naraka in his arms, then he points his finger forward and all the shadows for miles rise up as they take the form of Serpents, soon as far as I could see was a sea of Serpents attacking the monsters coming out through the street opening preventing them from spreading, all while restricting the movement of that colossal creature. After doing that he looks at me without revealing any expression, he just pointed his finger at my forehead and I felt my shadow rise across my body while a cold power ran through my body, it made the pain disappear along with the weakness I was feeling. "< Territory: Imaginary Realm >" (Swaharak) "< Temple of Dark Fairies >" (Swaharak) I hear him say something, but soon after he disappears along with the colossal creature. Chapter 1057: The Plan Of The Elves Part 3 Chapter 1057: The Plan Of The Elves Part 3 Pov Klaus (Moon Butcher): I was surrounded by Elves when I woke up, my body was still weak and we were all in an area surrounded by cracks, not cracks in the ground but in the space around it, sometimes one of those cracks dripped a black liquid that was soon attacked by some kind of Serpent that jumped out of the shadows. "You woke up quickly, you should know." (Naraka) ".." (I) "It was asleep for exactly 17 minutes." (Gurog) "The fight isn''t over yet, right?" (I) "It''s not over yet, the Shadow Spirit King is still fighting." (Naraka) "Was he really a Spirit King?" (Gurog) "Why that expression?" (I) "He is a Spirit King." (Naraka) "..." (Gurog) "Just say what you have to say." (I) "I heard him say that his territory was that of the Dark Faeries, so I thought that he might be" (Gurog) "There''s no doubt he''s a Spirit, otherwise I wouldn''t have been able to summon him this way." (I) "I know that, but I couldn''t help but ask" (Gurog) "Lord Swaharak loves the Faeries, indeed to the point that the Shadow Faeries shun him at his insistence." (Naraka) "..." (I) "..." (Gurog) I can''t believe this, having this kind of conversation when I was so close to dying. "The Territory always reflects the individual, creating a Territory means exposing what and who you are to everyone." (Swaharak) Soon the man comes back with the lower part of his body being the tail of a black serpent, it was possible to see several injuries on his body, and it was also visible that he was tired, it seems that I was right to resort to this type of help before this thing was released in the world. He touches my forehead again making the tiredness and weakness he was denying lessen even more. "Your body and mind are the least of the problems, summoning me while separated from your Contracted Spirit put too much pressure on your Soul, not enough to hurt your Soul, but still not the kind of damage that normal people at your level would take capable of bearing." (Swaharak) As he was talking to me I was able to feel the energy of the pure element of darkness being absorbed from the surroundings, it was decreasing the amount of miasma in the area visibly and it was possible to see the Spirit King''s body heal.Nne?w n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com "Thanks for your help, we couldn''t have solved it..." (I) "Don''t thank me, you know Fairy Kings and Spirit Kings don''t interfere in the world, if it was any other kind of enemy I would have let you all die." (Swaharak) "I only helped by being up against an Evil God, actually just a rotting body that didn''t even have a single Divinity Fragment." (Swaharak) But even in this state I resist pain, if this body wasn''t a Dragon I would be dead by now. After that I took the big difference when all the leaves of the World Tree turn to dust as they fall, the Tree''s own body must be completely corrupted by Sarturi''s Evil energy. He walks to the World Tree and enters, but a few minutes later I feel Sarturi''s Aura spreading across the World Tree, a dark Aura filled with death and all-consuming Darkness. BOOOOMMMMM!!!! Then suddenly a massive amount of energy crushes me to the ground as it gathers in the World Tree, then a huge explosion happens opening a hole in the World Tree where a giant deformed arm appears and Sarturi''s voice comes from inside the hole. "< Cursed Summoning: Infernal Army >" (Sarturi) Then branches and vines emerge from within the World Tree pulling the arm back into the hole which fills with multicolored light as long as the area''s energy is concentrated in that hole. When the light disappeared, only a sphere of multicolored energy remained floating in the middle of the World Tree''s hole. "This was a trap from the start!!" (I) I look around at the troops coming out of Hell as I do, but we don''t have time to talk, if this was a trap they must be close by. "Spread across the area, keep Sarturi safe!" (I) With my words everyone started to move, I take two and devour them to heal faster. ---------------- Pov Klaus (Moon Butcher): When I came out of the shadow after teleporting, I almost fell from the disorientation of traveling that way without stability, my mind was confused for a few seconds before realizing that I was in the city or should I call it a village in a quiet place in the Nightmare Forest. When I look forward I notice that the Elf King had one of his arms with crystals coming out, he was looking at me while a bald Celestina with white wings was pulling these crystals from the King''s hand, it seemed to be a detailed work. "How did you manage to get the mountain under control?" (King Uryma) "In a way yes, what happened was..." (I) I began to explain to King Uryma about everything that happened, I spoke about the monsters, I spoke about the holy land of our enemy, and about the giant creature that appeared after the destruction of the mountain. I thought I''d get into the matter at hand, I''m sure Gurog should be able to resolve some of it, but I need the Elf King''s cooperation. "Knowing you, I''m sure you''ve already put some plans on the beach, which one did you choose to do?" (King Uryma) "I chose plan 5, but I have my doubts about the responsible people we will be calling in to help." (I) "Unfortunately I won''t be able to fight directly, as you can see pulling out Ury''s Soul in a hurry that way had its side effects, not to mention my diminishing power." (Uryma) "Then who should I..." (I) "You need to go to the Sky Island World Tree, only with it will you know what to do, those were the last words Ury left for me." (Uryma) "Looks like there was already a backup plan in place, I''ll send you there now, be quick." (Uryma) "I will do my utmost, King Uryma." (I) Chapter 1058: Helas Ritual Part 1 Chapter 1058: Hela''s Ritual Part 1 I followed Hela back to the Dungeon, I went first in the city where I found many people greeting me, which was normal, but this time there were some people kneeling and it wasn''t just the Dragonewt or the Blood Devils. As many among them were considerably weaker than me, to say the least, I was able to feel and analyze their Auras like a poster, it was almost automatic because my Aura was so strong now, not to mention that they seemed to receive my Aura willingly unconsciously. What caused me to become almost panicked was feeling the faith in these people who got to their knees, I also felt the faith in their Auras condense into energy that ended up flowing to me when my Aura touched theirs, this energy turned into Holy power when my Authority absorbed it, then I felt my sacred energy recover a tiny, almost imperceptible amount. It took me a few seconds to process and understand all of this, my sisters talked about it, but even then they spoke very superficially, I think asking them to explain everything to me in detail might be too much for the amount of things I still need to learn. "(So that was why my Holy Power''s recovery speed was so strange without any standard, it wasn''t just my normal Recovery and it depended on the people in the Dungeon as well.)" (I) "Okay master... I mean Father?" (Hela) "Huhh! Yes, yes, it''s okay, let''s continue." (I) "Let''s go to the Communal Temple first, I need to pray to the Demon Goddess of Death before the ritual." (Hela) "Then let''s go..." (I) "Welcome Father." (Nicole) "Hello, Nicole." (I) "Why are you up so late?" (I) "I woke up a few minutes ago, I had an idea to solve the elemental energy conversion from water to ice in my new project..." (Nicole) "I get it, I''ll let you get back to your projects, but find something to eat first." (I) I leave Nicole behind while muttering various things, she got lost in her thoughts, so I left her alone as I continued to the Common Temple with Hela. As soon as I entered I felt something different, something that shook me completely, I felt several presences turning their attention on me at the same time as my Authority seemed to interact with the Communal Temple itself, this time I didn''t use my Aura, but somehow my Authority came out from my body in a natural way and interacted with the Communal Temple itself by mixing with it. "This is what Divinity means, master." (Alice) "Your statue is enshrined here and just like the statues of the other Gods, your statue was formed naturally using your power and mine as well as the others." (Alice) "It has become a place that is under its Authority shared with the other Gods that are enshrined here." (Alice) Alice appeared accompanied by Vanessa, the two were coming from inside the Temple, Vanessa was silent leaving only Alice to speak, the two were wearing the clothes of the Temple of Blood with the only difference being the Coats that each one carried. "Good to see you, Dad." (Vanessa) I also felt like the statues were fundamentally different before, I always knew these statues are different, but now I can feel as if they are alive, I feel as if they are mirror reflections of the Gods, it seemed to be just that to me. When I focus on the statues it was as if I could see this reflection becoming more real and I felt my attention on one of the statues alerted the God in question that I felt looking directly at me letting a pressure fall on me just for that extra attention. This was the God of Beasts, after I divert my attention I go closer to my statue which was the only place where my Authority formed a presence of its own, it was like looking into a mirror, it was too strange to get used to, I felt the same energy of faith that once flowed from the statue to me when I got close, that''s when I felt my Holy Power fully recover. My statue was in the middle of the small lake of blood that was still empty and with a path made so that people could reach the statue that is on an altar in the center of the lake. "I''m ready to go, master." (Hela) "Huhh yeah..." (I) I follow Hela out of the Communal Temple almost in a daze from everything I felt here, but after leaving the Temple I felt my mind settle down. With Hela having already prayed to the Demon Goddess of Death, Kalistos. All I could think was that everything was ready, she also had a bag that she didn''t carry before so she must have everything she needs and we left town while I was lost in my thoughts for a little while. I thought a little about all this and decided to continue with Hela by going to the Undead floor with her, but on the way to the safe room of this floor, I suddenly feel a pull in two directions, this pull came through my connection with Layla and Nix. This attraction was still weak, I was close to going to where they were when Fairy Empress Lorraine appeared beside me. "It''s not time yet, wait a little longer." (Lorraine) After saying this she disappears without a trace, I was confused but decided to trust her word. ---------------- When we arrived at the Living Undead floor I felt the mundanes, I could feel a much stronger Death Aura, and the terrain was also different from before. This reminds me that I gave Nix a list of changes to make some time ago in Dungeoneering, I have a lot of unused Dungeoneering Points accumulated. I spent a lot of time thinking about various things in the Dungeon and just accumulated everything over months while thinking about my free time, I let Nix make the changes days ago before my evolution, as I hardly visit any floors other than the one where the city is, I hadn''t noticed since that patch was the one that had the least changes. "There''s someone else here." (I) I could feel an Aura full of death energy a little way away from us, it was exploding all over the place and I was able to feel traces of Authority that sent shivers down my back. "It must be Ivan, he spends a lot of time here training, he knows I was coming and must have gone far away, his presence could interfere with the ritual." (Hela) "So let''s get started, do you need anything from me?" (I) "Not only do I need to drink your blood to help build up my energy reserves for the ritual." (Hela) Chapter 1059: Helas Ritual Part 2 Chapter 1059: Hela''s Ritual Part 2 Hela and I went to the center of the Undead city, the city had always been in ruins, but now the city was three times the size and its streets looked like a labyrinth covered in miasma mist causing confusion to the senses or manipulation of the Aura in the most people. This was an idea I stole from old roleplaying games and I was excited to try it, but of course, since I was the one who designed the inconspicuous labyrinth of a ruined city shrouded in fog, I knew where I had to go, unfortunately, I couldn''t find one shows with humanoid body and iron pyramid head. "I might have to create one using some Zombie Berserk as a base..." (I) "What are you talking about master?" (Hela) not saying anything important, I''m just thinking out loud as I make a mental note of something to do in my spare time." (I) "Also, don''t forget to call me Dad, you''ll get used to it in time." (I) We kept going straight to the center of the ruined city, my vision was being blocked, but my Aura was able to easily mix with the miasma and expand even further, but I didn''t do that to not expel all the Undead from the city in a hurry ruins. In the center of the city, there was a large park full of extremely deadly flowers and trees, this is the most dangerous area on this floor. The trees with the black body and ethereal blue leaves as if they were made of blue flames are Death Trees, they consume and attract death energy while releasing miasma just getting close to these trees can lead one to death. Flowers are various types of forbidden items used in poisons, curses, and forbidden techniques, each flower has the ability to kill anyone who approaches it in horrible ways, some among them may even try to kill someone on their own. I just wanted to create a safe green area here, a safe place in the middle of this city full of the Undead, but Lyra and Hela insisted on taking advantage of this perfect environment to create this place where they could collect these rare items. "This place is the best place to do the ritual, the miasma and death energy will make the ritual stronger while lowering the energy consumption." (Hela) My Aura which has holy characteristics kept the Undead away, but the things planted in this park did nothing to me or Hela for another reason, I left my blood to be used in the creation of this park, it took something very nourishing to keep things so rare and wouldn''t sacrifice anyone like Elsaris said it was usually done by criminals. Furthermore, I have the Blessing of the Demon Goddess of Death, we can say that Hela''s Soul was also empowered by a Death God, could it be a Death God who took his previous life to death by being an Evil God of Corpses, but it was still a God of Death. We entered the park making our way to the center where there were the 4 Black Dragons, they seem to have made their nests here, and as soon as they saw me in my direction where they lowered their heads in front of me if their appearances weren''t so scary it would be cute. "Do they live here?" (I) "Yes, death energy and miasma does not harm Black Dragons, in fact, they should now be almost evolving into Death Dragons." (Hela) "Are they going to disrupt the ritual?" (I) "No, but I hope they don''t try to interfere." (Hela) When she let go of my arm her eyes sparkled as she licked her lips. "Looks like you enjoyed her meal." (I) "Your blood is magnificent masterI mean Father." (Hela) Everyone who drinks my blood says so and I can understand that, my blood has thousands of bloodlines mixed in, that alone would be good enough to make any vampire''s mouth water, but that''s not all, from what my sisters told me, the fact that me having Pure Elemental Affinities and Blessings of Gods also nourishes my blood, all this not counting my Divine lineage. For all these facts that even my sisters ask to drink my blood sometimes. "I''m careful." (I) "Don''t worry, this time I''m confident." (Hela) I move away from her going backwards, so I see her walk towards the center of the ritual instead of staying outside, I was worried that I knew the place this ritual was trying to connect from, so I wanted to call her, but I hesitated remembering since she''s the expert here, I have to trust her. I see him slash his hand and cause a trickle of blood to flow from her hand onto the summoning crystal which continued to ooze down until it reached the floor below where the ritual magic circle was. With this thread of blood connecting Hela, the summoning crystal, and the ritual circle below, I soon realize that Hela''s mana has started to flow through this blood and the ritual lights up. "< Death Familiar Summoning Ritual: Activate >" (Hela) Soon all the items scattered by the Ritual began to dissolve and be absorbed by the Ritual making the design of all the magic circles light up even more, at first it was just a red light since the crystals forming the ritual were made with my blood. But in a short while the red light turns into a black light which soon after was followed by flames burning the blood crystals forming black flames which were attracting death energy from the surroundings, the light these black flames emit was dark blue, this gives a macabre feeling to the environment and frightening for Hela in the middle of this macabre ritual. "< May my offer be accepted for the imprisonment of all that is impure, may the one I seek be released from his bonds and obey me. >" (Hela) "< Necromancer Summon >" (Hela) "Listen to my voice and come to me, become my power and I''ll give you a chance to walk the world once more!" (Hela) Hela begins to speak and a presence begins to form within the ritual circle, the power of which is tremendous and seems to bring ruin to everything. This power and presence was not coming from someone, it was like the presence of nature, but it was the opposite, this energy was full of miasma and death. Before long the ritual circle began to suck miasma and death energy in large amounts from the surroundings as the flames only increased, this made the bizarre presence grow stronger and stronger just within the ritual area. So terrifying was this presence that even I felt cold sweat on my back. Chapter 1060: Helas Ritual Part 3 Chapter 1060: Hela''s Ritual Part 3 I was looking at Hela''s summoning ritual, something she had been preparing for months, she gathered all the necessary materials and knew how to perfectly perform the ritual after days and days of studying just this ritual. Some of these materials come from me or from the Treasure I accumulated in the Dungeon, but none of that mattered, least of all to me. All I was doing was responding to Hela''s strong urge to perform this forbidden ritual, unbeknownst to her I had spoken with the High Priest of Death, Henry. He told me in more detail about this ritual and what could happen, even though he has few records about this ritual as few dared to perform it in the past. A Necromancer can reanimate corpses and manipulate Ghosts to serve as Familiars, this allows them to have a fully loyal Familiar while also allowing them great freedom to choose the type of Familiar they desire. In the words of High Priest Henrique, "only the mad tried to free those condemned to Hell", in his words. After a few questions, I found out that the Hell described in this world is not the same as the mythologies, games, stories, and movies that my world has portrayed over so long as a place of penance for those who committed sins in life. Hell in this world is literally a place, a dimension connected with the one we are in, a place where terrible creatures are imprisoned for different reasons, and also the place where the race of Demons and Undead originated. Just like the Fairy World or the Spirit World, Hell is a purely energy and ethereal reality, physical beings are not able to enter there, also there is little chance of getting out for fools who tried to enter of their own free will. The miasma is like the very air in that space, it''s everywhere, a place like that doesn''t have a single place that could be called safe. Just opening a door to Hell is taboo and it looks like I did that once against the Church of Light, but in my case, I just brought a mindless monster that was born in Hell and had a Blessing of the Demon Goddess of Death, but even though I was hit as punishment, it seems that the damage I took that day wasn''t just for forcing that Summon, which by the way was random. But High Priest Henrique told me about what happens to those who do this Ritual, something so specific that not bringing an ordinary creature and not releasing a creature trapped in Hell, that is breaking a Taboo completely. I look at Hela being surrounded by the black and blue flames while so much death energy is being concentrated in her ritual, I also notice the horrible presence that forms, I can also almost see a kind of gate of bones forming. The presence he felt was from Hell itself, just as this world has the presence of nature full of harmony everywhere, hell seems to have its own presence full of pain, suffering, and cruelty. I''m pretty sure Hela can''t see the door, that''s why I''m not using my eyes to see the shadow or outline of this door, I''m seeing it with my Aura and Authority, it just feels like my instincts are telling me what to do what is there and what does it look like. At this moment a black energy comes out through what I believe to be the cracks in the door, this energy builds up in the form of a black hood with chains covered by thorns attached to the waist and keeping what''s underneath the hood completely hidden. The presence of this creature was ghastly, it was as if the energy of death had taken a physical form, and yet it still looked like an ethereal creature. "She''ll be alive, maybe bedridden for a while, but nothing serious." (Caitlyn) "I think you better be right because if something happens to her I''ll start by killing the Taboo Hunter before I show you what breaking a Taboo really is." (I) "I don''t expect anything different from you, just stop threatening the doorman just because he''s listening, he doesn''t fear death or you." (Caitlyn) "..." (I) I kept still just watching, I was closely following the signs of Hela''s vital energy that was descending less than I expected from her appearance, but her Aura was strangely calm and her eyes remain closed the whole time. If it was in the past before I learned to control my emotions I would have run there to end it all, but it seems I would just be doing something needlessly. "What tests or tests is he putting Hela through?" (I) "The first is synchronizing with the presence of Hell, something similar to what you do when mixing your Aura with the presence of nature in the surroundings, this would normally lead someone directly to death and anyone who survives has a high chance of going insane." (Caitlyn) "The second test is finding the one you want as a Familiar in Hell, which would be impossible in most cases." (Caitlyn) "The only way to do that is through compatibility with the Familiar, something we both know she has even before she was her daughter." (Caitlyn) "So I''ll keep waiting, but what I said before wasn''t a threat to him, it was a warning, I usually stand by what I say." (I) I could control my emotions and keep a rational mind, but that doesn''t mean I don''t feel anything, the killing intent coming out of me was stronger than I expected. Sigh But it seems I worried for nothing, soon the presence of Hell blended in harmony with Hela''s Aura and few seconds later a purple chain came out of the gate and wrapped around Hela''s arm before becoming energy entering her body as she left chain tattoos on her arm. It was at this moment that the Taboo Hunter of Death withdrew his finger and waved at the door, tearing it to pieces, which formed a ring above the two, the ring was the size of the Ritual. This large ring absorbed the black and blue flames making these flames fill the inside of the ring, it was at this moment that I felt the presence of Hell stronger, at this moment a large claw with chains still attached to the wrist. "I''ve never seen anyone complete both tests so quickly, it also looks like she got what she wanted." (Caitlyn) Chapter 1061: Helas Familiar Chapter 1061: Hela''s Familiar Even with all that going on, with the gate being torn to pieces before forming into this great ring that absorbed the black and blue flames of the ritual, I never stopped looking at Hela, that''s because I was confirming that her situation stopped getting worse. Almost all of her hair had already fallen out and the little that was left was gray like someone very old, her skin was smooth before, now it was full of old age wrinkles, and her body was thin to the point of seeing the shape of her bones in the skin, but even with all that, his life energy doesn''t seem to have dropped below half. When I finally turn my attention to the ring that had the interior filled with the black and blue flames it absorbed from the Ritual, I see a large claw with chains attached to the wrists coming out from inside the ring. The claws that emerged are made only of bones and soon another giant claw also attached by chains appears, the two claws are attached to the edges of the large ring and finally a colossal skull head appears. RRROOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!!! The great skull attracts all the miasma and energy of death the moment it roars upwards while releasing a killing intent not less than what was felt a few minutes ago when I thought Hela was in danger. With half of its body of bones sticking out I was able to realize that it was a Dragon Skeleton, I also recognized it as the Undead that Hela the scenes manages to summon temporarily. This Skeleton Dragon had chains on its arms, neck, wings, and even attached to its spine, all of these chains continuing down through the portal it was exiting. "< Take my blood and break free from the restraints. >" (Hela) "< Absorb my Aura and become part of my power. >" (Hela) "< Listen to my voice and obey! >" (Hela) Hela''s voice was charged with her Aura and traces of my Authority, but what surprised me was I felt a similar sense of Hell''s presence that I felt before coming from her voice. The Dragon spreads its wings breaking the chains before new chains appear trapping its wings again, the purple light that this creature had in the eyeholes became a flame or should I say a fire for its size. Soon he absorbed the blood, power, and Aura of Hela before the chains broke freeing him, then the very gate he left through collapses causing the flames inside the ring to go towards the Dragon, but instead of running, he turned away plays in the flames. I saw the flames not burn him, but rather being absorbed by his eyes as a Spectral Body formed from the flames around him, I also noticed that his form was becoming less bestial and achieving more humanoid traits like standing with his two hind legs while adjusting the body posture in the air for a straighter spine. Perhaps his biggest change was his skull which was disproportionate with his body, his skull shrinks a little while all the bones in his body turned black, in the end, his Spectral Body was blue in color, his 3 pairs of wings were in black flames and blue. I also saw some black chains still attached to his wrists, but it didn''t seem to restrict him who was easily over 50 meters tall. "What was that just now?" (I) "He evolved by consuming the power that created this Gate of Hell, something Hela did on purpose, guiding him to do this." (Caitlyn) "Where is that..." (I) But I avoided combat by just going to Hela, so I used my blood to feed her before delivering a healing potion. Meanwhile, Caitlyn was sitting on his shoulders, I don''t know what she''s doing but he''s still. After taking care of Hela I have her floating lying next to me while her Familiar follows us along with my sister floating on my other side. I let Hela rest on a bed I pull out of item storage, then I sit down on the side of the bed. "How are you feeling?" (I) "I''m fine, master... Father." (Hela) "I just need to rest." (Hela) Hela raises her hand showing that the skin on her hand is already returning to normal. ------------- When we get back to the city floor, I lead Hela straight to the mansion while I have her familiar follow me to the Temple Communal. "Who are you? A Dragon? An Undead?" (I) "I''m both, I was born in Hell from the corpse of a Black Dragon that was trapped there, and the first thing I did was devour that Dragon''s Soul or what was left of his Soul." (Hellyos) "Now after being released from the chains and having my full power released as well as receiving the power my mistress prepared for me, I have been reborn as a True Death Dragon." (Hellyos) "I don''t sense many emotions in your Aura." (I) "I shouldn''t have any, I shouldn''t even have a mind." (Hellyos) "The Contract I made with my mistress allowed me to suppress my instincts and finally have a mind, which is why I am able to take this form now." (Hellyos) "You know, I have a lot of familiars, so I know you must be loyal to Hela, but that''s not enough, I don''t want someone to stand by her just because of this Family Contract." (I) "I want to know if you''ll protect her willingly, I want to know if you''ll be there for her when she needs it, and I want to know how much she means to you." (I) "Everything I am now she gave it to me, she was also the one who always brought me to the world of the living to fight alongside her, she is important to me." (Hellyos) I look at him, but I don''t know if he is telling the truth or not, his face has no expression and his Aura is too strange for me to understand. "Let''s go to High Priest Henrique, I need to know more about you and know if another of the Death Taboo Hunters is going to come after you." (I) Chapter 1062: Temple Of The Fairies Part 1 Chapter 1062: Temple Of The Fairies Part 1 I was next to Karina looking at her sleeping, scales covering her entire body while constantly releasing energy, I try to bring my hand closer, but I feel resistance due to the flow of energy around her body. "She''s been like this for a long time." (I) "This is what happens when you restrict evolution to strength without creating a growth barrier." (Yara) "Why she did it?" (I) "Because she wanted more than just being a Priestess, she was afraid of not being able to stand by her side just as a Dragon Priestess." (Yara) "..." (I) I look at Karina''s state, her body covered in these crystal scales to the point where her face is not visible and her life energy getting lower and lower. "What did she do?" (I) "She already knew how to reach greater heights, the God Akatosh answered her prayers along with a warning." (Yara) "..." (I) Sigh I have a lot on my mind and yet more and more things keep coming up to worry about. I already have to worry about Nix and Layla who have been going through their evolutions for so long, I also have to worry about the Demon War and the Church of Light affecting me indirectly since I have acquaintances participating, I also have to worry with the Gray Elf village that surrounds Klaus and now I have to worry about the state of Karina. "You shouldn''t..." (Yara) "What are you going to say? Are you going to say it so you don''t get worried? So I don''t blame her for being reckless?" (I) "I will always care about the people important to me, I will also not blame her for doing something of her own free will even knowing the risks and being reckless, I would be a hypocrite otherwise..." (I) I look once again at Karina''s state, I can feel that the energy within her is in conflict, she had my energy from before the evolution and tried to absorb the new characteristics of my current evolution. "I''m not sure why she did it, but at the moment I don''t know if I can help her, it seems I have to solve my problems in pieces..." (I) "(If she did that after the Dragon God''s reply, then he is the one I should seek.)" (I) I knew where I was supposed to go to get the answers I needed, so I went to the Communal Temple, and the High Priestess of Life was coming along with me. "Why didn''t anyone tell me about Karina before?" (I) "You were a good-for-nothing who couldn''t even take care of himself, telling you earlier would only have made something even more reckless happen." (Yara) "That sounds like something I would do, not gonna lie." (I) "But are you sure that her life isn''t in danger?" (I) "..." (I) I walk while I talk to Lorraine, and with that, I start to have a clearer view of the whole situation, when I arrived in the back garden I saw thousands of Fairies flying around something, their Auras seemed to try to mask what was behind, as they are so many working together, I can''t take my Aura very far. Just by looking, I can tell that something is different, the space itself is rippled, it wasn''t like that earlier, but now it''s as if a storm has started on a calm sea, the space is rippled violently to the point where tiny cracks form by the dozens before they close completely. "Are you sure there''s no risk?" (I) "The only risk there is if I can''t get to her." (Lorraine) "Aren''t the fairies supposed to do this themselves? At least that''s what I''ve learned." (I) As I spoke to her, I continued analyzing the situation in front of me, before taking the first step I have to be careful not to get caught in those cracks or the most violent waves in space. "That would be true if she had done it right, a Faerie Cradle must be created by the Faerie herself, but Layla created this Faerie Cradle with the combined power of the two of you." (Lorraine) Lorraine touches the air and sparks of energy gather before forming traces of energy just like Aura''s. "Your power and Aura is all over the Cradle, even your Authority and Holy Power affected the Cradle, I sincerely think that if it wasn''t inside this Dungeon that already belongs to you, the world would have crushed both of you." (Lorraine) "(I can''t say that this Fairy Cradle was actually a big accident, nobody planned it...)" (I) "You must get to her and circulate your powers between the two before doing the same to the Cradle of Faerie, this will only take a few minutes." (Lorraine) "That is if you can get past the turbulent space and the Fairies who are acting purely on instinct to protect Layla." (Lorraine) "If that''s all, then it will be easy." (I) I couldn''t help but smile, so without saying anything else I started walking forward, I was hesitant as I didn''t know what to do, but it looks like everything is going to be easier than I expected. "It''s time to wake up you little Demon..." (I) "< Territory >" (I) I walk to where the space is becoming and I can feel like there''s something trying to crush my body continuously, but I use my Authority to create a Territory around me following the line of my body while glued to my skin. Doing something like this was one of the things hammered into my body by my sisters, it protected me from space warping, maintaining this was difficult as normally a Territory is fixed in place where it was created, what I''m doing is basically loading a part of the space around me with me. "(I feel like I''m dragging something incredibly heavy.)" (I) But even with this protection I kept dodging the cracks in space seeing that they could breach my Territory, I also noticed that the Fairies seemed to be able to follow the flow of space ripples, which protected them from the cracks and being crushed by space in disarray like this. As soon as I got to the Fairies I noticed that many had their eyes in a daze with tears in their eyes and it only took me a few seconds to realize why, the Cradle of the Fairies was transmitting the pain that Layla was feeling, but somehow that pain and screams seem something I''ve seen before. I walk towards the Fairies who just started attacking before they even look at me, but when I raise my Aura all the Fairies look at me as they make room for me to pass until I reach where Layla was. When I saw her I noticed that her body was in pieces, literally small pieces as if it had gone through a shredder, these pieces were circling around her like two rings, and what was in the middle was a silhouette of many colors and without features, but even without eyes, I realized that I was in a trance and closed to the outside world. "Your sleep time is up you little Demon thing, I''ll make you wake up." (I) Chapter 1063: Temple Of The Fairies Part 2 Chapter 1063: Temple Of The Fairies Part 2 I wouldn''t leave Layla in this situation, at the moment she seems to have lost her physical body, but I also can''t say if this featureless luminous body is her Soul, I can''t say if she did it on purpose or not. I walk towards her as all the Fairies walk away from us, I can feel Layla''s Aura everywhere since I arrived in the manor gardens, but where I am now it feels different. "I see..." (I) It only took me a second to understand that the Aura from before was what I perceived from the Cradle, but now I am directly feeling Layla''s Aura. I sit down in front of her and she stretches out my hand, I can''t tell if she can hear my words normally without having a body, I also don''t know if she notices my presence, so while I stretched my hands forward I was also using our connection to convey my will. I felt a slight vibration in her Aura as I transmitted my will, then felt as if her focus of attention was diverted to me as she reached out her hands to touch mine. I grabbed her hands that were now slightly larger than mine while intertwining our fingers facing each other. "Let''s use our power together..." (I) I had only sent my will through our connection and how she seemed to react to it I thought for a second that she would be able to hear me, but as soon as I touched her hand I realized her state, what is in front of me is the essence of power like. this like Layla''s Soul, but her mind is not here. I look around trying to use my Aura to mix with the Cradle of Fairies with difficulty, that''s when I confirmed that Layla''s mind was together with the Cradle of Fairies. Since she didn''t understand what she was saying, I just started to circulate my power, Aura and Authority with Layla''s Soul in front of me one at a time. I started with the energies of the various Pure Elements we shared, I felt these natural synergies running through the luminous body in front of me, and I felt the paths it was passing through as it blended with her own power, so I began to use my power, but only my mana, I avoided using my Spiritual Energy or my Ki since Fairies are beings solely focused on Magic. After that, I added my Aura and Layla seemed to reflexively do the same, that''s when the rings made from her body parts started circling both of us instead of circling just her. Another thing that happened was the energy that circulated only in her returning to me through my other hand completing the first cycle which was slow, but the energy that returned was no longer just mine, and I was not able to keep my body still for a long time, so I sent it to her once more. I also felt something forming between the two of us and I realized that it was an excess of our combined power forming between the two of us because of the flow of energy forming between us, it was at this moment that I added my Holy Power, I knew it was moment for it because it was my instinct speaking, as soon as my power passed into Layla''s body her colors became even stronger and she feels the sphere of power between us circulating her power with the Cradle of Faerie doing a second layer of energy circulation. It was then that my Authority seemed to move on its own, I didn''t stop it and just let it happen as it joined the flow of power between me and Layla. When this happens I can feel a pulsation in the space as it has stabilized, then from the crown a swirl of energy forms around Layla. Right now I feel like I''m knocked out of our connection by a wave of energy that pulls me away from her, but I''m still able to feel the overflowing happiness she feels. As soon as I looked around the Divine energy and the presence of the Fairy Goddess was gone and the gate that I was barely able to see just at a glance had changed, it was now a crystal Gate ornate with images of nature from various places like forests, mountains, oceans, deserts, clouds in the sky, volcanoes, the sun and the moon. Even while I was admiring the Gate that looks like a work of art, it started to sink into my shadow once more, I didn''t seem to have control over the Fairy Gate, so it just disappears into my shadow once more. I look over to where Layla is surrounded by energy not being able to see her inside, I try to move forward but am stopped when the space around me freezes. "You did a good job, now she''s going to be fine." (Lorraine) "What is happening now?" (I) "This is no longer just a Cradle of Faerie, but it hasn''t become a Temple of Faerie yet, at least not until she wakes up." (Lorraine) "A Fairy Queen''s crown represents her Authority, but she doesn''t have a body yet and that''s what she''s creating right now, a new body." (Lorraine) "How long will it take?" (I) "If it was a normal case just a few hours, but because of the interference you had to do, I honestly don''t know, it could last a few days." (Lorraine) "..." (I) "No need to make that worried face, she''s more than fine already, you should be doing other things now." (Lorraine) I look towards the waterfall, I can feel Nix''s call, when I look back to where Lorraine was, she disappeared as she wanted. Sigh "She comes and goes as she pleases, but she could at least say goodbye." (I) Chapter 1064: Temple Of Spirits Part 1 Chapter 1064: Temple Of Spirits Part 1 Getting zero Mana made my head feel a little weird, if I hadn''t already been through worse, I couldn''t even stand up right now, so before I went to where Nix was, I drank a large amount of blood and 2 bottles of potions. After a few more minutes feeling my Mana grow more and more until a decent amount, I spread my wings and in a short time I arrived where the waterfall was, there I found someone I didn''t recognize. She was a beautiful young woman who appears to have started to become an adult now, her chocolate black skin set off her long, wavy silver hair as well as her blue eyes that seem to contain the depth of the ocean. I didn''t know who she was, but I was sure of one thing, she was stronger than me, she was much stronger than me since I wasn''t able to even feel her Aura. "I didn''t mean to disturb you, so I hope my presence doesn''t put you on your guard against me." "..." (I) "I have a few questions, but the one I needed answered I think I already know the answer." (I) At some point this person appeared in front of me with a kind smile and loving eyes, I didn''t notice him move even after appearing in front of me, but I wasn''t scared, not because of his polite and kind way of speaking or his loving look. What gave me peace of mind was discovering her identity when I could see her face up close, even though I''ve never seen her before, the family resemblance is too great not to recognize. "Nice to meet you Stella, Moon Fairy Queen." (I) "Nice to meet you too, child of the Goddess Selene." (Stella) Her resemblance to Nix was very strong, but while Nix has a more aggressive face like her father, Stella has a calmer and kinder face. "What are you doing here? I thought you were avoiding Nix." (I) "I felt her Spirit gate opening while she was still in the Spirit world or at least that''s what I thought would happen" (Stella) Stella floated forward and I went behind where I could better see the waterfall from above, inside the small lake it was like a big monster was hiding while the moon was shining on the water, which is strange since it was still daylight. Furthermore, the waterfall seemed to cast shadows on the water of the lake, everything was very strange, I highly realized that the various Spirits were sleeping floating in the surroundings. I tried to follow the location Stella pointed to and with that, I saw a reflection of Nix sitting on the waterfall surrounded by shadows, this was a reflection of Nix in his Human form, I found this strange as I thought of the creature in the lake being Nix in his Dragon body. "Is your mind as separate from your Soul as Layla is?" (I) "Would Layla be the Fairy that Lorraine had her eye on?" (Stella) "Yes, she was in a peculiar state, to say the least when I got there." (I) "Nix is not separate, because both the reflection in the waterfall and the big shadow at the bottom of the lake are just representations of her, the real Nix is there." (Stella) Sigh She didn''t seem to notice my presence, even with me standing right in front of her, I tried to use my Aura but surprisingly I wasn''t able to, the pressure was restricting my Aura, both the Aura pressure and the one I felt in my Soul are just inconveniences and yet they are restricting my movements more than I care to admit. Nix wouldn''t seem to be able to notice my presence or see that I was right in front of him, he also didn''t seem able to hear my voice, so I reached my hand up to his face to dry his tears, but as soon as I touched his face our connection began sending a whirlwind of emotions my way. It was a great deal of terror, fear, and murderous intent, but mostly hate. The emotions are so strong and intense that I was carried away by them, before I knew it I was next to a small silver Dragon with some black scales, the Dragon was seriously injured and in its last breath, it looked up with tears in its eyes to an intense battle in the sky making blood rain under the earth. That vision only lasted a second before I woke up, I still had my hand on Nix''s face and I could still feel his emotions flowing through me, but this time I was more prepared. "You must know I''m here, some part of you knows I''m here, so follow my lead." (I) This time I don''t waste any more time trying to wake her up, clearly the illusion where Nix is trapped has to do with her past trauma, the illusion trapped her on the worst day of her life, the day she lost everything. I hold both of her hands together with my own, then just like I did with Layla, I start to circulate my energy to Nix''s body, the only difference is that this time it was Spiritual Energy. "(Come on, I know you can hear me, Nix.)" (I) Nix didn''t seem to notice my energy going into her body, I tried to use our connection to pull some kind of connection with her, but nothing I did or said was taking effect, that''s when I had an idea, an idea that I had strong doubts about use, but in the end, I chose to do it. But just to be sure, I slapped her face twice, bit her hand, and tried to use a Poison on her, but she didn''t react to any of it, so I have no other option. "I''m sorry Nix, but that''s the only way I could think of to react." (I) I knew she was in shock reliving the day she experienced the horrors of the War, the day she lost her mother and saw massacres being carried out for no reason from her point of view, her mind is hampered by the strong emotions she felt that day, only extreme target could affect his mind right now. I use my body control, one of the skills I hate the most to modify my vocal chords to change my voice to a specific one. Sigh "My dear follow my voice and wake up from this illusion." (Stella''s voice) "Mother..." (Nix) "Circle your energy along with me my dear." (Stella''s voice) "A mother really is..." (Nix) I can''t stand doing this to Nix, but I knew only her mother''s voice would be able to reach her, but that doesn''t make what I''m doing any less wrong. Chapter 1065: Temple Of Spirits Part 2 Chapter 1065: Temple Of Spirits Part 2 I didn''t like the idea of pretending to be Nix''s mother to get her to cooperate, but not being able to see any other option in this situation, the idea of leaving Nix lost in this illusion is terrifying to me. "Let our power become one and circulate among us following my lead, my dear." (Stella''s voice) I started to use my energy again to circulate from my body to Nix''s body, this time she controlled the energy along with me to circulate in her body while adding her own energy, as much as I dislike doing that with Nix, at least less is making a difference in how she reacts. I felt the energy circulating from her body to mine before returning to her, this cycle was becoming faster and faster, and I was also adding my Holy Power, my Aura and my Authority little by little with her doing the same. Nix was making this circular energy between us flow faster and faster, I felt my Spiritual Energy depleting below half, and it was then that I noticed the reflection of the moon below us both spinning in the same direction as the energy in our bodies. I only notice this change because the light of this reflection of the moon was also increasing until I couldn''t ignore it anymore. At this moment I feel something move inside my shadow, a few seconds later I noticed something rising from my shadow behind me again, even without being able to look back I could imagine what it could be since I went through something similar not long ago. Just out of the corner of my eye I managed to catch a glimpse of the Gate of Spirits, it was a gate made of solid black metal by the looks of it, I seemed to be able to see very faintly out of the corner of my eye any movement at the gate. I stopped using Stella''s voice now that Nix was doing what was needed, but I still must apologize to her later for doing such a horrible thing to her. I wasn''t able to let the matter of Stella''s voice go, but the energy was still circulating between us, unlike how it was with Layla, the energy wasn''t building up between us, but I realized that at some point the darkness around us was filled with stars that were spinning in the sky above us. With each passing second I could also feel Spiritual Energy passing through the gate behind me, this time I was able to notice it earlier due to having gone through something similar with Layla. This energy was spreading around us and avoiding getting too close, but with the flow of energy between me and Nix being so fast as well as maintaining stability, I started using this energy to circulate from us to the Cradle of Spirits next to us around. Doing this caused two changes, the first was that just like with Layla, the energy flow out of our bodies becoming a ring of energy between us in a perpetual spinning motion. The second change was that as this ring becoming dark also formed a ring of stars above us as cracks formed from this ring of stars little by little through the darkness. I felt the gate opening faster and faster behind me by the volume of Spirit Energy on my back, when all darkness was filled with silver cracks the Gate of Spirits was fully open and a new type of energy emerged from the gate, it was Divine energy with a presence he didn''t recognize this time. This Divine power spreads through the surroundings, but at the same time I feel that something has changed, it took less than a second to notice drop after drop of pure silver energy coming out of the reflection of the Moon below us and rising to stand in the middle of the spinning ring. I also noticed that it wasn''t just the Moon below us, I could feel moisture around me as I noticed a flow of blue energy coming from the surroundings to also gather in the middle of the ring. "I didn''t show up until now because I knew it wouldn''t help at all, my presence would just be a reminder of her mother when I''m not her anymore." (Stella) "..." (I) I try to get up, but my body feels heavy, the Spirits around have to hold me down so I don''t fall. "I''ll help you since you seem to be busy." (Stella) Stella appears in front of me and places a finger on my forehead, at the same moment I feel 70% of my Spiritual Energy filled in one go. "Thanks." (I) "It was just a little help, nothing he couldn''t recover with enough time." (Stella) Time is something that has been difficult since dawn, I have to pay attention to Hela''s Summon and help Nix and Layla with their Cradles, these are all things I did in a few hours. I still have Karina''s problems to deal with and I should be gone, but there''s no point in me leaving with so many things to do, I''ll wait until tomorrow to leave that should be enough time to solve Karina''s problem, I hope. "What are you going to do now?" (I) "I have tasks to do, but soon you will know more" (Stella) When she finishes speaking her body disperses into mist, I''m not even sure if she was here or from the beginning she was just some kind of duplicate of her, but even though she was speaking looking at me, I noticed that her attention held the entire time where Nix had sunk. "Three tasks done, time to tackle the last one..." (I) "We have something urgent to report, someone..." (Orion) "Nice to see you, Holy Son." (Arthur) "(Can this day get any worse?)" (I) "Zenos, I need to talk to you..." (Klaus) "It can only be a joke..." (I) Chapter 1066: The Fall Of A Dragon Chapter 1066: The Fall Of A Dragon Pov Stella (Spirit Queen of Illusion): I was facing the entrance to Nix''s Dungeon, this Dragon''s head looks a lot like Arash, at least it has many of his characteristics minus the overly aggressive part of him. "I didn''t expect you to stay here." (I) "I can say the same for you, but I know our tasks are the same." (Lorraine) "Why do you keep Fairy Layla under surveillance?" (I) "She''s not the one I''m watching." (Lorraine) I look at Lorraine, she''s been my friend forever and she''s also been friends with the previous Stella for millennia. "I''m more interested in Zenos, the Fae is already someone I can understand, she''s a lot like my mother with the only problem being her immaturity, nothing a few centuries of experience can''t fix." (Lorraine) "But your contractor is a big problem in many ways." (Lorraine) I can understand her, all the Spirits know about the Faerie Goddess finding a Champion, but I must be one of the few who knows who that Champion really is. "He''s not just a mortal, he''s also someone involved with many Gods, all this not to mention his identity as a Demigod at least until now..." (Lorraine) "The Contract between them is not something normal, and the very existence of Zenos can be considered more important to Layla than my mother." (Lorraine) "That can''t be changed considering what Zenos has done for her." (I) "I just want to watch him more and see if he has a chance of becoming an enemy one day." (Lorraine) "..." (I) I cannot go against this thought, this is also a concern that I have even if to a lesser extent. As a Vampire and one day becoming a full Demigod, Zenos is basically immortal in a way far beyond normal Vampires, he''s also very young, even though he''s an Outsider he''s not even 100 years old counting his previous life from what Arash told me. Knowing what he will be like in a thousand or a hundred thousand years is something we cannot predict, the younger someone can be the easier it is for him to change, while those like us who have lived for so long do not change easily. "You think too much, until this moment he has only demonstrated how important those around him are to him, the kind of change you fear will not happen." (I) No matter how much a person changes over time, they never stray too far from the character they develop during their youth, their worldview may change, but not their personality. "You must do your part, the Gray Elves are already on the move, leave things here as they are." (I) "You might be right..." (Lorraine) I so wanted to laugh at the deplorable state he was in as I rushed towards him to grab his Soul with my own hands, but this is not the time to get carried away with emotion yet. "This fight is already over before it even starts" (Rhaegal) "< May I be the Herald of Light >" (Rhaegal) "< Daylight Deity >" (Rhaegal) When he started talking his body returned to its normal size of 1600 meters, then Baldr''s symbol on his chest glows in golden light while his horns break off forming a large ring of golden energy on his back. I saw all my energy being blasted out of Rhaegal''s body as his wounds were rapidly healing as his lost limbs grew back. All the holes and cracks in the space around us were rapidly closing as the space around us becomes a blue sky with a golden sun, that sun being behind Rhaegal in the center of the ring on her back. Her Aura grew more than (5) taking everything as she pressed me, her victorious smile plastered on her smug face, I couldn''t help but smile so wide it felt like splitting my head. "Now you are mine to kill as you wish" (Rhaegal) "< Territory: Divine Realm >" (I) "< Abyss Divine Dragon Realm >" (I) My Aura as well as my Authority and Divine Power explode to the surroundings consuming all Divine power in the area, the blue sky turned red as Black Dragons made of pure darkness flew by the hundreds in large groups, and in the sky only one big golden eye filled with intent assassin and below me a Battlefield filled with all kinds of bodies with a large crack where blood was seeping in, a crack filled with Darkness whose depth was unknown. When the space became mine again any and all connections to the outside were severed, just in case I felt the power of Akatosh Fluorine from my body to my wings before blending with the surrounding space creating an impossible escape cage. Endless black energy rises from the bottomless Abyss below me healing my entire body as my Aura smashes the insect in front of me to the ground, the golden ring containing an equally golden sun is grabbed by a large claw like the one I created in the last attack, but this time much more realistic with a large jaw on the palm, this claw ripped this ring with a sun away from Rhaegal making him bleed all over his body. "I''ve waited so long for you to use the Divine power Baldr bestowed on you." (I) "As expected, you left it until the last moment, your pride wouldn''t let you use another''s power until you realized you couldn''t defeat me?" (I) "ARASH... LIKE YOU..." (Rhaegal) "Finally I can crush your Soul with all my might and feast on your corpse... hahahahaha...." (I) ------------- Pov Zenos: I couldn''t deal with any more problems right now, even if I had recovered my Mana and Spirit Energy, my mind was still exhausted from helping Layla and Nix, not to mention the pressure I felt during those two occasions on my Soul. I told everyone to wait for me at the mansion and I didn''t listen to anyone, there was no point hearing new problems if I hadn''t finished solving the old ones, so I took a deep breath before entering the Communal Temple and stopping in front of the statue of the Dragon God Akatosh. Chapter 1067: Be Destroyed By Your Children Chapter 1067: Be Destroyed By Your Children Pov Arash (Dragon Emperor): Finally, a body ripped to pieces beneath my paws and its Soul trapped within its core in my hands, the happiness I feel at being able to crush Rhaegal once more cannot be described in a few words. "I always knew that for you to come back after so long and so confidently, you should have at least achieved your old self, but it still surprised me to see how far you''ve fallen by stooping to Baldr''s slave." (I) His overall strength has gone up a lot, but manipulating borrowed power will never surpass someone manipulating his own power. "Did you really think that raising your Territory to Ruler rank would be enough? Did you think that Baldr''s Divine power would give you the upper hand as a last resort?" (I) A Ruling Territory is when you transform the Imaginary Realm into a Separate Space of your own using its characteristics and power as a base, you transform the Illusory into a real one, a power where someone rules supreme over a separate area of the world. "I could torture you for centuries or millennia just for fun, but the Goddess Kalistos, Stella, and my daughter might not like me doing it." (I) Also, I don''t like to let such a cowardly enemy exist for so long, Baldr might do something to get him back, even now I know he must be trying something, so I won''t waste my time. "< Gates of Hell: Open >" (I) Hands of black bone reaching through the void ripped the space beside me leaving only a great gate made of Dragon bones ornamented with chains. As the gate emerged, one of the Guardians that the Goddess Kalistos itched to take care of appears, its tiny body. "Why do you want to open Hell''s Gate, Dragon Emperor?" (Death Taboo Hunter) "I want the Souls of Rhaegal''s children to emerge for just a few moments." (I) He looks at me before turning to the Soul in my hands, he knows what I intend to do, but I couldn''t talk about it since I can simply invade Hell as I wish, after all, this is where I was born. "What should I do next?" "We can talk about this later." (I) "Bring them!" (I) I wave one of my claws at Hell''s Gate as I guide my will inside. Soon after the Gate opens and a Black Dragon emerges from within bringing 3 chains dragging 3 incomplete Skeletons of smaller Dragons, these are the children of Rhaegal that I turned into such pathetic Undead before throwing them into Hell. "You must devour this until there is nothing left." (I) I throw Rhaegal''s core between them, with his power depleted, without a physical body, and with a severely wounded Soul, there was nothing he could do about it. I just stood by and watched as the three Dragon skeletons ripped the core to shreds while devouring the Soul Within until there was nothing left. "They are yours now." (I) I see him holding the silver chain that holds Baldr''s Crest from his slash. "Forget about Lydia, that was a long time ago..." (I) "DON''T YOU DARE SPEAK HER NAME YOU FILTHY CREATURE!!!!" (Edward) In his rage, he removes the veil that covered his face as well as the hood hiding the rest of his head. Edward still looks to be in his mid-35s, his shiny golden hair cut short and slicked back, his face bearing a single cut scar across his nose, something that happened during his childhood when he fell out of a tree. That cheerful and kind boy no longer exists for a long time, the one who was my childhood friend and who gave me the idea of creating the Black Empire, he left, leaving only this creature moved by hatred, not for the Demons, but for me. "If it weren''t for you, she would be ALIVE!!!" (Edward) "Even as I spoke of the dangers of miasma and the element of darkness, you encouraged her until she was corrupted by the miasma and turned into a monster!" (Edward) "All Demons do is lead people down the path of destruction." (Edward) I knew it, that chain is the birthday present Edward gave Lydia on her 12th birthday along with her eighth confession, that was thousands of years ago. "(How much of himself did he corrupt with Baldr''s power to remain alive even today with this appearance... even though he''s Human...)" (I) "Today will be our last battle, my old friend, the time has come to end this old grudge for both of us." (I) "< Territory: Ruler >" (I) "< Territory: Ruler >" (Edward) "< Ruler of Demons >" (I) "< Hallowed Land of Light >" (Edward) ---------------- Pov Zenos: I entered the Communal Temple and stood in front of the Dragon God statue, I was wondering how I could make my voice reach the Akatosh God, but I didn''t know where to start. At first, I thought about kneeling down to pray, I hate having to kneel before anyone, but Karina''s health is more important than stupid pride. But before I do that the Blessing of Goddess Selene prevents me from getting down on my knees, so I tried to pray while still standing, but just a simple prayer seemed useless, so I approached and touched the statue trying to use my Aura to interact with the statue just lightly, but even that didn''t show much reaction until I used my Authority, that''s when an intense reaction happened that threw me into the wall. But at least with that, I felt the presence of the Dragon God Akatosh fill the room of the statues when I feel something tangling in me coming from the Dragon God statue. "(What do you need boy?)" (God Akatosh) Chapter 1068: Dragon ***** Chapter 1068: Dragon ***** "(What do you need boy?)" (God Akatosh) As soon as I heard his voice, I noticed a fluctuation in the space around me, then I realized that the Communal Temple was empty, even the other statues of the various Gods were gone, leaving only the Dragon God statue behind. I''ve experienced something like this before, it feels like the Dragon God pulled me into a Space he created, I look at my hand trying to figure out if I was brought here physically or just my Soul like the time before. "(Don''t waste your time or my boy, both your body and Soul are in the same places, I just brought your consciousness into this mind space to talk to you.)" (God Akatosh) "(Say what is so important for you to use your Authority on my reflection, this is something very offensive to any God, but I will forgive just this once considering a youthful mistake.)" (God Akatosh) He speaks to me as if I were a child, but for a God whose age may be older than this world as far as I know, everyone on this continent must offer mere children.Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com I tried to find him somewhere, but his voice was only in my mind, so I kept looking at the statue as I didn''t know where to look as I spoke. "I want to know what happens to Karina, my Dragon Priestess, if possible." (I) "(I just responded to my Priestess''s willing call, she wished to go further in her Devotion and told her how to do it.)" (God Akatosh) "Your body is acting weird, it..." (I) "(I know how her body is, but it was her choice, I warned her of the risks and even so she moved forward without hesitation, her strength is admirable.)" (God Akatosh) The Dragon God speaks as if he is proud of Karina''s act, I also cannot blame him for the state he is in since he did this of his own free will. "Is there anything I can do to help her?" (I) "(No, she must surpass her limits by herself, hence I sealed even my Blessing that is in her body, just temporarily.)" (God Akatosh) "(If she goes through this ordeal she will achieve what she desired, she will become a Holy Dragon.)" (God Akatosh) I could already imagine that Karina wanted to become a Saint, but I don''t know if she wants to be my Saint like Alice or follow in Vanessa''s footsteps by becoming a Saint of a True God. But I have never heard the term "Saint Dragon" before today, I also feel that the meaning might be different from what I think from the teasing tone in the Dragon God''s voice. "What is this Holy Dragon?" (I) "(Ask the eldest of your sisters, I have an idiot to fight... hahahahahahaha...)" (God Akatosh) -------------- Before I knew it a hand touched my shoulder and when I turned around I saw Alice behind me smiling, then I noticed that there were many other people walking through the main hall and stopping at certain statues to pray, I myself was still standing in front of the statue of God Dragon. "How long did I stay..." (I) "Only a few seconds, no one noticed but me." (Alice) "I know about that, Karina had a hard time finding a True Dragon like that, that''s why she came to me in the first place." (I) "But this compatibility is not limited to the Elemental affinities little brother, the second compatibility that she must not have counted is the definition of strength, which for both of them must be the Will as well as the Dragon God." (Elizabeth) "When you become a High Priest you begin to change, your connection to a True Dragon causes you to inherit many of its physical traits." (Elizabeth) "They are basically getting married to put it briefly." (Caitlyn) I already knew all of this, I''ve been through these things myself and discovered some of these things from Karina''s mouth. "In other words, all High Priests become Dragonewt or True Dragons from the start." (Elizabeth) "But a Holy Dragon is different, there are no Saints in the Akatosh Religion because his High Priests do not represent only him, but also his binding Dragon, which in Karina''s case would be you." (Elizabeth) "A Holy Dragon only arises when a True Dragon becomes a Deity, which for True Dragons means becoming an Elder Dragon or the Dragon Emperor himself." (Elizabeth) Does that mean Arash is a Deity, does that make him a Demigod like my sisters were before they were reborn with my help? "A Saint Dragon is one who utilizes the Authority and power of their binding Dragon to become a full-fledged True Dragon, this would be a process similar to death and rebirth where they can only rely on their own willpower." (Elizabeth) Dragonewt''s silhouette transforms into a Dragon. "A Holy Dragon becomes the living Symbol of the Dragon it is bonded to by sharing the same race, Holy power, as well as its Authority and Aura characteristics." (Elizabeth) "But that if you survive, a Dragon Saint will not only be your Dragon Symbol of bonding but also receive in your body the power of God Akatosh if you survive, that''s like being the Saint of 2 Deities." (Natasha) "..." (I) The Dragon in the sky had two Crests behind it, those were my Crest and also the Crest of the Dragon God I saw on the statue earlier. Just hearing the power that a Saint of two Gods would have seems inconceivable to me, I haven''t seen a Saint in full power yet, but it must be inferior to a Hero I imagine. The space around us starts to crack and shatter like shattered glass, so we''re back in the room where Karina is still in the same predicament. After listening to the explanation and remembering the Dragon God''s words, its that I can''t help Karina like I did Nix or Layla, I can''t even touch her and any interference from me could do more harm than help, so I pledge to stay out of it. "(You must survive...)" (I) "How many Holy Dragons are there?" (I) "None, from the beginning of time until today only 2 existed, today one of them became a Lesser God and the second was killed." (Elizabeth) "Just being able to do something like that takes absolute zeal, something not everyone is able to have, not to mention having a strong will to resist two different powers in their body, the survival rate is very low in total." (Elizabeth) "It doesn''t mean anything, everyone is different, and chances change a lot from one person to another, so forget about it and do something useful while you wait, like a new bed for me..." (Caitlyn) My sisters started talking, but I just kept looking at Karina trying to believe that she would make it, but I didn''t know what could happen and I couldn''t help but think of something to help her if necessary. Chapter 1069: You Are Crazy!? Chapter 1069: You Are Crazy!? Pov Julius (Black Emperor): "You guys really are troublesome to kill." (I) "< Sun Rain >" (Holy Knight A) "< One Hundred Thousand Luminous Blades >" (Holy Knight B) I was fighting 6 of the Holy Knights inside my Territory that became an Imaginary Realm. Countless Demons arise from the Imaginary city wearing soldiers'' armor to attack my enemies, these Soldiers are fueled by the murderous intent of the surroundings, which thanks to the war is on the heights, causing an infinite number of Demon Soldiers to arise to attack the 6 castles of light. Thanks to the overwhelming numbers, I was able to kill the first Holy Knight with ease, but the second one was killed when he defended against my attack and was unable to protect himself from the hundreds of other weaker attacks coming towards him. The third as well as the fourth Holy Knights were much harder to kill, they had gotten stronger and I know the reason. Those I kill are bestowing the power they possess to those still alive, this is shortening their lives little by scratching the strength and more power than their bodies can handle, but because the compatibility between them is high it is not something that will negatively influence your fight now. As soon as the last two were left, the difference in numbers no longer made sense, they had enough power to launch area attacks devastating my Territory, so I could no longer wait for an opportunity, I had to act. "< Demon Magic: Sin of Pride Rise >" (I) Like many Demons, I am no exception to being linked to one of the sins, in this case, Pride that symbolizes our race, it is also the pride of who I am that gives me power. I run towards one of them with a sword in my hand making a magic circle in front of me where I pass inside, when I leave the other side my body is overloaded with power by forcing all my power to become miasma inside my body at the same time that all my Demonic power was fused into my flesh greatly enhancing my characteristics as a Demon. In this state, I can''t use magic anymore, but that wouldn''t matter against this enemy who can go against my Demonic energy head-on, so I prefer to attack like this. "< Piercing Demonic Blade >" (I) I gather all my power for this attack at the same time as arrows come towards us from the city, these arrows cannot hurt me, but they can cause serious damage to them. "< Sacred Area >" (Holy Knight A) "< Wings of the Sunscreen >" (Holy Knight B) My target creates an area of holy energy using the power of their castle of light, this makes it difficult for my Demons to get close to them while also hindering my progress. The second Holy Knight doesn''t just stare, he directs his power towards the white wings making them sing a golden hue like gold as they become bigger covering the two of me from my attack. "< Holy Court >" (Holy Knight A)Diiscover new stories at novelhall.com When my attack lands on the wing I realize that it looks like metal, even the sound was that of metal colliding, then a blast of Holy power hits me making my body retreat hundreds of meters, but at this moment the defenses disappear revealing that one of them was injured, exactly the one whose wings still had some tinge of golden color. I look at my tail whose tip was cut off before looking at the other Knight of Light who was my initial target, he had his sword full of my blood, they didn''t notice that I sent my tail underground to attack making my tail Charged with power, it bypassed normal defenses and penetrated his Armor defenses to pierce his head from the neck to the top of the skull. Klaus sits in front of me, he looks around and I feel a barrier rise up around the room, but it wasn''t done by him, I can feel the spatial element in the barrier, I also feel it to be Spiritual Energy. "Who else is here?" (I) "Nobody, this is an item that the King of the Gray Elves gave me, I just don''t want others to know that I want to talk to you." (Klaus) "(I hardly hide anything from my teammates and family, he must know this and even then he does it to show the seriousness of the situation.)" (I) "To begin with, you need to understand..." (Klaus) ------------- I spent an hour together with Kira''s father with him telling him about many things that happened, he also mentioned a little bit about the one who destroyed the World Tree. He told me about how instead of destroying the World Tree, the Evil God tried to take its power, which made the trap even more effective. But it seems that even the Gray Elf King''s body is not able to bear carrying the Soul of the World Tree. Another problem that arose was the army of monsters that are surrounding the World Tree, these monsters keep regenerating and seem to not have a Soul and their bodies do not have vital energy, the core in their bodies seems to be the only way to kill them if not count the complete destruction of the body. With all of this going on and Klaus who was involved in all of this still came looking for me for one reason only. "You are crazy!?" (I) "You want me to go to a place full of unknown, hard-to-kill monsters, where a dangerous Evil God is temporarily trapped and all without knowing who else might be beside him waiting there?" (I) "We are not asking you to fight, we have ways to fight the Evil God in question, we also have many ways to fight the monsters, but I still need you to take care of the World Tree." (Klaus) "..." (I) This is the same conversation as before when I was asked to plant a World Tree, it seems that the power of Chaos that I possess can synchronize with the power of harmony that a World Tree has serving to enhance its power, two opposites nourish each other forming a cycle. "But this time it''s different, I didn''t see I was planting a new and still weak World Tree." (I) "You want me to do this with the Soul of an ancient World Tree and at full power, my body won''t withstand something an Elf King wasn''t able to withstand." (I) I spent a lot of time listening to him, his plan was risky, but it wouldn''t be as risky as most things I do, but it looks like we have to leave now, I can''t wait until tomorrow as they''re in preparation for the attack quickly. "Master, someone is waiting for you hi, Klaus." (Ibuki) "Nice to see you again... Ibuki, correct?" (Klaus) "Yes, I thought I saw you in the city..." (Ibuki) "(I forgot that there is still someone else wanting to talk to me, this day seems to have no end...)" (I) Chapter 1070: Drastic Landscape Change Chapter 1070: Drastic Landscape Change Talking to Klaus is always unpleasant since his murderous intent against me never seems to go away, but this conversation was even worse because he was the one making this dangerous request. But to make matters worse, there are still more problems arising, after this day full of problems, another piece of news arrives to close my day with a **** key. I was inside another room with Arthur the Blood Templar and Orion standing in front of me looking away. "You mean everyone just paid for their guns and left!?" (I) "Yes, the other familiars except for me and Hinata went as well since it was impossible to stop them all." (Orion) "May I know why the Saints went too!?" (I) "My sisters and mother were worried about one of my brothers who works in the Gray Elf Village" (Arthur) "May I know why you didn''t go with them!?" (I) "I didn''t make it in time, but Allan went with them along with his group." (Arthur) "Besides, the Saints aren''t as helpless as you think." (Arthur) "..." (I) In other words, everyone in my family except for my sisters and Ibuki left for the Gray Elf Village, my Familiars, and the 3 Saints I was supposed to protect also left, all while I was busy all day!Alll latest novels at novelhall.com "Master..." (Hela) "..." (I) "I mean, Father it''s not time to argue, we should go" (Hela) "Master, I saw that it was the new White Elf Queen who opened a special temporary gate there, it seems that everyone went along with reinforcements for the fight." (Freya) "There''s a way this day can stay... better not finish this sentence..." (I) Sigh I didn''t have anything else to do, I didn''t want to waste time, so I went back to my room, I had to take my equipment before leaving, and before leaving I took a last look at Nix, Layla, and Karina. I wasn''t going alone, many others like Klaus, Ivan, and as well as several other people from the Dungeon were coming together. As soon as I left the Dungeon I saw two faces that I didn''t think I''d see again today, they were Lorraine and Stella accompanied by the Spirit of the World Tree. "You must not close your Dungeon, leave it behind for your own good." (Elly) "Why do you need this?" (I) "Because it would be dangerous for your two familiars to get close to this Evil God in this state and whether the Dungeon is open or closed won''t make a difference." (Elly) "(I have no way to take the Dungeon?)" (I) "I don''t know, but if it keeps going up..." (Diana) "Come back here you idiot..." (I) Quickly I launch a rope to tie to the leg of this man who is floating higher and higher, but as soon as the rope starts to wrap around his leg, it was torn to pieces by the Aura, but it wasn''t the Aura I felt coming from him before. "You said your friend over there was a Familiar of your Husband, correct?" (I) "Yes, Ragnar is one of Zenos'' Familiars, the aura now also looks like his, did they open another teleportation gate?" (Diana) "I don''t know, but we don''t have time to talk so calmly." (I) I point to the sky, the storm cloud seems to take the shape of a bird with two pairs of wings, he moves his head in the direction of where the boy was floating. This fair cloud creature is one of the 5 Titans of Nature that are in the surroundings, because of the harmony that is still maintained in this area thanks to the Elf King these Titans of Nature are keeping away from us while they devastate the surroundings by rearranging the map of the entire this great area. When I thought this Cloud Titan of Nature would attack it was too late, with the rope torn to pieces I didn''t have time to make another move, but then the Cloud Titan stopped in front of the idiot. "I see, his Aura too." (I) Before when the rope was destroyed I felt a trace of a different Aura, but this time I am feeling the full power of a very different Aura, the same Aura I felt from my daughter''s husband when I first met him, it may be stronger and slightly different, but it''s still very similar to what I remember. "He is coming back." (rica) If I''m not mistaken his name is Ragnar, it seems he returned to normal as soon as the Titan of Nature turned his back to leave, so he decreases in height until he puts his feet on the ground. "So, do you have any news from Zenos?" (Diana) "We have problems, Kira is being stalked." (Sakura) "Father!" (Diana) "I know, I''m already mobilizing everyone." (I) "I don''t need to, I can take care of myself, but thanks for your concern." (Kira) "Where are those who were chasing you?" (I) "There." (Kira) I look where she pointed and see a teleportation gate, from inside flying a large deformed and half-crushed head, then I see Zenos appear along with other people, all complaining while covered in purple blood. ----------------- Pov Zenos: From Ragnar''s vision, I realized the state of things, but it was still confusing, at least I know that the place where jobs appear is safe, I was stunned by the landscape even when I felt something curl around Ragnar''s foot, then I go to pieces when a large cluster of clouds forms in front of me before opening his eyes and blasting his Aura revealing himself to be a Titan of Nature. Only by using my Aura filled with the power of nature and showing no aggression did I show myself not to be a target, so the monster moves away, at this moment I deactivate the ritual and join the others when the Teleportation gate opens, at this very moment hundreds of grotesque monsters appear making everyone attack reflexively killing them with attacks from all directions, but this came at the price of being bathed in the blood of these hideous monsters. "Why am I so unlucky? What''s wrong with this damn day!" (I) Chapter 1071: 3 Goals Chapter 1071: 3 Goals After I went through the Teleportation gate that Lorraine created and arrived at the place where my other Familiars were already, the first thing I did was confirm if there were any more horrendous monsters like that, luckily there weren''t any more of those things, so I took a soap potion liquid to clean all the blood from my body. Meanwhile, I continued walking towards where I felt my Familiars were and in the distance, I saw Diana as well as Kira with them. "Can any of you explain where those damn monsters came from!?" (I) "I was running away from them when the teleportation gate opened between me and them all of a sudden." (Kira) "..." (I) "It can only be a joke..." (I) As I approached I asked about the monsters, but I was saddened to realize that this was all just the wrong time and place. Sigh "Before anything else." (I) "Master, I don''t advise..." (Sakura) "Huuh...gogh!!!" (I) cough cough I closed my eyes and tried to use my Aura to feel the broad, I needed to understand how much the ecosystem was out of balance as it was the most pressing danger in my vision. While only using my Aura nothing much happened, but as soon as my Aura tried to blend in with the surroundings I felt as if my whole body was being stabbed and I also felt something try to corrupt my Soul before a gentle energy spread inside me pushing this away taint of my Soul as well as of my body. I fell to my knees coughing and spitting up blood as someone was using some healing technique on me, when I lifted my head to look it was that person I realized it was Stella. "You are even more reckless than I was told, this whole area was controlled by the World Tree whose body is now under the possession of an Evil God, that means everything in the surroundings is being bathed in its power, try to mix your Aura with the surroundings is the same as opening a passage straight to his Soul which he can corrupt." (Stella) "It wouldn''t work anyway as your Authority would have prevented it, but it would still have done significant damage." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) "< Renewal of the Spirit >" Suddenly a male voice was heard behind me and when I turn around I see a Gray Elf who looks to be around middle age, one of his arms is hanging down and he has a tired look. As soon as he uttered these words, a circle of silver and gold Runes forms around me as pure energy passes through my body going to my Soul, then I feel the pain I was feeling disappear little by little until there is nothing left. "Thank you, King of the Gray Elves." (I) "Just don''t be so reckless again kid." (King Uryma) My sister Natasha grabbed me by the collar and dragged me to a large wooden parade where we all went to talk, this included Diana''s father who was laughing at me. "Than you..." (I) I was at a loss as to what was being said so indirectly without anyone explaining anything about me. "I''m not surprised you didn''t notice, there''s too little knowledge about Undead and understanding about Souls for you to understand, Master Zenos." (Ivan) "He focuses too much on power and gets lost in those moments where knowledge is needed." (Elizabeth) "I must be the youngest person in this place, I haven''t had time and maybe won''t have time anytime soon to study these things, I must focus on using my power in combat efficiently as a priority." (I) "His thinking is right, he can''t learn everything, so let Caitlyn explain, that might calm her down." (Natasha) I look at my sister floating on top of her favorite Pillow, but this time she wasn''t lying down or sleeping, she was sitting with her eyes wide open, to Kim she seemed calm, but when our eyes met I felt a shiver run down my spine caused out of sheer fear. "To keep it simple..." (Caitlyn) Caitlyn waves her hand and something comes flying out into her hand, it was a grotesque lump of flesh that has the vague outline of a head, Caitlyn throws this to Natasha who uses her power making the swelling, sores, and bone deformities and tumors get smaller and smaller until they disappear. That''s when I realized something, this was a Dwarf head, that grotesque thing that was almost unrecognizable as a head actually belonged to someone from the Dwarf race. "What you''re seeing out there aren''t monsters, they''re Undead or to be more precise, they''re almost Undead." (Caitlyn) "These are Souls that invade bodies and devour the original Souls while keeping the body alive, but these Souls are not Ghosts or Spectres, they are corrupted Souls that upon finding a body begin to destroy the body because of the taint their Souls have become." (Caitlyn) "Loathsome things that cling to life so much that they become these things without knowing that the longer they remain in this state, they are only wearing down their Souls until there is only an empty vessel left with no essence left inside." (Caitlyn) "Was this caused by the Heretic God?" (I) "Yes, your sister isn''t the only one who abhors such a thing, the Goddess of Death finds it intolerable, dozens of Taboo Hunters have been here and attacked, but all of them were destroyed and had their Souls torn to pieces." (Lorraine) "That''s why I was chosen, to stop him once and for all." (Ivan) After understanding what the creatures that attacked us earlier were, I didn''t feel it as much as some people in the room, especially not having anyone I know among the victims, I still find the act itself abhorrent, but I don''t get as mad as some of the people here. "What we are going to do is going to be..." (King Uryma) After that we started discussing once more, this time it only took 10 minutes where everyone listened to their roles in this plan, in my case, I''m going to need help, a lot of help. -------------- After the punching meeting, I was with my Familiars, in front of me there was someone coming to help, the Hero of Justice, Allan. "Why are you here?" (I) "Unlike you, I care about people, Bianca received an Oracle about this situation and I agreed to come help." (Allan) "(He looks different...)" (I) Chapter 1072: Battle In Chaos Part 1 Chapter 1072: Battle In Chaos Part 1 I was trying to understand the surroundings more carefully this time when he came to talk to me, but I noticed a big difference from when we last met. Allan was the classic fool who believed in the path of justice, he always had a very clear understanding of what was right and wrong, so he expected the same from others. He always saw the gray line that divides these two concepts with clarity and something used only to divide the two sides, only recently did he realize that this line has the depth of an endless Abyss and the two sides that he himself always saw. they are just extremes of a single totality. "(His Aura of his is marked by the power of Authority, but that''s not all...)" (I) He was very different from the last time I saw him, but it wasn''t a physical difference, but it was easy to notice the difference in his Aura and in his eyes. His will was much stronger than before, I could also see a firm resolve in his eyes, I couldn''t help but laugh as I realized that he had matured. "(Looks like he''s not lost anymore, his will is now firm, I wonder what answer he came up with?)" (I) "I will no longer question you as before, but I also don''t want you to interfere with my decisions regarding my people." (I) "That depends on what can happen by then." (Allan) "..." (Allan) "..." (I) He tries to suppress me with his Aura and Authority, it seems like he is trying to test me, but unfortunately, his new power means nothing to me that I suffered the pressure of my sisters'' Aura for days while training. "Stop testing your power with me, we have things to do." (I) "I wanted to know how big our current power gap is, but it looks like it''s bigger than before." (Allan) The difference in our power is mainly because of my evolution that threw me way ahead of the power rankings, this is not a gap he can overcome in a short time. ------------- In a few minutes, we were all divided into groups, the largest group would face the hideous monsters, because of their special characteristics where they can evade death, and everyone received weapons blessed by Priests of the Church of Death, according to them, these weapons would cause damage to their Souls while leaving marks, once their bodies are dead their souls will be pulled to Hell with no chance of marriage but damage in the world of the living. But that doesn''t mean much to me, Ivan, Hela as well as their Familiar that we possess the Blessing of the Demon Goddess of Death, my Familiars for having my power and Authority flowing to them also receive some of that power indirectly. My sisters don''t count towards this, but they each have their own way of fighting these things. The three manage to use their Authorities to care for these Creatures, it seems that it would be more difficult for them to use a Blessing from another God other than our Mother. The other two groups are made up of people ready to harmonize the environment at least enough for me to do my job, this group is made up of many Ancient Elves as well as Freya, Fairy Kings, and Spirit Kings. "Take care..." (I) In this Curse I made them be attracted to each other, I also used my Authority, so even in an area covered by the presence of this Evil God, my Curse should work without any problems. I turn around and run along with other people, all running inside, the space was more than just strange, it was as if the atmosphere around me was more gelatinous, and the gravity was also strange to the abnormal level, I felt the cavity coming from different directions as I was moving, I also felt like my body was being pressed by space to twist along with space, which was painful and uncomfortable. I will keep running but not slowing down my running but still trying to understand how to move more efficiently but something went wrong when a body falls to the ground it was one of the people who ran along with me but his body was different, to begin with, there was an arm across his abdomen, but before I tried to help, I noticed that there were dark spots on his face and some wounds seem to be opening as some signs of swelling across the body. "(He is lost.)" (I) "< Claws of Death >" (I) I gather only the death characteristic in my Aura in my hands while making the body that was still motionless into pieces, at the end I felt the Blessing of the Death Goddess ignite as a morbid energy passes through my body to my claws, then I feel that something different was achieved. Soon the space opens up when a string appears out of nowhere tying itself around something I couldn''t see, then little by little a purple silhouette became more visible it only lasted a few seconds before the current pulled what supilonhinser the Soul Inside this body, the soul just disappeared into the crack that Hell''s current created to get here. As soon as the Soul was gone I saw what was left of the bizarre creature that had 3 arms and two heads begin to rot until it was a bubbling puddle of goo that stank worse than anything I''ve ever known before. Hinata suddenly appears from inside my necklace and stares at the piece of goo while limping with her finger like a child playing with mud, at least that''s how I saw it until the moment her arm opened like a 4-petal flower full of sharp teeth, then a big line started to pull this goo in, I was very shocked and it took me a while to stop Hinata from consuming it all. "Why did you eat that disgusting thing?" (I) "Good taste... life... death... yummy..." (Hinata) "..." (I) Sometimes I prefer not to understand what she says, I touch the ground where the goo was, and I can feel the residual traces of Curse, Life Energy, and Death Energy. But before I put all the pieces together I was surrounded, this time there were dozens, all different shapes and sizes, I can''t even tell the races of these things or at least what they once were. "They don''t look that strong..." (I) "< Chain of Death >" (Hinata) Suddenly black crystal chains covered by thorns with sharp points crossed Hinata''s body from all sides without her showing any reaction. These chains go to the creatures and trap them all before pulling them violently towards them, it was at this moment when Hinata''s body loses its shape as her body becomes five times the size and several holes open through her body like eyelids. of one eye opening with the difference of only having darkness inside, then several giant worm heads come out and devour the bizarre creatures before traveling the way they came as Hinata''s body returns to normal with her hand running over her stomach. "Yummy..." (Hinata) "..." (I) Chapter 1073: Battle In Chaos Part 2 Chapter 1073: Battle In Chaos Part 2 As far as I could tell there was no other creature coming towards me, but I had already noticed a new problem, I couldn''t identify the direction I should go, even Hinata''s vision that was right beside me was blurred due to the space being distorted. I tried to use my Aura in the surroundings since I couldn''t trust my senses, especially my sight, but my Aura was being heavily suppressed making the distance I could push to my limit only a few hundred meters. I came to think of using my Authority more expansively, but remembering what happened when I just blended my Aura with the environment earlier, I soon decided against using Authority more than I was currently doing when using it just as a layer around my body, this to protect against the influence of this Evil God. As I tried to figure out which side I had come from and which side I should go to, I ended up realizing that my other Familiars weren''t with me, I could still feel them close by, but the direction was confusing, it seems it wouldn''t be so easy us together as I thought possible before. Hinata was different because she was with me inside the bone necklace, she is also the one closest to me, so I can still maintain a better connection with her, but even so, I can feel the connection between us much weaker than usual as if something was interfering. "< Family Summoning: Orion >" (I) Crack "..." (I) I had to keep parallel thinking correcting the image in real time all the time, but it worked for the most part, the image in my mind became less distorted, and it looked like a camera image in medium or low resolution with a little bit of interference like an old TV, but it was still something much easier to understand than using my eyes. "Hinata, can you move easily in this place or perceive your surroundings without being influenced?" (I) "Yes but just close" (Hinata) "..." (I) Talking to her is always challenging, she uses few words, so I put my hand on her head and try to share her feelings to see if it was better than the solution I had arrived at. "I should know." (I) "Hinata, hold onto me the entire time and don''t pull away." (I) "..." (Hinata) Chapter 1074: Battle In Chaos Part 3 Chapter 1074: Battle In Chaos Part 3 Pov Hela: As we entered the space distortion area I was able to feel it more clearly, it seems that the death energy I have been feeling since I arrived here really is different. "Strange, it looks transformed or maybe just altered... seems to have something else mixed in..." (I) "My lady, perhaps you''d better pay attention to your surroundings before you get lost in your thoughts." (Hellyos) "I''m paying attention, by the way, thanks for taking care of these nuisances for me." (I) I might be busy with my train of thought, but I still knew about the creatures attacking us, I couldn''t see them directly, but their bodies are like clusters of this Death Energy, I can find them easier than breathing. I try to turn to Hellyos, but even though he''s so close, his body is rippling like a candle flame in the breeze. "This is going to be a problem..." (I) "I have to find a way to be able to move around this area knowing where I''m going." (I) I tested one sense at a time, but clearly, none of them were useful, my Aura seemed like the best option, but somehow I felt the surrounding presence trying to do something with my Aura, maybe my Death trait is too adapted for that presence. "Even far away he knows about me..." (I) I could feel the presence around me shifting its focus towards me, it seems that my Aura in particular attracted its attention. "What''s the matter, master?" (Hellyos) "The presence around us..." (I) "Yes I know, master of shadows, I didn''t expect to find this nuisance here." (Hellyos) I turn to Hellyos who scratches his hand on my shoulder and uses our connection as Familiar to pull my consciousness into his body. I soon noticed him guiding my consciousness to the way he is perceiving the world, a variation of Aura manipulation along with Death energy. After seeing such a clear example it only took me a few seconds to create an eye of Aura and death energy on my forehead, it took me a few minutes just to better understand how this new sense works, it wasn''t ex-agent a vision as I needed to add some spells to work and even so I needed to maintain concentration until I got used to this technique. "How did you learn this technique?" (I) "Here my lady..." (Hellyos) The monster he was studying was bound by a chain made of spinal bones, its form was more humanoid than other creatures as well as its body was less rotted, it could pass for an Ogre Zombie if not for the life energy still coursing through it your body. Hellyos brings me one of the monsters still trying to regenerate, but soon his hand is covered with black flames that burn the body quickly without leaving anything but the Soul that was also burning before Hellyos puts out the fire leaving only the Soul trapped in his hands. Before the gap to Hell opens to grab this Soul, so I grab the Soul with my hand and force my study target to devour the Soul, it was much easier than I thought. As soon as the Soul was consumed I saw the limbs and jaw regenerating, of course I ripped everything off again, but I realized that once again the Soul was bigger, it still seemed weak to me and it took me tens of minutes more to understand while Hellyos continued defeating the monsters alone. "The Soul is losing its essence, but at the same time it is being filled with something else." (I) "But what could that be?" (I) I managed to understand a lot of things, but it was still like there was something missing, a center piece to tie it all together, but I wasn''t able to go any further and I don''t want to waste any more of my time on this either. I destroyed the study matter by crushing the entire body, I still collected various body parts for future studies, perhaps Lyra already wants some of this rotten material for one of her experimental potions. Not wanting to waste any more time I ran alongside Hellyos this time faster, with my mind more focused on fighting and having already gotten used to this new sense, I was now able to run at full power without worrying too much about all that. After a bit of running we found another group, this time there weren''t many, but they all had very whole bodies with just a few tumors in places, they also seemed to have a higher level of intelligence. The battle this time was more difficult, I had no way to use my magic, and the Death energy in the area seemed to be completely controlled by the presence of this Evil God, it was interfering with my Necromancy. I had to fight with just my normal body and Skills, but luckily that wasn''t a weakness, I let Master''s Holy Power flow through my whole body, it made the wounds caused by me not be healed by these monsters. My claws were tearing them apart one at a time while most were trying to deal with Hellyos in his Dragon form. He was a bigger enemy that draws more attention with big attacks, but even so, they didn''t realize that I was using Hellyos as a bait while I finished them off one by one, at the end of the fight I was trying to put one of my ribs back since it was ripped out of my body, meanwhile one of the strange Souls tried to invade my body, of course, I allowed it with a smile on my face. I might not be able to use Necromancy outside my body now, but inside the story was quite different, I trapped the soul using Holy Power and my Aura, and after that, I extracted all the power in the Soul or at least most of it before the Blessing of the Goddess of Death make an opening to Hell in front of me where a current comes out piercing my body to drag that Soul there from the prey in my body. I saw the Soul being taken, the chains cut through all my defenses and spells to catch that Soul, it seems there''s nothing I can do to capture one of those Souls to study later. With everything here finished, it took me a few minutes to heal my body''s wounds, Hellyos was in worse condition with many of his bones cracked, but unlike me, he managed to use death energy around him to recover faster. Before both of us are recovered, a big problem arises, one of the Titans of Nature appears in front of us, it was some kind of metal Spider coming out of the ground. Fortunately, she didn''t attack us, she just stood in front of us as her presence was so heavy that it could crush us, but luckily it didn''t do anything against us, but that I think was due to the Blessing of Goddess Kalistos that arose within me to reveal itself in my Aura, it was only after that that the Titan of Nature left. Chapter 1075: Battle In Chaos Part 4 Chapter 1075: Battle In Chaos Part 4 Pov Sakura: I was walking with ease since I entered this place, space can act strange but it doesn''t affect me, mine was never my main sense. My perception of nature is the first sense I learned, I can feel everything around me and share the sense with the plants around me. With every step, I can connect with the surrounding plants, so I know where the monsters are, but I also know where the Master is. "Everyone seems to be doing well, at least they''d like to say so, but unfortunately not everyone is ready to bone." (I) "I''ll focus on helping them." (I) Unlike others, my skills are easier to use and speed up in energy cost, the Ki I need is used to strengthen my body or the plants being manipulated by me. That''s exactly why I kept walking while making roots, plants, and branches trap any creature in the vicinity of me without ever deviating the direction of my walk, but whenever I passed by the creatures that I purposely placed on the sides of my path, I used the Master''s Aura who has death as one of her Traits, I use this Aura in my hand while turning my fingers into whips as respectful as blades. The creatures'' bodies were torn to pieces and I could see Souls as abnormal as their superior appearances leaving their bodies only to be caught in chains that dragged these Souls to Hell. I only paid attention to Limeira once before putting it aside to keep walking, I could feel Elsaris fighting alone, Samira wasn''t far from her, in fact, she was fighting better. Elsaris wasn''t able to use her Fire or Thunder, her weapons also did little damage, she was taking too long to defeat a clearly weaker enemy and little by little more of these enemies are surrounding her. Samira seems to be doing much better, unlike her sister she is using Master''s Holy Power, and with this, she was doing much more effective damage. As I walked the monsters kept coming towards me, after the deaths of the first ones some tried to ambush and others tried to attack from above, but the result was always the same, I could see all of them from infinite angles because we were in a place full of nature. Those who try to ambush me die without ever coming out of their hiding places due to a carnivorous plant full of Holy Power and those who try to attack me from above were pierced by thorns being shot in their direction making their bodies in pieces still in the air. "This thing is disgusting." (I) I try to stay away from the goo that their bodies end up becoming in the end, I avoid even their blood, the feeling of rejection that I feel these things is very strong. As it was something simple, it only took me a few minutes to complete, so I activated the crystal and attached it to a piece of rope made from my father''s lines to leave it securely around my waist. "< Activate >" (I) As soon as I activate it I notice the barriers forming around me, but then I realize an error in the magic, I didn''t maintain a connection with the magic, so there was no way I could keep a firm grip on all the barriers which would be exactly what will allow me use this plan. I quickly turned off the crystal''s magic to add new magic circles to it, it was even faster taking only a few seconds, so I re-activate the magic crystal which is once again stuck in my waist. "Now that this problem is solved, it''s time to clean up these nuisances." (I) "< Blood Magic: Butcher''s Barrier >" (I) I bite my finger and use my blood to create a large layered Magic circle when I use this spell, then a mist of Blood forms around me, and I limit its area of effect to the area I can now perceive enemies. The fog itself is a type of Barrier that causes disorientation and sealing, at least those are the normal effects on this type of barrier for other people. The monsters that touched the red mist had blood particles that stuck in their bodies, impeding their movements more and more. With my evolution the corrosion ability that my Father bestowed upon me in the past has now become a permanent feature of my magic, its name has become Butcher Mana, I don''t like that name which makes me sound like a criminal, but it''s still something amazing to use in battle. Unfortunately, I can''t see the effects clearly and these creatures don''t seem to scream, in fact, I''m not sure they even feel pain. All the creatures in the world are being melted down while their vitality is being consumed, when the bodies died I felt something emerge, but my barriers were not able to feel it, but close to me a hole in space appeared close enough for me to see, that''s when I saw the current emerging from this hole in space and soon it was dragging something that I recognized as a strangely colored Soul. But that was just the first Soul, soon many more holes appeared before currents dragged more of these Souls. "Let''s continue." (I) With the enemies gone and not wanting to stand still I walk forward as the red mist becomes two red wolves walking beside me, this is still a form I created using the barrier, they are not real creatures but their current appearance helps greatly giving greater effect to attacked targets. With that ready I continued on my way completely destroying the enemies, but little by little I realized that my Mana consumption was going too fast, that''s when I noticed the Mana leaving my body as if it was being absorbed from me. But right now I use my Father''s Holy power in my Aura, it prevents my Mana from being stolen, at least that wasn''t too bad, it worked really well to fight like that, so keep going to the next enemies. Chapter 1076: Battle In Chaos Part 5 Chapter 1076: Battle In Chaos Part 5 Pov irius: As soon as I left the forest and regained my senses, I saw dozens of people in a worse state than I was. Inside that damn forest, all my senses were confused, I had to guide myself based only on my instincts, which wasn''t the best option, but it kept me alive. My armor withstood the attacks well, but my sword and shield were in poor condition, black stains corroding the metal they were made of. My body had suffered some bruises and cuts, and even though it took a while to heal it wasn''t a problem for a Vampire of my level, even if they weren''t normal injuries. I wasn''t even able to tell the direction from which I had entered the forest, I was confused on how to deal with that situation, none of my skills seemed useful and I was never very useful when it comes to magic, so I was very happy when I felt the Aura of someone close surround me, then I felt myself being dragged to another place before leaving what I discovered to be a large purple flower. "That was worse than we heard..." (I) "Yeah, tell me about itI lost my goddamn hand!" "No way to sense the surroundings?" (I) "I can live without 1 or 2 senses like any experienced Adventurer, but how can anyone move in there if none of the senses work and even the Aura isn''t able to help!?" "I was lucky to be saved by that plant just like everyone else here, I can find ways to heal my hand or worst case replace it, but I can''t come back from the dead, I''m not going to throw my life away in a battle where I don''t have a chance not even to participate." "(So everyone was saved by Sakura?)" (I) While I was talking with a Dark Elf who was close by, I noticed a movement coming from the forest and so I paid attention until I saw that it was a large flower with closed petals, when it opened close to us two people appeared, both were with their armor in pieces, and they had many wounds, but none of them were fatal. "I hope my sisters do better than me..." (I) I couldn''t help but feel ashamed of myself for having put up such a poor fight, at least that''s what I was thinking when the giant flower appears Almas once, this time it throws someone towards me that I catch in my arms only to receive a elbowed in the nose. "Let me go if you still want to keep your arms." (Elsaris) As soon as I hear Elsaris'' voice I see her on the ground, unfortunately, she didn''t fall the way I expected, she spun in the air and landed on her feet, her state was pretty devastated, she had a hole in her stomach and another in her chest, one of her legs were also hanging down while covered in bite marks, there were several black marks on the wounds, but little by little these black marks were diminishing. Of all my sisters, she is the most insufferable, the way she sees other people, the way she talks, and especially the rude way she treats everyone except Samira, all of this is irrational to me and that''s why we had a few fights more than than 2 or 3 times. "< Healing Light >" (I) He reaches out and makes space ripple even more, this bends the trajectory of the attack, but less than he intended as space rips at one point and the head of one of the 5 enemies on the spikes has lost its head. I wouldn''t give them a chance to do anything, but I had to first stop this skill from before, as long as he keeps using this last technique all my attacks will be useless. "< Territory >" (I) I use my Aura as a base to mark the boundaries, then I use Holy Power and Master''s Authority to create a Territory small enough for both of us, they must think I did something, but the chance of not knowing what I did is still big. "< Field of Corrupt Shadow >" It looks like he noticed, but luckily he didn''t use a Territory, honestly, I almost can''t keep the Territory stable, I need to finish them off as soon as possible. The enemy leader extends his hand and the surrounding allergy becomes even more concentrated around us making various types of energy move away and making my Territory crack. That''s how he came towards me while the Territory and the magic he used seems to have canceled both of them out, but this is largely due to the enemy''s superior power in a field that suits them, meanwhile, our own power decreases in this place. "(The Evil God''s presence seems to converge on their leader, I can''t waste too much time on this battle, the more time passes, the greater my disadvantage.)" (I) I realized that they would never run out of power in this place, but I on the other hand was wasting my power just by resisting corruption in the presence of this Evil God. In a stamina battle, I will lose every time as I will always be the first to run out of power and depleted so I have to go all out from the start. "< Divine Beast Awakening >" (I) "< Total Corruption >" My body transforms when the Authority and Holy Power of the Master begin to merge with my body awakening the true power of a Divine Beast, to be the symbol of the power of the one it serves. Of course, the enemies didn''t just stand by and wait, 3 attacked me while the one who lost his head was rotting on the ground as chains pulled his Soul to Hell. Their leader didn''t attack me, but his expression changed for the first time to one of extreme rage, the murderous intent coming out of him just a part of what I feel from the Evil God''s presence, it seems as if he rejects who I am. It was at this time that the enemy leader also activated some skill that made a whirlpool of pure darkness surround him, meanwhile, I had to fight through my transformation, which by the way was very painful. I didn''t try to dodge the attacks, one of them bit my arm, the second had its throat crushed by the force of a humanoid arm that emerges from my body surprising it, and the third was removed by an Aura attack. I didn''t waste that small window of time to slow down the enemies, the one biting my arm had to move away when I tried to use my wing to strike but didn''t realize that there was an Aura attack from behind that split its body almost in half. Chapter 1077: Battle In Chaos Part 6 Chapter 1077: Battle In Chaos Part 6 Pov Loki: Veronica and I entered this forest together, for me the distortion of space and the imbalance of energies was not a problem, my senses are still Divine level and therefore I can see everything much more clearly than the fool up there is able, the same can be said about Veronica. "Should we fight, help those in trouble, or just watch?" (I) "..." (Veronica) "I have sandwiches..." (I) "Loki..." (Veronica) "I don''t want to deal with these corrupted creatures, the energy around them is worse than this pathetic presence of this Evil God." (I) "Let''s help, Mister Zenos would want us to focus on helping those in distress." (Veronica) "You look like you still don''t understand him, he would probably ignore all of them except his acquaintances." (I) "For Zenos, anyone who entered this forest on their own will have to be responsible for themselves, he wouldn''t change his path to save someone who chose that path, but if it was close to his reach he wouldn''t let the person die either." (I) "That''s a bit of an odd way to think about it." (Veronica) "I even like it, better than defending everyone for the simple reason of being capable while putting yourself in extreme danger." (I) "Let''s not have this conversation again, certainly not here." (Veronica) "Forget about the past." (Veronica) "Then stop trying to save everyone." (I) "..." (I) "..." (Veronica) "It''s your fault." (Veronica) "I''m sure you did, it took a long time to do something... hahaha hahaha..." (I) As always Veronica cannot see people in danger, none of our senses or our Auras were restricted by this chaos in the surroundings. This God''s presence is just his attention in the general area, he is not using his Aura, this pressure is just his will as well as his power, but it cannot affect God level Souls. While Veronica and I were discussing neither of us took a moment to pay attention to our surroundings, that''s because we knew our presence would be felt, Two Souls with traits of Divinity is a very tempting delicacy for an Evil God still in the process of ascending into a True God. It would be better for him to focus his attention on us and forget about the others, if we can lessen his attention on Zenos and his sisters that would be perfect. I look around, and I can see many people struggling, many among them are in confusingly expanded spaces, and anyone who tries to go in a straight line will get lost, some are managing to do something about it, but it seems that more than half are fighting without using their instincts, they are like children in their first fight. Veronica has all her hair lighting up in a black energy full of sparkles inside, it looks like the star energy that Zenos sometimes reveals, Veronica''s eyes glow red and her white skin has several golden lines that appear. Veronica''s Aura condenses into a circle that expands for a few hundred meters around her, this puts both me and the 4 enemies inside the circle that is soon flooded by Veronica''s massive presence. Her pressure doesn''t affect me, but the 4 enemies have the ground around them becoming a crater bit by bit as the cracks around them spread out like the shape of a spider''s web. Inside this ring where we are, Veronica''s will and presence gain physical weight over the body that is rejected by her Aura, this made the 4 of us unable to move immediately. "< Territory >" (Me/Veronica) "< Border of Two Kingdoms >" (Me/Veronica) I approach Veronica and extend my hand for her to take as our Auras interact with each other until they become one Aura, to maintain this state of two as one, we both use the Holy Power and Authority of Zenos that we share making ours our own Much stronger dual territory. With that, the space around us closes in and everything around us brightens with the presence of the Evil God being forced out for the most part. But even then I saw the Territory around us crack, but luckily it didn''t. "Looks like it does." (I) "I can''t keep both of them..." (Veronica) Without finishing his sentence the pressure field containing the enemies dissolves seconds after the Territory forms a border around us and the 4 enemies run towards us with a dark energy coming out of their bodies where all the veins turned neon black inside their bodies. "< Weapon of Shadow and Corruption > 4" "< Combat Dance >" (I) "< Blood Dragon''s Blessing >" (Veronica) "< Two as One >" (Me/Veronica) The 4 enemies use their shadows as weapons, two of them drew Swords or should I say turned their shadows into Swords, while a third had his shadow turn into a large Ax disproportionate to his size. The last among them was the strangest, he instead of creating a weapon with his shadow like the others had the precise control to wear his shadow like armor while his arms are covered by the shadows becoming giant scythes. With the 4 coming towards us I pull Veronica towards me as our combat becomes a joint dance performance, I manage to move my body and Veronica''s body in total unison. The stomp Veronica uses causes the scales on both our bodies to ignite with power as his Blessing within us increases our power, all while our joint ability adds my stats to hers and vice versa causing our power to double. We dance around dodging Weapon attacks while defending others with shields that form around us, but we don''t just stay defensive as that wouldn''t be fun. We use Zenos''s power to condense our Holy Power into our hands, then there is a staff in my hand and a large shield in Veronica''s hand. With that during the dance I created different blades of energy around my staff while dancing and slashing at our enemies, Veronica always interrupted attacks that she wouldn''t be able to dodge. Our battle was going on for much longer than I initially thought, her body movements were strange, if she knew how to use her power well it would have been more fun. Chapter 1078: Battle In Chaos Part 7 Chapter 1078: Battle In Chaos Part 7 Pov Lorraine: I was above an ice butterfly, one of the Titans of Nature that this world created to protect itself from this disease. "Take the others away, I promise we''ll take care of the one responsible and these lands will be healed." (I) I may be talking, but I know this Titan won''t listen, but the Spirit of this world understands and I know it''s watching everything that happens. I know you understand when the Titan of ice and water shatters in front of me, I don''t even need to look to know that the other Titans of Nature have also fallen apart. Sigh "Begin!" (I) Right now I observe Zenos and many others in ranged combat, but my attention focuses on Silvia who is right in front of the World Tree, she is near the edge of the trap restricting the Evil God. "A fool, no amount of spirit pressure, Aura or Authority can subdue a World Tree." (Stella) "Their Souls are scattered over great distances while under the pressure of the world itself for millions of years, in the past when the Gods still interfered in the world more directly, the World Trees had to harmonize the presence of dozens of Gods with the presence of the world." (I) "The presence of an Evil God without a Divinity is nothing, no matter how powerful he is, it will never carry the weight of a Divinity." (I) As I watched Silvia raising the crystal above her head while pouring her Aura and inherited Authority, many others were moving out and around the forest with the World Tree as the center. I only gave the signal to start when I realized that everyone was in position, so I looked over to where the Heretic God was fighting, I know there must be many Fairy Kings and Spirit Kings fighting him, but that won''t be enough, I can feel him consuming the power of the World Tree''s body as well as spreading more of their corruption throughout the world, they are just trying to expend its power or weaken it. "It''s going to be difficult." (Stella) "He denies death, even when he has already given up life." (I) Soon the surroundings tremble when several rays of light appear interconnecting all the crystals, with that the energies stop denying each other and as nature becomes more stable together with the environment that surrounds us. I can''t harmonize all this energy right now, I have to reserve my strength for combat, but this ritual magic circle should be enough to buy time. Without the conflicting energies of nature causing the environment to collapse throwing this entire land into chaos, the integrity of space that was most important is slowly returning to normal. I can''t use my power in a place with the integrity of the space too compromised or I''ll just bring an even worse new enemy into this mess, I needed to make sure something like this wouldn''t happen. "Let''s go." (I) "< Blood Eclipse Onslaught >" (I) "< Air Blast >" (I) With 7% of my power as a Dragon released, my speed goes up a lot and I focus my Aura as well as my Authority in my wings when I push forward, at this moment I use a Charge skill that increases my momentum in one direction while my body is covered by an oval blood barrier. Also, just to get there as fast as possible, I create a blast of air a few centimeters away from me on my back, when it exploded I was thrown forward increasing my speed much higher than before. With that speed I get to where I needed to be much faster, the wounds on my back are something minor that heal as quickly as it was done, only the broken rib took a little longer to heal, just a few seconds. When I could finally see Silvia''s image in front of me I realized that there were 8 or 9 people with her, two of them were seriously injured, without time to think I chose among the enemies the one that I thought was the most dangerous, which was exactly the Man- beast that flew over my head earlier. As soon as I arrived colliding with the biggest enemy I went straight to the flying enemy, I threw my daggers at him, but they were all defended with his own body, but as soon as he tried to attack me, I took advantage of the fact that the space was more stable to move through the space until you reach his back. "< Holy Light Piercing >" (I) This is one of the Techniques Irius taught me, something I learned from using a Piercing attack with my Holy Power along with my Light element. Beastman noticed when I appeared and his reactions were quick as his wings parried the blows from my hands, but my third attack which was my tail, was cut off using his claws. Now that I landed blows directly on their body, I could see the hardness of their body, it seems to be made of metal. "< Space Prison >" (I) Smart and tough enemies are always a big waste of time, I didn''t want to test myself against a good opponent or anything like that, I just wanted to defend my daughter. I kick at the enemy''s wings dealing little damage, but my aim was to launch him towards the magic circle appearing in front of him before passing by disappearing, but he wasn''t the only enemy. "Hinata and Orion, now!" (I) "< Spectral Blood Mist >" (Me/Hinata/Orion) As soon as I saw Orion arrive still fighting an enemy, I take advantage of our connection to talk to Orion and Hinata at the same time, they know it''s an area control type technique that I created with the help of the two. With all of us standing at one end forming a circle long enough for Orion''s Blood and mine to evaporate as they exit our bodies along with purple energy exiting Hinata''s body. We were all facing an enemy or more than one, but even so, we managed to create a mist around, this Mist hid Hinata who devoured entire bodies while hidden in the Mist, but for me and Orion who controlled the blood, all we did was stand still controlling the blood in the Mist to invade the bodies of enemies through the mouth, nose, ears or wounds. With that, we were killing each one of them much faster.Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com Chapter 1079: Battle In Chaos Part 8 Chapter 1079: Battle In Chaos Part 8 I would like to say that it was easy to defend Silvia, that there were only those 4 enemies where I managed to kill 3 with the help of other people and arrest 1, but unfortunately, it was not the end. I saw many other enemies coming 3 I couldn''t help the few who were already defending Silvia when I arrived, I left Orion and Hinata who are my Familiars to protect Silvia personally, I told them not to leave her side without my permission and that way I could engage just in combat without worrying about Silvia. The worst thing about a battle is getting distracted at a critical moment, I don''t have to fight waves of enemies alone this time, I just need to hold the line of defense while others join me as time passes. I''m sure the problem with the senses was something everyone felt, as many of me must have found a way to overcome this problem, now that space is less volatile these people must stick to the plan, so it''s just a matter of time. "That one is big... but that one..." (I) A gray giant that had one arm longer than the other was coming, I didn''t even need him to get too close to know that it was an enemy, his body is full of wounds that look like rotting flesh, now that the space was getting more and more stable I could spread my Aura hands, which in turn heightens the real-time picture in my mind. Even in this situation I didn''t want to look into my eyes again, being so close to the World Tree I know that space can distort again and I don''t want to be left in the dark during combat. "I''m going for the big one, your defense can be dangerous." (I) "Let''s increase the power more." (I) "< Dragon''s Awakening: 10% >" (I) I could feel the power taking over my body, I could feel my scales grow not only in size but in thickness as well as I upgraded my transformation to 10%. I feel the power wash over me but I don''t let it go to my head, I fall onto my back sinking into my shadow as I prepare a spell. "< Shadow Inversion >" (I) Chains tighten around my body and I feel a great weight that gradually eases as I ascend from the shadow world back to the normal world, but on the way I catch a glimpse of something that I don''t immediately recognize and I hear a voice full of will. "I wait..." As soon as I step out of the shadow of a large boulder, in front of me I see only the giant''s head being pulled by black currents into its own shadow. "< Blood Curse: Shadow Goblins >" (I) I let my blood drain from my wrist to fall into my shadow, then countless red eyes appear from the surrounding shadows before disappearing, they are Black Goblins with very similar appearances to the one I myself had when I was still a Goblin. This is a Curse that uses my blood, Aura and Authority to create Shadow creatures, theoretically, I can create any creature, but I found that the better my understanding of the creature, the better its abilities and intelligence, they are creatures without Soul, mother still have a simple mind to follow orders like Lesser Familiars. "This will provide some assistance depending on how many are left when the Giant is defeated." (I) "This time there''s more..." (I) I run towards 30 or more enemies, and this time one of them was someone who entered the forest with me and the others, he was just ahead of the creatures, but he wasn''t running away and I could see one of his eyes rotting. "< Earthquake >" (I) "< Living Roots >" (I) "No, there are many others, but they are in the middle of combat in different places." (Sakura) Sakura puts her hand on my forehead and for a second it feels like my consciousness is going through countless paths as it branches out further and further until my mind aches. Then little by little many points of view different from mine appear in my mind, each one revealing people struggling, to be able to understand things better I limited my attention only to people''s faces and I was able to quickly identify my companions who seemed to be fine, many were injured, but they''re not in danger, mainly because most of the monsters will come to where I am now. After seeing this I take Sakura''s hand off my head and open my eyes, it seems that the enemies are still not coming towards us, they are standing still while the dark doors disappear, they seem to be waiting for something. "With your help, I can bring everyone here." (Sakura) "I know, but better not or all the monsters will gather here a lot faster." (I) With so many people using big attacks in the same place, the decay of harmony is going to be very fast here in this situation, the environment is bad enough, and I don''t want to push the limits any further than what I''m already doing. Sigh "Maybe you can help me with something else." (I) "Are you going to do that? Really?" (Sakura) "Got a better plan?" (I) Sakura looks at the number of enemies, they are too far away for me to feel their strength, but I know Sakura can feel it through the trees. "The Tech needed Freya or Silvia." (Sakura) "This was before evolution, this will be different, if you can bear it." (I) "I can bear it, we can start whenever you want, master." (Sakura) I take a few deep breaths and go over in my mind what I''m going to do, a symbol is revealed in my mind, a black tree with white leaves. I reach out my hand in one direction and Sakura places her hand behind mine, so Wood Element Ki flows through my veins where I mix with my Holy Power, with My Aura, with my Demonic Power, and with my Authority, the mixture of these powers it would be conflicting at least if it weren''t for my Aura acting as a base for having all these characteristics from the beginning. That power passes from my body into Sakura''s and I feel her hand tremble behind mine, but even so I remain focused, the energy flowing into Sakura will condense in her body as her own Aura mixes before coming back through mine and heading for me the Symbol I made in front of my hand crystallized my own blood. In the beginning, the Symbol was completely red because it was made of my crystallized blood, but when the energy leaves Sakura''s hand and crosses mine causing a little pain, that energy is absorbed by the symbol that becomes made of black crystal with the white part being just the leaves of the tree. Sakura and I charged all that power into the symbol using our combined wills before using the symbol as the Core of our technique. "(Master, the technique looks different...)" (Sakura) "(Yes, now I have what I lacked before, we both have it, use your Authority along with mine...)" (I) Both my Authority and that of my Familiars is not the same as in the past, now they do not have a characteristic of my Authority, each of them has their own Authority awakened through one of the Characteristics of my Authority, but which belong only to them. "< Nature''s Summon: Eclipse Tree >" (me/Sakura) Chapter 1080: Battle In Chaos Part 9 Chapter 1080: Battle In Chaos Part 9 Sakura and I see the enemies from afar who seem to be waiting for something, so I take advantage of this time to use a technique that previously needed 3 or 4 people to work. This time it was just me and Sakura, but I knew we would make it, we''ve both gone through evolutions and we''re much stronger not only in terms of power but also in our Authority. "< Nature''s Summon: Eclipse Tree >" (me/Sakura) The black and white Tree Symbol floats in front while we do an Invocation, actually, this is not a simple Invocation. For some years I have been hearing about the Titans of Nature and had the opportunity to see some of them during the few years of life that I have, so I studied them for one reason only, fear. With my luck almost cursed, I was sure and even now I''m still sure that one day I''ll end up facing one of these Titans of Nature, it''s just a matter of time. So I studied a lot with everything I could find in the Dungeon, which was a lot since we have a lot of knowledge that came from the Elves, but in the end, the most reliable source of information was Silvia who for thousands of years was the World Tree. Silvia told me a lot about Titans of Nature, but what caught my attention the most were stories about Elf Kings indicating these Titans, mine happened with Fairy Kings and Spirit Queens, what all these cases had in common was that they used a Summoning skill and the power of nature to it, but that was only one part of the truth, the other part was the cooperation of nature. A Titan of Nature is not exactly a Monster, but rather a type of Golem made from elements of nature to protect the world from environmental damage like some kind of antibodies protecting a person''s body. So I thought of doing something similar, some kind of Guardian, and for that I went to the Tree that is in the center of the city, that big Tree cared for by an Ancient Elf, a Divine Beast of the plant type, and by someone who was a World Tree, a tree that has been bathed in my blood and power for more than one Evolution, a tree planted within a Dungeon filled with Miasma. This tree hasn''t been normal for a long time, since the beginning it wasn''t something normal, so I''ve been experimenting with this tree with the help of Silvia, Freya, and Sakura. With me and Sakura working together, we managed to make the tree itself gain a will, but it was temporary, just a reflection of my will and Sakura''s mixed together, plus we could invoke that tree using this symbol that transformed that tree into something different. d---na| om But I always thought something was missing, but this time I didn''t have that feeling. As the Summoning circle appeared in multiple layers around the symbol which crumbles into pure energy, the space around it starts to tear, but luckily it doesn''t go very far before something grows out of the ground, it was just a small plant at first, but as if time were accelerating, this small plant grows until it reaches half the height of the World Tree. This Great tree had a trunk so thick that it could serve as a rocket platform if it were cut, the entire tree was black in color with green sparkles inside as if they were stars, and the leaves were ethereal and white in color almost looking like feathers and in the center of the tree, there was a drawing of the symbol from which it was invoked with the white lines and the black background of the bark of that tree. It was a magnificent sight that took a few seconds to form, but as soon as it appeared I noticed as if the environment became more stable, but instead of focusing happily I noticed something different. The tree''s energy was focusing on the center where its symbol sits, then something strange happened, the tree started to shake and break into different parts, its leaves separating from the tree, but none of it fell to the ground, to my extreme surprise the body fragment of the tree and the feather-shaped leaves floating around the area where the tree had been a few minutes ago. "< Demon Breath >" "< Chaos Breath >" (I) Our two attacks collide and explode throwing one to each side, but in my case, it was in the middle of many monsters that there were attacking me before I could think, so I just controlled my blood making the drops of Blood become red crystal blades swirling around me. "< Space Movement >" (I) I took advantage of the small gap to use Spatial magic to run away from the monsters, I look to where the enemy was and I see him already running where Silvia is still standing, he doesn''t have the focus on killing me, for some reason he wants to keep the field of battle in the same Chaos as before. "Die!!!!" (I) cough cough "< 1000 Lightning Spears >" (I) I see him throw something in the sky, it was a head that turns on a light inside and suddenly my attacks go all towards him while he doesn''t change his path. I close my eyes and force the weak connection I feel with Orion, then make him approach as if to bite this Dragon in Human form, but instead, I transfer my power to Orion and use my attack. "< Breath of Light >" (I) This time he was knocked away and I open my eyes as I run to stand between him and the place where Silvia was, my chest still with a hole, I find it strange that my heart is destroyed like this, no matter how many times my sisters have done this to me, I''ll never get used to it. I drank the blood of one of my sisters, Natasha''s blood to be precise, this is better than any potion I could ask for, coupled with piss natural healing the hole in my chest closes in three seconds. "You little bastard!!!" "Enough kidding!!!" "I say the same." (I) "< Dragon''s Awakening: 68% >" (I) I watch his body change and I do the same. Chapter 1081: The Mountains Of Light Fall Chapter 1081: The Mountains Of Light Fall Pov Luminus (True Dragon Emperor of Light): Our attack on the Mountains of Light did not go unnoticed, but there was nothing they could do, the more combat-oriented Dragons of Light were alongside the entire military force of the Church of Light fighting the Demons. Those who stayed here were those who were too weak or too young to participate in this war, they raised their defenses against us, but that was the same as hiding in a corner with no way out. "Destroy everything and kill everyone who resists!" (I) I watch those under my command begin relentless attacks against the enemy''s defenses, but this barrier will not last forever. "You really don''t want my help?" (Lux) "That is the duty of those of us who are Dragons, I knew it would come sooner or later." (I) "You don''t need to..." (Lux) "Yes I need." (I) I was hesitant to participate in breaking the barrier now, the only defense my own race has from me. "(Don''t think, just do it!)" (I) "(If it''s not me, it''ll be someone else, someone who still holds grudges for past mistakes.)" (I) "..." (I) With each strike the barrier shook almost to the point of breaking, it was strikes from hundreds of True Dragons and many others who served us. "< Territory >" (I) "< Border between Light and Darkness >" (I) I just couldn''t stand by and watch, I saw some trying to run away disguised in their small Human forms during the attack, so I use my Territory to seal off the entire Area. As a Holy Land of the Church of Light, I could feel my Aura being negated and close to being crushed, but this feeling disappears when the power of the Dragon God manifests through my body confronting the presence of God Baldr, it destroys my Territory, making my vision becomes blurry as I start coughing up blood. d---na| om But I already expected something like this, what happened in its place was the distortion and sealing of this space by the world because of the collision of two Divine presences, I can see the instability of this new Separate Space, but it will soon stabilize. cough cough cough "Are you sure you want to continue?" (Lux) "No, but I''ll do it anyway..." (I) I could feel marks of my servitude burning my body, the damage I suffered is being healed by the Dragon God''s power and even my Aura seems even stronger. The collision of the Divine powers not only broke my Territory, but also completely destroyed the barrier, I look down and see the fear in the Aura of almost all Dragons, those who don''t feel the fear the presence of the Dragon God is revealing fury, I tagged each one of them, but something that caught my eye was a Dragonewt of Light with her white scales and pure white dress. I look at Lux and point to Dragonewt, then Lux disappears. I, who no longer had the excuse of the barrier, had to start the attack, I could feel my companions'' hesitation and suffering for what we are about to do, but we all knew that this day would come, this is the only way to redeem sins the past at least a little. Before long every single one of the eldest True Dragons was dead, only those born after that day were still alive, with more than half of them being suppressed by my presence while the others were overcome with fear. Their servants also surrendered as they noticed the few who were left in a surrender position with their heads on the ground. "May you be judged by Akatosh." (I) "< Judgment of Will >" (I) Each of them had eyes turning fully golden as their bodies lost strength falling to the ground skimmed, meanwhile, I turn to Lux waiting to the side "I found." (Lux) "Take me there." (I) "Don''t you want to see if they''ll make it?" (Lux) "The trial is not something that ends quickly, they will be forced to see everything they have done from that day until now in succession, always from the point of view of the victims." (I) "(Just the trial is already too heavy for these young people, but I hope they survive.)" (I) I followed Lux to the highest mountain and the one that looked the worst, clearly, this place has been overlooked by the other Dragons, there are several structures in ruins and they are old stuff. As we walk I see a cave door that seems to have powerful protection magic already open, the same Dragonewt all in white was at the door possibly waiting for me and Lux. "Follow me, this way..." I don''t say anything as I follow the person in white making a path that goes through traps and walls until I reach somewhere. In a few minutes we were facing a hall that seems to be inside the top of this mountain, this is the only clean place up here is the only one that seems to have been well taken care of, in the center of the hall was a large crystal that inside seemed to contain the silhouette of a large creature. I turn to the all-white Dragonewt who from the beginning until now doesn''t show fear or anger even after the destruction and death we''ve wrought among others. "You come along." (I) ------------- Pov Elizabeth: I was facing a Human, I knew it was the Hero of Nature, a Human wearing leather clothes and with a belly in his hands. "Are you sure you don''t want to interfere?" "I''m sure, my brother has everything under control." (I) I say this as I watch my brother preparing for a real fight and his Divine Beast fighting above the clouds. "Besides, we have more fun things to do..." (I) "" (Me/Natasha/Caitlyn) He noticed and so we couldn''t expect him to let his guard down but even then the Triple Seal wasn''t complete, he walks away with golden marks appearing on his skin, then his body turns gray as his hair falls out, but soon that too changes when the gray skin cracks and cracks revealing underneath someone with the only feature being eyes that take up the entire face. His body had the appearance of a normal person, so if we ignore his face, I and the others used our Authorities to reinforce the seal. Chapter 1082: Stepping Up To Combat Part 1 Chapter 1082: Stepping Up To Combat Part 1 I saw the enemy starting to transform, even though I''m still in pain from the loss of the heart earlier, I activate all my power, I''m already healed and a little pain can''t stop me. "< Dragon''s Awakening: 68% >" (I) My newly healed heart was beating fast while the blood coursing through my body felt like magma with an energy carrying from my body. I could feel every bone in my body stagnate as they shifted positions, I felt the pain from the muscles being twisted and Neusa''s eyes being boiled taking my vision away for 1 second before it came back even better than before. My scales now cover my entire body and 2 pairs of wings filled with the starry sky spread out on my back as my body grew to be 80 meters tall, my clothes long since wasted by my transformation. But I still didn''t have enough time, my transformation is still slower than his, when I finished he already had his claw right in front of my body. I focus my Aura on my wings, flap my wings forward making a strong Aura thrust that interrupts his movement long enough for me to create a large Blood claw to trap his arm before throwing him in a direction away from where Silvia is he was. "Now let''s see if... RRROOOOOAAAAAARRRR!!!!!" (I) The truth is, I still found it difficult to control my power in this Dragon form, a Dragon''s instincts are much stronger than I could imagine, all the time a desire to destroy and kill hammers in my mind if I hadn''t learned to control it my emotions for a long time with my sister Caitlyn, maybe I wouldn''t even be able to keep my mind during training after evolution. But now in a battle situation against another Dragon, these instincts are even stronger and they are all directed towards the enemy in front of me, it was difficult to maintain control. "(You are the Ruler of yourself, that''s your power!)" (Elizabeth) Suddenly Elizabeth''s voice appears in my mind with a scolding tone, but that tremor it caused me was enough to put my mind in order, the power in my body was overflowing far beyond what I normally feel along with a desire for the combat that I don''t like to feel.Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com I look at my enemy, a Dragon with black scales with metallic appearance, spines on the back and arms, 3 horns facing upwards being 2 on the head and 1 on the tip of the snout, teeth as sharp and big as Swords, 4 purple eyes and 2 pairs of wings covered in bones. He''s like a Beast-type Dragon, his legs and arms on the ground as his wings spread out preparing to charge towards me, but his mistake was hesitating, which bought me time. "< Aura Relic: Blood Eclipse >" (I) "< Holy Summon: Starblade >" (I) Soon my Aura and Authority come into action escaping my body completely, my Aura arises and concentrates above me where an illusion of a starry sky with a Sun being eclipsed by a Moon. "< Moon Blade >" (I) This was a technique that created the last time I used this sword, it was the only technique I learned at the time, I used my three natural energies on the blade and slashed forward creating a half moon shaped energy slash flying towards the enemy. That attack cut his breath in half, but it also wore down the attack by destroying him before reaching his head. To do this attack I had to let go of the Dragon''s tail to use both hands, but that left me vulnerable to the next attack, his tail pierced the ground beneath me for a bottom-up attack. No time to dodge this time I took the blow, the tip of its tail like a spear cracking my chest armor as it launched me upwards where I was slammed down again by a falling wooden arm. Now I was falling along with the arm and I use my tail to maneuver the wooden arm in front of me and kick it down, as soon as the brave one was slashed by the Dragon, my sword was ready to meet with its claws. My sword cuts through his claws but lost momentum before reaching his heart, stopping at his bones where I take advantage of the now short distance to attack. I use my jaws to bite down on his neck where I felt the most blood flowing, then I try to drink his blood as fast as I can, but I wasn''t able to, as soon as the first drop of blood touched my tongue my stomach turned. He grabs me by the sides and closes his jaws on me, his teeth taking more than a second to break through my armor, but he still manages. "< Eclipse Sword: 1000 Stars >" (I) I just adapted another technique to use with this sword, I didn''t even stop to think if I could pull it off, I simply followed my instincts the moment the idea popped into my mind. Soon many stars came out of the blade of the sword and went around us like blades cutting the giant body of this Dragon in strips, forcing him to let go of me, something that did not go unpunished. "< Breath of Space >" (I) I concentrate the pure element of space in my jaws before the attack that shatters space in a straight line, this causes internal and external damage to the Dragon''s body while distracting its mind with the fluctuations of space, at this time I cast my allowance on his head causing him to fall like a meteor to the ground. "< Blood Eclipse Avatar: Starfire Eater >" (I) This time the Leech was fused with my Authority, the moment I threw the sword I had already made preparations for this technique by putting more than half of my energy into the sword, but the creature that emerged from the tip of the sword opening half of the Dragon''s skull Demonic, it could no longer be considered a Leech, it was some kind of Dragon with starry scales and a half transparent body, its head could not have eyes, but it had a jaw that opens in three when it rips out part of the Dragon''s stomach to eat making its own organs that look like rotten soup escape your body. eaglesnov1,o "He''s still alive, but for a little while." (I) "< Devour >" (I) Chapter 1083: Stepping Up To Combat Part 2 Chapter 1083: Stepping Up To Combat Part 2 Pov Sakura: I didn''t know what had happened at the beginning, during the training of this Summoning technique it never happened, I felt the connection with the tree inside the Dungeon as I use my power almost every day on that tree. But during the Invocation this time I felt something different, especially when the Master''s power coursed through my body, it felt like something clicked, the Holy power and Authority that I had within me had taken over my body while everything that I am in exercised it was being concentrated at a single point. The next thing I know I feel myself immersed in power like I''ve never felt before, I also felt something else, a desire to protect like I''ve never felt before, the next thing I know is a high vantage point and a hideous Dragon coming towards me. By the size of the creature compared to what I had seen before I could understand what was going on, but with no time to think I had to act fast and lured this Dragon into a fight in the air, something that was not my strong point. During the combat, I had no weapon but for some reason, I was able to move my body with great freedom without restrictions or awkwardness, the combat was a big draw, his attacks were powerful but none of them hit me and my attacks were not powerful enough to damage your body. Any damage I did had the Aura and Authority I carried negated upon being expelled from the body, so the damage recovered, this was due to the presence around us that now seemed even more filthy to me. I study the hand and the flows of energies from multiple pure Elements change to converge in my hand, I don''t know why I''m doing this but I could feel that I needed to do this as words are flowing to me line mind as if whispered from all around, words I couldn''t help but say aloud. "< Eclipse Sword: Sun and Moon As One >" (I) The energies seemed to crystallize in my hand as a hilt large enough for two hands formed, then the crystallization of the weapon''s return continued to both sides forming a golden blade with the Sun symbol on top of the hilt and another silver blade with the symbol of the Moon below the hilt, it was a double-bladed sword. I never used any type of weapon, for me the only weapon was and always was the nature that surrounded me, I never learned to handle any type of weapon, but I always had the knowledge of multiple weapons due to teaching the basics to the Lamias at the time when we were still in the mountain range. I tried to use one of the skills I saw most people training, a basic skill, so I used a boost with my wings to increase my speed even more, but while using the skill it felt like it was wrong and it was adjusting almost instinctively at the same time the name of the skill seemed to change inside my mind. In the end, my impulse was followed by a cut using the moon blade, and for a second it seemed that I was holding a silver dragon in my hands, this energy dragon became more and more real until I reached the rotten dragon that disintegrates in its entirety spreading chunks of his filthy flesh in every direction. I thought I defeated him because his body was in pieces, but that was a trap when several bone spikes emerged from his pieces of rotten flesh that gathered where I was as if to close myself in, I used my power to distort the space around me. around and get out of the trap, but his body reformed much faster than I could have imagined with a giant claw being the first to take shape already in an attack against me, with no way to avoid it I could only receive this attack that cut my arm. eaglesnov1,o "< Sun Court >" (I) I do not the blade of the Sun grows 5 times its size and with all my strength I cut the front paw splitting the arm as well as the rest of the rotting flesh still formless in half as well as the clouds behind. "< Blood of Nature >" (I) I saw that the two halves of flesh were discarding the burning parts to avoid further damage and I wasted no more time with doubts, I surrendered my consciousness completely to instinct and felt as if my body was following the flow of nature''s energies, I felt as if I were being embraced by nature while being taught the right way to move or how to direct my energy. It was then that the two blades lit up in silver and gold light, I point upwards these two energies blend in a ray that cuts through space like a wound where the energy flows from nature pulsate and mingle as a multicolored liquid falls into above me, then all damage to my armor disappears and my arm grows back, hot energy spreads through my body and then works the two-bladed sword in my hand. "< Eclipse Sword: Cataclysm >" (I) This time Master''s Authority and Aura mix with this hot energy and a territory forms around me as well as this mass of rotten flesh, then the illusion of a world being destroyed by fire tornado tsunamis, lightning storms, and earthquakes that split open the land and rain down Blades of ice that coalesce into a sphere at the tip of the blade as the Territory dwindles as the power of Nature gathers within it. I point my sword from its Blades at the mass of rotting flesh that now had two half-formed heads still trying to heal from being split in two, then the sphere hits him as if it has traversed space itself while expanding to engulf the entire mass of rotten meat. The whole time no sound, smell, or movement happened, as if the world fell silent in the face of this onslaught of pure destruction, in the end, the space seemed to close over this sphere of destruction as if erasing it, as if it had never been there before, nothing was left of either the Rotten Dragon or the corrupted souls that formed it. Chapter 1084: Stepping Up To Combat Part 3 Chapter 1084: Stepping Up To Combat Part 3 As I was watching the Demonic Dragon being devoured I felt 2 things at the same time, one was an awareness probably of one of my Familiars trying to say something but I wasn''t able to pay attention, a sense of danger suddenly dawned on me as all my instincts screamed that something dangerous was above. Before I even looked I could feel the energy of the pure Elements tremble for half a second which was followed by a deafening silence that lasted for another half second. When I look up what I see is a sphere of darkness similar to a black hole filled with rays of chaotic energy with various colors inside, looking down at that I could feel something inside me resonate, it was the destruction of harmony and the limit of Chaos, it was pure annihilation. But soon I saw space itself close in around the sphere of destruction as if crushing it until there was nothing left but empty space with nothing. "What was this?" (I) "(Done...)" (Karina) I seemed to hear Karina''s faint voice and when I looked around what I found was just something floating where the Demon Dragon''s body had been, this was a Dragon Seal. I immediately understood what had happened, but I didn''t have time to think about it, these weren''t the only enemies, I looked around noticing that other battles were taking place in many places, the gray creatures that emerged from the dark doors were smaller in number than I remembered, but the number of rotten creatures increased a lot with new types appearing like creatures made from rotten plants, earth rotting like meat and some bizarre things made from random body parts put together. I wanted to start running towards these enemies, but suddenly when I tried to run I ended up falling face down on the ground while my body shrunk all at once back to normal size. "Damn... haaahhhh!!!!" (I) Suddenly something falls on top of me, they were giant pieces of wood, several parts fell one at a time, and before I could do anything that wood turned to dust burying my body. Then the looking crystal I was carrying glowed when I felt something flow inside, this energy created a wave of energy that spread the por in all directions, that''s when I realized that I was being carried in Sakura''s arms. "< Physical Recovery >" (Sakura) She places her hand on my chest and a warm energy envelops my body as it makes the weakness I was feeling disappear, I stand up more easily and look at Sakura who looks exactly the same as before but her Aura was different, much stronger than before. Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only "I want to ask some questions, but we have a fight to finish." (I) I knew that my body was only temporarily weak due to the transformation I still hadn''t gotten used to, I wasn''t exhausted or fatally injured and so I would only need a few minutes to recover, a time that was shortened by Sakura''s help. "Sense any more enemies... never mind, bring Hela here, now!" (I) In my vision, thousands of what looked like Ghosts made of darkness surged out of the forest towards us, but I knew they weren''t Ghosts, they were actually the Corrupted Souls. I''ve never seen any of these Corrupted Souls have any fighting ability when they''re out of their bodies, but I couldn''t be sure what their amount of Corrupted Souls could do. "She''s already here, what do you think they''re running from?" (Sakura) "..." (I) Soon I see a giant skull emerge from behind the Corrupted Souls followed by 5 others, the skulls were red in color with purple lines drawn on their surfaces and they all seemed linked by what looked like thick chains holding them to something still behind the Corrupted Souls. "I''m going to destroy this thing." (I) "The problem is yours and Zenos''s, I''ll go after that of the other presence we sense." (Caitlyn) "Try not to kill him." (I) The 4-eyed Leech fell apart in a line and there was nothing left of the prisoner, the few blue blood stains were being absorbed by the lines. "I''ll take care of you later." (I) I couldn''t stand by, there are some idiots trying to take advantage of the chaos of the battle, I knew Natasha wasn''t going to go along with the plan and Caitlyn was going to go it alone, at least they helped me with a tricky one. "How did this Evil God get a vessel without anyone noticing?" (I) As I passed these things I spread my blood wings to fly in the opposite direction of Caitlyn. --------------- Pov Hela: "This is starting to piss me off." (I) "You cannot fight your Blessing my lady." (Hellyos) I was doing my best to collect the Corrupted Souls, the process of corrupting these souls could be used on Ghosts or Wraiths, maybe even used in a new application of Soul magic, but no matter what I tried, I couldn''t capture any as they are all taken to Hell. "Get away from me you damn thing..." (I) "I ask that you refrain from going against me, my Goddess has asked me to make sure you fulfill your duty." "I''m fulfilling what you asked, but could I..." (I) "Soul-corrupting techniques like this must not be known and everything about it must be erased while the fools involved will be punished in eternal torment, so think carefully about your actions daughter of Zenos." The one next to me was a Phantom with a completely materialized body that for some reason had Holy energy around it appearing to be a woman dressed in pink and full of jewels. A projection of the High Priestess of the Goddess Kalistos, she''s not really here, in fact, she doesn''t seem to even be in this world right now, and she''s using a Ghost to watch over what I do at the Goddess''s bidding. "(I hate this one...)" (I) "(I can hear her thoughts, so refrain from taking offense before a representative of the Demon Goddess of Death.)" "..." (I) Chapter 1085: Stepping Up To Combat Part 4 Chapter 1085: Stepping Up To Combat Part 4 The defensive battle has been more than difficult as I discovered some pretty obvious serious issues, at least they are obvious now. After defeating the Demonic Dragon little by little more and more people gathered near the World Tree, all knowing the importance of defending the center of magic being the central link of large-scale magic ritual balancing the energies of the environment. The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) Thanks to this ritual, everyone could fight without being restricted by the environment and without losing their main senses, but defending Silvia became more and more difficult. I thought that only that Demon Dragon could open those gates of pure darkness by bringing out more of these gray-skinned we cans, but it seems I was mistaken, these gray-skinned people can also open these gates of darkness, but unlike that Demon Dragon who could open several of these gates at the same time, these people could only open 1 or 2 at the same time, which is not saying much considering the large number of them, so hundreds of these gates were still being opened by over 1000 of these gray people. With more and more enemies appearing, it was becoming very difficult to fight defensively as our energy was depleting as time passed. Because of the enemy numbers that never seem to decrease, we are not able to approach the places where the gates of shadows are invoked, not to mention that these are not monsters guided by pure instinct, they are "people" or at least something similar to that people who are capable of thinking and organizing themselves for a fight of this scale. In total I spent 1 hour walking until I got close to the World Tree where Silvia was, then I spent 40 minutes or so in battle with the Demonic Dragon, and after that I''ve been fighting for 5 hours straight against enemies that heal instantly from any damage they didn''t whether coated with Aura, Holy Power or Authority. They don''t seem to be able to use magic and don''t have ranged attack skills, in fact, they seem to have very few skills if they are skills at all. They have strong and resistant bodies, they can all use their Auras in combat and they have the same type of Aura, they are all based on the characteristic of corruption and because they are similar they can merge with each other to pressure everyone here. The worst is the presence of this Evil God, I can feel this presence interacting with the Aura of these "people" all the time, but even knowing that doesn''t change anything since I don''t know why or how to avoid it. "rica, now!" (I) "< Flame of the Fallen: Field of Fallen Beasts >" (rica) The fight could not contain like this, Irina being a barrier specialist was the one who put the most effort into this battle since she arrived, even if she drinks my blood there is a limit to how much her body is able to regenerate per day before being overloaded, she reached this limit and fell. When her barriers fell over 60 people were fatally injured and 7 died from relying on the falling barriers. Irina was left in the center of the defensive perimeter where Silvia was, there were others who were also unable to fight there. "< Breath of Death >" (Hellyos) "< Soul Eater >" (Hela) As soon as I left I used a large scale spell as I had no other allies nearby, this spell created an 800 meter deep pit over a wide area and filled with large spikes of sharp rocks. My attack was followed by a breath attack from Hela''s Familiar that caused total death and body disintegration of the enemies, this defeated those enemies at the same time as just freeing those corrupted Souls. It was at this moment that Hela used her Necromancer magic to extract something from her Familiar, a part of her Familiar''s Soul leaves her body as if she was getting up, it was just the half-transparent Dragon''s head, it even looks like a two-headed Dragon now. Soon this semi-transparent head grows 5 times its size while changing slightly with two more horns growing and the bone structure itself changing to something more aggressive with thick purple lines forming patterns. When this large Phantom skull opens its jaws it feels like hundreds of eyes open inside its jaws just before a purple vortex forms drawing all these Corrupted Souls as well as others that were here from the beginning out of these gates of darkness. I noticed a red and black glow appear inside the transparent skull, but I left that for later when I had something more important to take care of. I look around until I see where the gate of darkness was, as I wave one hand creating lines from my fingers that stretch several meters in less than 1 second before leaving these lines as rigid and sharp as a sword, I used my Holy Power and Aura on the lines when I make several slashing moves destroying the gate of darkness. The forced destruction created an explosion that I didn''t expect, but to protect myself I make a barrier with my Aura in front of me and it seems that Hela''s Familiar managed to protect her. Soon I looked at the other missing gates of darkness, all of which were being more heavily guarded now. But when I was close to trying to destroy one more now that I''m close, suddenly space begins to crack and a ray of pure darkness pierces through the barrier in the middle of the World Tree while ripping through space, the energies that were previously in order now they are even more volatile than they were when I first entered the forest. The ritual owner I was trying to keep safe with Silvia at the center was destroyed when the ray of pure darkness passed, the only happiness I have was several Auras with characteristics of nature emerge from the same hole and spread out balancing once again the various energies of the environment, the collision of these two opposite things made everyone except me and my Familiars fall to the ground, it also made the gates of darkness explode with the energy waves that the collision of these opposite things made. I had nothing to do about it, even though I wasn''t negatively affected by those two things, I still couldn''t get the trapdoor to move, that''s when an Aura of pure Death erupted as everything returned to silence as the hole in the barrier in the middle of the World Tree was repaired, but the tear in the sky was still there and looked very dangerous now. "I won''t miss this opportunity..." (I) Chapter 1086: Stepping Up To Combat Part 5 Chapter 1086: Stepping Up To Combat Part 5 Pov Lilith: "HAHAHAAHHAAHAHAHA..." (I) "Fun, fun... this is so FUN... HAHA HAHHAHAHAHAHA...." (I) Since I entered this place everything is amazing, the lack of my senses doesn''t mean much, in the past, I was deprived of my senses many times and learned other ways of perception. Since I met my father and was reborn in such a wonderful way I''ve been learning so much more, it''s been so long since I''ve been surrounded by enemies full of malice like this, even if their goal is not to humiliate me but to kill me, the general picture is still the same. I can still feel the malice they emanate, I can feel their eyes and other senses pinned to my body as a target for elimination. How many times at that time did I dream of dismembering the people who looked at me like that at those ridiculous parties, how many times did I imagine bathing in the blood of such despicable beings. I can clearly feel where each one of them is, I can feel the thing inside them, this is a new sensation for me, feeling their own bodies wanting revenge on what''s inside them. But thanks to that I was able to fight at will, the presence around me seems to be that of "God knows what", to be honest, I don''t give a damn, I just wanted to prove the power that the Father has given me. "< Demonic Curse: Conqueror of Life >" (I) I cast a Curse on me marks anyone who attacks me as an opponent, if I kill him his life energy and Alma comes to me, but if I die the same can happen or should be if I wasn''t the daughter of who I am. "(No Curse can kill me as long as its power is with me.)" (I) My Father''s Holy Power runs through my body ready to be used when needed, but for now, I prefer not to use it. I just run towards these enemies using my claws to tear their bodies to shreds, as their regenerative abilities are so annoying, I have a lot more work to do to keep them dead and the Demon corruption doesn''t work against them. That''s why I run between them using my Aura claws to tear their bodies apart continuously, it''s always so troublesome to get rid of them. That''s when I remembered something I could do, but it wasn''t the time yet, all I could do was continue the way I''ve been doing so far. Of course, I got slashed, slashed, and had a few broken bones, just a few minor injuries, it was annoying how these monsters had such simple ways of attacking. What just happened left most allies and enemies alike off guard, I was in the middle of the enemy lines and now that they didn''t have the gates of darkness to protect with the closest targets being me, Hela, and her Familiar, we had to get out of here before the attack starts. "We are going!" (I) "< Shadow Prison >" (I) With no time to waste I yell to Hela already using a Shadow magic that forces her and her Familiar to step into my shadow once more, then I spread my wings before pointing my hands downwards as blood seeps from my palms forming magic circles quickly. "< Holy Magic: Star Dragon''s Fury >" (I) I focus all the Holy Power I still have left into this spell, then a few hundred meters Serpent body type Dragon comes out of the magic circle already attacking. I leave the Dragon crushing and burning the enemies while I try to get back to where I was, this magic is not just to create the Dragon, it consumes all the energy of those killed by it and explodes when reaching its limit, as there are so many enemies around it it will reach its limit very quickly. Just as I thought I looked back only to notice half of his formerly white body now covered in darkness with one or another glow on his body, it was going faster than I thought and when he opened his mouth devouring several of these Corrupted Souls at once being close by, the Dragon''s body turns completely black as hundreds of stars shine from the darkness of its body. Soon his body explodes, but it doesn''t make a sound as it was an explosion of Energy that launched hundreds of sharp stars in all directions, some of them even passed through me, one of them ripping off a part of my leg, but the worst came after the stars, it was a wave of burning Holy power, but luckily I managed to avoid it this time. With some difficulty I managed to get to where the others were, with the battle returning to normal as everyone was recovering from what just happened, as our group recovered first we were able to regain the advantage with our initiative. I wanted to see how Silvia and the others were doing, all I could do was see them fighting from afar while I myself was in the middle of the fight, when the gates of darkness disappeared the people on our side regained their resolve when they realized that the enemies were not there more coming endlessly. But that doesn''t change the fact that everyone is exhausted, I would like to help and I even have a magic that could be useful, but I would be unable to fight afterwards, so I don''t use this magic, I need to be in combat condition to protect those nearby of me. Enemies were difficult to kill, but after so long everyone learned ways to destroy these enemies, those with weapons blessed by the Demonic Church of Death were better prepared, but I prefer not to use these Weapons, they don''t seem to fit well with my Aura who already has the trait of Death, so even now I don''t use those things. As I struggled suddenly I see something in the distance, it was Natasha coming towards me with something on her shoulder when she arrives I see it was Lilith on her shoulder with half her head crushed, I run to her but before I reach I feel the life energy overflowing from her body and the mortal wound on her head healing, but when Natasha gives her her blood to drink you can see the brain regrow the crushed part as the bones of the skull slowly grow back enclosing her head. I wanted to ask what had happened but didn''t have time when an Aura of pure Death sent shivers down my spine and I looked up only to see space cracked like a spider''s web at the barrier that sits in the middle of the World Tree, two very extreme energies were in conflict, one of them trying to deny the other that it was the same Aura that was all over the surrounding environment belonging to the Evil God, the second was the Aura of the Goddess of Death herself trying to end the existence of that God. That''s when I felt something bizarre and the whole environment shook as dark energy rose from the enemies'' bodies as their bodies dried up until they looked like mummies, then the Corrupted Souls appear from the remains of the bodies and go along with the dark energy towards the direction of the cracked barrier. "No you won''t!!!" (I) Chapter 1087: Stepping Up To Combat Part 6 Chapter 1087: Stepping Up To Combat Part 6 "No you won''t!!!" (I) I couldn''t stand by watching this, I knew that a fight was going on somewhere that I wasn''t able to see and so I was able to sense this Evil God''s intention in extracting both the power and the corrupted Souls from these creatures that possibly form his army. This Evil God was losing, honestly, it was much more difficult and time consuming than I thought possible considering he''s caught in a trap, there are also enemies like Lorraine who seems to be almost a Living Fairy Goddess, him lasting so long against her and several other enemies close to that level only proves the power of this bastard. Because he''s close to losing he must want to use this dark energy and Corrupted Souls to replenish his own power, break the trap that holds him, or something else that honestly doesn''t matter, what I need to know is just that I shouldn''t allow this to continue. I didn''t have time to speak, so I used my lines to pierce Hela''s wet arms and used my connection to Hinata to bring her to me, all while pulling apart the power within my body and touching one of the Blessings I never use, but which are always in my body. I start draining only Hela''s death energy which luckily doesn''t resist and prevents her Familiar from interfering. I absorb Hela''s death energy into my body, making this power mine thanks to the Blessing of the Demon Goddess Kalistos, then use this Blessing to further strengthen that power while forcing the Death characteristic of my Aura to merge with that power. For some reason having my body submerged by the power of death made my entire body freeze and my vitality was being affected, but still, it wasn''t a deadly situation for me and I continued with what I was doing. This death energy coursing through my body at great speed before I place my hand on Hinata''s back connecting my power to hers, then I send this empowered death energy to her while I use my connection to her to transmit information about a technique that controls her body to help me. I didn''t have time to teach her and there was no other way she could help me in this situation. "< Death Barrier >" (I) I didn''t have time to come up with a more suitable technique, but a simple technique can always be adapted with ease to endless situations as a Mana barrier being the basis for countless barrier techniques, one of the simplest ways to do this is to use a power different like using elemental power, Holy, Curse or in this specific case I''m using, the power of Death. Once I activated this technique using two types of barrier migrants, a barrier spell and a barrier spirit rune technique, I was able to merge these two techniques with ease as I had already done something similar before. I used Hinata as a conduit for this power because her control over Death''s power is greater than mine, her toothpick body opens what I thought were countless cracks all over her surface, but I soon realized it wasn''t a crack when teeth erupted in all of them those openings rebelling to be one bizarre mouth or maybe several bizarre mouths, honestly it didn''t matter right now. A sphere of pure darkness forms in front of Hinata in less than 1 second and shoots towards the sphere in the middle of the Tree of Changing, then the darkness covers with a new layer around that area where the fight should be taking place in a Separate Space or Territory. This barrier was strange, it seemed to be in liquid form, it didn''t look like something that can be called a barrier, even I thought it had failed but the dark energy and the Corrupted Souls stopped its way, in fact, the Corrupted Souls kept their distance, some even trying to go in the opposite direction as if they were trying to escape, but even so they seemed to be being sucked towards that place in the World Tree. I continued to concentrate as best I could to maintain the barrier that would have broken a long time ago if it weren''t for the Blessing inside my body and Hinata''s body connecting with a presence within the barrier, that''s why the presence of this Evil God was trying to destroy the barrier and was stopped before even making the attempt, I felt his presence being suppressed more strongly. With the Corrupted Souls seeming afraid to go near the death barrier, the dark energies these Corrupted Souls are surrounded by won''t separate from their body, it looks like the plan worked somehow. When I looked up again it was due to the noise of chains coming from above, the noises of chains came before what sounded like a waterfall of red and black chains falling non-stop. These currents moved in a straight line, each one heading towards one of these Corrupted Souls, I was able to better see the Corrupted Souls furthest from the barrier and who were closest before the current reached those Souls who tried to force it further more to get away, I saw several lines be coated with silver, gold, red and purple energy taking the shape of a leech''s head full of teeth at the end of the lines, these lines tied themselves around hundreds of corrupted Souls pulling them in our direction. I look back and see the cocoon that had already just absorbed, whatever the lady Caitlyn threw at it, now all the threads were stretched towards the Corrupted Souls. When the currents reached these Souls a dispute began, but this dispute was short-lived when the pull of the currents proved stronger than the pull of the lines. When I saw the cocoon being dragged along little by little I was worried, but Mrs. Caitlyn just stared at the cocoon with a strange smile, so she looked at me and pointed at the cocoon. "Put your hand on him and transfer your Holy Power along with Zenos'' Authority to him, be quick or he will be dragged to Hell as he won''t let go of prey." (Caitlyn) I didn''t have much time, I also didn''t know anything about the cocoon, so I didn''t know how important it was to Mister Zenos, so all I could do was protect it while I waited for Mister Zenos. I run to the cocoon and put my two hands on it while trying to hold it with my strength to prevent it from being taken along with the corrupted Souls, while I held it, some Holy Power and Authority that comes from lord Zenos began to flow into the cocoon that absorbed it voraciously. When that happened I felt something move inside the cocoon, then something came out, it looked like a "tentacle?" with a point that looked like three blades of black crystal forming a triangle, this "tentacle?" moved quickly as Zenos''s authority surged through the crystal blades he used to break the chains one after another as the crystal blades were damaged or shattered by the impact. In the end, all the Corrupted Souls bound by the red threads were dragged into the cocoon along with what was left of the chains still binding the Corrupted Souls, everything was absorbed by the cocoon while the "tentacle?" went back inside the cocoon with the hole he made being mended. "You will not interfere, Taboo Huntress." (Caitlyn) "Why interfere with the recovery of these fugitives?" "You also know, serving food is a form of punishment in itself, so don''t bother and don''t make me act personally." (Caitlyn) "I''ll let it go this time on orders from the Goddess Kalistos, but control this one..." "Ssshhhhhh!!!" (Caitlyn) "Don''t spoil the surprise." (Caitlyn) "..." (I) Not knowing what they were talking about what I thought was a Phantom that appeared out of nowhere next to the pod climbed up without looking at us again and stayed close to the chains watching while the other corrupted Souls were taken inside the ring in the cloud that closed soon after. Chapter 1088: You Will Never Be A True God Chapter 1088: You Will Never Be A True God Pov Kalistos (Demon Goddess of Death): I couldn''t see that place at first, the corruption of that fool''s mere presence negates my sight near that World Tree, I had to take advantage of those who carry my Blessing to use their senses. Zenos adapts well to that environment but doesn''t go near his daughters, Silvia has received the Blessing of many Gods, perhaps even more than Zenos, and was also a World Tree, impeding her senses is ridiculous, she has never depended on them since the beginning In the beginning, Hela as a Genius Necromancer has senses that others are not able to match, perhaps she should teach Zenos and his Familiar Hinata something. Hinata was a disappointment, she had all the tools for that environment, but her lack of knowledge about her own power doesn''t allow her to use her full potential, the only happiness is in her realizing this deficiency this time, I just hope she doesn''t waste her time again. The fight was going very well in the mortal world, but I would like to know how the fight inside the Divine Realm proceeds that Lorraine dragged Sarturi, too bad her Divine Realm is still connected to the mortal world or I could go personally without the need to use indirect means. I can''t see through my Champion either, he seems to still be waiting in the Shadows of Lorraine for the opportunity to take Sarturi by surprise, I''ve made the mistake of underestimating this fool in the past, he always takes the farthest path from his goal that exists while convincing himself that he is right, his obsession has destroyed his world and doomed many Souls. ----------------- Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com A young genius of magic in a world where monsters were numerous, but they did not have the strength that made them dangerous alone, thanks to that the world managed to develop easily, there was no lack of resources and therefore there were few wars, a world where the focus it was study and art. All it took was an Emperor on the edge of his life to ask one of my Priestesses for something that many others have asked for and that never seems to be enough, everyone always asks for the same thing, being more time to live, how could he not and was afraid to do something drastic that could irritate to me who embodies the concept of Death, he turned to something he could understand, Magical research. That Emperor started it but died long before discovering the result, centuries became millennia before that genius with a millennium of studies from a whole world on the same accumulated subject was able to find the answer, but there was a reason why no one arrived at this answer because it was necessary to do many things that should not be done. The boy was pure at first, but like many genius researchers, he became obsessed with what he was researching, any sign of danger his eyes found in his mind became just a path for his obsession to travel, the loss of his family over the years only increase his obsession with denying the natural end of all living things. When he found the answer his obsession exploded into arrogance and endless pride, as in any civilization there will always be those who fear my call and choose to take worse paths to avoid the rest I offer. I sent my Taboo Hunters after them, but they took it as a challenge rather than the warning I was actually giving, he spread the knowledge with the thought that he was saving his world from death, and my Taboo Hunters wouldn''t be able to finish them all off a short time and my Church of Death was quickly seen as an enemy and wiped out in that world, help from any other world would be slow in coming at best, but it was the best I could do not having a Hero, Saint or Champion at the time. It was no surprise to see Souls corrupting themselves by erasing themselves from the normal world, those in power took the bodies of those in lower positions devouring their Souls, this strengthened the Soul''s projection, but with each body taken the Soul''s essence was lost until the to the point where it was no longer correct for them to be called Souls, their presence alone corrupted the surroundings which gradually devastated their world until there was nothing left but a barren desert filled with miasma. As soon as he called out to me part of my power and consciousness is extended into his body to the extent that his vessel can handle it, I can feel that vessel''s connection to Zenos, I could easily break that connection, but he seems to want to keep it and so I will respect what he asked of me. When I open my eyes I readjust the shape and position of his bones while changing the shape of his armor, his Spectral Body fills with my power as it takes on a form more like me while my hair and features become translucent. I just stand there looking at Sarturi as I check the limits of my power in this body, I also see Lorraine with part of her face burned and one of her arms crushed, pushing away so many other Fairy Kings or Spirit Queens with help from Stella who is in better condition. "KALISTOS!!!!!" (Sarturi) "Don''t scream, it''s no use raising your voice before me, I warned you from the beginning how your journey would end." (I) "FILTHY GODDESS, YOU BRING ONLY MISERY AND DEATH!!!" (Sarturi) "HOW MANY FAMILIES HAVE YOU MADE SUFFER!? HOW MANY WORLDS HAVE YOU DESTROYED!? HOW MANY TEARS HAVE BEEN SHED FOR WHAT YOU CALL A GIFT!!!!????" (Sarturi) "The end is as natural as the beginning, because death exists that life has meaning, trying to deny death is also denying life, you fool." (I) Knowing better the limitations of this body, I use my Aura together with Ivan''s to suppress Sarturi''s Aura more and more, as he wants to be called now, not only suppressing his Aura but gradually annihilating his Aura with my Authority. "There were many paths to immortality, even though they were deviations from the natural path, one day would still lead to me, but you created a path that would annihilate anyone before reaching me and that I cannot allow or forgive." (I) There are immortal races like Vampires or with the ability to achieve immortality like some Demons, in the end, they can still be killed or live for so long that they wish for a rest in my embrace, in the end, immortality is never as glorious as they believe, but only the unlucky ones discover it the hard way. I feel his presence change, it is trying to drain the power of his servants to fight his doom, I use my power and Authority to strengthen the eye that condemns Souls, I also felt a barrier being raised outside Lorraine''s God Realm that is in pieces, it seems to contain some of my power in this barrier, so I used some more of my power to strengthen this barrier knowing that it must come from Zenos or his allies. "I WAS SO CLOSE TO AN END OF YOUR TYRANNY, IF I ACHIEVED THE GODHEAD COULD..." (Sarturi) "Couldn''t nothing, you will never be a true God." (I) Chapter 1089: You Cant Deny The Inevitable Chapter 1089: You Can''t Deny The Inevitable Pov Ivan (Champion of Goddess Kalistos): I felt when using that great magic, all my power was taken instantly and it was not even close to what was needed to activate that great magic, it was only possible by the power of Goddess Kalistos welling up from within me and coursing through my bones before leaving my body to supplement the power needed to activate that spell. I could feel a countless number of what I can only describe as fragments, there is not a single word to describe these fragments, if I had to explain it was like fragments of emotions, perhaps fragments of minds, I could say that they are fragments of Souls or I could say that they are all the former things and at the same time none of them. Yes, perhaps the best way to describe it is to call it a fragment of people. Thanks to the magic I was using, I could feel these shards for a moment and I had the displeasure of seeing that this Evil God didn''t have these shards inside him, it was much worse and disgusting than that, he was completely made up of these shards that were being corroded more and more. That was the most disgusting thing I''ve ever felt before, even on the battlefields when I was still alive or in Miss Lilith''s torture rooms when she had truly despicable prisoners to satisfy her hunger for revenge, I haven''t found anything worse than I felt this time Evil God when using this spell. But even with that stain forever in my mind marked as the worst feeling I''ve ever felt, I still had my duty to do, I started to channel the Authority and Holy Power of Goddess Kalistos not in a prayer like people of your religion do, but rather directly calling upon her to serve as his champion and be the recipient of his will to face this Evil God. Channeling the Goddess''s power was much worse this time than when I used death magic before I was just an intermediary for the power to flow into the magic, but this time this power filled my bones and overflowed. Soon I felt the will and consciousness of the Goddess Kalistos inhabit my body, I felt that power resonate with my body and that''s when the pain started, my bones that should have been solid began to mold into different shapes as if it were some kind of dough being molded by someone and my bones were also changing their positions as my Spectral Body changed shape. The pain of having her body reshaped from the inside out was devastating, but there was something even worse, I could feel like my Soul was thrown to the bottom of an ocean to suffer under the pressure of the ocean as the will of the Goddess took over my body. Diana never showed or talked about these things, maybe it''s because I''m not a fully faithful Champion of the Goddess or maybe it''s because I haven''t adapted to her power long enough, but no matter my doubts when nothing is going to change in this situation, I can feel it that my entire body is at the limit and Goddess Kalistos is doing her best to keep within that limit so as not to destroy my body. Since becoming her Champion I have felt her presence with me at all times, but being immersed in her will goes far beyond anything I could imagine, I cannot even begin to describe the depths of what I am feeling. ---------------- Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only Pov Kalistos (Demon Goddess of Death): I look at him being torn apart from the inside out, a patchwork of several lifetimes and already missing every part that belonged only to him. I look down at my hand, the bones at the tip of the finger have begun to crack, for now, that''s not much of a risk, but it does show that this body wasn''t yet ready to be a vessel for me to inhabit or work to use my power. "This isn''t over yet..." (Sarturi) "It''s over, you always knew there was no chance of coming against me, in fact, any God could crush you and destroy the thing you call Soul." (I) "(Endure a little longer, my Champion.)" (I) Black chains surge around him, dig into his body as they attach themselves, then 5 scythes form and start ripping parts of his body to pieces. As a Goddess I don''t need to use spells, techniques, skills, or anything else, the energy of death is a part of me, and manipulating that power is as simple as breathing for me. I can still feel some presences around outside, I feel something strange, but it doesn''t seem to be something dangerous. "Wouldn''t it be right to finish this as soon as possible?" (Lorraine) "Not yet." (I) I see that one of my Champion''s hands is already completely cracked, but he can still hold out a little longer. I snap my fingers making the chains and scythes disappear so I stop teasing this mortal fool. I reach my hand out to him, making the space itself close in the shape of my hand around this fool''s body. "A body stolen from many, let''s start with that." (I) When I close my hand, the space around Sarturi also closes, annihilating his body in pieces that were covered by my energy, nothing remains of his body, not even dust. "A Soul made of fragments of which nothing of the original remains." (I) When the space returns to its form, only a large and even more grotesque creature remains, this creature does not have a physical body being only with a purely spiritual body. This creature had a strange shape that could not be considered human, there were mouths, eyes, horns, arms, legs, tentacles, and antennae scattered throughout its body by the dozens or hundreds, its body had thousands of separate colors, and it looked like several separate things were forcibly joined together and that is not far from the truth. This time I create a barrier containing millions of blades of death energy inside where I leave this grotesque Soul inside, in a few seconds nothing of the soul was left whole, it was broken into several fragments that began to attack a large fragment. "Even if they are just fragments without mind or emotions, rancor will always prevail, time to rest in oblivion." (I) I waved a hand creating a wave of energy that annihilates these shards without leaving anything, then I waved my hand causing the Deity Fragment of some Evil God to fly into my hand, within this fragment was Sarturi''s consciousness the only one left of him. "Now fade into nothingness just as your victims once did." (I) Just a trace of my presence colliding with his shaken consciousness was enough to erase the only thing left of him, so I filled that Fragment of Divinity with my Power before destroying this thing, there''s no need for it to continue to exist. "I told you you wouldn''t run away from the inevitable, you just chose to take a nastier route to me." (I) Chapter 1090: No Irreparable Damage Caused Chapter 1090: No Irreparable Damage Caused I don''t know what happened and I didn''t have time to pay attention, maintaining the death barrier was more complicated than I thought at first, I thought Hinata could help me, but the only difference it made was to strengthen the barrier even more, your control of the death energy was close to mine. For some reason I felt something strengthening the barrier from within the cracked sphere where the Heretic God was trapped, it was a much softer Death energy that blended perfectly with mine to strengthen the barrier. Other than that it was already strange, when the chains appeared from the sky in large amounts I thought it was some kind of attack, but in fact, it was the same chains of Hell that capture these corrupted Souls, I don''t know if someone invoked these things or if that amount of Corrupted souls gathered was enough to be noticed. The only thing I know was the relief to see those Corrupted Souls being taken away, when the chains disappeared I made some effort to look around confirming that the Corrupted Souls were gone. I thought I could stop the barrier that was getting to be painful to maintain, but I did my best to maintain it until the moment I didn''t feel the presence of the Heretic God coming through the cracks. When I relaxed by deactivating the barrier, I had my legs going a little wobbly and my body was cold like a frozen Tomb, the death energy was like having liquid ice coursing through my body. "Are you well?" (Silvia) "Yes, I''m just a little cold and weak..." (I) "You weren''t able to use the death energy efficiently and some of it affected your body, come on." (Silvia) Silvia gives me a hug that started to warm my body, I felt a gentle and warm energy run through my glass until it balanced with the prevailing cold. In a few seconds the cold had disappeared, but the energy of death was still inside my body, it was just balanced with my vitality, Silvia used her Aura to stimulate my vitality to flow through the same paths in which the energy of death was traveling and the balance of these two energies ended the reaction I was suffering. "Thanks." (I) "I didn''t do anything too much." (Silvia) After that, I went to see how Hinata was doing but she didn''t seem to be ok, seeing her whole body she seemed to be ok, but as soon as I saw her face turning in place I knew she wasn''t ok, her head was still, it was her face that was spinning as if it was some kind of mask rotating on her face, it was unsettling due to the fact that her eyes were moving during the rotation and two tongues were hanging out of her mouth while her face was rotating. The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) I don''t say anything and just place my hand on top of her head, it stops her face from spinning and she looks at me with her empty eyes. I make a small mirror using ice magic for her, with her reflection she noticed that her face stopped turning upside down, that is to say, the mouth on top and eyes on the bottom, it was a little strange to look at. I was lucky that Orion managed to catch me in time, I was taken to the others and this time I was really tired, I could stand and talk normally, but it would be impossible for me to do anything else besides that, I could even feel the energy inside my body in disarray because of the reaction of the magic, it''s already a surprise that I''m conscious considering that Freya and Sakura fell unconscious. Only Silvia as well as me was able to maintain consciousness and stand up, but even without her saying anything I already knew that our situation was the same, she also couldn''t use her power. As I tried to think of something, the sphere that was previously cracked in the middle of the World Tree shattered in an explosion that created a wave of dark energy in all directions along with a presence as deep and vast as an abyss at the bottom of the ocean. This presence was familiar, but at the same time it was different, my mind took seconds to understand that they were two presences in one, more precisely a presence with depths that I couldn''t see was totally mixed with a presence that I''ve known for a long time, these were the presence of Ivan and the Goddess Kalistos. When I looked up I could only see a point of black light in the middle of a hole in the middle of the World Tree, which by the way was higher than the top of a mountain, so I looked up at the darkened sky with transparent black energy that stretches across the sky as far as I can see. I might not be able to use my power, but my senses were still functioning enough for me to feel the energies of Darkness, Corruption, and Death being gathered in the sky, not exactly being controlled, but absorbed into what slowly felt like something wavy in the sky. The energies of nature stopped being in disarray, the miasma disappeared upon being fully taken to the sky, and the death energy was becoming different, instead of the filthy feeling it felt before it was becoming pure, it was as if it was being washed away from all dirt until only pure death energy remains. Soon the ripple in the sky became bigger when these three energies were taken away, so this ripple moved as if it was being pulled by someone and it moved like a cloth being moved around the World Tree. In my vision, the cloth was pulled back until it revealed the sky that was hidden behind, so when I looked at the world tree it looked like a slim and colossal figure wearing a black robe, but in less than a second this vision disappeared when all this black energy was gone sucked into a spot in the middle that turned out to be where the hole in the World Tree was, there were a few spots clustered there, vaguely humanoid in outline. "Looks like no harm was done, glad she helped." (Silvia) "You mean the..." (I) I look around and refrain from continuing the sentence, there were too many people I don''t know well enough to speak out loud about. "Yes, that means he''s there too." (Silvia) "(Ivan... how are you now?)" (I) The presence I felt before was something similar to what I felt in the past when Vanessa was praying for my mother, but on a much deeper level, but thanks to that the environment stopped deteriorating as it was doing, which would be dangerous for everyone here and to the environment itself. Luckily no critical damage was sustained, I''m sure if it''s just this level of disarray we can sort it out hopefully. Chapter 1091: A Special Kind Of Gardener Chapter 1091: A Special Kind Of Gardener After whatever the Goddess Kalistos did to stabilize the environment that was already in a critical situation, the presence disappeared and I saw the floating person fall from where he was in the hole in the middle of the World Tree before being grabbed by someone and disappearing. The next thing I saw was Stella appearing near where Natasha was while lying on the floor between them was Ivan with half the bones in his body covered in cracks which only got worse as his body shape was changing, bones were changing places and shapes, the Spectral Body was withering down to an indistinguishable layer of energy around his bones. The two just dictated stops looking at him as I approached Natasha raised her hand to prevent me from approaching any further, I looked at her wanting an answer but she didn''t even look in my direction as she just looked at Ivan as her body changed. Only when the changes stopped with all the bones in place and the shape of the bones similar to what I remember did Natasha bite her own wrist before letting her blood that glowed bright red full of vitality fall onto Ivan''s bones. I didn''t understand what she was doing, vitality has no effect on the Undead, at most, it serves as food, but it doesn''t heal their already dead bodies, that''s why healing potions don''t work on them. I had my doubts about what she was doing, but I also knew that she was both the expert at breaking someone''s body and an expert at healing someone''s body. Just as I thought I saw the blood behave in a strange way, it didn''t flow through the bones until it fell to the ground, as soon as it touched Ivan''s bones it started to flow over the bones to the damaged parts of his bones, that''s when I saw the blood seeped into the cracks that glowed red and dark blue as the cracks got smaller and smaller. It took me a while to understand what was happening, I couldn''t feel the Aura very well due to my exhaustion and my Authority was still not able to be used, it was like a muscle taken to the extreme that is now in the process of recovery. But even without using my Authority I could assume that healing Ivan''s dead body was possible due to Natasha''s Authority, it was the only thing I could think of, so I decided to believe it for now. I knew that Ivan was in a bad state, but he shouldn''t be in danger, so I decided to look for the others one more time, that''s when I noticed that two of my sisters weren''t here. Besides them, my daughter Nicole, my son Irius and Alice aren''t around, I can''t see them around and I don''t remember seeing them during the fight, but I remember Sakura showing them to me when we saw the fight across the forest with it helps to share the senses like plants. I tried asking the others but no one saw anything, I wanted to talk to Natasha who would at least know something about our other sisters, but she was still busy taking care of Ivan, I had to wait for her to finish what she was doing before doing this question. Not having much else to do, I just used my lines with some difficulty to create a hammock to lay down on some nearby trees, it was much more difficult than it should have been so my condition could be worse than I knew. While I was lying in the hammock, my family members were all very close to me, Hinata was lying on top of me in small form, Sakura left it next to me, Orion in puppy form also lay on the other side while Ragnar, who was without his Horn and without one ear was sitting on the branch of one of the trees where I tied the hammock. We were all in bad shape, the battle lasted a long time and I learned some time ago that some injuries are not seen by simply looking at the body from the outside, this becomes increasingly the case as one''s strength increases, or more physical injuries become increasingly lighter. While trying to recover, I looked up and saw many figures doing something in the sky, I didn''t know what it was, but I felt many extremely strong Auras passing through my body several times from different people, it was always coming from the direction of the sky. It looked like the people flying back and forth endlessly in the sky were doing something, I suspect it must be Fairy Kings and Spirit Kings trying to fix this environmental disaster, even though the presence of that Evil God is no longer here, the damage he caused the ambience was still present, this was an unpleasant place to be, but I couldn''t leave. When I was in full health it was already bad, the presence of that Evil God was like pollution, even though now I don''t have that pollution anymore, I feel like I''m walking amidst a destroyed city, the feeling of devastation around me, all my senses feel the stagnant and heavy air, the feeling of heat and cold at the same time, dampness and oppression all these contradictions at the same time. I see the Fairies and Spirits doing something, possibly trying to get the environment back to full normalcy once more. "You''re doing the right thing, rest while you can." (Elizabeth) "Elizabeth, where have you been? Where is Caitlyn?" (I) "Were we hunting opportunists or did you think this Evil God and his abominations were the only enemies?" (Elizabeth) "..." (I) "..." (I) "You have a good Santa, little brother." (Elizabeth) "I hope your reason for doing this is a good one because I just got pissed off." (I) "Some things you can sort out later, you still have gardening work to do." (Elizabeth) "You know that I can block your entrance to the Dungeon, right?" (I) "Don''t try to threaten me, if I want to enter the Dungeon there is very little you can do to me and you don''t want me to get angry..." (Elizabeth) Sigh I was already irritated by the long battle where my companions were wounded, Ivan had half of his body half destroyed, I still haven''t found all my companions who entered the forest with me, my whole body is aching and my mind is a little heavy, all this already was making me irritable enough not to mention the environment which is more than just unpleasant to be in for someone with my senses for nature''s energies, now I have to watch Elizabeth knock Alice unconscious for wanting to inform me of something she thought was important. I was very angry and since I can''t control my Aura well now, I''m sure everyone around me can feel my fury. "Calm down." (Elizabeth) She tells me to calm down as she crushes my still weak Aura with hers, of course, that doesn''t make me calmer, but it doesn''t change the fact that there''s little I can do while still in a weakened state. "You look like Caitlyn from a few millennia ago, I just knocked her unconscious, you can talk to your Santa later about whatever you like, but do you still have work to do, or have you forgotten why you had to come?" (Elizabeth) "..." (I) I look away from Elizabeth to shift my line of sight to the World Tree but look back at Elizabeth. "I haven''t forgotten, but I''m not in a position to do anything yet." (I) I could say that I won''t do anything else, but the one who would be most affected would not be Elizabeth, but the entire continent, I''m not a child to throw a tantrum because of my irritation, even more with something so serious. "But I won''t forget what you did and most of all why you didn''t even try to apologize." (I) I get up still in pain and take the unconscious Alice out of Elizabeth''s arms while looking straight into her eyes, I can see the amusement in her eyes, I''ve probably just passed another one of her tests, but this time I won''t be silent about this. "I appreciate you remaining mature about this situation and I''m here to help with your recovery." (Lorraine) Lorraine appears out of nowhere or maybe she had been here for a while without revealing her presence, I would have no way of knowing with my current strength, she puts her hand on my chest and I feel some energy flows from nature in the surroundings passing through my body, it was very pleasant to feel this harmonious energy passing through my body. "You should recover in less than half the time with this, it will also heal some of the damage you''ve taken, as you said yourself, you''ll need to be at your best to help the World Tree and I appreciate the help." (Lorraine) "I was just testing your courage and determination in the face of situations like this, I''m sorry if I bothered you, Lorraine." (Elizabeth) "(A gardening job, is Elizabeth trying to tease me by calling me a gardener?)" (I) I look back at the World Tree, if I were a gardener then I would be the most special gardener in the world. Chapter 1092: Was This Joke Really Necessary? Chapter 1092: Was This Joke Really Necessary? I had to rest and recover as fast as I could so I drank some of Elizabeth''s blood and by that I mean all the blood, she won''t die from it but it''s going to be a horrible day before she recovers from it, a little revenge for what he did to Alice. After that I stayed in meditation, this allows me to recover faster, thanks to Lorraine''s help I was able to recover my energies in less than 1 hour, my body also seemed completely recovered, but my Aura was still a little weakened, and my Holy Power too it still hadn''t recovered, unlike the other energies within my body, my Holy Power does not recover from me eating something or absorbing the energy around me, luckily the meditation proved to be effective in increasing the speed of recovery of my Holy Power. I still didn''t know what I could do to make my Aura at 100% again, that''s because I didn''t know what was missing for it to fully recover and I still had bigger problems, my Authority was still in a bad state and I didn''t know what could do. Not having a good idea of what I should do, I spent another hour in meditation until my Holy Power was completely replenished and I went looking for someone who could help me with my Authority. "What can you tell me about how to get my Authority back faster?" (I) "Now you want to talk to me?" (Elizabeth) "Don''t make a drama out of it, you knew what I was doing and you couldn''t resist while I drank her blood, don''t try to trick me." (I) "Fine, come here." (Elizabeth) She said already putting a finger on my chest and by that I mean piercing my chest to the heart, I might be able to dodge it now that I''m in better shape than before, but I knew there was a reason for it. "Seems to be fine for the most part, but inactive or perhaps dormant..." (Elizabeth) I could feel his Authority coursing through my veins from my heart, it was just threads of Authority that didn''t interact with anything inside me, it just spread through my bloodstream, it helped me feel my Authority better when I reacted to invading Authority. "Maybe in a few more hours it could wake up on its own, but we don''t have time for that." (Elizabeth) "Hugh!!!" (I) Suddenly Elizabeth''s Authority quickly expands through my body trying to interact with the various energies within my body at once, this causes a wild reaction from my Authority when it awakens all at once and confronts Elizabeth''s Authority pressing out of my body with multiple attacks until it completely leaves my body. Elizabeth''s finger that was piercing my chest was pushed out while it was broken, so my Authority explodes along with my Aura as Elizabeth jumps away from me. I almost fall to the ground when my whole body shook from this clash of Authorities within me, it takes me a few seconds to get my Aura and Authority under control. "Your Authority is still a little exhausted from whatever you did, but it must have been extreme for that to happen, it will still serve the purpose." (Elizabeth) "Thanks, but why are you in such a hurry?" (I) She doesn''t answer me and instead points in a direction where I see the Gray Elf King Uryma lying on a wooden bed in the middle of a magic circle, it was visible the natural energies becoming chaos around him, Lorraine was beside him protecting him from these energies. "Will I be able to do it like this?" (I) "You just have to follow what Silvia and Lorraine are going to say." (Elizabeth) Without wasting any more time, I go back to meditating for a few minutes to gain greater control of my Aura and Authority before walking over to Lorraine. -------------- "I''mI''m fine." (I) "What happened... wait, your Aura is different." (Silvia) I couldn''t talk to Silvia right now, it''s been a long time since I gained a title that wasn''t through evolution or devouring someone, let alone a title that seems so ridiculous and was given by a Goddess, so I had to use the ability to identify that title. <[ Identify Title [ Gardener of the World Trees ] ]> . . <[ Identification result: Gardener of the World Trees: A title awarded to someone who has saved more than one World Tree and is closely linked to nature, with this title all your Elemental skills are enhanced and your Aura shares an aspect with the World Trees thus increasing your Aura, Own Holy Power, and Authority. ]> "..." (I) I quickly processed what I''d just learned and sat cross-legged to meditate while floating, this time I try to figure out the changes that were listed because of that joke-like title. I could feel that my Aura was stronger, I also noticed that the energies of the surrounding nature were flowing towards me and flowing through my Aura before returning to flow even more harmoniously to the world, parts of this energy were left behind and the miasma was being directly absorbed into my body while the same amount of Mana flowed out of my body as if it were an exchange. My body was doing the same thing a World Tree does but on a much smaller scale, I could feel Silvia''s aura doing that too, how had I not noticed this before? "What happened, Father?" (Silvia) "It seems the Gods want to help out where they can, but I''d like to give them less ridiculous names." (I) "(Calling me a Gardener seems like a joke even more so considering the magnitude of what a World Tree is.)" (I) I talk to Silvia about my new title and about the changes I can feel, she explains to me that many aspects of my Aura are similar to hers who was once a World Tree, she explains me briefly about them and how this will help us, she looked very happy and relieved as she spoke. After a few more minutes with Silvia, Lorraine had some Fairies call Silvia and me and we went to a meeting of those who would participate in this process to save the World Tree. Everyone went to their positions while those who weren''t going to participate were being pushed away, even the Fairy Queens and Spirit Kings were moving away. I stayed calm as I went over what I would need to do, I''m only going to get one chance and I have to make sure I don''t get it wrong. "Is everyone ready yet?" (I) Everyone nodded, Lorraine steps forward as the Old Elves take up positions around the World Tree. "Let''s start." (Lorraine) Chapter 1093: The Gardener And The World Tree Chapter 1093: The Gardener And The World Tree With everyone prepared, I look once again at everyone''s position while I go over in my mind everything I should do, because I only have one chance, we won''t have room for maneuver if something goes wrong. The Old Elves who came from the other two Elf villages I''ve been through are spread evenly around the World Tree, I look to Freya who would be closer to me. Freya starts the first step, she extends her Aura to the Old Elves on her left side and her right side, her Aura harmonizes with their Aura before her Auras move to the next Old Elves and so on to all the Old Elves around the World Tree are connected by their Auras with Freya serving as the core for this to be possible. I see and feel the Aura of these Ancient Elves flowing continuously in a circular stream around the World Tree using their bodies as a path. With that part ready I look at Silvia and she goes towards the Gray Elf King along with Lorraine, the two look at me as if expecting something, so knowing it was my turn to act, I went to the World Tree. Sigh "(Calm mind... don''t try to act without thinking one more time...)" (I) As soon as my hand touches the bark of the World Tree I can hear countless screams mixed with laughter, it was more than bizarre and I was not able to understand the language of most of the screams, but I was still able to feel where these screams were coming from, it was coming from a black and purple energy inside the World Tree, this energy seemed to spread like a virus while devouring the energy of the World Tree. I couldn''t do anything against this tainted energy and I didn''t need to, I used my Aura to harmonize with the World Tree with just one connection I could use, that will be enough for now. I felt that as I did this the energy flows of nature that Lorraine connected to me to increase my speed of recovery were still there, it was supposed to be temporary but I could feel it was still there even if faintly, and as soon as I connected to the World Tree these energy flows seemed to come alive as they also connected with the World Tree forming a flow of nature energy flowing between me and the World Tree. With that stronger connection, it would be easier to complete what I had to do, but it also shortened the time, my body couldn''t withstand for a long time the energy that was flowing between me and the World Tree. I look at Silvia and she was coming with an arm that was partially wood, this arm was coming apart as Silvia brought it to where I was, when she reached me the only thing there was a big crystal. But I could see that there were lines of energy attached to the crystal that were coming towards me, it was only when I followed those lines that I noticed Lorraine standing next to me, her face covered in sweat and a pained expression in her eyes while holding an energy sphere between the two hands, it was from this sphere of energy that the energy lines were connected. The power of the Old Elves followed Freya''s lead, traveling deep within the world tree, dragging this corruption before bearing it towards me. This process took several hours and the weight on top of me was something difficult to bear as time passed, I was doing my best to bear it without losing my concentration because there was still more to do after getting rid of this corruption. As the hours passed, the corruption lessened more and more, it made the damage against the World Tree more apparent, this corruption had even become part of the World Tree''s vitality, getting rid of that corrupted part was the same as get rid of that vitality. When all the corruption had filtered out the tree was dry on the outside, the World Tree Spirit was still in the middle of the hole unable to merge with its body, but at least its energy was flowing between its spirit and its body. "< Blood Eclipse Dragon Authority >" (I) I felt the Blessings of the Goddess of Life Awaken within me as vital energy that seemed limitless flowed through my body to the World Tree. I also use my ability to perform something similar to an Awakening Ceremony, with the activation of this it was no surprise that my energy was depleted before even starting to count the milliseconds, fortunately, the endless vitality coming from the Blessing of the Goddess of Life and Lorraine started pouring her energy into Silvia before it was passed on to me. With so much extra energy I was able to activate the Ceremony of Awakening, but I wasn''t trying to turn this World Tree into a servant of mine or part of my companions, so I only partially utilized this Ceremony of Awakening to fuse the Spirit together with its body. This greatly eased the burden on me, I managed to activate the Ceremony and countless magic circles appeared around the World Tree, from these magic circles the various streams of energy were being drawn into the World Tree connecting with it once more. I could feel the spirit of the World Tree becoming one with its body once more, the energies being channeled through my body were all taken away at once when the Awakening Ceremony was stopped midway through. For a few seconds, I felt the spirit of the World Tree wake up and expand its power leaving my mind blank unable to comprehend the absurd amount of information passing through it, a cyclone of energy formed in the clouds above as lightning shot out of the World Tree in hundreds of different directions, these rays hit various energy streams in the environment forcing it to connect once more to the World Tree. "...." (Silvia) I had succeeded, but suddenly the world stopped going dark when I lost consciousness with Silvia saying something I didn''t hear. Chapter 1094: Respawn From A World Tree Chapter 1094: Respawn From A World Tree Pov Silvia (True Dragon of Nature): When my Father lost consciousness I didn''t have time to tell him to be careful and his body was carried away by the hurricane of energy that formed around the World Tree, I tried to hold him, but I was weakened from having served as a means for the flow of energy that my current body was not able to handle. Fortunately, there were others around who were able to help him, I saw when Lorraine''s body seemed to blink as she reappeared with my Father in one hand, I went to her and took my Father in my arms. "Thanks." (I) "No, thank you, guys, for all this..." (Lorraine) I say thank you as I take my Dad in my arms, then Lorraine points to the World Tree as she thanks for our help, but I would have helped anyway, even though I''m not a World Tree, I still wish my sisters the best. I look at the column of multicolored energy surrounding the World Tree, soon this energy was emitting a very specific type of presence when a wave of energy spread out to the surroundings, and all the thousands of energy streams became visible. These streams of energy became rings of energy flowing around the column of energy, these rings only increased in number and had various colors. In the end, everyone had already moved away from the column of energy, including me. The World Tree was going through a Spiritual Rebirth or at least something like that, I''ve felt that feeling before and so I''m confident in my thinking. As I considered this I continued watching until a strong pulsation surged from within the column of energy causing fragments of the column to fly out with each pulsation, this continued until the column of energy disappeared leaving only a large tree with the white crystal bark, it was beautiful. I looked in every corner of the Tree and confirmed that the hole in the middle was completely closed, no sign that a hole had once been there. But what I was most happy about was realizing that the energy flow had returned to normal, the tree was performing its functions normally and that means that with enough time the environmental damage will be reverted to the original state of this forest. "Ury, can you hear me?" (I) "(I can, thanks for the help sister.)" (Ury) "How are you?" (I) "(My body and Soul are fine, but my power is weakened and must remain so as I use whatever energy I store to repair the damage around.)" (Ury) "How long is this supposed to take?" (I) "(A short time, a few months considering the help I''ll get.)" (Ury) "I won''t bother you any longer, Lorraine must be communicating with you as we speak." (I) I look at Arthur, his red skin was still riddled with wounds that take time to heal, his armor torn to shreds a long time ago just like mine, I was also mortally wounded when hit by the Demon Dragon''s breath before, if not for one of the Living Calamities called Natasha, so I would be dead by now since it wasn''t damage I could recover from. "(Either way the prisoners would be killed, enemies of that level and with such identities cannot be imprisoned or enslaved.)" (I) I look at my hands covered in blood and holding a sword in pieces, I knew I would have to go get new equipment, I lost all my weapons and armor today. As I was thinking about that I noticed my brother looking in the other direction, he was looking at one of Zenos'' daughters, she is one of the craziest ones, her name is Nicole. I found her as soon as I entered the forest or should I say she found me, while I had my senses confused, my Aura was unimpeded, but her reach was very restricted. It was under these conditions that she came to me directly and proposed an agreement where I would protect her while her part of it would help in my navigation through the forest. That madwoman made me run around the forest as if she knew everything, she experimented with attacks, elements, and even combinations of spells, but she wasn''t fighting seriously and so I was forced to fight much more than necessary. When the senses were no longer blocked by anything, she started experimenting on the creatures and collecting materials, she complained a lot about not being able to analyze their Souls. During the big battle against the gray creatures she didn''t do anything, she hid inside an illusory barrier and I only saw her when the creatures fell to the ground with their souls being ripped out. "What is this madwoman doing on the battlefield?" (I) "She said something about studying different forms of physical structures of corrupted creatures and how to protect "something" from that corruption." (Arthur) "Why didn''t she fight?" (I) "As far as I know all the sons and daughters of Zenos are strong in combat." (I) "She did fight, look there, there and there." (Arthur) Arthur pointed in some directions, I saw 5 metal spiders dragging and slashing some of the bodies on the ground, in the other direction I saw one of the bodies removing the skin and flesh from its body revealing a metallic skeleton underneath, the last direction was a area full of holes in the ground where the surrounding bodies were in pieces, from one of these holes a head similar to that of a Rabbit type monster entirely made of metal was standing, it seemed to be badly damaged. "Her way of combat is not straightforward like hers, not because she is weak, but because she is an artisan, I can say that she is a very skilled magic engineer." (Arthur) "(How have I not seen this before?)" (I) None of these 3 types of metal creatures were very close, I know they were focused on fighting the enemies that were nearby, but I should pay more attention to the surroundings, too bad Bianca and Darcia weren''t around, knowing both of them I can imagine that the blockage of the senses was the reason. "I think we should go, now our help is not so important anymore and we still have a war to participate in." (I) "I will not participate in anything, we have no place in this war anyway." (Arthur) "(We all have a place in this war brother, one way or another...)" (I) Chapter 1095: A Tie Of Two Friends Chapter 1095: A Tie Of Two Friends When I opened my eyes I was in a dark place, but I could feel the touch of many on my body, I tried to look around and found nothing. I just chose a direction and walked without thinking, my mind was blank the whole time and I just knew I had to walk, I couldn''t stand still. As I walked I kept feeling the touch all over my body, it wasn''t hands, it was something more rigid with a rough surface that was grinding my skin, but it wasn''t metal or rock. I kept walking until I found myself standing in front of a tree with golden leaves and blue wood, it was a vibrant tree that would stand out anywhere. I looked around and there was nothing around, above or below, it was only at that moment that I realized I didn''t know what I was walking on or if I was leaving the place. I didn''t understand the situation and I wasn''t even thinking about anything, at least until I saw this tree, it was then that one thought after another started to sprout in my mind, it was as if a light would turn on in my mind to clarify my darkened thought. This lapse where I regain my awareness made me lose attention of the surroundings and when I look back at the tree I realize that its size that was only about 5 meters before, was now more than 50 meters and the green grass was around the tree at the same time that under my feet. "Have a seat Zenos." "..." (I) Suddenly a sweet and kind voice breaks the silence of this strange place, I look directly in the direction that was in front of me, I was looking at the top of the tree before and that''s why I only needed to lower my eyes to see a beautiful woman with long hair greens sitting at the table with a cup of tea in her hand. I blinked in confusion, but that only made me more confused when I opened my eyes to find myself sitting across from this woman with an identical cup of tea in my hands. The aroma of the cup of hot tea was refreshing and delicate in its sweetness, I couldn''t resist taking a sip and tasting it so delicious I ended up emptying the cup before I realized it. "Delicious... thank you..." (I) "These are leaves from a small tree that no longer exists, they were the favorites of someone close to you." "I guess I''m unconscious, so if I may ask a few questions..." (I) "Feel free to ask, even if you already have some of the answers." This woman was beautiful but bizarre in many ways, her face was a work of art of transcendent beauty. Even with such beauty every time I looked at her face, it was a little different, even as I looked it felt like someone was editing my memory by cutting out patches where parts of this woman''s face changed, it was unsettling, to say the least. The thing that confused me the most was realizing that even though her face was constantly changing, it wasn''t the worst problem, but the realization that I couldn''t remember any of her faces. "Is this just my mind or did you bring my Soul to this place?" (I) "We are on your mind and before you ask, it wasn''t me who called you here it was a temporary and unique connection caused by your Chaos power in helping the World Tree." So that place is still inside my mind, but somehow it seems like an incomplete answer, it seems like she doesn''t want to tell me everything, at least she doesn''t seem to have lied. "Who are you?" (I) He and I were head-to-head, and neither of us went full force, there would be no point in revealing all the cards we''ve hidden at once against an opponent who knows us so well, that will be worth a try for me as it is for him. "Edward, you really fell low didn''t you?" (I) "The one who fell was you, do you think I didn''t recognize the energy emanating from your body?" (Edward) "And you turned everything over to your God?" (I) "..." (I) "..." (Edward) We both knew words wouldn''t be enough to shake the other''s mind, we''re not young without experience and he doesn''t know anything that could shake me. Also, what I know can shake him is something I can''t use often, I must wait for the right moment. As each of us waited for the right moment to continue the battle, he waves his hand down causing a kilometer long golden hand to fall from the sky onto me. I run my sword through my hand covered in miasma, an amount of miasma so dense and compacted that it has become solid by rotting Edward''s Holy light energy. He waves his hands making a staff appear as we exchange blows, my sword snooping around everything, even the space where I brandish its blade while the beams of light coming from his staff break the space while leaving countless traps along the way. We spent hours in this type of combat, I was able to dodge his blows and predict his traps, but he did the same to me. But the moment he started another round of attacks causing a golden orb to fall from the sky on top of me, it was at that moment that chains of bones emerged from the countless pieces of my giant monster to go towards Edward. As I was able to predict, he dodged most of the bone chains while destroying others, I smile as I watch him fall. While he was only seeing the chains, he didn''t notice the magic circle made with my great guardian''s Demon blood in pieces on the ground. I used his blood to create this magic and I couldn''t waste this chance, as he takes care of the chains I point my hand at him. "< Demonic Curse: Eternal Torment >" (I) < Demonic Ritual: Worm Devourers of Darkness > (I) "< Sacred Cloak of the Sun >" (Edward) I use a magical Curse that explodes all the torment, pain, anger, and hatred within someone in an attack hard on the Soul. Edward defends himself by materializing the light of the surroundings in a transparent golden cloak around him along with a circular barrier of fire, the Curse cannot reach him, but it served to further distract him. Soon the space races completely around Edward as countless worms surge from the cracks trying to reach him, some manage to get through his defenses, but instead of wasting time he waves his hand causing one of his precious years to explode in a tidal wave of Holy energy that ignites your body in white flames. "It will take more than that to go against me!!!" (Edward) Chapter 1096: Hatred Of A Lost Love Chapter 1096: Hatred Of A Lost Love I was facing this mysterious World Tree, I can only imagine that the tree behind it is the appearance of its true body wherever it is in the universe. In the few words I exchanged with her, I realized that she didn''t issue an answer about her identity, nor the need for me to ask questions whose answers I can get from other sources that are easier to find. It was with that in mind that I asked a question about something I know so little about, I wanted to know more about this Power of Chaos that everyone says I have and until now I don''t remember having felt it even once. "The power of Chaos is different from other types of power or energy, it is pure essence." "You cannot manipulate this power, you cannot wield this power, you cannot control this power..." She waves her hand upwards and the sky that was pitch black just like everything else was before the tree came into being, suddenly lit up with an image of the universe. On one side there was a sun that could be seen, but its light didn''t illuminate the darkness as expected, it was some kind of illusion maybe. On the other side, there was a moon and a planet in the middle between the two celestial bodies, there were countless stars all around the sky as well as black holes, nebulae, and even asteroids passing through the sky. "The universe seen from afar may seem in harmony, everything fits perfectly when you see it from far enough away, but that harmony arises and ends in chaos, this is an endless and eternal cycle." Before my eyes everything was destroyed, the stars died out one at a time, the sun expanded before it went out, the moon fell on the planet destroying both and the black hole consumed the nebula, in the end, nothing was left before the debris gathered generating more energy that generates an explosion making the universe come back into existence, not the same universe as before, but a different one. "The cycle of existence is creation, evolution, destruction, transformation, and then it all goes back to the beginning with creation once more." "Harmony represents the powers of creation and evolution, all types of energies and elements are within this concept." "Chaos represents the other two concepts, destruction and transformation don''t have energies or anything else within them, but parts of those concepts are found in everything that harmony represents." "Fire can be used to create and also to destroy, this is a simple example to understand, but the same can be said about all other elements." "Chaos cannot be contained in a body, form or energy because there is no such thing as its concept and never will be." She looks at me as I contemplate her words, it feels more like I''m taking a philosophy class using astronomy knowledge than having my question answered, I can understand what she means but it''s too vague. "Your chaos power is connected not to your body or even your Soul, it is connected with the spark of your existence, your essence, you have been using the chaos power since the beginning and never realized it." "Do you think that just being a child of the Blood Goddess it would be possible to incorporate so many types of Bloodlines into your body? Do you think you would be able to jump from one race to another or even create new races so easily? Do you really think you would be able to support all kinds of pure elements in your body that wasn''t made from the beginning for that, what are Old Elves like?" "Chaos transformation is the state of change, you create or change your own path of existence, it is fundamentally different from evolution which is a change within the same path." "Your Aura contains the traits of Life and Death, do you really think you would be able to maintain those two traits without being destroyed if it wasn''t for the chaos within you?" "Saying that you possess the power of chaos is just superficial, if you explain it more comprehensively, you are an incarnation of chaos, you are part of chaos." "Chaos is the opposite of harmony and because of this fact the two concepts balancing each other has always been the norm of nature." "..." (I) I had a lot to think about now, she said that I am a part of Chaos, but it''s not my body or Soul but something even deeper, was I using this power all along without realizing it? "< Hell Executioner Ax >" (I) A giant sword whose white blade is stuck on the edge of a ring with a Sun in the middle falls towards me, I knew that to use this technique now it wouldn''t stop in just one strike, so I was already ready when creating an Ascending Axe coming out of a crack in the space below me. The two weapons meet generating an explosion that disperses the white flames and destroys my protective cloak, when I look at Edward I realize that his last ring has broken, an item of protection just like the others. "Enough of this, let''s finish it in the next attack!" (I) "< I call to the one who rules over all that the light touches. I cry out to him who bestows his Blessings on the purest of those who follow him. I make myself a tool and a mirror so that his light reaches the darkness that hides, granting the annihilation of all impurity. >" (Edward) "< Relic of Aura: Queen of Sin >" (I) This was the moment I''d been waiting for and the one I least wanted to happen, but Edward left me no choice. He listens to my words to go for the last blow, I know that''s all he wanted, wait for me to show everything I have before making his own attack, as soon as I saw his body I knew he had made his own body a holy relic and that could only mean one thing. I see him doing the prayer to call at least a part of the power of the God of Light or maybe even a fragment of will, he made his own body a vessel for that purpose, all to destroy me and it would have worked if I allowed him to complete his goal. My Aura Relic is something that marked my mind, Aura, and even my Soul as the first sin I committed, a sin that at least for me was the worst of all and that caused the greatest of all sufferings in my life. An Aura that was all over this space now in ruins gathers in front of me when 4 red horns encrusted with purple jewels appear along with Black Flames that spread out forming a humanoid figure that crystallizes. The layer of crystal peels off revealing a young woman who appears to be in her 20s, she has brown hair and eyes with the whites of her eyes turning completely black, her skin is white as snow and she is dressed entirely in a red dress, she has a gentle smile that doesn''t quite fit with his presence filled with murderous intent. I managed for her to appear just as Edward finished the prayer and just before I channeled the power as that would be the moment her mind was most vulnerable. Just as I thought, as soon as the woman emerged, Edward''s eyes were locked on her face in disbelief causing the power he had gathered in his body to go out of control and ravage him from within, even more golden blood pouring from his eyes, ears, and mouth. "Lydia... my dear Lydia..." (Edward) She approaches him fearlessly, her smile so gentle and her eyes kind, he no longer has any of his barriers after our long struggle, she reaches him and holds out her arms without saying anything and he gives himself into a hug. "You beat Juliano... ghuhhh!!!!" (Edward) Those were her last words as Lydia reached across his back with one hand as she hugged him, then destroyed his heart by squeezing him in her hands. Words filled with more hate than I''ve ever felt coming from him before, I knew there was nothing that would hurt him and me more than that. "Goodbye, my dear Edward" (Lydia) "Ly...ddiaaaa...." (Edward) Her body fragments more and more until it becomes golden dust that spreads until there is nothing left in Lydia''s arms. Chapter 1097: Is This Still A Win? Chapter 1097: Is This Still A Win? Pov Juliano: I look around, the sky that was once half purple and half white because of our two Territories overlapping has now been swallowed up in purple with a red sun shining in the sky like an open wound. All the parts representing Edward''s light-filled Territory were consumed by black flames or buried in bones, nothing was left of his Territory, but those were secondary things, what I was really looking for I couldn''t find, which only made an old wound open in my heart. "So he really went that far..." (I) "J, you know it''s not your fault, that was his decision." (Lydia) I turn to Lydia, that day I linked her Soul with mine due to a Curse gone wrong while Edward and I fought the monster she had become. It took me years to realize her Soul sleeping inside my body, it was only when I managed to completely dominate my Aura that I felt her Soul inside my body. At that time I had already fought Edward twice, the first time was right after he regained consciousness after Lydia''s death, he tried to kill me for the first time. The second fight was months later and I learned that he was going to enter the Church of Light, I wanted to talk to him about it, but he led me into a trap where I was mortally wounded and almost managed to kill me. After that, I didn''t see him for years, but I still heard about how he was becoming more and more known within the Church of Light. When I was finally able to master my Aura and feel Lydia''s Soul my first thought was to tell Edward, I had hope that things could go back to the way they were in those days with the 3 of us together, but not even me and not even Edward we were the same people as when we were younger. I tried everything to awaken Lydia''s Soul, but each thing seemed too risky, the bond between us was stronger than I thought, and that''s when I found that bond connected our Souls, the Necromancer I trusted trying to find an answer betrayed me and almost takes our two Souls at that time. It wasn''t until decades later while I commanded an army to protect the Demons just before the smoking of the Black Kingdom that would one day become the Black Empire, it was only at this time when I acquired the power of Authority that I was able to awaken the Soul of Lydia. "You regret?" (I) "Of having killed the person I once promised to marry?" (Lydia) "..." (I) "No, he wasn''t the man I fell in love with, he was just a shadow consumed by hatred and manipulated by the Church of Light." (Lydia) He had Edward''s necklace in his hands, she took off the pendant with the symbol of Baldr and used her Demonic power to expel the Holy Power from the golden chain, turning it back to its normal silver color. "It makes me sad that he didn''t forget me if he could have put those days behind him... he could have done so much... but in the end, it was one more life lost to my foolishness..." (Lydia) "As you said yourself, it was his decision, don''t blame yourself, the dead don''t carry the guilt of the living and at that time you were dead." (I) "Besides, Edward was already dead, even his Soul no longer existed." (I) For Ikaro this war was completely meaningless, there was no reason for the Church of Light to attack, but there was also no denying the hatred of the Demons against them, he says he keeps himself out of the War, but his presence reveals that if we were being pressed he would intervene. "Are you happy? Everyone from the Church of Light who came is dead." (Ikaro) "I do not rejoice in the death of the enemy, especially in the death toll of my own people in a war that should never have happened." (I) I look down with grief, bodies being carried incomplete, people crying over the deaths of their comrades in arms and friends, a wasteland as far as my eyes can see with blood in every direction. If I close my eyes, it will be impossible not to hear the screams of rage, the cries of those who survived, and the cries of those who lost precious people. That day may be remembered in glory for future generations, but for those of this generation, it will always be a day of pain. "Does this still count as victory?" (I) -------------- Pov Zenos: When I opened my eyes I was in a dark place feeling my whole body being touched by something, as my vision is not very affected by darkness I was able to see roots and vines everywhere tying me up. But I didn''t feel uncomfortable, in fact, I felt different types of energy interacting with my body. One thing I noticed clearly was the state of my body, I was completely fine, my body was in great condition, my energy reserves were full, my Soul seemed to be undamaged from everything that happened today and my mind that was the only one something I couldn''t get back just by meditating was light again. "(Looks like you woke up.)" (Ury) I didn''t recognize the voice in my mind as I never talked to her, but in this situation, it wasn''t hard to guess who is speaking and Silvia had already informed me about her name. Before I could say anything I felt everything around my body loosening up until I was released from the wooden cocoon I was in. When I opened it I got used to the light I was able to see Vanessa, Alice, and Silvia waiting for me, I looked down and saw the roots facing the ground. "How do you feel, Father?" (Vanessa) "Refreshed, how long have I been unconscious?" (I) "Only a few hours, no need to worry." (Alice) I look at the World Tree right behind me, it looks like it has treated my injuries, exhaustion, and tiredness. "Now that you''re awake, we have some things to tell you." (Alice) Chapter 1098: I Had Forgotten Chapter 1098: I Had Forgotten I woke up feeling refreshed only to find Vanessa, Alice, and Silvia waiting for me to wake up. As soon as I leave the World Tree''s tangle of roots, they start wanting to tell me various things, but first, we go to another place away because of the Elves working near the World Tree. We were in a place away from where the Elf village was being prepared for reconstruction and we were also far from the World Tree. The three began to tell me several things while I was drinking a barrel of blood due to the monumental hunger I had. Silvia told me about what happened after I lost consciousness, it seems everything worked out and the World Tree was fine, but the same cannot be said about the Gray Elf King. He lost his arm and seriously injured his Soul himself, he can''t be an Elf King anymore, and his lost arm can''t even be healed with Magic or potions due to the damage his Soul is left, a prosthetic will have to be built for him and Nicole seems to be excited about it, looks like she''s pestering the Elf King about the prosthetic''s specifications. Aside from the incapacitated Gray Elf King, it seems that some Old Elves who were positioned outside the forest for the creation of the large-scale ritual in which Silvia stake served as the center, many of these Old Elves were severely injured and some were even killed. It seems that it wasn''t just the creatures we fought that attacked them, there were others of which 1 was captured and others were killed, he is being left out for now due to several more important things the Elves have to do so far. Vanessa was next and told me what my sisters were doing during the entire combat against the creatures under that Evil God''s control, it seems that my sisters, the Hero of Justice, and a few others were fighting not against the creatures controlled by the Evil God, they they were fighting other enemies. This was something that didn''t occur to me, I didn''t stop to think about this possibility even for a second why it never came to my mind, the whole time I only looked at the Evil God and his minions or monsters, not once did I think I could there may be unknown enemies taking advantage of the situation. But now listening to it makes sense, Elizabeth told me a little about it, but at that time I still had a lot on my mind and I didn''t stop to think more deeply about it, the only thing that came to my mind was other Evil Gods and those associated to them. Now I realize that I was being very superficial in my way of thinking, Evil Gods are not the only ones who gain something from this, there are also Demon Gods who are really bad, and there are also people whose greed goes to such heights that they can''t get any more see the consequences of their actions. Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com I wanted to know what they did with all the culprits, it was just my sisters fighting these "opportunists" I would be sure that everyone was killed, but I didn''t believe that Alan would kill all the enemies, either for them to be tried or interrogated, he didn''t would have killed them all, I can''t speak about the others participating in this hunt since I don''t know about them, but at least one among them may have thought of capturing enemies instead of killing. When I asked about it Vanessa said she didn''t know, it seems that Caitlyn was taking all the prisoners, even Elizabeth wasn''t killing the enemies, I thought that was weird and that''s when Alice starts talking about what she''s been up to. She tells how Caitlyn simply took her to help with something and led everyone to a place where there was nothing until Caitlyn appeared out of nowhere with a bottle of wine in her hand. "It took you a long time, do you know how hard it is to take care of that thing?" (Caitlyn) "Take care of what?" (I) Caitlyn already appears to complain to me, but with my response showing that I don''t know what she''s talking about, she turns to Alice. "Haven''t told him yet?" (Caitlyn) "If it was true and Nix was around, yes." (Vanessa) "I have an idea how it got here, but why it appears is a mystery." (I) I could feel an Aura inside the Cocoon, my Aura that I felt in the Cocoon is only on the outside and that''s why I can''t feel the inside of the cocoon well, but I''m sure it''s not the same Aura from that time, it was totally different in a fundamental sense. I see Alice walk towards the cocoon that had many lines moving around her along with very dangerous energy, but I didn''t feel like stopping Alice, I could feel the cocoon''s reaction to me as well as my Aura. Just as expected Alice ran her hand through the cocoon without being assaulted by the lines or the dangerous energy and command of the cocoon. Looking at it now I remember seeing it during combat, when I hid in my shadow I remember seeing this cocoon inside my shadow moments before I left. The only times I stepped in or out of the shadows was when I tried to get close to the gates of darkness now towards the end of combat, but I don''t remember seeing the pod back then, if that was when I''d last seen it could only have been the Shadow Goblins I created, there was a point where I made them all come out of the Shadows at the same time and the pod may have been pushed out. "(If I had been the one to put him out I would have noticed, so it must have been the Shadow Goblins'' moment.)" (I) If I remember correctly, I used the Shadow Goblins to delay the enemies in place before using a powerful attack to destroy them all together, meaning that pod was possibly there as well. "If you know what that is, speak up, it''s not often I''m curious about something." (Caitlyn) "How can I explain this..." (I) "Some time ago we fought against the people of the Temple of Law being commanded by an idiot, but specifically an idiot Judge that made me very angry." (I) "After defeating him I used a curse on him and trapped him in a cocoon as punishment, that was when we were heading to the Floating Island." (I) "I thought you killed him after the first few days since no one saw the Cocoon again." (Vanessa) "I didn''t want to upset anyone and I needed to apply energy to the curse from time to time, not to mention the Curse has been linked to me in a certain way since I cast it on that idiot." (I) "I keep it in my shadow where it can absorb surplus energy more easily and without me having to do anything." (I) "But I don''t feel the presence of someone from the Temple of Law, much less a Divine Blessing." (Caitlyn) "And why is that thing still here?" (Vanessa) "I had forgotten about him..." (I) Chapter 1099: Do You Have Any Idea What You Did!? Chapter 1099: Do You Have Any Idea What You Did!? I was surprised to be seeing this Cocoon now, but I really had forgotten that it had been in my shadow for so long, I always had so much going on around me like what happened to Elizabeth and Caitlyn, the Church of Light''s attack on the Floating Island and the fight against the Creatures of the Abyss in the village of the White Elves, all of this not to mention the problems with the Elf Queen, extremely prejudiced against those who have Affinity with the element of Light. Aside from all the great things happening around me, I still spent my free time training, studying magic, or spending time with the girls, now looking back I think I was always taking my time way beyond what I should have. "Looks like I''m late." (Elizabeth) "I can''t believe I missed his idiot face, you were supposed to let me know when Zenos came." (Natasha) "It was too much work, babysitting this cocoon is enough, I don''t want to bother being its messenger." (Caitlyn) "Why are you here?" (I) "For fun, there are few things I haven''t seen in my life and this is unheard of." (Natasha) "I just want to know what you did..." (Elizabeth) Natasha and Elizabeth appeared out of nowhere, each with their own entrance, Natasha came falling from the sky making a small crater as she landed before closing her wings, while Elizabeth appeared as a drop of blood pierced my skin falling to the ground and forming a puddle behind where Elizabeth passed completely dry. The expression on their faces was also very different, Natasha had an amused smile on her face, I''m sure she would know what this cocoon is since she saw all the battle I had with that Judge, but from what Caitlyn implied she refused to tell the others. Elizabeth had a serious face, she didn''t know about the cocoon but her eyes and the way she talks makes me think she knows something but I''m not sure what she knows. Also, it looks like Elizabeth isn''t happy with this cocoon and she''s letting it show in her serious gaze, I don''t care too much about it and I don''t even know why they''re so upset, the cocoon looks a little different than the last time I saw it, but it was still just garlic that I used to seal the Judge during his torture. I looked back at the pod that was once the size of a person but was now nearly 5 meters tall, it was definitely different in many ways, and I mistakenly don''t know what happened to this thing. "Start by telling me what this thing is." (Elizabeth) "First you know why everyone is worrying about this?" (I) "You didn''t tell him?" (Elizabeth) "I wanted to tell him before, but someone knocked me unconscious, and then I had to wait for him to wake up, so I thought I''d bring him here to see that way it would be easier to explain." (Alice) "I apologize for how I did it, I should have used a less aggressive way to test my Little Brother." (Elizabeth) Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com "In other words, you don''t regret or care about what you did, you just care about how you did it, I can''t tell if that''s arrogance or just a lot of pride." (I) "Please don''t insult me, there''s nothing arrogance in my body or mind, that''s the worst poison for someone with power and authority." (Elizabeth) "But it''s okay to have a healthy amount of pride, being who I am pride is to some extent fully justified as well as necessary." (Elizabeth) "I''d like to know more about the Curse itself as it seems to be at the heart of this issue." (Elizabeth) "You said that there was a person from the Temple of Law there, but I don''t feel the presence of anything close to that in there, I would like to know more about this Curse." (Caitlyn) I understand them wanting to know more about the Curse, even I can tell you that no matter what caused this change in the pod, it will most certainly be the Curse''s fault or at least partially to blame. "(But I don''t remember the Curse having something like that.)" (I) "The name is "Curse of Blood: 4 Hells", a Curse that I created myself due to the studies I did while spending time with rica and Lilith." (I) "Makes sense, their focus is Curse." (Alice) "Erica almost never stops her magic studies, so whenever I want to spend time with her I know what she''s going to like, she always wants to study magic with me or do things that don''t matter to either of you." (I) "I don''t care what sex you have with your wife little brother, I''m older than this continent, I want to know about the Curse." (Elizabeth) "Okay, the Curse got its name because there are 4 curses layered and interconnected, each Curse uses a different type of energy." (I) "These energies are Mana, Ki, Spiritual Energy, and Demonic Energy." (I) "Each energy amplifies the power of the related Curse." (I) "Mana for a Curse that affects the mind with torture coming from people''s worst fears, something similar to what I experienced with Caitlyn''s magic, but the difference is that there is no way out of the Curse that becomes stronger the more fear one feels, at least that was the theory." (I) "The Ki was the simplest, it attacks the body with a Curse that literally destroys the entire body as slowly as possible without killing the target before pulling them from death''s door healing all damage before immediately starting the cycle over again." (I) "Spirit Energy was more complex, it was a Curse to affect the Soul, I didn''t know how to do it separately, so this Curse simply strikes the Soul with all the pain and suffering felt because of the other two Curses, in other words, the more a person suffers in body and mind, it means that his Soul will be suffering even more." (I) "The Demon Energy was complex, the Curse was meant to amplify a normal trait of Demon Energy, corruption." (I) "When you break something and fix it never the same, it was with that in mind that I made the last part of the Curse corrupt little by little the mind, body and Soul each time it was broken." (I) "The core of the Curse that united all 4 into just 1 was the Survival Instinct, all 4 curses instill the survival instinct by making the target never give up and fight to the end even if there is no way to survive." (I) "The Curse is designed to consume whatever Demonic Energy corrupts to power itself up until there is nothing left of the target, while the Curse only grows stronger until the target can no longer stay alive, it was for the Curse to dissolve at that time." (I) "Can you teach me this Curse later?" (Caitlyn) "Now the pieces fall into place, what did you do?" (Elizabeth) "Do you really have no idea what you''ve done?" (Elizabeth) Chapter 1100: Divine Servant Part 1 Chapter 1100: Divine Servant Part 1 "Do you really have no idea what you''ve done?" (Elizabeth) "Yes, I know he did something horrible, but you went a little too far" (Vanessa) "I don''t care about the torture itself." (Elizabeth) "Any great ruler or person of great authority knows that piety is a blessing not everyone deserves, I don''t care about that Judge or whoever he is." (Elizabeth) "The important thing is this Curse." (Elizabeth) I see Elizabeth speak and like Vanessa, I thought she was angry that I went too far with my punishment against that Judge. I''m perfectly aware that the Curse I placed on him and how I made it last as long as possible was inhumane, but I''ve stopped trying to continue thinking as a Human from my old world, what Elizabeth said at the end is not wrong, not everyone deserves mercy or pity and some don''t even deserve a quick death. "What do you mean? What did I do wrong?" (I) "What do you always do wrong?" (Elizabeth) Sigh "You always do that, do something absurd without even realizing what you were doing..." (Elizabeth) "How you manage to be more troublesome than Caitlyn was in her youth is a mystery to me." (Elizabeth) "Stop the drama and suspense, just say what you know." (Caitlyn) "You act like I''m doing something absurd, that means you know something I don''t." (I) "I know a lot of things you don''t, I''m older than some of the worlds in this universe." (Elizabeth) Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com "But it''s still the first time I''ve seen something like what should be impossible with your strength." (Elizabeth) "You may appear to be a messenger of death, a little context might be helpful." (Elizabeth) "How did you feel me?" "With its original strength lost and degraded to such a state, it shouldn''t be possible to sense my presence." "So it''s you, Thalia, I find it hard to just be you, where''s the other one?" (Elizabeth) "You know not to interfere too much, so why make things difficult?" (Thalia) "For what I have to say it would be better not to be you, I guess you know what I''m talking about." (Elizabeth) "That''s not something to tell mortals about." (Thalia) "Yet you know you''re still mortal or something close to it at least." (Elizabeth) I also don''t like the proportions this is taking, I don''t know if Caitlyn is right and this second still unnamed person is a Taboo Slayer or not, but it''s certainly not someone common, neither of them is common. All this weighs me down in the cocoon, they seem to be here because of the cocoon, which will eventually come down to me that I created this thing, Elizabeth doesn''t seem to like the cocoon either, but so far I don''t know what''s going on, so better to keep quiet and pray it all sorts itself out. "(I hope I haven''t done anything weird again and it''s just my imagination this is all my fault.)" (I) "(This is all your fault, but my Goddess doesn''t care and so you shouldn''t worry, Zenos.)" "(I don''t like having strangers on my mind.)" (I) "(Don''t be offended, I''m checking everyone''s minds here for safety since they''ve been exposed for too long to the Evil God''s presence.)" "(There are others like me looking at the other people near the World Tree as we speak here.)" "..." (I) My sisters seem to be aware of this, Natasha is looking at this Taboo Slayer and Caitlyn is smiling teasingly at her, Elizabeth doesn''t show any reactions and just looks at me nodding as if speaking only to accept. I say no more as she dared to do this even to my sisters, even though I don''t think she could do it to Caitlyn or she wouldn''t have that smile on her face. "Well, what I want to explain is something mortals don''t know, but half of us are Demigods, Saints or ancient World Trees and so I can talk about it." (Elizabeth) Those present here are me, my 3 sisters, as well as Vanessa, Alice, and Silvia who brought me here, and also the two people who look like Ghosts I don''t know. "First I must explain something, this cocoon is containing the Souls of the idiots who tried to take advantage of the situation, these two are waiting for these Souls." (Elizabeth) "Yes, it looks like the Corrupted Souls are being completely absorbed, but the undamaged Souls are just having their power and consciousness devoured without harming the Souls, just so we''re allowing all of this to continue." (Thalia) "Yes and thank you for not interfering, I''m sure when this cocoon is done with these Souls then they will be loose for you to take." (Elizabeth) "Now with that explained, let me tell you this, this cocoon is already half a step away from becoming a Divine Servant." (Elizabeth) --------------- Pov Arash (Dragon Emperor): When I opened my eyes I was looking at a sky full of clouds at night, I lift my body feeling the exhaustion and pain as I force myself to stand up having already noticed Juliano''s presence. I stand beside you standing on the city walls looking down on the battlefield below, it was no surprise that we won, in my mind I never accepted any other outcome than this one. "He finished?" (I) "He finished." (Julian) No words needed to be exchanged, those few words were enough, but even though I''m done with Rhaegal, the hatred inside me hasn''t gone away or diminished, maybe it will never go away because she won''t be by my side anymore, at least I can be content in knowing that garbage no longer exists either in body or soul. I look out over the battlefield and wonder how the other Dragons I sent took care of the army of Light Dragons they intercepted. "(They must have taken care of everyone, I hope they follow my final orders, I''m going to need to hibernate for a few weeks.)" (I) Chapter 1101: Divine Servant Part 2 Chapter 1101: Divine Servant Part 2 I wasn''t even surprised by what Elizabeth said, I have no idea what a Divine Servant is, to begin with, but I already have Divine Beasts, 2 High Priestesses, 3 Heroes, and 1 Saint on my account, all this without considering that I''m a Demigod, so what''s one more fart for someone who''s already reigning on the porcelain bathroom throne. Elizabeth herself has said that she could have become a Goddess if only she wanted to, which makes me happy as there seems to be some choice because even a blind man can see where my path is leading, I don''t want to become a God and I''m happy to make the same choice as Elizabeth to remain a Demigod at best. "You said you''re almost a Divine Servant, so can I just get rid of him or stop him from becoming one?" (I) "Before answering that you must understand what a Divine Servant is." (Elizabeth) "That seems obvious, the title is pretty self-explanatory, someone who serves the Gods." (I) "He seems to have some misunderstanding." (Natasha) "Let Elizabeth handle this, I want to enjoy the show, want some cookies?" (Caitlyn) "No, I prefer my wine." (Natasha) I look at Caitlyn with a bowl full of tree-shaped cookies in her hands as she floats on her pillow, Natasha was no different having sat back with a smile on her face as she had an oversized glass bottle in hand. I didn''t like what the two were talking about, it seems I got lost at some point and committed a misunderstanding. "I knew you wouldn''t understand, a Divine Servant may be a title that some mortal clergy of a religion have a chance of earning, but the Divine Servant I''m talking about is a Race." (Elizabeth) "The Celestines were long ago created to serve the Gods, but ultimately they are still mortal creatures, they can serve the Gods in a physical world among other Mortals." (Elizabeth) "But unlike in the distant past when the Gods were still able to personally govern Mortals, now they kept themselves aloof by acting in more indirect ways while only guiding their believers, so the Celestines were no longer sufficient as servants." (Elizabeth) "In order to have assistants, servants, guardians, as well as others willing to directly serve the Gods as the link between their Divine Realms and the world of Mortals, each God Created Divine Servants for themselves." (Elizabeth) Elizabeth explains as she points to the spooky Ghost Woman who doesn''t like Caitlyn, it seems clear to see that Elizabeth implies that this woman is a Servant of God, so she nods to Thalia who begins to speak. "A Divine Servant is both a race name and a title, but if you look just at the name you will be able to see how broad its meaning is." (Thalia) "Keila is a Divine Servant, her body made by the Goddess herself and for her Soul to inhabit." (Thalia) "Divine Servants have many different roles, whether as Guards, servants, assistants, Taboo Hunters or Guardians." (Thalia) "I am one of many attendants of the Goddess Kalistos." (Keila) "Among Divine Servants, being called a Taboo Hunter is the worst form of insult, that''s because it is Divine Servants who forcefully have their bodies extinguished and forced to obey for eternity." (Elizabeth) "They are slaves to the Gods and therefore only the worst are condemned to it." (Elizabeth) "A Divine Servant has no power of his own and uses the power of his God, that''s one of the reasons that only Gods can create Divine Servants, they create a body for them and also..." (Elizabeth) "To be more precise, not just the body, the Soul is also remade so that we are no longer Mortals, our essence, skills, emotions, memories, and consciousness can be preserved if our God allows it, which most do." (Keila) "Also, there is no body other than the formless mass that is currently this thing''s body." (Keila) "There''s no way to..." (I) "No, he will be what he is." (Elizabeth) "But if you want to stop it, you can kill him now, before he''s born." (Elizabeth) "Born..." (I) I look at the cocoon, I don''t want to have more problems, and certainly, the simple fact of having a Divine Servant can draw attention in my direction, but they spoke of being born and a new Soul, so this is no longer the Judge I applied this punishment. "(This is a different person trying to be born...)" (I) I was conflicted in my mind about what to do, but that conflict only lasted a little longer than 10 seconds, which was more than bad enough for me to know that it took me this long to make this decision. "(I can''t stop someone innocent from being born just because it''s troublesome for me when it''s all my fault.)" (I) "(This is my responsibility, so screw the rest, my luck will always be awful anyway.)" (I) "Are you sure he''s going to be born?" (I) "He has everything but not the certainty of anything, he needed Divine power and he got it from the Evil God his Sisters threw to him." (Thalia) "A fool inhabiting a body by force, I didn''t even have to fight, he was more than weakened." (Caitlyn) "..." (I) "I don''t care about that thing, I just want the Souls." (Keila) "They''ll probably be released soon..." (Thalia) This stalemate took a few more hours, it seems that the Souls that left were completely blank, the power of their accumulated lives was gone and nothing of their consciousness was left, they were taken away with ease, which was all I needed. "I already know what to do with it..." (I) "< Shadow Prison >" (I) I had already approached the cocoon and settled in it, I''m sure it''s not harmful to me and so I keep it in my shadow once again, I already have an idea of what to do, but I can''t do it here and now. "I''m glad I didn''t take the easy way out and face up to my responsibilities." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) Elizabeth is starting to annoy me with all these stupid tests and so I ignore her and walk away talking to Vanessa, Alice, and Silvia about what I thought, Silvia was a great help to supplement what I lacked in knowledge about what I needed.Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com Chapter 1101: Cap 1099: Divine Servant Part 2 Chapter 1101: Cap 1099: Divine Servant Part 2 I wasn''t even surprised by what Elizabeth said, I have no idea what a Divine Servant is, to begin with, but I already have Divine Beasts, 2 High Priestesses, 3 Heroes, and 1 Saint on my account, all this without considering that I''m a Demigod, so what''s one more fart for someone who''s already reigning on the porcelain bathroom throne. Elizabeth herself has said that she could have become a Goddess if only she wanted to, which makes me happy as there seems to be some choice because even a blind man can see where my path is leading, I don''t want to become a God and I''m happy to make the same choice as Elizabeth to remain a Demigod at best. "You said you''re almost a Divine Servant, so can I just get rid of him or stop him from becoming one?" (I) "Before answering that you must understand what a Divine Servant is." (Elizabeth) "That seems obvious, the title is pretty self-explanatory, someone who serves the Gods." (I) "He seems to have some misunderstanding." (Natasha) "Let Elizabeth handle this, I want to enjoy the show, want some cookies?" (Caitlyn) "No, I prefer my wine." (Natasha) I look at Caitlyn with a bowl full of tree-shaped cookies in her hands as she floats on her pillow, Natasha was no different having sat back with a smile on her face as she had an oversized glass bottle in hand. I didn''t like what the two were talking about, it seems I got lost at some point and committed a misunderstanding. "I knew you wouldn''t understand, a Divine Servant may be a title that some mortal clergy of a religion have a chance of earning, but the Divine Servant I''m talking about is a Race." (Elizabeth) "The Celestines were long ago created to serve the Gods, but ultimately they are still mortal creatures, they can serve the Gods in a physical world among other Mortals." (Elizabeth) "But unlike in the distant past when the Gods were still able to personally govern Mortals, now they kept themselves aloof by acting in more indirect ways while only guiding their believers, so the Celestines were no longer sufficient as servants." (Elizabeth) "In order to have assistants, servants, guardians, as well as others willing to directly serve the Gods as the link between their Divine Realms and the world of Mortals, each God Created Divine Servants for themselves." (Elizabeth) Elizabeth explains as she points to the spooky Ghost Woman who doesn''t like Caitlyn, it seems clear to see that Elizabeth implies that this woman is a Servant of God, so she nods to Thalia who begins to speak. "A Divine Servant is both a race name and a title, but if you look just at the name you will be able to see how broad its meaning is." (Thalia) "Keila is a Divine Servant, her body made by the Goddess herself and for her Soul to inhabit." (Thalia) "Divine Servants have many different roles, whether as Guards, servants, assistants, Taboo Hunters or Guardians." (Thalia) "I am one of many attendants of the Goddess Kalistos." (Keila) "Among Divine Servants, being called a Taboo Hunter is the worst form of insult, that''s because it is Divine Servants who forcefully have their bodies extinguished and forced to obey for eternity." (Elizabeth) "They are slaves to the Gods and therefore only the worst are condemned to it." (Elizabeth) "A Divine Servant has no power of his own and uses the power of his God, that''s one of the reasons that only Gods can create Divine Servants, they create a body for them and also..." (Elizabeth) "To be more precise, not just the body, the Soul is also remade so that we are no longer Mortals, our essence, skills, emotions, memories, and consciousness can be preserved if our God allows it, which most do." (Keila) "Also, there is no body other than the formless mass that is currently this thing''s body." (Keila) "There''s no way to..." (I) "No, he will be what he is." (Elizabeth) "But if you want to stop it, you can kill him now, before he''s born." (Elizabeth) "Born..." (I) I look at the cocoon, I don''t want to have more problems, and certainly, the simple fact of having a Divine Servant can draw attention in my direction, but they spoke of being born and a new Soul, so this is no longer the Judge I applied this punishment. "(This is a different person trying to be born...)" (I) I was conflicted in my mind about what to do, but that conflict only lasted a little longer than 10 seconds, which was more than bad enough for me to know that it took me this long to make this decision. "(I can''t stop someone innocent from being born just because it''s troublesome for me when it''s all my fault.)" (I) "(This is my responsibility, so screw the rest, my luck will always be awful anyway.)" (I) "Are you sure he''s going to be born?" (I) "He has everything but not the certainty of anything, he needed Divine power and he got it from the Evil God his Sisters threw to him." (Thalia) "A fool inhabiting a body by force, I didn''t even have to fight, he was more than weakened." (Caitlyn) "..." (I) "I don''t care about that thing, I just want the Souls." (Keila) "They''ll probably be released soon..." (Thalia) This stalemate took a few more hours, it seems that the Souls that left were completely blank, the power of their accumulated lives was gone and nothing of their consciousness was left, they were taken away with ease, which was all I needed. "I already know what to do with it..." (I) "< Shadow Prison >" (I) I had already approached the cocoon and settled in it, I''m sure it''s not harmful to me and so I keep it in my shadow once again, I already have an idea of what to do, but I can''t do it here and now. "I''m glad I didn''t take the easy way out and face up to my responsibilities." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) Elizabeth is starting to annoy me with all these stupid tests and so I ignore her and walk away talking to Vanessa, Alice, and Silvia about what I thought, Silvia was a great help to supplement what I lacked in knowledge about what I needed. Chapter 1102: Cap 1100: Is This Still Considered A Gift? Chapter 1102: Cap 1100: Is This Still Considered A Gift? Pov Eve: I stayed behind and I couldn''t do anything again, the forest impeded my senses and I had to be rescued by lady Sakura, when the blockage of the senses seemed to be over I couldn''t go forward because of the attacks we suffered, they were groups that were focusing on the Gray Elf King. More than half of the people gathered to enter the forest failed the same way as me and maybe thanks to that we had the strength to fight them, we just didn''t expect that in the end, two other groups would try to attack us again, one of them was people from the Temple of Law, it was difficult to fight them due to the way they fought covering each other perfectly. That''s why I was frustrated for not being able to fight alongside the Great Zenos, I took all that frustration out on bathing in the blood of those damned bastards. My claws ripped through flesh with ease, my curved-bladed sword split his weapons in half with the backing of my magic, and my robes were soaked in blood as I used Zenos'' power to suck up all the blood in my path. Me and Mister Irius who also stayed behind fought harder than anyone as our energy would never run out as long as we have so much fresh blood around us. I was happy when I finally found the hidden mage of the Temple of Law wearing common soldier''s robes to disguise himself knowing that he would be targeted in any other way. His area restriction spells and strengthening his allies was causing chaos in our combat formation since many here don''t even know each other''s fighting style, because of that we were already at a disadvantage without needing that damn mage worsening an already bad situation. Fortunately, when the wave of energy passed by us and we saw many Fairies or Spirits flying over the forest, it was just at that moment that the enemies started to run, I wanted to go after them, but as an ancient warrior queen of the Blood Demons, I know better than running into a possible false withdrawal trap. I wanted to go with the Gray Elf King who was being taken to the World Tree, but I knew that the mere fact that he was being taken shows that the fight is over, I won''t be of use to Great Zenos today, so I decided to do other things how to help the wounded and scavenge among the dead for useful things. ------------- Pov Zenos: I was sitting on a rock alone looking at the World Tree when a root rose up in front of me and formed a delicate female face. "Need something, World Tree?" (I) "No, but I can do something for you." (Ury) Without saying anything else she leans her forehead against mine and I feel a tremendous amount of information flood my mind almost to the point of collapse. It was as if she knew the limit of how far I could take it and stopped right at that limit to the point where I had to struggle just to maintain consciousness. I don''t know how long I was in a petrified state sitting on that rock staring into space, but when I woke up all my Familiars were around me with the exception of Nix and Layla who must still be inside the Dungeon. "How long was I...?" (I) "Only a few hours." (Orion) "We understand that you received a gift and that''s why we don''t let anyone near you." (Ragnar) "Yes, it was an unexpected gift..." (I) I still hadn''t put my mind in order enough, what the Spirit of this World Tree granted me was information about Spiritual Runes, I have many books and knowledge about magic, and I also have many great Warriors with whom to train in the use of Ki, but I had no one but Nix to teach me about Spiritual Runes and she only has basic knowledge about it that she learned from her mother as a child before the tragedy that befell her family. The knowledge I just learned goes into what''s left, knowledge about mid and high levels as well as various assassin techniques. This knowledge was directly implanted in my mind, but it''s like I have a book in my hands, I have all this knowledge, but it''s still not truly mine until I absorb this knowledge on my own. "Did something happen while I was adapting to the World Tree gift?" (I) ---------------- Following day. The next day my body was a little stiff but I was still tired from the day before with all I had to do I don''t know how the girls met me getting out of bed today. But that''s when I noticed new faces, they were people with skin tones that varied between white, brown, and black with similar tattoos on their bodies, the person in the lead was someone who knew and shared the same tattoo, this was the same tattoo as saw the last time we met. Luminus looked at me and walked with a smile on his face, on his back was something wrapped in white bands with golden designs. "Good to see you again boy." (Luminus) "..." (I) "Good to see you again, Luminus." (I) I squeeze his hand, but I can feel his sadness, no matter how big the smile on his face is, it can''t hide the endless sadness in his eyes, I''m not sure what happened, but everyone behind them has looks the same as him, some among them are even crying. "Why are you here?" (I) "I am a Servant of the Dragon God, I have come to bring something he calls a gift along with a message." (Luminus) "..." (I) "..." (Luminus) "Aren''t you going to say the message?" (I) "The message is on the banners behind me, you will receive it when you open the present." (Luminus) "Can I refuse the gift?" (I) "No!" (Luminus) "..." (I) When I said about refusing the gift, his eyes turned cold as he replied, it looks like I don''t have much of a choice here. "(If I can''t even refuse, then how can this be some kind of gift?)" (I) I look again at the package, but I had no idea what it could be, it was something big, but it could still be carried on the back of someone strong. Luminus lowers the supposed gift and nods with the same smile as before, I noticed those who were together with Luminus giving me strange looks and the supposed gift, it just makes me more uncomfortable trying to guess what it is. "I don''t want a gift from the Gods, this is clearly not going to be a gift." (I) I wanted to keep it in my storage item but I couldn''t, I can''t feel what''s inside these white cloth bands, but I don''t want to open it in such a public place without knowing what it might be. I wave my hand and do some space magic shrinking the space around the supposed gift so it''s very small, then I put it in my pants pocket to bleach it later. "But I''m sure of one thing, they left very quickly after they delivered this supposed gift." (I) Chapter 1103: Cap 1101: Go To The Next Step Chapter 1103: Cap 1101: Go To The Next Step I spent two extra days near that World Tree waiting for Freya to finish turning the next Gray Elf King into an Ancient Elf along with promising Elves, Kira''s Father being among them. Klaus didn''t want to change his race and had to be convinced by Kira as he threatened to kill anyone who brought that subject near him. The truth is, there were people who tried to point towards Klaus as the next Gray Elf King, but those people broke out in a cold sweat when Klaus'' murderous intent was directed towards them. It seems he''s been trying to take on less responsibility the last few months since he found out about Kira, at least that''s what the forcibly retired Gray Elf King told me. Klaus'' motive is something anyone can understand, he wants to spend more time with his daughter and made it very clear that he will be going along with her in my Dungeon, he didn''t even ask me anything, it was just an extremely aggressive warning that he would and I would have no opinion about it. I don''t know why he hates me so much, I wouldn''t stop my father-in-law from traveling with his daughter, I wouldn''t do something like that even though he''s an asshole bastard who''s always thinking about killing me. "Shouldn''t we help rebuild the village?" (Kira) "No, it would be too much work and I don''t want to waste any more time here, I have to take care of Nix, Layla, Karina and I still have two other things to take care of." (I) Kira as well as many of my group were volunteering during the last 2 days to help the Gray Elves with the restoration of their village or should I say construction as there is nothing left standing to restore? My sisters as expected did not help at all, Natasha was the only one to help in the construction of a building that she turned into a bar where she leads a bunch of drunks all night to drink until they fall unconscious on the ground. Elizabeth just spent her time talking to future Gray Elf King candidates, her opinion on the matter carrying great weight as it was her area of expertise. But the one who stayed with me the longest was Caitlyn as we both spent most of our time lying down and resting. When I wasn''t resting I was with one of the girls, Ibuki and Diana even pushed me to the bar in the middle of the day, Erica was the only one who spent her time talking to the World Tree about Curses and I had to do the same to pass the time with her. My Familiars they all helped the Elves, they are very helpful and kind hearted, at least half of them since Ragnar disappeared halfway through the service and Hinata was training somewhere. It was no surprise that the one with the best skills to help the Elves is Sakura, she is basically a tree in Human form, thanks to her many trees have been replanted or grown from scratch with the help of her powers. These trees would become the abodes of the Gray Elves, more children also wanted to help, but many among them didn''t have much to contribute, Irina was the most useful among my children due to her expertise in magical barriers, she fortifies the defenses of Gray Elves. Now that two days had passed, they were finally starting to turn people away and I wanted to be among the first to leave this place. "Are you sure you won''t need anything else." (I) "No, I already have all the information I could need and some materials that can be used..." (Nicole) "It''s too early for that, just let''s be blunt, why are you carrying a backpack the size of a house on your back? What happened to your storage item or your space element skills?" (I) "I''m taking some items that already have spatial magic, they are improvised items and I couldn''t use them as I wanted, storing them inside one of these two options can cause an adverse reaction, so I''m taking them physically since my body has the physical requirements for that. " (Nicole) "..." (I) The camp was attacked a few times and thanks to that I was able to see some amazing things of people fighting, among them a Vampire with an Armor that has an Eclipse symbol was one of the best fighters along with some people who carry objects with the same symbol. After dealing with the attacks and realizing that there would be no further attacks, I went along with a small group to investigate the situation in the forest, I was happy to find that my senses were no longer blocked, the environment was still too unstable and so I was careful. Over the next few days, I gathered information from those who fought in the forest, I seem to have missed a great deal of events, some that I couldn''t even fully understand from listening to reports from those who were there, but many of these events were around that large group that was listing special attention. One of the people in that group was a woman named Nicole who came to me on her own, she fascinated me with her skills and intelligence, she totally treated the situation as a testing ground for her research, and she reminds me of someone I know very well. I took advantage of the fact that she seemed interested in me to get information out of her, she talked about some of the things that happened there and her group spoke only superficially, but at least I found out their names and their leader, a Vampire boy I avoided getting close to due to those around him being something he couldn''t fully understand. When I heard that Nicole''s group was leaving, I also took the opportunity to leave, I had already discovered many things, I saw the Vampire boy doing something with the World Tree and I saw many unknown entities, so it was time to leave. "Don''t cause trouble and try not to get more enemies." (Thalia) "I don''t make enemies Miss Thalia, by the way, thank you for not talking about me to anyone." (I) "The Church of Death does not involve itself in the affairs of the living, I told you that once and now I warn you, be careful with your future actions." (Thalia) "..." (I) Just as she appeared out of nowhere, she also disappeared out of nowhere right after I saw Vampire Boy''s group leave, the way she spoke didn''t seem like a threat, but someone like her doesn''t need to make threats to act. "(The mere fact of her acting increases her relevance to that group.)" (I) I had made a decision about researching them further and dedicating a more detailed report on them when I get back. Once I was taken back to the city where I was before, I took my communicator inside the wall of the rented room where I left it hidden. "[Miss Miriam, do you have any new information?]" "Let them know that I''ve already confirmed this world as compatible with Project Alpha." (I) "Tell her to move on to the next step." (I) "[She will want a report from her for this certainty after waiting 1 year of investigation.]" "It took me a long time to blend in and during that 1 year I didn''t learn anything that others couldn''t discover, but in the last few days I''ve witnessed several individuals of unknown category." (I) "I''ll be coming back myself to deliver my report to her." (I) "[I will advise the team to withdraw from the world.]" I turn off the communicator and think again about what the Saint of Death said. "Sorry, but certain things must be done..." (I) Chapter 1104: Cap 1102: The Awakening Of Those Who Sleep Chapter 1104: Cap 1102: The Awakening Of Those Who Sleep When I returned to the Dungeon, even on the first floor I could feel a fundamental difference, the feeling I felt was the same as when I was in the Cradle of Fairies or Spirits, I could also see some Spirits and Infant Fairies nearby. "..." (I) Without saying anything I went straight to the city floor, as soon as I put my feet on that floor I could feel the same sensation as the first floor much stronger now. As soon as I left the safe room I got scared, even inside the Dungeon the Elemental energies still followed some kind of flow, that was the flow of the Dungeon, there was never energy of nature inside the Dungeon. But now I was feeling a strong energy of nature that I can only compare with a World Tree, of course, it doesn''t compare, the level of energy of nature is far below what I feel near World Trees, but I have no other example to compare. I could also feel that the energies were more in order than before, I remember that every energy had its own flow, but now all the flows are parts of a whole as if it were a single flow. "(Wake me up... come... I wait for you)" (Layla) "(Wake me up... come... I wait for you)" (Nix) "..." (I) But those weren''t the only changes I felt, I could hear Layla and Nix in my head, it was their voices, but it didn''t sound like the way they spoke, mostly they were saying the exact same thing. The connection with them still existed, it felt stronger than before, but somehow I could feel a presence derived from the girls reaching out to me through our connections. "Something wrong, Dad?" (Vanessa) "I feel something different around me, but I don''t know exactly what it could be?" (Alice) "I don''t feel anything, so I''m going ahead, come with me Samira" (Elsaris) Vissit for updates "I want to eat something sweet..." (Samira) "I''m going back to my lab, I have a lot of information to process and I don''t care about any of it." (Nicole) "Interesting..." (Elizabeth) I stayed put to just focus on my connections with my two Familiars and was able to track them back to the same places they were when I left the Dungeon. "Go ahead, take this to me, Freya." (I) I throw the supposed gift that Luminus handed to me with Freya as I pull it out of my pocket and throw it towards her, I do this while running towards Nix who was close at hand. I could feel their call, I could feel that they still needed me and I ran to Nix, but as soon as I was at the edge of the lake I noticed that the waterfall stopped in time and the Lake seemed to reflect a starry sky when in fact the sky above was with the Sun close to reaching its highest point. ----------------- Pov Alice: I saw Mr. Zenos leaving and I was about to leave when Freya threw something in my hands, when I looked it was the thing Zenos received from Luminus, so I recognized who it was and kept it in a good place. I looked at his Sisters as they surrounded me they didn''t take anything from my hands but were they wanting to have a look at what''s going on? "What do you think?" (Natasha) "He should thank you, this will save a lot of time." (Elizabeth) "I could get that, but I don''t need that kind of thing." (Natasha) "I can take it, but it wouldn''t be useful, the message seems clear." (Caitlyn) The three started talking while ignoring my presence, which is good since I know what these three are capable of and I don''t want to be on the bad side of any of them 3. "Just don''t let others bother you." (Freya) "I''ll be fine, but it looks like we have a lot of things to sort out." (I) --------------- Pov Alan: On the way back I had to join Zenos'' group again, I went with him back to the Dungeon, I was with my brother and my team keeping a little away from Zenos'' group. "What can I do to get even more..." (I) I still remember the way I fought, I think the worst of my fights was in that forest, having my senses blocked like that was more than strange. I need to find alternative ways to use my senses or at least acquire a new sense, that would be enough to give me a fighting chance without relying on the help of the madmen beside Zenos. That would have helped, but it won''t be enough, I need something that can leverage my power once more, I don''t want to depend too much on Zenos and his group. I see Zenos leaving and followers of him, as well as his sisters, started acting up because of something Freya threw at them, it seems to have been something important. "Let''s go back, I don''t want to see these situations anymore." (I) If I let these people go, they''ll waste their whole day on these pointless things, so I wave to the rest of my team as well as my big brother. I just wanted to eat something before throwing myself into training once more, I have to fix my mistakes I made in these last few battles, next time. Chapter 1105: Cap 1103: I Have Something To Tell You, Father Chapter 1105: Cap 1103: I Have Something To Tell You, Father The garden didn''t look different from the beginning, but when the roots emerged from the ground piercing my back to suck my blood and Layla put her hands on the ground causing a flower to be born on her back from where a red mist comes out spreading through the environment. It was at that moment that the landscape distorts, the flowers in the garden move on their own, forming an arch of flowers that reveals a tunnel wrapped in flowers from the inside that cannot be seen from the outside. At that moment a column of light of many colors appears before the energy disperses into the environment causing the healing energy to disappear. When that happened I saw some of the trees in the garden deform as it grew into a large tree with crystal leaves with a thick stroke made of many of those trees together. The tree opens its trunk revealing itself to be hollow inside, at that moment the roots were coming out of my back and Layla had become a sphere of energy with a flower on top that floated towards this big tree. I walked behind her and when I entered I saw two crystal statues, one on each side facing each other, one of the statues was of the Goddess of Fairies, Aine. The second statue was still not defined, it seemed to be still forming, the two statues were glowing and a Light comes from the Fairy Goddess Statue hitting the energy sphere where Layla was. Soon the flower at the top of the sphere began to glow as its petals were crystallizing, it was at this time that the sphere was increasing in size as well as the flower at the top. When the sphere was already 2 meters in diameter the flower at the top which is now much bigger than at the beginning was completely crystallized with each petal glowing in a different color. "I''ll allow her to remain in a contract with you, after all, I don''t think it''s possible to convince her otherwise, so remember to take good care of her." (Goddess Aine) "But what..." (I) "Ssshhhhh!" (Goddess Aine) "She''s coming back and I have to go see you later kid." (Goddess Aine) Suddenly the Fairy Goddess appeared at my side and when I turned towards her surprised to hear her voice not in my mind but with my ears, at a glance I saw that the place where the statue was disappeared leaving an empty altar in her place. I wanted to know why she was there, but she cuts my words off by diverting my attention to Layla and disappears walking towards the altar with her statue returning in place as her body disappears. I saw what she did but didn''t have time to think about it, my main focus was on Layla right now. She was coming out from inside the Flower at the top of the sphere, meanwhile, I noticed that the sphere under the Flower which is made of crystal is now getting smaller little by little, I see one hand after another come out from the middle of the Flower up to a maximum of 6 hands followed by her arms until finally, her upper body rises as if she is getting up from the bed, her body begins to float pulling her legs from inside the Crystal Flower, her eyes still closed as her body bends leaving her back up while flower petals with many different colors come from the garden outside the tree to float around Layla before joining together but her back forming 2 pairs of wings having flower petals instead of feathers. I was so distracted by Nix and Layla due to my connection with them, I just let a lot of things slide starting with the system notification noises that I didn''t hear at all, but now I can see the various minimized windows in the corner of my mind. I''ll see that for another time, right now all I want is something yummy to eat followed by my bed. -------------- Later that night I was woken up by a punch from Layla followed by something put in my mouth, when I opened my eyes it was a really good sandwich, it seems I was sleeping so soundly that when they tried to wake me up nothing worked and they decided to try something more drastic, Layla knew I would be angry and used the sandwich to calm me down afterwards. After leaving an unconscious Layla on the bed I went to see how the others were doing, it seems that everyone was fine, I also went to look for Nix for a doubt that I only realized later and spent some time talking to her about it. "You mean there''s been a lot of changes to her body and she also has a crown?" (I) "Yes, but that''s just my real body, my Human form comes from a Transformation Skill, it won''t change that easily." (Nix) "My body should now reach 800 meters, not counting the strength I possess as a Dragon." (Nix) "This is wonderful, I was very focused on the condition of you two and I ended up missing these things, especially you since you were the first one I went to see." (I) "After taking care of Layla, I noticed the lack of changes in her body and the lack of a crown, after all, a Temple, whether of the Spirits or the Fairies, needs its Respective King from what I''ve been told, and also from what I''ve seen so far." (I) While I was talking to Nix on the roof of the mansion inside the Dungeon, someone flew in and landed in front of us, it was Nicole. "Do you have time to talk now?" (Nicole) "I was talking to Nix, but do you have something to talk about?" (I) "I have something to tell you, Father." (Nicole) "I don''t think it''s very important, but I''ve been told more than once that I don''t have the ability to judge things correctly, so I have to leave it in the hands of the right person." (Nicole) "Since you are the leader, the most logical thing is to give any kind of new information to you, Father." (Nicole) "And what information is that?" (I) Chapter 1106: Cap 1104: An Irresistible Invitation Chapter 1106: Cap 1104: An Irresistible Invitation 3 days after Nix and Layla woke up as Queens whether of Fairies or Spirits, I was carrying a passed out Ibuki in my arms into the mansion, my romantic encounters with her always end in eating something or training, but if that makes her happy who I''m the one to criticize. "Master, let me take her to her quarters, Alice is looking for you." (Sophia) "Is this about Luminus'' gift again?" (I) "No, it looks like it''s about Karina." (Sophia) "Where is she?" (I) "She and Vanessa said they were going to the Communal Temple, they took Karina with them." (Sophia) "Thanks for letting me know, I''ll meet them there, see you later." (I) In the last few days, I had a lot to think about, whatever Nicole told me, the gift of Luminus, the fact that my Familiars changed their importance within their races by acquiring the power of leaders, the strange Cocoon waiting inside my shadow, the failed attempt to try and kick the 3 Saints out of the Dungeon and about my own future. It wasn''t until the day after the Ascension of Nix and Layla as Queens that I went to see the system notifications, for starters there were changes in the titles and abilities that link me to these two Familiars. It changed to things like Fairy Queen''s Contractor or Spirit Queen''s Contractor and such things, I used my ability to identify these abilities and titles which changed their names, but in the end, their function was the same. Of course that was just the function of these titles and abilities, in practice things were very different, just like with Sakura becoming a Titan, my bond with Nix and Layla was even stronger. Not only that, but they now have their own Authority as well as Holy Power, so long as they can still use my Authority. The two''s Aura is much stronger and heavier than before, but the changes weren''t just on them, my Aura also strengthened by a large margin, and my Holy Power also acquired traces of the Holy Power of these two, it seems to be because I helped in the building of the Temples of Fairies and Spirits since their founding as Cradles, I was closely connected with them now. Layla can now switch between large and small form, but it seems that her large form is the real thing, she has surprised me by being responsible for the first time in her life as she tries to understand her own changes and guide the Fae that follow her. Nix has always been someone in charge, so nothing she was doing now surprised me, but just like Layla has been trying to understand her new power and her changes. Because of the Temples of the Fairies and Spirits having doors that lead directly to their respective worlds, many Spirits and Fairies have come to visit, some of them acquaintances from when I was still on the Morror Continent and others that I don''t remember meeting. "Let''s see what''s going on." (I) While thinking about these things I arrived at the Communal Temple, I entered and went straight to the place where I felt the presence of Vanessa and Alice''s Aura. I took the shortest path I remembered while imitating going to these two on the top floor of the Communal Temple, if I remember correctly it is an area where ceremonies of various kinds are performed, a room as if it were a hall used by several of the Religions that live together in this Communal Temple. When I entered I didn''t see anyone but Vanessa and Alice near the cocoon where Karina had been sleeping for days I was lying floating above an Altar a little bigger than the cocoon where Karina is. "Very good you two, what''s going on?" (I) She had been floating in the air ever since she came out of the cocoon, but when the glimmer of awareness returned to her eyes, she landed and looked only at me with a simply happy smile as she knelt down along with the emergence of a system notification. Ding! <[ Individual Karina (Dragon High Priestess) has transcended her limits to ascend as a Blood Eclipse Dragon Saint ]> . . . <[ Individual Karina (Blood Eclipse Dragon Saint) received the power of a True Dragon in her Soul Evolving into a True Eclipse Dragon ]> . . . <[ Her connection with Individual Karina (Blood Eclipse Dragon Saint) has been strengthened ]> I glanced at the messages, I was tired but already getting a claw of blood in my mouth to recover so my eyes landed on Karina. I extend my hand to her which she holds firmly as I pull her weakly to her feet. "It was... time to... wake up..." (I) "I''m back, Zenos." (Karina) She holds my head between her hands and steals my lips, with that contact I could finally feel her Aura, nothing that a Dragonewt should be was in her Aura, quite the contrary, the only thing I felt was the imposing presence that the Races of the True Dragons possess naturally. "All Dragons are descended from Akatosh, to worship a Dragon is to worship the race and thus Akatosh, but today I declare to worship the True Dragon Zenos not below Akatosh, but alongside the Dragon God." (Karina) Her words were charged with emotion and resolution, her Aura a testament to her will and the truth that arose in her heart, with what felt like an oath taken not to me but to herself. I, who was already recovering at least a little bit of my energy, remove a tunic that I use to cover Karina''s body, who accepts my kindness. "While undergoing my tests I was brought before the God Akatosh and with him, a message was sent to you." (Karina) "An invitation we can''t refuse to go to the Dragon Castle for the introduction of the new Dragon King and the founding of a new tribe among the True Dragons." (Karina) "..." (I) Chapter 1107: Cap 1105: Dragon Gods Request Chapter 1107: Cap 1105: Dragon God''s Request I was surprised to see Karina, her Dragonewt traits were gone, but from the notifications, I knew that these changes stem from her race having changed to a True Dragon. Her appearance may seem like it, but she is like Nix now, I would like to know if she can fully transform into a Dragon like Nix or like me and my sisters have a skill that needs to be trained to acquire the ability to fully transform into a Dragon. I was still being supported by Vanessa and Alice when I weakly reached out my hand for Karina to grab before I helped her to her feet. Karina was using the command I gave to cover herself up while giving me a message from the Dragon God. Needing to go to the Castle of Dragons wasn''t even that big of a problem, I already didn''t have a place to go after leaving this Floating Island and I didn''t plan on staying any longer now that Nix, Layla, and Karina had awakened. As I considered Karina''s words I realized that there would be nothing wrong with Nix visiting Father, it also seemed to be something traditional for the Dragon Race, so it might not be so bad that I was a part of it, it might actually be one of my responsibilities as the progenitor of a new Dragon Race. "Do you know when this event will take place? When should we go to the Dragon lands?" (I) "Anytime you arrive as the lead individual for this ceremony without you there nothing can happen and other than that there is nothing to indicate a specific day to be held." (Karina) "Then we will leave in a few days to go, we just need to make some preparations." (I) "I''m fine now, let go of me girls, thanks for the help." (I) "I''ll let the others at the Communal Temple know, they can let the townsfolk know more easily." (Vanessa) "I''m going to go to Nira who takes care of most of the city''s civil affairs here inside the Dungeon." (Alice) "Thanks for the collaboration." (I) While I see Vanessa and Alice leaving to start the preparations to leave this place, in the meantime I tell Karina to go rest a little longer, clearly, she still wasn''t feeling well, unlike the others, her Evolution took many risks, that''s why I sent her back to the bed. --------------- I spent the rest of the day in bed, I could have regained my energy faster by drinking more blood and meditating, but there was no point in rushing this. I have also been warned not to force a forced recovery every time unnecessarily as it puts a considerable burden on my body and could cause further damage. When I got up it was dawn the next day, I was in better condition than I thought, so I got up to eat with everyone, it was the same chaos as usual with everyone talking to each other, but I couldn''t help the smile on my face as I compared this scene with the orphanage during dinner time in my childhood in the previous life, I even think that the dozens of children managed to be noisier than my current companions. After having something to eat in the morning with everyone, I went to the training floor inside the Dungeon, there were some things that I couldn''t keep leaving for later and so I want to resolve this at once. "Why did you come?" (I) "I thought I needed someone in case I lost consciousness." (Freya) "This is the last direct Descendant of Rhaegal, the ancient Dragon King of Light, one who held power among Dragons at the top and also who betrayed his brethren by inciting the Church of Light to join forces with him to go against Arash thousands of years ago back." (God Akatosh) "He''s his only son still alive, as well as the only one who tried to stop him a long time ago." (God Akatosh) "(So he is the son of one of those responsible for killing Nix''s mother and sealing her.)" (I) "Why did Luminus give me this Dragon? It''s clearly still alive inside the crystal." (I) "It was my order for him to do this..." (God Akatosh) In the next few minutes, the Dragon God told me about Arash''s battle against Rhaegal, he also told me about Luminus''s attack on the home of the Dragons of Light that are next to the Church of Light. "That child behind me was valiant in going against his father and his entire Tribe, as well as the daughter of Arash, he has been sealed in this crystal because of his father since that time." (God Akatosh) "He did the right thing and he doesn''t deserve to be punished for mistakes he tried to prevent." (God Akatosh) "I understand the situation, but what does all this have to do with me?" (I) "Can''t you just release him from the crystal or tell another Dragon to do it?" (I) "Freeing him is not the problem, but his identity as Rhaegal''s son." (God Akatosh) "I think I understand..." (I) It''s actually not difficult, Dragons still resent the betrayal of one of their own race, Arash is a good example of this. I think it would be difficult for the other Dragons to see Rhaegal''s son and not kill him, even if he isn''t killed he will be more isolated than the Dragons beside Luminus. "I know what you''re thinking, but no." (I) "Why not do the same with him as you did with Luminus?" (I) "On that day he tried to do right and he failed, what I did to Luminus and his followers was a punishment they accepted on behalf of their tribe''s past mistakes." (God Akatosh) "As far as I''ve heard, Luminus wasn''t guilty of anything, but this Dragon is the son of one of the main culprits." (I) "Luminus knew he needed to be punished and accepted that punishment for his tribe to have a future, but in the case of the boy behind me, he will never be forgiven the way Luminus and his people are being." (God Akatosh) "Rhaegal''s shadow will always cover this child, no amount of punishment would be enough for the other Dragons to stop comparing him to his father." (God Akatosh) I really don''t like where this is going. "That''s why I need to make a request to you Zenos." (God Akatosh) Chapter 1108: Cap 1106: Adoption Chapter 1108: Cap 1106: Adoption It was strange for me to be in the presence of the Dragon God and not feel any of his presence, maybe this mental projection thing can''t convey his Divine presence or he just doesn''t want to use his position of higher power to force a positive response from me, he must want me to accept your request willingly. "I don''t think any other Dragon would accept his proposal." (I) "No, they wouldn''t be wrong either, everyone who surrounded this boy were fools who betrayed their own race, his very existence while still alive will be a reminder about this event that brings shame and anger to all True Dragons." (God Akatosh) "Since I don''t care about this event in question, you came to me with this request?" (I) "It wasn''t such a simple decision." (God Akatosh) "How much do you know about Dragon Seals?" (God Akatosh) "Just what Arash left me before he left months ago." (I) "So just the essentials." (God Akatosh) "Dragon Seals are created using the power and Authority of a Dragon King, they allow Dragon-type Monsters to become True Dragons, and they can also transform some individuals of other compatible races into Dragons with a little effort." (God Akatosh) "Only Dragon Emperors are able to gather the power of other Dragons and generate a Dragon Seal that has characteristics different from their own." (God Akatosh) I remember the first time Karina created the first 4 Dragon Seals inside that Dungeon, the same happened after I defeated that Demon Dragon this time, I know that Karina was responsible for that, I don''t know how she did it, but I remember hear your voice vaguely. "But I''ve never created a Dragon Seal with just my own power." (I) "The amount of power needed is very large, not counting the effort for it, in the past you didn''t have the qualifications to try, using the power of others ignored your shortcomings at the time, but this was only possible due to the Chaos you embody. " (God Akatosh) "But the point here isn''t that, the Dragon Seal you create still carries a portion of its power and Authority, thanks to the element of Chaos within your Dragon Seals, not limitations on who can receive your Dragon Seals." (God Akatosh) "The changes in their appearances, races, Auras, and so on are also greater than normal, you literally transform their body completely." (God Akatosh) "I think I understand what you''re getting at." (I) It seems that I have done something more drastic than usual without realizing it and he wants exactly that, he wants to change the body, Aura, and everything possible of this Dragon of Light, he wants to give him a new life so that he will not be recognized by others Dragons. "Why do you work so hard for him, it doesn''t cost me much to help that Dragon, I can also get something in return for that since I will have another True Dragon by my side, but what do you get out of it?" (I) "I don''t earn anything, that''s the nature of a God." (God Akatosh) "God Akatosh, I think..." (I) "I know, I can hear their mental conversations if his wish is to die or continue as he is now, then I won''t force it, I''ll leave that matter to you now." (God Akatosh) The Dragon God for the first time looked back, he did nothing but emanate a little bit of his presence which hammered the crystal creating cracks, this made the Akatosh God''s appearance become even more translucent. "Wait, you still didn''t tell me what that would be." (I) "That would be for creating a Dragon Seal, but I ask that you use the one you obtained in your last battle... farewell... son of Selene..." (God Akatosh) When he disappeared the surroundings changed, the world of white was replaced by a garden of wildflowers, my point of view also suddenly changed as I found myself back in my body, traces of Nix''s presence can still be felt in my body. But I didn''t have time for that, the crystal was shattering in front of me with each piece growing to more than 3 times its size, the bands that were around the shining crystal before absorbed all the energy I had seen before and stayed in the shape of a sphere returning to my hands. This time I was able to store the sphere in a storage item, something I wasn''t able to do with the crystal because it had a living creature inside. After that I just watched the Dragon free itself while its body grew, I didn''t even notice the person standing next to me. Freya was silent as she stood beside me, she just placed her hand on my shoulder as she used her Aura to probe my body, she was checking my status but there was no reason to worry this time. We both had our eyes glued to the Dragon who was struggling to get out of his prison, I noticed the tears in his eyes as he used his claws to cut the crystals in his path, by his Aura I knew he was below me in strength. The Dragon had a lean body, its scales were thin with bone spikes on both arms and wings, and there were also some going down the back. I see its straight white scales looking like some kind of metal, its slightly long neck ending in a thinner Dragon head with eyes that would be better with a sharp gleam and not the tears I see now, its eyes were golden and it had a single horn crystal-like white with an upward angled curve. I went to him, his body seemed to reach more than 500 meters, but he seemed lighter than other Dragons I''ve seen before, just looking at his body I know that his focus is not destructive power but speed, at least that''s what I think looking at this body. "What is your name?" (I) "I abandoned my name the day I was placed in this crystal, so call me whatever you like." "Do you know what is happening?" (I) "Yes, I was conscious the whole time and the Dragon God made me listen to your conversation." "Yes, he basically asked me to adopt you as a Dragon from my tribe." (I) Before talking about it it''s better to let him calm down, I can''t ask any questions in such a state, his answers would not be confident in an altered state of emotions. Chapter 1109: Cap 1107: Magnus Part 1 Chapter 1109: Cap 1107: Magnus Part 1 Pov of a Gold Grade Adventurer: Like many others in the capital, I was called to a meeting where a special mission was being given, I just had to answer a few simple questions and I managed to participate in the mission, I am a mage and therefore I know how important Elves are, too I know what they protect in their villages that shouldn''t be damaged, so I''m proud to have the chance to help and I understand them not saying everything in the middle of a city, even in a closed meeting like this. They gave us time to get ready, and one of the Adventurers who didn''t want to participate approached me, he was handsome and had nice hair but he was always surrounded by women so I didn''t think he would like men like me. Adventurers'' curiosity is something all of us share, so it wasn''t strange that he would come to me to try to find out more about the meeting after he left, he was far from the only one to do so. I didn''t say anything to him, but it served as a good point to start a conversation where I started flirting with him to see how he would react and if he had any chance, no risk, no progress is what my mother always said. As he didn''t run away or complain about my rather obvious flirtations, so I got really excited, unfortunately, I had little time to make my preparations for the Elf quest where I could be days or weeks away, I had to try to leave a mark on his mind for him remember me during these days. I risked more and pulled him into a corner of the store we had come from while I was buying supplies for the mission, I pulled him into this corner where I steal his lips without passion, at that moment I felt something in my mouth that felt too big to be a language and the next thing I remember, I was facing the Guild joining other Adventurers for the special mission of the Elves. Time seemed strange from there, as the days passed I felt like my memory seemed to have parts missing like I had drunk too much wine but without the hangover headache. I know for some reason I didn''t mind that and went on the mission, to my surprise we were sent directly to the location using space magic, it was interesting to see. Only at the location, I noticed the access to things due to the large number of Adventurers that did not stop arriving, the Elves explained the situation to everyone, I was surprised by the true objective of the mission but it was already too late to give up, luckily I was together with a group of friends, a Warrior and a magical Swordsman. That day was crazy for many reasons, but the main one was when one of those corrupted souls came out of an enemy near me that had been defeated the Corrupted Soul came towards me trying to invade my body, I put up a barrier, but the Corrupted Soul broke through my defenses. Just when I thought I was lost I felt a pulsation and the Corrupted Soul was thrown away from my body where it was pierced by my companion''s sword, one of the Weapons that were handed over for being the enemy''s weakness. I didn''t know what was going on and didn''t even have time to think about it at the time, I just considered it luck or protection from the Gods because it was so wonderful, so we went back to combat, it was a day full of the strangest things I''ve seen in my life. But the sight of the World Tree is forever in my mind, as well as all the nonsense I saw that day, two days later we were sent back, and for some reason, I met that man again and he waved at me, it seems like stealing his lips it was a great idea to make him remember me. I said goodbye to my two companions who would probably go to some bar and straight to some brothel this couple of perverts, but if everything works out for me today, maybe I''ll wake up with someone else in bed tomorrow. It was with that thought that I approached him and we walked, my mind started to get confused since he touched my face, I thought it was just nervousness, but then I realized that he and I were talking without opening our mouths. It was a telepathic conversation in a language I didn''t recognize, but for some reason, I was answering him in the same language, the strangest thing was when I entered his house, it seemed normal at first, but as soon as we got to the basement there were pieces of meat and tentacles strangers everywhere. I wanted to run, scream and use the most destructive magic I was capable of, but I couldn''t, my body was following the commands he was making with his mouth now that no one else was around. He guided me to a large piece of meat that had 4 eyes grouped together and an already large mouth which when opened revealed what looked like some kind of bed, there were no teeth, tongue, or a throat, he guided me to lie there while different images were projected out of eyes, the last thing I saw was him kneeling down to an image of someone I couldn''t quite see before the mouth closed with me inside, all that followed was silence and darkness. "Then stay on this floor and think all you want or ask whichever faerie to drive you into town, just make sure you have an answer the next time we talk." (I) "..." (Freya) I could feel Freya''s eyes on me, I might be sounding thick and even idiotic talking to someone in an unstable emotional state like that, but I need to make it as clear as possible so there''s no doubt. I honestly said everything I think and expect from him, I don''t need him to give me all the correct answers, I want to know if the reason for him being adopted by me is something that can sustain him in the future or just something to hide his emotions. He needs to decide if he wants to leave the past behind in an attempt to move forward or run away from the past without ever looking back, the difference between these two situations is the same difference that exists between an open wound and a wound in the process of healing. I walk back to the safe room with Freya silently following me, only when we get back to the city floor does he grab my shoulder. "Wasn''t there a smoother way to do this?" (Freya) "There is no smooth way to listen to what I said, changing the way I said it wouldn''t change the way he listened." (I) "He doesn''t have a way now, I want him to think about it not for my sake but for his sake or there won''t be a future worth living for him." (I) "Life is a journey Freya, a journey with many crossroads where the decision of the path matters more than people think, but the meaning of these decisions shows how firm the first step in one of these paths will be." (I) "What are you going to do now?" (Freya) "I won''t do anything, I''ll come back in 3 days to hear your answer before we leave for the Dragon lands." (I) Sigh "But I think I know what name I can give him... Magnus..." (I) "An important name worthy of leaders and important people, a strong name that represents my expectations for it." (I) "You suck at taking care of people." (Freya) "He is an adult and not a child who needs to be taken by the hand, his life decisions should come from him alone, I just made things clear the rest is up to him." (I) "Now let''s go back, I promised Kira a date at the new restaurant Vanessa told her about." (I) "Let''s go..." (I) Chapter 1110: Cap 1108: Magnus Part 2 Chapter 1110: Cap 1108: Magnus Part 2 Pov Dragon of Light (Last son of Rhaegal): I watch the boy walk away, even though he is so young his strength already surpasses me, even his position among Dragons is something respected for being the progenitor of a new type of Dragons. I don''t think there has ever been a Dragon King so young in the history of our race, but that doesn''t change that he is too young, without enough experience and experience to act as a leader. But even so, I may be being prejudiced because of their age, many races do not live as long as Dragons, Humans are a symbol of the brevity of life, and even so they had leaders respected by my race. "(In the end I''m just finding a justification for not liking him...)" (I) No matter how many times I prayed to Akatosh during my confinement in the crystal, my wishes were never granted, my prayers were never answered, and when I am released from my prison, nothing was left of those I wanted to protect. There was no one in this world who needed me, no one in this world who appreciates my existence, and nothing I really wanted. "(While I don''t have anything, I don''t wish death, I don''t want and I can''t accept a senseless death, my pride as a Dragon is one of the few things I still possess and I feel that it hinders me more at this moment than it helps.)" (I) "What should I do?" (I) During my thousands of years in prison, I felt anger at my father and the rest of our tribe for making such an insane decision, then I felt sadness over the centuries at the few things I heard when someone came to where I was imprisoned allowing me to hear every one of the unthinkable things my people did. This lasted until no one else came to where I was being held, the silence was the worst of all things, being left with only my thoughts and guesses of the misfortunes those I cared about were doing, not even learning of my brothers deaths was as bad as not knowing what was going on outside my confinement. Now I hear they are all gone, only I am left alone, scarred by the hatred of those who despise what my family has done, an existence not wanted anywhere. "What answer does he want?" (I) I looked up to the sky trying to find an answer that would never come, I could have spread my wings and flown but instead, I just walked through the woods happy to finally see more than a blank wall. Fi?ndd new updates at novelhall.com I stopped beside a river calm enough to see my reflection, of all my brothers I was always the most different from our father, and that was a source of pride for me because then I would not be compared with him, I wanted to follow a path of strength different from him. My father wanted the Authority to rule, he only saw strength in those he led and believed it was his duty to lead the Dragons, his roars of rage are things I still remember hearing when the news broke about the successor to the Emperor of all Dragons being Arash arrived in our place. I didn''t care personally, my path of strength that I chose to pursue has always been to be the blade that paves the way for those I care about. Fighting not for yourself but for those who matter to you, being the spearhead that clears a path in the face of any adversity, that''s what I aspired to be. That''s why I could see so clearly what my father wanted to fight against, while everyone followed him as always, I saw that the path he was taking was a precipice created by his pride and hatred, his wanting to believe that if my father stopped to calm down and think a bit would be able to see what I could see so clearly but it never happened, the more I tried to talk to him the worse with him closing off more to me. "That''s ironic, my dad took everything from you for silly reasons, but now it''s me regretting having nothing left while you have all of this." (I) "Isn''t it ironic, it was meant to be this way since Rhaegal''s betrayal, the Dragons would never forgive what was done that day to not only my family but the entire Dragon race." (Nix) "I know, I tried to stop him to protect my family, I could see the end of the road and I couldn''t bear the thought of one day seeing everyone dead..." (I) ---------------- Pov Zeno''s: I was at the end of the afternoon trying to make a tasty drink, and because of that, I have several types of drinks, fruits, and bowls in front of me to test different combinations. I wanted to surprise Diana who loves to drink anything that has alcohol in it, as I''ve been trying to relax lately I''m dedicating myself to those things that don''t take much effort to please the girls, I have to relax at some point. "Is it still on?" (rica) "I wanted more variety, Diana would appreciate it." (I) "She''ll enjoy doing anything with you, so just go out and kill some monsters with her." (rica) "I wanted to avoid things that require some physical effort, I''ve been exaggerating a lot these days..." (I) "You''ve been exaggerating since I met you, even now you''re exaggerating, look at those number of bottles and glasses." (rica) I look at the more than 100 bottles and the 71 glasses filled with liquids of different colors, one of them is even on fire, not counting the more than 150 glasses still empty. "I have to pass the time somehow, it goes against my nature to spend too much time still." (I) ---------------- During the night of that day, I was on the roof looking at the only moon in the sky of the Dungeon, I was drinking one of the drink recipes I created today, after a sip and the feeling of explosion in my mouth I throw this cup away where it explodes when colliding with a stone. "So it wasn''t just an exploding feeling..." (I) "You look pretty relaxed if you''re kidding like that." (Nix) Suddenly Nix descends from the sky, there were other spirits around her, but when she approached me they left, dispersing in several directions. "Are you done talking to him?" (I) "Yes, to see someone like that almost give up is ridiculous." (Nix) "Those who have nothing always fight to the last to climb, but those who have already been at the top are always hurt too much in the fall and therefore find climbing something impossible." (I) There are many such stories in my world, most of them are works of fiction, but there are also many real cases, people sometimes fail to see that even a step forward can already be the beginning of climbing a slope. "I''ll give him time to think, no matter what the Dragon God or even what you say, I don''t need someone without willpower around me." (I) "I wouldn''t ask for anything different." (Nix) Chapter 1111: Cap 1109: Magnus Part 3 Chapter 1111: Cap 1109: Magnus Part 3 Pov Dragons of Light (Son of Rhaegal): I opened my eyes with tears marking my face once more, in the end, I spent the last 2 days near that calm river, for the first time in thousands of years I could have gone wherever I wanted, but I spent that time standing in the same place. "What is wrong with me? Why do I keep having these dreams? Why do I keep standing in this same spot?" (I) Suddenly not having anyone else to think about because they were all dead just made me think more and more about myself, the things I did in the past, the things I didn''t do, the things I should have done, and the things I couldn''t to do. On more than one occasion I wondered if I should have followed the rest of my family instead of trying to stop them uselessly as I did, but I could never bring myself to make a decision like that. Sometimes I think if I had tried to stop my father by going to the Dragon Emperor back then, if I had done that instead of trying to solve everything myself, I wouldn''t have been sealed in that crystal and the tragedy might not have happened. Maybe if I had tried to convince my dad not to do it differently, he wouldn''t have gone down that path. There are so many things I would like to change, but there is no such thing, the past is written in stone, I know it''s a waste of time to think about these things, but my mind keeps being drawn back to that time. "It must be the dreams, it can only be the fault of that..." (I) For the past 2 days, I''ve been having dreams, maybe I should call them past memories, bits I don''t think about often. Some of these memories were precious things to me, some I didn''t care about, and some I was surprised I could remember, but for the last few days they keep popping up in my sleep. I feel sad every time I wake up from these dreams, but at the same time, my emotions feel calmer. "I haven''t thought about these things in so long..." (I) For the last thousands of years I haven''t thought about any of those memories, my mind was always focused on the same thing, that event that ruined my life. One of the things I remembered was when I was still young, decades before I was able to take a humanoid form, I remember asking my father which path of strength I should follow. "I still remember his serious face when he answered me like it was the most obvious thing in the world." (I) "(What are you talking about, you''ve already chosen, just think the reason you put so much effort into your training and you''ll know your answer.)" (Father) "He didn''t want to let it show, but his eyes were full of pride, all my brothers were inspired by him and so they followed similar paths to our father, only I chose something different." (I) At the time I wasn''t able to understand my father''s words, I just brushed that conversation aside as if it wasn''t important, but a few decades later when one of my brothers was attacked and injured that''s when the answer came to me. My uma was stronger than me, he killed an enemy and was seriously injured to the point of losing consciousness, we were in an area full of Monsters and far from family people, I didn''t even think about that moment, my body moved around on my own as I fought day and night to protect my brother, the flesh and blood of a true Dragon too attractive for those Monsters to resist temptation. In the end, I was much more seriously injured than my brother and even though I kept fighting, I wasn''t even sure if I was really conscious at the time or acting on pure instinct. "(Really I must be the only one who still feels something for them other than hatred, anger, disgust, and contempt.)" (I) "(If it''s not me, then even those memories will also... fade...)" (me) Those simple words made me realize that there are more things worth protecting like memories and ideals. "Just make sure you won''t regret it, I don''t care if you accept or deny my brother''s help, just do something with a little will, you idiot." (Natasha) Just as she came out of nowhere, she left out of nowhere, it seems that even after thousands of years Mrs. Natasha remains the same as ever. --------------- Pov Zenos: I woke up naked in the garden, not sure how that happened but luckily some Fairies nearby brought some items of clothing for me and the two behind me. After getting up I had to carry Diana and Ibuki to their rooms, after that I went to the city where I find a food stall where my sister was eating. "I want 2 more of these...." (Natasha) "10 more than she''s been eating." (I) I talked to Natasha about a few things, I was surprised that she spends several minutes complaining about the Dragon of Light, she finds it unacceptable for someone to wish for death, in her mind life is full of innumerable possibilities as long as one has the will strong enough not to there is nothing you cannot achieve. After dropping my sister off at the nearest bar, I headed to the Common Temple to find Karina. ---------------- That night I was sitting at one of the windows of the Communal Temple while I finished talking with Karina, I was taking the opportunity to enjoy the people on the street walking excitedly back and forth. "Want to do it today?" (Karina) "No, I''ll do it tomorrow, but first I have to take care of the Dragon of Light." (I) "Are you really going to abandon him depending on the answer he gives?" (Karina) "Yes, this Dungeon is not a charity, I won''t accept someone unwillingly so easily." (I) "But it would be a shame, I already chose a new name for him." (I) "Talking about him, a Dragon of Light has been appearing in my dream for the past few days along with a Dragon that seems to be made of stars, you know something about that." (Karina) Chapter 1112: Cap 1110: Magnus Part 4 Chapter 1112: Cap 1110: Magnus Part 4 I was being carried to my bed by Barok, we had finalized the preparations to leave and I wanted to get it done as soon as possible the next day, so we were celebrating with the whole city in celebration. As I have many types of resistance, both natural and due to the skills I possess, it is very difficult to be affected by alcoholic beverages and that is why I have particularly enjoyed the presence of the people from the Church of Pleasure, they have a deep research on alcoholic beverages helping to create some one of the most delicious drinks I''ve ever tasted. After spending an entire day drinking something that would affect even Natasha, it was no surprise that I wasn''t able to walk in a straight line on a flat street, so Barok helped me get home, he''s a good person. I don''t even know if I got home, I remember blinking my eyes because they were so heavy, but after I opened my eyes I was in the imaginary world inside my head, the same space that resembles a vision of the universe full of stars, with the pathways and caloric flows of energy. "I guess it wasn''t just a blink of an eye..." (I) I didn''t even want to think about anything, even though I realized that I probably lost consciousness before I even got home, none of that mattered now, my mind was still as heavy as before, losing consciousness doesn''t mean that I expel the alcohol from my body. I kept looking at something that was very bright, it was close by, I''ve seen it a lot in my dreams, normally I just ignore it, but this light seems to go through my eyes to the other side of my head. "(That crappy light...)" (I) Without thinking about anything else I just ran towards this light and kicked it away from me this damn light was torture for my eyes. ----------------- The next morning I woke up feeling refreshed, it seems with my stamina and regenerative powers I don''t have to worry about a hangover as long as I don''t go over a certain threshold. I was walking as I exited the Dungeon''s safe room alongside Karina who has been spending the last few days training alongside Alice under the supervision of High Priestess Yara. I pulled Karina out of training to help me with this damn Dragon of Light. When I found this super developed lizard, his head was under a waterfall while his body was immersed in the waters of a river. When he sensed our presence, he got out of the water and sat down near the riverbank, it seems that the whole time he was inside the Dungeon he didn''t get into his Human form even once. I don''t know why and honestly I don''t care, I jump on the tallest tree nearby and I still don''t get the same height as him. "Looks like you''ve made your decision." (I) "Yes, thank you for your help and for giving me this time to think it over." "Time alone doesn''t change anything if you decide to sit around moping around, looks like at least we can have a conversation." (I) His eyes were focused this time, it looked like the eyes of someone resolute, the glint of sadness was still in his eyes, maybe that glint of sadness will stay in his eyes for a long time or maybe it will never go away. But at least he''s not letting sadness take him by the neck, as long as he has those eyes there''s still hope for him to move forward. "I accept being adopted by you and I must thank you for giving me so many opportunities that others would not think twice to deny." "What are the intentions for your acceptance?" (I) In front of me, there was no one, but I looked at a crystal stuck on the wall while making a neck-slitting gesture, they were late and they know it or they wouldn''t be afraid to appear in front of me. "I know you can hear me, so I hope you''ve already marked the course of the trip, we don''t have time to lose." (I) "[No one else came but me, Mistress Miriam.]" (Nara) "So where are the others?" (I) "We are in a small speed model according to the regulations I imagine, it would need 9 people minimum." (I) "[This is a simpler model, it has automatic defenses and doesn''t have weapons, all energy normally goes towards increasing speed without diverting to anything else.]" (Nara) "In other words, an escape model?" (I) A vehicle without weaponry for attack focused only for defense and speed like this is useless in a battle, it does not contribute anything, even for infiltration missions like the one I was on this type of vehicle is almost useless, the monsters in space are numerous and troublesome, such a vehicle if it loses its defenses it will only be a matter of time to be destroyed. "Just tell me how long to reach our destination at headquarters?" (I) "[82 hours if you don''t have to take a detour.]" (Nara) "Almost 3 days, looks like this thing really is fast." (I) While I was talking I didn''t stop walking, I passed by the door where my body was analyzed in different ways, after being released I leave my clothes behind and take new ones from the closet, this time they changed the outfits too, a full body outfit With joint plates and vital points, I can also feel my energy flow through my clothes more easily. During that time I was still talking to Nara, after getting ready I follow a corridor where I make two curves before arriving at the control room where only a woman with black hair and eyes was sitting with four work tables around her, she has 4 arms each with 8 fingers, it looks like she has done extreme physical enhancement modifications. Her eyes also behave unnaturally and must be enhancement prostheses as well. "Welcome Miriam, this is my happiness to be able to see you personally." (Nara) "We can talk while we go, I don''t know if we can waste too much time." (I) "How is the evacuation of the other infiltrators going?" (I) "I was told they were on standby but their orders have changed, they are no longer investigating the world itself, they have been ordered to seek out the enemy." (Nara) Sigh "So they were here too..." (I) "Their presence has not been confirmed, but we cannot deny that they are present in this world due to their importance." (Nara) As she spoke, she didn''t stop moving all her hands, her eyes also kept shifting between several holographic screens around her, I could feel the flow of energy as we reached the space tunnel. "Finally coming home, if we can still call that place home." (I) Chapter 1113: Cap 1111: Magnus Part 5 Chapter 1113: Cap 1111: Magnus Part 5 The first thing I did was use earth and wind magic to clear the surrounding area, the wind magic slashed and made all the trees fly away, and the earth magic made the ground become more flat and resistant. I only cleaned an area of 1 kilometer, due to the large size of this Dragon of Light, I needed a very wide area where he could stay even if his body grows, I honestly don''t know what will happen and that''s why I like to stay prepare in advance. I look at Karina waiting for me already with the Dragon Seal in hand, different from the 4 I had in the past, this Dragon Seal is made of a darker and grayish crystal, the Dragon''s silhouette was red and had a presence more aggressive being emitted from the Dragon Seal. "Are you sure it won''t work?" (I) "He has already gone through an Awakening Ceremony, I can feel traces of another Dragon''s presence in his body." (Karina) "The Ceremony of Awakening serves exactly what the name suggests, it uses the power of the one who performs the Ceremony to force the awakening of the hidden power within the target with chances of mutation of that power, which in your case is 100% chance of mutation, but if the target doesn''t have occult power, then there''s no way to trigger the Ceremony of Awakening from the beginning." (Karina) "Mine performed the Awakening Ceremony on all of his children, myself included, this is normal among True Dragons." "I don''t think there will be any problems." (I) In the case of others, I used the Awakening Ceremony to grant powers, and bloodlines I created or even using certain items like the Dragon Seal, the Awakening Ceremony has always been the basis for me to put other things in motion to uplift the individuals around me as far as my power is capable of reaching. "(I won''t be able to give him power or abilities, but the Dragon Seal still carries my Aura and Authority.)" (I) If it were using the Ceremony of Awakening I would be absolutely confident that your body would undergo drastic changes, but now I''m not so sure. "Your father didn''t use a Dragon Seal on you, did he?" (I) "No, this is the type of item that doesn''t work on those who already carry that same power, for example, you have children who carry Dragon blood, none of them would be able to receive the same benefit that someone outside of their bloodline could receive, the use of Dragon Seal would be greatly reduced to the point where its effectiveness was just over 30%." I look to Karina for confirmation, this wasn''t written in the book Arash left behind, Karina doesn''t seem to know about it either. I only know what was written in that small book and Karina as a Dragon High Priestess or maybe I should get used to calling her a Dragon Saint, only know theoretical information, but it seems that our knowledge is lacking in the practical area. "(It would be hard to know if I haven''t been living with the Dragon race for a long time, with time I will learn these details.)" (I) I look at everything and reach out to Karina who reaches out to take my hand, so we hold hands while I hold the Seal with my other hand. "Let''s start." (I) "..." (I) Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com "..." (Karina) "..." (I) "How do you use this thing without the Awakening Ceremony?" (I) <[ Individual Ymir (True Dragon of Sunlight) accepts to be marked as a Descendant of Zenos (True Dragon of Eclipse of Blood) ]> . . . <[ Detecting Divine interference from Akatosh (Dragon God) the effectiveness of Demon Dragon Seal (Zenos) has been increased from 100% > 300% ]> . . . <[ The Individual Ymir (True Sunlight Dragon) wishes to receive a new name from you ]> This time I was experiencing something much simpler than an Awakening Ceremony, it was so much easier that it allowed me to check notifications to make sure everything was going well. The Dragon God''s interference is something I should have known since he acted directly to ask me for it, I should have thought that he himself would contribute in some way. The naming part of the Dragon of Light is not a surprise since he made it very clear from the first time we met his desire to be given a different name, his first act in trying to put his past behind him was abandoning his name. I had already thought of a name for him for a long time, a name that shows what I expect from him, a name that still doesn''t suit him and that one day I hope he will be someone who matches that name. But I must say that I like his old name better, Ymir is a different name I must say, I think it suits a Dragon more than this name I chose. "His name will be Magnus!" (I) Ding! <[ The newly named Individual Magnus (True Dragon of Sunlight) is in the process of transforming due to an Evolution caused by the Seal of the Demon Dragon (Zenos) ]> I could see and feel the Aura as well as his power being drawn into the flow of energy, in and out of the Dragon Seal as my power diluted within it, I could feel the Seal becoming energy as an A there flamed blood red begins to emanate from the body of the Dragon of Light, soon the flame changes from blood red to a harmony between black and white colors. The Light Dragon''s body completely submerged in the flames, but I couldn''t hear its roars or anything else, in fact even these flames don''t emit any kind of heat or sound, everything is in complete silence to the point of being strange. I felt Karina''s hand squeeze Kim''s and when I glanced to the side I noticed that her face is a little pale, she doesn''t have the same amount of energy as I do, I had forgotten for a moment that her power was also being consumed to do that and she has less energy than me. Fortunately, I can feel that it won''t be long, his Aura is changing within the Black and White Flames, it was strange how I could feel my power affecting him not just in body but even in his Soul. "Looks like it''s ending faster than I thought." (I) Chapter 1114: Cap 1112: True Eclipse Demon Dragon Chapter 1114: Cap 1112: True Eclipse Demon Dragon I was a little worried about Karina''s condition and so I used my Power to strengthen her, so she will suffer less and we can continue this for a longer time without straining her body too much. When I saw that she was okay, I turned my focus back to the colossal black and white flame that hid the Dragon of Light within. I could feel his power flowing along with the flow of my power contained in the Dragon Seal, I could feel his power changing as my power added to hers, the same was true for her body. I could feel the flames ravaging her body as the Dragon Seal took care of the recovery or in this case I should say transformation, I could distinctly feel the differences in muscle density, body shape, and mutation occurring in her bloodline. Even his Soul was being affected, the strangest thing was realizing that he seemed to roar or scream inside the flames, but I couldn''t hear even the slightest sound coming from the flames and I didn''t understand the reason for that. This process was fast for the happiness of this Dragon of Light, the whole process after it started took only 15 minutes and during that time I spent a little more than half of my power while Karina consumed more than 90% of her power, this with me helping to restore some of the power she lost. Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com I could feel his body completely changed down to the bone, his bloodline without any trace of the previous one, now I could feel my own bloodline within him, his Aura did not leak from within the flames, but I could feel it perfectly as the flames themselves were still they were made of my power. His Aura didn''t carry anything that resembles what he had before, it was as if his Aura was consumed by generating a new Aura, but I think it must be a side effect of the changes in bloodline, body, Soul, and power. The black and white flames that were previously an impediment seemed to be being absorbed at a certain point, only when they were at the end of disappearing was it possible to identify that the flame was being sucked into the jaws of the Dragon that revealed itself in front of me. Ding! <[ The Descendant Magnus (True Dragon of Eclipse) had the bestowal of the Seal of the Demon Dragon (Zenos) finalized thus becoming the son of Zenos (True Dragon of Blood Eclipse) ]> One thing I''ve noticed during my meditations these days where I''ve been avoiding training is that I can feel those of my direct or indirect Lineage. I can feel my children more strongly than my sisters since they carry my direct Lineage, but the sense of Bonding is diluted when it comes to my supposed grandchildren. I can now clearly feel that Magnus as I will start calling him from now on also feels like my other children, while Irius and his other sisters seem to have inherited more of my Vampire traits, Silvia has inherited more of my Dragon traits, there has been Hela and Lilith who inherited most of my Demonic traits. It seems that my bloodline adapts to each individual differently when mutating, but I don''t know if it''s my fault this time or the interference of the Dragon God. "How do you feel?" (I) "..." (Magnus) "I feel torn apart, not only was I spared but also gained so much power, I feel guilty in a way" (Magnus) "Everything you earned was on your own merit, the Dragon God saw and recognized your character while Zenos recognized your will, there is no reason to feel guilty for being deserving of something." (Karina) I let Karina speak as I try to see his eyes, there is no anger, hate, or murderous intent as our eyes are straight, all I see is doubt and guilt, it seems he didn''t lie in her words. "(Survivor''s guilt is something I''ve come to expect, I''m glad he doesn''t regress.)" (I) "I think you already know, but we''re inside my Dungeon, there''s a city I govern on another floor of the Dungeon and you still can''t go there." (I) "Obvious reasons, my power has increased, my abilities have changed, and my body is completely different from before, I''m not even able to change into my Human form these days." (Magnus) "Going to a city in my current state would be dangerous even if I don''t do anything, my Aura is very strong and I have no control over it for now." (Magnus) "These are exactly the reasons, I''m glad you understand, do your initial training on this floor, when you get a certain level of control we can take you to the city where your new home will be." (I) "Home..." (Magnus) Magnus''s eyes widened when I spoke about showing off his new home, I knew he could be sensitive to that word and I said it to show support, I want you to know that this Dungeon is the city that exists here are your new home, maybe even if may sound strange to him now, it may become a small comfort in his heart. "Thank you very much for everything Mister Zenos... I mean... Father..." (Magnus) "You don''t have to force yourself to call me that just yet." (I) "Denying or avoiding a fact like this will get you nowhere, I even have a title showing that I am recognized as your son now, even the blood in my veins carries your lineage." (Magnus) "Calling you Father is something I must do both out of obligation as a son and out of respect for the help you are giving me." (Magnus) "For that I thank you... Father..." (Magnus) He seems to be like Irius having a sense of his own duty, he also seems to see what I did for him as a help, he''s not wrong, but in fear was these things distorted in his mind due to the negative emotions of his depression, when we are being so negatively affected by our emotions having our thoughts wander in strange and meaningless ways to conclusions that someone with a calm mind would see errors becomes simple. "(Looks like I didn''t make a mistake this time, I must say that if it weren''t for the Dragon God''s request, I wouldn''t have risked turning someone like him into my son so soon, I''m glad things are going well so far.)" (I) "(The worst is over, let''s see how he adapts and walks with his own legs from now on.)" (I) Chapter 1115: Cap 1113: Space Rim Chapter 1115: Cap 1113: Space Rim Pov Magnus: I was amazed at my body after receiving the Dragon Seal from Zenos or as I should get used to calling it, my new Father. I had never heard of such a huge transformation in anyone who received a Dragon Seal of whatever race they were, I could feel that it wasn''t just my body that changed, even my Soul was affected. The suffering of having my body destroyed and rebuilt from scratch was horrible, but feeling my Soul being shaped and hammered by that power was worse, I often felt the desire to stop this suffering, but I kept knowing that this was the path I chose. In the end, the result was more than I could have imagined, the power that runs through my body is fantastic, but receiving that power didn''t make me happy, I didn''t think I was worthy of that power, and I didn''t do anything that deserves such a reward, I spent the last thousands of years trapped uselessly in a crystal. I couldn''t stop my Father and my tribe that day, I couldn''t do more than wait for those thousands of years, I didn''t even have the ability to try to save or maybe even fight any of my tribe, all I did was stay standing there waiting while lamenting my uselessness thus far. "(Me receiving this power is not fair, I don''t deserve this...)" (I) Sigh "But even if I don''t deserve it, I''m going to make good use of that power, if I had been strong enough at that time I could have stopped my Father by force, if I was powerful enough I could have freed myself from that damned crystal..." (I) "If I had been capable enough I could have done something other than being a complete useless..." (I) I didn''t want to feel so helpless again, I wouldn''t accept suffering like that ever again. The image of my family, friends, and acquaintances running through my mind, I know that each one of them is dead now, but just as I have known them throughout my life, I will build a new family one day, meet new friends and create new ties that won''t replace what I''ve lost, but maybe help fill the void I feel. "I will use this power to protect these bonds, I will not allow something like this to happen again!" (I) My sadness and guilt were crushed by my desire to destroy everything that stood in my way to protect these bonds that I hope to one day have again. "Looks like someone created some balls hahaha hahaha" (Natasha) Vissit for updates "Madam... Nat..." (I) "Finish that sentence and your head will have a long encounter with the floor." (Natasha) "..." (I) "I meant, how nice to see you again Natasha." (I) "That''s better, but I didn''t come here for that, I came here because of that..." (Natasha) After that I confirmed the route we are taking, it seems that we have already passed through the Fortaleza city that protects this world, I did not receive much news during this year of infiltration, but it seems that it is still on hold as she said it would. "(Looks like the Spatial Rims also had their Ability improved during that time.)" (I) I was reading the records available on the vehicle to at least catch up on everything I still don''t know due to my time infiltrated in that world. It didn''t have many surprising things, it was more general information, and some clearly false, it must be to cause misinformation among enemies if the vehicle was recovered by enemies. As this was one of the protocols that I created, I was able to separate what was fake and what was real easily, it seems that during this time they continue to adapt our technology as needed. "Lady Miriam, we are approaching the Space Rim." (Nara) "Wasn''t it supposed to be more distant?" (I) While answering her, I confirmed our current position, this vehicle''s speed really was higher than what I remember, but our position is still far from the Space Rim I remember. "It was moved after an enemy attack tried to destroy it, we took the opportunity to place it in a closer and more hidden point." (Nara) As she spoke I realized that we were approaching a field of meteors, we moved slowly between them and sometimes inside them in hidden tunnels before exiting the other side. I was able to notice that the ship connected with several devices along the route and I noticed the security system and alarms installed throughout this place, not to mention being closer to this world gives us a strategic and safe point of movement due to how they did, it must have been that inconsequential idea since it must have been risky to do it deep at that point without drawing attention. Soon we arrived at one of several meteors or asteroids and entered its interior through a hidden door, I realized that there were magical barriers between the defenses, when we entered we passed automatic weapons until we reached a large ring of three layers with each layer rotating in a direction. It seems like it''s already activating even before we enter, this should be a quick escape measure if necessary, I soon noticed the rippling space in the surroundings when the space inside the Space Rim was swirling like a whirlpool. As soon as we pass I feel a slight turbulence, it seems that the trip has also become more stable, which is good as it was getting seasick the way it was before. "We''re going to spend one day in this space tunnel, after that we''ll do a second the next Space Ring that will take us directly to the base." (Nara) "Construction should be complete by now, correct?" (I) "Yes ma''am, it was completed 7 months ago and has already undergone two reforms for expansion as well as improvement of the defense systems." (Nara) "So my plans followed faster than I thought." (I) "I couldn''t say ma''am, I''m just a pilot, I leave these things more complicated to the planning center people." (Nara) "It''s just a few I don''t listen to, the base is under my command, I hope there aren''t any idiots there now, I''d hate to have to punch someone on my return." (I) Chapter 1116: Cap 1114: Project Zenith Moving Into Beta Phase Chapter 1116: Cap 1114: Project Zenith Moving Into Beta Phase Pov Mirian''s (?????): The trip took 1 day longer than expected, when we were leaving the first tunnel we came across one of the Colossus level Monsters and we were attacked. The monstrosity seemed to be made of countless rocks and was the size of a moon, its body moved rigidly and was incredibly fast, it used the rocks that make up its body to fire meteors towards us or form more direct attacks by forming arms, tentacles or blades using the pile of rocks that make up its colossal body. Thanks to the vehicle''s sensors I was able to perceive magical energies leaking from his body, they were from the earth and space elements, my assumption is that he uses the space element to move since it makes no sense how he moves in a place without gravity. Its surface appeared to be reinforced and had no apparent weak points, which wouldn''t make sense to look for anyway since we didn''t have weapons on this vehicle, it also wasn''t necessary apparently. Nara proved to be competent as a pilot much more than I expected, a new pair of arms formed behind her as well as a second head whose face was composed of only 6 eyes, they were made of materialized magical energy, one of the main focuses of our research since the first days and the one that was the third to show results, even my prostheses have some functions that use this technology. I look at her acting calmly and with extreme speed evenly without slowing down, the most surprising thing was to see the increasing number of holographic screens appearing around her and the various eyes in her second head moving individually. It was impossible to understand the gains she was making looking out the window, so I looked at my monitors to see how she was piloting with extreme precision, altering speed, direction, shield focus, and maneuverability to avoid the monster, all while planning the route to cause damage as much delay as possible to our great pursuer. It took us hours to escape this big insistent thing, then it took us 1 day and a few more to reach the second Space Hoop, this one hidden in a lifeless and desert world, it was just a big rocky sphere with no signs of ever having had any kind of civilization. The vehicle enters the world''s atmosphere and falls directly into an abyss full of countless tunnels, after 1 hour moving in this labyrinth of precipices we enter a tunnel that we travel for another 5 hours before reaching the Space Hoop. As soon as we cross the trip it takes 2 more days, I noticed since we arrived in that dead world a tiredness in Nara after the deactivation of her 2 arms and second head with 6 false eyes, it seems that this mode of operation has great weight on her body. But now that we''re in the Tunnel she can leave it on auto mode as she only needs to follow a straight line, at least from our point of view it''s a straight line. Fi?ndd new updates at novelhall.com I spent that day talking to her to find out in more detail about the base of operations that I am responsible for, I also tried to ask about the employees and how they have adapted, it seems that 79% of the employees have already gone through some improvement procedure, whether minor or greater degree. The last day in the tunnel I spent training, I avoided using my prostheses as much as possible during that 1 year so as not to be exposed, apart from some tricky situations where the use of my full capacity was necessary, I did well during that year. Now I have to make sure I haven''t gotten rusty, I start testing both my arms and then my legs, my artificial eye was one of the few things I could use without being noticed, so I concentrated on more physical training aimed mainly at the combat. When we left the space tunnel it was only a few hours'' drive to the base, as soon as we arrived I saw the world below, a gas giant full of poison and the nest of a race with which we managed to reach a non-interference agreement. We move to one of the 5 Moons, the only one with a blue color and the other 3 are purple and 1 is silver. As soon as we get close to the Moon, several sensors in the surroundings connect with the vehicle for verification, but I know that we are being watched since before that, all the Moons have surveillance teams as well as some asteroids that we passed on the way, there are also the long range sensors that should have been finished by now. "Take care of the landing, I''ll get some things from my room." (I) "Yes, Mistress Miriam." (Nara) As I looked at Nara, her performance was exemplary, much of what she did was only possible due to her prosthetics, but this was only used to perfection due to the individual''s own talent. "[Welcome back Madam Miriam and Pilot First Class Nara.]" "[You may understand combat but don''t understand how to lead, believe me when I say that the name of our world will better reveal the importance of this mission to everyone.]" (Astrid) "You''re too confident to say that, you haven''t even heard my report." (I) "[I know you, Miriam.]" (Astrid) "[For you to suddenly decide to come back like that means that the Alpha phase was positive.]" (Astrid) "..." (I) Sometimes I hate how much she can predict what I''m going to do, she''s always been like that, always having two meanings to everything she does, that damn Genie. I spend the next hour telling her everything I''ve seen in that world over the past year, it''s just superficial information fixing more details only on certain things that demand greater importance. After that, I answered some of your questions as best I could before moving on to the last event that showed how much of that world I still didn''t know and what made me take the initiative to close the initial phase of our project to move on to the next step. I told her everything from the precautions with the quest to the full explanations we received when we were teleported to the Elves'' quest location. What followed were things that even I wasn''t sure of, some of the people who went there with me were known and had recording devices that I implanted in items I gave them, after retrieving some of these items, listening to what other people they saw that day and I realized that day myself, I couldn''t hide my surprise at the things I didn''t understand. "[The Saint of Death was also there as well as another unknown Saint?]" (Astrid) "Yes." (I) "[We have already seen 2 World Trees, one of them completely destroyed and the other being protected by Elves in another world, but I did not imagine that its importance was so great for the world, it works as a mechanism of Harmonization, balancing and a connection point of the energy flow of the world, very interesting.]" (Astrid) "[You said there was someone who healed something like that?]" (Astrid) "I don''t know if healing is the correct term, but we can put it that way for now and yes, it was a Vampire boy." (I) "[You said that many of the abnormal individuals were around that Vampire?]" (Astrid) "Correct, the Saint of Death also hinted that she should be careful of my actions." (I) "[The Special Individual was also linked to him?]" (Astrid) "Yes, it seems to be her daughter, her name is Nicole." (I) "[...]" (Astrid) "[Alright, start preparations, we are officially starting the Beta phase of the Zenith Project.]" (Astrid) "Yes." (I) Chapter 1117: Cap 1115: You Saved Me Just By Existing Chapter 1117: Cap 1115: You Saved Me Just By Existing I was talking to the new White Elf Queen before I left, she hadn''t been turned into an Ancient Elf yet, but that was by her own choice, she says she wants to train to control the power the World Tree shares with her before to ascend into an Ancient Elf if that is her wish I respect your wish. Anyway, there are others on the Floating Isle who have already become Old Elves and can take care of her transformation on their own, what matters is that the Elves'' problems are no longer my concern. Each of the 3 World Trees on that continent already have several individuals who have become Ancient Elves, things can now walk on their own without Freya''s interference or mine preferably. When I say goodbye to the White Elf village, I return to the port city that has a lake of clouds instead of real water. I said goodbye to those I knew in the city, it seems that there is still time to rebuild the city since the attack that the Church of Luz made some time ago, but they have people for that. I left the others doing the preparations with the ship that was already looking different once again, now with some metal plates in some areas and it seems that they decided to repaint the ship in a dark blue like the night sky together with stars, the sails of the Ships seem to emit space element energy instead of the wind magic from before, they also painted an Eclipse on the ship''s sails, meanwhile on the wooden deck and inside the ship ornaments of Dragons were everywhere. It was now pretty easy to identify whose ship it was for anyone I ever encountered, but I have to say that drawing attention now isn''t something I mind too much, after everything I''ve been through I''m more inclined to let things take their course while it''s not a nuisance, there''s no use trying to avoid drawing attention to my case, so I''d rather put it aside for the sake of my heart''s health when everything inevitably goes wrong. Nira seems to have managed to help people in the port city with building materials, while I''ve been away taking care of other things, she''s always very responsible, I''d like to give her a vacation, but if I bring that up I''ll get another punch in the face like first time I suggested. With everything ready, we were leaving when a Fairy of Light that we already knew appeared flying at high speed towards us, it was someone that we already knew before and was accompanied, it was Lux, a friend of Luminus and a Fairy Queen of Light. In the past I couldn''t even measure the distance between our forces, the same could be said about Luminus, but after climbing so much in strength our difference is not that big anymore, I still wasn''t on their level, that''s for sure, but the distance it was something he could see clearly. I was thinking about these things as I managed to follow Lux''s movements with my eyes as I allowed her to board the ship, as soon as she landed people looked at her and her companion for only a second before they went back to their tasks. I walk over and say hello to the two before asking them to come in, being polite to a visitor at your home is the basic thing a person should do, I took Lux and her partner to a room where the table was already being set by Freya. On the way I looked at Dragonewt who came beside Lux, her strength was far below me, but it wasn''t the difference in strength that caught my attention, it wasn''t the beauty of this woman either, but her white scales, element of Light Pure in his Aura and the mark of the Church of Light on his chest. But even so, it was strange that she didn''t have hostility towards me in her Aura even though I have a heretic title for her religion which makes all of them feel natural hostility towards me. "Don''t worry about her, actually she''s the reason I''m here." (Lux) -------------- Pov Magnus: I was trying to meditate for a few hours now, it was one of the first things that my mother taught me, in terms of meditation she was better than my father, that''s because her powers were more about affecting the mind and Soul, which needed great control emotional and mental to use efficiently. As I started early with this I prided myself on being my greatest strength, but now I can''t get into a meditative state even after hours of trying. Sigh "Magnus, that''s my name now." (I) "My best wishes on your release and new name, Mister Magnus." (Mabel) "How you recognized me... I understand, to be here accompanied by my Father, you must have heard about me." (I) "A Fairy Queen named Lux brought her..." (Zenos) "I didn''t need others to tell me, I''ve spent my whole life looking into her eyes, I recognize you no matter how much you change." (Mabel) "No need to be formal with me, you were the only one to come back more than once or try to communicate with me, in my view there is no need for formalities between us." (I) "You were there at one of the most horrible points in my life and you were there by my side for that you have my eternal gratitude." (I) "You are wrong, my being there was my eternal gratitude for existing, my lord." (Mabel) "My mother was persecuted by our people and took refuge with the Dragons of Light beside the Church of Light." (Mabel) "I was taught from an early age about the history of the Dragons and the Church of Light, but in my mind, I always thought there was something wrong, the reasons for many great battles were so simple and superficial." (Mabel) "I didn''t agree with anything I was taught, but I couldn''t speak or show how I thought, I saw others being punished for what I myself wanted to do by expressing my doubts." (Mabel) "Everyone was always pushing me, but I could see that I wasn''t the only one having doubts when I was younger, but gradually the anger at being rejected by those of their own race made those like my mother count other races instead of reflecting on yourself." (Mabel) "At a young age, I found myself isolated with people around me insisting on everything I didn''t agree with, I couldn''t sleep and before long my growing fear of those around me made me see them differently, illusions caused by the fears of a child and there was no one who could understand about me, there was no refuge for me even in my house with the mother who had changed to someone who I could no longer recognize being there..." (Mabel) "That''s when I was taken to the Hall of Penance as it was called, an abandoned place in ruins and dust, the only thing there being a giant Crystal containing a Dragon I had never seen before." (Mabel) I saw tears in her eyes as she closed her eyes before continuing her story, I still remembered the child I saw that day, how can I forget the only child, the only person who in thousands of years asked if I was okay. "As soon as I saw that Dragon my eyes filled with tears, my mother thought it was about the fear of such Penance, but the truth was otherwise, I saw in those eyes staring at me a boundless sadness." (Mabel) "The story my mother told me that day was criticizing the fact that you went against the Lord... I mean, the former Dragon King Rhaegal." (Mabel) "My mother spoke criticizing his attempts to go against his Father and his entire Tribe, but in my ears, I heard the story of a hero who, despite being surrounded by people with contrary thoughts that he knew would end in a terrible mistake, fought alone without to be gripped by the same fear that I felt consuming me every day." (Mabel) "You saved me that day just by existing, finally I wasn''t alone, finally I had a safe place to go back to..." (Mabel) I couldn''t feel her Aura due to my inability to control my own Aura, but it wasn''t necessary, I had heard her say that before, but this time I can respond to her words. "I think we both helped each other then, for your presence was the only comfort in my heart for thousands of years." (I) Chapter 1118: Cap 1116: Land Of Dragons Chapter 1118: Cap 1116: Land Of Dragons I can see the ship moving further and further away from the Floating Island, we were returning the same way we did, with the only difference being going directly to the land of the Dragons instead of going around as we did before, which shortens the travel time, I also noticed that the Ship was faster than before. "Dragonewt already taken?" (Kira) "Yes, she came because of Magnus, the two were talking about very personal things, so I decided to get out of there." (I) "Is Magnus your new son?" (Kira) "Now yes." (I) "His strength seems to be as great as mine, but he has no control over his power." (I) "But you should let the others go see him, it seems you are isolating him by forbidding everyone to go there." (Kira) "I''m isolating him, someone so emotionally unstable and with so much power is a risk, especially if you don''t control his power." (I) I was isolating Magnus, taking away my Sisters, Familiars and now this Dragonewt of Light, I didn''t allow anyone else to go there without being accompanied by me or one of my sisters. Magnus needs time to control his power, my sister Natasha seems interested in him and will take care of his training, so I have nothing to worry about. But until he is in a more emotionally safe place and has control over his power, only then will I let him go where he wants as well as visit with anyone. For now, I only allow Dragonewt to be there, that''s because they seem to have some connection, I don''t know if it''s friendship, love, or emotional dependence, but I know that her presence can be of great help, I''ll talk to Karina to talk to her while Magnus is training with my sister. "Zenos!!" (Kira) "Huh..." (I) "What is it? Why are you screaming?" (I) "You got lost in your thoughts again, you weren''t paying attention to my question." (Kira) "It happens sometimes, unfortunately, it seems like a bad habit that I can''t get rid of." (I) ?iscover new chapters at novelhall.com "What was the question?" (I) "What are you going to do with the pod?" (Kira) "I''m honestly still thinking, I''m really intrigued by what I can do with this pod, but I don''t know if I should do it." (I) "For now I''m leaving it to see what I''m going to do with him after Magnus is already able to fight on his own, I don''t want two creatures with strength of my level without control in the Dungeon." (I) "Mother..." (I) "Come my child, we need to talk..." (Goddess Selene) --------------- The next day it was noon when I opened my eyes still kneeling in front of the statue of the Goddess Selene, for me, it was a much longer time. I stand up and take one more look at the statue of the Goddess Selene before turning to the three Esperantos still standing behind me. ---------------- 1 week later I was sitting at the front of the ship when I saw the mountain range that marks the beginning of the land of the Dragons. "Looks like we''re going to arrive ahead of schedule, what did Nicole do with that ship?" (I) "She has been improving the Ship for a long time, but when she returned from the Battle with the Evil God she called everyone to make several changes." (Elizabeth) "I''ll leave further explanation aside, it was a rhetorical question." (I) "You must learn to keep track of what those around you do if only to get an idea of what they do when they are away from you." (Elizabeth) Elizabeth for the last 2 days has been wanting to teach me more about how to be a ruler and she does this by pointing out the things I haven''t done, which are a lot of things, I basically played for Nira as well as other trusted people running the city inside the Dungeon while I only make the most important decisions. Honestly, Nira is more ruler of that city than I am, but it looks like my sister''s patience over this is running out. Too bad I don''t plan on moving, I care a lot about the city and the people who live there, but I just have too many things to do and too little time to do it all. I trust the people who take care of everything in the city and I''m sure they are very competent in their respective roles, much more competent than I would be doing any of their tasks. Meanwhile, I spend my time on training, studying magic and Spiritual Runes as well as meditation which has become part of my training to better understand my Aura or Authority. "Looks like someone came to get us." (I) "Wind Dragons, they are fast, by the numbers they must be an entire Tribe." (Elizabeth) Coming from the mountain range were dozens of Dragons, half of them the size of the ship and 2 of them more than twice the size of that ship. They were approaching very fast and soon stopped in front of the ship, one of the 2 biggest Dragons glows green before its colossal body disappears leaving a human figure with disheveled green hair in its place. "Who are you and why are you heading towards the land of Dragons?" Chapter 1119: Cap 1117: Dragon Castle Chapter 1119: Cap 1117: Dragon Castle As soon as these Wind Dragons arrived the first thing I did was reveal my Dragon Aura and I wasn''t the only one, Natasha and Silvia did the same, meanwhile, Karina came to stand by me as well as Barok who has been on deck with the glowing eyes looking at the Land of Dragons in the distance. Silvia had already told me that Dragons like to reveal their Auras as a form of greeting, the clash between Auras reveals their Tribe, their Strength, their emotions, and their intentions. I must say that I found it strange at first, but then I understood that Dragons who are a proud race and who don''t like to lie, are sure to show who they are in their entirety when they meet. Now that I think about it, I think Father of Nix tried to do something similar to me when we first met, but the difference in strength was so great that it was like something different for me or maybe he really was just bullying me for not liking me. When our Auras were revealed without pushing against the Wind Dragon, he who was in his Human form as well as the other Dragon waiting nearby still in his true form did the same by revealing their Auras. I felt the clash of Auras during their collisions, and soon I began to better understand the two Dragons and confirmed that the one in Human form was the leader among them. When I focused my eyes on him I realized that he was exchanging glances with Natasha, she jumps to stand beside me while pointing at me with a smile on her face. "It''s not me, I''m just hitchhiking, talk to this little one." (Natasha) "Please don''t call me small around guests." (I) "He is not a guest, he entered the ship without permission." (Natasha) "If I ask to lower the ship''s defenses and I haven''t attacked him, then he''s a guest." (I) "That''s a very good point, his arguments have improved, and discussions with Elizabeth are having some effect." (Natasha) "What are you talking about?" (I) "So you didn''t notice, I think you saw having to listen to her talking in my ear after that, damn it." (Natasha) "I think you are diverting from the most pressing topic." (Karina) "..." (I) I wouldn''t let it go, I''ll definitely remember if I come back to this topic after dealing with this Wind Dragon. When I turned to him I realized he was looking at me and waiting, he didn''t seem angry or worried, but I felt him trying to probe my Aura deeper, our forces were very close and that''s why he couldn''t. I took a step forward and held out my hand, he didn''t hesitate to reach out his hand to shake mine. "I''m Zenos, I''m the leader of this ship, I''m going to the Castle of Dragons." (I) "I am Uriel, True Dragon King of Wind and one of the guardians of the border of mountains." (Uriel) "Your Aura is strange, it seems a mixture of many things, but your identity as a Dragon is Unmistakable, but I don''t recognize your Race, which Tribe are you from?" (Uriel) "I had one with the Vampire Empress, I just played my part." (Galius) "Yes, she was a great help in getting my sword back." (Uriel) "Come to think of it, I haven''t met her yet." (I) "She is Elizabeth''s daughter, as far as I know, she is no longer in this world, I remember her coming to ask me for an artifact before going on a mission, but I don''t remember what it was, I was busy with something else and I didn''t pay much attention to what she said." (Natasha) "So my mother is not in our world?" (Vanessa) "What kind of mission needs the High Priestess of Blood personally to take care of?" (Vanessa) "Uriel!?" (Nix) "Little Moon, how good it is to see you, your Aura and strength are completely different from what I remember." (Uriel) ------------- We spent days with Uriel and his son talking inside the ship or taking them to the Dungeon, we spent a lot of time talking, I wanted to know more about the situation with the Dragons and he was a great source of information. In our conversations, I discovered that he was as young as Nix and that''s why he was one of the Dragons who liked to visit her before the event where she was sealed. He said he was there that day, but he was too weak to participate in that battle, he saw everything that happened and dedicated his life to training because of that day, I also found out that Nix''s nickname is something his mother called her, Little Moon. Uriel helped by increasing the speed of the Floating Ship, thanks to that we arrived in a little over 1 week of travel, it seems that the lands of the Dragons are bigger than I thought. When I looked at the Castle of Dragons, even from afar I was amazed, it was as if they had carved out the entire structure of a gigantic mountain. The Castle was big, imposing and at the same time carrying an ancient feeling like some kind of prehistoric ruin or something, I got really excited as we got closer. On the way I met many Dragons, but for some reason, they were all Dragon Kings, it seemed that it was not an accident, they were trying to get to know me, and it seems that a lot of information about me became rumors among Dragons because of Arash spending time with me, it also didn''t help my sister Caitlyn who was the only one able to hold Arash alone for so long traveling with me. It was my first time meeting so many Dragons and I found that they are just as straightforward as Arash, it seems to be a trait they all share, but unfortunately, not all are as wise as I had hoped. Some among them just wanted to fight, clearly, it was me who came to do this ceremony, but instead of fighting me it was Natasha who fought most of the time, that''s why she started the fight, that combat maniac. I was happy to arrive at the Castle and when I thought about what I should do because I was in doubt whether I would wait or go down to enter, a person with wings full of black crystal scales shining as if there were several stars inside. When this person was at the front of the ship, he stood still as if he were standing in the air as if there was something solid invisible under his feet. He stands still in a normal manner before giving a slight bow, pointing with one arm towards the castle as he speaks politely. "I am Ortiz, assistant to the Dragon Emperor, I have been waiting for his arrival, please follow me." (Ortiz) Chapter 1120: Cap 1118:Eclipse Progenitor Part 1 Chapter 1120: Cap 1118:Eclipse Progenitor Part 1 Pov Goddess Selene: It''s been a week and I get up from the throne, but I don''t close the wounds on my wrists, the blood flows from my wrists like an open faucet, of course, the amount of blood coming out is much greater than it appears. I close my eyes and feel the blood that has come out of my body so far, beyond the ocean of blood I''m standing in now, the blood seems to have reached the core of the planet. "It doesn''t look like the vitality is going to be enough..." (I) "The energies of the rest of the universe don''t come this far..." (I) I was restoring a dead world, this was the world that the Evil God that Kalistos defeated destroyed, they not only brought death to all living creatures in this world, they killed the world itself. The Soul of a world comes from all the life forms that inhabit it, from the least of the flowers, the most numerous race of people to the most powerful of monsters, all are seen with equal value by the world, the world gives to conditions for everyone to live and they all take care of the world, at least that''s how it works most of the time. "I can restore the Circle of Souls'' connection to this world, I can even redirect energies to this world, but I can''t do such a thing as guide the flow of energy, I''ll also need a central point." (I) "I''ll leave that to you Aine." (I) "I''ll talk to Dravos, the Spirits will be of great help." (Aine) I look up and see Aine coming, she floats in front of me without touching the blood of this ocean. "I''ve never seen a world so destroyed, now I understand why Kalistos wanted to take action himself." (Aine) "I think even your help won''t be enough, we need a World Tree." (I) "For that you have to loosen your grip on this world." (Aine) To descend to the mortal plane a God needs a compatible vessel that resists his power, but there is another way, to take dominion over the place, the way I did it in this world was to make the Territory of my Divine Realm encompass this entire planet. Only with something on this scale can I try to breathe life back into this dead rock. The amount of vitality I''m pouring into this world is quite large, but it''s necessary and that''s why I can''t interrupt. "Do you think everything will turn out all right? Aren''t you afraid of losing your High Priestess?" (Aine) "She''s fine, your assignment is more of a warning than a threat, at least until they do something more drastic." (I) I couldn''t help but smile at the thought, I don''t like the way these people do things, but it''s not my place to intervene, at least not now. "Stop lying, we both know your intentions, you didn''t call Zenos here for nothing." (Aine) "I did what I had to do, our time is getting shorter, I need it ready for what''s to come." (I) "The creatures of the Abyss might be bad, but we have a lot of powerful individuals" (Aine) One of the prettiest women I''ve ever seen, slightly bluish skin with antennae on her forehead and a long tail completely straight behind, her two eyes are completely made up of irises, she looks calm and speaks softly, but I know how much she is distorted inside. I couldn''t help but smile at such a beauty and walked over to run my hand over her face. "Are the antennas new?" (I) "Yes, I''m glad you noticed, it helped a lot as a conduit to link my consciousness with..." (Haku) "It doesn''t matter its function, only its meaning." (I) "I''m happy with your greed to go further at any cost, I wish all your creations were as beautiful as you are." (I) "My God also rejoices in our arrangement." (I) "Don''t worry, we''re ready to go, but we''re having some problems." (Haku) "What kind of problems?" (I) ------------- Pov Zenos: "I am Ortiz, assistant to the Dragon Emperor, I have been waiting for his arrival, please follow me." (Ortiz) I look at the Dragon in front of me but focused on its appearance from what I just heard. His wings and scales resemble mine, but I''ve clearly never met him before, it also looked different, his scales are rougher than mine, and the stars on his scales are also more fixed while on my scales there are even energy flows. Before I look rude to him, he saw walking to the front of the ship and floated in front of him revealing my Aura, which he also reveals his to interact with my Aura, the Aura collision was simple and at the same time the enough for me to understand his power being star and space based. "Nice to meet you, Ortiz." (I) "I am Zenos, True Dragon King of the Blood Eclipse." (I) "I know who you are Mister Zenos, the Dragon Emperor told us about you and Miss Nix, we are very happy to welcome you here." (Ortiz) "But the ship must stay here for obvious reasons, otherwise I ask you to accompany me to the Throne Hall where the Dragon Emperor is." (Ortiz) I nod and tell them to wait a few moments, then Nix and my other Familiars, as well as Karina, Silvia, Hela, Barok, and Magnus get up to join me, my 3 sisters are also coming together for some reason. We all followed Ortiz into the Castle of the Dragons, it was much bigger and imposing from the outside, the whole place seems to be a witness to countless years, I can''t even imagine how long this castle has existed. I go to a hall with several statues, and each statue revealed the image of a different Dragon, it was an incredible place, but in a room like the whole castle as far as I could see, everything being clean and organized, but there was a statue that seemed to be destroyed without care. Ortiz explains to us that this is the Hall of Dragons, where statues of each Dragon King leading a Tribe or the Dragons who did remarkable things among Dragons are preserved for eternity. "Where to now?" (I) Chapter 1121: Cap 1119: Eclipse Progenitor Part 2 Chapter 1121: Cap 1119: Eclipse Progenitor Part 2 We were taken to the throne room where we found Arash who disappeared the moment the door opened to take his daughter in his arms with a big smile on his face. "You look great, every day that passes you look more like your mother." (Arash) "Dad, we can talk later" (Nix) "But I missed you so much" (Arash) "Sir, we have other people present." (Ortiz) "Everyone here is a person who doesn''t like formalities, so don''t worry, Ortiz." (Arash) "What an idiot father." (Caitlyn) "Come my daughter, I want to know everything that happened since we separated." (Arash) "..." (I) Before anyone could say anything, Arash was already walking Nix in his arms out of the throne room. He didn''t even greet anyone, he simply ignored everyone giving attention only to his daughter, her selfishness was blatant and I didn''t care, I know how important Nix is to him. Without having the Dragon Emperor say what he was supposed to about the Ceremony, Ortiz stood still with his eyes open not knowing what to do before heaving a sigh and leading everyone to our chambers. On the way, he apologized because of Arash''s behavior, but it wasn''t necessary, Arash did it knowing that none of the people accompanying me would care about this behavior. Arash seems a little impulsive, but he''s not an idiot, his insouciance just goes to show that we still have plenty of time until this ceremony I''m supposed to attend. When we were all alone in an empty room inside the Castle of Dragons, I followed Magnus to another room being guided by him, it was the room with the statues where we were earlier. Magnus in his Human form has many of my traits to the point of looking like Nix''s brother as the two share brown skin color, red hair, and different colored eyes. Magnus was 5''7 tall and imposing with a toned body with muscles worthy of a warrior, the way he carries himself is also normal most of the time. One thing I noticed was his nervousness from the moment we arrived at the castle, it was also the first time he left the Dungeon and the floor where he has been training all this time. It seems that none of the Dragons recognized him, but his nervousness was something I clearly noticed the whole way, especially when we passed this hall full of statues earlier. "You don''t need to be so nervous." (I) "I know, but I thought someone might" (Magnus) "The only one who noticed was Arash, but he should have known in advance, I don''t see Luminus failing to tell him about your situation." (I) I noticed Arash''s gaze shift for a second from Nix directly to see Magnus, that''s enough for me to know, for sure he noticed who Magnus really is or was. "But why did you want to talk to me?" (I) "I wanted to talk about Mabel." (Magnus) "If you''re going to ask me for relationship advice, you''re dead wrong, you should go talk to..." (I) "The boy is not wrong, young Progenitor." While talking to Magnus, suddenly a female voice appears from a corner where a gray-haired woman was sitting with a piece of wood in one hand and claws protruding from the fingers of the other hand, she used her claws to scrape the wood when carving a little statue of mine. "I didn''t see the lady there when we arrived, did she hear everything we said?" (I) "Mostly, I was thinking about something else and I didn''t see it when they came in, I just started to pay attention to how much your son panicked explaining." "Honored be Zadiris, Elder of Wood Dragons and mother of forests." (Magnus) "(An Elder Dragon?)" (I) "Don''t be as serious as you were in the past, try to learn from your new Father." (Zadiris) "..." (Magnus) Magnus started to sweat and I can see her hand shaking, but I can''t blame him, if this woman is indeed an Elder Dragon, from her words I can assume that she knows the truth about Magnus, which could put him at risk. I look at her calmly, she''s clearly strong, I can''t say how strong, but at least she doesn''t seem to be hostile towards Magnus and doesn''t seem to have any bad interactions. "Come, I have something to show you." (Zadiris) As I walked behind her, I looked around the hall looking for something and it didn''t take me long to find it, it was a statue that had the name Zadiris with the same titles and race described below, which Magnus called this woman. "(No more doubts when her identity, the question is what does she want with me and why did she make a wooden sculpture of me?)" (I) --------------- Pov Miriam (??????): She would arrive today, and I had to wait for her arrival to follow the next step of Project Zenith, I still wish I had done everything differently, it would have been faster, but she was always excessively careful. "Ma''am, your new prosthesis is ready to specification." "I''m on my way to getting it fitted, I also need a new eye, when will one with the specs I ordered be ready?" (I) "I''ve been told there''s nothing we can do about it, your current eye already has the best specs we can currently use." "(So if something like what happened in the Elf''s forest happens again, I''ll be without one of my senses again...)" (I) "(My domain of Aura is still superficial, it cannot be used as one of the senses, I knew I should have concentrated more on that aspect during that 1 year.)" (I) While walking to the operating room, I was making plans, thinking about each part of the plan, nothing can go wrong this time, our enemies are acting more and more in secret, which demonstrates that they are not alone, so this plan cannot fail. "[Reporting to Base Leader Miriam.]" "[The vehicle carrying the president has just arrived.]" "I''m going to the OR, tell her I''ll be unavailable for the next 3 hours and follow her instructions." (I) "[Understood.]" Chapter 1122: Cap 1120: Eclipse Progenitor Part 3 Chapter 1122: Cap 1120: Eclipse Progenitor Part 3 Magnus and I followed this woman through the castle, the way we were taking it was clear we were heading uphill, but she didn''t say a word about where we were going. This woman appears to be around 40 years old, but her tone of speech seems like that of an elderly woman, her hair is green and her body is in shape, in fact, I had difficulty identifying her as someone in middle age, that''s because her beauty does not can be argued, she is undeniably beautiful. She has short light green hair, dark green eyes, pale white skin, and doesn''t have any Dragon features, no matter how I look at her now, I see nothing but a Human woman. Even though the claws on her hand that I saw being used to make my miniature wood carving were no longer present, her hands were completely normal, and her control of the Human transformation is impressive. I can''t feel her Aura either, it seems that our difference in strength or control over our Auras is too great, maybe I could figure something out if I was more rude in pushing my Aura towards her. Of course, I''m not foolish enough to offend a stranger by doing something rude like that for no reason just out of curiosity, but given everything Magnus had said, it was impossible not to be curious about her. "You need not worry about me Rhaegal boy, I would never blame a child for a father''s mistakes." (Zadiris) "Your changes from her are great to the point that even other Elder Dragons won''t recognize her identity, so rest assured." (Zadiris) I turned my eyes to Magnus beside me, so focused on her that I didn''t notice Magnus'' panic that still hadn''t subsided. "If what you say is true, then how did you find out about him?" (I) "I must say that the changes in him are more than extreme, his body, Aura, and even his Soul are very different to the point of being unrecognizable, even his light power has been transformed into something else." (Zadiris) She stops walking and turns calmly, pointing at Magnus. "But his posture, the way he walks, the way he talks, and the way he carries himself, it''s all still the same, but I only confirmed who he was when he recognized me, not many can do that in the shape I''m in now." (Zadiris) "I see... you''ll have to be more careful from now on, Magnus." (I) "I''ll do my best." (Magnus) After finishing talking, he was silent once more when I realized we were going up a spiral staircase and I looked through the nearest window, we were in the highest part of the castle, on top of the mountain. When we go through the door at the top we are outside the castle and on the highest part of this mountain, the old woman points in a direction and the space starts to undulate before transparent stairs form from the solidified space. ?iscover new chapters at novelhall.come." (Zadiris) I keep walking without hesitation, Magnus follows me without thinking twice as we keep going after her until we feel like we pass through a barrier, and a door of silver bones suddenly appears in front of us, I can feel countless True Dragons Auras from that door. The Ancient One walks through the door without slowing down as I was surprised by the condensed Aura of countless Dragons coming out of the door, it only took me half a second to recover from this surprise before continuing, but Magnus was not as well as I was. "Do I need to know anything else about the Ceremony?" (I) "Yes, your ceremony will not be that of a Dragon King, that''s because you are more than that as the boy told you before." (Zadiris) "You will undergo a Ceremony as a Dragon Progenitor, as the one who brought a new type of Dragon into existence your name shall be engraved alongside your equals." (Zadiris) He finished the last part by pointing downwards, but this time I couldn''t see anything, the Hall below was obscured to me, if I hadn''t seen it before I would have thought it was an illusion. "Be prepared with your willpower at the ready, you''re going to need it." (Zadiris) "Any details on how this is going to happen?" (I) "I don''t know myself, I''ve never seen one of these ceremonies happen in my lifetime, so I couldn''t help wanting to see you in person." (Zadiris) So she was curious about me, I can understand that, she must be very old by the way she talks, also I can''t deny that my situation is peculiar even for someone like her. "I have one last question if you will." (I) "Ask, no need to worry about anything." (Zadiris) "Where exactly is this place?" (I) She smiles at my question. "You might have noticed by now, we''re on one of the moons outside our world." (Zadiris) She says this by pointing to the giant world I saw rising over the horizon, enough of her hint for me to confirm that that was the world we were in a few minutes ago. "Now let''s go back, it''s not your time yet, wait for Arash''s call." (Zadiris) "Yes." (I) With that we went back the same way we took to get there, but this time the old woman separated from us as soon as we reached the top of the castle, leaving only Magnus and I standing there looking around not knowing where she went. "How do you feel, Magnus?" (I) "Honestly? I can''t say..." (Magnus) I looked at him realizing that it had been a lot for him to take in, so I was talking to him as we walked back to our quarters, it seems I need to call the others inside the Dungeon. On the way back I tried to get Magnus to put his mind right when talking about Mabel, I also wanted to plant a seed in his mind, something I''m sure Mabel is hoping too. Chapter 1123: Cap 1121: Eclipse Progenitor Part 4 Chapter 1123: Cap 1121: Eclipse Progenitor Part 4 In the next few days, I spent my time meditating, the image of that place didn''t leave my thoughts, I could feel something there that I couldn''t identify, something that I didn''t know how I was feeling. I was isolated letting others do what they wanted, so I dove into deep meditation, I didn''t care about anything else. I felt that it was something important, but it took me a while to understand what was important. I kept replaying that memory over and over trying to understand what that feeling was, that''s when I realized that Magnus wasn''t looking at the stone monuments with those strange Runes, his eyes wandered as if trying to understand what the Ancient was saying when he pointed to the floor. That''s when I realized he couldn''t see the Hall below the ground, probably just as I couldn''t see it later, but I''m not sure the same could be said for the Ancient One, unlike Magnus who is an open book, that woman didn''t demonstrated nothing. From the beginning we saw her until the moment she separated from us, I didn''t see a single spontaneous reaction from her, I can''t say if this is part of her behavior to be overly controlled or this is a precaution to not reveal anything. After realizing that I couldn''t accomplish anything by analyzing Zadiris'' behavior, words, or actions, I tried to make out something else, either in the crystal columns around me or in what I saw in that hall below. After a few hours I realized where that strange feeling came from, that''s because I felt a slight reaction in my blood every time I was reliving the memory of when I felt being watched, it was a weak reaction, but it was all over my body. Knowing what to look for, it was easy to direct my meditation to explore this feeling further, and for that, I kept replaying in my mind that scene of feeling the observed sense. Meanwhile, I continued analyzing my blood this time in a more focused and thorough way, that''s when I realized that it was not my blood that was reacting, but my lineage. For the first time, I felt something in my bloodline, there was something there that reacted whenever I remembered that moment when I felt watched, but the reaction was too small for me to understand what that was in my bloodline, even after 2 days of trying I got nowhere. On the third day, I got up from the meditation posture I had been in for more than 2 days, the first and most important thing I did was look for something to eat, I had gone days without eating and I was starving. After that, I went to the only person I thought would be able to help explain my doubts, but unfortunately, Arash was nowhere to be found. It didn''t seem like there was even a reference to what I felt, so I tried switching to learn more about the Dragon Progenitors, but I didn''t find much, they seem to be called Primordials instead of Progenitors, but that makes sense since they''re listed as myths and legends among Dragons as suggested by the few books I found on the subject, considering the absurd lifespan of Dragons who live longer than empires. The only thing I found among the Primordial Dragons is the fact that they are counted as children of the Dragon God, but I don''t know how much of this can be interpreted as true considering that Dragon Emperors are also considered children of the Dragon God. ------------------ Tonight when I came back from the Dragons'' library still with one of my arms hanging down healing from the training I had against Arash, I find him in my room, his expression serious as he nods in one direction. I followed him as we walked, at first not knowing where I was being taken, but I soon recognized the path I took weeks ago with the Elder Dragon, Zadiris. I was being taken to the Hall in the Holy Land of Dragons, it seems she was right and that would be the place where my ceremony would be held. On the way I didn''t see anyone, but while we were climbing the highest tower I looked out the window noticing that it''s already getting dark outside, I didn''t even realize that I had stayed so long inside the library. Something I also noticed was the number of Dragons outside flying around the Castle or floating around the Castle, half of them were looking at where I was climbing accompanied by Arash, and the others were looking up, looking at the sky above dusk. When we reached the whole of the Castle of Dragons, I climbed right behind him on the stairs that had been slept on solidifying the space into the form of steps, Arash took me all the way until I felt myself passing through the barrier the same way as days ago. After that, the same gate appeared again, and this time I didn''t hesitate to pass through without effort, the Aura of countless Dragons didn''t affect me much, maybe because I already experienced feeling the Aura of the Gods needing against me or an effect of owning an Authority, but now that I already knew about this Aura, I could enter without being surprised by this Aura like the previous time. As soon as I entered the Hall of Crystal Pillars in the Holy Land of Dragons, I realized that all my children, Familiars, Heroes, Priestess, and my two Saints were there waiting for me, along with them was Arash who passed through the gate just before me and some people I didn''t know, with the exception of Zadiris who was beside them, which made me think that they are all Elder Dragons. "The time has come for the Ceremony of the Progenitor, Zenos." (Arash) With his words all the crystal pillars glowed as the books in them disappeared while crystal statues of various types of Dragon appeared in the place of the crystal pillars. I also noticed that the surrounding space seemed to ripple as the Dragon God''s presence spilled out into the surroundings. Chapter 1124: Cap 1122: Eclipse Progenitor Part 5 Chapter 1124: Cap 1122: Eclipse Progenitor Part 5 I felt the presence of the Dragon God spreading throughout this place and the blessing I carry from him awaken within my body. for new novels But that power did nothing but spread through my body through my veins, other than that nothing else happened. "..." (I) I soon realized something, I could see the statues that had formed from the crystal columns changing shape by moving their eyes all at the same time, but it wasn''t me, Arash, or any of the Elder Dragons that the statues were looking at. The statues were looking at the same point, a place where there was nothing, but I knew it was right in the middle of the hall of monuments below, I remember because that''s where I was standing when I was here a few days ago. "All in their positions." (Arash) "Wait for..." (I) "The focus of the ceremony should be on the center." (Arash) Arash just moved his hands and I was knocked to my feet in the middle, right where the statues were looking. I felt that Arash''s movements were making the energy of the Dragon God around move, he waves a few more times his hands moving my Familiars, children, and those connected to me. Meanwhile, the Elder Dragons were moving on their own, each of them took a position where different Kingdoms will rise, I quickly realized that their positions were the same as the monuments I saw standing below us days ago. My children stand behind me with their hands cut off, their blood flowing to where I was revealing grooves in the floor I hadn''t noticed before, these patterns being revealed by the blood it looked like a mural of drawings about the history of Dragons, I saw something similar in some of the books I read in the last few days. My Familiars knelt behind me as did those who had become my Heroes, my two Saints stood on either side of me, one raising a crystal with the symbol of a drop of red blood, the other with a crystal with the symbol of a Eclipse. I don''t know where these two got these crystals, but it looks like everyone was given instructions on what they were supposed to do, my sisters being the only ones standing around doing nothing. When the grooves in the ground filled with the blood of my sons thrones formed behind the Elder Dragons where they all sat down at the same time, I felt the presence of the Dragon God focus in the design revealed by the blood on the ground. Arash has his scales, horns, wings, and tail become more prominent revealing more of his Dragon nature while staying out of the drawing on the ground. "" (Arash) Arash''s words resonate with the presence of the Dragon God in the surroundings and once again I find myself feeling that feeling of being watched, this time stronger than the last time. When I try to look around I realize that it had changed locations, but only me. This time I was standing completely naked inside the hall with the various monuments that I saw from above days ago, when I looked up everyone was still in their same positions, including me who was still among them. It didn''t make sense for me to see my own body, it was something strange for me, but it wasn''t the first time, what baffled me was the fact that I didn''t know when or how it happened without me noticing. As I was reliving those memories in what could be a fleeting moment or days and days, all the while the questions still popping into my head. That''s when I reached the same conclusion I had taken a long time ago, willpower was always what moved me forward, no matter how desperate I felt or while everyone said it was impossible, I took a step further than anyone I hoped because of my resolve to have the willpower to go further than others and to take risks. Even the times I helped someone was based on their willpower, I never liked reaching out to those who no longer have willpower in their bodies. When I thought of that the questions stopped as a surge of energy surged from within me, being expelled by the Dragon God''s power coursing through my veins. That''s when I realized that the body that was in the hall of monuments was neither my Soul nor a mental projection, it was something much more significant that was always there sleeping inside me without ever being noticed or understood. "(A willingness to walk into the unknown.)" (I) "(A curiosity to reveal all truths.)" (I) "(A resolution never to be stopped on the way.)" (I) As I thought, the body where my consciousness was changing, no longer being in Human form but changing into the silhouette of a Dragon with an image of the universe within it. "A boundless will that surpasses all illusions, this is what I seek." (I) Next thing I knew, my consciousness was back in my body and instinctively I looked down to where I once thought I was, now there was only a new monument with Runes I couldn''t read dancing across its surface. But somehow I knew what each Rune meant even without knowing how to read their language, it was strange and familiar at the same time. I suddenly knew what the monument was, I knew its meaning and I knew its origin, a representation of me and an eternal mark of my existence, a Totem for all those who would one day share my Lineage and descent. A Totem to be the protection of my future descendants, as this was formed I could feel the connection of my lineage with this monument, I could also feel its connection with different intensities with each person here. "" (Arash) "" (Elder Dragons) Ding! With that, the Ceremony ended, but as I stood looking down, I could feel a part of me in that monument, a part of me sleeping as if it wasn''t necessary and the same could be said of the other monuments as time went by. When everyone was taken away only Arash and I were left in that place, even my Familiars left. "From now on every True Dragon in this universe will know about you, they felt the new pillar that joins as a Primordial." (Arash) "So there are things you must do, but it''s all up to you." (Arash) Chapter 1125: Cap 1123: Dragon Totem Chapter 1125: Cap 1123: Dragon Totem I was very tired at the end of the ceremony, but it wasn''t physical tiredness, I was mentally and spiritually exhausted. I still hadn''t digested everything that happened at the ceremony, I needed time to understand all of this before I even started asking questions, but before anything, I needed to rest. When I got back I laid down on my bed to sleep, but I wasn''t able to, my body was full of energy, I had more energy than I had when I went to the ceremony, what needed to rest was my mind and soul. Without having a better solution, all I could do was meditate in the hope that it was enough, with that I spent hours meditating and without realizing it, I fell into a trance state that I only noticed when it was too late. When I opened my eyes I was in the same hall of the monuments where I passed through the Ceremony, in the hall hidden below the hall of crystal pillars. But there was something different, there was no monument around it, I also couldn''t see the Hall of Pillars or the starry sky when I looked up, all I could see was the image of my dreams, a space full of flowing energies and what it looks like a path where I usually walk, but this time I was seeing it from afar. It was at that moment that I saw, as if they were dots on the horizon, people walking this path, I couldn''t see these people from the incredible distance, but for some reason, I knew who they were, they are all my children and some others connected to me. I could see something coming towards me from where they were, it was a red glow, and only when it got closer I realized it was something similar to a line, I say similar because it was some kind of flowing liquid. When I could see these supposed lines I realized that they were all going in the direction that would end up in front of me, it was when I stopped looking up and looked forward that something rose from the ground as if coming out of the bottom of a lake to its surface, it was the same monument that formed during my Ceremony. When this monument appeared in front of me, cracks formed around it as the Runes around it lit up, soon the pieces fell away revealing an image of me in the form of a complete Dragon, the supposed lines falling down to where I was are attached to the Dragon making him open the eyes. Our eyes meet and it was like a door of knowledge opened in my mind, it was like I understood everything that was happening, there was no doubt or answer, it was like I just knew everything related to it. That in front of me was a Dragon Totem, the monument is just a physical representation of the Totem, not the real thing. The true Totem will always be me, a part of me will always exist for those who carry my Lineage, it will not only be a passing on of potential but knowledge and skills for those compatible. A Progenitor Dragon becomes the eternal Totem of those who carry its bloodline, it absorbs the skills, knowledge, and power of its bloodline to pass down to each generation as needed. I can be this Totem, but not my physical self but a version of me, the one in front of me is a representation of my will, Aura, Authority, and lineage. He has as much intelligence as I do, but he''s not sharing his power with me because that''s not how it works, he''s for me to share my power with others, to be a part of the potential they already have. To me, the Dragon Totem is completely useless, but to those tied to my bloodline, it is a leap in both strength and potential, not a power they can consciously seek, but rather a power that will be there to push them when needed. The Totem carries a part of me, the reason for my exhaustion is exactly why a bit of my consciousness and Soul were scraped away for the creation of this Dragon Totem, it wasn''t something I was forced to do, the power of the Dragon God just told me instinctively how to do it, I made that decision of my own free will without realizing it, now I understand it. ---------------- When I opened my eyes again in my room there were no doubts or uncertainties, I knew what I had done, I knew what I was from that day on and I knew that I would always be the support of those connected to myself in death or after it. "Why not create several Dragon Seals? Wouldn''t that be better?" (Nix) "Turns out I have one big flaw, my curiosity." (I) I can''t help but think about it since the thought crossed my mind, a single Dragon Seal being made with so much power from the Dragons of Light, if I use something like that in the cocoon it might be that a super dragon will emerge, or something, maybe your bond with me is even stronger, maybe the power of light will even help balance the darkness I feel from the cocoon. "Master, are you thinking of doing something absurd again?" (Nix) "Sadly yes." (I) "And you still want to use my Dad to deal with the fallout?" (Nix) "That''s the biggest reason to stay here longer, if I don''t know what''s going to happen, I prefer to have some guarantee." (I) "..." (Nix) "..." (I) "..." (Nix) Sigh "Have you thought about not doing something so risky if you think it''s going to be dangerous?" (Nix) "I already thought and I''m still thinking..." (I) "Then why do you still want to do this?" (Nix) "Like I said, I''ll never get it out of my head, the curiosity is killing me." (I) "This is also a safe place to do it, out of sight of unreliable people and with someone powerful to deal with any unforeseen consequences, so why not give it a go?" (I) "..." (Nix) "And they say that Lilith and Layla are the insane ones" (Nix) "Come on, it''s not that bad..." (I) I know I''m wrong, but there are some things that should be tried even though I know the risks, even though I know the dangers I still get the thrill of thinking about the endless possibilities of just trying to do something like this. Chapter 1126: Cap 1124: Border City Chapter 1126: Cap 1124: Border City "I think training won''t be so useful for you anymore, there is something missing that is blocking your growth as a Dragon, I believe that at some point you will get there, so don''t worry." (Arash) "..." (I) cough cough "Let me help you." (Vanessa) "Let him take care of himself, you''re in the middle of your training." (Natasha) I was lying in a pool of my own blood, just like at the end of most of my training with Arash, that bastard uses training as an excuse to beat me up. Vanessa tries to come heal me, but she herself has been training with my sister to improve her healing capabilities, I suggested this knowing that she has been giving less and less focus on the Auge once was her specialty, and she can''t let one of her specialties drop so much just being focused on something else. After some time waiting for the pieces of my bones to come together and my wounds to close, I drink a barrel of blood as I walk around holding my head which has taken many blows today. Without realizing it, I arrived at the place where Karina has been spending most of her time, a Temple to the Dragon God that is inside the Castle of Dragons, there were many other Dragonewts and Dragons in that place, but I could tell that they respected Karina by their looks. I don''t know how I ended up here just walking aimlessly, but I knew it had something to do with Karina and that''s why I went to her. "Something wrong?" (I) "..." (Karina) "Karina!" (I) "Huhhh!?" (Karina) She seemed distracted looking at her hands, her eyes seemed to be locked on an image in her mind, she didn''t notice when I approached or called her, only when I used my Aura in my voice when calling her name did she respond with some reaction. "Sorry, I hadn''t seen you, but I''m glad you''re here." (Karina) She starts to pull me to a hall on the second floor where there was a mural of a Dragon bigger than a planet, whose body couldn''t be completely seen, it was an incredible painting. "Why did you bring me here?" (I) "I just didn''t want people eavesdropping on our conversations." (Karina) Karina pulls out the bandage sphere full of Runes where the power of the Dragons of Light was stored, I''m surprised that it''s the same way I left it when I gave it to her, I thought she was already trying to create the Dragon Seal. When I looked at her face I noticed that she was despondent before she started to speak. "I''m sorry to say this, but it''s impossible for me to do what you asked, the amount of power here is enough for a thousand Dragon Seals, I don''t have enough power to do what you asked." (Karina) One of the reasons I keep questioning him is where we are, if I was able to spot him hiding while still being exhausted, then there''s no way the other Dragon Kings or Arash himself being the Dragon Emperor let this thing go unnoticed. There are only two options, the first being that they noticed and allowed it, which turns out to be an ally or friend, the second option would be a dangerous enemy who revealed himself to me on purpose in order to make it seem like I found him on my own. The second option is too risky and if it''s the right one there''s not much I can do, so I prefer to believe in the first option since it''s the only one I would be able to do something about. "Why would I be of interest to you? Are you a Dragon too?" (I) "[No, I''m Human, but it''s not just about being a Dragon, it''s about your specific race.]" (Orsel) "[The truth is, I am thinking of hiring your services if possible.]" (Orsel) "..." (I) "[I know I might seem too suspicious to you, this meeting might be a little intrusive, so I will withdraw and we can talk tomorrow with the Dragon Emperor present if you wish.]" (Orsel) "I can, but before you go, haven''t I heard where you''re from?" (I) "[I already told you where I''m from.]" (Orsel) "I''ve heard it''s a border town, but you still haven''t told me which Kingdom or Empire." (I) "[I see, it seems there was a misunderstanding, what I meant was that I am from a place called Frontier City, that is the name of the city and it does not belong to any Kingdom or Empire.]" (Orsel) "[This is a normal mix-up, I can explain better next day, so see you tomorrow sir]" (Orsel) "Call me Zenos." (I) "[I apologize for this small event that was clearly troublesome for you, I hope you have a good rest until our next meeting.]" (Orsel) After saying all this space began to ripple and I feel a tunnel form somewhere when the strange Golem disappears as if sinking into these ripples, soon space is back to normal. I was thinking about everything he said, but there was little I could do now, I gave some commands to my Familiars before letting sleep take my conscience. ------------- The next day I woke up feeling great, my power was almost completely back, and I had other things to do, but first I need to talk to the others and go to Arash to talk about yesterday''s intruder. As soon as I spoke with my Familiars, Ragnar told me that he didn''t find the said city on the maps we have of that continent or any we''ve passed through. None of the others found out anything about the person''s name, but it seems that Sakura talked to Nicole about the Golem we saw, hence my daughter''s interest in the subject. After finding out what little information my Familiars managed to find out, it was better than nothing. Now I talk to everyone where I''m going, I wanted to talk to my sisters, maybe they know something, but since I can''t find them, I went after Arash as I planned to ask about my last "visitor" from the night before. Chapter 1127: Cap 1125: What Comes Out Of The Cocoon? Part 1 Chapter 1127: Cap 1125: What Comes Out Of The Cocoon? Part 1 When I went after Arash to find out who was last night''s visitor I found the exact same object that invaded my room yesterday, but this one was 5 times bigger and it was square instead of the cylindrical shape of yesterday, even with the differences in shape and size I managed to know that it was the same thing as yesterday by feeling your presence. Last night this thing was trying to hide its presence and I only felt some traces, but this time I could feel it easily, it seems like it was revealing its presence of its own accord this time. "I was close to calling you here." (Arash) "I wanted to talk to you too, but I see that will no longer be necessary." (I) "Orsel told me about your encounter last night, thank you for not destroying that thing inside the castle." (Arash) "I avoided doing anything because I didn''t know what was going on." (I) "[My Golems by default have defensive devices and some for self-destruction, I did this to protect my creations from being stolen.]" (Orsel) "If you cause any damage to this castle, you already know what I will do to your city." (Arash) "[It wouldn''t be my fault, none of my communication golems have ever been attacked within your territory.]" (Orsel) I walk in and see Arash behaving normally with this crystal cube, it makes me relieved to at least be sure he''s not an enemy, as soon as I walk in the doors close behind me. "Did you know you were coming to Arash?" (I) "[It would be the most logical decision to make, from your non-aggression decision yesterday I assumed was the best course of action.]" (Orsel) "I imagine you have some questions, so you can ask them, I''ll try to answer them in the simplest way possible since this idiot makes many turns on the same subject." (Arash) "The first question would be if he''s an enemy, which I can see not being the case, so would I be happy to know who he is?" (I) "His name is Orsel, his work is similar to that of his daughter Nicole, but the difference is that his research is more focused on the use of crystals." (Arash) "[Versatility makes up for many of the other drawbacks of my approach, magic can resolve or at least alleviate these drawbacks...]" (Orsel) "He doesn''t need to know so much and don''t interrupt me again." (Arash) "[...]" (Orsel) "Don''t let his type of work fool you, he still has an important role, he''s a defender, one of them at least." (Arash) The second question I asked was about Space Monsters, in my head, I was thinking of aliens with green or gray skin and big eyes saying "take me to your leader" or something. But it seems that they are monsters, First generation monsters for the most part with few being able to generate offspring. Space seems to be a very large place through which a lot of energy flows, in space, there is no world that serves as a point to organize these energies and there are no World Trees to solve any problem that may arise. Fortunately, it seems that the planets themselves serve to channel these energies in a certain way, keeping things at a certain level of order, but even then it is not something stable like within a world, and because of that many monsters are formed. I was amazed at how dangerous the universe was, the normal problems like lack of gravity, atmosphere, and cold seem to be the least of concerns. I spent a few hours understanding these things, I also wanted to know this Orsel''s interest in me, but we didn''t have time to resolve it this time, he said goodbye when he was called by someone else. I saw once more your Golem make space float as if it were the surface of water and sink in disappearing just like it did last night. As soon as he left I asked if he could be trusted by Arash, and the answer I got was an affirmative, Arash seems to trust him and respect what Orsel does, he also said that there are many Dragons in Border Town. Not gonna lie, as soon as I heard about this city floating in the universe my blood started boiling with excitement, I wanted to go there, "going where no one has gone before", I couldn''t help this phrase constantly popping into my mind. Arash said he''ll call me when Orsel gets back, but he should be back in 3 or 4 days as today''s talks didn''t go very far as they had to explain a lot of things to me. As I left Arash''s throne room I was fascinated with the idea of going into space, I''m sure Nicole will freak out when she finds out more about it, there were a lot of things to think about, but I must refrain from talking about all of that until I have the next meeting with Orsel. Having organized my mind I turned to my shadow, I could feel the thing inside moving, I have to solve this as soon as possible. With that in mind, I went after Karina once again, I wanted to create another Dragon Seal with the equivalent power of 50 just like yesterday, this left us in a bad state, but it was also our first attempt, I''m sure we can do better this time. When I arrived at the Temple of Dragons I went to Almeida''s room yesterday where Karina was already waiting for me, I spend a few minutes talking to her about what we can do differently to make this process less stressful for both of us. -------------- It was already night when I woke up in my bed inside the room assigned to me in the Castle of Dragons, I remember that yesterday I lost consciousness still inside the room in the Temple of the Dragon. When I turned to the side I could see the closed eyes of a sleeping Karina, just feeling her Aura I know she''s just tired, but she was far from the state of complete exhaustion from yesterday. I on the other hand was feeling awful, today was clearly worse than yesterday and I don''t even know if we succeeded, as far as I remember I''m not sure if the Dragon Seal was fully formed yet. "(Tomorrow I think about it, there is still one last step before the Awakening Ceremony.)" (I) Thinking about these things, I hug Karina and go back to sleep, there are many things to do, I still want to talk to my sisters tomorrow about this Border City. Chapter 1128: Cap 1126: What Comes Out Of The Cocoon? Part 2 Chapter 1128: Cap 1126: What Comes Out Of The Cocoon? Part 2 I was in my bed when I woke up, I have part of my ear literally ripped off by Karina, and Ibuki at some point also got into my bed. I did my best not to scream as I waited for the wound to heal, after which I got up and left them on the bed while I went to do some light exercise. After a few hours, I went to talk to Karina who spoke about the success of the second Dragon Seal with the equivalent power of 50, I was happy to know that everything worked out yesterday. I had already managed to take a look at my physical condition and it looks like I''m fine, luckily I can recover quickly from this kind of energy depletion. I take the two Dragon Seals in Karina''s hands and go with her to the Dragon Temple, the time has come to move on to the next phase of the plan, I called Karina, Vanessa, and my Sisters to take a look at me. I knew there would be risks, but I''m pretty sure that no kind of life-threatening will ever happen to me, which is why I dared to do something so reckless. Convincing everyone of what I was doing was a bit of work, but I''m glad I did it. I was close to using my Synthesis skill, it''s been a long time since I''ve done that, but now I want to use this unique skill to fuse those 2 Dragon Seals into just 1. -------------- Pov Orsel: I walked from the Long Distance Communications room to my private room, which happened to be a lot closer to everything else in this place. Fortunately, few people come here, which allows me to almost monopolize this place for myself. As soon as I entered my office I saw my guest, as soon as I looked at him my magic item turned off, luckily I still have my Aura to collect some tips. "(He interfered with the reading and analysis of the magic item, but how did he do that without me noticing?)" (I) "(His Aura is also totally normal, but clearly that Aura isn''t true, in fact, it''s almost like a magic item Aura so lifeless that Aura looks, he''s hiding his true Aura.)" (I) "I''m sorry for the delay, but I wasn''t expecting visitors." (I) "I believe this is our first meeting so let me start, my name is Orsel." (I) "My name is Marlon, nice to meet Commander of General Defense Affairs." (Marlon) "(We both exchanged names, he behaves well but his movements are kind of weird, he must be nervous and just trying to look calm, I remember doing the same thing when I got here for the first time.)" (I) I wave him down on one of the couches inside the office, my desk doesn''t have a chair for me to sit on. "I heard you asked to speak directly to me, is that true?" (I) He looked straight at me, but there''s little I can see in empty eyes like his. "I am not your enemy, I don''t want to do anything against this city or this world, in fact, I came to warn you in hopes of forming an alliance." (Marlon) "You talk about alliance but you hide a lot of things and even if that''s true this is not the kind of decision I can make." (I) "But you''re the only one who would listen to what I''m saying without attacking." (Marlon) Can''t argue with that, the others would have killed or captured him without a second thought, he''s too suspicious to believe anything he says, but it might still be useful if you let him talk before doing anything to him. "You spoke of danger, could you be clearer?" (I) "I''m just the messenger, my knowledge of the subject is superficial, I''m just here to arrange a meeting if you accept." (Marlon) "Meeting with who?" (I) "With those of our leadership, like you, I don''t have the power to decide anything where I am, but I''m good at talking to people." (Marlon) "I know how suspicious I look to you, so if you want, you can arrange the meeting wherever you want, it could be in this city, in the world below, or anywhere you choose." (Marlon) "You seem very relaxed making such a bad proposition for you guys." (I) "I know how suspicious I am and I was ordered to do things this way, my leader knows it''s hard to trust us, so she''s giving you all the advantages you want for this meeting to happen." (Marlon) "That seems a little reckless to say the least." (I) "My leader only has 3 requests that shouldn''t be difficult to fulfill." (Marlon) ------------ Pov Zenos: I was sitting drinking a big barrel of blood to replenish my vitality, this time all my energies, Aura, Holy Power, Authority, and even most of my vitality was used to complete this synthesis, but I managed. I was having my body healed from the countless wounds that arose on my body from this effort, but that was a price I was willing to pay to complete this project. I look at the Seal of the Dragon that Karina is studying, this time the crystal had the shape of my Coat of Arms, with a difference, there really was a starry sky lived inside the crystal, and the Aura that emanated was my commitment, the power of Light became becoming secondary. All this not counting the size of the seal that is now bigger than my entire body, I see Karina come back to me with a smile on her face. "No problem, that''s still a Dragon Seal and can be controlled like one, but the energy expenditure to use it..." (Karina) "I should have thought of that..." (I) Chapter 1129: Cap 1127: What Comes Out Of The Cocoon? Part 3 Chapter 1129: Cap 1127: What Comes Out Of The Cocoon? Part 3 What should I do now, I was facing another Dragon King one of the youngest ones from what I heard. Today I wanted to take care of the cocoon, but Arash had other plans for me, according to him I needed to learn a lesson as a Dragon. I didn''t know what he wanted at first, but soon a man with golden hair and eyes appeared in front of me entering the Castle of Dragons through the window. He wore simple clothes, but his charisma and good looks were incredible like that of a celebrity, he entered with speed and landed with grace. His skin was white and delicate, his body didn''t look very muscular, and nothing about his presence, demeanor, or appearance indicated him to be a fighter. But I knew better than that, there are no Dragons that don''t fight, the Dragon race are symbols of power for a reason, their entire race is built for completeness, and each Dragon is worth an army. When he was inside the same room as me and Arash, the Dragon tucked in its scaly wings that looked like they were made of burnished gold they were so shiny as it winked at me. "You''re late, Fariel." (Arash) "Sorry, I was solving a problem, people from a Human Realm came to find me." (Fariel) "Weapons or Blessing?" (Arash) "Blessing, I''ve given them a trial and sent one of my Priests to see how they''re going to do it." (Fariel) "Given another impossible task?" (Arash) "I don''t need their wins, what they are going to do could be done by my sister easily, I want to know how they are going to try, it doesn''t matter if they succeed or not." (Fariel) This Dragon spoke casually with Arash who was the Emperor of all Dragons, but now that I think about it, all Dragons act casually with him, the only one who seems to treat him with respect seems to be Ortiz, the one who welcomed us when we arrived. While the two were talking I listened and I understood what they were talking about, I read many tales about Dragons before arriving here and I also read many of the books they have here. Having people come to the Dragon Kings to ask for their blessings or a part of their bodies to be used as material for a weapon or armor is a normal thing to do if it happens. Apart from monster Dragons, True Dragons cannot be hunted by Adventurers, one of the reasons is that True Dragons very rarely do something that harms others, there is also the question of Dragons of the same tribe protecting themselves, in other words, someone it would take enough power to fight an entire Dragon Tribe to even start thinking about doing something so foolish. One thing is for sure, I read that many seek the Blessings of a Dragon, there are 3 types of these so-called Blessings, the first being a part of their bodies given as a gift or agreement, the second being the Awakening Ceremony in the individual doing all his potential to explode out. The last thing would be the Seal of the Dragon, which can strengthen one comprehensively, I read that many Royal families from countless nations come for these blessings as it has a certain continuous effect for those of their future lineage. "Do as you wish, but I didn''t call you for that, but because of him." (Arash) "Red hair, different colored eyes, and a bizarre aura..." (Fariel) "I don''t understand, what''s the point of this training?" (I) "You will know in the end." (Arash) "This training is clearly going to help him, but what''s in it for me?" (Fariel) "An enemy of the same rank to fight, I know has spent little time in combat in the last century." (Arash) "I have to train my children, if I let their mother or my sister do the training they might not survive." (Fariel) "Now they''re big enough to find their own ways of training, so go back to taking care of yourself." (Arash) "I almost forgot to say because you keep interrupting me, but no transformations into your Dragon forms or use of Familiars, just use your Human forms." (Arash) "Commence the combat." (Arash) He and I were listening to Arash, but by the time he disappeared from our path, we were already running towards each other. The first thing we did was a fight with just our fists, the rhythm of our blows started out slow and it was easy to dodge being just facing each other with a few centimeters away. But as time went on, not only did the pace of the fight get faster as we became more confident in our understanding of the other person''s capabilities. None of us had managed to capitalize on our power in effective attacks, but the more the pace of our strikes got stronger and faster, making it harder and harder to dodge. "(This is going to be hard...)" (I) ------------ Pov Karina: I was inside the Dungeon now, in one of the Temple Communal Rooms on the city floor. I was standing on the edge of a lake of Zenos'' blood, I brought Zenos''s Dragon Seal here for two reasons, the first was to absorb the power needed to activate something of that ability. I don''t think even Zenos is capable of doing something like that, unfortunately, he''s not in the habit of letting something dangerous deter his curiosity, so I''m here. His statue is in the middle of the lake of blood, Zenos didn''t notice, but this statue has been collecting his excess vitality by generating more blood to fill the lake, like a holy spring, his blood has helped the townspeople a lot. But now I''ve thrown the Dragon Seal into this lake that''s drying up to the last drop and the more time passes I realize it''s going to take more than just 1 day. "I must get his help..." (I) Chapter 1130: Cap 1128: What Comes Out Of The Cocoon? Part 4 Chapter 1130: Cap 1128: What Comes Out Of The Cocoon? Part 4 My fight against Fariel was getting more and more intense and I noticed something, his aggression increasing more and more. When I noticed their aggression was when the fight stopped being an escalation of testing each other''s strength and became a real fight. His blows were heavy and fast, there was also the problem of each attack being directed towards a vital point or point of importance in the body such as the joints. He threw a punch towards my chest that I dodged with a spin that I used to attack with my elbow, he grabs my arm and pulls as he opens his mouth to bite my exposed neck. I lowered my body and used an Aura blast during a shoulder charge knocking him away from me. His aggressive way of fighting was something I didn''t expect, especially as he started to fight wildly, he even tried to use his teeth to bite my neck like monsters do. I wanted time to try to understand the change in his fighting style, but he wouldn''t give me that time. Fiind updated novels at novelhall.com Before I expected he kicked the ground with all his might creating a large crater behind him as he quickly approached. This time it wasn''t with his fists that he attacked, his Aura took the form of arms and dragon claws around his arms, he used that to attack me. Just by seeing it, I knew my Aura was stronger, but he had the advantage of momentum and gravity with his Aura claws coming down towards me added to his own strength. I tried to dodge to the side, but this time he spun and kicked my stomach not away like I did to him before, he kicked me so that I collided with the floor creating another crater. There was no lull in his attacks as his Dragon claws made of Aura landed on mine once again aiming for my head. I give a kick taking advantage of the fact that I''m lying down, this kick was in a higher part of the crater which made my body go forward, escaping the next attack that hit the ground where I was creating a ditch in the form of claws. He wouldn''t stop his attacks and that was clear, so I couldn''t always be on the defensive, so as soon as I got out of the way of his claw attack I used my tail to wrap around his leg and pulled taking his balance where I took the opportunity to create a sword of Aura that fell towards my opponent. I was more than surprised when he, instead of dodging the attack, concentrated his Aura into a single point and slashed the side of my Aura sword shattering it to pieces, his Aura forced into a single point overcame the difference in strength of our Auras. Having a part of my Aura destroyed like that was like a truck had collided with my brain, but I didn''t have time to feel that pain when a hand with fingers stretched out and closed wrapped around Aura forming the image of a spear that pierces my chest. It just went through one of my lungs and broke a few bones, it was painful but not a problem, I held his arm in place and tried to cut it off with my claws but he used his teeth to bite my arm stopping the movement as his knee hit my stomach causing me to be taken backwards. He took advantage of that moment to free his hand, of course, I didn''t let it go unpunished, I used a kick before being thrown too far to break the bones of one of his arms, even a Dragon King should take a few seconds to regenerate the broken bones of an arm. But he didn''t scream or hesitate, he put his already injured arm to stop the attack of my tail when I was a few meters from him I realized that his Aura was golden, and it was sending his body to Christendom some Dragon features in the silhouette of his body. "That''s not what I asked and you know it, I want to know how he fights." (Arash) "..." (I) "I suspected that from the beginning, but act I''m sure, he doesn''t fight like a Dragon." (Fariel) ------------- I was lying on the bed in my quarters, I was thinking about today''s fight and the things I heard. Soon Nix steps out of my shadow, his clothes as worn as mine, Layla in his hands, passed out and her hair tousled. "Has he become more active?" (I) "Yeah, it looks like he moves based on the damage he''s taking." (Nix) "It was really bad?" (I) "Since you asked to just hold and not attack, we couldn''t do anything but defend." (Nix) "Sorry, tomorrow morning I''ll take care of him once and for all." (I) I asked Layla and Nix to stay inside my shadow taking care of the pod, during training with Arash I noticed more and more activity from the pod, there was one time where I was totally crushed in combat and the Cocoon tried to get out of my shadow. I couldn''t leave things that way and so I asked 2 of my Family members to take care of him, it seems I made the hill as otherwise it could have interfered in today''s match. -------------- The next day I woke up and went to the mirror, I couldn''t help thinking about what I heard yesterday after the match, but I had other things to do. After that I went to meet Karina inside the Dungeon, she was waiting for me on the training floor, the Dragon Seal much less than before, but the feeling of power inside was dangerous. "Is everything ready? Is it going to work out the way we think it will?" (I) "Yes, but it''s still going to be very difficult, it would be better to do some preparations, I''ve already talked to Lyra and Natasha about the plan, I''ll have everything right in a few more hours." (Karina) "I think I know what you mean." (I) Chapter 1131: Cap 1129: What Comes Out Of The Cocoon? Part 5 Chapter 1131: Cap 1129: What Comes Out Of The Cocoon? Part 5 Karina and I were on a floor of the Dungeon, before starting I called Alice and Eva too, and following Alice''s advice I decided to call my Heroes Lock, Veronica, and Athena. Karina had told me to bring my children, but I refused her advice, I would not bring my children here without knowing what will happen, my Familiars, Saints, Priestess, and Heroes are safe in a way, that''s because they have a connection with me that allows me to send power to them or use instant teleportation magic to get them out of here. I let my sisters know what I was going to do today the same way I let Arash know, but I don''t expect any of them to show up. "Everyone stay back, just leave me here while you stand back and watch." (I) I waited for everyone to be further away, Karina had already left the Dragon Seal nearby, this time I don''t need her help since I''m going to use an Awakening Ceremony, I already know what I''m going to give him. for new novels I look at the Dragon Seal, even though it''s a foreign object and it''s bigger than me, I still feel like I''m looking in a mirror, the crystal is completely red and I can smell my blood coming from it. "We can''t get the party started without the main character." (I) Once I confirmed that everyone was reasonably far away, I pulled the cocoon from within my Shadow, its size was quite different from when I last saw it in the World Tree Forest, but I already knew that by feeling it inside my shadow. Its size now reaching 10 meters, its surface is covered with scales, the red and black lines look more like fur across its surface, and the red tentacles sticking out of its body are now made of blood that become more solid the farther it gets away from the Cocoon with their tips looking like red crystals while the base of the tentacles appear to be made of fresh Blood. As soon as I took this thing out of my shadow the weak suction of energy from the surroundings from before coming to my shadow became almost a tornado around the cocoon as the energy from the surroundings began to be sucked in with fervor. "Stop you damn sweet tooth, you don''t need to gather energy you can''t keep, I''ll plug the hole you feel right now, so be quiet and wait just a little longer." (I) "..." I touch the cocoon with no problem, him using one of his tentacles to stroke my hand and the other to stroke my head. He still lacks intelligence, but I can feel a powerful instinct in his Aura, I can also feel a lot of myself in him, but that''s to be expected, this cocoon was created from my lines, blood, and an original Curse of mine, it also absorbed much of my powers during my evolution and I''m still not even sure who the people my sisters nurtured the cocoon were. I''m not sure if he heard and understood my words or could sense my intentions through my Aura since it''s so similar to his own Aura, but that doesn''t matter now as long as he stops absorbing energy from the surroundings that way, it might harm the Awakening Ceremony. I lead him to stand in a position on flat ground, meanwhile, the Dragon Seal stays by my side, at least until I grant it to him in a few moments. After that I draw about 100 barrels of my own blood, this is just a precaution as you never know what could happen. The Cocoon seems to react to my blood and the Dragon''s Seal, but sensing my will or perhaps having heard what I said earlier it fixed where it was, but its tentacles still pointed towards the Dragon''s Seal and the barrels of my blood. "I think we can start, let''s see where this goes..." (I) "< Blood Eclipse Dragon Demigod Authority >" (I) Ding! ------------------ "I know I''m pretty, but I don''t share your tastes..." (Astrid) "Shut up, your jokes are not funny and we share the same tastes just so you know." (I) "Now tell me more about the content of the conversation you had and why you didn''t tell me about it sooner." (I) "We spoke about very few things, it seems his motive was to try to find out more about us but I avoided all problematic questions and he was not able to see me or hear my voice, I did not reveal anything to him but I think he tried to trace the connection Magic." (Astrid) "I know, I said this could happen, has the security system I suggested been activated?" (I) "Yes and the second signal was activated long enough to warn him of his failed attempt, but that alone demonstrates some of our capability, he at least confirmed our meeting date and location." (Astrid) "Where is it? It must be somewhere where they have complete control, at least that''s how I would do it if I were in their shoes." (I) "I passed the coordinates to your communication system, I also left a copy of our recorded conversation." (Astrid) "The most important thing is the date, it will be in 5 days, the place is already specified as I warned." (Astrid) "..." (I) I have no doubt that she handled it all well, but I still don''t like this plan, going to the place of their choice is more than risky, especially since we are suspicious people in their eyes. I know we need to show a little vulnerability to have a chance to talk to them, but being vulnerable has been my biggest concern. "Have your demands been met?" (I) "Yes, otherwise I would have refused, some of these demands are good for their side, so there''s no reason for them to refuse." (Astrid) "Aside from needing you to finish assembling your elite squadron, we''re going to need them there, we may be at an apparent disadvantage in the place you''ve chosen, but I''ve made it clear that we won''t be defenseless." (Astrid) "You didn''t have to tell them that." (I) "They already expect us to bring people into combat, would saying or not saying it make any difference?" (Astrid) "I''m creating new prostheses for you and the people on the list you gave me, but it''s still lacking, my field of knowledge about magic and its materials is still far behind." (Astrid) "Okay, I already have a new prosthesis, focus on what you''re going to say, your words will decide whether we''re going to get out of there in a handshake or fight to get you out of there." (I) "I hope the first option..." (Astrid) "This is a mutual wish..." (I) Chapter 1132: Cap 1130: What Comes Out Of The Cocoon? Part 6 Chapter 1132: Cap 1130: What Comes Out Of The Cocoon? Part 6 "< Blood Eclipse Dragon Demigod Authority >" (I) Ding! This is the skill I got during my last Evolution, a Transcendent-level skill, whatever that means, a skill that had its power partially sealed away by the various Divine Blessings I carry. I''m not sure how far this skill goes, but just like another Skill of the same Transcendent level, the two skills are in a new place that has appeared in my stats called Transcendent Skills. I tried asking my sisters about it, but none of them told me anything about it, Ragnar seemed to know something and he wouldn''t tell me either, so I thought I''d let it go if I wanted I could force Ragnar to tell me everything he knows, but as my Familiar I believe he wouldn''t hide things from me without reason. As soon as I used that hour my Aura and Authority instantly mixed with my Holy Power creating an area that kept expanding until I willed it to stop, this area is different from a Territory where I use my Authority to take possession of an area. This time it was different I wasn''t taking ownership of my surroundings, it was different, I don''t know how to explain it well, it was like I was imprinting myself on the surroundings, I wasn''t cutting the space around me and building a Wall by claiming to be mine as they are the Territories, I was bleeding my presence by letting it be absorbed by the surroundings as if I were becoming part of the environment, it was an opposite process of creating a Territory. The way I gained control over this area was also different, in a Territory I was the ruler and that''s how it worked, becoming supreme of that area where I rule. But within that area that I just created it was different, the process was much more subtle and delicate, if the Territory can be summed up in control, this area can be summed up in influence. I felt everything inside that area as if I were meditating to look inside myself, I could perceive the energy flows that already existed here and let my Authority bleed in them making it naturally travel throughout this area interacting together with the world. The sensation was so new and strange to me that it momentarily distracted me from my goal of coming here, my mind just got carried away by these new sensations. When I returned my attention to the cocoon I realized that all the energy flow in the area was being concentrated around the cocoon, but keeping away, I could feel that it was waiting for my willingness to interact with it in the same way that it did with the others who also became involved found within that area. When I use my Aura to touch the cocoon everything around me seems to take it as my will to interact with the cocoon and the entire environment has responded to my will. I felt the energy flows from the entire area connect and merge with mine as they became the connection between me and the Cocoon as all of my power passed through this natural flow to be absorbed by the cocoon. All my Mana, Ki, Spiritual Energy, Holy Power, and Vitality was passing through this invisible flow of energy until I reached the cocoon, I could feel it happening but nothing could be seen differently with my eyes. Ding! I could hear the system chimes, but I knew they weren''t about the Awakening Ceremony process, at least not yet, this was perhaps referring to that area that I prefer not to worry about right now, I don''t want to have unnecessary distractions while I''m taking care of this cocoon, I just want to see the notifications regarding the Awakening Ceremony to make sure how the process is progressing as I have done so many times before. I feel the energies pouring out of me at a speed that surpasses anything I''ve felt before until it completely fills the cocoon. Ding! <[ Transcendent Skill [ Blood Eclipse Dragon Demigod Authority ] was used to perform an Awakening Ceremony]> . . . <[ An incomplete individual has been marked as a target for the Ceremony of Awakening ]> . . . <[ An incomplete [ Nascent Soul ] has been detected in the incomplete individual ]> . . . <[ Impossible to perform the Ceremony of Awakening on an [ Embryonic Creature ] with [ Soul Nascent ] due to having neither body and Soul required to initiate the Ceremony of Awakening ]> .Fiind updated novels at novelhall.com . <[ Mavis (Goddess of Life) partially removes the Title Seal [ ] and Transcendent Skill [ Blood Eclipse Dragon Demigod Authority ] ]> . . <[ The Eyes of various Gods were directed towards you ]> . . . <[ Starting Awakening Ceremony ]> I didn''t understand everything that was happening, many notifications were popping up at the same time and new sensations hammered in me with almost no time to read the notifications in an attempt to understand what was happening. At first, I felt my power fill the cocoon, but by the time it was filled and the Awakening Ceremony was supposed to begin I felt like I was being restricted, it was like I was constantly pressing a switch during a power blackout, no matter how much I pressed, nothing happened. I didn''t stop trying and my will to continue only grew by the second until the environment itself shook along with my Aura as I tried to force my way through each time realizing more the instinct that I was almost there. When I managed to activate the Ceremony of Awakening the feeling spreading through me was unlike anything I felt the previous times, it was heavy and forbidding, I could feel the blessings within me react, but they did nothing. Soon came three powers that flooded the surrounding area, an energy that was Life itself, an energy that made me feel like I was surrounded by Blood on all sides, and an utterly savage tyrannical energy. I also felt as if several pairs of eyes were focused on me, I didn''t fully understand these sensations, it was only after reading the notifications that I realized what these sensations were. I couldn''t help but break out in a cold sweat with everything that was happening, the strange things were already starting at the beginning without giving me any time to react calmly, things were happening in a chain from one country to another with me only being able to count on instinct to follow. I felt like someone devoid of the sense of sight from birth trying to understand the shapes of things or the appearance of the world around me with the initiative difference that there were no people to teach me anything, I had to walk while tapping into things relying purely on my instinct not to do something wrong, which I suspect I''m already doing. All I know is that suddenly the Blessings of the Goddess of Life, Dragon God, and my mother inside me started to travel through my body, but it wasn''t meant to give me power, I actually felt a feeling of freedom at the same time as of overload where I almost lost consciousness. The 3 Blessings only served as a buffer for the pressure coming from within me as they seemed to try to guide me, I simply followed in hopes that it would all be over faster. I felt relieved to have something to point the way for me. ----------------- Pov Elizabeth: I couldn''t believe what I was seeing, I knew something would happen, but I didn''t imagine the appearance of a Sanctuary, I didn''t think it would go that far even without the knowledge about all this. "I never want to hear about being drastic in my youth again." (Caitlyn) "He''s crazy, did you tell him about the Shrines and Holy Lands, Elizabeth?" (Natasha) "Of course not, it was too soon for him and I didn''t want to see him in a state of unrestrained curiosity." (I) "(As is happening now, this fool is going much further than I thought, I can feel the presence of the Gods watching from outside the Sanctuary.)" (I) The cocoon before in red and black colors now had a layer of power around it that resembles a starry sky, it just looks like a silhouette of a portal that leads to the stars, this is the power of Zenos taking effect in the cocoon. "The flow of energy is weird..." (Caitlyn) "Vital energy is also behaving strangely" (Natasha) "Is he trying to create a body like we expected or is this something else?" (I) "(Is there something I still haven''t figured out about the pod or Zenos? Why can''t I understand everything going on?)" (I) "What are you doing now little brother?" (I) Chapter 1133: Cap 1131: What Comes Out Of The Cocoon? Part 7 Chapter 1133: Cap 1131: What Comes Out Of The Cocoon? Part 7 This whole process was being heavy for me, far beyond what I expected, I think I was too naive to try to complicate things, the Awakening Ceremony is in its initial phase and I can already feel my legs starting to get weak, I can''t even imagine when the time comes to grant power and I have to use the special Dragon Seal I created. I can''t help but worry, but I can''t lie to myself, it only heightens my curiosity in proportion as I realize the danger I''m walking into on my own like an idiot. Sigh "I don''t like to change the things I decide..." (I) I spoke low enough for no one to hear, I just needed to get out the frustration of thinking about giving up halfway through just because it''s hard, that''s something I can''t accept in myself. I know it''s suicidal thinking to say the least, especially considering this current situation, but even in my childhood in my previous life if I had given up at any of the difficult times, I would never have achieved anything, let alone reached the age in which I arrived, I would not have been able to start my video game company and I would never have been able to help the orphanage. Even in this current life, if I had given up at some difficult or dangerous time, I might not have even made it out of the Forest of Blood alive or I would still be wandering around the outskirts of Valen City. "Advance even if your legs break along the way, then drag yourself with your arms to advance further..." (I) I never let anything stop me, I never used the convenient excuses I could use to give up on something or not even start something, I could have said that I was an Orphan, that I had a weak body, that my health was getting worse and worse, I could have said that it was just a Leech or just a Goblin, there were so many convenient excuses that no one would criticize if one chose to give up at some point. "In the end, it always comes down to my will..." (I) It''s always been that, I knew when I was just an orphaned child, I knew when I was just a sick man struggling to stay conscious in a hospital bed one more second, I knew when I was a Leech in the middle of a forest full of Monsters and I know it now. Willpower is always the first and most important step, if you don''t even have that willpower to move forward, then there''s no way to go. Ding! <[ Starting Awakening Ceremony ]> . . . <[ The Incomplete Individual is already fundamentally connected to you ]> . . . <[ Incomplete Individual is already subordinate to you ]> I could feel the connection between me and cocoon as I strengthened my will to continue, I made this connection mix with the energy flows between me and him to further strengthen the connection, I still have my doubts of the creature I am helping to create here, so the stronger that connection is, the better for me. That he is fundamentally connected to me is not surprising, it is born from a Curse that I invented and used, even the base power that circulates through his body is something that came from me, he also does not have a Soul or mind of his own to make decisions, his Basic instinct is too primitive for that sort of thing, so I figured I wouldn''t need any permission other than mine. Ding! <[ Grant 3 powers to incomplete individual ]> My body was already weakening from the amount of energy and vitality leaving my body, even some of the full barrels of my blood around me were already half full in an attempt to replenish the blood evaporating in my veins to become additional vitality going to the cocoon. My Soul was also receiving tremendous pressure both because of the attention of the Gods and the Awakening Ceremony itself. But now my mind was also being affected, the amount of Skills, bloodlines, and their variants appearing in my mind now was like a punch, mainly because certain objects that I didn''t expect appeared, but I''ll ask my sisters about that later. By that time I had already thought about what to bestow on this Cocoon. 1. [ Blessing of Zenos () ] 2. [ Blood Eclipse Dragon Demigod Authority (Zenos) ] 3. [ Seal of the Primordial Dragon of Eternal Light (Zenos) ] As soon as I selected the three things I had thought of I began to notice inconsistencies, when trying to bestow my Holy Power I already knew that a Blessing in my name would come, but this Blessing is not written with what I expected, there were things that I myself did not could read being inscribed in the same Runes that my Dragon Totem has in its monument. I was simply having trouble keeping up with events, but that didn''t seem to matter as everything continued while forcing me to maintain consciousness. Ding! <[ Zenos () created a of Eclipse ]> . . <[ ]> . . <[ ]> . . . <[ Beginning Process of forming the physical body of the incomplete individual using the Materials and [ Vital Energy ] already available ]> . . <[ Beginning the transition and awakening from the [ Embryonic Creature ] to a ]> . . . <[ Beginning Process of forming a true Soul for the incomplete individual using all [ Soul Energy ] already available ]> . . <[ Beginning transition and awakening from [ Nascent Soul ] to Holy Soul ]> . . . <[ Do you allow the use of your Mind and memories for the base formation of the mind, consciousness, and personality of the incomplete individual? ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> . . . <[ Fragments of memory and consciousness of hundreds of unidentified individuals have been detected, do you want to use them when refining from your higher will for incomplete individual mind development? ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> Chapter 1134: Cap 1132: What Comes Out Of The Cocoon? Part 8 Chapter 1134: Cap 1132: What Comes Out Of The Cocoon? Part 8 My head was confused, my Soul was shaking and my body was shattered, but strangely I felt almost no pain, the biggest feeling that weighed on me was absolute exhaustion. I don''t know how this Area I created was keeping me on my feet, but I was very grateful since I wasn''t able to continue standing on my own, just maintaining awareness was already an exercise of will that was demanding a lot to maintain. System notifications about the progress of the Awakening Ceremony work well to keep my mind focused on the task at hand. A lot of unexpected things were happening and I decided not to think about any of it, I wasn''t in a position to worry about each thing happening or wondering why things happened like that, those were concerns for the Zenos of the future. The only thing I thought about for a few seconds were the two system questions, or should I say the questions the system was asking as it voiced the needs of the Awakening Ceremony. Using my mind and memories as a basis for this creature was an easy thing to do, I know from experience that these things will not define the creature''s personality and self ego since it was not itself that lived these memories, the only thing that will be useful will be giving information about the world, emotions and ways of interacting. Hela is a perfect example of this, when I created her I made sure to use the memories of her previous life, a Priest of an Evil God who was creating an army of Undead, but even so from the beginning, she never acted like she did in her life previous even though it''s the same Soul with the same memories, so I believe using my mind as a base pattern isn''t bad. Using the same line of thought, I allow to use the minds of those who were devoured by the cocoon, the memories will only be additional information in the mind, and his coexistence from now on will be what will define his personality and character. Giving both permissions I felt a flow of energy swirl inside my head before passing through the natural energy flow going to the cocoon, in a way it was something that made my mind more awake when being stimulated. Having less struggle to maintain consciousness, I was able to pay attention to the changes in the cocoon that had a large anthropomorphic Dragon holding a sword by the hilt facing downwards and surrounded by the starry sky as if it were part of it. There were also countless stars swirling around the cocoon making it increasingly difficult to see him in the middle of them, a stream of stellar energy had been descending from the Sword to the cocoon for I don''t know how long. And as soon as there were so many stars around the cocoon that I couldn''t let any trace of it appear, the stars crystallized in the shape of a big egg and that''s when I saw movement in the three in front of me. Alice, Karina, and Eva who were at my side move in the same rhythm assuming positions around the big starry crystal egg forming a triangle around it, their Auras fused with the area I created seems to form a song that I could only hear with my Aura as his words began to sound laden with my Authority. "< May you be the Guardian of the will of the one who embodies chaos now and forever being the one who proclaims his will and his Way. >" (Alice/Karina/Eva) "< Receive the Power your will desires! >" (Alice/Karina/Eva) "< Come into existence in his name! >" (Alice/Karina/Eva) "< May your body be the manifestation of his power! >" (Alice/Karina/Eva) "< May your mind be an example of his ideals! >" (Alice/Karina/Eva) "< May your Soul be a symbol of his will! >" (Alice/Karina/Eva) "< In the name of Zenos, I testify! >" (Alice/Karina/Eva) "< In the Name of Zenos, may his will be Hallowed! >" (Alice/Karina/Eva) "< In the name of and Zenos come to exist under this land! >" (Alice/Karina/Eva) Every word spoken by them was charged with my Authority and an image appeared behind each one. The pressure I was feeling was the same as he felt because of the Dragon Totem msu on top of him pointing the Star Sword towards him, I was sharing in his senses without realizing it and stopped extending my awareness towards him as soon as he regained calm, as soon as I did that the pressure disappeared and I saw his desire to be named. I could give him any name, but it would be boring, I prefer to do what I usually do and that''s why I spent all this time until I got to the Castle of Dragons thinking about a name for him. Its origin comes from a curse called the "Curse of the 4 Hells" that I created during my curse studies and used it only once against a Judge of the Temple of Law who did something disgusting in my view, but that was just the base, I used it this curse as punishment against that judge, I also know that my sisters used the cocoon as a form of execution against those who tried to take advantage of the horrible citation that the Gray Elves were passing around with their World Tree and the Dragon Seal that I used just now was something that came from the Dragon God''s Judgment of an entire Tribe of Light Dragons accused of betraying their own race. From beginning to end this cocoon has been associated with judgment, punishment, and execution to the point where it''s part of what it represents, so I''ll name it accordingly. I will name a God from the world of the dead responsible for judging those who die, condemning sinners, and guiding souls towards their final reincarnation. But even with a name like that, I hope he lives not for condemnation but for the opposite. "I give you the name Hades, may it be a guiding symbol rather than a condemning one." (I) Ding! <[ Hades (Blood Eclipse Guardian Dragon) has been ascended to [Divine Servant] since birth ]> . . <[ Hades (Blood Eclipse Guardian Dragon) will be limited by Zenos'' current strength level () ]> Ding! <[ You have acquired the Title [ The One Who Creates Life ] ]> . . . <[ Interference from Various Gods related to You caused the title [ ] to be temporarily resealed until the requirements are met ]> I felt the Blessings of the 3 Gods sinking into me once more before becoming inactive, then I felt the power of multiple Gods weighing down on me for just 1 second before disappearing, then the entire area around me shattered being sucked into the flame as the image of the starry sky, the Dragon Totem and the Stellar Sword disappears swallowed by space. I see Karina, Alice, and Eva falling to the floor unconscious as the images on their backs disappear along with the column of light that surrounded them. I myself feel my consciousness blink barely registering the ground approaching my face as I fall. I forced myself to maintain consciousness just long enough to strain my head in an attempt to see the egg trapped in stellar flames, but all I saw were the cracks forming in the egg as the stellar flames were sucked into the cracks in the egg that covered its entire surface. I could feel that it was being hatched and I forced myself to remain with my eyes open until the first part of the egg shell fell away turning to dust revealing the eyes within the darkness of the egg. Our eyes met instantly and I couldn''t help but smile when I saw the clarity in those eyes before I lost consciousness falling into a deep sleep. Chapter 1135: Cap 1133: Hades Part 1 Chapter 1135: Cap 1133: Hades Part 1 When I regained consciousness I still couldn''t open my eyes or even hear anything, I wasn''t able to use my Aura either, every part of my body was hurting and my mind was heavy. The only thing I felt besides the sensations of the precarious state I''m in, was feeling like my body was floating in a warm pool, it was very nice and relaxing. Another thing I felt was the smell of blood and from time to time someone was throwing blood in my mouth, the taste was a mixture of the blood of Vanessa, Natasha, Alice, and Karina. Their blood has always been the most nourishing to me, my two Saints probably because of their position, Vanessa for being a Saint of the Blood Goddess who is my mother, and Natasha for carrying the Authority of healing. Maybe it was because of this blood that I smelled this all the time, I felt that this blood was charged with Holy Power and life healing my body from the inside, meanwhile, the pool it was in was carrying all kinds of energy that my body absorbed to replace what I lost. I was being fully nourished, but I was still too weak, I didn''t know how much time was passing and none of that made any difference to my mind that wasn''t getting better. I couldn''t tell the state of my Soul and I decided to put it aside temporarily since it wasn''t something I could take care of now, as my body was receiving some kind of treatment, I decided to take care of my mind by myself and for that, I decided to meditate. I tried ignoring all sensations and emptying my mind, which proved easy as I wasn''t able to use half of my senses at the moment and soon fell into a meditative state. I don''t know how much time has passed, but my mind is becoming lighter and lighter, so I was able to think more clearly, which allowed me to take short breaks in meditation to check the state of my body. After an unknown amount of time, my mind and body were in a slightly acceptable state, that means I could at least stand up and walk or even open my eyes, my senses were also coming back, but beyond a few footsteps I hear sometimes, I wasn''t able to hear anything else. My energy reserves are also completely full and my Aura was in acceptable condition, in fact, it was in the best condition. Sigh When I took a deep breath, I tried to lift my head and open my eyes little by little, it took a while to get used to the brightness of the place, but soon I could see that I was floating in a pool of blood in front of a statue of mine. It only took me half a second to realize the situation looking around confirming that I''m in the Hall of Statues of the Temple Communal and that blood I''m floating in belongs to me. The only thing I don''t understand is why they left me here, there were some people kneeling on the edge of the pool of Blood, they were 2 Lamias, 6 Lizardman, and 1 Elf. Everyone was kneeling and with their eyes closed with some with their foreheads against the ground, maybe it was because I was my blood or because I was still here, but I felt a slight trace of energy flow from them into the blood of the pool before I came to me being absorbed into my body, that trace of energy even carried a bit of Holy Power. I calmly stand up, I don''t remember how deep this pool is, so I try to use basic non-elemental magic to float without lingering over these people who were clearly praying to me. Soon I felt the space around me double and I realized that the surroundings changed, this time I was in a room on another floor of the Communal Temple, inside the room there was a Layla looking at me upset while eating a slice of pizza while in her Human size, there was also Vanessa and Karina who were talking to Lilian with their children. Lilian and her family got on their knees as soon as I appeared, I greeted them before leaving to do some errand at Vanessa''s request, then Layla returned to her small Fairy form and left saying that she would warn the others. I was left half-sitting in the living room with Vanessa wiping the blood from my body and Karina giving me her wrist to feed on. I wasn''t lying, I''ve been in much worse situations and with injuries that couldn''t be seen just by looking at me. The two looked at each other once more, but the truth is that their opinion doesn''t matter this time, I decided to go there and I hardly change my mind when I make a decision. ------------ I found that I woke up after the biggest day, in the early afternoon, to be taken on Orion''s back with Ragnar seconds at my side with Sakura on my back as my other Familiars followed flying around me, Nix the only one within my shadow. Apart from my Family members, only my 2 Saints and 3 Heroes came with me due to insistence, my sisters weren''t around, but I suspect I''ll find them where I''m going. As soon as I got to the floor where I performed the Hades Ceremony, I could see the barrier, it was the exact size of the area I created for the ceremony. "The barrier was smaller than that, it''s been expanding to this size just last night." (Orion) "..." (I) My Aura was fine, but it still couldn''t extend there, so I waited to get close enough to feel this barrier with my Aura, it had a similar feeling to the area I created by accident that time, but it was still different as if it was some kind of copy. The barrier was filled with Holy Power and Authority that were almost identical to mine, but it wasn''t achieving the last step of bleeding into the surroundings and becoming a part of the environment in harmony. The barrier was black in color with red and white energy flows running through all corners, the shape of the barrier is also different from the area I created that time, the area was circular with me in the center, but this barrier was triangular. "You woke up fast." (Elizabeth) I turn my head in one direction and see my 3 sisters flying towards me, just like I thought, they''ve been keeping an eye on him this whole time. "Were they watching?" (I) "Unfortunately yes, that shouldn''t even be possible at your current level of strength and you even used a Dragon Seal so out of the ordinary that even I wasn''t sure what could come out of it." (Elizabeth) "I''m curious, the Aura I felt before was pretty cool." (Caitlyn) "If you take away the murderous desire, hunger, and boundless ferocity, then I guess it could be considered cool." (Natasha) "I think I felt traces of the energy of hell" (Elizabeth) "..." (I) The 3 don''t fool me, I can see the spark of curiosity in each of their eyes, they just want a peek at him and that''s why they''ve waited until now. Chapter 1136: Cap 1134: Hades Part 2 Chapter 1136: Cap 1134: Hades Part 2 I was already in front of the barrier and with Nix''s help I started to walk leaning on it to the barrier, without waiting any longer I touched the barrier, it was made of energy and it was still solid, but I could feel something. I withdraw my hand and wait, almost at the same moment, the whole barrier begins to decrease in size and gradually dissolves, from the inside a strong smell of blood explodes outside as well as blood stains in all corners. But what caught my attention was the one in the center, he was looking directly at me and he walked calmly towards me getting on his knees. "I live to serve your will, Zenos." (Hades) His movement was a little stiff and when one of his knees touched the ground, cracks spread out, clearly he still doesn''t have complete control over his power. From the moment I looked into his eyes until he got down on his knees my eyes roamed all over his body, I was in disbelief. He had a height of 1.30 being a little taller than me, his hair was red with a streak of it being black, he has no visible horns, but he has an Eclipse-shaped crystal in the middle of his forehead, and his eyes are like mine and your skin is also brown like mine. I could see scales like mine on his arms and legs, I could also hear a voice that was a bit thicker and deeper than mine, his appearance was almost the same as mine with his face being completely same as mine with few differences. "Get up and put this on." (I) "How to order." (Hades) I take one of my magic size fit clothes and give it to him to put on since he is stark naked. He doesn''t seem to be body shy, but I couldn''t leave him as he came into the world with other people around, but I must say I was in disbelief as his appearance was almost the same as mine. As soon as he finished getting dressed, Elizabeth had already set up some tables with Natasha''s help for all of us to sit, I chose to have a conversation alone with Hades so that no one could interrupt. "Why do you look like me?" (I) "I don''t know, I didn''t have a choice in shaping my body, but I feel proud to share so many commonalities with you." (Hades) I could only assume that him looking like me was a strong possibility, almost everything about him came from me, at least that''s what I think, I''ll have to ask Elizabeth later to confirm. "How''s your mind, is it messed up or something?" (I) "My mind is fine, but the memories themselves are jumbled, too many people''s memories to organize with yours being the easiest as they are most complete." (Hades) "As long as I don''t have to look back I should be fine." (Hades) "Are your emotions under control?" (I) "Yes, I could tell from your memories that it must be difficult to control your emotions, but for me, it was very easy." (Hades) I look at his Aura, he manages to control it, but it''s like someone pulling a horse''s reins to control him forcing him not to advance, his control is still superficial. "Why did you build the barrier?" (I) "I put a barrier using my aura around us, I don''t want anyone interrupting us and unfortunately I can''t wait." (Arash) "What do you need?" (I) Arash shouldn''t need me for anything, he is far more powerful than I am and his position as Dragon Emperor is as important as a saint as far as I can understand. There shouldn''t be many situations where I could be useful in doing something for him, especially something he would need to come to me in such a hurry without waiting for me to recover. "I need you to go meet Orsel, you would have 3 days, but due to his precarious condition I was able to postpone it, so you have 1 week to find him." (Arash) "Just for the record, do you want me to go see him?" (I) "Yes, he will explain the rest when he gets there." (Arash) "I assume he''s in this Border Town thing, isn''t he?" (I) "Yes, I already have someone organized to guide you there." (Arash) "..." (I) "Don''t make that face unfortunately it has to be you, I could explain and it wouldn''t make a difference since you plan on going there anyway." (Arash) "Why are you sure I want to go?" (I) "Bordertown floats in this planet''s orbit using the energy flow between this world and one of the Moons." (Arash) "Fine, you convinced me, I will." (I) Sigh "My daughter said you love going to exotic places with beautiful scenery, I''m sure you can imagine the kind of scenery you can see from up there." (Arash) "I already said I will, but just for a hypothetical question, could I enter that city any other time?" (I) "If you refuse to go, don''t think about approaching that place, there will be many people angry with you, people much stronger than you are currently." (Arash) "..." (I) "(He''s not giving me chances to say no, but I also have no reason to refuse his request, he would never put his daughter at risk, so everything should be fine.)" (I) "Can I at least send someone ahead?" (I) "Better not, things there don''t follow the same customs here, you should go with the person I''m going to send with you and follow his advice as much as possible." (Arash) Arash spent a few more minutes talking to me about the repercussions of my Dragon Totem temporarily disappearing and told me to try to be less drastic next time as it caused a lot of problems among the Elder Dragons that he had to resolve. After that he left and Alice stayed by my side until the moment I fell asleep still thinking about the pictures astronauts took in my old world, that was the only reference I had for what I could find in Border Town and I was excited to that. Chapter 1137: Cap 1135: Leaving For Frontier City Chapter 1137: Cap 1135: Leaving For Frontier City Pov Haku (?????): "You know, you were a very nice person to talk to, you told me so many things that I was glad to know." (I) I was opening my box of food, and unfortunately, it''s very difficult to get vegetables and fruits on this planet, so my daily food always ends up being a variety of meats. "You know, because of my research I spend a lot of time alone and I don''t get to talk to people as much these days." (I) "The little time I have for myself I end up spending on training, self-learning, and improvement will always be important." (I) My comrades and subordinates find it difficult to understand that as wonderful as meat is, nature still has many things we can use to further nourish our bodies, restricting food to meat alone is foolish when the most rational option should always be to expand your food range to the fullest. "You were such a good listener, I love your body too, I can see some effort in staying healthy, congratulations." (I) I take a few pieces of meat and eat it, even if it''s not what I expected, the meat really is delicious, I didn''t even realize how fast I was eating it until I realized it was gone. Sigh "You know, I shouldn''t tell outsiders, but I think it shouldn''t be a problem for you to know, two of our agents went missing on the mission you told, so I really appreciate your information." (I) I stretched my body a little before wiping my mouth with a cloth I had nearby, then I look at my new guest with a smile. "I still don''t know what happened to them, I can understand interfering with their connection to me, I might even understand if they had just been killed which would have resulted in the connection being abruptly severed." (I) "But what I felt was something different, something invaded the connection, a primordial and limitless hunger devouring everything was what transmitted it to us, I even got scared, especially when I tried to use the security system to take possession of the creature, there was something even worse that crushed the security system, that something was worse than the creature itself, just thinking about what I felt..." (I) I shivered just thinking about the sensations transmitted to me, it was horrible, the creature was pure instinct and somehow fascinating, but that something connected to the creature was different, there were many contradictory things like life and death, creation and destruction, shadow and light, fire and ice, as well as many other things I didn''t understand, was bizarre to the point of scarring my mind as a trauma. "I felt that it might negatively mark me and I tried to use the hypothesis protocols on myself in an attempt to erase the memory of it, but no matter how many times I tried, I couldn''t forget it." (I) "I even thought about ripping out a part of my brain, theoretically it would have worked, but the Queen wouldn''t let me, so I had to move on to a solution that I didn''t like having to do." (I) "Let''s start?" (I) ------------- Pov Zenos: It''s been 7 days and after a long therapy of submersion in the pool of blood my body was completely recovered, I thought that my Soul was also recovered, but Ivan told me that it wasn''t. It seems that my Soul never recovered 100% from any of the various types of damage I suffered over time, the healing that the Fairy Kings, the Fairy Goddess, my mother, my sister Natasha and on that occasion where I took care of mine myself recovery mostly, in none of these situations did I fully recover, all I did was heal the wounds and this scar is what makes my Aura stronger with each recovery, my Soul seems to become more resilient being able to take more damage. I can feel my Soul, but understanding and seeing are things that I am not capable of, the very concept of a Soul is too abstract for me to understand, the most I am able to do is feel my Soul and when I have some damage to it, but I don''t I can feel the scars Ivan spoke of. But the important thing is the confirmation of my recovery, being in basically normal conditions, I could no longer stay in Castelo do Drago, unfortunately, I did not have many opportunities to explore the surroundings of the castle. There will always be a next time, I''m immortal, so I have the luxury of time, right now what I need to do is fulfill Arash''s request, and for that, I was outside the castle with Diana, we found Arash and his assistant Ortiz the Dragon Star, it seems he will be our guide and escort to Border Town. "It will be my pleasure to serve as a guide and adviser to Primordial Zenos, I am born and raised outside this world, part of my family resides in Border Town and I trained half my life there before the Dragon Emperor accepted me as his assistant." (Ortiz) "Ortiz is by far one of the wisest and most intelligent Dragons alive, unfortunately, he is not suited to lead his tribe due to his lack of combat prowess, but he will one day be an Elder Dragon helping to guide Dragons in future generations." (Arash) "You honor me with your words, Dragon Emperor." (Ortiz) "I''ll be in your care, can I just call you Ortiz?" (I) "Of course you can, you are above me being Primordial, you are at the side of the Dragon Emperor and the Elder Dragons deserving respect from all Dragons." (Ortiz) "Ortiz spent a lot of time dealing with other races and that''s why he became so "polite", but the vast majority of Dragons are less respectful in the way they treat others, the way a Dragon shows respect was never with words but with actions." (Arash) "I''ll bear that in mind." (I) After talking to Arash and giving him time to say a tearful goodbye to his daughter, Diana, and I who were saying goodbye to the Dragons they fought during their training here, we all climbed onto the Floating Ship that Nicole had modified once again, acted using heavily space element magic to move with other magic serving only as support. Ortiz was giving the coordinates to our captain, meanwhile, I was with many others watching the Castle of the Dragon get smaller and smaller on the horizon. Chapter 1138: Cap 1136: Frontier City Part 1 Chapter 1138: Cap 1136: Frontier City Part 1 The trip to Frontier City only seems to have 2 paths, the first using a special Teleportation spell and the other an incredibly dangerous journey to leave the planet''s orbit, which would need to traverse several space storms and space warps. Teleportation magic was something Ortiz knew since his tribe was one of the founders of Frontier City, when we were far enough away from the Dragons'' castle we started climbing higher and higher until we were far above the clouds. ds |m When I didn''t know what he was doing I stayed silent and made the others stay too, Ortiz sat down and closed his eyes, but a 6-pointed star appears behind him. I could feel Ortiz''s Space Element Aura and Mana emanating from his body, Arash said he has no talent for combat, but I can''t say how far that is true, if I''m just talking about the amount of Mana, Ortiz surpasses me in that respect and that''s not something everyone can do. Ortiz''s Mana and Aura were absorbed by the image of the 6-pointed star behind him causing several crystal stars to appear forming lines in space by moving Fairy one in a unique way. Gradually the lines formed patterns that together looked like a 3D diagram of a magic circle, so these stars took place at the curve points and points where the lines converge, the big 6 pointed star, as well as Ortiz stood in the middle while this magic circle was being expanded to the size of the entire Floating Ship. It was at that moment that a strange distortion in space took place, but it was in front of Ortiz as he used a finger to draw in the air Runes that took position in the ritual circle as well as another pattern of lines that was placed in a magic crystal that was connected to the magic circle. "< Space Route: Start >" (Ortiz) When he spoke, the entire ritual circle seemed to come to life, the magic crystal that had just been placed in place shone like a rising Sun in the midday sky, and the ritual lines seemed to begin to conduct Spatial Element energy. "..." (I) I wave for the others to get ready and be silent, I didn''t want to interrupt him and more than taken care of would like to understand what this magic actually does. The moment when the entire structure of lines and Runes of magic had Mana of the space element flowing through it, distortions started to happen around the ship creating a membrane like a bubble around the ship, then it was as if this bubble went into a current being dragged somewhere. I tried to look outside the Floating Ship, but all I saw were misshapen patches of various colors, in the end, I could only perceive myself to be inside a stream going somewhere and nothing else. This took only 2 hours of travel, during which time everyone was silent waiting until a tremor ran through the interior of the space bubble around the Floating Ship. The memories of every thing that happened to me whether good or bad in those two lives flooded my mind, I got further than I ever dreamed or wanted. "(This is just the beginning...)" (I) I turn my eyes to something that shines differently than a star, what I saw was a silvery dot at first my vision being obstructed by the moonlight, but soon it revealed itself in my vision. A city of silver and gray as well as many colored crystals built on top of a large piece of rock filled with crystals, there were also smaller rocks floating around it, dozens of them with buildings built into them. The whole city was colossal, I could tell from the sheer number of buildings that look tiny from this distance. "That''s Border Town." (Ortiz) I already imagined it to be that, I couldn''t think of anything else, even from afar I could say, that city emanates a colossal Aura or should I say an amalgamation of countless Auras. I could also feel the flow of energy between one of the two Moons and the world, this flow of energy was wilder and more raw than anything I''ve ever felt while still on the planet, I felt like I was in the middle of a mountain river in the middle of a storm. But it only took a few seconds before I got used to it, this flow of energy doesn''t have a physical force to make me shiver, it was just a surprise to me as it was my first time experiencing it. Our Floating Ship as well as the Border City were within this raw energy flow, I imagine that this feeds the energy city. But none of that matters to me, the only thing I wanted now was to visit that city for the simple fact that it was a space city, I felt as if the child inside me had woken up to play after a long time. I was euphoric and anxious and following Ortiz''s advice we approached slowly, that''s when I saw movement, something was coming towards us from the Border City. Ortiz told us that they are just inspectors to know our intentions and how we got to the city, I could understand the security protocols, every city in the world has them, even this being a space city it made sense the effort to keep it protected. We were waiting as per Ortiz''s advice, all I wanted was to get it over with and head towards the city. Chapter 1139: Cap 1137: Frontier City part 2 Chapter 1139: Cap 1137: Frontier City part 2 Soon two people approach our Ship, I say people, but it was actually a Giant with 2 pairs of wings and a Mermaid who had feathers instead of scales along with a pair of wings on her back. But before the two could say anything the space rippled in the surrounding area causing several monsters to appear, these monsters were spherical in shape with multiple eyes without irises or pupils all over its surface, as soon as rays of light were coming out of those eyes in a hail of attacks against our Floating Ship and the two that came for us. I already knew that the two weren''t enemies, so I concentrated on the creatures in question, as the number of enemies was growing rapidly, I couldn''t sit still and do nothing. "< Spatial Impact >" (I) I use space magic in one direction creating a solid wall by bending and compressing space to collide with these monsters, their light ray attacks being deflected by the fold in Space, but as soon as my magic collided with the monsters it broke. "..." (I) "These monsters are called Observers of Light, their only way of attacking are these rays of light that they can launch from any of the eyes on the body, they also have the ability to manipulate the space they use to move around, change the direction of their rays of light and create a rigid defense around you." (Ortiz) "Do they have any weaknesses?" (I) "Aside from the sheer brutality of using more power than they can handle, Aura attacks can break through their barriers as they lack the ability to use Auras for the most part." (Ortiz) "We will try." (I) I look at Ortiz pointing at the two who came from Frontier City, the Giant seemed to be using a colossal sword with Aura condensed around it as a weapon and the Winged Mermaid was using groundless Ice magic from her Aura, it looks like Ortiz is right. "< Blood Needles >" (I) I bit my hand causing the blood to leak like a fountain under my control that I use to create needles by crystallizing that blood in this type of form, my blood is able to keep a large amount of my Aura inside for long periods of time even when I am far away of me. "< Dance of Blood and Binding >" (I) I''ve created hundreds of blood needles where I attach threads coming out of my hand, so I use magic for the needles to always pass through the closest targets without ever repeating the same target more than 3 times. With that, all I need to do is stand still supplying Mana through lines that can stretch indefinitely. I just watch my needles pierce the round body full of eyes like it''s nothing, their movement speeds are also very fast. The blood needles so quickly pass through one monster before moving on to the next without ever stopping and looping through the air always causing movements that are difficult to predict. Meanwhile, the threads created an endless tangle with nothing obstructing it but the monsters'' bodies, when I saw that I had caught the majority fraud I smiled as I used my Limit Overcoming Skill along with my Physical Strengthening Skill to pull the threads as hard as I could muster, it made all these tied up monsters collide with each other forming a giant sphere of flesh bringing a smile to my face. It seems like he wants to smooth over the first meeting between us by telling them about me, but I noticed he neglected to talk about my sisters who are known as Living Calamities and me being a Demigod son of the Blood Goddess. I might as well get on with it. "Sir, allow me to introduce, this is Tinary and Olaf, the two are part of Border Town''s subjugation troops." (Ortiz) Even though I was looking at them and listening to what they were saying, my almost complete attention was still on the huddle of monsters trapped in flames, that''s why I was curious and worried about Hades inside. I still don''t know where he came from or why he threw himself into something I''m comparing to a Sun, but I don''t think for a moment that he''s doing it by accident or stupidity, the little I''ve talked to him about demonstrates that he it is smart enough to identify the danger for itself. m "Nice to meet you Miss Tinary and Mr Olaf, I''m sorry our first time meeting was so eventful." (I) "These pests have no time to strike and are always numerous making it a huge waste of time for someone like me to fight, thanks for dealing with them." (Olaf) "What this giant means is that we are happy to welcome you to our Border Town, Mister Zenos." (Tinary) "But I must agree that it''s weird for them to be in such a large group with no other monsters tagging along." (Tinary) "Do these monsters appear around here a lot?" (I) "Unfortunately yes, what makes fighting them worse is the ineffectiveness of most area attack techniques, as you saw in our attacks." (Tinary) "She''s right sir, what you did was very effective and even created enough fear to send others running." (Ortiz) "It was an excellent attack, if you have one or more weapons that have the function to control the distance and maybe lines or some kind of finer chain then you could do something similar, this is a single attack approach with area attack characteristics which can generate control effects during combat..." (Olaf) "Don''t get lost in your thoughts about fights, we have a role here, don''t get distracted." (Tinary) "I''m not distracted, don''t worry about me." (Olaf) "What my companion wishes to say is welcome to Border Town." (Tinary) "What she said." (Olaf) "Is the landing place still the same?" (Ortiz) "Yes, I imagine that spatial bubble around the Floating Ship is yours, so follow my instructions" (Tinary) I let Ortiz take care of things, but I wasn''t leaving until Hades returned. Chapter 1140: Cap 1138: Frontier City Part 3 Chapter 1140: Cap 1138: Frontier City Part 3 I kept my attention on Hades even as I greeted Tinary and Olaf, the two must have noticed as I noticed their attention being diverted from me to the miniature Sun that Hades entered. I was the only one there who could perceive things in more detail since these flames were derived from my Curse, plus I have a connection with Hades. Because of these factors, I was able to feel a flow of energy running through the sphere, it was actually 3 flows of energy, one spiritual energy with traces of Soul energy, the second was literally cursed energy, something that is not found naturally anywhere and the last one was literally life energy. What surprised me was this third flow of energy, this is because I could not understand where this life energy came from, this is why life energy becomes the permanent link between a Soul and its body, then it becomes the source of vitality that keeps a body alive, when someone dies it means that this connection has been destroyed leaving a vacuum that becomes its opposite that is the energy of death. I studied about these two types of energy as best I could directly with the priests of the Temple of Life and the Church of Death who live inside the Dungeon, so I know that there shouldn''t be an energy flow of this energy inside the cursed Sun I created. I was too surprised that my attention was fully focused on the miniature Sun I had created by burning all these monsters with my Curse. This time I wasn''t paying so much attention to Hades, that''s because he wasn''t creating this life energy, he was just manipulating the energy flows, which means it was coming from somewhere else. I was very tempted to explode my Aura to envelop this small Sun, so I could perceive everything in more detail without missing anything, but not knowing what Hades was doing, I tried to restrict myself so as not to get in the way for fear of putting him in danger. That''s why I had to use only my senses, I used my Aura in my eyes along with some spells, skills, and Spiritual Runes to see things that normal eyes couldn''t see, that way I managed to increase the scope of what I could sense from this miniature Sun. I could see the 3 energy streams now and not just feel it like before, so I started tracing the entire trajectory of these energy streams, as Hades was at the center where the 3 energy streams converge and I was sure that Hades was not the initial source them, then he was the end. Knowing that Hades marked the end of the route of the 3 energy flows, I began to trace their trajectories from the end to the beginning, it took me a few minutes to realize that it had not started, the flows formed three rings of circular energy from where the flows extended until they reached to Hades in a circular path circling around him. Before long I realized where the life energy was coming from, the other two types of energy were coming at length from the monsters getting weaker and weaker to the point of being almost dead, so even if it didn''t make sense the life energy must be coming from them. Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com If this curse wasn''t mine I would believe if the typical third of energy was Vitality, but as the one who created and used this curse, I know that the Curse literally burns Vitality making it impossible to make that flow in the first place. I tried to focus on one of the monsters devoting all my senses and perception to it, that''s when I realized that the flames themselves were the source of life energy, my Curse was burning large amounts of vitality for the number of monsters, which were strong enough to have a lot of vitality, the burned Vitality was generating small traces of vital energy as if refining that energy using the monsters as a sacrifice. Having finally understood how all this was happening I realized that my Curse was not only powerful but also in the category of forbidden curses because it involved the Taboo of Life, this was something I should perhaps discuss with High Priestess Yara later. I was happy to have come up with an answer and so my attention level split again when I called that we had guests, but they had eyes locked on the miniature Sun just like most everyone shoo my Floating Ship. I let the girls accompany Hades, I know they haven''t had time to talk to him yet and only heard about him through me, so they can take care of it, meanwhile, I looked back at the two guests. Olaf seemed to be only looking at my sister Natasha with a challenging smile to which she responded with the same kind of smile, I can imagine their desire to fight each other. Tinary was already looking at me with even more reverence than before, I could also feel a glint in her eyes that I couldn''t identify what it could be, my biggest guess being that she thought about something. "Sorry to be late, can we go to town now?" (I) "I can understand wanting to wait for a teammate or subordinate without wanting to leave them behind." (Tinary) "Come Ortiz, I''m going to show you the path that this vessel must take." (Tinary) "Alright, let''s go." (Ortiz) While I was talking to Tinary her partner was walking towards Natasha, I saw them talking, but I couldn''t hear their conversations, Natasha''s Aura was interfering with my senses. With nothing to do, I went back to enjoying the scenery around me as the Floating Ship continued to head towards Border Town. As we were getting closer I noticed several streams of energy like a network, it was a barrier, almost a structure that could be activated, it was almost imperceptible, but the closer to the Border City it became more noticeable for some with Affinity with nature like me. This barrier structure seemed to be made of nature''s own energy, but it was strange, it was extending away from Border Town, I didn''t understand the reason for that. While wondering about this I couldn''t help but appreciate the beautiful sight of this city expanding in my vision as we approached, an entire city made of metal, stone, and crystals was incredible, the city itself had so much concentrated energy that it was incredible making even the atmosphere gets heavier. When we arrived at the edge of the city there was what looked like a large teleportation portal on one side and on the other a space for landing, when the ship stopped there I could see that the city was full of people with powerful Auras. I made everyone below a certain strength threshold go back to the Dungeon because I realized they wouldn''t even be able to get off the Ship here, just the weight of so many Auras of that caliber on someone without enough strength to be more than harmful. Apart from these dangers that are not apparent, the City was incredible, it had a futuristic architectural aesthetic, but it was full of magic in every corner, it was incredible. m "I''ll take you to a place where you can stay while you''re here, after which Ortiz can guide you to Orsel''s office." (Tinary) "Thanks." (I) Chapter 1141: Cap 1139: Orsel Chapter 1141: Cap 1139: Orsel I was loving walking in the streets of this city, this whole city has a strong concentration of spatial magic and I thought it was for its defenses or to keep it in place, but it seems that it''s not just for that. I just realized when I landed in the city that it is bigger inside than I was seeing from the outside, there is a powerful expansion magic within the city, this easily could be the biggest city I have visited since I was born in this world, the number of people walking around the city was also amazing, the strength of each of them was also something I couldn''t take lightly. When I arrived at this my first thought was to get loyal companions to survive, this thought was what made me save Diana and by accident rica at that time, it was also the same thought that made me help Kira when I had every reason to just kill her, without count the ridiculous mission where I took Irina and Irius as prisoners, I could have killed them both and still made them my children knowing that this would be a problem in the future. Even most of the others I met because of that thought of having many loyal companions, that''s why I bought so many slaves in Valen City and kept looking for opportunities to gather more people. I always thought that the power of a single individual would not be able to go against a large enough army, but that was a naive thought, it wasn''t wrong I was just being naive in measuring the scale of how far one''s power could go. With my strength now, I could fight with the entire population of the Morror Continent with the exception of the Elf Queen there, that''s because no one there has surpassed the Lesser Catastrophe Grade of power. An army will always have a numerical advantage, but without a sufficient individual power level in its ranks, the numbers will be irrelevant. I look around Border Town as we walk down the street to a spot where we stand for a few minutes until a bird-shaped chariot appears, a golem-like vehicle that we board with our guides to fly around town. I realized that if all the people in this city attacked us I would lose in a crushing and humiliating way, more than half of the Auras I felt were just nightmares from the strength of mine, but there were also hundreds with Auras of the same level as me and I could feel it some areas without moving Aura that I defined as being people much stronger than me hiding their presence, there were dozens. The strength of this city could literally conquer the world, I don''t know if it could, but they certainly have the strength and numbers to try. "I didn''t know this world had so many strong people, why do they gather here in such large numbers?" (I) "These people are not all from this world, many are here for training, trade, or something else, I am here to train myself." (Tinary) "In this star system, there are 14 habitable planets, and the vast majority of these people come from these worlds, I must admit that many must be from this world yet, this world has always been abnormal with the number of its forces." (Tinary) "Looks like we''re here." (Tinary) I wanted to ask her more things, but then the Golem vehicle stopped in front of a building made entirely of gray crystal, then climbed to the top where a house made of gray and blue crystal bricks blended together into something incredible. Orsel was a White Elf, his hair is light green with many parts turning gray, his hair is tied back in a ponytail, he looks pale and has dark circles under his eyes, he has silver eyes and wears a pair of glasses with Golden frame while his clothes were fully functional and full of pockets, even his appearance didn''t carry the otherworldly good looks that most Elves I met had, he looked very normal. I see him taking a potion out of a drawer and drinking the entire contents at once, the changes were immediate, the dark circles disappear and his skin has a more normal tone, no longer being pale as it was before, his eyes have also become more alive with a glow of vigor in them. Sigh "I really needed this, I haven''t slept in days..." (Orsel) "Let me introduce myself, I''m Orsel, I know it may not look like it, but I''m the commander of Frontier City''s general defense affairs, one of the Council members of Frontier City Guardians." (Orsel) "A pleasure to finally meet you in person, Blood Eclipse Primordial Dragon, Zenos." (Orsel) He gets up and takes my hand with Aura surrounding his hand, Ortiz told me about it on the way, while Dragons are more direct in the way they release their Aura in a flashy greeting, the people of this Border Town do it like this, they cover their hands with their Auras discreetly so as not to alarm the people around them. I do the same covering my hand with my Aura before shaking his, I was careful not to be a strength clash or anything like that, I felt his Aura which says a lot about a person and I know he did the same to me, your surprised and confused face was something I expected knowing how abnormal my Aura can be. "Please, let''s sit down, I have some things to discuss with you." (Orsel) "I''m here for this, we can start when..." (I) "Nicole, stop messing with the wall." (I) "..." (Orsel) "Sorry, I just like the hidden door, give me 1 second to close again." (Nicole) "Sorry about my daughter." (I) "How did she deactivate the" (Orsel) I was about to start a conversation with Orsel when I saw Nicole opening a door in one of the walls, it was a small door and I called her attention to stop before she got too excited, but it seems that Orsel was surprised by her, I think that I''m going to have to make some introductions before the talk. Chapter 1142: Cap 1140: Meeting Part 1 Chapter 1142: Cap 1140: Meeting Part 1 Orsel basically forgot about me and went over to where Nicole was, he watched Nicole close the door and do something I didn''t understand, I just saw some weak energy flows change direction, off or on in a few seconds before she came back to me. But he kept ignoring me just talking to Nicole about things I didn''t understand, they seem to be Magical Engineering terms, I read some books about it in the Dungeon and came to the conclusion that I don''t understand, the fundamental differences with the technology of my previous life makes it all very strange to me, I can''t understand things like theory and at most, I can give some creative assistance in practice to a real Magical Engineer. "Lord Orsel, ignoring the Primordial Dragon who came to meet you with an invitation from you to speak to his daughter in this way is more than wrong, so I don''t blame his servant for wanting to hit you so badly." (Ortiz) "..." (Orsel) "..." (I) Hades looks calm, but it''s a fact that Hela and Magnus are holding his arms to stop him from getting closer to Ortiz, I could have said something to stop it, but that''s so funny, to have someone try to punch someone who is so absorbed in a conversation that doesn''t realize he''s being targeted. "Hades behave yourself." (I) "Yes, as you wish, Zenos." (Hades) cough cough "I apologize I was mildly impressed with you..." (Orsel) "You can call me Nicole, I''m the daughter of Zenos." (Nicole) "But you don''t look like a Dragon." (Orsel) "Not all my children are Dragons, some are Vampires, some are Demons, one of them a Kimera and Nicole... well Nicole is ahead of you, but some like Magnus are Dragons." (I) "Primordial Zenos''s family is diverse as are those who follow him, but we should leave that topic aside and get back to the main subject, correct?" (Ortiz) "You''re right, I apologize again for my behavior." (Orsel) Orsel looked back at Hades who was still looking strangely at him with blatant murderous intent, then turned to Nicole who was paying attention to a holographic screen and keyboard that appeared in front of him. Soon he shakes his head once more before returning to stand in front of me, Nicole ignoring him most of the time and only answering when asked. "It was impolite of me to act so immaturely, but your daughter is certainly someone of great ability." (Orsel) "I know and that''s why I brought her knowing that you use Golems and stuff like that." (I) "A smart thought and as I was saying before I got lost earlier, let''s sit down and have this talk." (Orsel) "What I want to prove is how much this city awakens greedy eyes in people, the situation here is complex in its calmest days and disturbing in its worst." (Orsel) From his explanation, I can understand a little of what it is about, if we treat each world as a nation and this city bordering on a strategic point, full of resources and power, attracting the wrong kind of attention can be more than understood. "Not exactly, but the reason isn''t that far from the truth." (Orsel) "That doesn''t make sense, from what I''ve gathered my strength and those around me are only somewhere mid-range between this city''s strength level." (I) "You didn''t call me here to fight, you already have many stronger and more numerous people to do that, so why am I here?" (I) "Someone of unknown origin requested a meeting, this person passed through Border Town''s defenses and reached my office, he showed no hostility and was open about his motives." (Orsel) "He was a messenger wanting to arrange a meeting with his leaders, he used magic items that I couldn''t precisely identify and even now he is kept under surveillance outside Border Town." (Orsel) "What kind of meeting and why should I be involved with it?" (I) "The meeting appears to be about a proposal for an alliance, the strange thing is the way they went about it." (Orsel) "They gave us great advantages, they announced that their leader would be personally present, they gave us complete freedom to choose the day and place as best suited them." (Orsel) "This is more than suspicious, but you still haven''t answered me why I''m involved?" (I) "I''ve never been out of our world before, I don''t think I''ve ever met anyone outside our world and I didn''t even know about this city until recently." (I) "That''s why I don''t understand why we''re here." (I) I didn''t like the way he was trying to avoid the question, but it all seems too suspicious, from his reaction it sounds like it was solicitude from the other side, which only makes it worse. "We got a lot of advantages from this meeting which according to the messenger was to show their sincerity for this meeting happening in an attempt to form an alliance." (Orsel) "But they also made their demands, they wanted the presence of a Spirit of the Moon to prove that they speak the truth, they wanted the presence of someone with the blessing of several Gods to be heard by them as well and lastly, they wanted the presence of the one who Heals the Trees of the World." (Orsel) "..." (I) I don''t even need to think too hard to see why they call me, I have the blessing of several Gods, I have Nix who is a Spirit Queen with one of the elements I possess being that of the Moon and with absolute certainty the part about the one that heals World Trees was talking about me. It made my mind race, this person knows about me and knows a lot of things, not many people know about my ability to heal World Trees, also even less people should know about my Blessings. But something occurred to me, I looked at Nicole and then back at Orsel. "Tell me more about this messenger and his magic items..." (I) Chapter 1143: Cap 1141: Meeting Part 2 Chapter 1143: Cap 1141: Meeting Part 2 I was back at our arranged temporary residence in Border Town, but I didn''t stay inside for long going to the Dungeon along with Nicole. There were things I needed to handle, but before that, I needed to talk to Nicole and that''s why I went to a restaurant inside the Dungeon, they had a private room just for me and those directly connected to me who are also the highest hierarchy in the Dungeon. "While we wait for the food, tell me what you were doing in Orsel''s office." (I) "I saw that the whole room was littered with weapons and traps everywhere, all made using Engineering Magic." (Nicole) an "As I was interested, I went to open one of the hidden doors to confirm how he did all that without causing interference between the different magic items and still without causing resonance with the powerful magic that permeates this entire city." (Nicole) "I must say he''s amazing, but his approach is different than mine." (Nicole) "Like this?" (I) "I create very specific things for each of my creations, this increases the cost of construction, maintenance, and time to finish a project." (Nicole) "Thanks to that, my creations are more flexible and have better final performance." (Nicole) "His approach from what I can understand comes from combining more general pieces and broader processes in order to adapt in countless ways." (Nicole) "You mean that while you like to create things from scratch, Orsel uses what he has to adapt something of his own?" (I) "That is a very simplified and incomplete explanation, but fundamentally it is correct." (Nicole) "..." (I) His Golems are square, at least the ones I found while I was still in the Castle of Dragons, but I saw many other Golems with resemblances to robots in this city, most of them being in that building where Orsel''s office is. Unlike Nicole, who likes to start from scratch in her creations by doing something totally original, Orsel seems to use established things to innovate not in theory but in practice. If I think about it that way, I think it''s easier to understand. "Would you like to talk to him more?" (I) "Of course, in centuries I haven''t met someone with as much experience in the same area as me, his methodology being different from mine just means there''s a lot I can learn from him." (Nicole) "After this so-called meeting passes you will have time, but if you want you can visit him as soon as we speak with this messenger tomorrow." (I) Before we left the office I asked Orsel a few questions, after which I overheard how magic items were used to replace body parts as prosthetics, all while hiding what they really are by posing as real body parts. Hearing about these things made me think of something that happened a little while ago, but I needed to confirm and so I asked if I could meet this messenger before deciding whether to go to this supposed alliance meeting or not. "What did you think of what Orsel said about the messenger?" (I) "Hard to say with so little known, I''ll need to be in front of him to be sure, but the chances of him being connected with the one I mentioned are at least 62%." (Nicole) "..." (I) "Did you finish the project?" (I) "Yes, but it''s not suitable for most people, which confirms my suspicions." (Nicole) "Fine, so we''ll have to wait until tomorrow anyway." (I) After talking with Nicole we returned to our tasks after a nice meal, she went to her lab and I to the office in the middle of the city to find Nira for whatever she wants to push me to do this time. "(So far he has only spoken the truth.)" (Nix) Nix inside my shadow is confirming if he tells any lies, which doesn''t seem to be happening, which leaves two options, the first being that he''s avoiding the main points or the second option that he really doesn''t know, I''m more inclined the second option. "What do you know about me? Why haven''t you answered my first question yet?" (I) "You seem like someone important to have at the meeting, that''s all I know and what we know about you, I particularly only know your name and appearance as well as the names of some of your children, nothing more." (Marlon) "..." (I) "Why are you so desperate to get this meeting?" (I) "I cannot say that, I will only say that if they accept the proposal, the meeting will provide all the answers." (Marlon) I look at him, and I can tell he was ready to tell, but at the last second, he changed his mind, which means that not to tell was his decision and not orders. His desperation for this reunion doesn''t seem to be just on his part. "I still don''t know who you are, a clandestine organization, belonging to an Evil God''s Religion or a nation on some world?" (I) "I also refuse to answer that as it might compromise my teammates if an alliance is not possible." (Marlon) If he won''t even talk about what kind of group they are, he won''t talk about their ideals or location either. I don''t know much about him, the things I''ve found out so far don''t increase my confidence in him, he sure isn''t lying or Nix would notice, but he''s still hiding a lot of things. "Layla, go get Lilith here." (I) "All good." (Layla) Layla who was standing behind me in her large form changes back to her Fairy form and flies away disappearing into my shadow, everyone is silent for the next few minutes before she comes back with Lilith wiping the blood off her hands being dragged by the Fairy. "Couldn''t wait, I was in the middle of my training." (Lilith) "He told me to bring it and that''s what I did, deal with him." (Layla) "Sorry to be sudden, but look at the man behind you, what do you think of him?" (I) "..." (Lilith) Lilith releases her Aura of Vengeance and Authority derived from mine, then concentrates on her eyes that glowed frighteningly before stopping. "He doesn''t have revenge on anyone attached to him, but he does have a strong thirst for revenge against someone." (Lilith) "Priestess of Vengeance..." (Orsel) "Thank you, you can go back to training, Layla..." (I) Before I finished speaking, the Fairy was already smiling as she pulled Lilith''s leg, sinking into my shadow. "Sorry about that, I needed at least one more proof before making the decision." (I) I nod in confirmation to Orsel who has stepped forward to speak with Marlon. "Looks like you got your meeting, I''ll pass the details on to you." (Orsel) "Glad to hear that." (Marlon) Chapter 1144: Cap 1142: Meeting Part 3 Chapter 1144: Cap 1142: Meeting Part 3 I was sitting on top of the building in meditation, my Aura sealed within Kim as I directly use my Authority. I stretch my arm and an image of an Eclipse with a drop of blood in the middle appears in front of my hand, this image was very transparent and barely visible, but just that is making me tired. I kept pushing, my Authority wasn''t something physical or even some kind of energy, it was something more ethereal, flowing through my body without being led by my Aura it was like something solid was passing through my body, but the pain wasn''t something that I was just feeling it in my body. I made this Authority flow down my outstretched arm into the image in front of me, most of the Authority dispersed as if blown away by the wind, but I still managed to make the image become a little more distinguished. for new novels Sigh My arm drops and I can see blood pouring out, several of my veins have just burst, I can feel this pain too deeply for it to have just been physical. "This is going to be difficult." (I) "Child, you''re doing it all wrong." (Zadiris) Suddenly, someone I didn''t expect to see appeared in front of me, it was Zadiris, one of the Elder Dragons. "Good to see you again, Mistress Zadiris." (I) "Don''t be like the Ortiz boy, Dragons don''t care about respectful ways of talking, they only care about respectful ways of acting." (Zadiris) "Besides, you are above me for being a Primordial, so just call me Zadiris." (Zadiris) "I''ll take that into account next time." (I) "As I was saying, you are handling your Authority wrongly, what must be done is" (Zadiris) She stops talking in the middle of her sentence before turning her eyes in a direction where a Golem with 4 pairs of wings and no head appears, he lands in front of me and delivers a letter before flying off again. "Do you mind?" (I) "Feel free." (Zadiris) I open the letter and read it quickly, then close my eyes mentally warning my Familiars and those connected with me before opening my eyes again to speak with Zadiris. "I''m sorry I''m not able to chat with you right now, it looks like Orsel is already bringing people together." (I) "I know, I was told earlier, I just thought it would take longer, I''ll go ahead." (Zadiris) Saying that she walked with space folding around her, disappearing from my sight. "I am one of the people who founded this city together with Uraha, as such we have important positions in this city, as you were coming I thought to see what has happened after so many centuries without passing through here." (Elizabeth) "Before you arrived Zadiris was telling the other two about you, the fact that you are my brother was also explained." (Elizabeth) "Did it need to say that much about me?" (I) "It doesn''t change anything to say since everyone could find out these things just by seeing your Aura." (Elizabeth) While talking to Elizabeth I noticed the others looked up, I wasn''t seeing anything with the blue sky illusion in place so I used Miss Aura on my eyes and could see a cylindrical vehicle with two wings curved backwards and a slightly curved tip, no matter how it looks that was a spaceship. As anyone who delved into the world of games in my previous life is impossible not to know the science fiction genre, I made 4 games with this main theme, I had to hire specialists to design the ships, weapons, and some other things in these games since he was not a scientist. The spaceship seemed to be made of metal, but I didn''t see anything I expected, it didn''t seem to have connection points where the plates were attached to the structure, and there was no screw or anything like that, it''s as if the spacecraft had been molded by a single metallic piece. I was fascinated, the way the ship moved was also smooth as it stopped not on top but on the side of the big disk we were on, then I noticed a fluctuation in space when 2 women appeared, they used teleportation, I''m sure of the fluctuations of space that I felt coming from the ship half a second before they appeared here. But as soon as I looked at them, other things came to mind as I recognized one of the women. I look at Nicole who was already looking at me and she nods her head, so I''m sure this brown-haired woman is the same one who talked to Nicole at the time we were taking care of the Gray Elf World Tree, the same woman from brown hair that Nicole warned me about later. The two people approach, I take a look at the second woman, she has long silver hair with a shine similar to that of metal, and her black skin highlights the lines on the sides of her eyes and down her cheeks to her neck, I noticed the same lines on her arms which made me think that, like me, her marks could be passing through her entire body, but what calls my attention are these marks, they look like lines on a circuit board because of their shape and position. She also has a triangular crystal on her forehead, slightly larger than the High Elves have, her eyes also have similarly triangular pupils and golden irises, it seems to be unnatural somehow. The two women are dressed very differently, while the second wears an elegant dress that does not restrict movement in white with silver details, the first woman wears more military-looking clothes, white pants and shirt, with a silver coat with some Details on the silver coat. The two might have looked unarmed, but I could see the flow of energy in their clothes, especially in the bracelets on the woman in the dress and the rings on the woman with the brown hair. The two don''t look at anyone in particular as the brown haired woman steps forward with a slight bow. "A pleasure to meet you, my name is Miriam." (Miriam) "The one next to me is called Astrid, our leader." (Miriam) "A pleasure to meet you, I would like to thank you for accepting our request for this meeting." (Astrid) Everyone remains seated while Orsel rises, returning the greeting and briefly introducing everyone including my group, I felt both of their gazes on me briefly before focusing on Nicole. "Please be seated." (Orsel) "With everyone present, we can start this meeting." (Orsel) Chapter 1145: Cap 1143: Meeting Part 4 Chapter 1145: Cap 1143: Meeting Part 4 The meeting was finally taking place and everyone had their eyes on the two new arrivals, an atmosphere of silence remained for a few seconds before Zadiris was the first to speak. "I don''t know where you two are from or what your customs are, but this meeting was made at the request of both of you, which makes you the center of this discussion." (Zadiris) "It''s no use trying on the alliance topic since we don''t know you and everything you''ve done only raises our suspicions." (Orsel) I just stayed silent, there was no place for me to speak since I knew little or nothing of those at this table outside my group, I cannot and will not give an opinion on something that I do not have the knowledge to do so. The two exchange glances before the brown haired woman named Miriam stands up. "First I think I should ask, did you call people with the Blessings of various Gods?" (Miriam) "Before answering your questions, I would like to ask the reason for such a request." (Elizabeth) "I know it may sound arrogant and maybe even disrespectful of our request, but I know that even though the Gods don''t act directly, they still carry a lot of influence in this universe." (Astrid) "We also know that those who carry the Blessings of the Gods are being watched by them, our wish is that they can hear what we have to say." (Astrid) "If you want something from the Gods, why not go to one of their Temples and Churches? This city is an outpost for defending this world and for commerce." (Elizabeth) I already know Elizabeth well enough to know when she''s setting a trap with her words, she does that to me a lot, she''s steering the conversation to a point where they can''t get away with the vague things she''s been doing. I also noticed that she doesn''t know that there are Champions of the Gods present at this meeting, as well as Demigods and Elder Dragons, I think that the two of them don''t have a clear sense of anyone present. "No use playing word games, Astrid." (Miriam) By her look, he must have realized that depending on what happens at this meeting, neither of them will leave here alive, if they continue the way they are, only death awaits them. "If of your doubts about our identity, we are what you call Outsiders, we all traveled from another universe to this one, we are not criminals, Priests of Evil Gods, or anything that goes against your existing laws." (Astrid) "I am the leader of my nation, just as Miriam is my most trusted general." (Astrid) "You say it like there are many, but that would be impossible, a number large enough to create a nation would not make it this far, conditions are too extreme for even a single individual to make it." (Navar) "You''re right, it took extreme conditions and events for us to even have the slightest chance, but even then luck played a central factor." (Astrid) "Because of the help of the Gods, we need a world to inhabit and the blessings of the Gods for the population, we can''t get here without consequences that only the Gods can help." (Astrid) an I noticed a slight displeasure in the fluctuation of her Aura, most of the speech she spoke normally without showing anything either in her face or in her Aura, but when she spoke about asking the Gods for help I noticed a trace of shame in her Aura, it was a brief moment and it was enough for me. "Why did you come now and this way, surely there were easier and less suspicious ways to do this." (Zadiris) "You choosing such a suspicious method while trying to remedy your mistake by giving all the cards in our hands shows a level of desperation where time is critical." (Zadiris) "But according to you, it may still be years before the tragedy reaches your people." (Zadiris) I see Miriam and Astrid exchange glances before Miriam places herself in the empty space in the middle of the ring shaped table, then she takes off her coat, at which point I notice her arms. Pure non-elemental mana forming currents of energy around its arms as its skin splits open revealing lines of separation that are normally not visible, the skin was fake when it split open revealing a robot arm whose parts rearrange to form a weapon, while that the other arm seems to open to mine forming a sword of energy. "Magic prostheses are the ultimate in our technology, our bodies cannot store these magical energies like yours, so these prostheses serve to store that energy for use, this also prevents our bodies from being harmed in areas of high ambient magic like Where are we now." (Astrid) "Unfortunately many people''s bodies reject prostheses that could otherwise extend their lives." (Astrid) "I want..." (Nicole) "Later, this is not the time." (I) I stopped Nicole before she could continue talking, I know these two want something from Nicole, I''m still not sure what they''re after, but this isn''t the time to talk yet. "I understand what you''re saying, but that doesn''t answer the question asked, why are you in such a hurry when there was still enough time to use a softer approach?" (Elizabeth) "I''m just giving an example so you can see, our world didn''t have this energy called magic, our bodies are not adapted to support this energy." (Astrid) Astrid''s gaze changed, I could see anger and sadness in her eyes before she spoke as she pointed her hand at her mate. "Just as those beside me decided to use what you call magic items to artificially enhance our bodies, unfortunately, there were also those who chose to address the problem more permanently at its roots." (Astrid) "When we came to this universe we didn''t come alone, we were in big vehicles and we were 7 of which most were not able to complete the journey, only 2 left of which one was my group and the other belongs to our enemy who had infiltrated without us knowing." (Astrid) "Their approach was to medicate bodies on a genetic level, for you it might be easier if I say they remade their bodies, just as our technology has advanced to create prostheses, their technology has advanced at the cost of countless lives by integrating flesh and blood as the main focus." (Astrid) "They distort bodies, create their own monsters, and control the minds of innocents by remaking their bodies into living weapons." (Miriam) Everyone was surprised by what they were hearing, but right after her explanation Astrid''s triangular eyes formed holographic images of some battles against that enemy, she also showed videos of one of her bases that was made of meat mixed with the rest of the materials. Everyone was silent, but a killing intent so powerful that it made even space tremble exploded alerting everyone, the source of this killing interaction was Elizabeth as she was still looking at the images. "How dare you desecrate the blood that connects past, present, and future with such abominations worse than Kimeras!!!???" (Elizabeth) Chapter 1146: Cap 1144: Alliance Part 1 Chapter 1146: Cap 1144: Alliance Part 1 Of all the people here at this gathering, my sister in her current state was far from the strongest, but someone as old as her who is known as a Living Catastrophe has already caused so much death, I can''t even imagine the number of lives taken by her hands, killing intent is a separate aspect of one''s Aura, a mark that shows the number of lives taken. I only realized this because I didn''t have anything like a killing intent when I was born in this world, I also only noticed that I had something like this after the Goblin Village massacre, since then my killing intent grows more and more to the point of being stronger than my normal Aura. I also noticed that even though it was a mark on my Aura, it wasn''t a permanent feature, it was more like something that activated itself when reacting to my desire to hurt someone, as if it were a warning to the opposite side that a predator had targeted him, at least that''s how I realized what murderous intent was and my sister at the moment looks like a beast of the apocalypse with that murderous intent like a tsunami sweeping in every direction. Since I wasn''t the target and had already felt her killing intent to a considerably lesser extent during her trainings, I was able to move and go to her by placing my hand on her shoulder. "Elizabeth, you''re not like that, what''s the first rule of a ruler?" (I) "..." (Elizabeth) an Elizabeth''s eyes were bright red, glowing with the intensity of a car headlight, the space around her trembling like a volcano about to erupt. As soon as I placed a hand on her shoulder I used the harmony trait in my Aura on her body while trying to call her mind to rationality, which seemed to work as her eyes returned to normal while her Killer Aura seemed restricted by her Aura as it was retracted for your body. "Sorry for losing my cool, please continue..." (Elizabeth) She placed her hand on top of mine as she nodded her thanks, I returned to my seat with only the sweat on my face noticing at that moment. I looked around and noticed that everyone else was calmer than I was, some were looking at Elizabeth and some were looking at me, but the two people outside who were talking were frozen in place. Astrid had pure non-elemental Mana flowing in rings swirling around her as her companion stood forward as if protecting Astrid, both of them eyeing my sister warily. "You were talking about your enemies, please continue." (I) "..." (Astrid) "..." (Miriam) The two exchanged glances once more before Miriam''s call beckoned to her mate in confirmation. "Very well... as she was saying before, this problem started in our universe, but unfortunately they came undercover in another vehicle, their minds were consumed with becoming superior by any means necessary." (Astrid) "Like us, we believe they haven''t interacted with anyone in that universe, but it''s been a long time since I dare say with full confidence what they may or may not have thought of doing." (Astrid) "..." (I) I fall silent after having managed to get the conversation back on track, my sister watching as her eyes still reveal their fury while her face shows no emotion. The others are also paying attention, but when I looked at Nicole I noticed her eyes shining, I also noticed the magic circles forming inside her eyes and changing all the time. I look at Astrid who claims to be the leader, she seems a little nervous or maybe anxious, which can be understandable for this situation where she is almost begging for something that could decide the lives of those under her leave. She looks at everyone at the table, I imagine she''s trying to analyze what they think of the use she''s said so far or something, I saw her eyes lingering longer on my sister before she started talking. "What I have to offer is information of an imminent danger, I can also provide all information about our technology and enemies, of course under some fair conditions for both sides." (Astrid) "Other than that, I can promise to fight alongside you against these threats and monsters as long as I don''t put my people in extreme danger for no reason." (Astrid) "Let me guess, some kind of exchange of knowledge between scholars on our side and yours, an equal military alliance and information about an unknown danger as well as information about your greatest enemy which would be the abominations you showed earlier, am I correct?" (Elizabeth) "..." (Astrid) "Yes, that is a correct interpretation." (Astrid) "But these are all things you offer, what do you want from us?" (Elizabeth) "What I want is just a place for my people to call home and the blessing of their Gods." (Astrid) "Would the gods'' blessing be to adapt their bodies to the use of magic?" (Zadiris) "During our investigations, many cases have surfaced both in the history of this world, and it is common knowledge that the blessing of your gods can grant power to your chosen ones." (Astrid) "It seems there are holes in your knowledge, I can understand why." (Elizabeth) "Zenos, do you mind explaining why she''s wrong about the Blessings since she understands them better than anyone else here?" (Elizabeth) "..." (I) She knows I have many blessings and can bestow my own blessings on others myself, I''m glad she doesn''t say things excessively in the midst of so many people. "I don''t know what you''ve learned about Blessings, but they aren''t things that can be traded, loaned or given to anyone as you suggest." (I) "A Blessing needs the sincere will of the one who grants the Blessing and the compatibility of the one who receives the Blessing, which makes his proposal to deliver a blessing to an entire Nation impossible." (I) "He is correct, his proposal itself is an offense to the Deities and the Dragons, but we can overlook this due to his ignorance on the matter." (Uraha) "But without a blessing, then my people" (Astrid) For the first time I saw dread in Astrid''s eyes, she almost gave in to despair when she heard my words and Uraha''s, luckily her companion kept her composure and placed her hand on her shoulder reaching for Astrid. "I am interested in this alliance, but we must come to terms with our mutual benefits." (Elizabeth) Chapter 1147: Cap 1145: Alliance Part 2 Chapter 1147: Cap 1145: Alliance Part 2 Alliance talks just weren''t going forward, our side being led by my sister Elizabeth and Orsel delivered what according to them could be guaranteed to deliver, but nothing seemed to hold more value to Astrid than the Blessings of the Gods for your people. Astrid''s information about an enemy my sister clearly hates and an enemy she refused to talk about is something everyone here wants to know, I''m just not sure how they are judging the value of this information and whether or not they have alternatives to find out. I could just see that my sister was the most patient to keep the negotiations going without showing anything, at some point Orsel just stopped trying to argue leaving everything in my sister''s hands, Zadiris and Uraha just watched in silence, meanwhile the others closed down eyes doing nothing for the rest of the time. I noticed that the woman named Miriam grew more impatient with each passing hour, but Astrid didn''t give up on trying to find something to help her people in place of a God''s Blessing as it seemed like it wasn''t possible. Several things were discussed, more esoteric solutions that was the moment when those next to me started to enter the conversation with my sister asking for her opinions. "What do you think of transforming their bodies using the help of Vampires, Werewolves, and Demons?" (Elizabeth) "Those possibilities came to be" (Astrid) "I''m sorry to be rude, but this time the question wasn''t directed at you, Mrs. Astrid." (Elizabeth) "I want to know the opinion of the Death Goddess Champion, Ivan." (Elizabeth) I look at Ivan who hasn''t even moved since the moment he sat down in his chair, only the blue flames flickering in the void of his eye sockets. "Impossible, any physical transformation necessary to change the Race or even evolution is drastic to the body, but it needs a certain preparation for the Soul, something that everyone in this universe has since birth in preparation for the changes of evolution, their souls already come prepared for it." (Ivan) "But people from Miss Astrid''s universe don''t have this characteristic, their souls are not so easily adapted, it would be possible to transform their bodies into another race, but their Souls will negate their bodies leading them to death." (Ivan) I look at Ivan wondering when he learned about these things, maybe it was even the Goddess Kalistos who told him that, which I soon confirmed. "The Goddess Kalistos says you have already been informed of this." (Ivan) "..." (Astrid) "Yes, your Santa has come to us before and was kind enough to explain something similar to us." (Miriam) "As I''ve been saying from the beginning, we''ve tried many things, many ideas have been thought about and discarded, the race change that is so easy in this world was also one of those discarded ideas." (Astrid) "What does my mother say, Vanessa?" (Elizabeth) "Their transformation process into Vampires would be drastic, she could do something with the Soul, but it would be too high a risk and if you take these two as an example, then they are not compatible to receive her blessing." (Vanessa) "Diana, would the Beast Men transformation at the Full Moon Ceremony be possible?" (Elizabeth) "No, they would just turn into monsters, their minds would be consumed by their instincts, ordinary people would be even worse for not having enough willpower to survive this Ceremony." (Diana) "As you can see there are almost no options for your people''s situation, you could make everyone enter Temples and Churches with devout faith to try their luck to get a Blessing, but would your people be so devout?" (Elizabeth) "No, my people don''t have much faith in Gods, even now they find it hard to believe, nor can I choose something so uncertain with thousands of lives under my responsibility at risk." (Astrid) "..." (Elizabeth) "No." (I) "I''m sorry ma''am, but even though their individual strength is weak, their numbers are risky for small groups like" (Orsel) "I didn''t speak of groups, just let my brother and his Familiars take care of everything." (Elizabeth) "Interesting..." (Zadiris) "..." (Navar) "I''m not playing your games this time." (I) "I forgot to say that these monsters are insect type and have hundreds of variations that can be associated with jobs, they also have delicious blood, they are creatures that only walk in large groups like this among the stars." (Elizabeth) "(Blood... means they have bloodlines... I haven''t gotten something new between bloodlines in a while... they also seem to be insect-type, I don''t have many like that...)" (I) "(An insect-type monster... interesting...)" (I) "With that number, there must be more than one Queen, are you sure about that?" (Orsel) "Okay, I guess I can do that for you, but is there a good reason for this show?" (I) an "Orsel, don''t worry and Zenos, I have my reasons." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) "Alright... then I''m going..." (I) "Lord Zenos..." (Hades) "Stay here, this is a good opportunity to fight seriously with my Familiars, you still need more training." (I) "..." (Hades) "(Are you sure you want to fight without knowing the enemy?)" (Orion) "(His sister wouldn''t put up an impossible fight for him.)" (Sakura) "(I don''t know what she wants, but it''s clearly some kind of show of strength, so expect an uphill fight.)" (I) As much as I was warning my Familiars about a tough fight, I was excited, I''m always getting attacked by monsters due to my luck, but there are few times where I have a really tough fight. I walk to the edge of the dome managing to see through the illusion, my Familiars stepping out of my shadow one at a time to stand beside me before spreading my wings and flying out. Unlike walking out of a place with a beautiful blue sky straight into a galactic landscape, I take a deep breath not air, as there is no such thing in space, but the raw energy I feel in every corner. Then I look in a direction where I see a cloud of colored dots coming in the direction I am, I look to the direction behind me and I see the city with several Golems positioning themselves to defend far behind me, it must be to catch any enemy that pass me or all of them if I fail. "Let''s start?" (I) Chapter 1148: Cap 1146: Alliance Part 3 Chapter 1148: Cap 1146: Alliance Part 3 I was with my Familiars floating in space among the stars and without an astronaut''s suit, the blood in my body did not stop bubbling with emotion. I was feeling like I was in a B-type sci-fi movie where an idiotic screenwriter decided to have magical creatures fight aliens after a last night of drugs. The kind of movie with a horrible script that only relies on the beautiful scenes, but who am I kidding, I love bizarre movies like the one with sharks inside tornadoes. "Death Locusts, I''ve heard of it, but this is the first time I''ve seen it, their Auras are strange." (Ragnar) While I was standing looking at the approaching colored dots making it easier to distinguish their shapes, I was also lost in my daydreams about strange movies until I heard Ragnar speaking. I found it strange to be able to hear someone in the vacuum of space, but I soon understood that it was an Aura trick, he was using his Aura in his mouth to replace the air making his voice heard not through my ears but through my Aura, it wasn''t a difficult trick to learn. "What''s wrong with your Auras?" (I) As amazing as this whole situation was on the same level of risk, I was calm, maybe I could even say excited, that''s because I''m going to fight with all my Familiars by my side and after a long time I''m going to have a new bloodline to devour, I have a few insect strains, but there must be less than 20, which is why I agreed so quickly with Elizabeth. "Your Auras are all interconnected with each other, but they are all different, if only they were all the same it would be one thing, but this is going way beyond a normal connection." (Ragnar) "Their control also seems uniform" (Ragnar) I focus my Aura on my eyes and I can see the Aura of these Death Locusts, all I could do is see, by the color of an Aura you can guess its Elemental Affinity, and by the way the Aura acts you can guess the level of control it has the individual has his Aura, of course all this is easier and more accurate if it is within the reach of his Aura for a more detailed and direct analysis. "It''s no use thinking about it now, so let''s focus on what we have in front of us, everyone can fight with everything." (I) "He is sure?" (Sakura) "Yes." (I) "With everything..." (Hinata) "..." (I) For some reason I turned towards Hinata in time to see her look at the Wave of Monsters in the distance, the glint in her eyes gave me chills as her Aura billowed out of her body like black smoke. Even though they were far away, it was possible to feel their murderous intent from where we were, it was also a fact that their Auras were connected like a spider''s web, I prefer to attack with everything from the beginning. "< Eclipse Titan''s Awakening >" (Sakura) "< Blood Eclipse Rage >" (Orion) "< Aura Relic: Blade of Two Worlds >" (Ragnar) "< Aura Embodiment: Bladewielder of Two Worlds >" (Ragnar) "< Multi Elemental Incarnation: Fairy of Cataclysm >" (Layla) "< Rune of Transcendence: Incarnation of Endless Night >" (Nix) "For me, everyone in this place is younger, maybe even children, I am so old that I saw half the planets in the universe form and I had the pleasure of helping in the formation of 1 of them in the past, I was also responsible for destroying some." (I) "Don''t be fooled by Elizabeth''s strength now, she is still a Blood Demigod titled the Living Tyranny, one of the 3 Living Calamities, the matriarch of emperors and assassin of nations." (Orsel) "You don''t need to be so thorough in explaining her, she is right to judge me on my current strength, her mistake would be if she judges me only on that." (I) The two''s faces paled, I can see the wariness in the two''s eyes as they stand together, interesting. "If I may ask..." (Astrid) "Say what you want." (I) "What''s the point of this show?" (Astrid) "This is not a show, the monsters are real, and the battle of Zenos will be too." (Zadiris) "But you could tell Elizabeth wants to make a point about something, probably using Primordial." (Navar) "You two wheeled people must understand my brother''s power, the limitations we talked about for hours matter little to him." (I) "..." (Zadiris) "..." (Navar) The two Elder Dragons exchange a look of understanding, it seems they finally understand what I''m getting at, so I turn to the two who have come to ask for an alliance, Astrid looks at me trying to see through my plans, I hope she succeeds in demonstrating her talents as an leader, but his companion seems to be focused only on combat, she looks up where the illusion was destroyed to show my brother''s battle. "My brother is a long way from reaching the strength of a full Demigod, but that is far from his only identity at the highest levels of the Authority." (I) "I want you to pay close attention to your power, it will be important for your decision." (I) I look up without saying anything else, I can feel the blood inside his body overflowing with power. "Did you say he can do something about the impediments we''ve been talking about so far?" (Astrid) "Yes, he can solve all your problems." (I) "I don''t understand, you seem to have known this for a while, so why not speak up beforehand during the meeting? Why make him fight? Why didn''t he say anything himself?" (Astrid) She''s asking a lot of questions, but I like that, she''s being very objective with her questions so there''s no leeway for vague answers. "Why he doesn''t want to get involved, there''s also the fact that you guys are very suspicious, nobody here has reason to trust you completely." (I) an "But apart from all these reasons, you to get something from him must have a meeting with him, not with these people, because only he can give you what you seek..." (I) At that moment, everyone felt the wave of Auras overlapping and looked up to where several large beings were facing the attacking monsters. "I need you to understand his power level in a real battle to demonstrate to you two, so pay attention..." (I) Chapter 1149: Cap 1147: Alliance Part 4 Chapter 1149: Cap 1147: Alliance Part 4 My body transforms as it grows, I''ve never bothered to measure my size in this Dragon form, as this isn''t my first time assuming this form, I don''t have to endure the pain of having my body remodeled. Black crystal scales full of stars grow all over my body, larger and thicker scales on my back, while smaller and thinner scales are in front of me. My red hair becomes ethereal as if it were made of red energy, 3 pairs of wings open from my back with the inside of the wings looking like a reflection of the universe around me, my tail extends much further while several crystal spikes grow through its full length and the blade in its lane becomes that much more brutal with its serrated edge. When invoking my Aura Relic an Eclipse with a drop of blood in the middle is formed using all my Aura before shattering forming a Dragon with the fragments coming towards me, when it collided against my body there was no impact when the Dragon fell apart and the fragments take position on my body in succession becoming an Armor for me. All this while my Holy Power was extracted from my body at a point in mine where the space seems to voluntarily open to pass a sword with a black stellar blade and a hilt made of Dragon bones. I hold this sword that feels like it was made for my hand so well I feel the grip of the hilt, then a rush of power runs through my veins going to Armor before coming back to me and then going to the sword flowing to me once more in this endless cycle. The power coursing through my body was greater than anything else, I don''t need to build a Territory right now, just good old brutality being enough. My killer instinct is no longer being restrained as I stand in readiness for the carnage I plan, each of my senses going to their limit. I also feel some of my power and Authority flowing from me to my Familiars, their powers also reaching their limits. At that moment I see the monsters called Locusts of Death more closely, many of them looked like Locusts with their long legs and other features, but I noticed that many have body parts if other creatures, some had scorpion tail, another had bee body parts and one of them even had a lower body like a centipede. It was more like they were several species of insect monsters, rather than just 1 race, but from the similarity in their Auras, I can tell that they are similar to each other. I looked to the side when I saw something very strange, Hinata''s whole body was opening up revealing many details and in the center an endless darkness like a bottomless well, from this darkness black arms and tentacles emerged when a creature appeared. The first thing that came were several oh-horrible black arms and tentacles, but among them a white arm appeared followed by another that forced Hinata''s already wide open body to open even more, the arms and tentacles helping to pull out a figure that soon she turned out to be a colossal adult woman, her skin was pale white like candle wax, the horrible black tentacles were her long hair, the arms of different shapes and sizes were part of her grotesque dress made of body parts, chains being worn around her her waist, neck, arms, and legs as if she had just stepped out of a prison, her eyes closed and face showing no emotion, everything about this woman was horrifying with phantom faces emerging from her clothes and hair as if begging for release. Ragnar also changed, his form transforms into that of a black and red centaur, and his wings appear to be made of black sword blades while in each of his two hands, a great single-edged sword was held firmly, its size nearly as great as like mine, which unfortunately I don''t know how to define precisely. "Yes... that individual difference doesn''t come from the individual''s power or race, it comes from something that defines him as being above, but that doesn''t matter as the one who is targeted by the Ceremony of Awakening needs to be compatible with the Dragon." (Zadiris) "I thought you already made it clear that compatibility would be important, you''re describing almost the same concepts as the Blessing." (Astrid) "Miss Vanessa, can you talk about your Father? Does he need someone compatible?" (I) These two don''t know enough about Dragons to understand an explanation of the subject in more detail, they also don''t know what the Power of Authority is, and trying to explain it to them would be impossible, this is not the kind of power that one can acquire on their own and Outsiders like them wouldn''t be able to understand this without experiencing it for themselves. For those reasons I just need to get them to understand the part about what they want, that''s the only part that matters to the two of them anyway and it''s going to be what I''m going to use to attract them. "My Father may be someone special among Dragons, called as you heard before Primordial." (Vanessa) "Awakening ceremonies serve primarily to awaken an individual''s power, but the one in control can even bestow power in the form of a Dragon bloodline trait, abilities, or Elemental Affinity." (Vanessa) "But my Father can take much more than that, he can change someone''s race, touch their Souls and go far beyond what an ordinary Awakening Ceremony can go." (Vanessa) Vanessa is not wrong, even though True Dragons acquire Authority by becoming True Dragon Kings, their Authority is weak as a power inherited from their ancestors, only someone like a Dragon Emperor or an Elder Dragon has a true Authority of their own, but Zenos went further of that by obtaining an Authority long before he became a True Dragon or awakened as a Demigod, even if he had been sleeping inside him for a long time until he was strong enough to finally be used as it was meant to be. With his current ability to possess Holy Power and having mastered his Authority to the level of being able to form a Blessing, he can reshape one''s body and Soul under the appropriate conditions. "What I want to make clear by showing his strength as you can see above and talking about his ability using the Ceremony of Awakening is to make it clear that he will be his only option." (I) "What do you want?" (Astrid) The wariness in his eyes was something I was expecting, it was all I wanted from the start as it shows his interest in continuing the discussions. "What I want is quite simple... as well as what he can offer..." (I) Chapter 1150: Cap 1148: Alliance Part 5 Chapter 1150: Cap 1148: Alliance Part 5 Pov Orsel: During this whole Meeting, I asked myself why Elizabeth was acting this way, this was the first opportunity where I could meet her, but there are many reports of her in our archives and, like the other founders of the Border City, I studied everything about her in depth. That''s why I let her lead the negotiations when I saw her interest in delaying the end when it was already clear that the Alliance could not be realized. As a Demigoddess, I thought she knew a way to fulfill the main point of the agreement for Lady Astrid, which would be a way to save her people, which proved to be correct. I look at the creatures in the sky that started to move towards the Wave of Monsters, each of them is emitting a much stronger level of power than expected, but this type of technique is usually not efficient consuming large amounts of energy to be maintained. Pursuing a brutal start to battle over a more consistent, long-lasting approach feels wrong to me because of the unnecessary level of risk when that energy is running out and there are still enemies left. No matter how eye-catching it is to see Zenos and the creatures that appear to be his Familiars, a single-use ability should be employed wisely rather than on impulse. ViiSiit for latest novels "(Zadiris, do you confirm the things Lady Elizabeth claims about her brother?)" (I) "(Yes, during the time I was away I met someone who had their race changed, their body completely transformed, and even their Soul transformed, the changes were so great that even their Aura was unrecognizable to that of the past.)" (Zadiris) "(Who is this person?)" (Navar) "(I''m also curious, could it be someone I know?)" (I) "(Who he was in the past doesn''t matter, but now he''s one of the sons of Zenos, his name is Magnus.)" (Zadiris) As we have been doing throughout the entire meeting, we were maintaining a mental connection with the use of some magic, we did it to talk without showing what we thought to this suspicious group. From what the Blood Saint spoke Zenos'' power to take the Ceremony of Awakening further than normal must be a result of being a Primordial Dragon, perhaps the addition of also being a Demigod had something to do with it, as was to be expected of a child of the Goddess Selene, it shouldn''t be long before he joins his sisters as a living Calamity. Knowing now what Elizabeth wants my interest in this meeting is close to zero as Elizabeth seems to want to take Astrid and her people as allies to her brother rather than Border Town. Losing much of my interest in the matter I turned my eyes good to one of Zenos''s daughters, the one called Nicole, since her father left I noticed her focus changed, I can feel the power of Aura and Authority stirring within her, I also noticed the curse she used on my Golems, I just don''t know how she found them in her Illusory camouflage. She took possession of 8 of my 30 Golems, the 8 she took were exactly those focused on information gathering and exploration. Layla seems to have done something similar, but instead of it being a breath attack, she caused a Tree to grow from each of her 4 hands directly into a circular hole in the space in front of her, while countless cocks of manner appeared in the midst of the monsters doing them in pieces. Orion is being the most normal one, he is using his speed and flexibility to destroy the monsters with his teeth as well as his claws, running freely between them with his giant body. Ragnar is slicing them to pieces with his Swords throwing blades of Aura in all directions. Hinata I''m not even able to understand what she''s doing, countless eyes open on the tentacles that form her hair, but they don''t do anything apparently, but the monsters near her are frantic resorting even hurting themselves greatly. Sakura on the other hand was making more direct attacks going at bigger monsters. Nix as a Dragon was the center of widespread destruction as my Father was doing elsewhere. After the first attack, my Father began an overwhelming attack against the monsters, wherever he went carnage was left behind. I tried to analyze the monsters, they all looked different at first glance, but I soon managed to group them into dozens of different groups, I tried to catalog what I could learn from them a few side notes, their race being very similar to Goblins in the matter of having many variants in their evolutions, more specialist variants in certain aspects. But while the Goblins were humanoid in shape, these creatures are shaped like large insects, one of which even looked like a cross between a monster fish and mosquito. The structure of their bodies was interesting because it was so functional, but it only took a few minutes of battle for me to notice something, the others were changing their attack patterns, and they also didn''t seem to fear for death as they didn''t show anything in front of the large number of initial deaths. They changed their tactics, but the way they did it was strange, everyone moved in perfect sync making those with stronger Auras go to face Ragnar and those with greater defenses to go after my Father. Those who seemed to have the most magical affinities made formations that used their Auras'' connections to form ritual magic circles to attack Hinata and Layla. Those with fire powers went after Sakura while the faster ones went to restrain Orion. They were all moving in perfect sync to the point of being unnatural, they didn''t look like living creatures as they didn''t seem to have individualism acting as if they were fragmented parts of the same entity. That would be frightening if they had the power to go beyond what they are showing, their strategies only serving to delay rather than turn the tide of battle. It was trying to find the cause of this change that I noticed some fry that weren''t moving in sync with the others, which made it easy to find them. "(I found them... so these are the queens...)" (I) Chapter 1151: Cap 1149: Alliance Part 6 Chapter 1151: Cap 1149: Alliance Part 6 As I fought I noticed that the monsters were weaker, their individual attacks couldn''t even break my skin, their coordination was also very basic, my first breath attack was to clear a path through their ranks since the way their Auras were connecting worries me. I could feel my Familiars starting their own fights in other parts of the Monster Wave, I trusted them more than enough that I didn''t need to watch them, but I could still feel where they were. My battle was only going well for the first few minutes, but suddenly things changed, the enemies close to me started to run away from me while the more defense oriented ones stood in my way, the way they were moving was in complete sync with the point of being bizarre. I was close and I watched the bizarre change, the Death Locusts were moving without any kind of apparent communication and without even looking at each other. Even these more defense-focused monsters weren''t able to stop me individually but moved in groups using their numbers to stop my attacks even at the cost of their deaths. Whereas before I was able to kill hundreds of monsters every 10 seconds, now my kill rate has changed to a little over 100 monsters every 10 seconds, these monsters used their skills in a specific rhythm to slow down my blows or using their layered resistant bodies as a last defense, thus decreasing my effectiveness in combat. I couldn''t understand how they changed so fast and I didn''t have time to think when the number of monsters near me was increasing faster than I could kill with their way of defending themselves against me. Their attacks weren''t doing anything to me before, but now these more defense-focused monsters had more space, earth, metal, and light-focused elemental affinities. They were able to attack at specific points on my body by concentrating attacks of the same type to increase destructive power such as beams of light, metal, or earth projectiles, all while those focused on space helped to direct the blows by manipulating the surrounding space. Their coordination was way beyond what a trained group could go, it was like I was dealing with split parts of a single individual, my resistance to all these elements was protecting me, but the places they attacked were my joints, eyes, and my spine. I was taking a lot of hits and when I killed dozens of enemies others always came to replace their positions, their ways of attacking and defending in perfect sync left me with big problems. At least that was it for the next few minutes, that''s why I was focused not on defending or attacking now, since I noticed the drastic change in the monsters'' behavior I tried to find the accused, that''s why I refused to believe that this was natural since even just moments ago those monsters weren''t doing that. I wasn''t able to use my Aura because I was using an Aura Relic, but I still had my senses, and my Aura perception was included with them, so I realized that even though all their Auras are connected, they''re not mixed up and are still separated with the exception of a single Aura that looks like a line passing through all the connection points of these Auras, at least it was the only place where I could perceive these Aura lines. It seems that in the end I was right without knowing it, they are acting like several separate entities of the same individual why are they disappearing manipulated by a single individual as if they were pieces on a chessboard. I couldn''t help but smile when I remembered Orsel and the others at the meeting talking about Death Locust Queens, they must be somewhere watching, it''s sure to be a safe place with stronger monsters to serve as the last line of defense, that''s also why that I don''t know the strength of this Queen and I also don''t know how many she has. "Let me show you why it won''t work your way." (I) A big smile formed on my face as I returned to take this battle more seriously, my previously simple movements became more complex, when I moved I always made sure to move my whole body, the stellar sword in my hands was flooded with elemental power changing between different types without any sort of order. Once again I was unencumbered amongst a large group of monsters, each time I saw the mundanes among them I also made sure to switch between a stance focused more on my speed and acrobatics to one focused on standing still sending attacks from afar, then attacking without use the sword and so on. My whole body was a weapon, not just the sword in my hands, my attack possibilities and continuous attack combos were endless thanks to my martial art which focuses on unpredictability. I wasn''t doing this without proper thought either, in was following the Aura threads to get to the source, there is a saying that to kill an army first get rid of its general, and an army without a leader is just a collection of individuals. I look at the two of them, their serious while maintaining silence, they are looking at me intensely, I knew from the beginning of the meeting when I heard their problems that I could do something for them, but there were too many suspicious things for me to offer like that, neither it seemed like something so urgent that it couldn''t wait. Sigh "You just want to go after their enemies, don''t you?" (I) "Yes, but that doesn''t make what you''ve said so far a lie, so what does it say?" (Elizabeth) "..." (I) I was inclined to accept it, but I''m going to give them a test run first just to see how they react, so I look at the two of them before I start talking. "I will at least listen, but it will be on another occasion, besides you two must accept being used as a test to know if I am really capable of solving your problems." (I) "I''m willing to do it..." (Astrid) "Wait! I''ll do it, you should be more self-protective you idiot." (Miriam) "I am the leader, this is my responsibility." (Astrid) "Besides, how would this be different from the experiments I''ve performed with my body so far to ensure the safety of others?" (Astrid) "You bastard..." (Miriam) "We both accept." (Miriam) "..." (I) "(I didn''t expect that, they didn''t even try to say that they would bring people from their people to take the tests in their place.)" (I) "..." (Elizabeth) I exchange glances with Elizabeth who nods her head in approval, but I don''t know if it''s approval for my test or for the answer of the two, I think that at least they can be trusted to a certain extent. "Alright, for now, we can say that the Alliance is temporarily accepted, what do you think?" (I) "I am happy to say yes, I hope this alliance is officially and permanently accepted, thank you in advance for your help, Mister Zenos." (Astrid) "Without any of that sir stuff, just Zenos is fine with me." (I) With that, the meeting was officially over. Chapter 1152: Cap 1150: Hard To Deny Facts Chapter 1152: Cap 1150: Hard To Deny Facts After the meeting ended, everyone left, leaving only me, my sister, my group, and the two responsible for this meeting. I had to wait for my Familiars to finish collecting the parts of the monsters, that carapace, bones, antennae and other things are useful, not to mention the blood that I still haven''t drunk even close to half, Orion must surely be responsible for the collection of blood and you''ll bring it to me when you''re done. Astrid and Miriam had stayed behind, but that''s because they weren''t finished with their purpose here, I''ve agreed in advance with the Alliance, but nothing official has been signed other than a verbal agreement and they know it. I would like to open my Dungeon now, but that wasn''t possible since it was open in our temporary residence in Border Town, so I looked at Nicole who had an open metal cube on top of the conference table. "Nicole, how many Golems are around watching?" (I) "29, but I have control of 7, there''s also the one I''m working on, if there''s any other one beyond my ability to notice, I''d be grateful to bring it to me to analyze." (Nicole) "Are these Golems of Orsel? Do you have permission?" (I) "I already talked to him about it, as long as I return them all in one piece by tomorrow he doesn''t mind me doing that, but in return, he wanted the recordings of his fight." (Nicole) "Then no problem." (I) The recordings don''t matter, Orsel might not be strong enough on his own, but everyone else in that meeting earlier could see me struggling, I didn''t do anything I needed to hide this time. "Sister, could you create a more comfortable place for us to talk?" (I) "Are you sure? It''s going to be a lot of pressure, especially on you." (Elizabeth) "No problem, this isn''t the first time, plus I don''t want others digging what we''re going to talk about." (I) "..." (Astrid) "All good." (Elizabeth) "< Territory: Ruler >" (Elizabeth) "< Eternal Empire of Blood >" (Elizabeth) An extremely imperious and tyrannical Aura spreads around us with my sister as usual, which wasn''t a problem until the moment her Authority filled all of her Aura taking the space around us to herself. I felt my own Authority stir in denial trying to get out of my body to face this Authority of my sister, the more I tried to contain my Authority the more it got out of control, but this was something I could do even with difficulty because of my training. The surroundings started to change with the space around us raining blood as if washing away the reality around us to reveal a castle in various shades of red, my sister no longer wearing her previous clothes now she was wearing an Armor with a black coat over it and a neon red crystal crown floating above her head. Elizabeth''s presence was in every corner, a presence that weighs on top of me as if ordering me to my knees, her own posture becoming straighter and more stable. "Here no one will see or hear anything that happens, nor can it be invaded without me noticing." (Elizabeth) "What is that!?" (Astrid) "Teleportation magic!? Where did they bring us!?" (Miriam) The two who found themselves in a strange place act in different ways, Astrid questions while ready to act if necessary, meanwhile Miriam demonstrates her aggression already getting into an attack position, her arms transformed into a cannon and a sword of light ready to attack at any moment time. "Wait, Miriam!!" (Astrid) . "..." (Miriam) Astrid was quick to stop her mate before Elizabeth had the chance, she doesn''t usually take anyone who points their guns at her lightly. "..." (I) Sigh I look away from my sister, she''s not wrong, even though I blame Nira and the others, I can''t deny that everyone calls me King and that everyone follows my orders. "Astrid, we can test with you two if I can definitely solve your people''s physical problems, but before that, there are certain things that need to be talked about." (I) "Ask anything you want." (Astrid) "It''s not just asking, that''s because I can even arrange a safe place for all your people to live, but that place belongs to me, living there means that they are my people and they must be loyal to me as well as those around me, What do you have to say about this?" (I) "I was ready for something like that, as long as my people have a say in their government, I don''t care about the rest." (Astrid) "But that still doesn''t mean I accept you." (I) "Nicole, a holographic presentation about our city''s races, please." (I) "< Interface N activating Phase 2 >" (Nicole) Nicole''s Aura spreads a little forward forming 3D holographic models of the Races within the Dungeon, Nicole''s Aura seems to have difficulty spreading until Elizabeth does something to make the process easier. "One thing that is not up for discussion is prejudice, if you or any of your people have prejudice you are out, I will not help the individual under any circumstances." (I) "..." (Astrid) "Do you mean that if you find someone who cannot live with these races, they will stop helping our people?" (Miriam) "No, what I am saying is that they will be judged separately as individuals without exception, those who do not pass will be left out, will not live on my land, and will not receive any help from me." (I) "That''s a drastic way of thinking, our people are big and where we come from there were no other races, I can''t promise that there won''t be prejudice in any of them." (Astrid) "You''re talking about leaving people to fend for themselves because of this? They are someone''s children and parents, that will only breed resentment." (Miriam) "I never spoke of abandoning anyone to their fate, I said that I will not help in any way, but you can always negotiate with the people of Border Town to accept them there, I am within my rights to use my power and allow them to enter my lands of those who think it''s best, don''t be fooled into thinking I''m obligated to something." (I) "..." (Astrid) "Astrid..." (Miriam) "I know... I need time to think..." (Astrid) It may sound cruel what I''m saying, but it hurts how I''ve treated everyone so far to let live in the Dungeon, I can''t use two different measures of judgment just because their situation is supposedly bad, everyone''s life in the Dungeon has been going great without people causing problems because of prejudice. I will have the Moon Fairies and Spirits handle these interviews, along with people from the most exotic races to make sure their reactions, and no lies will get through. "I may have a solution to this problem, would you like to hear me out?" (Elizabeth) "..." (I) "(Caitlyn can use some level of mental conditioning using her dreams to get used to other races, this will make them more receptive and do away with any kind of prejudice that isn''t too deep in their minds.)" (Elizabeth) "(Do as you see fit, but be sure to explain it to her, this is a decision that must be made as a leader.)" (I) "(I know, let me take care of the rest, it looks like your Familiars are coming back.)" (Elizabeth) "I''ll leave you guys talking..." (I) I stand up and the space opens up letting me out of my sister''s Territory, I can''t even see it from the outside, it looks like some kind of Separate Space, after being impressed I walk back to where my Familiars were gathering. Chapter 1153: Cap 1151: There Is No Other Way Chapter 1153: Cap 1151: There Is No Other Way Pov Astrid: I didn''t like how this was all going, but it was still better than the worst of my predictions where we''d be killed or tortured. That plan always had too many risks, I knew that when we thought about it all, but it was better than the alternative that even though it was safer, would waste precious time we don''t have. I could see that the woman named Elizabeth was influential and was driving the meeting around in circles, which was good for me as the meeting was nearing its end and it looked like we weren''t going to be able to form an alliance. Exposing ourselves like this was more than risky and I couldn''t leave here with a loss, I can imagine they would follow us back to our bases, I doubt we would notice if they sent someone strong enough. There are other ways for them to get the information I can provide while I desperately need their help, I can say that they know this and still tried to form the Alliance, but I didn''t imagine that our situation was so difficult to solve with so many variables that I didn''t know. When finally that red-haired boy Miriam told of went into battle demonstrating strength beyond even Miriam, I knew where this was all going, which was confirmed when he returned victorious. Unlike his sister who was indirectly leading the whole conversation in a way that would help his plans, Zenos was more direct, he from the beginning first presented the 3 topics of our needs in this agreement before saying what he could offer, he tried to be vague to hide his secrets, which I can understand, but I think he says pretension. But I don''t like the way he talks about excluding people he doesn''t approve of, but there''s not much I can do about that, I need his help since right now he''s the only one left. His identity also seems to be special, from the conversations so far I could tell that he is a High Level Dragon just like what they call a Demigod, I don''t know if this is a way of referring to someone like him figuratively or a title received for some reason, maybe he can even be the real thing in the literal sense of the word. When he left his sister didn''t say anything, she just looked at us as if expecting something. "Can he really do what he says?" (I) "Yes, as much as he doesn''t seem confident, that''s mostly because he doesn''t fully understand his potential, but I can assure you he can." (Elizabeth) "He spoke so casually about abandoning our people" (Miriam) "Well, it''s not our problem, he was even easy to convince, normally I would expect more resistance to the idea of helping you." (Elizabeth) "Does he have a place we can inhabit? He wasn''t very clear on that matter." (I) "He has, as much as he dislikes the truth, he is a ruler, there is a city like thousands of people calling him King." (Elizabeth) I remember the races he showed before, I had already seen images and even seen some, in our universe there were only Humans, finding other races was more than shocking when we got here, I left that subject aside because there were many important things to deal with, but it is undeniable that my people are not ready to live in society with such different races. For me as well as Miriam this is fascinating, but I can see the kinds of problems my people can cause, especially with the minds of many on edge. "Can you at least tell me the type of government he uses on his land and if there would be room for people from my people?" (I) . "The system of government is very simple, there are only two layers of power, Zenos as King at the top and just below a group of loyal people who take care of civic affairs." (Elizabeth) "Looks like you''ve already made up your mind." (Miriam) "In our situation, I don''t think it could even be called a decision, it was the only way." (I) Time was precious, if we had enough time more people could have been saved that day, if we had enough time we could have made that first contact more calmly so as not to look so suspicious, and if we had enough time we could have tried harder to find a way to save our people without relying on outsiders. "Choices must be made and concessions must be made... only then can we cling to the thread of hope that we have not taken a wrong turn." (I) ------------- Pov Haku (?????): "I''m not sure... I like blue a lot, but green suits you better." (I) I had a bald, eyeless head pinned to the wall as I held one eye of each color up to the eye sockets trying to figure out which eye color would go best with the face I chose. "What do you think..." (I) I look at the brain with eyes glued to the pile on the other side, I''m letting him see the construction of his new body, I chose to make a woman so I can have an assistant test for infertility issues since no one else wants to study this topic. "I forgot that I turned off the language reading system, so let''s save that for later." (I) I drop my eyes on their respective weaknesses and go back to the bones, I''ve finished modeling them, and now I need to make the magic circles drawn directly on the bones. "I don''t like to fight directly, but I''m not confident in using magic either, so if you''re physically fit and trained for that, having an assistant who can defend me could be good." (I) I know I''m trying to make something too perfect that can help me with everything, but it''s so rare to find such a good mind, his brain didn''t even die in the process of separating the body or collecting memories, even his consciousness remained, I don''t know how long I''ll go without seeing another one of this level of quality. "I wish I had Vampire veins, that''s a shame." (I) I took the purple bone blade to start scratching the magic circles digging into the bones, this process was very detailed and I like to do it more by hand, it took me hours to do this. "< Bone Infusion >" (I) I take a magic crystal that contains Blood magic and apply a Necromancy magic, the previously solid crystal begins to melt and with a lot of effort, I make this liquid go through the thin ditches I drew in the bones before solidifying again. "This is getting better..." (I) Sigh I was exhausted, every magic I use makes me stay in that state, I really wish I had someone to teach me these things better, it has been the main reason for my research not going as fast as I would like. "I think I''ll have to sleep a little before the muscles implant... not to mention the meat is still being grown, I think I can give myself some of that time" (I) I see there''s still room on the table next to the skeleton and I lie down there, it''s going to be a waste of time to go to my room, sleeping in the lab will save me time. Chapter 1154: Cap 1152: Swarm Power Chapter 1154: Cap 1152: Swarm Power I was returning to the city with everyone, in my hand I had a red and blue crystal that must weigh more than this Whale Golem we are using as a vehicle. This red and blue Crystal is the blood of all the insects we killed, the amount of blood was too large and the lingering Aura as well as the massive Vitality still contained in all this blood was interfering with attempts to store it in a storage item, so I used Blood magic to compress it as much as possible before it crystallized and shortly afterwards I used space magic to compress the space around the Crystal further decreasing the size, unfortunately, the weight is still too great for a normal person to carry. "Why don''t you eat that thing soon?" (Layla) "Because my stomach still has limits." (I) "The blood looked kind of gross, especially the blue one." (Orion) "Insect-type monsters are strange, their blood by the way has no bloodline, only Queens have bloodlines, and many don''t even have intelligence." (Ragnar) "As we''ve seen before, the Death Locust Queens, like the rest of their species, have the unique trait of adaptation, so they can be found in even the worst possible places, which also alters their appearance." (Ragnar) "I couldn''t fight, but you describe them as Goblins, with the difference that their changes are more extreme." (Diana) "Was the fight difficult?" (Vanessa) "Those things were annoying until the middle of the fight, they kept acting to slow me down, it was just a waste of time and energy, but strangely afterwards it got easier." (Sakura) "That''s because they killed an Insect Empress, but specifically the one my brother killed, the one that cut out his eyes." (Elizabeth) "I hadn''t even felt the presence of that thing, it was an attack that took me by surprise." (I) "An Insect Empress''s intelligence and Aura control are incredible, they have very strategic minds from birth." (Elizabeth) On the way back we talked about the battle, it was exciting and exhausting, but exciting to fight like that without having to think about others, just going all out that way was liberating. We didn''t touch on the subject of the meeting or the things Astrid spoke to me and Elizabeth, that doesn''t matter to me that much, I can sympathize with your plight and even respect your devotion to your people, but I''m not going to commit to doing something risky for people I don''t know just out of the goodness of my heart. When we got back I went straight to the Undead city where the Death Dragons were, I performed the Awakening Ceremony on them along with 4 Light Dragon Seals and bestowing the Aura of Life to each one as an experiment. What emerged was 4 very large Dragon Eggs in black and white. "I think I may have overreacted..." (I) "Vanessa told me about her battle, she could have waited until tomorrow to do that." (Karina) "..." (I) Sigh . "I wanted to test something, see how much my power alters the body and how it does it, I never stopped to try to understand the mechanics of the Awakening Ceremonies, I always think only about what I use and nothing else." (I) "Besides, these 4 Dragons have been here for a long time, we always have so much to do that I''ve already put them aside 2 times, I didn''t want to let this drag on any longer." (I) "You should change your plans a bit, I''m sending you to take care of Project Swarm." (Yntra) "My sister failed, didn''t she?" (I) "As you predicted, your mind still exists and can be useful as a support in your new assignments, but your consciousness is in utterly shattered fragments." (Yntra) "That idiot, please say that Project Swarm''s collective mind is not lost." (I) "It''s still functional, but we''re losing people keeping it in a controlled state until you have a mind powerful enough to keep the mental anchor in just one place." (Yntra) "I''ve already taken care of that, I''ve asked our collaborator for the final piece for this, he should be back in a few more days with the order, then we can move forward with our plans." (I) "Don''t delay, I don''t want to lose too many on this project, even if they are expendable." (Yntra) "As soon as I have what I need, I''ll head there immediately." (I) As soon as I finished speaking the big eye bigger than my own body closes, so the brain it''s trapped in was reattached inside the Armored Giant''s body. A creature created by Yntra using bones and shells, its body cannot be penetrated by anything we have, it also has many types of Spatial magic allowing it to defend itself and travel the universe between our scattered bases. Its shape is similar to a fish, inside there is only meat treated when processing the Elves we put our hands on, this allows maintaining a stable energy flow for its functioning. As soon as the great brain has been pulled into its jaws before closing the entrance, the space around it trembles before disappearing. "Yntra should have listened to me, my sister didn''t have the patience to take on that kind of project, and because of that she almost lost the Swarm." (I) "Ma''am, I didn''t mean to interrupt, but your assistant woke up moments ago." "Already!? Did she destroy something? Did she try to kill herself? Is she trying to run away?" (I) "No, she is standing where she was left and said wait for the lady, these are her body and mind readings." "Let me see." (I) I take the Crystal Tablet from her hands and analyze the information while walking towards the lab. "The body seems to be operating in the patterns that I have stipulated." (I) "But the mind... these fluctuations represent hypnosis... these lines represent consciousness... but this pattern..." (I) It seemed that the conscious mind was not subjugated by hypnosis, but somehow the two complement each other, theoretically, this is a plausible result, but it never happened, it would take a common moral anchor for these two sides to interact in this way. "It doesn''t seem to be stable, it may cause many unforeseen factors in the mind like creating other personalities, I need to take care of this before leaving urgently." (I) With that, I went to my lab while I ordered the materials and tools I would need. "My personal project is not ready, but it seems that I have no choice, I will have to use Symbiosis." (I) "I hate doing things on the fly!" (I) Chapter 1155: Cap 1153: The Descent Of Zenos Chapter 1155: Cap 1153: The Descent Of Zenos I woke up the next day still feeling a little weak, but largely well enough not to be a problem in the middle of the day. "So am I still dreaming or has my Soul been pulled towards you?" (I) "You are awake in your room, I am using my blessing to manifest this illusion that only you can see." (Kalistos) "..." (I) I turn and see Kalistos sitting on the edge of the bed I just lifted, rica still sleeping on the other side of the bed. Kalistos had a different appearance, something very close to Hinata''s appearance, with the difference that her body seems completely solid and her face has a calm expression with strong eyes. "Why did the Goddess of Death come to me if I may ask?" (I) "Why are you entering a path whose intervention will benefit me, but will also bring endless trouble." (Kalistos) "Does it have something to do with Astrid and her people?" (I) "Yes." (Kalistos) "Your enemies to be precise." (Kalistos) I remember the images that Astrid showed yesterday during the meeting, they were flesh abominations, something between a flesh Golem and an artificial Kimera. "You thought correctly, these people are using something close to what one of your enemies has done in the past, but even worse, they are doing something unacceptable." (Kalistos) "Can you tell me what exactly they are doing to make a Goddess like you so enraged? I would also like to know which enemy you are talking about, if possible?" (I) "Me and Mavis have more restrictions than other Gods, I can''t say more than I already have, I can only point out directions but never guide you through it." (Kalistos) "(Acting so roundabout with these riddles doesn''t make my life any easier.)" (I) "I don''t understand, do you want me to stay with the Alliance or leave them to their own devices?" (I) "What you will do will be your problem alone, I''m just here to find out if you still intend to follow what you''ve already decided even listening to what I''ve already said?" (Kalistos) "But you didn''t say anything." (I) "..." (Kalistos) . "..." (I) It seems that they went to a World facing a Wave of Monsters from space, the world in question has a planetary defense system that uses more than 9000 magic items as Towers creating hexagonal barriers around the entire world, but one of these Towers is damaged as they face monsters that managed to invade the world, they are facing battles both at ground level and in the planet''s orbit, their specialists in barriers overloaded in keeping the other Towers working without knowing why one of them was damaged. "(Don''t fight, I want you to be on standby in case you need to help one of them.)" (I) "(Alright, master.)" (Ragnar) As I looked at everyone fighting, only one of them stopped turning towards Ragnar, it was Hades, he noticed my presence somehow, and I waved him back to fight. Irina wasn''t fighting, she was behind a wall of Golems that look more like giant robots messing with a large metal tower, Orsel was right there working beside her. Seeing that she is the safest, I turned my sights to Irius, he was 3 times bigger with red skin, in one hand he had a 4 meter double-edged sword, and in his other arm, he had a round metal shield almost as big as he was and with sharp teeth on the edges. Irius was brutal in his combat against eyeless octopus-like creatures with mouths at the end of each tentacle, his shield crushing while his sword cuts a path of death. Vanessa on the other hand was flying with hundreds of red crystal swords around her, wherever she went a rain of blood and flesh followed. Silvia was in her Dragon form standing in the midst of countless enemies, a storm of various elements of nature around her as if it were the end of the world as she alone stood motionless in that apocalypse. Samira and Elsaris were running around killing those enemies furthest from the large groups helping the army of that world. Ivy was next to her Familiar, I couldn''t see her since the area where she was fighting was covered by black mist, but using my Aura through Ragnar I realized that she had created a Territory where she was fighting, I didn''t know she could do that. Magnus was also present in his Dragon form, the way he fought was even more brutal and savage than Irius, he didn''t even look like a rational creature with his body covered in purple blood, he threw himself at the creatures making a path of shattered bodies and using light magic in large groups for complete annihilation. Lilith was fighting very differently from the others, that''s because the places she passed through were not stained with blood and body parts, the monsters around her screamed in endless pain with their bodies writhing, a red light emitting from her body and a flow of cursed energy writhing like serpents around the monsters while simply falling dry to the ground. Hades on the other hand was fighting drawing blood from every monster, his every blow was followed by a flow of blood that gathered in a vortex behind him, no matter if the monster was squashed, slashed, or torn apart, the blood seemed to be grabbed by its Aura and drawn into that vortex even if the monster was still alive. "(Looks like they have it under control, but keep watching, let me know if anything unexpected happens.)" (I) "(Yes, I''ll take care of everything here, don''t worry...)" (Ragnar) When I opened my eyes, I turned to Navar who was in front of me. "What can I do for you?" (I) "I want to trade part of your power in exchange for part of my power." (Navar) "Like this?" (I) "I want to create a Dragon Seal using part of your Eclipse Authority, its compatibility with my Star Authority seems intriguing to me." (Navar) "I can use this in the future when I find a candidate to take my place when I''m at the end of my life or join the Dragon God." (Navar) "So in return will you do the same for me? I think we can talk more about this, sounds interesting..." (I) Chapter 1156: Cap 1154: Miriams Awakening Ceremony Chapter 1156: Cap 1154: Miriam''s Awakening Ceremony I was with Zadiris and Navar talking about Navar''s request, I had never done something like this until now, whenever I used the power of other Dragons to create a Dragon Seal it was stealing its power after defeating my opponents, not to mention that all these times it was Karina who always did it somehow. Zadiris was explaining the process for this to me, and then we talked about topics involving what Dragons normally do, which were pretty much the same things Arash told me, but suddenly I got a message to sit back and close my eyes as I extended my consciousness to Ragnar on another planet. "(What''s going on?)" (I) "Something strange is happening, no time to explain" (Ragnar) When I shared Ragnar''s senses what I saw was a large Serpent whose head had no mouth but a large eye made entirely of purple irises, the Serpent''s entire length was covered in tentacles which had mandibles at the ends, but the strangest thing was its body twitching as if the flesh was rearranging itself. The Serpent''s dark purple color was the same as the flying octopus-type monsters that attacked that world, but this creature wasn''t there before, its length is colossal with thousands of tentacles attacking those on the battlefield. His strength seemed to be a little above Ragnar''s, but before he could act, two powerful attacks landed on his body, opening horrible holes that began to heal immediately with the flesh moving to heal the wound. Those two attacks were from Hades and Silvia, I have Ragnar wave at them while blasting my Aura through him to alert him that it''s me acting. "(Ragnar, get ready.)" (I) "(Exactly what I was going to order, thank you.)" (Ragnar) Ragnar went flying in the direction as he changes back to his horse form, his wings spreading out increasing his speed. Meanwhile, I was mixing our two Auras as my Authority overlaps his which is derived from mine. "< Blood Curse: Eternal Rivalry >" (I/Ragnar) I gather the blood from the surroundings creating a magic circle 4 kilometers in diameter, I use my holy power to further strengthen the cursed magic. Rays of red light shoot out from the magic circle, curling around the large creature before sinking into its body, red marks appearing from all over its body, then it turns towards Ragnar, each of its tentacles turned towards us with jaws open as it moves forward towards us. . "< Territory: Imaginary Realm >" (I/Ragnar) "< Blood Star Garden Eclipse >" (I/Ragnar) My Aura and Authority are sucked together through my connection to Ragnar before exploding from his body taking in an area for miles around us catching even thousands of octopus monsters and Hades. As if it were the end of everything absolute darkness reigned around us then countless stars lit up one by one in the darkness before a ring of red light appeared in the sky before realizing it was an Eclipse. Soon the darkness lifts revealing streams of energy connecting the surrounding stars as if forming a painting of a stellar garden, in this place there was no gravity or ground, everyone was involved by the universe under the eternal Eclipse. "Hades, finish them off." (I/Ragnar) "< Blood Eclipse Avatar: Star Eater >" (I/Ragnar) From the surrounding stars a haze of blood gathers where a Dragon appears cut out of the space around him, his jaw more precise with that of a Leech full of endless teeth than a Dragon. "If you expect her to learn to make similar garlic, forget it, it''s not something you can just learn." (I) "But feel free to see." (I) Miriam and I walk a little further away from the others, meanwhile, I grab a bottle of Elizabeth''s blood to drink, it''s not as nutritious as Natasha''s blood, but it will help my recovery. "You have the choice to change your race or remain Human, the choice is yours." (I) "If I want to remain human will it still have the same effect we want?" (Miriam) "Yes, but I could also turn you into a Dragon, Lamia, or Mermaid..." (I) "Thank you very much, but no, I prefer to keep my humanity." (Miriam) "Your loss, so let''s get started." (I) "Do I need to do something?" (Miriam) "Just don''t resist, going through this process means you''re subordinating yourself to me, if you start resisting I might try to force you but I don''t want to so I''ll just stop it all." (I) "..." (Miriam) She gets thoughtful a few seconds before looking at Astrid, then she nods at me in confirmation. "Alright, let''s get started." (I) "< Blood Eclipse Dragon Demigod Authority >" (I) ---------------- Early morning, in a restaurant inside the Dungeon, it was just me and Astrid, a few hours ago Miriam went through the Awakening Ceremony, I''m sure Astrid did many tests with her during the hours that followed. "Did you find something different about your friend?" (I) "Yes, her body may look the same, but every cell in her body is different, new" (Astrid) "Other than that, her body has a natural flow of energy like those of this Universe." (Astrid) "But that doesn''t come for free." (I) "Yes, Miriam told me about the sense of connection she feels with you." (Astrid) "Loyalty is all I''ve ever asked in return, that goes for everyone in this town and even this restaurant." (I) "But before you can leave, you must speak with one of my sisters, wake up early tomorrow as it will take time to convince her." (I) Chapter 1157: Cap 1155: Escort Mission Chapter 1157: Cap 1155: Escort Mission Pov Athena: "I still don''t understand why we were chosen?" (Veronica) "Why we are Heroes, I think that''s obvious." (Loki) "No, as far as we know there shouldn''t be a combat, it should just be to keep up with these..." (Veronica) "Veronica, we''re talking about Zenos, if we reach the destination without being attacked 5 times I''ll consider myself lucky." (Loki) "You should watch your preparations, one of the potions fell on the floor." (I) "When!?" (Loki) Boommm! Suddenly there is an explosion to the place where I saw the silver potion we received rolled out, then a wolf with a rabbit''s head completely silver comes out of the forest, its body had several golden lines across its surface and tried to attack us. "< Seal of Light >" (Magnus) Soon a white Spiritual Rune appears above the large creature that stands motionless as the body radiates light. "What''s going on here? What monster is this?" (Magnus) "It looks like a Kimera." (Mabel) Magnus in his big frame appears next to Mabel, I still don''t understand how she can wear so little clothing, but the Dragonewt are strange in that regard. "It came about because of the potions we''re taking." (I) "These are not potions, they are artificial slimes, these are not finished yet and it was already difficult to contain them in these special bottles, so try to avoid breaking them." (Nicole) "I apologize, it was a mistake caused by our distraction." (Veronica) "No, Loki used the Aura to move the bottle to fall and apply enough force to rotate the bottle in a specific direction where one monster fed on another, it even interfered with the bottle''s seal allowing the artificial slime to escape its confinement." (Nicole) "She did this while everyone else had their senses distracted, I don''t know her purpose, but please refrain from her pranks." (Nicole) "< Command Interface: Control >" (I) "< Extraction >" (I) Nicole had one of her hands facing the creature, I could feel her Aura and Authority coming together in her hand when a magic circle appears surrounded by Runes, then Aura threads connect with the creature causing streams of a silver and golden liquid to flow through these Aura threads leaving the creature, in seconds there are only two dry bodies left on the floor without life, they were a Wind Wolf and a Horned Rabbit. "Loki, for gods sake..." (I) "Do you seriously want to do one of your jokes right now?" (Veronica) "Come on you two, I knew this wasn''t a potion since Lyra didn''t make it, after all the weird things Nicole does, did you really think I''d go anywhere with those things without knowing what they do?" (Loki) "I can see the logic" (Magnus) "Lord Magnus..." (Mabel) "What would it be, Miss Sakura..." (I) We were on the same platform where the meeting 2 weeks ago took place, suddenly one of Zenos''s Familiars appears coming towards me, but when she approached she stole my lips making a stream of Holy Power flow into my body. "..." (I) "..." (Sakura) I feel her arms wrap around the back of my neck before she pulls away from me with a smile. "This necklace contains a single-use weapon, so only use it in an emergency, if you put your Aura and Holy Power into the necklace you will instinctively know how to use it." (Sakura) When I look down I see a red crystal pendant with a shadowy sword silhouette inside, I can feel that this Crystal is Zenos'' blood crystallized, I can feel his Aura as well as a Curse hiding its power while binding this necklace to me. "Only me, you, and the master can take this necklace off, so don''t part with it at all, also avoid idiots from trying to take it if you want to keep them alive." (Sakura) "Need the kiss?" (Alice) "Hell yeah, you know how many days I''ve gone without kissing anyone? I need a little fun." (Sakura) "..." (I) "All ready to go!?" (Elizabeth) It didn''t take long for Lady Elizabeth to call all of us warning of the departure, I and the others exchanged a few last words with Zenos and his sisters before entering the strange vehicle, thus leaving for Astrid''s base. -------------- Pov Zenos: I was watching them leave with a bit of frustration, this was clearly a spaceship, I really wanted to go on a space trip in that thing.. I don''t know why everyone was so against me going on this trip, in fact, I don''t know the reason for me to participate in this investigation on that planet, the attack was almost 2 weeks ago and my work assignment in Border City was supposed to be without responsibilities. I don''t know why Erica is so excited, but since I have nothing to do, at least I get to look at an alien planet. "Are you thinking about the investigation?" (Elizabeth) "Yes, Erica has things to do there, but the Dragon King''s request there confused me." (I) "I''m also confused, that monster shouldn''t have the capabilities described in the report, it shouldn''t be possible to cause that kind of damage in the environment either." (Elizabeth) "When are we leaving?" (I) "Tomorrow, I will be with you and I would like you to bring Silvia, the great Affinity with the nature of both of you will be very useful." (Elizabeth) "I will talk to her." (I) "But what do you think will happen to Alice and her group?" (I) "They will be attacked for sure, I think it''s impossible for their enemies not to know about an appearance as flagrant as this meeting." (Elizabeth) "I hope not, but if anything happens Caitlyn already knows what to do." (I) "That if she listens to what we say, she would very much like to get more reliable information instead of another pile of bodies." (Elizabeth) Chapter 1158: Cap 1156: Investigation On Planet Jareh Part 1 Chapter 1158: Cap 1156: Investigation On Planet Jareh Part 1 I used a teleportation spell from Frontier City to reach the planet that was attacked a short time ago, I wasn''t alone, Silvia was together as well as Elizabeth and Ivan. Erica also came along, she actually forced me to participate in her investigation, but since I came this far it won''t cost anything to participate, exploring an alien planet can be exciting. "Dad, I''m glad I made it on time." (Irius) "Did something happen? I thought they had already eliminated the invading monsters." (I) "According to the inhabitants of this world, more of the things you defeated alongside Ragnar have come to light." (Irius) "..." (I) "Because this is relevant to me, the people of this world must have people strong enough to fight them." (I) "The problem is not fighting, the real problem is in the ability to do sado, they don''t seem to have any kind of elemental weakness, and they can also regenerate from any damage." (Irius) "I figured that out before... but they still don''t want me to finish them off, do they?" (I) Irius came to meet us and explains the situation, they don''t want me to defeat the monster, they want magic crystals with Curse of Blood to use in magical rituals as weapons in an attempt to kill these things since my Curse has proven to be more effective than those that they used. One thing I learned to do was use my crystallized blood to create magic crystals, so I already had several stored, unfortunately, none of them were Curse types and so I spent some time creating these magic blood crystals with cursed energy inside. ------------ After Irius took the things he asked for, we all started to investigate, we were close to the place of the last combat, Elizabeth already knew the planet and is serving as a guide. As soon as we arrived I looked at Silvia, she realized the same as I did, I left this discovery aside to first look for evidence to prove my theory. I went down to the floor where there were magicians and Alchemists everywhere but with plenty of space between them. I ignore everyone and look at the earth which is purple in color, moreover, I can see blue roots growing everywhere, as soon as I pull out a part of those roots what comes out is red blood, the root itself didn''t look like a plant either, its texture was similar to meat. "Elizabeth, these aren''t plants." (I) CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m "No, that''s definitely blood, even though it smells awful, I''m pretty sure it''s blood." (Elizabeth) What was on the floor stained purple was blood, but it wasn''t normal blood, it was like some kind of cursed potion using blood as the main ingredient. While I was studying the ground, Elizabeth walked over to one of the still-shredded creatures nearby. "I knew it, that''s wrong, these are Taint Octopuses, they don''t invade planets, their targets are usually monsters or people with only 1 Elemental Affinity." (Elizabeth) "They also don''t have mouths anywhere on their bodies, they draw energy through touch, their blood is also a lighter purple." (Elizabeth) "On the ground it appears to be blood, but it contains a lot of cursed energy." (I) "These strange roots are also spreading from the body, see how it spreads." (Silvia) I don''t have proof, but it''s pretty clear that the people Astrid spoke to must be responsible. . "I don''t understand, they attacked for no reason?" (I) "No, it wasn''t without reason." (Elizabeth) "We''re ready, you can open." (I) The doors to the outside open, and I feel the raw power hit me backwards before being held back by Veronica, I also feel a vibration of energy cause the vehicle to shudder from one direction. "< Blood Reinforcement >" (Alice) "Me and Nicole will take care of the vehicle, they fit with the enemies." (Alice) I feel my blood boil as pure energy coursing through my veins much faster than before, so I spread my wings and fly out with the others following behind. Outside what we saw were creatures with long arms and legs, bones like blades coming out of the arms, an eye coming out in the middle of the chest where very fast energy shots coming towards us, on its head just a vertical round mouth with several rings of teeth. There were hundreds of enemies, but I felt that something was wrong, these monsters were only on one side and it was not the same side from which the first tremor came. I wave Veronica and Loki to the other side, then prepare to threaten along with Magnus. "< Sun and Moon Swords >" (I) Two rings flashed when these weapons are summoned into my hands, two double-edged swords, one being silver and the other being gold. I looked at the enemies already launching an attack, but instead of defending I use the silver sword to clash with the lightning attacks, each attack that hits my sword goes back to one of the monsters with my Aura mixed in increasing the damage. Soon after I use the sword of the Sun concentrating my Aura on its blade turning the Aura into a flame that will ignore magical defenses. "< Eclipse Dragon''s Fist >" (Magnus) As I start to go towards the enemies giving us momentum with my wings, Magnus concentrated his power in his fists coming after me in his Human form. I cut the enemies to pieces, and any attack made against me was returned with more force, the monsters were too weak, and it made me realize our mistake. "Magnus, let''s finish now, Field of Light." (I) "< Field of Light >" (I/Magnus) With me and Magnus as the center beams of light appeared from below in a large area around us, after that I ran to the other side of the vehicle, but what I found was a human body in Loki''s hands while several creatures like the ones I ended up to kill were floating lifeless. "Was that the boss?" (I) "No, he was begging to live and be saved, so I killed him quickly, no fun messing with a doll being controlled." (Loki) "I hate these things." (Veronica) "< Reveal the Hidden >" (Veronica) Shield in hand, Veronica concentrates some Holy Power and Spirit Energy before an eye appears on her shield looking in one direction before firing a golden beam that shatters an illusion. I pick up a dagger and throw it with force, destroying the magic item in place, but strangely blood oozes out of the magic item revealing pieces of a person inside. "Should I take that?" (Magnus) "No, it looks like there''s acurse." (I) Before I finished speaking it started to burn down to ashes in blue flames. Chapter 1159: Cap 1157: Investigation On Planet Jareh Part 2 Chapter 1159: Cap 1157: Investigation On Planet Jareh Part 2 Elizabeth made everyone run to a place where apparently there was nothing but a big mountain. "I am Elizabeth, daughter of the Supreme Blood Deity, open the restrictions." (Elizabeth) CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m With my sister''s scream the image of the mountain shakes for 1 second before a wooden gate rises from the ground in front of us and opens. An Elf with two bird''s wings on his back was standing waiting inside, it was possible to see a village as well as a World Tree on the other side of the gate. "Welcome to Living Tyranny, Elizabeth." "Where are Valerius and Val?" (Elizabeth) "They have been waiting for you since you arrived in our world, as soon as you pass through this gate you will go to where you are waiting." "Zenos, as soon as we arrive, go with Silvia straight to the World Tree, we don''t have time to lose." (Elizabeth) "All good." (I) When Elizabeth first passes through the gate it seems to disappear while the strange Elf was still standing on the other side alone, trusting my sister I went next, I felt the space taking me like a current before I appeared right under the World Tree, it was a tree of pink wood whose leaves were the color of the rainbow. Silvia followed right behind me and together we ran towards the World Tree, we put our hands on its roots. Soon several roots grew where I touched and dug into my hands and arms at high speed, my arms became a mess of flesh and blood with even my bones breaking. Silvia''s situation looked the same as mine, but she waved at me at the same time as an Aura that seemed infinite entered my body only to collide against my own Aura and Authority like a wall that barely holds in place. "(I apologize, but we don''t have time, cooperate for now Zenos.)" "..." (I) "She won''t harm us, believe me." (Silvia) I lower my Aura defenses while trying to control the rejection of my Authority, then I feel this intrusive Aura touch my Soul causing my consciousness to sink. --------------- When I realized I was in a rose garden, there was a mature woman with pink hair and wearing green clothes, she looked at me and when she turned around I realized that next to her was Silvia. "I apologize for my rudeness, but I needed more catalysts for my power, my Elf King can''t handle the amount of power I need to manifest right now." "This is the Spirit of the World Tree, we are inside his mind now, his name is Val." (Silvia) "I am the one who cares for this world, nice to meet you gardener of World Trees, Zenos." (Val) --------------- Pov Athena: We were leaving somewhere else after going through a large Teleportation Gate, I was with Miriam, Astrid, Zadiris, and Alice in a room talking about the attack a few hours ago. "You mean it was your enemies, those who deform the flesh and are desecrating life?" (Zadiris) "Yes, the creatures from earlier looked a little different, but we call them meat soldiers, those had more strength and higher regeneration." (Astrid) "We are also unaware of the magical jamming device they used, but everyone except me has lost the ability to move their Magical Prostheses." (Miriam) "I couldn''t even move my body, even my mind was thrown into chaos as some of my organs stopped working." (Astrid) "Thank you for keeping me alive until my Magical Prosthetics reset, Miss Alice." (Astrid) "That was something I needed to do and the reason Miriam Miriam wasn''t affected was because of the power she received from Zenos." (Alice) "But the point isn''t about that, the first thing we should find out is how did they know where we were going?" (I) "Could they have followed us here somehow?" (Zadiris) "I didn''t see any kind of vehicles, I didn''t see any other threats besides them either." (I) "I thought of capturing the only individual that looked intelligent, but it was not possible, his body burned out as suddenly as the magical jamming device." (I) "What kind of fire was that to burn non-flammable solid matter in the cold vacuum of space?" (Astrid) "Curse of a Necromancer, I studied a lot about it when I was still in the Church of Light." (I) "The name is ''Death Flames'', a Curse as the young woman just described, often used among criminal Necromancers to hide their tracks." (Zadiris) "It seems your enemies were able to solve your people''s problem in their own way, Necromancy needs the individual''s direct control, someone without the ability to manipulate magic directly would never be able to use it." (I) "I can imagine how they did it, it was a possibility I considered when we got here, but it was immediately dismissed." (Astrid) . "The answer is quite simple if the individual has no limits on what he is willing to do." (Zadiris) "If your body isn''t suitable, get one that is, many Alchemists and Necromancers build a body to replace the original, it could be a Homunculus or Undead." (Zadiris) "They fear death very much to transform themselves into these lifeless things, I''ve also heard of Hominculi from Miriam''s reports, they need a lot of magical knowledge, Alchemy, and very specific materials for their creation, they don''t have a theoretical basis or experience in practical area in question for creating such an Artificial creature." (Astrid) "You mean they used a person for this? They stole the body of a living person?" (I) "I''m saying they''ve done much worse than that, they distort living bodies, they shape their bodies like a jigsaw puzzle, their minds are not bound by any common sense or morals." (Astrid) Chapter 1160: Cap 1158: Investigation On Planet Jareh Part 3 Chapter 1160: Cap 1158: Investigation On Planet Jareh Part 3 I was again in the area where the monster invasion happened, the planetary shield device is working perfectly, but the bodies and blood that was everywhere before disappeared leaving only an empty desert area behind. "What happened here?" (I) "Everything in the area was burned, everything was contaminated." (Silvia) "I didn''t have time to study the curse, are you sure it wasn''t a curse?" (rica) "Yes, it was mainly Holy Power, I also felt that there was some kind of Authority, but I couldn''t figure out whose." (I) "I don''t understand, this description can be associated with the way an Evil God acts, but the amount of Holy Power..." (Elizabeth) "Do you know something?" (I) "Not sure, not many leads left now." (Elizabeth) "Actually I collected a lot of those meat roots and I also took pieces from the monsters." (rica) "Let me see the roots and the flesh." (Elizabeth) ---------------- Pov Athena: We''ve been traveling for 2 days so far, I spend most of my time in meditation, but unfortunately, we''ve been the target of monster attacks more and more. I also have a bad feeling all the time, these monsters attacking us don''t seem to be doing it wildly like you''d expect, they''re doing it in waves with no time to rest. "How many attacks has it been?" (I) "There were 10, individually they are not a threat, but their numbers are a nuisance." (Loki) "Before it might have been those madmen who manipulate the bodies, but these enemies now..." (I) When I fought these monsters, their bodies looked like Celestinos with the difference that they didn''t have a nose, ears, and hair on their entire body. Their eyes and their mouths when opened only showed darkness, pale bodies, and no signs of life, every attack of mine seemed to be going through a hard wall, but when they are defeated their bodies disappear like smoke. "They look familiar, maybe we''ve been fighting the same monsters over and over this whole time or they''re summoned creatures." (Loki) Sigh "Has Mistress Zadiris managed to find any leads on them yet?" (I) "No and it''s making me a little frustrated..." (Zadiris) . While I was talking to Loki the person mentioned appeared beside us with a vein popping out of his forehead. "At least I think I know what the creature is, it''s not a monster and if I''m right we''re already caught in its trap." (Zadiris) "I can''t feel space that well, but we might have a safe way out of this." (Zadiris) "What is this thing?" (I) "No, you can use whatever holy attack you want, but you must keep your body covered by your Authority, you must not use your Territory either." (Elizabeth) "I see, when are we going in?" (I) "In a few more minutes, Val is waiting for everyone to be ready and some are praying to their Gods." (Elizabeth) I look and see that some praying, some of them are High Priests or Holy Warriors of some God, must be asking their Gods for strength before the combat. According to the World Tree, the corruption was not completely eradicated, it returned to the creatures'' bodies before being isolated in a separate space, Elizabeth already seems to know something about the Evil God responsible for this. The Alchemists of this world were able to test the samples Erica had collected, Elizabeth was also able to take a closer look, she seems to understand things a little more but refuses to tell me what she discovered. "See, it''s opening." (Elizabeth) "Let''s go!!" After one created we ran in, even before entering I had already used my Aura and Authority around me, when we arrived on the other side it was exactly the same landscape I saw in that vision. The white sun, the earth bathed in black ink, the sky a different color, but this time there were thousands of creatures flying across the sky and running towards us on land. This time they weren''t just octopuses, they seemed to have more humanoid bodies with tentacles for arms and many others coming out of their backs, just like before those tentacles still had mouths at their ends full of sharp teeth. "< Blood Eclipse Dragon Demigod Awakening: 90% >" (I) As soon as I step through the gate and step away from the others while unleashing all my power, I dare not take this fight lightly and so I will go all out from the start. My body grows with each beat of my heart, at the same time I concentrate my Aura together with my Authority to the level of a second layer of skin on my body. Just like Arash taught me, the time has come to fight like a Dragon, no fancy plans or incredible magic, just the purest brutality. I release my killing intent completely and stop thinking about everything, focusing only on the movement of my body, my surroundings, and the target in front of me. I hold the head of the first one squeezing in my hand like a fruit, but he doesn''t die and attacks with his tentacles trying to penetrate my scales, so I open my hand and use my strength to force my way down tearing his body to shreds. I feel something holding my tail, but before trying to pull me back, I lifted my tail along with the attacker and hit the ground hard before using my tail blades to shred his body. My holy power being used only to strengthen my body, not knowing how long we''ll be here it would be unwise to use energy-consuming attacks since I can''t drink their blood. "Attack!!!" (I) My Familiars throw themselves into combat with everything, I spread my wings giving an upward thrust before solidifying the space above into a platform that together throwing me to the side spinning making my tail and claws cut everything in the way. From their bodies not a single drop of blood comes out, only sparks of red and purple energy, I feel this energy trying to attach itself to me only to be repelled by my Authority and Holy Power. "< Hand of the Holy Tyrant >" (I) I use my Holy Aura to solidify a 1 kilometer long hand that smashes the ground below leaving an imprint on the ground, the red and pink sparks become a strong beam of Energy that tries to hit me. I try to dodge, but the attack bends in mid-air to squeeze me, I feel the attack making my body rigid, but I resisted enough with just one burned arm, I can feel the corruption being expelled from my body by my Authority. But even wounded I still had 5 big Octopus Men coming towards me even bigger than the one I made in strips. "Come at me!!!" (I) Chapter 1161: Cap 1159: Legion Of Death Chapter 1161: Cap 1159: Legion Of Death Pov Athena: I was alone with Miss Alice while she was praying, I couldn''t help but bring my hands to the necklace Zenos had given me before we left for this quest, Lady Zadiris'' words still ringing in my mind. "(A strong facade and show of strength is all we need.)" (Zadiris) Sigh I don''t want to have such a powerful being as an enemy, nor do I want to have to resort to the trump card that Zenos left in my possession in the first difficulty we went through. "(Do I have nothing worth something?)" (I) "(Am I so useless to keep depending on Zenos even now?)" (I) "(What was all that day after day training for?)" (I) I was filled with frustration and anger, I knew that if the enemy really was a Legion of Death as Mistress Zadiris thinks it to be, her plan is best for us. But to me that just makes me feel incompetent, inadequate, and flawed. I know it doesn''t make sense for me to feel this way when the enemy is so powerful that Mistress Zadiris wouldn''t be able to win, but it doesn''t change the fact that at the first obstacle, I''ll still be calling on Zenos'' power. "Don''t be a child." (Caitlyn) "My Little Brother prides himself on using all the cards in his hand wisely, as his Hero you have no right to be frustrated in using the power bestowed upon you." (Caitlyn) "Miss Caitlyn..." (I) "With my current strength, I''m even more unable to do anything, especially against an opponent with such strong willpower, we''re lucky to have what we need for that idiot to be so cautious, so don''t waste the opportunities in front of you because of these thoughts childish." (Caitlyn) "..." (I) "I don''t know what''s going on, but we must hurry before another wave of attacks comes." (Alice) "I''m coming..." (I) I knew Miss Caitlyn was right, the master doesn''t mind using the power of others if necessary, my thinking could be wrong and I know it, but all I wanted was to demonstrate that I was capable and worthy enough of everything he wanted bestowed on me, I want to prove to myself more than anyone else that I deserve all of this. -------------- Alice and I were outside the vehicle, on a platform of crystallized blood she had created, Mistress Zadiris was behind us releasing her Aura around us before retracting. "I know you''re there and you can hear me, I can feel your presence lurking around us now that I know what I''m up against." (Zadiris) "We don''t want to fight, so let us go and we''re done here." (Zadiris) "You have no voice here Dragon." "..." (I) Her voice wasn''t spoken with a mouth, the space itself vibrated with the voice surging around us. "Think carefully before you force me to fight because it won''t be just me you''ll face." (Zadiris) Following what was discussed before, I take off the necklace and present my Aura while I see Alice cut her wrist letting her blood full of Holy power spill over the crystal that absorbs everything making an image of an Eclipse appear over the crystal with the silhouette of a sword shining from within the crystal. "You can feel my strength, what do you think I will do with a Holy Weapon in my hands?" (Zadiris) "Why weren''t they, they were creating more, the goal was never to finish the fight in a single battle, it''s going to be a siege battle, we will attack and retreat as a group, only this attack wiped out a lot of the corrupt energy." (Elizabeth) "You''ve got to be kidding..." (I) ------------- nov./o/ Pov Athena: 2 days later. The rest of the trip went without a hitch, we arrived at our final destination being one of Astrid''s bases of operation. On the way we didn''t find any more enemies, something that I felt was strange due to the first attack, but I won''t complain because everything is going well at least for now. The whole place was a strange metal-based construction, I could feel Mana running through the walls and the Aura of all the people in this place were very out of control, everything here was more strange than I imagined. Following Zenos'' request before we left, I try to stay close to Nicole who already seemed to be doing something as she walked. "Zenos asked me not to let you do anything that might cause trouble." (I) "He''s a hypocrite, his mere presence always invites a lot of trouble, how could I..." (Nicole) "[!]" Suddenly several metal things with high concentration of magic come out of the walls at the same time as a square barrier forms around us, in a few seconds several people wearing Armor appear around us in a threatening way. "What did you do?" (I) "Nothing much, I just noticed that they use artificial mana flow connection system integrated into a permanent large-scale ritual." (Nicole) "..." (I) "I think you should talk to them." (Zadiris) "!" (Miriam) "!!!" (Soldiers?) They speak something in a language I don''t know, then what I think are their soldiers scatter in order while still casting wary glances at us, the metal stuff goes back into the walls behind secret doors, and Astrid turns to us. "I apologize for this, but our security system has detected an intrusion" (Astrid) "It must have been me, I apologize for this inconvenience, but I would like to know if I can have access to the core of the Magical Ritual, it seems to be an interesting way of doing this, it generates many possibilities with..." (Nicole) "We apologize for Nicole, she can be a little impulsive with her curiosity." (Alice) "I ask you to stay away from our system for the next few days, I have a lot to talk to my people about before we can get started on what we came here to do." (Astrid) "We understand your situation, but we''d like to keep ourselves busy during this time by looking at what information you have on your enemies." (Zadiris) "I''ll make everything available to you today, now I''ll escort you to your quarters before joining Miriam in a meeting with other sector leaders." (Astrid) After that we follow her to the place where our rooms seem to be, this whole place has the same light colored bases, it reminds me a little of my childhood in the Church of Light. With the only difference that these people were very poorly trained, I can read their emotions through their Auras like a picture book, their Auras are completely out of control to the point of being uncomfortable for me. Chapter 1162: Cap 1160: 1 Year Later Chapter 1162: Cap 1160: 1 Year Later I was on my ship seeing a planet completely marked in purple and red colors, in the distance I can still see creatures of flesh flying around. A little more than 1 year has passed since the first meeting with Astrid, during this time a lot has happened. I stayed 1 month on the planet Jareh in a long siege battle with others, always being one of the first to need to retreat, which made the others also retreat, in the first week I couldn''t see the difference in the number of humanoid octopus monsters, they seemed to have no end. It was only in the following weeks that I noticed the weakening of corrupt energy in the environment, those monsters weren''t coming out of nowhere, they were being created with that energy which lasted for a long time, I never saw the battle at higher levels, I just noticed that sometimes I saw one of the Demigods returning even unconscious full of wounds on the body. In the last days of that month the fight that should have been easier due to the small number of monsters and almost absence of corrupt energy, became much more difficult with the Annual Monster Wave, we had to defend ourselves much more than before because we were dividing our forces. After finishing the Annual Monster Wave and also having finished clearing the octopus monsters as well as the corrupt energy, the separate space created by the World Tree to seal away that corrupt energy from the world was undone. When I got back to Border Town I came across our modified Floating Ship once again, Orsel seems to have followed the project that Nicole left behind unfinished, and in the end, it almost doesn''t look like a ship anymore, it looks more like a luxury yacht mixed with a ship aircraft carrier of the navy, it was simply a complete modification of what it once was. Of course, this came at an astronomical cost which I had to pay, luckily money is never an issue for me, I have a lot stored up in the Dungeon with the only inconvenience being Nira casting a murderous glare at me whenever I screw up her organization of things. After that I spent time with the others learning more about the universe, I wanted to travel the universe and for that, it would be good to know what to expect. Also, I needed to wait for Athena and Alice to return since their group would spend some time with Astrid. Since I wouldn''t have the patience to just study, I also picked up some monster combat missions from Border Town when I wanted to stretch my muscles or just have some fresh food. . I also started to make some changes to the Dungeon that I''ve been putting aside for a long time, now that things were calmer I thought I''d put in order everything I''ve been putting aside until now, I started adding 200 floors to the Dungeon, after that, I shaped several floors based on beautiful landscapes and increasing dangers, I made up to 10 floors based on horror movies that boggle people''s minds. I also left 10 floors for each of my sisters to do as they pleased, which was a mistake when Elizabeth created another city for her followers along with another Temple of Blood training headquarters. During that time I felt like I had hit a wall for months with my strength stuck in the same place until I realized that my worries were what held me back, when I let go of worries and anxieties I finally managed to pass 90% of my transformation ability in Dragon. During that time many things happened, this included the 4 Dragon eggs being born, there were 3 men and 1 woman, and all were Dragons of the Eclipse of Blood with the titles of Warriors of the Penumbra, only days later I found out that Hades had the Title of Guardian of the Penumbra, the 4 Dragon Games have become Hades'' subordinates who have been learning from Freya. "I know and that''s not what I meant, I just think it''s sad what happened here." (I) I didn''t blame myself for not doing anything for this world or feel responsible for anything, but I still found the pitiful state of an entire world being contaminated like this sad. "Thank you for hiding us here with your power." (I) "Don''t worry about it, we needed to know the truth and investigate, this is the first confirmed planet that has fallen to contamination." (Navar) "What did you do with the prisoner?" (I) "Still sealed, it seems connected to something and so it''s hard to unseal it for now." (Navar) "I don''t think we''re going to get much information out of him that way." (I) "Your body is clearly modified, I felt various types of bloodlines mixed badly in your body and your Aura makes me nauseous." (I) "It would be better to leave it to your sister, the Living Nightmare can enter your mind directly to get the information." (Navar) "It could be months before we get to her." (I) "If you have a better plan, I''m listening." (Navar) "I need to think, meanwhile I leave him in your hands." (I) Navar is traveling along with some younger and older members of his people, the older ones want to get away from responsibilities and when the younger ones are traveling to gain life experience, Zadiris is doing the same. Thanks to Navar we managed to catch one of the members of this group that distorts people''s flesh, a man who has 6 tentacles instead of 2 arms, he will be a good source of information, but we need to get away from the enemies before he notices his presence. "Let''s go to the base, I''ll give the signal to continue the trip to the next base, then I''ll call the others and Miria to tell them about the prisoner, maybe someone else will have an idea that we couldn''t think of." (I) Chapter 1163: Cap 1161: They Made A Move Chapter 1163: Cap 1161: They Made A Move I was inside the Dungeon, on the floor of the city of the dead with Ivan and Lilith at my side, in front of us was a man trapped in a spatial distortion pillar with his eyes closed, his body seemed normal for a Dark Elf, with the only difference that he felt many bloodlines in his body and there was a wolf''s tail behind his back. "What do you two have to say about him?" (I) "There''s no doubt, the presence of vengeance is very strong against him, I don''t know what he did, but just being near him makes me itch to sink my claws into his flesh." (Lilith) The predatory smile and her hanging eyes along with the murderous intent being emitted from her all speak volumes of her habits to torture these kinds of vermin that live among people. "I understand why you called me, I can feel death around you, but it''s not in him himself, that''s weird." (Ivan) "Yes, my Affinity with death only allows me to see so far, I can''t see any further than that and I thought you would be able to see more into the cause of this strangeness." (I) "I am going to try." (Ivan) "< Eye of Death >" (Ivan) I feel his Aura and Authority gather above him as forming a translucent black sphere that opens like vertical eyelids revealing a black eye with blue irises inside, blue flames erupting around him when he looks in all directions before focusing in the direction of the prisoner. I left Ivan alone waiting for him to speak, I didn''t know what he was doing to give an opinion and I stayed quiet so as not to distract him, the energy of death gradually becoming more intense in the surroundings. "His body is alive, but at the same time dead, it is alive by a curse placed when he was still alive, but everything is wrong, the Soul of the body is not properly connected to the body, it seems more that the Soul is chaining itself to the body like to hold loose parts together by force." (Ivan) "I can''t find the Souls, but there are phantom echoes in the body, dozens of them, it''s disgusting." (Ivan) "At that point, it would be better to be an Undead with your own body than this abomination stealing body parts from those still alive." (Ivan) "Calm down Ivan, what did you find out about this death energy?" (I) Ivan had giant blue flames in his eyes, unlike Lilith''s blatant murderous intent, all I could feel from Ivan was disgust and anger. "That''s more prominent here where there''s energy from the north everywhere, so we only noticed that when we brought him here." (Ivan) "Besides, no one would be able to notice this strangeness except for those with an Affinity with death like you and me." (Ivan) "Could we use the people from the Church of Death?" (I) "They should be able to identify them, but it will also depend on the strength of their individual perceptions, some can pick up on you quickly and others will need a spell or magic item to enhance their capabilities to accomplish the same feat." (Ivan) I hope to get these kids over with in a few days before I leave for where Caitlyn is, I can feel Alice''s growing anxiety in her prayers, Zadiris is with her as well as Nicole, they are smart people who have done very well with the negotiations and preparations for my arrival so far. When I got there I was well received as well as everyone who was with me, I insisted that Lilith, Barok, Jade, and Helena were with me, people of various races inside the Dungeon with very different bodies from Human, all this to test how both adults and children would react to these very different races. To my surprise it was much better than the first base we went to, there were even girls trying to hit on Barok and boys doing the same with Jade. I thought I would find children on this base, but there weren''t any, the youngest were teenagers while most were young adults, but one thing they all had in common was the use of prosthetics as it was necessary to keep them alive like Astrid he spoke. Their Awakening Ceremony process was different as I didn''t give them the choice to change their races at Astrid''s request, it seems that because they are young and give minds much more adaptable to the world around them, they were much more influenced through the dreams of Caitlyn than adults to the point where if given the option everyone or at least the vast majority will probably want to change their races. Well I won''t give that option to them following Astrid''s wishes, but if in the future they still want to change their Race there are many ways to become a Demon or they can just ask a Vampire to transform them, but until then it''s not my problem anymore. . As planned, things took longer there because of the greater number of people, but after taking care of the entire population there, I began the process of integrating the entire base into the Dungeon, leaving only a gigantic underground cave on this planet. With everyone accommodated inside the Dungeon, I started the 1 or 2 day trip to where Astrid and the others are at the main base, which is also the last one. I had just left the planet less than 1 hour ago when we received a transmission from Astrid''s main base, as we were within the same solar system their long distance communications work much better, I had to run to the ship''s room where I found a image of Nicole half-failing in a hologram. "Why this urgency? I''ll be there in less than 2 days by my calculations." (I) "[We are in trouble, a wave of monsters is on its way to our position now.]" (Nicole) "I thought the base was at the bottom of the planet''s ocean." (I) "[That''s not the problem, the creatures coming have what Astrid calls flesh signs, but they are actually Aura disorders by integrating parts of several bodies into one as far as I understand.]" (Nicole) "So they''re acting?" (I) "[Yes, there also seem to be some strange ships together with the Monsters, so it must be a heavy attack.]" (Nicole) "Are they already on the planet?" (I) "[No, but by the active sensors they should arrive in less than 1 day, preparations for the battle have already started here.]" (Nicole) "I will arrive as soon as possible." (I) "[I hope you follow the plan I''m on...]" (Nicole) Chapter 1164: Cap 1162: Aim At The Head First Chapter 1164: Cap 1162: Aim At The Head First Thanks to Navar''s power we were able to move from one side to the other making several teleportation jumps, as she didn''t know this solar system it had to be only as far as we could see, which is already a long distance for someone like her. It took us several hours, but we still managed to arrive in half a day, the first thing I saw was the distant explosions, I thought it was the battle that had already started, but I was wrong. The planet in question had an asteroid belt, using Lesser Familiars that I invoked, I could see that there were weapons on several asteroids, the explosions we were seeing was the Wave of Monsters against this planet''s security system. The monsters in question appeared to be mostly insects of all sizes, but they moved like an army in various military formations. The way they attacked was also cautious, setting up a strong defense at the front while those with ranged attacks destroyed the weapons from a safe place. None of these insects looked like humanity, but since that battle last year, I know they must be hiding. The defenses wouldn''t last long and I imagine that once all the weapons are destroyed they will start to descend on the planet for a direct attack. "Are you going to follow your daughter''s plan?" (Navar) "For now yes, but I would like you to put up a barrier at that time." (I) "Are you sure? A barrier that big will stop the monsters, but it will also stop the others from getting to you." (Navar) "No problem, this time I have an escape route." (I) I look at the magic crystal being taken by Freya, then I touch my necklace making Hinata leave, then I transmit her mission and she disappears. "We''re just going to have one chance, are you sure you don''t want to change your approach?" (Navar) "If we attack from behind we can eliminate a large part of their forces in an ambush." (Navar) . "Our targets are those big 5... what should I call this monstrosity?" (I) Amongst the sea of insects there were 5 large creatures that looked grotesque, had rectangular shapes kilometers long, had metal scale armor around them, and had 4 tails or perhaps tentacles of flesh whose tips had formed into weapons firing energy beams purple, it also has dozens of eyes in all directions around it, its scales open revealing holes throughout its structure from which more monstrous insects emerge. This thing wasn''t a ship, it was a spaceship-shaped creature, all 5 large structures that Nicole assumed were spaceships are actually these colossal creatures. The insects also looked different, they all had a stark white eye somewhere on their forward facing body, and their Auras looked strange from what I could sense from the Lesser Familiars. Their Auras are all connected in the same way as I remember the battle I had last year, but the difference is that the Death Locusts are not the only ones present, I could also feel a difference in all of them, I could feel the presence of the same kind of blood in all of them, it wasn''t a lineage, it was some kind of blood that I didn''t understand and that for some reason made me angry. "Get ready, tell everyone." (I) "Yes, Zenos." (Sophia) Sophia ran into my shadow accompanied by a Fairy crossing the Fairy Gate in my shadow, shortly after Miriam appears accompanying Nix from within my shadow. "I''m ready." (Miriam) "You only get one chance." (I) As a researcher combat training is just a waste of time for me, I don''t know what his obsession with training is. "I will be controlling the speed ship since Nara will be engaging in direct combat." (I) "I''ve warned you before, be careful, they don''t make direct attacks like that, I''m sure they''re planning something." (Astrid) "I said it doesn''t matter, with Zadiris and Navar on our side victory is 100% guaranteed." (I) "Shouldn''t be so confident" (Astrid) "[Alert! Alert! Alert!]" I turn off the alerts while confirming that all orbital weapons have been destroyed, then ready the high-speed ship I''ve been modifying for the last few months with Astrid''s partial permission. "Since I have to fight, I might as well test my new creation." (I) ---------------- Pov Zenos: I was watching when their Aura started to pulsate, I didn''t know what it meant, but before long the Monster Waves took up new positions as they stopped attacking. They organize themselves into groups focusing on a specific area of the planet where it coincides with the location of Astrid''s base, it seems that they already had the information about the location of the base. I keep waiting while the 5 creatures point their guns in the same direction and fire, then the insect army starts descending on the planet one after the other and I prepare myself with a spell along with Layla. When the 5 creatures were left alone it was easier to feel the Aura threads coming out of them towards the insect army. "Now!" (I) "< Teleportation >" (I/Layla) "< Space Frontier >" (Navar) The entire Ship was teleported close to the 5 creatures at the same time that Navar created a barrier big enough for all 5 creatures along with us, that''s when Miriam with her arm already transformed into a cannon with the magic crystal trapped inside her begins her task. "< Spatial Separation: Sealing >" (Miriam) Suddenly 47 magic circles appear in front of her arm when a ray of blue light comes out of her arm hitting one of the 5 colossal creatures faster than you can see already creating a circular barrier around her trapping her inside. The barrier causes the surrounding space to strongly fluctuate, nothing to bother someone with space affinities like me and Navar, our Auras were able to protect the others until the space stabilized. Less than 2 seconds later, the spatial sphere where Miriam trapped her target begins to slowly shrink. "I take one, you take the other." (I) "I''ll take one too, my tribe can destroy the last one." (Navar) "Let''s go!" (I) Chapter 1165: Cap 1163: Destroying The Head The Body Dies Chapter 1165: Cap 1163: Destroying The Head The Body Dies While Miriam was using a crystal containing powerful ritual magic prepared by Rakan and his subordinate mages to seal away one of the 5 great creatures, Navar was able to do the same by relying on his own power twice as easily. That left only 3 of the large creatures being used as spaceships for us to face, I went after one, while my Familiars will take care of the other following certain instructions, the last one was left for those subordinates of Navar to take care of. Those from the Ship were sent out in the middle of the teleport. "< Blood Eclipse Dragon Demigod Awakening: 99% >" (I) My body grows to be 1 kilometer in length with overflowing power fueling a Dragon''s body with my wild instincts reaching heights. "< Territory: Imaginary Realm >" (I) "< Blood Star Garden Eclipse >" (I) My Aura and Authority crushes theirs taking up the entirety of the space around us, the stars turn red, the worlds disappear, and streams of energy form linking the stars forming constellations of flowers with an Eclipse at the center of it all. All of this creature''s scales split open revealing the holes behind which insects smaller than myself swarm in ever-growing swarms, their Auras connected in a tangle of Aura threads that ultimately come back to the large creature. All these insects come towards me, making my killing intent appear like the force of gravity passing under everyone within my Territory. "In this place only my will commands others!" (I) My will is an order in this place with all the stars shining, the starlight being blades of Aura cutting this myriad of threads of Aura. The previously organized monsters are immobile for half a second before falling into Chaos, some of them even attacking their teammates. "< Territory: Imaginary Realm >" "< Star Swarm Realm >" Suddenly a powerful Aura collided against mine, like a direct attack on my Authority over this place like the uprising of a Rebel Army trying to take control. His power much less than mine was not able to take dominion over what was already rightfully mine, my Authority being as immovable as a mountain in the midst of the endless storm attacking trying to move the mountain. Even though it couldn''t take control of any area, it was still able to influence the surrounding areas reducing my power to a great extent, which made spheres full of holes like worlds appear around the area where translucent insects appeared before entering the bodies of those around them around which they reorganized themselves as a single central unit. From inside the colossal spaceship-like creature, an insect-like woman emerged, her body covered in grace scales instead of the insect''s exoskeleton, 3 pairs of wings with each pair being a different color, a scorpion tail, 12 spider legs, 3 pairs of insect eyes on an almost human face, two very long antennae and a Golden eye in the middle of the other 6 that doesn''t make any sense to me. Her body may be female, but every part seems to be fair to kill, her 4 arms have metal blades protruding from them with veins pulsating throughout the blade, and her Aura continuously colliding with mine gives me a full reading of her, I can feel the same I sensed Astrid''s enemy flesh abominations. "Think you can beat me with numbers!?" (I) All of them having Auras marked by the same disgusting feeling of countless bodies forcibly broken together into one individual. I thought about killing them for a second before using my Aura to suppress them, so I trapped them in my shadow with no way to escape, I can still get something from them after I finish off this pest infestation. Shortly afterwards countless chains full of teeth begin to cross the body of the great creature like carrion worms devouring its body cruelly, then someone emerges from within the creature revealing that these macabre chains come out of its back, one of these chains with the jaws in its extension closed held another person unconscious. She looked like a young woman who just reached adulthood, she has antennae and eyes made only by pink irises, and her skin is slightly blue, very beautiful, but with the most disgusting Aura I''ve felt so far, I couldn''t even distinguish how many mixed creatures there are through your Aura. "Is that one of the leaders?" (I) "Yes, that unconscious one is her assistant, the secondary corps found another leader, it was already taken away from the army without them noticing." (Hinata) "Good job, leave them to me, I''ll take down the Territory and we can start slaughtering them now that they don''t have a lead." (I) "Can''t I eat them?" (Hinata) "Are your Souls strong?" (I) "Yes, but the assistant has a seriously injured Soul and a broken mind, the one I''m possessing has a mind similar to Lilith''s and a strong Soul." (Hinata) "So you can''t eat now, I''ll want your Souls after the interrogation, after that, you can only eat the bodies inside the Dungeon." (I) "But the Soul of this one seems..." (Hinata) "I already talked about it..." (I) "< Shadow Prison: Cursed Seal >" (I) The chains go back inside the body while a half-transparent Hinata in a silver dress leaves the body, then tentacles come out of my shadow taking the two prisoners. "Hungry..." (Hinata) "You can have the bugs if you like, but not the Souls, the Goddess of Death will be angry." (I) "Food... food..." (Hinata) Hinata flies away towards the last few bugs as I tear down my Territory revealing the rest of the battlefield. Navar had a glowing orb in one hand while Miriam still had a large orb half my Dragon size slowly shrinking, my Familiars seemed to be ending up on their side and Navar''s subordinates were joining the larger battle, it seems like Navar has already dropped his surrounding barrier. "Let''s finish off what''s left." (I) Chapter 1166: Cap 1164: Field Test And Extermination Chapter 1166: Cap 1164: Field Test And Extermination Pov Nicole: Leaving the research room, I first went to the command room that was nearby, I needed to get the command core that I left there a few days ago to use the information from that place to complicate maneuver information, magic weaponry, operating systems, assistance systems, power controls, etc. The command core is something I personally created, it''s still a little flawed, but it will serve the purpose of this battle''s field test. I look at the greenish crystal in my hands, I used my Aura to create a connection with the command core, I check its updates using the information from the command center of this base, then I check the spells inside here, I check the integrity of the flow of energy and look for any irregularities that can be compensated for or corrected quickly. "I don''t like this, looks like I''m going to need Lyra to create a more suitable magic crystal, this one might be powerful but it lacks refinement and customization specific to its role." (I) Sigh "(Being so long away from my laboratory was really hard, materials are always in short supply, Blacksmiths don''t come close to Anton''s capabilities...)" (I) "At least it won''t last much longer." (I) After making a few quick adjustments I arrive at the hangar where the rover is, I didn''t want to name this thing before it was ready. For the next few minutes I had the service crew help me get this thing in order, then I walked into the cockpit, placing the command core in the circular opening in the dash. The control room was made to be smaller, as there will only be me using this thing the extra space was not needed and I needed more controls close to me, I sit in my chair and use my Holy Power along with my Aura to activate the flow power. "Activating support and flight spells, activating defenses and propulsion." (I) "< Interface N Enabling Phase 4: Integration >" (1) The core within my body shifts the flow of my energy into a circulatory pattern to my senses and mind at the same time as my physical reinforcement abilities are activated partially following certain pre-established patterns, my Aura begins to permeate the entire structure of this ship following the same paths as the energy inside my body. Soon all 26 layered magic circles form around me spinning to create a secluded environment for me. Soon holographic interfaces begin to appear around me, integrating with the functioning of the ship and with my senses, serving as an intermediary between me and the vehicle. After everything is ready I start my hands on the crystals one on each side of my chair and I lean my chair back before closing my eyes, holographic hands and eyes appear around me to use this entire control structure in a way that an ordinary person would never be able to to do. The result was a Purple Flame Dragon that crashed into the enemies coming towards me, exploding into a sea of purple flames that looked like life, actively attacking the enemies trapped within the sea of flames. "Immediate destructive power as predicted, but it can''t be used in succession, some of its parts don''t seem to be durable enough to withstand this magical intensity." (I) The energy expenditure seems as high as the previous weapon, now there are only a few more left. "Let''s test these now." (I) The weapons attached to the wings have light magic while the bottom ones have thunder magic, each of them starts shooting at different targets following my manual aim, always hitting the head of the monsters that I can kill more easily with 1 attack. This time these weapons were using magic called elemental magic spears to make multiple attacks in succession, their energy expenditure per shot is considerably lower than the previous two weapons, but the large number of shots still compensates for this difference while it seems to overwhelm some parts of the weapons by the continuous overload with these shots. "This mana inefficiency is ridiculous, I seem to have lost 1/4 of my energy just testing weapons." (I) "< Interface N Activating: Attack Mode Phase 1 >" (I) The 6 weapons are surrounded by space fluctuations before folding once more hiding the weapons, then the wings of the final vehicle 3 times bigger and sharper, I also focus my attention before I start to fly the vehicle following an attack pattern that I had already thought. The vehicle has good maneuverability and speed, but I can''t control the change in speed so well, it forces me to make straight curves always cutting the monsters with my wings like scythes. I thought the enemies were trying to adapt to my way of attacking, but instead what happened was disorder among the monsters, some even trying to devour their companions. In this ridiculous state in their ability to fight as a single army, it seems worse than when they arrived, it seems that my father had started his attacks on the large vehicles where the leaders should be safely waiting. . Wasting no time, I spend a lot of time fighting the monsters with the people from the base starting their attack at that moment after I gave them a signal to do so. As time went by the enemy ranks became more Chaos and their numbers dropped more and more easily, few seem to be getting hurt, and at this point, it seems like everything is sort of under control before I go off-world in the bigger battle that must be happening out there. Shortly thereafter, with the help of my father and several Dragons as well as their Familiars, the annihilation of these insects was only a matter of time. In the end, they all died, but I never really cared about it, my biggest concern was the features that need to change on my vehicle which was bigger than I initially thought. With this annihilation of enemies, I let Astrid''s people take care of things by accompanying my father back to base with me. Chapter 1167: Cap 1165: Eclipse Nation Chapter 1167: Cap 1165: Eclipse Nation When we were done with the 5 large spaceship-like creatures, I as well as my Familiars went towards the insect monsters that now couldn''t maintain the same coordination they had until moments ago. Finishing them all was easy even with absurd numbers, that''s why we weren''t fighting them as an organized group, area attacks that didn''t work before, were now being much more effective, not to mention that there were monsters attacking their own companions. Those insect monsters aren''t as strong as I am, the one that came closest was the one with the most humanoid form I killed, all the others just have a numerical advantage that loses its effectiveness now. The fight was almost boring for me, but I continued until I exterminated everyone, I even found myself with Nicole in some kind of spaceship with wings similar to swords slashing all the enemies they pass. After the battle is over I let other people take care of collecting monster materials and whatever else while I approach Nicole. "Sakura, I leave the organization of materials and other things to you." (I) "Yes." (Sakura) "Nix, go to Miriam and Navar to collect the two creatures used as vehicles we captured." (I) "What should I do with them?" (Nix) "Take it to the Dungeon, on the floor where we haven''t finished the project yet, I have plans for them now that I know they are living creatures." (I) "Fine, but I''m taking Layla with me, I might need her spatial magic." (Nix) "Then I think you better find her, the moment I started delegating tasks she disappeared." (I) "She can''t escape me." (Nix) By this time I had already reached Nicole''s silver and white spaceship, the surface just above seems to become some kind of liquid metal opening a passage for me to enter. "Dad, do you want to go meet Astrid now?" (Nicole) "Yes, we still have things to do and I don''t want to take care of that kind of task." (I) "Don''t want to get the blood..." (Nicole) "Don''t even finish that sentence, I won''t drink that disgusting substance." (I) "..." (I) "But we can still collect for Lyra to study." (I) "Orion, I leave the blood collection to you." (I) "I will go this very moment." (Orion) --------------- A few hours later I found myself in a beautiful garden within the underwater facilities of this Astrid base, this garden is protected by a glass dome allowing visitors to enjoy the relaxing scent of flowers, the artistic beauty of the designer of the garden and see this marvel of ocean wherever you look here. "Why are you here, Mistress Santa?" (I) "When I go through the Awakening Ceremony I would very much like to learn this magic if possible." (Astrid) "So just become a Vampire, you can talk to one of my Daughters later, but that''s not why I called you." (I) "If it''s about the last battle, I believe your subordinates know more since all the prisoners are with you." (Astrid) "It''s not about that, I''ll let my sister take care of them, what I want with you is to go over the list of changes to be implemented." (I) "I''m glad you listened to my request." (Astrid) "As you asked, I''ll leave one floor of the Dungeon for you to build a city, but it won''t be just for your people, like the other suggestions you made." (I) "I could put everything in a reading glass for you, but that''s faster, open your mind." (I) I stand up and place two fingers on her forehead conveying my thoughts to her, it only takes a few seconds before I drop her onto the bench next to me before I sit down as well. "You''ve made more changes than I thought." (Astrid) "The main points are the changes in the education sector, the implementation of a new neighborhood in the main city, the allocation of its people, the expansion of farms, a welcome festival, and the implementation of new laws." (I) "I will speak to my people about this, we still have a few months before Miss Caitlyn is done influencing my people." (Astrid) . "Yes, we also need to do some meetings... not to mention the last change I didn''t pass on to you." (I) "Before the Dungeon only had 1 city, but when your people finish joining there will be 3, not to mention that the total size of the Dungeon is already similar to a medium-sized continent." (I) "That''s why I can''t keep thinking about the Dungeon containing a city-state of a small Kingdom." (I) "That''s why another festival will be held a few weeks after your welcome festival to celebrate the Eclipse Empire, a nation I can no longer hide." (I) "I don''t understand this Empire thing, we didn''t have that in my world, but other than the name will there be any other big changes?" (Astrid) "No, other than what I''ve already passed on to you, my sister is overjoyed while I''m the one who has a greater amount of responsibility on my shoulders." (I) Sigh "Do your people understand that even though I voice my opinion, the last word on the decisions of your entire society still depends on someone they never heard of until last year?" (I) "As hard as it is for you to understand, yes." (Astrid) "My people were in despair, most of them never cared about their leader as long as they were able to survive, it was also not the only time in recent decades that my people became refugees in other nations." (Astrid) For the next few hours, I chatted with Astrid about the future of her people, the Dungeon, and what to expect in the coming years. While talking to her I was thinking about everything I had to do, this year was very tiring and boring for me, luckily soon all this extra work will be over and I will go back to dumping these problems on someone''s back with more patience than me. Of course, there was still the plan I''ve been thinking about all year, I think I have everything I need now, so by the months that Astrid and Caitlyn will be taking care of the people on this base, I''ll already be doing something of my own. Chapter 1168: Cap 1166: The Only Truth Chapter 1168: Cap 1166: The Only Truth It''s been two days since we''ve been at Astrid''s people''s main base, during which time Caitlyn has prepared magic on a large scale using her blood and Authority to influence everyone within established range. Right now I was inside the Dungeon, more specifically on the top floor where I spent almost half of my DP that I gathered over the years and it still wasn''t finished when the points ran out. I was going to a colorful crystal castle in the middle of a large meteor, and it was in a similar environment to the universe, on each side of the castle there was a large sphere half its size containing the captured half-ship creatures. I enter the castle and am greeted by Hades kneeling in front of the door. "I already told you that you don''t need all this formality around me." (I) "That is my duty and honor to you, my lord." (Hades) Sigh "Alright, now get up and tell me how things are going." (I) Hades stands and stands a step behind me going over the report as we walk through the crystal castle, the thick scent of blood still in the air. "I smell more blood, did Lyra purify the blood of insects?" (I) "Unfortunately no, the blood was no longer the same, it was one and only substance, but by combining them while she processed the blood, she managed to burn the worst parts leaving only those that were more connected to vitality." (Hades) "Did you find out what that disgusting thing called blood was?" (I) "There were several types of languages just like the master described, but there were also several alchemical substances mixed in, Lyra seems very interested in her studies." (Hades) "Can the blood be consumed now?" (I) "Miss Lyra and I believed so, but her sister appeared less than an hour ago and took all the blood that was refined by Miss Lyra''s alchemical process." (Hades) "Was it Elizabeth or Natasha?" (I) "It was Lady Elizabeth, she left a message for you to meet her at the Common Temple in the Imperial Capital." (Hades) "..." (I) I can''t understand my sisters, each one of them doing things on their own without showing the slightest respect for everything I''m always doing for them, Elizabeth must have her reasons as always, but she could have warned before doing something. "The prisoners, how are they?" (I) "Miss Lilith tried to keep the prisoners entertained while they were waiting for Miss Caitlyn to do the interrogation." (Hades) "Let me guess, she didn''t get anything right?" (I) "Yes, none of them spoke and each was properly healed after she was done with them." (Hades) "For some people, the pain isn''t such a bad punishment and I''m not even sure their bodies can feel pain." (I) With so many changes in their bodies, it would not be surprising if they found a way to deactivate the sense of pain. "Where is my sister?" (I) "Miss Caitlyn was seeing one of the prisoners and asked you to..." (Hades) "Come on you idiot, I''m here." (Caitlyn) Looking into the minds of these people is very interesting, the woman fall from earlier with the various personalities, all focused on one thing, the source of her love, pain, madness, sadness, and fear. The same prisoner that Zenos wants to investigate, she is at the top of the list he passed to me, it seems that this woman I am interested in was captured along with this other prisoner, image of her is also all over the fragmented mind. I was very interested in how this all happened, I could clearly feel traces of changes in the mind, but it wasn''t a direct change like entering someone''s mind reshaping everything, it wasn''t the smooth way I''m influencing people through dreams either. It looks more like the mind is trained over and over again and memories are put into the mind, but the way it''s done is weird. I couldn''t help thinking about these things, they are different subjects from those I encountered in the past, and it''s been a while since I found something so interesting. When I arrive at the prison where my first target on the list is being held, I find the young woman sitting in a corner poking a hole in her arm with her other hand. "Your Necromancer magic won''t help here." (I) "So you know..." "Your Aura control is laughable, to say the least, to me it''s like you''re walking around with a sign that says Flesh Abomination and Necromancer, hit here." (I) "How do you know our language? Did Astrid teach you or Miriam?". "Neither, I learned it myself from the minds of the people of your Universe." (I) "What is your name?" (I) "What do you want my name for? Do you think you can get some information out of me? I don''t fear pain, like many other sensations pain is a gift of the flesh to us." "I don''t need to torture you to get what I want, there are other ways to get what I need." (I) I simply walk through the bars and before she realizes I''m in front of her, her eyes are really interesting, I''ve never seen that kind of eyes before, it''s definitely not natural, after looking into her eyes I turn to the wall that has something very large writing. "That wasn''t magic, was it?" "Haku... is that your name?" (I) "How do you wait! Like my this" (Haku) She looks at the wall in surprise and then at me, after which she starts to look around in surprise before bursting out laughing. "Hahahahahahaha... a dream... hahahahaha..." (Haku) "When did I fall under your spell?" (Haku) "From the beginning, but I congratulate you for discovering so quickly, most people are slow to realize that they are dreaming." (I) "Entering my mind wasn''t a good idea..." (Haku) "Hahahahhaha..." (Haku) "The only truth... for the only truth... we all seek to understand the only truth." (Haku) "The only Truth is the Meat!!!" "..." (I) Suddenly all the walls started to soften and change to a redder color resembling flesh, even the prison bars became made of bones as a new voice sounded as if coming from far away. I only had time to see the source briefly before I broke my spell and opened my eyes. Chapter 1169: Cap 1167: Apostles Of Truth Chapter 1169: Cap 1167: Apostles Of Truth I was inside the Dungeon in front of the Communal Temple, I didn''t know why Elizabeth wanted to meet me here, but I can assume that it must have something to do with the Blood Goddess. I entered and passed all the visitors to the Temple as well as the various Priests who live here heading straight to the main hall where the statues are enshrined, as you would expect, she was facing the statue of the Blood Goddess. "Why do you always have to do things this way?" (I) "Don''t complain, this is for you so just come with me." (Elizabeth) Elizabeth pulls me to my knees beside her facing the statue of our mother, at the same moment I feel the presence of the Goddess fill the surroundings. Having already experienced something like this so many times I knew what had to be done, I close my eyes and open my Aura letting the divine presence invade my body taking my consciousness away. When I open my eyes I''m in the same cabin in the Forest of Blood, the cabin I built together with the girls and my first real home in this life, the cabin was exactly how I remember it being. "Why bring us here? That''s assuming Elizabeth is here too." (I) "Why do you feel comfortable in this place, I always choose the right environment for the occasion, and this time I''m receiving my children without having called for you." (Goddess Selene) Before I knew it I was hugged from behind, I could feel exactly who it was before I even heard her voice. We were in the main room of the cabin when Elizabeth burst through the door of the cabin, immediately getting to her knees. "Thank you for listening to our call mother." (Elizabeth) "Don''t be so formal, I know why you came, but you know you don''t have to." (Goddess Selene) "She wanted to purify the blood that Lyra managed to refine?" (I) "Yes, but it''s not necessary, just offer the blood as an offering and I can reward you with the bloodlines referring to the enemies the blood comes from, it will be fresh and totally clean." (Goddess Selene) "Looks like Lyra worked for nothing this time." (I) "Not for nothing, she''ll get information from the enemy with her research, but I''m glad I still have some use for that blood." (Elizabeth) "I wish I had more time but a God''s work is never done, look to my Saint and she will guide you in what to do." (Goddess Selene) Before I knew it the world went dark and when I blinked I was back in the Common Temple, Elizabeth opening her eyes beside me. "I didn''t think she would be so generous." (Elizabeth) -------------- Pov Selene (Goddess of Blood): After sending my children away I went back to his prison where Akatosh was waiting for me. "Where did you go at a time like that?" (Akatosh) "I had something to do, some of those do more than create monsters and inspire people to seek strength." (I) "I know that, but you''re not one of those Gods, you hardly do anything since it always ends up..." (Akatosh) "But one word and I''ll have to rip your eye out to create another planet like 2 million years ago." (I) "..." (Akatosh) "You are very aggressive did you know that?" (Akatosh) "Wouldn''t this be caused by some form of hypnosis or some kind of brainwashing?" (Astrid) "As everyone in this room must have seen from the information we passed on to everyone, these two techniques I mentioned are confirmed things they do, there were many who studied these things in our universe and there were those who were able to control another''s will using some variation of these two methods." (Astrid) . "That''s not what they''ve been talking about so far, is it?" (Elizabeth) "No, I would have noticed if it was, I''ve traveled through the minds of many people, monsters, and creatures, and I would have noticed at the same moment if it was something they talked about, I won''t deny that I felt traces of such methods, but that''s not why gathered everyone." (Caitlyn) "The Echo of Will carried a trace of Authority." (Caitlyn) "This can hardly be considered something new, where are you going with this?" (Elizabeth) Fights between Authority users are rare from what my sisters have told me in the past, but even so, try fighting sometimes against people or creatures that possessed the power of Authority, my sisters must have done this thousands of times throughout their lives, I don''t see how something like that can make my sister act seriously. "The problem is not that they have someone with the power of the Authority, the bigger problem is the type of Authority." (Caitlyn) "Multiple Authority." (Caitlyn) "That could be a problem, a big problem." (Elizabeth) "But it''s not impossible to solve." (Natasha) "Do you know the characteristics of your Authority?" (Elizabeth) "I didn''t have enough time, but I''m sure one of the traits involves the mind, how many other traits your Authority has and what they are is still a mystery." (Caitlyn) "I don''t understand, is having more than one Authority bad?" (I) "Only the Gods and Their Champions have Multiple Authority, apart from them the number of people I''ve met in my lifetime can be counted on the fingers of one hand." (Yara) "Just to be clear, she''s older than me if you count her true body." (Elizabeth) "I don''t understand, having multiple Authorities helps with what exactly?" (Alice) "The Authorities always interact with each other, for someone with multiple Authorities it means that their potential is multiplied due to the interconnection between the Authorities, for example, the mother." (Elizabeth) "I will speak only 3 of your Authorities which are Blood, Life, and Death." (Elizabeth) "Separated they are already powerful, but together they form the very existence of all creatures." (Elizabeth) "Having multiple Authorities means you can go further than your opponents and if a Territory is used, someone of the same level will not be able to contest." (Elizabeth) "Not to mention that the Authority you have says a lot about how you fight, having multiple Authorities is fighting as a group rather than as an individual, we''re already at a disadvantage." (Natasha) "So what are we going to do?" (I) "I didn''t think someone from another Universe would be able to reach the Authority, but we''re not sure of the person''s identity either, are we?" (Elizabeth) "Not as far as I can tell, but another question we can raise now is that we don''t know anything about our enemies." (Caitlyn) "But at least I discovered something, they call themselves the ''Apostles of Truth'', it was being screamed in his mind over and over again." (Caitlyn) Everyone was thinking about what Caitlyn had said when Astrid, looking a little lost, raised her hand asking a question. "Could someone explain to me what you''re talking about? I think I got lost along the way... what do you mean by "Authority" exactly?" (Astrid) "..." (all) Chapter 1170: Cap 1168: Mind Battle Part 1 Chapter 1170: Cap 1168: Mind Battle Part 1 An error occurred while reading the file: Could not find file ''/data/www/panda_novel_py/used_emails.txt''. After Astrid spoke I realized that I never explained to her about the Authority, so I had to explain everything to her just like they once did for me.. After this break in the meeting, the issue at hand was discussed again with everyone having had time to think about what they heard and with Astrid being able to better understand what was being discussed. "So should we kill them all?" (I) "But we need the information they have, even now we still don''t know where their bases are." (Astrid) "It has already been confirmed that they are unresponsive, perhaps another form of torment would be more effective." (Natasha) "You''re not going to use that plan from the Orphare village, are you?" (Elizabeth) "It worked really well that time, it was fun too." (Natasha) "Half of them lost their minds and the Princess became a succubus." (Elizabeth) "I won''t deny that there are some unpredictable spots, but we still figured everything out through their mind control." (Natasha) "What are you two talking about?" (I) "In the past, Elizabeth asked me for help dealing with an Empire led by a Demigod, it was discovered that they were using taboo techniques and various other things, but the information was scant to the point where we had almost nothing." (Natasha) "Since they were under mind control, we weren''t able to get information from the enemies, but they were getting information from us somehow." (Elizabeth) "No amount of interrogation, potion, magic or torture made the prisoners open their mouths." (Elizabeth) "That''s when I had an idea if pain doesn''t work then why not try the opposite." (Natasha) "A horrible idea from the start and so ridiculous that only an idiot would think of it." (Elizabeth) "She used concoctions of potions and spells to increase the prisoners'' pleasure far beyond the maximum level while removing the satisfaction option, which increased his frustration and messed with his baser instincts, depriving him of even his rationality at one point." (Elizabeth) "The important thing was that it worked, some had their minds broken due to the stimulus, but the Princess who had Demigod blood was tough enough to endure it, but her mind and Soul were corrupted by lust turning her into a Demon, thanks to that we got everything what we wanted." (Natasha) "She had gotten much stronger and more vicious, she killed thousands of people before we were able to contain her." (Elizabeth) "She killed enemies, so it doesn''t matter, what we need might be" (Natasha) "This plan won''t work, as long as the mental connection exists nothing will affect her behavior." (Caitlyn) "We can put her aside and try with the other prisoners, there''s no use thinking about what doesn''t work." (Diana) "You''re right, everyone has been through torture and stuff like it, but they might be more receptive to Caitlyn''s approach, let''s go with that." (I) "I''ll try, I can only hope they''re not in the same state as her." (Caitlyn) "Then let''s get together again in 2 days, should be enough time for Caitlyn to at least give each other a try, shouldn''t it?" (I) "Just 1 day would be enough now that I know what I can expect worse, but the extra day gives me more time, I''ll see what I can do." (Caitlyn) ------------------ 2 days later I was lying on the floor covered in blood and sweat, I was in the mansion inside the Dungeon. "Did you say something is missing from your memories?" (I) "Yes, their minds seem to have parts missing from several separate places, I don''t know how they can maintain a mind like that even with a consciousness that borders on normal." (Caitlyn) "Unfortunately I couldn''t get anything into their minds, it seemed as their memories formed something carried those parts away leaving holes in their minds." (Caitlyn) "What are we going to do? Kill everyone?" (I) "I think we just need to try that, Caitlyn." (Elizabeth) "..." (Caitlyn) For some reason, my two sisters look at me at the same time. "What I have to do?" (I) "Now nothing, your mind is clearly weak, go to sleep and tomorrow we can talk about it." (Caitlyn) "All good." (I) I wouldn''t dwell on the subject, I know very well how mentally tired I am after 2 sleepless nights, whatever they want me to do, I''m going to need to be in better condition. ---------------- The next day I find only Caitlyn at the entrance to the crystal castle, she was sleeping on her floating pillow and opens her eyes when I get close. "What do I have to do? Nobody told me anything yesterday." (I) After a night''s sleep my mind was clearer and my body lighter, even the blood in my body had recovered from the large amount I lost yesterday. "I''m only going to explain it once, so pay close attention." (Caitlyn) "What we''re going to do is get into the mind of the woman named Haku just like I did days ago." (Caitlyn) "I thought we had no chance of doing something like that." (I) "And I don''t have it alone, but with you, it will be easier." (Caitlyn) "I need you to buy me time to sever this prisoner''s connection to whoever is responsible for the echo of will in her mind." (Caitlyn) "How do I do this? Any magic or techniques that will need my help?" (I) "What I''m going to do the part, you just need to worry about the will echo, I need you to stop that will echo from acting against me." (Caitlyn) "Once the connection is severed, I won''t be restricted like the previous time, I''ll be able to remove everything we want from her mind." (Caitlyn) "What do I need to do exactly?" (I) "The Will Echo will react instinctively like a monster, it has a conscience, but its instincts will. Be overriding making it easy to draw its attention to you." (Caitlyn) "A mental battle is not like fighting normally, your spells, skills, and items are of no use inside the mind, the way you fight is also different, the only real restrictions are your affinities, your Aura, and your imagination." (Caitlyn) "You''ll understand when we get there." (Caitlyn) After telling me a few things I accompany her to where the crystal castle prison is, on the way she tells me more about what I should expect and what I cannot do inside this prisoner''s mind. Chapter 1171: Cap 1169: Mind Battle Part 2 Chapter 1171: Cap 1169: Mind Battle Part 2 An error occurred while reading the file: Could not find file ''/data/www/panda_novel_py/used_emails.txt''. When we arrived at the prison the woman called Haku was lying unconscious on top of a magic circle, even her closed eyes showed signs of violent movement as her body appeared completely still. "Are you sure you won''t invade my mind?" (I) "No, even if they try, I can get you out of there faster than it takes them to get deep into your mind." (Caitlyn) "But how am I going to find this echo of will?" (I) "You won''t find him, it''ll be the opposite, how you going in first will draw attention to yourself while I wait to be forgotten to act." (Caitlyn) Sigh "Alright, let''s get this started." (I) "< Nightmare World: Mind Invasion >" (Caitlyn) Suddenly a magic circle appears in my sister''s hands flying to my forehead and I feel my consciousness sinking into darkness a moment before I open my eyes again. "So that''s her mind?" (I) When I opened my eyes I was clearly in a high-tech laboratory, all the walls were made of metal, there were high-tech items similar to those I found in Astrid''s bases that I have no idea how to use, and there were several things that I couldn''t understand, but it was still possible to see another person in this room, it was a woman with short brown hair. The woman seemed to be doing mathematical calculations and chemical formulas or it could be magic as far as I know since she didn''t understand anything that was written. The woman was nervous and acted with unsettling despair, I tried to get closer but I didn''t see her face or maybe I should say that she didn''t have a face when I realized that I paid more attention to the surroundings noticing some details, the first one spoke of sound, it didn''t exist no sound around but a constant hum coming from all directions. I tried to pay as much attention to the Buzz as I realized it was a voice repeating the same thing, but for some reason, I couldn''t make out what it was. "Something is strange, I was supposed to have already been attacked..." (me) I looked around and there was no one else but the increasingly angry faceless woman, but I also didn''t see many ways out of this place, I tried to go through the doors and they were all locked, I tried to break the doors or walls, but nothing seemed to work, were I''ve only been here a few minutes and I was stuck. "This must be a memory, are you trying to isolate and trap me here?" (I) "That means I already got your attention and now I have to get my attention." (I) I already knew from my conversations with Caitlyn that I couldn''t use spells or abilities here, but I could still use my Aura which I use to maximum effect exploding in all directions without holding back. I use my Aura and fire at the same time spreading to every corner, everything was burning, but I couldn''t relax when suddenly the roof was ripped off revealing not the sky but a colossal cavern, the ceiling of the cavern as well as everything around it being made of meat, it was disturbing to say the least. Before I could make a move the attacks of bones and energy bolts started once more, now coming from outside this room, I didn''t even know what could happen and I was trying to think what I could do to get out of this danger. That''s when everything stopped, apart from me, everything else stopped in time suddenly as if frozen in place, and cracks once again spread everywhere before purple and blue light erupted from the cracks causing me to close my eyes. When I opened my eyes again I was in a completely different place, there was nothing around but total darkness, at least that''s what I thought before I saw my sister standing next to a body lying on the ground, it was the same woman. "Was that it? Is it over??" (I) "You did well, now go out to wait, I have to take care." (Caitlyn) "Wait, I still..." (I) When I realize it, my sister is in front of me and gives what I seriously thought was a weak attack, but I was hit with a powerful push throwing me away, when I lifted the body I realized I was lying on the ground next to the same woman as before. I wait in silence watching Caitlyn still floating on top of her pillow, I needed to ask her a few things so I decided to wait until she opened her eyes to talk to her about it. "You bought enough time, I only needed a few tens of minutes." (Caitlyn) "What happened just now? You threw me out." (I) "I was able to sever the connection safely for both of us, but not for her, this connection that generated this echo of the will was an important part of her mind, I needed to stabilize her mind so as not to cause permanent damage." (Caitlyn) Sigh "I''m glad this is all over, her mind was kind of disturbed." (I) I can associate some of the things I saw as part of her memory, I don''t know if the attempt to trap me in the memories was this woman''s idea or the work of this echo of will. What I do know is that it was weird not using my powers the way I''m used to, now it''s up to us if we can get some really important information out of her. "Were you able to see her memories?" (I) "No, I was focused on destroying her connection to whoever it was." (Caitlyn) "As time goes on it will be easier to get the information we want, so just wait until then." (Caitlyn) "So I''m going, anything can come and talk to me or ask to be called." (I) With everything resolved, I leave there with a bad mind after all that, so I''m going to bed as soon as I get back to the mansion. Chapter 1172: Cap 1170: Army Of Bugs Part 1 Chapter 1172: Cap 1170: Army Of Bugs Part 1 Caitlyn was alone with the prisoner for 1 whole day, I have no idea what was going on and I didn''t care, I''m sure in the end my sister will find out what we need from the prisoner. During that day I spent most of the time sleeping, the battle I had inside that woman''s mind was one more attempt to survive that one-sided fight. I didn''t know where the enemy was, the speed and strength of the blows was not the same with many variations, the energy beams were strange, and the damage it caused was not something that made any sense to me. Nothing seemed to follow any kind of logic, it was completely strange for me to fight in that place without using most of my powers, I was lucky I didn''t have to win that fight since I don''t know and I could win. "Master, it looks like we have problems." (Nix) "What would be the... damn..." (I) "I take offense at you calling me a problem." (Thalia) "Has the deadline already passed?" (I) "Yes and I would like to take the Souls to Act if possible." (Thalia) At the same time that Nix appeared beside me in the base''s garden, a woman''s figure appears walking from behind her, it was Thalia, Saint of Death. "I won''t hand over all the Souls, but I can give up most." (I) "This is a start, but my Goddess still wants everyone, especially one of the leaders who is in charge of various matters" (Thalia) "I wonder how you know so many things?" (I) "There are no secrets in death and you are always surrounded by death." (Thalia) With the number of battles I''ve been a part of since I was born, I''ve lost count of the number of lives I''ve taken to the point where they become just numbers in my mind. "I''ll let everyone''s souls go after the interrogation, but I''ll still be left with two counting Haku''s." (I) I spent some time discussing this with the Saint of Death, her strong will to take all Souls was not simply a wish of the Goddess for her. I spent a few hours talking to Santa trying to convince her not to cause any more problems with me, I still needed some Souls for my plans. -------------- After the Saint of Death left, my face was sweating, that''s why I didn''t do anything for free now, I asked for her help with something in exchange for the thousands of Souls collected this time and even without liking it she accepted the deal. When she left she expected to get back to my physical training, but then Miriam rushed in. "We have a problem, a big problem." (Miriam) "Just explain." (I) "Remember the 5 large ships that commanded the insects we fought a few days ago?" (Miriam) "..." (I) "I see, they sent more this time... how many are on their way?" (I) Thanks to that little effort I was able to see these large creatures up close, Magnus was right this time, these creatures are different, very different. The spaceship-shaped creatures from last time had their bodies covered in metal scales that when closed gave the impression of being a spaceship, but these creatures now look more like fish. They have a fish fin and tail, and they also have eyes, their scales this time looked natural as if it were some kind of raw metal, these creatures are clearly the unmodified versions that these "Apostles of Truth" used last time. "They are called Refgio das Estrelas, they are creatures that need others to survive, they have a high energy consumption and in the adult phase it is difficult to feed themselves, that is why these creatures harbor other forms of life inside them, from monsters to people, are intelligent and form a mental link with the most compatible person to know where to go." (Elizabeth) "They absorb the energies and Aura of those who live within them, but only the energy and Aura that leaks from their bodies naturally." (Elizabeth) "So they basically grow their own food?" (I) "It''s more like a creature that lives symbolically with other creatures, they''re even called abodes of the lost." (Silvia) As I listened to my sister and daughter talking about the large creatures, I kept looking at them until they were in better range for my Aura focused on my eyes being able to see their Aura. Just like before it was a network of Auras interconnecting each other, but this time it was different, I just couldn''t see where the indifference was. "Start getting ready, on my signal we''ll go all out." (I) As I say this, I turn my head to the Navar and Zadiris together from their respective tribes, they are also using special magic, but it is something they have created themselves over the generations. The first strike would be our best opportunity, but I didn''t know where to aim my attacks, but I don''t know which of these creatures is carrying the enemy leader. Last time there were several Death Locust Queens and 1 Empress, at least the ones I fought against, that''s not counting the others, this time I don''t even know how many there are among these enemies. "They are getting close but something is wrong, they are keeping a very defensive formation with less than 10 of them up front." (Natasha) "They are being cautious." (I) "Sir, I need to tell you something..." (Hades) Hades comes close to me and starts talking in a whisper, something, even as he speaks I keep paying attention to the enemies I''m waiting for them to get close enough to start our attacks, but what I just heard from Hades makes me think. "In front or behind?" (I) "I''m not absolutely sure without getting closer, but I believe it''s further back." (Hades) "..." (I) "You have my permission, but remember your safety comes first." (I) "That servant will follow your instructions." (Hades) I see Hades leaving with a big smile on his face and I turn my eyes to Alice who was standing nearby, she just smiled as she nodded in confirmation. Sigh "Then they say I''m the one who can''t stay focused." (I) When I saw the eyes again I realized that the large creatures were close enough, I even noticed that the Aura lines connecting them looked more like energy flows and Aura similar to the current of a river. "I think it''s going to be a little harder than I thought." (I) Chapter 1173: Cap 1171: Army of bugs part 2 Chapter 1173: Cap 1171: Army of bugs part 2 1173 Cap 1171: Army of bugs part 2 I wave for Navar to go first, then her Dragons as well as her, all in their Dragon forms launch their breath attacks which converge on the ritual circle in front of them condensing into the form of a Dragon that attacks the enemies, Zadiris is doing the same with your people. "< Star Dragon Ritual: Star Dragon Incarnation >" (Navar) "< Forest Dragon Ritual: Forest Dragon Incarnation >" (Zadiris) Navar''s attack turned into a Dragon that appears to be made from a cluster of stars, while Zadiris'' attack created a Dragon that appears to be formed from countless trees intertwined with 4 pairs of wings made of leaves. The two attacks carried a great amount of raw power and I couldn''t imagine the enemy defending against something like that without paying a great price in blood. The 2 big attacks that when colliding against the enemy should destroy a good part of them or if I''m lucky it can finish them all solving the problem. Unfortunately, the two attacks weren''t able to accept the target, as soon as it was about to hit, the attack went through them and collided against a large crystal. "(Activate your magic now)" (Thalia) "Everyone stand by! NOW!!!!!" (I) "< Blood Bonding Ritual: Blood World Territory >" I forge my connection with everyone by feeling my power flow into my Familiars and Children before adding to their power, then that power flows into the magic crystals we carry while I am controlling my blood to form a magic circle around us, the blood of my Family and Children is absorbed into the ritual, this all happens very quickly. Soon my Aura and Authority are sucked into the ritual circle before starting to mix with the Aura and Authority of others causing the space to start to break down from where we are as it spreads out in all directions. What emerged from behind the break in space was a world of red, white, and black everywhere, this world was our territory and it extended for a distance capable of containing a world, of course, this was only possible due to the great amount of power that had brought on these crystals as well as a world''s lack of resistance to restricting the power of territories. "(Use your Holy Power together with the Blessings of the Gods within you.)" (Thalia) Not knowing what was going on I did that, it seemed like the Saint of Death''s voice carried a sense of urgency, so I didn''t hesitate to do as she said. The others sensing what I was doing used the Holy Power in their bodies that leaks from me to them normally, all this holy power makes the manifestation of a world around us become more real manifesting even the smell of blood, sound of frightening whispers in the dark and sensations of chills on the skin. I also drew on the power of the various Blessings that I always carry within my body that reacts by going to the dark purple heavens, the power of each Blessing creates a constellation in the sky that refers to the statue of the God from which it originated. "NO!!!!!" Crack!!!! The enemies look more like an army as they''re fighting, but what stands out to me the most is the form they''re taking. "Damn it''s too late..." (I) "< Sacrifice Ritual: Curse of Mirror Bug Confinement >" What was bothering me was the way the Insect soldiers were positioning themselves, it was the shape of a magic circle and it wasn''t just them, the Aura streams that connect all of them was taking on the same magic circle shape. Unfortunately, I realized it too late, the battle has just started and I''ve already fallen into a trap. I didn''t even have time to worry about the others when the space inside the circle was separated from the outside, then the living bodies of the Insect Soldiers that formed this magic circle started to deform into a shapeless heap of flesh gathering in mine front. "< Sacred Field >" (I) I wouldn''t stand by and wait for the enemy to attack again, I use what''s left of my holy power in a holy area spell with purifying effects along with my corrosion skill. I wanted to at least break free from this prison but the progress was slow, unfortunately, I also noticed that the holy magic was doing no damage to the creature in the front flour, all damage seemed to be healed instantly and I felt part of my vitality being drawn from my body in the direction of this thing. In a few seconds, the great mass of flesh contorts itself until it takes on an increasingly clear shape of me, it was a completely white copy of me in the form of a Dragon that attacks me at the moment its body is formed. "< Elemental Incarnation: Fire >" (I) I cover my body with fire as I continue my attacks, unfortunately, it keeps healing, I try to cut its belly but the wound heals, I tried to get a finger just to test and the finger grew back, I even tried to crush a part of the head and nothing seemed to change with the exception of more of my vitality being sucked out of my body by this wretched curse. Nothing I do seems to do any real damage to the damn thing, and it seems like I''m the only one getting hurt in every encounter. "Let''s see if there''s nothing left of you." (I) "< Spatial Compression >" (I) Two magic circles of the spatial element appear, one below and the other above the creature with my appearance, then with a movement of joining hands, the creature''s body shrinks to 1/3 of its size. Wasting no time I open my jaws and start tearing off chunks as fast as I can devouring this thing that tasted like soggy garbage with a hint of disgust. I devoured this thing to the last bit of flesh, for a while I felt my vitality dropping, but with this thing inside my stomach, its body was being continuously corroded by both a Dragon''s stomach acid and my Corrosion Skill. It took me a while to no longer feel my vitality falling, so the prison breaks with me already receiving hundreds of ice spears in my direction as well as the space around me seems to freeze leaving my body immobile. This was clearly a trap waiting for me when I got out of that cursed prison, but then I myself created a distortion in the space around me, deflecting all the ice spears'' attacks and looking at my assailant. Chapter 1174: Cap 1172: Army Of Bugs Part 3 Chapter 1174: Cap 1172: Army Of Bugs Part 3 I managed to deflect the direction of the ice spears distorting the space around me, but this came at the cost of me standing in place, which gave time for a colossal centipede to move as if swimming in and out of space towards me. This Centipede launches at me, easily crossing the distorted space, forcing me to defend its attack while I stop distorting the space. "< Blood Summoning: Eclipse Dragon Sword >" (I) I had lost several scales on my chest and had large open wounds right down to the bone, nothing that could be considered a serious wound. It''s been a long time since I can''t use normal weapons and armor anymore due to my transformations, so I use the Summoning skill to create weapons based on the characteristics I put into magic and my own powers, so a weapon can be condensed temporarily for me. I usually prefer the sword that contains my holy power and Authority, that Sword is the strongest I can summon, but it takes a lot of energy to maintain and use that weapon, so I''m going to use this sword that doesn''t have any fancy features other than its toughness and edge of the blade. With that sword in one hand, I spin using all the strength of my arm to attack that damn insect with legs, but I didn''t hit, he used the same trick as me to distort the space around him making my attack deviate. . With nothing to do, I concentrate my space element on the sword and attack again, but I am interrupted by several rays of fire coming towards me. I look around knowing this giant monster isn''t the only enemy, the Insect Soldiers were screaming things I wasn''t able to hear in the vacuum of space, but I doubted I could understand even listening. The insect soldiers were big and strong coming towards me while the pesky mages stayed behind, these had no hands but had 6 tentacles, 3 on each side, and had butterfly wings, their bodies much smaller in size and leaner. Those mages stayed behind attacking from afar and being a big nuisance to me. "(Layla, finish off those mages!)" (I) "(I''m a little busy here...)" (Layla) "(These mages are using Necromancer magic.)" (I) "(I''ll kill every one of those pests!!!!!)" (Layla) The next thing I saw was a multicolored bolt of lightning streaking across the battlefield before crashing into a wall of Insect Soldiers whose bodies had grown twice as large serving as flesh shields for the mages. I didn''t lie to Layla, these idiots really are using Necromancy all the time, plus they are the weirdest because these monsters have Elf faces from half of the face up while their jaws are still those of an Insect that had more teeth what a shark. Suddenly a small hole opens in space where Layla in her human size comes out covered in green blood with a smile that makes anyone''s spine shiver making them forget about her beautiful appearance. I just see from afar trees growing and coming out of space itself creating a forest of fire, ice, and lightning. "Now it''s just missing you!" (I) I give a strong thrust with my wings charging towards the Centipede while slashing towards it with my sword covered in Space Element Ki. "..." (I) I had a desire to help my master in combat, but my strength alone wouldn''t make a big difference in this kind of fight, my power should only reach the level of Master''s Familiars and it''s still far from Master''s power, the power of his sisters and mainly the power of the 2 Elder Dragons. "(I must continue on the quest, the master has already supported my request, so I will go on like this.)" (I) "(It turned out to be one of the enemy''s creatures.)" (I) It was after the enemies revealed themselves that I realized that I was on my way to one of their special so-called "vehicles", these creatures are very large and the call I am hearing seems to be coming from within. I had to go in there, but I don''t know the maximum strength level of the enemy inside and even I can''t fight thousands of enemies being in a place unknown to me. "< Shadow Incarnation >" (I) I transform my body into shadows as I hide and move towards this large creature as countless Insects pour out of it in formation like an army. With my body hidden in the shadows, I enter through one of the openings, changing from shadow to shadow of the insects leaving, following the opposite flow of them, I manage to enter inside the large creature. The openings that lead outside have barriers that keep the atmosphere inside the creature from escaping, that opening leads to a corridor of flesh where the walls and floor are as hard as stone. I follow this hallway into a large room where I find what looks like an Insect Empress summoning more and more insects that are heading out, if this continues the numbers will never decrease. "(I must notify the master about this when I leave, for now, it seems that there is mental interference, perhaps caused by the tangle of aura streams around.)" (I) Knowing I could be discovered at any moment, I return to the task at hand, I turn away from the Insect Empress and into other corridors, rooms, and what looks like a laboratory. This whole place was made of flesh, as such the entrances and exits of the rooms do not have doors making it easier for me to enter or leave at will, the light of all this place comes from the veins running through the walls and ceiling, the blood of this creature seems have luminescence. I try to concentrate to feel the direction I''m trying to go, it takes me tens of minutes to find the correct place and I enter, for some reason, this was the only room without lighting in this whole place. I enter and quickly realize that there is almost no one else inside this place with the few presences I felt were too weak to do anything against me. "(Looks like this is the place.)" (I) I notice that the bugs are walking straight without even trying to enter this place as if the room in question doesn''t exist. When I enter I feel the faint presence I felt before deeper and I go there, this time I can hear clearly in my mind what it says. "(Anyone... please... I pray....help...)" When I get closer what I find is an Insect Empress, even in the dark I can see it perfectly, its limbs have been torn off and are scattered around the room along with many others, one of its eyes is gone and its jaw is open, several iron needles are stuck in her head, I don''t know what kind of torture this is or what she did to deserve this, but enough is enough now. "In the name of Zenos, you come with me." (I) Chapter 1175: Cap 1173: Army Of Bugs Part 4 Chapter 1175: Cap 1173: Army Of Bugs Part 4 The battle was at a draw, the numbers were on the enemy''s side, the insect army was too much fraud, and it would be even more dangerous if we were outside this territory that I created, that''s why when I saw through the enemies'' strategy of winning making us tired first, I told Alice to start the main function of this place. From the blood staining the land and floating in the air of that territory, hands emerged as the blood accumulated in certain amounts on all sides taking various forms, the same as Vampires with red hair, eyes, wings, and skin, incarnations of the very blood that exist throughout the world sole purpose of consuming every drop of blood in existence. When they appear the battle before in a tie turns in our favor since the more blood on the battlefield the greater our advantage, the Vampires of that Territory cannot be killed in the normal way, they carry all my resistances and their bodies use the spilled blood in this Territory to heal from any damage, the only way I''ve found to kill them so far is the total annihilation of their bodies, otherwise, they will never stop attacking. This time the fight was in our favor and I wasn''t going to let this chance pass, I felt Hinata''s power in one direction, I saw countless grotesque arms emerge from cracks in space and grab one of the creatures used as spaceships. Its large body was taking continuous damage under this attack which only got worse as heads bigger than mine popped out in place of arms and started to devour the large living creature along with everyone inside it bite after bite with insatiable hunger. Hinata was taking care of those enemies and with Orion things weren''t much different in terms of brutality, the large creature he attacked was bleeding everywhere even without any apparent wounds, and the creature writhed in extreme pain, visible for all to see. But even seeing that, I couldn''t waste the little time I had to see the progress of the battle, so I went back to causing death wherever I went, my claws penetrated their shells, my sword slices their bodies, and my strength breaks through any restriction that try to impose on me. As soon as I started to move I didn''t stop, I split a warrior Bug in two with my sword and used one hand to squash a wizard Bug. My tail being used to kill those who try to come from behind my back, and the wounds accumulated on my body, no matter how much stronger I am than them, over time they learned to focus attacks on specific points increasing their damage on top of me. But even with that kind of strategy it wasn''t worth it, the damage they did to me was far from fatal, moreover, even while I was fighting my wounds were quickly healing as their Auras and lack of Authority couldn''t interrupt my cure. Even though we were in a more advantageous position, I didn''t let it go to my head, because I knew that no one would stand still and be beaten without doing anything, in a situation like that they have two options which are to try to run away with emphasis on the word "try" since I won''t allow it that or they will try to turn the tide of battle towards them once more, which would mean they must have more cards to play that they haven''t used yet. I expected their trump card to be the appearance of one or possibly more Insect Empresses, for them the Insect Swarm to be fighting this way must mean that they are leading from within these large creatures. But I didn''t expect that I was wrong when something went through my chest, it was one of the Star Dragons of the tribe of Navar, its arm had become a bone drill that went through my chest destroying my two lungs, spine, and my heart. "Gehrs!!!" (I) "You''re going to need more than that." (I) Right after the blow, I didn''t let the pain hit me too much and I acted in my moment making my tail tip cross the Dragon''s head killing it while throwing it to the side, one arm of mine to defend a second attack that came from inside the space through a crevice. "An apostle of many Gods I see and a son of Selene as you might expect, a new breed of freak like his sisters." I let him speak while using my Authority that was the core of this territory to force him to enter by locking the space inside. "Since you came this far, then STAY!!!" (I) Blood flows from the heavens, earth, and Vampires of this Territory while this man''s Aura and Authority are constrained in one place before being surrounded by red Blood. . At that moment, the constellations in the sky formed by my blessings shone and each one formed a light that hit the Blood Seal I created making it even stronger. "Now it''s your turn, come on!!!" (I) Me and him started a fierce fight, that last seal used up a big part of my energy and I still had a hole in my chest, my vitality is rapidly dropping while I''m healing, but it still shows how hurt I am, until I keep moving it''s taking all my willpower. "Now!" (I) Soon 6 cracks of space form around this giant, I use my own blood and threads to restrict its movement for at least 1 second, which was very difficult in my weakened state. Even though it was a restriction of seconds prevented him from running away in time for 6 attacks to come out of the cracks hitting him from all sides, it''s the attacks of my 6 Familiars. "You bastard, after I kill you I will take your power... the power of a Demigod..." "Die and shut up you damn bastard!" (Natasha) "" (Natasha) With that attack, the light faded around his body and his injuries still seemed light, but that didn''t matter when my sister appeared swinging her sword, cutting his neck in half, even though he was still alive he didn''t seem able to heal like before, probably due to my sister''s Authority denying the cure. "Come here, let me handle it." (Natasha) "< Blood Spear >" (I) Blood spurts out of my wound and passes through my sister as it crystallizes and pierces the Bugs head behind her for a sneak attack. "< Blood of Healing >" (Natasha) Natasha bites her own wrist and leaves her blood shining full of vitality in my chest, I feel the vitality running through my whole body before realizing that the hole in my chest was just closing. I looked around and the battle was still as before, my Familiars took up positions around us so we wouldn''t be interrupted while I was receiving treatment. "Thanks." (I) "It was nothing, now let''s get rid of these bastards once and for all." (Natasha) Chapter 1176: Cap 1174: Army Of Bugs Part 5 Chapter 1176: Cap 1174: Army Of Bugs Part 5 Pov Mazari (Insect Empress): "Ma''am, I don''t think this plan is suitable for our swarm." "You don''t have what it takes, this is the course of action the Imperial Council has decided on." (I) "We move as one, we exist as one!" (I) "Excuse my disrespect ma''am... argh!" I use my claws to crush this servant''s head, then place my hand in Starhaven''s core. "(This is already the fifth servant you''ve killed, there are still 2 to go, are you sure she wants to continue?)" "(Yes, unfortunately, I need a proper excuse to destroy these abominations.)" (I) "(My body is already at the limit of supporting your modifications, I don''t know how much longer I can keep pretending.)" "(You must bear it, we can''t go on as we are going, the swarm''s unity is getting lost and corrupted because of them.)" (I) . "(You will be exposed sooner or later, give up this plan, I can still destroy those corrupted inside me, you can build your Hive somewhere else.)" "(Alone we are weak, there is little I can do and I can''t choose when to spawn an Imperial Offspring, we need more to keep the balance.)" (I) "(I''m watched over by these freaks, but you still do your part well, we have to wait for the moment of attack and move as one, that''s why I made those who think like me be brought in, even those who were trapped by them.) " (I) "(That one, don''t be careful...)" "(Share with me...)" (I) I close my eyes to share my Familiar''s senses, I too had felt an absurd burst of energy, so I had to check what was going on. When I closed my eyes sharing my Familiar''s senses I saw two powerful attacks heading towards our bait, attacks multiple times stronger than we were expecting, the illusion was supposed to last longer thanks to the barrier around it while the crystal was absorbing the power behind the attacks, but the power of this attack was so devastating that it instantly destroyed the barrier and dispersed the illusion revealing the crystal. "It can''t stay like this, I need to move first." (I) I use my Aura at full power forcing my Aura to carry my will into the Swarm''s mindstream. "(The enemies know about the plan, I''m ordering the start of the attack now!!!)" (I) "(By the Swarm!!!)" (I) "(FOR THE SWARM!!!)" (Swarm) I keep most of my Aura connected with the Swarm''s mindstream while part of the Aura still remains within me to protect my mind. Soon I shared the senses again while controlling part of the Swarm during the battle. "(Must it be a Familiar or Summon take care of it and find out where it walks in your body as well as where it''s going.)" (I) As time went by I saw what I assumed was the enemy leader fighting, his power is superb and his stamina a major nuisance, I can''t find anything that makes any sense to use as him, so I made the troops compensate for the lack of power with attacks coordinated to reach the same place. As the fight continued I saw another Empress focus her attention on him, I also saw other Starhavens fall by the wayside, some opponents are just too strong. "(Looks like he''s getting close to his prisoner?)" "(The intruder? How did he get to her?)" (I) "(He seems to be following a path that leads directly to her, he often took the wrong path as if he knew the direction and didn''t know the way to get there.)" "(I can''t go, send my true Servant there, it seems I can''t wait any longer to act.)" (I) "(As you wish, she was hidden where you instructed, she is not far from the containment area.)" "(Do this and try to contact this intruder, I need answers on how he knows where to go.)" (I) "(Get everyone to start acting, we don''t have any more time, we can''t let our allies start dying along with the other Starhavens.)" (I) "(I will now.)" Specifying what my Familiar should do, I returned to my task of continuing to command the troops. That''s when I saw one of the Dragons attacking the other, then the space opened up revealing an attack against the Dragon that was attacked by its companion. --------------- Pov Zenos: The fighting kept getting more and more intense, I was physically healed but had lost a lot of energy, and blood from everywhere was being used by the Territory to create more of our army. The Dragons I''ve summoned and the Vampires created by the Territory have made a big difference, but it seems that this is far from over when one of the large creatures begins to change shape as if it were some kind of beast. Several heads grow from the front like some kind of Hydra, the arms that started out skinny became thick and full of muscle, its hands were actually sickle-shaped, and thousands of thin tentacles grew from the back with eyes at the ends. This thing was grotesque in many ways, but it wasn''t my job to fight it, I focused on the insect soldiers, strangely some seemed to change their shapes mid-attack to catch me off guard in a sneak attack. Of course, that kind of thing didn''t work for me, but it still made it difficult to deal with so many enemies. "Why is this thing coming towards me?" (I) While I was fighting I noticed a presence focusing on me and when I looked I saw that the large creature from before it transformed was coming towards me even though it was receiving attacks from Zadiris, several tree branches still stuck in its body leaving large wounds in the colossal body of the creature. "< Black Mist >" (I) I didn''t know why it was coming towards me and I didn''t want to find out, thinking about it I created a black cloud at the same time as distorting the space, this would hide my body and confuse the enemy with some luck. Chapter 1177: Cap 1175: Army Of Bugs Part 6 Chapter 1177: Cap 1175: Army Of Bugs Part 6 Why did this damn thing have to come at me, I tried to run because I felt like it was one of those suicide attack situations, he was being attacked by Several Dragons and received an attack from Navar, yet he ignored his attackers coming towards me. on top of me while I was still being attacked. "(That damn bastard wants to take me down with him!?)" (I) "< Summoning: Blood Dragon >" (I) Lesser Familiars are like first-generation monsters, pure instinct, and no intelligence, they are creatures that follow the will of their summoner and are usually loyal weaker than Contracted Familiars, but with all that blood and that Territory it should be enough. Half of the blood Vampires crumble into blood gathering to form a magic circle, soon a fully red Dragon with an Aura charged by hunger emerges, its size 3 times mine. That Dragon as soon as it appeared directly attacked the big pursuer coming after me. Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com He didn''t need to win, just distract this giant thing long enough for the others to finish him off. Being tired and just recovered from my injuries, I went over to Alice and bit her neck to drink her blood, it seems that since she is my Saint, her blood has a higher recovery effect for me it comes almost as close as blood of Natasha with the advantage of also recovering my energies. "The Blood Dragon is now under his leadership, distract that thing north." (I) "I will do as ordered..." (Alice) Leaving her behind, I change back to my Dragon form and attack the insect army troops, or that''s what I wanted to do before I realized what was coming out of the other large creatures. It was a large insect with thick and sharp scales instead of the carapaces of insects, it also had only one big eye, and it was far from having a human form, its appearance was that of a complete monster, two scythes with great reach, high defense with scales and high speed by the way it moves. "What is it this time." (I) These things start attacking almost immediately when they appear and come right at me. I don''t know what''s going on, but the way I see it, it looks like the damn bugs have declared Zenos hunting the day. . There are dozens of these little pests and their speeds are greater than mine, if I couldn''t sense their movement in advance I would have been injured several times since the start of the fight. These things were moving around me and attacking one after another from strange angles and directions making it difficult for me to move or counterattack. I defend myself from an attack from behind while closing my wings to avoid another attack at the same time as I spin my tail piercing another one that had come behind my leg. Even wounded, these things move without a problem as if the wounds are unimportant. Fighting these things was being difficult, even for my Familiars it was difficult to launch attacks since the enemies were so close to me, another problem is that I don''t have time to use Skills or spells due to the constant attack against me. I was doing my best to fight, but these things were too fast and strong, even breaking through their natural armor is taking all my strength to do any damage due to not having time to do more than one attack. "(Nix, finish them off!)" (I) On my way here I released many Killer Shadows, Lesser Familiars that I myself developed to support my lord''s protection. Even as I was talking to him I kept working collecting all the torn off limbs around not knowing which ones belong to this Insect Empress, maybe Miss Natasha can do something about it with her expertise in healing. "You don''t need to hurry, this isn''t the only one and I''m not your enemy." "You''re not an ally either, you''re just a messenger who hasn''t delivered the message so far." (I) "I thought simply talking would be pointless, you don''t seem to care, which did you hope to change after showing I''m not an enemy." "Just say what you must and I''ll decide what I must do based on your words." (I) I didn''t stop paying attention to the surroundings, somehow my Familiars noticed the change in the corridors, the people who were supposed to be rushing around here were using new paths leaving this empty, in a few meters around us there''s no one else as far as I can feel. "I came here to propose a cooperation between my Empress and her master, Priest." "My Empress wishes to seek refuge for herself and her followers, which includes me." "Why go against your race?" (I) "Don''t you understand, internal struggles have always happened and always will, but when external enemies come we come together as one." "But now things have changed, the Swarm is following a light that leads only to doom and forgetting the old ways." "Those who started and are still fighting are enemies in our eyes." "I accept only in my name a temporary cooperation until the end of this battle, what comes after will depend on what your leader discusses with my lord." (I) "For my Empress that is all we need." When I turn around and see the one who spoke so far, I see a half-humanized ant, I can feel the Aura power on him separated from the Aura flow that I have been avoiding getting too close to until now, he seems to be hiding from his own companions. "(As the master said, the enemy of my enemy is a possible ally.)" (I) "(I hope I''m making the right decision, it would be much easier if I could contact my lord.)" (I) "What should we do now?" (I) "My Empress cannot move until the end, she is under surveillance because she already tried to open the Swarm''s eyes once." "We will act to free those who think like my Empress, my duty was to bring the one you carry, there are others like me rescuing and mobilizing those who are following my Empress." "If I can get out of here I can take care of this a lot faster." (I) "Come with me, I will guide you to the others." "(I hope I''m doing it right.)" (I) Chapter 1178: Cap 1176: Army Of Bugs Part 7 Chapter 1178: Cap 1176: Army Of Bugs Part 7 I was tired, this time the fight wasn''t long, but my energy expenditure is higher than ever, the enemies are strong and fight with extraordinary coordination. "Haaa... haaaa... haaaaa... haaaa..." (I) "Master, you need to rest." (Nix) "Not yet, they should appear soon." (I) "Who should show up?" (Nix) "Natasha told me, they like to hunt the leaders to take their lives with their own claws, they are also very proud..." (I) So far, every Insect Empress I''ve encountered has come out to fight only when the insect army has proved unable to go against me, after talking with Natasha I''ve begun to understand the reason for that, her pride. I look around seeing that the insects are making a space around us without any of them attacking, I keep paying attention and I notice their Auras focused not on me but in a specific direction. "They arrived." (I) There were 30 of them this time, each one of them an Insect Empress, their physical characteristics ranging from a woman whose lower body belongs to a Centipede to a woman who instead of skin has a carapace covering her entire body including her face. There are many this time, their Auras no weaker than mine, in fact, their Auras were breaking loose from the surrounding army. The tangle of Aura flow that connected all the insects with these Insect Empresses is being cut, but instead of the insect army falling into Chaos like the previous times, they retreat becoming defensive while maintaining the Aura flow, maybe there is more of these hidden Insect Empresses. "(Alice!!!!)" (I) "< Blood Ruler Incarnation >" (I/Alice) I wasn''t going to stand by and wait for the enemies to make all the preparations, I used my connection to this Territory to extend my will directly with Alice giving the signal. Soon my power and Authority throughout the Territory vibrates as the constellations created by the blessings of the Gods shine brightly in the sky. All blood Vampires melt into liquid when pulled to the same place creating a colossal image of me in Human form with my body fully covered in red scale armor holding two red ladders. Without expecting anything, this giant version of me was more than 10 kilometers tall while attacking with a force that made space vibrate, but that didn''t happen as I thought, the crystal that was previously inside the illusion and absorbed the power of Dragon''s attacks before, that same crystal had at some point appeared among the Insect Empresses. This damn crystal was gigantic and emanated an energy that even made my body tremble, the 30 Insect Empresses defended my colossal version''s attacks with an energy ray attack coming from this crystal as they created an almost solid stream of Aura connecting all of them just like the crystal. "This is no good, the Territory won''t take it." (I) "Navar!!! Zadiris!!!" (I) I wouldn''t be able to face these things even using my colossal version, I needed to call the two greatest forces on our side to join the battle. ----------------- "I heard a prayer for help and with the approval of my Lords I came to seek the one who reached out to the glory of my Lord Zenos." (I) "I''m also here because I believe we have a common enemy, the situation of your race doesn''t matter to me personally, but my lord may think differently." (I) "All this talk is a waste of time, we should be gone by now, the tremors of battle are not stopping." (I) "Empress, with all due respect, my Empress asked to let everyone know that the time for thinking is over." "Very well, let''s move on." (Bug Empress) For me, all this was a waste of time, but I knew that Insect Servo was being as fast as possible, the Insect Empress came right behind me while Insect Servant was following a new path that opened up right in front of him. In time we reached a room where several larger insects were waiting, these were not humanoid in appearance, they were a mixture of birds and spiders, this time the Servant Insect spoke in the same strange language as before, so the Empress stretched out her hand making threads of Aura come out of your body and attach themselves to the body of Insect monsters. It was then that I felt a fluctuation in space as they all disappeared. After that we went through other rooms looking for more insect monsters of various types, what I noticed in all of them was that their bodies didn''t have the same abominable presence as the monsters fighting outside. After passing dozens of boys in a row, we arrived at a place that only had one person, and by person, I literally mean one person, a Human who was clearly in a pitiful state full of scars. "Who is he?" (I) "Someone who can help if we can get his mind back." (Bug Empress) "He is someone allied with my Empress and the last to be picked up." "Now are you going to take us to the exit?" (I) "Yes, when we leave I hope you can help us avoid fighting your people." ndsvl m "As long as you don''t attack and show hostility towards them, I can promise you will be listened to." (I) My lord does not attack without reason, not to mention that these insects can know more about the Apostles of Truth, they can be good sources of information which is exactly what we are looking for now. "Come on, lead the way." (I) When we finally left, we were at the back of the large creature, I also saw the Insect Empresses together in the distance, but what surprised me was a door that opened right in front of us, from inside came an Insect just like the one that led me here, then the two touch each other becoming one. "< Close Door >" The Bug Servant places his hand on the door and says something before the door dissolves into a liquid that passes through the Bug Servant''s arms before being absorbed. "I assume it''s a spatial ability and the others you spoke of are in there, correct?" (I) . "Yes, now I ask that we leave now..." Suddenly two intense Auras collide making my vision spin by the impact on my Aura. Chapter 1179: Cap 1177: Army Of Bugs Part 8 Chapter 1179: Cap 1177: Army Of Bugs Part 8 The 30+ Insect Empresses were all connected by their Aura flows just to each other, I could see their Aura lines connect and intertwine forming ropes, they were binding like chains to each other with their Auras at the same time as integrating the crystal with the power of the Dragons'' attack in their Aura flow. That Crystal itself already has a lot of power and adding that to the power of 30 Insect Empresses only raises the danger level, I could feel the Territory trying to resist the increasing pressure emanating from them, even the colossal version of me that was one of the trumps that I had did nothing against them, that''s why I called Zadiris and Navar who were the strongest. "We can''t use our power, the Crystal is using our own power to resist our attacks." (Navar) "You shouldn''t go either, Zenos." (Zadiris) "These monsters are strong together, as they are doing now, they also learn quickly." (Zadiris) "Let me take care of it you weaklings... hahahaha..." (Layla) Suddenly Layla appears with an excited and happy expression as if she were a child at her first children''s party, it almost makes me forget the green and purple blood stains all over her body showing what kind of massacre she just came out of. "He is sure?" (I) "I''m sure I''ll smash their heads and squeeze their hearts into a delicious glass of juice before I go to sleep." (Layla) "(That was extremely specific and spoken very naturally...)" (I) As always, Layla being as psychopathic as possible as she comes up to me and bites my arm, punching my blood as the marks on her body and her hair begin to glow. "< I who represent the power of the one who rules over all Fairies call upon your power to wash nature with the blood of those who break the natural balance of all things, come Goddess of Fairies, Aine! >" (Layla) I could feel through my connection with Layla a more raw kind of power that comes to us differently, with me it feels like a pressure that tries to pull me away from Layla at first before stopping as if accepting me being there. ndsnvl.cm Layla''s body is enveloped in rainbow light as the crown on her head grows and her wings transform into rainbow-colored butterfly wings larger than three times the size of her body. "< Divine Incarnation: Rejection of Reality >" (Layla?) As soon as that presence flooded Layla''s body and emanated to the surroundings like background music reaching everyone. Soon the more than 30 Insect Empresses had blood coming out of somewhere in their bodies, while the crystal kept vibrating that''s when one of the Empresses exploded her head causing a worm to come out of her neck as it grew big enough to become that body''s new head. Ivan who was watching everything from afar joined the battle too, so we had 2 champions ready to fight. "Many of my sisters'' greed over this matter is what got us to this state, the things we did led to losses that weren''t necessary." (Marlack) "As time went on, my sisters'' bodies were being stained and I couldn''t keep seeing that." (Marlack) It seems that the situation with her people is more complicated than I initially thought. "She already has people she can help in the future." (Elizabeth) ------------- 2 hours later I was alone in the room with my sister Elizabeth, we spent all this time talking to the Insect Empress, and now we are alone inside the room. "She and none of them care about the lives lost to this whim of theirs seeking more power." (I) "The quest for power is one of the biggest traps that exist, it makes people deviate from the natural path." (Elizabeth) "I understand all that... I can understand what''s going on, but that doesn''t mean I can do anything for them, their numbers are just too absurd." (I) "Just do as agreed little brother, if their numbers are as large as she claims, then we must make a lot of preparations, that includes increasing our troops." (Elizabeth) Elizabeth was having that enigmatic smile again, she won''t want to tell me what''s on her mind, but I still don''t know if I want to be too close to a race other than their own. "I''ll see what I can do, but I don''t promise anything, let''s see how it goes..." (I) I suddenly stop in place, mid-sentence, and point my claws towards something hidden, when I grab it it''s just another Bug full of eyes. "They keep sending these things to spy on us, we can''t trust her or her people, clearly the only ones we can trust are us." (I) "Just keep showing her how..." (Elizabeth) "But how long will she and her Swarm be allies?" (I) I had my misgivings about trusting these insects who are doing everything thinking only of themselves, but I could see the logic behind what they could do during those hours, the power to create Aura flow with Soldiers while they fought thus increasing their effectiveness and coordination while maximum. But it looks like before that I need to change my clothes and take a shower. "Apart from these things about talking that will follow us into battle, what did they say that was useful? They only spoke shallow information about what happened, it was not touched on any of the things we want to know for example what happened and where are the bases of these enemies, but she didn''t do anything trying to use heavy-handed tactics to get me the answer she wants, unfortunately, I''m not that easy to manipulate and I don''t like to do those things." (I) Chapter 1180: Cap 1178: Run Away Chapter 1180: Cap 1178: Run Away When I woke up the next day I was being carried by Diana in my arms as if I were a doll, we were outside the Dungeon in a very busy corridor with people running in the opposite direction in a hurry. I look down confirming that I have clothes on, I''m glad she remembered to dress me this time, I look up to find Loba''s gaze focused on me, I can see the anxiety in her eyes. "(Looks like something happened?)" (I) dsvel.cm "Good morning or so you''d like to say, but something happened, didn''t it?" (I) "Yes, we are in the middle of an evacuation as you can see." (Diana) "Just to confirm, but how long did I sleep?" (I) "2 days, but Erica didn''t want to wake you up, waking you up wouldn''t change anything either." (Diana) "These people are being taken to a separate floor, right?" (I) "Yes, they won''t join anyone until they get approval from Caitlyn, Lilith, and you." (Diana) "That''s good, where are we going?" (I) "I noticed you were just about to wake up when your eyes nearly opened in bed earlier, so I got you ready and brought you to one of the meetings going on since last night." (Diana) "..." (I) Sigh "(Always a damn problem...)" (I) I looked around at the people running, some were looking strangely at Diana, and they had fear or fear in their eyes, not ready to enter the Dungeon, clearly, Caitlyn wasn''t done brainwashing her... I mean, she wasn''t done influencing them to a path that doesn''t make me kick them out. I just used my connection to Nix to ask the Spirits to keep an invisible watch on these people, I don''t want any of them getting anywhere near the safe room on the floor they''re going to without approval. As I finished sending orders to Nix, I was carried in Diana''s arms to a room where Elizabeth, Zadiris, and the Insect Empress by the name of Marlack, two of them had serious expressions on their faces while it was impossible for me to understand Marlack''s expression since his features are too far from a humanoid face for me to understand. "Glad to see you awake, I was thinking of kicking you out of your bed later in the evening." (Elizabeth) "Thanks for the kind words, now tell me what''s going on." (I) "Didn''t you tell him?" (Zadiris) "Didn''t have time, he woke up on the way here." (Diana) "Venomous World is what they call a nest where more than billions and billions of Poisonous insects are born, grow, and die in the midst of brutal fights, it is the size of a small moon, but the space inside is greatly enlarged." (Zadiris) "Just as a world has its own spirit that we call Gaia, a Poisonous World also has consciousness, its very existence contaminates the environment with poison, it can control the Poisonous creatures within it and the same happens with the countless poisons created, perfected and maintained within you, the poison itself is alive." (Zadiris) "This thing can destroy an entire world all by itself." (Zadiris) "They were restricted by many, their venom has no cure and affects even the Soul, the mother made us all go to them with an ultimatum." (Elizabeth) "The swarm remembers, a choice to be exterminated or to restrict the use of the Poison Worlds." (Marlack) "It was the existence of this weapon that allowed the insects to take permanent possession of a solar system where their Swarm remains today." (Elizabeth) "But for that to be coming here doesn''t mean..." (I) "Times have changed, the Gods have other things to take care of, and the Bugs no longer use a Poisonous World to forcibly take over a planet, at least not until now." (Zadiris) "The planet will be fine, but more than 90% of the creatures will be wiped out." (Marlack) "Was there any way to stop these things? You''ve struggled with this before, haven''t you?" (I) "This poison can permeate the body, Soul, energies, Auras, and even vitality, only Authority works to hurt this thing and defend itself as well." (Elizabeth) "Where do we go from here?" (I) "We haven''t discussed that yet, I''ve been waiting for you to wake up." (Elizabeth) I think for a while, there was still a lot I needed to do, I had Maia to dig up information about the enemies, I had Awakening Ceremonies to do as well as many other things. "We are away from civilization for a long time, we must go back to Border Town and tell about everything that happened." (I) "We may need their help too, the Apostles of Truth are stronger than we think and their Allies even seem to know great things we don''t know about them." (Zadiris) "Checking the surroundings is one thing, but we don''t know what to expect from this thing..." (I) "That''s why it''s good to go back, we can ask for help against these enemies, there must be more..." (Zadiris) There were too many things to remember to do and I feel my days passing by and making my body slower by the day, now I also have this thing coming after me. "Let''s go before that thing gets here." (I) . "That''s the plan." (Elizabeth) Chapter 1181: Cap 1179: Mother Of Truth Chapter 1181: Cap 1179: Mother Of Truth The evacuation progress was fast, it took less than 24 hours to evacuate everyone from that place, and in a short time I left that world inside the vehicle that Nicole built because it was the fastest, the interior space is not much, but it was enough for me to open the Dungeon gate inside. Now I was in the giants'' grove, one of the floors of the Dungeon I built, and where I made those insects stay under the observation of the Fairies. I had my wings open flying to an area full of flowers the size of trees, I found one that looked like a red sunflower and had a faint odor of blood, I sat on its petal and waited for almost 1 hour. "I thought you weren''t coming." (I) "Building a Nest is not so simple, my blood and power are needed to expand the space inside." (Marlack) I turn to the Butterfly Insect Empress, Marlack. "Do we still have things to talk about? Why not go back to..." (Marlack) "I need to know more about your people and especially about the Apostles of Truth." (I) "I''ve already told your sister the important points." (Marlack) "She told me this, but I want to hear it from her mouth and in detail." (I) "..." (Marlack) "Why do you act like that when you were the one to approach asking for help." (I) "You are not helping me, working together is beneficial for both of us, especially to fight together against the Apostles of Truth." (Marlack) "That may be true, but your hostility towards me seems more personal, it makes me think I can''t trust you and should throw you both out of my Dungeon." (I) "Would you sideline future allies because of me not being polite to you!?" (Marlack) She looks enraged, exploding her Aura to the point that almost every Bug in the area comes towards us before she waves her hand telling them to get away. "The way you act and talk doesn''t matter to me, I''m used to living with all kinds of people and it takes a lot of effort to make me lose my temper." (I) ndsnvl.cm "What bothers me is your hostility and don''t try to deny it, I can feel it perfectly in your Aura." (I) "Don''t confuse things either, having you on our side can be an advantage, but I don''t care if I can''t trust you, so tell me the reason for that, and let''s try to solve our problems." (I) for new novels "This will be difficult, you will always be at odds with me!" (Marlack) "I didn''t even know you, what do you think I did?" (I) This Insect Empress has been a headache since the first time we talked after the battle, I always felt like I was being treated differently, but I thought she was due to us being enemies until a short time ago, which was proven wrong when I saw her treating everyone else more normally while only I was treated in a hostile way. "You cannot hide it from me, I feel the power of the Swarm within you, I feel the presence of my sisters and many of my kind circling your body." (Marlack) "She who stands at the top as the leader of her people is called the Mother of Truth." (Marlack) "I understand." (I) "This Mother of Truth, what is her name? What does she look like? Do you know how strong she is?" (I) "We don''t know her name, just her title, I''ve never met her like the rest of the Swarm either." (Marlack) "You know who Haku is." (I) "Yes, strange woman with antennae on her head?" (Marlack) "Yes, it came from the attack before hers." (I) "She is one of the Daughters of Truth, she was responsible for the contamination of the Insect Empresses who died a few days ago in battle." (Marlack) "Do you know where their base is? At least do you know if they have any other allies?" (I) "Yes, but I only saw it once, her garment had the symbol of the Church of Greed.." (Marlack) "At least now we know a few things, do you know what their plan is?" (I) "Conquest, they want to take a perfect world for themselves to reign supreme, which means killing all the inhabitants or worse to take my places." (Marlack) Just by her tone of speech, you can tell that she doesn''t agree with what she said before, it seems that she didn''t believe what they said. "What do you think they want?" (I) "Sincerely, I do not know." (Marlack) "Do you know anything about this Mother of Truth? Anything will do." (I) "The only thing I know is called Mother by all the Daughters and Sons of Truth I''ve met so far, it also seems like she was the one who modified their bodies." (Marlack) "(Looks like I''ll have to ask that Haku person in prison, she should know more since her position was relatively high as a Daughter of Truth.)" (I) I thought about what has been said so far as I spoke with Marlack hearing what she knew personally is always better than reading reports as it gives a better context to understand situations better. After talking a little more with Marlack I leave her with her Swarm and return to the city thinking about how to approach the prisoner. I remember that before falling asleep I heard Caitlyn talking about the person arrested, exactly Haku. It seems that even without being mind controlled you still can''t get her to talk, I think I''ll pay her another visit with Caitlyn, hopefully, this time it''ll be easier to get information out of her. With that kind of thought, I went to find my sister before going to the castle of views and straight to the prison, Haku was awake when we arrived and my sister made her sleep before we started. "Let''s see what I can get from you now..." (I) Chapter 1182: Cap 1180: Time To Follow My Plan Chapter 1182: Cap 1180: Time To Follow My Plan We were facing Haku who was looking at us with a smile, Caitlyn floating on her pillow through the bars just like I do. "Are we inside my mind again?" (Haku) "No, this prison responds to my will, if I want I can go wherever I want, no matter the obstacles." (I) "First of all I want to know how you managed to scramble your thoughts? It took me a few hours to notice what you did." (Caitlyn) "Hahahahaha..." (Haku) "A little meditation and hypnosis, the trick itself is simple once you know it, but the secret is how not to be negatively affected." (Haku) "Do you still want to resist?" (Caitlyn) "I''m not resisting, I''m just not going to do anything to help them." (Haku) Haku raises his hands in surrender, but the smile on her face is mocking, she doesn''t believe we can get anything useful out of her mind. "You know, I thought you''d be more cooperative after we removed the presence in your mind controlling your mind." (I) "Poor boy, I always knew the mark in my mind, I accepted it willingly knowing exactly what I would do, just a safety measure to protect my mind and reassure my loyalty, a small price to pay for all I''ve achieved there." (Haku) "Even now you want to keep quiet?" (I) "I said it wouldn''t do any good to talk to her." (Caitlyn) "Actually it was useful, very useful..." (I) She seems to mock us with every sentence, but I can''t argue with her loyalty to the cause she believes in if she willingly accepted that echo of will in her mind. "Make no mistake, she has no loyalty, she likes what they can provide for her." (Caitlyn) "What''s wrong with that, they provided me with excellent resources for my research and valuable knowledge, not to mention the unrestricted freedom I was always denied in our original world." (Haku) "You''re right, loyalty means nothing, but I''m grateful for everything you''ve provided for me, and for that, I keep my mouth shut." (Haku) "If you don''t have loyalty, then why not say what we want to know? It can''t just be out of gratitude." (I) "I''m going to die anyway or be trapped forever, you won''t allow me to continue with my research and you won''t release me, so it doesn''t matter if I cooperate with you or not." (Haku) "You can kill me, torture me, rape me, invade my mind, or whatever you want to do, those things don''t bother me, there''s nothing you can do or not do that will make me cooperate... Zzzzzzz... Zzzzzzz...." (Haku) "< Sleep >" (Caitlyn) "Let''s go ahead with your plan." (I) "I''ll try again, but I don''t know if I''ll get anything." (Caitlyn) "< Nightmare World: Mind Invasion >" (Caitlyn) "..." (I) A black mist comes out of my sister''s body surrounding both of us, just when the mist disappears we are in what looks like a classroom worthy of a horror movie. "The heart?" (I) "No, it has 2 of them and it wouldn''t be something deadly, the brain where the core is should do." (Natasha) "All good." (I) I pull out my dagger and run through the head as quickly as possible until it cuts through the point on the other side. Ding! God of this I remove the dagger and look at her body, the blood seems to stop flowing through her body, and I also feel the vitality emanating more and more from her body to disperse in the surroundings. "Do you need anything else?" (Natasha) "No, I have everything I need, I''m just thinking about other things." (I) "Are you coming along?" (I) "Yeah, I don''t have anything to do anyway." (Natasha) "The body can leave it there, there are other things I need to do." (I) --------------- 1 hour later. . I was in a room of the Communal Temple inside the Dungeon City, I was alone waiting until she appeared. "Why are you looking for me? Have you changed your mind about Souls?" (Thalia) "Good afternoon, Miss Thalia." (I) "I''d like to say I''ve changed my mind, but I''d be lying, I still need those Souls I mentioned." (I) "I already said about the current states of their Souls, they need" (Thalia) "I know, so I want to create a solution, we can..." (me) I spend several minutes explaining my plan to Thalia, then hand her an Orb with all the Souls of these abominations except for the Souls of Haku and his assistant who still have some use for me. "Can we do it this way?" (I) "We can, but it all depends on my Goddess, if I accept it doesn''t matter, my Goddess is the only one who will make that decision." (Thalia) "So that''s what I''ll do." (I) After talking with Thalia I was anxious to resolve this soon, so I went to the main hall of the Communal Temples where the statues of the Gods are, I stop and kneel in front of the Statue of the Demon Goddess of Death, Kalistos. Your approval will help me in many ways, while avoiding useless conflicts, at least I hope everything works out. When I opened my eyes and the landscape had changed, I knew it had worked.Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com Chapter 1183: Cap 1181: We Live To Serve Part 1 Chapter 1183: Cap 1181: We Live To Serve Part 1 I was in a garden full of flowers with crystal leaves, each of these flowers had different shapes, but each of these flowers is made of transparent crystal yet possessing the texture of real plants contrary to what is expected of its crystal appearance, its petals emit lights of the colors that these plants represent. This flower garden was built by me using as a basis my knowledge of all the plants I knew from my previous life and all the plants I have seen since I was reborn in this world. This is a magical place full of beauty, but also danger since each plant of this guards a different curse so that anyone who invades this garden without permission will not know how he will die, the light mist that floats through the garden with a slightly purple color is a condensation of pure cursed power. Re?a?d new chapters at novelhall.com "You have good taste, this garden is wonderful, I''m going to steal your idea to remake the garden in my nightmare world." (Caitlyn) "Your garden was also very beautiful and seemed much more real than this one, it took me a while to realize I was dreaming." (I) "After thousands of years I''m tired of the same vision, changing a little can be more pleasant during my dreams." (Caitlyn) "Shall we go to the pool downtown?" (I) "Have you warned your Familiar yet?" (Caitlyn) "Yes, Nix is already coming." (I) I went with my sister to the center of the garden where there was a large marble pool with crystal plant decorations, not to mention the far back garden and the perpetual night sky in the sky overlooking an Eclipse. The water in the pool was reddish and crystal clear reflecting the sky, there were also some benches to sit around which was where I waited with my sister until Nix arrived. After several minutes I see a Dragon flying in the sky, its scales blend with the stars in the sky until it becomes a ray of silver light that lands in front of me already in its Human form. "I''m here, master." (Nix) "Then we can begin." (I) "I''ll wait here." (Caitlyn) "Nix, Souls please." (I) "Here they are." (Nix) I walk with Nix until I''m at the edge of the large pool, then ask Haku''s Souls and his assistant not to name him. Soon two very bright spheres appear from within Nix''s hands, one of the spheres strangely seemed to have several cracks. "Is that the Soul that was in bed?" (I) "Yes, if you weren''t inside the Dungeon where I collected all the parts, your soul would have split into pieces before disappearing." (Nix) I made a lot of preparation for this and I don''t plan to do things wrong this time, after that these 2 Souls will no longer be enemies that I dare to experiment with, they will be companions just like Hades and Hela. "Forget her and get on with it, I''m starting to get sleepy from waiting." (Caitlyn) "We still have other things to do, master." (Nix) "Yes, let''s get started." (I) "..." (Thalia) The Saint of Death doesn''t say anything else, she kneels in front of the statue of the Goddess Kalistos and a black energy begins to envelop the statue, she opens her eyes and extends her hands forward with palms facing upwards, her eyes locked on me and I feel that the Goddess Herself is looking at me now with Her Blessing becoming a stream of energy flowing within my body. Sigh "Nix, let''s start the process of making these two Dungeon Monsters." (I) "Yes Master." (Nix) ndsvl m "< Starting Special Summon function > 2" (Nix) It''s been a long time since I''ve done this and unlike the time I created Hela, now I''m spending an absurd amount of DP to do these 2 special summons, I''m using up all the DP I''ve accumulated since I finished the Dungeon expansion a few months ago. When Nix starts her eyes glow, her posture changes to become more rigid and her voice becomes emotionless as she speaks, I can feel my connection with her in a different way being much more one-sided with her responding to my will solely. Soon several magic circles appear, hundreds of them interconnected and layered in a very complex way, unlike before now I can feel the powers of Life, Blood, Death, and Nature in these magic circles, I can even feel my powers of Authority permeating all of them, I feel like I could turn off my Authority power from these magic circles by leaving it outside, but I think it''s best to keep it like this for now. "< Do you want to add an Item to the summon? >" (Nix) "Yes." (I) "< Throw the item into the summoning circle >" (Nix) I remove the things I prepared leaving floating around me which are 2 Hearts of Darkness, 2 Crystals with high concentration of my Holy Power, and 2 Dragon Seals that I made using the power of Zadiris and Navar. I throw these things at the two sets of magic circles floating above the large pool. When the items are floating I feel something change in the Summoning circles, I didn''t feel it the time before, and I also didn''t feel it when I summoned the floor bosses last year while expanding the Dungeon, but I feel that this is following my will if in a way, that''s when I noticed what this change was, was that these monsters would be like Hela, would be able to leave the Dungeon like she does. I hadn''t even thought about that detail, taking it for granted, but it seems that the Dungeon responds perfectly to my will, adapting on its own to the details that I overlooked to arrive at the result I have in mind. Sigh "(Looks like I haven''t thought through everything as thoroughly as I''d hoped, thankfully the Dungeon knows what I want, a real relief.)" (I) Chapter 1184: Cap 1182: We Live To Serve Part 2 Chapter 1184: Cap 1182: We Live To Serve Part 2 The magic circles started reacting the moment the items I threw reached the center, but even reacting still wasn''t activated until the moment Nix spoke again. "< Do you want to activate the special summoning circle now? >" (Nix) "Yes." (I) "< Activating Special Summoning Circle >" (Nix) "< Starting analysis >" (Nix) The magic circles started to glow even more brightly while rotating at ever-increasing speeds, with everything I''d learned so far and my current power level was having more and more insights into this Dungeoneering special summon. These magic circles were connecting in such a way that they weren''t shooting all at once but following a specific order at high speed, they were turning on and off at high speed while different streams of energy were condensed flowing through this Ritual while shaped in a very specific. "< Starting Special Summon >" (Nix) When Nix starts talking again I feel a strong pulsation of energy coming from the magic circles spreading around until I feel the Dungeon itself tremble with this pulsation followed by extremely concentrated amounts of the purest of energies flowing from everywhere in the Dungeon to here forming 2 energy pods around the two sets of items I threw for the summon. The heart of darkness I''m using this time is at much more terrifying levels of power than the old one I used when I created Hela, these 2 Hearts of Darkness contain all the Evil seed and malice I''ve gotten in the last few years, which by the way was very. I also used two sets of very special strains based mainly on insects in their creation, so I''ll wait and see where this goes. While I was lost in my thoughts the 2 cocoons grew until they were as big as a monster''s eggs, these things were almost 5 meters high each of the cocoons. The power contained in the magic circles was now flowing in almost imperceptible threads into the cocoons, the Life energy was becoming more and more condensed and that was when the changes compared to the bird began. A black energy appears outside the magic circles, it was two black and blue flames arising from the hands of the Statue of the Goddess Kalistos, then these flames float each one entering one of the cocoons, I could perfectly feel that these flames even emanated the presence of Death, no it was death energy fair, it was pure Death Authority on fire and could feel that this was just the beginning. Those Death flames were just the beginning of the difference, that''s why I felt a compulsion from the Blessing of Death within my body wanting to activate my Authority to perform an Awakening Ceremony. Knowing that all this was caused by the Goddess of Death I continued with everything without resistance, letting the Blessing of Kalistos guide my actions during the activation of my Ceremony of Awakening. "(I don''t care about saving these two Souls, I''ve done similar things before, but what''s happening here is different...)" (I) . "(Now you will be responsible for these Souls, no matter to me your beliefs, certain things should not be taken lightly just because they were your enemies in this life.)" (Goddess Kalistos) "(Because of this now you will be responsible for these Souls until the end of your life, this was the only way to save their Souls as my saint promised in my name.)" (Goddess Kalistos) I was tricked by the Saint of Death is the Goddess of Death, I should have known that trying to negotiate in the arrogant way I did without giving space that I should would have its consequences, Goddess Kalistos doesn''t seem to be nervous, but I can hear the blatant disapproval in her voice inside my head. I decided to put that aside and get back to what I should do, I choose the appearances of the two, but I can''t change some things, their faces can''t be completely changed like their genders, I wanted to change the gender of the body referring to the assistant of Haku after finding out that he was a man one day, I wanted to return it to him since he was someone kidnapped by the information we received, but I couldn''t change their faces and genders completely, that''s when I realized that the crystals containing the 2 Souls were already inside the cocoons before I realized. "< Implementing appearance changes > 2" (Nix) "< 2 Souls were selected and implemented automatically for the 2 Spatial Summons >" (Nix) I could once again feel a current of power, this time it was an increasingly strong flow of energy that I recognized as the bloodline power of a bloodline, I could feel what was happening inside those 2 cocoons as if they were part of my In my own body, I felt Holy Power merge with my Authority to merge in the flow of the two bloodlines. I could feel the bodies taking shape, I could feel the Souls merging naturally with the bodies, not the disgusting thing of binding the bodies using the Soul itself in a disgusting way like the Apostles of Truth do, this was the true way to generate a natural life. I could feel the Divinity''s attention on me, his presence unlike anything I''ve ever felt before, it wasn''t any of the Gods I already knew and it didn''t seem to want to talk to me, it was just watching me without interfering and so I continue with what I needed to finish. I turned my attention to the two cocoons, the magic circles around them before were shrinking in the same rhythm as the pulsations emanating from the cocoons until the magic circles were completely absorbed causing it to shine brightly through the cracks that started to spread. "< Finishing Special Summoning process >" (Nix) I feel a strong bond forming between me and the 2 pods, but that connection was resonating with another connection I already had as it was the same kind of bond I have with Hades, that''s when I noticed what the Goddess Kalistos did. As I was realizing where this had all gone, the 2 cocoons float more and more slowly towards the surface of the large pool, all the flowers in the crystal garden glowed brightly in response to the strong concentration of energy emanating from the increasingly numerous cracks in the cocoons. When the 2 cocoons touch the surface of the large pool at the same time, the already cracked cocoons break into pieces revealing two silhouettes hidden by a strong light followed by two voices speaking the same words. "We live to serve you, Master!!" (2 voices) Chapter 1185: Cap 1183: Execution Or Transformation Chapter 1185: Cap 1183: Execution Or Transformation "We live to serve you, master!!" (2 voices) When the light and mist disappear two figures are revealed in front of me, one wearing armor with details that resemble insects and the other wearing a long coat open in front to the waist also with insect decorations. Ding! When the process ended I heard the sound of the system in my head and ignored it for the time being to pay attention to those that appeared in front of me. Sigh I let out a sigh of relief that my state isn''t too bad, in fact since becoming stronger few situations have left me in a state of complete exhaustion as I''ve tended to so often in the past. I look better at the two in front of me as if responding to my desire to see them, the two change their posture, they are kneeling with only one knee on the ground as they lift their head looking at me keeping their hand on their chest in a sign of respect. The eyes of the two were almost fluorescent light gray, the one who wears armor has shoulder-length black hair, and pale white skin, just seeing I estimate to be 1.55 tall, his body was fit like that of an Olympic athlete, and his armor it only covered the joints, vital points while the rest of the body was covered by some kind of black fabric, her armor seems to have details that resemble insects, her hands also look like claws, she has a scorpion tail behind her back and looking at her arms I noticed earlier that scythes were coming out of their arms before they were hidden again. I can feel her Aura filled with my Holy Power and Authority, I also noticed a large amount of Ki from all the elements I possess Affinity, I can even feel part of myself in her Aura, she looks like a young girl coming out of her teens with an expression cool and serious, her body was very understated without any overly bulky features and yet still retaining feminine curves not normally noticed by her rigid expression like a soldier. The other girl had a very different appearance to the point of being almost the opposite, she has long wavy white hair going down to her waist, and her skin was black as chocolate giving even more prominence to her light gray eyes, just measuring her by sight seems to have 1.70 tall, in her hands there is a blue crystal on the back of each hand, her body did not have a lot of muscle being thinner, which she makes up for by being much curvier, also being generously bulky in areas such as her hips and breasts, her large silver coat disguising most of her curves while open at the front from the waist up, inside she wore a set of long pants and white collared shirt. Her expression was much lighter with an almost constant smile on her face, but her eyes still demonstrate some degree of insanity almost at the level of Lilith making me have a bad feeling, on her back I see butterfly wings with vivid designs of the Sun and Moon, his clothes having details of butterflies of various kinds, the zipper of his big coat on the other hand looked very much like a Centipede standing out a lot among the details of strangely shaped butterflies. The second girl''s Aura was similarly filled with my Holy Power and Authority, I could also feel a high concentration of Mana from all the elements I possess Affinity, as well as the smaller girl next to her I could feel a bit of me in her Aura. The two standing in front of me were fifth just looking at me as if waiting for my commands, I could feel their servitude to me in the way they behave and in how their Auras react to me, they exude the same vibes as Hades. Ding! <[ Process of awakening the two individuals completed ]> . . <[ Consecration Ceremony of completed ]> . . . <[ Birth process of the two individuals Finished ]> . . . <[ The two individuals were freed from the Dungeoneering restriction by permanently binding themselves in servitude to Zenos () ]> . . <[ The individual whose Soul was broken is now whole and his Soul has been strengthened again by receiving the Primordial Blessing of Zenos''s life () ]> . . <[ Interference of Kalistos (Demon Goddess of Death) and (Demon Goddess of Renewal) complement each other with Zenos'' will giving birth to two new Divine Servants ]> I already imagined the interference of the Goddess Kalistos since it was something agreed, even if it wasn''t as I had completely imagined, her interference was still something I expected, but this other Goddess whose name I can''t read must be referring to the Divine presence that I couldn''t identify earlier. Now what I didn''t like was the title I got, I''m sure this was something the Goddess of Death gave to me for challenging her this time, I think she might be more spiteful than I expected, which scares me a lot. I checked what that title does, but it just says I''m under the eye of Death, such a simple explanation has so many meanings where each one scares me more than the last, I guess I''ll have to be more careful in the future when dealing with the Gods, maybe you might even try to do something on behalf of the Goddess Kalistos in the future to try to get on her good side. "Don''t get lost inside your mind you idiot, they are waiting for you!" (Caitlyn) "..." (I) It was when I heard my sister''s voice screaming at me that I realized I''d been standing like an idiot for I don''t know how long, facing the two there in the middle kneeling and looking at me. cough cough "You two can without getting up, Haku and Cinthia." (I) "As you wish, Master." (Haku/Cinthia) "You two don''t need to call me that, you can address me as Zenos or whatever is best for you." (I) "I will continue to call you Master if you allow it." (Cinthia) "I prefer it that way too, if possible." (Haku) "..." (I) Sigh "Do as you see fit." (I) "Thank you, Master Zenos." (Haku/Cinthia) I thought it was kind of cool to be called Master in the past after I got used to it, but as time went on I quickly got tired of it, unfortunately, it seems like there''s always someone to call me that. "Do you two know who you are?" (I) "I am a Servant of you Master, I am a blade to execute those who have discarded their wills out of weakness." (Cinthia) "I exist to serve in your name Master, I extend my hand to those who do not persist in their will waiting for transformation." (Haku) I didn''t understand what they were saying, but it wasn''t the answer I expected to hear, maybe I expressed myself wrong, let''s try again. "Do you remember your past lives?" (I) "Yes, I remember from my previous birth in another Universe to my foolish choices in this universe before falling under your will, master." (Haku) "I remember little about my past life before the Trials, Master." (Cinthia) "I remember being a more magic-oriented Adventurer, I remember realizing too late how naive I was and how weak-willed I was." (Cinthia) "The one who taught me about strong will was also the one who condemned me, unfortunately, I was unworthy in the past before Master allowed me to serve, this time my will will be a blade in your name Master." (Cinthia) Cinthia had her Soul broken, I think her mind wasn''t able to keep all her memories considering her Soul state before being captured by Hinata, but luckily it seems that Haku still has all her memories. "Looks like things might work out." (Caitlyn) "Let''s have a long talk now, I need to know about..." (I) That''s how I started talking, Caitlyn and I started to find out everything Haku knew about the Apostles of Truth. Chapter 1186: Cap 1184: Auxiliary Brain Chapter 1186: Cap 1184: Auxiliary Brain I was inside the crystal castle on the top floor of the Dungeon, after Haku and Cinthia were born I brought them both to a large comfortable room full of wooden decorations, the only place in this castle where no crystals can be seen, an elegant place and cozy that I prepared for people to relax. Inside that room, I find my sister Elizabeth sitting cross-legged facing the door, her posture and gaze would have matched much better if it had been a throne she was sitting on instead of a sofa. "If you were around, then why didn''t you come to the garden?" (I) "I could see the garden from another room, knowing you I knew I wouldn''t take them anywhere else and decided to wait here." (Elizabeth) "That''s good, it will save time connecting with everyone." (Caitlyn) "Do they remember anything?" (Elizabeth) "From what we''ve seen, it looks like it." (Caitlyn) "Then wait a few minutes, this is not the kind of technique I can easily do." (Elizabeth) As you entered the room, you signaled to the two newborns to come in and sit in front of us while Caitlyn and I sat next to Elizabeth, I actually stayed seated while Caitlyn lay on the sofa with her legs on top of me. I look at Elizabeth and I can feel her Aura filled with her Authority power bubbling out, her hair even seemed to be glowing faintly red while a haze of red energy seemed to faintly emanate from her body. I look at Caitlyn to ask, but she doesn''t say anything, just waves her hand as if it wasn''t for me to ask. "Just wait a few minutes." (Caitlyn) "Then I''ll try to talk to them in the meantime..." (I) Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com "..." (I) Since I didn''t know what Elizabeth was doing and Caitlyn didn''t seem to want to talk about it, I wanted to spend my time trying to get to know the two people in front of me, they were both just born today, they might have memories of the past but not they are the same people they were in their previous lives, I also know they have much of my knowledge in them and whatever the two Goddesses stopped them during their birth process. As I thought I would have time I was thinking I could get to know the two of them better, but then I feel Elizabeth''s Aura expand as the scent of her blood fills the air. I look to the side and see her palm covered in blood as one drop after another starts floating around her then she waves her hand making the drops take different positions. Then she creates several Spiritual Runes with the red energy leaking from her, each Rune hits a drop of blood that begins to change shape and color until it takes on the appearance of several people I know like my 2 Saints, Vanessa, Diana, Silvia, Navar, Zadiris, Natasha, Astrid, Miriam and Nicole. . "What is that?" (I) "A form of communication using blood to connect with their Souls and minds with their permissions, they will all share my senses of sight and hearing, they can also convey their thoughts to me." (Elizabeth) "Now everyone can know what these two are going to tell." (Elizabeth) "Can you at least talk about the Mother of Truth, your leader?" (I) "That''s simple, I have a lot of memories about her, but nothing major, just general stuff, the same can be said about my research while being in the service of the Mother of Truth." (Haku) "Like this?" (I) "The name of the Mother of Truth is Yntra, all her children had their bodies modified by her in this universe, and one of these modifications was a second brain connection with what was called the auxiliary brain." (Haku) "In the beginning, it was a second connected to ours that expanded our memory capacity and thinking speed as well as helped us to keep multitasking, I remember the great happiness of having that." (Haku) "Over time things have changed, as any kind of new technology, new ways of using and new varieties of auxiliary brain have been created up to a new kind of standard." (Haku) "With the evolution of technology, it was no longer something permanently connected to our main brain, it became something removable and with new functions, one of them being the ability to select certain memories to store only in it and not in our real brain." (Haku) "Whenever going on a mission our auxiliary brain is left behind, so I''m not sure about the content of my research or the location of all our bases." (Haku) "This was done so our knowledge wouldn''t fall into enemy hands after we learned about various magical ways to invade minds." (Haku) "It was even created ways to forge false memories in the back of the mind to give wrong information leading to traps or ambushes if some of our people are captured." (Haku) "So even after all this we still have nothing?" (I) "I wouldn''t say that, Master..." (Haku) "I still have a lot of information, as I said before, there was a lot of personal research I was doing and I didn''t always remember to use the helper brains." (Haku) "I wore it during most important research at the Mother of Truth''s behest, but I hardly ever wore it in my personal laboratory or in most of my conversations with the mother." (Haku) "I also know the location of many bases and several of their operations, I just don''t know where the main base and the most important ones are." (Haku) "Do you know about the base where the Swarm is?" (I) "I don''t remember the exact location, I''m not sure if I''ve been there either..." (Haku) "I know that part, the Swarm location is where one of their bases is, I can confirm that, but I don''t know how important that base is to them." (Cinthia) "I also confirm that she used these auxiliary brains most of the time we were there." (Cinthia) "That means one of their main bases is there confirming our suspicions, just as we thought." (Elizabeth) "Yes, the very fact that Haku doesn''t know is already a confirmation, interesting..." (I) Chapter 1187: Cap 1185: Yntra Chapter 1187: Cap 1185: Yntra Pov Dantho (Evil Priest of Greed): I wake up already landing on the planet, so I get up and go outside the carriage, as soon as I leave I stop my wonderful carriage made of bones of a Dragon King with details of gold and mithril, I wave my hand making the carriage shrinking as a crystal bubble forms around it, I collect the small crystal sphere as I land on the ground in front of a large tree. "(I hate coming to this place.)" (I) I look around to make sure I''m in the right location, the sense of danger I feel never letting my guard down as I turn to face the big tree. "It''s me, Dantho." (I) "What do you want here?" I look at the tree and speak, a mouth opens revealing its teeth and tongue as it smiles speaking, this thing as always is disgusting. I glance around, and as usual, I don''t hear any other sounds in the forest, in fact, there is no sign of other creatures around, this place bothers me for the simple fact that it has nothing, a real detriment to me. "Tell Yntra I brought what she asked for." (I) "You may come in, Dantho." (Yntra) Suddenly the voice changes becoming more feminine and with a loving tone, just hearing that voice gives me chills every time I hear it. "(How can someone like her have a voice like that, it''s kind of a bad joke how her personality changes at will.)" (I) "I don''t want to go in, you know I don''t like those disgusting things..." (I) "Don''t make me repeat my invitation, I need to make sure it''s you, so come in dear..." (Yntra) "..." (I) She continues speaking in a loving tone without raising her voice, but the meaning of these words are a clear threat, I look around and see thousands of eyes opening on the ground, trees, flowers, and even the grass. "(I really hate coming to this place.)" (I) The tree''s large mouth opens wide enough for me to pass through with ease while the tongue stretches out to the ground in front of me forming a smooth ramp for me to pass through, as soon as I entered I realized that instead of a gorge, it was a tunnel with stairs of stairs bone, the walls and ceiling of the tunnel were slightly reddish while pulsing. I felt and saw the tunnel move and when I got out I was in that horrible hall again, an Elf woman with black hair and blue skin was putting an eye on what looked like a person''s head. "You just need to place your hand on the eye with the magic circle on your right." (Yntra) "..." (I) Without saying anything I turn around and see a large giant eye without iris or pupil, what had taken place was a large mark in the shape of a magic circle, I put my hand in the middle and feel something passing through my body, soon after I go back to near the exit and pull a small bag from my waist which I throw at the Elf-like person''s feet. As soon as the bag touches the ground something starts to move inside before it comes out, smooth spider legs come out before a completely round body comes out last with the top part being a transparent dome with what looks like a greenish brain inside together with a liquid of the same color. The size of this thing is bigger than the bag I dropped on the ground, that''s because there was spatial expansion magic inside the bag, this thing moved up the "Elf"''s back and fastened her legs around her like a backpack, then a tentacle with a needle at the end comes out and pierces the back of the head of the "Elf" who shows no reaction never stopping moving her hands. "Thanks for bringing what I ordered." (Yntra) "All these minds, she stole so many brains to make this..." (I) "The organic matter comes from various types of creatures, but the minds it used to upgrade its main brain and the brains used in its network are all clones of its own brain, it was done that way to increase compatibility and improve efficiency." (Haku) "..." (all) "(She made copies of her brain and connected them all!?)" (I) I couldn''t even imagine the results of this, a person''s mind is not a computer that you can connect to other computers of the same type on the same network, this type of thing cannot be done safely, not even with magic and I know it. "(There must be something else, something that Haku didn''t realize, I studied monsters and magic for a long time, I also created many in this last year here in the Dungeon, in the Awakening Ceremonies I already performed the reconstruction of many bodies and I could feel these transformations in my body biological aspect, in the lineage aspect, in the energies aspect and even in the Souls aspect.)" (I) "(I''m sure this is impossible to accomplish, the Soul wouldn''t be able to handle it, the minds would also just be copying themselves and not expanding unless...)" (I) I started to think and set up many simulations in my mind going over everything we know now, I even remembered the fact that this Mother of Truth has Authority, her Alliance with Evil Gods, and her partnership with the insect swarm. "I think I understand..." (I) "How many years has it been since you''ve seen her, Haku?" (I) "Possibly more than 5 years, at least not directly." (Haku) "Was there a difference when she started physically isolating herself?" (I) "There was a change, that''s when the Evil God became our ally, after that our operations expanded beyond anything we did." (Haku) "..." (I) "If I''m not mistaken it was the Evil God of Greed, correct?" (I) "Yes, their Chief Priest is called Dantho." (Haku) "I understand." (I) I look at Elizabeth and I know she''s come up with the same answer as me, then I look at Caitlyn and realize she hasn''t even thought about it, she''s just listening to everything without contributing to the conversation. "Elizabeth, do you think it was Demon or kimera?" (I) "Devil, if it was Kimera the mind wouldn''t be so rational." (Elizabeth) "If it was a Demon, then would it be possible to acquire Authority?" (I) "In such extreme conditions? If it was during the transformation it might be possible." (Elizabeth) "But they''re not from this universe, magic doesn''t even run in their bodies naturally." (I) "That''s why the time this Evil God appeared seems suspicious, Greed is one of the most corrupting concepts, which in turn can lead one to turn into a Demon." (Elizabeth) "I thought that might be it, I didn''t analyze it as much as you did, but it was a strong possibility..." (I) Now we can assume that the Mother of Truth is some kind of Demon, I found myself thinking that I should seek out more information on this matter. Chapter 1188: Cap 1186: The Two Faces Of Will Chapter 1188: Cap 1186: The Two Faces Of Will Two weeks after the birth of Haku and Cinthia we were hidden on the dark side of a moon of a planet called Lumin, this planet is the headquarters of the Church of Light, in this place, the only religion that exists is the one that serves the God of Light. I was outside the cave where the Dungeon is open looking at the world we will soon invade when a familiar presence approaches me. "You know we''re busy, right?" (I) "I know, but I didn''t have anyone else to ask for help." (Alan) Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com "You are a Hero, there are many people who can help you simply by being a Hero." (I) "But none of them have the right set of skills for this, yet I didn''t want to come to you." (Alan) "Then why did you come? You know I''m in the middle of facing a bunch of Aliens from another Universe who are obsessed with meat?" (I) "I don''t know what an Alien is, but as far as I understand, you are not fighting directly." (Alan) "I already had to deal with 2 of their attacks and I captured people of their leadership, I can''t just run into an attack against them without a plan, and for that, I need information, which I have been doing this last week until I had to change my plans." (I) "Just explain to me why I needed to come here?" (I) "You and your children have pure Affinity with the element of light, you are also strong and can take out a large number of individuals without being noticed." (Alan) "All this not to mention that 3 champions are on your side in case something goes wrong." (Alan) "..." (I) "Stop complaining, Zenos." (Kira) "Our search for information has been futile, Elsaris is still recovering from the ambush where she barely made it out alive and Lilith is still venting her anger by playing with the prisoners." (Kira) "I know that that''s just one more reason for us to go..." (I) "We have no more clues to go beyond the Swarm location, we need to take into account that even if we all go there we won''t achieve anything, there are billions of enemies and as far as I know an Evil Religion of unknown strength, we can''t go there." (Kira) "..." (I) Sigh "While we wait for news from Navar, we can do something useful here." (Kira) "All right..." (I) Kira comes at me from behind, her speed increased once more, she hugs me from behind as she convinces me to participate in this Hero of Justice''s plan. "You know, while you''ve been picking fights with new enemies, the old ones haven''t stood still, the Church of Light has been making many more subtle moves." (Alan) "The fight against the Demons of the Black Empire was an excuse for the people of that continent, we all knew that the battles we saw and participated in were just a small part of something much bigger." (Alan) In my mind the space full of stars and energy flows suddenly forms, I feel a reaction with my Authority, so I started to concentrate on it, soon a path forms at my feet, and in front of me the vise forms one more time, a black and white tree grows from the path in front of me, 3 people appear, one being Hades standing next to me while the other two are Cinthia and Haku each on one side of the tree that distorts forming a mirror showing this world, several lights blinking in the same place, by reflex I reached out the hand that was a Dragon''s claw and I touch one of the lights when it blinks going from one to the other. "(Help please...)" "(What should I do...)" "(I''m going to kill them all... every single one of them...)" "(They took mom... I want my mom...)" "(I want power, I need more power...)" "(I won''t give up, there must be a way... there has to be a way...)" "(My father said that as long as I sincerely believe and pray, my prayers will be answered, so please give me strength... I don''t want to give in... I can''t give in...)" "(As long as I live I will never give up, they cannot take my will away from me...)" "..." (I) "A world full of disappointment, but still something to want." (Cinthia) "I hear their voices if their wills can reach this far then mine will reach them too." (Haku) "My blade will bring an end to those who discarded their will, their empty existence is a crime against those who continue in the path of their wills" (Cinthia) "My hand will be extended to each one of them whose will has been tested and withstood without breaking, may their wills become the flame that will change their lives" (Haku) "All by will..." (Haku/Cinthia) A blade that tears at those who turn the way and a hand that reaches out to those who walk the way, the blade that destroys and the hand that guides, the two faces of the will. "..." (I) Suddenly I open my eyes and yet I feel like I can hear whispers coming from the direction of the planet, I can feel Cynthia and Haku''s power reaching out to me through our connection, they seem to be wanting to follow the whispers, but I block it as I stand up looking at the Hero of Justice. "What was this?" (I) "Your answer, those we are going to rescue are those focused only on their will, people who have not surrendered to the Church of Light, but many of them are corrupted by pain, loss, loneliness, hatred, and many other evils, their only thing left is the desire not to give up." (Alan) "They seek many different things, but they are all innocent people who must be helped, unfortunately, they don''t trust anyone and won''t follow orders even if it''s to save themselves." (Alan) "Not to mention they are heavily guarded, getting them out is only half the job of rescue, they need something to relate to and unite them all with, something they know and feel in common, they need a path that takes them beyond the darkness." (Alan) He looks at me pointing his finger. "You are the only Deity with Willpower-oriented Authority, I didn''t lie when I said you had the right set of abilities you needed." (Alan) Chapter 1189: Cap 1187: The Path Of A Deity Chapter 1189: Cap 1187: The Path Of A Deity "Do you think we should be part of that plan?" (I) "Yes and so do you, the Church of Light is more cunning than you might think, the God they follow is worshiped in many worlds and we shouldn''t let such an opportunity pass." (Elizabeth) "The Apostles of Truth are being cautious now, we will have time to deal with them, you too have a responsibility to be here." (Elizabeth) "You mean the thing about the prayers?" (I) "So you noticed? Did you try to meditate or are we so close you can hear them?" (Elizabeth) "The Hero gave a hint, and I tried to meditate, after which I began to hear more often as a barely audible whisper." (I) I was inside the Dungeon outside the main city, my sister and I were sitting on a tree branch at one of the highest points on this floor of the Dungeon enjoying the view. In fact, I called Elizabeth to talk to find out more about these "Prayers" that I have been hearing in the last few hours, Elizabeth had already spoken to me about something like this in the past, but it was very superficial and now I need more complete explanations. "Why am I listening to this?" (I) "I''m not surprised, you are a Deity just like me, Natasha, Caitlyn, Hades, Cinthia, Haku, and all your Familiars." (Elizabeth) "Your direct children have a high chance of becoming a Deity one day due to their blood, Silvia already has one foot in the door to become one and probably would have already if she wanted to." (Elizabeth) "Is it that easy to get to the Divine like that?" (I) "No, actually it''s so rare that in thousands of years, there might not be any new Deities, but you are so absurd in the things you do..." (Elizabeth) "I as a Deity if I were to take a Familiar, depending on the type of bond I have with that Familiar, it would become a Divine Beast or Divine Servant, that''s why I and the others don''t have any Familiars." (Elizabeth) "A Demigod is already a Deity like a Divine Beast or a Divine Servant." (Elizabeth) "Neither I nor the others you mentioned have the power of a..." (I) "Power may be a defining part of a Godhead, but it is not everything." (Elizabeth) "Even though I am weakened and limited by you, I am and always will be a Deity just like you." (Elizabeth) "As a Divinity, it is natural to have Holy Power and as any kind of power, this one also has an origin which is Faith." (Elizabeth) "Faith is not something as simple as it seems, it can be a mental state, an emotion, or a thought, there are many types of Faith." (Elizabeth) "If I am wholeheartedly hated by anyone, that is Faith." (Elizabeth) "The moment you appear to them they''ll feel a natural adoration towards you without realizing they''ve been praying to you all this time." (Elizabeth) "These whispers are thoughts, emotions, and prayers that represent their will as well as their Faith." (Elizabeth) "Will you choose to turn and walk away while knowing this now?" (Elizabeth) "..." (I) Sigh "You know the answer... damn it!" (I) "Don''t get frustrated, how do you think the Gods came to exist, was it before or after the existence of people who believe in them?" (Elizabeth) "I already understand, I already understand... stop with this conversation full of figures of speech, you''ve convinced me." (I) She knows that I wouldn''t be able to abandon someone who asks for help with such strong willpower, I guess I''m not much different from other True Dragons in the end, I''m always doing things for the most selfish reasons possible. "What''s the plan? I know you''ve already talked to the Priestess of the Hero''s group." (I) "I just wanted to know the situation on the planet and the movements that the Church of Light has been making, as well as you haven''t been keeping an eye on them lately, I was hoping that after the last big defeat, they could spend a few years avoiding drawing attention." (Elizabeth) "So when are they going to start this meeting, from what he''s hinted at, we''re not safe on this moon for long, right?" (I) "Maybe in another 2 or 3 hours, looks like he''s waiting for someone else." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) I may be willing to help these people, but I''m not going to risk my comrades and family in an attack against the entire population of a world, I hope the Hero has a good plan or he won''t get my help. "You don''t seem to trust the Hero very much, but don''t worry, I already have a plan." (Elizabeth) "Hopefully it''s good because invading head-on is clearly not an option." (I) "Don''t worry, I may not know the Hero''s plan, but I''m sure mine is the safest plan, Caitlyn is taking care of the initial preparations as we speak, I discussed this with her a little while before you asked me to come here." (Elizabeth) "I hope it''s a good plan." (I) I may not trust the Hero very much, but I trust my sister a lot, I''m sure anyone responsible for training emperors and helping to forge Empires must have an incredible mind, as much as I don''t like many of her methods it''s still undeniable how much she loves me has helped so far. With that I spent the next few hours in meditation trying to understand more about these "Prayers" I''m hearing and this Faith in a more practical way, even if I understand the theory after my conversation with my sister, this is still the kind of thing I need to understand truly from experience and not just theory.n0.0 Chapter 1190: Cap 1188: There Is No Border In Dreams Chapter 1190: Cap 1188: There Is No Border In Dreams Later that day, after hours of waiting for the Hero to finally start the meeting, most of the meeting was about sharing information about the big picture of what''s going on. When I finally heard it all I was astonished at how much nonsense I was hearing. Alan started to explain that the people to be rescued are individuals from 7 to 25 years old who were kidnapped from Worlds dominated by the Church of Light, there must also be people who were kidnapped in worlds like ours where the Church of Light is only present as more a religion in the world. It seems that this is not something done recently, the Church of Light has been using these flat types for decades, it seems that the battles they fought to conquer the worlds where under their leadership, and now in this last battle where they lost on several fronts, it cost more than just soldiers, it cost the greatest talent within its ranks as well as the loss of many individuals of great power. Losing military power on this scale could be the undoing of the Church of Light, the way they found to solve this problem was this horrible thing they are doing. Alan assures that each of the more than 30,000 individuals are people who have demonstrated outstanding talents, each of them has talents for magic or combat, these individuals are forcibly trained to become Inquisitors, but there is a problem with people trained like this, the resentment generated regarding them. Alan somehow managed to get more detailed information, it seems that the younger ones are left separate from the older ones, they do this because over time they can shape the minds of the children, or at least most of them, meanwhile the older ones who do not surrender even after years of training will be subjected to some purification ritual. It seems that this Purification Rite does something similar to what happened to Irius and Irina, the targets are unable to disobey orders, but in this case, they are trading the correct use of individual talents with absolute loyalty. When they are sent into battle, these individuals who are almost slaves are treated as expendable while those who choose to join are placed in positions according to their abilities. Alan said that this kind of thing happens in a lot of places, but this is the one that has the most of these individuals gathered, while in other places they are counted in the hundreds, in this world there are tens of thousands of these individuals, Alan believes it is for a reason who only a short time ago got solid evidence for what he thought. Those held captive in this world are the individuals marked as troublesome, they are strong-willed individuals filled with hatred towards the Church of Light, there are also those who have gone mad and those who were already enemies of the Church of Light before they were captured. Alan told many examples that they had documented, they are the people he followed until he found this place, after hearing this I began to understand why he even though he doesn''t like to get involved in his things still chose to call me, he also can''t stand to see something like that and must be feeling the false impulse that if he goes up front he''ll be able to beat up everyone there before he goes out the front door. After hearing about our rescue targets he started to explain about the world we are about to invade, but I only heard a few things while thinking about something I talked about with Elizabeth earlier that day. When he finished explaining everything, he started talking about an invasion plan that I denied right away, he wanted to use a few people to descend to the planet, those people would be me, him, and two or three other people. I declined because it would be impossible to simply enter that place, as much as I hate the Church of Light, I know they are not idiots, this place was once the heart of their Religion, and the God of Light must pay extra attention to this world and there must be powerful enemies hidden here, especially if so many individuals who in their eyes can see themselves as despicable, I will not underestimate them only to fall into a trap without realizing it. Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com It was at this point that my sister Caitlyn interrupted the Hero, which he didn''t mind and so followed Caitlyn''s explanation of her plan, which everyone accepted due to the low risk of us getting caught, but there were certain requirements with this plan that I couldn''t run away. Pov Haku: I closed my eyes and felt something pulling me, it was the connection I share with my Master, when invading Consciousness was sucked in I felt like I was being dragged through a field of stars before falling into one of those points of light. When I open my eyes I was in the middle of a city, I looked around and the people walking or working in the surroundings have no faces, with the exception of a single woman taking a 10 year old child by the hand along with her. This woman had brown hair and eyes, just like the boy who was holding her hand, they were passing by a food stall. I was reasonably close and everything seemed to run faster as if the flow of time suddenly went faster. When I was trying to understand if I was in the dream of the boy or the woman who are the only ones with some distinctive feature, that''s when a flash of light formed in the sky and with it the sound of a war cry. At that moment the landscape suddenly changed in the blink of an eye, the city around us was in ruins in less than 1 second, blood and bodies everywhere, meanwhile, soldiers in white armor sang in the sky in a language I didn''t understand. I looked around for the mother and child, but there was no need to see, I could feel the urge to fight endlessly coming from behind a half broken wall, when I looked up a single Dragonewt was still flying covered in wounds and without some limbs, but his figure was so inspiring with courage as he flew against the army of light without fearing death. n0.0 Seeing that the army of light and the Dragonewt don''t have faces, I left them aside to go after the strong will I felt just now when I got to the other side of the wall I realized that the part of the wall that had fallen was crushing more of the wall half of the woman''s body smiling at the intact boy crying beside her. The woman didn''t say anything as she put her hand on her face, then that hand slips as it falls along with the woman''s life remnants disappearing, the child seems to change and age every time I take my eyes off him, this time he looks like a teenager still with a sword in hand looking up where the Dragonewt fell with a smile on his face. "The power of a Dragon is supreme as well as its will not to surrender until the end..." "..." (I) As he spoke the soldiers of Light landed around him, that''s when I saw a glint in his eyes of someone who would never give up and felt his willpower as heavy as a mountain. I walk over to him who was now dressed in rags and chained up, then hold out my hand to him with a smile. "Take my hand and accept the power your Willpower has gained, in the name of Zenos your Will will bring you power." (I) "I accept..." Chapter 1191: Cap 1189: Who Cowards And Who Seeks Chapter 1191: Cap 1189: Who Cowards And Who Seeks Pov Cynthia: I saw the master in Dragon form among the star field, his presence enveloped all the stars with a protective barrier, his power endlessly radiating from his body. I saw Haku being taken by a flow of power controlled by the master directly to one of the stars before disappearing, then he turned to me without saying anything. "I will give them the option..." (I) So I mixed my Aura with the master''s and felt the stars before throwing myself into it. When I regained mental clarity and opened my eyes I was in a white stone room covered with red spots, many torture objects were everywhere, it almost looks like Miss Lilith''s torture room. Soon I spotted a single person in the middle of the room, his clothes and hands were covered in blood, but as I approached I noticed that he himself was covered in wounds. "It''s not my fault... it''s not my fault... it''s not my fault..." He was muttering the same words over and over, when I approached he didn''t seem to see me, all he did besides whispering to himself the same words over and over, was look at his hands that were dripping blood that clearly wasn''t his. "It''s not my fault... it''s their fault... it has to be theirs... I wouldn''t do it any other way... it''s not my fault." When I looked again at the surroundings translucent images appeared, it was him each time being tortured, but no sound was heard other than the whispers of the real him next to me. n0.0 I walk closer to him and a red light envelops my body before focusing on one of my hands, soon this red light materializes in the palm of mine like a star crystal dagger, when I get right in front of him it looks like he hasn''t yet. can see me. Looking at him I see a young man just out of his teens, he is Human with stubble and long unkempt hair, his eyes had no light and yet I could feel a great desire within them, an endless rage that is just being overshadowed by her fear. "..." (I) "I didn''t want to feel pain anymore... but I didn''t want to join them... they were much crueler... everybody wins... it wasn''t wrong... it wasn''t my fault..." Soon the surroundings changed once more, this time it was him torturing people, in half of the pictures around he did it crying, but in others, he just did it with blank eyes or avoiding looking, even now I still can''t hear what''s going on in the pictures. images around us. I place one of my hands on the young woman''s shoulder and with my strength I make him fall to his knees giving me a higher point of view as our eyes meet for the first time. "You''ve set aside your will out of fear, but I''ll give you a chance, tell me now, will you rise with the resolve never to stray from your path again even if it leads to a precipice, or will you cling to your pathetic fear by choosing always what easy way without caring to keep moving away from your will!?" (I) "I do what I want, just get me out of here, I don''t want to hurt others, I don''t want to die, I don''t want anything else..." In my presence, he can lie to me all he wants with his words, but he can''t help answering himself, and as long as he knows the answer so will I. "A life without a will is worse than death, to abandon your will once is a stain you will always carry, to do that twice is to condemn yourself to a life of torment... you condemn yourself and I execute that one who inside died in sin." (I) My dagger pierces his heart and his body cracks and breaks, then so does the surroundings revealing once again the field of stars around us. -------------- Now when I opened my eyes I was in a room with a baby crib with artistic decorations of women showing different emotions. I look in the corner of the room where there is a large window, and a Celestina woman was there with her wings closed looking out, I knew she could feel my presence and yet she ignored me being here. I go to her and stand beside her, her face was young but for Celestinos it seems that the aging process is similar to that of the Elves, while I''m not sure, but even so, it wasn''t her appearance that caught my attention, it was her eyes full of a will that burns like a volcano. "Which God do you serve and represent, envoy?" "I represent the Blood Eclipse Dragon Demigod, Zenos." (I) "Son of the Blood Goddess, Blessed by many Gods, Ruler of thousands, friend of the World Trees and Primordial Dragon" (I) "Eclipse... Dragon... son of the Goddess Selene..." "Zenos... Zenos... I don''t remember hearing that name existing among the Demigods." "My master is still young in age." (I) "I have a few questions if you''re willing to answer them." She doesn''t seem to show any reactions to the things I''ve said, her eyes never leaving the window that leads straight out to a view of a city in ruins and bodies everywhere. "Ask anything you want, I''ll answer as soon as possible." (I) "Will this Demigod fight against the Church of Light?" "Yes, from what little I know so far the conflict must be impossible not to happen." (I) That first question has been asked by over 90% of everyone I''ve encountered so far, but I guess it''s not surprising after all that these people have suffered because of the Church of Light so far. "May I join you, be part of your Holy Warriors?" "It doesn''t depend on me, you as Celestina must understand that it depends mainly on you, but you will have your opportunity." (I) "I always believed that a Divinity would come, Faith moves mountains and its power knows no boundaries, I always had Faith that one day this arrogant Sun would meet its end." "I will make each one of them pay, what they took from me is not something that will be forgiven even after the destruction of every single one of this filthy religion''s holy places." "I want to taste the knowledge of their blood running down my throat before I bring their lives to an end." Hatred of her is apparent in her voice, I look back at that empty crib and then at her before extending my hand to her. "Take my hand and receive the power that comes from your will and receive the gift that is bestowed upon you." (I) "The more power the better, it means the stronger the enemies I can crush with my bare hands." Chapter 1192: Cap 1190: In This Place I Have The Advantage Chapter 1192: Cap 1190: In This Place I Have The Advantage Pov Alan (Hero of Justice): I was at the entrance to the hall dug under the surface of this Moon, I was watching the great magic circle glow while Zenos and his sister are in the middle with their eyes closed. "No need to feel frustrated." (Bianca) "I was the one who called them here and now I can''t do anything." (I) "I can''t deny that their plan has the best chance of working, but I would like to at least do something." (I) "We are doing, the barrier used to hide this magic is complicated to maintain, we also need to protect them since this magic affects their mind." (Bianca) "The chance of us being noticed here is almost zero, so protecting them or just sleeping for a few hours makes no difference." (I) "I think that''s better than fighting for our lives on a risky plan going down into the world." (Bianca) "I know, but still... I feel frustrated..." (I) --------------- Pov Zenos: When my sister''s magic started I felt something soon after, so I spread my power and Aura around all the stars around me knowing that in this mental realm, each of those stars represents a person. Nothing seemed to be happening and yet I left my Divine Servants and Family members at work going from person to person in their dreams while I maintained full vigil the entire time. "(Caitlyn, I''m not crazy, right?)" (I) "(You must also feel that sense of danger, right?)" (I) "(That''s because of the interference we''re doing getting into these people''s minds, the world they''re in is a place conquered by the God of Light in a time when Gods still walked among Mortals.)" (Caitlyn) "(I''m having to keep a sharp eye on all components of this spell while using my Affinity to the max and yet I''ve been at my limit for a long time.)" (Caitlyn) "(What you feel is due to the protections of this world almost feeling what we are doing.)" (Caitlyn) "(If it continues like this...)" (Caitlyn) "I found you." "Zenos, go with the flow!!!!" (Caitlyn) I feel my sister''s power that was in the surroundings enter me and mix with my power, so I do my best not to reject her power as I follow the same paths with our powers mixing, I feel it all too fast and when I noticed what was happening outside there was already a colossal Sun outside the star field, its size much larger than expected it was decreasing with the tightening of currents coming out from everywhere. "Let go of me, you bastards!!!" "Ghuht!!!!" (I) "(You can''t lose consciousness, most of his power is useless in this place so it''s a battle of will only must stand your ground!)" (Caitlyn) "Easier said thancough!!!!" (I) I feel the whole space shake and my head felt like it was going to be split in half, I could feel something trapped inside the big sun if I wasn''t aware of it with force, the chain that bound it was made of a mixture of my power with my sister''s power, even then it wasn''t nearly enough to lock him in place. Sigh "What is this thing?" (I) I walked over to the girl and sat on top of her head too tired to bother asking permission for something like that. "So girl, what do you want?" (I) "Are you messing with the others'' heads too?" "Yes and no, we''re giving everyone a choice, the same one I''m giving you, take my hand to leave this place or stay behind." (I) "Think well and don''t lie about your intentions." (I) "I just want... gujhg!!!!" "Sorry, you failed the test." (I) Her body started to burn and I didn''t give her time to react against me, a few seconds later she gets up and looks at me without screaming or complaining, her strangely calm voice was bizarre since her body was still on fire. "Looks like you guys aren''t that silly..." Before he finishes speaking a Dragon claw crushes it into silly pieces and grabs me entering that place and taking me to the field of stars where I find the master''s big idiot. "I''m out of time, I see it''s fine, so go for another one." (Zenos) Before I could say anything I was thrown into another star, and just before disappearing I only saw what looked like a Sun surrounded by chains. --------------- Pov Hinata: The master wants to help people but whenever I get close they run from me, chasing is not fun, they also don''t seem to like it when they realize there''s no point in running from me they always get aggressive saying bad things about me. "Where to go..." (I) I look around but all I see is a forest in every direction but I still feel something. "Appear..." (I) I feel something in the surroundings, but when I look again it''s Celestino, a young man wearing normal clothes and holding a book. When I spoke he appeared, but he still doesn''t approach me, in fact, he seems afraid, the master said that when it''s someone other than an enemy, I can''t approach without permission from the person, so let''s try to talk. "Why run.... stay..." (I) "How did you get in here? It was supposed to be a dream, but what kind of Demon are you?" "No Demon..." (I) It was difficult to talk like that, my body is not able to produce my voice well, I don''t know why that happens, but it causes a lot of inconvenience. "..." (I) Before I could think of anything else, something comes out of the ground just below Celestino, crossing his stomach and going upwards, I follow after realizing that it was the master''s tail. When we were high enough the world broke and I was right in front of the master, between us was the tip of his tail still with Celestino''s body on the tip. "Damn what did that bastard do!!!????" (Zenos) "Keep up the good work... damn there''s another one!!!" (Zenos) Without saying anything else I was launched by a flow of power that I didn''t see coming, I didn''t try to resist knowing that the master was busy, so I followed the flow of power until I entered another star and was taken to another dream. Chapter 1193: Cap 1191: The True Power Of A Deity Chapter 1193: Cap 1191: The True Power Of A Deity Ever since this enemy appeared I feel like I''m using every muscle in my body at once to contain him, but that''s just a feeling since we''re still inside a mental realm. But it wasn''t far from the kind of effort I was making to contain this thing and I wasn''t even able to completely contain it, this enemy was sending echoes of its will after my Familiars and Divine Servants. I still couldn''t see the enemy, I just know that he is inside that chained Sun, he is constantly struggling, his Aura just like Authority constantly collides against the chains causing immense pain for me and probably for Caitlyn as well it was something hard to bear. "Damn, it''s been 5 attacks, I can''t keep invading their minds like I''ve been doing, one of them almost had his mind destroyed by what I did." (I) "Sir, I have something to report..." (Hades) "If it''s not urgent, then leave it for later... YOU''RE NOT GOING!!!!" (I) I see a ray of light trying to get through a gap in containment heading towards one of the stars where Sakura just entered. I spread my wings and the ray of light manages to incinerate part of my wing, I clench my teeth tightly as I refuse to show any suffering to this idiot, I will not give this pleasure to him. "Need help, Mr. Zenos." (Hades) "Of course I need help... get rid of those damn targets soon!!!" (I) My scream seems to have been very easy making Hades fly backwards disappearing into another star, I look at this star a little uncomfortable for how I acted with Hades who was only trying to help. But I didn''t have time to regret it now, I can talk to him later and I went back to focusing on my companions. "YOU CAN''T LOCK ME HERE FOREVER!!!" "Shut up you bastard!!" (I) Honestly, it was scary just being near this thing, I''m sure in a fight I would get squashed every time always on the first hit, I don''t even know how I''m resisting his Aura so well that seems to be burning mine continuously, it feels like I If I''m holding an iron door that''s blocking a fire on the other side, even though I''m holding the door my hands behind are burning from the heat. "You have to hold out until we''ve wiped out all targets if we try to do anything to him now, it will alert the really strong ones on this planet and probably the God of Light himself." (Caitlyn) "You talk as if we were able to do something to him, I almost completely lost my wing in that last swing of his and I''m holding him by a hair, I wouldn''t be able to do anything in a fight against this thing." (I) "Had I been at my full power, I would have eradicated him quickly, but even without that I can still do something, it''s just not the time." (Caitlyn) "Fine, then do it...HOW IS HE DOING THIS!!!!" (I) I close my eyes and have to split my mind in three to keep control of Caitlyn''s side, while the other two parts of my mind are to take control of Orion and Nix''s bodies making them hit the heads of the people who are talking, which causes the dream to break, expelling the two from inside. "It was an imposter, now move on to the next one!" (I) Without saying anything else, the two enter each a different star, meanwhile, I feel a strong headache for what I just did in an already mentally exhausting situation. "Damn it!!!" (I) I turn my back on him and after a few steps away he was already out of his dreams, that''s when I saw the Master weakened and covered in injuries. In his eyes I saw that I shouldn''t approach, his will was even stronger than the last time I saw it, but I don''t know how much his mind will endure. "I must be faster." (I) Without thinking twice, I set out without another star to sink into a new dream. --------------- Pov Zenos: Fortunately, there haven''t been any more Echoes of Will from him inside the dreams, but on the other hand, he''s been making more and more attacks, always aiming at the stars that represent the dreams where my companions are inside. I tried to defend with all I had which was my own body, in this space between dreams I can''t use most of my Skills and spells, my Aura and Authority are being used to protect this star field from his will otherwise these people would have their minds broken and maybe even their Souls injured, not to mention I don''t know what would happen to my comrades inside if something like that happened. That''s why for these more focused attacks I only have my own body left to defend these attacks, I couldn''t let my sister do that since she was keeping this whole Magical Ritual working, I can feel that she is more on the edge than me to maintain all of it like that. "How many left!?" (I) "Less than 10..." (Caitlyn) I look up with the only eye I have left and take in her half-transparent body, it looks like she''s passed her limit a long time ago. "Don''t worry about me, I''m just running out of energy." (Caitlyn) "LET ME OUT!!!!!!!!" I looked at the Sun when a spear tried to hit my sister, I use my hand to grab the spear before it hit her, but the force of the attack still continued as if the spear was trying to fly out of my hand. "Break!!!" (I) I sweated my pure Dark Affinity, Holy Power, and Authority into a curse of corruption, that''s when I felt light consciousness inside the weapon, I increased my power more and more, and the weapon stopped trying to hit my sister and struggled to get out of my grip hands. "Drop my SPEAR!!!" "If you didn''t want to lose your gun, you shouldn''t be throwing it around!" (I) I wouldn''t let a chance like that pass, I was angry and very frustrated that I was being beaten up all this time, I''m not going to let a chance like that pass. The spear that previously appeared to be carved out of white marble itself now has a spiral bladed spear tip slowly changes colors until the marble looks more like red metal as the spiral blade begins to reshape into two serrated looking blades brutal, in the end even the conscience he felt inside was swallowed by the curse causing images of black leeches to appear as decorations on the shaft of the spear. "Now that spear is mine." (I) n0.0 The spear that seemed alive flies to the side of my head pointing to the Sun, and then suddenly all my Familiars and Divine Servants appear around me, in that same moment I see the stars go out one at a time until only us remain and the sun chained. "Now that I no longer need to hold 30,000 people, I''m going to show you, Little Brother, what the true power of a Divinity is." (Caitlyn) Chapter 1194: Cap 1192: Divine Incarnation Chapter 1194: Cap 1192: Divine Incarnation Pov Alan (Hero of Justice): I was keeping an eye on their ritual while other people were watching the surface of the Moon in case I warned anyone coming our way. It was after a few hours that it happened, I felt a different presence in the ritual, it was a presence that emanated the power of light. "Damn it, did they come by magic?" (I) I studied magic for a long time, even though it wasn''t my main focus in my years of training it was still something I could use to supplement my sword attacks or in situations where the sword couldn''t help me. Because of this, I knew that mind-affecting spells like this are very complex and significantly more risky, I may not know how this spell works completely, but the main thing is to connect them with our targets still on the surface of the world. "Somehow they must have realized what we''re doing, they must have interfered with the magic from the other side." (Bianca) UppTodated from "How do we stop the ritual?" (I) "We can''t do anything, Caitlyn is the one controlling the magical ritual, she doesn''t seem to have any intention of stopping either." (Bianca) ---------------- After a few more hours, less than 2 hours before dawn, I think, that''s a little difficult to understand from where we are now. That''s when I noticed the change, Caitlyn still with her eyes closed, walked a few steps towards her brother and bit Zenos''s neck, who had already been pale for hours. "Should I stop?" (I) "No, we don''t know enough to understand what she''s doing and we can''t stop the magic." (Bianca) "She might be being controlled..." (I) "One of the Living Calamities cannot be controlled, especially the Living Nightmare, our Temple has tried to do this in the past and failed." (Bianca) n0.0 "So all we can do is stand by and do nothing!?" (I) "No matter how much frustration you have, you should know the best path to take." (Bianca) "..." (I) --------------- Pov Zenos: After all the stars have disappeared, a transparent sphere forms around me and my companions. "You know, there''s something our sisters haven''t told you, as children of the Blood Goddess, that is, children of the same God, we can absorb each other''s Holy Power." (Caitlyn) "Yes, I am one of those honored by the great Oros, I will gladly present your bodies before him when these chains are broken." Caitlyn''s eyes focused on the chains covered in cracks all over the place, it looks like he wasn''t struggling all this time for nothing, in the state the chains are in would only be able to hold him for another hour, maybe an hour little less. "You say too much for someone who has never fought a true Deity." (Caitlyn) "Don''t make yourself look big, you are no longer a Deity, you and the other Living Calamities have lost your power, you are too weak to be a threat..." "Power is just one of the hallmarks of a Deity you fool." (Caitlyn) "< Divine Incarnation: 20% >" (Caitlyn) I can feel the power coursing through Caitlyn''s body, all the power in her body is being devoured by the Holy Power which in turn is coursing through her body and merging into her body, it is no longer just energy as it becomes a part of her your body and blood, the sense of power is something I''ve never felt before, something I can''t even begin to understand. Meanwhile, I look at her body, her appearance starts to change, her youthful appearance grows to that of a young woman close to 25 years old, and her hair becomes totally black and straight behind her swaying in a breeze that doesn''t exist, her wings spread out make a single pair of colossal wings completely disproportionate to the rest of his body while becoming ethereal as if they were an illusion. On her head a crown appears to be made of shards of glass reflecting horrible landscapes, her skin turns pale white while her eyes turn completely golden. The space around her cracked and soon the cracks became lines moving along with their movements. "I don''t like to talk without seeing the fear in your eyes." (Caitlyn) "< Nightmare Incarnation >" (Caitlyn) "What is this, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!!" Soon the chains around the Sun break, but instead of breaking free countless hands with mouths full of sharp teeth in their Palms surge all over the Sun and around it tearing off pieces of it like shards of glass to eat. It was extremely disturbing how quickly that big Sun was reduced to a three-headed, blue-eyed white hunk, its size was colossal making my sister look like a grain of sand next to it. All of her bodies were covered by those hands, even the space around her was covered by those hands, the sound of the mouths chewing on her flesh was horrible, but the worst was the creepy whispers that her source body hands spoke all the time. Light blue blood oozed from his body, and I could see his power being drained along with his blood, he tried to break free but each hand he destroyed became fragments that penetrated his body causing even more damage and pain, he almost couldn''t move while being restricted by so many hands, only one of its heads was still free while the hands were even entering inside the forcibly opened jaws of the other two heads. Then my sister''s black hair grows out and becomes a big black hand that now frees the horse''s head forcing him to look at her without being able to speak. "It was this fear that I wanted to see, look into my eyes and contemplate what the concept of a nightmare means." (Caitlyn) I saw his tears fall from the 3 pairs of eyes as his light blue blood darkened more and more until it became like black ink, soon after it was his tears that turned golden and were collected floating on top of one of my sister''s hands before her opening his mouth grotesquely making an absurd tongue curl around the big horse along with his quick hands pulling everything into his mouth that was tiny compared to all that, it was like seeing a black hole swallowing everything while crushing the closer it got. When she closed her mouth her hair was back to normal and everything was gone, the big 3 headed Horse and the black hands that held him were gone, the only remnant was the golden liquid with black shine floating on top of Caitlyn''s hand. Most disturbing of all was her Elder calmly chewing on something as the screaming sounds erupted from inside her mouth, I could feel it as if it were me chewing, the taste of the flesh and blood on my tongue, her body thrashing in my teeth while grinding her bones, but even then it was the feel of her mouth and not mine. I was in shock as she walked over to me still chewing. Chapter 1195: Cap 1193: Second Part Of The Plan Chapter 1195: Cap 1193: Second Part Of The Plan Pov Xagar (Templar of Light): I wake up with my heart racing, in my mind I go over everything that happened in the dream and just to make sure it wasn''t just a dream I started to meditate to look inside myself, that''s when I found that next to my heart. "Hahahahahaha... finally, finally the wait is over... Hahahahahshahaha..." (I) Emotion welled up inside me to the point where my happiness turned to sadness, my laughter turned to tears and finally, only fury was left unbounded now that there was a way. I spread my wings lifting the dust accumulated in this room while getting up from the floor where I was sleeping with my back to the wall. I look at the armor and sword that were lying on the bed, the armor I was once proud to wear and the sword I once swore in an oath of justice, now these two objects are a source of revulsion and shame for my naivety. "How could I have been so blind in the past, how could I have been so bold in taking an oath of justice when I didn''t even have an understanding of the meaning of justice?" (I) I leave everything in this room behind taking only a single piece of clothing so I don''t stand out and head to the training ground, the sun is still rising so she must be there. I do my best to contain my emotions knowing that I cannot fail when I am so close to being freed from this abyss I once walked into smiling. "(The naive boy that day didn''t know what he was getting into...)" (I) With my speed and the fact that the halls were empty at this time of the morning, I managed to quickly reach the recruits'' training ground, just as I thought, she was already there wearing light clothes and holding a wooden spear in her hands. "Your spear handling is different, your eyes too." (I) Fiind updated novels at novelhall.com "Did you find him too?" (Fiona) "Yes, and from what I feel coming from you, you seem to have received something, I shouldn''t have come here if I can feel it others can too." (I) "It doesn''t matter, it won''t be long now." (Fiona) "Yes, I just didn''t want to pass up this chance and came to talk to you." (I) "Thanks for the advice..." (I) "Don''t thank me, I did it because I finally found someone who opened her eyes and she said everyone deserves a chance, I don''t know if I would be able to make the same choice today." (Fiona) "Yes, I hope I''ll be able to do something I can really be proud of next time..." (I) I use my Aura on one of my open hands, then slash my hand through my own heart like a blade. I feel the blood draining from my body, but I couldn''t help but smile, if I''m going to die or live now I don''t care, I did everything I could and now I let my will reveal itself with this act hoping to be right. "(May your will and Darkness bring you back from the gates of death, in the name of Zenos!)" "It went well, looks like we''ve caught up with everyone, but I don''t know the details yet." (I) "I can collect everyone''s information and compile it into a report if you wish." (Hades) "That would help a lot, thanks Hades." (I) "I''ll start now." (Hades) After that, I left along with my sister and the Hero leaving one of the Hero''s companions along with my companions to clear the room of any traces of this Magical Ritual before Navar arrived to create his own Ritual to bring everyone to the dawn. While the others were busy I told the Hero what happened from my point of view, mainly the part about us being attacked, in turn the Hero explained about the emergence of a strange presence in the ritual, but he didn''t show up here personally and no one else even arrived. "We have to hurry with the second part of the plan before more of them arrive, this time we had an advantage, but don''t expect the same next time." (I) "I never count on luck, I have contingency plans, I just prefer not to use those plans as it will give away our position." (Alan) Navar arrived a short time later, she was watching outside along with Zadiris who are the two biggest forces I know here, Navar now entered because unlike me who had to reach each person individually at a time, Navar can use the marks he we gave it to them as a signal pulling them all at once in seconds. Cleaning up a magical ritual was quick as was Navar''s efficiency in putting together her own ritual almost instantly. "All ready." (Navar) "How is the Dungeon?" (Navar) "Alright, Nix is at the Dungeon entrance waiting to guide people with his Spirits." (I) The temporary atmosphere that was also created here will also be of great help, not all of them are in the best condition after being under the Church of Light''s confinement for so long. "Then I will begin." (Navar) "< Star Movement: Star Brand Summoning >" (Navar) Soon I feel an absurd amount of Space Element Magic and Authority emanating from Navar''s body like a burst dam, the amount of power coming out of her is more than double mine, not to mention the fine control she has of her energy not letting it spread to the surroundings, each strand of energy going to the magical ritual that activates quickly. It was at that moment that the magic circle grew until it took the entire large room completely, then the space began to ripple and soon small shiny spheres began to appear, growing more and more, in a short time I became the size of people, that''s when the spheres began lightening along with the ripples in space stabilizing. When Navar deactivated the magic there were already tens of thousands of people crowded here, but everyone had different expressions and he could see that soon there would be a chaos of conversations between them. "Use your Aura to focus everyone on you, we''re there if you need anything else." (Ragnar) "All good." (I) I just do what Ragnar suggested, spread my Aura across the room, and do a little trick for my voice to be transmitted through my Aura so everyone will hear me, luckily my Aura was enough to make all their eyes focus on me, and those around me that these people knew in their dreams. Chapter 1196: Cap 1194: Unfamiliar Reunion Part 1 Chapter 1196: Cap 1194: Unfamiliar Reunion Part 1 As soon as Navar started using the symbols that my companions distributed in dreams, the target people started to be summoned, I immediately noticed 2 strange things and I acted immediately or that was what I was close to doing when I saw Cinthia move at the same moment I saw, the next thing I saw was a head rolling on the ground with its helmet still on. UppTodated from "Sakura, heal him." (I) "Yes." (Sakura) One of the strange things was a young man grappling with someone wearing white armor, he had a sword piercing his side from a slanted angle being top to bottom. Cinthia moved quickly cutting off the head of the person wearing armor, that was more than enough proof of him being an enemy, so I tell Sakura to heal the serious injuries the young man suffered. "I left the magic taking up a small area, but there were still people being pulled together by mistake." (Navar) Sigh "I seem to be getting rusty on my Magical Rituals or maybe I need to review my studies in that field more thoroughly paying closer attention to details." (Navar) As Navar thinks aloud about the results of his magic, I moved on to the second thing that caught my eye, I walked with Hades and Nix behind me through the crowd making my way as I walked towards a Demon. "Who are you?" (I) "My name is Xagar, Lord." (Xagar) The Demon has shaggy dark blue hair, his clothes are torn in several places and it doesn''t seem to be due to combat, his skin is light gray and his eyes are red, other than that what draws the most attention is the morning blood on his clothes on his chest where there was a big hole, there was also blood on one of his hands, just by the smell I know that the blood on the hand was Celestino as well as the one on his clothes, it seems to be fresh blood. "Xagar!?" "He''s lying, it can''t be Xagar." "That blue hair..." "He looks like Xagar." "Impossible, he is a Demon." "Xagar is Celestino, he lies." "Of all people, impersonating someone like Xagar, what an idiot." I heard the voices of many people and at first, I even felt a slight killing intent from some people, but as soon as they realized it was a Demon the killing intent disappeared and the conversations became more focused on Xagar who seems to have been a Celestino, which could mean someone from the Church of Light. I look around and see a White Elf looking at Hades, I find her interesting and point to her as she was the only one not paying attention to this event. "You! Do you know anything about Xagar or this Demon?" (I) "Xagar was a Celestino, a Templar of the Light well known within the Church of the Light for his talent, but now he is no more." (Elf) "So he''s dead?" (I) It''s been several minutes and the queue is already halfway, all this is going better than I expected, people are acting calmly and their Auras also showed a lot of positive emotions like happiness or joy, some were even talking happily in voice down as they walked along the line. "It seems like everything is going well, but couldn''t you have spoken less threateningly?" (Alan) "I didn''t try to be threatening, I just stated the facts sincerely and quickly, we lost some time with my questioning about the Demon and we have to act fast, this massive teleportation must have attracted attention and it must have taken a short time to find this place." (I) "Yes, even if they couldn''t sense the magic from our concealment here, spatial distortion on this scale leaves a trail that some people are able to follow, so this is not the time to waste time on rants." (Navar) "But I must agree that you suck at this, Zenos." (Navar) "I know, so I focus on being sincere and objective in what I want to convey, as long as it works, the rest doesn''t matter." (I) "It could have been a problem now if they started to see us as enemies." (Bianca) "It would certainly make everything more difficult, but we don''t see talking about something that didn''t happen and being grateful that everything is going as planned..." (I) "Damn it!!!!" (I) Suddenly I feel a fluctuation of energy that I couldn''t mistake, it was the creation of a Territory, but it was very slow for some reason. "What is happening?" (I) "It looks like a Territory forming, but it''s too slow" (Hades) "They arrived faster than expected, how many are left? How long until we have them all?" (Alan) "Looks like it''s more than halfway through, so a few more minutes." (I) "It won''t buy us enough time." (Bianca) "Yes, I''ll have to resort to the withdrawal plan, that should be enough." (Alan) "You never told me about the withdrawal plan." (I) I complained to him for not having heard about this part of the plan as we raced to the Moon''s surface, I left a mental order for Cinthia and Haku to take care of getting these people into the Dungeon while everyone else comes with me. On the surface of the Moon I find a single Man who appears to be around 30 years old, short blond hair with some of the hair being slightly white, his Aura seems like something I felt in the past, an echo of the power of the God Baldr. This man wore golden armor with white details, had 5 pairs of white wings, and had a large golden spear on his back whose blade was bigger than some swords I''ve seen to the point where I wasn''t sure if it was a spear or a sword. His face was filled with apparent fury, but his eyes were still calm, I''m sure he''s analyzing the situation before acting as he doesn''t know what to expect. But for some reason I felt two killing intent rise up at the same time, one coming from the man with wings floating overhead and the other killing intent was coming from behind me, it was coming from Ragnar, their eyes were locked on each other. "Good to see you Dad, always happy to see a bastard like you angry." (Ragnar) "A corrupt abomination like you has no right to call me Father!" (Oros) Chapter 1197: Cap 1195: Unfamiliar Reunion Part 2 Chapter 1197: Cap 1195: Unfamiliar Reunion Part 2 So the one floating above was the Father of Ragnar, the bastard who betrayed his wife''s love by killing his own son on the orders of the God Baldr, as if what he did wasn''t horrific enough, he still wanted to destroy his soul of Ragnar before his wife managed to save her son''s Alma. "I am Oros, Divine Beast of Light and guardian of order, someone like you who has accepted the power of darkness and tainted himself with the power of Demons does not have the requirements to call me Father." (Oros) "Just one more reason for me to keep saying that since I know how it pisses you off." (Ragnar) "Should have destroyed your damn Soul when I had the chance." (Oros) "Don''t talk like you didn''t try, we both know you didn''t because of your incompetence in beating my mother." (Ragnar) I''m glad Ragnar is delaying him with a conversation, it buys us time to continue the evacuation of the people below, I just hope this idiot keeps wasting time with this useless conversation or maybe he''s thinking the same thing as he tries to complete his Territory to arrest everyone us inside. "If you are here, then this Dragon next to you must be the son of the Witch of Carnage, the Heretic who breathed new life into you and freed the Soul of the Dragon Emperor''s daughter." (Oros) His killing intent along with his Aura tries to pressure me to my knees which doesn''t work and instead causes me to sink to my knees in the ground as cracks form in the ground around me. "That kind of games of pride don''t work on me, Baldr''s slave." (I) With my words he doesn''t even waste time in answering, I had currents of light piercing my arms and legs pulling me down, that level of pain wouldn''t affect me, but with that force, it would only be a matter of time to fix my limbs. "I already told you games don''t work for me." (I) I use my ability to control my body, one of the first abilities I got from devouring a slime, so I increased the hole the chains made by 3 times, making them pass through the holes, releasing me in the process, then I just needed to close the wounds, which it''s not the same as healing, actually the wounds weren''t healing from the damage and so I forced them together that way. "An abomination like your sisters, I must say you''ve assembled a fine group of aberrations." (Oros) "Coming from you it''s a compliment, at least I never killed someone in the family on orders... ghuh!!!" (I) This time there were no hands answers and no games like before, he pierced half of my internal organs with his Spears of Light still buried in my body, I used my Aura to stop others from moving but still kept vigilance with the surroundings. "I won''t waste time talking to you, I want an explanation from you, Hero of Justice, why are you here with them?" (Oros) "You should know why, this isn''t the first time we''ve looked for you, we should have resolved this in a conversation when we were still being diplomatic." (Alan) "I don''t care for things like that, but stepping right into the center of our Church and kidnapping prisoners is beyond the right of your Temple." (Oros) "Then marry him you bloody bastard and stop talking soon and attack me!" (Zoe) Suddenly a really frightening murderous intention emerged from the body of this sacred woman of life making her look like a wolf in sheep''s clothing, as the saying goes "in a fight between husband and wife, the idiot will be the one who dares to put the spoon", if I could walk away I would do that since if they fight only the consequence of the fight would hurt me a lot, unfortunately, my body is paralyzed trapped between these two murderous intentions. "You can''t strike first, can you?" (Oros) "Apparently your impatience hasn''t changed..." (Oros) "Shut your damn mouth and attack me!! You''re going to keep avoiding me for how many millennia!? We''re immortal and I''ll wait for eternity if I have to until I have your bones crushed under my hooves!!!" (Zoe) "(I can''t let this distraction go.)" (I) I pull the holy power of my Familiars and Divine Servants through our connection as quickly as possible, already mixing with my Authority as much as I can, then I activate my Summoning skill along with a spell using my blood to create the magic circle behind of me. "< Holy Blood Family Summon: Nix >" (I) "You little bastard..." (Oros) "Please do, come to ME!!!!" (Zoe) "damned..." (Oros) Nix appears behind me falling, I managed to catch her with my tail with a lot of effort since it was difficult to move at the moment, Oros was looking at me as if I was already minced meat in front of him and Zoe was smiling provocatively encouraging him to attack, meanwhile I could only mentally connect with one of my Familiars with tears in my eyes. "(For the love of Gods, make your mother stop teasing and get us out of here!!!)" (I) "(I''m sorry, this is beyond what I can do, I can''t even open my mouth.)" (Ragnar) "..." (I) I wanted to cry, but I didn''t have time for that, I knew that if Oros was here it was just a matter of time for others to arrive or maybe they were already here without me knowing. All I wanted was to get out of here as quickly as possible, but this Ragnar''s mother had to be a psychopathic maniac to pick a fight with her ex-husband inside enemy territory while protecting her son. I was literally at my wit''s end trying to understand why she wasn''t already running into such an unfavorable situation, why my Familiars'' families always have to be so weird, first Arash and now these two madmen who greet each other with murderous intent like this. Chapter 1198: Cap 1196: Unfamiliar Reunion Part 3 Chapter 1198: Cap 1196: Unfamiliar Reunion Part 3 This situation couldn''t be worse, we have what I suppose is the leader of the enemies in front of us without knowing if there are more enemies around hiding or if they are still on their way, the only one that can face the enemy in question seems to be more interested in to fight than to do the right thing in this situation which would be to run, to close this whole shitty situation like the icing on the cake the two involved are a couple who hate each other. "(I would really love to know if there is a God of luck, why would I go to any lengths to punch his face until all his teeth fall out before I crack his goddamn skull!)" (I) In this situation I could very well die of a heart attack or burst a vein in my brain from nervousness, my whole body is being pressed between the Aura of the two bastards who just keep teasing each other. "I allow you to go with that abomination you call your son, you may as well take the Hero with you, but the others stay behind." (Oros) "You talk too much, when are you going to stop talking and attack?" (Zoe) "(It''s no use, I can''t move my energy anymore after this summoning, I''ve also spent all my Holy Power.)" (I) "(I have to do something now, but what can I do?)" (I) "(Am I really going to have to do this!?)" (I) Ragnar''s mother''s hand is still on my shoulder, I try to turn my head to look at her but all she does is stare at the man in the sky glowing like an Archangel wreathed in light, his eyes lost in mad murderous intent, I don''t even know if she pays attention to all of us. I control some of my blood to run a path through the skin of my shoulder just below her palm so I touch my blood directly to her skin, she doesn''t look away from me but I feel her Aura turned more towards me and her eyes seem to become lighter. "(Thanks for dropping by, but why is he picking fights?)" (I) "(He killed my newborn son in front of me and tried to destroy even his Soul, do you know how long I waited to have him in front of me!?)" (Zoe) "(We are in enemy territory, not knowing if there are more of them coming and you are at the very least going to have to fight protecting your son, how are you going to do that!?)" (I) "(We have no other option anyway, the others are already here, we''ve been surrounded from the start and I only got here using my magic that I put into his Soul a long time ago.)" (Zoe) Now this is something I didn''t know, but it makes sense, as a mother she would want to keep her child safe, even though he was always with a God when he was just a Soul, she wouldn''t depend on others when it comes to her own child''s safety, then put a protective measure. To think that she did something like that and I didn''t realize it until now, I don''t think even Ragnar knew since he was as surprised as I was when she appeared here, probably his projective measure must have reacted to the presence of his old love, that''s why it was activated even before him attack Ragnar. I use my Aura and Authority to create a sphere of pure condensed power within myself, then use that power for a very specific technique while forcibly awakening the power of all my blessings at the same time. Maybe she noticed what she wanted to do or just wanted to avoid that whatever she did wouldn''t be noticed by Oros, but the Divine Life Beast used its own to cover my body, it put even more pressure on my body while also providing that not a trace of what I was doing leaked out of my body. The Blessings of the various Gods were not harmonious or in conflict with each other, as the Blessings of the Gods were individual with each other acting separately from each other unable to gather their power into one. In the past, I combined these Blessings with a Territory, but that was an indirect way of using their power, at that time the Blessings were still acting separately from each other with their powers only adding to each other, the safest way to do this is to join forces with all those connected to me. But when I learned to do that it was just a consequence of trying to do something else, something that I couldn''t use the help of others having to rely only on my own power. I use the Aura and Authority that have already shaped the technique as a base as all the blood within my body begins to boil from the power of the Blessings coursing through my body, then I use the essence of my own blood allowing it to become just energy as I open a space in the Inside my body, this essence of my blood crystallizes along with the basis of the fair technique of my Aura and Authority, this creates a core of blood in my abdomen. I then used this Blood Core to pass all the Blessings down one at a time in a continuous cycle, each time this happened the power of that Blood Core wove together with the blessing making them all connect creating a joint flow of their power, this time it would not be the sum of their individual powers, what they wanted was the multiplication of their powers by becoming one. What he was doing was something he knew was very reckless and unstable, because it was a one-shot and he didn''t know what would happen after that, but in a situation like this, he was running out of time to think. Each cycle of the Blood Core was like adding a new thread weaving in the blessings, but in this I was also destroying my body, all the healing that Ragnar''s mother had given me when she arrived had been reverted to an even worse state than Oros had given me left before. When I felt that I couldn''t take it any further, I realized that the same pressure I felt from the pressure of these two God Beasts before was the only thing keeping me in now. I open my eyes as I use the threads of power to pull all the Blessings of the various Gods into the Blood Core, and then with a lot of effort, I activate the technique. "< Eclipse Blessings: Between Harmony and Chaos >" (I) I felt a power stronger than anything I had ever felt before rush through not only my body but even my Soul like an explosion passing through me, then I lost consciousness falling into the deepest darkness. Crack The last thing I saw was the cracking starry sky and an Eclipse, it was a blurred vision as my eyes closed, but that brief moment showed that I had achieved my goal. For me there was no pain, exhaustion, torment, or anything else that could have been expected, all I felt was a state of existence where no thoughts or emotions were present to me, I was surrounded only by the deepest darkness. Chapter 1199: Cap 1197: Divine Power Chapter 1199: Cap 1197: Divine Power Pov Ragnar: I was already surprised that he had come all this way, I thought there was a remote possibility that he was on this planet, but to really find him here of all possible Divinities, really Master''s luck will be our undoing if not today for sure one day. I tried to stall for time but it was useless from the start, he knew about the Dungeon, he knew about Nix and he knew about the Hero''s plan. The master was still able to retrieve Nix from his hands was a surprise, but the biggest surprise was my mother showing up here, I felt something strange inside me since the presence of Oros covered everything, but I didn''t expect that there was this inside me and asked when my mother made it. The important thing is that her showing up was a relief, the God of Beasts told me a long time ago that my mother was slightly stronger than my father, that''s why he only did something against me in my mother''s moment of weakness right after my birth and yet he was not able to stop her from saving my Soul. I thought her being here would change something, but the more she teased Oros the way she did, I realized that something was wrong, my mother hates Oros and I know that her murderous intent against him is not a lie. My mother is someone who values life for everything, in the situation we are in their struggle could have repercussions on the nearby planet, even we would be affected and so knowing my mother the best course of action would be to run away, she would not let her emotions dominate her that way. I couldn''t understand what was going on, but I knew our situation was bad when Master tried to talk to me through our mental connection, unfortunately, there was nothing I could do, I couldn''t even move my body under the pressure of these two like that. like the others. But then came Master''s message, right after he closed his connection with me, I looked at him realizing I wasn''t the only one, I had a bad feeling, but all I could do is trust him, knowing his way of acting I knew he would something reckless and hoped the others would figure it out on their own, whatever the Master is going to do, we''re going to have to act fast on his instructions we''re going to have to obey my mother. I waited a few seconds and nothing happened, almost two minutes passed and nothing was happening other than my mother''s exchange of insults against Oros, as that time passed the Territory that Oros was trying to create all this time was progressing to the pits even with the Hero''s preparations to buy time, I kept looking at the Master waiting what he would do until the moment when his previously restricted presence exploded while his voice was resonating as if speaking directly to my Soul. "< Eclipse Blessings: Between Harmony and Chaos >" (Zenos) His presence was different, I could feel something is wrong, it felt like his presence was just the shell hiding something behind as this level of pressure was on par with my Mother and Oros pushing their presences at the same time. Not even half a second passed after that when his stomach exploded in red mist that evaporated, and a sphere surrounded by rings spinning around it flew out from within the Master''s wound. The rings around the sphere were spinning faster and faster as it moved in the air like a fish thrashing about, this all happened very quickly as the sphere and rings become pure energy exploding like an explosion of pure Authority, I could feel the Master''s Authority intertwining other Authorities, I could feel his Aura tearing apart in the process as the space around us vibrates as it reveals an Eclipse that appears as if it has always been there in the sky. Crack That''s when the sky was filled with cracks as the presence of my Mother and Oros was suppressed, the Territory of Oros itself that was not even complete fell apart causing it to spit blood, I saw several figures in white and gold robes emerging through the cracks while shivering. "We don''t have time, don''t let go of my hair!" (Mother) Everyone followed my mother''s instructions, Master was surrounded on all sides as our energies coursed through his body, this wasn''t difficult as we were all his Familiar, and our power faced no resistance entering his body, but it wasn''t staying inside of his body. I could feel that half of our energy was leaking out and it wasn''t just us facing this problem, the same was happening with the Aura and Authority of the Divine Servants. But my mother just nodded without saying anything, I felt her Aura extending towards us as she guided our energies to run through Master''s body, I felt his body react to our energy with small amounts being absorbed. "Then I want to know what happened here!" (Natasha) Natasha jumped from the Master''s shadow that lay beside her body along with a Fairy, then without saying anything she looked at my mother and the Master before slashing her wrist with her claws as she approached his mouth. As my power was circulating through Master''s body, I could feel that the blood and vitality entering his body was being rapidly consumed like water being thrown into the desert, but it was not in vain when I noticed the wounds starting to heal at a much lower rate what is expected of the Master. "What did this idiot do to get like this!? His body is collapsing at the same time as it heals itself, if you stop giving my blood to himself your Vitality won''t do anything." (Natasha) "He used Divine Power, a single spark of such power combined with multiple True Deities." (Mother) "WHAT!!??" (Natasha) "This is impossible!!" (Natasha) "That idiot is not a God, at least not yet, it could take centuries or even a few thousand years..." (Natasha) "He somehow fused the power of the Blessings of the various Gods within him creating a spark of Divine power without having a Deity of his own to control that power, the worst was the Deities of the Various Gods overlapping each other causing the surrounding space to collapse, the result is what you see." (Mother) "I''ll want to know more about this later, but right now we have to take care of him." (Natasha) "Once we''re done here let''s take him to the Communal Temple, soaking in his Statue''s blood fountain will help, the Spirit and Fairy Temples will also be able to nourish him." (Natasha) "..." (I) Master was far from being well, I knew that from the look of my mother and Master''s sister when I looked at Hades his face was horrified, the other two God Servants also didn''t seem to be well, it made me understand that his Soul must also be in a bad state. n0.0 "(You have to be fine, Master!)" (I)Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com Chapter 1200: Cap 1198: A Pit From Which There Is No Escape Chapter 1200: Cap 1198: A Pit From Which There Is No Escape I didn''t know what happened, I didn''t know who I was, I didn''t know where I was, I didn''t know anything but the eternal silence that dominated me, even now that these thoughts arise in me, the light that appeared in front of me was divided. I felt as if everything came back to me, my thoughts were first followed by my emotions, then came the sensations of a body that I didn''t take from having, that''s when I realized that light came from an opening that I touched, what happened next was my eyes open while lifting my body. As soon as I lifted my upper body I realized that I was surrounded by a red liquid, but I ignored that as I looked at my hand, I didn''t immediately recognize my own hand. It took me a few seconds before I remembered about my own body and even then I couldn''t remember anything about myself until the moment I looked around noticing the statue right where I was. I felt ashamed of the Statue that I thought was beautiful at first, but every second I spent looking at the statue more feelings arose and with them, memories came together, when the first memory came it was like pulling one that guided me through the darkness of a maze to the exit. A flood of memories came to me all at once, I was momentarily confused before I remembered who I was and where I was, and then clarity came through my mind allowing me to recall my last memory. "(For me to be here means we escaped, the plan worked...)" (I) "Glad to see you''re awake." (Elizabeth) Suddenly I heard a neighbor and turned my eyes away from my statue, that''s where I found Elizabeth looking at me, she was walking over the surface of the pool of blood, she was standing while I was half lying and not considering that she is much taller than me. But it wasn''t having to look up that was bothering me talking to my sister, it was the coldness in her eyes, as soon as I saw those eyes every part of my body was screaming to run as my mind surrendered knowing I can''t run from her. Even her pressure seemed to surround me as I listened to her heart beat as hard as the drums of a war I knew I had done something wrong, the only thing that came to mind was the event of my last memory of that technique I planned never use for finding fault, it made me think of others who were with me at the time. "Sister, are the others okay? They made it out..." (I) "Everyone is alive, managed to run with Zoe''s help." (Elizabeth) "You know if..." (I) Before I could say anything she put a finger to her mouth, even without saying it out loud I already knew she wants me to be silent, I had never seen her in this state before and I must admit I had a chill running down my back. "Do you feel anything in your body?" (Elizabeth) "..." (I) I knew she didn''t want to let me talk, so I shook my head at her question. "Does your mind seem strange in any way like mental confusion, holes in your memories, or does it seem sluggish in any way with difficulty focusing on something?" (Elizabeth) "If Zoe weren''t around you could be dead, even Natasha wasn''t able to heal you on her own, it took Zoe''s help and the cooperation of your Familiars along with your Divine Servants to heal you enough to begin the true healing." (Elizabeth) "His Soul was cracked barely able to contain that spark of power far beyond what you can conceive of, his body kept trying to unravel itself endlessly, no matter how hard we tried to heal, nothing worked for more than 1 month, only Holy Power had A slight effect can adapt your body, but it was very slow." (Elizabeth) "If it wasn''t for Zoe there, everyone would be dead." (Elizabeth) She throws me to the ground like trash, her eyes softening after venting her anger, then blood pools behind her taking the shape of a throne she sits on as it crystallizes. "You need to understand that certain actions lead to consequences, what you did had serious consequences for you." (Elizabeth) "You lost all the Blessings you had, but that wasn''t all, it was the destruction of those Blessings that caused that spark of Divine Power to momentarily exist." (Elizabeth) "Right now you can''t use your Aura, Holy Power or Authority all because the fragments of those Blessings are still attached to you, they were used to heal your Soul by the Saint of Life 2 weeks ago." (Elizabeth) As she spoke I was paying attention to what had happened before, my neck was healing very hard, even after a few minutes it was healing more slowly than I remember. It seems that this time I did something more idiotic than planned, my body is more than weird. "Your Soul is different from what it was before, this has influenced things more connected to your Soul''s essence like your Aura, Authority and Holy Power." (Elizabeth) "You must also feel your body, this is because of the change in your Soul, now your body is reacting to your Soul, which is leading your body to destruction." (Elizabeth) n(,.)-)- "The worst of all will be..." (Elizabeth) Elizabeth stops for a moment looking up, there I see my Familiars, Divine Servants, and my Wives, everyone was standing still looking at Elizabeth, but meanwhile, I saw a red comet fall on top of me, it was Natasha who started punching me continuously at the same time that healed the wounds she was inflicting herself. "Let''s see how you''ll do another crazy thing like that in the future, you little one..." (Natasha) Before she finished there were already people around her, those were Diana, Kira, rica, and Ibuki. Everyone was pointing their guns at Natasha to immobilize her in an attempt to stop hitting me, but honestly, the damage she was causing me didn''t even come close to the pain I was feeling all over my body. "We have to go back..." (Ibuki) Ibuki was the first to notice, so she forced me back to the Communal Temple where I felt Holy Power fill my body easing the pain to a minimum that I was barely able to notice. "What should I do now..." (I) Chapter 1201: Cap 1199: Destroyed Moon Chapter 1201: Cap 1199: Destroyed Moon After everyone calmed down and I was taken back to the Communal Temple, that''s when my body seemed to return to normal and even then I still felt something strange that I only stopped feeling when I returned to the blood fountain near my statue. For the next few hours rica, Diana, Ibuki, and Kira talked to me about everything that happened during my unconscious time and about something that no one else had told me about. I ran to the third floor of the Communal Temple entering one of the doors, there I found Karina, Alice, Veronica, Loki, and Athena lying unconscious, I tried to get close to them, but Barok appeared to stop me. "I''m sorry, my Lord, but can''t I let you near them?" (Barok) "What''s going on here? Did someone ask you to do this?" (I) "I''m the one who asked him that, good to see you awake Dad." (Vanessa) Vanessa appears as she bends down to give me a hug. "Your sisters can tell you better by explaining everything, but in short, if you go near them it will make the situation worse." (Vanessa) "..." (I) "So this is where you were." (Caitlyn) Suddenly my vision becomes blurred and the next thing I know I am on a large piece of rock floating in space along with many others, Caitlyn is sitting on one of the rare ones upside down looking at me. Fiind updated novels at novelhall.com "I won''t go to the trouble of berating you for what you''ve done, I''ve had my share of impulsive things I''ve done." (Caitlyn) "Are we in a dream?" (I) "No, we are in a nightmare created by me inside my head, your body must be on the floor now since you lost consciousness again." (Caitlyn) "What happened to Alice, Karina, and the others?" (I) "You happened, a Saint is linked to his Divinity, his own Soul cracked and changed because of what he did, it had a big effect on his Saints, and even his Heroes were forced into a different state because of you." (Caitlyn) I didn''t know that technique could do something against people who weren''t even present that day. "How can I wake them up?" (I) "When your Soul, body, and Authority are in order again, only then will your Saints awaken." (Caitlyn) "How do I do that?" (I) "Same as always, training." (Caitlyn) Before I could understand what she was trying to say, my body was pulled by tentacles into a portal that appeared behind me. --------------- Pov Vanessa: Sigh My Father suddenly fell to the ground already unconscious, Barok picks him up in his arms and following my instructions takes him to the blood fountain near his Statue. "(It would be easier if my lord was still paying attention in this world, but he is preparing for what is to come.)" (I) I look up at the moon one more time, somehow I feel something else is out of place, but I can''t figure out what it could be. "(I must be thinking too much, there are many things wrong with this Moon, better avoid others coming here in the future.)" (I) -------------- Pov Elsaris: I was walking hand in hand with Samira, we were walking around in overly colorful dresses as she pulled me into every shop we passed, I don''t know how she can have so much energy. "Sister, please..." (I) Sigh "Let''s just go to one more store, please..." (Samira) "You said that 3 stores ago." (I) "(You know why we''re here, I know I said try to act natural, but at least try to be more discreet.)" (I) "(I know, but I''m not doing this for nothing, the stores I entered are the busiest and I felt that we were being especially watched from below in one of the stores.)" (Samira) "(It was Lilian, I asked her to disguise herself in the crowd to observe our surroundings for anyone out of our reach.)" (I) "(That explains it, so what should we do, other than keep looking at the busiest stores, I have no other idea.)" (Samira) We were talking like friends or something as we walked around town and just really talking telepathically with a technique others couldn''t figure out. "(I think we better go to plan B, we''ve been in this city for 4 days, but we haven''t found anything.)" (I) "(They can sense us.)" (Samira) "(We don''t have many options, if we delay too much we run more chances of being exposed, we can also be discovered in many ways.)" (I) "(I don''t think it will be necessary, I smelled a strange blood, it must be our target.)" (Lilian) The place where we were was a world where only two races lived, the Runics and the Elves, those of other races tend to come from other worlds, which is very rare by my investigation, so we are using techniques to pass ourselves off as Runics, the worst is hiding my ears. When we enter the room Lilian steps out of one of the shadows so we all sit down to listen to what she has to say. "He looked like a Rune, but the energy around him was different, Runes absorb Mana through the Runes on their body whether they are visible or not, but that man was sucking the energy into his whole body instead of absorbing it naturally." (Lilian) "Haku told us that they can change their appearance easily, but it seems that they are not yet able to get down to the more detailed characteristics of the race." (I) "Did you follow him?" (I) "No, but I left a way to track him in his shadow, a small magic item." (Lilian) "Looks like we won''t need plan B anymore." (Samira) "That if this is the target we want, we should investigate later, as soon as it gets dark we can start." (I) Chapter 1202: Cap 1200: Stealing A Moon Chapter 1202: Cap 1200: Stealing A Moon I was in the middle of the village burned to ashes, the smell of blood and burning flesh everywhere when I arrived the village was prosperous with only 1 or 2 elderly people dying of old age, time passed quickly when I saw the village being attacked by bandits who took everything of value while killing half the population, then winter came causing them to starve to death, those who made it through the winter died from disease and soon after monsters appeared causing the death of anyone who was left. Death seems to be the only thing to relate to all the events caused in this village, different scenarios and ways of dying, it was unnecessarily brutal and cruel. "Was that supposed to have any meaning?" (I) "You know it does and you already understand what it''s about." (Caitlyn) My sister appears opening one of the charred corpses to get out while cleaning the soot from her clothes. "I understand, you wanted to show me deaths, but this isn''t the first time seeing innocent people dying, it''s also not the first time seeing a city destroyed, this kind of thing doesn''t affect me as much as it did in the past." (I) "The idea was never to affect you emotionally or I would have made things worse using your wives'' bodies." (Caitlyn) "I wanted to show death, you can know about it, you can understand how it works in a superficial way, but now that''s not enough, you need a clear understanding." (Caitlyn) "Why that?" (I) "The fragments of the Blessings are still within you, they have changed your Soul to the point of fundamental change, you now need to understand the characteristics related to these Blessings to fully integrate these fragments into your Soul." (Caitlyn) "But what am I going to learn from seeing this?" (I) "The revelation has to come from you, simply telling it won''t do, so think for yourself." (Caitlyn) Sigh "What is death?" (I) This was just the first teaching space, she made it clear that there will be more to come, but I wasn''t excited about what was yet to come. ---------------- Pov Hades: I was leading Haku and Cinthia on a mission, it happens 2 days after Master Zenos wakes up and is taken by his sister. We were in one of Nicole''s magically constructed vehicles, this one specially made for me with very specific functions. Once we arrived in the solar system we fled months ago, I stopped the vehicle in a well-hidden area before talking to Haku and Cinthia. "We''re already here, are you ready?" (I) "Yes, but are you sure the man from before won''t be there?" (Haku) "Yes, we have received confirmation that he and other Deities of Light are fighting in a very specific region of the universe." (I) "I still don''t understand why we''re coming here?" (Cinthia) "That''s an unnecessary risk." (Cinthia) "Were you able to convince them?" (I) "Not yet, they''re too stubborn to call this place home." (Irina) "Leaving everything they''ve known no matter how bad it is must be hard for them." (I) "Let''s hope Silvia has more soc2sso on her side." (I) "She''ll be fine, I''m more worried about what we can do here." (Irina) Sigh "We need to think, we won''t last long like this, we''re both strong, but we can''t fight the whole world." (I) "We don''t even know if they have anyone truly strong among them." (I) "It shouldn''t be long anyway, people are hungry and the attacks seem to be getting more frequent since before we arrived, they won''t last long like this." (Irina) "Tell them we''re leaving in 5 days, they can come together or stay behind, we can''t waste time, our Father is still in a bad situation for us to waste time with people who don''t want to save themselves." (I) "I don''t like what this could mean for them, but I don''t see a choice." (Irina) This world has few races of people, in fact, it only has two that are the Humans and the Beastmen, these two races continue to war for millennia until they began to use techniques of mass destruction such as forbidden magic or poisons that contaminate the land itself to deprive enemies of straightening. Their tactics always aimed at the extermination of one side no matter what the means to achieve such an outcome, it was no surprise that Humans are capable of going to far worse extremes than Beastmen, which has led to the current situation where they are on the verge of extermination not even 50 thousand of them still alive. This world is so rotten that even the Gods abandon their own fate, now this world that has been abused by thousands of years of war is on the verge of the situation, they didn''t realize that why there are no more Fairies and Spirits in this world, even if Humans winning won''t matter when the world is destroyed. Sigh "Perhaps we should leave them behind, there are many people with justifiable prejudice against Humans." (I) "Don''t worry, we''re only going to take those without prejudice and who can still learn to follow another path." (Irina) "So until the day..." (I) "Poison cloud, hide underground!!!" "Really!? That''s the second time today!" (Irina) "< Purification Barrier >" (Irina) My sister raises her hand creating a large-scale barrier covering this entire village, as the green clouds approach begin to disappear. "Didn''t you say you finished them off?" (Irina) "The poison didn''t come from the side I fought it came from the opposite side, it must have been a pincer attack before I finished off one side." (I) "I''ll take a look in that direction in the meantime to let them know, we need to get more people into the Dungeon, but we don''t have time to waste on them." (I) "Okay, I''ll talk to him, I wish they could preserve their lives first." (Irina) Chapter 1203: Cap 1201: Kill Them All Chapter 1203: Cap 1201: Kill Them All Pov Elsaris: I would really like my children and Lilian''s students to be here, it would be much easier to investigate with more people. Sigh With nothing more to do about this overwork we are having, I continue following the person in question, a girl who appears to be 10 years old, simple clothes with real Runes on her neck revealing herself to be a real Runic. It''s been almost a month since Lilian found our first clue, after that we used it to reach other people, before marking the 3 highest priority targets based on our information, this girl is one of those targets that I took for myself. Lilian has a soft spot for children because of her students and my sister would never be able to do anything against someone who looks childish, that leaves only me to take care of this brat. Our information so far is from a building on the north side of the city, a new building that has 5 floors including the ground floor, serving as a hotel from the second floor onwards with the ground floor serving as a reception hall and restaurant. This girl claims to be the daughter of the receptionist who stays in the lobby, during the day she does many different tasks running all over the city and all over that building, but the people she passes on the way of her simple tasks are always too suspicious. Another problem was also that I can smell the power of her blood even from this distance, and thinking that Haku was one of those things repulses me. "[I''m ready to act.]" (Samira) "[I''m ready too, it looks like everyone from the meeting is here besides the targets of you two.]" (Lilian) "You can start with the plan, Lilian." (I) "It will take them a while to realize something is wrong, so we will have arrived by then." (I) "[Alright, I''ll start now, good luck to you both.]" (Lilian) "[I''ll also start here.]" (Samira) "Be careful, they are treacherous." (I) I was using the communication device created by Nicole to coordinate with the other two. Now that everyone is in their places, it''s time to end this mission. I, who was hiding on top of a building, went down a side alley before leaving on the main street, then I entered the warehouse where I saw the girl enter, as soon as I entered I saw her talking to a man and I felt 6 others hiding in different places, all They have accelerated heartbeats, my ears can hear very well from this distance. When I entered everyone''s attention came to me, but they are still pretending, the man who was talking to the child asks me to wait and I do this for a few seconds while he talks to the girl in whispers that they don''t think I can hear from this distance. "It''s in the building next door, I left it with the man who cleans the place." (Man) "I''ll take care of it, so keep up what you''re doing..." (girl) "< Daggers of Thunder >" (I) Before she finishes, 5 daggers pass through her small body before attaching themselves to the man, covering him with lightning, and destroying his organs in the process, then the others hidden attack me, their speed surprising. "How will we do this?" (Samira) "I already blocked the entrance to the underground after dumping the poison inside, so I think we can take care of the top side first." (Lilian) "You must remember, kill them all." (I) "Yes." (Samira/Lilian) With that said we call inside, I go with my sister to the restaurant that became a lounge after all the tables and chairs were removed to make room for the 200 or more people who are here. "Sister, you start." (I) "With pleasure." (Samira) "< Blood Mist >" (Samira) "< Footsteps of the Ghost Echo >" (Samira) Samira blasts a red mist created by evaporating some of the body''s blood, which at that amount isn''t much considering the amount of blood we have in our bodies. Soon she uses an ability that creates a delayed echo of footsteps, used with some form of sense obstruction as this will cause confusion among enemies. Without being left behind I pull out my daggers before running into the Mist my blades cutting someone''s arm dodging my attack without knowing that just the scratch I made on him was enough as he fell to the ground in pain, which didn''t fool me when I cut his head in two knowing that these things don''t feel pain the same way we do. "Elsaris, be careful!" (Samira) "< Fire Wave >" (I) I step on the ground making flames spread around me like a wave of flames pushing away everyone around me, but these things didn''t care about the fire coming after me. Their heads open revealing a giant worm where there used to be a head, they come trying to bite me, but I dodge their attacks while using my daggers to tear pieces of their bodies. "< Incarnation of Thunder: Accelerate >" (I) I cover my entire body with Thunder Ki exploding in movement and attack speed, I run at high speed between the enemies, most of them are not even able to notice when I have already cut them, but I found one who was the first target of today, I didn''t expect him to be here. "< Bloodworms >" A wave of red and purple power spreads with him as the center, then the air vibrates momentarily before starting to hear sounds of chewing, when I look I notice that the flesh of the corpses on the ground begins to turn into purple worms eating everything they find. "Useless trick." (I) "< Mantle of Flames >" (I) I cover my body with flames, this keeps the worms away while I get closer to the target throwing the sphere of leather straps, this one tried to break away more than the last one I caught, but the Runes on the leather straps light up, coming to life rather than breaking the bones while tying him. In a few minutes, we killed many among them, the room that my sister and I were in is now covered in worms, and the bodies and blood disappear leaving only this hell of worms for us to deal with while Lilian is cleaning the rest of this place. Chapter 1204: Cap 1202: The City What!? Chapter 1204: Cap 1202: The City What!? Pov Lilian''s: I was running around the building painting the walls with the blood of everyone I found, always aiming for their heads, Haku made it very clear that in the body of all the Apostles of Truth, the brain was the only real weakness for controlling the rest of the body. Everyone in this building was highly suspected of being Apostles of Truth or their associates, so we can''t let any of them escape, they were all being killed regardless of anything else. During the killing I realized that some didn''t die even after losing their heads, that''s when I noticed that separating the head from the body wasn''t the same as destroying the brain, thanks to this realization I changed the way I was killing them, with my speed and the low With the strength they possess it was easy to kill them before they were able to do anything like run away or scream. The simple fact of not finding anyone truly strong was bothering me, it was only when I felt the tremors of the fight on the floors below where Elsaris and Samira were that I felt more relieved. Over the next few minutes the tremors became more frequent and intense, the other enemies spread throughout the building already knew they were under attack making me run into more and more frequent ambushes, which I was grateful for as this only gathered my targets together making the attack quicker cleaning them. When I reached the top floor I found someone who should have been dead, he was the first one I killed when I entered, I had only cut off his head before continuing, it was only later that I realized I needed to destroy the brain. He had something in his hands, a button attached to a triangular box which he presses before throwing it into the air, I destroyed it with a dagger I threw, but during this time a sphere of pulsing flesh appeared in the man''s hands with me only just noticing it at the time which he squeezed destroying the sphere of flesh into a bloody mess in his hands as a wave of bizarre Aura spreads out. Without waiting any longer I cut off the enemy''s head in the shape of a cross, leaving 4 pieces of the head to fall to the ground while I check his hand, apart from pieces of flesh I didn''t find anything strange, so I went to look at the device that I destroyed before, that''s when I discovered it was just a beep, possibly a distraction to give him time to do that with the sphere of flesh. I looked around for any changes but didn''t notice anything, so it must have been some kind of signal to call for help, implying that there may be more of them around the city hiding. "I''ll get together with the others, maybe we can use this distress signal as bait and catch those who come this way." (I) With that I jump out the window going outside, as soon as I reached the ground I heard the explosion coming from the other side of the building and when I turned around I saw Samira crushing what looked like a Beast Man from the bird tribe with a Tiger head. ------------- Pov Elsaris: Most of the enemies were easy to kill as only the two of us could move through the mist without having our senses obstructed, but that was only true for the majority, in the end, there were a few enemies, each of them a different aberration with two standing out from the level of strength he perceived them to have, these 2 were a monstrosity similar to a Beast Man from the bird tribe and a man whose body turned entirely into metal. "Sister!" (I) "I''m ready!" (Samira) "< Massacre Domain >" (me/Samira) Our powers collide, causing waves of Auras in all directions, confusing the enemies even more while dozens of platforms of our Auras mix around the environment while we use all our speed jumping between all the platforms at high speed with absolute precision, every time we attack we do this at the same time against the same enemy, coordinating us without needing to communicate with words, using only the interaction between our Auras to understand each other''s greetings. Our attacks were very fast and without an exact order while the transformed enemies were being crushed without being able to do anything or that''s what I thought until only the 2 strongest enemies were left. "It must have been some kind of activator, they did something to the city, probably before it even got here." (Lilian) Lilian seemed to speak calmly as if she wasn''t being affected by what''s around us, which would be true for me too if it weren''t for the children that remind me of my childhood with my sister, but Lilian has eyes that clearly reveal her hatred for who made this. "They are numerous, but they are weak, the city has a complex structure due to the streets, alleys, houses, and shops, we can maneuver as we want while taking advantage of alleys and houses to funnel them into smaller spaces, preventing them from using their numbers to their advantage." (I) "But what..." (I) As I was thinking about how to take care of this situation, a massive multi-layered magic circle appeared in the sky appearing to contain the entire city beneath it, then energy cages appeared at the edges trapping the city inside while 3 magic circles appeared on top of us making my Vision becomes momentarily blurry before the surroundings change from a city full of monsters to a hill overlooking a city with a magic circle above. "< Activate >" The voice appears revealing that near us there was a Runic, this one having dozens of Runes lit all over his body and a purely magical Aura emanating a flow of Holy Power mixed with massive amounts of Mana going to the magic circle above the city that lights up in response overshadowing everything with its brilliance, but I''m sure I felt space shake around us for 1 single second. Just when the light disappears the city disappeared along with the magic circle and in its place was just a large crater revealing a creature''s nightmare just below the city, the creature seems to be regenerating when the same Aura appears near us once again coming the man of the Runic people. "< Space Crush >" With these words a magic circle appears in front of the man''s hand pointing at the regenerating worm, soon his body was ripped from the ground while crushed into a mass of shredded flesh. Sigh "Sorry for being rude in ignoring you, but I needed to take care of this sooner than planned." "I am Nirog, Demigod of Magic and son of the God of Magic Malakai, a pleasure to meet you three ladies." (Nirog) "The pleasure is ours, but if I can ask this in your hand..." (Samira) I look at his hand at my sister''s comment, what was there was just a round glass bottle or that''s what I initially thought before ignoring it, but as soon as I paid more attention to it coming from my sister, that''s when I realized what was inside the bottle was a miniature city. When I realized this I started to detail the contours of the tiny city with what I remembered after days of walking around that city, so I looked between the crater and the bottle. "I didn''t want to kill them, but I also couldn''t let them loose, so I temporarily contained them throughout the city." (Nirog) "With that out of the way, we can talk a little if possible." (Nirog) I look at my sister and Lilian, they both nodded in agreement so I turned to see the answer to the supposed Demigod of Magic. "Sure, we''d love to talk to you." (I) Chapter 1205: Cap 1203: Nature Can Be Cruel Chapter 1205: Cap 1203: Nature Can Be Cruel I was sitting on the floor watching the passage of time of a world from its creation to the birth of the first life and evolution of the races living in the world as civilizations are created or destroyed in an endless cycle. The worst thing about it was the endless boredom, I knew only a few hours were passing but my mind felt like it was racing to the same level as this world making it seem like millions of years were passing while I stood still, my mind was so overwhelmed with all the information accumulating over millions of years of this world that I couldn''t think normally bearing this weight in my mind just because I went into a meditative trance after some effort. I saw the history of this world until its eventual destruction, disappearing as if it had never existed, but from the fragments of this destroyed world, a new one was formed restarting the cycle I just saw. I went through this same cycle dozens of times and yet it seemed like just a blink of an eye, landscapes, races, civilizations, stories, and everything I had seen in each cycle was similar while also being different, even though the only constants were the beginning and the end that will always exist. Sigh "Of your nightmares, this has to be one of the worst for me." (I) Before the end of another cycle, I forced myself out of my sister''s nightmare with sheer force of will shattering the surroundings with my own Aura. "One of the things that many mortals have difficulty understanding is how immortality feels, many still desire it without understanding what they are giving up and the consequences that will come not immediately, but throughout an existence that seems to have no end." (Caitlyn) My sister appears in front of me, she was wide awake and walking on her own legs instead of floating on her pillow like she always does, her face serious with every word spoken. "Of our sisters, I am the youngest and I already understand part of what I speak from my own experience while I have been able to deduce the rest through the experiences of those older than me." (Caitlyn) "Understanding what "Life" is can be difficult even with millions of years of experience, the infinite changes that even the shortest of lives cause in a world, how each life is unique in its own way and the infinity of possibilities, all this contained in a fleeting moment that disappears as easily as it comes into existence." (Caitlyn) "Seeing the cycle of a world as I showed you just now was one of the ways I made many others go crazy as punishment, their closed minds were not able to comprehend what it showed or they simply denied everything for lack of wisdom." (Caitlyn) "I''m not sure I understand myself..." (I) "But you did, the use of your Aura now shows that you are able to understand something of the characteristics that your Authority now encompasses and your Soul has been marked." (Caitlyn) I look at my hands, the Aura was moving as I wanted, but it wasn''t completely, just a part of my Aura and yet it felt different, the weight and depth I feel is almost unrecognizable with the past. "How long has it been?" (I) "Several days, I''d like to give you a rest, but part of this is still punishment for what you did, so let''s continue." (Caitlyn) With a snap, the surroundings change, taking me into a new nightmare without knowing what to expect from this training. -------------- Pov Silvia''s: My hands are stained with blood that I tried to lick off, since I became the daughter of Zenos the taste of blood has gained a sweetness on my palate, a flavor that I have learned to enjoy more when the source comes from someone I don''t like, almost like a wild feeling that must come from my instincts as a Dragon. I look around, the village destroyed, each of the deaths almost instantaneous, my desire was not to cause unnecessary suffering or teach a lesson, just extermination was welcome and that''s as far as I got. Only after the deaths did I go to destroy the village, without wanting to leave any traces that these people ever existed. "Times are becoming chaotic throughout the universe and I cannot stay here any longer, but I have left everything so that I can continue alone, but I am still missing something." "I assume you planned to ask another Elder Dragon for help, correct?" (I) "Yes, but many have their own things to take care of these days." "Very well, I will help, I will create a Core with my blood and Authority, you can implement it in your ritual, but it will be for single use." (I) "That will do, thank you for your help, with any luck after all this the Spirits and Fairies can return letting this world have a second life." "That''s a beautiful thought." (I) -------------- Pov Elsaris: I was sitting in a cabin on top of a mountain talking to a Demigod of Magic. He explained how he got there in that city we were in and his plans that had to be rushed due to our attack against the Apostles of Truth. "So you didn''t know about the contaminated or controlled people?" (I) "No, I only knew about the worm hidden below the city, it has been absorbing large amounts of mana from nature without letting those above the city show to the point that a Titan of Nature almost formed near the city, I realized this a few days ago when passed by." (Nirog) "I knew this creature wasn''t doing this alone, there was someone with bad plans inside the city, so they were preparing the barrier they saw to prevent either the worm or the people associated with it from being able to escape." (Nirog) Sigh "Unfortunately I was surprised to see the city''s population transform into those things, I thought about killing everyone to save them having to become those creatures, but when I saw you a different idea came up." (Nirog) "Unfortunately we can''t help with anything, I''m only good with the kind of things you don''t normally ask for help with." (I) "I feel your Sacred power, so I imagine you are from the Temple of Blood or directly linked to one of the Daughters of the Goddess of Blood, so I would like to ask you to take this bottle to the Saint who is said to have it now." (Nirog) "Do you think the Saint can bring these people back to normal?" (Samira) "As long as they are alive and their bloodlines are still there, the chance is very high of saving most of the population." (Nirog) "I''m sorry if I seem disrespectful, but as a Demigod you couldn''t do that?" (Lilian) "If it were a purely magical matter then I could do something myself, but something that directly affects the body is beyond my Authority to interfere with, those from the Temple of Blood on the other hand would be within the scope of their Temple''s Authority to interfere for something that desecrates the blood and bodies of people." (Nirog) I exchange looks with my sister and Lilian before agreeing with the Demigod, if it were up to me alone I would just kill everyone as a solution, better that than suffering like this type of creature, but my sister would do it and Lilian clearly agrees with the words of the Demigod in front of us. "I''ll do it..." (I) Chapter 1206: Cap 1204: Talking Bird? Chapter 1206: Cap 1204: Talking Bird? Pov Hela''s: I was flying on the back of a spectral bird made of death energy condensed enough to look very appetizing to my Familiar who couldn''t stop drooling. In addition to Hellyos, Lilith was also with me, our current mount was something prepared by the Death Saint to use as a means of transportation for space travel, other than that this thing won''t help with anything else. I look around at the worlds around us getting closer and closer from the front and then getting further and further behind, our speed was even greater than Nicole''s special vehicle. We had been traveling for almost 3 weeks, but we were finally arriving at our destination, I couldn''t say it myself, but Lilith is smiling maniacally. "What do you see?" (I) "I''ve never felt anything like this before, I feel so much excitement and euphoria, I can''t even control my murderous intent... how I wish I had someone in my hands right now to rip it apart, someone to vent this emotion out to." (Lilith) "Get a grip Lilith, remember we''re here for a reason." (I) "Tell me what you see?" (I) Lilith points forward, we had just entered a solar system with only 4 planets and a purple sun, Lilith was pointing to the planet very close to the macabre Sun, the way its flames move form temporary images of deformed beings suffering. "That world, certainly that world, the Aura of revenge from the entire universe seems to flow into this solar system concentrating on that world, in my eyes the Aura of revenge coming out of that world swallows this entire solar system including the Sun." (Lilith) "I can''t even imagine the number of toys...I mean, horrendous criminals that I can get my hands on for fun...I mean, that I can get my hands on to deliver the punishment equivalent to revenge that carries." (Lilith) "You''re not fooling anyone, your smile is so wide now that it almost tears your mouth apart while your Demon tail is wagging like that of a tamed Wolf." (Hellyos) "Don''t destroy Lilith''s rather obvious facade, she''s just joking because she''s in a good mood, she''s not the type of person to hide what she wants to do no matter how brutal it is." (I) "I don''t see you complaining when I bring you bodies after I''m done with them." (Lilith) "Because I always need pieces and their resentment towards you increases the strength of their bodies in my experiments, but I could at least try to bring a more intact body sometimes, it would save me the trouble of sewing their bodies together." (I) "Have you ever tried to torture someone without causing harm to their body? It''s not as easy as I make the art of torture seem." (Lilith) "You could ask Miss Caitlyn for help, I''m sure her abilities to make others suffer in their dreams surpass anything you can do." (I) "The powers to create and manipulate nightmares, the infinite possibilities of such power, do you really think I haven''t tried to learn that? Unfortunately, I''m not capable of mental tricks because I''m mentally unbalanced, I know I am that and maybe a little more, but I really wish I had that kind of power..." (Lilith) "Good thing, it looks like I''m not crazy, there''s no way his voice is in my head, I didn''t know anything about it until now..." (Lilith) Before Lilith finished speaking the bird spun once more with the Aura pressing only on me to keep me in place while Lilith had also been thrown in the same direction that my Familiar now in its Skeleton Dragon form was flying back towards me direction. Hellyos catches Lilith halfway without stopping if she runs towards me, the bird beneath my feet standing still without moving. "How can you handle having two idiots around you?" "They are not idiots, Lilith is very intelligent and her determination is on par with Master Zenos, her way of acting or speaking can be confusing to many, but she usually just likes to provoke people." (I) "My Familiar on the other hand doesn''t know how to lie, he also doesn''t like you or more specifically everyone from the Demonic Church of Death, this includes the Goddess Kalistos due to her long time chained in Hell under the surveillance of the Death Taboo Hunters." (I) As I spoke calmly, my power continued to circulate throughout my body as I made strands of blood come out from within my body, using it to build a magic circle in the air, my blood being the best type of material to do this after the Blood of my father that I prefer to keep stored in cases of pure urgency. "Why bring us here? Isn''t it going to help the fight or was your plan to bury us with this thing?" (I) "No, my only duty is to guide you both there and back, I will not fight for you or rescue you." "Alright, I can understand the limitations of those linked to the Goddess of Death." (I) I take a deep breath, then pull out a magic crystal created using master Zenos'' blood imbued with the death characteristic of his Aura, this will be the core of the magic circle, and throw it into the center of it while I wait for my Familiar to get a little closer. As I wait the few seconds it takes to get to the point necessary to get within my range, I look at the creature, it looks like a Mud Elemental the height of 5 stacked mountains, with the only difference being that it is made of rotting flesh. Its body continually remodels itself, creating tentacles, hands, and even giant tongues in an attempt to reach my Familiar, it seems that it is getting faster, thankfully we don''t have to wait long. "< Death Magic: Grave Collector >" (I) The magic circle grows larger and larger until an image of my face with eyes closed appears, then the image''s jaw opens sucking in endless streams of death energy from the creature that does not have the precise Aura control to resist the suction of your energy. With that, the monster''s focus shifts from my Familiar with Lilith on top to me, but it''s already too late, even moving must be difficult for it now, which proved right with its speed being very slow. I felt like I was close to losing control of the Magic, the amount of Death energy was much greater than I thought before, I couldn''t bear it like this any longer, and that''s when I felt the Aura of the Bird over my body when I heard its voice speaking once again. "Don''t kill him, the energy you removed will be enough to force him to hibernate for a long time." "If you kill another one it will have to be created and you can imagine how many lives will be sacrificed for that." "Okay, I was already at my limit..." (I) Chapter 1207: Cap 1205: Tarzor Chapter 1207: Cap 1205: Tarzor I was sitting on a throne, dressed in elegant and formal clothes, I had a crown on my head that I couldn''t take off and so I didn''t even know what it looked like, the room where I was was decorated in a simple way and yet beautiful as if the room itself it was a work of art without needing anything else to complement its beauty. There was 1 Knight, 1 Mage, 1 Minister of Finance, 1 Advisor, and 1 Minister for Civil Affairs, I didn''t even know how I knew their identities, but I somehow knew from the beginning when I appeared here. Just like in the last nightmare, time here seemed to accelerate, not as much as in the last nightmare where I saw the beginning and end of several worlds, but it was still accelerated making me experience 10 years living here as a King of a huge Kingdom. During this period of time, I never left the throne and every choice I made had consequences not only for me but also for the entire Kingdom. Without being able to act on my own, I only had to make commercial, and economic decisions, about food and hunger for the population, about wars with other nations, about monsters attacking the kingdom, about the nation''s security by creating or changing laws, balancing the political forces within the Kingdom while still keeping an eye on the situation of the surrounding Kingdoms, facing epidemics and even revolutions. Everything that could go wrong for a nation happened here where I was forced to resolve it hundreds of times since it always repeats itself differently when I die or the Kingdom is destroyed, not to mention that for every decision I make I see the result inside my mind be it good or bad, sometimes it was a truly horrible thing to see like a father selling one of his children into slavery to be able to feed the rest of the family for a few more days or when the epidemic devastated half the Kingdom leaving many to a horrible slow death, each of these things was playing in detail in my mind. But soon someone walked through the doors as if she owned the place, her every step made everything disappear around her until there was only me still sitting on the throne and she, when I stood up for the first time in I don''t know how long, I felt the clothes being different and the weight in my head disappears. "That might have been the last one, but did you need to be so detailed with that nightmare? Some things really were horrible to see." (I) "Being a Ruler is not something glorious or honorable as many people say, if the ruler thinks that he clearly does not have the mental maturity for such a position, that is something our elder sister said to me a long time ago." (Caitlyn) "It took me a long time to understand this since I always ran away from any responsibility and this would be a great responsibility, even so, I was the cause of the fall of some nations and the change of many others." (Caitlyn) "The consequences that arose in your mind for your decisions and the events you went through, they are all real, they are memories of many people that I kept inside me and each of them really happened whether good or tragic." (Caitlyn) "..." (I) The idea of all the things she made me see were real changed everything, that''s why I often used the excuse of being a nightmare to console myself when I saw something difficult to bear, even though I had the emotional control to act calmly, no it means my feelings disappeared, the things that were hard to see were still traumatizing to see. This means that the suffering I saw was caused by the type of person who made the same decisions as me in that nightmare or something similar. "In this nightmare I compiled these memories to be as realistic as possible, some of these events are inevitable, there is no way to predict new diseases or natural disasters as an example, and the idea was never for you to solve all these problems perfectly because that is something impossible even for the gods." (Caitlyn) "Did you want me to understand how to be a Ruler? Did you forget that I already have a Kingdom within the Dungeon?" (I) "You put your job of governing in the hands of Nira and Freya, there are few times that you actually do something, your position is more symbolic due to the adoration of everyone within the Dungeon for you, but here things weren''t so simple and they weren''t There was no way to escape your responsibility." (Caitlyn) I tried to move but my body was paralyzed, it took me 1 or 2 seconds to realize why, so I created a spectral projection of my Soul leaving my physical body, my movements were still slow, but with my mind racing to that level I was able to do something at least. "Who are you?" (I) "(I''m the one in front of you, I noticed you and this bird long before you entered my house.)" I, who was looking around, immediately realized what I was talking about and focused my vision on the world in front of me, but when I looked again there was no more planet, just a creature similar to a colossal White Serpent looking at me. "(You don''t need to fear me, unlike many who inhabit my body, I am not evil, but I am also not like what you consider good, I will not cause you harm and I will not help you either.)" "Then why talk to me?" (I) "(Because I feel Chaos within you, a mere lingering trace that clearly does not come from you, so I wonder about the God you follow.)" "I am not a devotee of any specific God, the one I follow is my Father and Creator, my existence serves only him and no one else." (I) "(Is He a God?)" "..." (I) I didn''t know how to respond to that immediately, he is clearly a Deity but is far from the power of one, he also doesn''t like being associated with the Gods. "He is a Deity, but I would like to avoid saying more about him." (I) "(It doesn''t matter, one day we will see each other anyway, someone with the power of Chaos is destined to come to me one day and I have eternity to wait.)" Before I could understand I felt a push as my vision became blurred, when I could see, I was back in my body and the spectral planet was in its place as if it had never left there, I looked at my hands as they opened and closed realizing that the acceleration of thought was gone. Without saying anything I remained silent while Hellyos followed Lilith''s directions descending on the planet, I felt that this entire planet was a solid Spectral Body, the air was loaded with poisons, cursed energy was being emitted by the ground itself and the air was of pure death energy. When I stepped on the ground I was feeling great comfort and I knew that the other two were too, I couldn''t help but admire the landscapes before noticing someone standing next to us, it was a person with a tail and snake eyes, just feeling his presence I knew it was a Lady of the Grave, a living existence that devours the energy of Death. "Welcome to Tarzor, I was appointed by him to be your guide." Chapter 1208: Cap 1206: Is This Still A Moon? Chapter 1208: Cap 1206: Is This Still A Moon? "With that, my part is over." (Caitlyn) "Wait! Is it over? That was the training..." (I) Before I finished speaking something took my voice along with all the air from my lungs, I looked down at an arm that crushed my spine and tore my lungs into pieces covering the table in front of me with my blood. "I don''t think you understand, it''s just my part of the training that you seem to have received very well, unfortunately, it wasn''t the punishment I expected as you took everything better than expected." (Caitlyn) "But now it''s finally my turn to train you, you irresponsible brat." (Natasha) I recognize the hand reaching across my chest, so I wasn''t too surprised when I heard her voice next to my head. I moved my vision from the arm still across my chest to the head inches away from mine, my sister''s eyes were shining brightly with pure rage as she withdrew her arm already healing my spine while also stopping the rest of the hole from forming made in the chest to heal. "You now have an acceptable understanding of the characteristics that mark your Soul and thanks to this you should be able to use your Aura again." (Caitlyn) "Now you must recreate your body to adapt to your Soul at the same time it would be good to do some combat training, right?" (Natasha) "Gurhhh!!!" (I) She was asking a question without caring about my answer, combat training is her excuse for a one-sided beating like every other time, but I feel like this time will be even worse than the previous times, her eyes look merciless. "I think you, as smart as you say you are, understand how living creatures can adapt, right!?" (Natasha) "..." (I) My spine was already healed, but the hole was still there showing no signs of ever healing leaving my newly recovered spine showing when I felt a hand grab my spine pulling my body upward as if my spine was the handle of a suitcase, Natasha places me in front of her face while still standing without trying to be gentle in how she handles my spine. His words were not difficult to understand, the adaptation of any creature comes from the adversities of the environment in which it is found, which led to genetic mutations over generations, this was the concept of evolution in my ancient world, but I am sure it is not That''s what she means, by the cruel gleam in her eyes as she breaks into a smile that I see Lilith do when given a new prisoner to care for. "In case it isn''t obvious enough, know that I will continually break and destroy every part of your body just to heal before resuming your destruction, there will be no rest or respite while I am conscious, and know that I do not need sleep, I will also feed of the blood and flesh you tear from your bones, then good luck finding something to eat." (Natasha) "Try to keep him alive at least, I don''t like doing work that will be wasted." (Caitlyn) "I don''t promise anything..." (Natasha) "You bastard..." (I) With that, I was forcibly taken away as if she was carrying luggage still holding my spine. But these miasma clouds and this amount of monsters gathering is greater than I calculated, there was also something wrong, they were coming towards us while gathering. "That doesn''t make sense, they should spread out and not do that..." (I) --------------- 3 Hours later things were very different from what I expected, I know I used more than 10 thousand Evil Seeds in a magical ritual with the core being one of the Hearts of Darkness that the Master created, this Magical Ritual did what we expected, it created monsters. Unfortunately, it went far beyond what we expected, monsters much stronger than me were appearing by the hundreds, and a true holy war was going on as millions of the Army of Light led by the Demigods of Light were fighting an endless Wave of Monsters. A black cloud of pure miasma far larger than any amount of Evil Seeds I have brought here could muster has formed around this part of the solar system to the point of obscuring the stars, the problem has become so great that I can foresee intervention of the God of Light if things remain this way. During this time I didn''t let anyone do anything until a real opening formed, which has happened now that the enemies have completely abandoned the Moon to fight the monsters and are also too busy to notice our movements. I nod to them who know what to do, the 3 of us ran around the moon placing magical Crystals in very specific points, due to its large size it was something that took hours as we traveled at all our speed without rest, luckily the enemies were too distracted to let us notice or we would have spent days, maybe weeks doing this slowly in hiding with greater chances of being discovered. But one thing I noticed while scattering the magic crystals, was that this Moon felt completely different from before, I felt familiarity with this Moon much like I felt from the Dungeon of Nix. I didn''t understand what was happening, but when I was positioning the last Magic Crystal I noticed a magical ritual made of light absorbing the miasma to the Moon, it wasn''t difficult to realize that the Church of Light wanted to seal the miasma on the Moon, but the ritual still it was not active and something was different, the light from the magic circles were stained with silver in 90% of its entirety, this silver light was coming from the moon itself as if corrupting the magic circle of the ritual. When I got closer I felt something resonate with me and part of my Aura was sucked into the ritual circle that activated itself, when I tried to destroy the magic circle a rock rose from the ground like a wall pushing back, I looked around but there was no one. "What''s going on here? Is this still a Moon? Who''s doing all these things?" (I) "(I can''t waste any more time, we have to get out of here faster than I thought.)" (I) At that moment the other two came closer to me, Cinthia also tried to destroy the magic circle but was thrown back by a column of rocks coming out of the ground, I looked at her in denial and the two approached me confirming the end of their duties, I raise my hand and we all begin to overlap our hands. Our Auras, Sacred Power, and power of the Space element mixing in our hands before I pull out a Dragon scale with magic circles drawn on it, at that moment when we join our powers to the magic circle I feel the silver energy come out of the moon and gather in the scale from Mrs. Navar. With no time to do anything else all the magic crystals shot out at the same time, all of them filled with the power of lady Navar creating a massive space element magic circle around the Moon and its pieces at the same time as the magic circle of silver light completed it also sucked in an endless stream of miasma. Soon the Moon disappeared becoming a transparent bubble shaped crystal sphere revealing the moon within, the magic still working with endless amounts of miasma being absorbed by the sphere in my hands. I look at the other two and we all break a bracelet we carry appearing in the exact spot on the far edge of the Solar System where I placed a magic circle for our escape Teleportation along with the vehicle we used to get here. With no time for conversation, we ran to the vehicle as we moved away from this place as quickly as possible, the place we were at was on the other side of the miasma clouds and I could see the miasma stream still forming coming towards the crystal, if this continues so they can get to us, we have to get out of here. "I don''t know what''s going on, but we should run, Now!" (I) Chapter 1209: Cap 1207: Training Or Spanking Chapter 1209: Cap 1207: Training Or Spanking I was facing a cliff with dozens of human silhouettes marked on the stone, each of these marks was made with my body being smashed against this cliff continuously. At the moment all the bones in my body were broken, but even so, I was still being mercilessly crushed by my sister''s blows, Natasha this time was not holding back her blows and made a point of only aiming at my bones, further breaking what was already in place pieces inside me. Since training with Caitlyn, I no longer feel that continuous hurt that I felt before when I left the Communal Temple after I woke up, but I still felt great discomfort and strangeness all the time. While being crushed by Natasha''s blows, I tried to use my body control to move my body through the Skill since my bones are no longer able to support my body. Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com Of course, I wasn''t just being beaten, there was someone else where we were in the form of the Dungeon, a woman with pink skin and ears similar to those of Elves with the difference that they were larger, the woman I was seeing was a face I had known for years. That was the main body of the High Priestess of Life, that was the true saint of Life, Yaramaki. She was here because it was her home, it seems I was brought here after my last display of having some sort of mental damage, right now she was the one responsible for healing me while my sister was using her power to try and stop the healing, this process it was putting even more pressure on my body as these two strands of powers associated with healing are colliding. I didn''t have time to speak as my sister kept her promise of not resting while crushing me like a punching bag. No healing would reach me until my vitality was less than 3% in my estimates, it was as if they were taking me to the brink of death only to bring me back while destroying every part of me without stopping. This continued for a while, not because I was too weak to revise, but rather because I tried to control my body for a while, the strangeness I felt seemed to be a delay in the response of my body''s movements in relation to the desire to move, this delay was making me move worse and worse trying to compensate for the gaps in my way of fighting. After having gotten a little used to the state of my body while my sister used my body as a live target for her blows. This continued for hours until I managed to push one of her fists away for the first time today, but I was punished soon after as she became more brutal. But of course, all this brutality and violence was within what I could handle, physical pain has not been incapacitating for a long time and now the time has come for her to realize that I will not be unilaterally beaten. -------------- Pov Irina''s: I was in a hut created from a barrier I created to look like a hut, only me and my brother were inside and no one will hear us. "They don''t seem to want to go along." (I) "We could force them to follow us, the people on this planet are ridiculously weak, but that would defeat our purpose here." (Irius) "Yes, but I had the same thought as you a little earlier, I don''t mind adults choosing death on their own, but I don''t like children being dragged along without the right to choose." (I) My brother didn''t find anything, but I found papers with records about something that happened before we arrived, horror took over me when I ran to a mountain near the village, there were rocks blocking the entrance to a cave that didn''t hinder us at all when we ran in a straight line, the rocks breaking before hitting our bodies. We continued deeper inside, smelling the smell of rot, it didn''t take long to find a large stone hall with circles carved into the floor, and bodies piled on top, most of the bodies are Beast Men. "What were they trying to do?" (Irius) "An offering to the Gods, they were following ancient scriptures to invoke the favor of the Gods..." (I) "< Corrosive Barrier >" (I) I use a barrier to dissolve the bodies and the whole magical circus, this makes clouds of miasma create, I don''t try to do anything by letting it spread. ------------------ The documents I found said that they did this every year, everyone in the village did it, and the people chosen among them were captured and taken to that cave, everyone in the village knew this because they attended the so-called Sacrifice Rituals. I left my brother killing the people in the village, none of them deserve salvation and I won''t allow them to join us, but I won''t let these humans go free either. "I''m better at massacring large numbers like you, we''ll see how it goes." (I) --------------- Pov Demigod of Light: I was watching from afar when I felt my ritual being forcibly activated as my light was contaminated, but what I saw were the Servants of the Vampire Goddess'' son. I didn''t care about them now, clearly they were the ones who caused this, but if I stopped suppressing the monsters and dealing with this absurd amount of miasma, the valiant forces of our Church''s soldiers of Light would be killed. That''s why I let them do whatever they want while I was content with having activated the ritual magic, thanks to that I noticed the miasma gradually decreasing, at least until they disappeared along with the Moon, something I couldn''t allow. "You brought this here, so take it back!!!" (I) "< Holy Light Magic: Flow of Light >" (I) I used all my Holy Power to control the light of our sun, with this I gather more than 80% of the miasma while compressing it together to send it through the thread of the ritual that I held, so I send this miasma to them wherever they are with the hope of blow them up with your own weapon. "(With this we just need to get rid of the monsters before continuing with the purification, but then I will take care of you son of the Vampire Goddess.)" (I) "I will make you and your followers fall to the deepest depths when my inquisition comes after you!!!!" (I) Chapter 1210: Cap 1208: Zaya Chapter 1210: Cap 1208: Zaya Pov Hela''s: As we entered the atmosphere of the spectral planet I noticed the change, it was something that few people would be able to notice, but as a Necromancer I noticed, the breaking of the laws of reality, the very foundations of nature were broken, and distorted, they were corrupted into new laws as if this world were the exception to this universe. In this place the energies of nature were not in harmony, each form of energy was properly separated taking its place in the world as a literal geographic space. From above I could see floating islands with tornadoes around them, a sea of magma, mountains that grew from other mountains, a river that moved through the air like a colossal living creature and much more, all of them were divided in a bizarre way as if this world were made of patchwork. "Lilith, where should we go?" (I) "Wait, this place is confusing, everything is so strange, there is so much resentment and so much revenge..." (Lilith) "..." (Lilith) "Maybe we should..." (Hellyos) "Just give her time, don''t worry." (I) I just give Lilith time to think and feel the surroundings, just as there were things that only I was noticing, for Lilith the same was true in another aspect. The Death energy of this place was strange, it was the only constant that I could feel from all places, but this death energy seemed to come from the world itself, I looked that not to mention the strange landscape it looked like a planet like any other making it difficult to understand what was the truth, the image of a spectral planet that I saw outside or this bizarre image that I see now on the surface of this world. This doubt was something already nagging at my head, I was more inclined to believe that all of this is false in a way, but I must also say that it seems real, it just doesn''t make sense, since we arrived here nothing seems to make sense. "You can still accept my guide." "No." (I) The guide who presented herself as soon as we arrived in this world is a Lady of the Grave, I will not trust her to guide us, I will follow the plan as long as it is an option. "I can''t, there are simply too many revenge meeting points, but I think we can go to any one..." (Lilith) "I must say that there are hundreds of Evil Gods and thousands of Fallen Deities in this world, I won''t even bother talking about the number of those counted as criminals outside of this world." "..." (I) "She is a well-informed guide." (Lilith) "No." (I) "She has no resentment or revenge directed at her or being emitted from her." (Lilith) "See her eyes and her Aura, her will is burning and our Father is eager to respond to strong Wills." (Lilith) "Yes, master would probably make the same decision." (I) "Do you have a name or can I call you Mad Woman?" (Lilith) "My name is Zaya, I don''t have anything like a surname like the rest of my race, we are the only native people of Tarzor and we are his servants since we are linked to him." (Zaya) "Please tell me what you need and I will point the way, walking unaccompanied in this world is a privilege only for my race, you, like everyone else, are in danger, in this world, there are no laws, crimes, or any type of restrictions." (Zaya) "Evil rituals, torture, murder, and any kind of act you can imagine happen daily, but that means there is no protection for either side, if you do something against someone it means you have to be careful not to become a target too, so The people of this world have caution as their main rule, or they haven''t lived long enough to see the end of the day." (Zaya) "Before we talk more about what we''re after, tell us more about how things work here..." (I) --------------- Pov Zenos: I''ve been fighting my sister for days now, one of the things I''ve learned during this time is that Natasha heals herself continuously to get rid of fatigue and tiredness in her body, which is why she''s always in top shape and never seems to get tired. The energy expenditure of these light healings means nothing to her and I don''t even know if she spends any form of energy on this since her Authority itself revolves around healing, but in the meantime, I don''t have that kind of power, it doesn''t matter either No matter how much I train, I will never reach the combat experience of my sister who lived thousands of years of combat. All of this culminated in this result, a one-sided massacre, my bones being turned into blessings, my organs being turned to paste, my flesh being torn from my body, and my muscles being torn apart. Honestly, the thing I learned on the first day was to maintain the body control skill I acquired from a Slime years ago to move my body, without this skill I would just be a piece of dead flesh on the floor with no chance of doing anything. Each blow from her was either fatal or meant to immobilize my body in preparation for other blows, I was hit so many times in the head that I can''t tell if I suffered any serious brain damage. Ignoring the pain was the least of my problems, it was the inability to move my body as freely as I wanted that threw me against the wall so many times. Right now I was feeling the healing that the Saint of Life was releasing on me, unfortunately, it was still the same insufficient healing as always, I bend my body around a tree, landing a punch on Natasha''s side, something that was immediately reciprocated when she missed my arm, throwing it to the side. Of course, I didn''t expect that, but it wasn''t that bad either, I run up to her and jump in, using the blood coming out of my wounds to create a new arm made internally from blood, I crystallize some parts of the new arm giving it enough strength to be useful In combat, I don''t let pain be an impediment for even a second or I''ll risk being even more seriously injured. I use this new arm to perform attacks that my sister doesn''t expect, the longer I am able to delay taking another hit, the more time I will have to heal myself. But it was getting difficult to resist hunger, my sister was constantly eating my flesh and drinking my blood to feed herself, but I wasn''t able to do the same. I had to run through the forest in an attempt to find natural food or some type of Monster, which Natasha always tried to interfere with to prevent me from being able to feed myself. Unlike the more understanding training that Caitlyn put me through, Natasha is doing hands-on training with a strong focus aimed directly at destroying me. "(I need to find a more effective way to attack or defend...)" (I) Chapter 1211: Cap 1209: Natasha鈥檚 Serious Mode Chapter 1211: Cap 1209: Natashas Serious Mode It''s been 3 weeks since I''ve been fighting my sister continuously, after learning to control my body completely using my ability continuously to avoid the impediment that broken bones and torn muscles could have during combat, I also realized that the lack of energy would be a huge debilitating factor. To fix this I had to find ways to regain my energy while also trying to reduce my energy consumption, which was something I had always overlooked, but now the answer was something very simple. I possess the three natural energies which are Mana, Ki, and Spiritual Energy since my first year of life, I also possess Demonic Energy and Holy Energy which I acquired later for different reasons, of all these forms of energy the last two were more powerful and also with longer recovery time, this made me resort to using the 3 natural energies, interspersing them when using one at a time, so while I use one in combat, the others can be replenished naturally. This worked better than I expected, but it was also a heavy restriction for me, eliminating one of my advantages against my sister, the advantage of having more variety of attacks than her, so my attacks became more predictable for her than I did He has much more combat experience than I do. Demonic and Holy Energies were the only variants I could afford to use, but even that was only at critical moments as I couldn''t afford to be without these energies as triumph cards at key moments. But just as I had advantages, I also had clear disadvantages like not being able to use my Authority, I could still feel that power within me, but it was fundamentally different and I wasn''t taking the time to tap into that power now, in fact, I wasn''t having it no time with each distraction taking a heavy toll with even the loss of my limbs or other parts of my body in a brutal way. If I could meditate it would be perfect for increasing my energy recovery and healing, but it was impossible during combat, leaving only one possibility for me, something I wanted to avoid doing until I was unable to avoid it. While I could only maintain hand-to-hand combat with my sister since she doesn''t move away from me at any point, even though I''m now able to use my Aura after training with Caitlyn, I''m still not able to use it at 100% capacity, something that I have been working on with combat practice little by little. ---------------- Pov Elizabeth''s: I''m watching Natasha''s fight against Zenos, and I can see her improvement in reacting to her attacks, her Aura also seems better than before, but even so, she''s still using it in an unrefined and precise way. "How is he doing?" (I) "Reasonably well considering who you''re fighting." (Yaramaki) "What do you think about him?" (I) "He is slow to learn, he has many advantages, things that should be instinctive for him to use, but he thinks too much, this is strange considering his identity among the Dragons." (Yaramaki) "I know, he''s not ignoring his instincts, he simply chooses to think instead of act, a flaw Caitlyn also had in the past." (I) "That''s if he survives now that his sister has chosen to stop retaining her power." (Yaramaki) "..." (I) I turn my face towards combat once again as I feel power radiating from Natasha''s body as her body changes. "I didn''t expect that Natasha would seriously go against him, it seems like she wants to vent all the anger she felt for him doing that." (I) --------------- Pov Zenos: The combat lasted weeks, my body was mistreated to the point of being almost unrecognizable, she beats me in terms of experience and technique, leaving only more primitive forms of advantages where I am better such as the defense of my body, my strength, and my flexibility since I can control my body with my ability completely disregarding basic physical limitations such as joints. After weeks I knew that if things continued like this my body would collapse sooner or later, even though I was now able to land blows on her, none of those blows caused serious damage to her body, in fact, it was useless as she it could heal itself in seconds at the latest. So for the last 5 days, I have been trying to use a skill that I was trying to avoid, since I woke up in the Communal Temple my body was more than just strange, I could feel the limitations of my body that I only understood after the first day training with Natasha, one of these limitations was the inability to assume my Dragon form, something I tried on the first day and it was useless to the point that my body had a reaction trying to activate this ability, the reaction was my muscles corrupting throughout my body. Now I could feel that my body was different from weeks ago, but I didn''t have time to think about these things, it was difficult to think about things too much when there was someone trying to risk their head inches away, so today in an attempt to reverse this situation I tried to use this ability partially on the arm, which is still normal since the other is still made of crystallized blood. "< Blood Eclipse Dragon Awakening: 10% >" (I) I took advantage of the moment one of his attacks that I defended at the cost of the arm made of crystallized blood being destroyed for the thousandth time, then I used my other arm for a partial transformation concentrated only on him, this caused my arm to tear into pieces while a new arm it grew from inside it twice the size of my normal arm, as it was already in attack movement and had a greater reach now, I ignored the pain and using my claws I tore off the flesh on one side of Natasha''s face as well as her shoulder being seriously injured to the point where his arm was left hanging for the first time. But I wasn''t happy, that''s because she was no longer fighting, her eyes no longer showed anger, and they were now filled with emotion as a macabre smile formed on what was left of her rapidly healing face, this while using flesh and blood that I ripped from her to eat, her blood being the final elixir of healing made my body in pieces heal quickly. "< Blood Dragon Awakening: 100% >" (Natasha) Those few seconds where she finally stopped attacking me were crucial and I wanted to run, but her Aura and power seemed to grow hindering my movements long enough to hear her voice while realizing that the real hell was about to begin as power exploded from her rapidly changing body. "I''m so fucked up..." (I) Chapter 1212: Cap 1210: Tower of 4 eyes Chapter 1212: Cap 1210: Tower of 4 eyes Pov Hela''s: Right now we are being guided by Zaya, the Lady of the Grave that this Phantom World put in our path, I told her what we were looking for and she was surprised, I won''t reveal to her our true objective before getting to know her and this suspicious world better. "As I''ve said hundreds of times, please don''t try to cause a fight on the main streets or busy areas of either city." (Zaya) "I can''t even stab someone in the back or throw them into my shadow to play with later?" (Lilith) "Space techniques are difficult to use within the city, even capture magic like this using shadows has characteristics of space magic and will be interfered with within the city, reducing the speed of use significantly." (Zaya) "In other words, it makes escape, concealment, and capture techniques more difficult to use." (I) "Yes, as I said before, most of the population of this world comes from outside, they are people treated as criminals or marginalized outside this place, and the majority have peculiarities in their behavior." (Zaya) "Even if there are no laws or rules anywhere since there is no type of government, I must repeat that there are still unwritten rules of coexistence that people themselves have learned to respect to avoid unnecessary fights." (Zaya) Zaya has said the same thing many times, but for Lilith, it seems like all this conversation is going in one ear and out the other, it seems like a disobedient child insisting on the same topic expecting a different answer. I looked at Lilith and she was anxious constantly looking in various directions, I also noticed the instability in her Aura and the tremor in her hands. "Come on, it can''t be that..." (Lilith) "Lilith, are there many?" (I) "Many is not enough to say, there are so many that I can feel like someone who went hungry for a month being forced to sit in front of a banquet table without being able to touch the food..." (Lilith) "That was very specific." (Zaya) "She is a Priestess of Vengeance." (I) "I realized, that''s why I keep repeating my warnings, she is not the first of her Religion to appear here, everyone always ends up dead in a horrible way after being the spark that causes a massacre, it is always my people who have been busy cleaning up tens of kilometers in the end, have you ever tried to remove cursed blood stains from your clothes?" (Zaya) "If you use holy water with a potion of liquid soap it gets clean super fast." (Lilith) "There is no holy water in this world, in fact, there is nothing blessed by any Deity here, but if we talk about curses, then that is even in the air we breathe and that is why you should be careful." (Zaya) This place is simply unassailable for any kind of living creature, now I understand why it had to be the two of us who came here. "Let me take care of Lilith." (I) When we entered what looked like a restaurant, I realized it was made of wood, but the wood was filled with cursed energy coursing through the interior and there were distorted magic circles inside, the Owner was another Lady of the Grave who exchanged glances with Zaya before pointing to Up, nodding, without saying anything we continued to the second floor, entering a room with a large window. While we were sitting in our seats around the table, a Zombie with empty eyes entered right behind, placing cutlery and plates of food for everyone, he has 8 arms that are handled with great precision. As soon as he left I looked at the dishes, I was able to see that they are people''s meat and a soup made from eyes, from the shape and feel I know they are all from Elves, the main dish was the direct thigh of a White Elf. "I hope you don''t mind the meal, many are uncomfortable with the food." (Zaya) As she spoke I was taking the Elf''s skin out of the way before taking just a portion of the meat for myself, Lilith was pulling her part of the already roasted thigh meat to throw into her eye soup and my Familiar was taking just the eyes of your soup to chew. "All living creatures are food, I''m part Vampire just like Lilith, we feed on blood often." (I) "You talk like it''s normal, but outside of our house this is strange even for Vampires and Demons." (Lilith) "I guess so, but they''re always enemies, so it doesn''t matter in the end." (I) "I liked the food, especially from a criminal, the taste of revenge is always the best." (Lilith) "I''m glad you like it, but I came here for more than just eating." (Zaya) "This restaurant has a direct view of the bone tower, see?" (Zaya) "Yeah, it was hard not to see something that big." (I) I look through the large window seeing a completely gray tower with a square shape, at the top of the tower there are 4 giant eyes looking at the surroundings, this tower is emanating a strong energy of death mixed with miasma. "This city largely belongs to the Necromancers, this tower is a place where they hold meetings and experiments, the item they want is at the top of the tower under the protection of the 4 eyes that are powerful guardians." (Zaya) "I see, I... Urgh!!!!" (I) As I looked down the street and the tower, a great pain ran through my mind as flames that seemed to be made from the night sky appeared from within my hands and I felt them appearing in my eyes as well. "(What''s happening, so much pain, so much power...)" (I) I couldn''t think straight when my mind momentarily clouds. "Why did this have to happen..." (Zaya) "< Secret of the Cursed Grave >" (Zaya) Chapter 1213: Cap 1211: Rebirth of Star Flames Chapter 1213: Cap 1211: Rebirth of Star Flames The arm that I had just partially transformed was hurting a lot, it wasn''t just a physical pain, it seemed to be burning from the inside, this arm disproportionate to my body came out of my normal arm, tearing it into pieces in the process, parts of my arm were still falling to the ground having been trapped in the Dragon scales of this new arm, but all this pain was easily ignored with what was happening in front of me. I didn''t even try to run or hide, her movement speed will be much greater than my impossibility of any attempt to escape. Hiding was also ridiculous, her senses will be much sharper now and she knows the smell of my blood that covers me completely due to the injuries she inflicted on me. The only thing I could do was try to meditate with my eyes open to recover as much as possible while trying to think about something rationally for the first time in weeks as a punching bag. "(Think Zenos! THINK!!!!)" (I) I looked out of the corner of my eye at my arm, it was different from what it was before, my scales no longer seemed to have the rough crystal appearance they had before, they looked like a smooth crystal film around a part of the night sky, it was as if each scale was a portal to the stars. But what worries me is the reason for this pain, I could feel something burning my arm from the inside and I saw signs of it through the gaps between the scales revealing a light inside, as I looked at this Dragon arm I wasted no time in healing the arm of crystallized blood that I used for days to replace the arm I lost in the first few days, now I was using what was left of the healing power of my sister''s blood and flesh that I ate to regenerate the arm or most of it, I couldn''t do it skin grows on that new arm when the healing energy is gone. "Rest is over!" (Natasha) "30 seconds is no rest... DISGRACE!!!!" (I) BOOMMMM!!!! I no longer had time to think or even heal any remaining wounds, the lack of skin on the newly regenerated arm was not an impediment to moving it in combat, I also didn''t have time to think about the reasons for the pain in Dragon''s arm, That''s because Natasha spun in the air using her tail like a whip to hit the ground right where I was. I jumped as high as I could to get away from the crumbling ground from the impact earthquake during the formation of the crater, and then I took advantage of the impact wave and the dust cloud to go further, the shrapnel didn''t do much to my body, but the wave caused by the impact went through my body''s defense, twisting my organs, making me vomit before I even reached the ground. This distraction cost me dearly when a tree hit my body against the ground, before I could get up I had to dodge attacks from above by turning my body on the ground from side to side before I had the chance to get up now look from the my attacker. The dust cloud from the first attack had not yet dissipated, but this was not an impediment to her as she could sense where I was and with the force of the flapping of her wings these dust clouds simply dispersed revealing her body as if she wanted to see my reaction. A colossal appearance hundreds of meters tall, flying above the trees of what was left of this forest after its attacks against me, its figure almost covered the sky completely with its 3 pairs of wings spread out Its figure was thin for its size, but its claws were large, there were also red blade-shaped crystals on its elbows, tip of its tail and knees. Its body is covered in smooth, metallic-looking red scales reflecting light and spines made of bone along its arms, tail and up its back, the white of the bones highlighted over the entirety of red on the rest of its body, its body shape barely visible it looks more Human with only the torso part of the body having vaguely the curves of a woman''s body while its monstrous arms and legs are far from the humanoid figure, its head being similar to that of a Wolf covered in red scales instead of fur, its 4 horns grow upwards and backwards forming some branches while its teeth were so big that the smallest among its teeth easily reached my size. She was looking at me not with the apparent anger she''s always shown all this time, but with apparent amusement, which didn''t make me happy at all since in practice it doesn''t change my situation. "< Dragon Awakening... > AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!" (I) "We need to go back now!" (I) "Whatever is going on, we wouldn''t make it in time and he''s in the best place possible so we should keep going." (Lilith) "..." (I) "You... you''re right..." (I) "Also, I don''t think this is a bad thing, it might be mild, but I feel like I''m slightly stronger." (Lilith) "..." (I) I couldn''t argue with what Lilith said, the master is in good hands. I didn''t know about the issue of increasing strength that Lilith talked about and I didn''t care, now that my mind was calmer I must do some more magic to consolidate my situation. "Do you know what they''re talking about?" (Zaya) "No, but they seem to have a conclusion, so let''s wait a little longer." (Hellyos) "I would really like you to tell me about this, we can''t let this happen again, or else I''ll even be in danger from being around you guys." (Zaya) ----------------- Pov Elizabeth''s: I was seeing Natasha''s Dragon form from afar, it was as wild as I expected, but it wasn''t her that caught my attention the most, even in the distance my eyes were able to see the change in his arm, it seems that Zenos made more progress than imagined. Natasha''s next attacks were enough to change the geography of this area, but I soon realized that not even little brother was making decisions following his instincts without thinking, a good decision if he is able to resist the consequences, which he didn''t, and soon Natasha left he unconscious. "It looks like it''s going as you predicted." (I) "The rebirth of flames is something Dragons do when they undergo a great change that affects them so deeply." (Yaramaki) "Your little brother is no different in that sense, it just shows how much he still has to resist if he wants to solve his current problem." (Yaramaki) "He reaps what he sows, I know he will survive, those of Selene''s lineage don''t die easily, but when it comes to my training he will wish he was dead." (I)Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com Chapter 1214: Cap 1212: The stone that shakes the lake Chapter 1214: Cap 1212: The stone that shakes the lake Pov Hela''s: After everything calmed down, I kept my Infernal armor on to control the Starfire in my body yet had to create a bone mask to hide the upper part of my face as the flames were even in my eyes, the Seal of Pain being the only thing that still made me able to maintain control. Lilith on the other hand was perfectly fine with just a hoodie hiding her entire body along with her face as her veins are twitching as if they were alive inside her body. "Now that everything is resolved we can get back to the topic, did you say that the Death Core is inside that tower?" (I) "Yes, but if you really want that I can''t help, my people do not interfere in the affairs of those who do not belong to our race without Tarzor''s desire." (Zaya) "Alright, but as a guide, you''re still going to point us to whatever path we want to go, right?" (Lilith) "Yes, I can take you wherever you want to go, I can also explain anything within my area of knowledge and protect you to a certain extent as I just did by creating this barrier to hide your momentary weakness." (Zaya) "What would have happened if you hadn''t intervened?" (I) "In the best case, you two would just be dead, in the worst, your bodies and Souls would be used in experiments probably by the owners of the Tower since they are the strongest force around while I would be killed by association if I tried to intervene." (Zaya) "All this because of that?" (Lilith) "That flame had traces of many things mixed together, I was very surprised by what happened and I didn''t have time to investigate, but the little I noticed still seems doubtful to me, no one in this world would miss the chance to get that peculiar flame." (Zaya) If I feel it, then she must have felt it too, the Master''s Star Flame is burning up to Death Energy as well as other energies and even some parts of my body, no Necromancer or scholar of forbidden techniques would let something like this go unnoticed. Her creating this barrier was something really useful, I have to give her that credit, maybe she can be more trustworthy than I thought, she can be useful in our true objective and I will try to see about that later. "Very well, let''s end this matter here, we have to think about how to get what we want from that tower." (I) "That tower is clearly the worst place in this city, even from here I can feel the flames of revenge burning that place like the inside of a sun." (Lilith) "The entire tower was built using living people, only at the end of its construction they were led to death with their Souls being used to refine the magic used to protect the tower." (Zaya) "The 4 eyes up there are Demonic Cursed Weapons refined with Souls, they were the first things created inside that tower after its creation, they are thousands of eyes used in Alchemy to create each of those Eyes from what I heard." (Zaya) "I can feel how powerful each eye is, they seem to be as strong as the most powerful of my attacks and this is a very simple estimation of their strength." (I) "Don''t look at me, I''ve never seen those things used and I have no idea of their power levels." (Zaya) "I don''t see anything of revenge in the eyes themselves, it seems that the tower and the eyes are two separate things." (Lilith) "DON''T STOP, KILL THEM ALL!!!!" (I) I used my Aura to transmit my scream as I advanced along with the Dragons indicated for combat, Cinthia was flying close to me with Haku right behind, the three of us knowing that it would be better to fight together and end this fight as quickly as possible before something even stranger happens. ------------------- Pov Hela''s: After hearing all the information I needed to know about the Tower of Necromancers in this city, about the biggest influences in this city, and about the 4 leaders of the Tower of 4 Eyes, it seems that each eye was supposed to represent one of the leaders. "I didn''t expect the 4 leaders to be Evil Gods, that complicates things." (Lilith) "Evil Gods will have at most the strength of a Demigod, but in this world less than 10 exist, none of them are close to this city or should be nearby." (Zaya) "But still their strength surpasses ours, I don''t think master has the strength to face them, so we won''t be able to either." (I) "Are you suggesting we should give up?" (Lilith) "No, I''m just saying that relying on just these 4, any frontal attack will be suicide, without knowing the extent of their forces serving these 4 Evil Gods." (I) "So what should we do, my lady?" (Hellyos) "We need to shake up this city, even if it seems calm, the people here are not ordinary, each of them is cruel in their own way, they are people who have not missed an opportunity that appears in front of them." (I) "We must be the stone that will generate waves in this calm lake and wake up the monsters that hide at the bottom." (I) "Do you have a plan yet?" (Lilith) "Yes, something caught my attention in what we heard from Zaya, so for my plan to work we will need someone else, preferably a Demon who wants these Evil Gods dead." (I) "To want a Demon... you want a contract just in case." (Lilith) "We can''t trust anyone in this world, words like honor, agreement, and feelings are mere jokes here, right Zaya?" (I) "A little exaggerated, but it''s not far from the truth, trusting someone here is already half a step closer to the grave." (Zaya) "A Demon that follows the ancient customs will respect a contract where they will gain something they want simply by being selfish, their pride will not allow them to break the contract." (I) "There are 2 of them here, they are..." (Zaya) Chapter 1215: Cap 1213: Getting The Death Core Chapter 1215: Cap 1213: Getting The Death Core Pov Hela''s: We were being guided by a rare spiritual-type Demon who used possession to take over the body of a corpse to pass himself off as the Undead. I was surprised when Zaya guided us to this person and I was even more surprised that it took me a while to notice what he really was, it took me a few minutes and a lot of closeness to notice which shows that the body he is possessing must have strong protections. "I would appreciate it if you could stop looking at me like that, your killing intent is slowing us down." "It''s not often I come across a Demon like you, but I''m more interested in the body being possessed by you." (I) He speaks normally, but his legs and arms are shaking, the murderous intent is simply due to the Infernal Lady''s armor that I''m wearing, I''m lucky that everyone in this city has so much murderous intent that I go unnoticed, if it were anywhere else it would highlight the point a lot of not being able to walk on the streets. "So you noticed..." "She won''t say anything and you know it or I wouldn''t be here." (Zaya) "I have no reason to talk about you, but if I have the possibility I would like to..." (I) "Don''t say anything else and tell your friend to stop trying to catch the Demon with her Curse or they won''t get what they want." Suddenly a deep voice carrying a Demonic Aura appears in a way that makes it impossible to distinguish the direction, at this point we were already inside an empty store in a less busy part of the city. "I didn''t do anything, I was just curious if it was possible since I''ve never tried it before." (Lilith) "Will you receive us?" (Zaya) "I am always willing to welcome a Lady of the Grave, but I need to know if those with you want anything from me." "..." (I) I stay silent and watch Zaya speak without looking at any specific place, the Demon wearing a corpse stopped and got on his knees without saying anything else as soon as this voice appeared, I looked at Lilith who seemed to not care about being discovered while I wait Zaya responds in our place, I don''t want to act incorrectly in this place where a single carelessness can lead to death. "They want a deal with you, I''m just a guide in bringing them here and I''d like to point out that you only stand to gain from this deal." (Zaya) "Intriguing, bring everyone to my room..." The voice weakens before disappearing at the end, only after that the Demon gets up taking us towards a wall that turns out to be an illusion, after going down some hidden stairs we arrive at a network of tunnels where we follow one of these tunnels before reaching a door that opens, as soon as we enter the door closes along with the Demon that guided us staying outside. "Then send them to the points I indicated." (I) "Yes." (Lilith) After all the Demons leave their separate ways as their appearances change, I erase Lilith''s ritual to create my own using my blood, the Starfire that never went out during these exhausting days made my blood burn in the form of the magical ritual I will use. When I finished I took a blood crystal from the master to use as the core of the magic ritual, as soon as the blood crystal was in place, the flames from every circle reacted differently extending to the core, I couldn''t help but laugh at this as proof that everything was going well. "< Necromancer Magic: Enslavement of the Dead >" (I) During all these days I threw several crystals made from the master''s blood onto the streets of the city without others noticing, the crystal blocks that form the floor of this city are blood crystals forming a massive protective magic for the entire city. My master is a Son of the Blood Goddess, his Authority also includes blood already possessing thousands of bloodlines within him, there is no one in this world who has more Affinity with blood than he does, using his blood as a means to connect my magic With the city streets, I can use their power against them. My magic will reach all the Undead in the city and only them, with my slavery magic reaching them both my maiga and the slavery magic that already marks them as slaves will collide canceling each other out, this will free all Living Dead. Meanwhile, I look at Lilith who breaks a Christian between her fingers creating a wave of Aura that disperses without a trace, in the last few days she marked a Seal of revenge for each Undead she found, which were many, she just activated this seal that will send every Undead in the city frantic for revenge. But of course that wasn''t all, the entire city must now be covered in the Starfire I suffered from. "Are you well?" (Hellyos) "Yes, but we have to go, let''s go." (I) As soon as we leave we mix the curses fighting the Undead for a few minutes, the 4 Great eyes of the tower are suddenly covered in Starfire while the top of the tower explodes with a large Star Flame rising destroying the tower''s defenses. At that moment a large red portal opens on top of the tower with several Demons appearing from inside attacking the tower, one of them was a giant version of the one with whom we made the contract, 4 figures come out from inside the Tower with pressure crushing the entire city, with this opportunity we ran secretly to the tower avoiding fights along the way. I went with 4 small boxes to seal the eyes covered in Starfire, each box for one of the eyes, meanwhile Hellyos was distracting the few defenders along with Lilith before we left, without looking back entering a shadow gate that gave us took him to the city tour in a cave we created 3 days ago. Inside the Cave we waited 4 hours before half of Lilith''s recommended Demons came back through it, summoning them again, but this time individually, apart from the dead one, the others had everything we wanted, the first of them to arrive had the Death Core in their hands, a black marble tombstone with a shin-shaped crystal embedded in it. It was emitting a rich death energy that didn''t scare even me, I had to use the Goddess of Death''s blessing to create a Seal for it before I could put it away. The other Demons came back with stolen things, so they won''t know our real objective there, they will just remember that we stole several things and the blame will be on the Demons since both I and these summoned Demons are from the Demon Race. But of course that wasn''t all, we still need to get out of here, so we''re running through the forest this time trying to hide our tracks while we head to our next objective. Chapter 1216: Cap 1214: Immortality Is Rubbish Chapter 1216: Cap 1214: Immortality Is Rubbish When I opened my eyes I was confused by the variety of sensations, I was feeling like one of my arms was burning as if I was immersed in magma, while the other arm was broken and my body was spinning in the air while flying in one direction, before understanding what was happening, I saw a movement on my side and used one of my wings for a lateral push, helping to divert my body while a gust of wind stopped me from spinning, throwing me to the ground where I landed, making a small crater. It took me half a second without being attacked to get my mind in order, as I was opening my eyes I moved my arm reflexively defending a blow that sent me flying spinning to disperse the force of the blow before receiving another blow which this time I managed to avoid, I also understood that the burning arm was the one I partially transformed into a Dragon arm. My Dragon arm was still covered in cosmic-looking Fire as before, it was obvious that these flames were responsible for the pain of being burned alive. "I hope you enjoyed your nap because there won''t be another moment of rest." (Natasha) When I looked up I saw a large Red Dragon coming towards me with its jaws open, without thinking twice I entered my shadow while moving away, with this I avoided being devoured, but instead I was struck by the tail that destroyed the shadow where I was as it landed, it sent me flying out of the shadow with a broken rib. I simply had nothing to do, I didn''t know how long I was unconscious, all I knew was what felt like my body was largely healed, not to mention my broken arm and rib, but the only injuries were healing reasonably well. I wish I could stop for a bit, but I didn''t have time as my body reacted to the big leg coming down from above my head. As there was no way to dodge, I concentrated my investigation on my Dragon arm disproportionate to my body to collide head on, this created a shock wave when the blow happened, of course, I didn''t win, I was thrown out of the attack area as I had intended since the beginning. Of course, I didn''t waste a single second, I was already controlling my body to keep my broken arm and rib bones in place, I realized that this increases my body''s natural healing speed, but while doing this she stretches her arms making the needles of white bones in its whites grow before swinging its arms towards me making these bone needles the size of large spears come towards me. "< Reflective Impact Absorption Barrier >" (I) I use a spell creating a triangular barrier that defends the attack, making these bone spears divert their trajectories through the shape of the barrier while only a few attacks hit the barrier with full power, in any case, the barrier absorbs all this impact in its entirety, which I control focusing on the triangular tip of the barrier while shaping it into the shape of an arrowhead colliding with the approaching Dragon Claw, our two attacks collide causing me to fall back once again as she stands still in front of me with only a slight wound on her face hand that I took advantage of to drink more of the blood being spilled before it healed. With the little blood I got from her I managed to heal my broken ribs and arm, but I knew that wouldn''t be enough, every blow of yours surpasses me in strength and speed, not to mention your body''s defense which already has a ridiculously regenerative capacity not normal. "< Blood Eclipse Dragon Awakening: 15% >" (I) "Aaaahhhh!!!!!" (I) I knew there was no combat experience, magic, or weapon I could use to fight at this sheer level of difference between us, I wasn''t even able to attack while each of his blows sent me backwards with me having to do everything just to avoid a serious injury. I haven''t had time to think since I woke up, but even without thinking calmly, it was obvious that I wasn''t capable of fighting my sister in the current situation and so I choose not to hesitate in continuing to use this skill knowing the pain that will come along with it. "ELSA!!!" (Samira) "I... I''m fine..." (I) "< Elemental Summon: Daggers of Fire and Thunder >" (I) Even though my hair and back are burning with those damn Star Flames, I shouldn''t have let this bastard get to me, so I kicked him and made him move away while his hand came out of my stomach covered in the same flames that covered me torment for days. As he tries to put out the Fire I ran towards him with two daggers that I summoned in my hands, I ran towards him deflecting the bone blades that make up his wings while the Thunder blade hits his muscles making him go into spasms ending his control over the own body while creating openings for my fire dagger to reach his body''s main veins making his blood boil with the fire magic of my dagger. This combat was happening in my world moments when we went to investigate, after the city that was sealed in a bottle, the Demigod of Magic took us to another place that felt a similar presence, it was an underwater city in ruins, it should have been empty for years and instead, it was being used as a basis by the Apostles of Truth. The fight had already been going on for days, the Demigod sealed the space with a large barrier, but he himself did not participate in our combat as he faced the same type of worm that he found under the previous city, with the only difference that this worm was more than 10 times the size size of the previous one and a head trying to imitate that of a Human. The Demigod of Magic has been fighting all this time against this very strong worm that has high resistance against magic, we discovered this from the enemies who speak with pride of their creation. During these days our tactic has been to attack and retreat time after time to thin out their numbers, their individual forces were too strong to face hundreds of them while we were having to endure these flames, but it seems that only my sister and I suffered from this, Lilian seems not to have been the target of that damn flame that never goes out. Today was the last day of our attacks, but suddenly the Flame that was already bad enough seemed to increase in intensity spreading all over my back, this moment of pain opened my defenses, which led to the current detriment. Finishing off this enemy by cutting off its head before crushing its brain beneath my foot, I turn to my sister, her two legs covered in this Starfire, just like me, but even so, she fought using these flames against the enemies, which He proved to be very affectionate. "That was the last one, how are you feeling?" (I) "The pain is very uncomfortable, but it is still bearable, I have a magical item that allows me to withstand the pain better, I told you it would be useful." (Samira) "I''ll check if there are any hidden, but what do we do now?" (Lilian) "Nothing, this Demigod''s barrier keeps us here until he finishes that worm." (I) I look up, we were at the bottom of the ocean of this world, so only water existed when I looked up, it was possible to see many sparkles and strong ripples on the barrier around the city. "This might take a while..." (I)Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com Chapter 1217: Cap 1215: Village Of The Damned Chapter 1217: Cap 1215: Village Of The Damned Pov Hela''s: "< Demonic Summon: Titan of Purity and Destruction >" (me/Lilith) Lilith and I used our blood to construct in seconds a multi-layered magical ritual where I had to throw the magical crystal made from the master''s blood, the same magical crystal that I used to absorb the power of that Undead monster that we encountered as soon as we arrived at this Star System. This crystal served as the core of the ritual that took all the Demonic power we both had, then a gray marble statue appeared with black root marks all over its body, these roots began to pulse with purple energy as the statue began to move, it was in the form of a Centaur with the lower body barrier of a 6-legged Lizard, it had a metal tail and the upper part was in the form of a humanoid wearing full body armor along with a spear in each of its hands, this thing was hundreds of meters tall and as soon as it appeared, all the miasma, cursed energy and Demonic energy in the area was being sucked into it, making its body transform more and more into a living creature, letting the stone aspect disappear little by little, its Aura becoming more horrible and murderous than before. "Hellyos!!!" (I) "I''m here, let''s go!" (Hellyos) "Let''s get out of here before..." (Zaya) "I think he''s looking at us... RUN!!!" (Lilith) Me and Lilith summoned this thing that cannot be controlled due to the enemies coming after us, it seems that our plan in the previous city was not as perfect as we imagined, of the 4 Evil Gods that we saw leaving the tower before, 2 were coming towards us surrounded by Undead forming an army. Leading that army was the Demon with whom we made the contract for that plan, it seems he lost and his corpse was used to create an Undead as I can see the seams all over his body. The 2 Evil Gods chasing us were still being burned by the Starfire I used on a large scale before, it was supposed to affect them when they tried to regain control of the city''s magic circle, but I didn''t think the effect of the flames would persist so long, their bodies they were as horrible as two lumps of coal at the end of their usefulness. We wouldn''t be able to escape them, we also don''t have the strength to face them even if we summon an army of Undead of our own, so I immediately decided to summon this creature that cannot be enslaved whose only function is destruction. Summoning this thing is a risk because its power comes from the Evil and Demonic energy it absorbs, the more it absorbs the stronger it will become and it targets creatures with this type of power that it can absorb, this creature has no allies or objectives other than destruction. Luckily when he looked at us it was only for a brief second before he turned his eyes already darting in the direction of our pursuers who must have looked tastier to him. Thanks to having made the decision immediately we had time to summon that thing and run, but that was too close and risky, we could have been killed by our own Summon. ----------------- 5 days later, village of the cursed. My body doesn''t even heal anymore in the parts that aren''t transformed into Dragon, I realized this early enough to transform my head before my mind was destroyed. So far the entire upper part of my body is already a Dragon from the chest up along with both arms, I''m only using 30% of the transformation, and even so, the pain just grows more and more. At first, I thought it was pain due to some damage to my Soul, but that was not the case, this Star Fire originated from my Soul and is not causing damage there, it just burned my Holy Power completely and my body which now feels half the body of a Slime. "(I can''t delay any longer... I have to take a step forward...)" (I) "< Blood Eclipse Dragon Awakening: 90% >" (I) At that moment Starfire covers my entire body, and my rationality disappears amidst the pain as my sister''s body diminishes in my vision, the same can be said of everything in the surroundings, but none of that matters as my vision turns red. Without thinking about anything I flap my wings towards my sister cutting with my claws, but she grabs my arm trying to twist, I ignore this as I continue moving forward letting the grabbed arm break as my teeth sink into her hand making fresh blood flow inside the my mouth before something went through my back followed by a kick to my stomach pushing my body backwards. I didn''t care about the pain or burning, I could feel my bones being burned and burned constantly, the blood in my veins was evaporating as it became thicker and thicker and my organs are on fire like everything else in my body. I ignored any pain less than what those damn flames were causing me and continued mindlessly advancing towards Natasha. This time our sizes weren''t so different and the same goes for our other physical characteristics, but this came at the cost of not being able to use magic or techniques that require a rational mind to use, only the simplest and crudest skills were used while we exchange blows. My claws went through her scales as her blows broke my bones, my teeth ripped out blood and flesh from her while her bone spines stuck more and more into my body, restricting my movements. The more time passed the damage only increased to me, her healing surpassing mine while the gap between us only decreased due to me doing things I don''t normally do. I try to cross one of her arms with my tail, but she uses her own tail to wrap around mine, creating a tug of war with our tails, the smile on her face never disappears as our claws cut each other brutally creating a rain of blood, I don''t know how much time passed before the flames inside me subsided for the first time relieving the pain as they gathered where my heart is. "What the... AAAHHHHHHH... HHHAAAAHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRR!!!!!" (I) RRROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!! Before I finished speaking the flames gathered in my heart transformed as all the blood within my body leaked through my wounds, the amount of blood coming out being as thick and heavy as crystalline red liquid metal. This blood felt alive as it moved around me taking the shape of a Dragon little by little, the amount of blood that came out was ridiculously little considering my current size, but even so, the Dragon made from my blood was growing larger as its body became more detailed until the moment this Dragon hits my chest making my body stop in place as my whole body shakes with the Starfire literally exploding inside me making my body in pieces flying in all directions enveloped in Starfire while my consciousness is again taken by oblivion. Chapter 1218: Cap 1216: The Liberation Of The Body Chapter 1218: Cap 1216: The Liberation Of The Body Pov Elizabeth''s: I was watching the training between my two brothers, at first, it was just a waste of time, the process to adapt Zenos'' body through destruction and healing would be very slow, this kind of thing can work to strengthen a body, but the What Zenos needs is not that. "He''s not progressing, it''s been a whole day since he opened his eyes and so far only his arm has been transformed into that of a Dragon." (I) "There must be some impediment to the ability caused by fear or your current condition." (Yaramaki) "I don''t believe he''s afraid, at least not for himself or we wouldn''t be in this situation." (I) "So the discordance between body and Soul is affecting him more than we anticipated." (Yaramaki) "He needs to go further, Dragons are pure power for a reason, his will influences his power, and he needs to have a stronger resolve to move forward." (I) Less than an hour later I saw progress for the first time, from his arm already transformed into a Dragon the rest of his body began to transform causing parts of his body to be destroyed leaving new ones behind. The process was slow and gradual, but it was clearly progressing as Natasha intensifies her attacks gradually so as not to lessen the extreme pressure Zenos is under, a good way to force him to continue. "How are his Wives?" (I) "They''re alive, that''s all I can say." (Yaramaki) "But the Champion of Fenrir is not happy, what is she doing now?" (Yaramaki) "She''s in her own training, it seems Fenrir Himself is watching over her." (I) "He is not known as a Merciful God." (Yaramaki) "That was her decision just as the other 3 chose to share Zenos'' suffering." (I) "How is Freya?" (I) "I don''t know, my range ends where the World Tree''s range begins, but she should be fine." (Yaramaki) "If Silvia was here she could have gone with Freya." (I) "You shouldn''t be worrying about others while you''re under the same torment as your little brother." (Yaramaki) I look at my shaking hands and feel the Starfire inside me, I''m sure Natasha and Caitlyn are feeling it too, but the effects on us were much reduced compared to what Zenos is feeling. "I''m fine, it doesn''t affect my body as much as it did him and those connected to him, even though I''m weakened I''m already perfect, so this fire is only accentuating my perfection." (I) "If you say so... it looks like he''s reached his limit, see." (Yaramaki) "..." (I) RRRROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!! Zenos now attacks like a true beast beginning an aerial battle against Natasha, the two fight with everything as their blood rains below, and the repercussions of their blows transform the terrain. "It''s almost complete." (I) "Yes, by my estimate within 3 days it will be over, he should wake up soon after." (Yaramaki) "His body and Soul are awake, only his mind is turned off, when his consciousness returns he will have the memories of all this as clearly as if he had never lost consciousness." (I) ----------------- Pov Vanessa''s: Some days ago. I was in the main Hall where the statues of the Gods were consecrated, I had just run here after being warned by another Blood Priest, but when I arrived where the statue of Zenos was consecrated in the middle of the pool of his own blood, the only I found standing by the pool of blood that was now burning with a Fire made of stars was Diana. "..." (I) I ran to her, her serious expression looking at the flames while my gaze followed hers, with great difficulty I saw shapes within those strange flames, they were 3 shapes of people hugging their own legs and spinning as they floated within the flames. "Why do you insist on doing this even after my warning?" (I) "They were scared, I understand that feeling and that''s why I didn''t say anything." (Diana) "Did I say you don''t need to be afraid or are you doubting my Father''s love for you?" (I) "None of us have ever doubted Zenos'' love, but the fear they feel is of not being able to be by his side, being able to fight alongside him or protect him in his weakest moment, none of us want to be a load for him to carry." (Diana) "I''m sure he would never..." (I) "I know, he would never think that about us, but it wouldn''t change the fact that we are too weak." (Diana) "The 3 of them trust Zenos and know that these flames would never be a bad thing, they know that entering here will lead to suffering, but when they leave they will be renewed." (Diana) Sigh "My only regret is not being able to accompany them, as a Champion of Fenrir, my path is different from the one they chose to take, but I will follow it to the top..." (Diana) "..." (I) Saying this she turns her back to the flames and goes outside, the light in her eyes even dimmer than when I found them a few hours ago. Sigh "Father, have you found some wives as reckless as you..." (I) "(I hope Freya''s disappearance isn''t for those same reasons... that idiot could at least leave a warning for her daughter before she disappears.)" (I) Chapter 1219: Cap 1217: Last Training Chapter 1219: Cap 1217: Last Training Pov Athena''s: I don''t know what happened, one day I was training inside the Dungeon, waiting for the end of the mission that Zenos went to help the Hero of Justice, I wanted to help, but I had nothing to do with the plan they chose to take, so I continued training, my strength level still doesn''t compare to what my sister had. I heard that my sister is already dead, that she died fighting against the Black Empire, but I don''t believe that she died, I can''t say if it''s an unwillingness to believe that the central figure in my mind for almost my entire life died or if it was because I lost my objective. All I know is that it doesn''t feel true that she is dead, so I continue training to drown all insecurity, anger, and frustration with the sweat of my training, each drop of sweat taking me further on the road I decided to follow and that Zenos helped me with taking. At least that''s what I thought before my eyes opened into a strange world, it was the main cathedral of the Church of Light where I was born and raised, but now it was in ruins as if it had just been attacked, bodies scattered across the floor of faces that I saw many times in my childhood, a red rain falling over everything as if the sky itself was bleeding, but even that did not put out the flames spread everywhere, whether in the ruins or in the bodies being charred, this Star Fire reminds me of Zenos. "What is happening here? This is a dream..." (I) "No, this is not a dream, Hero." (Caitlyn) "Lady Caitlyn?" (I) "I am sleeping?" (I) "Not exactly, you are unconscious due to the fundamental change that my Little Brother has undergone, so your bond with him is also changing." (Caitlyn) "He''s fine..." (I) Before I could finish speaking there was a gag in my mouth that appeared out of nowhere, so I looked at one of the Living Calamities, this was the first time I saw her acting seriously without the lazy appearance that doesn''t even bother stepping on the floor ground, she seems to be emitting a suffocating and dangerous presence. "You don''t need to know what happened to that idiot, your situation isn''t good at the moment to worry about others." (Caitlyn) "..." (I) "As I was saying before, the changing bond that binds you to my little brother is changing and so must you if you are to survive." (Caitlyn) "I am dying?" (I) "In the worst case, yes, if you are lucky the bond between the two of you will break permanently without affecting your strength too much, but the growth barriers that will appear in your future will be much more difficult to overcome making it difficult to progress in the future." (Caitlyn) "Neither option is acceptable, I suppose you being here means there is something I can do or am I wrong?" (I) My race may have changed, but I realized a long time ago that I still depend on Deities to maintain balance, my body literally consumes Holy Power for nourishment, and I need to be connected to a Deity to calm both my mind and emotions. I tried to make Loki this Deity when I left the Church of Light with him, I tried the same with the Goddess of Blood when following Saint Vanessa, but neither time did I succeed and I know the reason for that, Loki is no longer a Deity and I don''t I am able to trust in an unreachable God due to the breaking of the image I once had of the God of Light. "I was informed of the same advice, but the Gardener''s flames can affect the World Tree in unpredictable ways." "..." (I) "Now I understand... come closer." (I) "..." He kneels in front of me extending the open box to me, I let a drop of my blood drip onto the crystal as it created a magic circle mixed with my Authority. "< Blood of Nature and Will of the Eclipse As One >" (I) My blood around the seed burns as it becomes a plant with Star Flame flowers around it, with this the World Tree will be able to absorb these flames to grow more easily. "That should solve your problem, I imagine you were chosen to be the Elf King." (I) "This was the duty I accepted, I will dedicate my life to bringing this world to live with nature in harmony once again." "I really hope this happens... there is a sadness in my heart for all these lives lost, even though I know that this is a happy ending compared to the original plan and that all of this was a consequence of the decisions they made over centuries... for me it''s still sad." (I) With that said I was already taking it as my body changed into Dragon form, without looking back I flapped my wings towards the next city on the map I received. "I hope they take better care of their own planet next time because nature always wins in the end." (I) ----------------- Pov Zenos: When I opened my eyes I was confused by a claw hitting one of my eyes, but my body moved on its own ignoring the loss of an eye as my own claws are covered in my blood which crystallizes into even bigger claws ripping off Natasha''s arm that was stretched with that last attack. After that, several other attacks were made, she cut the side of my body, ripped off one of my wings, and broke my right leg after a kick that I missed, I on the other hand cut off her tail, crushed her jaw with a bite and used my tail to strangle its neck. The fight was brutal and fast with neither of us seeming to care about the damage, but I wasn''t moving my body with my thoughts, I could feel my body reacting with my will in a more direct and instinctive way. I made a great effort to keep my mind in meditation, delving deeper into this wild feeling before starting to interfere with my mind, which now guided this instinct towards goals in a more organic and simple way, without forming plans or anything like that, turning the complex into simplicity. It was at that moment that the pain seemed to hit me and I realized that my body was very damaged with flames rising from these wounds while my sister was healing as if her injuries were a mere illusion, then a headbutt from her throws me down where I land on my feet leaving a crater around me. She looked happy as she flew in the sky, her body almost fully recovered as she returned to her humanoid form looking at me teasingly, that''s when I felt something step on my snout and I had to put my eyes together to see that it was Elizabeth. "With this is the end of this training, now begins the last training... my training." (Elizabeth) Chapter 1220: Cap 1218: Is this thing alive!? Chapter 1220: Cap 1218: Is this thing alive!? Pov Hella''s: We were suddenly in a different place, we were no longer in the hut of this cursed village, we were in a cemetery full of tombstones made with dark purple marble, it was a cemetery with a little more than 100 graves. Facing me was a Man wearing simple clothes, he had 2 pairs of light purple eyes with a completely black fifth eye on his forehead, he had black hair braided to the side and wore a purple and black Mage''s cloak, his skin was marked with glowing Runes almost making him look like someone from the Runic Race. "As I said before, I bring you here, I hope it wasn''t too inconvenient." "..." (I) I looked around and then at the man in front of us, I could feel what he was and I''m sure the other two noticed it too. "I''m sorry for the lack of respect, but I can''t kneel as expected when meeting a God, my Master preaches respect for belief and not for position." (I) "I don''t care about these formalities created by mortals, only the most arrogant among the Gods care about such useless formalities." (God) "But I think that one of these formalities should not be avoided any longer, after all for this conversation to continue you must at least know my name since I know all of you." (God) "If I may, I know you, Demonic God of Curses, Exarrer." (Hellyos) "Your Soul, it''s different but I can still feel it... I understand, it feels like your Curse has been broken child of Hell." (God Exarrer) "I''ve never been in contact with..." (Haku) "Not all curses can be seen or felt, some curses originate within individuals while in rare cases the opposite can happen when an individual is born from within a curse." (God Exarrer) "But this is not the time to waste time, soon Tarzor will notice me and I will be removed once again, so we must be quick..." (Deus Exarrer) "You''ve already taken more than long enough and you still dare to take one of my slaves." (Zaya?) "Come on, I didn''t even come down to their lands and my interference was only focused on directing them, I didn''t do anything else as promised in our agreement." (God Exarrer) "Your interference took them away from their persecutors, those in my lands are on their own and should receive no help from Full Gods and Deities." (Zaya?) "Very well, whatever you want to let this slide, keep in mind I won''t get very far for just this level of interference." (God Exarrer) "I want the Curse of the Serpent of the 3 Hells." (Zaya?) "Deal done." (God Exarrer) "We fight, there''s no way this thing can move from here, if it''s attacked any longer it will become useless, we can''t let that happen as every delay could give our enemies time to get closer." (Haku) "Haku is right, we no longer have alternatives and unfortunately we are having trouble controlling our Holy Power because of this Starfire." (I) "We don''t have any more time, let''s go all out from the start and stay close so we can fight together." (I) "Yes." (Haku/Cinthia) When we leave I already transform into my Dragon form with the two climbing on my back, besides not being able to use our Sacred Power because of the Starfire, we no longer have any problems thanks to the Moon that absorbs these flames in a constant flow even now. "Cinthia, find the Insect Empress, just focus on this." (I) "Haku, Along with me." (I) "< Eclipse Breath >" (I) "< Contamination of Blood and Life >" (Haku) I open my jaws, revealing a starry sky inside where an Eclipse appeared, launching a stellar stream of pure destruction that passes through the enemies before reaching a barrier that cracks, managing to defend the blow, causing it to spread, causing damage in a wider area. Haku in turn created kilometers around us where countless drops of blood fly as if they were alive in a disorderly way, coming into contact with the enemies that show red spots spreading across their bodies, before they even manage to reach us, some of them explode revealing a creature made of crystallized blood with arms and legs shaped like blades as they begin to attack the Swarm of Insects. But with that, the insects soon adapted, isolating those who demonstrated a greater degree of corruption, killing them before transforming at the same time that the Aura of the Insect Empress tries to establish a Territory, prevented only by my Aura, together with Haku''s Aura, but with the combined Aura of the entire Swarm it doesn''t take long for us to be at a disadvantage with our Auras being pushed back as we fight the grandsons who finally get to where we are. That''s when two things happened, the first was a column of light appearing behind the enemies, it was definitely an attack from Cinthia showing that she found the Empress and must have started attacking, now we have to deal with the fight. While I was crushing the enemies between my claws, they were aiming their attacks only at the wounds that had not yet healed, and with my large Dragon body I ended up being an easy target for their strategies using their large numbers. Suddenly the sphere where the Moon was sealed began to tremble, since the sphere began to absorb the Star Fire, its previously visible interior only revealed the glow of the flames inside, making the Moon hidden within this strange fire, but now for the first time the Wait, I stopped absorbing the flames, making the previously small fire inside me grow to the point where it came out through my wounds, causing immense pain that I had to resist while fighting. The crystal now emitting more and more calls moved through the air taking the shape of a Dragon made entirely of this Starfire as it grew until it was bigger than me, this great Dragon attacked the enemies making their bodies wither just by coming into contact with its flames while any attack made against his fiery body became useless without causing damage. The Fire Dragon was moving around us, back and forth from where Cinthia must be fighting towards us as if she was trying to protect us. "Is this thing alive!?" (I) "I don''t know, but at this point, I accept the help." (Cinthia) With that, the tide of combat turned in our favor. Chapter 1221: Cap 1219: You pass if you survive Chapter 1221: Cap 1219: You pass if you survive I was happy that this training was over, I spent days fighting Natasha and I''m not even aware of how much time has passed, but I know that my body has never been so destroyed in my entire life along with my previous life. But now that Natasha had moved away and Elizabeth was standing on my snout while still in my Dragon form, I had a bad feeling mainly due to the gleam in her eyes. "Can''t you at least let me rest?" (I) "No, this isn''t just training to help you, it''s also punishment for what you did to get to this state." (Elizabeth) "I know I made a mistake, Caitlyn made sure to say it a few times and Natasha hammered that mistake into me while breaking my bones." (I) "You just think you understand, but you don''t really understand because you don''t have the basis of understanding to understand." (Elizabeth) "You don''t fully understand what a Soul is, you don''t even fully understand yourself or what Deities are to begin to understand what you''ve done." (Elizabeth) "What you did changed your power, your Aura, your Body, your Authority, and even your Soul." (Elizabeth) "What you did changed your Soul on a fundamental level, if it were any other creature it could have become an immortal abomination causing endless destruction wherever it went, but because you possessed the Power of Chaos it was possible to adapt to the madness that you did, but even then the consequences could still have killed you by destroying your body, even after we managed to heal your body stabilizing the situation, you could have died if not for the Communal Temple in your Dungeon having the ideal environment to keep you stabilized." (Elizabeth) "Just what I said was 1 possibility of almost certain destruction of the Soul and 2 almost deaths, do you have any idea what that means!?" (Elizabeth) "Me..." (I) "Remember that you are a Blood Demigod, direct son of the Goddess Selene, a Vampire Patriarch and a Primal Dragon!" (Elizabeth) "The kind of thing that needs to be done to bring you almost to death 3 times is so absurd that it''s hard for me to think of anything even with my long life!" (Elizabeth) "ARGH!!!" (I) Suddenly a hand made entirely of blood appears filled with the power of Elizabeth''s Authority, this large hand squeezed me completely to the point that I felt my bones cracking before stopping. "Natasha is happy with your fight and with punishing you during this training, but neither Caitlyn nor I think it was enough, but after this training, we will forgive what you did if you survive." (Elizabeth) "I understand... now if you could... let me go..." (I) "Return to your Human form." (Elizabeth) I tried to do just that, but I wasn''t succeeding, that''s when I looked through my skills and realized that the [ Blood Eclipse Dragon Awakening ] Skill had disappeared. "..." (I) I couldn''t understand what was happening, but the more I sought the skill, the more discomfort I felt at the thought that I would never return to my normal body, I didn''t fall into despair, just my emotional control, leaving only the discomfort until my Sister seemed to notice. "Are you trying to use your Dragon Awakening Skill?" (Elizabeth) "I seem to have lost the ability." (I) "Wait... Elizabeth, what are you..." (I) "You pass my training if you survive coming back through that door." (Elizabeth) "ELIZABETH!!!!!" (I) With the end of his last word, the big hand flies into hell''s gate, still squeezing me while trying to free me with all my strength. The sight of seeing the gate closing behind me was almost as bad as the presence full of desolation denying the vital energy within me trying to expel the vitality within me leading to my death, this only stopped when I wrapped my body with my Aura and finally the big hand holding me evaporates leaving only a closed gate floating in the air of a macabre world in my vision no matter which direction I look. "Do they really want to kill me?" (I) GGGRRRRRR!!!! AAAHHHHH!! RRRROOOOOOAAAARRRRR!!! I began to hear sounds of screams, roars, and a variety of sounds before I noticed a gray cloud coming towards me, they were Ghosts with smiling faces. "..." (I) ---------------- Pov Elizabeth''s: When the gate to hell closed was when I allowed my body to fall to my knees on the ground from exhaustion that soon disappeared with the wave of vitality flowing into me. "Thanks." (I) "Do you think he can do it?" (Yaramaki) "I don''t know, but I prefer to believe that one of my younger brothers can do this, I haven''t seen a son of the Blood Goddess die so easily, especially this idiot." (I) "The presence of Hell and the creatures that rule there will be a great pressure, to survive he will need the Authority in one way or another." (I) "(He will instinctively know or at least he should, so good luck little brother.)" (I) "So my services will no longer be needed here?" (Yaramaki) "Yes and I thank you for your help." (I) "Then I''ll leave the rest to you, looks like I have last minute things to do." (Yaramaki) With that, she disappears from my front and I sit under a tree where I can see the Gate of Hell which has now become Ethereal, I will sit here and wait for him. Chapter 1222: Cap 1220: They are under my protection Chapter 1222: Cap 1220: They are under my protection Pov Hades: "< Territory... >" (I) "I told you not to use the Territory!" (Haku) "Look around, we have nowhere to run or anything to do, they keep coming, I have to do something!" (I) The first insect ambush was already a bad situation, something we overcame with the help of the Starfire Dragon, mother even that can''t help us now, these enemies were just bait to get our attention and it took us a long time to realize that. Soon another 2 even larger Swarms of Insects appeared along with the construction of a unified Territory by the Insect Empresses trapping us all together inside which was a forest with trees reaching up to the heavens hidden by the foliage of the trees while the ground had countless holes giants like endless caves from which a multitude of insects emerged. Since this Star Fire appeared in our bodies we have not been able to use our Sacred Power and much less our Territory, even the power of our Authority was being negatively affected making possible the precise control necessary in building a Territory. The Starfire Dragon was being contained by barriers made from the insects'' own living bodies, whenever the Starfire Dragon broke through a barrier another was quickly created before it could move away, so we were left in a fierce fight against a overwhelming numerical disadvantage. In a matter of minutes, Cinthia who was furthest away from us was seriously barely able to reunite with us, I myself was very injured with smaller insects trying to enter my body through the wounds I had only to die with the Starfire burning inside me now that the Moon has stopped absorbing these flames. Because of this situation, I tried to create a Territory to forcefully push the enemies'' control over this area, but I couldn''t do that in this situation and just because I tried my body burst into flames causing many of my scales to break, at least this destroyed several enemies Upcoming. It was at that moment that someone appeared among the enemies, he wasn''t a Bug, and he also didn''t look like one of the flesh abominations of the Apostles of Truth, he wore a long dark green coat on top of a gray cloak, clearly, he was a Vampire since I could see his teeth as he smiled as he approached, making the insects stop attacking. "You are more resilient than I thought, how about you join me, your powers are limited serving such a weak Demigod..." Fi?ndd new updates at novelhall.com "< Eclipse Breath >" (I) "< Blood Execution >" (Haku) "< Blades of the Demonic Dragon >" (Cinthia) "Child''s play." He doesn''t even move as his Aura filled with the power of Authority and Holy Power concentrates in his hand which he uses to grab one of the hundreds of blades surrounding his body, he uses this blade of pure energy to cut through my breath attack before launching the energy blade to explode the blood skull that Haku created. The entire time he didn''t move anything other than that arm and managed to defend himself from our 3 attacks, he was clearly superior in strength and was not an ally. "You have no choice here, before I was kind enough to ask, now I demand your submission to me in one way or another." "< Holy Curse: Shackles of Greed >" During this time there was no enemy attack, but I could feel a flow of power draining from the insects to the man in front of us as their presence grew larger and larger until it surpassed what I could feel from Karina. "That''s the difference between us, you borrow your power from others, and I take as much as I want!" His body grew with each word until he was a little taller than Karina, the Dragon Totem glows becoming an inscription on the blade of the Star Sword, this further increased Karina''s presence without increasing her size at the same time as the Fire Dragon Starfire fell apart as her strange flames covered Karina''s entire body before crystallizing, the scales and Crystal Armor complementing each other beautifully. "As long as Zenos is not here, they are under my protection!!" (Karina) ---------------- Zenos POV: This place is crazy, there are infinite Auras exploding full of horrible intentions, and the smell of blood was permanent as if it were part of the air here, but it wasn''t the tasty smell, it was something more bitter and at the same time sour, it was a disgusting odor. The climate and geography here also don''t make sense, I saw a desert where it didn''t stop raining, a swamp full of trees where the water is mud was replaced by magma, rivers where there was no liquid at all and it was just bones flowing through the dry river. Nothing here made sense, not to mention that it was impossible to record where I was going or where I had already been, it was as if things were changing places or I was incapable of distinguishing directions, I still hadn''t discovered which of the two possibilities were true. The only constant in this place was the energy of Death and Curse predominant in everything as if everything here was made of this, the decay of this place was not something to be seen but felt continuously, not to mention that since my first minutes here I have been attacked by countless creatures. "< Explosive Flow Cut >" (I) I hold my sword and dagger and pass through hundreds of enemies, always cutting a vital point such as destroying their heart, cutting their head off, or piercing their eye until reaching their brain, each blow was part of the same blow that accumulated strength stealing from the enemies to explode on the last of them. They were all of the Demon or Undead race, but they were mere wild beasts with no intelligent thought to realize the difference in strength between us, but the one behind them was different, it was a woman with gray skin, two cracked white horns, and empty eyes, but as soon as I got close she ripped her own arm off to hit me. I continue my attack breaking her torn arm in two only for her hand to grab my face, even so I remain calm as I rest my sword on her waist pointing diagonally upwards making this the last blow that with great power splits her body in two before before I finish with the dagger in the middle of her forehead, only then do I remove that hand from my face before running knowing that they will all get up in a few hours. "Of course, who would die in hell? They''re all already dead." (I) "To die here you would have to be an IDIOT WHO ENTERED HELL ALIVE!!!" (I) GGRRRAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!! "I had to scream... and so close to a... whatever this is..." (I) I was running alongside a river of bones when half of the bones started to bleed and come together forming a clump of mismatched skulls tied together by blood red tentacles in the shape of a 6-legged beast that quickly ran after me. "Stop running after me, I have few bones in my body, go get that pile of bodies I left behind, stupid creature!" (I) Chapter 1223: Cap 1221: This is my time to intervene Chapter 1223: Cap 1221: This is my time to intervene Pov Haku: I had to do something, Saint Karina could be here defending us, but that man wasn''t the only enemy, even though he is draining his own army, I can still feel the Insect Empresses moving towards us alone, I must have just a few seconds before they arrive. Cinthia was still injured from what she suffered while she was away from us earlier, Hades was already seriously injured from the previous ambush and got even more serious injuries during that battle, to make matters worse for Hades the drain of his blood seems to have affected him a lot already that your Aura seems so weak now. I''m also injured, but I''m the one in the best condition among the three of us, this Star Fire has been causing me great pain throughout my body, which surprisingly doesn''t bother me that much. "(I didn''t want to try this, but I have no choice.)" (I) "< Aura Relic: Blood of Chaos >" (I) Unlike others, my Aura Relic is not a crystallization of my Aura, this is because my Aura Relic is my own blood that merges with my Aura, becoming pure energy in my veins, directly affecting my body. GGGGGGGRRRRRRRR!!!!!! My body changes and turns red while my hair becomes ethereal and my wings grow to twice the size, every aspect of my body becomes stronger as I do not even use the Star Flames to adapt my body causing a completely new level of pain until my consciousness flickered back only with the attack of the 5 Bug Empresses piercing my body from different directions. "Thank you for coming..." (I) "< Parasitic Butterflies >" (I) From his Aura, several Butterflies emerge with wings made from the Star Flames themselves, they enter the body of two of the five Empresses while I use my claws to pierce the body of a third before they all move away. Of the two that were infested by my butterflies, one of them has several tiny insects coming out of its wounds with pieces of my butterflies dissipating into the air. While the other, her body starts to burn, pushing the other 4 away from her, but this only means that they lost the best possibility of killing her when her body melts like ice on a hot day, less than 2 seconds later her body becomes a hard shell that for an attack aimed at her that only managed to crack the shell that explodes revealing a figure inside opening its Starfire wings like those of a butterfly. It was a creature with no other features other than the silhouette that imitates mine and the white hair, its wings made of Star Flames flapped, spreading a wave of fire around it that hit the Insect Empress who attacked her cocoon or should I say the remains of what left over from his old body. I glance at Cinthia who took Hades away, the whole time I can feel both of them and I felt her moving away leaving me relieved as it took me longer than expected to adapt my body to these flames using my Aura Relic, even so, the pain only increased, the burning energy coursing through my veins causes me no harm, but the pressure and pain I feel is much greater than I imagined. "(I have to take care of these Empresses while Saint Karina takes care of that enemy and they have to be quick while I can maintain consciousness.)" (I) ----------------- "What did you say!?" (Caitlyn) "I didn''t say anything... I swear I didn''t say anything..." (I) I had sweat dripping down my back as she focused her eyes on me, any romantic topic is taboo around this embittered brat, I''m lucky I had a dangerous situation occurring or I''d have to watch out for Caitlyn trying to kill me again. --------------- After several minutes the situation occurred as I thought it would, Haku killed all the Insect Empresses at the cost of few serious injuries, the worst she suffered was caused by Zenos'' Flames of Rebirth whose power she used putting great pressure on her body and her Soul. Haku did well by creating an ally with her first attack, it was garlic that she tried to do again without having a second success since enemies won''t fall for a trick like that twice, but even so, this creature she created served to divide attention from enemies and as a living shield for some dangerous attacks. After all this time the Swarm of Insects was already dead for a long time, but even so that Priest of Greed is still drawing power from their Souls and the power of death that surrounded their bodies trying to take the Souls, that''s why I hate those bastards. Because of this, her power was already far above what Karina could carry while her power was falling, the Star Flames she used as armor were consuming a lot of Holy Power, which by the way she had to spend, but the Flames were finite and were running out later After a long fight, this diminished one of her greatest weapons in this fight and even so, she still lasted a long time just fighting at a disadvantage. The Star Sword released a Dragon of energy with each slash making it difficult for the Priest of Greed to dodge or defend, yet the damage he suffered from these attacks was not severe even as it accumulated throughout the fight. His focus seems to be on the use of Runes and energy manipulation, around his body there were dozens of rings made of lines of Runes with different sizes. Whenever he attacked, he didn''t use his own energy, he always used the energy he was absorbing from the Swarm and thanks to this he preserved his strength while Karina spent hers. Right now he is almost completely fine with the only true damage being a diagonal cut from his right shoulder to the left part of his waist. But compared to the little damage on him, Karina was full of injuries, be it broken scales all over her body, she was talking about her Starfire armor, the loss of a few fingers, and several broken bones. Of course, none of these physical injuries were a deterrent for a True Dragon like her, but the Runes branded on her body were doing damage to her Aura and Soul while increasing the already great pressure on her body, it looks like I''ll have to intervene sooner than I expected. "(It looks like she won''t last much longer, but at least it should be a good combat experience for her.)" (I) "Looks like it''s my turn, I''m going." (I) "I''ll at least get her out of the way." (Caitlyn) "< Divine Incarnation: 20% >" (I)n((0In Chapter 1224: Cap 1222: Hell really is hell Chapter 1224: Cap 1222: Hell really is hell I was underground in a cave that I dug myself to try to hide, but I can still feel the Diabolical creatures coming after me, the barriers I left behind won''t last long. "(I won''t last forever in this place...)" (I) I just needed enough time to think, Elizabeth threw me here suddenly and since then I haven''t had time to think calmly. She was looking at my arms covered by my Aura, but she could feel my Aura being corroded by the Aura of Hell itself, I also felt that my tiredness takes time to recover here and my hunger is becoming greater and greater. The worst of all is that I made a small cut on my hand to find out how my healing is going, but everything was much worse than I imagined, my normal recovery was at half the normal power, which is still very good considering what I can normally do grow lost limbs, but the worst part wasn''t the decrease in my ability to heal, the worst thing was realizing that the insignificant trace of vitality I lost with that measly injury didn''t recover even when the wound was completely healed. "It seems that I cannot recover my vitality, so I must avoid most fighting and when I do fight, avoid as many injuries as possible." (I) I after that tried to recover my energy by meditating for a few minutes and luckily this worked very well, but there was a cost, recovering energy means absorbing these energies from the world around, but that means letting some of the power of Hell into my body, the same power that is corroding my Aura and trying to destroy my vitality. One of the few things that were good about my experiments was discovering that the Starfire within me could burn this energy, presence, or Aura from hell, the problem was that I had no control over these strange flames. Fortunately, these strange flames were no longer causing damage or pain to me like before, what I was feeling was minimal compared to before. But one thing remained the same, the Holy Power within my body was still being burned by Starfire making it impossible to resort to the best source of energy to use in this place. Demonic energy was the only one I could use without causing damage to me and the hardest thing to recover from, but even without using it I''m sure that all creatures in this place must have resistance to this energy and the same must happen with curses. "My sword and dagger are deteriorating, soon they will be useless, my clothes are going the same way, this place seems to be destroying everything that is not made of death or Demonic energies." (I) I close my eyes trying to feel the outside and I figure I still have about 20 or 30 minutes before I run from this place. "I don''t want to fight without any protection, I think I''ll have to go back to the old ways." (I) --------------- I spent almost all the time I had left using my threads made using Demonic energy and Metal Affinity to create simple clothes for myself, nothing that comes close to something Tania can make with her eyes closed, but it''s still better than nothing. After I changed my clothes I realized that it was no longer suffering from the wear and tear it used to have, I also realized that the effects of the Demonic magic I used were stronger than expected, probably due to the environment full of this type of energy, I wish I had used my blood to make the clothes even stronger, which would have used up more of my vitality and that''s why I didn''t do it. "The greatest needs are ready, I have a sense of what to expect and I have some protection for my body, now to attack..." (I) I throw aside my soon to be useless weapons and using what I learned about my new body, I try to transform just my tail, arms, and legs into their Dragon forms, when I realized that I can alter this with some ease just by briefly focusing on it, I realized that only my body would be a truly useful weapon in this place. Fi?ndd new updates at novelhall.com "< Path of Shadows >" (I) This whole cave is dark, I simply enter this darkness leaving a magic circle hundreds of meters away in a place that was already in another smaller cave, as soon as I arrived I ran out of there looking in the direction where my previous hiding place should be, but the landscape had changed once again, what were once hills, now became a swamp, clearly things had changed once again. I looked around in all directions and didn''t see any hilltops, I guess now I know what''s going on to some extent. n(-In I soon realized why he was so bold with his attacks and so careless with his defense, my attacks were doing almost no damage or perhaps I should say that every time I dealt damage his body was remade healing him in the process. When I cut his arm with my claws I realized that his muscles were hard as steel, but the same could not be said of his head and torso, so I made a hole in his head using my tail and caused several cuts on his chest to the point of cut the bones from the inside, but all that damage was healed as his body writhed around the wounds like some kind of Slime before closing the wounds healing him in the process. "MY GREAT SELF BECOMING FOOD!! MY PRECIOUS BODY WAS TREATED AS AN INGREDIENT LIKE THE POTIONS I USED TO MAKE JUST TO BE EATEN!!! EATEN!!!" "DETESTABLE!!!" "DETESTABLE!!!" "DETESTABLE!!!" He continued talking to himself while attacking me, but among his murderous madness, his story came together in my head like a puzzle bringing an old memory back to my mind. The memory of when I got the Synthesis ability, an ability I got by melting the body of a criminal Alchemist in a sphere of water with a corrosion effect, I remember that it was Layla who captured him secretly invading her laboratory, his story and fixation on me match I had a lot of this memory to the point where I wondered if it really was this Alchemist. "(He died and came to hell? How does he know about me!?)" (I) In my memories, he never saw my face and even if he did, I no longer look like I did in the past, how could he recognize me? As I fought with him I noticed more creatures gathering in the distance, I couldn''t continue with that, so I waited a few seconds for an opportunity to get behind him after one of his blows and broke his spine in two places before pulling him to him while clamping my teeth into your flesh to devour all the blood in your body. "TO DIE!!!!" "TO DIE!!!!" "TO DIE!!!!" "TO DIE!!!!" "To die!!!" "To die..." "..." Soon he stops fighting and I throw his body aside before running, but I still notice a red cloud of monsters coming towards me, but I still had a smile on my face as I found the solution to my problem as I realized that my vitality had recovered a little just as my Demonic energy had grown. "I think I really am in Hell, a place that brings out the worst in people." (I) I knew I couldn''t run forever, running away wouldn''t be a solution and the number of creatures chasing me only seems to grow, the more I run the worse it gets and that''s why I stop while facing the enemies, I need to get rid of them in one go once and for all. "No more running away!" (I) Chapter 1225: Cap 1223: I am the Incarnation of War Chapter 1225: Cap 1223: I am the Incarnation of War Pov Natasha''s: "< Divine Incarnation: 20% >" (I) The Stellar flames try to stop my transformation, but it is a futile effort when I use my Authority to temporarily seal the flames in my left hand. Meanwhile, most of my Authority consumes the Holy Power that those flames did not burn and mixes it with my Aura while incorporating it into my own body by elevating all of my Authority into a trace of Divinity using my Holy Power. I feel my whole body change as my speed increases, I arrive in time to kick Karina away, making her dodge an attack that would have taken one of her legs off at the very least. But I don''t use this opportunity for a surprise strike, I see the surprise in this Priest''s eyes as his eyes change to a golden hue for a second causing a smile to appear on his face before his eyes return to normal with the smile disappearing just as quickly how much it came up. "(Now, that makes a little more sense.)" (I) I see him step back as he looks between me and Karina who was looking directly at me. "Back off, I''ll handle it." (I) "But this is my duty as a Saint of..." (Karina) "Karina! That wasn''t a request or advice, it was a statement, you will back down now!" (I) "Without Zenos here you don''t have the power to efficiently use what is in your possession, you are also trying too hard to control these objects, stay away." (I) "..." (Karina) The bitterness in her eyes is clear, Dragons hate feeling weak and I''m doing this to her without mercy, I hope this motivates her to get stronger, but just to make sure she doesn''t return to battle, I crush her Aura with my own Aura enjoying the increase in power due to my Divine Incarnation. "Sorry to keep you waiting." (I) "Don''t try to fool me Living Brutality... you were ready to attack me at the slightest movement." "It seems that Greed has learned to choose his Priests better." (I) "Can we stop this spectacle? Why are you attacking?" (I) "Don''t try to talk big..." Suddenly the Priest''s presence changes once again as a face made of energy appears in front of his like some sort of mask, the eyes once again turn golden once again as the energy face smiles. "Natasha, how did you find out about me? Was it the oversight from earlier?" (Greed) "I''ve fought against you several times, I know you consider your Priests as part of your power and extensions of yourself, but I was sure you were paying attention here because of your slip-up." (I) "Then I''ll be blunt, hand over the Divine Weapon now." (Greed) I look at Karina shrinking in size, the Flames that previously served as her armor are now concentrating into a sphere. "This doesn''t belong to you." (I) "This isn''t over yet..." (Greed) Making sure that no trace of enemies could be felt or seen in any direction I began to spit out burning blood halfway while returning to my normal body. The sword in my hands disappears with my Blood Core returning within me and the image of the battlefield fading to reveal the dried remains of the Bugs floating aimlessly now that they are dead. When my armor disappears I look at my left arm where the flame was sealed, it was blackened with cracked skin and the very bones burning inside. "That was harder than I expected." (I) I look at the others approaching, from what I could see Cinthia and Hades are unconscious, and Haku was heavily injured but was awake. Karina was once again unconscious with Starfire covering her body and a sphere floating above her continuously absorbing these flames, it was doing the same to Caitlyn and the 3 Divine Servants of Zenos, as I approached the Flames destroying my arm were also taken away largely making it easier to heal my arm. "I was tired of waiting, how are the injuries?" (Caitlyn) "All my organs destroyed, left arm useless and several bones broken." (I) "It could have been worse." (I) "Let''s go." (Caitlyn) Caitlyn and the others were sitting on a very large bed, I join them when Caitlyn throws a door forward that grows very large before opening the door we passed along with the bed we are in, we should be home in a few minutes. -------------- Pov Irius: I was finishing burying the last person from this city when Silvia came back with Irina, it''s been more than 2 weeks since we''ve been massacring the people of this world, but for the two of them to be here it means there was some problem or there is no longer a city to destroy. "Did something happen?" (I) "No, the people of this world are too weak and were already limited in their numbers due to centuries of futile fighting." (Irina) "I still don''t like it, it makes me feel like I''m back in the days when we were part of the Inquisitors of Light." (I) "These people were already dead, everything on this planet will die before being reborn and it has already started." (Silvia) I look around without seeing anything different. "I don''t see anything different." (I) "With magic as large-scale as this, we won''t notice the changes until it''s too late, but I''ve been warned that we have 2 days to get off this planet." (Irina) "There must still be many who have escaped the cities and gone into hiding, but we cannot help everyone, I hope their Soul is not destroyed when the magic reaches them." (Silvia) "..." (I) With everything finished, we left the city that I just destroyed, heading to our transport to leave this planet, it was time to return home. Chapter 1226: Cap 1224: Squeezing the potential Chapter 1226: Cap 1224: Squeezing the potential I''ve been in this hell for days now and with each passing day I feel my Aura weaken while burns begin to appear in some areas of my body, I also feel my hunger growing more and more to the point that no matter how many Demons I''m eating now, it''s never enough. The longer I stay in this place I feel the worst parts of me reveal themselves more, I never denied these parts of myself knowing I was far from the innocent man who died in a hospital bed, but I also don''t want to be a monster thirsty only for blood, if I didn''t have such great control over my emotions and a strong will, now I would be acting like all these Demons that I have been killing. "So you''re not dead?" (I) "No, we are reborn as full Demons, we give ourselves over to the darker side of our Souls, corrupting our own Souls to live." Right now I was in a place surrounded by dried corpses, a sphere of blood spinning above me while Demonic claws made of darkness are buried in the body of a Demon whose entire body looks like that of a Human if it weren''t for the pair of horns on the head. n-).(/-//./(/1()n "The longer you stay here, the less of your humanity you will retain." I look at him, I know this is just a clone of him, his voice doesn''t show the pain of what I''m doing to his body, his Aura doesn''t seem to be part of this body and my instincts are screaming to run. "Why are you coming after me?" (I) "What would you do if you were left in a desert for days without food and water, then a dinner table with all the best delicious delicacies fell from the sky?" "How do you always know where I am?" (I) "This is a place of death, you are the only living thing, the scent of your vitality is like a bonfire in absolute darkness, we can see and feel you anywhere." "You are very confident in catching me." (I) "That''s because I''m already close enough to you to know that you''ll soon weaken, even this clone was just to distract you while the others get closer to tire you out more and more." I grab his head with one hand as he smiles and squeeze until there is no head left before looking around, but I can''t feel anything. "It''s still not enough." (I) "< Compress >" (I) I make this blood floating above me compress until it becomes a small crystal that together with the crystal presses against my chest, I''ve done this a few times now so it doesn''t hurt like it did the first time. The flames inside me and this Blood Core will burn everything that is useless in this blood, I discovered that only those Demons that still seem to have some brains are edible, those that are just beasts are not useful to satisfy my hunger or recover my vitality, That''s why I started refining my blood this way, it keeps the Starfire away from me. "I have to find someone stronger..." (I) Our combat was not fair at all, many Demons and the Ghosts that this Spectral Dragon commanded attacked me many times, causing openings that the Dragon did not miss, leaving my body badly treated. Just as I fought with Natasha for weeks, my body was once again beaten to the point that every bone in my body was destroyed, I was once again using a skill to move my body, a skill that consumes mana, a limited resource in this place. Even now where just the two of us are still in the fight, it''s only a matter of time for another Demon to come attack me, giving another opening for that damn Dragon to attack. During all this combat the memories of my continuous combat with my sister flashed in my mind. "(Don''t think...)" (I) "(Let instinct take the body...)" (I) "(Just move on...)" (I) "(When you no longer have strength, go further...)" (I) My breathing was heavy, my mana was reaching its limit as well as all my other energies, and my Aura was weaker and still maintaining itself with only my willpower keeping it protecting my body. "< Aura Relic: Blood of the Eclipse >" (I) I didn''t even imagine the form of my Aura Relic, I just let my Aura take shape along with my words with the image in my mind forming following the Aura that penetrates my blood while I am no longer able to differentiate between my Aura and my blood. When I attacked the Spectral Dragon again my blood moved following only my will to attack, left my body gathering in my hand as I created a sword that was easily my size, a sword that felt like it was part of me as it moved in an attack cutting carrying several of the Dragon''s legs. Soon the fight intensified, and I completely abandoned defense acting like a wild beast moving the sword as if I was moving my own claws, each attack on the Dragon''s body left wounds that could not heal, its body stained with red energy that spread throughout his body from the wounds. When its teeth caught my sword, I ignored its claw piercing my stomach and made the once-solid sword turn to liquid flowing from one arm to the other before reforming, then I slashed with the sword at the creature''s exposed neck, cutting it almost in half. At that moment, hunger roared inside me when I associated the cut neck with blood, and responding to this desire, the sword made from my blood once again became liquid as it entered the spectral body of this Dragon through the large wound in its neck at the same time as my body weakens. I feel my body burn with a cold energy invading my body draining my vitality and with a look waiting for the enemy to take advantage of my weakness I am surprised to see the Spectral Dragon struggling while red lines spread across its body, even its eyes became red as his body seemed to slowly melt as we both fell to the ground. Even after the fall, I didn''t lose my consciousness through sheer force of will as I dragged my body closer to the Spectral Dragon that is still melting, I felt a calling for me that I tried to reach before someone fell from the sky, a blue-skinned Humanoid figure was everything that I could see before his hand sank into my heart from behind. But my Blood Core ignites, letting the Stellar flames explode hitting the enemy at the same time as a large wave of blood appears behind him descending on both of us, he squats through the wave creating a path through which he escapes while I dive into this blood smiling. "(Only with enough pressure can you squeeze out every last drop of potential...)" (I) This was something that Natasha told me more than 1 year ago, shortly after my evolution, but when I felt all this blood entering me, healing my body and filling me once again with power, I realized what she meant. Chapter 1227: Cap 1225: Do You Know Who I Am... Chapter 1227: Cap 1225: Do You Know Who I Am... Seconds became minutes when the feeling of power without coming finally subsided and I noticed that my body was back to perfection, my vitality fully recovered and my blood had returned to normal while my memory of events were still fragmented as I acted more on instinct. than following my mind. "(So my Aura Relic can be used to heal me?)" (I) I tried to feel my Aura and realized that it was very weakened and at the same time it was more difficult to control. "(It seems like I can''t use the Aura Relic in succession, I could try to force it, but I don''t want to test with my only protection in this hostile place.)" (I) I looked around and I was in a crater which must be where I fell along with that Spectral Dragon, but now I only respect the bottom of the crater, I don''t see a trace of the Dragon. What I saw was the Demons waiting in the surroundings, some of them fearfully walking back while other mindless ones were roaring or shouting from the edge of the large crater without daring to enter. "Why are they acting like this?" (I) I didn''t understand what was happening, but as soon as I tried to move my bones began to crack while my blood seemed to harden in my veins. "(A reaction for using the Aura Relic!?)" (I) I couldn''t stay in this place for long, the longer I stay in one place these Demons increase in number. I open my wings and with strong impulses, I fly faster than they can follow, as soon as I see the first forest I enter, more complex places to move like this are better for fighting larger numbers of enemies. Sigh I stop near a water fountain, I didn''t see many in this place and I needed something to drink, but as soon as my hand got closer a hand made of water grabs my hand and I jerk back, already transforming my arms into its shape. of Dragon. "Who''s there!?" (I) "Don''t worry, we don''t need you." "I won''t do you any harm." "I just want to make a trade." "Fair for both sides." From the water a figure stands up emptying the small water fountain, this figure was entirely made of water with a feminine looking body, she began to speak catching my attention before the others. Just when I thought this was strange I heard more voices and realized that one of the trees was changing shape to a more Human appearance, even the earth where it thinks moved as someone left the ground, then the air gathered in a whirlpool that little by little took the shape of the tree translucent form of a girl. I was surrounded wondering if I had entered a den of tigers only to realize I was surrounded with no way to escape. "Who are you!?" (I) These things do not emit cursed energy, they do not emit death energy or even Demonic energy, their speech is calm with each word shaking me in my Soul as if the vibrations of their words were going through my Soul. "You know who we are." "(There must be some way out of this, I must have something she wants, there is nothing else I can think of for her to go to the trouble of doing all this to show the difference between us.)" (I) "It doesn''t make any difference what you do, I don''t know if this is some kind of illusion or if it''s real, but the simple fact of this doubt shows the difference between us, so why try to be hostile towards someone above me." (I) "I like your ability to remain calm, there were many people in the past who tried to attack me, went crazy, or whatever else happened to fall into despair in the face of an overwhelming difference." "It seems Selene''s children at least have strong hearts." "Would you at least answer who you are?" (I) "(She knows who I am, she could be a Deity or something, there''s no way my identity is known to the creatures in this place.)" (I) "I am not a Deity and make no mistake about the information about you, many individuals you killed are here, as well as some acquaintances who were sealed here as the Evil God of Corpses." "..." (I) "You can read my mind." (I) "As easily as hearing your voice, nothing here is hidden from me." Nothing she says makes sense, she can read my mind without me noticing, she can change her shape, and create completely real illusions, her presence is intense at the same time as imperceptible, since I sat down my instinct seems to have turned off as if there was no nothing he could do against her. "You really can''t say who you are or don''t want to?" (I) "I already told you, you know who I am, you know from the moment I held your arm near the water, that''s why you didn''t try to attack me once, even when I was in front of you with a male body, you didn''t even try to run because you knew that there was nowhere to run." "Even now you know why I don''t answer, you also know who I am, the only question you really want an answer to is "why?"... ha hahaha..." "..." (I) "(There''s nowhere to run... there''s no way to attack... you know what''s going on in my mind... you know who I am... the first Creature that seems to maintain rationality so perfectly... claims that I know who she is... your presence... yes... your presence...)" (I) Someone like her should be able to hide her presence, but she reveals it, and yet I can''t differentiate or see the depth of her presence, her Aura blends with the world in a way I''ve only seen a few times. Sigh "I know who you are..." (I) "Say, I want you to talk." She is laughing, her smile reveals all her teeth, and yet it only accentuates her beauty showing a touch of arrogant amusement, but her eyes are pure cruelty to the point that until now I have not been able to look directly into her eyes and I only realized now this fear. "You are Hell." (I) "I don''t like that name, so refer to me as Callidora, I believe you understand the meaning." (Callidora) "She who has the gift of beauty is not the name I expected." (I) "I have many names with many meanings, what is one more name in the infinities I already have?" (Callidora) Chapter 1228: Cap 1226: Trial Of Heroes Chapter 1228: Cap 1226: Trial Of Heroes Pov Athena''s: "No... No... No... No... No... No... No..." (I) I was on my knees with my hands on the floor as tears fell from my eyes, the images of what I saw and heard repeating themselves in an endless cycle. "Lie... lie... it was all a lie... lie..." (I) "Is that all you can do!?" (Caitlyn) "..." (I) "That''s your determination and willpower!?" (Caitlyn) "I... I can''t..." (I) "Do you want to give up? Then raise your hand to me and say the words!" (Caitlyn) "..." (I) "(This is a nightmare, a mere illusion, why can''t I do it, why do I accept it!?)" (I) I look at my hands, lifting them from the floor, my hands were shaking, I felt my mind was confused and my body was weak, I had no desire to do anything, I had nothing to hold on to. "(Nothing has changed, nothing has changed, I''m just a burden to others...)" (I) "If you want to give up, then say so while shaking my hands!" (Caitlyn) I wanted to give up, being very honest with myself, I don''t believe I can do that, I can''t even look at my reflection in the mirror anymore. I looked at my hands that are so different from the past and then at the wings on my back that have long since lost their white color. "(I can''t disappoint them too or else what''s the meaning of still being alive?)" (I) The images of my friends, the image of my new Mother, and the image of master Zenos appearing in my mind, my friends trusted me, fleeing from the Church of Light guided by me, Zenos and Vanessa welcomed me into their home when it could still be considered an enemy, they shared their Lineage and their power with someone like me. I shake my hands once again, I don''t know how many times I''ve been through this, I don''t know if I''ll ever be able to go through this, but I won''t give up again regardless of what happens to me. "I... I''ll continue..." (I) With that Mistress Caitlyn snaps her fingers once again, making the world around me change. What I''ve been doing all this time is reviewing my past, now knowing how to distinguish what I couldn''t at that time. My mother reading books when I was a child, books about the Inquisitors hunting heretics and the history of the Church of Light, were happy memories of my childhood as it was the only time of day I was able to see my mother, but realizing these memories I discover that it was never her, every night her voice, pronunciation and even the tone of speech changed. I knew immediately that it was an illusion magic of the light element, a magic that I myself know how to use, my mother had always not paid attention to me, I was not able to accept this fact and I always made excuses for her. At some events where our family got together, people talked about their contributions, my mother spoke with pride about my sister and with the hope that I would follow the same paths as my sister, but she never asked anything about me, how I was feeling, what that I wanted or even hugged me once. My father was different, he found a few hours to train me every 2 days, the training didn''t end until he had to return to his post next to the Supreme Priest, it didn''t matter when my bones were broken, how much I was injured, how much If I was crying or if I was trying to run, he would just heal me enough to be able to move to continue training. All the time his cold eyes focused on me, he looked the same way at my sister, a few times I was able to see him giving us the same training for her, but I was never able to follow his movements at that time. At the end of each training, he always leaves leaving me lying on the floor, my blood everywhere, leaving it for me to heal myself as part of the training. In my head, I believed that he was strict like that to make us strong, but the truth was that he didn''t want weak children, it was unacceptable for him. "Because if you die, you have the power to run away, your friend has been away from this place for a long time and will die on the way, so why not run away?" (me?) "This time she will not die, I saved other Gods and Deities who are going with her, unlike me, her Divinity is whole." (I) "I won''t allow her to mother-in-law like before, her wordplay might be good, but if it were me, I would have already stopped talking just by looking into my eyes." (I) "I didn''t expect you to soon face death head on." (me?) "Who said I''m going to die, with so much life draining from the world?" (I) As I spoke, I just destroyed my Divinity using its pieces for a Divine Ritual, sacrificing the world itself to completely restore me to a Demigod. When I opened my eyes the world was completely destroyed and only I was floating among the stars looking at a version of me from that time with golden eyes. "If you could do that, then why did you repeat so many times what was the worst moment of your existence?" (me?) "Because I don''t want to hesitate again in the face of death, existence is a big game, it''s not often that you have the chance to play the same situation over and over again, I had to take advantage." (I) "Hahahhahahaha..." (me?) "Hahahhahahaha..." (I) ---------------- Pov Veronica: I was sitting at a table drinking a cup of coffee together with an ancient Divine version of me who has golden eyes, the place where we were was a vision of my destroyed world. "Why didn''t you try any other way?" (me?) "There was no need, I took the best option at that time." (I) "You could have fought on the front lines." (me?) "I would die and there would be no one to do what I did." (I) "You could have taken Loki with you." (me?) "He wasn''t around and looking for him would be a waste of time knowing his answer." (I) "You could have done this in countless ways, escape alone, seal your people and take them in an easier way, kill them all and take their Souls to another world before helping them to be reborn, you could even have sacrificed yourself to use all your power on any other plane." (me?) "Why not even try something else and continually choose the path that made you suffer the most?" (me?) "My shield is not to protect me, I know that everything I did saved those people and the World Tree, my suffering is irrelevant in the face of my victory." (I) "You call that a victory?" (me?) "Everyone said that I was just delaying the inevitable, that it was impossible and that nothing would be left of our world... I was the only one who decided to try." (I) "Yes, I should have known that you are too stubborn to change a path you have already chosen." (me?) "Thanks." (I) "That wasn''t a compliment." (me?) "It depends on the interpretation of whoever listens." (I) Chapter 1229: Cap 1227: An Infernal Deal Part 1 Chapter 1229: Cap 1227: An Infernal Deal Part 1 I was facing a truly frightening entity, no matter how normal El tries to act, her smile conveys a sense of fun in the worst possible way, and her eyes are like ice abysses that give me goosebumps whenever I try to look. But I couldn''t help it, she''s in different leagues from the World Tree even though I see similarities in the way she chooses to take a physical form. "I don''t think I have the option to refuse this deal." (I) "You can refuse, but if I do I might be a little vindictive but don''t worry, I wouldn''t do anything that you wouldn''t be able to handle with a little more effort." (Callidora) "(In other words if I refuse I will be put in a near death situation.)" (I) "You don''t seem like the type to die easily, but if it does, just blame it on your weakness." (Callidora) "..." (I) The smile on her face while talking about my death was not something I liked, but that was enough to understand that refusal could mean death directly or indirectly. Sigh "What deal would that be?" (I) "That''s what I wanted to hear, very good." (Callidora) --------------- Pov Hela''s: I couldn''t stand listening to this crap anymore, I leave Lilith alone inside the magically isolated room and close the door behind me before throwing myself onto the bed in the house built of bones that I made using my magic. Sigh "I''m not going back in there." (I) "Master, I don''t think we''re going to get anything out of the prisoner, leaving him alive any longer is a risk." (Hellyos) "I know, but Lilith is frustrated that her torture was met with so much pleasure from that idiot... his moans for more while her arm was being crushed were horrible." (I) Even Lilith was having problems with this situation, I know she has encountered others with similar tastes in the past, but never to the extreme in which this aberration finds herself. "How can you act normally after hours of watching that?" (I) "I''ve said it before, the people who chose to reside here are not normal, do you think he''s the only one with such unique tastes?" (Zaya) "There is a Witch on a northern island who walks around the streets naked trying to attract someone, her specialty is erotic magic, she loves to devour people during sex and I mean really devour, she devours pieces of the flesh of her partners or sexual partners bite by bite, the victim has all the pain and any other emotion or sense transformed into pleasure, in the end, the person is dead and their Soul is stolen so they can become pregnant using their magic together with the acquired Soul to create their Demonic servants." (Zaya) "..." (I) "She has blue skin, pink eyes, and black hair?" (Hellyos) "She''s not a Succubus, her race is a Runic." (Zaya) I reach out and use my Aura to guide some of the Starfire into my hand, when everyone saw the woman disappeared and before I knew it she was in front of me touching the Starfire with her hands covered in a gauntlet full of Runes, but It didn''t work when her body started to burn. "ATTACK!!" "< Necromancer Magic: Graveyard of Dragons >" (I) "< Bone Wave >" (Hellyos) "< Chains of Vengeance >" (Lilith) While the one who seemed to be the leader was burning, I started activating the ritual magic that I left underground when building the house, this created a barrier expanding the space inside, so we can fight without having too many eyes on us. My Familiar went along creating a wave of bone spears appearing from the ground one after another in all directions, this will only slow them down, but it was enough time for Lilith to summon many chains that moved as if they were alive when attacking the enemies while still dodging from Hellyos'' attack. I use my blood to create a staff with blades at the end by crystallizing the blood, it''s been a long time since I realized that my blood is one of my thousands of weapons. I go up to one of the enemies, I try to hit him with my staff, but as soon as I did that his body exploded with tentacles wrapping around me, but I smile as I make my staff bend, piercing the core of the creature that falls on the dead floor. "They are Demon Corpses..." (I) Knowing this and seeing how strong they are I''m relieved, it would be difficult to get out of this if it were any other time, but Corpses are my daily study material. "< Death Magic: Purification of Chains >" (I) I create a magic circle around my staff at the top, the red crystal gets blue spots as the surrounding creatures retreated. For more than 20 minutes we fought continuously, the enemies were strong, but they didn''t have variety in their movements and lacked attacks of real power to finish enemies, thanks to this we managed to finish them all, but I couldn''t find who controlled them. The bodies on the ground were burning in blue flames, their bodies were already soulless as their bodies were burned until completely incinerated. But there were still 3 people who were left out, one of them was grabbing Lilith by the neck while she was crying and blood was dripping from her mouth, and the other 2 were behind him like guards. "You will deliver what we want now or this woman will die." "You know, I can''t understand one thing, why attack us like this and how do you know about the Star Flame?" (I) "Shut up and hand over what..." "Are you done playing?" (I) Lilith who was crying before looks laughing at me, the blood that dripped from her mouth moved through the body of the man holding her by the neck drawing a Magical Ritual directly on her body, as soon as it was active one of the 2 men behind him was sucked into the his body while the second had his eye pierced into his brain by Lilith''s tail. Soon she ripped her fingers from around his neck and began eating while the man stood frozen on the spot. "What did you do?" (I) "The one holding me was a Priest, I felt the power inside him that didn''t come from him, I also had my eye on the other man from the beginning, his Aura of Revenge was very great and he had a power of the same type that I was feeling from the priest." (Lilith) "What I did was seal what I suspect to be an Evil God within the Priest himself." (Lilith) "You guys can use this to..." (Zaya) Chapter 1230: Cap 1228: An Infernal Deal Part 2 Chapter 1230: Cap 1228: An Infernal Deal Part 2 Suddenly the landscape changed, we were in a field of flowers, and above the table there was a round barrier floating with an individual inside burning in Starfire. "Before we start talking, I want you to know that I don''t want to take advantage of you, that''s because we want the same thing." (Callidora) "It doesn''t make sense, you seem to be as powerful as the Gods, why would you need me?" (I) "I''ve had my eye on you for a long time, longer than you can begin to imagine, but let''s not talk about the past." (Callidora) As she spoke, the creature''s body inside the barrier seemed to be falling apart faster and faster and yet no sound left that barrier. "Tell me what you want?" (Callidora) "I want to get out of here." (I) "Don''t try to be funny, that''s your goal, but what I''m asking is what do you want? What''s your plan to get to that goal?" (Callidora) She already knows what I want to do, but she still wants to hear it from me. "I want to create a new creature to serve as a Familiar or Servant to help me in battle." (I) "Yes, exactly what I wanted to hear, but it''s a shame you''re going to fail, you''re not a God to create life out of nothing, and trying to use any creature from hell would be pointless, none of them are actually alive." (Callidora) As she speaks magic circles, Runes, and strange energy flows begin to emerge around the sphere above the table, it didn''t seem to be doing anything but the amount of energy was growing before a second flame formed within the sphere, this flame it was almost alive in the way it moved, its color was dark purple mixed with black, the two flames danced within the spherical barrier. "My agreement is simple, I will help you by providing the location of all the materials you need, as well as assisting in the crafting process to some extent, but you must collect these items." (Callidora) "Why would you help me, what''s in it for you?" (I) She smiles at me as the orb above us disappears as if it had never existed, her smile was no longer one of amusement but one of infinite desire as her eyes overflowed with bizarre emotions, the ground around us shook and laughter was heard like if the whole world was laughing with her. Before I knew it my mother was gone and her hands were around my face pulling me closer to her inches from her face, her eyes were no longer human, they looked like 2 bottomless chasms of complete darkness as dark purple flames appeared burning within those endless abysses. "I gain what you create, it won''t be a Familiar or Servant that you give life to, it will be a new child of yours... a child of ours, who might have the chance to become a God one day." (Callidora) "..." (I) "Haha hahahaha... do you know how many times I tried to create a life? How many Souls I tried to shape, how many worlds were sacrificed? Do you know how much time I spent trying!?" (Callidora) "Entire universes were created and destroyed with me swallowing their fragments at the end while trying to generate at least one life!" (Callidora) "The Demon race was a failure, they are yet another corruption of the Life that already exists, the True Demons here are also Failures, being purely spiritual lifeless beings born from the deformation of their Souls, my greatest successes are incomplete creatures." (Callidora) "But you will give me what I want, your power of chaos being one of the main keys to me achieving my goal." (Callidora) "..." (I) At that moment I knew I was really fucked up, she was much more insane than she let on, Lilith looks like a child next to this freak, she wants to create a God!? At that moment I wanted to deny myself, I wanted to say no, this crazy woman just said that she devours universes, what does she want to do by creating a life? How come she can''t do it even with so much power? "An exchange with the Library as an intermediary being the only trusted place to do such a thing here." (Zaya) "Can we do this?" (I) "Actually yes, whoever you captured is more valuable, he has 3 Divinity Fragments, none of which are compatible with him." (Zaya) "He incarnated in a body because he didn''t have a Divinity Fragment, but somehow he got 3 that only made him weaker, even now we can hardly feel him being an Evil God, but his strength doesn''t matter, just him being a Divinity and have possession of 3 Divinity Fragments." (Zaya) "The exchange will be more than just gain for the other side, believe me." (Zaya) ------------------ Pov Magnus: All of my brothers set off in different directions, their goals ranging from helping our Father to interfering with the enemy''s plans, but mine was something different, my duty was to guide those my Father sacrificed so much to rescue. Surrounding me were those rescued from the Church of Light, I sympathize with them because my life was destroyed by the Church of Light in the past, so I volunteered to do this. Those who did not want to remain and had places to return or people to seek out were long gone with an Elder Dragon. "Sir, I don''t think this kind of training will" (Mabel) "This training is not about power, skill, Affinity, talent or anything else, this is training for your will, something that every True Dragon goes through at some point in their life." (I) I was subjecting everyone here to my Aura, crushing them not physically, but mentally and spiritually, for them it must feel like a Titan is crushing them with its foot, the feeling of torment, pain, frustration, weakness and fear of having your Aura Being crushed is traumatizing due to feeling completely exposed. "Mabel, these people chose to follow my Father, but look at their strength, no matter if they have potential or not, they will never grow fast enough following normal training." (I) n(-/)-/)--.-)I((n "But if it continues like this they could die." (Mabel) "That''s why I brought you with me, don''t let any of them die, and to stop this just give up knowing you''ll never fight again." (I) "I... won''t... back down..." (Xagar) "Looks like the first one has finally emerged." (I) This is the only Demon in the group, a former Templar of Light who abandoned everything he once was to become the most hated race in the Church of Light. He stood up, his Aura expelling mine from his body with courage and boldness, an Aura as firm as an iron plate. "He passes, take him to rest as soon as he reaches us." (I) "Yes." (Mabel) After managing to get up he walked towards me, each step faltering with his legs shaking, and yet his knee didn''t touch the ground as blood ran from his eyes, ears, and mouth. When he arrived I put my hand on his shoulder and smiled without saying anything while Mabel healed him before taking him somewhere else to rest. "(I will make them great warriors to honor the Eclipse Dragon Tribe as Dragon Knights.)" (I) Chapter 1231: Cap 1229: Magnus Training Chapter 1231: Cap 1229: Magnus Training Pov Magnus: Soon after all my brothers left to fulfill their respective objectives, I stayed behind thinking about training these people, they all have talent from what the Hero of Justice said and that was the reason they were taken by the Church of Light, but there was no time to develop your strengths in a normal way. I needed them all to become strong as quickly as possible, we have many enemies and we don''t have years to prepare, most likely Father will recover in the next few weeks or months and we will resume the fight. "How are they?" (I) "Awake, none of them are heavily injured, but not all of them understand what you were doing, some of them are still children." (Mabel) "The moment they decided to take part in this training, everyone will be treated equally, I didn''t force any of them to come." (I) "I understand older people, but children still don''t have it..." (Mabel) "Mabel, those left behind have no place to return to, their cities, families, and in half cases their planets have been washed in blood by the Church of Light, Lady Natasha told me about this." (I) "These children you say need this more than their elders, their hearts are filled with anger, sadness, and hatred." (I) "..." (Mabel) "Let''s start the second training." (I) As soon as the first one overcame the training and the others saw it was possible, everyone began to try harder until one by one they all passed the weight of my Aura, a proof of their will and the first mark of their steps towards achieving true strength. --------------- I was in an open field in which I drew a circle just big enough for one person to stand inside, they each had to step into one of the circles before I could begin to speak. "Training now is about resisting physical pain, your bodies will be continually hit with no real harm to your body, but the pain will be real." (I) "You can give up if you want, not everyone has the determination to be an immovable mountain in the face of adversity." (I) I look at each of them, some have doubt in their eyes while more than half have a determined look, and only a few of them have calm eyes. n-/))/---(/--I-.n "Lord Rakan, activate the magic." (I) "< Magic Curse: Torment of Pain >" (Rakan) I asked Rakan, who is a specialist in magic, to take care of this magic, so everyone is safe, if someone loses consciousness the magic loses its effect on that person. "I know you don''t agree with this, you don''t need to look at me like that." (I) "If we''re going to subject them to that kind of torment, how are we different from the Church of Light?" (Rakan) "I''m not forcing them to do anything, they''re doing it of their own free will and that''s the main reason for this training." (I) "Do you want to harden their minds?" (Rakan) "This is one of the effects, but no, what I seek is to show them the strength of their will, this is something that is built with each decision and experience we have." (I) "Yesterday was the desire to move forward regardless of the pressure." (I) "Today is the will to resist regardless of suffering." (I) "Why do you have to do it like that?" (Rakan) "Because the next test will be combat and if they can''t withstand that kind of pain, then I won''t have time to train them." (I) I lift the sleeves of my shirt showing my arm slowly burning, these flames appeared suddenly and are getting worse little by little, when I got close to where my Father was the flames grew much more as if responding to my proximity to him. "Sir, you must" (Mabel) "They made their decision, I''ll explain..." (Mabel) With that Mabel told me about the decision if each one, it seems that they started their own training too. "(It seems like everything went well.)" (I) "I should also say that your brothers and the others have started to come back." (Mabel) -------------- Pov Selene (Goddess of Blood): I was on the planet where I was in my Divine Kingdom looking at the Goddess of Death, as always she appears wherever she wants. "What are you doing here Kalistos?" (I) "I assume you know about your son, are you going to allow him to make a deal with that thing?" (Kalistos) "Still in dispute? Stop these past memories and my son has to fly with his own wings." (I) Zenos can take care of himself and that creature will never give up on his goals, this may be our only way to have some control over his plans. "If you just came to tell me that, then you can go away, I still have to prepare." (I) "You won''t catch him." (Kalistos) "At least we''re trying, better than you who could actually kill him and chose not to interfere." (I) "I can''t kill him any more than I can do the same to you, you know the promise I made." (Kalistos) "He is no longer the man he once was, he is just a twisted creature of pure hate." (I) "My promises are current, I am powerless to take them back once they are made, but your Soul can still be Destroyed." (Kalistos) "What do you really want, Kalistos." (I) "You didn''t come here to talk about our failure to defeat him or to talk about my son''s life, what do you want?" (I) "I want you to create a weapon, a Death Core is already on its way to where your Saint is, Mavis will also help." (Kalistos) "Do you know what you''re asking me? Who is this weapon for?" (I) "A fallen Universe is coming." (Kalistos) "..." (I) "Not that..." (I) "I want something in return." (I) "Don''t be greedy when it helps us all." (Kalistos) "I want you to stop them from dying, if you do that I won''t need to interfere." (I) "The chance of their death is small, that won''t be a problem." (Kalistos) "You''ll have to wait until I have all the materials and have recovered from the last battle." (I) "We still have time, no problem." (Kalistos) With that she actually dissolves her return, leaving as suddenly as she came while I go back to rest. Chapter 1232: Cap 1230: Buried in Death Chapter 1232: Cap 1230: Buried in Death Me and once again alone, I couldn''t feel where Callidora went and if you think about it it doesn''t make any difference, she''s just the manifestation of hell or something close to it. "Three hands..." (I) I raise my hand seeing the compass with 3 points she gave me, probably each pointer should lead me to something I need to create this new "child" she wants. Fi?ndd new updates at novelhall.com "There''s no point in distrusting you when I can''t do anything about it, so I''m going to play your game to the end, I hope you''re as honest as you tried to seem." (I) I speak without looking at any specific place, but I know that she knows what I said, in this place, everything is under her influence, so I choose one of the pointers and follow the direction in which it is pointing. During the path she was trying to follow as straight as possible while flying, I kept thinking about what I heard, so I paid attention to the Starfire burning inside me. These strange flames caused me great suffering while remaking my entire body during my endless fights with Natasha, but since then they have done almost nothing, only when my power is circulating too fast during fights does the Starfire become more active, I never knew exactly what that was or what it was like to remake my body like that, but now I''m starting to understand. "There''s no way an external power can affect me so deeply and not be rejected by my Aura, I should have realized sooner." (I) "(This Starfire is also my power, it is not a skill, Elemental Affinity, energy type, or Aura, so in order of elimination there is only one power that I cannot use yet.)" (I) "(This Starfire appeared after I woke up at the same time I lost the ability to use my Authority.)" (I) "(This Starfire exploded destroying my body from the moment I regained control over my Aura, just like the Authority being influenced by the Aura.)" (I) "I should have realized... I''m an idiot..." (I) "(Now I know what this Starfire is, but how can I control it? How can I return it to being Authority?)" (I) "(My Aura has changed fundamentally, even my Soul and body have changed profoundly... has my Authority also changed in its essence? If it has changed, what will it become?)" (I) Sigh "..." (I) "I think I have a path now, to do the same as I did with my Aura, understand what it has become and only after that regain control." (I) "At least I can try to use my Aura for this now that I know what it''s about." (I) While I was thinking I saw some Demons and Undead try to attack me, the weaker ones I just destroyed while the stronger ones I made move away from me, so far I haven''t found anyone among these enemies who can match my speed, but if he appears he must be the first to be eliminated. ----------------- I can''t get a clear idea about the passage of time in this Hell, sometimes it seems like it''s early morning and when I blink my eyes I see different moons in the sky, even the weather is strange, changing between extremes every few tens of minutes. "Each of the mountains you can see are made entirely of bodies, every creature in this place is both dead and not if you can understand me." (Butler) "Undead, I imagine their number is" (I) "I''ll just say that it would be a waste of time trying to count, there are more than a single universe would be able to contain." (Butler) "She said what do I have to do?" (I) "Each of them has a naturally formed Core, this core is pure death energy and you must destroy as much as possible, she did not give an exact number." (Butler) "There will be nothing too far above your strength to worry about, but know that once it leaves my hand it will be an unacceptable thing to exist in this place because there is life inside you, something I cannot hide when I let you go." (Butler) "..." (I) I look around, the mountains are all piled up bodies from what he said, I take a deep breath trying to concentrate. "Do I just need to break these Cores?" (I) "Yes, are you ready?" (Butler) I nod and before I knew it I was falling, I looked around and saw no sign of that damn giant, and it just left me behind, I should have expected that. I spread my wings and try to land on the ground, looking around I felt a chill as I realized that my body was getting cold, I also saw that the distant coins were shaking before chains appeared locking the mountains in place, but this only lessened the shaking before I see part of the mountains collapsing in the distance. "I really shouldn''t have accepted that deal." (I) The worst part wasn''t even the mountains, all around me empty armor and body parts were rising from the ground with all eyes focused on me, even the river of rot was no exception as several arms began to come out of the river dragging powerful bodies out. The Undead were coming from all directions as red rain was falling down my body, but it wasn''t the only thing that came out of the clouds as various types of Ghosts and Specters were floating out towards me. Even the bones scattered on the ground came together to form clearly strange cups when they stood up, the enemies were of all types and coming from all directions. The Aura of all of them being a combined pressure like a great hammer on top of me, the energy of death present in everything vibrating trying to force its way through my Aura. "Looks like I''m swamped with bodies once again." (I) I feel the skeletal arms coming out of the ground trying to grab my legs and crush them with my feet as I try to use my power less extravagantly, I will use my Aura Relic trying to conserve my power since this time it is a question of resistance and not defeat an enemy. n--In "Let''s start." (I) "< Aura Relic: Blood of the Eclipse >" (I) Chapter 1233: Cap 1231: Collecting Death Part 1 Chapter 1233: Cap 1231: Collecting Death Part 1 "Let''s start." (I) "< Aura Relic: Blood of the Eclipse >" (I) As before, my blood and Aura mix, creating a red liquid-like energy that comes out of my body forming an illusory Eclipse, but this time I feel like I have more control as I am not as weak in this process as happened before, so the energy returns to my body under my control, I feel the power coursing through my body. This time agility and precision were what I needed, I can''t spend all my strength in an explosion of pure power like I did with that Spectral Dragon, so I try to transform my body partially into that of a Dragon without changing my figure too much, this requires a bit of concentration that the Walking Dead wouldn''t let me have alone. They got to me, but I didn''t attack, I just dodged their attacks as my body changed, scales grew all over my body, and I felt my senses expanding a lot, but it wasn''t the absurd feeling of power that I normally felt in a complete transformation in Dragon. "(Smaller is better...)" (I) I prepare my two hands as I cause the blood-shaped energy within my body to release some into my hands as it takes the form of a serrated dagger and a curved sword like an equally serrated Katana thus keeping most of that energy within my body for now. "Most of you shouldn''t be a problem." (I) Without using any kind of technique, magic, or skill, I start to strike at the Undead around me, there were a few hundred now, but thanks to keeping my size small they were not able to use their numbers as only a few were able to get close to me, still not having the speed to land the blows. Only with my senses enhanced by the Aura mixed with my blood was I able to perceive all the enemies around me, my higher than normal senses gave me an understanding of everything around me. The Dagger and Sword in my hands were like parts of my body that I always had, I was able to move these weapons perfectly as if they were parts of my arm while moving between enemies like a Ghost. I dodge three attacks by spinning while cutting 2 Skeletons in half at chest height along with their black Cores clearly visible through their bones, a cold and desolate energy surging for half a second before disappearing, then I step to the left making a large Zombie loses his balance thanks to my strength and he falls over several Undead serving as a passage when I step over his body trying to feel the sensation of that desolate energy, as soon as I find it I use my strength in my sword to create a pressure with the cut pushing away the enemies and trying to surround me once again while the dagger sank from the back of the great Zombie''s head breaking the Death Core from the inside releasing that energy that disappears without a trace once again. "Since they want to be a nuisance..." (I) "< Blood Magic: Tears That Slaughter Kingdoms >" (I) Without the Mages noticing, I made my Inferior Familiar climb up to the red clouds, inside the clouds he used the needles made from my Aura Relic to build a magical Circle that activated immediately making the clouds shine for tens of kilometers while 1/3 of my mana was consumed. Magic can also be influenced by the surroundings, ice spells being stronger in cold places or weaker in hot places, and water spells being stronger near large sources of water or weaker in arid deserts. I had already confirmed that this rain was blood without any vitality and full of death energy, but then it was blood, so I used a magic that Elizabeth taught me, something she used in the past to eradicate entire Kingdoms, a magic whose power multiplied due to this hellish environment. BOOMMM!! BOOMMM!! BOOMMM!! BOOMMM!! BOOMMM!! BOOMMM!! BOOMMM!! BOOMMM!! BOOMMM!! BOOMMM!! BOOMMM!! BOOMMM!! The Mages acted quickly to stop attacking me, but before everyone could raise protection needles of blood rained down with the weight of giants creating endless explosion noises with the impact against the ground or hitting the Undead. In the midst of this rain of pure destruction, I was the only one safe with the rain avoiding me as I activated the magic. That''s when I was surprised by two almost coordinated attacks, the Undead Mage teleported close to me creating dozens of floating skulls around me with their jaws open and magic circles inside launching rays of energy like breath attacks towards me all sides at the same time as the ground opened below revealing a large mouth like an open abyss trying to devour me along with the Wizard. "You bastards!!!" (I) Chapter 1234: Cap 1232: Collecting Death Part 2 Chapter 1234: Cap 1232: Collecting Death Part 2 I knew that sooner or later I would be surrounded by strong enemies and a sea of weaker Undead, so I tried to conserve my powers as much as possible knowing that this would be a battle of endurance coming down to how long I would be able to continue. Once the situation got so bad that it was too risky to continue preserving my strength, I used a large part of my mana together with part of the power of my Aura Relic to use the rain of blood from this damned place to my advantage in a mass destruction attack. The rain of super heavy blood needles was raging for dozens of kilometers around me, the place where I was was the eye of the storm left separate from this rain of death, but this only made the rain ignore the place where I was, it didn''t stop the rain enemies from approaching me. The Undead Mage who seemed stronger teleported close to me, escaping the range of the surrounding magic, he started attacking me immediately, surrounding me with dozens of skulls, and launching breath attacks at me from all directions, to make everything worse, the enemy that I have felt for the longest time hiding underground without ever revealing himself decided to join the fight and all I saw was a round mouth dozens of meters long full of teeth made of sharp bones that looked like a can of bottomless razors trying to swallow me with the damned Undead Mage. "< Space Spirit Rune: Spatial Curvature >" (I) Without time to think, I opened my wings, pushing upwards with all my strength at the same time that this creature''s jaws were rising, trying to devour me, without giving me time to do anything about the Undead Mage''s attack that disappeared again, the problem it was the damn skulls following me like prey, reading my positions and moving along with me during their attacks. I have always made my liquid energy like blood cover my body while crystallizing into an armor on my body full of Spiritual Runes that I activate increasing their effects with the help of my Aura Relic, using this technique I can bend space making attacks that should be in straight line curve before reaching me causing them all to be redirected downwards hitting the inside of the mouth of whatever the creature is below. Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only "(Gotta get rid of these skulls.)" (I) "< Demonic Magic: Bones of Slaughter >" (I) I soon feel the pain of this technique as the bones in my body become weapons that I can manipulate, I make the ribs in my body move, opening their way out as they become rigid tentacles with spear-like tips, destroying the surrounding skulls that explode before being completely destroyed. In the middle of the attacks, something tries to wrap itself around my body and I use my tail to cut it, it was a tongue coming from the creature below that seemed to be unaffected by the attacks made inside its mouth. n-.01n "Want to eat, THEN I''LL FILL UP YOUR DAMN STOMACH!!!" (I) I gather all my Ki in my right arm while I increase the Dragon transformation in just that arm to the maximum, making it grow much larger than the rest of my body in a very disproportionate way, my liquid energy like blood ceasing to be an armor when joining in the palm of my large right hand taking the shape of a large serrated spear. "< Earth Magic: Falling Mountain Weight >" (I) This image only lasted for a few seconds when more red clouds took over the skies as if someone had dragged these clouds here to block the view of that endless abyss. I was still surprised by what I had seen, not knowing how to react to it when I forced myself to look around to avoid being surprised by enemies. That was when I saw a desert full of craters wherever I looked, pieces of rotting flesh and fragmented bones scattered everywhere, apart from this scene of absolute destruction, I didn''t see any type of enemy for minutes before I felt the ground shake, in the distance I saw the dust rise as endless Undead appeared from the horizon, even Ghosts were mixed in among them and were coming from all directions towards where I was. "It''s not even funny... do they really have no end?" (I) I brought my hand to my face, closing my eyes for half a second in depression as I realized that even though I was exhausted there were still endless enemies to face, but as soon as I opened my eyes I was in the Colossal Butler''s hand once again. "With this, the collection of death energy has been completed." (Butler) "..." (I) I look around and I was in the same forest where I first met Callidora, everything was exactly the same with only my point of view being higher due to being in the palm of this Butler''s hand. The biggest difference being something above us where he was looking, there was a flow of pure darkness with traces of dark blue energy like a river of darkness crossing the sky from the distance to above us where it formed a ring with a sphere in the middle, Endless drops of this ring-shaped river separated, heading towards this sphere to be absorbed, inside the sphere what existed was Starfire surrounded by countless flows of energy. "(The feeling of cold desolation is the same as when Death Cores were destroyed... she was bringing this energy here to refine.)" (I) "Now what do I do?" (I) "I don''t know, my work ends here." (Butler) I spread my wings as he suddenly lowers his hand, and then he walks into the distance while trying unsuccessfully to rip off Butler''s clothes, then being a vibration in my pocket and I take in my hands the compass where one of the hands just burns until it turns dust leaving only 2 pointers marking different directions. "I understand, I should go to the next destination... but I''ll rest first or I won''t be able to get there." (I) Chapter 1235: Cap 1233: What Is Chaos!? Chapter 1235: Cap 1233: What Is Chaos!? As incredible as it may seem, I was able to rest in this forest without any problems, I felt some Demons in the distance, but none of them approached and each one of them made my blood run cold as I felt their presence proving to be much more than I could face. The only thing I could think of is that Callidora must have done something to make this area safe, she doesn''t want anyone to interfere with her plans and that was the best news I could ask for since she created the only safe area where she could rest. As soon as my body was lighter after hours of rest I realized that the body is healed, but the vitality had been consumed to heal the body and I can''t recover my vitality in this damned Hell. "(At least the pressure on my mind from the exhaustion of keeping the Aura Relic activated for so long has recovered to rest.)" (I) "Now I have to recover my energy, I spent a lot of my Mana and Spiritual Energy in the final phase of that fight against the Undead." (I) "Should I use my Aura Relic to consume some Demons?" (I) "It wouldn''t be good, I''m not sure of the consequences of this yet and I don''t want to depend on a power I don''t fully understand." (I) "(Wait! In Hell I''m supposed to be the only one with a real body and still alive... right?)" (I) Finally being in a calm and safe place has allowed me to not only rest, but it has also allowed me to calm my mind to think clearly about everything I have been going through without having to watch my back due to constant attacks. For days I have been going through so many things that this was the opportunity to put everything in order, depending on luck in this damn place will only lead to my death, I prefer to trust only in my own ability. "(Having a way to recover my energy is a priority...)" (I) I keep thinking as I replay in my mind the memories of everything I went through in this place and thanks to that I was able to realize something, I recovered energy by consuming the Spectral Dragon last time, and this includes my vitality. The problem is that it was a Spectral creature, it did not have any type of physical body or life that could provide me with vitality and blood, its only type of energy was death energy, but even so, when my Aura Relic consumed it I was filled exactly for the types of energy it needed, being Vitality, Mana, Ki and Spiritual Energy with only the latter making sense. "I didn''t feel the death energy enter my body at that moment, I''m sure." (I) I look at my hand, my Aura still circulating over the surface of my body like a second layer of skin, I am doing it all the time even as I fight that over time I am doing it almost automatically, a layer of concentrated Aura like a permanent barrier around me. "My Aura Relic converted death energy into other types of energy? Did it do the same to other types of energies?" (I) Images of my combats using my Aura Relic come to mind, the form of my Aura Relic is a substitute for my own blood, something between the liquid of blood and the ethereal of energy, it can change its form following my will and be incorporated in spells, skills, Spiritual Runes or just being crystallized in the form of weapons, armor and even equipment like those needles. Transformation = Chaos "..." (I) Suddenly I felt like my mind was lighting up, I always associated unexplainable things as being in a magical world or intervention of the Gods, but now it was like the pieces were falling into place. When I acquired the powers of fire and water I was able to overlook the contradiction of having two different Affinities, but when I acquired the powers of Light and Darkness, which are more than just opposites, I started to find it strange. What actually surprised me was my Auras, I achieved several Aura skills by consuming others, but two among these Auras should not be able to be in the same individual, the Auras of Life and Auras of Death. "Chaos... transformation... change... path... path?" (I) Suddenly I remember my dreams and my evolutions, the path in the field of stars, the changes in life are always associated as part of the road of life, a path. "If Creation is the starting point and Destruction is the final destination... transformation can only be the path that leads from one point to another, then leads back, completing the circle." (I) Suddenly I felt my Aura vibrate throughout my body, it seemed comfortable now, I felt as if an arm had been dislocated all this time and I had just cracked my bones putting the arm back in place thus recovering normal movements, my Aura was no longer something that I was learning to control, is now completely part of me and the changes were not just the Aura. I began to feel the Starfire within me becoming active once again and Callidora''s words appeared in my mind. "(What you seek burns within you.)" (Callidora) I already knew that the Flame was associated with my Authority from that moment, but I didn''t know how to control it until now, I tried to use my Aura to mess with the Starfire while resting earlier without success, but now it is different. "My Soul has changed... my Aura has changed... my body has changed... my Authority has also changed..." (I) From the beginning the Starfire was constantly transforming my body during my fight against my sister Natasha in an endless cycle of destruction and healing, I look up at the energy of death being refined by the Starfire that Callidora got from me, and I finally understand. "Transformation... so that was it... infinite transformations... infinite paths... unpredictability against Natural Harmony... the complete cycle." (I) Suddenly my body was surrounded by Starfire and I wasn''t scared, unlike before, I feel comfortable now as Starfire merges with Aura like a third layer of skin around my body. I look around and finally, I can feel the cycle of transformations distorted as various paths forcibly linked everywhere, it seems so obvious now since I came here I realized that there was no harmony, there is no cycle of life in hell, there is no creation and here destruction is eternal during all transformations. "(That''s why Elizabeth sent me here... the fundamental discrepancy in Hell would make it easier for me to see... a perfect link to understanding my Authority for the first Time.)" (I) Chapter 1236: Cap 1234: Bunny Maid? Chapter 1236: Cap 1234: Bunny Maid? At some point I got lost in my thoughts, memories from the past started to surface in my mind and several things started to make sense. The reason the World Tree that I met for the first time asked me to save the World Tree of the Dark Continent, the event that saved Silvia, the power of chaos was instrumental in transforming her into a different creature and also helped the new World Tree who took his place in transforming the remaining power in his tainted, dying body into his own power, allowing the new World Tree to grow rapidly. So many things in my past didn''t make sense, at first I just thought it was a magical world as I didn''t understand how it all worked, but now looking back with what I know I can notice the pattern of events and those who noticed what could when I myself was in ignorance. Even if I don''t have absolute control over my Authority for now, at least I can contain myself because my Aura is completely under my control as it has always been part of me. With the knowledge I now possess, the smile came naturally to my face when I realized that I didn''t need my Aura Relic to recover my energy. "(If the power of transformation is the key, then I can do it slowly with what I have at my disposal.)" (I) Calming my mind I began to meditate while my Aura expanded for a few tens of meters around me, then I began to absorb the Demonic energy while seeking my Authority to convert this energy into Mana and Ki, it seems that it was not possible to recover my Spiritual Energy with Demonic power. After hours of doing this, I managed to recover completely, I was able to use the Curse power in the surroundings to recover the Spiritual power, I tried to do this with the power of death, but all the death energy was being taken upstream. When I managed to come out of my thoughts and meditation it was due to a bite on my shoulder, without wasting time I controlled my blood using the blood in the wound to create a spike of crystallized blood that pierced the enemy''s head. When I opened my eyes I was already in a desert full of blue sand and there was a creature similar to a person with a head three times the size, very ugly and with many teeth in its mouth, this creature was smearing me with blood and saliva, so I got rid of it as quickly as possible before cleaning up. "She didn''t want to leave me there for long, she threw me back into combat as soon as I was recovered." (I) "Very well then, let''s see what our next destination is." (I) I pull out the compass and choose one of the pointers to follow, with that I spread my wings while hiding my Aura and Authority. -------------- "What''s wrong with this damn place!!!???" (I) It must have been days since I''ve been traveling through deserts, I say in the plural since it''s never the same type of desert. I passed through the blue sand desert which had confusing effects on my senses, several times I went off the right path because of this. I passed through deserts that had several Suns in the sky, a heat that even I was finding difficult to resist. n--1n Desert of bones where I faced powerful Skeletons many times, I also went through deserts where all the sand was actually a big monster that I never managed to defeat, all I did was run while dodging their attacks until I left that desert. During these days I continued to move from one desert to another, encountering extreme environments and, as always, more enemies wanting to kill me. "Why can''t I... who''s there!?" (I) "If it doesn''t show up..." (I) "Correct master, use this servant as the tool you need, I am here to serve you." (Blood Servant) This was a Blood Servant, a creature made from the blood of others, a large amount of blood and energy is needed to create just one of them, its loyalty is absolute as it is similar to a robot programmed to have a mind, this thing just is capable of physical attacks and can change the shape of his body. I created this thing to take care of most of the weaker monsters, so things should be easier until I reach my destination. "..." (I) "It was a great fight, so I''m going to destroy it for you." Before I knew it I was at the top of a silvery sand dune, when I looked around I was facing a scene that was more than just strange. There was a Beast Man with a height of about 5 meters, body clearly loaded with muscles, his head was completely that of a lion and could be considered a warrior since his body is full of scars, if it weren''t for his clothes that were the I first noticed it when I looked in his direction strangely. Meanwhile, he was moving his hand when my Blood Servant''s blood exploded leaving only the core made of my blood, so he took it between his fingers making it disappear as it was destroyed. "If you have something to say, then be quick or your head will be next..." He was saying what he wanted while a murderous look was directed at me, the strange outfit he was wearing was a maid''s outfit clearly very tight on his muscular body, and the most bizarre thing was him wearing a miniskirt with long socks and the tiara with ears of Coelho in his coat, the outfit even has a heart-shaped neckline on the chest. He clearly wasn''t happy and before he finished speaking his head exploded before returning to normal as if time had gone backwards. Sigh "Will you stop blowing my head off... I''ll do it... are you satisfied?" (???) Before I could speak or do anything I was grabbed by the arm before being pulled with extraordinary force, the surroundings were different, I was in a white desert full of ruins around. We were on top of a monument while the maid, warrior, or whatever he is, was trying to tear off his clothes while his hands were breaking in the process before healing. "Damn... let''s get this over with and get this rubbish out." (Employee??) "You just have to kill the Demons, just do it until I come and get it, and try to be quick." (Employee??) "Don''t use that thing I destroyed anymore, it will just be a container for the Demons you idiot, now go fight..." (Maid??) Suddenly he disappears from my front as if being pulled aside as he is swallowed by space. "He was furious and clearly he was forced to do this." (I) I pick up the compass and see one of the hands stop before disappearing, clearly, this was the place and I must fight Demons. "Let''s get this over with." (I) Chapter 1237: Cap 1235: Burn Demons, Burn... Hahahaha! Part 1 Chapter 1237: Cap 1235: Burn Demons, Burn... Hahahaha! Part 1 I look around strangely not knowing where to start, as far as my vision can reach in all directions there are just endless ruins in the middle of a white desert, some buildings were more buried in the sand than others forming dunes between parts of the ruins. This place was a complex area full of shadows and in the sky, there was what looked like a flaming head, it was burning in purple Fire, and yet the sky was green while the scorching light falling in this desert was not any shade of purple, none of that mattered meaning to me. "Every damn place is stranger than the last." (I) "" (I) Before starting anything I create my Aura Relic once again, once again my blood leaves my body along with my Aura forming an illusory image of an Eclipse before returning to my body as a strange liquid energy. Without being affected by the feeling of power, I began to partially transform my body into that of a Dragon, following the same strategy as before, maintaining a small and agile body to reduce the number of enemies around me. My body grows just a little, I suddenly feel like the weight on my body is much lighter compared to before, I feel more comfortable using the Aura Relic than when I fought the Undead. With everything ready I jump from the ruined monument, but before I even reach the ground a humanoid scorpion-like creature comes out of the sand with hundreds of friends coming towards me. I spread my wings and with a single downward thrust while using my Aura Relic to create a sword in my hand, with my speed I was able to catch them off guard and began to cut down everyone who was weaker than I thought.e of them I cut their heads in half, others I split diagonally across the chest, and others I split entirely in half, in the end, they all became pieces of meat on the floor in a matter of seconds. Before I could finish them all there were already more enemies arriving, suddenly there were thousands of shadows jumping over the ruins, there were also clouds of white sand were rising while many shadows seemed to be running across the desert towards me and I also felt watched by many eyes. I didn''t forget to prepare myself and stay focused on the surroundings not wanting to get into trouble anymore due to carelessness, thanks to that I noticed the movement on my back in time to kick away the much larger scorpion''s tail trying to hit me. I grab that tail and pull, pulling this enemy from the ground where he hides before cutting his body in half with my sword. Just as before the enemies were mostly unintelligent savages, they are low-level Demons with a wide variety of powers. I tried dancing between the enemies, but it wasn''t helping like it had before, the Demons'' powers were much more varied than the Undead, so it was making it difficult to predict their attacks. That''s why I decided to go with a hit and run tactic, I create maximum destruction in a corner always leaving an escape route for myself. During one of these attacks, I found a more intelligent Demon, he was pretending to be the most idiotic Demons and when I went to cut his head he opened his mouth throwing acid at my head, even so I continued my attack killing him with my tail piercing his head from behind. I used the complexity of these ruins to be able to move without being surrounded. I attacked a group of red Minotaurs with bat wings, they were strong and slow by their appearance, but before I reached them I noticed the space around me distort. I use a large area Demon magic making countless Demon arms come out of the ground restricting those around, then I get close to the closest Demon and try to use my Authority to create Starfire.n//0In As soon as I grabbed the Demon''s head, streams of Stellar flames covered his body, even when I released him, his body was on fire, but it was enough for me to notice the Demonic energy being emitted for the first time before being sucked somewhere. "Then I just have to burn them all." (I) "" (I) I gave this name to a Technique that I just improvised, I created a magic circle from the hilt of the sword and the dagger, meanwhile Spiritual Runes appear on the blades of the two weapons at the same time as a thin layer of flames cover the weapons. With that I went back to massacring the Demons, this time I didn''t even feel the presence of those smarter ones, they were keeping a distance from me when they realized what I did. But something is wrong, I could feel something lurking in the shadows and suddenly it appears, it looked like a Celestino when I first saw it, but as soon as I dodged his magic getting close to him I was able to confirm that it was a Celestino full of Demonic Energy. His eyes were ruby red while his wings are brown in color, just like his hair, he had two horns on the sides of his head making spirals. He started attacking me without caring about the other Demons nearby, but I couldn''t get rid of them, his way of fighting was sophisticated to the point that I couldn''t get him away from me. When he came flying towards me it was an illusion while his body was a step behind ready to attack the opening I left. He was fast and wasted no time talking as his attacks became more and more relentless, as soon as I tried to use my tail for a surprise attack on him, he grabbed my hand. I smile as I pull him closer and rip off one of his wings with my teeth, while I open my mouth making a Star Flame cover his body, I end up kicking him away, making room for something getting closer and when I saw it, it was another cloud of Demons grouped together. With that I realized that the fight would be much worse than I imagined, the enemies were now smarter and were divided into several groups. Everyone was looking at me without coming close, each of them seemed to be using some kind of magic. I wouldn''t be able to escape them and that''s why I decided to end up like everyone else in style. "How many do I still need to kill?" (I) The enemies won''t wait for me to attack, so I tried attacking the group of Demon monsters, so when the others started attacking, it actually just helped me. The battle was coming together, and more and more intelligent Demons were gathering here, I have to end this soon, but I don''t think large-scale magic is the solution to my problems. "I have to burn you." (I) Chapter 1238: Cap 1236: Burn Demons, Burn... Hahahaha! Part 2 Chapter 1238: Cap 1236: Burn Demons, Burn... Hahahaha! Part 2 It''s been more than a whole day, I''m not even aware of how many Wild Demons I''ve burned, even a Demon whose body was already burning with its own power was incinerated by Starfire. It was at that moment that something changed, these ruins in the middle of this white desert were filled only with Demonic energy, so I was able to notice when this energy started to move in a strange flow. I discovered that magic circles were being drawn in the ruins around me and so I spread my wings, pushing upwards. Looking around while feeling the flow of energy I could see people at the top of the Ruins looking at me, they were all Demons looking at me calmly proving not to be the same Wild Demons that I have been burning for days. I didn''t even try to talk to them when I noticed they were doing a magical ritual, I gave a boost with my wings towards them when I was greeted by a barrier delaying my movement long enough for several attacks to hurt me. Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only Without caring about the pain, I continued my movements against two enemies with humanoid bodies holding war axes, they didn''t let me get closer, starting their attacks in sync. I am pierced by a spear destroying energy while I manage to avoid the other attacks. I kick the leg of one of the enemies making him lose his balance while my tail goes through his head causing Starfire to spread throughout his body while using my dagger to stop the second enemy''s Axe. "< Star Technique: Moon Blades >" (I) Suddenly rock tentacles come out of the ground trying to trap me, but I use them to stop the attacks of other enemies by throwing myself back, swinging my sword and dagger 6 times each, creating 12 crescent-shaped blades cutting the enemies in half. As the Starfire spread through their bodies I began to see the glow coming from the ground below the ruin where it was, the Demonic energy in the area vibrated as a large magic circle formed in the sky. Soon a strange creature appeared from the sky, it looked like a green scaled armor with two crystal horns of the same color, its body was colossal and it was absorbing the energy of the Demons below as if it were natural as they rushed away. It was when a woman among the Demons appeared from somewhere standing on his shoulder, I could see a green energy flow from the giant to the woman slowly. n-.OIn "Your Aura is getting stronger, I can''t let this continue." (I) I completely transform my body into that of a Dragon, becoming as big as the enemy, I take the opportunity to try to gather my power in my mouth, knowing about the basic attack for every Dragon, the giant enemy launched a wave of green energy that I had to dodge while still gathering energy. He approaches from the front as a green metal sword comes out of him floating to his hand, I keep my Authority around me as if I were covered in Starfire as my Aura Relic leaves my body taking the form of two giant spaced in my hands. With that I let my body return to its previous form, half transformed, small to return to fighting, now overflowing with energy and vitality. ------------------- 4 days later. I was in a field of rubble, half of my face ripped off as well as the entire left side of my body, streams of Starfire Dragons approaching as my body lost vitality like a destroyed dam. I use my only eye to see the 7 bodies still covered in Starfire, they were Demons no weaker than me, 3 of them worked together to kill me while the others acted alone, 1 of them wanted to capitulate me alive, another 2 wanted to eat me being the only ones without intelligence and the last one was some kind of Demonic Specter wanting to take my body for himself. The fight was hell to the point that if it weren''t for my Stellar Technique that I invented by adapting other techniques I could have died, I''ve been in this damn place for days killing millions of Demons, I''ve already killed the Undead more than 10 times last time and Even so, it still doesn''t seem to be enough. "You damn bastards..." (I) I am covered by the Starfire Dragons as I see the giant Demons finishing burning, others were already coming towards me and I could feel their eyes on me, but as soon as the Starfire Dragons finished being absorbed into my body the landscape was Differently, I was in that damn forest once again and I looked up. That spherical barrier containing my Starfire as well as another type of fire was there, the ring of death energy disappeared leaving a much larger ring of dark red energy with traces of green like a ring much larger than the previous one. "You took too long you damn idiot! Couldn''t you be any quicker so I can get out of these damn clothes!!!???" (Employee??) When I turn around and see that wretched Lion Man who threw me into that Demonic desert without giving me any decent explanation, I didn''t know whether to burst out laughing or vomit at the horrifying sight before me. He was a very Large Beastman covered in frightening muscles and fur, his head was that of a Lion complete with his face contorting in rage while his eyes were filled with murderous intent. Unfortunately, his intimidation was not compatible with the clothes on his body, instead, it was a Maid dress with a miniskirt and a tiara with white Rabbit ears, which was ridiculous enough. Now it was much worse being a horrendous punishment for both him and those who look at him. He was dressed in a black bra with white ruffles and several details still reminiscent of classic maid clothes, a maid collar around his neck, and a miniskirt so tiny that it no longer hides anything revealing an elephant print panties that cannot completely hide the monster inside. "A truly hellish vision... I want to tear my eyes out to wash them before I hit my head against the wall trying to get amnesia and forget this trauma forever." (I) Chapter 1240: Cap 1238: Cursed Ocean Chapter 1240: Cap 1238: Cursed Ocean "What does that mean, CALLIDORA!!!!!!!??????" (I) The one in front of me was a face I know very well, his light brown skin and curly brown hair were things I personally cared for for many years. One day a 4 year old orphan who didn''t talk to anyone and didn''t react to anyone, even eating was something she didn''t do alone, if no one approached she would remain in the same position the whole day without showing any emotion, a child who saw the Mother and Father being murdered during a robbery at their home. When she arrived at the orphanage she didn''t react to anyone, even though the adults always tried to take care of her, but she was afraid of them, Father Mrio asked me, who was a teenager at the time and still had a small body due to my horrible health, to take care of her. At that time I had already helped take care of many children at the orphanage, helped them study, played with them, or tried to give advice when they came to me, like another orphan I was able to understand them and was also accepted more easily. I took care of her when she arrived, I gave her baths and cleaned her bed when she didn''t even move to go to the bathroom, I had to change my room to watch her at night since her screams during the night from nightmares woke up everyone in the orphanage. I had to dress them every day, comb their hair, do everything possible for her to eat any type of food, and all the time I talked to her, for months she didn''t show any reaction or even look at me, her eyes were always empty like if I didn''t see anyone, but I kept what I was doing, always treating her with the affection and care of a family member. It took almost a year for things to start changing, it was small things like her grabbing my hand while she slept, opening her mouth on her own when I was going to feed her, and looking at me in the morning when I was waking her up. As the months and years passed, her face gained an increasingly bigger smile while her eyes regained a sparkle of life, the girl who looked more like a doll standing in the same place every day began to pull me from one place to another. She was one of the children at the orphanage that I took the most care of and even when I left the orphanage when I became an adult, I always went to visit her and she started to take care of the other younger children in a loving way, a child who became a symbol of joy and kindness. When I set up my gaming company without knowing if it would work, she studied to get into university saying that when she graduated she would work for me, she became my right hand over the years and I always heard the nurses talking about their visits when I came in or out from a coma during my last years. n-/In "CALLIDORA!!!!" (I) "I KNOW YOU ARE THERE!!" (I) I wanted to move but I was afraid, I didn''t know if it was an illusion, but I wanted it to be, I didn''t want to imagine that it was real that she was here, her eyes were closed and she was wearing a white dress with cloud prints, her body was half transparent and there were small white horns on its forehead. "Aren''t you going to advance to her? I thought you''d like the surprise." (Child??) "..." (I) Every part of me wanted to just kill this damn kid in the suit next to me, but I knew it would be futile, rage tells lies about how enough violence can solve everything, but they are illusions easily shattered. Vissit for updates The girl next to me could crush me with just one hand and Callidora could do much worse than that for eternity, in those moments I thank the emotional control training that Caitlyn gave me in the past, without it I could have lost control now condemning myself same and maybe even Niryna. "Don''t say anything else, I may not be able to do anything against Callidora, but if I leave my life aside I can still destroy her damn Soul." (I) "Strong words for a..." (Child??) "I thought you needed more motivation and so I showed her, my future little girl, and best of all... she already calls you Daddy." (Callidora) "Do you want to use her to..." (I) "You know, I don''t have the power to create and you can heal a Soul, but you can''t create a Soul out of thin air, so why not choose someone who is special to you?" (Callidora) "..." (I) We are all just pieces in her plans, she knows that I would refuse any Soul she could choose, I was thinking about it during the days trip in the desert, and I was thinking about using the Death Taboo Hunters to find a Soul that gives way to Hell. Now Callidora chose someone who was in her hands and who I couldn''t refuse, I felt the moment I touched her, it was definitely Niryna and just that fact tied me to Callidora''s plans. "That doesn''t change anything, she''s still coming with me." (I) "That''s all I want, she out of here and you can be sure, I didn''t do anything to her you would realize otherwise during the process of her birth later, which would cause unnecessary problems." (Callidora) I looked down, the ocean of blood had a strange smell, it wasn''t the smell of blood, it was something heavier and strange, there were also hands and faces being formed when the ocean moved. "What do I have to do?" (I) "Just diving into this ocean, this is not blood as much as it may seem, this is the Curse of worlds, universes and dimensions swallowed by me during its end, curses of infinite creatures that I accumulated in the same place and you need to refine." (Callidora) "How do I do that?" (I) "As soon as it enters, this Curse will rush to invade your body and Soul, deform and corrupt your existence into a creature that seeks only destruction, if that happens you fail, there is no going back and I will be furious enough to have to take out this resentment in someone." (Callidora) "Then use everything you have, but don''t be consumed by this Curse." (Callidora) She puts her finger on my forehead showing how several Souls and Demons became when leaving this ocean. Soon it pushes me down as it disappears, I feel hands coming out of the ocean to pull me and even heads reaching out biting me to pull deeper, I couldn''t get out no matter how hard I tried. "< Aura Relic: Blood of the Eclipse >" (I) With no time to waste, I transformed my body completely into a Dragon day, I placed my Authority within my Blood Core, while my Aura Relic became a crystal armor around me, even my Holy Power I use to circulate my body guiding this cursed energy to where the Starfire is. My mind was bombarded by voices of endless lamentation, negative emotions of all kinds surged within me and something chilling ran through my body. I felt horrible, helpless, and full of hate, that''s when everything got worse, images appeared in my mind like memories that weren''t mine, there were infinite memories appearing like an endless stream. I put myself in a position trying to get into a meditative state to support this. Chapter 1241: Cap 1239: Children of Zenos Chapter 1241: Cap 1239: Children of Zenos The energy entering me was horrible and I''m not even sure it can be called energy. I was in my Dragon form wearing armor made with my Aura Relic and using my Sacred Power to drive this invading energy to the Blood Core in my chest where the Starfire is depleting my Authority, all of this and yet the suffering What I was feeling was indescribable. I hear a multitude of voices, an endless stream of horrible memories and I feel so many bad emotions that I almost can''t tell what my real emotions are. "(I can''t... lose concentration...)" (I) My body is being invaded in an endless flow, parts of my body are being eroded while my Soul seems to be in the middle of a raging storm and my mind is on the verge of erasing. I felt myself going deeper and deeper, but there was little I could do, even moving my body was a futility I couldn''t handle at the moment. It was like acid was coursing through my body at the same time I''m trying to heal, my vitality is arguing because of my Holy Power and it won''t last forever. I had to keep my mind focused on multitasking all the time without making a single mistake in this delicate balance it would only lead to my death if I was lucky, but even that I can''t allow, I don''t know what an entity like Callidora would do if I failed, no I can leave Niryna in your hands, I have to do it. --------------------- Pov Magnus: "How do you feel sir?" (Mavel) "My body and Soul are stronger, my Authority also shows strange changes." (I) "Do you think this is due to Master Zenos?" (Mabel) "It can only be him, Starfire also managed to refine my bloodline and my Authority came from him." (I) "I have to talk to my other brothers about this." (I) "(I also have to talk about last night''s dream, better not to talk to Mabel about it, I don''t want to worry her before she understands what''s happening.)" (I) "I can call everyone to the Crystal Palace, but I don''t know if I can call Miss Nicole." (Mabel) "Talk to Vanessa to bring her, that should be enough." (I) "I will do that now." (Mabel) I see Mabel leaving and my mind wanders again to the last dream just like all the other dreams I''ve been having over the last few weeks. "I hope he''s not doing anything reckless, Irius said that our Father has this bad habit of causing strange problems." (I) I never thought that so many things could happen at the same time, you never have a calm day in this damn place and I can''t help but find it fun. "Let''s see how the Heroes are doing until Mabel gets back." (I) --------------- That night, Crystal Palace. I was entering alone into a room very different from the rest of the Crystal Palace, this room was like a large cabin with wood forming the walls and floor while the ceiling was opened revealing the stars outside. Inside the room I see everyone except Lilith and Nicole, so I sit down on one of the sofas before Irius throws a bottle of wine at me. "Couldn''t bring Nicole?" (I) "What everyone is thinking about is not the rest of the dream, but the roar." (Vanessa) "He is in Hell, that place is not one of the most pleasant places, his suffering should be expected." (Silvia) "To cause that kind of thing, it must be something that shook him to the core, that''s the real problem." (Hela) "There''s no problem, that idiot wouldn''t die easily, you all must have felt how much stronger we are and how we are no longer hurt by that damn Star Flame." (Elsaris) "The progress in strength was something broad, it affected everyone in their bodies, lineages, Auras, Authorities and Souls." (Nicole) "Yes, I needed the power of the Blood Goddess to resist that." (Vanessa) "I heard Hades had a problem with that." (I) "But let''s not divert the topic, what do you want to talk about, Magnus?" (silvia) "Why schedule this meeting?" (Silvia) "I want to talk about..." (I) I start to say what I''ve been thinking and then use myself as an example before asking about their situation, we all exchange information and then talk about what each one has been doing. ------------- Pov Athena''s: I was running in front of a large shield, my bad sword is once blocked regardless of the angle at which I swing my sword, so I spin kicking the shield which makes me go backwards while my opponent stays still in the same place, at least I gained distance before his sword advanced towards me. I use my wing to make the attack go to the side while my blade slides past her sword and hits her hand as she refuses to let go of her weapon. It was at that moment that I noticed the shield advancing on my head, with no time to react, I use my elbow to stop the shield only to realize that it had moved to my side before I felt two fingers on my neck. "You fight well, but you focus a lot on attack, your defense depends a lot on items or skills when you should be using techniques for that." (Veronica) "Can we go one more time?" (I) "No, you need to rest, forcing training won''t help any of us." (Veronica) "I rest after another match, I still need to improve my fighting technique, relying solely on raw power will only lead to death." (I) "All good." (Veronica) Veronica throws her shield and sword aside holding only a spear in her hands, as she was a Goddess of War in the past, there is no weapon that she cannot master. She runs towards me and I pull out a second sword attacking from two different angles, she continues straight stopping inches away from my swords and using her greater reach with the spear to land her blow. I smile as I push forward with my wings, closing the distance as I spin and she spins the Spear away from my swords before using the hilt to strike one of my wings, this small imbalance gave time for her spear to pierce my leg. I wouldn''t be able to dodge it in time and I used my wings to attack, hardening my feathers like razors while making a diagonal cut on her chest making her move away. I grab my sword and return to my position before she can get closer again, the wound on my leg already almost healed as well as the wound on Veronica''s chest. n)-In "Stop you two, you''ve been fighting like this for days now, we have more things to do besides training." (Lock) "Alright, I still have to take a look at the people trained by Magnus." (Veronica) "Yes, he asked for it, I think I have to go too." (I) Chapter 1242: Cap 1240: We can鈥檛 stand still Chapter 1242: Cap 1240: We cant stand still Pov Vanessa''s: I had already heard what happened with Irina''s group and what Magnus has done teaching the children we rescued, but I can''t believe what Hela and Elsaris'' group did. "You are all crazy to split up when we are being sought by 2 strong enemies." (I) "I must agree, spreading our forces and participating in such large events draws attention, remember that Baldr is a God and there is little I can escape from him." (Magnus) "From my research, the Gods do not interfere with the world and are not capable of maintaining lasting contact with people, the Demigods will be the real problem." (Nicole) "Our father''s 3 sisters can help with this, but it will be in a limited way, they are all far from their prime." (Irius) "But what we must do now is preparation." (I) "We are doing this all the time, we are investigating the enemy, training our troops, and seeking more allies." (Samira) "Sorry to say this, but only Hela and Magnus have done something that contributes to our situation." (I) "Vanessa is right, helping the rebirth of a planet after massacring its population does not affect us or the upcoming battle." (Nicole) "The information is also little and does not help." (Nicole) "But what did you do, Vanessa?" (Lilith) "I took care of the people of the city and kept a watch on our Father''s wives, with more than half of the Dungeon''s leadership missing it was difficult to organize everything." (I) "Excellent work with the equipment, Anton was radiant with all those materials." (Irius) "Our coffers are now empty and we are in debt as we borrowed a lot of things." (I) "Who do we owe? Just don''t pay." (Lilith) "Lady Elizabeth." (I) "I think it''s better to pay, that woman is not someone to provoke." (Elsaris) "We shouldn''t deviate from the topic, we have to discuss what we are going to do, continuing as is is a waste of time." (Magnus) "Clearly the Apostles of Truth''s plans are going smoothly and we don''t know when the Church of Light will decide to cause trouble." (Elsaris) "We''re basically hiding here because of the Saint of Life, but it''s hurting us over time." (Silvia) "We must begin to make more active combat preparations and move together." (Magnus) "Moving alone is bad, we have to wait for the Elder Dragons to return and at least Father''s Familiars are ready." (I) "Where are they?" (Hala) I didn''t understand what was happening, we may have been magically transported to a different area. Gggrrrr!!! Suddenly soldiers wearing white armor that I know very well appear, but they weren''t Human, their skin was purple and they didn''t have a face, just a mouth full of sharp teeth. They run at me wildly and without any of the training from the Church of Light, I grab my sword while smiling. I run straight towards the first one holding him by the neck before pushing forward with my wings, while pushing the others with my body, I used my sword to decapitate 3 of them. After that, I abandon the half-crushed body I was holding before and cut to the side, dividing a wall that falls on top of the enemies, I take advantage of this gap to get closer, cutting two in half and the last one I go through their chest, leaving a large hole in the middle. I couldn''t lose momentum and ran in the direction I felt the movement, when I arrived they were the same enemy, but their numbers were larger and they seemed capable of moving in a coordinated way. "(These aren''t savages like the others.)" (I) I tightened my grip on the handle of my sword as I headed towards them, 4 of them placed themselves in front of me, setting up a shield wall while the others used their long spears to attack taking advantage of the distance, a trick I knew very well and it was taught to everyone in the past. I ran towards them stopping inches short of their weapons range before stopping running putting momentum back, this created a gust of wind reinforced by my Aura forward making the shield wall shake. I hold the top of a shield pulling it forward before using it to strike others from the open side. In the end, I was sitting on top of a mountain of corpses wearing white armor, their strength was just a little below mine, but this is all strange. "(The first ones were savages unable to use their power to the fullest, but these now were the opposite being rigid in their movement.)" (I) "(There''s one more.)" (I) As soon as he appeared behind me I felt his gaze and turned, this time the soldier was twice as big, and instead of a large mouth with sharp teeth, he has a vertical eye taking up his entire face and wings on his back. His movements were natural and his line of sight was locked on me, clearly, he doesn''t bear the flaws of those who came before. This time I didn''t attack first, I waited to attack, his speed was greater than mine, but our strength was equal, as soon as his sword came down towards me I defended with my sword at a tilted angle before using my elbow to push him towards him back. I use my Aura on my wings before sending two pressures of Aura making him slow down where I take the opportunity to run towards him, piercing his armor from the side. I thought I had won, but I was too confident when 3 punches to the chest and 1 punch to the head sent my body backwards. I ran to get away from him knowing he was coming after me, so it was all just waiting for him to get closer as I prepared my attack, my Aura concentrated in my fingers. As soon as he got in range it was too late to run away, I kicked a big leg at his knee hard making him miss, and then I used my fingers to cross his body. When I did this, cracks formed in his chest as the center and spread throughout the rest of his body, it was at that moment that the cracks expanded beyond his body, the cracks were destroying the world around him to reveal the same plains where he was before, Fiona was on the my side still with my eyes closed. "(Was this a test?)" (I) I should have known it was a test, this happened in front of them, and yet no one moved, was this training or a way to test someone? Chapter 1243: Cap 1241: Dianas Training Chapter 1243: Cap 1241: Diana''s Training Every one of my organs has turned to pulp, my bones are starting to show signs of cracking and my mind has almost blacked out several times while resisting the memories flowing into me. "(Resist...)" (I) Over time I learned certain tricks like letting memories flow beyond my mind with a meditation technique and a curse, I am using one of my eyes that is connected with my mind to accumulate all this negative memory transforming it into a curse, this eye It is already sealed so as not to let this cursed energy created by me escape. "(Resist...)" (I) The continuous degradation of my body was also treated in a certain way, I started to use my corrosion ability together with my armor made with the Aura Relic against the degradation of this cursed ocean, even so, I could only reduce the degradation in myself by buying time beforehand of my body being annihilated. "(Resist...)" (I) It is the negative emotions mixed with the curse that are the biggest problem, they are burning my Soul and because it is already a Curse directed at me I cannot seal it like I did with the negative memories in one of my eyes. "(Resist...)" (I) My Aura Relic is not being affected while my will is strong, but the few times my will has waned it has been enough to create cracks in my armor. The? source of this content n/o/v/(el)bi((n)) "(Resist...)" (I) Other than that my Sacred Power is not recovering fast enough, I am continuously spending it in small amounts to keep the flow of curse being refined within me by the Starfire of my Authority, but if this continues like this I don''t know what will last less, whether it will be my body or my Sacred Power that will reach the limit first. "(Resist...)" (I) In my mind, only one word resonates infinitely, a mark of my will and a permanent reminder, all the other things I did following more my instinct than my thoughts for not being able to divert my concentration from refining this damned cursed energy that disappears from within of me so refined. "(Resist...)" (I) ---------------- Pov Hades: I enter the Communal Temple going to the statue of Master Zenos in the middle of the pool of blood, as soon as I arrived I could see the statue behind the Star Flames. "They''re not here?" (I) I came to check on my master''s Wives, but I don''t see any of the three and I''m sure they were all floating among the flames yesterday when I was here as well as the previous days. "They are no longer in the flames, they are in the pool of blood." (Alice) I turn around seeing Alice approach and stop next to me pointing down, with that the Star Flames open like a curtain as well as the blood in the pool becomes transparent showing three women floating at the bottom. But in this place, hunger is eternal for me and for all the Wolves, a hell of eternal hunger. In my wolf form, I ran between the rocks of this mountainous land, when two wolves appear from behind a large rock attacking from the side, I step on the head of the one that tried to bite my one of my paws crushing part of his head and I bite the neck of the another with all my strength destroying his neck. At that moment I stop paying attention around just to confirm that there are no more enemies nearby before tearing the flesh off these two bodies to at least satisfy my hunger a little. Eating their meat doesn''t fill my stomach, but it restores my energy, allows me to ignore sleep, and heals my wounds, but this takes into account the amount of meat I eat. ----------------- 5 days later. Today I was in the worst possible place, a swamp in the middle of a storm, to run in this place you have to be careful not to get stuck in the mud and the rain prevents this just as the noise of the storm drowns out the sound of the Wolves. Even so, I continued walking carefully, trying to catch their scent, but the noise of the storm made it impossible to hear the surroundings as the water washed away any way of tracking them. Those who fight alone will be difficult to do something like ambushes, but they are also stronger than those in groups. While I was eating I felt the murderous intent and jumped onto a large rock, when I looked to where it was before I saw 3 Black Wolves with tails made of darkness looking at me, they were Shadow Wolves, they may appear to be 3 creatures when in fact they are the same individual that splits during hunting. "< Breath and Biting Ice >" (I) Since I made a contract with Yuki I acquired Affinity with the ice element, but I still preferred to continue focusing on the power I was already most proficient in rather than starting to learn a new power. A mistake that I realized much later caused me to waste time practicing with ice, thanks to this naivety of the past I have few techniques using ice. My attack wasn''t directed at them, it was at the ground, each ice blade that breaks releases a blast of cold freezing the surroundings into a sheet of ice with my Aura. "< Ice Claws >" (I) When I jump from the large rock I land on the ground making the ice below the 3 Wolves become ice claws trapping them in place, then I run towards them cutting the 3 heads together, when I undo the ice claws there is only a headless wolf body. The truth is I''m mentally tired, this was by far the worst fight I''ve had so far, my reactions were slower and I was distracted, even though my body is fine and my mind is able to think normally, hunger is still influencing my emotions and my mind feel heavy more often due to not being able to stop for a single day. Even so, I continue eating the two wolves from before continuing with the headless logo on the ground, in this world only the hunter survives. After finishing this food, I go back to hunting, always paying attention to my surroundings, but at night, just as I have always done since I''ve been here, I look at the sky at night remembering the days we spent looking at the stars in the Blood Forest in our country hut. "(I need to be stronger...)" (I) As if to answer my question, the sky darkened with lightning falling very frequently to the point where it was almost an indiscriminate attack. Chapter 1244: Cap 1242: Dianas Complete Awakening Chapter 1244: Cap 1242: Diana''s Complete Awakening Pov Ragnar''s: In front of me were two unconscious people lying on the ground, one was a teenage White Elf and the other a young Demon, above them an image of what was going on in their minds. The images above the Demon show him fighting in a ruined city against monstrous creatures with human-like shapes wearing white armor. "He really hates the Church of Light." (I) "Yes, the enemy he fights wears the armor of the Church of Light, but his appearance only mimics that of Humans, a reference to how he views the Church of Light." (Haku) "At least he''s in control, his anger and hatred are directed, he''s fighting well." (I) "What worries me is not his enemies, but the ruins around them, what does that mean?" (Freya) "I''m not sure, it could be a memory that left a deep impression on him or it could be a representation of how everything he believed in fell apart." (Haku) "Hades may have pushed his transformation into a Demon, but this was clearly something that came from him." (I) "For a Light Templar to turn into a Demon like that, it must have been something serious." (Freya) "I still think Athena should train him, their history is very similar." (I) Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only "He needs someone opposite to what he once was, someone like you who is also a Demon will be better, he doesn''t want someone who understands what he is going through." (Haku) "You know I''ve only been awake for a few days, I don''t even fully understand my power at the moment." (I) "I know there will be a way, but the question is what to do with that girl." (Freya) When I looked at the images above of the girl there was nothing but a training camp, her hands bleeding from swinging her spear, it was just that and nothing more. "Was this also chosen by Hades?" (I) "Yes, it seems like she is restricting herself, what we see is not what we want, she thinks she is weak and desperately seeks strength, I don''t think even she knows exactly what she wants after obtaining that strength." (Haku) "Now I understand why I''m the one chosen to train her." (Freya) "You are one of the few people in this place with the ability to guide someone lost." (I) "She seems to have lost her family, so another Elf like you will be a comfort she doesn''t know she needs." (Haku) I think I''ll have an easier time than Freya, my training for this Xagar will be more practical and direct while Freya will need more than just increasing this girl''s combat capacity, sometimes it can be difficult to find a new path to follow. "Thanks for your help Haku, you can cancel your magic." (I) The hunt had begun, they were fast but had little defense, the lightning of their attacks never hit me, but their claws and teeth penetrated my body many times. For hours I fought through the forest painting this place red, after the Lightning Wolves many other types came after me, my body is covered in wounds while my claws became more and more bloody. With no time to eat those I killed, I had to tear off pieces as I fought, even when night came the howls and roars never stopped. --------------- 10 days later. Many days have passed, my body is now 5 times its previous size, and my fur has turned white with some silver streaks when it is not covered in blood. Combat management lost its meaning after so many hunts, my mind now reacts faster during combat. Now I was fighting between mountains against golden Wolves even bigger than me, their bodies being as strong and resilient as Dragons. "< Aura Relic: Fangs of the Moon >" (I) There were dozens of them and I changed my body for the first time in a long time, but I didn''t return to my normal appearance but rather remained in an intermediate state while my Aura disappeared becoming two swords in my hands. "< Incarnation of the Winter Wind >" (I) I incarnated Wind and Ice Ki into my body making ice scales cover my body like armor while a current of wind surrounds my swords. I run towards the first Wolf who welcomes me with his jaws open, I accept his gift by taking his life by crossing my arm over his head from his mouth. I use my other arm to fend off another Wolf that tried to get closer, but instead of missing me, the Wolf threw himself at me, sacrificing one of his paws to bite my shoulder, which I reciprocated by biting his neck to tear off pieces of his flesh that I swallowed. With that I find everyone attacking me at the same time, I use a gust of wind created by my swords to push everyone away, giving me an opening to start my attack. I create an Aura blade increasing the length of my Swords and with two cuts I left two of these Wolves blind For the rest of the fight I used these two wolves to leave their companions scattered and using them as a shield when it was not possible to dodge. My mind was blank with my body being guided only by instinct, with each kill my killing intent increased, my sword danced around clashing with teeth and claws, their bodies becoming more resilient the more time passed. Hours later I was panting tearing off body parts to eat when a Silver Wolf appeared in front of me, its golden eyes left me paralyzed before falling to my knees with meat still in my mouth. His presence seemed to resonate with this territory and with the power within me, I knew who it was as my body shrank back to my normal body while still kneeling before him. "May my power become your teeth and claws, awaken daughter of Wolves, may the blood spilled during these 100 days wash your body and be completely reborn as my Champion." (God Fenrir) Suddenly a column of light surrounded my body, the Wolf in front of me disappeared as more energy gathered into the silver column of light around me, all while the territory I had been in all this time was cracking around me with its gradients Gathering into the column of light where I stood, I could feel my body fill with power. Suddenly I felt my consciousness falling into darkness, but I had a smile on my face knowing that I had completed what I needed to do. Chapter 1245: Cap 1243: The Family Of The Saint Of Life Chapter 1245: Cap 1243: The Family Of The Saint Of Life Pov Hades: It''s been a long time and Master Zenos still hasn''t shown up, I know he will come back since I can''t see a scenario where he will fail in his training, but every night I can hear his noises of pain and even during the When I concentrate I can feel your suffering. Many times I went to Mrs. Elizabeth who waits next to the gate of Hell, but she always says the same thing, always says that everything depends only on Master Zenos. After days, everyone managed to master the changes in their powers and bodies, for the 3 of us who are Divine Servants it was easier since this power is a fundamental part of us as a basic instinct, but the Master''s Familiars had to understand their powers. Today I was seeing those that Magnus trained, all those who chose someone to serve are now inside blood cocoons, whether those who joined one of the children or one of the Familiars, they are all in blood cocoons having their power Awakened within of the Communal Temple. "They''re almost ready, the first one should be out today and I believe the last one should be out by tomorrow night." (I) "Are you sure you don''t want my help? Using my Authority will increase the chances of transformations." (Haku) "We won''t interfere too much, its power can affect the body and mind, but it doesn''t affect the Soul like Master Zenos, it can cause problems later." (I) "That was before, but thanks to the Stellar Flames my Authority became more natural, it became a true evolution." (Haku) "How many times can it be used?" (I) "Only once per individual, tested on some Dungeon and non-Dungeon monsters, it works as a single-use Blessing and marks the individual as a believer." (Haku) "So it works on anyone?" (I) "The monsters I''ve tried don''t have intelligence and I haven''t tried it on a person yet, but I feel like it wouldn''t work on someone with no belief in me or Master Zenos." (Haku) "As for whether it works on someone against Master Zenos, that would be something interesting to test." (Haku) "Stop thinking about these things for now, we have to wait for them to wake up to train, we have 2 weeks before the war starts." (I) "Cinthia must be coming back, I can feel her closer." (I) "You should go, if she''s coming then let''s start moving, you, Alice, Vanessa, and Ivan should meet with the Saint of Life before then." (Haku) "No need, everything that needs to be discussed has already been said, now all we need is the path to our destination, everyone must be prepared by then." (I) n/-In I look at the sky, I can''t help but wonder if Master Zenos will be present at that moment. "You know we''ve been getting some questions." (Haku) "What is it this time?" (I) "The Bug Empresses, especially the one you saved." (Haku) "..." (I) "They''ve all been to the Communal Temple at some point, but the one you saved goes there every night when it''s empty." (Haku) "Do you know why she does that?" (Haku) "Please, let''s stop this topic here, I thought something important had happened." (I) "It''s happened, the Dragons have arrived, but most of them are getting ready to leave again and we have our target." (Natasha) "This time I''m going to participate too, they''re going too far." (Yaramaki) When Saint Yaramaki spoke her eyes lit up briefly, it was only for a fraction of a second and even then it was enough to make my heart race with fear. "Don''t scare her and tell her what she needs, it''s going to take time for us to get there and I want to squish some bugs." (Natasha) "Young people are so impatient, they''re not going anywhere, and the people of Zenos need time, so I''m not going at full speed." (Yaramaki) "I accept 1 week, I need someone to test my power and you don''t want them to do that here." (Natasha) "I was thinking of 3 weeks, but I''ll cut it down to two, you should know that just 1 week is not enough time for young people who have just gone through the Awakening Ceremony." (Yaramaki) "Okay, but who will command the battle?" (Natasha) "I''m only going to fight 1 opponent there, don''t ask me for help with anything else." (Yaramaki) "I''ll be on the front lines, leading an army is horrible, I''ll let you guys handle it Irina." (Natasha) "I guess I''m not following the conversation." (I) The two talking are acting like it''s obvious, but their conversation is skipping several parts, I can understand it from the context, but there seems to be a part of the information missing. "I''m sorry young lady, I may have gotten a little distracted, it''s been a while since I''ve been so irritated." (Yaramaki) "The Dragons gave us a lot of information when they arrived, complementing what their sister Elsaris brought us, with that we marked a specific Planet to attack, it was taken over by the Swarm and signals from the Apostles of Truth." (Yaramaki) "You wanted a war, it looks like you''re going to get one." (Natasha) "I like your bravery and quick thinking, waiting so long for Zenos is a big waste, attacking them first is something you shouldn''t wait for." (Natasha) It looks like Magnus is going to have the war he wants sooner than expected, I know he''s not wrong, but I don''t like leaving my Father aside, I know this is for the best, but I still feel restless. "So shall we leave now?" (I) "Nicole''s rover hasn''t yet..." (I) "No need to worry about transportation, we''ll use my Familiar for that." (Yaramaki) I see the Saint of Life bend down placing her hand on the ground to caress, then the ground seemed to shake around us. "Come on baby, you know where to go." (Yaramaki) "Is there something underground? Could that be your Familiar?" (I) "There seems to be a misunderstanding, I don''t think we ever explained it to you, but this is not a Planet, we are on a Planet-sized creature, a Divine Beast that will be our transport this time." (Natasha) "..." (I) Chapter 1246: Cap 1244: 2 Jewels Chapter 1246: Cap 1244: 2 Jewels Pov Xagar: I made a choice that day with Fiona and I won''t regret my decision, but now standing there watching dozens of people emerging from their cocoons much stronger than before, I can''t help but feel like I''m falling behind even though I know my decision can take me further than them. "Regret about your decision?" (Fiona) "No, just a little frustrated about being left behind." (I) "Come on, we have to find Mister Hades now." (I) "Yes." (Fiona) Lord Hades was the one who helped me free my true self, he serves Lord Zenos who was fatally injured while protecting us from the Church of Light, no one tells us what happened that day, but it is obvious that something big happened while they rescued us. When we arrived at the Communal Temple we passed through the City of Eclipse which is the capital of this Kingdom, we have already been here a few times, but the number of different races here always surprises me. As soon as we entered the Communal Temple we felt the Aura of Lord Hades guiding us to the main Hall where the Statues of various Gods and Deities are consecrated, when we arrived at the Statue of Lord Zenos amidst the strange Fire that surrounds the statue, Lord Hades was standing there looking at us. "Sir, we have come as ordered." (I) "What do you need if we?" (Fiona) "I received a message that we are already moving towards war against an enemy, the participants are all volunteers, what do you 2 want to do?" (Hades) The people in this place are all strong, even the normal people in the city are more of my strength level before I turned into a Demon, I can''t imagine how strong an enemy of theirs must be to force a war. "(I didn''t come here to be protected, what I want is the power to fight for myself.)" (I) "I will fight!" (me/Fiona) I speak at the same time as Fiona and we exchange looks, I should have known she wouldn''t back down from a fight, but unlike me, I''m not sure she understands the level of danger. "You made your decision, so I won''t treat you badly, I know you were the only ones who chose Master Zenos to follow, but he won''t be here in time for the war." (Hades) "I am a Servant, as such I can take part of Master Zenos'' power and serve as a channel to transmit his power to another, something I normally do not do without his permission, but today I will make an exception due to lack of time and out of respect the willingness of both of you to fight alongside us." (Hades) Lord Hades turns to the statue of Zenos and kneels, lowering his head before standing up, extending both hands with palms up. Soon streams of blood come from the pool of blood beneath the flames forming two blood drop shaped jewels, then Starfire gathers around the two jewels before being absorbed into the jewels which begin to emanate a powerful Aura. "Get on your knees." (Hades) From our position it was possible to see some of the scales on Lord Hades'' arms cracking as he turned towards us once again, it looked like he was making some effort to keep the two jewels floating in his hands, his eyes were shining as his Aura hit us covered while kneeling before him. "< In the name of Zenos, I grant you the Blessing of the Blood Eclipse! >" (I) "< In the name of Zenos I testify! >" (Alice/Karina) "It''s over?" (Nicole) "Almost, just 2 steps left." (I) I take the Undead body and go to the floor of the city of death, following my request, Nix made a modification for me, in the last few days I created a lake of blood where I used a magic to collect the miasma of that city, as soon as I arrived at the lake of my own blood and threw the Skeleton''s body into it. "< Death''s Familiar: Cursed Refining >" (I) I use my Authority together with my Aura to create a large magic circle above the entire lake of blood, and then a Starfire mixed with blue flames burns the entire lake. "This will last 5 days before the body is ready for the last part." (I) n/(-/-)-())-)I)-n "What did you want to show me?" (I) "Look this." (Nicole) Nicole followed me here to show me something, it must be important, but as soon as she created a holographic screen, what appeared in the image was just the image of this world. The image of the planet suddenly changed, the planet itself moved, and it was opening up like a creature that was previously curled up and now stretching its limbs. Its shape looks like that of one of the "sea animals" that I saw in the memories that my Father shared with me at my birth, if I''m not mistaken the name was Stingray, some type of fish from the oceans with large fins like wings and a flat body with a small tail at the back. But the planet has exactly that shape, inside it appears to be green crystal, the creature simply began to move out of the image range at an incredible speed as if it had disappeared. "I couldn''t imagine that this world was a creature or maybe it was some kind of Golem?" (I) "Saint Yaramaki called her Familiar, a Divine Beast of Life." (Nicole) "This is colossal, to say the least, what happened to those outside the Dungeon?" (I) "Nothing, everyone is fine, but did you notice what I mean by showing this to you?" (Nicole) "Yes, but I won''t do that anymore, after my studies a colossal type Undead would be beyond my current level and even then it would need living Sacrifices to function." (I) "We are going to war against an entire planet, I think there will be a lot of sacrifices." (Nicole) "Father may not care about the lives of his enemies, but he wouldn''t sacrifice the planet itself, that would be the kind of sacrifice necessary." (I) "So what do we do? We can''t rely on the Goddess Saint forever, we need something that can serve as transportation and still be a fortress." (Nicole) "It would be better to ask Lady Elizabeth or wait for Father to return." (I) "I don''t think we have much of a choice." (Nicole) I took one last look at my work in progress before leaving, Nicole was already walking in front of me leaving while thinking about something else. "(I think I''ll go check on Zaya, maybe she woke up.)" (I) Chapter 1247: Cap 1245: Eve of the War on Insects Chapter 1247: Cap 1245: Eve of the War on Insects Pov Hela''s: I go to the Communal Temple, in the main hall at the feet of the statue of the Goddess of Death was a lying statue made of stone, I go closer to see this statue. "I can feel the vitality, she''s fine, but why won''t she wake up?" (I) "My lady, couldn''t one of her Aunts..." (Hellyos) "No, she said it had to be my Father and that seems to be Tarzor''s will, she is just a bonding tool and something could happen to her if we do it differently." (I) Hellyos appears next to me as if coming out of the ground surrounded by blue fire before going out, I know he doesn''t like the agreement we made, but it''s something that helps us. "Where is he? Is he awake yet?" (I) "No, I''m starting to think something is wrong." (Hellyos) "His soul is fine, I already checked and his body doesn''t have much damage, I also didn''t detect any curse." (I) "I''m going to need someone to take a look at him." (I) "Who do you have in mind?" (Hellyos) "Caitlyn, her powers involve the mind, she is a Demigod and has more knowledge about Evil Gods than I do." (I) We went to that damn place looking for this Evil God with mental powers, but this bastard hasn''t woken up until now, we''ve tried everything from half-cures to sacred purification magic and nothing makes him wake up, I don''t know what could be wrong with him anymore. "There''s no need to call for her, that person is perfectly fine." (Cinthia) "Cinthia." (I) Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only Cinthia appears from behind the statue of the Goddess of Death, as always she doesn''t show much while speaking, but as a Divine Servant of my Father she should be able to figure out what''s wrong with her since she spoke now. "Do you know who this person is?" (I) "Yes, Vanessa told me and asked to take a look, I did it just before you arrived." (Cinthia) "This person doesn''t wake up because their consciousness is not in place, their mind is empty, but their Soul and body are there in perfect condition." (Cinthia) "So his mind was destroyed?" (I) "If his consciousness had been forcibly removed, the body would have had some negative reaction and if his consciousness had been destroyed, the Soul would have been affected." (Cinthia) "Furthermore, I found no trace of a Divinity Fragment on him, but according to what we know he should still have one." (Cinthia) Cinthia approaches and points her sword in my direction, Hellyos tries to come to my rescue, but he was surrounded by swords as well as my neck. "What does this mean, Cinthia?" (I) "..." (Hellyos) It seems that my Familiar is not able to speak, I look at Cinthia who seems calm and wait for a response from her, I do not believe for a second that a Divine Servant of my Father, with a connection to my Father stronger than her Familiars would me hurt without reason. "I have already met with Lilith and she is clean, her mind is not something anyone would dare invade, Her Familiar was in Hell, his mind is strange in many ways." (Cinthia) "Why not kill him?" (Hellyos) "Hellyos, go get his body and bring it to safety." (I) "..." (Hellyos) I see Hellyos leave and his fury is not small, he was restrained by Cinthia before and he just discovered that someone was hiding inside me without realizing it even though he is always by my side, he is too proud to and considers it a humiliation in several ways senses, I need to talk to him later or let someone who understands better talk to him. "You will return to him and I will remain by his side at all times within this Communal Temple." (Cinthia) "Looks like I have no choice." (???) "You lost your choice by becoming someone untrustworthy." (I) I didn''t expect any of this, Cinthia prepared well by bringing even one of my Father''s Relatives here, I didn''t expect Hinata to listen to anyone other than my Father, but at least she disappeared as quickly as she appeared here, all that''s left is for Hellyos to return with this body. Your Evil. ---------------- Pov Hades: I was outside the Dungeon accompanying Lady Elizabeth near the now illusory Hell gate. Looking up it was possible to see the universe moving, countless stars appeared from one direction only to disappear in another direction, but it was not the universe moving but the Familiar of the Saint of Life that we found a planet. "It''s been two weeks, everyone is still training, but I believe they are well enough for something more practical." (I) "You''re still young, don''t fool yourself into thinking we have the upper hand, we don''t know enough on their side." (Elizabeth) "Make everyone stop training, we should make it by tomorrow, make everyone rest before the war, we will have to conquer our space before the real war even starts." (Elizabeth) "Shadow Spirit, warn the others." (I) Everyone has a Spirit or Fairy of the Shadow element with them to serve as a messenger, we can''t always keep moving around for small things, it''s serious more than just inefficient. "I imagine that Mrs. Elizabeth..." (I) "I will not participate in the war, I cannot walk away from Hell''s Gate, I used all my power to create this and I cannot take my power back until Zenos returns." (Elizabeth) "You must go back to prepare everyone, I feel that my Little Brother must return soon, a few hours ago I felt a reaction in my bloodline that came from him." (Elizabeth) "What reaction? Is Master Zenos okay?" (I) "He''s not that fragile, you don''t need to know now what it was, just know that he completed the training." (Elizabeth) "Thank you for saying this good news, I will let others know and..." (I) I suddenly feel a reaction in my sacred power and Authority, something happened in the Communal Temple and as I am feeling 3 reactions it can only be them. "What happened?" (Elizabeth) "The master''s 3 wives came out of the pool of blood and it seems that the Starfire has gone out." (I) "That''s not good, they will want to participate in the war, take them to Caitlyn, if they train in dreams with their mind racing it will be mentally exhausting, but it will be like several days of training." (Elizabeth) Chapter 1248: Cap 1246: End of the Infernal Tests Chapter 1248: Cap 1246: End of the Infernal Tests Every part of my body was in ruins, there was no muscle or flesh left, my bones were mere fragments connected by tenuous threads of red liquid energy flowing continuously between each bone fragment with the center of my body being a red crystal in the area. where my chest once was, the crystal that once shone brightly now flickered as if the light would soon go out. My skull was shaped like fragments with only a black crystal in the shape of an eye inside emanating a horrifying energy, around the remains of what was once my body an illusory figure, my entire body emanating a pressure no less than what was weighing on top of me. This time my mind and emotions are in order, I am no longer influenced by the curse around me, and the macabre memories of this cursed ocean are just endlessly devoured by my crystal eye to be sealed, the Holy power fully embodies my Aura Relic and Authority together with my will as one thing, a state that I was only able to reach when there was almost no body left to be destroyed by this place. It''s been a long time since I lost track of time, in my mind empty of everything other than the task at hand there was only one eternal word. "(RESIST!!!)" (I) Never give up, never back down, and never compromise before any will, only I decide where my feet step and only I decide what to do, even in destruction I will continue. It was when suddenly the light filled the surroundings with pure darkness and someone appeared in my vision, a young girl wearing a suit that didn''t match her figure, without thinking I grabbed that child by the neck, surprising her, her figure was tiny compared to my size, the illusory hand that was supposed to hold her neck wrapped her entire body inside my closed fist. She had a surprised expression and otherwise, she didn''t seem bothered until a mark appeared on her forehead, the mark of an Eclipse where part of the energy that forms my illusory body was being sucked to invade her body. "Zenos, stop." (Callidora) "No." (I) A figure appeared in front of me, it was Callidora, when she appeared it was as if my consciousness woke up to realize that I was outside of that cursed ocean, the pressure no longer existed around me, nor was the endless cursed energy invading my body like before. My mind was free to contemplate everything that had happened, all the pain and suffering I had gone through, as well as to know what was happening now. My gaze is still seeing past Callidora, my eyes locked on the young girl in a suit whose horrified expression seemed to scream without making a sound. Callidora still had her smug smile on her face, but other than talking to me she didn''t do anything else. "You are angry, so if you want, stay with her, but know that her words were spoken following my orders." (Callidora) "I can break her Soul now and I have no reason to spare someone who said those things to me." (I) "Do what you want, but you could wait for her to heal her body first, all that''s left of her vitality is a spark and I don''t have the power to heal anything." (Callidora) "..." (I) The mark on the girl''s forehead begins to grow red roots that spread across her body, her eyes turn red as her Aura breaks completely, I can feel that this was just a Soul in a body of pure energy, a thin line to her around emanating the same feeling that I feel from Callidora. "Where is Niryna?" (I) "She''s fine, I''m strengthening her Soul elsewhere using blank Soul fragments, I need her Soul to be strong to withstand the process." (Callidora) "If something happens to her..." (I) "Don''t come with empty threats, I need it well to make you do your best for my goal." (Callidora) "Now go rest, I prepared cupcakes and coffee." (Callidora) "I guess I won''t ask what these dumplings are made of." (I) When I look to the side I see the gate I entered through standing in place, but I didn''t even try to leave, I wouldn''t even be able to find it at the gate, there was also a table with cupcakes and coffee surrounded by completely naked women of various races waving at me. "Just relax for the next few days, I want you at your best." (Callidora) "..." (I) "What is it? Do you prefer men? I can take care of that." (Callidora) Suddenly she snaps her fingers and the table shifts to be in my line of sight again, this time it was naked men flexing muscles at me, I almost threw up. "Stop messing around." (I) "Just have fun, I''ll let you join if you want, think about it." (Callidora) Callidora snaps her fingers making the naked women from before come back to stand next to the naked men as she walks up to them taking off their clothes, I can see the fear and excitement mixed in all of them as they look at her but I look away as I walk away to lie in a no made with my lines like in the past. "(She knew she would never accept these damn jokes...)" (I) I would never fall for her teasing games, I know that all she wants is to provoke, if she really wanted to seduce me I don''t know if I would be able to resist, in this place her power is supreme and there are no limits that she wouldn''t cross with a smile on your face. "(I wonder how the others are doing, I''m away from my family for a long time this time, I hope they''re doing well.)" (I) We had a lot of enemies to take care of, I don''t know how the Church of Light reacted after what I did that day on their Moon, not to mention that we still haven''t finished with the Apostles of Truth or the Swarm they control. n./(/.-)--.-.1--n "(My sisters must have taken care of everything, they must know what to do, I can only trust that everything must be fine.)" (I) Chapter 1249: Cap 1247: The insect war begins part 1 Chapter 1249: Cap 1247: The insect war begins part 1 Pov Silvia''s: I was floating outside the atmosphere of the Saint of Life''s Familiar, beside me was lady Natasha, we were both looking at the solar system in front of us. "I suppose I can''t see them." (I) "No, but that''s what Nicole exists for." (Natasha) "< Activate >" (Natasha) Natasha throws a magic crystal that breaks revealing a large amount of magic and Holy Power mixed to form 37 interconnected magic circles before condensing into a holographic screen. Natasha seemed to know how to operate this magical item as she used the Aura in her hands to interact with the screen, moving it to show the Swarm moving through the star system, mainly around one of the Planets. "There seem to be many just outside the planet, but from the looks of it they are not strong individually." (I) "They are just numbers, they will slow us down and be used to expend our forces, perhaps even reveal our power before the real war even begins since the numbers are so large." (Natasha) "I don''t think we can avoid them." (I) "Combo the size of this thing, they should already know we''re here." (I) "Wait, what is this?" (Natasha) Natasha, who was moving the image to show the Insects and their positions, suddenly returns to a place she just passed by, I thought I was seeing the insects in the area, but I didn''t see anything important. "We''re in trouble, it was a trap, the Bugs are bait for us to believe they''re just numbers, look at this." (Natasha) "What is this, a moon?" (I) She pointed to a place on the screen where there were no Insects around, but it looked like just an unimportant Moon, or was that what I thought until Natasha explained. "That''s not a Moon, they''re just making it look like a Moon." (Natasha) "That''s a Poison World." (Natasha) "Poison World..." (I) I''ve heard about these things through other World Trees, a planetary nest of poisonous insects that takes thousands of years to create, a living poisonous planet that contaminates everything around it, has billions of poisonous insects inside under its control, its poison can contaminate everything. "What we do?" (I) "Nothing, they are for me to take care of, all 4 of them." (Yaramaki) Suddenly the Saint of Life appears next to us pointing in 4 directions, one of these directions was where the Poisonous World that Natasha found was. n/.--.--.-(..I/(n "Even a World Tree isn''t immune to the poison of these things." (I) "Don''t worry about me, I won''t fight directly, I will arrest the 4 in my Territory, these things have contaminated half of the surrounding Planets causing destruction, a large number of lives have been lost and worlds with the blessing of life have been contaminated with their poison." (Yaramaki) "I won''t let something on that scale pass." (Yaramaki) "< Hyperfocus Sensory Divider >" (I) "[Divided Consciousness 01.]" "[Divided Consciousness 02.]" "[Divided Consciousness 03.]" "[Conscience...]" "[...]" I utilized meditation, my unique mind capable of multitasking far beyond any other individual, and Spiritual Power to create ghost-like spiritual clones with my sensory capabilities, then spread them using the Aura technique copied from the Insect Empresses to control Swarms. Thanks to this I can collect large amounts of information and adjust the difficulty to prevent the death of allies. "(Found joining signals of thousands of Aura threads in 49 places so far.)" (I) "(Best alternative to keep the targets working so as not to be noticed ahead of time, wait for a greater danger signal for more direct interventions on my part.)" (I) Following my observations, the Dragons Summoned by Hades are being isolated and treated individually, being able to transfer a large part of the initial enemies in their direction, during this time a large amount of blood spilled is increasing the numbers of Blood Vampires created by Irina. The increase in our forces becomes increasing with the Skeletor commanding Hela''s Undead army, actively acting to turn all the bodies into Zombies. Layla''s forest is also serving to confuse the Aura of the supposed Insect Empress, the trees move, tearing those who enter into pieces while rays of Elemental energy surround the leaves that move as if moved by the non-existent wind, tearing the bodies they pass into pieces pass. The more time passes things change quickly, predicting based on the information obtained I can be sure that without any new factors emerging this battle will end in our victory within 5 hours in a very safe estimate, being certainly capable of ending even sooner. "(Something is wrong...)" (I) The movement of the insects was strange when they should have been adapting to what was happening, they were throwing themselves to their death, and that''s when I noticed a flow of energy being sucked from the bodies at the moment of death. "(I need to find out...)" (I) Continuing the analysis I can notice a strange flow of raw power, but when I was trying to analyze this type of raw power a hand holds my shoulder greatly increasing my sensitivity to this type of flow of raw energy. "(The power flow in this place is strange, see.)" (Layla) "(It appears that the power contained within them is being channeled elsewhere through this flow of raw energy.)" (I) It was when I was able to trace this type of power flow that I realized that the 49 areas where I suppose there were Insect Empresses were areas with a node capable of changing the direction of this power flow. I continued to trace the flow of natural raw energy and each of the 49 nodes I found, the diagram drawn was a magic circle similar to the physical reshaping of the Undead from Necromancer magic. I was only able to discover this because of Layla, if it weren''t for her it would have been very bad for all of us. "This is not good, they must be stopped." (I) "[Locking aim across multiple sensors on 49 confirmed targets.]" (I) "< Blood Eclipse Arsenal: Activate Multi-Level >" (I) Chapter 1250: Cap 1248: The insect war begins part 2 Chapter 1250: Cap 1248: The insect war begins part 2 I spent days sitting, I didn''t dare to sleep in that place, so I tried to focus on the changes within me, while I was inside that Cursed Ocean I could feel the changes happening, it was as if my survival instincts and my will had forced me to adapt to survive. I could feel my Aura Relic breaking and mixing with my Authority as the two mixed with my Holy Power, the power that arose then lifted my Soul and Body as a cohesive whole, I remember the sensation and feeling of doing this as if had created a work of art while drunk without actually having the memory of doing so. UppTodated from I spent days meditating on everything that happened in that Cursed Ocean and over time I understood what I had done, even though I still had doubts, they weren''t things I could discover in that place. When I opened my eyes, Callidora was inches from my face smiling and even then I wasn''t able to notice her, her appearance was now younger as if she was just playing. "What are you doing?" (I) "I was about to wake you up." (Callidora) As she spoke her body was aging by years until it returned to its seductive appearance from before, but this time her clothes changed to something more imposing with a golden dress with bone details and a cape that seemed to be made of pure darkness, looking at the On top of his head was a crown of black and blue flames. "Come, it''s your turn to keep your promise." (Callidora) n-.//.)-))-(-I-)n I get up finding Soul of Niryna with her eyes closed next to a sphere that looked like a hole in the universe enveloped in Starfire. My eyes just passed through the sphere before focusing on Niryna, she looked visually fine to Alma in the process of becoming a Demon, but her once weak presence was much stronger than before, a purely spiritual pressure leaving her body. "Before you ask, she''s fine, she''s just finding it difficult to digest the blank Soul fragments I made her consume, her consciousness is a big impediment." (Callidora) "Our agreement was that she would be fine." (I) "She is fine." (Callidora) "Now let''s begin." (Callidora) --------------- Pov Yaramaki (Saint of Life): I was on top of my Familiar looking at the 4 Poison Worlds lined up in front of us, we were at first sight in a different Star System, but all the stars around us had a green glow, the planets were mixtures of blue, green and white while a flow of vital energy ran through everything that made up this place. "What do you think, Pasha?" (I) "(I think I should have brought Zoe.)" (Pasha) "Don''t say that, I just need you to keep these 4 busy." (I) "(It''ll take me days to deal with them...)" (Pasha) Destroying a Poison World is very Difficult, its entire body needs to be Destroyed at the same time as the creatures inside it die, it would be difficult for me to do that, the powers of life are not based on Destruction on such a scale making it a difficult type of opponent to fight. Our attacks didn''t hit her body, but we managed to get him away from Layla by pushing him further away, I wave to her while continuing to help Layla while I advance against this thing. Silvia is trying to take control of the Raw Power Flow while Layla is building a tree that can collect, direct, and make use of this raw energy to maintain that point''s Defenses. Hela is using her army of Skeletons as raw materials to build a white fortress while Irina reinforces more and more of her defenses. The reason we chose these people for this initial attack was precisely because of their ability to quickly acquire a fortress to use as a base of operation, a point from which to begin the real war. "< Eclipse Magic: Star Dragon Puppet >" (I) "< Mirrored Field >" "< Ray of Poisonous Light >" I create 5 magical circles around each of my arms as I use my Authority and Sacred Power to create a colossal construct of Dragon-shaped energy that I control. I use my great Dragon to stop the Rays of Light coming out of this enemy''s tails, I realized that he created a field of mirrors using spatial magic, his plan is obvious to see and so I block the trajectory while I can still follow, I feel the hands of energy weaken with the energy that forms your hands being tarnished. Realizing the power of that light I make the big Dragon head bite and tear off the 3 tails while using its arms to break the barriers around it. Without his defenses and losing his main source of attacks, I ran towards him where our fists collided, but that was his mistake as a larger dot descended on him from above destroying half of his body. "< Ultimate Sacrifice >" Suddenly the half of the remaining body was liquefied as it became a wave carrying many bodies left around, I tried to stop but gave up just like that and I saw Irina''s Blood Vampires fall apart along with Hela''s Undead. I prepare a spell and wait when I feel the killing intent locked onto me, I wait until I am surrounded by dozens of figures just like the Scorpion Centaur from before, as I open my hands starting the spell I focused on. "< Eclipse Magic: Void that Devours the Moon >" (I) When I activate the magic a Vacuum forms above me, all the liquid around me that forms these figures attacking me was sucked into the vacuum before being frozen in the shape of a silver moon. "< Vampiric Shadow Absorption >" (I) My shadow transforms into an ever larger Vampire enveloping the frozen sphere absorbing every form of energy within into me, this includes remnants of what little vitality was left after the sacrifice he made. "[An attack is coming, retreat!]" (Nicole) Suddenly a transparent doll cave that looks a lot like Miss Nicole appears in front of me pointing in a direction, without hesitating for a second I put all my power into my wings as I push in the direction pointed, escaping an attack that was actually a big hand of energy extending, this large hand destroys my shadow taking the moon-shaped ice sphere. This large hand came from the direction of the planet and as soon as it catches the frozen sphere it shatters causing all the energy still inside, including the Soul, to flow through the arm as it returns to the planet. After that, I gather with the others to strengthen the fortress''s defenses as much as possible before bringing the others back from the Dungeon. Chapter 1251: Cap 1249: The insect war begins part 3 Chapter 1251: Cap 1249: The insect war begins part 3 Pov Haku''s (???): It''s only been a few weeks since I woke up, I couldn''t imagine from the things mother told about me, it seems like my incompetence last time was disastrous. Fortunately, the mother''s research that did not work out in the past in our universe was more positive with the resources found in this universe. "How''s the power source implementation going?" (I) "The implementation is failing, there seems to be something wrong with the power fluctuations." (Assistant A) "Check if there is something interfering outside the Planet, I don''t believe that our plans to change the flow of energy are wrong, it must be some external influence." (I) "Ma''am, these are the data on the organism''s growth..." (Assistant B) "Don''t call it that, my brother was a volunteer, call him by his name." (I) "Yes, Mr. Peter seems to be following the expected growth patterns, his total mass has already reached the last continent, but the integration is facing resistance, he is unable to leave the lower region." (Assistant B) "The planets in this universe generate unique energy creatures that work as antibodies to the planet, they call it world spirit or something..." (I) Sigh "Unfortunately only the mother managed to get rid of one of these things and even she doesn''t know how she did it, so just ignore it for now, as long as Peter takes the planet for himself this thing won''t matter, and will hopefully disappear." (I) "This appears to be interfering with the progress of the next phase." (Assistant B) "Was the process interrupted?" (I) "According to our latest information, no." (Assistant B) "But the delay will be 7 times the estimated time." (Assistant B) "So just keep going, take this time to gather more detailed information, these are just initial tests and some margin of error was expected, collect as much information as possible." (I) "Yes ma''am Haku." (Assistant B) I was walking through the caves heading to my room, a group of Assistants around me as I manage this incredible project, luckily the problems are not many and nothing is blocking the progress of the project. I look at the white cave I''m passing through, the shape and texture of the bones seem to be progressing well, unfortunately, there are no veins around to measure the blood flow. "(Everything is going well, that worries me.)" (I) While I was lost in certain thoughts, an assistant with wings on his back comes flying through the tunnel to where I was, the other assistants make room while the newcomer kneels unnecessarily, the recruits from this universe are too formal with hierarchical figures superiors, this kind of thing is an inconvenience within a research group like ours, it''s just not efficient to maintain useless formalities. "That tree is exactly in the center of that barrier, even though construction is being done around the tree, it seems like the distortion I see in the space near the tree makes sense... a natural energy collector..." (I) "They are setting up an operations base within our territory, too close." (I) I didn''t fear any enemies, they can delay our progress on certain things, but they are also essential for field testing. What I really feared were hidden enemies, the worst attack is always the one you can''t see, that''s why I''m so happy, even though they hide their forces, their way of attacking is head on, they''ve also given me clues about their companions hiding using space magic. "I''m ready, but they should take days, building and reinforcing a solid base to be used like that will take days even with magic." (I) "I intend to enjoy every second of these." (I) ----------------- Pov Silvia''s: I was inside our base, Hela was still strengthening the defenses along with Irina and Layla while the rest of us were discussing next steps. "So they managed to alter the flow of raw power between the worlds." (Magnus) "Now I understand why the Saint of Life decided to interfere." (Vanessa) "I can''t sense the World Trees, it should be a constant presence as their powers serve to receive that power and regulate it as it integrates with the planet." (I) "But it seems they injected a Soul into the raw energy flow, it was the creature that you destroyed Hades." (I) "What should we do now, their preparation outside the planet was much more than we previously thought and we don''t even know what we will face inside the planet." (Hades) "It doesn''t matter, we are not alone this time, Zadiris should arrive by tomorrow according to his message." (I) "Clearly the strength of the Apostles of Truth is greater than we expected, what do you think of them, Haku?" (I) n--)./))-((--1-/n "From what I know, they are creative and won''t do anything without planning ahead, what we face today won''t be everything." (Haku) "But luckily it looks like we''ll have company soon." (Haku) "Dragons must..." (I) "She''s not talking about the Dragons, the Master seems to be about to come out of his training, we can sense that he''s fine, which means he should be back soon." (Hades) "But the door is still on the Life Saint''s Familiar''s back, which means it''s in his Territory." (Irius) "Don''t worry about these two here, we won''t have any problems." (Natasha) Natasha points to Alice and Karina in the corner, it seems like she knows something that we don''t. Chapter 1252: Cap 1250: The insect war begins part 4 Chapter 1252: Cap 1250: The insect war begins part 4 Pov Ibuki''s: I open my eyes and look around, everything is dark at first and then a hand appears, taking me by the shoulder, I was pulled to a bright place, and when I realized I was looking at a white ceiling. "I thought I died." (I) "You passed the tests, try to use what you learned in dreams in your real body." (Caitlyn) "..." (I) I sit and feel my power coursing through my body, the 3 types of Natural energy, Sacred Power, and my Aura. My Aura was different, it didn''t change as much as I thought at the beginning, it seems more like it evolved, my body was the one that had many changes both in shape and capacity, and the amount of energy I can keep in my body is at least 5 times greater Before, the circulation of energy is faster and I can feel inside me, the Master''s Sacred Power pulsing in my veins. "By your smile, it looks like you confirmed the results, now go talk to Freya, she will explain things to you." (Caitlyn) "Where are Kira and rica?" (I) "They woke up before you, they are making their preparations just like everyone else, we are in the middle of a fight and Freya will let you know the rest." (Caitlyn) ---------------- After going to talk to Freya I found out what happened in the first battle, I also found out everything that has happened since we entered Starfire seeking to become stronger, and about Diana who chose a different form than us seeking power. "Unlike others, I don''t have the preparation to do." (I) "Always have things to do, I know your strength is fighting, so get together with Irius and Ivan in the planning, Diana should already be there." (Freya) "I''ll do that, but before I do, I want to know something." (I) "Do you regret your decision?" (I) "No, I would make the same decision." (Freya) "Then why do you have that look on your face?" (I) "Not someone without emotions, seeing the 4 of you moving forward so quickly while I fall behind leaves me frustrated." (Freya) "Don''t get me wrong, I know that in Zenos'' eyes there is no distinction, I''m not insecure either, I''m much older than all of you combined, but no one can escape frustration." (Freya) "Could have gone with the 3 of us." (I) "Everyone has their own path, that wasn''t mine just as it wasn''t Diana''s path." (Freya) While talking to Freya, another person entered the room pushing a bone door, it was Silvia and I took advantage of her arrival to leave. "Freya I need to talk to you." (Silvia) "Looks like I still have things to do." (Freya) "I''ll leave you guys, I have to look for Irius, but before you go, know that I''m here if you need me." (I) "I know, thank you." (Freya) "I know it''s there, show up before I choose to pay a visit to that world." (I) "If I do that I''ll have to take care of the mice trying to intrude." (Greed) After my Familiar took the 4 Poison Worlds away, I started talking knowing he would respond, he always liked the sound of his own voice and he knows it wasn''t an empty threat I made. This was my Territory, so everything here was supposed to be under my control and not be able to stay hidden from me, but he manages to do this, taking the area around him as his own just by his existence being here. When he appeared, the space around him unfolded, his body very similar to that of a White Elf if it weren''t for the Celestino wings on his back and the Demon horns on his head, his appearance exaggeratedly beautiful to the point of being unnatural and at the same time, it is impossible to say his gender, normally he would not have any gender, but due to his personality, he must have both genders simply because he wants to. "Got a new body? How much of you can this vessel hold Evil God of Greed." (I) "So far he''s been holding up well to everything I am, but I''m still not used to it, so I hope we both just watch this show." (Greed) "You call all this destruction a show? What are you doing Greed?" (I) "I thought the Evil God of Greed was against destruction on this scale and yet several planets are dead in this place while one is being corrupted." (I) "Sometimes concessions must be used, getting this body wasn''t easy, and having such a delicious ally isn''t something I can let slip away." (Greed) "(Delicious... is he feeding on them?)" (I) "(Greed... is feeding on their Greed... is treating them as believers or followers.)" (I) "Do they know what you''re doing to them?" (I) "No and even if they knew it doesn''t matter, they can''t do anything about it and at the same time it doesn''t hurt them." (Greed) "These people are amazing... hahahahaha.... their Greed is greater than my loyal servants." (Greed) "That''s why I decided to help, they aren''t able to see that everything being done in this part of the universe would attract their attention, a protector of life like you wouldn''t let something like that go by." (Greed) As a Saint of Life I couldn''t help but feel, for me all lives are lights that I can see and feel, I couldn''t help but notice more than one plant dying, much less would my Goddess let something on this scale pass. I look at him, I may not feel his power, but the pressure being emitted by his presence is very strong "I''ll kill you." (I) "A Saint of Life talking about leading others to death? How hypocritical..." (Greed) "But we both know it won''t do anything, a battle between the two of us so close to a planet like that and in a situation as ''delicate'' as this would be catastrophic at the very least." (Greed) He doesn''t want to fight, if he really wanted to go against me directly he would have already made his move, he is buying time with big words and threats. "(He wants to exclude me from the conflict as well as my Familiar, but something is wrong.)" (I) "(There was no way he didn''t know that other Deities could come, but he is too focused and calm on stopping just me, is he very sure that others won''t come?)" (I) I knew that a direct fight with him could cause problems, but if he has a body now it will be dangerous to let him go, knowing that I can''t hold back this time. "Not this time." (I) "< May I be the receptacle of all Life >" (I) Chapter 1253: Cap 1251: The insect war begins part 5 Chapter 1253: Cap 1251: The insect war begins part 5 Pov Hades: It has been 3 days since the first battle against the insects and many things have happened, Master Zenos'' Wives have joined the battle, Silvia has made a discovery about the planet and our next course of action has already been decided. "Are you sure you want to be on the front lines?" (I) "Yes, I make a point of being there, I won''t accept a fake walking around with my face." (Haku) "I never realized that Yntra had achieved success in cloning, it was the main one in our lab when I was hired by her in our universe, but it never worked." (Haku) "Clearly it works now." (I) "Magic opened many doors, creating a humanoid body without mutation was complicated in many ways in our universe, but it was possible with years of research." (Haku) "Creating a body following someone else''s genetic code and still trying to maintain the same appearance was much more complicated, Yntra was a unique genius for achieving this, but even she was not able to take care of the brain, the mind was empty, they were just meat dolls with no minds or ability to learn." (Haku) "They are like homunculi, a manufactured body without a Soul." (I) "No, homunculi are delicate and their functional minds, even without a Soul, are still useful in many ways, but what we created was very superficial and we never considered Souls." (Haku) "For all of us, the concept of Aura has always been something ridiculous, even vital energy was just another form of energy that we found in this world, magic is just a way of manipulating energies unique to this world, it can be understood in a certain way, but Souls They are concepts too abstract to be considered true." (Haku) "That''s what you think?" (I) "Not now, but I thought that way before I was reborn as I am now, thanks to Master Zenos I realize that the true essence is in the Soul while the flesh is just a container, something that can be molded, repaired, and recreated while the Soul in its exist within." (Haku) "That''s why I won''t let someone use my appearance and research as their own, they are mocking me and everything that Master Zenos has made me." (Haku) Since Silvia and Freya managed to talk to the World Tree still resisting inside the planet, Haku finds himself like this, all his anger at the presence of a copy of her acting as if it were the real one. Another thing we discovered was the creature growing inside the world, a monstrosity of flesh trying to become the Planet itself and the worst of all is that they are succeeding. They sacrificed the entire population of that planet and the surrounding planets for this, even the planets themselves were robbed of their power leading everyone to their current state, all to create this abomination. "You can get your copy, but don''t forget the plan, I won''t be around to help if you fall into a trap." (I) "I know, there''s no need to worry, I won''t waste the life Master Zenos gave me." (Haku) ---------------- A few hours after talking to Haku we were leaving a meeting room where the plan was explained once again to everyone, it would be 7 days of combat without rest in enemy territory, it would not be easy even with our plan and we are not able to know how the Apostles of Truth will respond to what we will do. "Listen, don''t stay away from others, make sure you don''t worry the Saints, and don''t try to come up with anything funny." (Ivan) "Don''t worry, Dad... how many times do I need to tell you that I''m not a child anymore?" (Lyra) "< Sacred Eclipse Magic: Nightfall Titan >" (I) "< Consume >" (I) A magic circle explodes expanding for kilometers as the space around it cracks in the shape of a spider web, the cracks in the space begin to bleed and all this blood gathers in the center of the magic circle forming a red tornado pulling the entire cloud of insects in with the exception of a few hundred that seem to be able to resist. "I''ve located it, it''s looking at us from dozens of kilometers away, look." (Orion) "I can take care of her." (Diana) "I''ll go with you, in the meantime take care of what''s left Orion, don''t let the birth be interrupted, we just need a few minutes." (I) "< Blood Hunt >" (Orion) His body was covered by a disappearing red mist as Diana and I ran towards one of our Targets, one of the others must be nearby. "Don''t reveal everything." (I) "I know." (Diana) "< Silver Moon Hunting Ground >" (Diana) Her Authority and Ki form an illusory image of the silver moon behind her, following until we reach the Inseteos. "< Pressure from the Ruler >" (I) I use my Aura to give it physical weight by forming a pressure field in front of me in a cone shape, multiple insects being crushed into the ground with only the strong resisting ones still charging at me. That was when a silver light blinded the surroundings leading to an illusion of a mist-filled night forest with a silver moon in the sky. Even without seeing it, I knew that Diana would go after the Leader, so I strengthened my arms by going against the strongest insects capable of resisting my pressure. The first one to appear took my punch head on trying to grab my arm while two others attacked from both sides, I turn my body opening my wings making them go backwards while my tail crosses the ground killing some while hiding for an ambush. My claws became bigger as I ran through the body of one of them who exploded in front of me followed by dozens of attacks. "< Blood Extraction >" (I) They may have resisted the pressure of my Aura, but that doesn''t mean that my Aura hasn''t invaded their bodies, I use my Aura to take their blood for me ripped from their bodies, even if it''s not enough to kill them, it still weakened everyone. Thanks to that, I ran among them, crushing their weak bodies like flies, no matter the Insect Empress''s Aura control or her true strength, when I drew blood from her, most of her vitality came with it. Suddenly I feel something and look further back, I can feel someone''s eyes fixed on me, when they are close to going in that direction I feel a fluctuation in my Aura and I know what that means, Eclipse Titan is not connected to this world and yes to Master Zenos, he won''t be as strong as Sakura, but he''s still a great force. "May each of you die!" (I) Chapter 1254: Cap 1252: The insect war begins part 6 Chapter 1254: Cap 1252: The insect war begins part 6 Pov Diana''s: Blood circulated my body full of energy, a wild intention tried to corrupt my mind with promises of unrestricted release, but I would not let my power dominate my body once again as it had in training. "I you are mine..." (I) I was running in a forest covered in mist, this place is not just an illusion, the trees, grass, and even the ground are covered in my Ki, its resistance far above normal, and the mist was made of the materialization of my Aura hiding my presence completely while allowing you to feel everything within the mist. This was my hunting ground and everyone in it was food, my new swords shine like the moon in the sky, I run among the weakest insects cutting them in half in groups, the weakest are the first to fall to leave the strong isolated. Each swing of my swords mowed down dozens of them creating hundreds of corpses in seconds as it circled around the Bug Empress. Every time I attack one of her insects she knows my position due to this Swarm''s connection with her, bringing her to my hunting ground is just the first step, disrupting her senses before the real attack was the main thing and these insects serving as an extension of her they just get in the way. When I cleared the area around her I wasted no time and went towards her, but before I even reached her I noticed something and dodged countless lines at high speed, thanks to the fog I knew that these lines were launched in all directions around her of the Empress. These lines stuck to the ground, to the Bugs hundreds of meters away, to the trees, and those that went upwards stuck to the space itself after reaching hundreds of meters in height. I noticed the Aura contained in the lines as well as the faint odor of the poison, her efforts were commendable and yet useless as I continued running towards her, moving in the space between the lines with absolute precision. The closer I was to her the space between the lines became smaller, but I couldn''t help but smile from the thrill of the hunt, I was less than 3 seconds away from her when her 8 spears came towards me at the same time as my shoulder touched one of the lines, I could feel its presence focusing on me. "(You fell.)" (I) "< Bite of the Lunar Wolf >" (I)Chee?ck out latest novels at novelhall.com She didn''t realize that every creature she killed had their vitality stolen by the Moon, when I activate this technique the moon above opens its eyes becoming a large silver wolf head of pure energy falling like a hammer from the heavens on top of its head as the field of hunting completely breaks down. But even so, I continued going towards her, just as I expected she had serious injuries, but was still alive, which didn''t last when I used my swords to cut her body into 4 pieces. Wolves are ambushers by nature and take advantage of every opportunity that arises, there is no mercy or mercy in their teeth, only food. I didn''t fail to notice the other captions in the area surrounding me as my hunting ground was broken by my own attack, but I didn''t worry as I felt a wave of pressure run wildly past me, a smile forming on my face as I spoke. "Your time is up." (I) The blood tornado became an almost humanoid silhouette if it weren''t for the tail, the claws, the shape of its legs like a beast, and its oval head. The cracks in the space around him closed as the giant magic circle around him shattered into fragments running towards him forming a full body armor in black colors with white details, the armor gave him additional characteristics making him look like a an armored metal Dragon, its size easily reaching 500 meters. The ground around him seemed to absorb his massive blooming presence, and that''s when I felt Hades approaching me. "Everything as planned." (Hades) "Don''t count victory ahead of time, we have to be careful." (I)n)-/)..(--/-)1-.n Annihilation Beetles are apocalyptic creatures, we only met one of them once, their bodies are resistant to everything, and yet their regeneration process is ridiculous to the point of instantly healing any injury, their bodies literally carry the vitality of a planet, that''s why this is their food. Even my Father wasn''t able to do anything, it took Caitlyn to put that thing to sleep before we found a single way to defeat it. It was after that that we discovered what that thing was and now there are so many of them coming towards us, these things are immune to poisons, and curses and even keeping them trapped is almost impossible. "Can you get Hinata here?" (I) "No." (Ragnar) "Can you trap that thing or attack its Soul directly?" (Ragnar) "Nothing that''s significant against that thing." (I) "Then we only have one way out." (I) "What will you do?" (Ragnar) I didn''t have time to hesitate, I took out various materials like Heart of Darkness, Ghost Orb, Demon Dragon Bones, and many magic crystals filled with Demon energy. Then I slit my wrists and control the blood by drawing 72 interconnected magic circles in multiple layers using up almost all the blood in my body while drinking one bottle of potion after another, my Aura was making the items I removed position in the magic circle to activate immediately. "< Forbidden Magic: Gate of the End >" (I) This was a spell I learned along with how I summoned Hellyos, but this is the first time I''ve used it knowing how risky it could be for me or anyone nearby. As soon as I uttered the words all my power, Vitality, Aura, and Authority were sucked away, the only reason for not dying was the Holy Power inside me keeping some Vitality trapped inside me as the Holy Power was the only one not used in this Magic Ritual. From within the magic circle, all materials are incinerated by dark blue flames, then the magic is soon formed into the silhouette of a door that quickly becomes more real, revealing details of its appearance such as being made of bones or blood flowing through the door. At that moment the Annihilation Beetles were already close enough to see them, there was no time to waste, and with willpower, I finished the last step while being supported by Hellyos. "< Open >" (I) The gate opens with chains appearing and spreading across the surroundings, from inside the large gate only a muscular man dressed as a butler and with a mustache appeared, his eyes were focused on Hellyos as he disappeared before appearing in front of us. "I didn''t expect to see you, little Dragon..." His height was no bigger than Hades or Magnus, but for some reason, he seemed to be gigantic to me, maybe because of my current weakness, but I wasn''t able to feel anything from him, nothing from his presence or Aura. He suddenly looks away from Hellyos focusing first on me and then Ragnar before focusing solely on the Eclipse Titan. "So that''s why this damn outfit appeared again..." Sigh "Why get involved right after resolving something..." Chapter 1255: Cap 1253: The insect war begins part 7 Chapter 1255: Cap 1253: The insect war begins part 7 Pov Hela''s: "Why get involved right after resolving something..." Updated chapters at novelhall.com The one who came out of the Hell Gate I created was talking when he seemed to realize something and turned towards the Annihilation Beetles. "A true delight." As he spoke, he stretched his arm, making it grow to an enormous size, descending with a palm of kilometers upon the Annihilation Beetles, but the impact on the ground did not cause any tremors or shock waves to the point that it was strange considering what I saw. The man''s hand began to shrink as it became the size it was before, but I noticed the space trembling around his clenched fist. "Did you kill them?" (I) "Why would I waste this kind of delicacy?" "..." (I) When he spoke, he was already bringing his hand to his mouth, it was possible to see something coming out between his fingers. Without me noticing one of the chains floating around the gate moved or at least I think it moved when it simply wrapped around his wrist preventing his hand from getting any closer to his mouth. "Is this serious? I can''t even..." Before he could speak, he became just a blur that entered the gate of Hell that closed soon after. "..." (I) "Do you know him?" (Ragnar) "He shouldn''t be here, that doesn''t make sense." (Hellyos) "Hellyos, who was he?" (I) "They are called Infernal Deities or also Heralds of Hell, they are essentially slaves with the power of Gods incapable of leaving hell of their own accord." (Hellyos) "We can see that as he was pulled back after a few seconds." (I) "You don''t understand, I meant they literally can''t leave hell without your permission, the mere fact that he left means he was allowed." (Hellyos) "He seemed confused before, normally named creatures know they are being called." (Ragnar) "My magic wasn''t to summon someone, it was just to create the Hell''s Gate." (I) I planned to open the Gate of Hell by letting some creature out to take care of the Annihilation Beetles, I know that the creatures of hell like to consume living beings, especially those with great vitality. I didn''t try to summon anything specific and I hoped with luck to eliminate everyone before the creature was dragged to Hell when the Gate was going to close, in the worst case it would buy us time to get out, I never expected that man to appear. "Not the same..." (Hinata) "We can''t do anything, he''s busy." (I) There were more pieces of bodies around us, we didn''t need to fight much, but there were still some weak opponents, that thing doesn''t seem to be here either, I can''t feel it underground. Hinata who had created another mouth to respond while pushing pieces of bodies larger than her into her mouth, suddenly stopped as space began to ripple in a specific place not far away, it was like the surface of a puddle after throw a stone in the middle. Soon 2 people came out of this ripple, stopping soon after, this time I was paying attention and I felt a fluctuation of energy collapsing the moment the ripple ended. Looking at the two people I immediately realized that they were not Insects and were far from being Apostles of Truth, their Auras were not like those bizarre things, and I was also able to feel Holy Power in their Auras. One of them looked like an old man with gray hair, his race seemed to be Runic because there were healings in his eyes and in the hands that held the staff with a Human bone head. But the one who caught my attention the most was the one next to her, even though she looked like a man because of her clothes, I realized from the curves of her body and Aura that she was a woman, her face was very masculine, but what drew attention to her was her intention murderous coming from her. This woman seemed to be around middle age, her race seemed to be a Celestine, but her Aura was more reminiscent of a Demon, the Holy Power she was feeling was mainly coming from her. "Kill them all, I''ll take care of the Titan." (old) "But I prefer the big one, it looks tastier." (woman?) "Shut up and move, before..." (old man) Suddenly, a frightening pressure came out of the ground, involving everything in all directions, this pressure clashed head-on with the Titan''s Aura, which raged, opening its Starfire wings while using more power than it had. "(Still still not as strong as me in Titan state.)" (I) "Grrrrr!!!" (Hinata) Suddenly I heard Hinata making strange sounds, she was further away from the Eclipse Titan receiving more impact from the pressure that came from the ground, but her reaction was strange. Before I could do anything the woman dressing up as a man was already moving, she threw something at me as she advanced towards Hinata with a white sword emitting the power of the light element, a sword she hadn''t carried before. I diverted my attention for seconds holding what was a magic crystal trying to activate, which didn''t happen when I absorbed the blood contained within it before throwing it away. When I looked again Hinata''s body was cut into dozens of pieces as large blades of light continued traveling past her destroying everything behind in a trail of destruction. The woman dressed as a man ran towards me, her body was covered in light until she pulled out another sword making the previous one disappear as if it had never existed, the new sword was covered in red fire that spread from the sword across her body as if it were merging with your body. But I ignored her running to where the old man was, of course she noticed and tried to reach me first, but she wouldn''t arrive in time, I was a little faster than her and realizing this a circle circle Fire appeared around me burning everything inside in a column of fire. I crossed without problems, no type of normal fire can harm me, that''s when I realized I stopped for a few seconds, which was enough for her to catch up to me, the old man from the beginning to the end didn''t look in my direction while I felt magic circles forming around him, but realizing it wouldn''t be good to drag things out. I once again ran towards the old man ignoring the woman in my path, I dodge the first attack when suddenly something goes through her head from behind and out of her eye. I stretched out my hand grabbing the Mage''s staff while the woman in question is safe, from eye contact I saw Hinata smiling while devouring the woman''s body, but the old man wasn''t so simple as he told the woman to come back by slamming him into the ground, This made the body come together once again in our path, Hinata attacked her savagely and I went towards this damn old man running safely around. Chapter 1256: Cap 1254: The insect war begins part 8 Chapter 1256: Cap 1254: The insect war begins part 8 Pov Sakura''s: "< Nature Control: Elemental Army >" (old) This damn old man used some item to screen transport himself away from me before casting a powerful spell stealing Mana from the surroundings, I could just feel his Holy Power mix with his Aura while chaining the power of nature, it made my blood boil with anger when he used this crude form of control to create false Elementals from all the elements to attack me. "< Living Forest >" (I) There were many enemies and regardless of their strength, they were invincible, the weakness of true Elementals is in their Core, but these things were just clusters of Elemental energy, they had nothing that could function with a mind or will of their own, they were just masses of energy in form humanoids. To defeat them I would need to destroy their entire body, even without fighting I know that their bodies will just rebuild themselves using more elemental power and that''s why I use one of my skills. Similar to the power to create a Territory, I set out to create a forest using my vitality as a base. When the trees begin to grow in the surroundings quickly, the branches move, attacking the enemies around me as well as the leaves flying like blades in a hurricane, cutting everything in their path. With this, I could get closer to the old man avoiding direct fights against these things while his positions, with this I got closer to him while retreating and he still seemed to be preparing something. "< Fury of the Forest >" (I) Following my command, all the roots in the area grow and strengthen, heading towards the old man like large wooden snakes, but as soon as they reach his body, they pass through, making me realize it is an illusion. "Where did he...ghaaa!" (I) Before I tried to find him, I was hit by something that came down on top of me, causing me to collide with the ground, without wasting time traveling underground, once again absorbing the vitality I used in creating this forest, so I healed faster than normal. When I left the ground I saw the Old Man near the Titan, the Runes in his eyes were shining while dozens of magic circles formed around the Eclipse Titan. I was connected to the Titan as the one who summoned him or should I say, the one who created him here, but I''m not feeling anything that indicates what this old man is trying to do against the Titan. "Let''s find out..." (I) I hide underground once again and use my connection with the Titan to make him attack this old man, without a will to direct his actions, the Titan acts based solely on instinct to the point of only attacking if he is attacked first. "Not yet..." (I) As we stood there watching the ground shook as a large tentacle of flesh emerged from the ground, it was dozens of meters wide and reached beyond the clouds in height, the pressure that was everywhere trying to go against the Eclipse Titan was emanating from this tentacle who had a disgusting Aura around him. I didn''t do anything and neither did Hinata, that''s because this time the Eclipse Titan moved on its own as soon as this flesh tentacle appeared. Soon many other smaller and thinner tentacles came out of the large tentacle, the smaller ones were faster while the larger one was slower from what I could observe, but I realized that they were not capable of hurting the Titan, at least not the smaller tentacles and while the bigger was clearly stronger yet was far from the speed to hit the Eclipse Titan. I looked away following the fight only for what I could receive from my connection with the Titan as I was seeing the woman still on fire, every second more and more dust was being poured from her body while her face was continually changing. n)(-/.-//))-.1-)n This person was strange, her Aura is clearly not the same as those belonging to the Apostles of Truth, but her body is as bizarre as something they would create. Her body is not just changing her face, her entire body is changing, in some cases even her eye and hair color, from her Aura it was as if she was losing part of herself as her Aura became weaker, I could silence until the vitality within her dwindled. Just when her vitality was nearing the end she stopped screaming, I could see a change as Holy Power exploded from her body taking her Aura transforming into something else as her body was changing once again, but this time it was different, there was no usual dust, this time it felt like the outer layer of their bodies was melting, old skin giving way to new skin. The mundane things were getting bigger and bigger, like hair color, eye color, height, and skin becoming more flabby and aged until his appearance was the same as the old man before. I couldn''t help but frown, I thought I killed him, but clearly, he''s alive, I still don''t know how this power works and I unfortunately can''t leave something like that for the master to see later, I can''t allow a variable in a plan already with so many unknown risks. I realized that the Holy Power permeating his Aura was preventing the Starfire from reaching her body like a protective layer, so I let go of Hinata''s arm. "Don''t leave anything left." (I) "< Consume >" (Hinata) Hinata enters the Starfire without worrying about whether she will be burned, we both know that a Master''s power like that wouldn''t hurt us. The old man still has his eyes closed, but he was showing signs that he was going to wake up, Hinata before that puts her hand on his chest and seems to lightly push his body, but at that moment teeth form around him, drawing his silhouette while the The back of their bodies was disappearing, in the end it was as if space itself was devouring him and Hinata just pushed him inside. "Yummy..." (Hinata) "Don''t let your guard down, more may come." (I) Chapter 1257: Cap 1255: The insect war begins part 9 Chapter 1257: Cap 1255: The insect war begins part 9 Pov Ibuki''s: When we left the teleportation portal we were in a white land completely covered in ice and snow. When we left the gate we were already surrounded by enemies, dozens of giants appearing to be made from insect parts, we could also feel traces of the Auras of some Insect Empresses. "Erica, now!" (Kira) "< Spatial Expansion: Demon Territory >" (rica) rica throws the crystal into the air as the plan required at the same time that her staff hits the ground repeatedly in rhythm with a person''s steps. Each hit of rica''s staff on the ground made the space of a few meters between the 3 of us and the enemies grew tens of meters with the area around us changing from the ice terrain to a desert area full of purple sand, clouds of miasma overhead. rica''s limit is until she reaches 12 kilometers, this area has a Curse with rica as the center to corrupt a target area, as long as she is here this area will not disappear and as long as she does not deactivate this Curse, rica will also be trapped here. But thanks to this the enemies are miles away buying precious minutes to prepare us, this space was not just corrupted by the Curse, this place itself is a sealed area within rica''s staff that she forces into the world using the staff. "How long until it''s ready?" (I) "I''m already." (Kira) "< Spiritual Awakening: Byakko >" (Kira) Thunder descends from the skies transforming into Byakko, a large white Tiger with black stripes and two tails, his mere presence charges the area with energy before his body merges with Kira. Hers grows twice as big as she becomes more and more like a female Tiger, behind her an illusion of Byakko roaring into the heavens. "< Storm Hammer >" (Kira) The thunder overhead forms into a column of light that falls on top of two faster Giants approaching us, their bodies falling to the ground before being swept away by the tornado of blood where the Eclipse Titan is forming. "We''re going to need a lot more sacrifices." (rica) "I know, I''m waiting for them to get closer to us." (I) I was the only one who didn''t move, but that was because it wasn''t necessary, rica was securing an area for us to fight while Kira was in charge of taking the big enemies with raw power as quickly as possible, in the meantime I would take care of the weaker enemies. Since rica started creating this desert area I have been expanding my shadow together, unlike rica I can take my shadow much further and I tried to do that, but I felt a presence growing under the ice outside the area that rica created, so I chose to keep my shadow just here. I could feel the Bugs and the giants approaching, two of the other giants stopped next to the 2 large bodies that Kira destroyed, soon they opened in a distorted way large vertical mouths up to the chest area consuming two corpses burned by the thunder, their bodies begin growing larger and larger the more they consume, they stopped the bodies from continuing to be dragged into the tornado of blood above us. My transformation wasn''t that of a complete Dragon like Zenos, that''s because I was more of a Demon than a Dragon. The swords in my hands changed color as the blood of Zenos from which they were made awakened, letting my power flow more easily as I charged at the enemies in front of me. On my third step I sank into the shadow of one of them in time to deflect an attack from the side, I came out on the side of one of them attacking with my swords in two different directions that it defends before my tail crossed its neck from behind, even so it didn''t die as his wing moved strangely cutting off my tail before I sank into the shadow once more to deflect 5 attacks where I was before. But this time there was another person inside the shadow ready to attack when I entered, I used my arm to defend and it still went through my arm and reached my shoulder before I used my other hand to grab the attacker''s neck, crushing it with my hand just to get away crumble into shadows, nothing of the body remains. What crossed my arm and shoulder before was a tail that had also dissolved into shadows, but soon the same tail appears, wrapping itself around me, pulling it out, when I left there were already 7 attacks directed at me, which I smiled when I understood the hand. "< Dark Reflection >" (I) The shadows wrap around me, absorbing the attacks that come out of the shadows of each of them, causing them to be surprised by their own attacks, I take advantage of this moment to cut the neck of the one I attacked first while using one of my wings as a scythe, cutting it in half the owner of the tail that pulled me out of the shadows. "(2 down, now only 6 left...)" (I) I sink into the shadow once again and this time I grabbed one of them taking it with me only to forcibly close the shadow passage separating the head from the rest of the body as I killed another one. "< Shadow Beast > 5" (I) From the remaining 5 shadows come Dragon heads made of shadows attacking, something everyone should be expecting since they have noticed my powers being based on shadows so many times so far. I was ready for this when I came out from within the jaws of one of these Dragons already slashing with my swords, once again it tried to defend but my first sword attack sliced through its half formed barrier before my second sword attack sliced diagonally across its head. "(4 left now...)" (I) Of course, they wouldn''t just continue receiving my attacks, the time I wasted killing this last one left my body exposed and I made a shadow tentacle pull my foot back dodging 3 attacks while forced to defend a poison breath attack. I just smiled as I opened my mouth sucking out all the poison holding in my stomach. In the next few minutes I continued fighting these 4 Insect Empresses while my Aura and Authority refined the poison it held, I also used Demonic energy to create the deadliest attack possible. In those few minutes, I managed to kill one more when I felt other enemies approaching and I decided to put an end to it before more enemies arrived. "< Wave of Shadows >" (I) I use an attack to gather the last 3 in one place, before releasing the refining poison within me, the ancient green poison cloud now seemed to burn in dark red flames moving almost like a creature as it latched onto the 3 Empresses Insect while their bodies were decomposing rapidly as if they were rotting while still alive. "(Now there are none left.)" (I) Suddenly I feel the pressure I felt earlier beneath the ice rise at the same time as an Aura explodes and I turn only to see in the distance the Eclipse Titan''s body forming, his Aura and this horrible presence collide against each other as I resolve return to where rica was waiting with Kira. Chapter 1258: Cap 1256: The insect war begins part 10 Chapter 1258: Cap 1256: The insect war begins part 10 Pov Alice''s: When we exited the teleportation gate we were at the bottom of the ocean, the water pressure was a momentary surprise as I turned to Karina waving for her to start. Her body scales came loose floating around her as magical symbols light up, each scale then becomes the core of a small illusory Dragon flying in different directions before Karina looked at me. I come closer and we hold hands while touching our foreheads to each other, our Sacred Powers and Authority come from the same source yet are different, thanks to this our current interaction complements what we are when our will becomes a single shared will. "< Blood Eclipse Dragon Sacred Land >" (me/Karina) Our Sacred Power and Authority complement each other as it circulates between the two of us, the power of Zenos within us resonates as we engrave his power into this land using our will to take this area permanently. Using our Aura as a means to push further and further, we continued with this thanks to Karina''s preparation and took this Holy Land as far as Karina''s scales went. With this, we were able to realize that the will of the world is not interfering with our takeover of this region, but there was a second will that sent shivers down my spine that exerted increasing pressure against us. Our wills were almost being pushed back by this pressure, but still, the will of the world acted to hold back while the process to consecrate this land was completed. When we opened our eyes what I saw was a pale face covered in sweat and a body full of wounds, I looked at myself realizing I was in the same state as her before looking around. The bottom of the sea was different, I could feel the residual presence of Zenos present around me like air and the Holy Power seemed to arise around us nourishing our body as I felt the power fill me. "They will come." (Karina) "I know, tell Lyra to start we don''t have much time." (I) Those who joined us were the 3 Heroes of Zenos along with Lyra, the 3 of them were close to her while we created this location. "We have a problem." (Karina) "I wouldn''t call it a problem, just an inconvenience." (Lyra) "What it was?" (I) "I''ll need something for the poison..." (Lyra) --------------- Pov Natasha''s: When exiting the teleportation gate was exactly where I wanted it, I couldn''t help but smile at the scenery in front of me, the Heavens were full of enemies just like the earth below, hundreds of fleshy tentacles coming out of the earth while writhing as they collided with a barrier that I am inside. When I looked back the World Tree was in a worse state than I imagined, its trunk is cracked in several places, almost no leaves were left on its branches and the allergy circulating through it was strange on many levels. "This is worse than I thought." (Freya) On this trip to this world, we have many separate plans working together, one of them was how to get to the places we needed to avoid unnecessary fights, thanks to the Space Dragons we managed to open many false teleportation doors around the planet, this would be just one of many distractions. Right now the Dragons should be starting their attack from off-planet, with the others fighting on the planet''s surface and Lyra at the bottom of the ocean preparing her poison, I can move more freely in this place, making my Aura look like theirs is easy I was once one of them. "You only have a few hours, if you appreciate." (Caitlyn) "Okay, I''m going..." (I) I start to run hiding my presence, my body moves quickly as I try to remember the assistants who were always around me at that time, I needed a reference of their clothes, bodies, and general way of acting. With this I change my body, clothes, voice, and even my Aura to be unable to stand out from others, I know that the Assistants don''t even care about their own name and I myself also didn''t record the names of those who worked with me, for the Apostles of Truth only the research is something relevant or some of the plans where we put this research into practice. Having a more suitable appearance I continue running, but this time I adjusted the speed so as not to be too fast, it seemed strangely quiet and I soon discovered the reason, patrols appear, their bodies crude modifications made just by mixing parts and pieces of monsters'' bodies. They came to me immediately surrounding my surroundings while one of them with the head of a Tiger and arms of an Ogre stood out while talking to me. "Who are you!?" "I''m an assistant, I''m under Mrs. Haku''s command." (I) "Don''t try to pretend, this area was abandoned days ago and Mrs. Haku is no longer receiving anything from anyone, so I''ll ask again." "Who are you!?" As soon as he finished speaking his head was already rolling on the ground, my scythe cuts two others in half while I captured one of them alive while I finished tearing all the others apart. "How did they discover me?" (I) "You can''t fool anyone, he knows about you, and what he knows we know..." The only survivor seemed not to care about the death of others and did not seem to be afraid of me, he smiled as he spoke and guided holes appeared in the walls of the cave where fixed tentacles tried to hit me without success. I tried cutting them off, but it was no use as a new tentacle always grew in place of any I cut off. I cut the body of the last survivor in half horizontally before trying to run, but the tentacles kept appearing until Caitlyn appeared in front of me with a symbol in her hand, she hit my forehead making me feel something burning before running in front of me disappearing like an illusion, all of this lasted 1 second when I noticed the Tentacles stop appearing and the one behind me still remain immobilized before retreating into the walls once again. "(Be careful, he seems to be in better condition than we expected.)" (Caitlyn) Even though I couldn''t see Caitlyn I was still able to hear her voice in my mind, I understood what had happened and I went towards where the people I killed came from. "She''ll definitely be there." (I) This time I abandon everything, deciding on a lethal attack against everything I would see in front of me, the greatest fighters would not stay inside the facilities with so many combat points challenging them all over the world. "(I''m going to kill everyone I pass until I''m satisfied.)" (I) Chapter 1259: Cap 1257: Something that cannot be understood Chapter 1259: Cap 1257: Something that cannot be understood I was following Callidora when she called me, but with every step I took the landscape changed dramatically as if I were passing through different worlds and I felt something binding me to Callidora so I wouldn''t get out of the way, I knew this bond was so fragile it could break. just choosing to stay still anyway I continued walking. Notion of time or space simply blurred in my head as seconds became millennia before becoming minutes or just the time to blink my eyes, time seemed as linear as the scribbles of a 2 year old or an abstract painter, I honestly never saw a difference between these two examples. But suddenly I stopped in a spot that looked like the exact same forest we were in before, it was as if a few seconds had passed as I took a few steps forward and yet things were fundamentally different. I looked ahead and Callidora was checking Niryna''s Soul with a smile on her face, she ran her hand over her soul with even excessive care, Niryna''s Soul never opened her eyes as if she was in a deep sleep. I took the time to look around trying to understand what was so different and what was what I felt during those few steps, that''s when I realized what the difference was. "They''re nowhere!?" (I) I was confused, since I arrived in Hell there have always been 3 energies all over the place, these were the energies of Death, Demonic Energy, and Cursed Energy. The only exceptions were for the places that I assumed were the sources of each of these energies where I did the 3 tests collecting these energies, in these places, there was only one of these energies at a time. Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com But this place doesn''t have any of those energies, in fact, I can''t feel any kind of energy, there is just an emptiness that gives me goosebumps the more I try to delve deeper, every part of me begs me to stop and let go of these thoughts, but I wouldn''t accepting to let Niryna be reborn in such a strange place without me understanding anything around me. Asking Callidora was a sure no, she is someone so old that I dare not try to imagine her age and as malicious as a child with no sense of right or wrong full of curiosity with an insane degree of psychopathy, she would try to deceive me or tell half truths to escape the question, maybe and just maybe she chooses to just say no directly. But the truth is that even if she told the complete truth I wouldn''t believe it, I''m not able to completely trust what she says and she knows that, she even enjoys it as we talk like a person laughing during a conversation using inside jokes that you don''t know. That''s why I keep deepening my senses and still, all I feel is emptiness, even using my Aura or skills I haven''t achieved anything other than an increasing restlessness as if I were on the edge of a cliff looking into the darkness below without being each of be aware if there is a bottom at the end. Even with all this restlessness and maybe even a little panic, I continued investigating to the point of trying to use my Authority through my Aura to feel the surroundings, that was when I felt something in that place for the first time, it was an energy and at the same time a presence, something obscure, tangible, ethereal and at the same time horrendous. I wasn''t able to describe it completely, but it was as if it was Aura and Authority as one thing mixed with other things, I couldn''t understand it and how much obediently I tried I felt falling into a circle of absolute incomprehension as if I was fundamentally incapable of to understand. "You shouldn''t poke your nose into a girl''s secrets, didn''t they teach you that?" (Callidora) "..." (I) Sigh I was tired to the point of exhaustion, my limbs were shaking with weakness, I felt permanent goosebumps on my skin, my body was covered in sweat to the point that it bled through my skin along with the sweat and my consciousness became tenuous due to extreme weakness. Callidora takes a glass and forces my mouth open before pouring the contents down my throat, that''s when I felt an explosion of energy from the inside out, disappearing with everything bad I''m feeling as I leave myself in full shape once again. "(Wait... if this place only has this...)" (I) I looked around again, this time I didn''t delve into what this energy (?) was in the surroundings, I just focused on the lack of any other energy and looked at Niryna realizing that it was flowing through her Soul. "That doesn''t do anything against her, as my daughter she needs some of what I am, I thought that was implicit in our agreement." (Callidora) "All right, I) "(I''ll just consider this the Essence of Hell, it should be enough.)" (I) "Stop trying to invent things, calling it an essence is an even shallower explanation than what I just said." (Callidora) "There are no words or terms to describe what this is like for you, even my daughter will not receive this in full or she will be trapped here, which would defeat the purpose of her existence." (Callidora) "Don''t try to understand an incomplete concept that doesn''t exist in reality and let''s get back to work." (Callidora) "Okay, but while we''re at it can you stop reading my mind?" (I) "No, now let''s get down to business." (Callidora) "..." (I) She''s as irrational as ever, but I''ll leave it at that since we have to get back to business and my only focus is Niryna''s good. I''m not exactly okay with this, but I knew she wouldn''t do anything against Niryna, her desire to accomplish all this didn''t seem fake and if she wanted to do harm to Niryna she would be able to realize when the process of her rebirth begins. "Then we won''t waste any more time." (Callidora) As if responding to her flames, this presence, energy, or whatever it was began to flow between Niryna and the sphere where the three energies I collected in this Hell were refined, that was when Callidora returned to her usual smug face as she indicated that she was my turn to act. "Let''s finish this..." (I) n-.OIn When I was about to start, I noticed a change that I missed during my meditation, my ability related to my Authority was different, and even without looking at the description I knew the reason, after everything I went through in Hell I already completely understood my Authority that kept me I live in that Cursed Ocean. I spent just one thought on this change that I hadn''t noticed before, then began the Awakening Ceremony for Niryna''s Rebirth. "< Authority of the Demigod Dragon of the Blood and Chaos Eclipse >" (I) Chapter 1260: Cap 1258: My will is stronger! Part 1 Chapter 1260: Cap 1258: My will is stronger! Part 1 Pov Nicole''s: "Group 23, 3 more Tentacles have appeared in zone C-53, keep them busy before the antibodies start coming out." (I) "Group 15, hundreds of mutated Bugs are heading your way, eliminate them with your last Magic Crystal." (I) "Group 02, the crack is showing signs of another explosion, immediately leave your position following the indicated path." (I) "Group 10, you must" (I) The Dragons'' help was less effective than we expected, it has been 4 days since the beginning of our attack on the surface of the world. The information obtained by Silvia and Freya from the World Tree Spirit or the Will of the World was of great help but proved to be only superficial general understandings of the enemy forces. The Insect Empresses have ways of creating endless troops of Insects and the Apostles of Truth have a large number of mutant Creatures that are very difficult to eliminate, the Dragons are powerful, but in terms of numbers, we are inferior. If it were a frontal attack like we are making it out to be these days, it would just be a waste of time before we start suffering losses from which we are not able to recover as the enemies do. The Golems I placed around the planet provide me with useful information, but they also prevent me from taking direct action since someone needs to coordinate this mess, I can''t even use all the toys I built or fully test the enhancements I made to my body using the emergence of that one Starfire. We were lucky that Elizabeth and Natasha had their subordinates find us by joining the battle since yesterday or casualties would have already started appearing. The frontal offensive from space was to force the enemies'' passive troops away from the planet''s surface, giving more freedom to the groups spread there to distract the Apostles of Truth. Thanks to this they don''t seem to be paying due attention to Alice''s group at the bottom of the ocean, from the reports it seems that Lyra has already made almost all the preparations. The appearance of the tentacles around the Planet was a major inconvenience in our plans, issues of pure power can cause problems even for the Elder Dragons to eliminate, but the worst are the creatures that come out of these Tentacles, they are creatures with absurd regeneration capabilities and no they have vital points or Cores to aim at to finish them off, the entire body needs to be eliminated or the vitality needs to be reduced to zero to finish off these creatures. The appearance of the tentacles were only useful to provide information about the state of the Planet, but this shows that more than 90% of the planet was taken, honestly I still think it''s better to eliminate the entire Planet, but I don''t know how to contact the Saint of Life who is the only with the power to do so on our side, so we are continuing with the plan. Another thing that happened causing slowness in our incursion were the spatial cracks that appeared throughout the solar system where we are, one of the Planets was even broken into pieces by one of these cracks emitting a wave of energy. n-.1n I can''t say how the place where we are hasn''t suffered anything serious yet, but I suppose the Saint of Life must be fighting and these cracks are due to this fight, all of this I don''t see any other explanation for this event and we are still at a point so conveniently calm of them. After so many days we had to intensify with everyone giving their all in combat, the attack from space went from being just another extra cover and became a necessary bait to keep these tentacles distracted with the Planet''s orbit instead of attacking the forces in the surface of the Planet. ---------------- Pov Haku: Caitlyn shattered a crystal in her hands creating a teleportation door that seems unstable before pulling me inside, I notice the reason for her haste just before we pass through the portal, her presence is unmistakable as it locks onto me and I feel her eyes almost looking right through me as I passed through the portal. --------------- Pov Athena''s: "HOW LONG IS IT GOING TO TAKE!?" (I) "LOKI!!!" (Veronica) "< He Who Takes Rules >" (Loki) I see Loki commanding with his Authority using together his own vitality to take control of the Ocean for hundreds of kilometers when he creates a storm with flows of ocean currents taking all the creatures from here away while making attacks on the large tentacles to miss his attacks against us through the intervention of the ocean water flow, diverting the trajectory of the attacks. I was already covered in blood, that''s because the entire ocean around us was soaked in the San of all the abominations we killed, these things were disgusting and difficult to kill, and my energy has been exhausted for a long time while I was surrounded and Veronica was in an even worse situation after the 6 Eclipse Titans that fell, it was their shields blocking 2 tentacle attacks that bought time for Loki to take over the ocean. "How long can he last." (I) "Hopefully, a few hours." (Veronica) We both looked at him, his body shaking and an invisible pressure making his whole body crack, he had his eyes closed and was motionless, I don''t know if he could even hear us. "Lyra, I think it''s a good thing you''re done, we clearly don''t have any more time?" (I) After days of intense fights we realized that avoiding going all out on the first day bought us time as we managed to prevent the enemy from adapting quickly enough against us, but now even keeping up the fight is difficult. "The poison has been ready for hours, I''m just preparing how to dilute it throughout the ocean as quickly as possible before using the ritual." (Lyra) "How is Karina?" (I) "Her arm has grown back, but she hasn''t woken up yet." (Alice) "Rest as much as you can, I''ll let Nicole know about the progress of the plans." (Alice) "(Finally this is almost over, I don''t know if I''m sad that Zenos isn''t here leading us or if I''m happy that his luck is no longer an obstacle in this already bad enough situation.)" (I) Sigh "I hope he''s okay..." (I) Chapter 1261: Cap 1259: My will is stronger! Part 2 Chapter 1261: Cap 1259: My will is stronger! Part 2 Pov Magnus: I was flying surrounded by blood and death, every creature close to me was torn to pieces by my claws as a black light enveloped my body. Behind me was Haku riding on my back collecting all the blood and bodies I leave behind. Those around us were just mutated creatures with few features resembling the insects that must have been used to create them. "< Presence of the Star Predator >" (I) A wave of black light expands from me forming an even larger illusory image of me emanating black stars that spread for miles around me. These stars are constructions of Aura along with my Authority devouring everyone who approaches, absorbing their energies, vitality, and their bodies with Phantom jaws emerging from within to do so. Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com With this Field I could feel the black light around me steadily diminish as enemy attacks began to damage me, the Holy Power within me emptying like a mountain collapsing until it disappeared. "Haku, NOW!!" (I) "< Blood Curse: Berserk Predator >" (Haku) I return to my normal smaller appearance as I pull out a crystal that I destroy by closing my hand, while the teleportation gate forms in front of me Haku throws a shapeless liquid sphere into the air that begins to expand as it contorts as if there is something hidden in its interior. Haku looked pale as she was falling, I wrap my tail around her waist pulling her into the teleportation gate along with me. When we pass through the teleportation gate I close it behind us as I feel a wave of Aura with frightening murderous intent. When I looked around I was inside the base made of bones that we created when we first arrived here. "Are you well?" (I) "No... but I''ll stay..." (Haku) "Let me take her to the Priests of Life." (Irius) "Thanks." (I) Irius and Irina appear walking towards us, Irius takes Haku who can''t even stand with him seeking treatment for her, meanwhile, I sit on the floor checking my wounds that refuse to close, among them one of the wounds seemed to be expanding, this wound on the side of my arm had a strange red energy around it that seemed to devour my body. "Let me handle it." (Irina) "< Spatial Separation Barrier >" (Irina) n.(01n "< Crystallize >" (Lyra) An exact copy of the magical ritual was being created using the poison I created, it was a 10 meter tall dark purple sphere with almost living energy flows within it, the sphere was falling apart forming liquid flows in the air forming an exact copy of the ritual below before crystallizing into the air, its liquid form becomes thick lines of crystal as energies appear to flow within these lines. "Alice... wake up Karina now!" (Lyra) "I... I''m awake..." (Karina) Karina had already woken up a long time ago and is physically recovered from her injuries, I kept her resting just to be ready at this moment, I exchange a look with her while I interrupt the transfer of vitality to Loki with Veronica already making him stop what he is doing, with this the defenses will collapse in minutes. Karina and I positioned ourselves on one side of the ritual with Lyra at the other end, forming a triangle between us, Lyra was concentrated on the ritual above performed with her poison, meanwhile, Karina and I closed our eyes to control the ritual below performed with the blood of Zenos. "< I who exist as a living symbol of your will cry out for your power, may I be the channel through which your will is present. >" (me/Karina) Karina and I focused on using our Authority as well as deep connection with Zenos to channel his Sacred Power stored within the pool of blood in the Communal Temple where his statue is enshrined. Soon we feel the Sacred Power traveling to us, I feel my body filled with a seemingly limitless amount of power and I dare not hold it within me for even 1 second as I become a medium to infuse this Sacred Power into the Magical Ritual. Meanwhile, I felt the pressure of my act of channeling this power devastating my body, but I still remained concentrated while a mountain of magical crystals surrounded Lyra who channeled all that Mana into her Ritual. Before long I could no longer pay attention to my surroundings, even standing up was becoming difficult as my bones were cracking from the pressure of the power flowing through my body, I could feel the Magical Ritual like a bottomless pit where all this Holy Power came from it just disappeared, instinctively I knew I needed more Holy Power and I could feel the Ritual almost come to life as it began to actively suck the Holy Power out of me. The flow of power passing through my body is becoming faster and rougher, my consciousness was starting to waver as I felt the Holy Power fill that bottomless pit faster and faster until it was complete. It was at this moment that all this Holy Power began to burn, in my vision the ritual below began to burn in Starfire while refining the ritual materials, lines of energy flow of all colors merged with streams of Holy Power traveling to the Magical Ritual above made with Lyra''s poison. The energy flows passing through Lyra''s crystallized venom become increasingly lively, emanating an absurd energy and at the same time corroding the surroundings as if corrupting the area before it was even activated. "< Sacred Ritual: Incarnation of the Cursed Poison of Desecration >" (Lyra) "< Activate >" (Lyra/me/Karina) At that moment I was no longer able to see and I felt two consciousnesses joining mine, they were Lyra and Karina, our consciousnesses joining the ritual during its activation in a single will, our vision being shared showing that only Lyra was able to see to see the ritual activating. The glow of purple energy was flowing through the ritual above acting more and more like a living creature as jaws of shapeless energy began to absorb the Starfire from the Ritual below as the two Rituals combined into one, this ritual moves with particles of that energy dark purple becoming what looked like purple leeches that moved together forming an increasingly larger version that looked truly alive. This large purple Leech was just a clump of smaller Leeches and you could see this as it moved into the ocean current that acted as an increasingly weak barrier around us, as it did so the water turned purple and appeared contaminated as the Purple color seemed to spread at rapid speed. That was when I felt the connection of consciousness with Lyra and Karina break, I managed to open my eyes briefly where I saw Athena carrying me and Karina into a Teleportation Gate like the one we used when arriving on this Planet, Veronica meanwhile carrying Lyra and Loki. Those were the last things I felt, the flow of Holy Power had already stopped flowing through me, but the damage was already done and I had no strength to heal myself as I fell into a deep sleep. Chapter 1262: Cap 1260: My will is stronger! Part 3 Chapter 1262: Cap 1260: My will is stronger! Part 3 Pov Vanesa''s: I was taking care of Karina, Alice, Loki, and Lyra as soon as they left the teleportation gate, I had been waiting for them for more than 1 hour since they reported continuing the final phase of the plan. I am fully aware of the cost of such a ritual they performed, we only continued with the plans after confirming through an oracle from the Goddess Selene saying that they could survive the ritual, even after that it was difficult to convince Ivan to let his precious daughter participate in a plan so risky. But even though I expected to find them in a bad situation, the reality was worse than my imagination, Lyra''s body was the one in better condition, her body was just magically overloaded with damage to her veins, other than that her body was just fine. Loki was the one in the worst condition, all his internal organs were destroyed to the level of mush, all the liquid in his body had evaporated including the blood, his flesh was dry and compacted, and his skin was as fragile as a dry blade of grass Honestly, there would be no way for anyone else to get out of their current state alive, but I can feel that he stored his vitality directly in his Soul, which is the only reason he is still alive. I look at Karina and Alice, they are both physically as well as possible, their bodies also suffered from overload just like Lyra, but in their case, it was 10 times worse, their real problem is in their Souls, they were not managed in their Souls, but I can feel traces of uncontrolled excess Sacred Power in their Souls, even though this power is very compatible with them it is still saturated beyond their ability to control or maintain within themselves. Healing them is costing me much more than I had prepared for, just replenishing Loki''s vitality while recovering his body took half the blood in my body and two Holy Rituals of healing using my Authority as a Blood Saint. Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com "How are they?" (Samira) "Stabilized, but Loki will still have to spend weeks feeding on potions while Alice and Karina will need time in Zenos'' blood pool in the Communal Temple." (I) n-)-(/.).()./1-/n "(I can heal their bodies, replenish blood and Vitality to recover soon, but I cannot affect their Souls.)" (I) Loki, who was once a God, does not need to worry about his Soul, which is why he is still alive, Lyra''s Soul is in perfect condition, only my Father''s two Saints need to harmonize the Sacred Power within their Souls before they can let it flow out this excess energy, not to mention the impact it had on your Auras. "Can I take them?" (Samira) "Not yet, they are stable, but they still need more healing." (I) "How are the others?" (I) "I don''t know, Nicole is responsible for the battle and doesn''t answer anything to me." (Samira) "Everything must be going well or she would have already started calling everyone." (I) ----------------- Pov Nicole''s: "[Nicole, everyone is moving away, but the tentacles are acting strangely.]" (Nix) "I know, hold your ground, I''m analyzing the situation." (I) [Poisoning level at 49%.] [Parasite level above 97%, impossible to continue estimating the Planet''s consumption rate.] [Unable to measure parasite vitality.] [Unable to measure damage to the parasite.] [Unable to measure parasite energy levels.] [Aura interference and a second unknown interference detected.] "You shouldn''t be able to leave the gate or use your power while the gate remains standing." (Natasha) "..." (I) I looked at the hole in space closing into a crack that got smaller and smaller until it disappeared, I could clearly feel Miss Elizabeth''s Aura from that crack revealing it was made by her, that is, it was her power. "The Gate broke from the inside, I was knocked unconscious by the reaction for at least 1 day." (Elizabeth) "Broken from the inside? That''s impossible... to break the Gates of Hell from the inside would need to be... no!?" (Natasha) "Unfortunately this is the only possibility, I honestly didn''t expect such an entity to interfere." (Elizabeth) "Zenos, is he...?" (Natasha) "It should be fine, as soon as I woke up my mother told me to calm down, that''s when I saw Saint Yaramaki and her family asked me to bring her while he repairs the damage from the fight." (Elizabeth) "What are you talking about? What''s wrong with my Father?" (I) "The Gate of Hell that I created was destroyed causing me to regain my power after the reaction to the destruction, Zenos is still trapped in Hell." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) My heart skipped a beat, I was waiting for a response like that, I''m not an idiot and I understood the tips I picked up from your conversation, but even so, I couldn''t help the wave of emotions becoming turbulent within me, I needed a few seconds to calm my heart and mind to think clearly. I will not let things like silly emotions cloud my judgment and prevent me from making decisions that could be more useful, keeping a clear mind is the main thing in finding any solution. "(They don''t seem nervous...)" (I) "What can we do to help my Father?" (I) "(He helped me a lot, he treats me like family, he gave me a perfect laboratory, freedom and helped me create this body, I''m not going to leave him stuck in Hell!)" (I) "We can''t do anything, but your two saints can, besides, our Mother seemed strangely calm about this, so he must return on his own..." (Elizabeth) [Alert! Alert! Alert!] "Huh!?" (I) "What is that?" (Elizabeth) [Detected a large flow of energy and movement of most of the mass of flesh forming the tentacles] [Detecting use of Aura and unknown Power to interfere with the surroundings.] I stopped looking at my holograms and looked at the planet not too far away, I could see emanating a strange light, some kind of red and purple bubble forming around the entire Planet as it expanded. "That looks like a Territory, but it''s... incomplete?" (Elizabeth) "Yes, we''ll talk about Zenos later... Nicole, I''m putting the plan into action, call the others!" (Natasha) "Damn it!" (I) Chapter 1263: Cap 1261: My will is stronger! Part 4 Chapter 1263: Cap 1261: My will is stronger! Part 4 Pov Natasha''s: I am already in my Dragon form flying towards the planet, with my Authority concentrated in my eyes I was able to see the conflicting energy flows within the tentacles, the vitality being amended by this planet looks more like a Sun because it is so big. I could see the purple glow trying to darken parts of this Sun, the fight between poison and vitality became a game of pushing each other, they were coming and going all the time. I look at what is in my hands, a broken sphere full of colorful fragments swirling in its orbit, this was Zenos'' Divine Weapon. To accomplish what I have to do I need a conduit for my power and my Divine Weapons are all aimed at war, none of them were useful in this situation where a direct confrontation puts me at an absolute disadvantage, my approach must be indirect and precise since I will only have one chance. "(This damn thing is refusing my Aura and Authority, you little bastard...)" (I) Divine Weapons are unlike any other Magic Weapon or Artifact, they possess more than just the instinctive ability to choose their Master or basic reasoning. They are literally alive, they have Holy Power instead of vitality, and are impossible to destroy, they can concentrate and assist in the use of Holy Power, Aura, Authority, and certainly Divine power increasing these powers to their peak while providing more precise control. n)//..()---./I//n As long as their master exists, they never destroyed themselves, but they also have their own essence based on the central aspect in which they were created, in the case of this needy Moon it is the Harmony of Nature. My Healing power is highly compatible with Nature and the aspect of prosperity mainly, so this Divine Weapon of Zenos will be perfect for me and since it is still Incomplete I can use it even in this current state if this damn thing cooperates with me. I see that in a few tens of seconds, I will get where I need to be, so with no time to waste I resorted to biting one of my hands spilling my blood on that damn broken Moon. "Finally..." (I) I could feel a slight resistance from the Divine Weapon as it absorbed my blood, it could feel my deep blood connection with Zenos, thanks to that my Holy Power, Aura, and Authority managed to enter the Divine weapon. I could feel the separation between the Weapon''s power and mine, this damn thing still doesn''t want to help me on its own, but that will change. "Natasha, what should we do? Nicole said to follow her orders." (Nix) "Don''t do anything until I''m done and just keep keeping the tentacles away from me." (I) "Right." (Nix) Just as she approached and climbed on top of my Dragon body to seek instructions, she jumped back to warn the others while entering the bubble of power surrounding the Planet. "(As I thought, they are trying to create a sacred land from an entire planet or maybe...)" (I) I looked at the Moon in my hands, there is no doubt, I know what they want and the reason they used so much force in this endeavor, I can also imagine where they managed to get the information to attempt something of this magnitude, condemning an entire star system. "Greed, you''ve gone too far now..." (I) As soon as I entered inside the energy bubble I realized that it was a mixture of Auras, I could also feel traces of the will of the world, it was different from normal, but it was still there, which indicates that the world was not completely taken over yet. As soon as I opened my eyes I saw flesh and blood spread everywhere while a tentacle was coming towards me, me being carried on someone''s shoulder and the Aura surrounding my body was not mine, but it was something I knew very well. "Bastard, have you decided to do something other than sit your pretty ass on a throne?" (I) "Someone has to take care of the incompetence of a soldier fainting on the battlefield." (Elizabeth) "< Holy Summon: Vampiric Army >" (Elizabeth) Just like in the past, she gathers all the blood in the area creating thousands of Vampires made of blood with her face. "You can go faster, this thing is catching up...but damn it!" (I) "< Sacred Blood Barrier >" (Elizabeth) Before I finished speaking the tentacle reached us, striking us both surrounded by a barrier of blood. Suddenly we stopped and were in the hands of a giant black Dragon. "Are you guys okay?" (Nix) "We''re fine, command the others to leave now." (Elizabeth) "[They''re already leaving.]" (Nicole) "[Now come back quickly, we have another problem to solve.]" (Nicole) After that, I was taken back to the base made of bones, during this time I took the opportunity to check the planet from afar confirming that the purple veins were spreading much faster than before and there were even dark marks appearing on the tentacles. Clearly, he can''t heal himself like he was doing before, as soon as we arrived on the other side of the barrier around the base everyone felt something and looked in the same direction. There was a door that literally appeared in the wall of bones, a large door made of bones and blood, the energy emanating from it was unmistakable, kneeling in front of the doors were two Saints of Zenos. The Holy Power was coming out of their bodies colliding against the Gates of Hell, it was as if the Holy Power was being absorbed and I feel Zenos'' Aura in their presence. "You can leave me on the floor, I can walk alone." (I) "Were you the one who created this Hell''s Gate?" (I) "No, they must have done it, but they seem in a trance." (Elizabeth) "So that''s for later, the idiot must be coming back, we have something more urgent to take care of, I know what the Apostles of Truth want." (I) "They want..." (I) Chapter 1264: Cap 1262: My will is stronger! Part 5 Chapter 1264: Cap 1262: My will is stronger! Part 5 Pov of a loyal son of Yntra: I have been doing my research on the Bug Nest, the core of the Bug Swarms we are affiliated with, they are a reliable source of flesh and blood, unfortunately, the constitution of Bug flesh is not the best with their genetics focusing but on their body armor and mental characteristics that allow them to act in better coordination than any other race of creatures. I loved it when Haku was present, she''s better at leading than me and knows how to interact with the Insect Empresses, so I could usually make the most of my time on my research. The way the mind of the insects connects with the mind of the Empresses is fascinating, the concept seems to be different from what our mother uses in her divided bodies. My mother is literally controlling something from a distance, the direct one-way street, but the Bugs in their simplicity are more complex, their minds can be classified into a classification. The Insect Empress connects with the strongest in her troop who in turn connect with those below them and so on until the end of the ranking pyramid. But this connection does not control the insects, their minds are still independent, what happens is that they become auxiliary minds of the central consciousness, and their wills are replaced by the central will that normally belongs to those at the top like the Insect Empresses or their weaker version being the Queens. Insects work like a computer network with a single server, this is fascinating to research, the concept is simple to understand, but the more I delve into it I realize its complexity, especially during my tests where I always fail when trying to replicate this with other races. --------------- 2 months later. Today we received a mission from Mother after being successful with my research and a great opportunity was offered to me, an opportunity that will let me always be by Mother''s side. It seems that this opportunity came due to information from our allies, our trade with them has been very good, Haku always says that they are not trustworthy, but I am not the one who deals with them and so I don''t spend my time thinking about it. Haku was away for a while, but now I feel like she''s different, her drive for her research doesn''t seem the same and she spends more time leading others, but that might even be better for me as it saves more time for research. -------------- 1 month later. The Swarm of insects as always is incredible, thanks to them we were able to collect all the natives of the chosen planet, using one of Haku''s inventions we were able to collect all the vital energy while I was preparing. Today I was finalizing the arrangements to divert the flow of energy from this solar system only to this planet, as this is the first experiment of this magnitude, the best thing would be to have the highest quality of vitality possible. ----------------- 3 days later. I was feeling my Mother''s help more and more, her power flowing through me helping to ease the weight on my mind and washing away the endless pain of the poison, thanks to this I felt I could adapt to the poison, and the more I resisted it to the poison healing my body it would only be a matter of time to reach some degree of resistance against this poison, it was at that moment that I felt a strange sensation before feeling fear as I screamed in my mind as I felt something being burned deep inside me as my Mother screams in my mind. ---------------- Pov Zenos: n))1n I was covered in sweat and blood, until a few moments ago I was recovering from what I had to do for Niryna, right now I''m still adjusting clothes I received in red and purple. "Why did you need to destroy the gate?" (I) "Don''t take it personally, I closed all the open ones, just the Gates blocking my contact with other realities or universes." (Callidora) "Gates that were once more stable were only temporarily closed, while unstable Gates created by people just like your sister were closed completely." (Callidora) "I needed to be completely focused on you and Niryna, I didn''t want to be disturbed or destroy part of some universe by accident." (Callidora) As she spoke, we were walking along a path completely without light, a gate seemed to appear out of nowhere in front of me when we stopped in front of it. "Did you call for them?" (Callidora) "Yes, but it was strangely difficult, I''m not even sure they understood." (I) "Only Gods have the ability to reach beyond dimensions with their Authority, you are just a newborn Demigod, it is already a surprise that you managed to connect with them even with my help." (Callidora) "They''re opening." (I) Suddenly the Gates began to shine and open, the more the gate was opening the more I could feel their call to me to the point where I didn''t even realize I had started walking before a hand landed on my shoulder seeming to immobilize the very space I occupy to block me. "Don''t die or I will make everyone close to you spend eternity in endless agony." (Callidora) "Thank you for the vote of confidence." (I) "Then good luck dear, don''t forget our time together..." (Callidora) "(I don''t think I would be able to forget even with thousands of years of therapy...)" (I) I reflexively placed my hand on my chest before passing through Hell''s Gate, but as soon as I saw the scene before me I began to wonder if I had really left Hell. "What the hell is going on here!?" (I) Chapter 1265: Cap 1263: My will is stronger! Part 6 Chapter 1265: Cap 1263: My will is stronger! Part 6 As soon as the Gates open and I see some light, I expected to see the same forest where I was forcibly sent to Hell by my sister, but what I see is complete Chaos. In front of me, there was some kind of strange tentacle monster or that''s what I thought before I noticed the rest. I thought it was night, but I soon realized that the stars weren''t just above me, they were in front of me, and to the sides, we are among the stars and no longer on the planet where I fought Natasha. When I realized this I noticed several strange glows moving and in the void of space I was able to notice many Auras exploding, that''s when I noticed many Dragons as well as people from the Dungeon fighting hordes of shapeless flesh monstrosities. While I was still trying to understand what was happening my Aura, Authority and Sacred Power were pulsing within me, suddenly my mind became confused as I felt the connections that were once normal for me returning. I could feel the connections with my two strongest Saints returning and that''s when I noticed the two kneeling on the ground in front of me, my Aura and Authority interacting with theirs with Star Flames rising around them. Soon the connection with my Family members came, which brought me more comfort since each one of them was very important to me, this time only my Aura reacted by extending through these new connections to them. Then came the connections I have with the Divine Servants, this time it was my Authority that flows to them through our newly reformed connection. Then my blood seemed to pulse within me as I could notice the connection of my lineage as my Children, this was the type of connection that I didn''t even feel, something primitive and fundamental in me, I felt my vitality extending to everyone varying between more or less vitality, this was something I was doing on purpose when I felt they were hurt. All of this happens at the same time in a matter of seconds while my decisions for all these connections coming back were made more by instinct than anything else, some things were done automatically while others were completely instinctive decisions. My mind was confused mainly by what happened at the exact moment these connections came back. All the prayers of my Saints came to me as well as a diary of everything that happened while I was away, but the most uncomfortable thing was being connected to the Communal Temple through them and from there feeling the prayers of the people of the Dungeon, it seemed that each one of them was standing for me at the same time as I felt the Holy Power gushing from me to the two Saints and then to the pool of blood which was empty before returning to me marking a cycle that left me momentarily in a trance. While in this trance things became clearer to me as I realized I was sharing the senses of my Familiars seeing a weightless battlefield, something I had to stop doing to get my mind right. I also noticed with my power 7 new connections, 3 of them instinctively caught my attention, but I didn''t know the reason for that and I just felt the power of chaos in those bonds. Of the other new connections that I didn''t know about, 2 were completely new and weaker, making me leave it temporarily aside, 1 connection was as deep as the 3 that I gave importance to first, it took me a few milliseconds to notice that this connection had been redone from scratch and belonged to Freya, for some reason my power of nature was flowing along with hers in an endless cycle of harmony. The last connection was something strange for me, I had never felt anything like it, but I felt my Sacred Power and Authority flow naturally through this new connection without me realizing when it started. So many things happened so quickly that it took me a while to calm down, when I realized my two Saints are holding me upright, I also noticed two of my sisters standing in front of me. But through the space between them I once again saw the tentacled creature behind, this time I knew what it was, a planet, a damn planet made almost entirely of flesh with colossal tentacles. "Can someone explain to me what''s going on?" (I) "We are facing the Apostles of Truth..." (Alice) "It''s going to take a lot of talking." (Elizabeth) "The Vampires and Dragons are helping, yet we are only able to hit the tentacles head on without causing any real damage." (Alice) "What did you discover when you went into that thing, Natasha?" (Elizabeth) "I understand what they are trying to do, a Divine Weapon." (Natasha) "That''s impossible, Greed has a broken divinity and knows what would happen if he tried to create one, while the Apostles of Truth are too far from Divinity to even try that." (Elizabeth) "They absorbed all the power of the surrounding planets, but the minds of that planet''s population were left alive being enslaved as part of that thing, their Souls screaming inside filled with fear, despair, and pain." (Natasha) "Those things are being under the influence of another individual who I assumed to be the Mother of Truth, they have enough Faith and a lot of power, but the worst thing is that their plan was the same as that idiot''s." (Natasha) "Don''t go around in circles, what are they doing and why did you call me an idiot?" (I) "Wait, they don''t...but it''s different, Zenos is still a Demigod and even that was a surprise that he survived." (Elizabeth) I''m no longer following the conversation as Elizabeth''s eyes widen in shock, she looked at me while answering Natasha at the same time a half-broken sphere left Natasha''s hands to fly around me, strangely it felt pleasant to be near this broken sphere orbiting around me. "You''re right, they will fail, but the spark of divinity from fusing all that energy and Souls will have already been created." (Natasha) "Their stay was the spark, it will be at that moment when Greed and Yntra..." (Elizabeth) "Please, at least say it in a way I can understand." (I) "We came here thinking that their goal was to take the planet for themselves, then we realized the monstrosity they were turning the Planet into, but all of this was just the tip of a bigger sword." (Natasha) "I saw the Saint of Life facing Greed who had a body capable of almost completely containing him, I knew he was only acting for himself here." (Elizabeth) "At first I thought they were creating a Divine Weapon, just like you, they wanted to merge the different Authorities of nature itself together and explode it all, thus burning all the forms of energy they had accumulated so far creating a Divine Weapon." (Natasha) "That would make sense, their information for such a thing must come from the Evil God, he probably planned to take the Divine Weapon at this time by deceiving his so far allies as well as us." (Elizabeth) "I don''t know about him, but Yntra is not stopping at this point, she who we know has somehow gained authority for herself, clearly doesn''t want Divine Weapon, what she is doing now is pushing her already bad plan to the point of self-destruction by forcibly advancing for the final part." (Natasha) "I don''t know if she realized Greed''s mistakes or if she had plans like this from the beginning, but she wants to steal the Spark of Divinity for herself, perhaps that could have been her plan from the beginning." (Elizabeth) "I think I understand, but... what is a Divine Weapon?" (I) "..." (all) "..." (I) Chapter 1266: Cap 1264: My will is stronger! Part 7 Chapter 1266: Cap 1264: My will is stronger! Part 7 I couldn''t understand part of the conversation that my sisters and the two Saints were having, I understood the general context which was about the Mother of Truth being in cahoots with an Evil God, that''s something I already knew. I also understood that the alliance between these two does not represent being loyal, one was using the other in a certain way, and the Planet becoming an abomination of flesh in front of me was just another victim of this alliance. Even without knowing what a Divine Weapon was, from the name I can assume that it must be a Weapon Created by a God or used by a God, that''s me being literal with the name. Clearly, the Evil God wanted this Divine Weapon planning to steal it for himself from the beginning, but perhaps because of the intervention of my companions or Yntra already had this plan from the beginning, she wants to destroy the entire project in hopes of getting a Divinity Fragment, which would make her close to being an Evil God. As I thought about it during their conversation, I was still just speculating for the most part, parts of my understanding could be wrong or I could have gotten it all wrong, it wouldn''t be surprising since I''m missing some knowledge of Deities and Divine Weapons. When I asked, I tried to get rid of this doubt by getting information from my sisters with thousands or millions of years of existence as Demigoddesses, but instead of answering, they looked at me for a few seconds in a strange way. I noticed that both Alice and Karina were exchanging strange looks as if they wanted to tell me something, Elizabeth was running her hand over her face with frustration on her face and Natasha was laughing while trying to hold back her laughter with great effort. "Maybe we should explain..." (Alice) "We do not have time." (Elizabeth) Once again Elizabeth moves so fast that she seems to appear directly in front of me, her index finger already covered in crystallized blood in the shape of a claw as she pierces my forehead, this time she goes deeper as other memories and information flow neatly into my head. n(/OIn It only took me a few seconds to understand what Elizabeth conveyed to me and I immediately look back at the broken sphere floating in front of me. "Is that tiny thing that Moon where we almost all got killed?" (I) "Yes and don''t ask any more questions..." (Natasha) When I stretched out my hand, the Moon moved on its own, landing in my hands, I felt one of the new connections that I didn''t know about resonate, thanks to that I gained an instinctive understanding of how this Moon works and I could feel how this thing was alive. The world was silent as each of my senses was focused on the Moon, I could feel its power, function, and life and that it was still incomplete. I could also understand the reason why it was incomplete, it wasn''t about me not being a God or because I seemed to be broken, these things are different, it was incomplete because its concept is incomplete, a concept that represents me. I wasn''t even doing these things because I wanted to, it was like a trance state, the Divine Weapon was alive and wanted to be complete, this desire for completeness flowed into me as if begging me to complete and my instincts followed that path. My mind was lost in countless intrusive thoughts about the Divine Weapon and how I could complete this thing until I felt something hit my head hard when I realized Elizabeth was looking seriously at me with her fist hitting my head from above since she is considerably taller than me. "What part of we don''t have time do you not understand, we need to stop that thing now!" (Elizabeth) "Because that''s my problem, I don''t have nearly the power to destroy a Planet." (I) As I was thinking I felt that more than half of the defenses were broken and I saw through the defenses one of the tentacles becoming a large hand trying to grab me, but the outermost blood barrier just explodes outward being destroyed at the same time as it opens an exit. When I feel the impact on the ground, the blood that makes up the little more than 20 remaining barriers penetrates my body. I look around seeing pure destruction, broken trees, and what appeared to be remains of the World Tree opened completely empty inside, I could feel that there was no longer a World Tree Spirit. "(Elizabeth doesn''t seem to know what happened to the World Tree and no one told me about it, but I feel something strange, it feels like the outside of the tree has opened from the inside out.)" (I) "Come on Zenos, focus... the World Tree is no help to the plan." (I) Sigh. I looked beyond the remains of the World Tree only to see what seemed to be the apocalypse surrounding this place, since I entered the feeling of belonging to this place embraces me in the same way as the feeling of corrosion from the outside. "I can''t waste any more time." (I) I release all my power as my body transforms into a Dragon on the day, in this state of liberation from my true self I feel my Aura and Authority merging with this area almost as happens with the Territories I create. When I did this I felt something else in that place and I ran to the feet of the remains of the World Tree, the feeling was weak, but it is still there extending an Aura full of will towards me. "So it was you... I see..." (I) What is in front of me was not something that had a physical body or even a spiritual form to take, all around me it seemed more like sparks of essence flows and a mixture of wills as one using these lands as the last bastion as they extend their power to out continuously only to be crushed back by the force of the creature that took over the Planet. "You are weak, there is no way to win." (I) "(Fight... Burn... Destroy... Protect...)" "Interesting..." (I) This must be all that was left of the Will of the World, to not let them completely take over the Planet they hid here, but clearly it wasn''t just one, Elizabeth doesn''t seem to know about it and because of that I don''t know either. "Even in this state your will is so strong, do you still want to fight? Do you want to make them pay?" (I) "..." I didn''t receive an answer in words, but with an unshakable will that surrounded me, I couldn''t help but smile as I was already changing the plans in my head, just a few adjustments that seemed best to me. "I will help you or you, but know that I have no idea what will happen, come... I will show them how my will is stronger... how our will is stronger!" (I) "< Divine Incarnation: 3% >" Chapter 1267: Cap 1265: My will is stronger! Part 8 Chapter 1267: Cap 1265: My will is stronger! Part 8 "< Divine Incarnation: 3% >" (I) I feel Starfire surge through my pores covering my body as it burns away the outer layer revealing a more ethereal appearance with red hair of energy and wings that look more like portals to the stars. Power fills my entire body as my Aura, Authority, and Sacred Power merge while compressing as they are refined into something new, a primitive and incomplete power that in its insignificance of quantity weighs on me more than 50 mountains. I reached this state while still inside that Cursed Ocean, it was what completely protected my body, but this state burns these 3 types of power continuously, my Aura and Authority are unlimited as long as my will remains strong, but the Holy Power is still a finite energy, an energy that comes from another''s Faith in me. It was only after I meditated my way out of that Hellish Ocean full of Curses that I realized what I had accomplished in my refusal to give in regardless of the torment I was feeling. In this state my presence feels different, now I feel this Holy Land where I am as an extension of me, everything was connected to me in this place to the point of knowing where everything was without needing to use my senses. I could now better interpret what this Will of the World was, I could clearly feel that there were several still mixing together as if to fight against the invading power of the Apostles of Truth. I could feel traces of a mind, and strong emotions out of control, emotions that I have felt before like hate, anger, sadness, pain, fear, and hope. I know very well that the greatest of all these feelings and the one that causes the greatest pain is "hope". As I was once an orphan, I hoped to be adopted into a family many times only to see others being adopted instead of me, even though I was happy for others there was still that selfish part of me that wanted to have a family, so the Desperation was so searing for me whenever the people who adopted me got rid of me and sent me back to the orphanage. Even though my health was horrible, I grew up giving hope that one day I would be cured, I had hope in doctors, medicines, and new forms of treatment, even my last years trapped in a hospital bed were marked by the hope of being able to wake up once again from a coma to finish my last game. When I arrived in this universe it was also the hope of a new life that lit the flame of survival within me, hope can save someone in the same way it can destroy, a guiding light in the sky or the most destructive fire taking everything to dust. "What will you choose." (I) I didn''t need to speak, I knew that these things were not understanding my words but rather the intention through the words directly, they responded by understanding my will and that is why I surround the Will of the World with my presence transmitting with intention what I want to say. "Fight...will...resist...accept...as one..." His words seemed spoken like whispers from millions of voices in harmony, his intention was clear to me, with each word being the essence of what he wanted to convey. "Let''s begin..." (I) "< Territory: Ruler >" (I) "(This is my World! This is my body!!)" "(You are going...)" Before he finished speaking I was already using my will and Authority to create a large sword on top of him that falls, piercing his body all the way to the ground only to fall apart into tentacles that come together again. I noticed that several parts of this cave are made of Star Crystal with the many parts of flesh trying to cover it. I already knew that this was a mental realm, I was pulled into it, but it wasn''t by him, I don''t feel Authority in him and I also know who it could be, the only one that I really consider threatening in the Apostles of Truth. "We both know his will isn''t strong enough, so where are you, Yntra!?" (I) "(I''m here, I''m always close to my children.)" (Yntra) From within the newly formed mass of flesh, an arm that seemed to be made of blood came out of the flesh, caressing one of the flesh thing''s supposed arms. "You don''t need to use your tricks, I know your influence here is limited, you are too far away to go against me in this battle, so why try something like this?" (I) "(You don''t know anything child, so much potential in your body and yet you waste it using it like that.)" (Yntra) Suddenly the arms of blood were around me, it was as if there was a creature of blood hugging me, but the Will around me was keeping that blood away from me. "I would very much like to destroy everything here, but that is not my battle." (I) "It''s your show, so come on stage." (I) With my encouragement I thrust my hand into the multicolored energy flow rings around my Divine Weapon, as I pulled I let this energy flow through my body letting this progenitor will take over my mental body as I continue the expansion of our Will throughout the world. The entire planet outside my Sacred Lands was shaking with great earthquakes, I could see, hear, and feel it all like the mountains collapsing or the great veins emerging from the cliffs. But I could still feel what was happening through the mental link that Yntra created with me, since they wanted to distract me with that, I''ll keep the game against them now. When the Will of the World took my mental acceptance, its form distorted as it evolved into Starfire, if Intra looked like a Water Elemental with a blood red color when leaving the body of flesh, then the Will of the World looked like a Starfire Elemental when the battle began. The arms of the Will of the World became great swords of Starfire while the body of flesh was drained of all blood, completely forming its blood silhouette form and its arms became whips as if copying the Will of the World. I wouldn''t miss this opportunity, the longer this useless fight continues, the better it will be to take over this Planet. Chapter 1268: Cap 1266: My will is stronger! Part 9 Chapter 1268: Cap 1266: My will is stronger! Part 9 My desire was not to win a battle, defeat the Apostles of Truth, or prevent any plan of this Evil God of Greed, what I want was to recover this planet for the simple fact that the Will of the World still persists. I already knew that this world is almost completely over, but we have the Saint of Life nearby as well as a Divine Beast who, given the opportunity, should be happy to bring new life to these ruined worlds. That''s why I''m not interested in this mental battle, any idiot can see that this is a trap just to waste time and as soon as I passed control of my mental Avatar to the Will of the World while going back to doing what was truly important I realized that I was right. The flesh tentacles were emerging like endless forests from the ground as they ravaged the Planet, mouths of all sizes and shapes opened on these tentacles chewing the planet be it rocks, trees, ores, or even the remnants of natural energy still present in the atmosphere. Some of these Tentacles were even devouring each other in a bizarre show of cannibalism, the only place safe was the Ocean as the tentacles were rotting upon touching the waters and the few Holy Lands that my companions created as safe zones where they could fight in a defensive manner. I wanted to use the Eclipse Titans, but it was impossible, not to create these things and I wouldn''t have the Holy Power to do so at the moment, not to mention that I''m using their Cores in my Sacred Lands as a node to create a firm network of Holy Power around me around the planet. But no matter what I was doing, my time was limited, I was continuously burning Holy Power within my body, and in the Ocean, I could feel that I had less than 1 hour, but I didn''t have a very accurate estimate. That''s why I tried to take possession of this planet that is more flesh than anything else while the Will of the World used their trap against them. Even though I was busy, I didn''t stop paying attention to the mental struggle of the Will of the World because I felt reactions, traces of thoughts, and rationality that were not there before in the Will of the World. "(Is it changing? Why?)" (I) ----------------- In the mental world, Yntra in her blood avatar was creating bizarre creatures that she masterfully controlled as if they were living weapons to attack. The surrounding environment was his home, something stolen and remodeled in his image, a reflection of what they did to this Planet, the flesh of this great cave transformed under his will, creating claws, teeth, bone spikes, and jets of super pressurized blood that would be able to cut metal. This was not a real space, it was created by the connection of our minds, like the one who created this place and because her mind was more powerful, the battlefield was in her favor and the rules in this place were limited only by imagination, will and ability of each one. Something material can become illusory as well as disappear, an illusion can also be as real as reality, fire can freeze, ice can burn and a tree leaf can be as resistant as diamond. I understood these concepts easily since as a game developer in my last life, imagination was my greatest weapon and I used it without holding back for anything to the point that I started to believe in the rules that govern reality called laws of physics like codes that make up the rules by which my games work, it was easy to relate the two things in my mind. Yntra transformed one of her arms into the head of a skinless dog that rode the sandstorm away revealing the Will of the World riding on a colossal bird made of ice that attempts to swallow Yntra only for countless bone spikes to destroy the ice bird from within out. At this moment countless Titans made from the elements of nature were forming on the battlefield turning this fight in our favor, the cave almost completely made of flesh at first, was now more uniform with rocks, crystals, and other minerals appearing where the flesh was torn into pieces as if it had always been there, it was just covered by the flesh. ----------------- As I continued this battle of resistance where my real body was safely out of their reach and was also unable to find a weak point that I could exploit more aggressively, I could feel that I was against time. "This can''t go on like this..." (I) "This will shorten my time, but I don''t see any other solution." (I) My body ignited in Starfire which was absorbed by the broken Moon serving as a mediator between me and this planet, so it didn''t take long for the Starfire to spread everywhere creating forests of fire and bizarre-looking oceans of fire reflecting stars, this includes the poison inside the veins that started to burn. Unlike poison, Starfire was under my control as I used it much more aggressively destroying the body from the inside while spreading Starfire throughout this bastard''s body. n/-01n Its Aura was slowing the Starfire from spreading as fast as I would like, but it couldn''t stop me, this thing was big and certainly powerful, but it didn''t have the Authority to stop the Starfire from destroying its body. The effects were massive, but there was a problem as to what to do with all the energy burned by Starfire, it only represents a path of transition and not destruction, these energies were being refined from the enemy and were too much for me to bear. "I can''t absorb this energy, I won''t resist 1/100 of it..." (I) "..." (I) "Then let''s return it to the real owner." (I) With that, I looked at my body weakening with the Sacred Power burning faster than the billionaire''s money building a rocket in a shape to compensate for something missing between the legs. If I last 20 minutes in this state I''ll be jumping for joy, but I don''t think I''ll even reach 15 minutes like this, so when my eyes land on the flows of colored ethereal energy around my Divine Weapon, I start to let go of this power refined return to the real owner. "(If I steal the energy their plan fails anyway... at least I hope so.)" (I) Chapter 1269: Cap 1267: This wasnt supposed to happen Chapter 1269: Cap 1267: This wasn''t supposed to happen There were two battles of wills going on, one within a mental world in which my mind is connected and the other a battle of wills in reality with an entire Planet at stake. While the Will of the World and Yntra were fighting in the mind space, I was facing the one who controls this world, I could feel one consciousness in all the minds I am destroying. My Starfire and ocean poison were causing a massive amount of damage to the interior of the planet, with the poison causing great damage and my fire consuming energies such as vitality among other energies, I was able to negate much of the regenerative powers of these Planets. I didn''t have much time and so I went all in on this bet, my Starfire may be powerful, but it''s a double-edged blade. As I fought, I had to send the energy flow absorbed and refined by Starfire into my Divine Weapon, I thought that this object that is used by Gods must be able to resist these energies. But I felt something was happening, it was like an itch that I can''t identify where to scratch, but many things were happening at the same time. n/).-(()---).1-.n I was in a stalemate against the Apostles of Truth for possession of the Planet, as if he had adapted to me he began to use the vital energy I possess in excess to ward off my Starfire, which only worked to further delay what I was doing. I was running out of time, I couldn''t keep things like this any longer, in a desperate measure I used the spark of divinity within me directly into my Starfire which came to life. Starfire forms in millions of Starfire Dragons to destroy the flesh and blood of this wretched Apostle of Truth, the flow of refined power was 100 times more intense to the point that I felt my body tremble from the absurd amount of power flowing through me for my Divine Weapon. As more of this energy entered the broken Moon in my hands, its light became stronger, not only its silver light but also the rings of multicolored energy flow that represents the Will of the World. ------------------ My concentration had long since been destroyed, I was so focused on controlling everything in this world using such blunt methods, to say the least. But I still kept a little focus on the mental world to know what was happening, I couldn''t run the risk of something happening to the Will of the World, its power was essential to what I was doing, and one of the reasons I was resisting for so long. But it seems that the mental struggle was much easier to deal with than what I am going through in reality, the Titans of Nature that the Will of the World created were fighting in a coordinated way with extreme complexity. All flesh creatures were being completely destroyed before they were even fully formed by the Titans of Nature. Meanwhile, the apocalyptic atmosphere within this battlefield was still as inhospitable as before, but I could see the walls and ceiling becoming more red crystals. It seems that the Will of the World is giving Yntra a beating, I have noticed that another mind is trying to corrode my mental body, and that''s when I realized that it was the will of the world devouring my mental Avatar at the same time that it created something else on top. At that moment, the battle in the mental realm was already over, but just as I had imagined, there was a trap that he could not fall into. This time I gave my all, making the Starfire pulse more and more inside the Planet, destroying every trace of flesh I found, this time I could hear someone''s screams until all that was left was a complex network of giant brains at the bottom of the planet. "You will regret making me your enemy." (Yntra) "I already regretted all this before, now go away!" (I) When I got there I once again destroyed everything, Starfire Dragons no longer had the detailed shapes they had before, becoming more coarse the more time passed. All the energy refined by the Star Flames from consuming these brains rushed through my body like an exploding dam before pouring into the Divine Weapon. I thought it was over when the entire Planet was free of any trace of flesh and blood, but that was when something else happened. The flow of Holy Power was reversed as the rings around my Divine Weapon loosened to rest on the chest of the silhouette on one of my shoulders, as that silhouette dissolved into a cascade of liquid light invading my body before harnessing this connection that I still maintain with the Planet. This flow of energy was followed by my remaining Sacred Power as well as all the refined energy of the Apostles of Truth. Mainly Vitality, I could feel the Will of the world and perceive its differences, your mind seemed focused and I no longer felt that they were separate Wills, but rather a single will infinitely stronger than what I found when arriving on this Planet for the first time. My mind seems to have been carried along as this vitality sends the oceans with localized torrential rains, the mountains rise and the same is said of the forests, but that was just the small disaster that would soon reveal itself when I found myself standing in front of that same figure when his body set fire to my body which spread across the surface of the Planet once again. Starfire began to change the world once again as from the ground countless souls emerged as if purified by my Starfire. I felt a new connection being created from my Divine Weapon, I no longer knew exactly what was happening as I couldn''t even move my body as I returned to my normal form with pain throughout my body. I soon felt the cursed energy feed on the little that remained of the miasma on this Planet, this Cursed energy seemed to be being sucked by the silhouette next to me and I finally understood what was happening. "That wasn''t my will, it wasn''t something I did on purpose." (I) While lost in my thoughts I feel this cursed energy become a third ring for the silhouette that comes walking towards me placing its hand in front of it for me to shake, something that was soon followed by a flow of power from the silhouette changing Starfire into fire red and purple that appears almost liquid, transforming the entire Planet into a bizarre Sun. "..." (I) Chapter 1270: Cap 1268: Eclipse Walker Chapter 1270: Cap 1268: Eclipse Walker Pov Caitlyn: "How are they?" (I) "As soon as he left, they both fell unconscious." (Natasha) "Opening the Gates of Hell should not be possible for them, it needs a Demigod with Authority with Affinities related in some way to Hell or Divine power." (I) "Yes, but I felt like they didn''t invoke the Hell Gate, they just opened the Gates creating a way for Zenos to get out." (Natasha) "Are you saying the gate appeared here on its own?" (I) "You don''t understand since you''ve never been there, but Hell isn''t just a place, it''s an entity if I can call that thing, I don''t know how to describe it, it looks like a distorted version of the Mother with Baldr''s arrogance multiplied by 100 and the irresponsibility of the Goddess of Fairies multiplied by 1000." (Natasha) "That''s scary..." (I) "It cannot open the Gates themselves, but it can create and destroy as many as it wants." (Natasha) "Zenos certainly interacted with that entity, his Aura carries the presence of Hell, he did something more than he should have done again." (Natasha) "He''s an idiot, you can''t talk about him like that when he does the same things, do I need to remember how he died last time?" (I) "Come on, he was an Evil God with full Divinity, I was lucky to take him with me." (Natasha) "You went to fight him on purpose to die, your desire was to be reborn in the body you always wanted, do you think I don''t know about the collection of very specific items that your Maid kept? One of these items was negotiated with me." (I) "Look, it looks like he''s arrived." (Natasha) "What a sweet way to change the subject." (I) "Stop, you two, we have to be careful, the Saint of Life couldn''t kill Greed and he doesn''t usually give up on his goals." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) "I''m too weak after using my Divine Incarnation, one of you will deal with that bastard if you show up." (Natasha) "I don''t want." (I) I''m not going to waste my effort in a direct fight, it''s already difficult to protect everyone from the mental waves that that thing is emanating. "(It seems as if thousands of minds are continuously colliding, which should be impossible, they must have done something that I haven''t discovered inside the Planet.)" (I) I also felt two stronger brain waves, one of them was permeating all the others in a massive way, it was the idiot who turned into this world-devouring monstrosity, I was in his head for a long time, he was just an idiot who was under mental influence for a long time, his mind was so weak that it was laughable without any mental defense. But this second mental wave is unmistakable, Yntra stopped acting cautiously, I can feel this mental wave around the previous one, it was this bastard who expelled me from his mind, he is also the one who blatantly manipulates him now. "What is this idiot doing!?" (Elizabeth) "I don''t know, but I like your boldness." (Natasha) "He just needed to use his Holy Power to purify the planet and eliminate that thing''s will." (Elizabeth) Even from afar, it was possible to see the areas where the Holy Lands were located glowing, so even the purple ocean was moving in a clearly different pattern as the planet''s shape changes seemed to be slowing down. "You two didn''t tell him to purify the Planet using his Holy Power, you told him to use the Holy Power against them." (I) "The most effective way to use Holy Power in this situation would be a large-scale purification, the foundations for that are already in place, I wouldn''t send him there for any other reason." (Elizabeth) "Yes, but does he know what he''s doing?" (I) "No, his Divine Weapon is doing most of the work, he just doesn''t realize it''s giving him all the tools he needs." (Natasha) "I knew something like this would happen at some point, an incomplete Divine Weapon would not allow itself to do so, these are Divine concepts in their essence and there is no such thing as an incomplete concept." (Natasha) "Will he bear it?" (I) "Go, his Soul is strong and just now we felt his Divine Incarnation, it was in initial form, but it shows that his Soul is ready." (Natasha) "But most of the power will be limited." (I) "Yes, but even our Divine Weapons are not used to their fullest." (Natasha) "If possible, I would like not to use that thing again." (I) "That''s why he died, he could have at least resisted Baldr''s interference in his mission if he had used his Divine Weapon..." (Natasha) "I''d rather die than use that, you know that now shut up, he''s doing something..." (I) Natasha doesn''t understand, her Divine Weapon suits her, and that''s why she likes to use it so much, but in my case, my Divine Weapon represents everything I hate about myself, it''s not the kind of thing that should be wielded by anyone. "He started..." (Natasha) "..." (I) The mental world has already been destroyed and I don''t feel any mental waves in the area, I wave my hand, undoing the mental protections I kept on everyone while I was seeing the Starfire surrounding the entire Planet like a strange Sun. The power appears to pulse as a flow of essence power forms a ring around the Planet, it even looks like a ring around the Sun as its colors change. The Sun''s flames turn red and purple while the Ring around it becomes made of stellar energy like the rest of the planet''s flames were until a few minutes ago. Even from this distance, I could feel the Holy Power spreading throughout the planet with the expansion of the Holy Lands, that was when another Light appeared this time silvery emerging from the burning Planet before becoming a broken Moon with its fragments floating around it. The size of the two stars begins to vary while their energies seem to flow together forming an infinite cycle. In the end, the two seem to collide forming something for a millisecond before disappearing, something I couldn''t fully see. < Eclipse Walker > (Zenos) Zenos'' words were not spoken through his voice or his mind, they were a proclamation of his Will through his Authority. "..." (Natasha) Sigh I exchange looks with Natasha who spreads her wings leaving to look for Zenos, a wave of her power spread across the area, but when the light disappeared the Moon and the Sun disappeared, nothing on the planet was left but an empty space. Soon Natasha returns after a few minutes with Zenos in her arms, once again unconscious, the proclamation from before was something instinctive based on the compulsion to name her act of creation using her Soul and Authority to mark its completion with a name. "He is fine?" (I) "Yes, no need to worry." (Natasha) "(She says this, but his Aura is vibrating like he''s close to collapse once again, he just came back from Hell and acts like this.)" (I) "His Soul is fine, even if it is fragile for now, it will be fine in a short time... I hope..." (Natasha) Chapter 1271: Cap 1269: An egg? Chapter 1271: Cap 1269: An egg? When I woke up I was feeling very comfortable, it was like I was in a heated pool lying down looking at the night sky, I had dreams like that many times in that hospital bed thinking that one day I would open my eyes and see many people around me, being in a scene full of beauty and healthy like I''ve never been in my life. It seems strange, the more time passes, things from my previous life seem more distant and yet I find myself remembering those days more often when compared to this current life. I may no longer be the kind, weak man in that hospital bed, but I was that man at some point and they will always be a part of me, a good side of me that I would like to keep in this do-or-die world. "Wake up already you idiot." (Elizabeth) "Ghuhh!!" (I) "Don''t do that, he''s still recovering." (Alice) n)-In "He''s fine, he''s just getting lazy like Caitlyn." (Elizabeth) "Now if you''ll excuse me, I have to have a talk with this idiot about boundaries." (Elizabeth) "I don''t think..." (Karina) "Two idiots." (Natasha) "Huuh!!!" (Alice/Karina) "Keep this conversation as much in words as possible, you''re far from okay." (Natasha) "I know." (Elizabeth) Suddenly I received a kick in the stomach while listening to my Elder Sister''s neighbor, the next thing I know my back is hitting something hard like a wall or pillar, all while listening to a conversation near me. When I opened my eyes I saw Natasha hitting Alice and Karine behind the head, leaving them both unconscious, then leaving one on each shoulder before leaving what I realized was the main hall of the Communal Temple where the Statues of the Gods are consecrated. Elizabeth who is walking towards me had a slight murderous intent as she lifted me up holding my head with one hand like it was a ball. It was at that moment that I would start to complain to her about this aggression towards me that I saw her condition, part of her hair was burnt while her entire right arm along with her shoulder and right ribs are missing, she is shirtless with the entire part of The top of the body was covered with strips of cloth that smelled like some kind of potion. But I could feel something else being so close, it was a bad feeling that I noticed using my Aura, this feeling was coming from the places where Elizabeth was clearly injured. "How long do you plan on sleeping, wake up you idiot." (Elizabeth) "Could you let me go?" (I) "I don''t know, could you stop causing a huge fuss every time I take my eyes off you?" (Elizabeth) "What are you talking about..." (I) I try to remember what I was doing before I lost consciousness, I clearly remember leaving Hell and fighting on the Planet against the Apostles of Truth. I remember that I was winning the battle, I felt his Soul leaving the planet and Yntra''s will disappear, I had managed to use the Will of the World to regain control of the planet, even with everything I did Elizabeth doesn''t seem happy since it was an idea her to free herself from the will of the Apostles of Truth on the Planet. As soon as I finished speaking a wave of murderous intent arose, but it didn''t come from Elizabeth, it was coming from the statues of the Gods when suddenly the world seemed to melt around us leaving a barren land full of red sand and a night sky with billions of stars. "Don''t go too hard on him, Elizabeth." (Goddess Selene) "Mom, he painted a target on his back." (Elizabeth) "Yes, just like Natasha when she joined her first war killing the King who made her a commander and Caitlyn when she wasn''t yet able to use her powers." (Goddess Selene) "You yourself killed a Fallen Hero of the Church of Death and were hunted for 186 years, it got to a point where I had to make a deal with her sending you to Hell to hunt Creatures from the Abyss that appeared there." (Goddess Selene) "That''s different, he will be hunted by Gods and Evil Gods not to mention anyone desiring that kind of power." (Elizabeth) "(Why am I the only one left out of the conversation?)" (I) "(Why did you do something unnecessary, the God of Spirits and the Goddess of Fairies want your head, the Goddess of Life is not happy either.)" (Goddess Selene) I was listening in my mind as I continued talking to Elizabeth, Goddess Selene appeared out of nowhere, her clothes were light to the point of being described as rags, and her blood was leaking all over her body but she looked alive as she sank into the earth. "What should we do, Mother?" (Elizabeth) "I will talk to the other Gods, but stay alert from now on." (Goddess Selene) "But that''s not why I came here." (Goddess Selene) Suddenly I appreciate between them and the Blood Goddess sticks her hand inside my chest, the place where my Blood Core is, I could already imagine what she is doing, so I wasn''t surprised when her hand came out holding a Egg covered in stellar scales and 3 rings of Infernal energy around it. "What egg is that?" (Elizabeth) "A new member of the Family, right Son?" (Goddess Selene) "I knew I couldn''t hide it from you." (I) "Don''t let others find out about the egg, Akatosh had his eye on the Egg just like Cratos." (Elizabeth) "Use your Divine Weapon to seal your Blood Core, this will cut off a lot of your power, but it must be done." (Goddess Selene) Soon the egg appears alive as it returns inside my Blood Core on its own, then a drop of blood comes out of one of Goddess Selene''s wounds straight to my forehead explaining how I seal my Blood Core. "Thanks for the warning... Mom." (I) "I''m keeping an eye on you, so try not to cause another Holy War." (Goddess Selene) Before I could answer anything, we were back at the Communal Temple just me and Elizabeth who was looking at me seriously. "An egg?" (Elizabeth) "I can explain." (I) Chapter 1272: Cap 1270: What did you do Freya... Chapter 1272: Cap 1270: What did you do Freya... After I woke up I had many things to do, things that I left unfinished before going against the Church of Light to help the Hero of Justice and things that were planned to do later, not to mention the various issues that have arisen since that event that triggered my training going to Hell. n//OIn That''s why after a long conversation with my sister Elizabeth, where I was harshly questioned about what happened in Hell and criticized for what happened to the Planet. I left Elizabeth at the Communal Temple where she remained seated beneath the Blood Goddess Statue to heal from her wound. I was now with my two Saints and three Divine Servants listening to them about everything I had lost since the battle on the Moon. "Thank you for working things out with Astrid''s people." (I) "It was an easy thing to do, I found the implementation of living metal in her blood interesting." (Haku) "That was Nicole''s plan, it solved all their problems, and it also changed their races, but that''s the least of it." (I) There are already several races created by me here at Dungeon, having one more doesn''t make any difference, getting attached to a specific race is also foolish as long as you can maintain your life. "You also did good Hades, taking care of the young people we took from the Church of Light." (I) "I didn''t do much, Magnus took care of them longer." (Hades) "I know it was his plan from the beginning, he wasn''t the only one to stay behind for nothing, his brothers would definitely want him along on their missions." (I) "I didn''t have any specific plan, I just told the others he was the best person to take care of them." (Hades) "I would have sent Irius and Irina who have been through something similar, but it still went very well." (I) "Irius and Irina wouldn''t do, they''ll sympathize with young people, especially Irius." (Alice) "Magnus is a powerful Dragon, he has already received the best type of training and has also trained others, his will is also strong." (Karina) "I see..." (I) Regardless of what I could have done differently, I think the results show they did a good job, so with that in mind, I made a mental note about rewarding Magnus later. "Hades, whoever spoke about the two, show them to me tomorrow." (I) "Yes, my Sir." (Hades) "Cinthia, I know you feel frustrated for not having participated in the last fight, but I''m going to entrust the bottle to you, you know what to do." (I) "As you wish, master." (Cinthia) I pass the bottle I received from Elsaris, a bottle containing an entire city where the population has been turned into monsters. Cinthia alone has the power of destruction, but I have already given her two swords made from the crystallization of my blood containing my Authority, if she uses these swords to amplify her power it should be possible to save the majority of them, those who maintain a strong will. "I want Hades and Haku to take care of the young people again, they trust you, do your best to help them in their new life." (I) "You can go." (I) On normal days I would be admiring these natural beauties like a work of art with a smile on my face, but now all I feel is a sinking heart due to frustration. The face that looked like it was carved by the Goddess Of Beauty as the tree grew, I place my hand on the right side of that face fondly, it was a face and presence I recognize very well. "I can''t bear to lose any of you, no matter how strong you think I am... I would break more than you can imagine and do something crazy for sure." (I) "Then why put yourself at risk like that, Freya..." (I) That tree was Freya who is fusing with the World Tree, I can feel the cycle of nature within the tree, I can feel the dozens of times her vitality came close to extinguishing. "Why such a rush to be stronger?" (I) Tears "..." (I) Tears First, it was those 3 and now Freya, who is normally responsible, does something like this, but even though she''s sad, I know I can''t stay here forever. After I left, I spent the rest of the day seeing my family and children, I spent that time seeing their changes. During the night I went to meet my wives, I hoped to have a romantic dinner to please them, but the dinner had to be postponed for another day. ----------------- Pov Yntra (Mother of Truth): "How were our losses?" (I) "We lost all the reserve sites and the main one disappeared, the planet simply ceased to exist." (Haku) "So they destroyed the Planet?" (I) "It was our assumption, but there was no evidence of pieces of the planet anywhere in the Solar System, it just disappeared without a trace, even the energy readings we got show normality." (Haku) The plan didn''t turn out as I expected, I created 8 places to implement the plan where only 1 of them had any chance of working while the others were distractions, I even left the main plan to be implemented last to have less chance of suffering external interference. Even so, they all failed, I also lost the last Haku I had done, forcing me to animate a new clone, this process is always very annoying, the transfer of memories takes a long time with someone like her. I also lost one of my most loyal sons, he acted perfectly, but I didn''t expect that Greed would act so soon and the enemy''s response would be so strange. "Mobilize everyone, we have to change plans, get everyone back." (I) I control one of my secondary bodies to eat what was brought to me, during this time I managed to realize what I should have paid attention to in the Greed actions. Him betraying me was something I expected, him giving me that information for free and without discussing anything in return, so I prepared a plan that I didn''t tell him. Even so, I lost on all the planets, when that Dragon appeared I thought the plan would have ended with him losing, but he did things he couldn''t do. I needed to consolidate my forces, there''s a chance they''ll want to come after me and even if they don''t I need to increase the strength of our troops as quickly as possible for the next plan now. Chapter 1273: Cap 1271: Freyas decision Chapter 1273: Cap 1271: Freya''s decision Pov Freya''s: During Zenos Training. I was thinking as I saw the others leaving, Ibuki spoke of her plan to which rica and Kira decided to join immediately, Diana was the only one to refuse saying with weight in her voice that her path was different, and then her eyes shone when her Aura pulsed before a smile appeared on her face, her God got in touch promising to make her stronger. I saw the 4 leaving, all of them having plans to get stronger, and none of them needed to say the reason since it''s obvious to all of us, I myself felt tempted to follow Ibuki''s plan, but I said I wanted to think a little before taking my decision. "Ibuki''s plan is to play with luck, Zenos does not have his power under control, and there are also no guarantees of the outcome of this plan." (I) "If it were just up to me, then I would go, but if something goes wrong, I''m afraid he''ll blame himself for our decision." (I) "What do you think, Silvia?" (I) "Ibuki and rica are firmly on my Father''s path, Kira could seek power through Byakko, but is not able to wait for him to regain his peak power, this plan will not affect that much either, about Diana the result is as she said." (Silvia) "I wasn''t talking about them, but about myself." (I) "I know... but you already know the answer, you can feel it, your connection with nature is great enough to realize it." (Silvia) lightsvl m "I''m sorry for disappointing you." (Silvia) "It''s okay... I know you''re not lying..." (I) Zenos''s power has brought me everything I am today, but I feel that is not where I should go, his power seems complementary with nature as part of the natural cycle, but is opposite to the Harmony from which Elves originate, as an Ancient Elf always I knew this, I can feel how our Auras complement each other exactly because we are opposites. "(Even if the plan works, I would be gaining something now while cutting off a future path at best... but what should I do?)" (I) "Aren''t you going to ask why I''m here?" (Silvia) "You are not here, this is a spiritual image while using the tree in the main square." (I) "Yes, you are one of the only ones who can notice this since Nix and Layla are unconscious." (Silvia) "Just like my brothers, I''m in the middle of my trip, I don''t have much, but before I left I heard Ibuki speaking out loud, I knew it would end like this." (Silvia) "I have a solution for you, but it won''t be easy, just like Diana, your path will be different and there will be responsibilities." (Silvia) "Will it take me away from others? Will it take me away from my daughter? Will it take me away from Zenos?" (I) "No, but that doesn''t mean it will be a lighter burden than Diana has to carry." (Silvia) "Will my wish come true?" (I) "Yes, I have no doubt about that." (Silvia) "Then there is nothing more to say, tell me what I should do." (I) "You must find a World Tree to..." (Silvia) ---------------- In the bone base near the planet taken by the Apostles of Truth. Silvia and I were sitting opposite each other, we had just communicated with the planet''s World Tree and I exchanged a look with Silvia. "Everyone should be safe now." (I) "(Thanks for saving them, but we don''t have time to waste.)" "Open up, sister." (Silvia) "(Once the process starts it cannot be stopped, make sure you follow this path.)" "Yes." (I) "Start, Silvia." (I) I take off my clothes, my body is already covered in Runes and Magic Circles connected together looking like golden vines were painted on my body, I can still feel the presence of Zenos contained in this mixture of paint and his blood. "< In the name of nature and for the preservation of the circle of existence I call upon those who regulate the existence of all life for a Ceremony of a new Herald of Nature. >" (Silvia) "< May my body be the instrument of birth and my Spirit of Will be the eternal link of union. >" The roots emerged from the ground forming unique patterns and all the elements in the surroundings seemed to be forced into a specific flow forming a copy of that drawn on my body in the surroundings. The bark of the World Tree breaks, revealing an infinite space that seems to shrink, making the strange crystal Tree inside appear larger and larger in my vision. This multicolored crystal tree seemed to be the very flow of countless energies within it, its movement seemed like the movement of the entire world around it. Soon this tree seemed to fall apart while the crystal from which it was made seemed to melt into a multicolored pool that surrounded the sphere of light, forming the outline of a featureless body other than having a humanoid shape. The amount of liquid should be enough to fill a large lake miles deep, but the human figure was as tall as me as it floated towards me. The Will of the World seemed to try to get closer before the Silhouette extended a hand making it return to its own. Each of his movements were smooth and seemed to belong to the world itself, it was a strange sensation and yet he seemed weakened when he arrived in front of me. The diagrams made from the natural power flow of the surroundings come together on your body as a mirror of what is drawn on my body. "< From today onwards we are a single being in life. >" "< From today onwards we are a single being in life. >" (I) "< Binding of the Essence of Harmony >" (Silvia) I soon felt euphoria within my body, I felt the energy flows within the silhouette following my blood flow, and its movements became mirrors of my movements to the point that I didn''t know if it was me imitating the silhouette. Our hands meet in the middle while the Runes and magic circles on our bodies shine, making energy flow between us, a soft and infinite power passes through my body, sinking more and more. Soon I was in a trance state where I knew everything that was happening and was still moving naturally without my control, the world itself seemed to pulse around us while its liquid body seemed to pass into my body with each pulse of nature, an indescribable connection forming between us where I found myself looking more and more at my own image. I was no longer aware of time or surroundings as our bodies merged into one creature, its power flowing into me and beyond me as I felt my body changing. Soon my own Soul seemed to be entangled in vines and branches while my body demonstrated this by becoming wood, each pulsation made more of me wood until my consciousness went out at the same moment that the liquid crystal silhouette was completely absorbed into my body. When I opened my eyes, not knowing how much time had passed, I was in a forest of floating trees around a tree so colossal that it seemed to contain all existing things, its fruits seemed to be entire plants, infinite numbers of them in the distance. I felt countless wills arise from each tree extending around my body, even the unprecedented tree in the center extended limitless will around me as I felt myself becoming one with nature. "< We accept you as Herald of Nature, may your presence represent us all! >" (all) Chapter 1274: Cap 1272: Im selfish for you Chapter 1274: Cap 1272: I''m selfish for you I wake up in the same room and look up, there were the branches of a small tree bearing flowers of different colors each petal, when I get up I see the state of the tree that Freya has become. "Don''t be sorry, it''s disrespectful to her wishes." (Diana) "You can understand, as a Champion of a God followed the most appropriate training and I''m sure the God Fenrir would do nothing to kill her in her training." (I) "But those three chose to throw themselves into a power beyond my control blindly, just imagining the possibility of my power causing their deaths is paralyzing... unbearable on a level I don''t know how to describe..." (I) I could feel her long before approaching this place, the ferocity she emanates is as natural as her breathing, when she entered I felt her eyes not on me, but on the tree just like me, and doing so without turning to look at her. "This decision was ours, Ibuki may have been the first to speak, but we had all been thinking about it for a while." (Diana) "I don''t know how to react, even now I don''t know whether to scream at you, hug you, or stay in the fetal position fearing something that fortunately didn''t happen." (I) "That''s why you haven''t reached out to any of us until now?" (Diana) "That''s why you''ve been hiding in that room for almost a week?" (Diana) "Yes, I don''t know what to think even now because one of you is still at risk, Silvia told me that perhaps Freya will never return to normal, her Soul is also at risk of not supporting her transformation... the one who wakes up can very Well, it''s not even her..." (I) "SHUT UP! It wasn''t this Zenos I fell in love with and it wasn''t this Zenos we chose to follow!" (Diana) Diana pulls me by the shoulder with such force that just the pressure of my body turning makes the dust in the entire room rise, then she grabs my shirt, lifting my small body to the level of her fierce eyes. "None of us want to be protected by you while we are powerless every time you return with your body in pieces!" (Diana) "Do you have any idea how we felt in the Morror Kingdom when that body was almost destroyed or how we felt when it returned from the Moon now in your hand in a state where it took 2 Deities and the Saint Primordial of Life to save your life!?" (Diana) Tears "We want to be by your side! We want to protect you just like you''ve always been there to protect us! We want to be by your side and not hiding behind your back while your blood splatters with every step forward!!!" (Diana) Tears "What you''re feeling right now is something we went through every time you lost consciousness, always wondering if you''ll wake up and if there will be any consequences!" (Diana) Tears "None of us can bear this pain and this helplessness... we can no longer accept this weakness..." (Diana) Tears "..." (I) Tears With each sentence of hers, her eyes glowed with more desire as her ferocity sank deeper and deeper into fear and sadness, her eyes beginning to fill with tears that flowed as her screams became heavier. In the end, tears also started streaming down my face as my hands held Diana''s face like the most precise thing there was. n--OIn "I understand... but I won''t apologize for my hypocrisy..." (I) Cough Cough "Stop it, I can imagine." (I) Sigh rica has always been like this, she is not one to wait around, she has always been as aggressive as Diana, but her methods are more cunning and patient in her actions, which is much more frightening. "(I have to look them all up later before a tragedy happens.)" (I) -------------- The next day I was using a cane to walk, I had some broken bones still healing, bite marks on my arms and shoulders, and claw marks on my back and chest, I was also physically exhausted by the time I managed to drag myself out of bed. This time I went straight out of the Dungeon thinking about clearing my head while giving my body time to heal. "You finally decided to leave? Why are you like this?" (Yaramaki) "< Pulse of Life >" (Yaramaki) My heart gave a loud thump as warm energy flowed through it to my entire body, my once worn out body was recovering normally in milliseconds as I dropped the makeshift cane I made. "Thank you, Santa." (I) "Call me like you did my separate part." (Yaramaki) "I don''t know if I should, we just met..." (I) "It may seem that way to you, but she and I are one and the same person." (Yaramaki) I heard that the Saint of Life only recovered so quickly after absorbing High Priestess Yara, a clone of her made with her power. "They are not unique individuals, they have echoes of my Soul and copies of my mind, I use them to experience life from multiple perspectives that I cannot in my real body." (Yaramaki) "I know, my sister told you about it, but it''s hard to change the perception that I just met you, it''s going to take me a while to do that." (I) As we spoke we went outside the bone base in space, the Dungeon had been set up there since the Planetary battle. When we went outside, a whole new world was shining in countless colors with dozens of energy rings pulsing around it in different colors. "That''s an incredibly beautiful sight." (I) "Life is full of moments like this, truly beautiful if it weren''t for the meaning behind this beauty being the reconstruction of the life of an entire Star System." (Yaramaki) "Sorry, it seems like I once again made a mistake without realizing it." (I) "No need to worry, you did what you thought was right, you took a path that allowed the Wills of the Worlds of this Estar System to live, don''t apologize for that." (Yaramaki) "Many Planets disappear, most of them destroyed, others devoured and some becoming strange creatures, this case is just one among them." (Yaramaki) It reminds me of the Undead Planet that looked like a Golem I saw in the past and the Planet that is actually a Ghost Serpent that Hela talked about, even the world I''m seeing surrounded by colorful energy rings is actually a Divine Beast of Life that looks like a Planet. I just see the energy pulsing through flows of raw energy traveling towards other planets in the surroundings, I couldn''t track the entire route with my senses due to the long distance, but it''s incredible that these dead worlds can still be reborn full of life one day. Chapter 1275: Cap 1273: Santa Caida Chapter 1275: Cap 1273: Santa Caida It''s been weeks since the battle on that planet, now I''m on an absurd Planet, its size is as big as a Solar System to the point that it was surprising when I got close, this Planet has no name, that''s why no one dares to give a name to it he. This planet is literally a living thing, it seems to be from the same race as the Divine Beast of Life, but it does not belong to any God. I was in a city on the surface of this planet, the entire city was made of stone, a colossal place full of colors, most of the buildings have more than 20 floors with the largest having 100 floors. I was in a big diner eating a coffee cake with something that looked a lot like chocolate if it wasn''t trying to move off the plate. "I still don''t know why to make food move." (I) "Many races take pleasure in eating their food while still alive, you are no different, blood always tastes better fresh for Vampires." (Elizabeth) "I know, but making a cake move like that is strange, I even feel vitality in that thing, how do you do that?" (I) "Potions and small rituals drawn on kitchen utensils, of course, there is also the talent of the cook." (Elizabeth) While listening to my sister, I finish eating the cake, its taste was divine, but what surprised me was the insignificant amount of vitality coursing through my body like a warm energy trying to nourish my body. "Why are we here, you refused to say along the way, I also didn''t like that a Demigod came to bring us here." (I) "This is a mission from the God of Spirits, you haven''t forgotten right?" (Elizabeth) "..." (I) I look at one of my hands where I see the realistic image of a strange Sun with a ring of star energy around it, what was once the Planet that was supposed to be saved and has now become a part of my Divine Weapon. My mother appeared to warn about how some Gods didn''t like what happened to the Planet, these are the God of Spirits, The God of Beasts, and the Goddess of Fairies. The Goddess of Life, incredibly incredible, didn''t care that much since most of the Planet was on the verge of death, leaving only the unified Will of all the Worlds in that Solar System. My sisters said that the Gods will not punish me since my intention was not bad and I was fighting against enemies that they also despise, but that would not go without payment, but apparently, this payment is a mission. Sigh "Couldn''t this wait?" (I) "I''m dealing with an Evil Mind God, I also have to decide about my daughter''s friend Zaya." (I) "Hela seems strangely attached to this Lady of the Grave." (Elizabeth) "She has been disturbed by helping her who has become a statue, but I still don''t know if I should, I can feel a strange energy emanating from her." (I) "So don''t do anything before confirming what this energy is, its origins are something that I don''t know myself, that Planet has always prevented me from even entering its Star System." (Elizabeth) "Apart from these things, I have to take care of the doll, I have to visit Freya who hasn''t changed yet and I need to nurture my new Daughter." (I) "Have you come to deliver what we expected?" (I) "Yes." Suddenly we were enveloped in a dome of darkness, it was the entire table where we were, it was only after that that the Shadow began to speak. "The mission is simple, there is an Evil god hiding in this city, and you must eliminate him." "Wait, you mean kill the Evil God?" (Elizabeth) "I thought there was no way to kill a God, even an Evil God." (I) "Because it is very difficult, killing a God is something very specific for each God to the point of bordering on impossibility." (Elizabeth) "No need to worry, all you need to do is destroy the body you are inhabiting, rip out the fragment of Divinity you possess, and give the Soul to your Nix Familiar to devour, all of this will ensure that he is dead." "Her Familiar named Nix, as a Spirit of the Dark element she can devour him, the shards of her Soul would be absorbed by her." "..." (I) "..." (Elizabeth) My sister and I exchange glances as she nods at me. ------------------- Elizabeth and I were sitting in a hotel room in the same city, in one corner of the room was the same shadow as before, this time it is frozen inside a blood crystal while there was a man with blond hair and bluish skin sitting in our room front. "I''m sorry about my friend, he has a hard time taking matters seriously." (Vallar) lightsvel.cm "I realized that when he started talking nonsense about killing an Evil God." (Elizabeth) "Even I know that an Evil God''s Soul can only be sealed, trying to destroy that is almost impossible, let alone doing something like devouring an Evil God''s Soul." (I) "I''ll take care of him later, but he wasn''t wrong about most of the mission, the Evil God with Spiritual powers." (Vallar) "Because of this the Spirits sent after him have been killed or are in critical condition, even sending Contractors seemed dangerous without knowing his exact powers or his plans for being here." (Vallar) "That''s why asking for outside help like this, I understand." (I) "I have a few questions first..." (I) Over the next few minutes, I asked some questions about the target such as his appearance, personality, and the places where he was seen. Information that could lead me to him, but I still have to think in the meantime. Chapter 1276: Cap 1274: Detective Zenos part 1 Chapter 1276: Cap 1274: Detective Zenos part 1 The next day after arriving on this nameless Planet, I bought a house or should I call it an apartment. Upstodatee from In this world, each city is colossal, occupying a space of 50 thousand km, which is why there are few cities on this planet, less than 20 cities from what I heard, with each one being controlled by the same government system made by what they call a dome, where there are even 10 Elders elected based on their capacity. The dome does not govern the cities, it only maintains order between the various races and keeps the city organized, the laws here are also very simple and basic, even the currency here is the common one throughout the universe, not having its own currency, they do not have in even an army since there are no wars here. All this is basic information that everyone knows, Elizabeth told me about it, cities are very big, but the number of people is still very large and therefore the value of land is very high since cities do not like to expand out of fear to displease the planet, which is why there are few houses built with most people living in apartments. The location I chose was a little expensive as it occupied the entire floor, but this meant I had fewer neighbors and I was allowed to put whatever defense I thought was best inside the apartment. I left the defense to Irina who is the expert, in the meantime we made preparations for a long-distance teleportation ritual for when the others arrive, which shouldn''t take long as they are preparing for it. "How is everyone?" (I) "Hela is refining the bone base into a magical item, but she should finish it soon, everyone else is already inside the Dungeon, as soon as Hela finishes it, all you have to do is summon Nix here." (Irina) "They are used to changing locations, their efficiency in preparations is very good." (Elizabeth) "I just don''t know the reason for this Teleportation Ritual, wouldn''t it be better to open the Dungeon here?" (Irina) "No, this place has a lot of strong people, we are investigating things and I don''t want to attract attention." (I) lightsvel.cm "A Dungeon causes a vibration in the nature around it and one slightly interferes with the space around it, ordinary people may not notice it, but others will notice it." (Elizabeth) "It would also be strange if the number and variety of people coming and going from this apartment increased a lot, so you will set up a separate base somewhere else, far away from anyone''s prying eyes." (I) I summoned Irina here with a blood magic that uses our Father and Daughter lineage bond to summon her, something Elizabeth helped me with as it was her specialty. "Within 2 days at most we will be able to implement the plan." (I) "As I said before, it all depends on you, my contribution will be minimal and following your instructions." (Elizabeth) "This is not the time for your tests, Elizabeth." (I) "This Evil God is killing Spirits and Sacrificing people." (I) "I understand, but this is still a rare opportunity for you, I can''t always be by your side, investigation is something useful for a leader to know." (Elizabeth) Hades will be part of Kira''s group and her subordinates, their job will be to investigate the adventurers who act as guards and the government, I don''t want anything confidential, I want them to look for irregularities and corruption, from what the Spirit told us this Evil God is sacrificing people, I don''t think he''s doing it with few people, so I suppose a lot of disappearances have been happening, so it doesn''t become talked about in town and there being no news about it could mean it''s being covered up, I could also be completely wrong and already are being investigated, even so trying to find out what the government knows is a step closer to the target. I am using my Divine Servants since I can always be in contact with them due to our connection, no one would be able to notice this allowing a centralized flow of information in me in real time. I didn''t make them leave the apartment together, I made them all enter my shadow before letting them leave in different parts of the city where I didn''t feel anyone else''s eyes. n)--((/-/1-(..I(/n ---------------- The next day, at night. I was with someone with amputated limbs beneath my foot, my Aura being used to emphasize my killing intent as I look at his face. "Tell me now, why are you kidnapping people?" (I) "Please, I don''t know anything, I''ll just take it to the indicated place... HHAAAHHHHHH!!!!" "..." "That''s number 12, none of them knew anything..." (Samira) "No, you found a clue, investigate this person, track everything he has done in the last few months, I want to know everything." (I) "Give this to Cinthia to investigate, she will know what to do." (I) "Okay, then I''m leaving." (Samira) From the results of the investigation, it showed a large number of missing people, from young to old of all races, but in recent months the number of Spirit Contracting Adventurers has been very high. Samira has been giving me packages of people for further interrogation, only those who resisted Elsaris'' "kind" conversations, most of the time I realized that these people were lying, but it was possible to see the fear in their eyes and in some cases the cruelty. But this one was different, I noticed that his eyes became cloudy many times whenever he was going to answer something, and when I used my Aura on his body I noticed a reaction of Spiritual Energy within his body, it was a curse directly affecting the Soul, I needed to kill them to extract this fragment of Spiritual Energy that I froze in a crystal from my blood, that''s what I threw for Samira to take, Cinthia will be able to use this to track our next target. "Finally a clue..." (I) This city is a dangerous place, Hades gave me reports every hour, that''s how I discovered the number of disappearances, they are normally quite spread out with nothing out of the ordinary if it weren''t for the trail of missing Adventurers increasing in recent months, it was this clue which led Elsaris to this bastard from whom I got this later clue. "A Slave Rune with a sense of the power of a Spiritual Authority seems like a solid list." (I) Chapter 1277: Cap 1275: Detective Zenos part 2 Chapter 1277: Cap 1275: Detective Zenos part 2 Pov Elsaris: When I left the apartment I was wearing a minimalist dress with some kiss marks and bite marks on my neck, making it look like I was coming out of a sexual affair is the easiest way to fool anyone watching. During the short time that we have been here, I have seen many strong people, few of them reached the level of my Father and his sisters, but there were still some among those that I could feel, I must consider that there are others stronger and that the target of the mission has knowledge of our presence in the city, so being careful in small details can be a good solution. After a few kilometers of walking among people, I enter a jewelry store greeting the receptionist before heading up the stairs to my apartment. "Did you also go to see Father?" (Samira) "Yes, I received the information from the Hunger Stars, I also captured an Evil God Priest, the idiot didn''t have precise control of his Aura and just hid it inside his body." (I) "Didn''t he think that someone completely hiding their Aura would be seen as suspicious in this place?" (Samira) "Not to mention that this leaves room for others to use their Aura on you with less chance of noticing." (Samira) "Yes, it was so easy that I still think it was a trap." (I) I still can''t believe that a simple cursed needle was enough to knock him unconscious. "I left him with Elizabeth, but according to her his God''s power is Magical and not Spiritual." (I) "Then it''s not our target." (Samira) "Apparently no." (I) I arrive and take the plate from my sister''s hands, while I was eating I heard what she talked about with our Father, it seems that we have a clue to follow this time. After eating I went to the room where Cinthia was cross-legged floating in the middle of a magic circle and Spiritual Runes, in front of her is a red crystal with a multicolored glow, I could feel a trace of frightening power inside the blood crystal. Soon I open my eyes which have Star Fire in place of eyes, the blood crystal was enveloped by this Star Fire when suddenly the magic circle and the Spiritual Runes are sucked into the Star Fire which burns until only a needle remains crystal in place. "We have the location." (Cinthia) "I''ll call the others." (I) --------------- Two days later. For the last two days, we followed the person Cinthia managed to track, he was clearly a Priest and he made that clear in his Aura. He was a Human, I''m not sure if he''s a man or a woman due to his delicate appearance, but I don''t care either, we followed him during this time to reach other people. Investigating in this way is unnecessary, if I were in charge I would have captured this man a long time ago to be interrogated by Lilith, which was refused. I know the Evil God will probably notice if we do something to his Priest, but this way of investigating is very time-consuming. Our mission is not to destroy the entire religion or stop their plans, our goal should just be to be sure about the location of the Evil God. But I have no voice in this type of situation other than to warn about the risks of less efficient approaches. ---------------- Pov Kira''s: I was standing next to a body, more specifically speaking, sitting in her office reading her files, there were many languages that I didn''t know, but at least there was Byakko who knew how to read these languages. "(These are just unrelated investigations, there are no missing persons cases in these files.)" (Byakko) "(It''s not possible, he carries the crystallized body of a Spirit.)" (I) "(Besides, we have proof of his corruption, he has to be involved.)" (I) "(Let me deal with him.)" (Byakko) I soon feel a current of energy pass through my body for a brief moment before Byakko appears in her cat form on my shoulder. "It''s been a while, you tinhead." (Byakko) "So you''re alive Boss, it took too long you idiot." (Spear) "Shut up, I don''t even remember everything yet, I''m weakened too." (Byakko) "Does the God of Spirits know?" (Spear) "Of course, he knows, he must have felt it at the moment of my Rebirth." (Byakko) "You''re here for..." (Spear) "This isn''t the place, meet me like old times." (Byakko) "You can''t leave without answering..." (Joseph) "Don''t worry about him, you can go." (Spear) When the Spear spoke hundreds of Spiritual Runes around the entire room shatter into particles of light, I take this moment to use a teleportation magic item. After appearing in a distant alley, I walked away changing my clothes, using cleansing magic, and walking through the crowd while talking to Byakko. "(You met him, the talking spear.)" (I) "(He is a Metal Spirit, the spear is just a Metal element Spirit in the form of a spear, his form is that of a Metal Golem, his form must have changed by the contract just like my case now.)" (Byakko) "(That means that man named Joseph is a Contractor.)" (Byakko) "(If he can be trusted he might be helpful, but we must report this first.)" (I) --------------- Pov Joseph''s: After the intruders disappear my body returns to function as the restrictions lift, my body also becomes more weakened without the reinforcement than my own Contracted Spirit. "Who are those two, Lance?" (I) "You can trust the Spirit and so it must be possible to change from within." (Lance) "Don''t change the subject, why let them get away?" (I) "You don''t want Byakko as your enemy." (Lance) "I don''t know anything about your Contractor, but it can''t be someone simple to have him as your Contracted Spirit." (Lance) "..." (I) This idiot always does the things he wants, he doesn''t realize how strange this situation is, a body on the floor of an acquaintance and the invasion intruders that you let escape. "You shouldn''t worry about them, just continue your activities." (Lance) "Just stick around, I don''t know if anyone else will do anything, but they must have been given some kind of mission to be here." (Lance) "Just leave things to me, just follow the things I say." (Lance) I had a lot of things to take care of and I thought I felt someone nearby, that''s when it all started... Now I have a lot of things to finish thinking about a lot of things. Chapter 1278: Cap 1276: Detective Zenos part 3 Chapter 1278: Cap 1276: Detective Zenos part 3 I was inside a hotel room with a body on the floor, the corpse had a distorted smile on its face. "Are you sure you can trust him?" (I) "Yes, he is an old acquaintance, one of my subordinates, if he chose to make a contract, I don''t believe that this person is bad." (Byakko) "What did you think of him Kira?" (I) "He hid his presence very well and set up several traps around me without me noticing, he also pretended to have several openings in his posture to make me attack him, he also hid his true strength by pretending to be someone of the same level as me." (Kira) "You said he uses a Spear as a weapon, which is also his Contracted Spirit, so I can imagine his way of fighting." (I) As someone who created games, the biggest problem was always the story and how this was reflected in the mechanics of both main and secondary characters or even NPCs. One thing I always liked were characters who deceive others, whether by revealing themselves to have a personality that no one knows, pretending to be weak when in fact they are strong, a Mage who pretends to be a warrior to catch his enemies off guard and in this case a Shaman posing as a spear user. The spear is his own Spirit, so he shouldn''t use it as a normal weapon, he pretends to be something while hiding his true attack with traps and tricks, I like that. "You can meet with him, but take Vallar with you, it might avoid some problems and don''t reveal any information about us just about the Albus." (I) "Okay, I''m going to meet him now." (Kira) "I trust you." (I) I see electric sparks around Kira''s body as he disappears, his speed has increased again. "His mind doesn''t have many things, but he''s been dead for 2 days, other than that I haven''t found a cause of death as Kira described." (Haku) "Do you know anything about death, sister?" (I) "We got to this one through the one you killed, we have no doubt that he was at least a High Priest and had a blessing, I can feel traces of that kind of power inside his body." (Elizabeth) "So you say the other one Kira found also had a blessing?" (I) "It''s hard to say without seeing it in person, but there is a possibility." (Elizabeth) I can''t understand why he kills his own men like that, he should use them to protect himself or do things in his place, I don''t understand why he''s killing his subordinates. -------------- Another 5 days have passed, and I haven''t found any new clues and that''s strange, but thanks to our collaborator within the government of that city, thanks to that I discovered that the missing persons cases were returning to normal parameters. "Yes, the Spirits themselves are the best sacrifice and can be completely utilized by the Evil God, while the Contractors have Spiritual affinity and Spiritual Energy, all of this is suitable for him." (Elizabeth) "The greater the amount of energy and vitality the better." (Elizabeth) "These types of sacrifices are made in sacred places or with ritual weapons or are made by people possessing the blessing of God." (Elizabeth) I already imagined that the Disappearances were some kind of Sacrifice to the Evil God, the films, series, cartoons, and games in my world influenced me to associate Evil Gods with sacrifices of people, and because of this I reached conclusions skipping the phase of understanding about the reason why these sacrifices are useful to this Evil God. With everything I heard, a scenario forms in my mind, the reason this Evil God chose this "Planet" full of strong people, the reason is that the stronger someone becomes, their amount of energy and vitality increases, this reduces the number of sacrifices needed for this Evil God to accumulate power or whatever his goal is. "Let''s assume this Evil God has people with his Blessing or using these ritual weapons in this tournament, whoever he kills will still count as a Sacrifice for him?" (I) "Yes, that still counts as a sacrifice and before you ask, only a Deity would notice." (Elizabeth) "(Call me Detective Zenos...)" (I) While I was feeling like every detective''s hero in his moment of glory as he realized the criminals'' plot, I suddenly realized something that made all those good feelings sink into a pit of magma when I looked at my sister. Looking at her calm face while drinking the tea that was left on the table, I realize something. "Don''t look at me like that, you did well, my... come on, you don''t need to act so immature." (Elizabeth) "People were dying and you knew all this I just discovered how long ago?" (I) "From the first day, I saw the tournament sign and also heard Vallar talking about the disappearances, it wasn''t difficult to discover the biggest chance of the cause of all this." (Elizabeth) "But I must say that this Evil God is bolder than I expected." (Elizabeth) "Elizabeth, give me a reason not to turn my back on you right now." (I) "Because knowing this before wouldn''t have changed anything, tracking this type of thing in this city is impossible in the short term, the tournament will be our best opportunity and that''s why I waited until the day before the start to tell you, in the meantime this experience It''s going to be important to you." (Elizabeth) n/)In "You went too far this time, people''s lives are not pawns in your schemes." (I) "Don''t try to lecture me, you''re too young, your concepts of good and evil are too simple, you only see in the now when tomorrow is where the eyes of rulers are always fixed." (Elizabeth) "Use the experience to... sigh..." (Elizabeth) Before she starts speaking I leave everything behind as I stand up, my anger at having once again been manipulated by my sister, I normally let that go, but I couldn''t let that happen again, I need to make my position on this matter clear. "You need to give me a clear explanation or you won''t enter my Dungeon again, I can''t leave someone who doesn''t see the value in other people''s lives with my companions." (I) Chapter 1279: Cap 1277: Tournament preparations Chapter 1279: Cap 1277: Tournament preparations It''s been a week since I found out about the tournament, I might have known about it before, but in my mind, it was just background, unimportant information. That day I spent hours talking to my sister, I made my anger very clear that she knew something so important without telling me when lives were at stake. I understand her thinking that knowing or not knowing this before would have been irrelevant, this city is too big and has too many people, and finding traces of an Evil God here was very difficult. But deciding not to tell me prevented me from even thinking about alternative solutions and having to investigate from scratch, so I threatened her not to let her enter the Dungeon again, it was an empty threat and she knows it. My goal with all this drama was a warning to her, I don''t care about her thoughts and personality, but I need to trust that she will act and talk to me about matters of this level of importance. The whole time she listened to me speak arguments calmly about everything as if she knew every word and argument I was going to use, she knows a lot about my way of acting and has lived a very long life taking care of entire empires. What irritated me was realizing that even my sermon was being used as a test with her going against each of my arguments, when I realized this I didn''t say anything else and got up and left. I felt angry enough to make my earlier empty threats come true, but I chose against it, all I did was send her away to the temporary base the others had just set up outside the Planet. I didn''t want her near me right now, her damn tests were being a distraction that I couldn''t keep now, I know she could just go against my words, but she just smiled an annoying smile and left without saying anything else. Now those who were with me in the apartment were my children while others were acting under my orders taking care of the preparation for this tournament. "I and other Saints are taking care of what you asked." (Vanessa) "I have them both ready for you, Hades took them." (Magnus) "I still think I should..." (Samira) "No, your Auras emanate my bloodline, that could give away what we''re doing." (I) I still don''t know if the Target knows about me if he discovered me I must take into consideration that anyone with my lineage or having a very deep connection to my power can be easily identified by the enemy, this already cuts off my Family members, wives, children and so on To be honest, the vast majority of my companions drastically reduced the list of people for the main part of the plan. "I''ve heard about this world, if I''m not mistaken, each city has an Elder Dragon among the members of its leadership table." (Magnus) "I imagined that, but I don''t know if I can trust them." (I) Dragons are selfish by nature, they act based on their own rules, I don''t want to involve beings of that level of power if I haven''t known them long enough. "Then let''s move on to the next part of the plan." (Elsaris) ---------------- Pov Xagar: "Do you think we will be of use to them this time?" (Fiona) "..." (Fiona) This time she followed behind me without saying anything, she spent the rest of the day silent and looking thoughtful, but this is an improvement on what I heard before. ------------------ The next day when I woke up she was holding her spear, her eyes were as sharp as the tip of her spear, her eyes piercing with strong will. "(It seems like she understood, it was slower than I imagined, but at least she understood.)" (I) "Come on, don''t just stand there and watch me, that''s disgusting." (Fiona) "It looks like her mouth is back to normal, so let''s eat, after that, we have somewhere to go." (I) --------------- After that we ate something before going to the Coliseum, today was the last day of registration for participants and we went to register. There were many people as you could imagine, registering participants was simple, sign and fight in a preliminary where some of the weaker participants will be eliminated. Inside the Coliseum there were 50 arenas with spatial distortion expanding its interior, each of these arenas had 15 people placed inside and only 2 people could go through to the last preliminary round. At first, I thought I might be lucky enough to land in the same arena as Fiona, but we ended up in different arenas, which means everyone around me is an enemy. I tried to look around and there seemed to be different races and everyone seemed unfamiliar to each other, but only from the subtle gestures of some, I realized that they were trying to get partners. Their thinking was not wrong, they want to maximize their chances of winning by teaming up in pairs, I also tried to do the same, and as the number of participants in each arena was 15 people, one of the participants was destined to fight alone. I had already confirmed from everyone''s movements and the way they assessed their surroundings that they were not that strong or at least did not have experience in life and death battles. Before the start signal sounded, I searched the other arenas until I found Fiona, I realized that in the other arenas, everyone was also dividing into pairs, the same logically happened in Fiona''s arena and she was the one who ended up alone, I don''t know how that happened, but I must trust that she will move forward. Vaawwwwww!!!! "Start!" (judge) With the bell ringing I stopped paying attention elsewhere to focus only on my arena, I won''t make the mistake of underestimating unknown people. My partner was another Demon, this one was a Magician from what little I understood and it was he who approached me possibly because he was of the same race, I never thought that one day I would fight alongside a Demon. As soon as the fight started I pull out my sword while the Wizard has the staff in his hands, everyone was looking at each other without doing anything before the first one attacked, triggering all the others. "(I''ll try not to stand out.)" (I) Chapter 1280: Cap 1278: Foreplay part 1 Chapter 1280: Cap 1278: Foreplay part 1 Pov Fiona''s: When the tournament preliminaries started I was initially focused, in my arena there were all men, with the exception of a Human woman holding a large Axe. She tried to join me just before the fight started, but I didn''t want to, I knew it could end up becoming a tag team fight, but I want to use these preliminaries to prove to myself that I''m getting stronger. I know that my decision could hinder the mission if I lose in the preliminaries, but I won''t be able to go far if I doubt myself. As soon as the fight started, they tried to eliminate the only competitor alone, which would be me, I knew that would happen since I would do the same thing, eliminating the weakest link is a standard action in any type of fight. Only one person moved faster, approaching me from the left, the others were trying to attack both of us at the same time, but at that moment a whip grabbed him pulling him back making all the attacks come towards me. I smiled, the situation was serious, these people were strong, but half of them were weak when it came to using their powers, with the spear in their hands they penetrated the ground, throwing a large purple spear forward, causing one of the attacks to explode, finishing off the rest. I took advantage of the lack of visibility to attack, I wasn''t paying attention to them with my normal senses but using my Aura in my eyes, and thanks to that I was able to identify everyone even within the smoke. I throw 3 knives at a person who dodged a knife while defending the second, but the third one hit his arm, with that I gain momentum before throwing a side kick at a large Ax before using my spear to cut off the arm that He held the battle axe. When the smoke from the first attack disappears there is a person shaking on the ground with green veins expanding on her arm, it looks like the poison worked, there was also the only other woman besides me in this arena missing one of her arms, it looks like the Ax from before it was hers. I saw her give up the fight to replace her arm, a team of healers waiting outside the arena, a shame that the poisoned person won''t have that chance. Meanwhile, the other 12 were now fighting among themselves, ignoring me, but I knew they were still paying attention to me, in fact, they were waiting for me to interfere in a fight in the hope that I would help one of them. I smiled holding my spear tightly, my Aura and Power pulsing inside me, I could feel the power in the jewel on my forehead, but I chose not to use it, I want to prove myself using only my own power, show that I am worthy of receiving the power of Zenos. "< Incarnation of the Spear >" (I) "< Piercing Flux >" (I) My Aura becomes a Spear incarnate to me while my Weapon is left engraved on the ground, I enter combat releasing 3 attacks at the same time a punch, a kick, and an elbow. Each of my attacks was aimed at a different enemy followed by a Piercing attack from my Aura with each attack. One of them tried to attack me and was pushed back where he met a punch from another opponent throwing him out of the arena, meanwhile, my kick made a hole in an opponent''s arm and went through until it reached his chest. The fight continued while I was in a combo of combat techniques using my body as a weapon in a priceless flow of blows, abandoning all defense in favor of attack. I was injured a few times, but because I wasn''t the only target of their attacks I managed to last several minutes before falling into a magical trap with three others. In the end, only me and the man from before were in the arena, I felt his attention focused on me as he smiled, that''s when I felt his murderous intent before turning to leave. But my eyes were not on him himself but on the sword on his back, I felt a unique presence of that sword just at the moment of those two''s deaths, a frightening presence. "(Looks like you''re ahead this time.)" (I) As I looked at him I saw blood dripping from one of his hands, one of my attacks had been aimed at him, but within the energy blade attack was a second Demonic Aura attack that hit him. As soon as I left the arena victorious I went towards the arena where Fiona was still fighting, she was doing absurd things to the point of asking myself if she suffered some type of brain damage. Not only was she fighting alone without a partner, she was also attacking everyone in an almost indiscriminate way as if she was attracting everyone against her, which fortunately didn''t work since they were paying attention to each other the whole time. In the end, she emerged victorious, but I wasn''t happy, she revealed too much of her power unnecessarily while placing herself at a numerical disadvantage the entire time. As soon as she left the arena I put my arm around her neck while pulling her to one side, using our skin to skin touch for a telepathic technique. "(What by the Goddess of Death are you doing!?)" (I) n--In "(Shut up, I know I did wrong considering the mission, but I needed to do this or I wouldn''t be able to continue the mission.)" (Fiona) "(I won''t say anything, but you have to take our mission seriously, Zenos is counting on our results, so I don''t want to see this kind of behavior again.)" (I) "(I understand.)" (Fiona) With that, explain to her about the man who won the first phase of the preliminaries with me, I also explained about her strange sword, other than that I ask a more specialized observer. "(What do you think?)" (I) "(I didn''t feel anything from the man, but his sword really is strange, there was a slight fluctuation of Spiritual Energy in the attack, other than that I didn''t feel anything else.)" (Targo) "..." (I) Targo is a Spirit of the Blood Element, a unique type of Spirit that only exists in Lord Zenos'' Dungeon, I made a contract with him during my training, at the moment he is hiding inside my body more specifically within my blood. While I was talking to my Spirit and Fiona about our mission just like that man from before, they were still waiting for all the fights to end in the arenas, when I thought it was over they asked me to wait while the arenas were reduced to 25 bigger ones in total. While we waited, everyone received a sign with a teleportation spell, then someone appeared floating above explaining the rules for the last part of the preliminaries. "Let''s see how far we go..." (I) Chapter 1281: Cap 1279: Foreplay part 2 Chapter 1281: Cap 1279: Foreplay part 2 Pov Xagar: To summarize, the last part of the preliminaries would be a 1-on-1 fight where participants are chosen at random and transported by the tokens they carry. I look at the sheet in my hands and continue listening to the rules, but once they ask to reduce the number of deaths while in the rules themselves it still allows killing, other than that there aren''t many rules. To win you must throw the opponent out of the arena, kill the opponent, leave the opponent unconscious, or make the opponent admit defeat. As soon as the judge finished explaining all the arenas were enveloped in columns of light, I didn''t understand the reason for that but I kept quiet while worrying about my next opponent since I don''t want to fight Fiona. She who was next to me puts her hand on my shoulder without saying anything, but I understand, she is not comforting me, by the strength of her grip on my shoulder it means not to take it easy if we are opponents. "(Looks like she''s back to normal.)" (I) Loco I saw people disappearing at the same time the judge snapped his fingers, it was at that moment that I felt the vibration of my chip before I felt the mana of the space element surrounding my body to take me to the arena. My vision would become distorted and could cause confusion in my mind, so I closed my eyes for 5 seconds until I felt like I was in a different place with the energy of space diluting in the surroundings. When my eyes open I was facing my opponent at a safe distance, I was relieved that I didn''t have to fight Fiona, this would interfere with our mission at the same time as it would be a difficult battle, Fiona knows all my moves from training by my side all this time, we also have almost the same level of strength, the only advantage I have above it is in combat experience. After the relief that Fiona wasn''t my opponent, I began to evaluate the person who was doing the same to me. He was a young man who just came out of grip, his body was thin with few muscles, he was clearly not a warrior, his sword looked very fragile and I see rings on all his fingers, clearly they are magical items. He is clearly a High White Elf since he has the mana jewel on his forehead, and his eyes show caution, perhaps he is a little older than I imagine. "Start!" (judge) Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only "< Blade Whip >" "..." (I) As soon as the judge''s signal was heard his attack came, his speed was greater than mine exploding all at once towards me. The sword that I thought was fragile in his hands became malleable, looking like a whip with a blade, his blows are very open, and they are also very direct. I use my sword to redirect the tip of the Whip towards the opponent, but he seemed to be able to directly control his weapon, making me attack from an angle that would otherwise be impossible. I smile heading towards him, the tip of my sword tries to cut his fingers but instead hits a wall of solid aura, with a simple twist of my hand I made him flinch before jumping back, a metal claw that came out from the exact spot where I was back down. "(He is of the Metal element, but I don''t sense Mana or Spiritual Energy from his sword.)" (I) "(...)" (Targo) I felt Targo trying to talk, but I used my Aura to seal him in my blood, he can observe, but trying to talk to me during combat could draw unwanted attention, and I''d rather not risk it while in the arena. "< Demonic Armor >" (I) Before saying anything else, he holds two weapons that look like spear-shaped sticks. After that, he started speaking in one language. He picks up his weapons and comes towards me, each attack of his makes blades of pure condensed Aura energy travel without rest. I drew my sword and dagger to fight, but do not destroy each. I try to hit him more than once, but he stops me realizing that he seems much wiser. Each collision of our weapons makes the space around us crack, during one of these collisions I both use my dagger to pull his weapon closer to me, throwing off his balance long enough for my foot to get the better of just breaking something unknown. With this, fighting using weapons became a thing of the past while others seemed to have more. Our kicks made my leg bones inside my body want it to be. "Come with everything!" We both continued exchanging blows for a while, it seemed to have no end, but I can''t lose focus as I jump back, escaping another kick and this time it''s me who surprises her with my tail pulling her leg before writing Spiritual Runes in high speed on his leg using the tip of my tail. "< Activate >" (I) "< Blood Imprisonment Rune >" (I) With these Spiritual Runes, streams of blood come out of his body, that''s when I felt the power of this seal, but unfortunately, it was only one leg that was sealed to buy time for me. This time my wings are used giving me a burst of forward momentum reaching its target leaving nothing but that forever. I turned around giving a kick, but my leg hurts pierced by his sword, he seemed to be having fun with a big smile on his face. As a result, our combat lasted tens of minutes before we were able to do anything. As soon as I finish dealing with another of its members this Priest is already too weak to do anything when he falls to the ground. That''s why I hit him in the head while trying to make him lose consciousness, there are no more reasons to continue this battle and I''ve already won too. "Alright, I accept." As expected, everything you need can be found here, while after his surrender I succeeded in the plan knowing that it could affect my already religious situation. He must be fine, so I released him from the seals I placed at the same time his clothes returned as they were. I see him deactivating his Territory technique before he starts talking to me about the tournament, I also hear him talking about what not to do during these matches, with a lot of emphasis on things that you can''t do during the tournament. We also received a warning not to do this again without notifying someone among them, I cannot interfere in the fight other than my subordinates who are participating in this together. With that I left the Coliseum thinking, it was a little strange, but even so, everything was going according to what I planned, if things continue like this everything will happen the way I imagined, with this ending our day. Chapter 1282: Cap 1280: War Tournament Part 1 Chapter 1282: Cap 1280: War Tournament Part 1 I was inside the Shadow Realm, this was not a real place, it was a space created to connect the shadows of an area, this space is created by Nix and cannot be seen by outsiders, I am waiting to find someone here. "Master, wouldn''t it be better to act early, in these few hours we''ve already managed to track down almost everyone." (Nix) "No, I''m still not sure about yours, if it''s some kind of attack on the Colosseum, many could die." (I) "We need to make sure we catch everyone at once, that includes the Evil God." (I) "We may be too late and we are not sure if the plan will work." (Nix) "I believed the plans were very good, no one said anything when I spoke." (I) "He thinks he''s fooling us." (Orion) "We can''t blame him, Vallar was completely fooled." (Nix) "..." (I) Suddenly blood comes out of my neck forming a small Orion head talking to Nix who is next to me. "I''ve been by your side for a long time, Master." (Nix) "Of all your Family members, I''m the one who spends the most time with you next to Hinata, I know how you do things and I know how everything happens in anything involving you." (Nix) "I was born mainly because of you and my connection to your blood makes me closer to you, that''s why we were the first to notice." (Orion) "That''s why I''m asking you to just follow the plan." (Nix) "The plan may not be perfect, but it will serve..." (Nix) "I would really like my only concern to be this Evil God, but we have other things to take care of, I know what I''m doing, and I''m confident that I can do well this time even if I fail." (I) "I will not allow something like the events on that Moon to happen again." (I) "..." (Orion) "Just don''t put yourself in any danger." (Nix) "I can''t promise that the plan alone is already quite dangerous..." (I) "..." (Nix) "He arrived..." (I) Nix looks in the same direction as me while Orion returns inside my body, within seconds Xagar approaches, his pale face shows the effort to remain in that place, it seems that we have less time than he expected for this conversation. As soon as I entered I followed the flow of people that led straight to the middle of the Colosseum where the arenas were located, this time there were 20 of them and they were covered by white energy domes making it impossible to see inside. I also noticed a floating stage a few meters above where a man who is clearly a Dragon in human form and a woman who appears to be an Ancient Elf were standing waiting dressed elegantly while talking to each other. There were people guiding all the participants to an area of the stands lower than the rest where we all sat. Looking around I saw that the audience seats were filling up quickly, there were many people, thousands of them, and there were also so-called private rooms where only a few people can stay, I was informed about this by Mr Zenos who said he was in one of these rooms. Suddenly I felt a look on me, when I turned around I realized it was a familiar face, someone I''ve known for a long time and that''s why I was surprised to see him here since his look full of murderous intentions doesn''t surprise me. I turn my face away knowing that he won''t do anything in this situation, this gives me time to think, but it only lasted a few minutes before a powerful and at the same time gentle Aura spreads to every corner like an endless wave spreading throughout place disappearing along with the presence of the World before a voice sounded as if it were coming from someone next to me. "Welcome everyone, my name is Raask." (Raask) n/--()(-.-(.-1.)n "I''m Larany, the two of us will be responsible for this tournament." (Larany) "Today we begin this great event and we salute you all for your presence!" (Raask/Larany) As a result, several explosions occurred overhead with various elements forming spectacular paintings in the skies, it was a truly beautiful sight. Soon after that came the applause that seemed capable of making everything in the surroundings shake. The man who claims to be one of those responsible for this great event raises his hand with his Aura urging people to remain silent before starting to speak. Most of what he said was useless, it was prayers to the Gods of War and those associated with combat. After that he talked about the rules, they were basically the same rules as the preliminaries with some differences. The first change is that there will be battles, but they will take place on random terrain, it seems that they have ways of shaping the arenas, I don''t know exactly how they will do this, but it shouldn''t be a bad thing. Another change will be the time limit, each round of combat must last a maximum of 2 hours, and if the time ends without a winner, both participants will be considered defeated. Other than that, there were almost no rules other than the ones I already knew, and killing was still allowed even if they asked to reduce the number of deaths, the ways to lose are almost the same with just a few additions, and also the part about how the selection of opponents. Just like in the preliminaries, everyone will be transported to random arenas against random opponents, there was no way to prepare. According to them, each participant would fight 3 times maximum today, this would be the same as 3 rounds of the tournament, they made it very clear that fatigue, injuries, or whatever the participants'' problem may be would not serve as an excuse, while they are out of combat we will receive help to heal, but if we are still injured when we are called to the arena we must fight or give up the fight. It was easy to see that the rules were made with the intention of being completely random, there are also many elements where participants like me must rely on luck to fall into the right conditions. For me they are excellent rules, I can see that they are trying to recreate the moments of a real battle in a tournament. Battles can happen anywhere, whether it''s advantageous or leaving the person at a complete disadvantage, you can''t always choose your opponents who can be so weak that it''s easy to win or be so strong that the fight becomes laughable. If you think about it, even the rules that allow death are to make the tournament as close as possible to real fights to the death. "(Interesting rules...)" (I) Chapter 1283: Cap 1281: War Tournament Part 2 Chapter 1283: Cap 1281: War Tournament Part 2 Pov Xagar: Shortly after the presentations of the 2 responsible for the tournament and the announcement of the rules, the tournament officially begins. There are hundreds of participants, everyone here has gone through qualifiers like mine, but I shouldn''t get too confident, I can feel some strong presences among them, I don''t think I''ll be able to reach the Top 10 without resorting to the power of my blessing, which I need to avoid the maximum as possible. While he is lost in thought, the fights started, some people were transported and as soon as this happened above the domes where the arenas were, holograms appear revealing the inside of the domes. Some arenas were rocky mountains, some were forests, others swamps and even a region of ice cliffs, there was even a region in the middle of the ocean with tiny islands and another that was the interior of a volcano. Each arena was different from the other, I can understand when they announced that some people might gain an advantage or fall into a disadvantage depending on the arena, it all seems more like a game of luck. At least I won''t be negatively affected in any of the arenas, I won''t be positively affected either, everything will depend on me. This part of the tournament will be decided by points, each victory will score 1 point, there will be 6 fights in total taking place today and tomorrow, after that they will announce the list of people moving on to the next stage of the tournament. A guarantee of advancing will be winning all 6 fights, but even if I lose 1 time I still have a chance while losing 2 times I don''t know if I''ll be able to achieve it. I try to look at the people participating this time, none of them were Fiona, but I discovered a Dragonewt that I recognize, it was one of Barok''s subordinates, it looks like it''s not just me and Fiona on this mission. But all my thoughts stop when I look at the ice arena, the two competitors were at the bottom of an ice cliff facing each other, I recognized one of them from my past, the same one I saw while the organizers were speaking earlier. He is an old friend, we grew up together surrounded by people with faith in the God of Light, just like me his faith was unshakable, but his heart was not capable of staying in just one place and being in an organized hierarchy, that''s why we separated , with me joining the Army of Light while he became an Adventurer. At that time we were young and foolish, but he was always slow to learn things, because of that he grew up with great prejudices against most races, especially the Demons who he blames for everything bad that happens, an easy target to mark. It surprised me that he saw me now, I''m not entirely sure if he recognizes me, I don''t know if the Church of Light spread news about me or if he recognizes me, maybe he just doesn''t like me because I''m a Demon. He is a Half Elf, his long blond hair and bright blue eyes have always been a symbol of his beauty, but his serious face and well-trained body show that it doesn''t just depend on his appearance. The fight as expected ended quickly, his sword glowed white as his arm disappeared with his speed it was easy to cut him into pieces. I just saw him kill his opponent before leaving via teleporting one of his participant tokens. "(I hope I don''t have to face you, old friend...)" (I) As soon as this is ready I almost instantly followed up with a slash of this sword at high speed, all my muscles creaking from such an attack which had a very good result. I thought this Dragonewt would be more difficult, but now it seems hilarious, his attacks are strong and he seems to have great potential, but I could still see his immaturity as a combatant. My previous cut cut his wave of water in a single cut as well as taking off a leg and an arm that was moving inside the wave waiting for me from a place he believes to be safe. I broke his hopes along with the loss of 2 of his limbs, when the water fell I saw him lying on the floor unconscious clearly due to the pain of losing an arm and a leg, this is unfortunate seeing him act like this. I don''t feel sympathy for him since it would be rude of me as the one who defeated him to try to comfort him, besides his injuries can be healed and his amputated limbs can be put back in place. With that I''ve already won 2 of my 3 fights today, not counting tomorrow''s, but that''s already a good thing, there are 2 people I really don''t want to face in this tournament, they are Fiona and my old friends. After I left I needed to wait a few more minutes before being called once again, this time I was in a dark place, but I was still able to see things almost naturally, the Eyes of a Demon adapt better to dark places than in brighter places this allowed me to see where it is, I''m in a maze I can even understand. I kept looking until I found several monsters as well as several types of traps that I almost fell into. Not knowing what I should do, I had to resort to something I didn''t want to use right now, so let''s get this over with quickly. "< Demonic Summoning Magic: Killer Wolf >" (I) "I quit!" Suddenly I could hear a voice, which by the way was my opponent giving up, but it was just a deception to make me lower my guard, I quickly turned around finding a Gray High Elf using a dagger, I could feel spiritual energy emanating from his body as the dagger in his hand had a strange presence. Because of that, I kicked him in the stomach, which only gave him the opportunity to grab my leg, forcing me to spin, which he reciprocated by using the speed of my spin to kick me in the face, which he could against the wall of the maze.n(-In I thought I had won, but that was my carelessness when I noticed the shattered face of the opponent I thought I had won proving to be just a fake. "(Where are you.)" (I) While thinking of something to deal with this bastard, I waited until the right moment and reached behind me, when I pulled my hand out it was holding his neck. "I GIVE UP!" With that he was also eliminated, with that I already won all my matches today, now I only need the 3 fights tomorrow to guarantee my entry into the final. Chapter 1284: Cap 1282: War Tournament Part 3 Chapter 1284: Cap 1282: War Tournament Part 3 Pov Fiona''s: I couldn''t help but be fascinated by Lady Larany, an Ancient Elf just like Lady Freya, she is so beautiful, her dark skin is so beautiful, her eyes seem to shine like stars and I can feel as if she is part of the flow of nature around us. Mistress Freya still looks more impressive somehow, but Mistress Larany is still stunning. I never thought that one day I would meet beings from legends with us the Ancient Elves, much less did I think I would see two in my life, for us Elves they are the hope and adoration of all, holy creatures who dedicate their very existence to nature, being a fundamental part of it, the true children of nature. But even lost in my eternal admiration for Lady Larany, I was still paying attention to the rules since I still have a mission to accomplish. Suddenly I noticed a murderous intention, as it wasn''t right in my direction I almost missed it, barely realizing it, it was then that I saw a man looking directly at Xagar, he was directing this murderous intention towards Xagar. "(Someone from the Church of Light? But how did they find us?)" (I) "(His clothes look more like an Adventurer''s, is he in disguise?)" (I) "(He appears to be targeting Xagar, but cannot have recognized him, his appearance is very different from any description the Church of Light may have of him.)" (I) "(It could be someone on our target''s side, Xagar could have been exposed or discovered that he has a Spirit, either way, I have to keep an eye out for him.)" (I) I had many doubts about the identity of this person, I didn''t know why Xagar was a target of his, I also didn''t know what kind of possible connection there was between the two, and so all I could do was mark the man as someone of interest to keep by eye. Upstodatee from After that the fights started, I tried not to focus too much on Xagar so as not to draw too much attention to myself, but I was still following the results of his fights. It wasn''t long before I was called up for my first match, when I looked at the arena I couldn''t help but smile, it was a lush forest and my opponent was a Human. I didn''t know what his power or affinities were and it didn''t matter, I knew that no race was better in the forest than an Elf, except in special circumstances, especially for me. "Thank you for giving me this precious time." "< Palms of the Wind King > 5" I couldn''t help but be amazed when I saw 5 magic circles forming around me made by currents of wind, half of a humanoid body emerges from each magic circle all the same like giants made of wind, God bodies constantly in flux like tornadoes live while struck towards me using his big palms. I didn''t feel when my opponent used his magic, I didn''t feel the magical power or his Aura at any time until the magic was activated, not to mention that from the moment we arrived in this arena no more than a few seconds passed, he was very fast I must admit. "(If it wasn''t for this arena, I would have had to use my Contracted Spirit or my Zenos'' Blessing to have a chance of winning.)" (I) My attack went through the clouds above along with all the raindrops spreading to the surroundings, I felt something trying to hit me only to collide with the hilt of the frandenlanca around me which acts as a barrier. I saw that the Water Spirit was now much larger with one of its arms disproportionately larger, trying to continuously punch this temporary defense, but not just wait and do nothing. "< Spear of Nature >" (I) No time to make an attack, then roots emerge from the ground around her that manage to dodge most of them while the others were stopped by small water shields created by the Spirit that stopped attacking me to defend its Contractor. I take advantage of this pause to cancel my first attack by making the large ascending spear disappear, then I throw the spear in my hands with all my strength using my Aura at the tip of the spear. I had waited for her to dodge one of the roots sticking out of the ground to aim at her when my attack broke one of the Spirit''s water shields and continued its path through her stomach. "She lost consciousness, we gave up!" (Water Spirit) Maybe from shock or pain, but she loses consciousness falling to the ground with my spear sticking out of her back, her Water Spirit returns to normal while returning to her Contractor trying to rip my spear from her body. The Water Spirit was quick to admit defeat and was soon taken back to the participants area, a few minutes later my spear was brought back to me, I saw them take away my opponent''s spear before bringing it to me, the healing areas were all on the side of each arena. -------------- My next match was in an ice arena, the one in front of me now was a Beastman from the Tiger Tribe, and in his hands was a large Axe. No matter how one looks at him, clearly a warrior and the Ki being emitted from his body was from the thunder element that enveloped his body before rushing towards me at a great speed. He was fast, but it didn''t take long to win, in fact of my 3 opponents today this was the weakest, all he had was speed and strength, and his combat techniques were very simple making it easy to guess the trajectory of his blows. I didn''t even need to use any skills or magic, just with my spear I was able to beat him, in the end, he was the only one very injured and with a spear pointed at his neck. "I quit..." I could feel the disappointment around him when he gave up, my victory against him was so easy that I distrusted him, so I paid close attention to him when he turned his face down forming a slight smile. My spear was a little special and thanks to that my Aura flowed through it with ease, so when I focused more on my opponent I could feel the slight trace of Spiritual Energy, knowing this I cut his neck a little with my spear leaving only a get a scratch before we are taken back to the competitors'' area. "(Looks like we have one more.)" (I) With that, I achieved 3 victories leaving only the next 3 fights tomorrow. Chapter 1285: Cap 1283: War Tournament Part 4 Chapter 1285: Cap 1283: War Tournament Part 4 I was seeing my subordinates fighting, everyone still hiding a part of their strength while Xagar and Fiona hide most of their strength, yet everyone did very well. Thanks to these fights I was able to find a few more targets for this plan, but suddenly I felt a limitless power envelope me, the scare only took a few seconds before I understood who it was. I smile and wave to Silvia to take care of the rest, then I sit in the chair and close my eyes, my Aura and Authority interact with this boundless Energy, I feel my consciousness being pulled and I can''t resist letting myself be carried away, the dizziness only took a few seconds before I open your eyes again. I looked around and I was in the exact same Colosseum, but this time there was just a large arena with 25 different pillars around it, each pillar decorated with paintings and sculptures of different landscapes. I was in the middle of the arena, and in front of me was a man with fiery red hair that looked like it had never been combed before, his body was large and covered in countless scars, he was sitting in the arena looking at me with a bottle the size from a barrel where he was drinking with a big smile. "An honor to meet you, God of War." (I) "You can call me by my name, I''m Hatlas, the idiot who thought it was a good idea to be a God." (Hatlas) "Leave formalities and useless things aside, Natasha''s brother." (Hatlas) "..." (I) The great God of War, Hatlas. My sister Natasha told me about him, someone she respects and has challenged many times to fight only to lose in each challenge, the Human who Ascended to become a God. I have heard many things about this specific God, so I walked closer to him and sat down, using my Holy power I try to form an image in my mind, one of the drinks that Anton, the Blacksmith from my Dungeon is proud of. help do, honestly, this thing is strong enough to affect even Elder Dragons. When a barrel of this drink appears next to me, I open the lid and take a few sips, if it were on my body it would be enough for my face to turn completely red, but in a mental realm my resistance to alcohol is as strong as my strength of will. "Since you prefer it that way, I won''t complain, I hate being formal." (I) "But call me Zenos if you can." (I) "You know I like you kid, I''ve seen some of your fights, what you did against Baldr''s Divine Beast was so funny I couldn''t help but laugh for days." (Hatlas) "That wasn''t my greatest moment, I was more than reckless in what I did." (I) "A warrior is not one who participates in battles whose victory is clear, a true warrior is one who participates in battles that he cannot lose." (Hatlas) "That day you didn''t think, you acted and dared to go further than your enemies, well done boy, those are some balls you have there." (Hatlas) "Thank you, I think?" (I) I can''t say why he''s currently aggressive, but I''m clearly hoping it isn''t for the sole reason that his opponent is a Demon. Even with this torture scene, the judges didn''t do anything, I knew the rules and I knew that no matter how cruel this scene was, it still wasn''t enough to stop the fight unless time ran out or that participant died. "(Did he become cruel over time or was he always and I didn''t notice because I was just like him?)" (I) "(In this vision you can see which of the two is the true cruel Demon.)" (I) I couldn''t see the end of his fight when I was transported to another match, when I opened my eyes it was a battlefield, weapons and armor were scattered around in pieces. My opponent this time was a woman, a Dragonewt who, based on the red color of her scales, must be of the Fire Element. To be honest it''s not a difficult fight, I have great resistance to Fire, something I already had before becoming a Demon and it only became stronger with my transformation as well as everything I''ve been through so far. The two of us started an intense battle, I was conserving my energy for the last battle, but even though I wasn''t using my full power, it was still a difficult fight, this woman was very well trained. Each time our blows collided we were pushed back only to return to fighting as before. She doesn''t use a sword, spear, or an ax like most, she uses metal claws on her fists, she fights using flexibility and technique, always choosing to evade my attacks instead of trying to defend. The fight was strangely fun, the woman was better than me in terms of techniques and her speed was greater, all this mixed with her way of fighting, it was impossible for me to beat this woman head on, my luck is that she is naive in controls. lightsnvl In one of our many confrontations, I use my sword to stop one of her claws while a shield appears on my other arm, striking her other clawed hand away, at that moment I use mine to wrap around her neck. "I quit." With that I let her go as we returned to our seats, with this already 5 victories in a row with only the last one missing, one could expect that my opponent would be weak enough not to waste too much of my power. So I waited and waited, but my last battle never came, until finally, it was my turn to fight for the last time today. My opponent was just a Dark Elf boy, he didn''t seem to be a warrior as normally expected of Dark Elves, what he had was a book with metal ornaments of various creatures. "(I already know what he is... it''s going to be difficult.)" (I) I look around, this was a desert arena, sand was everywhere, but my concentration was still on him who seemed to be standing there waiting, but I knew he was using it as bait to attract me to him. I could feel murderous intentions in the surroundings, it was only when I was sure I wasn''t going to get any closer that he opened his shining book. "< Summon... >" Chapter 1286: Cap 1284: War Tournament Part 5 Chapter 1286: Cap 1284: War Tournament Part 5 Pov Xagar: n.----(((-)))I--n "< Elemental Summon: War Golem >" "< Demonic Claws >" (I) I tried to launch a flying blade attack towards him, I had to interrupt his Summon, but at this moment two Stone Golems formed in front of him like shields, interrupting my attack and giving him the opportunity he needed. Soon the book in his hands glowed when a magic circle rose from one of the pages and stood in front of him, that was when a Golem made of metal and covered in an armor of some kind appeared, I could immediately feel the power of the Metal element and also the element earth. In my momentary distraction, what looked like a Metal Golem disappeared, its movements were quick and precise as I parried its attack by flying away before landing on my feet. "This is going to be harder than I imagined..." (I) ------------- Pov Fiona''s: Today as soon as we arrived at the Coliseum I could feel his eyes on both of us, Xagar told me about this "childhood friend" of his yesterday when we returned. I try not to show that I understand him, I don''t want any more problems and Xagar seems to want to resolve things with his friend, if he doesn''t want to do it, then I have to force him to do it. One day he may regret what he didn''t do, and his heart may not doubt what he is doing now. The rest of the day seemed normal, my first fight was against a Mage specializing in the ice element, to make matters worse it was in the oceanic arena, but in a way his loss as I caught him off guard. As soon as I realized his advantage I remember something using it against me during training inside the Dungeon. I throw my spear which the enemy was able to avoid, which in that place made my spear lost in the water. After that, the idiot froze a large part of the sea around us, creating a flat terrain with his ice. For the next few minutes, I was under pressure because I was fighting without my weapon and because he was using ranged attacks against me. From his decisions during combat, I knew he was not a warrior, but in truth, I would bet that he is a scholar, I must recognize his potential if he is well trained, but his combat tactics were amateurish, to say the least. Just as I expected the sound of the leaves and branches of the trees, the sound of running water, the sound of the wind blowing, the sound of the ground being stepped on, the sound of life itself that exists in all things, the sound of nature. Something imperceptible and that has always been there, always the first sound to be heard at birth and the last sound to be heard at death, nature embraces us throughout our lives and yet it goes unnoticed because it is a constant in our existence. With my Aura as a medium, this music of life is amplified in the surroundings making nature itself stronger, within this musical field, my power is amplified. The power of Nature condensing within the field it created comes to me using my Aura as a medium, my whole body becomes faster. "< Natural Flow Spear >" (I) I hold my spear firmly while running towards the warrior, he just smiles amusedly as he dodges my attack while also grabbing the handle of my spear just below the blade. I smile at his boldness, my Aura serving as a path for strands of energy from different elements are brought to my body by this field I created where I use my Aura transforming these flows of Elemental energy into thin threads coming out of my hands as they coil all over the spear. The opponent''s hand holding the shaft of my spear trying to pull it away if my hands made wooden needles pass through his hand along with electric currents. "Interesting... hahahahaha..." "< Incarnation of the Wind >" His entire body was surrounded by a strong wind, it was as if each of his limbs were enveloped by tornadoes, then he tried to punch me, but I turned my spear forcing him to let go while I used the spear''s handle to block his punch that It made me go backwards, spinning along with a gust of wind. It was at that moment that his Familiar attacked, countless feathers coated with Wind Ki were coming towards me like a rain of arrows. "This isn''t going to go the way you want!" (I) All it took was one thought of mine for a strong flow of wind to throw all the bird''s sharp feathers towards my opponent, who didn''t expect to receive the Familiar''s own attack. Meanwhile, I ignore the Familiar and concentrate as many lines made of elemental energy flow, I use all my mana and Aura to do this, the blade at the tip of the spear had a multicolored glow with different types of energy flashing at its around making the tip of the spear appear 2 times larger. When I finished this I threw my spear loaded with most of my mana reserves, all to decide the winner now. "Let''s end this fight now." (I) A tornado of multicolored energy swirled around the spear in a high-speed attack, but the opponent''s Familiar was faster than I anticipated as it placed itself alongside its Contractor. "I knew you would be fun... HAHAHAHAHA..." Chapter 1287: Cap 1285: War Tournament Part 6 Chapter 1287: Cap 1285: War Tournament Part 6 Pov Makina (Evil Saint): In a dark hall, I am in the middle of a spiritual pool, all this spiritual liquid was taken from the Spirits we captured, I get on my knees completely below the surface of the pool, but in my eyes, it was like entering a different world. A space full of exuberant colors, clouds of all colors, flows of Elemental Energy, and Infant Spirits floating aimlessly, in this place a pair of green eyes open in front of me, honoring me with their presence. "My Goddess, I am here to seek your Oracle." (I) "My Saint, I can see the doubt in your heart, there is no secret between us, tell me what afflicts your will." (Goddess Rhavaal)Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only I knew she would see through me, but I can''t help but worry, ever since I heard about her plans this doubt has only grown more and more because of the fear I feel thinking about what might happen if we don''t make it. "My Goddess, I trust in your divine wisdom, but I cannot help but think of the Gods associated with war..." (I) "Your sincere concern for me is commendable and acknowledged, but these Gods will not interfere with our plans, I have been acting within the scope of the rules of this universe all these years for this reason." (Goddess Rhavaal) "Only the God of Spirits of this universe and those he sent after me are our real enemies." (Goddess Rhavaal) "They''re acting on incorrect premises and assumptions that we''ve been steering them toward all this time, but they''re not that far from the truth, so we only have this chance to carry out this plan." (Goddess Rhavaal) "My Goddess, the Vampire boy is strange and is in contact with Priests of the God of War, even we don''t know his identity." (I) "Leave him as he is, as long as they think they are ahead we can still observe his actions in silence, don''t worry, I guarantee that by the end of this tournament, he and everyone around him will be dead." (Goddess Rhavaal) "May your will prevail supreme, my Goddess." (I) ------------------ Pov Zenos: When I opened my eyes I was still inside the Colosseum room, outside it was night, and only Hades was waiting for me sitting not far away. "How were the matches?" (I) "Xagar won all 3 of his fights today, completing his goal of 6 consecutive victories, his passage to the next phase of the Tournament is guaranteed according to the rules." (Hades) "Fiona lost one of her fights, totaling 5 victories and only 1 defeat, but due to the short duration of her battles won, her chances of passing are also good." (Hades) "When will the results come out?" (I) "In a few days, marking the start of the next phase, the results will be posted at the main gate." (Hades) "I see, gather everyone together we need to make final preparations." (I) Every part of this competition was to separate the different grades of talents, I can guess that is the main reason for this entire tournament, to find those who can be recruited by them. I thought this whole idea was incredible, but I don''t mind doing it like this, there are safer and more accurate ways to measure someone''s strength and potential. It was at that moment when I was thinking about these things that the 2 representatives announced the beginning of another new day, I soon felt my body being teleported once again after days. When I opened my eyes I was in the middle of a giant forest, I felt like a small insect in this damn place, this place was very big, I recognized him from before when I was watching other fights. "I can''t waste time." (I) This time I didn''t have the confidence to win head on without revealing all my trump cards, if I do that I might have a chance. I use my blood to use a blood magic, something I learned from Lady Vanessa suitable for a Demon like me, using my blood as a medium for my Demonic Power, with that ready, I take out a dagger and play half drawing game ritual. Soon the magic circle absorbed my Demonic power before crawling towards the dagger, then came I felt my Aura and power pulse between the two of us, this dagger felt more like a part of me before. I hide my Aura completely as well as all my power, but it''s still looking for a target, but it didn''t take long, I saw 2 idiots fighting each other just a few minutes after we arrived here. I just check the surroundings making sure there was no one else around, then I wait for the two for a few more seconds since I can''t wait too long for fear of more people coming here. As soon as I saw the two being hit by each other''s blow, I went towards one of them at high speed, placing my swords on his neck while penetrating the other''s heart right in the heart. "< Demon Blood Magic: Demonic Possession >" (I) I feel the joy and power taking over my body strange in a way, but I do my best to the last of the combatants who had my sword at his neck in a threatening way. "I QUIT!" I didn''t need to say anything, just my eyes revealing my rising killing intent, he knew what he should do and quickly disappeared. I soon return all my attention to my target, I feel the power of the dagger sucking me into his body through the dagger, I could feel my body turning into a liquid and I used my soul in six. I felt like I was losing my senses one at a time, and when one of them came back it was my vision, that''s when I realized that my eyes were different, I wasn''t seeing as well as I usually do, but I ignored that focusing on the changes of having this body. As soon as I was inside this new body, I realized that there was nothing left of me, not even my spear was left, this magic really is incredible. I was now removing the dagger from my chest or should I say from the chest of this body, I didn''t feel any pain, but I could feel the Soul that was in this body going to rest in the afterlife. "(With this body I have an extra asset that others don''t have.)" (I) With that I began to look for others in the forest while assimilating the vitality and other energies, I was also getting used to the body unknown to me, in a few minutes I was able to live in an almost normal way and I began my search in the forest. That''s when I noticed a strong Aura looking like a flare in a certain direction, clearly some idiot was trying to attract someone but I''m staying away. Chapter 1288: Cap 1286: War Tournament Part 7 Chapter 1288: Cap 1286: War Tournament Part 7 Pov Xagar: A green irony idiot or someone with a lot of confidence is trying to draw people towards him, but what caught my attention was the very Aura he is using. "(This is not a person''s Aura, this looks more like a Spirit''s Aura...)" (I) I was in the body of one of the two stupid idiots I ambushed during their fights, so I had no fear when I let myself fall into the trap and headed in that direction. Before long I arrived near a small mountain, there was a cave from where the Aura was emerging, but of course, I didn''t go in there, I just hide somewhere far away where I can still see that cave. In a short time, I saw two people arrive, one of them who arrived first had several items floating around him, it seems that he was a Magical Engineer like Nicole, finding one of these capable of fighting with his creations is rare. Even without seeing what he is doing, I know he must be analyzing the situation and he is certainly smart enough to know that this is a trap, but he still entered after a few seconds of waiting. The second was a woman, she was a Vampire, I could know that just by looking at her smile before she entered I saw her activating some type of magic where she used her blood to draw the Magic circle. It seems that everyone is confident in this arena, soon a few minutes pass in silence before intense earthquakes shake everything in the surroundings and crack the ground for hundreds of meters. NewW novels updates at novelhall.com A few seconds later a jet of magma appears from the ground a few tens of meters from the cave like a golden and red column heading to the sky, from this column of magma comes the Rogue with her completely charred body still moving, then the magma itself opens revealing a Demon that would look completely Human if it weren''t for the horns on its head. The man had a small Spirit next to him, but this Spirit was strange, he had Runes drawn all over his body, glowing slightly, almost looking like a member of the Runic race. I wasn''t seeing the Engineer who entered first, he might be hiding somewhere or has already been defeated, this Demon in front of me must be the one that made everyone gather here. I just wait while holding my sword, this person''s Aura is a little strange, but the Spirit with him is even stranger. Fairies and Spirits are creatures that can be described as living incarnations of the elements of nature, which is why they are all extremely emotional and find it so difficult to lie, their very existence conforms to nature making it difficult to lie. Now looking at this Spirit, his eyes are dead, I barely see any emotions in his behavior and his Aura is also equally strange to that of his Contractor. "< Holy Spiritual Blade >" (I) At the same moment he approaches from behind to pierce the charred Rogue''s chest with his arm covered in magma, I use a magical teleportation item appearing next to him. I used my sword to cut the arm that was still inside the Rogue''s body before stopping my sword at her neck His Spirit tried to attack me, but I threatened with my sword and he stopped. "I knew there was someone hiding, but I didn''t expect a teleportation, I admit defeat this time." "With this, we''re both even, I don''t like others ruining my plans." I was coughing up blood as I resisted the urge to scream from this pain, immediately the Vampiric heart that had just formed seconds ago fell apart with a burst of regeneration immediately recreating a new heart as well as rebuilding my destroyed spine along with my rib cage, all my injuries were completely healed immediately. When I blinked my eyes, she was already in front of me, inches from my face, looking at the middle of my forehead while licking my blood, still on her hands, I wanted to move away when I realized that her strength far surpasses mine, but I couldn''t move a single muscle due to an incomparable Aura locking me in place. "I may have missed this one, but at least I found what I was looking for, see you soon young man." She had a different look as her smile became more serious, her once jovial voice now carried the weight of time while maintaining a different beauty, it was as if she were another person in front of me. Soon something happens, a large red Dragon claw covered in flames grabs her from behind leading her into a rift in space that closes soon after, then an announcement can be heard before I am teleported to the participants'' seats. "I declare this match over with 2 deaths, 2 losses, 1 disqualification, and the winner being the participant..." (Raask) "..." (I) I had been declared the winner, but from what I heard the Rogue from before was disqualified, from the power she showed I''m sure she hid her true level of strength until now, the Dragon claw from before must have belonged to this Raask, but I didn''t I see Rogue nowhere. "(What''s going on? Who was she? Why did she expose herself like that? Did she let me win? What did she want?)" (I) I had a lot of questions in my head, but this was not the time or place to look for those answers. She seemed pretty calm for someone dragged out by a large flaming claw, so I must assume that I must assume that she will return as she promised, Mr. Zenos must have seen everything, so I must seek his next orders on what to do next. Now the important thing is that I''m in the top 20, I noticed that my match seems to have been one of the first to finish, so I''m going to pay attention to my future opponents, I also have to pay attention to Fiona. But even knowing all this I couldn''t help but cast my eyes towards one of the arenas, the images showed him once again fighting in a sadistic way, his opponent was not weaker than him, but he was clearly at a disadvantage due to the environment being a desert. His light attacks use ambient light to strengthen himself, something I trained with him, I remember how it took him to learn that back then. "(If it weren''t for having met her... I might have been just like you now, old friend.)" (I) Sigh Seeing him after so many years is having more impact than I would like to admit, he reflects a version of me that could still exist, and he represents many of the mistakes I made in the past. "(I hope to meet you in battle, I can''t let this hesitation in my heart.)" (I) Chapter 1289: Cap 1287: I am Wanda Chapter 1289: Cap 1287: I am Wanda This phase of the tournament was very interesting, in each phase they have obvious targets for elimination, from the completely incompetent to those who only have training and no real experience, but now they are making those really strong at the same level of strength fight using everything that has. Someone''s strength is not limited to direct combat ability, the strengths of a truly strong person can be different for each person, some specialize in direct fights, some specialize in dealing just 1 fatal blow, others are good with traps and others use long-range attacks. The stronger someone becomes, that person learns to perfect their strengths by specializing in a specific field, in my case, I prefer to plan everything I do since I''m not a combat genius like Diana or a magical scholar like rica, even though my instincts are incredible, I also don''t hold a candle to Ibuki, where her instincts are almost a Divine ability of her own, even Kira has a level of focus to dig out the opportunities she needs for just 1 blow to work. Freya doesn''t fall behind the others, her abilities are something that even I don''t understand, since she became an Ancient Elf she assimilates more and more with nature to the point of being one with Nature, almost like an Incarnation of harmony, even though Larany, who is one of the organizers of the tournament, is an Ancient Elf, she still doesn''t reach the level of assimilation with Freya''s nature, I always thought it could be due to her race and now I don''t know if it''s just that. "Strange..." (Hinata) "..." (I) Suddenly Hinata reacts to something by putting her head out of the necklace around my neck, this takes me out of the deep thoughts where I fell without realizing it, so when I looked again guided by Hinata, I saw that the arena where Xagar was fighting, one of the participants was releasing a Strange aura, but that wasn''t the only one. "There is something resonating through the Aura out of the arena, it seems..." (I) I increased my focus to the maximum using parallel thinking on the same target trying to fully understand what this strangeness was, at the same time I tried to feel it with my Aura and even my Authority, and that''s when I realized what this strangeness was. I couldn''t help but widen my eyes as I started to pay attention to other things, the Auras that were resonating throughout the Colosseum, they were all like me, Authority users, I had significantly less than I imagined. The power of Authority is not something easy to obtain, people capable of it are extremely rare, the most common are those associated with the Gods like me, my sisters, and those linked directly to us like my children, Heroes, Saints, Family members, and Servants Divine. There may be many capable of using the Power of Authority on my side, but apart from my sisters who have their own Authorities and those who have a direct connection with the Gods like Vanessa, Diana, and Layla as good examples, everyone else has Authority because of me, are derivations of my Authority that awakened thanks to me. In my case I awakened the Blood Authority because of my mother the Goddess of Blood as well as my sisters, I awakened the Dragon Authority by becoming a Primordial Dragon, I partially awakened the Nature Authority because of achieving the trinity of nature and the Chaos Authority was something that I Awakened after almost destroying myself by fusing the power of many different Blessings into an explosion of Divine power, even so, I only achieved it because I already had a high affinity with Chaos resulting in the unique fusion of all previous Authorities in Chaos. Now I was feeling hundreds of them all over the Colosseum, but half of them were close to where I was, in the private rooms like me. "The Evil God was basically proclaiming his presence, this is not just Authority power, this is full of Holy Power mixed with Spiritual." (I) I looked at Rogue, but her face was changing as was her entire body, she became taller, and her body became more sensual while her clothes changed from a dress to a suit outlining her elegant silhouette. Her face was white like white marble, her eyes were blood red, her hair was red with short whitish tips, and her posture became more elegant while even her voice changed as she spoke in a deeper tone. "I''m sorry for the intrusion, Son of Blood." "She was disqualified for participating in this competition despite being far above the required level of strength and hiding her identity, because of this I owe her to the highest level in charge of the Temple of Blood." (Raask) "I see..." (I) Even though I never officially joined the Goddess Selene''s religion, as her son and a Demigod of Blood, I am a target of worship for the Temple of Blood, something common between me and my sisters, thus being at the top of the hierarchy of the Temple of Blood. "(I feel like a man receiving a son he didn''t even know he had from the police at the door of his house.)" (I) "Now I must leave if you will excuse me." (Raask) He uses both hands to open the space as if he were opening a curtain before entering, the crack created closes right behind him leaving only me and Rogue in the room along with my hidden Familiars. As soon as the rift in space closed, the tall Rogue kneels on the ground lowering her head until her forehead touches the ground before raising her head once again speaking in a calm and deep voice. "A pleasure to be in your presence, Great Zenos, I apologize that our meeting was so sudden." "Get up, I don''t think we''ve had time to exchange names yet, my name is Zenos and I would like you to just call me by my name." (I) "I am Wanda, the High Priestess of the Blood and mother of the Blood Saint, thank you for helping my daughter thus far and accepting her into her lineage." (Wanda) "Are you Vanessa''s mother!?" (I) This woman doesn''t look like the description Vanessa gave me of her mother, if I''m not mistaken she was the Vampire who saved Vanessa when she fled the Church of Light and turned her into a Vampire, she must also be the person who sent her towards me.n-.(--(-/(-/.I-(n Chapter 1290: Cap 1288: You are not a Goddess part 1 Chapter 1290: Cap 1288: You are not a Goddess part 1 n(-O1n A few days passed, and Vanessa''s mother, a Vampire Empress and High Priestess of Blood called Wanda, also exists the fact that she is Elizabeth''s daughter. The conversation with her was somewhat brief, she seems to have come to me looking for my sister, it seems she only entered the tournament to gain visibility as her blood magic using lineage to communicate hadn''t been working with Elizabeth since I made my sister reborn. During the fights of 6 people in the arena, Xagar did very well, having the luck to find Wanda who didn''t even fight against him, but Fiona had the bad luck falling into a group focused only on warriors, her group''s fight was complete chaos with everyone fighting in the middle of the desert with no place to hide, it was a bloody fight where Fiona won losing an arm and the sight of both eyes, she also revealed her Contracted Spirit, in her arena everyone died except for the last one who admitted defeat before the Fiona''s finishing blow. After an intense fight, days passed for all participants to recover before the individual fights, this time there was only a single Large arena where the field changed randomly for each match, and the 20 competitors were reduced to 10 with Xagar and Fiona being between them. To be among the top 10 Xagar also had to reveal his Blood Spirit, drawing attention to the rarity of this Spirit, Fiona in turn had to fight against a Wizard specialized in space magic, giving her a lot of problems, she needed to use a focused attack with her Spear to penetrate his defenses by piercing his head, as he had a life-saving Artifact, he is still alive and even so, he was declared defeated due to the fact that he died in the match. Today was the match between the top 10 and the strength of these two won''t take them any further, even using the power they received from me it will still be a defeat depending on their opponent. "Worried about your competitors?" (Elizabeth) "Yes, this is the last day of the tournament, this Evil God will act today one way or another." (I) "But you didn''t come here to know this, what do you want?" (I) "I came to say that the tests are over, I know I may have gone too far last time and you don''t need to be tested anymore either." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) "If you expected an apology from me, then you are very mistaken, I didn''t do anything that serious and you know that if something of real importance had happened I would still tell you." (Elizabeth) "Elizabeth..." (I) Sigh "You think I don''t know? You''re still hiding something from me, I feel your eyes on me most of the time since we met, and you also make a point of spending more time with me than Natasha and Caitlyn." (I) "I know you have something planned, your actions speak much more than your words in the long run and I just need to know one thing." (I) I looked at her, I didn''t need to ask my question, I know she won''t reveal to me what''s going on in her head or her secrets, I also know she wouldn''t do anything to harm me, but there''s still a question that needs to be answered. "They were fine... I won''t tell you anything, but my tests were not done without reason, not all preparation can be done with training alone, some things need to be experienced to make us grow, and with the right person guiding that growth many future evils can be avoided." (Elizabeth) "< Shield Strike >" (I) Before I finished spinning I had taken my shield out of my storage item before using my foot and wings to stop spinning bumping my shield upwards at a half angle, this made a sword run to the side with force before I kicked Rael in the waist away. When I get up to stand I see Rael doing a somersault in the air landing on his feet, all these movements that I have predicted so far are much more refined and precise than they were in the past, even though Rael fails at everything, and receives my blow where he always has the failure of his ambush, he still managed to land on his feet in a fighting stance without leaving any gaps. While I smiled remembering those days of training as a pair, he looked at me with a seriousness that he never showed to anyone else in this tournament. I was seeing some memories in my mind when looking at him now, back then he could only use 1 of those executioner light swords that were as small as a dagger while expending his entire mana pool, it took months of training for him to add this change of direction at the end of the stroke following my advice. I was also the one who trained him on this ambush in case an enemy was able to dodge twice, but because of his movement habits he never managed to close that gap around his waist, I remember how he rolled on the ground every time I kicked him in the same place. He''s still the same idiot who refuses to talk to those he considers inferior or monsters, but apparently, he listened to my advice from back then by trying to distract his enemy with conversation before a big attack. "Will you listen to me now?" (I) "You damn filthy Demon, how do you know my attacks!? Who are you!!?" (Rael) He still loses his temper very quickly, at least he has learned how not to throw into a rage and has learned to spin in a more controlled manner even in anger. "A flower under the pillow to guide the light through the morning." (I) "..." (Rael) "..." (I) This time I stopped smiling as I spoke, Rael''s face changing from anger to shock, then becoming confused as his eyes focused on my face before his face became expressionless and his eyes became as cold as a sword''s blade, the killing intent emanating from his body was now 100 times greater than before. "You bastard, you''re not him! It can''t be him!!!" (Rael) "Still denying everything you don''t accept?" (I) "You know who I am, you know my name, so say it! What''s my name!?" (I) With my every word, I could see his Aura boiling with rage, his eyes contained a gleam of disbelief looking at me for just a second before once again becoming those murderous eyes from before even more intense, all this while his Aura looked like a forest fire of pure fury as he spoke as if he was spewing every hate-coated lyric. "XAGAR!!!" (Rael) Chapter 1291: Cap 1289: You are not a Goddess part 2 Chapter 1291: Cap 1289: You are not a Goddess part 2 Pov Xagar: "XAGAR!!!" (Rael) His actions were blatant, but at least he didn''t attack indiscriminately as I expected, but from the veins bulging from his neck and forehead, I can assume he''s trying very hard to maintain control. "(Targo, be careful, he must have learned something over the years.)" (I) "(Leave it to me.)" (Targo) Targo''s senses as a Spirit are better than mine, he will notice any unexpected action before I do, so I gave him freedom to act by controlling my body if necessary, like a Blood Spirit can take control of my body if I not resist. "XAGAR!!!! YOU DISGRACE, HOW CAN YOU BECOME A FILTHY DEMON!!!" (Rael) "HOW A PROUD AND WORTHY TEMPLARY FELL IN SUCH A RIDICULOUS WAY..." (Rael) "< Demonic Armor >" (I) "< Heavy Step >" (I) I would like to talk more with Rael, listening to his nonsense makes me feel like reaffirming my decision, his decriminalization against Demons and acts of cruelty are an example of the mistakes that were also mine one day, putting an end to this today is an opportunity that cannot I''ll lose. I knew that no matter how many years had passed, Rael wouldn''t waste words on a Demon for so long, he was planning something and preparing for it, so I had to strike first. I already wear armor of pure Demonic power reinforcing my general Defense as well as slightly increasing my physical statistics. I started my movement with my foot colliding with the ground in an explosion of power causing the earth to shake strongly at the same time I used that same foot to push forward. When I did this, I came face to face with spheres of light that just appeared in front of me and that was when my wings moved on their own, pushing from one side to the other, dodging each of the spheres until I was close to Rael. "< Light Purification Field >" (Rael) "< Blood Spirit Stigma >" (Targo) As soon as I was facing him, the two within reach of each other, I saw his Aura pulse in its fury towards the surroundings, the spheres of light explode into thin columns of light connecting the heavens and the earth with energy from the light element, as well I feel a sense of Holy energy and trace it back to the golden bracelet on Rael''s arm. This magic was something I know, a magic used by many when fighting creatures with dark powers, mainly Demons who have Demonic Energy in their bodies. Targo acted quickly with milliseconds of difference, as soon as I started to feel my skin burning all over my body, a blood red energy flowed around me almost completely mixing with my Demonic energy. Marks of red veins stand out all over my body, which is where this red energy comes directly from my blood, so the Spiritual Power was protecting me from this area of purification. "< Demonic Sword >" (I) "< Solar Refractory Sword >" (Rael) Rael did not have the same kind of power to protect himself, his body began to dry out more and more as his sword fragments seemed to come to life moving away from him while covering himself with Holy power. When I look at Rael I see the fury in his eyes until the end, I''m sure he never thought about there being such a big interference in his fight. "At least I''m the one who ends you, goodbye old friend." (I) With my sword I move my hands again, separating Rael''s head from the rest of his body with just a swing of the sword, weak as he was it was so easy that I felt regret for not being able to have the fight I expected. "(We don''t have time for this, they''ve made their moves.)" (Targo) "So now it''s my turn to carry out the mission, I hope Fiona is ready." (I) ------------------ n.)1n Pov Zenos: I was watching the fight way, an idiotic way to train. It was no surprise that Xagar suppressed him almost completely and didn''t even need to use the Power I granted him to deal with his friend, the fight was won and it was only a matter of time before Xagar was considered the winner. My only doubt was the end of this fight, would it be his friend admitting defeat, would it be Xagar killing his childhood friend or would he be dragged out being declared defeated, would it be the path of resolution, compassion, or uncertainty? But at that moment something happens, a wave of Holy power mixed with spiritual power surrounds and spreads throughout the Coliseum. "They made their move, Orion..." (I) "Starting, I wait for Fiona and Xagar''s movement?" (Orion) "Yes, we need the items you both carry." (I) "Fiona is ready, but Xagar just chopped off his opponent''s head." (Elizabeth) "(So he chose the path of resolution...)" (I) "Nix, begin the process." (I) "Yes." (Nix) I look outside, some people''s Souls are being drained of their power and I can see fights happening in the stands, but what I''m seeing is the flow of power gathering overhead, it was Spiritual power refined from the stolen power of Souls. I can also feel this strange Spiritual power devouring and corrupting Spiritual powers. It was at this moment that several spheres of light elemental and spiritual power appeared coming out of a crack that had formed in the place where the flow of spiritual power was concentrated. "Infant Spirits? No... they look different... they have undergone Spiritual Rebirth?" (I) Chapter 1292: Cap 1290: You are not a Goddess part 3 Chapter 1292: Cap 1290: You are not a Goddess part 3 Pov Xagar: I turned my back to the limp body on the floor of what was once my closest friend, thus completely cutting off what I once was, keeping only my name as a reminder of my sins. I disabled all techniques and skills at the same time as the blood jewel on my forehead surged with large amounts of Holy Power. I hold my sword in my hands becoming the medium through which all this Holy Power flows into the sword. Cracks form on the blade as my Holy Power awakens the power that comes from other Gods, the surface of the sword cracks revealing only a red blade underneath made from the crystallized blood of Lord Zenos. "< May this artifact reveal the truth hidden before the power of him who bears the Blood of the true Gods. >" (I) "< Holy Curse: Eclipse Seal >" (I) With the power of this Sword, I feel the Blessing within me pulsate, my blood is boiling as your Aura suddenly takes over the surroundings being partially sucked by the sword, the Holy power within me that was almost exhausted just by throwing this Artifact fills more once. With my words, the various lines of Holy power on the crystal blade float out from the blade of this sword forming a magic circle diagram, with this being the Holy power being rapidly consumed once again as columns of red light appear throughout the Colosseum. It was at that moment when I paid attention to the surroundings that I noticed the Infant Spirits that were everywhere, the dome that surrounded this arena had already collapsed and thanks to that I noticed the flow of power between the Souls being drained to the Infant Spirits. -------------------- Pov Zenos: I was just seeing Xagar and Fiona performing the same ritual to activate the Ceremonies artifacts created in the Dungeon, they were made using my crystallized blood before being coated with metal creating this Sword and Spear for them. I quickly noticed that the Holy Power consumption was at least 6 times what we were guessing, it seems that outside the Dungeon the amount of Holy Power is greater. With the two activating the artifacts the area between them becomes a makeshift Altar, I use my Aura to grant more Holy Power to the two while imprinting my Authority on the Altar, I could feel the Evil God try to do this just as I imagined he would, but the marks left by the symbols of other Gods become a wall that cannot be crossed. "She is nurturing these Infant Spirits with the power of the Soul, is she trying to create Spirits of her own without a complete Godhead?" (Elizabeth) I had already learned a lot about Spirits and Fairies because of my Familiars, so I knew that the Fairies and Spirits born in their Fairy Temples or Spiritual Temples are not being created by them, the Gods granted the gift of birth in these areas with them being guardians or mothers of the children born there. But this Evil God is doing it differently, this difference is like a baby being born from its mother''s womb and a Baby being born from a medical tank artificially, it seems like one of the science fiction thriller stories from my old world. "Nix, how long!?" (I) "I''m ready." (Nix) "Orion, are you ready?" (I) It was a bizarre place to the point of feeling like you were inside an abstract painting about Outer Space. But my vision was taken by two individuals a little away from me, the first individual looked like a woman, but her body was like a broken statue with parts missing, it was possible to see an eye on her chest that clearly didn''t fit in with the rest of the body giving off a sweeter presence than Sacred power. "(That must be the Divinity Fragment... so this woman must be the Evil God.)" (I) I could feel her Aura, it was enough to make me sweat as it was immensely greater than mine, but her presence didn''t seem to match in strength with her Aura. There was a woman next to the Goddess, her size was much smaller, but her body was twisted in many places with chains still crushing most of her body. "You did good pulling me here, kid." (Evil Goddess) ---------------- Pov Elizabeth''s: "Why did you let them do all this in the middle of your competition?" (I) "Because it seemed like fun and her presence forced others to participate." (Hatlas) In the reflection of the glass I saw the God of War, I never liked this idiot, his decisions most of the time cause more problems than they solve and his worshipers are irrational, always resorting to violence. "Did you know about the Spirit Infants?" (I) "No and it is of little importance, this plan will fail, she is not linked to the nature of this universe, she does not carry the ability to transform or create, these Spirits are below normal at best." (Hatlas) This time I was surprised, just like everyone else, I thought this Evil God''s plan was to claim power in an attempt to repair the Fragment of Divinity in his possession. I never thought that she would try to create Spirits on her own, in this case, that doesn''t help at all unless her objective is not to replace the Spirit God but to take for herself half of what already exists. A childish thought to the point that I consider it a joke, but the only possible explanation, it would fail and certainly taking many Spirits down, an elemental catastrophe on a universal level would also be a possibility at the end of this horrible plan. "You know what your brother is going to do, don''t you?" (Hatlas) "Yes, but it''s his decision as are the risks involved." (I) "We don''t have time, Elizabeth." (Hatlas) "This time I was lucky to be him, but he needs to get back to the top together with his sisters, Selene can''t take care of everything." (Hatlas) "World wars have been happening in many worlds in recent centuries as more rifts to the Abyss open randomly, the number of Evil Gods in this time is more than 20 times than any other time period." (Hatlas) "I know what I''m doing..." (I) Chapter 1293: Cap 1291: You are not a Goddess part 4 Chapter 1293: Cap 1291: You are not a Goddess part 4 Pov Makina (Evil Saint): Everything was going as planned, I kept away those who we discovered to be infected by some technique using Blood Power that possibly comes from the young Vampire at the top of our list, we have already listed the entire list of people suspected of being direct enemies and by the movements of this young man, Vampire was clear about his purpose. Vissit for updates Since its first sighting, casualties among our believers, especially those responsible for collecting individuals with high Spiritual power or with Elemental Spirits as Familiars, began to disappear with greater frequency. This was a huge inconvenience as I had to stop supplying spiritual power to the spiritual pool earlier than expected. I was impatient, I waited 98 years for this day, for this one opportunity to grant my Goddess'' wish, all for her to occupy the divine throne she deserves, but if that throne does not exist or if it is already occupied, then I will create a new one just For her, it doesn''t matter how many sacrifices are necessary. I was emotional, in the last days of the tournament, in the final battles the saturation of spiritual power caused by strong emotions was running high in the Colosseum, emotions overflowing from millions of powerful individuals. Emotions come from the Soul, they are natural emanations of all living creatures, breaths of the Soul itself full of Spiritual power. My Goddess told me about the sacred and Divine power being gathered in the Colosseum, but this was a power unsuitable for my Goddess, as well as accusing conflict against a God who is currently stronger than my Goddess, so I followed her will to absorb this power of emotions. Of course, refining this power was not something the Goddess could do with non-believers, so sacrifices were necessary, the most devout Priests personally trained by me were fulfilling their duties using the artifacts cultivated by me for decades to sacrifice 30% of those marked as irrelevant. I spent months collecting information from strong individuals not affiliated with any religion just for this event, I knew that by involving Priests from other religions I would be giving the opportunity for other Gods to come after my Goddess in her moment of weakness. It was during those days that everything was going as the will of the Goddess desired that it happened, I forgot I was unfounded with the power of the Goddess and sent the Infant Spirits born from the spiritual pool to the Coliseum, using these emotions to nurture him into Spirits of the various complete elements. At that moment, from the space rift opened by me to the Coliseum, a metal creature emanating Holy Power appeared, the creature was full of chains of pure materialized energy, wrapping itself around my body as it was suddenly dragged into the crack, on the way I felt the chains sinking into the my body trying to reach the Divine space where the Goddess resided. I tried to resist at the cost of the pain and suffering of having my body destroyed in several places, but nothing worked, I could feel the Goddess struggle emanating her endless will through me finally causing some damage to these horrible currents as well as the flowing space where we were. Those damn chains were suddenly lit up with Runes and I felt my body tearing up even more before I was embraced by the Goddess, the next thing I saw in my injured state was the young Vampire I had heard reports of surrounded by strange creatures, one of those creatures in special was grotesque, matching the nightmarish place where we were. "(Do not fear my child, your Goddess will never abandon you.)" (Goddess) --------------- Pov Zenos: I was facing my Target, I couldn''t help but feel afraid in the face of such a vast Aura, his green eyes were calm and deep to the point of getting lost in them. "Master, don''t lose focus..." (Sakura) "..." (I) "Prepare yourselves." (I) "When I arrived in this universe I was injured and broken to the point of disappearing, Makina saved me and I saved her, my Saint has always been a dear being to me, and the plan was always to make her my daughter after returning to Divinity, but if I wasn''t asked following her wish we could do this." (???/Evil Goddess) The flow of energy disappeared revealing only a woman almost half my size, which means she is a giant, she has white hair, white skin, green eyes, wears a cloak of flower petals with different colors, has 5 pairs of wings multicolored stones on the back and a large crystal ring on the back radiating endless Holy Power. Her body could almost be mistaken for white marble, cracks marked her arms and face, on her chest her petal dress was tattered with a hole filled with punctuated body fragments, and inside her was a multicolored crystal that pulsed like a heart. "From today onwards I accept my Saint as a part of me, no longer two separate entities but a single existence as the Spiritual Goddess Makina!" (Evil Goddess Makina) "You talk big for an Evil Goddess who sacrificed a large number of people in search of power." (Nix) "< Chaos Scale >" (I) The Star Sword was shattered after being squeezed by an absurd amount of elemental power flying towards Nix, I use Holy Power in a technique strengthening the scales on one of my arms as they grow with me placing my arm in front of Nix defending the fragments of sword. My scales were damaged, but my defense held, my eyes never leaving the Evil Goddess who equally looked at me with hatred. "You are not a Goddess, even now your body is as whole as the Divinity Fragment in your chest." (I) "< Sacred Eclipse Magic... >" (I) ------------------- Pov Alice''s: I found myself in the middle of the Coliseum, exactly in the arena where Xagar was fighting, he was now passed out as was Fiona, the two Artifacts now linked not to them but to master Zenos. I look up, the sky was cracked, but those really strong and with the power of the Authority were able to perceive the cracks within the cracks from where a strong collision of Auras was exploding against the Coliseum. But everyone was fine, those in this Colosseum were not normal people who need protection, they are the great forces of the entire universe, and even the weakest of them were strong enough not to be knocked unconscious by that pressure. "< Sacred Eclipse Magic: Harmony of Nature >" (I) Around me a tree grew as if it were made of Starfire containing Star Crystal leaves, using the Sacred Power and all my Elemental Affinities along with his Authority, I create the necessary change for this place. Endless stars began to flow out of the tree around me forming a river of stars that flowed seemingly aimlessly throughout the Colosseum, its current carried all the Infant Spirits together back to the tree where they disappeared before the stars flowed again through the cracks they were. n./01n Wherever the river of stars flowed, the spiritual energy was restored to normal, the cracks closed and the presence of that Evil God dissipated returning this Coliseum to normal. I wasn''t doing this alone, inside the Dungeon Karina was serving as a bridge where this Holy Power flowed to me and the Infant Spirits were being taken to where she was waiting. All this effort put a lot of pressure on both of us, but we received Zenos'' request to keep everything under control in his absence. Chapter 1294: Cap 1292: Fighting an Evil God part 1 Chapter 1294: Cap 1292: Fighting an Evil God part 1 "< Sacred Eclipse Magic: Relic of the 6 Stars >" (I) I had no intention of winning against an Evil God relying on numbers or just my power, especially being unable to use my most powerful Weapon or my Blood Core, so since I received this mission from the God of Spirits I thought a lot about what I should do. Evil Gods receive physical damage nullification and all forms of natural energy cause drastically reduced damage, depending on the Evil God''s natural affinity for some element, this may vary. What causes normal damage to them is the power of Aura and Holy power, the only true weakness of all Evil Gods as well as any Deity below the True Gods is Authority causing great damage to them. I thought a lot about how to face an Evil God using my Authority, which has always been something I used to complement my powers, but this time I needed to use my Authority by refining pure attacks with power capable of using against Deities. The Mother of Truth who controls the Apostles of Truth and the Minor Deities of the Church of Light are all powerful enemies, I needed power beyond anything I had to protect those close to me and so I created a technique that I thought of one night while contemplating the night sky. Now I was using this technique for the first time, as I didn''t know if there would be any repercussions later, so I reserved it for this moment, my Dragon body was burning with Holy power flowing like flames inside my body. A Sacred circle made of my blood and unfounded with my Authority sucks my 6 Familiars. The Evil Goddess would not wait for her enemies to prepare, just as I did not wait for her before throwing my sword, she in turn directed one of her hands towards me forming what looked like a sphere of energy coming towards us. But in this Territory created by Hinata, space curved as if it were a creature moving, making the sphere change direction several times before getting close to me, but before colliding against me, a spout opens in space, swallowing the sphere before closing disappearing. At that moment, one of the eye-shaped Planets explodes in multicolored lights, forming several natural phenomena where it was located, this bought me enough time to use my new technique until the end. I had to balance the Auras and Authority of each of my 6 familiars within the magic circle creating 6 crystal stars forming an Armenian between them all, my own Authority flowed between them all in the order that each one became my Familiar. Each star signifies a branch of my own Authority as well as the power of my Familiars, there was no inconvenience or rejection as these 6 Authorities blended with mine forming a perfect flow cycle. Of course, all this injury was upon me, but it was easier to bear than I initially expected, I also felt embers of the spark of Divinity within me spontaneously join the technique like the final piece of a now complete puzzle. "< Divine Ice Spirit Flow >" (Evil Goddess) "< Divine Wind Spirit Flow >" (Evil Goddess) The Evil Goddess wasn''t so lucky, if she let go of my jaw she would tear off part of it, if she waited too long she would receive my point-blank breathing attack and in her indecision, her fate was sealed. A blast of concentrated energy shot out of my jaws like Star Flames condensed into a beam of energy, it felt like it was spitting out a portion of the night sky. The Goddess would not receive my attack so easily, she tried to distort the space by bending, but in this Territory this was not possible for her, forcing her to tilt her head, leaving only her shoulder to be hit, pulverizing into nothing. At that moment I had managed to break free from his spatial restraints, my claw grabbed his dangling arm, so I pulled trying to rip his arm off, what happened went against what was predicted, his arm came loose before becoming a wriggling tree as it took over in the form of a creature resembling a tiger with a horse''s head made entirely of wood. As the creature came to attack me, I lost sight of the Evil Goddess or so she thought, but this bizarre planetarium with eyes the size of planets, I knew where she was. I hold the damn tree in the form of a creature and throw it towards the Goddess, being weakened I know that it is saving her power. With that we entered a physical battle, I wouldn''t let her use ranged attacks or create more creatures. The Goddess''s body seemed to be made completely of marble only appearing to be a body of flesh on the outside, but her body was very resilient, each of my attacks needed to first pass through a layer of multicolored energy around her body before truly striking her body. Her attacks also landed on my body, but I was able to resist better for some reason. In one of my attacks, I managed to pierce her stomach with my tail, but that only gave her the opportunity to do something I didn''t expect. The Evil God cut off my tail and used the blood on her body, causing the Divinity Fragment in her chest to release a wave of Power, throwing my body away while her body changed. My severed tail withered as her body was growing some Dragon features and becoming larger, yet I could feel the corruption within her, the power, Authorities, and Auras contained in my blood was ravaging her from within. Her body was healed and strengthened, but she put a clock on her own head, I couldn''t help but laugh as I thrust my wings back into a hand-to-hand battle. Perhaps the corruption of my blood inside her was the cause, but she didn''t use long-range attacks again, this made our fight purely physical, each blow destroying the very space that surrounded us. As time went by, I started to see red lines marking its white surface, even its eyes let a tear of blood fall, even so I myself was feeling my body starting to react to the presence of my Family members inside me, it became a battle of resistance at that point. "(I only need 1 chance.)" (I)n--(.(-/-1-)()I./n Chapter 1295: Cap 1293: Fighting an Evil God part 2 Chapter 1295: Cap 1293: Fighting an Evil God part 2 Pov Elizabeth''s: The God of War disappears, leaving only me alone in the private room looking at the Arena, my brother''s Saint gathering all the Spiritual power as well as the Infant Spirits that this Evil God prepared. The entire Sacrifice ritual around the Colosseum was interrupted with the death of those who prepared it, his children were quick to find the source of the ritual minutes after it began. "Did they show up?" (Natasha) "No, but they know, Zenos is still naive." (I) "He has no way of knowing, this isn''t the kind of thing he can understand without experiencing it, he barely meets the requirements of a Demigod." (Natasha) "It doesn''t matter, he has to grow up fast, not only grow his power but also his mind, his enemy types from now on won''t be weaker than a half-broken Evil God." (I) "Oros will probably be the one to appear, his pride must be more than hurt by what happened that day on the Moon of that planet." (I) While talking to you, my sister, I kept looking at the cracks in the sky, the Saint closed many, but more were appearing, this time shock waves containing a large amount of Holy Power or condensed Spiritual Energy, of course none of this reached people since the worshipers of the God of War began to interfere. n-/In "He''s an idiot, all this just to train someone, if he wasn''t our brother but someone random half the people here would be dead and Mutant Spirits would be running amok everywhere." (I) "Hatlas wouldn''t let it get that far, what Zenos did could be considered disrupting his plans, he must be looking for a Hero or perhaps a Champion for himself." (Natasha) "He wouldn''t accept someone who runs away from a difficult situation or fears facing someone stronger..." (Natasha) "He arrived... the idiot descended into a worshipper." (I) Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com "Are you going or am I going?" (Natasha) "Caitlyn is already there, we will continue observing, other Deities of Light should arrive now that they know Zenos'' whereabouts." (I) Oros may be a Divine Beast, but he acquired his own Divinity by becoming a Minor God, all Gods can share what their worshipers know or have witnessed to a certain extent, this is what they call omniscience. Just being seen by worshipers will not be enough to draw attention to you, but when your Sacred Power or Aura is felt so comprehensively it will be like sounding an alarm to the Deities of Light about our position. I knew that in this place it would only be a matter of time for our enemies to notice our presence, the God of Light may be left out since other Gods are present, but his servants will act in his name. "Are they going to attack our base?" (I) Her arrogance and obsession with words was insane, speaking so much nonsense in such a serious and normal way as if it were something obvious, it seems like she lost her sanity searching for something so obsessively that she stopped caring about the path to get there. I wouldn''t waste my time talking to her, because she was clearly not trustworthy, justifying sacrifices and even fusing with her servant are horrible acts, she says they became one, but her Aura didn''t change much after the fusion. An Evil God was once a true God, his mind, Aura and essence are levels above that of a mortal who was not even close to being a Demigod, his mind and Soul were completely consumed by his Goddess in whom he believed. In this last attack, I tried to use my breath now that it was weaker, but it defended itself by creating a cyclone funnel with the space element, when my attack hit it followed the flow of space, turning sideways. "(His blood has almost been completely evaporated, it must end this quickly, Master.)" (Orion) "(Idiot master, stop wasting time and finish her off, it''s not that hard just rip off every damn limb and hit her with your own arms...)" (Layla) "(Master forget about that Fairy and concentrate, she is coming.)" (Nix) "< Spiritual Starfall >" (Evil Goddess) "< Holy Breath of Chaos >" (I) At some point a large multi colored sphere appeared overhead, I could still see space unfolding around it with millions of Runes swimming within the sphere, somehow it created this within a separate area of space hidden from me. I felt my body stuck in place, I wouldn''t be able to escape this thing that was falling at an increasing speed towards me. Without a choice, I concentrated my power in my jaw, releasing a more focused beam of energy, but this was just an act. I could see the Goddess''s body being increasingly consumed by the red crystal and part of her face just exploded while even her Aura was weakening to a great extent. "(Hinata, now!)" (I) "(Yes...)" (Hinata) As soon as the attack was very close, I realized that the sphere obscures the Evil Goddess''s vision, if I couldn''t see or feel her because of the power of this energy sphere, then I had to consider that the same applied to her. At that moment before I was hit, a large eye opened in the space behind me, but what came out of the eye was a large tongue that pulled me in before the eye closed. Soon after, I see teeth in another direction opening and I came out with a great impulse of my wings already with my jaws open, I was already able to move when I left the sphere and as soon as I appeared outside again, I was on the side of the Evil Goddess who trembled. This time I was very close and managed to catch her by surprise. "(This time you don''t escape me!)" (I) Chapter 1296: Cap 1294: The end of an Evil God Chapter 1296: Cap 1294: The end of an Evil God I was tired, not to the point of exhaustion like in many other battles, but I was still tired and more than anything, I was so injured that if I hadn''t been a Demigod I might have been on the verge of death right now. That last attack from this Evil Goddess was devastating, just looking at that large sphere of energy made it obvious that it was not capable of defending that thing, I tried using my Dragon breath attack to test the level of hitting, which also proved useless, So I resorted to the same plan as always, deceiving my opponent. I am different from my sisters, I don''t have Natasha''s combat techniques, I don''t have Elizabeth''s strategies and I don''t have Caitlyn''s power, my sisters surpass me in specializations, even my Familiars and some of my companions surpass me in certain aspects. My greatest strength has always been my versatility and creativity, I have always had a wide variety of powers that gave me immeasurable flexibility to do almost anything, I have always used this advantage to the fullest knowing that I would never be able to go head to head against someone specializing in their own right field. In combat I deceive, manipulate, and deceive my enemies, I make it impossible to predict what I can do and sometimes I myself don''t know what I''m doing, he wasn''t an idiot at that point since I almost killed myself in one of those plans. So when I saw the size of that attack, how it was coming towards me, how it was demanding my body making it almost impossible to move my body, and how it was disrupting my senses due to the high concentration of power, a plan just formed in my mind. I was swallowed into an intervening space before exiting through another passage in the form of gaping teeth appearing at the Evil Goddess''s side faster than she could react. The energy sphere was very close to me, blocking our line of sight of each other and I decided to take a risk, when I appeared next to it I was at maximum forward speed and with my jaws very open. I didn''t give her time to react when my jaws closed ripping off her entire shoulder and part of her chest, her arm just fell off as it was separated from her shoulders by my teeth. As soon as I feel his body break under the force of my teeth, I feel something hit me from the side, breaking my arm and what was left of my ribs as I was thrown away by the force, colliding against something gelatinous that I soon discovered was a colossal eye. But I didn''t waste my time with my strength I chewed the large piece of marble that was part of the Evil Goddess''s body while keeping my eyes on her who flies towards me with columns of metal, earth, and ice even bigger than my body, it was a rain of these things covering the entire sky. "(It burns...)" (I) I chewed and swallowed, but I could feel the pieces of the Goddess struggle inside my mouth causing injuries, but what bothered me more than anything else was the Divinity Fragment that until now had made my tongue melt in the literal sense. What I ripped off the Evil Goddess was the shoulder and the part just on the chest where the Fragment of Divinity was located, this was my target since the beginning of the fight, but I was never able to even touch it until now, she always dodged any attack that was in the direction of the Divinity Fragment and often used it as bait, which sometimes lured me into traps I wouldn''t normally fall into. But this time I used her attack against her and even so I was filled with dread, not from the murderous fury falling upon me from the heavens, but due to the pure concentrated power that this Divinity Fragment seemed to possess. I then acted following my Dragon instincts by starting to tear off pieces of red crystal and pieces of what looked like white marble while devouring the Evil Goddess''s body, this made me lower my guard thinking that I had won after eating half of her body. Soon a completely translucent Goddess appeared made completely of Sacred Power and Spiritual Energy, this time her two claws tried to reach me, one of them entered my chest trying to squeeze my heart while the second tried to enter the Blood Core that is in my chest, but that only made that claw shatter with energy coming from the Sun and Moon which are my Divine Weapon protecting the Blood Core. At that moment the wild temporary explosion of power that I felt was diminishing, but still taking advantage of this moment I transmitted my will to an object that I threw in the middle of the spiritual figure of the Evil Goddess. What had been thrown was a seemingly ordinary doll, but as soon as the spiritual figure of the Evil Goddess was touched, a crack of murderous intent so thick that it was palpable appeared, another spiritual figure appeared, this was the Fallen Saint that I removed from Hell, but his figure had almost no features. She had long black hair and skin that was pale to the point of being light grey, there was nothing on her face, literally nothing, and her body was almost a simple silhouette with almost no features. n/(O11n She seemed to be crawling out of the doll, countless chains binding her spiritual body and yet she crawled out, a smiling mouth with curved teeth appearing out of nowhere on her face as her claws tore through the Evil God''s spiritual body and her teeth were managing to grind the spiritual body while fervently devouring the Evil Goddess. Before it could finish, in fact at the very beginning of this Servant of Hell''s "meal", the chains pulled stronger and stronger until dragging her back to the doll with the addition of dragging the Evil Goddess along leaving just me alone in this bizarre space and half destroyed looking at a seemingly normal doll. I was simply trying to understand, I knew that this Soul of the Fallen Saint was more than grateful to me for taking her out of Hell, she knows that anyone would be better than Hell and I took advantage of that by transmitting my will to the doll for her interfere with the Evil Goddess. I just wanted to buy some time, I never thought that the Evil God would have his Spiritual body destroyed and in the end dragged by the doll before returning to normal. "What a horrible end for a Goddess or at least for someone who was once a Goddess." (I) I stretched out my hand to retrieve the doll that was dragged into my hand as if it was magnetized. I was happy thinking that everything was over and when I deactivated my abilities making the crown explode in the forms of my 6 Familiars, myself leaving my Dragon form and the power of Incarnation of Divinity as well as Hinata deactivating her Territory. But it was then that I started to feel it, my body felt horrible but still bearable, but what I was feeling was something difficult to explain and seemed to get worse every second, I thought it could be because of the fight or in the worst case because of the Fragment of Divinity, so I ran to where my sisters were knowing they would know what to do. "Search and gather the others!" (I) With the death of the Evil Goddess, everything was over, so I made all my Familiars to gather together, I had also seen Alice in the arena looking weak, but I needed to get help for myself now and so I left everything in the hands of my Familiars. Chapter 1297: Cap 1295: First Star of Chaos Chapter 1297: Cap 1295: First Star of Chaos Once my Familiars split up going to every corner of the Colosseum, I used magic to fly to the private room where Elizabeth was. I was feeling great fear and dread, I could feel something strange spreading through my body as if searching for something, it was a desire so primitive that it couldn''t even be called instinctive. My body was in pieces and I knew I had received some damage from Alma, but none of it scared me as much as it does now, this spreading through my body was something unknown to me, I had never felt anything like this before, it wasn''t contaminating my body, it wasn''t interfering with my energy, it wasn''t hurting me, it wasn''t doing anything apparently bad to me from any point of view. What scared me most was not knowing what was happening, being afflicted by something unknown with no apparent effect was the worst possible scenario, it could even be a curse that by the time it showed any effect it would be too late to do anything. But before I got to where I saw Elizabeth looking at me, I was attacked by dozens of individuals, they were attacks focused on the light element. "You''re in the way." (I) "< Eclipse Dragon Robe >" (I) The blood that painted my body becomes alive covering my entire body along with scales of crystallized blood and bones, on my back 2 blood tentacles following my will cut through most of them attacking me directly while the sacred artifacts on the ground also move through my body will attacking those still distant. The sword cuts the head of a Light Mage from behind, while a couple using a Sacred Ritual of Light had their hearts pierced by the spear, dying in each other''s arms. n-)0In The whole time it was flying without stopping for even a second, when I got closer I saw the body of three others next to Elizabeth who had blood on their hands. "What''s going on..." (I) Without saying anything she touches my heart in a literal way, she pierced my chest with one of her fingers touching my heart, then I felt her Authority interfere with the little blood I still have inside my body before she opened her eyes wide. Sigh "I suspected you were going to do something, but I didn''t think it would be this, it''s still a little early, but I think it''s okay." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) "Many Gods and Demigods do this, absorbing compatible Divinity Fragments can be useful to heal a God in an injured or weakened state, it can also be used to generate a descendant or even elevate a Divine Servant into a lesser God." (Elizabeth) "Demigods use Divinity Fragments to increase their Divine Essence or create a Divine Weapon, which Gods can also choose to do." (Elizabeth) "But what is happening to me!?" (I) "I feel something spreading through me to the point of reaching my Soul, my Aura and Authority don''t seem to stop it." (I) "The Divinity Fragment is a piece of a literal God, just as your Blood Core is a part of you, it is like an ethereal organ that stays inside the Soul, I don''t know how you managed to start the assimilation process, but now it is adapting to you and the opposite will soon be true since you seem compatible... hhmmm..." (Elizabeth) "Using your bond with your Familiar was a good move, the Divinity Fragment will be shared, but the weight will be less and there shouldn''t be many problems." (Elizabeth) "Ghuhhh!!!!" (I) The feeling from before is intensifying, I suddenly felt an unbearable strange feeling directly into my soul, it was as if needles were piercing directly into my Soul. "As I said before, the Divinity Fragment may seem like something physical, but it is only Truth in its broken state, you managed to refine it somehow by implementing the essence of our universe." (Elizabeth) "This is normally something only a Deity can do over a long time, a grueling refining cycle that takes a few years and maybe even a few decades." (Elizabeth) "I have several questions, but I''ll wait for you to be more... recovered to talk, for now just try not to lose consciousness, believe me, you don''t want that." (Elizabeth) "!!!!" (I) I was forcing myself to pay attention to my sister''s words, but I didn''t understand half of what she was saying, I couldn''t concentrate and so when she finished speaking, I focused my attention on my Soul. I felt a flow of power traveling from the Family bond I have with Nix, going through my physical body to my Soul, it was intertwining with my soul in a very specific pattern, it was like the mix of a needle doing a tattoo and another needle doing sewing directly on the my soul using pure energy. This was not damage to my Soul, but it was modifying my Soul, no that was not right, it was not modifying, it was marking my Soul and I could feel as if it were me guiding the formation of these marks, as if they represented me. "Don''t fight it, you''re only feeling fear because you''re resisting it, just let it happen naturally." (Elizabeth) "I can feel the Fragment of Divinity imprinting itself on you, will it become just another Divine Spark within you or will it merge with the spark that already exists within you?" (Elizabeth) I was listening to Elizabeth''s voice, but I didn''t understand her words, my mind was busy, the power flowing in me seemed to have started to circulate differently, and my body started to cool down more and more before the Starfire surged inside me like an explosion that I directed upwards. . <[ You have awakened the skills: [ Spiritual Incarnation of Chaos ] [ Chaos Element Spiritual Source ] ]> My whole body was twitching, making my injuries much worse, but my right arm was burning, and marks were appearing from the inside out as reflections of those that appeared in my Soul. I, who was already without the top part of my clothes and in fact was almost naked due to the Starfire, could see the marks that I always had all over my body changing on my right arm, forming new patterns similar to clouds and stars. Sigh "Haaa... haaa... haaa... haaa..." (I) "It looks like you did it, your Aura is stronger and damaged now, congratulations little brother." (Elizabeth) When the marks on my right arm finished forming, I felt everything improve, the feeling of discomfort, the strangeness throughout my body, the fear and dread, all of this disappeared, leaving only relief. "(The first Chaos Star is in place...)" (I) I couldn''t help but smile when I realized that my plan was a success, I could always take the power of those I devoured for myself, now that I''m a Demigod I thought about trying to steal a Divinity Fragment, but it had to be directly from the Evil God, too I didn''t like the idea of sealing an Evil God, leaving an enemy who could come after me later is not a pleasant thought. My plan was to use my ability to try to destroy the Evil God at the same time as acquiring the Divinity Fragment, killing 2 birds with just 1 bite or that''s what I thought, unfortunately I couldn''t destroy the Evil God on my own and I resorted to the power of Santa Caida. "Are you well?" (Elizabeth) "Haaa... haaa... I''m fine... haaa... just give me a few... minutes... haaa... haaa..." (I) "We don''t have time, we have to go now, we have everything ready, I''m just waiting for the others, I''ll explain later." (Elizabeth) "(Something happened...)" (I) ----------------- Pov Caitlyn: I was standing in front of the Adventurer possessed by Oros, he has pink skin with golden hair cut very short, and his leather clothes are more than just reinforced for combat. "(An Adventurer, why did someone like that have to worship an idiot? Is he himself an idiot?)" (I) "You won''t do anything Oros." (I) "Even using this Adventurer''s body you don''t..." (Oros) "..." (Oros) "You may be controlling his body from his Soul, but I can manipulate his brain directly now that there''s no one at home to defend." (I) "The brain controls the body, you can''t fight me with a borrowed body no matter the power." (I) "Now I allow you to speak." (I) I controlled his body so he wouldn''t move or speak, I won''t waste effort on meaningless fights, and I also don''t care about anything as long as he doesn''t move forward. "You are going to die, your younger brother committed many sins, you can''t protect him forever!" (Oros) "I don''t need it, I just give him minimal help like now, in big matters he has his own way of solving things." (I) "(Everyone is here, come back.)" (Elizabeth) "Now it''s time for me to sleep, so try to die so I don''t have to meet you again." (I) Saying this I open a dream gate traveling to the marked person if they are asleep, which in this case was one of the Saints of Zenos who fell unconscious. Chapter 1298: Cap 1296: Source of Power part 1 Chapter 1298: Cap 1296: Source of Power part 1 Pov Oros: When I finally arrived at that Planet I didn''t dare to go down to its surface immediately, even Great Baldr doesn''t want to go against this creature if it''s not necessary. "I ask your permission to descend to its surface." (I) "(I allow...)" "Thanks." (I) After getting their approval I went straight to the city and the Colosseum where I met them through the light worshipers. My Aura swept the entire city, as expected from this place, many places where my Aura cannot go, but for her presences that are not part of his group. When I arrived at the arena it was already empty, so I felt his presence, clearly an invitation that I accepted, the next thing I knew I was in the same Coliseum, but everything was different in a fundamental way and he was looking at me with a barrel of drink at his side. "I Oros, Divine Beast of Light and Lesser God of the Dawn salute the great God of War." (I) "Stop these useless formalities, Oros." (God Hatlas) "Save these things for Baldr or any other God who cares about such things, get to the point of being in my Sacred Grounds." (God Hatlas) "I apologize, I will try to be brief, I am here in search of a Heretic who on several occasions has made attacks against the God of Light." (I) "He directly attacked the Religion, released dangerous creatures sealed with the sacrifice of our Heroes, the corruption of someone being groomed to be a Saint of Light, brought to life atrocities that are against the God of Light, corrupted and kidnapped young people with great potential under the tutelage of our Religion, also injured several Deities of our religion in an act that ended with the loss of a Moon from the Planet that functions as the heart of our Religion." (I) "You talk a lot and all I smell is shit coming out of your words, do you think I don''t know the truth about all these acts of "Heresy" you just claimed Selene''s son committed?" (God Hatlas) "I know what you did to Arash''s daughter, I also know what you did to your son... save your speech full of half truths and outright lies for those who trust you." (God Hatlas) "He''s already left, right?" (I) "Of course it is and I advise you to stop what you are doing, this is not the time for infighting when there are enemies knocking on our door." (God Hatlas) "The very existence of this heretic hurts our Religion, we will not stop until the youngest son of the Blood Goddess is dead." (I) "Then do what you want, but do it away from me, now go away." (Goddess Hatlas) "..." (I) "..." (Vallar) "Actually, you did very well in destroying the Evil Goddess once and for all, but what did you do with the Divinity Fragment..." (Vallar) "There was nothing prohibiting me from keeping the Divinity Fragment, the mission was to end the Evil God and I did that." (I) "The problem isn''t the Divinity Fragment, it''s what you did with it." (Vallar) "You absorbed this by becoming a Spirit Source, just this alone is blowing my head like a sun is exploding." (Vallar) "I don''t even know what to expect from Miss Nix''s situation, I don''t even dare to think about these things, only the God of Spirits can say something about it." (Vallar) "What should he do?" (Alice) "I just hope it doesn''t cause trouble with the Spirit God again." (I) "I don''t think he''ll hate it, but the situation... better leave it for another day, after hearing the God of Spirits'' proclamation" (Vallar) "What did you mean before by Source of Power?" (I) "I think I better leave..." (Vallar) "..." (me/Alice) Saying that Vallar disappeared as quickly as he appeared, it seems like he knows something and doesn''t want to say it, but this Power Source thing... it reminds me of some not very pleasant things about my new abilities, I tried to use my Power Ability identification and it didn''t work, this thing is increasingly useless. I wanted to know more about this and understand this ability, but at that moment my body started to twitch, I felt every muscle in my body vibrating, and my mind was hurting as each of my senses was being overloaded with an excess of new information. I was panicking for a few seconds as I didn''t imagine this could happen again, I thought it was over. "I will take you back to the Temple." (Alice) Alice helped me get to the Communal Temple and throw my body into the pool of blood, but that didn''t stop my suffering, it actually made it worse as the Holy Power made all these sensations even stronger. n.)01In After another 15 minutes, the sensations stopped and I was normal once again, I tried looking at my body and found nothing different. Thinking that it would be better to be completely well once again, I remained for the next few hours immersed in the bottom of the pool of blood nourishing my body to the maximum. It was when I got out of the pool with my body completely healed, I was perfectly recovered, but I could already feel that that suffering was just beginning. Chapter 1299: Cap 1297: Source of Power part 2 Chapter 1299: Cap 1297: Source of Power part 2 A day has passed since Vallar left saying that he would ask the God of Spirits for guidance on what to do. I took advantage of this time to read books about Spirits, everything that happened on this mission made me realize that deeper knowledge was necessary, what encouraged me to do this was precisely the Spiritual Source ability of the Chaos Element. I didn''t know anything about this ability and Nix didn''t know anything, my sisters might know something, but I don''t like to turn to them about everything, so I tried looking for it myself and discovered that there is no mention of Power Sources of any element. I searched the entire library until the moment I had another attack, my entire body was vibrating, this time I could more clearly feel my body moving as if trying to find an ideal position, even my mind was a little confused while trying to coordinate the flow of information that my new perception brought to me. In the end, I had 3 attacks throughout that day, always with the same symptoms but with each attack the symptoms were milder. Today I was checking on Freya, I thought I would spend a few hours alone with her, I was very worried about the state she was in, but that''s when someone came in, someone I recognized. "Good to see you again, Zenos." (Stella) "It''s my pleasure, Stella." (I) "Does Nyx know you''re here?" (I) "Yes, I arrived through the Spiritual Gate, she asked many questions, some of these questions are the same ones that you also seek the answers to." (Stella) "Vallar sent you?" (I) "No, I volunteered, I was lucky to be nearby when Vallar went to meet the Spirit God." (Stella) "I may be relatively young compared to other Spirit Kings, but I possess more knowledge by retaining the memories of my previous life and the life before I was Mother of Nix." (Stella) "You know what I''m going to ask, so let''s leave that question for later, tell me the reason for the God of Spirits'' absence." (I) "For the last 43 years he has been creating something, a Divine Weapon capable of withstanding his full power." (Stella) "I thought all the Gods..." (I) "It may seem like that, but it''s not that simple, compatibility is very important as is the intention which later becomes the will which in the end will become the essence of the Divine Weapon." (Stella) "The Essence of a Divine Weapon is your Soul or if you prefer, your consciousness, you created yours in a rudimentary and primitive way, which does not make your Divine Weapon faulty, but the God of Spirits needs something much more refined and precise like he is one of the Great Gods." (Stella) "I think I understand..." (I) I had noticed the lack of this God a long time ago because I have found many Gods until now, but I didn''t find the God of Spirits either when I saved Nix or when he left me with this last mission. "You don''t need to do anything, you created a new Universal Law, you brought a new essence into existence." (Stella) "What you have been going through, this suffering that Nix told me about, is actually the Chaos Element still synchronizing with the universe, I can feel it and I understand what is happening, so I am explaining that in the next few days, everything will be fine and you may proceed with Nix''s Divine Awakening." (Stella) "Do you know anything about this Divine Awakening or this Chaos Element Spiritual Source ability?" (I) These are my biggest doubts, I didn''t know what to think about these two things, I''m afraid of doing something unknown with Nix and more afraid of a skill that I can''t even understand what it does. "The Source of Power is what it says, you are the source of this element, your Aura spreads this Element wherever you go, the God of Spirits is the Source of Spiritual Energy itself, he also has children who are Minor Gods who are Sources for all the various Spiritual Elements of Nature such as Fire, Wind, Thunder and so on." (Stella) "You and probably Nix will soon be Sources of the Spiritual Element of Chaos, Infant Spirits mature and are born in environments with Spiritual Energy, those who remain close to you for long periods of time will become Spirits of Chaos." (Stella) "..." (I) "You must also know that you will need to do some things, the universe has an eternal balance, something you have broken, so you must acquire the Source of the Ki Element of Chaos and the Source of the Mana Element of Chaos, the trinity of Nature must maintain the balance." (Stella) "Wait! You mean the Universe is at risk because of me?" (I) "No, at least not yet, but if you become a God one day or many Chaos Spirits are created, it will cause a great imbalance in nature, in fact, you will soon feel this imbalance around you on a reduced scale." (Stella) "The Gods will give you an opportunity to fix this in your missions since the alternative would be to kill you." (Stella) "(Why can''t I stay out of trouble for a damn second!?)" (I) "(I was just curious if I could acquire the Divinity Fragments, I wanted to be stronger so I wouldn''t be afraid of the Church of Light anymore!)" (I) "(I never wanted to disrupt the Universal Laws or whatever those damn Divine rules are!)" (I) Sigh "It looks like it''s going to be a difficult time..." (I) I didn''t like knowing this at all, but I can associate it with some things, most of the universe has what is called an energy flow that connects each Galaxy and each Planet made of raw energy from the 3 Energies of Nature, also all Planets have a flow of Energy that is divided into several elements for each of the 3 types of energy in nature, Mana, Ki, and Spiritual Energy. These three energies are in balance because they have the same elements in the 3 variations, but now I have created a new element in just 1 of these energy strands, I understand the logic, but I don''t want to face Evil Gods. "I have the gift of the God of Spirits for having fulfilled your mission so perfectly, take..." (Stella) "Wait! Wait! Wait!" (I) "This is not the kind of thing you give as a gift!!!!" (I) Chapter 1300: Cap 1298: A Divine Gift Chapter 1300: Cap 1298: A Divine Gift Pov Selene (Goddess of Blood): I looked at the wound on my arm that wouldn''t close, the void energy around the wound was taking a long time to be expelled from my body, but I don''t have time for that. "I could use his power..." (I) I extend my other hand and the Black Crown floats there, a Divine Weapon created by him using part of himself as material, I don''t like resorting to the power of the Black Crown, I feel like a child who can''t solve his own problems. "I have to be responsible and stop these childish tantrums... he''s not here anymore and the Black Crown is my power, failing to use part of my power in a time of need is the kind of stubbornness he rightly disapproves of." (I) Sigh The power of Chaos flows from the Black Crown mixing with my Blood Essence that explodes from the wound that seems to bleed, washing this disgusting energy from my body. When the energy is no longer contained in my wounds it expands like a corrosive Mist throughout my Divine Realm trying to destroy everything. "Disappear!" (I) Now outside my body, it is much easier to destroy this, my Divine Power decomposes this destructive energy in an act of creation, I connect particles of blood merge into a single drop of a new lineage. "I''ll save this for now since it''s still incomplete, maybe I can get a Divine Crossbow if I get the right materials..." (I) I suddenly feel a presence and look in a certain direction, a passage has formed in my Divine Realm and I pass through it while guarding the new bloodline. Soon he arrived at the Starfalls, the Divine Kingdom of Dravos where waterfalls of pure spiritual power tumble into a sky of stars below while above there are upside-down islands for each element. Dravos was looking at the starry sky below not far from me, there was a particularly bright star where half of the spiritual energy in liquid form from countless waterfalls gathered, streams of energy from the various elements also flowed from the islands above to this star, there were countless rings spinning around that star in a light show. I approach Dravos, he had his eyes closed like he has in the last decades taking care of what he calls his master work. "What do you want, Dravos?" (I) "Do you know about your youngest son?" (Dravos) "I know that he created a new Spiritual Essence, I have already spoken to Aine to direct him to his daughter." (I) "Are you sure about this? He managed to destroy an Evil God instead of sealing him." (Dravos) "Aline''s daughter must be destroyed, you know that that child has gone mad beyond recovery, that''s what Aine wants too, to see someone she loves in such a state..." (I) "She sought this for herself, her greed and ambition for power led her to this." (Dravos) "Yes, but it doesn''t make it any easier for a Mother." (I) I know well what Zenos has been doing, I have also spoken to the Goddess of Fairies and the God of Beasts to adjust their missions, it is not such an urgent problem, but I prefer to resolve it quickly. "Don''t change the subject, what''s the reason for calling me here?" (I) "I need your son to enter the Spirit World." (Dravos) "No, you have no idea what''s going on..." (I) "I know, but we have no option, to harmonize his Chaos Element with the other Elements he must create a secondary Source in the World of Spirits, I''m sure Aine will ask for the same." (Dravos) "Are you well?" (Vanessa) "I''ll stay... Cough Cough..." (I) Sigh This was another attack, but it was much weaker than before, this time I managed to stand without suffering too much, I was just taken by surprise. "What is Layla...doing?" (I) "She went to the Fairy World, I think she will bring the quest." (Vanessa) "I can already imagine what it must be like." (I) -------------------- 2 days later. I was isolated from others testing the Spiritual Energy of the Chaos Element, I no longer have any attacks and my senses seem more sensitive to Spiritual Energy, thanks to this I can feel a small source inside me, I feel my body absorbing Pure Spiritual Energy and emanating Energy Chaos Spiritual instead, it seems this is what they call a Spiritual Power Source. I also discovered the Characteristics of Chaos Spiritual Energy, it seems to be more focused on Summoning creatures, corruption, transformation, and a hidden characteristic, it is not something I can use, but I feel it is there. "I still don''t know what this is..." (I) It feels like something between an Elemental Incarnation and a Transformation, but I can''t use it, which is one of the things I''ll need to test later. "Master, Miss Nix says she is ready to receive her Chaos Power." (Haku) "I am going." (I) -------------------- Pov Doll (Santa Cada): I couldn''t believe my luck, I never thought that the naive boy would be the one to get me out of that place. A countless number of years with endless torture being both on the side being tortured and on the side of the one doing the torture, was the lightest in these cases. Carnal suffering was something easy, but breaking people''s minds was something that even I couldn''t stand, I may enjoy killing and destroying, remnants of the madness that brought me to Hell, but even at my worst I''m still nothing compared to that place. Breaking someone by making them eat their most loved ones, making them watch those they love in extreme situations, making those most innocent become brutal Demons, she made me do the kind of work that was the most unbearable for me. The Vampire boy on the other hand was different, in his fury he sought my service for eternity, which for me was a sentence of release, no matter what he was going to do to me, be it torture, sexual acts, or beatings, anything would be better of what I was forced to do in that place. But even sealed in the form of a doll, I could still see and hear, which brought me even more happiness with the paradise that was being next to that Vampire, so many people with smiling faces, so many battles to participate in, so many beauties to enjoy, so much food to taste and the landscape is as beautiful as my years as a saint. But this whole paradise was overwhelming, they were things I never imagined having again, things I knew I didn''t deserve, and as I had nothing to do but think about being sealed in this doll, the thought of not deserving to be here appeared like a disease inside me. The acts I committed before going to Hell are unforgivable, but what I did afterwards cannot even be described in words, I found myself entering the madness and insanity that I had in those days, I no longer wished to suffer and at the same time I did not I thought I was worthy of being in a place I could only describe as paradise, this duality was throwing me back and forth between sanity and madness. "(JUST DESTROY ME!!!!!!)" (I) "(hahahahaha... haha hahahahahaha!!!!!)" (I) Chapter 1301: Cap 1299: Nixs Divine Awakening Chapter 1301: Cap 1299: Nix''s Divine Awakening I asked everyone to retreat to the city, even Nix''s subordinate Spirits and my Familiars, only she and I were in the Night Waterfall Temple, the Spiritual Temple that Nix created. This place hasn''t changed at all since Nix evolved, but the amount of Spiritual Energy has increased a lot. "Are you sure you''re ready?" (I) "I have always been ready, master." (Nix) "You have my complete trust and loyalty since the day you freed me, I have never doubted anything that came from you." (Nix) "The one who wasn''t ready was you, doubting your own power and yourself, I saw that and chose to wait until you were ready." (Nix) "It''s hard to trust a power that tortures me several times a day and comes from devouring an Evil God." (I) My whole plan to devour the Evil God and consume the Divinity Fragment was largely a success, but it was very risky, especially for me and that was the reason for moving forward, I wanted more power to face enemies like Ragnar''s Father At the Divine level, I was also curious to know if it was possible to do what I thought and every time I thought about it I became more willing to do it out of pure curiosity. I often ignore the risks if they are directed at me or completely disregard the risks if it is for someone I consider an enemy during my strange experiments, but I would never use an unknown power on those I consider family, I would not put them at risk out of any amount of curiosity. "(I wouldn''t risk you, Nix...)" (I) "Let''s start?" (I) "Yes, but do you know what to do?" (Nix) "Don''t worry, I know what to do." (I) "(I have no idea what I have to do.)" (I) The truth is that I have no idea what I have to do, but I still know what I need to do, one thing I learned since I arrived in this universe, since my first day as a miserable Leech, was to trust my instincts. Updated chapters at novelhall.com My mind may not know something, but my body knows how to move, my consciousness knows how to use my senses, my Soul knows everything there is to know about me, my power is engraved in me, it is part of me and that is why I understand it instinctively. People get carried away by many thoughts and plans, forgetting that everyone has instincts since the beginning of creation, they are the most primitive functions within a creature, helping from the first steps of life to giving impulses in the worst days of life. I myself have a habit of overthinking things, garlic that I have cultivated since my past life and have maintained until now, which is why I often leave aside my instincts by making such a stupid mistake. "(I feel like it shouldn''t be difficult, I even feel calm for some reason.)" (I) "(I see, the Chaos Spiritual Energy leaking from me is being assimilated by the Spiritual Temple of Nix like water falling into a desert.)" (I) "What should I do?" (Nix) "Seat with me." (I) She and I sit facing each other, I extend my hands facing up and she covers them with her own hands with the palms facing down. I start to flow only my Spiritual Energy between our bodies forming a cycle of Spiritual Energy between the two of us, then little by little I add pure powers such as my Aura, my Authority, and finally the Essence of the Spiritual Element of Chaos. Nix''s Aura began to blend with the surroundings and river-like flows of Chaos Spiritual Energy were flowing from her body as it spread throughout the surroundings. I isolated my Aura so as not to interfere with anything other than Nix, that''s when I felt her body going through the same suffering that I felt, her body was contorting as if the muscles, veins, and flesh of their bodies were trying to reorganize themselves. I will try very hard to understand why I was feeling this before, I only realized why at the end, just as the flow of water to each river is different so is everything, each person''s blood flows in very unique ways, and the energy The natural flow of a planet flows in a unique way for each planet and as in all these situations, if a new element interferes with this already established flow it changes. The Chaos Spiritual Essence was one of those elements that was changing the flow within me, it was such a fundamental change that it altered the entire flow of energy in my body and even affected my Soul, it wasn''t something as drastic as what I went through after the first time running away from Oros on that Moon, but I was still a trade changer. Now Nix is going through this change, in her case, I can feel it was much easier, the body of a Spirit is already a construction of materialized energy. I used this moment to more gently guide these changes, it was increasing the duration, but at least Nix wouldn''t suffer too much. The changes continued and some of Nix''s scales were falling off while new ones grew in their place, her eyes were glowing as if lanterns had been lit inside her head. Her Aura that served as a channel between Nix''s body and the Temple of Spirits while the Chaos Spiritual Energy flowed through her was changing, in fact, something was strengthening in her Aura and the same was happening with her Authority as I felt her body move. In fact, her body was breaking down into energy, it was as if her body became shadows filled with stars and energy flows within, her body became pure energy traveling upwards as she grew into her Dragon form. Ding! <[ The Spirit Familiar and Divine Beast Nix (True Night Spiritual Dragon) Became an extension of the [ Chaos Spiritual Essence (Partial) ] and becoming an extension of the [ Chaos Element Spiritual Source ] ]> . . . <[ Nix (True Night Spiritual Dragon) awakened as an Eclipse Titan receiving the title [ Night Titan Dragon ] ]> . . . <[ Nix''s (True Night Spiritual Dragon) Divine Awakening has been completed ]> Nix''s body at the top took on its Dragon form, but soon that form began to change as it acquired a more humanoid silhouette, Star Flames burned around it as scales and armor were formed directly on its body, its Dragon head being changed slightly more delicate features as wings of condensed Chaos Spiritual Energy formed behind her. Her figure inspires grandeur and elegance as well as power, her feminine body in wild grace with her hair swaying like threads of ethereal energy ever fluttering in winds that do not exist. I didn''t feel tired or anything, just relief to see in Nix''s eyes that she was okay, soon her body was swallowed by the shadows taking her to the ground, when she emerged from the Shadows again she was in her usual human form, physically it didn''t look like nothing had changed, but his Aura was much stronger and heavier than before while a gentle Chaos Spiritual Energy flowed from his Aura. n)/O1n "I thank you for the honor of receiving power from her and I vow once again to be by her side for eternity." (Nix) "You don''t need to kneel Nix, for me, you are part of the family and I seek nothing more than to always be by the side of those who are so important to me." (I) Chapter 1302: Cap 1300: He wants his own daughter dead Chapter 1302: Cap 1300: He wants his own daughter dead After Nix''s Divine Awakening, we stood side by side as she attracted all the Infant Spirits we captured from the Colosseum, they were dancing like floating lights above the lake. For the first time I could feel them absorbing the Elemental Spiritual Energy to rebuild their bodies, I never noticed it so deeply, especially the few who were absorbing the Chaos Spiritual Energy I could feel as clearly as if I was sharing my own blood with them. I could feel the Chaos Spiritual Energy move within them imitating parts of the energy flow that Nix and I possess, I could even see silhouettes forming within the spheres of light that are the Infant Spirits. "My connection with those who are absorbing Chaos Spiritual Energy seems to be much deeper." (I) "Me too, but the difference is little in my case since all the Spirits here are like my children." (Nix) I left everything here in Nix''s hands, she said she still had to better harmonize the new element with the others as well as get used to her new power. I left Nix doing her thing while I walked through the forest thinking, Nix''s Divine Awakening turned her into a Titan, it reminded me of Sakura who also became a Titan in the past before I knew anything about Essences or universal laws. With that kind of thinking I was going to meet one of my sisters, I don''t like to turn to them so often, but I don''t know enough about these things to think about it anymore. "I went back!!!" (Layla) "Welcome back, how was it?" (I) "You''re screwed, we''re screwed." (Layla) "But before you go on saying how we''re all jumping into a bottomless hole, I want cake, I also want juice." (Layla) "Can''t you be a little more serious?" (I) "I''m seriously, I''m seriously hungry, hungry for sweets." (Layla) "You little..." (I) Sigh Layla who was supposed to be in the Fairy World came back clinging to my face in her small form, she took longer than I imagined and I was eager to find out about the mission of the Fairy Goddess while all this little Demon wants is to eat. ------------------ n-//.()((-//(1..nVisitt for the latest updates A few hours later I was in the mansion looking at the city in the distance, it was already night and it was possible to see figures of people running while couples watched from high places. Over the years, the hunt for sexual partners at night has become a tradition supported by law, already formed couples also take advantage of the night to watch the hunt for pure fun, there are even bets that always take place managed by Loki who loves these games. This tradition has even become a great show for those who live on other floors of the Dungeon and come every night to participate One of the biggest problems with this show is always the Saints of Fertility and Pleasure who go to extremes. But even with this show playing in front of my eyes, I couldn''t help but think about the meeting we had a few hours ago about the Fairy Goddess'' mission. "I''m not sure if this is a good idea, getting involved in family affairs, especially when that family is made up of Goddesses, is not a good idea under any circumstances." (I) "You think too much, the mission is simple, go in and kill the target, then run away like your life depends on it." (Ibuki) "I''ll think about it tomorrow after I take care of that bottle." (I) "Do you know what you''re going to do?" (Diana) "It''s actually quite simple." (I) -------------------- Pov Silvia''s: I enter the room where tree-shaped Freya was and close the door behind me activating the room''s protective magic before sitting down facing Freya. "You know, everyone is very worried, my Father particularly is in great distress." (I) "The missions of the Gods and renewing the balance of all the elements will keep him busy, but he will not forget you as a weight on his heart." (I) I look at Freya''s face which was now made of wood, I can feel the Natural Energy flowing in a very specific way that I know very well. "Everyone is worried, your daughter refuses to come in here and is destroying the kitchen every time she prepares a meal, even her husband is distressed not knowing what to do since you are not dead or sick." (I) "Being in such an ambiguous state can sometimes be worse than any other situation as people are always left with a ray of hope torturing them." (I) "(I can''t talk to them and I''m grateful my daughter doesn''t come here, it''s hard enough with Zenos, if my girl starts crying my heart might not be able to bear it.)" (Freya) She hasn''t moved, the energy around her hasn''t changed, no fluctuations of Aura or authority, no changes that people can notice, but I know her Soul isn''t here, which doesn''t stop her from perceiving everything around her body. "It''s her decision, but as the only one who knows what''s going on, I needed to tell you." (I) "(I want to be by his side just like the others, I want to be useful, I can''t always accept being the one who receives help.)" (Freya) "He doesn''t see you like that, but you know that...how are my sisters." (I) "(Happy that the Fairies'' mission is about the Daughter of the Fairy Goddess.)" (Freya) "I''m sure so, our sister has been away for a long time, we isolated that world with the help of the Fairies, but we all always hoped to save her." (I) My sisters saw this possibility in Zenos, in fact, they were training him with increasingly greater challenges, from helping with the birth of a World Tree to healing a possessed World Tree. I always knew that the Essence of Chaos in him is something complementary to the Essence of Harmony that all Trees in the World share, it is also the only way to save several of our sisters like this one. "(You should tell him.)" (Freya) "Wouldn''t change anything, he would do it anyway." (I) "Now I have to go before anyone else comes, I don''t like lying." (I) "(Thank you for not telling the others, when it''s over I''ll tell them myself.)" (Freya) I get up waving at the tree that Freya has become before opening the room leaving, meanwhile thinking about how I could help with the next mission. Chapter 1303: Cap 1301: World Quarantine Chapter 1303: Cap 1301: World Quarantine The next day I was with the High Priestess Yara, she had the appearance of a child with pink skin and her hair was short black. The Saint of Life absorbed the former High Priestess who was a fraction of herself, but this one next to me was different, she was born in the same way as the others, and yet she is not just a part of the Saint of Life, she is her daughter with a Soul and minds of their own, but as their body and power are still something inherited by the Saint of Life chose to keep the abbreviation of the Saint''s name as her own name. "As she said before, it shouldn''t be a problem just changing races as long as it doesn''t interfere with their minds and Souls." (Yara) Visitt for the latest updates "I''m sure I won''t do anything to their Souls, I also don''t plan on interfering with their minds, but I''m not sure of the state of their minds." (I) "I''m not sure the extent of what was done to them, I don''t know if the body is being controlled directly or if they are using their brain to control the body." (I) "I was referring to don''t mess with their consciences, don''t try to heal mental traumas regardless of how destroyed their minds are." (Yara) "I don''t plan on something like that, but there is still the possibility of a knock-on effect when they change race." (I) "I understand, but my only concern is you doing something without knowing, just heal them and leave the rest to me." (Yara) "You seem pretty excited for someone who''s going to find a city of meat monsters." (I) "This is the first time using my powers and studies the way I wanted, my mother only cares about the big things and environmental life, but I believe in nurturing life from small things to big things." (Yara) "A single person saved will influence all the people they come into contact with in the future and will be able to sow more life from their lineage." (Yara) "A beautiful speech, but don''t you think it''s a little childish and naive to think like that, the influence can be either good or bad, the person you save could be responsible for taking many lives one day." (I) "You say like my mother, if you stop to think about this kind of thing, I will never save anyone, I can help someone, but I will not dictate what they should or should not do, life is unpredictable and cruel with each person dealing with their existence following your own way, so I''m just going to do what I can and leave the rest up to the people themselves." (Yara) "(She is as carefree as Yaramaki, but she hasn''t seen the cruelty of life for herself, it''s one thing to know it through study and quite another to see it for yourself.)" (I) "(I hope your ideas last the years.)" (I) While talking to this little girl full of ideals, we arrived at the floor of the Dungeon where today''s targets are located. The bottle had already been broken leading the entire city to take a place here, of course, a powerful barrier covered the entire city, this spherical barrier even covers the ground below the city like a spherical barrier. Inside the barrier was a city with blood dripping from the walls and things that looked like veins growing down the walls spreading what looked like flesh across the wall. Various notification bells were popping up in my mind but I ignore them all, they are all the same announcing each individual''s process, I ignore everything and also I will not grant any power beyond what I am already doing. I looked at the city being burned by Starfire, the buildings surrounded by flesh were writhing as they turned to dust, those in better condition it was possible to see the ashes of the incinerated flesh disappearing leaving only the stone walls behind intact. The people were also changing, none of them screamed or should I say they couldn''t scream, Demonic energy was emanating from their burnt bodies while a mist of miasma covered the ground of the entire city. In a few minutes, I saw bodies coming out of the piles of ash, humanoid bodies with horns on their heads, some with wings, some with tails, some with both characteristics, and all of them with different skin colors. "It looks like it''s working." (I) "It''s not even half of them yet." (Yara) "In the next 18 minutes it should be over, this was never a difficult job, it just needed a little effort." (I) ------------------- I left the people of the city in the hands of my 3 Divine Servants, Haku was in charge since she has greater knowledge about whatever the Apostles of Truth were doing in that city, also she is the expert in changes in race or physical modifications after of me. With that, the days passed and discussions about the next mission were becoming more heated, I had a plan that I shared with everyone, but it was just a draft of a plan until I had the information I needed on the location and target. During these days I tried to wake up the Lady of the Grave, Hela''s friend, but I couldn''t, it seems that the imbalance in my body was interfering with some of my powers. I tried to ask my sisters to wake her up, but their power was rejected as a wave of Power drove everyone away from the statue she had become. Not knowing what to do, I put it aside for now, that''s when some guests arrived, they were Space Element Fairy Kings. They are those responsible for our teleportation, thanks to them opening dozens of portals through which my Dimensional Dragon passed, we arrived at our destination in less than 1 day. As we entered the Solar system I saw clouds and clouds of Elemental mana, there were also hundreds of floating islands while in the middle there was a planet surrounded by interconnected Elemental barriers, millions of barriers working together to the point that there were 8 rings around the planet and all these rings were actually magic circles, the Cores of all magic keeping that Planet totally isolated from the rest of the universe. That Planet is isolated to the point of being outside the flow of energy, it was isolated in a Dimensional way with the space on the inside being cut off from the space on the outside, everything was completely isolated as if the entire planet was inside a box sealed. "(I heard they quarantined the planet, but that was way beyond the worst case scenario I thought.)" (I) n-/In "(It looks more like an ultra-special security prison made for super villains in superhero comics, but the size of an entire planet, which is absurd on several levels even by this universe''s standards.)" (I) Chapter 1304: Cap 1302: World taken over by nature Chapter 1304: Cap 1302: World taken over by nature POV ????(???): I knew I was dreaming, it''s always the same thing, the same memories that are the wood I need to keep this fire inside me burning. In those days she was so beautiful, her smile was so loving and kind, she was always very strong going far beyond what was necessary, even now I can''t remember her face without a sweet smile on it. Even at the end, that smile was still there to comfort me on what was the worst day of my life. "(I was supposed to inherit her power, so why?)" (I) When she appeared, all I felt was hate, the same face, and voice, but the smile wasn''t there, someone so violent and volatile using my mother''s face, using the power that should have been mine. My mother was someone who danced with the elements, her every movement made life blossom, her every word was a song carried by the wind, and her presence was the center of everything in my eyes. All I ever wanted was to have the same power as hers, I wanted to be by her side for eternity. When she was gone, life lost its shine, the dance of the elements was dull, and true harmony disappeared simply because it was no longer there. I wanted to inherit her power to continue her legacy, but instead, I had to see a forgery tarnish my mother''s legacy, I couldn''t accept a replacement, I wouldn''t accept her inheriting the power that should have been mine. Her existence was something repugnant, her actions were rude, her intelligence was limited and her personality was as horrible as that of infamous creatures who only know how to fight. I don''t understand how everyone follows her, because no one helped me regain my mother''s power when it should have been mine, they were wrong, everyone was wrong and I will make them see that even if I have to start everything from scratch. "They can''t isolate me forever."?(I) -------------------- Pov Zenos: I was amazed at the security of this place, everything in this place was very exaggerated, if the super confinement of an entire Planet wasn''t enough, separating it from the rest of the universe, there were billions of Fairies around having fun, but I knew they were guards being present to defend that place or fight that prey inside. "Is this the place?"?(I) "Yes, I came here before, we are in the right place."?(Layla) "Why do you look excited?"?(I) "Because the fight against that Evil God of Spirits was incredible, I''m looking forward to destroying..." (Layla) "Why do I still ask..." (I) "(Sir, we have a visitor.)" (Okan) "(Bring them to me.)" (I) Okan is the name of the Dragon of the Dimensional Eclipse where we are, he responds only to me or those linked to me. Layla stands up and returns to her larger form hiding her wings as she walks behind me diving into my shadow like it was a swimming pool. "Sorry about that, Layla is very truthful with her emotions and desires, she also hates being underestimated or denied from doing something."?(I) "I know you don''t want to offend, but she''s the type to attack first and then ask questions."?(I) "I understand, her personality is very similar to my mother''s, I can understand why you made her your Champion."?(Rosane) "I also don''t want you to take me wrong, I respect you for your various achievements, I heard many things from my sister and my mother, but what they asked you to do is above what any Demigod could do, even me as a Minor Goddess I couldn''t go against her."?(Rosane) "So she''s that powerful?"?(I) "In terms of power alone she is a little stronger than me in her current state, if it were in the past her power would be compared to my mother''s."?(Rosane) "But the worst thing is her domination over everything, she controls every living creature on the planet, including the World Tree."?(Rosane) "How does she control everyone?"?(I) "Spores and seeds, she possesses the Divinity of Nature and two Essences, being of Life and of the forest."?(Rosane) "She used her power to control all the plants in this world, then she used her power to make the plants release spores and seeds that invade people''s bodies, thus controlling everyone in a short time."?(Rosane) "The first and second generation of people in this world may have thought it was strange, but as the generations passed they didn''t understand that they were slaves."?(Rosane) "She has entire armies at her disposal as well as a Hero and a Saint, there are also dozens of Divine Beasts."?(Rosane) "..." (I) "You have no chance simply due to lack of power, it wouldn''t even be a fight, just getting to her would be impossible since the planet itself will defend her."?(Rosane) "Nature has taken over the entire planet, even civilization was created in a similar way to the Elves with their culture focused on nature."?(Rosane) "That''s good information, I''m not going to be arrogant and say I''m going to beat her or anything like that."?(I) "But you''re also underestimating me, I never said I would face her head on, I won''t commit suicide against a clearly stronger enemy."?(I) "I won''t stop you, my mother was very clear with her orders, in fact, I need to let you know that she will appear to you sooner or later, so try not to anger her, this situation has been very difficult for her for a long time."?(Rosane) Even without her warning, I would never go against a God for no reason, especially a Goddess who has helped me since my first months of life. n-.01n "I understand, but I would like to know more about the situation in that world, can you tell me in objective detail the main points?"?(I) "I''ll start with how he became a Demon God because of a Queen blinded by her ambition."?(Rosane) There were many things I needed to know and had to investigate, I knew from the beginning that it wouldn''t be an easy fight, I tried to put many plans together in the most flexible way possible, but I still need information to make these sketches and drafts into truly practical plans. Even though I don''t want to fight a Demon God, in some of these planes some degree of combat will be necessary under very specific circumstances. Chapter 1305: Cap 1303: First stage of the Plan Chapter 1305: Cap 1303: First stage of the Plan Pov Woman A: I rise from my bed radiant with another day blessed by the Goddess, as every day I will wake up my children for our daily prayers before my eldest son comes to talk to me. "Mom, when is Dad coming back." (Son) "The hunt this time is a little further away, but it should be back in 2 days." (I) "Will he be safe? He doesn''t know how to cook." (Son) "The death of hunters is very rare with only a few dying each century thanks to the blessings of the Goddess, plus there are plenty of fruits for your Father to eat in the Wild." (I) "Now go train with your brothers, become strong to protect the Goddess." (I) As I see my children walking away, a hint of worry appears in my mind, I had a strange dream that I don''t remember exactly, I only remember the panic I was feeling, but as soon as I woke up I was as happy as I always am, I didn''t really remember what it was like the dream. But for some reason I keep looking at my arms, the green roots stretching down them are as beautiful as ever, but for some reason, it feels uncomfortable today. "(I must just be tired, taking care of a house and 3 children alone is not easy, I also still need to replenish our food supply.)" (I) The rest of the day I was walking through the streets after finishing taking care of the house, I heard some people I knew talking about the same thing and when I stopped at the usual store I heard them once again. "Did you hear the rumors?" (Woman B) "Yes, I couldn''t help but hear it, people just talked about it wherever I went." (I) "Do you think it''s a Mutant monster?" (Woman B) "Maybe it''s nothing." (I) The rumors I heard were very chopped up, but they were just loose things with people talking about strange things. There were many people who saw shadowy figures, there were also people who commented that they felt something touching them and when they turned around they didn''t see anyone, there were even people who commented on strange dreams, one of them seemed panicked talking about stars. "Can you believe I saw a woman screaming about stars?" (I) "Isn''t this just an ancient legend? Are there still crazy people who believe in such things?" (Woman B) "She was very strange, the roots of her body were even twitching all over, she was clearly rejecting the gifts from the Goddess." (I) "Disgusting people, I hope she wakes up to the truth instead of becoming another one of those crazy people who kill themselves trying to uproot the roots that the Goddess blesses us with." (Woman B) "That''s right, did you also hear about the new plants?" (I) Visitt for the latest updates "Yes, they seem to appear at specific times during the day and others during the night." (Woman B) "I saw a flower with 6 silver petals lit by the moon, it was so beautiful, but I felt strange after touching it, I felt sleepy and went to sleep." (I) "I had one today, it also had 6 purple petals, they seemed to be burning, it was so strange that I didn''t go closer." (Woman B) For a few days several strange events have occurred, old stories about ghosts from ancient wars that date back to before the Goddess saved us, these figures are trying to scare us, they also say that these new flowers are bad, but there is no way that something came from nature be harmful, everything that comes from the environment is part of us and a blessing from the Goddess that we must respect. I know my daughter worries about me, she wasn''t the first to come to me, and she won''t be the last either, I''m happy for everyone''s concern, but they need to believe in me more, I''ll never make a plan again that I won''t be able to fulfill. "With my help, Sakura and Layla are managing to create the Eclipse Flowers." (Silvia) "It also appears that Orion and Ragnar are managing to create monsters as planned." (Silvia) "No harm to the cities?" (I) "No, the monsters are being used as bait, Caitlyn is acting on the dreams planting the rumors that seem to be spreading better than planned." (Silvia) "The mark on people is also spreading well, the primary targets have already been captured about 19%." (Silvia) "She must have noticed by now, right?" (I) "Rosane seems to believe not, but I can''t exclude the possibility that she might suspect it." (Silvia) lightsnvl "Even doing it so indirectly, your intervention in the world is accumulating to the point where people will notice within a week without even knowing what''s wrong." (Silvia) "I played with her illusion and she didn''t realize, it seems like she became very comfortable with her situation." (I) "Her plan of hers is absurd and impractical for most people, I don''t blame her for not noticing something like that." (Silvia) n---.(..)-)(.1).n "How contaminated is the curse?" (I) "Around 30%, I believe it will reach 80% in another 4 days, but the rest would take months." (Silvia) "I never expected to get so many, as long as the capitals and adjacent cities are marked as well as capturing the main targets, we can move on to the second stage of the plan." (I) "The Hero and the Saint won''t be possible." (Silvia) "Why that?" (I) "They are not being controlled, they also have a connection to the target." (Silvia) "The kind of connection and power that makes the curse useless also makes it impossible to catch them without drawing her attention." (Silvia) "..." (I) I look at the world below, a planet with an almost perfect balance of colors in proportion, there were two spheres of elemental power being white and the other red, these two stood next to each other representing the light and heat of a true Sun, on the other side was a silver sphere representing the ice element pretending to be the Moon. Inside the quarantine barrier, it is impossible to see the outside, there is only darkness, you cannot see any planet or star, a truly isolated place and that is why she must have made these falsifications to maintain the global ecosystem. But behind the fake ones are my Divine Weapon, my Moon behind the silver sphere, and my purple Sun behind the two spheres pretending to be 2 Suns. "(Keeping this Divine Weapon active is increasingly difficult if it weren''t for this throne...)" (I) This special throne where I am is connected to the outside, with the roots of the World Trees of the Planets of this Solar System, they are the ones that are providing the amount of energy I need to maintain this plan, my Divine Weapons are interfering with perception of the Target, as well as helping with the rest of the plan in other indirect ways. "Warn the others to prepare, in the first move we will go to the second stage of the plan." (I) "Yes." (Silvia) Chapter 1306: Cap 1304: WHOS THERE!? Chapter 1306: Cap 1304: WHO''S THERE!? Pov Orion: "These people are pitiful, every monster they kill they use as an offering to her Goddess full of Faith and love for her." (I) "None of them wonder about the roots in their bodies or how they are able to move their bodies so perfectly." (I) It took me a while to realize since I couldn''t get too close to groups of them and had to capture the targets without being noticed, but these roots are continuously controlling their bodies. In more than one case I see the bodies moving before people notice, there have also been several times where the attack changes direction or momentum during the attack as if it is correcting itself while carrying out the attack. "When you are born with a collar around your neck you consider it normal, as things have always been like this in their minds it has become normal, just as living in a different environment is only strange at first." (Ragnar) "All living creatures adapt to the environment around them, this is a survival instinct, this adaptation is not just physical and can adapt the mind as well." (Ragnar) "Look at this body, even without the roots its hair and eyes are green, its blood has a texture more similar to sap than blood even though it is red." (Ragnar) "I know Master doesn''t want to hurt these people, but what will happen if this Demonic Goddess is defeated? What will happen to the people on this planet?" (I) "I''m not sure, but this and the next generation will be troubled for sure, there may be religious battles between them or something, but that''s not our problem, leave it in the hands of the Gods." (Ragnar) "I understand that, but Master is not one to leave loose ends or let others finish what he started." (I) "..." (Ragnar) "You''re right, but I don''t know what he can do..." (Ragnar) "..." (I) Suddenly we both feel something, then I become particles of blood sinking into the earth while avoiding the roots and Ragnar becomes Demonic Energy invading a nearby tree. The man we had captured was already inside me, stored in a space within the drops of my blood just like many others. "I saw him coming that way." (Man A) "I told you we wouldn''t catch up to him, why don''t you listen?" (Woman A) "But we have to deliver the message..." (Man A) "That message won''t do any good, there are so many creatures that most of the high-ranking hunters haven''t been back to town for days since it started." (Woman A) "Even the youngest or weakest hunters are forming larger and larger groups, just leave the strong alone, I''m sure the Goddess is guiding them to stop the worst monsters and Corrupted." (Woman A) "You must be right..." (Man A) "I know I''m right, now let''s go back, we don''t have time to waste here, we''re swamped with work." (Woman A) "You''re right and not every God can act against her, the Gods are busier than Mortals realize, but my little brother is someone who plays dirty, I make this plan for him is just to prepare the ground before his big move." (I) ------------------ POV ??? (???): This time I was in the garden looking at the sky, the two Suns seem normal, but for some reason, I feel something uncomfortable. "Maybe this body needs more rest..." (I) I''ve been awake for days because of the recent Beast calamities, this is the first case in over 1000 years that I didn''t cause. I usually create plant type monsters or gather the miasma of an area creating a few monsters to help strengthen my army, when they fight on their own it''s much better than having to control them all by dividing my attention. Of course, my goal is not to kill them but to give them challenges that push their strength to the limit, but this time something was out of the ordinary. My first thought was that something was wrong with the barrier around us, but I can feel that it''s as strong and stable as ever, those bastards are still trying to trap me. Then I thought it might be an attack, someone trying to undermine my strength, but I saw nothing but beast-type monsters and a few Undead, that''s when a Blood Elemental appeared wearing crystallized miasma armor, he was seen in a ancient battlefield from before my power spread across this world, a useless war waged for the futile reasons of mortals. I didn''t think that leaving that place aside would bring such a sudden problem, but I used the World Tree to track the miasma of the entire continent and it seems to originate from there, there is no mistake about that. "(Then why do I feel so uncomfortable?)" (I) For the moment I sent my Hero to quickly take care of the Blood Elemental while my Saint continues to study the strange flowers proliferating throughout my world. "These flowers and the monsters appeared at almost the same time, are they connected?" (I) I was trying to think more about it, but this feeling was becoming worse and worse as if there was something poking at me all the time, so I looked up once more. "..." (I) It was almost instinctive, whenever I felt something bothering me I looked up and on every occasion, it was always in the direction of the 2 Suns or the Moon if it was during the night. "Get out of the way, you''re in the way!" (I) I move my hands to the sides as each of the two spheres I created in the heavens separate into different directions. If I couldn''t find what was wrong in a clear sky and my vision always goes to the same place, then my power must have detected something I didn''t yet understand and as if confirming my suspicions, when I moved the two spheres in the sky apart a third revealed itself. It was a sphere of purple fire, unlike my spheres it was much more similar to a real Sun if it weren''t for the strange color, but what irritated me was the sky turning purple while the light falling on me had traces of Holy Power, there was Someone has been deceiving me all this time, probably all these strange events have the same source, which made my fury burn even more at being so underestimated. "WHO''S THERE!!!???" (I) "I''LL DESTROY YOU BECAUSE OF THIS!!!!" (I) Chapter 1307: Cap 1305: Let the game begin! Chapter 1307: Cap 1305: Let the game begin! Pov Hero (Demonic Fairy Goddess): I was kneeling in front of the Goddess, in the last few days I have faced more monsters than any other day in my life. I knew that most monsters are created by the Goddess to train those brave enough to hunt and also to feed the population, I myself was trained that way until I reached the heights I reached today. "My Hero, it seems the cause of these monsters has finally revealed itself, a creature born of blood and malice resulting from the wars before my arrival." (Goddess) "My Goddess, is this creature so strong to affect the entire continent?" (I) "Yes, their power could be comparable to yours or even greater and it''s not just this continent being affected, the whole world is facing these monsters, the number of missing people grows every day, and even an entire city has already disappeared." (Goddess) "If the creature dies, will the monsters stop appearing?" (I) "No, it will take months to purify your taint in this beautiful world and there may be other equally strong monsters that have been lying dormant until now, for now that is my Saint''s belief." (Goddess) lightsnvl "As for me, I feel there may be more to this, but I can''t wait any longer to act." (Goddess) "Don''t worry my Goddess, I will hunt this monster and then I will guard the place until it is purified." (I) "No, after defeating the creature, return here as quickly as possible." (Goddess) Suddenly I feel knowledge flowing into my mind, it has been many years since I last felt this, at that time I had received the honor of being a Hero and the Goddess granted me the lost knowledge about this world before your arrival, the existence of wars, hunger, diseases, monsters and the existence of Gods who did nothing in the face of this despair. Just like in the past, now I received the information of the monster and its surroundings, it seems like it is a creature with no weak points, but there must be a power core at least, there also seem to be a lot of monsters around it, it will be better to take the Hunters stronger ones to take care of these monsters while I take care of the strongest, I will also need Priests since there seems to be a lot of contamination in the surroundings, I can resist because of the Goddess'' power, but the other Hunters may not resist or see their power diminished due to that environment. "My Goddess, I can take 100 High Grade Hunters and 30 High Priests or at least the Saint..." (I) "The Saint stays here, just as you have your tasks, he also has things to do, but you can take the Priests and Hunters you requested." (Goddess) "Thank you, my Goddess, I will leave today." (I) ----------------- As only High Grade hunters are with me, our speed allowed us to travel very quickly, the High Priests luckily were able to accompany us with the help of items and magic, and thanks to this a trip that could have taken 1 week, only took 1 day. Even before arriving at the Valley where the creature was, the environment already showed the degree of advanced contamination by the miasma, even where we were it was still the worst thing I had seen in my entire life to the point of wondering how I was at the center of this contamination. "Sir, perhaps it would be best to rest here before going in." (High Priest A) "You''re right... 30 minutes rest!" (I) We are running non-stop with 1 hour breaks a day, I know this is not enough to make everyone tired, but I can''t deny that it still exhausts them mentally and physically. During this rest I tried to explore the area, this is not my specialty, but I know the basics after so many years of experience as a Hunter. Even so, I continued the fight, after all this time I felt a bit of urgency, I felt that I had to return to the Goddess''s side, it was an increasingly dominant feeling within me, I was also worried about those who followed me here, Where I am I can''t even hear their battle and I can''t see if the fight is over. "Disappear!!!" (I) "< Sacred Collision of Light and Life >" (I) This attack was something that had the most effect, combining all of his weaknesses together in a super concentrated explosion, but it also used up a lot of energy. I had already used this attack 4 times, the first and second time I managed to destroy the creature''s armor revealing its blood body as some type of corrupted water elemental, unfortunately, the armor regenerated and the monster managed to dodge the third attack. The fourth attack once again destroyed the armor while my next more normal attacks were to stop the armor from regenerating again while preparing this even stronger attack. I create two large Aura hands, one with the Light element and the other with the Life element, my Aura was infused with Holy Power while my body was already strengthened to the maximum. I hit both hands with the monster in the middle, creating a zone of destruction between the two hands, tearing the monster''s body as well as the art of my hands into pieces as it could not withstand the recoil of this attack. "I... I... I won..." (I) Sigh "May this... victory be... by my Goddess..." (I) "I told you he would gain, so much power..." (Female Voice A) "..." (I) I suddenly heard voices, but I was soon surprised by an energy surrounding my body healing a part of my injuries as well as regenerating the flesh on my arms that were just bones as well as a burst of energy being pulled into my body replacing more than half of my reserves, I felt much better even though I was far from completely recovered. "In the end, it doesn''t matter if he wins or not." (Female Voice B) "Should we capture him like the others or kill him? After all, he is a Target Hero." (Female Voice C) "..." (I) At first, I thought I was part of the Hunters who decided to approach the creature''s end, I thought that because of the recovery I felt coming from them, but their words shocked me with their meaning. "Who are you!?" (I) "Just kill him, Orion said he''s too fanatical, better finish him off." (Female Voice B) "You guys talk too much, let''s start this battle of Heroes." (Female Voice A) "Let the game begin!!!" (Female Voice A) "A game where the reward is Life itself." (Female Voice A) Chapter 1308: Cap 1306: Youre not going anywhere Chapter 1308: Cap 1306: You''re not going anywhere When it all started I had a simple plan, divide and conquer, I would strip the target of all his protections or at least as many as possible before being discovered. I never intended to carry out this plan perfectly, as a Goddess knew she would find out sooner or later, so I focused on the surroundings of her capital as well as the continent she was on, I used the other continents just as a distraction while concentrating the plan in one place. I stayed as far away from the target as possible, following her steps based on what has already been observed about her personality and the rumors among her people, I knew that any attempt to monitor the target more directly would be noticed in a matter of seconds. But as soon as I saw the two fake Suns move unnaturally, I knew I had been discovered, I stand up as I begin the second and final part of the plan. "NOW!!!" (I) "< Holy Blood Curse: Seal of the Sun and Moon >" (me/Sakura/Silvia) I warned both the World Trees by pumping power to me through the wooden throne I was sitting on and I warned Sakura through our connection using her as the anchor for this technique with Silvia''s help. The power passing through my body was poured in large quantities into the Sun and Moon which are my Divine Weapon making them both shine resonating with the two types of flowers created in the world. The marks on the people we got so far use their blood to seal everyone in the flowers closest to where they are using the power emitted by the Sun and Moon, so Silvia and Sakura collect all these flowers in a garden that is actually a magical item which was created by the Fairies together with the World Trees, a Mobile Garden, a crystal globe with a garden inside using spatial compression. "< Divine Incarnation: 7% >" (I) "< Ruling Territory >" (I) "< Blood Eclipse Star Garden >" (I) I use the power of my Divine Incarnation, which is stronger since I acquired the Spiritual Essence of Chaos, I use it to concentrate all the power of the World Trees passing through me into my Sacred Weapon, forming a Territory on the surface of the world where I drag the Demon God of the Fairies along with me when I was separated from the throne I lost the assistance of the power of the World Trees and that''s why I dragged my Divine Weapon along with me since it would be impossible to continue keeping it affecting the entire planet just as my power. The next thing I know, space breaks around me as I am comfortably pulled into a space full of stars and crystal flowers with a large eclipse in the background. "Who are you!? How dare you try to deceive me!?" (Demonic Fairy Goddess) "I didn''t try to trick you, I managed to trick you." (I) "This is not the power of the Fairies, I don''t know these Essences, but their power seems to be focused on blood and their form is that of a Dragon." (Demonic Fairy Goddess) "Are you on the side of the wild Akatosh or are you just another one of Selene''s children?" (Demonic Fairy Goddess) "(She''s trying to distort the space, wants to run away or try to bring someone in... but that won''t work.)" (I) "What was it? Afraid to introduce yourself... what did you do!?" (Demonic Fairy Goddess) In the middle of her words the space she was distorting shattered as if hitting a solid wall, and her angry expression became even more distorted as a murderous Aura hit me like the sky was falling, luckily I was within my reach Territory and using Divine Incarnation or it could have been bad in many ways for me. She tried to attack me with one of her arms, becoming a tornado full of sharp leaves inside, hitting me, which I managed to dodge, pretending to be easy. "They''re out of your league." (I) "< Imaginary Realm Territory >" (I) "< Eclipse Sacred Boundary >" (I) I held the crystal that Cinthia gave me in my hands when I used my power, Authority, and Paranormal Aura a Territory, thanks to the dimensional seals made from my blood around the mansion, my Territory is sealed as long as it is not broken and because of the crystal In my opinion, the power of Master Zenos'' Authority strengthened my Territory even more. "Who are you? Why are you here? What did you just do? What did you do to my sister? What is your goal!?" (Holy) "I heard you''re a calm and intelligent person, but it seems like you don''t handle surprises well." (I) "Besides, you shouldn''t trust appearances too much." (Cinthia) As Cinthia spoke, the child let go of the Saint''s hand as she smiled walking towards us, her body grew as her appearance and clothes changed, this was Haku pretending to be the Saint''s younger sister who was now sealed together with the other people in the city. "What did they do to my Little Sister!? Where is she!?" (Holy) "She''s safe with the rest of her family, we''re not monsters, are we?" (Haku) "Stop playing around, let''s not do anything to innocent people or we wouldn''t be in this plan, Master Zenos is someone benevolent." (I) "I would appreciate it if you would stop trying to contact your Hero friend or your Goddess, they are busy at the moment." (Cinthia) "He knows, he realized I wasn''t his little sister before he entered the mansion." (Haku) "Unfortunately he underestimated the danger too much, which left him in this state." (Haku) Haku seems to be right, as soon as he was exposed he began to change his expression from surprise and anger to calm. "So you are responsible for the strange flowers, disappearances, and the monsters." (Holy) "It seems like you noticed, the question is when did you realize?" (I) "I''ve always been suspicious of monsters, flowers have the same kind of presence that I feel from you, while the disappearances were something that occurred to me now considering my situation." (Holy) As he spoke he could feel movement beneath his skin, his roots were moving and I know what he wants to do. Just as he expected, the space around him distorts as Holy Power emanates from his body forming leaf-shaped wings on his back, he tries to take advantage of these distortions in space to force his way through with the power of Authority concentrating in the wings. The other two tried to act, but I didn''t do that and stopped them by waving my hand, just as I expected, the roots inside his body come out when wrapping around his body like a full body armor, still, he can''t get through the space that pushes him back causing cracks in the floor. "You''re not going anywhere, Saint." (I) The cracks in the floor below him expand faster and faster across the entire floor before climbing up the walls to the ceiling, the whole place seems to vibrate as these cracks begin to split causing everything to crumble. What was revealed was an ancient city made of Bones and crystals, in the sky in the east there was a Purple sun, on the opposite side there was a broken silver Moon, and high in the sky there was an Eclipse with countless red stars in the sky. "I will not allow you to leave, unfortunately, Master Zenos'' benevolence does not extend to you." (I) Chapter 1309: Cap 1307: A fair fight (3 against 1) Chapter 1309: Cap 1307: A fair fight (3 against 1) Pov Athena''s: The Hero was a perfect idiot, his movements were very direct, and he was efficient, fast, and strong even compared to us, but his movements are the perfect example of people who only fight against low-intelligence monsters. "His movements are worse than some of the kids I''m teaching." (I) "This world is super safe, the work of Hunters should be similar to Adventurers, but clearly there are no monsters in this world other than the ones we created." (Veronica) "But the problem isn''t just that, he simply entered the miasma fog without even trying to understand what it really was." (I) "For the love of the Gods, his attacks have almost no variation and are only hitting because the Monster that Orion created with Ragnar is slower." (I) "If Natasha were here she would have cut off his head just so she wouldn''t see such a display of incompetence." (I) "Stop complaining, you only say that because you bet on the monster with Veronica." (Loki) "I was the only one who chose him..." (I) "Stop your jokes, it looks like he''s already finishing the fight." (Veronica) All the Hunters and High Priests who came with the Hero were captured while he was dealing with this monster, the idiot didn''t even notice that he was affected by Loki''s magic as soon as he entered the mist. The magic was quite simple, the one with the highest bet gets a strength increase while the one with the lowest bet gets an increase in power and healing if he beats the one with the biggest bet. As Loki likes these horrible magics, I expected him to die to the monster, I also suggested that they could attack in the middle of the fight, but Loki was very insistent with his games and I can''t say no to him. "I knew he would win, even though he is incompetent he is still a Hero." (Loki) I left him talking while we got closer to him, the healing was greater than I imagined, I also repaired a good part of his energy reserves, something that Loki didn''t tell us. I just wanted to finish all this, I tried to spend few words, I wanted to see how he would react to our words, for his stupidity was so great that he considered us allies just by listening to our voices. He didn''t even consider that they could be enemies until he looked at the three of us, even now I don''t know how this Goddess continues with this way of training so overprotectively. "Let''s end this pointless drama." (I) I snap my fingers making all the space around us shatter, with that Loki''s magical betting field shatters while maintaining its effects. What appeared around us was a crystal castle in the middle of a calm lake reflecting the stars in the sky along with a very large eclipse. "I''ll take care of him, don''t interfere, and no bets." (Veronica) "Don''t follow our orders..." (I) "Let her go first or not, it will be the same in the end." (Loki) "That listen to him." (Veronica) "< Awakening of the Heroic Dragon >" (Veronica) Veronica''s body grows as it takes on a half-Dragon form, her armor transforms further into her body and adjusts to her while her shield glows with scales growing over it as if it was always there. "Before fighting..." (Saint) "< Blood Divider >" (Cinthia) When the Saint opened his mouth to speak there was already an attack from Cinthia forming an ascending curtain of blood hitting him and flying backwards, that''s when his wings would give extra momentum in the direction in which he flew. "Doesn''t he understand what a Territory is?" (I) "I don''t know, but this is fun." (Haku) I snap my fingers and he flies back from the same place he was flying to, the spatial change was so great that he didn''t even notice that the space around him rotated towards me. "< Fairy Sacred Magic: Nature''s Judgment Titan >" (I) "< Sacred Eclipse Magic: 1000 Cuts >" (I) "< Sacred Eclipse Magic: Flaming Star Spears >" (Haku) lightsnvl "< Blood Blade: Physical Separation >" (Cinthia) As soon as he approaches I see his speed decrease, but seeing that he was coming towards us, he continues on his way with blood dripping from his chest injured by the previous attack. As he activates his magic, the world''s energy passes through my barrier and Territory entering his body before falling to the ground beneath him. Soon a tree grows surrounding him in its trunks as he takes the humanoid form, and colored crystals appear around him, I felt the Aura of the Saint being emitted by the Titan, it seems that he controlled the Titan. But just as it was formed or should I say, before it was fully formed our attacks hit it. Cuts that came falling like rain from the stars in the sky make the wooden and crystal body shatter completely, its fragments floating around trying to rebuild itself. That was when more than 30 Spears formed from Starfire in the surrounding sky and fell like large columns of fire falling onto his body, this made the Titan fragments around the Saint disappear transforming into energy that my body was absorbing. The last attack was from Cinthia, she is as brutal as ever, she rips out the heart which she fuses with her blade which grows into a large blood red blade. It moves with speed, but the blade itself seems alive, moving on its own and cutting cracks in the space it enters, coming out at random points around the Saint who has his entire body covered in cuts at the end, tearing his Armor of Death into pieces golden roots that were his last defense. When he fell to the ground he was already missing his 4 limbs, he was just a motionless stump on the ground with his organs visible. "You never had a chance, you chose the wrong Goddess to serve, your bad luck was to be born into this world without other Gods to light your path." (I) "Goodbye." (I) With my last words, my foot crushes his skull into pieces beneath my foot, as I do so I see Haku pulling Master Zenos'' scale before passing it to Cinthia who uses her own blood to draw magic onto the scale. "< Soul Catcher >" (Cinthia) A monstrous crystal claw appears from Master Zenos''s scale, entering the body on the ground, when it returns, it enters directly into the scale while symbols appear around them along with symbols. "With this, the Soul is sealed." (Haku) "Let''s go to the meeting point." (I) Chapter 1310: Cap 1308: I leave it in your hands Chapter 1310: Cap 1308: I leave it in your hands Pov Alice''s: "This plan is ridiculous." (I) "All his plans are ridiculous." (Karina) "Does he have any idea of the power of something like that?" (I) "So far we haven''t had to fight one of them, so why at the first opportunity..." (I) "Where''s your courage, Alice?" (Karina) "We''re not even in the worst fight." (Karina) "You know we don''t have a chance in this fight." (I) "We''re not here to fight." (Silvia) "Yes, I admit that it is still a dangerous situation, the chance of a fight is greater than I would like, but combat is not our objective." (Magnus) "I know all this, but when was the last time we were lucky enough for everything to go as planned?" (I) "Stop complaining, isn''t that what I''m here for?" (Caitlyn) "If something goes wrong, I''ll take care of it." (Caitlyn) It''s only been a few minutes since we received the notice, we had to rush to drag Silvia along after she finished with the flowers, so we came as quickly as possible. Silvia, Karina, and Magnus are in their Dragon form while I am on Karina''s back, our destination is the World Tree, without the need to hide we went straight to it or as close as we can. Following the plan, the group of 3 Heroes were the only ones who had time to take care of their Target, the group of 3 Divine Servants were close to their Target, and even in improvisation there is no doubt that they will find a way, but only our group had to run all the way here. Running directly towards one of the 2 places we''ve been avoiding the entire time we''ve been here. "She''s there, get ready!" (Karina) Not far away we see the undulating space where there should be a mountain, we were so close that it was possible to see the silhouette of a tree and when it looked like we were going to collide with the mountain we crossed, coming across a tree even bigger than the fake mountain hiding it. The World Tree was formed from countless branches twisting together as they grew, its branches were all different while the leaves were mere mirages made of pure Elemental energy, streams of energy intertwined between the gaps in the branches forming the trunk of the World Tree creating a beautiful light show. But this amazement at this sight was short-lived as space seemed to become heavier around us, also a mist of spores rising from between the surrounding trees. "(Just as he predicted, they are trying to take control of us by missing the best opportunity to attack, they have become too naive or too comfortable with their situations.)" (I) True Dragons cannot be controlled by force, nor does it work with those connected to a Divinity as deeply as me and Karina. This around us was as harmless as dust, but thanks to that we had enough time for Karina to concentrate her power together with me. "< May through us his symbol come down to this earth making us the path for his power to suppress those who have strayed from the path! >" (me/Karina) "< Light Dragon Impact >" (Magnus) "< Space Fold >" (Silvia) ----------------- Pov Caitlyn: I was inside the Starfire scene looking at the World Tree from the base, I could feel it since I got close, but it took me a long time to notice. When I touched the World Tree using my power I was able to break through the protections in his mind, in fact, there wasn''t even a mind where I was and so I began to search his mind. It didn''t take long for me to find a tree full of fallen fruit and no leaves with chains around the trunk as well as the branches, it even looked like a dead tree decorated with chains. "Why did you let it get to this point?" (I) "I couldn''t do anything, her power..." "I''m inside your mind, I know about the queen." (I) "..." "You had the opportunity, the only opportunity that could have saved this world in the past." (I) "I made a bet just like her, but we lost, I''m separated from my body still inside it and she lost everything." "I can''t free you." (I) "I know, but thank you for coming, thanks to this I was able to awaken my conscience, I at least want to see how it all ends." "I''m going to do the same, I still need to stay here holding control of your body, even if the difference is small it will still buy more time." (I) ------------------- Pov Zenos: n-(01n My goal was never to fight head on, even with everything I have I''m managing to dodge his attacks because of his caution rooted within him, avoiding using all his power. But none of that matters, this time I prepared everything before even stepping foot on this planet, if she didn''t accept the plan everything would fall apart, but she was even happy with this plan. "< I am the living incarnation of the one whose wings dance between worlds and whose gestures generate nature itself. >" (Layla) "< May your power fill my body and your will fall upon me bringing your power to this world. >" (Layla) "< The Lady who dances with the elements and the sword that passes through everything, be present and bring balance to the world. >" (Layla) "< Come Fairy Goddess, Aine. >" (Layla) During all this time Layla was praying in a low voice and I had this pathetic fight where she could only defend unilaterally to gain time, just a few seconds or minutes before Layla''s body glowed. Her body grows as her skin darkens and large butterfly wings emerge, the elements that attacked us now stand firmly still as the light around Layla disappears revealing the majestic Fairy Goddess. "I''ll leave her with you." (I) "It''s been some time my Daughter." (Goddess of Fairies) "..." (Demonic Fairy Goddess) Chapter 1311: Cap 1309: Slaughter Fairy part 1 Chapter 1311: Cap 1309: Slaughter Fairy part 1 My plan was never to fight the Demonic Fairy Goddess, I know my strength very well, and even if I had the best of plans, using a surprise attack or super magic wouldn''t help. I found out fighting against that Spiritual Evil God, that is my current level of strength, Evil Gods have at most Divinity Fragments and even that is already dangerous for me, whereas a Demon God is still a complete God like their entire Divinity, without count that your sanity must be in the right place to make rational decisions. Fighting this Demonic Fairy Goddess was impossible for me from the start, I may be slightly crazy after everything I''ve been through since my rebirth, but I still possess enough sanity to not throw myself into the nearest suicide pit. From the beginning I didn''t plan to fight directly, I was just unsure of who to bring to the fight, I was thinking between Layla, Diana, and Ivan who are the 3 Champions of the Gods. Among these 3, Ivan refused to participate, it seems that the Demonic Goddess of Death has strong restrictions while acting, and part of these restrictions passes to her Champion. Diana really wanted to participate, but it seems that God sent her a message forcing her to leave it to Layla. I wanted to avoid Layla as much as possible, the Fairy Goddess clearly has personal issues against our target, besides, she was the one who gave this quest, personal issues always make everything worse and unfortunately, I had no choice this time. When the Goddess took control of Layla''s body, her entire body changed, I didn''t even know if this could still be considered Layla''s body, the pressure being emitted from her was enough to crush me and my Family connection with Layla was blocked. I was worried about her, but there''s no other way, I can only hope that the problem is still something that can be resolved. "You''ve gone further than I can bear to maintain, you''ve even abandoned your name and..." (Goddess Aine) "Shut up, you''re just a counterfeit, an inferior Fairy who tarnishes everything my mother stood for!!"?(Demonic Fairy Goddess) "You think you can fight me using so little of your power!!??"?(Demonic Fairy Goddess) "I know I can''t, my bond with this Champion isn''t strong enough yet."?(Goddess Aine) "(Zenos, I will take care of the Demonic Goddess and I will leave her body with you, she will have no Divinity.)" (Goddess Aine) "(I will also borrow her Divine Weapon, luckily it is compatible with my power.)" (Goddess Aine) "(Will Layla be okay?)" (I) "(Yes, but she can''t resist my power and that''s why I have to resort to her Divine Weapon instead of my own, it adapts better to her power.)" (Goddess Aine) "(I let you use it, but how can you do it when only me...)" (I) Without saying anything else, the Sun and Moon were already floating around the Goddess Aine, her Divinity seemed to be infiltrating my Divine Weapon bathed in Layla''s Aura, this makes the Moon change with a green and blue totality taking over its surface, the Sun also changed from the color purple to something more multicolored. The body parts being destroyed during his growth are taken over by plants, tree bark scales grow into his skin, and roots emerge from his body becoming armor. Her body looked less and less human, her fingers grew a lot with clearly poisoned claws now coming towards me. "Hunger..." (Hinata) Suddenly a silhouette appears around her, it was the adult version of Hinata, then countless slits open full of teeth where red tongues curl around the increasingly grotesque body. "< Familiar Summon: Hinata >" (I) The moment I realized the danger I summoned Hinata to my side almost at the same moment that all the languages ??as well as the surrounding space itself were shattered, the Goddess'' body now barely retains any humanity, her posture was curved and there were blades of bones in your spine. Her arms were hanging and long, but they moved fast, countless red leaves flew around her arms causing that destruction. "Nix!"?(I) n./In "< Fall of the Moon Dragon >" (I) Nix in her Dragon form was above being strengthened by the power of only my Territory when an Illusory moon formed above her, soon the Moon began to fall, shattering as it reassembled into a Dragon of silver stone. The creature didn''t even try to dodge but instead tried to attack to destroy the Moon Dragon, but every time it was torn apart, its body reassembled itself until it hit her, causing an explosion of silver energy. "< Spatial Separation >" (I) I take advantage of this attack to move closer, as soon as the creature appears again its body is covered in injuries, but before it noticed my presence I had already closed my jaw around its head using the power of my Territory together with my power space to rip off its head which it chews like gum before swallowing. When I looked at the rest of the body that was still moving, several blood tentacles and a Star Sword were piercing through the body that was now struggling. But before I could think what to do, Hinata appears next to me and rips off half of this thing''s body in the first bite, the other two exchange a look and throw the rest of the body to her who eats it in two more bites with her eyes shining of happiness. But that wasn''t the end, that was just the body and as if it were a warning about it, an entire mountain breaks the space inches away from me making me fly back almost being hit. Before the space recovered I saw two strong lights colliding causing tremors throughout my Territory. "(Now all that''s left is to wait for the result on that side.)" (me) I could only look at the destruction that was causing the surrounding space itself to collapse and the Chaos of elements colliding knowing that I made the right decision, it seems that the Demonic Fairy Goddess really wasn''t taking it seriously when she attacked me earlier. Chapter 1312: Cap 1310: Slaughter Fairy part 2 Chapter 1312: Cap 1310: Slaughter Fairy part 2 Pov Layla''s: It''s dark, I don''t know where I am or what I''m doing, I feel like someone is hugging me and it doesn''t feel like Master, I still feel good. "(Wake up, you must have gotten used to my presence by now.)" I heard a voice in my head, but I couldn''t recognize it, my mind was confused, I didn''t know what was happening and I felt like something was missing, I started looking for something in the darkness even though I didn''t know what I should look for. Even without understanding things, it was as if I knew where to go, then I came across the entrance to a tunnel that was blocked, this made me anxious when I remembered the Master, it was then that my mind began to clear and the darkness lightened up in my eyes surroundings little by little. "(Don''t worry, your connection with the boy is still there, I just block it temporarily for his sake, my presence would be harmful to him.)" "..." (I) I still didn''t understand whose voice it was, but it was so full of life and energetic, the voice was firm like a mountain, but it was beautiful and soft like the spring breeze. "(You... I know who you are.)" (I) "(The first time calling me may be difficult for you, especially since you have never used my power until now.)" (Goddess Aine) "(But I like how you only rely on your power during combat.)" (Goddess Aine) "(If I use his power I can''t be his strength like others do.)" (I) Now I remembered, the mission to hunt the Demonic Fairy Goddess, the Master''s complicated plan, the initial fight where he bought time while I called the Fairy Goddess into my body to take care of the Target. "(Is the fight over? Have we won?)" (I) I felt like a long time had passed, but the truth is that I had no idea how long I was stuck in this mess, it just now dawned on me that I''m still inside my mind, which could mean I''m unconscious. "(The fight started just a few seconds ago, I''m controlling your body.)" (Goddess Aine) "(Your body doesn''t allow me to use much of my power at the moment, but the boy helped by handing over his Divine Weapon temporarily, this covered the power gap.)" (Goddess Aine) As the surroundings brightened, the Fairy Goddess became visible, her body was so huge that it was still becoming visible as she spoke, I found myself dragged in front of her face and in her eyes was able to see what was happening on the side from the outside like a reflection in a mirror. The point of view was mine or in this case, that of the Goddess Aine, the one who was attacking us from the front must have been the Demonic Goddess of the Fairies, her body did not look like that of a Fairy, it was a half-Human figure with many plant features, I did not I was seeing her wings and she looked more like a Dryad than a Fairy. "(She doesn''t look like a Fairy.)" (I) "(She became very corrupted, that''s why she became a Demon Goddess, at this moment she is more of a Demon than a Fairy, she is not even able to use her Nature Essence as in the past.)" (Goddess Aine) "(Can you beat her?)" (I) "(I can do it if I increase my power, but her body will suffer, so I''m trying with what I can safely use on her body.)" (Goddess Aine) In my Divine Kingdom, all of Nature around us stirs with flowers emerging, opening their petals, then streams of pure energy are sucked into the plants, stealing elemental power from the surroundings, which in this case would be the entire Divine Kingdom with the exception of me. In response to already knowing this movement, she tries to use her Divinity to crush the space around us trying to stop my attack, which she temporarily manages while I already had a second movement ready. My body surrounded by the power of the Divine Weapon, was launching me towards it, its movements are always relying on the power of the elements while not demonstrating much combat technique or combat experience without its elements. "I can''t let you go this time."?(I) "< Divine Multi Elemental Dance of Slaughter >" (I) My body was surrounded by the power of the elements, it becomes light when the power condenses only in my sword, my body moves with the speed, elegance, and cruelty of nature''s eternal change. Every turn of mine bends space, every movement of my leg carries the weight of mountains, every time I stretch my arm the ice and wind cut through everything in its path, every time I turn in one direction the light and darkness mix in explosions without end. The swinging of my sword never ceasing as I twist and turn around her carving her body as I rip her flesh, wood, and power out of her body. Every wound my sword inflicts causes Vitality and Holy Power to leak out like an endless fountain. Thousands of attacks per second from all directions without ever ceasing until all that was left was her head. "< Sacred Vital Explosion >" (Daughter?) Suddenly all the vitality that leaked from her body exploded into an overwhelming power, causing my Divine Realm to crack and opening some gaps in space. She and I were separated once again, her body rebuilding itself as if branches and roots grew from her body replacing the parts I ripped out. This time my swords and their elements collide even more intensely with me and she redirects the attacks towards each other, I continue like this for a while longer until her body begins to fall apart once again, even though I no longer have any contact with her, my sword attacks are not something that can be cured easily. "Now you''re mine!"?(I) "< Divine Magic: Fairy Seal >" (I) Thousands of images of Fairies appear around us, her body in pieces has been attacked once again by these illusory Fairies that gather more and more around her without giving her the opportunity to recover. I couldn''t help but feel this body getting close to her limit, it seems like it managed to resist enough when her power was sealed along with her. Soon the illusory Fairies began to transform into multicolored crystal statues, nothing of her figure remained. "Now you will listen to me you stupid brat!"?(I) With that, I finally have her in my hands, but my connection with my Champion is weakening, it seems that the seal has passed more of my power to her than I would like, she is at her limit. "Follow my instructions from your master, my Champion."?(I) With that I left her body while undoing my Divine Realm, her body sending once again to its original appearance now that my influence has been withdrawn. Chapter 1313: Cap 1311: You didn鈥檛 think it would be so easy... Chapter 1313: Cap 1311: You didnt think it would be so easy... The fight only lasted a short time, which was great for me, it was easier to fight that body turning into a monster than the difficulty of fighting that Evil Goddess earlier. I thought about disposing of the territory that was using up a lot of my Holy Power, but in the end, I decided to wait for Layla and the Fairy Goddess, the Territory she used took part of my own Territory and I was afraid that something wrong would happen if I went undo now. After almost 15 or 20 minutes, Layla came back carrying a strangely carved crystal sphere, saying that the target was sealed inside. With that, the problem should have ended and I canceled my Territory only to encounter something unexpected. "Why does it always have to be so..." (I) The city around the castle was destroyed, and countless mountain-sized Titans made from the condensed power of the elements of this world were surrounding the castle, space itself rippling from the pressure of so many of them gathered in the same place. The presence of the World around us was ominous as they all attacked us at the same time. "Come back!"?(Rosane) Suddenly a hand covered my vision and when I came to I was outside the barrier that surrounds the planet once again, in front of me was the planet that seemed to constantly change the position of the continents. n-(In "You guys really did it, I''m impressed and grateful."?(Rosane) "..." (I)Visitt for the latest updates I turn back to find Rosane looking at us, my Familiars were around me, and Layla was in Sakura''s hands unable to fly or stand on her own. I looked around recognizing that I was inside the Dimensional Dragon once again, its Aura welcoming that we were back. "Where are Hades and the others?"?(Orion) "I don''t see Athena''s group either."?(Ragnar) "Same with Alice and her group, where is everyone?"?(Nix) "Rosane, you brought us here, so are the others okay?"?(I) "Be yourself."?(Rosane) Images appeared around us showing them all around a World Tree, Silvia looked injured and Magnus was lying on the ground unconscious covered in horrible injuries, everyone else looked fine. The World Tree near them was covered in roots and branches that shot out of cracks in the space around them, there were countless Fairies everywhere, a stream of thousands of them flying in all directions. "What is happening?"?(I) "The planet is out of control now that the Demonic Goddess is no longer there, this planet was remodeled over centuries and centuries by her, the environment was altered as well as the life forms that exist there, she was the reason for this and without it the will of the world wants to remake what this world once was."?(Rosane) In the darkness of this night where the silver light of the Moon mixes with the darkness of the night and the blood red of the trees, the Fairy Goddess stands out, her golden hair and eyes seem to illuminate the surroundings while her chocolate skin shines with the light of the moon, her wings seem to be of pure golden energy on her back as if she were the bearer of light. "I like this place, it reminds me of Selene, by the looks of it it must be a Holy Land in her name."?(Goddess Aine) "(I never stopped to think about it, but it makes sense that your child would be born in your Sacred Lands, not that it matters anything at this point.)" (I) "Do you need anything else, Goddess Aine?"?(I) "Yeah, you didn''t think it would be that easy...did you?"?(Goddess Aine) When she said that, she approached me and with one of her fingers lifted my entire body by the chin as if she was lifting a particle of dust, but what bothered me was the smile on her face that reminds me of Layla. "You used me to fight the target of the mission I gave you, did you think you would get away with it when the mission is a way to redeem yourself for the annihilation of a Planet?"?(Goddess of Fairies) "I didn''t destroy the Planet, it becoming part of my Divine Weapon was an accident and you never expected me to fight that Demonic Goddess, the difference in power is so huge that it would be... it would be suicide..." (I) "..." (I) "(Since I didn''t think about it before... I was so focused on solving the mission that I didn''t pay attention to the mission request... the person who gave the orders...)" (I) I suddenly realized something obvious, the difference in power between me and the Demon God was too big for me to stand a chance, no matter what plan or trap I used, it would have been no use against such a huge difference in power. There''s no way Goddess Aine wouldn''t notice this, it was such an obvious thing that I stopped thinking about it and just focused on the solution, Goddess Aine did this on purpose, she wouldn''t count on the power of the other Gods to hunt a Fairy with respect to so complex with her, so she was counting on Layla from the beginning. "Hahahahaha... haha ??hahahaha hahahaha..." (I) "I''m such an idiot, I was dancing on your hand this whole time."?(I) "It looks like your brain still works, I''m amazed I didn''t realize that before."?(Goddess Aine) She releases me with her smile becoming calmer as a couch forms behind her that is comfortable looking at me. "Why tell me now? Why come to me?"?(I) "A lesson to be learned must be explained, you are the type to focus on a goal and go after it, forgetting to look around, just paying attention to what is in the way."?(Goddess Aine) "The kind of enemies you have now are those who have outlived entire civilizations and races, so you shouldn''t be so confident just because you think you have the upper hand or a good plan."?(Goddess Aine) "..." (I) "(Was I getting too cocky?)" (I) "Now that the lesson is over comes the second part of your mission and the reward."?(Goddess Aine) Chapter 1314: Cap 1312: Fairy Goddesss Reward Chapter 1314: Cap 1312: Fairy Goddess''s Reward This time I have no excuses, I have been dancing in the hands of Goddess Aine this whole time without realizing it, the bitter taste of frustration of being used without realizing it is something I will not soon forget. I should have realized, she wasn''t even trying hard to hide her plans, I should have realized as soon as I saw the Mission Target being so much higher in power than me or when Diana wasn''t able to participate due to orders from her God forcing me having to choose Layla. She did it because she trusted that I wouldn''t notice or maybe she hoped that I would notice, I don''t think she answers that question, but it really shows me that the confidence may have gone too far to my head. But I can think about all this later, what I have to do now is try to understand what she was referring to with the second part of the mission, nothing about that was said before. "What do you mean by second part of the mission?" (I) "The first part of the mission was always just a lesson for you like I just said." (Goddess Aine) "Since I made Layla my Champion I''ve been preparing her to do this, I would ask you to do this sooner or later saying even the part about counting on my power, this first part of the mission was never thought of as your redemption over the annihilation of that Planet." (Goddess Aine) n01n "I understand, but from what you say when you call it the second part of the mission, does that mean you still need me here?" (I) "Yes, that was something I decided to try after seeing you turn a Moon and a Planet into your Divine Weapon." (Goddess Aine) "Your chaos power will be the focus of this mission and the reason I need you, what I need is a Spiritual Rebirth for her." (Goddess Aine) "Wait! You want to release her after sealing her? Besides, she''s still alive, isn''t she?" (I) The moment Goddess Aine spoke about Spiritual Rebirth, I understood why she needed my help, I have seen many people who have gone through Spiritual Rebirth, and I caused it myself a few times, I did it to Layla as a way to save her. Because of these past things I understand how my power can help, the Power of Chaos represents change, and that''s why the Awakening Ceremony that I perform always works when there should be risks, it also explains why I have so much control of the changes in these moments. Goddess Aine wants me to help change something about the Demon Goddess, I suspect something specific or maybe even a complete change, something that would be impossible for me to do alone, and with that in mind she should get directly involved in it. "A God is not easy to kill, as you pointed out, she is still alive and just sealed, only the body that took possession as the container was destroyed by you." (Goddess Aine) "Just leaving her like this will be a waste of time and power to maintain the Seal, it would be better to let her work on her own doing something useful, but for this..." (Goddess Aine) "Should her personality be different, should she lose what she has become and become a new Goddess?" (I) "Yes, but to be under my care she must return to being a Fairy Goddess and lose her Demonic power to control others, a corruption of what her power once was." (Goddess Aine) "..." (I) I wasn''t sad or angry about Goddess Aine''s decision, what she''s saying is something I''ve done in the past, that''s how Hela was born from the Soul of Farus. "I understand what you want, but the scale of it is far beyond me." (I) "I know, you''re not ready yet either, but after my reward, you will be." (Goddess Aine) "Reward? What reward?" (I) "You''ll find out, when you wake up my daughter will give it to you." (Goddess Aine) Natasha starts to attack me without saying anything else, one foot was already inches from my face before I could say anything, I jumped back holding her leg with mine in the middle of my somersault, but she used her tail Lara forcing my leg open by letting go. Soon she runs towards me once again, this time her arms were growing in both size and strength as she was transforming into her Dragon form. I didn''t fully understand what the two were talking about, but I have strong suspicions of what it must be, so I''ll play along this time. In Natasha''s next punch, I grabbed her arm and tried to use her own strength to throw her body away, but in mid-air, her tail grabbed my arm and I was the one thrown into the air. Without wasting time, I completely transform into a Dragon, starting to fight seriously, following exactly what I expected, Natasha also completely transforms into her Dragon form. I went outside trying not to fight with full force inside the Dimensional Dragon, a fight on this scale could harm him in some way unnecessarily. Outside, the Fairies were already flying away, opening up a space, probably following Rosane''s orders. My sister and I threw ourselves at each other, as always our fight was brutal and merciless, we used our claws and teeth to tear each other''s flesh, and we also used our strength and ferocity to the maximum. It was no surprise that I was the one accumulating the most injuries, there was no way to beat Natasha in combat. Every blow I landed was returned 3 or 4 times, when I bit his neck ripping off 1/3 of it with my teeth, my heart was pierced by his Tail and one of my wings was cut off by his cards before I was kicked in the stomach making me move away. The fight must have lasted around 1 hour in which I was breathing hard at the end while she was already completely healed. "You use your tail well, but you have to learn to fight in a more coordinated way, your unpredictable strikes are incredible, even I have difficulty with that, but this lack of rhythm also hinders continuous attacks, leaving easy openings to explore." (Natasha) "I''ll keep that in mind." (I) [What she was saying was something I knew, after fighting like this for so long there was no way I couldn''t help but notice one of my biggest flaws. Unfortunately, this was not something easy to put aside, while I was thinking like this waiting for Natasha to heal me with her power, Rosane appears between the two of us, with a wave of her hands my body seemed to no longer feel anything, in fact I couldn''t even feel it or move any part of my body. "I''m sorry about that, but I know it''s going to get a little violent after you receive the gift and I don''t want any Fairies to get hurt because of this." (Rosane) Soon Rosane pulls out what appears to be a multi-pointed crystal, it seems to be exactly what she suspected, but the next thing I see is some kind of Wolf with red fur, so she pushes the crystal into the Wolf''s head. The Wolf started to change and grow, its body was becoming different while a strange presence was being emitted from it. "I know you will accept this, but I don''t have time to waste, I heard from my Mother that using a living creature would be easier on your digestion." (Rosane) The Wolf is still shifting in its hands as it approaches my face, so my jaws open before that Wolf is thrown into my mouth. "I think you better keep an eye on him now." (Rosane) "(So the reward was actually a Divinity Fragment, plus she put it on a monster to make it easier for my skill to work.)" (I) "(Let''s enjoy this meal.)" (I) Ding! Chapter 1315: Cap 1313: Reborn fresh and serene Chapter 1315: Cap 1313: Reborn fresh and serene Pov Natasha''s: It was as I thought it would be, once it entered his mouth it only took a few seconds before it started, Zenos always takes things very lightly. What he is doing may seem the same as what he did previously, but each Fragment of Divinity is unique, they may be Fragments of Essence and Laws from other universes or even from our universe, they may have lesser or greater functions, there may be contradiction with Essences and Laws that already exist in this Universe, may even be completely incompatible with our Universe or the individual trying to take possession of the Fragment of Divinity. Just as I thought, the space has already shattered around him, his body is covered in cracks and I can hear the screams of his Aura with my Authority. "If he wasn''t so worn out and injured it could be worse." (I) "His brother is crazy, for someone who possesses the Power of Chaos, he uses this power far beyond the limits of what is acceptable." (Rosane) "Don''t say that Elizabeth already told me that this was the plan from the beginning, was it her mother who chose the Shard of Divinity?" (Natasha) "Yes, but it wasn''t something that was in her possession, it was exchanged with another God since she didn''t have a suitable one." (Rosane) "Divinity Fragment of Fairy Magic... possesses Laws and Essence that are not compatible with our Universe." (Rosane) "The God of Magic tried to create a Divine Weapon with this Fragment and failed, before that it was in the hands of my mother who tried to create a new sister for us and also failed, that''s why she exchanged the past with the God of Magic and now remade it the exchange once more to give to his Brother." (Rosane) "I don''t understand more than the basics about the Essences, I don''t want to become a Goddess, I''m not hungry for power and Authority, I also don''t have much responsibility." (I) "But I know that giving this to Zenos isn''t just for his sake." (I) "Yes, my mother wants the unique power of this Essence, this will raise the power of all Fairies as well as Spirits." (Rosane) "She wants a new race of Fairies?" (I) "It seems like you don''t know, but the Gods realized that it wasn''t just a new Race of Spirits that Nix created, the God of Spirits realized that when the Source of Chaos Spirits is in place the power of all Spirits will increase with a power he called the Spirit Rune, a power similar to an individual unique ability for each Spirit." (Rosane) "Does your Mother want the same for the Fairies?" (I) From what I know of the Goddess of the Fairies, she is someone who is competitive and does not accept loss very well, not to mention that in these increasingly difficult times increasing the power of all the Fairies is a good thing. "What I hope is that he overcomes this, it is not just the Gods who have realized the ability of the Power of Chaos to transform an Essence from another Universe into something from this Universe." (Rosane) "I know, but news can''t have traveled that fast." (I) "No, your brother is safe for now, but all the Deities have felt the emergence of a new Essence in the universe, this includes the Evil Gods." (Rosane) Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com "..." (I) "No, just hold that stupid sphere while I call out to the Goddess... I''m going to feel horrible after this." (Layla) Layla is now afraid to call the Goddess into her body since she knows the burden of doing so, she was unconscious for more than a day and the pain in her body was so strong that she only managed to recover last night, even now she must feel a little discomfort in the body. "< I am the living incarnation of the one whose wings dance between worlds and whose gestures generate nature itself. >" (Layla) "< May your power fill my body and your will fall upon me bringing your power to this world. >" (Layla) "< The Lady who dances with the elements and the sword that passes through everything, be present and bring balance to the world. >" (Layla) "< Come Fairy Goddess, Aine. >" (Layla) As Layla recited the prayer to the Fairy Goddess, her body began to glow and Mana from various elements began to gather around her, when she reached the last word her body changed once again, Layla''s skin becoming darker and even brighter as his hair, eyes, and wings turn golden. Unlike the previous time where we were in the middle of a combat, I must say that Goddess Aine''s appearance really is spectacular, she exudes elegance and joy, and her eyes are full of life. "It looks like you''re ready, I was right to give the reward before finishing the mission." (Goddess Aine) "Did you need me to have an Essence associated with magic?" (I) "Yes and also associated with the Fairies, what we are going to do now is not the same as an Awakening Ceremony." (Goddess Aine) "What I need from you is the Power of Chaos." (Goddess Aine) "What should I do?" (I) "You don''t need to know in detail, leave everything in my hands, I will guide you and you will feel what you need to do step by step." (Goddess Aine) "In the end, she will be fresh and serene after Spiritual Rebirth." (Goddess Aine) The Goddess was clearly making a big deal out of this, the first thing she did was look at the seal on my hands, but I didn''t know if it was an attempt to save this Demonic Goddess or an attempt to get rid of her more permanently, no I had no way of knowing and I didn''t dare imagine what goes on in the brain of a God. n1n The only thing I''m sure of is that I don''t need to worry, in fact, this plan is excellent for me, I prefer not to have any enemies coming after me, so I like to be sure of their deaths so they don''t come after me later, especially Divine level enemies that I prefer not to have any other than those from the Church of Light. "Let''s start." (Goddess Aine) "< Divine Realm >" (Goddess Aine) The world around me was changing, I felt the power of the Goddess take over the surroundings and it seemed that reality was remaking itself at the will of Goddess Aine, it was not an illusion or something like making the unreal into reality, she was restructuring reality itself. "You need to use your Divine Incarnation, so don''t waste time, my Champion cannot withstand my power for long periods of time." (Goddess Aine) Chapter 1316: Cap 1314: Third daughter of the Goddess of Fairies Chapter 1316: Cap 1314: Third daughter of the Goddess of Fairies Goddess Aine''s Divine Kingdom was grand in its entirety, the only energy that existed here was Mana and its variations of the various different elements, the sky was light green on one side while dark blue on the other side filled with stars of all colors, There was a Sun and a Moon next to each other, dividing the sky equally, on one side it was day and on the other it was night. It was also possible to see countless floating islands in different directions, perhaps the place where we were was one of these floating islands, each island seems to have a different environment from what I could see from the closest ones. n1n "We are not here to admire the view of my Divine Kingdom, beautiful as it is." (Goddess Aine) "Sorry, I was trying to calm down." (I) I was in my Dragon form while with my Divine Incarnation active, the Goddess who is still using Layla''s body was flying close to my face as she seemed to speak proudly of her Divine Realm. "I already told you that the child you carry inside you will be safe, will not be affected by what we are about to do." (Goddess Aine) "I know that, but what worries me is something else... I already have too many children, I don''t want to increase their numbers any more." (I) "Your help is almost none, you will not be the Father of this child, your Chaos Power will only be a means for my Divinity to shape her again." (Goddess Aine) Goddess Aine looked serious every time she talked about this Demonic Goddess, even now she was tightly holding the seal in her hands. "She will not be your daughter, consider it as if we are doing medical treatment or surgery, you are merely the tools while the energy comes from me as I will also be the surgeon." (Goddess Aine) "Okay, what do I have to do..." (I) While she is talking I was trying to feel my Essence of Chaos, since this is what Goddess Aine will need, I can feel it inside me, but I don''t know how to handle it, I can''t even begin to understand the depths of this thing. The Goddess spread out her hands making the Seal sphere float a little further away, then she moved her hands as if she was conducting an orchestra, her movements made the magical power of the surroundings move in different streams, each of them belonging to an element as they formed rings around the sphere of the Demon Goddess Seal. The various pure element magic rings for each element moved in harmony with each other, then these rings formed magic circle diagrams while rotating. "That will be enough." (Goddess Aine) After completing her work which she did casually and easily from what I noticed, the Goddess comes to me rooting around standing above my head resting on one of my horns. "I''m starting, don''t resist my power and you don''t need to fear, try to merge with my power allowing it to flow through your body." (Goddess Aine) As she spoke I felt something flow through me, then I felt as if my brain shut down, for me it was like going into alert mode, only the most primitive functions of me were awake, I instinctively felt that unknown power collide with mine without causing harm. Soon this power that offered more and more familiar with each confrontation no longer seemed so unacceptable, my Aura and Authority moved around it in harmony as it began to circulate through my body. "May this time be a symbol of harmony and wisdom, my sweet child." (Goddess Aine) The Goddess''s power drew a large amount of blood from me which she used to wrap the still burning Essence in her hands, transforming it into a red sphere that she threw into the column of Starfire. I could feel a figure at that moment, the column of Starfire began to rotate like a tornado still stuck in the same place at the same time as its width decreased to half of what it was before as if compressing its power, I could feel that this was caused by the power of this Divine Kingdom. I could feel what was left of the Demon Goddess mixing with the red sphere, they were in harmony and very compatible as streams of power from the Divine Realm itself flowed into the Starfire tornado causing the Goddess''s hair to change in a matter of seconds to the color red. Soon it continued to decrease in size until it formed a sphere of fire, spinning to the point of making this entire Divine Kingdom tremble, then it began to pulsate releasing waves and waves of frightening power from which I was protected by the Goddess Aine. "It''s finally over... my Third daughter was born." (Goddess Aine) As the Goddess spoke, the sphere of flames pulsed faster and faster as it lessened the tremors in the Divine Realm until a multicolored light shone within the sphere that seemed to be made from the night sky itself, then a strong multicolored Light took over everything stealing my vision. This whole process took more than 1 hour, but when the light dimmed all I saw was a green-skinned child with red root markings on his body and butterfly wings that seemed to be made from Starfire. "..." (I) "..." (Goddess Aine) "Goddess..." (I) "Don''t say anything... just don''t say anything, that''s not possible... there''s no way it can be possible..." (Goddess Aine) While it seemed that Goddess Aine and I were having the same thought, I felt her power still within my body being quickly withdrawn, freeing my body from all influence coming from her. But I didn''t have time to think about that now when I focused my attention on what was most important right in front of me. It was a child of apparent 14 or maybe 15 years old, young in appearance but close to becoming an adult, but in his eyes which were one eye gold and the other red, I could see a gleam of confusion as he looked at us. For a few minutes, no one said anything, my attention is that of Goddess Aine was focused on the child, but in the meantime, the child''s eyes were constantly changing with the glow of confusion giving way to many feelings such as joy, love, anger, disappointment and hope in this exact order, his face was so easy to read that it made his emotions obvious in its simplicity. "Mother father..." "!!!!" (I) "You damn bastard..." (Goddess Aine) Chapter 1317: Cap 1315: Father by accident Chapter 1317: Cap 1315: Father by accident I simply didn''t know where I had gone wrong, things weren''t supposed to happen like that, I didn''t even get to do anything and I didn''t dare let my curiosity test things by chance in an irresponsible way as I tend to do more times than I would like to admit, so how did things happen? Did things end like this? In front of me, a beautiful young girl in her teens looking innocently at me with a big smile, and on top of my Dragon head an angry Fairy Goddess whose murderous intent in her eyes was burning a hole in my skull. "(Calm down Zenos, keep a cool head... I wanted to do this when I had more time, but let''s take a look at the notifications I''ve been neglecting.)" (I) "(First of all, I should have a more complete understanding of the situation, only then can I solve this problem or at least understand where I went wrong.)" (I) With that thought in mind, I tried to ignore the small hand gripping my Horn so tightly that it was causing it to crack, so I started with the last Divinity Fragment I received that I hadn''t seen the notifications, as it could be one of those responsible I tried to start at the beginning. Ding! <[ His soul was strengthened by fusing with [ Fairy Magic Essence (Fragment) ] due to High compatibility ]> . . . <[ You used your [ Chaos Essence (Partially Sealed) ] through the [ Chaotic Devourer ] skill to refine [ Fairy Magic Essence (Fragment) ] ]> . . <[ You have succeeded in transforming [ Fairy Magic Essence (Fragment) ] into a new Magic-type essence of this universe by creating [ Penumbra Fairy Magic Essence (Partial) ] ]> . . <[ You Awakened the [ Magic Essence of the Penumbra Fairies (Partial) ] as a [ Demigod ] ]> . . <[ All your Magic-type attributes and abilities are strengthened ]> . . <[ Your Aura has Magical Elements, being able to physically interact with ethereal Magical elements ]> . . <[ Your Authority has been strengthened to Magical elements ]> . . <[ Your Fairy Familiar Layla (Fairy Queen of the Elemental Star) has been implanted with [ Fairy Magic Essence of Penumbra (Partial) ] and must return to the Fairy Temple for the Divine Awakening process ]> . . . <[ You have achieved the [ Fairy Magical Demigod ] Titles ]> . . . <[ You have awakened the skills: ? [ Magic Incarnation of Penumbra ] ? [ Chaos Element Magic Fountain ] ]> The content of these notifications was similar to the previous time just as I thought and once again my skill cannot identify any of these skills or titles, but most importantly for now, it doesn''t seem to be the reason for what is happening now. I figured that wasn''t the problem, but that just left me with the rest of the notifications that just popped up now, which is when the problem came up. Ding! <[ ? ]> . . <[ ]> . . . <[ Her Power [ Essence of Chaos (Partially Sealed) ] was released under the control of Goddess Aine (Goddess of Fairies) with her consent ]> "(If I say it was your fault, then it''s your fault!!!)" (Goddess Aine) "(You''ve been reading my thoughts since when?)" (I) The chapters is up by N0vEI__bin "All the time, so don''t try to find excuses to escape your responsibility!"?(Goddess Aine) "..." (I) "I won''t forget this, we haven''t finished this conversation yet, but I don''t have time anymore!"?(Goddess Aine) Disappearing from my head, the Goddess Aine with more than half her features being similar to Layla''s now, reappeared next to the young Fairy who hugs her lovingly before kissing her forehead with affection, while a light envelops them both leaving only Layla backwards unconscious on the floor. Before I could start moving, the space around us began to crack and fall to pieces in a matter of seconds, when my mind started working again, I was already inside the same floor of the Dungeon as before. I return to my normal form, my body even more rigid than at the beginning and with a heavy mind after everything that happened, then I hold Layla in my hands returning to the city on another floor of the Dungeon. "I have to get a specialist... now!"?(I) ------------------ POV ?????(???): "(Where am...)" (I) I look around seeing strange shapes, I can''t understand where I am, I can''t remember who I am. I look at my hands seeing twisted flesh and above I saw white snakes moving through my arms, I didn''t feel afraid or anything else for the snakes, it was strange how I thought it was normal even though I knew it was strange without remembering anything. Not knowing what I should do I felt something strange, the Snakes were pointing their heads in one direction and so I walked without looking back, my mind was confused, I felt exhausted for no reason and I didn''t feel the need to rest. Every step I took changed my surroundings, changed my point of view, and changed my body, yet my mind was always the same, I couldn''t keep up with what was happening, every step was so slow while bringing so many sudden changes as if my memories were cropped. In the first step, I was in a cave of flesh, the smell of blood permeates everything. In the second step, I was in a city full of stone buildings with flesh spreading across the buildings, there were several flesh creatures around and I realized that I looked like them, we were all running in the same direction when a strange fire lit up that consumed everything just giving me time to take another step changing everything once again. In the third step I was in the middle of a destroyed city, my body looked normal compared to other times, but it was covered in wounds that didn''t bleed, in the surroundings there were many bodies and a flag with a sun drawn on it. "I can''t believe one survived." Suddenly a voice sounds from behind me before my vision changed as if I was falling, but my body was still standing covered in white snakes, and behind me was someone wearing white armor, my body seemed to take a step forward like if it was about to fall changing everything once again. In the fourth step I was walking in a desert land when I came across a black haired child wearing a black veil, I tried to look at my body and all I saw were white snakes huddled together trying to take the shape of a body, each fingertip in my hand was the head of a different serpent. When I looked at the girl again, it was a teenager this time with the exact same characteristics, she was looking at me, I couldn''t see her eyes but I felt her eyes on me, soon after I looked up seeing that there was no sky, just a big eye black man who scared me making me look at the teenager once again who was now different, she was a woman and she was right in front of me. I knew her identity, it was as if every part of me always knew who she was, something so close and yet so far away, someone who was my origin and end. "Don''t use the walk of the dead again, wait in his body until he is able to free you, don''t waste your freedom."?(Death) Everything went dark and only a lying stone statue was seen and I walked towards it feeling peace. ------------------- Pov Goddess Aine (Goddess of Fairies): "I will take revenge on your son!"?(I) "Stop complaining, it was your fault for trying to use your power to save that girl."?(Selene) "Everything was under control... I don''t know how he..." (I) "The power of chaos cannot be controlled, you must have felt it."?(Selene) "I was seeing everything from the beginning, don''t try to fool me."?(Selene) I couldn''t deny what she said, I could feel the power of that Essence, it was different from my Divinity in that it was the complete opposite, all I could do was direct the result of what I wanted, but even so I was sure that keep the boy''s involvement to a minimum. "I''ll clear your doubts, the reason for that happening is simple, she rejected you until the end."?(Selene) "Even Sealed, she is still a Goddess, she saw and heard what you wanted to do, she felt what you were doing."?(Selene) "Hate is something irrational, the darkness within her was cleansed and became potential for her, but what you forgot was her hatred for you, she rejected your power in her until the end, and the potential that her darkness gave made her cling first to Zenos."?(Selene) "That bastard, until the end... why couldn''t she just accept it!"?(I) She always hated me, I knew it the moment I saw her, I had inherited my predecessor''s memories, I felt her feelings of love for her, and yet only contempt waited for me until the end. "Why do all this for her, we both know you could kill her or even keep her sealed forever."?(Selene) "Then why do this for her?"?(Selene) Selene spoke, but she wasn''t looking at me but at the child clinging to my waist, she hasn''t let go of me since I took her out. "She did it out of respect for the previous Fairy Goddess''s love, I understand that now."?(Aurora) "..." (I) This child understands this because she went through the same thing as me, I was able to save her from a path that only harmed her and tarnished the love that my predecessor felt, doing this was the only way to save her. "A mother''s love must be respected and now she is my daughter."?(I) "She''s also my granddaughter, you can call me grandma."?(Selene) "I''m still going after him and stop with these jokes..." (I) "Grandma, I want to know more about my Father."?(Aurora) "Enough, where is my sword, I need to cut something, now!"?(I) Chapter 1318: Cap 1316: Wild Mission Chapter 1318: Cap 1316: Wild Mission When I woke up everything was normal, but my body was still shaking and blood sweat was leaking from my body, it took me a few seconds to calm down. "Damn, that was worse than I expected." (I) "Mental attacks cannot be defended with your body or energy, they are also difficult to feel until it is too late." (Caitlyn) "Are you sure you want to continue this training?" (Caitlyn) "I need to strengthen my mind, let''s continue." (I) "Let''s continue later, you need to rest." (Caitlyn) I may be busy with the mission of the Gods, but I haven''t forgotten the two enemies I''m fighting, the Church of Light is a well-established and ancient religion, fighting them head-on will never happen, I don''t have the strength or numbers for that. All I can do are small fights and cause some problems for them, I prefer to let them continue to be pressured by other religions because of the things they do in secret. My main enemy is actually the Apostles of Truth, they are strong and intelligent, and they are also very bold in all their plans, but they are still within my reach. They don''t have very large numbers and only 1 among them is really worrying, the Mother of Truth with her mental powers and distorted intelligence is the real problem, I can''t predict the things she will do and I only discover her plans when they are already happening, she It is dangerous on many levels. Even now while I''m busy with these missions from the Gods, the Apostles of Truth are acting in some way, I have to prepare to fight against her. Caitlyn is the expert in mental leaders, but her power is far from what it once was, but her new son who was once an Evil God specialized in mental powers will be a good weapon against Yntra next time. "(I need to be mentally strong, my will can help resist, but I need to be able to counterattack.)" (I) ----------------- The next day I was at the lunch table being the last one to leave, everyone is always very busy with something, but I wanted to relax a little more when Diana approached me. She lifted me up and made me sit on her legs while hugging me. "Looks like we''re going to have a guest." (Diana) "Are you talking about someone in your family?" (I) "No, they have their own things to take care of, I''m talking about the Beast God''s messenger." (Diana) "My God warned you about your visit while we were eating, what are you going to do?" (Diana) Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com "The usual, he should bring my mission, I thought it would come faster." (I) The mission that worries me most is that of this God, he is savage and brutal from what Ragnar told me, all the missions have been to solve some kind of complicated problem for the Gods, be it a problem that they cannot solve by themselves or something that they cannot take care of themselves, it is never easy anyway. ------------------ Later that day, as I was heading to the Fairy Temple, the space opened up as a shirtless, muscular Man emerges from within the space rift, he had silver fur and horns coming out of his shoulders, and his head is also not human, prayer to the shrunken head of a Bull. "Well, then you''re the kid that kid chose to follow, I''m Unmar" (Unmar) "But what is the reason for this fight?" (I) "Do you need a reason to fight?" (Unmar) "..." (I) "(I can''t believe they sent the brawny-brain stereotype to me.)" (I) I couldn''t believe I would have to fight him, Ragnar and Layla were ghetto, and when I looked at them I noticed they were shaking still, a brown Aura around them as their bodies shook. "Don''t worry about them, they''re perfectly fine, so stop stalling and attack or I''ll start attacking." (Unmar) I couldn''t go on like this, but I didn''t want to fight a losing battle. "(Let''s test it first, I''ll consider a warm-up to prepare myself mentally.)" (I) I half transformed into a Dragon while keeping my appearance small, then I ran towards him with my maximum speed. As soon as I got close to him I looked like I was going to punch him in the face and when he put one arm in front, I opened my hands grabbing his wrist before throwing a kick that was stopped by the other hand leaving my tail right behind the last kick to arrive to your face where it was interrupted by his tongue. After that the world went dark for a second before lighting up, I was lying on the floor in the middle of a pool of blood. "Is that all you can do?" (Unmar) I don''t bother answering him, what I do is flap my wings pushing forward, I repeat a series of punches and kicks while my tail and wings enter into sequences of blows. Unfortunately, none of my blows landed, the blow was received by his braves and he didn''t move once, his strength, speed, and resistance were as monstrous as I expected, but his technique was very good, and his movements were smooth and fluid never stopping the movement of his arms as his face just smiles at me. At no point did he try to strike, but I soon gave up on that and walked back away as my body grew as it fully assumed my Dragon form. "You''re not bad, but is that it?" (Unmar) "Now I''m serious..." (I) In my Dragon form, I position my stance while rotating my body and waist mid-punch using the strength of my entire body in this strike, strength-increasing Spiritual Runes appear on my arm while Ki is concentrated in the closed fist, using all my body strengthening abilities to the same type and all Unmar did was grab my fist bigger than his entire body, he did it with just one hand. This time he uses the other brave to throw a punch that makes my whole body fly backwards as I return to normal. At that moment everything in the surroundings breaks revealing once again the forest near Fairy Time, we had returned inside the Dungeon, and Unmar was still there looking at me with the same smile. "You did very well, with this strength you are approved." (Unmar) "Now let me explain a few things to you, the Beast God''s mission for you will be to fight savagely." (Unmar) "I think I need more information than just these few words." (I) I was starting to think that he talks like that to irritate people, but I started to realize that all of this was for him to check my strength, it seems like he didn''t think I could complete this mission. "(Wild Mission...)" (I) Chapter 1319: Cap 1317: Divine Tournament Chapter 1319: Cap 1317: Divine Tournament Now we were in the crystal castle on the top floor of the Dungeon, Unmar seems to be friends with Natasha and the two were fighting in the space outside. I was with Elizabeth, it seems that she really put her damn tests aside and has been trying to be of help to make up for what she did before, she is not ashamed to admit her mistakes. "So this has never existed before?"?(I) "At least not in my lifetime."?(Elizabeth) "But there were some similar situations."?(Elizabeth) "Tell me more about it."?(I) After the completely one-sided fight I had with Unmar, he told me more about the mission this time, but the mission was very strange in different ways to the point that I couldn''t understand the Beast God''s thoughts. The mission I received was a competition, a tournament to be more precise, it reminded me of the first mission that had an Evil God as its target. The only difference is that I would have to enter this tournament personally and I cannot use any of my Familiars in battle, that alone puts me at a disadvantage, my fighting style focuses on versatility and that is why I am not a specialist in any area. "Why are these 4 Gods having this tournament? Especially the God of War since his tournament was just now?"?(I) The tournament in that Coliseum was held with the participation of the Religion of the God of War himself, he was also watching the fights since I met him on that occasion. I can''t understand how he goes from one tournament to the next in such a strange way, for a battle addict there must be a break. "From the looks of it, the previous tournament could be a way to recruit suitable people for this tournament, that explains why you''re doing it out of turn."?(Elizabeth) "But what is the reason for this tournament?"?(I) "You said it yourself before, it was the bet between them."?(Elizabeth) I''ve been talking about the same thing with Elizabeth for several minutes now, she has met and interacted with many Gods for millennia, and she knows how they act and think to a certain extent. Unmar told me that the 4 Gods have a bet, no one knows what that bet is, not even he knows about it, which made me doubt the real reasons for this tournament, especially when I listened to those who are going to participate. "This is crazy, what kind of place could resist this kind of combat?"?(I) "A Tournament only for Deities and those linked to Deities."?(I) "Don''t waste your time thinking about it, you just have to participate, don''t you?"?(Elizabeth) "Actually the mission is to be in the top 5."?(I) "That''s impossible, for that you would have to face enemies of similar strength to that Demonic Goddess of the Fairies, you wouldn''t be able to do so even using your Familiars, let alone fighting alone."?(Elizabeth) "..." (I) The situation only gets worse and worse for me, after everything that has happened so far I know that my power is only considered average among Demigods and that''s considering the use of my Divine Weapon, something I can''t use in a place like this since I''m hiding Niryna. "I can''t carry out this mission, this is insane!"?(I) "We still have time, you can get stronger by then."?(Elizabeth) "You must be crazy, there''s no way I..." (I) "The Gods who are participating are the God of Beasts, the God of War, the Demon God of Sin, and the Demon God of Evil."?(Unmar) "Is this serious? You guys called the Evil Demon God!?"?(I) "Don''t ask me anything, I know as much as you, as far as I know, is that they bet something and the prize for the winner of the tournament is a Divinity Fragment, the winner can choose 1 among the 5 Divinity Fragments that will be there."?(Unmar) "Can be..." (I) In the middle of my sentence, I swing my elbow towards his face, but he didn''t even move, the difference in strength is simply too great now, I can''t kick his band like I used to before. "Did you need that?"?(Unmar) "Old habits, now let''s start something while my arm finishes healing."?(I) ---------------- Pov Yntra (Mother of Truth): "This body is more stable, merging the brain cells with all the body cells was more complicated than I imagined."?(I) I look at my arm noticing some tumors forming before healing, I also feel some stiff joints, I focus on my hand making the flesh twitch as it hardens forming a large red and white blade. "It''s going to take some tweaking, but it''s going well."?(I) With that I walked outside looking at the planet below, my main body was still in the process of transformation, I would like to increase the evolution of the creatures in this world, but nothing seems to solve this problem. "Mom, everything is ready, when are we leaving?"?(Haku) "Now, I need that in my hands, we can''t count on Greed, he already tried to betray us once."?(I) "From the information we''ve gathered these are Dragons protected by the Church of Light, they haven''t been a problem so far."?(Haku) "It doesn''t matter, the flesh and blood of a True Dragon is very interesting, we need something like that for the final part of the main body''s transformation."?(I) ----------------- Pov Zenos: I was with Layla in the garden of the mansion inside the Dungeon, I already performed her Divine Awakening, it was almost the same as when I performed Nix''s, we were actually seeing the changes happening in the Temple of the Fairies when suddenly flowers grew forming an arch of flowers from where a flash of light flies towards me. She was just a young girl who I had only met once, but I couldn''t forget. "Aurora, what are you doing here?"?(I) "I came to spend a few days here, my mother said that you were guilty and that''s why you should do something useful."?(Aurora) "(I became Goddess'' caregiver?)" (I) "(I may look young, but I have all the memories of my predecessor, there''s no need to treat me like a mortal child.)" (Aurora) "Alright, let''s start with some rules, like not getting into other people''s minds unless they are enemies."?(I) "That won''t be a problem."?(Aurora) Chapter 1320: Cap 1318: World of Blood Chapter 1320: Cap 1318: World of Blood This content originates from n0v3lbin I was walking on a planet abandoned by the Gods, a world where the color red was predominant in almost everything, everywhere I looked there was something red, even the sky was red with the clouds being black. Strangely there was miasma everywhere, but there were no monsters, in fact, there were no living creatures, the only life forms seem to be plants. When I was coming here, my mother said not to bring anyone with me and now I understand why. I could feel something trying to interfere with the blood inside me, my Aura and Authority were unable to do anything against this influence, but the Essence moved on its own with its power protecting my body expelling this influence from within me. "Let''s just get this over with, the problem will be finding the target." (I) It took me days to find the right direction, I did this trying to follow the source of this external influence, I needed to travel for a few hours until I reached an Abyss in an isolated area of that world. The Abyss was surrounded by blood trees hundreds of meters high, and rivers of blood form waterfalls in that Abyss, waterfalls that flow in reverse going up instead of going down. After spending a few minutes on the edge of the Abyss trying to probe the bottom, I jumped, reaching the bottom after almost 4 minutes of falling. "This place is bigger than I thought." (I) "That''s because this space has been distorted by her long presence, it''s not that different from a Divine Realm." (Goddess Selene) "You are not my mother." (I) "Of course not, at least, I''m not completely her, I''m just a part of her created as a Divine Servant to help with everything I have." (Goddess Selene?) "What do I call you? What''s your name?" (I) "Just call me Servant of Blood, I don''t have a name and I don''t need it, my only function of existing is to serve my Goddess." (Servant of Blood) Ne/w novel chapters are published at novelhall.com In her appearance, she is very reminiscent of the Blood Goddess, but her presence is very different, her eyes, behavior, and way of speaking are very different to the point of immediately noticing the difference. She points me in a direction that I followed without difficulty, the smell of blood was getting deeper when we reached the center of the Abyss, there was a large lake of blood where a person was chained in the center. "The prisoner is still sealed, the Goddess has already told you, but there will only be one chance, you must devour her while still sealed." (Servant of Blood) "I know." (I) "Okay, I can imagine why." (I) It seems like my mother wants me to figure these things out for myself or leave them alone completely, I have a lot of questions about this prisoner, but it doesn''t seem like they''re going to tell me anything, I also don''t really care as long as it''s not harmful to me. "Let''s start." (I) Her Aura was very heavy and in a storm of purely negative emotions, it crushed everything in the surroundings since I entered this Abyss and it seems to be worse when I enter the lake. "(Better to go all out from the beginning.)" (I) "< Divine Incarnation: 15% >" (I) My whole body grows as I change between my Dragon form and something more Divine, the power in my body was much greater than the previous times, even when I tested it in the Dungeon I didn''t feel as comfortable with this increase in power as I feel now, I can also feel the Essence of Chaos more active within me. It seems like it knows what I want to do and is getting ready or maybe it senses the danger I''m putting myself in, I can''t rule out it being the survival instinct trying to keep me alive. With my increase in size, the distance seemed smaller when my point of view became higher, so two steps will be enough to get to it and decided as I was, I took the first step and to my expectations, nothing happened. I didn''t lessen my caution when he took the second step, but once again nothing happened, I tried to control my size a little so when it was just a few hundred meters away I lowered my head taking my whole body along with the currents around it within my mouth. Every bite I felt something cutting into my teeth and mouth from the inside, it was slow and shallow at first but I was gaining strength and speed, luckily my teeth did the work as I felt just a shapeless mass crunching inside my mouth before I swallowed. It was at that moment that I realized something, there was no consciousness or Soul inside this body, it was literally an empty shell. I didn''t feel anything other than my body and Aura fighting to free itself, even after becoming a mass of crushed flesh it''s still struggling, none of this makes sense. Ding! The moment I felt I had devoured it, it was at that moment that I expected a large amount of pain like the previous times that the emotions trapped inside came, a frightening amount of negative emotions, if it had been in the past it could have been affective to destroy my mind and affect my Soul, but now it does nothing against me, compared to the Cursed Ocean of Hell this amount of negative emotions are nothing. I learned that these emotions were not to be contained, suppressed, or ignored, I just let these emotions flow through me while my Authority devoured these emotions into something else. The Power of Chaos can transform something and I use this to transform these negative emotions into miasma which was immediately sucked away by my Divine Weapon, the Cursed Sun just sucked this miasma as if it was a person full of hunger. When all the negative emotions were gone, that''s when I realized how strange this woman is, her body was empty of everything, and there were no traces of anything about her, no Soul, no mind, and no Authority. But I didn''t have time to think about these things when she simply fell into the lake that started behaving strangely as it flowed around me. Chapter 1321: Cap 1319: Blood Transmutation Chapter 1321: Cap 1319: Blood Transmutation The lake of blood had more pressure on me than if I had been at the bottom of the ocean, this blood was like liquid metal and as I continued falling to the bottom, the blood around me flowing in circles around me her presence seemed to stir in the water lake now that his body is gone. Her Aura was condensing inside the lake, but she wasn''t doing much against me since it was just the presence and Aura, there was no Power or energy behind that blood, so I wasn''t in any danger. The same cannot be said for the internal side of my body, the blood in my body seemed to come to life as it churned within me destroying my organs, and the presence of every bloodline I had ever devoured were surging and attacking my Aura, the level of pain was high and I still managed to resist. But things changed when my blood seemed to evaporate before becoming pure blood energy sinking inside me to the point where it reached my Soul. This was enough to awaken fear in me, and even so, it didn''t last long for my happiness, the Essence of Chaos that was already more active devoured all the Blood energy as well as the Aura of countless bloodlines like a hungry beast. But this only caused an effect as if a storm was raging inside me, my whole body twitched nonstop, but I couldn''t get any better as there was something that the Essence of Chaos wasn''t able to do, the will inside hers, that was what filled the empty space of her mind and Soul, a will no less than the will of a world or a World Tree. I struggled to take out the crystal eye where all the malice from the Cursed Ocean of Hell was, and then I put all the consumed miasma and Curse into it, thus purifying my body. What the Cursed Sun in my hand did not consume, the crystal eye sealed within itself, and with that a red crystal formed inside me. Soon this crystal left my body and sucked all the blood from the lake that at some point had turned into a red tornado around me. When I looked at my weak body, unable to even stand, I was happy, the pain was lessening and I no longer felt anything wrong inside me. The will that remained inside the body being slowly consumed was also sucked in by the Cursed Sun. The blood crystal forming against a great power of Aura and was sucked into the broken Moon in my other hand, it was only then that it all ended and I lost consciousness. ---------------- When I regained consciousness I was lying on a beach looking at an Ocean of blood, standing next to me was Sebastio do Sangue, showing almost no emotion. Sigh "How long have I been sleeping?" (I) "For about 5 hours." (Servant of Blood) I looked at my body, I was in my normal human form, in this horrible childish form with no muscles, no matter what I do I can''t develop beyond that, no matter how much I change that part remains the same. "(The injuries, what happened?)" (I) I was sure there were several injuries on my body, but now there were none, my body was like new, there wasn''t even a mark on my skin. I suffered from countless internal injuries on my body from the inside and from the injuries that appeared on the outside, but by the time I was completely healed. "Thank you for taking care of my injuries." (I) "I did not do any treatment to aid in his recovery, as his body absorbed the blood lagi the wounds seemed to be leaving quickly." (Servant of Blood) "I understand." (I) I actually wasn''t able to understand, my healing powers may be incredible, but they can''t recover from the power I felt inside that thing, that presence and Aura were all over my body, and that''s why I wasn''t able to heal myself while I was awake. If the Blood Servant didn''t cure me, then I shouldn''t have been able to recover so soon, unless Natasha is nearby, which I know isn''t possible, none of my sisters wanted to enter this Planet. "(Let me take a look at what happened.)" (I) Now I have to take a look at the notifications, I don''t want an accident to happen again like me getting a new daughter, and maybe finding out if this new Essence was responsible for my recovery. Ding! <[ Your Soul and body have been strengthened by fusing with [ Blood Essence (Fragmented) ] due to High compatibility ]>Finnd new chapters at novelhall.com . . . . . <[ You have awakened the skills: [ Chaos Blood Incarnation ] [ Eclipse Dragon Blood Transmutation ] ]> There are some differences that I don''t know how to measure the differences, this time it wasn''t a fragment of Essence, the word "fragment" was changed to "fragmented", if I go by the meaning of these two words, then it would be that it wasn''t a Fragment of Divinity like that turn. The Divinity was complete, but it was still broken into fragments within it, even after the Power of Chaos transformed it into a new essence, it became a complete Essence and that is why it was Sealed just like my Chaos Essence, they are the only two Essences that I have complete. Another difference would be about the Familiar since Orion doesn''t have something like the Temple of Fairies or the Temple of Spirits, maybe that''s why I need to take him to a sacred place somewhere else. If in doubt, I think I''ll take him to the Communal Temple, the blood pool should be a good place when I get back. What worries me is this new part that talks about Haku, I didn''t expect that Divine Awakening could be used on Divine Servants, but maybe it''s because it''s a complete Essence. I honestly don''t understand much about this, but I can see why only she is being chosen, her power of transformation has high compatibility with this Essence, The thing about the two Saints is also new, and the reason for that is also obvious, it needed to be a complete Essence before involving the Saints, it should probably be something like strengthening our connection or increasing their blessing. I didn''t need to think any more about these things I don''t understand much about, so I moved on to the next notifications. Ding! <[ Your Divine Weapon has been successfully strengthened by consuming a large amount of will and integrating the power of Essence ]> . . . <[ Your Divine Weapon has completed your Divine Spirit ]> This notification was simpler, but it was enough for me, the Divine Tree became stronger or something, the important thing there was this Divine Spirit formation, it seems that the number of things I need to keep pestering my sisters to know only increases. "I already found out what I needed and now I have to go, I don''t have time to sit around here." (I) ----------------- Days later. When I returned to the Dungeon a few days later, I went straight to Elizabeth to ask my questions as usual. "So you don''t know anything?" (I) "I know little, our mother doesn''t usually talk about the past, but she seems related to the Deity you devoured." (Elizabeth) "If you don''t know, then I will leave this matter aside, but what should I do now?" (I) "Same as before, but strengthening you, but that will have to wait, you need to train to adapt to your new essences instead of continuing to accumulate something you don''t understand." (Elizabeth) You''ll find the origin of this content at n0velb!n "Will you teach me this?" (I) I agree with her, that''s why I''ve already tried training with my Essences a few times, all these feces ended in failure, these Essences are not like other powers that I can control, they are fundamentally different, making it difficult to understand how to use this power correctly. I also still feel the weight of this other Essence in me, my body is very tired after all this, but it seems like I never have time to rest or relax like I used to, it seems like there is always something to solve all the time. Chapter 1322: Cap 1320: World Arena Chapter 1322: Cap 1320: World Arena I was resting looking at the stars passing by as the Dimensional Dragon took us to our next destination, it was a strange feeling to see the stars moving like the landscape on the side of a road while riding in a car. It''s been weeks, and almost 1 month has passed since I gained my last Essence, I spent these weeks training, carrying out the Divine Awakening in Orion and Haku, and also strengthening Alice and Karina who are my Saints with the power of the new essence. I was lost in thought when I hear footsteps near me and see Karina approaching. "Thinking about the explosion?"?(Karina) "No, that wasn''t my fault, the body that Nicole created was too weak, she couldn''t even resist the damn crystal eye."?(I) "When you revealed that it was a commotion, this thing looks like a forbidden Demonic Artifact."?(Karina) "I heard the same thing from my sisters, not to mention Lilith and Erica were begging to grab the crystal eye."?(I) "I already found Lilith scary trying to steal my storage items, lucky I used space magic to store the most important things."?(I) "But rica was something else, she resorted to enough dirty tricks that I almost gave it to her, just thinking about it..." (I) "I heard Hela wanted the crystal eye too."?(Karina) "Hela is someone rational who knows how to listen to no, she asked once and accepted my refusal, she is a good daughter."?(I) I didn''t expect that those focused on studying curses and Demonic things would be so fascinated by the crystal eye, I think that thing has almost as much concentrated Cursed energy as the Purple Sun in my hand, that''s because the Purple Sun keeps sucking in Cursed energy and miasma of the surroundings.Updated chapters at novelhall.com "What are you going to do now?"?(Karina) "I planned to use the crystal eye for the infernal doll, that didn''t change, but it gave me an idea to fulfill one of Hela''s requests."?(I) "You mean the statue in the Communal Temple."?(Karina) "Yes, I have an idea of ??what I can do about her, but I''m going to need one last thing."?(I) I''ve already taken care of most of everything I needed to do, that''s because I''ve been ignoring Nira wanting to talk about politics and the economy of cities within the Dungeon. I already have a lot on my plate to deal with in this buffet of problems to take care of the Dungeon''s internal affairs, I trust her to do the right things, I have to prioritize the most important thing which is the matter involving the Gods and our enemies. "Unmar, how long have you been here?"?(I) "It''s been a few minutes, I didn''t want to disturb the conversation, but I needed to direct you correctly."?(Unmar) While talking to Karina, Unmar appeared from the ground, more specifically from a spatial crack that opened in the ground, for some reason some of his fur was burned. "Did something happen to you?"?(I) "I met someone on the way here, I made a simple joke and I was thrown into a Sun, some people don''t know... hey, hey!"?(Unmar) "You damn..." (Unmar) As he spoke a storm of leaves appeared from the spatial rift that was still open and coiled around him, his face changed to one of despair as he was pulled into the spatial rift once again, and then Rosane emerged from within with some blood in your face. "..." (me/Karina) "This is the ring that will be given to each participant and comes in 4 models representing the Gods who created this tournament."?(Rosane) As she spoke, the landscape of the sky changed faster and faster until it came to a complete stop, which was a pleasant surprise, completely stealing my attention. In the sky there was a large island or perhaps I should call it a large flat continent with a Sun and a Moon of the same size in orbit around it, around the space continent there were some islands that seem to have silhouettes of castles or cities, it was not close to the enough to make this distinction. "It looks like we have arrived, this is the World Arena, this Continent is the size of a World and will be used as the stage for this competition."?(Rosane) "So the tournament will take place at this place, but where specifically?"?(I) "I don''t think he understands."?(Aurora) "You won''t say that..." (Karina) "This whole place is going to be the arena, hence the name world arena, and before you ask, I don''t know anything about the tournament itself, so there''s no point in asking."?(Rosane) I look again at the continent below, and the closer we get, my perception of its size increases, Rosane guides us to one of the islands where there is a large castle that looks like it was made with jade and marble. It was a colossal castle that occupies half of the island while the other half appears to be just a garden, it was a magnificent place, and while I was distracted by the landscape Rosane was saying something to Karina that I only started to pay attention to now. "Are you sure there won''t be a problem?"?(Karina) "Yes, you will be treated as guests as long as you have a connection with the competitors or one of the participating Religions."?(Rosane) "Those with Holy Power can all enter and those with your or your sisters'' lineage can also enter."?(Rosane) "Alright, I''ll do as you said."?(I) "What are you talking about..." (I) Before I finished speaking I felt like I was passing through a curtain of water and before I knew it I was already in the garden right in front of the gates of the jade castle that I saw from afar. "I''m sorry for being sudden with all this, but it''s best to finish the procedures as quickly as possible."?(Rosane) "Hurry up, more people are starting to arrive."?(Aurora) I was pulled by Aurora and when I talk to Rosane, it seems that I need to register for the Tournament, I don''t need to go through the first round of preliminaries because I was invited by the God of Beasts. After registration I was sent to another of the floating islands around the World Arena, Rosane and Aurora continued to accompany me there where it seemed like a city was located, I was allocated a hotel room in that city with other competitors. I was still in the room with Rosane while Aurora was sucked into a Space Crack and then Unmar came out of that same Space Crack, this time her body was completely bandaged. "How it feels?"?(Rosane) "Like being beaten by thousands of angry Fairies before being buried under a mountain, a big mountain."?(Unmar) "You were supposed to have learned to know what to say, I hope you remember this lesson, where is Aurora," (Rosane) "The God of Beasts is with her, he wanted to meet the new daughter of the Goddess of Fairies."?(Unmar) "By the way, he really wants you to win, Zenos."?(Unmar) "I''ll do my best."?(I) Chapter 1323: Cap 1321: The Divine Tournament begins Chapter 1323: Cap 1321: The Divine Tournament begins In the next few days before the Tournament started, I spent the days relaxing after the hard training I had done throughout the month. I spent 1 day alone with each of my wives, I also spent time with my children, I don''t really know which of these things is more tiring. My Family members and my sisters are those who spend the most time with me as well as my Divine Servants, as time goes by and the pile of problems around me only grows it becomes difficult to have time for everything, so I am happy to take advantage of every opportunity to enjoy happiness with those important to me as I am doing now. During this brief time of fun, I missed Freya who is still in her tree state, I even asked Rosane and Aurora about it trying to find out if they could help her, unfortunately, nothing came of it. Even so, I won''t let this discourage me, I can feel that she is alive and I won''t lose hope, maybe I can do something for her myself if I keep accumulating Essences. With these thoughts in mind, I didn''t miss the opportunity to see other competitors, they were people of many races, some of them were bizarre while others seem like normal people, the distinction between everyone was great making me realize once again that you shouldn''t judge a book From the cover, they all had powerful Auras. But I caught a glimpse of someone who caught my attention because I felt a trace of Chaos Power coming from him. I felt it while I was shopping with rica, the items being sold in this place are unique and rare in the entire universe, and because of that many things could not be bought with money, in this place the exchange of items and favors was true currency, fortunately for us Dungeon had many unique items and services. rica took great advantage of this by using me as a living wallet, she even traded my blood twice. It was during these purchases that I saw the Demon with traces of chaos energy, I saw him from afar and only at a glance, even so, his Aura had a lot of murderous intent. I wanted to look for him, but I gave priority to Erica who was with me, I also couldn''t look for him with my Aura, with so many powerful people at the level of Deities around, this gathering of powerful Auras causes great suppression in each other, I also noticed that everyone keeps their Aura suppressed and visible. It was Elizabeth as always who took the initiative to instruct me, just as Dragons greet each other using a clash of Auras, something similar happens between Deities and Gods keeping their Auras visible while suppressed as a display of their identities out of politeness to those of the same level around you. I understand this logic, revealing your Aura even if weakly is like putting a tag with your name in a meeting, through someone''s Aura it is easy to associate which religion the person is associated with as well as revealing a little of their emotions, because of things like that I drew a bit of attention from those around me because of my Chaos Power. Letting this time pass, the start of the Tournament soon arrived, a large arena the size of a city simply emerged from the ground in the middle of the continent called the World Arena. The walls of the arena where the stands were located were floating around the large arena and everyone was gathering there for the starting ceremony. ------------------ I was together with other competitors, there were a few hundred, each of them carried a ring and almost all of them seemed to be at least Demigods, unfortunately for me, I even felt some presences that belonged to Gods, but I couldn''t measure the exact level of power. Some of them were getting to know each other or already know each other, but among them, I saw a familiar face, so I walked over to talk while I waited. "It''s been a while Alan, what is a Hero of Justice doing here?"?(I) "[Let the participants in!]" (Malakoi) Suddenly a hole appears in space as if it had sunk, forming some kind of space tunnel, it didn''t seem to be due to the use of magic, so perhaps it was a technique using Spiritual Runes, which is not my focus. This spatial tunnel was very large, allowing thousands of people to quickly pass through it in mere seconds before arranging themselves on top of the large arena surrounding the floating stage where Malakoi was speaking. "[The first preliminary will be 2 battles of 3 people, in the end only 1000 of these participants will continue to the second stage of the preliminaries where competitors chosen directly by the Religions will enter the dispute.]" (Malakoi) "[In a battle, life, and death are not guaranteed, so fight as if your life depends on it because it really does.]" (Malakoi) It seems like it''s a rule similar to what I saw in the War tournament where my first mission was, they want a firm to quickly discard the weakest, leaving only those truly most prepared to continue in the tournament. "It looks like it''s going to be a bloody battle."?(I) "(They say that, but I doubt that real deaths occur, see the people from the Demonic Church of Death positioned to act together with those from the Temple of Life.)" (Alan) "(Those who can participate in this event are important people from the various Religions and Deities with important responsibilities, no deaths will be allowed here.)" (Alan) To my words, Alan responded telepathically without indicating that he was speaking to me, so I followed him in that. "(So the others noticed?)" (I) "(Some may have noticed, but don''t try to take it easy just because you''re safe, that''s the kind of thing you want to avoid.)" (Alan) "(I don''t know what it means to be easy, I also don''t have the habit of feeling sorry for enemies during combat.)" (I) It seemed like the Hero of Justice has a sharp eye for noticing these Priests of Life and Death so quickly, I let that slide, but it just encourages me to go all out without fear of killing my opponents knowing that they will still be alive in the end. "[The rules are simple, it is forbidden to resort to outside help with the exception of Familiars who can be considered an individual''s strength.]" (Malakoi) "[The use of any prohibited item, potion or temporary strength-enhancing technique outside of the individual''s true abilities is prohibited.]" (Malakoi) "[The fight continues until someone is thrown out of the arenas, dies, gives up, or falls unconscious leaving only 1 person still standing at the end.]" (Malakoi) "[Now that the boring rules part is over, let''s get to today''s main event!]" (Malakoi) "[Let the first stage of the preliminaries begin!!!]" (Malakoi) Chapter 1324: Cap 1322: Second stage of the qualifiers part 1 Chapter 1324: Cap 1322: Second stage of the qualifiers part 1 Pov Hades: lightsnvl I was in a VIP room together with Master Zenos'' wives, his sisters, his children, and his family. It seems that there is a VIP room for each Religion and because the master is already a Demigod we were accepted as part of his Religion. Everyone was watching the preliminaries that started today, the opening speech was brief leaving in a short time to read the rules, among these rules it seems that death during matches is allowed, worrying everyone until Lady Elizabeth told us about the Priests of Life and Death. Of course, all of this was put aside when the fights started, but we were all focused on a specific arena, especially on one person who overwhelmingly defeated his enemies. "Lady Elizabeth, could this person be?" (I) "Who else would it be, besides her? Always doing what she wants..." (Elizabeth) Sigh "Caitlyn you knew...nevermind." (Elizabeth) "Zzzzzzz... Zzzzzzz..." (Caitlyn) Miss Caitlyn literally made a bed materialize in the VIP room and has been sleeping since she entered, she doesn''t seem to care about the tournament or its participants. "Should we tell Master Zenos?" (Haku) "Just as we realized, he must know." (Cinthia) "It looks like the second fight will be more difficult." (I) "I don''t think it will be difficult for her." (Diana) "I wanted to participate too." (Ibuki) Updated chapters at novelhall.com "Best none of us participate, I thought we talked about this before, if we end up fighting in a match against my Father, it would be awkward to give up without a fight and it would be difficult for anyone to fight at full strength." (Vanessa) Vanessa was right, many from the Dungeon wanted to participate in this Tournament, but everyone understood that we could harm Master Zenos'' mission if we did that, which is why her participating attracted so much attention. ----------------- Pov Zenos: "What is she doing there? Especially with that mask?" (I) "Do you recognize anyone?" (Alan) "Look carefully, you idiot, a mask isn''t enough to hide it." (I) "[Participants will have to hunt the creatures for 2 days and 2 nights before returning to that location where the points will be counted.]" (Malakoi) "[Each creature defeated will earn points depending on its strength, but you will not know the value for each hunt until the end of this stage.]" (Malakoi) "[I don''t know if I was clear enough before, but only creatures hunted by you alone are worth points, and defeating other competitors is not worth any points.]" (Malakoi) The rules were made to avoid fights between participants, they also don''t seem to want us to form groups to hunt, they also didn''t say how they were going to count the points, but they certainly have the means to observe us. "[All participants around me can choose any magic circle on that side, as soon as they enter they will be teleported to a random place in the World Arena!]" (Malakoi) "[Is everyone ready!?]" (Malakoi) "[Let the contest begin!!]" (Malakoi) I didn''t waste time, I ran away as soon as I heard the buzzing, I wasn''t going to lose mine for no reason and there was no point hunting with my sister, it would be more of a hindrance to each other''s performance, better to work alone this time. I jumped into the first magic circle I saw and felt space fold around me. ----------------- When I opened my eyes I was on a beach facing the ocean, it was a beautiful view and suddenly I saw a creature coming towards me. I tried to throw a punch, but his claw was very hard and, as if he didn''t care, he continued attacking without rest. The creature looked like a deformed person, its arms were longer and its mouth was full of teeth, I recognized the Creature of the Abyss, its appearance may be different, but I remember that these things can change their bodies depending on what they eat. I tried using many combat techniques while testing their sockets, but the more time passes, I can feel these things'' way of fighting changing. I couldn''t understand these creatures. "Let''s get this over with, come on you..." (I) This thing doesn''t wash away from attacking, I don''t know where its point is, but I know that weapons imbued with the power of death are its only weakness as far as I know. Therefore I channeled the power of death into my blood before forcing it out of my body where I crystallized the blood into the shape of a sword. With the sword in hand, I started cutting the limbs of the Creature of the Abyss, it didn''t create or try to escape, its Aura was completely unmistakable, denying the surroundings with hatred. I didn''t have time to waste and because of that, if I cut off my head at once, I couldn''t let any of those things live, I never told about those damn things. "First this tournament involving Gods and now a stage like this has to deal with these creatures." (I) Now I''m sure there is something more hidden in this whole matter, 4 Gods put in effort building this place, the type of participants being handed over in a battle. All of this happening at the same time as the God of War made his own tournament. "Let''s see what I can do." (I) Chapter 1325: Cap 1323: Second stage of the qualifiers part 2 Chapter 1325: Cap 1323: Second stage of the qualifiers part 2 I had 2 days to hunt as many creatures as I could find, but it took me a few minutes to realize that the only creatures were these things, I couldn''t understand why they were using Abyss Creatures in a tournament involving Deities, everything I''ve heard to date says that these things are enemies of the Gods. I can''t understand why the Gods are using their enemies in a tournament organized by them. I also didn''t have the full context to think about it now, so I could only put that thought aside for now, after the tournament I could go to the Communal Temple inside the Dungeon to try and talk to my mother, as the Goddess of Blood she must know about this. "Where should I go now?"?(I) At my feet there were two Creatures from the Abyss falling apart, the death of these things is always very strange, it''s as if every part of them was annihilated from the universe. I had never noticed many things from the previous times I fought against these things, such as their Aura being of pure annihilation, corroding even the space where they are. When any creature dies, its life naturally disappears, its body is swallowed to nourish nature and its energy is dispersed in the environment, everything from a creature is reused in the cycle of life. But with the Creatures of the Abyss, it is different, they are continually suppressed by nature and when they are defeated every body is rejected by the universe and is eradicated. "I don''t think the direction really matters."?(I) I spread my wings flying away, it only takes a few seconds to be found by the Creatures of the Abyss, their senses more charged than mine. This time they have wings and claws that resemble birds, they move in coordination, attacking from all directions. "< Space Magic: Space Predator >" (I) Exploding my Aura in the surroundings formed a link with the surroundings, Nature''s own mana following my command forms a magical circle around which I immediately activate, causing transparent heads of Leeches to emerge from the space itself, tearing off at least one of the limbs of these Creatures of the Abyss. As always, the Creatures of the Abyss don''t care about any kind of injury as they continue their attack against me, but I still managed to have enough time to act, the sword of crystallized blood in my hand as I finished off all my enemies. "Something is different about them..." (I) I look at the Abyss Creatures I just defeated, they were weaker than the others, but their movements were more precise and intelligent. At that moment I felt something and looked back, there was another candidate looking at me, His Aura filled with pure evil as he threw a medal towards me that broke into pieces making a hole in the space where an Abyss Creature came out, it was large and had a humanoid shape, as soon as it set eyes on me it attacked without expecting anything, its movements extremely fast. His arms were scythes coming towards me, his speed and strength making the space ripple around him, I took advantage of this ripple in space to make him dodge one way while I go the other. "< Holy Execution Ray >" (I) When he turns towards me, a magic circle was already activated a few centimeters away, a red beam descends from the sky, hitting the Creature of the Abyss, hammering him against the ground. "< Teleportation >" (I) With so little time I was unable to defend or attack, so I activated a Spiritual Rune on my body along with a spatial magic creating a quick short-range Teleportation. When I appeared in the sky I saw the creature on the ground already turning towards me, it was the same as before and was hiding underground, in its 6 eyes it was possible to see more than just instinct, which was confirmed when several pairs of hands came out of his body using a warrior''s attacks. "< Teleportation >" (I) "< Sacred Eclipse Dragon Claw >" (I) I concentrated my Authority and my Holy power in one of the arms while in my Dragon firm, when I teleported behind the Abyss Creature there was a small time interval of less than 1 second that allowed me to act. I was ready when my fist touched his body, half of it painted the trees on the other side while everything was destroyed in a straight line with the power of the blow, I was happy with my progress so far. "I hope you''re dead now."?(I) Sigh I looked at the corpse from afar as it was disappearing just to make sure. After a short rest and some blood, I was new again, so came hunting, this time I quickly killed those easier ones while looking for some stronger ones, and thanks to this I realized that the Creatures of the Abyss were mutating more bankrupt than I imagined, they were adapting by consuming the remains of animals that they didn''t even know they had around and the trees themselves in the surroundings. These things adapt by eating and other than that the only other thing they do is destroy, even though I noticed these things while I was hunting, I didn''t stop to study them in depth, it doesn''t seem worth doing something like that. "I would like to know how the points will be counted, but I will leave that until the results are read, for now, it is starting to get dark, I will prepare for the night."?(I) "So you are the guest of the Great God Cratos?" "Can we spend the night together? I mean on a joint camping trip, don''t get me wrong." "And who would you be? I apologize if I''m too blunt, but that''s my normal way of speaking."?(I) "I don''t mind, I prefer it more informal anyway." Suddenly a young man appears near me, of course even though I have a youthful appearance, I am still smaller in height, but I left that aside before talking to him since his Aura shows devotion to the God of Beasts. The strange thing was that I thought it was a man, but suddenly it looks like a woman now, I can''t understand anything. "(She''s a good person, but I don''t know if she''ll be upset or angry when she finds out that being around me could be considered the worst possible place?)" (I) Chapter 1326: Cap 1324: Second stage of the qualifiers part 3 Chapter 1326: Cap 1324: Second stage of the qualifiers part 3 ?Pov Elena (Demigoddess of Survival): I entered the Tournament on Fenrir''s advice, I''m not the weakest of the Beast God Demigods, but I''m certainly the one with the least combat experience. Unlike my comrades who enjoy fighting, I normally avoid combat until necessary, I believe in avoiding danger as much as possible, and only fighting when the odds of winning are firmly in our favor. Of course, I still train to use my skills to the fullest and be able to protect myself, but even when facing Evil Gods or Demigod Level Monsters, I always try to be as prepared as possible and if necessary call someone to fight by my side. But it seems like something is happening, my instincts have always been very sensitive to danger and I pride myself on reading the bigger picture naturally while always paying attention to the details. But this tournament that never existed in the past where Divine beings are the participants seems more than just suspicious to me, especially for the Demonic God of Evil, someone everyone hates. I''ve also heard that the hunt for Evil Gods has been more intense in recent years, Heroes appear in numbers that I''ve never seen before, this almost makes it seem like all the Gods are looking for Heroes, not to mention that many Champions have emerged, which it makes it seem like something big and urgent is approaching. The God of Beasts who hates meetings with other Gods has been holding many such meetings, many planets in the universe are experiencing global threat crises and the arrogant God of light is increasingly active in his Religion, at this point, he is between the line of guide almost crossing to govern. All these things tell me that I need to be stronger to survive, seeing all these signs makes my instinct scream to run, but without knowing where it is safe I should be strong enough to fight if necessary. Unlike what many Demigods say about me, I''m not a coward, I don''t have the power to fight and I''m also not afraid to kill, but my survival is more important to me than stupid things like honor, greed, or any of those other meaningless things. "This tournament will be good training..." (I) ----------------- The first stage of the tournament was interesting, I could have avoided participating, but I made a point of fighting from the first stage to warm up my bones. There was another Demigod in my second three-sided game, we quickly threw the mortal out and resolved it between the two of us, unfortunately, he was a magical type, and because of that the fight ended quickly. Unfortunately, even during the day things did not improve, we continued to encounter groups of Creatures from the Abyss, some of these groups we were able to exterminate because they did not have the numbers to defend themselves and even less were any among them able to face us head on. In one of the brief moments of rest where I could get my mind in order, I decided to move away from the boy thinking that his unique Aura might be attracting the Creatures of the Abyss, which seemed to make sense. In the past, I''ve seen mortals with pure Elemental affinities attract Fairies, Spirits, and even Elemental Monsters with their Auras, so it seemed possible in this situation. Since there were only the two of us here, it could only be him since I know my Aura very well, so I''ll try to get away from him before I end up trying to fight even more. ------------------ Pov Zenos: I knew that during the night it would be worse, it''s always the same thing, the creatures kept coming to the point that I used my Divine Incarnation twice, at least I think I shouldn''t lack points for me to pass this stage, the number of Creatures of the Abyss I killed was more than I expected. Ever since I found Elena, I thought everything would start to get better, but with every step, our pure destruction was left behind, entire forests became deserts, mountains became valleys and there was even one time where we found a city only to shrink the entire place in destroyed ruins. Fortunately, I didn''t find any more competitors, there are clearly people trying to eliminate the competition and I didn''t need any more problems than I already had. On the afternoon of the second day Elena separated from me, she was a strange woman, at first glance she looked like a man due to the way she dresses, moves, and her haircut, her body also doesn''t have a very feminine silhouette, but as soon as she started to fight her appearance changes a lot. Elena said few things, but it was clear that she distrusted me, I can''t blame her as we fought so many battles with almost no time to rest, I''m happy to have found her, we were able to divide the hordes of Abyss Creatures attacking us in half since we couldn''t really fight together due to the tournament rules. ---------------- In the early evening of the second day I was attacked once again, the Abyss Creatures that attacked fell into my traps, their bodies being destroyed by death curses and saturation attacks, before stopping to rest I set up several traps around. As time passed I decided to return to the arena in the middle of the night, I didn''t want to continue facing this stage of the tournament, so if I''m around I''ll be able to leave everything behind as soon as I hear the signal for the end of this stage, it wasn''t surprise Elena was in first place while I took second place, so we both moved on to the next stage. After the 2 day break announcement, I met with Elena once again, this time Natasha joined the conversation, it seems that my sister was looking for me thinking about using my bad luck to fight even more, which didn''t work out as don''t find me. Chapter 1327: Cap 1325: Third stage part 1 Chapter 1327: Cap 1325: Third stage part 1 ?Pov Rosane''s: Hey, I couldn''t believe what I was seeing, I heard from my mother that they would use Creatures from the Abyss in this tournament, but I didn''t think they would use so many, especially with their base strength being so high to the point of facing several Demigods, I can even feel some gaining intelligence showing that they are close to becoming Lords of the Abyss. As if that wasn''t enough, that boy still managed to gather hordes of enemies around him, including some of these almost Lords of the Abyss. His Divine Incarnation is strong, but clearly, he doesn''t know how to use his Essence fully or he''s avoiding using it for now, I hope it''s the second option or he won''t have enough strength to advance to the next stage of the tournament. That''s when I saw something in the distance and left my place in the stands opening a portal to the place I saw only to run into Elizabeth who seemed to be waiting for me. I was full of hatred and no patience to face someone so arrogant at that moment, even though I was an old friend. "What are you doing?"?(I) "Stopping a friend from making a mistake."?(Elizabeth) "Elizabeth, even if I''m you, I''ll tear her body into pieces if I have to advance."?(I) "Rosane, this is not the time for that, going through me won''t take you to him, it will take you to a meeting with your mother and many restrictions sealing your body."?(Elizabeth) "You know something, I can see it in your eyes...what is he doing here!?"?(I) "I''m not sure about him, honestly I''m just as surprised as you, and I had to use a Divine Item to get to you so quickly, but I think everything in this tournament is pretty obvious."?(Elizabeth) "Don''t play your games with me, I''m not one of your sisters and I''ve known you for a long time, you can''t fool me, so talk..." (I) "I warned you..." (Elizabeth) Sigh Before I could say anything else I was pulled into a Divine Realm with Elizabeth sighing and disappearing from my sight, it seems that a God noticed what I did, and just as she said it intervened. "(Now that I know where he is, I won''t let him escape, even if I have to wait for the tournament to end...)" (I) ---------------- Pov Zenos: When I came back from the end of the second stage it was over and I still came across a sad Natasha, she seemed to be looking for me throughout the second stage to have more chances to fight, she at least said that she found another Demigod to fight against her. I spent the next few days of rest talking to my sisters and going to the Communal Temple to talk to the Goddess of Blood, which didn''t do any good, I didn''t discover anything new about the tournament. "< Ruling Territory >" "< Ruling Territory >" (I) In a fight against a Deity, the most important thing is to isolate him, the Territory of a Deity has his Essence passively, strengthening him much more than normal, it was something I learned in my training, being inside the Territory of an enemy Deity is be at an extreme environmental disadvantage. "< Chaos Star Garden >" (I) "< Sin City >" Our two Territories collide, each taking up half the arena before blending together, largely negating each other''s effects. "< Blood Eclipse Poison >" (I) I saw him move as the landscape around us was in complete continuous change and I used my poison, using my Starfire to evaporate the blood from my body turned into poison into the surroundings, a young red miasma spreading in all directions. "< Sin of Gluttony >" To my surprise he stopped halfway opening his mouth where a strong suction took all my poison for him to swallow, I stopped creating the red mist and tried to control the blood particles he ingested, but I couldn''t, it was as if there was nothing left of what he had just eaten. "(I can''t take any longer.)" (I) I completely transform into a Dragon as I move towards him, I accepted that with this he wouldn''t be able to dodge, but instead, he smiled at me. "< Sin of Envy >" Suddenly his body transforms into the exact same shape as mine, but his eyes were completely red while an Aura full of murderous intent exploded from his body. At that moment she insisted on it being a short-range fight, our physical strength was equal in this state and that''s why I didn''t understand his decision until I felt the Demonic Energy in my wounds, it was so little that I didn''t notice it at first, this energy was permeated with power from his Authority and possibly his Essence as well, but I just smiled letting him think he was achieving something. "< Sin of Greed >" "< Avatar of Chaos >" (I) Just as I expected, he was accumulating Demonic Energy inside me and when he reached a certain point he pushed me away with a powerful blow from his tail while two wings pushed back further away. When he used his power and I felt the Demonic Energy inside me react, I could feel this enemy energy trying to drag my power from inside me, I could feel my Divine Weapons wanting to react, but I didn''t allow it as it would reveal Niryna still sleeping inside the my Blood Core. In fact, I was already prepared for this, my Starfire has the highest concentration of my Chaos Essence and I used these flames to consume the Demonic energy before making my blood that I spread through the wounds I made on the enemy explode his heart, a creature made of Blood and Starfire surging inside his body devouring him from the inside as he grew with each bite until there was nothing left but a large Leech where my opponent once was. "[Zenos is the winner of arena number 6!]" (Malakoi) Chapter 1328: Cap 1326: Third stage part 2 Chapter 1328: Cap 1326: Third stage part 2 ?My fight took a while, but I don''t think it was much considering my enemy, in fact, his surprised look during my last blow was magnificent, he was a complete idiot. "You did well..." (I) I walked towards the Leech that devoured my opponent, it was his height which consequently made it taller than me, but as soon as I got close it lowered its head for me to caress, knowing what I wanted without the need for me to say it. "Now go back."?(I) The Leech''s body melts into fresh blood that flows into my hand disappearing into my body for those seeing form, but for me, I could feel vitality and Mana overflowing within me as well as Demonic Energy still burning in Starfire. When I returned to the competitors'' area, I was not the first nor the second to arrive, there were already 2 people there, one was looking at me like I was an idiot and the other was wearing a robe, I couldn''t feel anything from the second person as well as a strong smell of blood and a feeling of death. "Hurry up you idiot, we need to finish this before the next round starts."?(Natasha) "What happened? What''s the reason for the rush?"?(I) I stopped thinking about the second person when my sister almost dragged me to her side, then she started using her blood to draw Runes and Magic Circles on one of her hands. Soon she buried her hand inside me from where a Holy Power belonging to Natasha was spreading through my body as if searching for something. At first, I didn''t understand what she was doing other than putting her hand inside me, but I soon realized something, I was surprised I hadn''t noticed it before. There was a curse inside my body, the various wounds on my body formed Runes inside my body that were not visible when looking at the wounds only superficially. I couldn''t believe that I couldn''t feel this curse inside me, but the more I studied this curse I realized how powerful it was, I also realized that it was made using Divine Power, maybe that''s the reason why I haven''t been able to feel this curse until now, even the Purple Sun in my hand did not feel this curse. "(I have to be more careful.)" (I) I felt the curse being pulled as the wounds were closing, in the end, Natasha pulled her hand out revealing a half rotten hand with strong Cursed energy, and then she cuts the hand off before a new hand grows in its place. "Thanks, but how did you notice that?"?(I) "Demonic Gods are used to doing things with obscure motives, always be suspicious of their every action, the same can be said about Demigods."?(Natasha) "I started to get suspicious when he took a long time to use his Divine Incarnation, even when the fight was at a brief stalemate he didn''t use his Divine Incarnation, so he was using his spark of Divine Power on something or so I thought."?(Natasha) Fiind updated novels at novelhall.com "I haven''t stopped to think about it, thank you."?(I) "Don''t thank me, I couldn''t let you lose to someone else because of a curse, I''d rather kick your ass to the brink of death myself."?(Natasha) "Congratulations little brother, you''re smarter than that idiot Minor God."(Natasha) "(Is he planning something? Will it be a curse like my opponent? Maybe 1 single concentrated attack? Could it be something more specific against this Minor God?)" (I) I just started to think about what he was doing, just seeing from afar there were several things that I couldn''t perceive, but what I could see only showed a one-sided fight with nothing else that I can see an ulterior motive, even so the calm in those eyes it wasn''t normal. That was when I noticed a change, the Minor God was perhaps tired of this meaningless fight or perhaps he finally realized that something was wrong, but he gathered his power in his Territory making the Sun become a Fire Beast that attacked falling on top of the Demigod. This change was not only the Minor God''s surprising attack but also the smile he showed facing these devastating attacks from above. "[The match at arena number 4 ends sensationally!!!]" (Malakoi) "[The winner is...]" (Malakoi) The images were suddenly blocked by the brightness of that Sun during the collision, but somehow the representative was able to see what was happening as he began to give the results of the match before the light could dim. When the images finally came back, the Demigod was still standing, his body was half healed compared to before, but what surprised me was the Minor God who was on the floor unconscious. The Minor God''s body was covered in injuries and burns, he was unconscious while his Territory seemed to be starting to fall apart. I was so focused on the scene that I didn''t pay attention to the name of the Demigod who won this fight, but that was of little importance to me as I analyzed the Minor God''s body still on the ground. "(His wounds, the angle, the depth, the size, and the locations where each wound is located... can''t be a coincidence.)" (I) "Reflection?"(I) "Yes, a very interesting power, isn''t it?"(Natasha) "..." (I) I looked at the Minor God''s body noticing that his new injuries were exactly the same as the ones the Demigod had suffered until now. They weren''t just similar, they were exactly the same and in the same points on the body, with the same depth and size of wounds, this couldn''t be a coincidence, it reflected all the damage, or at least most of it towards this Minor God. "(But I see no new burn marks on the clothes, on the Demigod or near where he was, compared to him the Lesser god is naked with his clothes turning to ash just as the area around him was charred by the time the Territory completely gone.)" (I) "(The Demigod also reflected the last big blow, that can only have happened that makes sense, I just don''t know how he did it.)" (I) I was lost in thought for the rest of the time until the last fight ended up finishing the 8 fights before starting the next round, which looks like it will act as space distorted around us taking wheels back into one of the arenas. "Now let''s see my new opponent."(I) Chapter 1329: Cap 1327: Third stage part 3 Chapter 1329: Cap 1327: Third stage part 3 ?The one who was selected as my opponent was the worst possible choice, he was a Minor God, his eyes were made of continuously burning fire, his body was silver as if it were made of metal and his hair seemed to be long strands of incandescent metal, his clothing it was just a pair of white cloth pants. Just by looking at his appearance, I can deduce his Elemental Affinity being metal and fire at the very least, I cannot deny or confirm if there is a third element with which he has an affinity. "I remember you, Natasha''s brother, you ruined my tournament."?(Minor God) "I don''t remember ever meeting someone like you, no offense."?(I) "I was one of the Gods who helped organize the God of War tournament, the one where you faced that Evil Goddess."?(Minor God) "It was a good fight for someone her age, I can see Natasha''s training in her fighting style."?(Minor God) From the way he talks, he was able to see me fighting through the isolated space and the Territory where I fought the Evil Spirit Goddess. "[Let the Fight Begin!!]" (Malakoi) "< Divine Territory >" (Minor God) "< Holy Duel Arena >" (Minor God) "< Divine Incarnation: 34% >" (I) As soon as the signal to start the fight was heard, he launched his Territory, I didn''t even try to use my Territory as it would be useless, there is no way to compete in terms of dominance against a true God, if I did that I would only be at a disadvantage when If my Territory were crushed, I would receive a wound that would be difficult to heal. Instead of wasting my time on something that wouldn''t work, I activated all my power from the beginning, one of the things I learned in my Training was to control my Divine power, I was always becoming a version of a giant Divine Dragon because in my head was the most powerful, but a Divine Incarnation is not something so simple. This time my body grew a little as my body was coated in Star Crystal Scales forming a natural armor on my body, my hair became ethereal as my horns grew, and my head became that of a Dragon as the symbol of an Eclipse appeared on my forehead. The power passing through my body was incredible, but I didn''t let myself be carried away by the feeling of power, the whole time I was observing my surroundings and my opponent who seemed to be waiting for the brief moment when my body changed. I can''t tell if this is out of politeness waiting for me to reach my full power before facing him or that Lesser God noticed that I delayed my transformation as a bait for him to attack, maybe he noticed my trap or not, none of that makes a difference now. I also paid attention to the surroundings, his territory was an Arena with a black floor looking like rough metal, around the Arena it looked like an ancient combat field. Our two swords collide, but not head-on, I tilted my sword making his run to the side while I transform my body for a thrust aimed at his chest. He releases one hand from his sword to punch my sword blade aside, missing his target before his foot kicks me back once more as blood comes out of my mouth on top of him. "Just give up, your power doesn''t compare to mine."(Minor God) "I know, you''re a lot stronger than me, but what if I do this."(I) "< Divine Eclipse Curse Ritual: Consumer of Existences >" (I) The blood in which the Lesser God''s body was bathed more than once was my blood, I realized that he never let my blood enter his body, clearly, he was wary of it after what I did in my last combat, someone must have told him about it, but he was naive to think he was safe with just that leaving my blood out. I controlled my blood almost instantly creating Magic Circles with Spiritual Runes complementing it throughout his body, before he had time to react the Magic Ritual was activated using my blood as material. The Essences of Blood and Chaos acting together as Starfire formed Dragons that drew all kinds of energies from him, be it life energy, magic, Ki, Holy Power, or Spiritual Power, everything was being sucked out of him through the Blood Essence before being refined and transformed by Starfire from my Chaos Essence into something mine, transforming its power into my power. His power forming a flow of energy coming towards me heals all the damage he caused me, but of course, he didn''t just stand still and be consumed by my technique, he was still a Minor God with power far above me. He tried to get rid of the ritual marked on his body, but he was a God of War and battle, he had no purification or healing techniques, that was something I was sure of after everything I saw, so nothing he tried worked. He might have been naive before, but he wasn''t stupid, then he looked at me moving forward, one way to get rid of a curse was to end the one who cast the curse, in this case, me. "You did good, now die!"(Minor God) That was all the planning I could do after seeing the other fight, I realized that it was impossible to beat a Minor God head on even after all my training and advantage in the number of Essences, what I needed to do was use my creativity for a greater victory indirect. "(Now it''s going to be a battle of endurance as to whether I can last until the end or he will run out of energy first.)" (I) He kept attacking me, his blows could summon all kinds of illusory weapons, and his body was immune to any kind of damage I could do to him. In the end, all I could do was fight to resist, dodge what I couldn''t resist, or bring what I could to deflect the blow, the fight became faster and more intense as time passed to the point where I couldn''t pay attention to anything else My mind focused only on the opponent in front of me, his every move was important. "(I will win!!!)" (I) Chapter 1330: Cap 1328: Third stage part 4 Chapter 1330: Cap 1328: Third stage part 4 ?The battle only got more intense, I had completely lost track of time, and I didn''t know if seconds or hours had passed while we were in that deadly dance. His every movement was like the swing of a deadly weapon, his own body was a weapon forged in wars and more wars, none of my attacks even managed to scratch his body while his attacks were capable of tearing my entire body apart. His legs were like spears trying to pierce me with each kick, his fists were like hammers trying to break my bones, his elbows were axes breaking through with pure violence and the swing of his hands was always accompanied by the shine of a sword. He did not hesitate or doubt any blow, he did not fear any counterattack, and his eyes were like flames of war becoming more intense as the fight continued, for some reason, his presence only grew stronger throughout the battle instead of weakening With me stealing your energy, none of this made sense to me. If it weren''t for me feeling his energy reserves actually depleting because of the Curse, I would doubt my plan was successful. Another thing to be grateful for was his stolen vitality healing my body when his blows grazed me or I was forced to receive it in some way, if it weren''t for this enormous healing I wouldn''t be able to continue, fighting against a Minor God really was insanity. But luckily at some point, he started to show signs of tiredness, when one of his knees touched the ground I was tempted to attack, but I didn''t do that since I wasn''t capable of causing any damage to him anyway. As time passed he became slower and his attacks were weaker, yet he continued attacking until the moment that avoiding his attacks was no longer a problem. "It seems like I lost this time, I admit defeat."?(Minor God) "[In arena number 3 one of the competitors admitted defeat, thanks to this in an incredible turnaround Zenos magnetically achieves victory!!!]" (Malakoi) "It was a good fight."?(I) "Yes, when you reach Divinity I will seek a new fight against you."?(Minor God) "< Release >" (I) When I was announced as the winner I returned to normal as I approached my opponent, after a friendly handshake I released his curse before being sent back to the competitors place. When I arrived at the competitors'' area there were already 2 people, the hooded competitor from before and the other was a mortally wounded Demigod, his body was covered in holes with blue blood dripping, when I looked at the only available arena it was just to see the end of the fight. It was my sister fighting a Minor God, she was using her Divine Incarnation when she lost her head while crushing half of her opponent''s head. Before long she was considered defeated while her opponent appeared near me, even though he was a Minor God his injuries were not healing, I noticed the fatigue in him as my vision became blurred once again as I appeared in a new arena. "[Now the quarterfinals begin to define the 2 finalists of the Tournament, the last fight before the grand final!!!]" (Malakoi) "[Let the combat begin!]" (Malakoi) Updated chapters at novelhall.com The one in front of me was the same Minor God who just defeated my sister, he looks like a Human wearing a green cloak, but now his cloak was half burned and his body was dry as if the blood was all drained. He held his spine in his hands revealing the Runes carved directly into his bones by the blade in my tail. "I''m too tired and injured to bother with a Demigod as young as you, give up child, we both know that without this curse you are not capable of beating me even in this injured state."(Minor God) "You''re right, the difference between us is too great to divide you fairly."(I) "Then give up to save both of us an obvious outcome."(Minor God) "I don''t think you understand, I said I can''t beat you fair and square, but I never said anything about giving up."(I) "I admit it surprised me that you knew about my previous fight when you only finished your fight after me, but do you really think I would try to use the same trick twice in the same way?"(I) As I was speaking Starfire was burning within him visible through his many wounds, the Starfire was not burning him, it was just part of my Chaos Essence acting to convert the darkness within him into a curse that directly touches his Soul. I''m using your feelings and power to seal your Soul inside your own body, after my last mission I already understood that the best way to stop a God is to seal him in some way. I won''t even try to use the same technique as before, after almost losing the last fight, I wouldn''t use the same trick twice in a row, so I changed my approach. I knew that a Minor God would have a lot of experience and would notice my Tail drawing Spiritual Runes on his spine, so I used that as bait to get his attention so my blood was coming out of my hands inside his body. I made my blood run close to the areas where his wounds were still impregnated with my sister''s Essence preventing his healing, then I used my sister''s residual presence to hide my blood moving through his body from the inside. I used my blood to vary Spiritual Runes and Magic Circles inside his body, all the while concentrating on his spine and keeping his distance from me to notice my true attack. "You really are Elizabeth''s brother, you use the same indirect tricks as her, at least her sister Natasha fought me head on."(Minor God) "I''m not my sister and I won''t fall for your provocation, so do you give up or should I end the sealing?"(I) "I admit defeat, you little bastard."(Minor God) "(Fortunately he gave up, I don''t know if he would be able to really seal his Soul, this is a spell that I just adapted using 8 others as a base, luckily he gave up.)" (I) Sigh "(What horrible bad luck, fighting 2 Minor Gods in a row, why does this kind of thing always have to happen to me?)" (I) "[In arena number 2, we have once again a spectacular victory from him, the chosen one of the God Cratos and son of the Goddess Selene, the fourth Living Calamity, Zenos!!!!]" (Malakoi) "(He really gets excited about his speeches, but the important thing is that there is only 1 more fight left for me to win.)" (I) Chapter 1331: Cap 1329: Finals part 1 Chapter 1331: Cap 1329: Finals part 1 ?I wasn''t even sent to the participants'' area like previous times, my fight took so long that it should have ended after the other pair of competitors, so I was sent directly to an arena where the person wearing the hood was already waiting for me. "[Ladies and Gentlemen, may this fight inspire those among you who miss the days of combat and may it honor the 4 Gods who gifted us with this magnificent competition!]" (Malakoi) "[In this final, our last 2 competitors for the incredible truth of this competition are Demigods!]" (Malakoi) "[In a competition with hundreds of Demigods and dozens of Minor Gods, against all expectations, the 2 meeting in the finals are Demigods!!!]" (Malakoi) I couldn''t hear anyone other than the tournament representative, so hearing their excitement and excitement being reciprocated with only silence is strange to me. "[Let us make honorable introductions to these two rising stars among the Deities present here.]" (Malakoi) "[On one side we have the Son of the Blood Goddess and Primordial Dragon of the Blood Eclipse, the one personally chosen by the God of Beasts, the Demigod Zenos!!!!]" (Malakoi) When he pronounced my name a column of light lit up around me, it was harmless and only served as visual effects, a simple magic of the light element. "[On the other side we have the world-conquering Demonic Hero, the one who until 2 years ago was the Champion of the Demonic God of Evil, his title of Blade of Destruction resounded throughout the universe, the Demigod Zharif!!!!]" (Malakoi) "..." (I) At the mention of his name, my opponent finally removes his cloak as a column of light rises into the heavens with him at its center. This was the first time I saw him, his gray skin was marked by many scars, he had a pair of golden eyes and a third red eye in the middle of his forehead between his two thick horns, and his face was arrogant as he maintained a smug smile on his face while looking at me. But it wasn''t his appearance that caught my attention, it was the sword on his back, I could feel the same presence of chaos that I have been looking for since the beginning of the Tournament coming from that sword, he was the person I was looking for. The presence of the sword was strange, it made me feel uncomfortable and for some reason, it seemed to reject its wielder, I could feel this just by seeing the way the sword''s energy fluctuated avoiding touching his body, I don''t know if he or anyone else can see this, but this was only increasing my curiosity. He doesn''t say anything, but I feel it in his eyes, he has some intention, and he is clearly provoking me, I also feel something strange coming from his body. "(What is this feeling?)" (I) "[In the name of the 4 Gods who granted us this spectacle of blood and will, I declare the beginning of the final fight!]" (Malakoi) When he said that, none of us tried to use the Territory, if I could feel it then he also realized, this arena is between a Divine Realm, and none of us can create a Territory. I thought about using my Divine Incarnation, I don''t know anything about it, I won''t reveal my power before seeing what it has to show. He tried to take advantage of the situation to comply, but at that moment I was already reacting on instinct when my tail swept him aside, causing him to collide with the ground. But with that, I got time to clear my mind and feel the sword energy more directly, it was chaos energy but it wasn''t Natural like mine, the confusion in my mind was due to a sensation I felt for the first time while my brain was trying to understand. When I finally managed to understand what that chaos energy was and its source, something primordial inside me lit up, I was furious and I finally understood what the Taboos were for the Gods, I also understood why the Gods had Taboo Hunters. The sword was a Divine Weapon or more precisely, an "Almost" Divine Weapon, it absorbs souls that are the essence of creation and can harmonize with everything, and then it breaks these souls slowly within its sword while its victims'' consciousnesses are still alive are linked to the Souls together within the sword, these Broken souls generate the opposite of harmony in their torment, chaos energy. An energy made from the sacrifices of Souls, but this is not just a Taboo for me, using lives as a sacrifice in this way is certainly a Taboo for the Goddess of Life, also the act of destroying Souls as a sacrifice to gain power must be a Taboo to the Goddess of Death. But I was just using this thought to calm myself down, I had to control the emotions inside me, I had to calm my fury. "Looks like someone got pissed, so I guess they liked my sword... GHUH!!"(Zharif) Before he could finish speaking, my fist covered in Starfire crossed space, converting the space between us into something changeable. I have no idea how I did this and at that moment it was not my secularity to find out, the power of Chaos within me was as if it was raging, the Blood Essence I used for this incarnation transformation fell apart as the power of Chaos took my body. I trained all this time trying to control the essence of the Blood which was something more familiar to me as I was born from the Blood and bathed in blood all my life, it was something easier for me to manipulate during my training, but now this same Essence of Blood fell asleep within me while the Essence of Chaos was bubbling in floods within me. It was something instinctive and primitive, I didn''t even know how I was doing it, but my scales gained depth as if they contained a field of stars inside, my wings were crystallized Starfire, and my entire body was covered in dark ethereal energy mixing with the environment in a natural way. "You will wish for death!"(I) My killing intent was not something that belonged only to me, I felt like I was channeling the killing intent of the universe itself that rejected what had been done with this sword. I was the herald and spokesman of that will, I was the judge and my sword would be the executor of that punishment, the Eclipse Sword in my claws began to burn with Starfire as my focus on the opponent in front of me shifted to being a execution target. No mercy! No mercy! No hesitation! No forgiveness! "RRRRROOOOAAAARRRRR!!!!"(I) Chapter 1332: Cap 1330: Finals part 2 Chapter 1332: Cap 1330: Finals part 2 ?"RRRRROOOOAAAARRRRR!!!!"?(I) I at this moment was an Incarnation of Chaos, my body was in flux changing eternally, but in my mind, all that existed was the Demon in front of me, this Demonic Demigod was an unacceptable existence to exist in. Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com "Your mind will be broken!"?(I) "Your body will be eradicated!"?(I) "Your soul will be chewed between my teeth before being spat into oblivion!"?(I) "In the end, I will merge the very essence of your existence into this sword where it will be consumed by the fragments of what remains of your victims!"?(I) Every word out of my mouth carried a level of hatred and fury that I haven''t felt since the day I thought I lost Layla, which led me into a wave of madness that resulted in that Mermaid''s death. I''ve never felt such strong emotions since that day and yet now what I''m feeling matches that day, the only difference is that I didn''t get lost in those emotions, I was using those emotions to strengthen my will. The Blood Essence was a connection, I felt the powers of life and death directly within me, it was a familiar feeling for me as I drink blood from my birth, but the power of the Chaos Essence was different. This was the power of constant change, there is no stopping or perfection, and all that exists is a new wild, and priceless change, creation or destruction does not matter in the face of the possibility of infinity. "You talk a lot for a Demigod!"?(Zharif) "How dare you speak of me in that tone as if you were superior to me, you were just lucky enough to be born with the potential to be a Demigod, I climbed through the bodies of everyone who stood in my way to become a Deity and you will be just one more among them..." (Zharif) Before he could say anything, his sword was already in my hands, his hand still holding the hilt even after it was separated from his arm. Starfire comes out of my wings becoming ethereal leeches that devastate this hand until there are no particles left of its existence, only the sword existed and was now in my hands. "You stay here!"?(I) Starfire courses through my body like serpents before coiling around the sword, the space around it being destroyed and recreated in an eternal cycle. "< Divine Incarnation: 50% >" (Zharif) "< Divine Incarnation: 34% >" (I) I activated my Divine Incarnation together with him, but it felt like it was different, before my Divine Incarnation only ignited a spark of Divine Power within me, but now that spark of Divine Power was mixed with the Essence of Chaos. I feel a much deeper change as my Dragon body becomes smaller, wilder features emerging as my hair becomes longer and my presence becomes heavier. The Eclipse sword in my hands shrinking in size along with me as I stepped in front of my opponent. His appearance was now the same as before, only with the addition of wings made of red bones and inscriptions like fluorescent tattoos all over his body. "< Feed me with your Malice >" (Zharif) "< Change of Space >" (I) "Do you think you can keep him away from me?" "I think if you could make a move you wouldn''t even waste your time talking to me right now."(I) "If you try to interfere you''ll have a problem with me."(Goddess Kalistos) Suddenly everything was silent for a few minutes, but I heard the voice of the Demon God of Death at that moment, I also felt a shiver down my spine when I heard her voice, she seemed calm as she spoke and yet the coldness in her tone was murderous. "You may go child, take care of the sword you obtained in honor of the thousands of lives used in its creation, I also give you permission for the eradication of the Soul of the one in your possession."(Goddess Kalistos) Before I could understand anything a brightness filled my vision and when I could see again I was in the arena looking at the packed stands with people shouting my name before hearing the voice of the tournament representative. "[With this the Divine Tournament comes to an end with a spectacular victory for him... the Demigod of Blood... Primordial Dragon of the Blood Eclipse... chosen of the God of Beasts and let us not forget... son of the Goddess of Blood!!!!]" (Malakoi) "[Clap for the greatest Divine Warrior of this tournament, ZENOS!!!!!!]" (Malakoi) "..." (I) This time I could hear people in the stands responding to the tournament representative''s excitement. I don''t like being in the spotlight, especially with the terrible mood I''m in after dealing with this demigod bastard, but all this attention is part of winning this tournament, I can''t escape it. ------------------ Pov Elizabeth''s: I could feel it, he awakened the power of Chaos completely just like he did with the power of Blood, I didn''t think it would be so fast, he advances at a frightening pace. "Don''t worry about him, you have other things to worry about."(Caitlyn) "Did you find him?"(I) "Yes, are you sure you want to go through with this?"(Caitlyn) "Yes, I always wanted a break for him, seeing him like this is..." (I) "He deserves to rest."(I) "This is the person who killed him."(Caitlyn) "There is no going back once you reach that state, you know that, if it had been anyone else, death would have been a comforting rest before being reborn, there was no way to wait for him to become that."(I) "Stay away, let''s let him figure it out, it''ll be good training for him."(I) "You say that, but we both know the Goddess of Death will interfere."(Caitlyn) "..." (I) Chapter 1333: Cap 1331: Bet of the Gods Chapter 1333: Cap 1331: Bet of the Gods ?Pov Cratos (God of Beasts): I was alone with Hatlas, the other Gods were busy with their things, I just hope none of them try to interfere with the tournament, this isn''t the kind of event we can hold often. "Are you sure you want to go through with the bet?"?(Hatlas) "Yes, Hernoth won''t be a problem, unlike his early days, he has become a truly respectable God, unlike his son."?(I) "The stakes are very high, you must not forget that this is just the excuse for this tournament to happen, don''t take it too far."?(Hatlas) "I know that I just couldn''t pass up an opportunity like this."?(I) "You''re betting on getting Essence from one of his children, do you understand that?"?(Hatlas) "He may understand your reasons better than I do, but he''ll still make you pay for it."?(Hatlas) "No need, I''m betting a Divine Weapon Demonic attributes he has nothing to complain about, so don''t worry about me."?(I) "If in the worst case, he wants to fight me, that only adds to the fun, it''s been a few millennia since my old bones have shaken."?(I) The Demon God Hernoth has changed a lot since his ascension, he is also someone intelligent, and he will reveal my plans in an obvious way to him, I''m not good with these complicated things, so this would be better. I hope he can stop his son later, I don''t want to see him losing another son like he has in the past. "I''m not going to hit you, I know I have no chance of winning and I don''t like going into a losing battle."?(Hernoth) He entered my Divine Realm without me noticing as always, his very presence corrupts the surroundings as always, but I still don''t like his cocky way of speaking. "I''ll take your bet, but it won''t be a change to the existing bet, it will be an addition, a second outside bet just between the two of us."?(Hernoth) "I accept, it makes it easier for you to leave your speeches aside."?(I) "It would be a waste of words, you won''t listen anyway, so I''d rather make it clear simply."?(Hernoth) He''s trying to hide it, but I''m older than him, I''ve seen him grow up and his rise into a God, I know everything there is to know about him, so he can''t hide the pain and fear from me. "You understand, right?"?(I) "I understand, but it''s not guaranteed, you know the state of..." (Hernoth) "I... understand..." (Daryus) From the evil in his eyes I know he doesn''t understand, it looks like he''s going to fall just like his other brother, I just hope he''s not as foolish as he once was, I can see the disappointment in Hernoth''s eyes, he knows exactly what''s going on in his life son''s head. "< Divine Sealing of the 7 Evil Points >" (Hernoth) Something no one expected happened, Hernoth used his Divinity to seal his son, his body crumbling into dust that gathered in his hand in the form of a statue of himself. "You had already placed part of the Seal on him, hadn''t you?"(Kalistos) "Yes, but I hoped that in time he would realize his mistakes and failures just like I did in the past, that was just a guarantee."(Hernoth) He took out a crystal with what looked like a sphere of pure darkness inside, even fragments of Divinity were thrown between us. "This is payment for my bet with you, Cratos."(Hernoth) "The rest is the payments for the tournament bet, this is my son''s payment and mine."(Hernoth) "I thought you weren''t going to act."(I) "I wouldn''t do anything, but my son is a fool, he would try to get revenge on Kalistos at some point, if that happens when..." (Hernoth) "Don''t say anything else."(Kalistos/me) We all know that some things should not be said, you never know who might be listening and the words of the Gods carry more weight than we would like, some things simply should not be said. --------------- A few hours later, the other Gods had already delivered their shares of the bet, all contributing Divinity Fragments of the same type and with that, I have all the Divinity Fragments I need to create a complete Essence. "I know you''re there, come out."(I) "Training camp was a success, but what are you going to do now?"(Selene) "I''m not sure yet, but I''ll think about it when I have time."(I) "Then I''ll give you an idea, all you need is..." (Selene) For the next few minutes I listened to Selene''s idea, it wasn''t something I had thought about much until now, but it will be possible to slide. "(This might work, I need to give the prize to Zenos for winning the tournament soon, after that I can get out of here.)" (I) Chapter 1334: Cap 1332: Tournament in Chaos Chapter 1334: Cap 1332: Tournament in Chaos ?Pov Athena''s: We all came to this tournament, but no one will participate for fear of causing any inconvenience to Zenos. I really wanted this opportunity to face such powerful individuals, wherever I looked these days everyone I saw was strong to the point where I felt apprehensive. The only ones having more fun here are Zenos and Loki''s Familiars, that idiot has been doing Business for the last day with Deities I don''t recognize, but from what I heard from Veronica, he wants to set up a betting table. It was at that moment that someone came to me, it was Magnus, he seemed apprehensive saying that he saw someone who should be dead, it seems that he is a Human who trained among the Dragons of Light before the conflict that led to their separation from the other True Dragons. I went to the others and together we investigated, but no one wanted to warn Zenos about it, so we had to do it ourselves or that''s what I wish I could say, luckily there are less self-centered people among us and thanks to that we joined the certain religions to investigate, thanks to this we discovered some people who should no longer be alive. When we try to capture some of them, it always goes wrong, it doesn''t make sense for them to just disappear like that, nor did those with affinities with the space element manage to stop them from leaving. During the Tournament, everyone was paying attention, with each progression of the tournament and some things got strange, the first was the presenter, on some occasions, his eyes were strange, whenever he said something in Fbio dos Deuses his eyes shone strangely for a while mere moment, no one would notice it without looking at it in detail. I said this to everyone, but during the last fight where Zenos won, we were going to catch him, but we were prevented by 2 of the religions that we considered trustworthy and stopped us from being able to act. It was at that moment that something happened, just as it had happened in the past, at the end of the tournament or more precisely on the day of the awards ceremony the sky turned dark as a large crack in the shape of a spider web formed, thousands of claws were pulling the fragments of the sky until they started to invade, they were creatures that everyone here had already seen. "Creatures of the Abyss, lots and lots of them."?(I) "Gather everyone with Zenos!"?(I) ---------------- Pov Zenos: I was frustrated, the night before I received a visit from a God instead of sleeping, I woke up more tired than yesterday. To make matters worse, I had a stupid awards ceremony to go to and as if all that wasn''t enough, the first person I saw when I opened my door was Elizabeth. "Can I talk to you before the Awards Ceremony?"?(Elizabeth) "Yes, just wait..." (I) When I blinked my eyes from sleep, I was already in a deserted place, I looked up at the sky and recognized the floating islands in all directions, I was somewhere in the World Arena. "Why did you bring me here?"?(I) In the blink of an eye, we were back in my room, Elizabeth left leaving just me with a lot of new thoughts to deal with until the Awards Ceremony. The ceremony itself was simple, it was a speech about the worst and best moments of this tournament, and there were recordings from the worst events to the most incredible. All this with some very specific comments in each recording, suddenly everything was perfectly clear, the awards ceremony was being used as a way of correcting something''s mistakes by seeing other people''s mistakes as a basis, this at the same time as showing the right way of doing things from others. All the pieces fell into place in my mind, this wasn''t a Tournament, it was never a real tournament this is a training ground and this Awards Ceremony is being used as a lesson in right and wrong ways to do things, from the At first there were no fatalities apart from the Demigod in my hands. "(If I''m right, then I already know who these enemies Elizabeth spoke of are.)" (I) KRAC!!! It didn''t take long for me to confirm my suspicions, suddenly a crashing sound reverberated in all directions as spider web- shaped cracks took over the sky as far as we could see. Soon countless strange hands were pulling at these pieces of space to try and get out, anyone here could recognize these Abyss Creatures. They broke the space and the more I was seeing the worse it got, bigger and bigger eyes and arms were appearing one after the other. Looking around it seemed like most people didn''t expect this, some were in shock still standing there watching in disbelief, while others were trying to react only to be asked by other people. I also noticed that the one next to me was lying dead on the ground, it was Malakoi whose body was cut into pieces, someone killed him and I didn''t have to look far to find a hand holding a branch. I tried to measure the size of this hole, but I couldn''t even see the edges, this was by far the largest space passage I had ever seen. The creatures continued breaking the rest of the passage trying to get to that side. It also didn''t take long for me to see the Creatures of the Abyss slowly managing to pass through these gaps, there were simply millions and millions suddenly descending like a waterfall. Even I wouldn''t survive something like that, there were simply too many Creatures from the Abyss, it was at that moment that I felt a hand holding my shoulder and a voice very familiar to me speaking in my mind. "(Be ready, when spatial restrictions completely fall, it will be time to act.)" (Goddess Selene) "(Yes, I will do as you say.)" (I) I said I would wait, but it doesn''t mean that others will sit still, the people in the stands and surroundings started to shine, Holy Power was overflowing in the air with so many Deities in the surroundings and everyone is attacking. "(Just do as asked this time Zenos, don''t get into the fight...)" (I) Chapter 1335: Cap 1333: Propagating the Power of Chaos Chapter 1335: Cap 1333: Propagating the Power of Chaos ?Suddenly in front of my eyes the heavens shattered and endless hordes of Abyss Creatures poured across our universe, the Minor Gods took the lead with the Demigods close behind, those who did not reach Godhood would not dare enter that field battle and chose to stay on land. The heavens were in flames, between the earth and the rift of the Abyss that replaced the heavens a layer of pure annihilation had formed, powers capable of redefining world maps are being used in sequence creating the most destructive image I have ever seen if you don''t count the Hell. Pieces of bodies and black dust fell onto the world as Creatures from the Endless Abyss washed ashore, but compared to those being annihilated above that number is not even half as large. As the seconds passed, the smell of blood intensified, in my eyes only destruction existed, in my ears screams of fury filled with murderous intent, and in my mind only one question. Why am I standing still? Every part of my body wanted to move, but I knew it wasn''t the time, my strength alone wouldn''t make a difference in a battle of this magnitude and the Gods seem to have their own plans. I can''t understand why they aren''t acting yet, but clearly, they were preparing for this or something similar, that''s the only thing that makes any sense after everything I''ve seen so far. This whole tournament was just a test and some kind of training before the main event, I don''t know the reason for all this exactly and I honestly don''t want to know, but seeing such a battle and setting it aside is very frustrating. "Why not act now!?"?(I) "(Why they all need to understand, the despair, the pain, the frustration and the consequences of neglect.)" (Goddess Selene) "..." (I) I heard something I didn''t want to hear, it basically confirmed my thoughts, this was planned, a kind of Divine level reality check, I don''t know whether to be shocked or terrified at how far the Gods are taking this. "This has gone far enough, we don''t want any casualties."?(Rosane) "Please, my lady, help..." (Vanessa) Suddenly everyone appears near me before scattering into the surroundings fighting while Vanessa looks at me in amazement before kneeling down, from her words she must have noticed my mother''s presence. "Vanessa and Rosane are right, no matter what you want to achieve with this, it''s already gone too far."?(I) "(You don''t understand, but you will understand one day, we are doing this for them, but a few minutes must have been enough.)" (Goddess Selene) "(Accept my Divinity and let it flow with yours.)" (Goddess Selene) Suddenly I felt a great power flow from somewhere to me, this power went through my soul to enter my body, and my Blood Transmutation Essence becomes active, I feel the instinct to reject this energy, but I don''t have time for it If the flow of this power stops, my body will not support it. When the sky came back it revealed an illusory image of a spider web in the sky, the original Moon and Sun of this place were in pieces floating in the sky, but that was not an end. The number of enemies was still a lot when Zenos clapped his hands making the 3 rings of different colors still with him shine even brighter, the 3 rings rotate forming a sphere that starts to burn with Starfire, but this sphere was pulsing like a heart. "< Blessing of the Eclipse Flame >" (Zenos?) His voice sounded like 4 voices in sync speaking and suddenly the pulsing sphere exploded releasing a wave of energy that seemed to silence the world for a thousandth of a second, then Starfire began to surge in all directions on everyone''s weapons. When I looked at my hands, the swords in my hands had the blades covered in Starfire. "(The energy consumption seems higher, but...)" (I) The entire time I wasn''t just keeping an eye on Zenos, I was also in the thick of combat taking small opportunities to understand the bigger picture of this battle. For the next few minutes, the fight became very intense, without the infinite number of Abyss Creatures emerging now that the rift in the sky was destroyed, we all began to eradicate all the remaining Abyss Creatures without preserving our strength any longer. I was flying close to the ground, maneuvering between enemies while my blades ripped apart any enemies with weak defenses, which I left to Cintia to deal with. We each have our role with the faster ones forced into clearing groups of enemies while the stronger ones were in the middle of facing more troublesome enemies. This continued for almost 30 minutes before the last Creature of the Abyss fell, as everyone paid attention checking the injured and if the space was stable enough for another of these rifts not to open again I ran to Zenos who was unconscious in Alice''s arms. He fell unconscious a few moments after the last enemy was defeated, everyone was around him to protect him until he woke up. "Everyone is well?"(I) "Yes, none of us were in danger."(Veronica) "What was that about him before?"(I) "He blessed everyone''s weapons, it granted the power of chaos to everyone temporarily with this, it was thanks to this that we got this far without losing anyone."(Veronica) "..." (I) I also realized that using Starfire was more effective than just Holy Power, Starfire didn''t just burn them, their bodies were destroyed and converted directly into energy then released into the environment. "He saved everyone now, let''s see what else we have to do."(I) Chapter 1336: Cap 1334: A lesson learned through pain Chapter 1336: Cap 1334: A lesson learned through pain ?Suddenly I was opening my eyes and memories of what happened filled my mind, I didn''t even notice the exact moment I lost consciousness, but I feel from the condition of my body that I have been unconscious for at least a few hours. "Get up boy."?(God Hatlas) When I heard this neighbor I immediately stood up looking around me, I still remembered the God of War''s neighbor and now I was listening as if she were next to me instead of inside my head. A bad thought took over me and when I looked around I saw many Gods, many of them I didn''t recognize, which only confirmed my bad feeling. I was surrounded by Gods, which tells me that I am still unconscious, each of them emanates a unique presence and I know they are Gods just looking, some were talking to each other while some were looking at me. "What is happening?"?(I) "Preparation, see."?(God Hatlas) Hatlas placed his finger on my forehead and images invaded my mind, devastating battles happening in the sky, the destruction of the floating continent with the incredible battles happening on land, and a rain of black dust and body parts coming from the sky. "This was nothing more than a lesson prepared step by step."?(God Hatlas) "Stop saying it like it''s obvious, the others are leaving and we need you."?(God Cratos) "We need him..." (God Hatlas) "I also have things to talk to him about, but we don''t have time, they are pressuring."?(God Cratos) "Let me take care of my son, prepare everything."?(Goddess Selene) "I should have stayed as a Demigod, what''s the point in just watching others fight?"?(God Hatlas) "Shut up and let''s go, then we can do some training, I know a dead planet that won''t matter when it''s destroyed."?(God Cratos) Suddenly my mother and the God of Beasts approach while all the other Gods disappear as if it were some kind of illusion, the God of War also disappears together with the God of Beasts after a little conversation leaving only my mother with me in that place. She approaches me and snaps her fingers transforming this room into a garden full of red flowers with a tea table set up. "Why am I here?"?(I) Fo?llo?w new stories at novelhall.com "Kalistos wanted to inform you, she doesn''t like manipulating people, her direct style of doing things is unfortunately not always possible."?(Goddess Selene) "(Manipulated, I was being manipulated... but when did it start? Was it the tournament that wasn''t a tournament? Was it the use of my Divine Weapon? Maybe it was something else that I myself don''t know about?)" (I) I didn''t feel offended to know I was manipulated, those in power or above other people constantly manipulate others. The words command, order, lead, and govern are just different terms for the same meaning, no matter how much some idiots always tend to argue about why they are different, the fact that they are forms of manipulation doesn''t change. Manipulation may seem like a bad word, but it is not absolutely bad or good, people tend to see many meanings in simple things. "You more than anyone else should understand, a lesson learned through pain and suffering from your own experience will always be superior to something learned from study or something you are prepared for."(Goddess Selene) "Many of these Gods saw the Creatures of the Abyss from afar or didn''t really understand their level of danger, there are also Deities who have become complacent and arrogant over time, not to mention some Deities who are not fit for combat."(Goddess Selene) "Everyone needed to feel the danger and fight for themselves, now each of them will reflect on themselves and possibly the mentality of many of them will change from now on."(Goddess Selene) So they didn''t want to teach people, they just pushed them out of the nest hoping that the danger would make them fly on their own. This is an extreme way of doing things, but I can understand the reasoning, these are not normal people, they are beings that rule the universe whose actions change the lives of countless creatures, an opportunity for mental and emotional growth like this is not It happens frequently among beings that live eternally. "(Something is still not right, when I woke up there were many Gods gathered and they seem to be busy, is something still happening?)" (I) "So it''s all over after this battle?"(I) "That wasn''t a battle, it was a mere scare to wake up the battle spirits of those here, the real battle will begin now."(Goddess Selene) The Goddess raises her hand and her blood circulates the air above her hand forming a mirror that reflects the floating continent, half of the islands around her no longer exist, the continent itself is covered in cracks, ditches and craters, the entire topography has changed since then of a few minutes of combat. But what caught my attention the most was the sky, there was no Moon or Sun, just fragments that floated in the starry sky around the floating continent. In that sky was a semi-transparent crack mark that almost confused me, it was also possible to see this crack mark pulsating, it looked like a healed wound. "The space has not fully recovered, damage of this caliber will take a bit of effort to close."(Goddess Selene) "The other Gods and I will take care of this while those among you will experience war against Creatures of the Abyss."(Goddess Selene) "..." (I) "Don''t look at me like that, there are things that should be learned like this, you''ve fought against these things a few times, but you haven''t found a smart one yet."(Goddess Selene) "The Gods who left here will create a Divine Territory like a dome around this crack in space, you as well as everyone else will fight within this Territory against the Creatures of the Abyss that invade."(Goddess Selene) "Do I have a choice?"(I) "The others will have it, but not you, we will need you as an anchor for the Divine Territory, this way we will spread your power among others without needing to put pressure on you or use your Divine Weapons."(Goddess Selene) "Why does it have to be me?"(I) "As I said before, this plan began to be created because your chaos power was convenient for it to work."(Goddess Selene) "..." (I) Sigh "(It seems even the Gods are under pressure to carry out such a plan.)" (I) Chapter 1337: Cap 1335: Lord of the Abyss Chapter 1337: Cap 1335: Lord of the Abyss ?Pov Freya''s: I could just see in the water mirror, every fight he had in the tournament, combining his power with that of 3 Gods to spread his power among those fighting and now he was taking the lead with the others while I was still here. "Why can''t I be there? He needs me and I want to be there!"?(I) "You can go if you want, but you know the outcome." "That''s not fair, I wish I could be by his side and not this..." (I) "Forget this fleeting moment, you will have eternity with him, but you must complete the process just as he must complete his own path." "Don''t rush things out of childish feelings, I know you understand the repercussions of what you chose." "I... I understand... but the frustration I feel..." (I) I turn looking at the Tree behind me, its size knows no limit its branches cover infinity while each of its crystal leaves contain entire worlds, its trunk being made of the intertwining of all the elements and around us endless islands of beautiful buildings where countless women talk to each other. "Destruction is easy to achieve, every thing that exists will one day be destroyed and I am no exception." "The one you love has the power of change that opens countless paths, but only that, his power is not suited to destroy and he does not possess the ability to create." "Even though his changes and transformations are the path that connects both creation and destruction, he needs to balance his power at some point, find a point of balance so as not to be consumed in his own change." Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com "I know, I know..." (I) "(I know, but seeing him suffer and not being able to be there when he''s always there for me... that''s unbearable.)" (I) "(But it''s not now that I have to think about, I have to be ready for what''s to come.)" (I) I had to reaffirm my decision, the more time spent here, the worse it is to be separated from him, time here is different, it passes much more slowly, she did that for me, and I can''t grow as quickly as he does, but I can grow at different times as I do your side. "How much time left?"?(I) "The Essence pool is almost full with the second Essence." "Thank you, I''ll spend this time studying while I wait."?(I) "(I will wait, he will not be in danger while he is by his mother''s side, in the meantime I must be prepared for anything.)" (I) ----------------- Pov Zenos: As soon as I could see the other side it was a strange battlefield, there were deserted forests, lakes, parts of cities, rocky mountains, and ice mountains, there was even a starry sky with the golden sun high above, stars of countless colors shining as they red clouds were scattered. This whole place is as if several different environments had been jumbled together, it was strange to see and made little sense. It was a strange scene, but I had little time to think about it when an attack was aimed at me, it was what looked like a Human with long arms and a scorpion tail that it used to attack. But the same Minor God with a metal body and fiery eyes that I fought against in the tournament appeared in front of me, clashing head-on with that Abyss Creature. The fight is intensifying as more and more Abyss Creatures were appearing rushing towards us, but soon reinforcements appeared from the portal, Demigods came as large reinforcements helping to keep a very large area as a safe point. At that time, people from the various Religions came next with my companions coming first, they helped organize the safe point that will be used as a base during this battle. The battle was becoming very intense at that moment, as if awakened by the number of people around, some Abyss Creatures seemed strange, they appeared as if crossing space and moved differently. They didn''t attack directly with just pure aggression like other Abyss Creatures normally do, I also noticed that they had some degree of control over the other Abyss Creatures. It was Natasha who stopped next to me who told me what that Creature of the Abyss was, he was called the Lord of the Abyss, just as the Creatures of the Abyss do not have life, Soul, or emotions, but they have a consciousness functioning as a general or leader for the Creatures of the Abyss who lack any level of intelligence. When I heard that, I just thought about how much work we still have ahead of us. "How do we defeat that thing?"(I) Natasha was in her Dragon form, but with my question, she returns to her human form standing next to me to explain. "An Abyss Lord has minimal strength at the level of a Demigod, this coupled with their lack of weaknesses and a thinking mind makes them difficult enemies to deal with."(Natasha) "Luckily there don''t seem to be many, but be careful."(Natasha) "..." (I) "(They couldn''t have...)" (I) I suddenly realized that the number of so-called Lords of the Abyss that my sister counted are similar to the number of Demigods and Minor Gods on our side, my first release was that this was a part of the ordeal that the Gods wanted to let happen. But what we did next was attack for the first time, this is because we noticed that the Abyss Creatures that stopped their attacks were changing as a whole taking on more specific forms as they split into specialized groups. Any idiot could see traces of the movement of an army forming in the way they are behaving, waiting for them to finish their preparations will only bring losses and that''s why we start an attack. I wasn''t part of the initial attack, what I was doing was preparing rituals with my blood to serve as ranged attacks using some of my chaos power. When I finished doing the rituals, I participated more personally in the battle, each Religion was acting on its own and the same applies to my group who were receiving orders mostly from Nicole who had the best mind for logical strategies, she was also very good at multitasking, making her a competent leader. "(Now, how long will these battles last?)" (I) Chapter 1338: Cap 1336: Divine Battlefield Chapter 1338: Cap 1336: Divine Battlefield ?I was looking at the battlefield, but my eyes were not on the battles as I would have no way of seeing through the catastrophe continually happening around. I was using my Aura and connection with this territory to feel everything that was happening, thanks to that I chose the point that I would attack with precision, an area further away from the Minor Gods and away from the Lords of the Abyss that I saw earlier. "Ibuki, command the others to follow me."?(I) "Yes, but what about your sisters?"?(Ibuki) "Let them know, then let them decide if they want to follow us or not."?(I) "All good."?(Ibuki) I see Ibuki disappear into a shadow, but soon my vision is taken in another direction. "< Divine Incarnation: 34% >" (I) I let the power course through my body as I forced my body''s transformation to occur faster focused first on my back, wings, and arms. "< Teleportation >" (I) A magic circle appears at my feet, allowing me to travel directly to a more outrageous place in the sky, without hesitation I stretched out my hands, grabbing the half-injured Layla, as soon as I took her in my hands, I turned my body while making my wings cover my body. "Hhuuurggg!!!"?(I) "Master, I can still" (Layla) My body was washed by what seemed like a tsunami of acid, my body was burning, even my scales were unable to resist that acid and some type of energy was infecting the burns, corroding even my Aura. "< Incarnation of Blood >" (I) I used the same technique I used in the tournament, my once solid body became liquid only condensed into my Dragon form which was now complete, the acid from before was no longer causing damage to my body but the strange energy was still causing some level of damage of corrosion in my blood body. "Interesting, you sensed my presence, you seem to be a threat and that''s why you were considered a primary target for elimination." I just extended my hand making a stream of blood divert from the path in my body before a pulsing heart materialized in my hand, all the Creatures of the Abyss were falling apart in seconds with a stream of red liquid energy disappearing within the heart that begins to crystallize. Unfortunately, that wasn''t enough to deal with the acid bastard, he tried to put out the fire on his body, but he couldn''t. He didn''t seem to fear the Fire or me who did this to him, but in fact, he never screamed or showed any emotion, all he did when he discovered he couldn''t put out the fire was run to me, his attacks were always covered in acid and he attacked relentlessly. I took the heart and threw it to Hades, I needed someone to take care of it and I know Hades shares the same cautious mindset that I try to possess, so I left this heart for him to hide. With my heart hidden in a safe place the combat became more intense, but I had to end it quickly, the blood I spread across the area was not infinite, and at some point, it would be completely consumed by the flames, I had to end the combat until that point time. "< Blood Breath >" (I) I held its jaw open and used a breath attack directly inside it, but at that moment someone threw a piece of bone at me that managed to pierce my flesh, but this was short-lived as it fell apart after that. When I looked it was a curse that was erased by the Blood Essence, I tried to fly in the direction of whoever cast it on me, but I found him skewered by dozens of shadow swords with Ibuki gouging out one of his eyes with her tongue, it was a Demon. "(I wasn''t expecting attacks from sources other than the Creatures of the Abyss, it looks like I really need to double down on my security.)" (I) With that thought, I dodged the idiot''s tongue attack with acid and grabbed his tongue, which looked more like a tentacle full of scattered teeth, it was strange to see and without wasting any time, I ripped that tongue out by force, letting it burn in my hands. He didn''t stay still, but to my surprise, he didn''t try to prevent his tongue from being ripped out, he took advantage of that moment to tear my chest with his claws, injecting that strange energy inside me, just when I used the power of the Blood Transmutation Essence that I managed to expel that damn energy from my body. Without further delay I began to tear limb by limb from his body until only the head was left, I did it as quickly as I could and even then I was very careful with attacks around me, which proved to be a good idea considering the number of attacks of area everywhere. "[Father, come back quickly, we are suffering from heavy attacks!]" (Nicole) I didn''t have any more time, Nicole''s voice sounded urgent, I had to end this idiot now, but I had to protect Layla healing inside me. That''s why I crystallize my arms and legs into blade shapes to carry out attacks without pause until he dies, disappearing leaving only black dust behind. "I have time for this... I have to hurry."(I) I couldn''t leave Nicole unprotected, but she was in the safe area we were using as a control point, if she''s in danger it means they''re being attacked there. I closed my eyes looking for the situation at the control point and I could feel countless blank spaces moving around, these were the Abyss Creatures, and the way they moved there must be at least 1 Abyss Lord there. Chapter 1339: Cap 1337: Psychological pressure Chapter 1339: Cap 1337: Psychological pressure ?Pov ???? (Sword Demigod): I was furious, I don''t know who the bastard was that used an illusion like that damn Meteor, but because of that, I lost an ear and part of my shoulder while I ignored the enemy in front of me to escape being hit BY A METEOR THAT WASN''T REAL! I started to use my Holy Power to expel this strange energy in my wounds, but I couldn''t hold back for long as hundreds of sea monster-like Abyss Creatures were flying towards me. "Damn, I don''t even have time to rest or heal." (I) I wouldn''t run away this time, there is no place for escape here, and fighting head on with my life on the line like this reminds me of the Adventurer days in my youth, my only aspirations at that time were always involved with the sword I had in my hands. "(When was the last time I shook my head with my mind blank, without caring about my life or death?)" (I) "A sword cannot bend, a sword cannot break, a sword only needs to cut." (I) "Any defect, any error, and anything that can block my sword is my fault, the error, defect, and weakness are mine." (I) As I advanced on the enemies I felt an energy flowing into my body and going to my sword following the only desire I had at the moment, the desire to cut without fear, regret, or hesitation as I did back then. My heart races, my blood boils in my veins, and all my senses focus only on the sword in my hands while my mind is empty of thoughts other than the infinite possibilities of swinging the sword in my hands. "< Divine Sword: Unstoppable Slash >" (I) Nothing made any difference to me at that moment, whether it was the strange fire that seemed to reflect the starry sky appearing on my sword or the Creatures of the Abyss increasing in numbers around me. My sword danced around me without causing any apparent effect as the Creatures of the Abyss were being torn to pieces and turning to dust. In my heart, the same emotion that I felt in those first days beat, the feeling of moving forward only with my desire to cut by moving my body. "(How I missed that feeling.)" (I) ---------------- Pov Athena''s: I was kneeling on the ground covered in blood and sweat, both my wings were torn off and several of my bones were broken, my entire right arm was crushed to the point where my bones in that arm had probably turned to dust. "(Is everyone okay?)" (I) "I''m fine, I''m just putting my torn off arm back in place." (Veronica) "(Did you see my wings?)" (I) "I didn''t find your wings, plus Loki seems to be unconscious so far." (Veronica) Ree?ad latest novels at novelhall.com "Best if we retreat to our base, Loki needs a way to wake up and you?have to heal yourself." (Veronica) "(I''m fine.)" (I) "< Restrict >" (I) "< Stakes of Divine Punishment >" (I) I was fighting countless Abyss Creatures, but they weren''t that strong, so it was easy to finish off most of them with just one attack, letting me save energy for when it was really needed, but at that moment the item from the Demonic Church of Death on my wrist It broke at the same time I felt movement behind me. Without wasting time, I used two area techniques supported by the Holy power of the God of Justice, the first to restrict the movements of all those within hundreds of meters around me, and then I used an area act that spreads the Holy power along my Aura across a designated area marking all those who are restrained as enemies creating 10 stakes of Holy Power to penetrate the targets'' bodies causing great pain, restricting their movements from within and applying weight to each stake in their body. When I did this I looked around at the bodies of hundreds of Abyss Creatures turning to dust before revealing one standing looking at me calmly, the restrictions in the form of energy chains around them were being destroyed quickly and the stakes seemed to cause no harm significant even though they all hit the target. "I was discovered and couldn''t destroy the target, so I better attack head on now that I have no way to hide efficiently." "< Aura Armor >" (I) At the same moment as he spoke, I used Aura Armor condensing my Aura around my body in time to defend an attack that came towards my head, I was thrown aside, but luckily I was fine and prepared for him when he broke free from the restraints appearing close to me with great speed. "(I didn''t expect to fight an Abyss Lord so soon, I was careless, those weak Abyss Creatures were just a distraction and smokescreen for him to carry out a fatal attack.)" (I) The realization of an Abyss Lord''s planning and intelligence hit hard, they are much scarier than I thought and I didn''t have time to escape from him, or so I thought, when I was retreating back, suddenly a square portal appeared making me enter it before closing, when I realized I was at the control point of this battlefield close to one of Zenos'' daughters. "You saved me, thank you." (I) "Don''t thank me until you look back." (Nicole) As soon as I looked behind me I realized that she wasn''t helping me, she was recruiting help, there were a frightening number of Abyss Creatures coming towards us and behind them a large hand tried to reach through the space covered in injuries, multicolored crystal swords and golden chains tied the arm, making it return into space and disappear from sight. -------------------- Pov Caitlyn: I was inside the Divine Realm where the Gods were restraining the strongest Abyss Lords and Abyss Creatures from entering the battlefield, I couldn''t even follow the battle happening in front of me other than a strange light show. I was accompanied by the God of War Hatlas, his eyes were focused on the battle in front of him the entire time he spoke to me. "You did well." (Hatlas) "I still don''t understand the reason for these illusions, this has little or no effect on the Creatures of the Abyss, they do not feel fear and do not hesitate even at the risk of being destroyed." (I) "That meteor falling as well as the big hand coming out of space full of injuries, what''s the point of that in the middle of the battlefield?" (I) "Causing fear and emotional pressure, those fighting are beings of great power compared to most of the universe, even those who rose to where they are with commendable effort, as time passes they lose the flame of the battle they once had, they forget about fear and feelings of death that were once normal in his younger days." (Hatlas) "Sometimes having too much power can weaken a person''s senses and heart, I know this better than most, they need to feel the pressure to be emotionally and mentally prepared for battle." (Hatlas) "What if they give up or end up dying because of it?" (I) "There are those protecting them from the shadows, don''t worry, we just need you because your illusions are especially good at affecting the mind." (Hatlas) Chapter 1340: Cap 1338: Defending the control point Chapter 1340: Cap 1338: Defending the control point ?When I returned to the camp I barely had time to breathe, the control point in this place was surrounded by monsters and more and more of them were appearing, but none of them attacked. Just by looking, I realized they were doing something, but I didn''t know what to expect, so my eyes went to Nicole surrounded by holographic screens. "What''s going on? What''s the situation?"?(I) "15 Abyss Lords and around 90 thousand Abyss Creatures, there is also a possibility that there are more Abyss Lords hiding in the crowd to wreak havoc with a surprise attack."?(Nicole) "What''s the plan?"?(I) "Not die."?(Nicole) "..." (I) "There is no logical way to form a plan, the enemy is coming out of space at random, and even now the numbers seem to have increased, I am not able to form a plan other than what we are doing."?(Nicole) I couldn''t complain to her, I myself couldn''t think of anything other than a frontal attack as destructive as possible to reduce their numbers. I soon decided to look at the rest of the camp, there were people mobilizing through the magical Rituals in which I helped and people standing ready for combat. "Do the other Religions have something in mind?"?(I) "No, they are using the same thing as at the beginning, the Minor Gods attacking the Lords of the Abyss and the Demigods attacking the Creatures of the Abyss, basically the same thing they were already doing."?(Nicole) "(I don''t want to run in blindly without a plan, but this is a very simple situation of brutality, so whatever!)" (I) "Everyone here will help, but is there anyone else coming?"?(I) "It was supposed to come, but I can''t get in touch with Hades, Hela, Sakura, rica and several others."?(Nicole) "Are they in danger?"?(I) "No, but there seems to be some interference, they seem to be closing the space around us distorting the space."?(Nicole) "I understand, but it''s not distorting space, it''s eroding space."?(I) I looked around, what I could feel more clearly than any other space in this place, the same thing that I experienced before is slowly happening, but now I can focus more on it identifying the reason. The Aura, presence, or whatever these things have emanating from your bodies is corroding the very space that continues to repair itself all the time. I could easily feel that more than 3/5 of the enemies disappeared with this attack, so there was no need to say anything else, I could see rays of light coming out of the control point and heading towards the Lords of the Abyss. "They were faster than I expected, I should go too."(I) With the Minor Gods advancing first, I followed closely behind, of course, I chose to go to the place where there would be no Lord of the Abyss, I no longer want to fight these bastards like the idiot who used acid. As soon as I advanced, I went to the area that would give me the most advantage, value, and cold, just as any type of environment will be useless against the Creatures of the Abyss, but environments with more exotic obstacles that hinder their movements is the best option, so I went to direction of forest areas. On the way I saw black dust spread everywhere, it must belong to the Abyss Creatures killed in this attack. But what I did was enter my Dragon form while trying to maintain a smaller, more human-sized body, a dagger in one hand and a sword in the other. I ran without encountering any enemies until I reached the forest, and then dozens of thorns the size of my arm came towards me at high speed. I kept my mind calm while dodging the thorns with minimal movements or using my two weapons to change their directions by swiping sideways, so I advanced into the forest where some kind of gray scorpion was waiting for me. I threw my dagger at the tail, throwing it back, giving me time to run towards him, I jumped over the pincers when he tried to attack me, then I concentrated my Aura and Holy Power on the sword''s blade before focusing a horizontal attack. In his head, this all happened in mere seconds and ended with this Creature of the Abyss split in half. So I stopped at the entrance to the forest because I felt eyes watching me, in the end, I ended up running into exactly what I wanted to avoid. "You noticed me, your senses seem to be pretty good, I''ll try to remember that." Suddenly all the trees began to wither and die, an energy similar to death spreading, it was a little different and more like decay, this energy decreases and weakens everything it touches while draining all forms of energy. When the trees disappear a Lord of the Abyss shows himself, it was a scorpion with 2 tails, two scythes in place of pincers and the upper part was that of a woman with armor made from the same carapace as the rest of the scorpion''s body, it was some kind of centaur with strange scorpion. The woman was looking at me calmly as if analyzing everything about me, but while she was physically still, her Aura tried to attack me twice, the first time she tried to pressure me, which didn''t work, so she focused her Aura on a single point which tried to penetrate my Aura, which also didn''t work when I used the same strategy concentrating my Aura in a smaller area to defend its attack. "It will be more efficient to use the body, let''s prove it." Saying this she came running towards me, her scorpion legs moving at surprising speed. "Why can''t I just have 1 plan of mine working? Damn bad luck!"(I) Saying this, I opened my wings, giving a strong push forward, when their scythes tried to cut me, I turned, passing between the two scythes to try an attack, but in that position, I couldn''t dodge the attack from one of the tails, which released a fluid jet pressurized cutting off some of my scales. I took advantage of this attack the moment it hit my body to reposition myself further away, it seems that I have to better consider my next attack. "< Eclipse Magic: Wild Forest >" (I) Chapter 1341: Cap 1339: No time to rest Chapter 1341: Cap 1339: No time to rest ?"< Eclipse Magic: Wild Forest >" (I) The dead forest around us absorbs the blood particles leaving my body, making them come to life once again, or in this case, between life and death. Trees grow for 5 kilometers around me growing hundreds of meters high, their trunks are black and their leaves are white, a mist that distorts the senses, and space itself spreads on all sides as the trees share the same will to revive through sacrifice. "(I know what you''re planning, but the life of this forest as well as all the space around it is a Divine Territory, there is no true life for anything inside other than those who entered.)" (Goddess Mavis) In my mind I suddenly heard the voice of the Goddess of Life, this brief moment of distraction almost cost me my head, the Lord of the Abyss didn''t stop attacking me, he ran towards me while the trees were descending, his scythes cut the trees in growth on the way until it reaches me. I didn''t have time to dodge, so I used my claws to hold the blade of one of the scythes with my fingertips, letting myself be carried away by the force of the blow as I was thrown once again into a more favorable position. This time its tail breathed thorns that looked like bones into mine, I managed to dodge it with some difficulty, but the voice of the Goddess of Life in my mind didn''t stop. "(I advise you to use your Divine Weapon indirectly, this way it will be more useful, I imagine you know what to do.)" (Goddess Mavis) "Thank you Goddess of Life."?(I) What she said was not something I expected, I created this magic weeks ago to help Sakura, and with this magic, it became easier for her to create more Incarnations of the Forest and create an area capable of becoming a habitat for them. I only used this magic here due to the convenience of the situation, when the trees finish growing they will have the ability to regenerate and will have a collective mind that is initially simple, but that I can control, thereby gaining an environmental advantage in battle. "Long-range attacks are ineffective, good to know." Suddenly I saw the Abyss Lord''s scorpion tails splitting to form 4 tails and the tip of all the tails changed forming blades as they became 3 times longer. "(Is she adapting? Can she control the adaptation?)" (I) I had many questions, but I didn''t have time to look for those answers now, she was jumping towards me, and even though her body was large she still moved with surprising precision and fluidity. "< Eclipse Magic: Eclipse Prison >" (I) But before reaching where I am, she was attacked by 7 branches with spear-like tips, 4 branches going through her tails while the other 3 branches going through her body. The branches could only destroy it for 2 seconds, but it was enough to make other branches, vines, and leaves form magical circles around it to activate a magic that I adapted from the fire element, the magic creates a sphere of flames that traps those inside burning your entire body. The only thing different is that this prison of flames uses Starfire and Holy Power, becoming much superior in destructive power, unfortunately, Starfire does not really destroy, it only transforms and changes what it burns, in this case, it is transforming it into pure vital energy that is feeding the forest itself. "< Eclipse Dragon Claws >" (I) I use my tail like a whip swatting the one who was far away before using my claws to tear apart his very injured body, his pieces burned much faster until only the usual black dust was left. "< Sacred Impact >" (I) I concentrate the Holy Power in my fist before turning around throwing a punch that collides with the Abyss Lord''s strike, I continue punching, kicking, and slashing with my tail. No matter what blow I use, he doesn''t take a step back, he always delivers a blow of equal force. This fight has been going on for a long time leaving a shadow in my mind, the adaptive capacity of these things is surreal, so I knew that if it continues like this I will end up losing. Soon it started, and the strength of his blows little by little surpassed my blows, in addition, his body was growing and a new pair of arms grew on his body, so several blows were hitting me, and I was just accumulating injuries. "(It can''t go on like this.)" (I) I control the forest by making hundreds of branches and vines attack the Lord of the Abyss, thanks to this I gained valuable time. "< Sacred Spiritual Fire Rune >" (I) I painted his body with Spiritual Runes using my blood, as soon as I activated the Starfire it burned his body from the inside out, seeing his body light up from the inside was interesting, and much quicker to defeat him. But before I gave a final blow I had to throw myself to the side, dodging a tentacle that came from a certain direction, when I looked I saw what looked like an octopus with insect legs, it was another Lord of the Abyss, I could identify it by the presence it emits. "I haven''t even finished one and there''s already another one to deal with!? Seriously!?"(I) "I can''t stop to rest for 5 minutes!?"(I) "< Hill of Blood >" (I) I used some of the blood from the surrounding trees to form a column of blood that increases the power of Starfire, completely destroying the Abyss Lord I was fighting, now all that was missing was the strange octopus. But before I could attack, a giant Silver Wolf appears with its jaws open, tearing him apart with its sharp teeth. When the Wolf returned to normal it was possible to see some persistent injuries and blood, but we didn''t have time to speak, Diana and I turned to something covering the skies, there were millions of Abyss Creatures attacking. "I really can''t rest?"(I) Chapter 1342: Cap 1340: Priority target Chapter 1342: Cap 1340: Priority target ?I couldn''t understand why I''m the only one who has so much bad luck, the enemies just don''t stop coming, it''s been 4 days and several Lords of the Abyss have already come against me to the point where I wouldn''t have time to rest, if it weren''t for my power of chaos To be able to convert their power into something I can absorb to recover my own energy, I would have fallen a long time ago. The forest I had created before has now expanded to 122 kilometers, far above the initial 5 kilometers, I can''t say whether this is caused by the indirect effect of my Divine Weapon or because of the large amount of energy absorbed by the enemies'' consumption until now. The forest also changed, silver lines spread throughout the forest in the wood of the trees adding illusion effects, unfortunately, whether it is illusion, mental effects, confusing the senses or even hiding the presence, none of this is of any use against these damn things. It seems that both the Creatures of the Abyss and the Lords of the Abyss are capable of tracking people through all possible means to evade their attentions, I don''t know so far how they do this and none of them seem willing to respond. "For the love of the Gods, why do they keep coming? I haven''t even finished reattaching my arm!"?(I) "I can take care of them if you want."?(Nix) "Where are the others?"?(I) "Mostly occupied, Orion is recovering at camp, most of the blood that makes up his body has been annihilated, so he is receiving treatment from Vanessa."?(Nix) "Then take care of the one coming from the right, I''ll take care of the other two and when you''re done come help me."?(I) As soon as I gave my orders I flapped my wings heading towards the enemies, inside this forest I could feel them like a stain on a clean surface, their existences are like stains of nothing in the universe. By doubling the space in this forest I was able to reach my destination in seconds, facing the two Lords of the Abyss running towards me. One of them was an imitation Dragon with a Bug carapace instead of swords while the other was a giant with arms that opened like a flower full of teeth, its face was just a big gray eye and its body was creating tree bark like armor. "(They are both very strong and have clearly adapted to have strong defense, what do I do?)" (I) I''ve faced many of these Lords of the Abyss and one thing I noticed was noticing their adaptation path to know how to attack them, the battles always had to be intense and short, it had to end before they adapted completely, forcing me to change my tactics, which happens more than half the time. "(I can''t be careless.)" (I) "< Divine Incarnation: 34% >" (I) My Sacred Power, Aura, and Authority changed as the Divine Spark ignited making my entire body change with a fundamental power to read everything that I am. "< Limitless Realm >" (I) Using the power of the elements of space, wind, thunder and light together with the Divine Spark within me a power explodes within me, the speed of movement and my perception increase exponentially, in this explosion of speed my claws shine, in what was only 1 second of time I had already crossed to the other side of the 2 Lords of the Abyss, their bodies marked by hundreds of Spiritual Runes each. "< Curse of Chaos Flame >" (I) Soon their bodies began to burn in Starfire, even though they didn''t scream as expected, they rushed towards me, their giant bodies seeming to be unharmed as they continued trying to attack me. The high speed from before is something that exceeds the limits of my body even when using Divine Incarnation, that''s because I''m moving forcing my body beyond all my limits, it''s not the type of technique I can use consecutively. I needed something at that level to be able to surpass the regeneration of their bodies or the Runes I cut into their flesh would have disappeared before I finished them all. The rest of the time was spent with me deflecting their blows as much as possible while their bodies were consumed by Starfire, it took several minutes for me to finally see there was nothing left of them. "From the beginning, this was to train you and show you how terrifying the Creatures of the Abyss are, they don''t feel pain, they don''t feel fear, they don''t feel tired and they never stop attacking."(Elizabeth) "How are the others?"(I) "Sleeping just like you until recently, they died a few hours after you, only the minor Gods and a few Demigods remained after the control point fell, so it was only a matter of time before they all died."(Elizabeth) "What happened to the Divine Realm and the rift?"(I) "Even without you, the Divine Kingdom remained, your Territory assimilated into the Divine Kingdom remained, in the end, most of the rift was already closed, the Gods could have ended a long time ago."(Elizabeth) "They wanted everyone to experience death."(I) "Yes, but now it''s all over and we can go back to what we were doing."(Elizabeth) "I think I need some more sleep."(I) "Rest as much as you want." (Elizabeth) It seems like a lot of things happened during my sleep, but I don''t have time to think about it now, I put my hand on my chest trying to feel the Blood Core where the egg was still sleeping, it seems like nothing has changed. I realize that my Divine Weapons were stronger, it was something I didn''t stop to think about with so many fights going on all the time I didn''t expect that even death would be just another part of the training, but it seems that everyone did well, unfortunately, I haven''t received munpayment from the God of Beasts yet, but fortunately, I don''t need to worry, sooner or later I will receive what I deserve. ---------------- Pov Goddess Selene: "I think everyone did well."(I) "Some did well, most had horrible synchronization at the beginning, everyone was fighting individually away from each other."(Hatlas) "You''re being too demanding, they''ll never reach your standards, they were better than I expected."(I) "Whatever we need now are..." (I) "Stop all this nonsense, if we''re done with that then I have somewhere else to go."(Aine) "(Kalistos and Mavis left without anyone seeing, they were hiding somewhere.)" (I) "What you said caught my attention..." (I) So many things happened here just as we predicted, but now there was nothing left, the Arena continent was a mess, but in my head, other things were falling apart. "(Zenos was more focused than I expected, are they being cautious with the power of chaos?)" (I) "(He has become a priority target, let''s hope he can grow up faster.)" (I) Chapter 1343: Cap 1341: Divine Rewards Chapter 1343: Cap 1341: Divine Rewards ?Pov Haku (Clone): I don''t know what Mother wants to do here, we''ve been looking for months and haven''t found anything, my only reason for waking up every day is the fruits of my experiences giving results. "How are you kids?"?(I) Th.e? most uptodate novels are published on n(0)velbj)n(.)co/m "My arm hurts."?(experiment A) "I feel pain all the time, it''s so strange... hahahahaha..." (experiment B) "My body moves on its own, look at my arm."?(Experiment C) "..." (Experiment D) "What happened to that one? Where''s experiment E?"?(I) "He hasn''t moved since yesterday, the youngest was devoured by him before he fell like that."?(experiment A) "I see, it seems that the magic circle combination is still not right."?(I) My claws grow and I crush the boy''s mind into the ground, I used children because they were more easily adaptable genetically, but most died or experienced strange effects, I already tried to inspect their bodies to no avail when they spoke like that, but I found nothing other than a loss of time, better get rid of faults more efficiently. "You can eat this one after I leave, but for now, let''s make some adjustments, I need to remove your arm to take a look, and then I''ll remove your heart since I got a better one yesterday, we also need to test your bodies'' regeneration, so we''re going to have a very busy day today."?(I) "Can I be the first, please, please, please..." (Experiment B) "Alright, but no knives this time, I want to test the regeneration on the bones this time."?(I) "But I like knives."?(Experiment B) "You''re going to do what I say, are we clear?"?(I) "Yes, Mrs. Haku."?(Experiment B) "(That''s why I hate messing with children''s memories, they always develop strange personalities and habits, it becomes so tiring...)" (I) The city where I am has already been cleaned up, I got several low and medium quality materials, but at least the children are useful after some adjustments in their minds to make them more loyal and easy to deal with, unfortunately, it takes up a lot of time. "Lady Haku, we found it, it was in the mountains in a hidden temple."?(Assistant) "Finally, I thought this mission would never end, Mother will be happy."?(I) ---------------- Pov Zenos: "..." (I) "That sphere, is it... a complete Deity?"(I) "Yes, this is your reward for completing my mission, to be honest, I never thought you would win, especially since there were Minor Gods participating in the tournament."(God Cratos) "I used the quest just to force you to participate in the tournament and set a very high mark to push you to the limit, I was still surprised and increased the reward."(God Cratos) "The other two Divinity Fragments are for your help sharing your chaos power during training and for performing such a splendid performance against so many Abyss Lords."(God Cratos) "By your logic, others must have received rewards for all those fights, right?"(I) "You got it right, but the evaluation measure for each one is different, if you expect much more from a Minor God than you expect from a Demigod, among the Demigods you stood out extravagantly."(God Cratos) He doesn''t even try to hide that both the tournament and the battle in that Divine Kingdom were training, in fact by now everyone must have realized and this whole event has already ended, there is no reason to hide it anymore when everything is in the past. I was really interested in everything the God of Beasts was saying, but I couldn''t shake the strange feeling of being watched, I didn''t know which God was watching me or where he was, all I knew was that his gaze was intense enough that he didn''t even try to hide. "Is the one watching me a friend or an enemy? It wouldn''t be the God of Light, right?"(I) "Leave him aside, but you don''t need to worry, he''s an ally, you''re not ready to meet him yet, you also need to know that he hates that idiot Baldr."(God Cratos) "..." (I) It seemed like the Beast God didn''t want me to know about this other God for now, but it shouldn''t be an enemy, if I''m correctly interpreting what I''ve gathered so far, the Beast God must want me to get these Essences before talking to this mysterious God. Maybe one of these Essences is even necessary for this, if that''s the case this mysterious God must need me for something, this smells like another divine mission for my bad luck. "Let''s get started, which of the 3 do you want to start?"(Goddess Cratos) "Either of the 2 Divinity Fragments, I''ll leave the sphere for last."(I) "I''ll start with the fox, this Fragment has traces of a Spiritual Essence, I chose this and the other Divinity Fragment because they are compatible with the Essences that are not yet complete within you."(God Cratos) "Thanks."(I) "(If it''s a spiritual type Essence, maybe I could try using it on the essence I already have, maybe even remove that word "partial" from the name.)" (me) I had a thought in mind and I''m sure that if God thought the same I still don''t know if it''s really possible, but it should be something relatively easy, maybe it''s even something easy if you correctly use the power of chaos to adapt this energy in the right way that I want. The Beast God snaps his fingers and the star-shaped crystal descends onto the 3-eyed Fox, the Fox''s screams were becoming louder by the second as his body changed. The God of Beasts opened the teleportation portal that took the transforming Fox to the foot of the cliff, its body was still changing with its flesh moving as it restructured the body, the body growing as a strange energy emanated from it. "I''ll start with that one."(I) Chapter 1344: Cap 1342: Earning my reward part 1 Chapter 1344: Cap 1342: Earning my reward part 1 ?I was above the cliff watching the Fox writhe, but what caught my attention most was the energy leaking from its body, the energy seemed to coil around the body like a plant growing around something planting its roots. It was like a parasite in the body, it was spreading and taking over the body or something along those lines, I also saw energy flows circulate around the fox as if it refused to interact with the fox. "What will it become, how strong will it be in the end?"?(I) "I have no idea, I wasn''t the one who captured these Divinity Fragments, but it seems to fit in well on the Fox."?(God Cratos) Its body was aiming, the Fox''s fur turned brown with golden lines passing through the body, its causes were only 6, each of the tails moved stealing the power of the nature around it, I could see phantom fox heads at the tip of each of its tails, its three eyes also grew horribly towards the sides and top of its head. "Are you going to wait until it''s finished? I thought you''d attack at the opportunity while you''re still transforming."?(God Cratos) "No, I don''t want to take any risks, so I''m waiting for the Divinity Fragment to fuse completely."?(I) "I also want to test something."?(I) During the weeks-long war against the Creatures of the Abyss, I had to develop new techniques, as the days passed it became increasingly difficult to hurt those bastards, they adapted to different forms of energy, increased their defenses in different ways, increased their physical abilities, changed the shape of their bodies and the only weaknesses that kill each other would be Holy Power, Divine Power and curses. Curses are not a normal type of energy, but their effects are very indirect and unique making it difficult to resist. During those fights, I did so well mainly because of my versatility, which gave me more varieties of attack and opened up many avenues for my imagination to flourish in new attacks. "Do what you want, but don''t underestimate the enemy, the power of those dominated by the Fragments of Divinity are not always equal."?(God Cratos) "I can see that..." (I) The power of that thing is increasing more and more, I can feel the Aura still trapped inside its body bubbling with explosive power, this place is a Divine Realm created by the God of Beasts, but it will not interfere in the combat, it is not even trying to suppress the Aura of the Fox. "Looks like it''s time to move."?(I) I jump off the cliff, already transforming into a Dragon, power coursing through my veins, but this time I do something I''ve only tested once against the Creatures of the Abyss. "< Holy Summon: Star Sword >" (I) The power of chaos within me begins to burn as large amounts of my Authority and Holy Power are added together to summon the sword that pierces through space breaking him in the process. I take the sword in my hands before looking at the fox, the power around it was strange, runes were shining in its eyes as if tattooed there, it was strange to see. "(I''ll have enough time.)" (I) "Concentrate..." (I) As I concentrated the Fox opened eyes that focused on me who was hands close, her Aura was incredibly strong, but she was close to a Demigod level in presence if she had to guess. When he looked at me I was ready, I could no longer interfere with the activation of the technique. This time I started the attack, I used my Aura to exert pressure for a brief second while my wings gave the necessary momentum to reach the back above the Fox whose reflex must have been delayed now that she lost her head. I focus my Holy Power on the sword spinning and cutting off all of the Fox''s tails beforepiercing its spine with the sword that goes to the other side. The tails cut off as the body still struggling trying to free itself from the sword, but black lines of crystal come out of the sword and the silhouettes inside the sword writhe using the wires as a means to get out, while Shadow Dragon heads with glowing eyes emerge from the sword devouring the severed tails along with the Fox''s still thrashing body. The Shadow Dragons are new to me, I only pour Holy Power than normal, but they emerged and started literally eating the Fox''s body piece by piece while Starfire spread throughout her body. It only took 20 seconds for not even the Fox''s bones to remain, but I couldn''t pay attention to it as my whole body started to hurt, my muscles were twitching and even my Soul was shaking. Ding! <[ [ Your Soul and Essence have been strengthened by absorbing the [ Magical Beast Essence (Fragment) ] ]> . . . <[ You used your [ Essence of Chaos (Partially Sealed) ] through the skill [ Star Sword ] to refine [ Essence of the Magical beast (Fragment) ] ]> . . <[ You have succeeded in transforming [ Magical beast Essence (Fragment) ] into Essence compatible with yours and consuming it to strengthen your [ Magic Essence of the Penumbra Fairies (Partial)] ]> . . <[ You have Awakened the [ Dawn Fairy Magic Essence (Partial) ] to a Complete Essence [ Dawn Fairy Magic Essence (Partially Sealed) ] ]> . . <[ All your Magic-type attributes and abilities are strengthened ]> . . <[ Your Essence has been Sealed automatically as soon as it completes until it meets the necessary requirements ]> Chapter 1345: Cap 1343: Earning my reward part 2 Chapter 1345: Cap 1343: Earning my reward part 2 ?I don''t know how much time passed, but my body, mind, and Soul were drowned in pain, all I felt and thought was endless pain as something poured inside me, a storm destroying my entire body. I could feel my blood crystallize and return to normal again and again, I could feel my muscles twitch, I could feel my bones vibrating and cracking on all sides, I could feel my organs turning to mush and my being surrounded by formless power. The magical power within me was running amok as it changed fundamentally, becoming purer and more concentrated while at the same time seeming to pour out of me endlessly. It was an absurd amount of Mana filled with an element that didn''t exist before I created it, this power was growing and becoming complete. My body was covered in wounds and yet, little by little, euphoria welled up inside me, a feeling of completeness and accomplishment grew more and more until it overcame all the pain I felt. When all these feelings disappeared, I felt normal, and my ragged body was healing, but for a long time, my physical body had little importance to me. The magical power coursing through my body was crystal clear like a bottomless river of stars, all this power didn''t just stay in me, it flowed out of my body and around me before diluting into nature. When I opened my eyes I was lying in a pool of blood looking up, there was the God Cratos on the top of the cliff looking at me from above and when I lifted my body with difficulty, I realized that the Star Sword had disappeared. My body was healing and I controlled the blood on the floor to flow back into my body leaving any dirt out. It didn''t take more than a few minutes for my body to heal from all the injuries and little by little my energy returned when I was able to stand firmly. Sigh I look at my fists clenching and unclenching my hands, feeling the power coursing through my body, the amount of Mana within my body was much greater than before, and its density and purity were also completely different from what I had before. Closing my eyes I could feel 3 powers within my Soul as if they were part of my Soul, they were the 3 complete Essences that I possess, it was as if my Soul was made of these Essences now, they are a part of me. "Feeling different?"?(God Cratos) "Yes and no, a strange feeling..." (I) "The Gods normally have 1 Essence from which others derive, there are few who have Essences as distant from each other as you."?(God Cratos) I felt the great hand of the God of Beasts on my shoulder and without me giving in the landscape changed, I was once again at the top of the cliff, and in front of me were the Werewolf with the sphere above him and next to him was the monster Bull mixed with Rat. "Get some rest, you still need to continue collecting your reward."?(God Cratos) "Thanks."?(I) I sat cross-legged starting to meditate, this helped me recover my energy spent in the fight, finish healing what was missing from my injuries faster, understand the changes in my body, and order my mind to regain focus. ------------------ But I can see the killing intent getting stronger in its Aura, then it moves strangely, the monster was not only using the weapons to attack but also launching condensed energy attacks in the same place. "< Demonic Wave >" (I) I gathered the Demonic energy within my hands while waving and doing for that energy. The wave of condensed power exploded in all directions taking the monster back while some of its hands point towards me ready to attack. "< Starfire Tsunami >" (I) This time I use my Chaos Power to use Starfire creating a Starfire Tsunami, a mid-level spell that with my amount of Mana turns into an almost living wave of fire hundreds of meters high heading towards you. He acted calmly, making his weapons perform dozens of attacks on each arm, thus opening the way by attacking head on. "< Breath of Chaos >" (I) As soon as he tried to get closer I smiled and waited 2 or 3 seconds until I was no longer able to leave, then when it was slow enough he was already close, I used my point blank breath attack. The weapons tried to do something, but it was too late to swing any weapons, my breath attack hits their body, and I take this moment to channel my Authority along with my Holy Power while charging at them. "< Holy Summon: Star Sword >" (I) As soon as I approached the creature full of arms I used my claws to engrave my hand inside his body, it was at that moment that I summoned the sword directly inside his body. Suddenly I feel the Star Sword appearing in my hand inside the creature, using this power I firmly hold the handle of the sword and pull it upwards, the entire upper part of the monster was cut in half. "< 1? Star Sword Art: Consumer of Worlds >" (I) Once again the Star Sword changes taking on a different form, the same form I used before with just one difference, the monster comes together once again and all the weapons in its hands are pointed at me. With that I didn''t have time to move, so I concentrated my power on my wings before momentarily giving a boost with my entire form making everyone move away. "Let''s see how you like this."(I) Holding the Star Sword, I positioned myself quickly before throwing, it took just a few seconds and I threw the sword through his body, pinning him to the ground. Soon lines of crystal and Shadow Dragons come out of the sword and begin to devour the monster without any mercy until there is nothing left. Ding! "You were weaker than the last one."(I) Chapter 1346: Cap 1344: Earning my reward part 3 Chapter 1346: Cap 1344: Earning my reward part 3 ?Ding! <[ His soul has been strengthened by absorbing [ Ghost Spirit Essence (Fragment) ] ]> . . . <[ You used your [ Chaos Essence (Partially Sealed) ] through the [ Star Sword ] skill to refine [ Ghost Spirit Essence (Fragment) ] ]> . . <[ You have succeeded in transforming [ Ghost Spirit Essence (Fragment) ] into an Essence compatible with yours and consuming it to strengthen your [ Chaos Spiritual Essence (Partial) ] ]> T/his chapter is updated by . . <[ You have Awakened the [ Chaos Spiritual Essence (Partial) ] to a Complete Essence [ Chaos Spiritual Essence (Partially Sealed) ] ]> . . <[ All your Spiritual-type attributes and abilities are strengthened ]> . . <[ Your Essence has been Sealed automatically as soon as it completes until it meets the necessary requirements ]> The pain this time was different from before, if before my body was the most affected by the magical energy being transformed within me, this time my Soul seemed to have been thrown into a pit of magma. My body felt unwell, but the damage was less than the previous time, making me ignore it while focusing on my Soul. The Spiritual Energy within me seemed to be trying to consume my Soul by constantly scraping fragments of my Soul, it was a feeling that cannot be expressed in words, having your Soul in danger and being powerless to stop it. I was terrified to the point that I forgot for a few seconds about Essences and things like that, all I thought about was how to save myself without realizing that all of this was an effect of my own power, I was never in real danger. Soon the Spiritual Energy began to merge into my Soul healing the damage done and strengthening my Soul, the feeling of terror was subsiding as a deeper energy was surging within me flowing beyond just my body. This time I could feel the 4 types of essentials within my Soul, it was still unstable with the Essences maintaining separate spaces between them as if each one took an area of ??my Soul as a home. When I opened my eyes the sense of the world around me came to me, I didn''t realize how much time had passed or know exactly what happened while I was out of it, but I was back to my normal self with blood floating around me. I looked up and the God of Beasts was looking back at me, I stood up once again opening and closing my hands to feel the new shape of my body. The real problem is that this God seems to have a connection with this Essence, I remember that the God of Beasts made a bet with 3 other Gods during the tournament, I don''t know how much of this is true since his true intentions were to create the scenario for the training of Divine beings, but if this bet is real, then I remember that 2 Demon Gods were part of this bet. "(That Essence is complete and in harmony with nature, I can feel it, which means it belongs to this universe, it belongs to a God of our universe.)" (I) "(I need to know before moving forward, I don''t want to get into trouble in the future because of this.)" (I) I know that the God of Beasts can read my mind and emotions in this place, maybe this mysterious God can do that too, I am showing my sincere thoughts about this to avoid any problems in the future while I wait for what will happen next. "(I already receive a lot from the Gods and I am far from entitled to ask for anything from them, all I can do is sit and wait for their decision.)" (I) "I''ll tell you, but I won''t go into details." (God Cratos) "As you noticed, this is the Essence of a God of this universe, this God no longer exists, but his Divinity is still here." (God Cratos) "..." (I) I wouldn''t ask any questions and I don''t think it''s necessary, they know my questions, and I can''t protect my mind from Gods, so I expected them to answer the questions without me having to speak. Who was this God? What connection do you have with this mysterious God watching me? What is this Essence? Will I have problems for keeping this Essence with me? I knew they were obvious questions, but necessary to maintain my safety, I wouldn''t want to find out that another God besides Baldr sees me as an enemy. "You don''t need to worry about useless things, there won''t be any problems with you taking these Essence, the rest you can figure out for yourself, I won''t force you if you still don''t want to take this Essence." (God Cratos) "I''ll take." (I) "So don''t waste any more time, I''ll start now and be aware that he''s going to be an Evil God this time, I can''t predict his exact strength." (God Cratos) Saying this the God of Beasts nodded making the sphere of darkness hit the Werewolf, dozens of tentacles of darkness come out of the sphere surrounding the Werewolf who struggles before being kicked down the cliff just like the two before him. "This one will be a little strong, good luck" (Deus Cratos) Saying this he disappears, but I stay calm going to the cliff to look at the Werewolf transforming. As soon as I looked down his flesh was melting, and the sphere of darkness was not fusing with him like the Fragments of Divinity were doing, the sphere of darkness was absorbing the Werewolf, and the opposite of the other two times was happening. But even though it was devoured, the Werewolf''s Aura was increasing as it changed, its Aura was becoming more savage, murderous, and cruel. In less than 1 minute there was no more Werewolf, his body was melted and completely consumed by the sphere of darkness that grew in size the more it absorbed until it became the same size as the Werewolf it absorbed. The Tentacles were still swaying around as if searching for someone else, but soon these tentacles sink once again into the black sphere that begins to rotate as it floats in the air, the Aura coming out of the black sphere was at its highest peak when everything changed. The presence of a bloodthirsty creature swept the surroundings and when cracks formed in the sphere of darkness that in a few seconds completely broke revealing a creature inside, as soon as we took it it was looking at me. "(This time might really be difficult, he is much stronger than before, also much stronger than the previous two, it must be because of the completed Essence.)" (I) Chapter 1347: Cap 1345: Earning my reward part 4 Chapter 1347: Cap 1345: Earning my reward part 4 ?The creature in front of me that came out of the sphere of darkness was no longer a Werewolf, he looked like a type of Wolf Centaur, the lower part of his body was the body of a giant Wolf while the upper part was the waist up of a humanoid, with the exception of the Head which was that of a Wolf with 4 eyes and a pair of horns that seem to form his eyebrow before continuing to grow to the side. The Wolf part of his body has inky black fur while the humanoid part of his body has red skin with dark gray tribal pattern designs throughout the upper half of the body, his arms were as muscular as the rest of the body ending in hands with longer-than-normal fingers and serrated claws. His body emanated a terrifying Aura and seemed to try to corrupt this place simply by being here, of course, he couldn''t since this is a Divine Kingdom, but he continued trying as if it were an automatic response to his presence. I could feel the power comparable to that of a Minor God coming from him, but there didn''t seem to be any Divine Power, the feeling he gave is similar to that of an Evil God and yet different. "< Holy Summon: Star Sword >" (I) "< 1? Star Sword Art: Consumer of Worlds >" (I) As soon as I invoked my Star Sword I already used my technique together, after these last fights I have managed to better understand this technique, now fighting against enemies that have something to be consumed and are not just empty shells like the Creatures of the Abyss. "(Something is different.)" (I) The monster wasn''t attacking me, I could see that its transformation ended almost as soon as my sword was trapped in my hands, but its eyes only spent a few seconds on me before looking up to where the top of the cliff is, the God of Beasts was sitting looking down at us from above. "Why should I fight someone insignificant?" "Can you talk...is this normal?"?(I) "A remnant of will, will soon disappear becoming wild."?(God Cratos) "I am a God, not an irrational monster, I will not accept..." Before he could finish his Aura became more savage and cruel, one of his arms was shaking as his claws grew, the Wolf''s hair on his body was standing on end as an increasingly sinister sensation emanated from him, his eyes flickering between having or not focus. "Will was hiding something really bad, good luck kid."?(God Cratos) "Damn it!"?(I) I flapped my wings while gaining momentum before he could do anything my sword hit head on with his claws being unable to land the milkman attack. The blood that spilled from my body was being used to build a trap, I may not have noticed the spear until it was too late, but I was already expecting it to come towards me. There were magic circles and Spiritual Runes scattered along the way, I just wanted to delay him at first, but after his spear attack, I won''t let this damage go unretributed. I gathered all the Runes to block the space around him as if freezing where it is, while I gathered the magics below him rearranging into something I already knew, my Holy and magical power came together at the tip of my sword as a magic circle appeared below me half a second before stabbing my sword into the ground. Soon a replica 100 times larger of my sword comes out of the ground below the enemy, spreading powerful Star Flames in the surroundings when it hits him, I wanted to finish him off with this attack, but it seems that the Star Fire broke the spatial block allowing him to escape further damage abandoned only one of his arms. "KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!" He seemed enraged running towards me, Starfire was still around the place where his left arm used to be, and his previously injured eyes also seem to be blind with my cut still presentit seems like he can''t fully recover from my attacks using the power of Chaos just like the Evil Gods. As I paid attention to him, a Shadow Dragon jumped out of the sword, devouring the enemy''s severed arm before jumping back into the sword. "He''s really been a challenge."(I) This time we were both without one of our arms working, his spear attack caused damage that refuses to heal, I also can''t directly count my body like I usually do, and maintaining the current form of my Star Sword still takes a lot of my concentration and focus, doing this during a fight using other skills and techniques is more than enough of a challenge, I can''t afford to divide my concentration at that moment. I hold my sword with my still working hand while the other unused arm hangs as he holds his own spear, I thrust my wings towards him once again and he runs on his 4 wolf paws towards me. My sword and spear collide several times per second, he was fast and stupidly strong, but he lacked precision and was being very direct in his attacks, this left me in a position to match him in combat even though he had lower stats. "(I won''t be able to beat him like this, he fights with pure instinct, and at some point he will get used to my movements.)" (I) I use my tail to pull one of his paws, and then I used one of my wings to strike his head making him turn, I was trying to dig a blind spot to use my sword, but it seems he can also use his senses with the Aura, his Lance gets in the way. He and I ran and flew across the ground, between the trees, and in the sky in combat for several minutes, neither of us was in a good condition to overcome the other, if he had an ounce of rationality I could have already lost in that state. I can''t drag out this type of fight forever, the longer the fight lasts the worse it will be for me as I still have to resist a new Essence, I have to end this quickly and that''s why I''m preparing to finish this faster. "I didn''t want to do this, but I have no choice."(I) "< Divine Incarnation: 58% >" (I) Chapter 1348: Cap 1346: Earning my reward part 5 Chapter 1348: Cap 1346: Earning my reward part 5 ?"< Divine Incarnation: 58% >" (I) I didn''t want to do that, I have 2 other full Essences now, and just accepting these two Essences was enough for a torturous ride of a few hours. I was afraid to use Divine Incarnation at this time because I didn''t know how much this technique of awakening my Divine Spark would have been affected by these new complete Essences. Unfortunately, I was right, as soon as my Sacred Power and Authority merged with the Essences creating the Divine Spark, this tiny power of the Gods began to pulse, growing in intensity while notifications appeared in my mind forcing me to increase the percentage of Divine Incarnation. Ding! <[ Divine Incarnation: 34% ]> Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only . . <[ Divine Incarnation: 41% ]> . . <[ Divine Incarnation: 49% ]> . . <[ Divine Incarnation: 58% ]> My entire body was burning, the Divine Spark within me seemed to have formed an illusory core directly within my Soul, but this illusory core was more like a Sun within my Soul burning from the inside out. The pain was so great that if it was before I went to Hell, I would have been rolling on the floor screaming like a child with tears staining my face, even though I was used to the pain, I almost lost control of my Star Sword''s transformation because of the pain. Even though I was miraculously able to maintain my concentration, it gave gaps that the enemy in front of me took advantage of. His Demon Spear pierced through my stomach before slashing to the side nearly cleaving my body in two, while his Wolf Paw crushed my chest in one blow tearing my flesh as he pushed me away. Its Wolf head grew once more as its jaws opened and Demonic energy gathered to probably launch another Demonic beam towards me. But these blows were not fatal and during this time my body transformed, I was growing and I didn''t pay much attention to how I looked, I just focused on increasing the size of my Star Sword in proportion to my body. When I was ready and the pain was subsiding, the Demon beam was already coming towards me, but compared to before it was slower, or maybe I''m faster now, thanks to that I had time to react, and my Aura focused on the sword collided with the Demon beam splitting him in two as he was only slightly pushed back. "(This is a little difficult to control.)" (I) I avoided using long-distance attacks for fear of not being able to control the energy in my body, so I tried to run towards him, only my sword was already bigger than his body at that moment, and even so, my speed surpasses his. Being so much taller than him was becoming a hindrance, all my movements became predictable as I always had to be aimed downwards, this restricted my movements whilst he became a smaller target to hit. After that the fight changed, even with the restrictions of my size and ways of attacking, I had the advantage in all physical statistics, each blow of my sword dragged him back almost not being able to defend, my speed and reach made it impossible for him to make an attack while staying in a passive position. Over time I became more and more accustomed to this new power, my body was becoming less tense as I stopped the useless movements making consecutive blows, his Spear was very resistant, but it was already covered in cracks. In the last attack, I used my tail to go under the ground attacking him from below, he reacted in time to avoid a blow, but it gave an opening for my sword to descend on his body. My sword managed to stab him, almost breaking his body completely in half. Before I could move my sword, the Shadow Dragons came out of the blade, devouring the body without leaving even the bones. "(KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!)" Suddenly my mind became confused and I felt my Authority boil along with my Aura, my sword fell apart while my body returned to normal. I heard the same voice of the enemy in my head and I couldn''t use my power, it was at that moment that I felt the sphere of darkness once again, its tentacles spreading into my body. "(This is MY body and you were DEVOURED!)" (I) <[ Your Familiar Ragnar (Eclipse Demon Sword Alicorn) has been implanted with [ Apocalypse Beast Essence (Partially Sealed) ] and must immerse himself in his Master''s Demon Blood for the Divine Awakening process ]> . . . <[ You won the Titles: ? [ Demigod of Corruption ] ? [ He who brings the Apocalypse ] ]> . . . <[ You have awakened the skill [ Apocalypse Demon Incarnation ] ]> ------------------- After that I drowned in something worse than pain, with the fragments of Divinity that I acquired until now all I suffered was pain, even these last two Fragments of Divinity that I used to complete 2 Essences I only experienced pain, perhaps because I endured the load in parts at a time. The time I got the Blood Transformation Essence it was easier, possibly because I was a Son of the Blood Goddess. The Essence of Chaos seemed to be something that had been inside me for a long time, it must have been with me since I was born or perhaps I acquired it in my reincarnation process. In all this time I have never experienced absorbing and integrating a full Divinity apart from the Blood Transmutation Essence which was infinitely compatible, but now I am doing it with a Demon-type Essence while being injured and having to deal with all this malice at the same time. But what I am experiencing is not pain or suffering, I can feel the effects building like a great wave about to become a tsunami to affect my mind and Soul, this is crazy. "(Want to corrupt my mind and Soul... damn Essence...)" (I) I quickly pull the doll from my waist and place it in front of my face, I know that the bastard sealed inside the doll can see and hear everything I say. "If you do not want to return to Hell... devour all this malice, murderous intent and the remains of that Will... now!"(I) "(I''ll keep this snack then...)" (Hell Doll) Suddenly my body was embraced by a silhouette full of chains as I felt the malice and miasma being sucked away, but within a few seconds, I had to stop paying attention to these things as my mind became confused with endless whispers. Kill everything! Conquer everything! You deserve more! Reach out and receive everything that is rightfully yours! Take it all!KILL EVERYTHING!KILL THEM ALL!!! HERB TEA!HERB TEA!HERB TEA!!! I could feel the Essence invading my Soul, the other Essences holding back its advance as it integrated into my Soul, but my mind could only rely on my willpower. "You''re going to need more... you''re going to need more... than that... for me... hhhhaaaaaaahhh!!!"(I) Suddenly all my memories of murder and torture were running around in circles in my mind, all other memories and memories were being pushed aside and forgotten, everything in my mind was death and more death. Even though my emotions are almost out of control, I still manage to keep myself under control thanks to my Divine Weapon and the connections with my Familiars, these things are working as an anchor for my mind and sanity. Even so, this was just the beginning of what were hours and hours of madness, emotional loss, hallucinations, and endless traumas, it took hours and even so, for me, it was like days of horror. "Finally... it''s over..." (I) Chapter 1349: Cap 1347: A Father鈥檚 Request Chapter 1349: Cap 1347: A Fathers Request ?When my mind was clearing after the madness of integrating this complete Essence. I was caught off guard once again, I expected physical pain, mental pain, or perhaps pain directly into my Soul, I never considered that the Essence''s reaction could be different depending on which Essence it was. I think it makes sense for a Demonic Essence to try to corrupt the person, it was a feeling worse than pain, not having control over my body, mind and emotions was one of the worst things I experienced if I don''t count what I went through in Hell. When I looked at my body I was surprised, my flesh was half melted while my bones were distorted, I wasn''t even able to speak and yet I didn''t feel pain or any other type of suffering. "(What happened to my body?)" (I) "< Incarnation of Blood >" (I) I was very tired, even though I forced the use of Blood Essence for a few seconds, my body was completely converted into blood that I control to restore my body to its normal state before deactivating the technique. "That was it was hard but I''m better now."?(I) Sigh As soon as I deactivated the technique my knees fell to the ground due to my body''s weakness, I did this because my body wasn''t healing properly, I could feel it but I wasn''t in a position to use a technique that uses Essence in my current state, the burden was too much for me. "You did well this time, I didn''t expect the Essence to maintain a trail of will, but I should have seen it coming."?(God Cratos) "Your match was also good, but in the end, there seemed to be something wrong, are you okay now?"?(God Cratos) "I am fine."?(I) I try to get a few bottles of blood and drink them one after another stacking empty bottles at the side until I feel satisfied once again, the blood helps me recover body fatigue and replenish my energy, its taste is also a relief to my mind to relax. Sigh "It seems like I haven''t fully recovered..." (I) Suddenly I feel a murderous intent returning, it''s still far from what I went through before, but the simple fact that it''s still there bothers me. It also feels like my emotions are still being influenced, the more negative emotions like hate, anger, and envy are standing out above the other emotions within me even though there is no reason. "(If it weren''t for Caitlyn''s emotional training and the things I went through in Hell this would be a problem, especially since I suspect this could be permanent.)" (I) My fear is that these negative emotions and murderous intent are effects caused by the existence of this Demonic Essence within me, if this is the case it could be permanent, but even if it is permanent it will only be an inconvenience at most, an inconvenience that I would like not to have. "Thank you for the rewards and patience, God of Beasts."?(I) "Thank you, I really don''t like formalities."(I) While talking to the Demonic God I felt the Essence once again trying to leave my Soul to affect my body, luckily I was on guard and managed to use the Blood Essence that I have the greatest control over to keep the Demonic Essence in place. "Sit in an armchair, I''ll join you soon."(God Hernoth) "Thanks."(I) I sit in one of the armchairs and wait in silence, I closed my eyes for what seemed like just seconds to be able to regain control of my Essence and keep my murderous intent within me. When I opened my eyes again, there was someone around 20 years old sitting in the armchair in front of me, he had black hair, olive skin, golden eyes, and was wearing clothes that resemble a suit with bone decorations. He looked like a young Human man, but his eyes are abnormally calm and cold, I can''t feel any Aura or presence coming from him and I won''t try to do such a thing. "You have masterful control over your Demonic Essence, you seem to have a talent with Demonic power, I imagine that this talent is due to your Mother."(God Hernoth) "Thank you for the compliment, God Hernoth."(I) "I would like to know what I can do for you?"(I) "I can''t imagine a reason for you to wait for me this long when this should be our first time meeting each other."(I) "I''m here for a selfish reason, for me, it''s something difficult to accomplish, but for you, it should be easy considering you''ve already done something similar."(God Hernoth) "..." (I) What worries me is the reason for this interest in me, I have never met this Demonic God before and I am not sure of his intentions, he is different from the other Gods I know. Goddess Aine seems to be the type to do what she wants, just like my mother, they are direct with her intentions. The Goddesses Mavis and Kalistos are mysterious operating on a level of thought that I am not able to understand, even among the other Gods these two are special and I don''t know how to deal with them or describe their personalities. The Gods Hatlas, Cratos, Fenrir, and Akatosh are all sincere in the way they speak, act, and behave simply, they are easy to see personality, and they are honest without a hint of falsehood, what you see is what you get take it with them. I prefer not to think about the God Baldr, he is arrogant, proud, and very narcissistic to the point of irritating me, he does not behave at all like a God of Light, he clearly uses his Religion as pieces in a game. But this Demonic God in front of me is different, his behavior may seem elegant, but everything about him screams danger, what I see is far from being all there is about him and those are certainly not the eyes of someone with a good heart. Because he is this way I''m more uncomfortable dealing with him now, but there''s nothing I can do, he''s definitely not a Minor God like those I fought against in the tournament, he''s strong enough for me to know I have no chance of even touching it in a fight that would last less than 1 second. "Don''t be nervous or anxious, I want your help with something... but this isn''t a God''s cry for help, this is a Father''s cry for help."(God Hernoth) Chapter 1350: Cap 1348: A Father鈥檚 Frustration Chapter 1350: Cap 1348: A Fathers Frustration ?I can''t follow through with this, is he saying he wants to make a request not as God but as a Father? I couldn''t understand where this conversation was going, I didn''t even know exactly what this Demonic God really wanted, his every word seems to be used to test me, and his eyes watch my every movement and expression, I can feel something stirring my Aura and it must be his thing, also his choice of words so far haven''t been very direct. I could tell all these things from the sheer number of people I''ve met, he clearly doesn''t trust me completely, and yet he seems to need me, that means I have something he needs or I can do something that is helpful to him. "(Power of Chaos, he wants to use my power for something.)" (I) I have met Gods Several times and was able to discover that I am the only one with the power of chaos, I am an anomaly among Divine beings because of this, apart from my Power of Chaos I don''t see how I can be useful to a Demon God who could essentially achieve anything. "Zenos, you must have already realized what I want, I like your Cunning, so I''ll be direct."?(God Hernoth) "I need your Chaos Power, you have demonstrated the ability to transform Essences and the ability for a complete Spiritual Rebirth for the Gods."?(God Hernoth) "I need that kind of power."?(God Hernoth) "..." (I) I was right in my line of thinking, but it makes me uncomfortable, I can see in his eyes that even if a request is made, he will not accept a refusal. He must be sure I''ll say "yes" to his request, but I''m more tempted to say no. "I think I understand what you want, you want the Spiritual Rebirth of a God, most likely your son, right?"?(I) "Yes, I need your help with this, Gods can die, but only in very specific ways, normally only the Divine Body will be Destroyed forcing the God to have to go through a Rebirth, his body will be recreated while his mind, emotions and powers will be maintained."?(God Hernoth) "This doesn''t feel like a Renaissance to me, it''s basically the same person or in this case God."?(I) T/his chapter is updated by "Correct, this only limits the God''s power for a while and can be considered the way to cause the most damage to all the Gods other than ripping out their Essences, which is more complicated than you might imagine."?(God Hernoth) "But I will not make this request for free, you will be rewarded for your help."?(God Hernoth) "First of all I need to know, am I at any risk in helping you or your son?"?(I) "When I was young I was always a fool, I managed to seduce whoever I wanted, and I used that to consume the power and lives of many people, I gained more and more power, and with that, I gave in to all my desires, I remember one time I started a war just out of envy of the Queen who had incredible beauty."(Goddess Hernoth) "The more power I gained, the more I gave in to all my darkest desires, mass murders, orgies, torture, theft, and increasingly senseless conquests, that''s how I became a Demigod waiting for everyone We took from the heart."(Goddess Hernoth) "I remember the things I did back then, I regret the way I did a lot of things, but I don''t regret doing anything."(Goddess Hernoth) "As the centuries passed, many things became clearer to me, it was when I began the culture of Demons to focus their darkest desires into something beneficial, with that I achieved Divinity a few thousand years later and celebrated by raising a son."(Goddess Hernoth) "The things I did in the past isolated me away from Mortals and other Deities, after a few centuries I wanted someone by my side and so I had my first child, I was selfish and arrogant."(Goddess Hernoth) "As time passed, my son became a mirror of me in my youth, I was proud of him until the moment I realized his mistakes, he was making the same mistakes I made in the past and even worse."(Goddess Hernoth) "When he became a Demigod and with my help a God then he became worse, I saw in him the reflections of my own faults and I raised another son."(Goddess Hernoth) "The Demonic Essence you possess belonged to my first son, not even his Soul is left and my second son follows the same paths."(Goddess Hernoth) "I failed as a Father, it frustrates me watching them make the same mistakes as me and getting lost in them instead of learning from their mistakes."(Goddess Hernoth) "If things continue like this, my second son will have the same fate as the first, I can''t let this go and I need your help to start everything over from scratch."(Goddess Hernoth) "(This Demon God is treating me like a damn restart button.)" (I) "There was never anything I couldn''t do, but with my children, I messed up every time, the frustration of their failures falls on me, their father."(Goddess Hernoth) "I couldn''t protect the first one, I didn''t even try to protect him and I regret that now, but this time I will correct my foolish second son."(Goddess Hernoth) I feel like something is not right, he started talking about his past and his children very suddenly, something was wrong. "You''re trying to convince me with a sob story, aren''t you? How much of what you said is true?"(I) "It seems that Selene has another son who knows how to use his brain besides Elizabeth."(Goddess Hernoth) His sad appearance faded away as his eyes became as calm as a bottomless pit, it was as if every emotion he had shown so far was someone else''s instead of him. "I may have dramatized a little, but I didn''t lie, I made a mistake as a Father and I don''t accept losing another child, that''s why I''m here and I hope you accept my request."(Goddess Hernoth) Chapter 1351: Cap 1349: Complete inversion of values ??part 1 Chapter 1351: Cap 1349: Complete inversion of values ??part 1 ?I don''t know if I refer to him as God or Goddess anymore, but the feeling of being put against the wall doesn''t change. He told a sad story from the past, he talked about his children and even put a reward, everything he is saying and doing seems to be for me to agree, I also feel that if I refuse I could make him an enemy. Even though he says that this is a request and the choice to accept or refuse rests with me, my instinct says that refusing is not a real option. "I agree to help, but first I would like to know what reward I will receive."?(I) "Locating the two Essences you need, between these two locations, one of them is going to be especially difficult."?(Goddess Hernoth) "Like this?"?(I) "First the service, then the reward."?(Goddess Hernoth) "..." (I) It seems like she won''t tell me anything until I finish helping her son, I''m really afraid of having another child, I already have too many and I''m too young for that, but I don''t have much of a choice here. "What should I do?"?(I) "I want a Dragon Seal and your heart."?(Goddess Hernoth) T/his chapter is updated by "..." (I) "You mean literally my heart?"?(I) "Your Dragon Seal needs to be made using the Demon Essence you received and your heart needs to be crystallized while storing Your Holy Power."?(Goddess Hernoth) "I also want you to use your Divine Weapon, the Cursed Sun will help regulate malice and the Fragmented Moon will help with rebirth, I checked the qualities of your Divine Weapon during the Training against the Creatures of the Abyss."?(Goddess Hernoth) "The heart can be managed, but the power of the Demonic Essence is not something that can be controlled for now, the Divine Weapons are also out of the discussion, I will not help on that point."?(I) "No need to worry about the one sleeping inside you, all the Gods belonging to the training against the Creatures of the Abyss noticed it as soon as you used your Divine Weapon."?(Goddess Hernoth) "(I knew I shouldn''t have used my Divine Weapon, but still...)" (I) "I still won''t use it..." (I) "If that is your decision..." (Goddess Hernoth) I could see her eyes turn cold for a brief moment, this God is not someone easy to deal with, but I can''t continue exposing Niryna like this, I can feel her fixating harder since I acquired the Demon-type Essence, it seems to be influencing her growth. "I need to go back to prepare."?(I) "How much time?"?(Goddess Hernoth) "2 days should be enough."?(I) "I hope you keep our agreement."?(Goddess Hernoth) "I always keep my promises."?(I) ------------------ "Sir, as far as it matters, the Goddess Kalistos represents Death, a natural end to all life and yet she is considered a Demon Goddess, in the end, good or evil are just Mortal traits."(Alice) "The Lord is our God and always will be, don''t limit yourself because you have the wrong impression about your own power."(Alice) "You''re right, but would it be too much to ask to have a power called the Essence of Prosperity or the Essence of Growth... something more joyful?"(I) "..." (Alice) ------------------- The next day I was facing the pool of blood, it looks like Ragnar is still in there and at the moment the miasma clouds are so thick they look almost solid. I control the blood to come out of the pool and come to me, this blood is actually pure Holy Power condensed from everyone in the Dungeon. As soon as this blood touches my body, it is absorbed, making this Sacred Power overflow as I make it gather in my heart, I continue doing this for a long time, and the amount of sacred power that I manage to condense in my heart was much higher than what I imagined, when I was at the limit, I crystallize my heart as I cross my chest ripping out my heart. That kind of pain barely bothers me now, but the wound took a few minutes to close and a new heart will take a little longer to grow. With that he had everything prepared, he was ready to carry out the Demonic God of Sin''s request. -------------------- Pov Xagar: I was sleeping once again, the same dream as the last 10 days, the training ground of the Church of Light, the place where I spent much of my life swinging my sword with a pride that I am ashamed of today. "Every night, why do I keep coming here."(I) Every night memories of those times seem to emerge around me creating images based on those memories. How I was taught to put on the armor for the first time, the instructor shouting orders, the duels I lost so many times at first and soon followed by the Duels I won, the way I spent days and nights training my sword by a deceptive light. "THIS ALL SHOULD GO AWAY!!!"(I) I gathered all my power in my hand and swung as if I were holding a sword, then a sword appeared in my hand, continuing the blow that, colliding with the ground, spreads a wave of Demonic power in all directions. With great pleasure I see the temples fall, the buildings collapse and the training fields become an empty crater, the beauty of this illuminated place became dark at night, leaving only the rubble of this place. "What did I do!?"(I) This blow now was different, halfway through I realized that I didn''t know the blow I just used, my sword was as heavy as my fury, and yet the power seemed to travel beyond me. When I looked up there were constellations in combat imitating the same movement I did along with others I didn''t know, it was a brutal short-range combat technique, it accumulates power with each strike before releasing it all at once like a Demonic curse. The words formed in my mind as if they had always been there, words that I knew the meaning of, a name for this technique. "Demonic Sword of the Apocalypse... a blade that curses and severs all existence."(I) "May your blade bring an end to your pain." A voice that seemed to come from the stars, when I looked again at a pair of eyes of different colors that occupied the entire sky, these eyes were as sharp as a blade, and I felt as if I was going to be split in half just by being in front of these eyes that they look so familiar. When those eyes closed it was as if the world turned off and with it my consciousness. Chapter 1352: Cap 1350: Complete inversion of values ??part 2 Chapter 1352: Cap 1350: Complete inversion of values ??part 2 ?Pov Hernoth (Demonic God of Sin): I spent 2 two years watching him just to make sure he wouldn''t try to escape or look for his mother to disrupt my plans, Selene was always very protective of her children to the point of having already killed a God for causing the death of her daughter Natasha, which ended up causing her to lose the opportunity to become a Minor Goddess. "You shouldn''t do that."?(Rosane) "I need him, Demon Gods are not as united as Neutral Gods, none of us would also submit to others like those who chose to follow Baldr."?(I) "The only ones we can count on are the Gods with power branching from our own Divinity."?(I) "Are you worried by the signs of the Ancient Demon God''s resurrection?"?(Rosane) "He was a madman even worse than my children, it was by following his teachings that I became a God, but he has too much ambition."?(I) "The number of gods he killed in that time and the hundreds of planets destroyed were too great a loss."?(I) "You''re just scared because you''re the one who betrayed him."?(Rosane) "I had intended to betray him from the beginning, he wanted to destroy all the Gods and steal their Deities to be the King of the Gods, he had completely lost his sanity."?(I) "Even though his strength isn''t what it was back then, his danger hasn''t diminished, I need my son by my side and I need him to be trustworthy this time."?(I) "It seems your son is just a tool for you."?(Rosane) "Make no mistake, I may have some selfish thoughts, but I really love my son, so I hope this time I can save him."?(I) In the past, I performed 8 Spiritual Reincarnations on my first son, but every time he came back the same rubbish from God, that''s why I had to give up on him at that time. I was surprised by how I felt when he died, it was the first time I felt pain like that, it was the first time I realized what I felt for my children. The frustration of not being able to teach him, the pain of his loss, and the regret of having abandoned him were difficult to bear, I had almost returned to the personality that queen in my youth, it was really something that marked me and that''s why I couldn''t let go, my second son goes through this. "If you came to stop me, then go back, even your crazy mother won''t stop me."?(I) "Actually, my mother is happy with her plans, she doesn''t stop laughing thinking about you every day."?(Rosane) "She, like me, already knows that her plan will go wrong at some point, the Power of Chaos cannot be controlled by anyone other than him."?(Rosane) "I don''t need to manipulate the Power of Chaos, I just need to use it at the right time, I never intended to use a power that was incompatible with me."?(I) I know that the power of chaos cannot be used by others, it has always been a volatile power and that is why it has never created an Essence until now. But the Goddess of Fairies, as always, acts before thinking, she tried to control something that was not possible to control and that''s why it ended that way, now I''m not going to do more than direct it to a specific result and let it take its course. "(How many millennia have I had no control over something?)" (I) "Go back and don''t disturb me, I''ll be busy for a while."?(I) Before she could say anything else, I snap my fingers causing the space to close around her, expelling her from my Divine Realm. I pick up the statue of my son and can feel his raging presence still futilely trying to break free. "The power I can bestow cannot save anything, only bring death." "Do you still want this power? Are you prepared to dive into blood?" "I am prepared for anything, my body, power, and even my Soul, I dedicated everything to Master Zenos."(I) When I finished speaking I noticed movement around me, when I looked, the collapsed houses and rubble were moving, and blood was flowing out forming people, their bodies were made of fresh blood while crystallized blood scale armor covered their bodies leaving only some points without protection. Without me realizing it, a Spear had appeared in my hands, and the day had turned into night, a murderous intention welled up inside me telling me to kill them all. "Prove your worth... begin the hunt." With the words that seemed to come from within everywhere, the various blood creatures began to rush towards me, each one''s strength was equal to mine with some variation, some were faster, some stronger and some cooperate with each other yes. I started running, Mr Hades taught us to never fight head on in a disadvantageous situation, and with that I continued running through the city that I know like the back of my hand. I hide and wait, watching the movements of those who pursue me, when they passed me without seeing me, I use my spear to pierce the head of one and the neck of the other, making them both crumble into blood that falls to the ground. With that time passes, time after time I continue running between the city, their number seems to be increasing the more I kill, but I never fight head on, I carry out ambushes and lure them into traps, and with that time starts to fly. The murderous intent within me grew along with my focus on killing them all and at some point even my motivation for it was lost, I no longer remembered why I was killing or why I was here. All the ruins were filled with blood, and the smell permeates the air with a red mist, for some reason even my vision became completely red as if everything in the world was bathed in blood. After that time passed and before I knew it I was walking through a swamp of blood, the blood was so much that it almost reached my knees and I had lost track of how many I had defeated. "Why am I here? Why do I fight them?"(I) "..." (I) I continued thinking and with that, a stream of memories started rolling through my mind, the power I want was never to protect, I want to kill and that''s for sure, but who do I want to kill? At some point I stopped killing the blood creatures, I trapped them or incapacitated them and with that, they stopped appearing more, the blood seemed to decrease getting lower and lower and I soon realized the reason. The blood had pooled into a large creature made entirely of blood, its body covering the heavens as it looked down at me, the same voice from before speaking and now the sound was coming clearly from above. "You got it, congratulations on proving yourself worthy." "A hunter hunts for a reason, his great power exists to kill, but killing without a reason is a sin against himself and the power you possess." "A hunter needs a reason to hunt, taking a life is only forgiving when there is a need for such an act." "Hunting for food from yourself or those under your responsibility, hunting to defend and thus kill the source of danger or hunting to eradicate an enemy." The more he spoke, the more his voice seemed recognizable, my head seemed to gain clarity, and following the contours of the creature I noticed it was a Wolf with wings, this revealed a memory and with it the identity of that giant creature. "Hunting is part of the cycle of nature, the hunter is always the one at the top among all predators."(Orion) Suddenly the blood at my feet began to rise through my body little by little, involving my entire body with my face being the last as I heard the voice of Zenos'' Familiar remaining within me. "Under this blood a new predator is born, may the hunt fill its life in full."(Orion) With that, I felt a power take root from the jewel in my head to my entire body as my consciousness faded. Chapter 1353: Cap 1351: Complete inversion of values ??part 3 Chapter 1353: Cap 1351: Complete inversion of values ??part 3 ?After finishing my preparation, I was dragged away by Elizabeth and Natasha as if they knew I was free at that moment. I was taken to the Dungeon floor used for training and then thrown aside as Natasha waved at Elizabeth. "We only have 10 hours at most so let''s get this over with quickly, you''ve put too much pressure on your Soul and it''s unstable right now."?(Elizabeth) "Stop wasting time, let me explain."?(Natasha) "Listen, We will both fight you using our Divine Incarnation and you will do the same, it is also forbidden to use powers that do not come from your Essences, understand?"?(Natasha) "I think it''s better to fight like your life depends on it, because we''re going to go all out from the start."?(Elizabeth) "Now hurry up!"?(Natasha) I didn''t get a chance to say anything, they wanted me to train and it seemed serious enough to make even Elizabeth act like this, she doesn''t normally participate in any type of combat. v3l.Bj''n. "< Divine Incarnation: 80% >" (Elizabeth) "< Divine Incarnation: 80% >" (Natasha) "(I''m fucked.)" (I) The Holy power exploded in such a way as if it replaced the air itself, a delicious scent of blood filled the surroundings and I could feel the blood inside my body traveling in reverse without causing any harm. But these changes were nothing compared to the two in front of me, their presence and appearances changed and they look like real Goddesses now. Natasha had the shadow of a red Dragon appearing on her back, her clothes were torn to pieces while red scales grew forming an armor that follows the curves of her body, her eyes became completely red like blood, 4 horns intertwined in just 2 red crystal horns while her hair seems to become liquid as if they were threads of blood, the tail and wings on her back were powerful full of grandeur while she herself looked like a beast ready to fight, a wild and brutal beauty. Elizabeth seemed even more imposing as if the simple fact of being present made her the ruler of everything her eyes touched. The space itself opened like a wound, letting crystalline blood spill over her, the blood adorns her body creating a dress open on the sides, a coat of crystal scales on her back reaching the floor, her eyes shine like red stars and the 5 horns on her forehead seem to form a natural crown for her, the two pairs of wings on her back were ethereal being made of red energy. Her power was even greater than the last time I saw, even Natasha who I saw fight against the Lords of the Abyss was much stronger now than before, even if only days had passed the difference in power was too great. "What''s going on... GHUUHHHH!!!"?(I) I didn''t have the opportunity to speak before my body was crushed against the ground, two frightening presences crushing my body against the ground without me being able to resist. Neither of them have moved, but I am already in a pathetic state and can feel fear creeping into my heart, which is no surprise considering the murderous intent of these two Living Calamities before me. "(They didn''t even attack, they''re waiting... I know what they''re waiting for...)" (I) "< Divine Incarnation: 72% >" (I) There is 1 star with 4 rings around it, so the movements and control of the Essences became one, remaking my body as well as my Soul to support this unique way of manipulating the Power of the Essence. "(The core is still illusory, even though the power of Chaos spreads throughout my Soul, the other Essences are still separated as before, they are not truly one.)" (I) When I opened my eyes I was still on the ground as before, with the two pressures crushing against the ground, my two sisters using their Divine Incarnations in front of me. When I opened my eyes my body had already been transformed, the power going through my entire body was incredible and I could still feel a temptation to lose myself in this feeling of power, but of course, something like that didn''t work for me. "(It''s not as bad as before.)" (I) This time with effort I was able to stand, but that seems to have been the wrong decision, Natasha smiled when she disappeared, and faster than I could react she kicked my spine throwing my body towards Elizabeth who grabbed me by the neck with one hand while He uses the other in a fist, punching my face mercilessly. For the next few hours, my body was destroyed almost to the point of annihilation several times, but somehow the Essences within my body were flowing more naturally and the Spark of Divinity within the illusory Essence Core was pulsing like a true heart allowing the Essences flow throughout my body, this continued for less time than I feel passed when I fell unconscious to the ground. ---------------- When I meet the Demon God again, I find him still in his female form. Since the beating my sisters gave me a little while ago, I feel lighter, both my body and my Soul were light compared to before. I remember when I woke up Elizabeth wasn''t happy saying don''t try long enough so I was taken through a space rift that brought me to the Goddess Hernoth. "It''s been 2 days and you have the items, so let''s get started."(Goddess Hernoth) She pulls out a sinister looking statue placing it in front of me, an endless source of miasma was surging from this small statue along with a truly horrible killing intent. "So let''s start?"(I) She snaps her fingers and suddenly I find myself at the top of a stone pyramid with an altar between me and the Demon God Hernoth, she seems to be determined to remain in her female form or has actually decided to remain that way, but that''s from little importance now. "Present the 2 items and stay away."(Goddess Hernoth) "Is this some special place to perform Spiritual Rebirth?"(I) "No, this is just my Divine Realm, I''m just using a place more suitable for my son''s Rebirth."(Goddess Hernoth) "(In other words, that sacrificial altar at the top of the pyramid is for the likes of the Demonic Goddess of sin.)" (I) While thinking about these things, I took out the crystallized heart filled with my Holy Power and the Dragon Seal containing the Power of Chaos. The Goddess took the two items with a smile before stroking the statue''s head with a less than friendly smile as she spoke in almost a whisper. "I hope you''re not an idiot this time..." (Goddess Hernoth) Chapter 1354: Cap 1352: Complete inversion of values ??part 4 Chapter 1354: Cap 1352: Complete inversion of values ??part 4 ?Pov Elizabeth''s: After seeing my brother being taken away by the Demon God of Sin, I exchanged glances with Natasha, she happily helped heal her body in secret during our attacks, but even so, I was still worried about the state of her Soul. "I said we didn''t have time."?(Natasha) "I said we should have done this as soon as he came back, you felt the state he is in as good as I am."?(Natasha) "What we did was enough, anyway, problem won''t be solved until he creates 3 sources of natural power and has 2 more Essences."?(I) "The way this is going, he''s going to die as soon as he gets the next Essence!"?(Natasha) Natasha pulls my shoulder forcing me to look into her eyes, I can see the anger and frustration, but she underestimates that little monster too much, the simple fact that he is still alive and has 5 Essences inside him already shows the aberration he represents. "His body managed to integrate the power of the Essences and his Soul stabilized, we got some time at least."?(I) "We must prepare ourselves for what will happen next, our power is rising out of control every time Zenos increases in power, our power will soon be equal to what we had before."?(I) "My power may not be at the same level as before, but my Essence has already surpassed the level it was at before, if it continues like this I will become a Minor Goddess whether I want it or not."?(Natasha) "I didn''t expect that either, but in a way, we should be grateful, we''ll be better prepared when the time to act comes."?(I) "Hahhh!!"?(Natasha) "You say that, but we both know it''s not that simple."?(Natasha) "How is Caitlyn?"?(I) "She is with her mother, her Essence is not something that can be controlled easily, especially when she herself feels afraid of her own power."?(Natasha) "She''s strong, she''ll make it, but how are Zenos'' wives?"?(I) "Some are already preparing and others are deciding, but in the end, I think they will all make the same decision."?(Natasha) "That''s good, I didn''t expect them to be so good, he knows how to choose a wife, and they will all be by his side when the time comes."?(I) Cough Cough I look at my hand that I take out of my mouth, the blood was moving wildly, it looked like a living creature. "You should focus more on yourself, 3 Essences at the same time is very risky."?(Natasha) "I didn''t think this day would come, it''s happening so fast, but I''ll find a way."?(I) "(He''s always been like this, he thinks he''s in control of everything, but some things are bound to go wrong.)" (Goddess Kalistos) "(I felt the Power of Death being used, a divine relic from another universe, I didn''t know he had something like that.)" (Goddess Kalistos) As if the words of the Goddess Kalistos came true, the surrounding energies go out of control as the sphere between the hands of the Goddess Hernoth begins to burn with Starfire. "There is!?"(I) Suddenly I feel something, my illusory Essence Core within my Soul begins to pulsate as the Chaos Essence becomes more active, and then a slight connection begins to form between the Sphere in the hands of the Goddess Hernoth with me. I was scared when I realized this and another even worse thing happened at that moment, the Essence of the Apocalypse Beast also began to stir and its power strengthens the new connection as well as spreading to my physical body causing blood to leave my body and rush to the sphere in the hands of the Goddess Hernoth. "(No, no, no, no, no...)" (I) No matter how much I denied it, I had no control at that moment, in fact, I knew the reason for it, the crystallized heart symbolizes my lineage and the Dragon Seal symbolizes my will, these two things are closely related to me, and forming a point of connection. "(I knew this would happen.)" (Goddess Kalistos) Goddess Hernoth had a serious face now but did nothing to stop the flow of blood leaving me and entering the sphere in her hands, she looked irritated, luckily she must know that I''m not doing this on purpose while making me feel angry approach it once more until it stops in front of it. "Let it happen naturally, unfortunately, I wasn''t able to completely cut off her influence."(Goddess Hernoth) As she spoke the sphere in her hands grew three times as the Starfire previously outside the sphere began to burn only inside with my blood creating a cocoon around it. The glow of Starfire revealed a silhouette forming inside, I wish I had the system notifications to know what''s going on, but I''m not directly involved with this Renaissance and I''m afraid of doing something I shouldn''t if I try something. But even though I don''t want to intrude, I can feel my Sacred Power and Authority resonate with the cocoon, when the blood stopped flowing out of my body the two Essences returned to their inactivity inside my Soul. The Demonic Goddess of Sin did not look back at me, her attention fully on the cocoon between her hands, she continued nourishing the cocoon with her Holy Power and Divine Energy, perhaps because of continuing this for over 1 hour the cocoon began to crack showing signs that it would break at any moment. I was somehow able to feel that there was no more malice inside the cocoon, in fact, it reminds me a lot of Hinata''s feeling, an Evil existence and yet without malice, a bizarre duality. The Demonic Goddess looked happy as her body returned to its male form, as if noticing the change she returned to her female form as she smiled in triumph. "I can feel it, this time I got it... your mind no longer corrupted by the Essence itself, a clear mind."(Goddess Hernoth) "Is already done?"(I) "Yes, it wasn''t exactly what I wanted, but I achieved the main objective, just wait for the mind, body, and soul to reach harmony to awaken your consciousness."(Goddess Hernoth) As the Goddess spoke, the cracks in the cocoon spread more and more, an Aura, Authority, Holy Power, and an unmistakable Divine presence almost hit me violently if it weren''t for a divine barrier having been formed around me by the Demonic Goddess of Sin, she protected me and yet her attention focused on her son who was now being reborn. "Finally a new chance for you, be reborn once again my son."(Goddess Hernoth) Chapter 1355: Cap 1353: Complete inversion of values ??part 5 Chapter 1355: Cap 1353: Complete inversion of values ??part 5 ?When the cocoon broke it wasn''t a person that came out of it, it was what looked like serpents made of black energy with 1 single eye in the shape of an X, all these serpents were gathering in the sky in a mass of darkness before all this was done absorbed into the center leaving only a human silhouette alone in the sky. She was a woman who appears to be around 30 years old, wearing leather clothes with scales and decorated with black and purple snakes, her skin being dark in color with brown hair, and her eyes were vibrant red looking at the Goddess Hernoth. "It''s not bad at all, it seems like the changes were greater than expected."?(Goddess Hernoth) "But her old name can no longer be used."?(Goddess Hernoth) Suddenly the Goddess Hernoth snaps her fingers and the world changes, we were inside a large room, and the Goddess Hernoth goes up to the woman and puts her hand on her face as if checking something. "No malice, your Divinity seems to be more stable now, your body is totally different, it seems like everything about you has become opposite."?(Goddess Hernoth) "How it feels?"?(Goddess Hernoth) "I feel good, my mind is clear, my enhancements intact, my Divinity feels different, my body feels strange."?(Demonic Goddess) "Before my focus was magic with a specialty in curses, but now my body seems stronger and more suited to combat."?(Demonic Goddess) "You are a Demon Dragon, this change is very suitable, how is your mind and emotions, do you feel any influence?"?(Goddess Hernoth) "No, in my memories I remember feeling a constant desire to kill and happiness in seeing others suffering, but now those things seem unimportant."?(Demonic Goddess) "I can also feel hungry, very hungry... I don''t remember ever feeling hungry..." (Demonic Goddess) Her answers were strange, she responded as if it were something normal, she seems to be very sincere and calm, but what worries me is Goddess Hernoth''s strange smile the more she listens to her daughter talk. "Calmer, more sincere and more obedient... hahahahaha... that''s what I wanted!!!"?(Goddess Hernoth) The Goddess Hernoth took her daughter in her arms, I thought it was an arm until the moment she crossed her stomach with her arm, half of the mansion we were in was annihilated while a valley formed on the other on the back of the Demonic Goddess upon receiving that punch. I was in shock after seeing this, the blow came very suddenly and there were already signs that a fight was going to start. When I looked at the Goddess Hernoth who still had the smile on her face, she let go of her daughter who continued standing where she was as if it wasn''t her body with a big hole in her stomach, she looked down at her wound before looking at the Goddess Hernoth putting his head to the side as he appears to think. The hole in her stomach did not yield a single drop of blood, in fact, there didn''t even seem to be any organs inside, several one-eyed snakes like the ones before seemed to weave around inside her filling this hole before their bodies merged into the body once again without leaving any scratches, even the clothes returned to normal. "Testing my temper?"?(Demonic Goddess) "What incredible changes, if it were the old Daryus, his murderous intent would have exploded because of his excess of pride, he also wouldn''t have had the patience to continue acting like that after that."?(Goddess Hernoth) "Your changes are truly a complete inversion of everything you were, was this because of me or an effect of the Power of Chaos?"?(Goddess Hernoth) Before I knew it I was back inside my Dungeon, it took me a few seconds to recognize that I was on a random floor inside the Dungeon. "You provoked me many times, but that Sword you created was abominable, it caused the destruction of thousands of Souls by an incomplete power."(Goddess Kalistos) "But I won''t make things difficult for you..." (Goddess Kalistos) Kraaacccc!!! Cough!Cough!COUGH!!! I started coughing out black blood nonstop, as the Goddess of Death crushed my Divinity into pieces before using the Divinity Fragments to stab into my body. "Ghhaaahhhh!!!"(I) "Start again on your path to Divinity, consider this punishment a new beginning, and remember, everything has a cause and effect."(Goddess Kalistos) The Goddess disappeared while my Divinity realm was starting to become unstable, without my Divinity this space will collapse in a few hours, but my biggest concern was being able to stand. "I didn''t expect... that..." (I) Cough Cough Cough Cough Cough Divine Power was escaping from my body as it was rapidly weakening, I could also feel a mark from the Goddess Kalistos on my back, the Divinity Fragments were fusing with me once again, so with time and effort perhaps I can rebuild my Divinity. "(The problem will be my body.)" (I) I could feel the mark of the Goddess Kalistos recreating my body in its Mortal state, I could feel everything in me weaken as I became something between a Demigod and an Evil God. My Soul was the most injured by the destruction of my Divinity and so my consciousness was flickering as I felt my Father''s Power envelope my body. That''s when I realized he was already here and saw everything, I wouldn''t doubt that he made a deal with the Goddess Kalistos about my punishment, but I didn''t have time to think about it as my conscience faded. -------------------- Pov Kalistos (Demonic Goddess of Death): I see Hernoth emerge to fetch his daughter, her power enveloping her body as she maintains a calm face, but I can feel the desire to kill in her eyes aimed at me. "This is your daughter''s last chance."(I) "Thank you for listening to my request."(Hernoth) "One last piece of advice, leave her with that boy, staying by her side will take her down the same path you tried to take her from."(I) I take one last look at him before leaving, I hope the boy isn''t important to this, because I know Selene will love this news. Chapter 1356: Cap 1354: Universe in Chaos Chapter 1356: Cap 1354: Universe in Chaos ?Pov Alan''s (Hero of Justice): Chee?ck out latest novels at novelhall.com "< Holy Sword: Divine Execution >" (I) With my body covered in bruises and cuts, I use my only arm to bring my sword down against the ground it crosses at the same time as a sword tip made of silver crystal descends from the sky. The great sword passes through the head of a giant whose skin seems to be made of solid rock and continues its path until it passes through the entire body of the giant that breaks into rubble falling on top of me. My consciousness was coming and going more from exhaustion than from injuries, but even so, I couldn''t help but use what was left of my strength to smile. "(With this... everyone is safe...)" (I) I was so tired that I couldn''t understand the passage of time to know how long I was buried in the rubble, but finally, someone pulled the rocks off me before pulling my body out. It was a man wearing ordinary clothes and covered in injuries, when I came out of the rubble I realized that there were several people around who were helping to move the rubble and Bianca came running towards me, the front part of her clothes torn from an attack she received. "< Sacred Magic: Super Recovery Field >" (Bianca) A magic circle surrounded the two of us and the man carrying me, then I felt my once-broken bones falling back into place and my regiments closing in, yet I was still tired. "How is... the city...???"?(I) "They are fine, many are injured, but less than 10 are dead."?(Bianca) "..." (I) Sigh "(I didn''t expect this when I arrived in this city.)" (I) After the Tournament I received requests for help from some Minor Gods and Demigods who are not fit for combat, as the Demigod''s situation was more urgent, I, as well as some others, came to his Planet escorted by him. We were 12 people including Bianca and Darcia, we separated between continents to investigate 5 possible Evil Gods cooperating with each other. This was the first city I set foot in this world and a few minutes later the Evil God emerged from the ground, devastating the city while absorbing people''s lives. My fight against him just devastated what was left of the city and with me protecting the people I was injured many times. "Is he sealed...?"?(I) "He was sealed away, and we received messages that 7 other Evil Gods began to cause destruction."?(Bianca) ----------------- Pov Aine (Goddess of Fairies): I stood beside the Demonic Goddess of Hatred as she recovered her Divinity and Soul, I used my Divine power to protect as the rest of her body fell apart. "That was harder than I expected, how''s the situation?"?(I) Suddenly my body was back to normal and I was standing with Ibuki and Alice by my side, it seems that Karina was taken by the Dragon God and Kira was dragged by her Father who became an envoy of the God of Spirits. "Ibuki, are you okay?"(I) "I am, I can still do this."(Ibuki) ------------------ Pov Zenos: I was currently being torn, crushed, broken, burned, and even devoured by my sisters less than 2 hours after my return. I didn''t even have time to explain what happened, I didn''t even have time to look for the others or see how Ragnar is transforming in the Communal Temple, but I didn''t have time for any of that when he was dragged into the same torture as before. The two would enter their Divine Incarnations and associations forcing me to also use my Divine Incarnation, the fight between the three of us was turning this floor of the Dungeon into a wasteland. I escape Natasha''s sword only for my ribs to be grabbed and ripped off by Elizabeth, the two synchronizing in combat much better than I imagined. I''m already in this sorry state after some time and I discovered something, it seems that my sisters'' blows are creating ripples of Divine power that enter inside my body reaching my Soul before dispensing and this seems to be having a fusion effect on my Soul forcing the areas of my Soul influenced by certain Essences to merge. That''s when I realized that my connection with them was becoming stronger, I don''t know if that was their goal and I didn''t have the space to pay attention to it. At that moment I was knocked back by a kick from Elizabeth before Natasha attacked from above, her teeth sink into my body before a spike of crystallized blood was formed attacking inside her mouth, unfortunately, she removed her mouth before I hit. "YOU CAN..." (I) Before I could say anything, Natasha grabbed my tail and spun my body around before throwing it upwards, I spin in the air dodging Elizabeth''s blood ray attack as I tried to punch her in the face, a Crystallized Blood Spear goes through my arm goes to the side and Elizabeth takes advantage of this, grabbing my spine once again in an attempt to pull it away. I was waiting for this opportunity and controlling my blood, I pierced her hand and followed her blood, which didn''t last when a knee hit the side of my head. The two didn''t stop attacking even for a second, my body was being torn to pieces faster than I could heal my body. "< Breath of Chaos >" (I) "< Blood Breath >" (Elizabeth/Natasha) I tried to catch them off guard, but they were already waiting, my breath attack was swallowed by theirs which merged into one attack, and a huge explosion happened as my body was thrown to the edge of this Dungeon floor. My vision momentarily blurred and at that moment several spears of crystallized blood hit all my limbs, pinning me to the rock wall. "< Incarnation of Blood >" (I) The two were rushing towards me, but before they could land their blows, I turned my body into blood that flowed between the cracks in the ground escaping the crystallized blood spears and the blows of my sisters. When I reformed my body hundreds of meters away, I took the opportunity to recover all the damage suffered before deactivating the blood transformation. Then the other one resumed violently once again and thousands of blows were exchanged in less than 30 minutes with me returning to the sorry state I find myself in once again. It was at that moment that I saw a crack opening through which a woman I had seen before was thrown out as she fell towards me. Chapter 1357: Cap 1355: Divine Time Bomb Chapter 1357: Cap 1355: Divine Time Bomb ?Suddenly someone was thrown from a crack in space falling on top of me, when I opened my eyes it was the newly Reborn Demon Goddess, fortunately with her appearance my sisters stopped beating me. I was confused at first, but that confusion disappears when she puts her face close to mine and bites my cheek, tearing off a piece of flesh with great difficulty, even though it hurts a little, it''s far from what I was feeling until now. "Why are you here?"?(I) ---------------- It''s been about 40 minutes since the daughter of Goddess Hernoth appeared, she said that she was punished for what her predecessor did and had her Divinity broken, now she is just a Demigod, and Goddess Hernoth left her with me for some reason. During this time Natasha helped heal my body and we all returned to the city, I asked someone to show her the city while I dragged my sisters to the mansion. I needed a reason for what they have been doing to me, they were not training me, each of their blows was focused on causing the greatest possible damage to my body and was always accompanied by weak waves of Divine power reaching my Soul. Chee?ck out latest novels at novelhall.com I needed to know what was going on and I needed that answer now, so I dragged them to an empty room in the mansion. "Now tell me, what do you want with all this?"?(I) "I said I should have told him before."?(Natasha) "We didn''t have time, we never have time in this place, always running from one place to another."?(Elizabeth) "You guys are wasting this precious time right now, so tell me why you''re ravaging my body at every opportunity."?(I) The two look at each other and Natasha motions for Elizabeth to speak, then she waves her hand forming an illusory figure of me in the air with 5 spheres rotating around my figure. "Simply put, you were an idiot at first and now you''ve become a walking God bomb."?(Elizabeth) "As always, I''m trying to help however I can and sometimes violence can be the answer."?(Elizabeth) "Correcting, violence is always the answer, it just depends on whether the person is strong enough."?(Natasha) "Natasha, we''re talking about something serious here."?(Elizabeth) "Alright, alright, go on with your speech, I''ll stay quiet by that liquor cabinet."?(Natasha) Natasha raises her hands in surrender before noticing something in the corner of the room and speaking as she walks towards it with a smile on her face, but now I had something else to worry about as I focused my vision on Elizabeth. "Sorry, did you say Divine bomb?"?(I) "Yes, if things continue like this..." (Elizabeth) "Wait, wait, wait just a second!"?(I) "Natasha, hand me a bottle."?(I) "Here, this is the strongest one here."?(Natasha) "Thanks."?(I) "Natasha!"(Elizabeth) "She is right?"(I) "Yes, but as your Divine Incarnation has already shown increasing in power with each Essence acquired, the chances are very positive."(Elizabeth) "Has anyone ever managed to do anything close to this?"(I) "No, and I don''t think others could either."(Elizabeth) "No one would be crazy enough to do anything close to that."(Natasha) "If you exploded now, the entire Planet would disappear while the surrounding Star System would collapse due to the repercussions that the Essences would cause, all taking into account that other Gods would interfere to minimize the damage."(Natasha) "Unfortunately she''s right."(Elizabeth) "..." (I) I was amazed and also scared by it all, I hadn''t realized the situation was so serious. I knew that these Essences were putting me in danger, I could feel it in my lack of control of these Essences, also in the repercussions on both my Soul and my body until now. But all of this made me think about the reason for the beating and also what that illusory core of Essences inside my Soul means. "Wait, so what is this illusory core inside my Soul and why do you guys have to beat me up like this?"(I) "Influenced by you, our Essences and Divine Power are increasing, so we realize that if you can influence us so deeply, then we can do the same to you."(Elizabeth) "We use our Divine power to shape your Essences into the most harmonious lie possible, we can only do this for you."(Elizabeth) "Breaking his body while using Divine Incarnation made his body adapt to the Essences continuously while our Divine Power was interfering with his Soul."(Elizabeth) "As for this illusory Core, we don''t know either, maybe our mother knows something, but she didn''t share it with any of us."(Elizabeth) "..." (I) "(Why can''t anything simple happen to me?)" (I) I didn''t know how to react to everything I learned, I didn''t know whether to be angry because no one told me anything, whether to be scared by the possibility of blowing up half a Star System or whether to be frustrated by not being able to do anything beyond what I already was doing. I just left that room lost in my thoughts, I needed to think and I couldn''t care less about other people at the moment. I didn''t even realize where I was walking or how long I had been walking, but in the end, I was in the middle of the forest and I threw myself on the ground looking at the sky, as time passed the day turned to night and I was still standing still in the same place thinking. I had many ideas like moving away from everyone I love, going to complain to the Gods, and banging my head against the wall while cursing myself that I started all this, I even thought about the idea of ??going back to Hell and asking Callidora for help. In the end, I realized that none of these were good ideas and I decided to continue what I''m already doing, I''m just going to go with the flow and hope that everything works out, since unlike what I heard, all the Essences seem to be in harmony. "Zenos, you are a real unlucky idiot..." (I) Chapter 1358: Cap 1356: 2 targets together Chapter 1358: Cap 1356: 2 targets together ?I was still shocked by what I heard about my condition, but in the end, there was nothing I could do about it when not even the Gods had a solution for it. In the end, the best thing would be to follow my sister''s advice and what I''m already doing, getting these last 2 Essences as quickly as possible. The logic seems to be correct, with the Dragon transformation in the past where I was only able to do a partial 20% or 60% transformation, but when it reached 100% the transformation didn''t even need to be activated, it became as natural as breathing for me. If the Divine Incarnation follows this logic, which I really hope is true, then the more Essences I get, the greater the percentage of the Divine Incarnation''s transformation, if I reach 100% I can become a Minor God like those I fought against in tournament, this could solve this explosion of problems. I spent the whole night thinking about it and after making that decision, I didn''t think about it again, as soon as a new day began I went to put my plan into practice, for that I had to discover some more things like the location of Essences or Fragments of Deities. First I went to talk to the new resident of the Dungeon, I hoped she had the payment that Goddess Hernoth promised, I found her in the library reading books about herself, so I called her to the separate room inside the library. "It seems that the Goddess Hernoth..." (I) "Now he is in his male form, so" (Demonic Goddess) "Alright, so God Hernoth asked you to tell me something?"?(I) "Yes, but I have a price for it."?(Demonic Goddess) "I have already paid this price, I helped your Father in his Rebirth."?(I) "That was the price of the agreement between you, I have nothing to do with it, besides, what I''m going to ask of you is something simple."?(Demonic Goddess) "(She really is a Demon God, pressuring me into a deal.)" (I) "I am no longer a Goddess, my Divinity is broken and my Father did not give me a name."?(Demonic Goddess) "Do you want me to give you a name?"?(I) "Yes, then think of a good name and I will pass on my father''s message to you."?(Demonic Goddess) "..." (I) I started thinking about some names, among them there was a name I used for a Saint in one of my games, it was a name that means purity from what I found on the Internet, which suited a kind Saint. "What do you think of Ynes?"?(I) "I liked the name."?(Ynes) I found it very interesting to put this type of name on a Demonic Goddess of Evil, the duality between the name and the truth about her almost becomes a joke. She seemed happy with the name as she approached me placing her index finger on my forehead transferring various information. Sigh I was once again on the training floor, as always the Dungeon proves very useful with all the destruction disappearing as everything returns to normal once again. The only one with me this time was Natasha since Elizabeth and Caitlyn seem to be busy, in fact, I can''t even find my children, my wives, my two saints, or my Divine Servants, they all seem to have disappeared at the same time. This time I didn''t want to be beaten like the previous times, the truth is that since my body was remade by the Essences, I don''t have complete control and understanding of my strength, completing 2 Essences and acquiring 1 completely complete was too much for an increase in power. What my sisters did by beating me, even though it was for my good, these things still don''t help me understand my strength, I just needed to fight someone of equal power to be able to control my power with greater precision and maybe understand more about some of my Essences allowing me to become stronger. "If I see that you are about to lose control, then we will stop immediately, understand?"(Natasha) "Yes."(I) "Let''s start."(I) The first thing I did was start a hand-to-hand fight, I needed to have a complete sense of my physical power. I ran towards Natasha and turned, kicking with the heel of my foot, she grabbed my foot from behind, minimizing my strength before she hit my knee with a punch, breaking my leg. I freed myself using my wings while spinning, and this made her let go, when I came back, my leg was already healing quickly and when Natasha advanced towards me I used the tip of my tail to hit her neck. "You''re going to need more than that!"(Natasha) This time she grabbed a tree with one hand and threw it towards me, I used the claws of one hand to cut the tree in two, and as expected, she was making an attack from behind the tree. My fist was waiting for exactly this scene, my fist and hers collide causing me to be thrown backwards without her realizing that I wanted to gain that space before moving forward, catching her off guard. Our combat continued and as expected, I was receiving major injuries, but all the damage was healing normally. This only made the combat last longer and longer, which was a good surprise since I needed this combat, thanks to this I realized the flaws that I was missing with the increase in several of my physical characteristics. Soon after I started using my Essences to fight, and my sister did the same, I started with the Blood Transformation Essence, and with that I created blood monsters that attacked Natasha, digging opportunities for me to attack. I was also able to further strengthen my body using this Essence, as I had already trained this Essence, it was easier to use, so I switched to the Essence of Chaos. Starfire glowed around my fists, changing into different shapes during my attacks. I create a large Starfire claw and attack from the side, Natasha without feeling afraid goes towards my claw and she kicks my wrist higher. Soon she kicked me in the stomach followed by a forward somersault attacking with a kick. I grabbed her leg in an attempt to throw her back, but she was much more prepared, with strength that surpasses mine, her leg continues to move, throwing me away. Soon I saw her running towards me, there was no time to dodge, so I relied on my instincts in a contest of strength and dexterity, her fists and mine hitting each other continuously as she stops her blows before they gain strength. I saw Natasha''s smile growing, she likes fighting more than anyone, but now I wasn''t fighting for fun, I needed to train my powers to have less chance of problems in the future. Me and Natasha transformed into Dragons at the same time escalating this fight to the next level, our every strike devastating the surroundings. Chapter 1359: Cap 1357: A differentiated tree Chapter 1359: Cap 1357: A differentiated tree ?Pov Survivor Z: I was sitting on the street looking up at the sky lamenting the mistakes of my youth, I''m not even that old, but I was a complete idiot. My family had money and were convinced they could inherit everything by living for fun, my mother tried to correct me when I was a child and I didn''t listen, then my father tried to teach me when I was a teenager and I believed I knew more than him. I had several women who were with me just for the money, I also tried being with men, which didn''t work out very well, but I never realized that I had no one by my side who was loyal to me, everyone just wanted the money. It was after my father died and my mother stole all the money while running away that I realized I had nothing, I didn''t know how to do anything either, I didn''t have any kind of base to support myself and I fell into the deep end head first. "What a miserable life, I would really like it all to disappear!"?(I) It was another night where I complained in my mind with a bottle of beer in my hand like an idiot, I''ve been doing this for years and yet this last time was unforgettable as my superficial desire would be fulfilled in the worst possible way. "What''s that in the sky? A bird? A monster?"?(I) I still remember straining my eyes trying to see that spot shining in the sky, the beer inside me didn''t help me see better either. Even so, I had a magical item that I used in my robberies, I used it to look and realized that whoever was at the top was a beautiful woman wearing clothes so thin that they were almost transparent, behind her two membrane wings with large glowing eyes that were the source of the light, I couldn''t see the woman''s face, but I remember that she had horns and long ears. "A Demon attack? That''s good, I can take advantage of the chaos to steal some good things, and I''ll have money to enjoy it for a few months..." (I) As always being an idiot, I thought it could be an attack from Demons, there was a Demon Country next to ours against whom we were at war for decades, using the magical skills that I learned thanks to at the school where I was forced to study in my childhood, I became a thief. The desire to steal from those who had more was too strong to resist, as the thief and coward that I always was, I never risked anything that I had no guarantee of escaping, that''s how I improved in something as dark as that. I took advantage of many invasions, wars, and protests to steal, I thought this would be another one of those times and I was already taking a potion to sober up faster thinking about who I could rob. Re?Ad lateSt chapters at novelhall.com Only Time was cruel to anyone unlucky enough to survive, that aberration was so huge that its body could be seen from a distance reaching greater heights than the sky, its arms spanning miles and its tentacles stretching across thousands of miles spreading a forest of flesh, trees with branches of bones, roots of tentacles and leaves of eyes. Aberrations that mimicked her body like an immortal army, none of those things died, even if they were cut, burned, cursed, or poisoned, they didn''t die with anything but the power of the Priests, and even that only delayed the inevitable. People tried to escape to another continent, but that only took 1 more week before the influence of that thing reached the other continents, there was no place in this world where they could hide and that''s why they tried to create vehicles to escape the planet, I myself joined to others to drive one of these vehicles. As soon as we arrived outside the planet we noticed an endless sea of ??Insects killing everyone and pushing them back to the planet, everyone realized at that moment that there was no way to hide, run away, or fight. I don''t know how many people beg the Gods for salvation, how many Sacrifice Rituals were performed, or how many people committed suicide because they no longer had hope. ------------------- I''m already in the last place that wasn''t taken over on the entire planet, this place was called the Holy Land for some God that I don''t care about anymore, it was the place that resisted the most becoming the last line of defense, but even that only lasted 4 days of useless struggle before it was slowly also tamed, for the first time in my life I fought to the last of my strength and I am still here, the last one still alive. The leads of everything that happened flooding my mind as the flesh on my body twitches, all the injuries caused by this thing seem to cast a curse on the person distorting someone''s body turning into monsters, I can feel it happening to me now, I can hear it the whispers in my head. I reached the top of the temple, seeing the flesh trees and tentacles full of mouths on all sides, even the ground is being swallowed by flesh. One of these tentacles approached me as it changed shape, when I saw the curves forming a body and its terrifying beauty I realized it was the same silhouette I saw in the sky that night, my heart was racing as the presence of that day now seemed to crush my Soul. I wanted to run, more smaller tentacles tied my arms and legs while burying themselves inside my body, a repulsive feeling spreading through me, at that moment I regret having been too cowardly to commit suicide. Her body was completely formed and she was naked, an unparalleled beauty, and yet all I felt was pure terror when she approached me touching my face. "With this world and its people are part of me now, as the last one who resisted I will at least let you know the name of the one who will soon be your mother, I am Yntra, the Mother of Truth that you will soon be part of." "..." (I) I couldn''t even speak when the hand that had been touching my face opened into a toothy mouth that swallowed my head, bringing only darkness to me along with the whispers of a million wailing voices that I joined in. Chapter 1360: Cap 1358: The Children of Eclipse part 1 Chapter 1360: Cap 1358: The Children of Eclipse part 1 I had a lot of things to do, I needed to prepare for the next mission, finally, I would be able to cross off at least 1 enemy name from my list, and with luck, I can cross off 2 names at the same time. But I left the mission preparations to more competent people in this area, the trip that would take almost 1 year was difficult to accept, fortunately, the Spirits were working on something to help us. I fought with my sister for 2 days in a row by my own choice and today will be the last day, but I''m afraid of causing something wrong and that''s why I created a Territory on the Dungeon''s training floor, so any kind of destruction won''t reach the real world. We were both in the star field in our Dragon forms, she is a little bigger than me, and her scales are also harder than mine, yet my teeth sink into her hand launching her into the distance while preparing another attack. "< Breath of the Demonic Eclipse >" (I) The Demonic energy building up in my throat seems to come to life as the Demonic Essence within me overflows with power that I manage to direct into my throat as I release black and red flames creating a sea of fire in front of me consuming the stars themselves. But like every previous time, Natasha flies between the flames ignoring any type of damage, I was slightly weakened after this attack for a few seconds, she reached me and her claws managed to pierce my chest. "< Blood Curse: Life Drain >" (I) I smiled as my blood rushed up her claws, and arms and spread throughout her body in seconds as she tried futilely to free herself, as soon as I activated the Curse the blood marked her entire body making an endless stream of vitality flow to me constantly. Even so, there was no conversation between us, it wasn''t necessary, just by looking we can understand each other and in a battle words are just another weapon used to distract your enemies. Each strike of my claws distorts space as my sister''s punches crash into space like an iron ball falling on thin ice, the two of us exchanging blow after blow without using any more skills. My sister is someone simple who never turns down a challenge, with me stealing part of her vitality our regeneration was almost equalized, I knew that if I pulled her into a purely physical battle, she wouldn''t back down or try to use other techniques. ------------------ Each blow of hers was loaded with waves of Divine Power that traverse my entire body before spreading to my Soul Perhaps this method is no longer useful for me or has already fulfilled its purpose, but I no longer feel any change in the Essences within my Soul. The pressure of the Essences within me is now something that I can feel consciously since I know they are there, this has not changed and for this reason, I still feel this burden within me. The Essences seem to have found a balance point and after today I will be able to use all the Essences almost as fluidly as I use the Blood Transmutation Essence, in the repeated battles I had against my sister, I focused on using only one Essence at a time to reach this stage where I am now with the last being the Essence of the Beast of the Apocalypse. Which helped me raise my Divine Incarnation from 72% to what I''m using now at 78%, I can now feel the power of Essence in my Aura and Authority using these two ways to manipulate the power of Essences. "You''ve been saying that for hours and still nothing."(I) "Irius!"(Irina) "Your perception is weak sister, I''m done."(I) "< Sword of Shadows: Dark Execution >" (I) My sister used to have stronger senses than mine, but in recent years she spends more and more time studying magic than fighting, thanks to this her ambush senses have become slower, at least it served to deceive our pursuers. For the last 32 seconds, I have been using my Aura with great subtlety and control to draw magical circles in the shadows of the surrounding trees connecting everything in my shadow. Soon dozens of dark swords come out of the shadows pointed at the many targets, thanks to this they became confident by believing in the numbers they have, now they will learn that in the face of absolute power, numbers are almost irrelevant. One of the things I learned from Ibuki was how to use Shadows to my advantage, with this I located the blind spot of all targets, my shadow swords go through the heart and in some cases the head of all targets. "One escaped."(I) "Alright, I already marked him, let''s see where he takes us."(Irina) "< Sacred Tracking >" (Irina) Once we checked the bodies of everyone I killed, there was nothing useful, so I let my sister track him while I prepared a spell to escape if absolutely necessary, our target this time was someone far above us in terms of strength and so If we do nothing, our defeat would be guaranteed. It didn''t take long for my sister to track him to a place far from everything and as soon as we entered that valley I felt his eyes on me, the terror that this person creates stains the land. "Stay tuned, I would like to be the first pair to be able to take care of a target."(I) "Don''t worry, I can confirm he''s here and I won''t let it slip."(Irina) "< Holy Blood Magic: Holy Blood Barrier >" Irina) "< Selar >" (Irina) As we walked on our way, blood flowed from our legs becoming part of the magic circle now. Chapter 1361: Cap 1359: The Children of Eclipse part 2 Chapter 1361: Cap 1359: The Children of Eclipse part 2 Pov Irius: I used our blood for a spell that seals an entire area with a barrier with the help of my sister. Those who were attacking us suddenly began to change, their bodies became 3 times the size while their speeds increased greatly, their large size tore their clothes to shreds while even those I passed through with my attack were back on their feet. "I''ll leave them to you." (I) "< Curse of the Space Sealing Barrier >" (Irina) My Sister''s Aura has been amplified by the barrier in this area as a unit of energy spreads from her to the surroundings until it touches the edge of the barrier, while the bodies of all enemies are immobilized where they are, whether running towards us or floating in a position strange in the air. They all now have a barrier around their bodies separating them from the space around them, with no room to move they have no option but to stay where they are outside of mental effects, gravity, and everything, completely isolated in a curse that consumes their blood to maintain itself. "They knew about us? How?" (I) "I don''t know, but it must be the Demonic God of Greed, we know he is on the side of the Apostles of Truth." (Irina) "What do we do with them?" (I) Separated from the rest of the universe they are very harmless, but they are also safe from us. "We can use them in a ritual, Rakan has been studying a dimensional type magic together with me, but this magic needs certain requirements." (Irina) "Anything we can achieve on this planet without asking for help from others?" (I) "Yes, the requirements are to have a Territory, to have a sample to serve as a hook to attract others, we will also need a nucleus for the ritual." (Irina) "And what would this Core be?" (I) "A World Tree." (Irina) "No, our Father isn''t here, we don''t have Sakura either and Freya is still a tree as far as I know." (I) "We may have some goodwill from the Elves because of our Father, but the World Trees will not help, they do not interfere in the world." (I) "I don''t need any help, having a small part of this Planet''s World Tree or performing the ritual in a nearby place already fulfills the requirement." (Irina) "< Storage Barrier >" (Irina) She raises her hand and a cube with distorted space inside appears before quickly moving between all the enemies, sucking them into it. "Let''s go." (Irina) ---------------- 3 days later We were outside an Elf village, and as expected they even refused a meeting with the Elf King of that place, but other than that they were very respectful and treated us very well. "Are you sure this will work?" (I) The Dragon God told me about this place, an enemy group was causing wars in a weak Star system, they were attacking 4 Planets at the same time, so the Dragon God sent the younger Dragons to gain experience in real combat. I, who am young among Dragons, have had life experiences that made me mature as a Dragon and have had more experiences fighting strong enemies than these children whose only strong enemies were other Dragons placing a false sense of superiority in their minds. "Mabel, when the attack begins we will have to retreat, prepare what I gave you before."(I) "This is dangerous..." (Mabel) "I know, but some things should be experienced for yourself."(I) I gave the signal and the attack begins, as predicted, the young people attacked with full force without caring about their companions, as it was a surprise attack we reversed the initial advantage causing the Poisonous World to be heavily damaged, I myself was not attacking and just I waited. Just as I expected, the Insects began to attack us, just as I knew, the Insects'' coordination was impeccable as if they were parts of a single creature, it was at that moment that I launched a magical item that causes an explosion of Aura, from space and creating light, something I asked Nicole to create for me. Soon Mabel uses a spell on her staff that teleports all the Dragons to a nearby Planet, many were injured by the Insects'' attack, and now everyone must understand the true strength of their enemies. "(They really are arrogant, before they were full of desire to fight because they thought they were invincible, but now this false image...)"(I) "Let''s continue."(I) ----------------- In the next few days, we did not attack the insect base in that place, what we did was attack the three Planets where they were at war with the native people, and then attack the Planet where they almost completely dominated. As the battles went on, the young Dragons understood their strengths and understood that being proud of being True Dragonswas not the same as having unfounded blind confidence based on their own power. After days, only 73 Dragons were seriously injured, but no deaths occurred as I was prepared to interfere on the side. The young Dragons are now able to fight alongside each other, enough so that I let them fight alone most of the time only interfering when I see a creature rising up by merging the bodies. I flap my wings heading into the fight with my Aura condensing into an even larger Dragon around me, each of my blows tears the enemies apart, but I remain focused on one of them that looked like Haku. My fight against the enemies was a great fight compared to the others, but even so, after a lot of effort, I fell to the ground unconscious due to the lack of strength after the battle. -------------------- Pov Irius: "Where do we go now?"(I) "Let''s go back and find the others."(Irina) I was sitting waiting for my body to regenerate my legs, my body was pretty battered while my sister is already completely healed, her barriers were very useful, but there were still a lot of enemies. All around us, the bodies of the enemies were falling apart as they burned in Starfire. "What will we do now?"(I) "Go back since we''re done in this world."(Irina) "It will be good to reunite with the others."(I) Chapter 1362: Cap 1360: The Children of Eclipse part 3 Chapter 1362: Cap 1360: The Children of Eclipse part 3 When my eyes opened I was in a place I''d rather forget existed, it was a forest whose trees had mournful faces and the skies were red with a large eye for the Sun. A familiar figure was walking towards me, his way of moving seductive and provocative, not to mention that damn mocking smile on his face. "What have you been doing with my daughter?" (Callidora) "I can''t explain" (I) "I can''t trust an average explanation from someone as impulsive as you, I''m going to find out what I need from your body and Soul." (Callidora) She was already directly in front of me, her arm crossed my chest and spread tentacles inside my body. This took mere seconds, but the strange feeling of having someone touch her organs and her Soul was unsettling. As soon as she removed her arm from inside me, she snapped her fingers making the world around us disappear leaving only a black and shadowy space. "Zenos, Zenos, you damn bastard, why do you have to make things difficult for me?" (Callidora) "I still don''t know what the problem is, as far as I know, I haven''t been involved with you since I left Hell." (I) Suddenly I felt immense danger, then a pressure seemed to crush my Soul as if there was a giant hand squeezing my Soul that was only resisting due to the power of the Essences. "I still don''t know what the problem is, as far as I know, I haven''t been involved with you since I left Hell." (I) Suddenly I felt immense danger, then a pressure seemed to crush my Soul as if there was a giant hand squeezing my Soul that was only resisting due to the power of the Essences. When I opened my eyes Callidora was in front of me, her hands were around my neck while her eyes were empty, immersed in darkness like the one surrounding us here, her mouth seemed to have grown several teeth as she smiled predatorily at me. "I don''t like unforeseen circumstances and I like risks even less, you almost ruined my plan." (Callidora) "I''ve been trying to form a connection within physical realities for longer than your Universe has existed and when I finally find a way, you dare disrupt my plans!?" (Callidora) I couldn''t speak or move, all my power, Aura, Authority, and even my Essence were frozen as if Callidora''s hand was an eternal Seal, but at that moment, perhaps because of my survival instincts, my will emerged, driving the Essences inside me making this power flow into one of my hands that I use to punch Callidora in the face. "Child, it seems that someone has learned to be rebellious, I have to teach them how to behave" (Callidora) "Stop, stop, stop. ." "" (I) Suddenly a blurry hand appears from space as if it were an illusion holding one of Callidora''s shoulders, this took her by surprise and gave me the chance to use my will to boost my Essences once again making me let go while I stay away, during that brief second of the hand disappears and Callidora looks back at me with her normal appearance from before. "I''ll let you go this time, but she won''t be born now." (Callidora) Callidora touches my chest where the Blood Core is, then a terrifying energy pierces my body and Soul invades my Blood Core and disappears into the egg where Niryna is waiting to be born. (I) My sister and I used the items, and at that moment the energy that previously sank into my body. "Let''s go." (I) On the way I explained my plan to my sister, I don''t want to fight these enemies head on and to begin with, I''m still not sure if I need to fight these Dragons or not, it''s just strong suspicions as far as what the Demigod who brought us here said. As soon as we entered we started looking room by room in this castle, just doing a quick review of each room while looking for clues about the Apostles of Truth, on the Path we saw some Dragons, their Auras didn''t seem to have anything wrong and their appearances both Dragon and Their Human appearances were normal, none of them had the abnormality of the Apostles of Truth. It was only at the end that I found a clue, some Dragons had a trace of that abnormal Aura, some had faint traces while others had Auras that clearly didn''t belong to Dragons. By following these people we managed to find certain previously hidden parts of the Castle and also identify several enemies After a few hours we fled outside the castle where we plan our next step. ------------------ That night I returned to the mountain castle once again, this time with very different objectives, my sister and I walked through the already marked rooms. A Dragon is not easy to kill just like the Apostles of Truth who have strange bodies making it difficult to kill them, so I was well prepared. In the end, everyone is still living creatures and that''s why we have the advantage, in the first target room there were only two people, a Dragon in Human form and an Apostle of Truth who looks like Haku, a male version of Haku. I wave to my sister where she will take care of the fake Haku while I go after the Dragon, as soon as one makes the first move the other follows almost at the same time. My dagger pierces the neck and I force deeper until my hand is inside the neck, then use more Holy Power to spread the bracelet''s area of effect. "< Blood Curse: Blood Burn >" (I) The Dragon tried to fight, but the attack took him by surprise, delaying his reaction time, when he tried to go against me he no longer had his full strength. The Curse that I used with my Authority inside his body, marked his own heart, and his blood became a flame that burned his vitality, I couldn''t let this energy leak and there was no way to consume all this energy, so I will be in a Blood Crystal to use later, my sister did the same with her target. When we finished, the Dragon I fought against was mummified, his body was dry with the skin outlining the bones, but the one my sister fought against was more like a puddle of rotting flesh. I nodded to her and we continued, all those who clearly seemed to be on the side of the Apostles of Truth died, we took care of the weakest ones first and now the time has come to find the 3 Dragons who are really strong. I exchange a look with my sister, I know she doesn''t want to fight them, but she is naive for thinking that I would fight these 3 head on, I leave this part of fighting more to our other brothers, I touch her hand to use a mental link. "(Now let me tell you the second part of the plan, I''ll call it a double ambush.)" (I) Chapter 1363: Cap 1361: The Children of Eclipse part 4 Chapter 1363: Cap 1361: The Children of Eclipse part 4 Pov Elsaris: My sister and I sat on a mountain next to these Dragons'' castle, it was dawning and many Auras were spreading throughout the castle as if searching for something or someone. "It took them a long time to realize. " (Samira) "They didn''t expect an attack here, they also didn''t expect such a silent and precise attack." (I) "Soon they will find us, but by then it will be too late, it has been more than 4 hours. " (I) "Are you sure it will work?" (Samira) "Of course yes, the two of us being here proves that the Gods do not interfere with the True Dragons, even the Demigod who brought us here did not enter the Dragons'' territory." (I) During the years that I have been following my Father, I discovered how much I didn''t know about the world around me, I never thought I would discover so many secrets that govern the universe in an invisible way to people''s eyes. This was one of the secrets I learned in the Dragon Emperor''s castle while Nix was spending time with her Father. It seems that the Gods and most Demigods do not interfere with the True Dragons, even the Demigods are only allowed to interfere with the permission of the Great Gods, and only those who are still Mortals can interact in any way they want with the True Dragons whether as allies or enemies. This was one of the secrets I learned in the Dragon Emperor''s castle while Nix was spending time with her Father. It seems that the Gods and most Demigods do not interfere with the True Dragons, even the Demigods are only allowed to interfere with the permission of the Great Gods, and only those who are still Mortals can interact in any way they want with the True Dragons whether as allies or enemies. That''s why we were called by this Demigod, he needed someone trustworthy, powerful, and still a Mortal, all to investigate his suspicions about these Dragons allying with the Apostles of Truth. I discovered it and I already have a lot of proof, but I don''t like leaving loose ends, I also won''t let anyone from the Apostles of Truth leave alive with me around. The Gods and Demigods respect Dragons because they are related as part of the responsibility of the Dragon God, one of the strongest, if not the strongest, Great Gods. If the Dragons find out what is happening in this world, how much the True Dragons of this world have tarnished the name of the Dragons and their pride. " (I) My whole body is burning, my heart is racing while the blood in my veins feels like a raging river coursing through my body, it has been a long time since I felt something like this, the Holy Power within me almost goes out of control from the excitement, each of my instincts whispering in my mind to paint this pure landscape with the colors of blood. "(Calm down Lilith, you need to calm down or one of them might run away)" (I) "(I can''t let such disgusting creatures escape, I need to rip out their organs, hear their screams, see the terror in their eyes, need to hear their Auras shattering in endless torment!)" (I) "Lilith, can you stop drooling while releasing such strong killing intent?" (Orion) "" (I) When I heard Orion at the same time his paw made a cut on my face, and then I saw that we had already been noticed and the Aura of vengeance was gathering near the city gates we were walking towards, it seems like they noticed my presence. "Can you seal the city? Please? Please?" (I) "I can do that, but you''ll be fine wait, what are you YOU DAMN" (Orion) "Sorry!!!!" (I) I catch Orion and launch him as high as possible towards the city, I could feel a spatial fluctuation, I can''t run the risk of one of them escaping, this will reduce my toys. Soon I see a tsunami of red clouds falling from the sky taking this white land in a red mist. "Now let''s begin the retribution of revenge hahahahahaha" (I) ------------------ Pov Magnus: We have already taken all the worlds that the Bugs and the Apostles of Truth had taken before, the forces of this Star system were more than happy to help and after weeks of battles, the young Dragons are already completely different from before. Primitive instincts and pride in one''s own power awakened in the right way, even the most idiotic among them knows that one should not underestimate the strengths of others, even the weakest of races can have someone truly strong in some sense and these individuals are capable of creating miracles overcoming limits, which is why Dragons have such great respect for strength and we have our tradition around the individual study of strength. "Sir, are we going to attack them tomorrow?" (Mabel) "That was the plan, but it looks like we''ll have to act faster, go and warn everyone that the Bugs are making their move!" (I) In the sky I see a black dot moving towards us, it was too small to see at night, but I can feel the killing intent coming from there, I have also heard stories about how the Poison Worlds are Almost Divine Weapons, they even have the ability to change its size in a limited way, it looks like what I''m seeing now. Gathering all the Dragons we were off the planet in our real appearances, this time there is no hesitation or fear in any of the Dragons beside me, everyone was calm looking at the approaching enemies. "Now!!!" (I) All Dragons on my signal release their energy Breath attacks, as an attack that only concentrates, gives shape and direction to the energy, this attack is crude in nature and there will be no problems with all these attacks merging into one. The powerful attack travels faster and with greater impact, space cracks on the way before reaching the small sphere, but neither side prevails as clouds of poison begin to spread in the surroundings, but the Dragons are more intelligent and do not need mine command from now on, so I grab a wrist before pulling my arm away. "< Dragonic Summon: Will of the Blood Eclipse >" (I) Suddenly the arm I tore off turns into a flow of blood forming a magic circle with complex lines that shines using my Holy Power, then the Star-scaled Dragon. This is a magnificent Dragon with clear power above all in the surroundings, following my will the Dragon advances, and its body begins to burn in Starfire growing 6 more times before hitting the Poisonous World. With the attack, the Poisonous World broke apart with nothing left but rubble on the scene, this destruction will only be an obstacle. As soon as I saw a Bizarre Dragon coming out of the wreckage of the Poison World and unfortunately its body was covered in my Star Flames burning until there was nothing left. Chapter 1364: Cap 1362: The Children of Eclipse part 5 Chapter 1364: Cap 1362: The Children of Eclipse part 5 Pov Magnus: When those strange Dragons and the Poisonous World were consumed by Starfire I realized something, the energy they released did not disperse, in fact, it was flowing somewhere and the millions of Insects that were still far away, I saw them falling apart in explosions releasing vital energy which flowed in the same direction as the other energies from before. "Mabel, warn the others to prepare the world protection magic now or we might not have time. " (I) "What is that?" "Damn, there won''t be time." (I) "(What should I do, what should I do?)" (I) Energies were flowing in the world that had been completely taken over before and should now be empty after we eliminated all the Bugs there. The Planet was far away, but you could still see it shaking violently to the point that the space around it was rippling, then the planet began to break apart with pieces of its surface flying away before they all exploded away at once revealing a monster. It was an imitation of a Dragon, the shape of someone of my Race, its body was red and had white scales protecting various parts of its body, its head was large and only had its jaws, a large lipless mouth full of teeth, it has 4 arms with long claws and instead of legs it has a long snake tail, its pair of wings were actually made from tentacles and there were eyes in these tentacles that I only noticed from this distance because they glowed while looking in our direction. It was an imitation of a Dragon, the shape of someone of my Race, its body was red and had white scales protecting various parts of its body, its head was large and only had its jaws, a large lipless mouth full of teeth, it has 4 arms with long claws and instead of legs it has a long snake tail, its pair of wings were actually made from tentacles and there were eyes in these tentacles that I only noticed from this distance because they glowed while looking in our direction. "What do we do?" (Mabel) "I don''t know. " (I) It was at that moment that I felt a presence for a split second, then a large Dragon Dragon seemed to break the space behind this Dragon, then held its tentacles pulling him in before the pieces of space reformed, plugging the gap that closed completely. "" (me/Mabel) I was confused as to what happened, but it only lasted a short while before I realized that this was the Dragon Emperor. "Who was this Dragon? It went by very quickly and I didn''t feel its power well." (Mabel) "That was the Dragon Emperor and Father of Nix, he is called Arash. " (I) "The Dragon Emperor?" (Mabel) "(That doesn''t make sense, the Dragon Emperor shouldn''t be here, so why?)" (I) "(Did he come because of the young Dragons or because of that thing?)" (I) I had many questions in my mind, so I understood the reason for the Dragon Emperor to be in this place, but I am grateful for that, that Dragon, even though it was fake, was immensely powerful, its Aura was as twisted as the other Apostles of Truth, but it was the size of a Planet and his body was clearly very strong. "(I need to tell my Father about this. The barrier itself creates something similar to a Territory using elements of the power of the 3 Totems, this was explained to me earlier, I just didn''t expect it to expand the space inside as well. We quickly flew to the wreckage of the mountain that was once the castle, it wasn''t hard to find when a 2 vs 1 battle was going on in the skies above the mountain rubble. A Dragon that had fur instead of scales and another Dragon whose body seemed to be coated in incandescent rocks were fighting a creature that looked like a grotesque imitation of a Dragon. He had the body of a Dragon from the waist up with the lower part being a long Serpent tail filled with bone spines, his body was covered in white scales made using bones, and his head only had a large open circular mouth and a A large vertical eye was on its chest, it had no wings, but it had two arms too large for its body. The battle in the sky was above my level to interfere, if I were the master here I could be useful in that battle, but even using all my current power I am still not as strong as a Primordial Dragon. "There are more of these Monsters and other Dragons, attack!" (I) I transform into a Dragon, within this barrier my senses can extend everywhere without being blocked, I can feel the Dragons contaminated by the Apostles of Truth, their bodies are abnormal such as having too many eyes or horns, having disproportionate bodies, having tonalities different body parts or body parts that do not match their race. I chose one that was especially strong, he was fighting against 6 Dragons that came along with me, and his body was a slightly smaller version of the creature fighting in the skies against the 2 Primordial Dragons. I waved at the other Dragons who attacked all together creating an opportunity to attack me by surprise, but I was the one who was surprised. The eye on the front of the creature''s chest closes and opens on the back releasing a purple and red beam towards me as its body was ravaged by the 6 direct attacks. Without caring about the wounds, its tail grows, hitting the 6 Dragons while its circular mouth tries to bite me, but my claws hit the lower part of its jaw in an upward attack, tearing off the entire lower part of its jaw. His energy beam attack coming out of the big eye on his back earlier wasn''t a big problem for me, my scales don''t just look like a starry sky, they are a starry sky. His energy attack sank into one of my scales and exited through the other as if crossing a space in which I control the direction, I used the energy beam to kill two other Dragons with Auras marked as the Apostles of Truth. "Now!" (I) "< Blood Magic: Blood Consuming Scythe >" (Elsaris/Samira) Two sickles of blood where the first cuts the head off before the second sickle enters through the hole left in the place where the head was, cutting towards the back opening his body, the blood trapped in the sickle was pulled and ripped out by the two sickles until leaving a body dry in the place which was soon reduced to nothing by the attacks of the other 6 Dragons that were sent away earlier. "With this dead person, there''s only that one up there as a real problem. " (I) Chapter 1365 - 1365: Cap 1363: The Children of Eclipse part 6 Pov Lilith''s: With Orion creating this red mist that works as a barrier, I''m sure none of them will escape, and using my Father''s Sacred Power in my body I''m not affected by spatial changes, energy fluctuations, blockage of Aura and senses, all of that it was perfect to be my place of fun. My mind was buzzing with fun ideas that I don''t get to do in the Dungeon often, this time I have so many at my mercy and unfortunately, I don''t have time to enjoy the torture process to atone for the accumulated revenge. "< Vengeful Executioner''s Blessing >" (I) "May my body and power be the path for these souls to reach the hand of the Demonic god of Vengeance." (I) "May vengeance upon them be repaid 100-fold." (I) The Holy Power my body possesses is different, I am not a Saint like Vanessa whose Holy Power completely descends from the Goddess Selene and does not have the same connection to our Father as the rest of us brothers, but I am still a High Priestess of Vengeance, In my body I accept both the Power of the Father that flows through our lineage and I also accept the Power of the Demonic God of Vengeance whomever I choose to serve as the serrated blade of retribution. "You are all mine~~~..." (I) "< Demon Illusory Steps >" (I) "< Wings of Shadow >" (I) My legs fill with power as my shadow moves across my body, completely covering my wings, my mind becomes focused as my body moves with incredible speed and fluidity through the red mist. My claws grow as the Demonic energy responds to my growing desire to kill, even in this fog I can see those who were leaving the city, they were saying something, but I didn''t care about that, my Aura concentrated in the eyes gave me a clear vision of revenge around them. The ones I saw feel revenge for themselves were the first ones I killed, I walked past them ripping their heads off in one fell swoop, they were weaker than me by considerable levels. Passing between them making 18 heads fall to the ground so much faster than they could react, the satisfaction of killing them was incredible because their revenge was fulfilled only with their deaths. "Get rid of the bodies." (I) "I''m already doing it." (Orion) Looking back for a split second I see the few bodies that remain becoming pools of blood that are dispersing into the red mist until there is nothing left. I was very happy when I felt something landing next to me trying to cut me using monstrous claws, but it was so far away from me that it was easy to dodge as he smiled. I went behind him trying to cut off his head, but a tentacle came out of his body trying to divert my hand and at that moment I concentrated my Aura around my hand and cut the tentacle before making another head roll to the ground. "Got you!" "< Blood Curse: Damage Retribution >" (I) The moment I cut off the latter''s head, a tentacle went through my stomach, which didn''t seem possible considering that these people shouldn''t be able to perceive the world around them in a normal way. When I looked back I understood how he did it, he used an area attack using his arms to attack in a cone area and one of those tentacles hit me. Activating the Curse, my blood comes to life, cutting the tentacle to mark the Curse in his blood, then I see him lying on the ground with an explosion in his stomach. With that, I went back to killing those outside the ice city, and when I passed through the gate I saw someone with a very vengeful presence, so this time I went straight for him realizing he was trying to do something suspicious. I got to his side by spinning around his body causing several claw cuts into my skin, then tried to use my tail to pierce one of his eyes, which was met with his teeth ripping off the tip of my tail, then using the blood emerging from my tail to crystallize a spearhead of blood before piercing through his head. But when I passed through his head I made the mistake of thinking he was dead, he stood up as his body broke into several parts with his bones as sharp as a Spear as they came towards me from all sides. This would have worked if I was faster, taking a step forward while flapping my wings receiving a large speed boost I dodged all the attacks. "< Blood Magic: Blood Fire >" (I) I gather 3 drops of blood in the palm of my hand, the 3 drops of blood that began to burn before being thrown at the burning enemy unable to control his own body. I continued running as I entered the city leaving us a trail of bodies, some without limbs, others being beaten until there was nothing left and so I continued fighting without rest. Each death was a delight for me, most of them were weak, but even so many had strange powers like tentacles appearing out of nowhere, releasing poison, mental powers, and even one that controlled bones. Of all these powers, the worst was that of someone I didn''t expect to see, in front of me was her, an old version of Haku, another one of the copies that the Apostles of Truth made, I''m offended that something like that exists, but her power was complicated to deal with. What I was seeing of his body offered was just the surface, she is folding the space around her to hide the rest of her body. I didn''t know how she was able to perceive me even in this red mist, but she clearly wouldn''t be as easy an opponent as the others. "(There''s so much Aura of revenge...)" (I) I almost couldn''t hold back the emotion I was feeling with her in front of me, most of the Aura of revenge in this place was focused on her. "I wanted to enjoy this more, but it looks like I''m going to have to go all out." (I) "Orion, take care of everyone and leave this fake Haku to me." (I) "Finally, I don''t understand why I wasted so much time fighting such weak creatures." (Orion) I hear Orion''s voice as if he were right next to me, so I leave the rest to him as I attack this false Haku head on, my power growing within me until the moment I arrive in front of him. "< Demonic Curse: Vengeful Weapon >" (I) I use my blood as a means to create a large Ax of crystallized blood that sucks all the Aura of Vengeance directed at this fake Haku, purple marks appear all over the Ax''s body as I swing it towards her. Her body falls apart revealing a hole in space from which a large eye opens, then 3 pairs of hands appear on the edges of the hole forcing it to open revealing a 20 meter tall female figure with 3 pairs of arms abnormally disproportionate to each other another, she has two heads that look in my direction, her clothes are made of intertwined metal threads and when she moves towards me these metal threads show up as her hair gathering in her hands in different weapon shapes while showing the scales as natural armor on his body. Around me the red mist had already disappeared, shattered bodies were everywhere while an Orion in his red Wolf cub form was sitting on top of one of the ice houses looking at my fight. "< Eclipse Magic: Cursed Sun Strengthening >" (I) I feel the Holy Power within me leaving my body forming an Illusory purple Sun behind me, Starfire ignites in my Vengeful Ax whose stars within the black flames glow purple. I concentrate all my Aura and Authority on the Ax, making it grow several times its size as it descends on the body of the false Haku who tries to defend himself uselessly with his weapons made of intertwined metal wires. Each of his Weapons was severed as was his entire body and the city below when the Ax struck, then my Weapon burst into flames that attacked what was left of Haku''s body burning until there was nothing left but a Soul claimed by the God Vengeance Demon. "Don''t you think you overdid it?" (Orion) "She wasn''t far from you in strength to use that kind of attack that harms yourself." (Orion) "But it was so worth it, it was so fun to feel her pain as she burned with the revenge she had accumulated, to see her body imitating Haku cut in two, and to feel her Soul being dragged by my God... hahahahaha... hahahaha..." (I) I couldn''t move my body while lying on the blood-stained snow, my body was almost dry of blood, and the two types of Holy Power within me exhausted, I was feeling very weak now to the point that I couldn''t stand upright, but Even so, I was happy for such a fun fight. "Destroying these Bastards is so pleasurable." (I) Chapter 1366: Cap 1364: Divine Heralds When I woke up my body felt heavy and at the same time I felt like I was fine, it was like I could breathe better now and I didn''t know I was breathing hard before, that was the kind of feeling. "You are incorrigible, how can you attract so much trouble?" (Elizabeth) "Elizabeth? What are you doing here?" (I) "I came to check on you." (Elizabeth) It has been 2 days since the journey to the location of my next mission begins, during this time I have been feeling the differences in my condition since meeting Callidora, today was simply the best of these events with me waking up feeling the best yet. The awkwardness and pain in my body is not much of a problem, it happens because of my daily training sessions with Natasha. "What did I do this time." (I) "Natasha told me about her encounter with Inferno, you should not trust this creature, its antiquity dates back to the beginning of existence and it has never been trustworthy." (Elizabeth) "I don''t trust Callidora and I don''t even know how she got to me in the first place, but whatever she did to me this time is working." (I) "You idiot, what she did was narrow your few options to one, follow what she wants, but always keep in mind that the only benefits she cares about are her own." (Elizabeth) "I know that she is very clear with her reasons." (I) I know better than anyone that Callidora can''t be trusted, she was actually ready to do something to me when she was stopped in that dream, now that I think about it, that voice must have belonged to Niryna. Callidora is someone completely selfish, but she is not evil, in fact, I don''t even know if she understands the concept of good and evil, for her all that exists are what she wants and the rest. "(With a mind like that I can at least ensure that I still have use for it and thus maintain my safety.)" (I) "Don''t worry about me, I have everything under control, what I should do is very clear in my mind." (I) "Your mind doesn''t know anything, I''ve been trying to teach you things calmly, but somehow you jump into the river before I can teach you where the bridge is." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) "I was out this time to sort out a few things, not the least of which is this." (Elizabeth) As she spoke, she approached me, sitting on the edge of the bed before placing a finger on my forehead, then I felt a current of Aura enter my mind full of information, this limitless Aura was well known to me, belonging to the Goddess Selene, my mother. It only took me a few minutes to organize this information and finally start to understand what it means. "That could have been a big help earlier." (I) "You shouldn''t even be able to do this, even now it''s still something you can only do with a lot of effort and the help of a Familiar." (Elizabeth) "Have you ever done this?" (I) "No, I still don''t have a complete Essence, I didn''t want to condense one in the past and for now I still need to wait a little longer before doing that." (Elizabeth) "Then the other Demigods..." (I) "Condensing a complete Essence is not easy, transforming that Essence into a true Deity is even worse." (Elizabeth) "I had already heard of Heralds, but few Gods have one, at least it was like that in the past, our Mother said that in recent years everyone has been trying to create some." (Elizabeth) "The requirements seem to be many..." (I) ? Requirements to be a Divine Herald: 1. Not having Essence. 2. Not having a Divine lineage. 3. Not having Blessing from another God. 4. Have a compatible Authority. 5. Possess absolute Faith towards God. 6. Have a strong connection with God. 7. Accept with body, mind and soul the supreme Blessing of God. 8. Be able to resist the integration of God''s supreme Blessing. 9. Each individual can only receive the supreme Blessing of 1 Essence to awaken as a Herald of that Essence. The requirements as well as the understanding of those requirements appeared in my mind as did the reason for the Heralds to exist. They are beings like emissaries, if it were in my old world, it would be the difference between Angels and Archangels. Divine Heralds could be related to Archangels while Divine Servants could be related to Angels, Divine Beasts are the same as Familiars, which is why all my Familiars became Divine Beasts. Angels = Divine Servants Archangels = Divine Herald I can understand why I have something to relate to, but I should have known that there would be some kind of hierarchy to the Gods in their own religion, I just saw the hierarchy between the different Gods without really delving into these things due to always rejecting becoming a God, but at this moment this refusal is more like a childish tantrum about something inevitable. "Heralds are blessed with the power of Essence and thus are able to use some Divine Power, but this kind of power does not come easily and for free." (Elizabeth) "I know, your Souls and bodies suffer from reconstruction just to be recipients of this type of power, if it fails it will not only be death, your Souls will be destroyed and the Essence or Divinity will break into fragments of Divinity needing to be condensed again into a complete Essence before returning to being a true Deity." (I) "It appears that you have already integrated our Mother''s information into her knowledge." (Elizabeth) "You are right in everything you say, creating a Herald is a risk for both the individual who must meet various requirements, and a risk for the God who must grant the Blessing using purely his Essence on the individual." (Elizabeth) I can understand why the Gods fear using these types of things, they are the beings above all else and normally they only need to fear each other, there is no need to get hurt with something so risky. "I know in your head you must be thinking that the Gods fear creating Divine Heralds, but you are wrong." (Elizabeth) "If that''s not it, then why didn''t you even know something like that? Why doesn''t almost any God have a Herald?" (I) "You idiot, I''m not talking about any power, this is the power of the Gods, once marked as a Divine Herald there is no reincarnation or individual, they become the extension of the God they serve linked to him for eternity and disappearing if the God dies or the Godhead is broken." (Elizabeth) "Many Gods do not want to impose such burdens on those who place their faith in them, even the most selfish of Gods will not want to take so many risks just to have someone strong by their side." (Elizabeth) "Someone who meets these requirements can be considered a valuable talent, it would be better to guide such individuals to become Demigods and have the chance to become Lesser Gods, even though it is a long way and may have many chances of failure, no one loses with these flaws." (Elizabeth) True, if a Demigod or Mortal trying to become a Demigod dies, all that will happen will be their Souls being sent to reincarnation and the Gods do not suffer at all, if it works out they get a Demigod and in the future maybe even a Minor God, Even if it fails, no one is irreparably injured. "Wait a minute! Why did our mother send this information to me? You don''t want me to..." (I) "Exactly what you''re thinking, you need to create Heralds, you need 7 of them in total, one for each Essence you have and before you become a Minor God." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) I didn''t know what to say, I just kept looking at my sister trying to see if she was serious or not, I know my situation better than anyone, the variables, and requirements just to try to create a Herald are many, the chances of it working they are too low, if I fail just once one of my Essences will break and in my current situation it would be the same as triggering the time bomb that I have become, with 7 chances of going wrong it will be safer to throw myself into a Sun than trying something like this. "Don''t look at me like that, I know the risks better than you and I was very against this whole idea, but our mother is confident in you, she believes that your great adaptability will help you a lot." (Elizabeth) "Even though it''s Goddess Selene''s advice, why would I try something so risky? I''ll just not do it..." (I) "I also thought so and used this same argument, but our Mother said that you have no choice, you have too many Essences within you to resist the process of Divine Ascension, your family members are a good support, but they are not enough, the Heralds will serve to lessen the burden on you." (Elizabeth) "It makes no sense!" (I) "Damn it!!" (I) "Didn''t I need to be a God to even try to create a Divine Herald?" (I) "If you are using your Divine Incarnation and work together with one of your Familiars, the chances will be better since they share these Essences with you." (Elizabeth) "Damn it!!!" (I) Sigh "(Why did I have to start this stupid plan of gathering Essences!? I''m an IDIOT!!!)" (I) Chapter 1367: Cap 1365: Preparations for Divinity Elizabeth didn''t seem happy telling me about the Heralds, this must be the first time she taught me something against her will and she seemed frustrated by it to the point of not even bothering to hide her disgust. But that was just another factor to worry about, she seems to be against the idea of ??me having Divine Heralds and yet she teaches me about it, there is also the biggest problem that this whole idea came from our Mother, the Goddess Selene. "< Teleportation >" (I) I had a lot of things to think about, so I used Teleportation to appear on top of the library inside the City in the Dungeon, the Library was one of the tallest buildings and this considering the spatial distortion inside it, increasing the interior dozens of times the size it shows in the outside, all this because I and those influenced by me are knowledge accumulators, whenever someone from the Dungeon sees a book that they don''t know if they have in the Dungeon they bring it here and the various researchers also leave their books here for others to study. "You really need to run from her, what she was saying was very interesting." (Hell Doll) "..." (I) I look at the doll on my waist, the Fallen Saint of Life who came from a Universe that no longer exists and served as Callidora''s subordinate for an unknown period of millennia in Hell. I always carry this bastard''s doll with me, honestly, I no longer feel the same anger I felt in the past, but she is dangerous and unreliable enough to not be left alone, so I thought of so many ways to tie her to me point of not being your only option to be loyal to me. "How much freedom have you had to speak?" (I) "My Soul may be sealed, but my mind still works, not to mention you have been very attentive in feeding me such delicious delicacies." (Hell Doll) Her voice was almost sing-song as she spoke with joy about the Divine Souls and colossal amounts of malice that I used her to get rid of. "Don''t lie, Callidora''s seal isn''t something that can weaken like that and you didn''t even try to do such a thing knowing it''s impossible, so say it at once." (I) "You are so naive, you still haven''t realized that Callidora''s power in you has increased your synergy with her, it wasn''t me who started talking now, it was you who can now hear me from inside the seal." (Hell Doll) "What did she do to me?" (I) "Swim too much, she can''t do anything to you too serious, it just increased your affinity with her, Hell." (Hell Doll) "Her sensitivities to malice and negative emotions will be greater as will the oppression of her Aura, she has done this a few hundred times in the thousands of years that I have been enslaved by her." (Hell Doll) "(I do not feel this influence she speaks of, nor have I gained any title or ability that indicates an affinity with Hell.)" (I) I didn''t feel the things the doll said, at least not as she described it, but it wouldn''t be impossible for me to adapt to Callidora''s power after all this and create some kind of Affinity with that damn place. "You were once a Saint, so you know about the Heralds, tell me about it." (I) "No, you still don''t have control of me and I don''t like being sealed like this, so I''d rather see you squirming in frustration." (Hell Doll) Her mocking voice seems like a bad imitation of what Callidora does so naturally, this Fallen Saint just wants to provoke me and I shouldn''t even ask her these things in the first place, I can''t trust what she says for now. Sigh "(I already knew at the time that stealing a Shard of Divinity would have repercussions and my plan to get several was more than just bold, but the frustration of what happened on that Moon against Ragnar''s Father was a lot of pressure on me, I was also with overconfidence after everything I accomplished in Hell, I never thought the consequences would be so many.)" (I) "(What I''m doing is accelerating my transformation into a God, something I once wanted to avoid and now becomes something inevitable.)" (I) "(My Essences also affect the entire universe just like any Essenes, I had never heard of these things and now I learn more and more due to lack of options.)" (I) "(I also have to create Sources of Power from the 3 natural energies or I may bring calamity to the universe just by existing.)" (I) "(Not long ago I discovered that I am a Solar System-level Apocalyptic extinction bomb and now I find myself being forced to do something that could trigger this explosion 7 times if I fail just once.)" (I) Sigh Suddenly blood comes out of my leg, making a puddle on the floor in half a second where a hand pulls my leg in and I am thrown once again onto my bed with Elizabeth looking at me with a calmer appearance. "Have you managed to get your mind in order yet?" (Elizabeth) "I don''t, but it seems like you''re calmer." (I) "Don''t mind me, I just need you to understand one last thing." (Elizabeth) "You need to make many preparations for your Ascension to Divinity, fortunately, the Essences you possess were transformed using your Chaos Essence, thus becoming branches of your Chaos Essence." (Elizabeth) "You have also managed to form a core Divinity echo, it is still in the early stages and incomplete, but it will be a start." (Elizabeth) "Now what needs to be done first of all is to obtain the missing Essences to stabilize your existence." (Elizabeth) "After this, the 3 new Sources of power of natural energies need to be created, this will harmonize the Universe by rooting its Essences in a more natural way in the cycle of nature." (Elizabeth) "There are many things to do..." (I) "These are things that need to be done, when you ascend to Divinity your body and Soul will not withstand the impact of the Divine Power that will hit you first, then it will flow in a secondary impact to your Familiars and finally dilute in a third impact on your Heralds, this way the Divine Power will have somewhere to go when it gets to the point where you can''t stand it, that''s why Divine Heralds are important." (Elizabeth) "(In other words, my Familiars and these Divine Heralds are a means to disperse excess Divine Power during my ascension, they are escape valves to lessen the pressure on me to avoid a catastrophe.)" (I) "Alright, alright, I get it... let''s continue this conversation somewhere with alcohol at least." (I) -------------------- Pov Zaya (Lady of the Grave): Dream This was some kind of dream and it wasn''t the first time I''d experienced something like this, I''ve been here a few times and always somewhere new, yet I always know I''m in the same dream. It always starts the same way, a World of complete darkness where I am unaware of anything around me, then comes the various lights that are born from the darkness, countless stars that form constellations around me, flows of energies cross and flow around these stars without any order as if it were normal. But the stars are not the only common point in all dreams, the biggest point is the road that seems to be made by the crystallization of stars, and the steps that appear on that path of stars were stained with blood. The last point in common in dreams is the Eclipse that is always somewhere, sometimes I find myself facing a big Eclipse, sometimes I am so far away that if I don''t pay attention I might not see the Eclipse, and most of the time a presence appears to radiate from Eclipse. The star path is everywhere, even if the position of the stars changes places and the Eclipse is always at different distances, the blood-stained star path always seems to be unchanging. There is never anyone around me, just an immensity void, but for some reason, I always feel like walking along that path of stars, I never feel alone in these dreams because I always feel a perpetual presence pulling me into comfort, especially when I''m walking that path, maybe that''s why I like to do that whenever I appear in these dreams. But today was different, for some reason every step I took made the stars around me move as if I had been walking for hours, with every step my sense of time was fading, and at some point, I came across it. My eyes were closed, and I couldn''t look at him or interact with him, but his presence was the same one I felt the entire time I was here, even without being able to interact I still knew he was here and I felt safe. Suddenly I feel his eyes looking at me and his hand on my face before he disappears. When I opened my eyes again I felt like something had changed and looking around I realized that I was in someone''s dream, I don''t know how I can know this, but I simply know it''s a Demon with a jewel on his head and holding a sword appears with his body covered in injuries. As soon as he looked at my resignation the world shattered as if it were some kind of illusion, then my consciousness slowly fades into darkness little by little. Chapter 1368: Cap 1366: A false God I had a lot of things to think about and a lot of things to get done, but I didn''t have the mind for any of that right now, I needed time to organize everything I need and luckily I had that time as the Dimensional Dragon takes us through the space tunnel to where it is Yntra. As much as I want to curl up in bed and forget about everything, I can''t let go of my responsibilities and other obligations. Now I was in a ceremony room inside the Communal Temple, next to me were my 3 Divine Servants and my sister. "Where are Alice and Karina?" (I) "They are..." (Hades) "They are where they should be, just like the others, don''t worry about your Saints, they are not needed to create Divine Heralds." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) I''m not an idiot, it''s been a while since I realized that many of my companions are missing, even my wives are not here and until the moment I called for them, my 3 Divine Servants were not here either. It seems like everyone knows what''s going on while I''m the only one left in the dark, Elizabeth seems to be one of the ones responsible for it, so everyone must know except me, Elizabeth must fear that I''ll interfere with what the others are doing, which means they''re taking some kind of risk. "Will they be okay?" (I) "They won''t die at least... I think." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) "The decision of what they do doesn''t matter to anyone but them, respect their wishes." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) Sigh "Okay, I''m not going to prolong all of this, I also don''t feel like explaining so many things, so here you go." (I) I point my finger forward and 3 lights come out of my finger crossing the foreheads of Hades, Haku, and Cinthia at the same time, this is information about my situation as well as the Divine Heralds. After that, I waited a few minutes while their eyes seemed empty as they tried to understand the new information dumped in their minds, as soon as I noticed the change in everyone''s eyes they started talking. "Do you understand?" (I) "Yes!" (All) "So I won''t beat around the bush, of all those close to me, Hades has the greatest Faith due to being my creation, but you two were an enemy and a victim that I helped, neither of you had Faith in me before." (I) "So I''m going to ask you two, do you want to continue as you are or do you want to try to become Divine Heralds?" (I) "I offer this body and everything I am to the Grand Master." (Haku) "If the master wishes, I will do it." (Cinthia) To my surprise, the two didn''t even think about it, they responded immediately as if it were something obvious, but I don''t like that. "You must know the requirements and risks, I have already given you this information, so think about it." (I) "Cinthia, what I''m doing is asking your desire, it''s not my order and I don''t plan on forcing anyone to do it, it must be a decision made solely by you and with a sincere desire." (I) Forcing someone to become a Divine Herald is impossible if all the requirements are true, even if someone thinks in their mind that they want to become a Divine Herald if they have any fear in their Soul or do not have a truly absolute Faith, these pits can be enough to ruin everything. Hades has this absolute Faith to the point of religious fanaticism, he was born from a curse that I created, I can say that I created his Soul, I created his mind, I created his body and granted his power, everything he is was shaped by me and he accepts this with gratitude not spoken in words, he demonstrates his devotion with actions. So I don''t need to ask him anything, his answer is more than obvious and even if I asked him not to try, I know he would ask to do it as proof of his fanatical conviction, but I can''t say the same about these two. "My Lord, my desire is to serve for eternity in his name, this is my sincere will and there is nothing to consider." (Cinthia) "You opened my eyes to how far I was moving away from everything I sought and granted the power I always sought with infinite possibilities, I don''t care about things of Gods and so on, since I chose to serve you, I gave myself for whole to you, even my Faith is yours for having accomplished everything I could have wanted and much more." (Haku) "I like that girl, but this Haku... her motives are bad, but I can feel in her Aura the sincerity of what she says." (Elizabeth) "So it''s decided, at least you 3, now I need to think about which Essences to use." (I) "You can decide after getting the next Essence, but you must prepare in advance for the last Essence." (Elizabeth) "I know." (I) With that, I had chosen the 3 easiest candidates to become Divine Heralds, which makes choosing the next ones much more difficult. Things like confidence and Faith are difficult to measure or feel, they are very abstract to the point that the person themselves may not know and be unable to control these parts of themselves. This time I played it safe by going with the 3 with the greatest chance of working out, but now for the next 4 it''s not something I can choose with just a little thought, mainly because of the requirements that make all the best options I can think of useless for failing to comply with any of the requirements. -------------------- I needed to wait 1 month of travel to get to the other side of the universe, it was a big trip and I used it wisely, I tried to put together a list of those suitable to become Divine Heralds, but I couldn''t think of anyone, the absolute Faith part being the greatest impediment. But I didn''t spend all my time on this, I knew who this trip was for and I knew who the enemy was, so I also trained as best I could during this time thinking about Yntra''s weaknesses. As time went by, none of the others came back, the only family I had around was Nicole, who spent her days inside the laboratory and only came looking for me to collect materials such as blood, bones, scales, or horn that she was using to build the Hell Doll''s body. Hela was also around, but she spent her days immersed in magic and curses trying something new, all my other children were missing. Even my family members are not around, with the exception of Hinata who sleeps inside her necklace most of the time, whenever I ask she says she is contemplating the stars, but I don''t understand what she means. I also tried to see Hela''s friend who is still in stone form, but I felt like it wasn''t the right time whenever I touched her, it was like my instincts were telling me to wait and that''s what I did, as for Freya, I can''t even do it anymore entering the room where his body is, a natural energy repels my entry and when I tried to force my way in, a Fairy or a Spirit always came to try to stop me. With that, time passed and apart from my specialized training, I felt like I had achieved nothing but more weight to carry on my back. ------------------- After a month I was in the Dimensional Dragon that was hidden between spaces on the threshold of the Star System where Yntra was, that place was a real fortress, half of the planets were Poison Worlds and the number of Insects flying was so great that they were like grains of sand in a desert storm. I didn''t even need to ask to know which planet I should go to, even from afar it was possible to see a planet more in the center from where what looked like the silhouette of a pink tree could be seen. I was inside the Dimensional Dragon looking at this horrible sight while my daughter stood next to me, her eyes glowed red and her Aura was not the same as usual as was her posture. "Hello Mom, I didn''t expect to see you possessing my daughter to come and talk to me." (I) "She is my Saint, besides, I have her permission to do so, I do not impose my will on those who follow me willingly, I only do it to enemies in the bloodiest way possible." (Goddess Selene) "You have Natasha''s delicacy." (I) "In fact, it would be the opposite, she and my daughters share traits of myself, echoes of my personality, be it violence, malice, and laziness or the wisdom of a ruler." (Goddess Selene) "As your son, I don''t think I''ve received anything like that." (I) "Curiosity, a trait you already had in your previous life, but you must have noticed how much more prominent it has become today." (Goddess Selene) "Now that you mention it, I can''t help but see that point of view when looking back." (I) "I like talking to you, but we both know that''s not why I''m here, and being late won''t change what you have to do." (Goddess Selene) "I know..." (I) Sigh "I know this isn''t all I have to deal with, but still seeing this level of defenses scares me." (I) "Your enemy has become something close to a God, but close is as far as she will go, she is a false Goddess." (Goddess Selene) "The Soul and mind of those trapped within her feed her with malice as well as fear, such things are a type of Faith generating Holy Power that she cannot contain because it does not truly belong to her." (Goddess Selene) "So the situation is this bad... a False Goddess..." (I) Sigh "(I have to stop getting into trouble on this scale... I miss the time when my biggest problem was how to attack a Goblin village... when my life became a continuous bet on whether I''ll make it back alive or not?)" (I) Chapter 1369: Cap 1367: 2-front attack My mother, the Goddess Selene who was in control of Vanessa''s body was pointing to the distant tree silhouette, so I thought about the things I was hearing. "If she is called a false Goddess, then can she be killed?" (I) My biggest concern from the beginning was not how I am going to attack, regardless of who the enemy is, there is always a way to fight, the problem is how to defeat the enemy, in the case of Gods this becomes difficult since killing a God borders on impossible, the same goes for the Evil Gods. This is a big problem since the second option of sealing the Soul of Gods or Evil Gods can be considered much more difficult, requires much more preparation and there will always be the possibility of being freed in the future. So I needed to know if Yntra had become a God or something close enough that killing her would be more challenging than I was thinking. "She is a False God, there have been some in the past, they are much rarer than Evil Gods, but they are not Gods and they do not share any of our characteristics." (Goddess Selene) "Then why use the name False Gods?" (I) "They use Fragments of Divinity as a tool unable to integrate with them for some reason, whether because they do not have Authority, because they are incompatible with the Essence contained in the Fragment of Divinity or due to pure incompetence." (Goddess Selene) "The False Gods use the Divinity Fragment to collect Faith in them such as fear, lust, loyalty, greed, hate, love, madness, happiness and so on, whatever type of Faith they choose the Holy Power created will not belonging to them, there will be nothing truly of them or of Essence becoming inferior to any type of Holy Power." (Goddess Selene) "She also won''t be able to accurately store or control the Holy Power, so it will start to leak from her body." (Goddess Selene) "The Sacred Power does not belong to the Natural Cycle, its uncontrolled presence will cause several problems the longer it lasts." (Goddess Selene) "If she is not a Goddess, then she can still be killed as a Mortal, that''s all I needed to know, the rest doesn''t matter since the plan was always to kill her." (I) "But don''t be blinded by the enemy before you and forget about the Demonic God of Greed hiding in the shadows." (Goddess Selene) "..." (I) When I turned to ask about this second enemy, Vanessa had her eyes closed falling forward, she was unconscious and the presence of the Goddess was a mere echo left behind that would soon disappear. "(I will leave my Divine Beast with my Saint, you can only use it 1 time and I must say that it cannot kill Greed, so don''t count on it for everything.)" (Goddess Selene) "That will be a great help, thank you." (I) I spoke, but I knew there would be no other answer, that was his final message spoken in my mind with his voice getting further and further away, I still had things I wanted to know, but I think this is enough for what I have planned. Holding Vanessa in my arms, I look at the tree-like silhouette on the planet full of tentacles in the distance and the many Poison Worlds forming the fortress to protect Yntra in this Star System, then I couldn''t help but smile. "The time has come to put an end to this nuisance, but even in the end you have to make my life difficult." (I) ----------------- 1 day later. Today marks 1 day since we arrived here, I wanted to have a meeting to talk about all my plans, I had spent weeks planning ways to specifically defeat Yntra, I also spent some time thinking about the Insects and Poisonous Worlds since I knew she had such forces under control. I never imagined that she would use so much of her army here and I also don''t have a complete idea of ??her own strength, so during this past day I let the Spirits and Fairies with spatial or Dark elements who have high concealment abilities spy on the forces of enemies, Nicole also used her Golems to gather information. Unfortunately, the others took a while to return, but in the end, everyone arrived today, their strength clearly stronger, but I didn''t have time for a meeting between friends now, the most I could do was hug my wives who I haven''t seen for a long time before starting the meeting. "I don''t know what everyone was doing, but there are some things I need to say when we have little time." (I) "The place we are now is next to a Star System where Yntra is along with much of her Bug army, Nicole." (I) "This is the initial information, I also added the Spirits and Fairies information." (Nicole) Nicole used magic to show a hologram with an image of this solar system, there were 8 planets in total marked in blue and 6 Poisonous Worlds marked in red, and there were also large red areas in every corner of the Star System. But what caught my attention was one of the planets in the center marked in gold, it looked more like a monster with tentacles than a Planet and there was a large tree on its surface. "Before anyone asks, I''m not sure of the numbers and strength of the Bugs, I also don''t know the state of these worlds, the red spots are areas marked as being occupied by the Bugs." (Nicole) "As you can see, the enemy forces must be in the hundreds of billions, we honestly don''t have exact numbers, there could also be more of them hiding in the Poison Worlds or Planets." (I) "Do they know we''re here?" (E?rica) "I don''t think so, but they may be waiting for someone to intervene since they are doing something similar to what they did on the planet where we last fought against them." (I) "So this makes it easier, we can use area attacks to burn through their numbers even before the battle." (E?rica) "That won''t work, a head-on attack will consume our resources and numbers, the Poison Worlds cannot be easily defeated, and wearing us down before reaching Yntra would be a bad idea." (Diana) "We also have no idea about the members of the Apostles of Truth, they are using the Bugs to cover a large area and possibly they have elite forces prepared for attacks at any time." (Kira) "Diana and Kira are right." (Ivan) "We can attack more than one target, lure those in the dark into the light into a trap." (Ibuki) "I don''t think that''s possible in such large numbers." (Ragnar) "You are idiots!?" (Natasha) "Our target is not the Insects, we must attack Yntra, we know its location, we attack with everything in a single attack, that would be better." (Natasha) "The Apostles of Truth are great at healing themselves, this kind of attack could hurt her, but as far as we know, she became the planet." (Karina) Everyone was discussing plans, and only a few people were silent being me, Elizabeth, and our most recent participant Ynes who became a Demonic Demigod, Caitlyn was sleeping, I talked to her earlier today and she knows about the plan, so she doesn''t see any importance in this meeting. Elizabeth already knew about my plan, I consulted her a few times about the possibilities of the plan before finally speaking with Caitlyn earlier today, and now I''m just letting them think before giving my idea. "You are all right, but you are also limiting yourself, we don''t need to choose one way to attack if we use them all at the same time, it surprises me that you almost got my plan right so quickly." (I) "We don''t have time for these games, tell us your plan soon, don''t think that hiding with space powers will last forever." (Elizabeth) Elizabeth is right, there may be people with spatial affinities on the side of the Insects or the Apostles of Truth, I must also take into consideration that people with strong mental powers like Yntra can feel our presence even when hidden. "My plan as I said before, takes everything you discussed into consideration, we will split up to attack, I will divide you into groups that will be sent to destroy or subdue the Poison Worlds, and we will also carry out the first area attack to reduce the initial numbers of the Insects as much as possible." (I) "Apart from these groups, my 3 Divine Servants will be together with my Familiars to intervene if any group needs help or the Apostles of Truth are trying to make a surprise attack." (I) "Natasha will lead the entire battle using Nicole to issue orders to everyone, so listen to what she says." (I) "This plan is like the others, just more organized, but you didn''t mention your participation or talk about the main target, you don''t think you can fight her alone, do you?" (Natasha) "That is the plan, yes, but not as you are thinking, I, with the help of Caitlyn and her son, will attack Yntra''s mind and Soul, carrying out a mental battle where others will not be able to interfere." (I) "Your battle is yet another distraction for Yntra and the Demon God of Greed who hides in the dark, he won''t know that the battle is a front for the real mental battle going on." (I) "The plan this time will be a two-pronged attack, one being your large-scale battle and the other a mental battle hidden from everyone." (I) Chapter 1370: Cap 1368: Were just the distraction part 1 Everyone was making their preparations for the battle that comes next, the only ones in the room besides me are my sisters and my daughter Vanessa. "Will you be able to work with Nicole?" (I) "Yes, it is direct and simple making reporting easier, it is also good at presenting the complex situation of various battles like this." (Natasha) "That''s good, you''re going to have to hold back this time, I know you''re going to want to fight, but I need your help to lead the others." (I) "I know, I realized the reason as soon as you detailed the plan, even I can''t be everywhere." (Natasha) "I could conquer 1 of these Poison Worlds alone, but I don''t think anyone else could lead everyone in this battle, Bugs are highly adaptive and we have many hidden variables." (Natasha) "I can do this kind of work easily, but with Caitlyn and me busy, what''s Elizabeth going to do?" (Natasha) I knew she would bring this up, as soon as the meeting ended, Natasha looked at Elizabeth, probably noticing that I hadn''t mentioned her name in the plan. "My task is more complicated and among all of us only I can do it." (Elizabeth) "Is there anything in this plan that I don''t know?" (Natasha) "There is our last trump card, in case the Demonic God of Greed realizes what we are doing and stops hiding or some Divine level enemy appears, our mother left something for us to use only 1 time." (I) "She left this..." (Vanessa) Vanessa stands, and turns her back making her wings disappear as she takes off her shirt revealing a fluorescent red tattoo in the shape of a drop of blood with countless hands coming out of it. "She didn''t leave this thing for us to use here, is our Mother crazy?" (Natasha) "There''s no way this Saint can control this thing, if she is summoned then this entire Star System will be bathed in blood." (Caitlyn) "You talk as if it were an enemy, the Goddess said it was her Divine Beast." (I) "This Divine Beast has no name, it was born from the collection of countless Souls and Minds, it devoured dozens of Gods before being defeated and subjugated by our mother, but its existence is feared by the title of Blood Sin." (Elizabeth) "This thing is extremely vicious and spends most of its time out of control." (Natasha) "Normally sleeps close to the Mother in his Divine Realm, the only place where he maintains his sanity." (Natasha) "That''s why I''m here, using my Divine Power I can command her consciousness, forcing her mental state to be stable, so I''ll be by Vanessa''s side if it''s necessary to bring this thing." (Elizabeth) I didn''t know that this Divine Beast was so powerful, but it also seems to have problems in its mind or Soul, I don''t know what it could be and I''d rather not get involved in it, I''ll just pray that it won''t be necessary to use this trump card. "Let''s leave that matter aside, how long will it take to perform the ritual, Caitlyn?" (I) "None, I can perform it at any time, the ritual itself is not difficult, I will just connect your mind with that crazy woman while supported by myself and my son." (Caitlyn) "I still don''t understand why you made a Divine Servant your son." (Elizabeth) "As an ancient Evil God, he is talented enough to be my son, but I cannot completely trust him, so he became a Divine Servant." (Caitlyn) "Now forget that idiot, when are we going to do this, that crazy woman has a strong mind and will feel us in no time." (Caitlyn) "We will begin tomorrow, among the preparations being made are the large-scale attack Rituals." (I) "Leave blood containing the power of Essences for them, it will strengthen these spells enormously." (Elizabeth) "I''ll see what I can do..." (I) "But I would like some help, unfortunately..." (I) Sigh It''s always like that, everyone wants to count on me when they need something, but when I''m the one who needs help, there''s always some excuse. "Elizabeth, are you sure no one can help?" (I) "With the only people at the Divine level being Yntra and the God of Greed, other Minor Gods and Demigods won''t help, even others like Heroes and Champions will stay away." (Elizabeth) "Don''t be naive, everyone has their own tasks and missions, don''t think you''re the only one having a difficult struggle." (Natasha) The Gods really have other things to do, every place in this universe that I went to had problems to be resolved, even my children and Divine Servants found many situations everywhere, I imagine that for the Gods this place has already been resolved with me here along with so many people with Demigod-level strength. ------------------- After 1 day of waiting hundreds of powerful spells were prepared using my blood along with my Holy Power, each of these spells powerful enough to wipe out an entire continent and together could wipe out life on a planet. E?rica did an excellent job with Rakan and his group of wizards, even Hela helped with a spell that she will use last, taking advantage of all this death. "We''re going to do a lot of damage with all this power, but thanks to this, half my blood pool will empty." (I) "The Holy Power expenses are 3 times what we imagined at the beginning if we had more time..." (Alice) "Alright, we''ve already spent enough time, we can''t delay any longer, let''s start now." (I) E?rica listens to what I said and starts commanding the other mages, all these Rituals were done on the back of the Dimensional Dragon outside the Dungeon, so I stayed in a place where I could see the light show before starting to do my part of the plan. I saw E?rica activating all the Magical Rituals at the same time as Layla distorted the space, locking these spells in different areas. The Bugs were surprised by millions of swords of purple light that spread purple flames wherever they passed, cutting and burning everything in their path. In another area a tornado formed from miasma growing with each enemy it swallowed until it became a Miasma Dragon devastating thousands of Insects. Attacks like these were happening at various points, but they lacked the precision and power to finish off the stronger enemies that managed to escape, even so, the losses of these Insects were not small. Hela also made her move at the same time the attack groups were leaving, she used various magics to gather the body parts of all these dead Insects at the place where she appeared in front of a Poison World after exiting one of the Poison Portals Layla. The pieces became a giant made of body parts that came to life under Hela''s command, he became her vanguard as she began an attack on the Poison World. I was watching this whole big battle from afar while Nicole followed everything using Inferior Familiars and her Golems. The battle had begun, and my children and wives had smiles on their faces that bother me how much everyone likes to massacre enemies, but I can''t pretend to be different. "Zenos, stop stalling, this is the best time." (Caitlyn) "I know, let''s get started." (I) My sister Caitlyn and her children would perform the magic while supporting me mentally during this confrontation, Alice and Karina would also stay by my side providing me with not only mental support, Holy Power support, and Aura support for being my Saints, but also helping in the control of Essences mines. "This time Yntra has to die." (I) ------------------- Pov Ibuki''s: In these moments I would like to know more about magic to help with E?rica''s Rituals, she was the one who worked the most on these magics and now the time has come to use them. "Lady Ibuki, the signal has been given." (Xagar) "Finally, I couldn''t wait any longer, gather everyone and attack!" (I) I don''t know much about leading, but I just need to follow Natasha''s orders this time and do my best to slaughter everyone in my path. "(I''m no longer that young Goblin who starved and knew nothing about the world.)" (I) "(I am no longer a burden that Master Zenos needs to carry, I am his companion, his wife, and his follower, I will not accept being a burden to him, I will prove that I am useful and that I have grown enough to deserve to be by his side!) " (I) Those following me today are from the Dungeon Demon Races, only well-trained elite ones with Xagar being my right-hand man in this attack. I join them with the other groups outside the Dungeon, when Layla opens the space for everyone it is already possible to see the area spells shining throughout the Star System. "Advance!!!" (I) I become the spearhead being the first to pass through the space gate, when I came out on the other side I was in front of a Poisonous World with inviolable pieces of Insect floating around us going away as if being sucked in by an invisible force. But soon from the Poisonous World clouds of poison and Insect armies come towards us, but their strength is laughable as they are just numbers without strength behind them. "Kill them all!!" (I) Chapter 1371: Cap 1369: Were just the distraction part 2 Pov Hela''s: The giant was unfortunately just a collection of bodies without a Soul to control, just muscles with no energy behind them, yet it was a huge source of damage going in front of me. "Even if my Father wants to create a distraction, the best way is to do a lot of damage at first." (I) "Hellyos, get ready to cast that magic." (I) "Master... I can''t hold back for long..." (Hellyos) "Just hold on a little longer, we''ll only get 1 chance." (I) While flying on a Ghost Bird behind the giant Undead I created, my Familiar was next to me in his humanoid form, his eyes were glowing with purple light as his Aura trembles trying to contain the power of the magic I drew into his body. I myself was carrying a Holy Blood Crystal containing a large amount of the Goddess of Death''s Holy Power, something I obtained from Ivan a few minutes ago before this battle started. "They are coming, your reaction was too quick." (I) The Poison World is a problematic weapon due to the large number of poison-type insects inside and the accumulated poison that can be controlled by the will of the Poison World itself. But these things are useless against the Undead and against me, Aura attacks are also useless against this giant that I created, I made it thinking about being the strongest shield and because it doesn''t have a Soul it can be weaker than it should be, but it will be immune to most attacks and as a tool, it can be used until there is nothing left. When clouds of poison took the form of monsters coming towards us, the giant opened thousands of insect mouths on its body sucking this poison into it, being poisoned doesn''t matter since it''s not alive. Soon the Insects began to come, but these Insects were strange, their shapes were different, having very humanoid appearances with their carapaces more resembling armor, it only took me a few seconds to notice their disgusting Auras proving that they had been modified by the Apostles of Truth. "Let''s see how they handle it." (I) "< Holy Blood Curse: Spear of Death Sacrifice >" (I) I lift the blood crystal activating the magic that had already engraved on the crystal, the giant of bodies had two functions, the first and most important being a shield that brought us so close to the Poison World, the second function was to be a means to collect the death energy of everyone he killed, the bodies that make up his body, and the surroundings. Since before the battle, I could feel the energy of death throughout this Solar System in an abnormal way, this shows a number of deaths that exceeds our estimates and my Father noticed this too, which is why he helped me with this plan. As soon as I activate the magic, I throw the crystal at the giant who, at my command, bends his arms back, opening his back where the crystal enters, it doesn''t take long to see the black and purple Fire burning the giant while red mist comes out of the flames, gathering quickly in thousands of Blood Lances covered in hungry specters. "Kill them all." (I) With my command charged with my Aura and Authority, the Specters come to life emanating the energy of death as they advance against the Insects that move as one trying to defend these attacks. Fighting against this magic is useless, the more each Spear kills, all the vitality of its victims will be consumed becoming energy of death that further strengthens the spear that alone hunts the enemy closer, and with so many lives around it becomes impossible to maintain any type of coordination between them. The Spears seemed incapable and cruel in the way they shattered heads, pierced bodies, and stained the surroundings with blood, the bodies of the Bugs floating aimlessly around us. With the breakdown in coordination between them, it won''t take long for an Insect Empress or more to appear, so I must make the best of this gap. "Hellyos, now! Enjoy while you''re distracted!" (I) "FINALLY!!" (Hellyos) ROOOOAAAARRRR!!! Hellyos returns to his Dragon form 2 times larger than in the past, his Aura before trembling becomes firm when concentrated in his jaws along with a purple light, his body marked by magic circles begins to shine with these magic circles moving through his body until his jaws come together in the shape of a Dragon''s head just like his in front of him, 10 times the size. "< Apocalypse Star Magic: Corruption Dragon''s Breath >" (me/Hellyos) All the Essence of the Apocalypse Beast within me flowed into my Familiar as I landed on its head making its eyes glow even brighter, then the Holy power saturating its body was quickly consumed as it joined the Essence in the Dragon''s great jaws releasing a breath of Stellar flames that seemed to take the form of a mist of Demons heading towards the Poisonous World colliding with it in mere seconds. When it reaches the Poisonous World, it spreads across its surface and enters through the infinite holes reaching its interior, they spread throughout the entire Poisonous World from where dozens of Enemies emerge with their bodies decomposing by the flames of the Demonic Apocalypse, each of these enemies was a Insect Empress. When they left they came towards us, but it was already too late, I was tired as was my Familiar who was already unconscious having greatly surpassed his limits, if it had been anyone else besides me they could have been at a disadvantage being so weakened, but as a Necromancer this place of death will become a Sacred zone for me. "< Death Demon Incarnation >" (I) I use the Demonic and Death power within me in an Incarnation spell strengthening my body as it transforms filling my body with power, the death energy in the surroundings gathers around me forming a tornado as my body embodies these aspects of power becoming ethereal like the body of a Spectre. "You''re all going to die!" (I) "(Father was right, this power of the Apocalypse is trying to corrupt my mind and Soul, if it weren''t for me being permanently linked to the Dungeon where I was raised and my strong connection with Father, then I would be lost... I must prevent others from using this power in the future.)" (I) A quick thought passed through my mind to warn my brothers in the future, but even that only took half a second before the tornado of death disappeared revealing my body. Metal scale armor covers my arms and chest while my legs disappear leaving a long tail of black energy, 3 pairs of Starfire arms appear behind my back. "(This is beyond a normal magical Incarnation, I can feel traces of the Essence in my body, this must be the source of this attempted corruption in me.)" (I) "(This is already at the level of almost being a Divine Awakening or Divine Incarnation.)" (I) "Here you won''t help like that." (I) I wave my hand causing a cloud of darkness to swallow Hellyos making him disappear into a space full of death energy from where I can summon him later. But now I wave my 3 pairs of Fire Crackling arms alongside my normal arms making 4 Swords and 4 Spears emerge from condensing Demonic power. I throw myself at the enemies fighting against me, they are in greater numbers, but the strength of an Insect Empress is in her control over her race and not in the individual fight, I manage to keep them away realizing that they are stalling for time, probably waiting for reinforcements from Insects to coordinate with them. But the more time passes, the worse your situation, when seconds become minutes and time passes in tens of minutes, I only managed to kill 6 among the dozens of enemies, their strength was greater than I thought, but even so, I was happy looking at the Poisonous World. The attack at the beginning never stopped taking effect, in fact, the effects only became worse as time passed, the corruption killing and consuming the Insects until it spread throughout the Poisonous World, when I looked this time it was because I felt the Spirit of Poisonous World being corrupted. "Finally, it was starting to get difficult." (I) "< Familiar Summon: Hellyos >" (I) With my power, I once again summon Hellyos who this time was awake, but even in his weakness he remembers our plan, and seeing the situation he knows what to do, in his Bone Dragon form, he channels my power to resonate with the Poisonous World that explodes a strong Aura while shrinking. Soon the small Poisonous World surrounded by black mist and fire becomes a large sphere that attaches itself to Hellyos'' stomach area making his Aura skyrocket in power, adding the power of this Poisonous World with his own. The black Flames and mist from the sphere spread throughout his body, covering him as he gradually grows larger and larger, taking the form of an ethereal black Dragon. I climb onto his head as we face the enemies, I can see the glows of battle everywhere in the distance, possibly the battles of others still fighting, and why another Bug army hasn''t come yet after so long. "Remember Hellyos, don''t end up like everyone else too quickly, we''re just the distraction." (I) "I obey, my master." (Hellyos) "(That must have been enough to get attention.)" (I) Chapter 1372: Cap 1370: Were just the distraction part 3 Pov E?rica''s: I can finally put all this frustration out, I''m no longer that weak invalid who gave up on life in that Goblin cave. I abandoned my family, I abandoned my humanity, I abandoned who I once was and all of that to be completely reborn as I am today, even now I gave myself to the power of Zenos to become strong enough to stand by his side and not hide behind him. I don''t feel ashamed of using so much of his power to make me stronger this far, that''s because I know what he thinks about it, he''s happy when we become stronger and he doesn''t mind us using his power for that, there''s no shame in a couples help each other, my only shame is not being able to help him in the same amount as he has helped me to date. "(Today will be the first day where I will put this power to the test, I will prove not to others or to Zenos that I deserve to be by his side, I will prove to myself that I am worthy of his love and everything he has given me without ever asking for anything in return.)" (I) "Lady E?rica, everyone is ready as you requested." (Fiona) "Thank you, we are leaving now." (I) "I''ll start area attacks before leaving with everyone." (I) I look at the Elf with a red jewel on her forehead, I like the way she speaks respectfully around me, people in the Dungeon don''t understand etiquette or showing formality, I know these are useless things that only serve to inflate the ego, but it turns out that I like this type of treatment at least sometimes, maybe it''s a reflection of my childhood when I was still a Noble in a small corner of a Planet. "(I had little time to rest, but it''s okay, let''s finish off those damn Apostles of Truth this time!)" (I) I get up and head to where the magical resumes are ready, Layla should already be there to deliver those attacks to the areas Nicole marked. ----------------- After using all the area magic I helped create and teleporting with the group under my leadership, I appeared in the middle of the area covered in purple flames, any remaining body parts would soon disappear burned by my cursed flames. "Nicole, give me the positions." (I) "[I just sent it to you.]" (Nicole) The magic item transfers the locations I need directly to my mind, so I take out the 47 magic crystals I prepared and let them float in front of me. "< Eclipse Magic: Hellfire Birth Prison >" (I) All the Demonic energy and Holy Power in my body flows into the 47 crystals that become Dragons made of hellfire flying to points marked on each crystal that are around the Poison World. "[There is movement of Insects towards you, it looks like they have been summoned, can you deal with it?]" (Natasha) "No problem." (I) "(Looks like I have to take care of the summoner.)" (I) "Fiona and Jade, prepare to attack, Fiona takes care of the Insects coming from behind, lead the Fairies, Jade will take care of the Poisonous Insects coming towards us from the Poisonous World." (I) "At your service." (Fiona) "This will be a piece of cake." (Jade) "Let''s finish off this summoner." (I) I wave my hand and some part of an Insect''s body still burning in purple flames flies into my hand, I use the last of my magic power creating a combined magic of 8 interconnected magic circles. "< Demonic Curse: Demonic Ban >" (I) "< Summon Prohibition >" (I) With a wave of my hand, this magic made my fingertips burn as my energy almost ran out. "(I knew that taking care of so many spells earlier would take its toll.)" (I) While I was giving orders to the others, the purple fire Dragons just got into position, and lines of fire form between all the Dragons that grow and move unpredictably through the lines of fire trapping the Poison World inside, unfortunately, a little too late when several Poisonous Bugs had already left. With the Poison World trapped inside, the Fire Dragons will burn the surface of it as it shrinks, I used Holy Power with this spell, so only Holy power can break it, but even that will only be a temporary hole, while 1 of the Dragons If the purple spin exists, it will gradually divide until it completes all 47 again. I look to one side suddenly when I feel my magic someone trying to force the ban I just used, with that I confirmed the location of 2 indicators and I go in their direction while I see bottle after bottle of blood to replenish my energy before the battle. ------------------- Pov Fiona''s: "When they arrive, create the illusory forest to confuse them, then attack." (I) "Yes!" (Fairies) The Fairies around me were all of the first generation and have the training of a Fairy Queen, they are the strongest and most intelligent Fairies in the Dungeon, being stronger than me until recently. "(I trained hard for this moment.)" (I) Holding the spear in my hands I wait for the Insects to come in the distance, being among the stars everywhere is an open field making it difficult to hide, so I saw the enemies approaching and prepared myself. "< Eclipse Magic: Strengthening the Sun and Moon >" (I) This was the only Eclipse magic I managed to learn so far, but there are many things I still need to learn, finally, I found a way to be among the strongest, even though I''m just at the beginning of my path I will cross the stars for eternity if I go I need to reach the level of power I seek, I will never lose anyone again because I am weak. The magic of the Eclipse created an illusory Sun and Moon around me, the Sun strengthens my every attack while the Moon allows me to distort the senses of my enemies to confuse their minds with my Aura. "Today I wash my weakness with blood!" (I) "Now!" (I) "< Fairy Illusory Forest Territory >" (Fairies) Hundreds of Fairies unite their power to create a Territory the size of a country, countless trees, mountains, and rivers appear floating around us as if embraced by nature. I advance with my spear at great speed, using barriers below my feet to run in the vacuum and lack of gravity of space. I jump onto the Insects with my spear burning in flames that spread with the slightest swing of my Weapon, the fire consumes the Insects in front as I launch myself between the enemies sweeping away lives with each movement of my spear. ------------------------ Pov Jade''s: "I can''t believe how people can fear something so tasty." (I) All the Poisonous Insects were bound by energy Serpents, one of these Insects was a beetle with 3 poisonous horns, and two of those horns were missing with me finishing eating the second horn. "Their venom is weak, the one around us seems stronger and has an incredible, living presence." (I) I almost couldn''t hold back the saliva from running down my mouth, I was prepared to fight seriously but I can''t keep it serious with so many delicacies around me begging to be devoured. "You know I''m in a really good mood, so I''m going to politely ask you to come over now forgetting about this ridiculous ambush attempt." (I) Soon the poison in the surroundings condenses into the shape of a Human with antennae, its presence resembled that of an Insect Empress, but its appearance was clearly masculine creating an incongruity between what I see and what I feel. "Her Aura is horrible..." (I) "Die." "Good try." (I) I open my mouth and the poison beam he just used was sucked into my mouth, the poisonous energy being digested before circulating throughout my body. "< Spear of Myriad Serpents >" (I) I concentrate my Poison energy along with my mana into my spear, as I point forward thousands of multicolored servants made of condensed poison energy appear heading towards you like a tide. All the Insects in the path were destroyed leaving nothing behind, the human form dissolved back into poisonous mist to escape death. "Don''t think you can run away!" (I) "< Poison Breath >" (I) I once again gathered the poison in my stomach as Holy Power burned in my lungs before releasing a breath of Poisonous Starfire refined by my Authority into poison. The fog around me burns revealing the incomplete silhouette of a person who disappears into nothingness along with the fog, but of course, none of that matters since our mission is not to kill them all but to buy time. "If Master Zenos wants a distraction, then that is what I will gladly grant." (I) I look around realizing that I was the closest to the Poison World, which makes me the safest, I would like to go to the others, but I was given this task that I have to complete. It seems that they managed to appear, I looked to the side feeling the barrier open by force then Starfire appears burning most of those who passed through, but they were just meat shields protecting those who are the Insect Empress type. Chapter 1373: Cap 1371: Were just the distraction part 4 Pov Irius: "I say it and I repeat it, we should have gone in the other direction, but no... you had to insist on being that Poison World!" (I) "Shut up, you just wanted to be closer to your wife without any tactical thoughts in mind." (Irina) "What''s wrong with worrying about her?" (I) "For the love of the Gods!" (Irina) "The only type of poison that could do anything against Jade would be at the level of affecting the Gods, she literally eats poison with her meals!" (Irina) "What must be going through her mind right now is a way to devour the Poison World, of all of us her fight is the easiest." (Irina) "Ma''am, the barriers won''t hold." (Vampire A) "I know, strengthen the imprisonment magic and cast another 100 crystals into the main magic circle, then control the reverse flow magic at different intervals." (Irina) "Yes, Mistress Irina." (Vampire A) "Now that you''ve finished sending your orders, what are we going to do with them?" (I) "..." (Irina) My sister is looking at them dejectedly in the direction I''m pointing, they were getting closer and closer, and their Disgusting Auras were easily felt along with their murderous intentions. There were over 100 creatures coming towards us, they came out of the closest planet, and on the opposite side there was an army of Insects fighting against my sister''s magic, those under our command are the Dungeon vampires fighting against the few hundred Poisonous Insects coming out of the barrier around the Poison World. My sister used a Holy magic to create a barrier to contain the planetary size of a Poison World, a magic is barely enough. "I''ll take care of the Apostles of Truth, you take care of the barrier and any Insect Empress that appears." (I) "All good." (Irina) I see my sister flying towards the Poison World, then I look at the barrier Golems she made killing the Bugs. "< Blood Magic: Collector of Life >" (I) I throw 10 magical crystals that shatter in a wave of energy strengthening the barrier Golems for each life they take, harvesting the vitality after the enemies'' death. "This will take the weight off her." (I) ------------------- A few minutes later I was standing in front of hundreds of Creatures running towards me, all hybrids of monsters and humans, these creatures had the physical forms of people, but their Auras were those of monsters, a really strange existence. "(They are already within reach.)" (I) "< Territory: Imaginary Realm >" (I) "< Field of Sword Trial >" (I) From me a wave of Aura and Authority spreads taking control of the space around me for some 10 kilometers, the stars and planets around me seem to disappear like spreading mist while floating islands form with swords of all sizes around them. "KILL HIM!" "< Steps of He Who Draws the Sword >" (I) With one step I appeared next to a sword stuck in a floating rock, so I drew the sword quickly with my wings pushing it off the side of one of the enemies, all it took was a swing of my sword to separate the head from the body before it could even notice my presence. Without wasting a second I concentrated my power of Light on the blade of the sword while spinning, which cuts two giant enemies in half, which unfortunately did not kill them as they put the bodies back together, at that moment more than 9 attacks were coming towards me. When I dropped the sword and took another step, reappearing behind them next to a sword floating by itself, my hand was already on the sword when I pulled it, already making an upward cut, cutting 2 other enemies, their bodies tried to come together again, but this time I used my Authority which is present both in the sword in my hands and throughout this place to hinder its powers of regeneration while eroding its Vitality. "< Rain of Blood Swords >" (I) Of course, I didn''t waste time with these two already defeated enemies, I use the power of my blood to control the surrounding swords that attack from all directions while Teleporting to each sword in an indiscriminate massacre of each enemy. "I''ll get this over with." (I) --------------------- Pov Irina''s: When we went through that portal facing this Poisonous World, I knew it wouldn''t be easy, but I didn''t expect it to be so difficult from the beginning, Irius and I are good in battles against various enemies, but there is a limit to what we can do, with so many enemies around, especially for me who try to maintain my magic to contain the Poisonous World. "[Irina, there is something wrong with the Poison World where you are, be careful.]" (Nicole) "Don''t worry." (I) I''m always careful, but I must say it''s really strange, it seems like the number of Insect Empresses is less than 5, considering the number of Insects and the Poison World itself it doesn''t seem right. "(They are coming, they took advantage of a gap in the barrier to leave, but there are few of them, something seems strange.)" (I) I was starting to see the problems that Nicole talked about, the number of Poisonous Insects trying to cross the barrier were many, not to mention the Poisonous World''s own poison, there was no way less than 5 Insect Empresses could achieve this. "(There are 4, one of them is hiding.)" (I) "< Blood Magic: Labyrinth of Blood Mirrors >" (I) A maze forms around them leaving them in the center, this will buy some time before they can get out of my barrier and I need to solve the real problem now. "(Something''s not right.)" (I) Just as I was thinking, Poison World began to move, at least a part of it, its surface broke in one part letting a colossal arm of flesh come out trying to pass through the barrier with punch after punch strong enough to make the space itself shake. I look at the few Vampires maintaining the barrier I created and nod, they take a blood crystal and throw it at the barrier scattering billions of Spiritual Runes, the Barrier now appears to contain traces of the Father''s Aura with Dragons rising and sinking into the barrier. With the barrier strengthened, the Poisonous World opened up, leaving a large half-formed head in the middle with some arms of different sizes trying to punch the barrier while energy accumulated throughout. "The barrier should hold, but...damn they came loose." (I) "I really chose horribly." (I) While I was thinking about how I chose our location wrong, the Bug Empresses manage to escape from my mirror maze. ------------------- Pov Irius: It''s been several minutes and only less than 20 creatures were left behind, all the others were cut down by me. I was getting tired, my energy wasn''t lasting forever after so many Teleportations, and even so, there were still enemies missing. "Let''s get this over with!" (I) "< Judgment Great Holy Sword >" (I) I focus all my energy and Holy Power into a single attack, all the surrounding energy condenses into the clouds in the sky, and all the swords in my Territory under my control merge into the clouds before a large sword tip begins to descend from the clouds above. All space within my Territory freezes as the sword descends like a falling mountain. As soon as the Sword came down, it not only hit the enemies but also cut and destroyed my Territory, which shattered it, revealing the world outside. When I notice my surroundings I barely manage to avoid a blade that almost hit my head, I move away with the little Power I still have while I pull out bottles after bottles of blood to drink. In front of me there was still one last enemy, this time there was almost nothing humanoid about him, his body being pieces pieced together from those I just killed. With a sword in my hand, my true sword, I fearlessly move forward with my sword striking whatever this is. "< Sword that incarnates Blood >" (I) With my sword bathed in the red light of my own blood, I continue fighting, but I am distracted by the sudden vision of the Poison World revealing a bizarre head and arms. He bites my barrel with what looks like a tentacle with teeth, but none of that matters now. With the sword still held in my hands, I advanced fearlessly, exchanging blows Over time, the trash I just started cleaning up will wear away until it can no longer hold. I cut out his many eyes and one of his arms before he opened a gap where I took his head off, of course, that didn''t work, it was a fake head that disappeared before the real one growing from inside the body came towards me and bit me. "< Space Slash >" (I) Holding my sword firmly in my hands, I slash forward and yet the power of the cut disappears before reappearing behind me, this time in a moment for real. His body begins to separate on its own with his parts floating in the space around him, his Aura and any sign of life finally disappearing. When I look back at the Poison World I can''t help but feel sorry for our bad luck. "This distraction is getting worse and worse... worse for us!!!!" (I) Chapter 1374: Cap 1372: Were just the distraction part 5 Pov Natasha''s: Just one look at the maps of this Star System and enemy positions, it was obvious that it was a trap, but not a trap for us, we are just a piece in someone else''s game. "Natasha, I found traces of..." (Nicole) "Sacred Power, in these 6 points where the planets are and these 2 planets must be emitting Holy Power on the route of their orbit around this Sun." (I) "Correct, but I can''t pinpoint why." (Nicole) "I may not be an expert in magic, but I''ve seen more forbidden magic and sacrificial rituals than most of the Minor Gods." (I) "(Mainly from picking fight after fight for most of my life.)" (I) "These 6 planets form inverse triangles with the other 2 planets forming double circles, this is the basis of the ritual, the Runes and the rest of the magical circles go on top of this base and can easily be placed later, these are key points of the Ritual where power is concentrated and stored." (I) "What is this ritual for?" (Nicole) "I have no idea, what I said is everything I heard from the wizard who was with me at the time before attacking the bastard I had to kill." (I) "(If I remember correctly, during the battle I destroyed one of those energy points and everything exploded, it was the first time I failed at such a level, 1/4 of the continent was destroyed and it took me 18 years to heal.)" (I) "I''ll inform Rakan and ask for help from Ynes..." (Nicole) "No, Ynes is already doing something, go call the Saint of Fertility inside the Dungeon and the High Priestess Yara, they must know something since their knowledge is more diverse than me." (I) "I will do it now." (Nicole) I saw everyone going out to fight and the mass destruction spells they used at the beginning, everyone did very well, but a big highlight is Diana and Hela who are completely crushing their enemies, Ibuki and E?rica are doing an exemplary job while the twins are with problems. "Keep an eye on the twins, they are holding up well at the moment, but in case something goes wrong keep Ragnar on standby." (I) I gave Nicole several orders, from moving the armies to warning about possible problems I found in the enemies'' movement, this will avoid losses on our side as much as possible. "(He said he wanted a distraction, but this is already at the level of an elite attack, each of them is going too far in their attacks, so they will end up forcing Greed to intervene.)" (I) "Warn everyone to be careful, if something is going to happen it will happen soon." (I) I couldn''t tell them to slow down or spare the enemies, that would be noticed by the enemy and would expose them to more danger. "(If our advance is going faster than expected, then I can''t do anything, just hope that Zenos is quick to deal with Yntra.)" (I) ------------------- Pov Kira''s: Unlike the others, I didn''t go to a battle in space, a battle in such an open area is disadvantageous for me, I''m also not very good at acting in large groups like the others, my focus is on assassination. "Are you sure they''re here?" (I) "Yes, I could feel it from afar." (Ynes) "So let''s go." (I) I was on a different mission, Zenos may have thought of a good plan, but he lacks the experience that his sister has, we all know that and that''s why Natasha is in the lead. She gave instructions to me and Demigoddess Ynes for this mission, we landed on one of the planets furthest from the Poison Worlds, and I didn''t understand the reason until I got here. The world itself seems normal on the surface, but as soon as I arrived I realized the problem, there was no form of life, with my lightning powers my speed is greater than others of the same strength and that''s how I passed through cities, villages, forests, and mountains without finding any form of life, there are no animals, monsters or people. "(What do you think Byakko?)" (I) "(This world is strange, I can feel fluctuations in the world Aura everywhere, especially in cities.)" (Byakko) "What is happening?" (I) "I wasn''t sure before, but now I know, this planet is a Sacrifice, all the people are trapped in a territory created by the planet itself, a mirrored space of this, where people must be confined unconscious." (Ynes) "How do you know?" (I) "I tried to do this before, but I realized how difficult it would be and I stopped Natasha sent me a message that only confirms what I said, these people, like this planet, are sacrifices." (Ynes) "Everything will be consumed by the ritual master, which in this case needs to be a God." (Ynes) "Then let''s go with the plan." (I) "Okay, they must be near that island." (Ynes) While we were flying through the clouds she pointed to an island, the place seemed normal, but I followed her, moving us away from the island before returning through the water, it didn''t take long to go through the illusion. There was no island, in fact, what is here is a plate made of bone chips measuring a diameter of kilometers, in the middle there was a hole where a crystal was floating, the crystal was filled with Divine Power and Demonic energy. "We need to get to the crystal, but it can''t be now, see." (Ynes) She points to the other side where there was someone sitting crossing their legs, I would have felt his presence if it weren''t for that warning. "If he wakes up, then we won''t have to deal with just him, not to mention we would warn the enemies that we know about them." (Ynes) "I know, but when are we going to act?" (I) "The moment the crystal activates, you deal with that idiot and I''ll deal with the crystal." (Ynes) -------------------- Pov Diana''s: This is incredible, the opportunity I was waiting for, I don''t need to contain my power, I don''t need to worry about anything, especially now after the last training I had with the Gods. This time I came alone, other people would be a delay and I alone am enough to end something at this level. My half transformed Wolf body was tearing apart all the Bugs like cutting leaves in a garden, they pose no challenge to me. Even when more than 40 Insect Empresses appear, I remain calm, this is because their strength no longer scares me, which is why I advanced towards them. "< Advance of the Lunar Predator >" (I) An image of a full moon appears behind me as my speed and power increase with each step leaving a mark in space, my paws stepping into space itself. When I got close enough I was bombarded by dozens of powerful attacks, but the blade behind me glows making an image of me appear behind them and I swap places with my image instantly without stopping my advance. My illusion shatters with the barrage of attacks as an intense light blocks the view, when I get close enough I cut the first three to pieces with my two swords before cutting two more, each of them with one of my swords. When I suddenly stopped my advance in the middle of the Empresses, the force of my advance added to my swords along with my Aura when I made an X cut forward, killing more enemies. I then used my Aura covered tail to collide with the magic coming from my back before throwing myself to the side with my Wolf jaws wide open chewing on someone''s neck before being sent flying by an explosion below me. "< Rage of the Sacred Moon Beast >" (I) I gained some distance which I used for a strong attack, the Holy power within me merges with my Aura as it forms the image of a Wolf getting bigger and bigger around me every second, so when I am at my limit I release the A wolf that runs tearing through space with its cicadas at every step. The energy wolf tore them apart as it passed, I couldn''t hold back my excitement as I threw myself once again against the enemies, my blood boiling in my veins. I transform completely into Wolf as I ran through space towards them, my much larger body unaffected by their size and actually becoming faster. Each blow of mines paid by ripping off the limbs or taking the lives of these Insect Empresses until there was only one left who smiled at me. When I went to hurt her, an explosion appears from her body, opening a portal using her body as a medium, and then 4 Elf-looking creatures appear, their Auras as filthy as those of those Apostles of Truth. Each of them was pointing at me with their Auras acting as one, but what made me feel strange was seeing the Poison World shattering into the shape of a flesh Golem wearing rock armor. This Golem directed its multiple eyes at me as it tried to attack me, the Bug Empresses that were fighting before were now all shattered on the ground or that''s what I thought as all these pieces started to come together into one creature. "I''m going to make this distraction as bloody as possible." (I) Chapter 1375: Cap 1373: Clash of Minds part 1 I was in the middle of a magical circle where I am the nucleus with my two Saints supporting me with each one with a palm on my back, they are responsible for being my connection with the pool of blood inside the Communal Temple where my Power Sacred is stored. Caitlyn and her son were outside the magic circle, each on one side already starting to activate, we were outside the Dungeon, on the back of the Dimensional Dragon, Vanessa was nearby accompanied by Elizabeth to protect us. "(Awful time to be anxious...)" (I) I can have control over my emotions, but I still feel every single one of those emotions as is the case now, even after everything I''ve experienced so far I''m still looking forward to what I''m about to do even though it''s my own plan. "Zenos, start meditating now and you two do what we talked about." (Caitlyn) "Yes!" (Alice/Karina) "..." (I) Sigh I take a deep breath calming my mind and emotions, my mind empty of all thoughts with only my will present perpetually. Meditation was one of the first things I learned and it has accompanied me to this day, I can enter a meditative state the moment I close my eyes. In my state of meditation, something appeared in my mind, it was the hut I built in the blood forest, my first house that I built with my little Goblin hands, I still remember the weight of each log, the struggle it took to build that with so few people and yet spend so little time in that place. "I''ve seen this place a few times, your Wife Ibuki told me about this cabin." (Caitlyn) "You know, I spent a short time here, it wasn''t even 1 year, from the moment of creation this cabin was thought to be something temporary, just something I built until I was able to enter a city." (I) This time the nostalgia of those days got to me, they were easier times where my biggest concern was how to stop getting beaten in every training session I did with Diana, what would be the best training direction for Ibuki or what was the next book I would have for to read. "I never thought I would become a Primordial Dragon, I never thought I would get involved with Gods and universal forces, I never thought I would fight on a battlefield so large that several Planets would be part of the combat strategy." (I) "Stop the melodrama, we don''t have time, I need to explain some things to you." (Caitlyn) "This place is the center of your consciousness, I chose the most important place in your mind and this is the place I found it, you cannot let Yntra enter here." (Caitlyn) "Her coming here means she will be able to change your mind and even influence your Soul." (Caitlyn) "This is her last defense barrier, the good part is that to invade this place you would have to open it voluntarily for her to enter or she would have to break your will to force her entry." (Caitlyn) "Just as this place represents a focal point of protection for her mind, she will also possess the same thing, it will be a place of great importance to her and you will have to invade." (Caitlyn) "She doesn''t seem like someone who''s going to invite me in, so I''m going to have to break her mind." (I) "Yes and that will be the next topic." (Caitlyn) "You have to understand that no type of skill or magic will actually be used, it will be purely mental techniques, it won''t even affect her vitality, so assuming you crush her entire body or manage to decimate her body, everything will be useless when your body rebuilds itself." (Caitlyn) "Your blows can only cause mental trauma if you use your Authority and cause mirror damage to the body or Soul if you use your Essence." (Caitlyn) "To break her mind you can use pain, madness, fear, and so on, things that extremely disturb the mind to break her will even temporarily, also remember that she will try to do the same to you." (Caitlyn) "I think I understand, in the end, it''s just not to be shaken by anything that happens." (I) "(I think I can''t lose control even for a second, I need to stay focused.)" (I) I''d rather not know these things, she''s talking about tormenting someone in her mind, that''s not the kind of thing I like to do, but I can make an exception for that Yntra bastard. "What do I need to do when I enter this special place of Yntra and how will I know it''s going to be the real deal?" (I) "You''ll know it''s the real thing, believe me, it''s impossible not to notice it, the further you go you''ll discover you''re getting closer to it." (Caitlyn) "When you get there, use your Divine Weapon, the image of it in your mind will not be a fake, it will just be a mirror of the power of your Divine Weapon." (Caitlyn) "Focus your Authority and Essence together inside the place, then just reject your surroundings, doing it out here is useless, but doing it in a person''s mind will break their mind, Aura, and if they have the Authority as well." (Caitlyn) "Is there anything else you need to know?" (I) "This is going to be a mental battle or it would be if it were with other people, but for both of you it will be a battle of wills, it doesn''t have to be a battle, it could be a handshake, an eating contest or even sex." (Caitlyn) "The important thing is that you suppress her will, so remember that any limitation you may think you have there is completely wrong, there are no limits, only the Essences." (Caitlyn) I had already talked to my sister about all this and much more, I''m happy for her to go over the main points with me, but I really prefer it to be a battle, I''m not good with very complicated things. This magic will use my mind and will to forge a sword that will pierce Yntra''s mind, so from this sword roots began to grow spreading through her, but the opposite can also happen, a magic that actually puts both of us at certain disadvantages. "It''s starting." (Caitlyn) "..." (I) I didn''t even feel what was happening until it actually happened, I looked to the side seconds later noticing something outside, this perception of outside and inside was strange considering it was still in my mind, all I knew was that something was there stuck in me or maybe the opposite if I take into consideration what my sister said. "Be... careful..." (Caitlyn) "She''s gone." (I) I see Caitlyn disappear as if her body was failing until she disappeared, and then I felt something trying to teach me from the outside, it was as if there were waves coming and going to hit me, I waited studying the rhythm of the attacks for a few seconds before making a movement. Soon I gather all my Aura and Authority with a lunge to the outside focusing on a single point, I felt like I had collided with a wall of jelly trying to make me go back, but I just pushed even harder until I noticed something unfold in my front. I was standing in what looked like an empty Spaceship, I was in the cabin until someone walked through the door, she was an Elf with green hair, golden eyes, and gray skin, a Demon tail on her back, and two horns on her forehead. "I knew you would try something like this, but even so, this kind of long-range mental attack was beyond my expectations." (Yntra) "You''re too calm for someone losing control of their mind." (I) "You can''t affect my mind Zenos, I''m everywhere here." (Yntra) "I''m all here." (Yntra 2) "I am all things here." (Yntra 3) "You invading my mind to fight me was foolish, I expected more from you child." (all) Yntra began to multiply in an attempt to confuse me, several versions of her appeared from others, also from inside the ship''s computer screen, and even from my shadow behind me, each one of them talking to itself at first until they all started to talking synchronously while laughing in my direction. There were several Auras trying to use numbers and this childish talk to affect me, meanwhile, I stretched out my hand and before I could prepare myself there were already 3 heads in my hand without her knowing how I did it, the confusion in her eyes disappeared instantly as well as came, but it was enough. "Don''t try to think that by having thousands of minds connected to yours there is any advantage." (I) "Once again you are as superficial as ever, always seeing without understanding the depth." (I) As I spoke I could feel the roots spreading, the Essence Core within me was active helping to corrupt my way into Yntra''s mind and this was showing in the surroundings when a blue phone booth suddenly appeared within the Yntra control room spaceship being watched by all the Yntras who clearly didn''t understand what was happening. "What did you do." (Yntra) "What I wanted to do and will continue to do so." (I) If I were able to scare her it would be perfect, if it works, Yntra shouldn''t be scared so easily, and showing this still reveals herself to be expressionless. "Let''s see how long you will persist with this baseless truth of yours." (I) Chapter 1376: Cap 1374: Clash of Minds part 2 When Yntra appeared, I was surprised, her presence took over everything around her, but it wasn''t like a Territory where a region is taken over, it took me a while to realize that she "is" this entire region. When she appeared I instinctively began to consider her as an individual, I considered that she just had control over her surroundings, just like in the mental battle I had with her when I transformed that Planet into the Cursed Sun that is part of my Divine Weapon. But this is different, that time the battle was a distraction, it was a game of influence where I won, but now it was different, that time we were both Mortals, but now I am someone with multiple Essences and she is someone using the power of Gods without being adequate, the stakes are now different. So when she showed up with different bodies I realized my mistake, I realized how I was seeing things differently, she is this whole place and my current body isn''t really me, this is just something I assumed without realizing it. The best analogy comes from my old world, I was considering Yntra and I as characters inside a computer, but now I realize my mistake, the computer in this analogy would be her mind, and by extension, it would be her, I am also not a character, I am virus invading an infinitely larger system. "(There are no limits...)" (I) When I moved my hand I just thought that concepts like speed, time, and space are not affected inside someone''s mind where space doesn''t even exist, so my hand moved 3 times in the same period of time creating three hands that grab the heads pulling off with brute force before returning as if traversing space, all of this happened in a millisecond almost instantly. This place is a mind and not a reality, limiting what I can do because of laws of physics that do not exist here would be foolish, considering this body as such is also foolish, I must expand my imagination and review the aspects of impossibility that cannot lock me up here. With my new understanding of this place and its boundaries, I was able to cause confusion and perhaps even fleeting fear in Yntra, which helped open a rift in which I used my Essence to propel my mind to corrupt her mind by taking root deeper bottom. As a proof of this corruption and knowing how much I am capable of affecting this place, I chose a strong image in my mind, a TV series that I really like in my old world, the strongest symbol in that TV series was a blue cabin that It was marked in my mind and was brought into existence in this spacecraft control room. "Yntra, you don''t know how happy I am for your incompetence." (I) "You think you can go against me here? Your arrogance and childish attempts to scare me are laughable." (Yntra) "(Do you think you are the only one capable of interfering with a mind? Do you know how many minds have been manipulated by me? How many minds have I devoured? How many minds have I created!?)" (Yntra) I already knew that this could happen, this magic is a two-bladed sword, this path that I opened served for me to invade and also serves the opposite, our minds directly connected. "You''re going to need more than that." (I) I snap my fingers and rifts appear outside in space, billions of creatures appearing in an endless stream, every monitor on the ship flashing red with a message of danger emerging. To be honest I don''t know what was done, I just felt something being suppressed, something associated with this place, then when I activated it all happened and I started to realize what was happening. I was in a memory, something big that happened and marked her in a negative way, what I did awakened this trauma by activating the rest of her memories about this moment that must have happened in her Universe before it was Destroyed. That must be why she didn''t show anger or fear, what I saw in her eyes was grief before fury filled the surroundings with fire as her eyes turned to me. "You think you''re the only one who can play with my mind!?" (Yntra) Suddenly everything was taken over by a light that disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and then I saw the place where I was, if I hadn''t had control of my emotions I might have gone crazy with rage. I tried to move, but my body felt heavy, I couldn''t move my legs and I felt immense weakness. When I opened my eyes, what I saw was a ceiling that I will never be able to forget, then came that smell of medicine and alcohol, when I lifted my body to a sitting position with immense difficulty, I saw the white room with devices next to my bed and a window that I couldn''t see much of, on the table next to the bed the notebook that I always used for my work creating games. "You think you can affect me with this, maybe you could in the past, but you lost your opportunity a long time ago." (I) "Sir, you''re finally awake..." (nurse) "Stop it, don''t play with the image of someone who cared for me in my final moments." (I) I knew she was doing this to bring up any emotion to destabilize my mind, so I tried to appear to play along with her as I tried to go deeper into her mind and it hurt as an idea occurred to me. I moved my almost completely crippled body and stood, I knew this weakness didn''t exist, it was messing with my emotions and my mind or at least trying to. With a movement of my hand the nurse disappeared like smoke, what remained was an image of me at my worst, in the moment just before I died. "An orphan rejected because of a defective body, really disappointing." (Yntra) "Her words mean little to me, resorting to this shows more of her desperation." (I) "Zenos, do you understand how people''s bodies can be the biggest limiter, how many geniuses died at the height of their academic lives in your world? How many saw the results of their work and recognition for everything they did?" (Yntra) "The body may be a marvel of evolution, but it is still flawed, and that''s because it is still evolving, this will last billions of years, and perhaps evolution will continue eternally, but until then it would just be a constant persecution of irreplaceable people." (Yntra) "Your speeches have little effect on me." (I) It may sound hypocritical considering that I am immortal, but life has meaning because it is finite, because we think our life is short we feel the need to make the most of this little time by having fun or seeking to live through a legacy for the family or the world. If you compare with Vampires who are a stagnant race, it is evident that a long lifespan makes people slow in many aspects, always seeing the scope in a great distance while forgetting the little things accumulating little by little. Suddenly I smile and thousands of waves appear colliding against Yntra, while she spoke I had time to research how to do some things, I could feel strange things inside Yntra''s mind and that''s why I wanted to know what they were. The world shattered once again, the millions of energy waves were actually like a windstorm with physical force and they were all attacking only Yntra. This time I awakened those sleeping within Yntra, millions or perhaps billions of minds suffering in agony, I could not control them, none of them were sane minds as they gave themselves over to madness, but perhaps thanks to this I was able to direct them all to a common target, Yntra. Their minds acting individually in these attacks that were creating this effect, I took advantage of this using my Essence together with my Sacred Power, I used this to corrupt these many wild minds one by one consecutively until it was over. "Stop messing with my mind!?" (Yntra) A huge explosion occurs throughout the mind, I can feel the Holy power behind this explosion, each of the minds I was using were sealed and all the places where I was corrupting in her mind were sealed as if she was putting those places in quarantine separating parts of yourself When the wave of energy passed I was on a beach, but it didn''t seem like a good time, there were ships lying in the ocean and there were many explosions in the sky as if an intense battle was taking place. "Enough of these little tricks!" (Yntra) Soon I could feel the Holy Power coming from everywhere and passing through the image of Yntra in front of me, she could not store this power, so she circulated this Holy Power by herself. I wouldn''t stand by and watch my enemies try to obtain a new power, that''s why I attack her, but not with these things, what I did was call my Divine Weapon, the power of these Divine Weapons travels through my body until it reaches my mind. I was already moving forward when a sword made of silver fragments and a dagger made of purple scales with the blade burning with purple fire appear in my hands from my body. In this place, I can change everything as I want and that''s why I transformed these Divine Weapons into the best weapons for me, something I''m used to using. Chapter 1377: Cap 1375: Clash of Minds part 3 With a sword of floating silver shards and a scale dagger with a blade of purple fire in hand, I step forward and just as I was about to collide with Yntra, I transformed my body into Haku''s old appearance from before they invaded this universe when She was Human. The momentary surprise I felt in her mind was the opening I needed, all the forty sealed areas in her mind were attacked at the same time as I pierced the silver sword through Yntra''s chest while the dagger spread purple flames in all directions. "You never told her, did you?" (I) "Bastard! How do you know!?" (Yntra) "I took a walk inside her mind and also listened to her talk about the past, for someone so intelligent she is surprisingly naive." (I) "DIE!!!" (Yntra) YOU WILL DIE!!! As I plunged the sword into her chest, her body melted and the world flickered like television static as the same laboratory I saw in Haku''s memories appears around us. Yntra this time was truly furious, her anger was like a storm in her mind, it was as if the gravity of the world was on fire trying to eradicate my body. His final Auras before his image melted were followed by a proclamation of all where I am, but the fear I was feeling would not affect me, I took advantage of these altered emotions to advance my corruption, my Authority was moving forward accompanied by my Aura and Essences taking possession of her mind in an unrestrained way. The roof of the laboratory was ripped off showing a sky with two large hands coming out of cracks in the sky to attack me with chains of bones moving like monsters as they came towards me, even the space around me was being strangled as my image was destroyed. This time I felt a great impact with the Holy Power coming out of her like a tidal wave, but the destruction of my image means nothing, this was not my body and we do not have its destruction. The real problem was the Holy Power striking against me, this was a really heavy blow and yet I didn''t bend my knees to this level of pain. With my almost unshakable will, she was unable to review what I just did, against her my will prevails and I begin to understand the reason for this. With my corruption in his mind spreading, his memories and thoughts began to surface without showing signs of stopping, this was a lot of information being transferred to me and it became a poison that would sooner or later lead to my destruction, so I was sealing these memories in a corner of my mind. Her mental instability was useful for me to take half of her mind and that''s because I used the minds of those she consumed to scatter me earlier before she destroyed what was left of those minds. "You''re going to need more than that!" (I) I hold the sword and dagger together forming a two-bladed sword side by side, one silver blade and the second purple blade, both looking like fluorescent crystal blades, in the space between the blades there was a circular area taking up more space closer to the cape where the illusory image of an Eclipse among stars was. I used this image to concentrate the power of my Divine Weapon, my Holy Power, and my Essence, then I broke through the earth beneath my feet causing the ground to shake as blood gushed from the ground. HHHAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! A scream that seems to come from everywhere appears as if it were something physical making my mind shake, then I noticed blood falling from the sky, one of the cracks in the sky was ripped in half as a colossal sword tip just like mine descends from the sky making the space itself shattered, mixing the memories into fragments in the sky, blood dripped from the sky while the clouds fell to the ground like ripped pieces of flesh. This time I had half control of his mind, but I could feel some of his influence on my mind. I choose to change places and this time I find myself in a half-destroyed apartment, the apartment seemed to have been ransacked and yet it was still noticeable how luxurious this place was before it found itself in this state. But one thing I noticed better was all the picture frames destroyed with a knife in each one, the photos or images were not in any of them. "WHY DO YOU KEEP GETTING IN MY WAY!!!??" (Yntra) "If you would stop using people in experiments and destroying worlds then I would leave you alone, I have a lot of things to deal with and you have been a pain in the ass." (I) "But we both know that won''t happen, you''ve crossed too many boundaries to stop now, you wouldn''t be able to." (I) She tried to attack me once again when she appeared from the apartment window, taking one of the knives from the picture frames to attack me, but when she did that I already had the knife in my hands, the same knife that had been in her hands half a second ago. I use this knife to pierce his neck and as the entire arm becomes a bone scythe cutting my body in half along with the entire building that doesn''t collapse on top of us, the top part of the building begins to float upwards as I was calm even with half my body. "You are a disappointment, how many things have you sacrificed? How many things have you abandoned?" (I) "But you still haven''t achieved anything, you just cling more and more fanatically to something that is obviously wrong, all because you''re afraid you''ve lost so much for nothing." (I) SHUT THE DAMN MOUTH!!! I had already understood that using fear and anxiety with her would be useless, people like her are determined in the path they choose and because of the fanaticism she does these things I can understand a little about her to pinpoint where it hurts, mainly because I have so many clues around me. The building, before floating higher and higher, suddenly becomes a big worm that descends like a mountain on top of both of us, I could have destroyed it, but instead, I stepped on the ground causing it to break and when I fell I was already in a totally different place. "(The orphanage.)" (I) When I passed through the doors of the orphanage where I grew up, there was no interior, the entire building had collapsed leaving only the front facade in place, everywhere around, the bodies of the children were mutilated in an unnecessarily brutal way, and the priest and the nuns dismembered naked while hanging on crosses as if humiliating their religions even in death. "You lack creativity, this is all just senseless aggression, I''m not as childish as you to be fooled by something fake." (I) Even though I say that, it''s still difficult for me to see people so important to me in this state, but fortunately, my emotional fortitude is incomparable to my past. "Come to me, this game between us is becoming meaningless, I already have 70% of your mind, we both know you are already beyond the safety mark." (I) I hold my fingers and Yntra appears in front of me, her anger written on her face, the only explanation for her not jumping on me must be because she understood that this is useless in this place, this is not the battle where the power each one is worth a lot. "Boy, I live in your memory, I know what you want, but even if I am defeated I can still take you with me as well as all your companions trying to distract me." (Yntra) "I seem like you can see my recent memories or maybe your senses are finally keeping tabs on your surroundings, but none of that matters, you not realizing the betrayal is incredible." (I) "Then let me show you your mistake." (I) "Stop the..." (Yntra) I will be fingers making her mouth disappear just like a movie I saw in the past, ironically both now and in the movie we are in a mental reunion with the only difference being that this is mental magic and that movie was more technological post-apocalyptic. "Please don''t distract me from showing your incompetence." (I) I wave my hand once again leaving only a blank area around us as two armchairs appear with both of us sitting, the only difference is that she is tied to her armchair while an old television appears in front of us showing images from outside, possibly from what she can see from the outside, the battle seems to be going well. "You are wrong about many things." (I) "The first is your attempt to destroy yourself, with my current control of your body, I may not be able to stop you, but I can separate your body into two protecting the part of you that matters where the Divinity Fragment is stored." (I) "Your second mistake is about the battle outside, it may have served as a suitable distraction for you, which gave me the opportunity to enter your mind while your eyes were elsewhere." (I) "But this battle should always have a clear goal of being a distraction not for you, but a distraction for the one who has been waiting in the shadows guiding his Greed to where he needed you, this whole battle is so he won''t notice what I''m doing here. " (I) "You were always insignificant." (I) "..." (Yntra) "(Her hatred for me is palpable, she really wants to kill me and that''s what I wanted with these provocations.)" (I) Taking advantage of her hatred towards me by making her change the focus of her mind, I managed to push her even further to the point where the world collapsed making us arrive at what looked like a metal nursery. Many baby beds in a room with machines everywhere, Yntra was free looking at me, her eyes seemed to have the image of my death. "You damn bastard, DAMN BASTARD!!!" (Yntra) Chapter 1378: Cap 1376: Take care of her for me This place was entirely made of metal, a large room with small floating beds shaped like eggs, in addition to these beds there were machines that I don''t know and a large entrance. I was facing an angry Yntra as if responding to her anger her beautiful image was destroyed as her muscles grew to the point of tearing her skin, her body became twice the size with her head almost hitting the ceiling, and tentacles grew in Her back and head bones changed into an imitation of a Dragon''s head giving Yntra a monstrous appearance. Her fury was more than palpable, I could feel this place''s rejection of me on a much greater level than before to the point where I almost couldn''t hold on to this place. "(This place was as deep as I could get before she started to fight back, but strangely she was very willing to stop me from getting here.)" (I) "I see, this is the core of her will, the biggest pillar in her mind." (I) Just as that cabin in the blood forest is my central pillar in my mind, this nursery is the central pillar in her mind. After everything I saw until I got here and what I could understand, I begin to see why this place was the central pillar in her mind. "This may just be a place for you, but will you want to destroy everything? You know I can fight you on equal terms even here, it doesn''t matter if neither of you wins." (I) "I don''t mind!" (Yntra) She seemed to disappear as she left the space above me, she attacked me as a distraction from above to let her pass using the Holy Power concentrated below me in the form of a monster''s head trying to bite me, which doesn''t work when I jump to the side, entering the space to come out in front of her with a kick already inches from her face. She dodged my attack or that''s what she thought as my body exploded releasing 5 beams of Essence circulating around her image of her imprisoning her as a wave of Holy Power explodes making the entire nursery shake with cracks spreading. Soon there was a black crystal sphere with 4 different colored energy rings rotating around it, a similar image of the Essence Core within my Soul with the only difference acting as a sphere of flesh with 1 eye, 1 mouth, and some tentacles floating inside thrashing around trying to get out. I simply come out of my Divine Weapon as if I were a Ghost possessing it, when my body reformed I could feel that the corruption of this space was very slow, but what surprised me was that all the destruction done was being reversed, the cracks closed, the devices and floating beds returned to their positions, all of this was as if time was moving backwards until everything was in perfect order as it was when I arrived here. "Interesting." (I) "You bastard looks like you got what you wanted." (Yntra) "Yes, I beat you in your own mind, so if I could..." (I) "No, I won''t make it easy for you." (Yntra) The sphere of flesh stopped fighting inside its Essence prison, and the tentacles returned inside its body leaving only a ball of flesh with 1 eye and 1 mouth. Her image seemed calm, but I can feel her Aura breaking in the face of despair, losing to her means much more than just her defeat or her death, I don''t think she cares about those two things, what is destroying her now is the same thing I used to mess with her emotions until now, the possibility that everything she did was for nothing. Even without knowing everything she went through, I can imagine some of the more obvious things and assume a few others. "(Corruption is very slow, it could take hours and every moment counts as there is still an enemy in the shadows.)" (I) "(I have to make her finish breaking, her will is now stronger than before, but the reason is her hatred towards me, without this hatred her will could have already broken.)" (I) "It was worth all your research, all your experiments on innocent people, the countless sacrifices you made, everything you abandoned and lost...your own daughter." (I) "SHUT UP!!!" (Yntra) SHUT UP!!! It seems that even with your Soul imprisoned, your consciousness is still free, the words of the ball of flesh and the mind were at the same time showing that there is still a connection. "What do you know!?" (Yntra) "We were facing a crisis! I am one of the greatest minds in the Universe, my research on regeneration allowed us to fight for years longer, and my research on body modification improved our soldiers, granting us the only victory we achieved against those damn things!!" (Yntra) "From start to finish, I was right! That naive girl Astrid was only able to run away because of me!!!" (Yntra) "She was weak, always thinking of ways to escape and run with her group of cowards without ever daring to go further wasting her mind on scrap metal seeking useless improvements instead of seeking the next step of evolution like I did!!!" (Yntra) "THEN WHY AM I WRONG!!!!" (Yntra) "If it weren''t for you stealing Haku from me, messing up every one of my major research, and forcing me to act hastily without proven research, I could have reached eternity and brought everyone with me!!!" (Yntra) She is in a spiral of guilt, but even so, her mind rejects mine violently, I cannot corrupt her mind any faster, my attempt to break her only increased her defenses against me. "We both know you would have failed anyway, even if I hadn''t come, you''re already inside someone else''s trap, so don''t make things worse." (I) "Do you know Haku is fighting outside right now?" (I) "..." (Yntra) "How did you find out about her?" (Yntra) "It wasn''t difficult, in Haku''s memories it was clear that you approached her first, one of the most intelligent and respected people approached a young researcher, you supported her much more than would make sense and included her in your important projects, everything That was strange in itself." (I) "I came to consider that you were in love with her, but you never showed things like affection, sexual desire, or even romantic interest to Haku, you were always very objective even with the clear favoritism." (I) "But I only understood after Haku came over to my side and you started creating clones of her." (I) "If you only wanted her mind and knowledge, then there was no reason to maintain her appearance and over time the clones always proved to be the leaders, you cared too much about her to just be her assistant." (I) "Sexual desire and romantic interest were out, so the only thing missing was the connection between friends and connection between family members, the first being impossible as they had shown favoritism since they met, there was no time to form a friendship of that depth." (I) "You really like hearing the sound of your own voice." (Yntra) "Haku is your daughter, one you abandoned, and yet here we are, a memory that is a central pillar of your mind, a nursery." (I) "I didn''t want to abandon her, but I didn''t have time for a child, I spent months sleeping in the laboratory to the point where I didn''t remember where my apartment was." (Yntra) "I had more important things to attend to and luckily she inherited my intelligence, she really was my best assistant and a source of pride for me, yet you took her!" (Yntra) "Yes, I broke what you did in her mind and I give her all the freedom she wants, now you won''t have the same end." (I) I could see the thoughts running through her single eye, then I felt her rejection disappear, then my corruption and my mind took over in seconds, the ball of flesh inside the prison of Essences becoming clearer as it disappeared. "I''m lost, but my legacy will still live on in her, I hope she walks a better path than mine... take care of her for me..." (Yntra) From start to finish, this was the only time I showed her affection, in the end even a bad mother is still a mother. "I didn''t need to say it, she''s one of my companions now." (I) I could feel the Essences burning the Soul as control of its planet-sized body began to weigh on my mind. "This will take... a while..." (I) The Essences began to disperse as the image of a nursery disappeared like an illusion revealing a hut next to a cave among several blood red trees, my central pillar replacing Yntra''s. Her mind broken and her Soul destroyed, her crimes were many and grave beyond what she could imagine, the Demonic Goddess of Death and the Goddess of Life would not let this go. "I''m going to make good... take advantage of everything... you left..." (I) Chapter 1379: Cap 1377: The hidden enemy reveals itself part 1 Pov Ibuki''s: My body had become an Incarnation of Starfire, this was the ability that I awakened upon receiving the power of Zenos, with this power I used my body as I wanted during combat, I was in a sea of ??Insects being controlled by the last 2 Insect Empresses. In this state I couldn''t use my magic very well, the level of concentration to maintain this state takes a lot of me for now, so I fight just using my skills. Concentrating on the image of a pair of wings, they form on my back and I use it to propel my body in the direction I discovered traces of the Aura of an Insect Empress. I open the way with 6 arms 3 times the size of my body having fire blades instead of hands, most of the Bugs were weak with only a few being able to resist my blow, which doesn''t matter since killing them has little importance until I have this Insect Empress''s head in hand. "< Flames of Dominance >" (I) This was a skill that I managed to create by accident by mixing Zenos'' Starfire with my Authority and the element of Darkness, this is a skill that needs a lot of Holy Power to use, but it is still very worth it. My entire body becomes dark with inky black flames, all the stars within the Starfire extinguished leaving only darkness remaining, the shape of my body stopped changing returning to my normal form while my speed slows down as I move forward. Even with this disadvantage I couldn''t help but smile as my hand swung with cuts of black fire that would fly to kill enemies, those fallen by my attacks would burn until there was nothing left in seconds, leaving only black flames and claws that took the shape of those consumed. The Black Fire Bugs are loyal to me and attack their former companions, those killed by this Black Fire will suffer the same fate of being consumed by fire until there is nothing left but a fire creature under my control. Each swing of my swords ends dozens of them and with me performing dozens of blows per second it didn''t take long for a tunnel of fire to form with my fire creatures opening a path for me to the Insect Empress who looked more like a Human woman. I extend my Aura by fully supplying it before using my skill. "< Holy Shadow Court >" (I) I use Holy power on my two swords before swinging them in the opposite direction towards me, my body being made of black fire makes me a creature purely of darkness and shadows, my attack does not hit me and does not sink inside my body before come out of the mouth of the Insect Empress, the only shadow I could see and reach with my Aura. Her head split into 4 as did the space above her sucking in almost half of her body before closing leaving the rest behind floating in space. "Now there''s just one more to go..." (I) Suddenly an Aura hit me and the Bugs like a tidal wave passing through everyone as it expanded in all directions, this Aura was full of anger and fury, I could feel a large amount of Demonic power mixed with Holy Power in this Aura. When I remembered the Demonic God of Greed, it was when large columns of light appeared in several places, one of them close to me, this was one of the 8 planets. "Natasha, do you see this?" (I) "[Natasha is busy, but she said to keep eliminating the bugs.]" (Nicole) "How are the others? How is the master... I mean, how is Zenos?" (I) "[We will only know about my Father at the end, but the others are doing well, the insect forces have been almost completely eliminated, and the hidden forces of the Apostles of Truth have already been eliminated.]" (Nicole) "I see, I''ll finish here in a few more minutes, if you need me..." (I) "[Hades, Now!!!!!]" (Natasha) "..." (I) Suddenly the 8 columns of light became colossal columns of Starfire. ------------------- Pov Hades: Everyone was silent, most were frustrated for not participating more actively in the attack, Cinthia and Nix keeping calm without caring about the attack, Haku was taking notes about something and didn''t seem to care about the plan, but I know that if I am called to action, I will be as serious about it as anyone. The only one who is silent because she was forced to do so is Layla, her body was being restrained by phantom hands while Hinata was hugging her without showing any expressions. "If the fight continues like this it will be easier than we expected." (Sakura) "Everyone is so much stronger, their growth levels are frightening." (Ragnar) "But we all grew up quickly." (Orion) "You don''t understand, you are the only one of us who was born as a Divine Beast." (Ragnar) "Do you mind explaining it to him, Hades?" (Ragnar) "Is that because I was born in a similar way?" (I) "Yes, I have a feeling you noticed." (Ragnar) Of course, I know what they are talking about, Orion would know too if he showed any interest other than eating, hunting, and fighting. "Those strongly linked to Master Zenos are chained to his power level, this counts as much to suppress the power level of those stronger than him at his level as happened in the past with his 3 sisters, but it also counts to drag down the strength of those linked to it upward until it reaches its level." (I) "This only counts pure power, it doesn''t take into account combat power that comes from more abstract things like magical knowledge, combat experience, individual talent, etc." (I) "Just as he said, we as his Familiars and Divine Servants are dragged up with him, but his children and wives are not like that, even his Saints are not like that." (Ragnar) "They all train harder than you think, especially their wives, Ibuki spends almost all her waking hours training in some way when she''s not with master." (Nix) "Kira spends a lot of time training with me and my kids." (Sakura) "E?rica spends a lot of time in the library, I have great conversations about magic with her, very different from Nicole who doesn''t leave the laboratory." (Haku) "Diana trains hard just like the others, the master knows this and supports everyone, even his children work hard in training." (I) "Following the master''s growth without being linked to him like we are is extraordinary, he is a total monster, and his level of growth is much more than just abnormal." (Ragnar) I can''t deny what they say, I inherited several of the master''s memories during my birth, I know how abnormal he is in many ways, and that''s why I trust him so much, due to his equally abnormal bad luck, the master forces himself to poke around more and stronger as well as always trying to think of the worst situations to have flexibility in your plans. "[Hades, I need you...]" (Natasha) -------------------- I was now alone seeing a Demonic Dragon, its strength level was high and yet it looked like a young Dragon, its Aura was big and heavy but it felt empty somehow. "How long do I need to wait?" (I) "[Until they make a move, we''ll only have one opportunity and only you can do that in Zenos'' absence.]" (Natasha) "I can''t beat that Dragon so quickly." (I) "[You can take care of him later, but you can''t do that now, just like you he is a Divine Servant or a Divine Beast, anything that happens will alert Greed.]" (Natasha) "I will wait for your signal." (I) The place where I am is a disc made of bone scales, in the middle there is a hole where a crystal is floating, this Demonic Dragon is protecting this place, I am hiding from it somehow, but at my first movement towards it or in direction of the crystal will be noticed by him. "(I won''t be able to teleport to the crystal and it will reach me first, which I have to do.)" (I) "(Maybe I can...)" (I) While I was distracted the crystal began to glow a red and purple light shining brighter and brighter until it formed a column of light around the crystal, but soon a burst of power seemed to explode making this column of light quickly expand all over the place, no I know how far it went. A presence was beginning to emerge from the crystal and it was at that moment that Natasha spoke. "Hades, now!!!" (Natasha) This time I ran towards the crystal while preparing myself, just as I imagined, when I reached halfway it appeared in front of me with its claws coming towards me, as it was coming from above a large shadow formed on the ground or was it what I expected, unfortunately, the column of light didn''t leave any shadow that I could use, so I swung my bleeding arm forward. "< Blood Walker >" (I) There was already blood on the ground, so when the Demon Dragon''s claw was almost on me, but at that moment my body sinks into the blood at my feet, making me cross the drops of blood near the crystal, passing directly through the Dragon, avoiding a fight that would be difficult now. Chapter 1380: Cap 1378: The hidden enemy reveals itself part 2 Pov Natasha''s: Just as I thought they came, Greed has always been a predictable bastard in certain aspects, he, like Zenos, likes to plan and prepare before making any kind of move, the only difference between them is that Zenos does it out of fear, his bad luck and the life he conquered with effort always came with its difficulties, but Greed has always been a bastard who thinks he''s smarter than everyone. That''s why I knew he wouldn''t show up, deep down he''s always been a coward who avoids any type of possible risk to himself, especially after being so injured after the Fight against the Saint of Life. I don''t know when he started planning or the types of preparations he made, but I know his behavior, he won''t show up until it''s explicitly necessary and he''ll prefer to run away abandoning his entire plan if necessary if he thinks he might lose this fight. "Hades is waiting and everyone else is already in position, Kira reported that the enemy may suspect their presence and there seems to be something interfering with my Golems." (Nicole) "Do you know why the Golems are being interfered with? Will this disrupt communication with others?" (I) "I created the Golems to resist most energies, the only ones that can interfere with them are the Divine Power of which I know almost nothing, and the Holy Power which is a type of strange energy that can only be countered by the same type." (Nicole) "So he decided to move, he will activate the ritual at any moment and send something to keep the potential risks under control." (I) I am confident in the action of Ynes and Hades acting together, but I don''t know how viable this plan will be, I don''t know the effects that Zenos'' power will have on the Ritual. "It looks like he''s moving, get ready to warn everyone, if necessary, do anything to listen to my orders!" (I) "Yes." (Nicole) I gave my orders at the same time as the 8 Planets were surrounded by columns of light, the Ritual was being activated, but I knew it was too late to think of other options. "Lets start now!" (I) ------------------ Pov Elizabeth''s: I see the columns of light in the distance and I can feel the presence of Greed, of course just a shadow of his power, I don''t see him appearing in person and when he is injured. "(What are you doing, Natasha...)" (I) I''m not sure what''s going on outside, but I look back, Vanessa is sweating profusely and Caitlyn has finally opened her eyes as the two Zenos Saints fall unconscious, I walk over to my sister. "How is he?" (I) "He did it, all traces of Yntra''s mind are gone and it looks like she suffered Soul damage, but now we need to take him." (Caitlyn) "You can do it?" (I) "I can''t stay away from Vanessa." (I) "Okay, but we''re going to need an opportunity." (Caitlyn) "That won''t be a problem." (I) ------------------- Pov Hades: As soon as I passed the Demon Dragon, I went without hesitation to the crystal where I placed my hand, following what Natasha said, I expelled all my Holy power in continuous bursts, when I did this I felt as if the world suddenly stopped for half a second before a wave of energy almost ripped me away from the crystal, this wave of energy seemed to be being expelled at the same time as it was being consumed. This wave of power seems to have affected me less because I was leaning against the crystal, but the Demon Dragon that was coming to attack me, despite trying to resist, was thrown away, causing an explosion of water to collide against the sea. Soon I feel something in my mind hurting a lot, then I notice a flow of Sacred Power being sucked somewhere, it didn''t even take half a second to realize that the other 7 points I was feeling were the other planets, all of them were also sending this energy to the same place as me. "(Let the power course through you vi forming a constant rapid flow.)" (Ynes) I heard Ynes''s voice inside my head, not only her voice but also the presence of the others, it seems that everyone managed to reach the crystals. I followed Ynes''s instructions, we got orders from Natasha on this, it seems like she knows something about these crystals and their function, so I followed what she was saying from the fearless, and one of the reasons for that was that we were using the Holy Power of the master in which she cannot manipulate us so well or do us harm. Following what she says in less than 5 seconds the flow of power sets steady while the last drops of Holy Power burn leaving me dry, but at least I could feel the other crystals clearly now. "Concentrate your Authorities here together with the power of the Essence if possible, this will finalize the activation of the ritual under our control." (Ynes) We once again follow her instructions, I cannot use the power of the Essences, but I still hold tight to my Authority whose Power I focus on the crystal from which I track Ynes''s presence. That was the last thing I did before my spine was broken with claws coming out of my front, but I remained calm by making my blood pass under her scales, I used this blood to pierce her body. "Get off me!!" "< Breath of the 4 Hells >" (I) I gather the Demonic, Chaos, Curse, and Blood powers in my mouth at the same time I broke his arm along with some of my ribs while turning towards him. But to my surprise it didn''t run away, defend itself, or try to dodge, what it did was open its jaws as close to me as possible and devour my breath attack or at least most of my attack. "< Demonic Greed Claw >" "< Space Explosion >" (I) I see his other claw being enveloped in red and purple energy, the power took the form of a layer of solid energy around his claws, so I used a blast between us, gaining space to think. As soon as I moved away I noticed that part of his mouth was still burning with Starfire, it seems that he was unable to digest my entire attack. While I was thinking about what to do, my body was regenerating, the bones of my destroyed spine fusing together once again, it also seems that his arm was shaking, it seems that the damage I did physically to him is also more effective than than energy-based attacks. "(Maybe I shouldn''t fight, his power is nullifying more than half of my combat power while, at this time, the best thing would be to... run away.)" (I) "Natasha, I need help now! Open a portal!" (I) "[G..sg...at..mi...on..]" (Natasha?) "(I can''t count on outside help, so what should I...)" (I) In my head I had understood that even the power of my Authority can hurt, even my chaos power only managed some injuries and I have no Holy Power for now. Physical attacks work, so I might try something since I can''t get out of here or call for help, so I''ll finish him off myself, I don''t think I can outrun him at his speed. "< Great Demonic Dragon''s Breath >" "< Star Strengthening >" (I) My entire body transforms into that of a Dragon as stars float into the shape of my scales circling around me, each star was a source of highly concentrated chaos power. I flapped my wings pushing towards him, even though I couldn''t do much now it was still enough to get his attention, he is not an irrational monster, he is an intelligent True Dragon. He was wary of the stars and I took advantage of this by throwing some towards him causing explosions of Starfire, they were stars with little power contained in them and were really only used as a distraction. Seeing what he supposed to be the main effect of the stars, he began to attack more firmly, his speed made him reach me very quickly and as he came almost in a straight line towards me, he did not believe that I had the power to go against him he and I had already realized this using his arrogance as my weapon. As soon as he was so close to me, the stars gathered in my fixed arm covered in Starfire so intense that my bones began to melt. All it took was one punch from me at this distance to make his chest bones sink, his mouth and eyes burning in Starfire as if sensing it, the Starfire around him was growing and that was when I realized that the column of light was burning with Starfire around us, which is why he was in such a hurry to get rid of me. But now it''s too late for him, the power within resonates with the surroundings creating a tornado of Starfire around him, in a few tens of seconds only a puddle of liquefied remains was left on the ground, I reached out and those remains flew before to crystallize into a sphere. "Now let''s leave this planet." (I) Chapter 1381: Cap 1379: The hidden enemy reveals itself part 3 Pov Caitlyn''s: I thought he would be more useful because he was an Evil God, but this idiot has the mental strength of a child, even Zenos'' children are stronger mentally than this useless person, it''s no wonder he gave up being a God because complete, but at least he has talent. "(Zenos, how are you there?)" (I) "(The body is too strange, its size, shape, how it moves, the way it attaches itself to this planet and the other planets... guh!!)" (Zenos) "(What happened?)" (I) "(He knows, a curse has been activated in a part of the world, a curse to restrain the mind, Soul and body.)" (Zenos) "(Since this is not my body, my mind is safe and my Soul still has my body in its hands, I am trying to separate the body parts contaminated with the curse before it spreads.)" (Zenos) "Why do I have to carry this dead weight." (I) On top of my pillow was Zenos'' body, I had to be in contact with him constantly to keep him connected to Yntra''s now mindless body, now I have to take him to the body to be able to end this. To get to that damn meat tree I had to use Zenos'' mental connection to build a tunnel of nightmares, it''s not as fast as a Teleport and it can be a little demanding when I bring another person, but that way Greed won''t realize what we''re in doing. When this is over I''m going to sleep for a week and whoever dares to wake me up will discover what it''s like to live a waking nightmare. ----------------- Pov Diana''s: Around me were the rubble of the Poisonous world along with billions of shattered bodies of Insects, all those who stood in front of me are dead and I am still full of power, an unlimited will to fight takes over my body with the euphoria of this battle. It was at that moment when I was lost in the pleasure of killing that the columns of light appeared, I didn''t understand what was happening and I couldn''t contact Nicole or Natasha. I thought about moving towards one of the columns, but as soon as I tried to do so the power of the Wolf God froze my body in place, something like this had never happened before and as the seconds passed that I tried to move unsuccessfully, the columns of light suddenly they began to burn with Starfire becoming Columns of Starfire. I was confused about what was happening, but seeing the columns of Starfire I felt calmer knowing that we were demanding and it was at that moment that I felt the presence of the consciousness of the God Fenrir in my mind. "(You must fight no more, Greed is making a move and you are no match for him.)" (God Fenrir) "I can at least fight alongside others if he''s stronger than me..." (I) "(The issue is not the difference in strength, you must understand that it is not just the difference in strength that you need to pay attention to when facing a God.)" (God Fenrir) "(My Divinity is that of the Predator, my power lies in what can be considered Greed for killing what I consider prey, the greed of killing prey is still a type of greed.)" (God Fenrir) "(If it were me then it wouldn''t be a problem, but you just use my power, that''s not your true power and he can extract that power from you if you intervene, at that point you would strengthen your enemy while making yourself an easy target and I know you don''t want that.)" (God Fenrir) "..." (I) "What''s the point of all the training and this power if I can''t even fight alongside them..." (I) "(Don''t get confused, whatever is coming, none of the others will be able to interfere, besides, you as a warrior must understand that there will always be a next fight, don''t think about what you couldn''t do today, but about what you can do tomorrow.)" (God Fenrir) The words of comfort don''t change the fact that once again it''s me taking a step back from him, frustration is not something I can pretend not to feel and not something I can accept to keep repeating itself. "(Keep moving forward Diana... keep moving forward...)" (I) ------------------ Pov Elizabeth''s: I see the columns of light burning in Zenos'' power, Natasha is doing a great job, she knew who to ask for help and how to use Zenos'' power even without him being here, her leadership and planning capabilities along with her analytical ability in combat are commendable, I will never understand why she can''t show that level of competence and brilliance in other situations. "Madam... Madam Elizabeth... she wants to go out..." (Vanessa) "It''s not time yet, open your mouth." (I) I cut my wrist and push it into Vanessa''s mouth, her body was boiling, and her veins were squirming inside her body, the marks of the Blood Sin were visible even when wearing clothes due to the strong shine, this thing never had patience. "Vanessa, we''re only going to have one chance, my mother is not the type of Goddess who protects, she is someone who is surrounded by blood in combat, be it the enemy''s blood or her own blood." (I) "I don''t believe for 1 second that she sent Bloodsin to defend us, knowing her, it must have been..." (I) Suddenly I feel something and look outside, but from this distance, I can''t see clearly and so I run to where Nicole is with the images of the entire Star System. "Show that sector!" (I) I point in a direction and Nicole seems to understand as the image appears from several different angles, some images are glitchy but I have enough to see. What appears in the images are the Divine Servants of Greed, but specifically, they are his disposable Divine Servants, as God he has always been the worst in dealing with his worshipers, for his most faithful when they die they are transformed into Divine Servants with promotion of immortality and power, which they find in a way becoming slaves to Greed, he has thousands of them and collects them as trophies about his own values, teachings, and doctrines. His Divine Servants never appear, but when they do appear, it is always in the same way, as disposable sacrifices for him to achieve something. "Nicole, warn the others to..." (I) "Communications have been cut, the level of interference is far above what I can overcome." (Nicole) "What was the latest news on Zenos and Caitlyn?" (I) "They arrived in Yntra''s body and were beginning the process for my Father to consume Yntra." (Nicole) "I hope in time." (I) -------------------- Pov Zenos: As soon as my body descended to the Planet being carried by my sister, I could feel the exact location that was at the feet of the flesh tree that must have been as thick as a mountain. As soon as they arrived I did my best to control 1 of the billions of tentacles to take my body, the tentacle penetrates the base of my mouth and I consider it to better connect the two minds allowing me to control my own body without having to abandon Yntra''s body. When I focus on my real body, I make him open his eyes and wake up facing Caitlyn looking at me. "What are you going to do now? Are you going to eat all of this?" (Caitlyn) "No, that would be insane, I''m going straight to the source." (I) Because I was in control of Yntra''s body, I already knew where the main important points of this body were, one of them being the place where Yntra kept the Divinity Fragment, the place was exactly this flesh tree, more specifically the body in the center of the meat tree. I leave the tentacle attached to my real body as thin as possible while my body spreads its wings flying higher until I reach a point on the flesh tree that I make my way into, my sister following. As soon as I entered with my body, I went straight to the bottom of what seemed to be a dome-shaped room, in the ceiling and on the floor there were identical holes from which thousands of tentacles writhed, connecting the legs, arms, spine, and head of a female body that I imagine it belongs to Yntra since the top half of its face is covered by tentacles. My vision was quickly stolen to what interests me most, in the middle of the chest there was a crystal firmly attached and pulsing as if it were a heart, this was the Fragment of Divinity that I came to seek. "(The biggest problem is that this crystal is literally Yntra''s heart, I don''t know what she did, but I can feel this crystal being the core of energy and vitality of this entire body that extends beyond this planet.)" (I) I could feel that her roots and throat were crossing space to reach the other Planets without being seen, she must have known that she would be betrayed by the Demonic God of Greed and had plans to thwart her plans somehow. "(Let''s get this over with before this damn God decides to do something.)" (I) Chapter 1382: Cap 1380: The hidden enemy reveals itself part 4 It was strange the way I''m controlling my body remotely, having to control my body while I''m controlling such an alien body like this was strange enough, but now that I''m using my body''s point of view to see the heart of my body''s body Yntra, I can''t help but feel the situation is more than just awkward. The heart of this massive body was a humanoid form with tentacles attached to its legs, head, and spine with a Divinity Fragment attached to the chest pulsing like a real heart. What I came for, one of my goals for this mission was right in front of me, but even so, I was anxious and doubtful, I know I need to eat this body and that''s exactly the problem. I am controlling Yntra''s body now as if it were my own body, now I am jointly controlling my own body to devour what would be the heart of Yntra''s body, this is the same as trying to devour my own heart. I feel a strange repulsion and lack of desire to do this, it bothers me to see this body as part of me to the point of hindering my mission. Even though I still needed to do it and I didn''t plan on doing a half-assed job, I took a few deep breaths calming my emotions and my mind. Sigh I sigh one last time before starting to transform my body into that of a Dragon trying to maintain a size that can fit in this space, then I look at the body in front of me and without thinking much I bite hard tearing all the tentacles coming from above or from below, so without chewing I swallowed the entire body while keeping my eyes closed trying not to vomit with the feeling of disgust taking over me. "Ghuhhh!!" (I) In my mind, I know that I am not eating myself, but my body reacts on its own since with that single bite I felt the taste in my mouth at the same time as I felt the pain of the bite. Ding! I could feel the sensation of the Essence at the same time as I heard the notification in my head, but I couldn''t look at it now, I could feel something wrong, very wrong. The Essence was not complete, in fact, it was a Fragment of Essence from another universe that is not compatible with this universe and I know this not only because of what I have experienced in previous times but also because I could feel the power of chaos trying to create something new, since I learned more about Essences and learned to control their power at least on an initial level, I could feel this time like I was creating something new instead of transforming something that already existed in this universe. I would be happy with my progress if it weren''t for the problem at hand, the Divinity Fragment was linked to something else, it was just a faint trace, but it was there, a power similar to that of an Essence and yet not being an Essence, like something incomplete trying to become cohesive and whole. The power of chaos acting on the transformation of the Divinity Fragment was following this trace to its source, this power was linked with the Divinity Fragment and was being considered a part of it, I cannot control this power to stop it, this was the problem. I knew what this trait of power was, even though I didn''t know how it happened exactly, the fact that my presence was in this trait was unmistakable, the most I can assume is that it was a result of me taking this body, there was no way there was a side effect to know. This incomplete Essence energy was an amalgamation of the power, energy, vitality, and wills within the flesh tree, if my chaos power continues to follow this power it may try to spread throughout this body and I have no idea what will happen to me at this moment. "(Stop! Why don''t you stop!!)" (I) Nothing I was trying was working, I tried using my Aura, I tried using my Authority, I tried using my Holy Power, I even tried using my Essences to cut off this trace of energy, but nothing seemed to work. I tried to suppress it, but as if in response to my intervention in the process, the illusory Essence core within my body began to pulsate while the power of the other Essences seemed to assist the power of chaos by exploding out of just my body and following the trace of amorphous energy through my connection with my true body to the flesh tree. I could feel my consciousness being impacted by this, my mind being shattered time after time as a tide of Essences traveled through me, it didn''t take long for me to lose my mind, emotions and everything else in this state leaving only my will in its purest form deprived of everything else of me falling into a state of high meditation that I have never achieved before of pure oblivion. ------------------- Pov Caitlyn''s: I had to carry him here and now I have to wait for him, this bastard is causing more and more problems. "That was... I see, he''s making his move." (I) "Natasha... Natasha answer..." (I) "Nicole..." (I) "Communications are down, I can''t contact the others... I think you better be quick, the enemy won''t wait... what is this?" (I) At first, I noticed the power of Greed spreading was weak, but this proves that it is starting to act more actively, those columns of light that were burned in Starfire shows this. It was at that moment that I felt something else, this time something more wild, a wave of Essences mixed followed by the power of Zenos'' chaos, something had happened, but it doesn''t seem to be because of Greed, these Essences are those that belong to Zenos as well as his power of chaos, this proves that this is all him doing. "What are you doing now!?" (I) "This is not the best time for your nonsense!!!" (I) He couldn''t hear me or he didn''t care, which in the end didn''t mean anything anyway, the flesh tree was changing. Blood was pounding from the tree as this blood was being crystallized into the form of scales, this was happening very quickly and then the space between the scales lit up from the base to the robot''s branches glowing as if Zenos'' Starfire was burning through it Inside, the very leaves of the tree that once looked like eyes were set ablaze burning with each leaf becoming a star of some color marking the heavens. The power of the universe itself seemed to breathe in conjunction with the tree before flesh with the raw flow of energy fueling the tree while Starfire seemed to spread through the roots in a wave of flames that in all directions left only ethereal tendrils that seemed formed of the stars themselves in the sky. I didn''t know what was happening anymore, but the changes were getting bigger and bigger, I couldn''t stay on this planet and I couldn''t fight my way through space. "Why do you always have to have a damn surprise!!!??" (I) "< Blood Sacred Magic: Blood Sacred Gate >" (I) I gathered my Sacred power and Authority using my blood to open a portal that crosses space using the bloodline bond as a means, when I passed through I was stepping on the nose of my still unconscious son. "It consumed almost all of my Holy Power and I still almost didn''t make it." (I) ----------------- Pov Elizabeth''s: One look into the distance was enough to make my blood rush, this bastard was once again up to no good, the 8 columns of Starfire are one thing, it was a plan thought up and implemented by Natasha, but what I''m seeing goes beyond Natasha why not even she would know about it, not even that irresponsible idiot Zenos would know about it. In the distance, I can see the flesh tree burning in Starfire as it drastically transforms, not just the flesh tree but the entire planet it was on ablaze with Starfire. Soon I could feel the flow of raw energy naturally moving, I also strangely saw phantom tentacles stretching between the 8 planets surrounded by the columns of Starfire. That''s when I noticed the movements of the Divine Servants of Greed, I knew what he was going to do, it seems that he is no longer as creative as he was in the past since he is repeating something he already did. "Greed... it seems your confidence is too high for someone injured, I didn''t expect you would resort to this, why so desperate?" (I) I couldn''t understand his actions, but knowing what he was going to do would be faster, I look at Vanessa, it was clear from her scarlet red eyes that I wouldn''t be able to hold back for long, I ran to her biting my wrist before putting it in your mouth again, your eyes returning to normal. "Hot just a little longer, we can''t waste this opportunity." (I) "(Zenos, I don''t know what you''re doing, but you must be quick, he won''t wait...)" (I) While I was thinking about Zenos who once again made a show of irresponsibility, the Divine Servant of Greed placed his hand on his chest and opened it, each of them while forming a circle, the Divine Power being drawn from them forming a dark blue Demon made of pure energy, this Demon advances towards the flesh tree without stopping for anything. "Now it begins..." (I) Chapter 1383: Cap 1381: The hidden enemy reveals itself part 5 Pov Elizabeth''s: Just as I imagined, the Divine Servants are just a sacrifice for Greed, he has always treated people like objects, their usefulness and value decided only for him to have in his hands. The Divine Servants split the chest with their own hands, leaving all the Divine Power leaving their bodies along with the Demonic energy, thus forming a Demon of energy that attacks the transforming tree. When this happened the Energy Demon broke what appeared to be an invisible barrier causing all 8 columns of Starfire to go out. When the Demonic creature reaches the tree, it transforms into a flow of energy that marks the entire tree with marks that glow and spread into the space around it opening a passage in space that rips the tree out of the world where it was trapped as if was swallowed by space itself. In the end, all that was left was the horribly scarred planet and the crumbling bodies of the Divine Servants of Greed, no sign of the tree could be found, but I know where it was taken. "Why didn''t you stop it, even though we are not Minor Goddesses we can still use the power of our Deities to a certain extent and yours would be able to stop that." (Caitlyn) "Why would I stop it? Greed thinks he isolated Zenos and the tree from us, but what he did was close off their escape routes by isolating his Divine Kingdom." (I) "Did you use Zenos as bait?" (Caitlyn) "No, I had no way of knowing what Greed would do in advance, what I did was allow him to complete his plan to give us the opportunity..." (I) I was interrupted when a macabre hand appeared in the space carrying an expressionless girl. "Master..." (Hinata) "Thanks for your help, Hinata." (I) "We don''t have time, let''s go." (I) I grab Vanessa by the shoulder and Caitlyn follows me as I run towards Hinata, her body opens with dozens of hands opening her body as if tearing her to pieces, that''s how we were taken to a formless space. ------------------ Pov Zenos: I couldn''t understand what was happening, I didn''t know who I was or where I was, I didn''t know anything, I couldn''t think about anything, I couldn''t feel anything, I just existed and reacted instinctively to everything around me. I had no awareness of my body or mind, I just felt like I was being pulled by something, it was anything but bad, and acting accordingly, I tried to use my claws to free my body but my strikes did nothing increasing my desire to freedom. I primarily wanted to survive, the most basic and primitive thought of all living beings, that''s why the murderous intention was so unnerving, why I couldn''t free myself and run, I didn''t even think about defending myself and went on the attack, a mouth opened opening to devour the enemy. I felt many mouths and yet I continued, my mouths did nothing against the tying around me, but the energy pulling me felt so delicious that I began to eat in large bites. With each bite, I felt my mouth empty, yet the taste was delicious as endless power coursed through my body or that''s what I was doing until I felt something collide against me bringing my mind back long enough to see everything red, then my mind went blank completely erased everything. --------------------- Pov Hades: After dealing with the Demon Dragon, I completely transformed into a Dragon flying towards where the master was, that''s when I found Nix in her Dragon form on the way with Haku and Cinthia on her back, she held me with her tail dragging right behind until he invaded the still fragile gap in the space where the master had just passed. It was when we passed through the space that we found a tunnel collapsing around us, then Nix started talking to me mentally. "(Wake him up...)" (Nix) I just received this thought before she forced her way through something invisible, on the other side of this barrier was a vast golden kingdom built extravagantly with gold, jewels, and all kinds of precious stones, everything in this place was made to have high value rather than to be practical. In the middle of the golden city that stretched out in all directions, I noticed the colossal throne on which he was sitting. His body appeared to be made of marble with jewels for eyes, his body was dressed in silver armor with golden markings and a large jewel on the chest of the armor. He wasn''t even looking at us and yet I felt the pressure of his presence hit my soul like an avalanche of rocks. It was also not difficult to find the meat tree, it was in the sky taking up all the space, its countless tentacles were swinging wildly and something like mouths were appearing everywhere absorbing relatives from the environment, the Giant on the throne was the God Demonic of Greed, he was looking at the tree above with an irritated appearance. As I was watching this I noticed hands coming out of the ground before Elizabeth, Vanessa, and Caitlyn appeared, that''s when Nix took us to meet them. But before we could get to them, the statue as well as the entire place looked in our direction half a second before a column of red light connected God and earth with Vanessa inside. In seconds, this column of red light gained new shades and shapes, changing from a red flame to the form of a red mist and finally condensing into blood. Each of these transformations was followed by an explosion of power that rejected the world around us by forcibly transforming the environment. All the jewels in the city turned red, then the clouds began to rain blood, the sun in the sky went out, and a red moon growled in the starry sky, even the luxurious city around us was stained with blood everywhere as if a war had just happened. I saw the giant get up, his eyes glued to the column of blood as if trying to understand what was happening, when he got up from the throne I noticed one of his arms was hanging and without movement proving to be injured, in fact being the only sign of that he is hurt that I can tell. He tried to use his still good hand to attack, his movement was smooth, but the world seemed to carry his will as he the large hand the size of a continent was coming towards us, but I was not nervous or anxious since Lady Elizabeth It''s calm. It didn''t take long to understand how Lady Elizabeth was so calm, the column of blood gathered the blood taking a previously strange shape, this strange appearance moved what looked like an arm that cut the big hand into billions of cubes in seconds, it didn''t take long to take a full form that strangely resembled the Blood Goddess, the only difference being the pitch black eyes. When she moved all around it was destroyed, the city was torn to pieces with even more blood with just a few moves from him. Before she could make any other movement, Natasha appeared in front of her releasing a large amount of blood that was absorbed by the Goddess-like creature''s body. Soon her eyes seemed to come to life as two irises appeared from within the endless darkness. Her movements much more true to a person than purely instinctive movements, she was as tall as a normal person, but her presence was precise like an open wound, her every movement was tearing apart the space, before turning towards the giant. That''s when a fight I couldn''t understand happened with all of us waiting on the ground and the master waiting at the top still inside that tree trying to devour the world itself. All I could make out were colored lights without any sound, but it was doing a lot of damage anyway, the once beautifully decorated city was now in ruins, a mere shadow of what it once was while the entire city was scarred. The space was constantly breaking apart with the collision of their blows, but what surprised me was the speed at which it ended, the giant crumbled high above while what appeared to be a Human emerged from the rubble, fallen and injured. He was still standing still when he appeared, but soon he started to move, I thought an intense fight was going to happen now, but the presence of the blood woman was overwhelming as she appeared like a flow of blood invading his body as he desperately tried remove the intruder from your body. The two Auras are like the wills of the world colliding with each other, it was very strange the way the fight was unfolding, but the most surprising thing happened when the blood came out of the Demonic God''s body circling him like a tornado to tear him apart. Chapter 1384: Cap 1382: Incompatible I couldn''t stop eating, but I was never satisfied, even the feeling of power I felt was disappearing in a short time, I felt being expelled from inside me by a strange pulsation coming deep inside me. With each pulse, the world changed for me as if I were waking up and with that came first the pain, which led to emotions awakening next like fear, anger, and anxiety, then came my mind along with countless thoughts. Suddenly everything hit me like taking a brick to the head, my body and Yntra''s body were blending together, I don''t know why this was happening and I didn''t have time for it now. Various information was flooding my mind, things about the flesh tree''s transformation, many system notification windows, and what I focused on first, the Demonic God of Greed''s interference. I had already felt his power and presence before when he fought against the Saint of Life, so when that energy enveloped my body as it continues to envelope my body like some kind of restriction, I knew it was the power of a God, no type of force or energy can go head-to-head against Divine Power. I remember my primal actions driven by instinct, it seems like using when I tried to bite the restraints a negligible damage was done, but it wasn''t exactly causing the damage, I was eating some of the Divine Power from the restraints, and it seems like I was dragged into a Realm Divine, I remember the feeling of being swept away and I know that feeling of being submerged in an area that belongs to someone on a fundamental level in that way. I begin to worry about my instinctive tendencies when I realize that just as I tried to devour the restrictions, I also tried to devour the world around me or should I call it the Divine Realm would be more accurate. I could feel my Aura completely crushed and I could not understand the world of my body shape with my senses, it feels like my body is in the process of transformation, the power of chaos is being aided by the rest of my Essences and I begin to understand the reason from that. The Divinity Fragment I just acquired is attached to something and was already in the process of fusing to become more complete, this is what caused the problem, I tried to separate the Divinity Fragment in its fusion process by dragging everything that was attached to him, which ended up destroying Yntra''s entire body. "(The pain doesn''t go away, but it''s not a normal pain.)" (I) I could feel my body burning and being hit continuously, the world seemed to be trying to swallow me by scraping and digging my body trying to go deeper, only the power of the Essences together with my Authority was keeping my body protected. "(This bastard got in the way at the worst possible time!)" (I) As a God he was infinitely stronger than me, I don''t know how I''ve been resisting him for so long, but he doesn''t seem to be focusing on me or I wouldn''t have been able to rip parts of his Divine Power from the space around me, unfortunately, that power wasn''t it was staying in mine or being transformed, it was dispersing quickly just giving a false sense of power. I was doing everything wrong, continuing to rip out parts of useless Divine Power was just a waste of time, but it gave me an idea, if the power of Essences can help me take something from this God then at least it''s something I can use. Inside me I could feel the transformation process of the Divinity Fragment interrupted as if something was missing, that was why I woke up, or at least I woke up to this point. I spent several minutes thinking about what I should do, nothing I thought of was viable and I had no outside information, I didn''t know how hurt the Saint of Life left the Demonic God of Greed and I didn''t know what was going on outside my body, it was at that moment that I felt something touching my body and a voice reaching my mind. "(Master!!)" (Hades) --------------------- Hades managed to reach me and explained what has been happening in a summarized way, I was also able to share his senses and see what was happening outside, as well as the state of Yntra''s body. We didn''t have time, so he directly showed me his memories to make it easier to understand, thanks to this I confirmed that I am inside a Divine Realm, which explains the Divine Power that I tried to devour and escapes from my body over time. It seems that my sisters are here and they brought Vanessa who was responsible for this thing that looks like our mother, it seems that this is the appearance of this Divine Beast, it doesn''t seem to be very intelligent, but at least it is having a hard time with the Demonic God of Greed. "(Go back and tell Sakura to come to me.)" (I) "(She''s not here.)" (Hades) "(Talk to Hinata, I saw that she was the one who brought my sisters, now be quick.)" (I) "(I will do it now.)" (Hades) I felt him letting go of my body and at that moment I lost any feeling I had of him. With that resolved I started to think about the plan that I had discarded, now that I know that this God is distracted by the combat and is really injured, I am starting to become more confident in this plan. "(I need someone compatible who is not restricted, after that I have to focus, I can''t be greedy, he must have Shards of Divinity and maybe even other Essences, the Gods keep these things in only 2 places, within themselves or in their Realms Divine.)" (I) I kept thinking about the possibilities, this God is the greediest and is clearly willing to do anything to achieve his goals, so he will have other Essences and Fragments of Divinity, the value of these things to the Gods is too great for him to ignore. Not everything will work for me, it has to be compatible with the Fragment within me as well as Yntra''s power, she must be turning in her grave if she knew that I turned her power into food for this Fragment of Divinity. Its power seems to involve nature, but it is very different from this universe, when Yntra used this Fragment, her power, instead of harmonizing with nature, corrupted and subverted nature in an unnatural way, which is why she became this tree and even the flows of raw power in this Star System. "(Nature and thanks to Yntra, now also corruption, has become something like corrupted nature.)" (I) I understood a little about this body, it was bizarre in many ways, but I didn''t have much of a choice at the moment, so I controlled the various mouths to die the space around me again, this time I was doing it consciously and analyzing the energies coming in my body. It took me a few minutes to feel dozens of Fragments of Divinity, but they were all incompatible with what I needed, all I caught were traces of these Fragments showing that they are present in the Divine Realm, but I found nothing useful until the moment Sakura It arrived. "(Master, I''m here...)" (Sakura) As she touched the tree sinking her consciousness into me, I called her to a mental construction room that I created by copying from some movie in my memory. Sakura and I found ourselves facing each other, I went to her like a Ghost touching her forehead letting my plan flow into her mind, so it only took a few seconds for her to look at me. "I will leave a seed with Hades." (Sakura) "Ask Elizabeth Natasha to help, if you succeed there will only be one chance." (I) "You will get it?" (Sakura) "Probably yes." (I) Sakura leaves leaving only me with my thoughts, she couldn''t help but think about all the ways this planet could go wrong or how dangerous it all will be. After a few dozen minutes I felt something touching my body once again, it was Sakura who began to explain to me what had happened. ------------------ Pov Elizabeth''s: I hear Zenos'' plan from his Familiar, it was a highly risky plan with strong odds that everyone would make it out alive with only serious injuries. "Forget Zenos'' plan, just stand by us, he doesn''t understand the power of Blood Sin." (I) "Elizabeth is right, with that thing fighting it will only be a matter of time, this time Greed bit a poison." (Natasha) That''s right, we don''t have to worry, we can just wait. It didn''t take long for the results to start showing, the entire Divine Kingdom was torn apart now, yet he still held firm, even though he tried he couldn''t escape, he locked himself here thinking about being alone with Zenos, that would never work. In the end, Greed''s Divine body was torn into pieces and his Divinity as well as his Soul suffered great torment. In the end, she was dragging a copy of the giant that was the Demon God of Greed in reduced size looking much more like a Human. Chapter 1385: Cap 1383: Stealing a God Pov Elizabeth''s: I could see the clarity in Bloodsin''s gaze, something I only saw when my Mother was beside her, she dragged Greed''s body to where we were, her body was formed purely of blood with Symbols shining all over her body. She throws the now sealed Demon God at our feet, then looks up at the tree where Zenos was smiling, I couldn''t help but be surprised at the rare display of emotions. "< Claim >" (Blood Sin) Her power spreads painting the surroundings in blood, it was a terrible sight to see so much blood rising from the ground like tsunamis spreading in all directions. Wherever the blood passed the landscape changed, no longer a city full of treasures, but instead becoming an entirely different world, I could feel the changes happening before we were sent out. From start to finish she didn''t utter a single word, and when they reappeared outside the Divine Realm, Greed''s blood form glowed as if it was crushed into a small sphere of crystallized blood, it was at that moment that I felt another type of natural energy creating a energy cube around him. "Master is coming." (Hades) When I looked where Hades pointed, I only saw the space bleeding when Blood Sin appeared carrying a small tree in her hands, floating. "What are you doing?" (I) "An exchange of favors..." (Blood Sin) Suddenly the cube in my hands where the Demonic God of Greed was sealed flew into her hands just as one of Zenos'' Familiars appeared beside her. "You know what to do, my seal will help." (Blood Sin) "Thank you, the master also said that he will keep the agreement." (Sakura) "I know he will, he has no other option." (Blood Sin) "..." (I) I wanted to talk, to know what was going on, it seems that Bloodsin makes some kind of deal with Zenos, but I don''t understand what she has to gain from it or how she is able to talk, this must be the first time I''ve heard your voice in thousands of years. Soon Sakura holds the tree where Zenos is in one hand and the cube in the other before walking away, it was at that moment that I got everyone else spread across the Star System to act together, none of them seemed able to speak, and leave their places as well as I. "After the boy finishes I will release you, I don''t like interruptions, questions, and unexpected things, so stay put where you are." (Blood Sin) "..." (I) "..." (all) The whole time she didn''t look at us, she doesn''t seem to care about anything either, she must have pulled everyone here just to not disturb her in what she''s doing now, but I don''t like being in the dark like now. "(Not even telepathy works.)" (I) "(What''s going on here? How did Zenos manage to make a deal with her? When did he manage to talk to her? How can she maintain rationality to such a level?)" (I) I had many questions running through my mind and a growing irritation at being treated this way, there are few times in my life that I have been so ignored and left aside. "..." (I) It was at this moment that the tree grew and grew a lot, they were in a very distant place, its tentacles were moving while the natural energy in the surroundings vibrated to the point that it felt like my suppressed Aura. Soon Sakura also appears in her Eclipse Titan form touching the Zenos tree with one hand before I notice her curved fingers connecting to something glowing red on her other hand. "(What did you do this time, Zenos?)" (I) ----------------- Pov Zenos: When Sakura finally arrived I shared my plans with her, I can move my body, or at least most of my body, but I''m not able to leave the independent place I''m in. These bonds of Divine power are not only keeping me firmly locked in place, but they are also completely suppressing me to the point of not being able to use any type of energy, Aura, Authority, Holy Power, and even my Essences. I''m limited to my body, only the power of chaos gets less restricted and even then I still can''t use it normally, so I need a way to do the rest, Sakura is the best option for countless reasons, the main one being her affinity with the Divinity Fragment I am trying to complete. My plan was simple in a way, although risky, I would rob a burning house or more correctly, I would rob someone incapable of defending themselves, referring to the act of robbing a God like that is more than strange, and yet it was the best possible description. I had no idea if I would be noticed or not, that''s because my plan was to steal something from the Divine Realm, some Fragment of Divinity or Essence that could have been stored here, but if I didn''t find anything I was prepared to use the connection of this place as a the Demonic God of Greed to get to him did not attempt to get something directly from him. I would use my power as a way to detect what I needed while I would use Sakura as a sort of magnet or hook to fish out what I needed. Sharing Sakura''s senses I noticed the God fighting in a more than destructive way to the point of causing damage to the Divine Kingdom full of his power as God, I can''t even imagine the level of combat and I prefer not to know to be honest. As expected, using the power of the Essences together, mainly the power of the Essence of Chaos and the Essence of the Apocalypse Beast, I managed to superficially harmonize with this Divine Realm while suffering rejection and with that I used Sakura''s natural Affinity to looking for what we needed by finding just a reaction, a Fragment of Divinity that I managed to suck from Sakura, but unfortunately that didn''t seem to be enough, at least it gave me a parameter that I need 2 more Fragments of Divinity or 1 complete Essence. Unfortunately, I didn''t find anything suitable for me and I didn''t try to steal other Essences and Fragments of Awakening that I won''t need, the reason being my inability to contain this type of power, so I only looked for what was suitable for me and that can be controlled for me. With no further way to search here in the Divine Realm, I needed to resort to going against the Demon God more actively, I would need to steal directly from him, which could draw his advance to me. As soon as I tried to do this I was noticed, I found the connection of the Divine Realm and the Demon God of Greed, but as soon as I tried to tap that connection to get to him I was discovered, half of Sakura''s body simply disappeared as if it had never existed while I received this damage directly to my Soul along with some crumbling branches. "(This power... yes, that is the answer... this is the power she spoke of... what she promised me.)" But it seems that I did something right too, seconds after that I heard a voice not in my mind, but directly in my Soul that began to recover, Sakura who was passed out with the only half of her body being held by me, also began to recover how. "(This bloodline, this Authority, this Aura, and this Essence derived from blood... you are her son, I remember her saying something about it, so she fulfilled her promise, finally, finally!)" The voice seemed very excited, I wanted to talk to it, find out who it was, I had my suspicions that it was the Divine Beast that my sisters spoke of, the creature that makes them worry. "(I know what you''re thinking and you guessed who I am, your power seems to be what I need and so I''m going to make a trade with you.)" "(I realized that you were trying to invade the body of this Demonic God, it was at that moment that my consciousness became clear enough to take advantage of the gap that his surprise caused, that''s why I defeated him so quickly, I''ll finish sealing him before give it to you to continue with whatever you''re doing, but in return I want you to grant me this power.)" As she spoke I felt the power of Chaos being sucked out of me, she didn''t seem to care much about my opinion, and the exchange she''s talking about doesn''t seem like a suggestion, she speaks as if it were a right thing to do. "(I''ll even prepare a special gift, so don''t forget our agreement.)" She didn''t ask my opinion at any point, but she had other things she needed to do now besides think about her. With everything going so well I just played along, thanks to that I now have Sakura completely recovered and everyone out of that Divine Realm with the Demonic God of Greed now sealed in one of Sakura''s hands while I''m touching the other hand. Chapter 1386: Cap 1384: Tree of Stellar Corruption part 1 I may not know what this Divine Beast of my Mother wants, I don''t care to know either, all I need to know is about her help now and what she can in payment, it seems she needs the Power of Chaos. But her problems can be resolved later when I have time and a normal body to talk about it, right now I need to finish the process of transforming the Essence, I feel this Essence becoming more and more volatile with each failed attempt to be Reborn into a new Complete essence. "(I''m ready whenever you want master.)" (Sakura) Sakura was in her large Eclipse Titan form which even seems small considering my tree body now, she follows what she was planned to do from the beginning. Sakura touches the trunk in the slowest part of the core where my true body is containing the Fragment of Divinity, her fingers create roots in the tree trunk, digging into its interior without me offering resistance until she reaches my true body, sinking into it. With that half the process was resolved, in Sakura''s other hand was the cube where the Demonic God of Greed was sealed, the cube looks like a grain of sand floating above Sakura''s large hand in her Eclipse Titan form. Just like she did with me, her fingers curve towards the center of her palm where they become longer and thinner until reaching the cube made of Natural power, I don''t know how this cube was made over the seal of the Divine Beast of the Blood Goddess, but it seems to be complementary in a way. I was sharing senses with Sakura, her current form has great compatibility with me and even though it doesn''t seem like it, I am using my Essences through her as a path, I have even extended my Aura and Authority to act in conjunction with her, my Sacred Power It''s something I don''t have now, the touch plan that brought us here exhausted my reserves of Sacred Power a long time ago. With all this care, Sakura''s sharp fingertips approach the cube of natural energy, but against all my predictions, the cube opens a 5 path of the exact same diameter as Sakura''s fingertips. "(What should we do? Shall we continue?)" (Sakura) "(Yes, it doesn''t seem to be hostile, it might be another God helping, perhaps it was only able to do something when we left the Divine Realm, let''s move forward together.)" (I) As our joint concentration focused on her other hand, her fingers took advantage of the openings to reach the red sphere in the middle, the true seal of the Demon God of Greed. The tips of the claws touched the seal and carefully tried to take root, but once again we were surprised by the lack of difficulty, the red sphere that appears to be a mixture of metal and crystal pressed together in a press must have been extremely solid or was it so? what I thought. As soon as the roots tried to sink into the sphere it was like sticking your fingertips in jelly, it was extremely easy without presenting any difficulty. I wasn''t used to doing things the easy way, nothing for me had been easy since the day I was born, so I couldn''t help the voice in my head saying that everything would soon go wrong. I was paranoid thinking that it was all too easy to be true or that maybe trusting this was a mistake, that was the kind of paranoia going through my mind just for a few seconds, it was at that moment that I noticed the Essence of the Apocalypse Beast spreading its power in my mind and in my Soul, this Essence was once again influencing me, it seems that Demonic-type Essences really are dangerous, this makes me better understand what to go through with the Demonic God of Sin and his children. "(Master, are you okay? I felt a fluctuation in your Aura.)" (Sakura) "(I''m fine, just give me a few seconds.)" (I) I needed to regain my composure, focus my mind, and be prepared for what was to come, no, the first step was to regain control of the Essence of the Beast of the Apocalypse and then begin to prepare my will to resist either the power of the Essences or the power of the Demonic God of Greed that he would soon come into contact with through his Seal. "(Let''s continue.)" (I) As soon as the roots at Sakura''s fingertips sank into the tiny sphere, it looked more like a bottomless pit where we had to multiply the roots hundreds of times before finding the Demonic God of Greed, I had no idea what it looked like, but its body was clearly immobilized and taking advantage of this I made all the roots go towards it. I tried my best, but none of the roots were able to touch him, his body seemed to have a protective layer around him that he was not able to penetrate even with the power of the Essences and it was at that moment that I felt a wave of Divine power crushing this protection in nothing before pushing the roots against the body of this God. I knew that all of this was possibly the doing of this woman made of blood, the seal is part of her power and it makes sense that she knows what is happening here, that''s why I wanted to help. With this God''s defense destroyed, I continued moving forward with the roots trying to penetrate her body, which I was unable to do, her body was as impenetrable as the barrier wrapped around his body before. Lady Blood Sin was even more gentle by creating hundreds of energy blades that attack at terrifying speeds cutting many wounds all over this Demonic God''s body. At that moment, I took advantage of these wounds to extend the roots through these roots, thus invading his body with the roots going even inside his veins, his body and power were trying to expel me, but he was unable to while he was being repressed so strongly. It was at that moment when he sank even deeper inside him that he found his flow of power, it felt more like I was watching endless ocean currents. When I thought about looking for what I needed, that''s when I felt being pulled somewhere, in milliseconds I was in a totally white room flashing with a blurred and half-transparent silhouette, I wasn''t able to see his appearance or hear his voice, just Inside my head I heard his voice very softly, almost like a whisper, it was so weak. "(I know what you seek, but you will want an enemy when...)" (God Greed) "(Stop with the monologue about what a scary enemy you are and so on, I couldn''t care less.)" (I) "(I came to get your Essences and Divinity Fragments, I know you felt me ??doing this in your Divine Kingdom, but now you can''t resist, so stop the act.)" (I) "(Say what you want?)" (God Greed) "(I know you must have more Deity Fragments and Essences than the other Gods think, I don''t need much, just give me what I want and I won''t take the rest, but in case you try to trick me or think about not cooperate, I''ll take it all.)" (I) "(You wouldn''t be able to withstand so many different Essences, you would explode almost immediately!)" (Greed God) "(I can resist enough to pass what is not useful to another God, by chance my Mother''s Divine Beast, the Goddess of Blood, is also present.)" (I) "(You are making an enemy for eternity, Gods can live forever and greed will exist as long as there is life.)" (Greed God) "(I said stop with the monologues, are you going to accept my deal or not?)" (I) His fury was visible, I was inside him and I could feel his queen burning, he is someone who is too greedy and untrustworthy to exchange Essences with other Gods, so I know he has kept a good collection even if I can''t use it. "(Choose what you need and leave.)" (Greed God) "(Then show me your completed Essences and your Divinity Fragments.)" (I) I know that I am demanding things from a God and I also know that in a fight I would be completely crushed, but he is already an enemy, even if I did nothing more against him here, after having ruined their plans I doubt that someone called a Demon God would forgive, so I have no reason to go easy on an enemy. "(Take what you need, but don''t bite off more than you can chew.)" (God Greed) Suddenly 5 spheres and 43 crystal stars appear in front of me as if they were always there invisible to me, the spheres were complete Essence while the raw star-shaped crystals are the Fragments of Divinities, I can feel their presence almost like spikes of spears pointed in my direction. I feel my power together with Sakura, I let the Fragment of Divinity already inside me resonate through me, it almost made me lose control, but it forcefully maintained the state I am in without losing control. When I made the Divinity Fragment within me resonate through Sakura, 1 Complete Essence and 8 Divinity Fragments shone, I also had time to choose or see what they were, the Essences within me pulled through Sakura all 9 items at once same time, but there were too many for me to bear. The roots burned as the Divinity Fragments and complete Essence were passing by as if burning the bridge after passing through it. The pain was growing as was the concentration needed to maintain composure. Ding! Chapter 1387: Cap 1385: Tree of Stellar Corruption part 2 Ding! The noise of the notification in my head was the sign of the beginning of the process, I could feel that it would be more difficult than anything so far, mainly due to the amount of Divinity Fragments being used and I don''t even know why my Essences turned this on me since they didn''t They should have a mind of their own. Unfortunately, I didn''t have time for that when my entire body, mind, and even my Soul were submerged in an extreme feeling of discomfort where I forced myself to focus on notifications to maintain sanity. Ding! <[ Your Soul has been strengthened by fusing with [ Sacred Tree Essence (Fragment) ] due to High compatibility ]> . . . <[ You used your [ Chaos Essence (Partially Sealed) ] through the [Chaotic Devourer] skill to refine [ Sacred Tree Essence (Fragment) ] ]> . . <[ You succeeded in transforming [ Essence of the Sacred Tree (Fragment) ] into a new essence of the Natural type of this universe creating [ Essence (Partial) ] ]> . . . <[ Your Essence [ Essence (Partial) ] is incomplete and connected to a new Incomplete Essence ]> . . <[ A new Essence has been detected trying to form, all the Essences of Zenos (Demigod Dragon of the Blood Eclipse) are being used as catalysts to refine the remnants of the Yntra (unique) individual for the birth of a new Essence ]> . . . <[ Failed to create a new Essence ]> . . <[ New attempt to create a new Essence ]> . . . <[ Failed to create a new Essence ]> . . <[ New attempt to create a new Essence ]> . . . <[ Failed to create a new Essence ]> . . <[ New attempt to create a new Essence ]> . . . <[ Failed to create a new Essence ]> . . <[ New attempt to create a new Essence ]> . . . <[ You have succeeded in the variation of an Incomplete Essence named [ Life Corruption Essence (Incomplete) ] ]> . . . <[ Your [ Essence (Partial) ] is fundamentally linked [ Essence of Life Corruption (Incomplete) ] and is trying to devour the new, still incomplete Essence in an attempt to complement each other into one ]> . . <[ Do you allow [ Essence (Partial) ] and [ Essence of Life Corruption (Incomplete) ] to refine together by fusing into the same Essence? ]> . . <[ Yes / No ]> At that moment all the discomfort stopped at once as if everything that was going on was a representation of what I was reading in these notifications, but I was sure of one thing, there was no going back, I already knew that Yntra''s power was firmly connected with the Divinity Fragment, I could feel it before it even appeared in these notifications. "(Yes!)" (I) I just accept it in the hope that the process will end soon, but I knew it was just beginning, none of the Divinity Fragments and that complete Essence I got from the Demonic God of Greed have been used yet, I don''t believe for a second that they won''t be used. With this type of thinking, the discomfort returns even worse than before. Ding! <[ The two Essences merged into the same new Essence in this Universe [ Essence of the Tree of Stellar Corruption (Partial) ] ]> . . . <[ You Awakened the [ Essence of the Tree of Stellar Corruption (Partial) ] as a [ Demigod ] ]> . . <[ Your new Nature-type Essence is unable to adjust to the universe and form a new element of Ki before it is complete ]> . . <[ You are losing control of your body which begins to degenerate due to the rejection of Universal Nature ]> . . . <[ 8 Divinity Fragments from other universes have been detected that will be transformed using the [ Chaotic Devourer ] skill automatically before being fed to [ Essence of the Tree of Stellar Corruption (Partial) ] ]> . . . <[ You used your [ Chaos Essence (Partially Sealed) ] through the [ Chaotic Devourer ] skill to refine [ Wildfire Essence (Fragment)] ]> . . <[ You used your [ Chaos Essence (Partially Sealed) ] through the [ Chaotic Devourer ] skill to refine [ Essence of the Sea of ??Sacrifice (Fragment) ] ]> . . <[ You used your [ Essence of Chaos (Partially Sealed) ] through the [ Chaotic Devourer ] skill to refine [ Essence of the Storm of Destruction (Fragment) ] ]> . . <[ You used your [ Chaos Essence (Partially Sealed) ] through the [ Chaotic Devourer ] skill to refine [ Mountain Essence (Fragment) ] ]> . . <[ You used your [ Chaos Essence (Partially Sealed) ] through the [ Chaotic Devourer ] skill to refine [ Space Manipulator Essence (Fragment) ] ]> . . <[ You used your [ Chaos Essence (Partially Sealed) ] through the [ Chaotic Devourer ] skill to refine [ Thunder Essence (Fragment) ] ]> . . <[ You used your [ Essence of Chaos (Partially Sealed) ] through the skill [ Chaotic Devourer ] to refine [ Essence of Sun''s Judgment (Fragment) ] ]> . . <[ You used your [ Essence of Chaos (Partially Sealed) ] through the [ Chaotic Devourer ] skill to refine [ Essence of the Heart of Darkness (Fragment) ] ]> . . . <[ All 8 Essences were transformed into partial Essences of this universe, they were fused together by being refined before being absorbed by the [ Essence of the Star Corruption Tree (Partial) ] ]> . . . <[ Your Essence conflicts with the natural harmony of the universe, making it impossible to end the process of becoming a comet Essence ]> . . <[ Seeking Solutions ]> . . . . . . <[ Solution found ]> . . . <[ Using a negative element to harmonize with the order of nature (Positive) in a complete cycle of myriad transformations (Neutral) ]> Each of the Divinity Fragments was a different torture with me feeling everything from my body being on fire, then being cut by invisible winds, then the space being twisted around me breaking my body and so on, each Divinity Fragment being devoured brought a new torture and yet all I could do was resist, knowing it was necessary. Ding! <[ You used your [ Chaos Essence (Partially Sealed) ] through the [ Chaotic Devourer ] skill to refine [ Demon Star Essence (Sealed) ] ]> . . <[ Using the power of a Demon-type Essence from another Universe in conjunction with the power of your Essences to begin the process of birth of a new Essence ]> . . . <[ You Awakened the [ Essence of the Star Corruption Tree (Partially Sealed) ] as a [ Demigod ] ]> . . . <[ All your physical and Ki-type attributes and abilities are enormously strengthened ]> . . <[ Your Aura has unique Ki Elements that can cause mutations and variations in creatures as you wish ]> . . <[ Your Authority has been strengthened to Ki elements ]> . . <[ Your Familiar Sakura (Titan Empress of the Night Forest) has been implanted with [ Essence of the Tree of Stellar Corruption (Partially Sealed) ] and must return to a Holy place for the Divine Awakening process ]> . . . <[ You have achieved the [ Demigod Star Tree Demon ] Titles ]> . . . <[ You have awakened the skills: ? [ Nature Demon Star Incarnation ] ? [ Stellar Element Ki Source ] ]> With the end of the torment came endless relief, I didn''t have time or sanity to think about these things, this time the torment was greater than the previous times and it wasn''t over yet, I could feel this new Essence interacting with the other Essences Within me, the harmony I built before was destroyed with this new addition and a new balance would need to be found. "(Hold on a little longer... just a little longer...)" (I) All I could do was forcibly maintain my consciousness trying to keep my Essences under control whilst finding a new harmony between them, with past experiences it was slightly easier with me managing before letting the relief of the end of this situation take my consciousness away as the Fatigue submerges my entire existence. "(You need to build the power sources...)" Those words spoken by an unfamiliar voice were the last thing my mind processed before shutting down completely. ---------------------- Pov Elizabeth''s: We couldn''t do anything other than see Zenos and his Familiar doing that, even though we were far away it was easy for me to guess what that idiot wanted to do. He''s not wrong in seeking what we needed from a God, but doing so with such a stronger enemy would be risky if it weren''t for this maniac nearby, with the power concentrated in her hands I can confidently assume that she is helping Zenos in some way, so it should be safe, I just don''t know what she gets out of it all. Sakura''s body was burning, the Starfire was burning her body transforming into energy that dispersed into the surroundings, her body was not withstanding the tension of the power of the Essences passing through her. Zenos is not better, I can see the branches falling apart, the roots made of energy becoming almost transparent as if they would disappear at any moment, even his trunk surrounded by scales was shedding those same scales while the trunk became drier looking more like a tree dead. I couldn''t feel anything and could only use my vision to see their state, but I can imagine their wives'' frustration, I can see them in the same immobilized condition as I am. "(What do you want by acting like this, Bloodsin?)" (I) These questions and doubts never left my mind, I''ve never seen her acting like this before, I can see the smile getting wider and wider on her face, so everything must be going as she wants, which makes me believe that Zenos is doing his part well, the change in Blood Sin must be caused by him in some way, she has never shown herself to be more than an Inca beast of reasoning in her lack of control, so this change now can only be due to the only strange factor being Zenos. I still don''t know if this is a good thing or not, I don''t have a basis of her personality to take what she wants or needs, I can only hope that whatever it is, she needs Zenos enough to keep Zenos safe. Chapter 1388: Cap 1386: Countdown When I woke up I immediately realized I was in a dream, but it was different from other dreams, I could feel something was missing, something wasn''t right and I didn''t know what it was exactly. "Don''t think too much, the strangeness of this place comes from the fact that your mind is awake while your Soul is still asleep." "Thanks for the explanation, I couldn''t figure out the problem and I was going crazy about it." (I) "But who are you?" (I) I looked around looking for the neighbor''s fountain that appeared out of nowhere, that''s when I realized I was on a small flat island, above me instead of the starry sky that I knew there were shadows of tree branches full of leaves shining instead of stars in the sky, no kind of Sun or Moon was in the heavens. Surrounding the island was a calm ocean that looked like a mirror of water showing a sky full of stars, Suns, Moons, and planets that are not in the sky, the island was covered in beautiful flowers with unique fragrances complementing each other while trees of different sizes and shapes were growing out of the ocean, it was a strange and at the same time beautiful sight, easily being in the top 5 most beautiful places I''ve ever seen. "I got distracted." (I) Perhaps captivated by the beauty of this exotic landscape, perhaps by my stupidity or even my inability to keep my mind focused, but I ended up missing the source of the mysterious voice I heard earlier, yet I found nothing anywhere. "I''m here, chaos boy." From the sky, one of the leaves falls and before it reaches me I only see the silhouette of the leaf change shape to that of something similar to Sakura, a Human form with plant characteristics such as tree barks, hair with leaves, wooden horns, and clothes made from plants. The one who came down looked like a simple woman in appearance if it weren''t for her light green color and the blue marks running across her naked body, not to mention her hair that is dark green flower petals. "Who are you? Why are you naked?" (I) "Sometimes I forget my mortal shyness in revealing nature''s gift." "Is this more comfortable for you?" She looked to be around 20 years old, her appearance was beautiful in its simplicity and her presence was as immeasurable as that of the Gods, but I don''t feel Divine power coming from her. As soon as I commented on her lack of clothing, leaves, vines, and bark grew from her body, intertwining in a shirt and pants combination similar to mine that I realized she was only now wearing. "Thank you, I think it''s a little strange meeting someone for the first time like this, and talking to a stranger naked seems..." (I) "You''re not asking the right questions and our time is not infinite." "..." (I) Her tone of voice is calm and her eyes are as deep as the vast boundless skies, I don''t know who she could be, but for now, she doesn''t seem to be an enemy, I also managed to notice that her presence seems to have a lot of affinity with the power of Nature. Honestly, I didn''t know what to do, this is the first time I met her and my mind wasn''t in the best shape, I felt like I had a hangover, I didn''t know what to ask and I had to spend a few seconds thinking in these questions. "I think I''ll stick with the previous question, who are you?" (I) "I am a World Tree, that is all you will know of my identity." (World Tree) "(A World Tree?)" (I) I was confused, I know enough about World Trees to know that their spirits don''t leave the vicinity of their true body and as far as I know, I''m not on any planet. I wanted to know more about her, but that can be left for later as she may not respond. "Were you the one who created that cube of nature energy as a second layer of sealing for the Demonic God of Greed?" (I) "Yes, it was me, only that seal could be a naive year, Greed has been sealed other times and always breaks free." (World Tree) "My power cannot be corrupted by him," (World Tree) "Why did you help me?" (I) "For various reasons, such as his death, the destruction of the Solar System, punishment to Greed for manipulating the energy of the raw flow between worlds and..." (World Tree) "I already understand, but why show up now? If you have something you need to say, then why play these question and answer games?" (I) "You must find out for yourself, I show you the way and that''s all, I''ve already done more than I should with the help I''ve made available." (World Tree) "How is my condition?" (I) "That was the correct question." (World Tree) "Your Essences are still rebuilding your body once again, your new Essence needs to balance with the others before anything else." (World Tree) "Your body is in the process of adapting, fortunately even during the process I was able to give you this small relief by preventing your mind from processing the pain in your Soul and in your body." (World Tree) "So that''s happening again..." (I) "At least I didn''t explode, right?" (I) "But you''ll still explode, if it weren''t for me protecting your mind, Selene''s Divine Beast temporarily strengthening your Soul, and your Sister Natasha healing your body whenever you''re close to disaster, if it weren''t for all these factors you and half of this Star System would have been destroyed." (World Tree) This was a rhetorical question, I didn''t expect it to be answered, I also didn''t expect the worst thing to happen so soon. Sigh "I knew the worst could happen, how much time do I have?" (I) "No, you still being alive is already a miracle, but I have a solution for that, even so, it will only last 100 days at most." (World Tree) "It feels like my time is running out, the countdown to your life has begun." (World Tree) She places a hand on my forehead and once again knowledge poured into my mind, it wasn''t that long of a plan and it was actually quite simple. Her plan was to take my Familiars to increase my ability, for them to be physically linked to me. After thinking for 2 seconds I realized that this would just be a superficial bandage, the problem would only be resolved with another plan, it was in the information I received. "That will work?" (I) "I don''t know how to create these Sources of power." (I) "..." (World Tree) I didn''t even hear anything while speaking, I also paid attention to the surroundings changing, it seemed like everything was failing before disappearing, this even includes this disappearing World Tree. ----------------- It didn''t take long for me to open my eyes, but this time everything was different, I was finally awake and without thinking much I was robbed by my Familiars, I didn''t even have time to communicate with them to explain what I''m about to do. "Come now!" (I) I could feel the Essences and energies within me fluctuating more and more, so I used my connection with my Familiars to share their senses and control their bodies coming towards me. Nix sank into my shadow as always, Orion turned into blood penetrating my body to run through my veins, Ragnar fused with my bosses making them grow larger while gaining a form more similar to blades, and Layla had no way of merging with me like the others, while she landed on my head merging her Aura with mine compares to condense it a little. Sakura, equally unaware of what I wanted to do, followed my will by moving her body, her body became thin roots that sank into my body, I am recreating the symbiosis of people with plants that Goddess Aine''s crazy daughter did in the past, the roots running through my body as a second energy pathway doubling my energy capacity. Hinata was the easiest, as a spectral creature she could just possess my body like Ghosts do, with that all my Familiars became part of my body, and thanks to that the previously increasing pain is now decreasing more and more. I explain everything to my Family members who were confused by what I did and then I explained everything about it to my sisters, wives, and children, especially about the timer on my life time. I already knew it was risky and I still did all this, so I didn''t waste my time lamenting while I''m alive, I started acting immediately on what we should do or that''s what I thought when the woman from before appeared once again, the Blood Sin. She entered with a big smile accompanied by my two saints, so I explained the same shameful subject to me once again. At least now I had a path to follow, create Sources of Elemental Power for Mana, Spiritual Energy, and Ki to maintain my life, I was going to do that after getting the last Essence, but it seems like I don''t have time for anything, even Sakura will need to go through your Divine Awakening while still inside me, which to be honest, I hope is not a new problem. Chapter 1389: Cap 1387: Star Tree Ki Source part 1 I could feel each of my Familiars in my body, I was used to Nix in my shadow and Orion in my blood, but this was the first time for the others to be in my body like this, especially Hinata, I could feel that my connection with her it is the weakest with Sakura coming in second, at least until Sakura goes through the Divine Awakening deepening our connection even further. Everything about Hinata has always been unique, a manipulated, wounded, and incomplete soul, I did my best to help her in the past, but in the end, her physical body was gone and her Spectral form demonstrates the emptiness within herself, without any expression and just managing understand emotions almost without feeling them. I know how to trace all my Familiars'' power to sources, but Hinata''s power has always been a mystery to me, her Aura, her Authority and everything about her has this feeling of strangeness. Apart from her possessing my body, I can feel the differences, she is literally hugging my Soul like it was a body pillow. "Master idiot, are you listening!" (Layla) "..." (I) "What it was?" (I) I suddenly realized that Elizabeth, Alice, and the Divine Beast that helped me are here looking at me, for a few moments my mind just stopped working and wandering. "Sorry, what were we talking about?" (I) "This is the fifth time, he won''t stand it..." (Elizabeth) "Don''t underestimate the boy, he''ll be fine... probably..." (Blood Sin) "He can''t bear it, just the Familiars are already a burden, even if they are part of the solution, they are also part of the problem by increasing the weight on top of him." (Elizabeth) "I said he''ll be fine, he shouldn''t explode... probably..." (Blood Sin) "He''s already better than he was before, where he needed help just to keep from exploding." (Blood Sin) "Lady Elizabeth, she is right, no matter how risky the master''s current situation is, we cannot ignore the fact that he is still better than before." (Alice) "Also, Lady Blood Sin, I''m sorry if I seem rude, but could you stop saying "probably" in every sentence where you talk about master''s health condition." (Alice) "Can someone talk to me about what''s going on? I seem to have missed part of the conversation where I''m part of the topic at hand, so if you could..." (I) They''re all talking like I''m not here, but from what they said, it seems like this wasn''t the first lapse I''ve had. "Let me take a look." (Blood Sin) Without saying anything else, the Divine Beast disappears and I feel a hand on my back from which a wave of Divine Power spreads through my body. "As you can see, he''s fine." (Blood Sin) "Master, do you feel anything?" (Alice) "I''m fine, how I feel doesn''t matter, just tell me what we were talking about." (I) The woman who looks like my mother just turned into a puddle of blood on the floor that dragged herself somewhere, it seems like this has happened a few times and she doesn''t seem to want to continue this repetitive conversation. "I''ll explain it to you one more time and I hope it''s the last, keeping your Familiars is increasing your overall stamina, that''s the reason you''re still alive without others trying to keep you alive like we were doing before." (Elizabeth) "The problem is that your Familiars only add weight to your Soul." (Elizabeth) "The body can be replaced and healed, the mind can adapt given enough time, but the Soul needs to integrate the Essences completely to grow, which is not the case now, some of its Essences are experiencing rejection." (Elizabeth) "Those would be my Penumbra Fairy Magic Essence, Star Corruption Tree Essence, and my Chaos Spiritual Essence." (I) "These 3 Essences represent the natural energies Mana, Ki and Spiritual Energy." (I) "Master, you have said this 3 times so far, this was the fourth time." (Alice) Sigh "The blackouts are not a problem in your mind, but in your Soul, the pressure must be enormous to the point that other Souls have already been crushed a long time ago..." (Elizabeth) It seems that my condition is worse than I expected, perhaps Hinata hugging my Soul is an attempt to lessen the burden on me or just her way of comforting me. "I don''t know anything about these blackouts, so I''ll be straight if I create the 3 Natural Power Sources will I be able to solve this problem?" (I) "Yes, but not completely, it will solve the problem of rejection as your unique elements will be added to the natural circle of the universe, but this will only solve part of the problem until you become a God by fully integrating your powers, Authority and Essences in harmony with your Soul, the problem will not..." (Elizabeth) "Your explanation is too long and I don''t have time, I already know these things, I just need to resolve the immediate crisis now." (I) ----------------- I was in the Communal Temple inside the Dungeon, I have many things to do, but the first is to settle things with Sakura. Inside the Communal Temple is the pool of blood where my Holy Power is stored, the accumulation of the Dungeon people''s Faith in me, and is now almost completely empty. Karina was kneeling on one side of the pool and Alice was kneeling on the other side, I could see and feel three streams of Holy Power heading towards the bottom of the pool, the third stream was coming from my own statue in the middle of the empty blood pool. "They are filling the pool, but it will still take days, without their help it would take at least a month." (Nix) "I abused the Holy Power a lot in this battle, I didn''t imagine I would need it so urgently." (I) "We don''t need to do this now..." (Sakura) "Yes we do, I can only create the Sources of Power by relying on you, and for that I need you to Awaken your Divinity with the power of the Essences." (I) Nix was with half her body outside my shadow and Sakura was just using a vine coming out of my shoulder to speak as if it were the head of a snake. "That will work?" (I) "Yes, you will increase the flow to twice the current speed, leave the rest to the two of us." (Karina) "Thank you... huhh!!" (I) I nearly lost consciousness as a jolt of pain seemed to course through my body before sinking into my Soul, where I felt my Familiars helping to keep everything together. Hinata was the one who helped the most, I could feel her absorb this pain directly from my Soul with one bite. Sigh "Lets start now." (I) I jump into the pool and as soon as I do I feel the 3 streams of Divine power changing their direction towards me. The Holy power began to enter my body before returning to the pool where the little blood at the bottom began to make drops float to my surroundings, shining before spinning like a whirlpool as I went into meditation, to try and better resist what was close to me to happen. Ding! <[ Want to initiate Sakura''s (Titan Empress of the Night Forest Incarnation) Divine Awakening? ]> . . <[ Yes / No ]> "(Yes!)" (I) ------------------- Pov Vanessa''s: I was looking at my Father, his body was sweating red blood while purple light and silver light circulated around him, and the blood at the bottom of the pool was swirling violently as if in a storm. I looked at Karina and Alice, both of them were trying hard to keep up with my Father while the statue already became a column of light burning in Starfire. "Will he resist this?" (I) "Go, I''m here to make sure of that, this idiot must think I''m his personal healer with how often he uses my power." (Natasha) "What are we going to do when he gets out of there?" (I) "I don''t know, Elizabeth seems to have an idea, but she went to Bloodsin and High Priestess Yara for this, didn''t even tell me anything when I asked." (Natasha) "I hope it works..." (I) Cough Cough I suddenly felt all my blood flow in reverse before parts of my veins tore, my wings began to bleed as did my eyes and this continued until Natasha placed her hand on my head, her comforting power spreading throughout my body. "You were containing the Blood Sin within you, you shouldn''t be standing by now." (Natasha) "I still have things to do..." (I) "Go back to bed now, don''t make me break your legs and chain you to the bed." (Natasha) "..." (I) "Now!" (Natasha) "..." (I) Sigh There''s no point in staying here any longer, so I go back to my room, I would like to at least look at my father, I''m worried, but I''m not in a position to take care of others myself. As soon as I lay in bed I felt the accumulated tiredness taking my consciousness and before I knew it I was facing a tree made of stars with countless silhouettes around me. Chapter 1390: Cap 1388: Star Tree Ki Source part 2 "Why can he sleep and I can''t?" (Layla) "Shut up, Layla." (Nix) "Should we wake him up?" (Ragnar) "I think so, we''re not sure what''s going on." (Orion) "We still don''t know where Sakura is." (Ragnar) "I think I know where she is, we need to wake him up." (Nix) "Master... wake up..." (Hinata) "..." (I) When I opened my eyes I was lying on the branches of a tree, but they were not normal branches of a normal tree, the branches seemed to be made of black crystal, and inside there were stars with flows of colored energies passing from one star to another. This tree was very strange and at the same time it seemed familiar to me, so I diverted my attention trying to follow the voices I heard before, they were those of my Family members, and Hinata among them was trying to make me wake up. I tried to look around me but I couldn''t find anyone, that''s when I realized it could be inside me and try to feel them, I couldn''t find any of them inside me so I tried calling out to them. "Where are they?" (I) "Can''t you see us m?" (Nix) "Hinata..." (Hinata) "Master, can you see or hear us?" (Nix) When I followed the voices awake this time, I managed to track down to 5 condensed energy stars, these stars were following me and didn''t seem to be a dangerous one, so I left it aside until now. When I followed the voices straight to them I started to look better, their Auras are those of my Familiars. "Explain to me what''s going on." (I) "We don''t know where we are, we don''t know why we are here, and I can''t find food..." (Layla) Before Layla could say anything else, one of the stars pushed her back, by her presence it was easy to see that this is Nix. "I have a hunch that we are dreaming master, the feeling is similar to your rare dreams where the star path opens for people, the feeling is very similar." (Nix) "A dream?" (I) "(This doesn''t feel like a dream, I can see the world around me changing more and more as if I were alive.)" (I) I got up and started to notice some things, when I looked around I realized the true size of this tree, a landscape worthy of a science fiction film, when I looked around the tree I noticed several silhouettes that looked like black ghosts with stars inside half transparent. Some of these silhouettes were tall, others were shorter, some were fatter and others were thinner, some had non-Human features like a snake''s tail instead of legs and the lower part of the body like that of a spider. Even the behavior of these silhouettes were different, some stood still and looked at the tree, some touched the tree, some floated around the tree, some tried to climb the tree, and so on. When I tried to focus on one of the silhouettes I noticed that the appearance started to change, I realized it was a person from the Dungeon and I started focusing on random faces, I may not recognize them all, but it was obvious that they were people from the Dungeon. "It feels like we''re in a dream like those where I lure people to the Dungeon to a path between the stars." (I) "Different..." (Hinata) "Hinata''s right, this is different." (Nix) "Different like...wait...where''s Sakura?" (I) "We don''t know, only we showed up here, we don''t know what it could be." (Orion) "..." (I) I close my eyes and search within myself for the connection I have with Sakura as my Familiar, then I use that connection to track where she was and that''s when I realized that the tree I was standing in was Sakura. "She''s here, she''s always been here... now understanding why this place seems to be constantly changing." (I) This is Sakura''s Divine Awakening process, I didn''t know how long this would last so I just sat down and started meditating so I wouldn''t get bored, I needed to be quiet so I wouldn''t cause problems since I didn''t know exactly what it was all about. ------------------- Pov Ynes: I was looking at Zenos'' body inside the Communal Temple, so I left there heading straight to a place where there was someone lying on the grass while lying in a pool of blood. "Can I talk to you?" (I) "You''re already talking, so say what you need and leave." (Blood Sin) "..." (I) This was one of the most dangerous creatures in the universe, there is no Demonic God who does not know the one that washed countless worlds in blood and led several Gods to death, needing thousands of years to be reborn. "Say it at once, I don''t want to waste my time with you." (Blood Sin) "She wants to know about what you did to Zenos." (Yara) "You must stop being rude to others if you still want to remain sane." (Yara) "I made a deal with him, there''s no way he can break it..." (Blood Sin) "Honor means nothing to Zenos, he keeps his word if he respects the person, the same goes for the Gods, so don''t think for a second that he won''t go back on it if he deems it necessary." (Yara) "I''ll kill him..." (Blood Sin) "Stop the threats, he has even the God Baldr as enemies, don''t think for 1 second that he wouldn''t dare to do something, he''s someone unpredictable." (Yara) The High Priestess of Life appeared from behind a tree, she seems to be unafraid of the creature in front of us as she speaks, if she is here then Blood Sin must avoid a meaningless fight. "Can we get back to the question of Zenos?" (I) "Hernoth''s daughter is right, why did you do something like that?" (Yara) "Stop complaining, I just gave him a little help, if he succeeds then creating the Source of Power will be much easier." (Blood Sin) "He can..." (I) "He''ll be fine, if what he was doing was truly harmful then Selene would have stopped me." (Blood Sin) "That makes sense." (Yara) "..." (I) I can''t understand how they can have so much trust in him, there are so many things that could go wrong now. ---------------- Pov Zenos: "Teacher!" (Orion) "I felt..." (I) I stopped the meditation by standing up, the wave of power seemed to come from somewhere, but I don''t know the exact place. "Nix, you know... wait..." (I) I was close to asking Nix about it when I suddenly felt something and put my hand on it where I''m standing. I could feel the pulse of Sakura''s Aura with each beat getting stronger and stronger, the transformations in the surroundings are also strange. The tree itself releases a burst of power making the space around it ripple wildly, all the silhouettes around the tree disappear as if they were illusions while a strong life energy begins to condense in the center of the tree, swirling the stars within from the tree just as all the energy in the area flowed towards the center, a new silhouette was forming using all that power now. In the center of the tree the silhouette forming was becoming more and more detailed, it didn''t take long for it to form Sakura''s shape before being kicked out of the Tree. As she emerged from the Tree, it seemed as if the tree began to shrink as streams of energy shot out of the tree and into Sakura''s body. Suddenly everything was glowing making it impossible to see anything, when this glow disappeared I found myself floating in a pool of blood filled. Then some branches grew from my body as I dragged myself out of the pool of blood where Alice was already waiting for me with a towel. "How many days have it been?" (I) "It''s been 4 days." (Alice) ------------------ The next day I was lying on the bed covered in blood, right after talking to Alice my whole body started to hurt while Sakura''s body was writhing inside me. I couldn''t say how many hours passed before the pain stopped, my whole body still wasn''t normal and so I was waiting another 1 or 2 days to at least stand up, in the meantime I''ll take a look at the Divine Awakening notifications from Sakura, I don''t want any surprises later. Ding! <[ The Familiar and Divine Beast Sakura (Titan Empress of the Star Tree Incarnation) Became an extension of the [ Essence of the Star Corruption Tree (Partially Sealed) ] and becoming an extension of the [ Star Element Ki Source ] ]> . . . <[ Sakura (Titan Empress of the Star Tree Incarnation) awakened as the Incarnation of the Star Tree receiving the title [ Incarnation of the Star Demon Tree ] ]> . . . <[ Sakura''s (Titan Empress of the Night Forest Incarnation) Divine Awakening has been completed ]> It seems that Sakura achieved a Divine Awakening without any problems, being one less thing to worry about for me, that alone is a relief. I can feel my connection with Sakura as strong as others, but I can''t talk to her, it feels like she''s asleep inside me. "(We''ll have a lot to talk about when we wake up, Sakura.)" (I) With Sakura''s problems resolved, now I just need to take care of this Source thing and I decided to build this Ki source here with Sakura''s help. Chapter 1391: Cap 1389: Star Tree Ki Source part 3 Around me were a few hundred empty plates of all sizes and 4 barrels of bloody wine. When I came out of the pool of blood I was feeling horrible, confused, and hungry, Sakura herself preferred to continue sleeping to stabilize her Soul and body after the changes of her Divine Awakening. I had a lot of things to take care of and the timer was ticking, I had to remember Callidora''s warning about keeping Niryna safe, I have to remember that I''m a time bomb with the timer ticking and I have to remember that I still have many tasks to accomplish. Alice and Karina were by my side, while I was eating and organizing these to-do lists, Alice had the list of main objectives while Karina had the list of tasks about the secondary objectives that I can accomplish between one or another priority objective already which are not things I can do next. Priority task list: ? Ki Source ? Mana Source ? Source of Spiritual Energy ? Common essence with Hinata ? Don''t die Secondary task list: ? Divine Heralds ? Hela''s friend (Zaya) wakes up ? Wake up Freya ? Fulfill the agreement with Blood Sin ? Don''t cause more confusion I talked about several things as they summarized the goals so that it would be easier not to forget, lately, I feel like the things I need to do are piling up before I can even accomplish one. "..." (I) Sigh "Why are ''not dying'' and ''not causing any more trouble'' on both of your lists?" (I) "I refuse to answer the obvious." (Alice) "You''re right, asking you not to cause a fuss is impossible, the list should be goals that can be achieved." (Karina) "I can''t tell if you''re serious or a joke." (I) "..." (Karina/Alice) "Come on, don''t look at me like that... okay, let''s get to the point, I have a lot of things to do." (I) They were both saying words that felt like swords going through my chest, I couldn''t even refute them since strange things keep happening, I also don''t think normality is something easy to achieve when I''m meeting Gods so often, one confusion or another is impossible to avoid. "Elizabeth is back yet?" (I) "No, but she should be arriving by tomorrow." (Karina) "Then I''ll try..." (I) "You''re not going to try anything... you''re coming with me..." (E?rica) Before I could decide to speak I was surrounded by red and purple fire from which E?rica appears with half of her body tearing off my neck before pulling me down with her. ------------------ The next day I woke up with the swaying of my body, it was at that moment that I opened my eyes and saw my Mother''s Divine Beast running towards me with a strong killing intent. "Rosane, he woke up." (Yara) "Good thing, we''re almost there." (Rosane) "GIVE ME BACK!!!!" (Blood Sin) A tentacle of blood came out of its body made of blood coming towards me at a speed that I almost couldn''t follow, but inches from my face it was crushed by a multicolored energy sword that moved at a speed that seemed like teleportation for me. "Can someone explain to me what''s going on?" (I) When I looked around we were moving at high speed in the middle of space, around us several pieces of bodies floating along with the rubble of the destroyed Poison Worlds. I still remember that battlefield enough to know the direction we were going, the Planet where Yntra grew her bloodthirsty tree, I just don''t understand why these two are taking me there. "Your time is limited, you need to build your element''s Ki Source now, we only have a few hours with luck." (Yara) "Blood Sin is starting to become unstable in his mind once again, which causes his anxiety and frustration to turn into anger before being directed towards him as obsession." (Rosane) "YOU DAMN FAIRY!!!!" (Blood Sin) "I can distract her..." (Yara) "No, we''re going to need you and she can''t be left alone, when we get there Elizabeth can help control it..." (Rosane) Before she finished speaking the multicolored sword cut the space in front anticipating an attack that was cut along with the space leaving splashes of blood spreading to the sides opening space for us to pass, Blood Sin was trying hard to get to me. With enough time and continuous help from the multicolored sword, we managed to reach the Planet where Yntra once was, the Planet was marked beyond recognition, ditches seemed to have been torn into the world, magma took over an entire continent while pieces of land were scattered across the ocean with the destruction of most continents leaving only 1 large continent. When we descended I noticed something strange, as soon as I descended, the energy of the together was weak, but I could still feel this energy trying to connect with me as soon as I entered the atmosphere. "How many is it missing?" (Rosane) "To that direction!" (Yara) "As I was saying, I wish I had more time to explain, but I only know half of what''s going on, time was limited and I preferred to bring you asleep since it took you so long to wake up." (Rosane) "She''s there, let''s go." (Yara) "RRRAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!" (Blood Sin) In Blood Sin''s eyes, there was no longer rationality, his form became less and less human with his arms and legs becoming large paws, wings growing on his back and his mouth growing in size to the point of becoming disproportionate with the rest of his head. "< Holy Blood Magic: Seal of Selene >" (Elizabeth) Suddenly the space froze for 1 thousandth of a second as wounds opened in the space from which blood flowed, already taking the form of Runes full of Holy Power that at high speed shot towards Blood Sin, sinking into his body without interruption, shining each time more. As the cracks in space closed, only Blood Sin''s writhing body was in everyone''s view, glowing symbols were flowing through his blood body as it was boiling to the point of bubbling. "< Awaken >" (Elizabeth) It was at that moment that Elizabeth appeared right next to Blood Sin, placing her hand on her back, causing a scarlet light to pass through her entire body before she returned to normal. His arms, legs, head, and even his wings were liquefied before returning to normal on his body taking the form of Human arms, legs, and head once again. His eyes gained a gleam of fury as his body rotated only its lower half, kicking Elizabeth that sent him flying to the ground near us, creating a deep crater. Her body, made of blood, has no bones or muscles and nothing that hinders her movements, she can perform any type of movement and knows how to use this to her advantage. Just when we think Elizabeth has failed, I see Blood Sin floating standing in the sky looking at us before descending near Elizabeth who was lifting. "You bastard, you think I don''t know what you want to do? You think you can manipulate me like that idiot over there?" (Blood Sin) "I need you here..." (Elizabeth) Before Elizabeth finished speaking a punch was heading towards her face, but stopped inches before it hit, Blood Sin unconvinced tried hundreds of times in a few seconds, but none of his blows hit Elizabeth always stopping inches away from her, even the hand holding Elizabeth by the neck couldn''t squeeze any tighter and I know she tried. I didn''t even think about trying to calm down this fight, I don''t want to be beaten in Elizabeth''s place, I know that Blood Sin, no matter how angry he gets, wouldn''t be able to do much harm to any of us because he is a Divine Beast if our Mother. "She knows I''m doing the right thing, we don''t have time and you know it too." (Elizabeth) "He can fulfill his end of the bargain after all this, you''ve waited thousands of years, what''s a few more days, maybe even less than that." (Elizabeth) "I''ll give it a few more days, but it will be my snack for as long as I stay here, that or I could lose control again and end up eating it..." (Blood Sin) "That''s not necessary, I agree to your terms, you can take whatever you need." (I) "If we are resolved, then let''s begin, we have little time." (Elizabeth) It seems that Elizabeth has already sorted things out with Bloodsin, but I still don''t know what''s going on and what the rush is about. "Can someone explain to me what''s going on?" (I) "Come with me, you''ll understand when you get there." (Elizabeth) With that, we flew in a certain direction again, but this time I wasn''t being carried anywhere, I was flying with my own wings until I reached the place where the meat tree was, the place where I stayed until I was dragged to that Divine Realm. Elizabeth places her hand on one of my shoulders, taking it to the exact place where the tree was fixed, the energies I felt before entering the atmosphere of this Planet are much stronger here, I can also feel my power here mixing with the world. "Now you will understand." (Elizabeth) "...." (I) "I think I understand." (I) Chapter 1392: Cap 1390: Star Tree Ki Source part 4 I was in the exact spot where the flesh tree was, the landscape before it was covered in flesh and blood became pure destruction with rubble, ditches, and holes everywhere, a scene of pure devastation with the biggest ditches getting even bigger and deeper until they meet where I am now. Looking from the bottom, it looks like a great cliff that will still draw blood, an abyss left by what destroyed this world, something that was part of me and in a way is still part of me. "(My sisters said that the tree I turned into disappeared after obtaining the Essence, leaving only my body behind, but possibly merged with my body.)" (I) "You know what to do?" (Elizabeth) "No, but I don''t think it will be a problem, someone already took care of everything." (I) "What are you..." (Elizabeth) Before Elizabeth finishes speaking, her eyes widen in a way I''ve rarely seen, it seems I was right, the voice I heard before is still watching me. "(A World Tree... isn''t it?)" (I) I could feel since I entered this cliff, the energies here were not only mixing naturally with mine, but I could feel the raw energy flow passing through here, all of it was mixing with me, 3 different intentions acting together as if triangulating what I should do, already an obvious attempt to guide me. "I know you''re here, reveal yourself." (I) "I knew you would feel me..." (Freya) "Freya!!" (I) Without saying anything else, my wings opened and I kicked the ground hard at the same time as my wings gave a strong forward thrust, I was opening my arms wanting to take her in my arms when a silhouette began to appear. "(No!!!)" (all Familiars) It was at that moment that tentacles of blood and branches came out of my body, attaching themselves to the surroundings like rubble, floor, and walls. That was just the beginning with a Dragon tail coming out of my shadow grabbing my waist, phantom arms also appeared around me holding my entire body while Demonic swords materialized in front of me clinging to block my path. I was stopped less than 1 meter away from a forming energy silhouette, my eyes never left her as her pointed ears and long hair were starting to stand out, but that was all. The silhouette didn''t continue taking shape, even the face was left empty, and only Freya''s voice and presence could be perceived, but still, I wanted to take her in my arms and even then my Familiars were stopping me in a way that never happened before, it took me a few seconds to realize this and I acted accordingly trying to calm myself down to try to understand the situation. "You idiot, this is just a projection, it''s not really here, if you touch it it will break the connection." (Blood Sin) "Let go of this idiot, he won''t move anymore." (Blood Sin) Blood Sin appeared next to me, a tentacle of blood came out of her body and wrapped itself around my neck while my Familiars released everything that was holding me back, even though I couldn''t move away. "Freya, say what you have to say and go, Zenos is clearly not in a good condition for this..." (Elizabeth) "I... I''m fine, I was just surprised and acted on impulse, you can let me go, I won''t get any closer than that." (I) With that said, the blood tentacle came loose from my neck and I held myself back from throwing myself at Freya now, being calmer it was easier to think rationally. "Freya, how are you here? Why are you here? Are you okay? Shouldn''t you be trapped in your tree-turned-body?" (I) "Shut up you idiot, none of that matters right now." (Blood Sin) "Ignore his questions and say what you need, we''re not here to enjoy the view." (Blood Sin) "She''s right, so please, Freya." (Elizabeth) "I know time is short, so I''ll start by saying I''m fine and that''s all you need to know right now, sorry for my selfishness." (Freya) "Freya, I... I always..." (I) "We don''t have time, so I''ll be quick." (Freya) "The trees of the world want to participate, I''m just a representative, that''s what they want." (Freya) Some rays of energy came out of Freya''s luminous body and entered each person''s mind, as always it was a lot of compressed information. In this case, it is about a sanctuary, it seems that the raw energy flow of the universe that interconnects all the worlds comes from the Divine trees, this flow arrives in the already dispersed universe flowing almost without control, changing and being controlled by others in different ways like what happened here. To avoid this, the World Trees tried many things and in the end, they realized that they would need an opportunity, to build a focal point where energy could reach before spreading everywhere. It wasn''t difficult to understand, but that wasn''t the worst part, the scale of what they wanted to do was the real problem as well as a solution. "What do I gain by following this?" (I) "Don''t try to negotiate, we both know this solves one of your problems, and before you ask, no." (Freya) "Why not?" (I) "I''m not ready to go back yet, just as you imagined, my Soul is separated from my body, but that was my decision." (Freya) "..." (I) "Priestess of Life, he will do his part, but his work will be more difficult." (Freya) "I''m ready." (Yara) "Wait for me... I''ll be back..." (Freya) Freya''s luminous body disappeared leaving behind an empty World Tree seed without a Spirit inside and I know why. The seed floated to me, fixing it on my hands, as soon as Freya was gone I stood there for a few seconds thinking about it before Elizabeth came to me. "Did you know?" (I) "Yes." (Elizabeth) "Did anyone else know?" (I) "Yes." (Elizabeth) "Did she ask you not to tell me?" (I) "Yes." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) Sigh I take a deep breath and put aside thoughts about Freya, I try to focus on the information I received from her, it seems that the World Trees want to build something similar to the Fairy World and the Spirit World, but this time for the Sacred Beasts. A Sacred Beast are monsters that are successors of countless previous generations and have awakened their consciousness by connecting to nature, they are creatures that purely use Ki to attack, possessing powerful bodies, unfortunately, they are few in numbers compared to Fairies or Spirits. A problem that I never stopped to think about refers to the confusion of people treating Sacred Beasts as unique monsters because of their appearance. So they want a safe place to stay, this entire Star System will be that place, a place where the Sacred Beasts can live and at the same time be the focal point from which the raw natural energy flow to the rest of the universe originates. It seems like this wasn''t decided by the World Tree alone, I looked at Yara and my sister, there was no way they didn''t know about this. "Why?" (I) "This entire Star System is dead, the planets themselves are on the verge of death with this being the worst having only a few hours to live, the will of this world has almost completely dissipated." (Elizabeth) "Ki has a strong connection with vitality, creating the Ki Source of your element here can save this planet, but the others will be destroyed, that''s when Yara''s idea came up, creating an area of ??pure Ki, a sanctuary for the Holy Beasts." (Elizabeth) "It wasn''t my idea, it was an oracle from the Goddess of Life." (Yara) "(I should have known she was planning something.)" (I) I could feel the world already ready trying to pull my power out of me, the Seed of the World Tree was also acting differently, I feel it absorbing the threads of will that I didn''t even know were in my body, I soon realized that they are the wills of everyone devoured by Yntra and perhaps even the remains of her Soul, all went into the seed as my newest Essence flows together into the Seed creating a Star Fire within. "(Merge these strands of will, but that won''t be enough.)" (I) With that I pulled out the Phantom Orbs containing the Souls of everyone that Hela killed, I had some of them and threw them all into the seed that sucked everything in without showing any reaction. "(What else is missing?)" (I) I look at everyone moving away, they seem to know what I''m going to do or have been warned, someone must be watching without me noticing, it must be that World Tree or some God, maybe even all of the above. "(A World Tree Spirit does not form because of Souls and wills, so what is its core of existence?)" (World Tree) This time I heard your voice inside my head, but it made me think, I''m treating this soulless seed like what I did with Layla and others, I''m just throwing Souls and Wills in the hope of creating a spirit inside the seed, but nothing like that it happened. "(Use this, master.)" (Sakura) It took me a while to come to a conclusion and it was thanks to my new Essence, just like Sakura, I felt the Tree inside me just like before, a tree forged using stars with shells being crystallized stars, now a tree that expands in the void of space and now it was inside me, I could feel how far away from me. "Let''s see what I can do with this." (I) "Let''s start." (I) Chapter 1393: Cap 1391: Star Tree Ki Source part 5 With the World Tree Seed in my hands, I first focus on something, close my eyes, and let the power flow from me to the seed before returning to me creating a circle of energy flow, thanks to this the wills and Souls just as the Essence finally began to mix. "Wait, what''s this..." (I) Suddenly the seed began to create roots that sank into my arms, the energy circulating between my body and the Seed flowed faster as I attracted the flow of energy from the World. "This is heavier than I thought!" (I) "(Master, let me help.)" (Sakura) Sakura''s roots connect with the Seed''s roots, the power that once only flowed through me now passes through her before passing through me relieving the burden on my body. The Essence of the Star Corruption Tree within me began to become more active pulsing within me in the same rhythm that the World Tree seed began to imitate. Each pulse made my entire body shake with the wave of energy leaving my body, as the Seed attracts energy, my body expels energy, a new natural circle flow of energy was forming and expanding, and I could feel it. I entered the will of this world at that moment trying to eagerly integrate this flow of energy on the planet as if it were a source of water in an arid land. I knew more or less what I was doing from the information Freya gave me and what I could feel about the will of the world trying to guide the process. "Zenos, I used this!" (Yara) "Use this too!" (Elizabeth) High Priestess Yara threw what looked like a fruit the size of a football towards me, as soon as I touched that fruit it was like holding the Sun in the palm of my hand, a Sun of pure unlimited life energy that could burn my life away. Then came what Elizabeth threw at me, I was so distracted by the fruit in my hands that looked like a nuclear reactor of vital energy that it took me a while to notice the blob of blood that Sakura was kind enough to hold with one of her branches sticking out of my back. "(Be the spark that spreads the fire and the tree that clears the burnt lands, 1 becomes everyone who becomes everything.)" (World Tree) His words in my mind seemed more than I was able to comprehend as my Essence became even more active traveling all the way through my Soul and through Sakura to the seed, the energy flows between me and the seed as well as that between the world and us merged into one as the silhouette of a tree formed within the Seed. I felt a true desire arise as the Seed and its roots buried in my arms changed as if they were transforming, their bright colors darkened before bright spots began to emerge. The tree that was once just an almost indistinguishable silhouette within the seed moves with one of its branches becoming a blurred shadow of energy that takes the 2 items in my possession before sinking back into the seed. The previously barely visible tree was changing, with each pulse of my Essence it became more real as the pulse spread beyond me impacting the world around me. It didn''t take long for the tree to seem so real that it began to let the seed grow more and more, breaking the shell, and showing itself to be born. The tree still grew with my broken arms inside, my blood flowing like sap through the tree as it grew. It was at that moment that another mundane thing happened, the Ki inside my body started to go wild as if it came to life, but it was not the Ki of any of the elements that I had an affinity for for a long time, but rather the new element of the Demon Star that it flows from me to the tree as its roots sink into the earth. "(May you be the source that nourishes the stars.)" (World Tree) With the words of what is said to be a World Tree in my head once again, her words seem to influence the Essence within me as if pointing out what must be done. That''s when the Essence within me connects with the flow of raw power, rejecting the other two natural energies while receiving only the power of raw and endless Ki coursing through my body to go to the Tree that grows faster and faster until it has hundreds meters high. "Sakura..." (I) That was the only word I was able to say before I was pulled into the tree, I felt my other Familiars being suppressed as Sakura grew from me merging with the tree being the link between me and the tree now that the seed was no longer there is more. Inside the tree only the Ki, vitality, and Essence of the Tree of Star Corruption existed in fullness, the power that once welled up within me was all over this place, but it was still empty, it wasn''t a smoker, it was just a place capable of containing power, an environment capable of accepting this new Ki in the universe. I felt a will coming to me as if extending a hand and waiting for my reaction, I recognized this presence as the same one that was speaking in my head and that I found in my dream, so I accept its will that connects directly with my Essence of Tree of Stellar Corruption. "(May the fountain become a lake and endless rivers cross or be born in this fountain, a fountain of life!)" (World Tree) "< May the fountain become a lake and endless rivers cross or be born in this fountain, a source of life! >" (me/Sakura) The words coming out of my mouth contained my voice and Sakura''s voice mixed together while the voice in my mind spoke at the same time, my body was not being controlled, every word said was made by my will and emerged from my heart. My will mixing with Sakura''s and the tree''s newly born will mix guided by the will that is said to be of the World Tree, at that moment I felt something change, the roots of the tree reached the entire world and its leaves cover the sky, Even so, its roots crossed the void reaching all the other Planets in this Star System. My senses were magnified far beyond what I would be able to handle so I focused on what I could and needed, because of this I was able to see outside the tree far beyond what my senses would normally reach. I saw the others becoming black columns of light with streams of colored energy inside, but this time I didn''t feel any magic circles or rituals, the columns were a representation of the raw energy flow of this previously destroyed Star System trying to recover. The roots that traversed the space were merging with the remains of the ancient energy flow, remaking them from scratch, this made the tree grow at an even faster rate. My Essence was already flowing from me to Sakura and from her to all the planets using the tree as a means for the Essence to flow. I felt like I had dug a well as the Demonic Star Ki energy began to emerge from the tree itself little by little before increasing in quantity with each pulse of Essence spreading from the tree to this planet and then to the rest of the Star System. The space started to become unstable as the roots and branches took over everywhere, the roots of the tree were behind the space invisible and ethereal, they can only be felt without being seen while the branches can be seen spreading far beyond this planet with the leaves becoming new stars in the sky of all the Planets of this Star System. It was at that moment that I felt something pull me out, my arms and legs leaving behind as well as a large part of my skin, when I came out of the tree I noticed the hole through which I came out close while I was being grabbed by the shoulder by Blood Sin. "You should have left the place sooner, now go take care of that horrible body." (Blood Sin) I was thrown to the side, finally realizing that I am far above the clouds to the point of almost leaving the Planet''s atmosphere. Even though I fell, I wasn''t scared or nervous, my body was regenerating, and my arms and legs grew again while a new layer of skin was forming. Before reaching the ground I was already healed and a pair of black wings belonging to Ragnar on my body opened, stopping my fall. When I came out of the tree it was as if my mind opened, my thoughts, senses and even my power were no longer disordered as before, I was finally more relaxed and could feel a connection, unlike anything I had felt before. I was fundamentally connected to this place in a deeper way than a Territory, this is a similar sensation to what I feel from Nix with her Spirit temple or what Layla has with her Fairy Temple, I was connected to this place as if had been created by me. I sit down and try to feel my surroundings, this place literally feels like what I feel inside the Dungeon, this place belongs to me, I can feel that while I''m here my Ki will always be full as if the Ki of this place is part of my Ki body. Ding! <[ You have built Demon Star Ki Source ]> . . . <[ You created a World Tree (variant) ]> . . <[ You have turned your World Tree (variant) into a Ki Source ]> . . . <[ The Goddess of Life grants you the power to create a Divine Kingdom in the form of a permanent Territory ]> . . . <[ Your Holy Power has been increased ]> Chapter 1394: Cap 1392: Star Tree Ki Source part 6 Pov Selene (Goddess of Blood): I was immersed in the ocean of blood in my Divine Realm, the power contained in this ocean is the Faith in me, the source of my Divinity, an ocean of Blood Essence. "Baldr really managed to hurt you a lot, I didn''t expect that." (Mavis) "His proud smile was sickening, it was almost funny to watch his fury as I ran away." (I) "Did he realize your plans?" (Mavis) "Of course not, he still thinks he has everything under control, his arrogance blinds him as always." (I) "It was funny seeing you get beaten up by him like that." (Cratos) My body was covered in cut wounds with intense light inside and on my chest the light was even more intense, his Light Divinity is making my wounds take longer to heal. That was when the Goddess of Life appeared, as always she and Kalistos enter or leave my Divine Kingdom as they wish, even someone like Cratos only entered after exposing her presence waiting for me to open the passage for him. "I still think his plan is risky, what would you do if he really killed you?" (Mavis) "..." (Cratos) "..." (I) "HAHAHAHAHAH... HAHAHAHAHA... HAHAHAHAHA!!!" (me/Cratos) "That was a good joke, I haven''t laughed like that in a while." (Cratos) "Mavis, you shouldn''t even think that, if I had taken that fight seriously part of the universe would have been destroyed and the number of cracks in space would have been the start of the war against the Creatures of the Abyss." (I) "That''s why I''ve put up with him until now, he''s not weak, but he''s far from being able to beat me, unfortunately even if I win the losses would be too serious to accept." (I) "You must not let your guard down, you more than any God should know that." (Mavis) Baldr has been increasingly volatile, arrogant, and authoritarian over the centuries, millennia, and however long has passed. Unfortunately, his strength is not as far from mine as I would like, which is why he is still alive to this day, the same goes for me from his perspective and that was his mistake, underestimating someone like me without ever seeing my full power. "How are the injuries?" (Cratos) "Most will heal within a few hours, only this chest wound is being a real problem." (I) "When are you going to act on the plan?" (Mavis) "When all my children become Gods." (I) "I knew it, you want to use your son''s Chaos power, don''t you?" (Cratos) "Whether it''s for Sealing, as a weapon, or just a way to strengthen herself, your son''s power won''t work as well against Baldr." (Mavis) "I know, but he will still be of help, especially my daughters." (I) "I will also still need time for the blood I left on the sword to take effect." (I) I knew that Baldr was planning something, but I didn''t expect to see that sword in his hands, it was very difficult to contain my power and let him hurt me with that sword, several times I almost ruined everything out of the desire to crush his skull with my teeth. "Enough talking about me, for the two of them to be here does that mean Zenos made it?" (I) "Yes, he did it, fortunately, I no longer need to look for candidates." (Mavis) "At least you only collected information, I had to help several to reach at least the Demigod level, yet I never found anyone." (Cratos) "Zenos didn''t meet all the requirements either, but the power of chaos always finds a way to surprise." (Mavis) "You must do your part, this is the first Ki Temple in this Universe, perhaps the only one." (I) "I''ve already arranged for some Gods and Demigods to take care of the place, they will guarantee security and keep everything in order." (Cratos) "My Priestess is already there, she is helping to connect all the Planets into the Source of Ki and allow vitality to flow to those worlds close to destruction." (Mavis) "Zenos is still weak and inexperienced to take care of such a place, the best thing is for the 3 of us to take care of it." (I) "I agree." (Cratos/Mavis) "(I didn''t think you could do it, I just gave this plan a chance, but as always you surprise me.)" (I) I couldn''t help but think about the past, at that time he also surprised me, even his ending was a surprise that no one could predict. ------------------ Pov Zenos: When I opened my eyes from meditation I was calmer, I could feel my Star Corruption Tree Essence taking root from my Essence Core, its roots were deep in the very energy flow of the world. I looked around and saw the once devastated landscape completely different, there were mountains fighting from the ground, trees growing everywhere, and colossal roots spreading out in all directions, but what surprised me the most was the tree. When I looked ahead I saw a tree that seemed to be supporting the heavens because it was so big, its trunk was more than 3 kilometers thick and its branches took up the heavens along with its leaves taking over the entire sky. I could feel a pulse of Ki and Vitality starting in the tree before spreading out, I could feel it as if it were my own body, a boundless Ki that formed occasional glows all over the place. "Now let''s get this over with." (Blood Sin) "< Divine Blood Magic: Bloodline Flow >" (Elizabeth) "GHUHHH!!" (I) At some point my sister and Blood Sin reached me, my sister was already in her Divine Incarnation when her power gathered in her hand striking my back causing my blood to flow through my skin forward, this blood took the form of magic circles with complementing Spiritual Runes. It was at that moment that Blood Sin used a fist to punch the magic circle that clings to his fist that continues its path until it hits the tree, piercing its thick bark with ease before taking his arm away. The tree looks like the form I took when I stole control of Yntra''s body, the bark of the tree was made of black crystal with star-like sparkles inside, but they were so realistic that it looked like a large portal out of the planet. From the moment Blood Sin stuck his arm inside the tree, I could feel something pulsate inside me, and then the power of blood began to flow inside the tree spreading with each pulse of vitality, it made a red glow lights left spaces between the bark and scales of the tree. After a few minutes, the red glow spread throughout the tree before disappearing from sight, but I could feel it flowing beyond the tree as it broke down into several different streams of blood power. I could feel the power of different lineages that began to separate being sent through specific areas, but it was not me doing it consciously, it was actually the power of vitality doing it. Soon I fell to my knees mentally tired after all this, Elizabeth was covered in sweat as her entire right arm trembled, Sin if Blood just like me separated from her own arm as the blood that forms her liquid body creating a new arm with ease. As soon as she finished she came to me, her hand wrapped around my neck lifting, her face serious as she spoke. "We''re done here and from now on you''re going to be all mine." (Blood Sin) She picked me up and carried me on her shoulder, she was carrying me like a sack of potatoes, it wasn''t the most comfortable way to do it. "Wait, you need to wait... the changes aren''t over yet." (Elizabeth) When I looked at the surroundings once again, I noticed something else, the tree was trying to create a spirit or a will of its own, I could feel that what I started with that seed was growing inside the tree, but it wouldn''t be born, something was missing and soon I found out what it was. Soon a branch grew out of my shoulder before forming Sakura''s head, from her forehead a crack opened letting a drop of sap similar to blood come out and head towards the tree. Soon something formed inside the tree before it began to sleep, a true Spirit was born making everything change, it was as if everything around it became more alive. ------------------ A few hours later we were back at the Dimensional Dragon, Blood Sin didn''t leave my side even for a second, this time I was alone with her who finally let go of me and walked further before turning to me. "Keep your end of the deal now." (Blood Sin) "..." (I) "(I can see in your eyes the brutality from before flashing as if you''re going to lose control again.)" (I) She clearly wouldn''t take no for an answer now so I nod her head, then I pull out a Chaotic Blood Dragon Seal using 2 Essences. "Are you ready yet?" (I) "Stop wasting time and get started." (Blood Sin) Chapter 1395: Cap 1393: Blood Sin is reborn part 1 I was facing Blood Sin, she was impatient to fulfill my promise, what she wants is the power of Chaos, from what I could understand she has problems controlling herself and the power of chaos somehow helps her maintain her sanity. I was still mentally tired, but what I''m going to do isn''t that difficult, I''m not going to perform an Awakening Ceremony, that would be suicide considering Blood Sin''s power level. I hold in one hand the seal of the Chaotic Blood Dragon containing the power of Blood Transmutation Essence and Chaos Essence. Creating a Dragon Seal using Essence was difficult, using two Essences was impossible for me alone, and I needed Karina''s help to achieve it. Sigh "Let''s start." (I) Normally a Dragon Seal is used during an Awakening Ceremony, but that won''t happen now, it seems that the seal needs to merge with the person when transforming their body, hence the Awakening Ceremony. I couldn''t make mistakes, so I used meditation to shut down most of my senses and let my mind go blank, and maintain a single focus on what I''m doing. I use my two Essences together with my Authority to activate the Dragon Seal, which discards its solid form to become pure condensed energy that I send to Blood Sin. The Seal sinks inside her, still under my control, I can''t let this power try to take over her body, so I try to make the Seal''s power mix with her power and I feel her try to do the same. The two of us were cooperating and at that moment I saw her body being swallowed by Starfire, the blood that forms her body was boiling while the power of the Dragon Seal was being devoured by her instead of mixing with her power. It was at that moment that something different happened, I felt something connect with me, it was everything around us. I could feel the invisible roots of the Star Tree sinking into my body, it was causing limitless Ki to flow within me. If I had been in my normal state I might have pushed it aside realizing something was wrong, but in a meditative trance state like this, I was making horrible decisions guided only by my instinct. Ding! I felt the power shifting within her, feeling the two Essence sink within her Soul, as this happened I felt my consciousness ripple before I found myself in a debris field on top of a piece of rock looking at a silhouette of blood. I looked around and only saw unknown planets, all of them destroyed in some way, these planets were already covered by dense storm clouds, and there was also a fragmented planet maintaining almost the same shape somehow, there was even a flat planet, it seemed strange and artificial as if someone had excavated part of a Planet creating this land mass full of light. I didn''t know what was happening or how I got here, but I knew who the blood silhouette was, after all, there was only one viable option. "Blood Sin, why did you bring me here?" (I) "..." (Blood Sin) She didn''t answer me, what happened was a little surprising, she came towards me, her body remembering the shape and appearance of the Blood Goddess. Without saying anything she lunged at me, her arms became blades trying to cut me, but something was wrong, something was definitely very wrong. The strength of the silhouette was too weak, I didn''t even need to dodge, I just hit his body with one of my hands, and his body fell apart without leaving 1 single drop of blood in its place. "I was right, something is very wrong, there''s no way Blood Sin is that weak." (I) I started to look around, and a feeling of crisis and murderous intent surrounded my body, as I did so I saw other blood silhouettes emerging from the rubble around me, this time the size of the blood silhouettes were different and they were a little stronger than before. Like the previous one, they rushed towards me in a rush, some transforming their limbs into blades, Spears and others transforming into Beasts, but their strength was still beneath me. "< Ice Magic: White Storm >" (I) "..." (I) "Damn... I forgot that''s not reality." (I) I tried to use an area magic to freeze these creatures made of blood, but that''s not the real world, it also doesn''t seem to be a mental world or I would know, it must be something caused by the Blood Sin Soul. Since I can''t use skills, spells, and other things, I tried using my Essences, which also didn''t work, most of my Essences weren''t listening to my commands, and only my Blood Transmutation Essence and my Chaos Essence were usable. These creatures are made of blood, so I avoided using the same power they possess, I concentrated the power of chaos in the Aura around me creating a blade in my arms, wings sprout from my back before flying between these drops of blood cutting everyone within seconds, my speed and strength even greater than they can keep up with. After I defeated everyone, their bodies fall apart like the first one and I notice a light layer of red mist, but I didn''t have time to think much when something flashed in my vision, when I turned towards the planet covered in storms I noticed the obvious differences. The storm clouds around the planet were quickly turning red, the occasional lightning bolts were multiplying hundreds of times and heading outwards from the planet, the color of these lightning bolts as well as the clouds were turned red as the killing intent grew exponentially in my mind direction. "What the hell is going on!?" (I) From the red clouds around the storm planet blood bubbles rose into the planet''s orbit, blood creatures were coming out of these bubbles hundreds at a time while red lightning struck these blood silhouettes forming an armor specialist around them. Just like the previous times, they were advancing towards me, they should have been far away, but the space seemed to bend allowing them to reach me in a matter of seconds, everything happened too quickly and I was confused by it all. I didn''t have time to think, so I did the same as before, I tried to fly at high speed between the blood silhouettes with Aura blades wrapped around my arms imbued with the power of chaos. It was at that moment that I realized my mistake, the strength of these enemies increased even more and the biggest change was their speed, they were still below me in both strength and speed, unfortunately the difference was made up in their numbers making it difficult to maintain the same strategy. I was hit several times with my back cut, my arm bitten and one of my ears ripped off, I walked away to try something different. My injuries were healing as fast as ever, but I noticed that the blood inside me was going strange, it was getting out of my control and only returned to normal when I used the Blood Transmutation Essence on myself. "We''re going with a heavy fist this time!" (I) Without thinking any more I transform into a Dragon, my large body and redoubled power crushes enemies with each blow, against absolute Power your numbers mean nothing. My Dragon claws devastated hundreds of them with each move, but their energy armor seemed to cause some kind of backlash, my hands becoming numb and my blood trying to go wild inside me more and more, only the Blood Transmutation Essence was doing it the blood inside me calm down and destroy the energy affecting my body. When I thought I had defeated everyone, something unexpected happened, the blood bubbles in the orbit of the storm-shrouded planet gathered while streams of red lightning hit the large sphere of blood that began to boil as it took on a different shape. "You got to be kidding me!" (I) This time it took the form of a wingless Dragon, with 6 arms and 4 legs, its body was covered in crystallized blood mirrors and crystallized blood scales, and its head was made only of a large mouth containing only crystallized blood teeth. It was a complete monster that ran in space as if it were on land, this time its strength was not inferior to mine and once again space seemed to bend allowing that creature to reach me in a few seconds. I didn''t have time to think again, I was suffering wave after wave of attacks from its arms, this creature was even more savage than the blood silhouettes from before, it had no blind spots or weak points. The fight was intense as I avoided his blows as best I could while slashing at his body with my claws imbued with the power of chaos. Every blow he landed on my body caused that furious effect on my blood while my blows on him were making parts of his body disperse, I could have finished him off faster if I had some way to hit his entire body, but as he It is said of blood, sometimes its body opens in half or bends in impossible ways to avoid my blows. This battle of attrition ended in my victory after several minutes, but I felt tired and it took me a while to realize how much thicker the red mist was after the defeat of the army of blood silhouettes as well as that large blood creature. I looked at the planet surrounded by the storm, but to my relief, the red storm clouds were changing to the white and gray from before while the lightning also returned to normal. I thought it was over when the fragmented planet started to move, causing me a bad feeling. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN THIS DAMN PLACE!!!???" (I) Chapter 1396: Cap 1394: Blood Sin is reborn part 2 I don''t know where I am, how I got here, what I do to get out of here, or what is going on, all I know is the cause being to grant the Chaotic Blood Dragon Seal to my Mother''s Divine Beast, whose name sounds more like a title of a gore film, Blood Sin. At first, everything was working fine, at least it shouldn''t have much effect on me, it wasn''t an Awakening Ceremony, and I wasn''t trying to form a bond with her or anything like that, but I still ended up in this damn place. "Calm down, you need to calm down, Zenos!" (I) Sigh I was in space looking at the fragmented Planet in the distance, I have already fought against the Blood Silhouettes, the Blood Silhouette Army, and that monstrous-looking Blood Dragon. At least this time it''s taking a few minutes to be attacked again giving us precious time to think, thanks to that I was able to calm down and get my head in order. With my calmer mind, I wanted to try to understand what was happening to get out of here, but all I could do was notice that the red mist becomes thicker as I destroy these blood creatures, I couldn''t pay attention to anything else since nothing lasts forever. The Planet that was fragmented and still maintaining its shape began to tremble, a strong red light was coming out of the cracks and spaces between each fragment with a strong killing intent surging towards me. "I have to be prepared..." (I) I was already in my Dragon form, my Aura surrounding my entire body with my Chaos Essence fused with my Aura, meanwhile, the Blood Transmutation Essence was circulating inside my body, my Authority was keeping both Essences under control. In a matter of seconds, the red light weakened as the already fragmented Planet began to separate its parts, losing its spherical shape before, but they did not completely separate, only keeping a certain distance from each other from where blood began to flow. I was surprised by the amount of blood, it was as if the planet was a living creature that was now mortally wounded and bleeding. Just as I expected, the blood dripping from the fragmented Planet was the source from which the Blood Silhouettes began to emerge, each of them was dressed in comet armor of crystallized blood and a weapon in their hands ranging from swords, spears, and even axes war even going for war hammers. As soon as they appeared they came towards me with the space between us bending to get to me faster, I tried to take advantage of this in an attack towards the fragmented Planet, if the space folded to reach me faster it means that it serves to both sides, if I follow the same path in reverse I will quickly reach the fragmented Planet. "I''m an idiot..." (I) I suspected that things might not work out as I was thinking and that was exactly the problem, as soon as I tried to follow the same path I noticed that the space started to freeze around me trying to paralyze me in place, it seemed as if something was controlling all of this It''s just that the blood creatures of this place can use the space to their advantage while I was almost trapped in place by the space freezing more with every advance I made. I was wrong in trying to use logic on something unreal, this world is not reality, the physical world is also not the mental world, so all that is left is a spiritual world or something that I have no idea about, at the moment the last option is the truest. I wanted to try using Spiritual Runes in an attempt to confirm some things, but I didn''t have time, just moving away from the area where the space was folded was difficult for me when only blood soldiers started attacking me. I returned to the rubble field while those I will call the Blood Soldiers were chasing behind. These creatures made of blood were still not cooperating with each other, they fight without intelligence and individually, this time they were better equipped and stronger, even so they were not capable of standing up to me without making good use of their greatest advantages, especially their sizes that are all giants almost as tall as me in my Dragon form, I only now noticed the drastic change in their size. "I''ve faced bigger Bugs than you!" (I) I can''t let the numbers accumulate, so I flap my wings forward concentrating my Aura with Essence of Chaos into the wings creating flying blades of Aura with each wing flap. Their defenses were resistant and none of them were destroyed, but it gave me the opening to attack more openly, concentrating my Aura in my claws and the tip of my tail, I went at them, each blow of mine was directed towards the neck of these creatures destroying their heads while my tail took advantage of any opening in their armor to pierce their bodies. Enemies were falling by the dozens per second but were coming in by the hundreds, endless stream of these Blood Soldiers were accumulating around me but I was still managing to take care of them, their savage attacks were hard to predict but lacked the refinement of a technique to do justice to its strengths, few blows were hitting my body and at most, it left some superficial damage. Even so, the numbers around me were only accumulating, I needed to be more cautious in my movement, unfortunately, they never landed their blows on their companions and so I couldn''t use their strength against their companions when I tried. I moved as far away as I could, I concentrated my Chaos Essence along with my Aura and Authority in my mouth while retreating, I was preparing a strong attack, this time I want to cause as much damage as possible. "< Breath of the Ruler of Chaos >" (I) This wasn''t my most powerful attack, but it would do what it needed for now, my attack opened up in a forward cone causing the destruction of thousands of Blood Soldiers, I hoped to have finished everything in this attack, but it seems not would succeed, there were still several Blood Soldiers around that fragmented planet. Soon tentacles of blood appeared pulling everyone into the planet through the spaces between the fragments of the Planet, this happened in seconds and I had to strain my vision to see it in the midst of the even denser now after all this destruction. I should have expected something to happen, as everyone was sucked into the Planet, possibly devoured by this creature as the large fragments of the planet shook even more intensely to the point that the space around the planet began to crack. "..." (I) "There has to be something... I have to stay calm and look..." (I) This whole battle was wearing me down, I received a lot of blows, and even though I wasn''t seriously injured, my Blood Transmutation Essence was getting slower in keeping my normal blood still under my control. While the Planet in Fragments was clearly getting ready to throw another big pile of red shit at me, I didn''t waste my time, I started looking around trying to understand some things, everything here had to have some meaning, nothing happens for no reason. "< Chaos Rune: Spiritual Starfire >" (I) I tried to create a Spiritual Rune and I managed to do it with some effort, I couldn''t instantly create the Rune, I also couldn''t draw it quickly, it was so slow and required so much concentration that it became unfeasible to use in combat. "With this, it is confirmed as a Spiritual World or involved with the Soul, that is the only explanation I could come up with." (I) With this little more than 1 minute, I was able to put one of my theories to the test, it was at that moment when the fragmented Planet actually split into small pieces spreading into a new debris field, in the middle of what used to be a Planet, there was an area where a sphere of crystallized blood was swirling with red light around it. This large round crystal was very interesting to look at and its beauty was incredible, but these thoughts quickly disappear when what should have been something solid starts to shape itself into the shape of a Dragon again, this one had a more humanoid body with a tail instead with legs, it only had two arms and wings on its back, it had no head, just a vertical mouth on its chest. This thing was even bigger than the last giant monster I faced in the previous wave of monsters, as it approached I could see that its strength was no less than that of an Evil God, its crystallized blood body seemed to be very tough and strangely fast while flies towards me like a red comet. "I can''t use my Divine Incarnation..." (I) As I prepared to receive him with a punch, I couldn''t help but look at the last planet or whatever that flat region floating in space was, I knew that sooner or later the next wave of enemies would come from there, So I had to reserve my greatest variety of triumph for that moment. Chapter 1397: Cap 1395: Blood Sin is reborn part 3 When my Dragon fist struck the crystallized blood creature''s fist that was more than twice the size of my fist, I was never a cocky person, I never thought I could beat that creature in strength, I didn''t know anything about it to even think about something like that. "(Thanks for being stupid.)" (I) The Aura that was around my fist takes the shape of a spear with a tip as thin as I could create, I concentrated my Essence of Chaos exactly on that sharp tip using my Authority to compress the Essence of Chaos as much as I could. If there was something I learned in my school classes in my past life, it is something a less significant area, a concentrated impact, while a broad area disperses the force of the impact more. When our fists collide, the strength of your fist works on mine, our combined forces in collision were perfect for my fist to dig into yours at once. Unfortunately, I was still underestimating my enemy, his body of crystallized blood was solid as expected, but for some reason, it maintained the characteristics of a liquid pressing my arm into the hole that had married in his fist while crystal tentacles came out of his arm surrounding him my body trying to pierce me from multiple directions. I used the crystal blade at the tip of my tail to cut my arm without hesitation, then with a strong push of my wings I managed to move a little away from the blood creature, he tried to catch me with his other arm using his claws towards me, which I wouldn''t let. "One arm for another..." (I) "< Cursed Rune: Corruption of Fallen Blood >" (I) I may have lost my arm, but I gained an opportunity, I still had my Chaos Essence and my Blood Transmutation Essence in my lost arm, I used them to change my veins, and muscles and even carve Spiritual Runes into the bones. I removed all my blood from my arm as quickly as I could before our fists collided, an idea I had so his blow wouldn''t out of control my blood, if there is no blood his negative influence against me decreases a lot. My thoughts proved to be right when I didn''t feel their influence on my arm that finished creating the Runes while I tried to dodge the creature''s claws. My arm fell apart, and a Starfire full of purple stars and red stars spread quickly through the creature''s arm heading towards its shoulder, this took seconds and was being more effective than I thought. These creatures do not have any form of energy other than Blood energy, which is almost ineffective against this Cursed Rune that has been mixed with the Blood Transmutation Essence. What looked like a Dragon or bizarre crystallized blood creature was still made entirely of blood, no matter if it was in liquid or solid form, so the technique was advancing unhindered. I planned on just taking his arm and maybe buying enough time to heal my lost arm by growing another one in its place, but as things were progressing I figured I could win this way. My mistake was thinking that this creature was as stupid as all the other blood creatures I killed here, but without stopping attacking he managed to separate his cursed arm from the rest of his body. The separated arm began to melt into blood that gradually changed to a dispersing golden color. But that didn''t matter as the enemy continued his attack, he was stronger and faster than me, but he was a total savage, I thought he was smart for separating his body part before to save himself, but now it seems like he did This was automatic, it wasn''t something thought out, these things don''t feel pain and they don''t think. It took me several minutes to make my arm grow back while I exchanged blows with him, I thought about using the same method, if it worked the first time it should keep working and that''s what I did. This time I used my bones, and for a few minutes I exchanged blows against him, but every damage I did to him was generating itself with minimal damage remaining, meanwhile I engraved the same Spiritual Runes with curses on my ribs as before. I tore out my ribs which turn into spears under my control, as part of my body can maintain my Aura, Authority, and Essences for long enough even though they are separated from my body. "I''m not wasting my time with you anymore!?" (I) "< Cursed Rune: Corruption of Fallen Blood > 6" (I) I waited until he started another wave of attacks, his attack patterns were simple and his body was a huge target, being so close I wasted no time in launching my ribs in the form of spears to different parts of his body, the attack had no effect as much penetrating power as my arm last time, but it was still enough with the Runes activating immediately as they are ready. The spears begin to burn immediately until there is nothing left, the Starfire with purple stars and red stars spreads even faster with 6 points of fire, there was no way he could detach so many parts of his body to save himself and even if he was able the result it would still be my victory since whatever was left would be easy to deal with. The giant with crystallized blood continued his attack even though he was suffering from the curse, his body was breaking during the fight as he tried to get rid of the cursed parts of his own body, which resulted in the same ending, what was left of him was so insignificant that some punches from my Dragon fist finished off what was left. Like what happened to his arm before, the other parts of him under the curse melted into blood that changed to a golden color before falling apart. I looked at the fragmented planet once again just congratulations sure, but luckily there was only rubble left from that place, there was nothing else to worry about for now. Sigh "Now all that''s left is..." (I) My eyes turned to the flat earth that looks like an excavated part of a Planet of titanic proportions, only this floating part was as big as the other planets, I can''t even imagine the size of the planet where it originates. Even though my eyes are glued to that place, my attention is still on the surroundings, while I''m in that damn place I must remain vigilant, especially because of this suspicious fog that is now even thicker than before with the addition of a slight golden hue. "Come here..." (Blood Sin) "But what..." (I) Before I could do anything I heard Blood Sin''s voice as if he were right next to me and before I knew it my body started moving towards the place where I thought the next wave of enemies would come, my entire body was being sucked into that place. When I realized the space around me was so distorted that the landscape around me was changing as if it was being cut apart, before I knew it I was already in the middle of a city. The city seemed to be new, in fact, there seemed to be no one living here, a newly built city without a single person present in the population, but I still felt something strange. "Kill them all..." (Blood Sin) "Wait! Kill who!? Where am I!?" (I) "(Something seems wrong, her voice sounds weak and tired.)" (I) I had gone all this time without hearing her voice and in those last two brief sentences, she seemed tired and in some way, I''m helping her. "But there''s no one here." (I) I look around without seeing anyone, there was no trace of anyone, it is so eerily silent that if there was a thick fog covering the city I would start looking for the hidden control room to see if a dog is playing with me, especially if one appears giant psychopath with a pyramid on his head trying to kill me. (Author: I couldn''t resist adding this reference, experts understand... I hope...) Not knowing what to do, he started walking around the city, I walked through the streets without finding anything or anyone, I looked in the stores and once again they were empty, I broke into some houses and I was still alone, this is almost a ghost town from horror films. I didn''t know what I was doing, I knew that they told me to kill in the plural, that means there are more than 1 enemy, but I haven''t found any so far. I stop in the town square and look up, the day seemed to be passing by, but as I looked up at the sky there were 2 red Moons shining brightly in a blue sky, and there also appeared to be red clouds scattered around. I walked around the whole city without finding anything, I even returned to my normal body since the Dragon form was too big to explore the city. "What the hell is going on here?" (I) It was in that moment of carelessness that I was attacked, my two legs were cut off, my arms were held by chains full of blades, and my stomach, lungs, and neck were pierced by black striders coming out of the shadows. Chapter 1398: Cap 1396: Blood Sin is reborn part 4 During the whole damn trip through this Ghost city, I didn''t find anyone even when the city looked new, but in the moment of distraction, he was restricted, attacked and seriously injured by attacks coming from the shadows. "< Territory: Ruler >" (I) "< Garden... COUGH COUGH... >" (I) COUGH COUGH COUGH I had already guessed that this damn place was some kind of spiritual space involving Souls, this was probably not even my real body but a spiritual representation created from my Soul. That''s why I didn''t try to attack, in the middle of a city there would be a lot of shadows and I don''t know how long they''ve been watching me, so I prefer to take everything away, if I can use my Aura and my Authority it should be possible to create a Territory. But as soon as the Territory began to expand from my body, it was then crushed like an egg thrown against a rocky mountain, the pain I felt was not felt in my body but in my Soul. I wanted to scream in pain, but instead, my throat filled with blood and energy that I spat out during the continuous coughing, but the attempt to create a Territory was not futile and only harmful. All the remains around me were destroyed and I was freed from the restraints as well as the weapons piercing my body, for a few meters there was no shadow other than mine. "(Don''t waste time!)" (I) Resisting the pain I started to move, I didn''t have time to give in to the pain in my Soul or the injuries that weren''t healing fast enough, I didn''t have that luxury when the murderous intent submerged everything. The first thing I did was extend my Chaos Essence into my shadow using my Aura and Authority to do this while I was returning to my Dragon form. But something happened that I didn''t expect, as my body grew, the city around me grew in equal proportions, in the end, the city looked the same as before with the only difference being that my Dragon form didn''t seem to change at all. "I wanted to devastate the whole city, damn it!" (I) I wanted to devastate everything using the brute strength and size of a Dragon, but now that was impossible, this place clearly isn''t going to make it easy for me and the shadows I pushed away with my attempt to create a Territory are attacking from all directions. "(Should I use Divine Incarnation?)" (I) Even in doubt, I was still prepared this time, my body moved with full force with each strike, my claws creating blades of Aura flying towards the shadows, this did not destroy the shadows, what it did was cut a layer of them revealing their real appearance. "Mother!!" (I) "No... not the Blood God, maybe the Blood Sin?" (I) I was thinking out loud but my eyes and senses were still focused on the enemies, these shadows were much more detailed than the blood silhouettes, their bodies are made of pure darkness while the shape of their clothes, face, and hair are perfectly designed like those of the Goddess Selene, the same appearance that her Divine Beast has. I used my claw to crush the head of one of the faceless shadows, then I used the other claw to split the body horizontally in half while my tail vertically sliced ??2 shadows in a line in half. The shadow with the crushed head only remade its head before attacking again, the one I cut horizontally grew a new lower part of the body while the one that was separated disappeared, the last two shadows were more positive, the one that already had the figure of the Goddess disappeared revealing a beating heart that had cut in two, but the second leftover cut vertically at the same time did not suffer any injury, my attack only cut through a layer of shadows revealing its appearance. "I think I understand... I have to destroy the first layer of darkness before targeting the dark heart, right?" (I) "These shadows are different from the blood silhouette, Blood Soldier, and blood creature." (I) The shadow monsters were like Ghosts, they were fast and lethal, but their defense was null, the first layer of darkness was their only real defense, other than that they only have one weak point, that strange heart, any damage I caused seems to have no effect none. Knowing that brute force had little meaning in this situation, I started with indiscriminate attacks in all directions, I wanted to remove the first layer of darkness from most of these shadows before fighting, but they were accumulating around me, and I couldn''t stay here any longer. "I''m going to try to get out of the city, if I keep going straight I''ll find the exit at some point." (I) The monsters were troublesome, but I would be able to deal with them somehow, I avoided using my Divine Incarnation since I was saving a trump card for a really bad situation. While I was running I didn''t send Aura blades with my claws, I noticed that the Chaos Essence was having little effect, this was because the only weak point where the Chaos Essence had any effect was that heart. "I need to be more efficient." (I) The streets of the city were big enough for me to pass, the whole city was bigger and yet it looked the same as I flew by, with nothing to compare it to, I could no longer tell if the city had grown or I had shrunk to stay the same size. While these intrusive thoughts passed through my mind, I still thought of a more efficient way to fight, it wasn''t difficult since I had many attack patterns in my head, and there wasn''t a single day where I didn''t fight since I was reborn, no one would dare say that I have no combat experience. I ran towards an intersection of streets, I wanted my wings were struggling to carry my body, as soon as we passed the intersection I saw other groups of shadows coming towards me. "< Aura Wave >" (I) I focused on my body during the race changing my scales to be sharper and more pointy. When I reached that point I controlled my body to release all the scales that were attached to mine just because of my Aura. Then I caused a strong explosion of pressure making these scales fly in all directions, as parts of my body were under my control, I directed them all towards the heart and towards the shadows that still had the first layer of darkness, I directed two scales one after the other. In seconds the 4 paths were clear and I was naked without any scales on my body. Sigh "The scales are already growing back, but these wounds are going to be a problem." (I) I concentrated my Blood Transmutation Essence on my feet along with my regeneration powers, yet only now have my feet almost returned to normal, the injuries caused by these shadows do not disappear. "What is that?" (I) With so many shadows destroyed, I saw that their bodies disappear before the heart, when the bodies fall apart, they disappear completely, but when the hearts fall apart a black mist forms before being burned by Starfire. "This dark energy, there is no doubt, this is Malice." (I) "If I''m not mistaken, then... here comes more of them, perfect timing." (I) Soon more shadows appeared, passing along the walls and the floor towards me, taking advantage of spaces between the bricks and windows. I wasn''t going to stand still and started running, again, I spent several minutes running at a speed greater than a warplane could reach, breaking the sound barrier, yet I never reached the city limits. "Go fight... Bastard!" (Blood Sin) Suddenly as I passed a statue, its arm moved, sinking in a single attack towards me. I once again heard Blood Sin''s voice as if it were right next to me, but this time his voice sounded as if it was filled with anger. "You bastard..." (I) ----------------- Pov Elizabeth''s: I was standing looking at a red dome with two rings around it, one ring contained the Essence of Chaos while the second ring contained the Essence of Blood Transmutation. The dome was filled with the power of Blood Sin, just like the mother''s divine power, when I got closer a powerful pressure threw me back a few steps, it seems like I can''t get any closer. "No one can interfere..." (I) "(If there are things you really hate, it''s being ignored, being left out of a subject and not being able to do something...)" (I) I was anxious that Zenos will do his best, but Blood Sin''s problems are not something that can be dealt with so easily. I always knew there was such a serious problem with Blood Sin, but I never imagined it was so serious and specific to take care of. I looked once again at the dome, and then I thought to Zenos what was happening inside that place and still I can''t get any closer. "I hope you''re okay, Zenos." (I) Chapter 1399: Cap 1397: Blood Sin is reborn part 5 The statue''s punch made my vision flicker and before I knew it I was back in the square surrounded by Shadows. "< Chaos Rune: Light and Shadows As One >" (I) During the escape before the statue punched me making me go back to the beginning, I hadn''t wasted that time, these blood creatures don''t cause the same interference in my blood as the Blood Silhouettes did, and this allowed me to use my blood direct way to create Runes within me using my blood, I made Runes exactly for a siege situation like this. Activating the Runes at the same time that my blood was passing through my skin already in the form of the Runes instantly created a wave of light that made all the shadows burn in Starfire, particles of golden light come out of the flames disintegrating in the air. The previously dark square full of shadow monsters was now lighting up once again, the light was not coming from the sky but from the environment itself. "Kill them all... kill them all..." (Blood Sin) "..." (I) This technique is not something I can use a lot, it used my Essence of Chaos along with my blood, this consumes part of my vitality, I also have to deal with Blood Sin wanting to force me to take care of these shadow creatures. When I looked at the sky it was different, the sky was a dark red with golden stars now, it looked like something was moving in the sky between the stars but I couldn''t see what it was, in addition, there was also a big golden Sun in the sky, but as soon as I looked at it a crack formed in the middle as it moved. "One eye?" (I) "Kill them all... don''t forget our... agreement..." (Blood Sin) Suddenly I feel danger and one of my wings makes my body turn to the side, two shadows collide in the place where I was making their first layers of darkness disappear as I use my tail to cross them both. When their bodies were shown again I noticed the expression on their faces being different, one had tears of blood on her face and the other had an expression of despair, just being close to them was enough for these emotions to resonate with mine, luckily I have control enough of my emotions to not affect me too much. "They''re different." (I) I realized that Blood Sin wouldn''t let me leave or run away, but I don''t understand why she only started communicating with me after I arrived in this city, while I was fighting the Blood Creatures she didn''t try to talk to me. When I thought about what was happening, my claws broke the two shadow creatures into 5 parts, it was then that I noticed a big change in things. When the heart fell apart something else remade itself using its energy, a Star Fire ignited consuming the heart as it fell apart, and as soon as the Star Fire went out a red crystal scale formed before flying into the sky at a speed that disappeared from my vision in less than 1 second, as they were two shadow creatures they were 2 red crystal scales that disappeared going into the sky. I was starting to understand a few things, it would be a lot easier to think if I wasn''t being attacked every few seconds or minutes, I wasn''t having time to do anything as more shadow creatures appeared and I realized why they are appearing now, the light that is formed in the square was weakening and there was almost nothing left now. With no time to waste thinking I went to fight, the Shadows were more than happy to surround me once again, but with all this time I had already regenerated my scales, as there were many shadows I wanted to do the same again to get rid of several of them at the same time. "< Aura Wave >" (I) With my scales loose and shaped for this attack, I used my Aura Wave to give momentum to my scales, this time the shadows seemed more intelligent trying to deflect my attacks and they would have succeeded if it wasn''t even precise control over my scales making them all change direction. The scales were all grouped in pairs with one behind the other, the first attack devastated the first layer of darkness revealing their bodies for half a second before the second scale went through the dark figures'' chest destroying their hearts. I had little time to see their faces and with that, I confirmed that they all have different expressions like sadness, regret, hatred, fury, and so on, all negative emotions. This time the next wave of shadowy figures didn''t wait for the previous one to completely melt away before attacking, as the various pockets of Starfire were burning the crumbling shadowy hearts, I was attacked from above by shadowy arms reaching towards me with sharp claws. My Dragon claws grow even more with an Aura claw forming around it holding all these shadow arms before pulling them all together causing the shadows to collide with one of the city''s buildings, unfortunately, it didn''t have the result I expected, there was no collision against the building and its first layers of darkness did not disappear. "So only I can deal damage in the shadows, the surrounding objects do nothing, I see." (I) It seems like I can''t use terrain as a weapon, that won''t be a big problem, but it still limits my attack methods. I run to a wider street that must be one of the main streets of the city while dragging these shadows holding their arms, passing through several side streets, I draw enough attention and with that other shadows appear and join in pursuit of me. "RRROOOOAAAARRRRR!!!!" (I) I concentrate my Aura and Essences in my lungs, mouth, and throat, but not for a breath attack, at least not for now, I do it to strengthen my voice as I release a roar mixed with my Aura and Chaos Essence as if it were a sonic attack that passes through every shadow in pursuit of me. It was a type of attack that I hadn''t tried yet and if it worked I wouldn''t have been able to avoid it, my hopes were met when I saw the first layer of darkness disappear and that''s when I stopped running. This time I released those shadows that I was dragging, launching them against the others chasing me, my hand injured by the attacks they made trying to free itself until now. Unfortunately making the shadows collide with each other was impossible, thus reinforcing the thought that only I can deal damage to these shadow creatures. During this time when I stopped running, I was already compressing my Aura, Authority, and Essence into my mouth, this time I would take advantage of this straight street to finish off the thousands of shadows expressed in pursuit now that my sonic attack seems to be over with its first layers of darkness. "< Breath of the Ruler of Chaos >" (I) The same breath attack I used against the Blood Creatures, but this time I was using it in the middle of a city, I didn''t just want to wipe out these damn shadow creatures, I wanted to destroy part of the city or destroy half of it at least to open up a bigger space for me, I could escape the city or at least get a more open area to fight without this complexity of terrain that favors these dark creatures. When my breath attack wore off, I realized that it was far from causing the damage I intended, all the shadow creatures had been defeated, and their dark hearts were crumbling within the pockets of Starfire, but the rest of the city was reforming itself. "You''ve got to be kidding me." (I) The whole city was made of shadows, the cures, the buildings, and everything I could see are darkness and were reforming themselves before once again showing themselves as the parts of the city, it was as if my attack had done nothing to the city ??when I actually managed to destroy everything, I just didn''t expect all the damage to be reversed this way. Soon thousands of rays of ascending light appear through the red crystal scales heading towards the sky, it was at that moment that I felt more shoulders approaching from my back, when I turned I saw shadows coming out of the windows, alleys, and side streets coming towards me. "This is going to be a long day." (I) ---------------------- Hours later. I don''t even know how many hours have passed, I have destroyed millions, perhaps even more than a billion, of these shadow creatures, I have already confirmed that just as the Blood Silhouettes affected my blood, these shadow creatures affect my emotions, the only difference is that the cumulative effect of the damage from the blood silhouettes before was an effect that added up to the interference with my blood, making it just a huge inconvenience. The emotional damage from these dark creatures, on the other hand, was a cumulative damage that multiplied, if it had been anyone else I could have gone crazy with it, each time I realize more and more how much Caitlyn''s emotional training at that time was a lifesaver for me. After having destroyed the last wave of dark creatures I didn''t feel another attack coming, I was happy thinking it could be over, but while I saw the last red crystal scales heading towards the sky. "But what the hell is left to happen? I''ve already fought blood creatures and now shadow creatures." (I) Unlike the blood creatures that grew stronger as the attack waves passed, but the dark creatures became more intelligent, in this last wave they even looked like the Insects coordinating together in coordinated attacks and defenses. My body was very injured and these injuries take time to heal, without knowing what will come next, I start trying to heal myself using the Blood Transmutation Essence, a trick I learned here. "You did very well, our deal is almost over." (Blood Sin) "Hahahaha... how long have I waited for this... Hahahahahaha!" (Blood Sin) "..." (I) "(I have a bad feeling.)" (I) Chapter 1400: Cap 1398: Blood Sin is reborn part 6 I knew something was wrong, Blood Sin was talking much more easily now and seemed very excited to the point of being scary. I did my best to continue healing while thinking about everything I''ve been through, I''m still not sure what the Blood Silhouettes mean, but it''s undeniable that I only started hearing her faint, short voice after arriving in the city. If I think that blood creatures had the ability to make my blood run wild out of control, then they must be a representation of Blood Sin''s wild out of control. I don''t know if I''m right, but it''s the only thing that makes sense, the same goes for dark creatures, I know that their attacks affect emotions just like blood creatures'' attacks affect blood. There is also a second thing I noticed from the shadow creatures, after finishing off a large group of them, at some point, they started to show expressions of different negative emotions, their presence also showed these emotions, which makes me assume they represent the negative emotions within of Blood Sin. I don''t know how right I am or if I''m completely wrong, but it makes sense to me, I also understand why she needed the power of chaos to improve, the power of chaos transforms things, it can convert negative emotions into power and transmute everything the body into something different, would solve the two problems that these two types of creatures represent. Sigh "That''s not enough, that was damage to my Soul, wasn''t it?" (I) "Yes, but don''t complain about a few scratches on your Soul, it''s not a big deal." (Blood Sin) "This is my Soul, so I''ll complain all I want." (I) I was emotionally tired and didn''t even know this was possible, my body was healing at a snail''s speed even using my Blood Transmutation Essence. I looked to the side where Blood Sin was standing, she was just a completely transparent and colorless image, all I could see was the outline of her body and hear her voice. "When are you going to get me out of this damn place?" (I) "I''m not taking you out of here, I don''t even know how you got here." (Blood Sin) "Wait, weren''t you the one who brought me here?" (I) "No, do you think I would be able to create something as pathetic as that, these blood and shadow creatures are humiliating to me, I can feel what they represent and if you are not a complete idiot you must have realized after fighting for so long." (Blood Sin) "The shadow creatures represent negative emotions, that was pretty obvious, but the blood creatures I can only assume is the out of control of your blood." (I) "You were wrong, you idiot, the answer was obvious, they represent those I killed due to my lack of control, why do you think they had different forms than me?" (Blood Sin) "I want to beat you up for creating all of this, you basically printed the most ridiculous thing on me to rub it in front of my eyes." (Blood Sin) "I didn''t create..." (I) "Shut up, your power created this place, everything here came into existence the moment your power touched my Soul, you yourself were pulled by the power itself." (Blood Sin) "..." (I) I wasn''t using an Awakening Ceremony with her, so I shouldn''t have such a strong connection with her. "(Wait, was that because of this lack of connection, what should have been automatic became manual?)" (I) In an Awakening Ceremony, all this would be done automatically, as I didn''t do this my power detected the problems and dragged me to fix it manually, this was ridiculous to the point that I passed my hand over my face without believing that this was the answer, I hoped it wasn''t something so ridiculous. Sigh "Just get me out of here." (I) "I already told you that I don''t know how you arrived alone and you will leave on your own or I will crush you until you leave, of course after you finish." (Blood Sin) "What are you talking about, I''m done, I''m done with all the blood creatures and dark creatures." (I) "You idiot, you''re not done yet." (Blood Sin) As she spoke, a shiver ran down my spine, I didn''t want to stay in this damn place, but then I saw her pointing in a direction and I noticed a building at the end of a street falling apart, so I started looking around and found some buildings falling apart, there were few of them and with time more of them were falling apart, I could feel the danger. "What will I face now?" (I) "I don''t know, but I can feel like I have to deal with this." (Blood Sin) "Then can I leave? Aahh!!" (I) "Even you must have understood that you will only leave when you finish what you came to do, don''t try to act like a child just because of your laughable size." (Blood Sin) "Then how can I leave?" (I) "You said yourself that you feel like you have to fight for yourself, do you want me to sit there and watch you beat up a part of you?" (I) "It''s going to be a lot more fun than that." (Blood Sin) Suddenly I looked away from the crumbling city and looked at Blood Sin, even with his transparent appearance I could see the smile in his eyes as well as on his lips, it made every hair on my body raise shivers. "..." (I) "You may not know, but while you were fighting the last waves of dark creatures, I tried attacking some before and also after they lost the first layer of darkness, but I didn''t cause any kind of damage." (Blood Sin) "You know what I mean, don''t you?" (Blood Sin) "No, I don''t understand and I guarantee I won''t understand." (I) "Funny you think you have a choice...what are you doing?" (Blood Sin) I raised my hand and tried to interfere with the power of the Dragon Seal, I was trying very hard and still, I was not able to even feel it, but then channel my Authority and the power of my Dragon Totem, only then did I feel the Dragon Seal resonate slightly. "I am not a tool and as much as I am fulfilling our agreement, my patience with your insults has a limit." (I) "I have agreed to something with you and I plan to fulfill it, but I have no reason to become a tool in your hands." (I) Whatever is brewing after this dark city disappears, be it one great enemy or billions of them, none of it will matter I will fight the best I can, I saved my Divine Incarnation for a moment like this. But I will not become a tool in the hands of Blood Sin who only stepped on me all this time, honor and such things have no value to me, but I still have the self-respect to not work with those who do not respect me in the slightest. "..." (Blood Sin) "Smart kid, it''s okay...what do you want, I can feel like I need to do this myself and I don''t know if you doing it in my place will have the same effect, I can''t miss this opportunity, what do you want." (Blood Sin) "I want two things, the first is your respect, I don''t care about the way you talk and act, but don''t try to humiliate or put me down all the time, respect what I am, respect who I am, and respect those around me as people who didn''t do anything to you." (I) "Second, I want your help when fighting the Church of Light, with Yntra focusing on the past they are the only enemy still openly targeting us, but sooner or later I will have to face them and I''m sure that even becoming a God I won''t stand a chance against Baldr." (I) "Deal, the second part is almost a gift, but I''ll try not to treat you so badly... happy now?" (Blood Sin) "..." (I) "I''ll know in time." (I) She very happily accepted my terms, she seems to be a combat freak like Natasha, so I can understand the excitement of joining the fight against the Church of Light, but the part about her changing the way she treats me was accepted too easily for me to believe. "Don''t look at me like that and don''t think too much, I have nothing against you child, in fact, your feats are impressive for someone your age and an Outsider who came from a peaceful world." (Blood Sin) "How do you know..." (I) "The Goddess Selene hides almost nothing from me since I''m always around, I was there the day you were born, the day you first evolved and the day you brought the Saint of Baldr to the Goddess Selene." (Blood Sin) "What you ask is easy to do, why wouldn''t I agree?" (Blood Sin) She seems to be telling the truth and she really has nothing against me, no matter how rude and disrespectful she treats me, she has also never crossed the line to the point of having something against her, perhaps the stress of all these battles could have led me to be a little prejudiced against her. "What are you thinking of doing next." (I) "What''s more, you''ll be a weapon in my hands against that." (Blood Sin) Blood Sin points in a downward direction, I can''t see anything, but soon the ground seems to become transparent revealing a lake of darkness where something was pulsing inside, all the darkness of the city was falling like a waterfall there crossing the ground. I could see a silhouette form within the darkness with each heartbeat, there seemed to be a different heart than the others there, and each of these heartbeats was heavy. Most likely it is a giant creature, besides, I can understand the logic of Blood Sin ending your inner darkness by itself, it may seem obvious, and yet the truth has its complexities. "My real body in this place is up there, when it starts there will be little time and I hope I can count on you." (Blood Sin) "I''ll be ready." (I) When I looked up I saw something move and a new sun formed next to the previous one, the two Suns have a crack in the middle, it wasn''t difficult to realize that they were eyes, her body must be bigger than this whole place. "I hope that after this it will all be over." (I) Chapter 1401: Cap 1399: Blood Sin is reborn part 7 I waited for almost 1 hour, and the city slowly fell apart from building to building, at first I heard nothing and felt nothing until Blood Sin pointed out what was happening to me. As time passed and the city was slowly dissolved into shadows, strange things began to happen, at first they were like an inaudible whisper scratching my senses. Just when 1/4 of the city had already become shadows, the voices had already increased to be audible, they were the voices of countless people speaking at the same time in a language I was unfamiliar with, but even so, once someone asked for mercy or in despair it was universal. Just when half the city had become shadows sometimes continued, but now they were as real as if the darkness were a thin layer hiding endless horrors. The sky was also different, what were once just indistinct movements were now fully visible movements of a creature covered in red scales. When 3/4 of the city had disappeared the sounds of a heartbeat, most likely it was the heart that Blood Sin showed me before. Each pulsation of this heart was stronger than the previous one to the point that in the end, it formed waves of darkness with its pulsations. In the last seconds, I saw all the darkness forming a black lake with a whirlpool in the middle where it descended to where the heart was beating, when the last drop of darkness fell into the heart the beating stopped and an Aura of endless hatred swept everything. Just this Aura was frightening enough and as if to make matters worse for me, another Aura came from the skies like a mountain of metal, an Aura of pure cruelty. "It''s about time, I can finally bring a better body." (Blood Sin) From the sky all that was left was a red mist where the Dragon had been moving all this time, then he puts his head down out of the mist, the head of a red Dragon with cruelty stamped on his reptilian face. His head unfortunately didn''t seem to be looking at us, this is because at the same time as the Dragon head descended a wave of mists rose from the ground like a large head of darkness with features forming a very detailed face of Blood Sin. The two big faces had their eyes locked on each other. "How long do we have?" (I) "We don''t have time, it''s already started, I can feel the creature starting to build its body." (Blood Sin) I can also feel as if something huge is forming deep beneath the earth, but I feel the same way in the sky. "I''ve never done this, but it''s not difficult to merge my power with someone of the same origin, I can feel the power of the Dragons coming weakly from you and more concentrated in the sky, try not to reject my power." (I) "I am going to try." (Blood Sin) She must also know that she will need my power for what is to come, if I guess correctly from what she told me, this place was built by the power of the Dragon Seal to cleanse everything that is hindering her transformation. In the fights I had, I wasn''t cleansing her of everything that ails her insides, at least not out of pure kindness or anything like that, this was the most direct way to end the barriers, the Dragon that is in the sky now must have formed using the blood mist. At some point while I was killing the shadow creatures, I noticed the scales forming and going to the sky, so everything I did before was worth advancing the transformation into a Bloodsin Dragon. The power of Chaos transforms everything and very often transforms the darkness within someone into power or potential, perhaps it is because of me that it does this, meanwhile, the power of blood transmutation transforms the body, this space was clearly constructed by these two Essences that I put into the Dragon Seal, I will need to remember this for the future. "(Think of the form you will take, Zenos... think...)" (I) As the form I was planning to take formed itself in my head, I saw a column of red light descend from the skies around us, Blood Sin''s once transparent body began to take on color like an outline drawing being painted on the inside, but At the same time, its shape was changing, gaining new features such as wings on its back, horns on its head, three tails on its back and a body with more developed muscles. "I''m ready." (I) "It''s about time." (Blood Sin) I let her say what she wanted, her personality is naturally horrible and I know she is nervous about this next step, it was easy to see someone else take care of your problems for you, but when you have to do it for yourself everything changes, the difficulty it seems to be much bigger regardless of whether there will be anyone supporting it or not. Sigh "< Eclipse Blood Dragon Sword >" (I) This time I wasn''t summoning my sword using my Holy power, if I do that my mother''s divine power will interfere, I can feel it as a warning, so I''m channeling the power of the Dragon Totem along with the power of my Star Sword directly into my body. I also activate the power of Blood Transmutation Essence and Chaos Essence, this my Authority and Aura to form a sword around me while my Divine Weapon activates. The Cursed Sun and Fragmented Moon come not from my hands but directly from within me as if they were coming from somewhere else, the moon and sun float above each other, my body changes under my control, and a layer of bones and scales take over my body. In the end, the blade was made of my bones, my spine passing through the middle of the blade where the sun and moon are attached, the hilt of the sword was made of black crystal scales with stars shining inside, the two Essences together formed a Star Fire around the blade whose stars inside the black flame shone in intense red. I wasn''t the only one changing, Blood Sin was still changing, at some point during my transformation a tornado of red mist from the sky was funneling down around us, her body was in Dragon form much larger than her body before, but unlike me who gets the head of attraction, his face didn''t change much, his body was surrounded by red fur up to his face with red scales forming a crystal armor, his eyes looked like orbs of scarlet fire floating in the void of the space between the stars, their tails were covered in red fur ending in very sharp red crystal stars. "Come on, let''s go together this last time." (Blood Sin) "Let it be the last time." (I) This time her nervousness was clear as my body grew even closer to her, her hand grabbed the hilt of the sword, and my Essences as well as the power of the Dragon Totem circulated from me to her as she gripped the hilt of the sword even tighter. My Aura mixed with her Aura as our Authorities collided, which didn''t matter because it was already expected. Finally, her emotions were an open book to me, it was a mix of happiness, anxiety, nervousness, and determination more than anything else, it wouldn''t be a surprise if she even forgot I''m here as her eyes focused on the black flames sprouting where before it was the city. It was possible to hear the beating continuously as the black fire raged, that fire was not emitting any kind of light, in fact, it was absorbing the light around it as if it was burning it making the surroundings darker by the second. In a few seconds, the previously illuminated environment seemed to be in the middle of the night with the only light coming from the columns of red light that fall from the sky as if attacking the darkness that this black fire created. Soon a silhouette emerges from the ground in the middle of the black fire, it was an apparently naked female silhouette, when she appeared the black fire began to pulse along with the sound of that heart that comes from the female silhouette. An intense ferocity and hatred spread, and the house pulsating black fire was condensing around the silhouette forming an armor around him. "(It seems like there is only one enemy, so it will get easier... fuck...)" (I) When I thought it was close to ending, something changed, the black Fire was completely absorbed by the female silhouette, forming a woman with pale skin like a corpse, hair as black as ink, and wearing armor similar to a war dress made of metal plates together of chains, his entire armor had fire patterns drawn in red and his eyes were completely red as if all he could see was the red of Blood. But she had something that surprised me and something else that scared me. What surprised me was that her appearance was not just the same as my mother''s, just like Blood Sin, her presence and everything about her were the same as Blood Sin, she is fundamentally different from shadow creatures or blood creatures. I may be surprised looking at her but what scared me was realizing the Divine Power emanating from her, but it wasn''t the Divine Power of our universe and that in itself doesn''t make sense, there shouldn''t be such a thing since that would require the Essence from another universe that cannot be loved here precisely because it is not part of this universe. "(Why does everything always have to get worse!?)" (I) Chapter 1402: Cap 1400: Blood Sin is reborn part 8 Pov Vanessa''s: I was looking at the blood dome where my Father and the Goddess Divine Beast are, every time I try to get closer my legs start to shake, but I''m still worried. Suddenly I felt an incredible sensation as a warm energy surged into my heart and circulated my body through my veins making all fear, worry, and anxiety calm down before I felt a presence around me, then I fell to my knees as a melodic voice appeared in my mind. "(You shouldn''t worry...)" (Goddess Selene) "(Blood Sin is not as bad as it seems...)" (Goddess Selene) "(I do not doubt your Divine Beast my Goddess, but I fear that it may lose control.)" (I) I still remember her in my body, she used my blood to seal herself in the Sacred Power of the Goddess. I can still feel my blood trying to attack my body when I lose concentration, my emotions have constantly been suppressed by my Holy Power, but I still feel that ferocity, hatred, and murderous intent. Blood Sin is stronger than my Father, that dome is made by her body, I don''t know what''s going on there and all I can assume is that it''s been difficult from the waves of Divine Power that come out of the dome sometimes. "(...)" (Goddess Selene) This time I felt the power of the Goddess envelope me, an illusion of her appears in front of me and walks to the dome where she touches it, making an area of ??the dome transparent, and then she raises her other hand in front of me while smiling. I walked up to the Goddess and looked inside the dome, inside my Father was in his Dragon form with the Dragon Seal floating between his claws with streams of red energy coursing through the Dragon Seal, my Father, and the rest of the space inside the dome. The Dragon Seal was pulsing like a heart while red energy flowed like blood, then suddenly the entire interior of the dome was covered in darkness before the Goddess disappeared making the dome return to normal. "What was this?" (I) "(Last challenge...)" (Goddess Selene) -------------------- Pov Zenos: I was in the hands of Blood Sin while our enemy was in front of us, the Divine Power emanating from her surprised not only me but unfortunately I am the only one afraid as I feel the desire to fight rise within Blood Sin. Divine Power is not something I can cope with, not in the state I am in, even if I used my Divine Incarnation I would not be able to do anything against it, fortunately, I am not the one who will fight, I just need to be able to cause damage, that who will really fight is Blood Sin. "< Divine Incarnation: 75% >" (I) This time I activated my Divine Incarnation and something strange happened, my Essences helped to activate the Divine spark within me along with my Authority, and all my Essences revived their power leaving only the Essence of Chaos and the Essence of Blood Transmutation to spread their power for my body with Divine Power. My sword body began to change, and my bones were crystallized as I tried to contain the changes to not change my current appearance and perhaps because I was channeling the power of the Star Sword, this caused the Star Fire around my blade to crystallize like the jagged edge of the blade. "(Don''t resist me, leave the fight to me, understand?)" (Blood Sin) "(All right.)" (I) I basically didn''t need to do anything else, yet I would still be alert in case something unexpected happened. For some reason neither of them started to attack, they just kept looking at each other and I soon understood the reason, the Divine Power of the woman who I will call Blood Shadow since she is a mix of the two types of creatures I faced in that place, his Divine Power was negating my mother''s Divine Power contained in Blood Sin. The fight had already started without me noticing and the enemy was taking the lead, I didn''t want to leave it like that, but I also couldn''t interfere as it could make things worse. "(Need help?)" (I) "(No, I''m making her spend her Divine Power, from the beginning I knew she couldn''t use Selene''s power, but the power of this copy remade Selene''s power as a contamination.)" (Blood Sin) Now that I realized that she has some brain and not just muscles, after listening to this I realized that the two of them are spending Divine Power that cancel each other out, but I''m still fine if the two run out of Divine Power it will be Blood Sin who will have the advantage of being with me. The battle of Deities continued and unfortunately, Blood Shadow won, her Divine Power completely expelled my mother''s Divine Power from within Blood Sin while she herself still had her power, unfortunately, I don''t know how much of her Divine Power was left. On her face a disturbing smile formed as she disappeared, the black flames around us rose quickly hiding her as she disappeared, and then Blood Sin held me with both hands, her power flooded the sword before hitting the ground spreading a wave of red light that drives away the black fire around us. "You can''t hide from me!" (Blood Sin) From behind a sword appears coming out of the ground, Blood Sin used me to repel the sword that split in half, avoiding my body and passing through the two shoulders of Blood Sin who ignored the damage continuing to swing my body down from where the Blood Shadow''s body appears, pushing my sword away with one of her arms while being injured by the blade that leaves a trail of Starfire on her arm. As she parried the attack from the shadows, her body released a tide of black fire that managed to extinguish my Starfire while her blood sword returned to its sword form as it retreated. Blood Sin did not give this opportunity by going in pursuit, but I noticed something with this exchange of blows, a flow of Soul energy emerged from the wounds on Blood Sin''s shoulders heading towards Blood Shadow who absorbed this energy, while the same type of energy arises from the part that I injured on his arm going to Blood Sin which also absorbs. It was easy to understand that the injuries and damage caused result in one of the parties absorbing more of the other, this is a fight between predators to see who will become the other party''s food being completely consumed in the end. "< Sword of Carnage >" (Blood Sin) "< Sword of Carnage >" (Blood Shadow) During the chase, a column of red light appears behind the Blood Shadow, interrupting it in its path, and instead of continuing to run, it switches to attacking, running towards us. Blood Sin continues to advance without fear, clasping one of his hands to hold me tightly, his power floods my body forcing his Blood power into my Divinity Spark making the Starfire around me gain an intense red light as he attacks our enemy whose sword was glowing a darker red. Both were using the same attack, but when I hit the other sword head on, I slightly modified my body making it more curved, the blade of the other sword slips past me and goes to the side while Blood Sin takes this opportunity to try through the chest of the Blood Shadow who uses one of his arms to defend my sword. Bloodsin must have realized that he wouldn''t be able to hit his intended target and changed the direction of the sword, slashing Bloodshadow''s hand away. "(Behind you.)" (I) "..." (Blood Sin) The blood sword that had managed to dodge extended and curved trying to hit the back of Blood Sin who uses one of his tails to defend, as a result of which she also lost a tail. With the two so close to each other, they begin to throw blows after blows, always trying to catch the other by surprise. Me and the blood sword colliding with each other hundreds of times as the two exchanged blows increasing the injuries on their bodies. At the end Blood Sin gave a kick before one of her tails hit Blood Shadow''s stomach as she flew backwards, the black flames around her coming together surrounding her body and being absorbed forming wings of black fire on her back. Between the two, several currents of Soul energy flow going in both directions have already formed, the wounds of both are healed with the energy absorbed from the other, they are in a draw where neither of them can emerge victorious. "It looks like she''s taking it more seriously, get ready." (Blood Sin) "(I''m always ready.)" (I) Not only did Blood Shadow''s body grow wings of fire, his body was changing, the blood sword in his hands became liquid as he merged with it, his arms changed into something similar to a Dragon''s spree, and his Divine power increased Condensing between the two claws pointed forward, dark red energy and black flames from the surroundings joined the Divine Power. "That''s not going to be good." (I) Chapter 1403: Cap 1401: Blood Sin is reborn part 9 Blood Shadow was concentrating the black flames, dark red Blood energy, and Divine Power between his Dragon claws pointed towards us. A blow like that could not be defended and the risk of facing it head on would be too great, looking around the black fire had surrounded us somewhere, Blood Shadow was planning this while fighting. "(Stop now!)" (I) "(Do you have a better plan? Because this is my strongest attack!)" (Blood Sin) Blood Sin was channeling her power into her mouth, she wanted to use a Dragon breath attack, but she no longer has my mother''s Divine Power to rely on, no matter how strong her attack is, it will be crushed. "(Point the sword in front of her attack and try to channel her power through me, then let me take care of the rest!)" (I) "(You will not withstand my power...)" (Blood Sin) "(We don''t have time, do as I said!!)" (I) "..." (Sinning of Blood) Maybe it was because I faced her, but I got exactly what I asked for, her power began to be channeled towards me, it was much more power than I expected, but I didn''t need to contain that power within me. Just as this power coursed through my body, I sent it directly into my Divine Weapon, the only thing in my possession that can contain the power of a God without breaking. While Blood Sin''s power was concentrating on the Shattered Moon, I used my current connection with Blood Sin to absorb the blood mist in the sky and concentrated its power on the Cursed Sun, a red tornado fell from the skies upon us. All this power was being stored just long enough in my Divine Weapon as I used my Aura to materialize a Dragon head on the tip of the sword as I couldn''t change my form at the moment. I started by using half of my Divine Spark''s Power as a base, then used the Chaos Essence and Blood Transmutation Essence together before sending the power in my Divine Weapon all at once to the Dragon''s head, I did the Sun and Moon fix where the Dragon''s eyes were to be as close as possible to the mouth. "< Breath of Star Slaughter >" (I) The truth is that I just invented the name of this technique, the name only serves to build a more solid image to focus on as well as an understanding of the effect you are looking for, for a first time using this skill it becomes even more important and that''s why I chose that name. What I seek is not just the defeat of this bastard in front of me, I want the massacre of this entire damned place that made me fight for so long without rest. The two attacks came out almost at the same time, this happened because I waited for her to launch her attack first, once this type of attack is launched there is nothing left to do or nowhere to run, the launcher of such an attack is trapped where they are unable to get out until the end of the attack. I was really waiting for this, and as soon as her attack came towards me I realized that it was a cone shaped attack, this means that her power disperses over a larger and larger area, her reason for using this attack is simple, she doesn''t She wants to give us the chance to escape, she knows that any damage will be rewarded and she wants to win attrition. I wish I had a mouth to smile at such a naive thought, she didn''t think I would attack instead of running away, thanks to that I was able to switch to one of the two plans I made, my attack concentrated on the Dragon''s head at the tip of the sword comes out like lightning in the shape of a Dragon. Neither of us could move now and my attack was more concentrated than hers, even though I have less power Divine Power, at least my power is centered in a single point while hers is dispersed, and with that my Dragon energy it follows a straight line at high speed as if it were swimming against the current, losing speed the further it goes. Just when I was close to hitting her, the speed of my attack stopped as it came across the thinnest part of the Blood Shadow''s attack cone, thanks to this the two powers were in a stalemate for a little more than 1 second before the accumulated energy of the two attacks exploded, creating a highly destructive wave of chaotic energy. As we were hands away, Blood Sin managed to flap his wings to retreat dozens of meters back where we saw the explosion send most of the energy upwards and Blood Shadow falling without both arms and his body covered in Starfire. Without missing this opportunity Blood Sin threw the sword at the enemy with all his strength, she realized the attack too late, but even so, I managed to cut the side of her body in half before a foot of her to launch me directly at the enemy ground where I am trapped until Blood Sin grabs the sword hilt and pulls me out. "You left me in deep shit, you bastard." (Blood Sin) "(Stop complaining, it wasn''t just you who spent a lot of energy, she shouldn''t be able to use another attack like that using Holy Power.)" (I) "But she''s still alive, you missed the hit." (Blood Sin) "(I didn''t make a mistake, the blow didn''t reach her, everything exploded before reaching her.)" (I) As we spoke, Blood Shadow stood tall in the sky, his arms disappeared, but the Black Fire from the surroundings was sucked towards him and crystallized into new crystal arms, his assassins were also strengthened by black fire as his black hair turned dark red, it was possible to see a large flow of Soul energy leaving his body and being absorbed by Blood Sin''s body. "(How much more would it take to defeat her?)" (I) "I don''t know, but it weakened her a lot." (Blood Sin) Without wasting time, Blood Sin begins another wave of attacks, holding the hilt of the sword tightly, she heads towards Blood Shadow using her wings with ease to maneuver in the sky. Blood Shadow was not like the other creatures I faced, I know her level of intelligence and planning is not inferior to that of a person with great experience in combat, even injured in her current state, her focus on our movements made me realize that she was waiting for us to get closer and Blood Sin also noticed this without me needing to say anything. When a column of black fire appeared from the ground in an upward attack towards us followed by 8 other columns of black fog always appearing towards the places where we dodged, it was easy to see that it knew where we were going to dodge. In the last column of black fire Blood Sin retreated backwards avoiding being hit and it was at that moment that Blood Shadow attacked coming out of the column of black fire, his crystal claw was coming towards Blood Sin''s head which He got an arm to defend one of the claws that pierces his arm while I hit the other arm to the side, throwing it to the side. "(Give me her power now!)" (I) "(I think it''s good to know what you''re doing.)" (Blood Sin) "< Divine Eclipse Rune: Blood Dragon >" (I) Since Blood Sin recovered the sword after our last attack, I was creating a surprise, if there''s one thing I''ve learned it''s to always have a hidden card. Therefore, knowing that only my Spiritual Runes can be used in this place, I prepared a Rune during this time, as I could completely concentrate on it while Blood Sin held the sword. As soon as I move away from the claw attack and am close to Blood Shadow''s body, I release a black Rune with red stars inside that hits Blood Shadow directly in the chest. Immediately the Rune activates releasing dozens of Blood Dragons directly from Blood Shadow''s body, these Dragons begin to tear her body apart in seconds with their jaws burning these parts of the body with Starfire. With that the fight is over, Blood Shadow tries to destroy the Blood Dragons and in the process only causes more damage to herself, the Dragons are a part of her and to cause damage to them is to cause damage to herself. Time was too short and Bloodsin was too impatient to let my Rune finish the fight, holding the hilt of the sword with both hands, she moved behind the enemy and with all her strength concentrated on the blade of the sword, she cut the enemy''s body in half. Blood Shadow''s body begins to crumble into black fire and dark red energy before they convert into streams of Soul power being absorbed into the body. All that was left in the end was a pulsing black heart, this heart was consumed by Starfire, the more the heart burned the surroundings fell apart at the same time with streams of Soul power coming from the heart and everywhere in this damned place creating a column of Soul energy with Blood Sin in the middle. "The time has finally come to be reborn and leave the past behind..." (Blood Sin) Chapter 1404: Cap 1402: Bad daughter I was feeling my consciousness flicker as if I was going to fall asleep at any moment, but I forced myself to stay awake, I want to see where this all goes after all this effort. Forcing my consciousness to stay awake was like trying to resist staying awake after 3 days without sleep by drinking a sleeping pill, luckily it only lasted a few seconds as the body I inhabited in this place disappeared revealing the Dragon Seal inside it, then flew towards from the column of Soul energy that was sucking in everything in the surroundings except me. I hadn''t really noticed that the Dragon Seal was what formed my body in this place, it''s not strange that I was able to use just those two Essences since they are the same ones I used to create this Dragon Seal. Now that everything is over, my Soul separated from the Dragon Seal that went towards the Blood Sin within the Soul''s energy column. "(I understand, she overcame everything within herself, her traumas, her fears, everything that prevented her from moving forward.)" (I) I look around and as this entire space disappears, I can see beyond the illusion, an ocean of blood, the sky full of red clouds and nothing else, an endless world where the color red is the only color that exists alongside the eternal scent of the blood. Those were the last things I saw before my eyes opened making everything disappear, feeling my eyes open when I''m already seeing something is a bizarre sensation. When my eyes opened, several things caught my attention at the same time, the first was realizing that I was in my Dragon form, sitting, and between my claws, there was a globe of scarlet light that illuminated the enclosed space where I was. I looked around realizing I was inside a red dome, there were streams of energy around it that were being sucked into the red orb in my hands. Looking further into what must be Blood Sin, the orb was made of a mixture of energies, the vast majority I recognized to be the two Essences that were in the Dragon Seal, the Sacred energy of Blood Sin, the Divine Power of my mother, vitality and a few other things I wasn''t sure about. I could feel these energies intertwining within the red orb and I knew that Blood Sin was asleep, I could feel the absence of his consciousness somehow. One thing that intrigued me was feeling the Dragon Totem serving as a medium between me and Blood Sin, I felt a lineage budding within her, it was just the energy and presence of a lineage that had not yet materialized, but was there waiting for the her body fly to form before becoming complete. "(I can feel my lineage pulsating, I can imagine that when the body begins to form...)" (I) Before I could finish thinking, the red orb of pure energy began to absorb the very dome that confines us as a column of red light emerges from the orb rising into the heavens as the dome crumbles. "I knew..." (I) Just as I thought, I felt my veins pulse before blood came out through the spaces between my scales and was sucked into the red orb whose appearance seemed to be becoming more liquid. "(Are you okay, master?)" (Orion) "I''m fine, where are the others?" (I) "(Everyone is still inside you, they are quiet so as not to interfere with what is happening by accident.)" (Orion) "(Layla dug a hole in her body where she is sleeping, be careful when she returns to normal.)" (Orion) "(I was sent by the others as I share the best blood compatibility, so the chances of interfering would be less.)" (Orion) "Very well, how long have I been like this?" (I) "(Some days, there were many explosions of Aura, Authority and Divine Power.)" (Orion) "I understand, you can come back, I''ll talk to you when this is over." (I) "Yes Master." (Orion) After Orion became quiet again, I focused my attention on Blood Sin, after 7/10 of my blood being absorbed by her, it seems like it was enough as the blood stopped coming out. Within the Light waves of Divine energy were pulsing like a heart while a silhouette began to take shape, at first it was a child, in seconds it grew to become the silhouette of a woman, when I thought it was over the silhouette continued to grow and change, acquiring new characteristics. At the end, the column of light is expanding little by little and has now taken up a large area revealing a silhouette even larger than me in my current Dragon form. "(Give her a name, she never accepted any nemo before, but now she can''t refuse.)" (Goddess Selene) Ding! <[ A new Eclipse Dragon Variant was born with your Bloodline ]> . . . <[ The Bloodsin Individual is willing to receive a name to complete the Rebirth process ]> This time he didn''t ask me if I want to give a name, it seems like I am forced to give the name, even the Goddess spoke in my mind to give her a name, but I really didn''t want to do that. "(I''m sure she won''t like this when she wakes up.)" (I) "I don''t even know what I should name her." (I) "(Choose the name that comes to mind when you think of her.)" (Goddess Selene) I don''t know why, but hearing the Goddess speaking in my mind reminded me of that game I liked to play, the name of the game had blood and the world was dark, it was complete chaos. I probably remembered the game because of the setting and because of the name, but I can''t give the name of a game, so I tried to think of a female character from that game, I''ll choose the name of that crazy nun who killed the prostitute in the game''s safe place, still I remember the frustration of that, maybe that''s why I still remember the name of the homicidal nun in the game. "I choose the name Adella." (I) As if the name marked something, the great column of light explodes in one last pulse of Divine energy, and then red clouds form above us making it rain blood around us, which shouldn''t be possible since we are on the back of the Dimensional Dragon. Just when I thought she was going to appear in her giant form, I was forced to look down when she appeared. Her skin as clear as white porcelain only served to test her bright red hair and her eyes that look like the sky full of red stars with a red Dragon eye like a Sun among the stars. On her back were two pairs of wings covered in red fur and scales of the same color, also a single tail covered in sharp crystal scales, her body was covered in red and black crystal armor with a fierce appearance. Her presence has also changed, now she feels more like a calm predator instead of the wild lack of control she possessed before, a cruel killing intent buried in a calm ocean. When she opened her eyes, it took a few seconds to notice my presence, her face became calm as if she was thinking or perhaps analyzing her current state, but soon her presence became overwhelming when before I knew it I was already on the floor with her foot in the middle From my forehead, a vein pulsed in her head as she looked at me with cruel anger, trying to maintain a smile with apparent difficulty. "Thanks for the name, you weak fucking Father!" (Adella) "Who said you could change, give me a name, or make me your daughter!?" (Adella) "I''ve never met anyone who sought death so fervently, you bastard..." (Adella) Just as she had her fist closed ready to bring it down towards me, a scarlet cuff of Divine power tied her wrist preventing it from moving, the space itself shaking with the force that was putting on the fist to free it from the bonds. "(I suppose my mother won''t let her kill me... what a relief...)" (I) "(But why do I keep getting such violent daughters?)" (I) "You can''t blame me for this, the Dragon Seal used my blood and bloodline to recreate your body, even the name was something necessary for your rebirth." (I) "It''s not my fault for any of this, you should be grateful that I did much more than our agreement..." (I) Before I finished speaking the weight of her foot on top of my forehead doubled, cracking the ground beneath me, her Aura is more like a tidal wave about to explode, honestly I''m almost starting to shake with this murderous intent around me. "I didn''t ask your opinion!" (Adella) "Come on, you know I''m right, let''s calm down a little, how about that?" (I) "(Why did I have to get such a bad daughter?)" (I) Nothing ever goes the way I want, but this time I really screwed myself for good, I can feel her lineage, our blood connection is forever from now on and I''m sure it was my mother''s idea, I want to cry in frustration. Chapter 1405: Cap 1403: Spirits and Fairies in Chaos After a few minutes of trying to calm Adella down, I finally managed to get her murderous intent to subside and leave my head. I also expelled Layla from my body, the bastard was sleeping inside me, it was only after that that I noticed other people present. Vanessa was next to Elizabeth while my wives ran to me with my children together watching from afar, even my 3 heroes were sitting eating a sandwich, in fact, they all looked strangely relaunched, except Lilith who was tied up, and for some reason I''d rather not know, was also covered in injuries. ----------------- 3 hours later. After a few hours of resting, eating, and explaining what happened to everyone, I was finally fine, but I had already discovered that something was out of place, the twins Irina and Irius are looking away from me, and Ibuki was restless as if she was holding the tongue so as not to say something, Kira and E?rica were always diverting the topic back to me, Diana was completely silent as was Magnus, Loki was just smiling as if he was seeing a joke and Elsaris was whispering a lot to Jose? in her sister Samira''s ears. Everyone was hiding something from me, the only way to make it clearer would be a sign pointing to them saying "secret kept here" in giant letters, the only people who were impossible to read were my sisters and Vanessa. I looked around and I didn''t see my Saints or my Divine Servants, perhaps because they didn''t hide anything from me they refused to come or were forbidden to come, I can assume that one of the reasons Lilith is tied up is because of this, she is unable to maintain a secret. I really didn''t want to know if I was willing to ignore this at first, but clearly after hours and them maintaining this strength it was clear that something serious was going on or they weren''t going to keep up this horrible act for so long. My eyes turn to Ibuki, her degree of loyalty is even greater than the others to the point of fanaticism, her behavior worries me a lot, it means that she believes she is doing this for my good, which also means that this secret sends put myself at risk, the more I think about it, the less I would like to put it aside, unfortunately, this damn curiosity is killing me. Just as I was thinking about how to approach this, Elizabeth was looking at me, she looked into my eyes before shaking her head in denial, it seems like she knows I''ve already figured something out and is trying to get me to let it go. "(What could be happening?)" (I) I looked at my sister and smiled, I can''t contain this curiosity, it was at that moment that I received a message directly from Nix, it seems that something big happened inside the Dungeon and she is sharing this information with me. "(Are you sure about this?)" (I) "(I felt that something was happening in the Dungeon, especially in my Spiritual Temple, but I didn''t have an exact idea of ??what was happening because of the Divine Power of the dome where we were trapped.)" (Nix) "(But who are they?)" (I) What Nix shared with me was the presence of unknown people inside the Dungeon and something trying to interfere with its Spirit Gate, she said that I will feel it as soon as I enter the Dungeon because of my connection with its gate. I couldn''t help but think that this might be linked to the strange way everyone is acting, something has happened or is happening and they don''t want me to interfere, but then my eyes go back to Lilith tied up, her injuries aren''t that serious, but I worry that they are not healing. I got up to go to Lilith, I saw some of the others acting strange, Natasha was smiling while Elizabeth was just evaluating me as always, Caitlyn was sleeping on the floor. When I got to Lilith I noticed that her wounds were covered in Ghost energy, it was some kind of curse, I also noticed that the Holy Power inside her was depleted, I just leaned against her and used my Holy Power to activate the Starfire around her, my Flames devour this foreign energy converting it with great ease into Demonic energy, I did this because I felt a trace of Demonic energy mixed in that does not belong to Lilith. "..." (I) I release Lilith from her bonds and she jumps into my hand in one bite, she elaborates by drinking my blood and absorbing Demonic power from my body, only when she is satisfied her wounds are healed and she lets me go. "Thank you, I really needed that, Dad." (Lilith) "Then you could reciprocate by telling me what''s going on since no one here does that." (I) "We were invaded by Demons and Specters, we drove them all away, but we were seriously injured, a strong Demigod was among them." (Lilith) "Where is this Demigod now? Why did they invade us?" (I) "The Demigod is sealed inside me, I tricked him by pretending to be weak before using a Demonic technique with his Holy Power, and his angry face when he realized too late what I was doing was incredible... hahahahaha... " (Lilith) "Why didn''t anyone tell me this and why did they come here?" (I) I looked at Ibuki who looked relieved that I had found out just as I looked at Loki collecting his standard prize for most bets against Athena, a kiss he always takes too far before being smacked by Veronica and Athena together. "I said we should have told you sooner." (Ibuki) "It was necessary to wait a little longer." (Magnus) "He needed time to heal, he is still far from being in a position to do so." (Irina) "You all suck at this, how can you be so obvious?" (Elsaris) "At least it was funny." (Samira) "Can you stop this and get straight to the point?" (I) "I said we should be honest, the truth is we were invaded through the Fairy and Spirit Gates." (Diana) "The city suffered some damage, but the population is safe, apart from the children everyone else is strong due to daily training." (Diana) "My sister and Veronica protected the city, Magnus and I were on the front lines while." (Irius) "All enemies have been killed or neutralized, your Saints are sleeping in the Temple and your Divine Servants are recovering from their injuries." (E?rica) "What are you not telling me? How could Demons and Specters have attacked us? Did you say that we were invaded through the Fairy and Spirit Gates?" (I) I wasn''t understanding, the Spirit Gate leads to the Spiritual World where only Spirits live and the Fairy Gate leads to the Fairy World where they live, if we were invaded and the enemies were Demons it doesn''t make sense. Something was happening, they are being superficial in their answers, and they are hiding something from me to save time, but first things must be resolved. I place my hand on Lilith''s chest and let my Aura invade her body, it immediately tunes into the presence fighting to break free, it was strong and was being suppressed by two forces, the first being a materialized Aura of Vengeance with the second force being my Holy Power strengthening the Seal. "(LET ME OUT!!!!)" "..." (I) I withdraw my hand knowing that Lilith is not in danger for now, then I look at my sisters, they are the strongest here with the exception of Adella and they are still silent. "Explain what happened." (I) "You already know the answer, you just can''t believe it happened." (Natasha) "..." (I) "Heal up, her body is fine now, but I can see another kind of exhaustion in her eyes." (Natasha) "How long does it take to take effect?" (Elizabeth) "It''s already taken effect and he knows it, but we''ll only get it for 1 hour at most." (Kira) "What are you..." (I) Suddenly my consciousness was being taken over by drowsiness, Kira appeared next to me holding my body so I wouldn''t fall while Natasha appeared in front of me, the last thing I saw was Elizabeth heading towards Adella. -------------------- Pov Adella''s: It was interesting to see all this confusion, the boy is still naive trusting his companions too much, the whole time he didn''t notice that they were just buying time, I looked around realizing that the area magic and the potions used are very good, it must It may have been Elizabeth''s plan and just as Zenos was losing consciousness she came to me. "He''s going to be angry about this." (I) "It was his mother''s request, as well as everyone here knows that he needs to rest, what he did to you must have pushed him over the edge." (Elizabeth) "Yes, even if it doesn''t appear, his soul was under a lot of pressure, his mind was also exhausted, or even with all his ingenuity it still wouldn''t be enough for them to be able to deceive him like that." (I) "What''s really going on, if everything I''ve heard is right, then it would mean that the Spirit World and the Fairy World are under attack and this place is just caught in the crossfire." (I) "That''s exactly what happened, but that''s not what I want to talk to you about, we''re already moving, but the Church of Light is chasing us, Oros is leading the attack, I need you to take care of him." (Elizabeth) "Do you plan to interfere in both battles?" (I) "Yes, as soon as Zenos wakes up we will take care of what we are going to do." (Elizabeth) I look at Natasha using her power on the boy, then I look at the others, and then at Elizabeth, Oros'' face also appears in my mind and I couldn''t help but laugh at my luck to have someone so perfect to test my current state. "It will be a pleasure to tear off that horse''s wings." (I) Chapter 1406: Cap 1404: World of Spirits in crisis When I woke up I felt like I was floating, I opened my eyes only to discover that I was floating in the pool of blood inside the Dungeon, the pool was still shallow but at least it wasn''t empty like before. When I got up I felt a little strange, that''s because I don''t remember sleeping, I also don''t remember dreaming or anything else, I feel as if I had just blinked my eyes and the world had changed. I feel my body more relaxed, my mind lighter and I can feel that my Soul has recovered, the state it was in before was not the best and I know that. "How long has it been?" (I) "Almost 1 hour, how do you feel?" (Natasha) "Well, for such a short time? I feel amazing." (I) "(I have never recovered so quickly.)" (I) I look at Natasha sitting on the head of my statue, she was covered in sweat and her clothes were stained with blood, she was clearly tired and yet she was recovering quickly stopping breathing heavily within seconds. "How is everyone?" (I) "Getting ready, everyone knows you well enough to know how you will act, your Divine Servants left a few minutes ago and your Saints are still meditating in a separate area." (Natasha) "How did they leave me unconscious? You know what, forget what I said..." (I) Sigh "(Forget the past, focus on priority.)" (I) "What aren''t you telling me?" (I) "Please don''t try to elaborate too much or stall me, don''t waste both of our time." (I) As I spoke I realized that I am almost naked and jumped out of the pool while putting on clothes that I got from my storage item, luckily the Communal Temple was empty. "To put it simply, several Demon Gods are attacking the Fairy World and the Spirit World, a full-scale war is going on right now." (Natasha) "As expected, someone fleeing from the enemies brought them to our Fairy and Spirit Gates, without your two Familiars present we wouldn''t be able to close the passage or do anything, you can imagine what happened next." (Natasha) "..." (I) I had no reaction, some of what I heard yesterday plus this information were complementing each other in my head before the empty spaces were filled with assumptions. I can imagine how everyone reacted, I can also imagine the level of battle if only the side effect hit us so hard. "Are the Gates still open?" (I) "Yes, your Familiars refused to close." (Natasha) I look to the side where my shadow was, a pair of eyes open looking at me, there was also a Fairy pulling my hair while sitting on my head. "(I transformed my temple into a refuge for the most injured Spirits to heal.)" (Nix) "I will not run away from the fight, the Fairies are free to come and we can advance..." (Layla) "(Let me take care of her and you can continue your conversation.)" (Sakura) Suddenly branches, vines and leaves began to sprout from my head before wrapping around Layla, covering her mouth. My Family members were disturbing my conversation with Natasha. "I think we all know my answer, I''m going to fight or at least interfere in this war... wait, is that why they tricked me? They wanted to prevent me from participating in this conflict." (I) "You were a bag of trash with legs, you needed rest for more than just your body, do you have any idea how hard it was to heal your Soul? It felt like your Soul was swimming in a river of blades." (Natasha) "I''m fine now, thanks for everything." (I) A war in these worlds is something very complicated, if I remember correctly, these are a purely energy world, there is no matter, there is no physical space, I don''t know how the Demons got there, but I don''t think they can go there physically, the Specters they can go to the Spirit World because they are similar, but the Fairy World is different. "I need to know more..." (I) I have already been warned that the other two Sources of Power that I need to create must be within these two ethereal worlds, I know that with my Divine Incarnation I can enter both places, but I cannot maintain this state for a long time, so I thought for a long time how would you do that. Theoretically I could enter the Fairy world with a body made purely of Mana and I can also enter the Spiritual World with my Soul, using Necromancer techniques and some very specific magic can solve these problems for me as I am a special case, but not yet I know how the Demons solved this problem. "The most important resource in a war is information, I need to know more before I start assuming things by chance..." (I) ------------------- A few minutes later I arrived at the mansion where I saw everyone running or flying towards me, it seems that everyone is following the order to gather, only my Divine Servants will not be coming to continue guarding the 2 Gates. Gathering everyone together I began to listen to the explanations of what happened in detail, I also listened to the state of everyone in the Dungeon and in the middle of the meeting someone flew through the window hugging me from the back, a little girl I already knew, my daughter Aurora, a Divine Fairy. "What do you do here?" (I) "I was kicked out, the other Fairies still don''t trust me, so I came here when I discovered the most injured Fairies being sent here." (Aurora) Aurora, before being reborn, was a madwoman who proclaimed the death of the Fairy Goddess, she was Sealed along with an entire planet that she enslaved and called the Fairy Goddess a hoax, it doesn''t surprise me that many Fairies still distrust her, trust is something difficult to achieve build itself and there has not yet been time for it to redeem itself from the sins of its former self. "What''s the situation in Fairy World?" (Elizabeth) "An impasse, they have many Demonic Deities and my mother is afraid of using all her power within the Fairy World." (Aurora) "She is one of the strongest Gods, second only to the Dragon God, my mother and the God of Light." (Elizabeth) "The Fairy World might be half destroyed if she takes things seriously, she must be just trying to contain the other Demon Gods." (Natasha) "Almost all the Fairy Gates are sealed, I don''t know how they did it, the only ones open are my Fairy Gate and those of my 2 sisters, the only other one still open is the one that belongs to Layla." (Aurora) "The Fairies are in a stalemate, but the Spirits seem to be in trouble, the God of Spirits has been surprised and is unable to participate in the war leaving the Spirits at a great disadvantage." (Aurora) I look at my sisters, Natasha has put on a thoughtful face and Elizabeth has stopped making a decision as she nods in confirmation with me, she knows what I''m thinking. "Aurora, you can stay here now let''s start planning what we''re going to do." (I) ----------------- 30 minutes later. I was in the Communal Temple, there is a preparation that only I can do, I was condensing Holy Power and Spiritual Energy with some of my blood creating a Spiritual Core. "< Condense >" (I) "That was the last one." (I) "(Everyone is ready, my Spirits have been preparing since the first invasion.)" (Nix) "Are there any at the Spirit King level?" (I) "(There are 5, they will be coming together.)" (Nix) "Alice!" (I) I''m doing a lot of things at the same time, but we have little time, God-level battles can end very quickly. Soon Alice runs up to me, her appearance still looks a little tired, so I cut the tip of my finger with my teeth and threw some blood into her mouth, the improvement was quick as her eyes gained a healthier glow. "Hand over these Spiritual Cores to those coming with me." (I) The Spiritual World can enter as a Soul, Hela will help remove the Soul from the bodies and this Core will help recreate a body made of Spiritual Energy within the Spirit World, I am basically doing the opposite of what Spirits do when forming a Contract with someone. After dealing with that I went to where my 3 Divine Servants were, as soon as I entered I noticed that they still had some injuries, but they had largely recovered. "I think you know what I''m going to ask." (I) "Becoming your Heralds is our honor, my lord." (Hades) "I live to serve." (Cinthia) "Are you still in doubt, Haku?" (I) "Master, I have no doubts about my path, but we will soon be leaving, doing this now will put pressure..." (Haku) "I''m doing this exactly to release the pressure I''m feeling." (I) I wasn''t lying, in my current state it''s still dangerous to be away from my Familiars, but only half of them can accompany me in a totally ethereal World, not to mention that Nix will be important on the other side as a Spirit Queen. "(I didn''t think it would be so rushed.)" (me) Sigh I need to turn them into Divine Heralds now to release some of that pressure to compensate for the lack of half of my Familiars, I also don''t know what to expect on the Demon side and by doing so I can strengthen these 3 at least a little. "Get ready, let''s start now!" (I) Chapter 1407: Cap 1405: The system is different I was facing my 3 Divine Servants, I wasn''t completely recovered, but I was at least close to 90% recovered, which will do for now. "(Bad...)" (Hinata) "(Hinata is right, you''ll get worse.)" (Sakura) "(I don''t have much choice, we have to help where I can, I need the Fairy World and the Spirit World to build the Sources of power.)" (I) "(The master is right, the situation is extreme, even leaving the Fairy World aside, the Spirit World is in serious danger if what we hear is true.)" (Ragnar) "..." (I) Sigh The worst thing you can do is rush things, do something without the necessary preparation, lack of information, doing things in a rush, the mental burden of being tight on time, having to improvise where you should be more careful, all these things happen at the same time making it all hell. "(I hope this will just waste my energy, at least that''s easy to recover.)" (I) "I''m starting!" (I) I take a deep breath and make the 3 position themselves around me forming a triangle design, I cut my wrists letting the blood flow while I control it using it to form diagrams on the floor, these are not magic circles or some type of ritual, the Ceremony of the Divine Herald is as simple as an Awakening Ceremony. It just so happens that my blood is an excellent conduit for my powers helping to smooth things out or so I hope, I can also use my blood to form the diagram of the steps I need to follow. Around me, I created a circle with small triangles pointing towards me, lines are coming out of the base of these triangles going towards my Divine Servants where I created a square around them. I soon made several thinner lines of blood run up their bodies and pierce their bodies until it reached their veins. I just look at them one last time before closing my eyes, putting my hands together and creating three spheres of blood that float around me. With the preparation ready, I began to meditate more deeply to reach my Soul and within it the illusory Core of Essence. Essence of the Apocalypse Beast Essence of Blood Transmutation Essence of Chaos These three Essences were the ones I chose because they combined best with these three, Cinthia of them all is the most deadly, the murderous intent never leaves her gaze and if I ordered her to kill even her companions she would do it without hesitation, I had to recreate create several rules for her not to kill everyone who says something bad about me, even if she is the one with the quietest behavior and seems the calmest, her level of fanaticism scares even me, it matches the word Apocalypse. Haku was the easiest to choose the Essence as only one of my Essences matches her, only the blood power could be used with her. Hades was the only one that I didn''t even consider any other Essence, he was someone I created from a curse, everything about him was shaped by me consciously or not, be it his Soul, his body, his Lineage, his power, everything in it came from me and for that reason alone it deserves to use the only Essence that originated purely with me, the Essence of Chaos. With the Essences chosen, I made a part of them separate, flowing out of me and each going to the 3 spheres of blood floating around me, when I did this I also spread my Aura and Authority. "< Divine Incarnation: 75% >" (I) As soon as I finished I made the blood spheres absorb my Aura and Authority, my body was transforming with the power of the Divine Spark being used to mark these spheres with some of their Divine power even if it was just a trace of that power. Then with a command from my mind the three spheres of blood float above the triangles before descending being instantly absorbed by the blood creating 3 columns of energy that go up to the sky, this energy quickly follows the line of blood taking this energy to the squares where are my Divine Servants before finally following the blood to their bodies. At that moment, an implosion happened in the 3 places, their bodies expelling Holy Power before absorbing it again and continuing to follow this flow constantly. During this time the columns of energy became smaller and smaller until they disappeared, and when I thought they were finished my Divine Servants shone while their bodies changed, only Haku remained the same with the only difference being his Aura becoming almost liquid around him. Hades was the one who changed the most, his 4 eyes and large body gave way to a Dragonewt man with two eyes where the irises have a gradient of 4 colors that represent his four previous eyes, he has short red hair, dark skin and his body He measures 1.90 meters tall, armor decorated with scales of red metal and Star Crystal cover his body, his Aura seemed like an extension of my own weakened Aura. Cinthia was the one who changed the most, her entire body becoming that of a Beast Man covered in black and red fur, a third eye opened on her black forehead with only a silver iris, two small star crystal horns were on her upper forehead looking like daggers, her body was wrapped in a tight leather outfit open on the sides and she has 3 long tails covered in sharp metallic scales, her two shiny golden eyes stand out against the dark red of the rest of her eyes, her Aura now seems to have achieved the worst parts of my own Aura containing the aspects of death, madness, fear, murderous intent and so on. Ding! <[ You have ascended 3 individuals to Divine Heralds at the same time, achieving something never before accomplished ]> . . <[ Your 3 Heralds are counted as triplets by ascension and will be stronger together ]> . . <[ You must grant a title to each of your Heralds to form their core aspect ]> Notifications appear in my mind, but I feel something different, I feel an endless intention behind the system windows, but I can''t explain why. Leaving worries aside I quickly chose the titles, in my mind it was easy to associate the name I gave to my Essences with the 3 in front of me. Ding! <[ The Individual Hades (Divine Herald of Zenos) received the title [ Eclipse Star ] ]> . . <[ The Individual Cinthia (Divine Herald of Zenos) received the title [ Star of the Apocalypse ] ]> . . <[ Individual Haku (Divine Herald of Zenos) received the title [ Blood Star ] ]> . . . <[ The power of 3 of your Essences will be Partially shared with your 3 Divine Heralds ]> . . . <[ The System looks at you with hope ]> . . . <[ You no longer have any Divine Servants ]> . . <[ 2 individuals in crisis were found with Faith levels high enough to be ascended to Divine Servants ]> . . <[ High Priestess Eva finds herself in a state of possession by a Demonic Specter ]> . . <[ Do you wish to ascend Eve (Blood Demon Empress) as your Divine Servant? ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> . . . <[ A Demonic Divine Seed was planted in the individual Sophia (High Dark Elf) attempting to corrupt her Soul ]> . . <[ Do you wish to ascend Sophia (High Dark Elf) as a Divine Servant? ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> Suddenly the notifications changed, they were always transparent colors, but now they are silver and gold colors with an endless Aura emanating from it, the content in these notifications was surprising and if it was true I had to do something even if it was risky. "This... what is this!?" (I) "Yes to both!!! Save them!" (I) Suddenly my power pulses within me before exploding into the sky in a column of light that split in two; the roof of the Communal Temple had already been torn into pieces long ago. Suddenly I feel my power connect to something, it was the two of them, I could see them in my mind, their appearances were normal on the outside, but my power allowed me to see inside them. Eva had something binding her Soul as she struggled to free herself, I could feel her desire to be saved, her calling my name, her pain at the torment this creature was causing by trying to claim her body, it all filled me with fury. My power following my will invaded Eva''s body, my Starfire was strengthened by my Essences by filling Eva''s Soul along with the Demonic Specter, but only the creature was being burned until it became nothing more than a power supplement that I grant to Eve as her body awakens as my Divine Servant. Sophia was a different case, because I had a lot of things to deal with every day, I didn''t have time to pay attention to everyone like it was in the past, there''s always a lot going on around me and a lot of people to take care of. I still occasionally met with everyone, but my time was limited, Sophia always felt behind everyone because her strength couldn''t follow mine by fulfilling her promise to be my defender, as much as she wanted to, she wasn''t able to hide her regret of me being stamped in your Aura for me to see. "(SHE IS MINE!!!)" "(No, she doesn''t belong to anyone!)" (I) "(Die!)" (I) This time my power alone was not enough, my Soul stretched its claws towards Sophia, the crystal that trapped her Soul inside was grabbed by my Soul, my Essences acted like blades cutting countless times through this crystal as it burned in Starfire until there was nothing left but of Sophia''s Soul. Her wounded Soul opens her eyes, placing herself on her knees in the palm of his hand, my Soul between the claws that freed her, then the power of that crystal I burned was infused into a new crystal with a Star Flame inside before being incorporated into her forehead at the fuse with the High Elf crystal. Ding! <[ You have successfully Ascended 2 new Divine Servants ]> . . . <[ Protect existence ]> Chapter 1408: Cap 1406: Entering the Spiritual World Suddenly I wake up being carried to the mansion, I was on the back of someone I didn''t recognize at first until I realized it was Hades whose appearance changed from what he was in the past, he was carrying me in his arms before making him stop. As soon as he stopped I jumped out of his arms and took a few deep breaths, my body already absorbing the energy in the environment before I pulled out a bottle of Natasha''s blood to drink. "How long was I unconscious?" (I) "13 minutes, my lord." (Hades) "All we saw was his expression change from calm to serious and at the end his expression was furious." (Hades) "A column of light was around him and at the end the master fainted." (Hades) "I see, I''m fine, just a little tired." (I) "(Nix, did you or any of the others see the notifications?)" (I) "(No, none of us saw it and Nix isn''t here, she ran along with Orion to the directions you indicated before losing consciousness.)" (Sakura) "(Did I do this?)" (I) "(You more than did it, it was a scream in our minds pointing to where we had to go.)" (Layla) "Master, are you..." (Hades) "I''m fine, let''s run to the Spirit Temple, the others are waiting." (I) "As you wish." (Hades) As I ran alongside Hades I realize that my condition wasn''t that bad, it was just a bit of weakness, it feels like my Soul took 1 or 2 hits, but nothing serious and my body is a little tired, which doesn''t make any difference to me where I''m going. I was worried about Sophia and Eva, but I had no time to waste, I could feel them both connected to me, their consciousness was dormant and they were quite possibly in some kind of cocoon or egg while they went through their transformations. I send a thought to all my Family members explaining what happened, they can explain it to the others later as some will be left behind. When I arrive at the Temple of Spirits I see the waterfall pouring water in a rhythmic way as it seemed to vibrate, drops of water also float from the lake while the reflection of the Moon in the middle of the side was shining with some Spirits coming and going, it must be the opening of the Gate of Spirits. Those who were going with me are my sisters, Ibuki, Kira, Magnus, Hela, Lilith, Nicole, my 3 Heralds, My 2 Saints and my 3 Heroes. Among my Familiars only Hinata, Layla and Nix will be with me, I wanted to take Layla with me even though she can only manipulate magic and be useless there, I still need her to support my current condition, my other 3 Familiars will no longer be there and I can''t I can afford to lose another Familiar. "How are you? Haku said you lost consciousness." (Ibuki) "I''m fine, don''t worry." (I) I hold Ibuki''s face and kiss her before turning to Elizabeth, I feel her eyes trying to see through me. "You can''t fight, you know that right?" (Elizabeth) "I know, but will your plan work?" (I) "It will work, the right question is how long can we fool them, something like this has never been done." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) The plan we discussed was something suggested by the Fairy Goddess, it seems that Aurora didn''t come to us purely because it was the only place for her, the Fairy Goddess had a plan she wanted to use and it seems useful enough to also use in the Spirit World. It was something theoretically simple and already something that needed to be done, it seems that when I build my Source of Power the World of Spirits will restructure itself on a fundamental level allowing all restrictions to be lifted, weak to this all the Spirits that were trapped on the side Outsiders can join the fight as reinforcements, not to mention perhaps closing the route the enemies are using, but the latter is just a possibility. Last time I didn''t need to use the ability to create the Source of Power because of what was happening with Yntra''s body, the power of the God of Greed and everything, it was a natural process that helped to build more than just a Source of Ki, helped to build an entire Ki Star System that will be the habitat for the Sacred Beasts that never had a space of their own. "Are you done with your preparations?" (I) "Hela is finishing putting together the Ritual, but will you be able to do it alone?" (Elizabeth) "Yes... honestly, I''m better than I expected, speaking of which, I have something to ask for." (I) I explain to Elizabeth what I did with Sophia and Eva, she already knew about my Divine Heralds, but she was surprised by the other two, I didn''t need to explain much what I want to do and she left. --------------- 10 minutes later. Elizabeth returns with blood stains on her body and an angry expression, chained behind her was an unconscious person with no arms and legs, this person''s body was emitting a lot of Demonic energy, it seemed to be from the Dwarven Race. "Was it that bad?" (I) "Yes, there were 37 possessed by Specters and 12 contaminated by Demonic techniques, most were captured alive and will recover, only that will be a problem." (Elizabeth) I don''t recognize this Dwarf, but I was able to notice the purple blood coming out of his wounds, the color change in his hair roots and the horns growing out of his forehead, even his Aura is changing from the inside out. "You were quick." (I) "You weren''t the only one to notice what was happening, High Priestess Yara noticed and mobilized others, I arrived at the moment they were cornered." (Elizabeth) "I''ll take care of this..." (I) In the state he is in I will need to be a little aggressive, I nod to Elizabeth who lets him go, then I take a deep breath and bite the tip of my finger letting the blood flow to enter his body through his eyes, ears, mouth and wounds. "< Holy Magic: Purification >" (I) This was a magic I learned recently, something that any priest of all religions or individuals with Holy Power can use, but the effect of the magic changes depending on the origin of the Holy Power, in which case the magic manifests itself as Starfire burning throughout the Dwarf''s body, my blood served to strengthen the magic and keep it burning until all my blood was consumed. Then I realized that the chains he was tied to were more magical items blocking any kind of sound from him. "He should be fine, but he''ll suffer for a few hours like he''s burning alive." (I) "We should have realized this right after the attack, I didn''t expect something like this." (Elizabeth) Elizabeth was blaming herself for letting something like this go unnoticed, her anger is directed at herself for not noticing something so serious, but no one is perfect. "I''m ready." (Hela) Hela approaches with sweat dripping from her face, it looks like the Soul Separation Ritual was difficult to put together. "You have to go ahead, we don''t know what the other side will be like and Nix will need to take control of the other side." (Elizabeth) "I know." (I) I go closer to the waterfall, then the Hand of Nix leaves my Shadow and the Moon reflected in the lake moves towards the waterfall which divides like two curtains opening revealing a silver ring full of light inside. "I''ll go ahead." (I) "Be careful, be ready to fight as soon as you cross." (Kira) "You must trust Nix on the other side, the Spirit World doesn''t work like this world, the rules there are much more flexible." (Byakko) I nod and thank Kira as well as her Familiar, take a deep breath as the others walk away, then focus all my attention on the flow of Spiritual Power within my body. "< Spiritual Incarnation of Chaos >" (I) This was the first time I used this skill, I felt my entire body being enveloped by Spiritual Power as the two integrated, my body seemed to be digested by Spiritual Power as I felt physical aspects of myself breaking apart into pure energy, no blood circulating, no heartbeat, and things like that, it was strange to say the least. When I opened my eyes I noticed Starfire around me, scales completely covering my arms as well as my legs, my body seemed to be naked even though crystal armor was covering my body, my senses were strange as if they were different, it took me a few seconds to get used to it. "(Are you okay?)" (Nix) "(Yes, it''s just weird...)" (I) Looking around I waved to the others and jumped into the Spirits'' Gate, it was like crossing a curtain of water. When I crossed to the other side my senses seemed to expand far beyond normal, but I wasn''t seeing with my eyes or hearing with my ears, it was even stranger causing a few moments of disorientation. "Let me take care of them." (Nix) I felt that something was happening, but I needed a few seconds to get used to these new senses, when I realized that it was similar to feeling things with the Aura I tried to do exactly that, happy to realize that my Aura works in harmony with these senses the world seemed to open up to me. The first thing I saw was Nix looking up and following his gaze I saw a dome keeping out hundreds of Specters beating for entry. Chapter 1409: Cap 1407: Spiritual World under siege part 1 Seeing that the enemies have no way to enter, I prioritized assessing my surroundings, having a sense of the terrain is essential regardless of what happens from now on. The place I am in looks like the Temple of Spirits I just left, a waterfall with a lake where there is a Moon in the middle of the lake and a lush forest surrounding it. But that was just superficial, the proportions of everything are the same as if it were a copy and I say it is a copy because they are different in everything else. The waterfall has no water, the liquid falling down the waterfall are stars in the darkness, the lake where it falls is actually the night sky itself with stars flowing across the sky formed where the waterfall falls, the Moon in the middle was not a reflection and yes a sphere of pure silver energy as solid as the rest of the place that surrounds me. I could feel that here the energy was literally matter, the energy has weight and shape as if it were something physical, everything here was energy materialized in gaseous, liquid and solid forms as well as the 3 physical forms of matter. The laws of physics do not exist in this place and even though they are followed in a certain way, they seem more like an optional rule or a baseline for the rest and not a fixed rule of reality. Looking at the trees around I realized that they were alive, they moved normally, collecting the liquid night sky with branches and vines as if it were normal. This was a fantastic place, my curiosity was spiking like a kid in a candy store not knowing where to start, if it wasn''t for the enemy deer and the grave situation the entire Spirit World finds itself in, I might have gotten carried away and went exploring. Sigh "Nix, what is this place?" (I) "The Temple of Spirits that you see in the Dungeon is just a small reflection of this place, its current size is similar to that of an island approximately 800 kilometers long." (Nix) "Did you create this place?" (I) "Yes and no, this place created itself with me being the cause of its birth, the Spiritual World is alive and this island was born from everything I brought here, I also helped by being a model of interaction between these energies which led to its creation with my Aura imprinting part of this place in reality like a boat anchored so as not to float adrift." (Nix) "As a spirit I have the basic instinct to live in this environment, but for someone like you it''s a little more difficult, using your Aura seems to compensate for your natural flaw..." (Nix) "Stop talking, there''s someone new coming." (Layla) "..." (me/Nix) "(Hunger...)" (Hinata) I planned to just check the surroundings by passing by first, ensure a safe arrival for the others and that''s because of Nix who controls this place, but it seems like I was attacked before and now another attack is going to happen. Looking at the enemies above I noticed that most of them moved away revealing multicolored clouds and things like rocks, mountains, crystals and islands floating around, everything was very blurry as if I was trying to see underwater. What was just visible was the outside of the dome, the Specters before trying to get through moved away revealing a Demon, she had a beautiful appearance from the waist up, but the lower part of her body was that of a Wolf, the body Hers is half transparent and there is a dark green mist around her, the horn on her head is large and splits into two at the tip where an ethereal eye floats between the tips of the horn looking at me. "I didn''t expect to find a Demigod here, especially someone so appetizing..." (Demon) She smiled revealing sharp teeth and a very large tongue with a large amount of saliva running down the side of her mouth, I tried to mentally talk to Nix so the enemy wouldn''t find out anything about us. "(Nix, did you create this dome?)" (I) "(Yes, the dome is actually a bubble that expanded from me, that''s how I warded off the enemies coming towards us when we arrived.)" (Nix) "(I imagine this won''t work on her, will it?)" (I) "(I created this barrier with Spiritual Power from this place, but it has Holy Power and even seems to be stronger than me, it will break through the barrier as if it were made of jelly.)" (Nix) "Didn''t anyone tell you how rude it is to not talk back to a beautiful woman?" (Demon) "< Eclipse Rune: Barrier Moon >" (I) "< Water Rune: Pressure Slash >" (Nix) I just saw her disappear outside the dome and I was already acting before I knew where she was, I just left aside the fact that the dome had broken into pieces letting all the Specters come towards us and I focused on the moment when the sound of the first arrogant word left her mouth. I created a Rune made up of smaller Runes following what Nix taught in the past and activated it using my energy body, this created a hole in my body as the energy in that area was consumed by the Rune letting her entire arm pass through me. Her head was enveloped by a moon-shaped barrier that broke in the middle of her movement, the moon-shaped barrier shattered into hundreds of smaller fragments that attacked her with the same force received before. Nix at the same time cut off her arm, which dissolved into dark green mist as it returned to her body as well as her head, which fell apart after the fragments of the Lunar Barrier hit her head before disappearing. She uses a wolf claw to launch me towards a tree where I am carefully grabbed by the tree''s branches, Nix joins my side while Layla and Hinata remain hidden inside me. "Do you really think you can hurt me... You bastard..." (Demon) Before she finished speaking, a sword cut her body into hundreds of pieces that were unable to come back together and before it dispersed it was sucked into a glass bottle in Hela''s hands. "< Breath of the Eclipse >" (Magnus) Coming out of the Spirit Gate were Hela holding the bottle next to Natasha holding a glowing crude red crystal sword, right behind them Magnus came flying using a breath attack of black liquid and white mist mixed together, his attack spreading in the form cone upwards where the Demonic Specters were approaching. "Thanks." (I) "Don''t thank her yet, she is a Divine Servant, do you understand what that means?" (Natasha) "Damn, this could be bad..." (I) Suddenly I feel a murderous intent directed at us, it was very far away, but it was so vast and heavy that it was like being run over by a planet, I couldn''t help but shiver due to the instinctive fear of death, if it weren''t for my emotional control I would have been paralyzed or perhaps even unconscious due to fear. "He knows..." (I) "An empty threat, if he could come he would already be here, don''t worry." (Natasha) "What we have to pay attention to is those around us." (Natasha) "Nix, can you?" (I) "I''m ready." (Nix) Since I acquired my Familiars I have done things differently from others, I fight alongside them and sometimes even protecting them, there are few times when I unite my power with theirs and part of this is due to my arrogance of not I like using the power of others, so I tend to separate my Familiars'' power from mine naturally in my mind when in fact they are one and the same. "< Chaos Rune: Blade of Propagation >" (me/Nix) My power and Nix''s power merge into a Rune made of Holy Power, then I look at the enemies as the Rune forms like a sword. The Specters were not defeated by Magnus, he managed to destroy some, but because he spread his power the lethality of his attack decreased a lot, now more enemies are approaching, I can see more Specters coming out of another 2 floating islands in the distance in the sky and coming in our direction. When the Runa sword was made it seemed to be smooth metal, even the handle was made of metal, when I held it it was the weight and texture of the metal even though it was pure Spiritual Energy. With a swing of my hands holding the sword, a cut was made towards the closest Spectre, most of my energy was consumed making my body thinner, the sword in my hands fell apart seeming to melt instantly taking the shape of the cut he had made, a blade of energy materialized in metal was flying towards the Specter hitting his body which was consumed forming a second flying blade cut, the two attacks go to two closer enemies who did not have time to dodge becoming 4 attacks and so on. Some enemies were able to defend or dodge the attack only to die by another, everything happened very quickly, enemies were being torn to pieces while the sky was filled with flying blades heading towards the enemies coming from other places. I wanted to finish them all at once, but suddenly something large appeared from the horizon, it looked like a purple cloud covered in mouths that devoured my attack as if it were an appetizer, their mouths smiling as thousands of colors spoke in synchronization. "Elizabeth, I found you, bitch!" (Bizarre Cloud) "Hahahahaha..." (Bizarre Cloud) Chapter 1410: Cap 1408: Spiritual World under siege part 2 The creature that appeared was extremely arrogant using its Aura to need everyone or was that what it tried before Nix connected to me by a flow of shadows, using our Auras together to command all the Aura of this place minimizing the effects of the enemies Aura to a minimum possible. This Aura was strange, I could feel countless Auras inside and they were all part of this thing''s Aura, as if they were ornaments on a statue. While Nix and I kept the creature''s Aura out, the others left through the Gate staying close to me, my sisters seeming not to mind acting normally while everyone else was on the ground, apart from my sisters the only one who acted normally was Magnus, my 3 Heralds for some reason are not in sight. But the one I was really paying attention to was my sister, this creature forgot everyone and spoke directly to her, it left even me and Nix aside even though we are the ones who control this place, this means a connection with Elizabeth that approaches me. "Do you know what this thing is..." (I) Before I could ask any questions it disappeared, when I looked the Bizarre Cloud also disappeared at the same time, it didn''t take a genius to notice the connection, possibly an enemy technique. "Nix, we have to find Elizabeth." (I) "We can not." (Nix) "She''s right, Dad." (Magnus) Magnus pointed to the sky, the enemies had arrived, my attack together with Nix was neutralized by that damn cloud full of mouths, I look back and the others are in no condition to fight, the only ones who can fight besides me are Nix who is limited to me, Magnus who for some reason adapted instantly and Hela who is a Necromancer. We don''t have time to take care of these enemies and look for Elizabeth at the same time, I realized that I have to trust Elizabeth this time, there is a limit to how far I can go. "Prepare yourselves!" (I) As soon as the enemies arrived more than ten attacks flew directly at Nix, my instinct was to protect her, but as soon as I managed to pull her out of the way the attacks disappeared and the pain hit me hard. I felt 10 impacts tearing my body almost to pieces if it weren''t for several pairs of translucent hands being an improvised defense taking most of the damage in my place, thanks to that I escaped. "Nix, space lock!" (I) "< Space Rune: Spatial Interference >" (I) I create a Rune that Nix holds with her hands as if it were made of glass, then it increases its power before breaking on the ground, this all happens very quickly, as soon as the Rune broke on the ground it became dust spreading as it created a wind, the point was that this was not wind but rather the movement of space becoming in flux. The attack before was sent directly to me through space, this will prevent it from happening again and it even generated something interesting, a blinking cube appeared in the sky, if I had to guess Elizabeth must be inside there now. "Nix, can you make these trees fight?" (I) "No, they are living creatures from this place, I can influence them, but no..." (Nix) Before she finished speaking I jumped up opening my wings to give more momentum upwards, which didn''t make any difference as gravity became strange from a few meters above the ground. I was lucky to be able to regain my composure in time to intercept the enemy, Nix who was speaking was pulled along with me with the sudden movement as I didn''t have time to warn. My arm turned into a crystal sculpture stopping something invisible heading towards those still confused on the ground. What I defended with my arm was a very large and sharp inside, but as soon as I grabbed it it was like it was made of melting ice as it returned to its corrosive liquid form burning my arm. "Why are you hiding? Demons are so cowardly now." (I) "(Nix, pass this message...)" (I) I use Nix to send my orders, I asked Natasha and Magnus to attack the other enemies while Caitlyn takes care of those still on the ground like children learning to walk. I myself had to face this enemy and I was excited in a way, he couldn''t hide from me, I could see the Demonic power within him as well as feel his murderous intent even in hiding. As soon as he appeared it only became clearer to see, this creature was a liar, it was a large body with two arms and two legs that look like tree trunks, its head was literally formed of purple fire while the rest of the body was made of stone blocks. But everything was a lie, I could see a silhouette hidden inside the fire that forms the head, it seemed small and weak, this body is clearly a mistake that I will allow to continue, I can take advantage of this information later. From the Aura it seemed to be a Demon, but I felt something faint behind the Demonic power, the sensation is similar to half Demons in the Dungeon, but I still don''t know the rest of its lineage. "I didn''t expect to see a living calamity here, you must be the Chaos Calamity." (Half Demon) "I didn''t know I had become a Calamity." (I) As I spoke my body changed, it seems that even using an incarnation technique like this I can still transform into a Dragon, it seems that I really am a Dragon completely. Using my Dragon form I attacked, my tail went straight into his face while one of my braves was behind freaking out more at the base of where there should be a neck. But the two attacks hit a barrier that broke, but fulfilled its purpose of interrupting my blows, after that I refused in time to evade two blocks of stone that form his body becoming two teeth like the one before, flying towards where I was before half a second ago. "The Annihilator of Worlds, Hunter of Deities, Heretic of Light, Predator of Gods..." (Half Demon) "You have many names!" (Half Demon) While he was speaking his attacks never stopped, he spoke easily but felt that his Aura was becoming unstable from the shock of my own Aura, his will didn''t seem to be as strong and he was feigning calm while speaking. His body or at least what he tries to pass through his body is very resistant, all my claws do are scratches, his blows are not only heavy but also release explosions of purple fire with each strike, this fire ignored any defense and burned directly the energy forming my body, now I understand how that tooth that melted managed to burn my arm. "(Master, this is Authority.)" (Nix) "(Yes, I noticed, Authority not of the fire itself, but rather, Authority of the act of burning when consuming something.)" (I) I had already guessed his power, I myself have an affinity with the fire of the 3 types of natural energy (Mana/Ki/Spiritual Energy), his fire itself was just strengthened with Demonic Power and it was something else contained in that fire that was causing this damage to me. "No matter how many names I have or what they call me, what I wonder is how did you get here?" (I) "This doesn''t concern you." (Half Demon) As soon as he attacked me with his fist once more, the shape of the pine changed as if it was melting before taking the shape of a sword, this change was almost instantly mid-swing, I didn''t have time to move away nor did I need to, I was expecting exactly that. "< Chaos Spiritual Breath >" (me/Nix) What I did was advance towards my chest, but before it reached my tail, it wrapped around the sword that was his arm, trapping him in place. At this point Nix had already positioned himself on the other side of him and we both launched the same breath attack with the exact same formation against each other with this Half Demon between us. An attack like that at close range and being sandwiched between us like that was highly destructive, he didn''t have time to do anything and I guaranteed that, I was waiting for him to make that kind of big attack. My vision was confused due to the flash of the two attacks colliding, she and I were moving away because of this collision of attacks until we stopped at the same time, as we are so closely linked it is easier to synchronize in such a precise way. When the energies between us were rebuilding they revealed what appeared to be a crow with an almost Humanoid shape, it was injured and yet it was alive. "You bastard, I''m going to... Ahhh!!!" (Half Demon) When he thought he could speak a big mouth appeared behind him, arms pens with hands in the palms came out of that big mouth grabbing as he bit it as he pulled it into the big jaw closing leaving only one last scream behind, the big mouth that devoured they became a mist that returned to me or more specifically to Hinata, that was one of his arms that trapped her Soul inside me again. "(Are you okay, Hinata?)" (I) "(Tasty...)" (Hinata) Chapter 1411: Cap 1409: Spiritual World under siege part 3 Pov Elizabeth''s: As soon as that thing spoke I recognized the main voice, there was a voice that spoke fractions of a second before the other voices in sync speaking next, I wouldn''t let that go unnoticed, not with that voice. When I felt the energy of space approaching I knew it was him, the same strategy I taught in the second conquest campaign. As space literally enveloped me and expanded like a bubble, it merged with another bubble of space revealing that Demonic Cloud. The once empty place where we were soon became a green marble castle with green ornaments, we were at the gate of the castle which has 15 towers with the largest being the tower in the middle of the castle where the throne room is located. "(This brings back memories.)" (I) If I close my eyes I can still hear the scream of the Knights training, the cry of a king who is afraid of the mountain of documents that forms with each war he participates in and the happy voices of the population that lived in the city near the castle. "You didn''t need to show me that, Elijah." (I) "So you still remember those you abandoned and betrayed!?" (Elias) The green clouds that previously took up a lot of space form a tornado that decreases in size increasingly condensing a gelatinous body of almost 3 meters, it looked like something a child would create with mud when asked to create the figure of a person, the strangest thing is the countless mouths spread across your body. "I didn''t cheat on you, I warned you more than once that this would happen..." (I) "SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH!!!" (Elias) Even without looking I can start perfectly what he is going to do, I took two steps to the left dodging an ice sword from behind, then I stepped hard on the ground breaking the ice forming below in the shape of some monster, I turned my body giving a kick the ice creature that was jumping towards me from a blind spot. "Stop it, I know you well enough to...cough...cough..." (I) "You were always too arrogant, bitch!" (Elias) Changing his behavior pattern, from the cracks I made in the ground 3 ice spikes pierce my body, then he approaches me with his arm becoming a large monster jaw with ice teeth. But as soon as it reached me, the body disintegrated into red mist, a clone made using my Aura together with blood energy, my true body was underground from the moment I stepped on the ground, my true body was in liquid form like real blood before I sprouted from the ground returning to my old form. "< Chain of Blood Runes: Life Overlay >" (I) More than 100 Runes exactly the same in liquid form come out in a row from my palm, condensing into 1 Rune that becomes solid like metal when the palm of my hand hits the area of ??his chest, creating a concentrated wave of energy making the body him fly backwards. From his mist body, several arms and heads were formed trying to free themselves from his body, unfortunately this was very quick to be resolved, the mouths that form his body began to devour these heads and arms. "As always you ignore a problem right in front of you being deceived by what others want you to see." (I) He was the first student I taught, when I first met him he was just a half-dead teenager among a group of bandits and some children, such strong willpower, the resolve to face certain death rather than giving in to his beliefs and that sparkle in your eyes. "(Are you a Vampire? What is a Vampire and why do you want to be my teacher?)" (Elias) "(Teacher, are you crazy!? I can''t become a King!)" (Elias) "(Teacher, I want to help them, but you were right, there is a limit to how far just a pair of hands can go.)" (Elias) "(Teacher, they died because of me, I wasn''t strong enough to protect them, how can I be stronger!?)" (Elias) "(Teacher, this is our Kingdom, what do you think? It may be small now, but I will transform it into a home for those who seek peace.)" (Elias) "(Teacher, I just wanted peace, so why is this war happening, what should I do?)" (Elias) "(Teacher, we won this war, but why don''t I feel happy?)" (Elias) "(Teacher, after many years and several wars, I finally made it, this is no longer that small Kingdom, this is the biggest Empire in the world, hahahahaha...)" (Elias) "(Professor, I swear I''d rather have to lead another war than deal with these Nobles, I knew some had ambition and sometimes showed themselves to be a little selfish, but they weren''t that bad in the past... now they think first in them before looking at the people... what should I do?)" (Elias) "(Why don''t you understand!? Things are no longer as simple as you make them seem! My every word carries the weight of millions of lives!!)" (Elias) "(Teacher, where have you been all these years? I can''t trust anyone anymore, there are enemies in my Empire, I don''t know what to do... I don''t know who to trust...)" (Elias) "(Teacher, why don''t you say anything? Why don''t you talk once again about your simple solution to all of this!? THIS DAMN CIVIL WAR!!!)" (Elias) The memories of him were a disappointment to me when he achieved his wish he was no longer the inflexible boy I found close to death, but he was still a good King, unfortunately he chose to give in more and more to the people, the nobles and the other nations, This erased everything that remained of that glow that I was still able to see in his eyes until that moment. The last time I looked at that beautiful place there was nothing left, it was ruins, there were remains of lifeless bodies and nothing else, it was an Empire of the dead. "< Divine Incarnation: 90% >" (I) As the Divine Spark burned within me I focused on what I planted in him all those years ago, my lineage that I shared with him when I accepted him as one of my children. He couldn''t even take care of himself now, the random body parts coming out of his body keep appearing and his futile attempt to devour those body parts is of no use, our own bodies here are energy, even losing our minds here I wouldn''t kill anyone like I would outside of here. "What was once the gift I gave you, today will be the strings attached to your execution." (I) The lineage that runs through my interior goes far beyond just the body, even in this place the power of the lineage went through my body as if it were my blood. As soon as I reach the power within him I begin to burn borrowing the power of Zenos, the power of the bloodline becomes the power of death eating away at his Spectral body. "Do you think I''m afraid of the power of death!?" (Elias) "Hahaha... hahahahahaha..." (Elias) "I''m already dead, if there''s one thing I''m not afraid of it''s death, you can''t defeat me." (Elias) "You''re right, killing a Strong Specter is already difficult, but a Divine level Demon Specter like you is even worse to defeat." (I) The Divine Power showed itself with the power of my bloodline and in less than 1 second the set of two powers fused together formed a great two-handed sword, the appearance being the same as his Sword in the past. "< Divine Blood Rune: Age Divider >" (I) With the Rune I created with my Divine power becoming a red crystal sword, that sword passed through the cloud and continued until it split the castle and with it the barrier of this place. The barrier is broken and just as needed she came to me without showing anything, her translucent body crossing the barrier with her eyes focused only on Elias, but before she could reach the space around him it broke making him disappear. The power of death was just to get his attention and it worked perfectly. "Gone... hunger..." (Hinata) After Elias disappeared she came to me, as Zenos'' Familiar she could devour him giving him a more permanent death. "There''s no need to hide, I know you''re there, why did you save him?" (I) "I can''t let you kill him, my contract is just to test his strength, I''m sorry about that." (Delilah) Suddenly a copy of me with gray hair appears in front of me, as always the Demonic Goddess of Contract always taking the form of others. "You know, your brother is incredible, he has so many contracts..." (Dalila) "Don''t think about him too much, you don''t want someone like him around." (I) "Alright, then I''ll go while this thing doesn''t attack me yet." (Delilah) "Food?" (Hinata) "No, just an idiot." (I) "What a difficult thing to hear from an old friend." (Delilah) "But out of respect for our relationship I will say something, the Ritual of that Empire was done by..." (Dalila) ------------------- Pov Zenos: After dealing with my enemy Hinata jumped out of me and ran the cube where Elizabeth was supposed to be, but I didn''t participate because an unexpected visitor appeared. "Hello, Zenos." (Stella) Chapter 1412: Cap 1410: Spiritual World under siege part 4 After I managed to defeat that idiot with a burning head and the Moon Spirit Queen appeared, Nix''s mother, most of the enemies had been defeated or that''s what I thought before I felt a restriction placed around this entire domain. Nix was hugging her mother while they were having some kind of mental conversation and in the meantime Elizabeth appeared next to Hinata. "Did you take care of that weird cloud?" (I) "No, he ran away, but he''s marked by me, I can deal with him another time." (Elizabeth) "He didn''t like you, was he someone he knew?" (I) "No, not anymore..." (Elizabeth) She clearly didn''t want to talk about it, so I left him alone as Stella waved me closer. "I passed on to my daughter everything I knew about the current situation of the battle and she told me about her plan." (Stella) "It will work?" (I) "It will work, but the commotion will not be on the scale you think, it will be much smaller, but the other Spiritual Kings can make use of this moment." (Stella) "How long to let them know?" (Elizabeth) "Here I can warn everyone in minutes, but preparation will take time, even now the battle is still going on and not everyone is in a defensive battle like you." (Stella) "Is our situation really bad?" (I) "For sure." (Elizabeth) "They''re going to make this place a priority target." (Stella) "We may have some strong people, but be a priority target..." (Nix) "I don''t understand either, does this have something to do with the threat that Demonic God made with his killing intent?" (I) "Natasha, explain it to them." (Elizabeth) "The Gods aren''t idiots, most Gods know what you''re doing and should have ways of keeping an eye on you at least occasionally." (Natasha) "You created and remodeled some Essences when doing just one of those things should be almost impossible even for Gods, not counting the death of the Demonic God of Greed and the creation of the Ki Shrine as well as the creation of the Stellar Corruption Ki Source." (Natasha) "You have no idea of ??the things you do, you have reshaped the entire universe." (Elizabeth) "The reason you are in the Spirit World is not difficult to imagine, this also affects this entire war, if I were on their side I would have even come to rip your Soul out of your body, seal it in a box and throw it into the spatial rift most unstable you could find." (Natasha) "There is already movement, the other Fairy Kings are holding back the enemy forces and I have been sent as support." (Stella) I had no idea that I was in the sights of several Gods, I knew I was doing some crazy things, Elizabeth always liked to point this out more than once, but in my head I hadn''t taken it far enough, I was still being modest in my achievements and their repercussions. When we return I have to think of a way to protect myself from the spying of these Gods. "(The God of Spirits, how must he be now?)" (I) "Where is the God of Spirits..." (I) "We have a problem!" (Nix) "Damn, is that what I''m thinking?" (I) "It took a while for them to do this, it has already been done in other places." (Stella) We all looked up, the barrier that Stella erected was very different from the one that Nix created, I could feel it, but there was something that I didn''t know was a flaw until now, it only allows Spirits to pass through. What we were seeing now were Demon Spirits, my senses were amplified in this place and the more I get used to it the more I can see. That outside the dome slowly forcing its way through are Spirits, but the energy coming out of them is clearly Demonic, there are hundreds of them and I don''t even know if they are all or just the first to arrive. "What are those things?" (I) "They are possessed Spirits, the Demonic Specter took their bodies, corrupted their Spiritual Energy and sealed their Souls." (Stella) Every word Stella spoke was accompanied by murderous interaction and apparent fury, she clearly hated these things. I was preparing to advance by taking the lead in the first attack, but before I could do so a hand was placed on my shoulder. "While they are passing the risk is not just theirs, if they attack now they may receive a reaction from the barrier, this even applies to Nix who created this place." (Stella) With her warning I could only stand still, but I didn''t do anything, I was starting to create plans on how to deal with these things, but first I needed to know something. "What happens to the Spirits if these things are defeated?" (I) "The body will be destroyed and most of the Spiritual Energy will be dispersed, leaving only the Soul sealed until someone releases it or the seal loses its strength, but even after that they may not resist dying." (Stella) "Now I understand why you are here." (Elizabeth) "Fortunately your idea fulfilled my objective better than the alternative." (Stella) "They passed!" (Magnus) "Let''s finish them!" (I) "You and Nix stay, remember the plan, you two are the targets." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) Left out I saw the others leaving, Elizabeth stayed behind as security, I felt frustrated for not fighting, but I knew I couldn''t afford to be targeted in the middle of the fight. ----------------- Pov Magnus: "(This place is worse than what my father told me all those years ago.)" (I) In my youth my father trained all his children including me to fight with energy bodies, he wanted to teach how to use the Incarnation of Light at his level, he had already invaded the Spiritual World once and wanted to prepare us for everything as always. I went towards a group of enemies, their Aura seemed to combine into one which was strange when their appearances were of creatures of different elements. I didn''t need to worry about others, but I knew I was weaker here, my energy body doesn''t have the same resistance as my real body, I also can''t use my magic which is my second specialty, my body also doesn''t cause the same level of damage I''m used to, the environment itself is too strange. "(Son, I want you to try to use my Starfire to save these Spirits, see if this is possible and don''t put yourself in any more danger than necessary.)" (Zenos) "(I''ll do my best.)" (I) My father''s voice in my head took me by surprise, but fortunately I still had a few seconds before reaching the enemies, his idea of ??saving the Spirits pleased me, deep down I was afraid of fighting and hurting innocent people. "< Sacred Claws of the Eclipse Dragon >" (I) I don''t have any ranged attacks like my Breath, so I used my Aura as a base to activate my power by condensing Spiritual Energy, Holy Power and my Aura around my arms, especially my claws that burn in Starfire. With the enemies approaching I wasted no time throwing my body between them using my wings as a shield before opening my wings spreading them, using my claws to cut one of them made of ice in half while with my tail I pulled one towards me exchanging blows. The ice one was screaming as Spiritual energy enveloped him along with Starfire, but the Second had a body made of metal, every blow exchanged with him made my fists hurt, but his arms were starting to burn, spreading to the rest of his body, he tried to rip his arms off to save himself, which I didn''t allow when I penetrated his chest with my claws before kicking his body against a purple fire creature. The enemies surrounded my body using the ultimate sacrifice for this, many attacks came towards me, I could have pushed them away, but I allowed the blows to hit me to discover my target, during these combats I felt a flow of energy moving away from the creatures that were afflicted by the Starfire heading towards the others, once I confirmed which one appeared to be the center, I grabbed the flag shoulders. "< Eclipse Dragon''s Breath >" (I) What came out of my mouth looked like two different sandstorms, one with white sand and the other with black sand mixing in the same storm, tearing his body to pieces, it was at that moment that the change began, just as I suspected. The wooden body broke and a purple mist formed around it, the other enemies had their bodies fall apart with the Demonic energy and the corrupted Spiritual Energy gathering in the same place, what formed was a Spectral Dragon of tens of meters tall looking at me with hatred in his eyes before turning to my father. "< Eclipse Dragon''s Breath >" (I) "< Ghost Demon Breath >" (Spectral Dragon) Our two attacks collide and explode in a tornado that expands separating us from each other, I see him taking this chance to escape from me, his focus seems to be exclusively on my Father as we thought. I couldn''t let it go, I couldn''t let him get to him and so I advanced, grabbing his tail to pull it towards me, his attack trying to bite me allowed nothing more than meeting my claws with his teeth. Chapter 1413: Cap 1411: Spiritual World under siege part 5 Pov Magnus: That Spectral Demonic Dragon was trying to warn me and head towards my Father, his speed was no less than mine, I wouldn''t be able to catch up and I didn''t need to. Elizabeth appeared in front of him, with the movement of a hand, a sword made of Runes appeared from the ground, splitting that Dragon in half, which suddenly divided into dozens of smaller Dragons still heading in the direction of my Father. But by that time they had already lost, several white arms appeared out of nowhere pulling them through a hole that no one was able to see, each one of them disappeared and my Father was stroking a semi-transparent head coming out of his chest, this was Hinata. "I hate this place, I feel like I have half my power here, maybe even less." (I) "That''s because you don''t know how to use your power." (Byakko) Byakko appears next to me, lightning crackled around his body while Kira was jumping from his body to continue fighting. "She is better?" (I) "She''s more than fine." (Byakko) As she spoke I lost sight of Kira, her speed was so great that all I could see were the shattered bodies of the Demon Spirits. "Why aren''t you helping her?" (I) "She needs to practice and they are perfect for that, in the meantime I have something I need to do..." (Byakko) Byakko uses his claws to cut the space in front of him, opening a slit in the shape of his claws, then sticks his head inside for a few seconds before pulling out with something still in his jaw, it was a silver crystal heart with a metallic shine and electric rays around. "What is that?" (I) ------------------ Pov Demon Soul Demon God: I was in one of the Spirit Temples, this island was made exclusively of ice, it was one of the biggest islands, but luckily for us the Spirit King of this place was away leaving an excellent base for us after being corrupted with Demonic Power. "This bastard, why didn''t his Gate close!?" (I) "You said you could close all the Gates!!!" (I) "I never said that, I said that I could close almost everyone using my Divine Weapon, that had its cost, there was also the agreement to bring you here..." (Dalila) "You didn''t bring us here, you just sold information and got paid for it, now about the Chaos Calamity..." (I) Sigh "Just tell me how did that freak get in here?" (I) "(This bastard still has Stella and Byakko by his side in addition to the other 3 Living Calamities, this is a nightmare.)" (I) "I''m not even going to charge for this information since it''s something simple, Nix''s Spirit Gate is in a Dungeon that also happens to be part of his body, even the God of Spirits can''t close that gate because it''s part of the Nix''s body." (Delilah) "..." (I) This plan took thousands of years to accomplish and long planning, killing Byakko in that time was difficult and now he is back alongside the worst enemies he could think of. "If it weren''t for that damn power!!!!" (I) The Power of Chaos is something really bizarre, no one other than the Demon Gods has researched this power so deeply and that''s why I know how difficult it is to go against this damn power, for those with bodies made of energy it''s even worse. "Stop sending our troops to that place, assemble a team of at least 100 of our elites and send some strong Deities." (I) "Sir, but our Deities are..." "I didn''t ask your opinion, so do as I say before I tear your soul apart like I did your predecessor!" (I) "Yes, my Sir!" I sent one of my Divine Servants to relay my orders, I know that others don''t like following my orders, but I am in charge of the strategy. Zenos could be a problem, but it can be dealt with later, the important thing is to stop his goal which can only be the Source of Power, if he creates something like that it will spread his influence throughout the Fairy World, I have no idea what It could happen and I wouldn''t let something like that continue, it needs to be crushed now. "I need to think..." (I) Closing my eyes I can see the rate of corrosion of the Spiritual Energy, it must be close to 10%, this is very slow, the resistance of the Spirits is greater than expected. "(We need to finish this quickly, I don''t know how long we can hold off the God of Spirits and how long it will take for the creation of Zenos'' Power Source.)" (I) Sigh "I feel like I was in my pre-Divinity days when I had to be careful with every step." (I) "If you make a contract with me I can get almost anything you ask for, what do you think?" (Delilah) "Delilah, your service is declining, since when do you offer "almost" among your services?" (I) "You know the reason." (Delilah) "(She won''t help with Zenos and won''t personally get involved in this battle, is she cutting her losses?)" (I) "(Does she know something I don''t know?)" (I) ------------------ Pov Zenos: Hours have passed since Stella left, during this time Nix gave me the information he got from Stella, it seems that the Demons are using Demon and Ghost energy to corrupt the Spiritual Energy, they are trying to replace all the Spiritual Energy in this place. It seems that so far they have been unable to take one of the Ice Element Power Sources which is located on a continent of floating ice and their advance has been increasingly aggressive. The God of Spirits appears to be being held by 5 Demonic Gods in a half-sealed state leaving him trapped in the same place, it appears that he was forging a Divine Weapon and it was during its completion where he used most of his power that the Demons attacked, they had clearly been waiting for this moment. The Spirits seem to be taking a lot of casualties for not expecting this attack, but they managed to regroup quickly with the Spirit Kings present as a base. The place where we are seems to be a little further away from the biggest fighting points, which I was more than grateful for until I saw the situation changing quickly. The attacks were becoming increasingly intense in number and strength of the enemies, my sisters had to spread out using their Divine Incarnations to keep the situation under control, taking areas in three directions of this island. Many enemies were being decimated by them, but this power would not last forever and that is why they waited so long to use it, apart from the 3 of them the one who helped the most was Kira, she was frantic since she recovered, she even seems drugged demonstrating levels of power she''s never shown before, if it weren''t for Byakko reassuring me that she''s fine, I would have flown to her to squeeze out some answers out of sheer concern. My 3 Heralds also appeared, but it''s not the way I expected, their voices are inside my mind and their Souls inside me, they are having difficulty forming their own bodies and are testing some things, it seems they can''t create bodies with Energy Spiritual like all of us, so they are trying to do this using Holy Power. Layla has been quiet, I put her to sleep inside me since she is useless in this place besides helping to resist the weight on me, Hinata and Nix are always by my side, no matter how much everyone is fighting there are still many enemies passing by trying get to me. Hinata treated this place like a restaurant, she is devouring each of the enemies the moment they are defeated while Nix and I are waiting for Stella. Suddenly several rays of energy appeared in the sky cutting between waves of Specters, over time I saw all the few islands in the sky being situated, but most of the enemies were still coming towards us. The rays of light suddenly explode in a show with flames, luminous liquids, giants of silver metal and even a mountain launching at our enemies, most of the rays of light and stopped in the sky with only one continuing to dodge the few enemies that They stood in their way until they got to where we were. The light passed through the surrounding barrier with great ease, proving to be a pure Spirit and that''s why everyone let it pass, as soon as it passed through the barrier, Nix and I were able to feel its presence and that''s why we received it after giving the last of the enemies to Hinata to eat, finally Stella had returned. "Everyone is ready, do it now!" (Stella) Nix and I exchanged a look, happy that we no longer had to wait, during that time, at least in the beginning before the enemies swarmed around us, I tried to understand how I would do this together with Nix and found that the process was not as difficult as I did when creating the Ki Source. Without exchanging any words, Nix and I took our Dragon form and flew to stay above the waterfall before entering the lake that contains the starry sky. "< Chaos Element Spiritual Source >" (me/Nix) "< Forge >" (me/Nix) Chapter 1414: Cap 1412: Spiritual World under siege part 6 "< Chaos Element Spiritual Source >" (me/Nix) "< Forge >" (me/Nix) With Stella''s warning that the Spirits were ready, Nix and I began the process to forge the Source of Power, we both changed into our Dragon form, in our tests we realized that our instinct is more charged in this form, allowing interaction more natural between the two of us and with that I realized that it was the correct way to do it. In our Dragon form we enter the lake that seems to contain the starry sky, the place where the waterfall of stars falls forming the center of this island. When we both entered the sounds of the battles happening outside no longer mattered and didn''t reach us, my mind began to fall more and more into an empty state letting my body flow in pure energy with Nix doing the same. The state we are in was something I didn''t expect, but I didn''t fight it, I could feel that we were changing the starry sky with our every movement and with that a new wave of Aura emerged within me. The Source of Power at the moment was me from which the Spiritual Energy of Chaos was continually pouring out, but this Aura is now starting to react and with that I know I am doing the right thing. Our bodies continued to break apart and allow it to continue, that''s when I realized that the energy of our bodies was merging with our surroundings, the stars moved around us as they danced around each other until all that was left were our Souls dancing. The stars around us formed one Dragon and it was as if the two of us had become one. Our minds were empty and the stellar body moved by pure instinct painting constellations that together formed a waterfall of stars with a Dragon rising up the waterfall beyond the whole with a moon that sits inside the Dragon''s jaw as if it was about to be devoured. When this formed I felt my mind returning little by little, it was then that something welled up from within me, an infinite amount of Chaos Spiritual Energy left my body at the same time that pure Spiritual Energy was invading my body. I could feel all this energy coming out of me focusing on the stars that form the constellations I created, the waterfall was suddenly becoming more realistic as was the lake below, even the Dragon climbing the waterfall and the Moon in its mouth became more realistic. Some connection was forming as I saw my own reflection in the Dragon and Nix''s reflection in the waterfall, I felt as if something was still missing and I didn''t know what it could be. At that moment something appeared directly from my Soul, it was the illusory Essence Core, from the core only one of the Essences appeared, coiling around me and Nix whose consciousness was also returning, together we knew what we had to do, the Essence itself pointing the last step, the last brushstroke in the stellar painting we have created. The Essence courses through our Souls and the Dragon body we share before gathering in our jaw, a Dragon breath attack focused on the constellation lake, this attack was beyond just destructive, it seemed to pierce through something before being completely assimilated. When we regained sight, the lake previously revealing only the same stars and energy flows that was already around us, now revealing a starry sky with planets, Suns, Moons and a landscape that was constantly changing, Nix and I probably also noticed that this was In the real world, we create a passage of Chaos Spiritual Energy out of the Spirit World. A feeling of completeness forming as the connection with the universe outside comes together with the connection with the Spirit World and finally with the two of us forming a complete cycle. -------------------- Pov Kira''s: I was feeling different since we got here, the Spiritual energy was incredible, the energy inside me seemed infinite, but what caused the confusion in my mind was exactly that, it was so much energy that I was unable to handle it. My mind wasn''t capable of processing energy levels like that, my body couldn''t even contain part of what was there and my senses seemed to have freed themselves from a restriction I didn''t even know I had, I was adrift amid metal sheets and a lightning storm. It was when he saved me once again, the power of Zenos'' blood sphere that I used as a nucleus to build this spiritual body, this Core had been pulsing since I entered here as if it were my own heart and even then it took me a while to notice that these pulsations was slowly making this infinite Spiritual Energy circulate around me as well as within me. Slowly a cycle formed, the once infinite energy around me became a river, the flow of energy entered within me before exiting with me being just a path through which this energy flowed, I had become part of the cycle and a calm arose in my Soul. "(Lightning is as much a part of nature as metal, one appears in the heavens and the other appears below the earth, yet the metal conducts the lightning giving direction to its power.)" (Byakko) "(Heaven and Earth as one, you as a whole.)" (Byakko) "(Heaven and Earth with one... me as a whole...)" (I) Byakko''s voice appeared in my mind, his words seemed to resonate with me, the lightning storm focused its rays on me while all the metal blades around me pierce my body, but still no damage was done because everything here is part of me. "(I am the union of heaven and earth, through me the 2 become 1 forming a complete whole.)" (I) When I opened my eyes and saw the battles happening I felt my Familiar encouraging me to go forward, my body seemed to have no limitations, my every step was accompanied by lightning, every swing of my arms cut everything in front of me. I seemed to have entered a type of trance during combat, the energies that previously flowed through my body were part of me, I was a path to this power and it was up to me to direct this limitless power. At some point I felt something and instinctively turned my body towards my Familiar, but my vision went much deeper than just his body, what I saw was a very large Byakko stepping on storm clouds and metal blades around him, his eyes were so sharp that he could destroy everything with a simple look and the sound of a heartbeat came so naturally that it took me a while to notice. "(This is my power... this is our power...)" (Byakko) "(This is your power... this is our power...)" (I) Suddenly my point of view changed and I realized I was on top of Byakko''s head, me and him as one, my power was his power, his power was my power. When I realized again my surroundings were already surrounded by storm clouds, Byakko and I danced around each other tearing the enemies to pieces. Byakko a brutal force of nature tearing through everything and everyone in his path, I on the other hand became as lethal and inevitable as a bolt of lightning, all those in our path were torn to pieces raining down from the sky in pieces. It took me a while to calm my mind and Soul from the frantic state I was in, but when I felt Zenos'' presence disappear the world seemed to stop for 1 second as my eyes turned to the waterfall, I saw him and Nix sinking into that lake, which made me feel calmer knowing he had started. "Kira!!!" (Byakko) "< Storm Rune: Devastation of the Heavens >" (I) My brief moment when I stopped attacking was not left alone by the enemies, hundreds of them appear around me while something big keeps Byakko busy, they wanted to eliminate me in my moment of distraction. Unfortunately for them, I no longer needed to draw the Runes, I could directly shape the Spiritual Energy that forms my body into Runes, activating them and that''s exactly what I did. Before they even reached me, a storm cloud surrounded my body as my concentration turned to them, the storm created countless lightning bolts becoming metallic tigers that attacked all nearby enemies, once again a rain of pieces falling to the ground. But it seems that two enemies are left, they more than broke through the storm cloud, they cut it in two, their bodies fall apart as if they were being torn apart from the inside, then two creatures appear looking like Demons, one of them was made of red crystal smelling like blood and the other was a mist with white eyes in a humanoid shape. What was left of the bodies of the Spirits they were possessing fell apart as they were coming towards me, but I realized that they were the distraction, they weren''t the ones who cut through my storm, the real enemy is using them to divert my attention while staying hidden in the dark storm dodging the metal Tigers and lightning heading towards the waterfall, his focus like everyone else is always on Zenos. "< Byakko Rune: Execution of Heaven and Earth >" (I) Chapter 1415: Cap 1413: Spiritual World under siege part 7 Pov Kira''s: "< Byakko Rune: Execution of Heaven and Earth >" (I) This was a Rune that Byakko tried to teach me several times, but I was never able to use it correctly, the only few times I was able to, I was using the Spiritual Energy overload to force an activation, which decreases the power while greatly increasing the I wasted energy and still rendered myself useless after falling to the ground. But this time the Spiritual Energy was not a problem, I also feel more different, I have never felt as strong as I feel now inside, with Byakko much stronger as a support and with the Holy Power of Zenos to strengthen the Rune beyond normal level. When I created the Rune I felt the power within me travel through my body gathering in my arm, then my entire arm fell apart as if it were made of dust that gathered back together in the form of a crystal tiger head with the Rune stuck in its mouth of the tiger. Inside the crystal arm it was possible to see 3 flows of power intertwining, the Metal Spiritual Energy, the Thunder Spiritual Energy and the Sacred Power of Zenos. This power mixed and concentrated in the tiger head, so my power could condense almost instantly with much more ease and speed than I could imagine. With a movement of my arm, a wave of power that took the form of a wave of particles drove everyone away from the surroundings, then a storm cloud appeared in the sky and from there a metallic tiger''s head appeared, releasing a ray of Thunder concentrated like a column of metal falling on top of the enemy heading towards the waterfall. His body moved faster, he gave up going after Zenos realizing that he wouldn''t be able to get to him, but that was far from being enough to escape my attack. In the end he abandoned the Spirit body he was possessing to use as a shield while he set up a second barrier made of crystallized Demon energy in the shape of a large claw. The attack reached him in the end, but the damage was not enough to kill him, but it managed to buy time and before he could even move, a red crystal spear penetrated his Spectral Body, causing him to crumble into blood that burns with Fire Stellar. While this was happening, a wave of Spiritual Energy appeared from the source, dispersing in all directions, this was a type of Spiritual Energy that I knew very well, an energy that flowed from Zenos continuously and in this place it was almost non-existent. Now this energy was emerging more and more, for me it was as if these waves were shaking reality itself with these waves of Chaos Spiritual Energy, this confused my new senses and when I regained consciousness I realized that both my allies and enemies were standing still confused, some holding their heads like me seconds ago and just like me, everyone else was recovering quickly. "(Don''t lose focus, this is the most critical moment!)" (Byakko) When I looked around everyone was waking up, the power spreading wasn''t doing anything bad against the enemies, everything that was happening was a result of the power interacting with the rest of the Spirit World, this interaction was making everyone this mess because of everything here being energy, this energy is now mixing with something else, which once again confuses all of our senses as if a new element was placed in the universe. The biggest problem was when the barrier broke, the enemies were starting to recover, but Stella wasn''t rebuilding the barrier for some reason. "There''s more of them coming, Damn!!" (I) --------------------- Pov Ibuki''s: I was sitting on the ground, my crushed arm was recovering with each wave of power coming out of the waterfall, this was Zenos'' power, I couldn''t help but smile thinking about him. "How are things Nicole?" (I) "(Simply put? I have no idea, I hate this place, it feels like reality itself is in constant flux and there are no rules or laws that govern here, nothing I know seems to...)" (Nicole) I slap her across the face for the eighth time, it always ends with her talking about how she hates being here, about how she has nothing to learn from this rubbish, about how she''s wasting her time here and so on. "Stay focused, we are not here for you, I want to know the situation of the enemies and, if possible, know Zenos'' conduct." (I) "Forget Nix and my Father, they will be fine and we have no way of checking anything on their side, but the enemies are acting strange and I notice behavior following some kind of pattern." (Nicole) My arm was almost recovered, the pain here was something strange, I felt the pain from my arm throughout my body, I know that these are Spiritual Energy bodies, but I still find the sensations I feel strange, it seems as if I cannot trust the my instincts here. While talking to Nicole I saw Kira''s attack hit the enemy going to the waterfall, it seems that Hinata will maintain her hunger for a while longer and it was only by thinking about her that her head appears from the waterfall before returning. When I finished listening to Nicole, something he said made an alarm ring inside my mind, a premonition of danger. "What kind of pattern?" (Ibuki) ------------------- Pov Hela''s: After the enemies recovered, the battle became much more intense as they no longer needed to continue possessing the bodies of the Spirits as they were doing before to cross the barrier. The fight was covering the skies in Spiritual Energy particles and I noticed that some enemies were making use of this to steal power from their fallen enemies, so focus on these enemies before they increase their power. In this place most of my power becomes useless, my focus of study has always been magic with Spiritual Runes being just something complementary, I am also a Necromancer and in this place I cannot use my greatest weapons, which are the dead. I was forced to copy Magnus''s way of fighting hand to hand using his Aura for combat, fortunately I could be more efficient by draining the power of enemies using my Aura. Right now I was facing a Necromancer, from his Aura I knew he was alive, but his body wasn''t here, he abandoned his body to enter only with his Soul just like I did, but unlike me who used one of the spheres of my Father''s Sacred Blood to create a body made of Spiritual Energy, this enemy used Phantom Energy as the basis to create an avatar of Demonic energy. "< Ghost Breath >" (I) I accumulated Ghost energy in my mouth and tried to imitate Magnus''s attacks, my attack was crude at best, but it served its purpose. The enemy avoided my attack and tried to get closer only to have his head grabbed from behind by a red claw before chains came out of that claw taking his entire body before compressing his body into a crystal cube. "There are many of them, if it weren''t for Elizabeth and the others taking most of the share." (Lilith) "< Cursed Rune: Chain of Extinction >" (Lilith) "We should just hold on a little longer, I can feel something is changing in the Spirit World." (I) Lilith, who appeared behind the enemy, keeps his Soul inside her own body before tearing off one of his arms, using it to create a Cursed Rune that activates instantly, creating chains that go from enemy to enemy, forcing them to fight against each other, this can take care of at least one area. "[Be careful, they are planning something, gather closer to the waterfall!]" (Nicole) "..." (me/Lilith) Suddenly a metal Bird flies to where we are and Nicole''s voice comes out of that Bird giving us a warning to gather together, I exchanged looks with Lilith before we both retreated. ------------------ Pov Dravos (God of Spirits): I was trapped inside a barrier created by 10 Divine Weapons kept functioning by 5 Demon Gods, but even in this state I can feel everything that is happening outside. "(So he came, it looks like the plan is working perfectly, I just hope Aine doesn''t get angry when she finds out.)" (I) I was trapped and weak, but that wasn''t a big problem, I can recover in seconds if I use the power of the Spirit World to nourish myself once I get out of here. As I was thinking about next steps, he contacted me. "(Zenos arrived early and is already forging the Source of Power.)" (Hernoth) "(Is everyone inside?)" (I) "(No, most are still with the Fairy Goddess, she didn''t expel them with the ferocity she expected.)" (Hernoth) "(Aine can be aggressive, but she takes good care of her people, I said I should have looked for her for this plan.)" (I) "(I didn''t have time, I had to choose one of you two, I knew that most of the Demon Gods were planning something, but I only found out what it was when they put the plan into practice.)" (Hernoth) "(I thought you''d be a better bait and easier to work with.)" (Hernoth) "(You''re not wrong about that, but your plan failed for the most part, at least we''ll be able to take out some of them.)" (I) "(As soon as you''re free I''ll be ready.)" (Hernoth) Chapter 1416: Cap 1414: Spiritual World under siege part 8 Pov Elizabeth''s: I have been in my Divine Incarnation for hours now, in the past maintaining this state almost permanently was easy, the Divinity I possessed was something branched from my mother, but thanks to Zenos now my Divinity belongs only to me, I feel it changing every time more and more as I''m being dragged up with him. Thanks to these differences, it has been more difficult to maintain a state of power like this, my Soul is finding it difficult to keep up with the changes. "< Blood Rune: Beast Bloodline > 1000" (I) With a movement of my hand, a Spiritual Rune is formed from the crystallization of the power of blood, then this Rune divides into a thousand before activating itself, creating liquid Beasts like blood already attacking the enemies, with so many I didn''t need to aim, saving time to receive the Bird of metal coming towards me. "I''m busy, keep it brief." (I) "[Join the others near the waterfall.]" (Nicole) After saying that the Metal Bird left, it looked like one of Nicole''s Golems, but I could feel that it was made of pure Spiritual Energy containing thousands of Runes in its composition, I can''t say how or when she created something like that. With nothing else to distract me, my attention turned once again to the enemies, each time the creatures die their power is absorbed by the others, strengthening them as if inheriting their power. "(If these creatures had blood, they could use this Rune to its fullest where they could also multiply with each enemy devoured.)" (I) Seeing that I managed to halt the enemies'' advance at least for a few minutes, I begin to retreat, deactivating my Divinity state before the weight on my Soul begins to negatively affect me. As soon as I arrived at the waterfall I found Natasha healing Magnus who had lost both eyes and almost all of his scales, my sisters and the others are all here, Ibuki and Kira are the only ones at the edge of the lake looking in while the others are all paying attention on enemies just like I do too. "I understand." (I) I didn''t need to ask, I could feel what was happening from the moment I arrived, the waves of Spiritual Power from before was one thing, but now the island was about to change, if that happened during the fight it could have resulted in a moment of weakness. "What are we going to do if they arrive early?" (I) "They won''t make it in time." (Natasha) "They are not idiots, they have intelligence and hierarchy, they are already retreating with their elites while sending the weakest as a threat." (Stella) "Just take care of those who get close, leave it to me." (Caitlyn) "< Aura Incarnation: Nightmare Queen >" (Caitlyn) Caitlyn''s Aura gathered into an illusory image of her with her eyes closed and a royal outfit made of bones and scales, her wings seemed to be made of tormented Souls. As soon as she appeared the environment became surrounded by red mist, illusions appeared and with that the screams soon began, even I couldn''t see through the mist and this continued for several minutes before the waterfall behind us pulsed destroying all the illusion that was created proved to be even the mist itself, the enemies were in agony in the delirious skies and Caitlyn''s image crumbles into Aura once again returning to her. "It started." (Stella) "He''ll be fine?" (Ibuki) "That''s his power, don''t forget." (Byakko) "Byakko is right, I''m more worried about the enemies trying something desperate to get in the way." (Kira) "They already tried, you just don''t know, but others took care of it, we were prepared for it..." (Stella) "..." (all) A pulse appeared once again, but this time it was not a simple wave of Spiritual Energy, it was a wave of Essence that makes the foundation of this entire reality ripple. Everyone fell to the ground, but that was only due to the impact and they were already getting up, only Kira fell unconscious with Byakko holding her, me and my sisters on the other hand were not well, as we have Divinity and Essences of our own, our senses can perceive much more than them, right now there seems to be a buzzing inside my mind and my senses are all trying to make sense of the mundane current reality. It took me a few seconds to at least adjust my senses, but the buzzing in my head only grew stronger when the second and third pulses came. That wasn''t the only change, the island itself was unusually like the waterfall was a fountain filling this place, everything seemed to have lost its solid composition while flowing with the waves away. The trees themselves were growing even more with new trees appearing as well, structures with Dragon ornaments sprouting from the ground, mountains rising in the distance and a large amount of Infant Spirits being born formed from this new Spiritual Energy. The change was quick and in a short time everything was transforming, when the world seemed to become solid again a column of Starfire burst from the waterfall going up to the illusory moon in the sky. Soon Zenos and Nix in their Dragon forms emerge at the same time from inside the lake, which now really seems to contain a Star System inside, but what caught my attention the most was the shadow of a distant Tree among the countless stars, something that only caught my attention because of the last Power Source that Zenos created. "(That can''t be the Star Corruption Tree... right?)" (I) ------------------- Pov Zenos: Ding! From the moment our consciousness was fading away with only our instinct working, I no longer knew how much time was passing or what we were doing, but the feeling of being complete took over my Soul as the same connection I have with Source Ki formed with this place. The next thing I knew, I was leaving the lake with Nix by my side, both of us still in Dragon form. Soon a flood of information came into my mind at the same time, information about everything that had happened to this Spiritual island since we entered the lake and notifications of what we had just concluded. Before seeing the notifications, I tried to internalize the information, which only took a few seconds. "(Nix, they''re under the island, you know what to do.)" (I) "(Yes master.)" (Nix) I let Nix take care of the enemies by creating a ritual below the island while I went down to the edge of the waterfall where the others were, I returned to my normal form while watching the notifications. Ding! <[ You have successfully created a [ Chaos Spiritual Energy Source ] ]> . . . <[ Your amount and recovery of Spiritual Energy has grown]> . . . <[ Your Familiar Spirit has been immensely strengthened ]> . . . <[ Your two Power Sources are partially connected ]> . . <[ ]> "..." (I) "It''s not time to be stunned yet, can you fight?" (Elizabeth) "It would be better for you to stay here..." (Stella) I was listening to them when they surrounded me, but my attention was on the notifications, several things were different than expected. I was already expecting the increase in my and Nix''s power, the same happened with the Ki Source and it was expected since our connection with these Power Sources first impacts my Family members before reaching me. But I didn''t imagine that there was some kind of connection between the two Sources of Power, I couldn''t help but look back at where the waterfall was that now makes liquid Starfire fall into the lake that looks like a portal to another universe, among the stars I noticed it immediately the shadow of a tree, it was like my eyes were pulled directly to that spot and I knew what it meant. But what caused me the most discomfort was that crossed-out message that I can''t figure out the meaning of, it must be something important and connected to my Source of Power to appear like that. "You are listening?" (Ibuki) "We don''t have time, they''re here!" (Kira) Suddenly I feel Ibuki''s hands around my face forcing my attention to her with Kira right behind looking up, I was listening to everything they were saying, but I really paid little attention until now and when my eyes looked up I saw them, but what bothered me was not being able to feel them. In this place I could feel everything and everyone inside, both friends and enemies alike, my connection with this place was much deeper now and yet I didn''t feel them until now using this place at least. Using my Aura and with them right in front of me on the other hand, I can now identify them, at least what they are, Lesser Gods. I couldn''t feel them using my connection to this place because they are using their Divinity to isolate themselves, but since I have Essence I am able to feel their presence personally. There are 2 Minor Gods, 3 of them appear to be Specters or Ghosts with the other 2 being Demons. "(Master, those at the bottom of the island are dead and seem to have performed a Ritual to open a passage that I''m trying to close now.)" (Nix) "(Close this and come back here, those who passed are right in front of me.)" (I) Now I know why they only appeared now, I also know how they managed to arrive together when Stella said she had taken care of everything, they literally went straight here. "Hand over Zenos and his Familiar and we''ll leave the rest of you..." "Shut up you idiot, we''re not Mortals and we won''t be shaking in fear of you... say Bahrain." (Natasha) "Don''t waste your time, these are the 4 Living Calamities, don''t underestimate them and don''t waste any more..." (Bahrain) Before he could finish speaking I was attacked from behind and I felt that Nix, still coming towards me, was also being attacked. "(They thought I was stupid!?)" (I) Chapter 1417: Cap 1415: Spiritual World under siege part 9 Attacking me and Nix at the same time while grabbing our attention head on with a display of power, something so cliche? was obvious. From inside my body the blood energy comes out taking the form of Haku, she came out already hugging the enemy who tried to ambush me with her entire body. The power of the Blood Transmutation Essence was concentrated in his teeth that sank into his shoulder. Meanwhile, two of Ibuki''s swords went through their backs while Caitlyn created illusory chains locking him in place, all of this happened in less than 5 seconds. The 5 in front of us didn''t stand still, they advanced towards us without saying anything else now that they are no longer trying to get our attention, there is no point in talking in a battle where neither side will be willing to take a step back. I knew that not even the biggest idiot would try to talk to enemies in such an arrogant way, any creature with half a brain knows that they shouldn''t underestimate an enemy so much if they don''t have a plan behind them, at least no one at that level of strength would do that, I believe that idiots of that level would not survive to that level. Just as I expected they attacked and my sisters took each one with them leaving only 2 behind, Stella and I advanced towards them, I knew that with their commanders in front it was only a matter of time for the troops to attack again and I could already feel they are invading from all directions, this place has just been formed and does not have the same barrier that Stella helped put up before, it wouldn''t work either since this place is still changing, the big changes have determined it and now it will take time until this place stabilize completely. The one I fought against was one of the Demons, that one seemed to be the leader, as they moved I realized that they prevented my sisters and Stella from getting to him, it seems like they want to let him get to me. "< Cursed Rune: Symbol of Agony >" "< Holy Summon: Star Sword >" (I) In this place, my Spiritual Energy is infinite, but my Sacred Power was not, summoning the sword was difficult in this situation, I still managed to cut his Rune with the sword, this moment was what he sought. 4 more enemies appeared, the power of Divinity marking their Auras rather than being part of their Auras, clearly showing that at least they are not Gods. "< Embrace of the Void >" (Hinata) "< Aura Incarnation: 4 Paths of Condemnation >" (Hades) Hinata pulled out of me, her expressionless face revealing not a trace of joy at seeing 3 Specters among the 4 new enemies. With a voice that seems to echo for eternity the space near them began to melt with arms of different sizes appearing to drag them inside, two of them were very close and were unable to avoid the arms while one of them escaped by ripping off an arm without hesitation. Soon Hades, who comes out of my Shadow, holds the head of this one without one of his arms, using it as a shield to stop the attack of the last enemy. I couldn''t help but smile at the thought that my level of paranoia is correct, but at the same time I was worried that he might have another trick up his sleeve. As soon as this place was complete I could feel the consciousness of my 3 Heralds awaken within my Soul, I also realized that I could help them build bodies of Chaos Spiritual Energy using my connection with this place to do so. It was very simple and that''s why two of my Heralds stayed with me while Cinthia accompanied Nix earlier. "< 1000 Cuts > 100" (I) With sword in hand I charged at the enemy, which quickly proved to be a horrible decision when he charged at me smiling. Divine Power exploded from him as his body changed, his head grew while tentacles grew like beards on his face, his arms separated into dozens of intertwined tentacles trying to take the shape of arms. The bastard was hiding power from him and now I didn''t have time to use my Divine Incarnation. When he came at me, the tentacles of one of his arms wrapped around my sword while the other arm hit me to the point that I would have been thrown miles back if I hadn''t been held by him. "< Breath of Chaos >" (I) "< Demonic Corrosion >" I gathered my power once again to launch a breath attack against him, but his body bent in an impossible way to avoid the attack, his tentacles tried to extend throughout my body as I felt it burn. "< Divine Incarnation: 80% >" (I) This time my body didn''t change much, that''s because this body is made of pure Spiritual Energy, so this energy was replaced by Divine Power even stronger than the last time I used it. I blasted my Aura forcing him away from me, spectacular fire burning in my sword as it descended towards him. Its writhing tentacles taking the form of a drill that has crystallized, it pushes its Aura against mine and has the advantage, but in terms of strength our strengths are not very far away, with each blow we exchanged I was always pushed back a little. Shockwaves spread with each strike, it was hard to admit, but I''m no match for him in strength and technique, every strike I tried was repelled with ease and he saw every attempt to create a Spirit Rune immediately interrupting. My repertoire with Spiritual Runes was no longer large and this bastard was making things worse, the others were in their own battles, an army had arrived to fight just as I predicted before and Ibuki was leading alongside Kira, other Spirits had arrived to help at any moment. CRACK!!! That''s when a crashing sound happened and suddenly the space closed around the Demons taking in all the enemies, from the one I was facing, as well as everyone else in their army. "But what..." (I) An Aura suddenly swept everything in all directions, the environment itself seemed to clear itself, the heat of the Starfire spreading out as if pushed by the Aura to spread, it was only at this moment that I felt the Demonic energy being burned. ------------------ Pov Dravos (God of Spirits): When the wave of Essence began to change the entire Spirit World, I could feel the barrier holding me back weaken, but instead of leaving immediately, I started back with the Spirit World discovering the location of each of the Demon invaders. Seeing so many Spirits possessed by Demons or Specters and the contamination of my lands by Demonic energy filled my thoughts with violence, but this was not the time for that. I could sense the Gods outside, they know the current weakness of this barrier and are ready to attack as soon as it leaves the barrier. "You are too young to even think about going against me." (I) "< Divine Rune: Eternal Imprisonment >" (I) I create a Rune with my Divine power, the power of each Rune is in its meaning, something you need to understand and feel to use fully, that''s why races with longer lifespans can use this power better than ordinary Humans. I break the barrier with a movement of my hand and the Rune activates, spreading its effect throughout the Spirit World. Those who were waiting for me tried to attack me, but at that moment all their Divine Weapons disappeared, without wasting time I waved my hand once again making them all the first to be imprisoned. Each trapped enemy was placed in a space within my new Divine Weapon, Spiritual Palace, a Divine Weapon that strengthens my Territories, serves as a Seal and can even be used to nourish a world if necessary. "I''ll stick with the Divine Weapons." (Hernoth) "Do what you want, but I want that bastard." (I) "I lost many Spirits and the Spirit World will take years to return to normal." (I) I move my hand gathering little of the new Spiritual Energy still spreading throughout my Spirit World, what gathered was a small flame that burns like the stars. "Can you use Zenos'' power now that the Power Source is ready?" (Hernoth) "No, but I can at least gather some and with a little more effort... give him a purpose or a target..." (I) I use my Essence and Divine Power on these flames which become a sphere before I launch forward, as the waiting flames exploded a wave of my power pushed the flames to sweep across the entire Spirit World burning the filthy energy they dared to bring here. "Your plan failed." (I) "Not entirely, with them in hand I can do that." (Hernoth) "That ritual is forbidden." (I) "You knew what I wanted to do, in case everything goes wrong, the worst option might be the only option." (Hernoth) "..." (I) "(Maybe there is a new possibility, but it''s too early to talk about it, he''s still very weak and inexperienced...)" (I) From a distance I can see him in his incomplete state, even I''m not sure what he will become in the end. "(Those who incarnate chaos always do things in the strangest ways... I hope you know what you''re doing bringing your Soul here, Selene.)" (I) Chapter 1418: Cap 1416: An Impatient Goddess I couldn''t understand what had happened, so I stood still and prepared to continue fighting, I even thought it might be another trick from that idiot with the tentacles. I had never met an enemy so close to me in strength and yet surpassing me in every aspect, within the limitations of this World of Spirits I would not be able to defeat him, as difficult as it is to admit this, I cannot deny this fact. I can''t even use the excuse of being limited in this place, it should also be limited, most Demons are talented in magic and in this place there''s no way to make use of it. "Nicole!" (I) "No need to shout, I''m here and before you ask... no, I can''t find them, but everything indicates that they were sealed by an extraordinary power." (Nicole) "No readings on any enemies?" (I) "Not within this island, I can use my bloodline to form a slight bond that I can..." (Nicole) "I don''t need to know how you did it, but do you have any information about the enemies outside?" (I) "The war is over, that was the God of Spirits, he did something just like I thought he would." (Stella) I tried to contact Nicole for information, I didn''t want to be negligent and give the enemies another opportunity, but there seems to be nothing wrong with my previous thought of all the enemies being gone. At first I thought that the enemies got what they came for, which was discarded when Stella flew to me saying about the God of Spirits, something that also crossed my mind and I dismissed it because I didn''t understand what happened. When I was about to deactivate my Divine Incarnation since the enemies were apparently defeated, I felt something different and I couldn''t tell what was wrong. "What''s wrong..." (Elizabeth) "Zenos!!!" (Kira/Ibuki) I didn''t deactivate my Divine Incarnation because of this strange feeling I was feeling, I was aware of everything, but even then I only realized what was wrong too late. "Come here!" (Goddess Aine) A large hand appeared out of nowhere, grabbing me and pulling me into a gate that I hadn''t even seen appear, everything happened so fast that Nix and Hinata, as well as my Heralds, weren''t able to come with me. I could only see Ibuki and Kira''s desperate faces as I was being taken away, I didn''t have time to say anything, so I tried to convey to Nix at least that much to calm things down and I''m not sure if it worked. All I know is that the moment I walked through the door closed before being crushed by a red fist that seemed like a blur to me. I was confused by many things, my senses were strange and my body was filled with pain as if parts of me had been ripped away. I was thrown back while all my senses were strange, the one that appeared to help me was Layla who suddenly woke up. Layla used her Aura to guide mine in certain specific ways to interact with my senses, she also guided my Mana to form the body parts I was missing, that was the reason for my pain. "(Stay calm, this is Fairyland.)" (Layla) Things were happening very fast, in tens of seconds the pain was disappearing and my senses were becoming clearer. Suddenly I could hear screams and explosions, they were everywhere and when I finally could see what was happening I was surprised by what I was seeing, it was a scene of apocalyptic devastation. I was on top of what looked like a cliff, in the sky countless lights were flashing and moving chaotically, that was where the screams and explosions were coming from. When I looked at what surrounded the cliff it was a mess, there was a magma lake, a shiny metal mountain with a hole in the middle, twisted trees forming a kind of dome and rivers where clouds full of lightning were flowing. Everything seemed natural at the same time, they were distorted, broken and cracked as if the battle above was interfering with what was happening below. But I already knew where I was and what was happening, the voice that called me was an acquaintance, this place is also filled with only one type of the 3 energies of nature, there was only one possibility. "Why did you bring me here like this?" (I) "Why was it necessary, I''m too busy right now to take things calmly." (Goddess Aine) "Have you managed to adjust your senses and reset your body to use Mana yet?" (Goddess Aine) When I turned back I could see her, a small figure of a black woman with rainbow wings, she was above pieces of red crystal that could form a statue. Her body was tiny, but I could still clearly see the many injuries on her body. "Yes, but I don''t know yet..." (I) "Look, I don''t have time for this, so I''m going to speak directly!" (Goddess Aine) "This is a clone of me made of Divine Power, it won''t last long since I used almost all of its power to open the gate to the Spirit World." (Goddess Aine) "I know everything that happened there for my Champion, I want you to do the same here, understand!?" (Goddess Aine) "Yes." (I) "Wait a minute! What is it about..." (Layla) "We don''t have time, this body is going to fall apart and while I''m fighting a few hundred idiots I still have to talk to you, so just listen!" (Goddess Aine) "Layla will be able to take you to where her Magical Kingdom is, she should be nearby so be quick!" (Goddess Aine) "..." (I) Soon the body of the Fairy Goddess literally fell apart into particles and as soon as this happened the red crystal mountain she was on top of began to remake itself into a crystal Demonic statue. "Finally she left." His crystal body soon began to burn and a smaller, more refined body of metal came out from within, leaving only a pile of particles behind. Her skin was completely red with horse hooves for legs, silver horns on her head and long white hair, her Demonic Energy was very strong with miasma spreading from her like a fog. "< Light Magic: Light Wave >" (I) His silver eyes were on me and his Aura was that of a Minor God, I stopped looking at him and turned around, pointing a magic circle of the Light Element, creating a wall of light that swept forward at high speed. The wall of light in that place took on a liquid consistency as if it were made of water, when it hit the previously invisible target her body revealed itself. I hit his body which looked burnt, but he showed no reaction, he was just laughing as the image of him behind me was disappearing, just a way of tricking me while trying to catch me from behind. No Demon fights fairly, their ways of fighting are like mine, they use stratagems, deceit, lies and cunning. Fighting fair against a Demon like that is the same as leaving one foot in death''s door, in the past those I face were young and I always had more powers to open up new possibilities, but against Minor Gods who are as old as my sisters and have Power Divine, it feels like I''m fighting a veteran of the same field. "You are Selene''s son, why did that damn Butcher bring you here..." As he spoke, the mist that previously came out of his image behind me was spreading, creating a circle around the two of us, he was preparing a spell. "< Blood Magic: Blood Field >" (I) In this place there is no real blood, but as a Vampire son of the Goddess of Blood this energy is always present within me, as soon as I reached out my hand the energy coming out of me turned into fresh blood creating waves in space that spread marking the 3 kilometer area around us where blood particles form a red haze around us. The smile on his face disappeared along with the mist he created being spread out of my field of blood, in this place he can no longer hide from me, I don''t believe he will fight cleanly, but at least he won''t hide from me. "(I''m ready.)" (Layla) "(Then do it!)" (I) "You''re smart for a Vampire." "And you''re dumb for a Demon, goodbye." (I) "Wait! YOU DAMN..." A gate formed behind me using the blood that forms this place, I jumped through the door before it closed leaving a Demon charging at me screaming with hatred in its eyes, when the door closed I realized that it was a mansion that I know very well. I was in the garden outside the mansion facing its door with Layla by my side, I could feel her concentrating power. "Seems like I don''t need to say anything else, doesn''t it?" (I) "I''m not an idiot, I know priorities well." (Layla) Soon she takes one of my hands using our power together to launch a beam of multicolored energy into the garden, the flowers growing and twisting into a crystal door too colorful for my tastes. "Zenos!!!" (E?rica) When the door opens it doesn''t take even half a second before E?rica jumps through the gate and falls to the ground with confused eyes, she will need some time to get used to it and she won''t be the only one when more people pass through the gate. Chapter 1419: Cap 1417: Brutal Fairyland part 1 With the gate to Layla''s Fairy Temple open so people from the Dungeon could enter, the Gate was closed by my choice, as we were going to the Spirit World first, I thought it best to leave the Fairy Gate closed in an attempt to avoid the enemies from entering the Dungeon. Since Layla is the one who created the Fairy Temple, she can open the gate whenever she is nearby, but the plan was to return from the Spirit World first before coming here, I didn''t expect to have to open the gate from the inside like this and it was even harder for Layla to do this. E?rica was the first to pass with others coming next, Kira couldn''t come, but Ibuki made it and my two Saints also made it, of my Family members only Hinata and Ragnar managed to make it. Nix seems to have been trapped in the Spirit World for some time, Orion is unable to separate her body and soul since they are one, Sakura is also unable to come. At least almost all of my children came, I had many more people on my side now than in the Spirit World, Magic is much more widespread than the Power of Spirits in the end. With everyone here it didn''t take long to get used to it, but I didn''t have time to talk to them, Layla and I were investigating their Fairy Kingdom. It seems that in the Fairy World things work differently, the counterpart of the Fairy Temple in this place does not form an island, it forms a region that expands the Fairy World, Layla explained this to me over dinner coming here several times. But what I found strange was discovering which one was in the heart of this place, in the Temple of Spirits it was clear that it was the Waterfall, but I wasn''t the same sure here. Layla looked confused too, she couldn''t find it and said she had never looked for it before today. "Damn, we don''t have time for this." (I) "How did you and Nix know about the lake?" (Layla) "I don''t know, it wasn''t a question we asked, it felt right to be there, we only knew what it was after we finished it." (I) "But I don''t feel anything and I''m sure I''m trying very hard." (Layla) "I can''t feel anything either." (I) "(It should be almost instinctive, like knowing the location of a heart simply by feeling where the heartbeat is coming from.)" (I) I once again closed my eyes and used my Aura to interact with this one, follow the Mana flow until I mapped everything, but I''ve done this a few times and nothing changes. There is no large crossing point, there is also no especially empty area where something could be hidden, even so there was still something sprouting Mana from the Penumbra. "Something is wrong..." (I) "(Layla, don''t move or show any reaction, I''m going to make up an excuse and I want you around the others, follow Elizabeth''s instructions.)" (I) "(Do you think there is someone here?)" (Layla) "(We don''t have time to talk, do what I said and get ready, I don''t know how many there are.)" (I) I wasn''t sure what I said either, I didn''t feel anything different and I didn''t see any signs of anything, but this situation was too suspicious, to say something like that you would have to be at least a God, I hope it''s a Minor God or I''m dead. Even so, it is better to prevent in case of a desperate attack, Layla can be reckless and a bit bloodthirsty, but she understands that our priority is everyone''s safety. "Layla, go check on Erica and try to ask if Elizabeth has any better ideas than that." (I) "You have to find a way, we don''t have time for that!" (Layla) "I''ll try one last time." (I) As soon as I saw Layla going, I closed my eyes, spreading my Aura as I have done several times until now, but this time I used my Magical Essence of the Penumbra Fairies and at that moment I felt a reaction at the same time as an attack came towards me. With my tail I made a primary attack where the tip of my tail was cut off followed by a punch that was received by an equally heavy fist, that''s when I dodged a kick grabbing the enemy''s leg before throwing him to the other side. "You bastard, how did you find me!?" (I) "Did you think you could run away from me?" "Did you really think we wouldn''t notice a passage opening?" I suddenly feel danger around me, but I see nothing, I feel nothing but my instinct screaming at me to dodge and that''s what I did, I threw myself to the ground when my instincts screamed louder at the same time I used my tail and one leg to dock two different sides. I wasn''t seeing anything, yet my kick hit something that ended up flying into a tree in the garden. "< Holy Magic: Purification >" (I) "Bastard!" The first enemy that was talking to me was the silver horned bastard from before, but this second one that I kicked, was a woman, but specifically a Demon with pale skin, white horns, black eyes and silver hair, at least she wears different black clothes of the silver-horned nudist idiot. The idiot with the silver horn tried to attack me after I kicked the woman, but I was already expecting a cowardly attack, it was the same thing I would do, so I received him with a magic that really hurts Demons like this. "Belmar, you took too long to act!" (Demon woman) "Shut up, Valeria!" (Belmar) "Don''t underestimate this Vampire, a son of the Blood Goddess is not normal." (Belmar) "Then let''s finish him off now..." (Valeria) I suddenly feel my instincts screaming once again, my wings open launching my body into the sky with a crystal giant following below, the other two Demons tried to attack me at the same time each from one side. "< Infernal Fang >" (Belmar) "< Illusory Demon Fracture >" (Valeria) "< Eclipse Magic: Lunar Collapse >" (I) "< Abyss of Hunger >" (Hinata) They tried to attack me together, I was prepared this time, when you use the same trick several times it becomes predictable. I ignored the crystal giant below as I pulled my Divine Weapon out of my body, a Fragmented Moon appears in my hand to channel this magic increasing its power greatly alongside the Power of Penumbra. My targets were both of them, the Moon collided with the silver horned idiot pushing him away, against the Power of a Divine Weapon he was injured sent back, the Moon was destroyed in the attack and its fragments become attacks heading towards the Demonic woman. My attacks break her illusions by hitting her body, this magic was made for the fragmented attack to be stronger than the first attack, my true target was this woman, the threat of an invisible attack could be fatal if this continued. With my attack she was thrown back with a bumpy body and before she even reached the ground a gap full of teeth opened in the ground creating a barrier in her shape that went all the way to the sky, thousands of tongues like tentacles appeared and wrapped around her body, she tried to free herself in vain as with each destroyed tongue 2 or 3 took its place, in the end she was dragged into the crack that closes like a mouth. Hinata, who was weak after this attack, returns to me after I was grabbed by the crystal giant, the silver-horned idiot ignored his partner in danger and was already on top of me ready to attack. "< Demonic Rapture >" (Belmar) "You took your time." (I) When he tried to attack me I calmly looked at the serious attack while breaking into a smile as I looked behind him before speaking as if there was someone there, even though his attack didn''t slow down in my direction, his attention still turned back remembering that I still had Layla and other companions around. I almost burst out laughing at him falling for such a childish trick, with his attention divided, he didn''t see my tail grabbing his wrist pulling it towards the crystal giant''s arm that breaks with the attack. "< Breath of Stellar Chaos >" (I) Once free of that crystal claw, I used my wings to stay away, the Essences within me gathering their power in my mouth using my Authority as the core before a focused energy attack headed straight for the silver-colored idiot. My stellar energy attack felt like it was launching a part of the starry sky at him, but the attack felt liquid like molten metal as it hit him, this attack took everything I had, but he was still alive, this bastard was too resilient. His body was in pieces in an almost non-material state of pure Demonic Energy, but even so his energy is contaminated with Starfire burning his energy, I could see the pain in him, a shame this wasn''t the end, it could be better for him. I saw that he was close to saying something else, which means he was preparing another attack, but before he could start speaking something small fell from the sky, a small doll that as it approached it created tentacles and macabre arms grabbing it his energy body before separating him into pieces that were quickly fed into the abyss''s opening mouth. Then a line around the doll''s neck dragged her to rest at my waist. "That was... Guh!!" (I) Without warning I received a punch that would have broken all my bones if this were my physical body, the crystal giant was still moving even without one of its arms. "Damn, I forgot about you." (I) Chapter 1420: Cap 1418: Brutal Fairyland part 2 I was sitting against a half-destroyed tree while looking at a crystal giant, Demonic energy was leaking from his body, in fact his body was crumbling into particles of Demonic Energy. "(Layla, how are things on your side?)" (I) "(We are under attack, there is a Demon fortress above us, it was invisible until now, but it suddenly appeared in the middle of the sky!)" (Layla) The crystal giant was running towards me, with a little difficulty I jumped deeper into the forest with it following me, my body recovering quickly, but the pain I feel was still the same. "(How is everyone?)" (I) "(Fighting, we have hundreds of really strong Demons and 8 Divine level Demons, we are barely holding on...)" (Layla) "(Ragnar! What''s going on there?)" (I) "(Demons, many of them, but the strongest are avoiding fighting... I can''t talk now... they...)" (Ragnar) I closed one of my eyes and shared the vision of my 2 Familiars, Layla was fighting the numbers with help from Erica and Nicole, Elizabeth was leading the fight against the leading Demons, but only 7 were fighting and they clearly weren''t going all out. The last of the Demons was standing with his eyes closed and arms crossed as if the war around him didn''t exist, something is happening and I think I already know what it could be. While I was thinking about these things and sharing my Familiars'' vision, I was also running, my body was whole, but my energy was empty, what in this place was the same as being already dead. "(Layla, come back to me discreetly.)" (I) "(I''m a little busy right now, you idiot master!)" (Layla) "(It doesn''t matter, come back now and we can resolve this or at least reverse this situation.)" (I) I wish I could summon her here, but that could attract attention, not to mention that I can barely maintain my body at the moment with so little energy left in me. "This bastard won''t stop chasing me." (I) Behind me the crystal giant looks like a priceless bulldozer taking everything out of the way between me and him, it doesn''t matter if I''m in his field of vision or not, this bastard still manages to find me, I''m also having a hard time recovering my energy, he seems to have something blocking all the Magical Energy here, maybe that''s the reason we can''t find the center of this place. After several minutes of running inside the forest I managed to recover a little, as I have not yet established the Penumbra Magical Power Source here, the source is still inside me and naturally recovering my energy, thanks to this I can run normally now and ignore the pain completely. With a few more minutes I would be able to finish off that damn tractor behind me since the Demon that controlled it is no longer here and it was while I was thinking about this that Layla arrived crossing the giant with her body surrounded by flying swords while being chased by dozens of Devils. "But what..." (I) "Hold on to me!!" (Layla) I raise my hand as Layla''s small body grows to the size of a young woman in her late teens, she holds my hand without slowing down and flying between the trees smoothly preventing the pursuers from reaching us. "Why are they chasing you!?" (I) "I said I was busy!! But no... my wonderful, idiotic master needed me so much!" (Layla) "That''s why I stopped fighting and ran as much as possible, do you know what happened!?" (Layla) "..." (I) "I miraculously managed to alleviate the fighting of others... THAT''S WHY SEVERAL DEMONS STARTED CHASING ME!!!" (Layla) "There''s no need to shout, leave that aside and answer, can you use your Essence together with me still flying?" (I) "With you, what are we going to do?" (Layla) "First recover my energy and then..." (I) "I understand." (Layla) I didn''t need to complete my thought, Layla''s angry face gave way to a smile more Demonic than that of our pursuers. With nothing else to say, I let the Magical Essence of the Penumbra Fairies flow from me to Layla and then back to myself forming a complete repeating cycle, using this combined Essence I was able to connect with this place more deeply and realize the power of another Essence, but it wasn''t just that, it was a complete Divinity. This Deity was forming chains that surrounded the trees, the earth, the wind, the heavens and everything my eyes could see, everything was being restricted except for us. "(So that was the reason, now it makes sense...)" (I) This restriction was preventing me from absorbing the Mana from this place that should belong to Layla and me, it must also be the reason why we couldn''t find the Core in this area. The only good news is that the Power of the Essence of Divinity cannot be hidden, they are apparent for anyone who can feel them to know what they represent, this was a power of control and had an obviously Demonic Aura. "(I need to calm down and focus... breathe Zenos, breathe.)" (I) I took a deep breath to calm my anger before starting what I needed to do, reaching out my hand the power of our Essences gathers in my claws, as Layla and I pass through some of these previously invisible chains, I use these claws to cut these chains. In this place, my power and Layla''s is no less than within a Territory, in fact it is even greater, even a Comet Divinity cannot deny my power to liberate this place. With the chains breaking I could feel the energy flow in a completely different way, it was like breaking an illusion and with that I was able to be nourished by the Mana of this place recovering my full energy in seconds when it should have taken hours. "Layla!" (I) "< Eclipse Magic: Forsaken Around the World >" (me/Layla) This was a magic that I invented alongside E?rica, this is a magic that uses my power of Authority along with Affinity with all elements to deny someone''s existence, this is more than just a curse, this is a decree for target elimination, the stronger the target, the worse the Mana consumption is, making it impossible to use this in combat even with Layla''s help, but in a place where our Mana is infinite it was the best choice. The mana was flowing out of my body like a broken dam as more mana entered my body taking its place, I felt like the path a river passed through. The magic itself, as powerful as it was, was not something spectacular to see, the magic circle was inside me while a mist came out of my hand, as well as my Starfire in the form of mist. This mist was not something that could be dispersed with the wind, struck or even avoided, it needed to be negated and as far as I know only a Deity could do that. The mist took the enemies and marked in their Souls that they are renegades by the forces of nature, I created this magic after seeing the Creatures of the Abyss who are denied their existence by the universe, unfortunately my magic is just an inferior copy of that. With the magic in action they can no longer absorb energy, their senses and instincts will become confused without the support of the world around them, gravity will be heavier, the air will become a barrier in their path, the ground will give way beneath them feet and all this will weaken them, especially in this place where everything is made of Magical Energy and is alive. The trees seemed to come to life as their roots and branches attacked the pursuers, even the clouds above dropped beams of energy onto them, the air particles around them froze as they took over their bodies and I saw them becoming confused. "< Shadow Movement >" (I) What I did was enter a shadow together with Layla, then travel through the shadows shortening the path back, this was less apparent than a teleportation spell and we had already managed to lose our pursuers. "Like I said before, can''t we do this?" (I) "But you said we would finish them off!" (Layla) "That was before you realized how ridiculous this situation is, you also saw the chains!" (I) "There''s someone who''s trying to take control of this... what''s his name again?" (I) "Magic kingdom." (Layla) "Yes, this Magical Realm belongs to you, probably the Core we have been looking for since we arrived must be sealed by them even more tightly controlled than the rest of the place." (I) "What I did by breaking the chains must have already attracted attention, killing them would have slowed us down and more enemies would have arrived, our priority is to retake this place to turn the scales in our favor." (I) "How do you plan to do that?" (Layla) "I have a plan, I just hope it''s who I''m thinking, because we''re only going to have 1 opportunity." (I) In my mind I remember what I saw through the eyes of my Familiars, that Demon who remained still with his eyes closed, then there was also that Demon fortress of theirs floating above the mansion. Chapter 1421: Cap 1419: Brutal Fairyland part 3 I continued shadow traveling alongside Layla, but I didn''t take a straight path back to the mansion for two reasons. The first was to enter the enemy camp, the mansion must be even more tightly controlled by those chains and I don''t know how much effort I will need to break those chains or if I will have time to do so, they will definitely act before I have that opportunity. So I traveled through the shadows while focusing my mind, I left it to Layla to take my body while I concentrated my mind to do something a little drastic, I was using a skill I haven''t used in a long time. I was creating lines, thousands of lines made with our Magical Essence of the Penumbra Fairies, these lines are all being controlled by me extending throughout this Magical Kingdom avoiding only the center where the mansion is. To maintain all these lines that in the Fairy World are made of pure Magical Energy with Essence, I was using all the energy within me, but this was temporary. I created areas in my mind after Layla gave me the memories of this entire place, I used this to create a mind map as a reference divided into 5 rings with the smallest being around the mansion to the border area of ??this place. I started using the lines to break the chains furthest from the fifth ring, almost immediately a rush of energy fills my body, then I break the chains from the fourth ring and before he knows it I break the chains from the third ring, thus I have cleared more than half of the Layla''s Magic Kingdom. But I noticed the exact problem I feared, the chains were becoming more resistant the closer I got to the mansion, I needed a few seconds sending a large amount of Energy through the lines before I managed to break the chains on the second ring and when I reached the last one I could feel someone actively resisting there is me. I managed to channel all the Energy from the other 4 rings to myself at the same time as I took all the lines to that first ring, I needed several minutes before I managed to break the chains and I felt something looking at me. When I realized what it was, I closed my eyes once again, coming into contact with Ragnar, then forced to share his senses, that''s how I saw that Demon before standing with his eyes closed, now with his hands wrapped around Ragnar while his head is turned towards the distance. "(Master... get out of there...)" (Ragnar) "LAYLA!!!" (I) "< Space and Dark Magic: Shadow Rift >" (me/Layla) Using my Holy Power to strengthen the magic a rift opens with Layla flying in, still being within the shadows I could still feel the massive Demonic energy coming towards us, but when we came out on the other side of the rift we were already next to the mansion. "< Breath of the Apocalypse Demon >" (I) Being so close, I didn''t need as much concentration to take full control of Ragnar''s body as the infinite energy nourishing me flowed to him through that same connection. I made him open his jaw right in front of the Demon''s face as Star Flames shot out of his mouth like a river of crystal blades shattering the enemy''s arm that was holding Ragnar. With a flap of his wings I made him retreat in the direction where Layla and I were, but the enemy wasn''t dead, he ignored Ragnar who was closer, throwing chains from the palm of his other hand towards us. "< Stained Sword of War 200 Technique: 1 Slash >" (Natasha) Natasha appears in front of me, her body was very injured, but still she was in a half Dragon form emanating Divine Power, her Sword was made of blood and when she shook the world seemed to go silent as the chains were cut, the earth was cut, the clouds were cut, the Demon was cut, and a barrier in the Demon fortress above was cut. An attack that cuts through everything, yet the Demon fortress was still intact and the Demon was not yet dead, chains emerged from her body tying her two parts together as her Demon Power continuously leaked. Natasha after the attack began to fall as she returned to normal, her body flickering to the point where I had to nourish her a little with energy from the Magical Realm to keep her stable. The Demon was still trying to maintain himself and looking around everyone else was still fighting, Ragnar who was injured also stood while Layla helped him recover. Elizabeth and Caitlyn couldn''t be seen but they must be fighting somewhere, I agreed for Ragnar to take my sister to safety while Layla and I took advantage of the Demon trying to keep the body together to concentrate our power. I no longer had all the lines I had before to break the chains in this area, but together we created Aura claws that began to strike these chains, making them all break little by little. Just as I thought, everything here was very sturdy, but at least I saw that the chains were extending from this castle. "This will take a long time, we will stay in the Fortress." (I) "< Multi Elemental Magic: Elemental Collapse >" (me/Layla) A sphere of pure destruction of all the elements together surrounds the fortress, but I feel something inside fighting against and almost managing to break our magic made using the Power of Essence, this is also using Divine power. I used the infinite flow of magical power in this place to the fullest to be able to maintain it and even so the sphere of destruction was starting to crack, but I couldn''t help but smile as I felt the chains breaking inside. "< Demonic Catastrophe >" "< Eclipse Magic: Frontier of Light >" (I) He used a spell when I was close to finishing, but all it did was leave countless illusory Demons destroying the sphere of elemental power surrounding the fortress, while I used the remains of the elemental energy for another spell, something that is not used for attack normally, but it should work for this situation. The elemental sphere shattered leaving an illusion of an Eclipse in the sky, the ring of light descended and surrounded the Demonic Fortress at the same time it broke all the chains leaving there, when this happened the mansion below disappeared revealing only a crater in the ground. I looked up and as I suspected the image of the fortress was constantly changing as if it was made of clay and was being molded, in the end it was the image of the mansion. "< Hands of Subordination >" "< Demonic Magic: Demonic Serpent Chains >" Soon two large hands hold the mansion in place breaking my Eclipse border with pure brute force, a cloud of miasma spreading as chains appear from all sides moving like monsters wanting to attack. "Layla, focus on the chains, I''ll take care of our divided friend." (I) "< Wooden Dragon >50" (Layla) "< Spatial Magic: One Step Movement >" (I) From the ground, dozens of wooden Dragons made from the roots of trees and flowers appear attacking the chains, their wooden teeth burned in Starfire as they bit the chains that also wrapped around their bodies trying to crush them. I left Layla with the chains while using an Aura trick, maintaining my presence next to her along with an illusory image of me made with my Aura, then moving with a short Teleportation behind the Chain Demon. I didn''t need any magic or anything like that, it would alert him of my attack, what I did was let my head take the shape of a Dragon and grow before closing my jaws around him concentrating my Essences in my teeth. He didn''t die from it, the chains holding his split body together protected him from a quick death giving him time to prepare. "< Breath of Cataclysm >" (I) The elemental power of this attack with him still inside my mouth destroyed his chains, spread his Demonic energy and consumed his entire body, at that moment a tentacle appeared next to me, invading my mouth pulling something out. I didn''t realize what it was until I got inside the doll on my waist, this bastard must have devoured the Soul of this Demonic God, but I didn''t have time to think about it when I felt a furious Aura coming out of the mansion being held in the sky by two large hands of Demonic energy. The Divine Power emanating from this Demon was almost acidic, now without the chains that bind this entire area, I can better feel my connection to this place, his presence seems to be trying to take control of the surroundings in a different way than the stupid chains of before. If that Chain Demon had a controlling Essence, this Demon now seems more like it was trying to possess the surroundings like a Ghost taking over someone''s body. "I knew you would come, but I didn''t expect it to be so quickly." "Do you have any idea how long we planned this? Do you have any idea how much effort I put into this place? Do you have any idea whose plans YOU are ruining!?" "I don''t mind." (I) While this arrogant idiot is talking I can feel his power still inside the mansion, this one outside is not his real body, he must be trying to take this place as his own using the Core of this place, that''s why we weren''t able to find it before. Chapter 1422: Cap 1420: Brutal Fairyland part 4 The Demon in front of me looked like a tall Human with blue hair, golden eyes and black skin, his white horns had black inscriptions, even for a Demon his appearance was too normal, but his presence is overwhelming. I''m sure he''s releasing all his Aura in a demonstration of power, he wants to intimidate me to prevent or postpone a battle, his focus is not me but the Core of this Magical Kingdom. "(Layla, can you feel it?)" (I) "(Yes, he thinks he can take what''s mine, I want to slaughter these bastards under my feet!!)" (Layla) The Demon was still talking, but it was already too late, without the restrictions of the chains the Aura of this entire place appeared renewed to the point that even though he was stronger than me he was not able to feel my Heralds entering the mansion. "< Inversion >" (I) Of the 3 inside the mansion, I change places with Haku, I also change places with Layla and Cinthia, one thing I learned from my last fights was to never trust what I see. As soon as I was inside the mansion I realized that everything was visibly the same, but at the same time different, I could feel the layer of Demonic energy inside the walls and the floor, it was trying to corrode everything, but at least by feeling it I was able to continue to the mansion fountain, was in the hall. "Careful, he knows." (I) "What do you wish to do, my Lord?" (Cinthia) "..." (I) I couldn''t speak directly to Cinthia, as I placed a finger on her forehead transferring the information directly to her mind. "I will do as I command." (Cinthia) "..." (Layla) "..." (I) Layla looked at me wanting to ask something, but before she could open her mouth I shook my head in denial, she must have already realized that we are being observed, there is some kind of Territory trying to occupy the same space as this mansion, I don''t know how it can I''m so confident of achieving something this way, so I''m being cautious as much as I can while walking blindly here. Following the flow of Demonic power to the hall I found him, he was looking at us when we entered, his real body looks the same as the one outside, but the fury nonseunrostobera apparent. "< Holy Magic: Titan Sword >" (me/Layla) " 1000" When two enemies meet there is no need for conversation or anything like that, unless the conversation is part of the plan like he tried to do with that copy before. Our two attacks were very different and I soon understood the reason for that, my attack created a magic circle with Layla''s magic combined with mine from which a great sword passes pointed at the Demon containing the power of countless elements strengthened by the Holy Power. The bastard didn''t seem to worry about my attack as red flames that appeared to be made of dust spread from him to all sides with figures emerging from those flames taking his shape with fiery hair. There were many of them as they attacked and their fire seemed to be Cursed, the divine power could be barking in that fire and that''s why he didn''t think he could resist a direct attack like that, it would be very risky. As I backed away, I saw him extending his hand from which a metal trident with just 2 ends that looked like horns appeared, he used this to break the Titan sword, but as I backed away I couldn''t help but smile once again. This entire mansion was part of this magical item and there were no longer those chains restricting our control here, with Layla''s help I opened a hole in the ceiling and another in the floor, while we fell out of the mansion, Cinthia fell from the top floor towards the Demon. Cinthia appeared above him and I switched places with her, thus avoiding all the flames from before, when I switched places with her I was already sharing my senses and I saw the Demon using his soul against Cinthia who would not be able to dodge this attack. When I switched places with Cinthia, my body was turning to the side and a Purple Sun shone in the palm of one of my hands. "< Sacred Eclipse Magic: Cursed Sun Dragon >" (I) My hand becomes a Dragon claw from which purple flames sprout as if it were liquid metal taking the shape of a Dragon heading towards the Demon. "< Demonic Magic: Unholy Shield >" His shield wasn''t strong enough when mine arrived and it almost broke, he was smart to use his Divine Weapon to strengthen the shield to prevent it from breaking, yet he was still being pushed against the ground. "(Layla, open the floor!)" (I) I share my senses with Layla who is outside for her to see through my eyes, seconds later the ground opens beneath the Demon making him fall as he is continually pushed by my attack. "< Multi Elemental Magic: Fragment of Nature >" (Layla) "< Demonic Magic: Beast Sword >" (Ragnar) "< Breath of Chaos >" (Hades) "< Blood Breath >" (Haku) "< Breath of the Apocalypse >" (Cinthia) Each of them was already waiting outside prepared for a fatal blow, that''s what I told Cinthia to prepare, but I didn''t expect Ragnar to participate, I''m glad he got better. The 3 breath attacks had the same destructive power, but it was strange to see, the Starfire from Hades'' attack seemed to be liquid, the Blood from Haku''s attack seemed like a mist or perhaps red vapor and Cinthia''s Demonic power in her attack it seemed to have crystallized into sheets. Layla in turn crystallized several elements together, reinforcing them in layers before breaking into dozens of fragments heading towards the Demon. Ragnar, as expected, used a sword attack, but this time the head of a beast appeared from the sky, opening its mouth from which the blade of a great sword came out, falling towards the Demon who was still dealing with my attack. "< Incarnation of Demon God Possession >" Suddenly his eyes are filled with murderous intent, I feel the power he tried to use in the mansion shake as it is sucked towards him creating a tornado of Demonic energy that sucks in everything around him, this includes the attacks he was receiving. His Divine Power was like acid corroding the powers of our attacks separating them from the Essence that I could not use, I saw the power of the Essences of my 3 Heralds, my 2 Familiars and my own Essence coming out of the tornado while almost making it disperse. I wanted to get closer and end this fight but it was useless to get close at the risk of something I know nothing about, it was at that moment that the Demons fighting against the others acted, they did some type of Summoning technique from which a gate opened. Hundreds of Demonic Specters were emerging, reinforcements for a battle that should be lost to them, my head was already spinning with all these problems appearing one after another. I unfortunately had no way to help others while facing this bastard, but I motioned for my Heralds and Ragnar to join the others in combat, I had a way to end this with just Layla by my side. It didn''t take long for the tornado to break apart, but what it revealed was a giant with crystallized blood wings, horns like swords, Starfire around its body, and an armor of elemental energy fragments. These things were not just being used by him, I could feel in his Aura that it was part of his body and was still causing damage. He didn''t even waste time trying to say anything, be it complaints about me or simply releasing curses in my name, I could feel that the state he is in is a two-edged sword, it protected him from our attacks at the same time as it fortified him, but That doesn''t mean there wasn''t a cost. I could feel the Starfire burning his body, the fragments of nature energy tearing his body, and the crystallized blood wings sucking life energy from him. He couldn''t stay like this for long or he would die to his own power, so he attacked without fear, he didn''t have time for that anymore. "< Holy Summon: Star Sword >" (I) "< Divine Incarnation: 80% >" (I) The sword appears from a crack in space and I hold it tightly as my power grows with the Divine Spark within me, if at first it was like the last Spark of a bonfire, nowadays it is like a forest fire within me. My power grew and we both began to exchange blows, his trident was a Divine Weapon and with that just my Star Sword was not enough to make a difference, so I made the Cursed Sun flow from my hand to the sword and the Fragmented Moon become the blade of the sword, with my Divine Weapon fused with the Star Sword our conditions were supposed to be equal, yet the one thrown back continuously was always me. It was a strange feeling to be attacked by the power of my companions and my own power, the Starfire around his body burned with each attack and my life energy was sucked away with each cut his wings made against me. The only reason I was able to hold my own against him was the infinite Mana nourishment this place was providing me. "(Layla, do it now!)" (I) Chapter 1423: Cap 1421: Brutal Fairyland part 5 Pov Aine (Goddess of Fairies): These bastards are being such a nuisance that I want to tear up their Souls and use them to clean a Zombie''s band before throwing them into a volcano to ultimately crush that volcano with a mountain 10 times bigger. "Mom, calm down, you''re scaring the other Fairy Kings." (Rosane) "..." (I) Looking around I see thousands of Fairy Kings, many injured still fighting Demons using the Power of their Magical Realms against their Cursed energy. Even if this is just a clone of me, I can''t forget that my presence is still too strong to lose control of my killing intent like this, so I control my emotions without removing my Aura that strengthens all Fairies. After taking care of that I turn my attention to the main body, it seems they have started using Divine Weapons. My clone should be inert without my mind controlling it, but to use my Divine Weapon in a situation where I have to contain my power, I prefer not to risk losing control by dividing my mind again. Looking around the elemental space is already damaged, an they are using their Divine Weapons to come against me, but the only one taking the lead is that idiot Demonic God of Pride. Its Dragon body was bigger than a planet coming towards me with big eyes floating between its horns. "< Fairy Sword >" (I) "One more step and I''ll stop holding back!" (I) My killing intent this time was completely released to the point of making space tremble, the sword that appears in my hand has a delicate decoration, but the smell of blood on its blade is eternal. My threat seems to have been effective as this idiotic fake Dragon made the eye between its horns close and disappear, then I saw those following behind it doing the same as it waved its claws. "Don''t think you''re more than you already are, your life only continues because of my refusal to cause harm to the Fairy World, but don''t test my strength!" (I) I release control of the sword that crumbles like ice melting into water, but at the same time I had already created a Sun above them that falls with a wave of my hand. With things returning to this ridiculous state of battle, I keep them trapped here with me while I divide my mind to control my clone once again, I needed to attend to the other Fairies still fighting. "Mom, how''s the situation?" (Rosane) "The idiots are getting impatient and those with a lack of control are almost forgetting that I''m sparing them, they think they have the upper hand, it would be hilarious if I weren''t so angry." (I) "They must have noticed Zenos'' arrival since you did something so big this time." (Rosane) "Your sister informed me that he ended up in the Spirit World, I needed him here and brought him." (I) "Wasting time and effort on gimmicks would be a waste of time, that''s a resource we don''t have at the moment." (I) I look around, things seem to be as I expected, Rosane is of little use here now that everyone knows what to do, I can leave this in the hands of another Fairy. "Things here are done for you, go meet Zenos, it won''t take long for him to realize what is happening, help him create the Source of Power." (I) "Wait a second..." (I) I focus on my main body, living rays tried to surround my body, but I hold back these rays leaving my power to refine these rays into a whip that goes through one of the eyes of these enemies. I soon hold the heads of two trying to ambush me from behind, with my hand on their faces it was easy to push their heads into a spatial opening before closing it. After that, their leader comes against me, it seems that he wants a direct confrontation, which in the language of Demons means that he will be creating some way to deceive his opponent, in this case me. "Do not let Zenos get in the way during the process of forging the Source of Power." (I) "I will do it now." (Rosane) I see my daughter opening the space and failing, even for her it is difficult to go through the blocks that these idiots have placed, so I use my Divinity on her and push her into a crack, we have no time to waste. "(I have to consider that they know what happened in the Spirit World, Zenos will be at risk this time, but I can''t move many to where he is.)" (I) "(I got that idiot out of there a while ago, what is he doing!?)" (I) ---------------- Pov Zenos: "(Layla, do it now!)" (I) While I was keeping this idiot busy, Layla was taking back control of her entire Magical Kingdom, I did this for 2 reasons, the first was for her to do it now. All of her Magic Realm Mana is flowing into me, nourishing my body to the maximum I can maintain before letting out the excess. With this power I continue to fight this bastard, he clearly surpasses me in many different fields, so I''m going to have to use brute force to get past everything this bastard has. As I deal with this, I can feel Layla closing the gate that the other Demons opened, blocking the space in just that area, but many have already passed through, even if it doesn''t have many strong ones like those that were already here, the numbers have made up for the disadvantage they were at were falling. "(Layla, can you forge the Source of Power by yourself?)" (I) "(Don''t talk nonsense, we both know the answer to that you idiot.)" (Layla) "..." (I) I want to get rid of this bastard, but I don''t have the strength to do so, even now I can only maintain a draw against him. This can''t continue like this, if it''s like what happened in the Spirit World, then it will only be a matter of time before the Demons come after us and I will still need hours to forge the Source of Power with Layla. I can''t let this bastard consume my time like this, I have to do something now. "< 20 Star Sword Art: Elemental Collapse >" (I) The first technique uses Spiritual Runes as a base, it will not be useful in a place where only Mana predominates. I''ve been thinking about this second technique for some time, but I didn''t want to use it until I was sure I could control it, the focus of these techniques is to use all my power more efficiently, a deadly attack to finish off the enemy, but this also leads to consume all of my power or at least most of my power at once, as well as putting a lot of pressure on myself. This technique is similar to another in one way, I need something to channel its power and there is nothing better than the Star Sword reinforced by my Divine Weapon. The Sword transforms with each blow, taking the form of a large two-edged sword, its blade reflects stars and a night sky that don''t exist, the middle of the blade looks more like a portal to another universe with a Purple Sun at the tip of the sword and a Fragmented Moon at the base of the blade. Even with 2 celestial bodies there are no stars, only streams of power flowing separately between these 2 celestial bodies and colliding with each other, the impact of this continuous collision seems to impact the observer. Holding the sword in my hands, I advance forward with brute force sheltering him to defend with his trident which grew a third horn suddenly launching a beam towards me. I couldn''t dodge or I would speak my attack, so I put my wings forward letting the blow hit, disintegrating half of my wings and hurting my chest, but I still continued my advance, the sword came down pushing him back as if a mountain ran over him taking him him back out of position. With that I had time to channel the power of the Essence of Chaos and the Magical Essence of the Penumbra Fairies into the sword completing the technique, the flow of elemental power within the blade is copied by the flow of the elements around me with each one becoming a Dragon Different elemental competing with each other. Once underway there was no stopping it, I forced all the Dragons into the Blade, making space itself tremble around it as if it were close to shattering. When I cut diagonally forward, stars come out of the sword forming Stellar Magic Circles of various elements that form and then are instantly broken with their fragments forming a bizarre Dragon of pure energy, all of this happened in moments ending with this Dragon going in the direction of the Demon who realized what I was doing and prepared his own attack. His Trident turned into a Demonic claw that grows, screaming a circular mouth in the palm and advancing against the Dragon created by my attack, the two attacks collide forming a ripple on all sides and breaking the space as it launches me backwards, needing Layla to control the trees to break my fall. Chapter 1424: Cap 1422: Brutal Fairyland part 6 When the trees grew forming a block of leaves and thin branches to catch me it was a happy event, this attack managed to drain a lot of me to the point that I needed several seconds to replenish my energy even with the infinite flow of Mana nourishing my body. I just keep looking at the direction of the collision, it seems that the energy Dragon from my attack was slightly better, it moved between the claw''s fingers managing to reach that damn Demon. His body was half torn apart, one of his arms is missing along with the shoulder, his other arm was frozen, there was a big hole in his face that reached to the other side of his head, his two horns were broken and his body was half burned. "< Divine Demon Magic: Demonic Consumption Sacrifice >" This bastard used the parts of his body transforming into Miasma and using it to instantly draw a spell with his Divine Power, then from this magic circle came a skull-shaped cloud that disappeared and then reappeared behind a Demon fighting Hades, tearing off his head with one bite and from the waist up with the second bite. After finishing the first one, the next ones continued dying to the skull, it all happened so fast and before I knew it, the level skull was already next to the Demon that opens its mouth sucking the skull cloud inside. The effect was apparent as the lost limbs began to return, the Demonic energy around him became denser and his bubbles turned towards me. "< Aura Incarnation: Demon Soul >" His entire Aura condenses above him, taking the form of a faceless red Demon with 3 horns on his head, his body consists of 2 large arms and hundreds of magical circle marks on his Spectral body. As soon as this Ghost appeared it came towards me while the Demon tried to go after Layla, they must have thought she would be easier to deal with or maybe they were just wary of my previous attack. "He''s made of Aura, but I feel the characteristic resentment of Ghosts and a lot of Ghost energy." (I) "(This thing is a cluster of sacrificed Souls, give it to me...)" (Doll) "No, but thanks for the information." (I) "(If they are sacrificed Souls then it is much easier to deal with them.)" (I) I smile and let the Essence of the Apocalypse Beast along with my Essence of Chaos flow into my sword, I also accumulate Mana in the blade that begins to burn in Starfire whose stars are all red. I wouldn''t let this Infernal doll do what it wanted, I can''t trust it and even if it was possible to trust it, I wouldn''t let it eat tormented Souls, this thing may possess Divine power, but I still have my ways of dealing with it. "< Familiar Summon: Layla >" (I) When the Demon almost reached Layla I use my Summoning magic to call her to my side, with the Demon far enough away I attack her creature with full force. "< 1000 Cuts > 4" (I) With a skill I can make thousands of cuts in seconds, but I didn''t spread the cuts but I concentrated them all in the same point, going through the Aura armor around him until I reached his interior. The Divinity within him tried to reject me, but it was too late as my sword pierced his body, a Star Flame flashed within him before I was struck to the side and sent towards the Demon. "< Spectral Demon Horn >" "< Spatial Magic: Movement Flow >" (I) The Demon was enraged and his attack was not inferior to the one he previously carried out against me, I could not defend or resist this attack, so I used a magic on myself making the space bend around me increasing my speed while making strange curves. With that I managed to dodge his attack and get close to him, but as soon as my sword was about to collide with him I felt that something was wrong, he didn''t try to dodge or defend and that was when I realized that his Divine Weapon was not in his hands. "< Teleportation >" (I) Space floats around me and when I reappeared I was dozens of meters away from him, I looked around him and couldn''t see his Divine Weapon anywhere until I was hosted from behind the tip of his trident stuck out of my belly, if If this were my real body I would have lost my spine along with several internal organs. "< Space Magic: Invisible Labyrinth >" (Layla) Layla lands on my shoulder while I remove the trident from my back, the one that hit me was that Demon''s Aura Ghost, his body was almost completely covered by Starfire, but he had not yet been defeated. My mistake in confirming his destruction was something that led to this injury, the Divine power of this Demon contained in his Weapon prevents my body from recovering with the surrounding Mana. "Layla, I''m accepting plans." (I) "I have no plans, just kill this bastard..." (Layla) When I realized that he had been standing still for a long time, I pulled out my sword and spun around, striking the surroundings, it was then that my Sword collided with his trident once again, he came out of the trident trying to reach me with his claws. "< Eclipse Magic: Fall of the Star Dragon >" (me/Layla) Layla and I gather Mana from the surroundings into a magic circle creating a Dragon and energy that becomes solid around us defending the attack before returning towards the Demon in an attack. I wanted to go towards him, take advantage of this opening for another attack, this time with Layla by my side I was trying to launch an attack stronger than the previous one. "< 20 Star Sword Art: Elemental Collapse >" (I) With the sword in my hands I carried out the same attack as before, this time he was not in a position to carry out the attack that stopped me before, his trident was away from him and the seconds he needed just to recover his Divine Weapon were enough for my attack almost reach him. I feel the Mana within me almost run out as I use all the Divine power left in this attack, I needed to end this fight now. The power of the Elements once again fragmented creating a Dragon of pure fragmented elemental energy, this Dragon was inches away from the Demon when his trident reached his hands. I saw him use all his Divine Energy as quickly as he could to strengthen his Divine Weapon, but all of this was useless when the blow reached him, now there wasn''t the same collision as before, the Dragon continued dragging him to the ground a little more away from the mansion creating a crater. The whole time I was paying attention to the enemy and the Aura Ghost he created, but before the collision with the ground the Ghost had already been completely consumed by Starfire, leaving some crystal spheres that I collected before heading towards the Demon. This time when I got there I saw his body much more destroyed, there were parts missing everywhere and what was left was burned or frozen, if our bodies weren''t made of energy this place would be full of blood and pieces of flesh, everything that All that was left of his face was an eye and a hanging tongue. I couldn''t believe that this bastard was still alive even after that attack, mine and Layla''s energy was already recovering with the infinite Mana nourishment from this Magical Realm, but I was no longer using Divine Incarnation. I looked at Layla and was close to making one last attack to finish this bastard once and for all, but at that moment something fell from the sky onto the Demon and a strong blast of Divine Power followed. I got into position for combat, thinking I could be an ally of his or another of his plans, but when the dust and energy fluctuations settled, there was only one person left that I knew, one of the daughters of the Goddess of Fairies, Rosane. She was holding something in her hands, it looked like an ice statue of a grotesque creature unrecognizable if it weren''t for what I had already seen just a few seconds ago. "Rosane, what are you..." (I) "We can talk later, we have to clean the house first." (Rosane) She wasn''t wrong, the strongest enemy may have been dealt with, but there were still many Demons around, when we got close to the mansion I realized that my sisters were fighting more enemies than the rest without being at a disadvantage. With help from Rosane who was the strongest among us, it was only a matter of minutes to wipe out all the Demons, the Lesser Demon Gods were frozen into small statues like the enemy I fought and all the other Demons were killed. Finally this battle was over, a moment of breathing before the next battle and we all knew it. I still needed to forge the Source of Power and that would attract more enemies, I''m sure Rosane''s presence had something to do with that, but at least a little calm was better than nothing. Chapter 1425: Cap 1423: Brutal Fairyland part 7 Pov Elizabeth''s: I looked at the surroundings while dodging the shadow claw attacks and curse rays, the battle was a mess, Natasha''s enemy was the worst possible combination being a Demigod Corpse Demon who can use clones, they don''t take physical damage normally and in this place of pure magical energy are immortal. Caitlyn was also having problems, she was facing 3 enemies, all of them are illusion types focused on curse, they are similar to her, which allows her to defend herself from her and keep her busy, they are buying time. The others are not fighting enemies so prepared to go against them, but all these Demons are too strong for them, the Demons summoned from before made the situation really bad, but it is clear that they were prepared to fight against all of us. "You''re a real bastard, Parasyta!" (I) "Don''t say that, I thought we could become intimate, I''ve always admired you." (Parasyta) I grab the arm of a Demon trying to use a Divine Weapon, then I use Holy energy to cut the arm off and recover the Divine Weapon, I only needed one look to notice that it was a flaw, it was not a true Divine Weapon, it has no Divinity neither spirituality nor spirituality, it only serves to convey power. "Since when did the great Blood Empress become a thief, give it back." (Parasyta) He didn''t raise his voice, but a worm grew on the outside of the Weapon trying to attack me, I released the Weapon which flies back to one of them, they were all smiling and had the same expression, even their Auras were mixed as one in one layers, so I wasn''t able to find the worm inside them. "You talk too much to someone so weak, how did you manage to take over these idiots'' bodies?" (I) "They accepted my gifts, for Demonic Deities they are surprisingly naive." (Parasyta) This was the Demonic God of Parasites, this bastard caused me a lot of problems for half my life, even if he acts I know he is not here, these are simple idiots being controlled by him, even if he kills them and the parasites inside them nothing will happen With his real body, this bastard is one of my biggest failures. "(He doesn''t like to act together with others, he also doesn''t accept orders normally, they must have paid a lot to get his help and clearly he is a weapon against me.)" (I) This whole fight was a huge waste of time, but they wouldn''t let me get close to my sisters so it would be harder for us to switch places, Natasha could deal with this damned worm and I could easily deal with Caitlyn''s enemies while she finishes off the corpses that have been bothering Natasha. Unfortunately, they know this possibility and are keeping us away from each other. While I was thinking about how to get out of this impasse, Zenos'' fight ended, it seems that he is getting stronger and stronger, unfortunately his experience will not reach the level of someone who has lived thousands of years, his temper is also horrible, he could have tried to seal your enemy instead of just trying to defeat him. When Rosane arrived, changing the fight in our favor, it was much faster to deal with all these Demons, but Zenos needed time to recover. ------------------ Pov Zenos: I was watching Aurora talk to her sister Rosane, she looked frustrated when she walked away, Rosane came towards me and I got up, my whole body was hurting, which is strange since this body has no flesh, muscles or bones. "How it feels?" (Rosane) "Less worse, which is enough." (I) "How long have I been resting?" (I) "About 20 or 30 minutes in, I''m glad I woke up, I was about to call you." (Rosane) "We have no time to waste, every second could mean the death of hundreds of Fairies." (Rosane) In fact, this calculation may be too conservative, looking at the sky I can see the explosion lights happening in all directions, that''s because I''m not considering what could be happening in other Magical Kingdoms like this. "I know, I''ll start now." (I) I look at Layla who recovered much faster than me, this place is part of her who created all of this, not to mention that she wasn''t hurt as much as I was. "Is ready?" (I) "Yes, I also know what we should do." (Layla) I followed Layla to where the crater was before, but the mansion was in the place where it was always supposed to be, the surroundings look like a copy of how things are inside the Dungeon. I followed Layla to the mansion''s hall, the place where I made a contract with her and where she was reborn, being in this place and knowing that this is the center of the Magic Kingdom gives a new meaning to this place, I couldn''t help but remember the past. That grotesque, deformed little creature, an aberration created by a madman who did the unspeakable to innocent Fairies. I still remember those fragments of Soul and consciousness in agony, I remember how they were hurting each other in their suffering without realizing it, I remember how the majority cried out for death, I never found out who the Necromancer was who did it and I don''t care anymore that the Fairy Kings broke his Soul. I look at Layla, now the most malicious Fairy I''ve ever met, the one who devours sweets, the one who can''t talk to me without being offended, I couldn''t help but see that grotesque image and this Layla now side by side, time has passed very quickly since those days. "What are you doing looking at me so much, idiot master?" (Layla) "Nothing, just some memories." (I) "What do we have to do?" (I) In the World of Spirits, Nix and I were able to leave everything to our instincts, I did almost nothing consciously, I still remember the whole process, but it''s more as if I were an observer than the one who carried it out, it was as if my Alma knew how to do something that my mind didn''t understand. With the Tree of Flesh created by Yntra that has now become the Tree of Stellar Corruption, the process was different from what I went through with Nix, my instincts were still part of the equation, but it was secondary, it was something much more natural where I was the center of change and at the same time I had no active control over almost anything, it was something more physical with the Flesh Tree adapting to me while evolving into something totally different. I couldn''t help but think about how things would play out now with Layla, it seems like every time she creates a Power Source the process is completely different. "I didn''t know what to do either, since I transformed my Fairy Cradle into a Fairy Temple I never entered this mansion, in fact I spent little time in the Magic Kingdom that I created in the Fairy World." (Layla) "But while I waited for the princess to wake up from her beauty sleep, I restored everything the Demons had disturbed to their proper places and checked the entire mansion." (Layla) Layla was visibly strange looking around before her presence and Aura expanded to the entire Hall where we were, that''s when I noticed the cracks in the ceiling, walls and floor. These were not normal cracks, they passed through objects, furniture and everything in their path interconnecting in the center of the room. These cracks were glowing with different colors, if I close my eyes I can hear voices like whispers and I can feel power flows from different separate elements in each crack, the cracked parts colliding with each other. "This was the last place I checked, I didn''t want to go in here at first, I didn''t know why I was feeling uncomfortable, I tried to put it aside and meditate here imitating how you do, that''s when I understood what it all means." (Layla) The cracks began to grow and separate, but what was shown was not the outside of the mansion or other rooms, beyond the cracks was a flowing space with various elements flowing through. The place where Layla and I were standing, the center of the hall was the only part that didn''t move as the parts of the hall separated more and more like fragments floating in the void. The flows of power looked like rivers of magma, tornadoes of water, stone trees with metal leaves, and mountains of water. All the elements were trying to imitate each other, they were all flowing in this place and yet they seemed separate, it didn''t feel natural. The times I heard how whispers were still there, it was impossible to understand what they were saying, but I felt sad for some reason. I looked at Layla and she was looking around with a mix of emotions in her eyes, she looks uncomfortable at first before looking at me determinedly. "These are the voices of those who came before me, those who form who I am." (Layla) "My Soul was made of fragments that you united, but the reason I lasted until you found me was that other fragments of Souls were used to stabilize the parts that were inside me, I myself don''t know how many there were and they are all part of me." (Layla) "This place makes me uncomfortable because it makes me face a weak part of myself, a part that is no longer me, but ironically still part of me and will always be there." (Layla) "This was the end of all those who are whispering and it was also my beginning, in this place both events happened at the same time in my rebirth in your hands." (Layla) "Layla... I..." (I) "No need to say anything, you''ll soon understand once we start." (Layla) Chapter 1426: Cap 1424: Brutal Fairyland part 8 The place where we were was more than strange, the fragments of the hall were still scattered and are the only physical aspect of this entire place, the energies flowing trying to imitate other elements was nothing more than an illusion, all it took was a little observation and it was possible to see the energies flowing in the form of these illusions literally imitating. I didn''t know what I had to do, but Layla was forming magic circles that I''ve never seen, but with all the studying of magic I''ve done I''ve realized that they are fundamentally different from every theory I''ve studied. Magic by default is based on cause and effect, the "effect" part being the main one as all calculation, energy and theory of magic centers on the effect of a spell, how to create an intended effect, how to control an intended effect, how to cancel an intended effect and how to maintain an intended effect are just some of the theoretical bases of the study of magic. But what Layla is doing was completely ridiculous to me, the calculations of a spell can be found in the lines and shapes of a magic circle very similar to the geometry of my old world, just like that area of ??mathematics the calculations of a magic circle have exact equations and results. That''s why I''m so confused right now, the magic circles that Layla is creating don''t have the equations of effect, they don''t seem to have a direction to follow or reason for such magic to exist, the other parts of the equation also don''t make sense to me to the point where I not understand anything. But I still didn''t say anything, Layla''s look was serious since we entered the room earlier, she seems to have confidence in what she is doing. She took a few minutes doing this, in the end nothing activated, magic circles to a layman may seem incredible connected to each other and layered in a complex tapestry, but to me it was a work of abstract art, I still don''t see any value beyond of leaving people appreciating the superficial. Even with my confusion, I couldn''t help but feel my Penumbra Fairy Magic Essence stir at the same moment Layla finished making this massive magic circle. "(What does she want to achieve with this...)" (I) "Preparations are made, come." (Layla) "What do we do?" (I) "This magic circle is called not what it seems, it is the form in which we will pour the elements that surround us, combine them together and in the end transform the fragmented into a whole." (Layla) "Faeries use magic differently than wizards, we don''t tell the Elements what to do, we direct the elements just like you move your arm or your legs." (Layla) "This isn''t exactly a magic circle, this is the form in which I will fuse the elements into the best form possible before adding the new Element of Penumbra." (Layla) "Together we will live as each of these elements guides their energies here, I will manipulate the energies and you will concentrate them." (Layla) Layla guided me to the center of the magic circle-like foundry she created, there she sat in her large form and I sat in front of her, our hands clasped together as the Magical Essence of the Penumbra Fairies flowed between the two of us. "(Do you understand now?)" (Layla) "(Yes...)" (I) As the Essence flowed through both of us it was as if our energy bodies were breaking apart becoming one with the smelting, our Souls became ignited with the Essence itself becoming the fire that will refine the Elemental Energies and our minds are both blacksmith hands that will manipulate these energies. This time it was not something that would be done naturally or purely instinctively, everything must be under our complete control, Magic is something rational that must be forged by a conscious will. "(Let''s get started.)" (Layla) "(I''m ready.)" (I) Just like a forge, the blacksmith begins by selecting the materials, our minds are only limited by our will and imagination in this place, following Layla, my mind divides going to each element. My mind was deeply connected with Layla''s at that moment, no more words were needed, a mere thought or a will is enough for us to know more than words can mean, so Layla guided me revealing the secrets of each element beside me. ---------------- Water flows and adapts eternally, no obstacle in its path is eternal, over time all rocks will wear away, even the cold is temporary as all ice will melt one day, even heat will only evaporate the water allowing flow into the heavens like clouds before falling once more like rain flowing across the earth once more. Water adapts to everything, it flows smoothly and flexibly, always ready for infinite changes. ------------------- The earth is the basis of everything, its firmness is a symbol of eternal confidence for everyone, on a firm land forests rise, rivers flow, animals walk and civilizations are built. The earth is firm, becoming immobile for eternity just like a mountain, as long as it exists it will always be there immobile, even if it breaks, wears out or is destroyed it will never move from its place, only complete destruction will make the mountain leave the place where it was belongs. From firm and reliable ground life will prosper. ------------------ Fire is the effect of burning something, it represents heat in its most primitive form and light in its splendor. Fire can be destruction that reduces everything to ashes or it can be an act of creation by transforming even the hardest of metals into something malleable. Fire itself does not just represent heat and light as in my ancient world, Fire represents the act itself of burning, transforming one thing into another, transforming wood into heat, transforming ice into water, transforming water into steam and so on they are just a part of your whole. In a magical universe like this, fire becomes much more than that, it becomes the symbol of transformation, everything it touches is transformed by it, there is no total destruction, just an act of transformation, by burning the energy of other elements new types of fire emerge. Burning the energy of the Wood Element brings life, burning the energy of the Ice Element everything will be frozen and thus the fire reveals its true face, now I understand how my power of chaos created Star Fire, why this is the best representative for transformation of the power of chaos. ------------------ Together with Layla I felt the pure power of the Essences of each element, I lived as these elements, in this way my mind concentrated these various elements and Layla guided this elemental energy to our Souls where these energies were refined by the Magical Essence of the Penumbra Fairies before of pouring into the mold that Layla created. This whole process was happening at the same time with all the elements, but it wasn''t heavy or exhausting on my mind, it actually felt relaxed and natural for some reason. During all of this, Layla and I were consciously in control, but even so it was like falling into a trance while we did everything so naturally that we lost track of time. ----------------- Pov Ragnar''s: When the master and Layla entered the mansion I didn''t see anything much happen in the first few minutes, but it didn''t take long for the strangeness to begin. I heard from Hades a short time ago about how the process of creating the Source of Power in the Spirit World was, I also saw how the Source of Ki was created in that Star system. But even knowing these things I still found it strange when the entire mansion suddenly became fluid, I know that everything in the Fairy World is made of energy including our bodies, but this energy itself is different. "No need to be afraid, this is the power of the Master''s Essence." (Hades) "I know, but I''m not afraid of what I''m seeing, I''m afraid of what I''m feeling?" (I) Hades looked at me strangely for a second confused by what I said, but it didn''t take long for him to understand and look up, there was nothing there but the erosions and lights of the battle happening far from here, at least for now. The entire mansion was like a flowing liquid imitating the shape of a mansion, the Penumbra power of the new element that the master created is slowly permeating the entire mansion, a strange Aura surrounds the mansion as if everything around it was in flux making it impossible to approach safely. The problem lies precisely in this Penumbra energy that is literally exploding out of the mansion in an increasingly increasing way, soon it will become so strong that it will be like a beacon pointing our direction towards the enemies as if there was a giant luminous sign saying attack. "(In the Source of Power of the Spirit World there were attacks to stop the Master, here it must be the same.)" (I) Everyone had to prepare for what was going to happen. Chapter 1427: Cap 1425: Brutal Fairyland part 9 Pov Hades: For some time now, the mansion in the center of the Magic Kingdom has become unstable, none of us try to get closer because we feel our bodies falling apart with each step closer to the mansion. I look at my hand knowing that if this body is too damaged, I won''t be able to rebuild it, magic and healing skills are completely useless here without a physical body to heal, if it weren''t for the master it would be impossible to create a body here until the Power Source is ready. "They are coming." (Haku) "(We''re ready.)" (Haku) "How long do we have?" (I) "(Is Cinthia keeping an eye on them? Have they arrived yet?)" (I) "10 minutes maximum." (Haku) "(Some are here, but the majority are on the way, they are divided into 2 groups, one part is hiding and arrived in 7 or 8 minutes and the other part is coming from the front, arriving in 10 minutes to deceive us.)" (Haku) "How Many Fairy Kings Have Arrived?" (I) "(Rosane and Mistress Caitlyn were successful?)" (I) "9 arrived, if we count Miss Aurora and her sister Rosane who are complete Deities, we have 11." (Haku) "(Rosane managed to bring 25 Fairy Kings, among them there are only 4 Deities.)" (Haku) "(Miss Caitlyn also managed to protect the minds of others by leaving a mental illusion in place, she is telling everyone as I speak to you.)" (Haku) "Is everyone following Mistress Elizabeth''s plan?" (I) "(Warn everyone to be ready for the ritual, we will only have 1 chance.)" (I) "Yes, but are we really going to do something so simple?" (Haku) "(What are we going to use for energy? This ritual...)" (Haku) "Yes, we have no choice but to defend this point as much as possible." (I) "(We will use our guests as food for the ritual, leave everything to me.)" (Haku) (Author: the previous conversation may be a little confusing for some, I advise reading the spoken text first and then reading the text of the mental conversation if you don''t understand, there are two conversations happening at the same time.) Me and Haku were silent for just 2 seconds with me placing my hand on her shoulder before nodding my head leaving then, there was nothing more to say, our time is limited now. It took everyone a while to realize that we didn''t eliminate all the Demons, Caitlyn was the first to notice that there were still some hiding here as spies, they have been monitoring us since before the master started forging the Source of Power. Demon Gods never do things simply, they plan everything with frightening caution, they had a plan ready even if they were defeated here and if so that Demon that the master Defeated was not the brain behind everything. Caitlyn told about the Spy only to the 3 of us and the 2 Divine Fairies, because we are the only ones with protected minds, we are not sure if they are reading the other''s thoughts, but from the way Haku spoke it seems that Caitlyn confirmed that even the other people''s minds were being read. "Master, come back soon..." (I) ------------------- Pov Aine (Goddess of Fairies): I can no longer keep my clone with the other Fairies, these bastards are tired of waiting, I''m sure they can feel the new Element spreading throughout the Fairy World. "(You little bastard, I think you better be quick, I need to get rid of these idiots before I take care of the plague that has invaded my Fairy World.)" (I) Dravos was a fool, his mind was always very simple, he lacks malice and cruelty, I, as well as all the Gods linked to Nature, felt the Source of Zenos'' Power emerging in the Spirit World, Dravos used this power to break the seal on the around him and us Gates of the Spirits, a use as simplistic as one would expect from him. "< Universal Collapse >" (I) I use the metal element to cut off the Demon God Demon arm while the curse of petrification extends converting his Demonic power into the out of control stone element within him. Soon a warp in space makes two Demon Gods collide and when I saw another one who thought he was smarter than me trying to use his Divine Weapon hidden, I started to take the combat more seriously to make them understand who is in control here! With my power, stars are born for hundreds of kilometers with spheres similar to planets forming in seconds before attacking with circular attacks all the Demonic Gods, each time they managed to destroy one of the Planets it exploded into fragments releasing elemental Essence. "< Swords of Ada of the Massacre... >" (I) "(I can''t do this, not yet...)" (I) Just this attack created hundreds of spatial cracks, the very base elements of the Fairy World were vibrating, if I release more of my power, considerable damage will be done to the Fairy World and I cannot allow that. "(Dravos is a lucky bastard he doesn''t have to worry about that.)" (I) I snap my fingers making the swords I just created disappear along with my universal field, the Demons that used to attack me now keep their distance and the one who thought he was intelligent had half of his body annihilated, the Divine Weapon in his hands is now with another God Demonic who kept it without hesitation. Dravos is a God who never went through rebirth, he was never defeated and only fought when it was strictly necessary, this pacifist, even so he is older than Selene and was the one who created the World of Spirits, that place is literally part of him, amplifying his power. I have gone through rebirth, I am not the same Faerie Goddess of the past, I am a descendant and successor of her, I can amplify my power with the Faerie World and I am invisible here, but my connection is not as deep as Dravos, because of this the Fairyland has difficulty resisting my Divine power if I go all out. "(When the kid is done, I''ll make sure to make these bastards find out why they called me the Slaughter Fairy!)" (I) -------------------- Pov Hades: Just as I expected, they were moving through the energy flows, they are Elemental Demons, none of them seem to have the power of Essence or they wouldn''t be able to hide in the elemental energy flows. "(Are you ready?)" (Rosane) "(Yes, take the Fairy Kings we already agreed on, I''ll need the others to pull the Demons.)" (I) "(I hope you can do it.)" (Rosane) "(I will succeed, there is no possibility of failure!)" (I) I soon see the light caused by Rosane rise to the skies where several red meteors were coming, these are the Demons used to get our attention. As soon as Rosane left, the Fairy Kings around her followed closely behind and as expected the Demons responded as expected, they came out of the element flows to attack everyone and at that moment the other Fairy Kings also appeared, forcing the Demons to leave the elemental flows. "< Eclipse Magic: Void >" (I) I activate the magic circle that I drew inside me and with my Aura I mark all the Demons that are pulled towards me without time to do anything. While I was gathering all the Demons in one place, everyone else created the ritual by drawing parts of the ritual and having the Fairy Kings use their elemental energies to activate the magic circle. "< Star Summoning Ritual: Blood Eclipse Primordial Totem''s Will >" (me/Cinthia/Haku) Everyone moved away when the ritual circle was complete, my body was fortunately pulled out by a Space Fairy Queen, together with Cinthia and Haku we activated the ritual completely where Starfire Dragons appear, devouring the Demons, stealing their energy to feed the ritual. Within seconds the ritual reduced all the Demons to nothing, only their Souls remained before being dragged away by Hela who imprisons the Demon Souls. From the ritual the presence of my master appears, but it was heavier making the space within the ritual break into fragments floating where they broke forming a crack from which the head of a Dragon emerges. The Dragon said nothing, his eyes took me as if he could see everything to the depths of my Soul before turning to the Demons fighting a little higher. This Dragon came out of the rift flying into the sky as if it were in water, its overwhelming power sent flying everyone who was foolish enough to get close. This Dragon was not the primordial Totem itself, this is the will within the Totem, the accumulated power of not only the master, but also the power of all who carry its lineage. This power created this creature that attacked the Demons in a brutal way, its body changed, acquiring a more humanoid appearance as it fought, its body was not something solid, it seemed to be made of a shadow full of stars inside, giving a feeling of incongruity of light and shadows. His every movement creates a wave in space, his every strike cracks the space around him, nothing in his path was left when dozens of Demons were defeated in seconds, that is until he appeared. A Demon holding a sword pointed at the Dragon, soon the sword broke and the Dragon was cut in half, the attack that did this was coming towards us when the Dragon split into several rays of dark light hitting us all. He used the remains of his power to protect and strengthen everyone, my previously almost depleted energy was replenished, I could feel that I was much stronger and I knew it was temporary, so I advanced without fear against the other Demons who attacked again. Chapter 1428: Cap 1426: Brutal Fairyland part 10 Pov Karina: "(I don''t understand why not tell them.)" (I) "(Because if it''s not necessary, I''d rather keep this letter hidden, this may not be the only wave of enemies.)" (Elizabeth) "(I also want to fight, I don''t like seeing others fight while I sit around.)" (I) "(If you show up they will notice the reaction to the Power of the Dragon Totem in your presence, they will know something is wrong.)" (Elizabeth) "..." (I) Elizabeth is intelligent, her plans always have several layers and are not as improvised as Zenos'' plans, but I don''t like how she does things, as a Dragon I don''t like being hidden, it goes against my instincts and I still don''t dare to go against the plan when Zenos'' safety could be at stake. I couldn''t deny that having a secret weapon for an emergency was better than having no plan at all. "(Why I can never get a good fight.)" (I) -------------------- Pov Hades: With the power of the Dragon Totem forming a protective cover around me, my body was healed and full of energy, but even so, there are still some strong Demons hiding among them, they think we don''t know. "(Cinthia, finish off those still hiding.)" (I) "(Yes.)" (Cinthia) Cinthia disappears, but I know I don''t need to worry about her, so instead of wasting any more time, I prepare my attack for the signal that soon arrived. "[Now!]" (Nicole) "< Eclipse Holy Magic: Eclipse Reflection >" (I) I create a large magic circle above and everyone uses their attacks in the direction of my magic, all attacks go through the magic circle gaining an increase in power using my Essence of Chaos, stars circle their attacks and when they hit they will explode increasing the damage as they apply Starfire directly at the enemy. But something interesting happened, the magic didn''t work as I expected, maybe it''s because of the Dragon Totem''s Power in everyone, but instead of simple stars, a Dragon is circling each attack and it seems even stronger than the magic I used. This is a combined attack where the directions of the attack were planned by Nicole, when the late Demons arrived under the pretext of getting our attention, we ignored them by continuing to attack those who were already here. Ours turned hundreds of kilometers into pure destruction, Starfire took to the skies with burning corpses falling one at a time, glows of various things emerging from among the flames of others'' attacks and soon space split. A worn and old looking scythe extinguished the Starfire as well as cut off the other magics, but I noticed that the effect on the Starfire was even stronger, this thing cut off the Holy Power within the Starfire. When I looked up I saw many injured Demons, their energy bodies were very damaged, but among them there were 4 Demons that were intact, I could feel the power of the Essence protecting their bodies and I felt their Auras, I knew who they were and it scared me for a second making me warn the others. "(We have 4 Demon Heralds, be careful!)" (I) "(Stay away from the Devil with the scythe.)" (Elizabeth) There was no need for Elizabeth to worry, because Rosane, who was fighting at the front, directly attacked this Demon and took him away, but the other 3 Demon Heralds cannot be left alone. Me and Haku took the lead with her taking 1 of them while I took the other 2, which didn''t work out, they are equal in strength with me and can even be considered stronger due to the Divine Power in their bodies, so they fall into a disadvantage being pressed back almost instantly. "Let me handle this one." (Aurora) Little Aurora, the youngest of the daughters of the Goddess of Fairies appears behind one of the Demons, she grabs his neck and disappears, she seems not to want to kill him. In the end, it was just me against a Demon Herald, his body was a strange mixture, the lower half of his body was that of a tiger, the upper half of a Minotaur and in his hands was a war hammer filled with Holy Power. "You guys are weak with these..." "< Holy Summoning Magic: Star Twin Swords >" (I) I normally don''t use weapons out of pride in the body I possess as well as the power contained by the master, but I''m not foolish enough to face this Demon without using all my power. With the movement of my hands, two swords appear and take shape directly in my hands, one sword has the Purple Sun symbol with two eyes like precious stones inside, the second sword has a fragmented silver Moon also with two eyes, its two blades made of crystal. With swords in hand I attacked my enemy, there was no point in listening to his words, the fact that he is an enemy doesn''t change, I also won''t give him time to do any of his tricks. He was taller than me and his strength seemed to be his greatest weapon, I was careful when he moved his hammer and I never let him use all his momentum trying to intercept the swing of his war hammer with each swing. Every time my sword and his hammer collide my hand shakes as if it would be destroyed at any second, his strength was frightening and if this battle continues like this it will only be a matter of time before I am defeated. "< Sacred Magic of Eclipse: Fragments of the Burning Moon >" (I) With my Holy Power charged in the swords, I spin them almost instantly creating a silver and purple magic circle from which hundreds of purple meteors come out even bigger than when I used them during training, it must be due to the Power of the Dragon Totem. "< Demonic Magic: Force Absorption >" "< Holy Magic: Hammer of Demon Condemnation >" The Demon was stronger than expected, his War Hammer shined as he struck each meteor with a speed he didn''t expect, each strike of the hammer was followed by a flow of power that continuously entered the Hammer as the meteors were destroyed. In seconds he passed through all the meteors while approaching me, but once he swung his war hammer, this time from top to bottom, his hammer grows in an explosion until it is the size of a mountain falling on top of me. I can feel my power mixed with his power being used to strengthen the war hammer, I didn''t have time to escape this attack, the space itself seemed frozen. "< Sacred Eclipse Magic: Sword of the 4 Infernal Dragons >" (I) With my power at its limit the 2 swords break as if a limiter disappears, the pair of eyes on each sword shines and gathers in front of me, each gemstone representing an eye of a different color, the fragments of the two broken swords come together into one large sword with 4 Dragons ornaments. "(I only have 1 chance.)" (I) "< Blade of the 4 Infernal Dragons >" (I) With this attack being the power of the Dragon Totem nourishing my sword, the power of my attack wasn''t directed at the hammer like a mountain coming towards me, I wasn''t sure if this attack would be enough to resist such an overwhelming force, so my The target was not the weapon but the one wielding the war hammer. A swing of my sword divided the space with 4 streams of power becoming 4 Dragons surrounded by Starfire with stars of a different color for each Dragon, they travel quickly without being hindered by the restricted space until they reach the Demon Herald who was unable to leave the place due to the attack itself. The 4 Dragons hit him at the same time, but he didn''t take a single step back, his large body was pierced and taken over by 3 types of Starfire, his power being consumed and yet the hammer was still descending towards me. When his attack hit my body, I was thrown to the ground with my body almost falling apart completely, my energy was almost completely dispersed by this attack, but at least the hammer broke with the attack, preventing it from hitting again while I was on the ground. "Do you think this will be enough... DIE!!" "< Chaos Magic: Dragon of Gluttony >" (I) With my Aura as a base, I create one last spell using the energy of the Essence of Chaos, I know well the master''s power to devour the power of what he devours, I know that this is a power associated with the Essence of Chaos. I know I''m not able to use the same power, but I can use this for a simpler magic, using this as a base a 4-eyed Dragon covered in Starfire comes out of the magic circle while I use one of my arms to activate the magic. This Dragon attacks the Demon Herald who didn''t have time to dodge, he was completely swallowed by the Dragon, but he still managed to get out, a shame I never thought I could beat him with this attack. The 4-Eyed Dragon absorbed the Starfire that burned the Demon Herald and sucked his power directly from his body, when he came out through the star flames that form the 4-Eyed Dragon''s body, he was greatly weakened while my own body was largely recovered. With the greatsword still in my hand, I attack, letting its hammer slide past the sword that I leave tilted as I advance, then launch as many attacks as possible with the Essence of Chaos glowing on the sword''s blade. His already very damaged body was cut into dozens of parts that burn in Starfire, but his Soul seemed protected and I felt a Divine presence keeping the power of the Essence of Chaos away from the Demon Herald''s Soul. Soon his Soul was dragged into the sky at high speed, but the power that was burned from his body was sucked away by my sword before flowing into me, so I used that power to rebuild my missing arm. "(He was saved...)" (I) Sigh "[There are more of them coming than we expected, team up with Aurora, she has a plan.]" (Nicole) Chapter 1429: Cap 1427: Brutal Fairyland part 11 I lost track of time, it took a lot of concentration while maintaining that state of living as one of the elements of nature, for me it was like living many lives over several days sometimes and sometimes several years. This experience was something unique and deepened my understanding of various elements, I suddenly understood why it was impossible for a magician to use magic like the Fairies, this is because the Fairies are like children of nature, they are the living form of each element , which is also why Fairies with more than one element are so rare, a Fairy with several Elements like Layla only exists because of me. Even the Fairies created by Layla only have 2 elements because of me, the only natural Fairy with more than 1 elements I knew was the Goddess of the Fairies and perhaps her Daughters. This experience was incredible, but at the same time it was a burden for me, a normal person''s mind would not be able to bear experiencing even one element, in my case I experienced them all at the same time, to make matters worse time seemed to pass in different ways ways depending on the element causing even more weight in my mind. "(Come back!)" (Layla) Suddenly I feel a pull and I find myself outside the flows of the elements, what appeared in front of me was a totally different magic circle, but I knew that this was the form that Layla prepared for the elements and that I was now filled with the power of the elements. Elemental Mana. The lights of blue color, green color, orange color, color see and so on painted an incredible image that became exuberant with images of different illusory areas that together seem to form a holographic map of a flat Planet with oceanic areas, with mountain areas and forest areas. "(This is beautiful.)" (I) "(Yes, but it is false, just a representation of the power of these elements in nature, it will destroy itself when the fusion process begins.)" (Layla) "(What should I do?)" (I) She didn''t answer me with words, her Soul and mine were still inside the Starfire caused by the Magical Essence of the Penumbra Fairies, she holds my Soul together with hers, bringing the two of us to circulate around the entire magical circle she created while leaving a trail of burning Starfire, we also stop at several smaller magical circles where following Layla''s lead I create spheres containing these elemental energies. At the end we returned to the center where Layla concentrated all her Essence between the two of us and just as happened with all the previous Elements, I began to experience this new element as Layla controlled the Essence while creating a new central part of the magic circle in which the Essence Magic of the Fey of the Penumbra begin to flow to fill. ----------------- Pov Nicole''s: I was looking at all the magical sensors, but things in this place are so unstable that my sensors are functioning at less than 50% of their full capacity, this in the best cases since normally my sensors are almost completely useless. I hate the Fairy World and the Spirit World equally, these places have no defined rules, there is nothing exact, how can anyone bear living in a place where it can be hot in a place and taking a simple step to the side to see themselves? Freezing with cold, a place where gravity varies is even our bodies are denied entry. I spent so much effort creating and modifying that body, I couldn''t even use my body in those places, I feel like all my efforts were negated. "[How''s Alice?]" (Caitlyn) "She''s still unconscious, but energy readings show positive results." (I) "[Wake her up, we don''t have any more time, there''s more coming, she needs to get it now.]" (Caitlyn) "I''ll do my best, do you want to use magic now?" (I) "[No, this plan won''t work against it.]" (Caitlyn) I was talking to Caitlyn using my Inferior Familiars, they can''t make good images with so much power disturbing the surroundings with their fights but now Caitlyn''s power invaded my mind using the connection I have with this Familiar. What she did was just to show me a longue vision, it''s not even close, but what I saw was scary, a tide of Miasma is coming towards us and they seem to have creatures inside that I can''t measure the strength of. "[Keep everything under control, I''ll try to delay it somehow.]" (Caitlyn) As she spoke to me, she was already moving out of my field of vision, but I couldn''t help but think about how all my planning had gone to waste. "Wake up!" (I) "Zzzzz..." (Alice) The plan was for Alice to gather a large amount of Holy Power from Zenos'' Essences, but there was a problem, since Zenos entered the mansion, her Essences are not reaching Alice and here in the Fairy World she cannot reach the Holy Power stored in the mansion Dungeon, we can''t go back either since the Gate is closed. "This is going to be difficult." (I) ------------------- Pov Aurora (Fairy Goddess of the Tree of Shadow): With the Demon that I captured, I start to use Starfire to remove all its power, it was burning inside the cocoon that I created with my roots, a small tree growing at the top of which fruits begin to form. There are 3 types of fruits, the first containing dense Demonic power, the second containing negative Holy Power characteristic of those associated with Demon Gods, the third where I wanted to get its Essence was the real bet. The Demonic Power was sucked out almost instantly, even though he was a Herald he was too weak to do anything against me, the second fruit was a little slower to grow to the ripe stage, the last fruit was still in the same shape, the Essence It wasn''t coming as expected. "Do you think you can resist me?" (I) I couldn''t help but find it funny that a goodbye who isn''t even among the great Gods thinks he can interfere with what he wants. With an arm crossing the cocoon until piercing his body, this time I used my Divine Power to touch his Soul where I place a seed that feeds on his Soul. I feel the Divine Power trying to take the Soul to the point of killing him, giving even more power to me, even so I expel him away from me while I see the Soul of this Demon Herald dry up until there is nothing left. "I wish to make a deal!?" (I) When I looked up the third fruit was grown and ripe, I collected all the fruits and as I expected it came when I talked about the contract. "Aurora, beautiful and young as expected, I''m happy to see..." (Dalila) A branch took the shape of a sword burning in Starfire aimed at the woman in front of me using my face. "Enough talking like that, I should kill you, do you think I don''t know what you did?" (I) "It doesn''t matter what I did, but who I did it to." (Delilah) The smile on her face is as distorted as ever, someone who has even sold her children expecting the price to be acceptable, there is no trust for someone like that if it weren''t for her inability to betray when making a deal. "We both know you won''t do anything to me, so drop the act and state your terms." (Delilah) "I want the Head of Sarafar." (I) "What''s in it for me?" (Delilah) "A Divinity Fragment of the Essence of Desire." (I) "That''s not enough, I want to love Starfire..." (Dalila) "No!" (I) "So we don''t have a deal." (Delilah) As soon as she spoke, the wooden sword went through her skull, but that wasn''t her body, it was at that moment that something else happened. I look towards the direction of the Mansion an absurd amount of Essence Power was forming a column of Starfire. I also noticed that everything was vibrating and rippling everywhere, be it space, trees, the ground or anything else. The world was changing and it was possible to feel the expansion of this Magical Kingdom, the Power that permeates everything was no longer the various elements but the Power of the Penumbra of my Father, it seems that he is succeeding. "If you''re not going to give me head, then tell me where it is and I''ll look for it myself." (I) "This is already a fairer deal." (Delilah) ----------------- Pov Elizabeth''s: In the distance it was possible to see the clouds of darkness arriving, the malice and murderous intentions were already arriving here, to direct this devilish cloud towards us there must be a strong God within the cloud of miasma. "(Then we''ll need to reformulate the plan.)" (I) Just the power of the Totem won''t be enough, so I took a deep breath before pulling out something that was stored carefully, it was a red crystal statue, the mother''s Divine Power emanating from it. "The time has come to use it." (I) Even though I was distracted by the next problem I was still paying attention to the enemies around me, luckily I already took care of the worst worst leaving all the weakest ones last so as not to waste my strength too early. "Sorry, but I don''t have time for this anymore." (I) "< Blood Magic: Ocean of Blood >" (I) Chapter 1430: Cap 1428: Brutal Fairyland part 12 Pov Athena''s: The world was changing around me, but it was hindering more than helping, my spells were being affected by elemental energy fluctuations and energy blasts from the Penumbra. "< Eclipse Sacred Sword Technique: Star Blades >" (I) With my swords in hand I advance against the Demons, none of them were weak, this prevented me from defeating anyone with a few blows, but they have a huge flaw, they can''t do it in groups. I thrust myself into their midst and the blades of my swords are destroyed as they are consumed by a stellar liquid spreading down the blade before crystallizing, a flaming dark Aura full of stars surrounding it. I focus completely on myself and the swords as I move forward forgetting things like feelings, reasoning or pain. With the swing of one wing I deflect some fire and Demonic energy attacks twice, then moving towards the nearest Demon, I use my wing to intercept his blow, then with a sword I attack from top to bottom while with the other sword I attack from left to right, I make these attacks at high speed, but he can still use his tail to deflect an attack and his two hands hold the sword that came from above, my attack failed as I intended to do and I still defeat the Demon who was foolish to touch my swords with his own body. The Starfire manages to invade your body from the inside as if it were a poison, first your hands and then your arms gain black lines that shine outward, a second Demon cut your arms before the contamination spread while another 5 Demons tried to attack me, What they didn''t expect was to see more black lines growing across the rest of the Demon''s body, he forgot that his hands weren''t the only things my sword touched and when the contamination spread completely the Demon fell to the ground while surrounded by Starfire that came from the inside out. The second Demon didn''t waste any more time with his companion keeping his distance from him before attacking me along with the other 5, with these 6 close to me there were still 2 others hiding nearby, I could feel their murderous intent even if I didn''t know where they were. I was surrounded and each of their attacks was dangerous if it hit, but it was also a fact that they were being cautious with my swords after what happened to their companion, Demons are selfish by nature and especially those who have achieved Divinity, even though they are just Demigods They are not yet willing to die following the plans of others. But their fear has been what has kept me fighting, so I appreciate their selfish aspect and look forward to an opportunity that will present itself sooner or later when one of them tries to seriously attack. "< Eclipse Sacred Technique: Flaming Mist >" (I) This was a technique created by me during my training fights with Cinthia, a dense fog spreads around me, it does not have the effects of contamination and also does not harm my enemies directly, its effect is to distort all the senses and even the space in some areas, it also blocks Aura from spreading and burns various forms of energy, all of this counts for me too, which would be bad if I couldn''t connect my senses with the mist itself to move freely. Just as I expected, a brave man came to attack, a book made of dark silver metal appeared in his hands and from it an old magic circle emerged from which a red arm appeared punching towards me. I almost couldn''t hold back my smile as I relaxed my body letting the blow that would have broken my bones, if I had something now, throw me back while turning my body towards the Demon that was in that direction, meanwhile mist sprouted from me spreading throughout the area like a tide. The combination of the mist and my focused attack gave the Demon no time to react as I cut its hunt in half horizontally, Starfire spreading through its body as I let my body be carried away by the spatial distortion, escaping the attack of another Demon that I don''t know how Found me. "(This is going to take longer than I intended.)" (I) ------------------- Pov Natasha''s: What I was seeing was something really bad, the Demon cloud was almost here and knowing Elizabeth''s plan, I couldn''t help but think something is wrong. The Demons have always played using tricks, they wouldn''t make a direct attack like that, they have something prepared for us, maybe there is something inside the cloud or behind the cloud that serves to hide the true danger. "(They are acting much more aggressively than in the Spirit World.)" (I) "Miss Natasha, so good to see you again." (Delilah) "Delilah, what do you want, keep it brief or I''ll attack." (I) "I would like to apologize for what I''m going to do, please know that I''m just fulfilling a contract, so... Guhhh!!!" (Delilah) Before she finished speaking, she was already on the ground with my foot inside her chest, I already knew that this was not her real body, she is one of the most cunning Demons that exists even among the Demonic Gods, she would not let go show off in front of an enemy so easily and relies on this common knowledge about her to talk to other people. "That wasn''t... not polite... haahhh!" (Delilah) This bitch has always caused me a lot of problems, her Divine powers are varied and can be used in different situations, because of this I have already lost some wars and died once because of her agreements with my enemies. I''ve been looking for a way to kill her for a long time, which I haven''t managed to do yet, but at least I know a way to cause pain and I can be content with this small pleasure for now. "Did you think I wouldn''t be ready for you?" (I) "I see your sister... told you about me... hug!" (Delilah) I slap her across the face before realizing something was wrong, she could undo her body connection, which is really cute since it looks like me, but for her to continue means she''s doing something behind my back. I concentrate and notice a slight fluctuation of Demonic energy, but it was enough for me to drop this bitch and attack, I just didn''t expect my foot to still be trapped inside her body, which behaves like a Slime, quickly crawling all over my body, trying to get me to contain. "I''m sorry about that, I really have nothing against you, but a deal is a deal." (Delilah) "You damn bitch, the day I get my hands on you I''ll..." (I) She uses tentacles to cover my mouth, but I can feel a hint of nervousness in her presence with her wrapping so tightly around my body. "I know we may have some issues, but I have never been against you or your sisters personally, nor have I ever accepted agreements that went in that direction." (Delilah) "In fact I would be more than happy to make a deal with either of you, even now I''m just restraining you until you fulfill that deal and then I''ll release you." (Delilah) She is making up a lot of justifications, she has always liked to talk, but she has never apologized or tried to justify herself that much before, it was more than obvious that she was afraid of something and I know what it could be. As soon as I thought about it I couldn''t help but smile and she must have realized somehow, she let go of me and tried to move away, but it was too late. My body was already transforming because of the Divine Incarnation I activated, as soon as the Divine Sentence formed and before my transformation even finished, I forced to use a specific power. "< Divine Blood Magic: Eclipse Blood Sword >" (I) Drawing power from the Dragon Totem I received and the bloodline I share with Zenos, I strengthened my attack with Divine Power forming a Star Metal sword and swung dozens of times in milliseconds towards this bastard, unfortunately only 3 attacks hit. I managed to cut one eye, one of her arms and pierce her shoulder, but she still managed to escape from me by moving away and me choosing not to chase her now no matter how much I want to. Turning around I went to attack again the Demonic energy fluctuation point that I felt before, but as soon as I destroyed it I realized that there was another one further away and the Demonic energy from the surroundings belonging to those I killed was flowing there, the one I just attacked was just a distraction from the beginning. "< Court of a Thousand Rivers of Blood >" (I) With one last effort I gathered all my Divine power and Essence into this attack, the sword in my hands turned liquid as it became as thick as blood, with one cut the entire sword evaporated and the heavens were split just like the forest, but I managed destroy the source of concentration of Demonic power. "Your bitch...she ran away." (I) When I turned around she had run away and in her place there were letters floating. [ My job was just to force you to spend your power as much as possible, I knew that of your sisters only you would let yourself be carried away by anger, but what I said before was serious. I will apologize properly when this is all over and you are calmer. ] "I''ll kill you!" (I) Chapter 1431: Cap 1429: Brutal Fairyland part 13 Pov Karina: It was very difficult to stand still and watch others fight, if I had my physical body I would probably be vomiting blood out of pure frustration, every part of me was screaming to join the battle, I was in total agony. But the creation of the Source of Power is more important than my selfish will to fight, no one on the right side was mortally injured and no matter how difficult their fights were, none of them came close to death, my help would be insignificant, the best way to help is to be a hidden card, we have to buy time until Zenos is finished. "(See that Cloud? Get ready to act as soon as I give the signal.)" (Elizabeth) "(If I do this, everyone will suffer a sudden decrease in strength.)" (I) Everyone was still fighting and it was undeniable that the Dragon Totem''s blessing was being of help, if I withdraw that help suddenly then it might cause a defeat for our companions. But as I thought about this, a wave of red energy becoming liquid and thick like blood spreading in all directions, all the enemies were swept away by the waves of blood with no chance of resisting while we felt nothing when these waves of blood passed by for us or at least for me. Elizabeth was unable to defeat the Demons, but she managed to seal them in a way, the entire surface was flooded with blood except for the mansion surrounded by a column of Starfire. With these Demons sealed I saw her advance closer to me while two colored lights streaked across the sky heading towards those miasma clouds. "(What are those lights?)" (I) "(Rosane and Aurora will attack the miasma cloud, their focus will even temporarily disperse the cloud.)" (Elizabeth) "(Do you want to see what''s inside?)" (I) "(Yes, this is the best way to stop them and for that we need to know what this cloud of miasma hides.)" (Elizabeth) ------------------ Pov Aurora: I was flying out of Layla''s Magical Kingdom alongside my sister, Elizabeth made us this request which my sister is happy to oblige. "Our focus should be on protecting the mansion and not taking care of this miasma cloud." (I) "That cloud is a threat, look around, do you see any other miasma clouds in any direction?" (Rosane) I looked around and found nothing, then something came to mind as I noticed how calm my sister looked looking at the miasma cloud. "You already knew about miasma clouds." (I) "You were expelled at the beginning and so you don''t know it, but the Demons are attacking the Magical Kingdoms and corrupting them, with these Demonic Magical Kingdoms as a base the miasma spreads contaminating everything in its path." (Rosane) Their goal from the beginning was the entire Fairy Worlds, this is nothing new to anyone, but I didn''t imagine how they would do it until now. "But this thing clearly didn''t come here naturally." (I) "Yes, half of the battlefield that is far from here is taken up by half of Miasma, there shouldn''t be anywhere near where the miasma could have appeared." (Rosane) While talking to my sister the cloud got closer and closer, but before it got too close we exploded our Aura full of Divine Power, with that the cloud stopped moving proving that there is someone controlling this miasma. Covering the Fairy World in Miasma is an insane plan, the very concept of nature makes up its foundations and the miasma is the deviation of nature when it is corrupted, even before my rebirth I wouldn''t do something that insane. "They''re coming." (Rosane) "..." (I) Soon several figures began to emerge from the miasma cloud, each of them was a Divine Demonic Beast numbering around 20, then 4 Demigods appeared followed right behind by 2 Minor Gods that I don''t know. "(The situation is worse than I imagined.)" (Rosane) "(Are you sure this will be enough?)" (I) "(Elizabeth''s plan is enough to work.)" (Rosane) "(You put a lot of faith in her.)" (I) "(I put a lot of faith in what''s with her, but I''d rather she not use it if possible.)" (Rosane) Our plan was never to disperse this cloud, it was more than obvious that there was something controlling the miasma cloud, our job was to make this mind behind it show itself or at least weaken those within. "< Divine Forest Magic: Deathwood >" (I) "< Divine Magic of Nature: Cataclysm >" (Rosane) ------------------- Pov Karina: Elizabeth and I kept looking up, I was worried about the Demons sealed beneath her ocean of blood, but she kept looking up and I did the same knowing that my moment of waiting was finally over. Soon something happened, the black cloud was very close and several silhouettes came out of it right in the place where the two Fairy Goddesses were, that''s when it happened. A multicolored tornado appeared, breaking space itself and devastating everything in its path, but it didn''t do just that since at the same time thousands of trees appeared as if growing in space itself, taking up half of the sky. The two scenarios are completely opposite, on one side was a lush forest and on the other side was a scenario of pure destruction, but strangely the two scenarios do not interfere with each other and an increasingly larger space opens up between them where it is possible to see the miasma cloud. "Now!" (Elizabeth) "< Sacred Dragon Magic: Fury of the Primordial >" (I) I use my Authority and Sacred Power of Zenos to create a magic circle where all the Mana in the area converges, the magic circle gives birth to a transparent Dragon that goes towards the heavens, all the power of the Dragon Totem spread among the others comes out of their bodies, taking with them the Sacred Power they have, creating several streams of Starfire that go to the transparent Dragon. This Starfire fills the Dragon''s void as he grows ever more reborn as the complete Dragon Totem, his power even greater than before and with me to control he flies at high speed like a comet soaring into the heavens towards the opening between the two forces that divide the sky. With my eyes closed I share your point of view and with my will I guide your movements, crossing the place where the two forces were and reaching the miasma cloud I concentrate part of the power and launch a powerful breath attack carrying the Star Fire that sweeps the mist transforming the miasma into more power that nourishes the Dragon, making it grow. The power of the Dragon Totem was extremely damaging to me to the point that I only lasted a few more minutes, so I control the Dragon to enter the cloud where most of my senses are blocked, but even so I feel an immense Evil presence inside. Several silhouettes attack the Dragon and are destroyed along with the miasma with each movement of the Dragon, its cards create waves of Starfire, its swinging tail spreads Starfire and its breath launches beams of Starfire to incinerate everything in its path. It only took seconds for the cloud to be covered in Starfire burning like a forest on fire, it was at that moment that something attacked destroying the power of the Dragon Totem and making it explode was the last thing I could do. When I opened my eyes I saw the Forest from before and the tornado of destruction were even further apart than before dividing the sky into three with the middle part revealing the miasma cloud now largely burning with Starfire. A colossal hand comes out from within the Cloud followed by an arm covered in red metal plates, it didn''t take long for the rest of the body to show itself, it was a Demon covered in Cursed armor, it would be easier to call him a Demon God since From his body, a purple Fire expanded, extinguishing the Star Fire and soon the miasma that made up the cloud was sucked away by him, revealing an army of Demons behind him. "What will we do now!?" (I) "< Divine Blood Magic: Seal Release >" (I) Elizabeth who was nearby had a serious expression as she pulled out a small statue that I couldn''t see well before it broke, a single drop of blood found itself inside the statue and emitted an overwhelming sound while pulsing like a heart. This drop of blood floated to Elizabeth''s finger, which was becoming weaker and weaker, her body blinking revealing the pressure and energy expenditure she was experiencing. Elizabeth pointed her finger towards the giant armored Demon God, and instantly a thin line formed between Elizabeth''s fingertip and the giant. I didn''t understand what happened before that frightening Demon God was completely shattered and the sky was split as if it had been cut apart, half of the Demon army simply disappeared as if they had never existed. "I leave the.... the rest with... with you..." (Elizabeth) Elizabeth was almost disappearing, I took her in my arms and used the little energy I have to maintain her body while I go in the direction I feel Alice, only she who still has enough power can help now. On the way I looked at the Starfire pillar wondering when Zenos and Layla will finish, the Demons'' advance is becoming more and more drastic and when I looked at the still divided sky, I couldn''t help but think about how powerful this attack was while it was sucking the forest of trees in the sky and the tornado of destruction as it slowly closed in. Chapter 1432: Cap 1430: Faerie Power Source completed When I realized I was standing on the threshold, on one side there was the rising of the Moon and on the other side the setting of the Sun and between these two there was an entire world constantly changing around me as if parts of films were playing. I don''t know how, but I knew the meaning of it, I could feel the passage of time in me and I soon noticed the marks of time on everything around me, the grass suddenly getting taller, trees that suddenly appeared fallen and the appearance of creatures. I have seen monsters hunt for food, I have seen generations of creatures be born and die, I have seen the rise of people, I have seen the creation of cities and then their fall countless times, I have seen weak people become strong enough for statues to be erected in their honor, I have seen nature rages, showing what happens to those who try to control its power, I saw people wage war, I saw more lives than I can count born and die in an eternal cycle. All of this seemed like the passage of millions of years, but the Sun and the Moon were always in their opposite positions, that''s when I realized that I was always seeing the sunset scenes, my vision was always jumping from one sunset to the next other. Each sunset means the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new cycle, between the Sun and the Moon what exists is the infinite transformations that we constantly experience, who I was yesterday is not who I am today, the city built 30 years is not the Kingdom that exists today, what exists now could disappear without a trace tomorrow. The threshold, the end of a cycle and the beginning of a new cycle, infinite changes happen, infinite transformations are possible, but the only certainty is that change cannot be denied. "(We''re done.)" (Layla) "(...)" (I) I opened my eyes, still a little thoughtful, each element that I was able to experience made me reflect different things, the unshakable mountain, the flexibility of the water, the freedom of the wind that only exists in movement and the infinite transformations of the threshold that exists in the shadows. "(Don''t waste time thinking about facts of existence, all people are equal, just accept it and let it be, the elements are what they are, there is no such deep thought about it just acceptance.)" (Layla) "(This is not the place and even less the time to think such useless things, we have work to do.)" (Layla) "(...)" (I) She is right about this, she is right about many things, the elements don''t think, we are the ones who seek too much meaning in things that are simple, but it is in this simplicity where we find the complexity to look deeper within ourselves. "(Ouch!!!)" (I) "(I told you we have work to do!)" (Layla) "(Sorry, but my mind is overactive from all the stimulation.)" (I) "(What are we going to do?)" (I) I didn''t lie to her, a lot of things were thrown in front of me and I couldn''t help but think about it, especially when I experienced such unique points of view where I found so much meaning, asking my mind to focus on something else with so many thoughts floating around in my head It''s absurd if it weren''t for her being right, the others must be fighting now to protect us, I can''t waste any more time. "(First see and understand, you will know what to do just like me.)" (Layla) "(All right.)" (I) Looking around I realize that we were still in the same space as before, but this time the elemental energy flows were intertwining more smoothly and everyone entered this "magic circle" before exiting the other side in a constant cycle, this place literally became the heart of this place. I looked at Layla and she just stood there beside me, our two Souls exuding the power of the Magical Essence of the Penumbra Fairies that burned in the Starfire generating clouds of energy slowly spreading all over the place before falling like silver raindrops on the ground such a "magic circle" making all the colors blend together. It wasn''t long before a multicolored neon glow was all over the "magic circle" and at that moment I felt a connection strangely forming between this "magic circle" and me. Just like Layla said, I was finally realizing a few things, this "magic circle" was made with the power of our bodies that we gave up at the beginning, but now that power has connected again making the "magic circle" our body. My mind, still linked with Layla''s, understood how to move the body, how to move the energy within the "magic circle" and how to take the last step, this knowledge was as fundamental for me as a baby knowing that it needs to breathe. The only difference was that I couldn''t move this body alone, I mentally held hands with Layla as our two wills became one with the same goal. "< Forge >" (me/Layla) The final step was always a display of united will striking the "magic circle", this suddenly constantly like a blacksmith hammering the iron to increase its strength and mold its shape, the same was happening now. Each hammer blow of will was like receiving a blow from Thanos, it was very heavy and painful, but I realized that I was suffering much more than Layla for some reason, even so we continued. With each hammer blow the "magic circle" expands and its brightness grows until nothing can be seen but its light, with enough time the light begins to condense into different forms such as forests, rivers, mountains, flowers and so on. Until an entire world had formed, the "magic circle" could no longer be seen naturally, but I could feel this entire place and making a map of this entire world would be enough to trace the lines of this supposed "magic circle" perfectly. Looking at the sky, what there is illuminating was not a Sun, Stars or a Moon as I expected, what exists is a tree, it is the branches of a tree stretching across the sky with its leaves granting light to the world. In the last hammering of will, everything we were seeing seemed to gain movement and texture, becoming real, behind us a field of flowers rose next to two trees intertwining, forming an arch where a door is formed. The last thing that happened was the energy around us condensed around our souls creating new bodies made of energy to inhabit, this body felt stronger than I expected. Ding! "How it feels?" (I) "Harder, much stronger." (Layla) I wanted to look at the notifications, but I put it aside when I saw something else, the lights coming from the tree leaves in the sky, the lighting in this place looks incredible without coming from a single focal point and having space between the points of light, the landscape had a unique strangeness of light and shadow that is wonderful. "I''d like to spend more time watching this, but we have more to do, don''t we?" (I) ------------------ Pov Hades: I was sitting among piles of tied up bodies, they are all Demons that I preferred to just seal even if temporarily since killing them is much more difficult and Lilith seems to have a plan. "Hades, it looks like he''s finished." (Haku) "Yes, I felt it, but why didn''t the Starfire column disappear?" (I) "Can''t you feel it? This isn''t the same Starfire anymore, look." (Haku) When Haku pointed out something I didn''t notice, I wanted to turn around to take a look, but then I felt more Demons approaching. "We have more trash to deal with." (I) "Why are there so many Demons coming here?" (Haku) "They know what happened in the Spirit World, they want to avoid the same thing happening here, but it''s too late now." (I) As if synchronized with my words, Starfire Exploded in a wave that swept the entire Magical Realm, I felt the Demons below me burn to nothing causing me to fall to the ground, I also felt the Demons coming to turn their backs and run towards me far away. But these waves of Starfire only went as far as the border of the Magical Realm, so it dispersed as it only continued as waves of Penumbra Energy. After the Starfire passed, there was only a completely different place left, the forest changed, the mansion changed, the skies changed, it was possible to see the shadow of a tree in the sky with its branches and leaves stretching across the entire sky. Everything has changed and the master''s power in this place is much stronger, I felt much greater comfort now. "Now it''s finally over." (I) Sigh ------------------ Pov Aurora: Around me almost nothing of the forest I created was left, but at least I managed to defeat all the Demons, who entered here, my injuries were insignificant, but still uncomfortable since I''m not used to pain in this life. "Aurora, it''s over." (Rosane) "Yes, I can feel it, but why doesn''t she..." (I) I was about to ask why our mother hadn''t done anything yet, but before I finished speaking I felt a fluctuation in the very basis of reality around us, the remnants of miasma around us began to burn in Multicolored Fire until there was nothing left nothing more. My senses have captured the Divine Power of our Mother, she is gathering and directing the elemental power of the Penumbra. Chapter 1433: Cap 1431: He needs to be eliminated! Pov Adella (Demonic Eclipse Blood Dragon): I was sleeping on some moon I found on the way, the idiots who follow the retarded Light must pass by where I am, but just waiting is killing me and so I tried to get some sleep, it''s been a few thousand years since I had a good spent sleeping or even trying to sleep. Unfortunately things never go the way I want, I was having a good dream like I hadn''t had in a long time, I was just floating in a sea of ??blood looking at the stars, something calm and relaxing like I haven''t experienced in countless years. That was when she appeared, her presence so subtle using two planets colliding, her killing intent was strangely strong now, which is not normal for her who usually keeps her calm, something must have happened. "Master, why are you here?" (I) "I came to talk to you, I want you to do something for me." (Selene) "I can do whatever I want, but I still have a promise..." (I) "I know what Zenos and Elizabeth asked, you can continue with what you''re planning, in fact that''s why I came here." (Selene) "I want you to capture Oros alive." (Selene) "..." (I) I didn''t know what to answer, I''m not afraid of Oros, his strength and mine are very different, but that''s only considering our individual powers, now if I count his power using that damn Divine Weapon it will be difficult to even kill him, if he tried capture would have to face the God of Light who would try to intervene. "I can''t do that, even if borrowing your power would only escalate into a dispute between you and the idiot Light." (I) "I thought you two..." (I) "He was a fool, the old agreements are almost worthless to him now, but I have an idea of ??what to do." (Selene) "Don''t worry about Baldr, he won''t interfere, other Gods are keeping an eye on him." (Selene) "This is the only opportunity where we will have a chance to capture Oros, so don''t fail!" (Selene) "What do I do with the others who will be together?" (I) "Kill them all!" (Selene) After saying everything she wanted she disappeared, it''s been a long time since I''ve seen her so furious, it seems like the Witch of Carnage is starting to emerge again. "(Baldr, this time you must have gone too far for my master to look like this.)" (I) "It will be wonderful to see how this story will unfold... hahahahaha..." (I) I couldn''t help but laugh when I thought about Baldr''s stupid expression when he found out that his favorite Divine Beast was kidnapped or how angry Oros will be when he realizes that he''s in my hands with no control over the situation. "This is not good, not good at all, I might end up losing control again if I continue like this." (I) ------------------ Pov Oros: I can''t believe that damn Vampire created a Source of Power, it''s going to be harder to deal with him now that the Gods associated with nature will try to protect him. "(I have to act before he becomes a God, I can''t let a mistake like my son become a true Divine Beast with that Heretic Vampire.)" (I) "Sir Oros, it seems something happened to the fairies and the Spirits." (Rhavar) "That doesn''t matter, they are not on Master Baldr''s side, all they do is get in the way, even among the believers of our fair religions there are few with contracts with Fairies and Spirits." (I) "But it seems like it''s a joint attack by the Demon Gods, if we attack now..." (Rhavar) "Where is everything happening?" (I) "(Depending on the Planet we may have to intervene for the sake of our believers.)" (I) There was little chance for the Demon Gods to act personally in the vast majority, no God can act freely in the mortal world, so they are acting using their criminal followers, I don''t need to act personally for something like this. "It''s not on any planet, something seems to be happening in the Fairy World and the Spirit World." (Rhavar) "In one of the worlds where my believers are the Demons seem to have invaded a Fairy and Spirit Gate in a Capital destroying everything in their path and sealing the path behind them, it also seems that something happened in other Gates to these two worlds." (Rhavar) "Then forget about them, this could actually be a good thing, so they shouldn''t intervene in our attack." (I) Looking at those with me I start to plan our attack, I have 28 Demigods and 5 Minor Gods, I also have more than 1000 Holy Templars and 500 High Priests of great power, that should be enough to clean up that filth. With the Fairies and Spirits occupied we don''t have to worry about them, but the Witch of Carnage must act, even though she was injured by Master Baldr, she has not yet been defeated and her power is not something I can deal with if I act. While I was lost in thoughts of how to deal with the Blood Goddess, it took me a long time to notice the inconsistency of the surroundings, the stars are normally white, gold with only a few blue or red ones, but now they are all red. "All at the ready!" (I) "Sir, the mortals have disappeared!" (Rhavar) "A trap! Stay together! Use your Auras together to secure the area!" (I) "(Who did this!? How did they do it!?)" (I) I try to feel the surroundings, but I don''t recognize any incongruous presence, which means the enemy is in his dwelling, only a God could do something without me noticing, but a God with that power would be someone I know, no matter how much I think I can''t put a face on the enemy. I tried to use Divine power to temporarily sanctify an area around us and that was when I realized the Demonic powers as well as the power of blood. "Come out! I know you''re there! You cowardly worm!!!" (I) I tried to provoke, many Demons are carried away by emotion, but no one appeared, only the bodies of the High Priests and Templars appeared in pieces, their blood drained and their Souls were nowhere to be found. "(Even your Souls were not spared!?)" (I) I could not help but hate the disgusting creature who dares to even tamper with the honorable Souls of those who have served righteously on the path of light. This star field must not be real, it must be some illusion or dimensional technique to keep us trapped and confused, it cannot continue like this. "You dare attack us and you don''t even have the courage to show yourself!?" (I) "< Divine Magic: Holy Sun >" (I) I gather my Divine power in my cold hand as a spark of white light floats above me expanding into a miniature Sun, its comforting and true light burns away the falsehoods around us. The red stars evaporate revealing themselves with blood, the surrounding space crumbles revealing an ocean of blood with a red sky above, this was a Divine Realm I know well. "(Something is wrong, that thing wouldn''t have that level of intelligence to carry out an ambush.)" (I) "(Are they using that creature''s power for this or is one of the Carnage Witch''s Daughters present to control the situation?)" (I) "Sir Oros!!!" (Rhavar) "Hahahaha!!!!" "You''re as arrogant as ever, you think you have everything under control... delicious." "You! How can it be you!?" (I) "Why wouldn''t it be me?" One of the Lesser Gods, someone I saw birth and was responsible for training since he became a Templar thousands of years ago, someone I trusted not only as a friend but also as a companion and now his body was crushed in her hands, his Soul trapped between his claws covered in blood. The creature had a similar appearance to the Carnage Witch, but its presence was completely different, without the field of red stars to hide it, it was easy to feel its Aura. But there was something wrong, the creature in front of me was not the Goddess of Blood, the only creature that has this appearance other than her would be Bloodsin. A creature without conscience or intelligence, a monster that seeks only violence indiscriminately and can only be controlled by those with the corrupt bloodline of the Witch of Carnage. "(She shouldn''t be alone, they''re trying to make us distracted.)" (I) "Don''t waste your time searching, I''m alone here, I don''t need Selene or her children to control me anymore." (Blood Sin) "Do you think I would believe in something you, a monster like you..." (I) Her presence was very strong when wings and horns appeared on her body, the presence of a Dragon more than evident coming from her when the red clouds in the sky open revealing a dark red Eclipse, this only brings a layer of darkness to this horrendous place. "Don''t call me a monster, now I have a name, call me Adella." (Adella) "You... the Eclipse... the power of Dragons..." (I) "It can''t be..." (I) There was no doubt, the Eclipse was his symbol and the power of Dragons is not something that the Witch of Carnage or any of her daughters possess, only that heretic child possesses the power of Dragons. "(How many times is that damn Vampire going to get in my way!? How long is he going to keep creating these abominations!?)" (I) "ZENOS!!!!" (I) Someone so dangerous could not continue to exist, he had to be eliminated, he needs to be eliminated! Chapter 1434: Cap 1432: Sweeping the dirt into pieces Pov Adella''s: This was one of the most fun days I''ve had, two requests to bother the same idiot, I can understand Zenos wanting to stop this idiot from getting to his Ki Source. That place is unstable as it has just formed, ironically the Ki Source itself is the place in the best state with the rest of the Star system becoming more unstable as time passes, even from this distance I can feel how that entire area of ??the universe finds himself in a Ki storm, the space is shaking so much there, like someone who has been hit by the curse of pain. It will take a long time for that place to be ready, Oros would be able to cause a large amount of damage there, stopping him is self-defense. But Master Selene was much more specific, I just don''t like just following orders, but since this time there are two orders together, it became wonderful since I don''t need to divide my attention too much with just 1 target. "(Oros, show me more of your despair.)" (I) Waiting for them was as easy as I thought it would be, they didn''t think for even 1 second that they would be ambushed, none of them whether among the mortals, the Demigods or the Lesser Gods thought to watch their surroundings carefully, none of them are properly focused on the path as if they were guaranteed to reach their target. Their arrogance of not even expecting an ambush is absurd considering their lifespan, how did they become Gods while being so naive? They didn''t even notice my Divine Kingdom until they were already inside it, it was magnificent when I managed to drag the mortals into my sea of ??blood, their blood has a unique flavor, a heavy flavor among the Templars and a light flavor among the Priests, a beautiful contrast of opposing flavors. After getting a small snack, I destroyed their bodies into pieces to mess with Oros, an idiot who finds so much importance in honor and loyalty, seeing those who followed him so humiliated even in death must provoke some reaction. Just as I predicted, he was so furious that he used his Divine Power seriously, a fool who missed the opportunity to act together with his companions. From beginning to end he did not ask for help from other Gods and Demigods, his arrogance in believing only in himself deprived his mind of focusing on others besides himself, I couldn''t help but smile at such behavior and that''s why I remained his beloved follower, Rhavar. The blood of a Lesser God was delicious, now that I have the power of Zenos it has become more difficult to seal the Soul of Gods and to convert the Divine Power of others into my own power, it has become so easy that I begin to understand why Master Selene pays So much attention to this youngest son gave him power and opened up strange opportunities. "(That Sun is going to be a problem.)" (I) That magic is something created by Baldr himself, with this fake Sun the power of all of them will increase, this will delay what he had planned. I played around a bit with Oros using his subordinate''s body, feeling so helpless to him must have been horrible, his angry face was fun to see. "You DAMN MONSTER!!" (Oros) He concentrated the power of his Sun on me creating a concentrated beam of light, it was easy to dodge a straight line attack, but I was still not completely used to my body, I can live freely with lightness now that my mind is clear, unfortunately this made me lose some of the precision of each movement. Oros created thousands of weaker rays of light as he tried to predict my movements and I let him do that, it became a great way to train with this body and little by little I was able to move with greater fluidity. He must have realized that even when he landed a blow the damage was insignificant to me unless it was that concentrated beam from before, so he stopped attacking alone, motioning for his companions to help. "It looks like training is over, so let''s get a little serious." (I) "< Divine Realm: Blood Eclipse Ocean >" (I) "< Divine Kingdom: Last Bastion of Light >" (Oros/todos) When our two Divine Realms collided the universe itself moved, when Gods and Divine level creatures fight seriously, planets are destroyed with ease. That''s why the universe itself creates a dimensional pocket around it as a barrier to preserve itself, unfortunately even this barrier has limits and is unable to contain the power of the Great Gods like Selene. The world around us has transformed, a real world created from the will of the Gods, an illusion of Divine will incarnate. The world transformed creating an endless Ocean of Blood below with luminous islands with scattered Temples, above was a blue sky and red stars with equally red clouds, high in the sky was a white Sun and an Eclipse on opposite sides. I was facing Oros and his companions, behind them a floating fortress rose from the ocean of blood, the fortress was a Temple with shining ornaments and the symbol of the Sun. There was no need to talk anymore, I had already provoked him enough and any more words would be a waste, so I threw myself into the ocean before he could start his attack, I wasn''t afraid of him, but making him look down made it much easier the stars above fall on God Demigods. "< Holy Cloud Network >" "< Divine Magic: Purification of All Evil >" (Oros) "< Blood Breath >" (I) The attack from above works by hitting several Demigods who fall because of the attack, at the same time other Gods realized what I was doing, one of them created white clouds that rescued several Demigods, reducing the victims and Oros returned to his Winged Horse form, his Bright wings spreading the power of purification that feels uncomfortable at most. I poke my Dragon head out of the ocean using a breath attack on those still falling, their attacks and defenses simply shatter at the blood heading towards them. Unfortunately, that fake Sun is still growing, absorbing the power of those defeated, this power is used to strengthen those who still fight, that''s why I hate that damn Sun. "(This will take a while...)" (I) ----------------- Pov Aine (Goddess of Fairies): When I felt the power of the new element I almost couldn''t hold back my smile, the Demons around me also understood what it meant and tried to grab their Divine Weapons. "Too late!" (I) Your Divine Weapons can do nothing now, with the new Element being added to the Fairy World the very foundation of this place has been renewed and strengthened, my Divinity filters into this making the Fairy world much more connected to me just as it was with my predecessor who created this place. With a strengthened control of the Fairy World I use the wave of elemental power of the Penumbra, gathering its power into a more concentrated flow that directs it to the Demon Gods around me. This power cannot be controlled completely as it is a power that does not belong to me, but here I am still able to direct it, the Demons were not able to do anything, their Divine Weapons were striking an endless stream of power that was linked to the universe itself. Zenos'' power was very useful, I wasn''t able to defeat them, but I was able to drive them all away, I was also able to control the Fairy World to force them all out. Period space became malleable around them as they sank backwards into the current of Penumbra''s power pushing them deeper until they were out. "This isn''t over yet, but before that, I need to clean up." (I) "< Flow of Elemental Blades >" (I) I close my eyes and use the power of Zenos to create Elemental Swords, my swords join the flow of the Element of Penumbra spreading throughout the Fairy World. Wherever there was a Demon, my swords cut them into pieces before being expelled from the Fairy World, meanwhile the miasma was burned becoming Pure Mana once again. Then came the biggest problem, the Magical Realms taken over by Demons, I had to do it personally, but for now I will deal with those areas later. "Now I''m going after each one of you, you bastards..." (I) -------------------- When I left the Fairy World I could feel them attacking, they were waiting for me, I expelled them to a Divine Kingdom that they used to enter near one of the Fairy Gates. "< Seal the Universe >" (I) What I did was concentrate my Divine Power in my voice to seal the space on this planet, then I released my power, the luminous swords of infinite colors appear everywhere as the Divine Realm shatters revealing a new Divine Realm. "< Divine Realm: Nature Sword >" (I) The world itself became a Divine Realm, swords appeared everywhere, even in the skies the swords floated and the Demons attacking me were driven away by all the surrounding swords that cut into their bodies, only one of them was stupid enough to not get involved withdraw and I controlled the swords to tear his body apart. "< Multi Elemental Divine Seal >" (I) I seal his Soul and Divinity before he can try to escape, he tried to discard the body to escape with just the Divine Soul, but I will not allow either of them to escape. Chapter 1435: Cap 1433: Oros captured Pov Adella''s: I was hurt, that damn fake Sun was a really big nuisance after I got rid of the others, the power that that Sun has rivals mine at most and that bastard is good in combat. "Give me back their Souls, the Souls of them all!" (Oros) "Why waste your time saying such useless things?" (I) "Do you think that because you can cause this level of injury to me you can start acting arrogant again?" (I) "I can forgive this act of violence, my target is not you, just hand me over to the Souls..." (Oros) "Haha hahahahahaha... hahahaha..." (I) "Please... hahaha hahahahaha... stop talking, I almost blacked out laughing... hahahahaha..." (I) Sigh I can''t understand how everyone next to Baldr can have such absurd levels of arrogance, at the beginning he was angry, scared and clearly desperate about the situation, I know he was afraid of being attacked before the others as that would make the Sun disappear. Attacking him at the beginning would have left me in a bad situation, several Divine Powers combined can accomplish great things, it would be even more dangerous than this single fake Sun. I also prefer to deal against something I know, I''ve fought against Oros many times, few of those fights were really serious, but even so I know his mentality in combat, his habits and his personality, fighting him would be more predictable than fighting several people at a time Same time. "You''re pathetic." (I) "< Blessing of the Blood >" (I) I never use Selene''s power, a limiter for me in case I lost control, so I always need to be close to her or someone with strong connections to her, so they can release that power in a controlled way bringing my mind back. Fortunately this is no longer a problem for me now, but I still wanted to see how far my power goes now, I''m happy with the increase in my strength, it may not have been much, but it was enough to give me more attack options than just using blood. That''s why I waited until now to use my master''s power, my Dragon body comes out of the ocean of blood, around me the ocean of blood was cut and full of holes, the remaining light preventing the blood from returning to its place. But not only does the ocean of blood show the marks of battle, all the Temples on islands are destroyed and the floating fortress was partially destroyed with one of my breath attacks going through the entire fortress. "< Sun Divine Knight Sword >" (Oros) His body once again changes to a humanoid form, but the wounds still remain, such as the loss of one of his wings and the puncture in the side of his chest. The power of the Goddess fills my body, causing the blood to condense to the point that it becomes solid and the outer layer of my body is completely covered in crystal scales. Meanwhile, Oros'' body was covered in armor full of marks from previous battles and yet still shining with a light that does not exist, the fake Sun diminishes even more as the light around him crystallizes into a large sword in the form of a cross. "You''ve always been arrogant, but I didn''t expect you to become so foolish, Oros." (I) Those associated with Baldr have always been arrogant, but as time passes it is as if this arrogance becomes the core of who they are, I didn''t realize this before because I had greater concerns for myself, now that I am well I can''t help but notice such changes drastic. "An evil creature like you who lives only for slaughter thinks you can judge someone like me?" (Oros) "Mister Baldr is right, those on the Carnage Witch''s side are all monsters who think they are righteous." (Oros) "< Solar Sword Technique: Star Splitter >" (Oros) "< Divine Blood Magic: Bloodline Field >" (I) From the ocean of blood emerge millions of spheres of blood that create different shapes, from small monsters to colossal creatures, they all attack Oros at the same time, their movement distorts space itself as they agglomerate into a river of blood flowing towards him. With my attack heading towards him the opposite is also true, his Solar Sword descended towards me, cutting through the Divine Realm and shaking the dimensional isolation of the universe. But I never worried about his blow, my body split in half letting the attack pass through me without hitting before bringing my body back together. No matter how strong an attack is, if it doesn''t hit it won''t mean anything in the end. With that I let my body dissolve into blood as I let it flow along with the river of blood attacking Oros. People and monsters jump out of the river of blood attacking him without rest, people holding weapons, monsters with their jaws open and even copies of himself born from his Divine blood that fell through his wounds. "ENOUGH OF THAT!!" (Oros) "< Solar Wave >" (Oros) I controlled the river of blood to form 10 rings rotating around them in attacks from all directions, never giving him time to build up energy or think, I caused him several injuries before he made a big move. He let himself be hit by some of the weaker attacks as he stored his Divine Power into the sword creating a wave of light that attacked from all directions trying to undo all the bloodlines at the same time. I waited for the moment he performed this technique, his Aura was weaker and his sword was out of position to defend himself. I used all the bloodlines at the same time creating wave after wave of attacks weakening the waves of light in milliseconds with me right behind, my Dragon head goes through the wave of light and grabs his arm with which he held the solar sword, my teeth sink into your flesh letting it come into direct contact with your blood. "< Divine Magic: Divine Blood Seal >" (I) The blood in his body becomes frenzied destroying his body as it clashes against Baldr''s power, his body falls apart in seconds leaving only a sphere of blood sealing two points of light inside, one of these points of light is the Soul of Oros while the second point of light will be your Divinity. "< Close Seal >" (I) With my command the sphere of blood crystallizes strengthening the seal while absorbing streams of blood from my body. I undo the Divine Realm that was already breaking and watch as the isolation of the universe disperses as I no longer feel a threat. I look at all the Souls that are sealed and think about what to do with them, then I remember Zenos and an idea forms in my mind. "That was a little more complicated than I expected." (I) ----------------- Pov Aine (Goddess of Fairies): Attacks from idiots like that were ridiculous, I tore them to pieces very quickly, but what I didn''t expect was that idiot expecting exactly that. A new Demon God appeared among them, with just a movement of his hand he stole the Demonic power of all the other Demon Gods making their Aura strengthen in seconds. "You are Nillo, Demonic God of Magic." (I) "You''re with these idiots and you''re still trying to take advantage of me?" (I) "I did not attack you or invade your Divine Realm..." (Nillo) "You think I don''t know about the ritual you helped perform, which allowed them to get in!?" (I) "< Demonic Magic: Rebirth of Cursed Souls >" (Nillo) Millions of Souls appear seemingly out of nowhere, gathering where the Souls of the Demon Gods were, their bodies coming together again as they all stand up again with their Divine Weapons in hand. "Do you think something like that scares me?" (I) "< Sword of the Fairy Goddess >" (I) With my sword in my hands I danced around them tearing their bodies into pieces, each swing of my sword creates a new sword of a random element, within seconds there were thousands of swords attacking from all directions. No matter how much I attacked, they continued to remake their bodies and I allowed them, I wanted them to suffer as much as possible and what better way to be torn apart by continually painting this entire Divine Realm with their blood. ------------------ Hours later the Divine Realm was shattered, endless swords were engraved on the ground while others floated in the skies, but none of that was more wonderful than the shattered remains scattered still groaning throughout this place. Not far from me Dravos was torturing the Demon God Nillo, this idiot was here before I even arrived and just watched without doing anything, just ten a move when this young Demon God tried to escape. "You could have told me about your plan." (I) "It wasn''t my plan, it was Hernoth''s idea." (Dravos) "How many lives were sacrificed?" (I) "Many, the equivalent of 4 or 5 planets, but this had already been done before the attack, it was not something done now." (Dravos) "Where''s that idiot?" (I) "Where do you think? He''s stealing these idiots'' treasures and going after the leader of the attack." (Dravos) "(I knew, the leader was not among them.)" (I) These Demon Gods were very weak in the vast majority with only a few moderately decent ones, only 2 of them had any intelligence worthy of praise being this young man in the hands of Dravos and the Demon God of Contracts who is also not here. "(What a useless plan.)" (I) Chapter 1436: Cap 1434: You didnt follow the plan Pov Hernoth (Demonic God of Sin): Possessing a Mortal body and controlling the distance became very cumbersome after all the power I spent, I looked around and he appeared from a portal just as he spoke. "You really came, but you''re late." (I) "I needed to make sure you were alone and still escaping from Goddess Aine." (Belial) He chose an interesting container, I feel several types of curses, Sin, miasma and Demonic power emanating from it, it also doesn''t seem to have a Soul and from the clothes it must be one of his Priests. "You know why I brought you here, don''t you?" (Belial) "To convince me not to kill you." (I) He snaps his fingers and bones rise from the ground forming two chairs where we sit, the place where we are is in the middle of a Kingdom in ruins, a place created by Demons where our two religions prospered more than a thousand years ago. "You can''t blame me for deviating from the plan, you''re risking too much." (Belial) "A necessary risk if we consider the alternative." (I) "My plan could have worked, if just one of the targets had been captured, then we could have created a new universe..." (Belial) "You just want a place where you are the supreme God above all others, so don''t lie, all the Gods and Deities that participated in your plan were below your strength, the only exception was Delilah." (I) "I won''t deny that there was great ambition, but that was just part of it, I stopped following your plan because it''s useless." (Belial) "We cannot beat the Creatures of the Abyss, they are an infinite army that never tires and never gives up, we have no chance of winning." (Belial) "It would be better to try to build a new universe or become Evil Gods in another universe, as long as I live I will always be a God." (Belial) "Using the Fairy World or the Spirit World was impossible from the start." (I) These two places are made of pure elemental energy, even if they killed the two great Gods that rule these two places, they would never be able to reach their goal. "We had a plan, something that would give us Divine Weapons that would be of great importance for what is to come." (I) "They from beginning to end were not suspicious of the Divine Weapons you handed over." (I) "That''s because they didn''t know that it was you who created them, no Demonic God trusts you, half of them were deceived by you, some were killed by you and had to be reborn later and there are still those who were stolen by you." (Belial) "We are not talking about me here and don''t try to change the subject like Mortals do, you almost lost everything and in the process caused the death of many, not to mention the loss of many strong warriors who were Sacrificed in a spectacle where the Death was the only option." (I) "The Sacrifice was a backup plan and shouldn''t be used like that, besides, don''t try to lecture me about what I did, you were wanting to sacrifice several Demon Gods to create those damn Divine Weapons!" (Belial) "You don''t understand, those are just idiots, more than half were planning to hide, there were also those who thought of fleeing to another Universe by becoming Evil Gods and there were some fools who thought of how to benefit from the other Gods'' distraction." (I) "None of them would help in the fight and some would even get in the way, using your powers in Divine Weapons would be much better." (I) "You should have followed the plan, but in the end you launched attacks on me for months and in the end carried out my plan in a completely crude way." (I) "I barely had time to talk to Dravos and I didn''t even get to talk to Aine, if it weren''t for Selene''s youngest son, then everything would be lost!" (I) "You left me no choice." (I) "What did you... cough cough... how did you... how did you do that...?" (Belial) "Did you really think I didn''t know where you are? Did you think that because you''re far away you''ll escape from me?" (I) "Belial, you more than anyone else should know that there is nowhere to hide from me." (I) Cough Cough "You bastard... cough cough... damn... when you... cough cough cough...!" (Belial) "From the beginning." (I) "You would also... betray me..." (Belial) "I was hoping I wouldn''t have to use this, even now I was hoping for at least something, be it an attempt at forgiveness or at least some kind of compensation, I wouldn''t forgive you, but at least I wouldn''t do what comes close to experiencing what prepared." (I) I saw the body dry up leaving only skin and bones that crumbled into dust in the wind, then a rift in space opened leaving a miniature crystal statue in my hands, the Divine Power from it was trying to break the seal. "Goodbye, Belial." (I) "With this the plan is over, but what are you going to do now?" (Delilah) "I have something I can still do." (I) The original plan to foment a battle between the Demon Gods against the Fairies and Spirits was something to train everyone while accumulating the sin of these Gods into the fake Divine Weapons I created. I would use this Sin of theirs to steal their power and fuse part of it into the Divine Weapons, even their Deities would be stolen the longer they use the fake Divine Weapons, for such useless Gods and Demigods they would be a good source of extra power for those who really go to fight. But with this break in plans, this battle lasted a short time, they didn''t use the Fake Divine Weapons long enough and several of them were Sealed or killed. "Delilah, I need the Orb of the End." (I) "You are crazy!?" (Delilah) "Just get it..." (I) "I''ve already fulfilled my end of the bargain as compensation for helping Belial, you can''t force me into another suicidal plan." (Delilah) "Don''t try to fool me, I know you''ve been guarding the Orb of the End for centuries, I also just promised I wouldn''t go after you for it, but I can only speak for myself." (I) The Goddess of Fairies and the God of Spirits will not let her go that easily, running away from 2 great Gods with such comprehensive Authority will be almost impossible even for her, I hoped to use this to force another favorable agreement later on, but to do so in Exchanging the Orb of the End isn''t a bad deal. "I didn''t think you would use your only opportunity for this, do you really think I didn''t notice your word games?" (Delilah) "I know you noticed, but either way you have no choice but to accept." (I) I can see the anger in her eyes, using the container''s face does nothing to hide her true eyes from me. "The Orb of the End was sealed for a reason, no Demon God could control that amount of Cursed power, I don''t think it should..." (Dalilah) "Let''s cut the conversation here, I want the End Orb and you will deliver it, we both know that, so don''t waste our time." (I) "..." (Delilah) "Where will the meeting point be?" (Delilah) "Leave it ready, I''ll warn you... also don''t worry about the persecution of the other Gods, I''ll take care of it." (I) "I won''t forget this, Hernoth." (Delilah) "I''m glad to hear that, now if you''ll excuse me, this container won''t last much longer." (I) I looked at my arm and saw the flesh disintegrating beneath the skin, I also felt the bones getting thinner, it won''t last long and so I abandon the body to just focus on my real body. The statue where Belial and his power are sealed was sucked by the body when it was enveloped in my power, with me returning the statue will come with it. ------------------ When I open my eyes and see the statue, I then feel how much power the curse I used has consumed. "It will be risky to do something like this, but defending this universe is more important." (I) Sigh "I need to prepare a catalyst for the Orb of End, I can''t use Mortal Souls like in the past or he will refuse to participate, so I''ll have to use the treasure I just stole from the other Demon Gods." (I) "How much time do we have left?" (I) I may be a bastard, a traitor and a manipulator as everyone says, I am all these things and certainly much more, but I cannot abandon this universe like the Evil Gods do. Maybe it''s my excessive arrogance or pride talking, but I''d rather perish trying everything I can than retreat or run away. "Zenos, I hope you reach Divinity soon if everything goes as I think it will." (I) "..." (I) ------------------ Pov Delilah (Demonic Goddess of Contract): Hernoth didn''t follow my plans, but it doesn''t matter, I was already prepared if Belial failed, I can''t escape this universe, my Divinity itself represents an eternal contract that binds me here. If Belial were to succeed and a new universe was formed through the Faerie Worlds or the Spirit World, then it would be a continuation of that universe, a perfect escape door for me, but now that it has failed I can only do as Hernoth said. "What is this madman going to do with the End Orb, if it gets out of control again it could open another gate to Hell like in the past and in the current state of things I don''t want to deal with that place." (I) Chapter 1437: Cap 1435: Process temporarily suspended When I walked towards the door it was as if my body was a mere illusion and was materializing with each step, when I walked through the door with Layla on my shoulder, I felt like I broke a barrier. An endless stream of power passed behind me, flowing around me while spreading in all directions like a true explosion. This wasn''t a normal energy wave, it was pure power from the Penumbra Fairies'' Magical Essence, but it wasn''t a bother to me, it felt more like a light breeze as I continued walking down the hall of the mansion and finally out the door. Looking around I saw a completely different world still changing every second, the mansion was 3 times bigger and had many open areas with plants forming part of the architecture in a strangely harmonious way. The garden was completely different, each flower was made of crystal and looked alive, these flowers were absorbing the power of the surroundings and were releasing spheres of living magical power, these spheres are Fairy Infants. The surrounding trees were strangely constructed of pure elemental power, some trees had leaves made of fire, some trees were made of ice, some trees had branches as sharp as blades, and the air itself carried countless different scents, space itself seemed to pulse like a calm, slowly beating heart. "That''s a nice change." (I) "Where did they...nevermind." (I) "..." (Layla) Layla was surrounded by the presence of this place, I can feel her connection with everything around distracting her mind, luckily I don''t need to go through that. "You took too long." (Elizabeth) "I went as quickly as possible, how are things going?" (I) Just looking at her, I know the battle was intense, but her Aura was much weaker and I can see the tired gleam in her eyes. "As far as I know it''s over, the Fairy Goddess cleaned house taking advantage of the wave of power you created." (Elizabeth) "So I can finally rest? No more fighting, no more invasions, no more suddenly being kidnapped and nothing like that?" (I) "Yes, as far as I know, but knowing you, just enjoy it while you can." (Elizabeth) "What do we do now?" (I) "I would say let''s go back, but knowing Goddess Aine, she will probably want to see you, so I suggest waiting." (Elizabeth) "(For the love of the Gods, I just want to rest a little, I ended up here without even resting after the Spirit World, my body which is energy may be fine, maybe even better than before, but my mind is heavy enough for me faint at any moment.)" (I) "Where is everyone?" (I) "Your Saints and Heralds have returned to the Dungeon, perhaps there was a problem there, but that can wait." (Elizabeth) "Their Wives on the other hand...returned to their training, Erica especially seemed frustrated." (Elizabeth) I''m not an idiot, I know they''re wanting to stay by my side and not being protected by me, I also know they''re feeling some kind of inferiority complex because of this, but there''s nothing I can do about it, not even talk with them on the subject since I am the focus of the problem, all I can do is believe that they will find their path and be at the finish line waiting for them at the end. "Where are my children and family?" (I) "Yours also have their own responsibilities, so they went to the Dungeon, while Natasha and Caitlyn are watching the process of building the Source of Power, it will be a good foundation for the future when we build Divine Kingdoms." (Elizabeth) "Doesn''t it work like Territories?" (I) "A Divine Kingdom is literally a Dimension of its own belonging only to the God in question, some Gods have more than 1 Divine Kingdom." (Elizabeth) "When a Divine Realm is used it materializes, a construct of true Divinity." (Elizabeth) All I''m hearing is how the Divine Realm can be considered a higher level Territory, but I think that''s my ignorance of not knowing the depth of it all, there''s still a lot I don''t know. ----------------- Since I had some free time, I thought I''d take a look at the notifications I left out before, after all I didn''t want to let any surprises slip past me only to stab me in the back later. Ding! <[ You have successfully created a [ Penumbra Fairy Magic Fountain ] ]> . . . <[ Your Mana amount and recovery has increased ]> . . . <[ Your Fairy Familiar has been immensely strengthened ]> . . . <[ Your three Power Sources are connected ]> . . <[ ]> . . . <[ ]> . . <[ You do not meet the minimum requirements ]> . . <[ The process has been temporarily suspended until the acquisition of a Divinity ]> . . . <[ You have completely connected to the natural flow of the universe ]> . . <[ Your three powers associated with Natural Power Sources have been combined into a new Authority ]> . . <[ You have acquired [ Divine Authority of Stellar Transmutation ] ]> . . <[ Your two existing Authorities combine to form [ Chaos Star Path Divine Dragon Authority ] ]> . . . <[ Your body and Soul have been stabilized ]> . . . <[ You have surpassed all mortal levels, acquiring power equivalent to that of the Gods ]> . . . <[ You are in the middle of the Divine Ascension process ]> "..." (I) "I can''t just pretend not to see that, can I?" (I) ------------------- Pov Alan''s (Hero of Justice): "You need to rest." (Bianca) "There are still many, they may appear..." (I) "Alan! Her death wasn''t your fault!" (Bianca) "..." (I) "Don''t dirty her memory with battles that only serve to vent your anger!" (Bianca) "She deserves better than this! She died fighting for what she believed in!" (Bianca) "I should have protected her..." (I) "I should have been there..." (I) "I don''t know if you noticed, but the last 2 or 3 years it''s been crazy where we haven''t even been able to rest properly, at every corner it seems like a greater evil is rising and that''s why we fight until we get here!" (Bianca) Sigh "You were fighting an Evil God, you had no way of knowing there was another, if it weren''t for Darcia we would all be dead now, so instead of continuing to fight these monsters, heal your wounds, we both know that the wounds on your body They don''t compare to what that God did to you." (Bianca) "..." (I) Around me there were only millions of corpses and rivers of colored blood, we are on a planet going through a Wave of Monsters strengthened by Evil Gods, they wanted to take the planet for themselves where only Monsters existed. Half of the planet''s population was killed before we even arrived and even with the help of me and dozens of other Heroes, deaths still happen daily. My partner Darcia was just one of these deaths, one number among many others, but for me her death was more significant than all the others, I feel disgusted with myself because of this thought and at the same time I feel guilty for not having protected her. This feeling is not something logical, I did my best, I know that even if I had seen her fighting, I would not have been able to separate myself from the fight against that Evil God, I know that she died protecting those weaker than her as she always did, but none of that matters when I feel like I should have done more to protect my friend. The tears falling down my face and the pain in my chest don''t seem enough to express what I feel now, the guilt, the helplessness, the weakness and the sadness. I thought that if I killed at least one more monster that pain would go away, so I continued and continued, but no matter how many more monsters I killed nothing changed, no matter how much I killed that other Demonic God while suffering injuries to my Soul, none of that mattered, That''s because she wasn''t there anymore, my friend was dead. In the middle of that death field full of bodies and the stench of blood, all I could do was hug Bianca with endless pain stabbing my heart as tears seemed to never stop falling from my eyes. "I''m not strong enough... I need more power... I need more strength... my justice isn''t that weak!" (I) "As long as you don''t give up, I know you will become stronger, I will be by your side as I always have been." (Bianca) "(I won''t allow anything to happen to you... I will protect you until the end...)" (I) ------------------- Pov Zenos: It took less time than I expected when Goddess Aine arrived, in fact I didn''t even feel her approaching, she simply appeared in front of me as if it were the most normal thing in the world. She didn''t say anything at first, she placed a hand on my head and before I knew it the surroundings had changed, I was in a hanging garden overlooking thousands of planets and colorful clouds, an endless number of Fairies flying by the wheels sides and flows of elemental power mingling right where we are. "This time I have to thank you for all of this, thank you." (Goddess Aine) "Using my full power could have led to great destruction, but holding me back like that only gave them an advantage, if it weren''t for you I would have had to use my power even though I knew the consequences." (Goddess Aine) "I just did what I would have done anyway." (I) "Yes, but either way you still deserve a reward for that." (Goddess Aine) What the Goddess gave me was something she didn''t expect, it was the Souls and Deities as well as Essences of all the Demon Gods or Demon Demigods that were here. She placed them all in a cube made of several cubes joined together, each smaller cube was a Seal that strengthened the larger cube becoming a prison from which they could not escape. As soon as I touched the cube, the way to undo and control the seal came to me as well as everything sealed inside. "This is useless to me and instead of exchanging it with another God, I might as well come and gift it to you." (Goddess Aine) "What you and Layla did was much more than helping to expel the Demons, I also managed to gain more control over the Fairy World while its foundation was transformed, now I will no longer be limited if I need to fight here in the future." (Goddess Aine) Chapter 1438: Cap 1436: Herald Candidates Pov Hades: I and the other Heralds were together with the two Saints of master Zenos as well as Vanessa, who is the Saint of the Blood. The room where we were is inside the Communal Temple and at that moment there was only silence as we waited for Cinthia to wake up from her meditation. "What should we do if the worst becomes true?" (I) "The process is very fast, I''ve never heard of anything close to this." (Vanessa) "We can talk to Elizabeth, she seemed to have thought of something about this or at least she has some idea of ??what we can do." (Alice) "I still think we should talk to Zenos." (Karina) "We all here agreed to speak with Master Zenos, but we need a concrete idea about the situation and a solution to present, but so far we are working with assumptions." (I) "That''s all we have, the master''s powers change frequently and we haven''t learned enough in that period of time, even the 3 of us as Heralds have to rely on instincts to make these guesses." (Haku) "I tried praying to the Goddess Selene, but I got nothing, she seems to be busy with something important as she closed my connection with her." (Vanessa) Everyone was trying to think of a lot of things, but maybe we are overcomplicating something that should be simple. "Is everyone at the Dungeon okay?" (I) "The people of the capital city were affected first, they also woke up first, those of the Iron Blood are still unconscious and their bodies have stopped emanating Star Aura, only the insects are completely asleep in cocoons." (Alice) "I''d like to take a look at everyone, but it might be risky at this point, but clearly there have been changes and not a lot of them." (Haku) "It was at the same time? Are you sure?" (I) "Yes, I felt it when it happened and Alice felt it too." (Karina) "Karina is right and so you know, I already expected something like this, Zenos has always had a strong connection with Nature, what he did in the last few days was the same as imprinting himself on Nature at a fundamental level, not expecting changes would be irrational." (Alice) "Yes, Master Zenos must have undergone changes, so what everyone felt was a ripple effect." (Haku) "A valid theory unfortunately tells us nothing." (Haku) All the people in the Dungeon were unconscious, the only ones who didn''t fall unconscious were those inside the Fairy or Spirit World. The time it happened was also right after the last of the 3 sources of power was complete, saying that the two events are linked is the least I can expect. All those unconscious people have their Aura appearing like a flame burning around them. Stars appear in the Aura as it burns, shining in different colors for each individual, this process was called by everyone the Stellar Aura. "It doesn''t look like it did anything bad, but keep monitoring." (I) I was worried about everyone''s reaction, but the real problem is something that only I noticed and that''s why I made Cinthia confirm it, making the others understand my suspicions. It didn''t take long for her eyes to open, a little cloudy before they gained brightness, then a slight smile formed on her lips, something extremely sad since I met her for the first time. "Confirmed?" (I) "Yes, the Star Path is changing, I don''t know how or the end result, but I felt many Souls being taken there." (Cinthia) ------------------ Pov Zenos: Once I left the Fairy World and regained a physical body, it was strange in many ways, my perception of reality changed a lot with the creation of the Power Sources, it also changed the way I perceive the interaction of the physical and the ethereal. I realized that there were many things to get used to my Aura senses that I was forced to develop far beyond what I intended in the Fairy World and in the Spirit World it was adding to my normal body senses which had become stronger now. There were many things in my head to resolve and yet I was dragged once again with no time to rest, I was taken directly to the Communal Temple in a specific room where I found many eyes pointed in my direction. "(Without a second of rest...)" (I) ------------------ For the next hour they told everything that had happened in the Dungeon and their theories on the matter, I also listened to the reports about the Star path and the Star Aura, I''m starting to realize that my cost for the night sky might be a little too great since it''s affecting so directly my powers like that. After listening to them all and delirious a few minutes to think I realized what the problem could be, which in turn was an indicator for another situation and would need some preparation. Hades, taking the lead, delivered a list that I already know very well. I also understood what he wanted and agreed that it would be necessary. "Choosing like this is a waste of time." (I) "I have to look at these Divine Herald candidates more closely and one of them has yet to wake up." (I) There were a few names on the list that I had considered before, but one name among them was something I really didn''t want to do, the name of someone I hadn''t even considered because I''d never talked to her. "Why did you put her name on the list?" (I) "If we are going to choose those with the greatest affinity with one of the Essences that the master possesses, then among all of them she is the only one that meets this criteria for the Essence we are going to seek." (Hades) "I understand... I prefer it to be Ivan, but he is linked to the Goddess of death." (I) I may not know which Essence I''m going to get now, but thinking about what has already happened, it will be something associated with my Familiars and the only one missing is Hinata, so the least I can expect is something associated with death or Ghosts, other than that I can''t Don''t even think about anything else, Hinata is an outlier in many aspects to the point of not even knowing how to categorize what she could be. "Xagar and Fiona are possibilities, but I''d like to think more about it, but the last name... I don''t remember who that is." (I) "Do you remember the insect attack on the world where the Saint of Life was?" (Hades) "Yes, but what does it have to do..." (I) "I think I understand, but she''s not exactly attached to me like the others on the list." (I) "Master, her level of devotion even surpasses Cinthia to the point that it would be harmful if it continues like this." (Hades) "What are you thinking?" (I) "She is an Insect Empress, the powers she receives can be used in her specialty which are large-scale confrontations, which is our worst point so far, her faith in you is absolute, she has Authority and does not have any kind of Essence." (Hades) "She meets all the requirements except 1." (I) "She doesn''t have a strong connection with me." (I) "I believe that her absolute faith can be considered as a strong possibility, if we first use the Awakening Ceremony to transform her into a Priestess or a Hero, perhaps we can elevate her to a Herald." (Hades) "If it''s about that, then why not take one of my Heroes or Priestess Eva?" (I) "Eva would add more to what we already have, her powers fall in the same category as Haku, her Heroes are a big no." (Hades) "Veronica and Loki cannot become Heralds, they were once Gods and have their own Essences, the path to becoming Gods again is not closed." (Hades) "While Athena, she seems to be awakening an Essence, she herself hasn''t noticed it yet and I only noticed it after being pointed out by Mrs. Natasha who trains with her." (Hades) "I did not know that." (I) "There is a lot that the master doesn''t know, you can''t take care of everything and everyone, that''s why we''re here to take care of what we can." (Hades) "Thank you, but now what should I do..." (I) "(Many of the names here like Sapphire and Jade can be crossed out, they both have strong leadership roles within the Dungeon and cannot be at my disposal all the time, the same goes for my children.)" (I) "I''m going to meet these 4, but first I have to awaken this statue." (I) ------------------- Pov Ibuki''s: When I left the Fairy World I knew that Zenos would be fine, so even though I saw that something strange was happening inside the Dungeon, I realized that it wasn''t something I could help with and I was taken once again to the Goddess of Blood. But once the blood left my body opening a portal around me where I was sucked in and before I knew it I was in a ruined war camp, freshly torn bodies and worn out weapons are everywhere, the smell of blood permeates the air and she was sitting in a chair drinking a glass of what looked like blood, an elegant and calm image compared to the brutality around her. I knelt in front of her without delay, whether as Zenos'' mother or as the Goddess of Blood, she deserves my complete respect. "Thank you again..." (I) "Don''t say anything else, you don''t need to bow either." (Goddess Selene) "What you guys want is something I more than approve of, I also see potential, so let''s not waste any time." (Goddess Selene) Chapter 1439: Cap 1437:The awakening of Faith and Destiny part 1 Pov Zaya (Lady of the Grave): I don''t know how long it''s been since I''ve been in this state, but I feel strangely comfortable. I may not be able to move my body or use any of my senses, but that''s nothing new, in our home we spent most of our childhood in a similar state while nourished by the powers of death and always in areas where many lives had fallen. In Tarzor, every place is full of the power of death and curse, which makes my people mature more quickly from what I heard, unfortunately we were also trapped in that place. I always wanted to free myself, see other places, see people outside my race who didn''t have bad intentions, Hela''s group was the first one I met that treated me decently. But as soon as I managed to leave Tarzor I panicked, I felt alone like I had never felt before, I felt the totality around me empty as if something that had always been there, now hadn''t disappeared, it wasn''t just something I felt, my body was falling apart turning into stone just like in my childhood. After that I felt Hela''s group taking care of me, but it wasn''t the same, I felt like something fundamental was missing, ancient that my body and Soul needed while my mind was just stuck. It was only when they brought me to this place that I felt a similar and at the same time different environment, I felt as if someone was taking me in their arms surrounding my entire body. It wasn''t like Tarzor, but it was similar enough, I could feel the power of death and curse, even the power of life that was scarce in Tarzor was everywhere, I didn''t know where I was, but I instinctively needed to connect to that place just as it was connected to Tarzor. I tried many times, but I never managed to do it, I was welcomed and at the same time blocked, but at least I had managed to connect with something else, I didn''t know what it was or where I was, but it allowed me to see many things and many people in varied landscapes. I managed to learn a lot, everything was new, everything was incredible, but I could only see, it was only later that I arrived in a beautiful place, I remember the stars illuminating the darkness and I remember the imposing Eclipse that was eternalized above, the place where I was standing was some kind of path where many humanoid figures passed. But what impressed me were the large figures that passed between the stars, I never saw more than shadows of these creatures with the exception being the largest of all the figures, it seemed to be on the same path as I was, it is much further in front. I don''t even know how much time has passed, but even now I try to connect to something, I feel hungry, but it''s not hunger, it feels more like a need, I can''t say exactly what the problem is, but I feel constantly being denied something I need and I never knew I needed it until I left Tarzor. I was sitting looking at the stars when I was pulled by the light of one of the stars, when I opened my eyes I was standing on top of what looked like a huge Dragon claw, two eyes that seemed to contain the Sun and Moon were focused on me as a voice that seemed to come from everywhere spoke to me. "What do you want?" "Freedom, a place to belong for myself that wasn''t decided by someone before I was even born." (I) "If you seek freedom, then why are you trying to hold on to something even now?" "I don''t know, I just feel like I should do this, I feel like I want to do this." (I) "I want to belong where I am." (I) "Do you know where is it?" "No, but if Hela has fulfilled part of it, then I should be at your house or somewhere nearby." (I) "If you don''t know where you are, not even knowing about those around you, then why do you still try to connect with this place?" "Stupid question, if I feel like I''m supposed to be here then I''ll do it, that''s my choice." (I) "My race connects to something, someone or some place, we need this type of bond and that''s why we choose to set up a home in this very comfortable place." (I) I don''t need to think about it too much, thinking about right or wrong, about safety and danger, just like all these things is irrelevant, if you already have certainty within yourself, there''s no point in looking for excuses in your mind not to do something you''ve already decided. "This is not a place, you are trying to connect with someone, a Demigod in his Divine Ascension process." "Even knowing this, will you still stick with your decision?" "This is even better, it means I''ll be less restricted than I thought, I''ve always wanted to see new places and new people." (I) I don''t know who it could be but the voice is unrecognizable, but I still think it''s safe to say that this voice, this place and this giant shadow are all the same person or creature. I am being tested and this was very obvious, Tarzor did this many times, me and my race were observers even judges in these tests, there would be no way to recognize something similar happening to me. "Do you know if this individual is good or bad?" "It doesn''t matter, these are superficial concepts that Mortals use to judge things in an understandable way." (I) "I grew up devouring the lament of the dead, the Soul of the most cruel beings in the universe and yet still living being affected by these things known as evil." (I) "I can feel this place not with my body or mind, but with my Soul." (I) "This place or in this case, this person... has a presence similar to that of Tarzor with the biggest difference and one of the only ones being that this place is hot." (I) "(Tarzor embraced us with his power and presence, but he was cold, pure and calm.)" (I) "(But if this power that embraces me now is compared, then it would be considered warm, comforting, and intense.)" (I) "..." "If that is your decision, then reach out, you will receive everything you desire in exchange for your true loyalty to me, do you accept that?" "Yes, we can start!" (I) When I reached out my hand I felt an even more intense energy pass through my body as I found myself standing between the creature''s two colossal hands. ----------------- Pov Zenos: When I opened my eyes the lying statue was now floating like a soap bubble with a person curled up inside surrounded by black and purple light. "I''m done, this person is strange." (I) "There aren''t many normal people here in the Dungeon." (Vanessa) "How was your conversation with her?" (Vanessa) "I don''t understand anything, her way of thinking is a little unique, very similar to Ibuki and Lilith, she doesn''t care about logic, she acts according to instincts and emotions." (I) "I don''t see the problem, many in the Dungeon are like that, even you also get carried away by emotions." (Vanessa) "In her case it''s different, her decision making is almost completely based on emotions and instinct, but I don''t remember Hela telling me about that before." (I) I performed the Awakening Ceremony with Zaya, but I''m not sure about her personality and character, so I''ll leave it to talk to her after finishing the Awakening. "Master, I brought her, she is in another room." (Haku) "I''m going now." (I) "You need to know something, she has evolved." (Haku) "Why do I need to know something like that? Every day there is someone evolving here in the Dungeon." (I) "An Insect Empress finds it difficult to evolve, but she tried hard and studied magic directly from Rakan." (Haku) "She tried so hard to stand out, everything she does is thinking about you to the point where she starts feeding on blood." (Haku) "That can''t be enough nutrition for her." (I) "Your race can eat anything, but the prerequisite is to have vital energy." (Haku) "One more thing, she asked to be named after Alice after evolution." (Haku) "I thought she already had a name." (I) "She wanted a new name, I can''t understand it and after seeing her eyes I didn''t want to ask." (Haku) "..." (I) I talked to Haku as we advanced towards the room where the next candidate is waiting. "Good to see you again Kiara, I heard you changed her name." (I) "Yes great Zenos, my old name no longer represents what I am or what I want to be, that''s why I requested a new name to mark my rebirth." (Kiara) As soon as I entered he dropped to his knees on the floor, but what took me by surprise wasn''t his submission or the change in his appearance, it was his Aura that shone brightly in pure faith as if that was the focus of everything she is. I''ve never seen anyone with such great and absolute faith in me, I didn''t even know something like that was possible and it was when my eyes met hers, I understood what Haku said before. "(I can''t tell if this is Faith, obsession or madness... maybe they are all together...)" (I) Her eyes were glued to me with pure adoration, she didn''t even seem to have seen Haku standing right next to me, she is completely fanatical to the point that any question she asks becomes useless, her loyalty to me must be more important than life itself, this is obvious just by seeing her Aura, just as Hades said, she meets all the requirements. "Come with me, I want to see her power." (I) "As you wish, great Zenos." (Kiara) "Please just call me Zenos." (I) An interview with her would be useless, her Aura and behavior scream religious fanaticism, having her around could be safer for her and for me, this way I can prevent her fanaticism from diverting her path. But before anything else, I want to understand her power, I want to know the powers she has, her way of fighting and her strengths. Chapter 1440: Cap 1438:The awakening of Faith and Destiny part 2 I wanted and needed to test her powers, Kiara as an Insect Empress has a lot of potential, but I still don''t know what category of power she falls into. An Insect Empress can possess many types of powers, but it is always associated with its swarm, some are individually strong and this is because they collect power from their examination either directly or indirectly, there are also indicators, mages and those who simply focus on the Aura control, the most Primordial technique of their Race through which they control the insects in the swarm as if they were chess pieces. "(A mage or indicator that is associated with magic is better for what I''m looking for, I hope her powers fall into one of these two fields.)" (I) I look at Kiara noticing her appearance, her form is much more beautiful now, she has light green skin, her butterfly wings would be beautiful if it weren''t for the design of a pair of menacing eyes, her hands and feet are still covered in a butterfly''s exoskeleton Insect, on its head two large antennae are left behind mixed in its hair, its eyes are still composed like those of an Insect and there is a scorpion tail on its back. I never knew how she could be so fanatical when I did almost nothing for her, it was Hades who chose to save her, it was also he who realized her call for help, I myself did almost nothing for her. "Sir, how should we do this?" (Kiara) "Put yourself forward." (I) "Haku, if you don''t mind..." (I) "< Blood Curse: Duel Seal >" (Haku) A mark forms on my shoulder and Kiara''s back representing the effect of the Curse, with this we will not be able to cause any damage to anything around us, we can only cause damage to each other and only if one of us dies will the Curse breaks, of course Haku can also release the Curse whenever he wants and if the power is greater than Haku can withstand the Curse will also break. This Curse is just an inconvenience and probably a risk in some cases on the battlefield, but for training like this it is perfect. "Our area of ??activity will be the forest and this prairie here, we cannot go to the city or to the Temples of Fairies and Spirits." (I) "All you have to do is show me how you fight, attack me using your powers, your intelligence or your body, no matter what method you choose even if it''s all of them, just show me your strength." (I) "But I can''t get it right..." (Kiara) "Even if you create a Territory and concentrate all of it into a single devastating attack, it would be useless before the master, your difference in power is too great to be filled by anything short of a Holy Weapon." (Haku) "I''m not going to attack you either, so give it your all." (I) The place I chose was outside the city, an empty area with a few herbivorous monsters and far from the 2 Temples of my Familiars, the people in the Dungeon are still not well, but I don''t know what I need to do and from what I heard it''s a problem that It will resolve itself. I move to the center of the prairie among some flowers, Kiara had that heavy admiring look on her face, she was clearly conflicted and I can imagine she doesn''t want to fight someone she adores so much. But it is this struggle that will determine whether her powers and her way of thinking are useful as a Divine Herald, this is an eternal position and I cannot simply choose at random, I need to think of compatible options that will fill the deficiencies of others. "Haku, keep anyone who approaches away until we''re done here." (I) "The combat time will be 30 minutes." (I) "Start!" (I) "..." (Kiara) She seemed to still be struggling internally with whether or not to fight me when I gave the signal, she stood still for a few seconds before her eyes glowed with determination and her body disappeared as if it were an illusion. Of course the whole time she can''t escape my senses, I saw her tail glow as a magic circle was created behind at a point where my eyes couldn''t see, but I have more than just my eyes. She moved between the surrounding trees at great speed while leaving magic circles, she clearly concentrating on using magic, I don''t recognize the magic she uses but I can recognize the elements used being thunder, wood and Darkness. "(She has good body control, it shows that she has not only trained her magic, but her way of running is very reminiscent of Ibuki, he must have taught her.)" (I) I followed her movements with my eyes to apply a little psychological pressure by showing that I know where she is at all times, I want to know if she will be shaken by just this. She doesn''t seem to show anything, but her Aura tried to blend even more with the Aura of the surrounding plants and trees in an attempt to further camouflage herself. For a few seconds she walked around me 3 times without doing anything apparent, but I could see the spells prepared around her and the magic in a large area circling everything, as well as the insects she hid inside the earth. "(Two layers of deception, the small magic circles and the larger one encompassing everything are forms of deception, she is a summoner, her every step on a branch or on the ground summoned small insects that within the earth and branches making them move underneath creating a hidden magic circle.)" (I) I continued following her with my eyes until she disappeared, she created 20 clones and hid her real body among the leaves, each clone attacked me with poison directly, poisoned claws and tail, with my speed I slapped the back of the hands and tail of the clones while I left a gap in my defense on purpose. Soon the real body moved the magic on a large scale created a dome of darkness around me that interferes with my senses, which would have worked if the difference in power wasn''t so great, my Dark element is stronger than hers and I can see inside that dome as well as if it were late afternoon. I was watching her move as the magic gathers in her hands, as soon as she claps her hands together the flow of Mana goes straight to the ground where the magic waiting below activates, the space distorts as a Bug-like worm appears coming upwards with its jaw open. When it came out of the ground trying to devour me, I just jumped up and turned, kicking it on the top of its head, crushing its skull, then I realized that I had lost sight of it for 1 second, when I found it I saw hundreds of circles magicians from where an army of butterflies of the 3 elements she controls. That''s when I realized that even this big monster was just a distraction, she knew she was being watched the whole time and looked for at least one opportunity to do something without being noticed, I ran between the trees forcing the butterflies to divide to fly in this more complex space. I tried not to increase my speed too much, but I moved in a complex way to avoid being surrounded by the butterflies and without letting them get too close, all the time I saw Kiara controlling the butterflies while she moved separately. At some point she was coming towards me using a burst of speed with a Thunder magic, when she got to me her tail surrounded by clearly poisonous green flames was right in front of my face, but I dodged it by grabbing the base of the tail before to throw it to the butterflies. At that moment I saw her smile as all the butterflies explode with their elements joining her in a three-color tornado. "< Territory: Imaginary Realm >" (Kiara) "< World Hive >" (Kiara) The three elements expand at once creating a world full of insects made from one of these three elements, all of which were surrounding me in endless clouds of insects. "< Torrent of Poison >" (Kiara) Clouds of poison were surrounding me, so I used my wings to generate wind pressure to drive away the poison and I was still seeing her controlling the insects to organize thousands of attack spells at the same time. For the remaining several minutes I was bombarded by lightning that I deflected, by columns of shadows trying to absorb my power uselessly as they couldn''t even pass through my Aura and wooden spears that tried to pierce my body every time it pretended to make an opening. Kiara herself, in several situations, tried to attack me directly, hiding powerful magic to cast at close range or trying to use her poison at close range. "The time is over!" (I) "< Demon Dragon Pressure >" (I) When the time was up, I used my Authority together with my Aura to apply physical and Soul pressure, breaking the territory into pieces, crushing all the insects on the ground and immobilizing Kiara, all in 1 second. I stop quickly and Haku approaches Kiara helping her to get up, tiredness was visible on her face and her Aura was very weakened, but her eyes were full of life while the bright smile on her lips was strange after this intense battle. "You did very well, you fight in a similar way to me using deception to confuse the enemy, but unlike me that is the focus of your combat." (I) "You didn''t let yourself be shaken by being watched and you didn''t stop attacking at any point even though you didn''t achieve anything." (I) "Not to mention the great field control he had at all times, he used his race''s mental multitasking characteristic well." (I) "(Her raw power still lags behind, but she makes up for it in versatility and quantity.)" (I) "(She would shine in fights against multiple enemies, but fighting only one enemy can be done.)" (I) "Haku, take her to rest and tell her the rest." (I) "So she passed?" (Haku) "Yes, now I''m going to ask Cinthia to bring someone else to me." (I) Chapter 1441: Cap 1439:The awakening of Faith and Destiny part 3 Pov Xagar: It was nighttime and I was outside the Dungeon watching the stars and planets pass by as the Dimensional Dragon moved to its next destination. I was lying on the grass and sometimes I put my hand on my forehead to take the blood jewel, the words I heard earlier were still stuck in my mind. "Thinking about what Lord Zenos said?" (Fiona) "Yes, how can I not think about something like that?" (I) "I thought you would be more than happy to accept, you would have all the power you wanted, you would be completely against the Church of Light and in a position where sooner or later you will be facing the God Baldr himself." (Fiona) "..." (I) Everything she is telling me really went through my head, my hatred for the Church of Light was the only thing that kept it alive when I saw no point in continuing to exist, the kind of power they offered me is everything I could want, but these thoughts they didn''t last long. "You must understand, power is all I want, but this power does not come free, there will be responsibilities accompanying this power... we will be among the Divine beings." (I) "I know that very well, so much power scares me a little, I don''t know what to think." (Fiona) Fiona lies down next to me, I can feel the imbalance in her Aura, an insignificant tremor in her Aura when she is sighing, this shows that she is panicking, I only noticed this from the time I spend next to her. "This power doesn''t scare me, what I''m afraid of is myself... what will I be with this power?" (I) "Like this?" (Fiona) "Fiona, Divine Heralds are above Divine Beasts, they can be considered subordinate Gods... we would be Gods!!" (I) "Even without counting the now where we can''t even comprehend this level of power, what will happen in 100 years, 1000 years or maybe in 10000 years?" (I) "Will I be as arrogant, proud and authoritarian as Baldr or the Gods at his side!?" (I) "Maybe I will one day be the same as them?" (I) "You can''t be serious, you want to talk about things so far away in time, why think about it now?" (Fiona) "If we accept this we will be immortal, we will live for so long that I can''t be sure how much I will change by then, maybe I wouldn''t even recognize myself." (I) "People haven''t changed that much..." (Fiona) "I CHANGED!!!" (I) "I WAS ALREADY THE MOST FAITHFUL OF THE LIGHT TEMPLARS!!!" (I) "I STAINED MY SWORD IN BLOOD COUNTLESS TIMES WITH A SMILE ON MY FACE SCREAMING ABOUT JUSTICE!!!!" (I) "HOW MANY INNOCENTS DID I KILL!?? HOW MUCH DESTRUCTION DID I CAUSE!?? HOW MANY PEOPLE DID I INSPIRE TO FOLLOW THE SAME PATH THAT I WAS SO ASHAMED OF!?" (I) SIGH I stood up screaming, but not at Fiona but screaming at myself, what I was feeling was my blood boiling inside me from all this emotion, I was lost with a lot of things in my head and realizing that I was losing control, I sigh and lay flat on the grass once again looking up. "I have changed before, what I am now is so different from what I was before that I could compare two completely different people, this great change happened in less than 100 years... for a mortal this is a long time, but for the Gods This time is very short." (I) "If in such a short period of time I have changed so much, then how can I be sure of what I will be like in thousands of years? Suddenly I may end up being the same as everything I hate today..." (I) "(My head screams to accept this power, it will be everything I wanted, but my heart screams all the time asking in my mind if I deserve such power.)" (I) "So you have the fear of changing and it''s not so wrong, I really can''t promise you will never change, it happens to everyone, change is part of life." (Fiona) "You''re talking like Mrs. Alice, but that''s not..." (I) "Xagar, you were born and raised surrounded by just that, it was always clear to you who was on the good side and who was on the bad side, that''s how you learned since you were young." (Fiona) "Now you have opened your eyes seeing the truth, your determination will not allow you to follow the same path as the Gods of Light." (Fiona) "Maybe you''re right but that''s just one of my thoughts, I also often think about whether I deserve this power, whether I deserve this position." (I) "Is this fair to Zenos who brought me so much?" (I) "This is the power intended for those who follow the teachings of Zenos and whose Faith deserves to be rewarded..." (I) "For the love of the Gods, shut up!" (Fiona) Before I knew it she jumped up from her lying position and kicked me in the face making me fall back, I wasn''t expecting to be hit and I just stared at her as she started talking. "Stop this bullshit drama!" (Fiona) "Answer a few simple questions and just say yes or no, got it?" (Fiona) "..." (I) "Yes." (I) "Do you have Faith in Zenos?" (Fiona) "Yes, but I..." (I) "I just said yes or no! Now the second question." (Fiona) "Would you fight to protect the people of this Dungeon?" (Fiona) "Yes." (I) "Do you trust Zenos, Hades, Magnus and the people here?" (Fiona) "Yes." (I) "Do you trust me?" (Fiona) "Yes." (I) "Now the last question, do you trust yourself?" (Fiona) "..." (I) "Answer the question!" (Fiona) "Not..." (I) "So stop regretting useless things all the time, today and now are the only things we can control!" (Fiona) "Even Zenos could be an Evil Dragon in thousands of years or a planet-destroying Demon, he clearly already has the power for that now and hasn''t even become a God yet, if we''re going to talk about bad possibilities for the future, then there are many!" (Fiona) "So stop making excuses for your lack of confidence and your fear, if you''re going to think about something, then think about what you can do now!" (Fiona) "Did you understand!?" (Fiona) "Yes..." (I) She pulled me by the shoulder, looking directly into my eyes, I could see her willpower and determination, she had already made a decision. "Think about what I said and stop acting like a child, stop lamenting about what has already happened or worrying about things that might not even happen and start thinking about what you can do within your power today!" (Fiona) "I will meet Zenos tomorrow to give my answer with or without you." (Fiona) "..." (I) She let go of me and walked back to the dungeon gate, so I sat down and looked once again at the stars passing by while thinking about what she said. "What can I do...?" (I) ------------------- Pov Zenos: I was tired, I had a lot of things to solve, the problem with the Dungeon people seemed important, but they told me not to do anything and that this could be good for everyone, so I focused on filling the Divine Herald positions. "Aren''t you going to rest?" (Alice) "I am unable." (I) "Thinking about those two''s response?" (Alice) "No, whether they accept it or not won''t matter, I have other possibilities if they refuse." (I) "Then why choose them?" (Alice) "Because they are the best choices, their affinities, personality and willpower are excellent, but they lack a purpose to guide them." (I) "Xagar wants revenge against the Church of Light, he feels betrayed, deceived and manipulated, he now questions every decision he has made in life and does not trust himself for having walked a path that he himself considers "disgusting" in his words." (I) "We will face the Church of Light sooner or later, their vague purpose can be directed in a more constructive way on our side." (I) "Fiona is even worse, she wants the power to protect, the position of Xagar that she wants to destroy, but Fiona doesn''t have a specific objective of what she wants to protect, she doesn''t have an ideal of her own, she doesn''t have a family and she doesn''t have a home to live in turn back." (I) "I would like her to consider this home of hers, the people here as her family and give her a purpose before she gets lost along the way." (I) "That''s not all, is it?" (Alice) "..." (I) "You know too much." (I) "I watch you a lot, I saw you around Sophia." (Alice) "I would like to turn her into a Herald, but..." (I) Sigh "She is not suitable for this, I can feel the trace of Essence within her, but at the same time I see sadness." (I) "She''s been with you as long as I have, but she was left behind by everyone, she trained me and I know she regrets not being able to be her guard like she promised that day." (Alice) "I wish she would stop looking at me and see the power that is already within her." (I) Suddenly I felt a wave of Aura explode full of the power of death and curse. "It looks like I won''t be resting today, let''s take a look now that she''s awake." (I) Chapter 1442: Cap 1440:The awakening of Faith and Destiny part 4 I was outside the Communal Temple with Alice and all the Saints from other religions, most of whom I hadn''t seen in a long time and as expected the Saint of Pleasure was almost completely naked without any shame in showing her body in front of a temple, even the Saint of Love was looking at me strangely, so I kept away from them. "Don''t worry about them, we already talked about leaving you alone, now they''re going after your children and that includes me." (Vanessa) "Thank you for that, I won''t have a relationship with someone just for Pleasure and if I have a child with someone, it will definitely be with my wives and not with a Saint for whom I have no feelings." (I) "Says the man full of children." (Lilith) "We''re almost adopted in a way, so it doesn''t count." (Samira) "Samira is right, the only daughter born directly to him was Hela and she was sired by the Dungeon." (Irius) "What are you doing here?" (I) "I came to get something for Elsaris." (Samira) "I''m helping Irina with the people who haven''t woken up yet." (Irius) "I was bored and this sounded interesting." (Lilith) "I think it''s hard not to feel curious about a wave of negative energy like that." (Vanessa) Everyone was gathering, some were in sleeping clothes, others in training clothes and there was even a Lamia carrying an Elf wrapped around her tail, probably today''s single prey. The wave of negative energy was not contained by the Communal Temple, in fact for those with Holy Power it was possible to feel that the power was being amplified and I knew by whom. "Why doesn''t anyone come in?" (Samira) "The power of death and life are colliding very intensely inside, there is also a lot of Cursed energy." (Alice) "Alice''s right, this won''t last long anyway." (I) Just like I said, these energies were already decreasing since a few minutes ago, it was half the intensity of the initial explosion, in a few more minutes it should be safe to enter. "(I can feel her inside the temple, I can also feel the Divine powers of life and death, it seems like the two Goddesses are doing something...)" (I) I was worried that the Goddesses of Life and Death might grant a Blessing to Zaya, in fact she is the only suitable candidate for her position alongside Hinata, so I would rather not lose her to the Gods. "All I can do now is wait." (I) ----------------- Several minutes later. When the energy was almost disappearing I felt something breathe for the first time and I felt this because a large amount of Holy Power was sucked out of the pool of blood when it happened. "I''ll go in first, wait here." (I) "..." (all) No one tried to follow me with the exception of Hinata who was the only Family member that I still have with me that the situation is no longer critical. Hinata seemed more excited than me, this kind of power always interests her a lot, it''s a shame she tends to eat this kind of thing, I''m going to have to control her so she doesn''t think about devouring Zaya now that she''s finally woken up. I followed the entrance hall and the corridors, when I entered the room where she was supposed to be, there was nothing but holes in the ceiling and floor, which I already expected, I knew she was in the hall of statues, in fact her body seems to have materialized there, I just wanted to take a look at the room where she stayed. "That was a big mess..." (I) I continued walking and entered the Hall of Statues, when I opened the doors I saw a woman running towards me and taking my face in her hands while treating it like a new toy, she was moving, pulling and poking my face with a curious look on her face, I could also see confusion in her Aura as well as two Divine presences behind her. "Why does there always have to be something to complicate things?" (I) -------------------- Several hours later. The sun was already rising, I was at the top of the Communal Temple with her by my side, Zaya was more than just confused when I found her, she looked like a child and in the next few minutes her behavior changed little by little as if she was mentally maturing the equivalent to years in mere minutes. Now she seemed more serious and polite, I also got some clothes for her to cover herself, they are standard and simple clothes, but her exotic beauty more than makes up for that. "Once again, I''m sorry for my behavior, the Tomb of Nutrition is not something that my Race goes through after reaching adulthood, it messed with my mind and shook my Soul a little causing this mental regression to the time when I was still a child." (Zaya) "That''s all in the past, we''ve talked about it... so how do you feel now?" (I) "I feel good, my body is very comfortable and I have full control over my body as well as my power." (Zaya) "Those are big claims when I haven''t seen you use your power once." (I) "The Nourishment Tomb is a process of maturation not only physically, but also mentally and for the Soul." (Zaya) "I know myself completely and with that I have complete control, if I understand the basis and fundamentals, then I have a deep understanding of myself." (Zaya) "Know yourself first, I''ve heard of things like that." (I) "(I heard about sayings like this in self-help stuff in my old world, most of the time as ways to profit from people looking for simple solutions, I never believed in that nonsense.)" (I) "(But what she''s talking about isn''t self-help stuff, she''s talking about a real process of transformation of the body, mind and Soul.)" (I) "What do you think of this place?" (I) "Incredible, the energies around are so diverse, the Curse around me is less intense, I also find it incredible how comfortable your Aura is, very different from Tarzor." (Zaya) She looked happy, meanwhile I tried to check once again her very different appearance from the statue I saw before. Their skin is pale as porcelain, their eyebrows are as white as silk as is their long hair that becomes less real the closer you get to the tip becoming completely ethereal, their bodies have several areas with white scales such as the side of the body, the back of the arms, the thighs, the back, the neck and a little on the cheeks. Her eyes were neon purple with a slight glow and looked like the eyes of a Serpent, on her back was a tail full of scales that ends in the head of a Serpent with a mouth full of teeth and closed eyes. Her presence is cold at the same time as calming, her skin as cold as a corpse while her voice was like the melody of a piano, she is captivating in every way, but what I felt most emanating from her was the inconsistency. Everything about her appearance resembles death, but her friendly and lively personality showing so many expressions on her face does not match, not to mention the Cursed energy that constantly flows through her body, even her Aura is strange, keeping these 3 energies in harmony. "Did you think about what I said?" (I) "Yes and I believe I have already given my answer." (Zaya) "I wanted to give you time to think, this was the first time we met." (I) "No, this was the first time you met me, I have been seeing and hearing many things about you, today I just put a face to the figure I had in my mind." (Zaya) "My Race is like a parasite, we need to be attached to something to maintain our emotions and rationality." (Zaya) "We are called the Ladies of the Grave for a reason, we connect ourselves to places of great number of deaths, the Curse of negative feelings, the energy of death that gathers for the many dead, these things are essential to us and at the same time they can corrupt." (Zaya) "The cursed energy freezes our emotions, the energy of death corrodes our minds and in the end all that''s left is a monster." (Zaya) "Connecting ourselves to something allows us to avoid that end by anchoring our consciousness and emotions in something else." (Zaya) "That''s why your proposal is very good for me, because I need something like this and you seem more than suitable." (Zaya) Looking at her I know she''s not saying everything, but I also know she doesn''t want to do anything bad, that wouldn''t even be possible when she became a Divine Herald. "Can I at least know what you want?" (I) "What do I want? What do you mean?" (Zaya) "Your desire, what you seek in the long term, what you seek for yourself." (I) "That''s easy, I seek freedom." (Zaya) "..." (I) At that moment I realized that once again she was telling only part of the truth, the meaning of her freedom seemed not to be the same as what I was thinking, there seemed to be a lot of meaning in her freedom. While I was thinking about what happened earlier in the main hall of the Communal Temple, Hinata left my body and gave Zaya a hug, I was shocked by this since she only usually shows this type of behavior towards me, it made me feel calmer about my choice. Chapter 1443: Cap 1441:The awakening of Faith and Destiny part 5 Pov Zaya''s: At first my mind was blank, I didn''t know who I was, I didn''t know where I was, all that existed was a great comfort. I could feel something colliding and it made me happy somehow, these collisions form swirls and cycles that were beautiful in a way. I could see everything and hear everything, but at the same time I felt everything as if it were inside me. What I thought was beautiful was slowly causing harm to me, I didn''t understand how I knew this since I didn''t feel anything, but it was a certainty that I couldn''t understand and that was when the voices emerged. "Don''t stand still, follow suit..." (Cold Voice) "Collision of opposites forms a cycle, life and death, body and Soul..." (Warm Voice) "Don''t just watch and try to let your instinct guide you..." (Cold Voice) "Follow our power, don''t resist..." (Warm Voice) The voices spoke inside me, I didn''t understand what they were saying, but I understood the meaning, everything was so strange. I felt like I collided with myself as I let myself be carried away by the 2 powers, then I spun around becoming part of the cycle and that''s when my eyes opened. "..." (I) "Hands, I have Hands... what are Hands?" (I) My body had formed but I could not control it as I was dragged by the flow of power to a place full of statues, meanwhile my previously blank mind was quickly filling with thoughts and memories. I didn''t care about those things, all I did was float everywhere riding the waves of power I was seeing, it was fun, I also tried poking the statues, but I couldn''t get close to half of them and at most I managed to touch 2 of the statues while the third was very interesting and I made it my bed. "Comfortable, but I''m hungry." (I) As soon as the thought of hunger arose I felt my body spin even though it wasn''t spinning, I didn''t understand anything and I didn''t even try, it was a funny sensation as something was spinning around me. Soon a new type of energy appeared coming straight towards me, as soon as I touched it it was absorbed and rotated with me or within me, this made the hunger go away, but my eyes focused on a pool in which I jumped and began to swim listening to the voices once again. "You have created your own cycle of life and death, so remain that way and let the power of Zenos flow through it." (Warm Voice) "Let the power of the Curse expand, do not contain its meaning in the cycle itself." (Cold Voice) "Together more apart, 3 in just 1, make your body real and feel what you are!" (Cold Voice/Warm Voice) Suddenly my mind was divided into 3, I could see 3 points of view and in each there is only 1 of the powers I felt before, the only constants were me and the pool. I spent years swimming in blood, my body being born and growing as I manipulated the life around me. I spent years watching bodies rot and Souls being dragged away, my body slowly wasting away while I understood the depth of death. I spent years feeling a curse corrupt everything it touched as it spread unchecked, transforming everything in its path, then I understood the meaning of the curse. In 3 points of view I live understanding 3 totally different powers, when all my points of view came together in just 1, I felt my mind was confused as if I had returned to the beginning, my body was also heavier and when I left the red pool I saw the doors opening. When he entered I threw myself on top of her, grabbing his face, it was so fun, his ears, his skin, his scales, his eyes and his hair. Everything was so different and I felt so curious, the two voices from before still whisper in my ear, I couldn''t help but listen to them and adjust the circulation of the 3 powers within my body. While I was curious about the one in front of me, he seemed to be talking while looking at the two statues that I could touch, I didn''t care what he was saying, I didn''t hear him answering sometimes, none of that mattered to me. At first I didn''t think about anything, but now I was driven almost by pure curiosity and little by little my mind filled with more thoughts. I slowly felt the 3 powers nourishing my body, I realized that the voices were somehow talking to the one who was close to me and I was only listening to half of the conversation. In a few minutes I realized that my fiance?e was understanding more and more things at the same time that she was also remembering more about myself, I realized that I was in the process of maturing my race even though it was not contained in stone as it was in the past. As the minutes passed I felt better and better, I could feel my mind, body and Soul as one at the same time that the 3 energies were in balance, a cycle of life and death formed my body and with the power of the Curse a with me. The white charge I once accepted from Tarzor to free me, rose from within my Soul devouring the cycle of life and death as it absorbed the curse into itself, the and became one. At that moment my mind was clear and mature enough to perceive everything that happened, I felt the power of the one in front of me on my face and body, it was Holy Power that I had felt many times in the past, but it was Warm and comforting. After that I stopped treating him as if he were a toy, the regression to my childish mentality was something I didn''t expect and it was shameful, but there was nothing I could do about it as it is part of the maturation process. When I was once again physically and mentally balanced, he introduced himself as Zenos, Hela''s Father, I already knew who he was, his presence was something I recognized immediately. He started talking to me explaining who he was, where we are and whose voices I heard, then he talked about being a Divine Herald and I couldn''t help but smile. He didn''t realize that I''m already connected to him, maybe he considers our connection to be the same as the one he has with other people or with his Family, but with me it''s different because this connection is part of my own Soul. Being a Divine Herald for him is perfect for me, with a stronger connection I will have greater possibilities in the future, I will be able to go to more places, do more things and I will always be safe even if Evil Gods try to do something against me. But what I seek is not him, I can feel it within him and at the same time separate, the Serpent in my Soul cries out for it, I have always longed for it and I am still not sure what it was, then it emerged from his body, a girl and Your eyes took my Soul in fullness. "(This is what I sought...)" (I) -------------------- Pov Zenos: I was now facing Natasha once again, she is always making me train physically, but this time I am grateful for that, the time I spent creating the Power Sources really changed my body on a fundamental level. I haven''t lost control over my body and my power, but during the fight against Kiara I realized that I''m not making full use of my capabilities. So, as soon as my sister called me to training, I went along. "How was it yesterday?" (Natasha) "She has agreed to be a Divine Herald, with that it should be complete once I get my next and final Essence." (I) As we were talking, her sword was coming towards my right eye, I use my sword to deflect her sword further to the side of my head while the dagger in my other hand goes towards her chest only to be caught between her claws. Our tails collide throwing us both backwards before rushing towards each other once more, our swords clash continuously creating waves of explosive power as I am slowly adjusting my power by making small changes in the rhythm, control and potency of the energies within me. "You seem worried, something unexpected happened." (Natasha) I think about what I heard yesterday from the Goddesses. "(She has the cycle of life within her.)" (Goddess Mavis) "(The spark of life, the transformation of the curse, and the inexorable end of death from which new life will generate.)" (Goddess Kalistos) "(What''s that supposed to mean?)" (I) "(I thought her race already had the power of death and curse.)" (I) "(You granted my gift to her allowing her to be reborn, thus completing the cycle of life.)" (Goddess Mavis) "(Embodying one''s own cycle of existence shouldn''t be possible, but your power of chaos has made it possible more than once.)" (Goddess Kalistos) "(The cycle of life belongs to the Spectrum of Fate from which Chaos rules.)" (Goddess Kalistos/Goddess Mavis) "(What does that mean?)" (I) "(What do you guys mean by that!?)" (I) The Gods can never be direct, always with riddles, half-truths and trials just watching when all they want is a straight answer. "It''s nothing, at least not yet... Ghuh!!" (I) "So let''s stop here today, you''re clearly not in the right mindset." (Natasha) She says this after dropping her sword and throwing a punch that impacts my head against the ground, then she leaves with a smile on her face. "What we have for today?" (I) "Meet your Divine Heralds, we have little time before we reach Tarzor." (Alice) Chapter 1444: Cap 1442:The awakening of Faith and Destiny part 6 Pov Elizabeth''s: I was in the crystal castle watching the flower garden along with the stars when Karina arrived next to Natasha. "I just found out that Zenos is going to try to create 3 more Divine Heralds today." (Natasha) "I know, there are only a few days left before we reach Tarzor, he is scared and thinks this is the best way to prepare." (I) "You don''t think so, why?" (Natasha) "How about before I answer we don''t hear his Saint say the reason for his concern?" (I) "..." (Karina) If Zenos is to create more Divine Heralds in his preparation, then his two Saints should be present, but instead one of them is in front of me very far from where he is now, that is curious to say the least. "Alice always follows everything the master does, taking it for granted that everything will end well, but I can''t do that." (Karina) "I also noticed that the master''s presence is becoming more and more different, but I can''t say how, so I came to ask you." (Karina) "(She noticed the change in Aura, she shouldn''t expect anything less from a Dragon so unique and linked to Zenos.)" (I) "(But she didn''t realize the rest, it must be difficult without the necessary knowledge.)" (I) "Don''t worry, if it was something harmful to him, I would have said something already, so go back to his side." (I) "She''s right, you should be there for something so important, so hurry up." (Natasha) "..." (Karina) She turned and walked away, it was written on her face that she was not convinced, but she knows she must be by his side today, I wait for Karina to leave and I look at Natasha, her face was serious looking at the stars and the garden. "You wouldn''t tell me about that, would you?" (Natasha) "No, everyone will find out in due time." (I) "He might not like it." (Natasha) "The only one to blame is him, who orders us to continue doing such absurd things." (I) "Where is Caitlyn, if I noticed, then she...." (Natasha) "She''s taking care of something, that''s just part of what''s going to happen." (I) I stood next to Natasha as we both looked at the shadows of tree branches between the barely visible stars. ------------------ Pov Zenos: I was on the Dungeon''s training floor, a field without monsters and with a large area where people from the Dungeon come to do their training when they have a certain level of strength. "Alice, where is Karina?" (I) "She went to inform her sisters, she should be back in no time." (Alice) "My sisters shouldn''t come, Caitlyn only cares about resting and has been sleeping since we got back, Natasha only cares about herself and Elizabeth... only the Goddess Selene knows what''s going on in her head." (I) Sigh I have a lot of things to deal with every day and endless worries, Freya hasn''t woken up yet and I haven''t had time to go see her tree since I came back, more than half of the Dungeon is still sleeping while the other half that woke up is weakened, I''m still I didn''t find the reason for something so strange. There is also the problem of being separated from my wives, I know they are training somewhere, but I don''t know where and no one tells me that, I still have Niryna sleeping inside me that needs to be born and Callidora is still watching me through Niryna. Not counting the acquisition of the last of the Essences and this preparation I''m doing, there are so many things at the same time that I don''t even have time to digest what happened to the 3 Sources of Power. "(I''ll have time for that later, I need to have priorities and ensuring my safety is one of those priorities.)" (I) The Essences were harming me, my body and Soul were not resisting so much power, that''s why I started creating the Sources of Power so early and accepted the creation of the Divine Heralds, it was these things that stabilized my Soul and body as they are now. But I don''t know what it will be like when I get the last Essence, each of them had a different weight on me and hit different parts of me, the next Essence is probably associated with Souls and I think it''s safe to assume that it will hit my Soul like a meteor crushing a fly, so I''m trying to acquire more Divine Heralds, improve the container to support what is being poured inside. "Are you well?" (Alice) "No, I have a lot to deal with, but I''ll be fine when this is all over." (I) "(At least I hope I''m okay when this is all over.)" (I) ----------------- Several minutes later. After several minutes of waiting I see the 4 arriving, Fiona was taking the lead with her eyes burning with determination, Xagar seemed to be very calm, his eyes had never been as clear as they are now to the point of not seeing the anger he always carried, these two surprise me with their growth in strength and maturity. Kiara was also here, but she was just next to Zaya, their interaction was a little strange, others may not see it, but I and certainly Alice who is my Saint can see Kiara''s Aura full of absolute Faith tearing out the Aura strange from Zaya. "Sir, what did that..." (Alice) "Don''t say anything..." (I) I could already guess why to some degree, but I might find out more after I get through the other two. As soon as we were close, I waved to Xagar and Fiona to take a step forward, I wanted to hear their response directly, especially from Xagar, sometimes you need to verbalize in the right situation to confirm something you have decided to do, I know what the two have decided, their Auras scream their decision, but Xagar needs it to demonstrate it to himself. "First of all, I would like to hear the answer from you two." (I) "My decision has always been just the same, to serve Lord Zenos, there is nothing else to consider." (Fiona) "(She still doesn''t understand or maybe she doesn''t want to understand, I just hope she realizes what''s around her one day.)" (I) I wanted Fiona to realize that her desire is not to serve, but to protect like a soldier''s spear, the spearhead that takes the front in a war to protect those behind. "From the moment I arrived, I had doubts about Lord Zenos, about myself and about the future..." (Xagar) "Today I see that all these doubts are due to my insecurity and weakness... but now I say, no more doubting!" (Xagar) "If Lord Zenos grants me such power, then let it be the sword that will open the way in his name without ever taking a step back!" (Xagar) In his eyes all I see will act is resolution, his anger is still there as is his hatred, but they are not the totality of what they once were, it looks like he is trying to enter a new path tearing everything in front of him. "You two have made your decisions, now you can go with them." (I) Sakura appears sprouting from the ground inside a flower, she holds Fiona in her arms before taking her back to the Flower that closes its petals and sinks into the earth. Nix comes out of Xagar''s shadow showing only the Dragon''s head completely swallows him before flying away. In the end only the last two remained, Zaya had already made her decision and Kiara didn''t even consider a decision, for her there was only one path from the beginning without even considering whether or not there are other options. "You two, I called you for different reasons." (I) "Kiara, you must go Layla, just like those two who were taken by my Familiars, you need to be tested, go." (I) "Come with me and be quick!" (Layla) Layla, who had been sitting on my shoulder since the beginning, flew in one direction and Kiara spread her butterfly wings following right behind. "Now all that''s left is you, I imagine you''ve already guessed." (I) "You want to fight." (Zaya) "Yes, but it will be a one-sided fight just like I did with Kiara, I want to know more about you and your power, follow me." (I) ------------------ Pov Alice''s: I just stood aside and let master Zenos do what he wanted, but as soon as he left, I slit my wrist letting the blood flow, Holy power flows through my blood as it spreads to the surroundings forming a magic circle. It was at that moment that I felt her approaching me, so just like I did before, she cut her wrist letting her blood flow creating a second layer of magic circles. "You took a long time, what did Mrs. Elizabeth say?" (I) "She didn''t say anything, but she made it clear that nothing wrong would happen to Zenos." (Karina) "How were things here?" (Karina) "Three are being tested by the Familiars and Zaya went to fight him." (I) As we spoke, the sanctification of this area has been completed, the Holy power has concentrated more here, doing this within the Dungeon is as simple as ever, unfortunately it is also temporary. "Master is being too hasty." (I) "He''s always been like this, at least I feel calmer knowing he''s not in danger." (Karina) Chapter 1445: Cap 1443: The Heralds of Zenos part 1 Pov Elizabeth''s: "Aren''t you going to help Aurora?" (Ynes) "No and neither should you." (I) I was in a special crystal castle room where a round table has an energy sphere that shows scenes from the dungeon, but now I''m using it to keep track of what my little brother is doing with his would-be Heralds. The only one with me now was Ynes, she appeared as soon as Natasha left, I don''t know why everyone always ends up coming to me as if they knew everything. "That head won''t be any use to her." (Ynes) "That depends on her definition of useful, she knows better than you what''s coming." (I) "It doesn''t matter if she dies, I don''t know how she found out the location, but that place..." (Ynes) "She''ll be fine and she didn''t go alone, her sister is watching her closely." (I) "Besides, the head itself is irrelevant to her, what she needs is the unique Essence that that God had, you might get something out of it." (I) "In that place there is more than just 1 dead God." (I) "That place is forbidden for a reason." (Ynes) "There are many forbidden places, our next destination is one of the biggest forbidden spots in the Universe and I''m sure Zenos created another forbidden spot with that area for the Holy Beasts to live." (I) "Don''t worry, the chances of her failing are high, but she''s not in any danger." (I) While talking to her I saw Zenos'' Familiars take their candidates and I understood what he wanted to do, I also saw him taking the Lady of the Grave leaving his bSaints creating a more suitable place. "(Ne wonder what trials he chose for them)" (I) "I don''t understand how you can be calm..." (Ynes) "Because once we end up on Tarzor, that''s going to be the next place, that place needs to be destroyed and only Zenos will achieve that." (I) "You are kidding!?" (Ynes) "No, besides, you will also benefit from this, so stop complaining." (I) "Everyone needs to be ready, our time is not unlimited, the Great Gods have been preparing for centuries and many other Gods have been preparing for decades... I tried to stay out of this and just be a pawn in my mother''s hands, but with Zenos nearby..." (I) Sigh "We no longer have the luxury of prudence." (I) "I didn''t think you would become such a coward after being reborn." (I) "I ended up in this situation because of my recklessness, I can''t even describe my shame when I remember the things my old self did, I don''t want to make decisions anymore without thinking comprehensively about something." (Ynes) "(I wonder how Nix will handle Xagar''s ordeal.)" (I) The conversation with Ynes was getting nowhere, so I continued paying attention to the images where the Night Dragon spits Xagar onto the ground on top of a mountain. ------------------ Pov Xagar: When I realized I was on top of a mountain, it was light at first, but when I opened my eyes the darkness was spreading making the sky different as if it were night. The skies turned black with stars of various colors dotted across the sky and a silver moon in fragments as the center of it all. My body was covered in goo that strangely dissolved into spiritual energy seeping into my body. "You already know who I am." (Nix) "Yes, you are the Familiar of Zenos, the Night Spiritual Dragon." (I) The one who was floating and looking at me almost completely camouflaged with the night sky was Nix, one of the strongest entities in the Dungeon and Familiar of Zenos himself. Her Dragon body is magnificent, looking at her is like seeing a creation of the night itself as if this sky around us was an extension of her, her eyes were locked on me and her Aura around her as if trying to see beyond me. "You accepted to be a Divine Herald, I don''t know if you understand what such a position represents, but you need to deserve to be worthy of such power." (Nix) "A test?" (I) "No, it''s going to be an ordeal, because after today you may not be the same anymore, will you still want to continue?" (Nix) "The simple fact of receiving this opportunity to be here is an honor that I do not deserve, I will not disappoint the one who gave me such an opportunity." (I) "I am willing to undergo any training, test or ordeal regardless of the risk involved." (I) "Your determination is commendable, so let''s get started." (Nix) "..." (I) Her eyes shone and all the stars around her shone at the same time, the world around me began to ripple like the surface of a lake when a stone falls, I seemed to be that stone at that moment. Suddenly everything disappeared except the starry sky which just became different, the fragmented moon being the only constant thing besides me, the stars were different in both colors and positions, Mrs. Nix had disappeared and even the mountain where I was supposed to be it disappeared. What was around me was just darkness, I was on the surface of an endless lake stepping into the water as if closing the ground and the starry sky above, then on the surface of the lake where the Fragmented Moon was being reflected, an image of me appeared rising from the reflection of the Moon. His completely human appearance and white armor made my blood start to boil just from seeing such a disgusting sight, but it was still me. When he opened his eyes I could see the smile on his face increase, an absolute confidence in himself, in his eyes the arrogance built by his Templar position and his Aura as bright as sunlight, all of this only infuriated me even more. "Are you the ordeal? Because if you are, then you are a gift to me." (I) Without saying anything else, a sword was already in my hands, I could no longer hold back, with the sword I launched myself into an attack using all the strength of my body, but as soon as I hit the armor it was like hitting an unbreakable wall, the The sword had broken into pieces, leaving only the hilt in my hand bleeding from the impact of the blow. My copy is still looking at me like I''m an idiot, everything about him was disgusting, every part of him was exactly what I once was, an undeniable stain from my past. "Still the same old guy, trying to destroy everything he doesn''t understand?" (me?) ----------------- Pov Fiona''s: I don''t know what exactly happened, when I opened my eyes I was lying on mine of a giant flower in the middle of a beautiful garden, endless trees were in all directions and a woman wearing leaves as lush clothes was walking out of the forest coming in my direction. "I imagine you know who I am." (Sakura) "Yes, you are the Familiar of Zenos, the Tree of War, lady Sakura." (I) "War Tree? That''s new to me, who gave me such an old-fashioned name? Was it Sapphire or that idiot Jade?" (Sakura) "I couldn''t say, I''ve only heard stories about you during morning training, many call you by that title." (I) "Well, it doesn''t matter, like many things, these titles are also empty in their meaning, I never liked wars." (Sakura) As she walked, the flowers around her became brighter, I myself got out of the large flower I used as a bed and tried to kneel before her, but the flowers in the garden moved, holding my body, preventing me from kneeling. "There are no reasons to kneel to me, I''m not your queen, I''m not a Goddess and I don''t like formal things like that either." (Sakura) She came closer and placed her hand on my chin, her soft and delicate hands somehow made my heart beat faster as my face heated up. "You don''t need to fear or adore me, nature just exists and I much prefer this type of instinctive reaction..." (Sakura) She approaches me, sliding her hand across my face and speaking in whispers close to my ear, I didn''t think a woman would make me feel like this, much less that someone like Zenos'' Familiar would do this to me one day. "Ma''am, I don''t think this is appropriate..." (I) "You''re very formal, but you''re right, I''m not here to relax and neither are you." (Sakura) She let go of my face and I realized that the world around me had changed, the forest around me seemed more alive and the trees rise like mountains, the branches and leaves cover the skies letting just a few rays of light pass through giving a unique atmosphere to the surroundings. "I''m here this time to find out if you are worthy of the power you agreed to receive." (Sakura) "I will." (I) "In other words, you don''t consider yourself worthy now?" (Sakura) "What do you seek? What do you consider to be worthy? Why do you think Zenos chose you with so many stronger options available?" (Sakura) "I... I don''t know..." (I) "After this ordeal everything will become clearer, if you go through it." (Sakura) The tree flowers and flower petals came loose in the wind, forming a tornado around me, blocking my vision. "We''ll see what you''re looking for..." (Sakura) Chapter 1446: Cap 1444: The Heralds of Zenos part 2 Pov Xagar: "Still the same old guy, trying to destroy everything he doesn''t understand?" (me?) I jumped back, my attack did nothing against him, it was like hitting a wall of Holy Metal, I did nothing against him and I''m sure my sword made contact with his body which didn''t give 1 millimeter back. In fact, it wasn''t just his appearance that was the same as mine, his presence, voice and even his way of speaking are exactly the same as they were before. Sigh "(Calm down, getting carried away by emotions won''t get me anywhere.)" (I) I did my best to keep my mind focused, what was in front of me is a reflection of what I hate most, even keeping my calm is proving difficult, but it''s the least I can do at this point since I clearly can''t cause harm to anyone he. "Who are you?" (I) "You know who I am, so don''t try to fool yourself." (me?) "You can pretend all you want, you can believe what you want, but we both know you can''t get rid of me." (me?) "I am you, I have always been you... I will always be you." (me?) He disappeared in the middle of the words before appearing behind me, a hand hitting my shoulder as his voice sounds behind me finishing speaking and when I turn my body, he disappeared and returned to his initial position still smiling at me as if mocking of my reaction. "(Calm down, he''s acting like I did in the past, using stupid mockery to distract and confuse the enemy.)" (I) "(Everything he says is to confuse me, if I let him do that, then I would just be an idiot.)" (I) "(That''s right, ignore everything, it would be so much easier to ignore everything you say, wouldn''t it?)" (me?) "..." (I) I was surprised that he spoke in my mind, so there''s no point in me lying or hiding something, if he can see inside my mind, I''ll just follow through directly. I didn''t feel anything invade my mind and he''s clearly too faithful a copy to be fake, he''s a reflection of me no matter how much I don''t want to feed it. "Alright, let''s stop with the games, you''re a reflection of me, a part of me, so get straight to why you''re here." (I) "Xagar, you lied to yourself and Hades that day." (me?) "I know what I did... I don''t expect forgiveness... I know my decision is laughable..." (me?) "You lied to yourself and to everyone, you always wanted forgiveness, but not just any forgiveness, but the forgiveness of a single person who will never come back." (me?) "SHUT UP!!!!" (I) "Hahaha hahahahahahaha... hahahahahaha..." (me?) As he smiled, the world around us began to ripple like the surface of a lake once more, the landscape that now revealed itself was a mansion where a blue-haired Celestina woman held a young boy while closing a white book with the emblem of a golden sun on the cover. "Why don''t we start at the beginning?" (me?) "Our mother was beautiful, kind and even though she was a Celestina of the Church of Light, she never hurt anyone, she was an ordinary Priestess who lived among a common people." (me?) "..." (I) I couldn''t hear her or the child''s voice, but I didn''t need to, I remember that day, she was reciting not the battles in the holy book, but the miracles that saved countless lives, she always emphasized saving and not fighting. But suddenly something unlike the memory happened, everything froze in place except for the child who stood up and looked at me, the same smile mocking me on her face. "You took everything she taught you and threw it in the trash." (I?) "..." (I) "How many did you save!? How many did you reach out to!? Answer me!!!" (me?) "..." (I) Her scream generated ripples once again making the world around us change, this time we were in an open field, two children were kicking a third until he was unconscious just for being a boy from the Beastmen race. Those were me and my best friend as children, as much as my mother tried to teach me good things, the stories that I once considered heroic from my father, made me believe in the racial prejudices of the Church of Light. Suddenly the surroundings freeze once again, the Celestino boy moves away from the other two boys, another child''s blood painting his clothes while he is still smiling. "We have always been violent, our hands have never saved anything and have never saved anything." (me?) "We have always been a weapon of destruction!!" (me?) "..." (I) Everything once again rippled like the waters of a lake and the image that appears was already frozen, but I remember that day. My younger self was kneeling before a stage in front of a golden sword receiving the blessings of a High Priest while a Light Templar Armor was placed in front of me. While I was lost in thought the kneeling figure stood up looking at me, this time he wasn''t laughing, his eyes burned with endless anger as he began to speak. "You were proud that day, full of arrogance and dreams that took countless lives in the name of disgusting justice!!" (me?) "We were always a murderous monster, you just wanted an excuse to kill and destroy, the Church of Light gave you exactly that, didn''t they!?" (me?) "No, that''s not true..." (I) This time I didn''t even see when the landscape suddenly changed once again, all I saw was a wounded version of myself, with the armor torn in many places and one of the wings hanging off, meanwhile thousands of bodies were around me, their blood paint my body. This image of me was not smiling and also did not move from the spot, he just raised his hands without saying anything, his hands were dripping with fresh blood. "Who are you to swear oaths of justice and talk about honor... where is the honor in invading a city? Where is the justice in killing people who have done nothing wrong just because they are a different race? Where is the sense of pride serving a place that carries out such senseless massacres!?" (me?) "..." (I) I couldn''t refute, deny or create any excuse for any of this, because it was true, since I was a child I was always violent and dedicated myself to doing only bad things with excuses to do justice to the point that I deceived myself. Suddenly the world disappears once again while I''m trapped in my mind, but this time it changes between each ripple of space showing snippets of the worst moment of my life. The first few were a dear memory to me, I was injured to the point that my mind was confused about my own identity, I had been injured by a monster and an Elf rescued me. The second was about being treated by him for weeks with care and love, I didn''t know who I was at that moment, but she knew I was a Templar of Light, anyone in her place would have killed me in that world, but she took care of me. The third image was when I remembered everything and realized what she had been doing all this time, I confronted her, but she answered me with just one sentence that carried such pure and brilliant meaning that I couldn''t say anything else. "Do you remember her words? If you don''t, then I can tell you." (me?) "I don''t need a reason to save someone who is injured." (me?) Tears! TEARS!! Then I was able to stop my tears from falling and my copy that was on the bed also didn''t stop crying and the images quickly changed to what happened a few days later. The Church of Light arrived massacring everyone in the city, only Fiona who demonstrated an incredible will to fight and talent for her age was spared along with a few who surrendered, I was "rescued" by the other Templars. That day I was passed out from so much pain with tears in my eyes holding her body in my arms, I saw her being killed and I couldn''t do anything, she was killed by a Templar of Light like me. "You don''t deserve what she did for you or where she is today!" (me?) "Your hands are filthy with blood... are you going to pretend you don''t know whose blood it is! Are you going to pretend that you carry everything you did when you''re actually trying to forget the worst parts!?" (me?) The smile that once mocked me was no longer there, he was shouting at me full of hatred in his presence and raw anger in his eyes, but I could see beyond all that, something hidden even deeper and that was when I realized who he was. "I see, now I finally understand... you are not the reflection of those days, nor are you the anger or hatred inside me." (I) The world rippled and disappeared once again, we were standing above the water with a starry sky above our heads, the fragmented Moon was always there shining unnoticeably and he was in front of me. His broken armor lay on the ground, his wings, the pride of all Celestines, torn off and thrown to the ground, his Sword lay fragmented beneath his foot, and blood leaked from wounds all over his body as he cried. "You are my despair." (I) "You think you deserve everything you got!? You think you deserve so much power!? You deserve NOTHING!!!" (Despair) "I agree with you, I don''t think I deserve any of this, but I will accept this power, I will use this power." (I) "Just like me, there are many in despair who, even though they had the will to get up, had no one to reach out to them like Hades did for me and like Zenos is doing now." (I) "I am violent yes, I am like a weapon of destruction and I intend only to destroy the Church of Light, but I will extend the hilt of a weapon to those with the will to rise from despair as I did." (I) "A weapon needs to be wielded by those who know the weight of its violence." (I) "It won''t erase anything." (Despair) "No, it won''t be a redemption either, but it will still help someone out of everyone''s eyes and as long as that''s possible, a little bit of them will still live." (I) "I will always be with you." (Despair) "I know." (I) He sank into the water before the Dragon emerged once again, Nix looked at me before speaking. "In the midst of darkness there will still be light to show the way, every night the moon and the stars shine for everyone equally." (Nix) "I understand." (I) "Yes, you understand because you found a way beyond destroying the Church of Light, a way that my master Zenos knew you could find and that''s why you went through this ordeal." (Nix) "The one who decides whether or not you are worthy of such power will not be you, but those who are saved by you." (Nix) Chapter 1447: Cap 1445: The Heralds of Zenos part 3 Pov Fiona''s: I was in front of Sakura, but I felt like I was inside her, her Aura wasn''t just around me, her Aura was the reality around me, I created a Territory trapping me inside her. "What''s this going to be like...?" (I) "There''s no need to be afraid or feel anxious, you won''t even feel like you''re being tested and in the end we''ll both know what you''re looking for." (Sakura) She approached me pulling my hand to walk beside her, but I felt strange the further I walked. "You know, out of all of Zenos'' Familiars, I''m not the oldest, I''m not the strongest, and I''m not the smartest." (Sakura) "Even though my position is among the top 3, my responsibility can also be considered the greatest among all others, do you know the reason for that?" (Sakura) "I don''t know..." (I) "Zenos doesn''t choose people the way others do, he''s an idiot who pays attention to things that others don''t." (Sakura) "He does things on the fly without almost any thought, but even so he gets almost everything he needs, that''s how he got almost all of his Familiars by accident." (Sakura) "(My mind is strange...)" (I) "Part of Zenos''s charm is that his eyes dismiss the superficial almost immediately, which is something few are capable of, so the things he does pay attention to are always strange." (Sakura) "Even with everything I said, I learned to trust him completely, everything he does has a reason and that''s why I can''t stop thinking." (Sakura) "(The forest feels strange and my mind feels heavy, my senses are worse than at any time I can remember.)" (I) "Why did he choose you?" (Sakura) "There were many choices if you consider compatibility, affinity, worthiness, loyalty and even people close to him, so why did he discard them all to choose you?" (Sakura) My senses were failing, my mind felt heavy to the point of strongly interfering with my thoughts, my senses are also no longer reliable and yet I heard Sakura''s voice as clearly as at the beginning, but only her. "He could have chosen one of the children, one of the wives and even other people like Jade, Sapphire, Sophia and many others, but he still chose you... why?" (Sakura) "I don''t know?" (I) "But you need to know and I need to be convinced that this power deserves to be with you." (Sakura) "So now it''s time to get to the bottom line, let the ordeal begin." (Sakura) ------------------- When I woke up I checked my body, most of the injuries were healed and I looked at my reflection in the mirror happy with my current life. It''s been months since I became a Herald of Zenos, even now I can''t believe how I got this power, I never thought I was talented enough to deserve this power and yet he chose me. "Fiona, they''re here." (Xagar) "It''s still very early, Master Zenos will take longer to arrive." (I) "How many?" (I) "There are 10 times the reported number and they seem to know about our trap." (Xagar) "Xagar is right, they clearly know about us, I think we were the ones who fell into a trap." (Irius) As soon as I left my room I found Xagar running up to me, among everyone in the Dungeon I was only more intimate with him because I''ve known him for longer, even though I forgave him I never said it out loud, that''s because he doesn''t want to be forgiven. Shortly after Xagar''s bad news about the enemy, Irius and his sister also appear confirming what was going on in our minds. "Are they mobilizing the troops yet?" (I) "Yes, I have already activated all the barriers and my brother has mobilized the troops, Hades is taking the lead while Cinthia went to check on the enemies." (Irina) "We need to prepare, they will..." (Xagar) Boommm!!!! BOOM!!! CRACK!! The ground shook violently as explosion noises and something breaking sounded like explosion. We all knew the barriers were broken and turned to our last resort. "Irina, the ritual, activate now!" (I) ------------------- Hours have passed and the last barrier is still standing, the forces of the Church of Light never stop attacking, but they have already realized that ranged attacks are not capable of doing anything against the barrier. Fighting in the sky, the other Heralds are together with Lady Natasha to prevent the Minor Gods and Divine Beasts from reaching where we are. The ritual barrier we use is made up of 3 sides, each side has 1 person as a point of strength to maintain the barrier, the only way to pass is to defeat the person, which is why only those most resistant were chosen for this position. Magnus, being a Dragon, can fight for days and it won''t be easy even for a Minor God to get past him. The other side is being guarded by Elizabeth and the chances of her being defeated are even lower than Magnus, so their side has fewer enemies in quantity and the two are stuck fighting Minor Gods. The last side of the barrier was left to me, we had the choice of being me or Veronica who specialized in defense, but she needed to join in the evacuation of the appropriate ones commanded by Athena and Alice. Inside the barrier are more than 60% of our troops, among them are Zenos'' children, people I know from the Dungeon and even Zenos'' sister who was injured by Divine Weapon, Miss Caitlyn. The place of the barrier was a fixed point that could not be moved, but it was still safe, so it was used as a shelter for those who could no longer fight. The Church of Light is not stupid enough to leave this place alone, its objective is to end the war we have been having for months, but the other 2 sides of the barrier will not fall with the forces they have available so easily and for This is focusing on me as the weakest link. "< Forest of Holy Spears >" (I) I stick the tip of my spear into the ground, making thousands of giant wooden spears appear all over the battlefield, the enemy troops are injured and dispersed with this area attack, but it''s not the type of attack I can always use. "< Sword of the Great Sun >" (Divine Templar) "< Holy Leaf Tornado >" (I) I was already facing endless enemies for hours without the possibility of leaving that area, this kind of restriction made it difficult for me to avoid area attacks or concentrated attacks from hundreds of individuals, so I wasted a lot of my power until now. Everything seemed to have been planned when a Divine Templar with glowing wings and Divine armor fell from the sky with his incandescent sword falling towards me, he was being followed by hundreds of Templars in white armor and I met them creating a tornado of leaves as sharp as a Holy Sword. Our two attacks collided in a stalemate and the other Templars tried to attack me, of course I wasn''t alone, Irius came out from inside the barrier accompanied by Ibuki and some others taking the Templars away from me, but I felt that something was wrong. Before I could understand what was happening, the shining sword that was previously being hindered by my leaf tornado cut through my attack with great ease and ripped off several fingers from one of my hands. "Give up and open the barrier now, maybe you''ll survive!" (Divine Templar) "< Blood Leaf Thrusts >" (I) "< Courts of Solar Justice >" (Divine Templar) I tried to launch a new attack, there was no reason to talk to the enemy, they did not attack and it was clear that this had all been planned, I will not allow those behind me to be killed. Every time I pushed my spear forward at high speed the shadow of a red leaf flew towards the enemy, with my speed I created a rain of leaves that would explode as soon as it hit him or that was what I intended. He swung his sword with incredible technique creating twice as many sword blades as I had leaves that were all cut away, disappearing, I was not able to keep up with the pace and injuries were accumulating on my body. "Give up! Leave everything behind and don''t make me waste my time with you!" (Divine Templar) "!!!" (I) I continued without responding, my armor was falling apart, the cuts were increasingly brutal and strong, clearly he was increasing the power of his blows little by little, I took out another Spear that I tied to the hand where I had lost several fingers, with two spears I managed to keep him with me for longer. Several minutes passed and my body was covered in injuries all over, my whites were broken and even then I was manipulating the Ki within my body to move my arms as I wanted, my body was so injured I wasn''t sure how much blood was left there was inside my body, there was a cut on the side of my head and one of my eyes was destroyed leaving a large cut mark on my face. "< Divine Solar Wave >" (Divine Templar) Suddenly his wings glowed even brighter and flapped forward releasing a wave of light blinding my only eye, the wave of light threw me back causing burn marks all over my body, even my hair disappeared completely and he was already moving forward with the sword in my direction. "(Get up!!)" (I) My body was in pieces and even so I manipulated him using Ki to stand up once again, I used both spears to attack him, but one of them broke allowing him to claim my right arm. "< Blooded Sacrifice: Spear of Life >" (I) I ignored the pain and took advantage of this opportunity and opened my mouth where my heart jumped out being pushed by my Ki, the heart exploded creating a wooden Spear burning in Starfire that pierces the enemy''s head. He fell to the ground and I felt relief, but that didn''t last long when 3 others like him descended from the sky pointing their shining swords and spears towards me, their presence was no weaker than the one that fell to the ground. "I''m sorry Zenos, it looks like I won''t resist until you arrive... but I''ll buy as much time as possible..." (I) "(Goodbye Xagar... Hades... Zenos... everyone... I hope you are well...)" (I) With my last strength I stand up, I mobilize all the Ki and Essence power that I have, going beyond the limits of my body to stay in a battle position when they attack, as soon as they were centimeters away from me, I moved forward, ready to attack, carrying the minus 1 of them with me, then everything disappeared and I fell face down in the grass. "..." (I) "My hands, my face, my hair... even my eye!?" (I) "But what!?" (I) "Congratulations, you didn''t even think about retreating once, the thought of running away didn''t even cross your mind and you still had the courage to step forward in the face of certain death thinking about those you wanted to protect." (Sakura) "You passed the ordeal." (Sakura) "Ordeal? What an ordeal!? Where am I..." (I) Before I could finish speaking my consciousness was gone in a sea of ??darkness and the last thing I saw was falling into Sakura''s arms as she smiled. Chapter 1448: Cap 1446: The Heralds of Zenos part 4 Pov Kiara: I was flying after the Fairy who is the Familiar of the great Zenos, I remember her, there are stories about her in the library, she was someone created by Zenos himself and his first Familiar. I followed her to a forest where she uses two trees to create a portal that I enter in a snap of my fingers, I enter the same portal and looking around I realize that we are on the city floor once again. "Come this way." (Layla) Layla takes me once again to another place, this time it was the Zenos Mansion, her residence where the Temple of the Fairies is also located, which is where we went. As soon as I entered the garden I could feel the different atmosphere, inside the Dungeon Zenos'' power is almost perpetual like a background sound, but here Layla''s presence is like being surrounded by water in the ocean, there''s no way not to notice it. There were many Fairies around us, they were mainly flying around Layla who just waved her hand and it was like a signal making everyone move away leaving just the two of us here. "< Territory >" (Layla) The whole world seemed to shake as the garden around us stopped expanding and the mansion changed, becoming larger, more open and filled with plants, in the sky the shadow of tree branches. "Inside my house I can build a very different Territory based on my Magical Kingdom, I discovered that Rosane." (Layla) "Amazing, there is so much..." (I) I was close to praising her but suddenly I felt a sense of danger, but I didn''t know from which direction the sense of danger was coming from and in the meantime the Fairy takes the form of someone at the beginning of 17 or 18, her wings disappear as She comes closer to me with an amused smile on her face. "You know, the master can be an idiot sometimes, but he is someone so responsible that he can be annoying." (Layla) "..." (I) While she was talking to me, her hands were checking my entire body, lingering more on the parts of my Insect exoskeleton and antenna. "As much as you received Zenos'' approval, it doesn''t mean you deserve this power he offered, but don''t get me wrong, I have nothing against you." (Layla) "(I can''t move...)" (I) For some reason my body was immobile I couldn''t move and a strange sensation took over my entire body, even so my mind was more concentrated on what she was saying, receiving the power of a Herald means spending eternity next to the Great Zenos, I can''t miss this opportunity. "Zenos asked his Familiars to try you and chose who would be in charge of whom, I was in charge of you." (Layla) "His mind works strangely, so he left it to someone smarter like me to take care of you, so feel honored." (Layla) "I don''t know how Nix and Sakura are going to do things, I know they said something to the master about it, but I was eating and I didn''t pay attention, they all think too much." (Layla) "..." (I) This time I understood what was happening, Layla was expelling any type of power that wasn''t magical out of my body, my Ki was being forced to disperse as well as the Holy Power. My entire body was vibrating inside and my Aura was trying to stop it using my Authority, but my Aura was completely suppressed and my Authority felt like it had hit a metal wall. "Knowing those two, they must have invented something complicated, a useless effort." (Layla) I couldn''t move even to speak but my eyes and other senses still work, I felt and saw parts of several magic circles on my body, they were disappearing inside me one at a time in different places and I couldn''t feel them within a few seconds after entering. "What did they call it again? Was it an ordeal, a test or a test?" (Layla) "I guess it doesn''t matter much in the end." (Layla) "..." (I) "What was I talking about again? Oh yeah, I was talking about the test." (Layla) "Anyway, all you have to do is fight them, pretty easy, right?" (Layla) She points in a direction and I see hundreds if thousands of Fairies of different colors approaching like a cloud of insects, even in my current state I was able to feel the elemental torrent that their united presences formed. "You will feel each of the elements and the magic of the world in your own body, so I''m sure it will serve as an ordeal." (Layla) "Of course you can only use magic to fight, that''s why I got rid of the other types of energy." (Layla) "Finish them all and you pass, so good luck." (Layla) Saying this she disappeared from my front and little by little my body began to move, a little stiff at first, but in a short time I was able to move and that was when the Fairies were almost here. "Damn it!!" (I) I always heard that of all Zenos''s Familiars, his first Familiar was the most bloodthirsty of all, loving to fight and massacre enemies, but I thought they were just rumors since the Fairies are not known for their violence, now I see that the rumors were certain. I can''t let the enemies get any closer and I need to maintain an advantageous position. "(This is a Territory, there is no way to maintain an advantageous position here and they clearly have many different elements.)" (I) "What can I do...?" (I) I had to think, attacking now was almost useless, I don''t know their numbers or way of attacking and I''m not sure of the Fairies'' strength, I don''t know if they will fight individually or as a collective in harmony. Carrying out an attack first would give them an opening to attack, I need to take control in a way. "(I have to use that.)" (I) "< Summon Magic: Imperial Guard > 10" (I) I open the Hive space by removing 2 golden eggs that appear to be made of metal, they are all the high quality eggs that I have, I haven''t paid much attention to my strength since I was taken in by the great Zenos, I was foolish to let myself become so dependent on them. Using the Golden Eggs as the core, my blood as the nutrient, and my Aura as the incubator, I feel the Power being drained from me, but at the same time I feel the Power being drained from the surroundings. "Since I am in an environment so rich in elemental power, then it would be a crime not to make use of such wealth." (I) Insects consume everything and adapt to everything, unlike other races we are not able to adapt as individuals, but we are able to compensate for this by adapting to each generation in an explosive way. The 10 eggs I used absorb elemental energy, as Empress I use my bloodline as a nutrient to transform each one of them into guardian queens, I also make each egg absorb only 1 type of element, giving priority to the Space, Earth and Dark elements which can be useful in a tactical way whether in defense or attack. Each of the eggs creates a column of elemental energy, it only took me a few seconds to react since Layla put me in this situation, but even so the Fairies are too close now, it will take me some time. From the 10 columns of elemental energy, 10 Auras with increasing power appear linked to me, I use the power of these Auras in layers one after the other, exploding like a thick Multi Aura wall, keeping enemies away and leaving the Fairies confused. Using this time I was able to think better about what to do and I was already accumulating power in my core, I needed to wait for the right moment for the next step and it wouldn''t take long. I waited a few more tens of seconds while the eggs grew to over 2 meters tall, I really wanted to mark them with Zenos'' Holy Power, but Layla took even that away from me. As soon as the eggs began to crack, their Aura began to grow several times, even so I kept this growth contained until they were about to hatch. Crack!! "Now!!" (I) "< Summon Magic: Swarm of Soldiers > 100" (I) As the 10 golden eggs began to crack, I sweat their Auras exploding outwards like a storm-like attack blowing away and injuring thousands of Fairies that were less than 300 meters away from me. I also took advantage of the explosive power of eggs to supplement the power needed for a Mass Summon using regular eggs, each egg gives rise to 100 soldier-type insects. Using the Power of the Guardian Queens to supplement my power, I have already hatched each with 10 eggs each creating a 3-layer Aura chain of command. Ordinary eggs explode instantly, causing troops to spawn without needing the Aura incubator for more than 2 seconds. Using the Power of the Guardian Queens, each army had a different element, each of them had their own powers and could act only as a central commander to guide the strategy. "Now Fight!!!" (I) In a fight of such a scale, I as an individual would do little for myself, this is the best way for me to overcome this ordeal or test to show that I am worthy of the recognition of the great Zenos. "(I will win this battle!)" (I) Chapter 1449: Cap 1447: The Heralds of Zenos part 5 Pov Kiara: When I woke up today receiving the call to meet Great Zenos, I didn''t expect anything like this, since I was offered the honor of becoming a Herald under Zenos'' direct command, happiness was all I felt to the point of taking it for granted. I didn''t think I would need to prove myself worthy, even though I didn''t think I deserved such an honor, I didn''t think I would still run the risk of losing such an opportunity, I was too naive because of that. The result of my ingenuity was a poor preparation of what I could have done, I have a lot of common eggs, but few of special category and the golden eggs, I could have made 15 or even 17 if I had made a little effort instead of the measly 10 that I just used. For us Insects, combat is about preparation and yet since I entered under the wings of Great Zenos I have become dependent on him, I have become relaxed, I have become lazy and I have become complacent. Now I say no more, starting from today, I will show that the opportunity given to me will always be rewarded with the best results, I will honor this opportunity and grab it with strength even if my life depends on it. "< Aura Incarnation: Imperial Threads of Command >" (I) From my back the Aura merges into my wings and into my hill, countless threads of Aura emerge and with them form a chain of command in a collective mind with me at the top, the 10 Guardian Queens just below me and the army divided between 100 troops with each Guardian Queen responsible for 10 troops. Bug Soldiers are individually weak compared to those of the same level, but my race''s strength has always been in relentless numbers, which is not the case now. Seeing the Fairies approach, I realize that they are not organized or cooperating with each other, but I also know that they are intelligent and will adapt after the first exchange of blows, so this first blow must be devastating. "< Multi Ritual Magic: Quartet of Natural Devastation >" (I) With 4 Guardian Queens taking control of 4 different magical rituals along with parts of their troops, I can control them all together for a quick and sequential activation of each Ritual. The first Ritual created thousands of wood shavings like blades that move on to the second ritual which creates a torrent of flames that double in power with the help of the wood before hitting the next Ritual creating a tornado with strong winds that increase the fire as it transforms. in a fire tornado, the last Ritual was not to increase the destructive power of the attack but to create pure miasma using the Power of Darkness instead of malice. The result was a Purple Fire Tornado that shoots arrows of purple fire in all directions, this attack was carried out in less than 3 seconds and the Fairies were too close to dodge, many tried to defend the attack without success and were consumed by the tornado. It was a devastation for the Fairies, but they did not stop their attacks, on the contrary, the Fairies of the Light Element joined with the Fairies of the Water element creating a great Tsunami trying to extinguish the tornado while purifying the miasma. "(Their reaction is bigger than expected, that''s good.)" (I) This attack was meant to be devastating, but if it were just that it would just be a waste of time leaving the other troops standing still, a big attack doesn''t just serve to devastate enemies, it also serves as a distraction. The Fairies were trying to stop my attack or defend themselves and didn''t notice my other troops acting. I accomplished everything at the same time, in Hive''s mind there is no reason to transmit orders by speaking or with telepathy when I could literally transmit exactly what must be done at once, I could also literally control the troops as if they were extensions of myself. Using the characteristics of my race to the fullest, I made the Guardian Queen of Thunder use the high speed of her troops and the distraction I caused to bypass the Fairies, aiming their attacks at the water element Fairies who receive much more damage from the Thunder element. The Guardian Queen of the Light element also commanded her troops that share the high speed of the light element to attack the Fairies of the Shadow element and the few Fairies of the Dark element. My Ice and Water elemental Bugs on the other hand were accumulating power for a later joint attack. Metal Insects on the other hand do not have long-range attacks, they are resilient and their limbs are as sharp as swords, only the Guardian Queen of the metal element could use magic and did so to further strengthen the metal in the bodies of her troops. while advancing in a direct attack without fear of the Purple Fire of our troops or the luminous water of the Fairies. Only the Space element Insects were completely left out of the battle, that''s why I made them hide in space with me, as a commander sooner or later I would become a target, being out of the enemy''s sights is the basic thing to do like the brain in charge. I plan to use the Space element Insects as a murderous group only being used occasionally, this is because there are also Space element Fairies and I know they are fewer in number than my Insects, if they try to attack I will be able to defend myself more easily using the numbers in my favor. ------------------- The battle was occurring as I had imagined, by discarding most of the water and dark element Fairies I was able to avoid the versatility of these 2 elements making it more predictable what a group of Fairies could accomplish together. My Ice and Water Bugs performed an area attack creating an ice storm that froze an entire area, the Ice Fairies were strengthened by the environment, but the Fire, Wood and Metal Fairies were weakened and my next targets for elimination. My metal Insects were not affected as much because they only need their own bodies for combat, and they are carrying out massacres wherever they go like a storm of blades stinging everything in their path. The Space Fairies tried to attack me more than once, but not together, which made defense a little more complicated without having a pattern that I could read in their behaviors, luckily my Bugs have so far been able to defend me. The course of the battle was in my favor even though I was outnumbered and the enemy had even more variety of elements to use than I did, this advantage I achieved was entirely due to the coordination and command of my Insects acting as one during the battle. , our casualties were minimized while the Fairies fell in large numbers. ---------------- The battle was taking place in its final moments, now my Bugs are the vast majority with few Fairies remaining, my victory was safely assured, but I didn''t stop being aware of the surroundings until the end. My army was very injured, 60% of the troops were destroyed, the Fire and Light troops were completely annihilated, but luckily the Guardian Queens were all still here, half of them were seriously injured receiving treatment directly from me while the last Fairies are being destroyed. Even so, I always pay extra attention to my surroundings, maybe it was just my wrong impression, but my instincts were screaming at me to be careful and I soon discovered the reason for that. Two other multicolored clouds were coming towards us, they were Fairies, two attack forces as large as the one I just defeated. My brain was almost fried from all of this, but I forcibly remained calm as I clenched my hand into a fist, luckily I prepared myself for a second battle just in case, even though I didn''t expect a battle like this, I was still prepared to at least try. "I will not back down!!!" (I) "Activate all attack spells!!!" (I) When our numbers surpassed the Fairies, I had my Guardian Queens start creating pre-made spells for different attack rituals in case there was another battle or some surprise. "(It''s going to take more than that to make me give up!)" (I) -------------- Spins passed, I don''t know how many Fairies were killed, but my initial estimate about those 2 Fairy armies was wrong, they were greater in number than the first Fairy army. The battle was a defensive one where my focus was on defending and counterattacking in every opening I could dig in their ranks, if it weren''t for the individualism of the Fairies'' attacks, I wouldn''t have had the opportunity to even fight, their incompetence in acting in group was what allowed me to fight and win once again. This time all my troops were dead, the Bug Soldiers fell and from them I followed whatever amount of Power or Vitality remained to replenish myself, which was crucial for me to suffer 2 fatal blows. Of my 10 Guardian Queens, only 1 remained and she was already reaching the end of her life, her body was charred and full of bloody holes, I no longer had enough strength to heal her when my own body was in ruins, almost unable to stay in shape. foot. I placed my hand on her body and absorbed all remaining Vitality, healing at least a part of my body while her body crumbled into 1 golden egg full of cracks. Sigh "It''s finally over..." (I) "..." (I) "Haha hahahahaha... hahahahahahahahahahahaha..." (I) This time I really thought it was over, I was still very injured and with nothing left, I didn''t have any eggs other than the only golden and half-broken Egg in my hands now, but before I could even feel relieved, I saw more 4 armies of Fairies coming towards me like multicolored clouds. I couldn''t help but laugh maniacally in the face of a clearly desperate situation, there was no way to face these enemies, I was very injured and without energy, there was also no way to run while still inside a Territory. I was sure that if I gave up Zenos'' Familiar would get me out of here and I would be safe, but I would also have lost the opportunity to become a Herald and truly be useful to the one who reached out to me when my own race left me. side into a fate worse than death. "Death before SURRENDER!!!!" (I) I pull out a sword and several potions I drank, while with my wings partially recovered I moved forward with an even greater will to fight than when I started, but just as I was surrounded ready to fight for the last time, I heard a voice before my consciousness sank into darkness. "True cruelty in battle is not what you are willing to do to the enemy, but rather how far you are willing to fearlessly sink to slaughter your enemies." (Layla) "I liked you, approved... hahahahaha..." (Layla) Chapter 1450: Cap 1448: The Heralds of Zenos part 6 Pov Elizabeth''s: I was looking at what Zenos was doing with his Familiars and his would-be Heralds, at first only me and Ynes were here. But during the next few hours Yara, Caitlyn and Adella joined us, which was a good thing as there were things we weren''t able to see. Caitlyn showed everyone what Xagar''s ordeal was taking place in a mental space, because all we could see was him standing under Nix''s gaze in his Dragon form. Caitlyn showed us the kind of ordeal he went through, it was a little disappointing to find out that he is so insecure about himself, he has potential and yet he restricts himself for such ridiculous things by blaming himself instead of creating more constructive goals. His ordeal was a Spiritual Curse, Nix was really creating a risk for him, I may not have liked the way he resolved it and still Xagar managed to meet the minimum requirement. Fiona''s ordeal was different, it was something safer done in a true head space, Caitlyn was able to show Fiona, her determination and courage are truly admirable, but I have to question her very direct way of fighting, but in everything else she seemed worthy of approval. The least intelligent ordeal was Kiara''s, a simple battle should not be used in a test like this, even though it is a battle of armies this type of approach is still questionable. "I like this Fairy, she knows how to do things." (Adella) "No, this is all pointless, there was never a way to pass this test and she must have come up with a reason on her own at the time." (I) "You don''t understand, the test wasn''t about defeating a horde of enemies, it was presenting a scenario that should be possible to win and then turning it into a scenario where defeat was absolute." (Adella) "She wanted to put Kiara against the wall and see what happened?" (Ynes) "Yes, in the most desperate situations people show who they truly are, whether it''s a futile attempt to escape, a rational giving up, crying in panic, fighting out of pure anger or going for a last attack with their determination." (Adella) "An attack of pure anger does not cause fear, but someone with determination attacking is dangerous, they keep their mind working looking for openings and can choose to fall with the enemy." (Adella) "That''s why I said it was useless." (I) "Kiara is a fanatic, she doesn''t value her own life when my brother is involved, in her head falling dead in this test or getting the power to stay by Zenos''s side are the only options." (I) Trying to test a fanatic like Kiara like that was a foolish choice, Layla wasted her time and didn''t discover anything I didn''t already know, Zenos should have performed these tests himself instead of trusting his Familiars. "You know this from your vast experience, but Layla is young for someone of her position, she wouldn''t notice something like this normally." (Ynes) "Everyone is wrong, you think that Fairy cares about these things, she just wanted to see how cruel Kiara could be in battle." (Caitlyn) "The way she massacred the Fairies was devastating, more than once she used herself as bait and devoured the energy of her own indications." (Caitlyn) "Isn''t that even more obvious?" (Adella) "What a stupid way to do that..." (Ynes) "..." (I) "..." (Yara) Everyone was talking about the tests our Herald candidates were taking, but the High Priestess of Life has been silent this entire time and I know the reason for that. "What do you think of these Heralds, Yara?" (I) "They are acceptable at most, if it weren''t for the power of Chaos guaranteeing that they will become Heralds, then they would die midway through the Ascension process due to their other deficiencies." (Yara) "I couldn''t say, but why are you so interested in Zaya?" (I) "You don''t understand the kind of power she has now and the kind of power she will acquire if Zenos turns her into a Herald." (Yara) "(Life, death and Curse... what about these powers causes such a big reaction in her... wait!)" (I) "Is your Goddess watching? How long?" (I) "(As I didn''t notice before...)" (I) "You do not need to know." (Yara) "..." (I) "(What are you doing now Zenos?)" (I) ---------------------- Pov Zenos: I took Zaya to another floor, but I didn''t use the safe room to teleport us, I used space magic to open a portal directly to a floor where only Wolf-type Monsters exist, with six instincts they will keep their distance from both of us. I took Zaya directly to a grassy field while letting my Aura free, just as I thought, the Wolves were either keeping their distance or largely fleeing. "I heard you don''t like fighting." (I) "Yes, the meaning of fighting is not something I can understand in most cases, that''s because my home was infested with fights and betrayals for ridiculous reasons." (Zaya) "Then why did you agree to fight me now?" (I) "Why do I want to test my current power and understand you better?" (Zaya) "I suppose you wanted something similar with me." (Zaya) "Yes, I want to understand the nature of your power and your way of thinking, I will achieve both in combat." (I) "But don''t worry, I won''t attack back." (I) "You can start whenever you want." (I) The difference in strength between the two of us isn''t as overwhelming as the difference in strength between me and Kiara, but it''s still too big for this to be considered a battle. "Then it will be better if we start with hand-to-hand combat." (Zaya) She moved quickly, followed a straight line towards me, her fist was aiming for my face, but she changed direction halfway, going for my neck with her claws, her other hands were stretched out as she tried to use her claws to cross the side of my body and its tail was trying to go unnoticed to bite my leg. "(I can feel the death energy in its claws and I smell poison, it must be the snake.)" (I) I move forward using my hands to hold her wrists and move my head forward so she hits my forehead while my foot steps on the head of the Serpent in her tail. When her head hit mine I felt the energy of life forming a protective layer around her while a trace of cursed energy tried to enter my forehead after the impact. I use my Aura to expel her away, making her fall several steps back with her forehead slightly red, her eyes were focused and she didn''t even pay attention to anything against me, it was as if her eyes were trying to see through me. I remained still and she attacked again, but this time she ducked inches away from me, she aimed her claws at my legs and when I used my knees to push her hands away, she used her tail to wrap around my knee trying to bite, Of course I couldn''t when I used my Aura as a shield serving as another layer of skin. I tried to kick her, but her body was strangely supple, contorting around my skin, her claw tried to dig into the side of my thigh, but I spun around and used the pressure of a kick to force her away. But before moving away she tried to kick me in the face, I moved my head just enough to avoid the blow, her speed, however great it was, was still below my speed. "(Her body moves better and better.)" (I) In the first attack she was precise in her movements, but she lacked fluidity and flexibility, but now she demonstrated exactly what was missing before, it''s not perfect, but her way of moving her body is strange. When she walked away, she didn''t stand still and do nothing like before, she accepted her body in the air, laying sideways against the side of a tree before jumping towards me, performing a series of kicks that I defended with the palm of my hands. As she spins around trying to give a stronger kick, as soon as I try to use my hand to block her blow, she moves her foot to go lower towards my chest. I use my other hand to hold her foot while her other foot was coming towards my face more specifically aiming at my eyes, being so close she managed to block my vision for milliseconds which she used to move her tail towards my parts intimate, this irritated me a little, making me use an elbow against her leg, making her spin in the air. I walked away, staying behind and looking at my pants, which had some tears in the most intimate part, even though I hadn''t suffered physical damage, the psychological damage hit hard. "Did you really need to fight dirty at this level?" (I) "I learned to fight around the worst people in the universe and surrounded by Evil Gods, your definition of fighting fair seems a little naive to me." (Zaya) "This is going to be a little more complicated than I thought." (I) Chapter 1451: Cap 1449: The Heralds of Zenos part 7 It''s been 1 hour since I''ve been fighting purely with my body against Zaya, during all this time I haven''t attacked her once, all I''ve done is dodge, defend and sometimes push her. I''m not tired myself, but I''m starting to see signs of tiredness in Zaya, the funny thing is that she doesn''t start sweating or sweating like most people do. In fact, the cold around her only increased to the point where a light layer of frost formed around her, I found this strange since she shouldn''t have ice or water powers, this made my curiosity alarm go off. At the moment when I was exchanging blows with her, I defended the cutting attack she made with my open hand by striking her wrist in the opposite direction, so her other hand took advantage of the opening session to hit her wrist right after the blow, which also doesn''t work when my tail pulls your leg, taking your balance and making you lose your target. She was unfazed and bent her body backwards while twisting her body in a way that surpasses her flexibility, all to kick me, but I bite her foot and launch her into the air before dodging her tail that tries to bite my neck. She lets herself go and sits on a tree branch as I wave her to stop. "This is enough." (I) "I... I can still... I can continue..." (Zaya) "I know you can continue, but it''s not about that, I''ve seen enough of your firm fighting." (I) "Tell me, why is your body creating ice around you? Since when have you had an affinity with the ice element?" (I) "I have no other affinities other than Life, Curse and Death." (Zaya) "A Lady of the Grave like me has a naturally cold body and rejects heat, the more tired we become the heat around us moves away, leaving our surroundings colder in return." (Zaya) "< Life Absorption >" (Zaya) As she spoke she touched the trunk of the tree she was standing on and activated a skill, I could see the Tree''s Vitality being sucked away by Zaya''s small hand, the tree was becoming drier and the leaves were dying at a fast pace in seconds. I also noticed that Zaya was getting warmer and the frost around her was melting, I could also feel the temperature around her increasing and she seemed less tired than before, in fact there were no visible traces of the tiredness she showed until now. "I can do this to recover my body, if we keep fighting, I would probably last longer than you with so many trees and monsters to steal Vitality." (Zaya) "Interesting, but there seems to be the inconvenience of touching directly, isn''t there?" (I) "Unfortunately yes, I also don''t really like stealing Vitality and so I avoid absorbing it all leaving enough to recover naturally later." (Zaya) She says this, but I didn''t see her show any emotion when absorbing the tree''s Vitality, it was also extremely fast, probably this technique can even heal injuries. "Since you have recovered, then we can continue the fight, but this time you can use everything you have." (I) "I would like to avoid that if possible, since you are much stronger than me, but the power of Death is not something that can be used when one does not wish someone''s death." (Zaya) "(I think I''m being underestimated.)" (I) "I apologize, it seems I held back too much and gave a false feeling about myself." (I) "No, wait..." (Zaya) "Try not to get too scared." (I) By hands that I would like to avoid being compared with Gods, I cannot deny that the novel of my power has already reached this category and for some time now, I have managed to defeat Evil Gods and faced Minor Gods head on, I am able to grant Blessing and even I have multiple Essences. I am so close to becoming a God it could happen at any second, especially now that I have created the 3 Sources of Natural Power from new elements. Because I fear negatively influencing those around me or scaring innocent people, I constantly withhold my presence to the point that it has become a habit for me. My Aura does not reveal my Essences, my Authority, my Holy Power or my Dragon Power and yet I have to do my best to keep my Aura controlled at all times since I don''t want to scare the Dungeon People. "(Her strength level is close to that of my Children, so other than a momentary shock there should be no problem letting go a little.)" (I) I release all the limitations I was placing on myself, without holding back my Authority, Sacred Power, Dragon Power and Essences to stay away from my Aura, everything comes together at once being like a dam that burst. My presence caused everything around me to shake, the ground cracked, the plants and flowers grew at an accelerated rate, miasma gathered like a light mist in the surroundings and the Dungeon was struggling to balance this sudden pressure with the rest of the environment. All I felt was a sense of relief and a sense of relaxation as I had left my muscles tense for a long time and was finally letting my muscles relax, it was a truly pleasant feeling at least for me. Zaya being the only one around was kneeling on the ground, her body was shaking a lot, her hair was flying in all directions even though there was no wind, the surface of her skin in several places was getting covered in layers of ice and I could feel her inability to breathe. After the initial explosion my Aura becomes calmer as if the previously stormy water has calmed down, the volume of water has not changed at all, but the violent tides can no longer be seen. Zaya seemed to recover little by little, she regained the ability to breathe with difficulty at first, but in a few seconds her breathing returned to normal, she stood up and with her movement some small thin sheets of ice fell from her body, her eyes were completely eyes fixed on me, but even that changed to a calmer look within a few more seconds. I could have removed my Aura once more, but she seemed to be adapting well to it, so I continued, it''s not like I was specifically targeting her or doing anything to harm her, what she felt was just my normal presence without no type of direction or containment. "Now you understand?" (I) "..." (Zaya) "Now I understand... the power of Death, Life and Curse that I felt before coming from you were just the tip of the mountain, my power wouldn''t do anything against you, would it?" (Zaya) "I wouldn''t say that, I''m not invulnerable and I''m not a God either, at least not yet." (I) "Your power could still harm me, but you are unable to kill me or bring me close to death." (I) "(Without possessing Divine power or an Essence, she is simply not fit to go after my life.)" (I) My body could be destroyed in infinite ways, but I could always recover as long as some part of me remained, the Vitality in me is found more in my Soul than in the body now, killing myself would be as big a job as killing a God High level evil. "Is there still a reason to fight?" (Zaya) "Yes, fighting you was never about winning or losing, it was about getting to know you and your power better." (I) "That''s why I said at the beginning that I wouldn''t attack, you''re not weak, but you''re still too far away to be considered a threat." (I) I wasn''t being arrogant or proud by saying this like her, I was just stating a fact and that is the overwhelming difference in power between us. "At least give me a few minutes to catch my breath." (Zaya) -------------- Some minutes later. Zaya had already recovered and we moved to a different area, my presence was more controlled now, I wasn''t holding back like I had before, but I was still lessening the range of my presence so it wouldn''t spread too far. "You can come with everything." (I) "As you wish." (Zaya) "< Existential Enhancement >" (Zaya) Suddenly Zaya''s body glows, her eyes become bright purple with the white part being taken over by darkness, her tail grows and thickens looking more like a Snake-type monster, her right hand was surrounded by a layer of white energy and her hand left was surrounded by a layer of black energy. Her body grew even more scales and her presence grew stronger, I could feel the power of Life and Death swirling within her like a tornado, her power was truly interesting. "< Rune of Life: Guardian Summoning >" (Zaya) Something appears from the earth, it was 3 meters tall and had a shape similar to a Wolf, its tail was made of leaves and branches, its body was a mixture of wood and stones, its teeth were made of crystal and the strangest thing was to feel the Vitality of the surroundings connected with the creature that positioned itself to attack me. "(This is going to be interesting.)" (I) Chapter 1452: Cap 1450: The Heralds of Zenos part 8 Zaya''s different appearance was something I didn''t expect, but it wasn''t a big surprise, powers that transform the body may be rare, but there are many among my companions and Familiars. What surprised me was the creature that Zaya summoned, its power was no greater than mine and its size would be considered tiny if I transformed into a Dragon, but that was nothing that surprised me. Since completing the 3 Sources of Power, I have gained a deeper understanding of Nature and the universe throughout the process, after completing the 3 Sources of Power I have created a bond with the very nature of the universe. I possess the knowledge, senses, and understanding about nature to understand truths that I can see now, such as looking at a body and knowing how Vitality flows through it or looking at a landscape and seeing the flows of elemental power flowing as clearly as a normal river. I still haven''t had time to calmly meditate and internalize all of this, but it doesn''t mean I''m not improving, my way of seeing the world has completely changed and the way I see my Dungeon is not the same as before. That''s why I was truly surprised looking at the Wolf of wood and stone that Zaya created, he can look like a Golem with a superficial glance or be treated like an Inferior Familiar and I''m sure many would treat him like that without realizing what he truly is. I can see the Vitality coursing through his body as it would in a living creature, his Aura also resembles that of a high level monster with high intelligence, I can feel him slowly controlling his own Aura, but the most surprising thing was to feel a Soul inside him, a real living creature. For a few seconds I thought I had been summoned, but I soon realized I was wrong, the wood and stones that make up its body are part of the Dungeon, by extension it has a slight residual trace of my presence as well as that of Nix. This means that Zaya created this life here and now, he created a truly living body and somehow bestowed a Soul, she created a living creature! "(That shouldn''t be possible, there must be some trick.)" (I) The Wolf-type creature was incredibly fast, heavy and strong. It was a bit surprising for someone of his level, but of course it was easy for me to dodge each attack while thinking. When its stone paw comes towards me its metal claws extend from growing branches, but even that can''t reach me with me avoiding it by a hair''s breadth. Meanwhile I was still paying attention to Zaya who was standing still while I faced the creature she created, I could have gone after her or destroyed this Stone Wolf, but winning a simple battle of this level is not something I was happy with. I took advantage while I was diverting everything to get a closer and more detailed look at the creature. Only Gods can create life and even then they are limited to their areas of Divine Authority such as the Goddess Aine only being able to create Fairies, the God Dravos being able to create Spirits, the Goddess of Death only being able to create or reanimate Undead and the Goddess Mavis being the most comprehensive, being able to create all living creatures in existence as she is the Goddess of Life. Evil Gods can also do something similar with enough power, but outside of these Divine level beings there are few exceptions like a Dungeon Master who uses an external Authority to create monsters and Necromancers are able to do something similar to the Goddess of Death in a much lower level. That''s why he was so shocked by Zaya and couldn''t immediately believe what she did, creating a living creature like that must be impossible for her on a fundamental level, this has nothing to do with amount of energy, race, location or anything like that, it should be impossible in the absolute sense because of the impossibility of Mortals fulfilling the requirements for such an act of creation. "(I see... it seems I was right and got scared for nothing.)" (I) "< Claws of Life and Death >" (Zaya) Zaya didn''t just look at me from afar, she came to attack me while she was striking the creature''s head, its stones scattering while its head simply fell apart. I continued dodging blows from it while forming a line of thought that was easier for me to understand, the creature didn''t stay on the ground, it got up quickly gathering several rocks to reform its head. "(I see, she didn''t generate a life, she manipulated a life, the true form of this wolf is the parts of plants, Vitality only runs there.)" (I) "(The stones are moved using the roots to be used as armor for the rest of the body, the head is not even a vital point.)" (I) Looking more calmly, I realize that the vital points are the tail and something in the middle of the body where all the Vitality circulating through the plants converges. Seeing up to that point, I move after avoiding another attack and grab the creature''s leaf tail. "< Fire Spirit Rune: Ignite >" (I) I may not attack her, but I never said anything about not attacking her invocations, with this magic the fire will only travel through the roots and spread throughout the creature''s body, avoiding the stones. "That was a very interesting technique, I''ve never seen anything like it before." (I) "If you think it''s over, then you are very mistaken." (Zaya) Just as the creature I left behind was burning, the rocks on its body were falling while the roots and branches were twisting until they fell charred to the ground. "< Death Magic: Fire Specter >" (Zaya) "..." (I) It was very interesting when a completely black magic circle appeared on the ground below the charred plants with a movement of his left hand and instantly the fire that had just gone out reappeared, but this time the color of the fire was different, it had a green color and transformed everything that remained of the plants turns into ashes while particles of this fire come together in a shape that imitates a Wolf while the head opens like a flower revealing rows of incandescent teeth. I could feel that this was not an Elemental Monster, it was a True Specter with the fire element, with my knowledge after studying alongside my daughter Hela, it was easy to understand what happened. Zaya used the creature''s death to transform the Soul inside into a Fire Ghost from being incinerated, then used the power of her own death to strengthen it, making it evolve into a Spectre. This may all seem simple in its concept, but the complexity of doing all this is immense, a Necromancer normally bypasses the rules of death, to do the same as Zaya would require a large amount of Mana, dozens of magic circles and a Ritual to coordinate everything, only Hela who has deeper knowledge and can manipulate the power of death would perhaps be able to do this. The creature tried to attack me, this time it was faster and the fire behaved strangely as it curved around trying to chase me, it also tried to use a fire breathing attack against me. Zaya didn''t sit still, she was continually darting in and out of the battle trying to dig an opening from me, but it was impossible from the start, I used my Aura to create Starfire and disperse any fire my fist touched, island flames were much stronger. I could see that she was getting tired again with the ice forming thick layers of ice on her body as if she was freezing. "Truly interesting, but even that won''t be..." (I) "< Curse of the Serpent: Life and death are reversed >" (Zaya) The entire battlefield for miles changed, everything was covered in fire, it wasn''t burning, it was actually transforming, the leaves on the trees were turning into fire, the petals of the flowers also turned into fire, the wood turned black while the fire was a sickly green. The strangest thing was all the Vitality converging into the Fire Specter while the power of Death within it spread into the surroundings, permeating everything for miles. This all happened very quickly and the dead Specter was suddenly full of life once again, plants grew from the ground taking over his fiery body creating an amalgamation of Fire and plants, his head was now literally made of a flower with fiery petals that when he opened it he showed his teeth. His power was much greater than before and I could see a connection between the creature and the surroundings, but just in case, I decided to attack him with some attacks, I gave him some kicks, punches, cut with my claws and none of that worked, you body recovered from everything and I felt the power of the attack being transferred to the surroundings where one of the fire trees rose up like a plant-type Undead. "This is incredible, a symbiosis between life and death, I''ve never seen something... you''re not listening, very well, I think that''s enough." (I) "< Holy Magic: Arcane Blood Purification >" (I) I cut my finger and let a few drops of blood gather at the top, then this blood burns in red and golden flames radiating light that burned the surroundings, everything that was burning with green fire disappeared in the surroundings and strangely after that the creature exploded releasing a torrent of Vitality that permeated the surroundings creating a field of flowers with some tree seedlings beginning to grow. I saw the creature''s Soul leaving and stopped the Dungeon from collecting the Soul, I saw that it was a normal plant Soul just much more strengthened, other than that there was nothing wrong, so I let it follow its natural course and went to see Zaya who passed out standing up with half my body frozen, just by getting close to her I could feel the winter cold. "Truly spectacular, his powers are as strange as Hinata''s, but on a different path, it seems I chose well." (I) With that I took her back in my arms while filling her body with Vitality and melting the ice, I was happy to have made a good choice for my last Herald. Chapter 1453: Cap 1451: The Heralds of Zenos part 9 Pov Yara''s: The trials that Xagar, Fiona and Kiara went through didn''t matter to me, I didn''t spare more than an occasional glance at them, that''s because I was here with a purpose in mind. "(The oracle can''t be right... I thought it was a legend.)" (I) "(Make no mistake my child, the legend was something that someone waited for a long time to happen, waited longer than this universe exists.)" (Goddess Mavis) Receiving the words of the Goddess and having part of it being carried within me in this way was something that even the Saint who created me did not experience Dora of extinction events, this shows how interested the Goddess is in this matter. As soon as I entered the Blood Goddess Divine Beast looked at me, she must have noticed and made it very clear, but I am grateful that she did not share her discovery with others. Just as the Goddess pointed out, I kept an eye on the images of the woman called Zaya, her combat with Zenos was just something normal, her physical capabilities are interesting in their functioning, the way her muscles behave, her bone structure, like her blood it seems to flow through the body, the way your body freezes when tired. There are many inconsistencies in your body, all living creatures have flaws, those who are strong may be slow or have little defense, those who are strong with magic may have weak bodies, those who have a strong body may have a weaker mind or Soul weak, all life has a balance, there is no perfect garlic. Even Zenos, who is an aberration for the Goddess because he manages to circumvent all these concepts in strange ways, is still not a perfect creature, in fact his imperfection lies in his great versatility, because he has so many different powers he will never be able to reach the capabilities of those concentrated on just one type of power. User of many powers and master of none, Zenos is not perfect, but the Lady of the Grave next to him comes very close, at least in the physical aspect, I wish I was there to see and feel it all for myself. "(I can say she''s exceptional, but she''s been there for a while and I don''t understand.)" (I) "(What''s special about her?)" (I) Having such a good body is strange, but in this Dungeon there are many strange people, freaks like Zenos and incomprehensible creatures like her Familiars, even though she is definitely special, I don''t see what the Goddess might want to see from me. I continued to watch her combat, clearly she was improving at a frightening level, she moved her body in an increasingly precise and fluid way, she managed to extract the best possible movements towards the end, but the difference in power was still too big. I heard Elizabeth talking to the others about the other candidates for Herald of Zenos, but in my opinion they were all inadequate, their motivations lacking Faith and maturity. A Herald must be someone who has already embarked on a path worthy of the God in which his Faith finds himself and is advanced enough on that path to guide those who follow, but these would-be Heralds that Zenos chose are immature and have not even entered into his ways, he is being equally immature. I never know what he''s thinking, but I can''t say anything since his results for some reason always end up being acceptable and in some cases even surprising. "(This power...)" (I) When I saw her sucking the power from the tree was when my attention focused solely on her, that power was the manipulation of Life, something that only a Saint of Life and those like me who originate from her should be able to do. She didn''t just suck out the Vitality, she commanded the Vitality to be absorbed, visually the two things may be similar, but they are fundamentally different. Soon the second part of the fight began and she began to use her powers more actively, the transformation of her body was something that took me by surprise because I saw the energies in her hands, Life and Death. "(I will help you feel...)" (Goddess Mavis) "..." (I) Suddenly I could feel the image as if I were there, I could feel the Vitality and the energy of Life of everything I was seeing, I could also feel the presence of Zenos and the powers of both of them, I had to try a little not to let it go my emotions show on my face. With that I saw the fight continue and the surprise was only increasing the more inconceivable the situation was escalating. Manipulating a living creature, even a plant, into a new form while strengthening, using its death as a sacrifice to reanimate into an Undead stronger and more resistant to the one that caused its death, ultimately reversing Life and Death while keeping the Two Through a Curse is shocking to say the least. "(What is this? How can she manipulate Life and Death at the same time?)" (I) "(She received the power of Tarzor, Life is a Curse, death is a Curse, and she herself became the curse of existence.)" (Goddess Mavis) "(An imitation of the cycle of life and existence, but the mere fact that such an imitation exists is worthy of my admiration.)" (Goddess Mavis) Life and Death representing the beginning as well as the end, the Curse representing the countless transformations between the two extremes in place of Chaos, when I realized how she is using her power, I also understood how she could evolve in the future. "(Goddess, won''t she...?)" (I) "(Maybe so or maybe not, but the mere fact that such a possibility exists is worthy of my observation.)" (Goddess Mavis) "(Do not say or think about it now, others must not know about it before Zenos completes his Ascension.)" (Goddess Mavis) While I was still lost in thought I noticed Elizabeth''s eyes on me and was questioned by her about Zaya, so I tried to be as vague as possible while pointing out the path she would discover the truth. "You don''t understand the kind of power she has now and the kind of power she will acquire if Zenos turns her into a Herald." (I) With just a few words she fell into thought and seems to have understood at least part of it, but that must have made her realize what I was hiding. "Is your Goddess watching? How long?" (Elizabeth) "You do not need to know." (I) "..." (Elizabeth) There was no reason to respond, I''m just letting her know because I''ll need her later to calm down Zenos who doesn''t realize what she''s doing. ------------------ Pov Zenos: Zaya was still passed out when I returned to the place where Karina and Alice were, but as the hours passed everyone came back together in the same place that was now surrounded by sacred magical circles. "Let''s start again and see if I understand." (I) "You made her fight almost to the death?" (I) "Talking like that makes it seem like I did something bad..." (Layla) "YOU MADE HER FIGHT ALMOST TO THE DEATH!!! OF COURSE IT''S BAD!!!" (I) "I thought they were supposed to make the trials hard enough as if their lives depended on it, that''s what you said, idiot master." (Layla) "It was just for looks, you Demonic Fairy! Just for looks! I wouldn''t risk any of their lives!!" (I) "See Sakura and Nix!" (I) "They performed spiritual and mental trials by deceiving the other two to give them a sense of danger!" (I) "Only a certain idiot waged a war to the death!" (I) "She didn''t die and I was ready to stop before she died!" (Layla) "I''m going to... let go of me! I want to slap that Demonic fly pretending to be a Fairy!!!" (I) "Let''s all calm down, there''s no need to go that far." (Alice) "Master, you know how Layla behaves, we can even consider this a good scenario since she did her job." (Nix) "It was a bit extreme, but Kiara is alive and went through this ordeal, so let''s calm down." (Sakura) "..." (I) Sigh "I''ll leave that aside for now, but we''re not done with this conversation yet." (I) I look at all 4 of them still lying on the floor, Kiara was completely healed but I could feel the lack of power in her. Xagar was mentally unstable and yet he seemed fine, his Aura was stronger and heavier. Fiona had a similar presence to Veronica, but being more aggressive, other than that I don''t see many changes. Zaya is still the same as before, her ordeal was never for anything specific, I just wanted to see the limits of her power and I''m more than happy with what I learned, her personality is also very good, Hinata also seems to have liked her and was rubbing her head while she was still unconscious. "(Apart from Zaya, all the other 3 have traces of my Essence in their Auras, they absorbed some of the Essence showing that everything should be ok for the next step.)" (I) "Alice, how is everything?" (I) "I managed to bring a large amount of Holy Power to this area with Karina''s help." (Alice) "Everything is fine to begin with." (Karina) "Let''s give them a few more minutes to rest." (I) Chapter 1454: Cap 1452: New Divine Heralds When everyone woke up I noticed that Xagar and Fiona were a little confused, Kiara was perfectly fine and didn''t ask any questions, as soon as she opened her eyes she got on her knees in front of me and I could swear her eyes were shining in a scary way. The only one who acted a little normal was Zaya, she opened her eyes and checked where she was as she got up knowing that we had returned to the same place as earlier, she wasn''t confused by what happened and didn''t act strangely like Kiara. With everything resolved, I left the two Saints explaining everything to them while I went to the center of the sacred ritual that they have been creating. "Why are you going to do it like this? Wouldn''t it be better to do it in the Communal Temple?" (Nix) "I can''t do that, it could be dangerous for several reasons." (I) Doing the Herald Ascension ceremony with Xagar, Fiona and Kiara may be different from how I did it before, Hades and the others who were already my Divine Servants, had also been created by me making the whole process very easy. I''m not sure how things will happen now, I hope it will be as easy as before, but if that''s not the case, I want to avoid being around Divine Statues of various Gods so there won''t be any kind of unforeseen circumstances. "Zaya, stay with the others, it looks like everyone is here and I''ll get started." (I) "Karina, get together with Alice and stay away with everyone." (I) "Nix, stay by Xagar''s side." (I) "Layla, stay by Kiara''s side." (I) "Sakura, stay by Fiona''s side." (I) "Yes!" (all) Everyone acted as I pointed out, in the end my other Familiars and my 3 Heralds who arrived to see the show gathered in a more distant place, I concentrated releasing my Aura and Authority to take over the space around me. "< Territory: Ruler >" (I) "< Garden of Stellar Eclipse >" (I) This time I use my Essences in the process of creating a Territory and as there is a lot of Sacred Power in the area that belongs to me, the Territory becomes even stronger, integrating everything perfectly. Suddenly what is revealed is the emptiness of space with countless stars everywhere, all around it was possible to see many Crystal Flowers shining like stars floating in the void, streams of power connect the stars like rivers of pure energy forming constellations in the process, but following all the energy flows it was possible to draw the contours of a tree with a large Eclipse present right in the part that would be the trunk. "(The shadow of this tree is everywhere, I have to find out more about it later.)" (I) With everything finished I assume my Dragon form which feels more comfortable in this Territory, when I do this and start to fly I notice a crystal path that forms between the stars and crystal flowers, on this path I found several shadowy shapes and 6 people that I make float to me. I divide the 6 into pairs and with a movement of my head 3 crystal flowers grow, absorbing the Sacred power and a specific Essence each. For the duo of Nix and Xagar the crystal flower absorbed the Spiritual Essence of Chaos, the flower became a reflection of the stars around it with its large crystal petals containing their own stars inside, the middle part became liquid with a perfectly round lake reflecting the stars like a mirror as well as the images of those walking on its surface without sinking. For the duo of Sakura and Fiona, the crystal flower absorbed the Essence of the Tree of Stellar Corruption, the crystal flower grows larger than the other, gaining more vivid colors such as red, purple and black, contrasting with the other two colors, the petals they stretch out, creating small gardens each while a tree with a black trunk and ethereal red leaves grows in the middle of the flower, radiating a natural feeling. For the duo of Layla and Kiara, the crystal flower absorbed the Magical Essence of the Penumbra Fairies, the crystal flower grew larger than all the others and each petal became an island of a different environment like an island of flowers, an island with a miniature mountain range, an island with an erupting volcano, an island with a small forest of fruit trees, an island that looked like a glacier with so much snow and ice, an island that looked like a desert, one of the petals of flower was just a stretch filled with water that looks like a big lake and there was even a petal that was showing a normal island full of spatial fractures slowly destroying the island. The flower where Layla was was by far the most complex, even without counting the petals that had all these different environments, the middle part had the exact same mansion taken over by nature as her Magical Kingdom with the garden surrounding where the two were, the Most surprising was seeing a sun and moon circling above the mansion. The size of each of the 3 flowers did not symbolize anything and I knew that, but at the same time I was not sure how all of this was created, I could only assume that the Essences created all of this by being inserted into crystal flowers and perhaps reacting to the My family. "I am starting." (I) Unlike the past, I no longer need to create that stupid diagram for fear of doing something wrong, I learned how to do it and that''s why I moved to a Territory like that, I should have done the same with Hades and the others. "< Divine Incarnation: 83% >" (I) My Dragon body changes as the illusory Essence Core within me pulses with my Authority and a spark of Divinity rises like a true Sun within me. My Dragon body gains more of my human characteristics as my power increases, I use my Aura to share this Divine Power with the entire Territory created by me, before moving on to the next part. I cut my wrists using my Dragon teeth, my blood flows towards the 3 flowers taking different shapes in each one. On the flower where Sakura was, the blood became the dew on the tree''s leaves. The flower where Nix stood became a Dragon swimming below the surface of the lake. The flower where Layla was standing became a red mist that covered the entire mansion, giving it an even more mystical air than it already had. This time I separated directly into the 3 Essences, highlighting a part of these Essences before letting it flow to their respective flowers. Magic Essence of the Penumbra Fairies Chaos Spiritual Essence Essence of the Star Corruption Tree I exactly used my Divinity to extract a part of these 3 Essences and let it flow into their respective flowers, this also made the Holy Power within the Territory move as if a storm was about to start. The Essences guided by my power are inserted into my blood in each of the flowers, then my Divine power comes together and I see the reactions. In Nix''s flower the Blood Dragon that previously appeared to be made of energy now had an Eclipse in each eye as it came out of the lake flying around Xagar before colliding with him entering his body, Nix uses her own Essence to help Xagar as their flower finds itself standing within a column of pure power. In the Sakura flower, their Essence was inserted into the dew drops on the leaves of that tree, my power guides these drops of blood to fall like rain on Fiona and form a cyclone around her, Sakura uses the tree to surround Fiona with the leaves of the tree in an attempt to help her, a column of energy forms with her flower in the middle. In Layla''s flower the mist moved like a storm cloud with the eye of the hurricane being Kiara, lightning of multicolored energies hit her body continuously and Layla steals the energy from the surroundings of each petal of her flower to help Kiara, with this another column of energy rises up taking the entire flower where they are inside. Nothing was heavy or difficult to do, it was just as easy as it was with Hades and the others before, that was a great relief for me. Ding! <[ You have successfully ascended the individual Xagar into a Divine Herald ]> . . <[ You have successfully ascended the individual Fiona into a Divine Herald ]> . . <[ You have successfully ascended individual Kiara into a Divine Herald ]> . . . <[ You must grant a title to each of your Heralds to form their core aspect ]> This is something I had already thought about, I''m going to follow the same line as the initial plan using stars, with that I direct the titles to each one. Ding! <[ The Individual Xagar (Divine Herald of Zenos) received the title [ Night Star ] ]> . . <[ The Individual Fiona (Divine Herald of Zenos) received the title [ Star of the Star Tree ] ]> . . <[ Individual Kiara (Divine Herald of Zenos) was given the title [ Penumbral Star ] ]> . . . <[ The power of 3 of your Essences will be Partially shared with your 3 Divine Heralds ]> . . . <[ The System looks at your happiness ]> . . . <[ Multiple Gods look at you ]> . . . <[ Mavis (Goddess of Life) and Selene (Goddess of Blood) block Baldr''s (God of Light) attempt to interfere ]> With the three columns of energy in front of me, I was happy with what I had accomplished, I was also suffering nothing other than a certain feeling of lightness as if a weight I didn''t even know I was carrying was suddenly lifted. But this brief happiness was short-lived when I saw the notifications and only got worse when I saw the next ones to the point where I almost went into shock. Ding! <[ The System helps you temporarily hide your presence from the (Abyss) ]> . . . <[ Callidora () looks at you with amusement ]> Chapter 1455: Cap 1453: Only 1 Eclipse Star missing Pov Elizabeth''s: Seeing my brother creating a Territory on sacred ground was a headache, because of that we will no longer be able to see what is happening, so I look at Adella. "Don''t look at me, I have no interest in this and it would be difficult to cross this Territory that belongs to the Dungeon owner." (Adella) "That''s a shame, I would like more information about the process of creating a Divine Herald." (I) I tried to look at Yara again, I feel like she is hiding something or more precisely, the Goddess of Life is hiding something, I don''t know how it took me so long to realize. "Adella, do I feel the power of Essences with you?" (Ynes) "Yes, I brought some gifts for Zenos..." (Adella) "Don''t you want to call him Dad?" (Yara) "He is millions of years away from being considered a Father to me." (Adella) "But changing the subject, I''ve already done what he asked, my promise is paid, Oros has already been captured and handed over to Selene." (Adella) "He was sealed?" (I) "Not completely, but I won''t talk about it, ask your mother if you want to know more." (Adella) Something was wrong, my mother would not take Oros like that, the most likely thing would be to hand him over to the Goddess of Life since he would be killed by her due to what he did to his own son that he had with the Divine Beast of the Goddess Mavis. My mother has always been quick in her decisions and knows how much Oros'' former companion would like to have him in her hands, death would be a light fate for him if that happened. If he were to hand it over, he should do it directly before Baldr can do anything against it. "(Then why did she want it brought to her?)" (I) "Why are we still here?" (Ynes) "Let''s join the others to see in person when the Territory is disbanded." (Ynes) "There should be no problem doing this now, even though Adella is there it won''t cause any interference due to her presence." (Caitlyn) With that we will all join the others hoping to see the new Heralds of Zenos in person, but I was deep in thought seeing signs of hidden plans in various parts. My mother taking Oros... the Goddess of Life paying attention to the candidates for Herald of Zenos... not to mention our next destination being the same place where the last candidate for Herald was born, Tarzor. "(There are too many things to think about and there is clearly too much information left for me to fill in the gaps just by thinking.)" (I) "(But I don''t like being involved in something without knowing.)" (I) ------------------ Pov Aurora: Around me were hundreds of bodies, I had to search for a while before I found my 2 fingers that I put in place, the wound that was with the curse was still there, but as soon as the fingers were put in place the blood inside devoured the body curse letting the wound heal. I let the blood from these 2 fingers flow throughout my body, devouring the curse in my wounds and in a few minutes I was completely healed. I extend a hand and the blood flows through the pores of the skin, gathering in a half-green sphere with traces of purple, there was nothing red or gold left. "Who knew possessing his blood would be so convenient." (I) I threw this blood at one of the bodies on the ground and watched the body melt before burning with Starfire. As a Fairy I shouldn''t have something like blood, even in my life before Spiritual Rebirth I didn''t have blood in my body that was made purely of energy, but now I share his blood that can become pure blood energy within me. Its capabilities aren''t the best for combat, but it has been valuable as support giving me better healing and a way to go against Divine level illnesses, poisons, and curses. "Just here it was so difficult, if I continue it will be the same as seeking death." (I) "At least now I know that Sarafar''s head is here, but I won''t be able to do it alone..." (I) I look into the distance, the purple clouds contrast with the green sky, the red sun constantly casts its curse on everything its light touches and the desert in front of me is clearly an illusion that I can''t see through. "I need to get back, but who do you think I should call, Sister?" (I) "Did you notice me?" (Rosane) The space seemed to open revealing 2 people, the first one I noticed was my sister, a Goddess more powerful than me, and the other was one of Zenos'' daughters, the Nature Dragon Silvia. "Hiding in this place is difficult for us when the environment itself rejects our nature." (I) "Well, it doesn''t matter, you made the right decision, going further is something even I''m not capable of doing, poisons and things like curses are just part of the problem with this place." (Rosane) "So what are we going to..." (I) "We''re going to get help, but first we have to wait for the right moment." (Rosane) "We should get out of here now, it seems someone troublesome has noticed my presence." (Silvia) I pull out a crystal as I approach the two and break it with my hands, the space around us breaks with an immense Divine energy surrounding us. In half a second we were already in another place and space was repairing itself, I looked around and realized that we were not very far from Tarzor, the crystal I used was something that mother handed over knowing where I was going, an escape route. "Who did you feel?" (I) "One of my sisters or more precisely, what was once one of my sisters." (Silvia) "I thought you were the only one who stopped being a World Tree." (I) "No, there was another, someone who was lost alone, someone who was excluded by us and rejected by Nature." (Silvia) "Wait, you say the Tree of End is in that place!? Wasn''t it destroyed by the God of Beasts!?" (Rosane) "Me, like all my sisters too, but that place is a dead spot for us, our senses don''t reach it and none of us move from our places, that''s why we never feel it, I have to warn them." (Silvia) "This is going to be difficult..." (Silvia) ------------------ Pov Zenos: The 3 energy columns were attracting a large amount of Holy Power, it only took a few minutes and I could feel my 3 Familiars directing the Holy Power to the 3 candidates meticulously as the Essences infiltrated their bodies. I could feel their bodies being completely restructured and even their Souls being altered by the Essences, but this process is something faster than normal awakening and so the energy columns began to slowly decrease. Soon the three energy scenes disappear and the 3 Heralds reveal themselves in front of me. Fiona almost no longer looks like an Elf, on her back a pair of wings that seemed to be made of countless red flower petals together, on her head two tree branches grow like horns going down the sides of her head with branches growing upwards while intertwining with some red leaves looking like a crown, his eyes turned red with the white part turning dark green making the red iris stand out even more. His dark red skin had tattoos resembling plants stretching across his body, his Elf ears were slightly larger, and his hair is dark green. Xagar now seemed to have undergone the greatest change, his body being but a shell to the true changes that I can see beyond him, the image of a great 500 meter tall red and black Dragon. Looking at his shell or should I say his human form, his body now had a dark skin tone with short red hair, his eyes turned silver with the white part of his eyes filled with darkness filled with bright spots as if it were a starry sky and the silver iris serving as the moon in the sky. Its well-built body full of muscles had its arms, legs and various parts of the body covered in robust black scales with some silvery shine, it has two pairs of membranous wings and two Star Crystal horns like my scales. Xagar''s presence had both the traits of Dragons and Demons, it was easy for me to see that he had become a Dragon Demon. The last one was the most normal in appearance. Kiara looked almost completely like a Human, her body was white and the proportion of her muscles as well as her beautiful body curves would make her a world famous super model if it weren''t for her compound insect eyes that seem to reflect a starry sky. Kiara''s body plus her eyes look too normal, but her presence is so different from how she was before, that I feel like she''s a different person. The absolute Faith that I felt in her Aura before no longer exists, in fact she seems more like one completely of my own Aura, in fact her Aura seems to try to cling to me and is just waiting for permission to do so, her eyes and presence are crossed in my direction, her compound eyes filled with pure obsession made me doubt whether I chose correctly in turning her into a Herald. "(Now it''s too late to regret it, I''m not taking any risks either.)" (I) I return to normal by deactivating my Divine Incarnation and see my three new Heralds feeling the changes in myself, I also think about Hinata and Zaya. "(Now there''s only one Eclipse star left...)" (I) Chapter 1456: Cap 1454: Arriving in Tarzor Pov Sophia''s: It was already night, I was awake in the city square surrounded by water roads and stone roads that converge in multiple directions in the city''s central square. I was sitting alone for a few hours at the base of the tree, now that I have become a Divine Servant I can feel how much of Zenos'' power hovers throughout the city and how much Faith the people of the Dungeon have for him in their Auras. I pull out my sword made of bones and Aurora''s Aura can still be felt, she died during the battle on the planet which later became Zenos'' Divine Weapon. I miss her, it comforts me to know that I carry a part of her with me, when she died most of her power was absorbed by me, but even that didn''t make me reach out to others. But this is just intrusive thinking, I''ve been trying to divert my mind from the truth for months, I''m weak and I''ve been left behind. Zenos'' wives run after him to be by his side, his children are geniuses in their respective fields of expertise, his Familiars are as monstrous as he is, his sisters are living legends known throughout the Universe, his two Saints can stand strong alone or simply completely depend on his power to become strong and now he has Divine Heralds that are no weaker than his Familiars. As I sat there I grabbed the bottle of Saliva of Insanity that Anton threw at me, this is the strongest drink in the entire Dungeon. "I thought his wife forbade the, I don''t like drinking that stuff." (I) "Shut up and drink, maybe it will make you stop this drama." (Anton) "Is it so obvious?" (I) "Are you kidding? It looks like you''re walking around with a rain cloud floating above your head, especially since your Gryphon died in battle." (Anton) "..." (I) Sigh "I don''t know what to do, I swore to be Zenos'' bodyguard, it was only because of him that I got to where I am, but now I feel so... weak..." (I) "Half the people of this Dungeon were trained by you, your power is worthy to fight alongside the sons of Zenos and you still think you''re weak? Then what am I!?" (Anton) "Stop being depressed, you are the boy''s Divine Servant, show a little pride, do you think he cares about these things..." (Anton) "The problem isn''t him, it''s me... I want to be by his side on the battlefield, but at the same time I don''t want to depend solely on his power, a power that I haven''t conquered and maybe I won''t..." (I) "Shut up, if that''s your concern then go train, show that you can go further, show that you are worthy of everything you have received and more." (Anton) "Easier said than done... I don''t know where to start..." (I) "One thing I can guarantee, you won''t find anything sitting around complaining... if you need a start, then summon a new Familiar, it would at least be a start." (Anton) "..." (I) ----------------- Pov Zenos: I was outside the Dungeon looking at the stars that the Dimensional Dragon leaves behind on our journey. "So it''s still going to take some time?" (I) "(Yes, master can rest assured, it won''t take more than 3 days, the next teleportation point is in 2 hours.)" (Okan) "I''m counting on you, Okan." (I) The Dimensional Dragon is an individual who talks little, but is very attentive and always responds to everything, the only thing I notice is that he likes these normal trips and is uncomfortable teleporting, unfortunately I have to end this soon and I will get the shortest path. "You idiot, I was looking for you." (Adella) "Need something?" (I) "Yes, take care of it." (Adella) She throws a crystal sphere into my hands, as soon as I touch it it becomes a crystal cube as if squeezing something that tried to come out, then a massive pressure fell on me causing the ground around me to crack for hundreds of meters as I sank. Before I knew it, I felt several Auras as powerful as mine and some more powerful than mine, I also felt angry presences with a lot of murderous intent, when I looked at Adella I saw her smiling at me in a provocative way as if mocking me. "No need to thank me, just keep this within your pool of blood and don''t try anything before achieving Godhood." (Adella) "What is this... thing...?" (I) "The Soul of several Gods, Demigods and Divine Beasts associated with Baldr, Oros was given to master Selene, but you can have the rest." (Adella) "Ah... I almost forgot to say, but they still have their Essences and Divinity, so I really don''t advise messing with them until you achieve Divinity for yourself." (Adella) It took me several seconds adjusting my Aura, Authority and Essences until I managed to no longer be affected by the crystal, luckily it seems that the seal almost completely contains them or I would have been crushed against the ground by their combined presence. "Why did you give me this!?" (I) "Because you can steal their Essences and Deities later, you can also force a Divine Rebirth for them, it would be even better to get some Subordinate Gods." (Adella) "About what..." (I) "Talking about it now would be pointless, you will find out when you become a God." (Adella) With that she flew away disappearing among the stars and leaving what would be considered prisoners in my hands, but as they are allies of the God of Light, I will leave that aside and keep this thing where she suggested. ------------------- Pov Silvia''s: I was on the top floor of the Dungeon where the Crystal Palace is, but I was in my Dragon firm swimming among the stars outside together with Xagar. "I already said, the power of a Dragon cannot be controlled as it could with its body, the power of Dragons is more wild and crude." (I) "Let it flow and try to direct with your instincts in a natural way, precise control will come naturally as time passes like a baby learning to walk." (I) "His body is also in a strange position and his movements seem like that of a Golem." (I) "Easier said than done, this body is completely different and my senses... damn!" (Xagar) Cough Cough As he tried to fly and control his new power, some veins exploded on his neck, forehead and back. His Aura is a mess and he''s clearly the one lagging behind in training, Magnus wasn''t able to teach him due to him recovering from the Soul damage he suffered in the last battle and it''s up to me to teach him. Kiara, being an Insect Empress whose race is literally made up of highly talented and genius individuals, was able to get used to her body and powers in a matter of 1 day, being the fastest. Fiona had no problem with her body, but she is having a problem with the difference in her energy, being a White Elf she was used to using Mana and has knowledge about the use of Spiritual Energy, the only one she has little experience in using is the Ki which will be his only specialty this time. Layla and Sakura are training them personally, but Nix refused to leave my Father''s side and it was up to me to take care of him. "(His problems aren''t that serious... I might have to train his energy first.)" (I) "Return to your humanoid form, perhaps it would be best to focus on one problem at a time." (I) "What will we do now?" (Xagar) "(At least he''s willing to train.)" (I) "Let''s fight, perhaps the euphoria of combat is better suited to awaken his instincts since he is a warrior." (I) "(His power is not below mine, so I don''t need to take it easy, the pressure and danger should help him.)" (I) With that I spent the next few hours in combat against him while explaining how to manipulate Spiritual Energy and how to create Spiritual Runes during combat. He has been studying Spiritual Runes, but the difference between study and practice is big, I have never needed to train anyone with something so basic since I was a World Tree. ------------------ Pov Zenos: Today I was called because we were close to our destination, I went outside the Dungeon and followed as we passed through a portal that looks like a rift in the middle of space. As soon as we arrived at the Star System where Tarzor is located, I immediately noticed the strangeness of this whole place, it doesn''t even seem to be the same universe, the energies that circulate here are not overlapping the natural energies. I also saw a very large group of creatures flying towards us, all deformed and monstrous, but there was someone leading this attack and their Divine presence hit me even though they were so far away. "We are under attack!!!" (I) As soon as we arrive we are attacked, I can''t take this shitty luck anymore, but I have nothing to do other than be prepared for the attack. My Familiars and several people from the Dungeon begin to appear two Fairy and Spirit Gates that share my shadow. Chapter 1457: Cap 1455: A Welcome Battle I didn''t understand what was happening, but we only had a few minutes, I used a telepathy technique to talk to everyone at the same time, staying organized would be the main thing as we left the Dimensional Dragon. But as soon as we left the entire universe changed, suddenly I was no longer in the vacuum of space between the stars, but in endless halls of mirrors in all directions. "Where am I... what is...?" (I) "So you are the possessor of Chaos... I don''t see anything wrong..." A voice sounds from all directions, several figures move through the mirrors, always in difficult spots for me to see, I also can''t use my Aura as I normally would. "Who are you!?" (I) "I am nobody and at the same time I am many..." "That''s great, another one who likes to talk... Kuhh!!" (I) I felt his presence, but I was already too close to dodge correctly and that''s why I see part of my arm flying away. When I looked at where the attack came from there was nothing left, but it is undeniable that I saw an arm holding a glass sword coming out of the mirror next to me. I looked around and there are mirrors in every direction, clearly I am in an advantageous field for the enemy. "(What if I destroy the mirrors?)" (I) The various corridors and the small room where I was were strangely shaped, as were the mirrors that made up the entire structure, it looked like someone went to a broken mirror disposal field and used the fragments to build this damn place. Some mirrors decreased the reflection while others increased the reflection, there were also those that changed the shapes of the reflection to become flat, wide, contorted and in strange shapes. Some of these mirrors even showed reflections of previous evolutions to my current one, like when I was a Goblin, when I was a Vampire for the first time or even when I was a Leech. There were even mirrors that show my appearance from the previous life when I was still Human, everything was mixed and fragmented everywhere in a confusing way. The worst part of this damn place was that my Aura and senses are also reflected by the mirrors, meaning that the more I expand my field of perception, the greater the confusion in my mind will be and that''s why I had to limit my field of perception to a few meters away around me. "Come on Chaos user, show me what makes you so interesting?" "Where are you? If you don''t talk I''ll... wait!" (I) I was ready to launch an area attack as he didn''t show himself and I could feel bursts of murderous intent from different directions, he was clearly provoking me and I wasn''t going to fall that easily. When I was Human I created many games and for that I needed to be aware of the trends in society that are constantly changing, because of this I had a varied knowledge of films, animations and comics as well as games from my competitors. That''s why I realized 2 things, the first was that my enemy''s strength is unknown, the second thing is that he is trying to provoke and instigate me to attack. "< Water Magic: Water Arrow >30" (I) "I knew..." (I) Looking around at the mirrors an idea occurred to me, I used a beginner level magic with little power against the varied mirrors and as I feared, all the arrows were reflected and some changed shape depending on the mirror it hit, some arrows multiplied, some arrows decreased in size and others became larger. "(I can''t attack carelessly... but I need to test.)" (I) In a few seconds I tested Magic, Spiritual Runes and Ki Techniques of all elements, always using the weakest, but all attacks were reflected. Then I tried more unique attacks like using blood magic, Holy Power, curses, Demonic Power and the Essences. They were all reflected by taking the Essence, so I already knew what I could use against this enemy, even so I would be careful knowing that this might not be the whole truth. "Since you want to play, let''s play properly." (I) "< Holy Summon: Sword... >" (I) Before I finished summoning the Star Sword through which I could better direct the power of the Essences, I was suddenly sucked into the mirror I was standing on without being able to fly, before I knew it I was in a large room of mirrors with someone in front of me. "It looks like playtime is over, so let''s celebrate your arrival in style!" "..." (I) ------------------ Pov Magnus: As soon as we left the Dimensional Dragon ready to fight something happened, my Father disappeared and there was no trace of how it happened, I tried to find his whereabouts by expanding my Aura and I realized that the others were doing the same. "Where''s that idiot?" (Natasha) "I can''t feel him." (Vanessa) "I can''t trace his blood, something is wrong." (Elizabeth) "I can''t feel where he went, but he seems to be fine." (Nix) "I tried to share our senses, but there is something resisting and interrupting our connection." (Ragnar) "Master...master...where...?" (Hinata) "Calm down Hinata, this is not the time... HINATA!!" (Sakura) "Where is the master!!" (Hinata) Everyone was confused, I didn''t need to say anything since everyone was trying to contact my Father, but for even his Family members to have difficulty with this made everyone worried. Hinata looked especially strange, her expressionless face suddenly changed with faint traces of anger as her body was torn from the inside causing strange fragmented claws to come out across the space in front of her. Suddenly it was as if something broke without making a sound, then a blurred image of a fragmented structure appeared and Hinata squirming as if she had been crushed passes through this opening that disappeared without a trace. "Hinata, what did you do?" (Alice) "But what was that?" (I) "I can''t talk to her anymore either, she must be in the same place as the master." (Orion) "We have more immediate concerns, they have arrived!" (Silvia) With Silvia''s warning, she and Nix remained in our Dragon form while my Father''s other Familiars assumed their true forms, even Natasha transformed into a Dragon, leaving only Xagar in his humanoid form. The things that were coming towards us were shapeless masses trying to imitate creatures, but they were not like the disgusting flesh creatures that the Apostles of Truth created, they were more bizarre and monstrous as if they were wrong to exist. "Use Holy power to protect your bodies!! Don''t let the Fallen touch you without Holy power coursing through your bodies!!!" (Zaya) "They have no weaknesses and need to be sealed or completely annihilated or they will continue attacking!" (Zaya) Suddenly someone spoke louder than everyone, giving very precise instructions, but seeing that it was Zaya, everyone believed her, as a Lady of the Grave who belongs to this place, she must know these monsters better than all of us. "(Use seals with Holy Power, try not to waste your powers eliminating them.)" (Caitlyn) With the enemies so close, there was no more time to talk or plan, everyone was heading into combat as a voice appeared in my head and possibly everyone else''s mind telling me what we should do. "How am I supposed to seal these things?" (I) Unlike the others, I don''t specialize in magic and everything I know about sealing something was learned recently. I''m not ashamed to admit that I''m someone who is purely violent, my focus has always been on how to destroy enemies in an unstoppable way. "Lets test." (I) "< Breath of Chaos >" (I) I start with a breath attack, but to my surprise the enemy contorts his body into the shape of a person or at least imitating a Human. He tried to attack me, his arms turn into scythes and the surface of his body is a hard yet flexible armor. I hold one of the scythes from behind as he approaches, but as soon as I did that the scythe changed shape as did his entire body trying to swallow me like a slime. "< Space Magic: Exchange of Destinies >" (Nicole) Suddenly I feel my vision change and I see myself standing in front of an energy cube with pieces of metal at the ends, inside there was something that looks like a mixture of a Fish and an Insect no smaller than me in the form of a Dragon. "Be careful, these things do not have a fixed shape and change in unforeseen ways, their bodies are resilient and do not appear to be made of flesh." (Nicole) "Use this to seal them." (Nicole) Nicole doesn''t even wait for me to say anything, I could just hear her speaking in a monotone before taking a bracelet off her arm and throwing it to me, the bracelet changes size, getting bigger as it attaches to my finger like a ring. "..." (I) Before I can say anything she disappears and a Golem in the same shape appears in her place, but without asking anything a flow of information came from the ring straight to my mind explaining how to use it. "She never listens to anyone, but I appreciate the help." (I) Chapter 1458: Cap 1456: Im just the first... In this room of mirrors, my biggest concern was the creature in front of me, it looked like a being from myths and legends. He was 2 meters tall, with a strong physical build, his face only had a crystal orb that seemed to contain a black hole inside and tentacles that moved on their own. His skin was a light blue color that matched his cloak made of dark blue water that, despite being a liquid, remained in the form of a cloak. He only had two legs and two arms, his hair was crystal clear to the point that I almost mistook it for crystals, but it was actually made of ice somehow. He held a large sword more than half his own size and with a single edge, the sword seemed to be made of bones and ice, his entire appearance screams that he is a God of the Seas, but his presence was filled with the power of Darkness and not I was able to feel not even a trace of the power of water in him, in fact I was feeling in his presence the Power of Death trying to camouflage itself behind the Power of Darkness. "(Darkness and Death... but your appearance...)" (I) His appearance that goes against everything I expected, feeling his power leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, how a God of Death can look like a God of the Seas. "You think you can fight me..." I stopped listening to him, I thought I could hear something interesting, but all he does is talk nonsense, I also realized that he doesn''t have a mouth and I''m not hearing his voice in my mind. "< Holy Rune of Spatial: Spatial Boundary >" (I) I used the mirror fragments in the surroundings and reflected the Spiritual Rune that I created, I used its power to transform the contour lines of several mirror fragments, with that the space around him opened hundreds of times breaking his body into pieces that fall to the floor. "..." (I) I looked at him and he was dead, totally dead, but the presence I was feeling did not diminish, so a sphere formed, sucking the energy from the remains of the body and it was from this sphere that I heard the same voice once again. "I wasn''t prepared." "< Holy Magic: Blood Sword Transmutation >" (I) My arm is taken over by my blood leaking through the pores of my skin, this blood takes the form of a large sword that swallows my entire arm from the elbow down before descending against the sphere of energy. Just as my blood sword looked like it was going to hit, the sword passes through the sphere hitting the ground, I had to dodge to the side when the attack was reflected by the mirrors on the ground, meanwhile I had to listen to the enemy''s laughing voice. "You idiot, you can''t hurt me, hahahahaha..." Suddenly her laughter was interrupted when Hinata appeared with her mouth open swallowing the sphere, it was the first time I saw Hinata play with something in her mouth without swallowing directly, she was chewing while throwing something from one side to the other inside her mouth, this lasted several minutes before she swallowed. I was silent not knowing how she got here or what the enemy was, so I remained silent until Hinata finished knowing that something difficult for her to eat was more than just troublesome, so I was a little relieved when she stopped moving the jaw and opened his mouth while putting his head to the side in confusion. "Did you break up with him?" (I) "It ran away...weird...strange taste...?" (Hinata) "Did he run away? From inside your mouth?" (I) "No flesh... no energy... no Soul... strange...?" (Hinata) "Without soul?" (I) Of all my Familiars, Nix and Hinata are the ones who spend the most time with me, especially Hinata who sleeps inside my necklace and lately inside my body ripping out my Soul. Even though his words are few, it''s not difficult to understand from the context, that thing had the power of a Death God, but it didn''t have a Soul, that doesn''t make sense since even Gods have Souls, I know this personally from having two ancient Gods as Heroes and having a Fairy Goddess as a daughter. "< Dead River Threshold >" Suddenly the voice appears once again, I was aware of my surroundings and Hinata''s escape warning left me prepared for a possible enemy attack once again. As soon as I heard the voice I was already very close to Hinata, but there was still something interfering with the connection between the two of us, I needed to touch her directly to reestablish our connection and I let the Sacred Power flow between us to shield this connection, preventing it from being cut again. As he did this he was looking at a specific mirror fragment that changed, it was no longer reflecting what was in front of him and showed images of a world in ruins with green rivers passing through both the land and the air. It was exactly one of these rivers that turned a bend in its steady flow and exited the mirror fragment, growing larger almost instantly. A flood-like stream of water was falling towards us, which wouldn''t be a problem if it was normal water, but that dark green water contained what looked like tormented souls stretching their claws towards us. I could feel Divine Power coming from the green water itself, it wasn''t as strong, but it was still Divine Power. "< Space Magic: Teleportation >" (I) Holding Hinata, I move to the furthest point of this river, but to my surprise it was necessary, the river stopped before reaching where I was and turned towards me as if it were a conscious creature. From within this river a person comes out, a large person who was made by the agglomeration of things that look like tormented Souls, this person looks like a giant young man, his long hair floats in all directions as if he were in the water, one of his eyes it was closed while the other one that was open revealed the same sphere of energy that Hinata tried to devour. This God of Death was the same one he was feeling before, his presence was the same coming out of that sphere of energy that must have been his eye that is now missing, he uses the river like a Lamia tail with the tip still inside the Fragment mirror. "You owe me an eye." "< Call of Souls >" Suddenly he raised his hand, which is semi-transparent, and I felt a suction force directly on my Soul, but as soon as I felt this, the illusory Essence Core began to rotate intensely, forcefully pushing away this suction, so I looked at Hinata next to me who didn''t there was no kind of Essence twitching. "Tickling... haha ??ha hahaha..." (Hinata) "(I don''t know if this can still be considered a laugh...)" (I) I was relieved to see that Hinata was okay, but her laugh was more than strange, it was like the mix of maniacal laughter in a bizarre choir with a background sound emphasizing the echo of the laughter. "< Divine Incarnation: 83% >" (I) "< Space Rune: Space Bending >" (I) "< Divine Eclipse Magic: End Dragon >" (I) "< Death Curse >" I let my Essences and Authority ignite the Divine Spark within me, without even waiting for my body to change completely, I had already created a Spiritual Rune within the body which I activated immediately appearing behind the enemy. My body was growing quickly, but even pushing the limits a little, I used all the Essences at the same time along with My Divine Weapon. The Cursed Sun and Fragmented Moon come out of my hands at the same time, magic circles emerge from them before overlapping into the image of an Eclipse sucking in a lot of Holy Power. Soon I strengthened my Divine Weapon with the power of the Divine Spark within me launching the attack. An overlapping magic circle releases a torrent of Starfire that becomes a solid crystal Dragon as it collides with the enemy, I felt his Divine power trying to mark my Soul in the process, but then I felt Niryna move within my Blood Core, a Macabre power came out of her, grabbing the curse created by the power of Death before breaking it into pieces that she threw at the doll I carried on my waist. That must have been Callidora, I don''t believe Niryna could do that, so that must have been a real risk for me. While I was worried about what happened to me, my attack hit the enemy and his entire body shattered as if it too was made of a mirror. "Do you think it''s over... hahahaha... I''m just the first..." As he began to speak, suddenly thousands of White Serpents emerge from the mirrors and eat the enemy''s fragments in less than 3 seconds, then disappear once again within the mirrors. I looked at the broken mirror where the enemy had come from and his reflection changed once again, what appeared now was a large eye that seemed to see through me. "Don''t interfere again..." (voice) "Then don''t try to disrupt my plans." (Callidora) "I''m going to keep the child safe, so don''t get in the way." (voice) "Okay, but I''ll keep an eye out." (Callidora) "..." (I) A voice that seemed to come from all directions began to speak, but before I could say anything it once appeared from within my Blood Core, it was Callidora''s voice, her every word seemed to resonate directly into my Soul and made my heart sink body shake. When the two finished talking, I was already in the middle of a forest with the powers of Death and Curse being even more present than the very air I breathe, Hinata was by my side. "But what was that!?" (I) Chapter 1459: Cap 1457: Did that planet move? Pov Silvia''s: I was a little surprised these things were so resilient, I''ve never heard of these creatures, but one thing is for sure, these creatures are not dead or alive. The body of these creatures is also not a physical body, they are like Fairies and Spirits in that their bodies are materializations of energy. The real problem lies in the fact that its energy is infinite, which becomes something similar to infinite regeneration. Since I arrived here I could feel that the rules of nature are not found here, this means that natural energies do not reach here, which in turn means that life cannot flourish here, a part of the universe isolated to rot alone. "< Sacred Magic: Servants of the Forest >" (I) "< Multi Elemental Rune: Seal of the World >" (I) I create dozens of trees, plants and flowers directly on my body that then grow into Dragon forms similar to mine. I use Spiritual Runes engraving directly into their bodies as they form to grant the strongest sealing ability I possess to date. Using the advantage of numbers, I can fight against 6 creatures at the same time, their bodies have different shapes, they act in different ways, but in the end their characteristics are the same, it didn''t take me long to get used to these enemies. I avoided using too much of my power since even after wiping out all the creatures we still had to look for my Father, disappearing is one thing, but losing contact with one''s own Familiars is not something to do with the type of connection they have. As the fight unfolds over the next few minutes, I wasn''t trying to destroy the enemies, I was trying to figure out an efficient opening to finish them off, so I didn''t waste it when the moment came. I felt one of the creatures focusing the power of his body in one direction to attack my back, but then I hit him with my tail and he flew in the direction one of my Servants was, he was made of a tree and wrapped himself around of the creature taking root in its body, creating branches in all directions around it, intertwining like wooden bars and making thousands of leaves grow from the branches, completely isolating the motionless creature inside. The seal I placed is always active and the moment it was rolled up by my servant it was already sealed. "Now there are 5 to go." (I) The others didn''t bother with their companion, they act individually and just avoid each other during combat, this was one of the only news outlets. "< Space Magic: Containment Field >" (I) During the entire fight I prepared an area magic that needs a magic circle prepared in advance, my Servants took care of that by positioning themselves while stretching out their vines and roots. As soon as the space was blocked, the Servants that are not part of the magic circle attack, there are 3 flowers, 1 tree and 1 parasitic plant. Without being able to move it was easy to take care of them, before looking around, I realized that everyone was fighting while Nicole, Layla and Kiara distracted the enemy numbers. "Just sealing them is a lot of work..." (I) --------------- Pov Hela''s: "Hellyos, how are you?" (I) "I''m not able to seal them, their power of death is too strong." (Hellyos) I already knew it would be difficult for me, most of my powers were useless making me resort to physical attacks, but for even the sealing powers to fail was a harsh truth. "(Fighting is useless if I can''t finish the fight.)" (I) I looked around and found Irina alone, around her were hundreds of sweaty transparents quickly fighting dozens of enemies, they quickly surround the enemy before merging into a bubble shaped barrier into which Irina throws a few drops of blood that draw Quickly cast a magic circle around the barrier, which instantly freezes. It didn''t take long for more of these soldiers to appear after using the last ones on the barrier, she is taking care of everything perfectly having the correct powers against these enemies. "(She doesn''t need help, but maybe those two sisters...)" (I) I look at Samira and Elsaris, they are fighting hard but they can''t handle the amount, they need help. "I may not be the best person for this battlefield, but I will do what I can." (I) ------------------- Pov Zaya''s: "(This wasn''t supposed to be happening, the Wills of the Fallen shouldn''t be free like this.)" (I) "(Why don''t my people do anything? How did Tarzor leave this... ah... yes, now I understand... Tarzor...)" (I) My people have several responsibilities, among these responsibilities is cleansing the Wills of the Fallen, for those of us who exist between Curses and Death, the work of purifying or sealing them is relatively simple by acting together. Tarzor never interferes personally, so he uses us as his arms and legs, we follow his will in carrying out his orders and he would be the only one who could not only stop my people from taking care of these creatures, but also allow them to be free in this place. "I know you''re there mom." (I) "You''ve changed, darling." (Mother) Soon space distorts and ripples of energy surround me, I look forward to where she appears, her white hair contrasts with her dark gray skin, her golden eyes look like bright stars attracting the attention of anyone who looks at her. But the strangest thing is always her tail that gets thicker and thicker while being abnormally long for our race, her white Serpent''s head measures almost half the size of her own body. The oldest of our race, the one who cared for every child that came after, the one who taught each of us and the one who terrifies any of us the most. She has no name, all of my race have always called her mother, no resident of Tarzor Flames has seen her and survived as she only acts personally in bad situations to punish the guilty or that has been until now at least. "The figure that was guiding the Wills of the Fallen here didn''t look like you, but it was you, right?" (I) "Was it Tarzor''s will? Is Zenos with him?" (I) "Yes, I was the one who guided them here, attracting them is easy as is hiding behind an illusion like I''m doing." (Mother) "Your new friends must be seeing a beautiful battle between you and the Wills of the Fallen..." (Mother) "Please don''t dodge my questions... where is Zenos?" (I) She smiles at my question and the Serpent''s head where she leans does the same, sometimes I can''t tell which of the two heads is the real one and which could be the tail. "Honey... I''m glad one of you found freedom, but it disappoints me to know the petrification was undone." (Mother) "You not only sought freedom, but reject Tarzor and even have the audacity to find someone to replace him!?" (Mother) "I need to be connected to someone and Zenos is incredibly compatible with my own desires..." (I) "(Of course these are not the only reasons, but they are enough for her.)" (I) The fury was stamped in her expression, she was always volatile or so she made it seem, in fact she was always someone violent and brutal who wears a mask of kindness that almost doesn''t fit, I only realized this after becoming an adult and having met the Evil Gods, that''s when I realized the falsehoods in his behavior. "Do you think you can fool me?" (Mother) "But no matter, the Fate of Zenos is now beyond what any of you can interfere with and I will not let you reach Tarzor." (Mother) Her smile made me have a bad feeling, I tried to look around and at that moment the illusion around us disappeared just like her, disappearing without a trace. At that moment, as if they had noticed my presence with dignity, dozens of Wills of the Fallen came towards me, if in the past taking care of everyone while alone would have been impossible, but now it is different. "< Holy Magic: Reincarnation Serpent >" (I) A magic circle forms around me and the Serpent in my tail sinks into it before emerging into another magic circle that appears in front of me carrying Starfire throughout its body. This wasn''t even a battle, all the creatures were swallowed, their bodies burned, the power of death was converted into life and the curse became a Seal to release the Wills of the Fallen as well as the Life energy I harvested leaving two crystals in my hands at the end. "Just as death takes life... life is the end of death''s path..." (I) Since I woke up, many confusing things became clear to me, talking to Zenos and reading the books in the library was the same as training for me, the more I understood about life and death it was as if the possibilities of what I could do increased exponentially. "But what was she doing..." (I) "Zaya, what should we do with them?" (Hades) As soon as I finished on my side I saw that there were few Wills of the Fallen still fighting, they were all sealed in different ways and Hades got too close as soon as I finished fighting, after all I''m the only one who demonstrated knowing how to deal with these creatures, which could be understood. "Take them all to Orkut, I have a safe way to take care of them." (I) "[I''ll take care of that, now we have other problems, I detected irregular movement in the planets as well as an irregular number.]" (Nicole) Hades and I looked at the Star System, truly the number of Planets does not match what we remembered, we soon noticed some moving towards us while others disappeared. Chapter 1460: Cap 1458: Legions of Death I looked at the forest, the trees were actually bones with dry leaves growing from them, the air was filled with poison, the presence of Nature does not exist here and instead there is only the perpetual presence of death, the ground emanates curse constantly and when I looked up at the sky and saw a Purple Sun very similar to my Divine Weapon. "Is this Tarzor?" (I) I tried to look around, but there was nothing else on the horizon, I tried to fly and realized that I was on a floating island, the longer I spent away from the earth, the more gravity seemed to increase returning to normal only when I returned to the ground. "Hinata, stay inside me." (I) "Uhh...?" (Hinata) "Please don''t eat this bone tree and let go of the big rock!" (I) "Yes... master..." (Hinata) Hinata didn''t stand near me like she usually does, while I was confirming the environment around me, Hinata looked like a kid in a candy store, she was flying around licking the ground with several tongues coming out of her mouth, she bit a part of a tree and now she tried to eat one completely until I stopped her, even the big rock in her hands was full of symbols painted with blood, this place was too strange to leave her so out of control. "(This place is as strange and disturbing as I''ve heard.)" (I) But even though I thought about it back then, this place made me feel weird all the time, but I don''t have time to think about that now. "Tarzor, I know you''re listening, why are you doing this?" (I) "Such bold words..." (female voice) "Tarzor... no, you''re not him, perhaps a Lady of the Grave?" (I) "I''ve been called many things throughout my existence, I particularly like the children I raised to call me mother, so they can call me Mother of the Grave." (Mother of the Grave) I was hoping to find Tarzor or more specifically talk to him, I know I need to find my last Essence here, but I don''t know exactly what I should do or where I should go, I can''t just search everywhere. But it wasn''t Tarzor who came to talk to me, it was this woman who was supposed to be the same race as Zaya, but that doesn''t seem to be the case. I ignore what she says because I can see the provocation in her eyes, she didn''t come to welcome me, she came to cause problems. "That place full of mirrors wasn''t caused by either of those 2, it was you...no, it was Tarzor, wasn''t it?" (I) "First those monsters, then a bad kidnapping, a fight happens and to end with a shitty key... I was brought here to listen to you?" (I) "So rude, but that''s okay, this won''t last long." (Mother of the Grave) "< Release >" (Mother of the Grave) Crenk The large Serpent that makes up its tail raises its head, the others shine and its voice comes out of the jaws of the white Serpent, then the sound of metal breaking was heard as the earth began to shake and an eruption of pure cursed energy spread almost to me. playing backwards. Hinata, who had half her body inside me, was sucking in part of this cursed energy as a snack, not only her, I felt the Infernal doll on my waist absorb this curse energy as well. At that moment I felt something strange, like beating movements in the space itself and something was trying to break free, my instincts were screaming to prepare me and for some reason my Dragon blood was boiling to the point that I almost transformed. "What did you do?" (I) "I don''t need to explain anything to you, just don''t die so miserably, it would be disappointing... hahahaha..." (Mother of the Grave) "..." (I) "(She clearly released something, but what? Why is my Dragon blood reacting like this?)" (I) I had a lot of questions and no one to answer them, so I could only push those questions aside as I tried to be prepared for anything. Suddenly the space breaks into 3 cracks that gave way to 3 metal columns, I soon realized that they were actually fingers as they tore the space even more as if it were fabric revealing a giant monstrous arm with broken chains attached to the wrist, the chains they appear to be made of fragmented mirrors. When the brave appeared, it wasn''t just my Dragon blood that reacted, my Dragon power and even my Authority that shares the characteristic of Dragons took my body and Aura as central aspects. "But what''s going on!?" (I) ------------------ Pov Hades: I managed to catch up with Zaya after seeing her finish on her side, hoping she had a more permanent means of dealing with these creatures. Cinthia tried to kill one without success and Haku was irritated because these creatures were only made of materialized energy instead of blood, we didn''t have a really effective way of dealing with these enemies other than sealing them. Even if it were possible to defeat them by annihilating their entire body as Zaya warned before, their bodies are too resilient and can regenerate very quickly to the point that it would be a monstrous task to try to deal with them like that. Just as I went to get Zaya to figure out the next step, one of Nicole''s Golem Familiars came to us with her voice pointing out something I hadn''t seen, probably she was pointing out the same thing to everyone else. We all looked at the Star System in front of us where the Purple Sun was versed by many planets, but then these planets began to move, some even disappeared, altogether their strange movements drew attention to a new danger. In my mind I was trying to think of the possibilities of what this could be and how I should react while searching my memory for possibilities without success. Not counting the disappearing planets, most of them were moving towards us, their massive sizes moving gave a strong sense of danger. "Nicole, what is this!?" (I) "[Not yet identified.]" (Nicole) "[The only two known options that can be related to this are the Poison Worlds which are the insects'' weapons of destruction... and a creature we have only encountered once.]" (Nicole) "That''s not a Poison World, their sizes are clearly too big and only the Bugs can control them now that we''ve finished off the Apostles of Truth." (I) "What''s the second possibility?" (I) I was nervously rooting around, I could feel the very energy of death reacting around us becoming more tense, this means that whatever it is uses the power of death. "[The second and last known option would be a Legion of Death or in this case it would be several Legions of Death.]" (Nicole) "..." (I) This time I was truly scared, because the Legions of Death are extremely strong and intelligent, they are planets that have become an Undead capable of annihilating entire Worlds. "That doesn''t make sense, there shouldn''t be so many here." (I) "Nicole is right, they are Legions of Death, most are young people who are still unable to leave their planetary form." (Zaya) "Those that seem to disappear are the strongest, are hiding in space and can take on statue-like forms." (Zaya) "Legions of Death..." (I) Just as I was thinking about what I should do against these enemies, I realized too late that the space around us was locked and changing rapidly, the stars changed, a presence filled with pure death took over everything. In a few seconds the billions of Ghosts and Specters were moving monotonously all over the place, some were wailing, others were roaring in anger and there were also those crying. What they all had in common was the fact that they ignored all of us while they were just wandering around aimlessly. "Die!" "Die!" "Die!" Suddenly 3 choirs of voices appeared almost at the same time and all the stars we could see turned into crystal icicles coming towards us. "Heralds, with me!" (I) "< Territory: Sacred >" (all Heralds) "< Garden of the 6 Star Paths of Eclipse >" (all Heralds) I was no fool, I knew that change in the stars was impossible and that if it was a Territory we would be able to perceive its formation, so it was some kind of monumental wide area magic or technique. There was no way to defend everyone and there were many attacks, the only one I could do was use an incomplete technique by force using myself as the center in the absence of the master. Our combined Territory used me as its center, its Essences mixed with mine while the Sacred Power was what held all the Essences together. All the other Heralds came to me as the pressure seemed almost enough to crush my body from the inside out, I finally understand what the master was going through with these Essences. "Hades, will you bear it?" (Haku) "Yes, but I won''t be able to fight." (I) "What are we going to do with them?" (Xagar) The attacks from before disappear as the stars returned to normal, their technique was crushed by a true Territory with Holy power, but this also revealed 8 colossal statues surrounding us not counting the other 13 planets coming towards us. Chapter 1461: Cap 1459: Being treated like prey I was tense when that arm appeared to the point where I started to sweat, something that wouldn''t happen even if I swam in magma, I''d be lying if I said I wasn''t feeling scared. The claws appeared to be made of smooth metal as if they were forged weapons, but the rest of the arm had thick scales as if it were some typical raw metal. But what made me most uncomfortable was the presence, the Dragon inside me was in fight or die mode, I knew I couldn''t run away, I would have to fight against all my instincts to do so and it would be unacceptable for me. "(I feel such a strong presence and traces of the Power of Chaos.)" (I) I could no longer help it, my body was transforming into that of a Dragon, the creature continued trying to get out, tearing more of the space as if tearing itself apart. When the creature fully appeared I realized that its size was bigger than the island where I was, but that''s when it started, the environment around it was changing, this wasn''t the effect of a Territory, it was literally changing the environment around it his return by his presence. His appearance was not grotesque, but it was certainly bizarre, he was kilometers tall, his body was composed of an exoskeleton that appears to be the bones of his body made of the same metallic alloy that forms his scales, this exoskeleton is completely open on the back belly and has ribs spread across the chest, inside it there was no meat and nothing that could be considered part of a living creature, what was inside its body was a mass of pure energy that seems to contain a different dimension. Its wings have a structure of the same exoskeleton covered by the energy that makes up its interior, its tail has a sphere covered in metallic spines, its head was strange with the lower part of its jaw being able to open as well as its mouth being able to open opening much wider than initially expected, he doesn''t seem to have eyes, in the place where his skull was supposed to be there was a hole where what looked like a sphere that closely resembles a black hole sits. He has the same chains of mirror shards on his other brave and legs, his body was robust and I noticed his presence is getting even stronger before he turned towards me as if noticing my presence just now. As soon as he left I felt the restlessness inside me shoot like I was facing a predator, I haven''t felt like that in many years. "How magnificent, an aperitif to be around, how incredible!!" "(Hinata, don''t leave!)" (I) "(Yes...)" (Hinata) "< Divine Incarnation: 89% >" (I) My Dragon body changes to a more humanoid appearance, but even growing to my fullest I am not even half the size of this monstrosity. That thing didn''t even wait or do anything, it just stretched its claws towards me and I could feel the hunger in its Aura, it saw me as food and didn''t consider my strength. "(Underestimating me is a mistake.)" (I) "< Breath of Chaos >" (I) I use my Divine power and Essence along with my breath attack that creates a Starfire Dragon form controlled by my will. As soon as my attack collided with his hand it was like a mountain and a volcano colliding, I was thrown a few hundred meters back as the floating island shattered leaving its pieces floating as I spread my wings to stabilize myself in the air. "How annoying... Dragon Gods are always a nuisance, but at least it will be delicious." When I looked at the enemy, he looked like a Dragon, but from his Aura I didn''t know if he could be considered as such, his presence seemed like that of several Dragons mixed to the point of feeling Multiple elements forcibly mixed. His arm had a slight burn that wasn''t healing, but the Starfire was forcibly extinguished somehow, he was too strong for even a Divine level attack to not do more than a mere burn to his hand. "Who are you, why... bastard!!" (I) Without even listening to what I was saying, he moved, this time his colossal body moved very quickly and smoothly, getting close to me before I could even react. "< Teleportation >" (I) RRROOOAAARRRRG!!! "Damn!!! GUHH!!!" (I) I thought I didn''t have enough time to dodge and tried to teleport, but his claws kept coming towards me while his roar made space ripple, which denied my teleportation, with no way to escape his claw reached me this time, but I didn''t let him he holds me in his hand. I used my Aura against his, increasing the power of his attack as the two Auras collided and knocking me back. I could see several of my cracked scales and traces of his Aura trying to corrode mine, he also didn''t stay still like before and continued attacking, but unlike last time I won''t try to teleport anymore and tried to move using my smaller size as an advantage. I suddenly realized the humiliating ''cat and mouse hunt'' situation where I was the mouse running for life. I wanted to fight him, but the difference in raw power between us was making it difficult to turn things in my favor. He was bigger than me, but his speed was greater, he was also able to move with fluidity that I didn''t expect seeing his size, his Aura was always attached to me, but strangely he was only physically attacking me the whole time. I could have been at a disadvantage, but I took the opportunity to get at least a little used to his speed and movements, so after dodging one of his claws leaving only a cut on my wing, I launched my own attack. "< Breath of Cataclysm >" (I) A breath attack using all elemental powers, this was my strongest elemental attack and I did it for a reason other than simply attacking. I could feel the different elements hitting his body, but they caused even less damage than my first attack, he was clearly resistant to all elements. "< Holy Summon: Star Sword >" (I) When his tail tried to hit me, I didn''t try to dodge, what I did was use my foot and use the strength of his tail while jumping back at the same time my wings increased my speed. I used this space to summon my Star Sword and made my Divine Weapons flow into the sword, its shape changed as the Cursed Sun pulsed as it flowed into the middle of the sword and the Fragmented Moon completely shattered with its parts merging into the blade of the sword, Divine Power pulses in the Sword fueling my Weapon as its power increases. With my Divine Weapons and the Power of the Divine Spark supporting the Star Sword, I use the full power of the illusory Essence Core. "(I don''t have time for a preparation and he is immune to the power of the elements.)" (I) The vast majority of my powers were supported by elemental powers, even my two sword techniques were like that using Magic or Spiritual Runes, but none of that would work against this bastard. I needed to think of something, but in the meantime I also need to balance this fight since I can''t keep running away forever, it wasn''t just me getting used to his movements, the opposite was also true as it became more difficult to avoid his attacks. Holding the sword in my hand, I stopped just running and wanted to attack, but suddenly he disappeared and I felt the danger coming from my back, when I dropped to the ground I saw his tail grazing my head, without missing this opportunity I turned and I concentrated my power on the blade of the sword. I wanted to cut that tail off, but when my attack hit its body the space behind the tail was cut off while the tail itself resisted forcefully as the attack slowly deepened halfway before the tail swung throwing me back once more. "That''s why I hate Dragon Gods, stop the useless and annoying resistance!" He seemed to treat me like a hunting animal, he only saw me as prey, he spoke as if it were to himself while completely disregarding me. I was more than irritated, but I wanted to get some information out of him, that Mother of the Grave with the fancy name, Tarzor who was clearly doing something hidden and now this wretched creature trying to eat me, there is something going on and I feel like a pawn in a board that I don''t know at the mercy of those who move the pieces. With the Gods at least I know the role I''m playing and I know they do things with the intention of rewarding me in the process, but now I''m completely in the dark and I don''t like it. I ran towards him as he spoke, he didn''t seem to care as he finished speaking and opened his jaws wide enough to swallow me whole, a large suction force came from within. I closed myself in the space around me while creating a flow of death energy from the surroundings pushing my body downwards, I reached his chest already preparing an attack. "< Divine Curse: Blade of Chaos >" (I) Chapter 1462: Cap 1460: Dragon Eater Pov Rosane''s: I don''t like what''s happening, but it''s beyond my Authority to intervene. I look at the Legions of Death, they are difficult to deal with alone and in a group it becomes worse, but it seems that the Heralds of Zenos followed Elizabeth''s advice. "(The Sacred Territory is crude, they need to improve the control of the Sacred power, the flow of energy within and they need to know how to handle the burden of maintaining this place more equally or find a nucleus that can serve as a focal point for everyone.)" (I) The power they were revealing was commendable, but that alone wouldn''t make them win, I was worried, but there''s little I can do here. I opened the space crossing to be in Tarzor''s orbit, then I looked down without getting closer, I was looking from afar at the exact point where Zenos was, he who is in harmony with nature and in a way is part of nature now it stands out a lot, as if it were a bonfire burning in the middle of complete darkness in this place where the power of nature does not exist. The creature he faced was surprising, it looked like a Dragon, but there were many inconsistencies, its presence was not that of a Dragon, its Aura contained traces of many Dragons and he did not know if any part of its Aura truly belonged to him without count that he hasn''t even shown a fit of breathing until now. Even so he was strong, resistance to all elements, resistance to the 3 natural energies, ridiculously strong defense, even Divine power did minimal damage against him. "What kind of monstrosity is this?" (I) "(I''ve never seen anything like this, the closest would be Abyss Creatures, but he''s clearly not an Abyss Creature.)" (I) Zenos'' powers were too weak to go against him, his Divine Spark might be strong due to the amount of Essences he has, but it was still incomplete, he couldn''t last long like that. "Why are you doing this? Answer me Queen of the Grave?" (I) "I don''t like that name, people always misunderstand my position, so call me Mother of the Grave..." (Queen of the Grave) "Stop avoiding the question, I''m not one of the slaves on this planet and I''m also not one of the fools who agree to run away here!" (I) "I just want to know what that creature is and why they are attacking Zenos and his group." (I) I have never been able to understand why the Neutral Gods allow Tarzor to continue existing, this place is a disease for the entire universe, it denies the very rules of the universe simply by being here. "I will not argue with you and what we do not..." (Queen of the Grave) "< Divine Fairy Sword >" (I) I summon the sword that my mother created for me, I control my power and I was ready to attack her or the creature fighting Zenos, this time the risk was too high to be tolerated. Zenos may not yet be a God, but he saved the Fairy World and the Spirit World, he gave my sister and a friend a fresh start, I will not allow him to die here. "Be careful when pulling out your weapon Rosane, it wouldn''t be the first time I''ve killed a God, so don''t you dare question Tarzor''s decisions." (Queen of the Grave) Suddenly her calm facade disappears revealing the maniac she always was, ready for a fight. "Stop..." (Tarzor) Suddenly his voice was heard directly in my Soul, my body was frozen in place for 1 second as the Queen of the Grave fell to her knees while floating without a ground to stand on. "You have no voice here, daughter of Aine, if you interfere I don''t mind containing you for a few centuries." (Tarzor) "Just tell her the basics and don''t let her interfere." (Tarzor) "How to order, Tarzor!" (Queen of the Grave) Suddenly my body was free and my soul was shaking, but I was fine, the Queen of the Grave calmed down once again as she sat on the head of the great Serpent that is part of her tail. "I won''t tell you much, but know that the great Gods like your Mother and Sele know what we do, have also made their own threats, so don''t bother using their names here and ask your questions." (Queen of the Grave) When Tarzor positioned himself like that, I knew that even if I wanted to, I wouldn''t be able to interfere, there are few times that I felt so powerless, but I at least had something to know. "Are Zenos or any of his companions at risk to their lives?" (I) "Yes, in fact I would be surprised if the boy Zaya chose manages to survive." (Queen of the Grave) "And before you ask, we won''t save him if he dies, it wouldn''t make sense." (Queen of the Grave) "..." (I) "What creature is that?" (I) "He has many names just like his brothers, his race is somewhat unique in all existence, they are known as Fallen Dragons, Corrupted Dragons, Dragon Eaters, Anomaly Dragons and many other names." (Queen of the Grave) "Their characteristics... well, you must have seen and apart from what you saw, they are known to only feed on other Dragons, they devour the body, Soul and power of those they hunt." (Queen of the Grave) "Dragon Eaters..." (I) --------------- Pov Zenos: "< Divine Curse: Blade of Chaos >" (I) With a lot of effort I reached his chest, I used one of my wings to deflect his attack slightly to the side, my sword goes through his chest while I launch all the Star Flame that I can produce forward, opening the way as slowly as opening a well. It was maybe less than 5 seconds, but it deserved several minutes of struggle to get at least half of the sword inside him, so I released the curse. Inside his body, all the Starfire I have used so far accumulates at the tip of the sword like a cursed core strengthened by the Essence of Chaos and my Divine Spark. "Guhhhgg!!!" (I) Of course he wouldn''t leave me so close for so long safely, I almost didn''t manage to unleash the full power of the Curse before being thrown more than 1 kilometer away by his punch. Baaammm!!! I hit the ground creating a crater and he came right behind, I couldn''t stand still watching a Dragon covered in Starfire falling on top of me. "Stop annoying me!!!" "< Earth Rune: Underground Movement >" (I) From the bottom of the crater I traveled underneath at high speed before emerging 2 kilometers away only to discover that it was already waiting for me with its jaws open. "< Divine Curse: Eclipse''s Fury >" (I) My two Divine Weapons light up with great power and illusory figures of them form around the sword as if orbiting the sword before coming together at the tip forming an Eclipse with magical circles made of Runes around them. The enemy''s body was burning from the inside out, but no matter how much he was roaring, his presence didn''t diminish at all, I had the impression that he wasn''t even truly injured. But the energies inside his exoskeleton were burning because of the Starfire and thanks to that his body was much more vulnerable. I pointed my sword which this time was pointing at his mouth, the Eclipse at the tip of the sword released a beam of energy that cracked the space while releasing cursed energy that went through the mouth as well as the enemy''s entire body exiting through his stomach. Even so, he didn''t even seem to care when he tried to swallow me, at least the attack slowed him down enough for me to escape, but he continued attacking me without showing any sign of weakness due to the wounds on him. "(How is that thing still alive? Isn''t he even injured!?)" (I) I tried to calm down and think a little, the hole I opened in him wasn''t closing, maybe it''s because of the curse that keeps his body covered in Starfire, but he doesn''t seem to be healing and his body seems more malleable like iron afterwards to enter the foundry. But even with all this he acted as if none of it mattered, he attacked me without hesitation, he didn''t try to say anything to me as if it didn''t matter and he treated me like food. "(What if I cut off his head?)" (I) With that thought in mind, I prepared myself, gathered as much Holy power as I could and accumulated it into my Divine Weapons embedded in the Star Sword, then continued fighting exchanging blows while being pushed back by each blow. When he ripped off one of my hands, I resisted the pain and used my tongue to pull my hand back before entering his mouth, I could feel his power trying to eat away at me and once I was inside his throat I released my power with a third big attack. "< Sacred Starfire Slash >" (I) I came up with some name since it was a simple attack just using the Power of Chaos with the Holy Power, everything was concentrated on the blade of the sword when I rotated cutting space itself in the process, the Starfire inside his body did nothing against me and when my blade completely cut through his head from the inside out, I emerged from his body realizing that most of my scales were melted. "GOOD, GOOD! YOU SCREAM!!" "That really hurt, I''m going to enjoy chewing you out really slowly for causing me so much trouble." He had his head outside his body, but he was still speaking normally, the exoskeleton of his body moves with a horrifying energy that attaches to the other part of the exoskeleton that was in the floating head, pulling it back into place, the wound does not he healed, but his head was firmly stuck in place. "How do I kill this bastard!!!???" (I) Chapter 1463: Cap 1461: Predator against predator part 1 I couldn''t think of anything I could do, none of my attacks were having the effect I expected, this damn bastard was resistant to everything with the power of Chaos being the only thing that had the slightest effect on him, that''s counting the strengthening of my Divine Weapon and the Spark of Divinity. Even the curse of the first attack that keeps his body continually under the effect of Starfire did nothing more than keep his body malleable, even going through half of his body with one attack did nothing and even cutting his head off seemed like just a nuisance to him he. I didn''t know what to do, I haven''t felt this distressed since I came back from Hell, but now I feel almost panicked. I was racking my brain trying to think of something I could do, I can''t get away from this bastard, he can interfere with space preventing teleportation and some fat lady can sense my presence as I move below ground to wait for me right where I left. Clearly running away was not an option and fighting was almost at the level of impossibility as the damage I caused was being ignored as if it were nothing, the entire time he did not show any kind of concern or nervousness, the only thing he showed was anger Because his ''food'' dared to harm him, his Aura and presence also did not weaken even after cutting off his head. "(Calm down, Zenos... calm down... think about everything you''ve learned...)" (I) I tried to put aside thinking about his defenses and started thinking about the change my curse had caused to his body making him vulnerable enough for my last 2 big attacks to do that level of damage, a malleable body like that could be cut and pierced, which I tried to do without success. While I was thinking, I received another blow that broke my ribs, but I took advantage of the force of the blow while resisting the pain to move away from him, just fighting him would be useless if I don''t have a way to defeat this bastard. "(I can seal him... maybe...?)" (I) I tried to think a little realizing that I have little knowledge of sealing, this was clearly possible, the chains made from mirror fragments show that he was sealed before that wretched Mother of the Grave released him. "(I focused too much on offensive techniques, I''m not good at defense, and I know next to nothing about sealing creatures...damn!)" (I) He once again got to me, this time he performed 3 attacks in a row as if knowing how I would react to each one of them. It opened its jaw trying to bite me from the right, avoiding the obvious side to dodge, I let my body fall downwards while pushing with my wings before I was within suction range of its mouth, that''s when its claw from below tried to hit me, I was very close and I turned my body to the side, still being hit, my entire arm was ripped off with the Star Sword still attached to it. It was at that moment that another attack came, his tail was inches from my head from behind, I used body control to twist my head in an impossible way, barely managing to avoid having my head exploded. At that moment my survival instincts were frantic and without thinking much my Dragon jaws sank into its tail, when I realized this it was already too late to stop, so I used all my power tearing off part of its tail and swallowing it while the Star Sword flew back. to me dragging my torn off arm. Ding! <[ You ingested Erkales (Anomaly Dragon) exceeding the limits of the Skill [ Chaotic Devourer ] ]> . . . <[ Using [ Essence of Chaos ] and [ Divine Spark ] to transcend limits of [ Chaotic Devourer ] Skill ]> . . . <[ His ability has evolved in a Transcendental form [ Chaotic Devourer ] > [ Chaos Anomalous Devourer ] ]> . . <[ You have acquired the [ Anomaly ] trait ]> . . <[ Your Trait [ Anomaly ] will be sealed by the system until you reach Godhood ]> . . . <[ Your [ Chaos Essence ] has absorbed the sealed trait [ Anomaly ] transcending into [ Chaos Anomalous Essence ] ]> . . <[ Your [ Chaos Anomalous Essence ] will be Partially Sealed until you reach Godhood ]> . . . <[ Your Authority cannot Transcend until it reaches Divinity ]> . . . <[ Your Aura may not Transcend until you reach Divinity ]> . . . <[ Your Dragon Totem reacts to the power absorbed from the Anomaly Dragons ]> . . <[ The Universe pays attention to you ]> . . <[ The System evaluates you ]> . . <[ The System warns you not to break the Natural Order or you will be excluded like the Anomaly Dragons ]> "..." (I) I could feel my own Soul bubbling as the Essence Core was restructuring, my body was changing on a fundamental level as well. I felt the piece of the creature that I ate trying to devour me from the inside before being dissolved by me into something similar to Essences, then that something was assimilated into my body and Soul causing a sharp pain to run through everything in me for a brief second. During this time the creature''s presence became much stronger and its claw pierced my stomach before trying to trap me, I acted on impulse, moving away as much as possible. "< Explosion >" (I) I threw several magic crystals that I had saved from the Chaos element and the Space element, then exploded them creating space between the two of us emanating away. This time he didn''t try to attack me dryly like before, he also wasn''t acting like before, I felt like he was seeing me more than just food for the first time as true fury shone brightly in his Aura. During this time the pain I was going through improved and I could see the notifications that appeared, I was surprised and amazed by many things, but it wasn''t time to think about any of that now, survival was more important. "You bastard, how dare you try to devour me, HOW DARE YOU!?" (Erkales) "Do you expect me to sit still and let you devour me!?" (I) "Useless and weak dragons like you are only good for that!" (Erkales) "After I devour you I will track down every one of your lineage and tribe to use your bones as decoration after the meal!" (Erkales) As I let him speak, I was thinking of a way to defeat him with the new possibilities that have arisen, none of his injuries have recovered so far, but I couldn''t launch such powerful attacks in a row. Luckily I saw his tail still with my bite mark, so I thought about what I just did and how his body was malleable due to my curse, a crazy idea popped into my head. I was still hesitant because of the notifications, but I couldn''t think about anything else, even so I still didn''t have the upper hand, I had just found a way to fight and victory finally became a possibility. "Now let''s see who will devour who!" (I) I was prepared for what was coming and this time I attacked first I went towards him who must have felt challenged, he opened his jaws against me once again as he advanced towards me. When we were facing each other, I didn''t dare to truly go head to head against him, I''m still inferior in physique and defense, he could completely swallow me if he wanted. I just wanted to annoy him and I knew I had succeeded, while talking to him I was trying to heal my scales that were melted while I was inside his mouth, I partially healed the hole in my stomach I lay down by his claws and put my arm back in place. I wasn''t completely cured, in fact I was far from it, but I was well enough to fight. "< Multi Elemental Enhancement Magic: Wings of Penumbra >" (I) I used other magic crystals of various elements while creating a new pair of Multi colored wings on my back giving a boost to my speed and maneuverability. With that I managed to dodge him due to the surprise of the change in my movements, so I concentrated my power on the allowance, ripping off two fingers from one of his claws before devouring them entirely, I made my jaw widen just so as not to give him time to do anything. against me. Even so, I was on guard as the power was being absorbed not by me, but by my Blood Core where Niryna was, this made me prepared before I heard a voice in my head. "(I keep this delicious supplement, it will be very nutritious for my daughter.)" (Callidora) I wanted to complain to her but I didn''t know if maybe I should thank her, this power was something I didn''t know about and I didn''t know if it would be beneficial so I didn''t think about it any longer when a tail tried to attack me and a second claw was coming at me. my direction. "HOW DARE YOU DEVOUR ME!!!" (Erkales) He was no longer caring about anything, his attacks were getting faster, it seems like before he wasn''t taking it seriously, but now he was truly enraged. He continued attacking faster, harder, and from increasingly complex angles. All I could do were small bodies and insignificant bites due to not having time to do better while dodging. "If this continues like this, I''m the one who will lose in the end." (I) I had to do something, but I didn''t know what, so I remembered something and tried to feel it inside my body, just as I expected, Hinata was still inside me, in fact she was looking inside my Soul for the Essence Core of In a curious way, as if noticing my attention focused on her, her head leaves my body and an idea appears in my head. "Hinata, I want you to possess my body!" (I) "..." (Hinata) Chapter 1464: Cap 1462: Predator against predator part 2 "Hinata, I want you to possess my body!" (I) "..." (Hinata) My thought was simple, to devour my enemy and for that I had the best possible ally with me, that''s why I needed Hinata to possess my body like Ghosts and Specters do. I know the powers of all my Familiars very well, I know that the strangest are Nix and Hinata''s powers. Hinata has many unique characteristics such as transforming any part of her body or surroundings into a mouth, she can also create slits in the same way. I don''t know where these mouths or crevices lead, but the things that emerge from this place are more than just bizarre. Hinata claims that inside her is at least what the mouths ingest and in this part comes one of her characteristics that I need now, when she is possessing a body, she can use the same powers as her Spectral body such as distorting the body and opening these mouths all over your body as you wish. "Hinata, we don''t have time! Do it now!!" (I) "...." (Hinata) Hinata must have been confused, her mind is usually simple and innocent, but even so she followed my command, this time she was not just inside me, her Spectral body dispersed inside me as it merged with my entire body, I also felt a part of it clinging to my Soul. The bastard was already attacking me once again, this time he is more than fierce, his attacks are creating rhythm and combos to try to hit me. He was also more cautious than before and wasn''t leaving any openings that I could easily use, it seems that my eating him was the boundary for him to consider me more than just food. Continuing to dodge her attacks was difficult when I felt something extending inside me, a mind being added to mine as well as an Aura and power that was complementing mine. Suddenly I felt different, it was as if there was something supporting my movements, whenever I moved one of my limbs the movement was twice as fast, there was also something correcting the direction of my every slightest movement and my senses were much stronger. "(All ready, master.)" (Hinata) "(How do you wish to proceed?)" (Hinata) "(Can you sync with me so well?)" (I) "(I can feel every movement of your muscles, hear your superficial thoughts and I am mixed with your Aura, when you move I can do the same halving the load for you.)" (Hinata) I directly transferred the improvised plan I created into her mind, Hinata seemed more intelligent, I didn''t have much time to think about it, I felt her power within me and it was as if it were my own power, I knew how to use it. "I''ll show you who the food is here!!!" (Erkales) He was furious and it was perfectly possible to understand why, I just ate 2 of his fingers, just as I thought he didn''t regenerate or healed it seems he is not able to recover on his own, it could also mean that my curse burning your body impedes your ability to recover. He was no longer taking things lightly, the energy within his body glowed more brightly and his exoskeleton became twice as thick as well as growing a little. He lunged at me and this time it wasn''t a simple physical attack, his claws were enveloped by energy growing to twice their size, which became immense since he''s so big. I felt that the energy itself around the claws was not affected by my curse, so I pushed with my wings, deflecting its blow and heading towards the part of the arm that was not covered by the energy. "< Fangs of the Void >" (me/Hinata) I moved my arm like a whip and it grew as it became thinner until it reached the tip, two rows of teeth revealed a long mouth across its entire structure. As soon as the whip hit his arm, it was controlled digging into his body, I could feel my ability activating as I devoured part of that arm. I felt relieved to realize that the plan was viable, but I paid attention to my surroundings even though I didn''t expect what would come next. "YOU ARE MINE!!!" (Erkales) A deformed skeletal arm came out of the Anomaly Dragon''s chest and came towards me, I didn''t have time to release the whip that was made from one of my arms, as I held my sword tightly, concentrating my Holy Power on it as I received the attack head on. As expected, I was thrown back with blood leaking from my mouth, but I wasn''t going to become weak because of it, I tightly held onto my sword as I activated my devouring power directly into the sword. "< 10 Star Sword Art: Consumer of Worlds >" (me/Hinata) The hilt of the Star Sword, previously white with details of Dragon bones, now changes color with the bone details becoming red as if stained with blood, the black crystal blade that has stars and energy flows running through the blade along with Runes in the shape of stars like constellations, but now the energy flows become silhouettes moving in the dark of the night and the stars become predatory eyes, all the Runes in the shape of constellations drown in the darkness almost making it impossible to see, so Of all these changes, the most surprising thing was the real teeth emerging from inside the sword''s blade, pointing inward as if it were some bizarre decoration. With each movement of the sword, traces of Starfire left traces in the path, I didn''t want to use this technique because it used Spiritual Power, but this time it was a little different. I let Hinata''s power course through my body and sit reaching for the sword, suddenly the sword''s teeth seemed to salivate and the image of the sky inside seemed to become deeper while the dark silhouettes seemed to become more real like real hungry Specters. What I wanted this time was not to cause greater damage, I wanted to devour this Anomaly Dragon entirely and this sword art would allow each strike of my sword to be equivalent to a bite. "(I spent too much energy on the previous attacks, it''s going to be an endurance fight and I''m dangerously behind in this, I have to avoid using more power.)" (I) I couldn''t continue using techniques, skills and magic like that, my power wasn''t infinite, especially while I was using Divine power, if it was before I reached 50% of my Divine Incarnation, I wouldn''t have lasted until now with how much power I wasted in previous attacks. "Let''s see who falls first." (I) The sword was a little bigger in this form and each swing was full of power as I used all my physical strength with each movement, my Aura burned around the sword incinerated by the intense Starfire. The fight became faster and faster, when I tried to cut a part of the exoskeleton on his wings I was only able to make a few scratches and a slight crack, but I realized that the Starfire gradually expanded these cracks centimeter by centimeter. Just as I was accumulating damage on him, the opposite was unfortunately true, he ate one of my wings and ripped off my foot, this time he didn''t give me the opportunity to recover my body parts, forcing me to regenerate those parts by spending more energy for that, luckily he wasn''t able to do the same or it would be a losing fight. Seconds turned into minutes which turned into tens of minutes and before I knew it more than 1 hour had passed, I was very tired but I kept fighting. When he tried to cut me with his claws, I gave a boost with my wings while spinning in the air, passing around his arm, I reached the side of his body in moments and used the sword between the parts of his exoskeleton, cutting the malleable part of the body his body was still heating, this time I managed to tear off a large piece of his body that was sucked into the sword as if devoured by the ornamental mouth on the blade. I saw him moving his other arm towards me, I let him hit my body, taking advantage of his own strength to break a part of his exoskeleton for the first time where I had used a cracked part to stick the sword. My body opens at the chest revealing rings of teeth and a long tongue that stretches out dragging the severed exoskeleton inside. "Now you can''t run!" (Erkales) As if waiting for this opportunity, the allergy forming his body changed shape creating a scythe and his Aura became solid around me, he left this opening on purpose to catch me off guard. "Hinata!" (I) "< Void Butchers >" (Hinata/me) Suddenly I felt something change, Hinata who until now was supporting me, suddenly takes the lead and following her will I do the same knowing that she was doing something, then dozens of large deformed mouths open all over my Dragon body, including in my wings. Thousands of silhouettes mixed in a river of mist full of strange shapes pour out, stretching out strange arms with mouths in the palms, they stand in the path of the falling scythe like picanhas surrounding a creature that dared to enter the river, even before the formica was formed approaching was completely consumed and the creatures were wanting to advance further before being crushed by a pressure that deformed space. The remains of these creatures were sucked into the open mouths on my body before closing, then Hinata returned to support me while I looked at Erkales, he was missing one of his arms, without his tail and the rest of his body was full of holes to the point of me seeing part of the cursed Core that I planted inside him. "This is taking too long..." (I) Chapter 1465: Cap 1463: Predator against predator part 3 It''s been a long time since this battle has been going on and the weight of keeping my Divine Incarnation active is getting harder and harder, having Hinata possessing my body has only added weight to my already heavy load. I look at Erkales''s broken body, I managed to eat many parts of him and yet he didn''t perform any ranged attacks, not even a classic Dragon breath attack. "(Hinata, how is my Soul?)" (I) "(Perfectly fine, but his body has been at its limit for some time, one of his muscles tore in the last attack.)" (Hinata) "(Ignore these little things.)" (I) My body strengthened by Divine Power was no longer able to handle it, but I couldn''t care less, my physical body is secondary as it could even regenerate entire limbs in the middle of combat, even though I haven''t tested it, I think it could regenerate even even my head. That''s why the only type of damage that really scared me was the one that hits the Soul, I knew that if it continued, it would at some point hit my Soul hard. I looked at Erkales still standing, he was in a pathetic state to the point of being pitiful, there was nothing left of the ferocity and dread that his appearance made others feel when they looked at him. But even though his presence and Aura didn''t decrease, even though he seemed to have the upper hand, I couldn''t help but feel that there was something wrong. "(If I only knew what this bastard really is or at least understood this thing about Anomalies it would be possible to figure out what he''s doing.)" (I) I was scared, I couldn''t lie to myself, I was already fighting beyond my limit to the point that my body was starting to tear itself apart from the inside and I could feel it in my Aura as well as in my presence that were decreasing, but while that Erkales looks horrible and still maintains a stable Aura, I knew something was wrong. "(I don''t even know why he''s attacking me... in fact I myself feel a strong instinctive urge to kill him... but I don''t know why.)" (I) "(Regardless of what my gut says, I have priorities... I need to find the others who were under attack when I was taken and I need to collect one last Essence.)" (I) "(I have no reason to fight him, I have even less reason to risk my life by doing so.)" (I) "If you stop attacking me, we can end this fight here, I have no reason to fight you..." (I) "HAHA HAHAHAHAHA... AH HAHAHAHAHA..." (Erkales) "..." (I) I pressed my hand on the hilt of the Star Sword, that laughter was calm no matter how loud it was, his Aura was burning with hunger and the will to fight, the thing that looks like an eye on his head was facing me with a glow of great murderous intent. "What''s your name, young Dragon God? I want to know the name of the most difficult appetizer I''ve found." (Erkales) "I am Zenos and I am not a God, at least not yet." (I) As he spoke while remaining still, I tried to think of how to resolve this quickly and Hinata inside me was doing the same by complementing my lines of thought. "Good, very good, it''s been a few millennia since I''ve encountered such a challenging Dragon, this was also the first time someone dared to treat me like food." (Erkales) As he spoke his presence seemed to burn the surroundings as if digesting the surroundings, I knew he must be preparing something and I hurriedly put the plan I thought of with Hinata into practice by letting her take over more of my body. "< Children of the Void obey My Call >" (Hinata/me) Suddenly all my Sacred Power was being sucked away along with a colossal flow of the 3 Natural Energies, then a presence emerged from within me coming from Hinata, a type of Authority that I did not recognize. Soon hundreds of cracks filled with saliva-covered teeth opened up in the space around Erkales, everything happened too fast for him to be able to react or so I thought. Suddenly gray arms appeared from each of the slits, countless eyes opening and closing from these arms that stretched outwards, the hands had different numbers of fingers and all of them had giant spouts on their palms. Each hand held a part of Erkales, the hands seemed desperate for food as they crowded around his body tearing off pieces of his body before eating. Strangely Erkales didn''t fight it and didn''t have any kind of reaction to his body being destroyed in this way, in fact his Aura seemed to condense more and more. In seconds I felt my Soul vibrate and I also felt Hinata struggling as her arms were taken by chains back to the cracks that closed like monsters closing their jaws. All that was left of Erkales was his half deformed exoskeleton, what appeared to be his eyes as well as the Curse Core that I placed inside him also disappeared, nothing remained of the strange energies that formed his body, but his Aura was full of power and his presence felt different. I no longer feel the Auras and power of various Dragons that I felt before, it was just a power and a bizarre Aura. His Aura was similar to that of a Dragon, but it was fundamentally different, it was as if his Aura was trying to imitate that of a Dragon even though it wasn''t. His presence was even stranger now, all that existed was hunger, his presence was unstable like a sand castle and could fall apart at any moment or that''s what it seemed to my senses. While the changes in him caught my attention, the power that arose from consuming so much of it was continually being sucked away by my Blood Core because of Callidora injecting all that power into Niryna. "It''s been a long time since I used this form... the feeling of hunger... the feeling of clarity in my mind... such an undignified appearance." (Erkales) "You will pay for forcing me to this point, I will use you to be complete once again." (Erkales) "..." (I) As he spoke his entire exoskeleton was deforming and moving taking on the same shape as it had before, but without those metal-solid energies inside, it was like seeing the skeleton of a dead creature. Soon that exoskeleton began to shrink, as it decreased in size, the bones became wider, thinner and new shapes emerged from it, filling the spaces with nothing, I wouldn''t let him continue with that. "< Cursed Breath of Chaos >" (me/Hinata) With Hinata''s help, dozens of mouth-like slits open around Erkales once again, this time Starfire full of purple stars came out of each of these slits as well as my own mouth, our target being the same was surrounded by the destructive power creating a sphere of Starfire that looked more like a gigantic orb containing a starry sky full of purple stars. "Do you really think you can stop me? Do you think you can defeat me? Do you know how many Dragons I devoured to acquire such a majestic form that you destroyed!? Do you know how much of my HUNGER YOU AWAKENED!!!???" (Erkales) From within the Starfire orb his voice emerged filled with an increasingly heavy killing intent, his voice at the end sounded more like a roar than a voice, he was targeting me with his presence and I could feel that something was coming to completion within Starfire. "(I won''t make it that easy.)" (I) "< Divine Curse: Chaos Curse Dragon Seal >" (me/Hinata) This time I consumed everything without leaving any reserves, I was making a more than risky bet. I consumed all that was left of my 3 Natural Energies, all of my Sacred Power, all of the Power of the Divine Spark and all of Hinata''s power. I extracted all the power I could muster within myself, then concentrated it along with my Authority and Aura completely within the Star Sword, all of this power was sent to the Cursed Sun in the center of the sky in the middle of the sword, as the entire sword exploded in Starfire and Purple Flames when I threw the sword in the direction Erkales was inside the Cursed Starfire orb. The sword became a Dragon with purple crystal scales surrounding a Dragon body that seemed to be made from the night sky itself, right in its jaws was a sphere of purple fire that was actually my Cursed Sun. "AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" (Erkales) "BASTARD!!!!!" (Erkales) Suddenly I was feeling weaker and weaker, Hinata left my body and stood on my shoulder as I reverted to my normal Dragon form, then the cracks around the orb closed, with no one adding any more Starfire attacks in the orb it was possible to see that this cursed Starfire was being sucked into the center. In a few seconds the large orb shrank to less than 200 meters and the hilt of the Sword appeared, then all the remaining Starfire disappeared within the sword that was piercing the chest of a humanoid figure made of metallic scaled plates with wings on its back and head a crystal that appears to contain a black hole inside. The sword going through the chest seemed to be passing through a large cross-shaped mouth there, the entire body was melting quickly because of Fluffy coming out of it. "I don''t accept dying like this!!!" (Erkales) Chapter 1466: Cap 1464: World Sealing Part 1 Pov Karina: Zenos'' disappearance took everyone by surprise, but I know he will find a way to return and even if he can''t do that, in this place the most suspicious thing is still our destination, Tarzor. "Can you take care of one of them?" (Alice) "Yes... I think..." (I) "What are you going to do?" (I) "I know my limitations, I will try to join the fight against those 13." (Alice) "Try not to die." (I) "You too." (Alice) We smiled at each other, we knew that our duty was not only to fight but also to keep others alive, being in an area consecrated by Zenos'' power like this, neither of us can be killed here as Saints, we can also command the power here to do more than we are normally capable of. Seeing the enemies surrounding us, they don''t seem to care that their attacks failed and that we took the battlefield more in our favor. "Let Nicole command the others, come on." (Alice) "Yes." (I) As I moved forward some followed me closely, these were Ynes, Cinthia, Natasha, Elizabeth, Caitlyn, Nix and Silvia. It didn''t take words to know why they were chosen, Zenos'' sisters are the strongest in the Dungeon, Ynes may only be a Demigod now, but she was a powerful Demon God. Nix is ??one of Zenos'' most powerful Familiars and has the advantage in fighting among the stars, Cinthia has the power to cause damage directly to the mind or Soul of her enemies and Silvia, even though she is just a daughter of Zenos now, was once a World Tree, his power is not inferior to Ynes. But everyone moved faster than I expected. "Pick your targets." (Elizabeth) Everyone pointed to the most suitable opponent, the 3 sisters chose first, then I chose next and the others came later, it was a rule based on everyone''s strength here. The Legions of Death are as follows: 1. Legion of Death (Human Elderly Man): statue of an elderly man with a beard made of billions of bones together, there is a hole behind the beard in the neck area where a sphere is barely visible. 2. Legion of Death (Human Boy): The smallest of them, but in place of the top of his head is his spinning planet wearing formal metal clothing. 3. Legion of Death (Human Woman): a woman in a crystal dress, on her head there is a crystal crown where a sphere rotates. 4. Legion of Death (Tree): a tree in humanoid shape, it looks like a petrified tree with crystal leaves, it has a vertical crack in the trunk where a sphere rotates as if it were an eye. 5. Legion of Death (Lion Beastman): a stone-headed Beastman with a metal body like armor, on his forehead a sphere was firmly attached. 6. Legion of Death (Demon Man): his body was made of smooth rocks and wore an ice mantle with 2 crystal horns, between the horns was the rotating sphere. 7. Legion of Death (Elf Man): a stone Elf with his palms facing each other, between his palms is a rotating sphere. 8. Legion of Death (Celestine Woman): a woman made completely of metal, on her chest was a necklace with a hanging sphere, her wings seemed to be made of crystal. I chose to face the elderly man, he was clearly strong and was the only one who felt a trace of Holy Power rejecting the Territory, so he must have something with him that belongs to the Gods. I walked up to him while transforming into a Dragon, I was surprised at my calmness as I stood facing the enemy, he seemed to be waiting for me as he didn''t attack until I got close. "Why did you attack us?" (I) "Because they are alive." That was the only thing he said before attacking me, his hand didn''t move from its place, but a new arm appeared with his hand already closing around me. Even in my Dragon form it wasn''t even 1/1000th the size of a planet, but I still wasn''t afraid, I focused my Authority into the claws and the Holy Power from the surroundings gathered on its own when I moved my claws, breaking his hand the size of an island. "< Breath of Cataclysm >" (I) My breath attack that would normally only reshape the map of a continent gathered an absurd amount of Holy Power before opening a hole in the Legion of Death''s shoulder, my power destroyed its body and when it got closer I had a wing destroyed as specters appeared around me launching spheres of pure Death energy. The battle continued like this for tens of minutes, every damage I did was quickly closed by attracting the pieces of rocks that was destroyed, meanwhile I also recovered from all the attacks, this includes when he destroyed my head or when he crushed my body between your palms, every time the Holy Power gathered around me healing my body in moments. "(How to defeat what is already dead?)" (I) While I continued to think of a way to defeat him, I was suddenly surrounded by spectral bone spears, with no time to react I had to feel my body being turned into a sieve and being almost completely destroyed. The power contained in this attack was trying to reach my Soul, but it was consumed by Starfire and then filled my Soul with power when it was used to nourish my Soul. The Holy Power from the surroundings was gathering around me rebuilding my body completely in moments when a crystal bird came close to me speaking in Nicole''s voice, probably one of her Golems or Lower Familiars. "[They must be Sealed, but only you, Alice, the Heralds, and my Father''s Familiars can command the necessary Holy Power from the surroundings.]" (Nicole) "I don''t know anything about sealing." (I) "[I''m sending Loki, work together with him.]" (Nicole) "Actually I''ve been here for a while." (Loki) As I was listening to Nicole I could feel the energy swirling around the Legion of Death, it was at that moment when Nicole stopped talking that the energy dispersed and all the Ghosts or Specters around began to gather in the sphere behind her beard of bones. Loki suddenly appears on the top of my head and I feel him drawing using his own blood on my forehead, I hadn''t felt it get there and even less when he started drawing. "Lend me your Authority and use the Dragon Totem, try to channel that power into the ritual I did on your forehead and let me take care of the rest." (Loki) "Quickly before he realizes he''s been tricked... too late..." (Loki) "< Holy Summon: Primordial Totem >" (I) While Loki was speaking, I knew of the limited time and was already storing enough Holy Power to summon the Primordial Totem. As soon as I summoned it, the space behind me opened up as a Starfire Dragon came out before coiling in on itself, then it dispersed revealing a Statue of Zenos in its Dragon form inside. I began to channel the Holy Power, the power of the Dragon Totem and my Authority into my forehead where Loki sat cross-legged in the center of the ritual he designed. "Was you!!" The Legion of Death seemed enraged as all the Ghosts and Specters merged into a staff in his hands whose head of the staff became the sphere he hid behind his beard, the sphere was the planet with space compressed around it and began to rotate at the tip of the spectral staff, gathering an absurd amount of death power. "Loki, I don''t know what you''re going to do but do it now!!!" (I) "< Sacred Ritual: Sun and Moon Seal the Dragon >" (Loki) I suddenly felt all the Sacred Power of the Surroundings condense into the form of a Starfire Dragon reaching the tip of its staff coiling around the small planet before a Purple Sun and a Fragmented moon left the Dragon Totem to orbit the small planet. All the power of death disperses before the vitality of the Fragmented Moon and all malice is sucked away before being incinerated by the Purple Sun. A tornado of Holy Power forms Dragons made of silver fragments of the Moon with Purple Fire eyes, these Dragons multiplied into millions as they wrapped themselves around the Legion of Death''s huge body pulling him into the small world with no chance of escape. "No no no no!!!" "I need your help now, combine your Authority with mine for the final Seal." (Loki) "< Seal >" (me/Loki) The Sphere surrounded by Spatial power began to grow, but before returning to its planetary size again, we completed the Seal by creating a layer of slightly reddish transparent crystal around it, there were 3 rings of energy around the crystal spinning, one was the color purple, another silver color and the last one was a star crystal. The crystal larger than my body shrinks and floats towards me, I try to touch it and immediately remove the claws as I felt my bones breaking as I look at the seemingly calm planet inside the crystal with two celestial bodies rotating around it as well as Dragon silhouettes. "Don''t touch it, this thing is still a planet, its mass and weight is not something you can physically resist, just use your Authority to make it float near you." (Loki) "It would be better to take it to the Communal Temple inside the Dungeon where the seal will be strengthened." (Loki) Chapter 1467: Cap 1465: World Sealing Part 2 Pov Elizabeth''s: I''m glad none of the others chose my target to attack, my biggest fear was Natasha realizing who he was, but as long as I fight him it''s enough. I used my blood wings to stop in front of him and immediately a large number of Ghosts gathered in front of me, they took a similar shape to the Legion of Death from which he came with the only difference being that his head was entirely with a childlike face. "You''re not him, so why take on that appearance?" (I) "The race I look like refers to the most numerous intelligent race that lived in me, while my appearance is always based on the most notable figure in my history who died in me." "You don''t have your Soul." (I) "No, you destroyed his Soul and we remember that, but I have your memories and the memories of everyone who surrounded you as well as the one who was by your side the longest." "He is undeniably the most remarkable in my history, the one who killed the most during his short period of life and the one who initiated my death, his dear student." "He was not a student, he was unable to learn anything from start to finish, distorting everything he heard to fit his own ideas instead of learning." (I) "I expected your sister to come to me, so I asked others not to attack, but you are also acceptable." His murderous intent was enormous, the others didn''t realize that this apparent boy was the strongest, there is no world that was more bathed in blood than this planet, there is no Legion of Death that has more imprisoned Souls than this one. "Do you hate me that much?" (I) "It surprises me that you ask the obvious, you started the 5 wars that destroyed 3 continents and reduced the population to 1/5 of its entirety." "But it is undeniable that your sister personally caused more damage, the resentment in me is much more directed towards her who took an active part in all these wars and those that followed until my death." As he spoke the space around us was closing, his strength is as great as that of the strongest Minor Gods, but in the end he did not acquire Divinity even though he was at that level, I couldn''t help but smile as I waited for him to close the space. "It ended?" (I) "Yes, no one will interrupt us and that annoying energy won''t get here." "< Divine Incarnation: 99% >" (I) The power runs through my body, the power of Dragons is from the Demons that formed this body a long time ago and were swallowed by my Vampire power, so I told Zenos that I didn''t need another source of power like Caitlyn and Natasha. The blood leaks through the pores of my skin forming a liquid red dress made from the blood of millions, a large coat made of Dragon scales and ornaments emerge from the materialization of the energy wearing my body, the crown that forms on my head possesses great beauty while It floats above me with a large drop of blood as its main jewel, on my back 6 pairs of wings that seem to complement my coat. My body also changes, the scales spread more over my body, two large horns grow on my forehead, drops of blood float around me, curling and flowing through my body forming various ornaments or jewelry such as earrings, necklaces, scarves and bracelets. As I get so close to the Divine level, he just watches with his killing intent growing endlessly, apparently he wants something more than just killing me or Natasha. "Let''s start." (I) "< Divine Blood Magic: Blood Nation >" (I) "< Summon: Nation of Death >" Suddenly a spectral army forms around him, each of them a giant wearing bone armor with a Ghost body inside holding spears, shields and swords already advancing towards me like a wall of murderous intent. Behind me the illusion of a golden and red crystal city forms, countless races come out wearing red metallic scale armor with golden details forming an army that goes against the Legion of Death. While the two armies fight I advance against the main body which has also turned against me. "< Blade of Life >" (I) "< Ray of Eternal Resentment >" Countless drops of blood form a giant sword in front of me filled with the life energy of countless creatures, then this sword collides with a beam of energy hundreds of kilometers long creating a stalemate. On the one hand, he has more energy than me, but I have Divine Power making up for this difference, but I was serious when I realized that his power is even stronger than I expected. "(The Blood Sealing will take a while to work, I need to prepare the pressure points for the Sealing.)" (I) "(It would be much easier if I had a Divine Weapon or at least had someone else to help.)" (I) ------------------ Pov Natasha''s: I really couldn''t avoid fighting this bastard, of all of them, this bastard was the one with the greatest battle instinct, in fact as soon as I got closer he launched an attack at me. I had to use my Divine Incarnation immediately and use magic to increase my size as well as my physical strength. In my Dragon form I held my war-worn Sword as I faced the Legion of Death head-on. He used the Ghosts and Specters to guide a large Sword even by his standards that split the space it passed through while I was careful not to cause more damage in the space, a crack here could attract other types of enemies that we don''t need now. I did my best to fight him because I realized that the only thing he seeks is combat, I advanced against him in a purely physical combat. Making my body grow so much has brought inconveniences such as the inability to heal myself and the inability to manage energies externally, but I don''t need those things having such a good opponent in front of me, I couldn''t help but smile. Every time our swords collide, an explosion capable of devastating Worlds is generated, destroying part of his armor while cracking some of my scales. "(Just destroying his body is useless, I need to Seal him and I know exactly the best way.)" (I) I use my Divine Energy together with my Vitality on the blade, I may not be able to heal my body, but my Vitality has always been something that surpasses even many Gods. My sword is covered in layers of blood and I advance against my enemy, his sword comes down on me and I let it hit the side of my arm forcing the sword in another direction while my sword leaves dozens of marks on his arms creating rivers of my blood in his colossal body. He opens his rock jaws revealing sharp metal teeth, but I open my Dragon Mouth biting his shoulder and forcing him back where I saw Silvia fighting the tree-like Legion of Death. "(Who would fight alone with allies around them?)" (I) As my wings and strength force us towards another battle, his sword floats out of his hands and pierces my back from behind, we were also noticed by the other two who reacted very differently. The petrified tree launched billions of leaf-shaped crystals like a rain of blades towards us, Silvia seeing an opening attacked her enemy knowing what I was going to do. In my position, I grabbed the sides of his body and used his colossal body as a shield, his metal armor was torn to pieces while his stone head was almost completely destroyed before putting itself back together recovering from all the damage. Without wasting any time, I also controlled my war sword leaving countless marks all over his body as I advanced, then crashed into the tree which used stone branches to pierce my opponent through my shoulder in the process. "< Sacred Rune Magic: Runes of Life >" (Silvia) Silvia, who was in her Dragon form, created countless Runes that stuck to the petrified tree, making trees of different colors grow like vertical flowers that her enemy was unable to destroy. I moved away from my opponent standing next to Silvia who was smaller by a large proportion, the two of us were now in a 2 VS 2 battle against opponents who don''t know how to work together, a difficult battle has just become simpler now. "How''s the combat going?" (I) "Difficult, she is not a Legion of Natural Death, she was created by force, I feel Necromancer magic in her as well as traces of a sister who was already reborn elsewhere." (Silvia) "Someone used the fallen body of a World Tree to contaminate an entire world." (Silvia) "Do you know who it was?" (I) "No, but it doesn''t matter either, his Soul must be one of those in the Legion of Death, that certainly wasn''t a reaction he wanted, you can''t control that level of power." (Silvia) While talking to Silvia we were preparing big attacks, but we needed to wait for the two Legions of Death to release so as not to interfere with the different sealing techniques we are using. Chapter 1468: Cap 1466: Marked forever Pov Nix: I was facing him, I chose any one since in the end they are all enemies, but now that I''m facing him I''m really scared, the pressure that comes from his massive size and his Aura are enormous. "(We really never have a day of relaxation and you disappeared somewhere, master... but what bad luck.)" (I) I couldn''t help but feel this way in this situation, but that doesn''t mean I''m going to give up. In my Dragon form I chose not to get closer, I can feel the Specters around him invisible, he was looking at me, but I knew he was doing more than that, I could feel something trying to corrupt my Soul. "(Good luck trying to corrupt a Soul with the power of Essence.)" (I) "< Holy Rune: Holy Strengthening >" (I) I use the Essence within me to create a Spiritual Rune that I place in my Soul, thereby creating a continuous flow of Sacred Power for myself in that place. "< Eclipse Rune: Primordial Dragon''s Pressure >" (I) This was another Rune that I created using the Power of Essence that I share with Zenos, with this no one goes, the preparations are finished. "< Cursed Magic: Spectral World >" "Damn..." (I) "< Eclipse Rune: River of Stars >" (I) Suddenly I felt like I was being pulled and I had no way to resist when the space deformed around me, before I knew it I was in the middle of a desert, looking around I saw a pair of eyes in the sky looking towards me. But before arriving here I hurriedly used another technique creating a river of stars, with this I can control the distance using the Power of Zenos that I created before. While I was in the middle of the desert I felt things moving beneath the sand and the strong energy of death trying to penetrate my body. "I just need to hold on for a few more seconds." (I) ------------------ Pov Caitlyn''s: I was looking at the chair in my hands, the fragmented Planet with green clouds around it. "Trying to use illusions against me was funny, what a shame you didn''t last more than a few minutes." (I) Trapping an entire planet in a nightmare was an almost impossible task for me in the past, but now it has become modernly possible, even in the past I have trapped an entire continent in my nightmares for the sake of a brief nap. The bodies and power of the Legions of Death may be incredible, but their Souls are still unstable as are their minds I may fear facing several at the same time, but in a one-on-one fight there is no pressure. "Where do I go now, girl?" (I) "[Help with the other Legions of Death that Alice is facing.]" (Nicole) "All right..." (I) "(Zenos will pay me for dragging myself into this mess later.)" (I) ------------------ Pov Cynthia''s: I see the broken bodies around, I feel ashamed to let these bodies be destroyed like this, they are my bodies due to the many times I have been destroyed by my opponent. "Why are you in my way?" (I) "You''re too aggressive, I can''t let you leave here." (Mother of the Grave) "< Cursed Rune: Execution of Souls >" (I) "That''s useless." (Mother of the Grave) "< Swallow >" (Mother of the Grave) The head of the great serpent on which it sits open to the jaws draining yet another of my attacks, all the Holy Power, Spiritual Energy and even the Essence Power I put into this attack were drained. "< Death Magic: Dismemberment of Life >" (Mother of the Grave) With this attack once again, an energy that I don''t know where it comes from tears off each of my limbs while my vital energy is drained along with my blood into a tombstone with my name. Then my Soul emerges from my destroyed body like the eye of a storm of Holy Power condensing into a new body. "Where is the master?" (I) "I hate people who don''t listen and even more those who don''t die." (Mother of the Grave) Fighting the Northern Legion was difficult, but I didn''t need to physically fight against such a creature, what I did was directly enter a fight against its Soul where I used my Essence to mark Sealing Runes. The body of the Legion of Death I faced is still in the same place unable to move being sealed in its own Soul. That''s why I decided to ignore the others and Nicole''s requests, that woman can''t see what truly matters, with our power the chances of someone dying are medium to low and even if it happens there are several ways to bring the person back in a short period of time being in this Holy place. Our only focus should be tracking down Master Zenos, not wasting any more time fighting these creatures. I thought they would be more difficult, but with such irregular and unstable Souls they are not that much of a challenge. That''s why I moved towards Tarzor, if there is a place where the master could be, then it would be there or at least there would be a clue to follow. But before I reached halfway, she appeared, destroying my body, preventing me from reaching Tarzor and it was obvious that her appearance was similar to that of the Ladies of the Grave, thus making her a Servant of Tarzor, which confirms that they are involved in the master''s disappearance Zenos. I tried many ways to get past her or destroy her, nothing worked unfortunately, every time I was destroyed and had to create a new body taking advantage of the dense Holy Power. "< Demonic Magic: Death Sealing >" (I) This time I used the power of the Essence in my daggers as I advanced, the magic embedded in the daggers activates as I attack my enemy, but I was still underestimating her as she only uses her hands to grasp the blades of my daggers and the line of the Serpent coiling around my body. "You''re very annoying, you don''t seem to listen to anything I say, so I''m going to ground you for a while." (Mother of the Grave) "< Burial of the Fallen: Selar >" (Mother of the Grave) Suddenly many chains come out of the tombstone with which it has been absorbing part of my Vitality each time my body was destroyed, while I was dragged to the tombstone before my petrified body became obese in it, the last thing I saw was that unfortunate woman''s smile. "(I''m sorry master... I failed...)" (I) ----------------- Pov Zenos: The sword passing through the chest seemed to be passing through a large cross-shaped mouth there, the entire body seemed to be melting quickly because of the Fire coming out from within. "I don''t accept dying like this!!!" (Erkales) I can finally feel his presence diminishing, his Aura breaking and the never-ending pain in his voice, so I move closer, careful not to get too close, careful that he isn''t completely dead yet since I''m not strong enough to keep my power as before. "Hinata, are you okay?" (I) "Sleep... sleep..." (Hinata) With these words, she enters my body before falling asleep hugging my Soul, this is one of the customs she acquired instead of entering her necklace like before, but there is not much I can do. "Let me go!!!" (Erkales) "..." (I) I keep an eye on the surroundings, all the devastation we caused is falling apart, the island that was now a little far away, is gathering its fragments, the destroyed trees are growing again, the ditches and craters in the ground are disappearing with the ground returning to normal. "(I don''t feel any type of Elemental power, nature energy or the 3 natural energies, there is also no vitality in plants, it seems more like a body recovering.)" (I) While he was lost in thought, a mark of a 4-pointed star rises from Erkales'' body, from this mark an energy even stronger than his or almost anything I''ve felt before appears accompanied by a voice. "Erkales falls to another predator, may his body and power nourish our enemy." "By this stigma you will be marked eternally, so prove to us whether you are the predator or the hunted." With these words the 4-pointed star mark flies towards me, crossing my physical body, ignoring Hinata who was embraced with my Soul and was not affected by my Essences. This 4-point Star mark hits my Soul, getting stuck as if it had always been part of my Soul, without causing pain or anything else. "YOU KEEP WHAT YOU KILL!!!" This time the voice that appeared was not the same as before, it was a new voice that seemed to come from the brand itself that began to emanate an Aura full of pure hunger that expanded outside my body taking the same Dragon shape as me, completely transparent, while this illusory form opens its jaws, sucking Erkales'' body and power until there is nothing left. I could feel the suction of Callidora trying to take this last wave of power, but to no avail, this final wave of power was purer and seemed to be complementary with the 4-pointed star mark as it went directly to my Soul. When I looked again at where Erkales'' body was, there was nothing left, everything had melted before becoming a flow of bizarre energy that entered inside me. The presence that formed the illusory form looked like mine in Dragon form fell apart, returning inside me. "(I''ll let you have it.)" (Callidora) This was the first time I heard a disappointed tone of voice from Callidora, but I wasn''t very interested in her now, that''s because I felt something struggling within the brand, a Soul. I wouldn''t keep a Soul so close to me, especially a Soul that I recognized and was still complaining about, I controlled my Essence Core to forcibly rip that Soul out of mine and I felt it still being pulled towards the mark, so I ripped it out even more strong, taking the Infernal doll on my waist. "(Now that is a beautiful exotic delicacy... wonderful...)" (Infernal Doll) I heard her voice in my head when Alma was taken, then the darkness was trying to take over my consciousness from exhaustion. "I have to stay awake..." (I) Chapter 1469: Cap 1467: No strength, but not dead! Ding! Just staying awake was proving difficult, I had to rely solely on my willpower for this as there was nothing left beyond that. "I need... ahhh... to recover a little... a little at least... ahhh..." (I) I was exhausted in every way possible, I used Divine Incarnation 2 times in a row and maintained it for a long period of time, I also pushed my limits too much by letting Hinata possess my body and now these actions are taking their dues at the first sign of relief. "(This is Tarzor, this Planet itself is possibly an enemy, there are also many Evil Gods and criminals in this place, if I lose consciousness I won''t even know how I died.)" (I) My body is still full of internal injuries from the weight of what I did, Erkales'' attacks also broke many of my bones and my Soul suffered some impacts due to the last blow I performed. I also have zero energy and have difficulty recovering due to exhaustion, but I still have the 3 Sources of Power continuously nourishing my energy, I just need to recover a little to keep that energy within me. Ding! Ding! I ignore the notifications, I can''t be distracted right now, so I pull out all the barrels and bottles of blood I have stored in my storage items. I may not have the strength for many things, but moving the blood using my will is something fundamental for me, using my Aura to take control over the blood in these containers forming piles around me, I created a tornado of blood around me, quickly nourishing my body. "(Something is wrong, recovery is very slow.)" (I) Normally I am able to use 100% of the power contained in the blood and can use this to both recover my energy and heal my body with the Vitality contained in the blood, but now I feel like I am wasting most of that energy as if I could only take advantage of 15 % up to 20% of the power contained in the blood, the rest was disappearing somewhere. "What the hell..." (I) When I tried to feel the flow of energy within me, I realized that the mark on my Soul was lifting the equivalent of 25% of all the power I was absorbing, the other more than 55% was being taken to my Blood Core where Niryna sleeps waiting to be born. "CALLIDORA!!!" (I) I could only scream her name in fury, there''s nothing I can really do against her, I don''t know if she''s doing it for Niryna or maybe she''s doing it to make up for the frustration of not being able to take the rest of Erkales'' loss, but she You''re taking your anger out on me. "Damn bastard." (I) After consuming so much blood, half of my internal injuries healed, my bones were fixed in place, the feeling of falling unconscious at any moment lessened along with the weakness I felt before. I finally managed to stand up without having to worry about falling, but the weakness was still there, I also didn''t recover almost any energy. "Maybe I can do something recycling..." (I) I walked to the sword that killed Erkales, it was still there and when I touched it it was simple to absorb my Divine Weapon which returned to my hands, it was also easy to absorb what was left of the Holy Power and other energies contained in the Star Sword. "Around 30%, maybe a little less, but it''ll do for now." (I) My power was far from recovered, I also wouldn''t be able to use Divine Incarnation for a while, I was scared and apprehensive about the situation, but there was one more thing I wanted to be sure of. "How long are you going to watch me without showing up?" (I) "My senses may not reach you, but I can feel your eyes on me, so show up." (I) "You took too long with your combat." (Mother of the Grave) Just as I suspected, there was someone watching, I was brought here and they released Erkales to fight me, it was obvious that there were people watching, one of which I already knew to be this ''Mother of the Grave'' that I had seen before, but I expected Tarzor revealed itself. "What do you want, I know it''s not to kill me or you could have taken advantage of my earlier moment of weakness, so what do you guys want?" (I) I see the smile on her face, a sadistic and amused smile as if she were watching a show, this woman is like a bad version of Lilith. I was trying to dig the reason for all this, I can''t understand what is happening here, I could have died against Erkales, I won with great difficulty and making a bet using all my power in the end, so I could have died in that battle. It would be normal to think that they want me dead, but if that were the case they would have taken advantage of that moment to kill me, which they didn''t, so it can only be some kind of test or ordeal where I could die if I fail. I just don''t know what they''re looking for with this, I also don''t know what to expect at the end, are they giving me time to rest now or is this the end? "(I need to know where I stand.)" (I) "Just tell me the truth." (I) "I don''t need to tell you anything, but you did well to defeat a Dragon Eater, so you can take what you came for, if you can take it at all." (Mother of the Grave) "You don''t need to worry about your friend either, she''ll be waiting for you ''if'' you can get out, hahahaha hahahahhaha..." (Mother of the Grave) Suddenly the life of the great serpent opens revealing Cinthia sleeping wrapped around the Serpent''s tongue. "You bastard! What did you do to her? Where are the others!?" (I) She didn''t even say anything else, just maintained a cruel smile as she disappeared as quickly as she appeared, then I felt 3 Divine level presences coming towards me. "That''s bad, I have a few minutes at most, they already felt me." (I) "(Hinata is sleeping deeply and my Soul hasn''t recovered, I can''t use Divine Incarnation and my connection with my Familiars is still blocked... what can I do...?)" (I) I needed a solution, so I tried to think of something, this time they were Deities coming to me, I didn''t know if they were just Evil Gods with Fragments of Divinity or if there would be one with a complete Divinity, I didn''t even know the strength of each of them. "(Death... curse... wait!)" (I) "Yes, how could I forget, if she could do it without an Essence, then so can I!" (I) I took a deep breath as I tried to keep my mind focused, I needed a lot of concentration since I had to do something I''ve never done before in a very short time. I focused my mind on reaching 4 of my Essences, first I used the 3 Essences linked to natural energies trying to suck the energies faster. "(The roots form the earth, the trunk becomes a firm column that supports the world and the branches form the sky whose stars are the leaves revealing an endless depth... an image and a single flow, 3 energies that form a single nature and thus an environment is formed.)" (I) "< Territory: Ruler >" (I) "< Eclipse Star Garden >" (I) "(I can''t... I can''t... so all I have to do is...)" (I) I couldn''t create a Territory, it was like trying to create a field by cutting down petrified trees that are actually made of diamond, I couldn''t move forward and so I did something similar to what Nix did with the Dungeon, I created the Territory within myself, in truth in my shadow. From this Territory I used the 3 Essences to form a point where the Sources of Power can nourish me with their energies, at the same time I used my Divine Weapons to activate my Anomalous Chaos Essence creating Starfire in my hands, then I use my Anomalous Devourer power of Chaos in my Aura to devour the energy of death and Curse around me. If I can''t use those energies, I just devour them and let the Power of Chaos transform those energies into something more useful to me. Doing these two things at the same time put great strain on my Soul once again, but I felt the effects immediately. The Territory in my shadow was successfully opened even at a very small size, then filled with the natural powers provided by the Power Sources that I quickly absorbed into my body, it was like pouring water into a dry desert. Meanwhile the power of death was devoured by my Aura being taken to the Fragmented Moon where it was converted into the power of Life, the power of the Curse was devoured and taken to the Cursed Sun where it was converted into Demonic power. "(It''s working...)" (I) In less than 1 minute I felt my 3 energies recovered by more than 70%, I could also feel my body completely healed, but of course my mind and Soul were on the contrary having once again supported the weight of what I needed to do. My Aura suddenly vibrated, stopping devouring the energy of the surroundings and the Territory in my surroundings fell apart, my mind was very heavy and my senses were slower, but the worst thing was my Soul vibrating as if it was shivering from the cold inside the ice. "They are coming... I can''t show weakness..." (I) Sigh My body was completely recovered and my power was almost completely healed, understanding what was happening, I looked fine on the outside, so I returned to my Dragon form and prepared myself by creating some traps when they arrived. "(2 Evil Gods and a Demon God...)" (I) "(Crap...)" (I) Ding! Chapter 1470: Cap 1468: Whoever stays standing wins part 1 Pov Adella''s: I was inside the Dungeon, when everyone left I did the same, but I didn''t leave the space inside the Dimensional Dragon, I just lay down on the grass and looked at the sky where the battle was taking place, meanwhile a bubble of blood reveals everything my Father was for weakling was passing by. "Why don''t you intervene?" (I) "(I can''t, Baldr must continue to believe that I am very injured and there are others keeping an eye on Tarzor, a move from me would cause more disaster than you imagine.)" (Selene) "This weakling will die, if not by his 3 new adversaries, then it will be by the collapse of his own Soul." (I) "He is reversing the powers of life and death without having proper authority; he doesn''t even realize he is devouring Tarzor''s power." (I) "(He acquired the power of an Anomaly, reversing life and death to this degree will not destroy his Soul.)" (Selene) "(Tarzor also knows what I will do if Zenos dies, even so, keep an eye on it without intervening, if the worst happens, then this Serpent will discover how irrational I can be.)" (Selene) "..." (I) I feel her presence getting weaker, she stopped looking at me, but I could feel her nervousness, I haven''t seen her like this in a long time, it seems like Tarzor is being bolder than she can handle, so I hope Zenos survives or a Bloodbath on a universal scale will begin. "(How can this idiot cause so much havoc with this level of power?)" (I) ------------------- Pov Zenos: Each of them had an immense presence, but what caught my attention the most, oddly enough, he was not the only Demonic God with his complete Divinity but one of the Evil Gods. The Demonic God was, ironically, a Vampire with a distorted power of Life, I could feel his great Vitality to the point that the trees grew around him like monsters emanating Demonic power, he corrupts life itself, it''s no wonder he became a Demon God. There was also an Evil God that looked like a centaur with the body of a scorpion, I could feel a presence of death from him, somehow he seemed part of the environment due to the energy of death throughout this place. The last one was the one who caught my attention, he looked like a human with green skin, other than that his hair and black eyes as well as his black clothes were normal by the standards of this universe, he looked the simplest of the 3 and even so I could feel the 2 others being careful with their Auras when they get too close to him. "(His presence doesn''t seem that big, so how does he... wait, does he...)" (I) "(The insect is called Sabhat, the Demon God is called Tharyn, the last one has no name, but his title is Fragment.)" (Mother of the Grave) "(Try not to die too quickly and watch out for the attack.)" (Mother of the Grave) "< Crawlers of the Underworld >" (Sabhat) "< Blade that Reflects Evil >" (Fragment) "He is mine!" (Tharyn) "< Scythe of Life >" (Tharyn) "(It''s going to be harder than I thought.)" (I) "< Sacred Rune of Space: World Warp >" (I) As soon as they appeared, they didn''t even look at me directly, I noticed that their attention was more focused on themselves as if watching each other''s movements, especially the other two watching the one who seems more normal. Using this time lapse of them, I did a quick analysis of them when the Mother of the Grave started to speak in my mind, I didn''t even notice when they attacked, when I felt the danger I immediately acted with a defense that could serve in many situations. I bent the space around me so that I isolated myself from the rest of the world, so when several half-rotted creatures came out of the ground around me, they weren''t able to reach me. The Vampire, without caring about my defense, created a blood sickle full of intense Vitality that stopped in mid-air without being able to move forward. The only one that caused a real sense of danger was the last one, he grabbed the space and ripped out a part of it that looked more like a broken fragment with an almost passable sword shape, then he used that sword to break the blood sickle into multiple pieces that merge into his sword that continues its movement towards me trying to cut me. The isolated space shatters, forming a spatial circle around me that I had to resist the suction force when the sword made a cut in my chest. "< Eclipse Breath >" (I) A sphere similar to an Eclipse forms in my mouth releasing a beam of stellar energy that goes towards the scorpion man who then moves his hand causing a wall of rot to rise from the ground before breaking under my attack. "< Demonic Magic: Curse of Life >" (Tharyn) A magic circle formed in his hand as a Soul was pulled out forming a misshapen fetus that grows into an aberration full of mouths with sharp teeth. My attack hits this creature that ignores the hole forming in its body as it rushes straight at me as if trying to take me to the grave with it. "< Rune of Wind and Metal: Bladestorm >" (I) I used a Spirit Rune on each wing as I flapped them forward creating a gale like storm sweeping everything in its path, this ended with the creatures crawling on the ground and sent the bizarre creature flying into pieces. This attack wasn''t meant to catch me, I knew that immediately when the space around me shattered into countless fragments that penetrated my body, then a large bone full of cut marks pierces through the storm of blades coming towards me. "(I''m still not well and I won''t be able to do anything like that, I was naive to think I could fight in those conditions.)" (I) "< Activate >" (I) Activating the traps I made for the prey, I remade the battlefield, space storms, blood tornadoes, rivers of fire and metal trees appear everywhere along with a mist filled with Poison mixed with Holy Power. "< Life Grant >" (Tharyn) "< Mountain of Corpses >" (Sabhat) "< Fragment Collector >" (Fragment) "(I won''t miss this opportunity.)" (I) "< Sacred Eclipse Magic: Stellar Execution >" (I) I already knew that my traps could be used against me depending on the river of enemies that appeared, so when the Demonic God granted life to the blood tornadoes by creating a Blood Serpent with a crystal horn emanating Demonic power, I wasn''t that surprised. What surprised me was when the other two enemies started attacking each other, my traps caused a lapse in their movements that they took advantage of to finish each other off. I couldn''t miss this opportunity, so I activated a worse trap that I made inside myself using my blood, a Holy magic that consumed half of my Holy Power creating Countless mirror images of stars around the Demon God ignoring the Blood Serpent coming in my direction. Using these illusory stars that become star crystal stars singing form, then rays of stellar energy come from all directions making the Demon God''s body turn into a sieve as Star Fire surrounds his body. "< Space Magic: Reverse Position >" (I) Controlling each of the stars to form a magic circle near him, I switch places with these stars using Spatial Magic, thus escaping the Demonic Blood Serpent and advancing towards the Demonic Seu. "< Demonic Blood Flow >" (Tharyn) At a glance I saw what seemed the most normal go through the scorpion man''s chest, the Demonic God was my target and he seemed much calmer than I expected, I advanced with my jaws open wanting to at least cause a serious wound, but to my surprise your body dissolves into blood that flows into my mouth and enters my throat as your voice sounds inside me. "You thought I didn''t notice your ridiculous traps or that these Essence-less attacks could make me... but what...? AAAHHHHH!!!!" (Tharyn) Ding! "(An idiot, thought he could steal my body or kill me from the inside out?)" (I) That must have been the first idiot that rushed to be devoured by me, knowing the kind of notification that is popping up, I did my best to maintain my skill by chewing this God, I couldn''t absorb his Essence now and I couldn''t deal with his Soul, so I maintained my ability to chew on him while transforming his more easily digestible energy into my energy. When I turned to the other two I saw the scorpion man fragmented as if he were made of glass with his pieces being absorbed by the eyes of the other enemy, when I stopped to see this it was already too late to do anything, it was very fast and his presence disappeared became even greater than before containing the addition of the power of death. "Now it''s just the two of us." (Fragment) "..." (I) "< Break >" (Fragment) As if everything was an illusion, all the traps I made broke, the mist broke, the blood tornadoes broke, the metal trees broke and even the Blood Snake that was wild broke, returning the surroundings to what they were before. The fragments of everything that had broken floated around as the enemy looked at me with frightening calm. "You must be new here, so allow me to explain the only law." (Fragment) "The last one standing wins and the winner does what he wants... so you will lose too." (Fragment) "< Sacred Magic: Mirror World >" (Fragment) Chapter 1471: Cap 1469: Whoever stays standing wins part 2 Now it was just the two of us, me in my Dragon form trying to keep my ability active by chewing a Divine Soul like it was gum and on the other side a bastard who has been hiding his power since the beginning. Around us a mirrored world formed, it was very similar to what we had seen before, but it was not the same. When I was kidnapped and thrown into that mirrored world facing that God of Death, I noticed some things, similarities to what I saw in Hell, an entire Dimension alive, but still clearly not like Hell, not like Callidora and that bastard in my front is just trying to imitate something it doesn''t understand. "(The flaws are visible, but the strength itself is still undeniable.)" (I) Even though it''s just a copy, its power is impressive, I also can''t understand the power I saw in that mirrored room before and I understand even less than what I saw in Hell, but the simple fact of understanding something about its power shows its deficiencies, not that I can do anything about it. The place where I am now seems like the opposite of a Territory, it seems that instead of taking an area as his own, he created this space and shares the same place as the environment we are in, so he kept the landmarks the same as the position of the trees, the ground and even the rocks. Everything had a mirrored appearance as if it were inverted, in the sky what I saw was a dome of mirror fragments reflecting everything on the ground including us. This place is filled with the Power of Death and I can feel eyes from every mirror, I am within the enemy camp once again. "(Nothing ever goes the way I would like...)" (I) "You know, I waited a long time for these two to let their guard down, the whole time they thought my target was just you, it made my movements easier." (Fragment) He suddenly starts to change, his green skin starts to peel and turn to dust revealing a strange appearance underneath, his body was like several fragments of broken mirrors, in fact I would think his body was like the entire smooth surface mirrored before being broken and now it''s just the broken parts put together unable to become whole again, at least that''s the closest I come to describing its appearance. Only his eyes look like a full mirror reflecting my image as he speaks. "Finding Gods of Life and Death like them was very difficult." (Fragment) "(Everyone is the same, talking when they want to buy time... okay, that works for me.)" (I) "That''s why I can''t let you have Tharyn''s power, I didn''t think you would be able to defeat him so quickly while I was busy with Sabhat." (Fragment) As he spoke, I could feel his power flow passing through the mirrors trying to synchronize with Tarzor''s power flow as they both occupy the same space, this must be why it takes so long for him to shed his skin and his presence is increasing so slowly. He wants to buy time and be prepared, he must not have believed that I could defeat a Demonic God like Tharyn so quickly and still maintain his power in my body, he must be cautious. Taking advantage of this moment to activate my Divine Weapon is my only option, I also thought of a good way to use this when I am in Dragon form. "Give me the power you stole from Tharyn and I''ll let you go, what do you think? I just need his power and I have nothing against you..." (Fragment) "(He doesn''t realize that I can see the flow of power around me, I can see the Demonic ritual he is creating beneath him, he won''t let me go.)" (I) I continued to gather my Sacred Power into my Divine Weapons, they will not show their full power without using the Divine Incarnation, but they are an asset nonetheless and can help me use my Essences more effectively. "< Aura Incarnation: Eclipse Second Form >" (I) My Aura Incarnation is something that I don''t use often because it is weaker than my Divine Weapons or my Divine Incarnation, as in the end it ends up being just the smallest of powers to be used and prevents me from using my Aura freely, I normally don''t I use it so I don''t put more weight on myself unnecessarily. But now it''s different, I can''t use my greatest powers and I have to rely on that, normally it would be a more defensive power creating armor for me, but now defense was what I needed least. An illusory Eclipse forms almost instantly in front of me, condensed from all my Aura and Authority, then collides against me, traveling through my body to my Dragon claws where my Divine Weapons activate, becoming the Core of two gauntlets. "" (Fragment) "< Claws of the Devouring Eclipse >" (I) The enemy wouldn''t let me do anything, at the slightest sign of movement, he moved to attack me, his power was falling into the ritual he was preparing, he used parts of Sabhat''s body inside the mirrors to activate the ritual. The power of death condensed in the mirrors becoming spikes that came out of the mirrors coming towards me, I also did not stand still, knowing that even Divine Weapons would not be enough, I once again use my power of Anomalous Chaos Devourer on my claws through Divine Weapons. In my Dragon claws a black metal gauntlet with purple crystals appeared, while in the other claw there was a white metal gauntlet with silver crystals, both had the Eclipse symbols and increased the size of my claws. I advance against the enemy while Starfire bursts from the gauntlets emanating a feeling of hunger as if I were alive, when I swung my claws against the stakes it was as if my arms were 2 hungry Beasts, the Starfire formed two Dragon heads breaking the mirrored stakes with my teeth before swallowing, the energy from these stakes flowed into the gauntlets before coming to me as if being filtered from all external influence. "< Incarnation of the Serpent of the End >" (Fragment) "< Claws of the Cataclysm Beast >" (I) The bastard was actually trying to copy Tarzor''s power, it was clear now that he was transforming with Serpent characteristics, Zaya told me about Tarzor''s true appearance. Fragment now had a white Serpent head with mirror eyes reflecting my appearance, his body was almost as large as mine and as I charged at him I was continually being stopped by the unholy spikes he created. Using the elemental power in my claws I sent waves of conflicting energy that destroyed these stakes as if they were Elemental Beasts, but as soon as I reached him I realized that there were several copies of him everywhere already coming at me. "(One of them must be the real one.)" (I) I tried to swing my claws at two of them that were closest, but to my surprise, they both defend and seem solid, then another 3 appear from above in a coordinated manner aiming their claws at me, the concentrated death power transforming their claws into a macabre appearance as if bones were growing out of his hands. "< Elemental Wave >" (I) "< Death Contamination >" (Fragment) Without time or space to review, I closed my claws into fists and slammed them together creating a wave of conflicting elemental power in all directions with blasts of heat, cold and lightning in all directions. This did little damage to him, but it bought me space or that''s what I expected, unfortunately one of them was too close and before being moved away, he grabbed my wing with his claws causing an energy of Death to course through my body. Cough Cough Cough This caused the awakening of my Essence Core whose power clashed head on with this deadly essence, the resulting collision made me cough up large amounts of blood, but I still didn''t stay still. I grab the arm in my wing pulling him towards me, my other claw tries to go through his chest, but hits head-on against a mirror that appears in front of his other hand, then I open my jaws in the direction of his head, breaking his skull between my teeth. His head broke as if it were glass, it exploded into pieces that cut my mouth from the inside, even so I felt something inside and used my proper tongue to pull it deeper before swallowing. As soon as I did that I realized it was a fragment of his body, but this was followed by multiple attacks raining down on me. "< Reflection of Death >" (Fragment) Suddenly a mirror forms in front of me as I try to get away from the attackers, then a reflection of me appears as if it were a shadow advancing towards me, but I ignore it, before it could hit me it was sucked in by my shadow, or more specifically, it was sucked into Hinata''s mouth who had just woken up and was in my shadow. "< Void Crack >" (Hinata) "< Breath of the Chaos Beast >" (I) Chapter 1472: Cap 1470: Whoever stays standing wins part 3 The battle had intensified a lot since Hinata woke up, I didn''t expect his power to be so troublesome, but at the same time it wasn''t the kind of power he could use as freely as he tried to seem. After losing some fragments of his body when I devoured some of his clubs, he put his entire body back together leaving only weaker versions of him, it took me hours fighting these weaker versions stealing his energy while keeping Hinata who is still weakened aside. The combat was intense and I was injured many times, nothing that couldn''t be healed, but it couldn''t last forever. "(I need to force him into more direct combat, but how?)" (I) "ENOUGH WITH THIS GAME!! YOU DIE NOW!!!!" (Fragment) "< Mirror Summon: Collector of Worlds >" (Fragment) He used two different types of Summons along with 2 Essences just to summon 1 creature or that''s what I thought, but what he summoned was not a creature, it was a scythe that emanates the power of Hell. "(Seriously!!!???)" (I) The scythe itself was nothing surprising, a wooden handle that looks like an almost completely straight and dry tree branch with a curved metal blade attached to the side, an old metal blade, with red stains and imperfections in the edge of the blade. If you count appearance alone, then it would be like an old farmer''s scythe that has been wielded for decades and is now at the end of its usefulness. But of course its mediocre appearance is simple was just to deceive, just seeing that thing left me momentarily paralyzed, an endless murderous intent and evil power of death than I have ever felt outside of hell, I feel like I am once again in that desert of hellish death. "(I can''t let him have that!)" (I) I tried to move forward faster to grab the scythe, to my surprise he did nothing to stop me and when my hand went through the handle of the scythe like it wasn''t real, I knew why he didn''t worry. "You know, this isn''t the first time I''ve seen this scythe... but it''s the first time I''ve summoned this Weapon... fascinating..." (Fragment) He holds the handle of the scythe and countless mirror fragments from the surroundings were pulled in, attaching themselves to the surface of the scythe as the power of death formed a tornado around him. I didn''t dare to come close now, that scythe looks dangerous but it''s incomplete as if he only summoned a part and used that part to create this complete illusion. "(It''s not a simple illusion, I can feel real danger from this thing.)" (I) "This scythe was once used to cut the world I lived on, I still remember how just one swing split the entire planet in half and how all life was washed away from the rest of the world until nothing was left..." (Fragment) As he spoke the scythe was completed, its simple form gave way to something exaggeratedly extravagant, the handle seemed to be made of crystal mirroring everything around it while the blade seemed to be made of fragments of mirror annulled forming teeth, it looked more like a work of strange art than than a gun, but the feeling of danger was still there. "Now you fall and then the power of Tharyn''s life will be mine!" (Fragment) "(Hinata, hide in my shadow and don''t do anything until I give the signal.)" (I) "(Yes...)" (Hinata) I was mentally tired and spiritually exhausted, my body had several injuries and yet I remained in front of him, my greater Dragon form from his transformed body didn''t mean much with that scythe in his hands as he advanced. All his copies broke, he seemed to be coming after me on his own or so I thought until the mirror fragments left by his copies created illusions everywhere. "Die!!" (Fragment) "< Sacred Eclipse Magic: Stellar Flux >" (I) Everything around me seemed covered in fog, flashes of light caught my attention from different directions while traces of Auras and silhouettes seemed to be everywhere, my senses seemed to no longer be able to differentiate what was right or left. Suddenly I feel scared and dodge to the side, but I still lost a part of my wing when the Scythe passed by, I tried to hold on to it, but a wave of energy pushed my hand away as I felt the Vitality wither inside me. With the movement of my two arms, all my essentials come together in a river of stars that flows between my claws before heading towards the scythe. "(Hinata, now!)" (I) "< Void Authority >" (Hinata) When the river of stars formed a flow where each star had great destructive power, but the scythe seemed to be able to break my attack simply by hitting it. But thanks to that I managed to divert his attention and Hinata used her Authority on Tarzor''s power flow, immediately it caused a tremor that made the entire space around me crack and break leaving just the two of us, the fog and mirrors had disappeared. "(Now it''s just going to be you and me.)" (I) The only inconvenience was the pressure of Tarzor''s presence on top of us for a few seconds, but when everything returned to normal Hinata was already asleep, he was more strongly impacted by Tarzor''s rejection, but thanks to her I was able to equalize the field of battle once again. "(This can''t last any longer, I don''t know how long I can keep my ability active without absorbing Tharyn''s power, my exhaustion is also already affecting my consciousness.)" (I) "You really are a nuisance, I''m going to really enjoy cutting you." (Fragment) He runs towards me swinging the scythe and I do the same, for several minutes he swings the scythe thousands of times while I use my gauntlets to punch the sides of the scythe in my defense. The fight was intense and I was cut another two times, the power of death was not only withering my body, but my own Vitality was disappearing as if it was being destroyed. "< Divine Magic: Reflexive Attack >" (Fragment) "< Step of Shadows >" (I) Suddenly hundreds of mirrors appear around me, he hits the scythe on one of the mirrors causing several even bigger scythes to come out of the mirrors in the surroundings and come towards me, but when he got to where I was before, he had already fallen into my shadow and was coming out of his shadow. "< Holy Magic: Eclipse of the End >" (I) Using both gauntlets to cast this magic, I create a sphere with the appearance of an Eclipse around the enemy, while my claws penetrate the sphere, making the gauntlets transform into pure energy, the Eclipse absorbs my Divine Weapon and my Aura as well as my Authority becoming pay. In giving him the opportunity to do anything, his body was already burning completely in Starfire, one of my claws, now without the gauntlets, penetrates his head while the other claw went through his chest, I could feel his power destroying my hands, but at the same time At the same time I managed to contaminate him with my power. "< Chaos Devouring Tree: Sprout >" (I) Using my Essences to plant a seed inside him I make that seed sprout immediately, then branches, twigs and vines began to destroy his body from the inside out, using my tail I cut off the hand that was holding the scythe that is now floating not far away. I was once again wasting every trace of energy I had, this was a great opportunity, I didn''t use this skill either time waiting for exactly the moment I could catch him off guard. "This is the end of you." (I) He was already receiving 2 deadly attacks, the Star Fig created by the Eclipse was devastating his body from the outside in, meanwhile the Chaos Devouring Tree was destroying everything from the inside out, but I didn''t want to give room for error and so without wait I open my jaws and bite his head before I start ripping his head off. I was eating his body part by part, to do this I had to stop holding back Tharyn''s power and let it sink into my body, so I continued devouring his body covered in vegetation and Starfire until there was nothing left, in the end the Eclipse falls apart as my Divine Weapon returns to my hands as I revert to my human form. In the middle of a devastated area, only I was standing and my consciousness was blinking a lot now, just standing was almost impossible, this time I really hurt my Soul by sleeping through such abusive use of my Essences without using the Divine Incarnation. Not to mention that now I had 3 Divine level powers colliding inside my stomach and a system bell warning me of the pain that will soon follow. Ding! I could still feel the Soul of these 3 fighting inside me, it seems like this idiot still had the Soul of Sabhat inside him, his Souls are trying to fight for control of me, but of course it didn''t work, in fact they were pulled by 3 tentacles of Sabhat Anomalous energy when they were taken into my Blood Core. "(I''ll take this... it will be very nutritious for my girl...)" (Callidora) Ding! Chapter 1473: Cap 1471: I am Tarzor I was exhausted, honestly, it was difficult for me to even think of something offensive to say to Callidora, but I couldn''t fall asleep, I needed to be prepared to protect myself. The pain in my body was not as great, the injuries on my arms and wings are not as bad as what my Soul already feels, the attacks from that scythe that seemed incomplete still managed to hurt my Soul. "Haaa... haaa... haaaa... hhaaaa..." (I) "(No blood... weakened connection with the Sources... Dormant essences... weak body... Wounded soul... Hinata sleeping...)" (I) "(Here comes the pain... again...)" (I) "Aaaahhhh!!!!" (I) I couldn''t think clearly, but my condition was obvious to the point that it hurt to realize how vulnerable I was. I wanted to look at the notifications, but my mind was in no state to comprehend anything I could read and my vision was failing like the days when I fell into a coma frequently in my past life. "I KNOW YOU''RE NEARBY! SHOW UP!!!" (I) "You surprise me Mr Zenos, I am truly impressed by your level of madness." (Mother of the Grave) "Ahhh!!! Dorga!" (I) "You may have erased the Souls, but the will remaining in those Essences will be a challenge for you." (Mother of the Grave) I refused to have my consciousness stolen, I knew this ''Mother of the Grave'' was nearby, she has been watching my every move since I arrived, she definitely wants something. "Grrr!!!" (I) I wanted to speak but at that moment the pain was reaching my Soul, my body was fighting because of these new Essences, it seemed that because all my other Essences were in a dormant state, these 3 Essences were causing chaos as if invading an empty house to throw a party. The pain was mainly these out of control Essences trying to alter my body and now trying to influence my Soul. "(I have to resist...)" (I) While I was in agony, the Woman approached me descending from the head of the White Serpent that is part of her tail, she was acting calmly even though her words were full of ironies against me. "You know, you''re still too young to understand your own power, so let me tell you something interesting." (Mother of the Grave) "You are absorbing too complex powers, life and death are not compatible." (Mother of the Grave) "But this will stop the problems." (Mother of the Grave) I couldn''t react as she approached, so she knelt in front of me with her face inches from mine as she opened her mouth from which a white Serpent comes out with her eyes closed before invading my mouth sinking into my stomach. Ding! The last thing I felt was something touch my Soul, then suddenly everything changed. ------------------- Pov Alice''s: I was surrounded by Legions of Death, there are 5 in total or that''s what I expected, we were deceived, right now I''m the only one still conscious, everyone else is almost dead, destroyed or imprisoned. We believe they were all Legions of Death and even though it was a difficult battle, we managed to seal them one at a time using Nicole''s tactics, at first it was really difficult and as we were able to finish them off one at a time, we were able to gather our forces against the others gradually easing the battle until only 5 Legions of Death remained, as they were unable to take the form of statues we thought they were all younger and weaker Legions of Death, we were naive in generalizing the enemies into just two groups based on such superficial information. It was only when the sealing of the Legions of Death was in constant progression that we noticed these 5 planets always being in the same positions between them, otherwise they are also very different from the other Legions of Death Planets. These 5 planets were very powerful using elemental powers, they seemed to be waiting for the Legions of Death to be defeated before making their moves. Zenos'' Familiars were destroyed immediately, being the first to be defeated, it was only then that we realized the strangeness of these 5 planets. Soon all of Zenos'' children were trapped in chains of crystallized elemental power, their bodies were a mess of injuries only maintaining life due to their enemies'' lack of interest in killing them. "(What do I do...?)" (I) "(Don''t do anything, we don''t know what these things are, but they are certainly not Legions of Death, they also appear to be a single individual.)" (Ragnar) "(Our bodies were destroyed in a strange way, they were annihilated, we must do something...)" (Orion) "(Where is that bastard master when we need him!!!)" (Layla) "(I WANT A NEW BODY NOW!!!!!)" (Layla) "(Shut up, the situation is bad enough, didn''t you feel how that thing destroyed us? Didn''t it feel familiar in a way?)" (Sakura) While we were surrounded, I just stood still, whatever these 5 planets are, they haven''t attacked us yet, which for me was great since the Souls of Zenos'' Familiars came to me as their Saint, that''s because their Souls weren''t capable of reaching Zenos wherever he is. "(We need to think about something...)" (I) The five planets were all separated with each one having different elemental powers, one of them being covered in a red liquid emanating the power of blood, another being covered in metallic surface, another was covered in clouds shooting lightning, another was covered in green and the the latter had suddenly become almost transparent. The planets were positioned as if forming a 5 pointed star between each other, they move as a whole and not as separate things, this made me wonder if there are really 5 enemies or maybe it is just 1 enemy. "I didn''t expect to find something like this here, I didn''t want to intervene, but I won''t let this continue." (Adella) --------------- Pov Zenos: When I realized everything was different, I was in a place that looked more like a dark forest, but I didn''t know if the contours I was seeing were tree trunks or support columns. "..." (I) I looked around realizing that I couldn''t differentiate directions and in a few seconds I realized that this wasn''t my body, I also couldn''t feel the state of my Soul. "A mental world?" (I) "You''re here, aren''t you?" (I) "..." (I) I can''t feel anything in this place, I can see my body but it feels like it''s an illusion, this place appeared around me after that Serpent entered and was swallowed, it wasn''t hard to imagine who was around even though I can''t feel him. "You''ve been watching me this whole time, you were also the one who pulled me into that hall of mirrors that led to that God of Death, then took me back to Erkales." (I) "What do you want from me? Is this some kind of test?" (I) "It''s not tests or anything... I just wanted to know who you are..." "With no others to protect, no Family to support, no one to intervene... only counting on yourself and how you would face slim odds of success." In the middle of the darkness, a pair of Serpent eyes that looked like big walls appear, eyes full of a depth that I didn''t know, their calm neighbor seems to be present everywhere. "You say that, but there was a lot of interference." (I) "Yes, but I still know who you are... a new Anomaly." (Tarzor) "Creation itself exists by defined patterns, everything in existence has patterns, acting outside of patterns on this scale makes you Anomalous." (Tarzor) "Kill what cannot be killed, surpass limits that should not even be known, resist a power that rejects the foundation of creation within your Soul." (Tarzor) "..." (I) I look around and I feel like no matter where I turn my face, his eyes are always there. "You are young, not only young, but also ignorant of yourself." (Tarzor) "You don''t understand what Chaos is, but you still manipulate its power in inconceivable ways." (Tarzor) Suddenly it was as if everything changed once again, I was motionless facing his eye, everything around was full of White Serpents knowing through my body, 3 of them opened holes in me removing 3 Crystal Fragments, one of them full of the Power of Death, one filled with the Power of Life and the last one filled with the Power of Fragment. These are Fragments of Divinity, Incomplete Essences and one of them is complete being a complete Divinity. "I know why you are here, I also know why the Gods sent you here, but for then take it, if you are able to bear it." (Tarzor) From inside my chest a white Serpent head makes its way out, this Serpent being the biggest of all not counting the big eye in front of me, this white Serpent devoured the Essences and that was when I realized that the Serpent itself was an Essence. "If you survive I''ll tell you everything, about what comes next and what comes after that." (Tarzor) Soon the Serpent that came out of me returns the way it came out until I am no longer able to locate it inside me. """!!!!""" (I) A pain surfs so fast that I can''t describe it before it disappears, then the world changes once again, I suddenly find myself among the stars in a space scenario similar to the one created in my Territory. Around me were many versions of me from all my past evolutions and even from my past life. On the opposite side of where the Eclipse was, I could see something move among the stars until it was within sight, it was a White Serpent whose presence was bizarre on so many levels that I was unable to describe. The Serpent alone was larger than the distant Eclipse, clearly its size was colossal as it looked at me before speaking, its voice seems to resonate directly into my Soul. "If you want to know that much about me, then why don''t you tell me who you really are?" (I) "I am Tarzor...that is what I will always be." (Tarzor) Chapter 1474: Cap 1472: Why are you afraid of a book? Ppv Adella''s: I didn''t plan to interfere, but I still paid attention to the situation while lying on the grass inside Zenos''s Dimensional Dragon. Zenos'' fights were interesting, the way he fights is inconceivable to me, trying to devour an enemy like that while still alive leads to many risks, especially seeing that his body is largely made of energy. When Zenos won his fight I couldn''t help but think about his lack of talent, with his powers it should have been easier to seal the enemy, he chose the worst way to face his opponent and I know how difficult these bastards are to kill. "(An Anomaly, of all people it has to be a Dragon Eater.)" (I) I know a little about them, before arriving in this universe I had the displeasure of meeting 3 of them, luckily I''m not a Dragon and that''s why I was ignored by 2 of them while the third continued chasing me. While remembering those days I saw something else happen, Tarzor''s most loyal Servant, she appeared and took Cinthia away, I also paid attention to the Legions of Death being sealed one at a time more quickly than expected, so I missed the moment when 3 other enemies appeared near Zenos. As I saw everything happening, I decided to leave Zenos to his own devices, he seemed to be doing well and the 3 enemies are clearly not as strong as the Dragon Eater. That''s because I noticed something different and focused all my attention on Zenos'' Familiars, because I saw one of them being destroyed. "(That was weird...)" (I) I continued to watch, knowing they could not be truly killed as long as Zenos lived, but strangely they were consciously destroyed with concentrated, specifically targeted, perfectly coordinated attacks. "I can''t feel that good from afar, but it felt like them..." (I) Another memory came to my mind, something from the past that I will never be able to forget, my power was boiling inside my body with my fury reaching heights that in the past would have made me lose control. I put my hand forward and the space melted into blood opening a bloody wound that I passed through before being stopped. "You cannot interfere..." (Queen of the Grave) "Shut up!" (I) "..." (Queen of the Grave) Before she could say anything, my right hand was already around her neck while my foot formed a spike of blood that went through the Serpent''s head that formed her tail, the Serpent was trying to struggle uselessly while she herself just looked at me with your murderous intent that I couldn''t care less. "I''m going to go over there and if I find out that thing is what I think it is, then you''ll have things to answer for, Tarzor!" (I) "You know you can''t..." (Queen of the Grave) "I said SHUT UP!!" (I) I break her neck by squeezing my hands tighter, but that couldn''t even be considered an injury to her. "You must not intervene." (Tarzor) Tarzor''s voice comes from everywhere, his power seems to be greater than I expected, he has isolated the Space Rift that I''m using, I know he can see me, but I don''t know where he is. "I''ll deal with that thing, but I won''t intervene with Zenos... for now..." (I) "I said no." (Tarzor) Suddenly my whole body was knocked back a few meters, I even felt my Soul tremble, when I looked up again the Queen of the Grave was completely healed and behind her a pair of eyes were on me emanating a pressure no less than Selene. "Don''t force me to use all my power against you, if a fight starts I''m sure Selene won''t stay any longer watching." (I) "Why intervene?" (Tarzor) "I don''t care what''s going on here, but that thing controlling the 5 planets, if it''s what I think it is..." (I) "Do not interfere with Zenos and you can do whatever you want with it, but you will destroy his Seal in the process." (Tarzor) "I don''t care... urgh!!" (I) "Do not intervene again, I do not fear the Gods of this or any universe, so this will be the last warning." (Tarzor) Before I knew it the Queen of the Grave disappeared as the eyes behind her closed leaving just me standing holding the side of my body where a part of me is missing. I managed to regain my body''s shape, but this injury wasn''t just on my body, it reached my Soul and had enough power to destroy my Soul if he wanted to. "Bastard!" (I) Recovering my body was simple, but this injury to my Soul was something else, I can''t recover from it even using my Divinity, I would need Selene to take care of it. Sigh "At least it won''t interfere." (I) With that resolved I continued on my way, during this time everyone who fought the enemy was defeated, most of them were trapped in seals. The only one still able to fight was Alice and I could feel Zenos''s Familiars inside her, it seems they weren''t able to return to him. "(That energy, that arrogance in his presence, he''s one of them...)" (I) ------------------ Pov Zenos: The great Serpent got close enough for me to realize that its size would be enough to swallow entire planets, yet its voice sounded powerfully as if it were right next to me. "We''ll see how you survive this..." (Tarzor) "It seems like you really don''t understand, right?" (me?) "..." (I) From inside the Eclipse a 4-pointed star comes out as Tarzor spoke, this star stopped in front of me as it disappeared leaving a person behind, a copy of me in the form of a Dragon, but its colors are inverted to mine. Its silver crystal scales shine in blue and black colors, its horns seem to be golden while its eyes are closed as I feel its presence focused on me. This is not the first time encountering an ''evil version'' of me, but somehow it felt differently, I was in my normal form while looking at that great Dragon, his presence was the same as mine, but his Essences they were different with the only one the same being the Anomalous Essence of Chaos. His presence was as real as mine, he was not an illusion, he was not an image of me, he was an entity separate from me that at the same time was me. "That shouldn''t be possible." (I) "Don''t be surprised by so little, since you were born into this world has there ever been a day when you weren''t surprised by something?" (me?) He was talking and I knew there was no reason to be afraid, that was a valid concern for me, I knew a lot of stories where characters had their bodies stolen by alternative personalities or even creatures that invaded their bodies, I didn''t want these cliche? plots to happen with me. "You''re not going to tell me to fight, right." (I) "Come on, show me what you can do when facing yourself." (Tarzor) "I guess the accepting myself trick isn''t going to work again, is it?" (I) "No, I am not you, I am just using your appearance, I am the 3 Wills of those you defeated, I am using the Anomaly within you to merge into a single being." (me?) "You talk too much..." (I) I was truly tired to the point that I almost let an enemy tell his unnecessary speech when the right thing to do is to just crush him, luckily I managed to catch up in time to take advantage of the low guard. I have been mentally tortured by my sister Caitlyn in the past and received many types of training pushing me beyond my limits as well as strengthening my mind, this place we are in was created somewhere between my mind and my Soul, which means it belongs to me. Without speaking or moving, rays of energy crossed the entire body of the ''false self'' who seemed not to care. "Do you think you are causing harm? I am just a representation, an image, a will that is unaffected by life and death." (me?) "I don''t have the patience for this crap." (I) As much as I complain, I can''t deny that I don''t know what to do, so I tried to create Starfire around him, but he just opened his jaws, sucking everything in like it was an appetizer. I sensed Tarzor''s amusement in the distance and tried to attack him with star energy beams or Starfire, but he was unaffected, in fact none of the attacks even reached him as space became fragmented before returning to Earth normal around you. The ''false me'' in turn just raised one of its claws where a large book appeared, then it threw this book at my feet while shrinking in size, that''s when I recognized the book. "..." (I) "Why are you afraid of a book?" (me?) I didn''t know what to say, I didn''t understand it at first, this was just a children''s story that I randomly picked up on my travels, if I remember correctly, I never finished reading it, even though I was always stuck in the story every time I tried to read it, I never finished it. When I looked at the ''false me'' again, I noticed that his eyes changed, they looked like a 4-pointed star, I also felt his presence trying to expand. "Can''t answer?" (me?) I smiled, I finally understand something, I can''t hurt him, I can''t kill him and I can''t seal him, but I can do something much simpler. "Falling for mind tricks doesn''t work against me, even if I don''t fully understand what you are...doesn''t mean I''m powerless." (I) I command my Authority which in itself is a representation of the power of my will, my Authority as well as my Aura is marked by everything that makes me up, this includes my Essences, one of which represents the power of Demons and the other representing the power of corruption. Using my Authority to form a Dragon even larger than Tarzor, I manage to swallow the ''false self'' whole this time I felt its presence diminish and its body fall apart. I felt the Fragmented and Whole Essences within him separate once again struggling to free themselves as they were corrupted within the Starfire, only the 4-pointed star remained intact against my Authority. "The time has come to end this." (Tarzor) Chapter 1475: Cap 1473: Damn Ascendants Pov Adella''s : I appear next to Alice before using the chains of blood dragging all those sealed and injured to me, I can''t let my new brothers die to such a bastard, I won''t allow the past to repeat itself. "Why did you let this happen?" (I) "(I can''t do anything in my current situation, the most I could do was support their lives.)" (Hades) "Get them out of here." (I) "(Give them all to Alice and let her connect with me, the previous connection was suddenly severed.)" (Hades) While I was talking to Hades to kill this sacred ground, I use my pressure to force the enemy, I can feel him in the middle of the 5 planets, sealed in this way he poses no real danger against me. I place my hand on Alice''s shoulder and a flow of my power runs through her with my blood currents, then connects her with Hades once again. "I can''t leave..." (Alice) "What will happen now is above you, get out of here or you will become a burden." (I) "I can still...aah!" (Alice) Before she finished speaking, I concentrated my Aura on my hand and punched her, making her lose consciousness, after which she opened her eyes again, eyes completely red and a voice that wasn''t hers spoke to me. "Can you handle them?" (Orion) "Yes, now get out of here." (I) "Be careful..." (Orion) Before he could say anything, the space twisted and everyone disappeared, Hades finally managed to drag them to his side. Then I turn to the enemy, he was trying to use my pressure to break his chains. "(I see, the planets were used to seal him, but does that mean...)" (I) I already knew what I was facing, now that I was so close, I was sure, this explains how he controls the planets, this explains why I can''t see him, Dimensional isolation. Each planet formed a unique separate Space that was intertwined with the others in the middle sealing the space into 5 layers with its power within being the Core of the planets. "(Without being a true God cannot free himself... but that also means I cannot reach him.)" (I) "< Territory: Divine Realm >" (I) "< Blood Beast Constellation >" (I) This time I wouldn''t allow anything to happen, I won''t let any of them go, especially an incompetent one who was sealed. All my killing intent merges with my Divine Power while creating the Divine Realm around me, the Sacred Ground that the Heralds of Zenos created is of no use to me who am the Divine Beast of Selene. All the stars change positions as they turn red, the black space around us flows as if we are within a limitless ocean, all the stars that have turned red take positions creating constellations of vivid wild Beasts. My body changes into the form of a Dragon, a large amount of Power fills me and with that I break the seal on my enemy. "Come on, stop hiding behind a seal and show me your ugly face!" (I) "Stick your shitty head out and let me cut it to create a new collection using your head as the first one!" (I) "You talk a lot for a measly Divine Beast!" The 5 planets shine brightly as an outline of chains reveals themselves around each planet leading to the middle where a sphere of coiled chains once stood. Thanks to my Divine Power applying pressure the chains begin to crack and break one at a time creating waves of Essence power from each main aspect of these 5 planets. In the end only the now completely visible sphere of chains was left, the power within was leaking out, just as I remember, an abnormal and authoritarian presence that just takes everything as its own, a boundless arrogance. I was trying my best to contain the anticipation of tearing her body apart and using her Soul as relief from my anger before finally breaking her into pieces with my jaws. "You dare direct your killing intent at me!?" "Being Sealed in such a ridiculous ambush for all this time has already been more than humiliating, I''m going to turn this whole damn place into a slave camp and let my brothers play with you!" "Big words for such a pathetic creature like you, hahahahaha... hahahhahahahahahaa..." (I) I saw in anticipation the chains of the sphere breaking into pieces completely revealing the one sealed within, a creature with a single eye that appears to contain 5 irises of different colors amidst the darkness, its silver skin highlights its golden markings and thin white clothes do not make almost nothing to hide her body. His ethereal white hair fluttered around him, with his large pointy ears standing out, on his back were 2 pairs of wings revealing his rank being level 2. "I expected more, but in the end it''s just a level 2 servant, disappointing." (I) "A mere Divine Dragon dares to belittle an Ascendant like me!?" "I''ll make you beg for death!" "(A boundless pride and a sense of superiority greater than entire planets.)" (I) "(As expected of an Ascendant.)" (I) Its size was only a few tens of meters, compared to me being a Dragon that is tens of kilometers in size, its boastful speech was laughable, but even though it was only a level 2 Ascendant, I would not underestimate my enemy. "< Breath of Divine Blood >" (I) "< Space Law Reversal >" Concentrating my Power into a brute breath attack larger than his entire body, it must have been as if an ocean of blood was poured onto him with high pressure, but he acted with a calmness that I didn''t expect for someone so arrogant. Placing his hands forward he used his power to bend space, it was only for a brief moment but it was enough for him to move out of the way while sending back part of my attack. I let this continue as I flew forward, my attack just sunk into my body without causing anything, my own power cannot hurt me. When I went towards him I noticed him using his power to connect the 5 planets that were part of his Seal to him, I knew what he was trying to do and I wouldn''t let him. "< Blood Star Dragon Divine Seal >" (I) "You dare!!??" "< Ghost Law: Torture of the Soul >" He was still clearly weakened and far from his place of rule, he cannot recover here as he would there, so he is trying to take the Planets used in his Seal as sources of power and means to concentrate his power. But unfortunately for you, one of the planets is dominated by oceans of Blood and for me it was easy to engrave a Seal of slavery on it, with all of them becoming monsters they cannot escape the Divine Power of Blood that I possess. I continued advancing and he used the Phantom planet against me, the Planet changes shape as if it were a Legion of Phantoms coming at me, if he thinks that these Phantoms full of the power of curses can do something against me, then he really is a fool. I passed through the Ghosts without any problems, my Divine Power destroyed any Ghost that touched me, but even so I remained alert, as soon as I came out on the other side of the tide of Ghosts, dozens of translucent Spears tried to penetrate my body. "< Death Constellation: Massacre of Souls >" (I) One of the Constellations creates life by disappearing from the skies and appearing next to me, its appearance being that of a Tiger with a Dragon''s head and webbed wings, its body being made of red liquid blood energy. Every swing of its claws and its roar was accompanied by the finality of death, as I advanced. The ghost spears that tried to hit me were destroyed by their claws and teeth, I didn''t even pay attention behind me as emotion took over me as I charged forward waving my claws towards the Ascendant. "You are mine!!" (I) "You will know terror!!!" I got to him by waving my claws creating a wave of red energy which he receives using the storm filled planet, bolts of energy rained down on my attack but I forcefully passed them before he could get involved in the storm clouds created by a of the planets. With my claws I reached for him and smiled when I felt one of his wings sweat to defend itself, then my claws crumbled into blood before changing to a blade filled with the power of death as I swung, ripping off his wing and dragging him towards me. "< Blood Eater >" (I) I opened my jaws devouring the wing and undoing its power using my Divinity. "< Law of War: World Soldier >" I felt his fury at me eating a part of him, I felt his power trying to corrupt my Soul, but before he had the chance the Chaos power I gained from Zenos for being his daughter dissolved the remains of his power. Realizing that his fury was greater as the metal planet moved at blatant speed, the metal that compose it seems to melt in his power as it takes the form of a soldier using a spear as he charges at me. "You''ll need more than that, hahahahahahaha..." (I) Chapter 1476: Cap 1474: The taste of revenge Pov Adella''s: The thrill of battle, the desire to spill the blood of my enemies, the fury that has burned for millennia, and the revenge I have longed for. "Hahahaha... hahahahahahahaha..." (I) "Yes, yes, THAT''S WHAT I WANTED!!!" (I) "< Blackblood Claws >" (I) The metal planet that became a metal statue charging at me holding a spear, it was laughable for him to just use something crude like that against me. I charged at him, just as his spear was about to hit, my body dissolved into a flow of blood gaining speed as it ran through the spear leaving cuts from countless claws along the way. I continued to run into his arms and finally spread across his massive body, spikes and metal blades appeared endlessly wherever I passed, but nothing could hit me. "(Only raw power is useless against me.)" (I) "< Law of War: Sacrifice of a Thousand Soldiers >" BOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!! "< Space Constellation: Infinity Predator >" (I) Suddenly the soldier stores a large amount of Power exploding, this blow would have seriously injured me at the very least, so I hastily summoned another Constellation Beast, a massive Dragon poked its head out of the space next to me and I entered inside with it closing its large mouth waiting for its own space inside. Even so, his body was torn into pieces, space was cut apart by countless blades, and remnants of energy flew towards me as space was collapsing. I passed through the turbulence of space by exiting one of the cracks caused by the metal blades, my body was injured this time, some blades hit my back and the side of my body had a hole in it, but those are just minor depressings. When I left the turbulent space I found the Ascendant already waiting for me, in his hand a large metal mirror full of power was already descending on my head. "< Divine Blood Magic: Seal of Life >" (I) My blood was spread all over the place even before the explosion, with these countless drops of blood creating Runes that connect into thousands of magical circles, then the Ascendant stopped moving, the Vitality making up his body for just a brief moment that It was enough for me to completely leave the turbulent space. I advanced against him once again, I could see him forcing his body even under the seal of life, as soon as he formed his body making part of his Vitality burn with his power, the sword came down towards me again, but being free it was easy dodge the following blows until you are close enough to touch the sword made from that metal planet one last time without running the risk of being hit. "< Blood Decay >" (I) Suddenly the sword shines with a red light revealing countless black claw marks all over its structure that begin to melt, opening bloody wounds on the metal sword, the power contained within it was leaking out like rotten blood as it dispersed. "You are weak!" (I) "< Law of War: Last of the Battlefield >" "< Blood Eater >" (I) All of the sword''s power was suddenly drained, becoming a metal sphere that rushed towards the Ascendant to float behind him alongside another translucent sphere. Soon another 2 different spheres come together behind him and they must all represent the 5 planets that were previously used to leave him sealed, with the only exception being the planet of blood that I kept under my seal. I was slow of him and would not let another opportunity pass, with my claw I tried to take his head, but with a movement of his eye the space around my arm froze, so I used my tail creating a scythe that ripped off one of his arms before part of the cause turns into a mouth that devours the arm. He moves away from me, his anger has already reached its limit a long time ago, but for me it was just fun the more he gets angry, that is until I see what he was hiding. I could feel a fluctuation of energy that I recognized in the 4 spheres floating on his back, this took the smile off my face for 1 second before I smiled again full of murderous intent. "(Do you think I''m going to let you do whatever you want?)" (I) "I will not forget you or this universe, Divine Beast!" "< Gate of the Worlds >" "< Divine Curse: Seal of Visa and Death >" (I) He was trying to escape, he even tried to use his child level threats against me showing how pathetic he is, this only enraged me even more remembering what those like him did in the past, such pathetic creatures carrying this kind of power that not even understand. I wouldn''t let him get away, I wouldn''t allow something like that to happen and with that resolution I used my Divine Power on both of us with a curse preventing us from moving away until one of us was dead. A red seal appears burning next to my neck and on the chest of the Ascendant, while he screamed from the sudden pain, he tried to pass through the gate created by the 4 spheres taking the ends of a rectangle that was filled with a void creating a vacuum inside. It was funny to see him slam headfirst into the entrance without being able to get through as if there was a wall in his way, the fury on his face turned to pure hatred as he turned towards me once again. "You filth... I''m going to make you suffer for this humiliation!!!!" "< Incarnation of Law >" "< Incarnation of Divine Aura >" (I) His hatred and intention for me are pure fun in my eyes, I have never felt so light in the fight of life and death. When he turned towards me, the spheres sank into his back, his body expanded as a power vacuum tried unsuccessfully to steal the power of the Essence of the Universe around us. Yet something seems to have been sucked in, cracks in space open up with some of the Essence-like power leaking in, that power has been sucked into it. His body became brighter as if it were a living jewel, his single eye joined the 5 irises into a single large iris that seemed to be made of crystal with 4 rings of different colors inside. But no matter how hard he tried, the arm and wing I devoured couldn''t heal or create a new one, that''s because I denied that possibility with my Divinity in my attacks. He noticed this and looked with even more hatred at me as he advanced, I could have attacked him before, but I wanted to see him more humiliated, his anger, hatred and fury are just small pleasures for me increasing my taste for the main dish when just the fear remains on your face as you realize certain death before my claws. I use my Aura strengthened with my Divinity to wear a crown full of teeth and blades, as soon as this crown touches my head my body takes on a more humanoid shape while the scales on my body become larger creating a crystal armor on my body. My power grows as I advance towards him, I reduce the size of my body to get close to his size while still maintaining a slightly larger size just to shrink him in every way possible while turning his body into pieces. Our battle lasted a few hours, it was harder than I thought and I can''t deny that my victory was less assured than I thought. His every blow left wounds that could not be healed and I did the same to him, my Blood Divinity was shared with Selena, healing being a part as well as Life and Death. But even so, it took me a long time to be able to kill him, every time I ripped off a part of his body or created deep wounds, he put the separate parts together, even though it didn''t heal, it was enough to continue the fight. Meanwhile I lost my wings, one of my arms and my eyes, which wasn''t that inconvenient since I knew everything that happens in my Territory, trying to take away my senses like that wasn''t a big problem. Over time I tried harder and even though I accumulated a few more injuries, I managed to devour the rest of him part by part, each piece was like a wonderful delicacy for me. It tasted horrible, but at the same time it filled me with pleasure to see his angry face become filled with fear and finally despair when he realized that there wasn''t much of his body left. "You can''t kill me! I''m an Ascendant! I''m above the Gods!!" "You and this entire universe paid the prisoner for what you are doing!!!" "You talk too much... for such a pathetic creature... hahahahaha..." (I) "< Blood Eater >" (I) "Nooooo!!!!" Ding! I ignore the notification, I can already imagine what it means, but I''ll have to hold on until I get back to the Dungeon, only when I''m in front of Selene''s statue will I be able to solve this problem, but until then I''ll delight in the flavor, the sweet taste of revenge. "I will make each of them pay, this is just the beginning..." (I) Chapter 1477: Cap 1475: Ascension of a God part 1 All my senses closed, I was unable to feel anything other than a level of pain only comparable to what I went through in Hell. I wanted to scream, but I didn''t have a voice and if I did I wasn''t able to hear, I wanted to cry in pain and I probably should have been doing that with a horrible face, but I wasn''t able to feel the tears. For me all there was was pain, endless pain, body, mind and Soul plunged into a cacophony of limitless torment. Strangely, it was in this endless swallowing torment that I could feel for the first time something inside me, something familiar and at the same time strange, I felt like I tried to touch it and that was when I found it. It wasn''t a ''false me'' like before, it wasn''t a part of me either, as soon as I saw it I knew what it was, I knew who I was. Willing It was the manifestation of my will, it was there in my humanoid form, but I knew it was dormant, I could feel that my pain was generating reactions for everything I am, whether in body, power or Soul. In the midst of the pain I felt the only part of me that did not bend the pain and with that charity took over me, the mind was just something physical and limited, I could not see the depth and complexity of anything, the Soul was the opposite just diving into the depth without being able to see the simplicity of what is on the surface and thus just feeling the depth without truly trying to understand. When I touched on my ''Will'' it was as if everything finally made sense, I had been working on duality all this time, always seeing things from one point of view or the other point of view, I was never able to bring the two together, always with one incomplete overview and working with assumptions most of the time. I finally understood something simple, it was in my face this whole time. What is Au I''ve always wondered that. How can Authority be different from Aura? It didn''t make sense to me, it was one of the truths I just accepted. How is something like this used to become a God by mixing with an Essence? The Essence is the fundamental power over a specific aspect of the universe, it should not be possible to take possession of something like this without already being a God. These were questions that I had and chose to ignore, since I was reborn I learned to give my attention to only certain areas, so many things that for me, who came from another world, seemed impossible, I had to just accept to not go crazy, which didn''t help a lot since I know better than anyone that I don''t have much sanity. All these previously ignored questions came back to me the same second I touched my ''Will'' and with that my point of view began to change as I understood everything, before I knew it I was seeing everything through the open eyes of my ''Will'' with everything falling into place perfectly. It has always been a trinity, Nature is made up of a trinity of 3 energies, this is what maintains the flow of power throughout the universe, even a body has its trinity being body, mind and Soul. I even learned during the process of forging the Sources of Power about the Trinity of Existence which can be described as Creation, Transformation and Destruction. The same can be described for all life forms that exist being described as Life, Adaptation, Death. The world cannot be seen just from a simple perspective, from one point of view, nor are there just two sides of a coin since there is something that separates these sides. Even the moral compass does not only have Good and Evil, there is also the Gray line that divides the two and where most people live. "Authority is the representation of Will, a Will that affects the Universe itself and if strong enough can merge with the Essence, becoming a part of it, thus becoming a God, integrating with the Universe itself in harmony." (I) Authority (Will) + Essence (Universe Aspect) + Sacred Power (Faith directed at you by another) = Divinity "I understand." (I) Suddenly it was as if everything made sense, I didn''t even feel the pain anymore, it was as if a new meaning had emerged within me. I looked where I was and it was the same starry field with a crystal path where I devoured my ''false self''. "Yes, you understood the basics alone, congratulations." (Tarzor) "Here is your reward..." (Tarzor) "Tarzor..." (I) Suddenly the great Serpent appeared once again or should I say it was always there waiting, when I opened my eyes here again Tarzor dissolved into pure white energy that invaded my ''Will''. Soon my ''Will'' began to change, 3 glows appeared within me spreading and mixing, but I felt nothing, my mind and Soul were numb, I could feel my body and Soul changing once again in an extreme way leaving only my ''Will'' containing my consciousness. Soon, from within me something emerged, the 4-pointed star appeared in my chest and I felt my body change once again into Dragon form, this was my true form, a power very similar to my Chaos Power was burning inside From me, the 4-pointed star suddenly began to change with 2 new points emerging before a seventh point slowly emerged and made its way through. When this happened I felt something connecting with me, in fact I felt several things connecting, it didn''t take long to understand that these were the connections that were previously blocked. I could feel each of my Familiars, there was a glow in their connections and only one of them remained unlit, it was exactly in that one that I felt the power extending as if it were alive until it reached where Hinata was. The starry sky around me shattered once more and I emerged once again in that same environment on the surface of Tarzor. This time the Mother of the Grave was not wearing a mocking smile as usual, she was kneeling with her head lowered in a place hundreds of meters away, next to her was a coiled white Serpent looking at me. When I looked down I saw the blood and flesh spread everywhere, this was my blood and flesh, my body was still hurting, but it was far from over. "(Do you understand?)" (Tarzor) "Yes." (I) "But why would I agree?" (I) When the White Serpent became energy being delivered to me it was a type of Essence being delivered, it was thanks to this Essence that one was able to consume the other 3 that I had just absorbed, leaving only one complete Essence that I let flow naturally through my connection with Hinata. That energy not only helped me with the Essences, but gave me an idea of ??what Tarzor wanted, because he showed me what he really is. "After all that, why should I do anything for you?" (I) "Because you need me too and you''ll find out soon enough." (Tarzor) Saying this he disappeared and I wanted to talk to him more, I had many questions to be answered and just when I wanted to call him, I could feel it. The pain I felt before returned even stronger to the point where my body fell to the ground writhing, my muscles, bones and blood were moving on their own within my body while restructuring, my Soul was coming into conflict with my Will, I could feel the illusory Essence Core vibrating on its own and the same was happening with the abnormal 7-pointed star. Everything that made me up was in pain, but I still held myself together using my power to forcefully control my body and so I got back on my feet. "Follow me, I''ll walk you back to your group." (Mother of the Grave) "..." (I) I wanted to attack her now, but my condition was bad enough for one day, I would wait for revenge next time now that I know where to find her. Ding! <[ You are going through the Divine Ascension process ]> . . . <[ Enter a Hallowed Land in your name to begin the process ]> But it was at that moment that a system message appeared directly in front of me without giving me the option to ignore it or leave it until later, a message that exploded in my mind triggering a new wave of pain. I could feel my Essences moving in the illusory Essence Core, I could feel my blood evaporating while still inside my veins and I could feel as if everything in me was changing at the same time, I felt as if I would completely black out at any moment in a deep sleep. It was in this miserable state that I was dragged through a portal that ended up on the back of the Dimensional Dragon. When I got there I was already far beyond my limit and my eyes could no longer see anything other than the energies of Essences from the entire universe. I only slightly felt some people surrounding me and from the Auras I knew who they could be. Chapter 1478: Cap 1476: Ascension of a God part 2 I was weak, exhausted and immersed in endless pain, everything in me was changing even now, my Soul was undergoing the greatest and most painful of changes to the point that I didn''t fully understand what was happening. When I was being dragged somewhere beyond the portal to the Dimensional Dragon, I heard screams and many people talking, but my mind was not in a state to comprehend the words, even my recent discovery of my will as something real was not exempt from the change I was now undergoing, everything I am was in flux on the threshold of a transformation I could not control. My conscience works more on instinct than on rational thought, that''s how I let myself be dragged once again and when I entered a comfortable place that I recognized as the Dungeon. I didn''t have much sense of time when I was taken to another place, I felt myself being carried to a place where I felt a reaction in my Essences and Will, a place full of Sacred Power and Divine Power permeating everything. As soon as I entered this place I felt other Wills attaching themselves to mine and my body felt light while 3 flows of Divine Power surrounded me. "(You can''t join us yet, don''t forget your Familiar.)" (Goddess Selene) "(You also need your last Herald.)" (Goddess Mavis) "(Your Divine Ascension will be a little different and will force your sisters to become Goddesses too, it cannot be rushed.)" (Goddess Kalistos) "< Divine Seal >" (Goddesses) I listened to the voices in my head and in my Soul, unlike the voices I heard until now, I managed to understand what they said, that was when a feeling of relief took over my entire body. I felt 3 powers circulate my Soul and suppress the power of the Essences, so the changes were not interrupted, but were happening slowly, very slowly. With this I managed to stabilize my body and mind, regaining my consciousness completely, I still felt the pain, but now they were stabs of that pain instead of the continuous pain from before. When I opened my eyes I was floating in the pool of blood completely as I came into the world, around me I felt the Divine powers of Life, Death and Blood. "Master!!" (all) "..." (I) When I heard voices I was already going down and stepping into the lake of blood to stand on its surface, so I looked around, all my Familiars were missing with the exception of Hinata and Nix, but my Heralds were present, my children were nowhere to be found, but my Saints and Divine Servants were here. "What happened?" (I) "..." (All) "I think I''d better show you." (Hades) Everyone looked around in a confused way, it seems that many things happened, I could see that many were injured and I could not see my sisters anywhere, Hades in particular was physically well, but I felt that his Soul was very weakened, even his body he was shaking slightly. He approached me with some effort and I reached out my hand to him, when our hands touched, a stream of memories passed from him to me. With my mineral strength now, separating and understanding these memories was much faster than telling me speaking normally, I also understood the reason why Hades was the one who took the lead, in seconds I had understood everything. "Were there anyone seriously injured?" (I) "Many, but none of them are life-threatening." (Alice) "Come closer." (I) Just like I did with Hades, I reached out my hand to Alice and as soon as she touched it a stream of various consciousnesses came to me, I wasted no time and raised my other hand. "< Familiar Summon: Layla >" (I) "< Familiar Summon: Ragnar >" (I) "< Familiar Summon: Orion >" (I) "< Familiar Summon: Sakura >" (I) Soon 3 magic circles filled with Spiritual Runes appear around me pulling Holy Power from the pool of Blood, then my 4 Familiars appeared. "You idiotic, stupid, slow and disgraceful master!!!!" (Layla) "How could you let me die!? Where were you!? Why didn''t you take me with you!? Why did you..." (Layla) "Alright, let''s stop here, we don''t have time for this, you idiot." (Sakura) "Master, how are you?" (Orion) "Master..." (Ragnar) "I''m... fine..." (I) I wasn''t exactly well, but I could feel that the process was still progressing, but now, instead of taking seconds, it will take days. "(I haven''t finished my preparations...)" (I) ---------------- It took me a few hours to explain everything to everyone, then tell them what everyone should do, there were still people from the Dungeon who hadn''t woken up and there were things for me to do. I wanted to see my wives, but I couldn''t do that, they seem to be going through something similar, Vanessa told me that Diana had already become a Demigod and Ibuki was in the process of transformation, it seems that Erica had already found her path and soon became would transform into a Demigod while Kira was preparing to hunt for a Divinity Fragment that she will need as a starting point. --------------- I was now alone inside the Communal Temple, I have many things to do, but I cannot continue without seeing the notifications that I have been leaving aside. I need to know where I am to know where I''m going and with that kind of thinking I started paying attention to notifications. Ding! <[ You consumed Erkales (Anomaly Dragon) and completely absorbed his [ Anomaly Core ] with the aspects of [ Natural Law (Altered) ] ]> . . . <[ Your Essences are temporarily dormant due to extreme physical, mental and Soul exhaustion ]> . . . <[ Your [ Anomalous Chaos Essence (Partially Sealed) ] is in the process of refining [ Anomalous Core ] ]> So far nothing has been a surprise, I pushed myself more than to the limit in my fights, I pushed my body and soul beyond what I could go more than once. I don''t know much about this Anomalous Core, but it must be the 4-pointed star, I don''t understand these terms or what they mean, but at least it seems to be in my control, it doesn''t seem to be harmful if it keeps me in line since I remember the system notification warning. Now comes the part about the 3 Essences I ate and whatever Tarzor did to me. Ding! <[ Your Soul has been strengthened by fusing with [ Unholy Fragment Essence ] due to High compatibility ]> . . . <[ Your Soul has been strengthened by fusing with [ Demonic Life Essence (Fragment) ] due to High compatibility ]> . . . <[ Your Soul has been strengthened by fusing with [ Death Demon Essence (Fragment) ] due to High compatibility ]> . . . <[ You used your [ Anomalous Chaos Essence (Partially Sealed) ] to refine [ Unholy Fragment Essence ] ]> . . <[ You used your [ Chaos Anomalous Essence (Partially Sealed) ] to refine [ Demonic Life Essence (Fragment) ] ]> . . <[ You used your [ Chaos Anomalous Essence (Partially Sealed) ] to refine [ Death Demon Essence (Fragment) ] ]> . . <[ You have successfully transformed [ Unholy Fragment Essence ] into an essence named [ Void Fragment Essence (Partially Sealed) ] ]> . . <[ You have successfully transformed [ Demon Life Essence (Fragment) ] into a unique Demon-type essence named [ Life Transmutation Essence (Partially Sealed) ] ]> . . <[ You have successfully transformed [ Death Demon Essence (Fragment) ] into a unique Demon-type essence named [ Death Transmutation Essence (Partially Sealed) ] ]> . . . <[ ??]> . . . <[ Due to Tarzor''s interference () you acquired and fused with [ Universal Serpent Essence ] ]> . . . <[ You used your [Anomalous Chaos Essence (Partially Sealed) ] to refine [ Universal Serpent Essence ] ]> . . <[ You have successfully transformed [ Universal Serpent Essence ] fusing with 3 Essences and creating [ Universal Anomalous Void Serpent Essence (Partially Sealed) ] ]> . . <[ You Awakened the [ Universal Void Anomalous Serpent Essence (Partially Sealed) ] as a [ Demigod ] ]> . . <[ All your attributes and skills are strengthened in their entirety ]> . . <[ Your Aura has Anomalous Elements making any type of suppression impossible ]> . . <[ Your Authority and Will have been strengthened to Anomalous elements ]> . . <[ Your Familiar Hinata (Void Lady) has been implanted with [ Universal Anomalous Void Serpent Essence (Partially Sealed) ] and must immerse herself in her Master''s Demon Blood for the Divine Awakening process ]> . . . <[ You won the Titles: ? [ Demigod of the Void ] ? [ He Who Transcends the Universe ] ]> . . . <[ You have awakened the skill [ Void Anomaly Incarnation ] ]> . . . <[ Have you been affected by 3 Divine Souls that were taken by ''Callidora?'' () ]> I was overwhelmed by what I was seeing, there were a lot of things I wanted to talk about and a lot to think about, but I didn''t have time for that, even now the changes are still ongoing causing me stabs of pain that make everything in me shake. But at least I know what Tarzor did, he granted me an Essence and forced the 4 Essences to merge into one before being refined again, but I don''t know what he gets out of it. There doesn''t seem to be any kind of influence on this Essence, so he needs me to have this Essence to do something for him and this reminds me of what he made me learn, if before I had a basic notion of what he wanted, now I have almost completely sure of what he wants. What Callidora turns doesn''t matter, but I could see that she influenced the system to show her name which seemed strange there. "Now for the last part." (I) Ding! <[ You are going through the Divine Ascension process ]> . . . <[ Enter a Hallowed Land in your name to begin the process ]> This was what strength appeared to me before, but a few more things came later when I heard the voice of the 3 Goddesses. Ding! <[ You were interfered by Selene (Goddess of Blood) ]> . . <[ You were interfered by Mavis (Goddess of Life) ]> . . <[ You were interfered by Kalistos (Demonic Goddess of Death) ]> . . . <[ The Divine Ascension process has been Partially extended and stabilized ]> So I was right. "(Now only the last preparation remains.)" (I) --------------- I was on the floor of the Dungeon Star Palace, Elizabeth was with me as was Hinata, I was about to perform Hinata''s Divine Awakening and this seemed like the most suitable place. Chapter 1479: Cap 1477: Ascension of a God part 3 At that moment a wave of pain ran through everything that constitutes my existence, it was like a tsunami destroying everything in its path, cracks were heard throughout my body and I almost fell just holding on to the pain with willpower. "Guhh!!" (I) "Master... well...?" (Hinata) "I''m fine..." (I) Sigh I wasn''t well, but I didn''t have time for these things, I have a lot to do and I might not even be able to sleep. "You should thank our mother, the Divine Seal they used must be difficult for her in her current state." (Elizabeth) "Current status? What are you talking about?" (I) "I don''t know the details, but she was seriously injured." (Elizabeth) "..." (I) "Don''t worry, she''ll be fine, but the same can''t be said for the poor guy who managed to hurt her, I imagine he died in ways that are difficult to imagine." (Elizabeth) As Elizabeth spoke, I was recovering from the pain that comes every few dozen minutes. "I want to know more about this, but first I need to take care of something." (I) "I''ll wait with her." (Elizabeth) Next to Elizabeth was the one I chose as my last Herald, Zaya. I take a deep breath and go a little further into the middle of the Star Palace garden, I have so many things to be done and even so I still worry about Hinata, the Essence I got has strange connotations everywhere. "(She and I already have this power, besides, she''s my Familiar, if something goes wrong I''ll still be able to do something about it.)" (I) I go to a fountain in the middle of the Garden and with a movement of my hand I remove all the freezing water pressed into an ice cube, then I break the part of the fountain in the middle and transform it into just an empty pool that I fill with the blood I removed of the Communal Temple. "Hinata, come closer, dive in." (I) "..." (Hinata) She enters the pool of blood the large amount of Holy Power in that blood was surrounding her, she didn''t seem to be too affected and she was certainly calm. I didn''t need to tell her if she was ready, it was clear to see that she was waiting for me to start. I place my hand on the surface of the pool of blood, I let my Aura travel completely through the pool before penetrating his Spectral body then I begin to add my Authority creating a harmony between the two of us before finally letting the Anomalous Serpent Essence flow. of the Universal Void. This was the first time I touched this Essence and used its power, it was strange, each Essence seems to have its own characteristics, but this one seems almost alive, I felt like I literally had a Serpent flowing from my Soul and through my body into the pool of blood. When I did this a shadowy white Serpent silhouette appeared in the pool of blood, I could feel the power of the Essence absorbing my Aura and Authority before entering the flow that merged with Hinata, she began to show reaction, countless eyes opened by her body before those eyes become mouths full of teeth where bizarre tentacles come out to drag all the power of the surroundings inside. I could feel the Essence sinking into her and the blood in the pool being devoured voraciously. Ding! <[ The Divine Beast and Familiar Hinata (Lady of the Void) was detected possessing [ Universal Anomalous Void Serpent Essence (Partially Sealed) ] in an embryonic state needing to undergo [ Divine Awakening] for full development ] ]> . . . <[ Fulfillment of the requirements of being submerged in the Blood of Zenos and your presence as a master to carry out the [ Divine Awakening ] ]> . . <[ Want to initiate Hinata''s (Void Lady) [ Divine Awakening ] ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> There was nothing to think about, Hinata was more than ready and I was already feeling another wave of pain wanting to start, so before the pain starts I start the process, so it won''t be interrupted later. "Yes!" (I) "(Damn, that one came quickly... aahhh!!!)" (I) Ding! <[ Starting [ Divine Awakening ] Hinata''s (Void Lady) ]> When the process began I was drowning in a new wave of pain coursing through everything that constitutes my existence, I realized that this level of pain cannot be endured, this is a level of pain that surpasses any kind of resistance and threatens my life existence itself. That''s why I ended up missing what was happening to Hinata, I just felt my power leaving my body along with a constant flow of the Universal Void Anomalous Serpent Essence. It was only after the pain subsided that I could see Hinata''s condition, the pool of blood had disappeared giving way to a Star pool, it literally looked like the starry sky had been melted into liquid and spilled here and within between the stars there was an Eclipse surrounded by shadows of Serpents where something seemed to sleep almost invisible. When I looked at that point a pair of eyes opened to meet mine, then it was as if each Serpent shadow turned its eyes towards me, the stars opened revealing they were eyes also turned towards me while the Eclipse cracked and then shook like if it were an egg. Ding! <[ The Familiar Spirit and Divine Beast Hinata (Universal Void Anomalous Avatar) Became an extension of the [ Universal Void Anomalous Serpent Essence (Partially Sealed) ] and creating the [ Universal Anomalous Void Serpent Core ] ]> . . . <[ Hinata (Anomalous Avatar of the Universal Void) awakened as a Specter of the Universal receiving the title [ Anomalous Serpent Lady of the void ] ]> . . . <[ Hinata''s Divine Awakening (Universal Void Anomalous Avatar) has been completed ]> . . . <[ Hinata (Universal Void Anomalous Avatar) does not meet the requirements for the awakening of the Anomalous Skill [ ] ]> I had lots and lots of questions, but this wasn''t the time and I also have good guesses about the ability she failed to awaken, if I''m right it will only show itself when I become a God and possibly start my own Anomalous Core which is still In the process of refinement, this misfortune is one of the things that is causing the most pain within me. Sigh "(She''s fine...)" (I) I could see a silhouette coming out of the broken Eclipse, she tried to come towards me and it was like seeing someone flying through water, her every movement caused ripples around her and when her hand tried to go through the inside of the stellar liquid to reach me, it was as if there is a membrane that she can''t break through creating a horror movie like scene of an arm trying to break through a membrane to reach me. "Calm down, you still need to adapt to your power and stabilize everything." (I) I wanted to see her, but I wouldn''t be able to, but it was a relief to realize that it shouldn''t take more than 1 day for her to leave, so I walked towards my sister and my future Herald while looking at her. "What do you think?" (I) "Her presence is different from Tarzor, it seems... I don''t know how to say... different... but pleasant, in a way... complementary, I don''t know how to explain it." (Zaya) "That''s enough, it almost confirms my assumptions." (I) "Do you want to rest?" (Elizabeth) "I don''t have time, see." (I) I lift my shirt showing the crack marks, they are not showing the inside of my body, they are not just cracks in my body, they are cracks in my very existence. "I wanted to stay here and talk to you, but I don''t know how long, so bring Nicole here along with what I asked for." (I) "You don''t need..." (Elizabeth) "Yes, yes, I do, I can''t have her with me for what''s to come if I don''t know what to expect." (I) With that I place my hand on the doll on my waist. "(This time we''re going to fix you.)" (I) ----------------- Pov Adella''s: I wanted to rest peacefully, but I was dragged out of the ocean of blood by a hand I recognized, then taken to where Selene was. "Selene, what did you do to her?" (Akatosh) "I''m busy at the moment..." (Selene) In front of Selene was a living body chopped up in a way that shouldn''t be possible while she was weaving the veins with her Divine power, I can also see her dissolving the Soul of Oros slowly into a sphere of blood, must want to force a Divine Rebirth while expelling Baldr''s power. "She has become a Dragon, a pure Divine Dragon!" (Akatosh) "She attracted the attention of the Anomalies!!" (Akatosh) "I didn''t bring that bastard here and if you''re going to complain about anyone, Zenos did worse by killing a Dragon Eater." (I) "He did what!!??" (Akatosh) "Adella stop ratting out her father and you stop shouting in my Divine Kingdom, what Zenos did doesn''t matter, they''ve had their eyes on us for a long time." (Selene) "I''m not ready yet... Arash is still a new God and the Primordial Dragons are still..." (Akatosh) Sigh "We are at a disadvantage and now they might not wait until we resolve the Abyss attack." (Akatosh) "Don''t worry, your solution is obvious, Zenos has already begun the Divine Ascension process and he carries Anomalous power." (Selene) "Yes, I can feel it too, it''s making my wounds itch more." (I) "Hahahahaha... I knew I liked this boy, I''m going to contact your Saint now, Karina is a Saint of the entire Dragon Race, with her we can..." (Akatosh) "Akatosh, I said I''m busy, I don''t have time for your race''s affairs right now, I have to break up with Oros and I haven''t fully recovered yet." (Selene) "Alright, I''ll go now, looks like I have preparations to make." (Akatosh) With that he was leaving as suddenly as he came and still dragging me with him. "Wait, I still need to heal..." (I) "You come with me." (Akatosh) Chapter 1480: Cap 1478: Ascension of a God part 4 I was looking at the ancient fountain that has now become a star pool where Hinata was, fantastic as it was, in a nosy way it blended into the surroundings perfectly, she was in the middle of a crystal flower garden with a perpetual starry sky landscape. "Master, how do you feel?" (Nix) "As if it had been chewed like gum and then stuck to the sole of a truck tire experiencing hundreds of thousands of miles of travel on the worst roads known." (I) "That was... specific..." (Nix) "You don''t know half the things I said, but to sum it up, I look horrible." (I) "We know, we can feel our connection to you shaking like it''s being hit." (Nix) "That''s why I come to ask you again, leave the Legions of death aside." (Nix) "..." (I) "Why do you..." (I) "Don''t tell me about risks again, none of us believe in that nonsense, you just want to know what''s going to happen." (Nix) I remember that one of the tasks I set for myself was to perform the Awakening Ceremony on the Legions of Death, they could not be killed and destroying them was impossible at that time, maintaining them would also be difficult and risky. But I also can''t deny that I had my own reasons for doing something like that, I was more than curious to know what the Legions of Death would become if I applied life energy to them, they are one of the strongest types of Undead that they exist. "Fine, I won''t do that, I can''t deny that I''m in a weird state at the moment to let myself get carried away like this." (I) "(At least for now, not to mention that there are still those Souls and Deities that Adella brought from the Church of Light, there are also the Gods and Demonic Deities that we have sealed.)" (I) "Master, Nicole has arrived." (Ragnar) "Bring her." (I) "I''m already here, you could have come to my laboratory, I had even created a special room..." (Nicole) "Cough! Cough! GHUU!!! AHHH!!!" (I) "Master!!!" (all) "Father!" (Nicole) Suddenly a sudden wave of pain arises and I feel my Soul tearing and healing as parts of it are being remade with the power of the Essence Core that is becoming less and less illusory. "Aaahhh... aaahhh... aahhhh... ugh." (I) Sigh "I...I''m fine." (I) "You''re more than fine, your Aura got explosively stronger for a second before stabilizing at a stronger than normal state." (Elizabeth) "I can feel it, your Soul..." (Zaya) "I''m fine, I told you, this isn''t going to stop anyway, it just shows that my time is running out." (I) "Where''s what I asked for?" (I) "I left it on the terrace." (Nicole) "We will see." (I) As we walk outside, I try to organize what I am feeling, my Soul is stronger, but it is not just being influenced by the Essences, it is being remade, I can even feel the 7-point Anomalous Core influencing the process with the guide of the new Essence that I just acquired. When we reached the roof, I found a wooden doll, the surface of its body had a strange and at the same time beautiful texture, but looking closer it was possible to see that there were millions of Magical Circles and Spiritual Runes marked across its entire surface, I also noticed that the wood fibers are all connected as if they were one. The doll had a humanoid structure with 2 arms, 2 legs and 1 head. His hands had 5 fingers, his joints seem to be made of small and medium magic crystals, his face has no features and in the center of his chest there is a magic crystal made using my crystallized blood, Eclipse Demon Dragon Seal and containing a quantity of Holy Power almost equal to what my pool of blood in the Communal Temple possesses. "Give me a report." (I) "It was made using the remains of a World Tree, all the rituals engraved on its body are new and designed solely for the power of the Eclipse." (Nicole) "Inside you run your blood and a unique spatial expansion magic that I created to contain everything you asked for." (Nicole) "There are also various Holy Restrictions, magic crystals, and Evil God bones." (Nicole) "With the help of Hela and Alice I was able to inject the power of Death from Hell along with the pure power of the Curse without being affected by malice." (Nicole) "There is also a unique Crystal Slime inside that I was only able to create using your blood as a base and it has all the properties you asked for." (Nicole) "This thing has as much power as my body, maybe even more, but at the same time it has so many restrictions and internal conflicts that I wouldn''t be surprised if it exploded now." (Nicole) "Thank you, that''s enough." (I) I give a signal and everyone moves away, I take a deep breath and take the doll off my waist and throw it in the direction of Nicole''s creation, using my power I make them both float side by side. "This one''s going to be tough." (I) "< Authority... >" (I) Suddenly when I tried to use my Authority, I didn''t need to keep talking, I felt the Will within me from which the Authority emerged respond to what I wanted, then I felt the Will itself extend through one of my arms as it points to the direction where the two things are floating. My arms feel strange when they transform into their Dragon form and the stars on my scales shine brightly before going out into the surroundings spreading Holy Power. With this, a large amount of my power reacts forming Star Clouds containing the power of Curses, Demonic power and the power of Blood. I didn''t even need to initiate the Divine Awakening, it was happening naturally, even my Essences were reacting following my Will, it has never been so easy and simple to do something like this with so much control. Ding! <[ Starting Awakening Ceremony Following the Will of Zenos (Rising God) ]> . . . <[ The Individual has been classified as a Holy Fallen Soul (Demonic) and is already fundamentally linked to you due to the entity that proclaims itself as Callidora () ]> . . . <[ Holy Fallen Soul (Demonic) is already subordinate to you by your own choice ]> I could feel the Soul inside the Doll, in a way it was disgusting, it seemed tainted by pure malice, but a feeling of endless desolation could be felt and as if sensing my curiosity, my Will followed this feeling deeper until one last pure part surrounded by the pain that my Will touches. Ding! <[ Grant 3 powers to Fallen Saint Soul ]> At that moment I had already thought about what to grant to this doll, I didn''t want her to have the power of Hell that I don''t even control, I also wouldn''t grant the power of Life that she once abandoned, she is no longer a Saint of Life. But I wouldn''t give her abilities and elemental powers, it would be a waste since she is special enough to directly serve Callidora, so I thought of something better if her Soul resists. I looked at the almost infinite list of power possibilities and their variations ignoring them all, just with my Will the 3 options closest to what I planned already showed themselves before me and I chose them. 1. [ Restraining Blessing of Zenos (Rising God) ] 2. [ Anomalous Seal of Zenos (Incomplete/temporarily sealed) ] 3. [ Embryonic Anomalous Nucleus (Zenos/Partially Sealed) ] Suddenly, from my Dragon claw, 3 Dragons emerged from my scales and heading towards the Infernal Doll, the 3 Dragons were different, emitting the respective powers that make them up. They tear the doll apart, devouring everything amidst the Starfire that has ignited, then sink into the body created by Nicole, the Starfire begins to burn all over its surface as it trembles, the grooves of the countless symbols on its body light up, an internal presence it wells up from within and I feel the Soul within looking at me as chains seem to form around it, these are the same chains that bound it to me because of Callidora and these chains form a cocoon around it. Ding! <[ Zenos (Rising God) created a Unique Anomalous Race ]> . . <[ The system watches you ]> . . <[ Fallen Saint Soul (Demonic) Has merged with the Eclipse World Puppet and is forming a new body ]> . . <[ Fallen Saint Soul (Demonic) is directly absorbing your power to refine your Soul ]> . . . <[ Starting Process of formation of the physical body of the Fallen Holy Soul (Demonic) when Ascending as [ Anomalous Nascent Entity ] ]> . . <[ Beginning the transition and awakening of the [ Anomalous Nascent Entity ] to a [ Infernal Eclipse Anomalous Puppet ] ]> . . . <[ Beginning Process of formation of an Anomalous Soul for the individual [ Infernal Eclipse Anomalous Puppet ] ]> . . <[ Beginning transition and awakening from [ Fallen Saint Soul (Anomalous Entity) ] to Anomalous Divine Soul ]> . . . <[ Fragments of memory and consciousness of a million unidentified Divine beings have been detected, do you wish to use them when refining from your Anomalous will to develop the mind and Soul of the Anomalous Entity? ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> I didn''t need to think much, I already knew that she destroyed the Universe itself and served Callidora for a long time, I''m not surprised by what I''m seeing. "Yes." (I) Ding! <[ Power grant completed ]> . . <[ Wake-up process starting ]> When I accepted the latter a Rift formed below and above it, a column of star power surrounded the chains and the image of a Dragon similar to me was overlapping with the chains, when at the end a pair of eyes formed behind, it was Callidora watching, and I knew it from the perpetual amusement in her gaze, I could feel the mark she left on the chains and Soul willingly disappearing. Ding! <[ Awakening process completed ]> . . <[ Creation and Awakening Ceremony of [ Anomaly Demonic Saint ] completed ]> . . . <[ Birth process completed ]> . . <[ The individual is now identified as having their own body, mind and Soul upon receiving the Primordial Dragon Blessing of Zenos (Rising God) ]> . . . <[ Subject (Anomaly Demonic Saint) begs to be given a name by his creator and only master, do you wish to give him a name? ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> Chapter 1481: Cap 1479: Ascension of a God part 5 I was standing in front of the hill of stellar energy between 2 cracks in space looking without knowing how it all came to this, Callidora''s eyes were still watching me until they disappeared among the stars. There are a lot of doubts about what I just did, I was mentally prepared for something crazy, but I tried not to waste time knowing that the pain could hinder me, but strangely everything went well. "(I can understand Hinata becoming an Anomaly, I know Zaya will become one too, but I didn''t expect that even after everything I did this doll would become an Anomalous Saint.)" (I) There is nothing about her being a Saint, I will her body to be easily restricted by me, I even thought of the powers I wanted to grant to be another layer of restriction and along the way I even used my will along with my Dragon Power to refine the chains of hell that were suppressing her for something of mine. I could feel the chains starting to weaken and ready to break, Callidora warned from the beginning that the chains were only temporary until I performed an Awakening Ceremony, but I thought I could take advantage of them and put a new layer of restriction on like a cherry on top of cake. "My redundancy got me down." (I) I know I may have been overly cautious and more than just redundant with all of this, but this Wretched Doll like the Souls of Even Evil Gods, she was a Saint who betrayed everything she believed in and massacred an entire universe, for the love of the Gods, she She was a servant of Callidora for who knows how long, carrying out atrocities that I dare not think about. For me, the more restrictions the better, especially when I saw how willing and happy she was to serve me, seeing her submission messages during the Awakening Ceremony and seeing what she was becoming didn''t help with those concerns, so I did that with the chains. I could feel all the layers of restrictions I created and the chains becoming various connecting links between the two of us before naturally merging into a very strong connection, that was why Callidora was having fun, I made a fool of myself. "He finished?" (Elizabeth) "The path I took to avoid her was the one that took me directly to where I didn''t want to be..." (I) Sigh "What happened?" (Elizabeth) "Now it''s too late to talk about it... Aahhhh!!!" (I) "Zenos!" (Elizabeth) At the moment I was lost in thought, I could feel my arm returning to normal, my Will returned inside me leaving only the Authority behind, when my sister approached and I started talking to her regretting what happened, suddenly the pain returned as if it was waiting for my Will to become inactive again. Sigh The pain only lasted a few seconds before it subsided, but this time I could feel the Divine Spark igniting within the Essence Core that seems almost completely formed, I can''t even tell if it is an illusion or if it has become real. Sigh "Ahhh..." (I) "I''m fine... I''m fine..." (I) I look at where the doll was, there are no traces of Callidora''s eyes left, but I could feel the presence of the half-asleep Doll focused on me, I can feel her pleading. "(Since I walked to the end of this path, then why not enter through the gates by destroying the doors with your right foot?)" (I) "It''s too late to regret it, so I might as well accept it and see the results." (I) I approach the energy column, when I touched the stellar energy column it was like touching the surface of a thick liquid and not being able to sink my hand, it was my energy and I could feel the flow of it, the two slits at the bottom and the top are connected creating this perpetual cycle of stellar energy. "You scare me with your malice and cruelty, so I will name you after a character from a movie that scared me in my previous life." (I) "A name should represent who a person is, that''s why I chose this name that scared me one day." (I) "Your name will be Samara." (I) Ding! <[ Samara (Demonic Saint of the Anomaly) received a name being accepted by Zenos (Rising God) ]> . . . <[ Samara (Demonic Saint of the Anomaly) submits body, mind, Soul and Will to Zenos (Rising God) ]> . . . <[ Her connection with Samara (Anomaly Demon Saint) will be partially sealed until she completes her birth process ]> . . . <[ Attention! ]> . . <[ Requirements for birth of Samara (Demonic Saint of the Anomaly) not met ]> . . <[ Samara (Demonic Saint of the Anomaly) will be suspended indefinitely amid the birth process until Zenos (Rising God) completes his Divine Ascension and releases his [ Anomalous Core ] ]> "..." (I) I can''t deny that I accepted her in a way, the fact that I gave her a name is a symbol of acceptance, but at least now I no longer need to always carry her with me, I also don''t need to worry about her around others if I become unconscious for a long time. "I would like to talk to you sister, but at the moment I realize more and more how short my time is." (I) "What are you going to do now?" (Elizabeth) "I need to get some rest, in a few hours I need to take care of Zaya." (I) ------------------ Hours later, I was leaning against a wall of the Star Palace, I can feel my bones as firm as jelly and my muscles as firm as a handful of sand. My body was like shit, the cracks had already spread to more than 40% of my body and even appeared in my Soul, the Anomalous Core began to pulsate as if it were a heart accelerating the crack as its bizarre energy merges more with me, even my Essence Core is completely formed, it is no longer an illusion and inside was a Starfire Dragon with its eyes closed, this was my Divine Spark that had already become a true fire before taking on this Dragon form after this last wave of pain "Are you really going to do that in this state?" (Sakura) "You need to rest." (Nix) "This is impossible and you know it, maybe it''s because of this Anomalous power or whatever it is, but the seal of the Goddesses won''t last for days like I expected... maybe it won''t last more than a few hours." (I) "Hinata is still there, she has no way of doing this." (Orion) "She''s already complete, she''s just sleeping now I got the news before the last wave of pain." (I) "Then we can wake her up, so you don''t have to do it alone." (Ragnar) "No, she won''t be able to wake up, her condition is similar to Samara''s, she has Anomalous power that is linked to me, until I become a God she won''t wake up." (I) "I''m going to do something about this, it will be more difficult without her, but it will only be at the beginning, even in her sleep she can still help, if I''m right the process will end with her also suspended because of the Anomalous power." (I) "You won''t be able to do everything you need to do." (Nix) "I won''t be able to do everything I wanted, what I need is already ready with the exception of Zaya, which I''ll resolve now." (I) I had a lot of plans to put into practice, but it won''t help now, I wanted to get everything sorted out, but it seems like I won''t be able to, I can feel the Seals of the 3 Goddesses dispersing with each pulsation of the Anomalous Core. "(I wanted to see my wives and Freya... but it seems like it will be impossible.)" (I) Sigh I look at Zaya next to the star pool where Hinata was sleeping, I stand up and start walking while waving for the others to stay away. "Is ready?" (I) "Yes, but will you be okay?" (Zaya) "Don''t worry, I''m...!!!!" (I) Suddenly my body shook and the pain came once again, as if mocking my words, just standing up was difficult when I couldn''t even make a sound, the cracks running up my neck before stopping and the Divine Power Dragon inside my Essence Core it grew more than double in size. Sigh "Aahhh... ahhh... aaahhhh..." (I) "Don''t come!" (I) "..." (Zaya) "I''m fine, let''s get started." (I) I could feel my Familiars running towards me without turning back, so I made them stay away as I walked to the edge of the star pool and waved Zaya forward. "What do I need to do?" (Zaya) "Just stay in the middle, don''t worry, it won''t sink." (I) While answering Zaya, I walked across the surface of the star pool, it was like entering a completely different environment, a Sacred Land filled with my power and Hinata''s presence. "(It will do.)" (I) Zaya follows me with her eyes before taking a cautious first step before starting to walk alertly towards the middle with clear difficulty, it seems that this place is a little heavy for her. I wait for her to face me, I look into her eyes and appreciate the determination I see, I''m happy that she agreed to be my Herald, there was no one better suited for this. "Is ready?" (I) "Yes." (Zaya) Chapter 1482: Cap 1480: Ascension of a God part 6 To transform Zaya into a Herald, I didn''t need much preparation, with my Will being much more accessible now and having more control over the entire process, I just had to stretch my arm and let my power flow while using Authority to activate my Will. My arm transforms once again with my fingers becoming claws and star scales spreading across my arm, the energy was even stronger than before. "(The control is a little worse due to the disproportionate amount of power, but it''s still better than normal.)" (I) My Will once again let the power flow in my body naturally making the stars on my scales shine, then one of the Essences detached from the Essence Core. Essence of the Universal Void Anomalous Serpent. This was the Essence that I acquired and that would be used, looking at my scales was like seeing a silhouette gliding between the stars like a Serpent through the grass until it reached my claws. "..." (I) I felt that another wave of pain was coming, but at that moment I felt as if my Will was suppressing the pain and the transformation process temporarily. I was grateful for this small mercy, in my current state it would be difficult to maintain myself any other way and concentration is everything in these moments. I don''t need to activate any power like I used to, the Will literally is a form of power manipulation, at least that''s what I see for now. Unlike the past, I don''t dare to use a complete Divine Incarnation, I also shouldn''t need to, the Divine Dragon with its eyes closed within the Essence Core is much more powerful than the Divine Spark that created with the Divine Incarnation. My will seems to move inside me invading my Soul as if it were walking through your home, I simply felt it enter the Divine Dragon that opens its eyes revealing 2 different starry skies, then my Divine Weapon was sucked in with each part entering one of the eyes, soon the starry sky of one eye was around a Purple Sun while in the starry sky of the other eye was a Fragmented Moon. When this happened I felt the Divine Dragon as if it had become my own Will, then a great weight fell on it and I felt as if I was being crushed, it was the Goddess Seals, I also felt the bizarre energy of the Anomalous Core trying to come together and being kept away by seals. It took a few seconds to stabilize my situation before I returned to pay attention to Zaya still standing in front of me, I use the Divine Power that my Will controls to travel through the already altered parts of my Soul and travel through my already transformed arm. "(The suppression of the Goddess seal is getting in the way, but I can''t get rid of it now.)" (I) I keep all this power in just one arm, I felt like I was going to lose my arm at any moment, but I kept it that way and I realized that the Territory was already starting to form naturally once again because of my Will. My Aura and Authority spread from my arm carrying the Divine presence, the demarcated area was the star pool where Hinata was and the space transformed as if the stars were corrupting the space. I felt a synchronization between the Territory and the star pool before countless Star Crystal Flowers formed on the surface of the pool, among them a large flower rose from the pool rising beneath Zaya, I could feel that the roots of this flower were surrounding Hinata who was awake. The flower where Zaya was standing had petals that resembled Snake eyes, while in the middle there was a crystal statue of a faceless woman surrounded by a Snake and a Dragon, her arms were outstretched grabbing what appeared to be a crevice with a rim filled with teeth and an eye in the middle. Zaya had her eyes glued to the statue in front of her, but I didn''t have that luxury, the weight of the seals, the influence of the Anomalous Core and the excess of Divine Power were far exceeding my current limits. Without delay I slit my wrists and let my blood flow, it became countless drops that fell onto the previously colorless statue, the scales of the Serpent and Snake became red with different textures while the woman''s dress became a vivid almost liquid red, my presence around that flower grew immensely. Essence of the Universal Void Anomalous Serpent. This time I don''t believe in a sphere of blood to contain my Essence, it was not necessary with my current control by my Will. The Essence flowed out from countless scales becoming a Star Serpent that seemed to swim through space before entering the crack between the statue''s bones, it seemed as if the Essence had been devoured until the moment the statue came to life. The Serpent and the Dragon wrap themselves around the woman''s arms, becoming ornaments in her arms, the slit that she used to hold floated to her head, taking the place where her face should have been. Zaya suddenly floated towards her being hugged like a child would be by her hand, the two arms with the ornaments were around her as the strange head started to leak with bizarre energy Anomalous, a hill of stellar energy also surrounded the entire flower making everything different. Now each petal of the flower looked like a different and real eye, however in the middle an eye-shaped slit with the edges full of teeth seemed to be watching me with affection, this was Hinata''s eye and I couldn''t say how I was so sure of that. Ding! <[ You have successfully ascended the individual Zaya into a Divine Herald ]> . . . <[ You must give your Herald a title to form its central aspect ]> When the notification appeared in my mind I already knew that the process was almost finished, the only thing missing was this so-called title that would be its representation of this Essence, I had already thought about it before it even started and my Will transmitted it to her. Then the entire Territory shrank and closed in around him, before I knew it I was back in the garden of the Star Palace while standing on the surface of the pool where Hinata was, but this time there was an addition to the landscape, a crystal flower was floating in above the pool facing towards me, each crystal petal containing a very real eye and in the middle seemed to contain a real eye-like slit full of teeth at the edges where a small cocoon seemed to be trapped inside. My arm returned to normal as I felt my Divine Power being pushed back into my Essence Core with my Will being struck by the seals to the outside, my arm returning to normal was now covered by the cracks of my existence. Ding! <[ The Individual Zara (Divine Herald of Zenos) was given the title [ Anomalous Star of Fate ] ]> . . . <[ The power of your Essence will be Partially shared with your Divine Herald ]> . . . <[ The System congratulates you for creating a path to ]> . . . <[ All Gods look at you ]> . . . <[ Mavis (Goddess of Life) and Selene (Goddess of Blood) try to block Baldr''s (God of Light) interference ]> . . <[ Baldr (God of Light) tries to cross to the [ Mortal World ] and was restrained by Akatosh (Dragon God) and Kalistos (Demonic Goddess of Death) ]> . . <[ Baldr (God of Light) declared Zenos (Rising God) as Demonic God ]> . . <[ Selene (Goddess of Blood) Declares Zenos (Rising God) as a God ]> . . . <[ All Gods are divided into the two declarations of Will ]> . . <[ The Universe waits until the Divine Ascension comet of Zenos (Rising God) ]> Just when I thought I was screwed after seeing these notifications and understanding their meanings, other notifications appear, sinking my mood even further. Ding! <[ The System helps you temporarily hide your presence from the (Abyss) ]> . . <[ You were discovered by (Abyss) and were not found by System interference ]> . . . <[ The Ascended (Anomaly) feel the Awakening of their Anomalous power and are unable to find it ]> . . <[ The Dragons of Anomaly (Anomaly) look at you and proclaimed your existence as an enemy when they feel the touch of a God ]> . . . <[ Callidora () looks at you with amusement as she interferes with the Ascended (Anomaly) and Anomaly Dragons (Anomaly) attempt to find her whereabouts ]> There are many, many problems with what I''m reading and some things I didn''t even know existed, I was freaking out about it all. It seems that I attract a lot of prying eyes in my direction, looks full of malice and murderous intentions. The system must be protecting me from the Abyss, this is not new, but it seems that the stronger I get, the difficulty of doing so increases. Now the reason Callidora helps me is obviously because of the unborn Niryna, she doesn''t want her precious daughter to die before she''s even born or be snatched away by others when she''s so close to realizing her ambition. "AAAHHHHHH!!! AAAHHHHAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" (I) It was at that moment that the pain came back destroying any kind of train of thought I might have been having while drowning in pure pain. Ding! Chapter 1483: Cap 1481: Ascension of a God part 7 I suddenly wake up feeling pain on the side of my face and am faced with a Fairy smiling as she raises a hand to slap me, actually the second slap as she clearly gave me the slap that woke me up. "You woke up?" (Layla) "No, I''m sleeping peacefully like a baby after feeding." (I) She gives me another slap that I really wasn''t expecting, then positioned her hand as if she was going to give me another slap. "Are you awake now?" (Layla) "Yes, I''m awake you little Demon, what do you want..." (I) She slaps me again and leaves the room laughing as she flies out, then soon my other Family members enter along with Elizabeth. Looking around I realized it was a crystal room where the only place I could see having such a place would be the Star Palace. It only took a few seconds to remember why I''m lying on a bed and what I was doing before that, as well as my current state. "How much time?" (I) "Less than 2 hours." (Elizabeth) "Did something happen in the meantime?" (I) "No, that''s the problem, none of the 3 woke up." (Elizabeth) "None of them will wake up, all 3 inherited Anomalous power, whatever that is." (I) "Until I completely become a God, they are sealed." (I) While talking to my sister, I got up feeling great pain all over my body and more, when I lifted my shirt I noticed the cracks all over my body and I also saw them on my arms. Layla aggressive as always, but not stupid, she was silent and returned to her tiny size laying on my shoulder, I know her aggressiveness is just to hide her concern for me. "I must have less than 3 hours." (I) "What are you going to do now?" (Elizabeth) "Since I still have time, I need to find someone." (I) ---------------- A few minutes later. I just arrived at the front of the room and entered, Sakura was the only one entering next to me, I felt a little unstable and my bones weren''t exactly the consistency they should be. Inside the room there wasn''t much besides a bench in front of a tree in the shape of a beautiful woman as if it were a natural wooden statue. I walked there with Sakura holding my arm while another hand supports my back, then standing in front of the wooden statue, I place one of my cracked hands on her face. "Freya, why do you do this to me?" (I) "..." (Freya) I could feel a turbulence in the energies inside the tree due to my words, so I was sure she heard me. "I''m going to be unavailable for a while and I wanted to see everyone before then, but my wives are all busy, even you are no different, at least you''re still within reach... aahhh!!" (I) The wave of pain this time was small, but it was still enough to make my body shake and energy go out of control, I could feel the blood leaking from my eyes and mouth as popping sounds follow the cracks spreading down my legs, if it wasn''t why Sakura would have fallen by now. "Come on..." (I) "He is sure?" (Sakura) "Yes, I already left what I needed..." (I) I turned my back and left, but there is no way not to feel the statue moving one of its arms, gathering all the blood I left in the room in its palm before absorbing it, its eyes open for just a single second, letting a tear fall before falling away close once again. "(Was that enough?)" (I) "(It was, she wouldn''t ask in her current condition, but she needed it.)" (Sakura) "(Are you going to tell me what she was doing?)" (I) "(No and you still have things to do.)" (Sakura) "(Yes I have...)" (I) Sigh After I walked out the door, I stopped leaning like an invalid on Sakura, no matter how bad my condition is, I can still walk on my own, I just wanted to scare Freya for disappearing without saying anything. ----------------- Inside the Communal Temple. I enter the Communal Temple and find Karina already waiting for me next to Eva, the Blood Demon Empress''s eyes were shining as always. Layla flew away before even getting here, she went to see her Fairy Temple near the mansion. "You can save it for later." (Karina) "No, let''s do it now, when a God asks for something, it''s never something simple, I''d rather know what it''s about now." (I) "Where are the others?" (Sakura) "Mrs. Silvia, Mr. Magnus, Mrs. Veronica and Loki, Mrs. Nix and Mrs. Adella who arrived later are all inside." (Eve) "It''s going to be a headache, why is Adella here?" (I) "She arrived shortly after I received the oracle from Akatosh, it seems she already knew about it and didn''t want to say anything." (Karina) "..." (I) The others and I go inside, we go to the main hall where all the Divine statues are and we go directly to the statue of the great Dragon God which is by far the largest in the entire Communal Temple. The main hall was empty apart from the 4 of us who had just arrived and the small group that was already near the statue of the God Akatosh. But when I entered these things took a backseat to what I was feeling, each of the statues emanated a unique presence that I could not only feel but understand, I could feel the will of the Gods and see some of them looking at me through these statues. The most notable were the Demon Goddess Kalistos, the Goddess of Life Mavis, my Mother Selene and the Dragon God Akatosh. I say this because the 3 Goddesses were literally on top of their statues, the Goddess Mavis was sitting on the shoulder of her statue swinging her childlike legs while having a veil covering her face, the Demon Goddess Kalistos had a detailed black dress and a veil covering her face while standing on the head of the statue, my mother on the other hand was in the place of the statue sitting on a red crystal throne on top of the altar wearing a suit of dark red metal scales as if it were armor, her appearance she was a little tired and one of her shoulders was bleeding. I stopped walking halfway and wanted to go to her, but she waved her hand in denial and pointed at the statue of the Dragon God, when I looked at the Goddesses of Life and Death, they also pointed at the statue of the Dragon God Akatosh. When I looked there and what I saw was a gate in front of his statue from which a presence was emanating strongly, it was wild and arrogant like I have never seen before. I continued walking there and when I approached the group that was already close to the statue, I realized that they were all standing still without moving and with their eyes closed, I also felt that their Souls were not inside their bodies, their Auras were empty and forming a connection with the statue. Only Adella who looked pale and a little injured was standing at the door I was seeing looking at me. "What is happening?" (I) "The usual, Divine shit and you''re responsible." (Adella) "..." (I) As I questioned Adella, I felt movement around me, when I looked I saw Karina kneel with her hands together and Eva put her head on the ground towards my mother''s statue, Eva''s body floated there and I saw Alice appearing as if wait for her. Elizabeth was standing there doing nothing, she also didn''t get too close to the Dragon God statue. Soon Karina emanated Divine energy and I felt her Soul in Dragon form being taken into the gate, so like the others, all that was left was an empty Aura forming a connection with the statue. "They cannot physically enter the Divine Realm like you and me, so come, he is impatiently waiting for you who also doesn''t have much time." (Adella) "Aren''t you going to say anything about what this is all about?" (I) "There''s nothing to say, I know very little myself, I was dragged here by him while I was healing." (Adella) Saying this she passed through the gate disappearing inside, I took a deep breath and did the same, it was a strange sensation that took over my body, it was wild Divine Power that went through my body and Soul completely. When I managed to make out my surroundings once again, I was on top of what looked like a mountain, looking around there were Dragons flying and running in the distance, there were thousands of mountain peaks and an ocean of clouds preventing us from seeing below, above what was there was the vision of the limitless universe, thousands of planets among endless stars. It was a strange and at the same time beautiful place, but I soon realized that everything constituted a tyrannical and savage virtue and my eyes followed the center of this will naturally where I saw him surrounded by the people standing outside that gate, my children, Santa and Family. They are his Souls that looked at me. "Dragon God Akatosh..." (I) Chapter 1484: Cap 1482: Ascension of a God part 8 In this place of incredible sight and in the company of my Family, children and loved ones, stood a single young man emanating a tyrannical ferocity towards me. He appears young, still in his mid-teens and having messy black hair, golden eyes like those of a predator, three large golden crystal horns on his head resembling a crown and white skin without any markings. If it was just by appearance, he doesn''t look like a warrior and even less like a wild beast, such a deceptive and contrary appearance must not be a coincidence, he must have chosen this appearance and the only reason I can assume is fun. When I entered his Divine Kingdom I felt a new layer of Divine power supporting the 3 seals of the Goddesses delaying my transformation, this stabilized my body a little and at the same time increased the load on my Soul, it feels as if I was sandwiched between two trucks and when I''m on a scooter. Sigh I have walked further, I have felt the pressure of Divine presences many times, I have already devoured some Evil Gods and whatever Erkales was, so even though it is difficult in my current situation, I still managed to walk in front of the God Akatosh at join the others. "Well I''ve always liked you, you acted like Dragons long before you became one." (God Akatosh) "Arrogance, pride in who he is, a wild temperament in his decisions and more than anything, a willpower worthy of a Dragon." (God Akatosh) I didn''t even see him move when he appeared inches away placing his hand on my shoulder with an amused smile. That was when I felt a wave of Divine Power running through my body and sinking until it reached my Soul, ignoring everything to only approach the Anomalous Core without daring to make contact. "Interesting, you really have the power of the Anomalies, but it doesn''t seem the same as the Dragon Eaters..." (God Akatosh) "He''s not in the best condition, be careful not to break him." (Adella) "Our Father is not that fragile, but I still don''t think being so close to a God in his current condition is favorable." (Silvia) "I''m fine..." (I) "He, above being your Father, is a Primordial Dragon, I doubt that even in my true form I would be able to pressure him, that is the type of power that the primordials cultivated." (God Akatosh) The Dragon God lets go of my shoulder, withdrawing his power, but with his probe I can at least understand that it has to do with the Anomalous power. "I''m sorry if I''m hasty or rude, but what can I do for you? Right now I''m not in a good state to do anything for any God." (I) "Actually your situation is almost perfect, if Adella had told me sooner or maybe seen it, it could have been done sooner, but it can still be taken with some changes." (God Akatosh) In Akatosh''s hands stands a small statue in the shape of a Totem that I recognized very quickly, because it was my Dragon Totem. Then a monumental amount of Divine Power was inserted into the Dragon Totem causing lines, Runes and veins of energy to appear everywhere, the Dragon Totem pulsed with great power as a multi-sided crystal formed around it before an illusory egg hatched form covering everything. "As you said before, we have no time to waste, your condition will only accelerate once you leave here, so I suggest quickly finding a suitable place." (God Akatosh) "But before that, I need you to do something for all the Dragons in this Universe." (God Akatosh) "If it''s within my power, I can do it." (I) I suddenly felt the seriousness of the Dragon God, the matter seemed truly serious and I still didn''t understand what he was doing with my Dragon Totem. "Some things I am restricted from talking about, but I can reveal that that creature you defeated is an enemy of all Dragons, their appearance and existence stain us all, they are also difficult enemies to fight." (God Akatosh) "At least until now..." (God Akatosh) With a smile of his filled with monstrous killing intent, a cone-shaped tornado sucked in Divine Power from the surroundings which poured into the egg, I as the one who created this Dragon Totem could feel that it was undergoing fundamental changes that I could not fully understand. "I need you to merge your Anomalous Power into this Dragon Totem, by doing so you will save all Dragons, I cannot tell you how this will happen as Divine secrets cannot be told to those who have not achieved Divinity." (God Akatosh) "But I can guarantee that after you become a God, I will tell you about the Dragon Eaters, about what you did today and about the responsibility I am making you take on." (God Akatosh) "..." (I) I wanted to ask several questions, but after listening to him it was like receiving a refusal before even opening my mouth, he was implying that he wouldn''t say anything, he was asking me to trust him without saying anything. "(In fact, he''s already started acting like I''m going to accept all this without knowing anything...)" (I) I was tempted to refuse all of this, I don''t like getting involved in things I don''t understand, I also don''t like being responsible for things I know nothing about, I like it even less that he started acting as if my acceptance was a given. "..." (I) I looked around, Adella didn''t give a damn, she was sitting in the corner tending to her injuries just looking over here every now and then, my children were silent not saying anything, but my Family members clearly wanted me to refuse and it seemed like they were avoiding talking. Only Karina looked at me as if she would accept any decision I made, so I started to think about all this, he didn''t tell me anything, but he left several clues about the importance of what he is doing. He also made it clear that by choosing to do this, I will be accepting a great responsibility towards all Dragons while pointing to the type of enemy I will have, but it turns out that with or without what is happening here, those like Erkales already see me as an enemy for your death. "(I have no real reason to refuse...)" (I) So far my only reasons for refusing are senseless pride and arrogance at the way the Dragon God presented all of this to me, other than those things, he clearly pointed out the main points even without telling the general scope of it all, he could have lied to me instead of telling me such obvious half-truths. "I suppose I''ll be in danger, right?" (I) "Yes, but not now, that will be in the future." (God Akatosh) "Will those around me be in danger?" (I) "Also yes, after all, they will be close if you." (God Akatosh) "..." (I) "Is this really important? You can''t do it yourself?" (I) "This is very important, I can''t accomplish what is needed, you are the only option or I wouldn''t be here right now." (God Akatosh) "You''re asking too much." (I) "I know, I also can''t concede much compared to what you''ll accomplish." (God Akatosh) "..." (I) "You''re not making it easy for me..." (I) Sigh I wasn''t very confident in the decision I already made, if it was just me being in danger it would be one thing, but putting others in danger would be another thing. I don''t care that much about all the Dragons, I don''t know all of them to care deeply, my concern and responsibility lies with those next to me. "You should accept it you idiot, you already have the Dragon Eaters as enemies, this decision now only concerns how many will fight by your side when the time comes." (Adella) "She is right?" (I) "..." (God Akatosh) "(He can''t talk or doesn''t want to talk?)" (I) After that, I didn''t need much more thought, Adella was right, I already received an ultimatum from them, they already see me as an enemy, those around me already share this danger, so I have no reason to doubt anymore. "I accept." (I) "What should I do? How can I infuse Anomalous Power into the Dragon Totem?" (I) "As Dragons do, with combat demonstrating their power!" (God Akatosh) Saying his last words with a big smile, he waves the hand that was holding the egg making it fly a few hundred meters after it stops absorbing the Divine Power, then it explodes into something that is different from power or energy. A Dragon form similar to mine appears, it wasn''t just my appearance, I could feel my Aura, Essences and Holy Power, even my Will or at least something close to my Will was there. "Fight and let your will mark its power on your Dragon Totem, carve it with your claws bathed in ferocity." (Dragon God) The Dragon God looked at me, his eyes glowed and I felt the Dragon power in my blood as well as my Soul burn, then the Divine Dragon within my Essence Core opens its eyes, it emanates its power fleeing out of my Essence Core, Essence sucking into itself my Will that merges once again as well as my Divine Weapon that once again becomes your eyes. Soon the Divine Dragon grabbed the Anomalous Core and devoured it, making it appear on its forehead between its horns It was then that the Divine Dragon fell apart as it merged with my body and began to transform. "Fight before those of your Tribe and the leaders of all the Tribes!" (God Akatosh) Chapter 1485: Cap 1483: Ascension of a God part 9 "Fight before those of your Tribe and the leaders of all the Tribes!" (God Akatosh) As my body transformed, I noticed a great change, the Divine Kingdom of Akatosh along with the seal of the 3 Goddesses that I already carried are restricting most of my powers. As if to fill the void of my lack of other energies, the Anomalous Core emanated bizarre energy that flowed through my body, causing goosebumps along with a perpetual feeling of incongruity. When I transformed completely I was already facing the representation of my Dragon Totem, now I was able to understand what was different about him from me, his Aura was using mine as a base, but he had the Aura of all my children, subordinates and my Saint who have a Dragon lineage ratified from me. "(I see, it makes sense...)" (I) The power of the Dragon Totem lies in the fact that it represents not one Dragon, but an entire Lineage of Dragons, which is why Dragon Totems are always using the Primordial Dragons to form themselves, as they are the first and also the source of this lineage. "How are you, any pain?" (Karina) "Nothing, just discomfort." (I) I already knew it was strange not to feel another wave of pain, whatever the Dragon God is planning I will fight with everything. I looked around noticing that the Dragons were looking for places to watch, then I saw my companions also retreating as my Totem began to emit even more killing intent towards me. "No one should intervene!" (God Akatosh) With a snap of the fingers the tip of the mountain separates as it floats away, standing miles away as do the other Dragons, only me and my Totem are left behind. My body seems to be fine, I no longer feel pain and my body has been brought to full recovery by the Dragon God, only the cracks continue on the entire surface of my body. But I wouldn''t worry about that when I had tens or hundreds of tons of pure savagery hurtling towards me. "(Damn, I can''t use anything!)" (I) Since I couldn''t use any skills, magic or Runes in my current state, not even Ki was available, I had to try using this bizarre Anomalous energy. But I couldn''t directly manipulate this energy and in the meantime I didn''t have time to concentrate on it, my instincts were flourishing in this place and when its jaws were close to me I let myself be carried away by instinct. With one of my wings hitting him from bottom to top, I made him raise his head, then with my two claws I tried to cut him in the neck area, but once my claws touched his neck it was like hitting an egg against a diamond plate, it was It was laughable how my claws completely broke off as he counted down his head with his jaws clamping down on my shoulder. "Bastard!!" (I) Unlike my helplessness in causing harm to him, his teeth destroyed my scales and sunk into my flesh enough to reach the bones causing pain that I could easily bear while punching him in the neck pushing him off my shoulder. I push my wings forward and with both open palms I hit his chest, which was out of balance with all the weight of my body added to my strength, making him fly a few kilometers backwards before using his wings to stabilize his body. I looked at his chest realizing that I didn''t cause any damage to his scales, but my hands were shaking as if I had hit something very hard, the bones in the fist I used to make him let go of my shoulder were also vibrating from the impact. "It has nothing to do with physical strength or fighting... I understand..." (I) I soon realized what the Dragon God wanted, he never told me to win, he asked me to fight, he also didn''t give intelligence to the Totem, he is pure wild instinct and power, I also feel this place stirring my most primitive intestines, he doesn''t Whether it''s a fight of techniques or planning, this is supposed to be a fight between Beasts and Monsters. But before I do that I must first at least figure out how to use this Anomalous energy and being as limited as I am now, I didn''t have many things left to try, so it was quick. My Aura did almost nothing to move this energy, when my Authority was used I was able to connect with this energy and that was when I realized what I had to do, the Will fused with my body extended through the Authority that originated from it to reach the Anomalous energy, at that moment the Anomalous Core pulses like a heart and it was as if all the Anomalous energy in my body began to flow like blood. My entire body shook, I felt the cracks of my existence pulsate like wounds that were trying to open, my body was uncomfortable, but I still used my Aura to create a film around my body like a second skin. At that moment my Totem was already right in front of me once again, I wasn''t ready yet, but there was no way to pause a fight, I had rudimentary control of the Anomalous energy and I used it in just one of my arms that colored with its claws. This time it was a draw but what made me happy was the crack marks on his scales starting to break, I was able to hurt him and that thought triggers a wave of pure ferocity in me, my instinct was trying to take over and I just I allowed it without doing anything to stop it. It was like throwing all my conscience and rationality into the stands while watching what was a monster fight through the eyes of a beast. It was strange to see my energy being thrown into chaos, Anomalous energy moving naturally like a turbulent river in my body, my Aura was forming bigger claws while Starfire burned in my claws with 7-pointed stars shining in multiple colors. Seeing my body advancing from the front was strange and his claws cut the Totem''s chest making a liquid form of Starfire leak from his chest and yet without caring, he advanced grabbing my head by the horn to pull me towards his jaws. My tail moves not to stop him, but to cross the wound I made in his chest until it crosses his back, without caring about the blow that should be fatal, he sinks his teeth into half of my face. I could feel the pain and yet my instincts were as insensitive as my Totem, ignoring the damage, my tail and claws lifted his body, launching him into the air before flapping my wings following close behind. With that the fight just began, the savagery continued with him descending towards me again and me flying towards him upwards, our claws intertwined and I pulled him by grabbing one of his wings with the other claw, so his tail goes through my neck without me noticing. I use my jaws to sever his tail still attached to my neck, the Anomalous mist gathering in my teeth, my blood leaking out as if it were a living creature latching onto his body or floating in droplets around him. One of my wings removes its claw which leaves another wound on me while I remove its now severed tail still on my neck, the Anomalous energy simply flowed along with my blood painting the entire tail which after being removed from my neck was used as a whip. I used the blade at the tip of the tail to hit one of his eyes advancing towards him, his teeth advanced towards me and with one arm in the way for him to bite, I opened the way to his neck where my teeth sank in taking out a piece that I had devoured before to bite again. The fight was continuing, each time becoming more brutal, for me to see this was more than strange since it was my body and my Dragon Totem acting like real monsters, blood was everywhere, bodies in pieces scattered everywhere. It was a truly shocking scene that lasted dozens of minutes, the physical pain didn''t affect me much, but it wasn''t something easily ignored when accumulating so many injuries, but the monstrous side of my instincts didn''t care as I continued fighting. In the end they were both in a bad shape when my tail hit the Totem''s head down breaking its jaw, then I came down on it with my leg hitting its head against the ground completely destroying the mountain below leaving only a large crater in the place where a part His head was all that was left under my foot. My blood gushing from all the wounds on my body falling onto his body now standing on the ground, but there was no celebration or roar of victory, the cracks in my body were all open releasing a mixture of energies that come from me as well as my Essences. The Seals within my body were almost completely broken and the power of this Divine Realm was no longer able to suppress any longer, my instincts returned to normal as my consciousness once again took over my own body returning to normal. The Totem''s body glows as Starfire shines above it, the Anomalous power forming a 7-pointed star as the flames take the shape of a Dragon, but I had no more time as the pain began to take over. Ding! Ding! "Adella!! Take him!" (God Akatosh) "Damn it!!" (Adella) Chapter 1486: Cap 1484: Focus of the entire Universe part 1 Pov Karina: It was difficult for me to watch this fight and have to stay still, I am connected both with Master Zenos and also with the Dragon Totem, I am the Only Holy Dragon in the entire universe and perhaps that is why I have a perception that I am not sure if others can see beyond the God Akatosh. The Totem''s Aura was an amalgamation of all those Dragons linked to Zenos, a strong and complex Aura, the same can be felt in his Authority since everything in it is a physical representation of Zenos'' Authority linked to his Blood Eclipse Dragon tribe. Zenos hurting his copy in that way hurts him more than anyone else, the blood that looks like the liquid form of Starfire coming out of the Totem is the accumulation of the power of his Lineage, losing that will weaken all Dragons under Zenos'' health requiring considerable effort from me. But what made me most distressed was seeing Zenos in such a pitiful state, his body covered in wounds, he is not an object like his enemy, he is getting tired and accumulating wounds that are not healing for some reason. I can feel the pain in your Aura being forcibly pushed to the side as increasingly severe injuries are exchanged from one side to the other. "What will happen to him after this fight?" (I) "Don''t let the injuries fool you, they may hurt and even leave your body half destroyed, but he will still be alive." (Adella) "Adella is right, Zenos is already almost a God, even though he can''t create an entirely new physical body if his is completely destroyed, he can recover from any level of injuries." (God Akatosh) "..." (Magnus) "I think she means her state of Divine Ascension, will this violent combat impact the Ascension process?" (Silvia) "Don''t worry, the Totem can only cause physical damage, with his sealed power Zenos will also only be able to cause physical damage and even if he is capable of causing another type of damage, my power within his Dragon Totem will do the trick any unforeseen circumstances." (God Akatosh) As we talked I could feel Magnus'' eyes of shame looking at the Dragon God, he doesn''t seem worried about Zenos and the same thing happens with Silvia, I know everyone trusts Zenos a lot, I also trust that she will do well, but I can''t dismiss my concern seeing him in this destroyed state in the midst of a situation as ''Divine'' as this. "(The cracks on his body are growing wider, this can''t be good.)" (I) I was about to move forward in the middle of the fight, but then a hand as heavy as an iron mountain that immobilized my body was on my shoulder, disturbing my balance when I turned to the side, it was exactly Magnus nodding his head for me not to intervene. "..." (I) "Do you think he lost control?" (Magnus) I look at Zenos, he is fighting wildly differently than he normally does, but this doesn''t seem to be the way he normally does things, I doubt he is under some influence he cannot resist. "Zenos is letting his instincts overflow, I''m doing nothing more than providing some encouragement." (God Akatosh) ---------------- I could feel the Totem absorbing Zenos'' blood and also some kind of energy, this must be what the Dragon God was talking about, with each attack from Zenos and each drop of blood, I can feel something forming inside the Totem. When the fight ended in his victory, Zenos'' condition was as bad as I feared, the cracks are not only covering his body completely, his power is leaking and his Aura is burning with that power. I could only see Adella taking him when the Dragon God made me stay, then I noticed the changes in the Dragon Totem, from a real Dragon it was returning to its Totem form or that''s what I thought before I realized the truth. "That can''t be possible..." (I) "This is exactly what I expected, the Anomalous power is not something that can be contained in even Divine level objects, its container and function are very specific." (God Akatosh) "Now I need you who represents Zenos to complete the process together with me, the others from your tribe are here to observe the changes before implementation on my part." (God Akatosh) "But that''s..." (I) "While you guys take care of this, I need to go." (Nix) "Don''t be nervous, the process will be smooth for you, your master will encounter obstacles." (God Akatosh) "I don''t worry about him, I learned a long time ago that he always finds a way to come out on top." (Nix) With that I realized that Nix''s Aura was also out of the ordinary, he wasn''t in the same state as Zenos, but it was easy for me to feel the connection, all his Familiars also went through this. I saw her flying out and I couldn''t help but worry, I could feel his Authority inside me twisting. "(Be well...)" (I) ------------------- Pov Zenos: My body was a mess, but none of that mattered since my Soul, which is more important, was also a mess, I felt life-threatening this time. "Where do I take you?" (Adella) "The Star Palace... warn others..." (I) "You idiot, they already know, they can feel it because of you." (Adella) I could feel the notifications piling up, but I couldn''t see it now, my Essence Core was fighting against my Anomalous Core, each of them formed a Dragon within it that had its eyes closed as they collided against each other. Cough Cough "I feel like I''m being... crushed from the inside out..." (I) "You need to bear it, at least until I move away, I don''t want to be caught in the middle of this." (Adella) "Thanks for... AAAHHHHHH!!!" (I) The pain that came was too much for me to bear, a wave of Anomalous Power and another of Divine Power collided inside my Soul, it was like having a nuclear bomb explode in my stomach. "Adella! I don''t know how much more... AAAAHHHAHH!!!" (I) The pain was too great, my Soul was being twisted like dough in the hands of a child, I could feel the very essence of my existence burning between the two damn cores that think my Soul is similar to a wrestling ring! Maybe because of the combat just now, but my instincts were blooming once again, a desire to destroy everything in the surroundings was taking over me, taking out all this pain and anger on the surroundings was becoming too attractive an idea in my mind. "We''re here, good luck." (Adella) "..." (I) I didn''t even notice when we arrived, I was in an open-air hall in the central part of the Star Palace, the highest part, Adella left me on the ground and ran away as quickly as possible, at a glance I saw my sisters passing by me before of each one going in a different direction. Every part of my body struggled on the ground, the physical pain was not even half of what my Soul was feeling, even in hell I did not go through such pain, everything that constitutes my existence was immersed in the deepest pain to the point of the sense of time is lost with all my senses. In the midst of all this pain I was still able to differentiate everything inside me, but it was as if the world outside my body closed. I could feel my Soul being torn apart and transforming before being remade piece by piece, a constant flow of transformation as the two cores within it were continually colliding and in the midst of them was my ''Will'' being the only reason my Soul still be able to withstand each collision. I wanted to lose consciousness or go out of control, that could alleviate this suffering, but instead my Will was making my consciousness clear about every little detail happening. I knew that if I completely surrendered to the pain this could end, my Will obeying my giving up, but I couldn''t do that, I couldn''t give up, that would go against everything I believe in and have done to this day, it goes against everything I am and for This, my Will acted, continues to act on its own trying to control the two Nuclei within my Soul. Amidst the pain an idea occurred to me, my Essence Core is based on my Anomalous Chaos Essence, all the other Essences orbit around it, so some of the power of the Anomaly is already within me. An idea that could be tried, using my will I made it extend and invade the two cores grabbing the Dragons inside, without the two inside I could move forward while ignoring the notifications ringing in my head. The two Dragons were not completely formed and they coiled around my will that collides the two cores together, as I have greater control over my Essence Core it was almost too simple to make it swallow the Anomalous Core that was now inside my Anomalous Essence of Chaos. When I did this something strange happened, the two Dragons open their eyes and separate themselves from my will and start fighting each other. The Anomalous Core was struggling within the Chaos Essence that had become a Starfire Sun while the other Essences looked like planets in its orbit. My Soul soon began to change, it was no longer pain that I felt, it was beyond that, everything about me was in flux and I felt as if I would lose myself forever if I lost concentration. It was at that moment that it happened, several great Wills surrounded me, Wills full of Divinity and Wills full of Natural power. In my senses it was as if I were floating in the middle of the universe surrounded by Gods watching me, a giant pressure bearing down on me just by being in the focus of them all. But something even greater is vast, it seemed to be focused on me, something the scope of which I was unable to even comprehend before system screens appeared in front of me forcing my eyes to see its contents. Ding! <[ Mandatory Alert ]> . . . <[ Every Universe watches you ]> . . . <[ The System watches you ]> Chapter 1487: Cap 1485: Focus of the entire Universe part 2 Ding! <[ Mandatory Alert ]> . . . <[ Every Universe watches you ]> . . . <[ The System watches you ]> These notifications mean less than nothing to me, I don''t have the luxury of thinking about these things right now, I could feel every part of my existence burn, the cracks were vibrating like I was going to be torn apart completely. Even so, I didn''t stop doing what I needed to do, I couldn''t go back and this seemed like the only solution. My Essence Core was emanating more and more power trying to seal the Anomalous Core within it, but that wasn''t what I wanted, that wasn''t how it was supposed to be. With strength I assume my Will, with it I focus my attention on the two Dragons of pure power fighting within my Soul, a Divine Dragon against an Anomalous Dragon. In appearance they are almost the same, the Divine Dragon being made of Starfire while the Anomalous Dragon was made of what looked like a thick liquid like liquid metal in constant flow, it looked like a portal to a formless void having as much depth as the starry sky in the body of the Divine Dragon. Tears Using part of my Will, I hit both of them at the same time, making my Will the momentary connection that made them stop fighting. The two powers flew up, down and throughout my Soul as they intertwined, the two Dragons then collided heads together, their bodies then generated an illusory image of 2 Dragons the size of entire star systems colliding creating devastation on universal levels. "Aaaaahhhh!" (I) The two form one Dragon whose body seems to be made of Starfire in constant flux, its eyes were a prepared Moon and a Purple Sun, its movement created stars in its wake as it flew towards my Essence Core. Tears He takes the Core between his jaws that seemed to contain countless teeth that soon demonstrate their power in such a way that panic welled up inside me. The collision to my horror caused the Essence Core to shatter spreading the Essences throughout my Soul once again, this caused a wave of Essence Power to move away from my body. "AAAAHHHHHH!!! RROOOOAAAARRRRR!!!!!" (I) An endless power transformed my Soul completely at that moment, this devastation took this wave of power throughout my Soul, devastating any part that had not been remodeled before, a cycle of pure destruction and reconstruction. ROOOOAAAARRR!!!! GGRR!! The feeling of constantly being on the threshold between madness and sanity was further destroying my reasoning, which was as clear as it had ever been before, yet only an endless pain embraced me. Tears I continued amidst the devastation of my Soul that seemed like a ruined war field, the previously unbearable pain was nothing compared to what I was feeling now, an agony that is gnawing at my consciousness. While my Soul rebuilds itself from the roots of my existence, my essentials come together again forming rings rotating among themselves, among them dark sparks and multicolored drops come together in the middle, little by little taking a form covered in liquid Star Fire. This form was a 7-pointed star containing within it a starry sky full of red stars, the star became the center of my Essence Core, but it was not the same Anomalous Star, this was a star formed by my Anomalous Essence of Chaos and as I watched the Dragon appeared that destroyed my Essence Core, it decreased in size while carrying between its jaws an oval crystal that looks like a glowing eye, then it places this crystal in the middle of the 7-pointed star before sinking into it. When this happened I felt something stretching its hand towards me, the great existence that I felt more than the Gods, my Will stretches as if holding that hand and suddenly all my Essences vibrate as if it had fallen into place. It was at that moment that my body exploded, all the cracked parts of my existence separated, burning among the Essences while being refined by this superior Will amidst the gazes of several Divine beings. The agony I felt at that moment disappeared as did any mention of the pain I felt before, even with my body and Soul torn apart like this, something felt good. From the Essence of my own existence, my Soul was reborn as new, the parts of my old Soul and my body that separated were fed to my new Soul after being refined by that superior Will that discovered to be the Will of the Universe itself. The feeling of devouring my own Soul and body was strange beyond anything else I have ever done, but my consciousness was still with my old Soul, I felt everything my new Soul did, but I controlled nothing, I felt both points of view of being devoured and of being the one who devours myself. My new Soul didn''t have much of a distinct shape before, but when it was nurtured more, it was as if it was being sculpted and molded by itself using my old Soul only as a reference. When all this was over what was left was a unique Dragon form, my Soul had even absorbed the Essence of my Existence, there was also no more Anomalous Core or Essence Core, they were devoured together with my old Soul after being completed as a alone, now a crystal Star with 7 points containing the same number of colors of energies flowing within was in the Dragon''s chest being a part of the Soul palm. I felt completely different and yet I felt incredible, I knew naturally that this was not a Spiritual or Divine Rebirth as I had done these things for others, what I did now was very different and I did not change my Consciousness, emotions or memories, just I became a new me. When the Dragon opened his eyes, my point of view finally becomes his point of view, so I feel the will that managed to refine my Soul and body present the refined remains of my body to me, I accept letting the flow of power descend by my Soul while being poured into my head, from this energy a body is formed based on my current Soul, the Divine power no longer something separate but a part of my Soul. When I opened my eyes once again, I realized I was sleeping on a flat area in the middle of a large tree whose branches spread out to the countless stars around me. Looking around I saw silhouettes that I immediately knew were the Wills of many Gods, some of these Wills were slowing down from me as if protecting me while one of the others in particular was emitting an intense light as it tried to reach me only to be blocked. "What is all this!?" (I) "That''s a really fun show to watch." (Callidora) "Callidora, you look... different." (I) "Just a different form, this is a Soul I stole from an Empress from another universe, her Soul was incredibly compatible with me, I was very surprised by this." (Callidora) "..." (I) She appeared beside me, a tiny figure like a speck of dust, but to my senses she was greater than the Will of the Universe. Her appearance was that of a woman in her late 30s or early 40s, her green hair tied into a ponytail, her clothes were military armor that looks like it was taken from a fictional movie- highly technological scientific, her skin was slightly pink in color, but before I knew it it changed to a dark color the same tone as my skin usually is, Callidora is willful doing things as she pleases as always. "Why are you here?" (I) "To tell you the truth, where is here?" (I) "Here is a space within the Will of the Universe, only the Will or Soul can enter this place if it is of Divine Level or if it is me." (Callidora) She says that and touches my body, so before I know it I''m the same size as her, looking at my hands, I''m actually in my normal humanoid body. "I don''t like looking up talking to someone, this is better." (Callidora) "What did you do?" (I) "Nothing, I just taught your Will how malleable it is." (Callidora) "Now let''s stop with these questions and let me congratulate you, it''s been a long time since I''ve seen such brutality." (Callidora) "I''ve seen and done many things, Soul cannibalism is not new to me, I''ve seen parents devouring their own children''s Souls either willingly or with me forcing them to do so." (Callidora) "I''ve also sometimes made people eat their own bodies while they were still alive or forced them to devour part of their own Souls... it was funny to see that woman in panic, her Soul breaking in despair..." (Callidora) "..." (I) Callidora as always trying to demonstrate her brutality, I know that these things are not just lip service, she did these things and speaks as if it were something to be proud of, she wants to make me feel afraid towards her. "But I must say, this was the first time I''ve seen someone willingly devour their body and soul completely, I''m starting to like you boy." (Callidora) "Thanks?" (I) "Don''t thank me, just get out of this place so my daughter can be born, I''m curious to know what she will become now, if I''m happy maybe I''ll even give you a gift." (Callidora) Leaving those words behind, her body fell apart in front of me, it was as if she was pushed back and out of the Universe itself. Chapter 1488: Cap 1486: Born a Strange God Pov Lilith''s: I was on the back of one of Nicole''s flying Golems that I stole, I needed to see this with my own eyes. "You shouldn''t have come." (Loki) "Same to you, Veronica will eat you alive for being here." (I) "Veronica is very simplistic, she thinks Zenos will become a normal God or a Demon God." (Loki) "She greatly underestimates how ridiculous he is when he does great things." (I) "Just the Chaos Power is strange enough, now he has 3 Power Sources and he even has the Anomalous Power I''ve never heard of." (Loki) "I''m not even sure if he''s going to become a God at this point and I can''t miss it." (Loki) As we talk, we are also seeing the Star Palace from afar, there are several columns of light there, but it is the one in the middle where it is located, with our senses, even from kilometers away it was possible to hear it in this void. His screams were so loud that they drowned out any sound from the others, his pain-filled roar was not something I expected to see and it surprised me so much that I didn''t feel Ynes approaching. "None of you should be here." (Ynes) "What''s happening to him? I''ve never seen him suffer like this." (I) Of all the children, none of them realize how much our Father suffered besides me and Silvia, the twins have total faith in him, the sisters Samira and Elsaris don''t even pay much attention to him, Magnus is only a short time away and Vanessa just believes that everything will work out. Sure, Hela can''t even think about our Father losing, her faith in him being absolute, perhaps because she was created completely by him, but I don''t know what my Fairy sister and this Demon are his pension. "(I''m more sensitive to emotions and especially to pain, but I''ve never seen anything like this before.)" (I) In my eyes without using the holy senses of vengeance, I could only see the pain in his Aura as it crumbled, I couldn''t believe that a once so strong Aura could stay in this state. Tears Images from the past came to my head, that pain and despair, that feeling of going crazy and how I broke down becoming what I am today even before the Father showed up to save me. I couldn''t help but compare and feel even worse to find out he was still suffering more than I did, I can''t even imagine what he''s going through. Tears "This didn''t happen in any of his evolutions, even when activating the True Dragons lineage he didn''t suffer like this." (I) "He is going through something very different than you imagine, the cracks in his body were a sign of his existence breaking down, now the process of destruction has begun." (Ynes) "..." (I) "I see, the power of chaos..." (Loki) "Yes, I also suppose this new Anomalous power has a part in it." (Ynes) "What are you talking about?" (I) "Creation, Transformation and Destruction." (Loki) "That''s not the whole truth, the opposite is also right, being Destruction, Transformation and Creation." (Ynes) "..." (I) "Yes." (Loki) "See it''s already started." (Ynes) In the distance I could no longer feel his Aura, that''s because the illusion of a tree or what I thought was an illusion appeared, a strange presence spread in all directions, then it happened, the tree became real, its roots went through Below the floating island where the Star Palace was, its trunk intertwines with the Palace itself, changing its shape and its branches expand without limits, transforming the stars into leaves. "Father..." (I) ------------------- Pov Zenos: I was in a strange place, but the feeling I was feeling was strange, after Callidora was gone I was able to focus on my surroundings and see the silhouettes that were watching me before disappearing one at a time, leaving just me here. Little by little my body returned to the same Dragon form as before, it was more comfortable than my human appearance. I felt that this was not my body or Soul, that was quite obvious, this was just my Will where my consciousness took refuge while my Soul and body must still be going through the process of Divine Ascension. "How long am I going to stay here?" (I) "There is not much time, there are things to be done and now a war is going to start." "Who''s there?" (I) The space opens up and a single leaf reveals itself, the voice I heard before belonged to that leaf or more specifically the tree that that leaf comes from. "When you wake up, go to Freya and let your power flow to her, only then will she wake up." "Wait... damn!" (I) Before I could ask anything she was gone, then as if on cue, my own body started to fall apart, I was feeling my consciousness being pulled back and when I woke up I was in complete darkness. "Where am I?" (I) I realized that I was completely naked once again, I was also in my human form, I could feel a type of energy suppressing my body in that form, a familiar energy. "Mother!?" (I) "..." (I) There was no answer, in fact I didn''t want to take on my Dragon form not now, there were many things I need to do and I don''t know how big my body is now. "I can''t get out." (I) I tried to get out of where I was, but I almost couldn''t move, my body was partly formed, but not complete, I also felt a lot of things stuck to me, it took me a while to understand that it was vines and roots, they are nourishing my body using Holy Power. Since I didn''t have much to do right now, I thought I''d take a look at the notifications that were piling up without me seeing, that''s what I thought at least until I saw what was being described and got scared by what I went through. Ding! <[ Divine Ascension Process in Progress ]> . . . <[ Analyzing Essences ]> . . <[ Analyzing Authorities ]> . . <[ Analyzing Lineage ]> . . <[ Analyzing Powers ]> . . <[ Analyzing Affinities ]> . . <[ Analyzing Titles ]> . . <[ Analyzing symbol of Faith ]> . . <[ Analyzing Soul ]> . . <[ Analyzing non-universe power ]> . <[ Anomalous Power cannot be Analyzed ]> . . <[ The System recognizes that Zenos (Rising God) does not destroy the Natural order by choosing to become part of it ]> . . . <[ The System allows Zenos (Rising God) to register his Anomalous Power as well as the Power of Chaos as unique concepts ]> I didn''t like what I read in the notifications, the system has been watching me for some time and I only now realized why, the Power of Chaos is not considered part of the universe, but it was something that had been with me since my previous life from what I heard speak, an exception was made for me... perhaps. By having this Chaos Power that lately I have seen more intervention from the system, now it not only intervenes but also acts directly to allow the Anomalous Power as a unique exception. It seems like the system just like Tarzor needs something, I just don''t yet understand what it needs differently than Tarzor. Ding! <[ The following Essences have been detected: ? [ Essence of Chaos (Partially Sealed) ] ? [ Blood Transmutation Essence (Partially Sealed) ] ? [ Magical Essence of the Penumbra Fairies (Partially Sealed) ] ? [ Chaos Spiritual Essence (Partially Sealed) ] ? [ Essence of the Apocalypse Beast (Partially Sealed) ] ? [ Essence of the Star Corruption Tree (Partially Sealed) ] ? [ Universal Void Anomalous Serpent Essence (Partially Sealed) ] ]> . . <[ The seal on all Essences is removed ]> . . . <[ It has been detected that your Authority has awakened your [ Divine Will ] ]> . . . <[ You have all Natural Affinities and multiple unique Affinities ]> . . . <[ You have a unique Bloodline refined from millions of bloodlines ]> . . . <[ You have Multiple Titles that will be absorbed by a single title integrated into your Will ]> . . . <[ Detected a large number of high-power individuals among mortals as devoted worshipers of you ]> . . . <[ Your Soul and Existence are burdened by multiple Essences as well as a conflicting power of the Anomaly ]> . . . <[ The System watches as its own [ Divine Will ] begins the process of acquiring Divinity ]> "..." (I) "(I knew I was at risk, those cracks weren''t normal, I could feel how deep they were to the point of going beyond my Soul, but seeing that written in the notifications...)" (I) There were several things written that I already knew to some extent, but there was nothing I could do about most of these things and so I continued to watch. Ding! <[ An individual in the birth process was detected next to you ]> . . <[ Anomalous Power and Infernal Power were detected in the Individual in the process of birth ]> . . <[ A Nascent Divinity has been detected within the Individual in the process of birth ]> . . . <[ The external entity ''Callidora'' interferes with the individual in the birth process, temporarily isolating him from Zenos and outside his Divine Ascension ]> . . . <[ You formed a Divinity from multiple Essences ]> . . <[ You created the [ Blood Eclipse Dragon Deity ] ]> . . <[ You have conflicting Divine Affinities on the Demonic and Divine sides ]> . . <[ Your Divinity has transformed into [ Divine Eclipse Demon Dragon ] ]> . . <[ The Anomalous Power completed the [ Anomalous Core ] creating an Anomalous Concept [ Chaos Anomalous Dragon ] ]> . . . <[ Your [ Divinity ] and your [ Anomalous Core ] conflict ]> . . . <[ The Soul and Existence show signs of breaking apart due to the conflict of the [ Eclipse Divine Demonic Dragon ] against the [ Chaos Anomalous Dragon ] ]> I remember that part, it was when the pain transcended to monstrous levels and soon went beyond what only pain was capable of representing. "I was really in deep shit." (I) It was truly something I didn''t expect to feel, the sensation of feeling one''s existence being ripped into pieces was agonizing and the pain was horrible for me before that. "(Now that I think about it and my connections with my Familiars?)" (I) I focus and I can still feel these connections but I can''t reach any of them, I can feel they are also going through changes, for some reason I can also feel my sisters and even my Heralds, they are all changing, in fact, apart from my sisters, I can feel my power flowing to others fueling these changes. "I''m glad all this happening to my Soul didn''t break my connection with any of them." (I) Sigh With this relief, I can at least continue to see what else changed and that''s when the worst part came, the part I least wanted to remember and still needed to see anyway. Ding! <[ Your Will is trying to merge [ Divinity ] with [ Anomalous Core ] ]> . . <[ His Will is trying to fuse [ Chaos Anomalous Dragon ] with the [ Eclipse Divine Demonic Dragon ] ]> . . <[ His body, Soul and Existence were partially broken ]> Chapter 1489: Cap 1487: Unholy God Ding! <[ Your Will is trying to merge [ Divinity ] with [ Anomalous Core ] ]> . . <[ His Will is trying to fuse [ Chaos Anomalous Dragon ] with the [ Divine Eclipse Demon Dragon ] ]> . . <[ His body, Soul and Existence were partially broken ]> "That didn''t seem like something just ''Partially Broken'' to me." (I) I still don''t understand how I could keep my mind so calm in that situation, it was as if all my emotions, thoughts and everything else were just in the background, they had minimal effects on my consciousness. Now when I read this it seems like a trauma being relived, I feel the chills throughout my body, my heart races and a deep fear arises making my body shake. "My Soul was broken completely, how can you say it was only ''Partially'' when I ended up in that state?" (I) That''s when an idea occurred to me, the ''Partially Broken'' was not because of the Soul, it was because of the Essence of my Existence within my Soul. It was this that created the new Soul and it was from this that I felt the impulse to devour the remains of what was torn from me. "Was that instinct?" (I) "I don''t know, but maybe it was part of the process, I never saw someone becoming God." (I) I didn''t know what to expect and the whole horrendous process was something that exceeded my expectations in many ways. Ding! <[ The will of the Universe has awakened focusing its Will on You ]> . . . <[ You had your Conscience and Will drawn into the Will of the Universe ]> . . . <[ The Wills of all the Gods joined the Will of the Universe ]> . . . <[ The Will of all the Gods rests with you ]> "So far I don''t see anything much." (I) I could feel being watched by so many Gods, especially with the clear murderous intent directed at me by some of them. Ding! <[ The Will of the Universe took the broken fragments of your Soul, Body and existence to refine into a new entity ]> . . <[ Your Will uses your Divinity as well as your Anomalous power for your Existential Essence to become a new Soul in order to preserve your existence ]> . . <[ You have acquired a [ Divine Soul (Nascent) ] with Anomalous aspects ]> . . <[ The Universe uses the refined remains of your Soul to nourish the new one ]> . . <[ The Universe uses the remains of your body to nurture the creation of one worthy of a [ Living God ] ]> . . . <[ There have been several instances of attempted interference by Baldr (God of Light) ]> . . . <[ Your Soul has reformed as an Anomalous Divine Entity ]> . . <[ You have triggered the unification of 3 Natural Power foundations into one [ Semi-universal Dimension (Nascent) ] ]> . . . <[ You have given birth to a new Anomalous entity [ Unholy Void Tree (Seed) ] ]> . . <[ You need to plant your [ Unholy Void Tree (Seed) ] in a space separate from the Universe and belonging to you to serve as the Nucleus for your [ Semi-universal Dimension (Nascent) ] ]> . . <[ All of your Incarnation-type Passerby Skills have been fused into the Passerby Divine Skill [ Unholy Eclipse Incarnation ] ]> . . <[ You are above the aspects of the System regarding the Title ]> . . <[ You are above the System aspects related to the Level ]> . . . <[ You have become an idol of worship and gather Faith through others'' feelings for you ]> . . <[ You have become a symbol of terror and gather Faith through the negative feelings of those who beg for your mercy ]> . . . <[ The Universal Will is using its power to strengthen the Dimensional boundary ]> . . . <[ Akatosh receives him as a new Divine Dragon and from him [ Dragon Totem ] is elevated to [ Anomalous Dragon Totem ] whose power will be granted to All Dragons ]> "..." (I) This time I was confused by many things, this notification section has many, many things that I don''t understand well. The Profane parts, I don''t like but I can understand it being something halfway between the Divine and the Demonic, but the part where the Universe is using my power I don''t understand very well. "(Does it have something to do with me being a God? One of the responsibilities... maybe?)" (I) The part about the tree I can more or less assume what it means, with each of the Power Sources that I created something related to a tree appeared, so there is no error or that. "(I''ll leave this for later, I have to talk to my Family about this.)" (I) Now the part about what the Dragon God did is obvious, he made me insert the Anomalous power inside my Totem, at least now I understand what he wanted to do, share the Anomalous power with the other Dragons. I''m going to have to do something about all this when I get out of this place, thinking about it, I look at my hand, I actually can''t see much inside, I just have an idea about my body. It seems like my bones are getting firmer, my muscles and nerves are forming as well as my organs, I didn''t want to stay here any longer, but little by little I can feel a barrier made with my own Vitality trapping me here. The nourishment of Sacred power that I am receiving is one thing, but I am also feeling something naturally flowing out of me, Divine Power. "I think I can ignore the whole part about the God Akatosh, let me see the last parts." (I) Ding! <[ All your Familiars (Divine Beasts) are being elevated to Subordinate Gods ]> . . <[ Starting Deity granting through current Deity ]> "I expected that." (I) "They were all already on this path because of their strong connection to me." (I) Ding! <[ All of your Heralds are being granted aspects of their Divinity ]> . . <[ All your Saints are receiving Divine Stigma ]> . . <[ Samara (Anomaly Demon Saint) completes her bond with you and receives an [ Anomalous Stigma ] ]> . . . <[ All of his direct Children are granted the Title [ Son of the Unholy God ] ]> . . . <[ Your Children with Divine aspects are beyond your influence ]> . . . <[ The entity ''Callidora'' watches you ]> . . <[ The birthing individual has been released from his isolation and begins to use his Divine power to complete the birthing process ]> . . . <[ Your physical Birth will trigger your Will spreading throughout the Universe announcing your Divinity to everyone within its influence ]> After seeing all this I was able to understand my situation or that''s what I would like to think, in fact it seems like there will be a lot of problems. Baldr is no longer just interfering with me, he is trying to attack me directly, there are also 2 groups of enemies with Anomalous power waiting around the corner and whatever appears later. There are a lot of things to do, a lot of enemies to worry about, I won''t have a clear idea of ??my power when I leave here and I don''t know how long it will take to get used to it. Everyone around me is being influenced by my changes, but I worry that I don''t have any notifications mentioning My wives, not even Freya. My sisters also didn''t have any notification, but I feel their Divinity, perhaps because their powers come from our mother and not from me, who didn''t receive anything. "What should I do..." (I) As I thought about everything I saw, an idea crossed my mind, I couldn''t keep things as they were with Baldr, of all the enemies this was one of the strongest, if not the strongest, but it was also the closest. As time flowed more and more, my body seemed to grow little by little, my muscles, organs and even my hair were all forming, but I could also feel my suppressed Dragon form becoming complete. I didn''t have a clear sense of time, even though I was always awake, it could have been hours, days or weeks and I couldn''t tell, but when my body seemed to be almost complete, there was a change. My Soul, Will and Divinity were pulsing inside me, each with a different beat, but with each beat they got closer to each other until they synchronized, so it seemed like one beat pulsing inside me. This once weak pulse became stronger and stronger until power flowed through my body, my whole body felt as if it was complete and the barrier of Vitality around me was breaking apart. The vines and roots were no longer nourishing my body with Sacred Power, that''s because I was complete, I could feel it, the time had come for me to be born and as if announcing this the beat formed waves of power with Will spreading from beyond my body, even beyond my confinement. I was disoriented for an indeterminate amount of time as if everything in my mind was wavering more and more with something expanding more and more. I felt like I was in a dark space, then thousands of lights like stars lit up around me as if a ripple passed through them making them light up, the further this ripple was going the fewer stars lit up. This lasted an indeterminate amount of time for me, I only realized when it was over, I felt in the middle of space surrounded by stars and something inside me, something primitive encouraged me to roar, to demonstrate that I am here, that I was born and that is what I did. RRROOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!!! With this Roar, the starry space broke and I saw the place where I was completely break freeing me into an illuminated place, a powerful roar coming out of my small body making space itself shake as a notification appears in my vision. Ding! <[ The Unholy God Zenos (Divine Anomalous Unholy Dragon) was born ]> I felt an immense feeling of liberation come over me, I felt my power flow through my body and my Soul without obstruction before flowing through all the connections I have with my Heralds, Saints, Heroes and Familiars. I felt great in full euphoria as my view of the world around me opened up. Chapter 1490: Cap 1488: 5 months I felt great in full euphoria as my view of the world around me opened up. When I looked around I realized that I was at the top of the Star Palace, but it was different, it seems that a colossal tree was intertwined with the Star Palace, but looking closer it was possible to see that this tree was pure energy, it was not something physical and all this energy it was constantly flowing, I could feel the flow coming from below where the roots should be, up the trunk and exploding through the branches where it disperses. All of this was a mixture of my powers, among the stars it was possible to see Dragon shadows that are my shadows, with their movements the stars change positions and brightness. "Good to see you awake master." (Hades) "Hades." (I) I turn my eyes to Hades, he looks the same as always visually, but now I can see through him easily without even needing to use my Aura to do so. His power is more than twice as high as before, I can also feel the Chaos Power within him forming part of his Divine Power that flows from me to him. "How long did I sleep?" (I) "For 5 months, you were the last one to wake up." (Hades) "Do you talk about my Sisters and my Family?" (I) "Yes, your sisters woke up after 1 month, your Familiars woke up almost completing 3 months and we as your Heralds woke up at the same time with only me waking up in the first week." (Hades) "Where is everyone?" (I) "Your sisters are establishing their religions while making preparations for war." (Hades) "His Familiars are all out, the closest is Hinata who spends a lot of time with Tarzor." (Hades) "Your children are spread across different Worlds just like your Heroes and Saints." (Hades) "The rest of the Heralds are on standby in the Star Path." (Hades) "Wait... just wait a bit, let''s go in parts." (I) "Why are they all spread out?" (I) "Let''s go somewhere else and talk, this place can be a little unstable." (Hades) "Unstable...?" (I) I step back and look around as I follow Hades away from the Star Palace, seen from afar there appears to be a barrier or veil across the entire Star Palace in an oval shape containing both the Star Palace and also the energy tree. As soon as I saw its totality, I understood what it was, it was as if I knew what it was, something that I formed while I was sleeping without realizing it, the seed I don''t know what Universal I don''t know. I could feel now that the Dragon shadows seem to collect something they deliver the seed through the roots, something they are collecting from the surrounding stars. "(They''re not just stars, they''re representations of something...)" (I) "But the seed... I didn''t expect it to be so big? Or maybe I should consider it small?" (I) "So it''s a seed?" (Hades) "We''ll talk about this later, where is the gate to the safe room? It used to be near the entrance to the Star Palace, but now we''re far away and I haven''t seen it yet." (I) "Master, there are no more gates, we are no longer in a Dungeon." (Hades) "..." (I) As soon as I heard this I was surprised and continued following him until I realized where we were going, one of the Dragon Shadows opened its jaws and I felt we were taken to one of the brightest stars, as soon as we entered the star we came out of a black crystal Dragon head emerging from the shade of a tree. Coming out of his mouth, it closes and disappears into the shadow, looking around I realize that we are on the floor of the main city, the capital of my Dungeon, but as soon as I looked up I saw the large Seed in the sky not far from a Purple Sun that strangely does not color purple with its light. "All the stars seen from the Star Palace are the old floors of the Dungeon, there are no longer any gates connecting everything, this is now done by the Shadow Dragons, you just need to touch a shadow using your Aura and have an image of the place you want to go. " (Hades) "What happened to Nix?" (I) "She still controls this whole place, but her other Familiars are just below her with some leeway in controlling this place." (Hades) "How do we get out of here if it''s not a Dungeon anymore?" (I) "Dimensional Dragons or as we discovered a few weeks ago, Temples raised in her name." (Hades) "...." (I) Sigh "Looks like I have a lot to learn." (I) I look into the distance and spread my Aura understanding what this place has become, I didn''t need much time to understand having already seen 2 examples of such a place. "Something between Divine Realm and Separate Space..." (I) Sigh I am beginning to feel what it means to be a God, I can feel the Faith in the Aura of the person in the city, I can feel the process of transforming Faith into Holy Power that mixes with the power of the Essence becoming Divine Power within me together with my Will. "A God..." (I) Sigh "What should I expect...?" (I) ------------------ Pov Alice''s: I was looking at the lake of blood, this place is beautiful, on the banks the city is being renovated for the third time, Alexandre can''t stop changing the projects. "Alice, why did you call me back, I just built the Temple, but I''m not done playing yet...cough...I mean taking care of the idiots in that world." (Lilith) "We are just helping the group of Elizabeth''s worshipers, we cannot interfere too much if we are not going to take on an important role beyond just one of the religions." (I) "Elizabeth has already chosen someone with the talent and resolve to rule, leave it to your Imperial Temple to take care of the rest." (I) "Okay, but did you know that I met another Penumbra Fairy Contractor?" (Lilith) "What did this poor guy suffer?" (I) "That''s the strange thing, he hasn''t suffered anything in his past, he''s just a madman who likes to travel to the most dangerous places possible." (Lilith) "He told me about how he got a magical item to breathe underwater and spent a week in the ocean to the point where he invaded a Mermaid city." (Lilith) "Why are all those with Fairies or Spirits that came from Layla and Nix so strange?" (I) Sigh Since Zenos began his Ascension, months have passed, people from all over the universe summoning Fairies or Spirits have had the chance to take one of ours, but each of them in strange situations with even stranger people. Before that, only people in the Dungeon could make contracts with these Spirits and Fairies. "Why did you call me here? I thought this world was still forming, that''s what Vanessa said." (Lilith) This world was dead and was saved by the Goddess Selene, it was she who brought this world back to life and gave countless lineages to be born here, but she used her son''s blood here which greatly accelerated the formation of monsters, creating a wave of monsters that took over the entire planet at the same time that it spread life throughout the world, we just brought refugees from another world here, they were fleeing from the Church of Light. "Master Zenos has woken up, I can feel it, every part of my power has grown more than 3 times and I felt his Roar in my Soul." (I) "Those most faithful in the city woke up saying that they saw the Star Path with all the heralds kneeling towards the Eclipse where the silhouette of a Dragon was visible." (I) "I thought I heard a roar, but there were some really loud screams around me and I thought it was one of them." (Lilith) "I want you to warn your brothers, the pilgrimage is over." (I) "Elsaris will be furious, she and Samira are the only ones who couldn''t create a Temple or spread the Father''s religion." (Lilith) "They also didn''t have much time with Vanessa and Elizabeth using them to get information from the Church of Light." (I) "Forget them, my biggest concern is that person." (I) "I like her." (Lilith) "Yara hates her, Ivan too by the way, only you and Hela like her." (I) "But don''t forget that she can''t be trusted, especially without Master Zenos around." (I) "Alright, I''ll go see the others, but I''m pretty sure I won''t be able to talk to Magnus." (Lilith) "He''s leading the Dragons from the front line, I think Karina is with him so she''ll take care of things there." (I) "Then I''m going." (Lilith) I see Lilith leaving and I turn to my new visitor, I knew she was here, she is always close to me or Hades. "Hades went to receive him." (Samara) "I know, he stayed behind waiting for this, but what are you going to do?" (I) "I''ll wait a little, I know he won''t want to see me now and he already has a lot of problems to think about." (Samara) "Who does that body belong to?" (I) "I don''t know, Cinthia brought it to me, the last one didn''t last more than a few days." (Samara) "You need to get back to your body." (I) "I really wanted to, but I need him for this, I didn''t know my Soul would be locked outside when I left." (Samara) "Who abandons their own body?" (I) "It was an accident, my body and soul changed a lot, how would I know?" (Samara) I look at the woman with red hair and eyes burning in Starfire, her body is covered in dark veins. "(This body won''t last either.)" (I) Sigh "(Why did you have to leave this problem in our hands!?)" (I) Chapter 1491: Cap 1489: Divine War Pov Irius: "Tell me again, why are we doing this?" (I) "Because it''s a child." (Irina) "You say that, I don''t know if it''s a child." (I) "We saw her and you know, she''s only probably 8 years old, at most she''s around 10 years old." (Irina) "But why must we do all this to save her?" (I) "Because she''s a child!" (Irina) "For the love of our Father, Irina!" (I) "She killed her parents and younger brother, then cut up their bodies and devoured them for days, then used their bones to perform a Demonic Ritual turning the bones and Souls into a weapon!" (I) "I don''t care about appearances, that''s not a child!!" (I) I was on top of a metal building looking at a fortress almost good enough to hold a Demigod and it was built by mortals, I can''t even imagine how much money and effort went into this, let alone what it took to create it such a prison. The entire city is focused on magical technology, the same can be seen all over the world, this place, as incredible as it is, revealed the best and worst of what people can do using creativity. The Temple that my sister and I created here is being treated as a crime, that''s why it is hidden, but the number of believers we find here is frightening, none of them have a pleasant story of being pushed to the limit before they feel the existence of our Father. "I''m almost sure she''s possessed or maybe something was controlling her..." (Irina) "You''re not being sincere, you just want to help her because she''s a child, but if we go in there and I find out that she really is evil, I''m going to kill her, there''s no return for that kind of evil." (I) "Not to mention that by doing this, we will be discovered anyway and will face even more resistance from the governments of this world." (I) "We could just..." (Irina) RRRROOOOOAAAARRRRE!!!! "..." (me/Irina) "DAMN YOU!!! ZENOS!!!!!" Deep within our Souls a roar could be heard, this Roar seemed extremely distant and yet easily identifiable, it was different and yet very familiar, my bloodline began to pulse, the Holy Power felt like a boiling volcano and my Blood Core had increased twice in power. "(He woke up!)" (I) "Sister!" (I) "Yes, he woke up, our Father woke up!" (Irina) My surprise and hers didn''t last long before we focused back on the fortress, that scream was full of Divine Power, not only that but it seemed to be from a child''s voice, from a little girl, the Aura was so powerful that it destroyed the barriers while the voice exploded full of murderous intent. "What did I say?" (Irina) "Okay, I admit I was right this time, but how do we deal with her?" (I) "I have a way, but you won''t like it and I hope she doesn''t realize until it''s too late." (Irina) "I''m going to regret this, aren''t I?" (I) "Probably...almost certainly." (Irina) "Let''s get this over with." (I) Sigh ---------------------- Pov Zenos: While walking around the city, I was using my Aura and power of nature to blend in with the environment itself, which in this place was very simple because it belonged to me, so no one was able to feel my presence or even see me, until the space it was being distorted by me so as not to bump into anyone, Hades following my lead as we entered the city. The streets of the city were busy, I see the Android people, I see the Demons, the Elves, I saw everyone even the Fairies and Spirits who, even though they didn''t know about me, were still able to notice something looking with joy at the surroundings as if looking for something by instinct. "(The Fairies and Spirits became more sensitive to my presence.)" (I) "(They were born and raised here, they also worship you for being the master of their Queens.)" (Hades) With this kind of relaxed conversation, we crossed the entire city where people talk with fervor and joy about the same event that everyone experienced, they heard a Roar that vibrated in their Souls causing abilities to awaken or evolve as well as varying increases in status for each one. "(Was this caused by me?)" (I) "(Yes, your roar shook my Soul completely and I am a Herald in your name, imagine for those inside this place?)" (Hades) "(It should be similar to receiving a lesser blessing.)" (Hades) "..." (I) With that I went with Hades to the large government building in the middle of the city, I didn''t want to go to the mansion yet, as there wouldn''t be anyone there to welcome me, so it was the same as not going home. We entered the building and went to the room where Nira was, to my surprise she no longer had any human features, on her back were black wings and her raven was sitting on the back of the chair where she was, her black hair and eyes were dark at the same time To the point of being strange, her skin even paler than before seemed almost completely white like snow, it was like looking at a doll. "Damn Zenos, always leaving everything to me and still sneaking into the office!" (Nira) "How did you notice me?" (I) "No one else would sneak in here, just you and Nicole, I''m sure she''s very far away and you... well, I just heard a very clear roar and as soon as you entered I felt a fluctuation in my blood." (Nira) "Sorry to show up like that, let''s just use the room next door." (Hades) "Feel free, I''m glad to see you well, Master Zenos or should I call you God Zenos?" (Nira) "Only Zenos will do, I don''t much care being a God now." (I) "I figured that would be it." (Nira) Saying this, she snaps her fingers and a wall on the side transforms into an image of the door we passed, inside it was just a wooden door, full of colorful plants overlooking the city, a table with some chairs and a tea set. It was clear that this was her place to relax, I never knew about this place, but I also didn''t spend much time here. I felt like Hades did the same thing trying to serve tea before I waved my hand and stopped him, I wanted him to get straight to the point. "I have a lot of catching up to do, a lot of things you said before are still on my mind." (I) "I''m sure you do, but where should I start?" (Hades) "How about the Star Path you mentioned earlier? What is that?" (I) "You must remember that during your sleep there was always a space full of stars through which a crystal path opened, correct?" (Hades) "Yes, this place has been forming since my first evolutions and somehow its meaning has changed along the way." (I) "Before it was a representation of my determination to create a new path like my feet if there wasn''t one where I was walking, it was just a mental image." (I) "But little by little it started to influence others around me, when I became a Demigod it was like this place became accessible to everyone during my dreams." (I) "Yes, but now this is a real place that we as Heralds can enter directly, we can interact with anyone who is their worshiper or has traces of their doctrine." (Hades) "What doctrine? I''ve never had anything like it." (I) "We can talk about this in sequence, but as I was saying, the star path connects all your worshipers to you, Lady Elizabeth said it is called an Incarnation of the Divine Will, a place of connection between the Gods and their Devotees, the form depends on the God and in your case that was the form it took." (Hades) "I think I understand, but we can delve deeper into this later." (I) "Just to take the burden off my conscience, did anything big happen while you were gone?" (I) "A Divine war began, the God Selene and some other Gods started a war against the God Baldr or that''s what they say, the truth is that this war started with him..." (Hades) "Wait! Wait! Wait, what do you mean a war?" (I) "A Divine War, the two Main Gods have not acted yet, they are apprehensive due to some other factors, but their loyal Gods are commanding powerful troops, but in the end everyone is guarding their main forces for an opportunity, if this continues it will last for years." (Hades) "I wake up only to be met with this!? A damn Divine War!!??" (I) "What did all this... wait..." (I) "..." (Hades) "It can''t be... I won''t deny that I went against him many times, but I don''t think it escalated to the level of starting a war, not anytime soon at least..." (I) I even wanted to go to war against the Church of Light, but I thought I would have time to prepare, maybe even start at the front carrying out a major attack, but I didn''t imagine waking up already being in the middle of a war. "Did anyone on our side get hurt?" (I) "Yes, Magnus was seriously injured 2 times and hundreds of Dungeon people died." (Hades) "..." (I) "It looks like this conversation will need to be more detailed and lengthy than I thought, let''s start at the beginning." (I) It seems like I have a lot to know, not to mention I still have to discover myself as a God, I have to go see Tarzor at some point as well as go to the Communal Temple, I can feel the Gods looking at me from their statues there, they know that I woke up. Chapter 1492: Cap 1490: All children with problems? Pov Magnus: RRRROOOOAAAARRRR!!!!! When I opened my eyes, all my blood was boiling in my veins as my Holy Power vibrates through every corner of my body, my wounds also heal almost completely with the enemy''s Divine Power being forcibly expelled. When I got up, the wound on my chest was already a closed scar and my broken arm was as good as new, only the one on the side of my stomach was still half open. "You woke up." (Vanessa) "Yes...did you hear the roar?" (I) "Roar? What roar?" (Vanessa) "(She didn''t listen, I thought she could be our Father, did he wake up?)" (I) "Strange, the Divine Power in your Wounds disappeared, your recovery was also very fast." (Vanessa) I sat up with difficulty, even though I had few injuries that can only be considered light, my body was still in pain and my power was still stirred by the roar from before. Sigh "How are things?" (I) "They have been preparing for a long time, their forces outnumber ours." (Vanessa) "But we managed to set up a foothold on that planet, the land was Sanctified and Karina must be leading the Dragons..." (Vanessa) "MAGNUS!!! DID YOU HEAR!? DID YOU HEAR HIM!?" (Karina) "VANESSA! DID YOU HEAR IT TOO!?" (Karina) "Karina, please calm down! I can''t understand what you''re talking about." (Vanessa) Suddenly Karina comes running in with a smile so wide that it wouldn''t be surprising for her head to split in half, her high-pitched voice was full of emotion as her Aura exploded without caring about her surroundings, I can see the guard at the entrance kneeling on the ground as she felt the weight of the Aura, but I congratulate him on being able to maintain consciousness. "If you''re talking about the roar, then yes, I heard it and your reaction shows that it really must have been Father." (I) "Yes, Zenos is awake, he is finally awake!!" (Karina) "What!? Dad woke up? You guys heard something, so why didn''t I feel anything!?" (Vanessa) "Your bond with him is weaker, you are a Blood Saint after all." (I) "We should go back, Zenos needs to know many things and I need to introduce myself as Saint..." (Karina) "I''d like to go too, but will we be able to leave like this?" (I) "I''m going to advance the construction of the Temple, we can use it to return." (Karina) Without waiting for anything, she leaves as if she were going to build the Temple with her own hands, I just exchange a look with Vanessa. "As I was saying... wouldn''t it be bad to be away at this time?" (I) "Yes, but Karina really needs to see my Father, this should increase her power and for you, it should go to explain the situation." (Vanessa) "You will stay?" (I) "Yes, I can''t abandon the troops, the barrier needs Divine Power and Adella hasn''t returned yet." (Vanessa) "It shouldn''t take long for him to join here, so don''t worry." (I) "I can''t say if this is a good or bad thing, at this point I don''t know who Baldr hates more, if it''s the Goddess or my Father." (Vanessa) ----------------- Pov Hela''s: I was facing the last concentration camp, so I pick up the letter from Elsaris talking about the forces stationed here. "It seems like they have 5 Divine Beasts here, none of them should be Oros''s level of power, but still..." (I) "You and I can only handle one each, we won''t be able to handle them all." (Hellyos) "I know, I could summon something or prepare some magic, maybe even a curse taking them by surprise, but it would be difficult not to involve those inside." (I) "What do we do then?" (Hellyos) "..." (I) RRRoooaaarrrrrrrr!!! Suddenly I heard a roar and the fangs crushed one of the rings on my finger, this made me and Hellyos teleport to a safe place almost at the same time as my Aura exploded in power, the blood in my body as well as my Holy Power were frantic while my Soul trembled at the sound of that roar. "Ma''am! What happened!? Are you okay?" (Hellyos) "I''m fine, don''t worry..." (I) I sit on the floor while regulating my Aura and power for a few minutes before speaking to my Familiar once again. "We need to go back, my Father woke up, he must have a better plan on how to deal with these places." (I) "We don''t have much time before the next ritual, if we''re right." (Hellyos) ------------------ Pov Silvia''s: RRRROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!! Suddenly I hear a deafening roar directly with my Soul that vibrates full of power. A wave of changes happen within me when an Essence that I was avoiding forming finally emerges almost completely, my Sacred Power grows exponentially and my Aura explodes to the surroundings with all these disturbances happening at the same time. It took me mere seconds to regulate my Aura and power efficiently, the changes didn''t stop there, with me forming this Essence my body was already becoming that of a Demigoddess as well as my Soul also underwent certain changes. "He''s too troublesome, I didn''t want to become a Goddess." (I) "I guess there isn''t much choice left, but at least we know we can trust you sister." (Ciane) "I didn''t want to have such big responsibilities again so soon, I thought it could wait a few centuries or at least a few decades." (I) I was on a planet full of life, a Planet that my new brothers came to in the past and helped a Dragon with a big project. The entire planet was transformed, entire civilizations and entire races destroyed, returning everything to the primordial era at the beginning. My new sister has just reached her full power, but the changes in this world were not something natural, it was a great event caused by a Ritual of a Primordial Dragon and in which my Father''s chaos power was used, so the energy conditions in this world are difficult to control. Looking up at the sky I see a mountain floating upside down and a waterfall flowing upwards forming a lake around that mountain. This was just one of several unnatural events happening across the planet, but strangely the energies were not in conflict even though they were entangled. "The Elves are being of some help, but I needed a stronger power to help, even the Ancient Elf who became my Elf King cannot help me to that extent." (Ciane) "Unfortunately my help is also limited, my Father''s power is influencing a lot here, it seems that he has now woken up as God, so the best option is for him to use his power to control these changes into something that can be considered natural." (I) "Looks like you have a visitor." (Ciane) "Church of Light?" (I) "Temple of Law, but there isn''t much difference, it seems to be a Lesser God, but I don''t know much about these things yet." (Ciane) "Maybe he''s not here for me..." (I) "I found you, daughter of Zenos!" "It feels like he''s here for me." (I) Sigh "(I didn''t think they would go through with it.)" (I) My power was still increasing, the Essence forming inside me would cause more problems than help if I had to fight in this state, but just as I was thinking about it it arrived. He looked like a Celestino, wears formal military clothes, 3 pairs of wings, short light blue hair, two blindfolded eyes closed, chains on his hands and a large ax stained with blood on his back. "I am the God of Law Enforcement, Ravaas!" (Ravaas) "You thought you could flee after the destruction of a unified and just continent, your actions caused the destruction of 68% of the Temples of Law in that world, the death of thousands of devout worshipers, and the mass lawbreaking of a place with 800 years of peace!" (Ravaas) "Do you accept your crimes!?" (Ravaas) "You really enjoy hearing the sound of your own voice." (I) I couldn''t help but laugh at the arrogant act and how he distorts the facts as if I were a criminal, it really isn''t just the worshipers who are rotten, even the Gods of Law can no longer differentiate right from wrong being so focused on just in the results of its Laws. "(At least he gave me enough time.)" (I) Ding! <[ You have acquired the [ Essence of Nature (Variant) ] through your Soul in accordance with the Universal Nature ]> . . . <[ Your [ Nature Essence (Variant) ] has been awakened by the Divine Birth of Zenos (Divine Anomalous Unholy Dragon) and is suffering its influence ]> . . . <[ The Anomalous Power altered its Essence into a new state by merging into [ Essence of the Anomalous Natural Entity (Partially Sealed) ] ]> . . . <[ You ascended as Demigoddess of Nature (Anomaly) ]> "..." (I) Just as I feared, he went further once again, that''s why the changes in my Soul are so great, he altered a Universal Essence just by waking up. "(There''s no point in lamenting.)" (I) "If you do not surrender before the Divine Law..." (Ravaas) "Stop your stupid speech, I don''t care what your law is or how important you think it is, let''s get this over with." (I) Him talking so much helped me buy time, but the way he talks and acts is really irritating for many reasons. Chapter 1493: Cap 1491: A conversation between Gods Pov Silvia''s: I was tired of listening to him, but it was still too early to use my Essence, I can still feel the changes happening inside me, the worst may be over, but that doesn''t mean it''s over. I avoid returning to my Dragon form and imitating my Father, I only make my arms and legs change as well as spreading more scales on the surface of my body, this made me grow a little, which was acceptable. I was already advancing against him, I didn''t expect to be hunted by a subordinate Minor God of the Temple of Law. But I couldn''t let an opportunity like this pass, the Temple of Law was tyrannical and arrogant, but they weren''t enemies of everyone like the Church of Light, even though they were on their side they didn''t do anything extreme and always saved their strength. "(If I take him I can get information and still negotiate with the Temple of Law.)" (I) "Do you think you can fight me with a newly acquired power?" (Ravaas) "Yes, I''m sure so." (I) It was no surprise that he saw through me, I just became a Demigod, the changes in my Aura and presence cannot be hidden, as a Minor God he can see it instantly. "< Territory: Ruler >" (I) "< Primal Nature >" (I) With just a thought my Aura and Authority expanded endlessly for hundreds of kilometers, with the Power of Zenos still permeating the foundations of this world it was extremely easy for me to create my Territory, there was no resistance from the Aura of the world. I felt God Ravaas try to stop my Aura with his, but the moment his Aura tried to go against mine there was a change in the environment, the Aura of the world that could not resist against me, began to suppress and attack him, thanks to it was easy for me to create the Territory while he was unable to get in the way. The world around changed greatly, the day became night with countless stars in the sky, an Eclipse was in place of the Moon, the clouds were white and seemed to contain weather power condensed within to devastate nations, on earth an endless forest with mountains, rivers and lakes spread out, the sound of endless creatures being heard on all sides as I felt great comfort. "< Divine Seal of Containment >" (Ravaas) Ravaas just glanced at his surroundings, clearly not happy that I had managed to create my Territory without him doing anything to stop it, then he drew the Ax on his back as his Divine Power cast a seal on the Ax''s blades. He didn''t say anything else as he advanced towards me and I went towards him with the same desire to fight, a confident enemy like him made what I was thinking of doing much easier. ----------------- Pov Athena''s: In front of me was the last of the Enemies, I had to face hundreds of them before getting here, those who followed me to fight at my side were injured or killed, I made the survivors turn back as soon as this bastard left the Spatial Rift. "Damn, it wasn''t supposed to be like this!" (I) "< Holy Summon: Star Sword >" (I) My Holy Power gathers into a magic circle in front of me, a sword shatters the space with its hilt as I drop the sword in my hands. As soon as I hold the handle of the Star Sword, its shape changes, absorbing my Aura and Holy Power, the sword becomes thinner, straighter and with the blade only on one side, a sword more focused on speed like this is perfect for me. "(The sword feels strange, it seems to be vibrating.)" (I) I was waiting for the Creature of the Abyss to approach, his body was bigger than mine, his arms were long and his claws looked like swords, his fingers were so long, he had no eyes, but that didn''t seem to stop him from knowing about me, its large mouth with three tongues seemed to drip acid while swaying between rows of sharp teeth. As soon as I swung the sword towards him, he dodged it, contorting his body while trying to swing his arm towards me, unlike the other Creatures of the Abyss I faced before, this bastard has some brain beyond the pure instinct of destruction. "< Eclipse Magic: Star Wave >" (I) Gathering magical power into a magical circle in front of me, as soon as their faces were close to me, a wave of Power that looked like the fluctuation of the night sky appeared pushing their whites back and with that pause, I managed to cut off that twisted arm. I tried to move forward but a leg appeared in the corner of my vision, I used my wings to push upwards dodging the leg bending strangely only to be whipped by the three tongues coming out of its mouth stretching even further. "< 100 Cuts >" (I) "< Moon Fragment Blade >" (I) I resisted the pain of the blow and used my willpower to ignore the acid corroding my body, then I swung my sword several times without pause creating a hundred blades of energy cutting tongues in the process, then trying to land a blow on his face I use one of the new moves I learned. The Sacred Power gathers in the blade of the crystal sword, a Moon appears between the stars of the blade before breaking into fragments that, when the sword swings, travel out of the blade towards the enemy in front of me. RRRROOOOAAAAAARRRR!!!! "But what..." (I) Suddenly a roar made my body tremble, my power shook in the middle of the blow and I ended up putting all my power into the attack while Starfire burned in the fragments that tore the body of the Abyss Creature into pieces and spread Starfire throughout its body. It was as if the Starfire was alive, taking on the silhouette of Dragons as it attacked the remains of the Abyss Creature''s body, making its body disappear completely. "..." (I) ----------------- Pov Veronica: I was in a dilemma, I wanted to finish what I had started here, but I also heard Zenos awakening, Loki wanted to return, which was no surprise. "I think we should go back, this place is really boring, it''s just conspiracies and low level corruption." (Loki) "We still haven''t found the escaped Demon God." (I) "The information Ynes got from the Demon God Hernoth says he''s here." (I) "I already found him, in fact, he was in a pretty bad state, Zenos made a mess of him." (Loki) "When did you...wait! The Prince!?" (I) "That''s why you kidnapped him?" (I) "No, it was the King, I used the Prince in a Ritual to pull the Demon God into his body." (Loki) "YOU DID WHAT!!??" (I) "Come on, he''s too good to stay in that place." (Loki) "We can take him with us, he will be an excellent servant and in a short time there will be nothing left of that Demonic God." (Loki) "I thought you won over the prince for fun." (I) "It was for fun, I''ve never tasted a man and he was too feminine to be a man so it was perfect." (Loki) "Of course that will be in the past now since he has become a woman." (Loki) "Loki..." (I) Sigh "It''s not my fault this time, it''s the fusion of the Demon God''s Powers with her body that''s causing the changes, but I must say she''s looking very beautiful." (Loki) "..." (I) "(She''s uncontrollable, I really want to get together with Zenos again, letting Loki loose like this is getting too much for me.)" (I) --------------- Pov Zenos: I was frustrated with everything I heard, the Star Path was one thing, but the war was completely different, my children and acquaintances were at war, there were also chances of my wives being at war, even without any confirmation it was something they would do. The thing with the Temples in scattered places created in my name was something I had been waiting for since I accepted being a God so I left that aside, the things about the war were much more important for me to know. When it was night I was left alone, Hades went to do something I asked while I spent a few drops reflecting on everything that happened while I was sleeping. After thinking about this time I started walking towards the Communal Temple, still hiding from everyone''s eyes, I could feel some Divine Auras pulsing as if calling for me, so I went there. As soon as I set foot inside the hall of statues, it was as if I entered a different world, the entire Communal Temple disappeared and I was in a garden decorated with silver, gold and jewels more extravagant than I would have liked to see, a large round table I was in a space with a simple roof in the middle where several individuals were looking at me. One of these individuals stood up and before I knew it he was in front of me, his arms around me in a hug. "Welcome... son." (Selene) "We''ve been waiting for you for a while, come on boy!" (Kratos) "Let him talk to his mother, at least she has a decent son." (Hernoth) "Come on Selene! You know we can''t waste too much time." (Akatosh) It seems like I walked into the middle of a meeting between the Gods, but they seem to be waiting for me, it doesn''t seem like I''m going to enjoy this conversation. Chapter 1494: Cap 1492: My children bring problems When I opened my eyes I was back in the Communal Temple, I could see the morning sun coming through a window a little far away, I spent the whole night talking to several Gods, refusing the invitations of the God of War and the God of Beasts to fight. Seeing that there was no one around, I hid once again, but this time I went to the forest outside the city, I avoided going to the Fairy or Spirit Temples as they would be able to sense me, so I went to the place where I usually having the door that led to the safe room that we used to teleport between floors. When I got there there was nothing even a stone Dragon head with its mouth closed, so I jumped on top of the head and lay there thinking about everything I heard from the Gods. "It was a heavy conversation I had there, so I wanted to get some rest." (I) "For a God, you look much more like a bum slacking off like that." (Yara) "That was all I wanted, I didn''t know I would have so many responsibilities..." (I) "(Actually that was kind of obvious, a God has great responsibilities, I just ignored that fact so as not to be sad.)" (I) "I received an Oracle from the Goddess, it seems that her children are returning, they should arrive today, but she asked you to pay more attention to..." (Yara) "No, I''ll decide what to pay attention to, you can''t come here pointing in one direction and saying it''s the most important when I haven''t even seen the options yet." (I) "It doesn''t matter, her response was as she said it would be and asked to deliver it." (Yara) Yara threw something towards me, when I caught it it looked like a small flower trapped in resin, I just thought it would be an excellent decoration for a necklace, but that was before I felt the overwhelming amount of Divine Power and Vitality within it. "..." (I) "It''s called Flower of Life, she said she would know how to use it." (Yara) "Yes I know..." (me) "(She left a fraction of her Divine Will that transmitted the information directly to me.)" (I) "(But refining this thing will be difficult...)" (I) The Goddess of Life made a difficult request and didn''t say where I should use it, it seems that it is related to the previous topic, so one of my children will deliver another mountain of shit to my door. "Of course he left..." (I) Sigh "I never seem to have time to relax..." (I) I sat up and thinking some more, I touched my chest, the Blood Core was pulsing, Niryna was awake and then fell asleep once again. "It looks like she''ll be born soon." (I) I launched the Flower of Life into the air and it disappeared, swallowed by space, I sent it to where it will be refined together with the Dragon Totem. "Unfortunately I can''t even afford to sit down for a moment." (I) With that I took a step and the space distorted as I appeared in front of the mansion, moving through this place through space is as easy as taking a step. "Even though I don''t have anyone to welcome me..." (I) "I am back." (I) ------------------ Almost two days passed without anyone showing up, so just when I was getting impatient everyone showed up at the same time, but the scene in front of me was really a sign of the huge headache I''m starting to feel. All my children are here, but for some reason they are in strange states. Irius was bandaged with parchments filled with magical circles as if he were a mummy, chains held his body to 4 metal pillars with the chains and pillars covered in Runes that painted fresh blood, he and the pillars were on top of a piece of Rock red that was filled with Demonic power. Irina was next to her brother holding an unconscious and extremely thin child in one hand while her arm, shoulder and part of her side were missing, she had an arm-shaped barrier in place that she controlled as if it were her own arm, it was clearly a serious injury and I felt traces of a powerful curse. On the other side, Hela had a chained book made of Human skin and moving on its own, the chains holding the book were emanating the dense power of death. Beside, Silvia was dragging a sphere of flesh stuck in roots moving, I could feel the Divine Power of this sphere of flesh. Lilith was smiling from corner to corner to the point that her Elsaris'' head could open in half, but I was able to feel traces of Divine Power in her body, I didn''t see any injuries, but I could feel that her Vitality was far below what it should be and her eyes contained a very strong killing intent. Magnus was also injured and scarred, but nothing serious, what worries me about him is the fact that he is fighting on the front lines against the Church of Light. Elsaris and Samira are the only ones who seem to be normal, I don''t feel anything abnormal about them and they didn''t bring anything strange either. Ynes wasn''t here just like Aurora, it wasn''t a surprise that Adella wasn''t here either, everyone has a lot of things to sort out. Nicole was here, but she had her holographic screens around her with her arms moving at great speed while swinging from side to side, she wasn''t even paying attention to me. Vanessa was the only one who wasn''t here even though she was one of my oldest daughters, but my mother had already spoken about her importance on the front lines. As if my children were not enough causing problems for me, Loki and Veronica were present, Veronica had a tired look while Loki smiled while holding a woman in his arms emanating a lot of Demonic and Divine Power, he was also trying to put his hands inside his clothes of Loki constantly as a pervert. Athena was also here, but like Magnus, she only has a few scars on her body, it didn''t look like there was anything serious. "Why is it that when I wake up, you all come up to me like you''re handing me a gift!?" (I) "This is clearly you guys dumping your problems on me!" (I) "..." (all) Some were still smiling while others looked a little embarrassed, some just looked at each other in surprise at the whole situation. "See, you guys should feel ashamed for bringing trouble home." (Samira) "An adult and capable person must be able to solve their own problems." (Elsaris) "I would agree with them, if they were simple things, which doesn''t seem to be the case." (Magnus) "I couldn''t let a Demon God loose." (Irina) "Same for us, this cutie here is just a toast... ghu!" (Loki) Veronica struck Loki with her elbow on the side of his body, making him choke. "Shut up, you idiot." (Veronica) "All of you..." (I) Sigh I look among everyone identifying their problems, the easiest one to solve seems to be healing everyone, especially Irina who lost a large part of her body. "< Divine Eclipse Magic: Blood Moon >" (I) I raise my hand and above everyone a large magic circle forms before space opens up like an eye taking the entire magic circle revealing a sky full of stars where a single silver Fragmented Moon was before its pure body was stained Blood red which spreads throughout the Shattered Moon. The red light passes through the crack, illuminating everyone, the girl in Irina''s arms seems to gain more body, regaining her health while a new limb grows in Irina, her arm as well as the side of her body grow again. Everyone recovers their bodies to peak states, even the scars disappear or decrease in size, this was the degree of healing that my power has achieved now. But of course not everyone was affected, I chose who would be affected by my healing, the sphere of flesh trapped by roots, Irius bandaged and whoever the girl carried by Loki was were not targets of healing. I was close to knowing what was happening when space shook, then a shadowy Dragon''s head popped out of the wall and its unfocused eyes suddenly gained a gleam of life. "Master, we are surrounded by an Army of the Church of Light, I also saw 10 Demigods and 30 Divine Beasts, I can''t say if there is a Minor God with them in the lead." (Okan) "..." (I) "..." (all) "How did they find us?" (I) "I don''t know, but a teleportation gate suddenly appeared in front of me and soon after Divine Power sealed the area, I can''t teleport." (Okan) "Did they say anything?" (I) "They started attacking quickly, my defenses won''t last long and they keep saying to return something called the Spark of Light." (Okan) "They found us quickly." (Nicole) "..." (I) "..." (all) "What it was?" (Nicole) "(Gods, why do I have so many bad kids?)" (I) Suddenly I looked at Magnus, then I looked at the sisters Samira and Elsaris, if even Nicole brought her problems to blow up in my face, then how long will it take for the others to do the same. "Let''s take care of them now, follow me." (I) Okan opened his mouth revealing a Spatial rift leading to the outside, he became a Dimensional Divine Dragon, even receiving the Blessing of Living Divine Temple, a Divine Beast of the same category as the living planet of Goddess Mavis. "(I didn''t have time to test my powers as a God, so I hope there''s someone interesting there.)" (I) Chapter 1495: Cap 1493: Show how we fight! Dark Dragons are not living creatures, they can be considered a part of my Divine Territory, but since this is a permanent Space created within Okan, he can control these Dark Dragons as if they were a part of his body. I stood still where I was as my children advanced, I couldn''t show myself yet, this attack wouldn''t be that simple, the Church of Light likes to crush their enemies with overwhelming power, which I''m not seeing here. "(A bait? A little too simple.)" (I) "Now let me take care of you." (I) I snap my fingers and Irius, the sphere becomes flesh, the unconscious girl and woman disappear, all swallowed by Dark Dragons, they are taken to the Communal Temple. "That should be enough, I wonder why I didn''t think of using the Shadow Dragons before?" (I) I snap my fingers and 5 Dragon eyes open in front of me, 3 eyes show the outside from Okan''s point of view through his senses, the other two reveal places within that space, one being the room where Freya was still shining as I inject my power into her while the last eye reveals Samara still struggling trying to control her body. "Freya isn''t ready yet and Samara...she''s useless right now." (I) Sigh I look at the other 3 eyes and see my children arriving outside, they look smaller than ants from Okan''s normal point of view, it looks like he has grown more, I haven''t had time to go outside yet, in the surroundings I can see that a large barrier has been placed around it, I can''t even see Tarzor who is supposed to be nearby. "Now I know for sure, there is someone hiding nearby." (I) That barrier does not belong to any of those around Tarzor, the flow of power is different. "I''ll let it show before I make my move." (I) Meanwhile I looked at the book that Hela brought still on the floor, it was struggling as something similar to clotted blood began to leak from its pages trying to form claws to break the chains. Without moving, I use a simple Holy Barrier that burns that bit of blood, making the book struggle again. I soon paid attention to the battle again and that''s when I noticed something, a smile appeared on my face before I contacted Hades through our mental link. "(Hades, I have a job for you.)" (I) "(I am at your disposal, master Zenos.)" (Hades) I smile as I think. "Show how we fight!" (I) ----------------- Pov Magnus: When we passed through the crack in the Dark Dragon''s mouth, we were already outside being greeted by all kinds of bright colors coming from countless attacks, the pressure alone would be enough to destroy nations on any planet. "Nicole, are you ready?" (I) "Yes, but they won''t be of much help against Divine level enemies." (Nicole) "It''ll be enough to keep the troops busy." (Silvia) "< Holy Summon: Star Golem >" (Nicole) The barrier around Okan was shaking a lot with so many successive attacks, but we still had some time, so I gave instructions to Nicole since we have no help from attack troops on our side, the biggest fighters are already on the front line under command by Vanessa. Nicole used her Holy Power to create a large Magic Circle in which she released 10 drops of her metallic blood that absorbed the Holy Power while growing at an accelerated pace in mere seconds in the form of Golems with bodies made of red metal and star crystal. They are in the form of knights wearing heavy armor measuring over 50 meters, each of them holding a greatsword with a star crystal blade, their Auras being immensely strong and containing the power of countless elements. These are the Golems created by Nicole''s research, each of them being a weapon of mass destruction, possessing enormous resistance, regenerative capabilities and being able to carry out hundreds of attacks at the same time from several different elements. "I will leave the enemy troops to you." (I) "All good." (Nicole) "Be careful, they must have prepared for this attack." (Silvia) "I can''t use my Undead..." (Hela) "Our capacity will be reduced, wouldn''t it be better to call Heralds?" (Hellyos) "They''re already here, do you really think they don''t know about the attack?" (Samira) "Keep your voice down sister." (Elsaris) "(Don''t expect help from the Heralds, they are doing something for me.)" (Zenos) "(If something unexpected happens, I will personally take action.)" (Zenos) "..." (I) "Looks like we don''t need to worry." (Irina) "< Holy Magic: Strengthen Barrier >" (Irina) Using her blood, Irina creates 3 Spiritual Runes that each form the center of a magical circle before interlocking into one spell that only flies towards the barrier that shows signs of crumbling. "(Should I attack?)" (Okan) "No, just focus on defense." (I) Saying this I wave to my brothers as I advance, my body growing as I fully assume my Dragon form, a natural armor of scales covering my body as I advance. I saw from the corner of my vision Nicole''s Golems advancing, my brothers close behind, we''re going to need an exit point and I was really hoping for that. "(You are dead.)" (I) "< Aura Incarnation: Eclipse King''s Sword >" (I) "< Light Restriction Field >" (I) The greatest of all defects of the Church of Light, its absolute confidence in its powers of Light, no Mage, Warrior or Priest trains with other elements, its pride and beliefs fall only in the Light as an absolute, which has also become the greatest source of their strength. With so many battles against them for weeks, I couldn''t help but notice how my Skills were that of a predator in front of them, that''s how I realized that their wealth was very obvious, deprive them of the light they are so proud of and they will be less than insects. As soon as I passed through the protective barrier if Okan, I injected a large amount of Mana from the Light and Dark elements into my sword, the Eclipse on the blade glows so brightly that it looks like a white ring coming out of the blade to rotate around it when I point it forward. Soon that luminous ring exploded in a tidal wave of darkness expelling all light from the surroundings, I used my Authority to expand the effect. So I created an area where their light attacks were shattered, letting everyone leave the barrier safely, while the enemies fell into momentary chaos, but when they used the Holy power to resist what I did, it was already too late. I smiled when I saw the Golems already starting to attack the enemy troops before they noticed their presence. My other brothers were already carrying out their own attacks against the Divine level enemies while I was surrounded by 6 Divine Beasts already attacking. "Die!!" "You''re going to need more than that!" (I) I advanced, dodging a beam of light, using my sword to parry the claws of a Lion of Light before forcing it into the path of a sword of light that shattered before reaching its body. A white flame hits one of my wings, leaving a large burn that I use Holy Power to resist while I launch the Lion of Light towards a Holy Phoenix, at that moment a punch hits the side of my body while my sword moves, striking backwards through the stomach of the luminous Golem behind me. Starfire rose from my sword, invading his body from the inside, but I couldn''t finish him as I pushed with my wings to move away from the following attacks, that''s when I saw two Celestines in golden armor coming towards me in a coordinated attack. It was at that moment that I saw one of the two approaching the other, then when the two moved their swords in attack, one of them penetrated the other''s neck with the sword from which countless strange hands appeared, tearing the armor and body. Celestino''s appearance then changed or perhaps I should say his body was devoured from the inside out, several strips of red cloth swam like worms tearing his body apart, absorbing his blood while pieces of flesh and bones as well as organs were sucked into his mouth that opened in his chest. Soon there was nothing left of Celestino other than his sword, even his armor was devoured and this happened in seconds, all that was left was a pale, black-haired woman dressed in white clothes with red bands on her arms, her face expressionless while her eyes looked pits of absolute emptiness. Strangely her actions seemed childish as she waved both her arms towards me. "Hinata!?" (I) "< Sacred Breath of the Eclipse >" (I) Without wasting time on my momentary surprise, I gather my Holy Power in my throat before releasing a concentrated power at the damn Phoenix that tried to take me by surprise while also pushing away the others trying to attack me. At that time Hinata approached me while chewing on her victim''s sword still in her hands as if it were a snack. "Help...?" (Hinata) "I really appreciate it..." (I) "< Anomalous Summon: Universal Serpent >" (Hinata) Suddenly a smile spread across her expressionless face, a smile abnormally large for her head and full of sharp teeth as she uttered words that sent shivers down my spine. It was then that the space around us moved in a strange way, I had never seen this technique before, but it was enough to scare me as well as the 6 enemies who became alert. Chapter 1496: Cap 1494: Santa Alice appears I was watching the fight and I couldn''t help but be impressed by Nicole''s Golems, they are the embodiment of every General''s dream when it comes to a weapon of war, each blow destroys all defenses with brute force while their own defenses they can withstand almost any attack, they use the blood of those they killed, stealing the remains of Vitality to regenerate their broken parts, their long-range spells are limited in variety, having only 2 or 3 of each element, but they can use hundreds at the same time, creating a field of devastation wherever you go. The others are also doing well in combat, I saw Hinata appear and Magnus is savage in combat, he doesn''t fear getting hurt and likes to fight up close, really inspiring. "Lilith, how is the Sword of Chaos?" (I) "Complete, I used it a few times since you were sleeping, it''s amazing." (Lilith) "Then why aren''t you fighting with the others and come back here?" (I) "Because of that grumpy sword." (Lilith) Lilith withdraws a sword emanating an enormous amount of malice, miasma, curse and Demonic power, I can even feel traces of the Power of Chaos, mere impure fragments of the power I possess. "Look what you did to me..." (Lilith) Lilith, without worrying about anything, removes the entire top part of her clothes, but my eyes are drawn to the side of her body, part of her chest and her entire arm. "(Demonic Corruption... a living curse...)" (I) I thought about Hades, he was also born from a curse I created, but this was different, Hades built a Soul of his own, this thing is an empty shell. "(I see, he is using the remains of Soul and consciousness from the sacrifices to direct all this resentment against the sword wielder.)" (I) "A true Cursed Weapon." (I) "It shouldn''t hinder your combat power." (I) "No, but it gets in the way while I use the sword and I sometimes hear it in my head, it''s kind of annoying." (Lilith) "(If it were anyone else, this curse would have turned someone into a Demon and those voices would have driven someone crazy, luck I left with Lilith who is already completely Demonic and crazy.)" (I) "I also have something to ask for, but it can wait." (Lilith) "Let me figure it out." (I) I just tap her shoulder and use my Aura to corrupt this curse, as a God it was as simple as pinching her shoulder and pulling, her skin was tearing together as I removed all the contamination before her regeneration made new skin grow, so I throw it aside where it burns until there is nothing left. Then I touch the sword leaving a red Rune, then the sword lifts and returns to Lilith being delivered by my Aura. "I can refine this sword more later, but for now you can use it without any problems." (I) "You don''t need to say it twice... hahahaha..." (Lilith) "..." (I) She simply took the sword and ran towards the wall where a new Dark Dragon head came out, opening its mouth to create a new spatial rift through which Lilith came out and joined the battle. "She also brought her problems..." (I) Sigh "You didn''t bring any trouble either, did you?" (I) "No, I exist to solve your problems, doing something like what they did would be a sign of incompetence." (Alice) Alice came out of the space where she was hiding, she arrived before the others and stayed hidden, she wanted to see what the others were going to say to me and she seemed more irritated than me with everything that happened. She also took this time to adapt to the power flowing from me to her, I had to renew our connection now that I am a God. "How it feels?" (I) "Ready to spill some luminous blood." (Alice) "Feel free." (I) I exchanged a smile with her before turning to see her enter the same place Lilith passed, then I turn to the images of the battle once again. "Let''s see how a Saint uses the Power of a God." (I) ------------------ Pov Hela''s: "< Sacred Claws of the Eclipse >" (I) "< Breath of Death >" (Hellyos) In front of me there was something that looked like a person, its body was completely made of metal, its hair was strands of luminous energy that constantly changed color like a rainbow, on its face there are only luminous eyes, its height being almost 3 meters with luminous marks forming lines throughout its structure. If it weren''t for his way of speaking and his Aura revealing that he possesses a Soul as well as Divine Power, I would think he was a type of Golem. His body was immune to poison and also curses, his power seems to be purely physical, the problem is his speed, until now he couldn''t hit anything on this bastard. My claws form a dark Aura full of luminous points in the shape of claws 5 times larger and highly compacted, every time I swing my claws I feel the energy of space open its way making my attacks even faster. But the enemy still managed to dodge, his arms became blades that attacked after each dodge and that''s what I expected, I let him land a blow that pierced my stomach, then I grabbed his arm while my tail wrapped around his waist. He tried to hit me again, but that was when my Familiar made his move, being close to him he let out his breath that hit half of his body. "< Holy Body of Light >" His body began to glow brightly within the darkness of Hellyos'' breath attack, then his other arm became a hand that punched Hellyos in the jaw, forcing him to stop his attack. But I wouldn''t do nothing, especially seeing its half-corroded metallic body with its light rapidly fading. "< Holy Curse: Stigma of Demonic Sacrifice > 3" (I) "You think you can contaminate perfection!!" I didn''t try to argue with him, the technique I was using was already my last option, I am not suitable to fight against the Church of Light when we are at the same level of strength and this becomes more evident when there is a difference in strength where I am weaker, if it weren''t for my Father''s Sacred Power, I would have already lost. One of my claws was holding his arm, the other was on his neck and the sting of my tail was on his spine, my curse was trying to mark these 3 points, but it was not succeeding, which was expected since he is using Divine Power, so I connected the 3 curses trying to form a single Demonic Sacrifice Stigma, its power would be multiplied by 3. The symbol was trying to form on his chest, but his Light emanating from his body burned the Stigma almost as soon as it was forming, making it difficult for me to get it and when he finally managed to let go of me. "< Divine Blood Strengthening: Blood Star Heaven >" (Alice) A Divine Aura suddenly spread, the blood within my body boils as all my Holy Power seems to burn becoming something different, the presence of mine seems to embrace my Soul as a feeling of boundless power takes over my mind. I force myself not to let my mind wander and with my connection to my Familiar, I transfer instructions making him move behind the enemy giving a blow that throws him back towards me. I use this moment to insert this power within me into the Curse that had not even managed to form, now it shines brightly with a power that not only completely forms the Stigma, but also stains its metallic body as if it were corroding rust. "How do you dare!!" "Hellyos!" (I) "< Hell''s Gate: Divine Sacrifice >" (me/Hellyos) My power and Hellyos''s are quickly consumed as space shatters behind the enemy, a gate made of bones, chains and gore appears, whispering voices seem to reach our Souls, the gates open revealing only streams of pure darkness making it impossible see beyond until tentacles of darkness appear so quickly that they are barely visible, wrapping themselves around the enemy. "No! NO! SIR BALDR!!!" I move away, releasing him, Hellyos pulling me back as the enemy was dragged with no chance of resisting, the light on his body goes out as his entire metallic body seems to melt as if rotting, revealing bones covered in Runes before sinking into darkness. Then two pairs of eyes appeared as if the darkness itself opened these eyes, a dark silver metal sphere comes out of the darkness with markings that look like bone decoration and chains. "Give this to Zenos, tell him she will be born today." A female voice that made my Soul tremble and Hellyos become paralyzed came out of the darkness before the eyes closed, the gate then closed before sinking into space, only the metallic sphere remained in place and I didn''t dare touch it. "Where did that gate lead?" (Alice) "Hell." (I) "So there''s no doubt, this was Callidora..." (Alice) Alice appeared at my side, her Aura emanating Divine power that spread to the surroundings, her eyes glowing pure red as she picks up the metal sphere taking it away. I exchange a look with Hellyos and look around, deciding not to look at what just happened. In the surroundings, all my brothers emanated the same power that strengthened me, the appearance of Alice granted a link with the power of our Father through our lineage. "So that was Divine Power..." (I) Chapter 1497: Cap 1495: Shitty relatives Pov Athens: I couldn''t believe my luck, the one in front of me had to be him!? In front of me was a Celestino, his 4 pairs of pure white wings stood out against his slightly brown skin and in the dark of space, his golden hair radiated an irritating light while his beautiful blue eyes seemed to reflect the sky of a spring day. He appears to be only around 30 years old, but I know his real age was over 200 years old, he was one of the last Warriors acclaimed to have touched the Divine becoming Demigod, the Ancient Inquisitor and Priest called the Twin Swords of Light. He doesn''t wear armor, his light pure white clothes bring elegance to him, in his hands two thin, straight swords with a blade on only one side, just like me. Around us it was possible to see the troops trying to face Nicole''s Golems, I could also feel the explosions of power from my companions fighting, but I didn''t dare to look away or lower my guard. He looked at me with disgust and in his eyes I could see a repulsion so great that it wouldn''t be surprising if my appearance reflected in his eyes was something disgusting like rotting bodies or one of Lilith''s victims. "Just looking at you turns my stomach." (Salen) "Happy to see me for the first time, grandfather?" (I) "..." (Salen) His gaze became even uglier as only cruelty was seen reflected in his eyes, it was easy to see that he was imagining thousands of ways to torment me. His aura was exploding full of murderous intent trying to crush my body just by his presence. I never met this man personally, but he was my grandfather on my mother''s side, my sister and I grew up hearing his name spoken with great pride by my parents, my mother said prayers to him almost as much as she did to Baldr. The reason I learned how to use two swords focused on speed since I was little was because of the respect and admiration I felt for him after hearing his great feats. My sister also chose to join the Inquisitors because of her stories rather than join the Templars like our Father. But this supposed grandfather never cared about the family, he never came back to see my mother, as far as I know, my grandmother died and she never saw him again, even at her funeral ceremony he didn''t show up and this happened before I was born. He never even sent a message back and everyone still adored him, that unfortunately included me until Loki made me open my eyes to the disgusting truth about the Church of Light. At that time I only thought more about my sister and how to escape, for a long time I just reflected on the Church of Light and all its teachings as well as its history that I studied my whole life, it was only after becoming a Hero of Zenos that I started thinking about this disgusting grandfather and going over everything I heard about him with a completely different vision without being blinded by childish idolatry. "You are exactly what I expected, an idiot full of arrogance and a sense of superiority." (I) "Shut up, waste!" (Salen) "< Flow of Solar Blades >" (Salen) "< Sacred Eclipse Slash >" (I) He was easily provoked, going on the attack at the first sign of disgust, he knew who I was and I''m sure that all this disgust, repulsion and anger comes from knowing that I was born as his descendant, this just made a big mocking smile open in front of my eyes. He attacked me with his swords, his speed was great to the point that I could only follow his afterimages and not his real body, but that didn''t matter, I know his fighting style and its variations, I studied it in detail almost my entire life and my mother talked about how proud he was of having created this style of combat. Their two swords flashed and the white light condensed into white flames, each swing of their swords towards me recreated blades of extremely luminous white fire that interlocked in a very specific rhythm like a constant stream of targeted attacks. This attack was much stronger than anything I studied, but the fundamentals of the movements were the same as the directions he was taking, this made it possible to predict his next movements making it unnecessary to follow his speed. I waited for the exact moment and when the flow of attacks reached me, I let the first attack hit me knowing it was the weakest, it caused a light cut on my body and destroyed my armor, but I ignored it as I dodged the second attack and attacked on the left flank, ignoring subsequent attacks. The place I attacked was where my ''kind'' grandfather had the kindness to appear to carry out an attack that would have killed me if I hadn''t known, but before he took the exact position, my swords fill with Holy Power, a sword shines in a purple light while the other shines in a silver light, the two swords perform an X attack. My attack hit his unprotected chest cutting off one of his wings which he still managed to move in time, he was pushed back with slightly golden blood coming out while marble white bones were visible. As he was pushed back, I took advantage of this opening by getting out of the way of the subsequent attacks that were still coming my way, his hateful gaze showed no pain, only anger at having received such a heavy attack, Starfire burning in his eyes due. "You contaminated my techniques!?" (Salen) "I just improved them to suit me." (I) "How dare that girl bring such a disgusting creature to life!?" (Salen) "In the same way that someone as ridiculous and shallow as you became a Demigod, things just happen." (I) "You damn Heretic! I thank Baldr for allowing me to cleanse this stain from my lineage..." (Salen) "..." (I) Suddenly his speech was interrupted, a power I know very well hits me with Alice''s supporting presence, the stars around us glow red as the Blessing of Zenos within me explodes in Power. All my senses and my body become stronger as the Holy Power within me gains traces of Blood Transmutation Essence, I have sometimes felt something similar on a smaller scale and I knew that Alice was present making my smile deepen as I looked at this my idiot relative. "(I''m going to really like this.)" (I) With this increase in momentum and power, my wings flap as I advance towards my grandfather, my speed now much greater than before while my light chest pain from before quickly healed without leaving any marks behind. Of course he wouldn''t be stunned seeing me advance, I felt his Aura increase as some type of Essence emerged from within him, among the things I studied I never saw references to Essences or the type of power he acquired after becoming a Demigod, so I didn''t know what to expect and the same went for him as he doesn''t know the power I possess. My swords and his collide hundreds of times in mere seconds, our speeds are almost completely equal with him just a little faster, which put me at a disadvantage as he also had more combat experience than him, but the wound in his chest weakened due to the still burning Starfire opening the wound wider and deeper. "< Holy Sword Blood Wave >" (I) "< Day-Splitting Saint Blade >" (Selen) My two swords make a horizontal movement in different directions meeting in the middle leaving a red cut behind that advances forward rising like a wave that soon becomes a tsunami in less than a second as if a creature suddenly opened a large red mouth. But he would not receive this attack, as I expected, he fearlessly advanced using a sword to cut my attack with one of his swords going through already moving the second sword for an attack aimed at me. "< Holy Vampiric Blade >" (I) "< Sword of the Saint of Light >" (Salen) He didn''t expect me to have moved along with the wave of blood and when he crossed the middle, I was already swinging one of my swords towards him, but he used his second sword much faster than I expected, managing to block my sword with his own and using that strength to move away before I could use my other sword to make an attack. His speed really was surprising, but I smiled when a sword went through his back to his front releasing a very strong cursed energy, without wasting time I threw my sword at his head which began to burn with Starfire. The cursed sword cuts to the side and appears to tear his Soul from within his body with Ghost hands pulling into the sword while the body''s stomach was taken over by Starfire. "Thank you for your help." (I) "No problem, I was waiting for an opportunity, he was very aware of his surroundings." (Lilith) "Yes, but now I don''t have to worry about him anymore." (I) "(Goodbye, shitty grandfather.)" (I) Chapter 1498: Cap 1496: Finally appeared Pov Nicole''s: The information the Golems give me is really bad, the troops around us are what I thought for the most part with only a few real Templars around. "(I''m going to get some samples to show Father.)" (I) "The barrier with Tarzor is still there, but it doesn''t look like he''s trying to escape." (I) "(That Anomalous creature won''t intervene, he can''t.)" (Samara) "What do you mean by that?" (I) I don''t look away from the screens around me, I needed to control several Golems carrying out thousands of attacks per minute and also collect a large amount of information, not to mention monitoring the situation of my brothers and sisters, I couldn''t afford to be distracted only with Samara. My senses flipped over the body with almost no vital signs behind me, but the presence is different from normal, its Aura is empty, its Soul is not here. "Where is your Soul?" (I) "(In my real body, Zenos took care of this for me, I''m just controlling this body I was using from a distance, I can''t even speak properly, but I can still communicate like this and see this facade they call battle.)" (Samara) "What do you mean?" (I) "(Firstly, the creature you call Tarzor cannot attack the Gods, he can push them out and even suppress them, but he cannot attack them.)" (Samara) "(This would make the universe his enemy who would try to repel him out, the Gods carry the Divinity that represents the foundations of the universe, Tarzor is a guest and was clearly tied up with some conditions to stay here for so long.)" (Samara) "What about the facade?" (I) "(That''s simple, do you think this level of strength makes sense in a place full of Divine level enemies?)" (Samira) "(They''re not attacking the outside, they''re invading the inside.)" (Samira) ------------------- Pov Hades: "How''s Star Path?" (I) "Sure, but it was hard work... I used up a lot of my power and I still needed Cinthia''s help." (Zaya) "Are you sure about Master Zenos'' orders?" (Fiona) "Great Zenos'' orders are absolute." (Kiara) "He knows more than us about this, now we need..." (I) "..." (all) "It started... hahahahaha..." (Haku) The killing intent of each of us grew more and more, this was because a crack formed in the space between the star flowers. A tyrannical and overbearing energy emanating full of light emerged from this crack as currents forced the expansion of the crack which became a fissure filled with light. I smiled as I looked at this, then 9 silhouettes emerged from the Light, each of them emanating a Divine Aura, each of them with hostility marking their presence while 2 were further ahead. One of the silhouettes at the front was holding the chains that opened the crack while the second silhouette at the front was emanating light, the same light that took up the entire space within the crack. As soon as they left, before anything else could happen, their presence exploded as if they wanted to claim this place, but I just smiled. "Since you came all the way, then you can stay forever!" (Zenos) "You come with me!" (Zenos) "We fell into a trap!" "The one with the chain is mine!" (I) "Kill them all!!!" (Kiara) "Hahahahahaha..." (Xagar) As soon as they passed through the crack, it was suddenly crushed shutting instantly behind them if two large palms had closed with the crack in the middle, not leaving even the smallest crack behind. At the same time, one of the star flowers closest to them turned into a Dragon head that swallowed the one emitting light before entering space as if crossing a lake. Zenos'' presence crushing the Auras that dared to expand too far from their bodies. Meanwhile, we were all already moving, I advanced shouting for none of them to steal my enemy, it was easy to guess that the one with the chains and the other one emitting light are the ones responsible for the invasion that master Zenos noticed, if he is going to take care of the one in the light, then I must at least end the chain idiot in his name. They were taken by surprise with the path instantly closing after passing through, with their presence suppressed, with one of them being taken away and still receiving our joint attack. Even for Gods it was still difficult to adapt to so many changes at the same time, but not impossible and each of them lived longer than all of us, none of our first attacks hit them although achieving our objective by separating everyone in different directions with only me not attacking and choosing to stop in front of the enemy leaving just the two of us here. "You know, I never thought the Temple of Law was so contradictory." (I) "From the looks of it, Zenos has woken up, looks like we were right." "..." (I) He seems calm, that worries me, I expected a little panic, maybe a little anger or at least some degree of anxiety, but all this calm, right, made me think a little more deeply. "(They came prepared just like he said.)" (I) I smiled, that''s because Master Zenos told me not to let my guard down and insinuated that not everything is what it seems, I only now realized what he meant, he knew about their plans or maybe he noticed something that I wasn''t able to see. "You know, before I rub your face against the moon and melt those useless pieces of chains into a star, I''d really like to know why the Temple of Law is so supportive of Baldr?" (I) "Because among all the Gods, he is the only one besides the great God of Law who seeks true peace." "You all just...ghuh!! AHHHH!" "I can''t believe that worked? Are you an idiot?" (I) As he spoke, still watching me and focused on me, one of the star flowers behind him opened and a sword in the shape of a Dragon''s tooth went through his chest just below where the heart should be, even though he was caught in this sneak attack he still managed to avoid it a more serious blow. "Bastard! Using sneak attacks!!" "You have invaded this place that is under the complete authority of Zenos!" (I) "Do you really think I care if you''re from the Temple of Law or the Church of Light!?" (I) "The only thing that matters now is seeing your body squeezed to pulp between my teeth and your Godhead broken into fragments!" (I) "All of you! It''s these treacherous things that break the rules of the universe!!!" As he screamed, 2 chains out of the 6 he has wrapped around his chest which was already starting to burn with Starfire, I felt the Divine level energy in the chains suppressing the Starfire as he seemed to recover a little from the injury. "< Divine Claws of Chaos >" (I) "< Chains of Divine Imprisonment >" My claws advance towards the enemy who appears to be a Minor God, his appearance is basically that of a Human man, his chains shine with a silver light as they not only stopped my strike but also advanced towards me in attack. I transform into a Dragon as I continue moving forward, my teeth grip one of the chains and realizing it couldn''t break, I forcefully pulled the enemy towards me, the Dragon tooth sword grows bigger and bigger flying in my hands. "< Blade of the Cursed Sun >" (I) "< Sanctified Chain >" ----------------- Pov Zenos: I look at the idiot in front of me, I was in the Star Palace looking at the Minor God who escapes from the Shadow Dragon who explodes in a burst of blinding light. He was a Human in appearance with wings of condensed light on his back, his eyes looked like two Suns burning in anger staring at me and his hair looked like strands of gold shining as if attracting the light from the surroundings. His clothes were finely decorated in white and gold, looking like a Priest with a large golden book tied to his waist. He looked at me angrily, but I could see the malice hidden deep inside, I just smiled as he acted in anger at first, talking like an enraged madman. "Enough of all this, you''re just an idiot, tell your boss to leave now and save some of my time with these games." (I) "So you noticed..." When I spoke his poor performance ended and he acted calmly once again, I really didn''t expect that Gods could act so disgracefully like this. He just calmly opened his book and a ray of light came out, a creature made of golden light appeared, he looked like a silhouette of light with 6 pairs of wings of condensed light, on his head there were 4 pairs of eyes on the top, below and on both sides. He looked like a Light Elemental of the highest level and a ring of golden flames shone behind him, he had no mouth, ears, nose, hair and by the way, he didn''t even have legs. Instead of legs, he seemed to float on top of a golden sphere of fire with his two large arms crossed over his chest, his presence was that of a Minor God, but incredibly powerful. "I am Solary, God of the Sun!" (Solary) "Finally appeared..." (I) Chapter 1499: Cap 1497: Finally... freedom! Pov Xagar: In the attack I was momentarily divided on who to choose, in a battle like this I didn''t want to ruin everything by choosing a clearly stronger opponent when I had just reached that level of strength. Fiona was the same way, but soon I felt a very familiar presence among that group of Deities, a murderous intent welled up inside me, anger ignited like a fire as my lips spread into a smile. A sword materialized in my hands when I attacked the source of this power, it was no surprise when a sword collided with mine in defense causing my energy sword to crack in the first clash. Even so, I achieved my goal by using the momentum of the attack to drag this enemy away from the others. But suddenly I feel the danger behind my back, I didn''t need to think as my body moves with instinct, my body turned as it ducked, letting me see the Sword that was already passing by where I was. I had to stop my attack, then next came the enemy''s attack, besides the sword that stopped midway before descending towards me in a straight line, another sword came sweeping in from the side. "< Light Repelling Blade >" (I) Even though I was in a difficult situation, the murderous intent grew as my smile widened, with my claws catching the blades of the two swords with the tips of my claws before attacking the enemy who moved away, defending with the sword in his hands once more turn. "I didn''t expect such a good opportunity to present itself to me so soon... Hahahahaahahaa..." (I) "Tear of Light, I cannot express my gratitude for delivering yourself to my doorstep... hahahahahhaa..." (I) "I know who you are." (Tear of Light) "He who fell from the only path and became lost in its darkness." (Tear of Light) "You truly speak as you do in the teachings, you speak as if every word that comes out is the only truth and you are always right from the moment your voice is heard." (I) "I''m going to love every second of it." (I) "< Divine Invocation: Horn of the Apocalypse >" (I) I stretched out my hand and flows of Demonic energy rose up, sinking the space as if opening a well from which the hilt of a sword appeared, falling into my hands before I withdrew it. I raise my eyes to the enemy, joy mixing with murderous intent, the one in front of me looked like someone wearing ancient Templar armor with the marks of countless battles and a sword in his hand that looks new. But I didn''t look at the armor for even a second, because my target was always the sword, the Divine Weapon wielded by multiple Heroes and acclaimed for thousands of years as a symbol of the God Baldr. The Sword whose symbol is carried on the body of every Templar, the sword honored before and after each battle, the sword whose name is always present every time a Templar stains his weapons with blood. The Divine Sword named ''Tear of Light''. I let my body transform into part Dragon while the Sword in my hand emits a strong Demonic Aura and the presence of the Divine Beast, Ragnar. --------------- Pov Kiara: I was euphoric, every day since I woke up with this power has been heaven, I feel the presence of Great Zenos with me every second of my existence, I feel his power within me with great honor as I carry out his will with joy. Seeing so many enemies dare to invade this sacred place was more than I could bear, especially when Great Zenos just woke up, I couldn''t tolerate these plagues in this sacred place. When I moved in attack, my fury was only contained by my joy of being useful to Great Zenos, with the movement of my hands a cloud of tiny insects gathers and with them I send two of the enemies flying backwards with the insects distorting the own space. I didn''t want to cause damage, I just didn''t want the other battles to get in the way of what I''m about to accomplish, so when I appeared in front of the 2 enemies I didn''t pay attention to anything else, talking to them was just a waste of time. I didn''t even bother to look at them much beyond tactical combat analysis, their appearances don''t matter as long as they are enemies only death matters. "< Divine Summon: Hero of the Swarm >" (I) "< Divine Invocation: Holy Butchers >" (I) My Aura in this place was limitless, Zenos'' power complementing me while suppressing the fools who dared invade this place. My Aura becomes strands of Divine Power that connect with my summons, this makes them the same as my arms and legs as we advance against the enemies who were also carrying out their attacks. "< Art of Purification: Extinction of Heresy >" "< Divine Fist of Light >" "Hahaahahahahaha...." (I) ------------------ Pov Zenos: "I am Solary, God of the Sun!" (Solary) "It finally appeared..." (I) Seeing that colossus of Light and sending so much pressure was really surprising, its size, presence and appearance are incredible I must admit, but I still didn''t like the tone of its voice when it spoke. He really was big, but what caught my attention was feeling a familiar power inside him, the Power of Baldr, it was intertwined with him as if part of his body, this is different from a Divine Beast or Subordinate God. I only needed a second to understand what was happening as I had done something similar in the past when I created Hades, this creature is the same as Hades who was created solely by me, but while I did all this by accident and maybe a little of insanity. But looking at Solary''s sculpted appearance, it was easy to see that he was sculpted to look like this and as a creation of Baldr, he must be seeing all of this too, which made me emotional. "(I''ll let you see what I do with your subordinates.)" (I) I couldn''t help but smile, Baldr was really trying to deceive me from the beginning and even though I was too cautious I still almost missed his plans. The attack from outside was an obvious distraction while the invasion on my Star Path was the real distraction to force my hand, he even left 1 single Minor God with a Divine Weapon in hand to be sure of the target who would make my move. Wanting to surprise myself at the end with another even stronger Minor God doing a 2 on 1 fight while there was still a Divine Weapon as well as part of Baldr''s power. "(Baldr, you really want to kill me...)" (I) "I''m happy to welcome you both here, I hope you enjoy your stay." (I) "You feel contaminated by the Evil power, my lord was right about the decision to eliminate you." (Solary) "Let''s not waste time, we still have a war to fight." (God with the book) "Don''t be in a hurry, since you''re here, so... STAY!!" (I) The Dungeon became this space by merging with a Divine Realm that I created unconsciously, but this place where the Star Palace was at the center, my power here permeated every millimeter of reality and there was the ''Seed'' still behind me, but it was something that couldn''t leave here and only I could influence how I''m doing now. Using my Will, space closed, the Dark Dragons became black spheres just floating as all the stars connected forming a barrier the size of half a Star System, the Anomalous power accomplishing this feat through the ''Seed'' as it still I do not master this power to use directly. "Don''t underestimate him, put him down!" (Solary) "< Solar Breath >" (Solary) "< Divine Light Magic: Blessing of the Dawn >" (God with the book) The attack of the two was truly synchronized, the Sun God put both palms together before turning towards me, it was as if the light from his body was distorting as it gathered there before becoming a torrent of white and golden flames coming at me direction at the same time that the God with the Divine Weapon in hand uses the book, causing Divine energy to emerge, strengthening Solary''s attack while its brightness increases much more. I didn''t dare to receive this blow head on, sinking into one of the shadowy spheres I appeared at another point, his attack hit the ''Seed'' and nothing happened as expected, they noticed the strangeness, but with me appearing on another side they didn''t dare open up, but I wouldn''t play according to their game. "You are too confident..." (I) "Come quickly, SAMARA!" (I) Crack!! The ''Seed'' that didn''t react to the combined attack of 2 Minor Gods trembled pitifully once as the sound of something breaking was heard. It wasn''t the ''Seed'' breaking but something that was inside it, as a column of Star Energy rose up with chains surrounding the column as if trying to contain what was inside, I felt my approval was needed and I allowed it. Crack! Crack!!! Once again the sound of something breaking was heard as the chains tighten the column of stellar energy breaking it like fragile crystal and exploding into many pieces, the chains and fragments of the column of stellar energy are sucked into a single burning point in Starfire with two eyes opening inside before a voice resounds. "Finally... freedom!" (Samara) Chapter 1500: Cap 1498: A blind ideal Pov Xagar: The Demonic sword in my hand seems to have enraged the ''Tear of Light'', I could feel his fury, but it wasn''t directed at me in any way and I just decided to ignore him. I advanced with sword in hand, the Divine power of the Apocalypse coursing through my body granting explosive loss, boundless strength and vigor as well as an increasingly strong killing intent permeating my entire Aura. "Hahahaha hahahahahahaha..." (I) "..." (Tear of Light) The joy of facing the greatest symbol of the Templars in this way so soon fills me with endless joy. I attack with my sword and he receives it by throwing my sword to the side with his sword body before moving forward trying to stab with the sword, I flap my wings as I increase my speed forward slamming the hilt of my sword into the Tear of Light that does not move from the direction it was going. With the hilt of my sword still resting on the Tear of Light''s blade, I raise my body not in a kick against the armor, but rather by kneeing the hilt of the Tear of Light which only trembles slightly before a wave of light throws me back. "Come with everything, destroying you like this won''t be fun!!!" (I) "..." (Tear of Light) With that a sequence of blows began where neither side was able to hit the other, the Templars of Light are the elite of the Warriors of the Church of Light and I stood out among them, with fervor I studied almost all styles of combat with a sword , so I knew Tear of Light''s moves having a slight advantage that almost cancels out the overwhelming difference in combat experience. "Handling such a tainted sword against me... how you fell, Xagar..." (Tear of Light) "Don''t talk like you know me!!" (I) "But I know, I know every Templar who has ever wielded a sword, I''ve seen you training, I''ve seen you healing, I''ve seen you fighting, I''ve seen you at your happiest..." (Tear of Light) "SHUT UP!!!!" (I) This time my Authority is concentrated on the blade of the sword, the Demonic Power condenses to the point of almost becoming physical around my sword, my fury running through my heart while my mind remains calm without being affected, in combat the mind must always be calm. He started to summon or create swords once again, but this time they are swords that I used in the past, the sword that broke in my first battle, the wooden sword that I used to train, the sword that I received as a reward, and so on against. These swords attacked me from all directions, but it was easy to see that he wanted to disturb me with this, which wouldn''t work on me, I won''t be moved by these memories of the past, only my fury that increases to greater heights. The images of a young man who killed without thinking just because of differences in race, I remember how I was praised in the attack against a group of Demons, I can''t say how many of those I killed could be considered innocent because I didn''t even try to record their faces. Such superficial teachings and such extremist views should not exist, distorting the world around you to fit your beliefs was my mistake and this Divine Sword is a symbol of that. "< Breath of the Demonic Apocalypse >" (I) "< A Cut of Light >" (Tear of Light) Booomm!! With an advance I push away 5 swords around me using my wings, arm and kicking with one of my legs while my sword collides with the Tear of Light. It was in that short distance that I opened my jaws releasing the energy I was building up but before I could fully release my attack, the Tear of Light let my sword cut through his armor as his blade filled with light slashing upwards, which split my jaw into two causing an explosion that sent us both flying in opposite directions. "Is all this because of that Elf?" (Tear of Light) "..." (I) "!!!" (I) Fury filled my body, I knew he had seen what every sword-wielding Templar experienced, I knew he saw the moment I was on the brink of death, how I was taken by someone who should see me as an enemy and yet treated with kindness while healing me, he must also have seen from the other Templars'' point of view how she died and also my pain. But to dare to pronounce it as if it were wrong to feel this way about her and act as if I had committed a mortal sin? Every drop of blood in my body boiled, every trace of energy was released as even Divine Power rose to its maximum as my body completely transformed into that of a Demon Dragon. The Demon Sword that I was holding breaks, becoming energy that circulates my body to the top of my head, becoming more of a blade-shaped horn. Rrrooaaarrr!!!! There was no need for words, caution or thought, I used my fury as a weapon, charged forward with my body without any fear and felt the star space around me resonate with me as each crystal flower released Demonic power. "< Tear of the Last Templar >" (Tear of Light) For the first time I heard his voice urgently, without the feeling of pity and regret as if he was looking at something pitiful, he raised all his power and the armor that had been half destroyed by my previous attack, showing it to be empty as I thought it would be, falls apart leaving only the Sword that grows until it is kilometers long with patterns of light intertwining on its blade forming a drop that runs down the blade as it swings down towards me. And I advanced forward and smiled, I was enraged, but not crazy, my mind was still calm enough to use my fury as a weapon, with my act which was true, I forced him to attack without caution too and when he passed between the Flowers de Cristal was when I acted. "< Claws of Demonic Redemption >" (I) Each petal of the crystal flowers became arms of Demonic energy numbering in the thousands as they grabbed the Tear of Light, even if thousands of those arms were destroyed it didn''t matter as long as the speed and strength of that colossal sword decreased and I managed to reach it. "You are a disgrace to all Templars who risk their lives...!!" (Tear of Light) "< Demonic Eclipse Execution >" (I) The horn on my head shines brightly as it gathers Demonic power from the surroundings, my Divine Power also gathers from my entire body and all of this power gathers into one of my arms which bleeds with a large amount of power gathered as a sword forms like a Dragon claw that strikes the drop-shaped crystal that was near the Sword''s hilt. My power and his collide as I feel my bones cracking while the same happens with the crystal, an intense light comes out of the sword blade, undoing the arms that are holding it faster and faster as my scales begin to break and the cracks in the crystal begin to open up. "< Evil Purifying Light >" (Tear of Light) "< Divine Breath of the Apocalypse Dragon >" (I) Suddenly all the light that shone from the sword comes in waves to the crystal as if condensing there, but throwing caution to the wind I gather every last bit of power in my throat releasing a point-blank breath attack on the already half-broken crystal. BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!! Upon two large attacks the crystal breaks into pieces releasing a wave of Divine Power that explodes along with my attack with a light blinding my eyes. When I managed to open my eyes again, I was missing one of my arms and part of my torso, it was exactly the arm I used in the attack, there was nothing left of it as a golden light came out of my wound. My entire body was covered in injuries, my scales were cracked or completely broken, my bones were covered in cracks while my muscles had turned to mush, but I couldn''t let joy wash over me at the sight of a sword covered in cracks. "GHAA HAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAA!!!" (I) "An ideal blinded by less light, no matter how much good you think you are doing if it is covered in blood." (I) "You... you will... Baldr..." (Tear of Light) "Spare your words...cough! COUGH! COUGH!" (I) "I have plans for you." (I) I couldn''t help but cough out blood, my injuries were severe and would not heal with this Divine Power present, in fact I was feeling increasingly weak. I hold the sword by its half-broken hilt and begin to fly in one direction, a fun idea occurring in my mind. ------------------- Pov Zaya''s: "I really don''t know what to make of this." (I) In my hands I have two things, the first being a Soul trapped in a translucent metal cube and the other being a crystal star full of light, a Divinity that I snatched from my enemy. Then I look at my body, I still have some light stakes stuck in me, I can''t get those things out, but it doesn''t have much of an effect on me. "It seems I''ve chosen a very compatible enemy, unlike certain conceited idiots." (I) "I... I won..." (Kiara) "If you call this a victory..." (I) I look at Kiara, she was speaking from inside a cocoon where the pieces of her body were gathered together by her insects while two other red cocoons were oozing blood and emanating flashes of light intermittently. "I wanted to go help Zenos, but... never mind." (I) I tried to advance my hand through the space but I felt resistance, it seems like he has locked the space of the Star Palace, so I will take Kiara to tend to her injuries. Chapter 1501: Cap 1499: God of Light enraged part 1 Pov Hades: I dodge a chain that pierces one of my wings, but before it can wrap around my wing, I grab the chain and pull it out with great force. I was starting to get married, each blow takes a lot of energy and he doesn''t let himself get hit. "< Divine Magic: Punitive Seal of Law >" "< Sacred Fangs of Chaos >" (I) Our combat continues, he uses the chains once again, lighting up several Runes as he advances towards me. I move my power using the blood from my wounds to create a magic that transforms the very space around us. Teeth seem to form from space itself as they close in on the enemy, but he manages to get out of the way at the cost of a hand and his chains. Without wasting time I had already launched the sword in my hand that emanates energy creating an energy Dragon with its jaws open with the sword being just another one of its teeth. "< Word of the Law: Restriction >" "< Anomalous Breath >" (I) It was already the fifth time he used these words of law to restrict some of my movements, it doesn''t work the way it should based on his expression, but it still decreases the speed and precision of my attacks. I wasn''t going to sit around waiting this time, I already knew he would do it again, so when he used his technique, I was already releasing a wave of Starfire traveling all the way until it hit the back of my first attack that just made contact. It was like seeing a hammer collide with the price pushing forward through his barrier, which has a large bite in half of his torso causing blood to gush out as Dragon Tooth''s sword penetrates his heart. But this kind of damage wouldn''t affect someone of our level, if it was an ordinary sword, patterns similar to black scales form on his body from the wound and spread, but before he could worry about that my second attack was already hitting He didn''t move while his entire body was taken over by Anomalous energy in the form of Starfire. The Starfire in his body was literally alive as it tore chunks out of his body, even his chains were being corroded by the fire. At that moment I didn''t need to do anything else, that''s because I didn''t dare to get closer, I have no control over the Anomalous Power and I only dared to use a part of that power now, I''m not sure what will happen and that''s why I won''t get close not knowing if it will affect me. As I was looking at him, I saw his body distorting as it bubbled like water, his Divinity literally being expelled from his body as it was crushed into a bloody mass being chewed by the flames around him. I catch the Divinity before charging into the mass of art half wrapped in chains, even now he still uses his chains to defend himself. "Now let''s talk about his invasion..." (I) ------------------ Pov Zenos: "Finally free!" (Samara) The one that emerged would be none other than Samara, her hair was extremely short on one side while long straight purple hair fell to the other side, her toned body had stunning curves, but what caught attention about her appearance were her eyes of different colors and its two horns that twist upwards, even its ears are long with a somewhat square tip, differentiating those of the Elves. His outfit looked like a formal suit stuck to his body with his belly part and arms out while his coat away is made of black colored fur, his skin was fair while his eyes are like mine and on his forehead between the horns was the symbol of an Eclipse. Her presence was extremely abnormal, being pure murderous intent with boundless cruelty as if her presence alone was enough to torment anyone. She had a mouth full of sharp teeth in an unnaturally sadistic smile, but as soon as she saw me she knelt down in the middle of the space since there is no floor where we are, she stayed on her knees as her Aura emanated from her body interacting with my own Aura. "Thank you for freeing me, master." (Samara) "We can talk later..." (I) "..." (Samara) Suddenly thousands of solidified bars of light cross the space around me like spikes trying to pierce me and the same happens with Samara. I can distort the space around me by commanding that place and thus create a safe area for myself while Samara appears to dance between the light poles without being hit extremely easily. I watched as a luminous fist cut through space while coming at me, then I pointed at the book idiot already starting another of his support spells while commanding Samara. "Take care of that one and leave the big one to me!" (I) "It will be a pleasure." (Samara) Saying this her body catches fire disappearing without a trace meanwhile I was close to using all my power when I stopped for 1 second. In that second the fist of light hit me and I was thrown thousands of kilometers back, before stretching my wings, stopping, then I checked the state of my body, some fractures in the rib, a crack in the arm and a torn abdominal muscle as well as the dislocated jaw. "My body seems much more resistant..." (I) I let him hit me on purpose, I wanted to get a sense of my body''s defense and my instincts didn''t reveal a danger big enough to kill me in his attack, so I decided to try. "Now let''s look at the attack." (I) "< Chaos Anomalous Breath >" (I) "< Solar Divine Ray >" (Solary) BBBOOOOOAAMMMMM!!! From this face I was testing the Power of Chaos at the Divine level, this is just one of my Essences, but it was the first one I acquired and with which I am most familiar, not to mention that it has an Anomalous characteristic allowing me to test part of this power. A Dragon''s breath attack is something natural like walking, sleeping, eating or flying, the most powerful attack and yet just something natural easily performed by Dragons, yet it was strange to me now. Divine Power gathered in my throat and Starfire gushed out as it condensed to the point of almost becoming something like Star Magma, but the strange thing about my attack was not that, but rather the fact that the attack was alive. Rooaarrr!!! My breath attack took the form of a Dragon, the Anomalous energy within literally gave life to my attack, but not a Soul or a mind, it was like controlling a living being directly with my Will, the power of my attack not only increased, but it circulated inside it as if it were a living creature concentrating where my will wanted it. Meanwhile Solary''s attack came from a different place, it didn''t come from his hands like before, but from the sphere of fire below him that looked like a Sun. This Sun gathered Fire from his entire body as golden flames appeared, becoming golden light condensed into a ray that came towards me like a golden wall. Our attacks were about to collide, but that''s when I used my will to concentrate all the power of my attack on the tip of the Dragon''s horn and so the Dragon swam through the golden light until it went through all of Solary''s attack until it reached him with still half the power remaining. At that moment I changed the Dragon''s power from its horn to its teeth, so this Dragon went towards Solary trying to bite its head, but it puts its arm in front making the Dragon miss its target. As the Dragon''s teeth penetrated his arm, the Dragon''s body began to shrink as a layer of Stellar Energy spread like poison across his arm that seemed to rot with his arm distorting as it decreased in size. "AAAAHHHHHH!!!!" (Solary) "(I see, so this is Anomaly...)" (I) As if Solary''s scream wasn''t enough, the other God who carried the book came flying like a cannonball against Solary''s Sun, he was without his wings, arms and legs as well as one of his eyes, the fire of that one small Sun spread throughout his body without causing any apparent damage. Soon Samara appears next to me, her face had some cuts and her right hand was missing some fingers, but she was still holding a book held by chains emitting a power similar to that of hell, these same chains were around Samara''s arm. "I have fulfilled my mission and bring a gift for the master." (Samara) "We can talk about this later." (I) My eyes don''t linger long on her as I focus my attention again on Solary, but specifically on the Sun that he has for legs, because I felt a very large presence emerging inside him. Soon this presence appears, healing the lost limbs of the God who faced Samara, replacing them with limbs of crystallized light. This presence at the same time spread throughout Solary as the ring of light on his back opened a large golden eye that focused on me before a voice emerged causing the entire space to shake as Solary tore off her own arm. "ZENOS!!!!" (Baldr) "..." (I) "..." (Samara) This imposing and extremely authoritative presence was exactly the presence of the God of Light, Baldr. Chapter 1502: Cap 1500: God of Light enraged part 2 "ZENOS!!!!" (Baldr) "..." (I) "..." (Samara) This imposing and extremely authoritative presence was exactly the presence of the God of Light, Baldr. Just as one would expect from those worshipers by the Church of Light as the Supreme God, someone who was worshiped by Athena and Xagar their entire lives before they were forced to open their eyes by outsiders, someone who had cursed for centuries Vanessa who was on the way to becoming his Saint only because she refused parts of his teachings, forcing her to flee with such fervor from changing her race. From my first impressions of him to the moments I faced him in various situations, one thing was always present, his endless arrogance that turns into fury at the first sign of offense as if it were the greatest of sins. This fury has been directed at me indirectly many times, even now he is still not present here but rather using Solary as an intermediary of his Will. But as soon as his Will revealed itself, he screamed my name while his Aura tried to take over my Territory as if it had to belong to him simply because his Will was present. I smiled at his inability to accomplish such a feat, this Place was a Dungeon created by me in the beginning and where two of my Familiars built Temples of their own, a place where the first Temple in my name was erected, the place where I faced the Divine Ascension by merging a Divine Realm with this place creating a Permanent Divine Realm, this place cannot be taken from me. "..." (I) "(He really is strong!)" (I) I really was too proud, Baldr can''t really claim my space, but his presence can still destroy it. The light emanating from the eye on Solary''s back is making the space around it ripple like the waters of a lake, even the barrier closing this space was shaking as if it would be destroyed at any moment, only the ''Seed'' was showing no reactions. Even I was affected by his presence, making my heart beat stronger and a hint of anxiety arise, after all, this is one of the greatest Gods in the universe, even just a part of his Will was already a big problem for me. Then I glance at Solary and this other God who was defeated by Samara, both of them were apparently healed from their injuries, of course I say apparently because Solary is still injured by the Anomalous energy while the other God has not recovered his true limbs. "Samara, take care of your enemy and try not to use deception against me again." (I) "You''re not funny, how did you notice?" (Samara) As she spoke, she seemed to not care about Baldr or anything else, she swung her hand with the missing fingers and the bones simply popped out from within while the flesh, muscles and skin grew at a rapid pace, even the wounds on her faces disappeared and everything it happened in the blink of an eye. "Can I have his Soul?" (Samara) "Yes, but give me the entire Divinity." (I) "With pleasure." (Samara) Saying this she disappears once again and when I looked at the God who previously carried the book, he was dragged by chains that pulled him by the neck into a burning crevice, even the space-shaking presence of Baldr did not affect what it happened. This all happened very quickly and when Solary and Baldr realized their companion was missing, Baldr didn''t say anything else. "< Invocation of the Sun of the Beginning >" (Baldr/Solary) "I dont allow!" (I) I felt the Anomalous energy in the burning rift that Samara created thus realizing that the Anomalous Power can interfere with the Divine Power or at least Baldr''s Power, so even if I can''t handle the Anomalous Power correctly, I could still do something as simple as injecting it into the surrounding barrier. The flow of energy connecting all the stars vibrated as a bright rift was trying to form, but at that moment the flow of energy connecting the stars literally shifted the position of the stars creating a single massive constellation that looked like the image of a planet and its geography, we were on the inside of the planet. With this massive constellation formed as the new barrier I felt all of space strengthen as the glowing rift that Baldr was creating was destroyed, crushed by space closing in roughly. "How do you dare!!!??" (Baldr) "< Incarnation of Baldr >" (Solary) The rift being forced to close wasn''t the only effect, I noticed that Baldr''s golden eye within the ring of light behind Solary''s back was also flickering, as if Solary''s connection with Baldr would be severed at any moment. It was at that moment that Solary made his move without hesitation, I wouldn''t stand by and watch, just like I interfered with their Summon, I wouldn''t allow my enemies to take any kind of advantage, I''m not that stupid. "< Divine Eclipse Magic: Demon Star Rain >" (I) Using my Divine power as well as the power of Apocalypse originating from my Divinity, I shout a massive magic circle revealing a sky marked by countless stars that explode in black fire and purple light creating a devastating rain heading towards Solary. He seemed to take no action, but I felt an incredible Divine Power radiating from Baldr''s eye and coiling around his body. His own Aura and presence were changing and I could understand what they were doing. The Light that radiated from the Sun that worked with his legs, shone in an increasingly intense gold and its light seemed like a natural barrier spreading the rain of destruction that fell on him. Of course they did not defend themselves completely, the Sun was decreasing in size until it was only half of what it was at the beginning, even though its Golden Flames were intense, its quantity decreased a lot. I looked at Baldr and Solary once again, my attack was largely ineffective in terms of damage, but it helped expend their power at an important moment. When I looked at him I noticed a big change, Solary''s head opened into a circle where half of the circle made room for his chest while the other half became an arc connecting the two shoulders, his four eyes were on opposite ends of the circle while facing the center where a large golden eye was located, that was Baldr''s eye that was no longer blinking as if it would disappear. Solary''s arms and stomach were now wearing shining golden armor, his wings were now much more lifelike with the light forming literal feathers, his presence on the other hand changed so completely that it revealed what he had done, he gave up control of his body to Baldr and only acted as support, making the connection between them firmer, thus resisting the effects of my barrier''s interference. "You took over his body in such a domineering way, as expected of a tyrant." (I) "Shut up damn son of Selene!" (Baldr) "You''ve stood in my way many times and you''re lucky I''m not here in person or you would have turned this whole place into nothing!!" (Baldr) "I''m not going to waste my time with you..." (I) I couldn''t continue provoking him to buy time, his body emitted a large amount of light that condensed into spears on its own advancing towards me. "..." (I) I had to dodge the attacks that kept coming in quick succession like they were endless spears of light, clearly Baldr was playing with me to ease his anger, but I felt he was more testing my power before carrying out an attack, he was no fool at all attack without knowing the power of an enemy even though it is just a new God. "(I can''t keep testing my power, I have to take it seriously.)" (I) Even though he wasn''t the real Baldr here, just a part of his Will controlling Solary, he was still very powerful, putting great pressure on me, I had an instinctive feeling that if I didn''t take it seriously my life could really be at risk. With that in mind I let my power free without trying to hold back anymore, my body distorting in moments as I grew into my Dragon form for the first time since becoming a God. ----------------- Pov Samara: I was in a space created by me, a zone similar to what they call Territory in this universe, but inside it was just a castle of bodies where endless laments were heard, I built this place using souls and vital force of those I devoured until now, it is part of my Soul and before it was just something illusory that I could give shape to with the power of Hell, but thanks to the Anomalous Power I received I can do it with my own power now. "You know, I was really lucky to find such a kind master, so it really irritates me to have flies like you interrupting our time." (I) "He really is a disgusting freak to have someone so disgusting by his side!" "Don''t say that, he''s quite reasonable compared to that thing that forced me to serve for so long, I never thought that a little teasing that day would be so beneficial to me..." (I) "< Purification of Evil... >" "< Infernal Subjugation >" (I) Before his power could even take shape, a chain coiled like a hammer hitting him, the gathered power dispersing as the light forming his arms caught fire. "Let''s not be in a hurry, I have many things to entertain us during this time." (I) Chapter 1503: Cap 1501: God of Light enraged part 3 I felt a great euphoria rise within me as my body changed, a feeling of liberation washing over me, my instincts bubbling out. The power within me was loose flowing with the force of a nuclear explosion, the beating of my heart makes the very space I am in flow with waves with each impact. My wings spread, my arms grow, my legs merge with my tail that lengthens and grows in thickness, my own Aura takes on a more primal tone as an intense desire to fight screams in my mind. Behind me my Divinity forms into a hoop that soon becomes flows of energy running through my body going in 3 directions before forming 3 rings on each arm and 1 ring on my neck. "..." (I) "You think your size makes you stronger!?" (Baldr) I looked at Baldr controlling Solary''s body, his size that once seemed big to me, now seems insignificant, my total size must be thousands of kilometers tall, as if not acceptable to look up to or perhaps not liking to feel inferior in no way, Solary''s body grows to a size slightly larger than mine. But my attention wasn''t actually entirely on Baldr, that''s because I felt heartbeats other than mine inside my body, my Blood Core was emanating a living presence and something was moving inside, but this wasn''t the time for something like that to happen. "(Why right now...)" (I) "Die!!" (Baldr) "< Divine Evening >" (Baldr) With a movement of his hand a large sun had formed and was falling towards me, Baldr didn''t want to talk, brag or threaten, which was new to me as I expected the opposite from him. But I didn''t waste my time either, the desire to fight is burning within me, with that I advanced towards Baldr, to him it must have seemed like I was charging against the falling Sun, but I was already moving my claws in an attack when I touched one of the shadow spheres teleporting me to another sphere that was behind it. "< Claws of the Unholy Dragon God >" (I) My Divinity flowed making my claws look like fragments of the starry sky itself as they grow 3 times in size cutting only a part of Solary''s back, this is because Baldr reacted almost instantly after I teleported and thus avoided the full power of my attack. "< Swords of the God of Light >" (Baldr) "< Unholy Dragon God''s Breath >" (I) In his large hands two swords of light condense as if they were some kind of shiny metal, Baldr waves these two swords at me that doesn''t move, just opening my jaws while the 7 rings on my body shine. Soon a rush of breath came from my open jaws, it looked like a liquid beam of stellar energy with the stars inside being true eyes focusing their attention on Baldr. My Dragon breath attack was literally alive like the last one, but much stronger than the last one. The black logician full of glowing eyes had his own killing intent and instinct while carrying my Will, he moved like a poisonous Serpent or a river full of treacherous curves, always intercepting the swinging swords of light before reaching their strongest point and always trying to hit the side of the blades instead of the cutting edge. My breath attack circled Baldr 2 times before I noticed an attack from his swords leaving an opening that I took advantage of, unfortunately it was a feint that allowed Baldr to crush my attack scattering his power into pieces. Realizing this I didn''t wait for his next move, our distance wasn''t that great for our size, so with a flap of my wings making space ripple, I moved forward with my claws covered in Starfire that I could create with just a thought like that how he could create his light with ease. Baldr even just controlling Solary''s body was still more experienced than me having full control of his Light power and its limitations, while I was still in discovery after waking up. Solary would have been a good training partner, but Baldr was a real enemy putting deadly pressure on me. That''s why I couldn''t let him have time to cast spells, techniques or very elaborate attacks, he would put himself at an advantage sooner or later that way and that''s why it draws him into a physical battle. My claw and breath attacks are almost basic Dragon instincts, but I haven''t had time to comfortably understand my power to adapt old techniques or create new techniques. "< Scorching Sun... >" (Baldr) "Ghhh!!!" (Baldr) "You bastard!!" (Baldr) "Talk less and die faster!!" (I) "(Only in a million years will I let you perform your techniques in peace, idiot!)" (I) Every time I saw him trying to use a spell, I just spat with condensed Starfire as if it were magma, this corrodes any type of magic circle making his magic explode before it even forms. Every time I see his energy gather at some point on his body, whether in his golden eye or in his swords, I attack from the opposite angle, forcing him to divert energy to defend or cancel the attack. With that said, the moment I noticed one of his swords shining brightly, I attacked from the opposite side with one of my claws and as if I expected it, the two swords fell apart becoming energy that instantly gathered in Baldr''s golden eye. I was very obvious in what I was doing and he took advantage of a move he knew I would make to force an opening. "< Ray of the Sun God >" (Baldr) "< Breath of the Unholy Dragon God >" (I) BOOOAAAMMMM!!!! My breath attack and the golden beam coming out of Baldr''s eye collide at point blank range causing the space around us to crack causing injuries to both of us before an explosion forces us in different directions. Where we were before was a mass of energy that looked like day and night fighting with one side emitting lined light while the other side was stellar energy with eyes like stars. This mass of energy shattered space itself creating an area of ??turbulence shattering the two energies creating a subsequent shock wave before the space suffered an implosion as it crushed in on itself restoring its integrity. "< Divine Light Magic: Solar Judgment >" (Baldr) "(I''ll have to try!)" (I) "< Incarnation of the Unholy Eclipse >" (I) Baldr didn''t waste his time, I don''t know if what he did was a serious attempt to kill me or if it was an attempt to move away from me in this way, giving him more time to carry out his attacks, but I''m sure of one thing, the next His attack wouldn''t be something I could counter easily. Just as expected, the golden light coming out of Baldr''s eye was refining the Sun forming Solary''s legs as well as her body making her thinner extremely fast while the Sun in the lower part of her body went out becoming a darkened sphere with just some scattered red cracks. All this refined light energy was emitted as golden light from Baldr''s eye, then this light was condensed above him as another large golden eye, but this time the inside of the eye was a blue sky with the golden sun in the middle, that eye focused in me and felt the danger to my life. That sun seemed to fall from that blue sky until the entire eye was covered by its golden flames that gushed out towards me like a tide of Golden Fire filled with various murderous intentions, some I was able to recognize as Priests and Templars of the Church of Light that I killed in the past like that Priest who controlled Irius as well as his sister, he was judging me by increasing the power of his attack with the ''crimes'' I committed against his religion. I couldn''t receive such an attack head on, I didn''t know if I would be able to resist and even if it were possible it would be very risky. But since that eye appeared above Baldr, I was already making my move, I was activating a skill that fused several other transcendental-level incarnation-type skills, an ability that I received in my process of becoming a God and that I have not yet tested, I was making a bet now when I didn''t even know exactly what was going to happen. I instinctively knew how to activate this ability just like all the others, but as soon as I activated it I felt the power within me bubble with a specific power directing my Divinity, the Anomalous Power. The 7 rings on my body crumble as pulsing power gathers behind me, my wings open as the power forms a silvery ring behind me with the inside being pure darkness seeming to hide something horrible within. My eyes become reflections of an Eclipse surrounded by stars, my horns grow even more while a crown made of 7 stars appears floating on my Dragon head. I without wasting time also invokes my Divine Weapon, a Cursed Purple Sun appears in one hand while a Fragmented Moon containing several environments in each fragment appears in the other hand, the two celestial bodies are attracted to each other as if colliding forming a fragmented sword with purple flames flowing between the fragments, on the hilt of the sword a very real Eclipse marking its symbol. Chapter 1504: Cap 1502: God of Light enraged part 4 In my vision, only a wall of golden flames full of murderous intentions was coming towards me, a pressure was hitting my body even before the attack arrived, but this pressure couldn''t matter less now. The sword made of silver fragments with purple flames in the space between the fragments seemed to vibrate as my Divinity poured into my Divine Weapon of power, the blade of this sword looked like a large horn similar to mine. The sword must be hundreds or thousands of kilometers tall to fit in my hands. Baldr with his attack, ''Divine Light Magic: Solar Judgment'' coming towards me without mercy. Meanwhile, my power increased to its peak state with the ''Unholy Eclipse Incarnation''. I firmly hold the hilt of the Sword as my power seems to almost take over my ego, I didn''t plan on running away from such an attack and one of the reasons was my inability to escape, so I would face it with everything I have. My power flowed into the Divine Weapon in my hands, it was as if it came to life, all my focus was on the glowing golden wall of fire coming towards me. "(I haven''t had time to test this attack yet.)" (I) "< 30 Star Sword Art: End Dragon >" (I) The power in my entire body ignited and flowed into the sword, I never used this attack, this was a technique that before I only imagined and only after understanding a little more about the Anomalous Power as well as feeling the transformation when becoming a God, I could understand how to use this technique, but I didn''t think I would use it before training. A living sword that brings only destruction, a symbol of power that decrees the end of everything in its path. My power flowed from the Eclipse behind me throughout my body before reaching the blade of my once silver sword and slowly becoming completely black as if painted with ink. My Will also pours into the sword causing multiple pairs of eyes to open in the darkness of the blade as what looked like red cracks slowly formed, pulsing as if they were veins containing blood. With the swing of my sword forward it was as if I was moving a paintbrush, I did not swing with force or speed but with lightness and naturalness as darkness flowed out of the blade with all those glowing eyes filled with murderous intent with those veins red cells pulsing madly like a racing heart. This power coming out of the blade turned into a half-moon shaped cut that seems to have been drawn by a brush, but at the same time it looked like a gate to destruction as it didn''t become a blade flying forward, it just remained static in place where the sword swung like an open wound. Everything was happening very fast from Baldr''s attack to my reaction, but at the same time it was like being in slow motion, I acted more on instinct than on my thoughts letting my Will activate a new incarnation skill that I had never used and performing a technique that until now was mere theory. When the endless wall of golden Flames was closer that was when the pulsations of the red veins within that stroke made by my sword finally exploded the darkness into pieces revealing that they were not cracks or veins, but rather grids that when exploded illuminating the darkness within in red, revealed a creature with countless eyes flowing through endless darkness outwards. GGGGGGGGRRRRRRR!!!!!! The darkness leaked out like a fountain all at once and took the form of a Dragon, its 5 pairs of wings were made of eyes, its head was one made of just a large mouth full of teeth, its body seemed coated in blood fresh while his two arms are covered in scars, he has no legs while a tail of pure darkness swung leaving a trail of black mist. The Dragon moved causing space to crack wherever it passed and its size was as colossal as the wall of golden fire, when the two collided the Dragon moved its claws and it was as if all the thousands of murderous intentions within the Golden Fire break beneath his claws, then with his jaws opening to reveal endless darkness, he bites into the golden fire causing the wall of flames to stop in its tracks with cracks covering its entire length as if it were broken glass. From these countless cracks a black mist begins to leak while from the Dragon''s body countless creatures seem to come out of the fresh Blood that covers it and try to grab the golden flames, tearing them apart, but all this happens too quickly. The Dragon and the golden flames began to intertwine, the Dragon little by little destroyed the flames as if breaking glass while the golden flames burned the blood creatures coming out of the Dragon''s body. The mist of darkness and golden light collide with each other as the wall of golden fire growls smaller and smaller, it was mere seconds and space itself was covered in cracks shaking as if it would collapse at any moment when finally, the Dragon completely shatters the golden flames dragging them back to his prison while the red bars run through his body pulling him back to that portal painted by my sword. In the end the wall of golden flames disappeared just like the horrible Dragon I created, the space around me was covered in cracks looking fragile and the arm I used to swing the sword was hanging trembling, my body returning to normal like Dragon with the incarnation skill deactivating. My vision stuck further ahead where Baldr was, he seemed weaker than me, but that was when I realized something, the golden eye was no longer there, it was just Solary standing with his body covered in cracks releasing a bright golden liquid and Sun was out. This time lapse of thinking I had won was charged faster than I would have liked, because at the same moment I saw a hole open in the crack of space near Solary, a golden eye cracked the space in the crack right in front of me colliding with me. My body and power didn''t have time to react, my sword was still in my good hand, but I didn''t have time when the golden eye collided with me and a burning Will collided with my Will that raged as it rose. Before I knew it I was in a room divided into two, if one side was a starry sky with an endless crystal path between the stars and a giant eclipse attracting attention, the other side was a garden of golden flowers with marble columns white covered in jewels and countless suns marking the blue sky. I was in my Dragon form standing on the star path facing the point of union of the two environments where there was a man standing among the flower garden illuminated by all those Suns, he was right in front of me, each of us in our respective environments that seemed to be colliding with each other. The man had short blonde hair, golden eyes, bright white fur, wearing white robes with golden markings, his face looked enraged as he looked at me with hatred and on his head was a golden crown shining as if absorbing the light of the Suns in the sky. His presence was one I was familiar with and from the context it was obvious who this idiot in front of me was even though it was the first time I saw him. "Baldr..." (I) "You disgusting child, don''t think it will end like this!" (Baldr) As he spoke, I more or less realized where we were, these were not real environments, it was more something between mental and spiritual, these different environments were our Wills colliding and I knew I was only feeling a part of Baldr''s Will, it was not possible for myself to now go against a Divine Will of someone as powerful as him, at least for now. "Are you mad about losing? You''re the child." (I) "You''re almost as hateful as your damned mother, the Witch of Carnage at least has the requisite to step in front of me!" (Baldr) "But you, a mere insignificant God who only serves to disrupt my plans!" (Baldr) "Was that supposed to be insulting? You''re going to have to do better than that." (I) "For starters, I''m the one who should be angry, not you." (I) "Why did you come to attack me the moment I woke up? Even though I''ve gone against you many times, I''ve never done anything too drastic and you should be in the middle of a divine war." (I) "Why waste time on me?" (I) "You even moved several Gods and Demigods." (I) "Don''t be naive boy, your children and Heroes are interfering more than they should in this war, one of them also stole something he shouldn''t have." (Baldr) "But I will accept defeat this time, but next time..." (Baldr) As he spoke I felt the pressure making the environment where I was shaking, my Will was being strongly impacted while Baldr smiled coldly, then he and the entire environment where he was disappeared. Before I could say anything else, I opened my eyes seeing the golden eye in front of me shattering until it disappeared into luminous sparks that finally went out. "What did they take?" (I) "..." (I) "Nicole..." (I) Chapter 1505: Cap 1503: Hello mother When I came back to my senses, I realized that the space around me was still horrible, everything was half torn apart, the remaining power from the battle is everywhere, my power wasn''t a problem, since this place was a Dungeon it was always able to absorb my power even during the Evolutions and clearly the same happened during my divine ascension. But Baldr''s power is another story, I can feel traces of his Holy Power and also his Divine Power everywhere, even traces of his presence and Will can still be found. "(It''s still too early to think about these things.)" (I) I was only distracted momentarily before turning my eyes back to Solary, he was in the same place I saw before, but it seems that without Baldr''s power his size was slowly returning to normal, now he was already less than half my size. When I got close to him I realized that he was still alive, but there was no Divine Power left inside him, even the Holy Power was at the bottom, his Aura was also in tatters. His size might be decreasing, but his body was not returning to normal, but without a doubt he was still alive, I approached him, my Divine Weapon had crumbled before, I was also weakened, of course I was not close to the pitiful state of Solary and so I only used the Fragmented Moon to form a silver dagger while I transformed the Cursed Sun into ropes of fire coiling around Solary. "Why do you keep attacking me? Just because of Baldr''s anger?" (I) "You are bad... your very existence..." (Solary) "You really can''t talk to idiots." (I) "..." (I) With the dagger in hand, I first pierced each of Solary''s 4 eyes before cutting the unlit Sun in half in place of his legs while I finally began to pierce several places on his body, of course I wasn''t just torturing him. Each place I attacked were power conversion points on his body, his 4 eyes and the Sun were the most obvious points, so I attacked those places first before searching the rest of his body before finally finding his resume in a region on his back. close to the waist. His light body was as important as a Fairy''s, it was just condensed power, even though he can feel things like pain and such from this body, it wouldn''t be difficult for him to build a new one. But unlike Fairies and Spirits, he is a true God, as his body has always been a cluster of elemental energy, he must have a Core that linked his soul to that body as well as a focal point of power that would certainly continue after becoming a God. Once I found it, I ripped it out of his dying body using Starfire to seal it and kept it while extracting his Soul which I burned instantly, after which his body just fell apart like particles of light. "Samara, how was it?" (I) "He''s dead, I got his Divinity which was fragmented and I didn''t get any information from him." (Samara) "Help the Heralds by following Hades'' orders and then join my children, I want this battle to end as quickly as possible." (I) "How to order." (Samara) I snap my fingers and the great planetary constellation around us falls apart, the stars begin to rearrange themselves to what they were before and the shadowy spheres distort vibrating into their Dark Dragon forms. Samara, who appeared beside me as I returned to my small form, gave her summary report before following my commands. "After battle comes cleansing... but at least this thing wasn''t affected." (I) I look at the Universal Seed still intact, perhaps the only thing intact in this entire place, but everything else needed to be repaired and strengthened. ------------------ A few hours later I was back in my mansion, I discovered that many people from the city had fainted from the shock of my confrontation against Baldr, it seems they could see the flashes of our battle from the city as well as felt some repercussions, luckily no one was hurt and they just faint from the Divine pressure that spread. Inside the mansion I was still tired and one of my arms was still numb, but I could move it a little. In front of me was a pool of my blood where my children and Heralds were immersed up to their necks, in the case of Hades and Magnus, they were immersed up to their chests. All of them were injured to some degree, some were more dead than alive like Kiara who had most of her body torn to pieces. Xagar and Fiona were also in poor condition, those in better condition were Samara, Silvia and Zaya. I won''t count Nicole since she didn''t personally participate in any combat and only controlled some Golems, the same goes for Alice who served more as a support to the others. Alice was next to me, Hinata was hugging me like a tick having returned in the middle of the battle and Nicole was floating with several holographic screens around her, Zaya in turn seemed to have fun floating in the pool of my blood and Samara was holding a glass in the hand he used to drink my blood as if it were a delicacy while bathing as if it were a bathtub. "How are the spoils?" (I) "I just checked, we have 2 Divine Weapons, several Deity Fragments and some complete Essences that emerged from the complete Deities." (Alice) "Did anyone speak?" (I) "Not among the Divine level, everyone died, but we captured some high-ranking ones from the Church of Light, we hope Lilith can make them more cooperative." (Alice) "I can go now..." (Lilith) "Be still and keep healing!" (Irina) "If you leave I will take the prisoners to Hela and Nicole." (Vanessa) "Alright, alright..." (Lilith) "Actually, I''ve already taken a few." (Nicole) Everyone was in a very light mood, only me, Vanessa and Alice were taking it seriously, I don''t know if we are the strange ones taking an attack of this level seriously. "Does anyone have anything else to report?" (I) "Sir, I have captured a Sword Deity, Tear of Light." (Xagar) "Is that a Divinity? I thought it was a Divine Weapon..." (Alice) "A God will not necessarily arise among people, they may be born from objects or strong beliefs being worshipped." (Samara) "Tear of Light is the God that symbolizes the Templars of Light." (Vanessa) "He is still alive?" (I) "Yes, I thought you could refine him into a Demon God." (Xagar) Xagar spoke about why he took this sword with a clearly cruel smile on his face, I can see what he wants, his revenge or maybe just his anger at having once been a Templar. "We can see all this later, for now throw all these Divine things into the pool of blood inside the Communal Temple, that power will keep everything sealed." (I) "Now let''s talk about the reason for all this, Nicole..." (I) "..." (I) I wanted to get into the main part of this meeting as it was clear that I was just a target of opportunity, the main target of this attack was not me, in fact they wanted to recover something that was in our possession and just took the opportunity to cause damage while they were here. I suspect Baldr also wanted to measure my strength, but for now these are just guesses, but they were looking for a book and the only one I can think of is the one Nicole brought, the one surrounded by chains that looked alive, the problem was that it was clearly emitting evil intentions and didn''t look like something that could come from the Church of Light. But just as I was about to get into the subject, I felt being pulled once again by a limitless intention and Will, I could have tried to resist, but I recognized this Will. When I opened my eyes I was once again in that red and black castle facing a now empty throne. "It seems Baldr can no longer wait." (Selene) "Hello mother." (I) Next to me the Blood Goddess was sitting next to me on the floor, she was holding my arm and checking before passing her hand on my chest, I could feel her power infiltrating my chest until it reached the Blood Core that has been pulsing increasingly heavily, which is why I still feel married. "Her arm will be fine, but this child... looks like I did it right." (Selene) She moved her hand and I felt boundless vital energy gather in the form of a ribbon of blood, several Auras that belong to the Church of Light could be felt as well as traces of Divine presence. "I had my Saint collect the Vitality of your attackers, I could feel some of your Vitality being sucked away by the child within you, but with this it should be enough." (Selene) "After that she should be able to hatch, try doing that here where I can hide it." (Selene) Saying this, she uses a finger to guide that drop of blood full of Vitality to my chest where it enters without problems, touching my Blood Core, a pair of chains appear tying this drop and pulling it in. Then the core stopped pulsing, that''s when I felt it heat up, the Starfire started to burn intensely and I felt Niryna move inside. Chapter 1506: Cap 1504: Birth of Niryna The Blood Core burned, my Divine power circulated my body and without realizing it I was transforming into Dragon form, becoming more comfortable in my true form. Selene''s red and black castle shattered before I even touched the walls, what greeted me were endless plains with a ring of mountains around it, my body grew to almost perfectly occupy these plains. But I was trying to distract my pain with these landscapes, because my own Soul was vibrating, the Blood Core was like a second heart to me, something that was intrinsically linked to my power, but needed to break every second. I felt like something was punching my heart inside while some idiot threw me into a microwave. "I know it must hurt, but that is due to the Anomalous power you granted as well as the power of that entity." (Selene) "You''re in no danger here, I won''t let anyone interfere either." (Selene) Selene''s body grew much larger than me all at once as she ran her hands over my face lovingly, then with a snap of her fingers the sky was covered in red stars and an equally old Moon, Selena was gone as her presence seemed perpetual around me. I could feel that every second my Blood Core was melting, the cocoon Niryna was in was already falling apart, her body was formed, but it was still being nourished with everything Callidora forced there for her. I was in agony and with nothing to do, all I could do was wait for this torment to pass, every second was a physical torture and a torment in my Soul, in the literal sense, I felt as if my Soul could break. But not only was melting the Blood Core a problem, I felt Niryna''s body grow larger and larger, slowly absorbing the Blood Core as if it were her own. "(She''s stealing from me too!?)" (I) Of course these thoughts only passed for a few seconds before I realized the true size she was taking. Soon my lungs and stomach were being pushed out, she was also waking up and clearly acting on instinct as she kicked my neck from the inside. She even started biting my organs, tearing out pieces as they grew more and more, her Aura and Authority exploded without any control, constantly impacting my Soul. The worst part was that I had to hold back my Aura and Divinity to not reflexively strike her, I felt her Authority rapidly condensing from her own Divinity and Anomalous power being a central aspect. Suddenly she was so big that she moved my chest bones almost to the point of breaking while moving, it was at that moment that I felt her eyes open. Several cracks will open in the surroundings, scenes that I already knew from Hell showing themselves as the Desert of death and the Cursed Ocean, in one of these cracks there seemed to be deformed skulls circulating around the open crack biting the sides, what was on the other side was pure darkness and a pair of eyes that chilled my very Soul. An energy that seemed to come from Hell itself, which in this case was literal, was coming out of that crack trying to reach me, but it was interrupted halfway by the presence of the Goddess of Blood who appeared in front of the crack looking directly at that pair with scary eyes. "He is not a sacrifice, be careful of her actions." (Selene) "You don''t scare me little Goddess, but that''s okay, I may have gotten a little carried away." (Callidora) "You were willing to use him as food for your daughter!" (Selene) "A lapse of thought, but it really is quite special, it would be a magnificent tonic..." (Callidora) "The same would be said about it if it is refined to the Soul." (Selene) "You wouldn''t do that, so don''t try to threaten me or I might crush this universe between my teeth out of irritation." (Callidora) "I know your limitations, so let''s stop this childish dispute here, I did not interfere with the formation of the rifts allowing you to see the birth, but I would not let you interfere." (Selene) "I can accept that, after all, I have a promise with the boy." (Callidora) As they talked, a similar Infernal energy was welling up within me, this time I could feel that the base was Anomalous energy with energy of death and curse mixed with something that transcends mere Demonic power. A Demonic Deity was forming, my body began to dry up and some areas even opened wounds from which this energy leaked out causing the space to tremble, even my Soul felt like it was being trapped inside a column of ice as I clenched my teeth tightly to resist. When the Godhead finally formed, it exploded outwards breaking almost all of my bones and running over my Soul like a train hitting a porcelain jug. Just when I thought it couldn''t get any worse, a fist punched its way across my throat to my mouth, then a second fist followed before both hands opened revealing sharp claws made of bone with the hands covered in my blood. These binges force my jaws open as my throat expands to the point of tearing into several parts as something violently drags it out. Some arms became longer as elbows appeared until finally a head was poked out with the arms soon pushing the rest of the body until only one foot was left behind dangling as if trying to take off an old shoe. My head just slams against the ground, my entirely destroyed body crushed from the inside out, be it my organs, muscles, bones or anything else, everything was like a pulp thrown away. Of course I wasn''t dead, my Vitality was already trying to heal my body and the only reason it wasn''t something more instantaneous was the Infernal energy that was delaying my regeneration a lot. Now without Niryna inside me, I let my Divinity, Aura and power run wildly through my body devouring the Infernal energy little by little before impacting my half-frozen Soul. Meanwhile, my mind was finally out of that pain and torment, so I could focus my mind to see the one who was the cause of it all. His red skin was on display since he was just born, black, purple and blue lines drew strange patterns all over his body, his straight red hair looked human with fresh blood, which in this case was my blood that covered his entire body until now. She looked very beautiful, not inferior to the appearance Callidora showed me, a beauty capable of conquering Gods. She looked very Human if you don''t consider how big she was thousands of miles tall based solely on my own size. She had a thin black tail with a stinger at the tip in the shape of a trident, her tail was very long and thin with patterns drawn in purple. His eyes swell the part that should be white completely dyed black, meanwhile the iris of one eye was purple while the other red being larger than normal, his eyes were cut vertically like those of a tiger. As she opened her mouth breathing for the first time, it was possible to see her sharp teeth with fangs similar to a Vampire''s highlighted as well as her long forked tongue like that of a snake. Her hair fell over her body past her waist, glued to her body by fresh blood, not only was the beauty on her face magnificent, even her curvy body had a Demonic temptation, fortunately because she was considered my daughter or perhaps because we grew up together in our previous lives, I didn''t see her in a sexual way or it would actually be difficult to be around her. She exudes exotic sensuality along with an immense Demonic presence, clearly Callidora made a point of creating this appearance as it looks nothing like her previous life. "(The question is... is she still the person I knew or has Callidora changed even her soul and personality?)" (I) As I was analyzing every single thing I could observe, her eyes that glowed became darker as a reflex of consciousness flickered, her wild Aura became calmer and finally her body started to move with the bags forward as if she was seeing each other for the first time. "Niryna..." (Niryna) Her voice was magnificent, different from her appearance that exudes sensuality and lust, her voice was kind and calm, I was surprised by such a big difference, it was a voice that I didn''t expect from someone with that appearance, but it quickly reminded me of the past. Ding! <[ The System observes the birth of an Anomalous Entity discontentedly ]> . . . <[ You successfully created an Anomalous Demon God who, upon being influenced by you, transformed into an Unholy God ]> . . <[ The Niryna Entity (Infernal Unholy Nexos) has been restricted by the System to only remain in Universes where you are ]> . . . <[ The System expects you to become responsible for this child without letting him be influenced by the Entity called ''Callidora'' ]> "..." (I) Chapter 1507: Cap 1505: Nicoles Report I was still a little shocked by what I was reading from the notifications, mainly because I realized that they were written by the system and looked more like warning messages than notifications about what had happened. "(The system did not like Niryna''s birth and literally tied her to me in a way, also warned that I am responsible for her.)" (I) "(I have to stop having children... my heart won''t bear it like this.)" (I) Sigh "Niryna... Niryna... Niryna..." (Niryna) Niryna still looked perplexed, looking at her hands while repeating her name. The tone of her voice constantly changed, sometimes sounding like a whisper, other times sounding like a question, and sometimes even sounding like an exclamation. She was confused, even though her consciousness is returning her memories, mind, senses and emotions must be all a mess, her Aura reveals this as a visible warning, perhaps it is because she was just born. "How it feels?" (Selene) "A rubbish... other than that, an even worse rubbish... but discarding all that... still a rubbish..." (I) "If you still have a sense of humor, then you should be fine, take...drink this." (Selene) She cuts the pulse near my mouth, it was at its normal size, which looked like a speck of dust floating above me, but when she cut the pulse it was like a waterfall falling into my mouth for a few seconds before stopping, it was absurdly delicious. And while I was still distracted by that magnificent taste, all my injuries were healing, my Vitality was restoring and even my Soul was returning to normal, all of this happened in seconds. "This will be enough, how does it feel?" (selene) When I realized, I was already physically completely recovered, even my Soul had been just a little shaken, it was already recovered, only my mind was tired and my energy was largely depleted, but these things will recover by themselves until tomorrow. "I''m fine now, thank you." (I) "But what about her?" (I) "Just like you when she was born, she is confused, in a body she doesn''t know, with a power she doesn''t understand and with messed up memories." (Selene) "But unlike you, she has someone as her central pillar... you." (Selene) "..." (I) As soon as the Blood Goddess said this, Niryna was already turning her face towards me, her eyes seemed to sink into my flesh until they reached my Soul, I returned to my human form becoming as small as a grain of sand to her and somehow way she did the same as me as if imitating herself. I even felt her Aura trying to imitate the way I manipulate my Aura, the same with her body movements, she was mirroring everything she saw in me and I was sure she could see very deeply. Within minutes the improvement was shocking, her Aura became more stable which helped to control her emotions and calm her mind, the energy she released unconsciously was now also under control, of course all of this in a crude way, but it was a start exceptional for someone who was just born. Callidora didn''t interfere and just watched, but my senses picked up that she was trying to do something, she just didn''t know what it was. Niryna kept changing the expressions on her face, her eyes never moved and were always focused on me, it seems like she was adapting to her emotions. She also gradually approached me and I didn''t do anything to stop it, I didn''t say anything either, she was adapting in her own time and on her own in a splendid way. But as soon as she got close and touched my face, her slightly confused eyes shed tears, she pulled me into a tight hug, smearing my own blood on me, it took her almost 1 hour to calm down and let me go. "It''s done... take care of her for me, see you soon Zenos... hahahahaha..." (Callidora) I wanted to talk to Niryna for a bit, but suddenly Callidora''s voice comes from the cracks around us before they all close, Niryna''s Aura and presence fluctuate slightly, but I realize something has changed, then she faints in my arms. I look at the Blood Goddess who shakes her head before waving her hand, then the next thing I know I''m standing on the throne I was sitting on before, Niryna bathed in my blood snoring in my arms naked and everyone else still they were nearby, most of them still inside the pool of blood I created. "How long was I gone?" (I) "Some hours." (Alice) "I understand." (I) "Pretty..." (Hinata) "..." (Vanessa) "Who is that in your arms?" (Elsaris) "I feel an Infernal presence emanating from her." (Hela) "So she was born." (Silvia) "Congratulations to the master on his new offspring." (Hades) "Blessings to the master!" (Heralds) "Thanks." (I) "Before the questions continue, this is Niryna, yes she is my daughter and she is also Callidora''s daughter." (I) "..." (all) Everyone already knew about my future daughter who was yet to be born hidden in my Blood Core, they also knew about Callidora, but upon being informed of her birth and seeing her, everyone was shocked, her presence was as strange as mine and highly Hellish making it difficult for others to approach. Hela looked highly interested with her eyes shining, Lilith had her eyes locked on Niryna while licking her lips, the others just showed curiosity while Hinata continued to poke her in various places like a child. The only one who showed extreme fear was Samara, who had her entire body trembling, falling face down on the ground, sweat dripping from her drenched body, her eyes almost watering with fear stamped in her Aura. But this only lasted a few seconds before she seemed to notice something, so she sighed in relief before wiping the sweat from her face and making the rest of the sweat evaporate, she stood up again with some difficulty, still a little pale and highly vigilant with her eyes locked at Niryna, but she already seemed more scared. Everyone logically noticed Samara''s extreme reaction and knew who she was, so they were even more curious, but I placed Niryna in Alice''s arms. "Clean her up and get some clothes, try not to move away." (I) "..." (Alice) "All good." (Alice) Saying so, Alice carefully picked up Niryna as she walked away to a corner of the room where she used magic to wash Niryna''s body gently. With that resolved, I left some of my Aura senses attached to Alice while I told Nicole, I hadn''t finished the meeting when I was pulled by the Goddess of Blood. I needed to know what Nicole did and since there never seemed to be time for anything, I couldn''t waste a second as another unexpected event could happen and I still had other things to do. "Let''s get back to what we were talking about before, everyone can talk to Niryna later." (I) "Nicole, tell me what book you brought and why the Church of Light wants to find it so much? Give me your report on what you''ve been doing." (I) Nicole, who since before I was taken by the Blood Goddess, was surrounded by holographic screens and only diverted her attention momentarily to see Niryna as well as Samara''s extreme reaction, suddenly turns off most of her screens with only shrinking to stand in the palm of her hand as she calmly turned to me. "When everyone left for their respective missions, I thought it would be good to put some of my creations to the field test during the war." (Nicole) "I can be a little compulsive in accumulating information, I don''t deny that small flaw." (Nicole) "Small flaw?" (Elsaris) "You are worse than Father with your curiosity, always sending us the worst missions, a true maniac." (Samira) "You have repeatedly caused chaos in the war by going off-plan by making excuses that were for research purposes." (Vanessa) "Most of the War Demigods want to strangle her and 2 among them actually tried." (Magnus) "As I was saying..." (Nicole) "(Hi, hi, hi... are you really going to ignore everything they said?)" (I) While everyone was talking, her expression didn''t change once, her skin really is thick. "As I was saying, I wanted to test some things during the war, but I also ended up collecting a lot of information, as the war was spread across several different planets and Star Systems, we had to move a lot, which served to collect information from various sources." (Nicole) "That''s when I realized that the Church of Light had an extremely large number of Soldiers, an abnormally large number." (Nicole) "Just you noticed that?" (I) "No, many realized this fact, I learned that the God of War was confused about this as he did not understand where these troops came from when he knew of every war that the Church of Light has fought in the last millennia and had a clear sense of the strength Baldr''s military." (Magnus) "Even if the number is big, they are weak individually, they mainly use strategy to make those numbers count." (Vanessa) "As you can see, the numbers are so abnormal that even the Gods noticed." (Nicole) "(I don''t like where this is going...)" (I) The war really was strange since I heard about it, there are more Gods against Baldr than on his side, but still the Divine War was at a stalemate, I found it strange from the beginning knowing that some Gods did not drag out a war unnecessarily or reason. I am only now beginning to understand that there are dark waters in this war. Chapter 1508: Cap 1506: Breaking the doctrine itself From the beginning I always found the Church of Light very strange, they are very authoritarian and extreme in their doctrine, but many in high positions commit horrible acts with terrible excuses. But I really don''t know what to do about this, I remember Athena saying that her sister led her troops to defeat an Evil God and they used a city as cannon fodder, even the false Hero they created was a sacrifice and I saved him Hinata. In addition to their extreme behaviors, there were also people like that Archbishop who enslaved Irius and Irina, not to mention what Baldr himself did to someone close to becoming his Saint, Vanessa. "(I always found them strange, for those who proclaim so much about justice, their acts are always full of cruelty and without a hint of mercy.)" (I) "(So if he had an explosion in the number of troops that alerted even the Gods, they came from somewhere.)" (I) "You seem to already know where these troops came from, correct?" (I) "Yes, I managed to capture some individuals, the dead were more difficult, their Priests use the dead as Sacrifice to perform rituals of all types." (Nicole) "Capturing any alive was also difficult as they tended to kill each other." (Nicole) "That really delayed my..." (Nicole) "Try to be objective by keeping a summary line of thought, you don''t need to be so detailed about everything when it''s not necessary." (I) "All good." (Nicole) Nicole, like any scientist, researcher or scholar, likes to talk about the things she understands as she attaches great importance to everything she has learned, if you let her talk it will take a long time and will add unnecessary details to this report. I just need to know the facts in a summarized and easy to understand way. "I captured one of them and realized that they were not normal people, in fact I had difficulty identifying their races even though they are very close to Humans." (Nicole) "The few differences I found were their eyes being completely white and emitting dim light, their bodies being slightly stronger than Humans should be, possessing some degree of physical regeneration while exposed to sunlight and their Auras being ''strange''." (Nicole) "..." (I) I noticed that Nicole said that last part with a bit of disgust, it seems like she discovered something and didn''t know how to uncover the truth, it seems like the kind of thing she wouldn''t like. "Describe the strangeness she said?" (I) "That''s the problem, I don''t know what to describe, I just know how to identify that it''s not normal." (Nicole) "Then continue with the report, what else did you find out." (I) "Mental functions have diminished to a large extent as has the sense of identity." (Nicole) "They all seemed fanatical in the extreme, they also formed the majority of the front line, always being part of the Soldiers with none of them occupying any other role." (Nicole) "Disposable soldiers, are they slaves of the Church of Light?" (Magnus) "Negative, but they still have a high degree of submission to the Priests and Templars." (Nicole) "They don''t seem to have their emotions developed properly with some showing emotional outbursts while others show almost no emotion at all." (Nicole) "From there I tried to track where these troops were coming from, with a starting point it didn''t take long to figure out the transport routes." (Nicole) "I ruled out the supply routes and rear troops, so I identified some that led to various places, I couldn''t see all of these places, and so I asked my brothers for assistance." (Nicole) "The place I went to was empty, but there were traces of curse, the land was contaminated for miles." (Elsaris) "I found 2 concentration camps full of people, one of them was in an impossible to enter location, a Holy Land while the last one was under surveillance by different Divine level beings." (Hela) "They both told me what they found in detail." (Nicole) "The curse was the most abnormal, the traces of curse that Elsaris found were of the Shadow element with traces of the Dark element." (Nicole) "But if this is a place previously occupied by the Church of Light..." (I) "Exactly, there were many inconsistencies, but for the concentration camp Hela found to be so heavily guarded showed the level of importance." (Nicole) "Seeing this as a clue, I found a route that was heavily guarded, was given a lot of importance, and was heading to a planet whose population could be considered low with everyone being Human." (Nicole) "Planning for 2 days, I created Bone Golems and replaced them with the bones of a living criminal, his mind was under the influence of..." (Nicole) "Did you use a living person?" (I) "He was an idiot, don''t worry." (Lilith) "(If Lilith is doing it, then I''ll let it go.)" (I) "As I was saying, I discovered some things and managed to get that book, I couldn''t open the book, but I saw how they were using it." (Nicole) "They use a curse to contaminate a person''s entire body with the dark element, all other elemental affinities are consumed by the dark element." (Nicole) "Even their vitality is replaced by the shadow element when consumed, with this they gain a great increase in regeneration and strength, but their lifespan is reduced by 10 times." (Nicole) "After this, they are subjected to another ritual, this time a Sacred Purification Ritual where all the Shadow and Dark elements are purified and replaced by the Light element." (Nicole) "As their bodies were filled with the Dark element, they were almost transformed into Light Elementals." (Nicole) "Their bodies strengthen and heal more easily, they are highly compatible with all the techniques of the Church of Light and with the last ritual they become loyal to the fanatical level." (Nicole) "Of course, undergoing two such extreme forced transformations has many many side effects." (Nicole) "Altered emotions and a decrease in intelligence, being just some of the consequences, also have damage at the level of the Soul, infertility and a double decrease in lifespan." (Nicole) "..." (all) "That chained book was something they used for the dark ritual." (Nicole) "Damn bastards!!" (Vanessa) "The Doctrine... this is against the very foundation of the Doctrine!" (Athena) "The book itself seemed harmful to me, so I let Hela carry it, she seemed unaffected." (Nicole) "Dark energies like this are useless against a Necromancer." (Hela) "That''s what I thought, whoever used the book to perform the curse was exactly a Necromancer who was being forced to do all that, that''s why I asked Hela for help." (Nicole) I knew from the beginning that it was Nicole who brought the book, she was close to Hela since they are both researchers in their respective fields, I also saw a little of Nicole''s Aura in the chains. ------------------- POV ???? (Archbishop of Light): I was looking at the reports about the robbery that happened at another facility, it seems they used a living person as if it were a Golem, truly barbaric. I also saw that they took one of the sinful books, I honestly can''t tell if I''m relieved or irritated by that. "(It really is shameful to have to resort to extremes like these.)" (I) "Sir, the new batch has arrived." (High Priest A) "I am going." (I) When I followed the High Priest outside I saw scared men and women, I don''t feel sorry for them, they are mostly people associated with the Demon race or other dirty races, but I still don''t like having to depend on these types of methods. "(Maybe it''s a way to make these sinners useful in the end.)" (I) "Start the ritual and be quick, I don''t like seeing something so disgusting." (I) "As you command." (High Priest A) I saw a Priest carry that thing, a book that struggled in his arms, the light seemed to darken a little around the book while the one carrying it was pale, dark veins spreading across his neck and arms. "(May Baldr have mercy on his Soul in the face of his sacrifice...)" (I) When the book opened a Necromancer was brought in, his body covered in restraints, as well as his clothes and his chains, just being in the same environment as him disgusts me, but only something so Heretical can make use of that filthy book. "..." (I) I point to the book, I don''t want my voice to be wasted on this kind of disgusting creature, it shames me to have to depend on him. He just shows his ugly anger before performing his sinful magic, the magic circles appear around the target people, I try to ignore the cursed words that the necromancer utters with the book, then soon the shadows if each person start to climb over their bodies opening wounds in the process, dark veins spread out and begin to contort on their bodies as they scream. Their wails subside as their bodies become dry, their hair falls out and their eyes are taken over by darkness, such a scene affects me each time to the point that I want to kill each one of them. "..." (I) I nod to the other Priests and launch the friendly crystal into the air, multiple High Priests join me in a mass Purification, a pillar of Divine Light descends upon these dark creatures burning them with Baldr''s Blessing. The shadows on their bodies are burned by the light that takes its place between their screams from the pain of the process, their eyes become bright, their bodies become muscular and their Auras bright. The two rituals took around 3 or 4 hours, part of this due to the number of people used, some weaker ones were lost burned by the light of Purification, but those were useless anyway. With a wave of my hand this group is taken for a two-day indoctrination before being sent to the front lines. Soon the next group is brought in to do the process once again, regardless of what I think, this is for the good of the universe I must endure this ordeal. "(For the glory of Baldr!)" (I) Chapter 1509: Cap 1507: Baldr isnt Baldr...? Breaking a religious doctrine is not something that serious in my old world, but that is because everyone is normal people, I don''t even know if there was a God in my old world. But in this universe it is different, for normal people, being part of a religion makes the person able to receive Divine protection that becomes more or less dependent on the person''s Faith in the God of the Religion, it can range from a slightly better resistance to hunger, better adaptation to a specific climate, better learning capabilities or even better talent in some field. Of course these protections are not a perfect shield, they are minor and general protections with only the core members of the religion who dedicate their lives to the God as Priests and Holy Warriors and receive strong protections with the possibility of awakening the Holy Power, these Divine protections can until it evolves into a Divine Blessing, something that can actually be seen to have a much greater impact even at its most basic level. But all this is due to indoctrination, from this people who adapt to this religion joined together, the teachings will be transmitted showing the paths to follow whether for good or evil in the case of Demonic Religions. Not to mention that these doctrines to be created have many restrictions to be created and must adapt to God, there are no lies and falsehoods in a doctrine, this is because they serve to bring mortals closer to the Gods, a bridge and link with the Divine does not for being built on illusions. A normal person breaking their doctrine leads to the reduction or annulment of their Divine protection, which often will not even be noticed by people. Now, a central member of the religion breaking the doctrine becomes more serious, being able to have their Sacred Power removed and lose their Blessing, not to mention that they can even receive a Heretic mark or a Divine curse depending on the level of the act committed. But for a God to break his doctrine is much more complex than that, he is breaking the meaning of his own Divinity, denying a part of it and it would be the same as self-flagellation. All of this was imposed on me in a forced teaching by the Gods after I woke up, it happened in that damn meeting that only served to give me more to think about. For a God to go against his own Doctrine in this way would be difficult, even if I don''t know much about Baldr''s Doctrine, it is not difficult to imagine that contaminating others with shadows is a fundamental break in his doctrine as God of Light. "Nicole, are you sure this is done by the Church of Light directly and not just a group working together with them?" (I) "I''m sure, it seems the Priests and Templars involved don''t like using such ''disgusting'' means according to them, but it''s still them in charge, the Necromancer was a prisoner who was forced to obey." (Nicole) "..." (I) "..." (all) "Something isn''t right... I''m missing something..." (I) "If they spread the word about what they are doing, I''m sure many will start to doubt the Church of Light." (Athena) "That''s impossible, even though most of the Church of Light doesn''t know about it, those in power know and support it, they will simply publicize it as a fair thing to do using excuses to clear the blame." (Vanessa) "The Church of Light supports fanaticism, because of this people in power are loyal to the point of not hesitating to kill a relative if ordered." (Xagar) It was no surprise these three spoke, Vanessa had to flee the Church of Light, Athena directly changed sides when ordered to hunt me down and Xagar hates the Church of Light fervently. Then I turn to Irina, someone who grew up in the Church of Light being enslaved, she seemed calm and didn''t say anything, perhaps noticing my look as she spoke up. "I don''t know why everyone is surprised, the Church of Light does many things that break its Doctrine." (Irina) "For years my brother and I were enslaved by an Archbishop who had Holy Power, the things we were forced to do ranged from torture, massacre and even silencing people from the Church of Light itself." (Irina) "I feel like we''re missing something..." (I) My eyes wandered around everyone as I tried to think of something as if I was looking for the final piece of a puzzle, that''s when I saw Samara still glancing at where Niryna was being dressed in new clothes. "Samara, do you have anything to say about Nicole''s report?" (I) "Huh? Something to say? Isn''t it obvious?" (Samara) "What''s obvious?" (I) "..." (Samara) "Maybe everyone here is really young or is it just me who knows that?" (Samara) "Try to be clear so everyone can understand." (I) Samara just looked strangely at me, but looked at everyone else as if they were children, but that wasn''t far from the truth, the oldest one mentally here would be Silvia who was a World Tree, even she would be considered a child by Samara who spent an unknown amount of time serving Callidora. It was thinking about her long life experience that I asked her in the hope of having a clearer point of view on this, since I feel like I''m missing something and I can''t say what it could be. "A God would not break his Doctrine, this is because his Doctrine is inherent to him, see Zenos for example, he already has a doctrine." (Samara) "I have a Doctrine? Since how long?" (I) "You always had a Doctrine, that''s what your Divinity was born from, right?" (Samara) "I think I better show it." (Samara) Samara snapped her fingers without making a sound, but Alice who was fixing Niryna''s hair turned her head. "You are a Saint of Zenos, can you tell me the core of your doctrine?" (Samara) "It would be change and transformation." (Alice) "..." (I) "..." (all) "What''s wrong? Why is everyone looking at me like that?" (Alice) "All Zenos'' Familiars and Heralds have different powers, but they all have the same characteristic, transformation of something whether magical, lineage, emotional or even spiritual." (Samara) "Even among your children, everyone has been transformed in some way, even your Saints are like this, that includes me along with it." (Samara) "Even your power is based on transformation, be it your Chaos power or your Anomalous trait, even your Divine Realm like the Star Path is a space of transformation for those who walk through it seeking a change." (Samara) "Even this place where we are now that should be a Dungeon isn''t changing into a Permanent Divine Realm like the Fairy World?" (Samara) I hadn''t thought about it before, but now that she rubbed it in my face, she''s not wrong, the Gods had also said that I needed to ''discover'' my Doctrine and they didn''t tell me to ''create'' my Doctrine. "(I''ll leave it to think about it later, I can''t keep deviating so much from the subject at hand.)" (I) "Where are you going with this, Samara?" (I) "A God can even break the most external parts of his Doctrine, of course this is rare at the level of all universes, but it would be impossible to break a central aspect of his Doctrines." (Samara) "Doing so would be the same as completely changing your personalities and your Divinities like the Demon God your daughter who had her Divinity changed by you in a Divine Rebirth." (Samara) "You mean Baldr underwent a Divine Rebirth like Ynes?" (I) "No, that would need someone like you who controls Chaos and as far as I know, there is no other so bizarre." (Samara) "I see... that''s not good, I need to confirm with my sisters." (Silvia) "Finally someone with a brain... no offense to others without brains... ghu!" (Samara) "Don''t offend others so gratuitously, especially when they are your companions, just say what you need at once." (I) "..." (Samara) I was already irritated, since I woke up several things were thrown at me, I was taken from one side to another, I had to meet with other Gods, I was forced to fight for Baldr''s invasion and then I had to endure the birth of Niryna, I can''t even finish this damn meeting that has already been interrupted several times and now even Samara is dragging her answer while offending people I care about, my mood really isn''t good, that''s why with one thought she fell to her knees like all his veins pulsing with visible stellar energy before stopping. Sigh "I think I got a little carried away..." (Samara) She takes a deep breath before looking at me with a smile, that''s when I understand that she did that on purpose to draw where my bottom line is, that damn Demon. "What she meant was..." (Silvia) "If a God is breaking core aspects of their Doctrine, then that God is not the God of that Doctrine to begin with." (Samara) "This God of Light must not be the original God of Light." (Samara) "..." (all) We were all shocked when we heard her words, some more shocked than others, but Nicole immediately covered herself in holographic screens as she moved at high speed through all of them. I on the other hand fell into thoughts about her words, the scope of meaning of those words were too great to simply accept. "Baldr isn''t Baldr...?" (I) Chapter 1510: Cap 1508: I missed you What Samara said moved me and certainly everyone, saying that the God of Light whose power is among the greatest in the universe was not himself was disconcerting to say the least. But it made me think about many things, so I thought about Adella, one of my daughters and that she was once a Goddess from another universe, a Goddess of Blood. She was Selene, at least a Selene, I heard that some Gods are almost entities that have avatars in each universe like the Goddesses Mavis and Kalistos, they represent Life and Death, they are in all universes as the same being. If Selene were to compare with them, then she would be a little inferior, even though there is a version of her in another universe, she will be someone different and unique in her own way, the same could be said about Baldr. "(Could this Baldr be an Evil God who managed to replace the old one? Perhaps it could be that his Divinity could also have been altered in some way with him undergoing a Divine Rebirth?)" (I) "(There''s no point in thinking about these things for now, anyway I''m not the one who''s going to face him.)" (I) I look at everyone, it seems that my children are thinking something similar, but only two people are beaming with happiness, Samara and Xagar. "Is there anything more to say on this subject, Nicole?" (I) "..." (Nicole) "I don''t think she can hear." (Vanessa) I see Nicole surrounded by her holographic screens, she looks really distracted, but I don''t know what she''s doing. "What do you think, master?" (Alice) At that moment when I was lost in my thoughts, Alice brought a still unconscious Niryna into her arms. ------------------ Pov Adella''s: I was facing a cave entrance, I look again at the letter in my hands, it was blank until the moment I injected my Divine power making red stars shine. It was already the third or fourth time I was reading the contents of this letter and I couldn''t help but laugh before entering the cave. As soon as I entered I felt the fold in space and noticed the change of kilometers away as well as the crack that opened at the end, not a crack in space but a Divine barrier. When I entered, I saw the multicolored bonfire burning what appeared to be a drop of frozen blood, tree wood from the surrounding world serving as fuel for the fire and the energy of the environment itself being sucked away while the ice only trembled. Around the fire there were only two people, one being a young girl while the other being a woman in her 20s, I knew both of them, but it surprised me to see one of them emanating a Divine presence, the other younger looking one was already a Goddess, but I didn''t expect the more mature looking one to have crossed that threshold. "It''s about time, how did you manage to complete your Divinity?" (I) "Zenos'' awakening helped me, I already had some Demonic Deity Fragments, but refining something like that was difficult and combining something like that with my own Essence was a challenge." (Ynes) "But when that roar came I felt its power and used it as long as possible, completing both processes much more easily." (Ynes) "His power is good for that kind of thing, you''re lucky." (I) "Now tell me, is what''s in the letter true? I hope it''s for your good, Aurora." (I) "I always tell the truth, he is here." (Aurora) I smile once more, the coldness of my heart glows with murderous intent making space itself tremble before I realize my lack of control and calm my emotions. "What do you want?" (I) "I''m glad you understand quickly." (Aurora) Aurora didn''t call me here because of her generous heart, just as I want something, she also searches for something, it''s also obvious that she needs me urgently since she immediately used this information to make me run here, abandoning the battlefield. "There is a Demon in our path, he uses blood to perform his techniques, he is in an area where the blood bathes up to the heavens, almost perfect for him." (Aurora) "In that place, Divine Power is restricted by a certain percentage, we are also unable to create Territories." (Ynes) "The Vitality of that thing is also infinite, it was born from blood almost like an Elemental, it does not have a core or weak point to be explored." (Aurora) "I see, that''s why they called me, what is your strength level?" (I) "As one of the sons of the God of War." (Ynes) "Your intelligence?" (I) "Not inferior to ours, your senses are also better than ours in that place." (Aurora) "Do you really need to defeat that thing?" (I) "Yes, the lake of blood where his lair is is where I''m looking for, he never moves away, there''s no need to defeat him, but at least keeping busy will be enough..." (Aurora) "I support you, but after this I need to know the rest of the letter." (I) "No problem." (Aurora) "Welcome aboard." (Ynes) "(If I''m right, then this idiot will be of great help.)" (I) ---------------- Pov Zenos: I was in the mansion''s gardens, it''s been a few hours since I finished the meeting, my children are still recovering and I sent Samara with Alice to prepare some things for me. I need to take care of 2 Demon Gods in the man that Loki brought and in my son Irius, not counting the attention I need to give to the other problems that my children brought. I also want to take a look at that book Hela and Nicole brought, but I''ll leave that aside for now, it''ll be the last one I do before looking for the Gods. "How is she?" (I) "Better, she should wake up tomorrow." (Silvia) "What will she become?" (I) "I don''t know, I no longer have direct contact with my sisters and I''m also not sure what the older sister did to Freya." (Silvia) "I just hope she''s okay..." (I) "Vanessa asked me to let her know that the Goddess Selene already knows, she received an Oracle saying to let Ivan open the book." (Silvia) "I''ve already spoken to him, but he seems to be spending the day with his daughter and said he''ll look into it tomorrow." (Silvia) "Okay, I don''t want to know about that book today anyway..." (I) "Where I am...?" (Niryna) "..." (I) "I''ll leave you alone." (Silvia) "Thanks." (I) "..." (Niryna) Silvia spreads her wings flying away, so I turn to face a girl sitting on the table where she was lying, her eyes were still a little confused, but they were roaming everywhere. "I''m glad you woke up." (I) "Do you know who I am?" (I) "Do you know who you are?" (I) "I... I''m... Niryna...?" (Niryna) Her eyes became confused again, but little by little they became brighter, her Aura became more composed and I saw her straighten her posture, focusing her attention on me before standing up. "I am Niryna." (Niryna) "You are Zenos, my Father." (Niryna) "I''m a person in his second life and I remember you... Big brother." (Niryna) With every step she took towards me, she spoke in an increasingly emotional way, tears gathering in her eyes and the way she speaks reminds me of the girl in my memories, everything about her reminds me of the past, the way she speaks, the way she moves and the way she called me. Her appearance cannot be compared to the past, but everything else was unmistakable to me, she ran into my arms, but because she was taller she almost got on her knees hugging me. But then an intrusive thought came to mind, everything about her is so similar to the past, but the one she hugs and keeps calling her big brother is no more, I have changed beyond all recognition from what I once was. My morals, my ideals, my personality, my way of thinking and acting, everything about me has changed, even my Soul has changed so many times that I can''t say if there is anything left that still reminds me of that sick man who died in a hospital bed where he spent the last years of his life. How many planks on a ship need to be replaced before it is considered a completely new ship? What if there was nothing left that once belonged to the old ship? "..." (I) "I missed you..." (Niryna) Tears I may not know how much I changed, but I knew that that person didn''t disappear completely because my emotions shook when I heard that sentence, my arms wrap around the head of the young woman who hugs me with so much emotion. "(The memories and emotion are still there, regardless of the change I''m still me...)" (I) "I''m here, don''t cry." (I) "I thought I would never see you again..." (Niryna) Tears Little by little her emotions changed from happiness to something darker, her Aura was as clear for me to see as a bright poster, feelings like shame, regret and sadness. I was confused about these things and it only became worse when a presence I know very well appeared within her while a semi-transparent figure emerged from within her smiling mockingly. "What a beautiful reunion, the whole family together." (Callidora) Chapter 1511: Cap 1509: Demonic Nutrition "What a beautiful reunion, the whole family together." (Callidora) Her features are the same as the first time I met her, but now her skin is blue, her body covered in leather clothes revealing her curves, her hair was white, darkening until the ends reached halfway down her back. Her golden eyes shone intensely in the darkness of her eyes, things like appearance she changes as she sees fit as well as names, I have never seen a creature more willful than her and she doesn''t even try to hide it. Her previously semi-transparent body cannon more realism as if it was becoming real, but the whole time I never doubted that it was real, she had done something to Niryna after she was born and made it clear, now I understand what she did. "What did you do." (I) "Come on, don''t be like that, are you going to say you''re not happy to see me?" (Callidora) "Callidora!?" (I) "Callidora what!? Make no mistake boy, I''m not one of your children, Heralds or Familiars." (Callidora) "I don''t obey you, I don''t obey anyone, I do what I want and why I want, from the beginning I made it very clear that this precious daughter of mine had a function to exist." (Callidora) "..." (Niryna) "What are you going to do with her?" (I) Callidora wasn''t wrong, in terms of power, I can''t even begin to conceive of the level she reached, I wish I could imagine a higher level of power. She will do what she wants, but there has to be some kind of limit, definitely the system put some restraint during Niryna''s birth. She smiles as if this was all some kind of show for her, she floats upside down as if she were walking as she approaches me, her eyes glued to mine while that mocking smile remains on her lips. "No need to worry, I won''t do anything, I''m what you would call a tourist or maybe a spectator." (Callidora) "My beautiful little girl has her senses linked to mine." (Callidora) "I can see, feel and experience reality through her, what you see now is just an image, I don''t have any kind of power or influence, even touching something is already difficult for me." (Callidora) She finishes what she was saying by stretching her arm as if she were going to touch my face, but then her arm went through and it was like an illusion going directly through my head without me feeling anything. "All I can do in this form is talk, even if she dies all I can do is drag her to me where I can make her reborn and at that moment she will return to you through the restriction." (Callidora) "In other words, you have eternity to influence her however you want while I try to stop it." (I) "Hahahaha... it seems like someone has become smarter, yes... it will be an eternal game between the two of us, it will be so fun!" (Callidora) "Hahahahaha... hhahahaha hahahaha..." (Callidora) "Damn, she deleted it..." (Callidora) Suddenly Callidora stops talking and disappears once again and when I look at Niryna in my arms, she is unconscious once again, tears streaming from her closed eyes. "You cause a lot of trouble, but it doesn''t matter." (I) I pick her up and take her to the Communal Temple, I''m too busy to keep her company right now and I can''t put my mind at ease about Callidora yet, she said a lot of things but it doesn''t mean any of them are true, manipulating the truth to make it so misleading when a lie is the least I expect from her. After leaving Niryna in a suitable place I went to see my son, the one who is possibly in the worst situation of all. As soon as I entered the hall where he was still presented in chains like a mummy, I could feel his Demonic Aura. I walked in and went straight to him, the barrier that traps him doesn''t affect me, to begin with, Irina used my power to create this prison, I walked up to him placing my hand on his forehead and closed my eyes, my Will spreading through him. ------------------ When I opened my eyes I was in a prison, a beautiful naked woman in pieces and two children screaming with their faces bleeding, the surroundings were full of white walls and strangely well lit. Irius was leaning against one of the walls with his eyes closed, but as soon as I looked at him, his eyes opened with unexpected calm. "Remind me to punch my sister when she wakes up, that might have been the worst plan ever." (Irius) "Is he trying to affect your Soul?" (I) "Yes, he went through a lot of my worst memories, but it is what they are, just memories of moments that are long gone, wasting my time getting emotional about it would be pointless." (Irius) "Where is he?" (I) "The two kids, he hides in plain sight, he knows who you are, he''s trying to hide." (Irius) "Damn you..." (Demon) Suddenly the two children with bloody faces stand up with Demonic energy around them, it seems that being handed over like that by Irius enraged him. Before he can speak, the walls on both sides shatter with large Dragon claws piercing through, each claw holding one of the children. "If dividing like this must be difficult to bear, let me give you a hand." (I) I snap my fingers making a small Star Flame light up on the tip of my indicated finger, with a wave of my finger this fire divides into hundreds of Serpents gathering the pieces of the woman''s body on the ground before burning, that''s when the pieces fall apart They moved, trying to free themselves in vain. Just with my desire the two Dragon claws collide with the fire in the middle, the two children collided with the shattered body burning along with it while the Dragon palms separate seeming to hold the Star Fire that binds them. The filthy, brightly lit room begins to expand, its white walls are tinged with blue, windows reveal a beautiful starry sky, all the filth melts away into nothing and the strange lighting gives way to some occasional shadows as I take a few steps closer to the room fire next to Irius. The three individuals crumble as if into a mass, then become a single silhouette still burned by my Starfire, the stars within the flame moving as if they were alive, cutting and piercing his body constantly. "I remember him." (I) "It should, he was one of the Demons you defeated in the Spirit World, my sister and I found him by chance in his attempt to be reborn." (Irius) "I thought we captured all of those Demons'' Deities, Essences, and Souls." (I) "Clearly some escaped, their luck really is bad." (Irius) "No matter, all these Demons and Demon Gods will be excellent nutrition." (I) "What are you talking about?" (Irius) "You''ll find out later." (I) While talking to Irius, the fire burned every part of the bastard''s Divine Power while the stars cut across his body, gradually sculpting his Demonic Divinity outward. He couldn''t even do anything against me, trying to stop me was useless from the beginning, my Divinity is an amalgamation of 7 different Essences as well as my Anomalous characteristic, in terms of quality of power I am much superior to a Lesser Demonic God like this, especially at its weakest moment. I reach out my hand and grab his Demonic Divinity which sinks into my hand where it will be sealed within me for now, without the Divinity what is left of his power fades and his Soul reveals itself. "< Seal >" (I) The stars form a chain binding a yellow, horned silhouette as black fire crystallizes. I stretched out my hand once more, then the large crystal decreased in size until it was the size of my hand with the two large Dragon claws disappearing. "One done, now one more to go." (I) "If you''ve already taken care of this idiot, you can let me go now, I need to spank my sister in thanks for this wonderful plan." (Irius) ------------------ I opened my eyes and Irius''s body was still trapped in Irina''s sealing barrier, I snap my fingers and the sealing columns break with the chains crumbling until there is nothing left, Irius stands up, cracking the bones of his entire body around him stretch. "Where is my lovely sister?" (Irius) "In the mansion with the others, try not to cause too much trouble." (I) "It all depends on how far she can run, which shouldn''t be much." (Irius) Irus ran away with fury burning inside him, but I know this is just empty anger, he won''t do anything other than yell at his sister a little. Meanwhile, I turn to Eva who was already waiting at the door, when I looked at her I nodded to come closer and handed the Demon God Soul seal into her hands. "Throw it into the pool of blood." (I) "As you wish." (Eve) She leaves with a smile on her face as I go to another room where that man Loki brought was, but come to think of it, I think he turned into a woman. "I also need to see the child Irina brought." (I) Sigh "So many things to resolve..." (I) I keep walking thinking about the various things to be resolved, but my attention is still on two areas where Niryna was sleeping and the other where Freya had not yet awakened. ----------------- Pov Adella''s: When we enter the cave, I carry Aurora''s crushed body while Ynes follows behind with her body shaking. "What did you do?" (I) "He wasn''t supposed to be alive." (Ynes) "What do we do now? Why was he there?" (I) "I don''t know, but he knew about that place and you, they were waiting." (Ynes) "..." (I) I was furious, but there was nothing I could do, I know my own limitations, I can''t go back there injured and even in my best state I can''t do anything about it. "Damn! Damn! DAMN!!!" (I) Sigh I try to calm down a little and think clearly, one of them wasn''t supposed to arrive now, the Goddess warned, but it should still take a few centuries since the Universe has just strengthened the Dimensional membrane. "We''re going to need Zenos..." (I) Chapter 1512: Cap 1510: Grimoire of Darkness part 1 When I opened my eyes I was surprised, what was in front of me was a beautiful beauty with eyes in the shape of hearts almost naked, her Aura exudes seduction and I hurriedly left that room more out of shame than anything else. I may be a God, but I am someone committed to 5 or 6 beauties that I can barely handle, I don''t need other wives. "How was she?" (Loki) Loki was already waiting for me outside the room, I looked at him before answering. "She''s going to be fine, but she''s suffered a lot of Demonic influence, so the way she is now is going to be the way she stays." (I) "That''s all I wanted." (Loki) She says this with a smile, already entering the room, so I continue on my way to another place. There is still one child left to take care of. -------------------- The child was something much simpler to see again, after taking care of her I left it in Irina''s hands, it seems that soon I would have another granddaughter since Irina seemed interested in bringing this girl as her daughter. After taking care of all that I wanted to take care of one more thing and so I walked to the main hall of the Communal Temple, I stopped in front of the statue of the Goddess of Death, Kalistos. On my knees I closed my eyes and using my Will to touch the Statue through my Aura, I tried to convey my desire to find her. That was when I felt my vision swim for a second, making everything around change to an arid place, only a young girl with hair, clothes and eyes as black as ink was in front of me, her skin seemed to be pale white to the point of looking morbid, her presence fills me with fear making my survival instincts simply surrender. "What do you want with me?" (Kalistos) "An agreement." (I) "I know that unlike all the other Gods, you and Mavis do not make deals for any type of Essence or anything else, with the only exception being when the Essence in question comes from your attributes." (I) "Yes, you''re not wrong, so what do you think you have that''s valuable to me to be able to make this deal?" (Kalistos) All the time she finds nothing, for the Goddess of Death only the blank expression like Hinata''s matches, but unlike Hinata who just doesn''t know how to express her emotions on her face, the Goddess Kalistos perhaps doesn''t feel any of the emotions. "I have the Souls of hundreds of Gods and Demigods, would that be enough?" (I) "You understand that even though they are your enemy Gods or Demon Gods, just like you, they also have responsibilities, correct?" (Kalistos) "Just by existing they balance their respective Essences and balance the universe." (Kalistos) "I know, that''s why I''m not performing their Divine Rebirth, making everyone change would be more harmful than beneficial." (I) "But I thought you would have a better way to make them reborn." (I) "Yes, but I still don''t see what use it is to me?" (Kalistos) "I could probably threaten to destroy those Souls, that would create a big problem that you would try to avoid, but you''ve helped me a few times and your Champion is a good friend of mine." (I) "So I really thought a lot about coming to you and selling my idea of ??making a deal, until I realized that the entire deal would be beneficial to both of us." (I) "And what good would this deal be if not even the price you offered could move me?" (Kalistos) "I have captured several Legions of Death, what I need is your cooperation to strip Death''s power as well as the Souls of the innocent from them while replacing it with something else." (I) "..." (Kalistos) "Do you want me to absorb the power of Death and Souls on a planetary level?" (Kalistos) "What do you want to refine those Legions of Death into? A Divine Weapon? Maybe a Divine Crossbow?" (Kalistos) "Honestly, I have no idea, I have a general outline of what I''m going to do, but I have no idea about the outcome." (I) "You really..." (Kalistos) Sigh "Indeed, there are no losses for me and it is within my Divinity to act in this regard, the price you offered before would be better inverted with what you wish to do, but I accept." (Kalistos) "Call upon my Champion at the time of need, my power will flow through him." (Kalistos) "Thank you..." (I) I didn''t know what had happened when I found myself standing in front of the statue of the Demon God of Death again. Then I felt all the Demon Souls sealed inside the Communal Temple being taken to where I am and sinking into the statue. "She''s very objective." (I) "(Now I''m going to rest at least one night before taking care of that book tomorrow.)" (I) ---------------- When I lay in my bed I couldn''t sleep, my body was in a meditative state and instead of falling into a dream, I was inside the Star Path in my Dragon form. I could hear whispers, millions of them, some so low it was impossible to hear while others were so loud as if they were speaking right next to my ears. I had already heard about this from the Heralds and knew that I was hearing the desire to change in multiple people, a conscious or unconscious desire. Their voices are all separate and I could hear wheels at the same time without any problems, the crystal path was where there were shadowy silhouettes, some were just shadows with legs, arms and head without any more details. There are also increasingly detailed shadowy silhouettes with some rare ones having a completely detailed appearance, the voices and whispers come from these silhouettes, each of them can also choose to stand still on the star path or begin walking, I can extend my Will to help everyone in their path or let them use their own Will to walk their path. "Sir." (Hades) "This place needs a lot of work, I can feel the instability." (I) "It was worse at first, apart from me, the other Heralds didn''t know what they had to do, but now we''re working together to stabilize, the Invasion set back a lot of our work." (Hades) "Don''t even tell me, this Invasion was really bad." (I) I spent a few more hours talking to Hades, he explained to me what the Heralds do, he also explained about many things that would need my help, it wasn''t anything too difficult, it was the only comfort I had. ------------------- When I opened my eyes inside the mansion, I didn''t feel sleepy, that''s because that wasn''t even considered sleeping, as a God maybe I won''t be able to sleep like I used to and that''s something I need to get used to. "I don''t feel like I''ve rested." (I) Sigh "Hinata, can you get Ivan and Hela for me?" (I) "Yes..." (Hinata) "Take them to the Communal Temple, I want to open that book in the easiest place to contain it possible." (I) "..." (Hinata) Hinata pulls out of me and flies out the window, I snap my fingers and when I open the door I see Niryna standing outside waiting. But before I could say anything she ran away, in fact she left burn marks with each step. "..." (I) I didn''t know what to do, her Aura was confused, but her eyes were clear, she seemed to be deciding something and while looking at her, Callidora stuck her head out of her back smiling. "(Should I go after her...?)" (I) When I saw her running, I realized that there were two people following closely, they were Alice and Athena, this made me feel calmer. I took my time walking to the Communal Temple, the people of the city returned to normal, it made me happy to see so many children running through the streets, time really passed quickly. When I arrived at the Communal Temple I felt more rested after this walk, when I entered Ivan was already there, but neither Hinata or Hela had arrived. "Good to see you, Ivan." (I) "How is your daughter going?" (I) "I''m fine, but that girl won''t leave the lab to the point where her fatigue resistance levels are constantly increasing." (Ivan) "(Resistance to fatigue? I didn''t even know that ability existed.)" (I) I spent a few minutes talking to him until the girls arrived, we all went to an underground room where one of the Skeleton Priests from the Demonic Church of Death brought the book still chained and left it on a pedestal. "Let''s start?" (I) "I think I''d better take care of this, Ivan doesn''t have in-depth knowledge of Necromancy." (Hela) "I don''t see a problem, this book doesn''t seem to contain much Death Power, I feel a much greater amount of curse." (Ivan) "Then let''s do this." (I) I snap my fingers and Runes begin to burn all over the walls as Holy power intertwines within the walls, just a form of containment as I don''t know what to expect. "I''ll start." (Hela) Hela walks over to the book, in her hands was what looked like a cube with each side having different magic circles. She touches the crystal cube to the book, then the cube shines, becoming ethereal as if it were energy expanding, then the book floats inside an energy cube, different symbols and lines of energy pass through the surface of the cube, the currents around it of the book shake and soon begin to show signs of cracking. We don''t have to wait more than a few minutes for the chains to completely break and the book to begin thrashing as if it were alive. "< Containment >" (Hela) Chapter 1513: Cap 1511: Grimoire of Darkness part 2 "< Containment >" (Hela) The cube becomes a film over the entire cover of the book which by the way was made of Human skin, as soon as this was done, the Sacred Power of the surroundings seemed to form some kind of restrictive connection with the book which I could feel since I am a of the Gods worshiped in this Communal Temple and the Sacred Power used also belongs to me. Hela just looks at me nodding, then she steps forward and takes the book in her hand, there was no reaction other than struggling slightly, cursed energy still aiming for the sides of the book and as soon as Hela opened it, a flood of Mist energy from the Darkness and Death came out like water from a breaking dam. But no one needed to do anything to stop it, the Holy Power in the surroundings worked as a natural barrier preventing all this energy from leaking out in more than small amounts, the clouds and mists were unable to advance more than just a few centimeters out of the book. To those who saw it from the outside, it didn''t look scary, just a little strange, but for those with keen senses they would be able to sense that the amount of Curse and Darkness trying to pour out of the book would be enough to rent half a planet in darkness in a matter of minutes. "This is worse than I thought..." (I) "Do you feel anything Hela?" (I) "No, the curse and darkness tried to invade my consciousness when I looked at the book as well as when I touched the book, but it is almost a stimulant for me." (Hela) "I understand." (I) Hela is not just a normal Necromancer, her body was created by the Dungeon and I used many high level bloodlines like my own, that of True Dragons and Demons, I even used an item made using various Dark seeds, not to mention that your Soul comes from a Champion of an Evil God of Death. The energy of death and Darkness cannot corrupt her, this is because there is nothing to be corrupted, she is an incarnation of Darkness and Death simply for existing, because I was confident in her that I asked for her help and the same must have crossed my mind from Nicole when he handed her the book to bring. "What do you think, Ivan?" (I) "Strange, this death energy is not normal..." (Ivan) "Yes, the same can be said about Dark energy." (I) "Can you read the book, Hela?" (I) "No, the two energies obscure my vision and are still trying to attack me." (Hela) I saw tendrils of black liquid ooze out of the pages taking on a color almost like very dark blood and form thin tentacles wrapping themselves around Hela''s braves. Meanwhile, a faint purple light shone from the pages, illuminating Hela''s face as if she was ready to tell a horror story around the campfire. Of course all of this was useless, the tentacles at most are massaging Hela''s arms while that light can only be considered annoying to her, neither of them are having the intended effect and it was clear that this was a purely instinctive attack from the book as he acted like an irrational monster. "(What do you feel, Zaya?)" (I) "(I don''t feel anything of Anomalous power, I also don''t feel anything that I could consider normal other than Soul''s traits.)" (Zaya) "..." (I) I''m not as good at sensing Souls as she is, Ivan has excellent senses for Death energy and Hela for curses, but my senses are more general. I asked Zaya to stay inside the Star Path, it was clear that this book was made using people, but I was afraid that it might have the possibility of possessing Anomalous Power which I have been encountering a lot lately, so I tried to be cautious. I made Zaya stand by to pull any type of energy away, she has power over Death, Life and Curse as well as the Anomalous Power, in terms of power she is second only to Hades who has a lot of myself. "Let me see that book." (I) Hela approaches and I see the black mist as well as the purple light writhing in the open book, I smile as I can''t feel Divine Power from the book, with that worry less, I think about putting my hand on the book to get that energy out, but before I have the chance, suddenly a head comes out of my arm and opens its face like a flower of flesh revealing countless teeth. The Sacred Power of the surroundings that contained the book seemed to receive a command and acted together letting the two energies be sucked into those horrible jaws. It was Hinata who was silent inside me, I don''t know if she heard the conversation or if she just felt this energy, but as soon as she acted, a gigantic amount of Cursed and Dark energies were sucked out revealing the Death energy hidden within the Dark energy. This lasted for several minutes, it seems like the amount of energy inside the book really was a lot, but after a little more time, all the energy or at least most of it was sucked out by Hinata before she closed her mouth and went back inside my mouth body as if nothing had happened. "She does whatever she wants as always, you spoil your Familiar too much." (Ivan) "Says the owl Father." (I) "Like you don''t have more kids than me." (Ivan) "Dad, I think we have a problem." (Hela) "What would be... I see... I didn''t think about that..." (I) "Don''t look at me, I was a General and a Prince, not a scholar." (Ivan) "..." (I) The thing that no one thought of happened, as soon as the energies no longer blocked the vision, the pages of the book revealed themselves, the letters were written in blood that seemed fresh. Some pages were made of Human skin or of other races such as Demons and Runes, they were sewn tightly, there were also pages with designs made of hair intertwined as if it were a piece of fabric. But the real problem wasn''t that, but rather our inability to read what was written, the language was something alien to all of us, we didn''t know if they were letters, symbols or runes as we turned the pages. The book had a total of 2677 pages, even though the book was not very thick the number of pages were very large, clearly the covers had some kind of spatial technique to keep the pages stored. Of all the pages, many had strange magic circles that didn''t resemble any concept of magic that I understood with the exception of the last page which was a magic circle that I could completely understand, the page on one side was written in an ancient language that I couldn''t read it, but I had seen it before and on the other side of the page was the magic circle. "That''s what we''re looking for, I recognize the written language, I can''t read it, but at least I recognize it as a language that some Necromancers use, we have some books like that in the library that I haven''t read yet." (Hela) "At least I can fully understand the magic circle." (Hela) "Not me, my specialty is attack magic, I just recognize that the main element of this magic is Darkness." (Ivan) "This magic is similar to the Awakening Ceremony technique and at the same time an imitation of Demonic transformation through corruption." (I) "Yes, they ignite the Soul to extract the potential using Death energy, then use that potential on the individual''s shadow before having the shadow devour the body using finally a curse to merge the two." (Hela) "Not only does this shorten life expectancy like Nicole said, it leaves an extremely weak Soul behind, it can even destroy the Soul over time." (I) "The level of pain this causes is absurd, it is no wonder that the victims'' minds are affected to the point that their intelligence decreases and their emotions also become fickle." (I) This is an extremely bad Magical Ritual, something that those of Demonic Religions would do without a second thought, but for the Church of Light to actually be doing this is more than a little strange. I was carefully looking at the magic circle as was Hela, but meanwhile Ivan seemed to have noticed something as he began to turn several pages before returning to the last one where the magic in question was, Hela and I remained quiet as we noticed the flames increase in the eye sockets empty from Ivan. "These two pages, in fact the entire sheet... it doesn''t look any different." (Ivan) "Looks younger to me." (Ivan) "..." (me/Hela) I exchange a look with Hela and we both begin to compare the sheets of skin on the pages, not just the last one, after a few hours we are all looking at the now closed book as the film of energy around it expands remaking the cube from before with the book floating inside. "The last sheet was added later." (I) "The skin belongs to a strong Demon, but compared to the rest of the skins in the rest of the book, the difference is clear." (I) "Even if I can''t recognize the language of the rest of the book, I''m sure the person who wrote it is different, a person''s handwriting will always have some customs such as the direction of the strokes, the thickening of letters and words, among other things." (Hela) "Where did this book come from...?" (I) Chapter 1514: Cap 1512: Grimoire of Darkness part 3 That afternoon I needed time to think, so I went to see Freya to check on her situation while my mind was still trying to understand what Baldr was doing. Freya was still unconscious, I tried to touch her, but my hand was expelled before I even touched her, it was as if there was a natural barrier around her and so I had to resign myself to sitting in front of her. "Just how many things are going to fall into my lap?" (I) I was really feeling overwhelmed with everything that was happening, I know everyone was trying to help as much as they could, but I can''t relax, I can''t even sleep like I used to. I am full of responsibilities, anxiety, fear, curiosity and worry. Just staying calm is proving to be a challenge and every time I think I have solved a problem, a new one appears. "You know, I miss you... I miss the others..." (I) "When I woke up, the first place I went, do you know what it was?" (I) I look at the tree, the Anomalous energy glowing around it as the elemental energy condenses more and more, there has been no reaction, but I know she is listening, I can feel her Will within the tree. "I went straight to the mansion, but there was no one there, my children scattered throughout the universe, my Family members all absent, my Heroes carrying out missions I didn''t know about." (I) "You were physically here, but you were further away than all of them and I had no idea where the others were, they were further out of reach than you." (I) "I was at home, but I didn''t feel at home, even now I still don''t feel at home..." (I) I get up and go to the door to leave, but I stop halfway before turning my head to the side with my eyes counting back before speaking the last time. "I''ll be here when you get home." (I) "..." (I) -------------------- I couldn''t help but distract my mind with other things, I wanted to avoid thinking about the girls and the best way was to focus on the things I have to solve. I was led to think again about that book, it seemed alive, it seemed like a monster, but I didn''t feel a Soul in them, I also didn''t feel anything close to a consciousness, it seemed more like a representation of wild instincts. "(I can try to do something...)" (I) If there are instincts and even traits of Souls, not to mention that I don''t know the origins of this book, I have to assume that there will be things I don''t know, so there''s no harm in trying one more thing. Thinking up to this point, I managed to distract my thoughts successfully and turned my feet towards the Communal Temple directly to the underground room where the book is located. "Come for me, beauty." (Samara) As soon as I entered, I came across Samara standing next to the cube where the book was, her hand was inside the cube almost reaching the book. "What do you want with that book." (I) "..." (Samara) The truth is that I could know where she is at all times, her body and Soul have so many restrictions attached to me that her existence seems to be fairs of the very chains that connect with me. With so many things going on, it''s really difficult to pay attention to her all the time, but I clearly have to rethink this kind of thing since she''s acting secretly in such a suspicious way. With a thought of mine, she falls to her knees, her body responds to my Will in the way I want, even though I don''t like doing these things, I didn''t trust this woman and I hadn''t liked her since our first meeting while still in Hell. "..." (Samara) "How about you tell me the truth about why you''re here?" (I) "I have a perfectly reasonable explanation." (Samara) "I want to know only the truth." (I) With my control over her, I''m not afraid of her lying, my fear is that she will distort the truth or only tell half the truth. "I swear my only plan was to make you trust me." (Samara) "Then I guess you started off wrong." (I) "I thought I''d find out something about the book and tell you, I figured a little initiative would be nice." (Samara) "I have no other intentions, I just want to gain your trust." (Samara) I just questioned her for a little longer, but then I asked a few questions that she answered with great ease, she didn''t seem to be lying. "What do you know about this book?" (I) Maybe it''s because I was sharing my head with so many things at the same time, so I kept walking until I got to where the book was, as soon as I touched the book I had a horrifying feeling, without knowing anything I touched the book and felt something pulling me. Before I knew it, the world around me changed once again, I was no longer in the Communal Temple, everything in the surroundings changed into what seemed to be best described as a city in ruins. When I looked up the light seemed to not exist, everything was darkness, there was no sun in the sky, everything was pure darkness that somehow I managed to get here, but where exactly I had no idea. I couldn''t feel any kind of presence or energy, at least until he appeared. "I guess you''re not going to tell me where we are or who you are, are you?" (I) "..." He didn''t answer me, but his body was covered in defense items, it looks like some type of armor more glued to the body, in his hands it wasn''t a very common weapon. I knew how bad being hit by a scythe would be, he charged at me at high speed and with a swing of his scythe it was as if the entire universe building was being taken away cut in two. I was trying to understand where I was and what this thing attacking me was, but I didn''t have the opportunity to do any of that other than glance. When the scythe arrived I didn''t feel scared I just stretched out a finger and it was as if the scythe found a solid wall stopping at the tip of my finger. Then with one of my legs, I jump lightly giving a kick that should have been strong enough to crush this idiot''s armor, but what surprised me was that idiot transforming into new ones the moment my leg touched him making my body move forward almost falling to the floor. I looked at that dark mist that had condensed and thought again but luckily that creature didn''t recover or more of its friends appeared. "I don''t know anything about what''s going on, so show yourself at once or the next kick will be to end this whole...!" (I) "..." The fog from before returned, she was very smiling while a Beast was forming and when I went to see what I would have to face once again I was surprised by how an eye of pure darkness opened in the dark sky with the IRS being fluorescent purple. As soon as the mist monster tried to attack me, I stomped hard on the ground, breaking everything in the surroundings, all the buildings were flattened into pieces on the ground, but that was just part of things, with the movement of one of my hands I pinned the creature down. in my hand where I squeeze, crushing everything. When I looked at that eye again I realized that it was not even close to being just a normal creature but was even more dangerous. Suddenly I felt myself being pulled again and before I knew it I was outside holding the book in my hands and I didn''t know what had happened. In seconds I was ready again but this time I was sure I was going to crush this creature but what emerged from the book was interesting because it was just an eye, it was clear now that this book does have a consciousness linked to it. That eye focused on me before disappearing and the book in turn closed with a movement as I took a step forward once again looking at Samara still kneeling on the floor. "You know something about this book, so tell me." (I) "I speak..." (Samara) Samara stood up, it seems like nothing had happened to her, there is no shame on her face or anger for having been kneeling all this time. "This book was written by a God, it can be considered the foundation of a type of magic from another universe, a Grimoire." (Samara) "I think you know what I mean." (Samara) "So Grimoires are alive?" (I) "No, but this is clearly about some modifications either because it came from another universe or because of what they did to it." (Samara) "I''m sure you know more." (I) "I would like to know more, I''m really trying to be useful and make you trust me, if you want you can even use this body..." (Samara) "You will not gain my trust with suspicious attitudes or attempts to seduce me." (I) "If you have nothing else to say, then you can leave." (I) I see Samara walk away and her emotions and Aura are visible to me, she seems sincere in being useful to me, but clearly she is thinking about other things. "I need to see Selene." (I) Chapter 1515: Cap 1513: The Truth About Baldr? I was facing the statue of the Blood Goddess, but my Will couldn''t even get closer, she clearly didn''t want to see me and was blocked from contact. "Nothing yet?" (I) "Nothing, the Goddess listens to me all the time, but I don''t receive Oracle from her." (Vanessa) "(You know about Baldr, she''s basically assuming that she knows the answers to the questions I want to ask, but she''s also making it clear that she''s not going to answer.)" (I) "..." (I) I was thinking about the possibilities for her to hide something like that from me, but honestly there are so many that there''s no point in assuming, she''s always hidden things from me, but she''s never stopped me from finding out anything. "(Maybe another God knows and I owe me a favor.)" (I) ------------------- 3 hours later. I was lying in an open field somewhere, I honestly didn''t think much about where I was going after getting nothing from the Fairy Goddess of the God of Spirits. "It must be something big, Goddess Aine really seemed to want to say something about it but avoided it in the end and the God of Spirits refused me from the beginning, but at least he welcomed me and apologized for not being able to answer me." (I) "I don''t know who any of these are, but aren''t you meeting many Gods?" (Niryna) "I''m a God, so I guess this must be normal?" (I) "But let''s stop talking about that, let''s get back to the main topic." (I) "..." (Niryna) I was with Niryna, however she was flying aimlessly, I saw her here and launched a barrier with my Divine Power, trapping her here with me, so she will have to make some effort to escape again. "Why are you running away?" (I) "..." (Niryna) "If you don''t want to talk, that''s fine, you don''t need to say anything." (I) "Just know that you don''t need to avoid me, I''ll be here when you need me and so will everyone else." (I) "..." (Niryna) "Remember you wanted a big family, well... now you have one big enough to raise a football team." (I) I could read her Aura like a book, she doesn''t know how to control anything, even though she has learned not to explode her Aura like she did in the beginning, she still hasn''t learned the correct way to do it. "Stupid boy, you don''t understand that..." (Callidora) "Please don''t tell him, please!?" (Niryna) "(Don''t say what?)" (I) "Then stop running all the time and go get some candy! You haven''t eaten anything since you were born, I want to taste food!!!" (Callidora) "Then leave that idiot behind and go find things to eat or I''ll start counting every single thing you..." (Callidora) "I''m leaving now!" (Niryna) She simply got up and instead of running somewhere else, a Dark Dragon head rises from her shadow with open jaws which she rushes into. "Alone again..." (I) I undo the barrier, of course I hadn''t done anything extravagant, it was more for show than to contain her, but I didn''t expect her to run away like that again. -------------- At the end of the afternoon I returned to the Communal Temple, this time Zaya and Samara were with me, who together with Hinata inside me are the best using the Anomalous Power. "That''s an interesting plan." (Samara) "But are you sure it will work?" (Zaya) "Yes, that damn book doesn''t have a Soul or mind, so it shouldn''t have instincts to begin with, it doesn''t even have Divine or Holy Power." (I) "Instincts don''t create themselves, that''s when I realized they were coming from somewhere and after discarding all the options that couldn''t be, what remains will be the correct option or option closest to the truth at least." (I) "To start...?" (Hinata) "Yes, let''s get started, but can''t I keep something like this going forever, like 4 hours at most?" (Zaya) "I can do this for days." (Samara) "I don''t know..." (Hinata) "I don''t need much time, so let''s get started." (I) With that said, I slit my wrist and Hinata is controlling my blood to create a magic circle where the Anomalous Power is being used, my blood feels alive pulsing as if it is still within my veins. We were in the room of the Communal Temple where the book was already in the middle while we were making a circle around it, the cube once again disappeared becoming a thin film around the book that I kept open floating on top of the magic circle. Besides providing the blood, I did not do anything else leaving everything in her hands, just to be safe I gave several detailed instructions to Samara, leaving nothing behind that she could do, as I do not trust her I had to at least do that. They control things carefully, I wait for them to finish, then with a wave of my hand, I gather Divine Power to complement, as both Divine Power and Anomalous Power come from me the two mix very easily. "< Eclipse Magic: Threshold of Will >" (Hinata/Zaya/Samara) When the three positions themselves forming a triangle in the middle, the space a few meters above the magic circle becomes blurred and darkens with bright spots as stars appear around them, a large red eye opens with a bold ring-shaped iris with the inside being silver, this eye was focused on the book as it glowed faintly. "For something improvised it''s working better than expected." (I) This magic was created using magic and techniques that I already knew, its effects together and accumulated more than just adding up the parts, they multiply the effects as well as the power cost to use. I stretch my Will beyond my body, touching the eye where it merges with the magic and is subsequently guided to the book. -------------------- When I opened my eyes once again, I was in a devastated land, endless ruins as well as blood scattered in all directions, it seemed to be a prosperous city with a more futuristic architecture than the ones seen in this universe. Looking up I see the same eye from the ritual up there as part of the sky, I looked around and felt something as I walked there. What I saw was a creature covered in a hooded cloak and chained, but as soon as I looked at it, it immediately disappeared as if it had blinked and the illusion ceased to exist. I kept looking around feeling something nearby and as I searched, I found a man sitting on a rock, a mask on his face and a pair of deer antlers sticking out of his head as well as messy short black hair. He was completely still, but I could feel the same instincts as before originating from him, I didn''t feel any Aura coming out of him, but as soon as I got closer I felt his Will collide with me like an iron wall. In one step I felt nothing and in the next step I had already collided with this Will, a Will that seems more like a pit of endless darkness, I could feel it trying to influence and corrupt me, of course without success. I didn''t expect to collide with his Will so suddenly, but it wasn''t much of an impediment either, as I got closer I realized that the mask on that person''s face was emitting a light as well as concentrated Divine Power. "(Is that why there was only instinct? Was Baldr restricting the Will within the book?)" (I) As soon as I got closer I could feel more than just that Will of pure darkness, I could feel traces of a God, the power of an Essence. This was a Divine Will, but in terms of power it was beneath me, perhaps it was because it was just a book, perhaps it was because it was too far from the God it originated from or perhaps it was because of the containment that Baldr placed. I only hesitated to act for a few seconds while I thought about the possibilities, I don''t like doing anything without thinking about it first. Once I got my thoughts in order I reached out my hand realizing I couldn''t rip the mask off, in fact the light was becoming stronger creating a strong pressure to push me away. Knowing that I wouldn''t be able to just rip off the mask, I let my arm transform a little into that of a Dragon before squeezing hard, I was using my Will to break the mask whose most of the power was in restraining the person wearing the mask. Crack! It took less than a few seconds for my arm to shake and blink, but the mask was starting to get more and more cracks, with a final effort, I used my other hand to form a fist to collide with the mask as I squeezed, with two forces acting on it The mask was broken, revealing a bottomless hole in the place of the face from which a pair of empty white eyes opened. "Who are you!?" His voice was deep and I knew it wasn''t from the sliver of Will that was in front of me, if before I had my doubts, now I''m sure it was an Evil God, its Essence was different from what this Universe had. I don''t know who the Evil God was, but he realized what I did and used his Will to reach wherever he was. "I am Zenos and I want to know, why did Baldr want to restrict his Will so much and still dare to use this book?" (I) "Hahahaha... do you want to know about Baldr, know the truth about that unfortunate man?" "The truth about Baldr?" (I) "If you want to know something about me or him, then I''ll tell you, but to do that you have to free me, only then will I tell you everything you want to know." "Where are you and how do I know I can trust anything you say?" (I) "Meet me in Hell and you''ll know." Chapter 1516: Cap 1514: No time for a shower Pov Sakura''s: I was tired of this life, every day there are attacks and more attacks, why can''t I spend a day just taking care of my own things? This place was supposed to be ready, there isn''t much to do, but with so many attacks happening, I have to continually redo things that have already been done and I still have to spend my time fighting pointlessly. "When will the damn barrier be in place!?" (I) "No and they will never succeed, the power of the tree changes very frequently" (Ragnar) "I can take care of the tree''s power and so..." (I) "Come on, Sakura..." (Ragnar) "The kind of power emanating from the tree cannot be perfectly controlled and you know that, even Master wouldn''t be able to do that." (Ragnar) "But I need to keep the Sacred Beasts safe, but with ever larger waves and waves of armies attacking it''s becoming impossible!" (Sakura) Sigh I was at the limit of stress, I have been taking care of the Arboreal Star System as it has been called, the place where the tree was transformed by the master and bonded to me, a place for the Sacred Beasts to gather safely in a home for themselves. Unfortunately, Actara? has become a priority target for the Church of Light and one of the front lines of attack in this cursed Sacred War. "Our situation is not that bad, the Beast God is unconditionally helping as much as he can." (Ragnar) "Which is not enough and you know it, the Church of Light is up to something, these attacks are either a distraction, or they are testing our limit of strength for an overwhelming attack." (I) "If I noticed this, I''m sure God Cratos noticed it too, but we can''t do anything but wait..." (I) Booommm!!! BOOOMMMM!!! "..." (me/Ragnar) With the sound of explosion, I hold hands with Ragnar as I close my eyes, soon my field of vision and my senses expand in different directions everywhere, I am already a Divine being and in this place I am a part of reality, there is nothing that escapes my notice here. It didn''t take long for me to realize that we were surrounded by golden fire, so with a thought and almost all my power I make the tree create a Divine barrier closing off the space itself. "That wasn''t the kind of barrier I wanted." (I) "How long it will last?" (Ragnar) "If it lasts 1 hour, consider yourself lucky, it will be enough time for Cratos to mobilize his forces, but it won''t be enough, I feel 3 Heroes of Light and I think one of Baldr''s sons." (I) "Wait! Wasn''t he hiding them? Wasn''t it supposed to be a secret?" (Ragnar) "In the midst of war, secrets always explode sooner or later." (I) "It seems this time he wants to put an end to it." (I) "(If even one of his children is involved, then it won''t be as simple as some heroes.)" (I) "(All the force that Cratos could lend has already been seen by the enemy, I also don''t think we can wait long enough for reinforcements to arrive.)" (I) "We have to call Okan, the Master has already awakened and most of us are gathered with him." (Ragnar) "It''s not easy to do something like this, Okan may be strong, but he..." (I) "This place is linked to him, so it should be possible if the master works together on the other side." (Ragnar) "Then let''s not waste any time." (I) "(I just hope I''m not getting yelled at later.)" (I) ------------------ Pov Zenos: I tried to get more information from him, but he didn''t say anything else, when I tried to get closer or attack, I couldn''t get more than 3 meters away from him. I couldn''t get anything else from him, so I paid attention to his presence and Will, I used my own Will to shave some of his skin and perhaps knowing what I wanted to do, he didn''t resist until he made something easier that would have been more difficult. When I returned to my body, Hinata returned inside me, Zaya was a little bent over and Samara was a little pale, what we did seems to have taken a lot of effort from them. "Everyone is well?" (I) "As far as possible... haaa..." (Zaya) Sigh "The expenditure of energy was not heavy... but it was difficult to sustain with our Aura Two Divine Presences colliding their Wills." (Samara) "Did you get what you needed, sir?" (Samara) "I did it, but I''ll need to talk to Niryna later, for now... I''m going to get a good rest." (I) "(Master, a representative from... Tarzor has come to see you, she is seeking... a meeting.)" (Zaya) "Are you talking about that Mother of the Grave?" (I) "Yes, Tarzor is... waiting to find you..." (Zaya) "(She knows I woke up several days ago and waited patiently, it seems he wants to know my position on her desire.)" (I) "(Always something to bother you.)" (I) "Tell her to stay here for another 2 days, after that I''ll go with her to find Tarzor." (I) "Yes..." (Zaya) "Samara, reseal that book and take Hela with you to..." (I) ------------------ I distributed tasks to everyone as well as time to rest, so I went to eat something, I don''t need to eat anymore, but eating in itself is one of the pleasures of life, especially with a good drink alongside. After eating I went straight to the bathroom where I threw myself into the hot springs to relax at least a little. "Aahhh..." (I) Sigh "I really needed this... nothing like a really relaxing bath..." (I) There are so many things happening since I woke up, so many things to worry about, so many things to protect, so many people I want to meet and yet I can''t even sleep, I can''t even get drunk and I tried, the only pleasures I have now are eating any amount of food you want and that wonderful bath. Just these few simple pleasures in life, I just hoped that at least in the bath I could put my problems aside for 1 or 2 hours while floating alone in those heated waters with the steam rising to the starry sky above, this was supposed to be a closed room, but at the time when it was still a Dungeon I had many options to rebuild it as I wanted and a starry sky in the bathroom was quite charming, I just didn''t expect that the illusion I created at that time would become something real now and would even be able to see the Star Palace surrounded by an illusory seed as well as having a strange tree outline. "At least now the view is even more beautiful..." (I) "(Master, I need urgent help!)" (Sakura) "..." (I) "(Master, are you in the bath?)" (Sakura) "..." (I) Sigh "Am I really cursed? Can''t I even take a shower to rest!?" (I) "(I would get in touch at another time if it were possible, but I''m in a situation...)" (Sakura) "Sakura!?" (I) "(Sorry, I was giving some instructions to Ragnar, he''s helping me.)" (Sakura) "What''s going on? Where are you?" (I) I was just taking a shower, but just as I was starting to bond, Sakura''s voice appears in my head and an illusion of her sitting on a wooden lathe appears in front of me. I was frustrated and angry at being interrupted yet again while trying to relax to the point where I considered looking for a Curse God just to find out if he hates me or something. But I had to put those things aside when I saw that Sakura''s situation could actually be serious, so I focused on her while I got out of the hot waters putting on some clothes in preparation for action. "(We are under attack from the Church of Light, we need reinforcements now!)" (Sakura) "Where are you?" (I) "(In the Arboreal Star System.)" (Sakura) "Where is this place?" (I) "(Where you created the great tree and the place you prepared for the Sacred Beasts to live in was named the Arboreal Star System because of the planet-sized tree.)" (Sakura) "I''m in Tarzor now, how do I get there?" (I) "(I can open a path capable of connecting with Okan, but he cannot pass alone, I need you to provide Divine impulse for him, so everyone arrived together with him.)" (Sakura) "I need 10 minutes to warn everyone, how much time do we have?" (I) "(Less than 50 minutes approximately, be quick.)" (Sakura) I didn''t even need to dry myself, just by warming my body the steam started to rise, drying me and the clothes I wore. "(Call everyone to the mansion, now!)" (I) "(Yes!!!)" (All Heralds) Running outside, I was already contacting all my Heralds to gather everyone, in the meantime I went to warn Nira to prepare everyone who can fight and organize an army, something she was willing to do without questions, knowing it was serious. After speaking with her, I ran back to the mansion where I found my children arriving and all my Heralds gathered, I wasted no time and said what little I know about Sakura''s situation before leaving for the Star Palace. Inside the Star Palace I let Okan use my shadow to place a Shadow Dragon head to communicate with me. I told him everything I needed and asked what we had to do, he said he just needed me to pass Divine Power to him and be the link to connect with Sakura. With everything resolved on my side, I hurriedly contacted Sakura. "We''re ready, start!" (I) "(I was waiting for this!)" (Sakura) Suddenly I felt my connection with her strengthening and I connected her with Okan, then there was a sensation of suction pulling us and everything shook briefly, a large amount of Divine Power being sucked out of me. My senses mix with Okan''s and I feel the resistance of space as he moves as if passing through a curtain of water to a completely different place, it only took a few seconds when Okan''s eyes come across a large tree. Chapter 1517: Cap 1515: Frontline part 1 Okan arrived and feeling the space stabilize around him I could feel his tiredness, even though it was just a few seconds, he faced incredible friction and resistance as if he had been trying to swim in a pool of fresh liquid cement. I disconnected from it and walked into the jaws of the Dark Dragon that was touching its head until now, when I left it was outside with a Dragon decreasing in size until it reached 5 meters, it even looked like a lizard without its wings and horns. Diverting my vision to the surroundings, I can see that a lot has changed, starting with white and gold flames being in all directions as if it were a bad background, not matching at all with the surrounding planets as well as looking strange with the tree in the background My front. "Okan, how do you feel?" (I) "Horrible, my whole body hurts and my power is exhausted." (Okan) "Can you create a gate for everyone to go through and leave it open while we''re here?" (I) "I will if you wish, but it will take more effort." (Okan) As he spoke, I extended my hand letting some of my Power filled blood flow into his jaws which he accepts with reverence. "Will this be enough?" (I) "I believe so, thank you Mr. Zenos." (Okan) Less than 2 minutes after arriving, a branch of the large tree moved at high speed, throwing something towards me, what arrived was one of my Familiars locking herself in a warm hug. "Master, I''m sorry I''m not there, but I promise I will..." (Sakura) "We don''t have time for this!" (Ragnar) "A pleasure to see you again and so well, Master." (Ragnar) "Good to see you two doing well, but I''m not here visiting, tell me what''s going on." (I) "I think you better explain..." (Ragnar) "At first...damn!!!" (Sakura) Crack "Good to see you kid." (Cratos) The two were about to start talking, but suddenly something appeared, a shattering sound was heard as a planet-sized arm shot through space, creating cracks that took over half of the Star System leaving the flames from before they just surrounded them, invading like a dam bursting. Everything happened too quickly and I only caught a glimpse of a fur-covered claw pulling that arm back, then a ripple appeared taking everyone away and I found myself standing next to the God of Beasts Cratos, one of his arms was charred with liquid synergy circulating his body arm. He spoke to me calmly, but it was visible that he was very injured, I could feel Baldr''s presence in that wound, the same presence I could feel in that hand covered in injuries from before. "Why is he here?" (I) "Why else? He felt you coming and got tired of letting others undermine the temporary barrier." (Cratos) "I really understand him hating me, but does it take so much?" (I) "Honestly, the only ones he probably hates the most are his Mother and Akatosh." (Cratos) "But we don''t have time for that now, the Mirror Territory is forming, let me take care of Baldr." (Cratos) "Mirror Territory?" (I) "A Territory created by the universe to seal and contain Divine level battles, basically the Universe is quarantining us during fighting to avoid damaging the mortal world." (Cratos) "This new trick was what triggered the war as it allowed the Gods to act with greater freedom." (Cratos) As he spoke I was able to understand what he was saying, I saw something similar in a Super Heroes movie in my old world, the name was also similar and the reason is obvious when I look around seeing very similar landscapes. Around me there was still the tree, the planets and the God of Beasts, but there was no longer that wall of flames sweeping towards us, we were also no longer versed in fire. As I thought, I felt the Divine presence appear in several places, I also felt the arrest of my Familiars and in a few seconds the space shook like the water of a lake before they appeared. "ZEEENNNOOOOSSSSSS!!!!" (Baldr) "Let''s let the kids have fun while we talk with our fists, COME!!!" (Cratos) Suddenly two strong lights collide making the space shake and crack before the space swallows them disappearing, these were Baldr and Cratos fighting before being taken to another place. In front of us for another reason hundreds of lights appeared, they were Celestines wearing armor emanating Divine power and swords made of condensed light, a small army that was becoming bigger and bigger while on my side there were also more people like my Heralds and Hinata who came out from inside me. "Master, we don''t have time to explain, so at least keep it." (Sakura) Sakura throws a red tree leaf towards me that enters my forehead revealing a certain volume of information that I can digest almost instantly. "(I see, so a Son of Baldr... but where is he...?)" (I) I was looking around as if looking for where he could be, but even if I don''t know his appearance, I still know the possible descriptions that could match his appearance, it also wouldn''t be difficult to notice the Gods among them. All it took was some closer look and I found the one with the greatest amount of murderous intent directed at me. He was a Celestine in appearance, he had 5 pairs of golden wings, his eyes were silver with short white hair, his clothes resemble that of the Greeks being just white cloaks, his white skin seems to reflect the light of the surroundings. He looks very handsome, extremely handsome even with that murderous look, he was standing in front of those soldiers with divine armor, in fact I could see that those armors seem to be absorbing the light emanating from him. "Can you take care of others?" (I) "We''ll find a way." (Hades) "I''ll sweep them all away..." (Kiara) "Should I summon my other Familiars?" (I) "Don''t do that, everyone is doing their own thing, we can work it out." (Ragnar) "With you here I have no doubt of victory." (Sakura) "They''re coming!" (I) With my warning everyone got ready, but their speed was faster than I expected, before I knew it there was already a spear of light coming from my right side and a sword in front of me. "You''re going to need more than that!" (I) I open my jaws, transforming my head into that of a Dragon and bite the blade of the sword that gets stuck in my teeth while the blade of my tail hits the spear of light underneath, missing the target. "< Chaos Anomalous Breath >" (I) I use my breath attack at close range, the enemy couldn''t dodge from that position or so I thought. When my attack came out between my teeth the sword crumbled into dust, but the one holding it already had its hilt aimed at my stomach. I didn''t have time to think and just steeled my stomach as I received punch after punch from him, before I realized we were already separated from the others by a great distance. I punch him in the side of the head, but I miss due to his speed, his head leaves an afterimage as he continues punching me. "< Claws of the Eclipse Unholy Dragon >" (I) "< Cutting Wings of Divine Light >" I move my claws full of my Divine Power concentrating my Aura at the tips of the claw, the space itself seemed to make room for my attack without showing resistance as it collided against the enemy''s wings. Its 5 pairs of wings shone with a strong golden light that concentrated around the wings creating 5 large blades that swung towards my claws. The tips of my claws collided against 2 pairs of wings, but immediately he added 2 more pairs of wings as he felt being pushed back, with 4 pairs of wings colliding with my claws in a stalemate, he still had one more pair of wings that it was having fun cutting off my scale-covered arms. "(You lost!)" (I) While his wings were busy attacking, he couldn''t move as he wanted and my blade-like tail cut through space arriving behind him. When my tail collided with his back, he was pushed towards me, but my tail didn''t penetrate his body, what happened was the light around his body decreased by more than 80% while he was pushed. Seeing that my attack did not culminate, I move forward with my head making my body grow 3 times opening my jaws against his tiny head in comparison. "BASTARD!!" "< Holy Sword: Wave of Light >" "< Eclipse Magic: Star Chain >" (I) He holds a large sword with both hands that lights up as he swings creating a large wave of light towards me, his wings stop attacking me trying to retreat, but before he has the chance my claws grab a pair of his wings pulling more him to me while the stars come together in a chain that binds his whites causing a delay in the swinging of the sword. Everything ac?ai? weaved very quickly and when my teeth were about to close on its head, its other wings that were not held by the chains attacked the inside of my mouth, realizing the danger I cut my losses by closing my jaws on its wings taking 3 of them to get stuck in my teeth. "Aaahhhh!!!" "Grrr!!!" (I) I use my tail as a whip, colliding against his chest, at that moment he had already freed his arms, breaking the chains and defended using the sword. The collision of my tail with the sword left a large wound that lights up on my tail, but we were both forced back, I took advantage of this momentum to rip out the 3 wings still trapped in my jaws as well as the two wings being grabbed by my hands. I chewed and swallowed the 3 wings in my mouth before throwing the other 2 in my hands straight into my mouth before chewing. "Your taste sucks!" (I) "I''ll kill you!" "< Awakening of Divine Light >" Chapter 1518: Cap 1516: Frontline part 2 "I''ll kill you!" "< Awakening of Divine Light >" Of its 5 pairs of wings, only 2 pairs of wings remain intact while a fifth wing was stretched out without its complete pair. The damage I did to his wings wouldn''t be enough to be considered a serious injury, so I ate while using curses on the wings on my stomach, preventing him from healing. Killing a God is difficult even for me, so starting to seal him this way seems like a good option, especially with his great speed. As I transformed into a smaller version of my Dragon body less than 10 meters tall, the enemy''s body began to glow brightly, his remaining 5 wings completely transform into light, his hair become condensed strands of light and lines golden lights appear on your body, shining intensely. His silver eyes also take on a golden hue, in his hands two magic circles form on the back of his hands. "Come." (I) "< Holy Summon: Twin Swords of Light >" He waves his hand making the two swords appear as if coming out of the back of his hands, these swords emitted a white light, I could feel a residual presence of Baldr in these swords, they are not simple items. He didn''t waste words, his eyes moved between the places that would be vital points on my body while his swords looked like Ghosts almost completely escaping my senses. He came at me swinging those swords, both my arms were already injured from his wing attacks earlier. I used my wings to defend several attacks with my wings breaking in the process. "You think you''re the only one with a good sword!" (I) "< Divine Summon: Eclipse Star Sword >" (I) I gathered momentum with my Aura and using my fists I made the space create a wave of pressure that momentarily delayed this enemy that I still don''t know the name of, with that time I used my power to gather my Divine Weapon in one of my hands, then indicating the Star Sword that breaks space when it appears, my Divine Weapon merges with the sword naturally like pieces that combine easily. With that the Star Sword once again forms with the silver blade fragmented with purple flames flowing between the fragments, a starry sky with an Eclipse being revealed in the middle of the blade as if it were a portal. With the sword in hand I advanced against the enemy once again, I realized that he only focuses on speed without having ranged attacks, so I advanced against him with force trying to quickly finish him off. "(Baldr is still here fighting the God of Beasts, I can''t take too long in this fight, giving him the opportunity to strengthen my opponent like he did with Solary last time.)" (I) "< Blessing of the Blade of Light >" "< Anomalous Strengthening >" (i) Suddenly the enemy''s strength grows, his Aura flows exclusively to his swords whose brightness intensifies and I am not left behind using Anomalous Power to become stronger, with the experience from last time I am not as cautious as before knowing a little how use such power. Anomalous power takes over my sword, making the stars in the middle of the sword become eyes filled with murderous intent. The enemy was faster than me and has two swords while I only have one sword, but even though he can inflict dozens of wounds on me with each attack, I only need a single blow to finish it all off. He didn''t use his wings to attack again, but even so, the moment he dodged my sword attack, he didn''t notice the trap I left when my tail fell towards his back, cutting off all his remaining wings as well as a piece. of your flesh. I stretched my line quickly pulling these cut parts inside where I devoured them almost without chewing when I saw him attacking without even screaming in pain. I use one of my wings to fend off one of his swords while with one fist I defended his second sword which cut my hand off continuing leaving a deep cut on my chest and when he looked at me, two rays of light come out of his eyes burning a from my eyes. I, without caring about the injuries, move my sword, tail and one of my wings against him. Without his wings, his maneuverability became much more rigid and predictable, but his speed was still superior to mine, he managed to avoid the blow of my wing and let himself be hit by my tail, using the force to move away from my reach sword. The two of us stand facing each other, one of his arms is burning in Starfire and he resolutely slashes away as Fire Serpents seem to move through that arm devouring him to ash. I on the other hand didn''t attack because I felt the danger, looking around I didn''t see anything, but I could feel Baldr''s eyes on me for brief seconds before a tremor shook the entire space leaving claw-shaped cracks not far from where I was, a strong light coming from within the cracks before closing. During that time the arm that was cut off fell apart as the fire disappeared with it, the enemy looked at me while thinking, then he ran or rather he was dragged backwards as if something pulled him away. He was unconvinced and the desire to fight on his face was evident, but a white and golden light coiled around him as he flew backwards into the distance. "You think I''m going to let you go...damn!!" (I) I wanted to run after him, I''m not a fool to let an enemy get out alive, especially if I have a chance of killing him, but as soon as I made the first push forward trying to follow him, suddenly just a ray of light passes inches away from my face burning the very space that tries to repair itself while only the residual heat scares me. "Where did he go?" (I) "Damn it!!" (I) Sigh When I realized again I couldn''t find the enemy, but I returned to where we fought and with a movement of my hand embers of Starfire come together with slightly glowing dust, I swallow it all before drawing a magic circle on my stomach. "< Divine Curse: Ghost Limb >" (I) This is a simple curse, something I learned a long time ago, the Divine energy and my murderous intent come together in the magic circle that infiltrates my stomach, gathering the parts I ate, then with a punch in the stomach I force everything out, vomiting what I have eaten It looked like a rough stone with marks that resemble wings and an arm. "I want to see you recover from this." (I) ---------------- Pov Samara: I was a little surprised with everything happening at the same time around Zenos, it was really movement in this universe. I felt the movement in space that vibrated in place, but for me who has seen universes shatter and traveled between several universes, there is very little that I have not seen until now. "So this Dragon has the potential to traverse entire Dimensions." (I) In the quick meeting I learned about the main points of what we need, defending such a large area would be difficult if it wasn''t a Territory under control like that, but getting there would be difficult otherwise. "I ended up coming along, setting away from my master is unpleasant." (Mother of the Grave) "Shut up, that stupid Serpent must be more worried that Zenos will run away leaving her behind." (I) "Are you here to help or watch?" (I) "Both of them, my master saw through me the situation and was not happy with the Church of Light''s obstruction in their previous assault on Zenos." (Mother of the Grave) "So you..." (I) "Looks like we''ve arrived." (I) It only took a few minutes for the gate to appear, all the Dark Dragons began to take turns at high speed swallowing people who lunged into their jaws, it was a somewhat funny sight. When I left I could only see a strange situation when a sword suddenly tried to go through my chest, I did nothing to stop it and I didn''t even look at the attacker, a red chain came out of my clothes going through the attacker''s head while his sword broke when it touched my chest The attacker''s body, Vitality, Soul and power were sucked out by the current and handed over to me. "A battle of this scale truly is interesting." (I) "I will take care of the troops, I can use their Souls to..." (Mother of the Grave) "Do what you want, my place is near Zenos." (I) Saying this I extend my hand that crosses the space where I was sucked, when I looked around I saw the Heralds fighting and Zenos in the distance, their blows are fierce, but what I felt was even further away, the presence of two great Deities colliding. "For now I can show off a little, convincing Zenos that I''m an ally isn''t that difficult, even if it takes a few dozen years it will be a steal of time compared to eternity." (I) With that said I saw a Priest with shining eyes focusing on me, I also felt the Divine presence within him, trying to hide with an ordinary appearance may work for these young people, but it was useless against me. "Stop hiding and come, I don''t want to deal with this trash around you." (I) Chapter 1519: Cap 1517: Frontline part 3 Pov Sakura''s: The one in front of me was a real pain, a God of Fire, he was a Human with tanned skin and Fire for hair. His Fire Essence has become a Deity that can burn everything and for me that controls plants that are naturally weak against fire. In our first confrontation, one of my arms was already set on fire, I look at the new arm growing after I ripped off the burned one, but the recovery rate was slower than normal. "Before you continue trying to burn me, could you explain to me the reason for continuing to attack a neutral area made for Holy Beasts?" (I) "Don''t play innocent, this is not a neutral area, there is no neutral area when you all declare yourselves against Baldr." "This is an important Territory for you and as such one of the priority Targets, that''s no secret." "Just for that?" (I) "Don''t act innocent, do you think we don''t know the many times your master and his family invaded lands sacred to us?" "Tell me, where did the Moon that Zenos uses as a Divine Weapon come from!?" "..." (I) "Well I guess there''s no point in talking about it." (I) I''m not going to be a hypocrite, I know how Caitlyn and Elizabeth died before being brought back by the master, I also know that the master is far from innocent, he was stealing things and people from the Church of Light long before we met. "Don''t worry, I''m not a cruel being, my flames burned you as quickly as possible." "I don''t cause more pain than necessary..." "< Divine Serpent: Path of Extinction >" (Zaya) "You''re late." (I) Suddenly a Serpent biting itself appears behind the Fire God''s head, what was revealed inside was a path of bones passing over stars, from there hands and bone claws stretch out attacking the Fire God. Caught off guard, the God of Fire had half of his flames extinguished before reacting by moving away from that Serpent, biting his own tail, it was in this change of focus to a new enemy that I made my move. "< Unholy Technique: Anomalous Leaf >" (I) I swung my arm from where a leaf extends like a blade, my arm becomes a branch as it stretches cutting downwards, the Fire God was split in two, his body burning until there was nothing left behind, he had a mocking smile on his face before disappearing. "Bastard, from the beginning he wasn''t here, this wasn''t his body." (I) "A possession of the flames, he was controlling this body from a distance." (Zaya) The Serpent that bites its own tail breaks into fragments, seeing Zaya holding a small flower whose petals point towards me. "Thank you for showing up here, I thought no one would receive my request for help." (I) "What do we do now?" (Zaya) "What else? We killed more of these bastards." (I) With that said we spread out to help others and with that I went in the direction I felt Fiona, she seemed to be struggling and that was when I felt the repercussions of the master''s battle and turned in that direction. "Good thing we''re being contained by the universe here." (I) I couldn''t help but feel relief, if all the Divine level battles took place outside it would be impossible for me to fix everything after each battle, not to mention the number of Holy Beasts killed and the world damaged by the repercussions of the battles. "Let''s get this over with for the sake of my well-deserved rest." (I) ---------------- Pov Irius: I look around, my speed isn''t good enough to take care of these bastards, no matter how many I kill, there seems to be no end to them. Looking around I see battles everywhere, the planets themselves are safe for now with the weaker and younger Sacred Beasts yielding while the majority of those capable of fighting are in the orbits of the planets as a line of defense with only the strongest among them them wandering the Star System like me fighting roving enemies. "[In the direction of B15 there is a Holy Beast being surrounded by hundreds of Templars, go!]" (Nicole) "How are things?" (I) "[Sure, Sakura established a good layered defensive line that I was able to make use of.]" (Nicole) "I see them." (I) I was running, stepping on space itself as if it were the ground, I''m not very good at flying and I prefer to move using the legs I''m already used to, running using my full speed I can cross kilometers in seconds while maneuvering in the asteroid field until I get to where Celestial Crocodile was being beaten, my eyes lit up looking at such a creature. "First let''s finish them off..." (I) "< Eclipse Judgment Blade > 1000" (I) I held a shield in front of me forming half an oval barrier, my feet accelerated my steps in an explosive run with unrestricted momentum, before I even arrived I had already been noticed by the enemies whose focus of half of them shifted to me, they attacked dozens of them attacking they managed to make the barrier crack, but not break. With my other hand, the power of Light and Shadow intertwined on the sword blade as I waved it 100 times in quick succession, each swing of the sword created 10 white and black blade attacks flying towards the enemies. With a hail of Blades flying towards them, the focus of the other half of the enemies also shifts from the Celestial Crocodile to mine. They were not afraid of my attack, they all acted together fighting a vast wave of luminous blades that managed to intercept my attacks completely at the cost of disappearing together. I on the other hand did not stop my advance at any point, the barrier in front of me was still cracked and when I collided with the first enemy the barrier broke, exploding like sharp fragments in the surroundings. "Get out of the way!!" (I) Using my Aura to speak in the space where there is no air, I use some cursed energy to momentarily distract their minds, but unfortunately only a few fell with something so basic, the vast majority resisted and charged at me from all directions. I smile as all my muscles expand, my height grows slightly as Blades appear at the edges of my ear. At such a short distance I don''t need skills or magic to attack, accumulating my Aura and Holy Power on both my sword and shield, I was able to counter them all at the same time. The difference in power between us was only an apparent level, but this was due to their armor and weapons increasing their strength full of Holy Blessings, I on the other hand was using my own power and with my training I was able to wield this power with great technique in ways they couldn''t. My sword swung in one direction while my hearing created an expansive impact wave with each impact. With my shield making the enemies retreat and my sword collecting lives soon after, it only took a few breaths for half of them to die before they could regroup more prepared to deal with me, I couldn''t help but smile at their naivety in forgetting their initial target. The Heavenly Crocodile appeared behind them, who were so focused on me that they lost their movements and the chance to avoid their deaths. A Heavenly Crocodile was a Sacred Beast that could fly in the skies and ocean, its speed was incredible possessing the powers of 3 elements being water, wind and space. Its four limbs were wings that could condense the power of space into blades cutting everyone, its body had thin scales that gave little defense, but it had feathers that covered these scales, it also had super sharp teeth. The Crocodile that had been freed from the enemy siege did not flee even though it was injured, a Sacred Beast, no matter how intelligent it was, was still a monster within itself and as such possessed ferocity that people could not compare with, in its attacks it devoured two entire enemies while its wings were bathed in blood with every shake. Being reminded of their initial target in the worst possible way, the enemies provided another opening which I took advantage of by joining in a pincer attack alongside the Celestial Crocodile. It didn''t take long for all the enemies to be cleaned up, their bodies, bits of armor and blood floating around us. "Thank you..." (Heavenly Crocodile) "Can you still fight?" (I) "I would like to... but I''m really... hurt..." (Heavenly Crocodile) "Then drink this." (I) I slit my wrist letting my blood flow along with Holy Power, I don''t have the healing capabilities of Vanessa or Natasha, but my blood has high healing capabilities if I wish by adding Holy Power. Controlling the blood I make it flow towards the jaws of the Celestial crocodile who drinks without reservation, the Sacred Power and the blood shine in a red light from within him to the outside through his rapidly healing wounds. "Come, with your speed we can move faster." (I) "It''s going to be a pleasure, now that I''m healed I''m going to make each of them pay." (Heavenly Crocodile) I activate the magic bracelet I''m using to communicate with Nicole as I climb onto the Celestial Crocodile''s back and stand upright. "Where to next, Nicole?" (I) "[Get back to the Tree, ASAP!!]" (Nicole) Chapter 1520: Cap 1518: Frontline part 4 Pov Samara: The Priest with shining eyes began to radiate fire, but it was not a normal fire, it was alive, spreading Vitality in the light it emanated, I am very sensitive to the energies of life as I was once a Saint of Life. Its entire body burned to dust and the flame took the form of a creature, a Lion whose mane was made of red flames while the rest of its body was made of golden flames, its eyes were incandescent with red light and its tail looked like that of a fox full of fur that in this case turned into red flames. For me, his mere appearance made me feel nauseous, he is not a God of Life and certainly does not understand the immense complexity of one of the foundations of existence, but even so he flaunts this incomplete power as if it were his true power. "(That damn Roast Lion needs to learn his place.)" (I) "I don''t plan to fight you, I won''t participate in this battle, I''m just here to rescue the injured..." (Lea?o Assado) "Only the injured on Baldr''s side, correct?" (I) "..." (Roasted Lion) "A real idiot who tries to take possession of the power of Life, Mavis is really being as timid as ever to allow these idiots..." (I) Suddenly a smile crosses my face when his paw comes towards me stretching his claws, but that was expected, his arrogance hidden beneath false good reasons cannot fool me. When its paws reached me, I stretched out a hand of endless Demonic energy springs mixing together with my Aura to form chains binding the paw right in front of me. "< Unholy Curse: Chains... >" (I) "< Purification of Living Light >" (Roast Lion) His body glowing faster than I was able to complete the entire process of creating the chain and using a Curse, it seems like he was ready to retreat from the first movement. He stopped the attack and was 3 times further away now his eyes seem to show caution while his presence avoids even touching mine. "A Demon like you, I can feel Death and Corruption emanating as if they were part of you." (Roasted Lion) "Talk less and fight more." (I) "< Unholy Magic: Divine Demon Seal >" (I) "< Disposition of Guardian Light >" (Roast Lion) "I won''t fight you." (Roasted Lion) Just as I thought, he is a coward, he came here forced by the Universe, but he remained hidden among the Priests, he did not take the lead to fight and until I appeared he must not have intervened in anything, he only revealed himself because I pointed to he. A mixture of cowardice and arrogance, there were few I found with this polarity of strange emotions so balanced. As soon as I attacked, his body glowed once again as the rays of light seemed to follow a hidden flow out of this place, in other words he was running. I just watch and as soon as he disappears, I turn to Hades who appears behind me, when Zenos is not around I can always feel his eyes on me. "What''s wrong? Now that I have a body, do you want to try your luck?" (I) "What did you do?" (Hades) "Someone here at least has a brain... hahahahahaha." (I) "I just left something behind, others won''t notice, at least for a while." (I) "Master Zenos is fighting, in the meantime I need his help..." (Hades) ------------------- Pov Silvia''s: I was sitting on one of the branches of the Tree that was once Yntra, as I was once a World Tree I have experience in regulating Natural energies, but what I am feeling here is the suppression of a Natural energy towards the other two energies, it seems that the Ki was strengthened at least. "[How''s it going?]" (Nicole) "Nothing, I didn''t achieve anything." (I) "Sakura is crazy for thinking it''s possible, no Barrier can be created in this place except for the natural Tree Barrier she used until we got here." (I) "But I discovered something." (I) "This tree can do that." (I) With a thought, the father''s Sacred Power traveled through my body until they penetrated the tree, this made Runes and lines appear on the bark of the tree in the surroundings, it was also possible to feel a slight pulsation before everything returned to normal. "[What was that?]" (Nicole) "This tree is in the process of becoming an Anomalous Creature, it appears to be collecting the power flowing through Sakura and reaching Father." (I) "It hasn''t been born yet, but it''s connected to the tree and acts on instinct." (I) "[Silvia, get ready, most of the enemies are coming with weapons in hand.]" (Nicole) "(I think it''s best not to do anything with this tree for now.)" (I) I turn my gaze into the distance connecting with the tree could spread my senses throughout the entire Star System without any problems. I could see millions of Templars and Priests of Light coming they seemed to be discussing something, but I wasn''t able to hear anything, their Aura hidden from me in that aspect. Then my eyes focused on another who surprised me, murderous intent surging within me as I moved in the same direction I felt that person coming from. When I got there I saw the black-skinned Elf with golden lines running through his entire body, his hair was short on top, shaved on the sides and with a ponytail at the back, his golden eyes seemed to shine as if he had a candle behind each one of your eyes. His clothes were a leather version of the Light Templar armor, his presence was that of a God. Baldr''s power surrounded him, but they were only external traces, they did not seem to be something central or fundamental to his power. What stranged me was feeling the presence of the power of Life within him, it was actually flowing through the golden lines on his body. I didn''t even waste my time talking to him, I just wanted to hear the sound of his Soul breaking apart in pain, this was an ancient Elf King who betrayed his Village, the World Tree with whom he had a contract and betrayed even everything that one day sworn to protect. I was being led by my emotions, even though I am no longer a World Tree I still consider them all as my sisters, I know each of the criminals who caused the death of one of these sisters. I transformed into the advancing Dragon, but between my attacks I felt something inside him, this was disconcerting to say the least. "< Divine Breath of Cataclysm >" (I) "< Leaves of the Sage of Light >" I didn''t want to let this bastard escape and hearing his voice was a refusal, what I wanted and needed was his blood floating among the stars. My attack came out as a formless mixture of multiple elemental powers with only the power of the wood element being slightly stronger. But just as my attack was about to hit these bastards, I doubled over and the shadow of a large flower appeared, emitting dazzling light that blinded my eyes while my attack fell on the half-formed flower, making it sway in place. My breath attack was sucked into the strange flower, but I could feel that it wasn''t the attack itself that was sucked in but rather the elemental powers that made up the attack, each petal of the flower represents an element that was sucked out of my breath attack and without these elements the attack will decay into nothing. "You are exactly who I wanted to find, the World Tree who was reborn as a Dragon, Silvia." "< Eclipse Magic: Star Tentacles >" (I) I don''t care about the things he wants to say, I don''t care about his words, thoughts, emotions or whatever he has, what matters is seeing his guts torn apart. Since my previous attack didn''t work, I won''t make the same mistake twice, I may be on the verge of a tantrum, but I kept my thinking rational as much as possible. Since my previous attack had its elemental powers sucked away and destroyed before it even hit, I couldn''t use attacks with normal elements and so I used Holy Power as the basis for Eclipse Magic. I was using Eclipse Star Magic to create a cluster of star flames that take the form of tentacles as soon as they make their attack that damn thing crumbles into nothing. The elements of Chaos cannot be absorbed by anyone, with this I was able to arrest the idiot who let his guard down. I charged at him, my Holy Power surging for only a brief moment before condensing into a sword in one of my arms, but just as I was about to end up like him something unexpected happened. Several rays of light passed by me and before I could react a large Lion figure momentarily appeared, he caught that damn Elf managing to destroy the seal around him freeing the Elf who ran in two different directions. I couldn''t do anything as I watched them retreat, how could she accept this, but there was nothing to do but watch them both disappear in less than a blink of an eye. Chapter 1521: Cap 1519: Frontline part 5 Pov Alice''s: I was looking at the Church of Light troops, they were spreading everywhere, but the defense in each planet''s orbit was strong, ironically it was the tree that was least protected. "Did you warn them?" (Nicole) "Yes, I''m sure Zenos heard and Hades replied that the Gods are starting to retreat when they are at a disadvantage." (I) "The usual, but they are not withdrawing the troops." (Nicole) "Yes, that is strange..." (I) Nicole was next to me, there was a space fox next to us as well as a Dryad following Sakura. Around us it was possible to see Nicole''s holographic screens revealing the situation throughout the Star System, the movement of the troops was easily identifiable. "I''ll buy some time." (I) "Thank you, Irius is on his way as well as Silvia, I''m still warning the others." (Nicole) "I can only hold one side." (I) "Then go to point A03. It will be the first contact and it should only be troops with numbers." (Nicole) With that I advanced alone while Nicole gave instructions to the other two Sacred Beasts. I arrived a little below a large tree where their Ethereal Roots spread to other Planets, the Ki of this place is very strong, but it is difficult to use magic. "(It seems that I will have to fight this time.)" (I) While thinking this I looked in a direction, now that the White Fire had been scattered and was no longer a threat, it was easy to see that white light coming, their arrogant Auras are always the same as if they were the correct ones in any conflict they entered. I take a deep breath, letting the blood flow throughout my body. The Sacred Power then joins my body. An incredible sensation passes through every corner of my body My senses become so strong that I can smell the blood for almost 1/3 of the entire Star System My Aura becomes more liquid with a red glow Of course, it is not corporeal, being something ethereal, but it is a clear representation of how much the power of the Blood has increased for me. "I think I can let myself go more..." (I) "AAAHHHHH!!" (I) The Sacred Power would not be enough. I could feel the Sacred Power marking each of the countless Auras coming in this direction They were even ignoring the attacks being suffered from behind or from the side to focus here, their numbers being in the thousands. I simply touch the Divine, making the power of Zenos within me awaken, becoming a source of Divine Power. "< May the power of the Eclipse bleed for me >" (I) With this power within me, I join my hands and pray with my eyes closed, this Divine Power that was previously imprinted on me began to circulate through my blood, I felt my blood become heavier and more condensed, I also felt as if countless bloodlines came to life and acted as one as they ran through my entire body. My Blood Core merged with my heart, 3 pairs of wings burst from my back, they were made of fresh blood taking the form of wings while still flowing in and out of my body. In my head the symbol of an Eclipse appears with a crystallized drop of blood emitting light in the middle. My Aura now became corporeal flowing around me remaking my clothes into something easier to move, my claws grew as if there were swords attached to each finger, my eyes as well as my senses could distinguish blood, vitality is even the Soul of all living creatures. Looking at the approaching army I could barely contact the bloodthirsty desire inside me, the desire to make the blood flow bathing everything in the most beautiful red, but I needed a calm mind, acting purely on instinct was a stupid way to seek one''s own death. "(This really is incredible!)" (I) Every part of my body screamed with euphoria, such an incredible and wild power was making my body overflow with total euphoria, I had never felt so powerful, never felt so alive. "[ALICE!!!]" (Nicole) "..." (I) "[Don''t get carried away, they''re already too close.]" (Nicole) I look at the enemies, for a second I had forgotten about them, but with Nicole''s warning I was able to focus my mind once again and with a thrust of my wings I advanced in a storm of blood towards them. As I moved, blood particles evaporated from my body, creating clouds of blood that gathered into a wall of clouds moving like an unrestrained storm. They tried to stop me with attacks using swords and magic This was not an offensive technique, it was just a release of blood that I controlled to create a convenient field to fight in. My wings moved differently than normal wings They were not moving based on the wind or space They moved through the pure Vital energy that permeates the entire universe In this place blessed by Ki, my movements became even faster, since Ki is strongly related to living creatures. With a flap of my wings, I was already in their midst. My claws moved, tearing hundreds to pieces while the blood from their bodies was drained, making visibility within the storm of blood more difficult. Some of them were able to perceive me, but the vast majority were empty shells that were simply squeezed dry of all the blood It didn''t take long for me to notice the difference between those who died and those who were able to at least show some resistance. Almost all of those who were dying with each blow were the Disposable Soldiers who had been victims of the Church of Light''s forced transformation They were dying by the hundreds with each attack of mine I felt sorry for them, but I wouldn''t go easy on them because of that since they were still enemies. "< Holy Summon: Scorching Sun >" Suddenly a strong light illuminated within the storm of blood, the particles and drops of blood evaporated into nothing The storm was dissolving, so there was no point in keeping things like this. I undid the barrier, revealing a miniature Sun flying between two basic circles with 10 High Priests around each magic circle. That Sun emitted a strong light that seemed to try to burn me, but Zenos'' Divine Power was protecting me. Looking around, the enemies were everywhere, there were many and I could see more of them coming, this time it was really a full attack. "(It''s going to be difficult...)" (I) ------------------ Pov Lilith''s: "I feel horrible..." (I) "Of course, they ripped off your head and pierced your heart." (Irina) "Yes, that might be part of the problem." (I) "But at least I managed to find the location." (I) "Do you need more blood?" (Irina) "No, you gave me too much, do you have any idea how hard it is to digest our Father''s blood." (I) As I spoke I could feel the bones in my spine and neck moving, the holes and tears in my heart were also healing, fortunately they didn''t notice my Demonic Blood Core. "They''re nearby, a Separate Space." (I) "We can take care of that later, we have an attack to face now." (Irina) I let myself be hit by the enemies to track their Revenge, I know best what it''s like to be forced to become something you''re not, they may have lost, their minds and emotions, even their Souls may have suffered, but the revenge they desired cannot be erased. "How do you feel?" (Irina) "Better, I think..." (I) As I spoke to her all my injuries were healed, so she took me to the bed-shaped Barrier she created and looked around. We were already getting close to the tree and it was possible to see several in the middle of fighting against many enemies. I looked at their position and felt their Auras, I am very sensitive to the Auras of others and it was more than easy to read the Auras of this army. "Irina, we need to run... they''re going to...!" (I) "..." (I) "But what is this?" (Irina) Suddenly a large Sun appeared, streams of light energy gathered from each of the enemies, the entire army near the Tree fell unconscious, some of them even exploded with large clusters of light coming out of the remains of their bodies towards this Sun. "Nicole!? Nicole, can you hear me!!??" (Irina) "She can''t hear you the Divine presence emanating from this Sun blocks..." (I) "..." (Irina) While we were looking for what to do, space shattered as a large hand grabbed the Sun that was still expanding. From that hand an image of a Purple Sun emerged, sucking large amounts of Divine Power from that Sun. Soon it began to slowly diminish as its power was sucked away, then the head of a large Dragon appeared, it was the Father in his Dragon form, his Presence a symbol of his identity. Along with my Father came something tied around his body, at first I thought it was a Serpent of Light, but then I realized it was a large luminous chain that was burning his body. He was clearly in pain, but even so he continued to let these chains hurt him until he finished off the Sun, which was much more dangerous for all of us. But it was at that moment that he was pulled into the crack he had passed through, but by then the Sun was half the size, so she arrived, crossing the crack that Zenos created, Sakura acted quickly, making the roots of the large tree appear and just like my bread did, she was absorbing the power of the sun with the tree. Chapter 1522: Cap 1520: Frontline part 6 After seeing my enemy flee, I went after the other enemies, even though those pulled by the universe into this scattered space outnumbered my companions, they had few at the Divine Level and more than 2 had already retreated without any deaths. When I spotted Xagar, he was covered in blood, his Demon Dragon body covered in wounds emitting light, but his enemy had one arm hanging down and one of his legs missing, Xagar also had a strong will to fight in his Aura and was clearly struggling to stop his enemy from fleeing. "(Are none of them fighting to the death?)" (I) I can''t understand what they''re doing, but this isn''t the time to think about it, I won''t interfere in Xagar''s fight either, he''s still a warrior who likes to finish his own fights. With that, I continued moving forward, seeing Fiona surrounded by enemies in a stalemate, but she was not in danger, none of the enemies were strong enough and at most they could fight in a stalemate using the combined Power of everyone in some strange cooperation technique. Out of all my Heralds, she is the weakest and the one with the least self-confidence, stepping forward to help would be a blow to her already low confidence, this is also a good time for her to train without putting her life in danger. Once again I moved forward to other combats until I found Zaya and Hades standing in front of me, they looked at me and then looked away to Samara who had her mouth around someone''s head, which was absurd considering that someone''s body was 10 times the size of hers and her body was surrounded by chains emitting the cursed power of Hell. "Samara, stop playing around!" (I) Her eyes turned to me and she still managed to show signs of a smile on the corner of her mouth as more than 10 tongues came out of the corners of her mouth to wrap around the enemy''s body, truly infinitely long tongues, then pull the enemy all at once into her small body. "You got it right, she was just torturing him." (Hades) "I was born and raised in a world full of the cruelest creatures in the universe, there is little that does not have a view regarding cruelty." (Zaya) "Forget her, how is the rest?" (I) "Everyone else is fighting without difficulty, except for Xagar and Kiara''s enemy, the Divine-level enemies fled with only Hades managing to break the Divinity of one and Samara managing to devour another." (Zaya) "Then why not..." (I) "..." (Hades) I exchange a look with Hades, nodding to him We received a call from Alice It seems that they are staying at the Sakura Tree I was lost in thought for a few seconds before my attention was drawn to an enemy who arrived from absolutely nowhere as if he had always been there. The 4 white chains like marble, marked by veined lines and folds, lingered on my arms, Hades'' neck, Zaya''s stomach, and were grabbed by Samara''s hands. Only Samara and I were able to respond to the attack in time I acted on pure instinct, putting my arm in front of me in defense, but Samara managed to react faster, using her hands to grab the chain. "< Breath of the Unholy Dragon God >" (I) "< Anomalous Infernal Corruption >" (Samara) Zaya tries her best to rip the chain out of her, which she succeeds in, but Hades chose to break the chains which he also succeeds in before the part of the loose chain still obese in his body explodes into light burning him from the inside. Samara and I didn''t waste any time I transformed my body into a Dragon and at the same time, without finishing the transformation, I was already launching a breath attack, creating an increasingly larger Starfire Dragon that wrapped itself around the enemy''s chains, following them to their source I also ripped off the chain attached to my arm, holding it firmly. Samara, on the other hand, emitted a terrifying presence that was beyond Demonic An Anomalous energy mixed with this presence as it infiltrated the chain, extinguishing its light while painting the chain black with the veined lines turning red It was corrupting the chains to their source. We both thought about attacking the enemy directly, but of course neither of us succeeded This enemy waited for the best moment to threaten and was already prepared The chains that reached him were destroyed while his hiding place exploded. One of the Templars of Light, the chains came from inside him, but he was not a true Templar, it was just a set of armor that fell apart revealing a luminous cube covered in chains. This cube opens with the chains coming loose and what comes out is a Dragon of light, but by his Aura he knew that it was not a True Dragon, he only had the appearance of the Dragons. His body was made entirely of light with pieces of armor decorated on his body, luminous chains were around his arms, tail and back forming his luminous iron wings. "Master Zenos, leave him to us, go to Alice!" (Hades) "Strange, why did a Divine Weapon become a God?" (Samara) "I am the one who will lead your death!" "< Divine Chains of Baldr''s Light >" "< Divine Eclipse Summoning: Creation of the Space Beast >" (Zaya) "< Anomalous Breath of Chaos >" (Hades) "< Chains of Divine Desecration >" (Samara) Everyone else began their attacks against the enemy, meanwhile I could sense that Alice was in danger, Hades must have sensed it too and that''s why he told me to go ahead. Hades'' Dragon Breath was a Crystallized Black Dragon covered in stellar flames. Zaya gathered the Anomalous power, the power of Life and the Power of Death creating a circle imitating the creation of all existence, then extracting a part of the space a Beast was created, it seemed to have an upper half of its body similar to a Dragon in shape while the lower half looked more like a tiger, wings that looked like broken mirrors flutter behind its back as it charged at the enemy. Only Samara seemed calm when chains burst from within her body emanating the same disturbing energy as before, they seemed to have a life of their own emanating a horrible murderous intent. "< Dragon Claw of the Unholy Eclipse >" (I) With the Anomalous power and my Divinity marking my Dragon claws, I cut the space, but it wasn''t a cut that was created and so the space shattering was a surprise, it was like sinking my claws into a mirror and breaking everything in its path. I didn''t choose to do this simply to get out, I didn''t just want an exit from this mirrored space, I wanted a passage through space to where the most intense Divine energy was coming from outside the space, that''s why this passage through space went nowhere and created a door with no destination. With this opening I felt the Divine energy and with a certain position, I gathered the power again and this time it was not only I cut with my claws but also pierced with my fist. On the other side I felt what I was feeling, at my level of power my Aura carried all my senses and even though only my arm passed to the other side, I could see everything that was happening, the source of the Divine Power was a Sun in constant explosion and it seemed to be accumulating the power of the troops to explode near the tree, an explosion with so much Divine Power and Sacred Power accumulated was scary to think about. I didn''t spend more than 1 second thinking, even while I was seeing everything around me, I was already mobilizing my Divine Weapon, the Cursed Sun concentrates in that hand and I use its cursed power to absorb and corrupt the Holy Power while dispersing the Divine Power. Of course, this made my hand a conductor and I felt my bones burn with that power trying to resist me, but that was why I was so focused on the outside, that I didn''t notice the attack launched against me from behind. A very thick chain wrapped around my body burning and hurting my body, I didn''t look back because I could feel Hades, Zaya and Samara still fighting, what I did was try to force my body out in an attempt to free myself from that damned chain. "GET BACK HERE!!" (Baldr) "You dare to divert attention during combat!!" (Cratos) I hadn''t even forced my body completely out when suddenly a hand of crystallized light appeared from another crack behind me, pulling the chain, making me retreat My strength wasn''t enough to resist. I heard the voices of the two Gods who should have been in the middle of a fight and their presences were colliding, that''s when I saw Sakura advancing towards me. "(Forget about me, advance outside and take care of that shitty Sun!)" (I) "..." (Sakura) I saw the hesitation in Sakura''s eyes, but she obeyed me and advanced outside through the passage she created before it closed. When I turned around, I only saw a cruel claw full of golden blood tearing that luminous arm as it pulled it back until they disappeared inside that crack. "Bastard!!" (I) I saw the other 3 still fighting against that supposed Dragon when suddenly I felt another presence advancing towards me, it was a giant made of metal with 4 arms and golden lines marked all over its body with wings of light on its back. "They won''t stop coming!?" (I) Chapter 1523: Cap 1521: Frontline part 7 I was still getting rid of the chains that hurt my body when that giant of luminous metal comes charging at me while the others are still facing that thing that looks like a Dragon of Light. I just removed the last remnants of that chain from me as I prepare to go against that damned metal giant. "Come on!!!" (I) This time I throw my caution out the window, since the enemy had no reservations to come with everything, I wouldn''t hold back anymore either. With my claws pointing at that damned giant, the light around it seemed to be solid like a defensive layer. "Fall!!!" At first my claws seemed to have stopped before reaching the giant, but I smiled as the power of Chaos and Anomalous power intertwine in my claws, the light around its body shatters into particles as my claws gain speed going against its fist. Goooood!! We were both thrown back with a large space between us, but there was no time to contemplate, I thrust my wings towards him and his 4 arms struck behind him with open hands as if pushing him forward, the space behind him cracked for a moment with his strength as his speed surpassed mine. This time I activated all my Divinity along with the Anomalous power, I was not reserving anything other than the incarnation technique, I did not want to use that power when enemies were appearing around every corner, I will no longer reserve power during fights, but I would not let myself fall in a moment of weakness for a moment of explosive power. In a close-range combat, he and I joined at the same time, this time neither of us was dragged back, but I came out on the losing end of this exchange, my fists were slightly numb proving the strength of this giant. I didn''t even have time to think when three more fists rained down on me, each swing of his arms made the space ripple, each blow of his was accompanied by an explosion of light blinding everyone. On the other hand, I only had two arms, when I stopped the attack of two arms I had to appear to defend the other two arms, almost immediately becoming defensive during the fight with no chance to attack. This only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough to infuriate me, I was mad with rage while every fiber of my body roared with wild killing intent. As a Dragon, I couldn''t accept staying behind just fighting on the defensive, even if I had a plan or anything else, I couldn''t deny being a Dragon and only now did I realize how much this influenced me, the arrogance and savagery of the Dragons was reaching my Soul, I could accept dying in battle and I wouldn''t fear anything or anyone. What I couldn''t accept was not fighting, just staying on the defensive without even daring to attack was running away from combat, my reflexive act made my instincts get in the way of my reasoning, I hadn''t lost my mind yet and I didn''t like being on the defensive to begin with, so I quickly thought of a solution. Using my Divine Weapon and my blood I created 2 red arms from my ribs before crystallizing part of the Blood creating red crystal bone structures and red crystal scales, one of these fists filled with purple flames while the other created countless sharp silver fragments towards the outside, an image of the Sun and another of the moon were in the palms of these 2 new arms. I didn''t want my Star Sword right now, I wanted fists strong enough to crush this piece of luminous balcony until it was recycled! I hold one of his arms to the side as I use a wing to defend an attack, the silver arm strikes the side of his body as if it were the first movie I hit, a silver stake from the back of my hand going through his body to the center of his body. But he didn''t seem to feel anything as we fought again in a stalemate, the more I attacked him the more I realized that he had no weaknesses and little by little I understood the reason for this. "You are a Divine Weapon!" (I) "You don''t need to know!" Each folder I handed him I could feel didn''t actually hurt his body, he seemed like a malleable mass of metal, each blow of mine made his body ripple dispersing part of the force, any cutting or piercing blow healed quickly and there didn''t seem to be things like organs or even bones inside his body. The strange thing was the Vitality I was feeling coming from him, he shouldn''t be just a Divine Weapon like that, that''s when I realized that only his head was always protected. "(Metal that cannot be destroyed in a perpetual state of Malleable... do you really think that alone can protect you?)" (I) "< Divine Eclipse Magic: Anomalous Curse Seal >" (I) I smiled as I made a risky move, the two arms I had just created exploded, the Anomalous power works like a mid-way inversion to one of the ends being either creation or destruction. Since I have the power of Chaos, I can better control the Anomalous power and I don''t need to choose one of the two paths, being able to manipulate it as I wish. The Fragmented Moon forms a barrier the size of a real Moon around us filled with the power of life, the space between the fragments was covered in rivers of purple magma emanating cursed power as if it were going to destroy everything, the contrast of life and destruction was too extreme. "< Incarnation of the Divine Physique of Light >" The barrier around us had just formed, the giant tried to retreat but it was too late, he didn''t even try to escape and quickly a strong presence appeared on his head that spread throughout his body, his face changed to an aged one full of scars, hair of light crystallized on his head while his only functional eye was red. His entire body became thinner while gaining characteristics as if it was forming armor from the neck down, his killing intent was colossal as his 4 arms divided once more to form 8 arms. I wouldn''t let him get so comfortable, but I was also doing some things, the Star Fire lit up everywhere taking up all the space within this barrier, but around the giant the light emanating from his body was trying to fight the flames, emphasis on trying. The Starfire did nothing to me, my body would not be affected by my own power, in fact to me it felt like just a pleasant dip in the pool of blood, it was very comfortable. With that I advanced against the giant once more, unlike before where he only had raw power, he became more technical revealing attacks more focused on a combo of attacks in sequence without pause. Each of his blows is followed by another blow from a different direction varying greatly and sometimes even having a hidden attack, the happiness of his blows was also very great, while I attacked only twice, I was already receiving more than 10 blows. My body was all sore in a few minutes, but the smile was plastered on my Dragon face as the enemy hurried more and more. His metal body was beginning to melt, my blows were not focused on causing damage to his body like he was doing to me, I would never hit his body that has so many arms to defend and attack, so I was destroying the divine light around him allowing the Star Fire around us to break through his defenses like a hungry creature attacking its prey. His body was becoming more malleable, which slowed down his speed a bit and made his attacks lighter, losing the rigidity of his body. Even though I suffered many saints at the beginning, I was now slowly bringing our fight to a draw and as time went by I would have the complete advantage, from the moment I erected this barrier my victory was already decided. His metal body could be an eternal and regenerative defense, but like any metal it could still be refined, as a God I could still refine divine metal and burn the enemy''s Divinity together using the power of Chaos, even his Soul must be suffering damage while we fought. I didn''t want to let another enemy escape and I realized that he was looking for an opportunity to escape, while 6 of his arms continued to fight me, the other 2 arms that were as soft as cooked noodles were trying to open space to escape. But of course it wouldn''t be that easy, the power of the Star Fire refined even space making any attempt at teleportation impossible even for me who created all this. I continued attacking and gaining the upper hand, I began to divide his body into pieces that were taken to the corners of that space, finishing the refinement process. In the end, there were already hundreds of large metal spheres surrounded by creatures of Starfire, while all that was left of the enemy was an old man full of muscles, his body had several silver patterns that were cracked, his body was covered in wounds and I was chewing on one of his arms that was as small as a splinter in my colossal size. I wouldn''t leave any opportunity for him to do anything and with one more bite I closed my jaws on his entire body, but at that moment I felt a blow hitting the barrier, making everything tremble and I hurriedly crushed the enemy with my teeth using the Power of Chaos to seal his Soul as well as his Divinity. "How dare you!!!" Chapter 1524: Cap 1522: Reinforcements have arrived "How dare you!!!" The barrier I created sealing this area breaks into pieces and reassembles into the two celestial bodies that return to me, I also saved the Divine Metal people as well as the Divine Soul of this Giant of Light. What was causing all this trouble turned out to be a bracelet adorned with rainbow-colored jewels emitting divine light. I didn''t recognize the voice speaking, but the presence of the bracelet seemed like Baldr''s The bracelet seemed to be searching for me after the Barrier broke and flew at me as soon as it noticed my presence. "(Return to the tree!)" (I) I couldn''t escape this attack like that, so I let myself be swallowed by space and sent straight out of that mirrored space Not far from me, everyone was appearing running towards me, I also used my wings to fly to the tree. Behind us, that Dragon of Light showed itself once again The bracelet I saw before was now around the Dragon''s neck, and unlike before, it seemed alive with much more power emanating from it, enough to make me afraid. I saw that the Dragon was covered in wounds, or in this case, damaged, but all the damage my companions had done was being undone as it recovered, even its size was increasing. "Should we continue heading towards the tree with it chasing us?" (Hades) "Yes, that is the safest place now, and we have to reunite with the others." (I) For those at our level, the speed to cross the Star System where there is no air resistance, no space restrictions, and no coercion from the world itself, as well as no obstacles of any kind, became easy to reach high speeds. It only took a few minutes for us to reach the tree, where we saw many roots forming a beehive-shaped prison around a sphere of fire imitating a Sun that was even smaller than I had left it. "Get out of the way!" (I) "Let''s reduce these numbers, they''re being a nuisance in my eyesight." (Samara) "< Divine Eclipse Magic: Parasite Mutation >" (Kiara) I saw the luminous clouds of the enemy army around the tree, the Aura checks and energy explosions could be felt hundreds of kilometers away. As soon as we got close, our speed and strength were far superior to his, but we didn''t use too much power so as not to be pulled once again by the universe being sealed to fight in that mirrored space. That''s why I avoided using skills, magic or even my Divinity, the only thing I used was my Aura, nothing else. The others did the same with only Kiara using her powers, she having powers more focused on the situation was more than just excited for this fight. I advanced through the clouds of enemies like a tractor in the middle of your ex-wife''s garden, I went around running over everything and everyone. The only ones who could compare to me in limitless brutality were Samara and Hades, Cinthia wasn''t far behind, but she couldn''t compare to two colossal Dragons and the infernal chains that seemed to be life-givers coming straight from Hell that Samara swung with skill. We made a brutal path until we reached the tree, when we got there I saw the Titan of Nature that Sakura had transformed into and I also saw the magnificent Dragon of Nature that Silvia had become. Of course our advance wasn''t just delayed by a wave of such weak enemies, they didn''t have any Demigods or Heroes to even try to slow us down, with just my claws I was able to tear everyone apart while my Aura alone was capable of setting off Starfire on everyone that came into contact with me. As soon as I joined the others I didn''t waste any words, I just turned around and waved to the others in preparation for the enemies coming, the copy of a Dragon of Light that was strengthened wasn''t the only one coming, there were others waiting in different directions, I had noticed them before I even approached, their positions were a preparation for a Ritual. As soon as I arrived everyone had already started to move, Divine power gathering forming a flow in the shape of the ritual, but this had just begun when a crack opened like a wound in space and blood flowed like a waterfall. From this waterfall of blood emerged millions of Vampires wearing red and black armor, among the first ones I saw, an Aura caught my attention and I saw Arthur wielding his great sword with a bloodthirsty smile on his face. But no Aura was greater than hers, coming out in her form as a waterfall Dragon Sequel All the blood spread millions of kilometers around was sucked in her direction Adella was already aiming at one of the Demigods who couldn''t do anything He was paralyzed with fear in the face of such an overwhelming murderous intent. Adella wasn''t the only one of my Divine daughters to arrive. Right behind them, Ynes and Aurora appeared That''s when I looked at them both and turned to Adella once more, noticing that the 3 of them had already arrived injured. They all had strange injuries. After they appeared, 2 other Demigods I didn''t know appeared Their Auras were wild and their appearances had animal traits, revealing that they were subordinate to Cratos. With the arrival of all of them, the battle completely changed course In terms of individual power, we were winning from the beginning Only the endless waves of enemy numbers were wearing us down slightly as time went by. Just as we were gaining a greater advantage, the enemies retreated, a strong light took over everything as methods disappeared, Baldr''s power spreading in that brief moment where all enemies disappear without a trace. From the beginning, the strongest people retreated when they realized it was not possible to win, individual fights being something perfectly in our favor while the enemy numbers made group combats worse and worse. Now that we have the numbers and even more individual strength to fight, they decided to retreat, but when I looked around I was not happy, the Tree was almost intact except for some burn marks that are already refusing. But I didn''t have time to pay attention to any of this when a crack opened in front of me, the only presence I felt from inside was that of the God of Beasts and it seemed to be inviting me. As soon as I entered, I was already in a forest space in the middle of the day, it was very pleasant if it weren''t for the bloodthirsty roars coming from every corner of this place. I was already back to my small form and went towards the God of Beasts, I could see the blood staining his face, bruises and cuts in many places, but nothing surpasses the number of burns in every corner I could see. I could see that he was healing, but it was too slow at this speed it would take days for him to fully recover, not that it makes any difference. "We need to talk, boy." (Cratos) As he spoke I realized that he was not very well, his Aura was unstable and his presence was emanating great pressure, which is why I didn''t get too close to him. "What happened to you?" (I) "When a God is seriously injured, it''s not something simple, so remember that." (Cratos) "My Divinity has been injured, I''ll need some time to heal, I didn''t expect him to bring the sword, but at least I managed to seriously injure him." (Cratos) "What do you need?" (I) "I want you to heal me, we''re in the middle of a war and I can''t afford to stay in recovery." (Cratos) "Your sister would be better if it was any other type of injury, but being in my Divinity your power of Chaos will serve better." (Cratos) "How do I do that without getting close?" (I) "Use your blood to seal a trace of the power of Chaos, I''ll take care of the rest." (Cratos) ------------------- When I came out of the crevice I was back in front of the tree, Adella was waiting for me and grabbed my shoulder tightly, she dragged me to Sakura. "..." (I) "He''s here, you can start." (Adella) "I don''t have time to explain." (Sakura) Sakura places a finger on my forehead, a short stream of information comes to mind making me understand that the tree had been destabilized, there was also information on how to fix it. I nod to Sakura who nods before placing her hand on the tree then many roots appear penetrating my arms, I use my Divinity to run my arms to the roots passing through the entire tree before returning through other roots back to me, thus this cycle repeats itself more than 100 times with each one doing more than I expected. In the end the tree was once again good, in fact it was better than just good, what caught me off guard was the change of a gate in the shape of a Dark Dragon''s head marking itself at the base of the tree, this was a permanent passage. "Everything here is resolved, so let''s go back, Tarzor is still waiting for you." (Mother of the Grave) "No, he''s coming with me, I need him for something..." (Adella) "..." (I) "(Why are they discussing me without asking my opinion? Do they think they can tell me where I''m going like that?)" (I) Chapter 1525: Cap 1523: Counterattack part 1 "Everything is settled here, so let''s go back, Tarzor is still waiting for you." (Mother of the Grave) "No, he''s coming with me, I need him for something..." (Adella) "..." (I) "(Why are they arguing about me without asking my opinion? Do they think they can tell me where I''m going like that?)" (I) Seeing the two of them fighting over me doesn''t make me happy, seeing anyone fighting over me has never made me happy because it''s always been synonymous with problems of some kind. "Shut up, both of you, I don''t have the time or patience to listen to you." (I) "Adella, I appreciate you coming, without you we would have had a lot of problems and maybe even some casualties, which would be unacceptable to me." (I) "I''ll listen to what you have to say and then we''ll see what to do I have matters to deal with now and I''m not going to be dragged around by you. I also know that you''re stronger than me, but you can''t catch me if I want to run away and you know it." (I) "Mother of the Grave, for starters, go get a name. Calling you that is horrible." (I) "Besides, I''ll see Tarzor when I have time, which has been a luxury I haven''t had since I woke up, so don''t bother me with this matter anymore." (I) "We don''t have time for that. This is a serious matter and..." (Adella) "Alice and Sakura, take a survey of those who can still fight and gather them all." (I) "Are you listening to me?" (Adella) "I don''t accept names. I don''t need mortal recognition. My unique presence reveals my identity beyond anything a name can do." (Grave Mother) "Hades, check the situation of the other Heralds and get everyone ready." (I) "It seems that becoming a God has made someone too confident to try to ignore me like this." (Adella) "Vanessa, you will lead the Blood Templars alongside Irina and Irius, prepare yourselves with the 3-way battle formation." (I) I wasn''t ignoring those two out of childish spite or empty pride, it would just be a waste of time, the Grave Mother is too arrogant while Adella is someone tyrannical, neither of them will stop to listen to my requests and will simply laugh at my orders, so I might as well ignore them while I make the proper preparations. I gave everyone tasks before sitting down in a meditative state, my body and power were recovering as I began to listen to what Adella had to say, the Mother of the Grave on the other hand just stood quietly in a corner knowing that I would not miss seeing Tarzor, for someone who had waited an unknown number of years, waiting a few weeks would not be too long. After I began to meditate, the energy in my body was already recovering, I was also healing myself from having suffered many injuries because of that damn giant. While I was in this state of recovery I was still giving some instructions and I also passed on the things I had obtained to be stored in the Communal Temple, they were the Divine metal, the Divine Soul and also the sealed Divinity itself, all coming from that giant and apparently I was not the only one to obtain some things. With Divine level items, it is best to keep them stored in an area that will not be influenced by the Gods from which they were stolen, at least until they are refined and that is why they had to be sent to the Communal Temple. I had a lot of things to solve at the same time, but that didn''t stop me from being stared at by Adella, who seemed to be imagining ways to break each of my teeth with her angry gaze. "Okay, now I can listen to what you have to say, sorry for the delay." (I) "A Dragon Eater has arrived in the Universe." (Adella) Cough Cough Cough "You''re joking, right? You''re getting revenge for me making you wait." (I) "No, I''m being very serious, I managed to hurt him a little, but I was also hurt a lot, Ynes was almost killed and Aurora was lucky not to be killed." (Adella) "..." (I) I looked at my other 2 Divine-level daughters and they were both nodding their heads in affirmation of Adella''s words, much to my frustration. I couldn''t understand why everything was happening at once, I was close to going berserk with so many problems raining down on me as if I was sitting under a waterfall of shit! I was starting to wonder if there was a God of Misfortune among any of my enemies or if my bad luck became so great after I became a God that it created a life of its own and started attracting problems to me. "(Erkales was a difficult enemy in many ways, I was almost killed by him and even with the right power to hurt him, I was only able to kill him by devouring his body.)" (I) "(Not to mention that I don''t know how weakened he was or how long he was imprisoned by Tarzor, all of this is absurd to think considering his strength at that time.)" (I) "Where is he?" (I) "In a somewhat special world, the rules in that world are strange, as are the Essences of the universe acting there." (Adella) "He won''t leave there, at least for now, but we don''t have time and the only one who can face him is you who has the right powers..." (Adella) "I won''t face him now, but it''s good to know about his presence, it gives me time to make preparations." (I) "Preparations are useless, the way to defeat him won''t be different and you know it." (Adella) "..." (I) Sigh "Okay, but can we solve the problems one at a time at least?" (I) "We can talk about this when this place is safe." (I) "Do as you wish, just remember that he came for you." (Adella) ------------------- A few hours later everyone was lined up, most of the troops were Sacred Beasts that live here, they make up half of our numbers with the other half being divided between the people under my command forming the smallest number and the Blood Templars who were our last minute reinforcements. Apart from these 3 groups, there were also some random ones that had been here fighting for weeks, but there weren''t many. "I don''t like speeches, so I''ll be quick and to the point." (I) "I know where Baldr''s troops'' base is and I''m heading there!" (I) "I won''t stay here passively defending myself, if they can attack, then they should be prepared to be massacred either here or inside their own base!" (I) "I won''t force anyone to go, but I''m sure everyone will participate." (I) My voice wasn''t loud and it wasn''t necessary, we are all floating in the vacuum of space, there is no air here, only our Aura can carry our voices to be heard by the Auras of others and that was what I was doing. Turning my eyes I saw millions of creatures, my Aura exploding to contact them all so that my voice could be heard, then I could feel the desire to fight in their Auras, the moment I said that I knew where the enemy base was, the Sacred Beasts were the first to reveal their wild ferocity with the Blood Templars in second place showing their joy, everyone wanted to tear apart those who follow Baldr. Even those who follow me from what was once the Dungeon, they hate Baldr who has been summoning himself against us since the beginning, there was no need to waste my time asking who would be with me in this attack since everyone would like to attack. "If everyone agrees to attack, then I will be brief, I am giving a boost to everyone, a Temporary Blessing." (I) "Sakura!" (I) "I''m ready." (Sakura) "Then let''s begin." (I) I approach to stand beside Sakura, she was on one of the lowest branches of the great tree, just this branch could contain an entire city. Standing beside her there was no need to hold her hand or anything like that, just our connection was enough and with our Auras merging the preparations were ready when we both put our hands forward, Divine Power gathering together with my Will. "< Eclipse Blessing: Leaf of the Unholy Tree >" (me/Sakura) My power and Sakura''s mix as they sink into the trunk of the tree, this power merges with the infinite Ki flowing from the tree to its leaves that shine brightly before releasing themselves gaining a life of their own as they each travel to one of the individuals below. Each of them received a leaf that shrank in size and sank into their bodies, leaving only a leaf-shaped tattoo where they fell. With this, everyone''s body was stronger, more resilient and had greater recovery power, but of course this still had some limit and would only last a maximum of 2 or 3 days. I didn''t tell any of them the effects of this leaf, but everyone could clearly feel it. These people here were not ordinary beings. But one thing I didn''t say is that if during combat they receive a truly mortal blow, as long as it isn''t something that causes immediate death, the leaf mark will explode, burning all my blessing to recover the body and protect the Soul. But this will only be once and the Power of the Blessing will be burned for this and then disappear. This was a safeguard for everyone, but I wouldn''t say this to make anyone reckless. I spent my Divinity and my Willpower exactly for this effect. It was also the reason I used the tree for this. I don''t like those fighting by my side to die. "Master, are you okay?" (Sakura) "Yeah, just a little tired." (I) The expenditure of Divine Power was a bit too much, even though it''s not a permanent Blessing and no super miracle effect, this was still a life-saving Blessing if cast on a huge number of individuals, I spent almost all of my Divinity and barely succeeded. "Alice, please..." (I) "Here, drink at will." (Alice) She reveals her neck to me as she lowers her head being taller than me, so I sink my teeth into her neck drinking her blood which serves as an act of Sacrifice, her Sacred Power is converted into Divine Power and helps me recover faster, with this I recovered more than half of my power not only from her but also from my natural recovery. "Thank you." (I) "I''m happy... to be of assistance..." (Alice) She was a little pale, but she was fine, I wasn''t going to suck all her blood. "Follow me and let''s show Baldr the color of his followers'' blood!" (I) "Kill!" "Kill!" "Kill!!!" "Kill!!!!" Chapter 1526: Cap 1524: Counterattack part 2 This time it wasn''t a grand plan with several steps and I didn''t need any preparation other than the Blessing I used on everyone now. This is a war of such large proportions that any move by both sides becomes big. Hinata finding the secret base where their attack waves are coming from was a good thing, but it would be useless for me to attack, even though I''m a God. There are also Gods on the other side and I don''t know how many are stronger than me, not to mention all the others who could make a strategy like that using their numbers to fight against me. Taking only my companions on a sneak attack would also be useless. It would be a huge risk for everyone and there would be a chance of us being surrounded in the end. I wouldn''t let them take that risk. Which leads us to this situation, a surprise crushing attack, ironically enough it was the same strategy they used. Taking all our attack power in a full advance like that could not be hidden, they would notice our advance and that''s why we had to be quick without giving them enough time to do anything elaborate, I also couldn''t let them recover from this attack that ended in failure for them. I transformed into a Dragon and took the lead, going in front, even the weakest among us was able to fly, even so we didn''t measure our speed against those weaker ones or moving through space could take years, those stronger were taking the weaker ones, increasing everyone''s speed, of course I was doing the same using my Aura to drag them faster without causing problems. With that, it took us 2 hours to reach where the Church of Light''s base was, just as I suspected, they are not far from where the Star System is, but they are far enough away to not be seen. The place in question was an asteroid field that seems normal, but for those who pay focused attention to this place will notice a vacuum bubble that escapes the senses. "Go ahead." (I) "Open..." (Hinata) Hinata steps forward and a half-rotted arm comes out of her body as if it were made of mud, then a strong luminous energy forms in the 5 fingers before being fired in 5 different directions, these energies collide against the Asteroids causing their positions to change before all 5 points of light now weaker collide in the middle. The shape of the asteroid field changed and with that it revealed fragments of a disk with Rituals drawn on it and in it is found the light from before right in the center as if it were a Sun exerting its gravity on all the other fragmented pieces that now in position rotate around it like a disk. Of course this only lasted for half a second before exploding from the inside out, clearly they noticed what we were doing and tried to destroy the entrance way, but that was exactly what I wanted. We didn''t have the means to truly open a complete path, the most Hinata could do was use the remains of the Priest''s power that she devoured, what she needed was a guiding line and they had just given me one. The moment the wave of Power came from within destroying everything, I created a line using my Divinity and Anomalous power, for someone as colossal as me in Dragon form, this line seemed almost invisible, but its thickness was several meters and covered in symbols, it was the thinnest I could make by placing these symbols of Spiritual Runes. This line followed my Will and penetrated the wave of Power following it to its source creating a Dragon''s head at its tip, thanks to this I was able to extend the line to the other side trapping what was clearly a Demigod with my line, a smile crossing my Dragon face. "< Divine Eclipse Magic: Universal Tunnel >" (I) In fact, this was an adaptation of teleportation magic, but I had to adapt it using Divine Power and without knowing the destination I could only use my line as a medium for this magic. The Spiritual Runes light up while embossed energy lines connect them all creating countless magic circles and chains in the space of a blink of an eye. I could feel the Demigod on the other side trying to break free and the reaction of those around him, I had expected this and that was the reason for using the Anomalous Power giving aspects of recovery to the line as if it were a living creature while dodging some attacks. This was all to buy time, even if it was only 1 or 2 seconds it would be all I needed. Soon the line breaks apart at the tip of my finger while expanding spinning in a cone shape at high speed revealing a scene inside of Temples and Armies. The passage is large enough for 10 of me to pass through hundreds of kilometers in diameter. On the other side I saw pieces of a dismembered body with its parts torn off swinging at different ends of the opening on the other side, it seems that the Demigod trapped on the other side was defeated even before the first confrontation, I wasn''t expecting this, but I was happy as I advanced with everyone at high speed. "< Divine Breath of Anomalous Chaos >" (I) "< Breath of Anomalous Chaos >" (Hades) "< Breath of Divine Cataclysm >" (Silvia) "< Divine Breath of Massacre >" (Adella) "< Breath of the Demon Dragon >" (Xagar) "< Breath of the Sacred Eclipse: Sun and Moon >" (Veronica/Loki) "< Sacred Breath of Light and Darkness >" (Magnus) I had already formed an initial plan to at least invade this place, Hinata extracted the memory of her food before killing, so I knew they would do everything to stop us, so I was more than ready to enter by breaking the entrance and with both feet in a flying kick directly at Baldr''s chest. Everyone else prepared for the initial attack while I was taking care of the passage, so when I released my breath everyone followed me as agreed. I saw powerful attacks coming from inside, they weren''t messing around, their attacks were all of the Light or Fire element, coming like a current from the passage. Both our attacks and theirs collided while still inside the passage and at that moment I felt the space distort, then the surroundings changed once again, me and those around me launching the attacks were pulled into the mirrored space once more, meanwhile on the other side were several Gods and Demigods, both sides were still attacking. On one side white, red and gold prevail, while on our side a myriad of colors with a greater focus on the color black that repeats itself in several attacks. I could merge all the attacks into one since they are all my children and Heralds, but that would require spending more power, which was not necessary. "(Spread out!)" (I) "(Yes!!!)" (Everyone) Everyone stops their attacks as I return to my small size as we dodge the attacks, without continually burning our power in those attacks, the wall of luminous powers crushes our attacks coming towards us, everyone scatters in different directions with the enemy attacks largely missing their target, only a few enemy attacks change their trajectories to chase us, but that didn''t matter anymore. We all advanced from different directions towards the enemies, which forced them to stop their attacks to face us head on. After a few moves, everyone was scattered once more. I was flying in my Dragon form while the one in front of me smiled as he threw a metal sphere upwards that unfolded into that Dragon of light. I was right. That thing really was a Divine Weapon. ---------------------- Pov Samara''s: I saw space swallow up the attacks and all those involved in the attack. It seems that this Universe really is weak to need this kind of measure to contain Divine-level power. I saw the master disappear, while the path he created became free. We were all advancing in attack, already prepared for all of this. That''s why we were able to invade without impediments this time, acting before the enemies realized they had fallen into a trap. I among everyone was left behind to ensnare anyone potentially dangerous among the enemies, so while everyone was invading and already starting indiscriminate attacks in all directions, I was searching for the largest presence in the surroundings. "(A Holy Land of Light, this might be a bit tricky.)" (I) I noticed some strong presences, but the biggest obstacle was this Holy Land, this would be an increase in the overall power of all the enemies, this couldn''t stay like this. "Corrupting what is sacred, that''s exactly my favorite kind of pastime... hahahaha..." (I) The power inside my body was bubbling, the Anomalous and Infernal Power mixed together, fusing into the chains that were once my prison. I advance towards the central ground where that temple was, I could see that golden place from afar and coincidentally it was where one of the powerful presences I felt was. I twist my wrist a few times, this living body without possessing life was very pleasant to me. "This presence, I didn''t expect that..." (I) While smiling, I stepped on the ground and the area where I landed spread black flames mixed with purple traces for a few meters, my mere presence can corrupt and desecrate even the Divine Power, much less a mere Sanctified Land like this. "(Corrupt what is sacred... break what is Divine... transform everything with your Will...)" (I) This kind of power that the master granted me is wonderful, even his name has so many beautiful connotations for me, you can call me whatever you want, be it Saint, Slave, Servant or even prisoner, provoking him that day was the best decision I made. Chapter 1527: Cap 1525: Counterattack part 3 Pov Samara''s: When I landed, my power was already corrupting the area My power became chains that passed through the soles of my feet, sinking into these lands The chains, as if they were living Demons, swim within the lands, corrupting everything that is Sacred. With each step I take towards that golden Temple, the black and purple flames light up around my feet A slow expansion of my corruption begins to connect each of my steps, leaving a dark path behind me that peels away from this brightly lit place. "You know, I didn''t expect to find someone like you here." (I) Saying this, I continue walking until I reach the golden Temple At that moment, several Soldiers led by a Templar of Light advance towards me. I just wave my hand and the Soldiers'' bodies decompose, with them still alive The Templar begins to scream as he falls to the ground, trapped in a mental torment in circles about his death. I walk past him and make sure to crush the Templar''s head along with his helmet as I walk, even when his head exploded beneath my feet, I kept walking as if nothing had happened. "No need for this drama, we both know who we are, so show yourself at once!" (I) As soon as I walked through the doors I realized that there would be no other room to look at, this entire Temple was built with this room as the focal point, a cathedral with images full of light and clarity, how ridiculous for such an egocentric God. "You are damned, I can feel your act of Desecration in this place." "Your words of the law are laughable in front of me, they cannot even affect my mind, so do not waste your time, Saint of the Law." (I) "..." I could feel his presence from afar, standing out even among the strongest, not because he was the strongest here, but because he was a Saint of the Law, his presence completely incompatible with this place. The reason I chose to come to you was precisely for fun, I despise all Gods of Law or Justice, there are no such things in all universes. Those who decide the law are those at the top of power and justice also follows those with the most power, right and wrong are things that people decide for themselves without representing the rest of the world, such a thing cannot be justice if it does not have enough strength to apply to those around it. As soon as this Saint began to speak, his voice carries the Authority of the Law that affects the mind, emotions and even the Soul of those who listen, the law has always been a restriction and that is the meaning behind this word. His voice along with his Authority trying to invoke in me my ''crimes'' to affect my mind, then influence my emotions to feel sad, angry or guilty for my supposed ''crimes'' that were pointed out, all so that in the end he puts a restriction directly on my Soul through the Law using the fact of accepting such judgment of what is this ''crime'' that he claims I committed. "Your law is ridiculous, your presence is so funny that I can''t help but smile." (I) "Even the decision to be here, inside the Temple of another God, almost makes me burst out laughing." (I) "Your attempts at provocation won''t affect me, all criminals try to step on the law this way, they try to convince themselves that they are superior to the laws or they make up excuses to not accept the crimes they commit." I keep walking, this time my footprints of corruption can''t expand inside this Temple leaving only my footprints burning in black and purple fire. I feel this place trying to purify my corruption and even trying to suppress me with the pressure of the Holy Power of Light, even this Saint was trying to use this place to his advantage clearly without being affected by being an ally of Baldr. "(What to do, what to do... I''m starting to get emotional...)" (I) "Tell me, Saint of the Law, how long are you going to hide, as we speak your allies are dying outside this Temple and every one who is trying to surround us is being killed by my chains, so your attempt to contain me is useless to you." (I) "I realize, truly a difficult criminal to deal with, you came prepared and with a plan in place using yourself as bait to invade this sacred place." As his words reach the entire place, footsteps are heard from the front, this place has 6 marble columns that go from the floor to the ceiling, he appears from behind the furthest column. He is a reasonably young Human in appearance, only in his late twenties, his straight red hair is tied in a small ponytail, his silver eyes seem to be pure iron while his formal clothes seem to be better worn in a meeting for Nobles than in a military base in the middle of a war like this. His gray and white clothes seemed too formal, which strangely tested his formal beauty, I couldn''t help but get even more excited and lick my lips in anticipation. "(Should I break his mind? Maybe corrupt his heart? I might as well torture his Soul until he betrays his ideals...)" (I) "There are so many options... so many options... I can''t decide..." (I) "I am..." "I don''t care about your name, so don''t waste our time, I can barely contain myself!" (I) As he spoke, I stepped forward, my smile so big I could almost feel it tearing across my face, my racing heart thrilling me even more, it''s been a long time since I felt what it''s like to have a heart beating and warm blood flowing through my veins. There are so many ideas running through my mind of what to do with this Saint that I don''t know what to do, but I''ll leave that for later with my immediate focus on capturing him, I have to avoid killing him as much as possible, it would be a waste. "< Sacred Invocation: Chains of Divine Law >" "< Aura Embodiment: Chains of Eclipse Desecration >" (I) He reacted quickly to my advance, the Sacred power gushed out of him like a fountain as it crystallized into silver crystal chains, dozens of them circling around him. But what I do is just imitating what I saw others doing; I use my Aura to bring forth an image that represents me, something I''ve been familiar with since before I died as a Saint of Life, something that constantly accompanied me in the depths of Hell and even now clothes my existence. The feeling of being controlled, trapped and restrained in chains, my Aura condenses into two chains of black metal, one chain full of incandescent purple spikes while the other chain was full of different silver blades. These chains do not float around me, but are attached to my arms, their tips look like the metal heads of living Dragons that advance against the Saint of the Law like butchers. "Hahahaha... haha ??haahahaha..." (I) "Come Saint, entertain me... dance with me in the middle of this war and death... hahahahaha..." (I) "You are beyond recovery, something like you should not exist!" "I take upon myself the responsibility of executing such a criminal!" "Talk less and fight more!" (I) My chains attack him, but his silver chains join together in a circular shield successfully defending my first attack before his chains try to circle mine until they reach me. I just smiled as the Divine power ran through my body to my chains creating a tornado around the chains full of sharp blades while the other chain lit up in purple flames advancing towards the Saint who jumped back to get away from the attack. "Hahahaha..." (I) ----------------- Pov Zenos: I was still tired from the last battle and from performing that massive blessing for the entire army, but the enemy was no better. The Dragon seemed to be in one piece, but its presence was unstable and its movements were stiffer than before, so I grabbed one of its Wings throwing it away before attacking. "< Unholy Breath >" (I) "< Shield of Divine Light >" "< Divine Dragon''s Barrier >" "< Divine Moon Spear >" (I) I combined my Divinity with the Anomalous power in a full-power breath attack before the enemy could even recover from the launch, but the one who was controlling this Dragon-shaped Divine Weapon created two barriers. My attack hits a shield shaped like a shining sun and was only delayed by half a second before advancing even further, with this small delay he managed to create a second defensive cover, a strong light emanated from the entire Dragon before condensing in one of its arms forming a Dragon skull made of light that puts in the path of my breath attack. My attack was made using part of the Anomalous power and as such has a life of its own, it contorts to try to circumvent that defense, but the enemy controls the arm of that Dragon to reposition the shield twice until it is hit but its shield cracked almost breaking. I could not maintain this attack forever and with resolution I stopped the attack already positioning myself to launch with one arm, part of my Divine Weapon breaks into fragments before reforming itself into a silver Spear that I charge with my Divinity. Using pure brute force and the Divinity within the Spear to launch a devastating attack, the entire mirrored space trembles almost to the point of tearing as my Spear travels the space between me and the enemy almost instantly reaching him before he can react after my last attack. The Spear hits the shield, shattering it and piercing the Dragon''s metal arm. Then the belly fragments once more, becoming a rain of sharp fragments that tear the God''s body into pieces, painting the top of the Dragon''s head golden. It almost completely stops its movements with what I thought was the death of the God who controlled it. "Come back!" (I) With my Will, the fragments of Light reunite, sinking into my hand. Then I look again at the Dragon of Light As a Divine Weapon, it has a certain type of living spirit, but now it seemed completely still. That wasn''t right. When I paid attention again, I saw that the golden Blood was spreading and even the small pieces of the God''s body were melting into golden blood that spread faster and faster throughout the body of that Divine Weapon. In the end, it was only a matter of seconds for the Dragon to become golden and its eyes to become alive while its presence completely mixed with that of that God. "Damn it!" (I) Chapter 1528: Cap 1526: Counterattack part 4 I didn''t expect that God would merge with his own Divine Weapon, I didn''t even know that was possible and to make matters worse his presence seems a little stronger. "Did you really merge with that thing?" (I) "No, I devoured the Spirit of the Divine Weapon and transferred my Soul as well as my Divinity to the Heroic Dragon." As he spoke I noticed that the Dragon''s structure was changing its posture and it was becoming more upright, its paws extending into arms and legs, even the structure of its torso was changing to something more suitable for a humanoid. "There''s no turning back from this fusion, is there?" (I) "No, just like the fact that I''m a God will be temporary, my Divinity will fragment in a few hours, if I''m unlucky maybe a few dozen minutes." "You''re the greatest...!!" "Your interference always causes disasters wherever you go, a true Living Calamity like your sisters." "Have you finished messing with your body?" (I) "..." As he spoke, his body finished restructuring itself, his Aura also became more condensed, possessing the people of an entire world. He is terrible at winding up enemies, his actions are so blatant that the reason he is talking becomes clear immediately, to buy time. "What did you do?" "WHAT DID YOU DO!!?" "I didn''t do anything, you did it all on your own." (I) I just smile at him, only a true idiot would stand still watching the enemy make a move, especially something as obvious as what he did, holding back my smile was something difficult to do while he transformed his body. During our fight I was injured many times, my blood splashed several times on the Dragon, this bastard was very resistant, so just destroying it was proving to be very difficult, so I aimed at the God who controlled this Divine Adam, trying to end it with his death, but that doesn''t mean it was my only option, I had a second plan. "You know, you attacked a place I created to help the Sacred Beasts who don''t enjoy something like the Fairy World and the Spirit World." (I) "That wasn''t a place created to wage war, there isn''t even a single Temple built for me in any of those worlds, not even a base was created there." (I) "Yet you attacked a place like that repeatedly during this war, many lives were senselessly lost, lives of people and Sacred Beasts who wouldn''t have even participated in this war if it weren''t for your insistence on attacking this place." (I) "You create a place to gather millions of Sacred Beasts from all over the Universe and still dare to say you''re not gathering troops when it''s a Sacred Ground?" "I don''t care what you say, I only care what you did and yet you chose to flee at the first sign of danger, isn''t it hilarious?" (I) "It''s funny how you all think I''d let you run away from me." (I) "Do you think I''m merciful? Do you think I''m soft-hearted or afraid to kill?" (I) "< Devour >" (I) "< Divine Purification >" "< Holy Light >" "< Blessing of Divine Dawn >" "Why won''t this stop!!?" From the beginning to the end he didn''t feel anything, he didn''t know what I had done, but I guess he wasn''t an idiot after all, he noticed my smiling expression and my calm, maybe he found it strange that I hadn''t attacked in such a large opening. But none of that mattered, his despair, his screams and everything else were just music to my ears from the moment I gave the command. All the blood splashing on his body ended up being absorbed along with the remains of the God''s body that spread over the Dragon-shaped Divine Weapon, adding to that my Divinity and the Anomalous power that my Spear sent transferring a part of it to those blood, in the end it was all I needed. The blood hidden by the golden coating breaks several parts of his body as it spreads, each drop of blood becomes alive as it devours part of the Divine Weapon''s possession, its power corrupts as it expands the area more and more. It was a beautiful light show, his attempts to cleanse the corruption, Starfire rising from his body as his light slowly fades. In the end, he tried to advance against me, but one of his own arms held the other, his body no longer moving, it was really interesting all of this. "I don''t make the same mistake twice, so it turned out that I was just attacking blindly?" (I) "Today I didn''t attack to make a simple Counterattack, what I seek is to massacre each and every one of you and I might as well start with you." (I) And as he said this, his entire body was being swallowed by the Starfire, there would be nothing left of him like this, I could even feel his consciousness being burned as the Divinity was sealed inside the Divine Weapon that turned completely black, looking like a skeleton. "You really made me very angry and thought you could escape me." (I) I stretch out my hand and his large body quickly shrank to the size of a basketball, which in my colossal hands wasn''t even visible until I returned to human form. I put away what I had sinned to use later and turned to where my Heralds were still fighting, the smile on my Dragon face turning cold and filled with murderous intent. -------------------- Pov Samara''s: "You know, you''re actually quite handsome, if you give up you can still have some fun, what do you think?" (I) "You talk as if you have the upper hand, don''t you get tired of hearing the sound of your own voice!?" He and I were staring, his eyes were fixed on my arms as well as the two chains attached to my arms, what I on the other hand was seeing were the beautiful muscles on his body after his clothes were torn apart by me, his blood was white with a pinkish glow, it was clearly something I did on purpose. I tilted my head slightly and one of the chains approached my face, the tip of the chain looked like the head of a metal Dragon, there was the same white blood with a pinkish glow dripping from the chain and I licked it a few times. "Such delicious blood..." (I) "Play while you still can." I myself wasn''t much better, my clothes were torn in several places, I also had a bloody hole in my stomach that made me realize how wonderful this body was. He advances against me once more, but only for a brief moment my face becomes serious, his chains were very strong, clearly he wasn''t just being affected by the power of his God, I felt the power of Light together with the power of Law, this doesn''t make sense, but I can think about it later. His chains came against me, but they only meet my own chains, with a swing they expand in size and the Dragon head at the end of the chain opens its jaws. His bite didn''t destroy the chains but it was still enough to bind them together and then pull the enemy closer to me where he couldn''t escape, I stretched my claws towards him at the same time. "< Heavenly Execution >" "< Hell''s Claws >" (I) He points towards me with his hand as if he was swinging a sword, while a gray illusory sword stained with blood forms condensing his Aura coming towards me like the sword of an executioner. I greet him using my claws that are covered in black blood, when I swing my claws the space seemed to split as the red claw of what looked like a colossal Demon came out from within that crevice stretching its claws towards the enemy. His sword cut off 2 of the Demon''s fingers before being destroyed, then continued towards him as he wrapped himself in the chains, as soon as the Demon''s claw made contact with the chains it was like a sword scratching a metal plate, it wasn''t causing any damage other than a few light scratches. But at least he was sent flying with the chains around him twisting in waves as they left his body, he had the same white blood coming out of his eyes, ears and mouth. I spread my wings giving a boost towards him, then dodged his chains when I got in front of him, a smile crossed his eyes as the chains I passed through formed a net accumulating Divine Power as he returned towards me. "< Divine Imprisonment >" "< Divine Eclipse Magic: Infernal Anomalous Chain >" (I) I smile at him too, calmly, I advance even further towards him, I join my two hands above my head and descend like a hammer towards him, the chains on my arms intertwine as they merge into a single chain that has a black body with silver and purple lines throughout its structure, there were no spikes or blades in this chain. When I waved my hands the chains directly formed a Dragon of coiled chains, from its open jaws dozens of Demonic claws launched chains with hooks, he didn''t have time to react with me dining close and thus dragged into the jaws of the Dragon of chains. The Starfire ignites inside the Dragon of chains flowing between the gaps in the chain, but of course I wouldn''t let him die so easily, that wouldn''t be any fun. Chapter 1529: Cap 1527: Counterattack part 5 Pov Athena''s: As soon as Zenos disappeared with the main forces of both sides, we invaded without pause, I, as a Hero of Zenos, was among the spearheads of the attack. My swords shone as I activated the magical patterns on the swords along with my Holy Power. I advanced among the rank and file soldiers ignoring most of them, even the weakest on our side could fight against 2 or 3 of them without risk and for those of my level they are just fodder representing danger only by acting together. My focus of attack is not these weak enemies, I went after the Priests, I know the war strategies of the Church of Light, I had years of classes on these things and participated in some large-scale battles using these strategies, so I know how important the Priests are not only for healing, they are also responsible for strengthening the troops and performing the magical Rituals. As my wings flapped, propelling me at high speed while maneuvering between enemy lines, I still swung my swords in passing, only to tear enemies apart in my path. Because I knew the tactics of the Church of Light, I was able to recognize the layout of this place even without having ever been here, a large golden temple in the center with 4 Sacred Towers in the corners, on each of the 4 sides were camp sets, a storage center, a training center, and a Magic Ritual ready in preparation for special emergency situations like now. It is precisely the Priests who created, controlled, and were able to activate these Rituals that could be used to reinforce barriers or provide great area healing support, it could even be a powerful attack, so I wanted to focus on these Priests. Navigating between enemies and flying in an empty sky was the same thing for me, extremely easy, even without thinking, my muscle memory remembered the group movements of the Church of Light, I could do it even in my sleep. Of course I knew I would be intercepted at some point and I was counting on it, I might know where to go, but that didn''t mean my target would be there and fighting through this war I realized that these Soldiers are really just used as fodder being discarded to be killed by the Church of Light. No Templar or Priest is going to try to stop me for no reason during a massive invasion like this, they are busy defending important positions and important people, so as soon as I set one I will know I am on the right track. With that in mind I left the first point which was the closest to the entrance, it was almost abandoned and the only Templar I found was weak, he was retreating to another position which was where I headed. On my way I saw a Fire Pegasus flapping its wings creating firestorms, I saw hundreds of Thunder Monkeys no smaller than a Human doing hit and run tactics, I also saw a Firmament Tree that became a Dryad emerging from within Space with its Dryad on one of the branches, for some reason Irius flew past me along with a Celestial Crocodile. The scene was spectacular to see, different creatures fighting against a Luminous Army, in the past I read stories and myths about it, but from the point of view of the Church of Light fighting against evil. "I never thought that good and evil could be reversed like this or that one day I would fight alongside Monsters..." (I) Maybe because I was lost in thought, but suddenly a ray of light hit me from behind making me fall straight to the ground where I was quickly surrounded by Templars of Light, their swords and spears coming towards me full of murderous intent. "< Sword of Massacre First Form: Tear of Blood >" (I) When I fell, I quickly recovered and stood up. The bracelet on my arm broke. It was an instant barrier item that Irina had given me. It was the only one I had that could withstand a Demigod''s attack before it broke. As soon as I stood up, blood flowed onto my swords, which I held with the blade facing down. I raised my hands before forcefully striking the ground, releasing a skill with Holy Power. A circular wave of blades expanded as if a drop had created these ripples when it fell. All the Templars were sent backwards. Some lost a limb, one of them lost his head, while half of them managed to defend themselves, receiving only cut wounds on their bodies. But it took them a while to realize the real attack. A blade of blood pierced them from the inside out, formed from their own blood in the opposite direction of any wound my attack created. Only the one who died was an exception. "Why don''t you show yourself instead of waiting for an opening to attack!?" (I) "A traitor dares to question my combat methods!?" I wasn''t afraid of these Templars, my strength level had exploded to heights I never imagined since becoming a Hero and I had also put a lot of effort into my training, even my Sword skills taught by Miss Natasha were very suitable for me as a Hero of the Blood. My only fear was the one who had sneak attacked, even though I was distracted in my thoughts earlier, I don''t think I showed it outwardly, I was still flying between the enemies cutting down a few occasionally towards the next ritual point where the Priests may have gathered. Even so someone noticed this lapse in concentration, someone strong enough to almost kill me with that last attack, it must be someone with at least the power of a Demigod, yet I still can''t find him. Even while I was taking care of those Templars, I was still alert to my surroundings, but there was no other movement from the enemy, my attack also didn''t hit, revealing that it wasn''t very close, so I tried to provoke it in an attempt to discover its whereabouts and fortunately it responded by revealing itself. It looked like a bird half my size, it was distorting the light around it to hide itself and emanated a Divine feeling, it was a Divine Beast of Light. Something about this bird was familiar to me somehow, its presence, the way it looked at me with bloodthirsty rage, I could see resentment in that look, even its tone of speech was strangely familiar to me, making the heartbeat in my chest accelerate from the moment it appeared. This restlessness bothers me, I don''t remember seeing a bird like this among the Divine Beasts of Baldr during my years of study, nor have I seen mentions of such a Divine beast with this appearance in any myth or legend. "A new Divine Beast so cruel that it didn''t even try to save the Templars from Baldr, it really suits that God full of Evil!" (I) "Trying to provoke me is useless, such a child wouldn''t be capable of that, I don''t care what you think or what you say, dead people are irrelevant to the living." "..." (I) Suddenly my mind went blank, the sentence she said was something I''ve heard many times, but it wasn''t just the sentence I heard, the way it was said and the tone of each word was exactly the same. That train of thought began to wander to what happened before, how she was able to perceive my lack of concentration so accurately. Then this thought took root in my mind and as if it was waiting for my eyes to focus on it, the bird began to change shape, its body of light became a little bigger, its wings grew adding a new pair, a slightly luminous marble-white skin appeared as part of the Light turned golden falling in threads over its shoulders, its body was slender unlike the past when it was riddled with well-trained muscles, but what I focused on was its face, it was slightly different, a little more beautiful and cold, but its eyes were the same, eyes full of resolution and a will as sharp as the blade of a sword. Her lips weren''t smiling, but her eyes were as if she was enjoying seeing my disbelief at being in front of her once again. "You should be dead... then how...?" (I) "Sister..." (I) "Don''t call me that!" (Andreia) "< Divine Light Judgment Wing >" (Andreia) "< Divine Blood Magic: Bloodline Guardian >" (I) In her fury her wings glowed, creating thousands of rays of light raining down towards me, each of them emanating a great amount of destructive power. I bite my wrist without letting go of my swords that I had already recovered from the ground, then my blood flows behind me turning into particles of red light taking the form of a Blood Dragon 3 times larger than my body, it bends, embracing my body with its thick arms and closing its wings around me, a feeling of security takes over me as I feel several tremors without fear. Soon it disappears with drops of blood falling around me, another intense red energy enters my swords, the remnants of power. "You betrayed our family, betrayed me and most importantly, betrayed the great Baldr!" (Andreia) "Your mere existence is a shame to everything I have accomplished in my life and to the entire history of our family." (Andreia) "I must thank the great God who allowed me to serve him even after my death by recovering my Soul and granting..." (Andreia) "Shut up and die already!!" (I) "< Sword of Massacre Second Form: Rivers of Blood >" (I) Chapter 1530: Cap 1528: Counterattack part 6 "< Sword of Massacre Second Form: Rivers of Blood >" (I) She''s always been like this, the only good thing she really taught me, to have an unshakable determination if you decide to dedicate your life to something. Ironically, that''s what I did when I decided to follow Zenos, I left my entire family and everything I knew, I even changed race, joining a Religion that I was taught to hate my entire life, in the end I went from one religion to another and was consecrated by Zenos as a Hero. I wasn''t going to wait for her to keep talking, I just continued the conversation a little while mentally preparing myself, regardless of anything else, she''s still my sister and killing her might be harder than I can imagine. I hold my two Swords, the red glow increases as Holy power condenses inside the swords, every muscle in my arms feels like it''s running from the weight of entire continents on these swords as they move their arms towards her. Each sword creates three blade attacks that stretch out like a sword whip, they are very sharp attacks that expand the further they go and seem to contain a flow of energy that resembles a river. Right now each sword has created 3 attacks, which adds up to 6 in total, six rivers of blood flow full of a sharp intent capable of cutting everything in its path. "< Divine Magic of Light: Solar Crush >" (Andreia) She doesn''t even show any reaction to my attack, all she does is raise one of her hands, her entire body loses more than half of the Light and her presence weakens, then the space breaks above me at the same time I feel myself being pulled to another place, suddenly I was in the middle of a nearly empty Church of Light base with extremely destructive attacks happening everywhere. The broken space above me was still there, emanating a powerful light that fell on me like a waterfall of metal. Each ray of light was extremely heavy and it felt like millions of attacks falling on me. But that didn''t compare to what I felt when a sphere of light covered in white flames passed through the opening, opening it up more and more, as if continually breaking the space to pass through. Everything happened so fast that I didn''t have time to dodge, especially when I was in the middle of an attack. When that light fell on me, I felt all my organs being crushed as I was crushed to the ground, seemingly in a state of near death. The light energy invaded my body, destroying everything from the inside out. Even my blood was boiling. "When you attack, it should always be to finish off the enemy, but as always, you only disappoint." (Andreia) "I''m going to use your body to provoke your companions. Each of you is ridiculous to the point that... Aaahhh!!!" (Andreia) While she spoke, she didn''t stop talking with her provocations, but I knew she was still paying attention, but just as she knows my habits, I also know her habits, I grew up by her side. She approached me focused on me and the surroundings, but she always underestimates her enemies, she likes to kill them with her own hands and has done so her whole life. That''s why, as soon as she approached, even though she was focused on me, she wasn''t paying attention to my swords that pierced her head and where her heart should be, but they clearly weren''t vital points. I stood up, activating the power of the Blessing of the leaf along with the Blessing of Zenos that I already have, then my entire body recovered almost instantly, my bones joined together and organs began to rebuild themselves while all my wounds closed. I stood in front of her and, turning her neck to the side, I bit her neck not to absorb her power, but to inject my blood into her body. "I''ll see you in the afterlife, Sister." (I) "< Divine Blood Curse: Lady of Slaughter >" (I) From my blood absorbing her almost unlimited Vitality only to pour more blood into her body, then into all of them, this blood leaves her body, taking the form of a woman in her silhouette only. Soon, this figure of Blood embraces my Sister, a Starfire sprouts from her body as she takes my sister inside herself, where her body is refined into nothing, even her Essence is dispersed with her Soul being burned completely. Seeing her body disappear made me feel her loss a little, but her way of doing things was still the same, it was impossible to do anything other than kill, even knowing that she is an enemy, I could not help but Solar when the sadness passes through my mind along with the memories of our past. ---------------- Pov Irius''s: I was covered in blood while the Celestial Crocodile was devouring the last enemy around us. When I looked around, only the bodies were scattered, Starfire lit up in large columns that burned everywhere, only a few enemies remained. "What are the casualties?" (I) "Almost none, the Blessing of the leaf saved anyone who didn''t die instantly." (Nicole) "How many more enemies do we have to face?" (I) "I don''t have the exact number, but every single one of them has invaded the mirror world, they seem to be aiming for Zenos." (Nicole) "Do they want the general''s head? They''re either too naive or too desperate." (I) "Let them throw themselves into the fire, let''s take the opportunity to clean this place up." (Nicole) "By the way, where are Samara and Alice?" (Nicole) "I don''t know, but after what you said, they must have gone to Zenos." (I) ----\----------- Pov Zenos: I was facing two enemies and one nuisance, they were two enemies, Lesser Gods, one of them from the Church of Light and the other belonging to the Temple of Law. The nuisance is actually just a Demigod, he doesn''t have the strength to be a true enemy, but he knows when to attack and retreat, trying to silence openings for the other two to attack. "< Eclipse Magic: Spatial Distortion >" (I) "< Divine Chains of Damnation >" "< Divine Lightning of Fire >" "< Heavenly Fist >" I use a Magic to distort gravity and space, being against 3 is being a bit difficult, I''m not running any fatal risk, but the cooperation between them is preventing my attacks. A magic circle is revealed above where an Eclipse rises, creating waves and turbulence in space for kilometers. Of course, it doesn''t affect me, but almost at the same moment, currents appear everywhere as if waiting for me to make a move. The Demigod soon uses a Divine relic to launch a super fast flaming rage attack that begins to travel all over this space, clearly being controlled by him and being distorted wherever it passes. The last enemy was storing Divine Power in his fist for a powerful attack. Clearly, they will divide what each one should do. One of them uses an attack to track me, another uses an area attack to restrict me, and the last one waits for the opportunity to deliver a powerful direct attack. They really think they can keep this up for a long time. My attack this time forced everyone''s hand at the same time, and that was all I need, so let''s get rid of the first one. "< Divine Rune of Chaos: Starfang >" (I) Soon the stars seem to form a constellation in the shape of a Dragon''s head right behind the God who uses the chains, he took too long to realize and the other two couldn''t help with the distorted space, they could only watch as he struggled not to be devoured by holding the creature''s jaws trying to devour him. But each of them would be disappointed, the teeth of that Dragon stretch out piercing his entire body, aiming mainly at the vital points and joints, it didn''t take even 2 seconds for them to be chewed. "< Divine Rune of Chaos: Sealing Constellation >" (I) Soon the Dragon was chewing that God, the chains he spread fall apart and the Dragon shrinks more and more until only a cube remains with all 6 sides containing images of stars and the edges being made of crystal. With that I direct my attention to the other two in time to see the Demigod''s fire ray attack and smile as I throw myself in his direction, stretching out my hand to be hit. "< Corruption of the Dragon Apocalypse >" (I) As soon as the attack collides with my palm, it leaves a small wound while the previously red and golden attack was consumed by the Starfire filled with red stars. Eyes open inside the Starfire as if a creature was hiding inside while the Starfire expanded following the opposite direction of the attack towards the point where the enemy was. I noticed him trying to stop, but he wouldn''t be able to, his Essence was imbued in the attack and it was this essence that was fighting against the corruption being constantly pushed. As soon as the Starfire reached him, a Demon Dragon came out from within the flames covered in blood and chains made of bones devouring him completely before being pulled back into the Starfire that disappeared like a portal closing. In a few moments the Spatial Distortion I created disappears and only that God remains storing power in his fist, at least until Samara appears behind him, pulling his head for a kiss that dries his entire body to dust in a few seconds. "This is what I call a fatal kiss..." (I) Chapter 1531: Cap 1529: God of Law Pov Adella''s: I was walking through the camp, there were still some High Priests alive as well as leaders among the Templars and Archbishops of Light, ironically there was also a Judge of the Law. I looked in a direction where the dismembered bodies were being refined into only 12 corpses, Hela wanted to create handmade Death Knights and Zenos never had reservations with his enemies. This place once full of the element of Light was now corrupted with all the other elements and a constant presence of curse replacing Baldr''s Holy Power. That creature from Hell really corrupted a Sanctified Land, something I didn''t expect to be possible in this way. I look to the other side and Lilith was conducting her tortures next to Samara who moves away as she starts walking towards me. "Aren''t you attending the meeting?" (Samara) "I''m not under his command, I have my own reasons for being here." (I) "Did you get anything from them?" (I) "They won''t talk, their Faith is ironically high, but at least I can test some of my powers on them while I teach the Master''s daughter." (Samara) "..." (I) I look at Lilith as she rips out the eye of one of the Templars with her tongue before forcing a kiss on him with the eye still in her mouth, the amusement in her expression is bizarre, these two really match and the worst is having to call her sister. I look back at Samara, she had a little blood splattered on her face as well as painting her hands red, but I don''t care about that, what I focus my attention on is her Aura and also her expression, I need to know what she''s thinking about this matter. "You didn''t tell him." (I) "Tell him about what?" (Samara) "The Saint." (I) "Don''t worry about nonsense, the Master knows everything I do, there are no secrets from me, he knows..." (Samara) "Then why doesn''t he leave?" (I) "That''s because, he..." (Samara) "..." (I) "..." (Samara) Suddenly the entire space distorts as an overwhelming Divine Pressure descends upon everyone, the ground shakes and crumbles, all the structures that remained standing until now fall into rubble while the entire base is dragged into the Mirrored Space, being isolated by the universe. Looking up, there was only a sky full of stars and floating asteroids, there was no Sun or Moon in the sky. But none of that mattered when a network of currents appeared, seeming to cover the skies, the energies become more rigid and my body much heavier. Along with this Divine Power and chains came a presence as rigid as a block of metal, an authoritative presence like that of a tyrant. These chains were not a Divine Weapon nor magic, this surprised me, it was the energy flows of this place that became ordered in this way because of this Divine Power as if they were flowing along a pre-prepared path. Then I looked at the others, each of my Heralds had a serious look, only Samara and Alice who were my Saints had a calm look. Samara had an Anomalous presence as if her existence became strange just by being here and Alice seemed like an open wound ending any sense of order around her. My Divine Power was acting within them, protecting them from that Divine Power, while my Heralds were serious for the same reason as mine, because they recognized who this presence belonged to. God of Law, Phatos. The God of Law had arrived. I looked up, at a specific point in the sky where the currents originated and the point where all that presence was originating. It didn''t take more than a few seconds for a metal gate to break the space and enter. When those metal doors opened, a refined and cultured man appeared. He appeared to be human. His short brown hair was combed to the side. For some reason, he had a monocle that I had never seen since I was reborn. He looked like a Human. Besides his brown hair, his tanned skin, and his gray eyes, what caught my attention the most was his strange presence and behavior. His expression is emotionless, his movements are rigid and at the same time natural like those of a veteran soldier, his entire presence exudes self-control and his gaze towards all things also seems to demand the same type of restraint from others. His attire is formal, a suit that looks more like a coat reaching down to his knees, a formal outfit with a tie without any unnecessary adornment, simple in its execution and yet impressive in its entirety. When he appeared, his eyes scanned every corner of this place, but I noticed that he spent the most time looking at me, Hinata who was next to me, Samara who appeared behind me, Ynes who was a little further away, Aurora who was next to him and finally Adella who ran to be one step ahead of me. The whole time his expression and Aura did not change, as if he had no emotions, I could not even imagine his thoughts, but he still turned his gaze to Samara, the one who seemed the most relaxed in this entire place. "Zenos, your lack of control and constant rejection of established rules did not escape me, nor did the many times you went against my devotees for irrational reasons." (Phatos) "In my eyes, you are the irrational one. Some of your so-called ''devotees'' are even capable of sacrificing their companions in search of power." (I) "A fool who does not understand the universe, right and wrong are inverted, changing eternally as the years, centuries and millennia pass." (Phatos) "Even when we are on different planets at the same time, right and wrong can be completely opposite." (Phatos) "Laws are disrespected everywhere using excuses such as injustice or anything else." (Phatos) "Shut up, no one cares about your laws, everyone knows you are Baldr''s dog... Ahhh!!" (Adella) Before Adella could finish speaking, chains emerged from the ground, digging into her body as if swimming in her flesh. They wrapped around her bones before leaving her hands and returning to the ground with her four limbs attached. "I have an agreement with Baldr. Even though I don''t completely agree with his actions, he still seeks a state where laws are respected throughout the universe, unified universal laws, a truly worthy system of laws." (Phatos) "< Corruption of the Anomalous Predator >" (I) I touch the chains coming out of Adella''s hands, who is a little in front of me. Some of my blood turns into a stellar crystal Leech with a flaming Aura. As soon as the Leech sinks into the chain, it begins to swim and multiply inside, making the gray chain turn black as it writhes. Soon there was nothing silver left of this chain as it fell apart in less than 4 seconds, black and red particles coming out of the chain as they sank into Adella''s body whose presence strengthened a little. "Phatos, you have no right to speak here, your laws are as laughable as your unrealistic dreams, laws serve to support the people and should change with the times showing the progress of a civilization, which will naturally be different according to the history of each civilization." (I) "If you don''t understand this, then you are a failure as a God of Law." (I) "(Where is he?)" (I) "(I don''t know, try stalling a little more, he came too fast.)" (Alice) "I''m not here to discuss my dogmas with someone who elevated himself to a God by stealing from others instead of ascending on his own merits." (Phatos) "I want my Saint''s Soul back, just as I want the head of that hideous creature that serves you." (Phatos) His gaze once again turned to Samara, he didn''t change his expression the whole time and his Aura didn''t fluctuate at all like my provocations, he is clearly aware of his surroundings without being influenced by anything, truly someone difficult to deal with. "I don''t know what Soul you''re talking about, besides, that corrupt thing is beyond your jurisdiction..." (I) Before I finish speaking I feel his Divinity surround me, it feels like metal trying to solidify around me. Soon golden chains appear around me, they became visible as soon as my Divinity revealed itself in my Aura, the characteristic of Chaos in my Divinity is a central aspect and was facing the chain head-on, preventing it from touching me. That''s when I realized that my Divine Power of Chaos was the exact opposite of the Law that Phatos possesses, but I wasn''t stupid, even if I emulate all my power I''m not comparable to him, his level of power as a great God of thousands of years with worshipers throughout the universe is not something that just having the power of Chaos can go against. "Your boldness and rebellion should have limits, Zenos." (Phatos) "A shame you won''t have the chance!" (Hernoth) With the voice of the Demonic God of Sin a colossal sword crosses the space piercing the body of the God of Law, but he didn''t seem to care when his body disintegrated into chains that broke with Demonic energy around him, then Phatos appears on the ground looking up from where Hernoth appears with his hand still attached to the hilt of the Sword. A Demonic presence full of temptation spreads out, clashing head on against the rigid presence full of rules, the two presences seem to try to break the other without success. "Do you really think I didn''t notice the weak attempt to drag the subject of Selene''s son? Maybe you think I''m blind and didn''t see his daughter beside him?" (Phatos) "How many times have you tried to ambush me so far?" (Phatos) "Not enough if you''re still alive." (Hernoth) "He''s finally here..." (I) Sigh As the two Gods stared at each other, I was filled with relief that I wouldn''t have to participate in this kind of confrontation, after so many fights I''m more than tired. Chapter 1532: Cap 1530: Pass me the popcorn 1 hour before, 3 hours after the end of the counterattack. I was reviewing the information on a holographic screen, it was the information stored in this base, the identity of those killed or captured among the enemies and also the information about the spoils of this combat. "They are really extreme, even their ingredients for Alchemy are all inclined towards the Light element." (I) "The same about the metals, not to mention the books that are half useless." (I) "I''m taking care of everything, but what are we going to do with this whole base?" (Nicole) "Good question, I haven''t decided yet, but in the worst case I can take Everything home, the Space inside Okan is big enough to fit even a Star System in there." (I) "I need to confirm the viability of this venture with Okan." (Nicole) "Sorry to interrupt, but what are we going to do about the Saint of the Law?" (Alice) While discussing the gains, losses and other things about this battle with Nicole, as well as what we should do since the meeting had ended with most of the things resolved. Alice walks closer with her face a little marked with concern, I told her as well as the others about what Samara had done, just claiming this Holy Land was something I didn''t expect to be possible, I am a new God and my life in this Universe full of strange powers doesn''t even reach 10 years, my level of knowledge and experience is still poor compared to those of the same level as me, if you compare it to an ancient Saint of Life who became corrupted by destroying her own Universe and then spent an unknown number of thousands of years serving Callidora, I don''t even dare to think about the kind of experience she has and the types of knowledge in her disturbed mind. Even if she doesn''t tell me things personally, everything she experiences comes to me with just my wish, so after the battle I took a look at what she had accomplished and sought out Ynes to discuss it before the meeting. "Leave it as it is, as I said earlier, this matter is beyond my current capabilities." (I) I''m not being humble, I really don''t stand a chance against the God of Law, he''s a great God with his Religion spread throughout the universe for who knows how many thousands of years, His normal Divinity is already more powerful than mine in terms of quantity of Divine Power, which makes discussing anything else useless. "Why bring up this subject again?" (I) "What are we going to do if he shows up? A Saint carries a great responsibility within a religion being immensely favored by a God, he surely knows what happened to his Saint." (Alice) "He might be preparing for an attack or he might just be rushing here himself, neither of those options..." (Alice) "As I said before, this matter is beyond me, what can be done has already been done and whatever has to happen will happen anyway." (I) Sigh "I don''t like being so helpless or becoming bait for others, but this is the limit of my current strength, so let''s keep it that way." (I) "As you wish..." (Alice) "Keep everyone together somehow, don''t spread too much about what''s going to happen, I don''t want to alarm everyone and I don''t want to let our plans be known." (I) "Tell my Heralds and Irina to prepare the barrier, you and Samara will help as well as I will in due time." (I) "Nicole, try to record everything that''s going to happen and gather as much information as possible." (I) "(I couldn''t see Baldr''s battle against Cratos, but I don''t think they''ll fight far from us this time.)" (I) "Yes!" (Alice/Nicole) -------------------- Now. I was seeing the Demon God of Sin facing the God of Law, both ready to go against each other, but I couldn''t help but tense up as I continued to feel the God of Law''s attention on me. "You can''t escape this time, Phatos." (Hernoth) "Don''t try to brag in front of me with lies, if I remember correctly, you were the one who ran during the extermination on planet Hanror." (Phatos) "Don''t blame me for escaping, just blame yourself for your incompetence in stopping me from escaping, something I won''t allow you to do today." (Hernoth) "The sharp tongue of a degenerate criminal doesn''t affect me, so don''t waste my time, I want Zenos and that abomination he took from that filthy place." (Phatos) "Too bad you won''t make it." (Hernoth) "(Why do they act like they''re just talking when the battle has already begun?)" (I) While the two of them seemed to be standing still in their respective positions, staring at each other, their Auras were causing the entire space to tremble like the ocean in the middle of a storm, their Auras filled with Divine presence were colliding like two colliding planets continuously, it was truly frightening just to be around. But even in this environment, they spoke normally with taunts and releasing killing intent as if they weren''t already fighting. "< Divine Barrier of the Chaos Dragon >" (I) Since this entire place had become a Sanctified Land in my name after Samara''s corruption, it would be foolish not to make the most of such a gift, all the other Barrier guardians were already ready and made their moves upon my signal, all with crystals made of my blood in their hands as it melted and sank into the ground. The Starfire ignites in hundreds of columns that crystallize before a red and purple Dragon rises from the ground near each of these columns, coiling as it looks up Hundreds of Dragons and columns of Starfire become the base that forms a barrier made of hexagonal full of pulsating vein lines. I, who had not yet healed from so many battles, felt myself turning pale with such a great expenditure of power This barrier occupied almost the entire place, accommodating everyone I had brought. Only after that did the presence of the two Gods no longer impact the others. Many fainted just by their presence colliding, and even among my children I could see their expressions turning pale, so I activated the barrier before they started to fight for real and we were caught in the crossfire. "Are you okay?" (Niryna) "I''m just tired, how did you get here?" (I) I was truly surprised to see Niryna, she didn''t come to this place along with all of us, she wasn''t even present at the defensive battle near the tree when the Church of Light attacked before that, so how did she appear here now? "I''m a Goddess too." (Niryna) "..." (I) "(Yes, an Infernal Goddess...)" (I) "What made you come? Or should I say, who made you come?" (I) "Am I that transparent?" (Niryna) "No, the boy''s just not an idiot, which makes it all the more fun." (Callidora) While I was talking to Niryna, just as I expected, Callidora poked her face out from Niryna''s face as if a mask had emerged from within her face, then she floated out of Niryna''s body as she shrank in size to sit on her shoulder, her body covered by an extremely revealing dress that made Niryna feel embarrassed immediately when she saw it, clearly she was doing it on purpose. "Unlike you, this girl is very lacking in battle experience, to see two great Gods fighting would be a tremendous waste to miss such an opportunity." (Callidora) "Now I ask, how did you find out, your only point of view should be Niryna who was inside Okan." (I) "Who did you play one of your tricks on, was it me or Samara?" (I) "Neither of them, I had initially done anything, but your Anomalous power destroyed both you and her, but I am not limited to the mortal point of view." (Callidora) "I may not be able to enter your universe, but I can see many things from the outside, especially with my attention mainly focused on where you are." (Callidora) "Is that... comforting?" (I) "(It''s actually disturbing... very, very disturbing.)" (I) "Look, they''re starting..." (Alice) "..." (everyone) We all looked up, this was a deadly spectacle that no one wanted to miss and we couldn''t go anywhere anyway. "< Earth Magic: Rock Manipulator >" (I) I pull up some chairs for those around me to sit on, by ''pulling up some chairs'' I mean using magic to make the earth rise up in the form of finely decorated and comfortable chairs. "Does anyone want popcorn?" (Hades) "I want it!" (Magnus) "I have some too, does anyone want it!?" (Alice) "I want it, pass me the popcorn!" (I) "That''s not popcorn." (Niryna) "This is the closest I could get..." (I) Soon some people pull out large buckets filled with small pieces of salty fried dough in strange shapes, I couldn''t find corn in this universe and the closest I could find didn''t pop into popcorn, so I created something to replace it. I felt like I was in the movies, everyone was sitting comfortably while 2 Gods started fighting, it was a strange and amazing feeling in a way. "(Since I can only watch, then why not do it in style?)" (I) Chapter 1533: Cap 1531: Law against Sin Sitting in a stone armchair eating something that replaces popcorn in the company of thousands of people, if you consider all the Sacred Beasts here, all this to see a battle between 2 great Gods. "If seven years ago they had thought I would be here today like this..." (me) "You would have asked this person to help write the backstory scripts for your games." (Niryna) "(Yes, it seems like the kind of thing I would do, it''s always been hard to find people open-minded about these things.)" (me) "They''re scared." (Samara) "Yes, they seem afraid of how far they can fight, cowards..." (Callidora) "It could be something different, a Demonic God of Sin would not be dominated by fear, much less that God of Law who probably doesn''t even know what emotional coefficient is." (Samara) As I let a few things slip out of my mouth, drawing Niryna into a conversation while Samara talked to Callidora, everyone had their eyes fixed above where the Gods were only using a small portion of their powers in melee attacks. Hernoth was in his middle-aged man appearance with a fierce expression that I had not seen before, his presence was always full of sin, but among those sins one stood out more this time, pride. Now that God of Law was perfectly calm even while fighting, his expression still showed no emotion or effort, his Aura was as cold and rigid as a piece of ice or perhaps in this case I should compare it to a piece of cold metal. One was free and unrestrained with his emotions on fire without being at all while the other was so restricted that he seemed like a robot following guidelines, it was like watching a fight of opposites being fascinating and strange at the same time. Hernoth created 6 large arms of condensed Demonic energy, each of these arms was 100 meters tall, striking with the weight of continents falling from the sky, each blow seemed capable of splitting worlds into fragments and there was no doubt that this was possible for him. Phatos on the other hand condensed his Divine Power that was silver in the form of chains, there were hundreds of chains, they were infinitely long, but they were not large or thick like Hernoth''s arms, even so working together they could cushion the blows of those arms while attacking at the same time. Each chain of Phatos seemed capable of containing everything, the very space around him seemed more rigid, the wind stopped around him without being able to flow and even Hernoth''s arms were stopped before even reaching their target. Each blow Hernoth made against the chains made them tremble as if they were not going to break, but his power was eroded with each inch he advanced as if a mountain while falling slowly became lighter and lighter until it had no weight at all. Clearly none of them were fighting seriously, they were not using their Divinities and they were not using Divine Weapons that they clearly possess, Gods of their Level must possess Divine Weapons and that is a certainty, I cannot understand how they can be dragging this fight. "(Are they testing each other''s strength?)" (me) "(Maybe they are waiting for something? But what?)" (me) I was not seeing this battle with just my eyes, I was using my Aura, my Will and my own Divinity to perceive things that others could not see. I could perceive the flow and type of Divine Power of each of them, how they manipulated their Wills and Divine power, the interaction of their Auras and even how they were storing power, that''s when I realized what they were doing and noticed two pairs of eyes on me. "I told you he would understand the hints." (Samara) "Shut up, leave the boy to his own devices." (Callidora) "..." (Samara) I was thrown by the two, they weren''t talking before, just making it seem like a conversation to give hints that I wouldn''t have noticed so quickly. I was irritated, but there wasn''t much I could do, Samara wouldn''t care about any kind of punishment I could think of and in some cases she might even enjoy those punishments, it seems that her response to serving Callidora has distorted her in frightening ways, I only know this because I can understand her thoughts because of the restrictions placed on her. Callidora can''t even be punished, I''m important to her in many ways, the only thing I could do as an effective punishment would be against Niryna, which would affect Callidora due to the importance of our leaf to her, but that''s something I''m not willing to even think about, much less dare to do. "What do they want? To perform a single powerful attack?" (me) "Don''t rule out that option, but probably not, what they''re after is you." (Callidora) "..." (me) I was about to ask again, but I chose not to. Callidora likes half-truths and deceiving others with mystery. To continue talking about this with her would be the same as being led by the nose by a psychopath, something more than foolish to do. I turn my attention upwards. Everyone else must be doing the same. The battle up there was shaking the foundations of an entire world. Clearly, they were slowly increasing the level of the battle, but at the same time, they were trying to influence this area. One side of the sky was turning silver with silver dust particles floating like clouds of sand while the other half was filled with flaming clouds. The skies were divine like this with the two fighting on the border of these two areas. Hernoth was starting to use magic. Each of his attacks was horrendous, worthy of a Demonic God. In one attack he summoned a faceless head with only a crown on top and no hair or any features, if it weren''t for the super realistic skin one would think it was a doll or statue. Soon it turns around, the crown emits a purple light that reveals the distorted head in a thinner and more elongated shape, the crown is at the tip and at the end it looked like a spear where the handle was made of flesh surrounded by skin, the pulse and Vitality of a living creature still distinguishable while emanating a strong murderous intent. The God of Law himself was not far behind, his chains were also coiling together forging Weapons with an extremely sharp silver Aura around them, Runes appearing on the body of these weapons giving a sense of danger in me. "(Why am I feeling danger if this attack is being directed at the Demon God Hernoth? Unless...)" (me) Another thought crosses my mind, then suddenly all the pieces come together, I continue to see the battle between the Gods, but this time I wasn''t so relaxed anymore and even put down my ''popcorn'' to increase my focus. Hernoth''s powers are all about distorting living things into horrible shapes while Phatos created Weapons using his chains. At first I was able to see each of his movements in detail, but the more intense the battle became, the less I could see until the stage where I was unable to see anything at all. Just the shockwaves from this battle made the barrier around everyone tremble and almost break, those responsible for the barrier also had to pay more attention. Somehow I felt an increasing danger, before it was just a feeling, but now it was a certainty, even my Divinity was completely active circulating inside my body with my Aura evoking all its characteristics and I even took the initiative to circulate my Will with my Anomalous Power in preparation. It was at that moment that a powerful silver Light came directly towards me at such a great speed that when I realized it, it had already crossed the barrier that had broken completely and was already in front of me. "< Devour >" (me) I didn''t have time to think, my instincts rose up along with pure muscle memory, at that moment I was no different from a monster at the moment of its death, a wild Primordial force rose up inside me along with cruelty, my Divine Power was merging with my Anomalous Power already spread throughout my body. I just opened my jaw, my most primitive instinct has always been only one, to devour, it was the first thing I did after being reborn, it was how I acquired power and it will always be my primary instinct. When my teeth closed there was nothing left, that was when my mind had time to function while sweat ran down my back like a waterfall. What I saw in my vision was a net of sharp chains full of thorns, this net was open coming towards me, but it was stuck tangled between purple bone claws emanating a thick Demonic presence. Sigh "(I was saved...)" (me) Callidora and Samara''s tips in the end were of no use, I had no chance to do anything and just opened my mouth insanely, I didn''t even dare think about what I wanted to do, the presence of this net was frightening. Just by Hernoth and Phatos'' dialogue I could understand that they had faced each other many times and yet the two were still here without feeling afraid of each other, this shows that they were preparing for something and it wasn''t hard for me to tell that it was probably a powerful attack. The two of them must have known that just one attack wouldn''t be enough to deal with their enemy, so why do such a thing? The answer was, me. Phatos wanted me and wanted to act before Hernoth could do anything, meanwhile Hernoth is preparing to protect me, calling him through Ynes was the best decision I made so far. "I like this Demon God, call him to eat next time, this is a decent example for Niryna." (Callidora) Callidora at some point appeared on my shoulder talking nonsense as if my life wasn''t in danger just a few seconds ago. Chapter 1534: Cap 1532: Heralds of the Law Pov Hernoth''s (Demonic God of Sin): I take advantage of the moment when Phatos tried to attack Selene''s boy, so at the same time I release my attack to protect Zenos, I also advance against Phatos, while my hand manages to reach his throat, he wraps one of his chains around my neck. "Why try so hard for this new God?" (Phatos) "He''s my daughter''s father, so why not?" (me) "Don''t try to fool me, if that were the whole truth you wouldn''t be here, you''ve never been so sentimental!" (Phatos) "I don''t need to explain my reasons to you, do you think I don''t know your true colors? Who were you before you became the Law?" (me) "..." (Phatos) While we argued, we both tried to distract the other to dig an opening, my claws turned red while purple mist circled my body corroding the chains on my neck, but Phatos'' skin turned silver like metal defending my claws with only a few shallow marks. In a few seconds we exchanged thousands of blows, he tried to restrain or pierce me with his chains, meanwhile, I tried to cut his body, poison his Divinity and even curse his Soul, all without success with his internal restraints defending everything other than real damage. "< Divine Restraint: Seal of Law >" (Phatos) "< Sinful Corruption of the Divine Fall >" (Hernoth) In the last blow he moves his hands into an opening I left and hits my chest with both hands leaving marks of restraint, but I took advantage of his attack so close to bite his shoulder while lengthening my neck. The purple mist around me represents my sin, my own Divinity, but now it gathers like a poison entering Phatos'' body before I am pushed back holding my chest from where silver chains were forming like growing stigmas on my skin. "Do you really think you can infect me with that sinful energy?" (Phatos) "< Seal of Sacrifice >" (Phatos) He places his hand on his shoulder and all the silver color of his body gathers on his shoulder being extracted by that hand like a piece of metal full of veiny purple marks. I was expecting this, it''s not the first time I''ve seen this technique, so I know he''s lost his greatest defenses, while I smile and take out a piece of skin I had saved, an incredibly evil energy emanating from this piece of skin where strange symbols and lines float in frightening patterns. As soon as I touch this skin to my chest, Phatos''s restraint marks reverse their direction, tearing my flesh out of my body to restrain and crush that piece of skin into nothing, disappearing with it. "Using a part of the son you yourself killed as a disposable item." (Phatos) "At least he was useful after death." (me) "Thanks to that, your Defenses are gone, do you really think you can last long against me without your metallic body?" (me) "Unfortunately you''re right, but just as you prevent me from interfering with those criminals below, I can stop you too." (Phatos) "< Gates of Divine Judgment >" (Phatos) "Bastard!!" (me) "< Sin... >" (me) "< Restriction >" (Phatos) Phatos was a scoundrel, he was always extremely hypocritical, his Laws causing as much calamity as my Sin, yet still proclaiming himself as the righteous side while blaming only those who disobey his precious laws. Now once again he is going off on a tangent with his tricks, I look at the gate and see three symbols, they are a chain around a star, a sword with a crown around it, and a drop of blood falling onto a world. I tried to stop the door from appearing or at least destroy it right after it was formed, but this time Phatos takes out his Divine Weapon, two Swords with a long silver chain connecting the two swords. He used his Divine Weapon to temporarily restrain my Divinity at the same time he attacked, so I lost the chance to do something when the door appeared and began to activate. "(There are 3 Heralds, I only had information about one of them so far.)" (me) "(Even if I want to help, I can''t do anything right now, I only have 1 Herald who is carrying out a mission right now.)" (me) ---------------- Pov Zenos: I was more than anxious after being targeted by the God of Law, but rebuilding the Barrier was more important now, the shockwaves from the Divine battle were already bringing people so close to death that the blessing of the leaf I applied before this counterattack is activating in several places to keep everyone alive. While doing this, Callidora was saying something in Niryna''s ear, Samara on the other hand was glued to me the whole time, she was open about knowing about that attack and even explained how she realized they were targeting me, it was the same as I had realized with the difference that she had noticed much earlier. Samara was sure of my safety and so she didn''t say anything trying to teach me through experience, but after the last attack failed she said that this God would not give up, it seems that Gods have a hard time being denied something, especially when it is within their Authority to do so. Samara stuck to me just inches from being glued to my skin the whole time it was as if for a few minutes I had created a new shadow, I was already irritated by her acting like Elizabeth trying to teach me things by hiding the truth from me, so having her like a tick stuck to me just added fuel to my anger. Of course as always, I couldn''t have a moment of rest, there always had to be some damn... hellish... problem trying to get through my ass!! A large silver gate appeared in the sky above the barrier we had just recreated, the gates were not fancy, they were dark silver metal gates, simple in their appearance but giving a sense of restriction and weight to everyone who looked at them. Three symbols appear on the doors, emanating different presences from the one I feel on the gate itself. A chain around a 5-pointed star. A sword with an ornate crown around it. A drop of blood falling on a Planet. They were strange symbols and I didn''t like any of them, the presence of each one carried Divinity that mixed with the Divine presence of the gate itself, everything took less than 2 or 3 seconds until the gate opened, inside it only darkness existed when three chains appeared like horrible monsters, each chain followed a direction at high speed. I tried to move away from one of the chains twice, but I saw Niryna not even trying to dodge when she was caught off guard by all this, then she was pulled into the gate, I noticed that Callidora had a cold glow in her eyes and was not smiling. Samara, on the other hand, held the chain after dodging it once, letting herself be pulled in with a smile on her face. Seeing this, I wondered if I should let myself be captured too. That''s when Hades tried to cut the chain without success. His attacks just went through the chain as if it were an illusion. Sakura tried to get in front of me to be taken in my place and was crossed by the chain as if she had no physical form, without causing any damage to her. Noticing all this and being worried about Niryna, I also let myself be captured, especially when I didn''t feel the same level of danger from the God of Law''s attack as before, which means that regardless of what it was, it wasn''t an immediate death. Stopping dodging, I did the same as Samara and held the chain and was pulled into the gate last. The last thing I saw was the gates closing behind me, leaving me in complete darkness for just a moment before the space around me fluctuated and slowly changed. It didn''t take more than a few seconds for me to appear in a large hall, looking to my sides were Samara and Niryna, Callidora was still on her shoulder, she was smiling again and her gaze was even colder than before, sending a chill down my spine. Looking around I noticed that on the walls of this large hall there were several chairs with tables numbering thousands, there were creatures similar to silver silhouettes in each of these chairs, they had no distinguishable features other than their presence being different from each other. In front of us there were 3 large chairs without tables, taller than all the others as if they were above everyone, they looked like thrones where the symbols I saw before were marking each symbol a throne, there was an individual on each throne, their presence corresponding to what I felt emanating from those symbols. Just looking at it and feeling its captions I already knew who they were, they are Heralds with the power of the God of Law. I also knew what place this was or at least I had an idea of ??the type of place it was. A court. I was in a damn trial, standing in the middle of a courtroom with these 3 Heralds as judges and I was as the criminal being judged, Samara and Niryna in the same situation. "(They dare to put me in a position to be judged!!)" (me) The fury finally washed away my fatigue, setting my heart on fire like hell. Chapter 1535: Cap 1533: State of Chaos "(They dare to put me in a position to be judged!!)" (me) The fury finally washed away my tiredness, setting my heart on fire like hell. Throughout my entire life as someone who grew up an orphan and especially in this life where I evolved as a monster until I became a God now, I was judged by others without caring, this is because they were individual judgments that we all make naturally, I am no different. Anyone can judge me in their mind as they wish, just as I do with others, bothering about what others think or say is a waste of time, I never cared and I still don''t care, this only refers to each person''s mental judgment. But being judged this way, as if I were a criminal in a court, with others subjecting me to laws that they themselves created by pulling out of their asses! Being judged this way, by 3 individuals who are not even Gods and being treated as someone who needed to prove something to others, this infuriated every aspect of my existence! They dare to belittle me so lowly by not recognizing my God status, they dare to impose their laws upon me when I am far beyond Authority, they dare to look at me with those damned shameless eyes of judgment when they dragged me here!!! At that moment it was not only my heart that was on fire, the blood in my body bubbles like superheated magma, my Dragon instincts roar in savagery, my own Divinity vibrates almost out of my control as if it wanted to break all the fundamental laws of the universe, but I know that this is my Will responding to what I most desired at that moment. Even my Aura was on fire, the Starfire burned around me as if an entire Universe was burning. I look at the three sitting above everyone else, they are of different races being a Celestine, a Human and a Gray Elf. Their eyes were filled with authority, their presence filled with judgment as they looked down on all of us, their Auras pressing down as if trying to show their superiority, clearly their Auras were being strengthened in this place as all the silver silhouettes around added their Auras in tandem with them as if trying to suppress us. The anger within me almost threw me into an uncontrollable berserker rage, but I still didn''t let myself be consumed by these boiling emotions, that God of Law did this, which means he''s confident that these three can handle me, if I lose control it would be easier for them to guide my actions, it wouldn''t be the ideal way to try to rip their heads off before shoving them up their asses. "(Calm down and think about which one of them will be the first...)" (me) "(Let them speak first before you act, let them rejoice in their pride before crushing their confidence along with their guts!)" (me) I look to the side and Niryna truly doesn''t seem to care about anything, Callidora who was on her shoulder was probably already thinking of ways to torment these 3 for eternity, her act was putting Niryna and by extension herself in the same situation as me, which infuriated this entity, I can tell this by the calm in her gaze and the chill I feel every time I look at her. Looking at Samara on the other hand, there wasn''t the same incendiary fury, what existed was an icy coldness of pure murderous intent deep in her eyes. "I am Razor, Herald of the Authority of the Royal." (Razor) "I am Sarin, Herald of Divine Execution." (Sarin) "I am Molog, Herald of Stellar Doom." (Molog) "You will be judged for your crimes!" (all) Each of them had an extremely domineering air as if it were their right to judge all things in existence, a boundless arrogance as if they were always right as long as they existed, and a confidence that irritates me for daring to go against me without showing the slightest concern. The one who introduced himself as Razor was Celestine, he had black skin without a single hair on his head, only a silver crown with blade ornaments as if it had been forged using a sword, his 4 pairs of wings were open on his back, their silver color made it seem as if they had been forged in metal, his clothes were like that of a ruler and the symbol on his chair was the Sword with a crown around it enclosing the sword inside. Razor stood in the middle with the one on his right side being Molog, he was Human, his white skin and braided black hair falling down his shoulders gave him a tough air highlighted by both his large build bristling with muscles and his fierce scars. Molog was wearing dark silver armor, chains wrapped around his arms and his armor as well as his body were riddled with battle marks as if he were an impenetrable iron wall, his gaze was sweeping as if trying to restrict all things, the symbol on his chair was that of the 5-pointed star restrained by chains around it. The one on Razor''s left was the only woman among them, a Gray Elf who introduced herself as Sarin, her light gray skin characteristic of her race, her hair on the other hand was like thin strands of shiny metal, her clothes were red as blood, a large red coat with light armor underneath silver with dark red lines. Sarin had 10 sword blades on his back and a large sword floating at his side, the smell of fresh blood constantly emanating from that large sword was as if blood would drip at any moment, the symbol on his chair was the drop of blood falling on a planet as if the entire world was bleeding. All 3 had equally tyrannical silver eyes, they spoke about judgment with ease as if it were their right, just seeing them and hearing what they dared to say almost made me lose control, but then I thought of something better, I won''t just attack, I''ll humiliate and step on them. "Hahahahahahaha!!!" (me) "Zenos..." (Niryna) "Hmm... looks like the boy has some balls..." (Callidora) "Which one do you want?" (Samara) "Leave the woman Niryna, it''ll be good training." (Callidora) "Then I''ll take the Human, it irritates me that he tries to suppress me with such ridiculous pressure, his gaze trying to condemn me..." (Samara) "Hahahaha... I''ll take the idiot in the middle, but wait a little longer, let''s step on his empty pride a little." (me) When I started laughing their expressions changed and when we talked about how we were going to divide them, that''s when their emotions started to show, this only brought more ferocity to me, they didn''t even have the composure comparable to the God of Law and still dare to judge others, being so easily provoked. "Do you think in por..." (Razor) "" (me) As he starts to speak his Aura and that of his companions mix with the Auras of the silver silhouettes around, they trying to use this pressure against us and I felt the 3 Divinities being used together in these Auras at the same time as they were strengthened, even my Divinity felt some degree of suppression and that was when I understood the reason the God of Law brought us here. But he didn''t tell me that my Divinity is marked by Chaos and Anomalous power, I cannot be suppressed or contained, I am in an eternal state of unrestrained Chaos. My scream vented all my fury, rage and Aura as my total Will carries my Divinity with each word, the Anomalous Power included along with it, each word of my scream made this entire court tremble and the silver silhouettes flicker. The 3 idiots finally realized what I was doing, but it was too late, they didn''t take me seriously when they could have, their arrogance and total trust in this place was their downfall. This court is like the space inside Okan, a mix of Divine Realm and Separate Space, but it is not as stable, it seems more like a creation of a Divine Weapon or Divine Relic that does not have destructive power in itself. What I was doing is no different from what Samara did in the Holy Land of the Church of Light, my Voice spread breaking all the rules of this space while my presence spread like a poison corrupting this place, around me the entire ground cracked into a spider web while Starfire rose like Leeches that spread more and more throughout this place, the Leeches even began to corrupt some silver Silhouettes and climb the pillars where the 3 Heralds were with enraged expressions. "..." (Razor/Sarin/Molog) "You won''t say anything! Because you have no Authority over me!" (me) "Before me, rules and laws only exist if I allow them to!!" (me) "The Order from which all rules and laws originate only exists because I, Chaos, exist!!!" (me) "I am Chaos, in my presence your laws crumble, bringing me here where only Authority is strengthened was your mistake for underestimating me!!!!" (me) Their Divine power was going against my corruption of this space, but they only stopped the advance without being able to make it regress, even the Divine Power of Phatos present in this place was only serving as a pressure without him here to truly repress me with his superior power, these 3 are incapable of that. "Go!!" (me) "Come with me, lady!" (Niryna) "Let me show you how to use these chains, cutie!!" (Samara) With this place in this state, the gates revealed themselves once more, Samara threw herself at her opponent, pushing him out of this place while Niryna became a sphere of flames that disappeared along with her opponent. In the end, only me and those Celestinos were left behind in this place, his expression finally wary as he absorbed the power of this place to directly strengthen himself. "You will now be condemned by me!" (me) Chapter 1536: Cap 1534: Do we still have popcorn? Pov Samara: I threw myself at that Human, I wasn''t afraid of death, I couldn''t die to begin with, my current state couldn''t even be considered alive, which was wonderful to me since I didn''t want anything to do with the power of Life again. When I approached that Herald I was attacked a few dozen times, half of his attacks were useless hitting my body, having so many restrictions on my body is the same as claiming to be an impenetrable living armor, if I didn''t want to be hurt it would be difficult for others to achieve such a feat. Of course in the other attacks where he used his chains as a Divine Weapon, he managed to hurt me with the last attack even going through the palm of one of my hands, but at that moment I had already reached him pushing towards the illusory gate that appeared when this place began to collapse after being infused with the power of Chaos by Zenos. When I crossed the gate to the outside, I noticed the movement of the body of the one I was pushing, so I turned my head back, biting the sharp end of the chain that was trying to pierce my head. Without wasting time, I also turned my waist, giving a knee followed by a kick, making the enemy go backwards, moving away from me. My body was already healing while the enemy looked at me harshly, his Aura increasing. "We were wrong to underestimate the power of chaos as if it were the same as other Essences." (Molog) "Your stupidity surprises me more and more, truly someone who achieved Divinity by infusing the power of another." (me) "No Essence is the same as another, they all have their strengths and weaknesses, they have their own spaces of Authority and they also have opposites." (me) "Your mistake was to trust yourself too much, thinking that you could rise above a God who created his own Divinity while you are merely a Herald." (me) If they had acted together using all the power of that place, they could have at least tried to kill Zenos, of course now they won''t be able to do that and even if they had tried they wouldn''t have succeeded. "(At least I saw a beautiful spectacle, his fury was magnificent... hahahaha...)" (me) The scene of Master Zenos in that enraged state is rare to see, without holding back at all his presence really looked like that of an Anomaly. "(I''ll think about it later, now I need to take care of this delicious piece of divine meat.)" (me) I couldn''t help but lick my lips as I looked at him, so many ways to have fun painted my eyes red while I could already hear the screams of agony coming out of his throat. "< Divine Mountain Suppression >" (Molog) A magic circle emanating great Divine power appeared above me, falling as it transformed into a silver mountain. Faster than its fall on top of me were the chains coming out of the mountain, attaching themselves to my arms and the ground. Boommm!! With the mountain weighing down on me, I was crushed against the ground, my bones broke or at least what could be considered bones since my body was not shaped like that of the living. "You think you can do anything..." (Molog) As he spoke, my power overflowed, streams of energy rose from me, dripping down the entire mountain that quickly lost its divine shine, the metallic noise breaking. I stood up among the fragments of the breaking mountain, grabbed the chains that were once part of the mountain and swung them, sending all the fragments of the mountain flying towards Molog who advanced fearlessly. "(Where is the master?)" (Hades) "(I''m fine, thanks for asking.)" (me) Molog comes to me as I hear Hades snorting in my mind, my wounds release a black liquid, this is my blood or the closest thing I have. Molog has wrapped hundreds of meters of chains around a large fist that has thousands of restrictive Runes, I wait for him before quickly dodging his attack with my body dissolving into darkness and reforming right in front of him, my claws penetrating the sides of his body. "(Don''t mess with me, I want to know if the master needs help.)" (Hades) "(So kind of you to offer help, but I can take care of this snack... I mean, I want to deal with it alone.)" (me) "Don''t provoke me, Samara!!!" (Hades) "Hahahahaha!!!" (me) "< Star Imprisonment: Divine Star of Containment >" (Molog) I provoked Hades once again, making him even stop using telepathy to yell at me. It''s been so long since I''ve had such a pleasant conversation with those around me. But it seems that my opponent is very serious. His scars all open, releasing blood that floats, forming thousands of chained Runes that attach themselves to me. I feel the Natural energies stop circulating in my body, as well as my movements are interrupted as if I had been frozen. "Daring to look down on an avatar of the law like me, you think I''m easy to deal with!!" (Molog) I was stopped in my tracks, but my opponent frees himself from my grip. How naive of him, when he pierces my chest with his arm. "< Infernal Anomalous Chain >" (me) The red chains explode from my body through the wound in my chest, advancing through his arm like a Serpent, Starfire ignites, burning its power as he resolutely cuts his own arm to escape the chains. Meanwhile, the Anomalous energy circulates around me as if it were a living Demon made of energy as it frees me from its Runes that break into pieces. This power was almost alive as it grabbed Molog''s severed arm to corrode while my wound grew teeth as if it were a mouth and closed, disappearing without leaving any mark. "Do you want help?" (Haku) "No need, I''ll take care of him." (me) "< Divine Chain of Law: Eternal Imprisonment >" (Molog) "You don''t learn, do you?" (me) "< Unholy Chain of the Anomalous Demon >" (me) My previous Infernal chain gains a layer of Hellfire as the energy Demon around me merges with it, advancing against Molog as if it were a Demonic claw extending. A silver chain formed from what was offered by constellations appears around him, a feeling of restriction appears in every corner, but it cannot contain me or slow down the speed of the chain that hits him, completely breaking his armor before wrapping itself around his entire body, a silver energy tries to go against the chains but is burned by the Starfire at the same time that the Hellfire forms the figure of a Demon with my silhouette using the chain to embrace him. "Kill me if you want, but you will not be able to escape the law of Phatos forever..." (Molog) "Shut up!" (me) Slap Kiss I slap his face, then grab him by the throat before pulling him in for a kiss, my tongue stretching around his tongue before invading his throat and like a blade piercing his lungs before I release him to taste a little. Cough Cough Cough "You... freak...!" (Molog) "We don''t need to exchange compliments now, we can do this for a long, long time." (me) Saying this right next to his ear before biting and tearing off his ear, chewing it before his eyes while I smile, but he doesn''t show fear or even scream, such a firm will moves me more and more. "(How delicious will it be when it breaks?)" (me) "Remnant of Hell, you dare treat someone who represents me so vulgarly!!??" (Phatos) Suddenly I was once again crushed against the ground, this time my body was truly flattened with my ''blood'' spread around, silver chains almost managing to actually bind me, I would need several minutes of real effort to be able to free myself. "< Fangs of Chaos >" (Hades) "< Cycle of Destruction >" (Zaya) "< Blade of the Apocalypse >" (Cinthia) "< Bloodline Reaper >" (Haku) 4 attacks containing Divine power concentrate on the same point and I take the opportunity to free myself, my body rebuilding itself on its own due to the restrictions of my Soul and my body coming together once more. "(This body is magnificent...)" (me) When I looked in the distance I saw Molog with burn marks like chains and without one of his arms next to the God of Law who had one of his arms hanging with black veins writhing before silver chains wrapped around his entire arm allowing him to move once more, his eyes were still fixed on the Demonic God of Sin. "(I forgot about him due to the excitement, what a shame to lose such a fun toy...)" (me) "Where is the master?" (Sakura) "He''s fighting alongside Callidora''s child, you don''t need to worry." (me) "The opponents were 3 incompetent Heralds, unfortunately I let mine escape, a real shame." (me) "Hahahaha..." (Hernoth) "..." (Phatos) I didn''t hold back my voice, so I''m sure the Gods above were able to hear, I felt his murderous intent directed at me, but with Hernoth nearby and having already received an injury while trying to save one of his Heralds, he won''t try anything for a mere provocation, unfortunately he''s not as incompetent as his Heralds. "Don''t enter through the exit, only those with Anomalous or Chaos power can do something there, but don''t forget that there are still those Zenos wants to protect here." (me) "Samara is right, Zenos should be fine and I don''t think Niryna is in any danger." (Alice) I sit on the floor and look up with a smile, I don''t think we''ll face another blow any time soon. "Do we still have popcorn?" (me) Chapter 1537: Cap 1535: Only the strong judge! Only I stood facing Razor in this crumbling room, the silver figures around were flickering more and more intensely as if they would disappear at any moment. "Master Phatos told us not to underestimate you, he prepared this entire place, gathered the three of us, and even chose the moment when you would be at your weakest." (Razor) "It seems we still underestimated you." (Razor) "It seems he is well informed about me." (Me) "You have many enemies, from the moment you killed a Judge and used his Soul as material to power your Herald, you had already been condemned as a great sinner." (Razor) "Shut your mouth and fight, why do all of you like to waste my time." (me) "< Divine Summon: Eclipse Star Sword >" (me) My Divine Weapon creates a magic circle where a crack forms, a sword comes out of the crack while the Divine Weapon disintegrates as it fuses with the sword that falls into my hands. I don''t waste time with words, I don''t need to prove anything to this idiot who serves the God of Law, I don''t even care about Phatos other than him being an enemy. I swing my sword towards Razor, with one swing the space was already shaking around him as if it were going to shatter even more. "< Constrain >" (Razor) Razor had a serious appearance as he moved his right hand, his Divine power formed an open golden scroll as he felt his will forming Runes written directly on that scroll as if it were an Imperial order or something similar. The space around me became more condensed and heavy, my sword felt like it was traveling through the bottom of an ocean rather than through air, it even felt like there was a force trying to hold my sword. "You still don''t get it!!?" (me) Starfires surged from the sword burning brightly, the stars within glowed purple as silhouettes of shadowy creatures seemed to move within the fire, the sword that was previously becoming difficult to move once again became light as it slashed towards Razor. I cut him in half, Starfire burning the cut before spreading through his body, but then I felt a bad premonition as I used my tail to strike behind my back. "As expected of a Dragon." (Razor) "(So the fact that I''m a God doesn''t matter to you at all?)" (me) I give a boost with my wings gaining distance and indeed Razor was behind me, so when I look at what I cut, there was a silver silhouette cut in half burning inside the Starfire. "(I''m sure it was him I cut... replacement, maybe...?)" (me) I looked only at him, clearly without a scratch, but as my presence was already searching this whole place and clearly there was one of the empty chairs where there was previously a silver silhouette. "Do you think this trick will work against me?" (me) "If it works once it will do, I''ve had enough time with this." (Razor) "< Sword of National Law >" (Razor) "< Living Tribunal >" (Razor) Razor raises one of his arms and his crown floats out of his head, a blade emerges from the middle of the crown upwards while downwards the hilt of a sword emerges being grabbed by Razor, an extremely Authoritarian Aura emanates from this sword that uses the crown as part of the hilt. But what made me cautious wasn''t Razor, it was seeing that all the silver silhouettes moved at the same time to the middle of the space where the 3 chairs of the Heralds that I destroyed used to be. All the silhouettes merge into one that gains unique characteristics, a gray cloak and a silver eye. He emanates a presence even greater than Razor who hands his sword to him while all his Divine Power is sucked into the sword. Razor turns pale as his Aura becomes much weaker, even his silver wings lose their shine and he falls to the ground unable to float on his own. The changes weren''t just in Razor, the space around us that had previously shattered begins to stabilize with the fragments floating in their respective places as if trying to assume the same appearance as before. "Thank you for awakening me, Herald Razor." "I leave this criminal in your hands, Tribunal." (Razor) "< Divine Eclipse Magic: Unholy Dragon Seal >" (me) "AAAHHHH!!!" (Razor) I didn''t care about either of them, but I could feel the space starting to distort around Razor, he was clearly thinking of escaping now that he was weakened, but would I allow that? Without his Divine power to counter me, a magic circle formed by my Divinity instantly forms above and below him, a red Dragon appears below him swallowing him completely before disappearing into the magic circle above, the Dragon''s tail pulls the magic circle from below to collide with the one above leaving only a miniature silver pyramid with a red crystal Dragon coiling around it. "Release the Herald Razor, don''t add to your crimes!" "You must be the Spirit of this Divine Weapon, right?" (me) "I can feel the Divine Power of Phatos emanating from you, not as strong as I felt from him, but it is still his power and not from those weak Heralds." (me) As I spoke, my Aura increased in power, my Divinity and Anomalous power merging with my feelings as they were pushed to the limit. I would no longer reserve any power. My instincts screamed that this was a powerful enemy and I would not underestimate him, even if I would still provoke and humiliate him as much as I could to vent my anger. As I spoke, I also recovered the seal that contained Razor. Since the God of Law was so kind to present his Herald to me, it would be a shame to let him escape my clutches. "You know, your Heralds, and even you, seem to not understand the key point of the Laws that you try so hard to impose on others." (me) "As much as laws are useful and necessary for everyone to live in harmony in a society, laws need one thing to be followed." (me) "Power! Be it the military power of a tyrant, the supreme power of a God, or the power of a people''s acceptance to follow such laws." (me) "Without this ''power'' to protect the Laws, who would respect them? Who would follow them when the first obstacle appeared!?" (me) "You dare try to teach laws to me who was created by the God who governs ALL LAWS!?" "Of course you do, that''s because you think you can force your useless laws on me to accuse me of being a criminal." (me) "But only the strong have the ability to judge others, dictating right and wrong regardless of justice!" (me) "< Incarnation of the Unholy Eclipse >" (me) I return to my Dragon form, the power of my Divinity and Anomalous power going to the limit as it completely merges with me being released. My sword grew along with my body, the Star Fire burned and moved through the sword as if it were alive, even emanating its own Aura full of murderous intent. But what surprised me was that all this space that shouldn''t be able to contain my large Dragon body expanded even faster as if forming a prison capable of containing me, even the Spirit of this Divine Weapon was growing along with the sword I held. It was storing Power, I could feel the Divine Power constantly being stored in it and at the same time the presence of Phatos in his eye, he knew what was happening here, but I also knew that he was being restrained by Hernoth and couldn''t come here, much less manipulate this Divine Weapon on his own, and having to let it fight on its own. I was prepared to fight this time, I was going all out to eradicate this Spirit from the Divine Weapon, wondering if the Divine Weapon itself would break without this Spirit and how enraged Phatos would be about it. "< Book of Laws >" "< Unholy Breath >" (me) I concentrate my power in my jaws before releasing a Breath of Star Flames that forms a living Starfire Dragon and collides with a thick Silver Book whose pages seemed to be made of metal. With the collision, hundreds of Divine Runes fly to the surroundings, but both my Starfire Dragon and the Silver Book do not move from their positions. "Be judged!" "< Judgement >" "It will take more than that!!" (me) The Runes that flew out of the book weighed like mountains coming towards me, but interrupting my breath attack, I swing my sword, cutting the Divine Runes that shattered on contact instead of being cut. But I did not waste my time with these Divine Runes, I advanced towards the Spirit, my sword in hand and my wings propelling my advance. The book, now that it was no longer being attacked, flew towards the hands of the Spirit who opened it in one hand while moving Razor''s sword towards me Divine Runes emerged from the book, fusing with the sword, increasing their power with each movement. Each collision of the swords caused a ripple in space that made the entire place tremble. Some cracks even began to appear once again in space, and the scene of the fight between the two Gods could be seen through this crack in space when Phatos'' eyes locked on me, making my body tremble. Chapter 1538: Cap 1536: My Law Pov Niryna: When I threw myself towards the Gray Elf woman, I felt something piercing my chest, when I looked it was one of the blades she carried on her back, but strangely I didn''t feel the same fear I felt when I died. "(Do now as I taught.)" (Mother) "< Territory: Anomalous >" (me) "< Infernal Dimension >" (me) I try to do as I was taught using my Aura as a base to create a limit of effect, so I created a sphere of Aura with me and the Elf inside, then with the power they call Divinity I create infernal flames that take us through space in a strange and somehow comfortable place. It only took one look to recognize this place, the mountains that emerged from the ground breaking entire buildings, the bridge that crossed the river was now made of bones being a combo difference that I remember, but the stench of blood in the air seemed more ferrous and sweet than I remembered. The sky on the other hand was dark orange, I had never seen this color before, in place of the Sun or the Moon, there were two eyes in the sky, one on each side and sending a more reddish light from one while the other had a more purple light. The clouds in the sky seemed alive and varied from red to black, the few plants around looked like they were dead even though they moved sometimes. "What is this? Where are we?" (Sarin) "Ouch ouch ouch ouch... that hurts!" (me) I pull out the blade that still pierces my chest, it was a blade a little smaller than a sword and without a handle, it seemed slightly curved and emanated a strange energy, as soon as it left my chest it floated back to the Gray Elf. "To answer your question, I have no idea." (me) "There are many things I don''t understand and this place is one of them, but would it be like my Territory?" (me) "(Why are you wasting your time with her, just start fighting before Zenos finishes off that weakling!)" (Mother) I really didn''t want to fight, I never liked combat and even less killing, even though I had done a lot of it in the past. I had really been spending a lot of my time since I was born in this universe following Callidora''s wishes, she insists that I should call her mother and as the days went by it became a habit. I didn''t go against the things my supposed mother wanted, since it matched everything I wanted to experience, be it food, books, music or training my own power. There are many things I had in mind after I was ''born'' and among those things Zenos was at the center of everything, but I was never able to fully open up to him out of fear. This place still catches my attention, it has several characteristics of Earth and at the same time it looks like the hell I went to after death. "You''re an enemy, so I guess I don''t need to consider much." (me) "< Divine Execution Blades 1st form: Execution Wave >" (Sarin) "< Infernal Summon: Baal >" (me) ------------------ Pov Zenos: The God of Law''s gaze only lasted a fraction of a second, but other than a bit of intimidation it did nothing more, he was busy with Hernoth and had no way to intervene now. All his gaze did was give this Living Tribunal an opportunity to attack, a chance he took advantage of when his sword took one of my eyes, trying to pierce my head before I punched him back, resuming our battle. This entire room seems to be filled with a strange energy, I feel like I''m constantly swimming at the bottom of an ocean that tries to contain my movements and restrict me, my every movement is heavy, becoming rigid with effort, but this only strengthens my will with anger. My sword cuts towards him once more, his damned Runes flash between silver and gold as the swords collide, but I don''t even take a step back, my tail advances trying to pierce him from the side, then a barrier appears, stopping the advance of the blade on my tail. "< 1000 Slashes of the Star Demon >" (me) "< Divine Judgment: Condemnation >" I strike with my sword, this time using my superior brute strength to push him to the limit and with a flap of my wings giving him greater momentum, I throw him away giving him space to launch an attack. Raising my sword I streak through space opening a rift to the stars within my Territory, thousands of stars shine through this rift and being commanded by my sword, each of these stars becomes a flying blade, a red slash that when clustered together leaving the rift takes the form of a Demon spreading its wings as if its mere presence would cut even the stars. The Blade Demon advances towards the enemy, but at that moment the Runes gush from the book in his hands like an erupting volcano. The Runes merge into a bloodstained axe that descends against the Blade Demon. When the two collide, the entire room trembles, a shockwave makes even the space itself vibrate, trying to throw me back, but instead I force an advance against the enemy who was already being thrown back. "< Curse of the Eclipse: Anomalous Desecration >" (me) I gather my power in the sword and forcefully throw it at the enemy, he moved his sword to try to deflect my sword, but as if it were alive, my sword deflects only grazing his sword before colliding with the book of laws, piercing through until the tip of the sword penetrates the enemy''s stomach. "< Divine Judgment: Eternal Law >" Suddenly the entire book shines, shattering my sword, whose fragments fly towards me before reforming once more into a sword. The glow in the book intensifies more and more as the sword is sucked into the book that closes, on its cover the Rune that represents the word ''Law'' takes the shape of a sword with a crown on top where the Rune of Law is engraved on the blade of the sword. "< Divine Judgement: Eternal Condemnation >" The book suddenly falls apart with all the pages separating before coming together in the shape of a sword made of all the silver pages of the book, the cover that was left behind holds the bottom of the hiltless blade that falls towards me. I feel the space around me freeze as if trying to lock me in my position, but I just smile at that, I don''t even try to lift my sword, just put one of my hands forward. The sword indicates falls towards me, it seems slow, but at the same time fast in its execution, but its presence trembles when the Runes that form the pages begin to burn with Star Fire, soon these flames emerge from each rune and from the gaps between the pages, the entire sword seemed to burn with the pages turning to ash. The Runes engraved on the page were left behind as even the cover of the book fell apart, soon the sword descending towards me became a Starfire Dragon covered in silver Runes that slowly changed to red, on its head the symbol of a sword with a crown also slowly changed to red as if stained by blood. The Dragon did not attack me, it circled around me before wrapping itself around my arm then I turned my eyes to the enemy who declared himself as the Living Tribunal. He was in a state of disarray, his robes were covered in blood, a pair of horns tore through his head from the inside as they grew outwards, his eye was now completely black as if filled with darkness, points of red, gold and purple light appearing like stars among the darkness. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!!!" "AAAHHHH!!!" "IT SHOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE FOR ME TO FEEL PAIN!!!!" "Everyone feels pain you idiot, you being a Divine Weapon Spirit doesn''t make you immune to it." (me) "About what I did is simple, I''m corrupting you." (me) "It would be hard for me to destroy you, possible... but still hard and there would still be a risk of you escaping." (me) "You know, your God of Law really pissed me off this time, so I thought about the best way to humiliate him, guess what I chose to do?" (me) "You... you... AAAHHH!!!!" As he screamed his body changed, his head held in place as it changed into that of a Dragon with only one eye, those eyes were open revealing endless stars while an image of an Eclipse flashed inside it trying to come into existence as if fighting against something. Cough Cough "He realized... well..." (me) "< Unholy Awakening >" (me) I stab his chest with my arm where the Starfire Dragon had already finished refining all the Runes as well as the Divinity contained in both the book and the sword. The Dragon sinks into his body before I remove my hand, Anomalous energy surging from me before invading his body as I remove my arm, his body trembling continuously as the Eclipse in his eye fully forms. "I think it''s time for me to have my own Laws!" (me) Chapter 1539: Cap 1537: Baal and Lara Pov Niryna: Beside me were two Demons, one of them had a goat''s head with 4 horns and the other had a more human appearance that looked a lot like my favorite video game character from my past life. The Goat Demon is called Baal, he is 2 meters tall, has 4 arms that hold large butcher knives, wears noble clothing with a refined bearing and well-trained movements as if he were a noblewoman. The Demon woman was called Lara, she had slightly reddish skin with long black hair tied in a ponytail, she wears butler clothes made of tight leather on her body highlighting her curves, she has long shapely legs with very high heels on her feet making her height of 1.90 meters comparable to Baal''s, it was possible to see two retractable blades and in her hands two very large magic pistols. Baal''s butcher knives were dripping with blood just as Lara''s heel blades were covered in blood just like the surroundings, the Gray Elf in front of me was already half naked, her body riddled with wounds and pieces of her blades thrown to the ground in the surroundings. "You... you... you freak... aaahhh!" (Sarin) "Ma''am, I believe she can still be useful." (Baal) "You want to use her? But she is a Lawbringer." (me) "Innocent girl, that only makes it more fun." (Mother) "Greetings, great Callidora." (Baal) "Just do as Baal suggests, but doing it here might be difficult." (Mother) "But it was so fast with Baal." (me) "He doesn''t count, it was a gift from me to you and he didn''t even try to resist, besides all that, he was highly compatible with your Demon." (Mother) The fight had been quite mild, I didn''t want to fight too much personally, I still had confidence in my own body, but acting from the side, controlling Lara and commanding Baal in the middle of the fight, which was considered a good refinement for me. "< Descent of the Axe of Divine Law >" (Sarin) "..." (me) "< Horn of the Infernal Guardian >" (Baal) The Elf woman seemed to be betting everything on this attack, her blood fallen on the ground rose to the sky along with the blood that was still leaking from her body, a torrent of Divine and Sacred power was sucked from her body making her lose weight to the point that her skin stuck to her bones. All of her energy and blood merge into a single-edged axe with a blood-stained blade. A feeling of death and pure murderous intent emanated from the axe as if its sole reason for existence was to reap lives. Its presence alone seemed to try to affect my life energy as if it were already cutting me. It was a truly powerful blow that left me not knowing what to do. Fortunately, Baal stepped in front of me, releasing all of his Demonic Power as his Aura weakened. Baal dropped his knives, placing his hands together as his shadow inverted forward. Purple flames rose as if a gate had been opened. A giant goat skull appeared, revealing even larger horns that stood in the way of the axe. The Axe collided with the horns, making the whole place shake. A large number of cuts appeared all over my body as blood leaked out. Lara also had many cuts and showed no reaction. Without me to control her body, she was the same as a corpse. Fortunately, it was nothing serious for either of us. Sarin, on the other hand, was thrown flying backwards by the shockwaves. She was already very injured and on top of that, she had used up all her energy. She had no way to defend herself and I could see pieces of broken bones tearing her body apart from the inside out. "(Gather your Aura and Divinity in your arms and imagine the Infernal gate that I already showed you, repeat along with me!)" (Mother) "< Infernal Summon: Gates of Hell >" (Mother/me) But I didn''t have time to worry too much about the others, the Axe cut the horns and the goat skull was crumbling while the Axe was still coming towards me more slowly. Following Callidora''s command, I gather all my Aura and Divinity in my arms as I cross them in front of me, the image of the Gates of Hell still fresh and eternally marked in my mind, it was easy for me to focus on them reliving that horrible fear from when I died. The space in front of me shattered, revealing the Gates of Hell as the Axe descended. The gates were made of black metal stained with fresh blood. Skulls and pieces of flesh still visible there resisted the Axe, which was getting darker and darker after colliding with the gate. The Axe''s killing and killing intent seemed like a drop of water compared to the boundless deep ocean that seemed to be contained by these Gates. The Axe shattered, with some fragments still managing to hit me. I lost my right arm when a portion of the Axe''s fragments went around the gate following the shockwaves. When it was all over, the gate disappeared. I had used up more than half of my power this time. Even though it was only a few seconds, it was extremely exhausting for me. Fortunately, it was over. I looked around and Lara had pieces of the Axe stuck in her eye, stomach, right leg, and left shoulder. But it didn''t seem to be anything fatal. As the pieces of the Axe flashed and disappeared, she then fell backwards, lying on the ground, still breathing Baal''s formal clothes were worn out with many parts torn, a fragment of the Axe disappearing from one of his arms as he fell to his knees breathing heavily. The Elf woman on the other hand was unconscious, but the killing intent still emanated from her body along with an Aura full of will to battle, she is truly fearless. "Baal, take her with us, seal her in your shadow before sinking into Niryna''s shadow, that should prevent that boy from retrieving his Herald." (Mother) "Lady!?" (Baal) "Do as she said." (Me) "As you command." (Baal) Baal is an extremely serious person obeying only me, even though he fears Callidora he still seeks my confirmation with her every order, which strangely makes her happy. Unconscious, the Gray Elf woman poses no danger at all, thanks to that Baal recovered her before sinking into my shadow at the same time I control Lara to enter my shadow. "(I wonder if Zenos will recognize Lara? I remember he also liked that game, but he''ll find it strange that the name comes from another character?)" (me) "You did very well, but you counted too much on those two, I''ll let it go now since you were just born, remember that we''ll have more training time when we get back." (Mother) "Do you think I can awaken Lara?" (me) "She''s the Demon you created yourself, so it will be possible, but you''ll do everything on your own, I won''t help at all when I set such a good example in creating Baal." (Mother) Callidora was on my shoulder combing my hair with a smile as she spoke. Baal and Lara are Demons created by my power, using my Infernal Divinity and Anomalous power, I can create Demons as I wish with only a few restrictions depending on my link with them. Baal was the first and became my Divine Servant, so he can choose not to follow his mother''s orders, he is completely under my control which made him cry when it happened, his mother never treats anyone well besides me and Zenos. But Lara is different, I want to make her my Herald or maybe a Demon Saint, I also want a Demon Hero in the future, this Universe has opened so many scenarios similar to the video games I liked, the excitement seems like it will never go away. But remembering the past, I get discouraged once again about my past years, so to distract myself my mind wanders to a different subject, an intrusive thought. "Mother, why can''t I remember Zenos'' old name?" (me) "I erased his name from your Soul before we began your rebirth process, it would be inconvenient to cling to his past when there is almost nothing left of the one you called brother." (Mom) "..." (me) "He wasn''t the only one who changed, but I like his changes. If he was the same man you knew, I would have killed him a long time ago. I hate naive people." (Mom) "I much prefer this curious and relentless boy." (Mom) "Did you change anything else in my memories?" (me) "No, the things you did and how you died are true. I only changed and erased his name, nothing else. So don''t try to fool yourself about what you did." (Mom) "..." (me) "Let''s go. The boy is picking at a wound he himself opened. I really want to see Phatos'' reaction I hate that idiot. It''ll be funny." (Mom) "What did he do?" (Me) "He''s stealing something from Phatos and creating a Law at the same time, this is a great humiliation for a God of Law, it''s something rare to happen even in all universes." (Mother) While I was talking to Callidora, the world around me shattered and I returned to where everyone else was, almost at the same time a notification appeared. Ding! Chapter 1540: Cap 1538: Eclipse Law It only took a few minutes, the Living Tribunal completely transformed, a Dragon head with two horns on its head, its jaws were filled with sharp black crystal teeth. Its body seemed to be a shadow wearing a purple robe with red Dragon patterns, its almost completely transparent legs from before combined into a long tail with sharp scales, its hands became Dragon claws with the tip of the claws being purple filled with cursed power. RRROOOOAAAAAAAARRRR!!!! GGGGGRRRRRR!! Soon an illusory book emerged from its body, only a part of the book that it grabs with one of its claws and tears from its body, roaring to the heavens as if announcing something. Its roar was accompanied by the faint roars of a myriad of creatures that seemed to sound directly in the minds of those who heard its roar. The book in question seemed to be made of silver crystal fragments with a purple light shining faintly in the space between the fragments. On the cover the only mark was the Symbol of an Eclipse with the shadow of a tree in the middle. The pages of the book were red as if they were dyed with blood. When the book was opened, there were no words, Runes or symbols on its pages. Everything was indistinct and blurred, confusing anyone''s mind. There was a meaning there that had not yet taken shape, that had not been described, but it was there indisputably. When the creature stopped roaring, wings sprouted from its back, 7 pairs of wings that seemed to contain a Purple Sun on one side among the stars and a Fragmented Moon equally among the stars on the other side. It lowered its wings and it was as if it had created an Imperial cloak on its back, hiding the universe that its wings had revealed until now. The creature''s only eye was a window to the stars, while in the center was the Eclipse that moved along with its gaze. As he focused his gaze on me, his Aura began to change, it was as if the remains of what he was were being consumed and an internal struggle was taking place or perhaps I should say an internal hunt was taking place. I could feel it through my power within him, the Anomalous power together with my Divinity formed illusory Dragons within him that were hunting clearly stronger masses of energy. The masses of energy were like fortresses or a great colossus, but while it was powerful, its reactions were slow being only a trace of the power of the God of Law that was not being controlled by him, under the continuous harassment of the Dragons that seemed infinite, pieces of this mass of power were being consumed bite by bite as it refused until what now became a battle between itself became visible in his Aura. A previously silver Aura slowly became like Starfire that created hundreds of Dragons that were biting the silver parts of the Aura until there was nothing left. When the last trace of silver power was devoured it was as if a qualitative change occurred, the Starfire Aura merged all the Dragons into a single Dragon silhouette around what was once the Living Tribunal, its presence changed completely and was trying to spread, but chains emerged from the fragmented walls around it, holding it in place. "(He seems empty, his Aura and presence lack something... but what?)" (me) I only had a few seconds to try to understand, I could feel that something important was missing, but I didn''t know what it was right away and as such I began to think in order of elimination, when I realized that the emptiness was the lack of a Soul, that was when I realized that I had basically eliminated the spirit of this Divine Weapon, that was just a shell that I had built after refining it, there was still something missing and I knew what it was. "Luckily I have the perfect material..." (me) "ZEEENNNOOOSSSS!!!" (Phatos) "Aaahhhh!!! Ghuh!!" (me) Cough! Cough! Cough! Cough! Suddenly a roar of fury was heard along with chains tearing through space as an arm was coming towards me, this arm was covered in chains and with its movements it was as if a Demonic energy was beginning to leak through the chains that tried to suppress this Demonic energy. It was the God of Law, he was attacking me directly, just his roar was strong enough as an attack making me cough up blood mixed with Essence Power, it was as if his voice continued like blades that ran through my mind and Soul causing damage as if I was in the middle of a storm. "Hahahaha..." (Hernoth) "Phatos, you are too careless today daring to ignore me twice!!" (Hernoth) "< Vindicating Divine Sin >" (Hernoth) "AAAHHHH!!!" (Phatos) The arm that was coming towards me was covered in an extremely Demonic energy that corroded the chains breaking free from the restraint. It was only a blink of an eye and the arm of the God of Law was distorting, it was constantly changing and was no longer coming towards me, the fingers were growing with Demonic heads appearing at the fingertips and even a Demonic eye filled with malice appearing on the palm of his hand. I wasted no time, quickly grabbing the crystal pyramid where I will be one of the Heralds I captured, I throw it near the jaws of the former Living Tribunal. The Starfire Dragon around him formed by his Aura reacted before focusing its attention on him, but it was trapped by the chains, but with his intention controlling the body still without a will of its own, he made the Living Tribunal move its head slightly opening its jaws before closing them, thus devouring the Herald. His entire body trembled as the Dragon made of his Aura became wild growing and breaking the chains around it, his own body trembling as it broke free from the chains, in fact the Eclipse in his gaze wandered around the surroundings as he smiled. It was possible to see in his eye a humanoid figure trapped in the shadow of the tree, the humanoid figure itself had large wings on its back and was more visible than the tree itself, but its body was being cut by the stars that began to strike, cut and pierce its body that became more tattered at a frightening rate. Stars also began to emerge from his Aura as a presence emerged from his body spreading throughout the surroundings, these stars began to attack the surroundings destroying and opening up the walls, ceiling, floor and everything else that made up this place, energy lines traveled from these stars flowing to where the book was open, a sphere forming as all these lines gathered there. "HERNOTH, I WILL NOT FORGET THIS!!" (Phatos) "I WILL KILL YOU AND TORTURE THIS BRAT FOR ALL ETERNITY!!!" (Phatos) "HAHAHAHAHAHA... HAHAHAHAHA..." (Hernoth) "(I have to get out of here...)" (me) I wanted to leave this place, but I couldn''t leave, a flow of energy flowing from me to this Divine Weapon Spirit, it was preventing me from moving away. Aaahhhh!! Fortunately, it didn''t take long for the humanoid figure inside his eye to break, disappearing along with a scream of pain that traveled throughout the place. A silver light tried to move away from inside his eye, but at that moment, chains came out of the sphere above the book that was collecting the lines of power from the stars, breaking the surroundings. The silver light was a Divinity, or rather, an aspect of the Divinity of Law, the governing aspect. This light of Divinity was trapped by the sphere which strangely made the stars break much faster around it, what before seemed like it would take several minutes was done in mere seconds, countless threads made the energy sphere grow and after nothing was left but a space collapsing, the sphere sinks into the book that closes while shining, the Spirit of this Divine Weapon holds this book with both arms crossed while flying its head closing its eye. The space broke as I was pushed out, the Spirit shines decreasing in size as it flew towards me sinking into my body, a notification noise ringing in my mind. Ding! <[ You have created a new Law named [ Law of Eclipse ] ]> . . . <[ The Law of Eclipse was Implemented in the Universal Seed through ]> . . . <[ Planting required to create a Universe and complete ]> . . <[ The Eclipse Laws will be used as Universal Laws after the expansion of a Nascent Universe and other effects will be generated upon the Awakening of ]> I felt weak as I chose to return to my small Human form, that''s when I saw a crack where I was pushed while the space where I was was disintegrating, when I came out I realized that I was in mid-air with several eyes on me, two pairs of eyes were especially hard to bear. "You will not ESCAPE!!!" (Phatos) "Hahahaha... very good boy... hahahaha... really very good... hahahahahaha..." (Hernoth) One gaze was filled with hatred and murderous intent, while the other pair of eyes were filled with pure joy and great malice, it was the two Gods still fighting, Phatos'' Demonic arm had clearly been torn off and he was fighting alongside Hernoth against Phatos. I didn''t have time to react before being pulled down by chains, that''s when something rose from my chest and I realized I was wearing a black metal necklace where there was a small crystal book with a black metal Dragon wrapped around it. The one who pulled me was Samara who had a bright smile on her face while Callidora who was floating behind Niryna was laughing out loud looking at the battle above. "That was a magnificent spectacle." (Samara) "Master, are you okay?" (Sakura) "How are you feeling?" (Hades) "What was that notification!?" (Alice) "Forget all this, we have to get out of here, the God of Law has gone mad." (Adella) Chapter 1541: Cap 1539: Escape When I appeared in the air, very close to the battle between the two Gods, and was pulled by Samara, everything happened very quickly. He was physically just a little tired and would be fine in a short time. A God shouldn''t even get tired in normal situations, and this just shows how exhausting so many battles in a row are for me. But this quick recovery is only for my body. My energy is still more than exhausted. It''s been at rock bottom for some time now, with so many battles that I can''t fully recover. The worst part is my mind. Mental exhaustion doesn''t recover easily. I''ve been through several difficult battles and gone through several events since I woke up. I''m mentally exhausted for the tenth time in a matter of days. "What should we do? The battle up there is getting intense. The barriers won''t last." (Vanessa) I look at the crowds, they are all strong, but not strong enough for the level of this battle. I brought them here to annihilate this base of the Church of Light and I don''t know how to get them out of here. "I know what to do." (Ynes) Suddenly Ynes appears behind me, a big smile on his face that gave me confidence. ------------------ Pov Phatos (God of Law): After so much effort, so much preparation and so much time waiting, we still haven''t achieved anything. Baldr, with his arrogance, advanced the plans thousands of years ahead of time and the Gods, in the vast majority, turned against us. Even so, I remained firm since there had been a great preparation underway for a long time and I couldn''t waste it. After weeks of constant battles and having just prepared Heralds for myself, I realized that my Saint had disappeared. I could see his last moments and recognized a presence that every God must now know. Even after much effort to get there in time and being surprised that Baldr''s attacks had not yet dealt with this son of Selene, I finally reached my destination while blocking any chance of escape. It was at this moment that my ordeal revealed itself, every possible thing that could happen came up non-stop from Hernoth''s appearance to the defeat of my Heralds. Just Hernoth appearing was not a big obstacle, I know his strength and tricks just as he knows mine, the most he could do was hold me back. That''s why when I put my Heralds to fight and inside a Divine Weapon that I had just created, it should have been easy to deal with a new God, it was supposed to be like that! I could accept the defeat of my Heralds, at least I managed to recover one when he was close to being captured, they didn''t want to kill them and waste time until I revived them, they clearly wanted to take them, which became a risk that was not worth taking. But even choosing to receive Hernoth''s attacks and endure some suffering to extend my hand in rescue of my Heralds, I was only able to save one of them, Molog who was fighting before me against the one who took my Saint. Sarin disappeared, she is not dead, but my connection with her is being blocked, I do not know where she is other than knowing that she is still alive, which should not be possible, even other Gods should not be able to block the connection that a Herald has with their God, that in itself is inconceivable. Razor on the other hand, I could feel his weakening and the forced activation of the Divine Weapon, this was a newly created Divine Weapon where I used many different types of Essence of Law as well as many Divine-level materials, even so it was half incomplete, because I had tried to fuse it with a Separate Space in its creation, it ended up being limited exactly by that space making it difficult for me to complete its power, so I had to create the gate as a means of sealing the Divine Weapon, stabilizing it so that it would not collapse and still be usable. In the past 170 years, it had only been used a few times, only once a year, but its effects were acceptable and it could be used more easily in the mortal world. But I didn''t expect that even with this Divine Weapon and my 3 Heralds, I still wouldn''t be able to subdue that brat from Selene. But when I felt not only Razor being Sealed but also the connection to my Divine Weapon being torn and corrupted, I was no longer able to contain my fury. Even though I lost control over one of my arms, I wanted to take back what was taken from me, but even so, Hernoth still delayed me, causing me to lose both my Herald and my Divine Weapon. "< Divine Summon: Universal Divine Prison >" (me) "Are you crazy!?" (Hernoth) "< Divine Summon: Call of the 7 Sins >" (Hernoth) Using my power to call my main Divine Weapon directly from my Divine Realm. The space around me trembles and collapses as golden chains, gray bricks, and silver metal plates appear, effortlessly shattering the space, their size large enough to contain entire worlds within them. Towers rise along with the screams of the condemned, blood drips from the Sacrifice platform where criminals are executed, the blood flowing endlessly into the pit below, the roars of prisoners throughout the prison begging for a mercy that will never come, the marks of countless attempts to escape as well as invade, its size seemed like a limitless city filled with the smell of iron and blood while above there was no sky, only a metal cage where a Sun and a Moon were chained. In front of me, Hernoth did not stand by and do nothing. He also summoned his Divine Weapon, the Knights of Sin, each of them a criminal who had been twisted and corrupted by sin throughout their lives before being refined into a Divine Weapon while still alive. "Phatos, are you crazy!? Bringing your Divine Weapon here will restrict all universal flow to hundreds of planets!" (Hernoth) "This mirrored space is sealed by the universe. My Divinity can even strengthen this containment. Do you think I''m going to fail in my responsibilities!?" (Me) As I spoke, chains appeared all over the prison, swinging towards the army below. I wouldn''t kill the Sacred Beasts that served a balancing function, but I could restrain them to discipline them while those few from Zenos'' group gave the condemned to death for their heinous crimes. "Do you think I''m going to let you do whatever you want!?" (Hernoth) "< 7 Corrupted Constellations >" (Hernoth) "< Divine Jailer: Submit >" (me) The chains continued to head towards the army below, within this prison they could not escape and so I diverted my attention to where it was most needed. The 7 Knights of Sin moved, plucking stars directly from between the prison bars and using these stars to form large Demons that attacked, commenting on corrupting my prison, while Hernoth was refining my corrupted arm into a trident, which infuriated me even more. Following my command, the Moon bound by chains in the sky fell revealing itself as pure metal that transformed into a metal Titan in the form of Celestine, under his blows the 7 Demons of Hernoth are temporarily restrained while I myself go towards him. "Huh...!?" (me) That''s when I realized something, my eyes wandered down, the army below had turned into a mass of Blood that fell apart as the chains wrapped around them, the same happened with Zenos'' group while he himself had turned into Stellar Flames waving his middle finger at me laughing as my prison chains ravaged his fiery body until it disappeared. "Where did they go!?" (me) "I don''t know what you''re talking about, but I remembered I have somewhere else to go..." (Hernoth) "< Activate >" (Hernoth) "HHHAAAAAHHHHH!!!!" (me) In front of me, Hernoth acted innocent in a mocking way before retrieving a Dragon scale that emanated the Power of Space, before I could do anything he snapped his fingers making his 7 Knights of Sin disappear before biting the scale, a translucent claw is formed by the power of space grabbing him before disappearing. ----------------- Pov Zenos: When Ynes approached us, she suggested something that needed me, Alice, Vanessa, and Adella to help, that was to use the blood of those here to create clones, so they would have their individual presences while those of us with Divine Power would have to leave a trace of Divinity with part of their consciousness behind. It was half a year of doing it and we all realized that she had a way to escape even without saying it, when the space began to collapse with large chains appearing along with bricks, I was apprehensive, fortunately One Ynes crushed a small statue a multicolored sword appeared dividing into thousands taking everyone away piercing the space, the last thing I saw was Towers appearing and the sky being covered by bars before the passage closed. The sword that pierced me did not cause any pain, but it was uncomfortable in many ways, it took dozens of minutes for us to return and surprisingly I was inside Okan again. Looking around, I was inside one of the lands related to the Dungeon floor for the Undead, it was just me and my companions, the Sacred Beasts that made up our Army as well as the Blood Templars were nowhere to be seen. "It seems we''re back." (Aurora) "Was that the power of the Fairy Goddess?" (me) "Yes, one of the two trump cards she left with me for emergencies." (Aurora) "Now I don''t have any anymore." (Aurora) "At least you had some, Hernoth didn''t give me anything." (Ynes) "What should we do now, master?" (Samara) "I don''t know about you, but I''m going to sleep." (me) Chapter 1542: Cap 1540: Freyas Kiss Pov Silvia: After we returned home, everyone split up, already busy with something while I went to check the Arboreal System with Sakura. After what was done against the God of Law and the destruction of the God of Light''s base, a massive attack even bigger than the previous one or led by one of the two Gods was not out of the question. At least that''s what I thought and Sakura, as well as many others, thought the same way as me, but to everyone''s happiness, we were wrong, there were no attacks after that. It seems that my Father expected this since he went to sleep as soon as we returned, Samara also ignored everything and locked herself in a room in the Communal Temple, blood-curdling screams came from that place. For some reason Niryna did something similar to Samara, she took a large room inside the Communal Temple, but she didn''t go in alone, she took Lilith, Haku Loki with her, I didn''t know what she was doing and Veronica just didn''t want to talk about it. Alice and Vanessa meet often, meetings happen every 5 hours and this repeated for 4 days, it had also been 4 days since Zenos woke up, during that time the Dragons of the Space Element managed to gather all those who were missing, this included my Father''s Familiars. ------------------ In a forest in the middle of nowhere with only low-level monsters, I was watching Adella unleash mountains by throwing other mountains on top, swinging her claws creating red valleys full of mist that smelled of blood and with an Aura so angry that it made the space ripple around her. "How long is that bastard going to sleep!?" (Adella) "There are many things to do, enemies lurk around every corner! Strange movements are increasingly seen on the battlefields and he didn''t even hear what I had to say!!!!" (Adella) "Let him sleep, you know this is not a normal sleep." (me) "You know even more than me, I saw you talking to that envoy of Tarzor, the Mother of the Grave." (me) "I also saw you leaving the room where Freya was before realizing her disappearance." (me) "I know almost nothing, I just passed on a message and made some speculations, you must know more than me." (Adella) I know Freya was trying to achieve, but I didn''t know what the great Sister hoped to achieve, she was the first of us and by far the one with the most comprehensive thoughts, while we all worry about just 1 world, she worries about entire universes, her scope of thought is a little too big. I don''t know what she''s looking for with Freya, but for her to make such an offer to her worries me, she doesn''t do things without a reason. "Stop worrying, if you''re looking for answers, why don''t you go see her... there." (Adella) "..." (me) "(The seed...)" (me) "Now stop talking about it and try to help me do something about that idiot''s current problem." (Adella) "Not even the Familiars can touch him now, there''s nothing we can do until he wakes up." (me) "The Dragon Eater won''t stay in that place forever." (Adella) "According to Mavis, he''s just getting used to the rules of this universe and its Essences, it shouldn''t take long, a few days at most, and now it''s been more than 5 days since I saw him." (Adella) "Wouldn''t the Dragon God take care of this? He used our Father''s Totem to distribute the Anomalous Power, I can feel it in myself, so the other Dragons should be able to..." (me) "For someone who was a World Tree, you''re quite naive, aren''t you?" (Adella) "..." (me) "Dragon Eaters are predators, killers, and bandits." (Adella) "They are not an invading force or conquerors, they do not act according to rules as the current Divine war is going on." (Adella) "They have 1 target they see as an enemy, that is a retard who made me his daughter, all other Dragons are seen as food by them with only a few being a threat like the God Akatosh." (Adella) "Zenos killed one of them, bone alone already categorizes him as a threat, which would only put him side by side with the Dragon God on their list, but then he had to devour one of them..." (Adella) Sigh "Don''t get me wrong, I love killing, torturing, and humiliating my enemies as much as anyone, but I still have some idea of ??what to do and who to do it with." (Adella) "For beings who proclaim themselves as Dragon Eaters, one of them being devoured by a Dragon is too humiliating." (Adella) She stomped her foot so hard that it made the whole place shake as if it was going to break, a shadow rose up with the head of a Dragon, it was Okan trying to see what was happening and I waved him off to me, Adella is already angry enough. "There is a monumental difference between being a threat and being an enemy, do you understand that in this scenario they only sent 1 of them here!?" (Adella) "In other words, you are worried about our Father." (me) "Yes, I am and if you dare to bring up the subject again I will break your branches and you will not like knowing where I will stick them." (Adella) "The one who spoke is no longer here, I don''t even know what we were talking about." (me) She is at least sincere about it, but to still be here after so many days, the Goddess Selene must be equally worried, which makes the situation even more serious. ---------------- Zenos'' POV: I don''t know how much time passed, but I felt something burning around me, when I opened my eyes, I was in the middle of a desolate land, Starfire was burning everywhere, but it wasn''t normal fire, it was taking on the shapes of people, buildings and increasingly vivid animals. The more I woke up and my mind became clearer, the Starfire gained more details and even began to change its color to match what it was imitating, it was my old world, but I don''t remember that memory. "It''s not a memory, it represents the longing for who you were." (Freya) "Freya..." (me) Suddenly I hear a voice and my mind floods with images of Freya, the Starfire in the surroundings changes, the buildings and people disappear revealing the slave house as well as the images of the mansion, Freya wearing her maid''s dress, her appearance as a White Elf and then as an Ancient Elf. But all that existed were scenes with flaming Auras and several Freyas taken from my memories, all with the same flaming Aura around them, even looking everywhere I couldn''t see the real Freya. "I''m here." (Freya) "Where have you been?" (me) Suddenly a small green dot appeared, it was as small as a speck of dust, if I didn''t concentrate, I wouldn''t even be able to see it and even then I couldn''t make out much about its appearance other than a green light. "I''ve been very busy, I had to visit the Fairy World and the Spirit World, I also had to go to the tree in the Sacred Beast Star System." (Freya) "You gave me a lot of work, you know that?" (Freya) "What are you doing, does it have to do with that tree?" (me) I''m not an idiot, I had already made some associations a long time ago, the silhouettes of trees in the sky or other places in the territories of my Familiars in the World of Fairies and Spirits, as well as the one I saw on the Stellar Path, everything was connected somehow and Freya seemed to be associated with it somehow. "You''re partly mistaken, even the physical tree that Sakura takes care of is nothing more than another part, just like the shadows and silhouettes of the tree you''ve already seen, they are parts of a whole still without its essence." (Freya) "Walk with me..." (Freya) I felt this point of light scratch my snout and that''s when I realized that I had been in Dragon form this whole time. When Freya touched my scales, I felt her power and something caught my attention, it was the power of Chaos, but it wasn''t the same as mine, it seemed incomplete and it felt more like it was transforming into an Anomalous power, the aspect of transformation for creation and life. My power resonated with hers, accelerating this change, the Star Fire around me faded, revealing the Star Path where I was lying, in fact I was on a throne between two trees with the Star Path branching out infinitely between the stars in front of me. When I blinked, I was in my Human form walking side by side with Freya, but her learning was somewhat illusory, and there were also great changes in her. I walked beside her, her illusory hands clasped in mine, she didn''t explain anything to me with words, but she showed me in a way, I understood what she meant and why she didn''t speak in words. After all, how can I explain universal concepts in words when there are no words to express them? If I hadn''t become a God, I wouldn''t even be able to understand 1% of it. I don''t know how long we walked, she suddenly stopped and turned to me, pressing her illusory lips to mine, but at some point she disappeared without a trace and I opened my eyes, facing the Universal Seed containing the Star Palace inside, along with the shadow of a tree. "I understand, but waiting is hard..." (me) Chapter 1543: Cap 1541: Marked Pov Nix: I was sitting on the floor looking at him floating above the bed, his body emitting a frightening pressure that made even the Divinity inside me freeze. "What did this irresponsible man do now?" (me) "I''m not sure, but after talking to Alice I can only think that it has something to do with that." (Karina) Karina pointed to the necklace that was also glowing and was also floating around his neck, but I can''t feel anything from that necklace with the master''s presence taking up this entire room. "Do you know if Hades managed it?" (me) "No, none of them can enter the Star Path." (Karina) "..." (me) "(You''re going to be so screwed when you wake up.)" (me) So many people came to see him today, looking at the broken wall on the other side I can still hear the curses. "How are the others?" (me) "Ibuki was more than frustrated, but she''s already gone." (Karina) "Kira didn''t say anything, but her anger was apparent, only Erica was a bit volatile, but the destruction she caused will fix itself." (Karina) "And how is Diana?" (me) "Very calm, she was the one who calmed Erica down, that surprised me a bit." (Karina) "(She must have noticed too...)" (me) Of all of us, only Layla and I noticed, I''m not sure if Hinata noticed, but with Diana''s instincts she must have been able to feel it or that''s what I thought. I looked at the master and besides the pressure around him, there didn''t seem to be anything else wrong, he''s been like this for days without any changes, but my instincts scream danger. "Layla''s right... Stupid master." (me) ----------------- Pov Niryna: I was putting my clothes back on, the blood on my body was a little unpleasant, but there''s nothing I can do about it. "Did you really need all that?" (me) "Actually, it was easier than I thought, she gave up in just a few days, that wasn''t funny." (Callidora) "I''m not finding anything funny." (me) "I feel horrible for doing something like that to someone..." (me) "Don''t worry, you''ll get used to it." (Samara) I look at the door that opens, Samara enters and her eyes wander between Lilith and Loki who are hugging and the pool of blood where what''s left of Sarin was submerged. "Seriously? You want to do it this way?" (Samara) "The Goddess of Death won''t like it." (Samara) "I''m not breaking any rules of the agreement, besides, where do you think the Church of Light is getting people for their forced ''conscription'' rituals?" (Callidora) "That makes sense." (Samara) "What are they talking about?" (me) "About boring matters, the important thing is that you need to rest." (Samara) "I can rest after I finish things here." (me) "You need to rest well for the next step, so rest." (Samara) "..." (me) Sigh "Okay..." (me) ------------------- Pov Zenos: After saying goodbye with a kiss from Freya, when I turned around I realized that I was once again on the Star Path, the Eclipse was in the distance and several silhouettes counting in millions were walking along the path, the massive majority took only a few steps along the star path while a minority walked slowly with only a few walking steadily. "I know what this place is, I know who these silhouettes are by name and I know what each of their steps means." (me) "This is a mysterious place in many ways, only when I''m here do I feel like a true God and understand what omnipresence means." (me) "So tell me, why do you think you can hide from me here of all places?" (me) "Hahahaha..." While I was with Freya I realized that I was unconscious, I wasn''t here with my body like the previous time, only my mind, Soul and Will were here. I don''t know how I had entered the Stellar Path without realizing it, but I felt that something had changed, something fundamental and yet no practical changes had been applied, so I continued trying to explore these changes while I was by Freya''s side, it wasn''t something that required much concentration and was almost passive. At some point I had noticed something, it was like a lit candle in the middle of the darkness or a single thunder in the middle of a storm, it stood out so much that it was impossible not to notice, it was another Will, one that I didn''t know and wasn''t connected to me. I felt that this Will had appeared in this place, but I ignored it when I realized that it didn''t do anything, my time with Freya was more precious and I enjoyed every second I had. I missed not only Freya, but my wives, unfortunately I couldn''t be with them all as much as I would have liked, but Freya was still with me at that moment and that was a precious time for me, the worries of the world could wait. When Freya left, her determination to see herself clear, I let my mind wander for just a moment to my other wives, I hadn''t been able to see them since I woke up. Only after that did I contemplate the Star Path truly trying to find out more about my unkind guest, I knew where he was from start to finish, hiding in a corner as if searching for me until the moment I purposely placed myself in his line of sight. "Since you''ve come all this way, why don''t you reveal yourself? Are you scared?" (me) "You must have figured out that you can''t force me even though you''re here, right?" "I don''t like hiding either, I just wanted to see my target for myself." I tried to look for him in many ways, but other than feeling his presence in this place and knowing where he was, I couldn''t find out anything else, I didn''t know his appearance and I couldn''t force him to leave. It was as if he was shrouded in mist around him, he was extremely visible wherever he went but it was impossible to unravel his identity. From his presence full of hunger and wild killing intent, I already had an idea of ??who he might be, but that just made me a little apprehensive about meeting him in person, I had no fear in this place, but outside of here I wouldn''t know how strong this enemy is. "(So I was right...)" (me) In front of me, a few kilometers away, a Dragon''s silhouette appeared, it was hundreds of kilometers long, its body was like that of a Serpent with 3 pairs of kilometers long wings separated along its body, its head had 3 interconnected horns as if it were some kind of crown, its tail had the tip of a very sharp thorn. But what I focused on was something else, its Dragon''s head had 3 eyes that looked more like holes in its skull, these holes had glowing red spheres that seemed to be made of crystal floating inside, its open mouth split its open jaw in half. His entire body seemed to be covered in metal armor interconnected with his spine, but this armor was loose, covering more of his back than the front of his body. The parts where the armor didn''t reach seemed to have a massive energy flowing as if it were magma, and that was what made up his body. I was more than familiar with this type of creature. His true body was the armor around him, not the energy inside. His real appearance wouldn''t be like that either, since he wasn''t a true Dragon. Dragon Eater. This was probably the same enemy Adella had talked about. It was very clear that he had me as his target. He wasn''t looking at me as an appetizer like the one I devoured. Erkales was a maniac who, even until the end, saw me only as food. His Aura was as bizarre as the one in front of me, but much weaker. "Have you come to avenge your companion?" (me) "Hahahaha..." "Bold, truly bold... hahahaha..." Their Aura and presence are bizarre, they seem to be alive on their own and full of hunger, I can almost see the saliva dripping from their jaws, but what surprised me the most was the even greater amount of killing intent that far outweighs the hunger. "Erkales was my brother, there are no companions among us, even if his death only represents his weakness, the act of being devoured by someone other than one of us is something we cannot tolerate, especially since it was a Dragon like you." He tries to get closer, a Wild Presence trying to devour this place was emanating from his body, I could feel the Anomalous Power and thanks to that I realized that his Anomalous Core was in his head, unlike Erkales who had it in his chest as if showing off his Core, the one in front of me kept his core very well. I just nodded and his body remained still, in this place he could not move as he wanted, I could even expel him directly, but I needed to know this enemy before anything. "You look delicious, I can feel our power in you, I also smell the chaos, it seems we were right... hahahahaha..." "How did you get in here?" (me) "The same way I know where you are now." "You have already been marked by us, an enemy cannot be left alive, I will kill you and devour your body, not as prey to be hunted, but as the enemy that you are." "I will be waiting." (me) "It''s going to be great to devour another one of you." (me) "See you soon... Zenos..." "..." (me) I accepted my hand and the space around him began to close, all the stars and paths around him were pushing him out, but he seemed calm as he didn''t even try to resist, his eyes all the time locked on me as if recording my appearance in his mind until he disappeared completely. "This is going to suck..." (me) Sigh Chapter 1544: Cap 1542: Reflecting on the path After driving out that Dragon Eater, I turned my eyes to the vastness of the entire Star Path. "All directions... all paths... but only the Will to count..." (me) I understood this place, it was created by me, not consciously, but still, it was created by me. In my previous life I was an orphan with no family to count on, I came from scratch building my kingdom in creating Video Games with my own effort, all this with a sick body that should have led me to death much earlier than the age I reached. "I can say that this was my strong Will at that time, I fell in love with that field of work and time seemed to fly by while I enjoyed the work." (me) After dying and being reborn here in this universe, my previous experiences were worthless. It was like going back to zero all over again. In fact, I was almost in the negative for being reborn as such a weak Leech. I could have died with a careless step from any creature. "No, victimizing myself like that is wrong. I am not an orphan in this world, and I had true Divine help from my mother." (me) I may have started from very low, but I gained skills and help with each evolution, as well as emotional support from her. Her presence was very important to me. Even so, with the help of the Goddess Selene, my path to this day has been full of danger. In fact, the fact that I am still alive after so many things have happened is almost a miracle. My mother did not defend me in any way and did not force me to do anything, allowing me to follow my own path as I wanted. "This time Willpower was really what kept me alive, my personality changed a lot with each blood-soaked step I left in my path, be it my own blood or the blood of those who got in my way." (me) I look at my hand and see only an inhuman claw, I was in my Dragon form again without realizing it, I was so comfortable that I didn''t notice. I was no longer human, I still remember the values ??of my previous life, but at this point I must have almost gone Cintra all of them, I killed, tortured, devoured other people, some of them still alive, I committed many robberies and several other crimes. "The claws of a monster and as such stained with much blood, I don''t even know how many lives were taken by these claws..." (me) I wasn''t sad or regretful about the path I took, but it was always something of mine to reflect on the past while looking at the stars, maybe that was how this Stellar Path began to form. "I''ve also saved many lives, helped many people, and fought against many injustices, haven''t I...?" (me) "What am I...?" (me) "A Monster...?" (me) "A Person...?" (me) "A King...?" (me) "A God... perhaps...?" (me) "Were these the things I sought...?" (me) My entire life flashed before my eyes, it was like looking back and seeing the footprints I left along my path. "No, they were just events along the way to what I truly sought and what I still need to keep walking toward." (me) In my mind the images of my children, my wives, my Familiars, my friends, my Heralds and those who agreed to follow an idiot among the stars, their faces passed through my mind and a simple image of everyone together laughing in our city revealed itself, but for me it was the most beautiful image I had ever seen containing everything I had ever wanted, a home. "Home... such a simple word and yet with so much meaning, so much weight... at least for me..." (me) I smiled and looked back at the Star Path, those with a strong Will will be brought here by themselves, whether they seek power, an idea or even just comfort, this place will have what they seek if they are able to walk their paths with their own will. "If it is to make excuses to give up, then not even the Gods helped..." (me) I looked at the Eclipse where the throne stood, the Eclipse had always had many meanings both in my previous life and in this life now. "Good and evil are not so absolute, the gray line between them is even wider than these extremes and connects the two." (me) I flew down the Star Path, there was no longer a path for me to walk, the path was behind me as I flew through the stars. ---------------- Pov Ibuki: I was looking at the army in front of me, I was furious, I couldn''t see the master, I couldn''t be by his side while I was sleeping because of these bastards. "Don''t be so angry." (Diana) "We have to end this war." (me) "He went through several battles in a row and we weren''t there!" (me) The army in front of us didn''t advance and we didn''t advance either, Diana was with me while behind us was a vast army waiting for our command. "We all have our responsibility, our battle here is no less important than his battles." (Diana) "If we kill every Deity alongside Baldr and Seal them all, we will shorten the scope of the battle and we will be able to fight alongside Zenos." (Diana) "I know, you already said this, but I don''t have to agree with it, I just want to be by his side." (me) "If something had happened to him..." (me) "Trust him, we still need more power, you and Kira haven''t fully achieved Divinity yet, so focus on that for now or when Freya comes back she''ll leave you two behind." (Diana) "I just need a Fragment of Divinity, so I..." (me) "< Communion of Divine Light >" "He''s appeared, try not to let him escape again." (Diana) "I know... ATTACK!!!!" (me) ------------------ Pov Zenos: After spending so much time lost in thought, it was like organizing my emotions again, I looked randomly between those pursuing their paths, it reaffirmed my own will. Somehow my time on the Star Path was relaxing, it was as if going over my past was something I needed to do and after that I found myself returning to the throne, it wasn''t something I liked to see, but I couldn''t deny that it was appropriate in a way. After I returned to the throne, I suddenly saw a Dragon approaching with a book in his hands, I picked up the book and felt as if something was sucked from me into the book, it wasn''t energy or power, it was something more ethereal and that I wouldn''t have noticed before I became a God. What the book absorbed was a bit of my Will and I felt it contain my understanding of what was right and wrong. "Let''s see how this will be in the future..." (me) I waved my hand and both the book and the Dragon became a necklace that returned to my neck, then released a glow that became a wave running through the entire Star Path. After that I blinked my eyes, when I closed my eyes it was the Star Path that I was seeing, but when I opened my eyes it was a ceiling that I know very well that appeared in my vision, it was just a moment of blinking my eyes and I had woken up naturally. My body was at its peak, my mind was calm and I felt my Soul relaxed, I hadn''t felt so good since before I became a God. "Good morning." (Alice/Karina) "..." (Samara) The first to enter my vision were my Saints, two of them had smiles on their faces while the third was leaning against a wall without saying anything, but a truly happy smile was on her face. Alice told me everything that had happened since I went to sleep and Karina told me what she had been doing, as well as my other companions, Familiars and wives who were not present before. Karina''s report was much longer while Alice only said a few things, after the two left to do some errands, Samara took a few steps until she was in front of me where she kneeled in excessive respect before giving her report. "So we''re back, Tarzor is really in a hurry..." (me) "Yes, he felt the changes in you." (Samara) "The Laws..." (me) "Why does he seek this so much?" (me) "He is an incomplete creature, always has been since his accidental creation." (Samara) "Seeking to become complete is a natural instinct while seeking the yearning of those who make up his origin, but he does not have the ability until he becomes an Anomalous Entity." (Samara) "..." (me) Sigh "Very well, I can settle this with him at least." (me) I still had to worry about the Dragon Eater, but I didn''t know when or where he would attack, I was just sure that he was no longer where Adella had seen him. "It''s time to fulfill our agreement, Tarzor." (me) I got up and as soon as I left the mansion with Samara right behind, I met my Familiars outside, they seemed to be waiting for me and I spent a few hours talking to everyone, each of them changed, but they were more internal changes than external ones with only Orion becoming a colossal being of Blood, his change was much more obvious. When I went to find the Grave Mother, she was more than anxious, she almost pulled me out and I realized that we were close to Tarzor once again. When I left the space controlled by Okan, I returned to my Dragon form and stood in front of Tarzor that no longer looked like a Planet but rather a large ghostly white Serpent. Chapter 1545: Cap 1543: A Universe? Part 1 I was in my Dragon form, my Familiars and Saints around me, even Layla was quiet when Tarzor showed himself. It was as if the entire Star System was falling apart, even the Sun and countless stars disappeared, we were in a space of complete darkness with only Tarzor in front of us. A white Serpent with its eyes closed, its coiled size was like a large planet, its presence was greater than mine even though it was a God, I could also see more than in the past. "(These scales...)" (me) The scales on its body were not real scales, they were fragments that had been deformed to form scales, I could feel traces of Essence, Life, Death and Curse in these supposed scales. I already had some life experience, I had seen many things and been to many places, I myself had a Dungeon and visited many types of Separate Spaces to be able to recognize one. Each scale was a separate space, but it wasn''t normal, it was as if they were sealed and tied together, it must be this curse power keeping them all together, so the power of Life and Death that I''m feeling must be coming from within these Separate Spaces. "Now can you see?" (Tarzor) "Yes." (me) "They''re trapped in you... or are they you?" (me) "I am what you see, nothing more and nothing less, just a collection of pieces of what no longer exists, inheriting a desire to live while still immersed in death, an existence that carries the resentment of entire universes." (Tarzor) "I understand, but do you know the consequences?" (me) "Of being trapped in you!?" (Tarzor) "Don''t fool yourself boy, chaos cannot be contained, your connections with those around you are not as you think." (Tarzor) At first I didn''t understand, my Familiars were connected to me just like my Saints, I could feel how deep these connections were. "They all have the power of Chaos in them, the connection with you exists because they want it to exist, but this connection is constantly changing like the veins of a body that are always pulsing and as such can be cut." (Tarzor) "At least almost all of them..." (Tarzor) He looks at Samara, her case is different, my connection with her is more of an eternal restriction that makes up her entire existence, her body doesn''t belong to her so to speak and her Soul is eternally enslaved. "That''s why you want to continue, but why would I help you knowing that?" (me) "Because I will continue by your side, not as a servant or slave, but as a companion." (Tarzor) "More like a parasite, everything that makes it up after that will be supported by your existence, master." (Samara) "As much as he wants to walk away, he can''t. It would be like ripping out all the organs, blood, and bones from a living body, then ordering the creature to live a normal life." (Samara) "As funny as it is, it doesn''t work." (Samara) "Is she right?" (me) "Unfortunately, yes. I would get to that part later, but my words wouldn''t be as explicit." (Tarzor) Tarzor''s desire is to become a Universe. He doesn''t want something big. He wants to unite his fragments into a single being. But I can feel, even from a distance, how different these fragments are. I can imagine that their Essences are incompatible and perhaps even incomplete. He wants to use the Power of Chaos to merge the Essences of different universes and weld their fragments together. I see how it would be impossible without possessing the power of Chaos, but that would only be enough to do this part, there would still be more after that. "I have no slaves or servants, other than Samara, but she is a special case." (me) "Everyone here is my family and friends, I do not need you to obey me in the future, but I would like to have a stable and respectful cooperation as well as act together as I do with Okan." (me) "That is acceptable, my servants are still with me, in fact I like your Dimensional Dragon, he has qualities that I have sought before." (Tarzor) "Even if he is not a universe but some kind of Divine Realm, his similarity and naturalness of existence have my admiration." (Tarzor) "I thank you for your praise on his behalf." (me) "(I''m not in a hurry to do this myself, but stalling won''t get me anywhere...)" (me) What I''m about to do isn''t easy, in fact I don''t even know how hard it''s going to be, I''m not creating a Divine Servant, Divine Beast, Familiar or anything like that, none of that should be possible to begin with since Tarzor isn''t exactly a living creature. I''m trying to create a living Universe or dimension, so far the only comparisons I can make are Nix who had the Dungeon inside her before becoming a Divine Realm that now composes Okan''s body, he himself is another reference I thought of and Tarzor seems to think the same. Apart from these two references, I can only think of one more that scares me a lot, Callidora. Callidora is a living entity with her own life, she is also composed of fragments of other Universes, some of which she probably destroyed for fun. At the time we were rebirthing Niryna, she took me to a place that contained her power. At the time, I wasn''t able to understand what that power was, but now I understand that a large part of it was Anomalous Power while the rest was possibly her own Infernal power. In my previous life, I never thought of Hell as a living, thinking entity, but now I''m considering doing something similar with Tarzor, which scares me a little. "(I don''t know much about Callidora, but Tarzor will be dependent on me, before it was just an assumption I thought about, but now I''m sure.)" (me) "(After all, I can''t risk creating another Hell just to fulfill an agreement, I''m not so loyal to my words to an irrational point.)" (me) I took everyone to a different place, Tarzor was no exception, what I was about to do goes far beyond transforming a living creature by changing its race, lineage or power, I wasn''t just performing an Awakening Ceremony or reborning someone either. I wasn''t even sure what kind of power I would need, so I went to the place where my power was almost unlimited. "Nix, take us inside." (me) "Alright." (Nix) "< Opening of the Stellar Path >" (Nix) Nix returns to her Dragon form. If before she looked like a cutout of the night sky, now she looks like a cutout of the Universe itself. Her body seems to be formed from entire galaxies. Her Scales are no longer made of crystal, they look ethereal, as if she were a living incarnation of the universe. Her eyes became a Purple Sun and a Silver Moon covered in cracks as if it were broken. A third eye opened on her chest and was the size of her head. These eyes looked like a portal to another universe, and in the middle a large Eclipse whose ring of light around it seemed to burn. Nix''s Dragon form changed, being much more similar to mine. The upper part of her body was half-Humanoid, she had two arms, while the lower part of her body was a tail that seemed to disappear the closer it got to the tip. Her figure was different from mine, which was imposing and powerful with large muscles. Nix''s appearance was more delicate and beautiful. Her arms were thin, her curvy silhouette, her Dragon head was half humanized. She seemed so beautiful and graceful that no painting could match her real appearance. She spread her 7 pairs of wings while the eyes on her head closed. The large eye on her chest opened while the ring of Eclipse flames came out of that eye, expanding until it contained all of us, including Tarzor. The large ring of Starfire spun around us quickly before also spinning in its own orbit in a movement that seemed slow. With its movement, the space outside the ring seemed to change. The darkness of Tarzor disappeared, revealing stars that were not in the positions they should have been and with very different colors, as well as something that had not existed until then, an incredible number of lines that spread between the stars. These lines were actually paths made of crystal that, seen from afar, seemed to be just lines. As the entire space changed, the ring of flames returned to Nix before the eye on her chest closed and she opened her eyes in her head once more, the tiredness easily seen on her face, after all, the area she had to bring was so large that it could fit Tarzor, whose size is comparable to that of entire planets. This was the Stellar Path, if Okan has a Divine Realm composed of a Separate Space that was once the Dungeon, the Stellar Path is a real ethereal Divine Realm composed purely of my Divinity. The Dungeon is usually part of Nix''s body, I didn''t realize how strange it was for the remains of the Dungeon to be part of Okan since I woke up as a God, I had so many things on my mind and so many things to do, so I let something so simple pass. But if the Dungeon transformed into that state and became part of Okan, what had happened to Nix? This was something that even when I first visited the Star Path, I didn''t realize, only after that last sleep where I calmly reflected on the Star Path was when I understood many things. The Star Path pushed the remains of the Dungeon out of Nix replacing its place, this was because Nix was my Familiar, as the Dungeon at that time had its gate open on the back of Okan who was created by me, it transformed into what it is today while Nix became even bigger. "Thank you Nix." (me) "Now we can begin." (me) Chapter 1546: Cap 1544: A Universe? Part 2 "Now we can begin." (me) My power in this place was greater and in terms of Energy it should be unlimited, each person on the Star Path generates Faith for me, the Willpower of these people taking a step forward reaffirms my beliefs generating Faith, all this power can be stored infinitely here, of course my power is not unlimited, I am a new and little known God, still I have a large amount of Sacred and Divine Power in this place that should be enough. "(Where should I start...?)" (me) I look at Tarzor, he stands still in place, his eyes open focusing on me, a great intention locked on me as if everything that makes up his existence was focused on me. "Are you ready?" (me) "Yes." (Tarzor) I look at everyone else, my Familiars and Saints, and wave them away. Even if I''m going to use Divine Power here, it will be as a source of energy to boost the Anomalous Power, not something central to the process. I thought about it to avoid transforming it contained in this universe. Using the Anomalous Power will theoretically make the rest of the process easier. I take a deep breath before focusing my mind and Soul on the process as I go over everything I thought in my mind when I did everything. I had already thought about Tarzor''s case, how I would start all this. The Awakening Ceremony was always a good start, but now that I''m a God, I can use my power in a much more delicate and fundamental way than before. I don''t need to limit myself to a Skill. "(I''ve thought about this before... just like with the Heralds...)" (me) "Blood as a conductor." (me) "(I still remember and understand the magic circles from both the Awakening Ceremony and the Dungeon Monster Creation...)" (me) "A circuit of naturally flowing energy pulsating in a specific magical pattern of use, the Spirit Runes can complement the parts that magical logic cannot accurately quantify." (me) "(Using the understandings I had in creating the 3 sources of Natural power in the new elements...)" (me) "A universe is alive in infinite expansion and transformation, an eternal chaos from creation to destruction in a natural flow." (me) "(I have experienced the Fairy World, the Spirit World and Hell, I know how to harmonize internal energy and I know how the interactions of different spaces work...)" (me) "(I can even extrapolate some scientific and biological knowledge to irrational things just for reference...)" (me) "Sealed in scales are not truly united, they must be together in building blocks that together form a whole, I can base myself on cells as a basis." (me) "(I have worked with Fragments of all types, be they different fragmented Souls as in the case of Layla...)" (me) "(Different creatures as in the case of Okan or Hades...)" (me) "(Different Fragments of Divinities merging into a single Essence...)" (me) "If each space is different, I can gather them in different Cells and make them orbit a nucleus as if it were in a Star System or Galaxy, they can even be associated with the electron around the nucleus of an atom." (me) "This way they can influence each other and interconnect over time, still following the natural path, whether looking at it from the biological or astrological perspective." (me) "(I should use the Anomalous Cores as the main base, add the power of chaos to engrave the Essences directly into it...)" (me) "(The Blood Core could also be a reference to using all the bloodlines already stored within me in a way... a combination of both perhaps...)" (me) "Essence to Soul... Bloodlines to body... he already possesses his own mind." (me) "(The materials are important, my Blood being indispensable... I have Poison Worlds and Legions of Death stored away...)" (me) "(The seed is indisputable, from it the core must form and everything else unfolds, it will begin and end with this seed...)" (me) "(If the Universal Seed is to be used, then I will have to use the Necklace of Law as well, I just invented one that will never be used again, but it is linked to the Universal Seed in some way, using the two together makes sense... at least to me...)" (me) "The Seed must sprout a tree, roots and branches like veins, the power of the laws can better organize the Essences while serving as a natural restraint for Tarzor." (me) "I also have Complete Essences and Fragments of Divinities stored away in the Communal Temple, they will be useful to supplement some Essences in the formation of a stable Natural Cycle." (me) "(I can use my knowledge of programming logic and coding as a reference, it wouldn''t be the first time...)" (me) "Making a layered configuration seems to be a better option while interconnecting the repetitions of the spells, a more practical manual activation that way." (me) "(Tarzor doesn''t have true Anomalous Power, let''s use Transformation for Creation, the opposite of what Callidora represents, my power can complement the transformation part for destruction...)" (me) "A universe should be focused on creation, destruction should be a factor contained within itself and not something main, so a path is generated from creation." (me) Anomalous Power ==> Transformation > Creation Chaos Power ==> Creation > Transformation > Destruction "(So it shall be...)" (me) A sketch formed in my mind, from then on it was as if my Commanding Soul, my power and my Will, concentrated my everything on its task, I was conscious and controlling the entire process while the power surged through me at the same time that I felt I was doing everything almost instinctively. I didn''t need to hurt myself for my blood to leak out, particles of my blood came out of the pores of my body as if it were vapor. The red mist arising from this vapor condensed into a river of blood that flowed faster and faster while becoming thinner and thinner like a silk thread. These threads of blood took on a diagram of millions of magical circles interconnected in a chain with sequential layers of active. As I controlled my blood, which circulated around Tarzorz''s entire planetary body, I waved my hand, causing the Eclipse in the distance to release rays of light, forming a luminous curtain full of star reflections. Several objects floated out of this curtain. There were several geometric shapes made of crystal, metal or barriers, there were even some strange stays and various items. These are the materials I will be using today. I also took off the necklace around my neck. In my Dragon form, it was the only thing I was wearing, but now it would be another of the materials I would use. There was also one more thing I left for last: the Star Seed. Unlike all the other items that were sealed, the Universal Seed was completely free and controlled by my Will. The Universal Seed was what caught my attention the most, as it contained the Star Palace within, as well as an illusory tree, an ethereal barrier in the shape of a Seed around it. With all these items in hand I began to order them into different segments of the blood lines, at this point the blood had already stopped flowing from my body. Most of the items in sealed states were smaller than their actual size, a Legion of Death for example would be the same size as Tarzor. At this moment I command the Divine Power to condense the Spiritual Runes to complement the Magic Circles. My power was pulsing inside me as I focused much of my Will on moving the Seed carefully until it was in front of Tarzor within the entire ritual, the necklace containing the book of law sinks inside the Universal Seed. "(I must start now, but I need to share the load...)" (me) "Alice! Karina! Samara!" (me) "Yes!" (Alice/Karina/Samara) "Follow my command!" (me) I command them to different positions, I needed to relegate simpler parts of this ritual to them. Alice will command the Divine Power to keep it stable and that''s it. Karina will only maintain the integrity of the ritual itself, nothing more. Samara, on the other hand, will act in a more central part, with my control over her I can control her body as a second body helping to do some things, her experience with Anomalous power will also be useful and I don''t run the risk of her doing anything against me. What I need to do on the other hand will be much deeper, I will have to literally remodel her body in a much more manual way. I can''t let the ritual run wild, much of it is created from the Awakening Ceremony, if I let it run wild I won''t know what Tarzor will become in the end. "Are you ready!?" (me) "Yes!" (Alice/Karina/Samara) I leave the corresponding parts of the ritual to them, from now on my focus will be Tarzor and the Seed as fundamental parts. I join my hands together, gathering the pure tread of Chaos, the Essence of Chaos is immutable in all creation and in all Universes. The power of Chaos has no specific form, no specific state, between my hands it sometimes becomes solid, sometimes becomes liquid, sometimes becomes like mist, sometimes takes the form of creatures, sometimes takes forms that I know and in the end it took the form of an Eclipse as if influenced by me. With an illusory Eclipse with a ring of Starfire around it, I wave it forward making it sink into the Ritual as if it had triggered everything else. "(Chaos cannot be controlled, but I am chaos and I can flow in a single will...)" (me) "< Unholy Eclipse Ritual: Anomalous Ascension >" (me) Chapter 1547: Cap 1545: A Universe? Part 3 "< Unholy Eclipse Ritual: Anomalous Ascension >" (me) One thing I learned about magic, as well as any other form of expressing power with energy or Aura, two things are very important. The first is the image of what you would like to accomplish, the more detailed and precise it is, the better the result will be. Today I understand that this is a way of implementing the Will to follow predetermined instructions. The second is a name, it cannot be just any name, it must be something that expresses the effect of what you want to accomplish, something that coincides with the image that has formed in your mind. This name will serve as a trigger for this image as well as a connection between the image and the energy being used. Magic focuses on the form of the image. The Spiritual Rune focuses on the meaning of the image in philosophical form. Ki focuses on the depth of the image, the mental and emotional state represented. In this ritual I am using all natural concepts to express nature, I am transforming Faith into Sacred Power which in turn condenses with my Divinity becoming Divine Power, this constant flow of Divine power pulsates through the blood lines as if traveling through veins, pulsating in a specific rhythm. All the magic circles light up, the Runes then with the pulsation in the blood lines marking a very specific activation rhythm. All the materials are gradually surrounded by images of Starfire Dragons, being refined by their flames in a state of transformation. With all this ready, tornadoes of Divine Power form in dozens around the ritual caused by the great flow of power being absorbed. "(If I wasn''t in here, this power would have to come from me.)" (me) A frightening thought of me turning into a mummy from being sucked dry came to mind in an intrusive thought before I shook my head, forcing myself into a state of absolute concentration once more. I began to delegate the functions of the Ritual to my Saints, each of them perfectly assuming their roles, the knowledge of what to do was transmitted directly to their minds, making the process easy, especially for Samara who had vast experience. With that resolved, I closed my eyes, when I opened them again, I was alone with Tarzor, I was still in my Dragon form while he was also in a White Serpent form, but this time it was much clearer that his Scales were mere fragments with glows that almost reflected completely different things. We were still among the stars, on the horizon in one direction there was a Purple Sun, on the horizon in the opposite direction there was a Fragmented Moon and high in the Sky there was the Eclipse that marks my identity. We were standing in a calm boundless ocean that reflected the boundless stars above cleanly, with the only ripples being those caused around us, our sizes were also close to each other showing how this was just a mental or perhaps Spiritual space. In my hands were two items that seemed to resonate with each other, the Universal Seed and the book of the law in the form of a necklace. I had already expected something like this, in fact this was the first time I entered this state of my own free will, I was literally incarnated in my Will and felt all the processes of the Ritual taking place. "I cannot guarantee the results, only that there is a chance." (me) "That is already your arrogance speaking, even the Gods do not dare to claim that they have a chance to create a Universe." (Tarzor) "If it is created from nothing, I would also not affirm anything and I believe you understand the path I chose to follow in this ritual." (me) "I have spent millions of years thinking about this boy, I am older than several Gods of this universe." (Tarzor) "I already knew that there was only one way, to merge all the universal fragments into one universe, only that would do, but it is not something that can be achieved easily and you understand why I chose the power of chaos." (Tarzor) "Yes, after some thought about the process, it became clear." (me) The powers of this universe are divided into two, creation and destruction. The Gods represent the power of creation while the Demon Gods represent the power of Destruction, a balance between the two extremes. I can only assume that it is something similar in other Universes, but it seems possible. All forms of energy and power can branch off from these two extremes, with only Chaos being the variant. "You could have gotten it in other ways, Callidora would have helped in exchange for something and there must be other Anomalous creatures that could do something." (me) "There are some types of Anomalous creatures that could help, but some tried to devour me, others tried to refine me into a weapon and others tried to enslave me." (Tarzor) "My eagerness to become complete is not irrational to the point of losing myself completely, Hell would possibly be the worst of all places." (Tarzor) "From the beginning I understood that the Anomalous Power would have limited chances of achieving what I desire, as a branched source of power there are limitations in its use, only its source which is chaos would be suitable." (Tarzor) "It cannot be just me who controls chaos, there must be more options for you." (me) "There are no better options." (Tarzor) "..." (me) "(It wasn''t a denial that there are others who control chaos or at least there were others.)" (me) While I argued with Tarzor, I wasn''t idle, I was waiting for all the materials to be refined and the entire Ritual to be fully activated. I was also adjusting the resonance between the 2 items in my hands, the Seed was filled with the Power of Chaos while the book was filled with the Anomalous power, both marked by my power, but the more the resonance increased, the greater the feeling of something else extending through the Seed. It wasn''t trying to hide itself, in fact it was beckoning its presence to me, it was something I had only felt once, that was when I met Freya in my dream within the Star Path. It seems that this Seed having formed has to do with the eldest sister of the World Trees that I hear Silvia tell, she must have been waiting for this and with that thought called Freya or that was as far as I could think. "There is no turning back once I give this to you." (me) "I''m not afraid boy, the Anomalous power alone can be dangerous, but Chaos only transforms, it doesn''t create or destroy." (Tarzor) "Whatever state I wake up in, I will be whole, that was what I sought and that''s why I accepted any risk." (Tarzor) "Very well..." (me) I continue to feel the entire ritual as it is completely activated, all the items were refined and now the Ritual was pulsing as if it were a heart. Opening one of my body''s eyes, I see the massive amount of Divine Power causing even the Star Path to tremble, the Silhouettes of Wills that previously walked along the star path are all turned towards us as if they could feel this tremor and wanted to see such a spectacle. My Divinity pulses within me as if it wanted to take over everything and take the lead in the Ritual, but I keep it under control. That would be the worst outcome. I am not creating or reborn any Divinity. I am trying to ascend an Anomalous Creature. With the Ritual reaching its peak and seeing my 3 Saints managing to maintain control of the ritual, I close my body''s eyes and return to Focusing only on my Will, where I was alone facing Tarzor. I concentrate on the two items in my hands in resonance and join the two. Little by little, the book breaks, releasing Runes that seem to contain some meaning. Then, these Runes attach themselves to the body of the Dragon that was previously wrapped around the book. Its ethereal wings open, revealing endless Runes flowing as it flies to the Center of the Universal Seed. The Star Palace, the Dragon of Law, and the Tree Silhouette disappear until the Seed seems to solidify into a true crystal that shrinks to the size of one of my claws, an energy of Pure Chaos emanating from it while something seems to flow from elsewhere into the Seed as if knowing life for it. "I grant you what I have always wanted, but you must be the one to accept it." (me) "..." (Tarzor) The truth is that I wanted to send this Seed to Tarzor, but I couldn''t, it seemed like there was something holding me back and that was when I realized what it was, the Star Path, in this place I cannot grant power as I please, I can only present an opportunity while those who seek something must stand up for themselves. Tarzor just looked at me for a second before looking around as if understanding the meaning behind my words, his snake face strangely opens a slight smile as if it were funny to have to prove his Will. His whole body moves, coming closer to me, his body stretches with each movement, carrying enormous weight, his eyes shining as if they were exploding Galaxies, he opens his jaw and eats the seed directly from my hands, that''s when I felt the restrictions on my movements disappear and he returns to his position this time with great difficulty while a strange energy emanates from his body. "My will is not something that can be denied!" (Tarzor) "< Ascension >" (me) This time I go to him, it wasn''t something I planned, it was something I felt was right, an instinct of recognition of the strong Will of the one in front of me, my claw touches his forehead leaving a single sliver of Star Fire that sinks into his body. The next thing I see is a completely different scenario, Tarzor''s body expands as if it had exploded, then an incredible number of fragments floating around me. The Starfire I planted becomes a flaming line that my Will controls, connecting all the fragments while rearranging them by the hundreds every second. "I will go to the end as a sign of my respect for your willpower." (me) Chapter 1548: Cap 1546: A Universe? Part 4 Around me there was an endless number of fragments, each fragment was a blur of stars and energies releasing totally different presences, rearranging these fragments and uniting them was not as easy as melting them all together to form a whole. This was a process that had to be done slowly, I had to look for combinations between the fragments of the universe to assemble a grid of Essences that, even though rudimentary, could still hold the connections. In this state I had no notion of time, this was because I was not using my reasoning while working, I was purely using my instinct because it was faster. I felt like a child trying to stubbornly put together pieces of different puzzles into one, but there was nothing I could do about it, it was not something that could be done brute force. I had to feel the presence of the fragments, identify the types of Essences inside regardless of whether they were complete or not, then look for combinations before passing the line of Starfire through the Universal Fragment, this would create a flow between the fragments that was not there before. Even if the efficiency of the Essence flow between the fragments was only 0.001% it didn''t matter, as long as there was a connection no matter how unstable it was, that was all I needed, I needed to connect all the fragments in this way and as soon as I managed to do it until the last one, great exhaustion fell over me. "(That was... difficult...)" (me) I had no idea how long it took, but it must have been a few days, but the problem wasn''t the time but the difficulty, I was overworking myself and I couldn''t stop because it was something that had to be done without pause. "(Now comes the easy part.)" (me) What I needed now was more practical and quick, I went back to the beginning, I was in the first Fragment and forced it together with the fragments connected to it while I was fusing them together using the Starfire lines themselves, then the Power of Chaos poured out forcing an adaptation in the flow of Essences between the fragments. This step continued much more easily, it took me a few hours to finish what was left was a patchwork quilt, they were all apparently together, but they were clearly different. "(The body is shaped, now comes the refinement.)" (me) "How do you feel?" (me) "Horrible..." (Tarzor) Tarzor''s voice came from all corners, but it was not a voice per se but rather an expression of his Will just like me, as I listened to his single word, the Seed appeared in my eyes again, this time no longer the inanimate item from before. The seed was contained by Starfire, but vines and roots were writhing around it as glowing Runes traveled across its surface. The seed itself was actually inside Tarzor and was already taking effect or I couldn''t have done any of this, what was holding it back was the Will of the Seed preventing it from truly growing. "The next step will be endless pain for you, but don''t lose consciousness, keep your Will strong." (me) "Don''t waste our time stating the obvious... do it!" (Tarzor) "As you wish." (me) "< Release >" (me) I release the seed and step away, the Starfire around it doesn''t go out, in fact it expands as if trying to create a sea of ??flames as endless vines and roots extend, I myself disappear from inside Tarzor opening my eyes once more in my body. Looking forward, my 3 Saints were still enduring, but I regain full control of the ritual, the next part would be too difficult for them and would refuse from my Anomalous Power. I look at Tarzor, he was writhing, his body was a mess no longer maintaining the shape of a Serpent, his Scales were spread out as if maintaining an oval shape, I did this on purpose, it looked like an egg of scales with teeth stuck to its carapace while two pairs of eyes were above forming the shadow of a Serpent in flames. "< Core Formation >" (me) Each scale of the egg was different in shape, size and looked like a window to different fields of stars, but what they all had in common was air, roots and branches passed through all of them, a tree could almost be seen completely through its separate images on each scale. But for me, it was as if the egg was completely transparent, allowing me to see the Tree inside, stretching endlessly, its branches and roots taking the place of the flow of Essences between all the fragments. I could feel the naturalness and efficiency of this flow increasing exponentially. Thanks to this, I was sure that it would reach 100%, becoming completely stable and integrated, as if it were true veins in its body. With the tree almost completely formed, I could see the runes of light beginning to appear on the egg, and with that, I began the process of creating the core. The entire Ritual began to pulse, and with that, the egg did the same. The pulse of the two synchronized in a few seconds, and after that, each pulse made the entire Ritual shrink until it was completely absorbed by the egg. Without the ritual to continually absorb Divine Power, I had to become the medium for the Divine Power to continue nourishing the egg, but this time I was making the Anomalous Power burn this Divine Power to become stronger before sinking into the egg. I could feel Tarzor''s screams, his Aura and presence were vibrating in agonizing suffering, but this was good, it meant he was managing to maintain consciousness. This continued for some time, not only was I sending Anomalous Power to him, I was also shaping his core. The Tree inside it was just visible to me, but at the foot of this tree was a Crystal Palace that was made by me, this was the core I chose, around it were sleeping planets, each of them still burning with Starfire, but they were the exact number of Legions of Death and Poison Worlds that I used as materials. A Star System forming with the Star Palace as the center or more specifically the tree as the center. The power of the Essences was all flowing through the Tree before entering the Palace, thanks to this the Complete Essences merge with the Palace while the incomplete Essences consume their equals becoming complete before merging with the Palace. Around the Tree an illusory Purple Sun and a Fragmented Moon were forming, rotating around it above the Stellar Palace. I just observe and try to understand where the power of the Law that the Seed absorbed was, that''s when I realized that it was flowing together with the Essences, they became Universal Laws literally being applied throughout the existence of Tarzor. Little by little his Aura and Presence submerges into the egg that begins to radiate a strange presence, the Shadow of a Serpent forms, little by little his body changes, his Scales becoming rougher, 9 claws appearing on his body, horns similar to tree branches growing on his head and not to mention the appearance of his head itself transforming as if it were that of a Dragon, his snout lengthens with more sharp teeth appearing, his sharp eyes become completely red and a mane of Starfire looking like strands of hair appears. Its appearance was magnificent as its horns seemed to contain countless Runes engraved on them. It was just an illusory shadow right now, but I had no doubt that its appearance when it hatched from the egg would be no different from this, it could very possibly be exactly this. But as soon as the egg formed and this illusory Dragon coiled around the egg, space began to tremble as if it was going to shatter, it was trying to send the egg out and me along with it, I echoed this strangely as I was within my Star Path, that was when I realized that it was the Universe itself that was expelling the egg and my connection with it was just what caused me to be dragged along. Ding! <[ The System Calls You ]> When I thought I was in danger and didn''t know what to do, I suddenly found myself sitting on a park bench. Around me, there were people walking calmly. They were well-dressed and there were buildings around the square. But I didn''t recognize the architecture, no matter how modern it was. The people didn''t look human either, they had pointy ears and sometimes a long tail. In front of me was a person. The two of us seemed to be invisible to the other people as we passed by, but the presence of the person in front of me was overwhelming for the simple fact that I didn''t feel anything about him. It was as if I was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I didn''t feel fear or any apprehension, I didn''t feel any of those things. I was just focused on him, trying to understand more. It was almost as if my curiosity was all that was left of my personality while my creativity exploded in my mind. But soon I couldn''t think of anything else, something happened suddenly, the heavens split, the world shook, people ran in fear as tall buildings fell, the earth cracked with columns of magma rising as a Moon I hadn''t noticed before fell. I could only watch as the entire planet destroyed itself in minutes and revealed a solar system collapsing, then showed the culprit, a grotesque creature claw larger than the entire solar system was trying to tear open space. Suddenly everything disappeared and I was standing in the same place on my Star Path, the same person was in front of me, he didn''t say anything and neither did I, but now I knew who he was. "You are the System..." (me) Chapter 1549: Cap 1547: System Notice "You are the System..." (me) The one in front of me had an ordinary appearance, gender indefinite, his brown hair only reached his shoulders and the back was tied in a small ponytail, his silver eyes seemed lifeless and deep, no emotion or brightness was reflected in him, his age seemed young being around his early twenties at least and his clothes were simple with a large, more sophisticated coat reaching his knees, even his height was average around 1.70 meters with his body being equally average, neither fat nor thin. "You are mistaken, the system is only a part of me, it is not my whole." "Then how should I address you?" (me) "Some like you just did, call me ''System'', ''Creator'', ''Origin'', ''Order'' and so on." "If it will make it easier for you, you can continue to call me System, for practical purposes it is not incorrect terminology at all." (System) His voice is ordinary, but that is the strange thing, everything about him is ordinary, except for the depth of his eyes, nothing about him draws attention and everything lacks individuality, even his voice has a normal tone, normal volume and everything is as normal as possible. But so much condensed normality is in itself abnormal, it should be an act or a lie, but even his behavior is so natural and mature that everything seems... ''normal''. "I suppose I am doing something drastic to meet you, am I not?" (me) "I have always been with you, I have always been with everyone, I am all that is and all that will be, you are part of me as well as a separate individual, do you understand?" (System) "..." (me) "Yes." (me) He speaks almost like a philosopher, but I think I understand him. He is not an individual. What I am seeing now is not really him. It may at most be a very basic representation of him. He is a completely conceptual entity that makes up all of creation. If I compare him to Callidora, it becomes easier to understand. Hell is a place, but at the same time an individual. But this one in front of me is just a completely conceptual representation. Looking around, everything else was still. Everyone was still. Even the egg where Tarzor was was still. My Star Path was frozen. "(He stopped time...?)" (me) "There is no way to stop time. A constant of existence like Space and Time cannot be changed." (System) "Just as space only has one state, that of existing. If it does not fulfill this single requirement, then there is no space. Therefore, it becomes a constant." (System) "Time also has only one state, Time flows, it cannot be stopped, if time were stopped there would be no time." (System) "Then I must be unconscious." (me) "No, we are exactly within their Star Path, what I did was not stop their time, what I did was give you more time, you are experiencing more time to the point that everything else seems to stop." (System) "I advise you not to move too much, each of these movements is actually at a speed that surpasses yours, if you were not a God, your bones would have crumbled and your energies would be exhausted by the effort." (System) "(Can you read my mind then?)" (me) "As I said before, I know everyone''s every thought as it forms, I am a part of everyone and that includes you." (System) "..." (me) The more I listen, the more I get scared by what I''m hearing, he can literally know everything in real time and on a total scale, just that alone... I don''t even know what to think. At least my thoughts seem to be fine, I feel a growing mental burden, but I should still be able to bear it for a while, he must know that too. "(What did I do to make you come to me or maybe lead me to you?)" (me) "You don''t need to be afraid, I don''t interfere in creation, I''m an observer and creator, nothing more than that." (System) "(So this isn''t interference?)" (me) "No, I''m just informing you just like notifications have always done in this universe." (System) "I just changed the way I transmit this information so that I can warn you about what I''m doing." (System) "And no, before you ask, this is not interference, because there is no way to change what will happen, you have already passed that point." (System) "(What is this warning about?)" (me) "What I demonstrated before was not an illusion, I took your Soul to another universe, one similar to your previous life where technology has advanced more than magic and other energy techniques." (System) "That world was destroyed and that universe is close to being destroyed, this will extinguish all life forms in that universe." (System) "(What was that thing?)" (me) "Find out for yourself, I will only say that it is a type of Anomalous creature, a being that interferes in creation because it has been touched by Chaos." (System) "My warning is about this level of responsibility, you created a Universe and an Anomalous Creature, now you are tied to this universe you created." (System) "A responsibility that will weigh on you for eternity while also drawing the attention of others who will try to take everything from you." (System) "(Who''s coming this time?)" (me) "Other Anomalous Creatures, this time it''s more the Ascendants because they felt the power of your Laws, this provokes them more than they''ve ever been provoked." (System) My mind was starting to bother me, my thoughts were getting slower and my head was starting to hurt. "(Why warn me about this like this?)" (me) "You created something very similar to the one you call Callidora, as such I am tying and limiting your creation as we speak, I cannot allow it to expand devouring universes, I will also not allow it to generate life on its own." (System) "These two limitations and the interference of the World Trees will be enough, this will also allow this creature to stay within other Universes." (System) The System did not move, but I felt a strange energy entering my Soul, a mark was engraved directly on my Soul and emanates the same presence that I had been feeling forming in Tarzor until now. "(What did you do?)" (me) "I have finished establishing what you started, the mark on your Soul will serve as an anchor for this Anomalous Creature to remain in the universe, but it will have to remain close to you." (System) "Stop creating Anomalous Creatures, such beings bring ruin to creation, this is my last warning." (System) "I hope you make up for what you are doing, destroying those who come after you." (System) In all this time, the system never raised its voice, showed no emotion, and just acted normally, but the weight of each word was so great that it seemed to be resonating directly in my Soul. His warning mainly made my whole body tremble and an image formed in my mind, an image of hundreds of pairs of eyes in the middle of the darkness focused on me, these were Anomalous Creatures and I was certain of it somehow. Suddenly he disappears, his body falling apart as if returning to its origin, as if it had been formed from the Universe itself, then my whole body becomes heavy with sweat running down like a waterfall along with blood leaking from the cracks all over my body. Everything around me starts to move again, increasing its speed every second until it returns to normal speed or if I am to believe what he said, then it was I who was returning to normal time. In front of me only Tarzor''s egg was in place being nitrite throughout the Star Path, in the state it is in, I don''t need to do anything else but wait and the others after seeing me in this state run to me. "I''m fine..." (me) ------------------- Pov ???? (System?): "Thank you for allowing me to do this." (me) Ding! <[ The System allows you to warn Zenos (Unholy God) about the risks ]> . . <[ The System does not accept you impersonating yourself or trying to extrapolate the extent of creation in such a subjective and incomplete way ]> "No problem, I just had to trick him, make him more cautious, the Ascendants are already watching him and the Anomalous Dragons are hunting him, I cannot allow him to continue drawing attention." (me) Ding! <[ The System will revoke your access to administrative functions for exceeding your Authority, but approves your intention to protect the growth of Zenos (Anomalous God) ]> "He needs to be more cautious, you called him only to show him the dangers and responsibilities of a universe, that was not enough, that is why I had to intervene." (me) "Did he notice my movement?" (me) Ding! <[ No ]> "That''s good, then I still have time to be reborn one last time." (me) Ding! <[ Starting rebirth ]> "Have me be reborn as something that grows quickly this time at least, I don''t have tens of years to grow again..." (me) Soon my Soul was swept away into the current of Souls where it would fall into the cycle of reincarnation once more. "(This successor of Zenos is as much of an idiot as he was back then...)" (me) Chapter 1550: Cap 1548: Hes Here! Pov Niryna: I was now in the land of Death that looked like a ruined capital, all the Undead here had already been destroyed and the energy of death was crystallized in a black flame above me reaching an impressive 170 meters high, but it was not heat that emanated from these flames but a cold that chilled the Soul. Baal was keeping the fire under control while Lara was lying naked on a red crystal altar made with my blood, the needles I am using are made from the bones of some Demonic God that I borrowed from Hela. I was placing these large bone needles in various points of Lara''s body, penetrating her forehead to her brain, in the middle of her heart, in 5 points around her core, in specific points on her legs and arms. "This is the last one." (me) "That needle is in the wrong place, take it out and put it back in... you forgot the needle in your neck... don''t forget the symbols you need to draw..." (Callidora) Callidora continued to show me one mistake at a time and how I could correct it, she also took the opportunity to remind me of the next step of the Ritual. After a few more hours correcting my mistakes and finishing the preparations for the ritual, I breathed a sigh of relief that it was over, but I couldn''t help but look below the crystal altar where a transparent coffin was filled with my blood, seeing that delicate hand trying to break the coffin was a bit disturbing. "Is it really right to do this like the others?" (me) "For me it is right to do whatever I want with whoever I want, but if you are feeling guilt or repulsion for your actions, then I can only say that you need to improve a lot compared to Zenos." (Callidora) Callidora was behind me, her clothes today were not revealing, it was more like a party dress as if she were going to participate in a celebration or something. I always have one foot behind her teachings, if I listen to her completely I will become someone as disturbed as Samara and as cruel as herself, I know I am not the most correct person there is, but I will not completely denigrate myself to their level. "Listen well, the woman in that coffin was an enemy, a Divine Herald above that." (Callidora) "Do not have mercy on your enemies, treat them with the cruelty they deserve and use them as disposable materials that they are, even Zenos and his daughters understand that." (Callidora) "But even so, using her Soul..." (me) "As a Herald, your body does not matter at all, as long as your Soul remains, it will return to the God of Law where it will be reborn with a new body." (Callidora) "Divine Beings can only be truly defeated by destroying their Souls and if we''re going to do that anyway, why not use it to our fullest advantage?" (Callidora) "Hela has been doing this for a long time, even Zenos did it in the past and still does it when necessary." (Callidora) "(I''ve heard some things about Zenos'' past, his actions making me doubt his identity as the older brother I once knew.)" (me) Sigh "(Everyone changes... I myself am not the same woman I was back then...)" (me) Zenos had at least created a bottom line and his own rules, I should do something like that too and maybe it''s better to rely on the rules he created than to just listen to Callidora trying to influence me. "Let''s get this over with, the boy called us this afternoon, I''m curious about what happened to him." (Callidora) "Okay..." (me) "< Infernal Ritual: Demonic Birth >" (me) Two magic circles appear, one above the altar and one below the coffin, Baal steps away and under my control the fire of death was completely absorbed by the ritual, a column of black flames completely obscures the ritual, then red lines seem to flow from bottom to top as if flowing with something. The power, mind, vitality, Soul and even the Divinity of Sarin are being refined before being given to Lara who will give way to a new Soul already completely corrupted. "How long do we have to wait?" (me) "7 days, the Divine bones we use greatly shorten the time needed, otherwise it would take almost 1 year." (Callidora) ----------------- Pov Zenos: "So you don''t know anything about the System or about that claw that destroyed a universe?" (me) "That''s not what I said, I said that the claw can be many things and that I won''t say anything about the secrets of creation." (Callidora) "That''s your problem, figure it out on your own." (Callidora) "..." (me) Sigh "(I knew that would be the answer, but it didn''t hurt to ask.)" (me) I tried to ask Callidora a few things, but nothing worked, she probably knows all these answers, but she won''t tell me anything, I''m just a tool of amusement for her and a protector for her daughter. I look at Niryna, since she was born I haven''t had a long conversation with her, there was always something taking up my time or she was avoiding me for some reason. Seeing her now, it seems like she''s no longer avoiding me, but she still doesn''t want to talk, I can see the apprehension in her eyes, it seems like I still need to wait a little longer. I told the two of them to leave, Hela already informed me about their projects, I don''t care about those things and that''s why I didn''t even bring it up before they left. "(I''m sure that claw was an Anomalous Creature, but I couldn''t see the rest of its body, much less identify its power level.)" (me) "Responsibility, you wanted to show me the dangers to a universe... but did it have to be so drastic?" (me) If this Universe had continued to expel me and Tarzor, then I would have to face that level of danger while being in a tiny universe. This thought scared me more than a little, Tarzor is still in egg form, it seems like its body is formed and I can feel it, but the adaptation of the universe that composes it is still happening like the flow of Natural power, the formation of galaxies and planets as well as the implementation of Universal Laws. "Samara, I never asked, but what happened to those who lived in Tarzor?" (me) "They were used as materials, there were many Divine beings among them, they must have died and their Divinities became part of the Essences of their universe." (Samara) "In other words, it became a refuge for those criminals for that reason?" (me) "That bastard had been making his preparations for a long time, no wonder there were prisoners inside it like the Dragon Eaters and the Ascended Gods." (me) Samara was always around, there were few times when she would move away, in fact I had already suggested that even when she moved away, she would always be able to appear near me when I called her name, I couldn''t tell if this was her ability or an effect of the restrictions that make up her current existence. "He should have had a plan B, he was too old to just wait around for someone like the Master, especially with the high possibility of never finding someone like that." (Samara) "That''s one of the things I''m going to ask him when he wakes up." (me) "Nix and Zaya are watching the egg, when there''s any reaction you''ll know." (Samara) "But what we should still worry about is the war..." (Samara) "You guys are very calm, aren''t you!?" (Adella) "I warned you, I warned you more than once and you still didn''t listen to me, you damn idiot!!" (Adella) Samara was incredibly responsible with everything I trusted her to do, so I passed on the things related to the war to her, I needed someone experienced on the subject and I ended up choosing her and it was at that moment that Adella came in breaking through a wall, her Aura exploding violently as she pointed her finger at me. "He''s here... isn''t he?" (me) "Yes, I can feel him nearby, I left a mark to track him, but I couldn''t, the most the mark did was an alarm to signal his approach." (Adella) "How much time do we have?" (me) "A few hours, maybe less, he seems to be locked in our position following a straight line." (Adella) "..." (me) "(I thought Akatosh would take care of this, that''s why I stayed away, but why hasn''t he acted yet?)" (me) I had granted Anomalous power to my Dragon Totem that Akatosh connected with all the Dragons, all this to face the Dragon Eaters, so I didn''t understand why he was letting this one loose like that, it would be impossible for him not to know about it. "Be careful, he won''t be alone, there must be at least 2 more with him." (Samara) "..." (me/Adella) "You said you had found only one, didn''t you?" (me) "Yes, and apparently it was the same one you described meeting." (Adella) "They are not unintelligent creatures, they are hunters and treacherous, the first one serves only as a scout while waiting for the others, so when they launch attacks they do not give the enemy opportunities to fight back, much less escape." (Samara) "So only this scout had arrived when I found him?" (Adella) "No, they have sharp senses, they would have felt traces of the Master in you, they wanted to make you worry about just one of them without knowing about the others, it seems like the kind of thing they would do." (Samara) "They used me?" (Adella) "Yes, I didn''t say anything before since the master showed no interest in going there, clearly there would be a trap prepared waiting for his arrival." (Samara) "But if they''re coming this far and so fast, there are only two options: they''re being pressured in some way to do it faster or they''re confident that their strength is greater than yours and they can at least take their target without any worries." (Samara) "That makes the situation even worse!" (me) Chapter 1551: Cap 1549: I am the bait part 1 I had a lot on my mind. It''s been a few hours since Adella told me about the Dragon Eaters'' approach. I''ve thought a lot about it and done my research on the Infernal Wiki (Callidora). I just needed to pay the price of some Souls of Demonic Gods that I have stored in the Communal Temple. The only currency that Callidora accepts are Souls, and not the common ones, but rather those of powerful beings. Even so, what she gives in exchange is only information that clearly isn''t worth that high price. It''s really not worth making a deal with Demons. They always get the upper hand. When we talk about Hell itself, I''m completely being robbed with every question. "Are you sure you can do it?" (me) "Yes, but the others will find it difficult." (Samara) "I know, but I have few options here..." (me) "(Master, he''s here.)" (Nix) "Okan, take me outside and activate the Dragon''s lair." (me) "..." (Okan) "Don''t let your guard down." (Samara) While I was talking to Samara, Nix who was watching outside warned me, it only took a glimpse using his eyes to see the Dragon approaching, so I commanded Okan to take me outside while Samara warned me with concern that I hadn''t seen before. "You should go, join the others." (me) "Be careful." (Nix) "< Dimensional Dragon''s Lair >" (Okan) Okan who was behind me seemed to be swallowed by the space around him, all traces of his presence disappeared leaving only me alone in the space surrounded by stars. Looking in a certain direction, I noticed the Dragon approaching, its appearance the same as I saw in my Star Path. A body hundreds of kilometers long, 3 horns and eyes that look like holes, even its wings are counted in 3 for some reason. If it weren''t for the 3 pairs of wings and the horns, he would look like a large Serpent, his head doesn''t have many Dragon characteristics to begin with. His body was covered in black metal armor, but now it was a little different, I could see purple vein patterns on the armor while the parts that weren''t covered had a mass of energy of multiple colors flowing, I knew that the armor was his true body, I learned this from Erkales who I devoured. When he got a certain distance away, I broke an item with one of my hands, this was because I felt his Aura touching mine. At that moment a crack opened behind me with a strong suction power that I didn''t try to resist, I felt his Aura vibrate momentarily as his body also seemed to be sucked in my direction. It didn''t take more than 2 seconds for me to appear somewhere else, I was in the same asteroid field where we discovered the base of the Church of Light that was destroyed in our attack. I used a consumable item that fused the powers of the Space Dragons to bring me here, this was an item that belonged to Adella and not me. After I appeared, the rift I passed through trembled as something forced itself through, I moved several kilometers away as I returned to my Dragon form, the surrounding Asteroids were not even a hindrance to a God. The rift expands more and more as cracks form around the rift, then from one of these cracks a large tail emerges, already attacking my neck, but I didn''t even look at it as I punched with all my power in the opposite direction. My tail met the spear coming towards me, sending it away, while my fist hit the side of a head that seemed to be hidden by a layer of space. Ripples from these two collisions that happened at the same time caused cracks to appear everywhere while the Asteroids were exotic in all directions at high speed. Space itself then begins to ripple as it closes in on a space mirrored by the universe trying to contain the damage from our battle. Because we were dragged here by the universe, the enemy''s body previously hidden in space reveals itself, it was almost wrapped around me, its tail attacking thousands of times behind my back while my own tail deflected the blows. With an extra effort, my Aura rippled against his Aura, forcing us both back a few dozen kilometers. "I didn''t expect that, how did you know about our ability?" "Erkales, do you forget who killed him?" (me) "You lie, the two of you fought without moving away and it was impossible to notice this ability without the target trying to escape, something you didn''t do." "Does it matter how I found out?" (me) "It matters, it matters a lot..." ROAAAAARRRR!!! "interesting..." "..." (me) He doesn''t seem nervous, but I know he''s planning something, his roar just now must have been some kind of warning to his companions. Thanks to the information I managed to get from Callidora, I learned about the Dragon Eaters'' ability to attach themselves to their targets using their Auras, because of this ability they can always find their targets and the mark they placed on me is also based on this innate ability. But this was also a flaw that I took full advantage of, knowing that they wouldn''t want to reveal that they were in greater numbers than they had revealed, only one of them would use this ability to attach themselves to me, counting on this I dragged one of them away in a truly separate fight. That''s why I had to use myself as bait, for the beginning of this plan to work, even with the information I managed to get from Callidora, there was no absolute certainty that only one of them would try to attach themselves to me, that''s why I didn''t let anyone else stay by my side at that moment. "Dragon, you really know us, but it doesn''t matter if you found out by yourself or by others." "I''ll give you two options, join us or be hunted..." "< Divine Summon: Unholy Eclipse Sword >" (me) "Do you think you can fool me?" (me) "Even if I believe that falsehood, do you think I''ll join you!?" (me) I''ve learned how to summon my Star Sword directly from my Divine Weapon, I can''t waste time fusing the two parts with the sword every time, I need a quick Summon to use in an intense battle. With a flick of my hand, the Cursed Sun and Shattered Moon circle around my fist that shatters space before I pull out my sword, the two celestial bodies disappearing in the process. The whole time I was keeping an eye on the enemy while paying attention to the surroundings, he was very calm and wasting time with this conversation for one reason, to buy time. Callidora said that the Dragon Eaters hate all Dragons more than any other race, they feed on Dragons more than just to seek power, but as a way to assert themselves above the Dragons as a superior race. But none of this changes the fact that they are copies and this makes their obsession with Dragons something unhealthy for them, the act of me devouring one of them already makes me an enemy, but because I am a Dragon it makes everything worse, it humiliates them as a whole. There is no way they can make me one of them, either he will want to take me back with them to humiliate me in front of all the Dragon Eaters or he just wants to buy even more time for God''s companions to catch up with us. Regardless of the reason, I wouldn''t give them that opportunity. With the sword already in my hands, I concentrate the power of Chaos into the blade, which lights up while activating one of my techniques, creating teeth on the blades while my Chaotic Consumer skill flows into the blade. "< 1st Star Sword Art: World Consumer >" (me) "< Galaxy of Rot >" With the sword in my hands, I give a push with my wings, but as soon as my sword meets his claws, all the energy that forms his body explodes outwards, releasing stars and multicolored mists with a greater concentration of the colors green, purple and red. His Aura disappeared as it spread to every corner, space ripples as if it were corrupted and melting, revealing strange stars, a strange gravity and energy flows form while a Green Sun appears with planets permeating it around it and a mist of purple energy flows around it like a storm. A feeling of rot and filth was all around me as there seemed to be countless pairs of eyes on me. This wasn''t a Territory, it was more like he had expanded a space that already existed within him to replace the surroundings. In front of me, what was left was only what was part of his armor. This was his true body. The vein marks on the armor were pulsing as the armor closed in on itself Soon, what was left was a body with a humanoid upper body with 3 pairs of arms and a long tail with a spear-like tip. The 3 pairs of wings on his back were now closer together, almost looking like just 1 very large pair of wings. The only thing that didn''t change was his head, which was abnormally large compared to the rest of his body. His entire body seemed to be made of metal. His eyes, which looked more like holes with something floating inside, were fierce as they locked onto me. Chapter 1552: Cap 1550: I am the bait part 2 I was trapped in a Galaxy I knew nothing about and surrounded by the enemy''s power, I couldn''t be in a better situation. "(Exactly as Callidora told me, so it seems he really is far from his companions and is apprehensive enough to use his ace up his sleeve.)" (me) Callidora told me many things, the price was high, but I needed this information and she knew how to rip every microgram of flesh from my bones in this deal. Thanks to this I was able to find out about their capillarity of binding their Auras with that of a target, which brought me here, I also found out about the ''Hunting Galaxy'' as you mentioned at least. Dragon Eaters cannot create territories and cannot use Essence powers, these are limitations due to their own condition as Anomalous Creatures. Limitations that they quickly found a way to remedy, they create a space inside themselves with the excess power of what they devour, they compress the space inside themselves, thanks to this they can contain even more energy or use the stored power to expand their individually created spaces. These spaces hide their presence, increase their powers and interfere with the powers of the Essences of their prey by dragging them to a place that does not belong to their universe. "(I can''t use most of my Essences... only my Essence of Chaos and Anomalous are useful.)" (me) "(The other Essences seem a bit blocked, I could still use them, but it would be risky, it seems like it would be better to avoid these powers.)" (me) I could also feel 3 types of energy, one energy seemed poisonous trying to weaken me, the second energy seemed like acid trying to corrode my body and the last energy seemed to be trying to extract my vitality. For a hunting ground, this damn place gave the enemy a huge advantage, which means he''s not confident enough in a head-on fight. "Are you that afraid of being eaten!?" (me) "Leave your provocations aside, none of that affects me... Ghuh!" "Haah!" (me) As he spoke, his voice seemed to be coming from all over the place, but a faint trace of Aura floated in one direction, catching my attention. It was at that moment that an attack came from behind me, but I was prepared since I use the same type of tactics to deceive my enemies, when in enemy territory one shouldn''t completely trust one''s own senses. My sword descends and meets two of his arms that try to defend my sword while his other arms are unable to reach me, his height is slightly shorter than mine, but his body is incredibly sturdy. I forcefully pushed him back only for his tail to pierce one of my arms, that''s when I felt an energy invading my body that seemed like an amalgamation of the 3 energies I felt in this damn place. "< Breath of Anomalous Chaos >" (me) An amalgamation of Chaos and Anomalous power creates a living Starfire that takes the form of a Dragon heading towards the enemy as it coils around its tail and climbs up its body. "< Flow of Erosion >" The power of the Starfire Dragon was impacted with continuous waves of red and purple energy making the flames wave more and more violently until it could no longer maintain its form and completely disappear. This was the first time my attack was so completely annihilated like this, but I saw that several of the vein marks on its tail were burned and blackened. "< Anomalous Corrosion Claws >" "< Tooth of the World Predator >" (me) He advanced towards me, being so close I wouldn''t let him hide again, I stayed close always advancing towards him, he did the same without trying to hide again, his 3 pairs of arms expanded absorbing the 3 types of energy from the surroundings. His arms open revealing more and more energy inside them, his claws descending towards me as they advance towards me full of power that made even this place tremble. I concentrate my power on the blade of the sword going towards him, I couldn''t aim at each of the 6 attacks, so I didn''t plan on hitting any of them, my focus was always on his main body, my sword descending towards his head. When the 6 claws were close to reaching me, I turned my oven back to its smaller size letting the 6 large claws get in each other''s way, he himself got injured in the process while my sword flew out of my hands continuing to attack. The sword rearranges itself, creating a true Dragon that opens its jaws on the enemy''s head, but instead of trying to run or avoid the attack, its wings detach from its body as they become 6 blades that collide against the Dragon made of my sword. Boommm!!! The collision of the weapons was so strong that it created an explosion spreading waves of Anomalous power that burned the mist of this Galaxy and made the planets crack as if they were close to collapsing. During this explosion, I lost sight of the enemy who hid among the burning mists, his Aura still as hidden as before, I could not find his presence as my sword flows in fragments back to me as it once again assumes its sword form. There were scratches on the sword''s blade as well as claw marks on my body, the invading energies inside me were a mere nuisance as they were being devoured by my body slowly. But that didn''t lessen the risk, his attacks caused injuries that I couldn''t recover from and left an energy that required my constant focus to not cause more damage while it took me a while to get rid of them. "You''re strong as you imagined, but not strong enough to defeat me." "Says the coward hiding." (me) "Your provocations are useless, I already warned you." "Besides, I''m not hiding." "< Galactic Beast of Decay >" "..." (me) "(Oi, oi, oi... this isn''t funny at all...)" (me) The great Purple Sun in the center of the Galaxy was pulling the other stars that were far away, the red planets around were also shattering as everything was consumed by the green sun that grew bigger and bigger before shrinking as if it was being condensed by something. Soon I see the enemy''s armor once again, this time it was ripping off the green sun while the armor turned purple, the two colors didn''t match, in the center of what should have been the head there were 3 red spheres that rotated around each other. His body was now the size of an entire solar system, the stars that were pulled by him that weren''t absorbed, were rotating around his body, just the gravity of his body was already trying to pull me closer. "You really are a threat, your blows were able to hurt my body and I can feel my power infecting your body being slowly destroyed!" "I won''t allow such a threat to last, die!" His booming voice seemed to come from everywhere, his body was so colossal that I couldn''t look at him in its entirety, I''d never seen anything so colossal, but something didn''t seem right, even as I listened to him and was seeing the movement of one of his large arms, I was still trying to analyze what he could do since I didn''t know this ability, it wasn''t something that Callidora informed. "(Your metal body is almost insignificant with this large body... but where is your Anomalous Core?)" (me) Your green flame arm moves, screaming a great gravitational force that fuses fragments of the surrounding red planets, creating a large red hand the size of a large planet falling towards me. "(The head...)" (me) "< Incarnation of the Unholy Eclipse >" (me) The Anomalous power and my Divinity mix, my Essences seem to be consumed by my existence as my body expands more and more, Starfire burns around me as an Eclipse forms behind me, my power rises much faster than the last time I used this power. This time I didn''t lose in the transformation of my body. I flowed my power into the sword in my hands. This time I would use the form of the first sword to launch the attack of the third sword that needs to contain the power of the Chaotic Devourer to go against this type of enemy. "< 3rd Art of the Star Sword: Dragon of the End >" (me) The power of the illusory Eclipse that formed on my back went throughout my body, going to the sword that was dyed with a black energy as if it were ink, red veins pulsating on the blade standing out in the darkness. With a swing of my sword, I created a large cut in a natural way as if it were drawn with a brush. The cut of my sword didn''t move from its place. It really looked like I had created a design using the sword. The cut in the shape of a half moon was static as if it had been drawn in space, a bloodthirsty presence leaking out while red veins were pulsating rapidly before breaking apart, revealing themselves to be bars. A torrent of darkness pours into the form like an endless tide, an Aura of Primordial Hunger emerges as 5 pairs of eyes open in this darkness that takes the form of a Dragon, the 5 pairs of eyes were actually wings while the Dragon''s head only had a large mouth full of teeth as it advances towards the fist descending against me, red chains around its body as if ready to bind it again. Chapter 1553: Cap 1551: I am the bait part 3 Incarnation of the Unholy Eclipse 3rd Art of the Star Sword: Dragon of the End This was my strongest strike, I didn''t spare any power, because I couldn''t imagine any other possibility of victory after this strike, so it had to work or my entire plan would go down the drain along with what was left of my corpse. The Darkness Dragon was basically made of my Chaos and Anomalous power in its final form, awakening the wildest thing inside me, it wasn''t something I created but something I released, a part of me amplified countless times. The Darkness Dragon looked like a fly going against that pine, but its presence only grew stronger and stronger, my own presence almost being dominated by the savagery of this attack. When the fist came down there was no collision, shockwave or explosion, fortunately the attack was more physical than I expected, as soon as it touched the Dark Dragon its body dissolved into liquid energy that expanded infinitely, it was as if a bubble had burst releasing a colossal dam. The dark liquid was on fire, Starfire spreading along with the darkness, eyes opened in the Starfire instead of stars while jaws full of teeth were barely visible hidden in the liquid darkness. Fire and Darkness intertwined covering the entire arm at once as if a blanket had been thrown open above it, but it did not stop with the arm. The flames invaded his body corrupting the green Fire inside him, in fact burning the green Fire the darkness gave way to teeth and claws that tear apart everything in their path as they advanced through the arm towards the head. He seemed to realize the danger, all of this happened very quickly, from his attack to my trump card being released on him, it was the first time I felt a turbulence in his Aura, he didn''t hesitate for a second after realizing the danger, he cut off his arm using his other hand, even the part of the armor that made up his true body was cut off without delay, completely separating that arm from the rest of his body. "Naive..." (me) "< Fury of Decay... >" He acted wrongly and that was a bit of luck for me, his entire body carries a lot of power, I realized this when I faced Erkales in the past and the same goes for this Dragon Eater in front of me. Abandoning his arm like that didn''t save him, my attack isn''t something that was made to corrupt or destroy only, it was made to consume. The severed arm reversed its position as it deformed again into the form of a Dragon, but this time its size grew to the same as that arm while countless deformed dark claws extended from its body as it still advanced towards him, the red chains around it appearing once again pulsing as if fresh blood was running inside. He tried to use another technique, but there was no time, he used his other arm in front as a shield, but the Dragon of Darkness simply exploded in a rain of Starfire that deflected the large arm of green flames going straight for his head. There was nothing else for him to do as the countless drops of darkness and focuses of Starfire all over his head interconnected forming a large mouth full of teeth that closed over his head. Red chains exploded outwards as I threw the sword in my hands directly at the portal where the Dragon of Darkness came out, the sword entered from one side, but did not come out the other, in fact a large blade came out of the head being devoured. Soon the dark chains and claws try to drag the enemy''s entire body into the blade of the sword that seemed to chew everything that entered. "GHUHH!!" (me) COUGH Cough Cough It was at that moment that I felt fear, I couldn''t even move when I felt something piercing my chest while something grabbed my head with such force that my skull was cracking almost breaking. But that was only for half a second before I felt something else interfere, pulling what I discovered was its 3 fingers of a claw piercing my chest as I saw the hand holding my skull being pulled like metal wires holding the fingers. When I turned around I saw a passage in space where several energies were colliding making it impossible to see inside. But I didn''t have time to think about other matters as I moved away from that opening in space and as I focused on the piece of metal writhing in front of me. "(Exactly like Erkales...)" (me) On one side my sword was absorbing with great greed all the Green Sun along with everything it had absorbed before as well as the darkness around it. On the other side was that piece of metal writhing with some pieces missing, it was a purple metal with some traces of green flames, the purple veins had almost no shine left as they reorganized themselves into a more humanoid body. When my sword finished devouring everything of that green Sun as well as what was left of the Dragon of Darkness along with the Starfire, only the red chains remained now attached to the sword that was dragged into the crack where the Dragon of Darkness came out. I was doing this calmly while my focus was on the enemy reorganizing its body and the surroundings to avoid another surprise attack. When the crack closed only my sword remained, this time it was smaller and there were red chains around it with many green eyes opening as if they were stars on the blade. I hold the sword feeling the power contained inside it, it was too much power and it was trying to destroy the sword, even starting to attack me as soon as it landed in my hands, of course without success because it was being suppressed inside the sword. "(That''s a lot more power than I took from Erkales, I also can''t refine that power quickly even with my Chaos power.)" (me) "How did you know all of this? How did you know about my Core!?" As the enemy tried to assume its most Humanoid Form, it was as if it couldn''t hold its body together, some parts were loose, other parts were thick with more layers of metal than the rest of its body, and other parts were without any metal covering. But what was evident was its head, the orbs that were the eye holes in its head were gone, leaving only 1 half-melted and cracked fragment in one of the 3 holes it uses as eyes. Its Aura and presence were much weaker now compared to before, its killing intent was greater as this entire place seemed to suddenly become unstable. "I wasn''t sure, but it was most likely, so I took a chance." (me) "You did more than that! What was that thing!?" "Are you an idiot? Why would I tell you anything?" (me) "Damn Dragon!!!" "(20%... no, probably somewhere between 13% and 17%... I''m too weak to maintain this form.)" (me) "(My wounds... aren''t healing either.)" (me) My Dragon body returned to normal as the Eclipse behind Kim disappeared without a trace. When I looked at the enemy once more, I realized that he was in a worse situation, he was not only weaker than before, he was seriously injured. The wounds on my chest were still pulsing with a golden energy, and I felt something burn in my head, when I realized that it was a red handprint that melted even my scales, I realized that it was someone even more powerful than this enemy in front of me. Holding the sword in my hands, I charged towards the enemy in a final thrust, I could not leave him alive and I could not miss this opportunity in which he was so worn out. He tried to go against me, but each blow of my sword was accumulating scratches on his metal body, the walls of his body wrapped around himself were loosening almost undoing his body with each of my blows. Even so, he seemed to have no fear as he advanced towards me as if he wasn''t one step away from dying. I didn''t understand why he acted like that, but then the entire space around us seemed to shrink, waves of energy were closing in on us both and I felt two presences lock onto me. Wasting no time, I threw my sword at the enemy in front of me, disregarding the two presences I had just felt. There were clearly more enemies waiting outside and this place was collapsing, taking us out. I could even feel my Essences returning to normal as well as my Divinity. That''s when I felt a third presence appear out of nowhere. A tongue came out of space, dragging the body of the enemy in front of me away. My sword collided with the tongue, leaving only a scratch on the tongue that crushed the metal body it pulled. "This isn''t over yet, Akatosh..." "They ran away? How did they do that?" (Akatosh) "I don''t know, those cracks appeared too fast and their forms..." (Arash) "..." (me) "(I knew it... Damn God...)" (me) When I returned to normal space I realized the chaos that was outside, the Mirrored Space was destroyed in scattered shards, the space itself around was covered in holes and claw marks, traces of energies vibrated in every corner while misshapen energies were coming into conflict with the flow of natural energy. In front of me were 8 Dragons of which I only recognize 2 of them. One of them being the Father of Nix, the Dragon Emperor from whom I now feel a Divine presence. The second was the only one in human form, he seemed young, but his presence was tyrannical making his identity as a Dragon God indisputable. I knew Akatosh wouldn''t leave me on my own, he seemed very excited when he altered my Dragon Totem to distribute Anomalous Power to the other Dragons, he also seems to hate the Dragon Eaters a lot, he wouldn''t let me take care of them alone even if I could do it for him. The whole time I was just bait, I wasn''t sure about that and that''s why I tried to separate them like that, I thought they attacked the companions I left behind, I even left Samara on standby, but even so I was attacked just now by surprise. They were slower than I thought to act or the enemies were more assertive than I thought when going against me while facing the Dragons of this Universe. Chapter 1554: Cap 1552: Tracking the Infernal Current When I left that place, I was surprised by the calamity that surrounded this area. There was almost nothing left of the asteroids that used to be here The space was also completely destroyed with claw marks and punctures. I could see the Dragons appearing In addition to the ones I saw first, others began to appear Most of them were associated with the powers of space They were trying to repair the damage from the battle that happened here. Arash noticed my presence and came towards me, but the Dragon God who had also seen me was distracted, looking into the distance. His impatient face was clear for all to see. "You really cause a lot of trouble, boy." (Arash) "Why did it take you so long to act?" (Me) "I knew you would notice, but I didn''t imagine that you would ruin our plans!" (Arash) "You dragged one of them away and the others fled immediately before we could surround them!" (Arash) "Why did you move to this place anyway!?" (Arash) "I suspected that you were using me as bait, but I wouldn''t risk my life over a mere suspicion. I made preparations to at least be able to escape if necessary." (me) "Congratulations, your plan ruined ours. Besides a few injuries, we couldn''t do anything else. They fled the moment Akatosh appeared." (Arash) Arash was clearly angry, but he wasn''t taking it out on me. He must understand that not including me in his plans would have some margin of error in the plan. Just like I said before, I wouldn''t risk my life over the mere possibility that they were using me as bait. But before I could finish talking to Arash, who was returning to his human form, I suddenly felt a powerful gaze fixed on me. Before I knew it, Akatosh was by my side. His eyes were cold like those of a hungry Predator. "We have a problem. There''s another one hiding outside the universe." (Akatosh) "Why would he hide outside?" (Arash) "He must be even more restricted than the others making it difficult to enter or his mere presence would be a threat to the universe." (Akatosh) "What is that supposed to mean?" (me) "That we shouldn''t give the others time to recover, use your mark now." (Akatosh) "..." (me) "What mark? What did you do?" (Arash) "..." (me) "How did you find out?" (me) "I was late showing up for fear they would run away, but I was watching from the beginning, I saw almost all of your fight, do you think I wouldn''t notice something like that?" (Akatosh) "Okay." (me) "Samara!" (me) I don''t need to summon her or anything like that, Samara can hear me no matter where she is and reaching me would be even simpler with just one step, distance means nothing to her with the space between us being just a minor obstacle. The space behind me doesn''t even show any reaction as Samara just emerges as if coming out of a shadow back into the light. "I''m here, master." (Samara) "Give me the vial first." (me) "This is the last one." (Samara) Samara gives me a red crystal bottle molded using my blood, inside is my sister Natasha''s blood, it was refined and was nourished for 2 or 3 months inside my blood pool, a very valuable resource. I open the lid creating a wave of power that even accelerates the recovery of the surrounding space before I pour a few drops of this blood into my mouth. An explosion of vitality and traces of the Essence''s power run through my body, then the wounds that were not healing before on my body close, but only the wound on my chest leaves scars that do not disappear even after the power of my sister''s Essence has been completely consumed. "Keep it for me." (me) "Yes, what else can I do?" (Samara) "Your mark, activate it now before they notice." (Akatosh) "Master?" (Samara) "Do as he asked." (me) "Very well." (Samara) Samara does nothing for the first few minutes other than close her eyes, her hand slowly floating in various directions as if she were trying to feel something. Meanwhile, I grab a barrel of my own blood to drink. This blood was taken from the blood pool in the Communal Temple and serves very well to recover my energy. I had given Samara two tasks. The first was to face any other Dragon Eaters that appeared if a second one was dragged along with me. The second task was something that only she could do because she possessed some of Callidora''s power. This task was to track the enemy if he was able to escape. I couldn''t be absolutely sure about the success of my plan or what the God Akatosh was doing. I had to consider many different scenarios. One of these scenarios was my defeat. If I were killed directly, my Soul would still be protected by my Divinity and Anomalous Power. Even if my body were Devoured, my life would not be in immediate danger. Killing a normal God is already difficult, while for me, who possesses the power of chaos, it becomes a colossal task. For this reason, I imagined that there was a greater chance of the scenario being defeated and taken, whether they took me with my body or just my Soul. Of course, regardless of the scenario of my defeat, death would be better than something they would do to me. That''s why I had Samara mark me, my blood more specifically. Now, this blood is sending the claws of that enemy that pierced my chest. I had also placed this mark on the one I was facing, but he seems to have been devoured by his companion. "< Hellish Damnation: Hellish Chasing Chain >" (Samara) A chain unfolds around Samara''s arms, the chain resembling a snake as it moved its tip in certain directions before stretching forward as if attacking a direction, then it penetrated the space. "I found it, but they will realize what I''m doing and have the ability to break the chain after it latches onto them." (Samara) "No problem, can you open a path?" (me) "On our side yes, but they will interfere with the opening on the other side." (Samara) "Just do it, I''ll take care of the other side." (Akatosh) "Master?" (Samara) "Continue, Samara." (me) Samara was clearly trying to provoke Akatosh, she doesn''t listen to anyone else but me, but she''s not usually so provocative, I don''t know what got into her this time, fortunately this God is calmer and doesn''t let himself be provoked. "< Open >" (Samara) The chain suddenly sways with a horrifying energy coming out of it, the chain emanated an energy full of malice and it seemed to be dripping blood. Samara swings the chain making the movement circular, the chain seemed to cut through space leaving a bloody trail that connected in a circle making the entire interior rot and melt revealing a vortex of blood, it was horrifying. The Dragon God did not hesitate for half a second launching himself inside in a straight line, Samara went after him next to Arash while I followed. "(80% should be enough...)" (me) I was not completely recovered, my body was still hurting and my energy had not completely recovered, but I could not run away from my battles, with Akatosh around the danger should be less around him anyway since others could appear to attack me after he moved away. When I passed through that tunnel of terror, I came across a crevice that seemed to have been torn by colossal claws, on the other side of the crevice a storm of attacks rained inwards towards me. "Seriously!!!??" (me) Before I could do anything, a current appeared along with the attacks and pulled me through the corner of the crevice, dodging the attacks, this was Samara''s chain and that''s why I let myself be dragged out. When I passed through the crevice it closed behind me as if space crushed it into nothingness, looking around I realized that Akatosh was nowhere to be seen as well as Arash, but there were 2 holes in space through which pressure waves exploded towards me. "< Anomalous Claw >" "< Star-Crushing Whip >" "< Sacrifice of the Damned >" (Samara) Suddenly a claw full of power appears coming towards me along with a metal whip full of spikes, then chains pulled a wall of flesh and bones out of space while wails came from this barrier. "< Breath of Anomalous Chaos >" (me) The horrendous wall breaks along with the wails of whatever it is made of, the metal whip comes towards me and I respond with a breath attack, the space around me ripples as the two blows collide, I was being dragged into the mirrored Space once again, Samara appears next to me while the enemy was in front of us, from his head countless tentacles full of spikes floated around him as if they were his hair. But what caught my attention was the tongue sticking out of his jaws, it was the same tongue I saw pulling my last enemy. "(He''s strong...)" (me) Chapter 1555: Cap 1553: Scared! Part 1 It had a completely humanoid shape, its gender seems undefined and I don''t even know if there is a concept of gender for them other than the perception of their voices being more masculine or feminine. But if I had to guess, the one in front of me would fall more on the feminine side, the contours of its body and way of moving are more feminine. Its Dragon head only had one eye that looked like a crystal with 5 other crystals moving inside, its hair was metal tentacles full of thorns, its mouth was strangely large and was open with a very long tongue moving outside as if it were a Serpent. Its entire body had no openings in the metal armor, so that was probably its real appearance, only the wings on its back were something that took me a while to realize, its wings looked like portals containing flows of power similar to that of galaxies inside, but my eyes kept drifting making it difficult to keep looking at the wings. Its size was also huge, as soon as I arrived it seemed like I had seen an iron wall, it was over 100 kilometers tall, its presence was bloody and full of violence. "Sorry Master, but it seems like your bad luck really is strong." (Samara) "What do you mean by that?" (me) "There''s more..." (Samara) When Samara said that it was as if my vision had doubled or in this case, had multiplied 5 times, it was a very strange thing in many different ways. At first I could only see one enemy, but the moment Samara talked about there being more enemies it was as if that single body divided into five, it was incomprehensible to me. But I didn''t hesitate or let my guard down for even a single moment, I was focused the whole time without letting my mind wander, I was looking for whatever was different and that was when I noticed that eye once again. The crystal that should represent her eye had 5 other crystals spinning inside it, but now each of the 5 had only 1 of these crystals, that was the difference, unfortunately discovering this didn''t change anything other than reaffirming that that eye should be her Anomalous Core. "(Master, alone they are weak, but be careful, they mess with the perception of the 5 senses.)" (Samara) "(Can you take care of two?)" (me) "(Yes, but can you fight 3 alone?)" (Samara) "(Who said I''m alone?)" (me) While I was next to Samara, the enemy didn''t attack, just as we were analyzing her power, she was clearly doing the same, I had already noticed her Aura having small skirmishes against my Aura, she is testing my power. Her gaze was also fixed on me, or in this case I should say that the gaze of the 5 was fixed on me, clearly still seeing me as a priority target. "Such a good appetizer, I must thank you." (5 Voices) "Are you talking about your companion?" (me) "He was delicious, it''s extremely rare that we have such an opportunity." (5 Voices) "Unfortunately you got his Core or you could have a sixth me now." (5 Voices) "..." (me) I couldn''t help but be taken aback, is she insinuating that each of their bodies is a clone created by devouring one of their companions? That was the only thing I could think of about it, and her words were very much geared towards that kind of reasoning, but none of them seemed fake or a copy, they seemed completely like the same individual multiplied 5 times, even their voices, ways of moving, and tone of speech were the same. "(They are all literally her, parts of a whole, separate but still one... I''m getting interested...)" (Samara) "..." (Me) I was curious about a few things, but I couldn''t let my mind wander, I had to defeat the enemy, and a few ideas of things to prevent during the battle crossed my mind. "< Divine Summon: 6 Unholy Stars >" (me) "< Divine Summon: Herald of Chaos >" (me) "< Divine Summon: Herald of the Abyss >" (me) I wouldn''t waste much time, I was outnumbered and as much as I trust Samara''s power, 2 Dragon Eaters might be too much for her, even if she won''t die, if she lets one escape in the middle of the battle because she can''t hold two, I''ll be in danger. With that kind of thought I return to my Dragon form once again, my body growing while 8 magic circles appear on my back, my Familiars come out of 6 of those magic circles while Hades and Zaya come out of the last two. "Focus on your enemy!" (me) "YES!!!" (all) The good part about being connected to all of them is that I don''t have to say anything, I could directly transmit the information directly to their minds, so they know what I know and how they''re going to attack. I''m going to be against one enemy, I also left Samara Cintra an enemy, Zaya and Hades will take on the third enemy while my Familiars will split into two groups attacking the last 2 enemies. I had to keep the 5 busy and separated, I didn''t need to be a genius to know that the coordination of these 5 would be one of their strong points, I can''t let it come to that. "Attack!" (me) I don''t need any other words, everyone moved at the same time, I also made it clear how they should be aware of other possible enemies, I couldn''t see Akatosh or Arash anywhere, I had no idea how many enemies there could still be. "< Unholy Eclipse Magic: Starfall >" (me) "< Anomalous Perception >" With everyone moving at the same time, I was the one who attacked the fastest, with my fist aiming at the enemy''s head, who received my attack with his own. It should have been a stalemate, with his strength not being any less than mine. In fact, his strength was even slightly above mine. But I also attacked with my other fist and a whip from my tail. At that moment, there were several whips full of thorns coming towards me, each of them emanating a concentrated murderous Aura, but by then my goal of dragging the enemy back had been accomplished. It was while I flapped my wings, creating a space of distance while using my blood to create a magic circle. The Power of Chaos and Anomalous, which are the weaknesses of the Dragon Eaters, fused together, spreading a wave that traveled through the surroundings. The stars around us seemed to duplicate themselves as half of them began to burn as if they were living creatures close to their death, they all fell together like a rain of flaming arrows aimed at the enemy. Unfortunately, it was at this moment that I noticed her eyes changing into a cacophony of psychedelic colors, the space around her seemed to have become strange, when the stars fell it seemed to be hitting her, but then it created a ripple as if it had fallen into the reflected image of a mirror of water. She remained still until the rain of stars ended, but I smiled, this was not just an indiscriminate area attack, with a snap of her fingers all the stars that had already stopped exploded at the same time spreading flames of Starfire in all directions. "< Sensory Overload >" Suddenly I feel all my senses multiplying countless times, an infinite amount of fragrances, a deafening noise that seems to create echo after echo, an endless rough sensation throughout my body and horrible flavors that come from the saliva in my mouth, my vision was doubling, tripling, quadrupling and so on while all the colors became extremely intense. I couldn''t help but smile as I closed all my senses keeping only my Aura, a sixth sense or perhaps a sense that I couldn''t associate with anything else, when I did it was quick, but I realized that not much had changed, in fact the world around me looked like an abstract art painting. My body was pierced by several of his ''hairs'' but the pain that was already too much was being amplified infinitely, but I just smiled at the enemy''s mistake. "If I can''t even trust my Aura, then I can trust your body!" (me) For me, who had my body ravaged in the cursed ocean of hell and went through who knows how many near-death experiences, physical pain became something completely bearable regardless of the amount, it was no longer something that would affect my concentration or could make me lower my guard. "< Divine Blood Curse: Desecration of Existence >" (me) With so many of these tentacles piercing my body, I had a clear notion of where the enemy was, the blood in my body flows full of the power of chaos and gaining life through the Anomalous power, it flows through the wounds like a burst dam, blood streams gaining greater and greater speeds as they flow through the enemy''s ''hair''. I smile when I feel the ''hair'' trying to leave my body, I force my muscles to tighten around the wounds trapping the ''hair'' directly to my body, their spines only helped to keep it tightly attached as I grab some of these tentacles in my hands. "Come closer, I promise I''ll bite gently... hahahaha..." (me) "Let go of me!!!" "HHAAAAHHH!!!" I could feel my blood invading her body, corroding and breaking her metal armor, I pull her tentacles hard until I feel her body collide with mine, my size bigger than hers this time, without hesitation my jaws close devouring her head, shoulders and half of her chest. Some of her ''hair'' tried to trap my jaws open, but I crush them between my teeth and burn them with Starfire. In 3 or 4 bites due to her entire body while sealing her Anomalous Core directly into my stomach, I can feel that she was still alive inside the Anomalous Core. "< Unholy Curse: Eclipse Seal >" (me) "She was weaker than the other one I defeated..." (me) Chapter 1556: Cap 1554: Scared! Part 2 "She was weaker than the other one I defeated..." (me) "I got you!" "Come back here!!!" (Arash) Before I could even celebrate my victory, a large number of teeth came towards me, I didn''t have time to dodge or think, they appeared crossing the space right in front of me, when I realized it was already too late. Luckily I was pulled back and I could see as the space closed 7 Dragons fighting against a Black Dragon a little bigger than the others, all of them were covered in wounds, but while the Black Dragon bled from its wounds, its opponents who looked like metal statues had energy flowing through their wounds. More than half of those 7 Dragon Eaters were looking at me as if they wanted to advance towards me at any second, but they were afraid thus allowing the dense space to close. "(There are many more than I initially thought.)" (me) When I looked at the others, I realized that my Familiars were having an advantageous battle, but their blows were having little effect, only Hinata was truly causing moderate damage. My two Heralds were doing much better, but I couldn''t see Samara anywhere, it was then that I realized something and a chill took over me. "< Territory: Divine Realm >" (me) I wasn''t truly trying to create a Divine Realm, just the attempt was enough, the Divine power trying to force the creation of a new space, this was something that faced great resistance from the universe since we were already inside a mirrored space. The waves of power from the universe trying to resist me made the entire space vibrate, that''s when I saw that there was a Dragon almost three times my size looking at me, there were several wounds on its body that were closing as energy continued to escape continuously. This Dragon had masses of almost crystallized energy in its body, its armor was embracing this mass of almost crystallized energy, its Aura was unstable and looked very much like some kind of beast, its head lacked the space for something round, there was a hole, perhaps the eye since there doesn''t seem to be any at the moment. Even so, its unstable Aura was locked on me, Samara was in front of it with a crystal attached to chains swinging like a balloon in her hands. "You found me... good..." "Don''t get close to her, master!" (Samara) "Don''t worry, I won''t bite... maybe..." "What''s going on?" (me) That Dragon Eater is clearly very strong, stronger than the one I could defeat now and even stronger than the last one that was devoured before I could defeat it previously. Samara approaches me as she opens her mouth, stretching out a devilish tongue that wrapped around the balloon (Anomalous Core) attached to her chains, then swallows it, causing her mouth and throat to expand in the process before disappearing inside her body. "She seems to have been injured by God Akatosh, she is also partially sealed, but that won''t last long." (Samara) "Only you and I could see through the deception, we were fighting her divided bodies." (Samara) "No need to say that... they are a part of me... they are me..." "Similar to the divided bodies of the Mother of Truth that you defeated, they are disposable parts with only a portion of her power." (Samara) "She has so much stored power that it was starting to crystallize." (Samara) "(She''s still trying to trick us, the enemies we''ve defeated and the ones the others are still fighting are failures.)" (Samara) "We should stay away until God Akatosh returns, we can help the others defeat those 3 in the meantime." (Samara) "(I noticed something strange during my fight, but now that I''ve managed to seal one of the Anomalous Cores inside me and have been able to analyze it, I''m sure.)" (Samara) "(She''s more injured than she looks, she could die at any moment and she''s trying to refine a new body inside herself, even if she''s weaker she''ll still be too strong...)" (Samara) "What''s this?" (Hades) "I warned you that I sensed something strange." (Zaya) "Come here, be careful!" (me) "Master!" (Hades/Zaya) "(We have to attack her now, she''s not too weak, we just need to...)" (Samara) I wave my hands at the 3 of them while in the corner of my senses I see my Familiars gaining an advantage against their enemy, it won''t be long before they''re finished, Hades and Zaya also passed me the Cores as well as the body of their enemy, they sealed everything together, I didn''t even look and just swallowed it directly while my attention was on the enemy in front of me. "How many of you came?" (me) "A few, we''re attacking another universe at the moment, we can''t all come here." "(Something''s wrong, don''t do anything.)" (me) "Am I that important to deserve all this attention?" (me) "You have no idea, besides being so nutritious, you did something really disgusting by sharing our power with the Dragons of this Universe." "Do you think I didn''t notice the Anomalous power of that Dragon God!? You damn bastard!!" Something was definitely wrong, I don''t doubt Samara''s words about how injured this enemy was, I doubt even less about his attempt to refine a new body, but that wasn''t what I was worrying about. When I noticed something strange, I let part of my power flow to my Familiars, they managed to devastate their enemies with the power of chaos that I sent, then they were sealing what was left of the enemy and it wouldn''t take long for them to get close. "Since you brought it up, where is this Dragon God? I don''t think he would leave you behind." (me) "Where is he?" (me) "Don''t worry, he''s alive..." "SAMARA!!!" (me) "< Infernal Chains: Butcher''s Net >" (Samara) "< Unholy Magic: Predator''s Corruption >" (me) I couldn''t be more anxious now, I noticed the even greater fluctuation in the enemy''s already collapsing Aura when I mentioned the Dragon God, he was one of the first to attack and he''s not here, that means something. There can only be two options, he was caught or he encountered a greater danger than this enemy, if he''s not here there must be a greater possibility that he''s facing a stronger enemy just like Arash was doing. I couldn''t waste time, the situation on the Nix panel was already unknown, but any enemy or enemies that are strong enough to make the Dragon God abandon this heavily injured Dragon Eater without delivering the final blow means a truly frightening scenario, especially when they''re here to go after me. With my signal, Samara begins the attack with her chains that explode from within her body, veins pulsating directly inside the crystal chains that even seem to have fragments of bones inside, forming a network that moves like a creature opening its large jaws against its prey. I immediately wave my hand, a Purple Sun and a Fragmented Moon appear on the back of my hand, amplifying my power while my blood leaks out, already crystallizing into a magic circle that activates immediately by releasing countless red stars emitting a presence of pure hunger. This magic was something imbued with my Chaotic Consumer ability, it was strengthened by the Anomalous power concentrated by my Divine Weapon. The stars rearrange themselves forming a constellation in the shape of a Dragon, like a school of fish taking the form of a larger fish. These stars move in sync as parts of a whole, a murderous presence full of hunger sinks into Samara''s chains that surround the Dragon Eater. I felt her struggling and even managing to destroy some chains, but none of that mattered, her power was being devoured and ripped from her already injured body, she had no time or conditions to escape from the beginning, all the while she was buying time. Samara''s chains gained the brightness of the stars while the pulsating veins inside looked like a river of blood passing through the stars, a macabre sight, especially when the chains released an Aura that took the form of claws and jaws attacking the enemy''s entire body at the same time. I wasn''t sparing any of my power and Samara seemed to be following suit, her blood flowing through the chains trying to repair any destruction the enemy caused, this bought us a little more time making what was being done faster. I didn''t dare to completely absorb this power, I was transferring it to the Star Path, but specifically to where Tarzor''s egg was being nurtured. I could feel that it wasn''t just power and energy that was being devoured, I felt traces of the power of Essence and traces of universal fragments, it wasn''t something I could contain within myself, just serving as a medium for it was already difficult enough. But it was worth it, the enemy decreased in size, the almost crystallized energy in its body was becoming smaller while at the same time becoming more malleable and less crystallized. In a few seconds only the metal that was its true body remained, it was possible to see a humanoid body being condensed in a more central part of the body, it was around what seemed to be the core that was the exact size of the hole I saw before in its head. "Together with me!" (me) "< Unholy Seal: Infernal Eclipse >" (me/Samara) This wasn''t exactly a single spell, but rather a combination of two sealing spells combined. The two magic circles appeared above and below the enemy''s chained body. The magic circles doubled as they merged with the chains, squeezing the enemy into a ball that began to burn in a stellar focus The chains became even redder as they pulsed like veins. In the end, it looked like a black sun trapped by veins. A scream of agony was continually released in torment, and I could feel the Dragon Eater inside still being refined, with the remains of its power flowing more slowly toward me. Samara pulled this ''black sun trapped in veins'' toward me. With a thought of mine, my shadow rose up, assuming the shape of a large dragon head that swallowed everything at once, and was taken close to Tarzor''s egg. "This isn''t over." "!!!!" (me) "..." (everyone) "..." (Samara) Chapter 1557: Cap 1555: Scared! Part 3 "This isn''t over" "!!!!" (me) "..." (everyone) "..." (Samara) Even while I was sealing the enemy and sending him to the Star Path, I was always aware of the surroundings, I didn''t believe that God Akatosh had been captured for even a second. True Dragons could die in battle, but being captured alive was a herculean thing to do, Primordial Dragons didn''t even have that chance, they would die before being captured and would throw themselves against any type of prison they were in until it broke or they died, that was something I was sure of, it was an intrinsic pride in Dragons, even I am no exception and I can feel it in my instincts. It would be impossible for the one acclaimed as the greatest of all Dragons to be captured and if he were killed, I as a Dragon would feel it, all Dragons would feel it, especially those Primordials who have Dragon Totems like I do. Because of this level of certainty, I was always on the lookout for an enemy that was so strong that it required the Dragon God to immediately move in to face it while abandoning an almost defeated enemy in the process. But it seems that I still wasn''t prepared enough, that voice was something that shook even my Soul, he was speaking calmly, but his words felt like an attack in themselves as they struck my Soul and threw my mind into turmoil. Suddenly it was as if the world around me had disappeared, all that existed was pure darkness in an eternal void. In the middle of this darkness an eye larger than a planet opened in front of me, that eye was focused on me emanating a murderous intent that I hadn''t felt since I left hell, there was also an infinite hunger shining in its gaze. It was the eyes of a Predator, a true Predator without equal, I didn''t feel like I could fight against it, I was feeling intense fear, I was terrified to the point of not knowing what to do, but even though I was trembling I continued to stare at that eye in defiance. "You cannot escape forever, little Dragon." "The day will come when you will be between my teeth or those of my brothers." "Maybe on that day it will be you who are bleeding beneath my claws!" (me) "Raising your voice against me proves nothing, child." "You have humiliated the greatest predators in existence, your mere presence is a stain on our history, we will never let you go." The voice continued speaking, it seemed to come from every corner with each word feeling like mountains being thrown at me, each sentence making my entire body tremble involuntarily, but I did not allow my voice to fail or look away, this was my pride and will at stake, no kind of fear could make me retreat, I stood in Hell and here it will be no different. "One day, Zenos... one day..." "..." (me) For a second I wanted to say ''I''ll be waiting'', but I restrained myself, I don''t want to wait for them, one day I''ll be the one to hunt them, I can''t leave such a strong enemy loose forever, especially when I''m immortal, spending eternity looking over my shoulder seems like a pathetic way to exist. I remained silent as that eye closed, the world seemed to gain light and color once more, when I looked around everyone was looking at me, only Samara was staring into the void, her eyes burning blood red. The others didn''t even seem to see her, their eyes focused on me, they started to talk, but I focused only on Samra before turning to Hinata, that''s because she was standing further away looking in the same direction as Samara, her eyes were empty with pure darkness like a bottomless pit. The two had a strange energy around them as if space was denying their existence, I ignored the others and tried to share the vision of the two, each of them in one eye and that''s when I saw it. The two had exactly the same vision, a grotesque silhouette that seemed to be made of a piece of a universe trapped in a metal cage, it was a vision full of violence where strange energies distorted the vision making it almost impossible to see everything. I also noticed that there was a Dragon no smaller than the bizarre creature I was seeing, it was fighting the creature as it retreated, but the way it moved was strange as if it was fighting against currents or attacks, the Dragon on the other hand was being protected by something that made it impossible to see its appearance completely, I wasn''t even sure how I knew it was a Dragon. It all seemed to last a mere second before disappearing, then I found myself bleeding from my eyes, my vision was hazy, my Aura was shaking and the Anomalous Power was leaking from me continuously. The others kept their distance from me for a second in silence with only Hades and Samara approaching, Samara was also bleeding and her face was half cracked, Hinata who was previously far away returned to normal and was coming closer without showing any change. I was surprised by what I saw, especially the scope of everything here, a size compared to entire Star Systems, a power that distorted reality itself around them, that level of power was a mystery to me. I turned to Samara and she didn''t even let me open my life to ask, she started talking directly to my mind. "It was the power of the Essence, just an Essence that you are not able to understand yet." (Samra) "..." (me) "What are you talking about?" (Hades) "Master, are you okay?" (Nix) "Hungry..." (Hinata) "Eat this." (Samara) Samara takes a part of the sealed metallic body of one of the Dragon Eaters and gives it to Hinata who hugs that piece of metal that begins to writhe in her arms a strange energy flowing from Hinata that seems to slowly dissolve that piece of metal that she licks as if it were a melting ice cream. "Do you understand now?" (Samara) "..." (me) "..." (everyone) "Tasty..." (Hinata) The energy that Hinata used to melt that piece of the Dragon Eaters'' body is the same as what I felt in that battle, the power that seems to be something breaking reality. I tried to use Hinata''s senses, but I wasn''t able to understand it, it seemed like I was on the surface of something trying to see a depth that was filled with darkness, an endless Abyss. "He''s back." (Samara) Suddenly the space trembles and something heavy seems to enter, causing waves that make the Universe itself ripple around us, then a young man appears even smaller than me, he looks like a speck of dust, that''s when I realized that I was still in Dragon form. I return to my Humanoid form, my entire body was stiff and hurting, but my eyes had a strange feeling of incongruity. When I looked at the young man once more, I noticed a claw wound on his chest that looked more like a portal to another universe, Divine Energy and Essences leaking out from the wound before dissolving into the universe causing ripples that made it difficult to approach. This was the God Akatosh, he was looking at his own wounds seriously, then with one of his hands covered in flames that seemed to burn the very Essence of the Universe, he passes his fingers over the wounds cauterizing them so that they stop ''bleeding'' before looking at me. "We have to talk, but first I have to find Arash." (Akatosh) "< Open >" (Akatosh) Making the strange flame in his hand go out, he waves with a finger while his claw extends parting the space as if it were a curtain. The crack formed in space extends on its own revealing a Chaotic space where energies were in conflict and a pressing intention meets, I still advance entering the crack, on the other side I see the destroyed space trying to recover, it was another mirrored space. Arash was floating, his Dragon body was colossal, reaching the size of a planet. He is much larger than me in my Dragon form, but he was covered in wounds, his Scales were broken and his blood was floating out, exuding murderous intent. He seems to have lost one of his wings and one of his claws, his tail was shattered into pieces, one of his legs was spaced and all the bones in his torso were destroyed, even his jaw was hanging completely broken with many teeth missing. My eyes wander and I can see several pieces of metal still writhing as well as pieces of Anomalous Cores burning in intense black and red energies. "FATHER!!!" (Nix) "Don''t come..." (Arash) "Nix! Wait!" (me) Akatosh approaches, but I feel something and hold Nix, preventing her from approaching, Samara and Hades do the same. I look at Arash and see a wound in his chest, it was like Akatosh''s wound, but this one went through, it was a hole in his stomach that seemed to contain parts of a universe inside his body, veins expanded from this wound trying to spread through his body shining as if there were stars inside. "It seems I arrived in time." (Akatosh) Akatosh begins to treat Arash''s wounds, while I see Samara pointing in a direction, then I notice a circular hole the same size as Arash''s wound, this hole led to the same Chaotic space where I saw Akatosh fighting that creature. Chapter 1558: Cap 1556: Universal Fragment I was inside the mansion thinking about everything that happened and going over everything in my mind, the enemies in the end escaped, at least the strongest ones, it seems that there were more than 10 Dragon Eaters in total, the one we were facing doesn''t count since they were copies made by a single enemy. So I basically only defeated two, 3 were defeated by the Dragons in the ambush where they used me as bait while the other 4 were those that Arash was facing while Akatosh fought the last one outside the universe. Akatosh only managed to tie with that enemy, according to him, his power as a God decreases a lot or is almost completely nullified outside the universe, but even so he is still a Dragon God, his base power is already very large and this decrease does not mean as much as it would for other Gods, especially since he has traces of Anomalous power. It seems that of the 4 enemies Arash was facing, 1 was defeated, the second had his Anomalous Core ripped out while the other two were just carrying heavy injuries, that''s when a surprise attack came and incapacitated him while the enemies fled. It was at that moment that we happened to arrive, all of this was really stressful, that means that half of them escaped, one of them with such great power that he couldn''t enter the universe, at least for now. I just sink into my own shadow before appearing at the gates of the Communal Temple where I enter, the people of the city couldn''t see me, their eyes didn''t even look in my direction as I entered unnoticed and stopped in front of the statue of Akatosh. "Can I talk to you?" (me) Lol!! Suddenly the space in front of me opens as if a pair of claws were forcing the sides of a crack to open. Looking around at the people walking around the main hall and choosing the statues of their Gods to pray to, I realized that they couldn''t see this crack, so I walked forward without reservation. When I entered the crack behind me didn''t close, I also looked around. I was on an asteroid that had been cut to be flat, there were many like this in the surroundings as if they were islands in the sea of ??stars, some of them had mountains, others had forests, some had the desolation of the desert and others ice dunes, the one where I was was where a marble building lightly decorated with jewels stood, it was as if this place exuded the feeling of time because it was so old, yet everything seemed new as if it had just been built. I walked forward being guided by a presence that lit up like a beacon indicating the way. The entire place didn''t show off any wealth or authority, it was as if they had built it and left it for nature to take back, some vines and dust were in the corners, some scratches were found on the ground almost forming a path that was the same one I was following. It didn''t take long for me to arrive at a hall that seemed to have been cut in half along with the asteroid giving a wide view, a view of countless islands floating in the sea of ??stars and a Sun in the middle surrounded by Dragon Totems. It was a spectacular and eccentric sight, the kind of thing I was traveling to see in the past before I was entangled in so many conflicts. I look to a corner where the only individual besides me was, he was young and was sitting on the floor with one knee bent high where he supported one of his arms, a large bowl folding from a bathtub was in front of him filled with a thick translucent liquid, he picked it up and lifted it with just his fingertips emptying all the contents in a single gulp before lowering it again, the strange thing was that the same thing emerged from the bottom once again as if there was a fountain inside granting an endless supply of this drink. The young man who was drinking while contemplating the landscape was none other than Akatosh himself. I approach and sit beside him. An identical vessel floats from the stars to rummage in front of me. I pick it up and look at it without reservation. "..." (me) "(Strong... it almost seems like... I see.)" (me) "You are a Dragon God, just like me and now Arash. Our offerings are not Faith, they are Wills carrying the understanding of the strength that the True Dragons who follow us believe in." (Akatosh) "Similar to my Star Path." (me) "Yes, this is my Divine Realm. There are few Gods who have this type of Divine Realm. They are called a Pantheon, a place that does more than just store Divine power and Faith. A place that represents the core of a God who truly seeks to guide those who believe." (Akatosh) "For you, they are the paths and those who walk them expressing their Wills, for me, they are these islands that were carved by force in their infinite meanings." (Akatosh) He was teaching me something that not even my mother had told me, I don''t even know if my sisters know about it, but the responsibility of this increased more than I imagined what I''m doing, guiding someone is the same as being an example, which I don''t believe is a good example. "Did you come to ask about the Dragon Eaters?" (Akatosh) "Yes, but that''s all." (me) "Just ask." (Akatosh) I don''t have many questions and I don''t think he''ll answer everything, in fact I''m left with even more questions than I had before. "The one you were facing, why didn''t he enter our universe?" (me) "You''ve seen how Gods lose their Divinity when they enter a different universe, right?" (Akatosh) "You''re talking about Evil Gods." (me) "Yes, the power of the Essence is the greatest that can exist, that''s why Gods use the Essence they understand to give birth to their Divinities, in most cases it''s a process of ascension, but there are also rare cases that happen naturally like Spirits and Fairies, the same goes for me." (Akatosh) "Dragons are the definition of power, the Essence itself is already part of us in a certain sense, that''s why Fire Dragons can understand the power of the Essence of Fire, Earth Dragons can understand the power of the Essence of Earth and Death Dragons can understand the power of the Essence of Death." (Akatosh) "The Dragon Eaters are false Dragons, they do not understand what strength is, so they steal the power of others." (Akatosh) "But then the question remains, how can they fight against Dragons who naturally understand the power of Essences?" (Akatosh) "They must also possess the power of Essences..." (me) "Correct, Dragon Kings already have a complete Essence, Dragon Emperors can already integrate their Authority and Essence to a certain extent, Primordial Dragons already have an incomplete Divinity at least, and the vast majority are already Dragon Gods." (Akatosh) "Dragon Eaters need the power of Essence to fight Dragons, but then another question arises, how will they keep the power of Essence out of their universes?" (Akatosh) "..." (me) The power of the Essence breaks outside its universe, this is exactly what happens to Evil Gods, Deities become Fragments containing only parts of an Essence that does not match the universe they enter, Complete Essences are almost extinguished or become a mere spark when entering a different universe and probably the Essences that are not complete are completely destroyed without leaving a trace. "(Maybe they...)" (me) Suddenly the scene of my battle comes back to me, that Dragon Eater that I dragged with me, he expanded a space different from the Territories, it was more like a real space that was replacing that part of the universe where we were, I remember that most of my Essences became even weaker and harder to use because of it. "(What did he call that...?)" (me) "Galaxy of Rot... did he create a Galaxy?" (me) "It seems that one of the ones he faced showed you, but no, he didn''t create a Galaxy, he stole part of a universe imprisoning it inside himself where it is slowly refined the more he eats." (Akatosh) "This kind of power allows them to keep their Essences inside these small pieces of universe and gives them access to the power of the Essence." (Akatosh) "But this power is not so easily controlled, that''s why the Dragon Eaters are stronger with their bodies than with the use of power, they are only means for this power and do not truly control these Essences, they are similar to Living Weapons." (Akatosh) "Those who attacked directly only possess incomplete universe fragments that can overlap ours at most, but the one I fought, he had a true universe within him, a universe created by him completely refining his universe fragment by fusing many different Essence powers." (Akatosh) "To put it simply, a universe cannot contain another universe within itself, that''s why he wasn''t able to enter, at least not now." (Akatosh) "So he can enter later?" (me) "He just needs to merge, adapt, break the Essences inside his universe making it unstable and then once he''s inside, merge them again to make his little universe something similar to the scattered Space." (Akatosh) "This isn''t the kind of thing that''s easy or quick to do and that''s how I interrupted him in the middle of the process." (Akatosh) "This is crazy..." (me) "(Isn''t it the same as what I''m doing with Tarzor? Kind of different, but basically the same thing...)" (me) Chapter 1559: Cap 1557: End of the War? The conversation with God Akatosh was bordering on insanity, but I saw everything he was saying and some pieces were falling into place. The Dragon Eaters have strong bodies made of metal, the form in which they present themselves is a mere imitation of the Dragons and the energy that composes their bodies seems to be not only energy, it also represents the universe or perhaps I should say a fragment of the universe that they try to refine. "(Now I understand why Tarzor had a Dragon Eater trapped with him, he was studying its ability to refine pieces of the universe and contain it in their bodies.)" (me) I am someone who uses the power of Chaos and Anomalous, so I know many of its possibilities and I would like to believe that I am bold enough to have done many things with these powers so far, but I have never thought about refining parts of a universe. It was at this point that the pieces kept coming together, their metal bodies being used as an external armor was something I never understood, they were basically exposing their bodies to be attacked, regardless of the fact that they kept their Anomalous Cores safe, exposing their bodies like that was irrational to me, until I learned that they reigned over parts of universes within themselves. Their metal bodies are just means for the power they steal, their bodies are like living weapons, they are like parasites that envelop these pieces of universe taking control by force. If this is true, then beneath their metal armor must be the focus of the energy they absorb, the Anomalous Core must be responsible for digesting what they eat, refining the energy for their bodies to use while the Essences and Divinities are refined in these universes, thus they shape these universes into something of their own. "(Tarzor''s situation is similar, but I need to know more first.)" (me) "Here, try some." (Akatosh) "Thank you." (me) Akatosh throws me a large fruit that is almost my size, as soon as I hold it I feel the weight equivalent to a small mountain, in the first bite I take I feel the magnificent taste, it was frustrated blood, that doesn''t make sense, but it was the closest I could describe that flavor. "If you have any more questions, then ask them now." (Akatosh) "..." (me) I got a little distracted by this delicacy, but with Akatosh''s reminder, I refocused my mind on the conversation. "I wanted to know about that strange power that surrounded you and him in that battle, what was that." (me) "You already know the answer, any God would know the answer, especially someone like you." (Akatosh) "I don''t understand what you...?" (me) "Reality, that was the power of reality, it surrounds us at this moment, the Essences are just a part of a reality, in other words, the universe is a reality." (Akatosh) "The only way for you to leave a universe and not be annihilated is to be surrounded by the power of Reality, that is not the only way, but it is the easiest to be accomplished." (Akatosh) "The Dragon Eater I faced had his body completely crystallized, he completely refined his small universe, so it was easier for him to stay outside, his universe protecting him." (Akatosh) "But that power surrounding you..." (me) "I had this universe, its power flowed into me becoming a barrier, but of course it would only hold if I stayed close to the universe." (Akatosh) "Unlike them, Gods like us do not contain a universe, we are a part of the Universe, so the power of reality surrounds us all the time." (Akatosh) "Would it be possible to see this power of reality within the universe?" (me) "No, would you be able to see the water within the ocean when you are surrounded by water?" (Akatosh) "..." (me) "The only way would be to have the power of a different reality within you, of course that would make the universe where you are already trying to reject you by throwing you out." (Akatosh) "(At that time Samara could also see the fight, it wouldn''t be impossible for her to have the Infernal power that makes up that Reality, but the question is Hinata... I clearly felt the same power to distort reality in her...)" (me) "(I won''t tell him this, I can negotiate with Callidora later for this information, I''m sure she would know more than any God.)" (me) What Hinata accomplished was too shocking, the others didn''t notice due to their lack of knowledge just like me, but as my Familiar was able to perceive many things that others didn''t notice from the outside. "You must know about Tarzor, right?" (me) "He turned into a Dragon, so I know, I also felt the universe rejecting him and you, I don''t know how you stopped the universe from rejecting you both, but I''m grateful, your Dragon Totem was also being rejected which would end with the Anomalous power being divided among the Dragons." (Akatosh) I lift the vessel once more emptying its contents, strangely I could feel a resonance of will in this understanding of strength, it was somehow nourishing to me. "When he fled, it seemed to be being attacked by something as it swayed, what was happening?" (me) "Shockwaves, the Void constantly bombards the universes trying to wear them down, break them or at least open a rift for its Creatures of the Abyss to invade, this happens perpetually." (Akatosh) "It would be like trying to swim in acid outside the universe, the only advantage is that there are almost no Creatures of the Abyss out there, their bodies are created when they enter a reality and so they do not exist before that." (Akatosh) "But you said ''almost'' and not ''none'', that means there could still be some." (me) "Yes, but they would be so few that the chance of finding one would be infinitely close to zero, there are much more chances of finding an Anomalous Creature or another Universe." (Akatosh) "(I''m finally getting some understanding of the existence of the universe...)" (me) "What will happen to Tarzor when he wakes up?" (me) "..." (Akatosh) I watch as he empties his drink 3 times while keeping his eyes closed, I finish eating my fruit and empty my drink once more realizing that I wouldn''t be able to take another sip, I felt full, not physically but in my Divinity. It was at that moment that Akatosh opened his eyes shaking his head in denial. "I have no idea, but if I had to guess an answer, he may be connected in some way to your Pantheon which is almost a reality of its own thanks to your power of Chaos." (Akatosh) "I understand, thank you for talking to me." (me) "Are you sure you don''t have anything else to ask?" (Akatosh) "..." (me) "Were you expecting my visit, were you expecting me to ask you something specific?" (me) "Yes, but it seems that it hasn''t crossed your mind yet." (Akatosh) "(Something I didn''t think of? Is it related to the Dragon Eaters?)" (me) I tried to think about everything I had talked to him about just now, about the fights I had against the Dragon Eaters and about what I had seen about the power of reality, but I couldn''t think of anything else that I hadn''t already asked, except about Hinata. "The simplest question, how are we going to attack them?" (Akatosh) "..." (me) Suddenly I saw a bloodthirsty smile on the young face of the God Akatosh, his eyes shone with violence and killing intent so great that it was as if the world was freezing with fear around him, he was no longer the calm and easy-going God I had been talking to until now. This was a savage Predator capable of attacking at any movement, someone who hid his ferocity while standing still until the moment he attacked to devastate his prey. "Did you really think I would just stand here waiting for them to come back? That I would always be on the receiving end of their attacks!?" (Akatosh) He stood up and the entire asteroid shook, a ferocity rising from the very space around me as if this entire place was resonating with Akatosh, his presence rising at the same time that it seemed to regress into something more Primordial and purely instinctive, I could no longer see his young appearance, I could only see the eyes of a Predator looking at its prey in the distance. "I have waited a long, long time for this opportunity, I can''t wait any longer! I can''t let Baldr continue to delay my plans!" (Akatosh) "Akatosh, I..." (me) "I will notify the other Gods, it should only take 1 month for preparations, so be ready boy, because this war is close to ending!" (Akatosh) As he spoke, my body was sent back all the way to the portal I had entered, but not all the time I could feel his eyes turned in my direction, their savagery a warning of what was to come. My own instincts were on edge as if in response to the Dragon God, a will to battle exploding inside me like a Sun. When I passed through the portal and returned to the Communal Temple, the portal Ze? closed, leaving only the statue of Akatosh in front of me, but something had changed, the eyes of the statue were alive and incandescent, just looking at it made it seem as if I could see a Dragon tearing enemies apart in a sea of ??stars, a scene of pure carnage that filled me with emotions, igniting my murderous intent. "..." (me) Chapter 1560: Cap 1558: Rebirth of Tarzor I was sitting in the middle of space, there was nothing around me but the stars and Dark Dragons, I was in the exact place where the Star Palace was until it later became the Universal Seed. With a movement of my hands the space crystallized in front of me as if it were a small mirror, but it was not my reflection that I saw in the mirror, but rather a completely different space. It was the Star Path, my eyes were focused on the image of the egg, Tarzor''s illusory eyes were focused on a point above it where the Anomalous Cores that I was able to gather in this battle were located. My Divine Weapon was there in the form of a sword, the infernal chains were no longer holding the blade to seal that power inside, all the power contained in those items were being sucked by Tarzor''s illusory eyes, this included the Souls of the Anomalous Dragons as well. "How is his progress?" (Niryna) "I don''t know, but maybe it''s about to hatch." (me) Before, the egg was being nourished by the Stellar Path, but a few hours ago it stopped. All it does is continue to absorb the power of the Anomalous Dragons. It was no longer a secret. Akatosh explained to all the True Dragons about the Anomalous Dragons. He spoke about their true names and how they proclaim themselves to be Dragon Eaters. He did this through his high-level Priests. Since Karina was a unique Saint among the Dragons, she also received this oracle, thus passing on this information to me. However, it was information that I already knew mostly from what I found out from Callidora. The only new information was about the Anomalous Dragons, which was the name I started calling them because I didn''t like their previous name of Dragon Eaters. "Did you want to talk to me?" (Niryna?) "..." (me) I suddenly noticed something and looked away from the mirror to look at Niryna, that''s when I realized what was wrong with me, I got a little irritated when my eyes fell on her. "Why are you using her body!?" (me) "Hahaha... I knew you would notice, but I''m impressed with your senses." (Callidora) After I spoke, Niryna''s posture, expression, and behavior changed, her expression becoming extremely disturbing with eyes full of innate cruelty while her face showed a mocking expression. Her posture also became more casual, lying directly in the middle of the space as if she was floating belly up in a lake, she was at ease as she lay on her side looking at me, her smile irritating me greatly. "If you did anything to her..." (me) "Don''t worry, she''s just sleeping, I didn''t take control of her body, I''m just stimulating her muscles to move the way I want, she knows that too." (Callidora) "Why do this and not talk to her directly?" (me) "Because I wanted it this way, I wanted to see her reaction and it was worth it, hahahaha..." (Callidora) "..." (me) Callidora has always been willful and arrogant, for her the only will that matters is her own, everyone around her is a toy and probably even Niryna should be considered just above a toy, which in Callidora''s twisted mind must be a unique and special case in her entire existence. "When she wakes up I won''t be able to do this, so tell her what you want right away, I need to wake her up before the chocolate cake is ready, I need to eat that delight while it''s still warm." (Callidora) "(She thinks more about food than Ragnar.)" (me) "So I''ll be blunt, what''s going on with Samara, does she have some of your power?" (me) "That should be obvious, you had her refine my chains and her Soul was bathed several times with my power while she was under my service." (Callidora) "You know that''s not what I''m talking about, the Infernal Power is something I already expected, but she used a power similar to reality, which should be impossible for her." (me) Taking Hinata out of the equation, after I thought about it, only the Infernal power wouldn''t make sense for Samara to see the battle happening outside the universe, I was so focused on Hinata''s weirdness that I left Samara aside, relegating everything to the Infernal Power. "Don''t be naive, my chains are made by refining the remains of Universes and Souls that I broke, they naturally possess the Power of Reality, so no one can escape from me, breaking the power of reality is almost impossible." (Callidora) "Only the Anomalous power has any visible effect and even that only opens up a possibility, even then it would need to be stronger than the one holding the chains to break, which in my case makes it impossible." (Callidora) "But you said it yourself, I refined your chains for Samara." (me) "The power of Chaos is a special case, you didn''t break the chains, you transformed them to be useful to Samara, there is also the obvious reason why I allow this, you are still not strong enough to break my chains or even refine them if I decide to intervene." (Callidora) "(This doesn''t seem like the whole truth, but I''m surprised she would tell all of this so gratuitously.)" (me) I was surprised by the identity of the chains, not by Callidora''s ability to do such a thing, but by the cruelty of such a heinous act, using Souls and parts of universes to forge chains that will be used to trap or torment countless lives, she talks about these things very easily, sometimes I forget about the monster Callidora will always be. "You should also know about Hinata, how can she possess a Reality power?" (me) I was very surprised by this, I still remember the Notifications about her when they raised her power with Anomalous Essence along with Tarzor''s power, but I don''t really know about this power. I tried asking Hinata, but for her it was like trying to explain ''how the sky is blue'', ''how to breathe'' or ''how Fast and Furious became a superhero movie franchise with cars'', these are difficult answers that few people can explain. Since she doesn''t know how to describe how she does it other than ''I can do it'', I had to continue with the idea of ??looking for Callidora. "You must know about this, even without being there, you''ve seen Hinata many times and must have noticed something, you were already watching me through Niryna long before she was actually born." (me) "I won''t tell you, you''ll find out sooner or later, it''ll be funny..." (Callidora) "What are you...?" (me) "Huh...?" (Niryna) "..." (me) Suddenly Niryna was the one who woke up, it was strange to see her wake up with her eyes open, her posture, behavior, her eyes and even her expressions changed completely, it was incredible to see how the same face can reveal two completely different people, the mundane was so drastic that even I was left without a reaction. ------------------ 1 day later. I was inside the Star Path, Hinata almost dragged me here with Zaya, they were both very anxious, but I could already understand the reason, I could feel it. When I entered the Star Path I only confirmed what I was feeling, turbulence, it was as if a storm was forming, in fact it seemed like a storm was happening. The entire Stellar Path was rippling like a sea in the midst of a storm, these spatial waves would be enough to destroy entire worlds if it happened outside, the crystal paths were shining brightly while the silhouettes of those who were on the path were standing completely unperturbed, all facing the same direction where the center of these turbulences was. I followed alongside Hinata and Zaya, for me the entire Stellar Path could be traversed in a single step, so it was almost immediate that we arrived at the center of the problem, the turbulences could not affect me either. In the center of this place was the egg, it was there wrapped in clouds of Essence and Stellar Fire, fragments of what were once Anomalous Cores were around it, their exhausted powers becoming just empty shells, even the Souls of the Anomalous Dragons were devoured. Its power and presence were growing and the illusory eyes were shining brightly, the entire head of a Dragon could be seen being made of these energies and fire. What was causing the turbulence was exactly the universe interacting with the presence of the egg, it wasn''t colliding with it, but it wasn''t mixing either, it was as if a clear separation was being made, but that was exactly what was causing problems. "This won''t work..." (me) It was clear that the egg still needed something to be born, it was still being pushed away by the universe, so it was looking for that something elsewhere, and as soon as I got closer, the connection I had formed with it before grew thousands of times. "..." (me) This connection wasn''t strengthening for energy transfer, it was something different, it was like an anchoring, I felt the turbulences surround me and I made the other two move away so there wouldn''t be any problems. But before long the turbulences gradually subsided until it became calm once more and cracks appeared on the egg shining brightly, my Divine Weapon that was staying around it shone together and shattered as it once again became a Purple Sun and a Fragmented Moon. Chapter 1561: Cap 1559: Manipulated The turbulence in the Star Path finally ends, but the intensity of Tarzor''s Aura is changing, it is no longer growing, his Aura and presence are actually computing, shrinking as it deepens. The Purple Sun and the Shattered Moon begin to radiate power, the power of Chaos, one of them transforms and the other reshapes, the egg breaks, but the pulsation that comes from within feels heavy like the collision between Worlds. I feel the restrictions in Tarzor, his interior contains the power of Life and Death, but it does not feel like something is missing, it is what was taken from him, the ability to create, he was awake and seeking what is missing. "(He is awake, he is delaying his own birth and using my Divine Weapons to reshape his body...)" (me) "TARZOR!!! YOU HAVE TO STOP!!!" (me) "< I must be complete!! >" (Tarzor) "Damn he doesn''t listen..." (me) "You were so naive, you fell into a big trap..." (Callidora) "Callidora!?" (me) Suddenly I find myself in another space, but it was just my mind, using my Aura and my own Soul, I could see my body still stuck in the connection with Tarzor who began to search for garlic in me. I could feel the world outside while my mind was still in this place, looking around it was just a ruined temple in the middle of a desolate desert, Callidora was in my sick and between us there was a small artificial lake. Callidora snaps her fingers making the waters of this lake ripple, then the reflection in the lake changed to what was happening outside, it was a strange feeling to see yourself in real time like that. "What did you do now?" (me) "I''m not doing anything, this is just a simple mental realm." (Callidora) "My daughter is sustaining the magic and I just wanted to see it all from the front row." (Callidora) "What''s going on? What did you mean by ''falling into a trap'' now?" (me) "Tarzor was born an incomplete creature and has remained that way for a period of existence longer than some universes, he has tried many different things from seeing the birth of a universe to kidnapping Anomalous Creatures like he did with the Anomalous Dragons." (Callidora) Callidora seemed to walk around the small lake, but each step she took was followed by her appearing in a different place trying to force me to look at the different places where she appears, even now she is trying to play with me. "I know he has done many things, he has never hidden it." (me) "Even so, you underestimated him. His obsession with becoming a Universe is due to the instinct of becoming complete. That''s his core, everything he ever wanted and was denied in all his attempts." (Callidora) "Now I ask, what is a universe without life?" (Callidora) "Being able to maintain life within it is one thing, but the inability to create life means that nothing can be born within it, which in turn ends one of the main aspects of creation, making it a flawed universe, still incomplete... hahahaha..." (Callidora) "It''s funny to see him so close to everything he ever wanted only to be denied once again, isn''t it funny?" (Callidora) I didn''t look directly at him. My focus was still on my body. Tarzor''s egg was pulsing very intensely. The power within it was being condensed too much. It couldn''t be maintained for long. "Just say it straight out." (me) "You''re so impatient..." (Callidora) She appears on my shoulder, this time her eyes inches from my face, her beauty doing nothing to ease the terror of having her eyes so focused on me, it was like being faced with the teeth of a peerless Predator. "This was the best chance he''s ever had, maybe he''ll never get so close to what he seeks, do you really think he''d accept being rejected again?" (Callidora) "At that moment he was taken over by his obsession, his instincts took over and he tried to seek from the universe what he lacks, but we both know there was interference to make that impossible, right?" (Callidora) "You know about the system, so why don''t you just tell me what he''s doing?" (me) "I thought it was obvious, he can''t take what he needs from the universe and the only thing connected to him is you... so tell me, what is he looking for so desperately in you...?" (Callidora) "..." (me) She was dragging the conversation on purpose, as soon as she said that it was at the exact moment that Tarzor''s presence invaded my body, extending to several parts even reaching my Soul. He was touching my Essences, my Divinity, my Nature power, my Anomalous power and even the Nature Power inside me, that''s when I felt something, a gentle and delicate touch touching something inside me that I couldn''t identify exactly where. "(Sorry...)" (Freya) "Freya..." (me) I didn''t have time to think, I could only accept that Freya pulled something from me through the connection between me and Tarzor, so there was some change. "Don''t get lost in your thoughts, it would be bad to get carried away like that." (Callidora) "Just tell me what you want!?" (me) "I already told you, I''m just watching a good show." (Callidora) "But where did I stop... oh, yes... what Tarzor seeks, you should know now." (Callidora) "The power of Creation, something that fell into your hands in a strange form and even if you no longer have a Dungeon, the power is still there." (Callidora) "The connection with the circle of Rebirth, the ability to create life." (Callidora) The Anomalous and Chaos power were extending together with the power of nature, all mixing with this something being pulled from me to Tarzor, I could feel that I was swallowed by the egg, falling in the right place the first time, I felt the excitement in Tarzor''s Aura with boundless euphoria. "Thanks to you, even if he can''t create life on his own, he still has you to accomplish that step within him." (Callidora) "A roundabout way and yet you still manage to complete it, seems like the only option, doesn''t it?" (Callidora) "Wait! When you said a trap, you meant...?" (me) "That''s right, what is a restriction besides cutting off certain paths or possibilities?" (Callidora) What she told me was like a bolt of lightning hitting my head, she basically rubbed the truth in my face, her eyes mocking me as if I were an idiot. The restrictions were placed by the System, there were exactly 2 restrictions, the first was about the impossibility of Tarzor creating life, but if this option was already a way to cut off Tarzor''s possibilities, leaving only the one he is doing now, then I''ve been manipulated from the start. The second restriction was about Tarzor''s inability to expand by devouring other Universes, if I go with the mindset that this restriction is also a form of manipulation, then it all makes sense when considering my enemies. The Anomalous Dragons have Universe Fragments inside them, they are not true universes, so they should not be affected by the restriction, this basically is an incentive for Tarzor to devour the Anomalous Dragons. The System clearly spoke about ''restriction'' and not ''blocking'', it also insinuated that I should hunt Anomalous creatures and these two restrictions strongly connect me with Tarzor to do exactly that together. "(If this thought is right, then there must be a specific ability that I must achieve in the end, if that happens it will all be confirmed.)" (me) I turn to Callidora, she was sitting in the middle of the small lake looking at me, she didn''t come to warn me anything, she dragged this conversation in the right time to just comment on what was already happening, she was just teasing me again. "I''m not going to waste my time with this..." (me) "Then bye..." (Callidora) She snaps her fingers still laughing and a wave of mental power throws me out, my mind once again focusing only on what was happening. Ding! It was at that exact moment that I hear the sound of System Notifications, but I couldn''t see anything as I was quickly pulled towards Tarzor, this time it wasn''t him pulling me, it was actually my Divinity dragging my body towards him, every instinct in me telling me to touch the egg. "..." (me) It was at that moment that I stared at the illusory eyes as if responding to my presence, my Divine Weapon flies out, sinking into my body, then I touch the egg, it was as if a chain reaction was started. The eggshell explodes, the illusory Dragon head disappears as well as the eyes, the clouds of power are sucked into the center while the Star Fire forms a tornado around it. What was inside the egg was something so disproportionate that it could have been seen to have exploded outwards, it was like seeing the expansion of a cloud, but this time it was not formless energy, it was the outline of a starry sky, very similar to Nix in her Dragon form, the only difference is that there are no scales, this is because the entire body was fused and looked like an outline of space itself or a living portal in the shape of a Dragon. His size seems to have decreased to just a few hundred kilometers, his appearance has also changed a bit, but what surprised me was feeling the connection I have with him, it was the same as the one I have with this universe, the connection of a God with his universe, which in this case was especially strong and that was when I finally looked at the notifications. Sigh "I knew it..." (me) Chapter 1562: Cap 1560: Anomalous Entity Pov Ibuki: I was in the middle of the darkness, but I didn''t feel bad, it was comfortable, it reminded me of the past, before the master appeared, before Zenos looked at me. At that time I was the weakest Goblin in my tribe, I wasn''t able to hunt anything, even though I was a rare woman in my tribe I still couldn''t compete with the women of the other races who were captured, I was also very weak which led others to despise my existence as a weakness to the point of not having the right to a part of the food hunted by others, only by hiding so as not to be seen could I keep myself safe. I was close to dying many times, just leaving the tribe was dangerous for someone so weak, but when I went out with others I couldn''t eat anything that was hunted or found, if I went out alone I could easily be killed by any creature, but I needed to eat something, so I went out many times during the night while everyone was sleeping. The darkest and rainiest nights were my favorites, the rain covered my footprints and erased my scent, but unfortunately the rain was not a recurring thing. Only the night was a complete cover, only during the night could I hide from predators and steal scraps of meat from the bones of creatures that had already been devoured by others, I was also able to gather fruits and herbs without having to compete with other creatures, but this came with the condition that I endured the days of hunger and the poison in the little food I found. The nights were the only time I could survive, when I was weak I always thought of the darkness of the night as a shield that protected me, it was only after Zenos appeared and became my Master, extending his help to me, that I realized many things, he taught me many things, including that darkness can also be a weapon for predators. When I discovered that I had the power of darkness, I was very happy, it was comforting, but I was too stupid to use these powers, I wasn''t able to understand half of what Zenos and Diana tried to teach me, I wasn''t able to learn almost anything that Erica said. Kira was the only one I could understand, she tried to teach me a few times, but what she said was so familiar to me, it was so obvious that I wondered how I hadn''t realized it before, they were ways to use the darkness not from my powers but from the surroundings, how to hide, where to hide, how to use the shadows even during the day to hide, how to stay silent, which position is the least visible. "(Those were happy times...)" (me) When it was just us in that cabin, everything was amazing, I was the weakest, but everyone took care of me, taught me to be strong, trained me. "(The weak worry about surviving, but the strong have their responsibilities...)" (me) It was only after evolving a few times and becoming stronger that I realized something, those around me were not trying to survive, they were doing something else, but even seeing it I could not understand it right away, it was only after a long time observing them that I realized, all of them that I thought were so strong were being responsible. Zenos led us with specific targets and detailed plans, he always focused on not letting any of us get hurt. Erica took responsibility for the research and magic, as the only one who had this knowledge, she took responsibility for teaching those of us who had the potential to learn like me and Zenos, she also had the responsibility in battle to use her attacks at opportune moments in Zenos'' plans. Diana was always an incredible warrior, she quickly understood the things Zenos said and the techniques he created, while she was very strong, she also took on the responsibility of training Zenos and me to become stronger. Even Kira, who arrived much later, became responsible for gathering information, something that none of us could do as well as her. I was the only one who had no responsibilities, I was getting stronger and stronger and I wanted to protect them all just as they protected me. But as time went on, I grew stronger, I became smarter, and many people gathered around Zenos. Many wanted to follow him, but there were also many eyes in the darkness that wanted to kill him. That hasn''t changed even now, the only change is that the strength of those who seek to destroy him is much greater than that of those who still follow him. "(I wasn''t responsible for anything... I couldn''t protect anything...)" (me) No matter how strong I became, following behind him, I couldn''t catch up to him even once, I couldn''t protect him from being behind, so I used everything he taught me to step onto my own path, his power within me seemed to resonate with my will, it was as if I could see what I needed to do. "(Be responsible... protect... darkness... darkness?)" (me) Suddenly it was as if pieces were falling into place, my eyes widened, I finally understood, darkness had always surrounded me, it was my greatest shield in times of weakness and my greatest weapon when I became strong, why couldn''t it be the same for others? Zenos was becoming a God, he was the one who taught me that the responsibility of the strong was to protect something, be it someone or an ideal, because they were strong enough to do so. The Gods were the strongest, but they didn''t protect everyone, even Zenos didn''t protect everyone, I couldn''t quite understand that, but I didn''t want to protect everyone either, there was no reason to protect people I didn''t like even though I felt happy when I protected some people I recognized as worthy of protection. The Gods did it, Zenos did it, so I could do it too, the darkness that was my Weapon and my shield was only useful because I took the risks, I was not consumed by impotence, I rose in the darkness with willpower, so others could do the same. "(Use the darkness to protect those who try to rise and strengthen those who walk without fear of the darkness.)" (me) "(I wanted to become a God to be by Zenos'' side, to be his sword and shield, but I was on the wrong path...)" (me) "I need to be the shadow and the cloak of darkness for those who were like me, to guide those lost in the darkness crawling how to walk and run through the night." (me) "Zenos is also someone who came from the darkness like me, my embrace will fall upon him too, my ideals arose from yours, one day I was the one who followed behind you as your shadow and from today on I will be the one walking by your side!" (me) The emotions inside me exploded, the releases in my mind spun endlessly completing a puzzle that I didn''t even know I had the pieces for, the power of Zenos inside me resonates with this puzzle, so all the darkness can no longer block my vision, from a cloak to hide, it became a soft fabric that covers everything revealing an endless world where countless silhouettes get lost far from the paths while trembling. But my eyes are drawn upwards where a starry sky appears, this starry sky had the shape of a Dragon flying in the dark skies, it strangely left a shadow behind in this world of darkness, a shadow full of stars looking like a path in the darkness that leads straight to the heavens. When I truly opened my eyes I saw the notifications. Ding! <[ You have ascended to [ Profane Goddess of the Dark Path (Anomalous God) ] ]> . . . <[ You have integrated your Divine Realm with that of another God, complementing both of your Divinities ]> . . . <[ You have become a Goddess of the Anomalous Entity [ Tarzor (Unholy Universal Dragon) ] ]> ------------------- Pov Zenos: The notifications in front of me were already surprising enough, but more were joining the list, something I had dismissed after just starting to see the first one named Ibuki. I could only face one thing at a time or risk going crazy. Ding! <[ The [ Anomalous Creature (Tarzor) ] implants parts of you into your Nascent Universe transforming you into a [ Primordial God ] ]> . . . <[ The [ Anomalous Creature (Tarzor) ] became a Universe using the [ Anomalous Power ] and the [ Power of Chaos ] and thus managed to evolve by following aspects of its Primordial God by becoming [ Unholy Universal Dragon (Anomalous Entity) ] ]> . . . <[ The first living being created in [ Tarzor (Unholy Universal Dragon) ] was a [ Universal Tree (Anomalous) ] that is in the process of ascending to [ Anomalous Goddess ] ]> . . <[ The System looks at [ Tarzor (Unholy Universal Dragon) ] ]> . . <[ The System looks at you ]> . . . <[ The System congratulates you on completing the procedure of becoming a [ Primordial God ] ]> . . <[ The System warns you that other Anomalous Entities have noticed the birth of your universe ]> . . <[ the Anomalous Entity that insists on being called ''Callidora'' laughs while hiding the whereabouts of [ Tarzor (Unholy Universal Dragon) ] ]> "..." (me) "I really fell into a trap..." (me) I put aside the other things and go to Tarzor, he seems to be sleeping, but something was growing through his body, interconnecting all the stars inside him, horns grow on his head similar to ethereal branches, behind his horns a mane of ethereal leaves full of the power of nature sway in winds that do not exist. Tarzor was sleeping and the universe stopped rejecting him, in fact the universe seemed to no longer have such a fundamental connection with my Star Path being just something similar to Tarzor. Sigh "I don''t even know what to say..." (me) Chapter 1563: Cap 1561: Primordial God Pov Kira: I was standing there watching as the darkness surrounding the valley gradually disappeared, at the rate it was happening in a few hours she''ll be out. "She''s being faster than Diana." (Byakko) "Diana already had a clearer understanding of what a Goddess was, she was also being supported by her God more than we were using Zenos'' power." (me) "Besides, Erica was even faster, she became a Demon Goddess so fast that I started to doubt her moral compass." (me) "She never had one in the first place, the only reason that witch isn''t a danger to the rest of the universe is because she has you guys and Zenos." (Byakko) "Don''t talk about her like that, you''ll need her for the Ritual too." (me) "Don''t remind me of that..." (Byakko) "Now all that''s left is me, but for that I need you to go through the ascension with me." (me) "As soon as Erica finishes the preparations it will be our turn, so remember to thank her." (me) "In your dreams, I would rather lick a Wolf''s paws than thank that witch!" (Byakko) "She stole my heart! Literally! I shouldn''t even have a heart in the first place!" (Byakko) "How did she do that!?" (Byakko) "She was just testing her new Curse after achieving Divinity, she gave the heart back, didn''t she?" (me) "That was too scary and she''s been doing that for years, always using me to test her curses on creatures without real physical bodies." (Byakko) "She had to test it on someone and she certainly wouldn''t do that with Zenos'' Familiars, she also couldn''t do that with Fairies and weaker Spirits, they could really die." (me) "Then let''s just forget about it..." (me) "..." (me) "..." (Byakko) Suddenly all the darkness that was dispersing began to burn in black flames, somehow it was possible to see even darker contours within the black flames as if it were a portal where only darkness existed, these strange flames intensified forming a column that crossed the sky out of the planet as if searching for the darkness of space. "This is going to be a problem..." (me) "How long until they find us?" (Byakko) "A few seconds if we''re lucky... they''ve already arrived!" (me) "Damn it!!" (Byakko) -------------------- Pov Zenos: I was on my Star Path, I was looking at Tarzor who was still sleeping, every time he breathed it was as if the Star Path itself was breathing. It''s been a few hours since he woke up, his Dragon form was surprising, even my Saints avoid looking at him too much saying they get dizzy with the vertigo represented in his appearance. During this time I calmed down and started reading the notifications again as well as reading the ones I hadn''t seen before, no matter what I went through with all this, I needed to understand everything before anything else. The notifications that I hadn''t seen were about the integration of other Gods besides Tarzor, as Gods of his Universe, these Gods were exactly my Wives and my Daughters. Daughters: Aurora (Goddess), Ynes (Demonic Goddess), Adella (Unholy Goddess) Wives: Erica (Demonic Goddess), Diana (Goddess), Ibuki (Unholy Goddess), Freya (Primordial Goddess) This is basically the information that I discovered, my wives became Goddesses, but finding out that Freya became a Primordial Goddess just like me was a surprise. I still didn''t know what a Primordial God was, I had some suspicions, but I put that aside to understand things in parts, trying to understand everything at once was the way to get lost. I started to think in parts, first understanding that my Wives were already becoming Goddesses, this was something I had already expected, it became obvious at a certain point that they were seeking it and it seems that only Kira is missing now. My 3 daughters were already Goddesses to begin with, but Adella was a Goddess in her old Universe that no longer exists, in our universe she was just a Divine Beast, her becoming a Goddess again was something I did not expect. About Freya and I becoming Primordial Gods I could only assume that it was about the creation of the universe that Tarzor became, the tree that was growing inside Tarzor was connected to Freya, but I did not know if it was Freya herself or just connected to her like the World Trees with their Elf Kings. This was something I should ask others, what surprised me was something else, there were notifications about the integration of Divine Realms into the Stellar Path, I also had my assumptions about this from what I read in the notifications, but I would need to understand this better. I was looking around, I could feel that something had changed in the Star Path, there was more depth and it wasn''t just my will that made up the whole place, there were also more branching paths both going to the Star Path and leaving it to enter other paths. I could feel aspects that I didn''t understand, but that complemented everything else in my Star Path easily, these aspects contain the will of my wives and three of them of my daughters. But I felt a really scary aspect trying to intrude, almost ignoring the resistance of all the other Wills, but being stopped by me. I already knew what aspect it was, there are very few things that can really scare me at this level, just as I was thinking, she appeared accompanied by one of my daughters as always. "Are you still on my mind?" (me) "No, but I felt your attention directed to Niryna and I knew it was time." (Callidora) "I don''t want to beat around the bush this time, you want something from me, so I want a full explanation on the matter before making a decision." (me) "I already imagined that, if it depended only on me, your resistance would be useless, but Niryna will not go against you." (Callidora) "The decision depends only on me and him, I will not interfere if he does not accept and I am not sure if all this is right to begin with." (Niryna) "You need to be more authoritarian, look at Zenos, you think he got where he is naturally, he stole, killed and destroyed everything in his path in a spectacular way." (Callidora) "Please, don''t say it like that, it makes it seem like I am someone evil, I have never hurt innocent people and I have never gone after those who have done nothing wrong." (me) "Keep thinking like that, but it does not change the fact that you are cruel and ruthless, so do not pretend to be a Hero of Peace, it makes me sick." (Callidora) "..." (me) "I think we''re off topic here..." (Niryna) "It''s his fault, but I''ll let it go this time. Ask him what you need once and for all. In the end, I know the answer will still be yes." (Callidora) "(I really don''t like her...)" (me) I accepted with a grain of salt and part of the space crystallized into a small marble garden with crystals. A table with 3 chairs arranged around it for us to sit, but Callidora just lay down on her side on the table, ignoring the chair while Niryna and I sat down. "What is a Primordial God?" (me) "Gods who created Universes are kind of rare since it''s a difficult feat." (Callidora) "A Primordial God naturally contains the power of Reality around him and can enter any universe, his Essences belonging only to him, his Divinity being part of creation itself, and his Will being eternal as long as his universe exists." (Callidora) The power of reality as far as I understand has few practical uses, but its most standard use would be to move between universes, in fact that seems to be the only use I can understand. "You said before that I fell into a trap, does that mean the system wanted me to become a Primordial God?" (me) Ding! <[ The System partially confirms your question ]> . . <[ The System warns the Anomalous Entity that insists on being called ''Callidora'' not to reveal anything about such a matter resulting in undue interference ]> "..." (me) "Hahaha... I knew you would show up, you can''t blame me for not responding, I don''t want to get on his bad side, it would be troublesome." (Callidora) I didn''t expect the system to act, but that alone was confirmation that I was manipulated and Callidora knew it from the beginning, the foresight and plans of these eternal entities should not be underestimated, I''m not sure how long I''ve been manipulated like this. "Before you ask, your wife over there knew too, she''s been preparing for a while, that''s the most I''ll say." (Callidora) "..." (me) She points to Tarzor''s head where it was possible to see most of the great Tree that exists inside it still spreading throughout his body. Does this mean that Freya knew something from the beginning, that''s why she entered that tree state? Is that why I received the Universal Seed? Is that why she entered the Universal Seed? "(I feel like I''m being prepared for something, but I don''t know what.)" (me) "I''m being prepared..." (me) Ding! <[ The System says you don''t need to know for now ]> . . <[ The System doesn''t want to interfere more than necessary ]> "Don''t ask too much, he''s a bit extreme, besides, he''s not doing anything to you, if it weren''t for him interfering to a certain extent and me getting involved sometimes, you''d be dead a few times over." (Callidora) "If you want to kneel in gratitude by licking my feet, give it up, I''d rather receive my gratitude in food, preferably alcohol for Niryna to drink." (Callidora) "..." (me) "I''m sorry, she''s taken a bit of an obsessive liking to alcohol, she''s forcing me to make a collection and even study about alcohol production." (Niryna) "I''ve seen it in several universes, a great number of lives have been destroyed by it, a drink that can be made in infinite ways, that frees its consumers from all restrictions, corrupts emotions and still has so many flavors... I''ve missed a lot by not drinking such a delicacy until today." (Callidora) "(How did she deviate from the subject of alcohol when we''re talking about aspects of universe creation!?)" (me) Chapter 1564: Cap 1562: The Truth of the Divine Kingdom Callidora has always been a difficult person. Talking to her means being subject to her mood swings and willful will, but even so, she deviates so much from an important subject involving the creation of universes just to talk about alcoholic beverages. At least now I have a better understanding of things. Sometimes I saw in notifications that the system or Callidora were blocking others from reaching me. That in itself shows that I am standing out a lot. The Anomalous Dragons are already a problem on their own. If more enemies of that level joined forces against me, it would be truly terrible. The image of that great Anomalous Dragon that fought Akatosh crossed my mind. If there were more of those Dragons or more enemies of that type, it would be truly terrifying. "(Unfortunately, it seems like I won''t be able to get anything out of her. I also didn''t expect the system to speak that way...)" (me) "Let''s focus at least this once." (me) "Back to what we were talking about, what''s going on with other Gods joining their Divine Realms with me?" (me) "What a stupid question... the Gods of this universe are so old, yet they spread such obvious lies..." (Callidora) "Lies? What are you talking about?" (me) Callidora stood up from the table and walked away a little, growing to a colossal size and spreading her arms wide as her voice seemed to echo right next to my ear. "In this universe, you have the concept of Territory, don''t you?" (Callidora) "Yes, but what does that have to do with..." (me) "Just shut up and listen." (Callidora) "Territory is just something formed with Authority and it already has 4 levels to form." (Callidora) "Area... Border... Imaginary Realm... Ruler..." (Callidora) "The first three levels are mere illusions to confuse and trap enemies, having an effect of at most slightly increasing some of the user''s abilities." (Callidora) "Only the fourth level can be considered a true Territory where illusion becomes reality, the rest is just childish play." (Callidora) Hearing her talk about a power that I fought so hard to learn and that has helped me so many times in the past, makes me so angry that I would like to slap her, but if I do that I would no longer be able to sleep at night in peace. "But didn''t they say there was a 5th level? Vanessa taught me..." (Niryna) "She taught me wrong, after something that happened in the past, most of the Gods of this universe had to go through Rebirth, their memories not exactly what they once were, only the so-called great Gods had any idea of ??what they were doing." (Callidora) "The so-called 5th level of the Territory or Divine Realm, belongs to something completely different with its own categories." (Callidora) "Only those who reach Divinity or have one foot in it can step into a Divine Realm on their own and in this category there is no such thing as a level." (Callidora) "The Gods of this universe lied by placing the Divine Realm as just another level of the Territory, so they can hide the truth." (Callidora) "Why would they do that? What is different about this knowledge?" (me) "Yes, there are so many Gods here, I don''t think this is something that can be hidden forever." (Niryna) I was really confused, Gods don''t usually lie, they manipulate the truth to some extent, but at least to me they have never lied before, I think? "What did they want to avoid with such a lie?" (me) "War, like the one happening now, most other Universes do something similar or have their own rules about it." (Callidora) "The categories of Divine Realms are also different, they are not something that can be easily changed and have nothing to do with power." (Callidora) "They are called ''Sacred Palace'', ''Divine Temple'' and ''Pantheon''." (Callidora) "All Gods can open a simple Divine Realm, a place where they can fight similar to Territories." (Callidora) "The ''Sacred Palace'' is the Divine Realm that most Gods have, they can open these Divine Realms where their Faith converges and Divine Power is stored, a true Palace for their Divinity." (Callidora) "A ''Divine Temple'' is more special, few Gods have this kind of ability, in this Universe some have this ability, but only 3 use this Divine Realm of which you know all." (Callidora) "The Fairy Goddess who created this before she was Reborn and didn''t know of this truth until recently, the Spirit God who was one of the ones who hid this truth... and the Light God who somehow managed to change his ''Sacred Palace'' to become a ''Divine Temple''." (Callidora) "Wait! You mean...?" (me) "The Fairy World and the Spirit World..." (me) "Yes, they are ''Divine Temples'' where Gods can expand and control certain aspects of Nature, they can also integrate individuals into their Divine Realm by having Subordinate Gods enter under their command as they wish." (Callidora) "This type of Divine Realm creates a world of its own and interconnects the Deities as well as Authorities of those within it. It cannot be moved or closed, there can only be one, and it is impossible to open a second one for the same God or those who have joined as Subordinate Gods of it." (Callidora) "Usually Gods associated with Nature have this ability more easily or can acquire it with some effort." (Callidora) "..." (me) "Do you understand now?" (Callidora) Now I began to see things differently. Following this logic, it was easier to understand how the Fairy World and the Spirit World could exist. They said it was a permanent Divine Kingdom. Now I understand why the Spirit Kings and Fairy Queens create Spirit Temples or Fairy Temples. They are Temples connected to the main Divine Temple, branches of the same principle, sectors of the same company. "Wait! You said Baldr also has one of these?" (me) "Of course, you idiot. Why do you think he started a war? He wants to steal Divinities to create Subordinate Gods in his Divine Temple. Where do you think his Children come from? Children that no one has ever seen before." (Callidora) "With a Divine Temple, it is much easier to ascend a Subordinate God or create a Child with their Divinity already." (Callidora) "..." (me) "This is crazy." (me) "One of the reasons he is going after you is the large number of Divinities and Essences you have collected so far, he wants to steal you." (Callidora) Suddenly I begin to understand the reason why his touches are so focused on me when he is at war with several Gods, this bastard had his eye on this. The Gods wanted to avoid a war, now I understand, there has always been a Division between Gods and Demonic Gods, it is no surprise that most of the Great Gods are neutral without participating in either side, these are Gods who hid the truth to prevent an open war. "(Akatosh knew everything, he even started telling me about it at that moment...)" (me) I look at Callidora who was smiling at me, she noticed the change in my expression, she really was trying to lead me by the nose until now, she just jumped in front to talk about it before another God came for me. "So now this truth must be spreading, that''s why you''re talking about it now." (me) "You''re trying to gain my trust with something I would find out soon." (me) "Yes, but it doesn''t change the fact that I''m telling the truth." (Callidora) "So what I heard about Pantheon earlier from Akatosh was true?" (me) "I don''t know what he said, but a Pantheon is formed by a Main God whose principles are capable of guiding others through their Divine Kingdom. Other Gods merge their Divine Kingdoms with this Pantheon, expanding the scope of this guidance. There are several Gods who follow a complementary principle, forming a cohesive group. This strengthens their Essences immensely." (Callidora) "The only Gods who have this ability in this universe are the God of Beasts, the Dragon God, the Goddess Selene, and you." (Callidora) "For some reason, only Selene chooses not to use her Pantheon effectively, you idiot." (Callidora) "As for you, your Pantheon is almost alive, making it difficult for you to control, which is why several Gods linked to you were dragged without resistance. This is the power of Chaos." (Callidora) "So you want me to add Niryna to my Pantheon." (me) "Yes, that way she''ll be connected to Tarzor and will be able to travel between universes with you." (Callidora) "But she doesn''t have a Divine Realm to merge with my Pantheon, does she?" (me) "Actually I do, I''m using it to create some custom Demons like the Game Characters, it''s also connected to my mother..." (Niryna) "Cough cough!!!" (Callidora) "..." (Niryna) "..." (me) "Seriously? Are you going to put on this show in front of me as if you hadn''t arranged it before?" (me) "I told you he would notice..." (Niryna) "You''re no fun." (Callidora) Niryna has always been terrible at faking anything, she has difficulty showing fused emotions, her expression is very sincere with her emotions and that''s why I realized that they had already arranged this part of the conversation before. "I possess an Infernal Divine Realm, it is linked to my mother, but does not belong to her, it only possesses her aspects to punish those who have committed evil." (Niryna) "Unfortunately, I cannot decide what that evil is..." (Niryna) "To put it simply, at the moment she does not punish anyone, she cannot take advantage of the Divine Temple that I helped her create, so I will use you to complement her failure while teaching her what she lacks, nothing better than learning by example." (Callidora) "Then why didn''t you try using yourself as an example?" (me) "I tried, but she found it too extreme and unfair and cruel... all that weak nonsense, so I thought she would use you and your new Divine Laws as an example first." (Callidora) "In a few thousand years I can try again with her with a more mature mind." (Callidora) "..." (me) "That''s the truth, I swear... at least my part I''m sure is true, but hers..." (Niryna) "(It doesn''t seem like a lie...)" (me) "(Speaking of Hell, I need to see about the one imprisoned in Hell who knows Baldr''s secret.)" (me) While I was finishing my conversation with the two, I was about to say something to Callidora when Tarzor moved, causing a wave of reality energy to flow throughout the Star Path, he was waking up. Chapter 1565: Cap 1563: Returning to Hell Pov E?rica: I was using my Grimoire to create a new Ritual. Kira''s situation is a real mess. She has Zenos'' power from when we dived into his pool of sacred blood, but Byakko is still a Spirit King, one of the strongest to the point of almost becoming a Spirit Emperor before being on the verge of death, which is how he ended up in Kira''s family line. Now their bond is becoming an impediment for both of them. On the one hand, Kira already has a complete Essence and her own Sacred Power. The Gods also trained her to awaken her Will, but her power descends from Zenos, just like mine and Ibuki''s. Meanwhile, Byakko is a Spirit. She was born, raised and spent her entire existence as a Spirit. She already has a complete Essence. In fact, she has 2 Complete Essences and has had control over her Will long before our ancestors were born. However, her power is completely associated with the Spirits, with her Temple of the Spirits having been built for thousands of years. "A curse wouldn''t be enough. It has to be a Ritual. But what...?" (me) Ding! <[ You have resonated with the Divine Realm of another God ]> . . <[ Do you wish to integrate your Divine Realm with his? ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> I read the notification, but I didn''t need to read it. I could feel it. My Will was resonating and I could feel the Power of Zenos within me calling for its origin, encouraging me to accept it. That alone tells me that this has to do with Zenos. I could also feel my Divinity with a slight anxiety. I could already understand that I was being called to integrate with his power as a Goddess. It was even better than what I had planned to do. "Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times YES!!" (me) Ding! <[ You have integrated your Divine Kingdom with that of another God, complementing your two Divinities ]> . . . <[ You have become a Goddess of the Anomalous Entity [ Tarzor (Unholy Universal Dragon) ] ]> Ding!! I saw a few more notifications that made me understand the situation and suppose a few things. It was easy to understand that Zenos must have done another one of his things. I could also feel the changes happening in my Divine Kingdom as well as in my own Divinity. I just needed to feel these changes and read the notifications along with everything I already knew, so I was able to fill in most of the gaps about what had just happened, my eyes shone as I went back to leafing through my Grimoire using some old spells as reference, now I had confidence in making this ritual work. "You always appear when I need you most... thank you..." (me) ----------------- Pov Zenos: When the wave of power of reality passed I felt the entire Star Path pulse, Tarzor was opening his eyes and inside them what I saw were two wells of pure darkness containing only a vertical line full of stars as if it were a cut in the blanket of darkness revealing an entire universe inside. Tarzor released a totally different Aura, his Aura no longer seemed like that of an individual, it was the Aura of a universe where the Essences were just a natural part of it and not a power to be manipulated, his own Aura did contain the power of reality and seemed to be separate from the rest of the universe even though it was mixed with my Stellar Paths. Feeling the Star Path was as if he were separating himself from the universe as well, something connected solely to me in its entirety, both this universe and Tarzor himself were only connected to the Star Path with the only difference being that Tarzor was fundamentally connected by being reborn here, making his connection much more fundamental than the rest of this universe. It was also this connection that allowed him to remain in this universe, he was using the connection with the Star Path as an umbilical cord to keep himself here, but because of that he could not leave the Star Path for long and could not move away from me. All of these are things that I could feel just as Tarzor must have felt, this became a stronger connection than he thought and a greater restriction than I planned, but he sought this on his own. He seems to focus on me, his body changes becoming smaller, his Dragon head remains while his body becomes more humanoid acquiring arms while his tail remains from the waist down, his height being only 3 meters with an open cloak covering his body, this cloak was made of ethereal leaves and crystal scales, he approached me before bowing, it was not about hierarchy or submission, it was a sincere thank you and form of respect. "< you helped me... >" (Tarzor) "..." (me) "Aahhh!!!" (Niryna) "She still can''t handle universal words, let me teach her a little something." (Callidora) Callidora doesn''t move from her position, she speaks in Niryna''s ear who was holding her head with an expression of pain, then Niryna waves a finger that opens a small crack in space from where the presence of Hell leaks as if it were poison, a drop of blood leaks from inside stopping in front of Tarzor before the crack closes. Tarzor looks at that drop of blood and touches it with one of his claws before bringing it to his head where the branches that form his horn move absorbing that drop of blood, this makes his eyes shine and his presence fluctuate for half a second while he blinks his eyes. "Thank you." (Tarzor) "You''re too young, it would have to wait a few thousand years just for you to learn to communicate without using universal words." (Callidora) "Try not to talk like that inside another universe, it will trigger a bad reaction." (Callidora) "I''ll keep that in mind." (Tarzor) After thanking Callidora, who remains close to Niryna, taking care of her, who still seems to have a headache, Tarzor bows to me once more with one hand on his chest. "Thank you for fulfilling what I always wanted, and I''m sorry my lack of control caused you an inconvenience." (Tarzor) "It''s okay, this can''t be considered your fault." (me) I talk a little with Tarzor, explaining my conversation with the System when he was trapped in the egg and everything I talked to Callidora about before he woke up, but from what he said, he seems to already know about the Divine Realms. Tarzor said that he still needs some time to stabilize his body and get used to his new existence, he doesn''t know how long it will take, but he said that he will take his servants, the Grave Ladies, with him while he is in seclusion, and I allowed it since they were in the city waiting for him. I tried asking about Freya, but he said that she was busy creating a flow of Natural power within the universe as well as helping to stabilize the Essences and Universal Laws. After I left the Star Path, I still took Niryna with me, there was a place I wanted to go, but I needed Callidora''s permission. I had a lot of things to deal with, but I decided to leave the enemies outside the universe aside for now. Things involving my wives and Tarzor could also wait. I had to focus on Baldr first, and by extension, the one who was trapped in Hell. After asking Callidora''s permission and promising to help Niryna with her liquor collection, she allowed me to enter Hell and talked about taking me to where this individual was. Niryna wanted to go, but Callidora forbade it. She was afraid that being inside her could have an unexpected effect on her. After all, she had never raised a daughter before and Niryna was still too weak to be trusted. Of course, I also had to allow Niryna to join my Pantheon, something I allowed. Fortunately, the notifications were no different from those of my wives. I warned the others to continue preparations for war while I was away and let them know that I would be leaving alone. After spending a day resting to focus my mind on what mattered, I left everything I needed nearby, but it wasn''t much; the main thing was to bring that book with me. Niryna was not happy with always being commanded by Callidora and always following what she said. Until today, I hadn''t had time to have a serious conversation with her. That''s why she said she would only agree to open the gates to Hell if one of her Demons could go with her, the Demon she created by herself called Lara. Callidora immediately accepted, and I didn''t object either. After a day of rereading that book and talking for the first time with my traveling companion, I discovered that I was born from one of the Heralds of the God of Law. Today I was alone in a deserted land on another star that was once one of the floors of the Dungeon. I couldn''t open a gate to Hell near the city. Those who were with me were Niryna who was opening the portal and her Demon who was wearing a very tight suit on her body, Callidora was on the side always nearby as always. It didn''t take long for the space in front of us to break, bone claws seemed to hold the broken edge of the space as if forcing it to stay open while from the dark interior there was a gate made of bones, organs and a lot of blood. "< Open >" (Niryna) With Niryna''s command the gate opens all at once, she waves to us who enter, as soon as we pass the gate closes becoming a square medal that Lara holds with reverence as I look at this Infernal scene once more. "Once again in this damned place..." (me) Sigh Chapter 1566: Cap 1564: Two Faces of One God Part 1 Pov Vanessa: I was sitting in front of the statue of the Goddess Selene, saying my daily prayers, when she silently approached me. If she had been anywhere else, I wouldn''t even be able to notice her, but inside this Temple, there is nothing that the Saints can''t see. "Has he gone yet?" (me) "Yes, I wanted to go, but I didn''t dare ask, she would do something to me." (Samara) "Callidora gave you to my Father, she doesn''t think enough of you to go against it." (me) "Callidora doesn''t matter, my happiness, suffering, life, death or anything related to my existence doesn''t matter to her. I was given to Zenos on a whim as if I had been discarded. It was luck." (Samara) "My concern is for the girl, Niryna..." (Samara) "..." (me) "Don''t look at me like that, I''m older than some worlds in your universe, I''ve also experienced things that you can''t even think about." (Samara) "Do you really think a normal Soul would end up in Callidora''s hands? Do you really think she would choose a random Soul to be her daughter?" (Samara) "I thought she chose Niryna because of her connection to my Father." (me) "Don''t be fooled about her, there would be other Souls for that, there would be some options to choose from at least, but she still chose this specific Soul." (Samara) "..." (me) I can''t refute your statements, these are things I''ve also considered as well as some others, I''m sure my father thought about it too, but he hasn''t said anything to me yet and as far as I know he hasn''t said anything to anyone else. "(It''s not my problem...)" (me) "You''re not here to talk about my sister, so what do you really want?" (me) "A warning to your Goddess, I''m sure she pays a lot of attention to you, so she should listen." (Samara) "Don''t use the sword, it''s not complete, that''s a bigger risk than it seems." (Samara) "Than you..." (me) "(Don''t say anything.)" (Goddess Selene) Suddenly the statue of the Goddess shines and the air around it exudes the smell of fresh blood, a sweet and ferrous perfume that awakens my appetite. An image of the Goddess reveals itself with the statue seeming to come to life, but Samara says nothing more than look at the Goddess, there is no reverence, fear, respect or admiration in her expression, only indifference as if the Goddess were any other person she met. "I know very well how the Gods think and I know the reason Baldr became so bold, the only two items in this Universe that could grant him that are with you, but it would be impossible to be the crown since you never part with it, which only leaves the Sword as the only option." (Samara) "To complete the sword you need the Blood of Zenos, a true user of the power of Chaos, until then be careful if you are forced to use the Sword." (Samara) "..." (Goddess Selene) "..." (me) The Goddess says nothing, just looks at Samara who turns and leaves without giving another look to the Goddess who seems to contemplate what she heard, then she turns to me, a great amount of information flowing into my mind, a ritual that was about to be assembled by me as well as the materials I will need. "(Be ready.)" (Goddess Selene) "As you wish." (me) Soon the illusion of the Goddess disappears leaving only the Statue of the Goddess Selene as it was before. ----------------- Pov Zenos: Looking around I was in a truly crazy place, there was a river of bodies flowing while screams of beings wailing endlessly were heard, the bodies moving trying to escape this grotesque river trying to pull themselves out by grabbing each other ironically that was what didn''t allow any of them to leave. "My lord, may I guide you if you wish?" (Lara) "Do you know the way?" (me) "I didn''t know, now I know." (Lara) I look at Lara again, she was already very tall to begin with, but with my small appearance it would take 3 of me to surpass her, her outfit was something between a biker and a butler, her ponytail being one of her most striking features with an intense black color contrasting with her slightly reddish skin. She seemed very lively and her eyes were cold, but I could see a great respect for me in her eyes as she seemed to notice the height difference as something insignificant. "I''m not going to waste my time with something like that, so she can guide you, just go in there." (Callidora) "..." (me) Suddenly Callidora appears, she points in a direction and space itself seems to curve revealing a tunnel that seems short, but as soon as we follow it, it was as if we were traveling thousands of kilometers per second and in just over an hour we arrived at the other side. In front of us was a cave entrance with a metal gate in place, the gate had two symbols, a golden sun and a black moon, both side by side. "Is this the way?" (me) "Yes, we need to go through the door." (Lara) "Couldn''t she open the gate instantly?" (me) "She could, but she won''t." (Lara) "(Knowing her, it wouldn''t be surprising that she created this gate at the last minute just to play with me.)" (me) "I''ll take care of it." (me) Sigh "(We don''t have time for this...)" (me) I approach the gate and realize that it doesn''t have a handle, so I try to rip the hinges off, but the gate doesn''t get a scratch. "Callidora, I don''t have time for these childish games." (me) "< Bend >" (me) I just spoke as if I was upset to please her who is clearly messing with me like a child would just for fun, she doesn''t care if my reactions are true or not, she just wants to see a show and I gave it to her for a few seconds before getting serious. I wrapped my hands in Starfire, the Power of Chaos pulsing in my Dragon claws, I hold one end of the gate while the Starfire spreads throughout it, then with a little force the entire gate bends. The power of chaos is focused on transformation, I''m not very good at truly destroying something, but there is nothing that cannot be bent or transformed through my power. When I passed through the now bent gate, I suddenly realized that the place I had passed through, I was alone with Lara without looking back. Looking around, I noticed once again that city in ruins, an unusual architecture with traces of a more technologically advanced civilization, this place was in ruins and gave off a very strong aura of age. Lara wasn''t much of a talker, she just walked in one direction and encouraged me to follow her until I reached the place where a man was sitting on top of a pillar, his legs trapped in a wire full of thorns that were moving on their own, tearing the flesh of his prisoner, chains were holding his arms, neck, legs and waist. He was there just like in the past, but his situation was much more restricted than in the past, much worse. He had a tattered hood covering his head, a black cloak dripping paint that I suspected was blood and his pair of deer antlers were cracked, in fact it looked like his antlers were broken with their pieces being held in place floating, a dark mist around him. Black hair fell down his shoulders in a cascade to the ground, on his face a pair of dark eyes were focused on me. I approached him once more, hitting his Will as if it were a rigid iron wall, it seemed to try to corrupt me, but before it even touched my body it was corrupted by me, being torn apart in the process. But I was noticing something else, in the past I felt Divinity in the luminous mask he wore, it was some kind of Seal of Baldr that was in the book, but now he doesn''t have that seal on him, this allowed me to feel the remnants of Divinity in him. "(A God, an Evil God at most...)" (me) He had already sensed my approach, but didn''t say anything, I stopped right in front of him, I could feel that I was being watched by him, I could also feel his presence, a well of endless darkness, the purest essence of Darkness. "You really came..." His voice was weak, but it dripped with endless hatred, but that hatred wasn''t directed at me. His voice was forced and full of fatigue, looking more closely one could see that the spikes on his legs were forcing his power to leak out while the chains weren''t just binding his body, they were absorbing the power directly from his Soul, if it was anyone other than a God, then their Souls would have been sucked dry. He is continuously struggling with the chains using his Soul as a tug of war, all while his body is dripping with power. "(An admirable willpower.)" (me) Even for a God this would be a difficult state to maintain, but he has been managing to hold on for an unknown number of years, this considering that he is no longer a true God, his Divinity is no longer present and yet he does what would be difficult even for Gods. But what took me a while to realize or maybe what I ignored until now was that he was actually here with his body, it wasn''t just his Soul. Chapter 1567: Cap 1565: Two Faces of One God Part 2 I couldn''t help but be surprised, I''m also here with my body and this isn''t the first time, but I''m a special case and I''m Boleyn aware of that. Staying in Hell just as a Soul already slowly corrupts, but staying with the body is even worse, the body will have its Vitality devoured by the infinite power of death in this place, not to mention the curses that will accumulate eternally until deforming its entire existence, until then corrupting only the Soul will be just one of the things that will happen. Even Gods and Demigods can''t stay here for long, at that time I was just a Demigod, but the power of the curse, death, blood and Demonic that I already possessed gave me a certain degree of resistance while my power of Chaos granted an almost smooth adaptation to this ''environment''. Of course, there were still places where even my body would be annihilated and my Soul would be corrupted, that ocean was one of them and there were possibly others, even now I still feel that place trying to corrupt me, that''s why I try to keep my guard up at all times. "(I see, he''s using his hatred...)" (me) After looking at him again, I realized where he was drawing power, hatred from. Not from the hatred of others, but from his own hatred, he''s creating something within himself and this malicious power is surging in his Aura, he''s trying to hide it, but in his situation it''s almost futile to do so. "What should we do, sir?" (Lara) "From now on just watch, I''m sure your Master is watching, so leave everything to me." (me) Niryna has made a point of seeing what I''m doing, since she woke up she''s been spending a lot of her time with Callidora, so she must be wanting to observe what I do as a measure of how far she can go, using me as a moral baseline of reference. In the end, even if she doesn''t open up to me yet, she still trusts me more than Callidora and cares about me, I have to pay more attention to her in the future, I don''t want her to get lost in Callidora''s schemes. "You took your time..." "You seem very calm for someone in your situation." (me) "Things can''t get any worse... so don''t even try... threatening me, like I am now, to death... seems like a tempting path..." He speaks in a weak voice as if he was struggling to even speak, but even so his emotions are firm and he seems calm, his mind clearly wasn''t influenced by this place or his emotions would be with less inhibitions, his body besides being mutilated, trapped and also weak, doesn''t seem to be deformed by the eternal curse of this place. "(I''m curious about him, but I have to stay focused, I need to know about Baldr.)" (me) "You know why I''m here, tell me about Baldr." (me) "Free me... I thought I made that clear..." "I don''t know you, I don''t trust you and I won''t do anything just because of your mere words." (me) "If you want my help, then first tell me what I want to know, as well as prove that your words are true or else I will leave the same way I came in, only with an escort." (me) "Ownership... haha... ha... haha... hahaha..." While he was laughing, his Aura went slightly out of control and it was as if everything in the surroundings was consumed by darkness, but of course that was not an impediment for me, my own Aura was much stronger than his and my Divinity was Anomalous and not exclusive to any universe. I took a few more steps, stopping in front of him and sitting down, resting one of my arms on my knee, I was relaxed when I realized that his power was very weak and even at its peak it would only be slightly superior to mine. "Tell me what you know about Baldr, if it''s true and can help you defeat him, then I''ll let you go and that''s the most you''ll get out of me." (me) "..." "I''ll believe you this time..." "I have nothing left to lose..." He lifts his head with great effort as if he were lifting a great mountain, his whole body contracting his muscles as the chains tremble and the spikes etching into his flesh tighten. But as soon as his head lifts, the inside of his hood can be seen, it was filled with darkness, it could block the vision of others, but it was useless against me. In my vision his skin was pale like a corpse, almost gray, his eyes are as black as two bottomless wells, his hair is also black to the roots. What really catches my attention was something much simpler than all these features, his face. His face, apart from the scars on his eyes and mouth, as well as the fangs that came out every time he opened his mouth, was an extremely handsome face, a face that I had unfortunately seen in Temples and books many times, a face that I had even seen in a fight, even if indirectly, the same face as Baldr. "Don''t look at me like that... I''m not him..." "I think we can start our ''conversation'' with you, can''t we?" (me) "I''m a God of Darkness... from a universe that no longer exists..." "I''m Baldr''s other half... so we share the same... name..." "At least that was the case in the... distant past..." "..." (me) I was surprised once again, did he mean that Baldr was an Evil God? A God that came from another Universe could only be an Evil God, but he has a Divinity from our Universe, a well-established Religion and also became one of the Great Gods of the universe. "(I want to know more, but I think it''s better to listen before I start asking questions.)" (me) "The reason the universe no longer exists... doesn''t matter to you..." "In our universe, the Gods are always... divided into two entities... opposite to each other... because one exists, the existence of the other is reaffirmed..." "In our case... because Darkness exists... the Light was perceived... the opposite is also affirmed..." "(A concept of duality, Yin and Yang... opposite sides, blah blah blah... I''ve heard a lot of things like that.)" (me) "So in your Universe there were no Demonic Gods?" (me) "We called the invading Gods that..." So it was the same as in this universe, opposites will always exist, in this Universe there are separate Deities that make Gods and Demonic Gods exist, as well as the Goddess of Life and the Demonic Goddess of Death. The Gods there must have a duality of Divinities, an interesting concept, but if that is true, then the one in front of me is really Baldr. "Don''t look at me like that..." "I''m not him... who do you think trapped me... here..." "My Divinity was stolen... my power devoured... the only reason I''m alive... was your fear of dying if you killed me..." "So if I kill you..." (me) "Nothing will happen to him..." "He was devoured a long time ago..." "What do you mean by ''devoured''?" (me) "It all started..." He began to tell his story from his point of view, he didn''t go into details about his universe, he just talked about himself and Baldr as well as their relationship. As opposing Gods their relationship should be to complement what was missing in each other and seek a balance or that''s how it should be, but the two were equally selfish and authoritarian, even so they never went very far in opposing each other. At the end of his universe, Baldr of Light did not accept dying and did not accept losing his Divinity that shattered along with the universe, so he used a ritual to steal the Divinity of the already injured Baldr of Darkness as well as devour his power, completing his broken Divinity by merging the two opposing powers that had always been complementary. Using this power, he traveled to another universe, just as his other half was imprisoned in Hell along with pieces of his universe. I look around once more. These futuristic ruins with architecture I don''t know must be part of one of the worlds in his universe. After that, he stopped for a moment, his eyes filled with hatred. There was no way to fake such an intense feeling. But I couldn''t just believe his words. Baldr may be hateful, but he''s not a coward to the point of running away like that. Besides, the Infernal ritual he used must have come from somewhere. His universe shouldn''t have Demonic Gods, from what he said. This whole story took too long. His tired speech dragged out the time. I spent more than an hour listening to all of this and I still had my doubts. "(Something isn''t right, it seems like there''s something more behind this or he''s only telling me half the truth, that is if I consider that he''s not completely lying to me.)" (me) "Don''t believe me... then ask Hell... if you were able to get here so fast... you must have approval from that... HAAAAHHH!!!" Suddenly, chains crossed his neck causing a purple energy to rise before he retreated, his scream was thunderous as Callidora appears hugging him from behind, her claws tearing his chest making completely dark blood gush like a fountain as she looked at me. "He speaks the truth, of course he''s not a Decent God, his personality was as authoritarian as his enemy''s, but what he said so far was true." (Callidora) "Why are you helping?" (me) "Because I have my own plans, but that doesn''t affect you, just something I just thought could be fun." (Callidora) Chapter 1568: Cap 1566: Two Faces of One God Part 3 I have my suspicions about everything that involves Callidora, she is the definition of absolute selfishness, everything she does is thinking about herself and this combined with her intelligence as well as vast life experience makes her absolutely unreliable. Fortunately this also makes her predictable, there are few things she wants and there is no reason for her to lie when manipulating the truth serves her purposes, even now she doesn''t seem to want anything from this Baldr of Darkness, in fact she is clinging to him as if he were her possession. "(Don''t worry, in the end you can take him out, but he will be my daughter''s, she needs qualified guards to stay by her side and an ancient God will be excellent material to create one.)" (Callidora) "..." (me) "Lady Callidora, my master asks that you do not interfere with the interrogation, please." (Lara) "Cough! Cough Cough!!" "Don''t worry, I''m just making this conversation less annoying, I''ll leave the rest to you." (Callidora) Saying that, she disappears like the special effects of an 80''s TV series, as if she was never there and a few seconds later the chain on Baldr of Darkness'' neck marks her neck while destroying her capable. He seems to have an expression of pain for half a second after the chains on his neck disappear and the wound closes leaving only the marks, then he looks at me with a strange expression with his eyes shining with some meaning that I don''t understand. "You serve this thing... aahhhh!!" "I advise you to refer to her as Callidora, it will be better for the preservation of her existence." (Lara) "Listen to her." (me) "..." Sigh He hadn''t even finished speaking before a column of purple energy filled with wailing souls rose from the ground with him in the middle, going beyond the sky, it lasted only 1 second before disappearing and when it did it revealed his already tattered clothes in an even worse state, even without hair it was half burned, dark red vapor rises from his body where several wounds had opened, but his eyes focus on Lara before turning back to me. "Just keep talking, what did you mean by ''devoured''?" (me) "..." "He was a fool, our connection was not something that could be easily broken or denied." "(He''s speaking better now, even if his appearance is more pitiful than before.)" (me) I''m glad he''s speaking better and the conversation has returned to what matters, he seems to be ignoring the change in his voice or what Callidora just did by showing up here. "We were both Baldr, our existences were connected from the beginning, that''s why I could feel his current state and also had one or another flash of what he was seeing, sometimes even hearing his voice or having some of his thoughts flow to me." "..." (me) What he''s talking about is strange, I can feel his complete Soul inside him, so clearly the Baldr who betrayed him should also have a Soul of his own, which makes them separate individuals, even if they had a connection it should be something more to do with their minds and Essences, it shouldn''t be something like the level of connection he claims to have. "Don''t be mistaken, I have no reason to lie about this, in fact it was this connection that allowed me to know what happened after I ended up here." "He was accepted as a God in his Universe, the Baldr there had been injured and had not been Reborn, which made several Gods accept that traitor as the new God of Light." "I don''t think the other Gods would accept an Evil God into their ranks so easily." (me) "They didn''t want him as a replacement, they wanted someone to take care of the problems caused by his absence at that time while the true God of Light recovered or some other God could help him recover." "He agreed and it came as no surprise to me that he wanted to make this situation more permanent, he tried to consume the Divinity and merge the Soul of that Baldr with his, so he would be the only Baldr capable of assuming the position of God of Light." He was smiling when he got to this part, clearly something happened there, she is being very vague and with few details, she is treating such a big event in a very superficial way. "He was devoured, HAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHA... HAHAHAHA... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..." "A complete idiot... hahaha...." "He, like me and some other Gods, are echoes of the really strong Gods, do you understand this concept?" "Yes, you can continue." (me) This has been explained to me before, the Great Gods of our Universe have branches in other Universes, before I thought that this was exclusive to our Universe and our Gods, I had no idea what really happened. Now I myself am a God, I understand Divinity better, I understand better what a universe is, just as I understand that our universe may be one of the oldest, but it is not even the oldest and even less the most special. Very strong Gods who not only possess Divinity, but have become the very Definition of their Divinity, attaining a power beyond that of my mother who used the Divinity of Blood to attain Authority over the powers of Life and Death. The Great Gods not only of this universe, but those of other Universes possess such a great resonance that it exudes along with the power of a Universe''s Aura or something similar, I can feel it. After Tarzor was reborn as a Universe, he also began to use this Universe as a guide for himself and during his birth process he even attracted Gods of this Universe to himself, but this was only possible because of me and the connection I have with these Gods. It was after that that I realized what copies of Gods in other Universes are. They are Gods who were already born Gods, created by their universe by copying an older universe in an attempt to stabilize the Essences. Since they were based on other Gods, they would never reach the power of the originals, just as Adella, who is a copy of my mother from another universe, never reached the same power as my mother. "(Trying to take over a place that does not belong to you has too many risks, his greed would have gone wrong anyway.)" (me) "I took great advantage of his screams in my mind, his Soul was refined, his Divinity and my own were integrated into his, that''s how Baldr was reborn." "Unfortunately, I still can''t accept this. He didn''t care about any of this. He completely cut off his connection with me and used my sacred books as well as my counterpart''s in inconceivable ways!" "Even now he insults everything I stand for, everything I am even more than my counterpart did, using my holy books as a tool, corrupting what I am and forcibly extracting my power while I am sealed here!" "Your story is interesting, but even if it''s true, how is it useful to me?" (me) Knowing that Baldr merged with an Evil God and also possesses the power of Darkness gives me a tactical advantage since this power has never been used by him until now, perhaps the other Gods don''t even know that he possesses this power, so this knowledge alone can already be considered useful at least. Unfortunately it''s not something crucial, he must know something else, I need to know a better way to attack Baldr and not just tactical knowledge that may or may not be really useful in the future. "I no longer have my connection with him, but I know everything he does with my sacred books, I know about his armies, I know where they all are even now and I can wipe them all out." "How would I do that?" (me) "Where there is light there will also be darkness, he cannot eliminate the darkness completely from his soldiers and the power of darkness is capable of corrupting everything." "Is he telling the truth?" (me) "I''ll check..." (Lara) "(He''s telling the truth, but he tried to make a deal with me before you came here, he''s nurturing a Demon with his hatred inside his body, he wants to become a Demon God and even promised to open the gates of hell in his universe, all to kill Baldr himself, Baldr''s Soldiers would become Demon Shadows under his control.)" (Callidora) "(He didn''t lie, but I don''t advise you to trust him.)" (Callidora) "(You said you want to use him as material, but will he still be able to affect Baldr''s army?)" (me) "(Yes, actually, with my daughter''s power, it will be even better than he planned, a new race of Demons may be born since my daughter can use some of his power.)" (Callidora) "..." (me) "..." (Lara) Before Lara checks with Niryna and Callidora, I already received the answer in my mind, now I understand Callidora''s goal, a new race of Demons and the construction of a force under Niryna''s control. "I told what I knew and showed my worth, only with me can you deny his army, so free me and I will be more than happy to kill that God!" "Of course we will free you..." (me) I couldn''t help but smile, he doesn''t realize that Callidora has already ruined his plans, he doesn''t know about Niryna and thinks that his proposal would be tempting for Callidora, he trusted her too much. Chapter 1569: Cap 1567: Im finally going to have a Dante part 1 One thing I''m sure of is that I don''t trust him and I know I can''t trust Callidora either. She''s less likely to be manipulating me than he is, so her statements are more likely to be true. The problem is that she might be lying to me so I can kill this God and leave him to be treated as a Demonic experimentation toy for Niryna. I can''t leave that possibility aside. "(I''ll stick to the initial plan, regardless of what Callidora wants or this idiot''s goals, it won''t change much in the plan, at most a few adjustments and the end of it will depend on his actions.)" (me) Since I found him using the book in that Mental Realm, I already knew he was trapped and one of his goals was to be released, so I made my preparations. After all, he can still be useful regardless of whether what he''s said so far is true or not. "I can release you on one condition, you''ll have to use this." (me) "..." I take out a bracelet from my storage item that was made of black metal with patterns of thin red crystals that seemed to draw a Dragon. "An enslavement or restraint item?" "Restraint, enslaving a God would be almost impossible." (me) "What does this do?" "I or someone I trust that you don''t need to know can seal you if you''re deceiving me or do something against us." (me) "As I said before, I don''t trust you completely, even if you told the truth, it doesn''t mean that you''ll keep your loyalty to me after you leave here." (me) "But since you were once a God, you should be able to see, the magic here is only sealing." (me) "(At least the magic that you can see...)" (me) "Very well, but how do you expect me to put this on?" "Not you, only I can put this item on and off, a simple precaution." (me) "..." He looks at me again, since Callidora used her chains on him, it seems that the suppression and weakness in him have diminished, he can move even more easily even though it still requires considerable effort from him. "I accept." I exchange a look with Lara, then I approach him, it was just a few steps until I reached him, but each step increased the gravity a thousand times while adding an extra layer of torment such as bleeding, pain, corrosion, crushing and immobilization. Of course, I just had to circulate my Divinity and I was able to ignore these effects except for the increase in gravity which was nothing for a Dragon God like me, even the other effects were too weak to have any effect on me. How would Bleeding work against someone who controls blood? How can pain affect me after everything I''ve been through? How can corrosion affect me when I''ve spent days submerged in the cursed ocean of hell being corroded by endless curses? The crushing and immobilization are also laughable, to crush my body even a little, it would need the weight comparable to half a planet as well as a force comparable to that weight, immobilizing is even more impossible, it doesn''t matter if it''s magic, curse or even freezing space, as someone who uses both the Anomalous power and the power of Chaos, trying to immobilize me is almost impossible in these ways. I easily reached him and put the bracelet on one of his arms, the crystal Dragon on the bracelet glows 3 times as if pulsing, then it stopped, Baldr of Darkness'' eyes focused on me the whole time. "Can you release me now?" "I can''t, but I don''t think I need to ask, am I right?" (Me) "..." "Don''t take too long or I might change my mind." (Callidora) Callidora''s voice comes from everywhere as if it were a command from the very environment we are in, the worst thing is the truth in this thought. I look at Baldr of Darkness as the chains, seals and all forms of containment collapsed, he stood up almost stumbling and looked around. "" With a command from him, his shadow rises, opening a large mouth that has an absurd absorption power, of course it only affected the Demonic and Dark power in the surroundings, I also use these types of powers and that''s why I''m sensitive to them. As the shadow absorbed these energies, Baldr of Darkness'' body and even his clothes changed, his wounds healed, his body became more robust, his hair became silkier, his eyes had more depth and his tattered clothes became a cloak under dark blue leather armor that looked like new. This only lasted a few seconds before it stopped, but I only noticed the power of darkness acting on his body, wounds and clothes, but that wasn''t the only power being absorbed, as if noticing my thoughts, a Demonic sword formed inside his shadow before it stopped absorbing these energies and returned to being just a shadow, the sword then floated to stay on the back of the God who looked more like a horseman of the apocalypse with his current appearance. "I feel great." "(The power of this sword is different, it was nourished only by him, by his hatred and blood, it is not formed by the Demonic power he just absorbed...)" (me) I couldn''t help but think about what Callidora said before, my eyes blink twice with me activating my Demonic power for just milliseconds in my eyes before deactivating it again. That''s when I saw a small silhouette of Demonic energy in the place where his heart should be, I couldn''t notice it before due to the Infernal power that bound him, but now it would be easily seen by any Demonic God. "(He doesn''t know that I''m a God with Demonic powers, so he thinks he can trick me with just this sword, it really seems like he''s plotting something, but I hope it''s for his own good.)" (me) "Lara, the gate." (me) "As you wish." (Lara) "< Open >" (Lara) Lara retrieves the medal and throws it in front of her as she transforms once again into the gate that brought us here, then she rips her wrist before swinging forward painting the gate with her blood, as if that were the key, the gate opens revealing a vortex of blood. "Let''s go in without wasting time." (me) Lara goes first passing through the vortex and disappearing into it, then I look at Baldr of Darkness who understanding my look goes first passing through the gate without hesitation, it was then that Callidora appeared centered on the edge of the gate waving at me with a smile. "Remember, don''t kill him, Niryna can use..." (Callidora) "I know, see you in a few seconds." (me) "It seems like he''s become less naive, well, it''s more..." (Callidora) Before she finished speaking, I went through the gate, on the other side I found Baal dismembered and Lara tied up in chains, there were also some people I didn''t know dead, but none of my Familiars were here and Niryna couldn''t be seen either. As soon as I passed, there were already 3 attacks almost hitting me, a magic circle came from the ground where I was stepping, trying to seal my Divinity, the Demonic sword I saw before pierced my chest a few centimeters and shadow hands grabbed my body in place with the sword seeming to be between the fingers of those hands. "What does this mean?" (me) "I know this can''t hold you, but I needed some time..." I could perceive everything from the moment I appeared, I could see the attacks and could have avoided or destroyed the 3 attacks, but they were so useless against me that I didn''t even bother to do those things. Looking ahead, almost 1 kilometer away it was possible to see a field of darkness as well as flows of Demonic power condensing into purplish-red mist. The Baldr of Darkness was in the center, his body covered in cracks, his horns were falling off piece by piece while new horns and membranous wings grew on his back. He was transforming, his Aura and presence changing a lot, but what surprised me was his Dark Power, it was even more than what I had felt in that book. His power was getting stronger, he was merging his Dark power with Demonic power, black flames were slowly emerging from the ground, as if they were shadows of real flames. "You really betrayed me quickly." (Me) I just contracted my muscles and the sword in my chest shattered, my hands broke and with just a stronger step on the ground the magic circle exploded into particles. "You had your eye on me from the beginning, do you think I didn''t notice your caution? I already expected this since you reached me using my sacred books!" I walk to a stop at the edge of the darkness-covered area, his arms as well as his legs seem to be rotting and falling off, the bracelet on his wrist falling off along with his arm making him smile as a red arm appears tearing his chest apart followed right behind by another, even his head full of cracks explodes revealing another appearance inside while the rest of his body was discarded revealing a new Demonic body full of both types of powers. "I couldn''t risk waiting, now that I''ve freed myself from that damned place and your bracelet, I''m going to..." Clap Clap Clap "You''re an idiot, it looks like my daughter is going to get a gift." (me) Chapter 1570: Cap 1568: Im finally going to have a Dante part 2 "I couldn''t risk waiting, now that I''ve freed myself from that damned place and your bracelet, I''m going to..." Clap Clap Clap "You''re an idiot, it looks like my daughter is going to get a gift." (me) "I underestimated you..." "< Passage of Darkness >" "Okan, close everything in that star." (me) He''s smart, as soon as he saw the difference in strength he tried to run, the field of darkness around him became a barrier as he stood up, I feel an itch in my senses as if he was trying to block, it''s useless. I keep walking towards him, while a passage similar to a whirlwind of darkness appears in front of him, but as soon as he tried to pass he was thrown back by a tentacle of shadows, he defends himself by crossing his arms almost at the same time as the blow and with that he avoided getting hurt. He tried to open another vortex of darkness while he was being thrown back, but he was still hit by a tentacle of darkness that came from inside his portal, this time more prepared he managed to avoid being hit. I was still walking towards him, the flames of darkness in this space moved away with each step, around me the Starfire burned almost as a form of threat to these black flames, the Starfire even managed to burn the flames of darkness. "..." "..." (me) He exchanges a look with me and does not try to make another attack, in fact he was trying to give momentum with his new wings to fly away from here, I ignore him and go to the parts of his body still thrown on the ground, I bend down and pick up the bracelet still on the arm that was discarded, as soon as I saw the bracelet almost intact and still without the red crystal drawing a Dragon, I could not help but smile. "Come back at once." (me) With a snap of his fingers a gate opens not far away as if it were the eyelids of an eye, then he flies through the teleportation gate that closes right behind him. I don''t have time to waste here for this, he also seems to be getting impatient, he stopped running and started to evaluate me. "I underestimated you." "A bit late to think about that." (me) "My lord, this star is completely sealed as ordered." (Okan) As he stood still, I''m sure he was thinking of ways to escape, that''s because his eyes were full of caution and without any desire for combat or murderous intent, he must know that even now he still doesn''t have the power to fight against a God. Okan stands up from my shadow, the only safe place for him in this field of darkness, the path I walked became the only light in this place and it was where my shadow was, the head of the Dark Dragon rose announcing the fulfillment of my order. "< Devour >" (me) I used the Anomalous power directly on my Aura, creating a human-sized Leech that devours this entire field of darkness flames. The Demonic and Dark power can''t do anything to me at this level at least. As soon as the field of darkness disappears, I sink this Leech back into the discarded pieces of Dark Baldr''s body. "(This power belongs to him, and Niryna can still use this body, perhaps.)" (me) "Is this place your Divine Space?" "No, but you don''t need to know, you''ve already wasted your only opportunity." (me) "I will not surrender without a fight, even if the result is my death." "That''s your problem, you still think this is a fight." (me) "< Unholy Seal >" (me) Using the chaos in my fingertips, I join the tips and then separate them creating a circle of Starfire, my blood leaks through the palm of my hand filling the interior of the magic circle with the Anomalous power pulsing, activating it in milliseconds of its creation nothing seems to have changed, but Baldr of Darkness fell to the ground on his knees with his hands on the ground, his body trembling. "What did you do to me!?" "Do you know what I did, do you really think that bracelet only had one layer of security? Do you think I wouldn''t prevent some way of removing it?" (me) "..." "Can you two stop pretending and have someone explain to me who the others are?" (me) "My apologies, Mr. Zenos, it was Lady Niryna''s wish." (Baal) "I only follow Master''s commands." (Lara) "So they were alive..." Sigh At first he was angry, being brought to his knees even after his Demonic transformation, even more so in such an easy way. If it weren''t for him still being useful for something, I would have killed him simply for not trusting his mere existence by betraying those who freed him from Hell. I''m disappointed and slightly irritated, it was a bit of effort as well as the waste of much needed time to do all this only to be betrayed for basically no reason. But since I still need him and I promised to let Niryna have him, I''ll at least humiliate him a little and rub in how weak he is just to let that anger out a little. Being a little petty doesn''t hurt anyone. That''s why I pointed to Niryna''s two Demonic servants, I wanted to show him that she never really hurt any of them, Baal''s severed limbs return to his body as he kneels with one hand in the middle of him bowing, Lara continues while bending her body almost 900 with her hand on her chest, the chains that held her now broken and hanging on her body as if they didn''t bother her. I could feel that it wasn''t their power alone that resisted these attacks, Niryna did it for them, I can feel Anomalous power in them. The other corpses on the ground that I didn''t recognize dissolve into blood as Niryna comes out of a shadow smiling while muttering something as if she was talking to herself. Seeing this scene, Baldr of Darkness sighs, realizing how screwed he is. From the beginning, he was deceived, crazy about his own plans, blinded by his former achievements as a God and by his years of planning without taking into account those he was planning against. I move a finger upwards and his back explodes with a Serpent-type Dragon coming out of his back, its dark red color covered in sharp crystal scales. This Dragon falls from the sky after climbing a few kilometers, its open jaws facing Baldr of Darkness. But I didn''t let the Dragon devour him. This was a Divine Curse, something that would affect even a God of equal power to me. There was no way someone who wasn''t even a Demigod could resist this Curse or even feel it. Following my will, the red Dragon of Curse did not kill Baldr of Darkness and began to circle a few dozen meters above him, its power still crushing his body to kneel, all of his Power had already been extracted and was now contained in the Dragon above him so he was once again turned into a prisoner. "You know, you lost your chance to escape, at least escape from me, since you were never truly free to begin with." (Me) "What... are you...?" "Niryna, come closer." (Me) "Huh!?" (Niryna) "What are you thinking?" (Me) "I was deciding between Kratos and Dante?" (Niryna) "Which Dante? Dante''s Inferno or Devil May Cry?" (me) "Devil May Cry, I''ve always liked it a lot, but the other one would also be a good choice." (Niryna) "Then I advise you to choose this one, forget Kratos, there is already a God called Cratos and it might be a bit strange to have a Servant with a name so similar to that God." (me) "Seriously? I need to study more about the Gods, I don''t want to become an enemy of a God I don''t even know because of a name." (Niryna) "I don''t think it''s that bad, at most it would become an awkward situation." (me) "..." I already knew about Niryna''s ability to create Demons, I saw what she did with the Herald of the God of Law and I know what she''s doing with these Demons, she''s treating her future servants like collectible figures from her favorite games, she''s always been crazy about these things. I''m already happy that she''s at least being practical with these things, Lara being a mix of two protagonists and using blades instead of firearms in her hands as well as in her heels already shows that she''s not being too rigid, I need to have strong servants before anything else. "You can keep him, but will his power still hold? If he''s really able to claim Baldr''s soldiers it would be very useful." (me) "I''m not sure..." (Niryna) "She will, that''s not hard." (Callidora) "Hell!!!" "Then he''s all yours." (me) "Come on my daughter, take your gift." (Callidora) "I''m finally going to have my Dante..." (Niryna) Callidora appeared as if coming out from behind Niryna, as soon as Baldr of Darkness saw her, his face was full of terror, a great contrast to the happiness that Niryna showed. With a movement of Niryna''s hand, a chain appeared wrapped around her hand, the other end of this chain then seemed to become visible already stretched and wrapped around Baldr of Darkness'' neck, he was already marked by Callidora before I put the bracelet on him, the idiot lost his only chance to live. "What is this... chain... no... no, no no...!!!" With that he was dragged along with the Red Dragon following close behind, under my command he shrank in size following them, as it is done his power can still be useful to Niryna, meanwhile Baal and Lara began to collect the pieces of the body that had been discarded. "Will he be a faithful Dante or will she be open-minded with him too?" (me) Chapter 1571: Cap 1569: How much time do we have? Pov Niryna: I was in a lake that I created inside my Divine Kingdom using Zenos'' blood. At that moment, I had multiple screens created by my power in the selection of characteristics and which bloodlines, races, and types of power come from. I was getting frustrated. Baal is basic and efficient. The creation was almost a basic tutorial, so there was no difficulty. Lara, even though it was something I did completely alone, doesn''t need difficult-to-find characteristics, making the selection of Races, Affinities, and bloodlines very flexible, which need to be compatible to a certain degree to work at least. But Dante is being a Challenge. The transformation ability is found more among Beastmen. The Soul I''m using is heavily influenced by darkness, making it difficult to balance the Fire affinity. I want your focus to be on your reaction speed, speed, and strength. Not to mention all this balance, I have to literally build the body with my hands, the position of the muscles, the bone structure, the nerves, the organs and configure several practical things in all of this like the basic systems of natural functioning of all of this. I was never good at biology, I had to study this area after being born here, which was strange considering the overwhelming differences between the multiple races, I was immensely surprised at how easy it was to memorize all of that in a few days. "That should be enough, but the transformation ability is still a problem..." (me) "It seems to work perfectly, it has the potential to transform and return to normal as you wanted." (Callidora) "Yes, but I don''t know what will transform, it has the potential, but I still need the Soul and only after that will come the acquisition of abilities taking into account the complete existence." (me) "You can''t control everything, you''re lucky that the Blood of Zenos gives you so much freedom, I had to create my own ocean of refined blood for a few thousand years, so don''t complain." (Callidora) "I guess you''re right, I can''t be too picky... wait! One of the Heralds of Zenos is an expert in this... if I''m not mistaken her name was Haku, more than half of the books I studied were written by her." (me) "That''s a good choice, even if she doesn''t have my level of knowledge, her genius and creativity are amazing, it would also make manipulating the Blood of Zenos easier." (Callidora) "(I can''t forget about the magic pistols, I gave in to the pistols on Lara''s high heels, I even left aside the firearms in general with her, but this time I''ll try to keep the essence without inventing too much.)" (me) -------------------- Pov Zenos: I''m tired, so many things to think about, so many responsibilities on my back, so many worries in my heart and even though I''m a God with unlimited lifespan, it always seems like I don''t have enough time. Sigh "How are things there, Tarzor?" (me) "(My body still falls asleep often, but if it''s about your wife, she''s still unconscious.)" (Tarzor) "How long until you''re complete?" (me) "(For the first time in my existence, I am complete, but the nature of my existence has changed greatly, adapting to and controlling this nature is proving challenging.)" (Tarzor) "How long?" (me) "(I don''t know...)" (Tarzor) "(But it shouldn''t take more than 1 year, possibly less than that...)" (Tarzor) Sigh "Thank you." (me) I stand up and look into the distance, I''m in the middle of a forest, the monsters in this place don''t dare to approach me, just one of the many stars that make up Okan. "Okan, where is Niryna?" (me) "Answering to you, I can''t find her." (Okan) "So she''s not finished yet, I see... take me to the mansion." (me) Okan rises from my shadow creating a Dark Dragon head, after my command his jaws open creating a passage through which I pass arriving at the main hall of the mansion and there is already someone there waiting for me. "My lord." (Hades) "What do you need Hades?" (me) "Nothing, my lord." (Hades) "..." (me) "I really don''t need anything, my lord... I came to advise you to rest." (Hades) "Rest? Is this a joke?" (me) "..." (Hades) I have so many things taking up my time, Akatosh wants to start a final battle against Baldr in less than 1 month, such a battle will have almost all the Gods participating and will possibly make the Universe itself tremble. All this without mentioning that there may be another attack by the Anomalous Dragons and I don''t even know if there will be any other enemy that could attack suddenly, it wouldn''t be a surprise if this happens with this shitty luck I have. "Sir, we have considerable time until the battle deadline, Okan has already started his journey to meet with the Space Dragons and his Saints are preparing the troops, Cinthia and Magnus are training the most promising ones while Fiona, Kiara, Xagar and Zaya are training on their own, I myself can take care of the Star Path until the battle date." (Hades) "(He seems genuinely worried, am I that bad?)" (me) "Sir, rest for at least a week..." (Hades) "I... I''ll consider it..." (me) Sigh Saying that I turn my body and go to my room, but I don''t look at the bed and go straight to the balcony where I lie sprawled looking at the sky. It was still daytime and the Sun was in my face, but that didn''t bother me, I could literally stand in front of a Sun or land on its surface full of flames and it wouldn''t be harmful to me. I lay there without doing anything, without thinking about anything, just letting time pass, letting the calm cover the problems under the mental carpet, my tiredness was so apparent that Hades needed to rub it in my face that I need to rest. This affected me a bit, so I ended up falling into old habits, I lay on that balcony watching the Sun move across the sky until the moon took its place, the light giving way to darkness that veils multiple stars, suddenly the memories of the past came back to me. That Vampire looking at the sky at night wondering what he should do, that Goblin looking at the stars wondering if he had become a real monster, that Leech looking through a broken temple roof at the moon searching among the stars for the willpower to survive. But it didn''t stop there, for some reason I went back even further, to my previous life, I remember one of the nights I was admitted to that hospital, the laptop next to me rendering a part of my last game, it was one of the times I woke up from the coma with more forward once every 3 or 4 days, I had nothing to do and there was no one else in that hospital room, it was very late at night as I looked out the window, a starry sky confined in a window, the stars were barely visible because of the city light at night, but even so I found myself reflecting ''why do I continue?'', that question was never answered and I didn''t give up either. I kept going back to my childhood, that day I had just been returned to the orphanage, it must have been the eighth time I think, that same day two other children that I was closest to were taken by the same couple, but I wasn''t happy, I was in the backyard after everyone went to sleep, sitting on the ground crying while looking at the sky, I felt alone, rejected and kept asking myself ''why? Why couldn''t I have a family?'', these things destroyed me inside for a while. When I stood up on that balcony and looked beyond the forest to the city, those memories were still playing in my head, reflecting on the past and present during the night, a habit that never changed. I smiled and looked at my hand, it seemed empty, but in my mind there were so many things in those hands, so many lives and ideals that I needed to carry, so much blood that ran from my claws like waterfalls. "Rest can wait until I die, I need to get stronger." (me) -------------------- Pov ???? (???): I woke up trapped in a dark and flexible place, a blade appeared and by instinct I put my hands to hold its tip as if to defend myself, but I had no strength, the blade didn''t cut me either, the blade actually freed me from that place while pouring power into me. "(That''s a large amount of condensed Demonic power... where am I?)" (me) It didn''t take long to be pulled out of that place, I was being held by a woman, the horns on her head and the bluish skin showed me that her Race was Demonic, I was just a newborn Baby, but I could still turn my body thanks to the superior strength of the Demons. I looked at the woman and realized that one of her hands was still holding a bloodstained dagger full of shining Runes, her belly was cut and her face was pale as she smiled at me. As I looked around, my vision was still a bit blurry, but I could still make out the thousands of dried bodies on the ground, all kneeling in the fishing position, the woman holding me wasn''t doing too well, purplish red veins were gradually spreading across her body and she didn''t notice as she held me lovingly before fainting. "(This body is inconvenient...)" (me) I manipulated my power strengthening the various parts of my body before forcing a transformation by reconstructing the body, since the dead people no longer had souls in their bodies, I used my Aura to drag their bodies towards me, turning everything into blood that I consumed. It took a few hours and I felt a great deal of pain, but I still managed to reconstruct the body, fortunately they were all Devils which made the process easier, it was also easy to withstand simple physical pain. "A teenager, at least he''s still good for something, but this woman... my mother..." (me) The woman who gave birth to me was the only one alive, looking now I realize that she was sitting on an altar, the Runes and magic circles explain the ritual to me, as well as the Sacrifices made, I look at the cruel woman who performed this and was still able to look at me in such a loving way. "I liked you mom, good and evil in such a balance..." (me) "I would also like to have a mother by my side in this life." (me) "< Anomalous Demon Magic: Demonic Ascension >" (me) I tear out one of my eyes and pricked it on her forehead between her horns, her head opens making room for the eye while all her veins pulse, I nod creating a barrier around her, this will last a few days. "System, how much time do we have?" (me) Ding! <[ impossible to give a precise answer ]> . . <[ The System informs that Zenos has completed his ascension as the Primordial God and created a complete Pantheon ]> "So Tarzor is ready, that''s good, he must have noticed our interference too, if we had more time he wouldn''t have needed to do things this way." (me) Ding! <[ Your Authority has been taken away for this feat, but the System is hastening your ascension ]> . . . <[ You have successfully created [ Essence of the Anomalous Demon ] ]> "I''ll hurry as much as I can, but I''m not promising anything, getting out of this universe will be hard enough." (me) "Maybe I should use Hell as a passage... if I can convince him..." (me) "I hope he''ll at least listen to me when we meet... Zenos..." (me) Chapter 1572: Cap 1570: Repairing a Sword Part 1 I was determined to get stronger, the enemies I''m facing are too strong, but I don''t know where to start. I''ve done a lot so far, I''ve used all my Elemental Affinities, I''ve used my Chaotic Devourer ability and I''ve even used my Anomalous Power, that''s how I created the 3 Star Sword techniques, supreme techniques that helped me win the worst battles I''ve ever faced. I couldn''t see where else I could draw power from since to create another technique of that caliber, I needed another source of power with enough power to create a 4th sword technique. The truth is that I''m not a genius of magic, I''m not a genius of combat either, I''m just someone with high creativity and a wide range of varied powers, this makes me very flexible in fighting. My sword techniques are proof of my creativity. I didn''t use these powers to their limit. I used them to shape them into alternative concepts outside the curve, using the power of Chaos to go in directions that others wouldn''t be able to, using these powers more in their concepts than in their true functions. But even that still has limits that I''ve reached at the moment. I look at the stars as my powers and their infinite variations pass through my mind, as well as their many combinations, synergies, and evolutions. "Blood would be a possibility. I haven''t used blood yet, and it would be theoretically possible... but what tangent would be appropriate...?" (me) Sigh "Even though I''ve been a Vampire for years and the son of the Goddess of Blood, my knowledge about blood is low. What should I do...?" (me) The worst part of having very diverse talents is not being able to focus on one of them, the Power of Blood has always been something I used as a support, it was never something I focused much of my time on and now that I need it I don''t know where to make up for it. "Maybe I should..." (me) "Dad, are you there?" (Vanessa) "Vanessa, what''s wrong?" (me) While I was thinking about looking for my daughter or maybe even trying to find my mother by going to her statue in the Temple, suddenly my daughter appears, she was standing at the door of my room and I go to her, on the way my vision stops for half a second on that children''s story book and I feel my Will waver slightly. "I would like to talk to you... Dad, are you listening? Did something happen?" (Vanessa) "Huh..." (me) "It''s nothing, don''t worry about me... I actually wanted to talk to you, but what do you need?" (me) "The Goddess sent her oracle expressing her desire to see you." (Vanessa) "She wanted to see you before, but since you planned to go to Hell and on Hades'' advice, I postponed it until nightfall so you could rest a little, I only came to talk to you now." (Vanessa) "(Hades is really very worried, am I that bad?)" (me) "Then let''s go, this really coincides with what I wanted." (me) I divert my attention from that book during the conversation with Vanessa and go with her in the direction of the Communal Temple, that book is something I can''t get rid of, but also something I always feel afraid to continue reading and once again I put it aside. ------------- I enter the Communal Temple, on the way here I hid my presence so as not to disturb the population''s preparations for war, I also spoke to Vanessa about my understanding of the Powers of Blood, she tried to talk to me about it, but it was too broad to be studied in just a few minutes, like many other types of powers, it could be studied for centuries and perhaps millennia before everything about it was known, this considering only what was discovered and not what could still be learned in future studies. This only gave me a bigger headache, I didn''t study much about this type of power in my old world, I wasn''t really into Vampire stuff besides using this race a few times in my games and so it wasn''t a field of mythology that I delved into. "Isn''t there anyone in the Temple?" (me) "They''re with their families or training, even though we''re putting an emphasis on survival, this is going to be a battle where even Gods can die, everyone who''s participating knows that and wasn''t forced to participate." (Vanessa) "..." (me) The people of this city are all warriors, ''even love is something conquered in a battle'', that''s one of the sayings here, they''re a strong people who don''t fear death, I don''t know if I should be proud of them and regret being the cause of them putting themselves in this danger. "Dad, are you sure you''re okay?" (Vanessa) "I''m fine, you don''t need to worry." (me) Saying this, we walked to the main hall where she kneeled in front of my mother''s statue. Meanwhile, I looked at the open red portal in front of the statue. Since I''ve been through something like this before, I went through the portal without hesitation. When I opened my eyes on the other side, I was in Selene''s Palace once again. She was there, but not just her. My eyes focused on a specific person. There were only 4 people in this throne room. The Goddess of Blood, who is my mother. I, who had just arrived. Adella, who seemed worried and hadn''t even noticed my arrival. She was looking at my mother, who was also looking at her. They seemed to be talking about something, even though their mouths weren''t opening. It must be a mental discussion. But it wasn''t these two that I was focused on, but rather the man who was next to the throne. He was wearing simple clothes like an open leather vest with no shirt underneath and equally loose leather pants. He looked like a biker with moderate muscles, but his presence and face were something I recognized very well. "Oros..." (me) "..." (Oros) I wanted to move and go to him, but suddenly my mother''s eyes turned to me and Adella turned around. Their faces were so similar that they looked like sisters. Being watched by them made me stop the movement I was going to make. "(There''s no way Oros could be here without her permission.)" (me) "You didn''t tell him?" (Selene) "I did, but I don''t think I was very clear." (Adella) "..." (me) Suddenly I feel a stream of information coming into my mind, Adella told me about how she captured Oros and then Selene made him go through a Divine Rebirth by becoming her Divine Beast. "Should that change anything?" (me) "I know how you feel, but this isn''t the same Oros, that one is dead, do you want to blame this one for someone else''s crimes?" (Selene) "A Divine Rebirth is different, he has all the memories and power, do you think you can trust him like that?" (me) "Ynes, Aurora, Hela.... which of these daughters wasn''t an enemy who tried to kill you before being Reborn by your hands?" (Selene) "..." (me) "Your problem isn''t with him, but with your Familiar, Oros did a lot of harm to his own son, Ragnar." (Adella) "If you''ll allow me..." (Oros) "..." (me) I felt like attacking her, I know my mother is right, I''m being hypocritical when I have children and Subordinates who were once my enemies, but being targeted by them is something I can let go, what I can''t accept is what Oros did when he killed his own newborn son, forcing his Soul to hide for thousands of years alongside a God just to escape from him, this is something that still marks Ragnar and that by extension affects me. "We don''t have time for this, son." (Selene) "..." (me) I know I''m wrong, I''m not in my house to do what I want either, I try to put Oros aside, but I have to talk to Ragnar later. "Adella, you can go, take Oros with you." (Selene) "Okay, I''m going." (Adella) "I''m right behind..." (Oros) Adella starts walking and Oros looks at me hesitantly before following her, the two pass through a vortex of blood that opened and closed out of nowhere, now only me and my mother are here. "I called you here for a reason, but it seems you have your own reasons, don''t you?" (Selene) "Am I that easy to read?" (me) "Vanessa may be your daughter, but she''s still my only Saint, I''m always aware of her condition and when she''s under my orders I tend to pay more attention." (Selene) "I know how to help you, but before that I need you to do something for me." (Selene) "I accept, just tell me what you need." (me) She has been helping me since my first day, she is the one responsible for my birth, I don''t need to hesitate when she asks me for something since I know there is no danger to me. "I need you to spill your blood on the blade of a sword." (Selene) "..." (me) Before I could answer, she snaps her fingers and everything changes, the space around us ripples like the surface of a lake, then everything changes revealing us to be in the middle of an ocean of blood with only an altar on its surface where a sword was lying on the altar. "I can promise you that you will not be hurt, but not even I know what can happen." (Selene) "I''m not feeling confident here." (me) "What is this sword?" (me) "(The sword seems alive, in fact its presence is so intense that my hand is shaking.)" (me) "..." (me) "This is an old souvenir and a useful weapon against Baldr." (Selene) "Alright..." (me) Sigh Chapter 1573: Cap 1571: Repairing a Sword Part 2 Pov Baldr: My wounds are better, but I''m not happy about having to use this power. I look at my shoulder and arm, marked with black veins by the power of darkness. "Why did that idiot have to devour the power of Darkness..." (me) Sigh "Father, how are the wounds?" (Allen) "Healed, but I had to resort to that power." (me) "If the others find out..." (Allen) "No God will care, the real reaction would come from my Believers." (me) "I always made everyone reject the dark powers to atrophy this power, but when it exploded after being injured, I realized... this power is even stronger than when I acquired it, it''s not inferior to my power of Light." (me) "Father, what are you going to do?" (Allen) "..." (me) "To win, of course..." (me) Using my power of Darkness, I recover a Demonic God that was sealed centuries ago, black and white flames rise from my hands. "Darkness consumes and Light purifies, the synergy of these powers is not bad, even though I don''t like it." (me) "The Dragons are mobilizing everywhere and the movements of the other Gods..." (Allen) "I know, Akatosh has already moved personally, he fought an external enemy, now he has turned his fangs towards me, that damned lizard!" (me) "Should we retreat?" (Allen) "No, let''s use their attack against them, prepare the final step, if everything goes well I can acquire twice the power planned." (me) "Call your other brothers and my new Herald to help you, also find a candidate to be a Herald of Darkness." (me) "As you command!" (Allen) I watch my son fill with light before disappearing, then I turn my attention to the Demonic God whose Soul screamed between my fingers, his Divinity being refined as I ripped out his Soul. "Your resistance is futile." (me) Putting in a little more effort the power of Darkness rips out the Soul of the Divinity, then I begin to refine that Soul with my light, purifying that Soul while implementing it into the Weapon will be better than using Divinity alone. "I can''t afford to deny this power anymore... huh!?" (me) Haaahhhh... Suddenly that power of Darkness pulses and part of my power of light resonates, I can hear a scream in the back of my mind, but that scream wasn''t mine or the Soul I''m refining, it no longer has the ability to maintain a consciousness to be able to scream. My eyes turn to the distance, in a specific direction and I feel the power of Darkness within me pulse once more, part of it has detached itself and disappeared, just a part so tiny that it was insignificant, but just the fact that part of it disappeared alerted me to something, I still didn''t know what it was unfortunately. "What was that? Where was that?" (me) ------------------ Pov Haku: I was standing there looking at the ritual being performed, the body that helped in the creation was ready on top of an altar while at the base of the altar there was a well of blood that acted calmly. "Did he die?" (me) "No, his soul broke, it''s in the most important part of the ritual, his Soul will be refined to make room for a new Soul." (Niryna) "Cinthia would be of better help in this part, my specialty is more physical." (Haku) "I don''t need help in this part, the process itself is almost automatic once it starts." (Niryna) Soon a column of darkness appears crossing the space above and enveloping the entire Ritual. I thought it must be part of the ritual, but Niryna''s face was strange as she looked confused at her ritual and Callidora appeared smiling. "This... this wasn''t supposed to happen..." (Niryna) "..." (me) "The power of Chaos really does always surprise me, it dragged an old connection back." (Callidora) ---------------- Pov Zenos: The sword was lying on a pedestal, the sea of ??blood was calm around it, but simply looking at that sword was slowly filling me with a desire to fight and stirring my instincts. What really shocked me to the extreme was something else, a more than familiar power that I feel in the sword. "This sword..." (me) "This is a Divine Weapon..." (Selene) "No, this sword has the power of the Anomalous in it, from transformation to destruction... I also feel a trace of the Power of Chaos." (me) The Goddess looked at me, but for some reason she didn''t seem to be looking at me, her mind was wandering for a few seconds before her eyes became clear again. "You are right, this sword carries origins together with the crown on my head, they are Divine Weapons forged with the Power of Chaos and containing the Anomalous Power." (Selene) "The crown on my head contains the Anomalous Power of transformation for creation." (Selene) "..." (me) I look at the top of her head, the black crown floating, I can''t feel anything from that crown, the power of the Goddess masks her power, but she has no reason to deceive me. "This sword can kill yours used against Baldr, but it is incomplete in a way, I need your blood to solve this." (Selena) "I just need to bleed on the sword? How much blood?" (me) "All the blood." (Selene) "..." (me) "Alright, what should I do." (me) Even if I extract all the blood from my body, it would be no more than a minor injury, the blood would return in a few hours at most, it was nothing too serious. She didn''t even need to tell me the reason for it being me, since the sword contains Anomalous power and was forged by the power of Chaos, the one who can solve these problems must have the same kind of power and who better than her own son at that. She explained to me what I needed to do, it was quite simple actually, she would hold the sword, I would use my Starfire to heat the blade with the power of chaos, then I would infuse my blood filled with Anomalous power into the sword, then she would use the crown to finish everything while throwing the sword into the ocean of blood. It was fairly simple and didn''t need anything difficult for me at least. Following her orders, I followed step by step, but as soon as I created the Starfire, the sword seemed to come to life, it was trembling in my mother''s hands, who was clearly making an effort to keep it under control. I was hearing cries and war cries, suddenly it seemed like I was in the middle of a massive battlefield listening to soldiers shouting full of courage, murderous intent and relentless ferocity. All of this was surprising, but I did not interrupt the process, in fact seeing the effort of a Great Goddess like my mother, I hurried what I was doing, the sword seemed to change a little, its solid red blade became liquid while still maintaining its shape somehow. It was at that moment that I extinguished the Starfire and extracted all of my blood, leaving only the Anomalous Power contained in it, it was like a waterfall of blood falling on the sword that absorbed all the blood, its blade solidifying again, this time not maintaining a metallic appearance but that of a crystal that seemed to contain vein marks throughout its structure. "< Forge >" (Selene) The crown on her head shines, making the entire sea of ??blood below burn in red flames. The entire sea of ??blood was burning when she threw the sword inside. Then she placed a hand on my shoulder, leading me away. Soon we were back in that throne room. The Goddess looked pale. The crown was no longer on her head, but she didn''t say anything. What she did was throw a drop of blood on my forehead. I got lost in a sea of ??information, all about blood and its most basic concepts. There was nothing complex, but just the basics were already very extensive, and it took me a few minutes to understand all that information. When I opened my eyes, I was outside of her Divine Kingdom. I was once again facing her statue. Vanessa was standing next to me as if waiting for me to open my eyes. "Here, drink." (Vanessa) "Thank you." (me) She gave me a bottle with spatial expansion, inside it had the equivalent of a small lake of blood, I drank it dry. "(That sword, she wouldn''t even let me touch it...)" (me) The image of that sword was still in my mind, for some reason I felt that its image had been engraved in my mind since the first time I looked at it. After saying goodbye to Vanessa, I returned to my room, having all my blood extracted was not pleasant and I needed time to contemplate the concepts of Blood to extrapolate more complex things. My goal was still to become stronger, a new technique was just comical, there was still something else I wanted to try, but it would require Tarzor to wake up. "..." (me) Suddenly my eyes turned in one direction, I felt space open and a strange power enter, but it was in another star, I also felt that Haku was close to his position. "(Haku, what happened?)" (me) "(Me and Niryna...)" (Haku) Chapter 1574: Cap 1572: Family reunited Pov Natasha: Around me there were only bodies, there are so many bodies that I can''t see the ground, their red blood still has a slight white glow as it flows forming small rivers. "Thank you for your help." (Kira) "No need to thank me, a good part was killed by your friend." (me) "Where is she?" (me) "She''s gone, she can''t control her own power and we already have many injured people here." (Kira) "Can you gather everyone?" (me) "Yes, we have our own healers, but are you okay?" (Kira) "I''m fine." (me) In fact, my condition wasn''t the best, my energy was spent and my body there had Divine power burning inside, if it weren''t for me healing at the same rate as it causes damage, even a God like me could have been on the brink of death. "(So many strange Demigods... there was also that enemy...)" (me) Many things were going through my head, that''s because nothing made sense, this battle was more than unnecessary and many of my Believers died without me having a valid reason for this battle on the enemy side. I was helping my sisters-in-law, my army was following my lead against the enemies wanting to harm Deities on our side, but the enemies had no reason for this attack. "(This attack was strange, this area of ??the Galaxy has little strategic value and only my brother''s two Wives do not have the value to mobilize this army.)" (me) "(There are only two logical options, one is that it was a target of opportunity because they were already nearby or the second would be because of Zenos.)" (me) Neither of the two possibilities made sense, if it was a target of opportunity there should be something here that they wanted, which is clearly not the case. If it were because of Zenos, it would make even less sense, even though he is so strange, he is not strong enough to deserve all this attention, with enemies like several great Gods and who knows how many Deities, my Brother is at most a nuisance, I am sure that for Baldr, my mother and the God Akatosh are the greatest enemies followed by Hernoth, Cratos and the Goddess of the Fairies. "(Baldr may be a bastard, but he is not an idiot... what did he want...)" (me) "I have to go, I still need to recover and I have somewhere else to go." (Kira) "Okay, I will go... is this serious!?" (me) Suddenly I feel something pulling me from inside, then all the blood around me was pulled towards me forming a column of blood hundreds of meters around me, when I swung my arm making the column of blood disappear, I found myself in an empty field for kilometers and two people in front of me, my two sisters. "Before you said anything, I knew the battle was over." (Elizabeth) "Now we need to talk..." (Elizabeth) ---------------- Pov Zenos: I''ve been training in this space for days now. The only ones who come to me here are Hades and Samara. Even my Saints are too busy to come to me. "I think I finally know the way forward." (me) "This still isn''t good enough." (Samara) "I found the power surprising." (Hades) "Surprising, yes, but compared to the others, this technique is the weakest. Most of its power is scattered." (Samara) "..." (Hades) "I know, I had already thought about it, that''s why I talked about knowing the path I should choose." (me) "I spent too much time focused on the simplest aspect, trying to adapt it to something more complex, I went wrong on that point..." (me) The whole time I only looked at the Blood and with that I ended up losing the core of it, the blood doesn''t refer to itself, it refers to the rest, it is the means of everything that makes up life. Looking only at the blood made me lose the full scope, I realized that in my attack. "There''s really no point in concentrating too much, focusing too much on something makes your vision narrow... how could I forget something so simple." (me) Sigh I look at the red desert that lies in front of me, there is a large crack in the distance, red mist hides the top of some mountains behind me and in the sky there was still an open wound with multiple cracks in the space around it. "So many useless variations..." (me) "Sir, do you want me to repair the terrain?" (Samara) "No, leave it like this, we''ll see how it goes later." (me) Now that this is no longer a Dungeon, Monsters appear more naturally without needing any configuration, my training in the last few days has remodeled this entire star that is half the size of a planet, one of the largest stars that are part of Okan. "(For this attack to work I need a clear image...)" (me) "Master... calling..." (Hinata) Suddenly Hinata appears crossing space itself as if it didn''t exist, she reached where I was and her eyes looked in all directions before focusing on the open wound in the sky. "Who is calling?" (me) "Elizabeth..." (Hinata) "My sister?" (me) "Yes..." (Hinata) ------------------- More than 3 weeks later. I was waiting in a hall, behind me was Hades and Samara, their clothes were heavier this time, they were armor made by mixing my blood and full of Divine Power, lines made by me intertwining the pieces of clothing underneath the armor. This level of defense was great, even a Lesser God would not be able to destroy this armor, at most it would leave some scratches. "Is everyone ready?" (me) "Yes, just waiting for your command." (Hades) "Any news from my wives?" (me) "The last news was more than a week ago, the Dragons said there was another attack against them during Kira''s ritual." (Samara) "..." (me) "(I received the notifications, so I know she became a Goddess and joined my Pantheon, but where is she now?)" (me) "I will go separately from you and possibly my Familiars will be with me." (me) "Sir, shouldn''t you...?" (Samara) "You don''t understand, it won''t be one battle, it will be two." (me) "Hernoth discovered something that Baldr is doing, something that will screw us all, the Gods as well as me will fight him and his allies directly." (me) "But you are the ones who will end his plans, we are just the distraction, he will wait for an attack from the Gods and leave his armies in protection, but he will not expect his armies to be defeated while he is occupied, he thinks he has enough numbers and possibly will not be the only protection." (me) "You two will be of utmost importance at this moment, from what I understand the Powers of Chaos and Anomalous are important to end Baldr''s plans, with me involved in the fight against him your presence will be hidden." (me) "Master, what are you going to do about Tarzor?" (Hades) "Don''t worry about me, I will act if necessary..." (Tarzor) My shadow changes shape as if it were a cluster of Dark Serpents forming a single Dragon head that opens eyes similar to portals full of stars and Tarzor''s voice appears. "You can''t be thinking of doing that." (Samara) "..." (Hades) "Don''t look at me like that, talk to this madman here, it''s his idea." (Tarzor) "Master, I am against using this power, the risks are..." (Hades) "I understand the risks very well, so I will only do this as a last resort." (me) "If you use this power, you''ll draw unwanted attention, you know that, right?" (Samara) "Callidora talked about it." (me) I look at my hand, using that power during training almost destroyed my body and still left a shadow of fear behind. "(There will be stronger Gods to face the God of Law and Baldr, I don''t need to worry about them, the real problem is what we can''t predict...)" (me) Sigh "Go, you must finish the preparations!" (me) "YES!!" (Samara/Hades) Space forms a skull that devours Samara and Starfire covers Hades before the two disappear without a trace. "(You shouldn''t use that power at all!)" (Freya) "This is just a last resort, I also won''t use that kind of power if it''s not necessary." (me) "(Don''t lie to me, you say that, but you''re sure you''ll need this kind of power or you wouldn''t have continued to train this power until now, in fact you shouldn''t have even started training this power!)" (Freya) "Nothing ever goes as planned, I wish this time..." (me) Knock knock "Come in!" (me) "The Goddess is calling for you." (Vanessa) "I''m going." (me) Vanessa is silent, but I know she''s worried, very worried, there are many Gods involved this time on both sides, Karina and Alice more than showed their concerns, they spent a lot of time yesterday saying everything they could think of for me to be careful. In all this silence we went to the Communal Temple, this time I didn''t hide and walked through the streets greeting everyone, some of the population walked towards me, others knelt directly while everyone did the same thing, praying in their minds, these silent prayers were clearly heard by me as if they were spoken directly. Prayers for strength, safety, courage and if all else fails, a death protecting their companions, their will was strong and firm, as the one receiving those prayers I must not let my will weaken in the face of danger. "Come back safe Father..." (Vanessa) "You too, my daughter." (me) In front of the statue of the Goddess, Vanessa hugs me and I hug her back, with a farewell wishing her safety, I advance towards the portal that has already opened in front of the statue, then I find myself once again in that throne room where my mother was sitting and my sisters as well as my daughter Adella were standing before her, Oros is also present. "Am I late?" (me) "No, I just got here too." (Elizabeth) "I didn''t want to come..." (Caitlyn) "Says the one who was the first to arrive." (Natasha) "Finally the family is together." (Selene) "This time we will fight together." (Selene) Chapter 1575: Cap 1573: Divine World...? We were all gathered together, but my eyes still turned to the only one who didn''t belong to the family, I don''t like him, no matter being called a hypocrite or anything, his situation is different. With my Chaos power I can make those who are completely reborn, look at Ynes and Aurora who are completely different, but Oros went through the Rebirth at the hands of my mother, he may have kept part of his previous life besides the memories and even if that''s not the case, I can''t forgive what he did. As someone who was once an orphan and saw many other orphans come and go, I can at least understand someone being abandoned, there are infinite reasons for this, from very young mothers, drug problems, fear of being unable to raise a child and many others. I don''t like these reasons, but I can at least understand, but for someone to simply try to kill their own child because of another''s orders like Oros did, that to me was disgusting to levels I can''t describe. "Stop with the murderous intent, this is not the time for that." (Adella) "..." (me) When I looked around, everyone was looking at me, my mother especially had an impatient expression looking at me while Oros himself had a strange expression. "I don''t like him, I apologize for this scene." (me) "He''s not the same person, his hatred is directed at an innocent." (Elizabeth) "Stop with the nonsense, do you think he cares, he''s not a nice God, no God is like that, do you think he cares about the excuse of Divine Rebirth?" (Caitlyn) "Shut up all of you, so many more important things to discuss and you focus on my Divine Beast..." (Selene) Sigh "Zenos, I won''t let you do anything to my Divine Beast, but you can let your Familiar find him, of course another time, we have more important things to do right now." (Selene) I nod, I know I might be wrong in how I feel about Oros, at least with this new version of him, but I can''t deny that I feel repulsed by him, I''m just not sure if all of this is because of Ragnar or if I''m mirroring some things from the past in him. "Before we leave, we''ll be going to the other Gods, follow me." (Selene) The Goddess Selene stands up, making the crown on her head appear as if it were covered by a layer of space until she moves, a sword also appears attached to her waist, one look was enough to confirm my suspicions. "(It''s that sword...)" (me) The Goddess waves evil forward, it was as if she was holding an invisible blade, creating a bloody wound in space that opens, revealing a vortex of blood through which she passes, followed by all of us right behind. When I passed through the gate, we were on a floating island in the middle of a blue sky full of clouds. The island had only one building full of marble columns and a large table. My mother brought everyone to sit at the table. There were already people, or rather, Gods, sitting at the table. They were Gods I already knew, such as Cratos, Hernoth, Aline, Dravos, Akatosh, Justhos, Vidark, Malakai, Hatlas, Shako, as well as others I didn''t know. In fact, I didn''t know exactly all of these Gods personally, but their statues were in my Communal Temple, such as the Goddess of Magic, the God of Games, the God of War, the Demonic God of Revenge, and the God of Justice, among others. "Where are Ayrin and her daughters?" (Selene) "They don''t come, they don''t know the battle and they are weak in everything related to it." (Hatlas) "They wouldn''t be of much help and could be a weak link was what she said, there was no arguing against that." (Justhos) "Someone is still missing, so let''s wait a little longer." (Akatosh) The Gods were silent, but they didn''t stop talking, their Auras all interacting with each other exchanging conversations that would last months in mere seconds, I was also dragged into this type of conversation. So I talked to multiple Gods at the same time getting to know more about them, but two of them were more focused on talking to me, these are Vindark and Justhos. One of them was talking about my daughter becoming his Saint or even his Champion, but Lilith would not be good at serving anyone, I tactfully refused, with this daughter it is best to let her follow her own path, giving her just a few corrections so she doesn''t fall into a very deep abyss. The God of Justice wanted to talk about his son Phatos, the God of Law who attacked me, he took responsibility as his Father and asked for forgiveness for his son, but that wasn''t all, he was asking me not to interfere in his fight against his own son when the time came, he wanted to deal with his son himself and clearly he wouldn''t kill his son, I can even see Hernoth looking at him from across the table in an irritated way, it seems like it''s not just me he''s talking about. The conversation with most of the Gods was more like introductions since it was the first time we met, but these ''casual conversations'' between Gods were very strange, I felt that it wasn''t just the conversation that was happening and it took me a while to realize that the Auras that everyone was communicating with were also probing each other''s Divinities, they were also checking things like compatibility between the Auras and that was when I realized that they were already preparing for battle while they talked. They are looking for possible allies during the battles, Gods that can add their powers or even multiply their powers by fighting together, as well as they are also seeing which Gods'' powers conflict with each other, of course I didn''t notice this on my own merit but rather it was my mother''s Aura that basically points the answer on my face. "(Akatosh, where is Arash?)" (me) "(He, as well as Fenrir and a few other Gods, will not come, they are preparing for another battle.)" (Akatosh) "(They will fight alongside the armies if we cannot hold all the Gods by Baldr''s side.)" (Selene) "It seems we arrived in time." (Mavis) "Yes, then let''s finish this quickly so I can leave." (Kalistos) Suddenly two Gods who hide their faces appear on top of the table, one dressed in white while the other dressed in black, they are the Goddesses of Life and Death. They raise a hand each, one with the palm facing up and the other with the palm facing down, their hands facing each other as a multicolored light appears in a flash that lasts for the blink of an eye before giving way to a hexagonal marble stone with two symbols inscribed representing the colors of the two Goddesses. Akatosh stands up and receives that stone, then the two Goddesses disappear once more, Kalistos leaves ignoring everyone while Mavis waves a hand in farewell, they really didn''t take more than 10 seconds before leaving. At that moment my mother drew her sword and pierced the head of a God while his body dried. The Goddess of the Fairies transforms the God next to her into a seamstress''s pillow, but instead of needles there were multicolored swords that held him in place, he was still alive, but he couldn''t move. That''s when I noticed that the Sun''s light was flickering and when I looked up, I saw colossal Demonic claws trying to grab the Sun while cards covered in Runes covered the Sun. Half of the Gods seemed surprised while the others were calm, Akatosh the whole time was looking at the stone he received as if preparing something, an almost imperceptible energy was floating from his body flowing to that stone that created a mark similar to a powerful vein of golden color rising from the bottom and going to the top. "You almost let him escape." (Shako) "Shut up, I was the one who had the hard part." (Hernoth) "His Seal will be hard to break, thanks for the help Shako." (Malakai) "There were 3 of you and still you almost let him escape, that''s absurd." (Aine) "They are not as ruthless as you and Selene, that''s why I told you to let me act." (Hatlas) "What''s going on here?" (Vidark) "I''m waiting for an explanation." (Cratos) "I think it''s pretty obvious, there was an idiot spying and two traitors lurking, now everything has been resolved." (Selene) "Exactly what Selene said." (Dravos) "..." (me) Everything happened very quickly and in the meantime Akatosh seemed very focused on the stone, only when the vein pattern was ready did he direct his gaze around before focusing on the God that my mother killed. This seemed to remind the other Gods since they all looked at that God, in fact they were all looking at the sword on his head, while I exchanged glances with my sisters and Adella sharing our confusion. "Good sword, will it work against Baldr?" (Akatosh) "Yes, I just don''t know if it will be enough to kill him." (Selene) "As long as we can defeat him it will be good enough." (Akatosh) "Now we can continue the meeting and I will explain what this is in my hands as well as how we will implement the Divine World." (Akatosh) "(Divine World...?)" (me) Chapter 1576: Cap 1574: Confined Conflict "Now we can continue the meeting and I will explain what this is in my hands as well as how we will implement the Divine World." (Akatosh) "(Divine World...?)" (me) I look at the other Gods who showed the same confusion that I was feeling, only my mother, Aine and Dravos had serious expressions. "Akatosh, first explain to the young ones, the trap made some of them suspicious." (Justhos) The God of Justice was looking at my sisters and me, but there was no way not to be suspicious, knowing that there was 1 spy hidden in the Sun and that most of the Gods here did not notice as well as 2 traitors among the Gods, this is crazy, how will I know if there are no more traitors. I never doubted for a second the existence of the Spy and the traitors. With my mother acting as if she knew about these things, I could rest easier knowing that at least I could trust her, but I still wanted to know what was going on. "We don''t have time for this." (Akatosh) "Let me explain. The Spy was new, he wasn''t part of the plan, and that''s why we improvised. As for the two traitors, we''ve been giving them false information for the past 10 years, but now we couldn''t risk having them by our side during the battle." (Aine) "If you understand, then be quiet and listen to Akatosh, this meeting was formed only because of this stone and we don''t have much time..." (Aine) "..." (everyone) When the Goddess of the Fairies seemed to be close to finishing speaking, a pressure fell on everyone here, the focus of this pressure was on the stone and that was when I felt a fluctuation emerge from inside the stone to the outside, fighting the pressure that was trying to be there. "Power of Reality..." (me) "..." (everyone) Everyone heard what I said but they could also feel this power and at the same time understood what was happening, but I''m sure none of them felt the same as I did, that''s because I recognized a bit of the fluctuation of the Aura in the stone. The pressure was expelled with the same speed it had appeared, logos were normal once again, but Akatosh exchanged glances with my mother, Dravos and Aine. "That was fast." (Selene) "You must have noticed because of me, you should have waited longer before starting." (Akatosh) "Give it to me, I''ll continue while you explain and then pass it to Aine." (Dravos) Akatosh uses his Aura to move the stone towards the Spirit God, then he, like Akatosh before him, makes a light current of energy flow from him to the stone, causing a new vein pattern to appear. "Now let''s begin the real meeting, as everyone must have noticed this stone, I won''t go into details about what it is, partly because I''m not sure of its origins." (Akatosh) "Before anyone starts talking, I know what the stone does, I know how to activate it and I know it''s a one-time use, as everyone could feel it carries the power of reality." (Akatosh) "The universe doesn''t tolerate this, so we''re already taking a risk by keeping it, but this is the focus of this meeting for a reason." (Akatosh) "Selene, please explain." (Akatosh) "This time the battle will be very intense and several great Gods are participating, if that happens, even if the Universe has a more resistant dimensional layer, the universe will still not resist all of us going all out." (Selene) While my mother spoke, the God of Spirits handed the stone to the Goddess of Fairies, there was a new vein pattern of dark blue color and with the Goddess following the same steps as her predecessors, a new vein pattern begins to emerge. "If we fight like this, even with the universe creating the Mirror Space, a large part will still be destroyed, not to mention the large amount of galaxies disappearing." (Selene) "But if we don''t fight, the result will be even worse." (Selene) All the Gods who were confused before now had calm expressions, they were all thinking deeply and it was apparent, everyone understood that this stone was the solution to this paradox. "This stone will be what we will use to merge several Divine Realms into one Divine World, we will use it to contain this battle in several layers of Divine Realms, so the universe will not have to face destruction." (Akatosh) As Akatosh continued speaking, the Fairy Goddess passed the stone to my mother, this time it was very close to me and I ignored the additional multicolored vein patterns, what I focused on was the comparison with the item I once used. "(There''s no doubt about it, this is a piece of a Universal Seed, a part of the discarded shell and it comes exactly from the Seed I used, I can feel traces of Freya''s power still in it.)" (me) I was confused as to how the Goddesses of Life and Death managed this, in fact I had a bad feeling due to the look on my mother''s face as she smiled at me. "Each of us will infuse a Divine Realm into this Stone, you don''t need to worry about anything after that." (Akatosh) "Who will use this item, you? If you want I could accept this task..." (Malakai) "Don''t even think about it, this won''t be another one of your magical experiments!" (Hernoth) "..." (Malakai) Cough Cough "I was just asking, there was no need for so much hostility." (Malakai) "How long will this Divine World last?" (me) "I imagine it won''t last forever." (me) "The universe will slowly crush a place like this, even using our Divinity, this is a power outside this universe and seen as an intruder." (Dravos) "But his question was good, I also want to know how much time we will have." (Catros) "Once created it can last a week, after that it will be destroyed with everyone still inside, so we must not be inside when that happens." (Akatosh) "Hernoth, your turn." (Selene) My mother passes the stone to Hernoth, everyone could see the patterns of veins pulsating on the stone, with the explanation they heard it was clear that each of these patterns of veins pulsating referred to a Divine Realm. Hernoth held it and began to use it, after several examples of how to do it, it was not difficult to understand, but my attention turned to Akatosh who looked at me. "I received few warnings about the use of this item, one of them is that the condition for using it was that only one of us could use this item." (Akatosh) "You can''t be saying that I..." (me) "The two Goddesses didn''t say anything, but if we count your power of chaos, then it makes sense that it''s you." (Akatosh) "Let''s restrict this conflict by confining it to this cluster of Divine Realms." (Akatosh) "(That thing couldn''t be used by others, it''s too related to you, you must have realized that...)" (Tarzor) "Yes... I know..." (me) ------------------- It only took a few minutes for all the Gods to place their Divine Kingdoms in the stone, I was left last, nothing else was explained, only Akatosh explained to me how to use this stone, but it wasn''t necessary since I understand better than them about the origins of this stone. Lago after receiving the stone, as soon as Tokyo got into it, I wasn''t even able to place my Divine Kingdom inside, the entire stone sank into my hand leaving only the two black and white marks surrounded by patterns of veins having different colors, shapes and pulsating with light in different rhythms. Akatosh along with some other Gods Opened a gate that leads to a specific place and as soon as I left I realized the scale of this battle. We were in this the stars, in an entire Star system taken over by Baldr, everywhere I looked there were Dragons, Fairies, Spirits, Elves, monsters and many others who were on our side, the vast majority having clothes with symbols of their religions. In front of us was a standardized army with the main color being white and the legendary details being golden, each individual of these emanates light on its own, but being all together like this, it seemed like an ocean of light that blinds the vision of anyone looking directly. Even with such large numbers, the difference in numbers was still clear, the army on our side was individually strong, but we are less than 1/3 of the enemy army. As soon as we arrived I noticed something, the flow of nature''s power was cut and transformed in this place, it was shaped in a way that connected this entire place and each planet. I wasn''t the only one to notice this, several Gods must have noticed, this kind of thing should be easily felt. "Where is she?" (Selene) "With me, I can call whenever I want." (me) "Niryna, that''s your cue." (me) "< Infernal Summons: Dante >" (Niryna) A magic circle forms and the darkness hisses, black flames rise as a silhouette stands up, white skin and black eyes, even his hair is black as ink with only a strand of his hair being longer and white. He wears a red coat with no shirt underneath, on his waist there are two magic pistols and on his back a large sword almost as big as him. His face is the same as the classic Dante, nothing remains of the appearance of Baldr of Darkness, the only difference besides the dark hair is the patterns of dark lines going up his neck. As soon as he appears he gets on his knees even though there is no ground in space, then lowers his head towards Niryna. "I am at your disposal, my lady." (Dante) Chapter 1577: Cap 1575: Divine World Niryna summoning Dante caught the attention of the Gods around her, it wasn''t because she was very powerful or because Dante was special, it was because of the type of Aura and power she revealed during the Summoning, it was clear to everyone how bizarre and unique the Infernal power was. "It looks very similar." (me) "I had to surrender with the hair and eyes, the marks would appear anyway, so I drew it from..." (Niryna) "This is not the time to talk about it." (Elizabeth) "Actually it''s the perfect time." (Selene) "I like that mischief, boy." (Hernoth) "Be quiet, don''t ruin the plans." (Hatlas) "..." (Caitlyn) It seems they noticed, the stone in my hand was already activating, but it wasn''t something I could use right away and there wasn''t an opportunity where I could do it for now, without the enemies showing themselves it would be useless to use it. The vein patterns were lighting up and pulsing one by one in my hand, but my Aura and the other Gods'' Aura was hiding it. I also looked at the enemy side, their Gods hadn''t appeared yet, but I know they''re here and I''m not the only one looking for them. "Baldr! I know you''re there, show yourself at once, don''t waste my time looking for you." (Selene) "You''re too shameless, do you think I''m afraid because of your number of Gods!?" (Baldr) Suddenly the light of their entire army intensifies, Divine power surges as a triangle of light opens above them, Baldr appears, he looked different than I remembered and it soon became clear why. There were scars on his arms and neck that had dark energy floating out of them, his Aura also contained traces of the power of darkness. Following beside Baldr is Phatos, he was clearly enraged with his eyes fixed on me, I can understand the reason for this since he lost 2 Heralds and 1 Saint because of me. Behind them, other Gods came out of the portal in the shape of a triangle of light, some among them had strange Auras, but I couldn''t understand why I felt this. I just stared at them for a few seconds, their numbers are indeed below ours in number of Gods, but their army of light was much larger than ours. I was unsure about the reason for all this, this clearly wasn''t all the Gods and Demigods at Baldr''s side. "Let''s not waste time, do it." (Akatosh) "Dante!" (Niryna) "As you wish my lady." (Dante) "< Rebirth of the Dark Demon >" (Dante) When Dante got into a standing position, he caught the attention of the Gods at Baldr''s side, this was because they saw that Akatosh and the other Gods were focused on Dante. But as soon as Dante''s hand rose revealing a heart made of shadows, Baldr''s expression changed, as much as he wanted to do something he didn''t have time, as soon as the Dark heart appeared it was already beating, each beat releasing pulses of dark Aura that traveled spectacularly fast. "You damn bastard!" (Baldr) "< Divine Light shield >" (Baldr) "This is useless." (Niryna) The beating continued and the various waves of Aura continued to advance then more appeared as they spread, these waves and pulses of dark Aura passed through Baldr''s shield of light as if it didn''t exist not even damaging the shield as it passed. Baldr, being a God, would not stand still and watch his defenses be useless. I don''t know if he realized what Dante was doing, but he went on the attack, clearly aiming at Dante. His speed was frightening when he moved. "You can try!!!" (Selene) My mother also moved, but before the two of them even collided, the space fluctuated, making them disappear. The Universe must have isolated them in the mirrored space. Right at that moment, the Soldiers of Light were burning in black flames, their lights dimming like a lamp reaching the end of its life, but they were not dying, but rather transforming. The other Gods all moved, both on my side and those on Baldr''s side. I also moved when I was dragged along with everyone else into the mirrored space. It was at that moment that shockwaves hit me due to the clash of the Gods. Cracks were spreading rapidly throughout this place. Clearly, this mirrored space was close to collapsing. "< Cycle of All Things: Activate >" (me) "< Divine Realm: Divine World >" (me) Using the Chaos power in my hand, I had already been activating the vein patterns for a long time, now however, I have fully activated it causing the vein patterns to move while connecting with each other. My hand was aching as the pulsation of each vein pattern was synchronizing into a single pulsation rhythm, the two black and white marks also lit up as I felt the power of reality flow through my hand along with several layers of different Divine power. This power almost exploded my hand when it was released creating a ripple in space as it forcefully pushed space away taking its place. This great change caught the attention of the various Gods who stopped fighting as they looked at me, sweat dripping down my back having so many killing intents trapped in me. What was taking the place of the mirrored space was something completely inconceivable even to me. What was once a starry sky with planets all around was becoming a vast expanse of land the size of a Galaxy. With my senses, I saw mountains rising from the earth, I saw chasms marking the ground as they opened up, I saw trees of all colors and shapes springing up from the spot, I saw rivers flowing both across the ground and across the sky to a distant ocean, even several portions of land and mountains rising from the ground to float in the sky. In the sky, there were clearly visible stars and planets, it was also easy to see a large Eclipse in the sky like a silver ring. Monsters, Demons, soldiers, warriors, animals and Dragons appeared, filling this entire place as if it were their home. Entire cities appeared, castles and Palaces spread out, fortresses erected as well as gardens spreading out, it literally seemed like the creation of an entire world. This entire world, every blade of grass, fortress brick, tree branch, and living creature emanated divine energy, even the air itself was filled with Divine power. The Aura of the Gods was perpetually present in layers as if it were the presence of eternal nature itself as long as the world existed. It was all beautiful, but at the same time extreme, I don''t know if others can feel it, but I can see the instability of this place, my power is acting like glue holding everything together, but that doesn''t change the fact that various powers are too different to be so close together, which is why they separated into areas like this instead of becoming a complete whole, like areas of a planet. There were devastated areas with swords stuck in the ground, lakes of blood, mountains made of metal or other elements, and even deserts where it would never stop raining heavily. The only thing that I and probably no one else expected was the proportions, I, like everyone else, seemed tiny in this chaste expanse of land, the skies were so high that an entire Galaxy could fit between the sky and the earth, the lowest mountains were the size of an entire world while the tallest ones almost reached the sky. This was something so incredible that all the Gods stopped fighting, but not because of the beautiful landscape they were seeing, but because of the changes it would bring. Akatosh and the Gods on our side were trying to understand how to adapt to the power of this place, even though it was a Divine Kingdom partially built by them, the interaction of the various Divine powers made it less intuitive to use their powers, which took them a few seconds to realize. Baldr and the Gods on his side were different, they didn''t know what was happening, they stepped away from their confrontations to analyze the situation and this world that had emerged around them. For them, the interaction of these Divine powers must be an aberration that they cannot understand, but Baldr and Phatos were more objective, their eyes turned to me quickly, the God of Law had his eyes fixed on my hand where the energy of reality was spreading throughout the surroundings. Baldr on the other hand looked at me with hatred, he must have felt that my power was the only one that permeated everything in the surroundings, he was attributing all the blame to me. Akatosh and my mother stood in front of me, both of them were smiling a lot, this was because they noticed something that I already knew, this place was very resistant, they could fight freely here without caring about the disaster they might cause. "You did well, Zenos... this place should be perfect." (Akatosh) "Baldr is mine!" (Selene) With my mother''s absolute words, she already launched herself towards Baldr without waiting for anything else, Baldr tried to avoid her by aiming at me, but it wouldn''t be easy to get past my mother. When the two collided, my mother created a crystallized blood blade in her hand while Baldr created a large white sword by condensing his light, but the result of this confrontation caused little damage to the surroundings, the shockwaves barely spread and the ground below them only cracked a little without breaking, revealing incredible resistance. With their combat started once again, the other Gods fought again, since we outnumbered them it shouldn''t take long to end this combat, but Baldr managed to get away from my mother and threw something high up that changed everything once again, a shining crystal Pyramid that exploded with multiple colors of light. "< Gate of Divine Illumination: Open >" (Baldr) Chapter 1578: Cap 1576: Traitor Pov Hades: The master left along with the other Gods, around me only a few Heralds and a large number of Demigods remained, but no one moved. For a long stretch of time, the black flames of darkness were emanating from the Star System, Baldr''s Soldiers were burning but it was as if the surface was burning revealing a totally different interior. Their skin changed with most becoming brown while the others varied between blue, red, purple and black, there were a few who kept their white skin, but that was not the only change. Almost 90% of those I could see had horns growing on their heads, their eyes that were previously completely white were consumed by darkness while a sphere of red light lit up in the middle. Each of them was becoming a Demon, some had other characteristics appearing like wings, tails or extra limbs like a third eye, an extra pair of ears and even pairs of arms appearing on the sides of their bodies. Those on our side didn''t interfere, in fact we were focused on standing guard, our greatest duty was to protect Niryna and Dante until everything was complete. "Hades, something isn''t right..." (Cinthia) "I know." (me) "..." (Samara) "..." (Callidora) Just like Cinthia, I also realized that everything was going too well, which was synonymous with something really bad happening that we couldn''t see. As Heralds of Zenos we knew from the beginning about their innate misfortune, so we were always ready for what would definitely go wrong. We can ignore less important events like Monster Waves, battles of pure power and other things, but in an event like this where the fate of a universe can change, there was no way to predict anything, even our plan of attack couldn''t stray too far from the basics to be able to adapt as the situation progressed. I looked at Samara who was silent, but I could tell by her gaze that she was vigilant, if she had noticed something she would have already said it, but she wouldn''t be vigilant for no reason either. It was Callidora appearing next to Niryna that made me realize that something was definitely happening, she was also smiling differently, normally her smile was mocking as if laughing at everything around her, making it part of a big joke in her eyes, but now she was smiling in a cruel way that made even my heart tighten a little with fear. "Hades, look." (Zaya) "..." (me) Zaya appeared next to me, her Anomalous power was a little special and her senses were off the charts, the moment she warned me Samara also turned as if she had just noticed something. The direction we looked was the center of this Star System, something emerged from that direction, a very thin column of light was in the center of the planets and the space rippled like a river revealing a flow that connected all the planets of this Star System in a ritual. "Niryna, command your Demons to move away from the planets." (Samara) "What''s going on?" (Niryna) "Baldr, you really surprised me... hahahaha..." (Callidora) "Niryna, do what Samara said, quickly!" (me) "Dante!" (Niryna) "As you wish." (Dante) "< Ruler of Darkness: Demonic Command >" (me) The powerful heart in his hands explodes into a crown, I can feel Dante weakening a little and Niryna letting her Divinity flow into him. Each of the enemy army that was still transforming was enveloped by a cocoon of pure darkness, the black flames around them turned into columns of burning darkness, millions upon millions of them as far as I could see. Demonic power spread with the combination of all of them and it only took a few seconds for the cocoons to break, the entire army was transformed completely and naked. The shadows around them enveloped their bodies solidifying into different clothing for each individual, some wearing simple clothes, others wearing armor and others with more eccentric clothing. What surprised me was to see that they were no longer like mindless creatures, they moved, spoke and acted like individuals with their own minds. "Gather!" (Dante) When Dante spoke, they all turned to him, the crown of darkness above his hand sinks into a mark on the back of his hand, all those Demons follow his command, moving to integrate with our army. But we were all more focused on something else, the planets that were positioned as part of the ritual were now shining, Divine power was emanating from all of them, but the power itself seemed different. "He changed the direction of the portal, it seems that it is under great pressure." (Callidora) "I advise you to be on guard against the planets and forget the center, none of you can interrupt now." (Callidora) "What is happening?" (me) "Find out for yourself." (Callidora) Callidora disappears, meanwhile dozens of columns of light extend from each planet while millions of Auras that look the same appear like copies of each other. "Samara!?" (me) "An Army of Divine Law... this is going to be troublesome..." (Samara) I didn''t have time to ask anything, followed right behind those Auras, a constant stream of golden light creatures wearing white metal armor emerged from the scenes of light, they were coming from all directions around us because we were inside the Star System. "Hades, don''t believe Callidora, we need..." (Samara) ------------------ Pov Zenos: "< Gate of Divine Illumination: Open >" (Baldr) The power of reality leaked from that pyramid and formed a white marble gate, a column of light around it, from Baldr''s body a white crown with golden jewels appeared on his head, it was kind of illusory, but what caught my attention was feeling the Power of Divine Law. It was not the power of the Essence of Law as Phatos possesses, nor the Divinity of Law, this was a different power and similar to the power of Law that I acquired a short time ago, it was the power of Divine Law that belongs to the Ascendants. This power enveloped Baldr, but it was clearly incomplete, his Divinity was still there and seemed to reject the crown, preventing it from becoming real, his Aura was unstable while my Mother attacked again. Baldr fought against it, but the white gate continued to open, some Gods tried to destroy the gate, unfortunately the column of light seemed to protect the gate like a barrier that trembled under their attacks without breaking. When the barrier opened completely, dozens of individuals entered, each of them wearing armor and emanating the power of Law, all of them possessing pure white crowns smaller than Baldr''s. "You damned traitor!" (Akatosh) "Have you really fallen so low, BALDR!!!??" (Catros) "I always knew you were a worm!" (Selene) "PHATOS!!!" (Justhos) "IS THIS WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR!!!??" (Justhos) "What''s wrong with seeking a power that suits me better? I''m a God of Law!" (Phatos) "(This is worse than we anticipated.)" (me) The Gods knew about Baldr''s ritual, a ritual to discard his Divinity in favor of becoming an Ascendant, converting his Divinity into the Power of Law. It was impossible for him to hide a ritual of such magnitude from all the Gods, but it seems he was still underestimated, he already had one foot in the Power of Law and the Ritual did more than we expected. My eyes scanned those who arrived, they were Ascendants, but their power was not comparable to Baldr, they were weaker and clearly had marks of a White Sun on their foreheads. Clearly Baldr was in contact with the Ascendants, but we didn''t imagine he would fall so low as to open a portal for them, that pyramid seemed to be a key. The battle began once again, this time it was even more intense than before, all the Gods were enraged, but of all of them Justhos was clearly the most enraged, his son Phatos had a real crown on his head, not an illusion like Baldr. As a God of Justice and as a father, he was not able to tolerate such a great betrayal, his son had betrayed not only him, but also his own purpose and the universe he was supposed to protect. His Aura burned with fury as he advanced against his son, their battle by far the most brutal. It was at this moment that some Gods who had previously been at Baldr''s side changed, armor condensing around them and a white crown appearing on them with a pyramid made of rays of light on their foreheads. A God flew towards me, stopping in front of me. He was a young man with curly golden hair, golden eyes and an Aura that no longer had any Divinity, only the power of the Law remained. I could also feel that his Divinities had not completely disappeared, but had been sent to that door that returned with the Power of the Law that they now possess. "I am Allen, son of Baldr and I will be the one to end your damned disgusting existence." (Allen) "Talk less and fight more!!!" (me) My body expands as I return to my Dragon form, my body that was normally colossal seems only normal in this Divine world, but my enemy was not scared and advanced towards me, his body expanding to compare to mine in size. His power condenses in his fist as if the light was being compressed and I use my Divinity along with my Aura in my claws, making it expand 2 times as Starfire ignites. When the fist and claw collide, an explosion of power occurs and in that fraction of milliseconds my tail advances as if it were a spear aiming at his eye, but being stopped by a shield that emerged from his back floating on its own to intercept it, it was a small shield that was part of a set of 3 shields that together form a golden triangle. "This kind of low technique doesn''t work against..." (Allen) "Shut your conceited mouth... you piece of shit!!" (me) Chapter 1579: Cap 1577: Who is this wretch!? The one in front of me was strong, each collision between his sword and my claws created a great explosion of power, he was also not an idiot who had never fought and could see my feints as well as the surprise attacks I made trying to find opportunities. Of course, his attacks were not reaching anywhere either, based purely on strength we were tied, which was already absurd considering that I was a Dragon, but I had to admit that his combat techniques were superior being able to attack and defend at the same time. The truth is that none of us were fighting with everything, he was cautious of the other Gods just as I was cautious of the Ascendants who had arrived, that''s because I noticed that everyone turned their eyes to me for a moment. As all the fights continued, everyone moved away from each other, no one wanted to accidentally interfere in each other''s fights just as they didn''t want to be dragged into the fights of others by accident. When I realized I had a large enough area to release myself and wanted to attack with more weight, I was surprised by 4 chain attacks, his 3 shields attacked my head from behind, my heart from the front and my neck from the side at the same time. The fourth attack came from a column of light coming out of his sword and falling towards me with great condensed power. "(A trap... predictable...)" (me) "< Path of Darkness >" (me) "< Blade of the Anomalous Demon >" (me) My shadow enveloped my body as I managed to disappear into the dimension of darkness itself, then I stepped out of his shadow in the middle of his attack. My open hand condensed the Anomalous power together with my Aura so much that it became solid even though it was still just energy. "< Law of the Trinity Shield of Light: Triple Layer >" (Allen) With a stabbing motion the blade was hundreds of meters away from his exposed back, but that distance would be covered in such a fast time that it would not be able to be counted by those at our level of power. He acted quickly as soon as he saw me entering the shadows, when I came out behind his back the 3 shields were already positioning themselves, they joined together forming a triangle while 3 barriers of white energy formed in layers at the same time in front of the Shield with 10 times the size thus covering his entire body. My blade hits the first barrier, going through it like a knife through butter, when it hits the second barrier the blade breaks in half not because it broke, but because it opened its jaws cutting the second barrier in half while serrated teeth formed already closing its jaws against the third barrier that was crushed by the teeth. All of this happened in milliseconds, and even though the speed of my blow didn''t decrease, the destructive force decreased a lot after passing through 3 barriers. When it finally hit the triangular light shield, it couldn''t get through it. But with my arm putting great force behind it, the shield struck Allen''s back as if I had struck with my fist, sending him hundreds of kilometers forward until he collided with some colossal trees. "(Damn, I have no control here!?)" (me) Since this place was still a Divine Realm, I wanted to perform another attack using the environment around it, but when I tried to sense the Divinity of other Gods in that area, it didn''t allow me to do anything and even made me lose the advantage of the initiative. "< Law of Light: Divine Sovereignty >" (Allen) "< Anomalous Breath of Chaos >" (me) I couldn''t even advance against him, suddenly all the light in the surroundings had the weight of thousands of mountains pressing down on me, I was thrown to the ground by the crushing weight, everything in the surroundings was compressed a little closer to the ground as the ground cracked completely. I wouldn''t take an attack like that sitting down, placing my claws stuck to the ground, I used my Divinity and Anomalous Power to release a Breath full of power. Stellar Flames come out of my mouth taking the form of a Dragon, the light that touched the flames didn''t have time to apply its weight as they were burned creating an area of ??pure darkness around my attack. The few trees that were broken with the previous collision bend even more as if making room for my attack that quickly arrives in front of Allen, his shield once again in front of him with the sword right behind in defense. When my attack hits the shield, Allen jumps over it trying to get to me, wings of condensed light form on his back increasing his speed, but it seems that he has never fought someone with Anomalous power before, his carelessness was what resulted in his failure. Before he even reached me, the Starfire Dragon ignored the shield sent towards him like a living creature, then increased its speed and hit Allen''s back, his wings of light were torn apart by the Dragon''s claws while its teeth sank into his armor, all the Starfire from this attack became an Infernal tornado around his body that lasted several seconds before an explosion of light undoes everything revealing Allen still flying, his armor almost melted, his hair burned and several burns on half of his body. That explosion of light that freed him from my flames also ended the weight of the light allowing me to get up easily, he didn''t attack immediately and I didn''t dare attack, that''s because I felt that something was strange around him. "My father warned that you would come and stand in our way, why do you try to go against us?" (Allen) "A bit late to be doing a villain monologue, isn''t it?" (me) "In my eyes the only villain I see is you?" (Allen) "Says the idiot who sacrificed countless people to create an army and betrayed the Universe itself by becoming an Ascendant." (me) "Don''t come to me with cheap and innocent moralism, how many people have you killed? How many have you tortured and sacrificed in search of power?" (Allen) "How many enemies have you converted into allies after their deaths!?" (Allen) "How is what we did different from what you did!?" (Allen) "What''s wrong with seeking more power? That God doesn''t want to be above others!?" (Allen) "I think you made a mistake somewhere, I''m not here to prove anything to you and I don''t need to explain myself, I just need to rip your shitty head off and shove it up your damn Father''s ass after he''s been beaten by the other Gods!" (me) "< Law of Light: Rise of the Ruler >" (Allen) I soon understand what he was waiting for, he was buying time, the strangeness I felt wasn''t exactly from him, it was from that crown on his head, he was storing power all this time until he reached saturation. I saw it but didn''t attack, there was no need for me to attack when his body exploded in several places spreading luminous golden blood like mist for kilometers, his crown that was emitting that strange sensation was cracked as teeth wrapped around it. "WHAT DID YOU DO!!??" (Allen) "You were too naive..." (me) Without saying anything else I advanced towards him, his shields moved to get in my way, but I smiled as a wooden spear pierces his chest after hitting his back, the shields waver before falling as a shadow rises from the ground in the form of a Dragon covered in stars with a claw that pierced Allen''s head leaving less than 30% of his face intact. "Damn, now I don''t have his head anymore." (me) "Tails..." (Hinata) "That blood was disgusting." (Orion) "He was very inexperienced in strange areas, how did he not notice me?" (Sakura) "He was only focused on the Gods, he didn''t realize that his master wasn''t alone." (Nix) "I didn''t have the chance to do anything, I''m not good at being discreet." (Ragnar) "Where''s Layla?" (me) "She told me to summon her if I needed her, so she joined another fight." (Sakura) I didn''t come alone to the fight like the other times, I''ve never been one to fight fairly and I didn''t dare underestimate any enemy, so my Familiars were hidden inside me. Orion was hidden in my blood, Nix was hidden in my Shadow, Sakura was hidden like a wooden bracelet before I turned into a Dragon, Ragnar was hidden in the surroundings along with Layla and while Hinata was hidden directly inside me. I couldn''t afford not to use my Familiars this time. Having Orion enter Allen''s body, hiding his presence inside the Starfire, and letting Hinata invade his body when I attacked with that blade were just precautions before he unleashed his full power. Hinata, for example, went straight for the crown. It seems she had taken a liking to it since she was still chewing and licking it, but my gaze turned to the distance, knowing there were still more enemies. "Now we have to... Ghuh!!" (me) "Master!!!" (everyone) Before they could finish speaking, I was sent flying backwards. 3 spears of light were stuck in my chest and one was stuck in my shoulder. The direction of those spears was that portal, yet another person came out of the portal, a woman who had a sun shining above her with golden light, she had four large illusory arms behind her back while her real arms were behind her back, she was dashing and full of dignity as if everything around her was beneath her. "You failed our agreement Baldr!" Cough Cough "(Who is this wretch!?)" (me) Chapter 1580: Cap 1578: Level 3 Ascendant The woman who came out of the Portal didn''t have a smaller presence than Baldr, but she seemed slightly weaker, that didn''t make sense, but what was strange was her eyes focused on me as if she was looking at a worm. Aside from the more unusual things about her like those 2 large pairs of illusory arms and that illusory sun above her, there was also a crown full of jewels on her super arrogant head. She looked around as the energy arms disappeared and that was when I noticed the three pairs of wings on her back, they seemed to be made of pure light while their structure was decorated with golden metals. As I watched, I also broke the Light Spears that hit me, this was an attack I really didn''t expect, I was careless. "(Retreat now!)" (Selene) "< Universal Breath >" (Akatosh) "< Law of Force: Alpha Fist >" Almost at the same time that I hear the voice in my head, the Dragon God appears, striking me away with his fist while releasing the strongest breath attack I have ever witnessed, the flow of power coming out of his jaws contained such a stupid volume of energy that it seemed solid going against the gate that breaks. But even though the gate was destroyed, a fist appeared at the last second followed by a Man whose silhouette I could only see before being pushed into the sky, Akatosh flaps his wings at a speed that I was almost unable to follow going after that man. Only the woman was left behind, her expression still disdainful of everyone around her, but for half a second she looked in the direction where Akatosh went to fight with a meaningful look. "Are you protecting him?" "(Deal with her, remember that this is a level 3 Ascendant, be careful.)" (Selene) "Damn, this is..." (me) "< Law of the Sun: Spears of Light > 3" "< Claws of the Unholy Dragon God >" (me) I barely had time to hear my mother''s warning when I felt a chill on my back, when I turned around there was already a luminous arm descending towards me, I managed to dodge it by twisting my body and that was when I saw 3 other of those arms holding condensed Spears of Light. This time I didn''t try to dodge, the power of My Divinity and Anomalous Power impregnates my Aura that condenses in my hands making large claws of almost solid energy form around my hands. With these claws, I break two Spears of Light while using my jaws to crush the last spear between my teeth, honestly it was a bad idea since I felt my tongue burn from the fragments of that spear of light. "Have you... seen you before?" (Ascending) "It was only in your dreams..." (me) "< Divine Summon: Eclipse Star Sword >" (me) "< Law of the Sun: Scorching Flames >" (Ascending) I wouldn''t waste my time talking for no reason, she was strong, more than the son of Baldr that I defeated, since her presence is clearly comparable to that of Baldr or my mother, but her strength is clearly below that. When I summoned the Star Sword, which had already been fused with my Divine Weapon, it was already attacking me. The illusionary sun above it released flames that could cover an ocean in my direction, and at that moment I felt traces of Anomalous power in that Sun. Branding my sword against these flames made me realize two things. The first was that the Anomalous Power, even though it was useful, was not superior to the enemy''s power. The second was that my Chaos power was more than just useful. "(This is not good.)" (me) I finally had a clear idea of ??what the power of the Law that the Ascendants use was, it was the Essence being altered by the Anomalous power, from transformation to creation, thus the Essence becomes cast in a specific mold formed by them, as such easier to be used as a tool. It would be like comparing a river to a dam, a God controls the river in its natural state that flows in infinite forms in all directions, while the Ascendants create a dam leaving the river stagnant and controlling the flow of water as they wish. Seeking efficiency and control instead of understanding, evolution and prosperity. With my Sword I activate the power of chaos, Starfire rises as the scorching flames of the enemy are guided in the direction of my sword with each movement. I was not truly controlling the enemy''s flames, I was transforming them infinitely with the power of Chaos while continuously condensing, realizing this she stopped and at that moment I cut towards her. "Let me return your flames." (me) "< Cursed Sword of Eclipse >" (me) All the flames are consumed by the silver color, then by the purple color before turning black with stars of the previous two colors emerging, all becoming Starfire that merges into the edge of the blade as I cut. Even the special space of this place trembles as this attack accelerates towards the enemy, she glares at me with hatred as the 4 large arms each form a Rune that I do not know. "< Law of the Sun: Fist of the Sun > 4" Each fist had a colossal weight and together they did more than just tie my attack. Even though my attack was a combination of my power with part of the power I stole from her, it was only able to counter 2 fists while the other two hit me and I was thrown back, my scales and bones trembling with each of the blows. I stopped with some effort, just the air resistance in this place was greater than that of the bottom of a deep ocean. Being dragged so much was like being continually crushed, when I stopped she was still looking at me angrily, but this time she was much bigger than before and there was something in her hands, a cube that was shining. "What luck, I found exactly who I needed..." (Ascending) She moved while surrounded by light, just a flap of her wings and she appeared in front of me, her speed was surprising, but it wasn''t fast enough to escape my vision. "I will give you a chance, hand over the power of your Law and I will keep your Soul intact, if you try to go against us you will be treated like the worm you..." (Ascendant) "< Unholy Incarnation >" (me) My body grows dozens of times as Starfire covers my body, Anomalous energy runs through my veins while my Divinity pulses like my heart, in this state body, mind and Soul are one in constant flux. "You talk too much!" (me) "< Unholy Breath >" (me) A breath attack of pure Divine power where chaos encompasses all others explodes outwards causing even the surrounding space to flow along with my attack increasing its power. It seems that there are still ways to increase ours in this Divine World, my attack collides with the Ascendant faster than she was able to react and she was thrown back several kilometers. When she stopped 3 of her arms were in pieces while the other had only become darker, her clothes were slightly damaged. "Power of Chaos..." (Ascending) In her eyes, besides the hatred I was seeing before, I could also see greed. She gave a slight smile that enhanced her beauty, then the arms that were previously destroyed were remade and the one that was darkened began to shine again. Her wings shined more intensely and I could feel a power coming out of her trying to take over the space around her, but as soon as she tried to do so I could feel the reaction of the space around us closing in on her with enough pressure to squeeze her wings against her body. The Divine power of several Gods going against her with the same intensity that she tried to take priority of this place, it was as if she was fighting alone against more than a hundred Gods, a suicidal decision to say the least. "< Law of the Sun: Embodiment of the Sun Lady >" (Ascending) A column of flames filled with luminous scenes cover her body and even burn the Deities around her, spreading flames that emanate endless light in all directions, her Aura grows countless times as the space around her becomes distorted by the conflict between her power of Law and the surrounding Deities. "Where I stand and the Sun shines, I AM THE RULER!!!!" (Ascending) ------------------ Pov Samara: This battle is going to be a nightmare, they''re all Soldiers so far, but I can feel Servants hiding to keep the portals open. "(Miss Niryna, what did Callidora say about the situation?)" (me) "< Chains of the Anomalous Dragon >" (me) My chains form a Dragon that devours dozens of Level 1 Ascendants, killing them would be a bit more difficult, but sealing them is reasonably easier. While I was sealing the ones that seemed stronger, I communicated with Niryna, it would be impossible for Callidora not to say anything to her in this situation. "(She said that Zenos is screwed and told you to follow the plan, don''t be fooled.)" (Niryna) "Let me fool you..." (me) I looked around and realized the reason the Servants didn''t get through, the gate is unstable, they couldn''t really get through and are on the other side using their powers to keep it open for the Soldiers to pass. I look at the center again, that column of light is an incomplete Law of Light, I can still feel traces of Divinity when I concentrate. "HADES!!!" (me) Chapter 1581: Cap 1579: I didnt want to use this... Pov Hades: I advanced against the enemy, my claws holding his sword while the other launches a sphere of Starfire making him fly forward, pushing away all other enemies behind him. My fists and wings collide one after the other against hundreds of enemies, but I couldn''t kill any of them, my only goal being to advance deeper until I broke through the enemies'' siege. When I reached the other side, there were hundreds of wounds on my body, some of them even serious injuries. "Don''t stop!" (Samara) "I know..." (me) I keep advancing, I wasn''t stopping for a second while Samara was behind me, her body wrapped in chains as she was storing power. "< Breath of Chaos >" (me) "Don''t waste energy!" (Samara) "Easy for you to say that!" (me) I felt every blow I received, but no matter how serious the injuries were, they were nothing for a Herald like me, nothing that could truly kill me. My duty was to drag Samara to the center of this Star System, everyone else stayed behind, for them it is better to maintain a well-controlled perimeter to fight instead of risking it like we are doing. With my last attack preventing a wave of enemies that were coming towards me, I had enough time to get where I needed to. "< Infernal Drain >" (Samara) With the momentum of my wings I arrived in front of that column of light, then the cocoon of chains undid revealing a clearly weakened Samara, but even so she pierced my stomach with her hand without hesitation, gathering a large amount of Chaos Power in the most brutal way possible. "Did you need that!?" (me) "We don''t have time for your nonsense!" (Samara) "< Unholy Divine Magic: Divine Corruption >" (Samara) With my power fused with hers, without wasting time she stretches out her hand touching the column of light, her currents cross the column of light, the luminous energy begins to darken in seconds until it becomes like black ink, stars emerging from within like eyes opening. "How long!?" (me) "< Divine Seal >" (Samara) This darkness spreads throughout the scene as if it had exploded, inside there were still creatures moving, Dragons that explode outwards followed by energy jumps that seem to disperse when in fact they travel through the entire Star System due to the altered energy flow of this place. The very configuration that they made by altering this Star System for their damned ritual was now connecting everything together and the Dragons of Chaos power together with the Anomalous power were traveling in all directions at the same time corrupting everything they passed through. The stars left in their wake formed constellations of Runes that interconnected in a text I couldn''t understand. It took mere minutes for us to be surrounded once more, but by then Samara had a smile on her face as all the columns of light disappeared from the surrounding planets. "They can''t get in anymore, and they can''t get out either." (Samara) "That''s good to hear." (me) "< Activate >" (me) I hold a piece of bone covered in Runes and magic circles that light up, making the space ripple. In less than a second I feel my body being pulled away as chains once again attach themselves to my body. Samara once again sticks to me, hitching a ride. The end of the journey took only a few seconds and we were already in the middle of the battlefield, we were next to Alice who served as an anchor for this magic, she was being attacked by 6 of those Ascendants and without saying anything else I joined the battle as well as Samara. -------------------- Pov Selene: The sword cuts towards Baldr, he continues using his speed to avoid a fatal blow, but he cannot completely evade all the blows and this time I tore off his ear. "I ignored what you did to that God to recover, we all took it as retribution for his acts of greed, but now this!!??" (me) "What did the Ascendants promise you!?" (me) "They didn''t promise me anything, we made a deal, they would help me become an Ascendant and this universe would join their Dominion under my command." (Baldr) "< Origin of Blood: Return to Death >" (me) "< Divine Law of Light: Palm of Heaven >" (Baldr) Knowing about his plans only infuriated me more, he even dared to open a passage for them to enter, if it weren''t for our quick attack the ritual would be complete creating a firm passage instead of that unstable gate. I couldn''t tolerate this any longer and as if resonating with my own murderous intent a roar of war travels to my Soul coming directly from the Sword of Zenos. That army that marched with him across the universe hardens into one will once again, my eyes become bloodthirsty as the power of Death surges from me and accumulates in the sword amplifying from the murderous intent. With a swing of the sword, space vibrates, cracking continuously as Baldr creates a palm of millions of kilometers to defend himself, the large hand that descends seemed like a sky on its own, but as soon as my sword cuts forward, the hand splits in half and with that delay I lost him once again, one of his hands was also split in half with death energy contaminating his wound that he cuts without hesitation. "I''m going to kill you!" (me) "No, you''re going to try to kill me... you can''t destroy a supreme like ME!!" (Baldr) ------------------- Pov Zenos: Her body was smaller than mine, but her arms were now burning brightly, her clothes were fire itself as well as her hair were strands of white light, her eyes were orbs of fire that looked like two compressed Suns, the heat around her was unbearable and her every movement seemed like a solar storm. Fighting this Ascendant was like facing a Sun, just being close to her made my entire body suffer burns and each blow I landed caused a bit of damage to me at the same time if it was direct. Ranged attacks had almost no effect, her power was not flexible, I could easily understand that her characteristics were Light, Sun, Fire and Strength. Her power has no depth, but is concentrated becoming more destructive, unlike me who was much more flexible in attacks having hundreds of characteristics to use in each blow. But fighting from a distance became impossible and the best choice was to concentrate those up close, which left me at a certain disadvantage. While her 4 energy arms delivered continuous blows, her hands carried a large royal scepter that had a Crystallized Sun on it, this was a real Sun that had been refined, it was inferior to my Divine Weapon, but it was still strong serving to better concentrate her power. "(Attack now!)" (me) "< Titan''s Rage of Divine Eclipse >" (Sakura) "< Demonic Apocalypse Slash >" (Ragnar) "< Breath of Chaotic Night >" (Nix) "< Fangs of Unholy Blood >" (Orion) "< Leaves of the Tree of Darkness >" (Layla) "< Eye of the Anomalous Abyss >" (Hinata) "< Unholy Dragon God Slash >" (me) "< Law of the Sun: Solar Flare >" (Ascendant) The whole time I fought alone, making her gradually lose her caution towards the other Gods. I noticed that she was moving away from the other battles and pretended to resist and when we got far enough away for her to think she had won. Our battle seemed like a stalemate and it really was, her strength was similar to mine, at least under those conditions, as soon as I saw an opening I didn''t hesitate and gave the signal for everyone to attack. Unfortunately I didn''t have time to accumulate much power or she might be wary of my attack, but with everyone''s power added together the damage wouldn''t just be a sum but a multiplication several times over. Breath attacks that distort everything they touch, leaves that seem to fall from the stars themselves as if it were a rain of arrows, blood that accumulates in a large Dragon''s head with its teeth opening towards her, a sword formed by the intertwining of millions of forest branches, a blade that cuts through the void as if it came from hell itself and an eye that opens above the light revealing an endless void that pours in pure darkness like a waterfall over her. All the attacks were coordinated to happen at the same time and yet she still managed to react. Suddenly she crushed her own scepter in her hands, releasing the Sun sealed within, then she made this Sun collide with the illusory Sun behind her, generating an explosion of flaming light in all directions like a tsunami of destruction. Most of the attacks hit this flaming light first before reaching it or were destroyed directly before reaching it, only Hinata''s attack seemed to have managed to ignore this flaming light, that waterfall of darkness being unable to be illuminated, but the eye itself was blinking about to disappear. When everything calmed down, everyone was injured, I, who was closest, had my entire body burned and part of my bones destroyed, but when I looked, the Ascendant was still there, she was seriously injured at least. One of her arms was crushed while a dark spot pulsed on the side of her body, her hair of light disappeared, leaving only a bald spot full of light blue blood. "I didn''t want to have to use that attack, but I have no choice if even that didn''t work..." (me) Chapter 1582: Cap 1580: 4th Star Sword Art "I didn''t want to have to use that move, but I have no choice if even that didn''t work..." (me) She injured herself and managed to get rid of the attack or so I thought, but all her injuries healed in seconds while she looked at me as if nothing had happened, then 5 pairs of arms appeared on her back larger than her own body, the arms were burning while her Aura was stronger. "(Pretending to be powerful...)" (me) It was more than clear that that level of attack had its costs, the scepter she used as a weapon no longer exists as well as the illusory Sun that used to be behind her also disappeared, this must have impacted her combat prowess and not increased the power of her Aura. It was more than clear that she was putting on a mask of strength to intimidate, but that wouldn''t work, I waved to the others making them disperse to help in other fights. "(Are you going to do that?)" (Tarzor) "(No, it would be too risky... the new sword will do.)" (me) "(Be careful, I can feel a strange power inside it.)" (Tarzor) "..." (me) "Thinking about giving yourself up? Where are your servants?" (Ascendant) "They are my Familiars, but why talk about them when I find your pretense much more interesting?" (me) "Pretending? Pretending... hahahahah hahahaha..." (Ascendant) "Haha hahahahaha..." (Ascendant) She laughs hysterically, but what I feel in her Aura is pure incandescent rage, her eyes no longer have the greed they used to have, at least not yet, what is reflected in her eyes is the coldness of an assassin''s dagger. As she laughs, her wings also heal, but they are not made of light but of bright translucent feathers, each feather seems to have unique patterns emanating the power of the Law. "(Master, are you sure?)" (Nix) "(I''m sure, it''s not the time I need you yet.)" (me) I command Nix to leave while I continue to observe the Ascendant without moving to attack her, I didn''t want to take unnecessary risks, in fact the more time she loses the better for me. The blood inside my veins was being fused into my divination, its power accumulating little by little, the sword in my hands just waiting for the command. "Do you know how much time and effort it took me to manifest my Symbol of Mastery!?" (Ascending) "The Solar Scepter can be refined again, with a few centuries and a decent-sized Sun I can recover it, but the Symbol of Dominion..." (Ascending) "I have no idea..." (me) She looks at me once more, her Aura tripling in power full of intimidation, not only that but each of her large arms is forming a spear of light in her hands. "I planned to just kill you and refine your Soul until I acquired your Power of Chaos, but now that can wait... I''ll torture your body for ten thousand years before ripping out your Soul to be refined in the most brutal way I can find!!!" (Ascending) "(She''s gone crazy.)" (me) Without saying anything else after screaming so much, she appears faster than I could react, her several Spears are always pointed in a vital direction, I didn''t have time to defend everything. "(It''s going to take more than just speed.)" (me) Blood gushes from my body opening superficial wounds, this blood becomes tentacles that grab the Spears. "That Symbol of Dominion had a part of my Soul, IT WAS A PART OF ME!!!" (Ascending) "< Law of the Sun: Solar Ray >" (Ascending) She releases the Spears, letting their lights disperse as she walks away, still angry. A Ray of condensed white light comes out of her eyes in my direction, then a power of the Law condenses in front of the ray that arrives before me very quickly, forming a Rune. "< Path of Shadows >" (me) I let my body sink and come out in a different shadow, looking at the crater where I was before, even in this extremely resistant Divine World, such a large crater was still created. "(I still take a long time preparing the Blood.)" (me) "< 4th Art of the Star Sword: Universal Blood >" (me) The blood pulses in my veins and makes its way through my body, stepping towards the sword in my hands both inside and outside my body. Increasingly thick veins are formed on my Dragon arms, the power of Chaos altering the trajectory and shape of the veins to concentrate in my hands. Meanwhile, drops of blood as well as the blood mist gather on the blade of the Star Sword, in seconds the veins jump out of my hands as if proclaiming the Sword as a part of me, a part of my body and making the veins that jumped out twist as they attach themselves to the sword. The veins pulse, the blood bubbles as the blade absorbs all this blood turning red, the center of the blade gives way to an endless ocean of blood, it seemed to contain countless creatures inside waiting for the right moment to attack. The edge of the sword became a serrated red crystal with patterns of pulsating veins that run all over the blade pulsing with red energy while sounds of beating lightly echo from the sword. Meanwhile all the blood in my body dries up being sucked into the Sword, the problem with this is that a large part of my Vitality, the Vitality of a God, is also sucked away as the sword becomes a part of me. "(This is always difficult...)" (me) My Aura went out of control when it merged with the Sword''s Aura, my Star Sword alone has its own Aura while my Weapon has 2 Auras being a fusion of 2 celestial bodies, just fusing everything together in this sword was already something that took me a while to get used to and perhaps it wouldn''t even be possible without the help of the power of Chaos, now it became even worse with the addition of my Aura. "Do you think you can win like this!?" (Ascending) "Do you think I''ll fear someone who can''t even control himself!?" (Ascendant) "Of course..." (me) "< Law of the Sun: Solar Fall >" (Ascendant) There are some risks in using this technique, I awaken all the functions of my blood and make everything amplify, this means that my racial instincts are greatly strengthened, my main races are Dragon and Vampire, Dragons have ferocity while Vampires have blood hunger, these two combined with my own Aura turbulence hinders a lot in combat. I saw the Ascendant gathering power, but a great murderous intent was clouding much of my mind, a primitive hunger was tearing my Soul, if it weren''t for my Will it would be impossible to use this technique without losing control. "(Focus... I need to focus on someone... the Ascendant...)" (me) I just ignored the inconceivable sphere of flames falling from the sky, I quickly advanced towards the ignite, to begin with we were already close and I would reach it faster than this Sun could fall, but that was nothing I was thinking about, in my mind only a primitive desire for violence and hunger defined my desires. "< Law of the Sun: Solar Sword >" (Ascendant) As if seeing that something was wrong, the Ascendant made the falling Sun flow into a stream of flames that went towards her as it gathered in the bags of her large hands that fused too much into just one pair of arms. A sword formed from red and gold incandescent crystals, but even that took too long for her to do and I arrived too quickly, swinging the sword forward frantically a stream of blood flowed out condensing into a crystallized blood beast, a Crocodile whose tongue looked like a Serpent. She moved too late, her true hands tried to throw flames towards me, but that was nothing to me, just a weak attack. The crystal Crocodile bit towards her wanting to rip off her head, followed by my sword that was still moving creating a different crystal creature in attack by condensing the blood in this way. The first ones managed to bite her arms and penetrate her chest with their claws, boiling blood falls from her wounds evaporating in the process, but then her sword falls on all the red crystal creatures destroying them in pools of blood that return to me. My sword falls towards her releasing endless blood as it forms a tsunami in her direction, she responds by swinging her swords creating a sea of ??flames. Our blows transform the area into a sea of ??flames or a battlefield bathed in blood, each blow as brutal as possible, but in every situation she was the one pushed back while I forced the attack even though I was injured in the process. There was no such thing as worrying about pain or injuries, my sword moved with the desire to destroy and consume my enemy, my own body not caring. Each swing of the sword created infinite forms of blood, living creatures in attack, from wolves to Dragons advancing as if commanding an army with each swing of my sword. At some point a Dragon held his sword between his teeth while a Tiger with a scorpion''s tail bit one of his wings, his movements became unstable allowing me to hit his body with the sword directly for the first time. "Your blood is mine!!!" (me) Chapter 1583: Cap 1581: I am an Ascendant! As soon as my sword scratched his skin, it created a wound from his neck to his shoulder. I grinned with my teeth, eager to sink into that wound. Maintaining control in this state was really difficult, and I couldn''t completely block the influence of this violence on my Will. A Leech covered in Dragon Scales came out of the ocean of blood on the blade of the Sword, sinking into that wound. Blue, green, and purple blood flowed out of its wounds and was sucked into the sword. The Starfire around my Dragon body was slowly gaining red hues as my Aura became increasingly thirsty. "< Law of the Sun: Purification by Fire >" Blue flames rose from his feet, exploding in all directions, almost reaching the sky. I barely managed to escape, but the Leech was evaporated. She didn''t stay idle as she swung her sword at me once more, the blue flames around her seemed to be creating Runes that floated all over her body before gathering in her wounds, especially the one I caused. But seeing those flames didn''t stop me from advancing against her again, too bad the flame sword held by the large arms behind her kept getting in my way. With each strike, waves of fire and blood particles spread in all directions, a blood beast was crushed with each strike and it only took a few minutes for us to exchange thousands of blows. Rivers of blood and red clouds of evaporated blood from the defeated creatures were flowing towards my sword as they surrounded my body, a cycle of creation and destruction before rebirth began like this. Our battle was only getting more and more intense, at that moment she had already realized that there was no way to heal the wounds made directly by my sword, theoretically not even my sister Natasha whose core power revolves around healing can recover from this type of wound, my sword does not only hurt opponents, my sword hurts their existences. I can cut people, Golems, Ghosts, Spirits, Gods, Anomalous Dragons and even the Universe itself. My sword carries the essence of what blood means, the source of all life giving rise to infinite creatures, but also the end of all life representing the end of all creatures, life and death are concepts contained in blood. Everything I cut will bleed, everything that was created can be destroyed, everything that is alive can be killed, there is no invincibility within the cycle of nature. Of all my 4 sword techniques, this one is not the strongest, but it is the most dangerous. It cannot kill an enemy with a single blow, but it can eventually lead any enemy to death. It was also created to be used in battle continuously. The only and perhaps greatest flaw of this technique would be the awakening of violence in its wielder. Even I can barely resist it. I use my Will to keep my focus on the enemy and, at most, fight based on instinct, unable to use any skill, magic or technique in conjunction. I became a bloodthirsty Berserk who could not stop swinging my sword. That is why I had to push my Familiars away. I could not guarantee that I would not cut my sword in their direction. The seconds became minutes that advanced without stopping until hours passed. My battle against the Ascendant never stopped for even half a second. My Dragon body had several burns under the Starfire that covered me. The Ascendant on the other hand only had 6 wounds of which most were light with the heaviest being the one I did first from her shoulder to her neck. She was much more careful since then, but she couldn''t stop all my attacks, even evaporating the blood was no use, the vapor gathered in red clouds that started from my body as it entered the sword, only the total destruction of the blood was possible to diminish my power or break this technique, which in itself was difficult to do. My blood contains the Power of Chaos, it is not created or destroyed, but in eternal transformation, from liquid it solidifies into crystallized blood creatures that when defeated are transformed again into blood or turn into vapor returning to me. This battle would never end, the blood creatures were born and died for hours like an eternal wave of monsters, there was no end and at every opportunity my sword sank against the enemy, my eyes bloodshot and my Aura with boundless ferocity. Even my enemy after so long must have noticed the characteristics of my attack, they are too obvious to notice after so much repetition, but there was nothing I could do when I had no control over myself to disguise these things. "< Law of the Sun: Red Giant >" (Ascendant) Suddenly her eyes were glowing red, she turned her great flaming sword towards herself, piercing her chest, but instead of death, the blue flames that created the runes keeping her wounds minimally stabilized, suddenly became incredibly more intense red flames that pulsed explosively, going in all directions, creating a dome of expanding red flames. In seconds, thousands of kilometers were washed by these red flames, but with how resilient this Divine World is, the damage was not as devastating as it would be outside of here. All the blood creatures turned into red mist after evaporating, even my body was horribly burned and even so I advanced amidst the flames, my sword finally reached the Ascendant who was clearly surprised that I had come to her amidst the flames, in the most destructive place. Without hesitating or thinking about anything else, my sword pierced the side of her body, aiming upwards. This time it wasn''t a cut, but rather the entire sword penetrated. "AAAAHHHH!!!" (Ascending) She screamed, but I didn''t care. I twisted the sword inside her body as I advanced, sinking my teeth into her neck. The two large arms that were behind her released the flaming sword, focusing on striking my back. Each blow was heavier than the last and yet seemed light compared to my desire to destroy her. Completely ignoring the pain, I continued biting her, regardless of the burns or the blows. When she was close to being killed, or more precisely when I thought she was dead, a formless power appeared in all directions, crossing space to crush my body on the ground. This blow was something that I felt strongly in my Soul. Ironically, it also made me recover some of my sanity. With my Vision supporting me, I undid my technique to focus on healing my injuries. "I can''t let her die here even if she failed." "Where are you!?" (me) Suddenly the Ascendant I was facing was floating inside a cube made of the power of reality, there were 6 Runes each emanating a different Power of Law, each Rune was on a different side of the cube. The red flames that had previously taken over the entire area disappeared, what was left was only a deep handprint for thousands of kilometers, when I looked up I saw a colossal shapeless silhouette looking down, there were no eyes on his featureless face, but I was sure that this was not his true body. The cube containing my opponent was in the palm of his hand, space seemed to fight against the existence of this cube and this silhouette, all the Divine energies of this place were trying to crush it without success. "Until next time, God of Chaos..." "Who are you!?" (me) "I''m an Ascendant!!!" Without saying anything else he disappeared, his silhouette only brightened until there was nothing left of him, but the cube had its 6 Runes flashing and causing the space around it to crack until it reached a critical point where it was crushed with the cube being dragged as if it were being dragged inside before the space instantly closed under the collision of the various Divine energies. "What was that?" (me) "Who was he?" (me) "That was a level 4 Ascendant, one of the founders." (Akatosh) "..." (me) Without me expecting it, Akatosh had blindly descended upon me from the sky. He was in his Dragon form at first, his size so massive that I looked like an ant compared to him. But soon he returned to his human form and I noticed that his arm had fallen completely crushed, one of his eyes was missing with a large hole in its place, and his body was covered in wounds. "He took my opponent as well as yours, that bastard!!!" (Akatosh) "The other fights!?" (me) "Calm down, most of them are already, the others won''t take long, the problem is Baldr." (Akatosh) "What''s Baldr''s problem?" (me) "He was taken too." (Akatosh) Looking around my vision became blurry, there were simply too many energy fluctuations for my vision to comprehend, but using my Aura I was able to separate things and comprehend the situation, my Mother was the most visible, red clouds surrounding her as her sword dripped golden blood, her Aura was monstrous filled with killing intent and for some reason I could almost see millions of silhouettes of soldiers surrounding her. "Don''t go near her now, she''s not happy about Baldr being taken." (Akatosh) "Where did he go...?" (me) Chapter 1584: Cap 1582: I didnt expect him to move Pov ????? (???): I was standing in the middle of space, there weren''t as many stars around me as I would have liked, what there were in every direction were cracks that seemed small, but in truth if seen up close they would be bigger than entire Galaxies. Then my eyes shifted to the solar system below me, the flow of Demonic power running through each planet altering the natural flow and even the position of the Planets, the Sun that became a white star smaller than it should be, resurrecting a Sun is unnecessary work. "Honey, you don''t look happy, what happened?" (Mom) "I needed 1 month to resurrect this Sun and now I''m going to spend another 3 days transforming it, during that time I could have finished refining this fragment of the Universe before it broke free..." (me) "Why think about it like that, haste is the enemy of perfection, you''re doing what I should in the shortest time possible, worrying like this is useless." (Mother) "I know, but our time is not infinite, I won''t be able to refine the entire universe and besides that we still don''t have time to waste." (me) While I was thinking, a flapping of wings sounds next to me while a beautiful woman hugs me lovingly, making my mood improve, having a mother who loves you like this makes any situation easier. Looking at her now, her appearance is even more beautiful than the day I was born, her long hair tied in braids down to her waist, her blue skin and her golden horns. "Why don''t you tell me more about this?" (Mother) "I can''t, this isn''t the time and this universe isn''t..." (me) "I know, I know... it''s not the right place, so why don''t we leave already?" (Mother) "You are already a God and I am... what is an Ascendant again?" (Mother) "A false God, more power and control than a normal God, but loses the ability to grow naturally, but still serves you since you were unable to ascend." (me) "To answer your previous question, I can leave, but I would still like more preparation." (me) "We already have thousands of planets, thousands of solar systems, hundreds of Galaxies that make up all the Fragments of the universe you acquired, so why continue?" (Mother) "You spend too much time thinking, but a single action weighs more than all that thinking, you must be resolute, Davoth." (Mother) "(Your problem is this instant resolution to do everything...)" (me) Sigh "(She''s completely crazy...)" (me) This woman seemed more balanced when she was close to death, after that I realized how crazy she was. The Gods of this universe broke a Taboo and went to war, everyone died or fell asleep near death and this woman managed to somehow create a Ritual to give birth to a Demonic Demigod, created a religion taking advantage of the chaos in a Kingdom in ruins before convincing everyone to sacrifice themselves for the ritual, all this just because she wanted to be a mother and couldn''t get pregnant. The degree of insanity of the extremes she reaches is very worrying and her thought process makes logical leaps the size of planets to the point where I can''t even guess what she can do. "Don''t look at me like I''m talking nonsense, just think if all this preparation is really necessary or if you''re going beyond what is necessary." (Mother) "..." (me) I can''t deny that I''ve already gone beyond what I needed to, but for everything that''s yet to come, it''s best to be as prepared as possible... Ding! <[ The System warns about the Ascendants discovering Zenos'' whereabouts and identity ]> . . <[ The System requests your continuation in the current plan ]> "But what''s going on!?" (me) "What did he do this time!?" (me) I just spoke but got no immediate response, what appeared in my mind were images of Zenos'' battle against an Ascendant as well as the interference of someone worrying. "Damn! Damn! Damn!!!" (me) I punch space that makes everything crack for thousands of kilometers, my strength almost opening a rift in the universe that I''m still remodeling. "You really can''t send me?" (me) Ding! <[ The System reminds you of your loss in Authority in your latest failure to fulfill your responsibilities ]> . . . <[ The System will not provide any additional information or assistance beyond the pre-established limits ]> "..." (me) "(So I still have no choice but to use Hell...)" (me) "Honey, what''s wrong? You started talking to yourself all of a sudden." (Mother) "(Why is she looking at me so pitifully?)" (me) "I was talking to..." (me) Sigh "(How do I explain about the System...?)" (me) "I was having a conversation with a co-worker, it seems I don''t have as much time as I thought." (me) "(I thought I was lucky to be sent to this place...)" (me) "Once I finish refining this last fragment, we''ll leave. Until then, you need to finish your Mastery Symbol like I taught you." (me) "But it''s so difficult... it''s also very uncomfortable. It feels like there''s something pressing down on my Soul..." (Mother) "Use the item I gave you. It was something I created by collecting a trace of the Power of Chaos. It will make it easier for you to become a Level 3 Ascendant." (me) "Alright, alright... I''ll go back to training. But don''t think I''ll forget about you. I''ll bring you a snack later. You''ve been neglecting your diet." (Mother) "(But I don''t even need to eat. I''m a God.)" (me) "Thank you." (me) The System sent me to a good place, this Universe is collapsing and from the effects I observed I can understand the reason for the war between the Gods of this place, someone tried to take control of the power of Time, a real idiot. Time is not something that can be controlled or touched by others, a constant that represents the foundation of creation itself, just as Space cannot be manipulated as much as other elements, it can only be shaped like the building block it represents, but it cannot be changed or interpreted in different ways, it is a unique concept just like free Time, Life and Death. I look around seeing another star go out and in a short time a new crack appears in the distance, they destroyed the Universe itself and with that slightly altered the flow of time here causing an acceleration during the collapse of the universe. Thanks to this, I spent the last 10 years collecting the Essences and Divinities of this universe, I managed to ascend to a God, I managed to transform my Mother into an Ascendant and even gather enough Divinities to create complementary Laws for Lara to become a level 2 Ascendant. In the process, I managed to become an Anomalous God by taking advantage of the traces of Chaos Power that appear during the collapse of a universe. I may not be able to control this power, but I can still shape it into something useful by transforming it into something else, but just finding it is already difficult. "After forging the Universal Fragments together into an Anomalous Golem, I can take one more step in the plan and leave." (me) "..." (me) I look into the distance, I can still see his pain when I close my eyes, I wasn''t able to understand anything back then, I wasn''t able to understand who I was. Ding! <[ The System warns you not to lose control again ]> "Don''t worry, I didn''t fall for my emotions again." (me) ----------------- Pov Hades: I was very tired after having managed to close that gate, but I still had to fight, the Ascendants who were attacking, no matter how weak they were, had the power above a Demigod. They all had Light powers with few having fire powers, but it was still a long battle, if it weren''t for Alice and Vanessa distributing their power to heal me as well as the others, I would have died embarrassing the master. The Enemies were many and the battle lasted for hours, my claws burned every time I hit the target, my mouth burned as soon as my teeth sank into them, my attacks were the most effective with Samara right behind using her chains. She seemed to be having fun killing them, she also seemed to be collecting or sealing them in her chains, I''m not sure what she''s doing, but it would be impossible for her to betray her master. After hours and hours of combat, everyone was fighting tirelessly, but we still had many injured and dead, people from the Dungeon died by the dozens, the Dark Demons that Dante converted from the enemy army were the most affected, they were greater in number and their combat power was weaker, 2 thirds of them died during the combat. Among the Demigods there were only two deaths, but they must be able to Rebirth, as for the few Lesser Gods that remained behind, they were the least injured and were also the ones who killed the most enemies. In the end, after the death of the last enemies, everyone was exhausted but we were still waiting for an answer about the Gods'' combat, no one knew anything, there was no way to enter the space they created. "I hope you''re okay, master..." (me) Chapter 1585: Cap 1583: Price of Power Pov Ibuki: I was lying down breathing hard, I didn''t expect to have a fight like this so soon, I couldn''t even move my body when E?rica approached me putting my arm around her neck. "You were reckless." (E?rica) "..." (me) I didn''t have the strength to answer, I was too tired, I could feel the Power inside me empty and even my Divinity was vibrating as if it could break at any moment. I only moved my eyes, I was on an asteroid in the middle of what was once a planet, but from now on it''s just a collection of asteroids. "How is she?" (Kira) "Alive." (E?rica) "..." (me) "That''s all I need to know, take it." (Kira) "Will it work now that we''re Goddesses?" (E?rica) "Yes, it actually amplified the effects, give it to her to drink." (Kira) While I was listening to their conversation, Kira threw a vial to E?rica who opened the vial, the smell was something I recognized very well, after exchanging a few words with Kira, she pushed the vial between my lips to drink it one way or another. A thick liquid full of power filled my mouth and went down my throat deliciously, it was Zenos'' blood, in a few seconds I was able to recover at least a little. I replayed everything in my mind about the hours-long fight against that thing, then I looked around until I found Diana, the wounds on her back were serious, but what caught my attention the most was what was in front of her among the rubble of this planet. It was an Anomalous Dragon, there was only one of them and even so it was almost impossible to fight this bastard 4 against 1. The power of this bastard was so strong that we were unable to defend ourselves completely and at most we could delay the blows by giving him time to dodge, our own attacks had little effect on him and we could only accumulate the damage while preparing large attacks to launch at the same time at the end. "Is he dead...?" (me) "No, but we managed to seal his consciousness using E?rica''s curse." (Diana) "It won''t last forever, but we have enough time to finish sealing him." (E?rica) "Look at his wounds... they''re healing..." (Diana) We all looked at his body, he was clearly recovering quickly, it seems that all the damage we caused was useless, if he wakes up now we could end up dead. "How did Zenos fight against these things?" (Kira) "Our own Divinities had limited effect, the branched power we got from him was what caused these injuries." (Diana) "Yes, that''s why we came here, if I''m right, this is just a scout, he was watching Zenos, that''s why when we arrived he didn''t notice us, his focus was elsewhere." (E?rica) "What are we going to... do now...?" (me) "I''m going to build a Divine Seal using our 4 Divinities as the base and the Power of Chaos contained in Zenos'' blood as the core, this Seal will have to be a curse to work even on his Soul." (E?rica) "Then we should do it now and then take him to Zenos, we were lucky to find his tracks by coincidence." (Diana) "It wasn''t a coincidence, someone showed us the way, am I right?" (Kira) "Is there anyone else here!?" (me) "In position!" (Diana) "..." (E?rica) Even though my body felt weak, I struggled to stand up. The power of Zenos'' blood was still helping me recover, but I was in no condition to fight. It was at that moment that an Elf appeared. He had blue skin and a single chest on his head. He was short, only about 1.50 meters tall. "You are sharp at noticing. I''m sure you didn''t notice me specifically. Maybe you were too obvious with the clues." "Who are you!?" (Diana) "I''m nobody, just an envoy. Unfortunately, I can''t stay any longer." "< Open >" Suddenly, chains appeared around his neck. The chains stretched through space, seeming to bring something. Then, cracks appeared before skeletal hands pulled the fragments of space inward, opening space for a bone gate, releasing a horrifying presence. "Thank my lady by handing over this enemy of yours to her to add to her collection." The gate opens and that person smiles in our direction before disappearing inside the portal that closes behind him with the space recovering as the gate disappears. We all exchanged glances, the same thought going through our heads, that gate and horrifying energy only mean one thing. Hell "Callidora." (Kira) "Yes... she manipulated us..." (me) "But in a way that was good." (Diana) "This might not be the only one, we have to hurry and get out of here." (E?rica) It was more than clear that we were used by Callidora, that is not pleasant to know, but at least we gained something from it, we discovered that there was still at least one Anomalous Dragon in the universe, we also got rid of it. She certainly wanted something, but at least this time it favors us. "Follow my command during the sealing." (E?rica) ----------------- Pov Alice: Just now we were seeing Zenos'' suffering, the consequences of having used the power of his new technique. "(This is worse than before during his training...)" (me) Zenos was in his Dragon form, but his scales were all broken, red Holy Power was evaporating from his body along with the smell of blood forming a red mist around him. His eyes were red and just getting closer to him, closer than 10 kilometers was enough to make anyone''s blood heat up to boiling point. All the veins in his body move so wildly and powerfully that every time they collide with each other shockwaves emerge from his body, this happens all the time. His body looks dry and full of wounds, mainly burns, but his regeneration seems to be ineffective as none of his wounds show signs of recovery. "Why isn''t he healing!?" (me) "Because his healing power comes from the blood aspect of his power, that was exactly what he pushed beyond the limit." (Adella) The mist of red Holy power was around him, but it wasn''t dispersing or spreading, it was just accumulating; as time passed, traces of the power of Life and Death were increasingly noticeable within. "This isn''t good..." (Adella) "Trust the Master." (Hades) "What''s going on?" (me) "..." (Samara) At that moment the Goddess of Blood appears next to us. She was walking closer to Zenos, but as soon as she reached where we were, she was stopped by Samara, who stretched her arm in front of her. "What are you doing?" (Goddess Selene) "Politely asking you not to interfere." (Samara) "He is my son. Right now, his Soul is being corroded by the collision of the powers of Life and Death. His body is overloaded, healing itself at the same time that the damage is being done, making it impossible to recover from the oldest injuries. Yet you want me to just stand there and watch!?" (Goddess Selene) "Yes, that''s why I''m telling you to stay away if you don''t want to see." (Samara) "You''re too bold to stand in front of me." (Goddess Selene) "You''re not the first Goddess who would go against it." (Samara) "Do you think you''re going to make me go against you with such a weak performance?" (Goddess Selene) "..." (me) I looked around, all the Gods arrived and were just watching the Dragon God also arrived next to Goddess Selene and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Wait, there must be a reason, right?" (God Akatosh) "..." (Samara) "She won''t tell, he asked her not to tell." (Niryna) "Tell what?" (Goddess Selene) Niryna also approached with her 3 Demons following behind, but the one all the Gods were looking at was not any of the 4 but that tiny translucent woman sitting on top of Niryna''s head. "So much Divine attention... hahahaha..." (Callidora) "..." (Samara) "Don''t look at me like that, the boy''s wishes don''t matter to me, besides, they won''t interfere, they don''t have the ability." (Callidora) "..." (God Akatosh/Goddess Selene) "(What did you do this time, Zenos...?)" (me) "The idiot is refining his Divine Weapons using the powers of Life and Death, he''s infusing them with the power of the Law, this will be his only chance to do so since he''s paying the price for using a technique that hurts even the Universe itself." (Callidora) "Even if you get close, even if you''re Gods or stronger than him, you''ll still be hurt." (Callidora) "..." (Samara) "Why does he need to do this?" (God Akatosh) "Because he almost had to use a technique he hadn''t mastered and he must have thought of a way..." (Callidora) "Please stop... my master wouldn''t like to be disturbed at this moment and I hope all the Gods respect his wish." (Hades) "..." (Samara) "(They''re hiding something...)" (me) I look away from them and look back at Zenos, that''s when I saw his Shadow, stars were shining weakly, almost imperceptibly, I also saw Tarzor''s eye opening revealing the outlines of a tree inside. I couldn''t understand what was happening, but I was sure of one thing, he was being reckless again. Chapter 1586: Cap 1584: You do not have this ability Niryna''s POV: During most of the battle I was being protected and I had little combat experience, always 1 on 1. I had few opportunities to face a real challenge, I was also not a target for many of them, but I could not understand why most seemed to avoid confronting me. Even though the battle lasted for hours and there were many deaths, I did not feel like I had truly fought, it seemed more like I had gone through a practical test after my training. When everyone was exhausted with everyone treating their injuries as well as helping those who were most injured, it was at that moment that Samira and Hades opened a portal that they stabilized using some fingers that they tore off, I had never seen a portal that needed a body part like that, with the exception of Hell. In the end, many advanced to see the master as well as the other Gods, those who stayed behind were responsible for treating the most injured and those volunteered to help. I don''t have any healing skills, none of my Demons know anything about healing, so I didn''t hesitate to enter that place. As soon as I entered I felt a colossal pressure on me, it was scary and seeing how everything around was absurdly large. I didn''t know where to go, but suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder and before I knew it I was already facing a massive mountain that took me a few seconds to realize was Zenos'' body. I tried to fly, but it seemed like this place was trying to suppress me and it only stopped when, encouraged by Callidora, I put on a sacred item carrying a blessing from Zenos. When I tried to fly again I saw E?nos writhing in clear agony, the shock waves traveling out of his body and that red vapor are really bad, I know that just by looking. "He really is an idiot..." (Callidora) "What is he doing?" (me) "You don''t need to know." (Callidora) After a while we found the others having a discussion, even with the Gods, but it didn''t seem like Callidora was telling everything. In the end everyone could only continue watching him, but even though he was clearly in agony, he didn''t scream once. "What should we do now, Baldr escaped." (me) "This problem is simple, we just need to wait for this idiot to wake up or be forced to wake up." (Callidora) ----------------- Zenos'' Pov: Right after the enemies retreated I could already feel the consequences of having used the 4th sword technique, I didn''t want to use it exactly because I understood these consequences. My blood was heating up inside my veins and this was a serious problem especially since there shouldn''t be any blood inside my body. The blood I was feeling was just blood energy, acting on those I deactivated this sword technique all the blood had already evaporated from the sword, there was no such thing as recovering the blood I had spent. In fact I was already feeling a reaction from the universe, my Divine Weapon returned to my body, but it was not alone, I could feel traces of the power of Life and Death, this time it was even clearer than during training, but the truth was even more than I expected. It was at this moment that I could no longer control my mind and body, I tried to instill my mind into my Will with mixed results as the suffering only increased. Universal Blood was not a name I gave lightly, it was something that represented the technique in its most fundamental concept, but it came with 2 problems that I discovered during training. I was invading the realms of other Gods such as Life and Death, I was breaking Taboos in ways that would be impossible without the help of the Power of Chaos, but I am still committing Taboos. Touching the power of Life Touching the power of Death Wounding the Universe itself These traces of the Power of Life and Death are punishments, they were not produced by me, they were sent by the Universe itself to punish using the same power that I dared to touch. The level of agony and torment could not be described, my body was being ravaged to the point where I could not heal myself and I would not die, even my Soul was being tormented to the point where it would not collapse. Even so I decided to continue with what I had decided during training, I would use the power of the Law to refine these two energies into my Divine Weapon. But I couldn''t concentrate, time seemed slow while only the pain was uninterrupted, my definition of time seemed more than just confused while all I felt was this torment. But it was at that moment that I began to draw the power of the Law within Tarzor, tree branches coming out of him as it penetrated my body being the medium through which this power of the Law flows to me. As I was preparing to begin, I suddenly found myself standing between the Purple Sun and the Shattered Moon in the sky, in front of me two women with frightening looks, one wearing white and the other wearing black, both covering their faces. "Goddess Mavis... Goddess Kalistos..." (me) When I looked at the two Goddesses I felt an instinctive fear, I couldn''t feel any Aura or presence. They had been looking at me all this time, but it seemed like time was not well defined here, I felt as if that brief moment when I saw the two of them had lasted hundreds of years, the pressure of their gaze was an endless torment trapped within me. "You are not here with your Soul or body, only your will exists, what you see or hear are just representations that we create." (Mavis) "Your boldness is admirable, I have never met someone who searches for me with such fervor." (Kalistos) As they spoke, I was getting closer not because I wanted to, it seemed like I was being pulled continuously until I was facing them. I could not see any of their expressions, but I felt their eyes judging my every action, all this time I had not looked at myself yet, when I did I realized that I was a disembodied Dragon silhouette. "I will not go around the subject too much, you know what you are doing, so tell me, why shouldn''t we kill you now?" (Mavis) "My mother also has access to the power of Life and Death." (me) "Your mother has this ability and achieved it through merit, she didn''t take detours like you." (Kalistos) "..." (me) "Because you are young, your lack of knowledge can be overlooked, but the warning and punishment were delivered several times without us sending a Taboo Hunter." (Mavis) "But you didn''t try to grasp the power of the Essence, but instead tried to restrict it in Laws." (Kalistos) "I needed something to use against the Ascendants and the Anomalous Dragons." (me) "Your audacity to still try to argue is worthless to us." (Kalistos) "As I said before, you don''t have the ability to understand our power, much less use it." (Mavis) "You possess the power of chaos, child... your power is incompatible with ours, you exist among us and will always be so." (Mavis) "You cannot create or destroy anything, you are only a transformer, you change, evolve, alter and distort all creation." (Kalistos) "Do not try to act beyond your capabilities, do not invent reasons for it again or try to argue against us." (Mavis) "We may be Goddesses here, but this is nothing more than one of several facets of our core aspect." (Kalistos) "There is no creature in existence that can understand or use our power to its fullest, which forces us to embody these facets with different consciousnesses." (Mavis) "If I do not have the power to create a nature circle, I cannot use my full power." (me) "Your 4th sword strike can still be used, but you will pay a corresponding price." (Kalistos) "I do not mind a little pain, I have been through worse in the past, but I still need a power comparable to the Nature Circle." (me) Suddenly I felt a force passing through me and soon another joined in, devastating hands that were more than just my Soul, even so I didn''t scream, my Will is incapable of that. "It seems you don''t understand, we are being kind in showing your inability to use our power and nothing you do or say will change that." (Mavis) "To use Tarzor''s power I need that kind of power, I know I''m being stupid and insistent, I also know that I may not be able to, but without that power how can I fight what is to come!?" (me) "If you are part of a greater whole as you say, if you are such intrinsic aspects of creation as you claim, then you know the System and know what it did." (me) "..." (Mavis) "..." (Kalistos) "I was manipulated regarding the changes that happened in Tarzor and I was also being prepared for something, this was something I suspected since before I became a God and that now I am certain." (me) "If you''re going to do things like this, then it should be possible to help me a little, me getting stronger is in your best interest at the very least." (me) "That doesn''t matter, your incapacity is related to the power that makes up your core, not something we did." (Kalistos) "But it''s not impossible to come up with a rough solution..." (Mavis) Chapter 1587: Cap 1585: Hellish Passage Pov Davoth (???): I didn''t know what was happening, I didn''t understand what all those screams were, my vision was blurred by panic, but I still remember his tears as he held the sword, his scream was filled with more despair than I was able to comprehend even now, so much pain, so much suffering broke my heart, it was as if that sword would be better pointed at him than at us, when the sword descended my vision darkened and mysteriously what I felt was a light energy while I was being hugged, I felt good. But my last vision as everything went dark was him, those eyes and expression will never disappear from my mind. Suddenly everything went dark again, I smelled blood mixed with a floral scent, that''s when I realized I was unconscious and I started to open my eyes letting the light of the world take me out of this darkness of the past. When I opened my eyes I was seeing a kind smile that calmed my emotions and made me relax, it''s been a long time since I woke up so well. "Did you sleep well, dear?" (Mom) "No, but you make everything better." (Me) My mom runs her hand over my head, gently combing my hair. I was laying with my head on her lap, it was as if nothing in the world could bother me. Compared to that nightmare, it was as if I was in paradise. Unfortunately, when I looked past her to the sky, large cracks tore through the sky and large rifts were open with space distorting inside. "..." (Me) "(Such a good moment... ruined by a slap of reality...)" (Me) I raised my body as I looked around, bodies and blood everywhere, none of them as blatant as the 3-headed giant that had been torn apart. His blood formed a purple lake where the other bodies floated. I was on a small mountain surrounded by flowers with a clear view of the carnage below, a carnage of my own making. "Did something happen while I was sleeping?" (me) "No, it seems like you killed all the extremists." (Mom) "We''ve thought about this before and let our guard down, but after today I don''t think it will matter even if there are more of them, we won''t be here anymore." (me) "(Actually they came at a good time.)" (me) The religions of this universe fell into 3 types after the fall or disappearance of the Gods, the first was those who sought new Gods, it was using those who were desperate for some God to save them that my mother manipulated by performing that ritual where I was born. The second type are those who deny the fall of their Gods even when you show their bodies or what''s left of the bodies of those Gods in front of them, they are simply in denial of reality. Meanwhile, the third type are the worst, they are extremists, they are those who realized that the Gods have fallen and their universe is in decline until annihilation, but still chose to adhere to the end believing that it is right for everyone to fall along with the universe, they do not care about their own death or that of their companions, they believe that only when everything that exists dies will there be a new beginning. They are not wrong, but they took it to the extreme to justify massacres as if the end of the universe would accelerate as the number of deaths, they also seek to destroy anyone who has any hope of surviving whether by fleeing the universe, trying to be reborn as a God or even trying to heal this universe, of course these are all horrible options and none of them would be able to repair this universe, especially now that I have been able to refine most of it out. "What are we going to do now, dear?" (Mom) "We''ll ask for passage to another place, but that will cost a price." (Me) "(It seems I''ll have to call Callidora...)" (Me) Looking at the giant again, he wasn''t something born in this universe, they used an entire world as a sacrifice to summon him, a Demonic Creature without a brain, one of those who achieve great power in Hell while losing everything they are, becoming less than monsters, creatures of pure destruction. "" (Me) My body still has some wounds, that giant was very strong to the point of being able to kill Gods even without the power of Essences or Laws. I wave my hand ignoring the damage to my body, it was minimal since I had time to heal, my Divinity balances the Demonic and Holy power in harmony, a Magic Circle forms two colors and spreads in hundreds of variations connected to each other. All the blood below burns along with the bodies in purple-red flames, instead of the crackling of the fire what resounds are endless laments at the same time that the Souls rise from the bodies surrounded by pure colors that seemed to burn their Souls as if it were purifying them of all taint. An impure energy was refined for 1 whole day sweating the bodies of those below until no trace of them remained, so that the Souls were now clean and everything that made up their last lives was purified such as memories, emotions, consciousness and power, everything was refined becoming the second mass of energy. "This took too long..." (me) "" (me) One was full of impurity as if it were the smoke of cruelty while the second was the Impurity of all living beings, the two masses of energy are sucked by my ritual, their energies spreading the purest Demonic energy. The entire Ritual shrinks as it takes the shape of a square gate, the space inside it begins to burn, annihilating the space itself inside it, from where a gate appears behind the flames, a gate made of bones with sharp teeth on the door frames. The gates open by themselves, endless laments resound like whispers in the wind that feels like a blade against my skin, a horrible energy spreads causing the planet where I am to break, space was shaking and new cracks in the universe were appearing around this planet as if the space in this place was sinking into an area of ??fragility because of the weight on top. With the gate opening, what was inside was revealed. It was a reality of pure fire. It was impossible to see anything but the flames. But I didn''t worry as I walked to the front. My mother stood up and walked beside me as if curious about that gate. When I stood in front of the gate, I didn''t go in and waited. I knew I had been noticed. That thing would recognize my presence instantly. "What are we waiting for? Weren''t we supposed to use that passage?" (Mother) "Not without an agreement, right Callidora?" (Me) "Callidora? What''s this?" (Mother) "I like your new mother, boy... she''s simple." (Callidora) It didn''t take long for her to appear. This time, she was wearing the guise of a beautiful, dignified middle-aged woman. Her appearance was slightly different, but I knew who she was trying to imitate. "How many times have you used the same trick? Do you think I''m going to get mad just because of that?" (me) "No, but I''ve always liked poking wounds, especially when they still hurt, right..." (Callidora) She''s not wrong, it still hurts, but I''m not the same weak boy I was back then, I''m not so helpless anymore and she won''t be able to. And disturb me with so little. "You know what I want." (me) "Payment first." (Callidora) I throw her the Souls of some of the Gods who were seriously injured in this universe as well as the Anomalous Dragon I found, all of this exceeds what I am asking in return, but no deal with her is fair. "Just this?" (Callidora) "If you don''t want it, all the Souls are still marked by me and can be sent to the reincarnation circle at any time." (me) "Alright, you''re not funny, I''ll give you both passage, but I hope you don''t interfere with my daughter." (Callidora) "She is not my responsibility." (me) "I hope you keep what you said or that little mother of yours will meet a much more interesting end than that woman." (Callidora) "..." (me) "Dear..." (Mother) "I may not be able to do anything to you, but be careful, I still have ways to cut off your access to all the universes." (me) "I wonder how the Void abyss would take the opportunity to welcome you after so long away." (me) "Don''t try to threaten me, boy, you don''t have that ability, don''t try to gain more leverage than you are." (Callidora) She may not be scared by my threats and that was expected, but I know she respects those who can still maintain their posture in front of her, in her view they are more interesting toys that she can watch for longer, entertaining her eternal boredom. "Come in and enjoy the trip to your exit, same rules as always, get to the exit and you''ll be able to leave as simple as that." (Callidora) While she was speaking I had already entered, in the distance the flames went out revealing a sea of ??Demons looking at me and my mother. "(Predictable...)" (me) "Mom, do as we agreed and don''t leave me." (me) "Do we need to defeat them all?" (Mom) "Don''t just walk past them." (Callidora) "It''ll be fun..." (Mom) Chapter 1588: Cap 1586: What did they do? "But it''s not impossible to come up with a rough solution..." (Mavis) I look at the Goddess of Life, her head was turned towards the Goddess of Death, no sound or movement happened from either Goddess for several minutes, but I didn''t dare speak or communicate with them, the pressure emanating from the two was getting worse and worse. "..." (me) Suddenly the bodies of the two flickered and something entered my body or more specifically my Will, I felt something traveling through me as it burned, it was an inconceivable pain. "This will solve your problem and now comes the punishment." (Kalistos) "Don''t go beyond your capabilities again, don''t enter the domains of Life and Death anymore." (Mavis) At that moment, the two disappeared, but that was just the beginning of what was to come. My Will was swallowed up in a sea of ??wills that were continually being struck. An absurd pain that was impossible to identify where it came from took over my consciousness, a type of pain that I had never known before. ------------------ The definition of time was truly relative. When I opened my eyes, I immediately realized that I was still in the Divine World with many pairs of eyes fixed on me, but none of that mattered as long as my mind was focused on something completely different. I could still feel the pain in my body and in my Soul, but that was something I was used to to a certain extent, types of pain that I was able to endure, with the only difference now being what I felt after the two Gods left. Clearly it hadn''t been more than a few days, but it was as if I had spent thousands of years in torment, experiencing a level of suffering that there was no getting used to, it was as if millions of claws and teeth were tearing at my Will for eternity, as if it would never stop. "..." (Alice) "..." (Ibuki) "..." (Selene) "..." (Ibuki) "..." (Niryna) "..." (Hades) "..." (Caitlyn) "..." (Callidora) I was frozen even though I had just woken up, I saw the others trying to talk to me, but I couldn''t hear them or rather, I could hear them and it was my mind that wasn''t able to understand their words. My entire mind and consciousness were focused on just one thing, trying to understand what it was that I felt, where that pain came from, how that pain was produced and how I should resist that suffering. I couldn''t figure anything out, that level of pain didn''t seem like much, but it was mind-blowing, I couldn''t even describe if I was being burned, torn, struck, pierced or crushed. I couldn''t describe anything, but regardless of whether that pain was real or not, none of that matters when the fact that I felt it at least is real, I couldn''t do anything about it and this frustration just adds salt to a recently opened wound. "Wake up!" (Catros) "That always works, you know?" (Catros) "I still prefer to use killing intent, the person wakes up quickly." (Akatosh) "I wish I had, the idea started with me." (Adella) "What are you..." (me) "ZENOS!!!" (Ibuki/Erica/Diana/Kira) "GIRLS!!!!" (me) I suddenly got kicked in the stomach and was thrown until I collided with a mountain that surprisingly didn''t break and I could see a crater, but none of that mattered, this stimulus made my mind jump and I realized that I was in an infinite cycle of thinking about a subject that I clearly don''t understand. When I look around I see many Gods around talking to each other, but they all looked like ants in my vision, which made me realize that I was still in my Dragon form, so I return to my more normal form, facing my wives who I hug, unloading all the longing I felt for them. Their warmth, their smell, their voice... I felt the effects of everything, I feel like I spent more time apart from them than together and I can''t deny it, as time went by and the group around us expanded more and more, the responsibilities of each one of us pushed us apart, the constant rush to get stronger and stronger for each new enemy that appeared pushed me even further away from them, before I realized they were no longer there and only the longing was a constant reminder of the time I didn''t spend with them. After a few minutes just hugging and kissing, I finally let them go, I wanted to talk to her more, but suddenly I noticed something weighing more and more on me and I realized it was this very Divine World that we built, looking at the other Gods I finally understood the reason why they were all here until now. "Did you finally notice?" (Selene) "Get us out of here, boy." (Hernoth) "Unfortunately, with or without Baldr, the war is not over. There must still be many from the Church of Light to fight against it and prepare for when Baldr decides to return..." (Catros) "That''s not a conversation to have now." (Selene) ------------------- After waking up, the Gods explained to me what had happened to me. Alice and Karina especially told me about the condition of my body. They are very strongly connected to me and must have felt that something was wrong. After everything was said, I knew what I had to do, but I didn''t know how to do it. They were all waiting for me to undo this Divine World. But even though I was the one who created this place, my power doesn''t even make up 10% of all this. After a few attempts, I realized that it wasn''t much different from the Divine Realms. The only really big difference was the blow I took. When this place was undone, all the Divine energies that make up this place collided with each other and exploded as they dispersed. When I thought it couldn''t get any worse, the universe once again claimed the surrounding area as its own, causing space to crush me, who created this entire place. I was feeling horrible, but we all had things to do, responsibilities to take seriously, and I was no exception. I did my best to return to Okan and back home. I wanted to be with my wives, but none of that helped. I had a lot of things to do about Niryna''s new companions, who were in charge of the Dark Demons that most of Baldr''s army had turned into. But those weren''t the things that stopped me. I was still receiving some kind of retribution from the universe, as if the space around me was made of glass, trying to cut me with every step. It was a real nuisance. "(What did you do?)" (Tarzor) "I don''t know what you''re talking about..." (me) "(Don''t mess with me!)" (Tarzor) Suddenly a silhouette that seems to be made of the universe itself, the silhouette of a Dragon, he puts his head in front of me, he seems irritated by something. "(I feel two energies penetrating my body, I could also feel several different things!)" (Tarzor) "(What did you do!?)" (Tarzor) "..." (me) "I don''t know..." (me) "(What did they do...?)" (me) -------------- Pov Baldr (Half Ascended): When I was dragged I could feel nothing but a tyrannical power holding me captive, I was unable to go against this power until I felt a pulse inside me connect to something, it was the power of the Law within me fitting together. It was at that moment that I opened my eyes to something different, I was in a room made of marble full of crystal columns, on the ceiling a sky of infinite stars and it was as if these crystal columns supported this sky. Around me were 3 thrones, they were not made of any material that I knew, but I could feel the Power of Nature restricted within them as if these 3 thrones could connect with the Universe itself. Each of these thrones was occupied by someone, each of them invisible with the distortion of the powers of the Law around the thrones and the one who stood in front of me was someone I knew by their eyes, their presence overflowing with fury. I stand up, I was seriously injured and would not recover so quickly, but I would not prostrate myself before another even in death, I serve only myself. "I failed to fulfill our agreement." (me) "But I did everything I could..." (me) The one in front of me raised his hand, his attitude may seem calm, but I can feel his innate killing intent directed at me, but I know that this is because of the Divine power that was not completely converted into the Power of Law. "You did not fail, quite the opposite, it was an unexpected success, now we know the strength of the Gods of that universe and the Bringer of Chaos has been found." (Vecnar) "..." (me) "You and your plan to open a passage was useful in marking the location of your universe, it also allowed me to realize that we are not the only ones keeping an eye on that place, there were Anomalous Dragons on guard." (Vecnar) "We can use them to weaken our enemies, let them attack, weaken those Gods and test how far the power of the Bringer of Chaos goes." (male voice) "This also gives us time to end the wars still going on." (female voice) "..." (Baldr) "I''ll leave that to you, I have somewhere to go." (Vecnar) The whole time I was ignored, the 3 of them talking and deciding things while ignoring my presence in that place. But that''s when I noticed the Vecnar cast their eyes in my direction and some of the crystal columns shine, the stars seemed to fall from the sky above as they descended towards me, a presence arising in me as if it needed those stars, it was the power of the Law within me. "You are still incomplete, just as I promised I will help in this process." (Vecnar) Chapter 1589: Cap 1587: I did a lot of things... It has been 2 days since the end of the battles between the Gods, many Gods are still hiding, not wanting to be part of either side, those who supported Baldr were defeated in large part while a few managed to escape temporarily. The Gods of War, the God of Beasts, the Goddess of Fairies and the God of Justice are hunting today, Justhos was enraged, his son was one of those who disappeared, but he was not taken like Baldr, but rather used an item to disappear, an item that carried the power of Law from what I heard. I suffered for a while the consequences of creating that Divine World, not only me, the other Gods felt some retaliation, but since I was the core of that place the worst fell on me, it was as if my body was constantly at the bottom of a deep ocean being crushed to the point that just moving was already a test of effort. Each step I took created cracks in the earth and in space itself as I walked to the point where I hid inside Okan where the effects were less. Right now I was in a small floating garden where the Star Palace used to be. I wanted to build a new one in this place and this was just the beginning of it all. The garden only had a few rare flowers that emanated the power of nature. I hadn''t started cultivating the crystal flowers that contain truly strong effects yet. In the middle of this garden there was only a small hut made in the style of the one I once had in the Blood Forest. This one was also built by me and my wives in a few hours. Now all of them were not here since they had some responsibilities. Since they had all become Goddesses, they needed to start their religions to root their Divinities in the universe and consolidate their identities as true Goddesses. They went to the Communal Temple to create their Divine statues and their Sacred Books. Fortunately, it seems that they have their doctrine clear in their minds. For a few more days I would be alone here while I recovered and waited for this retaliation from the universe to pass, but I have never been one to sit around doing nothing, my mind kept running through various subjects and the one I was focused on now were two things that had happened. "Why did you interfere?" (me) "It was the mother''s Wish, you know that." (Freya) "Where are they?" (me) "They haven''t emerged yet, their powers haven''t permeated all of Tarzor yet and their bodies haven''t formed yet." (Freya) "..." (me) In front of me there was no Freya, but rather a crystalline tree leaf that I could see through, she was beautiful, but her size was even bigger than me, Freya''s voice was coming out of that leaf while she was still with Tarzor. It seems that my last attempt to do something improper implied her involvement in the end. "Are you sure they don''t have a Soul?" (me) "Yes, at least it''s nothing compared to the Souls of other Gods, it seems empty as if it were just the branch of a tree, not the tree itself." (Freya) "More than once I''ve heard that they are just facets of a whole, they are parts not of an entity exactly but of fundamental concepts." (me) "I still can''t quite understand these things..." (Freya) "I can only understand superficially, I don''t really understand their depths, I just don''t have the foundation for it." (me) "(Don''t be an idiot kid, how can someone who has lived less than 100 years even begin to think about understanding the 2 foundations of existence?)" (Tarzor) "I must agree with Tarzor, even though I am intrinsically connected to the foundation of Life, I am not able to fully understand it, I am not able to even estimate how far my understanding has reached." (Freya) "I do not expect to understand these things, they have already rubbed it in my face that I am incapable of doing so." (me) While talking to Freya who was temporarily unable to leave Tarzor, he could not help but stick his Dragon head out of my shadow as if mocking me. I just look at him speaking briefly as the two Goddesses gave me fact-filled slaps in the face, then he returns to my shadow. "It seems I have something else to do." (me) "Yes, I hope I can be with you soon..." (Freya) "Me too..." (me) With that farewell the leaf disintegrates into pure energy that disperses into the surroundings, then I turn to look at that person who was still standing at the door of the hut. "Come in, we both know it''s past time to have a talk." (me) "..." (Niryna) The one at the door was Niryna, she was looking at me hesitantly, concern written all over her face, but she still came in and sat in front of me. Today she wasn''t accompanied by Callidora or her Demon Servants, I was sure Callidora must still be watching, but the simple fact that she didn''t show herself must be a request from Niryna, for her to be here alone and with that expression it wasn''t hard to imagine what she wanted to talk about. I was silent the whole time, I tried to talk to her on several occasions since she was born, but she ran away from me every time and even when she stopped running away she still didn''t try to bring up the subject, something I clearly wanted to know. After much insistence, I realized that she had to take the initiative to come to me. I had already shown my interest and concern, but I couldn''t force her to do something she wasn''t comfortable with, not about a subject that she was increasingly showing to be so delicate. I could only wait for her to take the initiative to tell me, but no matter how much I waited, the world around me wouldn''t stop moving, the enemies wouldn''t stop attacking, and I couldn''t always be at her disposal. "I''m glad you came." (me) "I''ve wanted to come... I''ve wanted to meet you for so long... I have so much to tell you... so much to ask... but..." (Niryna) "Don''t rush, speak at your own pace, I''m here to listen and I''m not leaving." (me) "Close your eyes, calm your emotions, and organize your thoughts before you start talking." (me) "..." (Niryna) Sigh Her expression was changing continuously and her Aura was a confused storm, I could see concern on her face and how much in her Aura anger, fear and insecurity were more clearly highlighted than other emotions. She takes a few deep breaths, 10 times slowly, I see that she still remembers what I taught her about how to calm down. Little by little her Aura becomes less turbulent, her emotions were still on the surface, but they were no longer out of control, her expression at the wells becomes less hesitant and in its place only calm or at least a facade of calm shows, she opens her eyes and I see a gleam of insecurity. "You know, I missed you so much, while we worked together, there were few times I could be by your side as you spent your last years in that hospital." (Niryna) "I knew as the years passed that your end was near, I didn''t want to accept it, but as the intervals between your comas became shorter and the time your eyes remained closed lengthened... I knew there was not much I could do..." (Niryna) Tears She looks at me, tears forming and falling as her unfocused eyes look at me as if she were looking at a memory. "My comfort was often seeing what you built, the games you created with so much love, the company you built and that I helped build alongside you." (Niryna) "Your games were beloved and your company was a landmark in the industry, all of this would become a memorial to you as well as a sweet memory for me." (Niryna) Tears "There was also the orphanage where we grew up, I could always go back there to continue taking care of other children like you did with me and like we did together after we grew up." (Niryna) "But then..." (Niryna) Tears Tears Tears Sigh "Everything disappeared... the company... the games... the orphanage... you..." (Niryna) Tears "Everything disappeared... there''s nothing left for me..." (Niryna) Tears She began to cry more and more, her emotions becoming more turbulent and intense, that''s when something arose in her Aura, anger. Her previously turbulent Aura began to burn with these emotions and the Infernal Power arising from within as if responding to these emotions. Callidora''s power wasn''t controlling her, it was resonating with her along with her own Power, she was clearly in a moment of great emotion, but her eyes were red with pure murderous intent as if she were going to kill everything and everyone her eyes could see. She was clearly remembering something, her eyes were on me, but it wasn''t me she was seeing, it seems she''s been through some really difficult situations since I died. I don''t know exactly what she''s been through or what she''s done, but I won''t judge, I''m sure it wasn''t as bad as the things I''ve done since my rebirth, no matter how much I try to justify myself about how my victims were criminals or horrible people, I''ve killed more than I can count, I''ve memorized people, tortured people and even destroyed some Souls. From how I''m seeing her reactions, it was clear that she''s been through bad things and hasn''t responded in a way she considers correct, I''m starting to see the reasons why Callidora chose her among the people associated with me. "I''ve done things... I did a lot of things..." (Niryna) Chapter 1590: Cap 1588: The best version of you... "I''ve done things... I''ve done many things..." (Niryna) Tears Her words, presence and actions don''t make any sense, each one being abnormally different. Her presence seems like someone ready to kill everything in sight like a true psychopath. Her words are those of someone full of fear and despair, as if everything that could possibly go wrong happened all at once. While her actions are calm, her words are one extreme while her Aura is at the opposite extreme, her calm actions stand out between these two extremes, it was as if I was facing three different people. "(How did I not realize this before, she''s already lost her mind...)" (me) I knew she wasn''t the most sane person, but seeing her falling into this degree of madness and not realizing it until now, I don''t know how I didn''t realize something that now seems so obvious. Even seeing her strangeness, I don''t approach her to comfort her and I don''t say anything either, I just let her continue, I need to better understand everything she went through before anything else. "You know, the whole world had changed, entire cities disappeared, as far as we could understand even environmental problems were solved, technology disappeared without a trace..." (Niryna) She stopped crying when she looked up, her murderous intent diminished by half, but her Aura became increasingly sharp as she seemed to be experiencing again everything she lived through her memories. "I, like many other people, searched for those weakest around us, people who were in hospitals or were very injured, sick or disabled." (Niryna) "The world was a mess, but we still managed to find out some things, all the people with some kind of disability, be it illness, mental condition or physical condition simply disappeared." (Niryna) "There were no signs of these people, I couldn''t find you and in the meantime I realized that I couldn''t find anything you built." (Niryna) "The company disappeared and all technology was erased, humanity returned to the primitive era, everything you built was erased from history... everything that represented you... everything I achieved by your side..." (Niryna) Tears She started crying again, her Aura was giving way to two emotions: sadness and anger, but her eyes were becoming more intense and red, it was like looking at a murderous monster. The strange thing was still her expression without showing any of that while her words became full of fragility. "Everyone was so selfish, only caring about themselves, monsters appeared and attacked people without reservation, we also found things called Dungeons like in the games." (Niryna) "At that point, countries and nations no longer existed, the most experienced people in combat were the first to react and discover that they could become stronger by killing either monsters or other people." (Niryna) "It was funny to see people''s true colors, the most beautiful men and women like TV artists, movie stars and models were all getting together with strong people, money was worthless and neither were their professions." (Niryna) "The police were based on who had the most power, the strongest became the center of the community, I didn''t want to kill even the monsters and so I tried to take care of the children without families, thus creating an orphanage, somehow it calmed me down by giving me a touch of familiarity." (Niryna) "The first few months were simple, everything was still settling down, fear and insecurity were soon replaced by ambition, curiosity and hope." (Niryna) "..." (me) For the first time her expression changed, it was one of contempt and ridicule, her Aura full of Infernal power was dripping with hatred like a volcano about to explode, her eyes were literally on fire as if they were passages to Hell. Her words were no longer weak either, the more she told, the speed and firmness with which she spoke became greater, she also began to ridicule the others a little. "Everyone discovered the system, those younger than 40 were the quickest to adapt, those most connected to video games were the first to make several discoveries and also the first to let the change in reality affect their minds, most died because they thought they were the chosen ones or special." (Niryna) "Those who had the least bit of character dying protecting the weak while those who were more ambitious and cowardly only chose fights they could win. You can understand who truly stayed in power, a big joke for everyone." (Niryna) "Also, many ancient religions emerged from absolutely nothing with idiots saying they heard the voices of the Gods or something like that. Religious fights became intense in a short time with each retard saying that their religion was the right one." (Niryna) Her smile was cold, she took everything as a joke. The world in her eyes became a bad joke, but from what I''ve heard I can understand the kind of direction things took, at least for a while. "Several powers were discovered in a short time, with the most used being Ki. Soldiers and those who practiced martial arts discovered this, it was also the easiest to train." (Niryna) "Magic quickly acquired a large number of scholars, especially among scientists, video game players and fantasy book readers." (Niryna) "I will refrain from talking about the idiots who wore superhero costumes." (Niryna) "As a game programmer, I gained access to many things about magic, I also remembered much of the research we did together and performed magical experiments of my own." (Niryna) "(Something changed...)" (me) Her expression became neutral once more, her Aura froze in place and she closed her eyes, her words seemed heavier as she seemed to try to contain something inside her, but even so she did not stop talking. "You know, after 2 and a half years the crazy people emerged with greater force, human experiments happening by the dozens in each city and increasingly distorted rituals." (Niryna) "People don''t need many reasons to show their worst side, but even so those in leadership pretend not to see it, thinking if they can get something out of their discoveries, the weaker people could disappear around the corner and the children who were so dependent were too easy a target to ignore." (Niryna) Tears "For months I watched the dozens and dozens of children I cared for diminishing, no matter how much I asked for help, no one helped, no matter how much I searched, I couldn''t find any of them other than their bodies in horrible states..." (Niryna) Tears Tears "But one day they all disappeared at the same time, a stranger made a big move performing a ritual that involved half the city, all the children got involved in it dying, their flesh being ripped off along with that of the adults as it gathered into an abomination that destroyed the rest of the city... hahaahahahah..." (Niryna) Tears "Hahaha hahahahaha... hahahaha..." (Niryna) Tears Tears "They killed themselves... the creature they created killed them all... hahahaha..." (Niryna) Tears Suddenly her frozen Aura exploded as if it were a real Demon taking shape, her eyes opened with purple-black flames and her expression became cruel. "My rage had nowhere to go, the people in power just wanted more power and normal people ignored anything as long as it wasn''t about them... the world had become a joke... I was enraged by everything... I hated everyone..." (Niryna) "If people were meant to fall into such a state, then they didn''t need to exist... I killed and killed... I don''t know how many people I cut into pieces with wind blades, how many I burned alive... I destroyed hundreds of cities while slowly torturing their leaders... it was fun to see them begging for mercy when they were the ones suffering... hahahaha..." (Niryna) "But because I couldn''t hold back, I made the others join forces against me, I was smart and with all that slaughter I achieved a high level, I also tested many magics... when I was cornered I created a trap leading everyone around me to their deaths while absorbing their powers, bodies and abilities." (Niryna) "..." (me) "I transformed into a Demon of dozens of meters, my power overflowing to the point of madness, I just wanted to keep killing... unfortunately it seemed that those damned Gods really existed and attacked me before I could make use of that power..." (Niryna) "I died and there were still so many criminals still alive being ignored while doing their experiments, the Gods didn''t stop them, didn''t go after them, but came after me... isn''t it funny...?" (Niryna) "I killed many innocents, tortured people without knowing anything about them, destroyed entire cities out of anger and in the end I sacrificed countless people losing even my humanity... I''m a monster..." (Niryna) I stretch my Aura suppressing hers, then drag her into a hug, her Demonic Aura was nothing to me, her murderous intent was insignificant to what I experienced in Hell and what she did, as horrible as it was, doesn''t matter to me at all, I''m not a Saint, I can''t and won''t care about people I don''t know to that extent, what matters to me is Niryna here and now. "(She degenerated into hatred and sadness... there was no one to lean on, no one she could trust...)" (me) "I don''t care what you did, I''m here and I''m your family, I know you don''t truly regret what you did, but you still know you were wrong at some point." (me) "I just... I just wish someone would pay... someone would feel the same pain as me... that they would all be erased so they wouldn''t become monsters... just like me..." (Niryna) Tears "I''m here, I''ll always be here..." (me) "If you''re in doubt, then come to me... if you''re hurting, then I''ll hug you... if you need anything, I''ll be there for you." (me) "I won''t try to tell you what you did wrong in the past since I wasn''t there and we can''t do anything about what''s gone, but you above all know what''s right and wrong for you, so seek the best of yourself... the best version of you..." (me) "The best version of me..." (Niryna) Chapter 1591: Cap 1589: Do you want some head? I hugged Niryna for several hours, at first she just stayed silent without showing any reaction, but her Aura was in complete turmoil, after hours she started hugging me back while crying and it took several hours again until she fell asleep in my arms. I picked her up and placed her in a lying position on my legs, she seemed to be twisting deeply, but I could feel the violence in her Aura, so I knew she must be dreaming about the past, what she did telling me everything reopened old wounds. "Is that why you chose her? Because she broke it?" (me) "Yes, she already broke your morals and boundaries once, that can''t be erased, she killed and tortured while truly enjoying it, she enjoyed the cruelty of what she did and she can''t deny it." (Callidora) "From what I heard from her, there must have been other options for you in that world." (me) "Yes, she wasn''t the only option or even the best option, but anyone else would have been rejected by you and she wasn''t bad at all, she could be molded into what was missing." (Callidora) "..." (me) Callidora got off Niryna''s back while she was sleeping, then floated until she was in front of me, this time she wasn''t wearing perverted or revealing clothes, but rather wearing clothes similar to a women''s suit while she had a crown of bones on her head. "Why did you let her talk to me? Why let me get even closer to her?" (me) "What do you gain from this?" (me) "What a stupid question, I win everything, she was too close to breaking in a way that was impossible to go back, you are what she needed to relieve her tension and for that I had to make her stop running from this moment." (Callidora) "I don''t need someone who can be easily manipulated, someone with no mind of their own who would just do whatever I want, I already have millions of those spread across multiple universes." (Callidora) "Do you even care about her?" (me) "Of course you do, I would do anything for her, I could destroy your universe in seconds just to protect her, do you have any idea how long I''ve been trying to create someone like her?" (Callidora) "(In other words, she doesn''t care about herself.)" (me) ------------------- Another 5 days passed, my body, Soul and mind recovered very quickly during this time, I also no longer suffered any retaliation from the universe, the Gods can recover from any type of damage as long as they exist. I was now inside the Star Path meditating, my mind staying focused while countless paths circulated around me. The reason for being surrounded by all these paths is simple, they are my Divinity and as if they were my veins, through which my Divine Power flows throughout the universe among those who walk here with their will. During this meditation I can see the meaning of each step someone takes on my paths, thus complementing my own understanding on different subjects, all of this being used to perfect only 1 thing during all this time. "(The 4th sword has been perfected at least as far as I can go for now, the rest will depend on the two that are yet to be born.)" (me) Sigh "(The real problem is that technique, that level of power is not something a God can control...)" (me) "Still trying?" (Tarzor) "..." (me) I open my eyes and all the paths begin to twist before returning to their respective places, then I stand up looking at Tarzor. "I don''t know how much time we have... the Anomalous Dragons... Baldr... the Ascendants..." (me) "We have too many enemies and too many powerful ones, my strength is not enough now, the worst is that I am the target of at least 2 of them." (me) "You cannot push beyond your limit, you have few worshippers, your religion is too new, your Divinity, however branched it may be, has not yet consolidated." (Tarzor) "You are too calm, if I die, do you know what will happen to you?" (me) "It is not even necessary, the chances of your true death are slim, chaos cannot be destroyed or created, this is the very state of transition." (Tarzor) "Even if your body is annihilated, even if your Soul shatters, your core existence will still recover one day with me still connected to you." (Tarzor) "I want to punch you." (me) "Stop joking around, we both know that my power cannot be easily controlled, doing so would hurt us both, we have already tested it and almost caused harm to Okan training inside it." (Tarzor) "Do you have any ideas? I''m all ears." (me) "I can''t think of a 5th sword right now, it would be impossible without first finishing the concept of the 4th sword that is still incomplete." (me) "Are you really an idiot, seeking various forms of power and yet it never occurred to you to use what you already have?" (Tarzor) "You use the Power of Chaos only as a unique energy source and not as a true power." (Tarzor) "..." (me) "(A true power... like a unique Elemental affinity like Shadows, Blood, and Curse?)" (me) To be honest, I never really considered this power. It seems simple, but the level of complexity is too high. There are simply too many variations. In fact, it''s the concept of variation itself. "(How do you shape something that is in perpetual flux? Something that can''t be contained or defined?)" (me) "It seems like someone is looking for you." (Tarzor) Suddenly, space opens up, revealing a Serpent of stars that crossed the space and stood next to me before transforming into a beautiful woman. "Master, someone is looking for you." (Zaya) "Hello Zaya, who could it be this time?" (me) In the last 2 days, several Gods have come to me. They want my help to forge Divine Weapons. With just a little of my power, they can begin something that normally takes centuries in a matter of hours or days. Everyone is preparing as best they can. With Baldr escaping with Phatos, it''s obvious that it''s not over yet. Not to mention that the Anomalous Dragons are still a threat. "They''re your Daughters Aurora and Aurora." (Zaya) "I''m going now." (me) ----------------- I was sitting under a tree eating a sweet, citrus fruit while my two daughters were in front of me, trying to understand what they said. "Let me see if I understand, you want a head?" (me) "Yes, Sarafar''s head." (Aurora) "Why do you want a head and why are you getting involved, Adella?" (me) "I''m not here for the head, I wanted to build a Divine Weapon, I just found Aurora by coincidence." (Adella) "Sarafar is an ancient Demonic God from my mother''s time." (Aurora) "Actually he''s a double God, he''s 2 Gods in one, his head has 2 faces, one of them being the God of Flowers while the other being the Demonic God of Thorns." (Aurora) "Wait, you mean there were 2 different Gods in one body?" (me) "Are you sure it wasn''t like me who has both normal Divinities and Demonic Divinities?" (me) My Divinities are branched into 2 types of Divinities, because I have both types I am considered Profane when breaking their duality, I thought I was the only one like that, but it seems there may be others. "They are the same individual and also 2 separate existences, they are 2 consciousnesses and personalities in the same body, their power over Nature was very great because they were both creation and destruction in one." (Aurora) "I see, a complete Circle of the nature of the same individual." (me) "But how did he die for his head to be loose out there? What do you want to do with that head?" (me) "He was decapitated by an external enemy, he was killed in his entirety and his head was what was left containing his Divinities." (Aurora) "The head was considered lost, but the truth is that no God tried to obtain it, it was not something that could be used in any way, the 2 Divinities could not be separated and to use both of them you would need to be compatible with both at the same time, which would be impossible." (Aurora) "But with you possessing the power of chaos and me already being a Nature Fairy, I could make use of these two Divinities." (Aurora) "As for me, I only want your Blood, I want a somewhat unique Weapon and you will be perfect as material." (Adella) "..." (me) "You two..." (me) Sigh I finish eating my fruit and throw the Seed''s core away to grow somewhere else, meanwhile in my mind I am weighing the pros and cons of helping Aurora. Adella''s request, as rude as it may be, is not something difficult to do. I can even understand the reason for using my blood and needing my help, but Aurora''s case is different. Acquiring these Divinities will change her fundamentally. "Who made that God lose his mind and die like that?" (me) "A Demonic creature that came from Hell, one of the servants of the one you call Callidora." (Aurora) "..." (me) "(This is already getting more complex than I would like.)" (me) As if my own mind wasn''t enough of a problem, now I have to worry about Callidora again. "Is there a reason for this?" (me) "I don''t know. Over the past few weeks I''ve tried asking her through Niryna, but she hasn''t paid attention to my questions." (Aurora) Chapter 1592: Cap 1590: Place excluded from the universe I was building a garden, there were flowers blooming in the space around me that floated to where I wanted, I was using my powers associated with nature to modify seeds and force them to bloom before planting. "Did you take advantage of her sleeping again?" (me) "Don''t you have a sense of humor?" (Callidora) "When did you install this magic?" (Callidora) "Since the last time we talked." (me) Callidora once again appears using Niryna''s body, I''m not surprised by that, Niryna is very easy to give in when she has nothing to lose. I''m sure the two must have reached some kind of agreement, Niryna may be in a strange state, but she still has enough sanity to use her intelligence and I know how intelligent she is. I look back and Callidora emerges from a shadow that didn''t exist, but I know that there are still 2 hidden individuals and if I''m not mistaken they must be Dante as well as Baal. This whole place has multiple layers of protection, all the stars form constellations that are actually rituals that complement each other in a great ritual. I know everything that happens in this place at all times, nothing can hide from me here or invade without my knowledge, I spent 2 days creating all this protection and it seems to be useful since I detected even Callidora. "I thought I had agreed with you not to take her body anymore." (me) "Don''t talk like that, whoever hears it might think that I''m using Niryna''s body to have sex or perverted things, which I admit has crossed my mind, but I have my ways of convincing her of her own free will." (Callidora) "As long as it''s her desire in a state of clear lucidity, then I won''t interfere, she wouldn''t be the only perverted daughter I have." (me) "Yes, Lilith is an amazing girl, when she dies I might end up taking her as my next assistant since you took Samara away." (Callidora) "Stop trying to piss me off, we both know that the Goddess of Death will never let you take one of my children, I''m sure you''ve had this conversation and you must have tried to negotiate with her." (me) "Besides, you almost threw Samara to my side trying to buy my trust as much as possible until you finally get a daughter." (me) "Someone is sharpening their mind, but it''s a shame, I don''t deal with Death, she never accepts, what I did was ask." (Callidora) "(That was just a guess, but it seems I was right, she really asked for possession of my children''s Souls...)" (me) Callidora is not trustworthy, she has always been fickle, selfish and willful since the moment I met her, trusting her would be the first step to an eternal nightmare. Having her around makes me feel constantly cautious. I really don''t know how Niryna can stand having her voice talking in her ear all day long. "I know why you came here, but the answer is no." (me) "Those Divinities..." (Callidora) "They''ll be Aurora''s if I manage to recover those Divinities, and even if you do something to get them before me, Niryna would still give them to Aurora in the end." (me) "..." (Callidora) "Niryna would be able to create a powerful Demon with that, it would be much more useful than a Fairy trying to reach a power that doesn''t belong to her." (Callidora) "I''ve already given my answer and you know it. From the moment I spoke to Niryna, you lost, so why don''t you go straight to what you really want instead of trying to negotiate empty-handed as if I owe you something?" (me) "You''re really getting smart, kid, so I''ll be blunt, I want your help creating a Demon Soul." (Callidora) "Are you crazy...?" (me) ------------------- Dozens of minutes later, Callidora finally left, what she asked of me was crazy and asking this was an affirmation of her knowledge about the two that are about to be born inside Tarzor. "This is all crazy, what is she planning?" (me) "As cunning and unpredictable as Callidora is, she is simplistic at her core, don''t try to complicate things too much when you think about what she wants." (Samara) "Creating a Soul is not something I can do, at least I''ve never tried to do something like this before." (me) "You''ve done this before, didn''t your Familiar Layla have her Soul composed of several broken Souls? The concept is similar." (Samara) "I''ve healed, corrupted, destroyed and devoured Souls, but I''ve never created one before." (me) "I don''t even know if that''s possible or even if we suppose it''s possible, I don''t see that it''s going to be good for me." (me) "This doesn''t need to be done now, after all Okan is still leading us to his destination, but I don''t see Callidora giving up on the matter." (Samara) As soon as Callidora left, my Saint appeared leaving the Star Path, Samara, even though she is considered a Saint, she is already much more than that, her power not being weaker than Hades. While I was talking to her, I couldn''t help but think about what Callidora was trying to say, so I kept thinking and with time I began to understand some of it, in fact it was as simple as Samara said. A Soul is used to give life to an existence or individual, a Soul can also serve as a vessel for a spark of existence, the core and nucleus of the Soul itself, but most of the uses of a Soul would be useless to someone like Callidora and all could easily be achieved by her who has countless Souls at her disposal. The only simple possibility I could think of was something I would rather have excluded from my mind, the possibility that Callidora wants to create a life, but would not know the details of what she seeks to achieve. "(Why does it always seem like I have no time to do anything?)" (me) Sigh "How long until I get there?" (me) "A few hours." (Samara) "Call Silvia lara for me... forget it, she''s already here." (me) "Make the preparations we agreed on before." (me) "As you command." (Samara) While I was talking to Samara I felt a presence entering this place, in the distance I could even see a silhouette of a Dragon coming towards me, it was Silvia who was coming right now, so she knows about our destiny. It didn''t take long for Silvia to arrive while Samara disappeared as if she had never existed, Silvia ignored Samara and had a strange expression when she approached me. "Dad, we need to talk." (Silvia) "If it''s not something serious, couldn''t we leave this for another time?" (me) "I have a lot of things to do and in a few hours I''ll be helping Aurora with something." (me) "This time it can''t wait, what I have to say is exactly about our current destiny, especially about a great danger that was hidden there." (Silvia) "This has to be a joke... there always has to be something... it can never be something easy... it can never be solved by someone else..." (me) Sigh I sigh, bringing my hand to my face. I thought it could be simpler this time. The head is theoretically no longer alive. There is nothing left of her consciousness from what she said. "Is Freya listening too? I wanted to tell the World Trees this before, but I didn''t have time with everything they''ve seen happening since Father woke up." (Silvia) "(Tell her I''m seeing and hearing everything.)" (Freya) "She''s listening, she can speak at once." (me) "Then start from the beginning..." (me) "Let me explain. When we got to that place, I felt a presence..." (Silvia) -------------------- Several hours later. I was sitting in the garden that was still half finished. I was thinking about everything I heard a few hours ago when my Shadow stood up. "My lord, we''ve arrived." (Okan) "Thank you for letting me know." (me) I get up before sinking into the shadow, when I leave Okan I see a very strange sight. The entire Star System was wrong, to begin with there was only one planet that was in the center, its size colossal compared to the other planets I had seen, this thing was the size of almost an entire Star System alone. A little smaller than the planet was a white Moon standing next to it, this Moon was not moving, in fact, looking closer its shape was kind of oval and did not seem like something physical, it looked like an illusion of a colossal egg. Around this planet there were 3 Suns in its orbit, a yellow Sun, a red Sun bigger than the others and a blue Sun smaller than the others that even had rings around it. Apart from that there was nothing else but asteroid fields everywhere, it was as if the entire Solar System was just a big ring around this planet. But as strange as it may seem, it wasn''t any of that that shocked me, but rather the perception of the flow of Natural power in this place, there was nothing, the flow of power literally diverted its course, bypassing this Star System as if avoiding it, the natural energies of this place were a mess without any kind of flow, order or harmony, yet strangely everything still seemed to share some kind of balance. A place that seems to be isolated from the rest of the universe, it is not part of the flow of nature and even the Essences do not seem to have much effect here as if it had truly been abandoned by the rest of the universe. "What kind of place is this...?" (me) Chapter 1593: Cap 1591: Descending to the Planet I had been the first to leave Okan, but others soon followed. Aurora was accompanying us as the most interested party this time. My Familiars were also by my side, as were Zaya, Hades, and Samara. My Wives also wanted to come. Even though we had spent a lot of time together in these few days, it still doesn''t make up for the time we spent away before. Unfortunately, each of them has their own duties to fulfill, and only Diana is accompanying me. Of my children, only two are by my side this time. They are Magnus and Silvia, making this a very large group. Adella, in turn, stayed inside Okan, preparing to forge her Divine Weapon. But while everyone was leaving, an unexpected companion arrived. Niryna was the last to arrive by surprise. Each and every one of them was looking around curiously. This entire Star System was a meaningless mess, with everything seeming to change places. "I think I need an answer. What is this damn place?" (me) "Strangely, I feel good." (Hades) "I feel... strange..." (Diana) "This place is a dump." (Sakura) "Something isn''t right here." (Zaya) "There are a lot of things that aren''t right here, everything seems to be in the wrong places and in the wrong proportions." (Nix) "I believe she''s referring to non-physical aspects." (Aurora) "I''m in a really bad mood." (Layla) "Master..." (Samara) "That was to be expected, I should have realized when I heard Aurora''s descriptions." (me) "What are you talking about?" (Diana) "Did you notice anything, Father?" (Aurora) I look at all of them and then turn my gaze to the whole wrong Landscape, the massive Planet the size of an entire Star System, the 3 types of Suns that are in their orbit around the planet and the equally colossal Ethereal Egg next to the planet as if it were a large illusory oval moon. I can feel more than the others, the problem is not only the rejection of the universe by this place, the collision of natural energies here or the lack of Essences to regulate the existence of what is here, there are many more details that I perceive. "Silvia, what do you see?" (me) "So I can describe the planet?" (Silvia) "Not only the planet, but everything you see." (me) "Besides the planet, there is a golden Sun rotating around it." (Silvia) "..." (everyone) "Diana, what do you see?" (me) "The big Planet with a red Sun rotating around it." (Diana) "Zaya, what do you see?" (me) "Just the big Planet with a big ring of asteroids around it." (Zaya) "Aurora, what do you see?" (me) "I just see the Planet." (Aurora) "Hades, what do you see." (me) "I see the Planet surrounded by the ring of asteroids with 3 Suns around it, a red Sun, a yellow Sun and the last Sun with a ring around it." (Hades) Each of them described only a part of what I was seeing, in fact, the more connected to nature the less they were seeing and that was the limit of what I could understand. "It seems that it is not only the universe that excludes this place, the post is also true, as such those more strongly connected to nature will be more strongly restricted here." (me) "(None of them seem to see that egg...)" (me) "Since we are so close, I can also feel slight currents of Chaos, that was the reason Hades was feeling good." (me) "All of you can only see parts of a whole, that''s because the Power of Chaos is leaving the space and energy in this place in a state of continuous flux, if someone very weak came here they wouldn''t even be able to see the Planet." (me) "The Power of Essence is what allows us to see different things, even I don''t dare say that I see everything." (Samara) "But what I can say is that I see the Planet, 3 Suns and the ring of asteroids." (Samara) "I don''t feel the power of chaos in the surroundings." (Hades) "And you won''t feel it either, it''s not complete, as I said before, it''s just traces and remnants of the power of chaos produced by the extreme environment of contradictions in this place." (me) "Isn''t that right, Callidora?" (me) "..." (Niryna) Niryna doesn''t say anything, but a pair of arms extend from her back, hugging her before a head appears over her shoulder, Callidora was looking at me intently before looking not in the direction of the planet, but in the direction of the egg, her tongue passing over her lips. "I hadn''t noticed this place, interesting... very interesting..." (Callidora) "What is that? Do you know?" (me) "I know, but why should I tell you?" (Callidora) "..." (me) There''s no doubt that she can see that ethereal egg, but she won''t comment on it, clearly she won''t get involved in any of this until Niryna needs her intervention, but that look of desire that Callidora showed for a second reveals more than I''d like to know. "(Something that even Callidora shows a slight interest in cannot be simple, it will be at the very least extremely fatal to others.)" (me) "(I have to stay alert.)" (me) "Where should we go?" (Samara) "Not me, Aurora knows the way, so she will guide us." (me) "Before descending to the Planet, it would be best for everyone to get used to the energy around them, it will affect their bodies, their powers and even their perceptions." (Aurora) "Outside we can still adapt without risk, but as soon as we descend to the Planet the situation will be even worse since the collision of natural powers there is constant." (Aurora) "You heard her." (me) Everyone moved to get closer to the planet, its size was colossal, there were few times that I felt small since I became a Dragon and usually it was because of the size of my enemies being even bigger than me, the only places that were really absurdly big to the point of making me feel small were the Divine World that was even bigger than this Planet and this place. Everyone could feel the change in the surroundings, the Space didn''t seem normal, it was as if we had entered an ocean, the space was in liquid form in this place with currents and waves. That alone was strange enough, but there were winds of heat and cold that passed in a disorderly manner, nothing that could hurt a Demigod and even less us, even so it carried the powers of nature making even my powers of fire and ice waver. "Okan, move away, wait for us outside this Star System, don''t get close to this place." (me) "Yes, master." (Okan) Okan is different from the others, he is his own space, the energies of Nature flow within him, entering and leaving his body with the same naturalness as a Star System, if he stays here it would be bad for his health or even for his life, which could cause a disaster for those living within him. "Let''s continue." (me) I continue heading towards the planet, but we are not going at full speed, just as Aurora advised us, I am trying to adapt to the changes in this place. I could feel and even see things that the others did not notice, like particles and streams of power colliding forming bursts of energy that seemed random passing through all of us, even the flow of power inside my body was becoming disordered. As strange as this place was, it did not feel bad, just like Hades was comfortable, I felt like I had entered a hot tub and was now just adjusting my body temperature to match the hot water. Looking at the others, Hades had a more relaxed expression while Zaya looked intrigued, everyone else had strange expressions, Layla and Nix looked irritated, as creatures born from nature with powers strongly linked to nature, this place must be horrible to stay in. Samara doesn''t show anything, but her confused eyes keep looking in the direction of the egg. She noticed Callidora''s gaze in that direction and must have seen me looking in the same direction, but she herself wasn''t able to see what was there. Apart from her apparent curiosity, she doesn''t show much about getting used to this place. Niryna was the only one who didn''t show anything, but that was expected. Others may not know, but as someone who has been to Hell I know that this place isn''t that aggressive. Since Niryna has the Infernal Power, this place doesn''t represent any change in her. My gaze passed over Silvia. She looked better than I expected, and next to her, Aurora also didn''t show much reaction. As a Dragon of Nature and a Fairy Goddess, I expected these two to show more reaction. "(As expected from people who have already been here, they don''t need to go through this adaptation period twice.)" (me) Aurora has been here before and that''s why she was guiding us. Silvia also came to meet me to talk about some things about this place, more specifically about something that is in this place. As such, she has also been here before and doesn''t need to go through the same adaptation period again. With that, we all arrived in front of the Planet''s atmosphere, but no one got off. The planet itself seemed to be involved in a storm of energies colliding with each other to the point of collapsing. Aurora made everyone stop while she waited for something and I soon discovered what it was. In a few minutes, a great collision of powers caused great turbulence, opening a hole in the planet''s atmosphere through which we entered. Chapter 1594: Cap 1592: Tree of the End...? When we descended to the Planet, the situation became even stranger. Different from seeing the situation from the outside, it already seemed bad before, but on the Planet itself, the situation was outrageous. If a normal person relied only on their 5 senses in this place, it would seem like a fantastic fantasy world with trees that surpass the clouds, various types of extreme environments existing side by side, even mountains floating in the sky, fish swimming in the clouds, rivers of liquid metal running along the ground and a sky that changes color every time I look at it as if it were trying to play with me. A truly fantastic place that I wish I had created in one of my games in the past, but with my current perception it seems more like a nightmare place, the dangers here were absurd. Even seeing from afar, it was clear that each of the fish swimming in the clouds had strength on the level of Demigods and yet they were unable to move away from the clouds that moved in a strange way, revealing lifelike behavior. The large trees release an Aura that interacts with each other, showing unique intelligence and communication, as well as a strong bloodlust in their Auras. The river of liquid metal in turn seemed to hide some frightening presences within it. I could widely perceive suspicious movements within the liquid metal as if something was swimming within it, and yet my Divine senses did not notice anything. Even the floating mountains looked horrifying. I could see the collisions of the powers of nature around them. It was as if these floating mountains were extreme battlefields of these natural powers. The veil changing bodies was not something that was truly happening, but rather a natural illusory effect due to the constant fluctuations in the power of reality in this place affecting my perception. I was surprised that I had not felt it before. Even the air I breathe in this place seems to be much heavier, as if I were trying to breathe mercury while standing under a lake of mercury. This place was truly insane, and that''s because I''m trying to ignore the weakening of most of my Essences, the repression against my Aura preventing me from going further than a few thousand kilometers. This place was truly horrible in every way, every single thing in this damn place was incredible to see and at the same time extremely deadly for those careless or stupidly bold who dare to walk here. If from the outside of the Planet space looked more like an ocean, when we passed to the inside of its atmosphere it was like reaching the bottom of this ocean, space is much denser and heavier here to the point of being able to crush mountains from any other world. The saturation of natural energies was also much greater here making the collisions much heavier and more destructive, I could see this with my perception, but the only example of this I saw so far was a glimpse of a large tree being destroyed by thunder that came from its interior and then being covered in ice. I look at the others, they all seem more tense and alert, Layla stayed in her tiny form before throwing herself into my hair, Nix sank into my shadow, neither of them said anything and even so their discomfort was more than apparent. My other Familiars were also not comfortable, but Ragnar seemed a little excited as if he was analyzing the surroundings, his Aura changing as if replicating the perpetual collapsing presence of this place. Probably because he is a God of the Apocalypse he managed to gain something by coming here, just like Hades and I who were able to relax here because of the power of chaos. My two children were cautious, but Silvia was clearly attentive to the surroundings as if she was looking for something, Magnus on the other hand was attentive to everything, he seemed ready to attack at any moment. Diana seemed calmer than she showed on the outside, but her sharp eyes were like a Wolf during a hunt, her alertness level was at its highest as she retracted her Aura completely as if hiding her presence. Zaya, on the other hand, was showing interest, her eyes shining as if trying to figure something out. Niryna looked like a child, her expression as if she had arrived at an amusement park, she was almost jumping with excitement. Callidora, on the other hand, was looking curiously at this place that had been hidden from her for so long, Samara was keeping an eye on her, but her Aura was already blending into the environment around us with great ease. "Where to now, Aurora?" (me) "We need a point to use as a base, but first we have to get to the search region." (Aurora) "Wouldn''t it be better to go straight to get what we came for and then leave?" (Samara) "Impossible!" (me/Hades/Aurora) "..." (Samara) "I see, we''re being restricted..." (Samara) Samara seemed to take a while to realize, perhaps because of the power of chaos her perception was also being altered since she usually notices things before me. Even before descending to the Planet I could already feel my senses getting more and more restricted, it really is only reaching a few thousand kilometers and that''s counting that more than half are just vague perceptions becoming clearer the closer I get, only the area 300 kilometers away from me is actually completely perceived by my senses, all this considering that I''m a God. "Are we too far away?" (me) "A little, I wanted to have descended in an area closer to the target region, but waiting for such a convenient opening in the atmosphere would be a waste of time." (Aurora) "One thing I must say now, I''ve already told my Father this and I''m just not sure if everyone knows." (Aurora) "We have to avoid flying in this place as much as possible, gravity changes very frequently and not always towards the ground, space can also become turbulent suddenly without warning." (Aurora) "The flying creatures here have no problem dealing with this and we are an easy target for creatures on the ground, so staying up high like this is a bad idea." (Aurora) "If we move on land, space becomes less turbulent and the changes in gravity will be mostly directed downwards, we will also have more cover around us to ward off repeated attacks and we will have less chance of being targeted by flying creatures." (Aurora) "What is the strongest level of these creatures?" (Diana) "Their strength varies between Demigod and God." (Aurora) "Do they have Essences?" (Orion) "Not complete, but they have fragments and their bodies are very resistant." (Aurora) "Can we use nature here?" (Zaya) "Yes, can we influence the environment?" (Sakura) "Yes, but to a limited degree than we normally do." (Aurora) "Don''t forget that everything here is much more resistant, the trees are stronger than iron, the mountains are heavier than planets and even the wind can become sharp enough to hurt a God." (Silvia) "We''re wasting too much time standing here, if this place is as difficult to deal with as they say, then we have to start moving..." (Samara) As Samara spoke, a tree moved as if turning its trunk towards us, then an ethereal eye opened before the tree was burned to ashes. "You''re back, dear sister..." "..." (Silvia) As the tree burned to ashes, a voice that seemed to be carried by the wind sounded in the surroundings like a whisper, impossible to identify if it was a man, woman, young or old. I look at Silvia and she seemed to be another person, a clear killing intent shone in her eyes, her Aura became cruel and her expression hardened, but that only lasted for a few seconds before returning to normal. "Was it her?" (me) "Yes, there''s no mistake, that was the same presence." (Aurora) "The Tree of the End, it found us too quickly..." (Silvia) "We should move." (me) I cover everyone with my Aura, Hades and Samara understand what I''m doing, so they do the same, to anyone who sees it we must seem to have disappeared without a trace, but this was us using the Power of Chaos and the Anomalous Power to disappear from anyone''s senses by blending in with the Environment. The Power of Chaos on this Planet is even greater than the outside, but it''s still just remnants of the Power of Chaos, so I can at least do this by hiding ourselves completely, this was something I was thinking about before I even went down to the Planet and now I was putting it into practice. But even hidden we still didn''t wait to see if this enemy would appear or not, Aurora started to lead the way and everyone headed towards what she called the swamp. I glance at Silvia who does the same, so I start to mentally disobey her. "(Was that really the Tree of the End?)" (me) "(Yes, but only a part of its power, it used that tree to extend its sense to us, but that was temporary, it won''t be able to do that here all the time like the World Trees normally do.)" (Silvia) "(How strong is it?)" (me) "It used to have the strength of a God, but now... I don''t know..." (Silvia) Chapter 1595: Cap 1593: Hostile Environment Pov Davoth: When I passed through the portal I felt the power of the universe trying to reject me, the power of reality within me does not belong to this universe which causes this rejection, but what a joke. Making the two types of Anomalous Power run through my body in cycles complementing each other, traces of the Power of Chaos appear within my body and guide this power to the Universal Golem that I carry with me, directing it directly to the flow of the Power of Reality. That was enough to begin the transformation of the power of reality, with a universe already colliding with it with its own Power of Reality it was enough to adapt while mixing with it. Cough Cough Cough Cough Cough!!! Pain runs through my body and Soul, but it was less pain than I was expecting, even so I couldn''t help but smile as the rejection weakens with each step until it disappears. When we passed through the portal I still felt a slight rejection, but it was nothing major, just a slight discomfort due to the changes happening in the Universal Golem that I carry with me, changing the Power of Reality using the Power of Chaos, even if it was only traces and remnants, still had unexpected reactions as expected, but nothing on a large scale, fortunately. "Ohhh!!!" "The great Demon has graced us with his presence!" "Give us power, great Demon!" "Allow us to be the precursors that paved the way for your domination!!!" "May the blood of our enemies pave your great path in this world!!" Diverting my attention from the changes happening inside me for a few seconds, I look around with my mother standing next to me looking at me with concern, her hand on my shoulder as I nod my head to her. Then I start to hear the voices, the difference in languages ??matters very little to me, feeling their Auras and hearing their words was enough to understand their intentions as well as to decipher their language. Looking at myself on a floating platform in the middle of a pit hundreds of meters in diameter, I can smell the smell of blood and flesh permeating the air as if it were the only thing present in the atmosphere, the remnants of the power of Death everywhere and with this amount I can estimate that this pit must contain tens of thousands of corpses. "(Most of them are humans, I also see a good amount of Beastmen with some Dwarves and Elves mixed in... but no Demons.)" (me) I walked to the edge of the slightly higher platform and looked down identifying the mutilated bodies below. When I looked at the hundreds of people around me, except for 2 Necromancers who are skeletons, the others are all Demons, the one who seems to lead them all has an Aura close to that of a weak Demigod, for a mortal this is impressive. He, like everyone else, was bent over outside the well looking at us, the walls of the well were full of magic circles of curse and Summon mixed together in a somewhat wrong way, clearly these magic circles had been altered a few times, they clearly weren''t sure what they were trying to summon, in fact looking back, the portal we passed through had already closed and there was a portal arch made of Demonic bones with traces of the power of the Demons of Hell, the creatures that had their Souls corrupted to the point of deformation by that entity. "(I''m starting to understand and the wanderings in me are slowing down, but I can feel a slight weakness and my body is aching a little.)" (me) My mother still looked at me worriedly, but I can see that she is also facing her own changes, this universe has its own Essences and hers is being included or at least must be in the process of being included, unlike me who did the process instantly it should take a few days. "Great Demon, grant us a reward for the great act of bringing your greatness to the world!" "Make us return to the roots of our ancestors so that we may be the purest of Demons!" "(This must not have been their first attempt at Summoning, and they''re clearly extremists, so I don''t need to hold back.)" (me) "< Holy Demon Corruption >" (me) The patterns on my body glow as my Aura spreads throughout this chamber carrying my Will, the Demonic power within me mixing with the Anomalous power of creation for transformation. Their bodies are all swallowed up by Demon heads that emerge from their shadows, golden and purple power shining in the eyes of these Demons'' large heads. "Let me help you, ma''am." (me) "< Demonic Blessing >" (me) "Hunnhh..." (Mother) Her entire body writhes, her Aura stopping at the surroundings as she writhes, the Divine power emanating from her ends up influencing the bodies below a little, and that gives me an idea. "I cannot undo your unjust deaths, but I can condemn those who did this to you and I can use your powers for a more constructive purpose." (me) "< Blessing of the Consumer of Death >" (me) All the bodies in the pit begin to burn in red, purple and black flames as all the bodies as well as the blood below disintegrate into pure energy that flows into the Demonic heads entering through their eyes causing a third horn to grow. In a few seconds there is nothing left in the pit and it becomes empty, as if there were never any bodies in it before. "That should do it... now I need to find Zenos." (me) Cough Cough "(I guess it wouldn''t hurt to take a little rest, I need to take care of her too.)" (me) I look back at my mother, her body has stopped twitching as it becomes rigid as she stretches her arms out to the sides with difficulty while looking up, purple light appears all over her body emanating upwards creating a column of light while her Divine power spreads in all directions in waves. In a few more tens of seconds the column of light becomes smaller and smaller until it is the thinness of a hair before disappearing, her body goes limp and before she can fall to the ground I pick her up in my arms. "That created some commotion, I''m going to move everyone in this place." (me) "< Spatial Movement >" (me) Using my power magic circles appear on the walls of this entire place, the space becomes unstable before a large lesion appears collapsing several structures throughout this place, then everything becomes calm once again. I have no idea where I am, but that doesn''t change anything. I didn''t know where I was before. This place will serve as a little rest. ----------------- Pov Zenos: This damn place was more hostile than I expected. Even with everyone hiding using the Power of Chaos, the distance to this cover was shorter than I expected. The creatures that are close to 5 to 10 kilometers from us can somehow perceive us. Not only that, but natural disasters happen quite frequently in this place. As soon as we started our journey, a torrential rain began, the water from this rain burned, igniting fires on everything it touched, green flames full of poison that fortunately had no effect on any of us. This rain lasted only a few hours, but during that time the trees seemed to come to life, roots and branches appeared from every corner with sudden attacks while the wind above the trees was like millions of blades cutting continuously. These branches and roots were extremely sharp, possessing an absurd power behind them capable of hurting even me, that is, if I was able to hit them. Magnus and Orion were more than enough to deal with these attacks while Ragnar was taking care of the creature following us, it had a humanoid shape, was thin, its two arms and two legs were super sharp spears, it seemed to be made of wood as it followed us almost imperceptibly, if it weren''t for everyone here having some degree of Anomalous power having perceptions more appropriate for this place, even a Lesser God would not have noticed its presence. Ragnar managed to kill it easily, his body being corroded by Demonic power. ------------------- Days later. We traveled for 5 days without taking any breaks, everyone here is of Divine level, sleeping and eating are pleasures that we do because we want to, not because we need to. Even so, everyone was tired, maintaining a continuous state of alert during all this time while feeling the frustration of being so restrained by this place, was affecting us all the time. On the way, those who had not come before had a greater understanding of this place forgotten by the universe. We encountered earthquakes that made ice emerge from the ground, sandstorms that created powerful tornadoes, fog that carried a heat greater than any volcano and we passed through a forest where the trees were made of thunder. This damned place did not follow any logic that everyone knew and the creatures here attacked us many times, thanks to these events we learned how hostile this whole place can be. Even so, we did not stop until we reached our destination as a precaution against the Tree of the End, being noticed by an invisible enemy that we know nothing about was not pleasant, in fact it only made us more cautious. The place we arrived at was a swamp, but we did not enter it, before that we would need a place to rest for a few hours and for Aurora to perform some kind of ritual. Chapter 1596: Cap 1594: This is your fault! When we stopped near the swamp, it wasn''t hard to find an area to stay, in fact it was very easy to simply build one. We walked to a cliff and placing my hand on its wall in addition to channeling my power, fusing all the elements together with the power of chaos and using my Divinity to sanctify the area of ??5 kilometers around us, this was the most I could do in this place. With this small piece of land being sanctified by me, the process of creating a Separate Space became easier. "< Creation of Chaos: World of Stars >" (me) A gate forms in the solid rock as if it were ice melting in a specific shape, the energy of the surrounding space as if influenced by my power was sucked into the arch of the door along with my power, teeth form on the sides of the arch of the door at the same time as a Dragon''s head appears around it as if it came from within the cliff wall. This was supposed to be a Separate Space, a pocket in space with limited size, something that could be used as a resting place or it was my intention, but perhaps because I had used the power of Chaos I felt something changing, the Vitality of all things around was flowing into the Dragon''s head whose eyes were shining, a connection was formed between the Dragon and this sanctified land. Ding! <[ You have created an [ Anomalous Dungeon (Incomplete) ] without a Core ]> . . <[ Use a Core carrying its power to serve as a dimensional anchor, permanently securing the Dungeon ]> . . <[ Use a Core charging your power to complete the Dungeon''s flow of power and Authority to complete its operation ]> "..." (me) While I was confused, the archway of the door in front of me began to spin full of energy like a vortex, but this only lasted a few seconds before a stream of stars appeared, leaving only a curtain of starry sky behind as if this door was a passageway out of this planet. "Don''t think too much, master." (Samara) "You are unable to create Separate Spaces, but Dungeons that are normally more difficult can be created in a way that other Gods cannot." (Samara) "Is this because of my Chaos Power or my Anomalous Power?" (me) "Neither, this is because of your Familiar Nix, even though it is no longer a Dungeon, it still carries this power as its core and therefore can contain the Stellar Path within itself, thus this aspect of its existence influences its power." (Samara) As Samara explained to me, the others approached, Aurora had a worried expression, her eyes shining in many colors before she shook her head dejectedly. "I can''t use this, if I do the ritual inside it won''t work." (Aurora) "A Separate Space would still be fine, it''s just two spaces sharing the same place, but a Dungeon is different, it''s separated from the space itself, setting it completely isolated except for its entrance." (Aurora) "What do we do then? I can try to create a Separate Space..." (Diana) "Forget it, I''ve tried that before and I couldn''t, only Father could do it or that''s what I thought." (Aurora) "Then the only option left is to do the ritual outside, we''ll protect you." (Silvia) "Can''t we create a Territory or a Divine Realm?" (Niryna) "..." (everyone) Everyone looks at Niryna strangely, she really does seem like a child asking this kind of question. Everyone who has ever fought with their life at risk, which includes everyone here except Niryna, knows that they must understand the environment they are in and how their powers interact, this has become an instinct for the more veterans while the newer ones in this aspect learn to do small tests at the first opportunity possible. On the way down the Planet I already knew that I would not be able to create a Territory and now that I am on the Planet I am sure that even a Divine Kingdom would collapse, and this is still considering that it is me, any of the others would probably suffer a not very pleasant reaction to such an attempt. "Sister, we are not capable of doing what you, the environment around us is in conflict and constantly changing, it would be like trying to build a floating house on a raging river." (Magnus) "That is already a conservative analogy, in fact it would be hundreds of times worse than that." (Sakura) "..." (Niryna) "Why didn''t you tell her, Callidora?" (me) "Some things she should learn on her own, besides, she wouldn''t suffer more than you, so there would be no danger." (Callidora) "We have problems!" (Zaya) "..." (everyone) "Space is behaving like an ocean in the middle of a storm, there are also explosions of power happening around it and it''s getting closer, it will be here in minutes." (Zaya) "Get ready!" (me) "They are Space Elementals, they must be fighting something, I saw something like that the last time we were here." (Aurora) "No matter what they are facing, we need to prepare..." (Diana) "Wouldn''t it be better to get out of here?" (Orion) "We don''t have time and it seems like they have already noticed us, they are literally coming straight at us." (Zaya) "The Dungeon... the power of space being sucked from the surroundings must have caught your attention." (me) "Would entering the Dungeon be an option?" (Hades) "No, space elementals can collide and even damage a Dungeon, if there is anything else in space then it would be more dangerous inside where there would be no way to escape." (Aurora) "1 minute!!" (Zaya) "" (me/Familiars) While everyone was talking, preparations were being made, everyone preparing themselves using weapons, magic, techniques or even creating residuals like I was doing with my Familiars. A Territory and Divine Realm may not be created, a field-style technique is still useful, this is an interference in the environment in which it is found and not the Dominance of an area. Nix and Layla stop hiding, knowing that the time of battle is approaching. With all my Familiars on the border of this Hallowed Land, I use myself as the nucleus and them as the 6 turning points. The sky above opens up, revealing the stars as well as a part of the egg that no one else seems to see besides Callidora and I. The surrounding terrain gives way to crystal flowers that grow from the ground while the stars seem to fall like rain from the sky on everyone, giving a boost to their powers. A sword that crosses space collides with the ground. This sword is old, but as soon as it hits the ground, cracks form from where Starfire rises, making space itself solidify as if it had been refined into metal. If we are facing creatures that hide in space and use it as a weapon, the first thing to do is to end this advantage for them. After everything was ready, it only took a few tens of seconds for them to be visible. A storm in space, if it were in the past I wouldn''t even know what such a thing should look like, but I''ve seen similar things during the Gods'' fight against Baldr or when I fought against the Anomalous Dragons. Space for hundreds of kilometers in one direction was moving violently, distorting everything in its path, trees, mountains and even rivers were twisted and broken in the process, even the earth changed its shape as this space storm passed. Countless cracks and fissures formed in space and it was possible to see intense glows inside along with cracks of primitive killing intent. As soon as this spatial storm collided with our ritual space, the ethereal sword released a glow that burned the space that continuously rippled, then several creatures appeared, their heads were broken and floated above a body that had two arms equally detached from the body floating loosely at its sides, there was no face and their bodies seemed to be liquid containing landscape inside that changed as they moved. The creatures attacked us as soon as they appeared, but before they even reached us, a worm head appeared devouring one of the creatures while dozens of others appeared attacking the worm that seemed to be made of dark green clouds. With each passing second more and more of these square-headed entities appeared while the storm that was previously passing seemed to shrink around us, half of these square-headed creatures were coming towards us, while the other half attacked the worm that I thought was alone before realizing there were two others that appeared. Besides the body that seemed to be made of elongated clouds, the only other characteristic of these worms was their horrible mouth, which seemed to be a crack in space itself that cracked around them, their teeth looked like fragments of space itself while inside the crack seemed like a confusion of vortex energies emanating a feeling of endless hunger. But I couldn''t understand the reason why these Space Elementals were attacking us when they were already in combat against these things, that''s when I realized that they had no conscience just like that worm, they only attack in a primitive way when they saw us. "But what is this thing!?" (me) "Dimensional Worm, that''s rare." (Callidora) "You really are a bringer of misfortune as expected of the Embodiment of Chaos, very interesting." (Callidora) "Are you saying it''s my fault? Seriously!?" (me) "It''s always your fault!!!!" (everyone) "..." (me) Chapter 1597: Cap 1595: I found you... Davoth''s Pov: When I opened my eyes there was a man in front of me, blue skin with long white hair, pointy elf ears, 3 silver horns on his head with the middle horn having golden patterns and a long tail covered in fur. He was tall with a wide body with well-built muscles, his eyes were black with the iris being white, his Aura alone was already in the ranks of the Demigods. "Good morning my lord." "I see, you were born... how do you feel?" (me) "Grateful to be born under your rule, my lord." "What do you think of your old life?" (me) "I... I don''t understand the decisions my old self made, the way he ruled his people, the way he sought power, the way he saw himself... I can''t understand his way of thinking." "Just his memory?" (me) "Yes, but some others report having more than one set of memories." "Where are the others and my mother?" (me) "I took the initiative to send everyone to arrange accommodations for you and the lady next to you." "Do you know your name?" (me) "I, like everyone else, do not recognize the names of our ancestors and we also do not consider ourselves worthy of receiving a name from the Lord." "Are you sure about that?" (me) "Yes, our wish is to serve the Lord while proving our worthiness to receive a name." "As you wish." (me) I look away from the man half-kneeling in front of me and look at my mother, she was still asleep, but the changes in her had stopped, moving my fingers in front of me I feel the time I had been asleep. "(2 days, I was more tired than I imagined.)" (me) I dismiss that man, since he wouldn''t accept a name and it can be considered that they have a strong connection with me, they are not capable of betraying me. "Now I have to find out where you are, Zenos..." (me) With that I begin the ritual, my two Anomalous powers emerge each from an arm, then two magic circles form one below and one above me, I throw 13 crystal bars counting very specific Runes that light up in specific orders. "< Universal Search >" (me) When the ritual was ready, I use my Divine Power to activate it, I feel a connection with the universe momentarily before being knocked out as I expected, I opened my eyes in seconds, but my expression darkened. "He''s not here? But his essence seems to still be present in the universe." (me) "Where are you, Zenos?" (me) Cough Cough That damn bastard is doing something unnecessary again, I''m sure of it. "Did that bastard have to do this now!?" (me) Time was already too short, with the Anomalous Dragons making their moves and the Ascendants also making their moves, the danger is too great for just one universe to deal with it, even if it''s this universe. "(Callidora should know this, that shitty entity is always watching him.)" (me) "There''s no point in thinking about what I can''t do now, I''ll change my focus so as not to waste time until Zenos shows up." (me) ------------------- Zenos'' Pov: The square fighters are the Space Elementals, they are primitive in their behavior, but they still try to kill everyone who is not of their race as they were saying just now. I look at the behavior and actions of the Space Elementals, I was trying to understand, but I didn''t have time when 3 more worms appear like the previous ones. "< Collapse of the Eclipse Sword >" (me) I am the one to make the first move, the ethereal sword in the center of the field shines creating a column of stars descending towards it while the Stellar Flames burn through the cracks all over the surrounding land that begin to extend even into space, then a large amount of Stellar Fig floods the field through the cracks hitting everyone equally. The Space Elementals are all burned, they try to escape into space, but in this place the difficulty of doing so is like trying to mine metal with a pickaxe, something they don''t have enough time to do. They all burn until only the cubes that should be their heads remain. I thought I had managed to kill them and turned my attention to the worms. That''s when I realized they were no longer here. "(That''s impossible, I''m sure they were here when the attack started...)" (me) "Hades!" (me) "< Divine Breath of Chaos >" (Hades) Using my power, I point a specific direction to Hades who was closest. It was the place where Sakura was positioned. Hades launches a breath attack that makes the space itself, which should be rigid, melt. Then 2 of those worms appear again. Hades'' attack passes through their cloud bodies without leaving any damage on them. The only effect was that the clouds that compose them move in more violent flows as if they were storm clouds. "< Infernal Magic: Eternal Imprisonment >" (Niryna) Suddenly I hear Niryna''s voice near me, her eyes bathed in red and her voice as cold as the depths of hell itself. In front of her, the space seems to open of its own accord, revealing a box made of skeletal hands holding skulls. A horrifying sensation arises when the light in the empty sockets of the skulls turns on with each pair looking in a different direction. Then the box opens and blood-soaked crystal chains emerge, crossing hundreds of cables that actually try to dodge them without success before dragging them into the box where purple flames light up. It was clear that the Elementals of the space were not dead. They dodged my attack somehow by isolating themselves using their own heads. I didn''t notice due to the lack of Aura and Vitality that disappeared. I was also more worried about these Worms that are clearly stronger. "Leave the Elementals to them, let''s take care of the worms..." (Diana) " 100" (me) When I turned towards Diana, my eyes turned cold and I attacked as soon as I noticed the Worm behind her, it wasn''t truly there, but I could see the shadow of its presence just like I saw when it tried to attack Sakura. My attack causes 10 blades of stellar energy to come out of the cracks around us all concentrated in a certain point, the energy blades seem to tear the space at a certain point revealing one of those Worms right behind Diana, my attacks pass through its body without leaving any wounds making caution arise within me. "< Star Hunter''s Fang >" (Diana) Diana, who saw the creature''s appearance, wasted no time and attacked. The space in front of her was torn as if a large beast''s claw had done so, then a flaming Wolf''s head with stellar flames appeared. Its crystal teeth descended towards the worm that tried to run into space. The space around him broke on top of him, preventing his escape. When the crystal teeth hit his body, it was as if it had become solid. His body split open, revealing a crystal pyramid inside with a crack on each side. One of the Wolf''s teeth pierced through that pyramid, causing the worm to completely disintegrate. "Search for the pyramid-shaped core inside their bodies!!" (me) After discovering a weakness, it became much easier to hunt and kill all the creatures. The worms were defeated one after the other while some were sealed by Niryna and Zaya for investigation. Most of the Space Elementals were sealed, with only a few being truly destroyed. But even after that, we couldn''t leave that area for 4 days, waiting for the space around us to return to normal. ------------------ At the beginning of the fifth day I was looking around, everyone was doing the same, the space was almost stable enough for us to pass through, stable in the strange measurements of this place, the collision with the other elements of this place forced the space into a less chaotic state. Once everything was in place once again and Aurora had already done the ritual to find the location of the head, now all that was left was for us to do to retrieve it before leaving this place, more than a few times we saw some creatures passing by where we were, fortunately the Chaotic space around us worked as a barrier. When we finally put one foot outside, everyone could feel a strange Aura, trapped in all of us, then a giant Tree nearby contorted and was compressed into a humanoid shape about our size, it was a rustic wooden figure with very basic expressions but the strange Aura was flowing through it. This creature was looking at us, but it was clear that it was not the real body and everyone already guessed who was controlling this thing. Silvia took a step to stand beside me, while the wooden creature looked directly at her as if everyone else, including me, did not exist. "I found you, Sister..." (Tree of the End) Its voice was disturbing as if several voices were speaking at the same time, it was something completely unnatural and it was while it was speaking that I noticed the true nature of this creature, the power to devour similar to the one I possess. This tree is a Predator, a destroyer and I could feel the Anomalous Power revealing itself in its presence as if it wanted to show itself. Chapter 1598: Cap 1596: Let the hunt begin! The wooden figure was looking at Silvia, but she didn''t fool me, her Will was focused more on me and Niryna, I can understand why. I possess the power of Chaos, something that she, as a World Tree or at least as a creature that was once a World Tree, must have noticed. Niryna, on the other hand, possesses the power of Hell, there''s no way anyone can fail to notice her, no matter where she is, she will always keep everyone alert by her mere presence as if she had a large sign above her head written in neon light ''I am a threat'' or something like that. Of course, her caution is something I didn''t want, I don''t like facing intelligent enemies who know how to control their emotions, it only makes things more difficult and increases the risk exponentially. "What name do you have now?" (Silvia) "I don''t need names anymore, I don''t have any more Elf representatives by my side and I don''t need the recognition of others." (Tree of the End) "You can keep calling me by the title our sisters pinned on me when they rejected my idea." (Tree of the End) "That would destroy the Universe!" (Silvia) "Yes, but with that we could have brought an eternity of prosperity to all creation, imagine that, the sacrifice of a single moment in exchange for an eternity of peace." (Tree of the End) "A purely unreal peace that would also not be guaranteed as you claim." (Silvia) "What would a child like you know? I can feel that you are still too young, I can feel your age in your Soul." (Tree of the End) "You have no right to judge my conviction as unreal when you also abandoned the side of our sisters!" (Tree of the End) "I have not abandoned anyone, I was given a choice to die or be reborn into a new being, our sisters did this to save me, I did not take this path out of hunger for power and corruption of our purpose." (Silvia) "My purpose is what I decide to be, not something you, our sisters or this universe can decide for me." (Tree of the End) In her last words I felt a strong determination and a fluctuation of her will, this must have been one of the few times so far that she spoke an absolute truth without half-truths or complete falsehood. All this time I was analyzing the situation and Silvia knew it, she knows me well enough to know what I''m doing by allowing an enemy to continue talking, it was also more than obvious that the other side was still analyzing us or they would have already made a move. "Why don''t you join me, sister?" (Tree of the End) "Think carefully before you answer, don''t let yourself be carried away by moral prejudices or superficial thoughts about right and wrong." (Tree of the End) "The answer is no." (Silvia) "Don''t think I fear the Gods by your side, their powers are reduced on this planet and even that fact would still be able to kill you without them being able to stop my advance." (Tree of the End) "Your deception won''t work, your Soul is wounded, isn''t it?" (me) "..." (Tree of the End) When I said that she finally fell silent and a great fluctuation in her Aura appeared, it was more than clear that she was surprised. She tried to hide it and was very good at doing it, but her Will from now on still revealed to me the weakness in her Soul, I am a God of Will, my doctrine and beliefs are manifested in the Will, something that exists in constant change from its first moment of creation until it is destroyed. I can see much further than others in this aspect and with that I realized your weakness, of course this didn''t do much, in fact it only reveals that your Soul was injured, but I can''t determine how injured it is, it also doesn''t help me discover your current strength or even whether your body is also injured or not. At least doing this now serves to increase her caution against us, this will limit her ways of acting and will also shift her focus a little more away from my daughter. "Devouring the Essences of the universe to nourish a universe within herself is an act that goes against our nature, we are not ''Nature'' we are just ''part of nature'' and we must remain that way!" (Silvia) "So I have no choice, you will be devoured just like those who denied me in the past, when my power reaches that of our great sister, I will nourish you again as my own daughters and until then I hope you see the great cause for which I fight now." (Tree of the End) "Silvia?" (me) "I know..." (Silvia) Looking around, it was more than obvious what the Tree of the End was doing, the elements were becoming more volatile and active, the risk to all of us was increasing more and more, it seemed to have gained some level of control over this world. "Let the hunt begin!" (Tree of the End) "..." (everyone) The wooden figure began to crack, flames appeared from the cracks in its body, but it wasn''t normal fire, it was fire filled with Vitality, it didn''t burn the wooden figure, but rather made the wood grow again into an even bigger tree. "Don''t let your guard down, these are flames of life, they can give and take life, it''s not something that can be blocked by normal Essence powers, it shouldn''t be something a World Tree should be able to accomplish either." (Silvia) "I like that tree, you don''t need to worry about it, not about the boy here, right?" (Callidora) "..." (me) "The power of chaos cannot deal with the Flame of Life, this is an act of creation." (Aurora) "Foolish goddess, everything that is created can be destroyed and everything that is destroyed can be created, you just don''t understand that." (Callidora) "A Primordial God is the essence of the creation of a universe, you don''t understand what the boy can do." (Callidora) "No, he can''t use that here." (Niryna) "Why not, what''s the use of power if you can''t use it?" (Callidora) "Callidora, you just want to see the reaction of that, don''t you?" (me) "Hahahaha... smart boy, but knowing you, it''ll only be a matter of time." (Callidora) "(Don''t listen to her, don''t use that power, this world is too unstable and even I don''t know what might happen if I manifest on this scale.)" (Tarzor) "(I know.)" (me) Even Tarzor who is still inside the Crackling Path and uses my shadow as a means to be by my side somehow knows that he shouldn''t appear, he understands the structure of this place better because it was formed from fragments of the universe, this place is not suitable for that power. I look up, the egg is no longer visible with all those clouds flowing like colliding oceans, but I know that Callidora is interested in that thing. "Aurora, lead the way." (me) "I only know the direction, the swamp has many dangerous creatures, there is also a rift in space in that place." (Aurora) "It doesn''t matter, we have to hurry." (me) The Tree of the End knows why we are here, Silvia had noticed its presence the last time she came, so she must know about the head, its location must be nearby or she must already have the head, in either case she must not be able to use it for now or Aurora would not have been able to track it with her ritual. With these thoughts in mind, I and the others followed Aurora into the swamp, I abandoned the unfinished Dungeon, there was no way I could take it with me and it will collapse far from me, so it doesn''t matter leaving it behind. ------------------- Pov Davoth: My mother woke up feeling much better, she has adapted to the universe, but her Divinity is still close to collapsing, so I left her behind, leading things with our new servants. I went out without her, I went to the nearest city, it seemed like a Demon city, it didn''t take long for me to find 3 Religious Temples, but the Gods were not one I wanted to talk to. What I did was look for the location of the nearest Temple of Blood, with my speed I passed through 5 cities before reaching my destination, all of this in a matter of minutes, when I landed at the entrance of the Temple I realized that it was another training Temple, Paladins of Blood training nearby while the places of worship were smaller. I walk among them without attracting attention, they cannot see me or feel my presence, I would need to be a Demigod to notice my presence here. Entering through the doors of the temple I feel a presence locking on me as well as a pair of eyes that turned to me from a distant place, I walked to the front of the statue of Selene where there were some people in armor kneeling. "You do not know who I am, but I did not come to fight, I want to talk about the Ascendants as well as what they will do next." (me) My words were filled with Divine Power, those who worshipped Selene did not hear my words, but I am sure she did, almost immediately a red light lights up in the eyes of the statue as a bloodthirsty curtain separates the thick and I walk towards her entering a ruined space with tombstones in every corner, a feeling of endless desolation permeates the air while echoes of the roar of endless soldiers could almost be heard in the wind. But in my mind what was revealed was a single figure standing until the end of the friend, the pain I feel is no longer the same as in the past, but the figure in my mind is still as vivid as the day I last saw him. "This is the second time we have met." (Selene) "..." (me) "So you realized..." (me) "Your eyes are like his, in this place everyone shows who they truly are." (Selene) "Baldr looked at this place like any other landscape, he didn''t care." (Selene) "Akatosh and Dravos dare not step foot in this place, they do not consider themselves worthy of facing those who are buried here." (Selene) "Aine who did not experience those days and only has the memories treats this place with respect." (Selene) "Cratos treats this place as sacred, his adoration for those who rest here evident in his eyes." (Selene) "You on the other hand, were not looking at this place but at the only tombstone that cannot be found here." (Selene) "I did not come for the past, I came for the sake of your son and for the Ascendants who will come after him." (me) "This is not the place to talk about conflicts, let them rest in peace, follow me to my Divine Realm." (Selene) "Yes." (me) I follow her as I take one last look at this place, I clench my hands tightly into fists, the will within me burning even more after remembering my Will in front of these tombstones. "(It''s not the time yet...)" (me) Chapter 1599: Cap 1597: I will not be hunted Flying wasn''t a good option in this place, you couldn''t count on the air you breathe or the gravity that surrounds you, space itself condenses and expands as it pleases, we could even change our direction without realizing it. We were already used to this by now, but even so the situation was much worse now, every step we took was like walking on a path of traps, whether it was the Tree of End, we experienced more environmental accidents in a single day than we experienced during the entire time we were here. It was all crazy, even walking on the ground we had problems, this swamp didn''t just have water, it had a lot of liquid, yes, but few areas of water. There were patches of magma more frequently, there were also rivers of electrified sand and fog full of acid, even the patches of land could just be thin layers that hid holes or even be part of the bodies of large creatures, all this without counting the trees attacking us during the journey. We were constantly being targeted, but we couldn''t do anything since the Tree of the End wouldn''t show itself, or so she thought. "< Symbol of the Starry Dawn >" (Samara) "All set?" (me) "Yes." (Samara) "Are you sure this will work?" (Diana) "No, but it doesn''t hurt to try." (me) "Wouldn''t Niryna be a better option for this?" (Aurora) "No, your mind isn''t as unshakable as the master''s, only Callidora could do something that wouldn''t happen." (Hades) "Actually, I would love to have that possibility, it''s been a long time since I corrupted a World Tree..." (Callidora) "No, I know what you want." (me) "You''re just postponing the inevitable." (Callidora) "Let''s continue with the plan." (me) "You know none of this is a coincidence." (Callidora) "..." (me) Being hunted in this passive way is not my style, I will not let things stay like this, with the Tree of End threatening us and hunting us like this while it is far away we may never get its head. The longer I spend here the worse the things that can and will happen, Callidora is not wrong in calling me the bearer of misfortune, everything that can go wrong, will go wrong when I am involved and I learned to see these signs a long time ago. "Shall we move on, Aurora?" (me) "In that direction." (Aurora) Aurora raises a hand, a mark lights up on the back of her hand rising a few inches into the air, it looks like an arrow drawn like vines pointing in a direction we follow. As soon as we start moving forward once more, the space opens up in front of us, everyone dodges only to be struck by lightning that emerges from the ground, this interrupts our movements for half a second in which a tree that should have been dead but completely dry rises, its trunk opens revealing thousands of vines that look more like snakes coming towards us. "Samara!" (me) "< Symbol of the Star Dawn: Infernal Path >" (Samara) For part of the way Samara was collecting remnants of the Aura of the Tree of the End to perform the extrapolation of a magic that she already knew, she had to adapt this magic to the current circumstances, which for someone like her was not very difficult. She pulled out a bone knife covered in glowing symbols, then activating the power of this blade she pierced my back aiming for my heart that burns with the Infernal power of Samara, it was at that moment that all my senses went out leaving only my Aura, then in this void of information I saw thousands of strings light up and I extended my will to it. As soon as I touched these strings it was as if I had changed the visibility of an intricate map revealing forests in multiple directions, all their roots intertwined with a thick root that was still revealing itself, there were dozens of these large roots that must have measured dozens of kilometers thick and were lighting up going in the same direction. It didn''t take long for a large tree to reveal itself, its size so colossal that it reached the sky, its branches didn''t even show a single leaf, being covered in writhing vines, thousands of cracks were open throughout its structure but there were still two large cracks side by side as if they were its eyes, the feeling I was feeling was frightening, each of these countless cracks was devouring something that I couldn''t identify. In this large tree there was only one thing that seemed alive, a branch that crossed at an angle from one side to the other. As soon as I saw this tree, I was also noticed, its presence locked on me and without saying anything a large arm emerged from a large crack in its structure trying to reach me, the arm was burning in green flames and I didn''t waste any time. "" (me) I use my Will to move the Anomalous and Divine power within me to gather at one point in this place, then a Demon formed from black mist forms with the skull of a Dragon as its head, it dissolves into mist spreading through a tree following the flow to one of the large roots. At that moment I am struck while I was still returning, my body that was retreating increased its speed greatly while a great pain shakes my Soul and I open my eyes hearing a voice from very far away. "What did you do!!??" (Tree of the End) When I looked around, I was in Diana''s arms, blood was leaking from my eyes, nose and mouth, when I looked at my chest there was a large depression in the shape of a hand burning in green flames, it hurts a lot, nothing I can''t bear, the real problem was actually my Vitality being burned faster and faster as the flames seemed to increase in intensity. "" (me) Of course this wasn''t a problem for me, a part of my Divine Weapon comes out of my body in the form of a small Purple Sun, it appears sucking the green flames as if hundreds of small Purple Fire Demons were consuming those flames. "" (Aurora) After the flames were gone, the damage still wouldn''t heal on its own. A deep handprint was left on my burned chest. Aurora tried to heal me. An image of her 5 times her size tried to hug me while a pleasant energy flowed into me, but the wound wouldn''t heal. "You don''t need that much." (Me) I control my body and use my hand to cut off the entire affected part that makes up almost 80% of my chest before my blood begins to rebuild the part that was ripped off without any problems. "How do you feel?" (Hades) "I feel fine, how was it?" (Me) "We''re not sure, but things seem to have returned to normal, at least by the standards of normality of this damn place." (Aurora) "I can''t feel her presence anymore, so I think she succeeded." (Silvia) "Then we should go now. We don''t know if she''s going to do anything else." (Diana) "Then let''s go, lead the way Aurora." (me) "Then let''s go." (Aurora) Aurora once again leads the way for us, for the next few hours we didn''t encounter even half of the previous problems, at most we had to deal with a spatial earthquake that opened a large rift on our side. Now night was falling and we all stopped for a short rest, looking at our condition it was clear that everyone was tired and strangely tired to the point that Diana looked pale. "Something''s not right." (me) "I told you he would notice." (Niryna) "His perception is at least decent at least." (Callidora) "What''s going on? Are we under attack?" (me) "No, we''re just having our strength sucked, it happens every night, but normally it was a low and almost imperceptible amount." (Niryna) "But today is different, the amount being sucked is too great." (Niryna) I looked up at the sky and saw that Egg again, the sky was clear this time and by concentrating my Divinity in my eyes I was able to see everything in this world being sucked in, energy particles with all possible colors were flying towards the egg from all directions. Looking at myself I could see energy particles that were condensed from all types of energy and even from my Aura, everything was being sucked in as if it were the most normal thing possible. "It doesn''t seem serious, have everyone activate their Divinity or Essence power, that will solve it." (me) I tried a few things, I couldn''t just be sucked out of my energy or power like that, the Aura was impossible to be useful when it was also being sucked in, but the Divinity was able to isolate me from this damn effect that was sucking my power. After some time of rest, everyone recovered and we continued on. After several hours of traveling, we arrived at a strange place. It was a place we didn''t notice until we arrived. Space was folded in this place, preventing anyone from seeing this large hole with a circumference of dozens of kilometers and unknown depth. "Aurora, tell me it''s not here." (Me) "It''s here." (Aurora) "It looks like there''s something down there..." (Zaya) Suddenly, a shadow appears from the hole as the space of this entire area collapses. Chapter 1600: Cap 1598: Patchwork God What emerged from the abyss was something horrible, at first glance it looked like a person, but then I realized it was more than just a person. It was body parts joined together, body parts that I could clearly see were incompatible, one of the arms was abnormally large while on the other side of the body there were 2 normal sized arms, on its back there were two tails, one was a scorpion tail covered in fur while the second was a tail full of metallic scales, on its back there were only a pair of wings composed of two different wings, one being a membrane wing covered in scales while the other was a wing covered in feathers. Its eyes were closed, in fact they were sewn together, on its head there were two pairs of branches growing, the color of its skin varied between different shades of green while its hair looked like plants with some flowers and leaves growing. His clothes were a mixture of large arrows mixed with scales and bones, his presence was emanating a lot of Anomalous power and looking closely I was able to feel the Anomalous Power influencing that body constantly. "Stay back." (Me) Even though he had no eyes it was more than evident that he was focused on me, the killing intent was also surging like a tsunami, his presence was filled with the power of dozens of strange Essences. "(You have to kill this thing, no matter what you have to do, kill this bastard!)" (Tarzor) "(What did you see?)" (Me) "It seems that I underestimated you, but I won''t do it twice." (Tree of the End) "You... what did you do...?" (Silvia) "I transcended our original purpose by reaching a greater height and taking a step further towards my goal!" (Tree of the End) "(These are fake Essences being created by refining a large amount of power of the same type gathered together.)" (Tarzor) "(It was something I tried in the past, but I stopped because it was affecting the universe I was in, it was as if I was gnawing and corrupting the Essence of that universe because it was not possible to have two identical Essences in the same universe.)" (Tarzor) "(She went even further than me, there are dozens of these fake Essences and also corresponding Deities to control.)" (Tarzor) "(Something isn''t right...)" (me) I look at that patchwork body, from the voice and attitude it was more than obvious that this enemy was the Tree of the End or was being controlled by it. While I was talking to Tarzor at high speed inside my mind, Silvia was still exchanging words with the enemy. Everything was happening very fast, but I couldn''t stop for a second. Having a clear idea of ??the situation is important to know what I''m going to do next. What I quickly realized was that Divine power, it wasn''t just one Divine power, but several acting together. They were all powers of the elements like Fire, Water, Earth, Thunder, etc. This surprised me since I saw these Gods in the fight against Baldr and there was no way their Divinities could be here. Furthermore, the feeling of these Divinities was too strange, as if they weren''t compatible with each other. "Who gave this to you? How did you get so many Divinities from other Universes!?" (Aurora) "You don''t need to know." (Tree of the End) "< Universal Divine Summon: Children of the End >" (Tree of the End) "< Divine Magic: Seal of Condemnation >" (me/Aurora/Niryna/Diana) As she spoke, she was also accumulating power, everyone noticed that, but we were doing the same for another reason, that was for this moment. As branches of trees of different elements came out of space itself bearing fruits of different colors, I gathered my divine power as the core of a combined grief that we thought of during our journey, 4 Gods using a magic that sealed one''s very existence. The world itself trembled as a storm occurred around us as a Seal in the form of a Demon Wolf, it crossed the space with one step arriving in front of the enemy already attacking, as she was channeling her own Summoning magic, she was unable to avoid this attack. A Wolf mark like a tattoo formed on her chest, her strange Aura became out of control as an ethereal Wolf head emerged from her body crossing the space as if attacking something that in mere seconds pulled it out of the space. It was a dry tree as if it were dead and covered in writhing cracks, this was the same tree that I saw in the ethereal world before, the true body of the Tree of the End. "No!!! What is this!!!??" (Tree of the End) "Niryna, do it now!" (Callidora) "< Stigma of 1000 Damned >" (Niryna) Chains appear like living Demons attacking the Tree of the End which to my surprise burned in green flames almost instantly until there was nothing left, the chains passed through the flames without being able to accomplish anything while the green flames were swallowed by the shredded body. The shredded body suddenly changed greatly, the body that was not proportional was distorting as it became half ethereal, it became just a body with two arms, two legs and a pair of completely ethereal wings with a single tail behind, the branches like horns created small flowers and the eyes opened revealing completely flaming green eyes. The ghost image of a tree twice her size appearing behind her, the same image of the Tree of the End, her Aura previously composed of multiples merges into the tree to become a single Aura, but the body, despite having changed, was still just a set of parts together. "You forced me to do this!" (Tree of the End) As she spoke, the fruits she summoned exploded revealing dozens of humanoid creatures made of wood, all different with some covered in symbols, others possessing weapons and some had crowns on their heads walking a power that I know very well. "Power of the Law..." (me) "This body was not ready yet!!!!" (Tree of the End) "Now I have no choice..." (Tree of the End) The Tree of the End was looking at Niryna and Callidora with hatred, but it didn''t attack us, it just pointed in our direction letting the creatures it summoned attack, then it turned its eyes to the sky and its wings flew towards the egg in the sky. "Don''t let her get there!" (Callidora) "Take care of them." (me) "< Anomalous Eclipse Magic: Dimensional Movement Flow >" (me) I leave my children and Diana together with Aurora, Hades, Samara and Zaya while I take my Familiars with me, my Divine and Anomalous power mix together tearing through space like a current of energy that crosses the threshold of the Universe, with that I almost left the universe, a technique that I don''t like to use even though I learned it from Tarzor. When a rift opened again I was already in the air facing the Tree of the End who glared at me with hatred, the Wolf mark on his skin burning to the point of steam rising. "I only needed 6 more Deities and a few hundred years of refinement, that''s all to truly ascend to my purpose!" (Tree of the End) "Why did you have to come here!? How can you not see..." (Tree of the End) "< Blades of the Law of the End >" (Tree of the End) "< Anomalous Distortion >" (me) Suddenly the illusory branches of the tree behind her move in rapid attacks, creating millions of blades that tear the void towards us. The power contained in it was one of destruction, it was the power of the Law of Destruction, but as soon as it got close to me, waves of Anomalous energy caused fluctuations in the space that cracked around us, the blades distorted as they broke the already fragile space without managing to hit any of us. "< Incarnation of the 7 Stars of Chaos >" (me) All my Familiars release their full power as they become pure energy that flows towards me, my body changing into its Dragon form, armor covering my entire body while the Star Sword in my hand appears emanating the power of Ragnar''s Apocalypse. Soon 6 stars appear behind me, each with different colors emanating completely different Auras, a seventh Star appears on my forehead between the horns, my power growing greatly as I feel the connection with the universe returning again. While my body was still changing with the addition of the power of my Familiars, I was already threatening, unlike before I can maintain this state for much longer, according to Aurora only the power of nature can hurt the Tree of the End and my current form was imbued with this power. "< Divine Magic: World Collapse >" (Tree of the End) "< Blade of the Apocalypse >" (me) The powers of the Element flow together with the Divine power creating the image of a world that shatters between the hands of the Tree of the End, these pieces fly towards me while my sword was burning in Demonic flames. Every swing of my sword felt like the entire world was erased, space shattered as all the elements dispersed. But to my surprise, the Tree of the End wasn''t even looking at me anymore, after its attack it just turned its back and fled towards the egg once more. "Do you think I''ll let you!?" (me) "< Curse of the Divine Eclipse: Connection of the Sun and Moon >" (me) Soon a mark of the Shattered Moon appears on my arm while a mark of the Purple Sun appears directly on her neck making her stop in her tracks while I finish dealing with the pieces of condensed elemental energy in the form of a world that she threw at me. "You bastard!!!" (Tree of the End) Chapter 1601: Cap 1599: It was supposed to be perfect... The curse I cast binds the two of us, but it is only the Moon that becomes immobile while the Sun burns more and more as she moves away, what is burning will not only be her body, her Soul is also burning. She cannot escape, she cannot move away from me until I die in the meantime I can move wherever I want also within a limitation, but that does not matter much in this situation. "(Master, what is that huge thing in the sky?)" (Nix) "(It looks like an egg...)" (Orion) "(It''s devouring the power of nature.)" (Sakura) "(There''s an attack coming from the right!)" (Layla) "(Egg...)" (Hinata) "< Divine Breath of the Universal Apocalypse >" (me) Just like the surroundings, I make my elemental powers collide all together at the same time causing them all to explode and corrupting everything in their surroundings like a chain reaction. "< Embodiment of the Law of the End >" (Tree of the End) She didn''t even try to dodge me, which surprised me a little, the illusory Tree behind her sinks into her body as if trying to cross over into reality through her patchwork body. The wood flows through her body, changing once more. An armor full of scales that look like bark forms, her body turns gray, and her hair and eyes become ethereal, burning in green flames. She didn''t even try to dodge my attack, and in fact, she opens her chest, where a large crack opens, sucking in every last remnant of my attack. This doesn''t seem to have affected her, as she advances towards me while the space around me gives way to trees in the shape of claws that try to grab me. My wings only flap once, the entire space around me trembles, preventing the wooden claws from approaching me. What I did was advance even further against them, the sword in my hand, masterfully cutting the weakest parts of her armor. Even so, the damage I caused was very small, but it was after exchanging a few moves that suddenly a hand appears from the space next to me in the middle of the attack. I ignore the hand that touches my body and tries to use the green flames, but they are burned by my Starfire, so my hand turns the palm towards it at point blank range, countless Runes appear while the star of Nix shines brighter. "< Divine Rune: Fury of the Eternal Night >" (me) "< Demon Blade of Massacre Release >" (me) While one hand was channeling a sphere of energy covered in Runes that took the form of a starry sky, but each star seemed to be the eye of a creature as the constellations directly attacked, it was like a wave of stars, beautiful to behold and deadly to face. The blade in turn was channeled with the powers of Orion and Ragnar, his eyes were bloodshot for some reason and that was when I realized the feelings bubble beyond him and reaching me before flowing into the sword. Each blow we make resonates with this world, causing waves of calamity to spread hundreds of kilometers, cracks in space open and close at great speed, but even with such a level of destruction, the universe is not isolating us within a Mirror Space, apparently not even the authority of the universe reaches this damned place. "(Master, something is wrong.)" (Ragnar) "I know..." (me) The longer the fight goes on, the worse my mood gets, my strength is equal to that of the Tree of the End and that is not right, it should clearly be stronger than me, it should not be such an even fight. "Hinata, the stakes!" (me) "(Yes...)" (Hinata) "< Divine Eclipse Magic: Void Serpent Stakes >" (me) Below us, an eye hundreds of kilometers wide opened. There was no emotion or reasoning in those eyes, only an immaterial hunger that would never be satisfied. With the eye opening, prey-shaped stakes appeared, attacking what could not be seen. Most of the stakes attacked the enemy in front of me, but the rest disappeared into space. "< Law of the End: Flames of Life >" (Tree of the End) The stakes had no physical form and did not aim to strike the body. Their target was the Soul. The enemy in front of me did not underestimate my blow, and countless branches grew, breaking various parts of its body, breaking the stakes that approached with the Power of the Law of the End burning at the tips of its branches. But that was not the end. Space shattered around us, revealing a creature of the elements, some kind of Elemental Golem or even an Elemental Monster. His body was mostly made of stone, but it was visible through his single eye, if we can call the single hole in his head an eye, it was full of bubbling magma, an armor made of trees intertwining with plates of raw metal, apart from that the shape of his body was very human. Hinata''s stakes collided with various types of elemental power, everywhere we looked was in complete chaos, fragments of space formed a void full of fragments where flows of elemental power exploded everywhere. Everything was in complete chaos, but the fight wouldn''t stop just because of that, we both possessed Anomalous power and we managed to fight here with few problems, this time I wasn''t facing just 1 enemy, I was facing 2 of them with the addition of this elemental giant. Now I was at a disadvantage, but that was of less importance because I had expected this since before, I was also prepared for this moment. "< 2nd Star Sword Art: Elemental Collapse >" (me) The power of Nix, Layla, and Sakura flows through me into the sword in my hands, I don''t have my Divine Weapon to amplify the power, but it should still be enough, the sword filled with the power of the Apocalypse seems to resonate with the power of this blow as the power of all the elements accumulates in the blade. "(This won''t work, she herself is the end of elemental power, you can''t hurt her like that.)" (Freya) "(Let me handle this, there''s someone who wants to solve this more than the two of us.)" (Freya) From my shadow, branches full of crystal leaves emerge, climbing up my body and sinking into my body, I feel Freya''s consciousness taking over mine and I can''t resist letting her take control of my body. The Aura of my entire body changes and I feel like a Separate Space formed only by my Aura, a pure elemental power flows as if it were the source of everything, then my eyes open under the control of Freya who looks directly at the enemy, stopping the attack. "Who are you?" (Tree of the End) "I am Freya, the Daughter of ." (Freya) "(Why couldn''t I hear the name?)" (me) "(She doesn''t want you to know her name yet.)" (Freya) That name made the Tree of the End stop, its two bodies with their heads turned towards me, its Aura showing a great reaction before returning to its usual anger. It seems that whoever it is, the Tree of the End cares a lot about your opinion and existence. "After all these thousands of years she still remembers me!?" (Tree of the End) "She forgets nothing and no one, you know that." (Freya) "She didn''t listen to my warnings, she rejected the new purpose we could all share!" (Tree of the End) "After all this time, now... now she had to send you!!!??" (Tree of the End) "I was so close! SO CLOSE!!!" (Tree of the End) "In a few centuries I would be completely prepared, I would have all the Divinities I needed, I would have a body completely capable of conducting my power!" (Tree of the End) "We are perfect existences, we are immortal, we are beyond nature, we control nature, the flow of universal energy is under our control!!" (Tree of the End) "Why should we accept what the Gods do!?" (Tree of the End) "Why should we watch mortal beings destroy entire worlds that we fought so hard to maintain!?" (Tree of the End) "How many sisters have we had to watch die or in some cases suffer a fate worse than death because of these things!?" (Tree of the End) "TELL ME!!!!" (Tree of the End) "She is right, you have lost yourself in your rage, you are too focused on how things should be and so you have lost sight of how things are." (Freya) "The cycle of nature is creation, transformation and destruction... the World Trees are not exempt from death." (Freya) "The Gods are responsible for maintaining the balance of the Essence of the universe and the World Trees are responsible for controlling the flow of natural energy which is only a part of a whole that is beyond us." (Freya) "It does not need to be beyond us, we have the understanding and the ability to grasp the powers of creation as well as destruction, we know more about life and death than any other being in existence." (Tree of the End) "If we take everything into our own hands we can nurture the universe within us, perfect universes while we are all safe!" (Tree of the End) "You are wrong... but she wants to deal with you herself." (Freya) Suddenly a colossal presence of which I could feel no limits was descending into my body, it was as if nature itself at its core was descending upon me and my consciousness could not bear it as it darkened leaving only my will still there. Chapter 1602: Cap 1600: One head and one egg When I opened my eyes, Rudolfo was different and I quickly realized the reason for this, I was unconscious and in an ethereal world with my mind, Soul or maybe even my Will, I honestly can''t be sure. Looking in all directions I see many floating islands containing trees that have grown together with buildings, it was an intriguing image, but all of this was far away while I myself focus on the tree in front of me. A tree that seems to know no height limits and as the power I am feeling comes from it is even deeper than the simple power of nature. The branches of this tree seem to cross dimensions with each one entering through a crack in space its ethereal leaves seem to contain entire worlds inside them while the few fruits scattered as far as I could see were emanating reflections as well as power comparable to that of a universe. "You don''t seem scared." "Why would I be? This isn''t the first time we''ve met." (me) As I spoke, a pair of irises appeared from pure energy coming together, it was as if I were seeing a pair of eyes from the inside of my head. This presence that surrounds me and this voice, I knew who it was the moment I felt it all, the same one that Freya didn''t tell me the name of and the same one that appeared for a brief moment when I met my first World Tree, the one everyone calls sister. The oldest, the first World Tree. "Why don''t you want to say your name?" (me) "What meaning would my name have for you?" "A name is a form of connection between individuals, but there is no connection between us other than your daughter and my daughter." "Are you talking about Freya and Silvia? You call Freya your daughter and not your sister, why?" (me) "My sisters were born from me, their Souls are mirrors of me and their power is a reflection of mine, our purpose has always been and will always be one since the moment our existence began, there is no leadership among us, we are all equal and at the same time a family." "Freya is different, she took the initiative to accept a new purpose adjacent and complementary to ours, someone who received an existential transformation from me, thus being reborn as my daughter." "What purpose is this that you speak of?" (me) "Explaining it to you makes no sense." "..." (me) Her voice is calm the whole time, she explains to me the difference between Freya and the other Trees of the World, but what caught my attention was realizing that my senses did not reach my body, I did not know what was happening. "Why am I talking to you now?" (me) "Where is Freya and the Tree of the End?" (me) "Freya is fine, she was the one who allowed me to take control of her body temporarily to take care of my sister." "Did you kill the Tree of End?" (me) "Not completely, I gave her a new purpose and placed my hopes in you once again." "You know what I thought." (me) "You''re still going to allow this?" (me) "It would be a better path than her current path, a new beginning of existence and purpose." "Wait, why does it seem like you''re stringing me along? If she''s already been treated, then what are you doing now?" (me) "Accelerating your plan, you said it yourself, it was inevitable..." "..." (me) "(You wretch...)" (me) Before I could finish my thought or express my anger, my eyes dispersed as did everything else around me. I soon felt my eyes open once more, this time my true eyes opening. When I truly returned to my body, I noticed several things at once. First, this whole place seemed harmonious. The elements no longer seemed to be in conflict as before, giving me a less tense and more relaxing feeling. I also looked around and saw a chain of mountains in the shape of a giant body, each mountain being affected by a different element. Everyone was nearby looking at me, but Callidora was looking up with a truly joyful smile. When she realized I was looking at her, she turned towards me, her smile widening as her eyes seemed to mock me. But I wasn''t worried about her now. I even ignored what the others were saying while I focused on myself. That''s because I couldn''t feel Tarzor and, by extension, I couldn''t feel Freya either. I try to internalize my senses by connecting with my Soul and from there follow the traces of my connection with Tarzor. "(My connection is still there, but I can''t feel where he is, but he seems to be going through something.)" (me) "What''s going on?" (me) I was confused, still trying to understand what was happening, and that''s when I realized I was in my Human form again. My last memory was still being in my Dragon form surrounded by the power of my Familiars, but after that, nothing. My memory has a big empty hole where I can''t remember anything I did or went through. I only have confusing sensations and emotions about that time, but nothing rational that makes me understand what I went through. I was confused about all of this, but at that moment Diana came to me, stealing my lips and making my attention turn completely to her. "Are you okay?" (Diana) "I am... I think..." (me) "Then pull yourself together at once, we don''t have time to waste." (Diana) "I''m sure, the energy flow is changing and harmonizing." (Aurora) "That''s a big problem..." (Samara) "I found it, the head is down there, but the creature I created was destroyed by a creature covered in thorns." (Zaya) "Can someone explain to me what''s going on?" (me) "Let me explain to you." (Hades) Hades briefly tells me how they weren''t able to defeat the Children of the End that were created by the Tree of the End, it seems that they couldn''t be destroyed or sealed, from his reports the only ones who managed to cause any kind of damage to them were those with Anomalous power, but even that damage was only healed at a slower rate and if the fight continued it would take days of combat to be able to destroy those things. It was then that they all suddenly exploded in elemental energy, then bursts of elemental energy appeared in a storm in the sky so intense that none of them were able to keep themselves taller, all they could do was wait, which also didn''t take more than a few minutes. When everything returned to normal, Hades said that he saw me falling to the ground in my small form along with my Familiars, it seems that Sakura was shining brightly with her uncontrolled Aura while Layla and Nix were trembling, but apart from those three the others were fine. Samara was the one who examined all of us and said that everyone was just unconscious, it seems that only Sakura had an overload in her powers and when she woke up she was more than fine. Unfortunately they all had the same problem as me, they all had no memory of exactly the same moment when I lost consciousness, only Hinata said that she didn''t lose consciousness, but was put to sleep while feeling warmly embraced. "(Did she knock everyone unconscious or was it us who couldn''t handle her power?)" (me) I had my doubts, but that was a question for another time, I looked up and noticed that the egg in the sky was shaking and there was a crack, it seemed like it was starting to hatch, vein marks appearing all over the egg. I was scared that I hadn''t noticed this before, I suddenly realized the reason for Callidora''s smile and what her last words in my dream meant. "(Did she do this?)" (me) "Let''s hurry and get that head!" (me) "Do you feel okay yet?" (Diana) "Yes, let''s finish off those thorny creatures..." (me) After that we jumped into that hole, just as Zaya warned, there were monsters everywhere, they were plant-type monsters covered in thorns, but further inside I saw a large flower without any thorns, that large flower didn''t seem to be a monster, but its glow was full of Divine Power. Just as Aurora said, they were two opposing types of Divinity, but it was weaker than I previously thought, maybe it was because the head was inside that flower or was consumed by that flower. The fight against the thorny creatures was much easier than I thought, each creature had only the strength of a Demigod, but it had no intelligence, they were just monsters attacking without making effective use of their numbers, there were hundreds of them and each one that was defeated exploded with its power being sucked by the others. After only a few dozen remained, their strength became close to that of a Lesser God. When only one of them remained, it was like a qualitative change. His body changed, becoming much larger, creating petal wings and a head with a clearer appearance. This one had a power no less than mine in Dragon form, and that was exactly why it was easy to destroy him, since we had more Gods on our side. When we finally saw that everything was over, the power of the last thorny creature was sucked into the flower that had no thorns. Then a column of light formed, throwing all that power into the sky. The Aura I was feeling from the flower changed, now carrying traces of the Aura of the Tree of the End. The flower quickly withered and died, and when the column of light disappeared seconds later, the flower left behind was just a few dry branches and a large musical head with two faces. "The head!!!" (Aurora) "Are the Deities still there?" (Diana) "Fortunately, yes, whatever that was, it did nothing to the Divinities I need, fortunately." (Aurora) Chapter 1603: Cap 1601: Thousands of years old scheme Everyone was calm and well, all the thorn creatures had been defeated, the flower from before had been destroyed, and the head that Aurora wanted was in our possession. As strange as that column of light was, no one cared because they didn''t see any apparent reaction in the surroundings, so everyone dismissed it all, so only I was terrified. "(That column of light... went to the egg...?)" (me) This thought consumed my mind, this whole situation was very strange from the start, the Tree of the End was clearly in this hole before, we saw it coming out to attack from here. The plant monsters full of thorns must have been its doing too, that last flower also emanated its power for a few seconds, clearly all of this was planned to be carried out in stages where the thorn monsters accumulated power before entering that flower that contained the Divine head, all of this just to transmit this power. Transmit it to what? Hand over so much power at the level of a God to who? For some reason the image of the egg cracking won''t leave my mind, the Tree of End was clearly heading towards the egg earlier before I intercepted its path and it seemed like I forced it to advance some kind of pre-established plan. "Aurora, take the head and let''s get out of here." (me) "I''m trying, but the two Deities are weakened and almost collapsing." (Aurora) "Samara, help her retrieve the head safely." (me) "Understood." (Samara) "< Chaos Bonds >" (Samara) Starfire emerges from her hands transforming into chains, there is no Divine power behind them and not even destructive power, they are pure flow of energy in constant change without keeping anything fixed. These chains surround the head with two faces that begin to float, the waves of disordered Aura and the rest of uncontrolled Divine Power emanate from the head, but are absorbed by the current flowing through it and joining the eternal transformations, becoming a part of the current while calming the turbulence of the head that is finally under our control. "Now we can get out of here..." (me) "< Curse of the Eclipse: Hellish Punishment >" (Samara) Cough Cough Cough Suddenly a wave of murderous intent emerges along with Samara''s voice, two waves of power collide and when I turn my attention to what was happening. That''s when I saw Samara with more than 80% of her chest pierced by a large hole, but not just blood inside her, her organs seem to be made of constellations while she contains a starry sky in flames inside her with everything chained like an eternal purgatory and it was these broken chains leaking her blood. Even so, she moved towards me while from that hole a column of flames emerged, taking the form of a Demonic being falling into an arm that came out of space. This arm had a wooden gauntlet covered in strange symbols. "SAKURA!" (me) "< Eclipse Ki: Truth of All Life >" (me/Sakura) Two waves of power emerge from the two of us that collide, creating a wave of vital energy carrying the Authority of Chaos. All Vitality that comes into contact with this wave of power will react by exploding into a unique Aura, causing a reaction in the individual''s power flow. It is not an offensive or defensive technology, but there is nowhere to hide from this technique or how to deceive this technique. All truth is revealed, all life expands and prospers in its transformations. As the energy wave surges, the plants, the remains of the thorn creatures, and even our people release varying degrees of Aura filled with a unique type of Vitality, assuming our true forms. For me, it was a Dragon form containing a starry sky with countless crystal paths that appeared above me, for Ragnar, it was a Centaur with horns possessing many swords on its body, for Nix, it was a Dragon made of a night sky, for Samara, it was a beautiful woman with eyes made of blood covered in chains and shackles while smiling defiantly. Each one''s Aura covered in Vitality assumed different forms and only 2 were not effective, Hinata had no Vitality to begin with, she is a Specter while the second was Callidora who is merely an illusion, an illusory ghost that only exists near Niryna and as such has no Vitality. But I wasn''t even looking at them much, my eyes were focused on the place where Samara was attacked, the hand was still in that place, blue blood dripping through the cracks in the gauntlet that emanates an air of death. The Aura full of Vitality explodes from that arm along with the rest of the body making the space where he was hiding appear, it was a man wearing glasses, he was dressed in a long suit and his skin was green as well as his eyes, his hair was short brown combed back. On his other arm there was another gauntlet, there was also a wooden crown on his head where a jewel that looked like amber shone surrounded by green crystals, on his back there were 3 pairs of wings with leaves in place of feathers with their structure appearing to be made of wood. He looked very angry, but he was not alone, the space around him continued to crack revealing more individuals, there were dozens of them with some wearing wooden armor and others wearing cloaks of leaves, most had 2 pairs of wings while only two others had 3 pairs of wings and dressed the same way as the man with glasses, they were a younger man and woman. The Vitality of all of them surged and it was as if the man with glasses became more than just an individual, an entire planet was formed by his Vitality Aura while those with two pairs of wings had their Vitality Auras taking the form of trees, only the other man and the woman with 3 pairs of wings had their Vitality Auras taking the form of different forms, with the man having his Vitality Aura taking the form of a Wooden Giant and the woman having her Vitality Aura taking the form of a forest. But that wasn''t the point, the power that everyone was emanating was something I knew very well, the power of the Ascendant Law, they are all Ascendants with three of them being Level 3 Ascendants while all the others being Level 2 Ascendants. Their power was strong and they were aware of this power that affected all of them, but after everything that happened it was clear that it wasn''t an attack, so everyone turned their eyes to me. "You really are a thorn in our side, Zenos." (Glasses Man) "I''ll take that as a compliment." (Me) "You came for the head, but I still need it, give it back and I can let you go this time." (Glasses Man) "It seems like I missed something, when did your opinion start to matter to me?" (Me) "Don''t try to act tough in front of me, you''ve used up too much of your power and we outnumber you." (Glasses Man) "Only 3 of you are real threats, so don''t waste our time!" (Glasses Man) He was right, they are a strong group, the power of all of them together surpasses ours, this idiot''s strength is clearly equal or perhaps even superior to that Sun Rising I faced during the Battle against Baldr. If we fight we could fall into a disadvantage very quickly, but I can''t let them do whatever they want, it''s more than clear that they care more about their heads than our presence here, this means that whatever they are doing is more important and they have limited time or they wouldn''t be wasting time talking. "(Don''t let them take the head!)" (me) "(Yes!!!)" (everyone) With a telepathic command I let everyone know that we will not surrender, I cannot let the Ascendants get what they want, any goal of theirs is always taking into account an entire universe. "Sir, we should finish them off..." (Ascendant Woman) "I didn''t ask for your opinion, shut up!" (Glasses Man) "Excuse my boldness..." (Ascendant Woman) "I felt the power of the Ascendant Law in the Tree of the End, you were conspiring together." (me) "What we do or don''t do is none of your business, just answer the question." (Glasses Man) "Are you going to hand over the head and leave or did you force my hand!?" (Glasses Man) As he spoke, he raised his hand that was affected by Samara''s curse, then clenching his hand into a fist, the entire curse broke while a crystal-clear green flame appeared on his gauntlet. The blood that dripped from him stopped flowing as his wounds healed, but the blood that fell to the ground created trees and plants that spread more and more, in a few minutes a forest had already formed at the bottom of this large well. "You know, I''ve never been afraid of a little difficulty, but you on the other hand, even if you win, you''ll still lose whatever it was you were trying to achieve here... hahahaha..." (me) As I laughed, Samara''s injured body was already healed, her expression didn''t change at all, to begin with, she can''t even be killed as long as I exist, that''s the level of restrictions her existence has. "Thousands of years of preparation, so much time spent, so much invested... you have truly infuriated me... daring to stand in my way now of all times!!!" (Glasses Man) Chapter 1604: Cap 1602: Whats going on in your head? Part 1 He was really nervous and he wasn''t the only one, I knew I had to get out of here before whatever the creature inside the egg came out, I''ll be far away letting another one of His handle this. I''m not a combat maniac like Cratos, I''m not as bold as Akatosh, I''m not as strong as my mother and I''m certainly not as arrogant as Hernoth. I don''t need to look for more problems for myself when my plate is already full to overflowing, I didn''t want to have to stay here for another second or that''s what I was thinking before an Ascendant showed up here clearly in collusion with an entity that was once a World Tree. I can''t leave things like this, I can''t run this pace here, I can''t underestimate the Ascendants, especially when that egg is involved. After facing the thorn creatures, we were all worn out in different ways, but nothing that will have an impact on a short-term combat. "Kill everyone who gets in your way and get your head back!" (Glasses Man) "Yes, sir!!!!" "Do you think I''m going to give up so easily!?" (Aurora) "< Fairy Gate >" (Aurora) Aurora, without wasting any time, injects her blood into a magical ritual, thus creating a gate to the Fairy World, more specifically to her Magical Kingdom within the Fairy World. This triggers a great battle once again, a battle that I had no interest in continuing, not everything can be resolved with force, winning this battle would have little meaning, the Ascendants have enough numbers for these few in front of me now to not be important enough, while losing would be the beginning of a plan of theirs coming to fruition. I couldn''t risk losing, I also couldn''t wait forever in this fight, that egg is unpredictable and I don''t like unpredictability when my luck always breaks the record for how to fuck me the hardest. That''s why, when I started the fight, I went straight to a close-quarters fight, I realized that they think they are invincible and have a common character flaw, they are proud beyond belief, even the name that represents them only serves to clarify their Ascension as they call it. "You Ascendants are all the same, you talk a lot, but at the first sign of danger you run away with your head stuck up your ass." (me) "< Law of Prosperity: Fist of Life >" (Glasses Man) "< Charge of the Unholy Dragon >" (me) My entire body is filled with Anomalous energy as my speed increases, as does the destructive power behind me. His power was no joke, as soon as he punched using one of the wooden Gauntlets, the Green flames take the form of a large claw. But I just smiled, as soon as he attacked me I was already prepared for it, since the fight against Baldr I''ve been searching for more details about the Ascendants and I just discovered how much we don''t know about them. With one right in front of me, I can''t let this chance pass, so I pull out a Magic Crystal refined using my Sister Caitlyn''s blood. I swallow the small crystal like anything else, this crystal seems like just a grain of sand in comparison, but as soon as it touches my body its Divinity joins with me. "< Divine Magic of Nightmare: Memory Hunter >" (me) My Sister''s Divine Power was not something easy to obtain since she didn''t want to share her power with me and in the end I had to exchange it for a bit of my own power. With my sister''s power flowing through my body, I join the power of Chaos to her magic, it was just a small addition that brought a qualitative change. A Dragon similar to me emerges from within my body, biting the enemy with a mouth that opens almost to the waist. It was at this moment that I activate the other two spells, causing one of my horns to break. "< Unholy Corruption >" (me) "< Superior Mental Acceleration >" (me) His attack hits me, but does nothing. This is because his Green Flames were already being corrupted, darkening while stars appear inside him. Hundreds of Dragons emerge from these flames, biting various parts of his body. My sister''s power flows from me to the flames, amplifying their effects along with the acceleration of thought. And I feel my body heavier and slower as the world slows down around me. I''m sure he''s going through the same thing while my consciousness was pulled somewhere else, dragging someone along with it. When I opened my eyes it was as if I had just blinked, everything was as before and was no longer slowing down, the enemy in front of me released a light made of intertwined Runes destroying my Star Fire corrupting its green flames at the same time he moved away looking seriously at me. "I don''t know what you tried to do, but you greatly underestimated the power of an Ascendant." (Glasses Man) "I really underestimated you, I didn''t think you had mental powers." (me) "..." (Glasses Man) "What, nothing to say? Did you think I wouldn''t notice?" (me) Looking around, the world was still normal, everyone was fighting and we were still in this hole in the middle of nowhere, but all of this was fake. I may not be an expert in mental techniques like my sister, but his power is not something that can be denied so easily. It would also be impossible for him not to notice an attack in his mind even if he had failed, I know this from personal experience. "Do you really think you can do whatever you want to my mind?" (Glasses Man) "No, but you can''t stop me from doing something... Hinata!!" (me) "Hinata to the rescue!!!" (Hinata) As he spoke, all the figures fighting around us turned to me. His size grew as the hole that confined us disappeared. I felt everything around me trying to restrict me. But as soon as I called Hinata, the space broke as a large hand appeared, grabbing my Dragon body. Hinata''s voice stopped ringing from everywhere, excited and even childish, something she never normally showed. "Do you think I''m going to let you come and go as you please!?" (Glasses Man) "My arm, let go of my arm!!!" (Hinata) Instantly, countless hands, chains and bindings appear from every possible place, holding Hinata''s arm, which she can''t free herself from, but my expression doesn''t change at all. "Do you really think I would allow you to interfere like that? Aren''t you forgetting something?" (me) "You insolent brat!!!" (Glasses Man) Roarrrr! Roaaarrr!!! RRROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!! Suddenly, a formless energy appears like a mist, while increasingly loud roars appear in the distance, echoing along with the appearance of more and more Dragons that destroy the chains, hands and bindings holding Hinata''s arm while attacking the Glasses Man. The Dragons leave marks wherever they go, corrupting and marking his mind, but this becomes slower when the power of the Law emerges, creating Runes of all kinds while validating against the Dragons, explosions that create waves of mental power appear from everywhere, making everything tremble, it was at that moment that Hinata pulls me once again, no longer being stopped while the enemy has no choice but to take care of the Dragons that represent the corruption that desecrated his mind. When I was pulled out of that place I realized that I was in the entrance hall of a fancy building, Hinata looked like a normal girl while her hand was grabbing my wrists, in her mouth was one of the Dragons that represent corruption, she was chewing it slowly as if it were some candy while smiling at me. "It''s spicy, Hinata likes spicy." (Hinata) "..." (me) I look at myself, I was in Dragon form, but my size was no different from a normal person, I guess size doesn''t mean much in a mental world. "We don''t have time, let''s go." (me) I move forward with Hinata by my side, looking around it was more than clear how big this place was, a hall made of marble with holographic screens that looks more like a reception room. It didn''t take long for me to find a main door and head there. On the way, I saw that sometimes a Dragon would appear from one of the screens that would blink as if it were going to go out, then it would sink into another screen or into a wall that seemed to be stained. Passing through the door, the first thing I found were countless doors and I chose the closest one to enter. What I found inside was a room of holographic computers. There were dozens of them, but I focused on two that showed images that I recognized. The first was an image of me from the front from the Ascendant''s point of view, while the other image was the Tree of the End gathering parts of a body. I approached exactly that part and touched the screen that released Runes trying to burn my hand. Seeing this, Hinata just opened her mouth and sucked in these Runes as they came out, allowing me to touch the holographic screen that began to burn in Starfire. This was a mental palace. Everything around it reminded me of memories, thoughts and the personality of this Ascendant. I had already experienced something similar in the past. ------------------ In a short time my vision became blurred as I saw myself from the same point of view as the Ascendant looking at the great Tree of the End playing with body parts as if playing with a puzzle. "You should have killed them quickly!" (me?) "You don''t command me, Victor... I need that Dragon, she is a sister who, like me, chose a different path, if you bring her to our side..." (Tree of the End) "Don''t ruin everything because of your obsession!" (me?) "(It''s not me speaking... so your name is Victor?)" (me) Chapter 1605: Cap 1603: Whats going on in your head? Part 2 I didn''t have time to waste, the acceleration of thought lasts for a long time and like God I can stay like this for days before I start to show any kind of tiredness, but this acceleration of thought didn''t stop real time, it just accelerated our thoughts far beyond the normal speed of time or our reactions outside. In other words, he and I are still moving, but the flaw in invading someone else''s mind is not being able to command my body because my mind is far away. "(I need to know only 2 things, everything else is useless to me, I have to focus on what matters.)" (me) I look around and see nothing else about the Tree of the End, using my power inside this room I can do the same as the Dragons outside corrupting their mind, but this comes with the consequence of standing out like them which can make their mind focus on me. "(Without this I can''t control your memories at all... it''s worth the risk...)" (me) "< Unholy Corruption >" (me) From where I am, the Starfire spreads as if it were liquid, I place my hand on the holographic screen. The fixed holographic screen covered in flames while blinking a few times, I feel a slight resistance before I perceive some level of control over this memory before sinking into it. ----------------- Once again I was in Victor''s point of view, this time he was accompanied by those other 2 Ascendants with three wings as they looked at a metal mirror where the image of the Tree of the End was passing by. "He shouldn''t have come here." (Victor) "Should we kill him? It seems there are no other Gods by his side this time." (Female Ascendant) "Killing him personally might attract the attention of other Gods, our numbers are limited now." (Ascended Man) "The Tree of End has already revealed itself to them and is clearly hostile towards them, we can leave this to it to resolve while our presence continues to go unnoticed." (Ascended Man) "(I couldn''t care less about this boy, the time I''ve wasted here is far greater than his lifespan, our goal must be accomplished, this is my best opportunity to obtain a Mastery Artifact and become one of the leaders.)" (Victor) "Forget about them, focus on continuing to nurture the egg, once it hatches our invasion can begin." (Victor) "Our troops are still in the middle of an invasion..." (Ascended Man) "Don''t be foolish, that invasion is a facade, if only Urak or Mavor decided to move it would be over, they are trying to give the Anomalous Dragons a false sense of security." (Victor) "I thought they were in the middle of an invasion too?" (Ascending Woman) "They''ve put too much of their hatred into this universe, they can abandon their invasion at any time to concentrate their forces here." (Victor) "And we want exactly that, as soon as they arrive..." (Victor) GET OUT OF HERE!!!! ------------------ BAAAAMMMMM!!! My body was thrown against the wall that didn''t suffer a single scratch, my head hurts as I feel my consciousness become blurred for a few seconds. When I focused again I realized that I was outside that room, in fact I was being carried by Hinata through countless corridors. When she realizes I''ve woken up, she puts me down once more, her arms that seemed deformed return to normal, looking like a cute girl once more. "What happened?" (me) "He found us, but after the first attack I ran away leaving him to solve the corruption you left behind." (Hinata) "Thank you." (me) "(The corruption stands out too much, I have to be faster next time, I still missed part of what I wanted to know, but I still got useful information.)" (me) One thing at least I know, I can''t leave things as they are, the Ascendants want to end our universe and they seem to be enemies of the Anomalous Dragons, they are trying to end both at the same time. Putting one group against the other would be useless, they are already hostile to each other and yet they are not openly attacking each other, this plan has crossed my mind before, but now I see the uselessness of it. At least I got some useful information from this, I have to move on from here, I need to know more. "(Urak and Mavor...)" (me) "I can think about it later, I need to find out more about their base now." (me) "Where are we going?" (Hinata) Any door will do, even though I know this is a mind palace, it''s not like I know how to navigate here, everyone''s mind is different, fortunately the information I want can be found easily, information about their base, their central universe. "Can Hinata eat?" (Hinata) "Yes, eat as much as you want." (me) Hinata''s body seems to start emanating a sticky, semi-transparent energy, eyes and mouths of all shapes were in this thing that leaks from her body as she writhes through walls and doors, leaving only a small Hinata who sits on my shoulder as if she were a little doll. With her and the Corruption Dragons wreaking havoc, she should be able to buy me more time, so I choose door after door to enter, just by looking at the screens I roughly choose what I want. I went through 3 doors before finding what I was looking for, on this door there were dozens of holographic screens, but what I paid attention to was one that emanates the power of the Law of the Ascendants, these screens emanate all of Victor''s senses and that''s what I used to choose what I needed. "< Unholy Corruption >" (me) Without wasting time I stand in front of the screen, already using my corruption to delve into the memory, gaining enough control over the memory to collect the information I need, skipping the unnecessary parts. ------------------ Once again I was seeing Victor''s point of view, he was sitting on a throne, in front of him hundreds of screens showing entire cities full of all kinds of races, races I already knew and some I had never seen before, the structures of the cities were strangely modern focused a lot on architectural beauty, I also see a lot of use of marble-like stones of all colors with some occasional use of crystals, other than that they seem more advanced cities than almost anything I have ever seen. Only the universe of Astrid and Yntra that was already destroyed seemed to have the same level of civilization, but while their universe was focused on scientific technology, these cities I see seem to use magical technologies. ----------------- Skipping parts of the memory I advance to a point where Victor was flying above an entire world as this is a memory, his senses are also contained here and thanks to that I can feel the energy of his universe as well as this world. It was a strange sanction, there was no flow of energy flowing, all the energy was diluted everywhere while being divided in a strange way, they were like blocks of equal size overlapping each other, the energies traveled equally flowing into the World in a constant way and leaving the world when dispersing again in an equal way, it was not natural, it was like a construction or perhaps a machine. It may seem efficient and practical, but it is so tightly restricted that it is stagnant, there is no transformation, change, evolution or progress, unpredictability has been denied, any kind of adaptation has become unnecessary, the natural cycle has been denied one of its foundations, chaos. The Universe itself seemed like a building of blocks and the world below the same, it was unnerving for me to see all of this, it was disgusting in so many ways, wrong in so many ways, it was an affront to everything that I am. I feel like I am looking at a world where everything has been devastated, so planets have been built like cities, forests have been built with fake trees and plastic plants, rivers have become pipes with predetermined directions, everything can seem normal and yet the superficiality of it all is horribly false. -------------------- WHERE ARE YOU!!!!???? I jump a little further into his memory, but before going to another part that I want to see, I feel him focusing his attention on me once more, without wasting time I abandon that room almost at the same time that a wave of power of the Law explodes the entire room into a mess. He doesn''t need to speak in this place, he is this entire place, the meaning of what he wants to convey emerges from everything like an omnipresent decree. This time he doesn''t disappear or focus on ending the corruption, he reforms an eye that focuses on me while this entire damn place collapses until it becomes just a desolate plain, the Dragons of corruption were flying through the clouds still ravaging his mind while the ''thing'' that Hinata created was flowing through the ground as if it were magma beneath the earth. GET OUT OF MY MIND!!!! This time he spent his power creating a colossal crown of pure power of the Law that descends from the clouds crushing all the Dragons of corruption, then emanates a column of light that spreads causing only destruction wherever it passes, the ''thing'' that Hinata created rises through my body gathering in it at high speed while I concentrate my power in one hand before hitting my chest. "< Release >" (me) When I release the magic an erosion of mental power appears pushing my mind out like a projectile, this cancels both my sister''s magic and my acceleration of thought. When I opened my eyes full of headache, I saw an enraged face approaching me with an illusory world made of blocks appearing behind it. Chapter 1606: Cap 1604: You ruined everything!!! Pov Davoth: I was silently looking at her, the fury apparent as her blood boils to the point of evaporating out of her body, looking out at her Divine Kingdom in a terrible state with earthquakes, hurricanes and endless floods everywhere. All this devastation is just a part of what she is feeling and trying to contain, I knew that she among all the Gods would have the biggest reaction, but I didn''t expect it to be at this level of lack of control. "(If she doesn''t control herself, she''ll end up losing control over her Divinity and the Universal Essence under her Authority will be influenced... that wouldn''t be good...)" (me) "(But if I try to say something I''ll be attacked, the murderous intent in her eyes is a clear warning of what will happen if I try to calm her down.)" (me) "(It''s been days, but nothing has changed... what am I going to do...?)" (me) I didn''t know what to think or say when she calmed down, that''s because her mental and emotional state are turbulent to say the least. "Is that all?" (Selene) "..." (me) I look at her who suddenly changes from the image of out of control to a completely normal person. "Are you okay yet?" (me) "No, but at least I managed to release most of what I''m feeling." (Selene) "(Was that just the majority? She''s more nervous than I was when she found out.)" (me) Her eyes seem calm as they lock onto me, all her attention focused on me, it''s a considerable mental burden even for me, especially considering the danger that lurks beneath that false calm. "If what you say is true, then what do they want in the end? It can''t be the whole truth, they must be looking for something to pay so much attention to us." (Selene) "They want to reach level 5, an Ascendant with 5 pairs of wings." (me) "..." (Selene) "I thought the strongest ones were level 4 and there were few of them." (Selene) "You''re right, as far as I know there are only three Level 4 Ascendants." (me) "You mean... they can get stronger...?" (Selene) "Since the beginning, the Ascendants are artificial, not natural, and as such, there is no ceiling to their maximum power other than whether or not their own Souls are capable of withstanding such power." (me) "In the past, there were no levels 3 and 4, I saw them advancing to level 4 at that time." (me) "They know about their own flaws, something they cannot accept, and hope they can fix it by advancing to the next existential level." (me) "After using his last sacrifice for such an act... they corrupted the purpose of his actions... they stained his memory just by existing, and they still have the audacity to seek more!!!???" (Selene) "Don''t get so angry, this is not the time to lose your temper, now you should understand why I am looking for Zenos." (me) "Where is he? Why can''t I locate him?" (me) "I don''t know where he is, my eyes can''t reach him and his Divinity is hard to track as well as his Essences." (Selene) "(Where did that bastard go...)" (me) "What should we do now, this is his universe and as such..." (me) "As much as I want to focus on exterminating the ascendants, Akatosh still thinks about marching against the Anomalous Dragons." (Selene) "This is a horrible year, the Ascendants didn''t just stand by and watch." (me) "I said he''ll go after him and not wait for the next attack." (Selene) "He wants to leave the universe? Do you understand the risk?" (me) "With his Divinity and his Authority weakened, not to mention the risk of permanently breaking his Divinity." (me) "You know that, this universe has been more affected by Foreign Gods than any other... wait." (me) "Anomalous Power... but still..." (me) "He made the necessary preparations, I just need to know if an attack like that would draw the attention of the Ascendants..." (Selene) ------------------- Pov Zenos: He was flying towards me, his fist hitting my arm, our sizes becoming increasingly different as we launched ourselves out of this hole. Green flames erupt from his wooden gauntlets, Runes glowing on his weapon as his power of Law tries to latch onto me without success. "< Law of Prosperity: Amplification of Nature >" (Victor) The illusory world behind him seemed to be made of blocks and was moving, his blocks shaking as a stream of green power formed a ring around him, his Aura exploding as his Law Runes seemed to become even more powerful. Each Rune carries the power of nature from the surroundings as if sealing it inside and using it as a projectile against me. "< Unholy Breath >" (me) "< Law of Prosperity: Decay and Renewal >" (Victor) The world of blocks behind him moved to stand in front of him, all the blocks began to move, changing their positions while moving just a little bit away from each other. When my attack hits, it doesn''t cause the damage I expected. In fact, the power is redirected and divided before hitting just one of the cubes until it destroys itself before moving on to the next one. Then the cube that decays becomes solid while becoming smaller than before, and this continues for dozens of seconds in a cycle that remade almost 10 cubes. "(I can''t beat him...)" (me) I could feel that he was using my power to complement his. This shouldn''t be possible, but it was a fact that was happening. My Unholy Flames weren''t being countered with his own concept of moth formation and destruction. "(I have to change the strategy...)" (me) So I stopped using my breath attack and advanced against him, this time in my full Dragon form. I didn''t let Hinata or my other Familiars help. There were still enemies inside the pit for them to fight against. Using my claws to fight him, I had to clash against his gauntlets repeatedly, his Law Runes didn''t affect me, but my Anomalous power wasn''t very useful either, the core of his power was the control of the flow of power and energy. His so-called prosperity was a control of the flow of things, my energy attacks even using Anomalous or Chaos Power weren''t having any effect on him, in fact he was using my power to strengthen himself. I tried using Anomalous and Chaos power separately, but the result was the same, he kept using his world of illusory blocks to defend himself while at the same time the blocks were being destroyed before being recreated as something of real substance. Each time one of these blocks was remade, his power increased a little, his fury and attacks against me were not affecting his mind as much as I expected, each attack of his was calculated and in a short time I was covered in wounds while 1/3 of his illusory world gave way to real blocks that formed a tiny cube inside. His Aura was much stronger now, widening the power difference between us, I even tried to use my Divinity, but it had little effect against him. I tried to use my blood power, my Demonic power, my nature power was the least effective of all and only my apocalyptic power had a greater effect even than my Chaos power, leaving a scar-like mark on the cube he tried to refine. Without wasting any time, I realized what I had to do. He was strong, stronger than me, but that didn''t make him invincible. My only concern was whether I could resist until the end or not. "< Law of Prosperity: Elemental Regulation >" (Victor) "< Unholy Incarnation >" (me) My Divine and Anomalous power added together, consuming my entire existence in a single state. The Unholy Fire in my body was alive as it fought the countless cubes of different elements that separated from Victor''s illusory world and attacked me. The battle became more and more intense, but suddenly Victor stopped his attack and looked up. That was when I noticed that more than half of the egg was already covered in cracks. A strange energy of reality was leaking through the cracks while glowing Runes the size of continents were emerging from its shell. These Runes were falling apart as they were broken by the fluctuations of power around the egg that was starting to shake. Cough Cough Seeing this left Victor shocked for only a few seconds before he began to cough up blue blood. His eyes turned a fiery green as his Aura was consumed by killing intent. "< Unholy Divine Magic: Eclipse of Creation >" (Me) I wasn''t as shocked as he was, so I acted first. Using my Divine Weapon in its basic form, I made the Cursed Sun and the Shattered Moon collide, forming an illusory image of an expanding Eclipse that engulfed everything around it in annihilation. He didn''t have time to react this time, all the cubes that had become real became still as he split his illusory world to circle the cubes around him. But even though it was a heavy blow for him, it was hard for me to maintain it after a few seconds, the Divine Weapon returned to me circling behind my back while Victor''s world of cubes was different. He merged the small real cubes with the much larger illusory cubes and his power increased again, but this time it was more turbulent without the precise control he had shown until now. "Thousands of years of preparation... studying... organizing everything... having to make deals with that damn tree... hiding in this forgotten place of existence... all of it ruined by a brat who dared to stain my mind with his power!?" (Victor) "YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!!!!" (Victor) Chapter 1607: Cap 1605: I dont need to kill you... Pov Adella: After that thing left was when I dared to enter the Goddess'' main hall, but what I saw still scares me, not because of the fear of death or anything like that. What scared me was how much she looked like me before my idiot Father brought sanity back to me. Rage consumed her entire Aura, her eyes only see destruction and her entire body is tense as if she could start moving at any moment. "(I don''t know what they talked about, but Selene isn''t one to lose control to that extent.)" (me) "Where is Zenos?" (Selene) "..." (me) When her eyes turned to me they seemed calm, but I could see the depths of destruction hidden beneath the false calm. "Where is he?" (Selene) "In an area that not even I knew existed until recently, the universe isolated that place from its influence, turning it into a mess." (me) "Why did they... I see, it was Aurora." (Selene) "Yes, she''s looking for Sarafar''s Head, it seems that Delilah gave her the location." (me) "Why take Zenos?" (Selene) "There was danger, there were Anomalous Dragons, that''s where they got in and there were also traces of something that scared Silvia." (me) "Zenos'' daughter, the former World Tree that he rescued?" (Selene) "Yes, she later told about this something that scared her, it seems to be one of her sisters, she called it the Tree of the End." (me) "Since there could be more Anomalous Dragons and high possibilities of an unknown enemy, she decided to call for Zenos, his power of chaos is useful in unforeseen situations in addition to having many Divine beings around him." (me) "Tree of the End... so she really didn''t die from that..." (Selene) "As for that place, being out of my sight is impossible... that place must carry quite a secret to accomplish that." (Selene) She may be acting normal, but I can see beyond what she''s determined to show, it was clear to me how slow she was to fall into madness like I did before. "Don''t look at me like that, I''m fine, this level of fury isn''t enough to affect me any more than that." (Selene) "What do I need to do next?" (me) "Tell him about what I''m going to say now...." (Selene) ------------------- Pov Zenos: He was enraged coming at me, but I had little time to act, my previous attack was not in vain, he was bathed in my Aura and blood. The illusory world made of cubes was in an intermediate form now, his Aura had become more savage than I would have expected. I advanced against him once more, our fists colliding and it was my fingers that were broken. "You destroyed everything I had built in thousands of years!!!" (Victor) "< Law of Prosperity: Incarnation >" (Victor) "< Magic of the Apocalypse: Claws of Desecration >" (me) My arms became 2 times larger while my claws became like blades, without resting I ignored the difference in strength as I focused only on the attack, I had no time to worry about other things now. As I advanced for a more physical attack, his illusory world opened with the cubes moving away from each other to surround him, streams of energy coming out of him expanding and passing exactly where each cube was before closing with him in the middle. What was left was a cube with large eyes on each side and two large arms wearing the same gauntlets as him floating next to the cube. My claw attacks hit his body, but went through his body without leaving any marks behind. I also didn''t feel that I collided with his body. Waves of power floated in all directions from his body, and that was when I realized what he had done. With no time to react, one of his arms threw a punch that opened the flames on my body before the other arm and tried to go through my body. He somehow managed to disperse my attacks to the surroundings. This couldn''t go on like this or I wouldn''t last. With each blow I tested a few more techniques, and this time what was effective was the power of chaos, but I had to modulate its power as if I were using a sword, cutting the cubes completely. It was impractical to defeat him like this, but it would serve my plans. Unfortunately, no matter how much I fought, I was out of luck. At some point, he ripped off one of my arms, using it to continue beating me. In the end, the Unholy Incarnation was deactivated. It only took a few dozen moves to even float. It was getting difficult. As the fight continued, my condition got worse and worse, but in the end he grabbed my head. I was already without both arms while he looked at me resentfully. "Don''t worry, when I''m done with you, your friends will be next before I escape this forgotten place..." (Victor) Sigh "It still hurts to think about everything I lost here, but you''ll find out..." (Victor) "That has my gratitude... hahahaahaha." Suddenly the green eyes that were all over the cube began to reflect a tree, vines and branches intertwined out of the eyes on two sides of the cube before attaching themselves to the arms. It was more than clear that he had been possessed or something like that and I remained silent as they watched me focus on healing my body enough to be able to speak, which took a few minutes. During all this time one of the eyes focused on me saying things in a tone that I recognized even though I had stipulated it a few times. The Tree of the End deceived everyone and especially these allies of its, it was clearly ready to make its move even after death, without letting this Ascendant find out what it was doing. "My sister was foolish to think she could kill me by acting personally, I cannot be killed!" (Tree of the End) "My sisters favor you, someone so pathetic." (Tree of the End) "You weren''t like me before, you weren''t able to do anything against Victor and you no longer have that ability to go against me." (Tree of the End) "Say all you want... in the end only one of us survives until the end..." (me) "And that someone is me, my sisters didn''t have the ability to kill me and you''re far from thinking of such a thing." (Tree of the End) "That''s the thing, I don''t need to kill you, I just need to defeat you." (me) "< Unholy Curse: Path of Sacrifice >" (me) A ring of green flames lit up around him, then his eyes closed before opening with roots coming out of their sides that attached themselves to the sides of the eye outside the cube as if it was ripping his eyes open. The cube was glowing and its surface seemed to be writhing as I looked at it as if something was moving inside it. I soon discovered what it was when red blood ran through its surface, the blood flowing down marking its body with strange patterns as if it were rotting. "What did you do to me!?" (Tree of the End) "Hinata..." (me) "< Embrace of the Lady of the Void >" (Hinata) Soon my armless and wingless body was surrounded by a bizarre energy with the space literally falling apart as if it were mud, arms crossed this space of mud stretching towards me in an embrace that pulled me in. My mutilated body slipped out of the hands of the Tree of the End without it being able to stop me, when I was pulled by these arms I spent a few moments in a place where countless arms took me until I noticed a pair of more delicate arms that pulled my body with affection. When I passed to the outside one of the horns was already being embraced by Hinata''s small body, I was almost 3 kilometers away and I could see the cube all marked with strange patterns that burned. The space around it was shaking as the Tree of the End was trying to get out of place, but it was as if there were chains holding it where it was and this thought soon proved true as the patterns soon revealed chains, hooks and tentacles of bone attaching themselves to its body. "LET ME GO!!!" (Tree of the End) Your creations reached me and were clearly filled with pain, a portal appeared in front of you destroying the space as if it were a light curtain in front of you, blood and fire coming out of the portal while a pair of eyes that sliced ??even the most heroic of men trembled with pure terror, eyes that make even myself fear even though I am a God, the eyes of Callidora. The eyes locked onto the cube that Crazy was dragged inside, it shouldn''t have fit through that portal, but then it opened even more as if it were a mouth devouring its food before closing, but the eyes stayed behind resisting the space trying to close that gap in space. "I''ll share half with you since I can''t take it all... thank you for the meal..." (Callidora) A crystal surrounded by bones comes out of one of the eyes coming towards me, it looks like a tree all broken together by bones, but when it got close to me I could feel that it was the Soul of the Tree of the End, just looking at it was like allowing me to hear its screams of agony. Chapter 1608: Cap 1606: The egg is about to hatch Pov Baldr: I was still recovering when a level 3 Ascendant appeared, opening the space. I had never seen him before. His body is glued to his body, his coat bears a mark of 4 wings and a throne showing his service before the Ascendant Council, but his Dragon mask is intriguing considering the enemies of the Ascendants. "Are they calling me?" (me) "Yes, follow me." "I haven''t recovered yet." (me) "It doesn''t matter." "..." (me) Maybe I''ve been a God for too long, but I''ve never been treated with such disrespect. If I were healed, I would be able to wipe the floor with him, but in my current state it would be a difficult fight. I rise from the golden lake, the light twisting around me forming new robes. The conversion of the power of light is ridiculous in this place. What should be done instantly took a few seconds to complete. "Lead the way." (me) Without saying anything, he entered through the same portal he had entered through. I followed right behind him. This time, I didn''t feel the turbulence of space or any kind of resistance. It was as if I had passed through a finely constructed tunnel. In a few steps, another opening in space opened up, and he passed through without slowing down. I followed behind, entering an empty room where only a throne faced a pool where images from the entire universe passed by. "Lord Mavor, I brought him." "Thank you, now leave us alone." (Mavor) "As you wish." The voice I heard was the same as that day, one of the 3 leaders of the Ascendants, Mavor. "(I don''t understand the reason for calling me, I have no connection with the other leaders besides Vecnar.)" (me) I look at him, but his appearance was still hidden, before I thought it was a way for them to avoid me who was a God considered an enemy, but in fact this is a reaction of their power, the Ascendant Law that prescribes my Divine Power and hinders my senses, right now this impediment is smaller than that day, I can clearly see that he is a man and his 4 pairs of wings on his back as well as the brightness of his crown. "One of my subordinates died in your universe, his name was Victor and along with him a special mission was possibly lost." (Mavor) "(I didn''t know that, so it seems they had other plans besides me, I didn''t know that.)" (me) "..." (me) "I didn''t bring you here just to inform you, I want you to do something for me." (Mavor) "What do I gain from this?" (me) "I will give you a Sword forged by me." (Mavor) "What do I need to do?" (me) "I want you to go to the Anomalous Dragons and..." (Mavor) -------------------- Pov Zenos: I was in a bad state and weak, there was no reason to look at what Callidora left behind, even though I was almost sure it was the Soul of the Tree of the End, I didn''t have time to see it and Hinata saved it for me. I couldn''t stay like this, so I left my body under Hinata''s care and closed my eyes as I connected with Orion. When I opened my eyes, I saw him tearing off one of the wings of a level 2 Ascendant. "< Incarnation of Divine Aura: Consumer of Existences >" (me/Orion) I didn''t waste any time. In the middle of the fight, I saw the enemy swing a sword that cut through space in Orion''s direction. I made his blood-filled body open, letting the sword pass through while my Aura that flows through him takes the form of a Great Leech of Star Flames that sinks its teeth into the Ascendant''s shoulder. "< Law of Space: Dimensional Fissure >" "< Chains of Blood Desecration >" (Orion) His Ascendant Law tries to fight back, but he was much weaker than Victor, his resistance was useless as all his power, blood and even his soul were being drained at the same time as they were refined by the Starfire before being absorbed by me. He tried to attack the Aura Incarnation, but Orion turned part of his body into blood that became chains restricting his movements for brief seconds that were all the time needed. His body became thinner, his blood was the first to dry up followed by his power, when he tried to push his Soul away and I was close to taking even that from him when someone interfered. "< Law of Darkness: Sense Deprivation >" One of the 3-winged Ascendants rescued him by enveloping the area in darkness, even my senses were blocked for a few moments before I realized my meal had disappeared. Seeing that Aurora was approaching, I let Orion fight alongside her while I turned my attention to my true body. "That helped..." (me) My lost limbs were already recovering, after a few more minutes they were back and I was able to stand in the air on my own, I was in no condition to fight, but I wasn''t as severely injured as before. "(I didn''t expect the Tree of the End to intervene, I was lucky that it was in Victor''s body that had already been prepared for the Sacrifice, if it had appeared from somewhere else or taken over another Ascendant''s body... it would have been bad, very bad.)" (me) "Master... well...?" (Hinata) "No, but I''ll stay." (me) This time I focus on Nix, she is facing three Level 2 Ascendants, two of them are badly injured, but they seem to ignore their injuries and I soon discovered the reason for this, the third among them is healing his injuries. "(Nix, attack the other two and leave the healer to me.)" (me) "(Okay.)" (Nix) "Hinata, can you use that technique again?" (me) "Yes..." (Hinata) "Then come with me, I''ll give you a target to bring to me." (me) "Whole...?" (Hinata) "Preferably not." (me) "Easier..." (Hinata) I share Nix''s senses with Hinata as I point to her target, just as I said Nix was fiercely attacking the two Ascendants and I waited for the moment when the healer would launch a technique to give the command. "Hinata, now!" (me) "< Embrace of the Lady of the Void >" (Hinata) Hinata stretches her arms forward, making the space ripple like the waters of a lake, revealing in its depths an innumerable number of arms and tentacles. In a few seconds, I saw someone being dragged through this hellish place with all these arms and hands scratching, pulling and tearing off body parts while pushing him or even punching him until he reached Hinata''s arms, who held his head and pulled him out of the space like a child grabbing a toy bigger than her. The state of this Ascendant was mutilated, pieces of his body were still being spat out of the space while his body was revealing the bones inside along with light red blood. His two eyes were ripped out as well as his wings and one of his arms, his clothes were torn almost to pieces, his spine was broken and his jaw was loose. "Die." (me) Without doing anything too excessive, I simply opened my Dragon jaws devouring his body as well as all his pieces ripped out at once, he tried to escape without success due to his injuries. The first thing I did was activate my Chaotic Devourer ability selectively, I didn''t want to devour his Law by accident, his body was crushed and swallowed while something got stuck on my tongue before being spat out leaving Hinata to devour before I could do anything. "Tasty..." (Hinata) "You find everything tasty." (me) As I spoke to Hinata my injuries recovered more and more, my bones were the miners to recover followed by my muscles, flesh, skin, scales and only then some of my energy returned, perhaps because he was a healing specialist devouring him was more useful for healing than replenishing my power. "30%... that will do for now, now we have to get rid of the others." (me) "You''re not going to... GHUH!!!" "Master, sorry for the delay." (Samara) Suddenly the other level 3 Ascendant appeared flying towards me, but suddenly his body broke from the inside out as his bones shattered his body until there was nothing left but a mass of flesh bound by chains surrounded by bone fragments forming 6 sharp spider legs. As soon as he appeared, the spider legs closed again leaving a white cocoon that was wrapped in chains before Samara crossed the space appearing at his side collecting this thing while talking to me. "You could have done this before, why did you come here?" (me) "We need to leave, he''s hatching, the egg won''t last much longer." (Samara) "..." (me) "Egg..." (Hinata) When I looked up, the egg was covered in cracks, but the space around it was also cracked as if the egg was an extension of the space around it. I could feel the Power of Reality turbulent around it. It was frightening to the point where I didn''t know how this planet hadn''t been torn to pieces yet. "What is that? How can you see it?" (me) "I took advantage of your moment of weakness to share your senses. I apologize for that, but I needed to confirm the situation." (Samara) "That is an Anomalous Entity. It''s close to being born, but I don''t know how something like that came to be here. It shouldn''t be possible. I can''t even imagine what will happen when it is born." (Samara) "The only certainty will be an unprecedented reaction from the universe to the parasite that has emerged inside it." (Samara) "..." (me) "(What is this?)" (me) Suddenly a portal opens next to me, the crystal containing the Soul of the Tree of the End falls and my shadow rises in the form of a shopping head that devours the crystal before looking at me, its eyes were the reflection of an entire universe. "Thank you for this, I don''t know how you escaped before..." (Tarzor) "(Sorry for disappearing, Zenos... but it''s already over...)" (Freya) This Serpent was just an extension of Tarzor, it wasn''t the real him, but the voice in my mind was Freya, her voice sounded distant and tired, it also didn''t last long when the two disappeared once again. "(Don''t tell me...)" (me) Chapter 1609: Cap 1607: Good Luck I looked up, the egg was indeed ready to break at any moment, this only made me more anxious. "How much time do we have?" (me) "Minutes with luck." (Samara) "..." (me) I was in no condition to fight, I wasn''t even able to use the Star Sword at this moment, but I still advanced, not to kill but to seal the enemies. "Here!" (me) "< Unholy Divine Magic: Star Revolution >" (me) All the power I had recovered was consumed at once while more than half of my Vitality was used as a necessary sacrifice to supplement the energy needed for this strike. Using my Divine Weapon with some difficulty, the Purple Sun and the Fragmented Moon came out of my body, circling around my fist as I extended my hand upwards. Starfire ignites and the stars inside it fly out as the flames become tornadoes with great power sucking even the space around it. The stars that flew out fall against the Level 2 Ascendants who had not yet been defeated, the stars pierce their bodies many times before pulling them in, each blow of the star was a new cursed mark that became the shackles binding them to magic. All the Level 2 Ascendants still alive were pulled and compressed into a crystal that looked like a sphere containing a starry sky inside where there were many constellations, each of these constellations was one of these Sealed Ascendants while the Divine Power closes the seal. The only enemy left now was the last Level 3 Ascendant who was not affected by my magic, like any area of ??effect technique, its effect diminishes when diluted in an area and as such it was not effective against her who defended herself with relative ease. I throw the seal sphere to Hades while trying to stay in the air with difficulty, the energy expenditure was a bit high for me. With great difficulty I managed to recover quickly by consuming a few bottles of blood, my own blood full of Sacred Power. "Aurora..." (me) "..." (me) I wanted to gather everyone, but before that a strange energy took over the whole place, it was at that moment that Niryna appeared next to me, she was looking up like the others, in the sky the egg was shining brightly while its energy flowed down like raindrops distorting the world around it. Suddenly the egg broke completely as if exploding, inside it was impossible to describe what was being shown, it was like a strange work of art made by a drug addict in the last minutes of life, it was impossible to understand the concept or identify the purpose just by seeing it. The eggshells flying in all directions shatter the space as they collide with it, revealing a void of distorted energy as if it were an ethereal mass without function. This image alone caused me incredible discomfort, as if it were wrong. This was the same image I saw that day when Akatosh, the Dragon God, was fighting that Anomalous Dragon. This time the strangeness only disappeared when the power of reality flowed into my eyes. Now that I could see, I saw the shards of the egg flying through the void. They had changed and no longer looked like eggshells. It was like seeing fragments of the universe revealing a starry sky with some dotted planets. But it was at that moment when I was concentrating only on observing that I lost what was coming towards me. From within the space, a part of the eggshell was coming towards me. Without wasting any more time, I tried to dodge when a crack opened a few hundred meters away from me, but the eggshell was too big and the Power of Reality contained in the rain was interfering with space. When I thought I would be hit, I decided to try to use the energy of reality in my fist to hit the eggshell. It was a shitty idea, but I''d rather try than just wait to be hit. That''s when I realized that I couldn''t even do that. I didn''t even know how I used the power of reality in my eyes. It was an almost instinctive act. "No waste!" (Tarzor) A wave of energy carried by Tarzor''s voice travels in all directions and suddenly the rain of reality energy condenses around the piece of shell coming towards me, which was soon dragged back to where the egg was. That''s when I saw it, now with the power of reality in my eyes I was able to see a creature wrapped around a Dragon, the creature was only half full and looked like a cloud of stars with a nebula in the shape of an eye, at least that was all that was left while it was being chewed by Tarzor. There were also roots coming out of Tarzor''s body and attaching themselves to the creature, a strange energy flowing through them, that''s when I saw two intense lights on Tarzor, they were somewhere near his head and each light carried fluctuations of different presences, one energy full of life and the other full of death. I noticed Tarzor had disappeared since I lost my consciousness earlier, but I hadn''t understood where he had gone until now, I had my suspicions, but I didn''t want to think about it too much. When all the spheres containing the power of reality returned bringing with them most of the pieces of eggshell, Tarzor opened his jaws sucking everything as if it were the most normal thing in the world before returning to devour what was left of the creature. Suddenly Tarzor trembled and what was left of the creature was absorbed by his body, which emanated a different presence. Ding! <[ The Anomalous Entity [ Tarzor (Unholy Universal Dragon) ] consumed the [ Anomalous Entity (Nascent) ] thus acquiring the Ability to plant [ Unholy Stigmas ] ]> . . <[ The Anomalous Entity [ Tarzor (Unholy Universal Dragon) ] expanded its universe and broadened the scope of its Essences ]> . . . <[ The Anomalous Entity [ Tarzor (Unholy Universal Dragon) ] is generating a new race for its universe that needs its power to complete the process ]> . . . <[ The System interferes by limiting the number of individuals of this new race and applying their existence as Native to Tarzor ]> . . <[ The System approves the destruction of the [ Anomalous Entity (Nascent) ] ]> Ding! <[ The Anomalous Entity [ Freya (Anomalous Universal Tree) ] has absorbed the aspects of [ Death of the World Tree (Anomalous) ] by consuming its Soul and power, thus completing the creation of a new [ Entity of Destruction ] ]> . . <[ The [ Entity of Destruction ] forms its concept of Death and acquires a proper name, becoming [ Kalistos (Entity of Death) ] ]> Ding! <[ The Anomalous Entity [ Freya (Anomalous Universal Tree) ] has absorbed the aspects and power core of the [ Anomalous Entity (Nascent) ] thus completing the creation of a new [ Entity of Creation ] ]> . . <[ The [ Entity of Creation ] forms its concept of Life and acquires a proper name, becoming [ Mavis (Entity of Life) ] ]> Ding! <[ The Anomalous Entity [ Freya (Anomalous Universal Tree) ] ignites the [ Anomalous Goddess ] and thus becomes [ Freya (Anomalous Divine Universal Tree) ] ]> Ding! <[ Your Universe has the aspects and concepts that comprise the natural cycle ]> . . . <[ The System congratulates you ]> . . . <[ The System does not hide its tracks this time ]> . . <[ The Entity that insists on being called Callidora has offered a new perspective on the inevitable conflict and part of the preparations are complete ]> . . . <[ The System wishes you ''Good Luck'' against what is to come ]> "..." (me) I didn''t know what had happened, but several notifications appeared in front of me and the more I read, the greater the shiver I felt running down my spine with all of this. "I''m fucked..." (me) ----------------- Pov Vecnar (????): I was facing the Universal mirror, the star system controlled by Victor was collapsing, but at least with his death I learned about Mavor''s plan. "He''s still thinking about the origin, this isn''t a suitable path for us." (me) I know what he was trying to achieve with this plan, but it would yield few results and we would lose a lot, not to mention the great amount of risks in which the loss of some Level 3 Ascendants would be the least of our problems. But suddenly I feel a different fluctuation in the flow of creation outside the universe and I track where these fluctuations in the flow of creation come from. "It seems that something happened in that universe and with Victor''s death happening so close, then it must be associated with the same individuals..." (me) "Interesting..." (me) ----------------- Pov ??? (???): I was celebrating after the last battle, even though it was a short fight lasting a few months, it was still satisfying to find an enemy worthy of using half of my power in this universe. "Earth Dragons are horrible..." (me) The taste of Earth Dragons has never pleased me, their powers are also not something I value very much, but exactly because of that I avoided eating them so much, causing a lapse in my inner Universe. "What was that...?" (me) Suddenly I look around, the universe shattering allowed me to feel the changes in the flow of creation, something had happened, I can feel a presence that is awakening my hunger. "This is a presence I do not recognize... but this universe... I understand." (me) "It must be the fault of the current Chaos Bearer, this deserves consideration." (me) My mind may be calm, as a leader I need to think more than my brothers, but I can''t deny the saliva dripping from my jaws and the great desire to taste this unknown food. --------------- Pov ??? (???): I was tearing off a piece of the universe when I feel fluctuations in creation, this only happens when something abnormal on an existential level happens, I try to track it, but then I feel the presence of Hell standing in my way. "Wanting to monopolize... it seems we''ll have to fight again..." (me) Chapter 1610: Cap 1608: A neck plate Pov Davoth: I was sitting alone without a room, I still haven''t returned to my base wanting to stay longer near the Temple of Blood so I could acquire information about Zenos and the movement of the Gods more easily. But I wasn''t wasting my time, quite the opposite, I was meditating trying to better master my power now that I have time. Previously my focus was on speed to become stronger, which brought me here, but that was already pushing my limits too much, I need to better understand my power and abilities on a more personal level. Combat could be useful as practice, but using my power in this universe is already a constant struggle, so I''m doing this basic training to strengthen my foundation, that is, my mind and body. "..." (me) "What was that...?" (me) While I was meditating, I noticed a fluctuation in the power of reality, I didn''t feel it with my body or mind but with my Soul, but that shouldn''t be possible. The fact that this had happened only caused me greater concern since it was happening, this means an event capable of shaking the foundations of this universe was happening, perhaps even greater than just this universe. "This wouldn''t be Zenos'' work, would it?" (me) "..." (me) This thought gave me a horrible premonition, a Chaos Bringer certainly has the ability to be involved or even be the cause of such events that shake a reality. The question is whether he could still do such a thing, he had already become a God, he had already shared Anomalous power with the Dragon race of this universe, he had already created 3 Sources of Natural Power with new elements, he had already become a Primordial God, he had already created a Universal Entity like Tarzor and he had already given birth to Callidora''s child. Each of these events would be enough to cause slight fluctuations in the reality of a universe, some of these events could even cause fluctuations in the reality of all creation, but they had already happened. He shouldn''t be able to accomplish something on that level again, not with his current strength, and I''m also certain that he doesn''t have the ability to use the Power of the Law of the Ascendants he acquired without someone to instruct him. "It can''t be him... it can''t be..." (me) I was speaking, but I wasn''t sure if I was expressing an impossibility or if I was just trying to convince myself of something I refused to believe. To begin with, this was just a meaningless thought, I couldn''t even formulate what kind of event it was or how vast those fluctuations were in reality, not in my current condition. "Better stop thinking about it, whether it was him or not doesn''t matter anymore, I''ll find out sooner or later when I meet him." (me) "..." (me) Sigh "If it was him..." (me) Sigh ------------------- Pov ??? (Tree of Creation): I was accompanying and assisting Freya during her process of helping in the birth of 2 new conceptual avatars. "I don''t know why you''re here, but feel free to show up." (me) "Why do you interfere with Life and Death?" (Entity of Reincarnation) "I didn''t intervene, I just helped complete the process so my daughter wouldn''t lose her way." (me) "There shouldn''t be two entities like that without being anchored in a universe." (Reincarnation Entity) "Since how much of a difference does that make?" (me) "This goes against the natural order." (Reincarnation Entity) "The natural order changes and adapts constantly, even my existence was once considered against the natural order and today I am a symbol of the natural order." (me) "They are not an addition to the natural order like you and your sisters, they are a deviation and separation from what already exists." (Reincarnation Entity) "When the power was given to the Holder of Chaos, it was to give birth to Gods of Life and Death in his new Universe, not to Create two new Entities of Life and Death like these." (Reincarnation Entity) "You can''t hand something into the hands of someone who carries the Power of Chaos and expect them to follow your plan, especially when I didn''t make their plans for them." (me) "You interfered more than you should have, you handed over your rebellious sister''s core and Soul as well as taking Tarzor to the Anomalous Egg." (Reincarnation Entity) "My sister could not be killed, she cut her ties with the natural cycle in an attempt to become a new natural cycle of her own, being reborn as a new being belonging to the existing Natural Cycle was the best way I could think of to take care of her without fail." (me) "The Egg itself was also a problem, it could not stay in that place any longer, Hell discovered it and would do something to obtain it, not to mention that the Ascendants would try to make use of it, the best way to get rid of it was for Tarzor to devour it." (me) "That was my train of thought about these events. Since I was already interfering to take care of my sister, I took the opportunity to put into practice a quick way to get rid of the Anomalous Egg, but just like you and your sisters, I underestimated how much the original plan would be distorted by what happened next." (me) I really didn''t plan that deeply about this event. I didn''t expect something like this to happen. But it''s not as serious as he claims. His new Avatar is very cautious. "Such an event will become known." (Reincarnation Entity) "There''s not much of a problem. Only the Ascendants and the Anomalous Dragons will be able to track it because they''re in more frequent contact with that universe. The others haven''t noticed the place, but they''ll look for it." (me) "One of them noticed. The Infernal Entity is about to fight. It''s using this fight to hide its tracks." (Reincarnation Entity) "I don''t know what it''s trying to achieve, but it''s in your hands now, the responsibility for what happens falls on you." (Reincarnation Entity) "I don''t care, it doesn''t change much anyway." (me) "He has a wanted sign hanging around his neck now, his presence revealed with all this, it shouldn''t happen like this." (Reincarnation Entity) Just as he arrived uninvited, he also left without saying goodbye, but no matter what he says, I know his concern is for the two new individuals, they are not like his sisters Life and Death, this worries him unnecessarily. "(He really does things differently...)" (me) ----------------- Pov Zenos: After seeing the new notifications popping up in front of me, Tarzor disappeared in a column of Starlight returning to my Shadow, then fell asleep, I couldn''t communicate with him or Freya, they were both unconscious. I could feel them inside the Star Path, but I couldn''t reach them, this damn place is still disconnected from the rest of the universe causing impediments to my power. With nothing else to do but accept all this, I turn my attention to the Last Ascendant, she wasn''t killed as I expected, Zaya and Hades worked together to capture her. After all was said and done, we couldn''t get off this planet, that''s because it was collapsing, the power of reality was breaking space and I could feel flows of Natural power colliding against the planet, this place that had always been out of order, something was colliding against the natural flows causing even more chaos. I gathered everyone to leave this place, but it wasn''t easy with everything so chaotic, even the monsters and creatures of this place were trying to escape, but they were being sucked in one by one by something, I didn''t bother to pay attention as I tried to escape. I was too tired, so my Familiars were almost forced to push me out the whole time, going through space storms with every step it was like my body was being treated like modeling clay in the hands of a madman. The heat and cold attacking together, rays of light followed by dark mists confuse our minds all the time, we couldn''t use our speed at all. I can''t even say how long it took us with all this, but we finally managed to leave the planet''s orbit, something we could do in seconds on any other planet or tens of minutes on this same planet before all this happened, now it took hours where every step was a risk of injury. When we got out we found Okan who took us inside it, but even so I still shared his senses seeing the planet in a storm of elements as it separated into larger and larger pieces, everything was falling apart as the Suns in its orbit collided and the space around the planet was distorting like the waters of a lake during rain. It was a frightening sight and knowing that we were in the middle of it shows how close we were to death, in fact we were still in danger until Okan moved away from this place. "Master, we have to talk." (Samara) "..." (me) Suddenly I feel a hand on my shoulder and I return my senses to my body, then I see Samara looking seriously at me "What happened?" (me) "I don''t know what exactly happened... but the fluctuation that appeared before... carried your presence... you may become a target." (Samara) "..." (me) Chapter 1611: Cap 1609: Are you an idiot!? I was sleeping when I felt myself being pulled somewhere, when I opened my eyes I was no longer in my room or even inside Okan, everything here was very different and at the same time familiar. I look at my body, I can see some red bandages covered in symbols illuminated in stellar energy, they were all over my body where I still carried wounds after revealing horrendous expedition. "But where the hell am I?" (me) "Hello master..." (Samara) Cough Cough Cough "Samara! What happened to you!?" (me) Samara was half torn apart with her chains trying to put her torn limbs back together, her cough was full of blood and even in such a serious situation she seemed to be speaking normally. "Let''s just say... Callidora doesn''t like... when others interfere in her... affairs..." (Samara) Cough Cough I walk over to her while using her restraints to confirm that I''m not in a dream or unconscious since I can feel her physical restraints, this confirms that I''m in this place physically. "< Divine Blood Magic: Fluid of Life >" (me) I use a simple type of blood magic, but when used by a blood god like me, this magic is enhanced, a magic circle appears on the back of my hand glowing red while my palm facing up releases particles of blood and Divine Power that condense into a small sphere of luminous red liquid. Letting this liquid pour onto Samara, soon her body glows, her chains are covered in veins that forcefully pull her body parts back together while healing her injuries, then I help her stand up as strength returns to her body. "You''re already healed, now tell me what you know, what happened to you?" (me) "I made a mistake, I tried to question Callidora about the egg and her intentions, Niryna warned me that it wasn''t a good idea and before I knew it Baal appeared behind me with flaming eyes." (Samara) "Baal was supposed to be Niryna''s Servant." (me) "He was, but his body exploded after doing this to me with his Soul being taken back to Callidora." (Samara) "From the beginning he was just a bodyguard until she was strong enough and had her own servants." (Samara) "But why do this now?" (me) "A warning to me, she doesn''t want me to question her motives in front of Niryna." (Samara) "I have served in your name as a slave for a long time, I am older than some new universes, yet I dare not say that I understand Callidora completely, but I still understand her better than any of you." (Samara) "Her actions in that place were too obvious and inaccurate, her actions too deliberate in you acquiring that Anomalous Egg." (Samara) "I was careless thinking that she would not retaliate for a simple question, but this also shows that I was right." (Samara) "Right about what?" (me) "The Ascendants invade and conquer other universes, they pillage, steal and refine their Essences to acquire more power of the Ascendant Law, because of this they enter into few conflicts with other Anomalous creatures." (Samara) "I do not understand what you are trying to get at?" (me) "Where did that Anomalous Egg come from?" (Samar) "That is very rare on a multiversal scale, for Ascendants who normally do not come into contact with other Anomalous creatures it should be almost impossible to acquire that egg, much less know how to nurture it." (Samara) "Seeing how that planet and the entire region of space was, it seemed like a nest built to nurture the egg, a place separate from the universe and with all its foundations in constant collision, how could the Ascendants know about this when not even I knew such information, I could only deduce after seeing all that." (Samara) "So you think Callidora did all this? Did she hand over the Egg and the way to incubate it?" (me) "She is adept at negotiation, she could obtain an item such as the Anomalous Egg and the way to hatch it would be easy for someone so experienced." (Samara) "She must have negotiated with the Ascendants, that would be more likely than them getting the egg on their own." (Samara) "..." (me) What Samara says makes sense, Callidora was surprised to see that place and also focused a lot on the egg when we arrived, she may not know how the Ascendants would use the egg and even if she did it wouldn''t matter to her, but she clearly had little enthusiasm in acquiring the egg for herself, she didn''t even try to encourage Niryna to get the egg, what she did was keep pushing me to get the egg. "(She wanted me to take the egg from the Ascendants, she herself interfered very little, she wants to intensify the conflict, watch the circus burn.)" (me) Callidora really can''t be underestimated, her actions are only interested in her own amusement, I don''t know if what Samara said is true, but there is logic in that line of thought, even if it isn''t true, it''s not too far from the truth or Callidora wouldn''t have issued such a violent warning. "I''ll think about it, but before anything else, where are we?" (me) I look around, this forest seemed ordinary, but the natural energies were very concentrated, in the sky it was also possible to see the Sun and the Moon on opposite sides during the day. "Didn''t you notice?" (Samara) "Notice what?" (me) "We are inside Tarzor." (Samara) "Tarzor..." (me) I suddenly started to look around more, but it wasn''t the landscape I was seeing, it was something more fundamental, the energies and Essences of the Universe itself, even for a God it''s not the kind of thing that''s easy to see, it requires concentration and focus to notice. This time I was able to notice that each of the Essences were mine or branched from mine, the flow of power also flows at a different pace from the universe outside, in fact it flows at a similar pace to the blood in my body. "Tarzor!!!" (me) "Where are you!!??" (me) "Why did you bring me here like this!!??" (me) "He won''t answer you, he''s asleep, I don''t know how you got here, but I was brought by Zaya who saved me before Callidora could do anything else." (Samara) "I was sleeping, I just felt a tug and suddenly I woke up here..." (me) "Maybe it was Freya...?" (me) "I was the one who brought you here." (Voice 1) "We shouldn''t have acted like this." (Voice 2) "We need to resolve this now, you know that." (Voice 1) "It shouldn''t have happened like this, so let him pay some of the price." (Voice 1) "This is a strange feeling, so much independence." (Voice 2) "But our purpose hasn''t changed, nor our responsibility, don''t forget that." (Voice 1) "I won''t forget..." (Voice 2) "..." (me) "..." (Samara) Suddenly two pairs of eyes open, one pair of eyes is purple with a green luminous outline around it while the other is red with a golden luminous outline around it. Apart from their irises, both eyes were filled with a starry sky that had real depth, it was as if their eyes were floating in the middle of the stars and the open eyes were just portals through which it was possible to see such a scene. The eyes had 3 meter tall hands each, they were in the sky looking at me as they spoke on their own. The one with the green eyes seems irritated and talks more than her counterpart with red eyes who seems a little confused about something. "Who are you!?" (me) "I am Kalistos." (Kalistos) "I am Mavis." (Mavis) "..." (me) "You are not the Goddesses of Life and Death that I know, are you?" (me) "No." (Kalistos) "We are the Entities that your actions created." (Mavis) "We were supposed to be born as Goddesses of Life and Death in your universe, but you have perverted our original purpose." (Kalistos) "I don''t understand what you mean?" (me) "I told you I wouldn''t understand." (Mavis) "He needs to understand what he did." (Kalistos) "Before that, we have something to do." (Mavis) "Yes, we have something to do, something I''ll really enjoy doing." (Kalistos) "< Anomalous Magic: Origin Absorption >" (Mavis/Kalistos) My body was enveloped by a column of light and I felt my power as well as my Essence being sucked, even my life was being taken along with the blood in my body, my soul was also having part of its power taken. Samara did nothing to help, standing by while streams of power came out of the column of energy that surrounded me and entered my eyes that shone brightly. This lasted a few seconds, but when it was over I was on the dry ground like a mummy, my every movement was followed by the cracking of my bones, the only thing left behind was my Divine Power that began to flow through my body and Soul trying to recover. New blood was being created rapidly, the strength of the bones was returning to normal, the flesh and muscles were recovering while my weakened Soul at least became stronger using my Divinity to recover the absorbed Essences along with the power of the Soul itself. "What did you do!?" (me) "We are in the process of creating our bodies, but we lacked ''nutrients'' that we could use." (Mavis) "Why do it like this?" (me) "Punishment, we could have done it more gently and slowly, but do you even understand what you did?" (Kalistos) "I didn''t do anything, it was Tarzor who ate that egg and Freya who took that Tree of the End." (me) "Are you an idiot!?" (Mavis) "You don''t even understand that these weren''t the crucial points, these events wouldn''t affect us to that degree, it was your Power of Chaos that affected us the most." (Kalistos) "Your Power of Chaos follows your Will, only what you truly seek and you always seek innovation, something I respect for possessing the power of life, but still used irresponsibly by you constantly." (Mavis) "Freya and Tarzor are still tired, we both also need to finish the last steps of our new existence, you can go now." (Kalistos) Suddenly I feel something envelop my body and before I know it I am back in my bed with Samara by my side. "I''m going back to the Communal Temple, if you need me just call me master." (Samara) I watch Samara leave while everything that just happened goes through my head. "What just happened...?" (me) Chapter 1612: Cap 1610: Do something for me When I opened my eyes again the next day, the first thing I did was confirm that this time I was in my room, I didn''t want to be taken somewhere else while I slept again. "You finally woke up." (Karina) "I feel like crap..." (me) "You know, there are some Gods who are looking for you, their statues never stop shining in the Communal Temple while your name is heard between whispers." (Karina) "Mavis and Kalistos?" (me) "Yes, but not only them, the Goddess Selene and the God Akatosh are also looking for you, but they were both simpler in their approach." (Karina) "As a Saint of two Gods, I received the oracle of Akatosh and Vanessa as the Saint of the Goddess of Blood also received an oracle." (Karina) "I can imagine the Goddesses of Life and Death wanting to speak to me, I can even suppose the types of insults, threats and maybe even some punishment that I might suffer when speaking to them." (me) I can''t deny that I did something this time, I''m not sure how much of this is my fault, I would love to blame the one who took control of my body, she was the one who started all of this, but I can''t deny that I carry some guilt anyway and I''m not sure how much the power of chaos can be blamed for this event. One way or another, the responsibility falls on me, so it doesn''t make any difference, what really matters is how much they''re going to blame me for this. "I just don''t understand why my mother wants to reunite with me or what the Dragon God wants from me." (me) "One way or another, I''m still a God, it should be normal conversations between Gods, right?" (me) "I have no idea." (Karina) "So, what are you going to do?" (Karina) "..." (me) I''m curious about my mother and Akatosh, but in the end I can''t run away from the Goddesses of Life and Death, their power is possibly above what other Gods have, they also scare me, especially Kalistos. "I''ll go talk to the Goddesses of Life and Death first." (me) If punishment or anything else comes, then the sooner I go find them, the less worse it will be or at least I hope it will be less worse. ----------------- A few minutes later. I was already approaching the Communal Temple wearing new clothes and having removed my bandages, I also tried to contact Tarzor and Freya without success, I couldn''t even enter Tarzor, I know very little about all of this. When I passed through the entrance doors of the Communal Temple, I realized too late that I was taken to another place, a Divine Realm. "I thought you would try to avoid us." (Kalistos) "I don''t think I could escape even if I wanted to." (me) "Yes, that''s exactly why I said you would try... there''s no escaping us." (Kalistos) "We want to talk, so sit down, Zenos." (Mavis) "Thank you..." (me) I couldn''t see the eyes of the two, not with the veil covering their faces, but for some reason I could feel their eyes fixed on me, Kalistos with clear anger while Mavis who seems calm is the one with the most intense look. I walk over to them sitting in a third chair at the table, it was as if this whole place was an illusion, it was like seeing an AI Image where I couldn''t find flaws, everything was so perfect that it became strange and unreal. "I believe I know what they''re going to say, but I would like to point out that this time it wasn''t my fault." (me) "Your undeniable guilt is not up for discussion." (Kalistos) "We didn''t imagine that the Power of Chaos could even distort our powers in such a different way." (Mavis) "So you''re not here to lecture me or talk about punishment again?" (me) "Any punishment would be useless since your ability to do things in abnormal ways seems to be intrinsic to your existence, expecting anything different was a mistake on our part." (Mavis) "Our discontent can be put aside, what we need is to inform you of your current situation." (Kalistos) "For some reason your words seem more threatening and frightening than if you were lecturing me." (me) It seems that this time I may have done something really big, your 2 versions inside Tarzor hinted at some bad things, but didn''t explain anything in detail before disappearing. "Just tell me what you need, please... I still need to find my mother and Akatosh today." (me) "You understand that Kalistos and I are just part of a whole, correct?" (Mavis) "Yes, your minds are one with your versions in other universes." (me) "Unfortunately not all universes, but most are." (Kalistos) "Our minds are also not connected to anything, that''s because all these versions are us, we are just parts of the Concept of Life and Death." (Kalistos) "Our personalities, minds, memories and everything else are not shared because they don''t need to be shared, we are all reflections of a single entity each." (Mavis) "Just as if you were in a room full of mirrors, the reflections around you are not individuals in themselves, they are all you." (Kalistos) "Do you understand?" (Mavis) "I believe so..." (me) They are parts of a whole, before I thought it was more like a collective mind like the Androids in Star Trek or the multiversal mind of the Marvel symbiotes, but it seems I''ve been making the wrong analogies. "We wanted to make you stronger and so we contributed to the birth of new Gods from us within your universe, we expected some attitudes from you when you had enough power, such as facing creatures that put the continuity of creation at risk." (Mavis) "But the result was different than expected, you created Entities of Life and Death, individuals truly separate from us, but fortunately still linked to us." (Kalistos) "This is a fundamental change in reality, fortunately not a serious change, but like any change it brings consequences, ripples in reality itself that were felt by many Gods in this universe and spread beyond this universe, painting a target on your back." (Kalistos) "If you think a single universe is large, imagine considering countless universes, imagine the void between universes where universal apocalyptic creatures exist." (Mavis) "..." (me) "The fluctuations in reality were not large, but there are still many to sense and perhaps track since the Power of Chaos was contained within it." (Kalistos) "Your luck is that one particular confrontation hid most of the tracks." (Kalistos) -------------------- I spent almost two hours talking to the Goddesses of Life and Death, they talked about the dangers I might face as well as what I should expect. It seems that the Entities of Life and Death are very tempting to some Anomalous creatures or beings, but the same goes for me possessing the power of chaos. They spoke clearly about the dangers and made it clear that I owed them both a debt that I would have no choice but to fulfill. It seems that my Power of Chaos can be useful for both Life and Death depending on the situation, they made it clear that there are 2 situations where they will use this debt and that I am not yet prepared to intervene, which makes me shiver thinking about how much danger these two think they are putting me in. When I left that space my head was hurting, being in danger was the least of my worries, since I was born into this universe as a Leech I have never been truly safe, the risk to my life has become a daily occurrence that does not affect me as much as it once did. What worries me are two memories, the Anomalous Dragon that fought Akatosh outside the universe was one of them, the other memory was when I found the System, that great claw that was destroying a universe trying to invade, having something to compare it to now, that claw was clearly more powerful than the Anomalous Dragon that fought Akatosh. To think that such a level of power and destruction could be pointing at me sent shivers down my body. "I finally found you." (Niryna) "Niryna, do you need anything?" (me) "I need to talk to you..." (Niryna) "Can we do this later? I still need to find 2 Gods..." (me) "Bring him now!" (Callidora) While I was having a headache thinking about the worst possible scenarios after hearing everything those two Goddesses said, Niryna appeared and soon after Callidora emerged from her body with truly frightening eyes. "< Infernal Magic: Hall of Condemnation >" (Niryna) Suddenly flames appeared as blood spread across the floor, the world around me changed so quickly that I didn''t have time to do anything else. What soon revealed itself to be a ruined hall full of blood stains and decorated with bones everywhere, the only two people besides me here are Niryna and Callidora who seems corporeal here. The outside of this place had a clear green sky with dark gray clouds and that was all I could see, inside there was a broken throne where a mirror that reflected nothing but darkness was. "What is this? Where are we?" (me) "A magic that replicates a hellish area similar to what the Divine Realms do..." (Niryna) "Explanations will be for later, I need you to do something for me." (Callidora) "Why would you do that?" (me) "I would love to have a word game with you just to end with me winning the argument, but I need you to do it now." (Callidora) "The power surge of Reality has cast its scent to many predators, I can let some hunt you, but I can''t let the big ones come here and thanks to you I forced one of them that has avoided me for a long time to make a move." (Callidora) "I won''t waste these opportunities, so you will either follow my request happily that I am giving you some layer of protection or I will force you to do it by letting everyone just throw themselves into this universe and tear it to pieces." (Callidora) "She showed me, the situation really isn''t very good..." (Niryna) "..." (me) Chapter 1613: Cap 1611: Invading what!? Pov Davoth: "It''s not possible, seriously... it''s not possible!" (me) I punch a tree and open a hole in space that makes the Aura of this world attack in my direction trying to crush me, which was useless against me, the two types of Anomalous Power collide around me annihilating any Aura that tries to touch me. I ignore the World''s reaction as well as the large ditch I created along with this path through the mountain. I turn to Selene''s purchase, her Divine Beast and also newest granddaughter, the Blood Dragon, Adella. "He just appeared and disappeared again!?" (me) "Get used to it, Zenos is unpredictable in what he does, that''s because not even he knows what he''s going to do." (Adella) "I had just confirmed his location, I was finalizing my preparations to leave, I''m minutes away from my base in this universe." (me) "But before I even leave, I find out he''s disappeared again!" (me) Before my pine cone could crash into another tree, I stop in my tracks, the space around me only my fist shaking to the point of breaking, I didn''t want to cause any more destruction. "Stop worrying about him, expecting anything from him is more harmful than fighting a God." (Adella) "Did Selene at least manage to talk to him?" (me) "No, only the Goddesses Kalistos and Mavis talked to him, then he disappeared." (Adella) "..." (me) Sigh "(This won''t work...)" (me) Every muscle and bone in my body hurts, unlike my mother who became an Ascendant and therefore isn''t as affected by this universe, I am a God with Anomalous power, by my mere existence I am already considered unbearable for this universe, my Divinity is constantly bombarded and right now my body was in terrible condition with my power being deteriorated because of it. I need his Power of Chaos to adapt perfectly to this universe and the same goes for my mother, only Zenos can do that and not to mention what still needs to be done. "Where did he go this time?" (me) "I don''t know and I don''t care." (Adella) I look at her, they are not the eyes of someone indifferent, there is a lot of anger like that with something darker inside her gaze. "You didn''t come after me to talk about Zenos, did you?" (me) "Why are you here?" (me) "I want you to tell me about the Ascendants." (Adella) "That''s it?" (me) "No, I want to know specifically about an Ascendant named Urak." (Adella) "You mean Urak, one of the three level 4 Ascendants and part of their leadership?" (me) "Yes, I want to know everything..." (Adella) ----------------- Pov Zenos: Callidora truly leaves me no choice, she was able to make even Niryna stick to her side this time, so it must have been very difficult to see whatever she saw. But I can''t deny that Callidora helped a lot in many situations, even if she always gained something in those negotiations. Not to mention that there were other times when she saved me and hid my tracks so I wouldn''t be chased, it was the same when Tarzor was about to be born and Niryna finally appeared. Refusing Callidora was also not a safe option, she would hardly do anything against me directly, it would be too easy and she likes to make others suffer, she would possibly target someone dear to me and of little interest to Niryna, which would possibly be one of my wives who spent less time with me since Niryna was born. "I will do as you ask, but not without information." (me) "That''s the information, now go!!!" (Callidora) Suddenly she disappears and her body reforms in front of me, her finger was not just touching my forehead, it had penetrated my skull while a large amount of information was thrown into my mind. I went through something similar many times, exchanging the effect of confusion much shorter than normal, even so I was distracted for a few seconds when I was pushed to the side by a delicate hand. When my eyes regained focus, more than half of my body had already passed through the mirror I saw on the throne before, I felt myself being sucked in and knew it was Callidora''s real body on the other side, there was no way I could resist. The last thing I saw was a worried Niryna covered in sweat biting her nails, while the corporeal image of Callidora beside her was waving at me with an unnerving smile. "..." (me) "(You wretch...)" (me) She always does things her own way, she doesn''t care about anyone''s opinions or thoughts, but her power is terrifying even to imagine, so I don''t even dare to curse her or threaten her. When I passed completely through the mirror I found myself being carried away by a stream of souls filled with cries of lamentation, this might have affected me in the past, but after spending that time in the Cursed Ocean because of her, I''m not so affected by these things anymore, even so it''s still unpleasant. Soon I was in a different place, it was completely white because it was made of bones, a strong Demonic energy mixed with the energy of reality, it was here that she appeared to me, but unlike normal where she wears sexy or extravagant clothes, now she was wearing full armor and her face was injured at the nose. As soon as she appeared the whole place shook, the air was almost combusting and shockwaves emerged from every corner, even my Soul shook. "What is the occasion?" (me) "I''m in the middle of a fight, this form is because of the mental state too focused on my body during the fight." (Callidora) "..." (me) "What I want is very simple, you already have all the information in your head, so bye..." (Callidora) I wanted to ask her several questions, I wanted to know who she was fighting, the reason for this battle, how she could have that wound on her nose and many other things, I even wanted to ask her what she wanted from me, but breaking my expectations, she just came to laugh at me before launching me into the task, I didn''t even have time to review the information passed to my mind with one thing after another happening. She smiles at me and suddenly I feel my body being covered by a chilling Aura that transcends the Demonic, it was so horrible that it was as if I was filthy, I had never felt such a disgusting sensation in my life before. But all of that faded away in the next instant, because I had a glimpse, on one side there was a storm cloud from which countless arms and faces tried to escape, chains made of bones were coming out of the horrendous cloud while its claws looked like serrated hooks, only a pair of eyes that carried an inconceivable cruelty could be seen, that cloud was not the real body, in fact I don''t think it was even a cloud but just its Aura hiding its body inside, I couldn''t even imagine its body. On the other side the creature was clearly visible, its body was made of countless spider legs that moved opening and closing all the time, it looked like a large spider with a humanoid body in the place where the head should be, this body was elongated with 8 arms with 2 elbows each, a sphere attached to the palms of its very long hands, there was no skin or muscles, all were insect legs closed forming this bizarre shape. It was horrific in many ways and with an attack from the bone claws coming out of the cloud, a few thousand insect legs were destroyed allowing me to see shapeless pieces of universes hidden inside them, they were full of holes and emanated a sense of desolation. This battle seemed slow, but I immediately understood that it was for another reason, I couldn''t see their movements, their figures trembled and moved in strange ways as if they were teleporting many times the energy of reality around them was creating millions of explosions per second, I was sure that just one of these explosions would be able to kill me completely. The place where this battle took place was so expansive that the word limit seemed like an invention whose concept was impossible to apply, everything was confusing and with many colors as if it were surrounded by colored mists mixing or separating continuously. All this happened in mere seconds or fractions of seconds, my mind could not keep up with time, I was too focused on what was happening, hunting for details to try to understand what was happening, that''s when I realized that I was seeing through the Senses of one side, my own senses could not expand even close to what was being displayed to me, it was Callidora''s horrendous Aura messing with my senses to share what was happening, it was this dichotomy that caused this incomprehension in the passage of time. When I realized I saw a bone spear break not the humanoid part, but one of the hands leaving it mutilated while bones emerge from the inside of that arm radiating Demonic flames, that''s when my line of perception turned or more precisely began to return exactly to the tip of that spear where my perception focused on me. "Wait! I''m inside that thing!!!?" (me) "Callidora made me invade that thing!!!???" (me) Chapter 1614: Cap 1612: Plague Avatar When I looked around, I was in a building made entirely of metal with a technological appearance, but it was worn out as if it had been half melted. Everything around me was bizarre, it was as if I were in some kind of dream, none of the rules I know seem to fit this damn place. Even that isolated planet where I found the Tree of the End wasn''t as strange as this, not to mention that in that place all the elements were colliding in a disorderly fashion, even so it seemed better than all this. "This is crazy..." (me) I was clearly on top of this building, but the piece of land where this building is located is on what appears to be a continent floating in space, there is a pink Sun standing next to us, even so I didn''t feel any change in temperature, the light emanating from the sun was also green and curved instead of following straight lines, creating a spectacle in the sky. Looking around a little more, I noticed several holes in the universe, they weren''t spatial cracks, they were real holes in the universe that reveal ghost insects that devour the very space around them. From the outside, I could see insect legs and claws writhing, showing that I was actually inside that creature, and those insect legs, as well as other things, were all parts of that creature fighting against Callidora. I didn''t feel any Essence, natural energy or anything else, this place was so desolate that there wasn''t even the energy of Death, it was as if all of this was a great illusion, just an empty shell with no substance behind the facade. The only thing present was a disgusting Aura, but it wasn''t like Callidora''s Aura, her Aura was the height of cruelty I had ever felt, this Aura was desolate, as if nothing else could exist while she remained. This Aura was literally corroding everything in the surroundings as if I was inside a stomach digesting its meal, which could indeed be the case for all I knew. This place was strange and all my instincts were ringing alarms in my head to get out of here, but I couldn''t go yet, I didn''t even know how to get out of here to begin with. "(Let me spend a few minutes getting my mind straight.)" (me) I was still surrounded by bones, but I could feel Callidora''s lingering Aura slowly being suppressed by this desolate Aura, it felt like it was infecting and corroding these bones, actually corroding wasn''t the right word for it, it was rotting everything it touched causing deterioration. This was happening everywhere, it was really hard to define what I was feeling in this place, it was a level of danger where I wouldn''t be able to do anything but wait for my death if I was discovered. I was always careful when doing anything, I liked to have as much information as possible, which at the moment I had none. I sat down and organized the information Callidora gave me, it wasn''t much, the crucial points of the information were few, what made everything confusing were 2 pieces of information, the first was a map to reach the objective and the second was a magic to seal something using Anomalous Power. Other than those two things, there was only information about what I came to do, steal a Core from this creature. It seems that it has 18 Cores, 6 that are in its hands, 8 that are its eyes and the last 4 are spread out in the spider-like part of the lower part of its body. What I''m looking for is a specific Core that is in one of its arms. Callidora doesn''t detail what''s special about this Core compared to the others, but I don''t need to know. The information I had is limited to finding, identifying, collecting and then leaving this place. The only part that really worries me was at the end of the information, it was about the dangers of this place. It seems I did the right thing by not leaving this bone spear first. I need to surround my body with the power of reality or I will be quickly melted by this bastard, even the power of reality is just a temporary defense, a defense that can fall at the slightest carelessness of my mind, I am not an expert in manipulating the power of reality. "If only this damn Aura was the biggest problem." (me) In addition to this Infectious Aura, there were also other holes like the enemy''s power flow suddenly flowing, this could seriously injure my Soul in the best case scenario and annihilate everything I am in the worst case scenario, considering that it is not even an attack. There are also creatures here or more specifically, Avatars born, forged and trained by this thing, he was not a God, but his power surpassed the Universe itself by multiple folds, him having an Avatar, Herald or anything like that at his service was just a matter of wanting it. As expected from a creature that seems to be the Incarnation of insects, their so-called Plague Avatars are instincts with the upper half of their bodies having humanoid features such as arms, face and so on. The worst of them seems to be the creature that looks like an Arachne, its power is so great that it can defeat even the strongest Ascendants, I won''t go into any details, but at least it makes the situation quite clear. "How do I get out of this damn place?" (me) "There''s a door there, use your power of reality to see." (Tarzor) "..." (me) "Tarzor... you woke up..." (me) "No, I was woken up, it was like being thrown into a volcano full of the power of the Essence of the fire element." (Tarzor) "(Yes, Callidora woke us up by stepping on Tarzor''s consciousness and slapping my Soul, she pulled us out of the Star Path and into its shadow.)" (Freya) "Freya! Are you okay? How do you feel? What happened to you? Where are Mavis and Kalistos?" (me) "Focus on what''s in front of you and not on the past, focus on this." (Tarzor) "(Tarzor is right, we don''t have time to waste questions now.)" (Freya) "Alright, then let''s go." (me) "Be careful, I can''t help you here without drawing attention, this thing eats universes and I feel certain similarities with what I was before I became what I am now." (Tarzor) "I''ll keep that in mind." (me) "I can regulate the power of reality in you, I''m better at it than you, but I can''t get out of your shadow, only as a last resort." (Tarzor) "Thank you, it would be a problem to do something like that, I''m not very good with the power of Reality." (me) I take a deep breath and with Tarzor helping, the power of reality circulates my entire body at once in very smooth paths, I also feel Freya creating a bridge that connects my energy flow with Tarzor, so I don''t need to resort to any kind of power from this place. I start to walk outside, but as soon as I set foot outside I felt a crushing pressure that made all my most primitive instincts emerge, before I realized it I was already in my Dragon form. This weight was caused by that Aura that when it touched me tried to invade my body from every corner, it was truly a horrible sensation. This Aura was almost like a virus, wreaking havoc wherever it went. It infiltrates, deteriorates, corrupts, and destroys every living being it touches. Moving forward, with each difficult step I make adjustments to the Power of Reality together with Tarzor. It became easier and easier to move my body. My wings can now lift me into the air using the fluctuations of the power of reality. "< Magic of the Apocalypse: Demonic Heart >" (me) I close my eyes and this magic flows like a heart beating with pure Demonic energy, increasing my perception of this energy. Thanks to this, I feel traces of Demonic energy in the surroundings. It was so little and scattered that I couldn''t find it until now, but with a thread to follow it became easier. "< Anomalous Magic: Multi-Universal Movement >" (me) The Anomalous Power envelops my body. I simply choose the direction using the traces of Demonic Power that I found to reach another universe. This creature''s body has several pieces of the universe trapped inside it, being digested. To change from one piece of the universe to another, I have to use the Anomalous Power or the Power of Reality. Using both together makes it even easier. I feel a strong pull as I am carried away with endless landscapes passing through my vision all the time. I didn''t even have time to pay much attention before I felt something passing through twice in a row. I know it was the exit and entrance between the universes. It didn''t take more than a few dozen minutes to reach where there was a high concentration of Demonic power. I thought I was close to my goal, but suddenly my instincts made me look in a specific direction where I saw something approaching me. It looked like an Arachne, the lower part of its body was where a spider''s head should be, its entire body seemed to be made of crystal marked by silver metallic ornaments. Each part of the body was separated from the rest, just floating in their respective positions, in place of joints there was a metal sphere, all its joints were like that, its entire body being made of crystal was something new to me. "(So this is an Avatar of Plague... the strongest among them according to Callidora''s report, what luck...)" (me) Chapter 1615: Cap 1613: Am I a virus...? From the description I''m seeing, it''s most likely that this Arachne is the strongest Avatar of Plague that Callidora''s information talks about. I was startled when I saw it. Its body was strange and didn''t even look like a living creature. Its body looked more like a doll with all these separate parts, just Lithuanian in its current form. I was scared at first, there was no denying that just seeing this creature made me feel scared, but I quickly realized that the creature hadn''t seen me, which would be impossible since I''m in its line of sight. That''s when I realized it was unconscious. Looking closely, it wasn''t moving. It was being dragged, and when I focused my attention, I realized that there was a flow of Aura carrying this creature in a specific direction. It was the same Aura that weighed on me, the Aura of this great entity. The Avatar of Plague had cut wounds in several places emanating a cold blue divine energy. With its strange body, these wounds weren''t so apparent, but with a little ice coming out of the wounds, it was easier to identify. "He''s injured, he seems to be in suspended animation while he recovers." (me) "It was clearly an Ice God or something similar that did this, judging by the intensity of the energy it was just a short time ago." (Tarzor) "(We shouldn''t waste time, if he wakes up we''re done for, we won''t be able to get out of here alive.)" (Freya) "Freya''s right, let''s go..." (me) "Food...?" (Hinata) "..." (me) Suddenly a young woman''s head came out of my chest, staring at the Avatar of Plague, her mouth was drooling a strange transparent liquid that seemed to emit whispers of lamentation. Hinata had come with me, something I hadn''t expected and that made my mind start to spin with possibilities. In seconds several things appeared in my mind, Callidora''s choice to use me, the awakening of Tarzor and Freya who were asleep, now Hinata who I didn''t even remember was with me. "(Inside Hell there would be no way Hinata could hide from Callidora, she knew and still sent me here.)" (me) From the beginning all of this was suspicious, but I couldn''t put my hand on what was wrong, when it was just me, I could let it go almost unnoticed, but when Tarzor and Freya woke up was when the alarm in my head started ringing, finally now with Hinata in the mix, the strangeness of the whole situation became greater. Looking again at the Avatar of Plague, I knew I wouldn''t have the slightest chance against that thing, even using my last card up my sleeve with Tarzor''s help, defeat would be almost certain with the only possibility of survival being whether I could escape or not. For this Entity to have this kind of creatures under its command, Callidora certainly also had creatures of the same level and almost certainly even stronger, yet she came to me to do this for her. My head was buzzing with possibilities, but I couldn''t just sit there thinking about these things now. It was too late if it was some kind of trap. I was already here and honestly, there was no way out. The way out wasn''t among the information Callidora had given me. Following the trail of Demonic power, it took me another 6 hours to reach a place I had been seeing since 5 hours ago. Now I was so close that I could make out every detail. What was in front of me was bigger than a planet, a large hollow crystal sphere. This was because this crystal was like a bubble still in a liquid state, flowing on its surface, which was clearly a powerful barrier. Inside the crystal there were spheres of light of all shapes, sizes and colors, but they were all the same thing, Souls. Trillions and trillions of Souls, maybe even more than that, the number was so absurd that it sent a chill of horror down my spine, the Demonic energy I felt in this place was coming from here, emanating from these Souls, they weren''t people''s Souls, they were all Demonic Souls and such a large amount could only have come from one place, Hell. Callidora wants me to get this back for her, something that was taken from her, the pieces were starting to come together. I look around and realize the complexity of such a task, it wasn''t something that could be done based on power alone, it would be necessary to be stronger than this entity to be able to break its blocks and seals. Around the bubble there were hundreds of rings spinning, each ring was different with different colors, shapes and sizes, there were square rings, triangular rings, round rings, blue rings, green rings, rings with Runes, with magic circles, frozen rings, glowing rings, rings with electrical energy, rings made of crystal and some even made of living wood. All forms of energy and elements that I know were present in different rings, separated and acting in layers, the creature''s Aura emanates from each ring around the bubble like bursts of heat making Demonic energy leak out of the bubble while the Souls became less and less bright, traces of a much more primitive energy leak out being absorbed by the innermost ring made as if it were a ring-shaped universe. All these rings made this place the size of a Star System, it was colossal, the fluctuations in space were the least of the problems, what really scared me were the bursts of power of reality pushing traces and remnants of various types of energy around. There was no way to get close to this place and I knew what was happening, I was seeing a furnace, this entity was refining these souls removing the impurities that in this case would be Callidora''s Demonic Power before extracting this strange energy for its use. "What was this energy?" (me) "Existence, the very core of a creature regardless of whether it is alive or dead, the core of a Soul." (Tarzor) "What does he want something like that for?" (me) "For him it could be food or a source of power, I''m not sure, it could be for literally anything." (Tarzor) "(I was taught that the reason Callidora is tolerated is that she only corrupts Existence and devours Souls, that''s why she likes to get her claws into the worst possible creatures, her malice makes it easier for them to be corrupted and finally digested by her, their Existences being used to create her Demons that go after more.)" (Freya) "(She doesn''t destroy existences completely, she can''t create Souls, but she can corrupt them, that''s her way of having fun and at the same time feeding herself.)" (Freya) "..." (me) I honestly don''t care, as much as I think it''s horrible, I can''t do everything I want, those Souls have already been corrupted by Callidora anyway, so if she wants them back, I''ll do exactly that. "How do we get this thing back?" (me) "I don''t know." (Tarzor) "(I have no idea...)" (Freya) "..." (me) I go over Callidora''s information in my mind, I have knowledge of how to deal with the bubble, but not how to deal with the rings or the turbulence around it. "Food...?" (Hinata) "It''s not food, I''m trying to..." (me) "Food... from Hinata..." (Hinata) "..." (me) Hinata comes out of my body and puts her hands on my face, she speaks with few words as always, but it seems like there is more meaning behind it, at least this time. I soon understand the reason, information flows from her to me and all the pieces come together in my mind. The four of us were here as individual tools. Hinata to devour the turbulence around everything like this. Freya to break the harmony between the Rings by making them collide with each other, breaking from the inside out. Me using my Chaos power to transform this crystal bubble into something of mine, allowing it to be dragged from this place. Tarzor was the end, he was our way out of here, the living universe that could contain this bubble inside along with all of us while it took us out. But that wasn''t all, the combination of my powers with Hinata would leave marks of the Chaos power behind, a side effect of using it so extensively for this task, this would transform the Plague Aura of this entity along with the Demonic power in the surroundings that in turn would go against the Entity. Understanding this made me realize that Callidora had been using me as a virus from the beginning, she didn''t even care about these Souls, it was just an easy excuse to swallow for me to be used as a virus or poison within this entity. Sigh She had been setting me up from the beginning, I should have expected this, I knew something like this could happen, she transferred her information in a piecemeal manner using Hinata for the final part knowing that she wouldn''t understand the meaning. I transferred what I knew to Tarzor and Freya, I didn''t need to explain anything, Tarzor is wiser than me, Freya also has a greater understanding than me about various types of energies and their synergies. It didn''t take long for them to come to the same conclusion as me, but during that time this entire place trembled as a wave of Infernal power ran through this entire place. The battle wasn''t over yet, in fact it wouldn''t end until we got out of here. "(This won''t work.)" (Freya) "She''s hiding something from you between half-truths." (Tarzor) "What do you mean?" (me) "(You''re not a virus, you''re more like the carrier of a virus.)" (Freya) "Virus... Hinata''s food...??" (Hinata) "..." (me) Chapter 1616: Cap 1614: Callidoras true plan I looked at my shadow that was in the form of Tarzor''s Dragon head, we were floating in space, but my shadow was not something that was the result of the light hitting my body, it was an extension of my Dark Element powers before I ascended into a God, now it is a result of my Divinity. Both Tarzor and Freya are implying a bigger scheme in Callidora''s plans, I was already finding it very complicated that she woke them both up, sharing the information between me and Hinata, all this just to deceive even more? Especially with the connotation in what Tarzor was saying, he was insinuating something that really made me worried as I looked at Hinata. "I don''t have the time or patience for this, so can either of you be clear about your insinuations?" (me) "..." (Tarzor) Tarzor controls my shadow to curve around me, looking at Hinata who comes out of me, pulling me out like a doll in her form of a woman in white. "I''ll be honest with you, I don''t know what your Familiar is, I can''t say even with all my experience, but I can still infer some things." (Tarzor) "She is similar to me before I was complete, a creature that shouldn''t exist in a constant state of transition." (Tarzor) "What kind of creature? Hinata is a Spectral creature..." (me) "This is just a very thin shell, her Aura is very marked by the power of death, yes, but I don''t feel the Phantom power in her, I also feel traces of the power of Life, Anomalous and Chaos." (Tarzor) "She naturally has the entire natural cycle within her." (Tarzor) "You have to understand that I didn''t have this until I became complete and even then I only recently achieved it." (Tarzor) "Callidora doesn''t want to recover a lot of Souls, just in the time we''ve been here she must have gotten twice as many Souls, just hurting an Entity like this isn''t everything either, she would have other Demonic creatures to do the job, I myself know of a Demonic Anomalous Creature serving her that could poison the energy flow of an entire universe." (Tarzor) "But choosing you while bringing the two of us seems strange to say the least, just the three of us would already be able to pass through these barriers, Hinata being here and carrying the way out was a premeditated step." (Tarzor) "(I also heard warnings from mine... she told me to keep an eye on Hinata, even she can''t tell what Hinata could be?)" (Freya) "You mean all of this was planned for Hinata?" (me) "Confused..." (Hinata) This was all very confusing, what would Callidora gain from all this? What is she looking for in Hinata to do all this? She wants to force something, even if it doesn''t happen now she will force it next time until she gets the result she wants, but what result would that be? We could also be wrong and overthinking things. "(I don''t know what to do...)" (me) I was in doubt whether I should follow through with this or not, it seemed too late to leave, trying to leave with Tarzor alone would be risky, staying too long would also be risky, returning safely without Callidora''s help is also an impossibility. It was already too late to think about these things, even if I carry out Callidora''s plan without involving Hinata, I will only be postponing, Callidora will force something else until she gets whatever it is. Sigh "What does she want to accomplish...?" (me) "I don''t know, maybe it''s just curiosity or something else... such Entity spares no effort to do anything, but it could even be a game for it." (Tarzor) "..." (me) I couldn''t think about it anymore, the fluctuations of Demonic power were increasing, the Aura flows of that entity appeared from some directions and some cracks opened in the space before closing. "If you two are right, then it''s most likely that Callidora seeks to see Hinata complete, I don''t know what would be gained from that, but it''s the only thing I can think of." (Me) "What will we do? I don''t like being thrown into anyone''s schemes." (Tarzor) "(Defying her would be a danger too.)" (Freya) "That decision is no longer mine... what do you want to do Hinata?" (Me) "..." (Hinata) Callidora is an old Fox with frightening experience and knowledge, there is little she doesn''t know and even less that she wouldn''t do, she didn''t choose this moment for any reason. If Tarzor is right, if Callidora set all this up thinking about Hinata, then she must have seen an opportunity, maybe because of compatibility with this Entity or because the conditions were ideal, I can''t say. In any case, the decision is no longer mine, if this has to do with Hinata''s growth, the decision is hers, only she should make the final decision. Callidora can have whatever plan she wants, but the chances of her wanting to harm Hinata are low, Hinata is more than loyal to me, of all my Familiars Hinata is the most attached to me as if she were a tick to the point of obsession. I know she hasn''t been normal since she was born, but I''ve never been able to identify her completely, her powers, appearance and everything about her are a complete mystery. Killing Hinata or any of my Familiars is impossible while I''m alive, they will always be reborn near me. Stealing them from me shouldn''t be possible either, the bond I have with them is too deep and has been built layer by layer over a long time. If this plan of Callidora''s can make Hinata stronger or anything close to that, if it''s good for Hinata, then I see no reason to refuse other than the anger of being manipulated by Callidora again. Anyway, the decision should be up to the individual in question, I will respect their choice whatever it may be. "So Hinata? What''s your choice?" (me) "Can Hinata... eat...?" (Hinata) "What do you want to eat?" (me) "This... this... this... and this..." (Hinata) Hinata began to spin along with me in her arms while pointing to various things such as the turbulence around everything, Demonic energy around, the multiple seal rings and to my surprise the last thing she pointed to were not the Souls trapped in the large liquid crystal bubble, she extended her hand causing garlic to appear, mouths appear on her fingertips and a white eye on the palm of her hand, the tips of her fingers point to the eye causing a strange energy fluctuation that reveals a strange flow of energy like strands of hair passing through her hand. I tried to look around using all my senses, but I didn''t notice it, I tried to use the senses shared with Hinata and still didn''t see this flow of energy, but somehow I managed to know they were there, Hinata would simply know they were there. "What is this?" (me) "I don''t know, I can''t feel it, I can only see it..." (Tarzor) "I... I don''t know either..." (Freya) "..." (me) "Food..." (Hinata) Hinata just pointed with her other hand saying it was food, but the truth is that we were only able to see it, we didn''t feel any of that energy, it was as if we weren''t able to feel it, which was strange considering that one of us was a God, another a Universal Tree theoretically above even the World Trees and the last one was a living Universe. "Can you eat this?" (me) Hinata nods her head above me. "Do you know what this is?" (me) Hinata tilts her head to the side in confusion before answering with another question. "Food...?" (Hinata) "..." (everyone) "Have you seen this before?" (me) Hinata shakes her head from side to side in denial. "(She hasn''t seen it before and seems unsure of what it could be, but she seems convinced that it''s edible.)" (me) The pieces were really coming together in my mind and what Tarzor had said about Callidora''s plans seemed more and more right. Callidora was clearly targeting Hinata, this energy that only Hinata could sense was the reason, I don''t know what it could be, but clearly Callidora wants Hinata to eat this. "Let''s get started, I''ll explain how we''ll do things, for now we''ll play along with Callidora..." (me) ----------------- Pov Niryna: I had a Dragon skull in my hands while I drew Runes and magic circles using my blood, a lake of Blood with thousands of bones already drawn was in front of me while a shocking image was shown in front of me through a crystal mirror, Callidora floating beside me watching me work. "You need to adjust the Demonic energy frequency, Dragons are physically strong with vast amounts of power flowing through their bodies." (Callidora) "When you''re done with the skull, start studying the Magic Ritual using the Ascendant Laws as I modified." (Callidora) "Okay, okay... easier said than done, these drawings are very complex." (me) "If you miss just one step, you''ll create an uncontrolled creature on the same level as your friend Nix and almost immortal." (Callidora) "..." (me) Sigh "I''ll check everything as soon as I''m done..." (me) "Do that and take notes of your flaws when you find them." (Callidora) "You already know where I went wrong, don''t you?" (me) "Yes, but if you find the flaws yourself it serves as a learning experience." (Callidora) "(Now she really sounds like a mother...)" (me) I look at the image in front of me, millions of Demonic arms tearing through space revealing different starry skies while insect legs collide at high speed against the Demonic arms. "Will they be okay with those purple blows?" (me) "It barely affects that idiot, neither of us are fighting seriously, he''s waiting for an opening to use his real weapon believing he can beat me." (Callidora) "Why do things like this?" (me) "It seemed interesting when I thought about it." (Callidora) Chapter 1617: Cap 1615: Suicide robbery We will only have one opportunity, so we cannot do things in layers, this is not a universe per se, this is the body of an entity and as such it must have its means of defense. Tarzor made it very clear that if he leaves my shadow it will be noticed because he is a similar Entity or that is what I thought before Tarzor corrected me, he said that he is considered food, this entity devours universes, all these pieces of universes that we pass through and even this one where we are are being digested, so there would be no way for him not to notice Tarzor with right in front of his teeth begging to be devoured. The same does not apply to Freya, if she leaves Tarzor her presence will be noticed by the simple fact of being present, she changes the very flow of energy of entire Star Systems simply by being there, this is the type of Authority that commands now and for this Entity the flow of energy inside her represents her blood, there would be no way not to notice her blood changing direction. Hinata and I are different, our presence does not affect the environment and we have not done anything that would indicate our presence, just as a mosquito on a person''s body will hardly be felt unless it attacks or is in line of sight. Of course, this invisibility will end the moment it attacks this thing, it will feel it, even so we must have some time before it reacts, this is because it will be fighting Callidora and I do not believe she will let it divert its attention. It is most likely that it will send one of its Plague Avatars in our direction or I could also be wrong and it will try to attack us directly, in any case it will not be an immediate response, which leaves us a very short, unknown short time to act. Our time was limited and as they say, there is no better time than now, especially when we are doing something crazy. "Hinata, go!" (me) "< Awakening of the Anomalous Serpent Lady of the Void >" (Hinata) I take a deep breath and wave my hand, Hinata shot forward, her body changing as she grew larger and larger. Her body became more transparent, her skirt and legs made the space around her flow as if she were stepping on the waters of a lake, her eyes became completely purple and sharp like those of a Serpent, her hair spread out like phantom Serpents moving around her, an eye-shaped slit opened on her back from which 4 critical arms covered in mouths emerged. Hinata''s presence changed as her small mouth opened, tearing her own face apart as it expanded a jaw with countless rows of sharp teeth. She advances towards the energy turbulence and acts like a black hole sucking everything into it, without wasting time I moved forward with a Tree growing out of my shadow, but this was not a whole tree and without only a branch that extended taking the form of an increasingly graceful hand. This hand touched the first ring and an explosion of waves of all the elements appeared in multiple waves making even my body tremble from the sensory bomb of feeling so many energy flows colliding against me at the same time. But I forced myself to continue, all the rings were stopping moving, but this was temporary, soon it would start moving again and I knew the reason for that. From the large wooden hand a silhouette emerged, a completely translucent green Lady, with her appearance everything that existed around us seemed to stop for a second while all the energy stirred as if being influenced by her mere existence, this was just a part of Freya and not her real body that was still inside Tarzor, even so the changes she caused were great. Roots began to crustacean each of the rings, but I had no time to waste as I passed through everything in seconds, but I was still a little late, he reacted faster than expected. I felt an Aura so vast that it was everything around us lock onto me, but using the Power of Reality along with my Anomalous power to create a barrier around me, I avoided being trapped by his Aura as I advanced towards the liquid tax bubble. < You dare invade my body!!!??? > Cough Cough Cough "GUHH!!!" (me) His voice was not something that went unheard, it was a proclamation that encompassed all existence around us, it was as if everything in existence was scolding us for existing, fear rose in my heart as every bone in my body cracked, my very Soul felt like it had been thrown into a pit of acid just from being struck with those words. Blood was leaking from every opening in my body as endless wounds opened, my veins ruptured, my organs turned to mush and all my energies including my Divinity became turbulent, the only reason I didn''t completely lose control was because of the Power of Chaos and Anomalous Power. I thought I would be crushed immediately, but nails of Demonic power appeared in all directions making the space tremble before opening with teeth emerging as if the space was being bitten from the outside. This was Callidora making her move, she clearly realized what we were doing and acted accordingly to prevent this entity from being able to conceptualize itself within her. I didn''t miss this opportunity to get closer to the crystal bubble, but at that moment a third wave of power appeared. I ignored the damage I received as I moved forward finally touching the crystal, the third source of power that appeared was Hinata, this energy wasn''t just spreading, it was alive or something close to it. This energy seemed to carry cries of hunger with primordial presences of pure instinct emerging, this energy clung to everything as if trying to take possession of it. Yes, I could not worry about others now, I finally touched the bubble containing the countless Demon Souls, it was clear what I needed to do and so I moved forward. "< Unholy Corruption >" (me) That''s when it appeared, I could feel its eyes lock onto me even though we were so close, this time it focused its consciousness on me, it seemed to have resolutely resolved to deal with us first. But my power was already in action, the Power of Chaos appeared as if a dam had been opened, an infinite amount of Stellar Flames appeared covering the entire liquid Crystal sphere in a matter of seconds, transforming it into a bizarre Sun. But my time was up, I could feel Aura intensify as a figure formed under the Condemnation of that Aura and it was as if waiting for that figure to finish forming that something crossed the space tearing Aura''s figure apart, they were chains made of faces that turned their eyes in my direction and moved their mouths in unison speaking as if it were a lament for their existence. The voice was also unmistakable, somehow thousands of voices in lamentation combined in her voice, Callidora. "Get out and I''ll take care of the rest... if I''m able..." (Callidora) That was all she said before streams of energy crushed the chains until nothing was left, not even the space where the chains were left, being destroyed along with it revealing the broken insect legs on the outside before the space closed. Danger was sounding from all directions, my heart was racing, but I still forcibly maintained my calm, I could feel the liquid crystal bubble being stained red, I wasted no time in making the entire sphere move with great effort. "Tarzor..." (me) "She''s not done yet." (Tarzor) "..." (me) I look in the direction my shadow points and that''s when I see Hinata surrounded by 4 black holes, the space around her seemed to be built by lines that surrounded her body, but these lines were only visible around her and seemed to come from nowhere. The crack behind her seemed to change as it covered her back like a coat, the Serpents that form her hair moved opening their jaws biting the flows of Aura and energy of the space itself. It was as if a change was happening, the entire space trembled as the flows of energy became phantom Serpents flowing throughout the space around her rearranging the structure of everything. Freya, as if she had been waiting for this, pointed her translucent green hand towards Hinata, then the roots that grew from the rings healed trees whose leaves flew towards Hinata''s black holes, in 3 seconds all the rings dried up, darkened and were destroyed until nothing was left, the entire universe pulsed as it shattered around us. A frightening number of Insect legs were around us in all directions, the fragments of the broken space and universe were being sucked in by Hinata, but there was no more time to hesitate. "Take them all NOW!!" (me) "Alright, don''t resist..." (Tarzor) The next thing I saw was his Dragon head emerging from my shadow devouring my entire body before heading towards Hinata whose body folded like a sheet of paper in origami. The next thing I saw were Tarzor''s perceptions, our feelings being shared as he flies between Bug''s paws, Demonic claws opening gaps and spaces as he passes until he reaches a point where a large Demonic head opens its way between Bug''s paws, grabbing Tarzor with its teeth before pulling him out where clouds made of tormented souls wrap around us. Before I knew it, my body seemed to be attracted by gravity, my body was pulled out while Tarzor was crushed back into my shadow, we were back in Hell and with that Callidora appeared in front of us. I didn''t even try to say anything or do anything, I just threw what I was holding above my head, strangely something larger than entire Star Systems no longer had any weight. "Good job... see, it wasn''t that hard... hahaha..." (Callidora) Chapter 1618: Cap 1616: Paradox Pov E?rica: I really don''t know what else I can do to make this stupid magic work, throwing the bottle in my hand across the room where it explodes into pieces that soon come together again as if it were new. "How can I harmonize a Soul-Devouring Curse with a Demonic Corruption and a mental magic?" (me) "Used separately their effects do not overlap and used together they cause interference in all aspects, even at the most basic level of Mortal magic it only works with great side effects." (me) "The stronger it is, especially at the Divine level, it becomes almost unfeasible, the rejection increases... what to do... what to do?" (me) "You are a Goddess whose power is linked to Chaos in a branched way, so why not use that?" "Before being a Goddess, I am a magician, the process of research and understanding the theory is important in fostering results." (me) "Using the power of chaos can indeed turn an impossibility into something favorable, but it becomes unpredictable, the results will be different every time and I won''t be able to use the research data since I used a tangent outside of the theory." (me) "I can only use the powers of Chaos as something complementary to increase the existing chances of success and strengthen the desired effects with the possibility of adding mutation possibilities, that would be perfect." (me) "To reach this stage I first have to go beyond theory and do acceptable practical experiments with the 3 techniques acting together as one." (me) "A Ritual of 3 magic circles with 63 complementary links seems like a promising path." "I thought of a more minimalist approach of 33 magic links and using a triple-reinforced magic crystal with specific customizations." (me) "That could work, but if you want to use the power of chaos in the end as you said, then you should increase the complementary magic circles for the connection and decrease the ritual materials, so you can restrict the unpredictable effects of the power of chaos." "That''s... an interesting approach that I hadn''t thought of... thank you." (me) While thanking him, I was writing down everything he was saying and already making changes. I will have to think more about future possibilities, so after having everything written down, I turn to face the polite invader who granted me a new perspective on my studies. His face was young, blue skin along with Demonic horns and eyes. His variation of the Demonic race is unknown to me. His hair and arms are beautiful, matching everything else, but the Divine Power emanating from him was wrong. He didn''t belong to this universe, revealing himself to be an Evil God. The strange thing is that his Divinity is complete, which I soon understand the reason for when I feel traces of Anomalous Power coming from him. "I don''t think we''ve met, I''m E?rica... would you be...?" (me) "I''m Davoth, nice to meet you... I''m not an enemy and so I would appreciate it if you could deactivate all these traps pointing in my direction." (Davoth) "I''m sorry for not believing you, you''re more than suspicious and showed up unannounced in a place that shouldn''t be accessible without invitation." (me) Okan wouldn''t let a stranger in without warning first and if he was in danger we would know, there''s no way he could be here without Okan knowing. "I''m not truly here, this is a projection using a Demon Soul, I''m projecting who I am and I chose you to meet us like this since all the other candidates would have attacked before even hearing my words." (Davoth) "And these candidates would be...?" (me) "The other wives of Zenos, which by the way is the topic I would like to talk about, but for that I would like to go there in person." (Davoth) "You can talk to the Saint of the Blood Goddess if you want to confirm my identity, I''m not an enemy, I also don''t want to hurt Zenos... maybe a punch or two at most... he caused some problems in my plans, but I''m not an enemy." (Davoth) "Davoth..." (me) The type of magic he''s saying he''s using is something I''ve never seen before, he got here so quickly and precisely. How did he mark the coordinates? How did he project his will through a Demon Soul? Most importantly, what does he want with Zenos? I had many questions, but now wasn''t the time to ask them, meeting him after talking to Vanessa would be better, I need to confirm who he is before making preparations with the others. ------------------- Pov Zenos: "Good job... see, it wasn''t that hard... hahaha..." (Callidora) Callidora was still in her armor, small scratches and fine puncture marks on her armor as her eyes shone with bloodlust. "You tricked me... it was a trap." (me) "Yes, you found out faster than expected, it must have been Tarzor." (Callidora) She didn''t seem bothered by me exposing her plan, in the end it had already happened and there was no need to talk about it anymore besides a little bit of my wounded pride. "Why do all this?" (me) "..." (Callidora) Callidora doesn''t answer right away, an eye opens in the sky, an eye that seemed to see beyond the Soul itself, the eye carried all hell inside it while the iris seemed to be made of writhing heads piled together. That eye was only open for a few seconds before closing, but Callidora smiled abnormally, it wasn''t her usual mocking smile, it was much more disturbing with her eyes shining in a bizarre way. "You really figured it all out, it seems that Tarzor became a little too talkative, but he still kept going and with wonderful results... hahaahahahah..." (Callidora) Callidora looks at me, I didn''t even see her move as her face appears inches from mine, her eyes showing a scene of catastrophe between the two entities fighting, one of them being Callidora while an arm with 7 long fingers emerges from the infernal clouds, the claws were serrated and there were patterns of red flames running all over the arm. As soon as this happened the large insect did something too, its head opened letting a horrible light appear, my senses were not able to comprehend what happened next. When my vision returned, I was giving in to my claws and returning to the Infernal cloud, and the insect disappeared without a trace. What was left was a shattered space where infernal flames seemed to burn everything, forming an Infernal distortion of laments, and that was when I blinked my eyes and saw Callidora right in front of me again. "I already sent him away, I got what I wanted and more..." (Callidora) "..." (me) I didn''t ask her again, I tried to feel Tarzor and Freya''s conditions, they seemed to be fine, but Hinata was different, inside Tarzor her body melted into a grotesque mass of energy from which formless arms seemed to try to escape, mouths and eyes opening and closing from different places while a strange energy floats around her, causing a tingling in my brain just by seeing it as if it were wrong. The rings she absorbed with Freya''s help were all around her, but unlike before, these rings now looked like snakes biting their own tails. I didn''t understand what this was and tried to extend my will through the connection I share with Hinata, that''s when I saw it, a silhouette that I couldn''t distinguish as if it existed and at the same time didn''t exist, a total paradox. I thought at first that it might be Hinata, but when I looked closer, Hinata was lying in the fetal position sleeping while her mouth was chewing on a piece of the universe in her hands like a child playing with a piece of candy. Suddenly I just felt the eyes of the silhouette lock onto me and I didn''t dare look at her before she disappeared, my Will and perception once again in my body. Callidora was standing in front of me, this time she was in lighter and more perverted clothes covering very little while almost showing off on purpose, no kind of injury could be seen on her body and her eyes were as if she was living a Show with the smile perpetually mocking back on her lips. "What was that?" (me) "Is this the return of someone...? Of... something?" (Callidora) "How can I describe this..." (Callidora) "Better yet, I''ll let you figure it out on your own." (Callidora) "Wait! What are you... CALLIDORA!!!!" (me) Suddenly an Infernal gate opens beneath my feet, already opening as a strong suction pulls my body inside. The last thing I saw was Callidora waving at me, laughing, which only served to increase my anger. The next thing I saw was returning to the Communal Temple. I was in the basement where large volumes of blood are stored for sanctification before the weekly religious rites. I was standing still, angry at Callidora for doing what she wanted before discarding me again. She doesn''t care about anything or anyone other than Niryna, who in her eyes must be an extension of her. Even I am just something related. But it wasn''t just Callidora I was thinking about. That silhouette was still there, marked in my mind. It seemed like something that didn''t exist and yet it was. It seemed cold, but it gave off a feeling of warmth. It seemed far away, but it felt so close to me. It seemed cruel and yet comforting. It was like a set of opposing things trapped in the same being where none of those things applied, it was a total paradox. "Yes... it was like the definition of a paradox..." (me) "What was that thing...?" (me) Chapter 1619: Cap 1617: Ambush? Pov Baldr: When I opened my eyes I had already arrived, I am not used to traveling between Universes, it was strange to say the least. I was in a vehicle that I did not recognize, it looked like an oval-shaped carriage and was made entirely of crystal in a small area in front where I saw the entire trip. It was long and strange, but since I entered this universe I feel better, the discomfort of the main universe is simply unbearable, every trace of energy and Essence so strongly restricted. Their laws seem to be more current around, even they must realize their flaws, stagnation being one of the worst cases I could perceive. Even though I am on enemy territory it is clear how I get used to such an environment better. I think that until I complete the transition I will not be able to remain in that place comfortably. I look around, the passage through which I entered this universe was still open, it was taking a long time to close which is a risk since Creatures of the Abyss can invade at any moment. After that, I look around and realize that there was only a Blue Sun in the distance with a single green planet, those were the only ones close to me. Feeling the natural flow of power in this universe, the state of calamity becomes clear, some elements were weak, some were oscillating and some were out of control, the natural flow was almost collapsing but being maintained by force somehow. Then I look once more at my state, I feel the universe''s rejection against me, but I also feel my incomplete condition. "(99%, it''s still not enough, at least I managed to heal completely...)" (me) "Are you the contact of the Anomalous Dragons?" (me) "Yes, now tell me, why does one of you dare to come to where we are hunting?" "I have a message for your leader, tell him we have one of the keys..." (me) "..." I knew I was being watched, I may no longer be the God I once was, but I didn''t become weaker, in fact my senses became better and I could clearly feel the murderous intent attached to me from the moment I arrived. A murderous intent that flares up like the fire of a Sun when I mention the key, I still don''t understand what Mavor wants to achieve with this, depending on how idiotic the Anomalous Dragons are, they might decide to attack us instead of negotiating. "You don''t have the key, a mere messenger of those cunning birds... very well, I''ll take you to him." Suddenly the space I entered closes with two claws emerging from the space itself, he was hiding behind the crack. Its appearance looked more like a Serpent than a Dragon, only the 3 horns on its head being indicative of Dragons, its entire body was covered in red metallic armor, the space between the pieces of armor seemed to contain a shapeless energy of multiple colors with many shades of red. The claws I saw before were nowhere to be found, so there is another Anomalous Dragon hidden or this Dragon is hiding its power from me. As soon as it showed itself it wasted no more time, its middle horn shone and it turned in one direction, opening its jaws it tears out a piece of the space it passes through leading the way while I follow a little behind. ----------------- Pov Selene: I was looking at the black crown in my hands, what I heard from Davoth was only a part of the truth, I know he wouldn''t tell me everything, but I still know it. "(What would you do in my place... just tell me something...)" (me) Sigh "How can I contain this anger..." (me) While I was lost about what to do, suddenly the crown trembles, its Chaos power emanates in strange fluctuations before returning to normal. I try to understand what just happened, this wasn''t something I did, it was a reaction, the crown reacted to something, but I can''t understand what? "What was that...??" (me) ---------------- Pov Zenos: "You mean you don''t know?" (me) "I have no idea what you''re talking about, I didn''t see anything other than the mass of... whatever that thing is... that Hinata has become." (Tarzor) "(I lost control over the energy regulation in that entire area of ??the Universe.)" (Freya) "It doesn''t seem like she did anything bad, but if she feels anything different I''ll let you know." (Tarzor) "What''s happening to her?" (me) "She''s your Familiar, can''t you feel anything?" (Tarzor) "Yes, but she seems... normal..." (me) That was the strange thing about the situation, there was no kind of notification from the system, there was no kind of reaction from Hinata herself that I could feel and yet the strangeness of the whole situation is more than evident. As I thought about everything that had happened, I got up and walked outside, but as soon as I set foot outside the Communal Temple, perhaps because I hadn''t paid attention to my surroundings, I found myself stepping on a magic circle that teleported me to an area outside the city, miles away. "< Spatial Magic: Flow of Space >" (me) I saw a fist coming towards me, it was too close, too fast and too strong for me to do anything other than face it head on. With no time to accumulate power, I could only use spatial magic at the same time as my arm moved, the idea was for the fist to twist around me since space was circling around me in a flow that completely excluded me. But the fist emanated Anomalous Power breaking the space and reaching me, there was no delay at all and so I was unable to position my arm in time, thus allowing the enemy fist to hit my wrist. The collision didn''t push me away, but it didn''t push the enemy away either. The Anomalous power inside me collided with the Anomalous power contained in the fist, causing a wave of power to sweep across the entire area. "You bastard... what have you done!?" "Who are you? Why are you punching me? How did you get here?" (me) He didn''t answer. Another fist was already coming towards me, but this time I had time to react, swinging our fists at the same time and colliding head-on over and over again, causing shockwaves filled with Anomalous power to spread for miles. It didn''t take long for others to appear. Kira was the first, with Diana right behind her. Niryna and Ibuki arrived together from different directions. Erica emerged from a magic circle, wet with soap suds still on her head. Lilith and Haku flew out of the sky with Magnus right behind them. Hades led all the Heralds across space to get here, and more people were arriving. "< Unholy Breath >" (me) "< Holy Demon Blade >" When everyone appeared, we had already been fighting for a few seconds exchanging thousands of blows in quick succession, the space itself trembled around us, so I used my breath attack because it was the fastest activation and one of the strongest I could use. A stream of liquid Stellar Flames comes out of my jaws forming a living Dragon that advances towards the enemy. Suddenly Demonic and Sacred powers emerge from him, complementing each other in a giant sword above him that, following the movement of his arm, cuts towards me. Our attacks collide once again, this time causing an explosion of Anomalous and Divine power that I see everyone else trying to contain so as not to spread. From start to finish, neither of us separated more than a few dozen meters, never stopping attacking each other, but this explosion made it clear who was superior, him. His attack cut mine, not using superior Power, but using superior technique. He managed to control the flow of Anomalous Power with precision when it should have been an almost autonomous energy, making it always concentrate on the same point, while my attack was more amplified, losing effectiveness in comparison after the first impact. Even so, I still managed to get enough space and time to activate barriers around me, destroying what was left of his attack. This time, everyone was looking at him, but strangely, no one attacked. Vanessa, who had appeared from somewhere, was walking towards him. Her wings were glowing red, showing her anger, but she didn''t attack. In fact, no one attacked. "(What''s going on here!?)" (me) "I told you not to attack him!" (Vanessa) "I never said I wouldn''t attack, I just said I wouldn''t cause destruction in his city." "Do you think none of us would attack..." (Vanessa) "No, since I didn''t take it seriously from the beginning, just like he did." "I told you he would try something." (Erica) "Diana was supposed to keep an eye on him." (Ibuki) "I was keeping an eye on him, but he suddenly disappeared." (Diana) Everyone seemed to be ignoring my presence. Vanessa was almost yelling at the one who attacked me, a vein threatening to split her head in half in anger as her wings glowed red. My wives ignored what happened as they began to talk among themselves as if it was not an important matter. Even the rest of the people including my Heralds were just watching, some with ugly expressions and others with calmer appearances. I was confused by all of this, but I still realized that it was not an enemy, this proved truer when I realized that there was no murderous intent in his attacks. "Can someone explain to me what is happening and who is this bastard!?" (me) Chapter 1620: Cap 1618: Bad mood "Can someone explain to me what''s going on and who this bastard is!?" (me) Clearly I was the only one who didn''t know who this bastard was, yet I was immediately attacked by him as if there was a personal grudge between us. I take a look at him, his horns, blue skin and Demonic Aura are all strange to me, even though he is clearly a Demon, his specific Ethnicity doesn''t match any of the bloodlines I have stored within me or that I have found to date. His Aura is also strange, his Divinity clearly marked, but out of place, I don''t even need to think much to realize that he is an Evil God, his Divinity doesn''t match anything around him, in fact I can even feel the universe showing a rejection towards him, it was almost imperceptible and yet I continue. But realizing he was an Evil God only increased my caution when I felt his Divinity complete, it wasn''t broken, something I''ve never encountered before and it clearly wasn''t something that happened later like several Evil Gods tried to do when creating new Divinities since that would harmonize this new Divinity with the universe, which is clearly not the case with him. His Anomalous Power is also more than obvious since he used it during the fight, not only that, but he possesses both extremes of Anomalous power. He''s not like me being able to use Anomalous Power by freely switching between the two types using the Power of Chaos, he truly possesses both types of Anomalous Power, perhaps that''s the reason his Divinity is still intact. "He''s an Evil God, but the Goddess Selene vouched for him as an ally, ask Vanessa." (E?rica) "Vanessa! Explain to me what all this is and who this idiot is supposed to be!?" (me) "Where should I start..." (Vanessa) Vanessa was talking to him, she clearly didn''t like the fact that we were fighting and it seemed like they knew that this was a possibility, nothing here was making sense to me, I didn''t understand this whole situation. "I''m Davoth, I''m an ally of yours." (Davoth) "Only if you''re an ally of Baldr! What the hell is this, attacking me like that!?" (me) "You really deserve a punch, but out of respect for your wives and children, I won''t prolong this mess..." (Davoth) "Okan! I want him out!" (me) "Dad, wait..." (Vanessa) "Okan!!!" (me) A large Dark Dragon emerged from the ground below Davoth, it seemed like the Dark Dragon had devoured him, he disappeared into the darkness, but as soon as the Dark Dragon vanished, the idiot was revealed, still standing in the same place with the Anomalous Power of both types circulating around him. "This doesn''t work, we allowed him to stay here until now, but we didn''t bring him inside, he came in on his own and not even Okan realized it until he was warned." (E?rica) "My lord, I tried to expel him too, but he''s stronger than me and Okan can''t expel him either." (Cinthia) "Father, let''s all calm down..." (Vanessa) "< Divine Magic of Desecration: Starflow Dive >" (me) "You''re going to expel me for no good anyway..." (Davoth) I was angry, frustrated and tired. If it wasn''t enough to invade the body of an entity so powerful that it could have erased my existence with a single look, I was also manipulated once again to do what Callidora wanted, all of this so that Hinata could go through something I don''t understand and in the end, to top off my shitty week like the cherry on the cake, a bastard who sprouted from the ground and came from I don''t know where even tried to attack me in my house. I didn''t waste time talking since I don''t care about his origins, I also don''t care about his reason for being here, the only reason I don''t order everyone to attack him or go all out on him myself is the fact that he is associated with my mother. But at the end of the day I still don''t have the nerve to be stepped on like that by a random nobody and let it pass. The magic I used needs my Anomalous Power acting in conjunction with my Divinity, making use of my connection with Okan I choose him as an intermediary for the magic. A great amount of power explodes towards him making the entire space inside him tremble with a wave of raw natural energy emerging like a raging river washing everything in its path. But of course that doesn''t count him, everyone stayed in their places while this current of energy passed through everyone, but this Davoth guy was struck as if he had been hammered by something invisible. "I don''t know who you are, but you won''t act arrogantly in my house and attack like that, you''re not welcome here!!!" (me) The flow of natural energy was raw and infinite, it would never weaken, it would never stop and it would never be blocked. It was necessary to be influenced for the natural flow of energy to change like Aurora did in her world before she was defeated by me, like the universe did in that isolated area where the egg was or like I did when I established the Star System where the Sacred Beasts dwell. Davoth tried to resist, but it didn''t matter, shadows gathered behind him as Okan opened a portal to the outside. Davoth could not live within the natural flow like us, he was an Evil God being rejected by the universe and still maintaining a complete Divinity, which was already a miracle, he had no way to withstand the raw natural power beating against him. In seconds he was dragged against the gloriously positioned Dark Gate disappearing outside of Okan who as a means of my magic continued traveling within the natural flow a long distance. I and the others here could stay like this for hours, some who have already reached Divinity could stay like this for months, but 20 minutes was the most that the weakest people inside Okan were able to endure and so I deactivated the magic, causing Okan to be expelled from the natural flow. "Dad, what did you do?" (Vanessa) "I did what I wanted to do and that''s it." (me) "I don''t care if he considers himself an ally or if my mother trusts him, I won''t accept someone I don''t know, breaking into my house, attacking me unawares and still daring to say that I deserve a punch as if it were the most normal thing in the world!" (me) "If he wants to act arrogantly, then do it away from me, if my mother has business with him, good luck to them, but I''m the boss here, understood!?" (me) "..." (everyone) "Idiot Zenos, go rest, Ibuki is going with you." (Ibuki) "Come on, a new restaurant opened in town that we haven''t been to yet, they even have a painting of all of us together." (Kira) "But I..." (Vanessa) I stopped listening to the others, especially Vanessa, I know myself well enough to know that I''m not in a good mood at the moment, since I became a God it''s been one thing after another in a crazy escalation, I''m tired, frustrated and angry about many things. I thought I would get home where I could rest and calm down, this was supposed to be my refuge, my place to rest. I can understand an enemy coming to attack, I can understand new threats coming, but someone acting like he did and even in front of my loved ones was more than I could bear in my current mood. ----------------- Pov Vanessa: "Don''t even try to talk to him, his mood was clearly not good already, he doesn''t usually lose emotional control like that." (E?rica) "He''s not wrong either, Davoth made a mistake that cost him this opportunity." (Diana) "The Goddess told me a little about what Davoth wanted to talk to my Father about, it really is important." (me) They don''t understand, for even the Goddess Selene to consider something important, then something serious is happening, especially after the Goddess Oracle told him to consider Davoth as a companion. I don''t know why he did all this or what he has against my Father, but someone needs to tell him what''s going on. "If it was important, then he shouldn''t have been such an idiot about it." (E?rica) "I agree, but his actions were strange, he seemed very calm and polite up until this moment, he didn''t seem like someone who would lose control like that by suddenly attacking Zenos." (Diana) "Yes, he was very patient with my attempts to curse him and was very careful the whole time, what he showed before and what we saw now are very different." (E?rica) Now that I''m listening, it''s true, all of this was very sudden and strange. ------------------- Pov Davoth: I was floating in space, the natural energies and various elements formed a storm around me that I ignored as I thought about what just happened. I didn''t expect this, I didn''t expect to feel that energy now, it seems like something else happened to Zenos. "System, what happened." (me) ... "I know you''re listening, you''re always listening, so answer." (me) ... "I know my Authority has been revoked, but the situation is important, I need confirmation or our plan will go wrong." (me) Ding! <[ The System cannot interfere any more than it already has ]> . . . <[ The System will not share information about ]> "..." (me) Chapter 1621: Cap 1619: Conquering is your only option I was feeling relaxed. It had been days since I had returned from that place where Callidora had sent me. I never wanted to enter a multiversal entity again. I felt so insignificant that I could only hope not to be noticed. I spent those days without looking for any God, without being visible to anyone. That''s why I made Okan hide in the Arboreal Star System with the Sacred Beasts, so he would go unnoticed for a while. Thanks to that, I spent my days with my wives. I chose to spend my time doing exactly what they like to do. My mornings always start with combat training with Diana. She is addicted to battles and at our level it becomes difficult to find training partners. Our fights are always so intense that they could destroy an entire planet. Okan has to rebuild his stars every day, where the worlds inside him are, because of that. After that, I go hunting during lunch with Ibuki, where the food is whatever we can catch. Hunting has always been her favorite. It was the first thing I taught her to do and it''s also how we met. Not to mention that the food she catches herself has a different flavor to her. In the afternoon, I study magic, curses, and other magical things with Erica. Her curiosity and dedication to magic have always been very great. Her love for magic could even be greater than her love for me if it weren''t for being her emotional support. After that, I spend time with Kira. Out of all my wives, she''s the most normal. Our time consists of sitting around a fireplace talking. For an assassin and spy like her, I think she sometimes likes to have memories that don''t involve risking someone''s life and without the red color of blood. Freya is with me all the time, living inside Tarzor. She''s not alive because of the two entities of Visa and Death creating their bodies inside Tarzor. So my time with her is limited to daily conversations. Karina, on the other hand, was busy. She didn''t want to spend time with me, saying that she always feels close to me. Being my Saint, she''s not wrong, but I feel like she''s busy with other things, and I can only imagine what they are. When it was time to sleep, we would all be together. It was like going back to the old days before I kidnapped Irius and Irina. During that time, Hinata also woke up, but she didn''t seem any different. Everything was the same. I also asked her about the silhouette I saw next to her, but she said she didn''t know what I was talking about. I was really apprehensive about that. For some reason, that memory seemed to have been burned into my brain with a hot iron. I can''t forget it even if I wanted to. Just today, I was gathered with my wives in a heated lake made of water sanctified with multiple reinforcement magics of all kinds. Only this kind of extreme thing would be able to relax a God like me and my Wives, but these waters could probably even melt the Soul of a normal person. "You know, I''ve really enjoyed the last few days, but this can''t go on." (Diana) "I know, but spending another 1 or 2 months shouldn''t be a problem..." (me) "For me, we''d stay like this forever, but I agree with Diana, there are still Gods who sided with Baldr scattered around." (Kira) "I receive information both from the Dragon God''s Oracles and from conversations with other Priests of various religions." (Karina) "It seems that most of the Gods don''t want to continue this hunt against all the traitors." (Karina) Karina may not be a Goddess, but she''s still a Saint of 2 Gods and a Dragon of equal power to the Primordial Dragons, if she''s not considered one of them. What they''re talking about has been said before, Kira and Diana have a very strong sense of responsibility, relaxing while they still have work to do leaves an itch in their minds. "Strange, they were together with Baldr who was on the Ascendants'' side." (Ibuki) "We should be hunting them all in a one-sided slaughter, taking advantage of the advantage." (Ibuki) "There are still Gods who think so, but they are few, they are still the majority considering the enemy number at least." (Karina) "You are thinking too much about all this, just think, we are going against Gods, we have already killed or sealed several so far because of Baldr." (Erica) "What do you think will happen to the universe? Who will take care of their Divinities and Essences? What are the consequences on a universal scale?" (Erica) "..." (all) "Erica is right, even if we must eliminate the enemies, we cannot forget their identities as Gods, especially now that we have lost so many of them and many others are injured." (Freya) "I could easily take care of this if I had your Divinities..." (me) "No!!!" (all of them) I look at all of them, Freya standing out for being just a small tree coming out of the water, in fact it is just one of her branches coming out of my shadow below the water, she can''t get out yet stuck with the two Entities. "..." (me) "Zenos, if you were to interfere, you would create new Essences during the creation of new Gods instead of creating Gods for existing Essences." (Erica) "She''s right." (Freya) We continued the rest of the day talking about matters of universal importance while relaxing in the warm waters of that lake. ----------------- 3 days later. It finally happened, a little over two weeks was all the time off I could get, it did me a lot of good to spend time with family and friends, I even managed to spend some time with my children, realizing once again how many I have. Right now I was outside Okan, next to me were Hades, Nix, Sakura, Alice, Vanessa, Samara and Niryna. They represent the entire leadership system in Okan, from the religion with the two saints, to my Familiars, my wives, my Heralds and my daughters, they are also people I can trust with the exception of Samara who I only have complete control over. The one who was alone in front of us was Davoth, I would not allow him to enter Okan again and this time he did not even try to crawl inside, he came before the foot of the Ki Tree for this meeting, which I thought for a good few hours about whether he would come or not even with Vanessa''s insistence. We were all on one of the branches of the Ki Tree that was as big as a planet, this branch could very well be a small continent, a natural structure of wood and crystals with a delicate architecture created a beautiful open-air meeting room. "No sneak attacks now?" (me) "You deserved it and knew you wouldn''t get another chance." (Davoth) "Wanting to start another fight?" (me) "If it weren''t for being restricted by the universe and none of us taking that fight seriously, do you think you would have been able to win?" (Davoth) "How about everyone calm down? You are Gods, behave like it." (Vanessa) "..." (me) "..." (Davoth) I was just joking now, I admit I was a little out of control the day we fought, my mood was terrible, but during these days that I calmed down I noticed some inconsistencies in the way Davoth acted, everything was very forced and I''m more willing to believe it was an act. Just now I was just teasing him a little to see his reaction, a way to confirm his personality and how much of what I saw before was an act, which he showed very clearly now as if he understood what was going through my head. "(He''s smart, but it seems like the others didn''t notice.)" (me) "Let''s stop all this, you''re looking for me for a reason, so let''s get to the point." (me) "I''ll do it then." (Davoth) "I want you to destroy all the Ascendants." (Davoth) "..." (me) "..." (everyone) I just looked at him like I was seeing a lunatic, he summarized the matter too much that it''s something impossible to do. I look at the others who are just as shocked as me, Samara being the only one to narrow her eyes at Davoth while Callidora appears from Niryna''s back while smiling at this whole situation. Sigh "Let''s start over, explain to me why I should listen to you?" (me) "Do you know anything about the Ascendants?" (Davoth) "I know a little, they have a hierarchical government system, they have many God-level individuals, they are conquerors by nature and their universe has an unnatural environment full of natural restrictions, it seems stagnant." (me) "In essence that would be it, not everything, but that is the main thing." (Davoth) "The conquest of universes by the Ascendants carries two motivations." (Davoth) "The first being what started it all, to use the power of the conquered universes to keep their own Universe fortified, thus preventing the invasion of the Creatures of the Abyss." (Davoth) "Cannibalizing other universes like this for selfish gains..." (me) "As I said before, this was just the starting point, if this were the only reason, they wouldn''t need to do this so often." (Davoth) "Their second reason is change, as you said yourself, your universe as well as those conquered by them becomes stagnant, their Ascending Laws refine the essence into a fixed constant, there is no variation, change or evolution." (Davoth) "Because of this, living creatures do not prosper, there is no innovation, there is no adaptation, there is no creativity and with enough time all this stagnation leads to the destruction of the Soul that in itself carries the concept of change that all creatures should possess." (Davoth) "For them, conquering is their option... a dead end that they cannot change precisely because of who they are." (Davoth) "I hate the Ascended and sympathize with their victims... but..." (me) "What does this have to do with me?" (me) Chapter 1622: Cap 1620: Not just Eliminate... "What does this have to do with me?" (me) As much as my words may be very direct, I''m not lying, there''s no way I''m going to engage in a full-force battle against the Ascendants, I''m not suicidal. I already have enough problems with level 3 Ascendants in a head-on fight and I''m not even sure I can beat them, I also know that there are Level 4 Ascendants who are no weaker than my mother or other Gods like Akatosh, Cratos and Aine. That''s why your words now were more than absurd, talking as if the world would end without me, but I can''t understand how Davoth can tell me to go against them. "If you keep up with all this nonsense I''m going to throw you out again." (me) "Seriously, another joke?" (Davoth) "Do you have any idea what you''re asking for? This is insanity." (me) "I''m fully aware of what I''m saying." (Davoth) "Master, if you''ll allow me..." (Samara) "You may speak." (me) "Perhaps you don''t know, but the estimated number of Ascendants is in the tens of millions, all of them at Divine level." (Samara) "..." (me) "That''s impossible, a universe wouldn''t have enough Essences..." (Hades) "Exactly, a universe wouldn''t be enough, but as we well know, they are conquerors, right?" (me) "Yes, they''re not like the Gods, their Ascendant Laws are not lost with the destruction of the universe of origin or being removed from there." (Davoth) "That''s worse than I thought." (Nix) "Removing an Essence from a universe is like removing its entrails..." (Alice) "They are clearly selfish, something that was to be expected, but these numbers..." (me) The Ascendants I have met so far have always been arrogant and selfish, I am not surprised that they go to extremes, what surprises me is their number, with an army of millions of beings at the level of Gods, it would be impossible to win. I look once more at Davoth, what he is asking goes far beyond insanity, but he seems to have said it on purpose to shock everyone, even so he does not seem to be lying. "(There''s something wrong with him, I can feel that he hides a great depth within himself.)" (Freya) "(I felt it too, he seems to be similar to me.)" (Tarzor) "(Are you saying that he has a living universe like you with him?)" (me) "(Since I''m not sure, that''s why I said similar.)" (Tarzor) "(Take care of him, we don''t know who he really is, that''s why I told you to go find your mother during these days.)" (Freya) During all these days off, I was approached more than once to go find my mother, the Goddess Selene, about the relevant matters of this Davoth guy, but I didn''t want to think about any of that and kept pushing it forward thinking that I already knew enough about him, now it seems that I know nothing. I thought he was just another Evil God, a little more special because he had two types of Anomalous Power, but it seems I underestimated him too much and now I don''t know anything about him. On second thought, he could be a Primordial God, if he did the same as me, then it wouldn''t be impossible, it would also explain how he kept his Divinity intact. "Master, are you okay?" (Sakura) But none of this says anything about his goals, he''s clearly not as strong as my mother and Gods like Akatosh, nor is he an Anomalous Entity that lives outside the universes. "Master, are you listening?" (Nix) Even without knowing anything about him, it doesn''t seem like he''s lying about eliminating the Ascendants, I can see the resolve in his eyes when he said it, but the scale of something so ambitious is ridiculous to the point of total insanity. "(What kind of grudge does it take to generate such a lunatic...?)" (me) "Dad, what happened to you?" (Vanessa) "Huh" (me) Suddenly someone shakes one of my shoulders and I look at Vanessa who has a worried expression, then I look at the others who also look worried. "I''m fine... I just got lost in my thoughts." (me) I look at Davoth, he was calm, his expression, Aura and even his gaze were calm as if waiting for me to absorb his request, he knows it''s absurd. "How about we get back to the topic at hand, this time I''ll let you speak before I give my answer." (me) "You must be thinking about refusing, you probably just want to get more information from me before giving a negative answer." (Davoth) "That would be the right thing to do, what you ask is more than insanity regardless of the plan or motivation." (me) "I am aware of how crazy I may sound saying this, like this Fallen Saint..." (Davoth) "Hooo... how do you know about Samara?" (me) "I know a lot about you, do you think I came to you by chance? I know about you, about those close to you and about your enemies which include the Ascendants." (Davoth) "Be direct Davoth, I feel like you want to pull me by the nose in certain directions, if this continues I may end this meeting in a similar way to the last time we met." (me) "I am not doing such a thing, in fact I am being as direct as possible, but in the end I need you to understand a few things." (Davoth) "I know a lot about the Ascendants, almost everything there is to know." (Davoth) "I also know a lot about you." (Davoth) "I''m not in a crazy reverie or talking about attacking them head on." (Davoth) "I''ve been thinking about this plan for a long time, longer than you can imagine." (Davoth) Davoth''s eyes flashed with hatred and anger for milliseconds, it was so quick that most didn''t notice, but I know Samara noticed, he must really hold a grudge against the Ascendants. "I won''t deny that I intend to refuse your request, but at least I''m listening, so speak clearly." (me) "Do you understand the difference between the Ascendant Laws and the Universal Essences?" (Davoth) "Yes, one can branch out naturally and vary over time, while the other needs to refine compatible Laws to artificially branch out, thus creating different levels among the Ascendants." (me) "Correct, that also answers my next question about the levels of the Ascendants." (Davoth) "Now comes the question, how many levels do the Ascendants have?" (Davoth) "They have 4 levels as far as I know, the strongest are the leaders and they are few in number." (me) "Partially correct, in fact the strongest are the 3 leaders who are the only Level 4 Ascendants, but that was not the question." (Davoth) "What I asked was how many levels do the Ascendants have? To which you answered with 4 levels." (Davoth) "But you forgot something, the Ascendants are Anomalous creatures, from the beginning they are not something naturally created and their levels were not something that arose with them, it was something born from their experiments to become stronger, theoretically there is no limit to their strength." (Davoth) "Are you saying there are Level 5 or Level 6 Ascendants?" (me) "They are trying to reach Level 5, they already have a theoretical basis and have started experiments to advance further in strength, all of this motivated to fix the flaw in their Divine Law, stagnation." (Davoth) "Conquering other universes only delays their inevitable end, it also draws too much attention to them, dividing their forces, the greater their dominance, the less effect Conquering a universe can have in countering stagnation, which makes them compensate in quantity." (Davoth) "So they go from one conquest to another." (me) "Yes, they also carry out several conquests at the same time, with their overwhelming military power and hierarchical culture, they can do this, but not forever and that is why they are desperate to reach new heights." (Davoth) "So far there are more than 50 main Universes, 471,000 occupied conquered Universes and more than 1,000,000 ruined Universes on the brink of destruction." (Davoth) "..." (me) "..." (everyone) "(...)" (Tarzor) "(...)" (Freya) It was simply crazy to hear these numbers spoken so calmly and understand what such numbers mean, each universe has millions of planets at least which in turn can have billions of living creatures on each planet, I can''t even begin to do the math to calculate an approximate number of living creatures in a single Universe and to think of hundreds of thousands of conquered Universes while more than double that absurd number was on the brink of destruction, it was simply unbelievable. My mind could not conceive of such an image and even if I spent thousands of years thinking about it I would not be able to comprehend the full ramifications of such an atrocity, a genocide on a multiversal level of this scale is beyond comprehension. I look at everyone seeing different expressions, Niryna shows hatred like I have never seen before, Hades and Alice have disgust in their eyes as if the mere thought of such an act was intolerable, Sakura and Nix only have raw murderous intent, Tarzor has already surpassed simple hatred, he was born from the fragments of broken universes and tirelessly sought to become a complete universe, seeing his purpose of existence being treated as something disposable in this way must be something he cannot even comprehend, Freya on the other hand was the only one showing sadness so deep that it is flowing to me in an overflowing way through our bond. Only Callidora was still smiling as if it was something common that she was hearing, Samara was the one who showed nothing, her disinterest in the subject was unnerving. Vanessa, on the other hand, was unconscious, her eyes unfocused from her inability to maintain consciousness while processing such brutality. Of all my daughters, she was always the kindest, and this was a hard blow for her. Sigh "I... I..." (me) I try to speak, but I don''t know where to start. My mind is still trying to replay such a terrifying scenario even though I don''t want to, so my words don''t seem to come out. "I still can''t help..." (me) As much as I would like to be the last face that each Ascendant could see at their end, I can''t commit to an undertaking of such a scale. I don''t have that kind of power. "Eliminating them wouldn''t solve all the problems either..." (me) The absurd number of ruined universes must already be beyond recovery, and those hundreds of thousands of conquered universes must suffer side effects, even the 50 universes held by them must suffer a heavy blow if all the Ascendants die, that won''t make the Ascendant Laws disappear, in fact I can''t even imagine what would happen. "Not just Eliminate... I want much more than that." (Davoth) Chapter 1623: Cap 1621: War message "Not just Eliminate... I want much more than that." (Davoth) I can''t understand where this bastard is going with this, I don''t know what he''s trying to achieve with all this, but every single thing he says makes it worse. Just eliminating the Ascendants is bad enough, they''re strong and their numbers are overwhelming, even if all the Gods in this universe joined forces against them it would be useless in the face of overwhelming numbers, sometimes quantity can overcome quality if the difference is big enough. But him saying he doesn''t want to ''just eliminate'' means he wants to add another layer of complexity to something that is already absurdly difficult. "Stop mincing words, tell me what you want." (me) "What I want is to solve this problem that the Ascendants created." (Davoth) "And why should I believe that?" (me) "That''s the truth, you may not understand, but the Ascendants are like a disease that takes over part of a body." (Davoth) "They multiply efficiently and their strength increases several layers with each level as does the number of things they can do." (Davoth) "This disease has already spread too far, if we eliminate them, then all the ruined Universes they use as defense and the dozens of universes they have modified to use as the core of their society will all be completely destroyed." (Davoth) "Only the conquered Universes that number in the hundreds of thousands would be able to remain with many side effects corroding these universes and setting a timer for their destruction." (Davoth) "It seems you have been thinking about this a lot, but what do you gain from all this?" (me) "I don''t gain anything, even if you don''t believe me, I just want to end this ''disease'' as cleanly as possible without causing unnecessary damage." (Davoth) "If the issue is numbers, if several universes join forces in a coordinated attack..." (Niryna) "Be quiet my daughter, this is a stupid plan." (Callidora) "..." (Niryna) Niryna, who was filled with hatred after hearing about the Ascendants, comes up with the most basic plan possible, something that should go through anyone''s head, but it doesn''t take into consideration those involved in such a plan. The Ascendants can take their Ascendant Laws wherever they want, but the Divinities of a God cannot leave their universes, only an Anomalous God like me and my Wives can do something like that. Even so, it would be unrealistic to try to transform so many Gods by granting them Anomalous power, it would just be exchanging a greater evil for a lesser evil, not all Gods would keep this Anomalous power for good causes, Gods tend to be selfish and not all are good by nature. "What are your plans?" (me) "I don''t want to destroy those who have become Ascendants, I want to eliminate their concept of Ascendants." (Davoth) "..." (me) "I already told you this won''t work." (Callidora) "Just because you can''t do it, your way didn''t work either." (Davoth) "You two know each other." (Hades) "Callidora is very old and her Demonic tentacles expand throughout all the universes, we should know that." (Nix) "I want to know more about this, but it seems another plan has already been tried." (me) "The basis of his plan is still the same, it''s not like there''s much variation." (Callidora) "He had me turn an Ascendant into a Demon to see what would happen to his Ascendant Law." (Callidora) "But nothing happened, he just became stronger before he was killed." (Callidora) "That''s not true, I learned a lot from it, his Ascendant Law underwent changes, they were minimal, but they still underwent changes, which proved that the plan would work." (Davoth) "I can''t believe Callidora helped for free, she certainly doesn''t care about the Ascendants." (Samara) "You''re wrong, she hates them, the universes they acquire are excluded from Callidora''s influence." (Davoth) "If that''s true, then why doesn''t she destroy them?" (me) "Why during their attacks against various universes, they grant mass sacrifices to Callidora as compensation." (Davoth) "Just enough so that I don''t attack them personally, I still send a few slaves here and there to bother them, I devour some when opportunities arise, more than once I was able to convert an entire universe into Demons to fight them, it was fun." (Callidora) "..." (me) Callidora, as always, seems as bad as them, but even so, Davoth sought her help, which means that the Ascendants may be worse in some aspect that Callidora does not reach. "As I was saying before, the plan is to end the current concept of Ascendants." (Davoth) "To do this, I need to end them all, not kill them, but transform them on an existential level along with their Ascendant Laws, incorporate them into the natural cycle." (Davoth) "That seems like a contradiction, the Ascendant Laws are opposite to the Universal Essences." (me) "Yes, but what if they are Laws branched off from a Universal Essence, an integration of the two factors?" (Davoth) "That is not possible." (Samara) "I have said this many times, your plan will not work." (Callidora) "If a Chaos Bringer helps and with the right conditions, my plan will succeed. I''ve already done all the possible tests I was capable of." (Davoth) "Is that why you came here? For my Chaos power?" (me) "Yes, you can change an individual''s race, alter their Soul, rebirth a creature''s very existence, and evolve a fundamental aspect of the universe such as the Essences or the Ascendant Laws." (Davoth) "In fact, the entire plan needs you." (Davoth) "I''ll want to know more." (me) "The plan consists of..." (Davoth) ---------------- For the next few hours we went over Davoth''s entire plan. The more I listened, the more I began to see how crazy it was. To begin with, he doesn''t want to kill any Ascendants. They need to be alive to go through the rebirth process where their Ascendant Laws will be transformed into branches and Essences. He wants to leave the natural part of the Essences with the Laws, just applying a layer of order to individual aspects without restricting too much. There is a difference between an artificial river and a water pipe. He wants to bring the Ascendant Laws as close as possible to something natural, and it could actually work in theory. But the way he seals the Ascendants in his plan is very risky, especially with such large numbers. They won''t try to capture us alive like we are doing with them. That alone puts us at a disadvantage, and that was the part of the discussion that we spent the longest time on. "This isn''t going to get you anywhere. There are several inconsistencies in your plan." (me) "To begin with, even if we hypothetically manage to seal the Ascendants, all of them, their seal prevents their influence with their universes, which would cause widespread destabilization of all Ascendant Laws since there will be no one to maintain order." (me) "I already have spies among the Ascendants, they see where your path will lead them and are willing to help, they will be kept out of the seals for this reason, to keep the universes stable long enough for you to accomplish the final step." (Davoth) "Very well, then why can''t we Do it little by little? What''s the need to do them all together? It only complicates the whole plan." (me) "They will notice the change in the Ascendant Laws, as I said before, they are governed in a certain way without variation, if such a big change happens, they will notice and move accordingly, the whole plan will be at risk, they are not idiots." (Davoth) "Okay, but what about the Anomalous Dragons part? That won''t work, they won''t..." (me) "You don''t need to worry about that, they''re much easier to deal with than you think, power aside, they''re simple in their thoughts and aggressiveness, if you can get your point across with enough power..." (Davoth) "Why would I put myself in such a risky position, taking the Ascendants out of the equation, the Anomalous Dragons alone are already too big a risk." (me) "You''ll help, I have no doubt about that." (Davoth) "Then I''m sorry to disappoint you, I can''t take that risk, I can''t put those close to me in such a risk." (me) "As I said before, you''ll accept and I''ll give you time to think, not that you have that much time." (Davoth) "You have too good a heart, that''s a virtue and also a flaw that I apologize for using." (Davoth) Saying that, he got up and left, I didn''t stop them, to be honest, every fiber of my being was screaming to deny his plan and not help him, which I did, but I can''t deny that deep down I still wanted to do something. There are many reasons for me to help, the Ascendants are already my enemies, they have already declared that they will come after me, what they do is also hateful, I also can''t deny the possibility that they may point to more than just me, this entire universe may be on their list and from what I saw with their plan with the Tree of End before, they may already be planning to invade this universe while I''m doubting. Not even a few minutes had passed since Davoth left, I hadn''t even returned to Okan when Karina approached me, she had a serious expression. "What was it this time?" (me) "The Dragon God sent an Oracle, a message... a message of war." (Karina) "The Anomalous Dragons..." (me) "Yes... what are we going to do? He''s summoning not only us, but all the most powerful Dragons in the universe." (Karina) "(Davoth knew, his timing was too perfect for him not to know, he came before and left minutes before receiving the message...)" (me) "(They knew there was no way I could escape and since I''ll be there, why not follow this damn plan...?)" (me) "What a bastard..." (me) Chapter 1624: Cap 1622: Im a straight-up God Pov Davoth: Throughout the meeting I kept probing, but I couldn''t feel anything, there were no traces of that damned presence. "(Maybe it''s not here anymore...?)" (me) "(All the preparation I did was useless, but at least I didn''t have to deal with that damned thing.)" (me) I run my hand over my face, it had been long days, a lot of preparation and there was still a tireless search on my part to find Zenos. At least he was more receptive than I expected, his firm refusal was the only thing that went wrong, it seems that his impression of me had an influence on his confidence. It was while I was leaving that she approached flying on her red wings, she reached me in a short time and in her eyes I saw the Goddess who spoke through her mouth. "What do you want, Selene?" (me) "Why didn''t you tell him everything?" (Selene) "I told him everything that matters at the moment." (me) "You didn''t tell him who you are, nor did you tell him what the Anomalous Dragons are after." (Selene) "Akatosh will talk about the Anomalous Dragons and who I am will only create unnecessary drama." (me) "The Ascendants are a disease as they are, but they could be solved at another time if it weren''t for the appearance of a Chaos Bringer that you helped." (me) "I did what had to be done." (Selene) "If you hadn''t drawn his Soul into this universe, Reincarnation could have managed to hide his existence for a few thousand years, we would have had time that was more needed now." (me) "I didn''t know about his plans, my only concern was him and this universe, thanks to him the Gods were able to return to the mortal world, thus leading to the direct confrontation against Baldr as well as the strengthening of the universal membrane, preventing the continued attack of the Creatures of the Abyss." (Selene) "Small gains are nothing compared to the risk they are now, the power he possesses can be used in so many ways that it is a master key to every door of opportunity that exists." (me) "The Ascendants and the Anomalous Dragons are just the closest, luckily they are currently in conflict and are against each other, but if one of the Bringers of the End discovers him." (me) "Bringers of the End?" (Selene) "There are many evils in existence, I hope this opportunity can serve to strengthen Zenos and all of us as well as save those universes as I have planned." (me) "I don''t like how you are manipulating him." (Selene) "I am not manipulating anyone, I am just pushing him towards enemies who are already coming after him while I give him a plan to win." (me) "But I felt something in him... never mind..." (me) "(I''m not sure if Paradox is involved, there''s no point in me talking about it with her.)" (me) "What happened? What did you feel?" (Selene) "It shouldn''t be anything important, more importantly, will your Saint remember this conversation?" (me) "Her loyalty to you is not guaranteed when your Father is involved." (me) "Vanessa is sleeping, she doesn''t want to hide things from Zenos and that''s why she took this initiative as soon as she allowed me to take over her body." (Selene) "Well, he doesn''t need to know many things, it''s also good that he distrusts me, it will improve his attention during the mission." (me) Zenos needs to be stronger, my concern for the Ascendants is genuine, I''ve been planning against them for hundreds of millions of years, I can''t miss this opportunity that luckily serves two purposes. "Now I have to go, I hope your son makes the right decision, for his own good, for the good of this universe and for many others." (me) "< Gate... GHUH!! >" (me) "Damn, why is the rejection greater here?" (me) "< Divine Space Wound: Open >" (Selene) "This is your passage to the first Temple where you came into contact with me." (Selene) "Thank you." (me) I tried to open a passage for myself, but the rejection of this part of the universe is even greater, I don''t know if it''s because of the Zenos tree or because of all this Ki flow, fortunately Selene helped me this time. Using a fingernail that grows a few centimeters to delicately tear a wound in the universe, a portal forms full of a red swirl of blood that I enter without hesitation. ------------------ Pov Zenos: I was inside Okan, in the new Star Palace with everyone behind me, all those who will follow me to find Akatosh. "You must already know, so I won''t go on, only we will go, everyone else will stay behind." (me) "Was that a recommendation from God Akatosh?" (Hades) "Yes, he only wants the Dragons, the strong ones." (Karina) "That''s why I chose you." (me) I look at all of them, my children Magnus and Silvia, my Familiar Nix, my Heralds Hades and Xagar, my Saint Karina and two complements who barely meet the requirements, they are Niryna and Samara. I look at the two who shouldn''t come, but the unique Aura of the Dragons emanates from their bodies, Samara is technically a Doll, but she carries my Dragon''s weight while Niryna is a full Demon, she can even transform into an Infernal Dragon and it seems to be something she just learned in a hurry at Callidora''s insistence, there is no doubt that Callidora knew something and prepared Niryna for this situation. "I won''t go on too much, I''m leaving Barok behind because of his pregnant wife, I''m also leaving Lock and Veronica because they are Dragon Heroes, they''re not exactly Dragons and as strong as they are, they don''t compare to any of you yet." (me) "I don''t know what Akatosh wants to do, but it seems like he''s gathering an army in a hurry." (me) "I''ll let you guys choose whether you''ll go with me or not...?" (me) "I don''t think it matters to ask, so let''s go." (me) They all want to go, I can see it in their eyes and maybe asking if they would go with me could be considered an insult when they have already fought so many battles by my side. "(I''m a shitty husband...)" (me) As I advanced out of Okan, I couldn''t help but remember the expressions on my wives'' faces, they were more than anyone wanting to come, being left out once again must hurt their pride, especially after everything they did to become Goddesses. But I can''t take them, none of them are Dragons except Karina, even so it doesn''t make me feel better to leave them behind once again. ------------------ We used the Communal Temple to get to the Divine Kingdom of Akatosh, there were already many Dragons flying among the stars, but I went straight to the open Temple where I met Akatosh last time. I always find his young appearance strange, one of the oldest Gods in the universe and perhaps the strongest in our universe, yet his human appearance looks like a teenager, an image that does not correspond to the great Dragon that has the size of entire Star Systems. He looked at me and I waved for the others to stay back, I approached him along with Karina who is also his Saint, that''s when I saw in the corner of my vision Arash flying towards my companions, he must have seen his daughter, this must be a good experience for Father and Daughter to fight together. "You''re late, even Arash arrived before you." (Akatosh) "I had to gather the others, it took me a few hours, not to mention that I had to organize some things for my absence." (me) "It doesn''t matter, with you here we have everyone, we can leave." (Akatosh) "Leave to where? Are they moving once again?" (me) "No, they''re still fighting in another universe, we''re going to fight there." (Akatosh) "So we''re really going to attack them?" (me) "I''m not one to stand still... I''m a straight-up God." (Akatosh) "That universe is already being attacked by Dragons, how will they react with a new army of Dragons arriving at their door?" (me) "They''re losing, so they''ll welcome us with open arms, especially if their situation is as I think." (Akatosh) "What do you mean?" (me) "A battle of this scale and that lasted centuries, there''s no way it won''t affect their universe, the most likely is that the universal membrane went down the drain a long time ago." (Akatosh) "Creatures of the Abyss...?" (me) "Yes, they''re possibly being attacked from two fronts, maybe their situation is irreversible, I hope not, but there''s still that possibility." (Akatosh) "..." (me) "I''m talking to you about this, why don''t you come with me, only the two of us have a Pantheon, find out that there are 3 universes being attacked and I''ll divide our forces." (Akatosh) "Wouldn''t that be a risk?" (me) "Yes, but it would be best, if we eliminate the two weakest parts, the main forces in this universe I mentioned before will be weaker, allowing us to attack from behind." (Akatosh) "They''ll notice if one of them dies." (me) "That''s why we won''t kill them now, that''s why we''re only splitting into two groups, we''ll use our Pantheon to seal them before they die, they need to be unconscious or weak for this to work." (Akatosh) "I''ll explain everything to you..." (Akatosh) Akatosh''s plan was even worse than Davoth''s plan, he had no knowledge of the situation in these 3 universes and was already dividing our forces, fortunately Adella approached and is coming with my group, her strength is equal to Arash''s and will be of great help. Chapter 1625: Cap 1623: Who Are You...? Part 1 Pov ??? (???): I was wandering through the desert looking for something to drink when he appeared, once again these things fly towards me as soon as my presence is noticed. I look at my sword, the edge of the blade is all chipped, the body of the sword covered in cracks that destroyed the magic circles inside it, even passing my Aura through the sword has become difficult since last month. "I need a weapon soon..." (me) While I was thinking about how to get a new weapon in the middle of nowhere, the creature reached me, its body was the size of a mountain, it has dozens of arms with blades instead of hands, each piece a different type of blade, if it weren''t for those arms it would only shave a giant. "I have to finish this quickly." (me) The blades came from all directions and measured kilometers each, even though they were so large they moved with delicacy and coordination closing almost all escape routes. But I remain calm, with each step and jump I follow a random path to avoid being noticed, I do not try to stop any of the attacks so as not to destroy my sword, meanwhile my Aura channels into a single point on my fist. I move my head to the side as I run over a blade, thus dodging a scythe-like blade, then I do a spinning jump in the air to dodge a wavy blade. I continue dodging the blades until I reach the head, that''s when it opens like a flower whose flesh petals are full of teeth. "< Fall of the Heavenly Sword >" (me) I gather my Sacred Power in my hand letting it flow along with my Aura around the Sword some of the cracks expand as I wave the blade downwards, the space above trembles as a large sword falls through the bottomless hole that is this open-mouthed grass. Immediately, silver veins appear, spreading throughout his body while explosions of sword blades emerge from within his body. He was torn to pieces without leaving anything behind. Unfortunately, this wretch''s body cannot be consumed and has nothing close to blood. His bodies disperse shortly after his death. "I have to go." (Me) With one leap, I cross kilometers before starting to run. I ran and ran until the sun disappeared from the sky. When night finally fell, I had already crossed hundreds of kilometers. If nothing followed my trail, then I must be far enough away at least. I look around. This time, I am in the middle of a city, or maybe I should say what is left of a city. The buildings are in ruins and bones are everywhere. I spread my Aura and did not notice any presence. I also do not think I will find food around here, and there does not seem to be any water around here, but I found something that I have been looking for a long time. My Aura reacted and the symbol in my hand heated up, so there was no mistake, I ran in that direction, arriving in seconds. "A portal, finally a functional portal..." (me) Sigh "It''s been 36 years, I was thinking the only way would be to get out of here the old-fashioned way." (me) I look up, every now and then I see the explosions happening in the distance shaking the very stars, I see the cracks and crevices in space as well as the creatures trying to crawl out of the crevices. "They''re still watching, I''m sure of it, they come by very often to deal with these creatures, it seems they know when a strong one emerges or when a large number spill out." (me) "Now, let me see how I activate this thing..." (me) I go to the Temple, I feel the remaining Sacred power, a comfort that reminds me of the ancient God of Nature, he was the first to die back then, a God loved by all, but trying to talk to Dragons seeking peace was more than foolish. Arriving at the portal I see the entire rectangular arch, the Runes seem in good condition, but there is no energy core, which fortunately is not a problem. "I have to be quick, they might notice my presence this way." (me) I place my hand on the arch of the portal, I first pour my Aura to familiarize myself with the energy paths, then I touch the Divinity within me for the first time in a long time, letting the power flow through the paths of the portal. It didn''t take long for the Runes to light up, images of the destination points were appearing in my mind, I choose the only one that remained, fortunately there is still at least one other intact. The portal lights up, blinking at first, before a vortex of golden, blue, and white energy appears. Without wasting time, I throw myself inside, already feeling a presence attach itself to me. Passing through the portal, I feel the fluctuations of the battle and how fragile the universe is. My fist clenches in frustration as the Divine power is quickly being consumed. When I pass to the other side, I find myself in ruins of what was once a temple, but now it is taken over by the forest. It is an incredible sight for someone who has spent years seeing only the desolation of a barren desert. "Fresh air, it''s been a long time since I''ve breathed such clean air..." (me) ------------------ Where am I? It was all dark, I can''t see anything. Who am I? Where am I? Why am I here? That''s when I realized I was walking suddenly and the darkness disappeared, what was revealed was a palace with a beautiful woman kneeling in front of me adjusting my tie, she was at my height with eyes full of love and beautiful brown hair falling like a waterfall. "Today will be a very special day, your Father is very proud of you becoming the heir to the throne dear." (Mom) "I''m nervous... I don''t know what to say in the speech... what if no one likes me... what if my speech is bad... Dad always says that first impressions matter..." (me) His hand caressing my face, a soft and warm touch, his sincere and calming smile, his captivating voice and sincere intentions, always knowing what to say. "Don''t prepare speeches, it won''t be sincere, speak with conviction what you want and hope for the empire, speak from your heart and no matter how it sounds to others, the true emotion and your determination will be transmitted." (Mom) "Thank you Mom." (me) I hugged her, I remember that, it was such an important day, I was so nervous that my hands were shaking, I don''t even remember what I said in that speech, but I remember that moment with my mother. ------------------- Suddenly everything goes dark again, I hear and feel my own footsteps walking forward as the world lights up once more. "How does the throne feel?" (Father) "Uncomfortable, sitting here all day is horrible." (me) "Hahaha... now you can''t laugh at my back pain anymore... hahahaha..." (Father) "But don''t dodge the question, I want to know how it feels to receive the crown, the ceremony may have been yesterday, but I know very well that it takes time to accept reality and understand what you have in your hands." (Father) "..." (me) "I don''t know what to do... I had so many plans, so many ideas, so many things I thought about doing..." (me) "From the outside it all seemed so possible, I talked to you so many times about these things... but now..." (me) "Now I find myself thinking about the consequences of such things, the cost of each project, the time to implement it, the people''s reaction to each project, the allocation of people, the interference of the nobles... everything I thought before seems so superficial now..." (me) "A King carries on his head not a crown but responsibility, now you understand the difference between an unrealistic ideal and a planned action." (Father) "It took me a while to understand this back then, but you don''t have to abandon your ideals, just think about how to implement them in a way that will be beneficial to the greatest number of people, not just to you." (Father) "Now it''s your turn, not everyone will support you, not everyone will understand you, there will be those plotting against you, there will be those going directly against you and unforeseen events will inevitably happen." (Father) "The most important thing is that at some point people will die, life is too fragile and things like diseases, natural disasters, accidents, murders, crimes, wars and countless other things can lead to people''s deaths." (Father) "As King, you carry all the power of the Kingdom as well as the blame when something happens, the responsibility for where the Empire will go in the future and the lives of every person who agreed to live in the lands you rule." (Father) "..." (me) The weight of that crown was really too much for someone so young, I was proud and full of plans until the end of the coronation ceremony, but when I was left alone in my room that night, it was as if reality hit me like a mountain, everyone''s expectations becoming chains around me, the responsibility of the entire Empire weighing like a mountain on my back, I wasn''t able to sleep all night with everything that could go wrong going through my head. "Son, you became the commander of an army while hiding your identity as a Prince. You have led people through moments of life and death. You have experienced losing those under you." (Father) "You are my pride and joy. Your mother and I know that you will be a great God King one day." (Father) God Kings, those blessed by the Gods as leaders, warriors, and wise enough to guide the people to a prosperous future. The Founder of the Empire was one of these, but he has long since passed away. God Kings are supposed to be immortal, but they all disappear one day, leaving the throne vacant. My father was one of many Kings who came after him. Yet no other God King has emerged in our Empire. "(I was so naive... I didn''t know what was coming when the Dragons arrived...)" (me) --------------------- Once again the darkness swallows everything, but this time I saw where I was stepping, it was a crystal path where the stars shone like in the night sky. Chapter 1626: Cap 1624: Who Are You...? Part 2 Pov ??? (???): The darkness opens, stopping a silver ray of light and a sweet scent of flowers penetrates my nose, tears gather in my eyes as the scene opens revealing a crystal coffin with the most beautiful woman I have ever known, my mother. Her burial in the sacred grounds was an ancient tradition, but neither my father nor I said anything, there was nothing to say. Every moment I spent with her was without regrets, I was always clear about how much I loved her and how important she will always be to me. But my father, on the other hand, was silent for another reason, he had nothing to say, since the day she died I have not heard his voice as if the silence was his response to the world without her around. I knew my father, he was always wise and intelligent, at some point he will come out of his mourning, but until then the best thing is to just be there with him, any words of comfort or anything similar will be ignored by him. Time seemed to pass by in seconds, accelerating as the entire day and night passed until the evening of the second day, I was the only one in front of her tomb. "I''m sorry, I couldn''t find the wife I always wanted to show you... I couldn''t give you any grandchildren that you always asked about... I''m not like my Father, I know I couldn''t be a good Father to any child, at most I would be an example of a King..." (me) Tears "I don''t regret anything, but I would like to show you so many things, discover so many things with you and visit so many places in your Kingdom by your side..." (me) Tears "I love you... I''m going to miss you..." (me) The pain of that day was one of the greatest of my entire life, but it was only the beginning of the nightmare, it was as if the Gods knew what was coming and took my mother so that her kindness wouldn''t be destroyed by the terror. ----------------- Once again I was in the darkness, but it was as if I was getting closer to something, the path I was following now was clearly visible even though I couldn''t see my hands. "Are you scared of the next part?" "No, but it''s still not something I like to remember." (me) "All this time you skipped the parts where your name was spoken." "I didn''t skip anything, I don''t even know where I am, I don''t even know who you are." (me) "You know where you are, you just don''t want to admit it, just like you try not to look at me knowing what you''ll see." "..." (me) "You never change, you can''t be honest with yourself." The darkness once again gives way to rays of light, this time it was a golden light, I remember that day, a few months after my mother''s death. As the darkness faded, the path I was walking on faded along with the one speaking beside me, what was revealed was a column of golden light covered in Divine Runes, the Power of the Gods invading my body, destroying all limitations and rebuilding everything. It was the worst physical pain I had ever felt, I don''t even know how long it lasted, but it was horrible, when it finally ended the pain turned to euphoria as a power far beyond anything else flowed through my body, heat gathered in my hand with an ancient Rune-shaped symbol being engraved. < Why do you fight? > (God Gael) "..." (me) It was such a simple question and one that had been asked to me on so many occasions, each time I answered something different. When I was in the army proving my worth by hiding my identity, I was asked this by my commander at the time and I answered. "(I want to fight for my kingdom, to be the one who protects your peaceful lives.)" (me) When I was receiving the crown from my Father, this question once again arose and I answered. "(I want to fight for the future of our nation, to pave a path for everyone to walk safely.)" (me) When my mother was sick, it was her last night and she knew this, she spoke to me and my Father separately, it was at that moment that the question arose once again and I answered it sincerely. "(I want to fight to protect you, my Father and everything you have created.)" (me) I have answered it in different ways in various situations, but being faced with this question once again before the eyes of a God, I am unable to answer it so simply, it was as if the answer was in the middle of a tangle of acceptable excuses. The truth is that all the previous answers were only half-truths, I am not as wise as my Father expected of me, I am not the smartest either, but my will to put myself ahead of everyone has never wavered since I was a child because I knew that one day what would be behind me would be too important to stand still. "I fight to protect!" (me) < So fight like a Guardian King God and keep the flame of hope burning. > (God Gael) That day I did not understand what was being handed to me, but my will to protect everyone exploded in my heart. -------------------- I was once again walking in the middle of the darkness, but this time the darkness was empty, changing with every step, stars appeared with every step I took forward and strangely I could not control my feet, all this time I was walking forward without wanting to as if there was something propelling my steps. "You wanted so much to protect everything, but in the end, what did you manage to do?" "I did my best, I did much more than my best..." (me) "But it wasn''t enough, was it?" "..." (me) "You still don''t know who I am...?" At this moment there was no more darkness, the stars surrounded everything while the path I now tread seemed to be a crystallization of these stars and in the midst of these stars my world opened like a curtain revealing a battlefield where my Kingdom once stood. In the Sky two creatures fought, one of them was a knight wearing golden armor and a silver spear, a long tail full of Scales comes out of his back as well as 4 pairs of metallic wings, his head carries a helmet made in the shape of the head of a beast I don''t know and large golden horns rise out of the helmet, its size was colossal to a point I have never seen before. His face was visible even from this distance due to his size, a face I saw every day in the Palace, his portrait hanging in the throne room, the Founder of the Empire and my ancestor who disappeared long ago. The creature I was fighting was the height of brutality, his body a monstrosity with arms much larger than they should have been, black armor covering his body and a mass of liquid energy flowing inside. It was horrible, but it was not the only one, around me an endless number of people were destroyed, dead beyond any salvation, but there were also two of these creatures that I managed to kill, my body covered in wounds being held together only by the Divine power flowing from the symbol in my hand. "I must... keep... FIGHTING!!!" (me) "< The God of Nature has failed, but my hope will not while you exist >" (God Gael) "< As long as the Will burns in your Soul, Hope will not die, I give you the future! >" (God Gael) "< Divine Heritage >" (God Gael) Suddenly the great knight fighting in the skies shouted at his neighbor being the same as God Gael, but my Ancestor did not carry that name. Soon the creature he was fighting grabbed his spear during an attack while another creature appeared from behind my ancestor piercing his chest with its claws, golden red blood flowed out, but did not fall, all the blood flowed into the spear while its wings expelled the two creatures away, all its power and blood flowed into the golden Spear that gained golden red lines before being thrown towards me. I couldn''t move when the spear pierced my body or more precisely disappeared when it hit my body, then the whole world around me became before I woke up in the middle of the desert, just me and the sword with which I fought that battle still in my hands. I was safe, there were none of those creatures around me, there was no blood other than mine on my feet, there were no ruins in my vision, just an endless desert of a world I visited in my youth. That''s when the pain in my head returned, memories and information that weren''t mine emerging, as well as a purpose to keep fighting. ------------------- Before I realized it I was once again walking down that path, this time seeing beyond the stars, two celestial bodies appeared, a large scary Purple Sun and a Moon surrounded by colorful fragments, a strange sight with each one being on one side and moving slowly in the same direction. "Did you like what you saw?" "No, but you know that, don''t you?" (me) "Do you already know who you are?" "Gael, a name inherited along with the power of the Gods, any other name you call me would be an insult to those who came before and fought tirelessly until the end." (me) "Congratulations, you finally remembered, it seems that the centuries of fighting and decades of inactivity didn''t break you so much after all." I had forgotten part of myself after being injured, but now I remember, after that battle, many others followed, this time me fighting against those creatures that I learned were called Dragon Eaters. The God Kings are worthy vessels for Divine Power and Divinity, inheriting when the previous vessel dies fighting and is no longer worthy, along with the power comes the responsibility that one assumes and that is why they all carry a single name as their resolutions to maintain their will. I looked up, the Purple Sun and the Shattered Moon were colliding, but there was no explosion, in fact they were slowly merging together. "I had been injured, my memory affected, my power dormant..." (me) "Yes, but now that you remembered who you are..." "My power and memory have returned." (me) "And do you know who I am?" "Yes, yes I do." (me) I didn''t look back, what happened was that the voice coming from my side stepped forward to stand in front of me, it was a ruined sword, the edge of the blade was shattered, cracks ran all over the blade and even the hilt was worn, blood stains, bites and burns could be found in several places, the Runes engraved on the blade and magic circles inside it had already been destroyed after many battles, yet the sword was still here. Not just any sword, but the sword my mother handed to me on my first day joining the army, hiding my identity as a prince, the sword that was in my hands when I became Commander years later, the sword that hung at my waist when I was crowned, the sword that was in my hands in that battle where my ancestor fell along with the entire Empire. Suddenly an image of a silver spear overlaps with the sword before being sucked in, the sword shines, all its imperfections, marks, broken and cracked parts disappear, leaving only a sword that represents my journey stuck to the ground in what seems to be the end of the path where I stop taking the sword in my hands. I look forward and up, it was where the Shattered Moon and the Purple Sun merged into an Eclipse that seemed to be the core of this entire place, I finally noticed countless paths like mine where an uncountable number of shadows walk, but my eyes focus on the Eclipse where a pair of eyes look at me as if from far away, one eye purple and the other golden. "Who are you...?" (me) "< I am Zenos... >" (Zenos) Chapter 1627: Cap 1625: Open the door... I was staring into the distance, my eyes unfocused as the Power of Reality allowed me to see the great Dragon that was Akatosh fly into the distance while something seemed to flow around him. When he was finally far away and the flow of that energy became very thin, I saw him disappear, leaving in his place what looked like a golden Dragon flying through the void between the universes. I stared until nothing was left and then I turned my eyes to Adella who was next to me, she couldn''t see what I was seeing, but she knows and that''s why she waited. But I couldn''t say anything because I got nervous and ended up looking at a metal disk in my hand. "You know what...?" (me) "What? Was there a problem when they left the universe?" (Adella) "No, they went without problems as far as I could see, that''s not what I''m talking about." (me) "Then don''t waste my time, just use this thing and let''s go on our way, the others are already inside Tarzor." (Adella) "That''s exactly the problem... I don''t know how to use this disk, he handed it to me like it was something obvious and left... but I just realized that I don''t know what to do." (me) "..." (Adella) "..." (me) "Are you kidding me?" (Adella) I was looking at Adella as my Aura and perception were examining the disk in my hands, cold sweat dripping down my back as Adella''s eyes became more and more bloodthirsty. "Let''s all calm down, it was just a moment of slippage, it shouldn''t be difficult..." (me) "I swear to the Goddess that if you don''t figure it out in 2 minutes, I''ll hide this damn disk in a place where sunlight can''t reach before slamming your head into the nearest Moon, do I make myself clear?" (Adella) "I think you''re being too violent against your own Father..." (me) "1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7..." (Adella) "..." (me) My forehead was drenched in sweat, she wasn''t joking and I know she''s stronger than me, since she became a Dragon she''s been getting stronger and stronger every time I meet her, I''m even inclined to believe she''s surpassed Nix''s father. While I was trying not to tremble in front of her, I kept probing the damn disk in my hands, but no kind of energy or Aura made this damn thing work. "(Power of Reality, you idiot.)" (Tarzor) "Power of Reality..." (me) Suddenly Tarzor''s voice appears in my mind and I realize I hadn''t tried to use the Power of Reality, it should have been obvious, but normally this power is useless. As soon as I let some of the power of Reality flow from my hand into the disk, the metal began to change into a translucent form and my mind was guided inwards where I saw countless points of light floating, each of them emitting an extremely profound unique presence, but the Power of Akatosh appears as if it were a Golden Dragon and was heading in a certain direction where there was an X marking with its power. Looking closer, there was another point shining with an X marking, between these two luminous points there was an arrow marking and I was able to understand that this disk was not only a map but a locator, so I can know when it will advance to the next part of the plan. Looking where I am on the multiversal map, I discovered that I am in the same place as a bright point that emanates a very familiar deep presence, I can even feel traces of the presences of the Gods that I know including my own presence. But suddenly I return to my consciousness to my body when I feel a hand holding my neck as if it were going to strangle me to death. As soon as I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Adella''s angry eyes looking at me like I was an idiot about to be crushed. "I figured out how it works, I figured it out, let''s all calm down now..." (me) "Then let''s go, the sooner we get out of here, the sooner we''ll be able to crush the Ascendants." (Adella) Saying that, she jumps into my shadow and I feel Tarzor''s power envelop her, who disappears completely. Tarzor lifts his head from my shadow and looks at the disk in my hand that has turned metallic again. "This map is interesting, but a little too simple, it doesn''t show the energy bursts, the flow of the Creatures of the Abyss or the territories of the Anomalous Creatures." (Tarzor) "Luckily, I know the situation around this area, so we can reach our destination faster than Akatosh." (Tarzor) "How long will it take?" (me) "4 months for Akatosh at this speed and for us... if you use your Pantheon like he does, then it will take 3 months even with me guiding the best path, but if you use me it will only take 2 months at most." (Tarzor) "Are you that fast?" (me) "Distance is not something that can be measured outside of a universe, time itself is the only measurement, I myself am a universe and I am not as restricted as you." (Tarzor) "The energy blasts will be absorbed by me becoming part of my natural flow, the normal Creatures of the Abyss will be mere gnats against my thick universal membrane, besides all that there is still the fact that I manipulate the power of reality better than you ever will." (Tarzor) "Then I will let you handle this." (me) "I''m going to take advantage of this time to train. If we''re going to face Anomalous Dragons, I need to be stronger..." (me) ---------------- Months have passed and I had finally arrived where I needed to be. I was inside Tarzor. It was a strange feeling that was still hard for me to get used to. It was as if I were an extension of this entire place, able to take my consciousness everywhere, as if all of Tarzor were a Sanctified Land in my name. I could change the power flows as I pleased. Right now I was at the foot of a tree that I couldn''t see the end of. Its trunk was thicker than a large planet. Its size almost corresponds to an entire Star System, and its branches have no end in all of Tarzor. The further away from the tree they are, the more ethereal they become until they are no longer visible. The same goes for its roots. I was sitting down when a beautiful green Elf came out of the tree trunk and threw herself into my arms. "We''ve arrived before 2 months." (me) "Frustrated that you can''t use your full power?" (Freya) "Yes, but that should still be enough to at least fight, it''s just a shame you can''t use the sword." (me) "How are the children?" (me) "Furious, with Tarzor entering the void like that, the energy blasts cause instability in the natural flow, even with me harmonizing it is not an instantaneous process and this delays the creation of their bodies." (Freya) "How is Hinata?" (me) "She still wanders around the place where the sphere was, I feel like she absorbs something from there and sometimes I have the impression that the sphere never left there, but that ended 1 week ago, since then she has been sleeping in my branches, her Aura trying to imitate the flow of energy I create." (Freya) "Keep an eye on her." (me) Saying that, I got up and kissed her goodbye before leaving. I appeared on top of bitterness looking at a wall similar to a condensed power wall of reality. I can see cracks and crevices where shapeless mists of energy invade. Those are Creatures of the Abyss before entering a reality. "Can you get through?" (me) "The cracks are too small for me and if I break one of the cracks they will know." (Tarzor) "Then I will have to go in alone and take you with me." (me) "I do not advise you to do this, you will be noticed even faster than me, they know your presence and I guarantee that it will be impossible to hide when your power of chaos enters this universe." (Tarzor) "Let someone else in then?" (me) "It will be the same, look at this Universal Membrane, I do not sense any God, only Divinity and some are clearly missing which must be the reason for the cracks appearing." (Tarzor) "You need to be invited, we need the element of surprise for the plan to work." (Tarzor) "That complicates things..." (me) ---------------- 1 week later. I couldn''t enter this universe, I tried to put my hand on the universal membrane before and I realized that my Power was very different from the rest of this universe, the power that stands out like this would definitely be noticed. That''s why I tried a different approach, I used my Pantheon, my Star Path to attract the Will of those in the universe, fortunately I was an Anomalous God so this process went much smoother than I expected, my Pantheon connected completely. Unfortunately the Will of the people in this universe is weak, perhaps because the battle against the Anomalous Dragons was going so badly, even the Wills that stepped on my Star Path weren''t able to walk very far. It took me days before I found one good enough to come to me, he walked for miles of the Star Path helping to integrate with the universe, making the Star Path a part of his universe and reaching me, that''s when my voice finally reached him. "I am Zenos..." (me) Along the Stellar Path, he began to emanate Divine Power. I also felt a Divinity, but it shouldn''t be possible for a God to walk in a Stellar Path museum, and that''s when I realized he wasn''t a God, he just had the power of a God in a Mortal Soul. His Divinity wasn''t something intrinsic to him either, but rather a Core that remained in his Soul. "Why did you bring me here?" (Gael) "This is the Stellar Path, a place where only Will drives your steps. I can''t bring someone here. Your Will is what brought you here." (me) "What I did was just connect the Stellar Path to your universe." (me) "What are you looking for?" (Gael) "I want to enter without drawing the attention of the Anomalous Dragons, but for that I need someone to open the door for me, for someone to summon me into your universe." (me) "Anomalous Dragons...?" (Gael) "You mean the Dragon Eaters!?" (Gael) "What is your relationship with them? Why should I trust you!?" (Gael) "I am their enemy, I came to weaken part of their strength before attacking where their numbers are greater." (me) "There are more... impossible! There can''t be more of such terrible creatures! You lie!" (Gael) "You can hardly be considered a God, your consciousness doesn''t comprehend what is outside the universe, but the Anomalous Dragons are far from being the only ones so strong, there are also much worse evils." (me) "I do not seek to save your universe, I honestly do not know if there is anything left to save, the universal membrane is collapsing even as we speak, central aspects of your universe have been lost and are not things that can be replaced." (me) "Why are you telling me all this...?" (Gael) "Because I am giving you the only way to fight back that remains and I do not have time to slowly convince you, so open the door for me and fight them once more." (me) "(If he refuses, we''ll go with plan B.)" (me) "(It''s going to be a fight from the start, we''re not sure how many there are or their maximum strength.)" (Tarzor) "(We can always leave, they''re weaker outside of a Universe from what you said, that''s how you captured that one so easily, right?)" (me) "(Okay, but I hope he accepts, I don''t want to fight directly and Freya certainly won''t like it.)" (Tarzor) Chapter 1628: Cap 1626: Contingency Pov Gael (Guardian God King): When I woke up I realized I was in a pool of my own sweat, every part of my body was shaking, my Aura was overflowing with power as my entire body trembled due to the sudden flow of Divine Power passing through me. Every part of me was on the verge of losing control, it''s been a long time since I had so much power flowing through my body, I feel like I''m trying to tame a wild beast. Among the information and memories I inherited when I acquired this power, there was a set of training methods, in the past I didn''t have time to experience this, as soon as I inherited the power I mastered it amidst battles and more battles, there was no time to train where each battle decided the fate of entire Worlds and each defeat was one step closer to the final calamity. "A fist reveals action... a step reveals movement... a thought reveals strategy... but only my resilience reveals the truth..." (me) With each sentence the Divinity within me resonates, words that have been passed down by all the God Kings since the first, with each pulse 3 movements are made in a specific sequence making the Divine Power circulate throughout my body more smoothly, the veins in my body turn silver as they stand out with these few movements, this lasts for a few minutes making my body tremble more precise as firmness takes the place of trembling. In a few minutes I was already exhausted, sweat was running down as if I had just dived into a lake, my body was under control as well as the power I inherited. I take a deep breath and close my hand into a fist feeling the pulse of power along with my blood, then I look at the entire sword lying next to where I slept, just opening my hands and wanting to brandish the sword, it flies towards me with its handle going straight to my hands. I swing the sword a few times like I have done billions of times before, but this time it was like the first time I received this sword in my hands. "Now, what should I do...?" (me) After controlling my power, something that was urgent, I sit there replaying everything that happened in that dream, they are like the descriptions that the God King of Dreams has always been described as carrying out, but that did not seem like a dream, it was more than that. I look at the sword that rests on my legs, the existence of my sword in its current situation reveals that all of that is true, at least to some extent. "Anomalous Dragons..." (me) "Gods..." (me) "Anomalous Creatures..." (me) "Creatures of the Abyss..." (me) "Universes... in the plural..." (me) "Zenos..." (me) Sigh I put one hand to my head while lost in my thoughts about all this, there were many things to absorb, there are many things to think about. With the sword in my hands, the various near-death battles I''ve been through so far come back to me. "It''s not like I''ll have another chance." (me) We''re losing, if it continues like this we won''t have a chance to win, I''ll fight until the bitter end, but if everything they said is true. "It doesn''t matter, as long as I fight there will still be a chance, sitting and waiting for death won''t get me anywhere." (me) I get up with a decision made, I don''t know if I can trust this Zenos guy or not, but the worst of what is happening is not over. I remember that he told me what to do, choose between 3 ways to indicate him, summon his Soul, summon his body or summon one of his children so that he can be summoned next. "I''ll summon his Soul, it seems to be the simplest." (me) To summon your son would mean performing 2 Summoning rituals and if he is as strong as he claims to be, then he will cause a giant storm in space, doing it twice would be more risk than necessary. Summoning your body would also require a lot of blood as well as some materials I don''t know about, so just your Soul should be enough, I will only need to use Divine power and create the ritual using my blood. "Let''s begin... after a bath..." (me) I was still covered in sweat, so I figured it would be better to wash this dirt off of me, it would also help me think better. ----------------- 2 hours later. This was the only area I could find that was able to support my blood. Looking around there are parts of fallen Temples in 3 different directions forming a perfect triangle, every time my blood hit the ground it created craters and the blood disappeared over time making it difficult to finish the ritual circuit. Only an area bathed in Holy Power for so long like this was something I sought out, it was the only place where I could cast this ritual circle. I spent tens of minutes doing this and if it weren''t for my perfect memory it would be impossible to solve this. I still don''t fully understand this magic, but it seems like it doesn''t matter, it can take care of the rest as far as I know. All I had to do next was place my hand on the ritual and let the Divine Power flow into the entire ritual. The magic circles began to light up one by one, then suddenly everything lit up, my blood seemed to evaporate as the Divine Power opened cracks in space one after another. But these cracks were golden, my Divine Power continued to be sucked almost dry when suddenly all the cracks connected and a great flow of power passed through the cracks making the world itself tremble, I wasn''t even able to see what had appeared before I heard his voice coming from above. "" (Zenos) Then all my vision went dark, the very skies darkened as an Eclipse formed at the highest point in the sky, then I finally saw it, it was translucent and yet its figure was very similar to the Dragon Eaters. From the waist down was a large Serpent''s tail, its eyes of different colors looked up as if it were seeing beyond the heavens, its wings spread out on its back revealing a sky of stars, a body as large as the tallest mountains I have ever seen in my life. But nothing compares to its presence, I have never felt anything like it before, I cannot define anything, there are so many characteristics in constant transformation at such unimaginable levels of depth that it is as if I were understanding the entire universe by looking at the sky of a single planet. The magic circle appears in his hand, not just one magic circle, but hundreds of them interconnected as they move, drawing a massive magic circle in the sky. The planet''s own natural flow tries to prevent such magic, but his presence seems to contaminate the flow of natural energy, causing it to change and sending the natural energy to travel through all the magic circles. I''ve never seen magic on such a scale before. Suddenly a wave of power explodes in the surroundings and I see crystal flowers sprout from the ground. The skies darken, revealing countless stars that weren''t there before. Clouds of pure condensed energy form in many colors in the sky as a Purple Sun and a Fragmented Moon come out circling around each other, then collide a few seconds later, forming an Eclipse where a pair of eyes open. The great creature that should be Zenos'' Soul dissolves into a stream of black flames full of stars and depth. These bizarre flames flow like a river until they enter the Eclipse as if they were falling into a bottomless pit. All the magic circles and the natural energy of this world itself seeming to be sucked away as the Eclipse seems to pass through an invisible barrier before disappearing, everything disappeared. The large massive Soul, the magic circles, the Purple Sun and the Fragmented Moon, the Eclipse and the strange flames made of stars, all suddenly disappeared and the skies as well as everything else returned to normal, even the flow of natural energy returned to normal and the only thing left was a figure hovering in the sky. His open wings seemed to contain a starry sky, the tail on his back was thin ending in a crystal blade, but his own body was insignificant compared to the creature I saw before, I thought his body would match the same characteristics because it was his Soul, which did not happen, his body was smaller even than mine, his red clothes matched his long red hair, his dark skin highlighted the brightness of his eyes while making his horns look like jewels adorning his head. He descends to where I am, his eyes deep and his presence withdrawn, he was normal even with such an extravagant appearance, but there was still a feeling of strangeness that I could not understand. In my mind I was trying to connect this figure to the enigmatic Zenos who was able to affect the dreams of a God King, but his youthful appearance clashed with my imagination and even with what his Soul had revealed before. I wanted to talk to him, but suddenly the smile on his face widened unnaturally as he stopped in his tracks a few hundred meters away from me, his eyes turned into the distance in a specific direction, murderous intent shining in his eyes as his gaze moved around us, which increased my caution looking in those directions, a bad premonition when I sense traces of presences I know all too well. "I made a real effort this time trying not to draw attention, what gave me away?" (Zenos) "Do you really think we don''t keep an eye on the Universal Membrane?" (Voice 1) "We are constantly fighting against the Creatures of the Abyss that try to compete with us for our food, we are always on the lookout." (Voice 2) "You can''t imagine how happy we were when we discovered you were here, it''s not always that our enemies are so bold." (Voice 3) "You caused the death of many of our brothers, you devoured our brothers, did you really think we wouldn''t recognize your presence?" (Voice 4) "(There are many... how long have they been here? How did I not sense them before!?)" (me) We were clearly surrounded, but even so Zenos was smiling and didn''t seem affected, maybe he was strong enough to deal with this as he promised, in any case I have no way of getting out of here, since the moment the times were heard I felt multiple presences attaching themselves to me. "I see, so it was a fluke, you guys discovered me during a normal patrol..." (Zenos) "..." (everyone) "Hahahahaha..." (Voice 4) "Kha kha hahahaha..." (Voice 5) "Yeah, we noticed you when we were passing by this planet, during your Soul ritual." (Voice 5) "I see, I knew something like this would happen, you know... I''ve always had shitty luck, so I always create contingencies when things inevitably go wrong." (Zenos) "Tarzor!" (Zenos) Chapter 1629: Cap 1627: Mobile Trap Pov Ibuki: I was throwing water over myself to wash the blood off, I could do it with my Aura or Power, but something about the old way has become a habit that I do automatically. "You overdid it, you weren''t supposed to kill everyone." (Diana) "They keep saying the same things, they talk bad about us, they talk bad about Zenos... do I have to put up with this quietly!?" (me) "We need them alive, how are we going to get to their end without information!?" (Diana) "You''re no longer a monster in a forest, you can''t do things as you please anymore." (Diana) "Why not? He does that." (me) "Zenos can be many things, but he''s certainly not a good example, forget what happened." (Diana) "But... but..." (me) "Ibuki..." (Diana) Sigh "We all feel the same, the frustration, the anger and in Erica''s case, a strong killing intent... but it wasn''t Zenos'' choice." (Diana) "The training we went through... we even became Goddesses... does being by his side still have to be so hard!?" (me) "The answer is obvious, it will always be hard for both us and him, that''s life, fortunately we have eternity to be together and more than enough time to enjoy each other''s company." (Diana) "I just wanted to be by his side, the enemies he''ll face are strong." (me) "I''m worried, he''s very unlucky, things will hardly happen as Akatosh expects." (me) "Don''t worry, there''s a reason Zenos is so obsessed with making plans, he knows that everything will always go wrong around him, so he always has a backup plan." (Diana) "While he''s there, let''s make an effort to finish off those who are left, so there won''t be any more obstacles to our time together." (Diana) "Okay..." (me) I look around, there''s a sphere of flesh trapped in chains of darkness struggling with thousands of shattered bodies around, it''s the enemy God and his armies, it was easy to finish them off by attacking by surprise like that, before he could do anything he was already Sealed and it was an excellent punching bag to vent my anger. Without their God, the others were just fodder to be blown to pieces to lighten my mood, all these pests thinking they can point their swords at the universe and then retreat peacefully, so naive. ------------------- Pov Gael (Guardian God King): "Tarzor!" (Zenos) We were surrounded, I could feel several presences stronger than me trapped inside me, but I knew that their main focus should still be the young man in front of me. During the entire time the Dragon Eaters attacked us, they never tried to talk to anyone, their voices were only heard during their mockery or when they spoke among themselves, but they never directed their words to anyone on our side or at least I didn''t hear that before. If it weren''t for hearing them talk among themselves, we might have thought they were Wild Beasts by the way they fight directly and without plans. But clearly the reason for this is that they don''t consider us enemies, we are just something to be exterminated, they don''t need to consider our thoughts, actions and anything else, but Zenos is considered an enemy, they not only talk to him, but they are cautious about attacking even after their presence is discovered. "(Maybe there might still be a chance.)" (me) While my mind was racing, Zenos spoke a word that I didn''t understand the meaning of, but a presence rose from it, too deep and strange to understand what I was feeling. The entire space in the surroundings seemed to ripple with this presence, the Divinity inside me trembled with fury as if urging me to attack Zenos now, which was a little difficult to control because it was so sudden. Then I saw it, Zenos'' shadow on the ground expanded for kilometers and a pair of eyes opened, then two of the shadow opened as if it were a jaw revealing horribly sharp teeth, the space seemed to break around the shadow creating a crack through which a flow of power emerged. My mind couldn''t even process everything that was happening at that speed, so many things happening at the same time, endless magic circles flew creating a dome of thousands of kilometers without seconds, the Dragon Eaters tried to do something, but as soon as they reached Zenos it was like being chipped by an illusion, he disappeared before appearing somewhere else, it was as if he was being thrown in several directions with so many attacks without ever being actually hit. In seconds the dome made of millions of magic circles was complete, a massive amount of energy like no other emerged while Zenos'' body was surrounded by Flames that mirrored a night sky unknown to me. "< Ritual of the Universal Unholy Seal: Summoning of the Anomalous Universal Tree >" (Zenos) "Stop him!!!" (Voice 5) The Dragon Eaters seemed to be in panic, but their Auras exploded in violence like I''d never seen before. "It''s too late" (Callidora) "We should wait with the others..." (Female Voice) "And miss this show?" (Callidora) "Who are you? How do I know your name?" (Me) Suddenly I see two women standing next to me, one of them was translucent and her eyes were focused on Zenos as if I didn''t even exist in her eyes, only the second young woman had the courage to look at me in apology, but I couldn''t pay attention until I realized I knew the name of the translucent woman I had never met before, that should have been impossible and it scared me. "I am Niryna and this is my mother, Callidora..." (Niryna) "Freya really is magnificent... perhaps you could try something like that... I never thought of keeping a World Tree..." (Callidora) As the two spoke of different things, my attention was focused elsewhere, ginless branches emerged from Zenos'' shadow forming a new forest on the ground and in the middle the branches intertwined forming a tree trunk before spreading out beneath the dome taking up the entire sky. Just emerging was like I entered an entirely different space, the very space around me felt fundamentally different and my Divinity pulsed like it never had before. "< Anomalous Claw >" (Voice 1) "< Rain of Broken Stars >" (Voice 2) "< Denial of Reality >" (Voice 3) "< Universal Expansion >" (Voice 4) "< Universal Fury >" (Voice 5) "< Ritual of the Universal Unholy Seal: Imprisonment of the Unholy Root >" (Zenos) Zenos'' voice seems to come from every corner as it overwhelms the voices of all the others, attacks that could destroy entire worlds emerging from the Dragon Eaters, but before they can even reveal their powers, thousands of branches appear, intertwining with crystal leaves and the same flame of night that Zenos uses, forming 5 large Serpents with heads that resemble the Dragon Eaters. These 5 wooden creatures break space itself, attacking the Dragon Eaters while clinging to them. One of them managed to dodge, but Zenos appeared behind him, throwing what looked like a sphere of purple flames like that strange Sun I saw in my dreams. The enemy was unable to dodge two attacks and, when hit by the sphere of purple fire, was unable to escape the wooden creature, being wrapped up and trapped. "< Universal Unholy Seal Ritual: Eclipse Dragon Seal >" (Zenos) "You will pay... HAAAAHHHH!!!" (Voice 4) "Take them back, Freya." (Zenos) "With pleasure, they will be excellent nutrients." (Female Voice) "Just don''t let them die, I still need them." (Zenos) The wooden creatures were burned and bathed in blood that crystallized around them while tentacles penetrated the bodies of the Dragon Eaters, the same flames of the night full of stars formed chains that trapped them in cocoons that were soon dragged along with all their children back down, entering once again in Zenos'' shadow that became visible on the ground returning to its normal size while the dome of magic circles shattered. "It was better than imagined." (Niryna) "It''s nothing serious, he used a lot of energy, an absurd amount." (Callidora) "Who are you? What happened..." (me) "They are my daughter, Niryna and... something else..." (Zenos) "You don''t need to worry about what just happened, the dome I created at the beginning serves as a deterrent, they won''t know what will happen singing that their companions won''t be killed." (Zenos) "You could hand them over to me, I assure you that you would make better use of them." (Callidora) "No, you two shouldn''t have even left yet." (Zenos) "I think I need explanations, lots of explanations." (me) "About who are you...?" (me) "Fair enough, but let''s have time for that, now it would be better to find a place to talk, this universe is having a truly uncomfortable reaction right now." (Zenos) As he spoke, I could feel the space around him being restructured, in addition, he was being continuously attacked, I could feel a flow of chilling energy trying to pierce him and being prevented. There was a lot that I wanted to know, but this really wasn''t the right time, so I took everyone in a direction where the temple of a God King who fell in battle was located, it was his main Temple and the place where he ascended to his position, we should be safe there. Chapter 1630: Cap 1628: Fafinir The Temple we went to was a horrible place, the whole place was dry, it was a dry spot in the middle of a forest with ruins all around. There are clearly dry ditches where a river should have flowed, plus several places that seem to have been lakes that are now dry as well as many pools that have also dried up, dry water sources and much more everything in this place seems to have gone through a hard blow from the climate that never recovered. "(The Elemental energy of Water is out of control, the sacred power in the surroundings is also almost non-existent.)" (me) "(I don''t feel any traces of Divine Power, for a temple to be this barren is disconcerting, possibly the God of this place died...)" (me) "(Don''t think too much about this universe, it''s already on its last legs.)" (Tarzor) "(Is it that bad?)" (me) "(Yes, I honestly don''t know how it hasn''t broken yet, the universal membrane on the outside seems strong apart from the cracked parts, but on the inside it looks like glass, the Anomalous Dragons must be doing something.)" (Tarzor) "(What happens to the living creatures, planets and everything else when the universe breaks?)" (me) "(Everything that falls into the void will be decimated leaving only energy, the bodies of those who enter the void will be directly erased, their Vitality will be swept away by the energy blasts until only the Soul remains, which will have to rely on luck to avoid being destroyed by Creatures from the Abyss.)" (Tarzor) "..." (me) "The main Temple is up ahead." (Gael) ------------------ 5 hours later. Gael was looking at me calmly, but I must admit that I expected a more violent reaction. I only told him the essentials, I talked about the Anomalous Dragons, I explained what Gods are and their differences with their God Kings, I talked about the state of his universe and also about the concept of the multiverse. He accepted everything very well, but he came up with many questions, half of which I refused to answer, so after many questions he stopped, I didn''t say anything and left him with his thoughts. I leave him behind and go find Niryna since the Infernal back that dries her keeps casting eyes at me. I cross the hall where a large statue of a thin man with rounded horns on his head stands, this is not like the Divine statues in my world, there are no such things here, there are no physical idols for divine worship. I pass the statue to a place that was clearly supposed to have been a garden in the middle of a lake, but crossing a broken bridge I reach Niryna who is sleeping on a broken bench. "What did you do to him? I''ve never seen anyone become so instantly interested in you." (me) "When they look at me, they all know what I am, there is nothing like me in existence, I am unique." (Callidora) "But when Hell or any other similar name touches their minds, it is disregarded due to the impossibility of the fact in their minds, but with the name I am using now..." (Callidora) "I didn''t think your influence would extend to people''s subconscious." (me) "But that''s not why you called me here, what do you want?" (me) "I want you to do something for me." (Callidora) "Something you want to keep hidden from Niryna?" (me) "Yes, she doesn''t need to think about that for now, she was tired, the strangeness of this universe bothered her mind a lot, she really needs some adaptability training." (Callidora) "So what is it about?" (me) "I want..." (Callidora) ---------------- It was already night when I finished talking to Callidora, what she asked was something that had crossed my mind before and I dismissed, but she presented very valid points for such plans. I spent more time talking to Callidora than the time I spent with Gael, that was the level of things being discussed. As soon as I entered the Temple once again, I went straight to where he was waiting, next to him there were several pieces of roast meat still warm, I sat down and started eating while I took out some bottles of wine. I didn''t need words, the wine was enough for him to understand, he took a bottle for himself, downing it all at once while I took some pieces of meat. "What can you tell me about the Anomalous Dragons?" (me) "I don''t know much, no one does... they just showed up one day and started attacking and it''s been like that ever since, getting worse every year." (Gael) "Many God Kings have fallen, including the former owner of this place." (Gael) "You know more than you think, for example, do you know anything about their numbers? Maybe something about their base or the area they gather?" (me) "There are dozens of them, but there is one among them who seems to be the leader, he always has many around him as if they were being born from him." (Gael) "A place?" (me) "I don''t know about his base, but I know someone who does." (Gael) "A God King like you?" (me) "No, actually I don''t know what he is, only that the Dragon Eaters don''t attack him." (Gael) "What''s his name?" (me) "Fafinir, I haven''t seen him personally, but one of my Knights did, he walked through the battlefield as if it were nothing and didn''t attack either side." (Gael) "Where can we find him?" (me) "He''s being watched by our side, but it seems the enemy is unaware of his presence." (Gael) "(Stay away from that bastard, he won''t help, in fact your presence here might even get in the way, you shouldn''t be seen by him.)" (Tarzor) "..." (me) "(He''s a Soul Collector, I don''t know what he does with the Souls he collects, but he mostly likes Gods.)" (Tarzor) "(He must be taking advantage of the Anomalous Dragons to collect the Souls of this universe.)" (Tarzor) "We can go as soon as we are..." (Gael) "No, forget about him, I think I have a better way to find out his whereabouts." (me) "Give me a few hours." (me) "(I''m sure she has a way to find out what I need, the question is whether the price I thought of will be enough...)" (me) ---------------- 2 hours later. I was frustrated, but there was nothing to be done, negotiating with the Devil is always a loss. "Are you ready?" (Gael) "Yes, but why do you seem anxious?" (me) "Fafinir disappeared a few minutes ago and the enemies retreated from a battle, all at the same time, but they didn''t leave." (Gael) "(It must have been Callidora, they noticed her probing.)" (me) "It doesn''t matter, in fact it even helps us, we''ll catch them all in the same place." (me) "Come on, I have to introduce you to my companions." (me) --------------------- I introduced my companions to Gael as we left the Planet''s orbit, but Gael was suspicious, it seems he doesn''t like any Dragon, especially those like Hades and Magnus who are clearly Dragons in appearance. I explained to them what I had discovered from Callidora, the Anomalous Dragons usually create a nest when they invade a universe, a nest made with the power of the reality of 10 or more Anomalous Dragons, a fortress where they can rest, eat or refine all of their universal plunder. The reason they need these nests is because of the Anomalous Creatures and Creatures of the Abyss, they know they can be targeted by external forces during their attacks against various universes, they are not the only predators that exist as much as they like to say such phrases. Callidora just opened her eyes in that direction and knew exactly where their nest was, but that didn''t go unnoticed either, I felt it and so did they, fortunately that drove away an unknown nuisance. While I was lost in thought and hiding in space, I saw the reason for the Anomalous Dragons patrolling this place, as soon as I left the planet I saw a crack bigger than any planet, there was a colossal one coming out of that crack, there were chains containing the power of reality binding that arm to 3 planets, one of which was the planet where we were, but precisely the other side of the planet. That arm was shaking as it tried to free itself, it was also constantly changing, its claws became longer and more affiliated sometimes or changed to thick fingers, its arm became thin and sometimes became full of muscles, its skin was sometimes replaced by scales, feathers or bones, even tentacles and mouths full of teeth were emerging from that arm in several attempts to free itself. "A Creature of the Abyss..." (me) "(No, a General of the Abyss, much worse.)" (Tarzor) It was clear that the Anomalous Dragons were taking precautions against this wretch, he was temporarily trapped, but he wouldn''t be trapped forever, the Creatures of the Abyss adapt, he''ll break free sooner or later. "(We have to get out of here before he breaks free.)" (me) "(No need to worry, he can''t cross my universal membrane, even if we can''t fight, we can run away from him.)" (Tarzor) "(At least one good news.)" (me) With that I follow the path that Callidora pointed out. ------------------- Pov Fafinir (???): I ran away as soon as I felt his presence, but I didn''t expect his interference, this is atypical. "She felt my presence? She knows? But how?" (me) "I have to finish, I can''t let them interfere, I still need a core capable of containing their power and a lot of reality power..." (me) "The Ascendants won''t mind if I take a few dozen of their discarded Universes, I don''t need the other energies, just their base reality power will be enough." (me) I feel the pulse inside me, stream of consciousness getting weaker and weaker. "Just a little longer, my love... just wait a little longer..." (me) "FAFINIR!!!!" "Damn, I was careless to leave so quickly, he felt my power." (me) "< Phantom Flow: Birth Movement >" (me) My consciousness pulses feeling trillions of births, I feel the one too weak to survive birth and grab his Soul being pulled to his universe. My body falls apart as I absorb the Souls of the child and the mother as I rebuild my body. I open my eyes in an alley in the middle of a big city. I can feel tens of billions of life forms on this continent. Looking down, I see only the bones of the mother and the child who has not even been born. Using my Aura to collect their bones, I begin to walk. "I hope the food here is good..." (me) Chapter 1631: Cap 1629: That was my Plan Pov Azary (Demonic Anomalous Dragon): I open my eyes when I feel that altar falling on us, that shouldn''t be possible, that thing has never interfered with our hunts. "(Something isn''t right...)" (me) I look around, there were 2 other brothers who were refining their personal universes, they didn''t feel that gaze, so they must be at a critical moment. "Come!" (me) "Why are you calling us, brother?" "What happened while you were sleeping, why do I feel almost everyone inside the nest?" (me) "We all felt that thing''s eyes focused on us, who would continue hunting in this situation?" "Then why aren''t everyone here? By my count, there are 7 missing." (me) "1 was sealed, another is trapped in the middle of a battle and with everyone retreating, they must be in a difficult situation." "He won''t die, this universe is too weak to be a threat, that''s why I wanted to join the main group." (me) "What happened to the last 5?" (me) "They''re the patrol group taking care of the Abyss General." "That could be the cause, that thing could be eyeing the Abyss General, he didn''t let go, did he?" (me) "As far as we know, no..." ------------------ A few days have passed, I haven''t refined parts of this universe again, I''m already at my limit even before coming to this universe, what I needed was to find more nutritious food, a Dragon with the elements of darkness, Demon or curse would be the most ideal, just thinking about it makes my mouth water. "(I really should have gone with Father...)" (me) While thinking about many possibilities, the memory of someone came to mind, the family''s new target, Zenos. He would be more than perfect, he has everything I need, but his power of chaos can be hard to digest, as tempting as it may be, Father really wanted him, one of my brothers came to warn him about our future plans some time ago. "I don''t know why there''s so much fuss over him, if he wants this God so much, why doesn''t he go personally?" (me) I can''t understand Father, with his power no universal membrane can prevent his passage, but even so he always lets others hunt in his place. ''He worries too much about his enemies, he must have become a coward over time.'' That''s what they say about him, but the younger ones don''t know anything, they weren''t around when he was still a great hunter, his power and ferocity were incredible, but one day he simply stopped. The biggest changes came from him, but I noticed that others changed too. Mother left and no one ever spoke of her again, but I swear I saw her on 2 occasions that coincidentally were before we started a new hunt, but her appearance was different on both occasions. If it weren''t for me being her closest child and recognizing the traces of her presence, I wouldn''t have been able to recognize her. My Uncles and Aunts also act differently. They are no longer the front line of the hunts like they used to be. While we continue hunting as we always did, they seem to be searching for something. "I know something is happening, but I can''t figure out what it could be... huhh!?" (me) Suddenly my eyes turn in one direction. Someone entered the nest, but his Aura doesn''t belong to the family. Even so, I still recognize this presence. We all recognize this presence as saliva drips from my jaws. < Bring him! > (me) In the absence of the first generation, I am the leader, no matter how much the others complain, they cannot go against it outside of the hunts, this is an enemy invasion and I command as I please. My commands reach everyone, my Aura that permeates the entire nest reaches everyone at the same time, even the two who were still sleeping while refining their internal universes open their eyes. "He is mine for now, Father wants him, but he never spoke of being whole." (me) It didn''t take long for him to arrive, dozens of my brothers and sisters around him, the hunger in their Auras evident as they stood on him, but even though I also feel a desire to devour him whole, I''m not so stupid to believe that he got here by accident, especially seeing as we are far from his universe. "(Something''s not right.)" (me) "< Search the outside, report anything strange, there''s something wrong here, take 4 more with you. >" (me) I speak to the two who just woke up, they are the strongest after me, they also won''t argue with my orders in this kind of situation. They don''t even look at me or the intruder, they stand up as the space shakes around them as they dive in, I can feel them leaving and dragging 2 each with them. My orders were not heard by the others or the individual in front of me, my eyes never left his appearance, red hair and a tiny body do not hide his presence from any of us. A Hunter like us, a complex Aura wrapped in many layers of different power and his eyes are like a calm ocean hiding something in its depth, I feel a hint of danger arise in my heart, which scares me because my instincts are the cause of it. He''s doing something or has already made his move, the more I think about it, the stranger his presence here becomes, he''s planning something and was confident enough to invade like this. "Everyone except these 5 can go, stand ready and fight!" (me) "But this one is..." "You just want to monopolize..." "Everyone should..." "That''s not fair..." "OBEY!!!" (me) "..." (everyone) With my roar and serious eyes, everyone realized that the situation was serious, it seems that their hunger clouds their minds too much, I can''t complain much when my first thought was also about eating him, fortunately I realized the strangeness of the situation. Everyone left, most seemed to have realized the strangeness of the enemy from another universe appearing here by delivering himself to our door like this, but there were still those expressing anger at being prevented from devouring such a wonderful meal in front of them. Soon only a few chosen by me remain as well as the invader, I try to use my Aura to pressure him as much as I can, but he has the power of reality and his Divinity around him, my Aura cannot reach him. "Why did you come here?" (me) "I came to give you an opportunity." (Zenos) "You know there is no way to get out of here, don''t you?" (me) "Whether or not I leave this place matters little for now, the real question is, will you listen to me or attack?" (Zenos) "..." (me) "(He''s too calm, what did he plan!?)" (me) I let my instincts be as accused as possible and my mind remains focused on Zenos. "Say what you came to say." (me) "Join me to attack the Ascendants, maybe there is a way for your survival." (Zenos) "< Demonic Universal Claw >" (me) From within my chest, a Demonic bottle made from the fusion of the bones of everyone I have ever devoured advances against Zenos, while I gather power in preparation for what comes next. "" (Zenos) His body shatters into multiple Fragments, scattering everywhere, but my concern was another, I felt Demonic power for a brief moment, when I turned my eyes I saw nothing, but Zenos was smiling with his multiple copies. "I gave the option to choose, but I was already prepared to be refused." (Zenos) "< Presence of the Demon Predator >" (me) "I didn''t expect anyone here to have Demonic Power as their focus." (Zenos) "But that doesn''t change anything." (Zenos) I look at my brothers, Demonic patterns extending across their main body, their Auras become turbulent as their movements slow down, they aren''t even attacking. "What did you do!?" (me) "You didn''t expect me to come in here without a plan, did you?" (Zenos) "So... that''s the plan." (Zenos) "I''ve fought you guys a few times, I''ve learned a thing or two about you, mainly that a head-on confrontation should be the last option when dealing with you." (Zenos) I look around, I still can''t feel anything, but my instincts warn me that there is something around me, something dangerous. "I''m going to kill you!" (me) "< Great Demon Expansion >" (me) "< Reality Denial >" "Ghuhh!!!" (me) Before I could even expand the Universe within, I was struck by a sword in the back and an arm that emerged from the shadows. The pain of having my power suffer a setback made me fly backwards, I spread my wings stopping being dragged before looking at the arm that struck me. It was a large arm that was made of a universe, it was different from what is refined within us, it was natural. But I didn''t have time to think about it when I saw Zenos melt into blood along with all his purchases before emerging from the shadows of one of my brothers. "Now you are all mine." (Zenos) His body changes assuming its true Dragon nature, I finally realized what my instincts were trying to warn me, the Auras of my brothers were contaminated and by extension they were also contaminated by a Demonic power. Chapter 1632: Cap 1630: Shall we let him go? I look at the Demon Dragon in front of me, my Dragon body is still smaller than his, but my power overflows outwards as he concentrates his power. "< Demonic Awakening: Origin of the Demon >" (Anomalous Dragon) With the Demonic power he stored, his entire true body began to shine, the plates that appear to be metal and the outer parts of what appear to be skeletal structures shine as they move, completely rearranging his body. His true body has always been the armor on the outside, it has never been the mass of energy that is condensed inside, right now he is transforming his body that previously looked like a classic Dragon from overdeveloped RPG games with 4 horns on top of his head and 2 horns coming out of where his eyes should be, now with his current transformation, he looks more like a knight wearing full body armor glued to his body and his face has opened vertically revealing a golden eye surrounded by red flames. His Demonic energy is much stronger now, I honestly have no chance of fighting him if I use my trump cards, of course this is only true for direct fights. "You will regret underestimating our family." (Anomalous Dragon) "It seems we have a misunderstanding here, I never underestimated you, so I will win." (Me) "It seems it''s over, do it." (me) "(I can''t, technically it''s your power that took over this space, not mine...)" (Tarzor) "..." (me) "(Do it yourself, that''s the knowledge you need, it''s not very complex, in fact it''s simple if you have the ability to use it.)" (Tarzor) The plan was simple at first, I would enter through the front drawing all attention to myself, everyone would stay outside hidden to attack in case someone escaped, then comes the next step which was to release the Apocalyptic Curse that I prepared trying to imitate a virus. It disperses in the surroundings contaminating everything, people, planets, the earth, the space around, even the energy itself and all of this through the Auras. That''s how I took over this entire place, a Curse involving the power of chaos, the power of the Apocalypse and the Anomalous power that serves to give life to the curse itself, otherwise it would be impossible to control something so complex. The idea was to use their nest to seal them all together, but it doesn''t seem like that''s going to work, I should have done a test first. "Come here!!!" (Anomalous Dragon) "< Unholy Breath >" (me) He advances towards me, his speed was surprising and I was distracted processing the information Tarzor passed on to me as well as its practical application. My breath attack was something I released half a second before it hit my face, he was too close for his speed to be useful in any way. I manage to get into a stalemate with him, it lasts a few seconds, but it was enough to understand what I need to do. "< Claws of the Universal Demon >" (Anomalous Dragon) "Ghuh!!!" (me) "< Universal Seal: Chains of the Apocalypse >" (me) His claws grow and reach both sides of my body, the breath attack was hitting a barrier created by the eye on his face. The truth is that this whole place is ''alive'', in many quotes because of the Curse, that''s how I took over this place, the infection first took over the space itself before affecting the Anomalous Dragons, so the flow of Auras and energies of this place intertwine in chains attacking the enemy in front of me. He realized what was coming to his claws that went through the side of my body release and he lets my breath attack throw him back escaping the chains that surrounded him or that''s what he thought. Tarzor''s large arm tried to hit him from behind, but he never stopped paying attention to that large arm, so with a movement of his arms he managed to dodge it to the opposite side of the arm while dodging the chains that were increasing in number. Unfortunately for him, I was never one for a fair fight, behind him a large White Serpent appeared biting one of his arms along with half of his body, this abrupt stop in movement was the direction he needed for the chains to reach him, trapping his entire body. "Hinata, come back." (me) "Food...?" (Hinata) "No, not for now." (me) "..." (Hinata) Hinata in her ethereal Serpent form releases him, disappearing into space once more, she doesn''t seem to be affected by the rejection of the universe like the Anomalous Dragons and me. "Come on, kill me... but sooner or later you''ll be between the teeth of our family!" (Anomalous Dragon) "Why don''t any of you listen?" (me) "I thought that since you''re their leader, you''d be a little more rational." (me) "I just need you to help me deal with the Ascendants." (me) "Do you think I''ll believe you?" (Anomalous Dragon) "Even if we accept, would you fight without worrying about being betrayed on our side?" (Anomalous Dragon) "If we defeat the Ascendants, which isn''t so easy or we would have gotten rid of those pesky birds by now, will you let us go? And even if that was your plan, do you think any of us would believe someone who killed so many of our brethren?" (Anomalous Dragon) "..." (me) "(It seems he''s even more rational than I thought, that''s good, I can try to talk to him later, but before that I have to demonstrate the ability to be on equal terms with them.)" (me) Anomalous Dragons are hunters, their entire existence and culture revolves around hunting for a simple reason, without hunting they have no power and no food, hunting is their blood and flesh, their way of life and path to survival, being the Predator is their only option to survive. These are things I''ve been able to deduce so far based on what I''ve learned about them, of the 3 universes being attacked, most of them are in the last universe that Akatosh and I are going to attack, so these other 2 universes only have small leaders like this Anomalous Dragon in front of me, even so he''s quite rational for someone from this twisted family. "(The true leader of the family must be very intelligent or at least wise enough, when I get to him I must have proof of my ability to present and only he will be able to answer my request on behalf of all of them.)" (me) "< Seal >" (me) "YOU SHITTY DRAGON, I WILL..." (Anomalous Dragon) Before he could finish speaking, the chains completely bind him, only his eye was visible through the chains, the chains are in constant flow and are affected by the Curse so they are corrupting his power that is absorbed by the flow along with his Aura, transformed into power that is then dispersed in this pocket of space they call a nest. "(This won''t hold enough...)" (me) I turn my eyes to the surroundings, the other Anomalous Dragons have fewer chains holding them, but their power is also being drained, apart from those within my line of sight, there must still be many more in the rest of this place, I can feel the power saturation increasing as different streams of power release different energy that collide with each other. If things continue to escalate like this, the nest will be destroyed causing great damage to everyone inside and outside for a good distance, not to mention the damage it will do to the Universe itself possibly creating a massive rift even larger than the one where the General of the Abyss was trying to pass, the Anomalous Dragons would also be freed. "This place is too small for so much energy..." (me) "Tarzor, can you absorb this entire place into your interior?" (me) "Of course I can." (Tarzor) While I was confirming with Tarzor something that I was almost certain he could do, I saw his arm returning into the space where my shadow was. "That''s great, by the way, the modifications you made to Akatosh''s seal were very good." (me) "The seal he created was a copy of mine, it was part of a negotiation before his birth, I simply used both types of seal with my current knowledge as a universe to create this seal, but that was only possible through the circumstances of being in a separate space, it wouldn''t work inside a universe." (Tarzor) "Alright, that was enough, now take everything with you, I''ll go see the others outside, find out if any of the Anomalous Dragons escaped...." (me) "..." (me) "(What was that...?)" (me) As I left this place, I felt a strange feeling, but no matter how much I looked around, I didn''t find anything wrong and the feeling disappeared. -------------------- Pov ??? (???): He has good instincts, he noticed my gaze even though his senses don''t reach me, it seems that his development is faster than expected. "Madam, what should we do?" (No?ros) "Nothing, that''s not our problem." (me) "Should we let him go? But those are..." (No?ros) "In a hunt, you''re either the hunter or the food, they understand that better than you." (me) "Now let''s go, it seems that thing did nothing more than look over here for some reason, I also feel traces of Fafinir and Reincarnation, I don''t want to get involved in unnecessary trouble." (me) Even saying that, I can''t help but think about her, if I were able to find her it could change everything. "(Zenos... such a young Chaos Bringer... maybe another time.)" (me) "We''re leaving." (me) Chapter 1633: Cap 1631: Twins As soon as I left the nest of the Anomalous Dragons, I saw a battle scene that was getting worse and worse, everything was in total chaos. What really happened was several battlefields where my companions were facing the Anomalous Dragons, but the only one who was doing it alone was Adella. But what made this battle so strange was the Creatures of the Abyss attacking in an endless stream. Maybe it was because of the battle, but this whole place was full of rifts in space through which the Creatures of the Abyss enter endlessly. I immediately joined the battle, but not focused on fighting the Anomalous Dragons, but rather destroying the Creatures of the Abyss until I reached these rifts in space and closing them using my power of reality, with that it was much easier to close the rifts. After several hours, I was able to close all the rifts and kill almost all the Creatures of the Abyss, so I went to help the others in their battles. After that, it was only a matter of time until I had defeated all the Anomalous Dragons, which was particularly easy since we outnumbered them after I dealt with everyone inside the nest. --------------\-- 1 week later. I had the disk in my hands, the same disk that Akatosh gave me to be the map for this trip, thanks to that I knew that Akatosh was still in the other universe without leaving for the main target. I stop using the Power of Reality, letting the disk return to normal before putting it away, then I turn my eyes to change sides where countless cocoons are connected to roots. "Did I really need to add all of them?" (me) "Yes, both of them require a lot of energy, that''s why I needed them, they''re not the best option, but they''ll do." (Freya) "After that, I''ll remove the Universes inside them for Tarzor to absorb." (Freya) "When will that be?" (me) "Any moment now, they should be born at any moment." (Freya) "Is that going to be a problem?" (me) "I don''t think so, technically they were born before, now they are just forming bodies, vessels to contain their entirety, that''s why they need so much energy." (Freya) "Keep an eye on them, I still have some things to take care of." (me) It seems that some Anomalous Dragons were captured by the people of this universe, of course their seal wasn''t that effective and they would be lucky if they were able to hold the Anomalous Dragons for a few days before breaking free, this happens because they don''t even have Gods in this universe, their so-called God Kings are a receptacle for Divinity and as such are inferior in handling Divine Power, they also don''t understand the Essence from where such Divine power originated. What I did was travel with Gael to collect the remaining Anomalous Dragons, then I returned to the same Star System where we had arrived, the great rift containing the General of the Abyss. "Without the Anomalous Dragons, this place is lost." (me) "Yes, but we still have options." (Tarzor) "What options?" (me) "Use Freya to merge this universe with me since I can''t just devour." (Tarzor) "Can Freya do that?" (me) "She can do many things." (Tarzor) "Let''s go back, I can talk to her later about this, also to know how long it will last as well as several other things, our time is limited." (me) "I wouldn''t know how to answer, if I were to devour this universe it would only be a matter of days if I didn''t face resistance, but unfortunately I can''t do that." (Tarzor) "Let''s go back." (me) ---------------------- Today I was with Niryna, Adella and Samara. We were together on one of the highest branches of Freya, in the surroundings there was a great amount of energy flowing to the point of shaking space. All this energy comes from the roots where the Anomalous Dragons are being sucked with all this energy being transformed and harmonized by Freya before being sent to what looked like two fruits hanging on a tree, two very large fruits, the size of a Sun. "I still think I should have called Karina and Hades." (me) "It would be risky, we don''t know what to expect, but the most likely is a storm caused by the opposing powers of life and death." (Samara) "Don''t be fooled by the fact that only the power of death is dangerous, the power of life is just as dangerous." (Adella) "It should be interesting to watch, but how long will it take?" (Niryna) "I don''t know." (me) "It will be now, they''ve already stopped absorbing energy, I''m in the middle of redirecting that energy into other functions." (Freya) "..." (me) Suddenly I felt two energy fluctuations, when I looked at the two fruits that''s when I noticed changes happening. Before, one fruit looked like an oversized apple and the other looked like an equally oversized avocado. The apple had an Aura of Life while the avocado had an Aura of Death, they were side by side and yet the two energies didn''t come into contact with each other. The two fruits became transparent, one was all white, the other was all black, but now they were gaining lines of stellar energy that flowed from Freya''s branches to these two fruits that dissolved into pure energy while maintaining their shapes. Sometimes it seemed like there was something moving inside, two presences seemed to emerge leaving everyone tense, the presence of life was so heavy that it seemed to crush us, while the presence of death was so empty that it was strange as if it were trying to pull us away. But that was just the beginning, at that moment the two presences came into contact and the opposing energies did the same, but they did not collide as we imagined, in fact the two energies remained in harmony creating cyclones of energy without mixing. The fruits then exploded, the space trembled and all other forms of energy in the surroundings flowed as if pulled into this explosion that even took us inside as a wave of energy emerged around us. It was then that I felt the movement of two creatures, even though I couldn''t see them, it was more than obvious that they were the two creatures, as if they were the eye of this hurricane of energies. This lasted a few seconds before Freya''s presence and Aura pulsed a few times, making all this energy come into order once again under her control. Soon two bodies appeared flying between Freya''s many branches, they were like colossal Dragons. One of the Dragons was made of black smoke and gray energy surrounded by its skeletal structure of gray crystal decorated with patterns of black lines simulating tree roots, its single horn looked like a sickle facing forward, its 2 pairs of eyes were silver, this was Kalistos, its body was similar to that of an Eastern Dragon without any wings and a mysterious appearance as if a strange depth was contained within it. The second Dragon, on the other hand, was completely humanoid with a body full of incomparable beauty. Its body had soft curves covered in feathers and scales. Its body was completely white with golden lines running through its entire body as if they were tree branches. It had a pair of large purple eyes, four horns that resembled tree branches, and five pairs of wings that looked like a delicate cloak around it. This was Mavis. The two were very large, and little by little, energy formed around them, forming what looked like a translucent silk cloth. For Mavis, it was a black silk cloth full of white stars that fought around her. For Kalistos, it was a Planck silk cloth with black stars flowing around its long body. The two had been born, or rather, had created suitable bodies, and soon their eyes turned to me, sending a shiver down my spine. "Dragons... did you make us Dragons?" (Mavis) "You delayed the creation of our bodies and then poured the power of Anomalous Creatures to compensate?" (Kalistos) "Yes, but what''s the problem with becoming Dragons?" (me) "Dragons are symbols of power, they are not suitable to represent concepts like life and death." (Mavis) "It''s not like it matters much, but it''s not something we expected." (Kalistos) "What are you going to do now?" (me) "Nothing, not until we think of an acceptable way to use our current state as entities." (Mavis) "We will stay here for now, we are bound to this place, but we will not help you, our power is not to be used in combat." (Kalistos) "Our purpose is still the same, but we must reflect on how to carry out that purpose in our current circumstance." (Mavis) Saying this, the two began to fly between Freya''s branches, but I felt that they were connected to Tarzor and even more connected to Freya, who was where they were born. -------------- After all this time, I was looking once again at Akatosh''s disk, he was still in the other universe, I don''t know how much longer it will take, but it seems that I finished this much sooner than expected. "Sir, we have confirmation from Freya, should we continue?" (Hades) "It was faster than I expected, but before I do anything I have to talk to Gael." (me) "Then I will go get him." (Hades) "(As much as I want to help, it can''t be a one-sided conversation, the decision must come from one of them.)" (me) Chapter 1634: Cap 1632: Taking a universe home "Are you sure about that?" (me) "Yes, I''m sure, I''m actually relieved." (Gael) "There will be no turning back, your universe will be almost entirely absorbed into my Universe, after that there is no going back." (me) "I''m aware, you made it very clear during your previous explanations." (Gael) "Even so, the answer is the same." (Gael) "I... well, I must say I didn''t expect such a quick and yet positive answer." (me) "Shouldn''t you talk to the other God Kings?" (me) "I''ve already talked to them, we are fully aware of how our universe is, half of the God Kings were killed during this long war, 3/5 of the population of people in the entire universe was wiped out, natural disasters happen frequently, the so-called Creatures of the Abyss are everywhere and it will only get worse without the Devourers... I mean, without the Anomalous Dragons around to slow them down." (Gael) "The truth is that we were already in a situation where we were up against the wall. I had been so injured that my memory was affected before the vice arrived." (Gael) "Maybe after a lot of fighting and a few millennia of effort counting on a great deal of effort to not be targeted by such strong beings again, just maybe we will be able to make this universe acceptable again, but it will never return to normal and until then it will be a difficult life for everyone." (Gael) "I had talked to the other God Kings about migrating the population of this universe to another, but then some problems arose, such as not having the ability to do this in our hands. That''s when I suggested that we ask for your help to move the population." (Gael) "But now you have proposed something even better. You are integrating our universe into yours. I don''t know how this is possible or how it will be done, but I imagine that you are confident in doing this without hurting people and safely, right?" (Gael) "Yes, I have thought about these things, but are you sure about this?" (me) "I was once the ruler of a great Empire and do you know what I learned?" (Gael) "That the issue is not the repercussion of my decisions on me, but on the people under my responsibility, how much my decisions will affect these people and I''m thinking like this right now, I''m sparing dozens of generations of a desperate fight for their lives for a peace that may never return." (Gael) "As I said before, I''m relieved by your proposal, thank you... I really appreciate you very much." (Gael) "Do you understand the implications? No more God Kings, I and other Gods will be above you until you become Gods in your own right." (me) "I don''t care, nor do the others." (Gael) "Then we have an agreement." (me) "We''ll be counting on you from now on." (Gael) Gael and I shook hands, I tried to make things clear to him, but his answer was so sincere and positive that it was disconcerting to me. ------------------ 2 days later we began the process, I had to take everyone inside Tarzor, everyone in my group, the God Kings were around me in meditation poses with their Divinities flowing through them. I myself close my eyes and concentrate, I feel Tarzor do the same while Freya stretches out, branches carrying crystal leaves appearing in every corner. I could feel the branches spreading at ever greater speeds throughout the universe, I could feel the leaves taking over entire worlds, I could feel the branches taking the place of the energy flows and I realized that several of these energy flows were incomplete or broken, I felt Freya recreating them as she continued to spread her branches throughout the universe. But there were areas where Freya avoided, like the Rift where that General of the Abyss had his arm trapped, she avoided the entire solar system and I felt her leaves cutting the space around as if separating that entire part from the rest of the universe, the entire process was done very quickly and finally I feel Freya cast her will through Tarzor with her translucent green form appearing behind me. Freya points to one of the God Kings making a crystal flower grow below them as if they were sitting on those flowers and all those flowers were connected to my shadow. "< Universal Flow: Absorb >" (Freya) I felt the suction power even though I wasn''t one of the targets, all the God Kings were sweating as their Divine Power flowed through the flowers below them that grew larger closing with them inside, then all the Branches began to pull carrying these Divine Powers, it was all very smooth without any negative reaction from the universe, I just felt like I was in the center of a black hole devouring everything. ------------------ When I opened my eyes, one of Freya''s branches was floating surrounded by closed flowers, Freya was sleeping on a bed of colorful petals, a crazy flow of energy around her. "How long did it last?" (me) "It took 6 weeks to absorb that universe and it happened 2 days ago." (Tarzor) "So we did it?" (me) "Not yet, it''s in the middle of the process, for now it''s just something stuck to me, I''ll need time working with Freya until we finish." (Tarzor) That was to be expected, so we still have a long way to go, but at least it was a success to a large extent. "The population of the universe?" (me) "They''re fine, they might suffer from some crazy weather and some natural disasters, but it''ll be better than what they were going through before." (Tarzor) "Last question, if we left that universe, where are we now?" (me) "Approaching our final destination, it''ll take a few more weeks, and by the way, we have a problem." (Tarzor) "What problem?" (me) "Remember that General of the Abyss?" (Tarzor) "Says he didn''t get loose and is chasing us." (me) "No, he must still be trapped in the fragment of universe we left behind." (Tarzor) "The problem is that he wasn''t the only Abyss General, we have 2 coming after us now, almost as fast as me and surrounded by an infinite number of Abyss Creatures." (Tarzor) "..." (me) Sigh "Can they get through your Universal Membrane?" (me) "No, but it will still hurt to be hit, it can also cause damage to the universe that hasn''t been completely absorbed yet." (Tarzor) "When we get to the other universe will we be able to get in quickly?" (me) "Impossible for me, but you could use your Chaos Power or Anomalous Power to get in, but it will be by breaking down the door, it won''t be quiet at all." (Tarzor) "Will they be able to follow me inside?" (me) "No, but you will face the restriction of the universe and whoever you meet." (Tarzor) "It seems safer than standing around waiting to get hit." (me) -------------------- Pov Akatosh: I look around, 3 planets destroyed and several Dragons injured, but we made it, I open my hands and see dozens of Anomalous Dragons trapped. "How are the losses on our side?" (me) "Many injured, but no one dead." (Arash) "Was that really the last group?" (me) "According to the information from the natives of this universe, yes, we don''t have any more information that points to anything else." (Arash) "Then let''s recover before we leave." (me) I pull out a disk and use the power of reality taken from my Pantheon to activate it, looking at the map I can see that Zenos has already left, it seems he finished before us, the boy is very fast. "(I wanted to get there before him to set up a solid and safe base, but it seems that will be difficult now.)" (me) "Arash, gather everyone and make sure they are okay, I will talk to the Natives who helped us, we are leaving in 3 days." (me) We are closer to our final destination than Zenos, I noticed that he was faster on our trip, but it doesn''t matter, we should arrive almost together this way. ------------------- Pov Zenos: I was facing Adella, the wound from her last battle was already healed and just now she was training before I came to talk to her. "I need your help when we get to the next universe." (me) "Need what?" (Adella) "Blood, I need you to track down the highest concentration of blood that your senses are capable of finding." (me) "Are you crazy?" (Adella) "I know it''s a shot in the dark, but it''s better than nothing, such a high concentration of blood will be from many living people gathered, which also means that we will be far from the controlled space of the Anomalous Dragons who have no blood." (me) "There may be monsters that I will be tracking like this, but that''s fine, I can do that, but what will you do if a battle is inevitable?" (Adella) "I planned to wait for Akatosh to do something before doing anything, but if battle is inevitable, then we''ll use our trap again." (me) I''m not an idiot who''ll fight head-on without reason, now that I know the usefulness of Tarzor if it carries such powerful attack rituals inside it, I''d be an idiot not to take advantage of it. "We have several days, I''ll make the preparations." (me) "Then do what you need to do and don''t get in the way of my training." (Adella) "Do as you wish, but don''t destroy any planets." (me) I know what she''s training for, she''s trying to create an Aura Incarnation of her own, something she''s never used before and that''s usually so basic, in fact a Divine Weapon would be better, but we couldn''t find any suitable for her. "(Maybe I should use something more targeted for my next ritual...)" (me) Chapter 1635: Cap 1633: Entering in style Pov ??? (???): I was once again going through this situation, I don''t know how many times this has happened since they woke me up. "Who was it this time...?" (me) "It was Tarkon, they managed to corner him before we could get there." (Myu) "Tarkon was such a naughty child, he was very emotional and hard to follow rules..." (me) Tears "He was a good boy, but so unstable..." (me) Tears Memories of him were surfacing in waves in my mind, I couldn''t help but think about all the trouble he caused me during his childhood. "Mom, please calm down... I''m fine, but the younger ones can''t resist his murderous intent." (Myu) "Sorry..." (Me) Tears I look around, the once graceful mountains were now covered in cracks, more than half of the Dragons were shaking with some even patching the ground, the space itself was fluctuating abnormally. "Mother, what should we do now?" (Myu) "We''ve been holding out for a long time and I''m proud that we fought to a draw against them." (Myu) "Unfortunately even if we want to keep fighting on this scale..." (Myu) "I know, I know... the universe won''t hold out." (Me) "We may have killed a few of them, but compared to ours..." (Myu) "I know..." (Me) I look up at the sky, the cracks were barely visible throughout the universe before, they were rare and dotted in a few places. Around 100 years ago, they became increasingly numerous and can be seen almost everywhere now. Just look at the sky, whether it''s day or night, the cracks are always present and in many places the cracks collapse, breaking the space, creating horrible rifts that are difficult to close. Our previously difficult battle has become worse in recent years with these cracks and rifts opening the doors of our universe, creatures from the Abyss that I would rather never see again appear daily and I fear that the Anomalous Creatures will follow in the footsteps of these wretches by attacking us. We cannot simply divide our forces to control the rifts and fight against these Dragon imitations, so we increase our attack more savagely and advance against them to engrave fear in their minds, but this explosion of power created by our fury and fear will not take long to end, especially without showing results but encouraging this behavior. "(When I lay down to sleep, I only thought about letting future generations have some responsibility on their hands without an old freak like me always watching over them.)" (me) Tears The memories of when I opened my eyes, outside my mountain of rest, blood and destruction everywhere, the people we were supposed to protect fought by our side and died by the thousands, my beloved children and descendants were seriously injured to the point of dying at any second. All of this caused by them, empty shells that desecrate everything we are, they call themselves Dragons, but they do not have the stature or the Will of Dragons, they do not understand what a Dragon is, they are mere imitations made in a grotesque way. Their vision only serves to generate fear and disgust, their actions only bring destruction and their presence only shows how insignificant they are as creatures. My fury when I saw that scene, my pain was so great that I didn''t even realize when it was over, I only noticed the lack of one of his eyes and part of his armor stuck in my teeth. That''s how it started for me, but it was far from the end, battle after battle never stopped, they don''t give up fighting and use hunting tactics, not war tactics. Now I''m no longer sure if we can one day defeat them, I''m confident in dragging this battle out for millennia without giving in, but I''m no longer confident in winning. "What are their movements like this time?" (me) "They''re trying to move through an area where the universal membrane is weaker, they''re decreasing their numbers while spreading across waves of distance to force us to do the same." (Myu) "Individually they''re stronger, they''re trying to leverage this advantage further by using the weakness of our universe against us." (me) "Yes, but that doesn''t change the fact that a large-scale battle in such an unstable area..." (Myu) "I can use my power to stabilize the space enough so that the damage is minimal, I haven''t done it until now waiting for this opportunity, I knew they would try this strategy sooner or later." (me) "This will be our best chance, so we need to aim at the right target." (me) "Do you think he''ll show up?" (Myu) "I don''t know, out of all of them, he was the only one who didn''t show himself." (me) "Only you noticed his presence, is he really that strong?" (Myu) "Yes, much stronger than me at least." (me) "Then wouldn''t it be better to avoid him if he shows up." (Myu) "Always aim for the head to kill an enemy, this applies both when fighting an individual and in a large-scale battle like this." (me) "If he shows up, I''ll deal with him myself." (me) "But you said..." (Myu) "I''ll use Exodus." (me) "No, you can''t! I won''t allow it!!!" (Myu) "Are you crazy!!!?" "What are we going to do if we lose you!?" "Please, Mom..." "We can''t do it without you." "If you do that, I''m going too!!!" "Me too!!" "I''m going with you!!" "SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH YOU IDIOTS!!!!" (me) "..." (everyone) "None of us have the power to face that thing, using Exodus is the best option we have and only I would be able to do it, you''d just throw yourselves into certain death for nothing." (me) "(To be honest, I don''t know if even using Exodus I would be able to kill that thing, but it would be the only chance.)" (me) Exodus, a technique that destroys the body and the Soul, merging everything into a single entity that transcends Divinity, taking possession of the Anomalous Power. My power will increase dozens of times, I will not feel pain and my emotions will be erased, I will have no mind or conscience in this state, everything will be controlled by my remaining Will, in this state I have already seen myself being half dead even before the battle, even so it is the best chance I have against that thing. "Get ready everyone, let''s go!" (me) "Wait, I have news!!!" "Pass it to me." (Myu) I saw one of the giants approach my oldest daughter, he was tiny in comparison and handed over a memory orb carrying Tarkon''s Aura, my daughter took it and swallowed it before turning her eyes to me. "Mom, it seems my brother managed to contact someone outside our Universe, a Dragon God named Akatosh." (Myu) "Maybe if we wait for him, we might have a chance." (Myu) "Any predictions of his arrival?" (me) "No..." (Myu) "Then let''s follow the initial plan, we can''t let this opportunity pass us by." (me) "Don''t worry, I don''t seek death, I won''t do anything without being sure." (me) "Now let''s go!" (me) Tarkon was always someone with his own ideas, he didn''t listen to anyone, but he was also someone brave, he was the only one who managed to devour one of those imitations like they step on us. He survived by a miracle, he managed to leave the universe some time ago, but he didn''t tell me anything, he just left a message before he died, that stinky brat. Still, it''s good to know that we''ll have reinforcements. I just wish they''d arrive quickly. Every day it becomes more uncertain how many of us will be injured and the chances of death increase. "(I wish I had another choice, Tarkon, but we don''t have time...)" (me) ---------------------- 2 days later. The battle didn''t go as I expected. I waited while they advanced, but he didn''t show up. He never shows up. But I don''t understand why. Even when someone from his family is captured or killed, not showing up at any time like that is insane. The only way I can think is that he can''t show up, but when I feel his presence, that seems like a stupid thought. I feel like he doesn''t want to show up. I can''t understand why, and I find myself thinking about their conspiracies to keep things this way when they could have ended this battle with fewer casualties a long time ago. The battlefield was a mess and more of them were gathering, we managed to seal 10 of them quickly and kill 4, they are few looking at it like this, but they are the largest numbers we have achieved in a single battle without me personally entering. But this small victory was irrelevant in the larger battle, they were gathering quickly and it wouldn''t be long before they were here in equal numbers, which would leave us at a disadvantage without me showing up. "(The universe is about to break in this entire area, it''s already at its limit, I can''t wait any longer.)" (me) "(It seems like it won''t be this time...)" (me) "< Divine Magic: Presence of the Dragon Matriarch >" (me) "< Foundation Flow >" (me) My power expands and my Aura expands my body as my Divinity merges with the universe taking the flow of this place all mine to command. With each pulse of my power, the cracks that were beginning to open closed, the cracks that were spreading fiercely now recede, decreasing at twice the speed, the space that was close to collapsing becomes firm once more. The battle stops, 7 portals appear with those damned creatures emerging and my people temporarily retreat to protect me while I finish stabilizing this region. Both sides have their attention locked on each other, the tension is more than palpable, the thirst for blood and the virtue of battle was incredible on both sides. Everyone was preparing to launch themselves once again into a bloody battle, this time I would participate and we would force that bastard to appear. BOOMMMM!!!! "WHO IN THE NAME OF THE GODS STRENGTHENED THE DIMENSIONAL MEMBRANE EXACTLY WHEN IT WAS ABOUT TO PASS!!!???" (Strange) "But what...!?" (me) "..." (Children) "..." (Anomalous Dragons) "..." (Strange) Cough Cough "It seems I''ve come at a bad time... so, if you''ll excuse me..." (Strange) When everyone was about to launch into battle once more, suddenly space broke into a single point so small that not even the tip of my claw could pass through, but something appeared from outside. A small Creature emanating a surprising power that reminded me of the origin of the universe as well as the Anomalous power of the enemies and many other powers, all mixed together in a confusing way and the most surprising thing was realizing that everything formed the presence of a single Dragon, not a grotesque imitation like our enemies, but a real Dragon. The small creature was humanoid with messy red hair, tattered clothes, broken wings and horns, blood covering its entire body while flames that seemed to overlap the stars of the universe emanated from its body. But what surprised me the most was that all the enemies turned their attention from us to him to the point of ignoring us. I even felt the presence of that bastard appear and attach himself to the intruder who seemed irritated until he looked where he was. Then he opened a portal and disappeared. Baammm! Baammm! Baammm! Baammm! Baammm! Baammm! Soon after, several knocks appeared carrying an empty Aura of boundless depths. Every space that stabilized was shaking, making it difficult to continue the battle. But strangely, we were not the first to move to retreat. The enemies opened portals running while emanating endless hunger. "But what was all that!?" (me) Chapter 1636: Cap 1634: Im not someone suspicious I was on standby, we had been there for a long time, and I had prepared a large number of traps, magical rituals, and other improvised things inside Tarzor. I was now in what was my first Star Palace inside the Dungeon before being assimilated into Tarzor along with Freya. Hades, Xagar, Nix, Magnus, Silvia, Samara, and Karina were by my side as we all looked at thousands of holographic screens revealing different things. "Everything seems to be in order, thank the Gods." (me) "Please stop thanking other Gods when you are a God, it gives me the creeps how wrong it seems." (Karina) "I''m just using a figure of speech, I can''t change such automatic habits." (me) "I think we should stop changing the subject, this is the 47th time I''ve warned you." (Magnus) "Sorry, this time it''s my fault." (Karina) "We have Divine Rune traps and Rituals powerful enough to erase entire continents when used separately or strong enough to erase planets when used in a chained manner." (Xagar) "That''s not counting the item you prepared." (Nix) "It was my first time creating something like this, Miss Niryna was a vital help." (Xagar) "It should be fine, at this point we have enough firepower to wipe out any opposition or at least open a safe retreat path." (Silvia) "The issue is our pursuers..." (me) "..." (everyone) With the movement of fingers, almost all the holographic screens disappear, only two remain, one that reveals our destination and the last one that shows a mass of energy that is advancing rapidly towards us. "I thought it was obvious that they would increase their speed, Creatures of the Abyss adapt, that''s what they do." (Nix) "These things shouldn''t even have a physical form outside of a universe, they don''t have the Power of Reality." (me) "Without a body, there''s nothing to adapt to, they don''t have a Soul." (me) "I can guarantee that, they don''t have a Soul, the same goes for the Generals of the Abyss." (Silvia) "But don''t forget that the Generals still have minds capable of reasoning, a conscience guided by the Abyss'' instinct to erase everything." (Silvia) "Look at these energy flows being manipulated, that''s what''s causing the increase in speed." (Silvia) "I appreciate the explanation, but it''s useless to know how he does it, escaping is the best way out." (me) "Tarzor, have you found a quick entry point yet?" (me) "(Yes, it''s right here.)" (Tarzor) The holographic screen showing the universe we''re heading to shakes and blinks as the image expands. The universe we were heading to looked like a storm from above, a swirling mass of clouds surrounded by lightning, or so I thought before I realized it wasn''t lightning I was seeing. As the image zoomed in on a specific area filled with lightning, I realized that it was actually cracks forming and closing over time. The image zoomed in millions of times until it revealed an area where the clouds seemed to be breaking apart like shards of glass. "(The universal membrane is weak at that point, it will be a quicker and easier entry.)" (Tarzor) "They won''t follow behind us?" (me) "(They certainly will, but we will already be in and the Abyss Generals won''t be able to get through.)" (Tarzor) "(Even if that part of the universe is unstable beyond belief, the universe as a whole seems to be fine for the most part, the rejection against something like the Abyss Generals will be very great.)" (Tarzor) "(Don''t be fooled by the cloud-like shape of this universe, the universal membrane is strong enough to withstand the strongest blow of your Sword.)" (Tarzor) I look at the universe again with a little more apprehension, this time I''m not convincing someone to open a door for me, I''m invading, the rejection of the universe alone will be a problem and invading it seems will not be so easy. While I was lost in thought, two figures appeared, two young women wearing veils with horns coming out of their heads, one dressed in black with purple lines and the other wearing white with red lines, on their backs Dragon tails coming out of their robes. "This universe seems strange... I see..." (Mavis) "It must be the same as that time, it seems to be going through a heavy ordeal." (Kalistos) "Anomalous creatures are always a trial." (Mavis) "Do you want to do something?" (Kalistos) "I haven''t decided yet, we need to consider, meeting our counterparts there should help us with that." (Mavis) "Yes, it seems like a solid plan." (Kalistos) "..." (me) "..." (Everyone) Just as they came, they left, ignoring everyone in the room, but their Auras were welcoming to everyone except me, it seems they still hold a grudge. Cough Cough "As I was saying, get everything ready and tell Adella to be ready." (me) "Are you really going to ignore them?" (Magnus) "This is better for my mental health, don''t worry, they are wiser and more intelligent than everyone here combined, I don''t need to worry about them or their plans." (me) "Let''s focus on what''s important now." (me) So we spent another 20 minutes going over everything before I actually prepared myself, then I left Tarzor''s head feeling the flow of his Reality Power protecting my body from the waves of raw energy. "You''ll only get one chance, so don''t stop halfway, they''ll catch up to you." (Tarzor) "How many hits can I take?" (me) "With luck, 1 hit, more than that and I can''t guarantee, the power of reality can be a protection, but it will never compare to having a universal membrane." (Tarzor) "Then let''s go..." (me) ---------------------- After that, it was one stumble after another while I was on the brink of death more than 3 times in a row In a few minutes, Tarzor threw me from his head while sinking into my shadow, it was then that the Power of Reality, the Anomalous Power and the Power of Chaos showed themselves, I advanced against the part of the universe that was breaking, it was right at that moment that suddenly the cracks closed and the fluctuations in the clouds stopped. Unfortunately, I had already been thrown, my concentrated power comes from the tips of one of my claws, when the moment of direct contact arrived I stopped in place. The bones of my fingers, arm and shoulder turned to dust, I felt like I was a chicken egg being thrown against a block of diamond, the difference was so great that it was laughable what I was doing. Even so, the Anomalous Power and the Power of Chaos, as always, work their magic, managing to show some effect. It was then that it appeared. I didn''t even understand what was happening when my body was brutally hit, which, incredibly, helped me advance further into the universe, which was similar to being thrown into the middle of a storm of blades with steel balls. When I finally emerged on the other side, thinking I could breathe a sigh of relief, the urge to scream because I finally understood what had happened hit me. BOOMMMM!!!! "WHO IN THE NAME OF THE GODS STRENGTHENED THE DIMENSIONAL MEMBRANE EXACTLY WHEN IT WAS GOING TO PASS!!!???" (me) My whole body was hurting, I was angry and had a great desire to vent, but the moment I screamed I realized that something was wrong, I felt many pairs of eyes fixed on me as well as many presences, two of these presences were very strong, one in particular was so chilling that I felt like I was facing the jaws of a lion. "It seems I arrived at a bad time... so, if you''ll excuse me..." (me) I ignored everyone and crushed the item in my teeth, I left it like that for quick and discreet activation, of course it didn''t make it comfortable at all, a portal formed next to me and I jumped into it without hesitation. I felt and saw where I was, between two armies, one of them made up of Anomalous Dragons and the other of just Dragons emanating pure Divine power. It was clear that I had appeared in the middle of a battlefield, so I ran without looking back, knowing that my pursuers would be coming after me without mercy. The portal I opened led to a world of shadows, but not just any world of shadows, but one linked to the shadow element of this universe, so I avoided entering the shadow of the Anomalous Dragons. When I opened my eyes, I was in the shadow of a Dragon surrounded by many others. This Dragon looked more like a beast, with a curved body and 4 legs like wolves, but with the head of a Dragon. It was also very large, to the point of carrying a ring of small comets spinning around its neck. He didn''t feel my presence, I was too small in terms of size and I wasn''t doing anything to take his shadow for myself or directly influence him, all I did was corrupt a small area where I settled until I got out of that dangerous place. In the end it took more than a whole day for them to separate, but the group of this Dragon had to be the most problematic, it was exactly the group where one of the 2 largest presences I felt before was, a Dragon as big as Akatosh and possibly of similar strength, I wouldn''t have a chance even in the best of conditions. Suddenly only the Dragon where I was hiding, a Dragon that looks more like a Giant human woman with Dragon features and exactly that powerful Dragon, we were all inside an open-air ruin in the middle of a mountain range. "Come on, get out of his shadow and tell me who it is before I break your skull?" "..." (me) "How long have you known?" (me) "From the beginning, my senses were strong enough for me to notice the fluctuations in the shadow of my son who was supposed to control the shadows." "That''s why I found it suspicious." "I assure you that I''m not suspicious..." (me) "(What a shitty day.)" (me) Chapter 1637: Cap 1635: Lolth I left the Shadow of the Dragon with dark powers wondering if I should return to my Dragon form since everyone around me was so big that I had to look up at the sky just to see them. The Dragon I was hiding in looked at me with boiling anger, from what I heard he had control over the shadows and yet I was hiding in his shadow without being noticed by him, this must have hurt his pride, which I can understand. The giant woman on the other hand, she looked at me curiously, I wasn''t even sure if she was really a pure Dragon, I''ve never met a Dragon with such a humanized appearance, but there is still the possibility that she is in some kind of transformation to maintain this appearance like I am doing now. What I found strange about this Dragon is that I noticed its presence from the moment I arrived and looked at the battlefield, this is because its humanized appearance clashes with all the others on that battlefield, it wouldn''t make sense for it to maintain such a deceptive appearance during that battle, which makes the possibility of this being its true appearance greater, even when it should be unlikely. As for the Dragon with the greatest power, she had an appearance completely similar to that of an Elf, her size only slightly taller than the giant woman from before, but unlike that giant woman, this Dragon assumed this appearance seconds before descending on this planet or her monumental size would have crushed this entire planet. This Dragon strangely chose a form very similar to that of the White Elves, her long ears, strange black hair for an elf to have falling like a waterfall down her back, green eyes that shine like jewels, one of the most beautiful pairs of eyes I have ever seen in my life. Her healthy horns are almost transcribed between an illusion and an Aura on her head, her clothes seem light with pieces of thin fabric wrapping around the important parts of her body while her face was covered by a veil below her eyes. Her appearance was beautiful, truly on par with the appearance of my mother and the Goddess of the Fairies, this speaks volumes about how beautiful she looks even without revealing her entire face. Being in the situation I''m in, catching myself thinking about these things didn''t help me calm down much, the three of them were looking at me as if they were waiting for my introduction or demanding one to be more precise. The Elf-looking Dragon had an immense presence that could only be compared to Akatosh, her presence was one of the first I noticed and was second in threat level according to my instincts, so I don''t want to make an enemy of her. "I am Zenos, a Dragon God from another universe, nice to meet you." (me) "Why did you hide in my son''s shadow?" (Elf Dragon?) "I wasn''t choosing much, I hid in the first place I saw was suitable, I couldn''t stay exactly where I was with so many eyes on me." (me) "Why do the Anomalous Dragons know you?" (Elf Dragon?) "That''s a good question, but it''ll be left for later, how about we all talk in a more comfortable way?" (me) "You think you have the right to make choices..." (Elf Dragon?) "Before you continue down a strange line of thought, let me correct you." (me) "I''m not your enemy and from the Anomalous Dragons'' reaction it was clear even to you that we are not allies, in fact they are my enemies too." (me) "Treating me as an enemy does not bring you any benefit and as much as I understand the fact that I seem suspicious the way I appeared, I don''t like how you are treating this as an interrogation when I have done nothing against you." (me) "..." (Elf Dragon?) The Dragon with the appearance of an Elf let me speak and I felt its Aura trying to see through my Aura, which should have been easy due to the difference in power between the two of us, but my Aura was much stronger than my true power due to everything I''ve been through and the different powers that make me up. It can even contain my Aura, but it''s still far from being able to see through it. She let me speak and stopped the giant woman from saying anything else when her eyes became serious. The Dragon that occupied the shadow seemed to be waiting for an excuse to attack. Unfortunately for him, his power was close to mine and his specialty was inferior to mine. Even if he attacked with all his power, he still wouldn''t be a match for me. I can''t say the same about the other two, especially the one with the appearance of an Elf. She looked at me as if I were a fish on a cutting board, her gaze varying between whether she should hit me or consider what I said. Regardless of her decision, I was already prepared to run away once more if necessary. The universe had been rejecting me since I arrived. If I tried to create a Territory here or even open a Divine Realm, then the opposite and certainly more aggressive reaction of the universe would push everyone away from me while throwing them far away. Any injuries from this would be bearable and would not take many days to heal. Fortunately, the one with the Elf appearance seemed to have made a more favorable and rational decision. Her Aura became less intrusive and her presence less aggressive as she looked at me. She then momentarily turned her eyes to the other two, giving orders. "Myu, you stay with me, my daughter. As for you, my son, join your brothers and calm your emotions." (Elf Dragon?) "Are you sure you''re going to treat this intruder this way?" "Don''t be fooled by his anger. No matter how suspicious the time and place he appeared may be, the fact that he is a Dragon says a lot about his relations with the enemy. In fact, there was nothing done against us other than an attempt to hide." (Elf Dragon?) "Listen to our mother, go for now and warn the others to keep an eye out." (Myu) "Do as you wish." The Dragon with the appearance more like a beast looks at me with disgust before turning his back and running through the sky, going far away among the clouds. After he left I looked at the other two, but I must say that I found the giant woman''s name at least strange, Myu is a cute name for someone with such an epic appearance, it''s funny how much her name clashes with her appearance. "What should we do, mother?" (Myu) "First talk..." (Elf Dragon?) The two of them turned their eyes to me before the Elf-looking woman seemed to realize something. "That''s not your true form, is it?" (Elf Dragon?) "Yes, as you may have noticed, I''m a Dragon, but I usually use this appearance for convenience." (me) "How about this conversation be done in your true form? Sorry for not doing the same, but my body might be inconvenient in this situation." (Elf Dragon?) "Your body isn''t too big, is it?" (Myu) "Above average if you count it among Dragons, it won''t be a hindrance to this place." (me) I back away a little as my body changes, my body being engulfed by Stellar Flames as my legs and tail merge into one long tail, my wings open, my torso and arms become wider, my size grows as my head changes shape. This time I controlled my body so as not to reach its maximum height, so it only reached a few hundred kilometers in height, thus becoming in a similar attack to the two women who looked at me as if assessing my power through my body. That had been a smart move, Dragons are pure power, their appearances reflect their power, at least for most of them, my appearance would become beyond grotesque if it were to reflect everything I am. "I think it''s best to start with our introduction, I''m Myu as you may have heard." (Myu) "I''m the Divine Dragon of Strength and Wisdom." (Myu) "I''m my Mother''s right hand man and so I need to warn you that any disrespect will not be tolerated." (Myu) "Nice to meet you, Miss Myu." (me) "Just my name is enough, I don''t like formalities." (Myu) Myu''s introduction was very direct, without hiding anything, she not only reveals her name, but also reveals her identity as a Goddess and her position as second in command. Shortly after, her eyes, like mine, turn to the one with the appearance of an Elf. "I''m the Dragon Matriarch, Lolth... Divine Dragon of Origin." (Lolth) "Nice to meet you, Lolth." (me) "As I said before, my name is Zenos, Unholy Dragon God of the Blood Eclipse." (me) We all introduced ourselves respectfully this time, and as expected among Dragons, our introduction also featured a clash of Auras, not as aggressive as a battle and more like a strong handshake. When my Aura collided with Myu''s, I could feel the density and strength of her Aura as well as a deep calm, but when I came to collide my Aura with Lolth, I felt many different powers intertwining with me, among them the Anomalous Power. Chapter 1638: Cap 1636: A mutually beneficial agreement Now I was facing a big problem, we had been discussing the problem at hand for a day now, the Anomalous Dragons. We shared information, I talked about what I knew about them, about their true bodies being the armor they wear, about their small-scale universes inside their bodies and even about their power of reality. Most of this information was already known to them, but their weakness was a piece of information that Lolth found interesting, not about the more obvious weakness of their Anomalous Cores, the weakness they have is something equally obvious to all living creatures and yet constantly left aside. That was how I defeated my first Anomalous Dragon and how I became known among them all, devouring their bodies whole. But until then I had not spoken about the nests, that was a trump card for me to use in a proper negotiation and not in an exchange of information. Apart from the things I talked to her about, I also found out about the situation in her universe, the progress of the war, the casualties on her side, the approximate number of enemies, but she was also not clear about their possible bases or their attack routes. ------------------ "I think I proved I''m not an enemy." (me) "Yes, from what you said, there must still be more Dragons on their way here led by this Akatosh guy." (Lolth) "Mother, they must be the ones Tarkon spoke of." (Myu) "More likely yes, your timing is also good." (Lolth) "Who is Tarkon?" (me) The two briefly talk about the Dragon who was the only one in this universe who could travel using the Power of Reality, how he went to seek help and how he died in an ambush on his return. Finding this out made me realize that I never questioned where Akatosh had gotten this information from, I heard that it was a negotiation with Callidora, but that must be only part of the truth or this Dragon found an agent of Callidora who only passed the information on to Akatosh later. "I don''t care about your origins, I''m happy to know that other Dragons come to our aid, but I still need to know... why help us?" (Lolth) "This is not the kind of enemy to fight against just out of good will, there must be something you want, so why not be clear about it?" (Lolth) "I won''t deny that there is something I want, but before I speak I must point out that I have something to offer as well." (me) "You hid information." (Lolth) "Just like you, but even with my information you wouldn''t have the ability to carry out my plan." (me) "Mother..." (Myu) "I know, my daughter... let''s hear it first." (Lolth) The suspicious eyes and the change in posture of the two were already expected, the way I spoke now made it clear that I do not expect them to agree to my terms since I pointed out so strongly before that there is a compensation for such terms, having them prepared to hear something they will not like is better than taking them by surprise later, I hope. "I will not beat around the bush too much and I will try to be clear, so I apologize in advance if what I am going to say will offend you." (me) "Don''t waste our time, just say it." (Myu) "Very well, what I want is all the Anomalous Dragons... alive." (me) "!!!" (Lolth) "I will...!!!" (Myu) "(I knew it...)" (me) As expected, Lolth suddenly released all her Aura and power to the point of making the space around us vibrate as if the mountains were cracking. Her eyes fixed on me had a strong murderous intent and yet she did not move to attack, only her presence being like a monster opening its jaws in my direction. Her daughter, on the other hand, was already coming towards me. We were close to start and with her taking two steps forward, leaning her body in the water, it was enough to get to me. I, on the other hand, did not attack. I did not want to attack and hoped I wouldn''t have to. I also did not want to do anything that could make the next part more difficult, making them accept my proposal. "(Tarzor.)" (me) "(Your plans are horrible as always.)" (Tarzor) The Anomalous power was around me along with my Divinity, this was enough to resist the pressure of Lolth''s presence who was rightly enraged by what I said. But her daughter attacking was another story, she was as strong as me, I would have to give everything I had to defend her attacks and I would not pass without injuries on both sides. That''s why I did everything I could to prevent this scenario, in my shadow Tarzor opened his eyes focusing his attention on Myu, at that same moment Lolth moved, she became a blur to my senses already appearing next to her daughter with a hand on her shoulder that seemed to have paralyzed her in place while her eyes were focused on my shadow. "Mother...?" (Myu) "Calm down, let''s let him finish talking and I hope to hear a satisfactory explanation or whatever he''s hiding won''t be enough to protect his life." (Lolth) "I know you lost many Dragons in this battle and you must hate the Anomalous Dragons, what I said wasn''t meant to offend even if that''s exactly what I did." (me) "Be direct, I don''t care about your excuses, so say what you need to before I decide to make a move myself." (Lolth) "(I like her.)" (Tarzor) "..." (me) "You have Anomalous power, so you must know about Anomalous Creatures, right?" (me) "I''m aware of the creatures that distort the natural order being more than just the Anomalous Dragons." (Lolth) "Have you heard of the Ascendants?" (me) "No, but is it for them that you want to keep the Anomalous Dragons?" (Lolth) "In a way, yes, they are my enemies just like the Anomalous Dragons, but more dangerous." (me) "The Anomalous Dragons attack Dragons, they don''t care about Gods, worlds, people or the Universe itself, they are selfish and cruel hunters." (me) "Whether a universe will remain stable or not after hunting each Dragon doesn''t matter to them, they simply leave after that." (me) "The Ascendants are conquerors, they invade universes, kill and steal everything they want, distort the entire universe to their own molds leading to a path of stagnation and future destruction." (me) "They are much larger in number than the Anomalous Dragons, they are authoritarian and cunning, they like to employ the most diverse plans to achieve their goals and they do not care about what they will sacrifice for it." (me) "No matter how much you understand and believe or not in what you say, what do the Anomalous Dragons have to do with these Ascendants?" (Lolth) "I will use the Anomalous Dragons to end all the Ascendants, until then there will be neither of them left after this." (me) "You have a plan, but all I''ve heard are shallow words." (Lolth) "And that''s all you''ll hear. I don''t trust you to tell me my plans, and you won''t be included in those plans anyway." (me) "Then why should I believe anything you say?" (Lolth) "Because regardless of whether the Anomalous Dragons are alive or not, what matters to you is that they''re permanently out of your universe." (me) "..." (Lolth) "Don''t listen to him, Mother... he''s not strong enough to do what he says." (Myu) "Child, power doesn''t just translate into strength, and your mother understands that." (Tarzor) "Who said that!?" (Myu) "How should I address you, and what are you doing with this child?" (Lolth) "I am Tarzor, we can say that I am Zenos'' inseparable companion." (Tarzor) "Why did you show yourself?" (me) "Because her eyes were bothering me, anyway you need to reveal a little bit of yourself so as not to be underestimated." (Tarzor) Tarzor stood up from my shadow, his Dragon head the size of my entire body, he looks at Lolth who stares at him without looking away, Myu on the other hand puts herself on guard against the enemy she had not realized was present. "You are not an Anomalous Creature, you are in the Anomalous Entity category, this power... this presence... a universe... a living universe, am I right?" (Lolth) "Your claim to be linked to the boy and your ability to maintain a universe within your shadow, a Primordial God, am I correct?" (Lolth) "Yes, I''ll get it right." (me) "An incredible ability indeed... I won''t deny that... very well." (Lolth) Suddenly a hand that seemed to encompass the entire planet grabbed my throat and I felt like it was going to crush me, which wouldn''t work to kill me, I kept calm and looked at the one holding me, Lolth. "You didn''t think I would agree like that, did you?" (Lolth) "I had hope, I honestly thought my arguments were very good if it''s not too presumptuous to say so." (me) "I want to see my Universe safe and end this war, I''m sure you and your friend Akatosh who hasn''t arrived yet can help, but asking a mother to accept not to bring justice against those who killed so many of my children... you don''t understand the immensity of my fury." (Lolth) "I won''t accept your terms as they are, I want a guarantee, an eternal guarantee." (Lolth) I disappear from her hand, appearing behind her, and she turns to look at me. Short-distance teleportation may not work in this place, but I can move through the terrain taken over by my shadow, so I had to be prepared to escape at the very least. "I know you can run away fast, but you want the Anomalous Dragons, and without my help it will be difficult." (Lolth) "What do you want?" (me) Chapter 1639: Cap 1637: Akatosh arrives at the worst time Pov ??? (???): I was looking beyond the flow of this universe trying to find traces of the power of Chaos, something so unique in this universe cannot stay hidden for long, sooner or later it will cause a strange energy fluctuation, its capabilities are not suitable to remain inert. "(I didn''t expect him to appear here, but if he did, then that Dragon God must also be here... interesting...)" (me) I couldn''t help but salivate in Kinshasa''s jaws, Akatosh is a complete meal, a Dragon older than me and with multi-elemental power, not to mention that he possesses the power of Reality on his own somehow. "Akatosh... no, I mustn''t get distracted, even if he is delicious I must focus on Zenos, his potential danger is greater." (me) Not just about his threat, he might be an alternative to the keys, if I find him all this waiting and caution might finally come to an end. "You have become careless, Arsan." (Luci) "Luci... why did you come back?" (me) "I was nearby and decided to stop by to see you." (Luci) "Don''t lie to me, you''ve been trying to destroy us for a long time." (me) "I want to save you, our children and... him." (Luci) "Your salvation would kill everyone and you know it, we knew the consequences and we kept going, why can''t you keep going?" (me) "I won''t give up, there must be another way, if I found an alternative, and so can you..." (Luci) "It''s been a long time since I accepted who I am while you denied it, there''s no point in fighting our nature, you and I were predators before just as we still are now, no matter how much you try to deny it." (me) "Arsan... you found another key, didn''t you?" (Luci) "I will free him, I promised you that day." (me) "If he''s still himself, you mean?" (Luci) "Did you come just to annoy me? Then you can go away!" (me) "I haven''t given up yet, Arsan... I know that no matter how much you talk about acceptance, you haven''t given up either." (Luci) Just as she appeared as just an eye opening in space, the same eye closed, disappearing without warning or trace, she was gone again, looking into the distance using the Power of Reality I could see her moving away from the universe, her body even more different than before. Sigh "In life you can''t change someone''s nature, there is no path to salvation for us... we''ve already passed the point where we''re able to return." (me) "" (me) I stretched out my claws, feeling the resistance of the universe pressing against me. The energies within my claws boil as they come out of my body, but my armor becomes more compact, pressing everything together as I close my claws in one of the many natural energy flows of this universe. After that, I just had to expand my senses. I can ignore the resistance and attacks against me. At most, they will be insignificant injuries to my Soul, nothing that matters much and I also don''t need much time. In seconds, I find the energy fluctuation I was looking for, traces of changing energy, greater concentration and a difference in the flow, all coming from the same direction. "I found you..." (me) ----------------- Pov Zenos: "What do you want?" (me) I look at Lolth, she doesn''t move to attack me again, I actually think she never wanted to attack me, it was a threat from the beginning to increase the chances of me accepting her terms. "(If this is true, then she''s been planning for a long time, maybe ever since she called me out of that Dragon''s shadow I was already being pulled in certain directions.)" (me) "(If she sensed me from the beginning, then Tarzor would have been noticed too, but she wasn''t even surprised earlier when he opened his eyes in my shadow or when he spoke.)" (me) Maybe I''m overthinking things or I might be right, but regardless of what I think it still won''t hurt to listen to her. "I want Tarzor, I want you to create a path between this universe and him." (Lolth) "No, do you have anything else to say?" (me) "What I ask for is not possession of your mate, I know well that the two of you cannot be separated." (Lolth) "I just want an escape route for my children, I don''t want other Entities or Anomalous Creatures to appear in the future, I want to at least guarantee a safe place." (Lolth) "(Pretend you''re accepting, we can get something by playing alongside her, at least for now.)" (Tarzor) "Let''s just say that I..." (me) "I found you!" "Damn it!" (me) "ENEMY ATTACK!!!!" (Lolth) "< Divine Magic: Ancestral Dragon Wall >" (Myu) Suddenly a rift opens in the sky, actually outside the planet''s orbit, this rift was made of two pairs of claws, one of them horribly injured forcing the space to open as if it were a curtain. A large number of Anomalous Dragons were emerging and as if in response to this, a large number of Dragons were flying from afar to join us. The enemies didn''t wait for the rest of their numbers to pass by, they attacked as soon as they left and all of them were focused on me, I knew they could come after me, I just didn''t expect them to be this fast and aggressive. Even so, my vision was focused on the opening that was already closing, that''s when I saw that eye fixed in my direction, it was scary. "That''s a big ton of shit delivered to my doorstep." (me) "Get out!" (me) My shadow lifts revealing a jaw that opens letting several silhouettes fly out at full speed, one of the silhouettes grew immensely while a red blur surrounded it as it advanced against the enemies. "I''m going to destroy you all! HAHAHA!!" (Adella) "Xagar, come with me!" (Hades) "Right behind!" (Xagar) "I''ll take care of the right side!" (Silvia) "I''ll help you!" (Nix) "I''ll take the left side!" (Magnus) Everyone left, already joining the battle, Freya let them see what was happening outside so they would be prepared when things inevitably went wrong, I never thought it would happen so quickly. My wings beat with me going along to the fight, I could escape now, but if they found me here, then they must have a way to track my presence, going to Jorge del Drago?es of this universe would be even more dangerous, so it''s better to fight alongside them here. Hundreds of Dragons were fighting and more were arriving every minute, strangely the situation was balanced, much more balanced than it should be and my instincts were screaming at me. "< Star Magic: Reverse Flow Seal >" (Freya) "Ghuh!" "Aahh!!" "Finish him off!" Suddenly, 7 branches and roots came out of my shadow, destroying the space while endless Runes shone on its surface. That''s when 7 Anomalous Dragons appeared where the attacks were directed. 4 of them were pierced by the branches and roots with the Runes flooding their bodies, but 3 managed to escape and continue their attack. "< Unholy Breath >" (me) "< Space Claw >" "< Burning Crush >" My attack was deflected with one of their claws while two others continued towards me with blue flames shining on their claws. It was at that moment that Myu appeared behind them. In her hand, a large, crude sword with a square tip descended, throwing the two Anomalous Dragons away while she advanced on the third. Meanwhile, Freya was already taking those other two to my shadow, dragging them until they were no longer seen. "They set a trap, there''s more than they''re letting on, this isn''t good." (me) "< Divine Unholy Magic: Corrupt Wave >" (me) I mix my power of Chaos and Anomalous creating the image of an Eclipse between my claws from where waves of black light spread across the battlefield, where Auras rise up fighting against the corruption that would have affected them if they did nothing, thanks to this more than 80 Auras that seemed to come from nowhere rise up revealing the hidden enemies for all to see. "This isn''t going to be good, we''re outnumbered." (me) One of these Auras was very strong and when it revealed itself it didn''t worry about anything else as it advanced straight towards me, it was at that moment that Lolth made her move appearing behind him in a sneak attack. But she didn''t have time to attack, an Aura that seemed to be even stronger than her appeared from afar bringing with it what seemed to be a breath attack that cut through space, the barrier around the world, seriously injured 4 Dragons and sent Lolth flying away. As if waiting for this to happen, the Dragon that had been Lolth''s target didn''t hesitate for a second as it still attacked me, its body growing while its claws opened like a flower releasing the energy from within its body in an explosion shattering my bones against the planet below making a crater the size of a continent below me. At that moment the disc I carried with me vibrated followed by the appearance of many Dragons emerging from the space torn apart by the previous breath attack. The one in the lead came straight at me, its size too large for this planet, but its claw moved quickly reaching my previous attacker, that was Akatosh. Chapter 1640: Cap 1638: Lets have a serious talk I can''t even describe the confusion that arose from this battle, it was a three-sided battle where the majority was attacking only one side while this one focused on a few individuals. The Dragons on Lolth''s side didn''t trust me or Akatosh, even less those on our side and so they didn''t fight alongside us, fortunately they didn''t attack us either, the two sides fought separately against the Anomalous Dragons. It was a general confusion, Lolth had disappeared somewhere and Akatosh was in his true Dragon form fighting off-planet, his enemy seemed to want to escape from him to come towards me at all times, the same behavior is seen in many other Anomalous Dragons. The battle was chaotic and confusing, there was no strategy or preparation on either side, the Anomalous Dragons just launched a quick attack that led to a reaction from Lolth''s Dragons as well as the surprise appearance of Akatosh. The battle was becoming insanely intense, but it wasn''t going well and I knew the reason, space wasn''t returning to normal with the spatial rift caused by that ridiculously strong breath attack. As soon as I saw this I knew that the Creatures of the Abyss would appear sooner or later launching an attack against everyone here and I wasn''t sure if there would be any Generals of the Abyss present since two of them followed me to this universe. "(Tarzor, can you get us out of here?)" (me) "(No, this universe is going to press against me.)" (Tarzor) "Damn it!" (me) "< Divine Summon: Eclipse Sword >" (me) My sword appears breaking the space with my Divine Weapon already incorporated, holding the hilt I advance against two Anomalous Dragons coming towards me. "< Freezing Star Claw >" "< Mountain Crushing Fist >" The two Anomalous Dragons had animalistic appearances, one of them looked like a lion with a Dragon''s head and wings made of metal, the mane around its neck was made of blue energy lines. The second looked like a kind of half-humanoid bear with 4 large arms with three fingers each, its armor seemed especially thick, its arms pulsed with condensed energy inside them and I could feel a power of gravity around its fists. The two came towards me, getting rid of their pursuers and they weren''t the only ones, just the ones closest to me. With the sword in my hands I advanced towards them, knowing that they wouldn''t be intercepted by anyone else. "< 1st Stellar Sword Art: World Consumer >" (me) My sword grows longer, growing teeth pointing towards the middle of the sword blade where the stars are obscured by darkness with the stars looking more like the eyes of predators lurking in the shadows to attack, my Chaotic Devourer skill being used on the sword was the first technique created by me and the easiest for me to use for long periods of time, a sword that will destroy everything it cuts, the best weapon against the Anomalous Dragons. With the sword in hand I twist my body escaping to the side of the enemy with gravity powers, I use my tail on the wrist of the second enemy while my sword traces a cut on one of the 4 arms of the first enemy, his armor may be strong, but the energy pulsing inside the armor was not difficult to pierce, his arm becoming thinner with his power being sucked from within them. "< Universal Expansion: Stellar Gravity >" "I won''t let it!" (me) "< Divine Profane Magic: Collapse of Universal Reality >" (me) I use the Power of Reality that I possess because of Tarzor along with my Anomalous power and the power of Chaos spreading in all directions, the power of reality collides with the power of this universe making the pressure of the universe against me much worse at the same time that it causes a crack in the armor of the Anomalous Dragon that suffered a reverse reaction when it could not expand the Universal fragment inside its body. But while I was busy with this enemy, the other one came around thinking about me from behind, its teeth sink into my flesh and stick to my spine. "< Curse of Unholy Blood >" (me) The blood that leaks from my wound becomes claws that go down the enemy''s throat reaching its core more easily. "What are you...!!" "< Unholy Blood Seal >" (me) "< Gravitational Compression >" Before he could get away from me, my blood inside his body had already taken over his core while crystallizing around it with Balanced Runes igniting in Starfire, sealing the core completely while the Unholy Power expands the seals throughout the rest of his body. Without time to enjoy the victory, the Anomalous Gravity Dragon that now has one of its arms hanging opens its 3 arms creating three gravitational forces around me, increasing the pressure immensely as if it was trying to crush me. "< Blade of Divine Blood >" (Adella) At that moment Adella appeared from somewhere in her Blood Dragon Form, the blood flows from her body to one of her arms forming a large red blade that she uses to cut off 2 arms of this Anomalous Dragon. Without wasting time, I use my sword to pierce exactly that detriment, sticking half of the sword inside him, his power being quickly sucked, he tries to use the arm he has left to strike my sword away, but at that moment Adella arrives cutting off his only good arm and in seconds his body becomes inert with me removing the blade before he dies. "Freya!" (me) "(I''ll take care of them...)" (Freya) A pair of branches emerge from my shadow pulling the sealed Dragon and the other weakened one into my shadow where they were taken inside Tarzor where they will be harshly sealed together with the other Anomalous Dragons already inside. "What are we going to do?" (me) "What else? Keep fighting..." (Adella) As if going against Adella''s words, an Aura flooded the entire place and rifts appeared everywhere sucking in the Anomalous Dragons that couldn''t resist being pulled inside, the rifts closing right behind them after they passed. As if time had been timed, a strange and bizarre presence emerged from the great rift in the sky, a presence I know well when a flood of Creatures of the Abyss appeared like a waterfall as well as a colossal arm trying to widen the Rift further to pass through. "Damn!!!" (me) "Don''t worry, we actually got lucky." (Adella) Adella pointed in a direction and I saw Akatosh as well as another Dragon of similar size heading for the Rift, the two working together to strike the Rift before this other Dragon closed the Rift with a magic circle that pushed the colossal arm back into the rift. The other Dragons, who were freer now that the enemies had retreated, began to destroy the Creatures of the Abyss that had emerged from the rift. After a little over 15 minutes, there were no more Creatures of the Abyss in sight anywhere, and the Anomalous Dragons had not returned either. But there was no way for everyone to stay here. This planet was in chaos, devastated everywhere, and space was still unstable with the Rift closed, but not completely repaired. Akatosh seemed to have exchanged brief words with Lolth as the two returned to their humanoid forms, and with the two leading the way, all the Dragons in the area, including my group, followed them elsewhere. The Dragons of this universe open several teleportation portals taking everyone to another place, so Akatosh, Lolth and I gather in a place that seems to be a devastated city, but this city seems to have been destroyed centuries ago leaving only ruins behind. The three of us could be alone to talk, but there were Dragons patrolling this time, it was possible to see the silhouette of Dragons flying out of orbit of this planet and there were also Dragons flying through the skies or running on land further away, it seems that now they want to maintain tighter security in preparation for another sudden attack. "They''ve never attacked like this before, what happened there?" (Lolth) "They clearly wanted me, I know they hate me, but I also didn''t expect something so drastic." (me) "I had already arrived a few hours ago, I was looking for a way to enter the universe when that crack formed and I took the opportunity to pass through." (Akatosh) "You arrived at the perfect time." (me) "That rift was planned, they clearly wanted to use the Creatures of the Abyss to pressure us, but they didn''t foresee that you were nearby." (Lolth) "But now we must have a conversation, about your presence here and about what will happen from now on." (Lolth) "I will not be against your help, which will clearly be very useful, your numbers and strength alone are a valuable help, but that doesn''t mean I will accept your presence here and do what you want." (Lolth) "I assure you that we are here only for the Anomalous Dragons, after taking care of them we will leave." (Akatosh) "Yes, we are not your enemies." (me) "So let''s make things clear from now on..." (Lolth) With that, a long conversation began, this time there were no more schemes on either side, Akatosh and I talked about the two universes we had been to recently, I talked about the nests and Lolth talked about the attempted agreement she made with me. This was the moment for everyone to reach a common agreement on several things, unfortunately there was no way to avoid doubts on their side since they didn''t know us and that''s why they wanted guarantees. Chapter 1641: Cap 1639: Unique chance Pov Davoth: I was letting my mother sleep, staying in this universe is getting a little too tiring for her, but we have to hold on a little longer. I run my fingers through her hair, her smile widens before I place my hand on her head. Runes rise behind my hand before helping by passing through my hand before entering my mother''s body. "< Seal of ten Universal Abilities >" (me) The power of Reality ripples around her creating 10 light ripples of a few centimeters around her, then I feel her muscles relax a little and her posture become looser as she sleeps. "You''ll use up all your power like this." (Kalistos) "I don''t care, I''ve lost a mother before, I don''t want to lose another one." (me) I turn to face Kalistos, as always his preference for the color black and his desire to hide his face just like his sister does. "Why are you here?" (me) "I need your help." (Kalistos) "..." (me) "What happened and how serious is it?" (me) Kalistos never asks for help and if he were to ask for it he would use his devotees from this universe or even ask other Gods for help. His choice to come to me shows that this help leads to matters outside this universe where the number of individuals from this universe who can interfere decreases the average emigrant to just a few. "I need you to go to Prague, help maintain control of the power by corrupting him before he loses his mind." (Kalistos) "Wasn''t this the entity that Callidora targeted last time and took Zenos as her agent?" (me) "Yes and mistakenly Zenos used the power of his Familiar in a strange way, the power went out of control affecting half of Prague''s body so far." (Kalistos) "How can I help?" (me) "I need you to use the Double Seal of the Infinite Cycle." (Kalistos) "Do you know what you''re asking?" (me) "You don''t have to act like this, in your current condition it won''t cost you anything other than to tire you out for a few weeks." (Kalistos) "Name your price and make it fair for the task." (Kalistos) "..." (me) This is a good opportunity, but I don''t know how to make the best use of such an opportunity at the moment, there are many things I need, but they all have to do with Zenos'' Chaos power, there is little I need from Death. "(Maybe I can use this in another way.)" (me) "I''ll need something, I want the Mirror of Sin, one of the copies, I don''t need and wouldn''t dare use the original." (me) "Who are you trying to contact?" (Kalistos) "My agents within the Ascended, the Mirror will be a better option than the alternative I thought of." (me) "We have a deal, I''ll bring the mirror when I''m done with the job." (Kalistos) "I''ll need you to take me there, I don''t know where he is or if he''ll let me act instead of destroying my body." (me) "Fair point, very well, let''s go." (Kalistos) I look at my mother, then point a finger at her head leaving a goodbye message, so she won''t worry when she doesn''t find me when she wakes up. "Let''s go." (me) --------------------- Pov Lolth (Divine Dragon Matriarch): I was alone in the snow when Myu came down from the clouds to stand beside me, in her hands she had a crystal with blood sealed inside. "Was it hard to find?" (me) "No, it was easy to find, the hard part was capturing it, this thing is alive." (Myu) I look at the crystal, the blood was indeed moving inside as if trying to get out, but I don''t feel any traces of a consciousness or Soul inside, there is only Vitality that even now is slowly fading along with traces of various powers. "Interesting, the Anomalous power is highly compatible with it to influence even its blood spilled in battle in this state." (me) "And what''s the problem with that?" (Myu) "Actually, what is Anomalous power?" (Myu) "An anomalous power is a deviant form of power that is found in two different opposing states. It does not exist essentially, but exists in several individuals, being a rare power that is acquired under extreme circumstances." (me) "This is the power that the Anomalous Dragons use and also a form of power that I acquired a long time ago." (me) "So this Zenos guy also has this rare power?" (Myu) "Yes." (me) "Does him having high compatibility with this power make him stronger?" (Myu) "No, but it opens up more possibilities. What I really can''t understand is how he can be compatible with this power?" (me) "This is not the kind of power that becomes compatible with anything. I am not compatible with this power. The Anomalous Dragons are not compatible with this power. No one and nothing should be compatible with this kind of power." (me) "(I felt something strange about him since the first time I saw him in the middle of the battlefield, but this is another level of strangeness... who is this Zenos?)" (me) I suddenly realized that anyone marked as an enemy of the Anomalous Dragons cannot be normal. The way the Anomalous Dragons have been acting is completely outside my expectations, they who normally act calmly and love to create traps, are now acting in a hasty manner and starting confrontations within enemy territory, that was a poorly planned and desperate attack. Clearly Zenos is important to them, this level of importance should not be just because he is interested in an enemy. "How are the preparations?" (me) "I have already sent the Dragons with stronger spatial powers, they should report in a few days when they find this nest." (Myu) "Good to know, where are Zenos and Akatosh?" (me) "They are where you gave them permission to settle." (Myu) "There hasn''t been any movement on their side?" (me) "Not that I know of." (Myu) "I see, you can go now." (me) I see my daughter spread her wings and fly back into the sky, then I turn my eyes to the side, thousands of kilometers in that direction are the ruins where our visitors are staying. "(He can''t just be talking, are they planning something in secret?)" (me) "I have to see for myself." (me) ------------------- Pov Zenos: "Like I said, I''m going to need all the help I can get for this to work." (me) "Your plan is insane, I''m not even sure we have the strength to kill them all and you want to take them alive?" (Akatosh) "But it will have to be this plan, you felt that presence too, didn''t you?" (me) "He was stronger than me, in a fight, I wouldn''t know who would win at my peak, but here outside of our universe, I don''t have the same power." (Akatosh) "We don''t need a direct fight, you and Lolth plan combats, but I''m thinking of a trick, a way to win before even fighting." (me) "Defeating the Anomalous Dragons is only part of our problems, the Ascendants will be the real enemy and if the Anomalous Dragons already have that power, then the Ascendants who are also their enemies shouldn''t be far behind." (me) "But how are you going to do that, you can''t be everywhere at the same time." (Akatosh) "That will depend on the number of nests that are found." (me) "If it''s just one big nest, the plan will take longer and there will be a greater risk of them noticing." (me) "But if there are more nests, then depending on the number of them, we''ll have to choose our targets carefully..." (me) Suddenly I feel a presence with Akatosh seeming to have noticed at the same time, our eyes turn to a direction from where a giant Elf woman flies with Dragon wings towards us. "She''s trustworthy, but her distrust of us could be a hindrance." (Akatosh) "I know, but I hope she follows the plan, we can solve this today, in any case I''ll still need her for the final part of the plan." (me) "We''ll only have 1 chance, I don''t want there to be any failures." (me) At that moment she reaches where we are and seeing our small size in relation to herself, she shrinks her body with some difficulty before walking towards us, her steps still making the ground give way beneath her feet. "I hope I haven''t missed anything from our plans." (Lolth) "You haven''t missed anything, I was discussing what will happen during the plan and after we leave this universe." (me) "I would appreciate it if you would accept our previous agreement, I still hope it will open a window of salvation for me and my children." (Lolth) She seems genuinely worried about suffering another attack when the Anomalous Dragons leave her universe, I can''t blame them, considering the Ascendants it wouldn''t be surprising if they tried to conquer a universe that was weakened by the Anomalous Dragons'' attacks. I also spoke with Freya and Tarzor, they both don''t seem to care, but they still don''t seem to know what Lolth intends to do to create this connection. "I accept, but first I want to be sure about what you plan to do?" (me) "Become a Goddess of your Universe and create a Sacred Ground where the Pantheon can be established as well as take a few thousand people as immigrants to your universe to establish the religion in the region." (Lolth) "(This may work, but it will not be enough, it needs a stronger link, an anchor that can maintain this connection even across entire universes of difference.)" (Tarzor) Chapter 1642: Cap 1640: Why is he here? Pov Kira: I was running through a large city on a small planet, its entire population transforming with metal plates emerging from inside their bodies, replacing their flesh with this armor. There were many metal monsters, they all look like Knights after finishing their transformation, all of their physical stats are superior to before, but they are still very weak. "Is that all of them?" (me) "Yes." (Byakko) So I went ahead, stopping to go around and increasing my speed, a bizarre army of Knights behind me. As soon as I passed a plain just outside the city, a magic circle activates below, expanding rapidly as purple flames cover all of these Knights. In seconds, nothing was left of them as I descended to the ground where Erica reveals herself from the shadows of the wall. "All dead?" (me) "Yes, none of them resisted the purification like the previous times." (Erica) "Did you find his whereabouts?" (Byakko) "Yes, he attacked Ibuki as soon as she was alone as planned." (Erica) "News from Diana?" (me) "She''s still tracking the other God, it seems he''s hiding inside his Priests, but their bodies can''t withstand his power for long." (Erica) "They''re already acting like Evil Gods, it seems like they''ve thrown all their pride to the ground." (me) "Let''s go to the next town, even if Ibuki finishes him off, his power might still be present in other converts." (Byakko) "Let''s go." (me) ------------------- Pov Zenos: When I opened my eyes, the first noises I heard were explosions. As I went outside, I saw Adella and Arash fighting in their human forms, their Divine powers concentrated in their hands as they moved in increasingly faster attacks. They were clearly training, and this wasn''t their first time doing this. We''ve been in this universe for a week now. We haven''t suffered another surprise attack, but we haven''t accomplished anything other than waiting. As I expected, the two of them fighting like this soon stop when the power of the universe around them presses them both down. We''re all still intruders in the eyes of this universe. There''s no difference between us and the Anomalous Dragons. "I found you. Come with me." (Myu) "Where are we going?" (me) "My mother wants to talk to you, and your mate Akatosh is already there." (Myu) "Did you find the nests?" (me) "Yes." (Myu) ----------------- A few days later. I was watching one of the supposed nests, of course I wasn''t doing it personally since they could find me, Xagar was doing it in my place. He was watching while I shared his senses, that''s when I saw the gates of the nest open, it was as if someone was kneading the space to the sides, then 3 Anomalous Dragons came out with someone I didn''t expect to see here. Baldr was different than he was in the past, on his back there were 5 wings, almost 3 pairs of wings showing that he was close to becoming a level 3 Ascendant. In his hands there seems to be something, but I can''t tell what it could be, it seems like he was doing something here, but was it because of himself or at the request of the Ascendants? One of the Anomalous Dragons tears through space with its claws after accumulating power, and Baldr leaves without wasting time taking whatever was in his hands. Everything was ready to begin, but with Baldr appearing here, it seems that there is still something we do not know. I need to talk to Akatosh and Lolth about this. -------------------- The 7 Sacrifices A long, long time ago, there was a Prince who was born in a certain Kingdom. The Principle was wise, loving, kind and just. Everyone in the Kingdom admired and loved the Prince as he grew up, he always tried his best for everyone, always trying to do everything to live up to the expectations that everyone had for him. As time passed, the Prince grew up to become the next King, having already accumulated many achievements that brought prosperity to everyone in the Kingdom. The young King married a noblewoman from another Kingdom and together they had a beautiful couple of children, the King loved his wife and his children very much. The Young King demonstrated magnificent talent in leading his people, his leadership became a legend that reached the entire world. But no one knew that the young King was born with a unique ability, an ability called [Will] that overcame all obstacles using only the strength of his will. One day, an injured Dragon arrived at his doorstep, falling near his capital. The King went to the Dragon to save him, and as a reward, the Dragon told the King about a powerful enemy that was approaching. The King, upon hearing about the enemy, took up a sword and led his army to face the enemy forces. Through the Dragon, he learned that this enemy was causing death and destruction wherever he went. With this, the years passed, the young man had become an experienced King who led not only his army, but who unified the entire continent as a single army to fight against the powerful enemy, an endless army of beings that sought only destruction. The once gentle King was overcome with fear. He was afraid because the army of creatures seemed to have no end while his own army grew in strength but decreased in number after each battle. One day a Moon Spirit told the King a terrible truth. That truth frightened the King even more, but it also gave him the motivation to win. In that battle, the enemies had taken control of many innocent people using some Evil method while the innocent people slowly transformed into horrible monsters. On that day, the King made his first sacrifice. He abandoned his pure heart as he took the lead in a massacre against the people being controlled. During the battle, the King cried, but his power increased far beyond what it had ever been. After that battle, the King realized that his unique ability [Will] had absorbed his feelings of suffering and pain with his strong will. He sacrificed his pure heart to protect the people of the continent where he reigned. After such a battle, the King fell into a state of consuming fear as he imagined his precious kingdom being destroyed from the inside out by his people and his family turning into monsters like those he had killed. Soon a devastating attack fell upon his continent, the King rushed to the front of the battle, but the fear of what would happen to his family in his absence distracted the King during the battle and he was seriously injured. Days later the King woke up to learn that during his sleep what he feared most had happened, his capital was under attack and he himself was too injured to fight. It was then that his unique Ability once again surpassed the limits of what was possible using his unparalleled will to save his family to awaken the will remaining in the blood of hundreds of millions of warriors who had fallen in the battle where he was wounded. The King instinctively knew what he had to do and the consequences of such an act, but even so he used this resonance of wills to beg the fallen warriors for power to save his family. The will to fight of hundreds of millions of warriors of many races responded to the King''s endless desire to fight, this will of a great army awakened the power contained in the remains of the dead and in the blood spilled on the battlefield. All this power, blood and will of hundreds of millions was absorbed by the King who lost his humanity in exchange for the power to continue fighting, so the King runs to his capital to save his family. ------------------ "Are you ready yet?" (Akatosh) "..." (me) I was holding a book in my hands, the same book I had tried to read several times, I really feel the need to not read this book every time I put it in my hands. This isn''t the first time I''ve reread this story, nor is it the first time I''ve felt like stopping reading, but these things only increase my curiosity to know why this story is so special. When Akatosh called me, I had only read 1/3 of the book, which was supposed to be a children''s story, but now I realize that it''s not that simple. "Is everyone ready?" (me) "Yes, but are you sure it''ll work?" (Akatosh) "I hope so since the alternative is bad." (me) "Call everyone." (me) ------------------ I was looking at the nest I was going to invade, I take a look at my Heralds, my Saint and Samara, it seems that they are also positioned. "(I hope everything works out...)" (me) I take a few deep breaths and control my emotions before spreading my wings and flying towards the nest, the Anomalous power gathered in my claws as I ended up against the entrance that opens with the swing of my claws. I pass through the opening I made and inside I see a space full of planets and 3 stars scattered around, there was nothing like solar systems or gravity here, I also came across dozens of Anomalous Dragons looking at me as if they couldn''t believe what they were seeing. Chapter 1643: Cap 1641: Simultaneous invasion As soon as I entered the nest I could feel all the Auras attaching themselves to me, just like a bird''s nest being made with the interweaving of leaves and branches, the Anomalous Dragons'' nest is built by the interweaving of their unique Auras, Auras that carry the Anomalous power and reality along with traces of the spatial power related to the fragments of space that they keep inside their bodies. An architectural landmark for those capable of deciphering such a structure, just by seeing it the whole image of irrational monsters disappears showing that they are highly intelligent creatures, underestimating them is a serious mistake. "Is he here?" (me) "(It seems not...)" (Tarzor) "If possible, I would really like confirmation." (me) "(That''s the most I can say for now, he was too strong for my senses to pick up on his presence.)" (Tarzor) "(At most I can say that his Aura isn''t part of the nest''s structure, so I imagine he''s not here, such a strong Aura would stand out too much.)" (Tarzor) I look around, none of the Anomalous Dragons were approaching, they were all watching from afar, they''re smarter than the Anomalous Dragons I encountered in the other universe. They must find it strange that their enemy would enter through the front door like that, I just hope they don''t realize what I''m doing until it''s too late, I just need to hold on for a little longer. "What purpose did you come here for?" "Is this your way of doing business?" (me) "Don''t try to stall for time, answer my question or next time you''ll receive over 100 attacks from all directions, not even you could survive that level of damage." "What purpose did you come here for?" "..." (me) "I''m not lying, I really want to make a deal with you guys, where is your leader, the one who opened that great rift in the sky?" (me) "Attack!" "You must be joking...!" (me) The air shook, however the flows of hundreds of Auras tried to restrain me, then the space distorted as what looked like a multicolored storm came towards me from all directions. A true calamity was sweeping everything coming towards me and every cell in my body was screaming ''Death''. He really attacked without hesitation or consideration, such a massive attack and he didn''t even want to listen to what I had to say, as much as I would really like to buy time while my power takes over all this space, I didn''t lie about wanting to negotiate with them if they are able to see value in my proposal and help of their own free will it would be perfect for me. "< Divine Unholy Magic: Universal Cloak >" (me) I use the Anomalous and Chaos Power together with the power of reality to create a temporary separate space around me similar to the scattered territory that our universe was using to contain Divine-level battles. My hands burn a little as I use all the muscles in my back, shoulder and arm to drag this space around me while facing the resistance of the Aura flows around me. In less than 2 seconds I was hit and it was a horrible feeling to feel so many forms of destructive energy coming towards me, if I had been hit for real I could have died, that is certainly a possibility. The separated space around me was clearly not large and sturdy enough to withstand this kind of attack, but when it collapsed it exploded back into my surroundings just like a storm with the eye of the hurricane as the safest place. All this chaos in the surroundings distorted or broke many Aura flows, allowing me to free my body. I also took advantage of this turbulence to spread the corruption faster, since my time here will be shorter than expected. "An interesting technique, but useless!" "< Spiritual Rapture >" "< Spectral Void Serpent Flow >" (me) Hinata''s power flows from my body along with the Anomalous power, creating what looked like a Serpent emerging from the void and coiling around me. All this to protect me, an Anomalous Dragon was flying towards me, its entire body looked like that of a beast-like man with a Dragon''s head and no eyes. The only eye it had was open on its chest, focused only on me. From its large eye, a hand of spiritual power was trying to grab me, but it didn''t shatter upon contact with the illusory Serpent, while my energy burned at alarming rates. "You think you can just come in here like that!? How much do you want to step on our pride after eating those of our family!?" "(How long?)" (me) "(8 minutes.)" (Tarzor) "(I don''t know if I have that much time!)" (me) In the distance I saw many pairs of eyes full of hunger and savagery fixed on me while my opponent was pulling what looked like a sword with the handle of a spear from inside the eye he has on his chest. "Damn it!!!" (me) --------------------- Pov Hades: It seems that the master''s plan is going well, no one seems to have noticed my presence so far as I approach the place where the nest entrance is. I choose to do the same movement that I saw another Anomalous Dragon doing before, I did exactly the same thing thus opening a claw-shaped cut where I passed. The inside was exactly what the Master said, a tangle of Auras that made it difficult to discern directions, distance and even movement, it was really strange, which makes me worry about Xagar. I was born from a Curse, created from the beginning of my core to the Herald that I am today by Master Zenos, my senses and how I interpret them are secondary to me, the perception of energy and the manipulation of curses were the first things that make up the beginning of my existence. This place cannot disturb me, what was really bothersome was not knowing where to go. I was now inside one of the Anomalous Dragons captured in the last attack, after being weakened by Freya and having been partially sealed by Samara, there was no way for him to regain control over his body. Inside him I was like multiple streams of curse while a blood crystal shone having already been activated. "Who are you!" "(Damn, they found me out too fast...!)" (me) From the outside and even from the inside this is a living Anomalous Dragon, its consciousness may be dormant and its Soul sealed within itself, but it should be impossible for them to find out so quickly. But I didn''t have time to respond, the flow of Auras closed the exit that was nearby while other Anomalous Dragons surrounded me. "(Damn, they found out too fast, how much longer do I have to wait for it to be over?)" (me) ---------------- Pov Xagar: Adella acted exactly as master suspected, she led all the Dragons on our side in a charge against the nest forcing our way in while we started a battle inside the nest. Since we were the ones who started the battle, we caught the Anomalous Dragons by surprise, but they still outnumbered them, I only had 170 Dragons on my side while there are easily over 400 Anomalous Dragons here. While everyone was fighting, I had already activated master''s Blood Crystal Sphere, I could feel the energy fluctuations spreading, with this battle going on there was no way they would notice anything wrong, that is as long as this battle continues. But even if they don''t notice anything, I will still have to fight to finish the process. "(Their armor really is tough shit, I can''t defeat this bastard.)" (me) "< Breath of Blood >" (Adella) "< Breath of the Divine Black Dragon >" (Arash) "< Holy Star Breath >" "< Breath... >" "< Breath... >" "< Breath... >" Sensing Adella''s initiative, everyone uses their breath attacks except me, this will destabilize the Nest of the Anomalous Dragons while also hiding what I''m doing more. "(Hades had the safest role, he just needs to lie down and wait for everything to end, I wish I had the same ability to invade a living body, that''s excellent for infiltrations like this.)" (me) The ones who got the worst part of the plan were definitely the master and Karina, I''m mainly worried about the master, I doubt things will turn out well for him, that never happens. ------------------- Pov Samara: I go out into the outside world and the first thing I hear are the words suicide plan, I can''t even refute that statement, the master is relying too much on what he''s already done in the last universe, there are many ways for this to go wrong. "Are we really going to go in like this?" (Niryna) "Yes, that''s the plan." (me) "They won''t attack us?" (Niryna) "They will, they will attack and that''s exactly what we want." (Akatosh) I was in a Dragon form that looked more like one of Niryna''s super modified Golems, my Dragon body had several flaming chain joints with my head having a mask hiding my eyes and revealing only the lower part of my jaw. As soon as we passed through the gate of the nest, Akatosh started attacking with his Aura dripping with murderous intentions. "The leader isn''t here... that''s good..." (me) Sigh The leader of the Anomalous Dragons is an old monster that I don''t want to underestimate, even if we landed a strong blow on him with this plan, it will still be almost impossible to defeat that thing. Chapter 1644: Cap 1642: I want to negotiate Pov Karina: I was seeing the nest in the distance but I could feel something hidden inside, he had already seen me, this was where their leader was, he doesn''t even try to hide knowing that at this distance we are unable to escape him. "Zenos'' plan failed." (Lolth) "In fact, the plan is going perfectly." (me) "..." (Myu) "He must have already realized what is happening, he just doesn''t have time to interfere, am I right?" (me) "Yes, but I don''t understand what they gain by coming here other than delivering food to my door." "My master would like to negotiate with you." (me) "A strange way to propose this." "Would you have listened differently?" (me) "Who knows, maybe I won''t even listen now." The space around us was shaking, a pair of eyes were vaguely visible in front of us as if the universe formed only a half-transparent curtain through which those eyes were visible. Deep and primitive eyes, looking at us as if they were watching an appetizer, yet their Aura was extremely controlled as it spread throughout this Star System. "You won''t do anything personally." (me) "Do you think I would stop hunting those who surrendered themselves at my door?" "Do you really think your master will be able to carry out his plan?" "We noticed their movements long before they reached the nests, do you think we took countermeasures?" "..." (me) "Do you think I''m afraid of you?" (Lolth) Lolth and her Dragons are ready to attack at any moment, but I signaled for her to stick to the plan, something she does in clear disgust. "My master said that you have more to lose than he does, you cannot reproduce and finding those capable of becoming one of you is difficult, so tell me, are you prepared to lose thousands of your kin and then have their power used against you?" (me) "The boy, I see... he is finally learning to use the power of Chaos creatively." The space around us trembles as multiple pairs of eyes appear, many Auras intertwine around us and I suddenly realize that they are building the nest around us. "< Unholy Blessing of the Eclipse: Divine Path >" (me) Before the nest becomes complete, I pull out two magic crystals made from Zenos'' blood, colliding the two while using his Divine Power to activate the two magics together. A new sea of ??stars forms around us as an Eclipse reveals itself in the distance, the silver light from its ring forming a long path that crystallized to where we were. The space around us tries to break the path with this universe resisting Zenos'' power, while the Auras that were forming the nest tried to get tangled around the path to prevent or delay its formation, but none of that worked. Zenos'' Star Paths are not about power, energy, Aura or anything like that, they are not an attack or a defense, they are a representation of Will which in this case represents his Will that fills me every day, a will that does not bend or stop for anything, only the Wills can interfere in the Star Paths and among the Anomalous Dragons there is no Will that can stand up to him. "An interesting Divinity, possesses the power of Chaos in a threshold sense and yet has no power of reality, a manifestation of an intrinsic unreal aspect." "We did not know which nest you were in, you thought my Master would let any of us be in danger." (me) "(What''s this? Why can''t he attack us here?)" (Lolth) "(I told you I had insurance, that was it.)" (me) "(You and your Dragons can''t attack them either, that would be considered a sin on the path we''re on and whoever does so will be expelled from the path to be at the mercy of the Anomalous Dragons.)" (me) "(Have everyone follow me when you start walking, some people''s willpower may not be enough to walk the entire path, but with my presence as a Saint it will be easier for them to keep up with me.)" (me) "I may not be able to reach you, but I can destroy several planets in this universe, would those Dragons behind you be able to keep their composure?" "The worlds will be safe, we also have hostages and you know it, don''t try to deceive us." (me) A frightening Aura crashed into the path, it was like a cold wind that passed through everyone, but it didn''t harm or push anyone, on this path external forces can''t influence those inside, even so there are still traces of will in the Auras that are allowed on the path as part of the ordeal, without the weight, damage and suppression that an Aura normally has. "You now know that my master wants to negotiate, so think about it carefully the next time we meet." (me) "Let''s go!" (me) "Follow her and don''t try to attack anyone, don''t get out of the way, understand!?" (Lolth) "Yes!!!" (everyone) With me taking the lead, we quickly left that place, the Anomalous Dragons didn''t follow us, they knew that this path may seem straight, but we are crossing distances and directions that they are unable to see. ----------------- Pov Xagar: The battle is getting more and more intense, that''s because suddenly twice as many Anomalous Dragons appeared as if they were waiting for the right moment to reveal themselves. Adella was the strongest in battle, her entire body is made of blood, allowing her to change her shape as she wishes, whether it''s to crystallize part of her blood into weapons to attack or change the shape of her body, allowing her to escape attacks in impossible positions. Only area attacks had any chance of hitting her, causing some damage, and her enemies learned quickly, making the fight increasingly difficult for her. Arash, on the other hand, was an unstoppable force, his Black Dragon body is a living weapon not inferior to the Anomalous Dragons'' armor, he was able to face them head on with physical attacks and his way of fighting was brutal. The other Dragons were no longer as strong as these two, even the Primordial Dragons were not as strong, being below those two in power, and I was right behind. Now all I could do was wait, the crystal I was carrying had already disintegrated after fulfilling its function. "(Along with me.)" (Zenos) -------------------- Pov Hades: "You know, I really didn''t think you''d be able to find me." (me) "Do you think you can invade my brothers'' bodies without being noticed?" "Do you know his name? How he behaves? Do you know that each of us has our own way of opening the nest?" "You were superficial in your stratagems to say the least." "I really didn''t think that deeply, you were enlightening." (me) As I spoke to one of the Anomalous Dragons, my body was in the form of a curse spread by the very flow of Auras that make up these nests. I used the corrupting Curse that was spreading throughout this place to inhabit the nest in the same way I did with that Anomalous Dragon. They were trying to contain me, but the more they do this, the greater the corruption becomes. At this stage, I am ready for the master to cast his net and, as if he knows what I am thinking, he reaches me mentally. "(Along with me.)" (Zenos) --------------------- Pov Samara: Akatosh was wiping the floor with the Anomalous Dragons. Even though he is weakened, his power does not come only from his Divinity, it also comes from him being a truly powerful Dragon. But even he cannot fight against so many. The numbers are slowly taking advantage and the other Dragons on our side are making little difference. Niryna is more relaxed as her Dragon body is not visible amidst the black mist wherever she advances. While everyone was fighting, I did more, I have already spread the Corrupt Curse that Master Zenos ordered throughout this place, I just need his signal to activate all the functions. "(Together with Me!)" (Zenos) --------------------- Pov Nix: I was with several Dragons from this universe, my Spiritual ability allowed me to see the trap before it started, so I moved away before it was too late. The nest we were heading to was a hollow shell, there was nothing inside it, but outside there were several Auras intertwining without coming into contact as if it were a large net waiting for us to enter. "(They knew... but how did they know...?)" (me) "(I''m sorry master, but this plan became impractical the moment the surprise factor was lost.)" (me) "We''re going back, they know we''re going, there''s a trap already set." (me) Saying just that, I turn to the portal we came out of before they realize we''re running away, it didn''t take long for the others to follow me without hesitation, fortunately no one tried to act brave alone. ------------------- Pov Zenos: I was in my Dragon form, blood painting my entire body as multiple magic circles performed attacks against the Anomalous Dragons in quick succession, they are the Rituals I left ready inside Tarzor in case it was needed during my entry into this universe, but now it was what was buying me more than valuable time. I wasn''t able to hurt or kill the Anomalous Dragons, they''re hard to fight because of that, but at least I was delaying them long enough for me to save a few minutes until Tarzor finished his part, which he fortunately did. "I''m done, do it now!" (Tarzor) "(I hope this is enough to negotiate, that''s all I want.)" (me) I knew it was wishful thinking to think of the first solution as something that actually works, but it didn''t hurt to have hope since the alternative sucks. "< Reality Desecration: Activate >" (me/Samara/Xagar/Hades) "< Universal Seal: Chains of Apocalypse >" (me/Samara/Xagar/Hades) Chapter 1645: Cap 1643: Gambling "I''m done, do it now!" (Tarzor) "(I hope this is enough to negotiate, that''s all I want.)" (me) I knew it was wishful thinking that the first solution would actually work, but it didn''t hurt to have hope since the alternative sucked. "< Reality Desecration: Activate >" (me/Samara/Xagar/Hades) "< Universal Seal: Chains of the Apocalypse >" (me/Samara/Xagar/Hades) When I first used this technique, it was more of a test than anything else, I was doing it as I went along since I only had the theory, but after that I started to perfect the process and also understand everything better. These nests have several layers, the largest of which is the accumulated Anomalous power of hundreds or thousands of Anomalous Dragons, then comes the power of Reality that literally sustains the nests in existence, the last part is the largest being the Auras of all those who built the nest, these Auras become flows throughout the place like the veins carrying blood through a person''s body. Even though the nest is alive, it is not as if it has a Soul or consciousness, it is actually like a miniature universe or a planet possessing basic instincts similar to a will and acting based on these instincts, in this particular case the nest is easily controlled by the Anomalous Dragons as if it were an extension of them. My corruption has spread throughout this place, my Divinity is composed of many different aspects, the power of the Apocalypse that comes from the Demons can corrupt everything, with the Anomalous power transforming everything to create something different and the Power of Chaos changing everything again into a new structure. The Aura flows converge into Aura currents, the power of reality converges into a true Divine Territory or perhaps I should call it Sacred Land since this corruption has engraved myself in this place. In the end the very basic will of the nest itself is consumed by the will of Tarzor being delivered to it by me serving as an intermediary. The power of Tarzor rises through my body, the universe trying to resist and even expel Tarzor along with me out, then roots and branches full of crystal leaves appear. Freya creates roots in the universe preventing Tarzor or I from suffering the repercussions of all this, her roots and branches reaching far beyond just this nest, I help Freya by guiding her roots and branches through my connections with the others to the nests that were also ready to be raptured. My mind was always dealing with many things at the same time, this was a detailed process and my mind was scattered across multiple nests while there were still Anomalous Dragons attacking me. That''s when I felt Tarzor make his move, I was linking these nests to Tarzor, even though it was my power that was corrupting and changing the nests, I didn''t have the ability to move them or implement them to me, they would be like any fixed Holy Land where I was. But for Tarzor it''s different, he can integrate these nests into himself, increase his universe and his power, take this place with him forever and by extension it will be under my control too. Unfortunately I wouldn''t be able to do this with multiple nests at the same time, I needed a physical anchor to do this and I would need a direct link with these nests and Tarzor to do the rest, now with everything ready it''s too late for them to do anything. I felt like I was being attacked, but I couldn''t see or hear anything, my mind focused entirely on the task at hand, but I knew that Tarzor had started to make his move since I didn''t feel like I was being hit by anything. I don''t even know how long it lasted, for me it felt like seconds had passed, but it could have been dozens of minutes and believe me, 1 single second makes all the difference in a fight of this level, standing still in the middle of this type of fight for so long made me an easy target to hit and so I had to think of plans to keep myself safe, part of that plan was Tarzor. -------------------- I don''t even know how much time passed, nor do I know if everything went as well as I imagined, but I don''t think so, I felt that the number of Anomalous Nests did not match the number I sent, 2 of them failed, most likely one of them hit the wrong target going to where the leader of the Anomalous Dragons was, as for the other group, I''m not sure what went wrong. When I opened my eyes I noticed the hundreds of Anomalous Dragons trapped in crystallized chains hidden in translucent vines, all hanging from branches that stretched throughout this space as if they were fruits. Just by focusing my attention a little I could feel the Power of these trapped Anomalous Dragons being absorbed by the tree while the chains kept them in a sealed state. Looking around I could see that all of these Anomalous Dragons were still trying to free themselves. Brutal auras were emanating from all of them and yet they were unable to go more than a few kilometers around them, the space shaking around each of them with the force they exerted to move in their state of containment. Even so I noticed that the largest number of Anomalous Dragons were dead from where I was, the space around me also seemed weaker, clearly something had happened while I was previously focused. "How did everything go?" (me) "Just like you said, they tried to attack you with everything they had." (Tarzor) "There were many of them and some were stronger than the ones we faced in the other universe, so I had to prioritize those closest and then those strongest, this allowed some that were further away to escape." (Tarzor) "Freya, how are the other nests?" (me) "(They''re fine, all except Hades''.)" (Freya) "What happened?" (me) "(Same as you, he was alone, so I focused on the ones that posed the greatest risk to him, letting 1/4 of them escape, I''m not as efficient as Tarzor in manipulating such a large space.)" (Freya) "(Aside from Nix and Karina, the others were successful and no Anomalous Dragon escaped, their nests under our control.)" (Freya) "How long will it take to get the nests to integrate with Tarzor?" (me) "(A few hours, this time he can eat them directly, so it becomes easier with me just speeding up the process, most of the time will be spent dragging these nests here.)" (Freya) "That''s good." (me) "Now we have some heavy betting power that he can''t ignore." (me) ------------------ I was inside the nest when the others arrived, I was in a meditative position inside what looked like a colossal Tree made of energy particles, Tarzor and Freya were already devouring the nests, I was just an energy conduit for them to use, so my mind was very free to pay attention to the others who had just arrived. Each of them gives me a report of what they found, the first to arrive were Karina who should be the furthest away and followed by Nix who was the second closest to our current location after Hades. The two tell me about what they found, Karina having the unfortunate luck of finding the enemy leader and being forced to manifest the Stellar path, it seems that I was not very reckless in presenting this escape plan, I was not sure if it would be useful, but it was what saved Karina. Nyx on the other hand talks about the trap she saw from afar, as a Spiritual Dragon her senses are a bit unique just like Hinata, her perception is deeper even than mine. As the others arrive and inform me of what they found, I realize that traps were everywhere, they were expecting our attack, this explains how the Anomalous Dragons from the nest I went to attacked so suddenly without revealing themselves or trying to capture me, they attacked very quickly and abruptly, I didn''t understand this before, but now it seems to make sense if they were already expecting an attack. After receiving the reports, everyone left, leaving only Akatosh and Lolth with me. This plan may have been mine, but those two were still in the lead. I was only responsible for this plan because it was the best we had and because of my unique abilities to implement such a plan. "How many nests are there left?" (me) "The last count was 9 nests." (Lolth) "We captured 4 Nests, that''s not counting the prisoners we captured in the other 2 universes, which could represent another 2 or 3 nests." (Akatosh) "We have almost half of them, maybe a little less." (me) "If it were up to me, I would kill them all, but today I was close to their leader, it wasn''t just his Aura that I felt from afar or saw the power of one of his attacks, he was close by and his presence was very strong..." (Lolth) "I honestly think that he alone could have already led my Universe to destruction, I don''t understand how he refuses to act personally." (Lolth) "My guess is that he can''t move so easily for some reason, but I''m not sure." (me) "Now that we have so many cards in hand, we can start our bet in a way that he won''t be able to refuse." (me) "I thought you wanted to negotiate with him." (Akatosh) "He''s a Hunter, all Anomalous Dragons are like that and we can attribute the same to him." (me) "Surprise attacks, traps, cunning tactics and many other things, a meeting with him will be like a gambling game using cards, he will be cheating just like me, but at least we will be at the same table, which is our only chance." (me) "You are going to trust luck with the fate of my Universe in your hands!?" (Lolth) "No, I just said it will be like a game of chance, and in this kind of game the house always wins." (me) Chapter 1646: Cap 1644: Selfishness Pov Davoth: I was on the ground, as God should not need to breathe, yet I can''t stop panting as if my lungs were not able to get enough air to sustain my life, weakness took over my entire body while keeping my eyes open became an effort of pure determination. My arms on the other hand, I will have to get new ones, they were vaporized by the sealing ritual, I was in this state for hours, yet I improved very little, the Universal Golem I carry does not nourish me as perfectly as a natural universe would do to its Primordial God. "(That should be enough power by now...)" (me) "< Death Magic: Signaling >" (me) During all this time, I accumulated energy as I was recovering, all to traffic this simple magic, using my tongue to draw in the air and blood like ink floating inches from my face, a magic circle appears, the most basic of death magics used by their Priests to signal places where death normally does not reach. As soon as I used this magic a black flame lit up and beneath it an illusory candle slowly became real as a figure rose from the small candle flame as if it were smoke. Black cloak fluttering in non-existent winds, a crystal skull whose eyes shine in infinite depths, a scythe stained with the last tears of each Soul taken. One of the many representations of her, but to me it seems more like a ridiculous costume that she uses when she wants to make a strong impression since it represents her concept well in such exaggeration. "You''ve done your part, now I''m going to take you back." (Kalistos) "..." (me) "Let''s go..." (Kalistos) She retrieved the 10-sided crystal containing what I was able to Seal, Prague wouldn''t thank me for it, but it didn''t help either, it just allowed my presence inside it as well as leaving it up to me whether I''m able to escape or not. Damn bastard, if it weren''t for a deal with Kalistos, I could have let this thing end Prague, it would be a good thing for countless universes for sure. Kalistos uses his scythe to cut through space leaving a trail of black flames that burn the space until it forms a whirlwind of pure darkness. My body rises floating next to her as we pass through the portal, but I can feel the forces of several realities passing through me before I come out on the other side alone with my body floating to the ground in front of a Temple of Blood. "You look horrible." (Elizabeth) "..." (me) "I''m not as good at healing as Natasha, but I can take care of you, come on." (Elizabeth) ------------------- When I woke up again I was in a bed, my arms had grown back, but they weren''t right, one of the arms was still a few inches shorter than the other and both arms were very thin. My energy had partially returned, I was still weak, but it wasn''t something that would get in the way of my daily life, I could talk, walk and even run if necessary, but fighting was a big no in my current state. Looking around I could feel that I was in a Sacred Land, the power of this place was pushing away the influence of the universe from pressing against me, which is wonderful since I''m in no condition to resist it at the moment. "I thought you didn''t want to see me." (me) "I''m not a child, I don''t hold a grudge against you." (Elizabeth) "But I wouldn''t blame you if you did." (me) "The past is just that, the past... I''m not the same as I was back then, just like you''re not the same." (Elizabeth) "Thank you for healing me." (me) "I did my best, but the two types of Anomalous Power inside you didn''t make it easy, Natasha could do a better job, unfortunately she''s busy." (Elizabeth) "Without Akatosh and most of the Divine-level Dragons, she''s become the most powerful Dragon, so she''s dealing with these problems that are brought to her by the Dragons." (Elizabeth) "You don''t want to talk about me being here or what I talked about with Zenos?" (me) "No, I don''t want to know and I''d rather you didn''t tell me anything." (Elizabeth) "Zenos can take care of his own things, we have too much to deal with for me to think about the past right now, the same goes for you." (Elizabeth) "..." (me) "What happened while I was away?" (me) "Same as always, enemies hiding in the dark." (Elizabeth) "Gods who once fought alongside Baldr, the traitor who joined the Ascendants, are now converting people into other things." (Elizabeth) "Baldr did something similar in the past, but he used the interaction of his Divinity with a God who shared the same origins, they were two different conversion processes, but this is different." (Elizabeth) "The conversion process this time is simpler, faster, and the increase in power is very apparent." (Elizabeth) "I need to see to be sure, but it could be the..." (me) "Ascendants, yes... traces of Ascendant Law Power have been found in them." (Elizabeth) "As soon as I get better I will help..." (me) "No, you cannot reveal yourself to the eyes of the Ascendants, not until Zenos returns." (Elizabeth) "I heard your plan from my Mother, don''t ruin everything now, help while you hide and let us take care of our universe." (Elizabeth) ------------------- Pov Zenos: I was on the balcony of the original Star Palace, I was inside Tarzor where I could see the changes inside and I felt the changes in myself. "Why did you come to talk to me?" (me) "This plan is horrible." (Samara) "Since when does your opinion matter?" (me) "You''re going to die like this..." (Samara) "Do you think I don''t know the risks?" (me) "I''m already prepared, all the risks calculated, including my possible death." (me) "You can''t die!!" (Samara) "Ohh... is that despair I hear? Coming from someone who has committed atrocities for who knows how long?" (me) "You''re right, I did atrocities, worse things than you can imagine, as a Saint of Life I not only betrayed her, I led an entire universe to death and many other things after falling into the clutches of Hell!" (Samara) "I don''t regret anything I did, I''m selfish, cruel and I''m probably as twisted in my mind as the Anomalous Dragons or the Ascendants, maybe even more so!" (Samara) "It''s exactly because of this selfishness that I don''t want you to die!" (Samara) "If you die, I''ll die too because of your restrictions and even if because of someone''s intervention, I managed to survive, my fate would be worse than death!" (Samara) "Even if Callidora doesn''t take me under her wings again, which would already be an eternal torment... again, the one called the Goddess of Life or even the Life Entity will get me and at that moment my fate may be even more horrible than anything Callidora does to me!" (Samara) "By your side, I am the only one who can keep me safe and experience some happiness. I can eat well, I can drink well, I can talk to different types of people without fear of being stabbed in the back, I can sleep, I can lie with someone for pure pleasure, I can fight as much as I want, I can smell the flowers, I can see the stars, I can even be eternal since this body, even if destroyed, will only make my Soul return to you!" (Samara) "Your hatred and contempt for me may be whatever, but I am literally in heaven here, being your slave is a thousand times better than any other alternative and I will not lose that!!!" (Samara) "You finally spoke, I already knew you were happy, I can see inside your mind, inside your heart and inside your Soul, even so certain things escape me, you know how to distort your thoughts and manipulate your emotions well, always being as useful as possible, making yourself necessary, trying to appear loyal... all a facade so as not to fall again, isn''t it?" (me) "Yes, yes and yes!!!" (Samara) "I am selfish and that is why I beg you, please..." (Samara) "You are the one who told her, aren''t you Mavis?" (me) "Yes, I can be separated from the main consciousness, but I still remember everything up until the moment of this birth, which includes remembering this traitor." (Mavis) Mavis emerges through space as if she were passing through the waters of a calm lake, she appears in front of me in her humanoid form, her face still covered by a veil and without a shadow of Kalisto being nearby. "Are you satisfied now?" (me) "No, but it''s a start." (Mavis) "If you and Kalistos aren''t going to help at all, then avoid getting in the way, save tormenting her for when this is all over." (me) "You don''t command us Zenos, we stay here because we want to and we will do the right thing when necessary." (Mavis) "Just don''t interfere anymore, the plan is bad enough without people having doubts." (me) "The plan will go on as it is and you will accept that, not losing out on killing me and if I am willing to follow this plan, then I have confidence in succeeding." (me) "(I don''t really have any confidence, but desperate cases call for extreme measures.)" (me) "(I just need one part of the plan to work, the rest doesn''t matter so much.)" (me) Chapter 1647: Cap 1645: I am Arsan Pov Arsan (Anomalous Dragon Patriarch): That boy has gone further than I thought, even for a Chaos Bringer his growth rate is too high, it hasn''t even been 10 years since his birth as far as I could investigate from that Ascendant named Baldr. "(Even among Selene''s children his growth is too fast, it seems artificial...)" (me) "(But who would be behind this? If I''m wrong, then his ability must stand out in some aspect...)" (me) "Duren! Dredge the memory crystal again." (me) "As you wish Father." (Duren) Duren is one of my youngest children, one of the last to be converted, the only survivor among billions, but I like how he knows how to keep his instincts under control and use his head, so I keep him close. In a few minutes he returns with a 4-pointed crystal floating while illuminated in white light. I make the crystal float to my forehead, then touching it with my Aura I see the memories and knowledge that Baldr had about Zenos, it wasn''t much, but I see how much he fought, honestly his ability to stay alive until now is a testament to his adaptation. "He seems to be the cautious type, he also plans before acting and clearly honor means nothing to him..." (me) "(If he weren''t already a Dragon, a Bringer of Chaos and an enemy impossible to reconcile, it would be better to have someone with that talent on our side if he weren''t so naive.)" (me) The actions that are marked in Baldr''s memory are those of a madman, he sometimes saves those who should be abandoned, destroys those who should be allies and drives away those who wish to help, I don''t understand what he thinks. Those around him seem to come from many different races, he has also dared to fight enemies stronger than him many times, I can''t say how he survived for so long. But I can understand where his strength comes from, he has a similar ability to ours, he becomes stronger by eating, but his ability is different, inferior doesn''t seem to be the key word, perhaps it would be correct to say that his focus is different. "Tell the others to be prepared, in a few days we''ll move, all of us!" (me) "As you wish, but are you sure you won''t be hasty?" (Duren) "They still have a lot of my brothers." (Duren) "I know, but he won''t kill them yet, they''re too good bait to lose so soon." (me) "He''ll try to set up a meeting with me, but I won''t bring him into a nest again, I also won''t accept a place he chooses and we can''t leave this universe for that since the 2 Abyss Generals out there will interfere." (me) "He won''t accept any place I choose and the same will be true for him, but that''s something obvious, he''ll have a plan, he seems to be someone who likes plans and deceiving his enemies." (me) "(It''s going to take more than that to fool me.)" (me) "What are we going to do then?" (Duren) "Trying to guess his plans is useless, what we''re going to do is use absolute power to crush his plans." (me) "(I can''t let him escape this time, if I can get my claws into a Chaos Bringer I might not need to search for the remaining keys anymore.)" (me) "Have everyone ready and warned, this time I''ll lead myself." (me) "As you wish, Father." (Duren) His ability to take control of the nests for himself was something I didn''t expect, but even he knows that it would only work once, he won''t do it again and if he tries we already have countermeasures now that we know what to expect. He carried out several attacks at the same time to divide our attention, to make sure he could get as many of my children as possible and to avoid meeting with me. He is not someone who sticks to battle tactics, he does not mind stealing, cheating and even performing crazy acts to obtain victory. I cannot predict what he will do during or after the meeting, the most I can predict is what will happen before the meeting. "(We will see if your scheme or my power will win in this meeting.)" (me) ------------------- Pov Luci (Former Anomalous Dragon Matriarch): "Thank you for letting me know, dear." (me) I see the image of my son disappear, the image of my children are seen in my eyes, memories of the past, how I helped raise them, how many did not resist, the pain of their deaths. "Mother, we must join them." (No?ros) "No, on the contrary, we may have found that we needed to." (me) "The power of Chaos can affect everything, but only a Bringer of Chaos can wield such power without destroying themselves in the process." (me) "He is with our people, many of us are in danger!" (No?ros) "Dear, we have done a lot throughout our existence, as much as Arsan likes to call us the supreme hunters, we are not exempt from being hunted." (me) "As much as it hurts to say this, any death among our people would only be retaliation for what we have done and you know it." (me) "..." (No?ros) "But they are still our family!?" (No?ros) "We are not traveling this long for their sake!?" (No?ros) "Now that almost half of us are on the verge of death, you want us to sit by and watch!?" (No?ros) "We won''t just sit around and watch, but we have to be careful with our timing, a little earlier or a little later could be the difference between which side turns against us." (me) I can imagine what that Arsan is going to do, he''s smart, but over time he''s let himself fall into the arrogance of being in possession of great power, he believes that as long as he''s the strongest he''ll always be within reach of victory. "(Arsan, you don''t understand, even if you win, you lose...)" (me) Becoming an enemy of the only one who could help us, that''s going to be difficult, I don''t think either side can be stopped at this stage, so all I can do is think about what to do next? ------------------ Pov Zenos: I watch Mavis leave before sending Samara somewhere else, she''s always been someone difficult to deal with, but this must have been the first time she''s really spoken her mind. "She didn''t do it just to torment her Priestess." (Kalistos) "You don''t either..." (me) "We know how reckless you are, but don''t try to do that, your death would trigger a chain of events that would be a catastrophe." (Kalistos) "I don''t intend to kill myself, there''s a reason I chose this plan." (me) "Are you confident?" (Kalistos) "Of course I am..." (me) "(No, but it was the best I could think of.)" (me) "I won''t say anything else then." (Kalistos) She appeared through the door like a normal person and turned around, leaving as normal as she came in, compared to Mavis she acts more mature and her words are always straight to the point. Left alone here once again, I find myself thinking about the plan in question, I try to review the plans over and over again, but I get nowhere, there is no safer alternative way to take care of the Anomalous Dragons. Their numbers are still large, there are also some exceptional ones beside them that have not participated in any battle so far, I managed to catch some of them near the nests, their powers are equal to those of Akatosh and Lolth. The Anomalous Dragons can end this battle at any time they want, they were not fighting seriously the whole time, but now I am not sure anymore. "I hope it works, but it would be perfect if he at least listened to my proposal." (me) ------------------- 2 weeks later. As expected, he did not accept any meeting place that I pointed out and I also did not accept any of the looks he pointed out. We both will not accept a place that the other chose, in the end we accepted a place that was chosen at random, these discussions were made through a long-distance communication magic, after all this time the meeting would finally happen, but at his suggestion neither of us would go in person, we would send Avatars controlled by us to this meeting. The meeting place was a planet that was already dead, it was small and it was scandalous both for our side and for theirs. I was the first to arrive, I was using a divine magic that created a copy of me, Akatosh used the same magic while Lolth used a different technique. Soon after we arrived it was his turn, the space outside the Planet''s orbit trembled before breaking as a seemingly middle-aged man descended to the ground, his body resembled that of a half-elf with smaller ears and darker skin, his eyes were red, his black hair fell over his shoulders in a disheveled manner, his body surrounded by armor without a helmet, two metallic horns rose on his head and his cape was similar to Dragon wings, his body easily exceeding 2 meters in robust height. "I am Arsan, Patriarch of the Anomalous Dragons." (Arsan) Chapter 1648: Cap 1646: You have your answer "I am Arsan, Patriarch of the Anomalous Dragons." (Arsan) The place where we were was full of desolation, but with so many powerful people the environment was already starting to change, plants were growing and water was sprouting, clouds were forming while a light breeze of wind slowly formed, for a ruined world like this, so many powerful presences together make the collision of our Auras flow the stagnant power and energies. But this Anomalous Dragon is different, his power and presence make the space around him vibrate, that''s because he''s not here for real, if it were his real body he wouldn''t be able to descend upon this planet. As soon as he arrived his Aura swept everything as if wanting to proclaim his absolute power, Akatosh and Lolth try to go against his Aura because of their Dragon pride, the two are very similar, unfortunately even working together they can barely keep Arsan''s Aura away from them. None of us are truly here, they are all remote-controlled Avatars, but it is already clear that I was right to fear this Anomalous Dragon, he is clearly even stronger than I expected. "(He is testing us...)" (me) When his Aura reached me, it passed right through, this is because my Aura has the power to adapt to everything and transform everything, his Aura managed to collide with mine, but the longer he was in contact with my Aura, the more of his own Aura was transformed, separating from him as it dispersed into the environment, so he immediately stopped trying to pressure me. "Just as you introduced yourself, I will act as the leader of this meeting and introduce the others." (me) "There is no need, I know Lolth, the ruler of the Divine Dragons of this universe, well, I also know Akatosh who expelled one of my brothers when we went after you." (Arsan) "I know about you too, Zenos." (Arsan) "Don''t try to create a formal environment, it won''t work here." (Akatosh) "..." (Lolth) "Akatosh is right, I still want to devour all of you and these two want to kill me, especially Lolth who can''t even contain her killing intent." (Arsan) Just as he said, Lolth was emitting a strong killing intent as if she would jump on him at any moment, it was a frightening killing intent indeed and I''m glad it wasn''t directed at me. Akatosh on the other hand was unfazed, but he and I were in telepathic contact, so I knew he was frustrated having to admit not being able to fight this Anomalous Dragon, it seems he really thought about coming here and taking the fight to them even now. "Let''s get straight to the point..." (Arsan) "You''re too hasty dear, wanting to start the meeting without me being present?" "What are you doing here!?" (Arsan) "..." (all) Suddenly another person arrived, in fact what surprised me was her appearance, she looked totally human, her appearance extremely beautiful while she appeared to be around 30 years old, her dark purple hair was flowing and disheveled and so straight that it didn''t get tangled, her pair of eyes were golden and there was a third vertical eye on her forehead that was purple. She had a curvy body, but still well structured like a warrior, her clothes for some reason looked more like those of a man, long loose pants, a simple white blouse and a long open scaled coat, her skin was fair, abnormally fair like that of a person who hadn''t left the house for years or someone who had been hospitalized for most of their life. Looking more closely, I could see that this wasn''t her real body, her presence and Aura emanated mainly from the third eye on her forehead, she was also using an Avatar. When her voice came, an eye formed in the space where she passed, descending to where we were. Her attitude was casual, but her Aura was strange. She didn''t press her Aura like Arsan did. She simply released an Aura of equal impact to his, letting it flow normally. Her Aura was imbued with Anomalous power, and I felt several traits that resembled the power of Anomalous Dragons. I can feel more than that, but I don''t understand. She doesn''t carry the hunger and savagery that I normally feel in Anomalous Dragons. Her Aura was similar and yet different. I couldn''t understand why. I wasn''t even sure if she was an Anomalous Dragon. But what surprised me was the tremor in Arsan''s Aura. He was clearly surprised and showed it not only with his Aura. His gaze became serious as he turned to her, asking a question full of meaning. She just looked at him for a few seconds as she smiled before sweeping her eyes over the rest of us with her gaze lingering longer on me, I also felt a strange fluctuation of power in the eye on her forehead that moved independently in a few directions before turning at the same time as her pair of eyes in my direction. "Let me introduce myself, I am Luci." (Luci) "I will participate in this ''Meeting'' of yours as a third force, I am not part of Arsan''s group and I am also not an ally of the three of you." (Luci) "Do you expect us to believe that when he seems to know you?" (Lolth) "Your Aura is also similar to his." (Akatosh) "And you, are you not going to question my presence?" (Luci) "Would it do any good?" (me) "(She is as strong as Arsan, even if I wanted to expel her, I wouldn''t have the power to do so.)" (me) "Yes, it wouldn''t do any good, but I still appreciate you not making the situation more uncomfortable than necessary." (Luci) The presence of this Luci will lead to changes in the plan, she has already noticed what I did, that eye of hers followed the lines I am creating with the power of Nature, this shouldn''t be possible for Anomalous creatures since their powers are so opposed to the rules of nature, but she managed it. I don''t know who this person is, but Arsan clearly doesn''t like her being here, I don''t know who she might be and I''m not sure what kind of power she has, but if she is here it means she has something to gain. She may want Arsan''s destruction or she could want to help him, it shouldn''t be possible, but since I don''t know to what extent she will interfere and the kind of power she has, I can''t predict what she will do, I need information. "Do I need to redo the introductions?" (me) "No, I already know who everyone is." (Luci) "Are you one of them?" (Lolth) "No, she''s not..." (Arsan) "No, but I once was, I''m sure everyone can feel my Aura, so there''s no reason to deny it." (Luci) "Let''s get this over with." (Arsan) "I agree, it seems like the meeting is dragging on longer than necessary." (Akatosh) "..." (Lolth) "Then I''ll start talking." (me) I''d like to just start the plan, but I''ll give him a chance, maybe he''ll accept, it would save me a lot of trouble, one of which is dealing with this mysterious person who showed up here. "I have many of your Anomalous Dragons trapped and I can kill them all with just a thought or expression of my Will." (me) "I''m sure you know that and you don''t want to lose so many of your family like that, do you?" (me) "Don''t get cocky, our family is prepared to die during the hunts." (Arsan) "But I wouldn''t have so many at the same time, and even less so to be devoured alive with their combined power being used against you and the rest of your family." (me) "I''d kill them all." (Lolth) "I''m sure you would, after all, we showed no mercy to the people of this universe and your Dragons were delicious to eat." (Arsan) "You damn thing!!!" (Lolth) "Don''t fall for his provocation, he wants to unbalance the meeting and force you to come here." (Akatosh) "Smart for a mere Dragon, at least you''d be more fun to chew on." (Arsan) "What do you want to achieve with this meeting?" (Luci) "I only want 3 things, two of which are easy decisions for you to make." (me) "First, I want to know what an Ascendant with the power of Light was doing here?" (me) At the mention of Baldr, Akatosh becomes serious, I''ve already spoken to him about what I saw, but the truth is I don''t know much, Baldr being here and alone was a surprise, he wouldn''t come here for nothing, but the Anomalous Dragons must have been on bad terms with the Ascendants, so what I saw doesn''t make sense. "(Something is happening and I need to know what it is.)" (me) "That''s easy to answer, but whether or not I do it will depend on the content of the rest you want to know and how many of my family you''ll free for that answer." (Arsan) "Everyone will be freed after fulfilling all the requirements we''ll stipulate." (Akatosh) "..." (Lolth) "Then I hope the rest is as simple or this meeting will become much bloodier." (Arsan) His Aura was boiling with anger, he seemed at least willing to listen, but my eyes kept wandering to the woman beside him, she was silent as if nothing here had anything to do with her. "The second thing is you, all of you abandoning this universe now." (me) "If that''s what you want, then you already have your answer!" (Arsan) "We are superior to the Dragons, we do not retreat even in the face of death, I will not dishonor our hunt because of the purging of those weaklings who allowed themselves to be captured!" (Arsan) "Then everyone will die!" (me) "Are you ready for this?" (me) "Do it and let''s start the massacre of everyone in this universe before I personally advance to your universe with your head as well as Akatosh''s between my teeth!" (Arsan) We were all standing in the middle of nowhere, after several minutes a small field had already grown in this place and some trees were already beginning to rise for a few kilometers around us with some trees emerging. As soon as Arsan stood up, his Aura became bloodthirsty and his eyes glowed like those of a Predator ready to attack, his answer was not said in words but in actions, he would start attacking at any moment, I did not expect him to refuse right away on this issue, I thought he would agree to abandon this universe, it seems I was wrong, they do not accept backing down "Too hasty and reckless as always, why don''t we finish listening before making a decision? I''m sure these two issues have more to do with these two by your side, so tell me what this last requirement is and what Arsan has to gain besides recovering his family members." (Luci) "..." (me) "..." (Arsan) Chapter 1649: Cap 1647: Im making a bet I still can''t understand who this Luci is. The leader of the Anomalous Dragons confirmed that he was once one of them and they both claim that she is no longer an Anomalous Dragon. Just by feeling her Aura, as hard as it is to believe, there really are traces of the Anomalous Dragons'' power and yet she is clearly not an Anomalous Dragon. The worst of all is her intelligence. I notice how she is trying to force me to say certain things every time she opens her mouth and the rest of the time she remains silent as if she were just an observer. She noticed that the first two requirements are things related to the Anomalous Dragons. Lolth was indisputable about at least the Anomalous Dragons leaving permanently, something I can easily understand and agree with. As for Akatosh, as much as he wants to defeat the Anomalous Dragons, his most urgent concern will always be Baldr and, as I would suggest, he wanted to know more about his reasons for being in this universe. What I want is a little different from these two, I''m thinking about Davoth''s plan, after knowing the scale of the Ascendants and their incredible numbers, I can''t help but worry, honestly, they already have the ability to destroy our universe, having three Level 4 Ascendants their power is at least equal to that of my mother and Akatosh, even if we have more Gods with this level of power, they can compensate with the numbers of Level 3 Ascendants that are in the hundreds and the lower level ones can already be counted in the thousands, simply an overwhelming number. The more I think about it, the fewer plans I can form, and without the Ascendants being able to raise one of them to Level 5, that would be the same as leading us all to a certain defeat. Even if I don''t like Davoth, I can see the merit of his plan, I can see how much preparation and thought went into making such a plan possible as well as the time it took, he''s been preparing for a long time, my power can make this plan work and even so I still need to secure them, the Anomalous Dragons. I look at Arsan, he''s clearly enraged, but that''s just an act, in fact his gaze is calm and resolute, he won''t accept retreating from this universe and is trying to provoke us into showing our trap card before him, this shows that he''s still being cautious. "Luci, no matter what other requests they have, I won''t abandon the hunt, I won''t back down and that alone makes this meeting pointless." (Arsan) "Arsan, are you going to stay quiet and listen or will I have to move personally?" (Luci) "Would you side with them against the family?" (Arsan) "No, but I could do something for you, so stay seated, I want to hear more from the boy, especially what he can offer." (Luci) "(Zenos, be careful, she knows and is making it clear that she will act depending on what you are going to say.)" (Akatosh) "(I know.)" (me) "..." (Lolth) Lolth was bloodthirsty, it was clear that she was enraged, this meeting in one way or another will decide the fate of her universe and yet she has no say here, Arsan actively provokes her anger and Luci is simply ignoring her, this hurts her pride and increases her frustration. I put a hand under her arm to show that I''m on her side, but I feel the palm of my hand burning, she''s at her limit, but I can''t let her act and ruin everything I''ve prepared, the ritual isn''t ready yet, carrying that amount of power without being noticed by him isn''t something that can be done immediately like that. "Come on, talk... I didn''t come here just to listen to Arsan''s complaints." (Luci) "The third point would be your help in ending the Ascendants." (me) "..." (Luci) "..." (Arsan) "Heheehheheehehehe... hahahahaahahahaha... HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAHAHAHAHA..." (Luci) "That''s ridiculous..." (Arsan) Luci started laughing, it wasn''t a provocation or an act, she was truly mocking my words, her Aura showed how much she ridiculed my words and Arsan seemed to disregard everything I said as something nonsensical. "That can''t be all, can it?" (Luci) "You know, I''ve thought for a long time about some things, the powers of the Anomalous Dragons and the Ascendants are basically opposites." (me) "You Anomalous Dragons use the Anomalous power of the transformation type for destruction, by transforming the power of the Dragons that consume and destroy forming their power in its place, so you will never be true Dragons." (me) "The space you store inside your body is also in a constant state of destruction, it is slowly deteriorating, thus releasing the power of reality that you use, that is how you can use this power to travel between universes while still being able to use these spaces to store the excess energy you consume." (me) "Knowing this doesn''t change anything and correcting you, we are superior Dragons, in the food chain the predator is always above its food." (Arsan) "You yourself know that this is a lie, tell them Lolth, what a true Dragon is." (me) "Dragons are representations of power in themselves, we are the top in power since birth, strong bodies, strong resistance, immense energy storage capacity, total affinity to one or more elements, longer lives than any race, learning capacity limited only by our own personality and wisdom, we are the top in every aspect." (Lolth) "Even so, they only serve as food for us!" (Arsan) "You use a power that doesn''t come from you, so where does such arrogance come from when all this power is nothing more than something external and not truly yours?" (Akatosh) "You damn thing, you dare to speak like that in front of me!!!" (Arsan) "Calm down Arsan, you''re not completely wrong, so let them continue." (Luci) "What are you planning!?" (Arsan) "Just be quiet this time, let me hear it until the end." (Luci) "Continue... what does Arsan gain by helping...?" (Luci) "What do you gain? Isn''t your family enough?" (me) "I wouldn''t help a Dragon even if we were all going to die!" (Arsan) "That''s a shame..." (me) Suddenly I feel something trying to affect my mind, but it''s just a thought acceleration effect, I tried to resist, but it was useless, the other party''s mind was more powerful than mine. Suddenly everything seemed to stop around us, Akatosh, Lolth, Arsan and even my body or Luci''s seemed to be stopped in time, but my mind and hers were enormously accelerated as our minds formed a telepathic link. "(What did you do?)" (me) "(I know from your ritual, affecting the Soul directly is indeed a reasonable plan, but why should I allow it?)" (Luci) "(What are you going to do with the Anomalous Dragons to deal with the Ascendants? Enslave them?)" (Luci) "(Yes, controlling them is not that difficult as their bodies are mere armor, I do not need all their power, just their base ability.)" (me) "(You speak without fear of revealing the truth to me.)" (Luci) "(Aren''t you afraid that I will disrupt your plans? Arsan was my mate, the Anomalous Dragons are my children, why would you let them be used like this?)" (Luci) "(Because you want something, you didn''t separate from them for nothing, did you?)" (me) "(You didn''t come here out of concern for them either, you want something that you''ll only get here and from how much attention you''re giving me, it must be something I can provide, am I right?)" (me) "(You don''t seem to be an Anomalous Dragon either, not now at least, you found a way to change your race... so the most likely is that you wanted to do the same for them perhaps?)" (me) "(An interesting thought, but that means I won''t allow you to do anything bad to them, if you''re right about my intentions.)" (Luci) She doesn''t let on, what I did was just conjecture about what I observed, her no longer being an Anomalous Dragon was the most important factor, as far as I know the Anomalous Dragons used the Power of Chaos to gain Anomalous Power becoming what they are now, it shouldn''t be possible to reverse the process or transform into something different, but I know very well that the power of Chaos can transform everything, I''ve changed the race of many over the years over the years even Gods and Souls are no exception. Her paying attention to me must be because of my Chaos power and associating what my power can do as well as her own race change, that was the only answer I could come up with, I don''t see any other possibility at least and if I''m right, she won''t allow the Anomalous Dragons to die. "(Our time is limited, they''ll realize what I did soon if we don''t get back to normal, so I''ll be blunt, you''re right and that''s why I want to know what you''ll do to the Anomalous Dragons after dealing with the Ascendants?)" (Luci) "(I would have them destroyed with their Souls being taken back to the Reincarnation Circle.)" (me) "(That''s not enough, I want them together, with their memories, but I''m not against a rebirth, I know you have that ability, if you promise me that, I can help deal with the Ascendants.)" (Luci) "(Why would I trust you?)" (me) "(Because I could destroy all your plans right now if I want, but I''ll let you go ahead.)" (Luci) "(I won''t do anything now, I won''t help you deal with the Anomalous Dragons and Arsan, but I won''t stop you either until they''re killed.)" (Luci) "(I don''t understand, what if I decide to betray you later?)" (me) "(I''m making a bet, for the sake of my family... but first show me that you have some ability, I don''t want to raise my hands against them...)" (Luci) Suddenly I feel the thought acceleration effect disappearing, everything seems to increase speed little by little until it returns to normal, Arsan and the two Dragon Gods look at me strangely for a second, my eyes fixed on Luci. "I think that''s enough of this farce." (me) Chapter 1650: Cap 1648: Your Soul is weak "I think that''s enough of this farce." (me) With a command of my will, my true body rises from the shadow of the Avatar I was controlling, all the energy flows from it to the natural energy flow of this world, everything was done instantly. "< Curse of the Lady of the Void: Seal of the Serpent of Souls >" (Hinata) While my true body serves as a battery for this ritual, Hinata leaves my Avatar''s body and hits Arsan who attacks me without hesitation, just as I predicted, he doesn''t try to cut the connection or run away, he goes on the attack and with that he loses the opportunity to run. Hinata was in the form of a Translucent White Serpent with purple eyes, but suddenly she opens her mouth, letting a Serpent made of Starfire come out of it even faster, biting Arsan''s shoulder without leaving marks on his flesh but directly on his Soul. "< Unholy Eclipse Ritual: Submission of Souls >" (me) The entire Ritual expands and shines brightly in the skies for miles while thousands of magic circles emerge from the shadow of my true body, or in fact, from Tarzor. They are complementary magic circles to the ritual. I couldn''t prepare all of this now, so I had to make preparations in advance. All the magic circles fly through the sky at an absurd speed as they align themselves, forming a cone towards Arsan, who is immobilized, screaming in pain. His power begins to flow, destroying the space around him. It would be a problem if it continued, but now I''m done. All of this took only a few seconds, but now a flow of energy runs through the entire ritual as if it were pouring liquid energy through the magic cone before falling on Arsan. The Serpent that bit him reacts by setting the liquid energy on fire as if it were fuel, immersing the body of Arsan''s Avatar in Starfire. "< Unholy Eclipse Ritual: Eclipse Seal >" (me) The entire ritual suddenly turns into a great Eclipse, the skies darken as paths form as if connecting the stars like endless rivers, the universe tries to press against the Eclipse and I feel this weight fall like mountains on top of me, making me skip a few breaths as my progress collapses and my true body becomes paler from this negative reaction. But regardless of any damage I suffer, I do not stop for even milliseconds, my hands form dozens of symbols using Spiritual Power that condenses into a chain that attaches to my hand at one end while the other end wraps around the Stellar Flames where the Avatar of Arsan is. "You have little time." (Akatosh) "I know, hold on as long as you can." (me) "They''re here!" (Lolth) I look up at the sky as cracks, rifts, and tears in the fabric of space form in various places, then I feel my body being pulled into the illusory Eclipse while the chain in my hands becomes material, breaking my bones as it seems to try to tear me to pieces while heating up as if it had been in a fire for centuries. I endure all of this as my consciousness slowly falls into oblivion as I feel my Soul being sucked by the chains in my hand, wandering for an unknown period of time before reaching the other side. "What the hell is this!?" (me) ------------------- Pov Mavis (Life Entity): I was with my sister watching everything unfold, a foolish plan with so many flaws that not even Arsan was able to foresee it. "Has anyone ever tried to do something like this to Arsan?" (me) "Not that I can remember, but I''m pretty sure they did it on several occasions against other Anomalous Dragons." (Kalistos) "If it were with others, that would be fine, but Arsan and Luci are different, they were directly touched by the power of Chaos, their Souls were completely transformed, they are much stronger than the others." (me) "I should have told him that..." (me) "His decisions should come only from himself, that was his choice." (Kalistos) "What''s the point of this debate, we want to act and at the same time we are afraid, always trying to act even more reserved than our lives as Goddesses among the multiple universes." (me) "That''s the right thing to do when considering the balance, we don''t want to be like them." (Kalistos) "You''re acting well for now." (Reincarnation) Reincarnation suddenly appeared once again, but this time he was in the body of a newborn of the Gray Elf race, this means that his previous Incarnation died. "What happened to you?" (Kalistos) "I was caught in the middle of a Universal explosion and then attacked by Generals of the Abyss, I was chasing Fafinir." (Reincarnation) "Will the Mavis and Kalistos of this universe contact you?" (me) "Yes and as such I am aware of your conditions, so I will give this to you." (Reincarnation) I receive an even longer veil and I feel like it was woven by the threads of Life, I would recognize it anywhere and Kalistos received something similar, but she did not accept it immediately. "Don''t be too..." (Reincarnation) For a while I listened to what Reincarnation had to say along with Kalistos. ------------------ Pov Luci: I just stared at the boy as his Soul was ripped from his body by his own magic, being taken inside Arsan. "(If it had been his real body, it wouldn''t have worked, but it''s still true that foreseeing so much is an incredible feat for someone so young.)" (me) I could see many things, that was my power, seeing through even Souls, there is nothing that my eye cannot see, with the exception of the power of Chaos. He was a blind spot for me since I laid eyes on him, but what he was doing was not, I could see through his Avatar, but not in his shadow where he was, I could see the circulation of natural energy being altered, but I could not directly interfere with the power of nature. It was all a trap in the end, he couldn''t do anything against Arsan, so he forced a situation where neither of them should go personally knowing that both of them would be setting traps, what he wanted was only Arsan''s Soul, his Avatar is considerably weaker than his real body, his Soul and Will controlling the Avatar would be enough to give him access to his Soul. Ever since he accepted this meeting he was already in a Trap with no escape, Arsan always thought that enough power can overcome everything, but that made him careless, just like this young Chaos Bearer is also being careless in thinking that he can subdue Arsan''s Soul so easily. "(If Arsan wins I will have to steal the Boy''s power and use my trump card sooner than I imagined, but if the boy can do it...)" (me) The power of Chaos cannot be manipulated, only Chaos Bearers can do it for themselves, associating myself with him would be enough to save everyone, but the price would also be high. I close my eyes on the Avatar I was controlling while my true body appears outside of that planet where I see many portals opening in space, but the place where I was changes with the blink of my eyes, the space distorts as it appears in another location where an Ascendant with 3 luminous wings was standing. "I can''t let you interfere." (me) "< Gaze of Cosmic Containment >" (me) "Hhaaaaa..." A large vertical eye forms behind him, then it opens revealing arms covered in eyes that attach themselves to him, pulling him in without leaving anything behind. "That''s the most I''ll do, now let''s see who among you wins." (me) In the distance I saw my children appear first, they had been ready to invade for a long time, and I''m surprised they''ve waited so patiently until now. Soon the adversaries came, thousands of Dragons of all colors and shapes, it was a spectacle to behold, but it only infuriates my children to see it. The Anomalous Dragons'' instinct to destroy the true Dragons comes from their inability to become a Dragon, they are copies and at the same time failures of our attempt to become Dragons back then, a failure that cost us everything by condemning us in a sea of ??blood hunting to survive desperately trying not to see ourselves as victims, weak or failures. The pride of all of them comes from their inability to recognize what they truly are, it was this eternal denial that distorted Arsan so much from the prudent man he once was. "(I''m sorry, Arsan... but I can''t let such a rare opportunity pass me by...)" (me) -------------------- Pov Zenos: The other side I saw when I arrived was a void of pure darkness and yet it was as if reality was flashing with images of many hunts emerging in strange ways, they were scenes of bloody battles and many teeth chewing without rest. All that existed in this place were these scenes that fished one after the other and out of nowhere a large eye the size of a planet opened, its size was frightening when it focused on me. "I find it laughable that you dare try to dominate my Soul with such a ridiculous weakness as a soul!!" (Arsan) Chapter 1651: Cap 1649: What did you define as strength "I find it laughable that you dare try to dominate my Soul with such a ridiculous weakness as a soul!!" (Arsan) The Representation of his Soul was colossal, I was unable to contemplate its full size, colossal was already an understatement at this stage. But this was surprising, this is because I realized that this space was a representation created by the collision of our Souls, an intermediate space that cannot even be considered within his Soul. "You can say whatever you want, but the ritual has already been performed, you cannot block my entry." (Me) I go forward floating towards his eye, it was strange to fly towards an eye, but as soon as we came into contact it was like diving into an ocean. I could feel him trying to block me from entering, but this is not like the time I fought Yntra or how it happened with the Evil God in the past, I am not fighting the Soul of the enemy in front of me, this is because I have already invaded his Soul. All around me, darkness reigned, but little by little, ropes of light appeared as I advanced, these strands of light increased in number until they formed a tapestry of a landscape around me, an image of a house in the middle of a field with clouds of dust. Then suddenly it appeared as a metallic liquid running down part of the tapestry until it appeared in front of me forming only part of the head of a Dragon with immense murderous intent directed at me. "You played your cards well, knowing your weakness took away all possibility for me to fight." (Arsan) "I am not ashamed to admit the strength of my enemies, I am not capable of fighting you physically and I could not take risks this time." (me) "You traveled through many universes and fought against many types of Dragon, I could not take the risk of fighting against your Soul." (me) "This ritual has always been to subdue your Soul from within, corrupt your Soul with a Curse of control, the only issue is how deep I can reach with these Curses in your Soul which will dictate my level of control over you." (me) Around me the Curse was already beginning to spread, part of the tapestry was already slightly scorched while the Starfire spread more slowly as a representation of my Curse. There was nothing to do, I do not choose the form of the Curse or my Soul, they are things more instinctive than a thought, the Starfire is something that has become a symbol of my power while my body has become its Dragon form in this place. "Do you really think I will allow you to stay here? This is still my Soul!!" (Arsan) "So resist or not, this is the most you can do, but you can no longer fight like you did before." (me) Her anger becomes more apparent as her liquid metal body seems to bubble, provoking strong emotions and especially if they are negative it only benefits me since it makes it easier for the Curse to spread. This is similar to when I performed Adella''s rebirth, in her case I performed a purification on her Soul by getting rid of her dark emotions from past traumas consuming her sanity, but now I am doing the opposite, I am corrupting a Soul with a Curse of submission. "(Master... over there...)" (Hinata) I feel my hand suddenly heat up, when I lift it I see a White Serpent with closed eyes wrapped around my wrist with an Eclipse symbol shining on the back of my hand. This Serpent is Hinata''s mark who placed her seal on Arsan''s Soul while the Eclipse symbol represents the ritual that I control. "(I''m too shallow... I need to go deeper.)" (me) "Arsan, this fight was never about who''s stronger, how does it feel to see all your power being useless?" (me) "Arrogant boy!!!" (Arsan) As I speak, I start swimming and remember that I have no legs, changing from my human form straight to the Dragon form like that left me a little disoriented and no matter how much I provoke Arsan, his resistance is not as useless as I say, I feel the whole time a great weight on top of me as if it were crushing my mind or as if something was squeezing my heart, the power inside his Soul is almost acid to my own Soul, only the Will is preventing my Soul from becoming that being corrupted. Spreading my wings and heading in the direction the White Serpent pointed, I feel as if I''ve teleported, the threads, ropes and tapestry are left behind as endless statues reveal themselves from the darkness as if I were in a museum. These statues are all of Dragons of different types being devoured, it didn''t take a genius to understand what I was seeing here, not when I could feel the emotions contained in each of these statues which are satisfaction, pleasure, satiety, happiness, hunger, pride and accomplishment. Strangely each of these statues had no name, the plaques at the bottom were all blank or worn away by time. "You will join them, but one among many..." (Arsan) Arsan in his liquid metal form seems to be unaffected by gravity or anything like that in this place, it''s not like those things actually exist within a Soul, but the way he moves still causes me discomfort. These were the Dragons that Arsan had devoured, it was clear to me, they were displayed here as if it were a trophy room, an exhibition of everything that had been accomplished. "So this is what you''re proud of? Defeated opponents?" (me) "Opponents? Hahahaahaha..." (Arsan) "There were never any Opponents among them, this is a menu of the best flavors I''ve ever tasted, some were so delicious that they made me salivate even today just remembering them." (Arsan) "(Touch...)" (Hinata) "..." (me) Hinata seemed to know what to do and where to go better than I did, as soon as I touched one of the statues it was as if I had spread seeds that grew into vines, leaves and flowers all red with blood. These plants had not only spread across one statue but were also spreading across the others while the statues themselves seemed to crack as they were rapidly wearing away. This made the entire space tremble as a red mist slowly formed around it, I could feel the Eclipse mark on my hand burning more intensely than before causing a deep pain as if it were a backlash against what I was doing to Arsan. "(This didn''t happen to Adella, what the hell is this!!!)" (me) I just had to concentrate better to realize, Anomalous Power. Everywhere my sense spread was like seeing an Apocalypse, if everything I was seeing was built on top of a ruined land, the air was toxic, the environment deteriorated on its own and the space itself seemed to collapse in on itself. That was his Soul, but it seemed to be in a constant state of destruction by the Anomalous power and as it corrupted his Soul I was also being affected as if I was touching acid each time. "What, can''t handle a little destruction!?" (Arsan) "..." (me) As if he had realized what was happening to me, Arsan wraps himself around me, but he can''t touch me. Starfire covers my body, pushing him away. Even so, without caring, he avoids the flames as his body seems to expand, with his head inches from my face. "I''m fine, it''s not the first time my Soul has been hurt and these scratches are insignificant, but you can''t say the same, can you?" (me) "You can act strong all you want, but my Soul is strengthened by all the Dragons I''ve devoured, their Souls have become food for me, just as you will be." (Arsan) "(Behind...)" (Hinata) The Serpent on my wrist turns its head back and I realize that it was the same direction that Arsan was covering with his liquid form. It seems that he was trying to redirect me to another direction in his Soul and he would have succeeded if it weren''t for me having a guide. "WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU''RE GOING!?" (Arsan) I turned around and started walking backwards, the flames around me pushing Arsan''s liquid metal form away as if it were a barrier as he walked, he tried to stop me but was only dragged along with me, while the Eclipse on the back of my hand burned even more intensely as if my hand was being melted. Crack!! I soon felt something break as I passed through the darkness disappeared, what was shown was a land bathed in blood, Dragon bones forming mountains or scattered everywhere, pieces of metal rising above the bones or the surface of the blood as if they were parts of scattered armor, it was a place of pure north and destruction, but there was something beyond that, power. In the skies a mass of pure power formed in the form of a Dragon as it flew among the stars of the sky as if ignoring the devastation that existed down here. "This is your power!? Why do all I see are remains!? What has your power ever created!? What has this power given you besides hunger and destruction!!?" (me) "Power is not the means, it is the goal... only power can speak loudly among all existence!!" (Arsan) "That''s why I am strong while you resort to tricks and luck to have a chance against me!!!" (Arsan) "Your definition of strength is a joke!" (me) Luck was something I never had, I never counted on something like this, my entire plan was based on the arrogance and pride they have thinking they are the top of the food chain. "Strength cannot be stolen from others, it comes from you, it is acquired with your Will and not by stealing power from others!!!" (me) Now I understand what I was seeing, looking up, the Dragon made of the mass of accumulated power was flying between the stars destroying everything in its path, but as it destroys everything, the blood and bones of this place are used to repair the damage caused, it is constantly healing its Soul using the remains of the Souls of the Dragons it devoured because its Soul as well as its body cannot support the power it possesses, that is why its hunger is never satisfied, if it stops eating not only will its body die, its own Soul will be destroyed. "You never understood what strength is!!!" (me) Chapter 1652: Cap 1650: No! This place is the space of his Soul where his power is represented, so each part of his Soul that I saw had some meaning, with the previous one being the food conquests that marked him, which leaves only one question. What was that landscape shown in the tapestry that I saw first of all? I don''t have the context to understand, but it''s certainly something that marked him and represents him in some way. "(A stolen strength... where am I so different from him...?)" (me) Suddenly I started thinking about my ability to devour other living beings and thus obtain their Skills, Bloodlines and other things. This ability of mine is not so different from what Arsan does in Devouring Dragons, I really am a big hypocrite, aren''t I? This thought crossed my mind for milliseconds before being discarded, that''s because I never cared about being a hypocrite, as they say, the blame is not on the sword for killing, but on the one who wields the sword to kill. My ability to devour doesn''t matter, it''s my criteria of who to devour, I''ve never done this with anyone innocent, it''s always been despicable people or monsters who were attacking me. "Since you want to taste a part of me so much, why don''t I give you exactly what you asked for...?" (me) I look at the blood, bodies and pieces of metal, this place was only missing fire along with chains to be a classic image of hell. The Dragon made of the mass of his energy and power was still flying between the skies with the stars around him always repairing everything that was being destroyed continuously. I raised my palm where the Eclipse mark was flashing with a bright light, then I cut my palm with my claws, letting the blood flow out and fall into the ocean of blood that surrounded me, but I smiled as I saw an Eclipse forming in the sky next to the Dragon of Power who stopped to look at the Eclipse that was constantly shaking as if it would break at any moment, this was the corruption being represented here. The blood that I dropped into this sea of ??blood was not true blood since this was not my true body, it was energy that came from my Soul, energy contaminated by the power of the Apocalypse and Chaos that corrupts, transforming everything through the Curse. In this place where not everything is Arsan''s power, where the energy, power and traces of the Soul of those he once Devoured are still stored, this place became the best point of corruption, he could protect his Soul and resist corruption, but he could not do anything with what did not belong to his Soul. As the Eclipse in the sky became less and less illusory, its flaming light seemed to distort the space around it, the Dragon formed from the mass of power tried to collide with the Eclipse as if trying to destroy it, but all it managed to do was hurt its own Soul more and more, forming holes that were slowly being healed, making the damage accumulate, I just smiled seeing this, his fight was hurting him more than doing anything to me. Even so, I still felt the pain from these collisions, pain in my Soul from the effect of the Ritual being connected to me. Looking around, I noticed that some bones were gaining black veined patterns while some areas of the sea of ??blood seemed to move more on their own, it didn''t take long for the bones marked by the powers of black veins to move among themselves, joining together in bodies made of different bones that drag themselves into the ocean of blood that shines brightly with each one that dives. Soon the calm sea of ??blood became turbulent as these Bone Dragons rose from the sea, now they were different, their bones became an external armor as if it were an exoskeleton while the inside was a liquid mass of blood forming the majority of their bodies, they were an allusion to the Anomalous Dragons themselves in their appearance, a bit ironic. These Dragons of Bone and Blood swam in the sea of ??blood with effort as if the sea of ??blood itself was trying to resist them, so they collided or tried to bite the pieces of metal that rose everywhere in this place as if trying to break these things, with that both in the God and here corruption had already settled and when I looked at Arsan in his liquid metal form, he did not seem to writhe in pain. "I guess you can''t pay attention to me anymore, can you?" (me) "Where to now, Hinata?" (me) "(Down... there...)" (Hinata) The White Serpent on my wrist lowers its head in a slightly tilted direction, I follow its directions diving into the sea of ??blood I was standing in until now, then I realized the reason why Dragons of Bone and Blood have such difficulty swimming, the current always seemed to go against the direction I tried to go and the sea itself felt very heavy as if it was trying to impede my movements, it was really hard to move, the place that restricted me the most until now is even so I forced my advance without pause. I swam in the blood for several minutes, going lower and in a direction that led to the lowest part of one of those metal structures. Behind it, I found what looked like a lake of crystal clear water reflecting a yellow sun with a ring around it. The Serpent was pointing there and so on until I dived into that place. ----------------- This time it was different. I didn''t feel a quick movement. It was as if I was in a tunnel going through a long path. I was a little disoriented and confused while I still felt the weight on top of me growing more and more. I could feel as if there were invisible claws trying to hold me down or tear my body to pieces. The flames around me swayed more and more furiously as the Eclipse symbol on my hand flashed for the first time. It was at that moment that I felt like I had arrived somewhere, stopping my movement for the first time as I realized I was rising above a lake in the middle of a ruined city. "Where am I?" (me) I looked around, there was a large Dragon statue in the center of the lake where I was, this lake was in the middle of the ruins of the city, where exactly I didn''t know, but the Dragon statue was majestic, it was made of metal and extremely detailed, it was so vivid that it was as if this majestic Dragon could come to life at any moment. The rest of the city was in ruins as if it had been destroyed a few days ago, buildings were toppled, some with claw marks while others had holes through their structures, the smell of blood was permeating the air and just by smelling it I could identify two races, the first being the humans whose concentration of blood in the air was the highest while the second race seemed to be the Dragonewt. It was strange to be here, that''s because a feeling took over this entire place, a feeling of weakness and an absurd desire for power, an insatiable hunger for power, but these desires and emotions were not mine, I only felt them in this place, so they were Arsan''s. Suddenly I feel something and look at the ruins, on top of one of the buildings there was an extremely thin man whose face I couldn''t see, but from the silhouette he seemed to be Human, he was looking at the statue and his eyes were fanatical, an endless desire was in his eyes before he turned those same eyes to me, that''s when his voice seemed to travel to me directly. "You think you can make me submit!? A mere Dragon thinks he can CONTROL me!?" (Arsan) "What you want doesn''t matter, more than half of your Soul has already been taken by the Curse and even now it still spreads." (me) As I spoke, my shadow stretches before a Dark Dragon rises, the Power of the Demonic Apocalypse emanating from him as his horns grow larger than mine and his eyes turn flaming red. This Dark Dragon coiled around the statue as the cloudless sky where the Sun was was taken over by the darkness of night as if it had been stained little by little until nothing of the day remained, only a moonless starry sky was left, the stars were red and frightening. The man who was standing on one of the ruined buildings looked enraged, drops of what looked like liquid metal floating around him gathering above him forming a Dragon''s head like before as he spoke causing this entire place to tremble. "Do you really think you''ll get what you want?" (Arsan) Something had changed, his fury didn''t seem to diminish, but his voice lowered its tone, his eyes became more focused as the ruined city seemed to melt with drops of liquid metal rising above it as I felt the space of this entire place vibrate. "I have killed and devoured many Dragons!" (Arsan) "I have traveled through many universes without hindrance, leading many hunts!" (Arsan) "I have been alive for countless years bathing in the blood of Dragons and you think you can control me!?" (Arsan) "..." (me) "(Ali...)" (Hinata) This place is already being corrupted too, I won''t stay here listening to him and waiting for whatever he''s trying to do, I look at the Serpent pointing towards the head of the metallic Dragon statue, then I see the space inside its jaw tremble. "You are NOT going ANYWHERE else!!!" (Arsan) "Urgh!!" (me) I tried to fly to the mouth of the Dragon statue, but as soon as I got there I felt a barrier that pushed me back into the lake, the weight of gravity increased as space trembled and when I looked around I saw that more than half of all the ruins of this city had already melted into liquid metal that floated to form Arsan''s malformed body who looked at me with great resentment. I tried harder to get past the blockade, but I was repelled once again and this time I could feel the bubbling will in him emerging along with his emotions, the human body that I saw in the distance was no longer there swallowed up like most of the ruins by the liquid metal. "I SAID NO!!!!!" (Arsan) "You still think you can go against me!!" (me) "What would someone who never knew what strength meant understand about my WILL!!!" (me) This time I don''t try to force my way through, I start to float towards that Dragon''s mouth, I feel the resistance of this place against me, but my Will transforms out of me like stars around me, an Eclipse forming behind me as I push myself without any thought of retreat. I feel his blows against me and continue advancing until the opening that Hinata points to me, then arriving there I force myself to advance as my body breaks and burns, pain means nothing to me as I advance with a will that knows no impediment. "NOOOOO!!!!" (Arsan) "Aaaahhhh!!!!" (me) I pass through the blockage and advance my hands deep into his Soul, this time I feel as if I have truly dove into liquid metal as his Will clashes with mine as I am immersed so deep inside him. Chapter 1653: Cap 1651: Protect Zenos Pov Hades: It was a mess as soon as I passed through the portal, there was already an Anomalous Dragon in front of me with its claws pointed in my direction, there simply wasn''t enough time for me to react when I felt a strong pain in my chest as the tip of its claws slipped through my hands as they penetrated my chest. I didn''t stay still because of fear but because of a power that flowed from the claw invading my body it was as if I had been frozen from the inside out, this brief time lasted less than 2 seconds which was more than enough time for its teeth to approach me. "Bastard!!" (me) "< Eclipse Magic: Inverted Space Flow >" (me) When he was almost reaching me suddenly a magic circle formed behind me and the space around me immediately reversed directions, this made the Anomalous Dragon''s body fly backwards at the same crazy speed as it approached me. "Free at last..." (me) I finally had time to breathe and used that time to light the Starfire on myself, the power that was affecting me to leave me immobilized was slowly being destroyed with energy being released to the surroundings. "Hades, upon you!" (Xagar) "< Wings of the Night >" (me) I didn''t have time to use a spell with an enemy in front of me and another that I hadn''t noticed, so I used a skill, my wings immediately open revealing a starry sky inside them, as soon as I flap my wings my entire body moves backwards with the space behaving like the waters of a lake and rippling in different directions as I move. The enemy in front of me had difficulty reaching me while I was moving away, that''s when I saw the second enemy have his movement delayed by the ripple of space while his body seemed to blend in with the space around him. Xagar was busy with another enemy further away, but he realized what was happening. Even though he still didn''t have complete control of his own power, he still had control over the battlefield due to his long experience as a warrior combined with his senses as a Herald. He should train with him in the future to help him as a thank you later. "Do you think you can kill me with just the two of you!?" (me) "< Divine Eclipse Magic: Eclipse Blood >" (me) "< Claws of Domination >" "< Spatial Anomalous Movement >" The first and second enemies didn''t even say anything to each other, but their movements complemented each other as they advanced at the same time. The second enemy seemed to swim in space using his wing-like limbs while the first enemy seemed to come after him, taking advantage of his companion to increase his speed, quickly reaching me. His claws glowed yellow, but just as he was about to hit me, I put one of my wings in front and his claw sinks into the star-filled space on my wings as if passing through a portal while blood leaked from the space between my scales on my arms becoming thorns to pierce the hole they have as eyes. "Haaa!!!" "I''ll get you!!!" "(Use this...)" (Karina) "< Divine Chaos Magic: Star Devourer Seal >" (me) Suddenly I feel something come to me, it was Divine power that came from Kalina doubling my power while a magic appeared in my mind, I didn''t even hesitate knowing what Karina was doing. Using the Divine Power of my body along with the one that arrived the most, a sphere of Dark power forms in front of me from where several long bodies of Starfire Vein Leeches extend covering the two enemies that are pulled inside. I feel the two enemies fight inside the energy sphere that gradually takes the shape of an Eclipse and suddenly Karina appears next to me touching the sphere when I feel the two enemies stop fighting. "Their power will help maintain the seal while they are corroded, help the others along with me while we defend Zenos." (Karina) "With pleasure." (me) Looking around there were still many enemies, the entire planet was surrounded, but just like me there were many defending the planet not letting anyone get close. Karina didn''t need to explain to me what she wanted to do. Anomalous Dragons are hard to defeat, they are not easy opponents to kill, but they can be Sealed with difficulty. Only the Power of Chaos and Anomalous have a chance of performing the Seals capable of Sealing them. That''s why she came to me and I know she doesn''t want to fight the enemies directly. She wants us to help finish off the enemies already in combat by sealing them. ------------------- Pov Samara: I knew this plan was horrible. It''s already a miracle that he managed to invade Arsan''s Soul, but being there isn''t as good as he thinks. The Souls of the Anomalous Dragons are in a constant state of decay, which could affect him. Not to mention that Arsan is not like the other Anomalous Dragons. As far as I know, he is one of the founders. I''m not sure how far his powers go or what is hidden in his Soul. This plan has many loose ends left to chance. Not to mention that, just as I expected, the master was left completely vulnerable having to deal with his ritual while we have to defend him from thousands of Anomalous Dragons. This is insanity, even with all the Dragons we brought added to the Dragons of this universe, this is a monumental task that could go wrong in so many ways that it is ridiculous to think about. "< Divine Profane Magic: Chains of the Omega Star >" (me) Behind me the space breaks as lines of power flow invade my body running through my arms and reaching the chains on my wrists that pulse with power while a flow of energy invades the chains making them shine. Without hesitation I swing the chains where a portal had just opened causing it to collapse, I felt the Aura of the Anomalous Dragons coming from there and I couldn''t let it get to me as I advanced towards another that had an almost humanoid shape descending from the sky. "< Fist of the Void >" "< Unholy Seal: Omega Star >" (me) He descends towards us, his fist growing as he forms a space in the middle where a black hole devours space itself as he descends. I smile at his naivety as I send my chains that coil into a conical shape taking his entire arm while a blast of energy comes out from behind me from the Omega Star forming vein patterns on the Anomalous Dragon''s metallic body as my chain spreads through his body absorbing him into itself. "(That was tough...)" (me) "Take it!" (Arash) "< Unholy Seal: Omega Star >" (me) As soon as I had finished dealing with an enemy, Arash, Nix''s father, appears falling while holding with his entire body an enemy that was piercing the side of his body and biting his neck, without waiting half a second he was already executing the same technique as before, the power of the omega star explodes once again in a ray of energy that encompasses the two, affecting only the enemy while the chains on my arm advance towards him, the power of the omega star is absorbed by the chain while dragging the enemy that was equally absorbed while trying to fight. "There are 6 coming down!" (me) "Damn! I can''t handle that many!" (Arash) "(What do I do...)" (me) At most I can handle 2 and the same should be true for Arash, at most he could handle 3 and that would only be a maybe, but that would still leave one to be stopped, while we were in doubt, Zenos'' shadow extended and a large Dragon head appeared opening its jaws while 6 crystallized tree branches flew out. It all happened very quickly and the branches seemed to cross space itself as if opening a portal, they hit the 6 Anomalous Dragons from different directions before pulling them into Tarzor''s mouth who was quickly being pushed back into Zenos'' shadow by the universe. All of this happened in seconds, but we didn''t have time to think about anything else when 3 more enemies were coming down, these were much larger than the previous 6 and clearly stronger. "This is going to be tough!" (me) ----------------- Pov Niryna: I saw everyone fighting, I wanted to participate and help as much as I could, but for some reason Callidora forced me to go through a portal saying it was the best she could do. I don''t understand where she was taking me, but suddenly I see two large Anomalous Dragons in front of me, behind them there was an even larger Dragon surrounded by drops of dark gray metal. "Why did you come here!?" "..." (me) "Where is the original''s seal?" (Callidora) "We know who you are and we also know that you won''t interfere, so leave!" "What will you do when Arsan is captured?" (Callidora) "Hand over the Seal now and maybe part of you still has a chance..." (Callidora) "Such a predictable move... I expected more from you." (Luci) A large eye opened above me and the two Anomalous Dragons looked at it seriously, then Callidora seemed surprised as she looked at him too, it seemed to be the same person I saw talking to Zenos at the meeting who called himself Luci, I was spying along with Callidora. "Are you really going to interfere?" (Callidora) "If Arsan is not in condition, you know what will happen, you know what the truth is..." (Callidora) "Whatever has to happen, will happen..." (Luci) "I see... this will be interesting... hahahaha..." (Callidora) "(What''s going on?)" (me) "(We''re done here, go back and help your Father defend himself, we came here for nothing, but at least I discovered something interesting.)" (Callidora) "(Are you going to tell me what just happened?)" (me) "(No, but you''ll find out sooner or later, everyone will find out.)" (Callidora) I wanted to know more, but I was seeing the Anomalous Dragons looking at me with murderous intent, I look at them one last time before doing the same with the large eye that appeared out of nowhere above me, then I go back through the portal from where I came out appearing outside the orbit of the Planet where Zenos was. Chapter 1654: Cap 1652: Ship of Theseus Paradox Pov Tarzor: I stand in Zenos'' shadow watching the explosions, energy beams and silhouettes seen across the sky, my senses were now being more strongly restricted by having interfered more directly with this universe, he noticed my presence more strongly. "(I should have waited longer...)" (me) "Can''t you at least do it one more time?" (Freya) "No, if the rejection of this universe increases more than this, then we may be sent out of the universe with Zenos being dragged along." (me) "I''m not as restricted as you, I can see what''s happening out there and the situation isn''t good at all." (Freya) "They can''t hold much longer." (Freya) "I know, but my claws are tied." (me) I was in doubt about what to do next, but there was nothing left but to wait, the magic circles inside me had already been used, leaving nothing else for me to use. I could use my skills, techniques and magic once if necessary, but I was afraid of affecting this universe too much and being expelled anyway, taking Zenos with me, putting us in a difficult situation. "Stop worrying so much, it''s been a while, Zenos shouldn''t take much longer to finish." (Freya) "They''re barely able to hold off the Anomalous Dragons, they''re clearly stronger individually and know how to coordinate with each other, if it weren''t for Akatosh and the woman called Lolth, we would have already lost." (me) In the distance it was easy to see the two great Dragons fighting, even though they were far from the planet their colossal size was apparent and their enemies were not weak at the same time that they were also in greater numbers, the two are clearly also facing difficult times. "Zenos, you need to wake up now!" (me) I look at Zenos, the magic in his clothes and the Power of Reality that I am using around him are vibrating trying to protect him from the universe that has increased its resistance against us, but his Aura is also in turbulence all the time. ------------------ Pov Zenos: When I opened my eyes I was in the middle of a strange place, it took me a while to understand what was around me, it was a place with many columns made of metal covered in diagrams that I don''t understand and there was no ceiling, above there was only a sky covered in cracks where masses of energy seemed to flow like multicolored rivers in the sky. This space had a floor made of metal as well as the columns around it, the floor had diagrams that resembled magic circles arranged as if it were some kind of circuit board. There were also cylinder-like glass chambers in various places filled with masses of energy, there were crystal spheres floating above empty wells and in one place right in the middle of it all, there was a sphere of liquid metal that moved as if there was something inside it trying to break free, a strange Aura emerging from its interior to the point that I understood exactly what it was and at the same time understood what this entire space was. "Anomalous Power... this is the place that represents its core." (me) "You really are a thorn in my side." (Arsan) "Are you Arsan...?" (me) The one who approached me was a human, his skin was pale white to the point that I wasn''t sure if he had ever felt the sun beating down on his body. His entire body was thin, his hair was disheveled reaching his shoulders and with an uncut brown beard like his hair, his eyes were slightly greenish while a scar runs down the side of his face down his throat to lower, his clothes almost look like those of a scientist, normal clothes of dark long pants, black shoes and a beige shirt with a long white coat going almost to the floor. His appearance vaguely matches the humanoid form I saw on top of the ruined buildings earlier, I would have a hard time associating this person with Arsan if this wasn''t his Soul. "No more resistance?" (me) "There''s no need, there''s nothing more you can do against me." (Arsan) "..." (me) I felt the certainty in his statement and looked around, I tried to corrupt this place, but I wasn''t able to, it wasn''t a question of power, Will or anything like that, it was a simple impossibility, this place was already in constant change, this was no longer just his Soul, this place was at the center of his Soul and I finally understood where I was. "I see... this place is your existence, the spark that represents your whole contained within your Soul." (me) "Yes, you can''t do anything here, not even you as the Bringer of Chaos can transform something that is perpetually in a state of transformation." (Arsan) I understand this, I have learned many things to date and I understand a little more about Souls than most, mainly through the study of my own Soul. Unlike the Soul itself, which serves as a container, existence is something in constant change, simply by existing it is already changing and when it stops changing it is because it no longer exists, that is, it has been destroyed or consumed by something. It exists or it does not exist, as long as it exists it will always be in infinite change, this is the core of each existence. "If that is true, then there was no reason for you to be so against my progress thus far." (me) "Just having you inside my Soul is already an insult to everything I am, having you here is humiliating to say the least." (Arsan) "You seem very calm for someone humiliated." (me) Something was wrong, he was very calm and it did not seem like what I expected, something was definitely wrong. I looked around and noticed something, besides what was clearly his Anomalous core, there was nothing that seemed like his Existence other than... "You are not him... who are you?" (me) "I am Arsan, there is no mistake here." (Arsan) "No, you are different, your presence and even your personality are different." (me) "..." (Arsan) He smiles as if I had told a joke, but I knew he was right, his presence is similar, but clearly different, there was no primal hunger or the ever-present murderous intent that I felt before with Arsan, he was calm and his eyes were focused as if trying to understand me, these are the eyes of a scholar who always seeks to understand everything within his reach, I have seen many like this in my old life as well as in this life. These are not the eyes of the ancient hunter who sees himself at the top of the food chain, there are many small inconsistencies that I can only notice because I have traveled through his Soul, but I am certain that he is not Arsan. "Who are you and where are we!?" (me) "I told you, I am Arsan and this is the place of my central existence, that was not a lie." (Arsan) "..." (me) I look around, but I can''t see where the representation of his Existence would be, I also couldn''t corrupt anything here no matter how much I kept trying. "I am existence itself, you don''t have to look too hard, no matter how much it is constantly changing the base is always the same." (Arsan) "Perhaps it would be better to say that I am the core of Arsan and the only constant left of him." (Arsan) "What are you saying?" (me) "Do you know the concept of changing something so much until nothing of the original is left?" (Arsan) "For example, a house made of bricks, if I keep changing all the bricks in the house, one at a time over days, weeks, months and years until not a single brick remains of the original house, it still looks the same, it''s in the same place and it feels exactly the same, but it''s still the same house?" (Arsan) "..." (me) "The paradox of the ship of Theseus..." (me) "Ohh... you understand what a Paradox is..." (Arsan) "Yes, a Paradox, something that doesn''t look different and yet is different." (Arsan) "You''ve seen my Soul this far, so you must understand." (Arsan) "..." (me) I remember what I saw until I got here, Arsan''s Soul is powerful, abnormally powerful to the point that if it weren''t for my Will it would be impossible for this plan to work since my Soul is much weaker than his. But I also saw it, his Soul is in constant decay, his power destroys his soul and he uses the Souls of those he consumed to heal his Soul, a constant state of destruction and healing. If this continued throughout his life, then by now there would be nothing left of the original Soul, but if there was nothing left of his Soul, then this one in front of me. "I see, you are the original." (me) "Not exactly, I am also him, as I said before, I am constantly changing, but I do not stop being what I once was, but my Soul has already discarded everything it was until only the Hunter you face now remains." (Arsan) "That''s why he wanted to stop me, he didn''t want me to see you." (me) "No, he didn''t want to admit his own weakness, as I said before, it is humiliating that you are here." (Arsan) "But I am grateful, because you are here I have the ability to express myself in a different way by the counterpoint of having a second entity in contact." (Arsan) "Speaking, communicating, moving, are concepts that exist here only while you are here, this and the other spaces are created as representations by your presence, when you leave they will cease to exist again just as I will return only to exist." (Arsan) "You want something." (me) "Yes, I do, but you have already accomplished it." (Arsan) He points upwards, the crack in the sky emits a presence different from his, that was not Arsan, that was something else. "My self lost the true key, but now it has achieved it thanks to you, unfortunately your goal of controlling me would never succeed." (Arsan) "I do not obey anyone!" (Arsan) Chapter 1655: Cap 1653: Second chance and determination Pov Luci: I was just outside watching, stopping that thing was as easy as I expected, Hell doesn''t have much freedom within the Universes and its interest is always fickle, just like I heard. "Now I just hope everything goes as it seemed, I''m not sure if the real key was with Arsan, it was just an optimistic assumption." (me) As soon as I arrived at this meeting it was easy to see their plan, few things can hide from my eyes, but I was tempted to interfere. Leaving Arsan so vulnerable bothers me, even though I know he needs to be stopped, I don''t like having his Soul at the mercy of someone unknown. "You broke your agreement, Luci." (Mavis) "Life..." (me) Suddenly a Dragon appears next to me, its body radiating comforting light and heat, its majestic presence was full of infinite Vitality while its body was of magnificent beauty. "I did nothing but observe..." (me) "Don''t try to argue, do you think we didn''t notice what you did?" (Kalistos) "Death..." (me) Just like the previous Dragon, another one of them appears, this one was as beautiful as the previous one, but its scales were shiny in the darkness between the stars, its presence promising an end that embraces the street and as always the presence of the two blends when interacting as if they were complementary. "..." (me) "You interfered in the meeting, strengthened the Chaos Bringer Ritual and also interfered with Arsan''s Seal." (Mavis) "(So the real Seal really was with him just as I thought... so the real key...)" (me) "What you did will not pass this time, you made a promise and broke the rules." (Kalistos) "You have 3 choices, pay with your eye, pay with Arsan''s head or hand over what was granted to you." (Mavis) "Wait! I can''t give that back, I already used it in my transformation!" (me) "Then I guess that leaves two options for you." (Kalistos) "I need the eye, I can''t give it up when I''m so close..." (me) "What you want is none of our business, you broke our agreement, you shouldn''t support the Anomalous Dragons in their incursions into new universes." (Mavis) "But here you are interfering with the defenders of this universe and helping to free someone even worse than Arsan." (Kalistos) "What I''m doing is to stop the Anomalous Dragons!" (me) "If he is freed, can you guarantee that you''ll be able to stop him?" (Mavis) "Can you guarantee the safety of this universe and its defenders who would be fine without your interference?" (Kalistos) "Can you promise that you''ll be able to stop all the Anomalous Dragons with your plan?" (Mavis) "I can promise..." (me) "Don''t make promises you can''t keep again or next time I may put the price for failing to fulfill your agreements in the Souls of the Anomalous Dragons." (Kalistos) "Your promises have lost their value with your attempt to circumvent the rules you promised yourself, there will be no more agreements." (Mavis) "(They came too quickly and the price is even higher than I expected... I can''t pay any of this now or the whole plan will no longer have meaning.)" (me) Things were bad, it wasn''t the Dragon Goddesses I feared, I knew better about them to know that they are just Avatars of their own creation, they are beings that I can''t even fully understand, much less go against if they are using their Authority above this universe as they are doing now. "Wait, wait, wait... I can do whatever you want, anything, just don''t look at me or do anything against Arsan!" (me) "As I said, your wishes don''t matter and you gave us the premise to act." (Mavis) "If you don''t choose, I will choose in your place, you have 20 seconds to decide." (Kalistos) "(No, this can''t end like this, I need the eye and I can''t lose Arsan when I''m so close to saving him!!)" (me) "(Think Luci! Think!!!)" (me) It''s been a long time since I felt this scared, the last time was the day I became an Anomalous Dragon, the fear and despair that took me to that moment are unforgettable, I never thought I would feel such a horrible moment again. My mind was working at its maximum, I knew that trying to argue or beg would be impossible, my destruction would already be guaranteed if it weren''t for the mercy of the Incarnation of Life and there was nothing that could stop the Incarnation of Death from achieving what they were willing to reach out their hands to. The only thing I could do was offer something more valuable, but what is considered valuable has always been subjective to each individual and those in front of me saw few things as valuable to the point that I couldn''t think of any in such a long time. Even if I had thought of something, as they said, I really tried to disguise our agreement, I knew it was a risky bet, but I didn''t expect such an immediate and aggressive reaction, I bet too high, I rushed because I was so close and I was cornered by my decisions. "(Wait, there''s something I can...)" (me) "Your time is up, keep your eye on me, I''ll take Arsan with me, I''ll make him a Death Guardian..." (Kalistos) "Wait!! I can offer something better!!" (me) "As said, your credibility has been lost and your very life is saved by not doing anything over the top, don''t abuse my compassion." (Mavis) "I know how to stop the Ascendants from reaching level 5!" (me) "..." (Mavis) "..." (Kalistos) "We give you the opportunity to speak!" (Mavis/Kalistos) Suddenly their presences blend completely as their eyes deepen, they are not just a part of a whole now, their entire consciousness has been focused through these two Avatars. Just as I thought, they ablaze those who break their concepts and the Anomalous Dragons are but minor problems in their eyes compared to the Ascendants who spread like a disease even in their lack of strength. "(I didn''t want to resort to this... but I have no choice.)" (me) The weight I feel now is as if I am being judged, my body and Soul tremble as if they will break before those eyes, I can''t even look directly at them and I close my eyes before I lose my vision. "I know how Vecna ??plans to advance and I know where he will do it, I also know how to stop him from completing it." (me) "Your words mean little more than nothing to us." (Mavis) "If that''s all, then not only will Arsan be taken, but his eye as well by..." (Kalistos) "I can guarantee that he will fail, his advancement will be half-finished and he will be trapped in that universe, but to accomplish that I need the Power of Chaos, I swear that I will cooperate with Zenos in his fight against the Ascendants." (me) "..." (Mavis) "..." (Kalistos) "..." (me) "Your word has lost credibility, so we will impose a punishment along with your second chance." (Mavis) "A punishment not to you, but to what you value most, all the Anomalous Dragons, their souls will be handed over to me if a level 5 Ascendant emerges." (Kalistos) "Everyone will be treated equally if Zenos fails to deal with the Ascendants." (Mavis) "You must ensure that the Anomalous Dragons also cease to exist after dealing with the Ascendants if you succeed." (Kalistos) "Do you accept the terms!?" (Mavis/Kalistos) "(I... I did it...)" (me) "I accept!" (me) "Don''t fail our agreement again!" (Mavis/Kalistos) I feel the two legends clashing once more as the weight on my body and Soul disappears, when I open my eyes I see the two Divine Dragons looking at me one last time before disappearing through space. Sigh "I... I did it... I really did it..." (me) Tears "I can''t fail, I won''t fail!!" (me) Tears I look back at the battle happening in the distance and my eyes see through it all until they fall on the one who is the cause of such a battle, his still body shows that he remains in Arsan''s Soul. "I need him to succeed!!" (me) My eyes drift away from him as my power gathers in one eye, my power sees through space and the nest where he was equally still, the power around his body fluctuates as I feel the traces of Power emerging from within him forming patterns that did not exist before, the seal was showing itself just as I imagined. The memories of that time emerging in my mind, long before fear and despair, the day I met you, I still remember what you said. "(Are you the one they call Luci?)" (Arsan) "(Could you marry me...? Please...?)" (Arsan) "(Are you an idiot!?)" (me) "(No, I''m a researcher... almost a researcher...)" (Arsan) "(Hahaha... you really are an idiot... hahahaha...)" (me) Those days were incredible, no one could have expected what was to come, no one could have expected how far we were willing to go to survive. But I never expected that we would lose ourselves so deeply to the point of not even being ourselves, of becoming such monstrosities. Tears "Arsan, I will save you, there is nothing in any universe that will stop me!" (me) I wiped my tears, I never thought the day would come when I would cry again, but I will not fall into despair again, I will not regret my decisions either, this bet was all I had and I will not let go now, I no longer have that luxury. The determination to move forward is all that is left, any despair, fear or apprehension are washed away by the certainty of success since any other outcome is unacceptable. "I will do it!!!" (me) Chapter 1656: Cap 1654: You Will Obey!!! "I don''t obey anyone!" (Arsan) As soon as he spoke I could feel Anomalous power exploding, so I looked in the direction of the metal sphere I saw before, it looked like a volcano erupting from so much Anomalous Power, but all that power wasn''t accumulating, in fact it seemed to be running out of this place. "Your corruption was really a problem, I tried to fight you, I tried to resist you and I even tried to overwhelm you... nothing worked." (Arsan) "Your corruption has taken up about 84.33% of my Soul so far, the parts that haven''t been taken are this place and where my Soul''s consciousness is." (Arsan) It took me a while to understand what he was saying until a crazy possibility flashed in my mind, I just needed to put the pieces together, he had his Existence separated from his Soul because of his condition as an Anomalous Dragon, the Anomalous power was here under the command of his Existence and all of this was possible because I was here. A really strange possibility came to my mind, the more I thought about it, the higher the level of insanity became, but I couldn''t dismiss this thought since it was the only possibility I could come up with. "Do you intend to steal your own body?" (me) "Yes, I can immobilize my Soul, the body will stop working, but I can directly control the power within my body while using my true body as if it were armor." (Arsan) "Everything becomes complicated, but better than being controlled by you." (Arsan) "Do you think such a bad measure can go against what I have accomplished?" (me) "Not immediately, but by burning power I can overload my power and fight against your attempts to control the body, unlike you I will have control much faster and you know it." (Arsan) "(It''s not the best solution, but he''ll still be useless, he won''t be able to fight, that''s not what I thought before, but it''s still better than nothing.)" (me) My eyes turn to the crack in the sky, I''ve never stopped paying attention there, but I couldn''t help but pay attention to the Anomalous Power with such a reaction and that''s why I divided my attention before. "What is that?" (me) "A seal that was erased from the memory of my main consciousness." (Arsan) "So it was something you agreed to or it wouldn''t have been possible." (me) "You''re wrong, I fought with every bit of energy I had to stop it, I would never let that seal be formed, much less let others deceive me." (Arsan) "Not only did he erase the information of the real seal, he also created a fake one to keep me busy." (Arsan) "I spent a lot of time searching for keys in vain when I always had the real seal and the key to open it within my reach." (Arsan) "..." (me) I let him talk freely, I didn''t need to worry about him lying, in this place any lie would be obvious and he knows it, which makes it clear that this seal is very important to him as well as makes it clear that whoever made this seal also has power above Arsan. I was apprehensive, but I couldn''t leave here, even though it was a risk, it was also a source of information, he clearly isn''t trying to hide anything, so whatever he''s releasing from the seal has already started, leaving here or not, it will continue anyway, so I intend to find out more. "What''s inside that seal?" (me) "Not what, but who." (Arsan) "Sarazar, the first Anomalous Dragon, if we can call him that." (Arsan) "When he is freed, you and everyone else are finished, even though I cannot move now, once you are destroyed this damned corruption in my Soul will also be cleansed." (Arsan) "Thank you for telling me everything I needed to know." (me) "None of that matters, there''s nothing I can do against him." (Arsan) "We''ll see about that." (me) I wanted to know more, this unknown enemy was already a big problem, I needed to think of something, preferably before he broke free, but I couldn''t think of anything. I tried to corrupt this place several times, but nothing worked, the Power of the Apocalypse, the Curse, the Anomalous power, the Divine Power and even the power of Chaos. I tried to use everything I could, but nothing worked, I felt like I could destroy this place if I had more power, but there was no way to corrupt this place, there was no way to control this place. "(I have to think of something... wait! Could it be...)" (me) "It''s worth a try." (me) "Doing another one of your attempts?" (Arsan) "No, it''s not an attempt if I can do it." (me) "< Eclipse Dominance >" (me) "< Dragon Seal of the Cycle >" (me) "< Law of Eclipse: Threshold of Life and Death >" (me) In front of me three things appear, catalysts for what I was doing, not physical objects since they were in an ethereal state within a Soul, but rather simple symbols that help in what I am about to accomplish, ways to visualize the actions I seek to take. A crystal crown with an ethereal Eclipse floating in front. A Rune seal in the shape of a Dragon where the concept of the natural cycle that I understand has been contained. A throne of bones surrounded by where vines and branches intertwine to form a beautiful ethereal tree with leaves similar to stars, an air of authority emanates from the throne. These are all just visual aspects to help visualize the 3 powers I need to use at the same time, since I will need to divide my attention a lot to accomplish this. In the crown I gather my Chaos power together with my Divinity, the crown was the concept mold I used to not only store this power, but also give purpose to this power. The Dragon Seal was an ethereal form of the Dragon Seals that I normally use when creating a new Dragon for my tribe, but in this one I didn''t use a unique energy or anything like that, what I did was put my understanding of the natural cycle, which in 90% was from the point of view of the countless transformations that happen between Life and Death. I also put the aspects of natural energy that I know such as the 3 Natural Energies and all the Elements that I possess. In the throne I put the two types of Anomalous Power using the Power of Law, I don''t have complete mastery of the Power of Law, but I learned enough to do what I need now. The power of the Law served as a bridge through which the 2 types of Anomalous Power balance each other, through this I can make a bad copy of the cycle of Reincarnation that complements the Authority of transformation that the Eclipse represents, being a natural threshold in itself. "What do you think you''re doing!" (Arsan) "Scared? I thought nothing could be done against you here." (me) "You''re not going to distract me... what!?" (Arsan) "Why can''t I... what have you done?" (Arsan) Arsan may be many things, but he was not a fool, while I was only trying to corrupt the core of his Existence, he let me free knowing such impossibility and because of my lack of power the destruction of this place was also impossible. But as soon as he realized that I was doing things without the purpose of corruption and without knowing my purpose, he tried to stop me. He couldn''t attack me directly, but just like his Soul was doing before, he could hinder and resist as he pleased. This whole place turned against me once again, but this time it was much worse, it was as if I was really going to be crushed at any second, if this was my physical body, but being in a state of Soul where my will overrides everything else, even if he wanted to crush me he wouldn''t be able to. The real problem is his interference in my gathering of power, this cost more on my mind and Soul to keep everything as it needed to be. "< Obey >" (me) "!!!" (Arsan) I would rather not have to do this now, I hoped he could ignore what I was doing like before, but I find myself forced to act. I finish the Ritual, all the power that was left in the ritual runs to my body and then travels to my Soul where I am using my Soul as an anchor before spreading like a poison throughout Arsan''s Soul. The corruption I had accumulated within him was activated all at once, a power bubbling through his Soul and I could feel it all as if I were witnessing it personally. I could feel my Will taking control of the chains of the Curse tying his struggling Soul, the weight on me was decreasing until it was less than half of what it was before as his power weakened. I smiled at the look of apprehension he showed me for the first time, it seemed like I would get what I wanted in the end. "You know, I''ve never been one to play by the rules." (me) Without the inconvenience he was accusing me of, I was able to concentrate again and that was when I felt a wave of power emerge from that crack in the sky where he said there was the seal of who knows who. "I have to be quick." (me) I used the three symbols of power, making them 3 conversion points for 3 techniques which I combined into a single ritual magic. With Divine power as the core, the concept of the cycle as the basis, and the power of the Law as the mold, the image of what I needed formed in my mind while a name representing what I intended emerged in my mind. "< Genesis of Existence: Destiny of the Eclipse >" (me) Chapter 1657: Cap 1655: Mud Egg Pov Nix: "Aahhhh!!!" (me) "Nixxx!!!" (Arash) Suddenly I was hit in the back, a metal spike covered in fire came out of a portal right in my back in the middle of a fight, my spine was destroyed along with several organs, but besides these minor injuries, there was an energy contained in this attack that was burning me inside. I couldn''t help but scream in pain and as expected, my Father loses all control, abandoning his own battle while receiving a powerful attack just to get to me in the shortest time possible. "< Bone Fury >" "< Divine Rune of Chaos: Endless Night >" (me) Using my power I force a Spiritual Rune to activate, this Rune distorts space, alters perception and confuses even the Souls of those in its area of ??effect. Using this technique created a field of night that in the darkness of space would be difficult to see, but trying to use this technique here was really adding salt to the wounds. I could feel the universe trying to restrict my power and deny my Spiritual energy. This alone was like having my Soul thrown into a whirlpool of magma. It was painful to say the least. Even though I was suffering, I managed to alter the space enough to trap my enemy as well as the other 4 enemies who tried to get past me when they saw my distraction from the attack. "Honey, are you okay..." (Arash) "This is not the place, and even less the time, Father." (me) "Even if this body is destroyed, I will not die as long as Master exists. Don''t worry about anything and don''t let the enemies hurt you!" (me) Saying this, I was close to invading the distorted space I created, using it as an advantage to fight against the greater number of enemies, but Silvia appeared in front of me. I knew what she wanted and allowed her to place her hand on my head. "< Nature Magic: Purification of Life >" (Silvia) I feel her power spread through me, cleansing the energy burning inside me that was trying to affect me. It was a truly commendable relief. It was at that moment that an Aura full of power appeared, making everyone fighting turn their eyes. I was immediately surprised to realize that this was the master''s Aura. "I need to go back now." (Me) "You can''t!" (Silvia) "Arash, take care of this!" (Silvia) "I''ll take care of this." (Arash) Before I could move forward, Silvia''s claw was in front of me, preventing my advance. Then my Father flew towards my master, leaving the two of us behind. "Why stop me..." (Me) "You''re too hasty, haven''t you noticed yet?" (Silvia) "You noticed, what!?" (me) I look again at where the Master was, I can''t see his body where I am in the Planet''s atmosphere, but as soon as I paid more attention to his Aura I noticed traces of Power that didn''t belong to the Master. This power seemed to be destroying his Aura and even corroding the space around it, I''ve never seen such tyrannical effects before, I felt afraid to even touch this energy. "What is this thing!?" (me) "I don''t know, so leave it to your Father and focus on them!" (Silvia) "Damn, they won''t stop coming!?" (me) Silvia points in a direction and when I look there were more than 10 Anomalous Dragons coming towards us, one of them was even coming while devouring a Dragon I didn''t know. "I''ll stop them, you call the others!" (me) "Okay, Magnus and Samara are close." (Silvia) -------------------- Pov Niryna: I was sitting on top of a Dragon while surrounded by 5 Anomalous Dragons, each of them was very strong alone and with so many of them together I could barely hold them back, on more than one attempt they had already tried to get past me to get to Zenos, which I will never allow as long as I breathe. "(Ohoo... it seems his condition has progressed much more than expected.)" (Callidora) "What are you talking about... what the hell is that!!!" (me) Suddenly I feel Callidora''s presence travel through my body and concentrate in my eyes, then my Infernal power creates magical lines and circles inside my eyes before activating, it felt like my eyes were burning and even so I didn''t care as I looked in Zenos'' direction. What I saw was so surprising that I gave space for Anomalous Dragons to attack, they all came towards me and that''s when they disappeared, the trap I set was activated prematurely, I wanted to gather more enemies and force the one who was heading towards me to leave, which was no longer possible due to the carelessness of now. "Master." (Lara) "What are your next commands?" (Dante) "Master is busy, wait for your orders and pay attention to the surroundings." (Ludwig) My three Servants gathered around me, except for my Demon Dragon Ludwig, named after Bloodborn, I had him with me the whole time or I wouldn''t have been able to hold so many Anomalous Dragons alone. None of that mattered however, that''s because my eyes were focused on Zenos, honestly the mentality of him being my Father in this life matters very little compared to growing up with him in the orphanage seeing him as a brother that I admired so much. But what I was seeing squeezed my heart, his Aura was containing a colossal silhouette inside that was destroying his Aura from the inside out, even so the silhouette seemed to be just a part of something else, it was just a large claw that sometimes splits in two, just looking at it makes large cells in my body tremble as if those claws were going to drag me to my death at any moment. It''s been a long time since I felt so afraid to the point of being paralyzed like this and the thought of it coming out of Zenos made everything much worse. -------------------- Pov Zenos: "< Genesis of Existence: Destiny of the Eclipse >" (me) This time I drew power directly from my Soul, power much more condensed and pure as well as difficult to control, but I activated the technique in the same way. I used 3 types of Power to do this, but I didn''t want to take any risks and so when I activated the improvised technique, I added a skill, Chaotic Devourer. As the power to devour everything added to the technique''s own overlapping effects, the Ritual Circle ignites in Stellar Flames, the Dragon Seal floats as if it were sitting on the throne of bones and tree, while the Eclipse Crown floats above the Dragon Seal, all 3 elements come together as one with their characteristics blending into a Dragon that condenses as a mass of darkness. Soon this mass of darkness takes on a shape similar to mine, an Eclipse forms on its chest as if the darkness were opening to reveal it, an eye opens within this Eclipse containing an inverted triangular iris, the Dragon then turns to Arsan who was on the ground on his knees, blood leaking from his eyes as he smiles looking up. "You will come with me!" (me) As if taking my words as a command, the Dragon advanced towards Arsan, but did not devour him, the Dragon itself was not much bigger than me, what it did was stranger, it covered Arsan as if it were some kind of slime or mud, it not only attached itself to his skin but also assimilated itself into it and tentacles began to come out of his body penetrating the ground, the columns, the Anomalous core and even the space around it as if these tentacles were roots spreading through fertile soil. Arsan seemed desperate, he couldn''t get rid of that thing and every time he tried to pull off a part, his own body broke together before attaching itself again by force, his body was swallowed in mere seconds and I felt the Curse outside of it vibrating as if something had changed. "Arsan!!!!" "Aaaahhhhhh!!!" (me) Suddenly the voice that seemed to come from all directions and at the same time from none appeared shouting Arsan''s name, but for me it was like receiving the most powerful attack than anything Arsan did to resist me. Part of my body in that place simply exploded just because of the voice, a will as great as mine contained in that voice was something I didn''t expect, but this damage wasn''t directed at me specifically, this whole damn place was turned upside down because of a single scream. Everything was destroyed and space itself cracked even more, the mass of energy or whatever was in that crack in the sky grew and widened as it began to flow outwards, it was like seeing magma coming out of a volcano, everything around it vibrated and melted, the same for the space around it. For some reason a feeling of panic, fear and dread took over me, teeth were emerging from the cracks and the energy liquid that was eating almost looked like the saliva of a creature, it was as if it was slowly being devoured. "< Anomalous Rebirth >" (me) I couldn''t wait any longer, I used my control over Arsan to cut several parts of him, I tore parts of Alma by pulling the chains that held her, just her Soul and nothing else, dragging it into the mass of dark mud that Arsan''s existence was. Then I grabbed it with one hand and tentacles wrapped around my wrist, I pulled and the tentacles that were around it ripped everything around it, pulling it towards itself while swallowing everything, little by little the shape of a horrible egg was forming, which was not my concern at the moment. "Why can''t I get out!!?" (me) I was trying to get out of here, but I wasn''t able to, the presence coming out of that crack was growing and taking the place that Arsan''s Existence left empty, which seemed to be trying to devour me, it was surrounding me like a jaw around me and that was where the fear in me originated. "Come with me!" (Luci) "..." (me) It was at that moment that something happened, the Eclipse in me didn''t open an eye, exactly the same eye that I saw in Luci, then a strong suction appeared pulling me into those eyes, I felt like I was being crushed and even so I didn''t resist, that''s because I felt what was on the other side. Even as I was being sucked in, I dragged the hollow of dark mud with me and felt it dragging many other things along as it absorbed until I could no longer feel anything from Arsan or that thing around us, then the egg stopped absorbing random things, even so I could feel all the Curse that should be in Arsan''s Soul inside it and I smiled when I understood its meaning. I soon felt a great comfort followed by a lot of pain, I was back in my body, but it was half destroyed while I was in Akatosh''s arms. Chapter 1658: Cap 1656: The first... Pov Samara: My body was half destroyed, the other Dragons are very innocent, the only ones who are doing a decent job of protecting their master are their subordinates and children, the others are just seeing the superficial enemies without noticing those who hide. Because of the confusion of this battlefield, everyone makes very quick decisions without considering the bigger picture, only Akatosh, Lolth, Adella and Arash are choosing enemies wisely or taking positions that are convenient for the defense battle. "(Being without an arm and both legs is inconvenient, when will he act!?)" (me) I had already managed to seal 12 Anomalous Dragons, I don''t need to fight them to achieve this, I just need their carelessness and since they are hunters, their instincts are easy to manipulate by presenting a vulnerable facade. I let the first enemy injure my body and used my blood on him in a Curse that petrifies his true body so it was easy to seal him. After that, I got more and more injured during the following fights. The third enemy took my right leg, the sixth enemy took my right arm, and the tenth enemy took my other leg. I allowed this on each occasion. I needed an excuse to appear weak. The next two enemies were so careless, thinking I was weak, that my Curse hit them without them noticing until it was too late. But I still made it seem like it was a desperate fight that I was barely able to win. "(He still doesn''t show himself. Did he notice I''m trying to trick him?)" (me) There were three other enemies in front of me. They were trying to hide in space. They all seemed to have the element of space as their base, and using this, they tried to get to their master, but they couldn''t escape my perception. I tried to fight from a distance using chains, to trick them into trying to force an approach. That would be the best plan, but it didn''t work. They didn''t make that decision and stuck to attacking from a distance. It didn''t take long for me to realize I''d been discovered. The enemy that had been hiding all this time tried to advance while I was being attacked by the other 3, I could feel that he wasn''t using the space element, what he did was transform himself into pure energy, becoming invisible in this place saturated with so many different types of energy from the battles around. "It seems that this farce is over." (me) "< Divine Eclipse Magic: Galactic Ring >" (me) "< Seal >" (me) "< Fatal Star Attraction: Hellish Seductress >" (me) I turned my body towards the enemy trying to pass, the other 3 on the other hand found themselves surrounded by a ring of stellar energy made of the blood that leaked from my body to the surroundings, they were all trapped and the energy inside them forced to the outside as the rings tightened their bodies more. While the other 3 were quickly treated, a new arm and legs grow from where I had lost the previous ones, this body has always been a shell to me, it has no vital points or core, a perfect and immortal body for me to use for all eternity. I just look at the enemy fleeing and use my will to use the Divinity of the master within me, I use a magic that I learned in Hell while torturing a certain idiot under Callidora''s orders, this magic is strengthened by the Anomalous power of Zenos flowing through me while my Soul burns with heat, lust being just a side effect that does little to affect my mental condition. But the enemy that was previously fleeing, he stopped, his energy body materializes while his previously hidden Aura became turbulent his head turns in my direction with the 5 holes that must be his eyes glowing in different colors. "How did you trap me in a seduction technique!?" "Who knows, maybe this is a mystery... hahaha..." (me) He advanced towards me, his Aura becoming more and more marked by desire that clouded even the primitive hunger that all Anomalous Dragons reveal in their Aura. My technique was a magic that does not affect the body, so it does not matter the age, sexuality or gender. What becomes the target of seduction is directly the Soul of my Target, I plant the obsession for myself while inflorescence the desire as if it were a curse born of itself, I am also partially affected, but for someone who gave herself so much to the corruption in Hell, this level of lust is nothing. "Master... no, no, no, no, no..." (me) Before the enemy even reached me, I felt it, the master''s Aura exploding in all directions with something behind it, I know that feeling, that presence is flowing through the connection of his Soul and body, so his Soul must be in danger. I wanted to run to him, but I just enchanted an enemy towards me, at the point where I am there was no one to command this enemy in my place and I can''t take him to the master, his body can''t be hurt now. "I told you this was a terrible plan, to be so vulnerable like this..." (me) I was being taken over by panic once again, to be honest, I don''t care about this universe, the master''s children, the Dragons or what the Ascendants do, all that matters is the master''s safety, as long as he exists, I will always exist, an eternity of leisure where my Soul will always be safe and once again filled with Divine power, I couldn''t wish for a more pleasurable existence than this. "You''re a nuisance..." (me) "< Release restriction of the Holy Anomalous Doll: Taboo of all Life >" (me) --------------- Pov Zenos: When I woke up being carried by Akatosh, my body was a mess and my Soul didn''t seem any better, even so this wasn''t a big nuisance, the pain of both the body and the Soul are nothing new to me, even in such a deplorable state my mind still works rationally. "< Eclipse Desecration: Soul Transformation >" (me) "< Eclipse Desecration: Body Transformation >" (me) My body and Soul both became malleable, my Will kneaded them as if trying to mold them both, I wasn''t healing from the damage I suffered, this was because there were traces of energy, Authority and a presence that was preventing both my body and especially my Soul from healing. I used my Profane Divinity on myself, my body and Soul devoured those aspects that didn''t belong to it while I formed them exactly as they were before, but they were different. My body was more resistant than before with greater healing capacity and my Soul was almost twice the size without weakening like the Souls of the Anomalous Dragons, even my Aura was thicker and all my energies increased in quantity with the exception of Divine Power. This Transformation lasted a few minutes and I didn''t tell Akatosh what I was doing, there was no time for that and so I just kept going, fortunately he didn''t try to stop me. I only regained consciousness after that, the injuries were still the same, but now I was recovering before my eyes, my body was recovering much faster than my Soul, it would only take seconds for my body to be in full condition again, while my Soul would take weeks or months to return to full condition which would be better than it was before by a large margin. When I opened my eyes Akatosh, Lolth, Arash and Adella were around me, they were all looking in a direction where the Anomalous Dragons gathered near a portal where a presence that I had felt before was continuously increasing. As I looked at the Anomalous Dragons I was attacked by two people, one was Samara who was in Dragon form that looked like a more feminine and strangely sexier version of my Dragon form, she was running her hands all over my body and her Aura was almost invading my Soul with her checks and the concern written all over her face. Karina was next to her, she was also worried, but she wasn''t as invasive as Samara, she stood aside letting Samara do what she wanted until I pushed her away. "I''m fine... mostly fine at least." (me) "You''re far from fine, your Soul..." (Samara) "It just got stronger and your injuries will heal... eventually..." (me) "Now explain to me what I missed." (me) "As soon as you used the ritual..." (Karina) "Before that, what did you do!?" (Luci) "Where''s Arsan!?" (Luci) Before Karina could explain anything to me, a person appeared next to me, leaving a rift that opened between us all, similar to an eye. It was Luci who appeared still in her Human form. Her size compared to all of us was tiny, but her Aura and presence were even greater than Akatosh''s. Luci''s appearance made all the Dragons around her turn their attention to her. Adella was already advancing to attack as soon as she appeared, but was stopped by Akatosh halfway. Samara reacted faster than anyone, especially since she was already so close to me. She stood between me and Luci, ready to attack if she advanced any further. This was no use, as Luci enjoyed passing through Samara and even stepping on my snout. "Answer me! Where is Arsan!?" (Luci) "He''s here." (me) I realized that Arsan and she knew each other before, but strangely she wasn''t on his side and still encouraged me to call Arsan, I also know that I was only able to return to my body because of her, I don''t know exactly what she did, but I felt her presence as well as heard her voice, so there''s no mistake in her helping me. I raise an arm and feel what was hidden next to my Soul flow into my body and into my right arm where it emerges from within as if it were black mud floating upwards until it takes on an oval shape, the presence being emitted was the same as Arsan''s and her Aura was struggling to explode without being able to go very far. "Arsan!!" (Luci) She tried to go to the Black Mud Egg, but before she could reach it, it sank once more into my arm, this time leaving black marks that move beneath my scales. "This is just your Existence and most of your Soul, that''s what I managed to steal before that thing appeared." (me) "What are you going to do with him?" (Luci) "The same as I promised, to use him against the Ascendants." (me) "Forget it, what is that presence!?" (Lolth) "..." (Everyone) Lolth returned to her Human form and advanced not towards me, but rather appearing in front of Luci, she knew that the one with the most information would be Luce and not me. Everyone, including me, was looking at her waiting for an answer, I read it but I knew the name of whatever it was, but I also knew almost nothing and needed to know more. "That''s Sarazar, the first Anomalous Dragon." (Luci) Chapter 1659: Cap 1657: Sarazar "That''s Sarazar, the first Anomalous Dragon." (Luci) Everyone was looking at the Rift surrounded by the Anomalous Dragons, they didn''t even look at us, it was as if they were waiting for something to come out of the Rift, their Auras were wild around them and it really looked like a pack of hungry wolves. These weren''t the Anomalous Dragons I knew, they may be predators, but their hunts are done with planning and intelligence like experienced hunters. But what I was seeing was a wild and unintelligent behavior, they looked more like a group of monsters, it was strange to see them like that. "What''s happening to them?" (Akatosh) "They''re acting like the savages they are, they''re not even paying attention to us, this is an excellent time to attack!" (Lolth) "Wait, forget about them, can''t you feel their presence!?" (Adella) All the Dragons around us sat talking, many among Lolth''s group seemed ready to attack. That''s when Adella noticed something that Akatosh and Arash noticed as well as I, the savagery that the Anomalous Dragons were demonstrating was anything but normal, this change was very fast and it''s clearly not a coincidence that it''s happening when this Sarazar guy seems to have freed himself. I look at Luci, but her focus wasn''t on me or the Anomalous Dragons, her eyes were locked on my hand where the mud egg had appeared. She was doing more than just watching and it was clear by the way that special eye of hers was glowing, she was trying to see inside me, I could feel it. "Luci! What''s going on!?" (me) My eyes turned to Luci, but she didn''t even look up, she was focused on me and energy flared in her eyes, I felt like I was exposed in front of her all of a sudden. "That''s temporary, in a few minutes they''ll regain their intelligence and leave." (Luci) I wanted to believe what she was saying, but suddenly the Aura in the sky explodes, the Rift shatters Pliandonoara 10 times its size in the blink of an eye, then something comes out of it, it seemed small to the point of almost not being visible from this distance. Everyone was outside the planet, but while we were on one side they were on the other side with the planet between us. That''s why that rip growing was something shocking, that''s because what came out was even smaller than the original Rift, there was no point in making the Rift bigger if something so small was going to come out. "< Vision of the Universal Reflection >" (Luci) Luckily I didn''t have to do much, Luci looks away from me for the first time already using her power clearly much greater than I had ever seen her, then an eye appears that when opened shows a mirrored substance soon the image of what was happening near the rip is revealed. What I saw was a Human or at least what I thought was a Human wearing tight clothing and a helmet that looked like a Dragon''s head. The Aura and presence we were feeling seemed to be flowing from him. An Aura filled with nothing but hunger and nothing else, it was an infinite hunger and only at the end did I feel a bit of rationality, something none of the others seemed to have understood and I''m sure of it. "That can''t be him." (me) "Sarazar is unique in many ways, but don''t be fooled by his appearance, he''s nothing more than an empty shell." (Luci) "Lolth, don''t go..." (Akatosh) "I know, shut up!!" (Lolth) I turned my eyes, these 2 super powerful Dragons were almost holding each other back, Akatosh ready to stop Lolth from advancing while his murderous Intent almost tripled. "This is not her fault, Sarazar influences those around her by increasing their murderous intent, their most primitive instincts and hunger, this is not limited to the Anomalous Dragons." (Luci) "..." (me) I looked around and indeed some Dragons were actively trying to advance against the Anomalous Dragons while their eyes turned 100% red with murderous intent while other Dragons held them back so as not to throw themselves to their deaths. "Luci... is that you...?" (Sarazar) "..." (me) "..." (Luci) When he spoke it was as if his voice traveled directly to my Soul, I could feel the instincts trying to rise within me, of course this would not work for me or anyone else here, with the exception of the one on Lolth''s side. "Sarazar, then you can see me." (Luci) "I see you managed to move on, that''s good..." (Sarazar) "< Rrroooaaarrrr!!! >" (Sarazar) "(What is that damn thing...?)" (me) Sarazar or what I think is him, was there with all the Anomalous Dragons flying around him following a flow of Aura from him, his body on the other hand begins to shine inside those clothes to the point of seeing the outline of his face through the video from his helmet. His eyes were focused in the direction from where we were seeing him as if he could see Luci''s technique, even without seeing his mouth, it seemed like he was laughing as he spoke, that is until he suddenly grabbed his head and a roar came out through him in all directions, contained in this roar were the 2 types of Anomalous Power as well as a tiny trace of Chaos, it wasn''t even the power of Chaos itself, but rather just a tiny remnant of his Aura that I could only feel because I was a user of such power. His roar resonated making space tremble to the point that the power flows of the reality of this universe became visible, trying to contain the destabilization of this entire area of ??the universe. His Aura also became even more wild and out of control than the Anomalous Dragons around him, but this only lasted a little over 3 seconds before his Aura calmed down and the roar stopped, he was holding his head with both hands and soon released one of his hands pointing in the direction from where we were seeing him. "You have 1 day... don''t delay, old friend..." (Sarazar) "Aaahhh!!! ROOORRRR!!!" (Sarazar) He says something that I don''t fully understand, but soon after he starts to scream and a tired roar comes out of him this time, a roar full of pure tiredness before he enters the rift once more, all the Anomalous Dragons as if they had been incited by him follow him into the rift that closes behind the last Anomalous Dragon. We were all watching without understanding, only after the Rift closed that I noticed Luci next to me, her third eye was releasing a single stream of tears and it was soon followed by the two eyes of her body crying with much more desire before she dried the tears with her hands. "What was that? What did he mean by that?" (Arash) "That we have until tomorrow to stop him or this universe will end." (Luci) "What do you mean by that? Who was he!?" (Lolth) "I already told you, he is the first Anomalous Dragon, Sarazar, the one anointed by the Lady of Chaos." (Luci) "Anointed by who?" (Akatosh) "What did you say!?" (Lolth) "Mother, calm down." (Myu) "I didn''t hear you either." (Arash) "..." (Adella) Before I could ask any questions, everyone else spoke and that''s when I realized they didn''t hear the name or title ''Lady of Chaos'' for some reason that took me a few seconds to understand, it was spoken in a different language that only I understood. That''s when I realized she was looking at me. She told me to listen, but now that the Anomalous Dragons were gone, everyone''s attention was focused on Luci who was still here. "I think you have answers to give, many answers." (Me) "I don''t mind answering, but should we move somewhere else?" (Luci) "Myu, prepare the portal." (Lolth) "As you wish, mother." (Myu) --------------- 1 hour later. We were back at the ruins where we planned this meeting. We all returned to a Human form for convenience. In fact, for me, this was more normal than keeping the Dragon form. Everyone was looking at Luci, waiting for what she was going to say, but only Lolth and the two Dragons who were by her side seemed irritated. I can understand that considering how the meeting didn''t end as planned. "You were once one of them, weren''t you!?" (Lolth) "Yes, I was once an Anomalous Dragon, but as you can see now, I am no longer." (Luci) "Then why did you side with us during that meeting!?" (Lolth) "I was also informed by my children that an eye like yours appeared in Zenos before he returned to his body, did you do that?" (Lolth) "Your plan was obvious to me from the moment I arrived, so I realized that your ritual lacked some things that I added without you noticing and that is why I was able to somewhat follow Zenos'' progress." (Luci) "That''s when I felt something was wrong and I acted to take his Soul out of there, it was a one-time move and his body was being destroyed very quickly." (Luci) "Yes, that energy was ravaging your body and Aura, I couldn''t see your Soul, but I imagined it wouldn''t be any better..." (Arash) "I appreciate your help, but I''d like to hear more about this Sarazar guy and what 1-day deadline he gave." (Lolth) "The 1-day deadline is for your universe, he''s saying that''s the time to defeat him or at least stop him." (Luci) "I don''t understand, the Anomalous Dragons don''t care about the universe, they should only be interested in hunting the Dragons here." (me) "I think I may have expressed myself wrong, the destruction of the universe wouldn''t be something done by his will, it would just be a result of him becoming whole once more." (Luci) "..." (everyone) Chapter 1660: Cap 1658: Changes everywhere Pov Davoth: I stood up and could see the improvement, I was almost completely healed, my body was at its best, my Soul on the other hand was still marked, no matter how much I try to heal it, it feels like a scar that won''t go away. "This is inconvenient..." (me) I tried to heal this wound on my Soul in many ways, but nothing worked, even using the two Anomalous powers together had some effect. "(Is this because of the plague power or the corruption I sealed...?)" (me) "Honey, you should stay lying down." (Mother) "I''m fine, mother." (me) "How are our Priests?" (me) "Honestly, it''s difficult... our power doesn''t flow to them when they''re not here, they''re also strongly rejected by the 3 natural energies." (Mother) "This isn''t important, just temporary, just focus on the doctrine, we don''t need you to do anything now, but one day we will." (me) "(I just have to wait for Zenos to come back.)" (me) "I have to go back, one of the Gods of this universe is trying to find Saint candidates for me." (Mother) "Hernoth just wants to get close to you, be careful." (me) "I can take care of myself, dear." (Mother) My mother leaves the room, leaving only me with my thoughts, that''s when I felt something and turned in a direction. "Is this murderous intent really necessary?" (me) "I don''t like you." (Ibuki) "I know, you do an excellent job of making that clear at every opportunity." (me) She stepped out of the shadows of my room, the defenses I put up may not have been perfect since this universe is constantly restricting my power, but it''s not something that can be easily passed on even to a God. If it weren''t for her murderous intent giving away her presence as soon as she arrived, it might have taken me a few more seconds to realize someone was here, having even my senses restricted is horrible. "(I need to convince Zenos to help me with this when he gets back.)" (me) "Why did one of Zenos'' wives come to see me?" (me) "Who knows, maybe she came to kill you." (Ibuki) "I don''t doubt that you would do that if you could, but we both know you can''t do that, not when your husband and I have plans against the same enemy." (me) "Keep thinking that, but what will you do when that enemy has been dealt with?" (Ibuki) "By then, I will no longer be seen as I am now by Zenos, but as someone who fought alongside him against the Ascendants." (me) "..." (Ibuki) "(I like her sincerity, love it or hate it, she always shows it openly without falsehood.)" (me) "(It''s a shame that I''m on the side of being hated.)" (me) "Come on, tell me why you''re here, it must be serious for you to come to me." (me) I can feel that her Aura has calmed down, the killing intent is still there, but it''s no longer the main one. "I need you to help me forge a Divine weapon." (Ibuki) "Wouldn''t it be better to ask Zenos when he returns?" (me) "Your power of chaos would be the best to produce something like this and with great speed." (me) "I know all of this, but I also know the characteristics of his power. If I ask him to help create a Divine Weapon, I''ll get an excellent result. But if I ask him to transform a ready-made one, I''ll get something even better." (Ibuki) "You want a doubly refined Divine Weapon, interesting..." (me) "But I still don''t understand. Any God could... wait, is this because of time?" (me) "No God can accomplish this in a short time. Only you, who possesses Anomalous Power and seems to be quite old, can do this. At least that''s what Elizabeth told me when I asked her." (Ibuki) "(So it was her idea... she''s not wrong at least.)" (me) "Alright, I''ll help." (me) "What''s the price?" (Ibuki) "How about you stop with all that killing intent toward me?" (me) "No, is there something else?" (Ibuki) "..." (me) "That was an oddly direct answer, but never mind, I''ll do it for free." (me) "Better for me, but don''t think you''ll gain any goodwill from me because of this, I won''t forget what you did to Zenos." (Ibuki) "Show me your plans for your Divine Weapon, you must have thought of something at least." (me) I just change the subject, she''s too direct with her words, honestly I got a little irritated because of that, but at least I''ll leave a good impression. Soon she started explaining to me about the design of her Divine Weapon as well as its main functions, so I couldn''t help but look at her with concern. "This looks more like a Cursed Weapon than a God''s weapon..." (me) ------------------- Pov Natasha: What a horrible headache, how Akatosh dealt with so many Dragons all the time is a mystery to me. They keep coming to talk about their understanding of strength, about their chosen warriors, about their Priestesses or Priestesses, not to mention the war I''m leading them through. "Why are all Dragons so incapable of fighting together?" (me) "They are individualists, they are not a race that fights following combat formations or group coordination." (Caitlyn) "What a headache..." (me) "Speaking of which, why aren''t you sleeping like usual?" (me) "I woke up a little while ago, I spent 8 days sleeping while trying to track the minds of the transformed." (Caitlyn) "Also, since I became a Goddess, I feel like I''m able to control my nightmares much better than before, which has alleviated a lot of my traumas... but I still like to sleep even though I don''t need to anymore." (Caitlyn) "Great, then since you have free time, how about..." (me) "I''m not going to help you with the Dragons, that would be horrible... each one has their own problems." (Caitlyn) "You little bitch...!" (me) "Shut up, I didn''t come here to see you to listen to your problems, I want help with mine." (Caitlyn) "I clearly remember someone saying something about everyone taking care of their own problems." (me) That bitch has always been very abusive, she''s the younger sister and should be a little more respectful or at least not so offensive. "If it''s over, then go away, I still have to hunt a God... what was he a God of again?" (me) "Heat... yes, God of Heat..." (me) "He was the God of Summer, you idiot." (Caitlyn) "Summer is hot, so it''s the same thing." (me) "You don''t even want to hear what problem I have?" (Caitlyn) "..." (me) I looked at her, her smile seemed to mock me, but she wouldn''t come here for nothing, she''s also sure that I''ll help, which means that it''s an enemy that I''ll want to fight against or something that I can''t help but face, this understanding made me think of a possibility that I didn''t like to think about. "Is he an Ascendant?" (me) "I suspect so, I know where he is, but I haven''t been to him yet, the power of the Ascendant Law is clearly present in the area and the entire planet has been converted, so the chances are high." (Caitlyn) "You want to use the Dragons in an attack against them, that''s why you came here." (me) "Not only the Dragons, I''ve already called Elizabeth and Zenos'' Wives, also his children as well as other Gods, unfortunately our Mother is busy, but I believe we have enough strength." (Caitlyn) "Do you want to destroy the entire planet?" (me) "No, I want to prevent him from escaping, I want to use hundreds of Territories to isolate the entire world, doing something similar to the Divine World we used in Cintra Baldr, it won''t be the same, but close enough for what I need." (Caitlyn) -------------------- Pov Kalistos (Death Entity): I was inside Tarzor as was Mavis when we opened our eyes, the rings on our fingers stopped glowing when we exchanged a look. "So she broke the deal." (me) "Yes, this took longer than expected, we finally had the excuse to manipulate her." (Mavis) "I don''t like being on the outside like this, we had to be informed later and probably only because they asked us to watch her." (me) "We are different, our purpose is no longer the same, we need to better understand what we need and this could be an opportunity." (Mavis) "Do you want to act on your own?" (me) "No, I still believe that using Luci as a lever against the Anomalous Dragons is the best, but we should review what comes next." (Mavis) "Before, our thinking was too broad to the point of only considering it good enough for the Anomalous Dragons to become a different race like Luci, but that doesn''t fix what they''ve already done." (Mavis) "Zenos won''t let them loose and he''s the change Luci was looking for." (me) "We need something different, why leave Zenos with them if we can have everyone under our leadership?" (Mavis) "Do you want to build an army?" (me) "No, but we know we''re still weak, our ability to intervene in what''s to come is limited, so why not use numbers to compensate." (Mavis) "That''s a possibility..." (me) "How do you plan to do that?" (me) "I thought about using Zenos as a bridge, the Power of Chaos would be necessary for the transformation, but the power he would use afterwards would be ours." (Mavis) "Our minds are more focused now, we can focus on separate issues rather than the ever-changing big picture." (Mavis) "Having agents act on our behalf where our counterparts are not allowed to intervene even if they need to." (Mavis) "I accept, but we need to consider the ramifications as well as involve Zenos so that we don''t refuse." (me) Mavis unlike me began to consider the positive possibilities of our situation while falling into thoughts about the negative aspects. It seems that I lost focus due to the fear of acting now that we don''t have the obligations we had before, I didn''t consider what we could do with the current capacity while falling into deep thoughts about what I lost. "(But it all depends on how they deal with Sarazar...)" (me) Chapter 1661: Cap 1659: Origin of the Anomalous Dragons part 1 "I think I may have expressed myself wrong, the destruction of the universe would not be something done by his will, it would only be a result of him becoming whole once more." (Luci) "..." (everyone) Everyone was silent, each with their own thoughts while I must be the only one who thought of something ridiculous. "(When I was younger I watched a lot of Power Rangers and that skin-tight outfit along with the Dragon head-shaped helmet that Sarazar wore...)" (me) "(No one can blame me for that, what teenage boy doesn''t like to see giant robots?)" (me) As much as my thought went to something absurd, I didn''t stop paying attention to Luci, there was no point in wasting my time guessing what she was about to say on my own. "Maybe it would be better if I summarize the origin of the Anomalous Dragons for you." (Luci) "Cutting out all the useless parts for this situation, the truth originated from a single universe." (Luci) "More than 80% of the Anomalous Dragons that exist are those who came after, they do not know the origin, only the founders like me know the truth and even among them only 3 know the whole truth." (Luci) "I and Arsan along with Sarazar are the ones who created the Anomalous Dragons." (Luci) "!!!" (Lolth) "Keep calm, that''s in the past, listen until the end." (Akatosh) "Shut up! I can control myself!" (Lolth) "Continue, Luci." (me) Lolth''s killing intent was at its highest, it was almost as if her Aura was dripping blood on its own. The Anomalous Dragons have caused much destruction and death in their universe for a long time, their anger, hatred and desire to massacre them all is completely justified to me at least. Luci didn''t seem to care, there was no change in her expression or her Aura, but I could see a glint of sadness in her eyes when she shifted for a second, there is more to this story that she may not tell here, I have to remember to press her later to focus on the details. "As I was saying, it all started in a single universe, in our universe that no longer exists." (Luci) "An Anomalous Entity was attacking us, its objective was simple, to feed... it couldn''t invade on its own, its power was too great for our universe, its mere presence would destroy the universe before it could get its meal." (Luci) "What it did was send Avatars of itself with different sizes and strengths to get what it wanted, an invasion began like that." (Luci) "Our world was just one among many, like in any Universe. It took us a while to realize what was happening. We only noticed when stars went out in the sky and cracks spread across the void of space." (Luci) "When we realized it, it was too late. We didn''t have knowledge about all the planets in the universe or even a map of the entire universe. We joined the few worlds we had connections to." (Luci) "My planet and Arsan''s were more focused on magical technology, the technological aspect itself was more developed." (me) "Sarazar, on the other hand, was from a planet focused more on magic. Its rituals and spells were complex due to its long history of research in its respective fields of study." (Luci) "We fought for a few years just cooperating in battle, but the enemies were strong and at most we were only delaying the inevitable, that was when technologies and knowledge were shared while integrated together into new weapons, this increased our power, but it was still not enough, it was just enough difference to give hope that there was still something we could do." (Luci) "Our universe was once similar to this one, Dragons were revered as Gods, but unlike this universe, all the Dragons in our universe died in an unknown battle, their bodies found throughout history and even after death they were still revered for their past glory, statues of them scattered throughout every city and planet." (Luci) "For us, the concept of Dragons and Gods were the same, they were symbols of power and Authority, in our imagination they were invincible and that''s why when we found ourselves cornered, someone''s mind turned to them." (Luci) "The Dragons died, but their bodies still remained, most of them just the skeleton, but it was still the most durable material known and all Dragon bodies emanate a unique power that was not found anywhere else." (Luci) "That''s why it didn''t take long for us to do something we didn''t like, desecrating the bodies of those we had so much respect for just to use as weapons, that''s when the Dragon Hunter project began." (Luci) Dragon Hunter Project, from what she''s saying, that was the beginning of the Dragon Hunters, I also remember that was what they were called at the beginning. "The bones of the Dragons were fused with the metal taken from the heart of a planet, an exoskeleton formed by thousands of rituals where many died in the process because they couldn''t withstand the power emitted, finally a giant weapon in the shape of a Humanized Dragon made of iron was created and called Dragon Teeth." (Luci) "Arsan was the one who led this project." (Luci) "That''s when the second problem started, I needed an energy Core, it had to be powerful enough to give energy to that, so Sarazar came up with the Anomalous Cores." (Luci) "With a body like that as a weapon and an Anomalous Core as a Heart, the Project was almost a success, if it weren''t for another problem." (Luci) "Those weapons needed someone to control them and it was impossible to do that from the outside, there needed to be someone inside, someone to control the body''s movements and manage the circulation of the Anomalous energy." (Luci) "Wait, but that would be impossible, those Dragon bodies, even when dead, still possess the Aura of the Dragons and an Anomalous Core would almost give life of its own to such a thing, no person could resist that." (me) "Dragons are not easy to obey, our pride and Will permeate even our bones, even in death our bodies are not easily used in the creation of weapons or artifacts precisely because they are not easy to handle after completion." (Akatosh) "The stronger the Dragon, the more difficult it will be to the point that if these Dragons were truly of Divine level, then mortals would never be able to use these weapons." (Akatosh) Akatosh and I are Dragons, I myself know many things about this topic because of my body, the Aura does not disperse after death, only if there is nothing left of the body the Aura disperses over time, there would be no way for normal people to use these robot-like weapons. "Yes, we discovered that quickly, thousands died trying to become pilots, their bodies were burned or melted until nothing was left." (Luci) "That''s when I tried something, I used some of the blood that was still left in the Dragons'' marrow that was left after refining our weapons, then mixed it with my own body, I couldn''t watch more people die." (Luci) "After that I lost consciousness for weeks, Sarazar and Arsan did everything to save me during that time, at the same time perfecting the process I created." (Luci) "In the end I managed to withstand entering one of the Dragon Teeth and survive, but controlling it was another story." (Luci) "Thousands of people have gone through the process I created, but only a few dozen have survived and changed like me, Sarazar and Arsan were among them, as they were the creators of these weapons, it was expected that they could control their power." (Luci) "Sarazar was the first, he seemed to know how to control these Weapons from the very beginning, there was compatibility between the weapon and the pilot so each one needed to find the most compatible Dragon Tooth." (Luci) "Sarazar''s was the strongest and the first to be created using the most complete Dragon''s body, Arsan and I were the second strongest along with 2 others." (Luci) "That''s when the fight really began..." (Luci) "..." (Luci) Luci spent most of the story just talking without showing anything, other than a blurred look as if she was looking at the past, she didn''t show any emotion in her expression or Aura. But as soon as she reached her last words her entire face contracted for a brief moment, everyone noticed this reaction, but no one said anything, up to this point they could already see where all this was going and still wanted to know the process in detail in the hopes of helping defeat the Anomalous Dragons. I didn''t expect my childish thoughts to hit the target, it really is a giant robot piloted by people wearing skin-tight clothing, this is absurd. "Unfortunately, the compatibility between the pilot and the Dragon''s Teeth was not even half, but it was increasing with each battle as we used these weapons more." (Luci) "With the Dragon''s Teeth we finally managed to bring the battle to a stalemate and we even managed to push the enemies back a few times, the weapons we created with so much sacrifice of lives, pride and past devotion were bearing fruit, this encouraged us to keep fighting." (Luci) "It was months after it started, the changes in our bodies were getting worse, changes in our hair, eyes, skin and deformation of our bones." (Luci) "Staying inside the Dragon''s Teeth became less something we needed to endure, without realizing it became a necessity to stay inside as if we depended on being inside them." (Luci) "The energies that move the Dragon Teeth were also diminishing and we all began to feel a hunger that only grew." (Luci) "That was when the worst happened, we discovered that what we were fighting were nothing more than Avatars of something much worse, the desperation of this revelation caused the last change." (Luci) "Sarazar was the first, his body completely fell apart, merging with the Dragon Tooth that deformed, destroying all parts except the central exoskeleton and the Anomalous core, this was the birth of the first Anomalous Dragon." (Luci) "Arsan and I went a few days later, but at first we still had our minds and continued fighting, but the hunger became stronger and stronger, a feeling of unbearable emptiness only expanded." (Luci) "That was the true nightmare beyond despair..." (Luci) Chapter 1662: Cap 1660: Origin of the Anomalous Dragons part 2 "That was the real nightmare beyond despair..." (Luci) I can feel the fear in her voice and in her Aura, it seems that the mere memory is enough to scare her in this way as if she were reliving those days, this is a sign of a strong trauma that left an eternal mark on her conscience. I exchanged glances with Adella, her traumas were similar, for something like that to affect beings of my power level and above, it must be a catastrophic and unimaginable degree of madness. Lolth on the other hand seems to not care about anything, her murderous intent is as great as ever, Akatosh was one of the only ones who didn''t care about anything until now alongside Arash. "You know, the feeling of having a decomposed body still alive wasn''t so bad... but the feeling of hunger was unimaginable... this feeling of hunger wasn''t even coming from our bodies..." (Luci) "From the beginning, it was the Dragon Teeth who were hungry, their Souls and minds were gone, but their instincts and Will remained in their bones." (Luci) "We didn''t notice it, Will was an unknown concept to us, Anomalous power was a complete unknown, and Aura was so unique to each individual that its study was endless." (Luci) "There were always logical flaws in the Dragon Hunter Project, we were discovering them as we went along, yet we were blind from the start and at this point there was no road forward, only an endless precipice." (Luci) "(She''s clearly not okay.)" (me) "(She''s describing an Anomaly, an unthinkable and inconceivable act that leads to an impossible result, this is an Anomaly as the Anomalous Creatures are born... the same was true at my birth.)" (Tarzor) "(The feeling of emptiness is always present and instinctively ends up connecting to an obsession, in my case it was to become complete as I am now, but from what she says it would be right to assume that hunger was the obsession that filled this void for them.)" (Tarzor) "..." (me) I didn''t understand what Tarzor meant, I didn''t know what this emptiness was that he was talking about and I also didn''t know what obsession had to do with all this, but I could listen to these explanations later in more detail, right now I have to listen carefully Luci to be prepared against the Anomalous Dragons. "In the end we didn''t know what we were creating, the Dragon Teeth were never complete, they would never be complete, they had no Soul or consciousness." (Luci) "The Anomalous Cores were of only one type and I discovered this much later, they were the transformation to destruction type, so you can understand what happened." (Luci) "What we called compatibility was actually our minds and Souls being altered to better fit the Dragon Teeth, the compatibility increasing over time was the transformation process of the Anomalous Energy altering us on its own." (Luci) "When it reached a critical point where our instincts overrode our consciousness like a strong emotion, that was when the process of destruction began, our bodies were destroyed becoming nutrients to complete the assimilation while all the useless parts were discarded." (Luci) "There was no reason for there to be a cockpit, there was no point in having control systems, there was no point in having materials that were not fully integrated into the exoskeleton that possesses the power of the Dragons that was also destroyed in the process." (Luci) "My point of view changed along with all my senses, the instincts of the Dragons were amplified by my emotions and my own instincts, I spent 1 month out of control killing enemies in an endless carnage as if I were a mindless monster." (Luci) "I wasn''t the only one, Sarazar went through the same thing in less time, he only took a few days while Arsan took 4 days less than me." (Luci) "Our bodies no longer existed, the Dragon Teeth were our true bodies, the Anomalous Core our heart, we lost all the traits a person should have and yet we kept fighting." (Luci) "Our power increased and we were able to control our bodies better, an automatic response instead of an external command was a glaring difference in battle." (Luci) "That''s when we realized that where we went wrong, the Anomalous Core wasn''t attached to us but to the Dragon Tooth, that''s why it was us being assimilated instead of the other way around, but it was too late to think about that and we weren''t sure what the result would bring." (Luci) "All the pilots over time suffered the same, but there were 8 who failed and died completely, their Dragon Teeth breaking at the same time without leaving anything but an energy disturbance behind." (Luci) "So that''s how the Anomalous Dragons were born..." (me) "Yes, but that was just the beginning as I said." (Luci) "The hunger that had eased after our transformation returned even stronger to the point that some of us lost control at the slightest carelessness." (Luci) "We tried to eat everything, but nothing worked. Some of us even ate people we swore to protect while they lost control, but it was useless. Nothing could satisfy that hunger until one of our own was destroyed in battle against the enemies. Our instincts then pointed to him as food..." (Luci) "That was the first one. There were others after that. I, who felt disgusted by what we had done without thinking, tried to find another source of food. Thinking of a possibility, I went to the place where the unused remains of the Dragons were. It was like seeing a banquet. I didn''t even realize what I was doing before I emptied the entire place." (Luci) "The Dragons were the only source of food. My body, like the others, were just metal pieces of the exoskeleton with the Anomalous Core inside. We were no different from empty armor or skeletons." (Luci) "But after that meal I realized that my body could not contain all the energy I had eaten, more than half of the energy was being released from my body and the hunger was increasing once again." (Luci) "Realizing the pattern, I tried to seal my body and release the excess energy into the empty space inside me, which worked, I could even use that energy as food by absorbing it later." (Luci) "I told the others about this and that''s when I realized that at some point we stopped fighting the enemies, our priority had changed to seeking food and we no longer thought about protecting our worlds, our personalities and minds were changing." (Luci) "Without us to defend, what little was left of the universe was devastated, all life was gone and the cracks in space were everywhere." (Luci) "There was no more food either, we had devoured everything that had the scent of Dragons and our insides could barely contain so much energy, that was when our minds finally allowed us to remember what we could not protect." (Luci) "Some could not bear what we lost, some were disgusted by what we had become and some went mad..." (Luci) "Sarazar was the one who went the maddest, he killed many of us in his madness before he was stopped and when he regained consciousness he despaired even more." (Luci) "After that we knew that we only had each other, we did not want to lose anyone else, but the universe was falling apart, everyone was going to die, that was when Sarazar and Arsan had a plan, to anchor a piece of the universe inside our bodies, just big enough to support us from the outside." (Luci) "The universe was already falling apart, so it wasn''t hard to find fragments, it was also strangely easy how the Anomalous core adapted to these fragments, we also noticed that our strength increased and we could contain even more energy." (Luci) "After that, what you know is that our universe was destroyed. We wandered aimlessly until we found a universe where we were able to enter. We found living Dragons and our hunting instinct was awakened, never to disappear again." (Luci) "We ate, we went hunting and we traveled... that was all we did without ever stopping. We realized that the reason Dragons were considered food was because we were not Dragons. We no longer had those characteristics that were always there, and that emptiness was what incited hunger to fill that void." (Luci) "Our personalities and minds changed over time, even our Souls changed. We were disgusting, trapped in a cycle of endless hunger." (Luci) "We weren''t even able to see how much we had become distorted from what we once were." (Luci) "I don''t care what you suffered, just tell me how Sarazar is different from you? Why is his presence..." (Lolth) "He didn''t eat any Dragon, he didn''t hunt alongside us once, his will was stronger than ours, what he did was devour himself." (Luci) "His Soul tried to devour his body and at the same time his body tried to devour his Soul, his Anomalous core somehow became the anchor of the body and Soul that tried to destroy each other, he became crazier and crazier and his own Aura carried his will to devour, wherever he went his Aura devoured space, people, Essences, Gods and Dragons without giving him a choice, his conscious mind disappeared more and more frequently while only the hungry creature remained in its place, of all of us only he had the same personality and it hurt him to realize what he was becoming was worse than what we were at that moment." (Luci) "He sealed himself in the hope that he would die by devouring himself when there was nothing left to devour but himself, which clearly didn''t work, he''s worse... much worse... and his consciousness seems to be close to losing itself." (Luci) "That''s why he gave us time... he wants to be stopped before he completely loses control." (Luci) Chapter 1663: Cap 1661: Callidoras fun "That''s why he gave us time... he wants to be stopped before he completely loses control." (Luci) "..." (me) At that moment, I stopped listening to everything, something was on my mind after hearing everything about the origin of the Anomalous Dragons, especially this Sarazar. "(How did this Sarazar get the Anomalous Cores?)" (me) "(He also managed to get the strongest Dragon robot.)" (me) "(He was the first to start his transformation into an Anomalous Dragon.)" (me) "(But he was the last to lose his mind? Something doesn''t make sense.)" (me) Sarazar was a bigger mystery than imagined, he accomplished things that can''t be achieved by sheer willpower. I''ve been inside Arsan''s Soul and that''s why I know more than everyone else here, I can even understand the change in personality that Luci spoke of. Their Anomalous power doesn''t just decompose the Dragons, it decomposes their bodies, their energy and their Souls, which leads to grafting parts of the body, power and Soul of those they devour to heal the continuous damage their powers cause. There are many things that willpower can accomplish, it helps to overcome limits, it helps to achieve the impossible, but it also has its limitations. Willpower is like a stone withstanding the force of a river, it can help to resist, but it can''t transform anything, the Souls of the Anomalous Dragons can''t stop decomposing due to their powers that are also the cause of continuing to heal this damage, there is no way to stop this as long as they are Anomalous Dragons. This Sarazar guy shouldn''t have been able to keep his mind so clear, at this point his Soul should have been as replaced as the other Anomalous Dragons, so how can he maintain his consciousness even now? "(But other than that...)" (me) Even if I ignore those issues, his Soul and body fighting like Luci told me is also strange, there are many inconsistencies in all of this. "One thing is for sure, we need to stop him, but where is he?" (me) "In a nest, the same one Arsan was in, I know where he is." (Luci) "What is his condition? We need to know before we fight." (Lolth) "From what I saw, his body and Soul are separated, most likely his body is still coming out of the seal while his Soul is already free, his power is divided at this moment, but if the two join together again just his presence will be enough to destroy the universe." (Luci) "That should be easy, if he wants to be stopped, then he won''t fight us, if we destroy his Soul..." (Adella) "That won''t work." (Akatosh) "It''s going to be a three-front fight..." (me) "..." (Arash) "We can''t miss this chance, I won''t let that thing loose in my house!" (Lolth) Adella is naive when it comes to this kind of situation, she doesn''t understand Souls very well, maybe it''s because she was a Blood Goddess in her universe or maybe it''s because she never studied about Souls, but her thoughts are very superficial. Souls are made to protect an Existence, to contain it inside, a container for emotions, consciousness, powers and Will. A Soul was made to resist, the more powerful the Soul, the more its instinct to preserve itself, that''s why techniques to control Souls are so difficult. As much as he wants to be stopped, he won''t give himself up on a silver platter, he will fight and resist, his body if it is not being controlled by his conscience will be even worse, it will be similar to a bloodthirsty monster. "The two of you fighting together may be able to hold his body, but his Soul cannot be hurt." (Luci) "At least not with your powers, even the boy''s Chaos power may not be effective as Sarazar''s Soul is special." (Luci) ------------------- Pov Niryna: After everyone returned from the battle, I was taken inside Tarzor, it was Callidora''s decision and I followed since it was nothing major, but as soon as I got inside, she took me towards Freya for some reason. "Why did you come to see me Callidora?" (Freya) "I want one of your branches and in exchange, I will release a Fragment of the universe that is still alive, containing 5 Galaxies with a large number of living creatures ranging from plants, monsters and people." (Callidora) "..." (me) "..." (Freya) I was surprised by what I heard, I imagined it was something important, but I didn''t imagine it was something like that, I didn''t imagine that she would talk about such a large part of a universe like that with a smile on her face. "Niryna, what does she want?" (Freya) "I don''t know..." (me) "Hahaha... what I want is one of your branches." (Callidora) "Don''t worry, it''s not for anything you consider bad." (Callidora) "I need to consult my..." (Freya) "..." (Freya) Before Freya could finish speaking, her expression changed from confused and cautious to one of astonishment before turning to Callidora once again who was already laughing. "Hahahaha... hahahahaahahaha..." (Callidora) Her smile is widening once more as her mouth tears at the sides and her eyes darken until there is nothing left but 2 pits of pure darkness. "I know she accepted, she has always been smart and must have guessed what I am going to do." (Callidora) "Give me a twig, since it is small it does not matter." (Callidora) "..." (Freya) "Will it harm Zenos or any of the others on our side?" (Freya) "Are you an idiot? Zenos is too much fun as it is and there''s no point in wasting my time with these Dragons." (Callidora) "(So she''s trying to deal with the Anomalous Dragons?)" (me) "(That reminds me of the trip we made before the battle, she wanted to get something from there, does this have anything to do with what she wanted before?)" (me) "Give me the branch." (Callidora) ------------------ Pov Zenos: 2 hours later. I was inside Tarzor with the Entities of Life and Death in front of me, after the meeting where the origins of the Anomalous Dragons were revealed, everyone went to prepare for battle while I came to look for something else. "Will this work?" (me) "Yes, but only if you''re able to endure it." (Kalistos) "It would be safer if it were you." (me) "We can''t interfere yet, knowledge about us hasn''t spread and that''s good, we need time to defend ourselves." (Kalistos) "Don''t forget what you promised." (Mavis) "I always keep my promises." (me) "Don''t forget that your Soul hasn''t fully recovered." (Mavis) "I''ll be careful." (me) Saying that, I turn around, crossing the space and emerging from a shadow near Karina, Samara, Silvia and Magnus who were waiting for me. "Is everyone ready?" (me) "No, Lolth disappeared and so did Niryna." (Samara) "Lolth seems to have gone to get something, her daughter said she was furious while talking about a weapon she didn''t want to use." (Magnus) "Niryna had gone to meet Freya while Luci was telling her about the Anomalous Dragons, it seems that Callidora is planning something." (Silvia) "She''s always planning something." (Samara) "Leave her to her schemes, I know Niryna wouldn''t do anything bad to any of us, my concern is with Lolth." (me) "What do we do?" (Karina) "Continue with the plan, where is Luci?" (me) "She''s being watched by Myu and Arash, she''s just standing there meditating while she waits for us." (Karina) "Then let''s go." (me) This battle is going to be a mess in a closed space, we have to fend off the Anomalous Dragons while those stronger on our side will focus on Sarazar, this is going to be a mess. I look at my hand, the black marks still danced around my arm as the power of death writhed beneath my skin, the pain was bearable for now. "(I need this to work...)" (me) "(I might have to use that power, but I haven''t had time to test it yet.)" (me) --------------------- Pov Luci: I''ve done a lot for this day, I''ve made many sacrifices, but I can''t lose them too, I can''t lose you two. That day I still remember how Arsan came to talk to me and Sarazar, his face was pale and his eyes sunken from the exhaustion of days without sleep. When he started talking about the Dragon Hunter Project it was as if part of him was dying with each word. "(I don''t know... I don''t know if I can...)" (Arsan) "(You got the approval, didn''t you...?)" (Luci) "(Yes, they were watching while they were doing my research... I didn''t even say anything... the approval just landed on my desk today...)" (Arsan) "(While I was researching it was just theoretical... I was desperate, the time for our deaths is already counting! Damn you!)" (Arsan) "(We have no choice, if you refuse, they''ll find someone else who knows less than you and this really seems like our best chance.)" (Sarazar) "(Desecrating the bodies of those who died for us! I didn''t even realize how much... how much I was humiliating those who died...)" (Arsan) "(Arsan, we have no choice, every day the cracks grow bigger and the creatures seem to have no end, entire worlds are disappearing... we need any help we can get.)" (me) "(What''s the point? do all this! If I''m right in my calculations, then we don''t have any power source remotely close to making the project work!!)" (Arsan) "(You''ve done enough, I''ll find a way... Luci, keep an eye on him.)" (Sarazar) A desperate situation leads to desperate measures, that was our excuse, but maybe death would have been better than the life we ??had. I open my eyes seeing my watchers watching my every move, some of them with eyes full of murderous intent. "...." (me) "(This is our last chance...)" (me) Chapter 1664: Cap 1662: For the honor of Zenos! Pov Magnus: Before the battle. I was inside Tarzor, unlike my Father who seeks to fight while planning improvisedly, I learned to trust only the power I have in my hands at the moment, just like any Dragon. The best preparation a Dragon can make is its own power, I look at my hand, the Divine power that was gathering in my claws disperses once again. "I failed once again." (me) "Why not ask the master for help?" (Hades) I turn and see Hades approaching me, in his hands was a Dragon Seal of my Father containing the power of Chaos. "You don''t understand Hades, even though you are a Dragon, you are first and foremost a Herald of my Father, using his power for yourself is an honor to be proud of." (me) "But I am a Dragon before anything else, as such I have my own pride and my own definition of strength, I cannot depend on my Father any more than I have done so far." (me) "Even though being a God was something I achieved because I am his son, I can no longer use his strength in place of mine." (me) "I understand, I cannot fully understand, but I will respect what you wish to achieve alone." (Hades) The Dragon Seal in his hand disappears, then he turns around and walks away before stopping to turn his head one last time to me. "This fight will be dangerous, any of us could die." (Hades) "Then please, don''t die... Mr. Magnus." (Hades) "..." (me) After saying this, he spreads his wings and flies away without waiting for me to say anything, I couldn''t help but smile at his excessive concern. "I don''t plan on dying, but if it happens that way, I''m not afraid of dying in battle for what I believe in." (me) "Now let''s try the second option..." (me) ------------------- Hours later. Now we were facing the nest where Sarazar is, next to me were Silvia and Karina while the Dragons gathered around. "They''re not coming out." (me) "We won''t be able to lure them out, we''ll have to resort to plan B." (Silvia) "Fighting in there will be difficult." (Karina) "We have no choice, where is my Father." (me) "Talking to the twins." (Karina) "Is he going to bring them to the battle?" (me) "I don''t know, there''s no way to guess what''s going on in his head." (Karina) Suddenly the space distorts and Samara arrives covered in blood, her power overflowing and a big smile on her face. "Let me guess, they didn''t leave?" (Samara) "What did you do?" (Silvia) "Calm down, I didn''t kill anyone, I''m just using their blood to complete my power." (Samara) "This blood is from the Guardians of the other universe." (Karina) "Yes, his power is based on Dragons, so it was very useful to me." (Samara) "He''s here..." (me) We all turned our heads at the same moment he arrived, Hades was shaking with a hard face while his shadow was out of control around him. "Hades!" (me) "I''ll start!" (Hades) Saying just that, his body expands more and more, taking on his Dragon form completely, then flies towards the nest of the Anomalous Dragons. "< Unholy Ritual: Universal Reclamation >" (Hades) "< Authority of the Eclipse: Divine Dominion >" (Tarzor/Freya) A great amount of Divine power surges from Hades'' body, my Father''s Divine Weapon appears around him, a Cursed Sun and a Shattered Moon channel this power, causing the very space around him to tremble as it is corroded by the power of Chaos. Right behind the expansion of the power of Chaos, Tarzor emerges from Hades'' shadow while surrounded by Freya''s spreading branches, taking possession of this part of the universe and in the process revealing the previously hidden nest. A sphere of Aura emanating dense power of reality was now surrounded by Freya''s branches and without wasting a second Tarzor opened his jaws advancing to devour the entire nest into his universe. "For the Glory and Honor of Zenos!!!" (Hades) "In your dreams!!!" Just as planned, the Anomalous Dragons began to leave the nest, the space opened as if it were a curtain as they left one after the other led by a large one. "Looks like I hit the jackpot, this one is all mine!!!" (Samara) Samara simply disappeared while the power of Chaos in the area enveloped her body, no longer being the domain of this universe we are no longer as restricted as before, she crossed space for a distance of more than 4 planets in mere seconds coming out right in front of the Anomalous Dragon that led the others. "We''re going too!" (me) "Advance!!" (me) ------------------- Pov Hades: I was exhausted as Tarzor returned to my shadow, releasing only his follower next to Freya. "I will take care of everything, my master." (Mother of the Grave) "Take care of Zenos." (Freya) "Haaa...!" (me) The pain came next as more than half of my scales shattered, my horns cracked and almost all of my power dispersed as the feeling of relief finally took over my body with Tarzor disappearing, the master''s Divine Weapon also followed close behind, disappearing into my shadow as it was taken by Tarzor to where the Master awaits. "< Blossom of the Rising Star''s Life >" (Freya) Freya''s power circulates my body, causing in moments one of the greatest injuries I have ever suffered. The weight of carrying Tarzor with me, even if he was not complete, was too great to bear. It was as if my entire body was going to break apart completely. While Freya took care of me, I could feel that without Tarzor around, her power was less, her Aura decreased by more than half than normal. The Mother of the Grave, on the other hand, released all her power, her body changing first into that of a 3-headed dragon that was soon covered in thicker white scales as if it were armor. Horns grow on each head and their heads deform, becoming more ferocious as she advances against the Anomalous Dragons right behind Samara who appeared a little earlier. "Thank you, I''m fine now..." (me) "Your body is fine, but your Soul looks horrible, be careful Hades." (Freya) Saying that, crystal branches and roots come out of her Elf form as they intertwine into a Dragon form that charges into battle, I take a deep breath feeling that my power has not yet recovered and yet I charge forward without fear. "For the honor of ZENOS!!!" (me) ------------------ Pov Samara: My body overflows with power as it melts into pure energy shaped by the restraints on me, I assume the Form similar to Zenos, using the restraint as a reference to the power of the Dragons that comes from him. The blood inside me explodes in bloody flames covering my body like armor as my chains become visible. "Hahahahahaha... hahahahaahahahahahahahaha..." (me) "< Vigor of All Life >" "< Unholy Magic: Chains of Annihilation >" (me) Behind me the flames rise above my wings healing a blood ritual, aged iron chains stained with blood appear along with whispers of all the creatures that I once destroyed as if they were music singing the good days that passed of my youth. "I can''t believe it... haahahahhaahahahahahaha... hahahaahahahahaha!!!!" (me) My chains begin to intertwine into a large skeletal hand that clashes head-on with the Anomalous Dragon''s claws that are overflowing with pure Vitality, but all I can feel is endless joy at the great joke unfolding in front of me. "Your power is Life!? Seriously!?" (me) "Why do I keep meeting so many bastards with this shitty power!!!!!?????" (me) "< Anomalous Hellish Breath >" (me) I open my jaws releasing a breath attack full of red flames that take the form of a skeleton covered in chains advancing towards the Anomalous Dragon in front of me. I see many other Anomalous Dragons coming from behind it towards me, but before they can reach me a 3-headed Dragon and Magnus appear advancing towards them followed by many other Dragons. My enemy on the other hand was no hothouse flower, his teeth bit my chains breaking them as he advanced ignoring my breath that burned his body in a state of clinging to him unable to restrict his movements. "< Infinite Vitality >" An Aura of Vitality surrounds his body healing all the damage and repairing his armor as he advanced towards me without suffering a single scratch. "What would a thief know about Life!?" (me) As a Saint of Life I understood everything about the meaning of life, I also came to understand how to distort these purposes and devastate life itself a long time ago. An Anomalous Dragon only gains the power it steals from others, they do not understand the power they use, they are fools who never understand how insignificant they are before a true expert! "(Even with all this blood temporarily strengthening me, I''m still not strong enough to fight him.)" (me) "(His vitality must come from all the lives he''s already devoured, there must be many and his ability to heal will clearly be great...)" (me) "(I didn''t want to have to resort to this damn power, but I can''t dishonor Zenos... I''ll use what he gave me back in his name and not for that bitch Life!)" (me) He grabs me in his claws, his strength trying to crush my armor of red flames, but a smile forms on my face as a power that I had left sealed in my Soul since my rebirth springs forth, traveling through me as if it were the first time I had used it, even though it was such a nostalgic feeling. "I''ll show you the right way to handle life!!!" (me) "For the honor of Zenos!!!!" (me) Chapter 1665: Cap 1663: Scepter of Lolth Pov Lolth: Before the battle. I don''t care about the origin of the Anomalous Dragons, but finding out how their bodies work was useful information. I already knew that their outer armor is their true body, but that''s a difficult and not very deadly target. Their core has always been our target of attack when we encounter them. Even so, I never stopped trying to discover other weak points, something we couldn''t do, whether with magical, physical attacks or using Elemental Power, the damage to them was too small compared to the power of our attacks. This meeting showed me little, at most it made me realize that their state of hunger is more of a necessity than anything else, which doesn''t help much in combat. Prolonging the fight so that they can''t be used is something I tried before. The problem lies in the fact that they have very large reserves of power. "But if the energy can be drained... I''ll need that..." (me) I think of a possibility. A weapon came to mind that would be useful in the next battle. "Mom, what are we going to do?" (Myu) "Let''s follow their plan." (me) "Their plan is simple, but effective for this situation." (me) The battle will have three sides, the enemies will defend this Sarazar guy, this is clear from the way they acted before, then there''s the issue of him having 2 bodies, one of them being spiritual and the other being physical. This enemy is clearly strong, when he appeared that day I felt like I would die if I tried to attack him, I didn''t feel like there was any chance of victory and finding out that this isn''t even his full power was hard. As much as I would like to kill all these bastards, hear their screams of death and fear, I can''t go against the wishes of my allies. Akatosh and Zenos seem to want to use the Anomalous Dragons as a weapon against their own enemies, while that Luci needs something else. She seems to want to save her companions, and even though their origins can be considered a tragedy, nothing can erase the guilt of what they did in my home or in all the other universes they have passed through until now. Seeking salvation for creatures that have caused so much harm and destruction like them is an affront to all who have suffered because of them. I would kill that Luci for using such disgusting thoughts in front of me if she were not so strong. I cannot afford to have other enemies now, and even less to push away potential allies just because I do not like their motivations. "Mother, everyone is getting ready, but most of them are still injured. Some of the more seriously injured will not be able to participate in the next confrontation." (Myu) "We will fight with what we have, just as we always have. This time we have no choice if what was said about him is true. We cannot let him become complete." (me) "I need you to retrieve the Symbol of Origin, distribute its power among your brothers and yourself." (me) "If we use this, everyone will..." (Myu) "This battle will mark our victory or our complete defeat, one way or another there will be no more battle after this." (me) "Mother, and you? Won''t you strengthen yourself with the Symbol of Origin?" (Myu) "It has no effect on me, it never has... but I have something reserved just for me, something that only I can use and I hoped to never see again." (me) "Mother..." (Myu) I turn to my daughter, I can see the fear in her eyes and I know it is not for her own death, but for my possible death. I run my hand over her face, I remember her birth, I remember the first time she swung a sword, I remember her first battle and I remember the way her face turned red when she received people''s adoration. "Don''t worry about me, my dear, worry about your brothers. I need you to be the one to wield the Symbol of Origin. Only someone so pure will not be corrupted by the desire for power." (Me) "I will do my best." (Myu) "That is all I can ask for. Now go... we have no time to waste hesitating on what we have already decided to do." (Me) "I will not disappoint you, Mother." (Myu) Saying this, she spreads her wings and flies away, space bending around her as she travels to the Ancestral Mountain. My own thoughts drift further and further away from her and turn to what I have to do next, resolve growing in me. "You''ve never disappointed me... my dear, but I may be a disappointment to you..." (me) I look at my hands, the scales and claws there weren''t always a source of pride, they weren''t always there either, there was a time when these hands were as delicate as a snowflake and yet they swayed in so much blood. I squeeze my hand so tightly thinking about those days that the blood flows out, the few drops that fall to the ground spread a mist of energy that covered hundreds of kilometers as life rises from the earth taking over all the ruins around. "Hating them so much is almost hypocritical of me..." (me) Sigh "This is a terrible time to be stuck in the past." (me) I extend my finger, still stained with my blood, and draw 788 Runes forming a Magic Ritual Pattern in the air in a few tens of seconds. Then I use the Power of the Essence to activate 122 of the Runes. I use the Power that comes from my Soul to activate 333 of the remaining Runes. Finally, the last 333 Runes are activated, sucking the power of the universe using my Will. "< In the Name of Lolth, Open the Seal >" (me) "< Elven Sealing Ritual: Fallen Dimension >" (me) All the Runes begin to move, following patterns that I myself created in the past. I stop the Runes from rotating in them only when they reach the correct positions. Then the space divides into blocks that move, revealing a portal that I follow inside. As soon as I passed through the portal it closed once more, but I didn''t stop walking, the air in this place is as pure as it always was, but looking around at the ruins of a battlefield that was forgotten by everyone, the plants have taken over what was once bathed in blood, the air no longer smells of blood, the space no longer vibrates with screams and the Aura of death is the only thing that remains hidden by the false aspect of life of this place. I walk to where a tree dozens of meters tall still stood even after all this time, the same tree planted by me in my childhood, the memories of the past weighing on my shoulders. "Why did you open the seal?" (Mavis) "Why are you here?" (Kalistos) "I came for this." (me) "Do you plan to wield your Weapon once again?" (Mavis) "In your current situation you will be swallowed by your own weapon." (Kalistos) "That is a risk I must accept." (me) The two Dragons of Life and Death were here as I imagined, they never participated in the battles, which for me was a relief until now, if everyone were to die at least the two would remain to take care of this universe and maybe one day the Dragons would rise again. But that is no longer a possibility, if what they said about Sarazar is true, if we do not win this battle there will be no more universe left afterwards. "You know what''s going on, so why don''t you make your move!?" (me) "When this universe was formed it was by special concession, we helped by interfering more than we should have." (Mavis) "If we act once again outside of our duties in this universe, then Sarazar winning or losing won''t change the end of this place." (Kalistos) "Just watching as always... you didn''t help in the past and even now you''ll just watch everything happen!" (me) "This is the fate of those chained to creation." (Mavis) "Our duty and responsibility transcend this universe, but that doesn''t diminish its value." (Kalistos) "If I interfered, this universe would be destroyed, but by doing nothing I''m at least leaving hope that you can fight to save this place." (Kalistos) "Our responsibility and our desire are not always the same, but don''t assume what we would like to see." (Mavis) "Then why are you here? Are you going to stop me from getting what''s mine?" (me) "It''s your decision, but we can''t guarantee that you''ll return safely." (Mavis) "Our warning is the most we can do for your safety." (Kalistos) "I know the risks... but I''ll still take this with me!" (me) I walk forward, the Dragons of Life and Death fly in the skies without interfering as my hand touches the tree, I feel my skin burn and my blood boil at the same time I feel my will react on its own, running through the tree through its roots that spread throughout this place, every tree, plant, bush and blade of grass are born from the same roots. "< Lolth''s Scepter >" (me) The light and power explode spreading throughout this place while my entire body creaks, the tree begins to withdraw its roots and decrease in size causing this entire place to be as desolate as it once was, only the Scepter remains where the tree once was while its consciousness awakens with endless murderous intent. Chapter 1666: Cap 1664: DODGE!!!! Pov Lolth: The tree gathered all its roots and branches and shrank until it was a little shorter than my height. Its body contorted as it took on a more fixed shape. I held its handle and its entire body became rigid, finally taking on its true form. Its handle became metallic with engravings of vines and leaves. The base of the handle became an inverted triangular crystal. The top of the handle began to form like thin tree branches intertwining until it reached the tip, where the branches split into three, taking on the shape of a spear with the space in the middle empty. "< Awaken >" (me) The entire space of this place suddenly trembles as drops of blood rise from the ground and particles of light of all colors appear in the air, the drops of blood gather in streams of blood advancing towards the scepter and rising from its base, wrapping around the scepter until reaching the branches that form a spearhead, the blood crystallizes around it becoming a blade while condensing emanating a monstrous amount of murderous intent, 3 red blades in the shape of an inverted diamond form the spear. The energy particles on the other hand join with those of the same type as they float until they are above the scepter where they become liquid light falling like a waterfall on the scepter that absorbs everything like a desert in the middle of the first rain in centuries, with all this natural energy gathered, the empty middle of the spear lights up a spark of light that soon becomes intense multicolored flames from where a tree silhouette emerges. "(This is harder than I thought.)" (me) My hand was already charred to the point that my bones were all that was left and vines came out of the scepter''s handle wrapping around the bones of my fingers, the blood blades were glowing as the flames grew violent in the middle of the blades. "Death death death death death...!!" (Scepter) "Just like before, nothing has changed..." (me) When I planted this tree I was filled with ideals of protecting those around me and nurturing a place to call home, but in the end every time I used the scepter only blood was all it knew, only rage and killing intent were what I showed. Sigh "< Synchronize >" (me) "The war is over... go back to what you should have always been!" (me) "Kill!!!" (Scepter) The multicolored flames explode out of the scepter, traveling thousands of kilometers, so much of my body has been burned, but that is not even half of the scepter''s power. My consciousness and Will invade the scepter as I search for its core, the power of the entire tree was flowing in a familiar way, so it did not take long for me to find the correct place. Using my Will to form a bond with the scepter once again, I feel as if part of my Soul has been cut, but I endure the pain as I finish the process. The flames in the center of the scepter this time take the form of an Elf who places her hands on my neck, her flames trying to invade my body at the same time as the blades of blood twist and pierce my body in the stomach, shoulder and chest. "Avoiding vital areas, it seems that consciousness is returning." (me) When everything ended in a few seconds, the blood blades became connected and flowed to the scepter''s handle filling the gaps of the plant engraving, the flames in the middle of the scepter diminished and completely took the shape of a multicolored tree while the roots holding my hand returned to the scepter which vibrated for a few seconds before shrinking once more until it became so small that it fits in the palm of my hand. "Still not going to say anything!?" (me) "..." (Scepter) The damage to my entire body began to heal, what should have been instantaneous took dozens of minutes, but my hand still burned as I held the scepter and this time all the murderous intent was directed at me. Sigh "The synchronization will take longer than I thought and even then it might not be enough." (me) "(I turned you into this murderous weapon and I turned myself into this, corrupted by lies and deviating from what I believed in.)" (me) "I''m sorry for seeking you out once again..." (me) I wrap my hair and tie it using the scepter like I did in the old days, my hand slowly healed, but my hair was fine, the scepter staying still once more with only its murderous intent directed at me. I look around one last time at this desolate land, only destruction remained in this place, a stain of pure death from a past that only I remember and will have to carry. "One last battle for you and me, old friend..." (me) ------------------ Pov Akatosh: I was ready for now at any moment, as a Dragon my power is always at its maximum, but even so this is one of the few times in my entire existence that I doubt if my maximum will still be enough. "That was just his Soul, wasn''t it?" (me) "Yes, his body will not be weaker." (Luci) I was one of the few who didn''t leave the meeting place, I dismissed the others to be able to talk to this woman named Luci. "That was your true body, you never used an Avatar." (me) "Then why don''t you fight if it would help your purpose?" (me) "I can''t get more involved than I already have, there are restrictions that I can''t talk about and so I count on you to succeed." (Luci) "No, you just need him to succeed, you''re using everyone else just to buy him time." (me) "Zenos is smart, but he''s too young, he hasn''t realized it, but I and probably Lolth have too." (me) "We have no chance of winning, do we?" (me) "No, Sarazar doesn''t have an Anomalous Core and his body is abnormally resistant even among the Anomalous Dragons, there''s simply no weak point in his body to take advantage of and in terms of absolute power he surpasses both of you." (Luci) "His Soul is the best opportunity, if Zenos wins he can use the Soul as leverage against the body, his Chaos power being the only chance of victory." (Luci) "Even if he defeats Sarazar, how are we going to deal with the others?" (me) "As I said before, the Dragon Tooth that Sarazar used in the past was made from the strongest Dragon, it was the leader of the Dragons in our universe, it had the ability to strengthen and control them, it was connected to them." (Luci) "If they defeat the Soul and go to take care of the body, then the effects will spread to the other Anomalous Dragons." (Luci) "I see..." (me) I turn around and start walking away, I know she won''t run away, I know she''s not fooling us either, that''s because the frustration in her eyes is not something that can be faked. ----------------- Just now, Lolth and I were together waiting. My attention was focused ahead as the Herald of Zenos advanced, but I couldn''t help but notice what Lolth was carrying on her head. The murderous intent of that thing was monstrous. It was most likely some kind of Cursed Weapon. "It''s almost time. Will you be able to control that thing?" (me) "If I were you, I would try to focus more on myself." (Lolth) "We''ll have to fight together. Don''t try to do anything alone. This is your universe at risk. Remember that." (me) "..." (Lolth) We were both focused, and that''s why we didn''t miss Hades'' actions during that brief conversation. He managed to use Tarzor and Freya to temporarily take over that space for us. When that area expanded to where we were, it was as if a weight had been lifted from my body. Then came the Holy Fall of Zenos followed by the others, what worries me is not the numbers on our side or theirs, but rather the enemies we had not seen before. The first Anomalous Dragon was as strong as me and he was not the only one, Lolth also noticed and I felt her taking her weapon from her head and squeezing it in her hand. There were more strong enemies and our side would not be able to hold on for long, I wanted to throw myself into the battle and invade head on, but I knew better that what I would face could be even worse than that. But Lolth by my side was gritting her teeth and her will to fight was exploding, I do not know if she will be able to just watch her companions and children go head on against death like this. "You can''t go yet, Zenos has to go first, the Soul needs to be isolated before the body interferes." (Luci) "I KNOW!!" (Lolth) "(Zenos... I think you better be quick...)" (me) We didn''t have to wait long, just as the number of Anomalous Dragons was decreasing, an extremely fast light crossed the battlefield, invading the space behind the Anomalous Dragons before any of them could do anything about it. Soon Starfire burned around the entire nest while the shadow of a pair of eyes could be seen inside, it took over the space and closed the entrance. "The time has come!" (me) Behind us the shadow that was motionless on the ground rises in the form of a Dragon''s head with its jaws open, without wasting time Lolth and I ran inside while Luci stayed behind, her Aura filled with uncontrolled frustration around her. "DAMN IT!!!" (me) "DODGE!!!" (Lolth) In front of us, only a wall of energy falls towards us, emanating an endless feeling of hunger and giving me goosebumps all over my body, along with a feeling of death. Chapter 1667: Cap 1665: Life can be horrible... Pov Akatosh: "DAMN!!!" (me) "DODGE!!!" (Lolth) In front of us, only a wall of energy falls towards us, emanating an endless feeling of hunger and giving me goosebumps all over my body along with a feeling of death. There was no time to move, much less to dodge if this were to continue and it was at that moment that I felt Tarzor intervene, the space distorting as our point of view changed. Suddenly we were looking at the back of a large hand squeezing what looked like a Sun until it exploded between its claws, releasing heat waves that could not spread. Looking from the hand to the arm and all the way to the body, we saw half of a colossal body emerging from a mass of energy and shapeless metal. This body was similar to that of a beast with an elongated head with 4 pairs of eyes that looked like wells full of energy, an arm full of metal spikes, a mouth that opens vertically on its chest with 5 tongues extending outwards like tentacles of golden energy. His armor covers his arms, most of his head and his back, he seems ready to launch himself at us, but his other arm is still trapped by his hand inside the amalgam of energy and metal from which he is trying to escape, his wings seem to be free, they are 2 pairs of skeletal wings that seem to contain pure energy of reality, I can even feel that the wings are sucking Tarzor''s power from the surroundings. "Be careful with this bastard, his reaction is very fast." (Tarzor) "Thank you for helping." (me) "Don''t thank me until you survive, this bastard has already felt Zenos fighting against his Soul and that''s why he''s almost ignoring you, stop him as much as possible." (Tarzor) "Lolth, we have to... Lolth!!!" (me) "I''m listening..." (Lolth) I can''t take my eyes off the enemy, his reactions are fast as well as his movement speed, but I could still notice Lolth''s hesitation and the slight tremor in his Aura. "What are you doing!?" (me) "I already told you I''m fine!!" (Lolth) We both returned to our Dragon form, this small body is good for infiltrating here, but in a fight it becomes cumbersome without my wings and scales. But even being in our Dragon forms his size is more than 10 times mine, his body is much larger than a normal Star System. "Your strength is ranged attack, isn''t it?" (me) "Yes." (Lolth) "Then I''ll be the bait, restrict his movements and don''t let him reach me, try to seal him if possible!" (me) "Try not to get too close." (Lolth) "I know!" (me) I spread my wings and advance against the enemy. In terms of speed and strength, I''m better than Lolth. I already discovered that in the last fight, which is why I took the lead. Furthermore, given the absurd amount of energy it possesses, it could only be someone with a focus on magic. None of us have any illusions about defeating this thing. I don''t even know if I could stay close to it for long. Its wings may be sucking the power from the surroundings, but its Aura is corroding the space as it absorbs what''s left. The feeling of overwhelming hunger that this thing emanates is exactly as Luci described. Every part of my instinct tells me that there''s no way to win. I''ve never felt so helpless before, to the point that part of me actually wants to flee from a battle before the first blow. "< Breath of the Dragon God >" (me) I gather my Divinity along with the Anomalous power I get from Zenos'' Totem, then gather all of it in my jaws with 5 magic circles in a chain in front of me at the exact moment I fire my breath. This is one of the greatest attacks of any Dragon, a symbol of pure power for Dragons, with each magic circle that my attack passes, it changes color and becomes more compressed until it becomes a laser of white flames heading towards one of this thing''s eyes. "RRRROOOOOORRRRRR!!!!!" He didn''t even try to dodge, what he did was turn his head towards me for the first time while the mouth of his chest roared making everything vibrate and almost breaking my 5 magic circles with just its rupture. When my attack was about to hit one of his eyes, a golden mass of energy rises up opening a magnet almost like a worm and closing my attack before it hits, but I was happy. "He can be hurt." (me) The mass of energy with teeth swelled and cracked as white flames rose from it, even so that was the maximum damage caused before being pulled back into that eye. Without wasting time, his arm was already coming towards me, its speed so great that it would have already hit me if it weren''t for the space restricting its movements, I flap my wings to narrowly dodge it and at that moment a crystal forest appears around me emanating a frightening amount of murderous intent. "She finally made her move." (me) ------------------- Pov Samara: "I''ll show you the right way to handle life!!!" (me) "For the honor of Zenos!!!!" (me) This power was something he put in me because he knew I didn''t like it, sometimes he can be quite cruel without realizing it, I hoped to never use a power like that again in my existence, but not using a useful weapon in the middle of battle would be foolish when Zenos'' life is at risk, I can''t allow him to take risks even if he has to use this shitty power. "(The two types of Anomalous power together with the powers of Nature''s Harmony and Vitality, as well as the 3 basic Energies... an imitation of the Natural Circle... but even so it was still enough to rekindle the power she sealed inside me...)" (me) In the past Mavis discarded me as her Saint for destroying the universe, but she couldn''t take all that power from me, a power I was born with an affinity for and that thanks to becoming her Saint reformed both my body and my Soul at the time. Even without her power, the Power of Life was inside me to the point that she needed to seal that power, even so there were many situations where Callidora forced me to partially use that power knowing my repulsion for it. Now that I have a real living body and a fake Natural Circle under control, there is no way that damn Seal can work without causing my death, which would also be useless since as long as Zenos exists I will never die again. I knew that sooner or later I would be forced to resort to that power, I haven''t touched it since my rebirth, but I didn''t stop theorizing how to use it as well as how to get around Mavis'' Seal. "(It would be great if this at least makes that wretch angry...)" (me) Sigh "< Unholy Awakening: Desecration of All Life >" (me) "< Aura Embodiment: Chains of Eclipse Desecration >" (me) My power explodes as I feel something being pushed out of me, an endless pain that fills me with pleasure knowing that I was going against the virtue of that pile of shit Mavis. My back explodes in blood that takes the form of red energy forming an Eclipse formed by two Dragons chasing each other, in the middle of the Eclipse there is a Sun of unlimited Vitality from where white chains come out and attach themselves to the 2 Dragons that resist the chains as they continue to spin. An incredible amount of power spins around me as the Power of Life explodes from within me taking even my Aura, but this was not a hot power, it was cold and full of pain. I use this power to embed it in my chains, in Dragon form the chains come out from within my wings as well as my arms made of black crystal fragments, but now lines of white and gray energy run through these chains inside making them full of the power of life as if they were living creatures. "I''ll show you how to use this power... hahahaahaha...." (me) I can feel Mavis'' Seal trying to seal the power of Life that I possess again, but the power that Zenos granted me allows me to do whatever I want, at least for a while. The repercussions of this will be great, but compared to an eternity being safe by Zenos'' side, this is nothing. My chains advance against the enemy attacking me. He tries to dodge the chains, but as if they were alive, they move in coordination, attacking his large body from all directions and absorbing his Vitality that leaks from his body continuously. "< Life Absorption >" "< Unholy Chains: Hellish Predator >" (me) This time the chains take the form of a Dragon intertwining with each other, the power of life runs through the chains giving life to the Dragon that when it collides with the enemy''s teeth it divides into dozens of Dragons that coil around it biting exactly the deaths not covered by its armor while absorbing that Vitality for me. "RROAAAARRRR!!!" "I''ll show you how horrible Life can be... Ghuggg!!!!" (me) Suddenly I was thrown back until I was grabbed by Adella who was looking in front of me, another Anomalous Dragon was next to the one I was facing, he cut my chains and my blood covered his claws, he was equally enormous and powerful as my enemy. "You take care of him... I can''t face... both of them... huhh!!" (me) "Can you fight like this?" (Adella) "Of course..." (me) "< Cycle Recovery >" (me) The Eclipse behind me shines as it extracts the Vitality I''ve absorbed so far from the enemy and ashes it into the wound on my chest that''s rapidly recovering "Let''s continue." (me) Chapter 1668: Cap 1666: 10% Pov Davoth: This woman is truly crazy. Divine Weapons usually have their own consciousness, after all, they are alive from the moment they are created. But wanting a Divine Weapon that is literally alive and capable of acting on its own, that is madness. The worst of all is that not even I can imagine what would happen to a Divine Weapon like that if Zenos were to refine it a second time with his power of Chaos. This is the level of unpredictability of such a Divine Weapon that alone has the power to bring about the destruction of entire Worlds. A Divine Weapon that already has consciousness and is also alive to do whatever it wants would be capable of getting in the way in the middle of a fight, could be influenced by third parties or even turn against its master. Using such a Divine Weapon would be more of a Curse than something anyone wanted. "She is completely crazy." (me) "Who is crazy, dear?" (Mother) "One of the Gods of this universe made a strange request of me." (me) "I think it''s better not to be married, I won''t accept anyone I don''t know and haven''t been..." (Mother) "Please, Mother... don''t make those jokes, she''s Zenos'' wife, the one I came here to look for, she only wants help with a Divine Weapon." (me) "Is she already married? Then fine, but if you want to find a partner and give me some grandchildren, at least bring her to meet me first." (Mother) "Come on, I''m only a few years old, isn''t it too early to talk about grandchildren?" (me) "It''s your fault, I fell asleep with you as a baby and when I woke up I was already an adult, I couldn''t even hold my baby in my arms!" (Mother) "So I think it''s better to give me some grandchildren or I''ll have to dress you up as a baby, are we clear!?" (Mother) "..." (me) "(She''s also crazy...)" (me) "Okay..." (me) "(It''s not like I can give any other answer, she''d really force me to wear baby clothes, just the thought of it scares me.)" (me) ------------------ Hours later. "Show me the ingredients." (me) "A Sanctified Orb, 130 tons of Living Metal, a Divine Crystal containing my Divinity, a Dark Essence, twenty Demonic Divinity Fragments, five Shadow Divinity Fragments, and the Core of a Legion of Death." (Ibuki) "How much Faith is inside the Sanctified Orb?" (me) "The Faith of a few thousand people, I''ve been gathering this for over a month on the advice of Goddess Selene." (Ibuki) "That''s not much, but it might be enough." (me) "How did you get so much Living Metal so quickly?" (me) "Nicole turned a few hundred enemies we had as prisoners into metal while they were still alive, but their Souls were taken by Ivan, that should do the trick." (Ibuki) "The God of Life didn''t complain about it, it should be one of her Taboos to use living beings as ingredients." (me) "She complained, but I didn''t care, after we captured 12 of her Taboos Hunters she stopped sending them and we released them all since we didn''t want to prolong this." (Ibuki) "(I doubt this is over, she doesn''t usually leave things like this.)" (me) "I asked for a Demigod-level Monster Core, why did you choose a Death creature like a Legion of Death?" (me) "Because we had a lot of them, it was left over and it was stronger, I thought it would work." (Ibuki) "It will work, in fact it can make up for some problems with other materials." (me) "The Essence and Divinity Fragments, where did so many come from?" (me) "We have them in stock, with the fight against Baldr and the invasion of the Demon Gods in the Fairy World, as well as the Spirit World, we got a lot of Divine-level Materials." (Ibuki) "I think I have everything, we can start, but we have to change the location, it has to be a land Sanctified by you or one of your temples." (me) "I already know where..." (Ibuki) ------------------ Pov Zenos: I had been ready for some time, but I couldn''t be the first to act, the plan wasn''t complicated from the beginning, that''s because we didn''t have time to think much. The plan was to divide and conquer in a big summary, with the Dragons keeping the Anomalous Dragons busy while the two strongest Dragon Gods kept Sarazar''s body as far away from me as possible. Honestly, I would rather have one of them or better yet, have both of them with me, but without anyone to hold the body, it would come to me and mess everything up, I''m sure the body and the Soul are in the same place, I could even catch them by surprise by separating the two and even then it would only be seconds before they were reunited once again, that can''t happen. That''s why I, who have the power of Chaos, have to deal with the Soul, this is the weak point of all Anomalous Dragons, even though it is a weak point, it doesn''t mean that it can be easily defeated, it just means that it is their greatest vulnerability. Having Hades with me was my initial plan, but Akatosh came up with a better idea, using Hades to force the passage to the nest as well as seal the entrance for the Anomalous Dragons, which was later complemented to force their exit if necessary. As soon as Hades did his part by advancing against the nest and forcing everyone to leave, I moved at the same moment that Tarzor told me. "Hide me." (me) "It will be useless, better speed up." (Tarzor) "< Universal Magic: Dimensional Movement >" (Tarzor) "What are you...ghuhh!" (me) "Just using my speed through you, don''t thank me." (Tarzor) I suddenly felt like I was being pressed against a wall and being dragged along it, my entire body colliding with the universal membrane as if I was swimming in it at high speed, I didn''t even realize the path until I entered the nest and felt the change in space. It was at that moment that I suddenly stopped and felt a great amount of killing intent as well as a horrible hunger taking over everything, I wasted no time and used what I had prepared before the other side could even do anything. "< Unholy Divine Territory: Divine Realm >" (me/Tarzor) "< Tarzor >" (me/Tarzor) Tarzor''s power flows from my shadow into my body where our Auras mix and then his body literally flows through me before expanding in all directions literally consuming the nest as it takes its place, imprinting itself on this space while modifying it. "Aaahhhh!!!!" (me) "(Hold on a little longer, I''m almost done.)" (Tarzor) As he spoke I felt my body being kneaded like modeling clay in the hands of a 3 year old child, my face and the space around me were in flux all the time, moving in different directions to the point where I was no longer able to see. This lasted a few seconds, but the feeling of pain and dizziness was frightening when the space was finally stabilizing, I bit my arm using the sudden pain to focus my mind once again before drinking a gallon of concentrated blood from the Dragons of this Universe, thanks to that my body stopped hurting and my mind returned partly to normal. "Thank you for waiting for me." (me) "No problem, if it depends on me I won''t attack first." (Sarazar) "It seems like your body is far away now." (me) "Yes, I''m trying not to run to him, but I won''t hold back for long, the same can''t be said for him." (Sarazar) "(He''s on the other side of my body just as you asked, in an unpopulated area.)" (Tarzor) "(Thank you...)" (me) I was in a stronger bond with Tarzor this time, so I could share some of his sensations, I could feel thanks to that what Sarazar''s body was doing, the space being digested around him only by his Aura and his wings literally sucking the surroundings like a damn black hole. The same as the one in front of me, Sarazar''s Soul was continuously sucking the surroundings with its energy while the space seemed to vibrate around him as if it was being forcibly pulled towards him. Sarazar was almost the same as the one I had seen before, a human body wearing tight clothing and a helmet in the shape of a Dragon''s head, it even looks like a Power Ranger character. But this time there were some changes, there were 4 pairs of glowing eyes behind the helmet''s visor and a pair of horns on his shoulders that broke his clothes revealing that underneath there was nothing physical, just an ethereal mass that seemed to be slowly falling apart leaking out of the cracks, it was a strange thing to see. His body, although it seemed real, was just a shell, the presence he emanates is purely spiritual, his Aura is more than incomplete, not containing physical characteristics and representing only emotional characteristics as well as ethereal ones. That''s when I realized that the hunger I was feeling before in the environment was coming from him and not from the body, the sensation from the body was more instinctive, as great as it was, it was nothing compared to what I''m feeling coming from his Soul, it was terrifying just standing in front of him as if I were an Incarnation of hunger. "I have no chance of winning, do I?" (me) "No... your friends couldn''t hold my body for long either, it seems like I''ll lose control soon, I''m sorry for killing you all..." (Sarazar) As he spoke, the cracks on his shoulder century expanded, the base of the bosses on his helmet also seemed to be breaking, his power was absurd to the point that I was shaking. "Tarzor, let''s use that technique." (me) "(Wouldn''t it be better to try something else first, your body won''t...)" (Tarzor) "It''s no use, he''s too strong... let''s go straight to the limit I can handle, eat him at 10%!" (me) Chapter 1669: Cap 1667: The shadow that takes over the statue Pov Baldr: I took the crystal cube back to Mavor as he asked, honestly I was more than happy to get rid of that thing, I had a bad feeling since before when I first touched that thing. My whole body seemed to have cooled down and my instincts were more alert than usual, I don''t like this kind of feeling of weakness, I don''t want to have this kind of thing with me anymore. I understand this kind of power better than anyone, it wasn''t a normal weakness, it was caused by something that is going against the power I possess. After I fulfilled the contract, Mavor also fulfilled his part, he used his power and trapped me inside something, I felt his power of the Ascendant Law colliding against me as if I was being beaten, but with each blow I could feel a reaction from my own Law, then I realized what he was doing. The process seemed to last a long time. I felt pain in proportions that only Selene had made me feel before, but unlike those life-and-death struggles against that Witch of Carnage, I didn''t feel any risk to my life. With each blow, I felt my power fluctuate, helping me understand my Ascendant Law. That''s when I realized the reason I hadn''t been able to become a true Ascendant until now. It wasn''t a question of lack of power or time, it was a question of understanding. The Natural Essence and the Ascendant Law are opposites. Someone who has never been a God or Demigod would have an easier time understanding their Ascendant Laws, but for a God like me, this process was more difficult and in some cases, it might be impossible. The Natural Essence is like the rivers of an entire continent or world flowing naturally above the ground, below the earth, or like a current within the ocean. It''s something natural that can constantly change with each change in the environment. But the power of the Ascending Laws was different, it was like a piping system created in an orderly and efficient way to be in constant operation in a well-planned manner, there is no variation whatsoever, the concepts are simply different from the foundation, I could see this before and yet I did not truly understand it until I felt it as I did now. I did not even feel the passage of time as I built these piping systems within me using the remains of my Divinity as material, only when I finished did the blows against me stop causing me to awaken from my meditative state. When I opened my eyes I was inside a space of light, when I reached out my hand the space opened in front of me allowing me to walk outside, when I stepped out and looked back I saw a column of light shrinking until it disappeared completely. "This is new." (me) Looking around I could feel the light in this entire space, it didn''t spread as I imagined, there were several interruptions in each change of direction as if one ended before a new one took its place, the flow of light was also strange, not applying the heat as it should or illuminating as well as it should, it was a strange constant and I was seeing the details of it for the first time. That''s when I felt my wings and noticed the 3 pairs of wings on my back, all the flows of light from the surroundings seemed to connect with my wings in a certain way and I felt that I could control everything in the same way that I control the fingers of my hands. "I need to get used to this... but how much time has passed?" (me) "(It''s only been a few days, it seems that your Ascension has become complete, welcome, Ascendant of the Light.)" (Mavor) "Mavor, where are you?" (me) "(There''s no point in looking for me, I''m not around, right now I and the other Level 4 Ascendants are gathered, but we sense your Ascension.)" (Mavor) "(You have a new mission in your old home, so listen carefully...)" (Mavor) --------------------- Pov Mavor: Urak and I sat, our Ascendant Law floating above us as it formed endless patterns as we prepared to replace Vecna ??when needed. "You waste your power on this God, he wasn''t even able to Ascend on his own." (Urak) "Don''t say that when thanks to him we have the Anomalous Dragon Armor and also an excellent form of distraction." (me) "You want to bring him into the plan I made?" (Urak) "I already informed him, right now he must be getting ready to leave." (me) "You and Vecna ??had your chance, he failed using Baldr in that universe and you failed using that corrupted World Tree to nourish the Anomalous Beast." (Urak) "The plan of contamination this time is mine, I won''t let you get in the way." (Urak) "Stop thinking about small gains, I don''t care about that universe, it also doesn''t matter if your plan will work or not, what we need is to distract the Gods of that Universe." (me) "Fear doesn''t suit you, Mavor." (Urak) "It''s not a matter of fear, that universe harbors a Chaos Bringer like that woman, don''t underestimate a Chaos Bringer, Urak." (me) "..." (Urak) "Now... uhh!!!" (Vecna) "< Law Refinement >" (me) My power of Law creates a beam of energy that brushes against the crystal cube at the same time as Vecna ??withdraws his energy that weakens more and more as he falls to the ground with his body covered in wounds. Sigh sigh sigh Sigh "This is going to... take longer than planned..." (Vecna) Sigh Vecna ??was recovering with the power of Law flowing into him from everywhere, so he stood up breathing hard at first before his breathing also recovered. "Urak, Mavor is right, we should not underestimate our enemies when a Bringer of Chaos is involved, especially when that same enemy has gone after the Anomalous Dragons." (Vecna) "I sent Ascendants to find out what they are doing and even then I prefer to ensure that nothing goes wrong with this experiment, so using Baldr as a distraction is acceptable." (Vecna) "Remember, if I succeed, the gates will open for you two next, so we will be one step closer to achieving transcendence." (Vecna) "Maybe I am being too narrow-minded, very well... then I will make things more interesting in that universe." (Urak) "How long do we need?" (Urak) "If I''m right, it could take months to completely refine this Anomalous Armor. The fusion that would happen afterwards would be a mystery that we have no way of discovering without the data from such an experiment. We''re walking in the dark in a purely theoretical field." (Vecna) "Was it ever different?" (Urak) "..." (me) Now I understand why Vecna ??is silent. The level of concentration to perform this refinement is absurd, as is the expenditure of power. With the amount of power I''m spending now, I could refine a Star System every 10 minutes. Listening to them is the most attention I have the luxury of giving while I do this. Even so, I don''t think I''ll be able to do this for as many days as Vecna. --------------------- Pov Alice: I can''t sleep. For the past 2 days, a feeling of alertness has taken over my heart every time I close my eyes. It makes me want to keep my eyes closed to find the cause of this feeling. But the more I look for the cause, the further away I seem to be from reaching it. "What''s happening to you, Alice?" (Vanessa) "..." (me) I open my eyes and see Vanessa back. Her two arms are bandaged with strips of cloth covered in Sacred Runes. They''re also shaking a little. "I''m fine, but I can''t say the same about you." (me) "What happened?" (me) "I was contaminated by the power of the Ascendants through the transformed, that''s why I came back. Being in the Communal Temple where my Goddess and my Father are consecrated will help with the purification." (Vanessa) "Do you need help?" (me) "No, I have to purify it from the inside out while preventing it from spreading to the surroundings, I can use this opportunity to gain a better understanding of how the Ascendants and the traitorous Gods accomplished this." (Vanessa) "You''re trying too hard..." (me) Suddenly, Vanessa and I turned our eyes in the same direction, as Saints we are very sensitive to Divine Power and felt two Gods entering this Sanctified space, but only one of these Gods completely merged with the sense of belonging to this Temple, the other was rejected and pressured by the power of the various Gods enshrined here. "It''s that Evil God and the Goddess Ibuki..." (me) "Why are they here?" (Vanessa) "I thought Ibuki would try to create her Divine Weapon with the Goddess Elizabeth." (Vanessa) "..." (me) I was sitting at the feet of Zenos'' statue in the middle of the pool of blood, but as soon as I got up to go to the two Gods with Vanessa, a sudden pain went through my entire body before stopping, then a strange sensation appeared and I looked back in fright. A shadow was rising as it coiled over Zenos'' statue that began to crack in several parts and my heart tightened like never before in pure terror. What I''ve been feeling for the past few days exploded inside my heart in a feeling of endless fear as I feel the connection I share with my God being blocked by the other side and I know very well the reason why. The pain I felt before was not mine, it was his pain that traveled to me because it was so overwhelming, he felt it and blocked the connection to protect me, but that implies that he is in deep pain. "What''s happening!?" (me) I was scared, but that fear was nothing compared to when I noticed Tarzor''s presence in that shadow taking the statue and realized what was happening. "No, no, no... no!!" (me) "He wasn''t supposed to use that power!!!!!" (me) Chapter 1670: Cap 1668: It cant be Sarazar... Pov Alice: I was so worried and tormented by what Zenos was doing that I didn''t feel when she appeared behind me, suddenly a pair of arms hugged me from behind as she left her face next to mine while looking at the statue of Zenos still surrounded by Tarzor''s shadow. Her Aura was suppressing mine as I felt her emotions flowing into me, emotions of love, admiration and an overwhelming Will, she wasn''t calm, there was still worry, distress, anxiety, fear and frustration, but they were not worthy in comparison to the weight of the feelings that crushed upon me. These feelings were so strong that they influenced my own feelings, my mind also calmed down a little as I felt safe in her arms. "Calm down, Alice." (Ibuki) "Don''t let fear and worry cloud your mind, don''t lose your path of Faith over small things." (Ibuki) "He''s using the technique that he and Tarzor created." (me) "Even if that''s true, Zenos would never commit suicide with his own technique." (Ibuki) "Trust Zenos, he wouldn''t use a power that wasn''t necessary and if he does, it just means it was his best chance, so as his Saint... believe in him, believe that he''ll return safely and prepare to welcome him with a smile on your face." (Ibuki) "Trust him, believe in him and depend on him if you want, he''ll never let you down." (Ibuki) "Zenos..." (me) Her words were imbued with Divinity and were trying to manipulate me, corrupt my mind with feelings better than the anguish I''d thrown myself into. When she let me go I realized how irregular my breathing was and how my heartbeat was racing, my body was covered in sweat and my face was marked by bloody tears, even my blood circulation was reversed, this was an extreme abnormal level I was at. "What technique is this to make a Saint lose faith in her God?" (Davoth) "A technique that assimilates and embodies Tarzor within itself, a Primordial God that embodies his own Universe." (Vanessa) "..." (Davoth) "He''s not an idiot, if he thinks that again I won''t be held responsible for my actions." (Ibuki) "I didn''t say anything." (Davoth) "Your look says a lot, you don''t know Zenos like I do, so you don''t understand that he was never one to follow easy paths, he opens his own path where people only see the impossible." (Ibuki) "(She''s right, you as a Saint must control yourself, don''t lose your Faith in him, don''t you dare doubt his return!!!)" (me) It only took me a few seconds to get my emotions under control, dry the sweat on my body as well as the blood that leaked from my eyes with Fire Ki, then I controlled my blood to circulate properly while putting myself in a state worthy of the Saint I had become. Sigh "Thank you... I''m fine now..." (me) "You guys at least understand... actually never mind, it would be hard to explain." (Davoth) "(Something caught my attention, Davoth''s gaze was full of concern, but I''m sure he hasn''t known the master long enough to care about him, which means he''s worrying about what he might do.)" (me) "What are you doing here? The master was quite explicit about your presence not only in this Temple, but also in this city." (me) "He''s with me and I won''t take my eyes off him until I leave." (Ibuki) "If Mrs. Ibuki vouches for you, then I think it''s best not to go against her." (me) "I''ll be busy for a while, don''t let others disturb what I''m trying to accomplish unless it''s something really urgent." (Ibuki) "I''ll do it." (me) I watch the two Gods walk away, but even though I''m calmer, I can''t leave this place. I kneel in front of Zenos'' statue, then I pray to the only God who carries all my hope and devotion, himself. "Please, may the paths guarded by the infinite stars open for you and may your steps be firm until the day you return to your home." (me) ------------------- Pov Davoth: After we left the two Saints behind, Goddess Ibuki led me down a path directly below the Communal Temples, she was silent the entire time, but her Aura screamed her emotions as if trying to steady herself, as if she was constantly trying to convince herself of Zenos'' safety. "(Using your power in this way, different beings have different powers, this is a basic knowledge that as you rise in power becomes more and more of an unbreakable rule.)" (me) I have existed for a long time and have been in many bodies, I have lived many experiences, emotions and learned a lot from all of this. Gods and Anomalous Creatures are of different concepts, Gods are those who follow the Natural Cycle and are also responsible for its maintenance regardless of whether they are good or evil Gods, thus their powers are based on the Natural Cycle. Anomalous Creatures are those who have broken, rejected or been rejected by the Natural Cycle, thus becoming anomalies. Their power is based on what caused this separation from the Natural Cycle, as if it were a wound or scar in their Existence. For Anomalous Dragons, it was Destruction and, in a way, a hunger for power. They were marked by this, becoming creatures that cannot exist without fighting and with an infinite hunger. For Ascendants, it was the search for Authority and control. As such, they became tyrants who bring stagnation to everything they try to control. Their sense of superiority is a central aspect of their personalities, preventing them from following another path. Anomalous creatures may be powerful, but in truth their power comes from their condemnation to absolute failure, a spiral of suffering where they sink alone. Few are those who have managed to escape this spiral by accepting their condemnation, something that rarely happens. But that wasn''t the problem now, the real problem was Zenos who had already become a God and an Anomalous Creature, someone who follows the Natural Cycle while continually breaking and altering it, he is able to do this because he is a Bringer of Chaos, I on the other hand was able to do this because of the vast knowledge I have of all creation in its various spheres. Even so, I do not seek to become an Entity, these beings are creatures that do not belong to the Natural Cycle, they are creatures that belong to Creation, Destruction or the Abyss. Entities are purely conceptual beings, their existences are in themselves their concepts, like a Bringer of Chaos Zenos would one day climb the stairs to become an Entity whether he wanted to or not simply because he was a Bringer of Chaos. For someone who is still a God to try to incarnate a purely conceptual Entity, especially a Universal type Entity like Tarzor, even though he is still young and small in size, a Universe is too complex to represent more than one concept. Incarnating or merging with an Entity is not something that should be possible, even to have a connection with an Entity already has extremely high requirements to support such a connection. "(Zenos should be facing the Anomalous Dragons, among them the most powerful are the first generation with Arsan leading them being the strongest, even so as far as I know they are facing Lolth and with Akatosh joining her it should be enough for them to have a high chance of winning.)" (me) "(There shouldn''t be a very high danger for Zebos to resort to this kind of extreme power, he wouldn''t be so stupid to use a power that he himself must know he might not support.)" (me) I tried to think of the kind of enemy they are facing. Luci has long since separated from the Anomalous Dragons, I tried to convince her to join the plan once, which she refused. I also thought about the Ascendants, they always have someone watching their enemies, this would be the same as a three-sided battle since the Anomalous Dragons do not ally with anyone, this would be a possibility just like Zenos having managed to deal with the Anomalous Dragons and then being attacked by the Ascendants. "(That would make more sense, this is the way the Ascendants normally do things...)" (me) I couldn''t stop thinking about what could go wrong as we dodged more and more, Goddess Ibuki also didn''t say anything lost in her thoughts. "..." (me) It was at that moment that a thought came to my mind, a terrifying thought, the first Anomalous Dragon, Sarazar. His power was far greater than that possessed by Arsan and Luci, but he had been touched by the Hunger, without realizing it he was becoming an Avatar of Hunger to the point of having made a deal to obtain the method to Seal himself. "(It can''t be Sarazar, he must be sealed and not something that can be opened easily, as far as I know the key to his Seal was something created to be impossible to open again.)" (me) For some reason the more I think about the impossibility of it being Sarazar, the more certain I am that he is the culprit, I understand that this is not me being paranoid but rather my instincts telling the truth about something that was already in progress. "How did he manage to bring this out..." (me) "What are you mumbling?" (Ibuki) "Nothing... where are we?" (me) "The Hall of the Gods, was built to be used in more complex rituals, the Divine power from the Temple above flows here easily if necessary and the structure is fortified." (Ibuki) "The space here is Sanctified in communion with many Gods, so it has become the best place for many different types of rituals." (Ibuki) She speaks, opening the doors to a hall that easily measures dozens of kilometers in circumference and the same in height. Above, the roof has been taken over by a false starry sky created by Divine power, and on the walls are pillars containing engravings of every farewell enshrined in this Temple. The Divine power down here is as dense as the main hall of Divine statues above. "(This place will do just fine, the presence of other Gods means they could interfere in the middle of the process, I don''t like that possibility even if it''s unlikely.)" (me) I try to take my mind off Zenos, whether or not he''s facing Sarazar, that''s already beyond my ability to interfere, I can only hope he succeeds and if he fails causing his death, then I''ll know by the repercussions on his Divine Statue here. "(Concentrate only on what you can do...)" (me) "Let''s begin." (me) Chapter 1671: Cap 1669: Partial Universal Incarnation "Tarzor, let''s use that technique." (me) "(Wouldn''t it be better to try something else first, your body won''t...)" (Tarzor) "It''s no use, it''s too strong... let''s go straight to the limit I can withstand, start at 10%!" (me) I know how much my body can withstand and even if it breaks completely it doesn''t mean I''m dead, one of the things I learned in Hell was how to take my Vitality under my control and use it with maximum effectiveness. I can always heal my body or even rebuild it completely by singing that there''s something left to regenerate from there, but the Soul is different, the weight of this technique will fall on my entire existence, not just my body. "(I can''t do it that fast...)" (Tarzor) "Just do it!" (me) "< Divine Summon: Eclipse >" (me) "< Divine Summon: Stellar Sword >" (me) "< Stellar Eclipse Sword >" (me) In my right hand a magic circle appears using my Divine Power from which a Purple Sun and a Fragmented Moon come out while in my other hand a magic circle appears where the space breaks letting a sword float out. With the two weapons in hand, I join the two making my Divine weapon assimilate the Sacred Weapon formed from my power, the Cursed Sun falls into the starry sky from the blade while the Fragmented Moon breaks before fusing into its blade. "(This energy is really bothersome...)" (me) In my right arm the energy of Death was pulsing in reaction to the great flow of power passing through it, it was difficult not to let this power flow along with it, but it still wasn''t cool to use it, I can''t waste an opportunity when I have no idea of ??the power of this enemy. "Are you going to start attacking?" (Sarazar) "Yes." (me) "I was hoping Luci would join you, I''m sorry, but you alone aren''t enough even in my weakened state." (Sarazar) "I''m fully aware of that." (me) "At your first strike my instincts will take over and I won''t be able to stop." (Sarazar) As he spoke I could already see his hands shaking, he was clearly holding himself back from doing something, I can also see the sincerity in his words, he doesn''t want to resist, in fact his Aura is strange, the more I get used to all this hunger that continues in his Aura, the more I realize what is missing besides the hunger. His Aura may be similar to a massive black hole, but as such it is empty inside, a shell with nothing inside it other than what it clearly shows. "(Tarzor!!!)" (me) "(Do you think this is easy for me? You''re inside my body, this is different from what we''ve trained with the 0.5% so far and you want to go to the theoretical limit.)" (Tarzor) I know I''m pushing Tarzor to the limit, he''s worried, but I''m not confident either, this fight will have to be quick and with all the power I have, I can''t waste the time or the lives of those fighting outside of here, my children are here and I can''t bring them back like I do with my Heralds. "< Universal Incarnation: 10% >" (me/Tarzor) "I think your chances in the end are not zero." (Sarazar) I may have pushed Tarzor too hard, my power and his were never tested while I was inside his universe, every time we tested this power it was with him wrapping my body, a cloak around me that integrates with me from the outside in. But now I am inside him, the environment is different, I didn''t know what to expect at first, but suddenly I felt the pressure on me increase as the very space around me vibrated, the natural flows of energy changed coming to me and leaving me that became a part of this energy flow. My body turned into its full Dragon form on its own as my Star Crystal scales became thinner and tighter than before, the stars that revealed themselves on my scales also changed to reveal the image of Tarzor''s interior. My eyes blurred before hurting with the new perceptions I was gaining, Tarzor''s scope of perception was being partially shared with me, I could literally see Akatosh and Lolth fighting against Sarazar''s body while I could also see my body standing in front of Sarazar''s Soul, I was experiencing sensory overload. My body was filling with power, many Essences were increasing the power of my Divinity as they flowed through me and I could feel the space around me assimilating into my body. My Soul was equally trembling as endless power poured into it, I had never felt so much power before, but I had also never felt so much danger before, it was as if my body would break at any moment, my bones were creaking, my muscles were all at maximum tension and my mind was already overloaded, honestly if it weren''t for my Will to sustain my consciousness I would have already fainted from all of this, also if it weren''t for my ability to control my body directly, any movement would cause injury to my muscles and bones. Hhgggg!! "(Is this... Tarzor!?)" (me) "(I told you it was too much for you to bear now, your Soul can barely bear it, lower the Incarnation Percentage!)" (Tarzor) "No!" (me) "Devouring space... no, you are assimilating space, I don''t feel the destruction, are you trying to incarnate this universe?" (Sarazar) "This is the first time I''ve seen this." (Sarazar) The changes on the outside don''t even compare to what I feel in my Soul, a connection with such a large space, such a large amount of power passing through me, I can feel that the space inside me has become ethereal to the point of not being able to measure it, my Divinity was exploding with so much Power that I can''t contain it, the power begins to leak out and in order not to waste it I use my Aura to contain this Divine Power in an Eclipse symbol behind me. Aahh! Ahhh ahh!!! Aaaahhhh! I sigh Recovering my composure I look at Sarazar once again, this time I''m not just seeing him, I can feel his presence corroding the space as if he were chewing before swallowing, it was as if I could feel him biting a part of me to eat, such a strange and uncomfortable sensation. "Let''s test this power." (me) "< Sword of Universal Eclipse >" (me) I let the power of Tarzor flow into the sword in my hands, so the space inside it becomes less conceptual and more realistic, literally taking on a territory inside it, while the designs engraved on the sword''s hilt take on a shape similar to Tarzor''s. I no longer feel the space around me as something separate from me, it has become an extension of who I am, moving here is no longer a matter of distance since I am part of the space, the information seems like fluor to my mind while Tarzor''s presence seems to be guided by my Will. "< Universal Slash >" (me) I took a step, already appearing next to him, then I slashed towards his head, but he didn''t even move from where he was, what happened was that my sword went through his helmet and then his entire body until the end. His tiny body was almost like a grain of sand compared to my current size, but I couldn''t help but be afraid of just staring at them so close to him. "It seems you didn''t notice..." (Sarazar) "Damn... Guhhh!!! Aahhh!!!" (me) Suddenly his body that was split in two opens up, this wasn''t the aspect of his Soul, it was just a container for his Soul, a materialization of his power. When his clothes and helmet open up, a large hand that shouldn''t even be able to fit inside that small size came out towards me, the space around it starts to crack around those glued clothes as the whole body finally comes out from inside. His hands couldn''t grab me, but they still knocked me away, causing space to shatter with the collision, which increased my pain even more. I could feel that his energy penetrated my body and reached my soul with that blow, it was disgusting the way that this energy passed through my Soul as if I had licked a candy. Meanwhile, I was forced to transform this energy, but I could only transform it into something that belonged to me, which increased my own hunger. "So this is your Soul?" (me) The body that revealed itself in front of me was Sarazar''s Soul, it was larger than my current size, but it was almost 15 times smaller than his body that is in combat against Akatosh and Lolth. His Soul is also different from his body, so much so that I doubt that this Soul belongs to that body. To begin with, his form was completely humanoid and he had nothing on his head other than a large mouth full of teeth. His hands had mouths from which long tongues came out. On his chest, there was a vertical mouth that went all the way to his stomach, constantly open as space distorted around him with the strong suction coming out of it. On his back, there was a pair of ethereal wings, just like the rest of his body. His legs bent backwards like those of beasts. His two tails were long whips with sickles similar to teeth at the ends. His body was entirely gray, but his teeth were white as snow, His entire body was covered in golden patterns that met at the top of his head where a single golden horn rose up, but for some reason that smell seemed more like a tooth than a horn. The hungry presence I felt until now was nothing compared to what I was feeling now, and everything got worse when he turned to me. His Aura became more savage as his body trembled, letting a murderous will be released into the surroundings. RRROOOOORRRRRRRR!!!! GHRRTR!!! He charges at me while roaring in a bestial manner, his wild movements clearly made based solely on instinct, it no longer seems like he has the ability to reason logically. "He really lost control in the first attack." (me) Chapter 1672: Cap 1670: Impossible to win Pov Lolth: "< Nature Magic: Harmonic Blast >" (me) No more than a few minutes have passed and my entire arm is shaking, the energy of the scepter is breaking my scales and making my blood boil. My attacks, regardless of their destructive power or the elements I use, do nothing against this horrible creature. The blast of energy I fired took the form of ethereal branches that travel distorting the space around them, but when they reached the creature, the space distorted by my attack broke and the ethereal branches were only able to stop its movement for 2 seconds. Akatosh, who was about to be hit, escaped the attack with this opening leaving the creature''s attack area, but I can feel the wound on him, that energy is corroding his wing. "(I can''t do much of anything even with the scepter in my hands, not just using nature magic.)" (me) "We should attack together, it seems that attacks using single energies are more effective!" (Akatosh) "Are you able to use life energy or some complementary energy!?" (me) "Only death energy!" (Akatosh) "(That''s perfect, a combined attack would be better, I can''t use the power of the past now, it will increase the reaction and significantly decrease my combat time.)" (me) "BARRIER NOW!!!!" (Akatosh) "< Divine Summon: Dragon Armor >" (Akatosh) "< Nature Magic: Spiral Spatial Flow >" (me) Akatosh''s body shines as golden crystal armor overlaps his body like a second layer of scales, his body seems much more robust while his horns and claws increase in size and his Aura explodes with power. I myself also use my power to the maximum by converting the Divine power to the scepter in my hands using my Power to build 100 overlapping magic circles in a unique activation ritual that makes the entire space in front of us enter a flow rotating from the inside out. Baaaammm!!!! "!!!" (me) My reaction was half a second behind Akatosh and thanks to him I had enough time to defend, even before the distraction space in front of us expanded too much a great impact appears consuming more of my power to prevent the space from breaking. Boommm!!! "I won''t be able to hold it!!" (me) "Tarzor!!" (Akatosh) Most of the power was dispersed by the flow of space to the sides, but even that only delayed the attack. Another attack came and followed by Akatosh''s scream, I felt space close around us. Before I knew it, we were on the other side of the creature with Akatosh already advancing against it. "I''ll distract him, prepare the ritual and let''s activate it together!" (Akatosh) "Right!" (me) There was no need for many words in the middle of a fight. He also understands what it means to possess the powers of Life and Death. Even if it''s not the Authority of these powers, it doesn''t matter. Only the partial Power we have can still climb a step higher together. "< Nature Ritual: Natural Cycle Taboo >" (me) I use my Divine power through the scepter to build the ritual above me, I have more than 1000 magic circles compressed in a chain with Divine Runes arranged in 57 energy conversion positions and I still lack the energy as well as a Core. "(The scepter will have to do... he''s coming...)" (me) "Tarzor!!" (Akatosh) I must admit that fighting in a place like this is a unique experience, the freedom to move almost perfectly to where we want instantly, that''s why we''re still able to fight. Whether it''s because of his power, speed or absurd reaction, he surpasses us in everything, I don''t even know if I could escape him if I tried to run away, but here at least we have a chance to fight. With Akatosh''s warning I knew he was coming here, so I concentrate the power of life burning a part of my Vitality to forcefully awaken this power inside the Scepter. "< Activate >" (me/Akatosh) Just as I imagined, the space around me distorts as it bends outwards in two opposite directions revealing Akatosh holding a half-broken sword possessing the power of death, his claws were atrophied and cracking rapidly as he held this skeletal-looking sword. We didn''t need to say anything, as soon as our eyes met, we followed each other''s movements knowing that this type of ritual needs coordination and harmony to work. But as I concentrate more power on the scepter, my arm gets worse, vines start coming out of the scepter through my hands and running through my arm, the pain was nothing major, the real problem was the scepter''s rejection against me increasing. "(Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill...)" (scepter) "(Damn bastard...)" (me) I endure all of this and place the scepter in the middle of the Ritual at the same time that Akatosh places his strange sword, the power of life inside the scepter explodes outwards colliding with the power of death that shatters the sword freeing itself, clearly this was not Akatosh''s power, it was an item that he lost control of. Luckily the amount of Death''s power was still something that I could match by using more of my Vitality to extract more of the power of life contained in the scepter, as soon as it was matched the activation time was delayed by the previous loss of control of the power of death. Sarazar''s body was already coming towards us, but at this moment we were unable to dodge, the ritual tied us together, I cannot miss this opportunity. When the activation was complete, the power of the Ritual converged at the tip of the scepter from where the Shadow of an Elf rose, pointing her hand forward. A ray of white and black power went towards Sarazar''s body when he was less than 1 kilometer away from us. At this distance, his Aura was already surrounding us and I could feel his Aura trying to corrode my body, but I couldn''t move from the spot. The ray of energy hit Sarazar''s claw, making him stop his advance. The power of life and Death then exploded, creating a sphere of destruction that made the entire space ripple and destroyed Sarazar''s Aura along with it. "We have to get out of here!!" (Akatosh) "Haaa... haa... haaa..." (me) Akatosh grabs my arm, pulling my body away while the space around us tries to distort, but suddenly one of Sarazar''s tails hits us, causing our bodies to collide with a planet that is destroyed into pieces, a hole opens in the side of my body while Akatosh''s injured wing breaks completely right next to one of his arms. Even so, we were both still focused on the enemy, we were looking at him who was trying to come to us, this time more of his body was out of the mass of metal and energy where he was trapped, but we saw that part of his arm was injured, a smaller injury that caused real despair when I saw it. "(Such a strong attack for just this level of damage...?)" (me) I was desperate, but I wouldn''t let these emotions affect my mind too much, mental calm is what makes a turnaround on the battlefield possible, I couldn''t let my emotions paralyze my actions in front of an enemy like that or my death will be guaranteed. "Hahahahaha... cough cough..." (Akatosh) "Why are you laughing!?" (me) "He finally stopped trying to advance, he''s completely focused on us." (Akatosh) "Now we just need to hold out until Zenos... Tarzor!!" (Akatosh) This time we were far enough away for space to distort around us with enough time to show off and send us away, we appeared on the side of Sarazar with 3 times the previous party, he didn''t even need to look for us with all his eyes turning to us as soon as we appeared. "We don''t need to win... in fact victory is impossible, but that doesn''t matter to us." (Akatosh) "We''re just here to buy him time and finally focus his attention on us... hahahaha..." (Akatosh) "That is if he''s able to defeat the Soul." (me) "Don''t doubt the boy." (Akatosh) "< Mother Aura >" (me) "< Dragon Dominance: Regeneration >" (Akatosh) My power and Akatosh''s explode, my Aura embraces my body with traces of my children''s Auras explosively increasing my body''s healing, the hole in the side closes in a matter of seconds as Akatosh explodes with blood energy leaking from his body, blood covers his wounds that close, his wing is crushed by the blood as a new wing forms and we were both physically recovered at least. The truth is that much of my power has already been spent and I''m sure it must be worse for Akatosh, we can''t hold out much longer if this continues one of us will die. But death is not my biggest concern, many of my children are still fighting outside, their enemies are strong and numerous, I already felt that some of them have left. "(If Akatosh dies, I won''t last long...)" (me) "(I didn''t want to resort to this power, but it''s the only way to stop the scepter''s rejection.)" (me) "Tarzor!!" (Akatosh) With Akatosh''s last call, we were once again taken behind the enemy''s back. He quickly shifts his body towards us. His rationality really doesn''t exist because he doesn''t notice this simple teleportation pattern, but his Aura is expanding more and more, which will stop Tarzor''s help sooner or later if it continues. "(Come on, Lolth... you can do it for your children!)" (me) "< Incarnation of the Natural Spirit: Elven Release >" (me) Chapter 1673: Cap 1671: Death is... part 1 Pov Lolth: "< Natural Spirit Incarnation: Elven Release >" (me) I was in my Dragon form and using this ability after such an extensive number of years was the same as condemning myself, I knew that, I knew about the rejection of my Soul with my body and my power, keeping everything separated with different layers of seals was a desperate measure to achieve the comet synchronization that the Reincarnation Entity promised. But fear never allowed me to break the Seals completely, over time I let my Soul sleep and my body acquired new powers, new energies while I also achieved Divinity. I, who killed so many Dragons to extinction and brought only death during my life, this time I tried to redeem all the lives I took, I used my power to give birth to many Divine Dragons, I nurtured a universe that was only immersed in death after that event, I tried to leave behind those days, those memories, as the ages passed it was only a small part of my life, a part that I did not want to remember. But now I am not only forced to remember, I am also forced to do what I was once afraid of, by resorting to the power of that time, my Soul will free itself from the seal and along with it the other Seals will fall from the inside out. There is no guarantee that I will endure this and there is no way the scepter will remain in such a passive state of reaction when feeling the Elven powers mix with the other powers. "What are you doing!?" (Akatosh) "Something that should have been done a long time ago." (me) Crack!!! "Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!" (me) "RRRRROOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!" (me) All the Seals break, I feel a great sense of relief for less than 1 second followed by endless pain, my consciousness and Will integrate once again with the previously separated aspects making me complete once more. The power of the Elves harmonizes with my Divinity full of the power of Nature with ease, but the power of the Dragon clashed head on with the Demonic power, the three powers made my flesh burn, my blood boil and my power go out of control. "(Kill... kill...?)" (Scepter) "(Lolth...)" (Scepter) "Tarzor!!" (Akatosh) "I can''t do this for much longer..." (Tarzor) Suddenly I feel the space bending around me, I feel a hand on my shoulder and my vision becomes clearer, Akatosh was next to me and my scales were covered in red patterns while a pure light full of the power of nature emanates from my wings. My body and Soul are still plunged in pain, but now it has become more bearable, the Scepter also stopped expanding inside my body after taking half of it, my hand completely fused with it and its dead bodies digging into my flesh as they wrap around my bones. "He''s coming!" (Akatosh) "..." (me) He was almost completely free and that mass of metal and energy was distorting more and more trying to take a different form, from what I heard it must be the body of Arsan, the monster that attacked my house and the one who had his Soul stolen by Zenos. ------------------- Pov Zenos: "He really lost control in the first attack." (me) Sarazar was strong, abnormally strong, but his greatest strength was still in his body like all the other Anomalous Dragons, of course that didn''t make his Soul weak. He advanced at a speed that was almost a blur to me, honestly there was no way to follow his movements if I had to rely on my old form of perception, but thanks to being with Tarzor I could literally feel him moving through space with frightening precision. His speed wasn''t even the problem, the real concern was his illogical movements, they were unpredictable because they didn''t follow any thought pattern. I managed to dodge the first attack because it was aimed straight at me, but the kick that came next injured my arm when the claws on his foot grabbed my arm and pulled me towards him with a bite coming at my head. I used the sword to cut his head that separated from the body before joining it again, but this allowed me to get further away from him, his attack paused for milliseconds allowed me to see his head sticking back in place once more. That was his Soul, it wasn''t a physical body, it was an Ethereal and spiritual form that couldn''t be easily destroyed. In that blow I could feel the sword cutting as if I was being bitten by Sarazar, on my arm the remnants of his power are also corroding my scales. "(Tarzor, why are my movements strange?)" (me) "(Why are you trying to control your body like you did before, your body is bound as a part of me, your movements don''t match what they should.)" (Tarzor) "(You''re moving like a fish in water when you should be moving like the water itself moves.)" (Tarzor) "..." (me) Sarazar continued to attack me in an increasingly brutal sequence, his body was large but too flexible and he attacks tirelessly without breathing or thinking. Moving my body felt strange, but I couldn''t understand what was wrong until Tarzor told me, but while he tried to explain it to me with perfected mental speed, I had already received 5 more blows. His tail grabbed my leg, pulling me towards him while his claw came down towards me, cutting through space itself before hitting my sword. The force threw me backwards, where he spun around, giving a side kick that I again defended with my sword before two bursts of energy came out of his mouths, making me fly away while I felt my Aura tremble with these attacks. He was already flying towards me, his bestial presence full of pure violence and endless hunger, but following what Tarzor said, I tried to do things differently. I moved my body forward while moving the space around me, increasing my speed more than 4 times. It was strange to do this as if I was moving twice in a row, an uncomfortable sensation that put more pressure on my body. With this speed I finally managed to match Sarazar. I dodged his bite and with the sword covered in Tarzor''s power I made multiple cuts on his body. Every time the sword passed through his body it was like trying to cut a cloud, there was no resistance and no sensation of a blow, the sword passed easily to the other side and I always felt that the damage was accumulating, but it was on the sword itself that the damage was accumulating and not on Sarazar. His body rebuilds or reassembles itself continuously, his Soul partly does not have a Core and I cannot figure out how to defeat him like this. "Sarazar!!!!" (me) "Hhrrrrrrr!!!!" (Sarazar) He only makes animalistic sounds, he seems to have no thought process, a purely instinctive creature whose focus is to eat, the problem is that his target is me. As I got used to using Tarzor''s power I felt the tightening in my Soul and even my Divinity tremble, my body itself was taking more damage because of the overload of Tarzor''s power on me than the damage I suffer from Sarazar. This can''t go on, even with this power I''m only on par with him in terms of speed, but I''m unable to defend his blows with my body and I can''t do any damage to him, this is simply ridiculous. "This can''t go on like this..." (me) A few minutes had passed, but I was unable to do anything against him. Each blow he made destroy the space around him, and I felt it as if it were my own body being injured. I was also unable to hurt him if I continued like this. Clearly, there was no other option but to use that power. It seemed I had done the right thing by resorting to it before coming here. The power of death that had previously been pulsing through my arm began to flow into the sword. Kalistos'' presence became more apparent as a symbol of a Black Dragon''s skull formed on the sword, symbols of black flames rising in the starry sky on the blade of the sword. But this came at a price that I was almost unable to pay. My entire arm was afraid of its destroyed spaces. This time, my Soul was also taken over by the power of death, causing a horrible cold to spread throughout my body along with a feeling of danger. The power of death was not something easy to manipulate, it was not something that I could really control. This was a power that was granted in a certain amount with aspects that were already defined. Power flowed into the sword with me just directing it, then the sword burned in black flames as I was deflecting Sarazar''s endless attacks, the pain I was feeling was only increasing, but I was anxious for what would happen now. My sword descends on Sarazar, but this time he moves his wings to defend and my sword was blocked by his wing before his arms grabbed the side of my body crushing the scales and making blood gush. "Aaahhh!!!" (me) I wanted to use a breath attack, but I stopped myself before using Tarzor''s power to teleport me away, holes in the side of my body while a smile forms on my face, this is because I managed to control him for the first time, a part of his wing where I hit was cut, it was not healing like before and I felt the sensation of the blow. "I can hurt him..." (me) Chapter 1674: Cap 1672: Death is... part 2 "I can hurt him..." (me) If I can manage him, then I can win, if I win the battle ends on all fronts, just knowing that my preparation was not useless is already a gain. Ever since it was decided for me to face the Soul of Sarazar, I knew that the one who understands Souls the most was Kalistos, the one who controls the power of death, the end of all things and who directly touches the Souls of all creatures, the one who takes responsibility for transporting the Souls to begin their path once again through Reincarnation. "(Zenos, be careful, something is different!)" (Tarzor) "..." (me) "I didn''t expect to wake up with you still alive or with me still here, a real disgrace..." (Sarazar) Suddenly Sarazar''s movements and posture changed, he turned to me, taking a more relaxed and guarded stance, the hunger that marked his Aura disappeared while the murderous intent exploded throughout his body, becoming almost solid. "Now that you''ve woken up, could you let me defeat you? That''s what you wanted, isn''t it?" (me) "That''s right, I want to be stopped, unfortunately it''s not something I can do, Arsan and Luci never understood, but you will understand and you need to understand." (Sarazar) The teeth in all their lives have become sharper, their tongues longer, their presence has changed or maybe it''s better to say that it''s changing. I could feel that he was connected to something, I thought it was his body, but now it doesn''t seem like that, the hunger that was disappearing is forming something similar to a connection, it seems like he''s not doing it on his own, it seems almost automatic and the sentence I''m feeling reminded me of something I experienced not long ago due to a request from Callidora. "An Avatar... an Avatar of an Entity..." (me) "Yes, but specifically... Hunger." (Sarazar) "I was marked a long time ago while fighting the monsters created by Hunger, at the time we discovered the truth a trace of its power was left on me when I survived its blow, I didn''t tell them that, it was a weak trace and I thought I could clean it up." (Sarazar) As he spoke his body moved towards me, his movements were different, there was no longer the irrational savagery that he showed before, his movement was smooth and precise in a frightening way, there were no useless or exaggerated movements. His claw tried to cut me, but when I tried to use the sword to defend, he dodged his attack to miss the sword while the tongue that came out of his mouth in the palm of his hand attacked my body as if it were a spear, it was too close and fast for me to be able to dodge the attack or move the sword, everything happened too fast. My instincts got the better of me, opening my jaws and biting the tip of my tongue as the energy in death ran through my arm up my neck to my teeth. "I don''t know if you know, but for those of us who became Anomalous Dragons, our Souls as well as our bodies are in a constant state of degeneration, I was the first to notice this and told the others." (Sarazar) "Guhh!!" (me) "When we eat other energies we can refine and replenish the energy within us, the space inside us also deteriorates and by consuming other fragments of space to refine we can repair this damage." (Sarazar) "Bastard!" (me) "But the Soul is different, no matter what race or amount of creatures we try to devour, their Souls just escape, we can''t do anything about it, only the Souls of Dragons can be contained, refined and integrated into our Souls to repair the damage of degradation." (Sarazar) "< Death''s Blade >" (me) "That''s what I used to last so long. The Power of Hunger tried to take my Soul, but the Soul itself was destroying itself along with its power. I was naive to think that this could use up this contamination within me. In the end, it only delayed the inevitable, and that''s why I decided to seal myself." (Sarazar) "Are you even controlling your Soul!?" (me) "Not exactly. My conscience is just talking to you, but my Will is aiding the instincts that control my Soul." (Sarazar) "Damn it!!!" (me) While Sarazar was talking, I was still fighting him. His attacks were precise and in a chain, one attack was always followed by another, and he had a certain flexibility to change the attack midway. His hands were a real concern, being able to attack with fists, claws, bites, and that sharp tongue. Having so many forms of attack in his hands made him even more dangerous, since his attacks varied very quickly, adapting to my defenses. I even made the power of death concentrate on the edge of the blade of my sword during an attack, it''s not a power that I master very well, so I tried to use it in a basic way for now, but just as my sword was about to hit his wrist, the mouth on his chest opened sucking my body closer in the middle of the attack, which made me miss his wrist and only cut off half of his arm. I also suffered many attacks from him, he was relentless in his attacks, each of them trying to be fatal or cause a serious enough injury to impede my movements. His Soul could be as malleable and changeable as a level or as resistant as a Divine Weapon, the power behind his touches didn''t just cause damage to me, they also left a hungry energy that tried to corrode my body, energy, mind, Aura and even my Soul, even my sword was being corroded before I started using the power of death. Sarazar was strong and I''m lucky to only have his Soul here, if his body were here it would be a layer of protection too big for me to penetrate. "You know, before I sealed myself, I tried to kill myself... it was a failure, I didn''t realize how much of me was no longer under control." (Sarazar) "I also realized that I was just a means, he didn''t want just me, he wanted everyone, he was using me to take advantage of our hunger, he instigated that side to surface more and more making it easier for everyone to lose themselves, that''s when I decided to seal myself." (Sarazar) "< Divine Summon: Eclipse of Death >" (me) "I wanted to be sealed for a simple reason, without anything to eat, my body and Soul would be corroded to nonexistence or at least that''s what I thought would happen." (Sarazar) With each blow I suffered, I was slowly learning more about his movements, he wasn''t really controlling his body, he wasn''t fighting in a way that a person would fight, his movement patterns could be precise, but they weren''t cunning, they didn''t try to deceive or manipulate and realizing this I was able to risk my attacks more knowing what to expect to a certain extent. This time I wasn''t reacting to him anymore, I advanced towards him, my Aura carrying the power of death was used to press his Aura back, this caused a delay in his reaction just as I thought, which gave me time to get close to him, my sword was aiming at his head and he opened his mouth biting the sword at the tip delaying my movement long enough for his tails to hit my wings, which didn''t work. I dropped my sword letting it shrink to escape the grip of his teeth as he turned back to me that tried to get away from his tails as well as his claws that were coming towards me. As soon as the sword returned to my hands, I concentrated the power of death along with my power of Chaos. I raised my sword as a Purple Sun and a Fragmented Moon appeared behind the sword, merging into an Eclipse that released a tense energy of death. The power that leaked from this Eclipse spread in all directions and was known to push the energy of life itself away, my blood was boiling inside me as Sarazar''s Soul seemed to stop in place for more than 3 seconds. At that moment, I moved my sword towards him, making cuts all over his Soul. I had already noticed that his Soul did not recover from the cuts made with the power of death, and I took advantage of this to create hundreds of cuts all over his body, many of them becoming lines that joined together in Runes that lit up in black flames, absorbing the power of the Eclipse. "(Why did you do this? Your Vitality is also burning.)" (Tarzor) "(I can''t last much longer in this state. Your power and that of death are too much for me.)" (me) I wasn''t lying. Tarzor''s power was distributing itself from the outside in. My scales and bones were already in pieces to the point that Sarazar''s attacks were causing much more damage than they should have because they found no resistance. Other than that, the power of death wasn''t exactly under my control, I could only direct it where I wanted to use it and even that was spreading more pain to me, my Vitality wasn''t mixing with that power and my Soul felt like it was being squeezed. Not to mention that the power of Chaos was continuously converting the power of hunger that Sarazar''s attacks left in me to become my power, this wasn''t going well, this was a power coming from a concept I didn''t understand, I couldn''t use Alcantara like that. With this blow, with this last blow I need to resolve this, I can''t drag this fight out any longer or I would lose. "That''s not enough..." (Sarazar) "Death is always enough." (Kalistos) "..." (Sarazar) "You''re late... Cough! Cough Cough!!" (me) The Vitality of my body was draining faster and faster as my flesh decomposed, my bones broke and my very Soul felt like it was going to explode, I was already at my limit and I could feel Tarzor trying to break our fusion, but I couldn''t let him, at least not yet. Chapter 1675 - 1673: Death is... part 3 Pov Mavis: Kalistos and I were watching the 3 battlefields, we were in the canopy of the Universal Tree inside Tarzor sitting with a table in front of us, there are 3 people (?) at this table, being me, Kalistos and a guest, Reincarnation. In the middle of the table, besides the appetizers, tea and wine served to each of us, there were also 3 spheres showing the different battlefields. "I wasn''t expecting your visit." (me) "I was nearby, I felt Sarazar''s seal being broken, it was your Father''s fault." (Reincarnation) "I can''t say if he can be called our Father." (Kalistos) "In the scope of what I am incarnated, he is your Father, your names shouldn''t even be the ones you have, but new ones representing your individual identities." (Reincarnation) "This is a thought we avoid having... we can''t understand our situation so well." (me) "Yes, but we also can''t help but see the changes, our thoughts have become less general, our scope of thought has become more contained and centered." (Kalistos) "I like that, I can make better use of my present without having endless distractions to divide my attention with." (me) "I understand that, in my case, my responsibility is more transitory and automatic, I don''t need to divide my attention like you do and I also always incarnate in a physical form allowing my mind to be more secular than you, there are advantages in the way I see a situation." (Reincarnation) As we talk, my mind starts to focus on the battlefield of the all-out war between the Dragons and the Anomalous Dragons, it seems that the Dragons'' approach is being much riskier than normal. "(They are saving each other in exchange for injuries, trying to avoid deaths while their actions shorten the time this war will take.)" (me) "This war will not last long like this, they are trusting Zenos too much." (me) "No, they are trusting Akatosh and Lolth, their leaders." (Kalistos) "Speaking of Lolth, is he using Lolth''s Scepter?" (Reincarnation) "It seems so, that child grew up amidst the massacre, a bit sad for a child who represents nature." (me) "That event was something difficult, we could not interfere, we had to wait until it was over and at that moment only she remained before the truth of her fight." (Kalistos) "She did well... oh..." (me) We all turned to the sphere showing Sarazar''s struggling body, Lolth was breaking the barriers that we once helped to raise within her, the characteristics of the Elves and Demons are clear to see, her ears have grown, her Presence harmonizes more with the environment, her eyes become much deeper with her Soul now in the correct place as my power flows again within her. "She is risking a lot, if she were in a calm situation, meditating and in a place of harmony, this would not be so dangerous." (Kalistos) "The Scepter seems to be awakening her consciousness, I think that was what she was looking for." (Reincarnation) "She is not the only one taking risks." (me) "He finally used it." (Kalistos) In another sphere we saw Zenos fighting against the Soul of Sarazar, he uses the power of Tarzor poorly, he is clearly too cautious with the power and this leads him to not consider it as his own power in its joint state, a bad way to make use of this power only increasing more pressure on himself. As for the way he is using the Power of Kalistos, he clearly does not understand the Concept of death either, he is just using himself as a means for the power to direct it instead of controlling himself. "He''s doing well enough." (Kalistos) "You guys interfere, it seems you''ve finally decided to make use of your situation." (Reincarnation) "We can''t be afraid forever, we''re too defenseless too, we need a less revealing way to interfere." (me) "Does he think my power is a cudgel? Is that all he does?" (Kalistos) "Among our 3 powers, yours is the worst to use, the Power of Life is at least more easily understood by living beings." (Reincarnation) "Alright, then it''s almost time for me to act." (Kalistos) "I think I''ll do something too." (me) "Please try not to attract too much attention, even within this Living Universe, safety is not 100%." ??(Reincarnation) "We know that, but we can''t act like we did in the past, we need to find a new way to fulfill our duties." (me) Saying that, we both stand up, leaving Reincarnation behind. I head toward a branch while Kalistos goes to another. As soon as we touch the branch and let our concept flow, we are able to harmonize with the tree and use part of its power to open a limited portal to where that branch expands. I go to where Lolth is. I couldn''t act as I would have liked in the past, but this time it will be different. In the meantime, my sister will fulfill her agreement with Zenos. -------------------- Pov Zenos: I was feeling my entire body slowly collapsing. Even the Vitality of a God is not infinite. My body was decomposing faster than my regeneration could handle. "(Stop resisting, your body won''t hold out much longer. Leave Kalistos alone...)" (Tarzor) "Not yet...!" (me) "< Ritual of the Unholy Eclipse: Desecration of Existences >" (me) "(Zenos!!!)" (Tarzor) "This power, I see... was it your idea?" (Sarazar) "No, the idea came from him, but my power was necessary and he knows it." (Kalistos) "< Activate >" (me) All the Runes created by the cuts in his Soul light up as black flames emerge, I feel the power of Chaos connecting these scenes in patterns I don''t know and how something is flowing through each of those Runes. My Soul feels like it''s being dragged by a violent river full of sharp rocks, the sensation is horrible, this isn''t just pain, it feels more like a feeling of agony. Cough Cough Cough!!! "AAAHHH!!!! RRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!" (me) Sarazar was no longer restrained by what I did before, in fact he ignored what I did to his Soul just as he ignored the presence of Kalistos by his side. As soon as he managed to move, he attacked again, his speed even greater than before and the power of Hunger was now taking shape around him again being emanated by his Soul, it seemed to be trying to devour the power of Death and Chaos around him, but he couldn''t, the power of Chaos shaping itself with his attempts while the power of Death literally destroys the power of Hunger that it touches. While Sarazar spoke as if what was happening to his Soul didn''t matter to him, I was receiving several blows no longer able to move as before. My arm was crushed without resistance by his tails while two ribs were ripped out by him directly from my body leaving a hole where my blood was flowing as it boiled and became pure energy that deteriorates until nonexistence. The scream that comes out of my throat becomes a roar of pain and suffering containing my Will, I feel my conscience getting so heavy that I could faint at any moment, but I resist it. "You have fulfilled your part, leave it to me..." (Kalistos) "This is all useless, I can feel your power trying to reach my existence, but I no longer have one, the power of hunger has devoured it a long time ago, the Anomalous core is what keeps my Soul still existing." (Sarazar) "A fool indeed." (Kalistos) "(ZENOS!!! STOP RESISTING AND BREAK THE TECHNIQUE!!)" (Tarzor) "NOT YET...!!" (me) "< Unholy Curse: Star Link >" (me) "Haha... hahaha... ha haha..." (me) "..." (me) Suddenly Sarazar''s Soul stopped moving once again, this time I didn''t do anything to make it happen, the Runes around him were all finally activated, the power of death and Chaos connecting them all to affect his Soul completely as they go deeper. I force my Anomalous power, Divinity and the power of Chaos to the limit letting it flow through my sword that just like my body is in a bad state, as the power flowed it was shaped and strengthened by my Divine Weapon as a Dragon made rises from the starry sky made of purple stars connected as if it were a drawing made by connecting these points. It entered directly into Sarazar''s Soul leaving behind the symbol of a 7-pointed star in the middle of a circle of chain. "< Separate >" (me) "You went much further than you said... but your will is respectable." (Kalistos) "A Curse like that, I understand... but it won''t work if what you did before is useless." (Sarazar) Seeing the symbol forming on Sarazar as well as her immobilized state, I knew I had accomplished everything I could do, I also knew I was far beyond my limit, my body was already more than 80% devastated and my Soul was badly injured. I deactivated my connection with Tarzor and felt the little of him that was in me being carefully pulled out while dragging what was left of the power of death. My consciousness was wavering and blurred, then I felt a cold hand being placed on my cracked horn, a hand so tiny and yet so heavy that it was impossible not to feel it. "You did well." (Kalistos) "Let me take care of the rest." (Kalistos) "Thank you... save them..." (me) I couldn''t even finish what I was saying or thinking as my mind fell into darkness. Chapter 1676: Cap 1674: Death is... part 4 Pov Kalistos: As soon as Zenos fell into unconsciousness, I reached out my arm towards him, covering his large body with a barrier. "Why protect him like this when I''m not even able to move?" (Sarazar) "The issue isn''t you." (Kalistos) I look around, even though we''re inside Tarzor, we haven''t been able to hide everything that happens here, there are many eyes turned in our direction and not all of them are trustworthy. Among them, the eyes of Kalistos, Mavis and Reincarnation are the only ones I can truly trust, my original one especially must understand what I''m going to do and that''s why her gaze seems so much like a warning. "(You don''t understand, I know the risks and yet change must start somewhere.)" (me) I turn to Sarazar, Zenos has gone much further than I thought, the Curse he cast last is accumulating Tarzor''s power while he waits for the completion of what he used on Sarazar to spread the effects. "You are different, your presence seems to be more... mundane...?" (Sarazar) "That wouldn''t be a word I would use in my description, but the change between my current state is great enough to use such an analogy." (me) I contemplate the arrangements of the Runes carved into his Soul as well as the order in which they are connecting, the power of Chaos is serving as a perfect conduit for my concept. "You gave this technique to him? What does it do? Use my Existence as a core before forcing a Rebirth of a new Soul inheriting everything I am?" (Sarazar) "Mostly yes, a technique of death and rebirth, but strengthened by my concept... interesting, isn''t it?" (me) "Zenos has always liked to turn enemies into allies, this is a technique based on many experiences throughout his life, he has used something similar in the past." (me) "(You understand that it is beyond what I can intervene.)" (Kalistos) "(Yes, but I can''t stay as I am, my concept seems different, it is death... but it still seems different...)" (me) "You know Sarazar, I am not the Kalistos you know, but I am also exactly the one who gave this Seal to you." (me) "..." (Sarazar) "An Incarnation? No... an Avatar would make more sense..." (Sarazar) "Neither, I am like a descendant of her, inheriting her memory, personality and concept while still not being her." (me) "Impossible..." (Sarazar) I wasn''t saying that to him, there are many eyes here and we can''t hide forever, it shows weakness that would only be an incentive for some, also announcing our existence like this shows that we are prepared for them if they decide to come after us. I''m sure Mavis will do something similar, everyone fears the unknown, this becomes more true the higher the Authority or power becomes, for Entities that embody the aspects of existence, something unknown is a reason for caution and with that we gain what we need most, time. "The Impossible is how mortals and secular beings define what is beyond their capacity, there is nothing truly impossible in all existence." (me) "You who made a deal with the original Bringer of Chaos must know this." (me) "I would like to say that I was deceived, but she said from the beginning that she didn''t know what would happen..." (Sarazar) "Despair takes us to extremes from which we have no way of returning." (Sarazar) "(Stop what you''re doing, if you do that you''ll become a target.)" (Kalistos) "(I''m already a target, this is my chance to show that I''m more than just a target, it''s also an opportunity to better understand myself and my differences from you.)" (me) I understand Kalistos, she doesn''t like changes like this, changes lead to unexpected mistakes, which in turn will interfere with many Souls that fall under her responsibility, a chain effect that will splash back on her. I understand and respect all of this, but some things must be done, I need to prove myself so that I''m not just a target, demonstrating that I have capabilities is one way to do that, revealing myself without fear is another way to do it. While I spoke to Sarazar and mentally discussed with Kalistos, I was also checking Sarazar''s Soul, the changes were great, he was becoming more and more an Avatar of Hunger, perhaps in another 2300 years there wouldn''t even be his conscience left. But that wasn''t even the worst, as the Runes connected I could feel the emptiness below more clearly, a Soul being an empty shell only means one thing and that made me understand that my initial suspicions were right. "You seem disappointed, do you think that just because you lost your Existence you are immune to the power that spreads through your Soul?" (me) "He can''t affect something that doesn''t exist." (Sarazar) "If it doesn''t exist, create it." (me) "< Death >" (me) "What are you...!!!!" (Sarazar) "Interesting..." (me) I waited until all the Runes in his Soul were connected before I began, I focused my concept on the tips of my desires creating claws that I used to penetrate Sarazar''s head. My concept spread throughout his Soul bringing an end to everything, his Will, his Consciousness, his emotions, his experiences, his whole. There was really nothing inside his Soul, no trace of his Existence was left, only an Anomalous Core was inside him, he also had his end by my concept. But I directly noticed the differences in my concept of death compared to what it was before. Death has always been the end of everything, it cleanses a Soul or existence in preparation for a new journey where I deliver all the Souls for Reincarnation to place on its path. But now it was different, the concept of death that I have was gathering everything that had been destroyed and nurturing something, it was also changing more and more as if a new form of death was being created, that''s when I felt it emerge, Existence. Everything that my concept had for an end was used to nurture something that didn''t exist and shouldn''t exist anymore or maybe it was to nurture something that was about to emerge. "(I see, an existential Paradox... if something exists, then an existence will form.)" (me) In the same way that a Soul forms around a Spark of Existence, the Spark of Existence forms within a Soul, the Soul itself proves and affirms the presence of an Existence. "(Fascinating...)" (me) "..." (me) The Soul was entirely consumed to nourish a Spark of Existence, so my power builds a new Soul using the Anomalous Power of the Core that also had its end, a new Soul and Existence, a new being is born. I was focused on what was happening inside, but the Soul on the outside destroyed itself as it was sucked into its center where a glow brighter than any star emerges and from it its light condenses into a new Soul without features. The Runes of Zenos using my power float around and when the transformation is over, they activate, sending a blast of Chaos power that encapsulates Sarazar''s new existence heading towards her body on the other side of Tarzor. "Death that nourishes life... continuity... legacy... a cycle... endless transformations..." (me) "Death is a new transformation..." (me) I couldn''t help but smile at the realization of my current power, ever since I separated from my whole self by becoming an individual and separate entity, I knew that concept was different as well as many other things, but there was no place to test these differences and there was no certainty if it should be tested, without testing there was no way to discover the differences and yet it was something that nagged at the back of my mind, now I understand why. My concept hasn''t changed, it has just branched out into something new and even though I am an Anomalous Entity I am still part of the cycle, a new understanding of my power and concept has led to a new understanding of purpose. "It seems to have entered its final phase, now the Curse..." (me) Suddenly I feel the new Soul attach itself to something far from here, then Zenos'' Curse appears, fueled by the power that converted from hunger, a Dragon of Stellar flames possessing a large mouth full of teeth explodes in a wave of energy that soon becomes thousands of rays traveling in the same direction. "(Now they know about your power, your existence and where to find you.)" (Kalistos) "(They also know that they are vulnerable to me, there is no one who escapes the Authority of Death, our concept encompasses everything and everyone touched by me.)" (me) "(Strengthen yourself, because unlike me, you can be found.)" (Kalistos) "(I will be ready, with his help.)" (me) My eyes turn to Zenos, he was still extinguished like a corpse, but his flame of life did not stop shining, even in such a destroyed state, the death of a God is not something easy to achieve. "I will take care of you until you wake up, I hope Mavis was okay, I know she was more afraid than I was about the change in her concept." (me) "Tarzor, take us back to the tree." (me) "I can''t, something invaded that space and prevents my domain." (Tarzor) "..." (me) Chapter 1677: Cap 1675: Thats Life Part 1 Pov Lolth: The power of Nature around me was more than just emanating from within me, it was condensing, trying to change my body. My Elven Soul was trying to transform my body from the inside out back to its origin, which is already impossible. The Demonic power, even though it is being prevented by the power of the Dragons, is in a state of corruption, the basics of Demons. "(This might have been a bad idea...)" (me) "Lolth!!" (Akatosh) "..." (me) "(Lolth...?)" (Scepter) Suddenly I feel a fist hitting my face, making my mind shake and somehow making my vision focus on the even larger fist coming towards me. "< Supreme Divine Breath >" (Akatosh) "..." (me) GGGGGGGGRRRRRR!!!! As I moved away from my previous position, Akatosh who had taken my position engraved his claws into space itself as his wings opened, emerging full of power while his eyes lit up like stars, as soon as his jaws opened the space cracked as an incandescent beam of intense golden flames came out, colliding with the fist, making the space in the surroundings vibrate from the shockwave as the two were sent backwards. Sarazar''s body roared with pure violence as he opened his wings that were already free and forced himself against Akatosh''s attack, leveraging it towards not him, but me who was closer. "Take fate into your hands!" (me) "< Transcendental Elven Magic: Summoning the Great Tree of Lolth >" (me) I bit my hand and let the blood fall on the scepter that began to glow with Vitality and emanate the Aura of Nature. Soon the scepter became ethereal with branches, vines, leaves and roots growing from it as they spread towards me as well as through me, a large tree expanded behind me, the power of my Soul pulsated in sync with the power of the scepter which in turn flowed with power creating thousands of magic circles at the same time. An endless killing intent surged from the scepter which in turn affected the tree behind me turning its leaves into green flames. As the tree grew and the Elven power in my Soul flowed more violently within my body, I could feel the rejection between the two growing, my veins were drying up as my blood seemed to be consumed, my bones were being crushed and my scales were cracking, the pain I was feeling was enormous. "(You are... Lolth...?)" (Scepter) "< Transcendental Elven Magic: Nature''s Fury >" (me) I had to act fast, the scepter''s consciousness was beginning to awaken and in my current state I ran the risk of being completely rejected by it, if that happened my body would be severely damaged and my Soul would also suffer negative repercussions, I would be unable to continue fighting. Concentrating all my power, the tree that appeared behind me in Ethereal form is a representation of the Spirit born from the Scepter that I created, a Spirit born from the tree that I planted, nurtured and made grow since the beginning of my life, molded into a scepter in a natural way and maintaining its life as well as consciousness, a living weapon that grew in power by my side. I understand everything about this weapon, so I can use its power to greatly amplify my Divinity which is also Nature, the power arises making all the magic circles become trees that dissolve into pure energy flowing like a raging river against the enemy. I wouldn''t let Akatosh protect me, no matter how much help he''s been, this isn''t his universe yet, this universe is my home, the place where my children were born and died, this place must be protected by me even if it''s the last thing I do. "< Transcendental Elven Magic... >" (me) "(Isn''t it... Lolth...?)" (scepter) Cough Cough Cough Suddenly, the fluctuation in the scepter''s consciousness made all the energy in my body flow in the opposite direction, making me have to control my fangs just so as not to cancel the spells I''m already using, this made my energy lines almost shatter and one of my eyes explode, releasing a blast of energy as I began to cough up dry pieces of my organs. "Gggrrr!" (me) "< Transcendental Elven Magic: Seal of the Great Tree Spirit >" (me) The raging river from the previous attack along with Akatosh''s attack was only able to stop Sarazar''s body from advancing, the damage being done was minimal compared to the amount of damage accumulating on me or Akatosh''s energy expenditure, this couldn''t last, I don''t know if we''ll hold out until Zenos can take care of things on his side. I raise the scepter that was still attached to my trembling arm, concentrating all my power, energy and Divinity as I let the power of the ethereal tree behind me condense into the scepter, the blood blade on its head absorbs all that power as it separates from the scepter. The blood blade takes the shape of a spiral spear while Runes full of Vitality appear floating around it, the spear itself was completely red emanating a condensed amount of murderous intent when a more delicate one emerges from within the tree holding the spear guided by me with great effort, then threw it towards Sarazar''s motionless body being held in place by two devastating attacks. GGGHHHHRRRRRRR!!! The spear passes through my attack almost merging with the raging river of pure natural energy, then impacts against Sarazar. The spear was further propelled by the raging river and its tip pierces Sarazar''s arm, roots and branches explode from the spear quickly taking his arm while expanding through the resort of his body trying to detach it from his body, part of these roots try to attach themselves to the very space where roots of a tree that I didn''t know seemed to help in the process. In a few seconds, Sarazar''s body was surrounded by red roots and the still beautiful killing intent was trying to tear his body into pieces, but even that was only slowing him down. The space around him trapped by the roots was being destroyed by his strength, the roots were being corroded and bitten by him, I spent all my energy and Akatosh didn''t look much better, but even all of that only slows down this aberration in front of me. "What did you do?" (Akatosh) "I did everything I could...ghuhh!!!" (me) "Lolth!?" (Akatosh) "(WHO ARE YOU!?)" (Scepter) Suddenly the ethereal tree behind me clamps around me, the scepter stuck in my arm explodes in energy from the inside out, tearing my entire arm into pieces, while branches emerge like dozens of spears from inside the scepter piercing my body in several places to impede my movements. "I knew it... I knew it... Cough Cough!" (me) "(FILTHY DRAGON, DIE, DIE, DIE...)" (Scepter) "(KILL, KILL, KILL, KILL...)" (Scepter) "What is...?" (Akatosh) "Don''t come any closer..." (me) Akatosh tried to run to me, I tried to warn him, the scepter regained consciousness and realized the power of the Dragons in me, immediately recognizing me as an enemy, just as I did in the past, I can''t blame him for something I taught him to do, but just as in the past he lost himself in his murderous intent and fell into madness, perhaps because he had spent too much time inactive in that closed space. "Look what we have here..." (Mavis?) "..." (Akatosh) "(Kill, I must kill, kill, kill, kill...)" (scepter) "You... what are you...?" (me) Suddenly a presence of pure unlimited Vitality takes over the surroundings, the Seal I used to bind Sarazar''s body had all its damaged parts being repaired or in this case I should say healed, the roots became thicker and leaves as well as flowers grew from them. A figure appeared in front of me, her appearance was similar to what I had always seen, a young woman wearing loose white clothes and a veil covering her face, such a gentle voice and a warm presence, even her voice and presence were similar to Mavis. But I could feel that the Dragon power within her was different, there was also no Divinity of Life within her, her Aura and presence were also different, this could not be Mavis. She also beckoned to Akatosh using a blast of Life power to heal his body completely while holding him in place, completely still. "Stay still for now, I didn''t come here for you." (Mavis?) She approached me, her body infinitely tiny compared to my large Dragon body, but her presence was equal to mine, yet it felt deeper. "(Kill... I must kill!!)" (Scepter) "..." (me) "Hello, little Elf..." (Mavis?) "How did you... huhhh!!!" (me) "I know so many things about you... someone who cried so much carrying so much..." (Mavis?) "You''re not her... you can''t be her...!" (me) Her way of speaking, her power, her Aura, her presence, everything about her is so similar, but it wasn''t the same, I know that, even so the way she called me, the words she even used were so similar. "You''re not her...!" (me) "You''re right, I''m not her... but I was her." (Mavis?) "(Kill!!)" (Scepter) "Life is full of mysteries, even for someone like me..." (Mavis) Chapter 1678: Cap 1676: Thats Life Part 2 Pov Lolth: Her way of speaking, her power, her Aura, her presence, everything about her is so similar, but it wasn''t the same, I know that, even so the way she called me, the words she even used were so similar. "You''re not her...!" (me) "You''re right, I''m not her... but I was her." (Mavis?) "(Kill!!)" (scepter) "Life is full of mysteries, even for someone like me..." (Mavis?) I wanted to move, but it simply wasn''t possible, my body was in a horrible state and even my Soul was in agony to the point where I didn''t understand how I could maintain consciousness. "Why are you here...?" (me) "I''m here for you..." (Mavis?) "Do you understand why your Soul fights against your body now? Do you understand why your scepter doesn''t recognize you? Do you even understand where your power comes from?" (Mavis?) "..." (me) I couldn''t understand what she was after, but she was the least of my worries, Sarazar''s body might be contained now, but it was still breaking free from the seal, the mass of energy and metal he was leaving had already begun to take the shape of a Dragon. "Your Soul doesn''t reject your body, in fact it''s the opposite, your body rejects the Soul, your Will has controlled your body for a long time replacing your Sealed Soul, you can''t stand what you were in the past and your Will fights against the Soul that represents everything you were." (Mavis?) She began to approach my eyes, walked over my snout, each step she took was followed by an explosion of Vitality running through my dying body as if she was kicking me away from the edge of death. "Your scepter doesn''t recognize you because you refuse to connect deeply with it like you did in the past. You just want to use it as a tool. You''re instinctively separating it from yourself." (Mavis?) "(Kill... kill... keep killing...)" (scepter) Your Aura takes over my entire body, which immerses me in a source of infinite life. My entire body begins to slowly heal just by the presence of that Aura. "As for your power, it always came from the same place, it came from me..." (Mavis?) Suddenly, a pair of eyes open above us, as large as entire star systems, white eyes with infinite depths, a presence that represents exactly what I remember. "(Did you choose her?)" (Mavis) "Yes, but the decision still falls on him." (Mavis?) "(I hope you succeed, find yourself...)" (Mavis) "That was always the plan." (Mavis?) "..." (me) "(...)" (scepter) I didn''t understand what was happening, but the scepter stopped at some point and stopped causing more damage to me, its murderous presence was also fluctuating violently. When I thought things were strange enough, a blast of unknown energy took over the area, completely enveloping Sarazar''s body while destroying what was sealing his body. This energy also released the spiraling spear while destroying all the roots and branches surrounding it, completely releasing Sarazar''s body where Runes of black flames took shape around it. "Akatosh, go check on the others." (Mavis?) "Yes..." (Akatosh) "As for you... perhaps it would be better to have a deeper conversation." (Mavis?) ---------------------- She just looked into my eyes and it was as if everything around me was erased in white light, all that was left in the surroundings was a space of pure white where I was standing without feeling anything, no pain, no agony and no fear. When I looked at my hands, it wasn''t the claws and scales of a Dragon that I was seeing, nor were they the wounds I had before, what was in my vision were the delicate hands of an Elf, my body was surrounded by the green and white robes I wore in my childhood, without any scars yet caused, a body immaculate by the blood of the battlefields. "What have you done? Where am I!?" (me) "We are inside your mind." (Mavis?) I look back and she was there, her face was not visible, in fact I could not make out her face at all, but her hair was pure white with the tips black as night, it was beautiful flying with a breeze that I could not feel, her skin was dark and her clothes were thin enough to see the beautiful outline of her body without actually being able to see through, it was so beautiful that I found myself fascinated even without seeing her face. "You do not need to worry about Sarazar anymore, your body is changing, which means your Soul has already been treated." (Mavis?) "So Zenos succeeded?" (me) "He usually gets what he seeks, even if the cost to him is heavy." (Mavis?) "As long as my universe and even children are safe, I will honor his death." (me) "I never said he died, my sister would not let it come to that and even without her, Zenos is someone difficult to kill as one would expect from a Bringer of Chaos." (Mavis?) "..." (me) She suddenly disappears and before I can even try to look for her, I feel a hand so comfortable touching my face, my whole body feels comfortable as if it was being held by that hand. "Do you know why I''m here?" (Mavis?) "No..." (me) "You once asked a question, a question whose answer was something that shattered your heart for the last time." (Mavis?) "..." (me) My heart beat so hard inside me that all this blank space trembled in rhythm with my heartbeats. A memory that I buried inside me appears in my mind, an emotion even stronger than the anger I feel towards these invaders who imitate the Dragons arises within me, an emotion that I had buried deep in my past, hatred. "Just as I thought, you still don''t understand... you never understood..." (Mavis?) "Then let''s show..." (Mavis?) "What do you...?" (me) Suddenly, a mirror decorated with flowers appeared in front of me. In this mirror, a young Elf was holding a seed while listening to the Elves around her talking about how to make a weapon. "They taught you how to make a weapon, didn''t they? A weapon like this..." (Mavis?) Suddenly, something rose from the ground. It was my Scepter. An endless killing intent emanated from it, filling the entire white space as if it were a Monster''s lair. "Yes, an Elf''s Weapon must be forged alive, nourished by its blood, and wielded to kill all enemies." (me) "Those are the same words they taught, but is that what you did?" (Mavis?) In the mirror, the images continued. The little Elf took her seed far from the village, found a quiet place, and planted it. Then, she nourished the seed not with blood, but with the pure water of the nearest river. Time passed quickly, for days, weeks, months and years the young Elf grew up training every day, while she continued to return every day hidden to that place, bathing the small seed with clean water while telling about her days and thoughts always with a smile on her face, the small seed grew into a tree and as time passed faster and faster the tree became so large that it could no longer be hidden from those in her village. "You didn''t plant a weapon to kill, what did you plant? What was your intention?" (Mavis?) "(A friend...)" (me) "What''s the point in talking about it, in the end the Scepter was the weapon that was bathed in the most blood in our history, my hands always stained with death and devastation..." (me) "I transformed a living being that exists to nourish a world with life into an existence that led to massacre, becoming a symbol of death." (me) "Are you sure it was with such intentions that you held this Scepter? Why don''t we see a little more?" (Mavis?) In the mirror what was revealed was a battlefield where Elves, Dragons and Demons controlling monsters fought in a generalized massacre, an Elf whose weapon was not a bow or a blade was in front of everyone else, her eyes always turned forward while her people were protected by her power. "A Weapon that brought death, yes, but with the intention of protecting... a weapon that was synonymous with death for its enemies, but worshipped as a symbol of hope by its people... a Weapon that was never wielded as a tool but rather with affection by the one who caused devastation wherever it went... a weapon that was always loved until the end by the Elf who granted it the gift of life..." (Mavis?) "In the end, you planted the tree on the last battlefield, do you remember your words? Listen then..." (Mavis?) "..." (me) Sounds began to come from the mirror, sounds of the footsteps of the only living creature amidst the endless bodies everywhere, footsteps that continued amidst the pools of blood. In the place where death was most concentrated and where millions of souls still collided with each other, she stood, tears in her eyes as she planted her Scepter in the ground. Tears "Please... old friend... bring life once more to this place of death... grant a beautiful place for these lost lives... don''t let the fighting continue even in the end... save them..." (Elf) In the mirror the tree grows from the scepter, its roots penetrate the earth sucking all the blood, trees grow covering all the bodies, their branches separate the Souls colliding enveloping everyone with their leaves, desolation was the only thing left in the false life that showed itself on the battlefield while the Elf marched alone away surrounded by her own hatred. "No, it wasn''t like that!!" (me) "I abandoned her..." (me) "You saved her from you." (Mavis?) "You were about to do something that would destroy the scepter and lead you to death, weren''t you...?" (Mavis?) "..." (me) The mirror disappears, the Scepter disappears, the white space was once again all that was left, and then I found myself looking at my hands again, no longer the delicate hand of an Elf, but the claws of a Dragon. "This is life... endless changes, starting over doesn''t only come in death, it comes from a turning point where one chooses life." (Mavis?) "One day the Elf warrior who led massacres to protect her people whom she loved, died on the same battlefield where despair enveloped her heart... but from her was born a Dragon who, even full of power, extended his claws bringing life, hope and love." (Mavis?) "This is life." (Mavis?) Chapter 1679: Cap 1677: Thats Life Part 3 Pov Akatosh: Suddenly she appeared out of nowhere and everything started to change rapidly, the healing of my wounds, Sarazar''s nearly broken Seal being strengthened, the wave of energy that took over Sarazar''s body and finally her strange interest in Lolth to the point of expelling me for a long time. "Tarzor, are you there?" (me) "This is my body, I am everywhere, so your questioning is ridiculous." (Tarzor) "I know that, but even you don''t maintain your abstention everywhere all the time." (me) As I go away from Lolth and Sarazar''s body, I call out to Tarzor and distort the space in front of me forming a Dragon''s head that lies down from the space itself in front of me. "I need to know, did Zenos really win?" (me) "Yes, he was able to subdue Sarazar''s Soul, but his condition is critical at the moment." (Tarzor) "Where is he?" (me) "He''s unconscious, his body has started to heal, but the damage to his body is extreme and his power is out of control, probably as a side effect of the severe injuries to his Soul, even his Will and Divinity are out of control." (Tarzor) "Right now, approaching him would be the same as risking your own life." (Tarzor) "What do we do then? Wouldn''t leaving him in this state be worse?" (me) "I can take care of him for now, it doesn''t seem like he''s in danger of dying at least, not as long as I keep nourishing him with my power." (Tarzor) I knew from the beginning that Zenos wasn''t strong enough for this plan, I only accepted it for lack of better options, but now I can''t even help him in his moment of crisis. "Can you take me out?" (me) "No, my dimensional limits are at their limit for now, these two battles at opposite points have shaken my universal and the waves of power coming out of Tarzor have already begun to forcibly cross to the outside." (Tarzor) "You''ll have to wait for a few hours, but I can at least take you to an inhabited planet." (Tarzor) ------------------- Pov Mavis: Her mind was a mess, but it was better for her not to see the state of her body, the rejection between body and Soul was intense, she was torturing herself without realizing it. Before I reach out to her, I have to make her accept who she was, it seems that her long life as a Dragon and her guilt for the acts she committed as Leader of the Elves made her create a false image of herself. She twisted the events, blamed herself for everything and forgot her original purpose, she doesn''t realize that her scepter is only rejecting her back, she put herself in this situation risking her life. "(Your soul isn''t so hurt, but your body is on the verge of death being held only by my power.)" (me) "Do you understand now?" (me) I tried to correct her memories by showing what truly happened, showing her real motivations, only if she stops denying herself will I be able to extend my hand. "Does that change anything? In the end, intentions change nothing." (Lolth) "I killed many for no real reason and I wasn''t able to protect my people, regardless of anything, I failed..." (Lolth) "Are you going to run away then? Are you going to deny everything that happened? Are you going to continue like this?" (me) I can''t let her fall back into denial, her Soul was already starting to vibrate again and her flame of life is uncertain, without the Seals to separate the 3 ancient powers her existence will not withstand this rejection. I walk over to her, my hands touching the scales on her face, letting her feel the power of my gift to pull her mind out of this spiral of self-destruction. "Do you think denying what you did changes anything? Do you think staying away from your scepter can make you forget everything you''ve been through?" (me) "You think you''re such a proud and honorable Dragon, but is that an attitude you can show your children who fought putting their lives at risk?" (me) "..." (Lolth) For the first time, her eyes are not dark. If I can''t appeal to her wisdom to understand what she''s been through, then I''ll light the flames of her pride as a Dragon and bring her so important children to her. I''ll force her to face this with courage since she refuses to use the acceptance of wisdom. "If you consider your hands stained with blood, then carry it as you have done until now, with courage to grant a better life to others." (me) "If the regret of the lives you took is so heavy, then live showing that those deaths were not in vain." (me) "Life is full of ups and downs, letting yourself fall like this is a crime against those who wait for you to get up and against those who can no longer get up." (me) "..." (Lolth) Her eyes became different, it seems that I made the right choice this time, she reacts better when confronted with her guilt than trying to redeem her from such senseless guilt. I snap my finger and the white space changes, now we were in a garden with 3 spheres of energy in the sky, a golden sphere representing the power of the Divine Dragon, a green sphere representing the Harmonic Nature of the Elves and a red sphere representing the Corruption of the Demons. The 3 powers were far from each other up there, representing the rejection that resides in her, her appearance in this place still that of an Elf with Dragon characteristics such as scales, horns and wings. "Where are we?" (Lolth) "The same place, inside you, just watching your pointless struggles." (me) "This is the power you so foolishly reject, the power you begged to receive." (me) "I really wanted to... but I can''t... I''m afraid to go back to those days... I''m afraid of what I''ll become..." (Lolth) "Will your life be guided only by fear?" (me) "..." (Lolth) "I offer what you asked for that day, the chance to meet them once more, if you can hold on to it." (me) "< Life >" (me) I reach out my hand and a small flower blooms, an ethereal white flower that exudes endless life, so delicate and ethereal as if it would disappear at the slightest touch, but the power was so great and pure that it intertwines with all existence. "(Let''s see what changed in my concept, I wasn''t able to figure it out before, but I''m not like my sister, it''s not convenient for me to force something on others, I want them to make a decision for themselves.)" (me) "What is this?" (Lolth) "This is Life..." (me) "By taking this you will be able to understand how I see everything, then you will have a choice." (me) "Which choice?" (Lolth) "You will know." (me) "..." (Lolth) ------------------- Pov Samara: I was staring at the cocoon of Runes made of black flames in front of me before looking around seeing the same cocoon in different sizes everywhere, frustration took over me, but I also managed to feel relief knowing that Zenos was alive. "Thank you." (Magnus) "If you want to thank me, tell the master what I did." (me) I don''t interact with other people''s lives, but every opportunity to show my usefulness and loyalty to the master is one more opportunity to stay on his good terms, all to build a place where I can be happy. "How is Hades?" (me) "Alive, I don''t know how, but he''s alive." (Magnus) "He''s a living Curse, his body is completely irrelevant, his Soul on the other hand is quite interesting..." (me) I turn my eyes to the 4-colored mist floating in a certain area, you can see the outline of a Dragon inside in ethereal form, Hades'' body was destroyed and his Soul was injured, but his Aura remains the same, truly a mystery how he works, I''ve never seen anything like it even in Hell. "Where is your sister? I can''t find Silvia." (me) "She''s in the middle of creating a treatment center, many Dragons are severely injured, dozens on the verge of death and some in strange state due to the powers of the Anomalous Dragons." (Magnus) "What a useless thing, she should focus on taking care of herself and be ready to treat the master." (me) "Is my Father injured?" (Magnus) "Very well, I can feel that his body is almost devoid of any Vitality and his Soul is severely damaged, fortunately he doesn''t seem to be in danger of dying, but clearly from outside help." (me) "Are you saying that calmly!?" (Magnus) "As long as he doesn''t die everything will be fine, besides, we have no way to get in, I trust that he will be fine as always." (me) "(A Bringer of Chaos is not easily killed.)" (me) I look around, this is because I felt two things that bother me, the first being a lot of Death power contained in these Rune Cocoons, this was the power of one of the twins and not Zenos'' power, something changed in the plane. The second thing that not only bothered my mind, but also irritated me was the pulsation of the Life power inside me, someone is invoking a Concept of Life nearby and the only one capable of doing it is the other twin. "(What are they doing?)" (me) I felt apprehension, two entities with such experience and freedom to act like them, this was dangerous in many different ways. "(I need to understand what happened in there...)" (me) I turn in a direction where I felt two people, Niryna was next to Luci as they talked about something near one of the Cocoons, Luci seemed apprehensive for some reason. Chapter 1680: Cap 1678: Thats Life Part 4 Pov Niryna: I was facing a cocoon of Runes made with black flames emanating the power of death, this thing was the size of a continent and inside was the Anomalous Dragon that I had been facing a few minutes ago. But even though my eyes were turned to this strange Cocoon of pure energy, that was not the image passing through my mind or the mind of the one next to me. Luci was covered in sweat and tears were streaming from her eyes, her Aura uncontrolled in a mixture of emotions, but honestly I didn''t realize that until now since Zenos was so injured that I didn''t care about anything around me. "It seems he survived." (me) Sigh "(His condition is still not good, he could die...)" (Callidora) "Don''t lie to me, I can see the change in Tarzor''s natural energy flows even through Luci''s power, he is treating Zenos'' injuries, he wouldn''t let Zenos die." (me) Knowing that Zenos would be safe, I finally allowed myself the luxury of thinking about those around me, remembering how Hades was in a strange state and how Xagar was Cursed. But I didn''t think about it any deeper, the ones who would be the ones to treat those two would be Samara and Silvia, there was no reason for someone who had never studied healing to get involved in this. "Are you okay?" (me) "..." (Luci) Tears Tears Tears "..." (me) "(I suppose not...)" (me) Seeing that all of your family are trapped or dead must be hard, I at least had the orphans before I died on Earth, even if I fell into hell, it wasn''t so bad for the certainty given that children were alive, I never truly experienced losing everything I loved. "(Why did you want to show her this?)" (me) "(We needed the power of her eyes to see, I can''t resort to my power for these little things, every action of mine draws attention that you can''t afford to offend now.)" (Callidora) "(That''s why I taught her how to bypass Tarzor''s dimensional defenses at least with her perception, thanks to that I saw some very interesting things... hahaha...)" (Callidora) Callidora doesn''t care at all about Luci''s condition, for her everyone is a toy and a tool for her amusement, but I''m not her. "Are you okay?" (me) "No... but I''ll stay..." (Luci) Tears Tears Sigh Tears She breathes heavily, but I can''t let her get too far away, the illusion I''ve placed around us would shatter if she wasn''t around. I see her wipe the tears from her face as she takes a deep breath, then her Aura becomes calmer as the effect of her abilities fades, her eyes locked once more on the Energy Cocoons and Flaming Runes on our sick woman. "I need to find Zenos, I don''t know all the effects of these Runes, I can only guess a few things..." (Luci) "This is a Rebirth Cocoon, their bodies, Souls and power are being destroyed, all impurities purged before something I don''t understand happens." (Callidora) Callidora emerges from within my body, the smile on her face completely ignoring Luci''s feelings beside me, her attention completely focused on the energy cocoon with the flaming Runes as if it were a work of art to be appreciated. "Can''t you read the rest of the Runes?" (me) "These are not Spiritual Runes, their meaning is not written in their form, it is implicit in their structure itself, it was not made to be understood, a Concept cannot be fully understood, this is not even a true Rune, just an expression of a concept that happened to take the form of Runes for some reason." (Callidora) "The concept contained seems to be that of ''Death'' for some reason, but I don''t fully recognize it, it has fascinating divergences..." (Callidora) "So they are dead?" (Luci) "Yes, they''re dead..." (Callidora) "They''re not dead, if this cocoon was only to kill them, then it would have already fulfilled its function, besides, Zenos needs the Anomalous Dragons alive for what he seeks to do against the Ascendants." (me) "..." (Luci) "I see..." (Luci) I felt the murderous intent spring from her momentarily, Callidora must know more than she''s saying and by the smile on her face now this must have been her wish, a test for me. "(Don''t look at me like that, daughter.)" (Callidora) "(You need to learn to assert yourself more, I just wanted to test a little and I was happy with your reaction.)" (Callidora) "..." (me) I always need to be on my guard against her, I know she wouldn''t do anything to me and maybe she won''t do anything to Zenos, but her intentions are always too obscure to fully understand. -------------------- Pov Mavis: I continue with my hand extended with the Flower of Life in bloom, waiting for Lolth''s decision. The choice must be hers and, as expected, she chose quickly. "..." (Lolth) "..." (me) She extends her hand and grabs the flower, whose thorns sprout from its stem, hurting her fingers that still refuse to let go of the flower. "Aaahhh!!!" (Lolth) She ignores the pain and holds the flower beautifully as its petals shine brighter and brighter. Waves of light flow to her through her arm and take over her entire body. Then this light takes shape around her, creating petals of white light around her that illuminate even more. I look up. The three spheres that represent the power of Dragons, Demons, and Elves have stopped repelling each other as before. The entire space begins to collapse as the light intensifies, taking Lolth''s mind alive. I smile as I open my eyes in my true body. I look at Lolth, whose body is also surrounded by petals of white light. I then turn to where Sarazar''s body was. He disappeared, leaving only the misshapen body of an Anomalous Dragon behind. "Whose body is this and why hasn''t it been affected by Kalistos'' power?" (me) "This is Arsan''s body. I can''t say why it hasn''t been affected when all the other Anomalous Dragons have already been affected." (Tarzor) Tarzor appears nearby, forming a Dragon''s face as he deforms space. He knows everything that happens in this space, and that''s why he was the best one to answer my questions. As soon as he showed himself, Magic Circles and Spiritual Runes appeared around Arsan''s body. But they weren''t my sister''s power, but Tarzor''s own power. "I will seal him for now and let Zenos decide what to do with him later." (Tarzor) "How is he?" (me) "Horrible, but alive..." (Tarzor) "Then he will be fine, while there is life, there will be hope." (me) I shift my eyes back to Lolth, I could feel the changes now, her body was completely healed and her 3 powers were merging as they should have been from the beginning. "(It seems he understood the basics of Life, now comes the real choice.)" (me) "I see... so that was the change..." (me) As I looked at her, I could see the concept of life in action, it helped me see the changes from that concept to the one I knew, its scope was still huge, but its core was different as it became centered instead of broad. The concept of life is large, second only to creation itself, complex in its simplicity by its infinite ramifications, a second chance is something many have throughout life, just a part of life. But this concept is different, a second chance to be born, not reborn, not to transform what you are, but to be born into your true self, a life generated by your acceptance of yourself and a Will to liberate yourself. An awakening of the true self, interesting, a second chance to be truly born, very interesting the implications of such a concept and its applications in all creation. I couldn''t help but smile at the possibilities passing through my mind, but I couldn''t help but notice that Lolth had reached the crossroads of choices. "Choose wisely, life doesn''t always give you a second chance... especially a second chance like this..." (me) "Will you accept only your power and follow as you have made your path, being a Dragon Goddess who embraces nature?" (me) "You can also choose, accept the power you have always had, the power of Life with which you were born and from which you nourished your power of nature, embrace all that you were, all that you have become and seek to embrace your true childhood desire, to nourish life with love." (me) "One of these paths will give you only power and freedom to do whatever you want, but the other choice will be like surrendering yourself to an eternal responsibility by my side, a responsibility that even I cannot foresee where it will lead." (me) "What will you choose... Lolth?" (me) With each word that leaves my lips the lights of the flower that submerges Lolth intensify until in the end they are so bright that their glow illuminates a large part of Tarzor emanating life everywhere. My words travel not to Lolth''s ears, but to her own Soul touching the spark of her Existence directly, resonating with her in a state where it is not the words she is hearing and without the true intention of their meaning. "(Life is made of choices and at certain moments these choices can lead to such different paths... that is the true beauty of the mystery of life.)" (me) Chapter 1681: Cap 1679: The End of Calvary Pov Myu: "Can you heal him!?" (me) "I can, but that arm is already a lost cause." (Silvia) In my arms was one of my younger brothers, his body was covered in metal stakes covered in Cursed Runes and on one of his shoulders there was an empty place with a bite mark where his right arm used to be. "It wasn''t just his body that was injured, his Soul suffered trauma, the Anomalous Dragons'' bites tear off more than just flesh." (Silvia) "I can fix the stakes, but that arm..." (Silvia) "As long as he lives, everything else can be remedied in another way." (me) "Leave him with me, I''ll put him through the purification ritual before treating his injuries." (Silvia) "Thank you, I really appreciate all the help." (me) I hand my brother over to her, but what catches him are branches that come out of the ground taking the form of large wooden hands, this was the last of the injured to be brought in, I myself am injured, but my injuries are minor, only my physical body was injured. "(8 of them are on the verge of death, 643 are severely injured, all the others including me have varying degrees of non-critical injuries...)" (me) "How did this end so well..." (me) I couldn''t understand, none of us died, many came close to death, some are still close to death, but no one actually died. This time there were some enemies with a power level close to my mother''s, the enemies were also being much more violent in their attacks, I can''t understand how we were able to have a number of zero casualties. "Don''t think too much about it, you might not like the answer." (Magnus) "..." (me) "Magnus, son of Zenos... is that right?" (me) "Yes, that''s me, you''re Myu, Lolth''s daughter and right-hand woman." (Magnus) "That''s me, nice to meet you, but what do your words mean?" (me) "You''re not the only one who notices the strangeness in the number of casualties, but trust me, you don''t want to know the reason for it." (Magnus) "I don''t understand your reaction, as strange as it is, shouldn''t it be good news?" (me) Something doesn''t feel right, your reaction tells me that there''s a specific reason for all of this, I can''t leave it like this when so many of my brothers are involved, especially now that my Mother hasn''t shown up yet. "Tell me what you know now." (me) "..." (Magnus) Sigh "I tried to warn you since others on your side seem to have noticed, but I think staying silent would be worse." (Magnus) "The reason there were no deaths probably has to do with Niryna, she''s a good girl despite who''s with her." (Magnus) "Are you saying she did this? I saw her fight and she didn''t seem strong enough..." (me) "She doesn''t need strong attacks to distract someone in decisive moments, she also didn''t do this to help you, it was just a bonus in her mind, as good as she is, she still has her priorities well defined." (Magnus) "She manipulated the battlefield creating two lines of defense around us, remember how everyone was positioned, the Dragons of our universe were the last line of defense and you, who were greater in number, were the first line of defense." (Magnus) "She wanted to reduce the deaths to the minimum possible to avoid holes in the defense line, but I can''t deny the fact that she really enjoyed saving you even though it wasn''t the priority." (Magnus) "Are you saying that a young woman who may not be stronger than me, manipulated the entire battlefield positioning by herself...?" (me) "Not alone, Samara certainly realized what she was doing, so she acted along with it, but the rest must be as I said." (Magnus) "..." (me) I couldn''t believe what I heard, the undertaking of doing what Magnus said is absurd, the battlefield took over an entire Star System, there were planets destroyed just by missed attacks, just paying attention to such a wide area is already absurd. "I''m just saying this to avoid trouble later, the result is what matters and in that everyone survived, just don''t let anyone cause trouble when everyone benefited." (Magnus) "You say that when my brothers were the ones at greatest risk..." (me) "Look closely, Samara and Hades were in the greatest danger when facing the strongest enemies, we weren''t far from the battle and probably more than half of our side didn''t notice what Niryna did." (Magnus) "..." (me) Sigh I look in one direction, the girl named Niryna was on top of a rock eating something, but from behind her another female figure came out of seemingly nowhere, she was smiling and looked straight at me, I didn''t even notice when I took a step back in the air still feeling a shiver down my spine. "(What is that thing.)" (me) ------------------ Pov Xagar: "My performance was below what I intended..." (me) "It wasn''t that bad, just bad luck in choosing your opponent." (Silvia) "Still, I know I could have done better..." (me) "If I controlled my power better..." (me) "Just rest, your curses have been cleansed, but your injuries haven''t all healed." (Silvia) "Thank you." (me) I watch Silvia walk away and fall into my thoughts, since I left the Church of Light, my strength has been rising at a very fast pace, my old techniques are no longer able to keep up, my skills are too many to master in a short time, all I managed to do was get used to this current body and even that is only a small progress. "(I need to be stronger... I need to master my power... I need to train!)" (me) ------------------ Pov Akatosh: I sat there recovering my strength for hours, my body was already healed by what Mavis did to me, but my Soul also suffered several injuries as well as my power was spent. "You can leave now." (Tarzor) "Finally..." (me) "How is the boy?" (me) "Better, but he''ll need time to heal, he probably won''t wake up until we leave this universe." (Tarzor) "The one called Lolth, how is she?" (me) "I don''t know, the Twins'' powers are in concepts that go beyond those of a Universe, my senses can''t understand what''s going on there." (Tarzor) "I understand, keep taking care of Zenos, I''ll see how things are outside." (me) Tarzor appears twisting the space in the form of a Dragon''s face, then that same space opens in a portal arch that I passed through going outside. The journey was smooth and from the outside I could still feel Tarzor''s power being sustained by another power, but before anything else, a figure passed by me as the portal closed, it was just a glance and yet I saw who passed by, Luci. "Was this your idea?" (me) "No, but it''s going to be okay." (Niryna) "I''m sorry I didn''t believe you." (me) I don''t trust this girl, I know she''s one of Zenos'' daughters, but she''s also connected to an Entity that shouldn''t be trusted by anyone. "(No matter how strong Luci is, she won''t be able to fight Tarzor inside her body or against the Twins...)" (me) I continued walking without caring about Niryna who was still sitting on a rock, around me I could see Dragons lying on the ground injured, the smell of blood spread through the air as the environment vibrated with so many powerful Auras together. Suddenly several Auras locked onto my position, one of them was already approaching me, it was Lolth''s daughter with a more Human appearance, if I''m not mistaken her name is Myu, a strange name for a Dragon. "Where is my mother!?" (Myu) "(I knew it would end like this.)" (me) "Inside, she is being taken care of by someone and she can''t leave now." (me) "Is she hurt? Why do you look like..." (Myu) "Don''t be fooled by my body, my injuries are more than you can see, your mother''s life is not in danger, so just wait for her return." (me) Saying that I go see the others, I don''t want to get involved in whatever the twins are getting into, only a madman like Zenos would keep them around. I move away from the planet knowing that this place is being used as a care camp for those injured, I found many Dragons with minor injuries around the affect as if guarding their companions. I continue flying away and see the Cocoons of black flaming Runes, this was also the power of one of the Twins, they were slowly being dragged by ethereal branches. "Freya, are they still watching?" (me) "Yes." (Freya) "Did they see everything?" (me) "No, just what I allowed them to see, they don''t dare to enter the universe thinking they haven''t been noticed." (Freya) "They''ll try to ambush us on the way back." (me) "Are you sure not talking to Zenos and the others was a good decision?" (Freya) "Zenos likes to plan a lot, he would make them realize they''ve been found, we need to catch them unnoticed so they''ll fall straight into the trap." (me) "That was the end of this ordeal, but we''re only halfway through the war." (me) Chapter 1682: Cap 1680: The Threshold of Life and Death Pov Freya: The space I helped Tarzor take was more mine than his, he was too focused on his body to actually control the territory he conquered, so that burden fell on me. The universe didn''t like it very much, its reaction was truly violent, the power of Reality is gathering around us at levels that would be dangerous, accumulating enough could crush the territory itself and annihilate this entire space, perhaps even sealing the territory in a separate space. "Can you take care of the rest?" (me) "Yes, that was the last one?" (Akatosh) "Yes, now I don''t need to hold this territory anymore, so I advise you to leave..." (me) "We can''t, there are too many injured, the best would be to hold this territory for 2 days." (Akatosh) "I can''t do that, this universe has an overreaction to a Territory, the way the Power of Reality is being gathered around us, this won''t end well if it continues." (me) "At least 1 day, there are many injured, moving all of them will already be a problem and we still have some who can''t move because they are in the middle of healing or purification rituals." (Akatosh) "..." (me) "Okay, I''ll give it 1 day, but know that I''m not doing this for anything bad, it''s just a truly difficult situation to maintain." (me) Saying that, I nod to him and then take a step forward, letting my spirit return to my body inside Tarzor, without the fighting happening and those Rune Cocoons, it became simpler to maintain this territory, I don''t need to be outside Tarzor for that. As soon as I return to my body, I make my spirit go back out through the treetops where I find someone sitting at a table with fruit and tea next to it. I noticed him since his whole body was glowing and changing continuously, but as soon as I took a few steps towards him, his eyes opened, he looked like a Human with short red hair, a metal earring in his right ear, pale skin and golden eyes, his clothes were a black suit. "Reincarnation, I presume...?" (Me) "A pleasure to meet you again, young Freya." (Reincarnation) "I didn''t expect to see you again so soon, I felt your presence before, but I couldn''t turn my attention away." (Me) "I suppose you''re here for the twins?" (Me) "Correct, their situation is delicate and their actions must be taken with due care, even my sisters were unsure of their powers." (Reincarnation) "What they did here drew some attention, but nothing too big, fortunately." (Reincarnation) "Are they really creating Avatars?" (me) "In a way, yes, Avatars usually have no independence, the overwhelming majority do not even have a Spark of Existence, they are just means for an Entity to achieve an objective, be it diplomatic, combat or investigation." (Reincarnation) "Entities do not need Heralds, they are just representatives of power and Divinities, Entities only need something that allows them to interact with realities, these are Avatars, containers to contain the Concepts that the Entity embodies." (Reincarnation) "I don''t think it''s a problem for the Anomalous Dragons to become Avatars like this, they committed atrocities for a long time and even if they were all killed, it wouldn''t impact me." (me) "But I wouldn''t want Lolth to suffer that fate now that her Universe is finally safe." (me) "To be honest about the Anomalous Dragons, they were on the path to becoming Avatars from the beginning, but the Entity in question was trying something different, Sarazar being sealed delayed things even further." (Reincarnation) "Now it seems that these young sisters of mine have taken the lead, but I don''t believe they will take normal Avatars, Mavis will possibly keep Lolth''s consciousness, Soul and Spark of Existence, as for Kalistos... she seems to be imitating my Authority with her concept." (Reincarnation) "I just hope everything ends well." (me) In front of me Reincarnation snapped his fingers as he spoke similar to a teacher teaching, then 3 spheres reveal Zenos and the places filled with the power of Life as well as Death. But while I was thinking about this two new presences appear opening the space near where I am, the twins arrive, each of them was holding something in their hands, one of them carries a piece of metal and the other carries a piece of crystallized wood. "What do we have here..." (Mavis) "I don''t know if I should refer to you by your name or consider you Mother..." (Kalistos) "She helped us to be born, but she didn''t create us, truly... that''s a difficult question." (Mavis) "Are you back yet?" (Reincarnation) "Sarazar will need time, his condition is particularly unique, the others will only awaken after him." (Kalistos) "Lolth will need less time, but it should still take a while, integrating her 3 powers into the concept of life takes time since I''m leaving this as your first test." (Mavis) The twins pass by me, one as warm as a summer breeze carrying the scent of flowers, the other as cold as a winter night with her immaculate beauty. They sit around the table next to Reincarnation, I walk towards them making a new chair form with plants growing from the tree where we are, then I sit down next to them. "Why are they doing this now?" (me) "I hid part of what they did from our observers, but I could not hide everything, their presence is known now." (me) "Since our birth we have been in doubt about our identities, about our Concept and about our purpose." (Mavis) "Once we were part of a whole that encompasses all of creation, our knowledge of many things surpasses what the words of any language can express." (Kalistos) "We were afraid that in our new unknown identity and freedom of action we might commit an act that should not be committed, Life and Death are too fundamental aspects of creation to be treated lightly." (Kalistos) "My sister is more determined than I, she was able to overcome that fear and take action, I felt inspired by her and motivated by how Zenos was willing to risk himself, so I took this act as a catalyst for my actions." (Mavis) "The Anomalous Dragons are an excellent test, I didn''t need to fear their life or death, I was able to better understand my current Concept and from it have the outline of a purpose to complete with enough time." (Kalistos) "Lolth is someone who is in my memory, I know about her past, I know about her true self and even more, I know her potential, there is nothing to fear in Life, no matter how much the Concept twists or changes, it does not stray from its central purpose, that''s why I was less afraid to choose Lolth." (Mavis) "I feel more at ease after today, I came here both on my own initiative and to observe their actions and the kind of power they possess." (Reincarnation) "..." (me) "Will you make them your Avatars?" (me) "Yes, but not only that." (Mavis) "We cannot deny that Zenos as Father had an influence on us." (Kalistos) "Just as I thought, you had the same idea as me." (Mavis) "Our thoughts tend to be similar." (Kalistos) "What did they do?" (Reincarnation) "Something new." (Mavis) "Something practical." (Kalistos) "..." (Reincarnation) ------------------- Pov Zenos: I opened my eyes without knowing where I was. I looked in all directions, but it seemed to be a dark forest where threads of white light emerged from between the leaves above, making it difficult to get used to the darkness. "Where am I?" (me) I didn''t know where I was, but I wasn''t terrified, as a God my perception of many things was different from the past. I could feel that I wasn''t dead, I also felt that I wasn''t in my physical body, this was my Soul and it was in its Dragon form as standard, but more than anything else, I could feel that my Chaos power was pulsing like I''d never felt before. "That direction then...?" (me) I didn''t know how I chose the direction, it just felt right to be that direction, maybe it was my instincts, maybe an influence of the power of Chaos, maybe it was just a random choice, I''ll never know and it didn''t matter. As I walked, I couldn''t even see the trees more than their outlines, the threads of light that came from above were also strange, no matter how I walked, nothing became easier to distinguish, it was also not possible to use my senses beyond myself, only polymerization to count on the vision a little further ahead. I walked and walked, then finally it seemed that I arrived somewhere, a strangely glowing field of flowers where two hooded figures were sitting on thrones facing each other, between them was a small lake hidden from me by the flowers that surrounded it from my point of view. Looking closer, the two hooded figures were like statues, they didn''t seem alive, but since I saw them I couldn''t move anymore. The two statues seemed heavy beyond anything and at the same time they seemed to carry endless depths in ways I could not even comprehend. Just when I thought my mind was collapsing, I suddenly felt the power of Chaos pulsing through me as if influenced by these statues, then I was able to move my body once more and when I looked at the statues once more it was as if they were alive and their voices came in perfect synchrony. "Welcome, Zenos... to the threshold of Life and Death..." (2 voices) Chapter 1683: Cap 1681: My Mission "Welcome, Zenos... to the threshold of Life and Death..." (2 voices) I was there in front of the two statues that seemed more and more alive, they didn''t seem to move, but they didn''t seem to be an object, the cloak that covered them only hid their true appearance. Their presences were invisible to me, their Auras beyond what my senses could reach, I felt helpless in many ways in this place, but at least I had strong suspicions of who these two were. "Do you mean I''m dead?" (me) "No..." (2 voices) "So I''m alive...?" (me) "Yes..." (2 voices) "..." (me) "..." (2 voices) Time passed with everyone silent, there was no sound in the surroundings other than my movements and our words, so the silence was deafening as I waited for them to tell me the reason why I was here, but after a few minutes of silence I could no longer stand to be silent. "You are Kalistos and Mavis, aren''t you?" (me) "That''s what we''re called..." (2 Voices) "Why do you speak like that? Can''t you speak one at a time?" (me) "At the moment our thoughts complement each other, we''ve been together since creation and as such our purpose complements each other, our voices don''t reach you, what you''re hearing is just the interpretation of the will we express to you, as we say the same thing your mind gathers all this information in this way for you..." (2 voices) "As only I express my will now, only my voice is heard in your mind." (Kalistos) "..." (me) "The same goes for me, you understand now." (Mavis) "But I''m listening with my ears...?" (me) "You''re not here with your body, so whose ears do you think you''re listening with?" (2 voices) "Do you understand..?" (2 voices) "I think so." (me) While they speak, even dividing their voices as they take turns, at no point do I feel them look at me, they don''t even move, I try to get closer, but with the first step I''m already immobilized once again, my whole body shaking as if it were screaming at me to get out of here. "Don''t get close to these waters or try to see what''s behind these robes." (Kalistos) "We''re not talking to you through the fragments, we are the cohesive whole above all, we don''t have a body per se and these waters are beyond your current understanding to bear a glimpse of." (Mavis) "What? So I can''t get closer?" (me) "You can get closer if you want, but you shouldn''t if you want to keep your Existential Spark intact and your Soul continue to exist." (2 voices) "..." (me) "..." (Kalistos) "..." (Mavis) They are starting to understand that they are not Goddesses of Life and Death, I am also sure that they are not the twins, which only leaves one option, these are the entities of Life and Death, before I suspected that they were the Gods of Life and Death of this universe, but now that has gone too far in a short time. But even though I was apprehensive, I needed to know what was happening, I could not once again let myself fall into that uncomfortable silence. "Why did you bring me here? Let''s just end this quickly." (me) "I think you are working on a misunderstanding." (Kalistos) "It seems like you really don''t know... to actually come here like this... as expected for a Bringer of Chaos." (Mavis) "I know what? What are you talking about?" (me) "We didn''t call you here." (2 voices) "But if you didn''t call me here... then how did I get here...?" (me) My head went into a spin, I with difficulty returned to my original position without daring to try to get closer again, I tried to look around in the little distance that my eyes could see, but besides the darkness of the forest, the basic outline of the trees and the strands of white light coming from above, there is nothing else to see. Only this space where I am has some colorful flowers and it has also become better lit, while everything else in this place was dominated by the darkness of the shadows and the thin strands of light that barely illuminate, a mixture of black and white as if it were in an old movie. "(I can''t tell if this place has no sound or if I can''t hear anything, after what they said I''m more willing to believe the second option.)" (me) "Do you know how I ended up here?" (me) "You came straight to us by yourself..." (2 voices) "What!?" (me) "I don''t even know where I am, how could I have come here by myself!?" (me) "You were influenced by the 2 fragments of us that became independent individuals using their newly discovered Concepts near you." (Mavis) "Your Concepts are a distortion of ours through your power of Chaos, we can say a new branch of our Concepts." (Kalistos) "These two powers influenced your power of Chaos at a time when your body was devastated and weakly connected to your Soul, it was then that you found yourself drawn to us." (2 voices) "So it was like a magnet?" (me) "The natural cycle is a creation of 3 powers of which we represent only 2, your power complements ours as part of the cycle." (2 voices) "..." (me) I''m starting to understand things, I''ve heard a lot about the natural cycle, I''ve also studied it several times and done some experiments, I''ve had many experiences that helped theorize about it from different points of view, so I can see how my power could have dragged me here. "This space doesn''t really exist, we created this little garden to interact, a connecting link, outside of it nothing existed until you arrived." (2 voices) "You mean I created this scary forest?" (me) "We never said it was a forest." (2 voices) Suddenly I feel something shake me, but there was nothing around me, I was scared for a second by this sudden change. "Someone is calling for him..." (Mavis) "Remember, we are not the fragments that were named after Goddesses, our true names are older than that and known to all." (Kalistos) "As new lives, your two daughters and our old fragments should not carry these names either, a new name should be a symbol of their birth." (Mavis) "Now come back... it''s still too early for you to join us...!" (2 voices) "What the...!!!" (me) Suddenly I feel pulled away, in the split second where my feet leave the ground, I see arms and tentacles coming out of the forest as well as lines of light moving like snakes, all coming towards me at absurd speeds, and then everything disappeared. When I opened my eyes I was facing a very angry face while feeling a lot of pain. --------------------- Pov Life: I look at the dark forest writhing as if searching for its creator, I didn''t think it would have so much intelligence to move like this after birth. "He left us with a problem on our hands." (me) "Yes, we will have to teach him how to behave, but at least he already has a purpose." (Death) "We can let Reincarnation take care of this, he has a lot to deal with with our lost fragments." (me) "Have you taken care of the distortions?" (me) "Yes." (Death) "Have you taken care of the Vital flow?" (Death) "Yes, that should limit his influence from becoming too expansive." (me) "At least now we know his Concepts." (Death) "Yes, but we still have to balance within our own, this will take a small amount of time to complete, at least the worst has been resolved since this creature was born." (me) "I didn''t expect him to distort our concepts so soon, he''s growing faster than Paradox." (Death) "I think the same, he''s a strange Chaos Bringer." (me) From within the pool of reality a wave of vital energy emerges and I disperse it in the surroundings, with the creature absorbing it it seems to have calmed down a bit. ------------------ Pov Luci: As soon as I saw Akatosh come out through a portal, I hurried to enter, passing through the portal was simple and as soon as I did he reacted to my presence. Tarzor, a strangely complete Living Universe compared to the rare ones I''ve encountered on my journey, he arrested me for invading without permission and I still don''t know why he let me go. Most likely he was ordered to let me go, but the question would be by whose orders? Zenos certainly must not be in a condition to do this, but before I could guess the identity of this person or even know the direction in which I should find Sarazar, I felt a hand on my shoulder dragging my body to another place where I found a cocoon of Runes different from the one I saw outside. This cocoon of energy was the size of a large Star System and the flaming black Runes formed thousands of rings rotating around it while an extremely cold presence of death surrounded everything, I couldn''t even get any closer than I already was. I was frustrated, but I still didn''t let the one who was next to me pass by, his well-known presence makes me nervous knowing my helplessness before him. "Why are you here... Reincarnation?" (me) "I thought you would like to see him one last time before leaving for your mission." (Reincarnation) "My mission..." (me) I didn''t expect to be put against the wall so soon, a deal like that can cause more than just death and I know that, even now it wouldn''t be impossible for him to be seeing inside my mind, there was no way I could refuse the promises I made and I also had no such plans. "Will they be okay?" (me) "Yes, they will all have a new life, a new race, but they will have no memories, at least not most of them." (Reincarnation) "Sarazar?" (me) "Not just him, your dear Arsan is also going through a... different procedure." (Reincarnation) "..." (me) Just knowing that they are safe is enough for me, preserving their existence is a miracle in itself, asking for more than that would be absurd and not remembering the atrocities we committed could be a blessing for them. "I''m ready to go." (me) "Then let''s go now, I won''t interfere, but I will take you there, that''s the extent of my help." (Reincarnation) "That''s enough..." (me) I look one last time at the Cocoon where Sarazar was, then I remember the egg where Arsan is, before turning my back to break the power of an Entity surrounding my body before pulling it into the distance. "(I will fulfill this mission and return... I promise...)" (me) Chapter 1684: Cap 1682: Your Names When I woke up I was facing an angry face, strangely the one holding me was Freya, but her face was distorted with rage as she held my horn with her immensely enlarged arm covered in tree branches while her figure still seemed tiny compared to my Dragon size. "Who... who are... you...?" (me) I didn''t need more than one look to understand that the one in front of me was not Freya, her presence and gaze were different beyond any acceptable explanation, there was no way this was Freya even though this was clearly her body. "If you intend to keep those close to you alive, stop doing absurd things! Don''t go back to that place!!" (Freya?) "..." (me) I couldn''t even respond when I felt my entire body restricted by my pain, my energy being consumed as fast as my recovery could keep up, I was so exhausted that I was beyond recovery. I was drowning in torment, but it was still less than what I was feeling before I lost consciousness. But the one in front of me didn''t want to know anything, a finger-shaped root passed through her body touching mine, then I felt a strange sensation pass through me, my entire body suddenly began to heal in seconds as something gathered where that finger touched me, even my Soul stabilized even though it was getting weaker. "What are you...? Hhuuuhh...!!!" (me) The power of Chaos inside me pulsed only once, but it was enough for my body to be partially destroyed once again as if an implosion had happened inside me, my Soul was also greatly shaken as if it had been in a state of flux temporarily. "This is to make up for what you did, don''t go beyond your capabilities again!" (Freya) "..." (me) I wasn''t even able to speak, my body was more destroyed than before, even my jaw was only half of what it once was, only one eye was left in my head and my bones had possibly turned to mush. The pain I was feeling didn''t even compare to the strangeness I felt at that moment, even so I recovered strangely quickly, there was no energy hindering my healing or anything else. It wasn''t enough to heal my Soul, but at least my body healed much faster, that alone was good news for me. The one in front of me didn''t say anything else, the finger that seemed to be the intertwining of multiple branches returned to Freya''s spiritual form, whose irritated expression disappeared, giving way to a calmer appearance just as I remembered, even her posture changed slightly along with her presence. I had noticed that at the tip of that finger there was a flaming glow, but before I could understand what it was, the finger disappeared, taking it away, the only certainty I had was that it was taken from me and even so I didn''t feel like anything was missing. "..." (me) It seemed like everything was over, Freya looked at me confusedly before I explained everything to her. "I''m sorry for all this, that was... my Mother, the great big sister of all the Trees in the World." (Freya) "The one whose name I don''t know, I suspected it, but why did she do this to me? Why was she so angry?" (me) "..." (Freya) She looks at me strangely once more, but before she can say anything 3 presences pass by us, 2 of these presences are very familiar, the last presence was unknown to me and even so it was implicit who it was after everything I''ve been through. "Can you fly or walk?" (Freya) "No..." (me) "Hinata help..." (Hinata) Hinata, who had been missing, suddenly appears through space as if passing through a fortune of water. She was in her young adult form, her white dress was simple and yet mysterious, looking almost as if it were pure energy swaying in nonexistent winds along with her black hair. Hinata touches my body and her energy seems to try to influence me, I can''t resist and soon I feel a great pain as my body returns to its Human form, it was as if my body was being squeezed and reconstructed, for me who was already severely injured it was a piercing pain as I did my best not to scream or cry in front of Freya. Sigh "Hinata, what did you do...?" (Freya) "Little Master..." (Hinata) "..." (me) With my small body the injuries looked even worse, it was the body of a teenager who looked like he had been run over by a train, a devastating scene for anyone to see and even worse when it was me in this state. Hinata as always does not show any emotion or expression on her face, she holds my body with tentacles that come out of her back, she then rubs her cheeks on the most entire part of my face without caring about the blood running down. "Master..." (Hinata) "..." (me) "Let''s go, we have somewhere to go." (Freya) Freya waves her hand while Valenc?a nods at Hinata''s behavior, while a portal arch made of branches forms in the middle of the space where the space opens as if it were a flower and Hinata enters it while carrying me following Freya. ----------------- When I pass through the gate I only feel the space distort and suddenly I feel a tug, before I know it a warm and comfortable energy envelops me, but Hinata''s tentacles around me tighten even more. Before I know it, I open my eyes while floating in the middle of a sphere of transparent particles, my body is healing quickly and Hinata is still clinging to me. Looking around, the floor is made of natural wood with branches around and leaves everywhere, it is a majestic tree that I know very well, I am in the crown of the Universal Tree of Freya. "You look horrible... what did she do to you?" (Mavis) "Your Soul, she sinned a part that was hurt... I also feel many connections in your Soul, 2 in particular are impossible for me to look at." (Kalistos) "Could you be a little more careful with him?" (Freya) I was with the twins looking at me, Mavis had her hand on the sphere of transparent particles that surrounded me, my body was healing at an increasingly faster pace, these particles were replacing the missing parts, be it flesh, bones, organs or blood. "Thank you." (me) "I didn''t plan on helping before, his condition was more stable, but now that he''s in front of me, even worse than the last time I saw him, I couldn''t help it." (Mavis) "Why did she do this to him, it wasn''t just a part of the Soul, it was more... but I can''t figure out what else is missing, which means it was his Chaos Power or something I don''t know." (Kalistos) "Reincarnation, what did she do? Why would she do anything directly and so hastily?" (Mavis) "(Is anyone else here?)" (Me) "I don''t know what she did either, she took over Freya''s body and disappeared in front of us, I don''t see this kind of behavior from her often." (Reincarnation) "Line... new connection..." (Hinata) "..." (Everyone) "..." (Me) Suddenly Hinata, who was hugging me with her tentacles, raises a hand above my head and holds something that becomes visible the moment she touches it. Then her hand explodes, leaving that something invisible again. It was a line as thin as silk, which carried a presence that seemed contained. "It exploded..." (Hinata) Hinata just twisted her neck, looking at the hand that disappeared. Then several tentacles and pieces of bones appeared from inside her arm, recreating her hand. "You two, don''t say anything. I''ll find out for myself what these sisters of mine did." (Reincarnation) The person I don''t know simply disappeared from the place where he was, as if it were an old magic movie where they cut to make it look like the actor disappeared. After he left, the twins entered the sphere where they were ignoring Hinata. The two were actually looking directly at me, but I had the impression that they were trying to see through me. This lasted for several minutes while my body recovered enough to no longer feel any physical pain, even my Vitality was completely recovered leaving only my Soul equally shattered as at the beginning. "Can you stop now... please..." (me) "What is this connection? There are two that I can''t see." (Mavis) "One connection must be with Tarzor, but the other is a mystery..." (Kalistos) "It means it must be a..." (Mavis) "Yes, but how is that possible, from the Reincarnation reaction, this was caused by us... or perhaps it would be better to say it was Life and Death." (Kalistos) "Hinata, let me go and you two, put me down." (me) "..." (everyone) After standing on my own two feet, I breathe a sigh of relief and still exhausted, the pain in my Soul continues, but I''m getting used to it, I just can''t stay unconscious or I won''t be able to wake up again. "If you want to know what happened, just ask, you didn''t have to do all this." (me) "Do you know what this connection is?" (Mavis) "I have no idea what you''re talking about, but I found your two... what should I call them...? Original versions...? Mothers...?" (me) "Did you really meet them?" (Kalistos) "Yes, and they made it clear that it''s not appropriate to keep your current names, you''re different individuals and should have names that represent you." (me) "I was already thinking of something similar." (Mavis) "I don''t care about names..." (Kalistos) "Hinata... already has... a name..." (Hinata) "He''s talking about the twins." (Freya) Chapter 1685: Cap 1683: My Duty! Pov Alice: In front of me is a person who has not yet been completely converted into one of those things, if it is possible to save this person I would be happy to help, but that is not our current focus, what we really want to know is to understand how this transformation happens. This person was a woman, more than 70% of her body is covered by an armor that grows directly from her body, the little that is on her forehead is part of her hair, one of her eyes and an arm along with a little of the side of her body, even so the energy that emanates from her seems to try to continue the transformation. "Any idea how this works?" (me) "Yes, it seems that my previous thought process was close to the truth, before I assumed that the transformation consisted of 2 processes acting in sequence, that is because we were only able to study those who finished their transformations." (Nicole) "Those would be the process of Soul transformation and the process of body transformation." (Nicole) "Yes, I remember talking about this and how I didn''t know the order in which they happened, so be objective." (me) "Now we know that the Soul Transformation process is the first while the body transformation process would be the last." (Nicole) "Among them, there is a third process that can only be observed during the transformation, this would be the process of destruction of the mind." (Nicole) "Not only is the physical mind destroyed, the consciousness itself is destroyed before being replaced by another consciousness, new memories and even instigates aggressive emotions through these consciousnesses." (Nicole) "I don''t care about that, I just need to know if there is a way to undo the transformations or at least prevent them." (me) Sigh "Just be direct and answer." (me) "No, there is no way to undo these transformations or prevent them." (Nicole) "Then all this research was useless!" (me) "No, I actually found out a few things..." (Nicole) "..." (me) "< Blood Magic: Blood Blade >" (me) I didn''t even continue thinking, I just walked up to the woman trapped by a Divine Curse and raised my hand where the blood leaves my body taking the form of a curved sword blade that descends along with my hand towards her head, but before it could hit it collides with red wings. "What are you doing, Vanessa?" (me) "I''m stopping you from doing something you''ll regret later." (Vanessa) "I understand that you''re upset about what happened to the statue." (Vanessa) "Killing them would be mercy, so why not do it?" (me) "I feel sorry for her as well as the others, but they''re still useful to Nicole, so hold on." (Vanessa) "Tch..." (me) I turn to leave, I know I''m irritated, I understand that I may be taking out this anger and agony on those closest to me, but I can''t deny the concern inside me. It was at that moment that someone came flying in at high speed, crashing into a wall and destroying several of Nicole''s equipment along the way, it was none other than Ragnar, on his shoulder there was a spear of light stuck while burn marks were everywhere, he was breathing with difficulty and his Aura was excessively weak, injuries all over his body and he clearly couldn''t stand up. "Baldr... Baldr is back..." (Ragnar) "..." (Ragnar) "< Divine Magic: Moon Nourishment >" (me) "< Divine Magic: Liquid of Life >" (Vanessa) I create a magic circle on the ceiling using Divine Power, this magic circle activates causing the space to distort into an image of a night sky with a large Fragmented Moon emanating Vitality. Vanessa in turn opens her hand letting the blood flow out turning golden before entering Ragnar''s body. "Nicole call everyone now!" (me) "I''m already doing that and I''m also tracking where Ragnar came from." (Nicole) I was slightly terrified not by the mention of Baldr being back, but by Ragnar''s state, I''ve never seen him so injured before. "(Master Zenos, please... come back soon...)" (me) ------------------ Pov Zenos: We were all now sitting around a sphere of fire while sitting on sofas made of branches and leaves. Freya was sitting next to me while the twins were sharing the same sofa on the other side of the sphere of fire, Hinata in turn was lying on top of my head in the form of a White Serpent. "A name doesn''t mean that much." (Kalistos) "They don''t mean that for Entities as colossal as Life and Death, but for individual Entities like us who even have a physical body, names represent us as individuals." (Mavis) "Yes, but can''t we just follow the course of events?" (Kalistos) "I remember that in the past the names Kalistos and Mavis were given to us before the first civilization where we... I mean, where the Fragments of Life and Death descended as Goddesses." (Kalistos) "Yes, I remember that, but back then and even now, the Goddesses of Life and Death are just parts or fragments, not separate individuals like us." (Mavis) "We are unique, we have freedom of thought, freedom of action, freedom to feel emotions, freedom to do whatever we want... we also have our own individual consciousness and Soul as well as the Spark of Existence." (Mavis) "I see... as individuals, we are using the name given to collective beings that are in essence parts of something else, this gives me another perspective, thank you." (Kalistos) "Aren''t you two taking this name thing too seriously?" (me) "In the end, the name only serves to introduce yourself to others, the same name will have different weights depending on who uses it, this is because the important thing is not the name itself, but the one who possesses it." (me) "Your actions, identities and everything that makes up the two of you will give importance to these names, not the other way around." (me) "I must agree, but not only that, you shouldn''t choose a name." (Freya) "Should we do it like in the past?" (Kalistos) "Be given our names naturally by others? That''s a valid option, but you''re not talking about that... right, Freya?" (Mavis) "No, what I''m saying is that unlike the Goddesses of Life and Death or their higher counterparts, you both have a family that gave birth to you." (Freya) "I don''t know how it is in other universes, but in ours, it''s usually the parents who name their children." (Freya) "..." (me) "(Did you really need to put that burden on me...?)" (me) "..." (Kalistos/Mavis) Freya''s eyes turn to me and the twins'' eyes follow her until they stop on me, Mavis''s eyes are heavy while Kalistos''s eyes are cold, for some reason just having their mutual attention focused on me in this way seems to reach my Soul making the pain I was enduring increase a little more. "Certainly in the vast majority of large civilizations throughout creation, the custom of the Father or Mother being responsible for granting the name of the children exists, a truly ancient custom." (Mavis) "But being named by him..." (Kalistos) "I didn''t like how that was said, as far as I know I didn''t do anything wrong." (me) "I can''t even measure what our existences might mean, our existence itself is an unknown to the future of all creation." (Mavis) "Our existence in itself is neither good nor bad, but the ripples caused by our actions must have already begun to cause some errors throughout creation." (Kalistos) "You committed a reckless and irresponsible act, it doesn''t matter if it was an accident or on purpose, the act itself was committed by you in an undeniable fact." (Mavis) "Is this some kind of judgment... are they blaming me for something...?" (me) "I''m blaming..." (Kalistos) "I''m just highlighting a fact." (Mavis) "..." (me) For some reason I don''t feel very comfortable continuing here, but I can''t run away like this either, whether their name is chosen by me or not is of little importance, what I really need is to be present in the choice of the name precisely because it is my responsibility. "There''s no point in going around the same topic, everyone must have reached an agreement, right?" (Freya) "Yes!" (Mavis/Kalistos) "Did we reach an agreement? I didn''t see that." (me) "..." (everyone) "What?" (me) "..." (everyone) "Wait, do you want me to give the name now?" (me) Everyone just stares at me in silence as if the answers were obvious, but for me it was something that could not be decided in a hurry like that, they were the names of two Entities that represent Life and Death, it cannot be chosen so abruptly. "..." (everyone) "Stop looking at me like that, okay, okay... I''ll choose a name..." (me) "Name...?" (Hinata) "You already have a name, so don''t come with that." (me) "I want cake..." (Hinata) "..." (me) She says what she wants and then goes to sleep, while I have to rack my brains thinking of names and end up getting into that old habit of choosing something familiar. "(I already know for Mavis... but Kalistos...)" (me) ------------------- Pov Luci: "Madam! MADMA!!!" (No?ros) "..." (me) "Madam, I''m glad you woke up, what happened to..." (No?ros) "Take me away from here..." (me) I was being carried in the arms of No?ros in his Human form, as he was only half Anomalous Dragon thanks to my intervention in the past, he is the only one with this transformation ability, it also seems that he was not affected like the other Anomalous Dragons by what was done to Sarazar. "(Were they ready, did they know I was coming or were they just waiting for someone...?)" (me) I look at my state, my body is collapsing and my Soul has been Cursed with Death, the pain is almost as overwhelming as that time I got that eye. I touch No?ros'' forehead with the stump of my arm since I lost my hands, then I transfer coordinates along with a location mark. "How did you... find me...?" (me) "Our contact between the Ascendants, I was with her exchanging information as requested when she told me what had happened." (No?ros) "For some reason she had a big smile on her face and made sure to help, it seems she wasn''t alone either." (No?ros) "(So there was more than one traitor among the Ascendants... is this part of Zenos''s plans...?)" (me) "(No... he''s too young to have done something on that scale... it would take much longer than he has left to live...)" (me) "(So he must be following someone else''s plan or... there are 2 different plans in action against the Ascendants...)" (me) I look around, the environment around us had a weak natural energy and didn''t seem to have much Reality Power, this must be a separate space. "You have to... hurry..." (me) Cough Cough!!! I touch the necklace on my neck, I can feel that it can barely contain the Anomalous Armor, it''s consuming almost all the energy I have just to maintain it, not to mention that they won''t stop chasing. My mind was in turmoil and it was getting darker and darker, keeping my eyes open was difficult, but even so I took out an eye-shaped jewel from my storage that floats in front of No?ros. "Use this... look for Zenos and... and you will find the Twins... be quick..." (me) "Lady! Don''t sleep, don''t close your eyes please! What have you done!?" (No?ros) "I did my duty...!" (me) Even losing consciousness I couldn''t help but smile for fulfilling my promise, with this they won''t reach the fifth level of the Ascendants, now Sarazar and Arsan are safe, what happens to me doesn''t matter anymore. "Lady Luci!!!" (No?ros) Chapter 1686: Cap 1684: Authority acquired Pov Akatosh: I look at the ethereal roots that take over this entire Star System retreating into space, I feel the weight falling back on my body even worse than before, all the muscles in my body contract and I feel as if the energy inside my body is being rejected. I continue looking at the large sphere that represents the nest of the Anomalous Dragons that Tarzor took for himself, that sphere decreases in size in seconds as if it were being squeezed into nonexistence, but to my senses it was very easy to see a body covered in blood in the place where the sphere was before. Soon what looked like ethereal wings appear and I see that they are not his who is flying towards me, that''s when I realized that it was a young woman with pale skin carrying him and those ethereal wings looked like a pair of hands with membranes between the thin fingers. "Are you still not healed?" (me) "I was... until now..." (Zenos) "Master injured..." (Hinata) "He''ll be fine, don''t worry girl." (me) "< Divine Eclipse Magic: Moon Nourishment >" (Zenos) From within Zenos comes a silver light that takes the form of a small Fragmented Moon, a powerful vital energy emanates from it falling like a silver waterfall on top of Zenos, the Power of Reality around him was not only crushing and cutting him, it was also corroding him as if the universe was blaming him for everything that happened here. But the moon continued to nourish his body that recovered quickly, the flesh and bones moved as if they were separate parts reorganizing themselves until his body was completely recovered, a Divine energy emanating from all over his body intensifies the power of the universe against him. Even for me, the universe wasn''t so violently against it and that made me worried about him, but then his body was covered in Starfire filled with stars that looked like moving eyes, the flames were devouring the Power of Reality around him like a swarm of carrion monsters before it harmed Zenos'' body. When his body was completely healed and no longer suffering any damage from the protection of his Divine Flames, the Shattered Moon above him disappeared in a flash of silver light that entered his body. "How long can you maintain this state?" (me) "About 3 or 4 days at most." (Zenos) "How is Tarzor?" (me) "Ask him..." (Zenos) "I''m fine, in fact I''m great, my universe has expanded a lot in the last few dozen hours." (Tarzor) While talking to Zenos, he looks back where a shadow appears revealing eyes full of depth, they were Tarzor''s eyes, he answers my question with great happiness stamped in his deep voice. I wanted to ask another question, but suddenly I noticed something strange, Hinata was holding Zenos without being affected by the flames around her, which was expected since it was her Divine Beast, but what caught my attention was that she was not affected by the Power of Reality. "You don''t need to worry about her." (Zenos) "How is she not being affected?" (me) "I have no idea, just like most things involving Hinata, if I stopped to question every strangeness in her I would waste a few centuries doing it and perhaps I wouldn''t find answers to everything." (Zenos) "I see..." (me) This Divine Beast of Zenos has always been strange to an even greater degree than Zenos himself, as time goes by I realize this more and find myself paying more attention to it almost instinctively. "I was waiting for you to leave, there are some things to be discussed." (me) "I would have preferred to do this inside Tarzor, but he wouldn''t let me in." (me) "He tried to get in, why didn''t you say anything to me?" (Zenos) "It would be a little dangerous for him, it was already difficult to protect the population on the inhabited planets, having a God not connected to me inside would have been a risk for him in these conditions." (Tarzor) "Did something happen inside?" (me) "I gave some names and let''s just say it had an unexpected effect." (Zenos) "Let''s say Zenos did what he always does and move on, being around him has its advantages for someone like me at least." (Tarzor) "(Something big clearly happened, but did those outside notice? Where did Luci and Freya go?)" (me) "Then let''s talk this way." (me) "..." (Zenos) I stretch out my hand and wait for Zenos to extend his hand to shake mine, during that contact our minds formed a small telepathic link where the information was transferred directly at high speed, in less than seconds we discussed the equivalent of hours and his once calm expression was serious again. "I don''t like being left out." (Zenos) "It had to be this way, you''re not the most discreet God... in fact you''re on the opposite side of the meaning of that word." (me) "Then I''ll leave it in your hands." (Zenos) "I just wanted to let you know, but now that you''re back, there''s going to be some Dragons who really want to talk to you." (me) "..." (Zenos) I needed to make Zenos aware of the years now, the Ascendants won''t just keep watch for much longer and I know I''m not a priority target for them. I just hope he doesn''t ruin their plans. ------------------- Pov Zenos: Hours earlier, inside Tarzor and above the Universal Tree. Looking at the twins who were waiting to receive their names now, I was a little worried that I wouldn''t have time to think, fortunately a God''s thought process is extremely fast or it would be difficult for me to find a solution. The truth is that creating a name becomes more difficult considering the one who will be named, naming a dog or cat is nothing compared to naming a child, especially for these two. I like names that have a meaning behind them or at least come from an origin that you hope will influence their path, names that also mean part of who the person will become are fine. "Haven''t you chosen something yet?" (Freya) "..." (Mavis/Kalistos) "Don''t rush me, I''ve already chosen a few names, I''m trying to filter through them." (me) "Just choose any of them." (Kalistos) "What matters is your intention in naming us, not the name itself." (Mavis) "(No pressure at all, right...?)" (me) Sigh I think for a few more seconds, Hinata for some reason jumps off the top of my head, returning to her Human form and disappears, but the way her eyes shined, she must have gone to eat something. "I''ve already chosen your names." (me) "I''m not going to lie, your names were chosen from fictional characters from my old life, but do you still want to be given these names?" (me) "What matters is your intention with these names, not their origins." (Mavis) "I don''t care." (Kalistos) "If it''s not too much trouble, I''d like to know why these names were chosen." (Freya) "..." (me) Freya seems genuinely curious about these names, Mavis seems more interested in the intention I put into these names and so she gave a small smile that was hard to see behind her veil when she heard Freya, but Kalistos didn''t show anything, be it impatience, disinterest or haste, she just kept waiting. "Very well, to begin with, the two characters were chosen from fictional works that I like and they are interesting characters with importance in their works." (me) "The name I chose for Mavis comes from a Goddess of Life, Fertility and Healing with a personality described as gentle... everything I see in herself." (me) "The name I chose for Kalistos comes from an intelligent, calm and wise cybernetic entity that, regardless of its end, has always been a remarkable character... I see Kalistos in these same characteristics." (me) "I don''t know what this cybernetic thing you''re talking about is, but it seems like you''ve thought about it too much in such a short time." (Freya) "No, actually the opposite, those were the first 2 names that came to your mind, weren''t they?" (Mavis) "How did you know?" (me) "Because these characteristics that we already have are something that reminded you of these 2 characters, right?" (Kalistos) "Yes, I can''t deny that, I tried to think of other names, but those 2 still stayed in my mind for some reason, so it seemed right to choose them." (me) Mavis seems to have liked the meaning I chose for her name and Kalistos still doesn''t seem to care, but Freya liked my explanation and remained silent while I gave the names of the twins who remained silent again waiting for their names. "Their names are..." (me) I stand up and walk around the sphere of fire between us, then take Mavis''s hand in mine. "For you I chose the name Lena, I hope you will be as kind in the future as you are now." (me) "A good name indeed coming from your sincere intention, thank you." (Lena) I then let go of her hand and step aside where I reach out my hand to hold Kalistos''. "For you, I chose the name Cortana, I hope your decisions will always be as intelligent and wise as they are now." (me) "A strange name to give an Entity, but at least it came from a true intention, thank you." (Cortana) I thought I had done very well, but when I got up to go back to my seat, thinking it was over, I felt my whole body and soul tremble before hearing a sound that meant something I certainly didn''t like. Ding! <[ Authority acquired ]> Chapter 1687: Cap 1685: Part of the Cycle and Anger Hours earlier, inside Tarzor, above the Universal Tree. Ding! <[ Authority gained ]> . . . <[ The system welcomes you as part of the Natural Cycle ]> . . <[ The System will also integrate [ Lena (Entity of Rebirth) ] as part of the Natural Cycle as a branch of the Chaos Concept ]> . . <[ The System will also integrate [ Cortana (Entity of Death Nutrition) ] as part of the Natural Cycle as a branch of the Chaos Concept ]> . . . <[ The System verifies that You have not yet become an Entity and have not awakened your Concept ]> . . . <[ The System warns that those who are part of the Natural Cycle may seek your assistance ]> . . <[ The System warns that you have a voice in the Taboo Judgment ]> . . <[ The System warns that there will still be restrictions on your Authority until you awaken your Concept by evolving into an Entity ]> . . . <[ The System warns that Authority comes with responsibilities to preserve the [ Natural Cycle ] and all [ Existence ] ]> . . . <[ The System warns that all Entities part of the Natural Cycle have discovered your existence ]> . . <[ The System warns that [ Life (Supreme Transcendental Entity of Life) ] smiles at you for following new names for two Entities associated with Life and Death ]> . . <[ The System warns that [ Death (Supreme Transcendental Entity of Death) ] is already requesting assistance to correct errors in the Natural cycle created by your actions and will send a representative to you soon ]> . . <[ The Entity [ Yggdrasil (Entity of the Tree of Harmony) ] is angry that you continue to create problems ]> . . . <[ Your influence on all Existence is insignificant because you do not Awaken your Concept ]> "..." (me) My mind was in a whirlwind as a discharge of energy passed through my body, Soul, consciousness, Will and even the Spark of my Existence making everything that consists of me vibrate. Soon I fell to the ground with many notification screens appearing one after the other as if waiting for me to finish reading a notification before another appeared, each message made my knees go soft as I imagined the scale of what I was reading. When I reached the end I realized that I had fallen into a trap, I may not be a genius or anything like that, but I am not a complete idiot, I know how to see when I have been thrown into a trap. Life and Death made me give new names to the twins knowing that this would happen, this Tree of Harmony must also be Freya''s Mother and the oldest Sister of all the Trees in the World, it must have been she who took over Freya''s body and was angry with me earlier. "What the hell just happened!!" (me) "..." (Lena/Cortana) "Are you okay, Zenos?" (Freya) "No, I''m not okay!" (me) "I want explanations and I want them NOW!!!" (me) I was very angry, I don''t like being deceived, I don''t like being used in other people''s years unconsciously like this, I don''t like being put in a position I didn''t want like what happened now. Seeing my reaction to the twins, they were very calm, which only irritated me more, my Soul that was hurt, was now in an even worse state, honestly my consciousness was flickering as if it could fall unconscious at any moment if Lerner''s concentration. "Come, I''ll help you..." (Freya) "..." (me) Freya helps me stand up with branches that come out of her tree, then tries to lay me down on the couch where we were, but I force myself to stay seated looking at the twins. "You''re going to talk now or you can get out of here." (me) "Tarzor, if they remain silent in the next 5 minutes, expel them, the Anomalous Dragons and Lolth!" (me) "This is going to be difficult, but I''ll try." (Tarzor) I was furious, not as much as I had been on other occasions in the past, but I was still bubbling with anger at being treated like a pawn in a game that I didn''t realize I was in the middle of. From the twins'' reactions it was more than obvious that they knew what was going on, they chose not to tell me. "You understand that we are part of this place, don''t you?" (Cortana) "Even if Tarzor tried to separate us from him, it would hurt him too, not to mention causing an imbalance in this Universe and the creatures that live here." (Cortana) "Things went more or less as we imagined, we can''t blame him for his anger..." (Lena) "Tarzor, you can expel them both..." (me) Ding! <[ The System warns you not to commit an act that would harm the Natural Cycle ]> "What disgrace is this!!?" (me) "He must have received a warning." (Cortana) "Let''s all calm down, drastic measures are not..." (Lena) "Tarzor, continue!" (me) "..." (Tarzor) "I said continue!!" (me) "I understand your anger, Zeno." (Tarzor) "But I''m not one of your Familiars, Heralds or Servants... I''m not obligated to obey you, especially when your decisions are so self-destructive for both of us." (Tarzor) I couldn''t deny that I was being stupid in my decisions now and that I could be influenced by this anger. I have enough emotional control not to let that happen, but I honestly didn''t want to do that, especially seeing the Twins so calm like that and having even Tarzor against me now wasn''t helping to calm my growing anger. "Zenos, how about you calm down a little before making a decision that you might regret later. I know you don''t want to harm Tarzor and clearly not just him from what I''m hearing." (Freya) "..." (me) "You two should be careful with what you do, better than me, you should understand how unpredictable a Chaos Bearer can be." (Tarzor) Saying that, the face formed in the space above us fades, but I know that Tarzor is still paying attention to us. We are inside him after all. "I apologize if our calm appearance may be contributing to your anger, but I don''t know how to fake emotions that I''m not feeling." (Lena) "We also expected your reaction, not that strong, but expected." (Cortana) "I still don''t know what''s going on." (Freya) "Simply put, I was tricked and put in a place where I didn''t want to be with a responsibility that I won''t fulfill, I may also end up killing an envoy of Death later." (me) I was furious and actually thought about killing the one Death said he was sending later, but all of that was more of a momentary urge fueled by the anger I was feeling than an actual desire, I wouldn''t really kill that envoy and at least Freya knows that, I also don''t think I would be able to kill him, his power wouldn''t be something I could match, Death must know that I would be angry and maybe he''s even watching now. "Don''t be childish, do you think my sister and I would do anything to harm you or our former counterparts would do such a thing?" (Cortana) "What happened to you was just an advance of what would happen eventually, the power of Chaos has always been part of the cycle, you understand that." (Lena) "..." (me) "Better to ask for forgiveness than permission... that''s a saying from your previous life, from your reaction it''s clear that you would refuse their request if it was told in full." (Cortana) "Their plan was to add Cortana and me to the Cycle, but they couldn''t do that because we became independent of them, which left you as the first best option." (Lena) "I don''t know what they said to you, but I''m sure they didn''t lie, at most they chose not to tell the whole truth." (Lena) "I made a decision based on manipulation, whether I''m being childish or not... whether it would happen sooner or later... none of that matters to me, my anger comes from the fact of their intention!" (me) "If that''s all you have to say, then it''s best to end this conversation here." (me) "We''re not trying to justify what happened." (Lena) "No!? Because that''s what I''m understanding!" (me) "Maybe it''s better for you to calm down before this conversation, I apologize for this event." (Cortana) "I apologize too, even though I think this was the best option, I can''t deny our guilt in leaving you in the dark when your intentions in naming us were without ulterior motives." (Lena) "..." (me) I was still furious, but at least I heard your apologies, whether they are sincere or not I still have to find out, but I no longer have the will to continue here, looking at Freya, I nodded to her who understands what I want without the need for words. "I think we can end this here, there will be better times to make up." (Freya) "Come, I''ll accompany you to a calmer place." (Freya) The power of space surrounds us and I feel as if I''m being connected to the spatial flow of this universe, so Freya dives with me before we go out to another place, this time a real planet. Tarzor had already exiled me to what was happening outside and needed to rest before leaving in a few hours. --------------------- Pov Lena: After Zenos and Freya disappear, the entire environment around us changes, the space reshapes into a large Dragon face in front of us while Tarzor''s Aura concentrates where we are. "You did well to apologize, but that won''t be enough, Zenos is the type to hold a grudge." (Tarzor) "As exaggerated as your reaction was, I still agree with your point of view and I think you two don''t understand what you lost." (Tarzor) "He''s making a big deal out of this, but I intend to make it up to him, I understand that I''m wrong." (Cortana) "I wish he would at least understand the need for all of this, we were prepared to create names for ourselves, but when we heard the message of Life and Death..." (me) "I knew something had happened, I also understood what they wanted, just as I feared... the mistakes must have arisen in many places, that''s why they had to resort to the opportunity when it presented itself before them." (me) "You have lost his trust in you, so do not expect any kind of cooperation, Zenos is stubborn, unpredictable and hasty... he will not forget this and no kind of compensation will bring his trust in you back." (Tarzor) "As I said before, a childish act, mistakes associated with Life and Mars can ruin countless Souls in my case." (Cortana) "I cannot even imagine what happens in the mistakes that Life tries to correct and their repercussions." (me) "You are forbidden to land on any inhabited planet and I will be keeping a close eye on you." (Tarzor) Saying this, Tarzor''s face disappeared, then I exchanged a look with my sister, it seemed impossible to make Zenos understand our point of view and I could not deny finding it difficult to understand his point of view. "That complicates things..." (me) "That doesn''t change anything, Zenos will forgive us sooner or later, he knows our intentions and will see that our actions are always seeking the best for everyone." (Cortana) "I agree, but forgiving us is not the same as trusting us again, it refers to how he feels about Life and Death." (me) "Once we take care of things here, we have to think of a way to resolve everything with him." (me) Chapter 1688: Cap 1686: 2 unwanted gifts I was sitting between Adella and Xagar who were unconscious, their bodies seemed to be intact, their Auras were also stable, but they looked exhausted. "I heard that Xagar was seriously injured, but Adella shouldn''t be like this." (Me) "She was fine until a few hours ago, there was a parasite in her Soul, I only noticed when significant damage had already been done." (Karina) "I''ve already taken care of her, but I need your blood for a ritual that I''ll only be able to perform when we leave this universe." (Karina) "Alright, take it." (Me) I raise my hand and several streams of blood run down my arm before gathering in my palm where a sphere of crystallized blood forms, then I throw it into Karina''s hands. "This is more than enough." (Karina) She puts the crystal away and then looks at me. She must have noticed my mood, but there''s no point in talking about it now. There''s nothing she can do other than try to comfort me. "The Dragons of this Universe, why are they looking at me strangely?" (me) "They know you''re hiding their Mother, but they don''t know the exact reason. They''re just not treating us as enemies because we''re helping those injured on their side." (Karina) "Tell them we''ll leave after she wakes up..." (me) "..." (me) "..." (Karina) "What do you want!?" (me) Behind Karina appeared two women hiding their faces with veils, but they had Dragon wings and tails as well as horns. Their Auras were so interconnected with the universe around us that it was hard to notice, but for some reason it seemed easy now. These two, as similar as they may be, were not the Twins. Their Auras are almost the same as those of the Goddesses from my universe. These are Kalistos and Mavis in their Divine Dragon versions from this universe. "We came to talk to you." (Mavis) "We have something." (Kalistos) "Take care of them, Karina. I have other things to take care of." (me) "As you wish." (Karina) "..." (me) I wave them off so they can stop talking, then after instructing Karina to continue with what she was doing, I turn around, spreading my wings to leave. I know my actions could be considered childish. I''m not as angry as before, but that doesn''t mean I''ve forgotten what happened. I kept flying to see the others, from those who were by my side to those brought by Akatosh. Then I went to see Myu to explain about Lolth. I don''t want her brothers to keep looking at me like they have been doing. But I couldn''t find her and in the end I wasn''t able to find Hades either, for some reason I couldn''t find Niryna or Samara either. The only ones I kept finding were Mavis and Kalistos who always appear wherever I go. In the end I was tired of being followed and leaving the planet so full of Dragons, I flew to a moon of another planet where I landed sitting on a rock when the two Divine Dragons appeared in front of me. "Are you willing to listen to us now?" (Kalistos) "No, but you''re going to keep following me, aren''t you?" (me) "Say what you have to say and go away, I don''t want to leave this universe sooner than I have to." (me) "He won''t listen." (Kalistos) "Then take it, this is a gift from Life and Death..." (Mavis) Mavis throws a small metal cube and a small crystal seed, but I wave my hand using my strength and Aura to throw these two objects into space without giving them a second glance. "If that''s all, then stop following me." (me) "Do you want to keep pushing allies away like this, especially with so many enemies watching you?" (Mavis) "What''s the difference between them and you?" (me) "Are you going to twist everything again to fit an argument? You may be too young to be a God and you may be learning about the secrets of creation too early, but you''re not a child to act like this." (Kalistos) "You didn''t even look at your gifts or try to understand the big picture..." (Mavis) "I don''t care about your gifts, it must be something super rare or something, but in the end it will just be another thing that will bring you benefits, right?" (me) "It will just be something that leads me to make a certain kind of decision, a way to guide my actions in a certain direction." (me) "You border on paranoia, what was done..." (Kalistos) "What was done was a breach of trust and a betrayal!!" (me) "You..." (me) "Zenos..." (Life) "Such rebellion." (Death) Suddenly the presence of the two Divine Dragons changed a lot, their Auras transcend the universe no longer blending into it but becoming one with it or more specifically the universe becoming one with them, their presence became so profound that it transcended my senses leaving them blind, this sensation immobilizes my body as if I were on the edge of an infinitely deep black hole, this sensation is the same one I felt from Death and Life in that garden. "We didn''t go against you, we didn''t lie either, what we did was just complete what you started and didn''t know how to finish." (Life) "The Twins that accompany you were born from your actions, but what did you do for them?" (Death) "Freya was the one who helped create their bodies, they found their purposes on their own and yet they were still unstable, their Concepts were not rooted in anything and those chosen by them would never wake up because of that." (Death) "By giving them a name, you just cut the bond she has with me and Death, their Concepts were linked to the concept of Chaos and with that their Existences became more stable." (Life) "So tell me, what''s the point of all this explanation now!?" (me) "You could have explained all this to me before, you could have done everything differently and they could have told me the truth, but instead, they chose to use me!" (me) "You''re so young..." (Life) "This isn''t leading anywhere." (Death) "Maybe it''s easier to show him." (Life) Suddenly she appeared in front of me, her finger glowing brightly and placed it on my forehead, my Soul that was badly injured recovered instantly, but that mattered little to what I was seeing. Children being born deformed, some being born without a Soul, some being born dead. Dead people coming back to life, Souls being injured causing people to go into comas, entire forests withering, entire races mutating. Entire planets having their Vitality changed intrinsically, entire universes being impacted by the energies of Death or Life, many, many other even worse things happening. There were endless disasters, entire lives changed, entire landscapes altered, a level of change on such a grand scale that I felt my mind splitting as I saw everything at once. "Haa... haa... haa..." (me) Sigh "We are constantly looking at the grand scale, so we do not care about the feelings of others, I know this flaw in us, that is why Mavis and Kalistos exist as Goddesses spread throughout Existence, they help us to narrow the focus of our eyes." (Life) "By giving those names it was not your inclusion in the Natural Cycle and acquisition of Authority of the System that we sought, but rather the inclusion of the twins." (Death) "It had to be you who did this, we had no time to consider other things, if an excuse is what you seek..." (Death) "Then we apologize, but do not act so immaturely." (Life) "..." (me) Sigh I saw it, it was only for 1 second, but it was such a wide scope of decisions and problems that my mind almost fried, this was only a part of what they could see, but I couldn''t even stand it for 1 second. "(I guess things don''t always happen the way I want.)" (me) I was so strong now that I''m a God, I didn''t realize that I let myself be influenced by my position slowly, I became arrogant enough to get frustrated when I don''t have the ability to do something. The truth is that I shouldn''t even be that angry, I don''t even have the strength to allow this anger, I must look like a child in their eyes and I had already realized that before, but for them to come and try to talk to me like that, even though it had opened my eyes to the arrogance that I was building without realizing it, something was wrong. My eyes narrow as I look at them again. They show no reaction other than a ray of light that comes out of Life before entering my forehead. Soon, a flood of information appears in my mind. "I should have known they wanted something." (Me) "Are you going to deny your own responsibility?" (Death) "I could, but I won''t." (Me) "And about these gifts, they are something you will need. Show them to Davoth and he will know what to do." (Life) "..." (Me) Saying this, the metal cube and the crystal seed are placed in my hand again. This time I don''t throw them away, but I also had no plans to use them. As much as I understand what they did to me, it doesn''t mean I will trust them again, and they know that. ------------------- Hours later. I was sitting looking at this moon after hours here, half of the Moon was covered in dense flora and fauna while the other side was desolate. "Was I an idiot, Tarzor?" (me) "Yes, even if you were right, you still got carried away by your anger." (Tarzor) "I see..." (me) "What do you think of the Twins?" (me) "They are lost, out of their element with different power and as much as their memories are long, as much as they are intelligent and as much as they seem mature, their actions are irresponsible." (Tarzor) "Their consciousnesses are young, their personalities are young, they are children with the minds of someone unbearably old, do not treat them like the Goddesses you saw earlier or the Entities that really pissed you off." (Tarzor) "I will think about it." (me) Chapter 1689: Cap 1687: The Tomb and the Star Part 1 It''s been 2 more days since I had that conversation with Life and Death. I know they didn''t come to apologize to me out of guilt or anything similar. They want something from me, maybe not today, but in the future, and they want to make sure my answer won''t be negative. Even though I know they had ulterior motives in their apology, I''m still grateful for helping me realize the deviation in my personality. I''m becoming too arrogant and confident. I was letting the power I have go over my head. The childishness of this situation only served to show me my flaws. I still don''t trust Life and Death. Their morals only extend as far as their responsibility goes. They''ll do anything to get results, and their presence this time made me wonder what I should expect in the future. I was now in another place, far from the Dragons of this Universe, far from Akatosh, and far from everyone who came with me. I wanted some time to think and reflect on everything that happened. "..." (me) I take the two gifts I received, I can feel an immense loss in these things, but my ability to identify them doesn''t work since I became a God, their limits were too low for the current me to have any use for it. I didn''t know what these things were for, but I also had no one to ask, I don''t trust Life and Death since these gifts could be an attempt at manipulation again, I''m also not sure if I can trust Lena and Cortana after last time, but that leaves me with few options who I can trust that could help me with this. "Tarzor, you wouldn''t know about these items, would you?" (me) Tarzor lifts my shadow and only the outline of his Dragon head as well as his deep glowing eyes are visible looking at the items floating in front of me. "They are transcendental items, they go beyond the power of essence, they are made and also contain the power of Concept, something I still don''t master and have indirect access to." (Tarzor) "In other words... you don''t know what they are." (me) "Yes, I have no idea what these items are, I only know that they have immense power, more power than I, as a universe, possess." (Tarzor) "..." (me) With Tarzor''s statements I was able to confirm that they didn''t give me random items or an apology gift, they gave me items specifically designed for something and if they asked me to show them that Davoth guy, then it must be something to use in the plan against the Ascendants. "(Are they helping our plan this time or are they using me for something else...?)" (me) Sigh I felt mentally exhausted, since I arrived in this universe it''s been one thing after another, I haven''t had time to relax or anything else. I look at my hand as I feel the conditions of my body and Soul, they helped me fully recover from my injuries, but that''s no reason to trust them again, I have to be vigilant. "I''m going to look for the others, we have to start preparing our exit." (me) "(Let''s put Akatosh''s plan into action.)" (me) --------------------- Pov Cortana: I was sitting in front of Sarazar''s energy cocoon, his Runes have changed since the last time, I felt this change when I received my new name before, I also feel that the energy cocoon has become more stable and he has become different inside. "So it was impossible before, I wasn''t complete yet and my Concept was unstable..." (me) "That must have been the cause of the strangeness that Lena and I felt before." (me) I was a little frustrated, a feeling that doesn''t appear in my memories before I became independent of Death. This scared me, since I received my name I feel slight differences to how it was before, my body feels more comfortable, my energy is flowing slightly differently, my senses also work differently and my Aura has lost the last traits it still had in common with the Goddesses Kalistos. Apart from all these differences that should be minimal, I have still noticed a greater fluctuation in my emotions, something that I thought was impossible before, not to mention that my thought process has become less comprehensive, which was to my liking since it reduces my responsibilities. "Your Spark of Existence is already completely stable, but your Soul is having trouble forming..." (me) "< Hands of Death >" (me) Millions of arms appear behind me, each of these arms was transparent with dark outlines, they are graceful arms with hands that seem to have been sculpted like mine and each movement of them made the space ripple as if it were inside water. I control the arms by having each hand take care of 3 Runes in perfect coordination, the Flaming Black Runes were being moved in very specific patterns. As the Runes were moved outside the energy cocoon they are being moved changing even the Rune rings that were spinning, the Soul that could not form created billions of clusters of Soul energy that moved in a flow coming into contact with each other and sometimes joining together, it took me hours to merge all these clusters of Soul energy into one while merging with the Spark of Existence. "< Cortana''s Rune >" (me) "< Mark >" (me) I separate some of my power and form it into a Rune of my own brand that I then fire into the cocoon, all the other Runes outside the cocoon attaching themselves to my Rune being pulled inside before helping into his Soul, with this everything that came from his previous self is delivered to him. His memories, emotions, desires and even his personality are used to nourish this Spark of Existence into an intense flame that growls black as my Rune joins it, then the Soul that had no features began to change and strengthen while the other Runes rain down on top of the Soul. "Dragon form again, as expected, his body also began to form on the outside..." (me) The energy cocoon now that it no longer had the Runes on the outside, began to change, parts of it became more prominent as if forming a skeletal structure around it. "One more day, just one more day..." (me) As much as he had used his previous existence to nourish this one, his Soul is completely new, his old memories and emotions will only be useful to slow down his maturation time as well as teach him several things that would otherwise take years. Then I look behind me, a large eye was focused on my actions, I''m sure the energy fluctuations I caused here must have caught his attention. "Has Zenos calmed down?" (me) "Yes, he realized his mistake, he also found Life and Death." (Tarzor) "..." (me) I couldn''t help but stop what I was doing and look into Tarzor''s eyes again, because what I heard didn''t make sense in a normal thought process, Life and Death don''t care about things like emotions, they understand and can even feel these emotions to some degree, but they are not affected by them, their existence and actions are shaped purely by thinking about the Natural Cycle. "(Zenos'' importance has increased to them in a short period of time, so something else must have happened since my separation and birth.)" (me) "(If that''s right, then I don''t have time to stay with this awkward atmosphere between me and Zenos.)" (me) ----------------------- Pov Lena: I was facing the bright star that Lolth''s flower had become, it was as bright as before, but now I could see that within the rays of light there were streams of life within, the rays of light themselves seemed almost alive moving on their own. But what I pay most attention to is Lolth on the inside, she was in the fetal position with her scepter still in her hands as if it were part of her, the scepter no longer carries the murderous intent of before and the consciousness inside seems dormant. "The Scepter is on its own connecting more to her, if it continues like this it will become an extension of her and perhaps a complete personality since the previous one became fragmented by Lolth''s traumas at that time." (me) "As for Lolth herself... she is very attached to her current body, to complete the process she needs to be born a second time, discarding everything that holds her current life." (me) I turn my head in a direction where I feel the fluctuations of Cortana''s power, she seems to be doing something with Sarazar, as always she tries too hard. "..." (me) Sigh "You have to let go... don''t hold on to the past or your future path will be forever blocked." (me) "Sometimes we should just trust and wait..." (me) I turn around and before I can leave a portal opens in front of me, Freya appears from that portal looking at me strangely, even so I remain calm knowing that she would come sooner or later. "I figured you would come, but not so soon." (me) "This can''t go on like this, it''s affecting Tarzor more than he lets on and I don''t like seeing Zenos in this state." (Freya) "I know and I''ve thought about it, he wouldn''t accept compensation, would he?" (me) "No, Zenos values ??trust, loyalty and bonds with others very much." (Freya) "Then that makes it simpler." (me) Emotions are often simple, it''s people''s thoughts that make them complex, for someone so emotional an act of sincerity surpasses any kind of compensation. "Come on, when he comes back, we can..." (me) "What was that!?" (Freya) "Their numbers have increased, but they''ve moved away too quickly, something''s happening." (me) Suddenly the constant presence of the Ascendants that I felt outside disappeared soon after increasing. It was very abrupt, but it was clear that something had happened, from the look on Freya''s face she had also noticed them before, so I look at Lolth worried about what might happen. "(It seems that our time is short, wake up soon...)" (me) Chapter 1690: Cap 1688: The Tomb and the Star Part 2 I always knew I was unlucky, but I didn''t expect it to be so unlucky. I was facing Hades trying to recover his destroyed body, something he had tried to do several times but always failed because of the interference of this universe rejecting us. "< Divine Curse: Hades >" (me) I needed to recreate Hades'' body, but his physical body was always a shell created by him with everything he ate. His true self was always the living Curse I created, that''s his core. The Curse I created using him as a base was named after him for that reason, a Curse that I normally use precisely because I don''t understand all of its effects. The theory and practice are always different. Using my blood to draw the magic circle, I use my power of Curse and Chaos to activate this magic on a small scale that consumes the power of Chaos around while a cloud of darkness comes out on the other side, points of light like stars light up inside the cloud almost letting the pair of deep eyes that opened with the emergence of the stars go unnoticed, seconds later the cloud of darkness disperses revealing Hades back in his almost Human form. "Thank you for your grace, Master Zenos." (Hades) "Don''t thank me, I wouldn''t leave you in that state." (me) "(Be careful, I feel like we''re being watched.)" (me) "(Where are they?)" (Hades) "..." (me) "Come, let''s meet up with the others." (me) "(I don''t know, but it could be the Ascendants, be careful and wait for my signal.)" (me) "(As you order.)" (Hades) "When are we leaving?" (Hades) "I''m not sure, it should be soon, but the distrust of the Dragons of this Universe has been working hard to go against us." (me) "(Follow my lead.)" (me) "Should we attack them?" (Hades) "Yes, but not now, our group will recover faster, so we can wait until then." (me) "As you wish." (Hades) If it is the Ascendants watching, then Akatosh''s plans could backfire this way, they must believe we don''t know about them, they must believe an internal conflict could happen that they can take advantage of, we need time. "(You think too much, they are not the Ascendants, look beyond space, I will help you...)" (Tarzor) Soon the power of reality passes through my body from Tarzor who rises from my shadow, then my eyes become strange, my vision becomes abstract as I see two individuals intertwined by energy lines crossing space coming towards me, as soon as I saw them I realized I knew one of them. It took only a few tens of seconds for them to arrive and they seemed to be coming towards me, I waited and soon the space opens and two individuals appear, one of them was carrying the other in his arms, it was Luci and behind her was a metal cube that looked like liquid while a heavy Aura of the Ascendant Laws emerges from it. "Please help Mrs. Luci!!!" "..." (me) ---------------------- Pov Lolth: I was surrounded by an incredibly comfortable energy and felt a great peace inside me, I was awake the whole time and could feel the changes in my body, there were many and even so it was a secondary concern. What was really bothering me was my guilt about the past, even though I was no longer the Ruthless Elf of those days, that Elf was still a part of me. "I don''t feel like I deserve this chance." (me) "No, you don''t think you deserve it, the closer you get to finding happiness, the scarier you get." (me?) "What do you mean?" (me) "After that War, you abandoned the scepter, no matter how many answers you think of for that action, in the end it was because you didn''t feel worthy of continuing to hold it in your hands." (me?) "You were given a second chance and what did you do with it? A new universe full of life and prosperity, but what did you do besides stay away?" (me?) "Before the Anomalous Dragons invaded, what were you doing?" (me?) "..." (me) "You slept for 10 thousand years, left your children to their own devices and would have stayed that way for much longer if it weren''t for the invasion." (me?) "You always take a step back, even now after you''ve decided to move forward, in a step that shouldn''t be difficult, here you are." (me?) "I know, but changing isn''t easy." (me) "You yourself are just my Will trying to keep me on the path I chose." (me) In my mind I heard two voices, both voices were mine, one of them full of hesitation and uncertainty, the second full of confidence and calmness throwing the truth that could not be denied. As much as my decision had been made, that didn''t mean it could change instantly, I had taken just one step on a long journey and now the time has come for a new step forward, the time to stop running away. Sigh Within me, Vitality was swallowing everything else, my body was changing, my senses were changing and my very Soul seemed to be changing, something was taking root inside me as a whole and trying to get out. I open my eyes, but my vision was filled with light, but even so I saw it in front of me, the tree that was my first and oldest friend. I could feel the pulses inside me becoming stronger, I could feel my Vitality on fire, a flower came out of my chest, its petals closed and colorless. I ignore this flower as I continue to look at the tree and it soon disappeared leaving only a Scepter behind, I extend my hand that is now the claws of a Dragon and I notice there are branches gently wrapping my hand. "Will you come with me in this new beginning?" (me) "Yes..." (scepter) The rays of light around me become streams of light that flow around me, so I hold the Scepter tighter as the pulse inside me becomes stronger and stronger, the flower in my chest grows bigger and bigger as its petals gain more and more colors, my body in turn becomes weaker until I no longer feel anything and am no longer able to move my body. At that moment the flower finally trembles with its petals moving as it opens, thus absorbing the streams of light as well as my consciousness, my point of view changes as my Soul is shaken. When I open my eyes again, I look behind me seeing my old body now just an empty shell, so I stretch my hand towards the scepter that was still in the hands of my old body. "Come back to me, old friend..." (me) As I stretch out my hand, my old body shatters and in turn the scepter also falls apart, revealing a new scepter inside that flies into my hands. "It seems that I am not changing..." (me) All the light around us was changing as if it had become liquid and began to flow towards us, penetrating my body as a dress materialized on my new body. I no longer felt that hesitation, fear, anxiety or any emotion like before, it seems as if all of this had been a long time ago, a distant memory of what I am now, there is no weight on my shoulders this time. ------------------- Pov Zenos: The moment the two appeared, I felt a wave of energy pass through me. It was Tarzor who moved before anyone else and had already swallowed the two works within himself. Seconds after that, a presence appeared in the surroundings. The one who appeared in front of me was an Ascendant who had 7 wings behind her back. There were 3 pairs of open wings while only one single wing was closed. This Ascendant looked like an ordinary woman. Her long brown hair reached her waist, her equally brown eyes were bright as if they were those of a child in an amusement park. Her clothes were a set of plain clothes without decorations and there was no ornament, jewelry or accessory on her. There were also no marks or tattoos on her slightly brown white skin. She was smiling friendly and behaving normally. Everything about her was so ''normal'' that it became strange in its falseness. The only thing that stood out about her were the wings that she showed with apparent pride. Even her Aura was normal like that of ordinary people, it was just amplified much more than other people and all of this scares me since it is obviously fake. "Where is she, answer..." (Ascending) "< Spatial Movement: Activate >" (me) I rip off one of the rings on my finger and it breaks, releasing a powerful magic that washes my body in Spatial magic, the space around me closes as if trying to crush me, but my body had already been pulled away as if I was going through a short tunnel. When I came out on the other side I was in front of Karina trying to put the fingers of a Dragon back on, but as soon as I appeared here I felt several flows of Aura running through the area, it was the Dragons taking over the surroundings of this Planet. One of these Auras was that of Akatosh who comes towards me as if he had teleported. "We have to start the plan now." (Akatosh) "Will it work? They are already here." (me) "Never mind, do it now." (Akatosh) "(Never a damn day of rest...!)" (me) Chapter 1691: Cap 1689: The Tomb and the Star Part 3 Pov Sarazar (?): I opened my eyes and stood still, there was no point in doing anything, I didn''t want to do anything, I didn''t know anything, I just existed in an endless void. In the surroundings only a few symbols shone in the darkness as they spun, they were the second thing I saw besides the darkness that was the first. Soon many things flooded my mind making me learn many things like magic, technology, rituals, people, Dragons, Gods and universes. A lot of knowledge appeared and before I even understood them, more things appeared, thoughts that weren''t mine made my mind confused and to make matters worse a tsunami of emotions appeared making connection with the memories I received next. Suddenly I felt my eyes opening a second time, what I saw was a ceiling with 4 bright spheres floating high, illuminating the entire room. "I have to hurry, today will be the last class before the tests." (me?) "(Is that me speaking? Is that my voice?)" (me) I didn''t understand anything and I didn''t care about anything, everything was new to me, I just watched what he was doing as he got out of bed and changed his clothes before finally going to the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror. His features were beautiful, his hair was long blond to his shoulders and tied behind his head, he ran his hands through his hair making its color change to brown and then to red. Little by little I was assimilating a lot of knowledge while observing him, I understood what people are, I understood what bodies of flesh and blood are, I understood what various objects are like beds, mirrors and clothes. The world seemed to change when he walked through the door and suddenly I was inside a large room where he was in the middle while hundreds of chairs filled with young people sat. "Today is the last day of classes, so I''m going to review with all of you the most difficult topic." (me?) "Let''s talk about Magic Rituals and their practical functions in countless fields of study from military use to the most abstract magics that can only be used in Rituals." (me?) "(Magic... yes, that''s in the memories and knowledge, in fact it takes up a good part of the space of both...)" (me) While he was explaining about how to create magic circles for a ritual, endless knowledge about magic and the memories associated with magic came more quickly to my mind as well as all the emotions linked to those memories like frustration for not understanding something, anxiety to learn more, joy in inventing something new, fear of failure, anger for not being able to accomplish something, sadness for losing something that was supposed to protect and finally the despair that led to recreating a lost magic. My vision kept changing as I took these emotions and knowledge for myself, even though it didn''t feel like they were mine, I was able to unearth my own emotions from them and understand more about everything through the memories. My vision changed from a dark night with a pile of books around me, then changed to what seemed to be a group of old and young people studying a ruin, then changed to an empty room where a ritual allowed contact with another planet for the first time, the visions kept changing showing different memories until revealing worse memories each time. Memories like him seeing his students being devoured around him without being able to protect them, him walking through the ruins of a city with blood everywhere while his consciousness was starting to fail, memories of how he was marching along with an army to enter an unknown metal vehicle. Then mixed memories about 2 people kept emerging, a thin man with a long white coat whose intelligence he admired and a beautiful woman whose will to accomplish something was worthy of his respect, these are the ones he recognized as his best friends, their names were Arsan and Luci. The memories with these two were numerous and ran through many inventions, mostly weapons of destruction, each of them was a genius in different fields of study, Arsan was a genius of technology and metallurgy, Luci was a genius when it came to energy in its practical or theoretical applications, then there was the one whose point of view I was following, he didn''t like to be called that, but he was a genius of magic. With the 3 working together, many investigations were done until they reached one that changed their lives, an investigation that Arsan presented to them that when completed was proven to be too advanced for them to be able to complete. The Dragon Teeth, metal Golems made using Dragon bones along with different metals and complex techniques from both technology to magic, but their power was so great that they were unable to find a viable energy source no matter how hard they tried, leading everyone to despair over the lives being lost while they were trapped in their research. That was when the vision stopped at another memory, this time I already had almost all of his knowledge and had all of my emotions under control, my own consciousness was in its place and I understood what was happening to me, I was receiving an inheritance through these memories, emotions and knowledge. This time the vision was of him alone in a ruined stone room, the exact same ruins of an ancient civilization that he studied in the past and now was forgotten in the face of imminent danger. He had already studied this civilization, he learned its language, he learned the magic in the stone walls and was able to recreate the missing parts, he knew that this stone room was created to get in touch with something beyond comprehension, he hoped to find a solution to his despair in this place and after days he was even able to activate that lost magic with several modifications made by him. That was the vision I was having now, in the middle of the Ritual that he created the space shattered as if it were made of crystal and in the middle only flows of energy were constantly emerging to the point of almost making the ritual collapse. That was when a voice emerged through that empty space of energy, a voice that seemed to carry a depth that made Sarazar''s Soul tremble. "Ohh... it''s been a while since anyone called me using the mark I left..." "Who are you...?" (me?) "(He didn''t even know who he was calling and yet he did all this.)" (me) "You called me and still don''t know...? Interesting..." "Who I am doesn''t matter to you, I can see that you seek something, so tell me... what do you seek...?" "..." (me?) "(Despair can really cloud even the brightest of minds.)" (me) I couldn''t believe these memories, he seemed like a perceptive man, I learned a lot from him, but seeing all this is horrible for me, especially because I realize what will happen next. "I want a source of energy capable of supporting our creation, a source of energy that..." (me?) "Energy...? So you want power?" The ritual that was supposed to contain this broken space suddenly expands, placing Sarazar inside it, then a graceful hand stretches out from the broken space covered in a dense layer of energy with the palm facing upwards. "This is an Anomalous Core, it will serve whatever you seek, but I will not give it away for free..." "What do you want?" (me?) "I want only a Spark from you, nothing you will miss, at least not while you are near this Anomalous Core." "I accept, take what you need!" (me?) "Remember, an Anomalous Core is pure energy, it is alive in itself, all life is constantly changing, so when you come into contact with it, you will also be subject to change..." "You will achieve what you seek and at the same time move away from what you desire... what will remain after this Paradox...?" In the hand of this thing appeared a sphere of energy that it waited for him to claim before the broken space reformed as if time was running backwards leaving only him alone in that place, he didn''t even notice that a feeling of emptiness arose inside him as the Anomalous Core sank inside him. When his hands raised looking for what he was holding, a new Anomalous Core appeared in each of his hands, there were two now and he realized that he could make more of them, but he also realized that his consciousness was fading as he passed out. After that, my vision changed two more times, one of them was when he was inside a Dragon Tooth and the second was when he saw the true Entity that was invading his universe and being marked by it afterwards. "(A fool driven by despair...)" (me) After everything was over, there were no more visions of his memories, but it wasn''t necessary either, I knew what had happened, I finally took his memories, emotions and knowledge for myself, even so I wasn''t him. I saw his memories from the outside, I interpreted his emotions differently, I connected his knowledge in a more cataloged way because it was knowledge that I received and not that I learned, my thoughts also don''t match theirs. I still admired Sarazar, not for his intelligence, not for his accomplishments, but for his courage to accomplish what he set out to do even if it cost him his own life, he didn''t fear death and at the end of his universe, he prayed for all those he couldn''t save while refining part of his universe as a memorial of him. When I blinked my eyes again, I was once again seeing darkness surrounded by what I now understood to be Runes, I could not read them, but I could understand their meaning. "I understand... I accept... that all those deprived of your embrace may finally rest through me..." (me) Thus I finally found a reason to fight, protect and nurture those who were deprived of their final rest. Chapter 1692: Cap 1690: The Tomb and the Star Part 4 "We have to start the plan now." (Akatosh) "Will it work? They''re already here." (me) "It doesn''t matter, do it now." (Akatosh) "(Never a damn day of rest...!)" (me) I have such bad luck, now that the battle is over and after finally being completely recovered, suddenly we are targeted by the Ascendants who didn''t even wait for us to leave this universe. I focus my mind, erase my emotions, and make my Will rise from my body, I sit down while floating with increasingly intense energies around me. My Aura, Divinity, Will and even my Divine Weapon leave my body along with all my elemental powers, all separated floating above me forming an image similar to that of a Star System with several colored spheres orbiting the Cursed Sun and the Shattered Moon. "Stand back!" (me) As I gave a warning, I made my body float out of the planet, I couldn''t perform this magic from the inside, I honestly didn''t know what could happen to me after that, but in the worst case scenario I''ll faint, I hope. "Are you ready, Freya?" (me) "(Yes!)" (Freya) I take a deep breath to focus completely as roots come out of my shadow sinking into the space around me, these roots were ethereal just like the tree that rises from my shadow, its size being larger than the planet itself beside us and its branches spreading beyond the horizon of stars. Freya emerges from the trunk of the tree hugging me from behind, from her head her hair rises like silk threads from where small old flowers bloom, their petals come loose and circulate along with my powers in orbit of my Divine Weapon, soon making a miniature tree appear between the Cursed Sun and the Shattered Moon. "< Dimensional Harmony: Universal Touch >" (Freya) "< Divine Curse of Chaos: Dominance of the Eclipse of Ages >" (me) Freya''s Aura spreads to every corner, blending more and more with the presence of the Universe itself as it spreads until it is imperceptible to me, then I feel her pulling me along with her in a strange Harmony with this universe, I feel her will focus on us almost in a fit of rage ready to explode in which Freya manages to partially appease, unfortunately the weight on top of me was very high and unpleasant. The Star System formed by my powers spins faster and faster until it becomes just a thick ring around the Sun and Moon that illuminate each other as they slowly merge. "This is hard... hhuugg!!" (me) "(Support, I''m here to help you...)" (Freya) It wasn''t supposed to be so difficult, this technique was supposed to be used inside Tarzor when they tried to ambush us knowing about this universe, it shouldn''t be used here like this. When the Sun and the Moon merged in an Eclipse, what emerged looked more like a black hole since it was a black sphere emanating purple and silver light, the thick multicolored ring separates into several rings that tighten against the Eclipse making the moon emanate multicolored. My will that was inside it emerges at that moment, a presence of pure arrogant and tyrannical Dominance spreads from what has become a great Christian that lands in my hands, then this tyrannical power spreads through me that in turn flows to Freya who spreads this power through her branches and roots causing some to break due to the angry reaction of the universe towards my Will. ---------------- Pov Niryna: I was inside Tarzor looking at two images in fire mirrors, in one of these images a beautiful woman appears, her features seemed like an exotic mix of Dragon, Elf and Demon, her beauty was something that enchanted even me. "She is very pretty, but her power is problematic... I don''t like it..." (Callidora) "You''re not going to do anything to her, are you?" (me) "I haven''t thought about it yet, I''ll wait a little longer, I don''t want to burn the old agreements if possible." (Callidora) "My problem is not with this woman, the real problem comes from the one she will serve, Lena is a ridiculous name for an Entity that commands part of the Concept of Life, she''s the one who will be problematic." (Callidora) Callidora, as always, says something outrageous and I know she means it, she would kill Lolth and probably Lena without hesitation if necessary, I don''t know what ancient agreements are these that make her doubt, but clearly the effects of these agreements only influenced her decision a little and are not a real impediment to her. I look at the other fire mirror, a large Dragon rises higher than an entire Star System, its entire body a dark mist and its eyes were purple, its skeleton looks like armor around it, those bones are clearly metal, but their texture seems to be stone. Sighing "He also seems to have woken up, it was faster than expected." (me) "I like this one better, it is more focused on those who escape what comes after death, I can make a deal with her for that, I just need to think of something that is valid." (Callidora) "The name of the one who will control this thing is even more outrageous, I remember that 2 billion years ago it was someone with that name who tried to steal my power... even though I tortured her Soul so much I couldn''t make her scream, that name brings back bad memories." (Callidora) "What are you thinking of doing now?" (me) "I don''t know, I''ll watch for a decade or two, let''s see how everything turns out..." (Callidora) "Ohh... Akatosh taught that to Zenos, it seems that giant lizard has more than just muscles after all." (Callidora) "What happened?" (me) "The Ascendants are attacking and your Father is doing something interesting, but leave it in their hands, this time I want you to go somewhere." (Callidora) "Where?" (me) "I want you to..." (Callidora) ------------------- Pov Luci: I was unconscious, I knew this because I was trapped in my own mind, I could feel the pain in my body and soul very clearly, my body was in such a bad state that it was falling apart from the inside out. Even my Soul was severely injured and it only didn''t break completely because of the Anomalous power of my eye. "(I hope No?ros managed to get to Zenos or I''ll end up dying.)" (me) I remember seeing those two Entities inside the Universe that Zenos always carries with him, if he''s accompanied by them then healing me shouldn''t be much of a problem, that is if they make a move. I didn''t want to die, I''ve done a lot to get to this point, now that the Anomalous Dragons have a second chance, that their souls are finally saved and Arsan also has a second chance, I can''t be the only one dying. I know I might be hypocritical and ridiculous, but I want to spend more time with Arsan, I want to go back to those days where we could sit across from each other for a meal, or when he would start rambling about one of his creations in the middle of a romantic dinner, or how he wrote a love letter to me only to fail to deliver it, leaving me to find it by accident when I walked into his office, I want that simple life again. I know it''s impossible, I know he and I don''t deserve this kind of life, I know I''m more than just a hypocrite for wanting this, but I won''t deny what I want and that''s to be with him like in the old days without that hunger covering our minds. I don''t mind making a deal with Life and Death, I don''t mind facing the Ascendants, I don''t mind making everything and everyone my enemies, even if I have to spend the rest of this life paying for everything we''ve done, if I have the opportunity to be by his side once again like in the old days, then everything else is secondary. Suddenly a light appears in the corner of my vision, I knew it shouldn''t be possible, I was in my own mind and this place was under my control, there shouldn''t be a light here without me doing it. When I looked suspiciously at the light, I suddenly saw a bumpy and patchy path appear in front of me, without me realizing it my will covered my consciousness forming a copy of my body taking a step towards that path. With just that step, everything around me changed. A space full of stars formed in the surroundings. An Eclipse was overhead, and what had been shining in front of me since before was revealed. It was a star that shone brightly above a tomb made of stone. The Tomb emanated the power of endless death, but it wasn''t as cold as I thought. It also seemed strangely gentle. The star seemed to emanate an Aura that made the image of my mother appear in my mind. It had been thousands of years since I remembered her. It was as if this light had the temperature I felt when I hugged my mother. Without realizing it, I was already walking towards the tomb and the Star, ignoring the two large silhouettes on the sides of the path. Chapter 1693: Cap 1691: The Threshold of Paths My eyes seemed to flicker between the real and the unreal, I felt great pain ravaging my mind and Soul as if I were trying to carry something infinitely past without having such capacity. Every time I blinked my eyes my vision changed between two realities, one was the space full of stars where I saw Akatosh and Karina looking at me while other Dragons approached from afar. The other vision was a sea of ??stars that seemed to float in space as if they were inside an ocean, the stars moved in the east and paths snaked between the stars, I myself was standing on fragments of a path that floated between the stars, I instantly took this vision as false. As I blinked more and more every few seconds, the two realities became confused and I was no longer sure which one was false. They both felt too real and suddenly the pain around me increased while in the reality of the sea of ??stars something seemed to appear in front of me, a Dragon whose only the outline of its head was formed of stars that invaded this space while its claws closed around me, squeezing my body, making the whole space tremble in the process. Then suddenly I realized that I wasn''t blinking and only the sea of ??stars where the Dragon was squeezing me was where I remained. "..." "I know who you are... I helped you before, you''re really going to continue... gggrrrr!" (me) "(I''ll take care of this.)" (Freya) Soon hundreds of branches appeared taking the entire shape of the Dragon, making it disperse completely. From the beginning to the end it didn''t stop trying to crush me. This was the will of this universe, it has no conscience and all that exists is the purpose of protecting the universe, ending strange organisms invading and stopping abnormalities like me, its reaction becomes more and more serious as the abnormalities accumulate. "Thank you." (me) "(We''re not done yet, I need to reach them.)" (Freya) "I''ll keep channeling." (me) Because of the interference of the will of the universe, I interrupted the flow of power that I was channeling to Freya, soon she returned to using this power to expand her branches throughout the universe, but going in very specific directions that react against the normal energy flow of this universe, other anomalies being rejected. I could feel Freya''s branches and roots running through the energy flows of this universe, some of them breaking along the way, but little by little they reached their destination, touching all the targets, some of them defended, some of them were pierced, some of them tried to hold the attacks and the one who tried to dodge still couldn''t avoid being touched even if it was just a graze. In the end, everyone was affected by the Curse, all of them dragged by what defines them, their own uncontrolled arrogance. "< Divine Summon >" (me) Each of them was sucked into this space, a threshold between my Divine Realm and this universe that tries to reject my Divinity. In this place those affected by the Curse are forced to fall into a path, but the Curse is not perfect, those who fall into the path can choose not to walk the path and if they retreat they are thrown out, but this is a concern that does not exist for the Ascendants, their Arrogance permeates their Wills, they would rather die than give up, they commit any act in order to achieve their goals and because of this their arrogant Wills are not able to leave. While they were within their paths, they are all separated from their Laws trying to do something with this space, but I only smile at their attempts as I call upon those who fought. ------------------- Pov Akatosh: "Did you really give him a part of your Divinity?" (Adella) "No, a part of my power, my Divinity comes from the Dragons, but even before I was a God, my power was not limited to that." (me) "Dominance is unfortunately not an Essence that I could develop in our universe, not without causing acts that I find repugnant." (me) "I missed the presence of the Ascendants who were coming this way." (Arash) "He must have succeeded, that''s a relief..." (me) Sigh My plans were to finish them off when I got out of here, it would be easy for Zenos to trap them in his Divine Realm inside Tarzor, unfortunately they forced our hands, but we don''t have that much time. I look at Zenos, his eyes are filled with a starry sky with paths scattered, his hands are torn with flesh as blood flows, his body is also with all its muscles contracted, his clothes are in tatters as the space around him trembles. Freya is not in a much better condition, even if this is not her real body, it is still part of her and any sanity will have an impact on her, the trunk of that tree trembles as if it were in the middle of an earthquake, its branches are cracking and some even breaking, her ethereal body embracing Zenos is literally being burned by the Power of Reality coursing through it. "This is rubbish, we could have simply left, it wouldn''t have been difficult and they would have followed us." (Adella) "No, we have many injured Dragons and we have no idea if there are still more enemies out there." (me) "..." (me) I look at my hand, the symbol representing Zenos'' Totem shines, I can also feel his Divine power extending to me, this must be the effect of his indication technique, I''m glad it worked. "Protect them, be on the lookout for new enemies." (me) "I''ll take care of them." (Arash) "Don''t worry, I''ll take care of my Father." (Adella) "(I hope there aren''t any more of them...)" (me) With that thought in mind, I feel my body being sucked into the sphere in Zenos'' hands, that''s when I realized that it wasn''t his body anymore, it was just an image of the two of them who were the first to be sucked into that space. ---------------- When I opened my eyes I was in the middle of a path with a Human Ascendant in front of me, he has 4 pairs of wings, but he looks injured. "I didn''t expect to find you here." (me) "God Akatosh, you are far from home, your power is reduced in this place, so step aside and I promise not to do anything to you, Zenos and your Dragons." "In other words, we are not your targets this time and you expect me to believe that?" (me) "We have our own matters." "Last warning, do not interfere!" "As arrogant as ever, but I would love to see what someone so injured can do to me." (me) "You will regret it..." The Ascendant in front of me was clearly one of the 3 leaders of the Ascendants, but he was injured, I don''t know how it happened, but there don''t seem to be any others of them around here. For him to even promise not to attack and especially choose to speak in this manner means that there is something more important in his eyes, something in this universe or that has arrived in this universe. "(As I thought, he couldn''t force a complete Divine Realm... it became a threshold space, it won''t even last 1 day.)" (me) ------------------- Pov Tarzor: I was tired, in the last few days this universe has been a great inconvenience for me and having to put up with the twins doing whatever they want has altered the entire flow of power within me, now I also have to feel part of the power of this technique flowing into me. After seeing that Zenos and Freya''s condition was not as bad as expected, I turn my attention inward, I could feel the changes in those who woke up with the energy cocoons disappearing. Sarazar woke up a little smaller than before, but his presence and Aura were new as if this was not the same Sarazar as before, as if his departure was a prelude of what was to come, the other Anomalous Dragons also began to break their energy cocoons one by one, just like Tarzor none of them were still Anomalous Dragons. "(Your inner universe has changed a lot, I can feel it''s still changing even now...)" (me) After checking Sarazar, my attention turned to Lolth, then I saw her new appearance, but none of it compares to her Scepter, the blood that once became a blade disappeared, the shape of the Scepter also changed and its head became branches full of crystal leaves forming a circle while in the middle remains what looked like a portal leading to a starry sky where a large star stood in the middle emanating an intense light of life. "(Your Scepter carries a space of its own, but it feels strange as if it were an overlap of the same thing.)" (me) The two seem to be trying to get used to their new bodies, so I turn my attention to the twins who seem to be doing something with Luci who was floating between the Twins while her body was surrounded by their powers. "(If I''m not mistaken, then she''s the reason the Ascendants are here... mainly because of that...)" (me) My attention turned to the metal cube emanating a strong Aura of power from the Ascendant Law, it was clear that she stole it and I could feel the great amount of power contained within as well as something else that I couldn''t identify. It was clear that many things were happening at the same time, but there was nothing to be done, this time we were taken by surprise by the boldness of the Ascendants in this attack. I can only hope that Zenos can withstand this. Chapter 1694: Cap 1692: A Traitor Part 1 Pov Samara: I was lying in the center of a nearby planet, I didn''t want to help heal the Dragons, I also didn''t want to go back to Tarzor with all that power of Life and Death flowing through him, even staying by Master Zenos'' side was complicated since I wanted to be alone. "I didn''t expect them to invade, it seems Akatosh''s plans failed before they even began." (me) Few things can escape my perception, especially when I''m always on the alert against everything and everyone, a habit I created while serving Callidora, because of that I realized Akatosh and Freya''s conspiracy. I didn''t interfere exactly because I knew how good it would be to catch the enemies off guard, Master Zenos isn''t the most subtle person and it would be better if he didn''t interfere, it would be beneficial for him too and even so the plan failed with this invasion. I look at the condensed liquid metal core, the magic circle I placed on it hasn''t finished refining, but it doesn''t seem like I''ll have time for that. "(Their invasion was too sudden, it doesn''t match their way of acting, I could also sense the momentary presence of a Level 4 Ascendant among them.)" (me) "Something happened, something very big... what is he doing!" (me) I abandoned the planet as soon as I felt the fluctuations of the Master''s power, it caused the planet''s core to collapse as it shattered, but I didn''t care about that as I abandoned the already uninhabited planet to look at the great Ethereal Tree that formed not far away. "Akatosh is forcing his plan here!? Is he an idiot!?" (me) His plan would have been a great advantage if it was done within Tarzor, but carrying it out here in this universe will put enormous pressure on Master Zenos and Freya. I look at the ethereal tree, noticing branches cracking, some even breaking, I notice the absurd fluctuations of power near the base of the tree and I''m sure that must be where Master Zenos was. I thought about moving closer to him, but suddenly I feel something pulling me and I recognize the feeling of being summoned, it was the master summoning me and I couldn''t resist letting myself be pulled beyond the control of this universe. -------\------------ When I passed through the gap in space I felt like I entered a threshold zone, an incomplete, unstable space, but I didn''t have time to think much when I saw who was in front of me, a Level 3 Ascendant who was trying to reach Level 4. "What is this place?" (Ascendant) "I don''t know, maybe it''s your tomb?" (me) "What a big mouth you have, Fallen Saint." (Ascendant) "..." (me) "What? Nothing to say or are you just surprised that I know who you are?" (Ascendant) This Ascendant is not ordinary, her power was great and I could feel slight fluctuations in her voice, she was trying to distract me from something she was already doing. But these fluctuations in her voice were being destroyed as she moved away from her, her sharpness was also being greatly suppressed, her Will seemed to be strongly connected to her own body. "(This seems to be a space similar to the Star Path, but its state is apocalyptic.)" (me) "I don''t know what it''s trying to do, but it clearly failed." (me) "This place is not a Divine Realm... but I feel the Divine Power, as expected, a Chaos Bringer really is different..." (Ascendant) "< Law of Space: Fragmented Spear >" (Ascendant) "< Eclipse Summon: Anomalous Current >" (me) In front of her, the space seemed to break and its fragments formed a half-transparent Spear, but I could still see several images reflected faintly in each Fragment, they were pieces of various universes that were refined into just one weapon that she now wields. Meanwhile, the chains on my arms became visible as the Anomalous power pulsed through them, making them come to life, circling around me like two small Dragons. Without saying anything else, I advanced towards her, who did the same, then suddenly pieces of paths in the surroundings joined together forming an arena around us surrounded by crystal branches, it seemed that Freya was in control of this place. Her wings shone as her body seemed to swim in space, gaining speed, when her belly waved in my direction, the tip of the spear seemed to sink into space as it appeared on the side of my head, inches away. I just pull my head back a little and bite the tip of the spear with my teeth as my chains go straight into the Ascendant''s wings, the wings of an Ascendant are sources that store their power of Law, they are like hearts that beat their powers and destroying their wings will make it harder for them to control their power while increasing the continuous expenditure of energy, an excellent initial target. "< Law of Space: Space Shield >" (Ascendant) "< Curse of the Eclipse: Chains of Life >" (me) Her wings are covered by the power of space repelling my chains that in turn try to attack her body while she continues to use her protected wings to defend herself, her attacks continue using her spear showing that she was confident in defending her body from my chains when she separated the blade of her spear to attack again. She lets go of the fragment of space I was biting, but I wasn''t able to break it or continue biting, so I let go after casting a Curse on that fragment of space that quickly floats back to her as it merges back into the spear. "You''re quite strong for a counterfeit." (Me) "You''re weaker than the information suggests." (Ascendant) As she spoke, the Curse I placed on that fragment of space spreads to the others quickly, but contrary to what I thought, it didn''t affect her, the Curse couldn''t affect her hands or go to her body. She kept attacking, I also felt that she wasn''t using her full power, there was something inside her that I couldn''t identify, so I held back my power as I continued in a melee battle against her. ------------------- Pov Hades: In front of me was a Level 3 Ascendant, his wings were made of 3 different elements, earth, wood and water, clearly his power was greater than I expected and I can imagine the combination of these elements in him. My real concern was not him, but my Master, I could feel him all over this place, I knew he was suffering, but I couldn''t control this place like I normally do in his Divine Realms, this place was different, it was incomplete and unstable like I''ve never seen before, in these conditions if it lasted 1 day it would be lucky. "A Divine Herald, it''s been a long time since I''ve seen one." (Ascendant) "Why are you attacking?" (me) "We''re not attacking, so I think it''s better if you return what you took and maybe we can leave without destroying this Universe in the process." (Ascendant) "Return what? I don''t know what you''re talking about..." (me) "Don''t try to fool me, I know that woman came here, do you think we''re blind? Return what was stolen and that woman..." (Ascendant) "< Breath of Chaos >" (me) I didn''t care about him, his words were arrogant as always, I have no idea what he was talking about, I don''t know anything about something stolen and I don''t know which woman he was talking about, maybe it''s about Luci who arrived a little before him, but I don''t care about any of that. Neither I nor anyone here fears the Ascendants, but they speak with an irritating confidence as if they were certain of their victory, they are all always like that, their words hurt my ears and I have no patience or desire to continue listening to him. My breath attack missed him, that''s because he was prepared, he may be excessively arrogant, but no fool reaches his level, each Ascendant has real capacity, that''s why I didn''t underestimate him at any time. My breath attack served two purposes: first, to see how he would defend himself; second, to see his reaction speed; third, to discover the type of power he possesses; and lastly, to discover the type of attack I should use against him. As expected, he did not defend himself; he deflected my attack, preventing a direct collision; then he ran towards me to attack; this means that the power of Chaos is dangerous to him. "< Planetary Law: Continental Sword >" (Ascendant) "< Sacred Summon: Stellar Sword >" (me) His three elements merged in his hand, forming a large sword that seemed to be cut out of a map; this was because it looked like the coastline of a continent, complete with a sandy beach, waves coming from the sea forming the blade, and a large expanse of forest behind it. The sword itself seemed infinitely damaged, as if it were part of a true planet that had been condensed to this size; it was coming towards me and seemed to have gravity around it. As for me, the space shattered in front of me, revealing the hilt of a sword that I held tightly while the Star Sword appeared with its blade full of stars. Our two swords collided, creating a shockwave that threw us in different directions, and then we attacked, his expression less confident than before as he became serious upon realizing my power. "(I have to end this soon...)" (me) Chapter 1695: Cap 1693: A Traitor Part 2 Pov Silvia: I was taking care of the Dragons, almost all of them were healed or almost healed, those still injured were mostly due to damage to their Souls. "Thank you for taking care of them." (Myu) "I''m only doing the right thing..." (me) Before I knew it, I felt my body surrounded by my Father''s Divine power, then came the pull that I couldn''t resist. "Where am I?" (me) I looked around seeing stars moving in a disorderly manner in the sky, paths winding between the stars, I myself was standing on what seemed to be a shattered crystal road with its pieces floating close to each other, my Father''s Divine power was only faintly felt in the surroundings. Then suddenly I felt a fluctuation and when I turned my eyes I saw him, an Ascendant, but something was wrong, he was lying on the ground half dead and the broken path below him was swallowing him using ethereal roots. "Something doesn''t make sense, where did this Ascendant come from and why is he already in this state?" (me) I tried to get closer to him, but besides his dying body on the verge of death, I didn''t see anything special about his injuries, it just looked like something went through his chest, but I have no idea what it could be. The Ascendant in question had 3 wings, so it should be a Level 3 Ascendant, it shouldn''t be easy to kill one of them, but this one only has one injury, that was very strange, that''s because I could only think of two reasons for this, the first being that the enemy was able to attack by surprise, delivering a single deadly attack and the second being such a great difference in power that this Ascendant was unable to do anything other than die in the first blow. Suddenly I feel another vibration and looking around I see dozens of Ascendants appearing, they all had 2 wings on their backs, they all have individually customized armor. "None of them are hurt, I also don''t see anything abnormal other than the basics of the Ascendants, it shouldn''t be difficult to deal with them." (me) "< Sacred Summon: World Whip >" (me) My body partially transforms into a Dragon with scabs replacing my hands and feet, then shoots and horns grow while my wings open. In my hands a large vine appears as if it were alive, it grows on its own while a dense vital energy pulses through its fibers, the power of each element flows from me to the whip that becomes more and more delicate as it crystallizes. "We didn''t come to fight!" "Then why are you pointing your weapons at me?" (me) I was calm and ready to attack at any second, but they didn''t come to attack, each of them was ready to attack and that was clear, but not all of them showed hostility towards me, they seemed to be waiting for orders, which helped me notice one among them whose wings were larger and whose Aura seemed to be connected to all of them. I looked at him, quickly realizing that his presence was greater than the others, and on his back a fifth wing was beginning to grow, still closed slightly, clearly barely visible, even so he was stronger than those around him, which still meant little to me since I could deal with all of them. "We''re looking for someone..." "It doesn''t matter!" (me) Without waiting a second longer, I advanced backwards, dodging an attack that appeared to cross the space, then swung my whip, grabbing the neck of the Ascendant who tried to sneak attack me. "< Burn >" (me) Using the fire element, the whip was covered in orange flames that melted the Armor on the Ascendant''s body almost instantly. "Attack!!!" "(Did you think I would fall for that?)" (me) Before the other Ascendants could reach me, I pulled the whip even harder, cutting the Ascendant''s head off as his body fell to the ground. "< Thorns >" (me) I circled my whip around my body, pushing away all the Ascendants, which were repeated by many thorns growing all over the whip. The thorns collided with the weapons, causing them all to fall back as they shattered in the process, new thorns growing to replace the broken ones. I would give them no rest and engaged them in a full-scale battle, the path fragments in the area were pulled apart, suddenly becoming a large arena, but I didn''t realize it until the battle was over. ---------------------- Pov Magnus: "Where am I..." (me) I was meditating on how to use a new power I thought of during this battle, since my new Father brought me freedom, my whole world changed, my definition of strength was no longer acceptable, I changed a lot, my personality changed, the way I see the world around me was too different for that definition of strength to be able to sustain. But since I became what I am now, I have been trying to control my current power through hard training and discipline, but now that I have mastered this body and power, I have been getting more and more lost in the last few months about my definition of strength. My old Father spoke about the strength of Dragons being their elements and as a Dragon of Light I let my element be the basis of my strength it was something basic and the depth came little by little from my understanding that now I see to have been superficial. Now I see that Zenos'' definition of strength comes from Will, his level is very high and he seems to have an almost instinctive clarity about it, but this helped me see other possibilities besides elemental powers. After training hard and all these battles, this time I felt an inspiration, I felt like I had found the clue about my definition of strength and my Dragon heart beat like never before, it was like pieces falling into place in my heart and so I went to meditate to organize these thoughts into something coherent for my understanding. Suddenly I felt my Father''s Divine power surrounding my body and space sucking my body inwards, I knew something must have happened and I let myself be pulled, but as soon as I opened my eyes again I was in this place that looks like a half-broken copy of my father''s Star Path. "So I have to take care of you?" (me) "I didn''t come here to fight, Dragon." (Ascendant) "Strange way to show it." (me) I was still sitting cross-legged, but I stand up as my body grows, my Dragon form looks like a mix with that of a giant because of my very Humanoid body, so I find myself looking down at the enemy in front of me. It was an Ascendant, he had 2 pairs of large wings and 1 pair of wings half the size of the other two, he seemed calm, but in his hands there was what looked like a Soul writhing as he held his Ethereal form as if it were an object to be manipulated. His eyes were very cold and his presence was strange, his presence was very bizarre as if it were pure malice, even so his expression was too calm, it was clear that this Ascendant was involved in Necromancy, he was not a good match for me, even so he was the one I had to face. "(My father brought me here, so I have to finish him off.)" (me) "I am here under strict orders and I would rather follow those orders than fight you, so I would appreciate it if we could talk instead of fighting." (Ascendant) "I believe that would be impossible, but we can try." (me) "I came here looking for someone, he stole something we want back, we didn''t come here to fight you and we didn''t come here with any intention other than that." (Ascendant) "What would that person be like and what did he steal?" (me) "(If he stole something so important, then it will only benefit us, but I wonder who that person would be...?)" (me) "That''s the person... as for what was stolen, it''s not up for discussion." (Ascendant) "(Luci... it seems like she did something good this time, I have to say this as my Father.)" (me) "As I said before, it was impossible from the start, so stop talking and come." (me) "From your reaction, you know the culprit, so there''s no point in this conversation anymore, if you''re not going to tell me on your own, then I just need to force you." (Ascending) "< Holy Summon: Star Sword >" (me) "< Phantom Law: Staff of Souls >" (Ascending) With a strike of my fist the space beside me shatters as I pull out a healing sword; the blade seems to be a cutout of the starry sky itself. As I wield my sword, my eyes gaze upon the Soul writhing in my hand as it becomes solid as if it were a piece of bone deformed into the shape of a staff with a Ghost face floating above in agony. "This is going to be fun, you''re exactly the kind of person I don''t like!" (me) My power circulates through my body, but I''m slightly wary, I don''t know my opponent and an Ascending with such strange power is worrying. Meanwhile, as if sensing the fight that is about to begin, the broken pieces of path around me are quickly coming together to form an arena around us. Soon we both stepped forward at the same time to face each other. Chapter 1696: Cap 1694: A Traitor Part 3 Pov Xagar: I look at my sword, it was broken just like all the weapons I''ve been using, I''ve tried spears, axes, tridents, halberds and even greatswords during training. Every time I broke the weapons, some broke very quickly because I couldn''t get the hang of handling them, but the truth is that none of them seemed to fit my way of fighting besides swords. Sigh "I should have done more..." (me) "(Master, give me one more chance...)" (me) "Huh!?" (me) Suddenly I feel the master''s Divinity power circulating my body as space distorts, suddenly I feel the pull taking me away almost instantly. When I noticed the surroundings again I was facing an enemy, an Ascendant whose clothes were marked with blood as if she were a decoration, her 3 pairs of wings were also red and an intense murderous Aura permeates her surroundings. "A Herald, it''s been a while since I killed one of these." (Ascending) "(This place feels like an incomplete Divine Realm, I can feel the master from this place, I can feel his pain.)" (me) "< Holy Summon: Star Sword >" (me) "Look at that, he bites... how CUTE!!!" (Ascending) I don''t waste my time asking anything, I advance towards her while extending one of my hands towards her, the space shatters releasing the hilt of a sword that I grip tightly in my hands, a strong sword cut shining as it comes out of the sword during the swing. "< Law of Murder: Wings of Slaughter >" (Ascending) She dodges my attack, her wings seeming to become sharp and larger as they swing towards me sending hundreds of red cuts along with a gale towards me. I moved towards her while pulsing the Divine power within me while avoiding taking the form of a Dragon completely, against an enemy of that size it would be disadvantageous to become excessively large. Each swing of my sword creates a single attack that could seriously injure her, but even so she dodges it with a calmness that is very irritating to me, even if I also managed to dodge her blows against me, even so the pressure was so great that I could lose my life in this fight. "(If you want me to finish these women, then I will put an end to them.)" (me) I attack the woman testing her power and reducing the risks for myself, this is the basics of any combat, finding the opponent''s weaknesses before they find yours. "(I can''t identify its Law or branches, they''re not elements of nature or things of the same line.)" (me) While I was thinking, I moved my head to avoid one of her wings that tried to split my head, then I turned around and kicked her stomach while my tail tried to pierce her throat, she used her wings to protect her neck just as I expected. "How about we take it more seriously!?" (Ascending) "< Symbol of Dominion: Slaughter of the Ages >" (Ascending) "< Incarnation of the Demon Dragon of the Apocalypse >" (me) The moment I saw her 3 wings shine as well as felt the circulation of her overflowing power, I already knew that she was going to seriously attack me, I wasn''t arrogant and directly used my full power as well. My heart was pounding as the Demonic power spread through my body, changing everything and anything. I had to work hard to keep my body from growing beyond 2 meters, but even so, my height still grew a little. I was really trying hard and yet something was strange. I felt that there was someone else hiding, but I couldn''t figure out who it could be. I didn''t feel any Aura, presence or energy fluctuation. It was purely my instincts telling me that someone was hiding, and if there''s one thing I''ve learned, it''s to trust those instincts. "Hahahahahaha..." (Ascendant) Behind her, an entire world appeared, the oceans of which were painted red while the continents were arms like bones, a huge Murderous Aura emanated from her as if it had no end. Her eyes became completely bathed in red, her clothes were also taken red while her smile widened more and more, in her hands the murderous intent literally took a solid form emerging like a sword whose blade was dripping fresh blood. She and I faced each other for several minutes without using any more techniques, this was because we didn''t have time, I especially didn''t have time, we are both hand-to-hand fighters, but she clearly has much more experience than me, I didn''t even have room to breathe with her continuous attacks. I defended her sword that aimed to cut my neck but suddenly she kicked my waist at the same time as one of her wings fell towards my head to split it in half. Each of her attacks is always followed by another in an endless combo with each of her moves always being a perfect combination for the next move, she doesn''t wait for me to show her an opening to attack, she creates these openings with each blow. I myself managed to hit her several times, she always avoids fatal blows or those that impact her mobility, but does little to defend weaker attacks, this is because her regeneration was very fast, just like mine. "(Assassin type... short range... sword and wings... sharp senses... accelerated regeneration...)" (me) I had already understood the key points of her way of fighting, I also discovered her most obvious weaknesses, she doesn''t have much defense, her regeneration must also have its limits like any other type of regeneration, her senses being so acute also means that she has an overload of information, the Ascendants follow a different path from the Gods, they forced their way while the Gods are naturally elevated, this makes their minds below the Gods in terms of capacity as well as their bodies in general. "(Right fist... left shoulder... right knee... head.)" (me) With a plan in mind, I charge at her once more. As soon as she attacks me, I put my hand forward, letting her sword pierce my hand where I hold its blade long enough to overwhelm her mind. "< Eclipse Magic: Armageddon Field >" (me) With me as the center, space is filled with destruction. Space is torn apart, acid rain falls in torrents, Demonic arms emerge from the earth below us as if coming from the underworld. The winds are like blades cutting through everything in their path. The light hurts the eyes, the air is filled with a poison with a disgusting odor, and the heat itself is a curse that burns the skin. I couldn''t use this technique before since it would disturb others in the middle of a battlefield, but with just the two of us here, there was nothing to fear. With his sword stuck and a flood of new information assailing all his senses at once, there was nothing to fear, his movements became rigid and taking advantage of this gap I attacked. It was at that moment that I advanced with the Star Sword, I cut his wrist making him drop the sword and when my tail pierced his other shoulder preventing him from using the other arm while my sword continued its thrust towards his knee which was cut off, all at the same time that my teeth advanced towards his head. "Interesting..." Even with this sudden attack against this Ascendant, I did not stop paying attention to my senses, so I felt precisely the most dangerous moment when an attack came from behind me, flapping one of my wings, I moved my body to the side listening for the blow that would have pierced my body. "< Breath of the Demon Dragon of the Apocalypse >" (me) I use a breath attack, wearing down the head of the Ascendant whose head I couldn''t crush in my teeth as I turned in the direction where the last attack came from, that''s when I saw an Ascendant dressed in animal skins as if he were a Barbarian, his previous attack was made with a large bone spear that opened a hole in the Ascendant that was facing before after I dodged it. "I didn''t expect you to dodge, it seems you noticed my presence, I didn''t expect that..." (Ascendant B) I flap my wings back creating distance, then this Ascendant that looked like a mountain of muscles over 3 meters tall stands next to the body of the Ascendant that I had just killed, he has 3 pairs of wings that seem to come from different creatures and a seventh small wing still closed that looks more like the white wing of the Ascendants. As soon as he revealed himself, his previously hidden Aura and presence showed themselves, he was stronger than the one on the ground, he was also more dangerous, I could feel my instincts screaming at me to be careful, something that didn''t happen at any time against the one on the ground. "Finally decided to stop hiding!?" (me) "Brave, aren''t you...?" (Ascendant B) "The fun''s over, stop with your jokes and get up already." (Ascendant B) "Huh...?" (me) "Hahahaha... you''re not funny, you ruined the joke." (Ascendant A) "..." (me) Suddenly the Ascendant I thought I had killed stood up, she was missing a hand, a leg, one of her arms was lying limp, there was a big bloody hole in her belly where her friend''s spear hit after I dodged it and her head was almost completely shattered after my breath attack. But as soon as she stood up, the hand holding the sword and the leg that had been torn off returned to her, attaching themselves to her body while her other arm snapped back into motion, the hole in her stomach closed and her head regenerated as if nothing had happened, and all this in less than 2 seconds, her presence and Aura didn''t even diminish as she looked at me with a wide smile on her face. "(I guess I''m screwed now...)" (me) "Let''s end this now, we have a mission to accomplish!" (Ascendant B) "< Law of Slaughter: Divine Decapitation >" (Ascendant A) "< Law of Beasts: Ultimate Predator >" (Ascendant B) Chapter 1697: Cap 1695: A Traitor Part 4 Pov Niryna: I looked at the changes in the surroundings with a raised eyebrow, the whole place was a mess and I could feel many presences far apart from each other. "Where are we?" (me) "(We are in an incomplete Divine Realm, I can feel the presences of Zenos and Freya intertwined with the corrupted power of Reality of this place.)" (Callidora) "Why do you hide and talk in my head?" (me) "(Because this is an excellent time for your training, the Anomalous Dragons lack techniques, they are very crude both in their indescribable bodies and also in their ways of fighting.)" (Callidora) "(You need to fight an opponent who has more refined fighting techniques and a cunning mind, someone with the ability to use their powers in a more comprehensive and less basic way.)" (Callidora) Suddenly I feel a strange presence coming from a direction, my eyes soon saw a couple moving towards me, the two people were very similar in the way they walked, in the firmness of their dress, in the way they moved, in the colors of their clothes and even in their Auras, it was as if the two could complement each other completely. On their backs there were 3 pairs of wings for each of them, her wings were pink while the man''s wings were bright red. The two stop in front of me, behind them there was a broken path that came together as they walked, now it was no different and that''s why the two stopped, that''s because the path that was created in front of them soon took up a large area joining the paths that came together to form a large arena. The two seemed cautious of the newly made arena as well as attentive to everything in their surroundings with each one always looking at each other''s blind spots. They seemed to ignore me, but I realize that they are paying indirect attention to me, a weak attempt at doing so. "Dear, look who we found." (Female Ascendant) "Yes dear, an Infernal Envoy." (Ascendant Man) "..." (me) "(I like these two, they''re funny.)" (Callidora) "(Who are they? I thought they were just Ascendants?)" (me) "(They''re all unique individuals, kid.)" (Callidora) "(These two became Ascendants because of me and paid a delicious price for it.)" (Callidora) "(What price did they pay?)" (me) As I watched them, their eyes were focused on me, the woman seemed lost in the past while the man seemed to be trying to study me with his eyes. "Should we make another wish, Dear One? We can''t summon the Envoys from that place anymore." (Female Ascendant) "We don''t have an offering ready, Dear... besides, your presence seems different from what I remember..." (Male Ascendant) "..." (Female Ascendant) "..." (Male Ascendant) The two of them were suddenly very focused on me, their eyes moving almost in sync as if they were mirrors of each other, similar to what happens when someone stands next to a mirror always reflecting in the opposite direction. "(Aren''t you going to tell me anything about them?)" (me) "(Your task is to discover at least 1 weak point of theirs and defeat them both, I won''t help in any way and I won''t allow you to use your servants.)" (Callidora) "I don''t think she''s an Envoy from that place, Dear..." (Female Ascendant) "I would like to kill her for deceiving us, dear... but we must fulfill the mission." (Male Ascendant) "That''s right, Dear... I forgot about the mission." (Female Ascendant) "Where''s the woman with the big eyes, Child!?" (Female Ascendant) "(This crazy woman clearly has a few screws loose, the man is just as bad as she is.)" (me) These two people are insane, their eyes are strangely hollow and deep, they look like the eyes of Lilith, the eyes of someone who is seeing the world through a distorted lens. "Dear, her Aura blends with that of this place." (Female Ascendant) "Darling, she doesn''t seem to want to cooperate..." (Male Ascendant) "< Law of Fear: Presence of Horror >" (Female Ascendant) "< Law of Madness: Imbalance of the Soul >" (Male Ascendant) --------------------- Pov Zenos: I was really going through a hard time, keeping this place was torture for me. My whole body was in a mess, but it was okay, my Soul was only shaken so far and if I need to I can still force my Vitality to quickly heal my body, but this will be my last resort to keep this place for a few more hours since it will consume my Vitality very quickly. "(Freya...?)" (me) "..." (Freya) She doesn''t say anything and she doesn''t need to since we are connected, her intention is transmitted to me just as my intention is transmitted to her. I was surprised that she was in a better condition than me, this isn''t even her real body and it seems that her Soul is handling it better than mine, but she clearly isn''t managing to maintain this place as well as I am, suffering more restrictions from this universe than I am. I was getting worried if everyone had managed to find suitable opponents, I tried to do something more or less, but it was far from good enough. "Huh...?" (me) Suddenly I feel something and look at one, walking through the empty sea of ??stars was the figure of a person, I pay attention to how it approaches stopping in front of me. ------------------- Pov Hades: Every strike between our swords made this whole place ripple, the distortions in space made it harder to fight as if we were trying to fight inside a pool of mud, but honestly he was too difficult to face. Every strike I take on his sword has its damage dispersed while he is completely fine without suffering any kind of injury. But with each strike the Vitality contained in the sword seems to decrease, that''s when I noticed that the forests on the back of the sword seemed drier. "(If I''m right...)" (me) "< Star Sword: Eclipse Curse >" (me) Within the starry sky on the blade of the sword an Eclipse forms as Stellar flames rise from the sword in my hands, concentrating my power not on the entire sword, but only on the front edge of its blade where all the stars gather before striking causing boundless devastation that breaks everything in its path. The surrounding space breaks into a trench shape for thousands of kilometers by the sea of ??stars, his sword made to simulate a planet, but what I was really looking at were the stellar flames burning the forest, just as I imagined, he stores the Vitality in the sword. I don''t know how he did it and it doesn''t matter to me, but it became his own undoing. I just kept watching as I walked away, he focused his attention on the sword, he wanted to extinguish the Starfire, the waters forming the blade of the great sword formed a sphere of water around the sword but the flames do not go out, they are not deadly flames that need air to burn and they are also not elemental flames that can be extinguished using opposite elements like water, these flames burn by transforming one thing into another. I made them burn the Vitality and transform it into death which is its opposite, so the sword itself will be destroyed and this Ascendant will also be affected if he does not release his weapon. He realized that the water had no effect and used the sand to create a storm around the sword, which also did not work and that was when he turned his eyes to me, releasing his sword that fell apart now almost completely taken over by the Starfire. "I didn''t want to have to use what she gave me." (Ascending) Suddenly the ascendant puts his hand on his chest where a necklace hangs, I hadn''t noticed the necklace until now, but as soon as he held it an Aura full of murderous intent leaks out. "< Release >" (Ascending) The whole time I didn''t attack him because I knew about those desperate ones, he might try something against me and so I waited to lose his weapon before making my move, by his expression I knew that that sword was responsible for a large part of his power. His expression of fury as he held that sword-shaped necklace was clear, soon the sword began to emanate red glows containing Runes of the Ascending Law, this is their way of using magic. The sword that was previously small became large while blood floated like particles around it emitting a faint red light and an intense murderous pressure. "Now I''ll end this quickly!" (Ascending) "Then stop talking and come!" (me) During the next 20 seconds or so, we exchanged several blows, he became much more aggressive while I became more cautious, there was something in the sword that left me not knowing what to do, there was something changing inside and I didn''t want that sword to hit me, which in turn encourages his aggression. It was at that moment that the sword suddenly released thousands of red classes with bone tips all against the Ascendant who was surprised without knowing what was happening, he didn''t have time to react while my entire body was pierced and taking advantage of the gap the sword came out of his hand before piercing his jaw from below coming out above his head. He couldn''t even speak before he died, then the sword separated from him and the Ascendant''s entire body disintegrated into particles of blood that were absorbed by the sword that took human form. "I''m not your enemy..." Chapter 1698: Cap 1696: A Traitor Part 5 I was in a bad condition, but not without a chance of recovery, my current state was controllable, Freya who was hugging me was in a more critical state without being able to move her Ethereal Body. But with the arrival of this person who walked through the sea of ??stars stepping on the void as if he was descending a staircase walking towards us, he soon stopped right in front of us. "So that''s how they did it..." "Enjoying the view...?" (me) "A threshold Space where Dimensional Authority is being disputed between a Deity and a Universe... this is insanity, it shouldn''t even be possible to carry out this confrontation... but with the help of this... this person... tree... how should I say it...?" "It would be more polite to introduce yourself first." (me) "Yes, that''s right... I apologize for my rudeness..." "I am Yaffe, a humble scholar, scholar, researcher and historian." (Yaffe) "My name is Zenos, Profane God of the Eclipse... this is Freya..." (me) "(I can''t tell if he''s a man or a woman, his name doesn''t help either.)" (me) "(His presence is also strange... but what exactly I don''t know...)" (me) This Yaffe guy was wearing an outfit that was somewhere between a suit, a lab coat and a tunic, all perfectly blended together. His black lab coat was open down to his ankles, his tunic underneath was gray with red lines embellishing the image of books, the lab coat itself on top looked a lot like a suit with a cufflink that looked more like a crystal blue star. His hair was long gray, reaching the floor like a gray waterfall, tied behind his pointy ears just slightly. His eyes were golden with pupils shaped like a gray 6-pointed star. Everything about him was strange, but he spoke calmly. "(Zenos...)" (Tarzor) "..." (me) "(He''s dangerous, be careful.)" (Tarzor) What Tarzor said made sense, I myself know he was dangerous, he entered this place without being brought by Freya, I may not have control over the targets Freya brought here, but I know they were all Ascendants because of their presence containing the power of the Laws they created, with the exception of one that Freya brought by mistake, but that person remained seated without doing anything. As for this person in front of me, he or she was not brought here by Freya, that person came here on their own and came directly to me who is the one maintaining this place, his or her ability is so superior that I did not realize it until he was almost in front of me. "You don''t need to fear me, I am not an enemy, as I said before, I am a follower of studies and this place is interesting." (Yaffe) "A Chaos Bringer... a mutant World Tree... an incomplete Divine Realm interacting in hostility against a Universal Will..." (Yaffe) "Not counting such unique subjects of study, I can see interesting individuals like that woman emanating Infernal Aura... that Herald who seems to be a living curse... that other Herald carries a power similar to that of the Entity of the Apocalypse... I can also sense some others who are less interesting and yet still arouse my interest a little." (Yaffe) As he speaks, his pupils shine and dilate, expanding a little more, it was as if his eyes could see beyond distances and analyze everything, he could see all the battlefields I prepared. But suddenly his eyes turn to what was in my hand, the crystal sphere surrounded by rings that was the core of this place, then a book appears in front of him floating open then a keyboard with hundreds of keys surfs in front of him with him typing without even looking at high speed. "A really interesting place... please don''t mind me, I won''t interfere regardless of which side wins." (Yaffe) "..." (me) He didn''t even care about what I might say, he turned around as other books appeared around him open, each of them with their own ethereal fabrics, some ethereal hands emerge from his body as they interact with the keyboards writing in the books. "This is so weird..." (me) ------------------- Pov Xagar: "(I think I''m screwed now...)" (me) "Let''s end this now, we have a mission to accomplish!" (Ascendant B) "< Law of Slaughter: Divine Decapitation >" (Ascendant A) "< Law of Beasts: Ultimate Predator >" (Ascendant B) In front of me I saw the 3 meter tall man transform into a wonderful creature, his three wings spread out and grew even larger, his body became a little thinner as he reached a height of 3.5 meters, his eyes became completely golden and pure white fur grew all over his body while his hair became a beautiful silver mane around his head similar to that of a Tiger Man. He had a lot of aesthetic beauty different from what I thought he would become due to his wild Aura, he looked more like a unique beast raised and cared for by someone than a wild beast, as expected of an Ascendant, always trying to appear superior and being excessively arrogant, even this unnecessarily cared for appearance does not fit with his wild Aura. Meanwhile, the assassin woman was also making her move. Her sword turned into a large cleaver full of sharp teeth, as if it had been mixed with a saw. Meanwhile, her eyes turned completely red and her Assassin Aura was completely sucked into the cleaver, making the space around her vibrate, creating a sound similar to screams in the surroundings. The woman flapped her wings and arrived in front of me very quickly, already swinging her cleaver, which was larger than my size. I dodged to the side, and the space next to me tore open as she kicked my wing, taking away my balance. Suddenly, the other Ascendant arrived behind me. His claws grew and were about to sink into my back, but I wrapped my tail around his leg, pulling my body down and dodging his attack. "< Apocalypse Demon Breath >" (me) I wouldn''t be careless, I concentrate my Apocalypse Divine Demon Power in my mouth before releasing demonic flames that spread like a flaming tsunami filled with demonic power, swallowing the two who are pushed away. "(It was too weak...)" (me) Without waiting for the two to recover, I go against them myself this time, as soon as they freed themselves from the flames, the two were already launching their attacks at me, but my movement of advancing against them made them lose their target, as soon as I was close enough I used my tail to attack the beast Ascendant''s neck while my sword descended towards the murderous Ascendant, this time I wanted to cut its body in half to discover its weakness. "Do it now!" (Ascendant B) "< Law of Massacre: Final Cut >" (Ascendant A) "< Law of Beasts: Fangs of Slaughter >" (Ascendant B) I suddenly realized that the two were each on one side of me, they had deceived me, my tail was stopped by the hands of the Ascendant Man while my sword pierced what was just an illusion disappearing from the woman who soon left with her true body by my side. This time I didn''t have time to use my power, they were too close to me, I didn''t have time to do much, but I wouldn''t be killed so easily. The power of Divinity exploded from within me as it gathered in my arms, two Dragon head shields appeared on my arms as I used all my power on them to defend this next blow. I was already prepared for his blows against me, but what happened next caught me off guard, I was so surprised that my eyes widened in disbelief at what I was seeing. "..." (me) "Die!!!" (Ascendant A) "Aaarrggg!!!" (Ascendant B) The Ascendant woman stopped smiling with her face becoming serious as she screamed, her cleaver doubled in size as it changed direction slightly, before anyone could understand what was happening, the cleaver was already behind the Ascendant man''s neck and continued its path cutting through his entire neck to the other side. Her severed head swiped while her teeth were still shining from her previous technique, but her eyes were in disbelief from shock as they slowly darkened. "< Law of Massacre: Plunder of the Conqueror >" (Ascendant A) Suddenly a red Rune appeared in her hand from where a strong suction absorbed the body and head of the dead Ascendant along with its power that was beginning to leak out of its remains. Soon what was left in her hand was a red cube that sank into her hand opening a wound in the process that closed as soon as it entered completely. I still had my shield in place, I was surprised by what happened, even more so when the Ascendant woman looked directly at me calmly, her large cleaver disappeared as she withdrew all her power into herself and looked at me. "Thank you, I didn''t think it would be so easy to kill that bastard, you were a great distraction." (Ascendant A) Snap snap "My neck hurts and so does my face, forcing a smile like this is horrible..." (Ascendant A) She cracks her neck and her personality seems completely different from before as she seems to be relaxed in front of me, so I recovered from the shock and was ready to attack when she waved her hand at me. "What are you doing? I''m not your enemy." (Ascendant A) "When I was brought here, I felt the power of Chaos, the same power I feel emanating from you, if you haven''t noticed yet, I''m an infiltrated traitor." (Ascendant A) "..." (me) Chapter 1699: Cap 1697: A Traitor Part 6 Pov Samara: My chains break another part of the space while my purple flames create skeletons jumping through the hole in space to reach the Ascendant who was holding the injured arm. "This fight is over, you are without energy, with a curse that devours you from the inside and your dominant arm is gone to never return with the kind of injury I caused." (me) "Do you think you will defeat me so easily?" (Ascendant) "..." (me) Everything in the surroundings was distorted because of our battle, she used the space to attack many times and every time I received her attack with my chains, her attacks are powerful and yet they are too simple. Each time she uses her defenses more to close the space in front of her, but that no longer works on me after all these attacks weaken and then break through those defenses. She puts some reason seems calm and I still feel something inside her, I also haven''t used her power completely until now. I had been wondering all this time what she was hiding and what this power I felt inside her was, but I realized now what it was and my eyes narrowed looking at the surroundings as I noticed the flaws. "How about you stop playing these games? This isn''t real... you''re not real..." (me) "Did you finally realize?" (Ascending) Snap She suddenly smiled and snapped her fingers, all the deformations in the space around us disappeared, her injuries also disappeared, even the Infernal wound I made on her arm, everything returned to normal as she looked at me calmly. "I won''t ask how you found out, but could you at least think about handing over the thief along with the stolen artifact?" (Ascending) "You''re joking, aren''t you?" (me) This wasn''t an illusion or anything like that, it felt very real and that was the problem, the reality here wasn''t real either, this was a damn dream and I didn''t realize it when I fell here. I look at my hand and with just a thought it becomes the head of a Demon with fingers coming out of its eyes. "When did you put me in this dream?" (me) "As soon as you appeared, that''s because I was already prepared, since you arrived you were already in my dreams." (Ascendant) "(I can''t wake up...)" (me) I tried to wake up, but that wasn''t possible, I also tried using my body without success, I tried many things before finally giving up, nothing was working. "You''re stuck here too, aren''t you?" (me) "Did you use the space element because it was easier to imagine? Did you want to get some more information out of me.?" (me) "..." (me) I wasn''t actually surprised anymore, because I was just in the middle of someone''s mind, it still wasn''t that bad. I''m already inside someone''s mind, so knowing that I stretched out my hand as magic circles appeared on my hand. "What do you think you''re doing...?" (Ascending) She looks at my actions and tries to erase the magic circles by snapping her fingers, but it doesn''t work, the circles are still there and my will surges through my Aura. "How are you doing this?" (Ascending) "Don''t you understand how your own power works?" (me) "You know, dreams when you don''t know you''re dreaming can be very real, but the moment you see beyond the truth, then the dream becomes a battle of wills, everyone who uses this kind of power knows that." (me) "< Infernal Magic: Mental Corruption >" (me) Using this magic that can only be used in one''s mind, what seems like mist spreads to the surroundings from me, the surroundings changing more and more as I appear in front of her, touching her face. "In a battle of wills, only a few hundred people would have a Will capable of defeating me." (me) "Your foolishness knows no bounds... did you really think that your Will could overcome someone who has been in hell for thousands of years?" (me) "I underestimated you..." (Ascending) "Yes, and now you will pay for it." (me) "< Law of Dreams: Release >" (Ascending) "..." (Ascending) "We''re not done yet, so why do you want to run already...?" (me) "Now I''ll show you how to give someone sweet dreams." (me) "Let me out!!!" (Ascending) "No." (me) While I was talking I was already taking steps towards her while I took her neck between my hands without killing her, speaking softly while whispering in her ear while she trembled. ---------------------- Pov Silvia: Around me there were already dozens of bodies stretched out on the ground, the Ascendants kept coming, the paths around me were all falling where I am and for some reason, each time they die, their wings disappear taking away only a single man with 4 pairs of wings and 1 ridiculously small wing, the same one from before who kept staying away from me. "Wait a minute, the power of their Law... Their wings... their similar ways of fighting..." (me) "They are your clones, aren''t they?" (me) "Yes and there will be many more as long as I keep creating more." (Ascendant) "I see... then I give up... you can keep him." (me) "Who are you talking to...AAAAHHHHH!!!!" (Ascending) "No! No! No...!!!!" (Ascending) Suddenly I hear a scream and the Ascending in front of me falls to the ground as his wings disappear along with all the other Ascendings in the surroundings. I immediately turn to the direction where the scream came from before, then a young woman wearing a simple dress floats with her expressionless face looking at everything around her, from the corner of her lips there was a stain of blood dripping. "Was it tasty, Hinata?" (me) "Taste... strange... mixed..." (Hinata) "Don''t worry about it, let''s... let''s find my Father." (Me) ------------------- Pov Zenos: I look once more in the direction of where Xagar was, I could feel everything that happened there and it seems that Xagar was able to win or in this case he got lucky by finding a Traitor who helped to finish off the enemies. I look at Hades who also seems to be finishing, he had a sword floating around him it seems like he is also coming. At that moment I avoid looking at Akatosh''s fight, I can feel the tremors from here and that scares me, I don''t want to risk being noticed by that Ascendant. It was at that moment that I noticed many other Level 2 Ascendants gathering, so I wanted to go to them, but before I could completely let go, what seemed to be an Ascendant. "So it''s you... I didn''t expect that..." (me) --------------------- Pov Xagar: I really didn''t understand this woman, she seemed small at first, now she seems to have regained her sanity and sometimes becomes unpredictable. "You really don''t know... he must not be using the same name anymore... his body must be a new one..." (Ascendant) "You were here to deal with the Anomalous Dragons, but this is part of a plan, isn''t it?" (Ascendant) "A plan that was devised by my boss, he must have been reborn and must have gotten the 2 Anomalous powers he needed." (Ascendant) "(Davoth, if I remember correctly, he said something about having people infiltrated within the Ascendants, this must be one of them.)" (me) "His name is now Davoth, a Demon." (me) "Demon? I don''t like them very much... why didn''t he be reborn as an Elf? Maybe even a Giant would have been better." (Ascendant) If this person is a traitor to the Ascendants, then I can get some information from her. "Do you know why the Ascendants attacked so suddenly?" (Me) "Yes, the woman named Luci stole something from the 3 leaders, leaving a trail of death in her wake." (Ascendant) "We were able to cooperate with her to do this, honestly it was a relief since they were just starting the process of the fifth level of Ascension." (Ascendant) "We have to hurry, one of the leaders participated in the pursuit and is already here..." (Ascendant) ---------------------- Pov Niryna: I was breathing heavily as the two Ascendants stood in front of me, they had injuries all over their bodies, but they were light compared to my injuries. "Dear, what should we do?" (Female Ascendant) "This woman seems to be immune to Fear and Madness." (Female Ascendant) "That makes it troublesome, Dear." (Male Ascendant) "< Law of Madness: Symbol of Dominance >" (Male Ascendant) "< Law of Fear: Symbol of Dominance >" (Female Ascendant) "< Infernal Unholy Summon: Scythe of Damnation >" (Niryna) I was tired and injured, fighting these two is madness, they are strong, not as strong as me, but they make up for it with an insane level of cooperation as if they were sharing the same mind. To make matters worse, their battle tactics are cunning, they use illusions, feints, hidden weapons, traps and various deceptive tactics, I have never fought or seen such deceitful enemies. This fight couldn''t go on like this, so I decided to go all out. I''ve never used all my power before and I''ve always avoided using this scythe for fear of not being able to control its power, but I have no choice now. Behind the man, a face appeared with eyes that rolled in opposite directions and the face contorted abnormally as if it were a mask. Behind the woman, an image of a silhouette with red eyes appeared as if it were her own shadow, but this shadow had depth and also seemed to hide something inside. As I looked at them cautiously, the Infernal power ran through my body while a skull appeared above me, opening its mouth from which a handle emerged. I grabbed it and the skull split in half, where a large white blade grew while an immense cruelty tried to take over my mind. "(I don''t know if I''ll... be able to control... this thing... argh...!)" (me) Chapter 1700: Cap 1698: Akatosh VS Urak Pov Akatosh: Around me there are millions of stars, each of them emanating an incredible loss of gravity trying to alter my movements and continuously launching energy beams. I dodge the energy beams with ease, being very predictable since they follow a straight line, the gravity of each star also has minimal effect on me, my strength far exceeds what this gravity can force, just with my body power and brute strength it is enough to ignore this gravity. As I flew between the energy beams, someone followed my movements, but before he could make a move, I smiled when I realized his direction. A magic activates in space surrounding his body in Dragon flames, at that moment the energy beam attacks coming from these stars stop for a moment that I use to get closer to him. My fist was heading towards him, but when I was about to hit his body, he moved, bending the space in front of him, which then shattered with the force of my blow, hitting him, who flew backwards, crossing several sections of stars that exploded along the way. "I didn''t expect it to be a woman." (Me) "Do you think I can''t be strong because I''m a woman!?" (Ascending) Cough Cough I was shocked when I saw his appearance, his clothes were loose and his injuries already made it difficult to see his body, to make matters worse his power of the Ascending Law distorted the space around him, preventing me from seeing his face and body in detail, so I thought he was a man, even his voice was distorted and was still being distorted, carrying traces of his Law in his voice. My previous strike completely broke the Ascendant Law defense cloak she was using around herself, seeing her appearance now, it seems I was mistaken, she wasn''t human, she seemed to be half-elf from the shape of her ears, of course this was before she became an Ascendant. She was looking at me with feigned anger as she slightly moved the stars on my back, she''s trying to trick me, even this move is a trap as she concentrates power on specific stars in the form of a magic circle that I don''t recognize. "(That damn woman is cunning, she put a 3-cloak plan into action instantly and I''m not even sure if there are more in the works.)" (me) "< Presence of Dominance >" (me) "Where I am, I dominate!!!" (me) "Damn Arrogant God!!" (Ascendant) "< Universal Law: Planetary Fall >" (Urak) Trying to enter a battle of cunning and tactics against such an enemy would only be asking for unnecessary trouble, as a Dragon my path to the search for true strength has always been Dominance, a path that I stopped walking when I growled at a Dragon God for already being in Dominance of all Dragons, the peak that I could not follow without having something to challenge. But now, after leaving my universe, facing creatures like the Anomalous Dragons and this Ascendant, I finally feel that fear of death like before, that emotion that makes my instincts surface, the drums of war that beat in my chest accelerate rapidly as I smile. My Will takes over my Aura as a pulsating wave of energy spreads around in all directions, the stars tremble, her entire multi-layered plan collapses before a power that imposes itself above her, then she makes her move. His eyes shine as dozens of stars create 3 planets that fall towards me, looking at them my Aura becomes a Dragon half my true size as his two claws and his tail hit the 3 planets that were shattered by my attacks while I was pushed back. "You''re always like this, your power is so rigid that it always breaks in a battle of resistance... hahahahahaha..." (me) "Shut up!! I am Urak, leader of the Ascendant Council, ruler of thousands of Universes!!!" (Urak) "You''re just a mere God of a mediocre Universe and a big lizard who thinks he''s more important than he really is..." (Urak) "You talk a lot for a fake Goddess, bragging about using stolen power... it''s funny to see so much overconfidence, especially when your Universes are in ruins!" (me) "< Universal Law: Black Hole >" (Urak) "< Divine Magic: Dragon God''s Seal >" (me) This time I really managed to irritate her, she finally lost her temper and opened a gap for me to attack, hundreds of stars collided with each other in an explosion that released a strong gravitational power that compacted, distorting space to the point of opening a hole that sucked in everything in the surroundings. I raised my claws while my Divinity formed a Rune on the back of my hands, my Dragon Totem pulsed inside me while my will expanded my power that drove the Rune forward as if it were a Golden Dragon flying in a straight line. As soon as my Rune reached the black hole, it exploded into countless lines of Divine power forming a magic around the black hole that immediately decreased in size by half as I advanced, flapping my wings towards the Ascendant woman. "< Dragon God''s Breath >" (me) "< Universal Law: Galactic Genesis >" (Urak) I gather my power in my throat, compacting it countless times until releasing it all at once in her direction. This time, the power itself formed a ray of colossal golden, red and black power, destroying the very space it passes through at great speed. She will not receive my attack head on. On the contrary, she gathers all the stars spinning in her hand, all these stars spinning and concentrating on a point in her hand that pulses while particles of raw power distort the space around her hand. When she waves it forward, a huge explosion comes towards me, with space collapsing in its path. Our two attacks collide and explode in a devastating shockwave that makes all the paths along with the space itself around us fragment. We were surrounded by fragments of space staring at each other, both of us breathless after the last blow we exchanged. While I was thrilled by this intense battle, she was clearly irritated, but none of that mattered to me, because I noticed that she wasn''t using her full power or maybe she couldn''t use her full power. "Is this all that the so-called great Level 4 Ascendants can do!?" (me) "You lowly, wretched God, do you think this is all my power!?" (Urak) "If I were in better condition, I would have torn your body into pieces to eat for an afternoon snack!!" (Urak) "Big words for someone who hasn''t even managed to hurt me yet!" (me) I charge at her with more force than before, this time I won''t give her time to use any tactics or techniques, I will overwhelm her with attacks one after the other without pause. I focus my Divinity on my claws as I start to land blows on each of her vital points, so she was forced to either dodge or defend, she was quick in her decisions as she quickly adapted to my attacks. For the next few minutes each blow we exchanged was unable to hit the other, but she was struggling harder than me to resist, her condition was already injured before coming here and it was getting worse and worse as I pressed my attacks towards her. Each of us was accumulating injuries, in a close range battle like this it was impossible not to be injured, but all my injuries were concentrated in my arms while she was having injuries all over her body. I saw her body glow and her wings pulse with energy as Runes filled with the Power of Law rose from her Wings, her eyes filled with rage and following my instincts, I retreated flapping my wings back as a pulse of the Power of Law shattered the space around her while blood flowed from all her wounds at the same time. "I won''t forget this, damned Divine Lizard!!" (Urak) Saying this her body disappeared into the hole that the collapse of space created around her, meanwhile, I continued paying attention to the surroundings without knowing if she had really left or if it was just a trap to catch me off guard. "(She really left...?)" (me) After a few minutes without feeling her presence again, I stopped using my power, but even so I was still paying attention to the surroundings. I was disconcerted by my last opponent, she was in an injured state and even if I wasn''t at my peak, I barely managed to get the upper hand, if she was in full condition then I would be in a truly bad situation, her power must be no less than Sarazar''s body that I faced last time. Sigh "So many powerful enemies... hahahaha... hahaha..." (me) "It''s been a long time since I felt such emotions during my battles." (me) I look at the surroundings realizing that the space around me wasn''t returning to normal, in fact it was on the verge of collapsing completely. "This place is too weak, so it won''t break through for more than 2 or 3 hours..." (me) "What should I do now...?" (me) Chapter 1701: Cap 1699: Cortana intervenes The one who appeared this time was an Ascendant, her hair and eyes were brown, her large pair of wings along with a small seventh wing closed, everything about her was strangely normal with only her wings being something different. This is the same Ascendant I met before, there was no way I could forget this weirdo in front of me. She was walking normally towards me just like before, a small innocent smile that hides the strangeness of her entire existence as if she were something inhuman trying to imitate a human as normally as possible. Seeing superficially it seems perfectly normal, but the more you look you notice the small irregularities, so much perfection is not natural, it seems like a compilation of perfect ideas put together that because of that it becomes only superficial without any intrinsic originality to each individual. "I didn''t expect you to find my location... that shouldn''t be possible..." (me) "You ran away as soon as I appeared, I don''t like to leave a conversation unfinished." (Ascending?) "You say that, but you clearly didn''t want to talk before, and you don''t want to talk now either." (me) "I just want the woman who escaped to this place, I followed her closely and I know you hid her." (Ascending?) "Give me the woman and what she was carrying, give me everything and I''ll leave without doing anything to you or those around you." (Ascending?) "(It seems I wasn''t wrong... the more I think about it, the more certain I am about her.)" (me) She speaks normally, her simple and sincere smile was perfect like that of a veteran actress, even her eyes to normal people must seem sincere, but maybe because she''s a Dragon, a Predator... I can feel the true intentions that are almost contrary to what she says, I feel like she''s the real Predator wearing a cloak of innocence to hide her jaws. I looked to the side and didn''t see Yaffe anywhere, I didn''t see him move from his place or do anything, it was as if one moment he was there and the next he wasn''t, there was no trace of his presence anywhere as if he had never existed. I also felt that other being sitting on one of the paths turned his head this way, this only confirms a few things. "You know, this place was created by me, but it is incomplete, even so it was impossible for the Ascendants to find me, my presence is being masked by Freya... even a Level 4 Ascendant didn''t notice where I am..." (me) "So tell me... how was a weaker Ascendant able to get here without me noticing?" (me) She just smiled as the pairs of wings on her back burn into nonexistence as a tear runs down one of her eyes, her Aura has all the energy of the Ascendant Law destroyed while only a frightening hunger remains, her mouth also opens to the point of abnormality with several sharp teeth of different sizes inside. "You''re not an Ascendant, who are you? What are you...?" (me) "What a bad way to talk to someone you just met." (???) Aaahhh Crack Suddenly I ''feel'' a heart-wrenching scream before hearing something breaking, that was a bizarre sensation and I knew where it had come from when she rubbed her eye drying the tear that had stopped falling. "(Did she just break a Soul...?)" (me) "(Maybe this is for nothing, but I''m not one to stand still in the face of danger.)" (me) "< Divine Blood Magic: Rebirth >" (me) My entire body breaks apart as a new one emerges from within, completely healed. Freya opens her arms, releasing me as I fall to the ground on my feet. I use my Divine power to create new clothes on my body. "You think you''re going to fight me? How funny... hahahahahahaha... hahahahaha..." (???) "Aren''t you even going to introduce yourself? Since you''re not even really here, are you?" (me) "This is the body of an Ascendant, you stole it somehow, but why are you doing this?" (me) "Don''t you get it yet? You stole something that was mine, it took millions of years, but it was finally close, in a few centuries or maybe a few decades and they would all be mine..." (???) "Even so I thought I''d leave you alone for a moment, then I find her who was the catalyst for this event taking something I can still use, so tell me... what do you expect me to do?" (???) "..." (me) "(I hope I''m wrong about your identity, I really hope I''m wrong...)" (me) "(You''re not wrong... this is Famine...)" (Tarzor) "Huh...?" (Hunger) "That presence, I see... so you have one of the Universal Anomalies, now I know where that woman went." (Hunger) Suddenly all her skin twitched as if there was something moving inside, but then it returned to normal if it weren''t for those jaws full of sharp teeth. "Did you come here because of Sarazar and the Anomalous Dragons?" (me) "Of course, I''m different from the others, I''m not good at delicate tasks like creating Avatars and my Concept itself doesn''t associate with such a task to begin with, so I need very specific conditions to accomplish such a thing and they were so kind to produce thousands during that time, it was perfect." (Hunger) "My Concept suited them so well, yet when I was close to reaping the rewards... perhaps of the slowest work I''ve ever done, you stole them from me..." (Hunger) "!!!!" (me) Cough Cough My whole body was shaking, his Aura enveloped me and I felt like I was already inside his jaws, it was horrible, every cell in my body was screaming to run, I had no chance of winning, I was a being between levels. But I was paralyzed by fear, I couldn''t take a step away and he kept looking at me, his toothy smile was starting to crack as those cracks spread across the body of the Ascendant being used, something writhing every few seconds inside her. "You know I really..." (Hunger) "< Unholy Incarnation >" (me) "< Divine Summon: Eclipse Sword >" (me) "Hahahahaha... hahahaah..." (Hunger) "Yes! YESSS!!!" (Hunger) "That''s how a predator acts!!!" (Hunger) I do not give in to Fear, I do not give in to despair, I have endured worse things in Hell, Callidora herself is much scarier than him, so there is no way I can run away with my tail between my legs here. My Will rises from within my Soul taking over my entire body, the power of Chaos mixes with my Unholy Divinity transforming my body into its true form, my fists cross space as my Divine Weapon flows through this arm sinking into the sword I pull out as it transforms. All fear and despair are swallowed by the flames of my pride as a Dragon, my instincts taking over me as I advance against the one in front of me without thinking of anything other than the battle. Her body fell apart while what came out of it was a monstrosity with the body of a Dragon, pairs of wings of different monsters of the same size, 4 brave ones where 2 of them are sickles and the other two are claws, in the middle there is a large mouth from which 5 tongues come out with a sharp bone tip, its head was just a large jaw with nothing else, a hideous creature covered in hard scales and releasing an intense, endless Hunger even greater than the one I felt from Sarazar. "You will be a delicious MEAL!!" (Hunger) When we were close to entering a direct confrontation, a strong presence of death appears while my shadow rises forming an arch of darkness, an eye opens in this arch as if it were a portal, only two silhouettes are seen on the other side surrounded by stars. A woman wearing something covering her face and a colossal Dragon that seems to be made of shadows, the woman was intimidating while the presence of death flows mainly from her and I know well who she is. "You dare to break a soul and devour its Spark of Existence in my presence!?" (Cortana) She leaves the portal appearing in front of me while my instincts calm down, I stand still receiving a signal from her, the Dragon did not leave through the portal and remained standing where it was as if waiting for the command to leave, but its eyes clearly demonstrate its intense will to fight. "This is just one of your clones, do you really think he can come against me!?" (Cortana) "Do you really think you''re Death!? Hahahaahaha..." (Hunger) "You''re just a cheap copy, a very appetizing copy..." (Hunger) "This copy is now the one controlling your Anomalous Dragons, they are mine and are within my Concept." (Cortana) "Leave now and I will do nothing or continue the battle, then we will see how you will eat if no more Souls are left in your victims and none of them are alive." (Cortana) "..." (Hunger) "You are not Death, you do not have that Authority..." (Hunger) "Do you want to bet...?" (Cortana) "..." (Hunger) "I won''t forget this, one day you and this Bringer of Chaos will be stuck in my teeth..." (Hunger) As he speaks the space opens as he walks forward, then closes as he passes, this wasn''t the space itself opening, it was the universe fearing his existence and giving him space to pass unimpeded. "You need to stop... your body won''t support that much weight." (Cortana) "..." (me) Chapter 1702: Cap 1700: See you again... After seeing that thing escaping, I turned to face Cortana as I returned to my human appearance, I was facing her when I suddenly felt dizzy and lost my balance, I fell with my weak legs on a piece of some path feeling the Divine energy inside me become disordered to the point of destroying some of my organs. "Are you okay?" (Cortana) "No... but I''ll be..." (me) She extends her hand to me and for a few long 5 seconds I stared at her hand wondering whether to accept this gesture of kindness or not, in the end I chose to ignore her hand and force my leg muscles to stand up. "Thank you for coming." (me) "..." (Cortana) I see her withdraw her hand and when I think about whether I''m doing the right thing, rationally I understand the whole situation from a certain perspective, but I can''t ignore my feelings and I can''t put aside my own pride that was hurt by her actions, I can''t tell if I''m right or wrong anymore and even so the only thing I''m sure of is that I must be sincere in my actions. "Why did Famine come here?" (me) "He didn''t come, he was just one of his higher-level clones, he can''t create Avatars like other Entities, you heard the rest yourself." (Cortana) "Will he come back?" (me) "Not for the next few centuries, he doesn''t care about honor or anything like that, his mind is simple, always thinking about eating, so if nothing unexpected happens, he won''t come back for the next few centuries." (Cortana) "I''m grateful for what you did, but why show yourself like that?" (me) "I owed you at least that, I couldn''t ignore it either..." (Cortana) "< Death''s Attraction >" (Cortana) Cortana raises her hand and a black vortex forms, soon particles of various colors and in different states come together, they were liquid red, solid white, semi-solid red and ethereal gold. There are several of the other colors that represent flesh, blood and bones of those who died, several compacted spheres of these things were gathered and growing around the vortex, but there was only one ethereal sphere in the color gold, this sphere seemed cracked and even without asking I could identify that it was a Soul, probably the Soul of the Ascendant that had just been broken. "Death tolerates when a Soul is destroyed while the Goddesses Kalistos usually only send their Taboo Hunters... Death only interferes when the Sparks of Existence are destroyed or a large number of Souls are destroyed, but I cannot accept such actions, I could not allow him to do what he wanted." (Cortana) "I see..." (me) I look at Sarazar''s body through the portal, I wasn''t able to see much of him from a distance, but he looks different than before, so I look at Cortana once more, she seemed to be waiting for my attention to return to her before speaking. "You can stop this technique now, I don''t feel any Ascendants around anymore, but I still feel some outside this Universe." (Cortana) "Thanks for the warning." (me) "..." (Cortana) I saw her remain for a few more seconds looking at me without saying anything before turning back to the portal that closes after she passes, so I return to my place removing the pieces of the shell that I left behind before Freya''s hands fell on my shoulders. "..." (Freya) "I know, but that''s how I felt at the moment." (me) "..." (Freya) "I can''t forgive them so easily, it would be a lie to myself, let''s see how they behave for now and how they will show what they feel." (me) "..." (Freya) "Yes, I noticed it too, I was surprised like you." (me) Freya had to do a much more comprehensive job in this place to the point where she couldn''t speak, but using our connection she could directly transmit her intention to me with fewer distractions to her consciousness, without needing to speak or transform her intention into thought. "Let''s see how everyone is doing..." (me) My eyes close as my senses travel throughout this place, then I see that all the Ascendants have fled, only a few have died in battle, but meanwhile there is a place where the murderous intent was enormous, it was where Niryna was standing with bloodshot eyes. "(What happened to her?)" (me) I couldn''t get a good look at her condition from so far away, so I moved on to the other points of interest, my eyes turned to the visitor who was sitting on one of the paths without moving, he wasn''t an Ascendant was the only certainty I have since I can''t distinguish anything else about him. "(I can''t see through it...)" (me) My eyes as they shift back to an image of this place where I am, I open my eyes to see alone, Yaffe was still in the same place ''typing'' in his books as if he had never left the place. He was smiling, but that wasn''t what I found strangest, this was the first time I was seeing his books open, but I wasn''t able to read anything. "Let''s end this..." (me) "..." (Freya) "< Close >" (me) There was no more reason for this to continue and so I close this place, everything begins to crumble, this entire place falls apart with those trapped here freeing themselves. As this entire space crumbles, the power of the reality of this universe attacks us like a tsunami reclaiming dry lands, it was an unstoppable force of nature. "This is going to be hard..." (me) The power of reality crashed against me like a wall, I felt like my body was receiving a charge of energy that destroyed everything in its path. It took me a while. But it didn''t reach my Soul, even so my body was crushed like modeling clay, it was really painful, but in a few minutes the whole place had disappeared and I was standing in the same place as before, my body already recovering from this damage now that the power of Reality was no longer so wild. It took me several minutes to be completely fine. "How do you feel?" (Akatosh) I ignore Akatosh for a few seconds as I look around without finding Yaffe or that unknown person. "(They''re not here...)" (me) "I feel horrible... but I''ll be fine..." (me) "(I need a vacation.)" (me) After that I started checking on everyone, but Niryna was definitely the strangest, when I went to talk to her to find out what happened, it seems that her opponents were a couple of strange Ascendants who climbed up in the middle of the battle, their killing intent seems to come from the frustration of losing in such a way against the two of them. "(You''ve done well, but you''re still too weak.)" (???) "(If you keep this up, you won''t be able to protect yourself, much less those around you.)" (???) "(Who are you!?)" (me) "(Who I am doesn''t matter, what you need to do is be ready next time, unleash the true Power of Chaos, become a true Bringer of Chaos.)" (???) "(We''ll meet again... Bringer of Chaos.)" (???) "..." (me) It was in the middle of this that I heard something in my mind, a male voice that seemed to be filled with unimaginable Authority. "Are you sure you''re okay?" (Karina) "I... I''m fine..." (me) "(Who was he!?)" (me) ------------------ Pov Lena: I was with Cortana while we tried to understand the concepts of this universe as a reference to our situation and that''s exactly what I did, but it was at that moment that Cortana stood up, summoning Sarazar. As soon as she sensed something, we had no reason to do anything, but she still didn''t do things as usual, her fury suddenly exploded, it was in that state that she left. I continued to monitor the situation through the eyes of the living, especially the intervention that Cortana made this time, but I must say that I didn''t expect one of the Calamities of Devastation to send one of her clones here. Things went as I imagined for the most part, I also saw Cortana''s abnormal action and how Zenos ignored her, but at least he hesitated before ignoring Cortana''s hand. "(Emotions are part of life, I have understood this Concept for a long time, perhaps now I am more subject to emotions than before however...)" (me) I clearly noticed Cortana showing her emotions, I have been noticing this for a while now, not only her, I have also been more emotional than Vida or the Goddesses Mavis have been for all eternity. It didn''t take long for Cortana to return, she didn''t say anything at first, but I knew what she was thinking, she also noticed the fluctuations in her emotions this time, not even she who is so tense-minded can ignore what has happened. "We are not like in the past, in fact we are new and young beings with memories of other beings." (me) "Yes, but it doesn''t make it better to be so affected by emotions." (Cortana) "Besides, he seems to be changing his mind, he was very hesitant when faced with my sincere action in helping him." (Cortana) "Zenos is not an idiot, after he calmed down and really thought about the things that happened, he understood why everything happened that way." (me) "But understanding this does not take away our guilt for deceiving him, Life and Death think they are right in this matter even if they admit their guilt, but we both know we are wrong and that is what makes our emotions fluctuate like this." (me) "What do we do then? How do we rebuild this broken bridge between us and him?" (Cortana) "Just demonstrating our sincerity with actions will be enough, sooner or later he will come to us, we have a lot to offer, but in his eyes it will be just another form of manipulation." (me) "We are not strong enough and our Concept is too new, Hunger would have killed you if he did not have doubts about us." (me) "Yes, at this moment Lolth and Sarazar outnumber us in strength, we cannot continue encountering Entities like this." (Cortana) "I completely agree." (me) Chapter 1703: Cap 1701: Lucis decision Pov Yaffe: I was floating in the void when I felt him approaching me, the Ascendants in the distance were not even able to sense our presence. "Why are you here?" (???) "I''m collecting this story for my books, they will be glorious records." (me) "You shouldn''t show yourself more than that, you even introduced yourself with your real name before the new Chaos Bearer." (???) "What''s wrong? Zenos would have felt my presence sooner or later." (me) I know every Chaos Bearer that has ever existed and if there''s one thing I''ve learned many times is their capacity for unpredictability, you can''t doubt anything around them, and that young Chaos Bearer is growing as fast as Paradox. "You speak of me, but who are you?" (me) "You know me, but I won''t tell you who I am, today I just wanted to find out more about the new Chaos Bearer." (???) "That interests me even more." (me) "I''ll give you a piece of advice, keep your library neutral..." (???) "..." (me) I tried to look at him, but his appearance was hidden behind several transformations, even his Aura was hidden and disappeared without showing its power. I became even more curious about his identity, but there were no lists to follow other than his interest in the new Chaos Bringer. "I have to keep an eye on him from now on." (me) With that I move forward as I feel a new place of historical inspiration, so I take out a bookmark containing Zenos'' Aura that I just made and put it in his bibliography. ----------------- Pov Luci: I didn''t understand anything that was happening, I remember feeling a lot of pain, but I don''t remember the reason for it. I remember doing something important, but I don''t remember exactly what it was. I remember I was struggling to find someone, but I don''t remember who that person was. I remember someone is always on my mind, someone I love very much, but I can''t even remember who it was. I remember endless guilt, but I didn''t know where that guilt originated from. Everything was so confusing in my mind, to tell the truth I don''t even remember who I am, I just feel like I need to do something, but I don''t know what I need to do no matter how hard I keep trying to remember. I was surrounded by darkness in a total void, I didn''t even understand the lack of all my senses until each one of them showed itself to me. Suddenly I smelled flowers with every breath, then came the cool breeze hitting my skin, soon after came the sounds of trees swaying in the wind and finally came a ferrous taste in my mouth before my eyes opened. "Where am I?" (me) I finish opening my eyes and finally see where I was, I am in a forest where darkness took over the treetops that cover the sky, on the sides there were flowers of all colors swaying in the wind and seeming to be illuminated by particles of light that dance among the flowers. I myself was lying on what looked like a dirt road, the landscape was mysterious and I was confused about my identity, I didn''t know why I was here, I didn''t know where I came from, I didn''t know where I was going and I didn''t know what I should do next. "I can''t stay still... I mustn''t stay still..." (me) I stood up and felt an impulse coming from within me to move my body, I felt the urge to start walking, but I didn''t know where I should go. I just thought about walking towards the flowers that were so beautiful and full of life, but I felt a great fear of the darkness that surrounded that illuminated area as if death was lurking in the darkness. I tried to look at both sides of the path and I didn''t know which one I would be walking forward and which one I would be walking back the way I came. I didn''t know where to go, outside of the paths an endless fear took over my mind while the two paths I could go were full of mystery, but regardless of which direction between the two I followed, I would possibly find the answers I was looking for. The feeling of anxiety pulsed inside me, the desire to start walking in some direction worsened inside me, but when I was close to taking a step in one of the two directions I realized something. I didn''t know where any of the paths could lead, I wasn''t sure of anything, but I found myself looking at those beautiful flowers once again, I didn''t know why, I just knew that the distance to those flowers was longer than both directions of this path, no matter how close the flower field seemed to be. For some reason, I wanted to be with those flowers, I wanted to be surrounded by nature and life, I longed for that more than anything, so I made my decision. I take a step towards the outside of that path, fear took over me, but I surrendered to it since it was the only certainty I felt in my emotions and I carried that fear with me with every step I took, as soon as I took my second step off the path everything turned to darkness, endless loneliness took over me completely while fear was replaced by despair. I could still feel the ground beneath my feet, but each step was extremely heavy, I wasn''t able to see anything in that darkness and even so I did my best to keep walking straight in the hope of reaching that flower garden. Even though I couldn''t see, I chose to believe that at the end of that darkness there would be the flower garden I was looking for. What I wanted was not to go back the way I had come or to advance in something I didn''t know. What I really felt was a desire to simply stop in a beautiful place to stay. Each step I took in the midst of that darkness became heavy to the point of consuming my strength. Even so, time did not stop passing and I did not stop walking. I did not know how much time had passed. I felt tired, but I did not stop walking. As time passed, I no longer remembered the flowers I had once seen and I was exhausted. Even so, I kept walking without daring to stop. At some point, I was so tired that I could no longer think. I existed only to continue walking in the same direction, the direction I had chosen at some point. My own voice whispered in my mind about the mistake I had made in walking in that direction. Time continued to pass and suddenly each step changed the entire environment around me. In one step I was in the middle of a beautiful city full of people. In another step I was in front of a table with a man wearing a white coat waiting for me at a table. In another step I was in the middle of a city in ruins. In another step I was walking among countless bodies. In another step I was facing a window watching an endless number of monsters coming towards me. In another step I was with two men beside me, all of them looking at a drawing of a humanoid project. In another step I was facing the cabin of a large metal creation in humanoid shape. In another step I was inside the cabin of that thing looking at an endless number of monsters coming out of a crack in space where a large eye seems to laugh at us. In another step I was in the middle of countless creatures filled only with hunger. In the last step I was facing countless Dragons led by three of them. With each step, a brand of emotions flooded my interior, ranging from ease, love and affection to suffering, sadness and madness. I felt many moments where I wanted to stop walking and there were moments where I felt like walking backwards, but even so I kept walking forward as if I knew something or someone was waiting for me at the end. With that last step, suddenly everything lit up, all the scenes disappeared with the darkness fading like a mist as I found myself surrounded by the flowers I had seen so much from afar, particles of light danced around me, a feeling of relief arose within me as my feet began to move again as if each step was as light as the clouds. "Is this your decision...?" "Yes..." (me) I looked around without seeing anyone, but somehow I understood what he was saying and answered instinctively. Looking down I realized that below the flowers the ground I was walking on was not made of earth, it was a crystal floor that continued to extend and as I walked forward the flowers became more beautiful until they became crystal, the dark forest gradually became illuminated by points of light becoming a universe of stars in which the crystal flowers floated like an ethereal garden as I continued walking until I was in front of a large tree that seemed to support this entire place. From inside the tree a woman''s figure appeared and stood in front of me. Her beauty could not be described, but her presence seemed to embrace me with affection and I felt an impulse within me that made me kneel before her. She said nothing and even less did she ask anything of me. This was my wish, a wish to redeem what I had done and to be more than I already was. I now knew who I was, I knew where I came from and I knew what awaited me if I continued as I was, but all of this only made me realize what I really wanted and who could grant me my wish. "Allow me to serve you, allow me to be someone who brings harmony instead of destruction, who protects instead of killing, who can nourish others instead of consuming everything in an endless hunger." (me) "If this is your decision, then rise... Luci..." (Freya) Chapter 1704: Cap 1702: Night Shadow When we left that place, there were many injured people, there were more than 800 Ascendants, I put all of Akatosh''s Dragons and my people to face them, fortunately the number of Level 3 Ascendants was not many and there was only 1 Level 4 Ascendant allowing those with similar power to meet. That threshold space was one with rules similar to my Star Path, so it automatically gathered those with similar power and if it was not possible, it used numbers to compensate, a battle of wills should be equal in the end. Fortunately, what Akatosh gave me allowed me to do this, if we had fought head on against the Ascendants or if we were ambushed by them, it would have been very bad, just that Level 4 Ascendant alone could have caused many deaths, not to mention those Level 3s working together. Fortunately, there were only 2 deaths on our side and it was largely the Ascendants who suffered the most casualties, especially among the Level 3 Ascendants. After the many injured were treated, I went to rest once more, the pain in my body was horrible and the rejection of this universe against me was getting worse and worse, I couldn''t stand more than a few days like this, I couldn''t even enter Tarzor or it might trigger an even worse reaction directly against it. ----------------- 3 hours later. I was on an empty planet, this planet seemed to have been attacked in the past, its surface seemed to have millions of lakes scattered with forests around it, but if you stop to look, these aren''t lakes, they are craters that have filled with water, very old craters by the looks of it. "How are things there?" (me) "Sarazar and Lolth have woken up, they are receiving teachings and guidance from their two daughters." (Tarzor) "They are not my daughters!" (me) "Don''t be a jerk about it, they are your daughters, that doesn''t make what they did any better... but don''t be fooled by how mature they appear to be, they are impulsive young women." (Tarzor) "..." (me) "I restricted their movements within me, they still think it''s because of what they did to you, but the truth is that their Auras affect their surroundings too much, especially since you started to have this aversion towards them, the Natural cycle within me did the same because of your influence." (Tarzor) "I didn''t do it." (me) "You did, but indirectly, your influence within me is deeper than you imagine, you are my creator and my Primordial God, you are a foundation within me and only your subconscious will already does many things." (Tarzor) I had no idea that I was affecting Tarzor so much, this could be bad, there are many people living inside him, this cannot continue like this. I cannot let my personal problems affect those who chose to follow me, I may not like what those two did, but I will not let others pay for this internal fight. "I''m sorry about this, I will try to resolve things with them." (me) "Do that, the truth is that you interacted little with them or you would have noticed their peculiarities." (Tarzor) I really noticed some strange things, Cortana for example was showing frustration when I refused her hand to get up, her Aura also fluctuated due to this emotion showing a lack of control of her emotional state that I did not expect from an Entity so linked to Death. "How is Freya?" (me) "Better than you, she doesn''t have to continually endure the rejection of an entire universe and her body hasn''t been injured, even her Soul is fine, only mental exhaustion still affects her and that''s why she''s sleeping." (Tarzor) "But we need to talk about Luci, she''s unconscious, the twins are treating her, but they didn''t realize she fell into their Star Path." (Tarzor) "This could be bad... I have no way to wake her up, she might not even wake up again." (me) My Star Path is different from other Divine Realms, a monument to Will that can''t be changed by me so easily, those inside are on their own and only their Will determines their path, the problem is her mental state, I felt in her Aura before how out of her mind she was both mentally and emotionally, she might never wake up again. "I don''t care much about her, but keep an eye on her." (me) "How are the Guardian Gods?" (me) "Huh...?" (me) "What happened?" (Tarzor) Suddenly I feel that Ragnar has been seriously injured, even in another universe my Divine Beasts are still strongly linked to me, I can feel their states at least, but I can''t share their senses or get in touch using a telepathic link. I also felt many prayers being made to me, not individually, but by entire groups and it seems that the prayers are connected to each other revealing that they are about the same subject. "Ragnar has been seriously injured, I also feel prayers being made to me by entire groups, this is not normal." (me) "Something big has happened in our universe." (me) "How long will it take us to get there?" (me) "Almost two weeks, even though my speed has increased with me integrating the universe of the Guardian Gods, it will still take more than a week at least." (Tarzor) "Warn those inside you, I will warn the others, we will be leaving tomorrow!" (me) ------------------ Pov Alice: "What''s the situation!?" (me) "My lady, they invaded Okan''s body, there also seems to be a fight outside and Baldr has appeared leading thousands of converts!" (Priest Bento) "Who is fighting them now, tell me about the 2 battlefields!" (me) "Outside are the Goddess Erica and Diana supported by the Divine Beasts of the great Zenos." (Priest Bento) "Inside the Heralds of the great Zenos are leading along with the sacred children, we are using Summoning Rituals en masse, but we are barely resisting!" (Priest Bento) "(The converted are enemies with high physical capacity and almost infinite regeneration, they are difficult to deal with and the summons without mind or Soul attacking only by instinct will only delay them at most.)" (me) "(Baldr is also a Great God, even if Zenos were here he wouldn''t be able to fight him directly, his Heralds are at most delaying him for a few minutes with luck.)" (me) "Let''s buy time! If Baldr has appeared, other Gods will know and must be sending reinforcements, we have to hold on until then!" (me) I know that Vanessa has already gone to pray to the Goddess of Blood and the other Saints or Priests of other Gods must be doing the same, the question is not whether anyone will come to our rescue, but how long we can resist until they arrive. "(I can use that skill, but without Karina or Samara to lead the Priests in my place it will be difficult after I lose consciousness.)" (me) "(Don''t worry, I''ll take care of everything.)" (Ibuki) -------------------- Pov Davoth: A few minutes ago. I was in the room while lying on the floor, the room was in ruins with energy particles forming creatures flying all over the room due to the Anomalous power I used earlier. "I hope you can control this thing." (me) Ibuki was standing in front of two swords, her hands each on the hilt of a sword while her body was enveloped in endless shadows, a column of dark blue light filled with black rivers around her and as her Divine power overflows impacting the sword that emanates a different Aura. "You wanted a living weapon, congratulations on getting it, but that means you''ll have work to subdue the swords." (me) The swords themselves were barely visible with dark energy surrounding them, but I could feel their power, it was at the level of a normal Divine Weapon, but it had both consciousness and life of its own, it could grow on its own, if not under the control of a God it could even become a Divine Monster causing devastation wherever it went. "She''s doing well..." (me) The dark power around her grows stronger and stronger as blood comes out of the various wounds bursting on her body, then she pulls the two swords out of the ground as the veins in both of her arms burst releasing even more blood while her muscles are all swollen from the effort. "You don''t have to submit to me! You will follow me from now on, for eternity!!!" (Ibuki) From within Ibuki a Dragon shadow rises opening its eyes of different colors as its Will invades the swords that stop releasing so much hostility. Soon the swords begin to absorb the blood, shadows and Divine power in the surroundings as I feel Ibuki''s bond with the swords forming. "What will you call your Divine Weapon?" (me) "Its name will be... Shadow of the Night." (Ibuki) "..." (me) "..." (Ibuki) Suddenly I sense something outside, it seems like the presence of an Ascendant of at least Level 3, I also feel fighting taking place, it seems that through the cracks in the walls the isolation in this room has ended. "I have already contacted Alice, it seems that Baldr has returned leading an army of converts, I will deal with him until a stronger God arrives." (Ibuki) "I will stay here... good luck out there." (me) Chapter 1705: Cap 1703: How a Hunter Fights Pov Cortana: I was near Freya''s tree, looking into the distance as Sarazar flies through this Star System. "I didn''t expect him to have gotten so bad." (me) "His body, Soul, and even his Spark of Existence are completely new." (Lena) "Even though he has old memories, the sensations, instincts, and even subconscious movements like walking, running, breathing, and moving his body are new to him. They are new sensations that he will have and that he will have to learn." (Lena) "It will take a long time. He hasn''t even started training yet. I can''t even wake up the Anomalous Dragons until I''m done with him." (me) "At least he''s already learned how to move his body, walk, and is now doing well on his first day flying." (Lena) "If he keeps it up, he''ll be able to start basic training in a week." (me) I turn my eyes to the one chosen as Lena''s Avatar, the Fallen Elven Dragon. Unlike Sarazar, she gained mastery of her body in hours, and is now using Lena''s knowledge to study more about the concept of Life and more general subjects from Lena''s memories. She was remodeled by mirrors showing various texts and images during her studies. "Aren''t you thinking of training her for combat?" (me) "No, I want her to understand the scope of her position and the weight of her power before she learns to use it in combat." (Lena) "You''re too soft, those we''ll fight won''t want to talk, we need to defend ourselves first." (me) "I know, that''s why I gave her basic study material for now, she should finish it in 5 days and she''ll have a proper understanding." (Lena) I can''t understand how she can be so calm, our situation is precarious, we are easy targets for many Anomalous Entities, Famine already knows about me at least, so I have to be ready to defend myself and Sarazar will be of great help. After turning my eyes to the base of the tree, I see the Divine Palace where the ethereal tree still surrounds the body of that woman, the Anomalous half-Dragon was still sitting next to her protecting her. "I would prefer her to be with you." (me) "She chose on her own, don''t worry about me sister, even if I only have Lolth by my side, I will make her worth entire armies." (Lena) ---------------- Pov Ibuki: I had the swords in my hands, I could feel the link of connection forming between us, I could feel my Divinity connecting with the swords and pulsing in resonance. "Come with me." (me) "(I will fight by your side, but I will not submit.)" (Night Shadow) "I do not need a servant or subordinate, I want a loyal companion and nothing more." (me) "(Then I will be your companion from now on.)" (Night Shadow) The power of the swords disperses before gathering again on my back where their power condenses into two crossed sheaths facing downwards. After the energy around them disappeared, I could see the true form of the swords, both are the same with a handle made of dark purple crystal, while the curved blade of the sword is serrated on one side with the other side having a hook with the blade being made of a smooth stone like black jade, around the blade covered in cracks where particles of darkness pulse out. Holding the swords in my hand I feel as if they are extensions of my arms, my dark energy pulses through the swords as if they were my own hands. Then I hold the swords in reverse, placing them on my back with the hilts facing down. I turn to leave, waving one last time to Davoth who helped me create these swords, while in my mind only the image of Baldr remains to increase my murderous intent. ----------------- I was outside the temple of the Communal Temple in a short time and dark wings appeared on my back, I flapped my wings to fly out of that space and appeared among the stars in a short time. It didn''t take me more than half a second to find Baldr, as always he emanates light as if he wanted all the attention focused on him, his 3 pairs of wings show that he has completely become a Level 3 Ascendant. He was in the middle of a battle against Fiona, Kiara, Zaya, Cinthia and Haku. While they were fighting Baldr, they were also covered in injuries, Kiara was using her insects to defend everyone while Zaya used her creatures for distractions, letting Cinthia perform surprise attacks, Haku performed ranged attacks while assisting the others and Fiona attacked head on with her spear. They were fighting well, but they were only able to hold Baldr at most and he was clearly holding back in his attacks as if he was expecting something. The converted troops were close to him, but they couldn''t help him because they were fighting Zenos'' children. The ones who were causing the most problems for these troops were Irina with her multiple attack barriers, Nicole with her long-range weapons performing super-precise attacks, and Lilith using those she killed as sacrifices. She was summoning Demons to fight for her and already had dozens of them. "(Is he your enemy?)" (Night Shadow) "Yes..." (me) "(Why don''t you attack?)" (Night Shadow) "Because he''s hiding something. If I attack now, he''ll change his plans to adapt to my presence." (me) As Night Shadow answered, I used my Divine power to mask my presence and Aura. I''m not an honorable warrior like Diana, nor am I an Assassin like Kira or a cunning mage like E?rica. I am a hunter, I am a monster since birth who learned from an early age that survival is victory, no matter the cost, that is why I realized that Baldr was doing something dangerous, he was holding back against enemies he could have already defeated, he was planning something. A hunter like me knows when to attack, I can''t go against him head on, it would be useless and just carrying out a surprise attack would cause minimal damage because of the difference in power, what I need is to wait for the moment when he reveals his teeth against my companions and then attack with all my power. Hunting is about patience to crush your prey in just a moment and that is what I will do. -------------------- Pov E?rica: "< Demonic Divine Magic: Sea of ??Demonic Fire >" (me) Using my Divinity in an attack, a large magic circle forms around me in a size that could fit half a continent inside, purple flames emerge from the circle creating a world of fire. These flames take the form of demonic arms and heads attacking the Converts surrounding Okan, preventing them from continuing to attack him. Even though I am taking care of the enemy troops, my attention is still on the entire battlefield, Kira was with Byakko facing hundreds of Level 2 Ascendants, she was doing well considering she was alone against them. I can''t say the same about Kira, her body was covered in wounds, she was in her Wolf form standing on a moon where a crater that took up 1/6 of its surface was formed by Diana''s collision with it. Diana was facing 2 Level 3 Ascendants, this was too much for her, but she insisted on fighting them. "(If you don''t kill one of them soon, don''t blame me for interfering...)" (me) I couldn''t keep watching her get hurt like this continuously, so I kept an eye on her actions, I had 2 spells prepared to help her at any moment. "< Divine Demon''s Curse: Eye of Purgatory >" (me) With the field of fire in place, the Converts couldn''t reorganize themselves and with the addition of the large blood-red eye forming behind me, the flames intensified, threatening to finish off all the Converts at once. "< Law of Magic: Magic Cancellation >" (Ascendant) "< Divine Demonic Magic: Demonic Reverberation >" (me) Just as I suspected, there were more Ascendants hiding, just as I was about to wipe out all of his troops, I forced his hand to act, he appeared using a technique that wiped out 2/3 of my fire field, but realizing that it was a Magic Cancellation technique, I used demonic waves to corrupt the structure of his technique, destroying it before my fire field could break apart. "I didn''t expect to see such a strong mage here, you quickly recognized the weakness of my technique." (Ascendant) "Would you like to join me? I can turn you into an Ascendant..." (Ascendant) "Shut your damn mouth and just die! Idiot!!" (me) "< Divine Demonic Magic: Explosion of Curses >" (me) "< Law of Magic: Eternal Barrier >" (Ascending) I throw a Divine Magic Crystal in his direction without continuing to listen to his nonsense, a magic using the divine crystal as a core causes the great explosion that I control, directing only at him. But unfortunately for me, he creates a barrier around him that distorts space and creates several magical flows in different directions, dispersing most of the damage before crashing against a wall of condensed sorrow filled with Ascending Law Runes. "(This is bad, I''m not sure I can help Diana if she needs it while this bastard is around...)" (me) Chapter 1706: Cap 1704: A little gift... Pov Diana: I was standing in the middle of the crater while my entire body was in pain, just with a thought I realize the conditions of my body, there seem to be only a few hundred bruises, dozens of cuts in the flesh, no broken or fractured bones and only a little internal bleeding. "(Just minor injuries, they''re holding back... but why?)" (me) In front of me were two 3-Star Ascendants, one of them was a Human with brown hair and eyes, his skin is fair with several angular tattoos running across his entire well-trained body, he only wears loose long pants, he doesn''t wear anything on his upper body or feet, his focus is clearly brute strength. The other Ascendant has a childlike body, his eyes are always closed, but it was clear that his power focuses on spiritual energy. In fact, I feel many spirits inside him. Honestly, as innocent as he may seem, he was the hardest to fight. His attacks are well planned and all the cuts on my flesh were caused by his blows. This second Ascendant has hair that reaches his shoulders with the back tied in a ponytail that goes down to his waist. His hair is black and his skin tone is slightly darker than his companion''s, even though he is still white. He wears simple clothes and is still adorned with jewelry. He has rings on all his fingers, 3 bracelets on each arm, the same on his ankles, a pair of earrings and 2 piercings in each ear. Even his belt was made of jewelry. These two were strong, but fighting them makes my blood boil more and more as the fight goes on. The two have already introduced themselves, in fact it was the first thing they did, the boy with the jewels is called Valius while the brute next to him is called Arlan. "She''s strong for a Goddess, I like her." (Arlan) "You already have too many women, focus on the mission." (Valius) They are very strong, one of them attacks up close while the other attacks from afar, they also cover each other''s flaws allowing a continuous attack that prevents a counterattack from me. "(Do you want me to interfere?)" (Orion) "(No, you have to hide like I said before, I''ll make that move soon.)" (me) "(Be quick, a lot of time has passed and the other Gods should arrive soon.)" (Orion) "< Territory: Divine Realm >" (me) "< Fragmented Realm of Beasts >" (me) "< Spiritual Law: Runic Field >" (Valius) "< Law of War: Battle Mastery >" (Arlan) I concentrated my power for a long time and let them throw me into this moon on purpose, using this Moon to channel my Territory, my Divine power and Aura invade the Moon as the Territory expands in seconds, giving them almost no time to react. The Moon below me has half of its surface broken into fragments the size of islands where different environments form in each one, shadows of Beasts appear on them growling and howling non-stop, then from the exposed interior of the Moon a large curved Forest is revealed full of Wolves. All the stars around change to new ones while a distant Eclipse is seen in the distance, but the two Ascendants in front of me did not stand by without doing anything, even though they were unable to escape or stop me, their reaction was still one of containing my Dominance in the surrounding space using field-type techniques. The boy was the fastest reacting half a second after me, his wings glowed as billions of Runes spread creating particles of energy sinking into the surrounding space, an ethereal mist then forms spreading across 1/3 of my Territory. As for the mountain of muscles, even though he reacted last, he seemed happy as his Aura filled with battle will formed islands of devastated land covered in bodies, armor and weapons mixed with my Moon fragments, a smell of blood and the clinking of weapons colliding seem like whispers in the wind. "It will be a pleasure to see you under my paws!" (me) "Hahaha... that''s right, that''s how a warrior should act!! Hahahahaha...!!!" (Arlan) The Ascendant named Arlan came towards me while his tattoos glowed, unlike his companion, he didn''t seem to have many skills or techniques and relied mainly on his large body. He threw his fist towards me and it looked more like a large war hammer, his fist was surrounded by the Aura of war from the surroundings as he came towards me. I was in my Wolf form and ran towards him at no time did I lose sight of the other Ascendant as I advanced against this stupid brute. Just as we were about to collide, I turned my body while controlling the wind to boost my speed at the last second with my jaws open towards his body. "< Spiritual Law: Spatial Control >" (Valius) Suddenly space seemed to split into blocks as Arlan and I separated as if the space we were in was being moved in different directions, but I smiled at this knowing that it was an opportunity. "< Lunar Beast Cataclysm >" (me) My biggest birthday was never this mountain of muscles, it was always this damn kid who got in the way of my blows, but because of that I realized a flaw of his after being stopped by him so many times, he can only use one element at a time. He also always covers the mountain of muscles using it as bait, shield and sometimes as a distraction, he was always a great inconvenience throughout the battle, but now that he used the spatial element and one on such a large scale, he won''t be able to stop me. The entire Moon and its fragments shine silver as space shatters as packs of wolves form and run towards them, tearing apart space in their path, blades of silver light taking over everything around them as they cut in all directions. I cut my hand, letting my blood flow to strengthen the technique as the wolves'' claws turn red as well as their teeth. The two were being attacked at the same time by wolves and area attacks by blades of divine energy, there was no way to dodge this attack when even space is falling apart with my Territory collapsing, further strengthening this blow. "< Arcane Barrier: Activate >" (Valius) "< Law of War: Heroic Armor >" (Arlan) Just as I imagined, Valius was unable to help his companion this time and he was also unable to exchange the spatial element that became useless with the torn space, even so I did not imagine that he would have such a strong barrier item. Arlan gathered the power of war that he used to create these battlefields and formed an armor covered in marks on his body. "< Spiritual Law: Rebirth of the Forest >" (Valius) Valius decided to just defend himself, but his barrier broke in seconds that were precious to him as he switched to the wood element. Green runes covered his body emanating dense vital energy. As the energy blades cut his body and the Wolves scratched or bit his body, all damage regenerated almost instantly. Arlan, with his armor, did not stay on the defensive. In fact, he attacked the Wolves with his fists while managing to evade more than 60% of the energy blades. Even though he was an enemy, I must admire him as a warrior. Even though he was such a good warrior, he could not avoid injuries, mainly because of the way he faced my attack head on. That is why several parts of his armor became increasingly damaged until it broke, exposing parts of his body that were soon injured. My attack only lasted a little over 20 seconds, in the end my Territory fell apart and the Moon I used to build it became just silver dust in the surroundings as I feel my energy reserves at their lowest. In front of me, the two enemies were still standing, Arlan was covered in wounds, one of his arms was hanging down while one of his legs was torn off with him holding the torn off leg while still maintaining a presence full of fighting will. Valius on the other hand was without any apparent injuries, but his clothes were almost completely torn apart and his Aura was visibly weaker. "I didn''t expect the two of them to be able to withstand my attack..." (me) "That was splendid, it only makes me want you in..." (Arlan) "Arlan, our time is up, retreat!!" (Valius) "But I still want..." (Arlan) "Damn, their reaction was too fast!" (Arlan) "< Spiritual Law: Space Gate >" (Valius) Multiple Runes come out of Valius'' wings forming a round Gate behind him where a formica forms in space, the two enter with their prey, but for some reason Valius smiles at me before disappearing inside the gate that breaks right away. Seconds after they left, I feel a strong Divine power behind me, the Beast God Cratos was behind me with a serious expression. "They escaped!!" (Cratos) "Yes..." (me) "(But I left a little gift with them...)" (me) I turn my eyes to Okan in the distance, he was injured, but was already being attended to by Erica and Vanessa, a Strong Light escapes from his eyes when his body trembles, it seems that Baldr also retreated, I look at the Beast God who thinks the same as me, but we both know what he will come back with. Chapter 1707: Cap 1705: When will he come back...? Pov Ibuki: Alice appears and looks in my direction for only half a second before advancing against Baldr, on her side were the 3 Heroes of Zenos, advancing together. I remain hidden, as Baldr is now considered an Outside creature by the universe, he is being repressed to some degree by this Universal and because of that, I know that his senses are greatly weakened, even though he is stronger than me, he still won''t be able to find me. "(I don''t like his light.)" (Night Shadow) "His power and existence are completely based on my Divinity where the Shadow Element rules, light is its opposite and he was the former God of Light." (me) "(When we attack, I want to kill him.)" (Night Shadow) "Wait a little longer, I don''t think we can kill him, but I will cause as much damage as possible." (me) Baldr was too strong, I have no illusions about killing him, if he wants to escape, I don''t believe anyone here could stop him, I also fear that he has become stronger after becoming an Ascendant or he wouldn''t have stopped being a God. While talking to my swords, I couldn''t help but pay attention to the battle in front of me. It was clear that Baldr wasn''t fighting seriously, that didn''t make sense, even if he was reserving power, he could have easily killed Irius and Lilith who were attacking him from close range, even Irina''s barriers and Nicole''s weapon interventions wouldn''t be a hindrance to Baldr if he really wanted to kill them. "(Is something not right...?)" (me) The more I observe the battle, the more apprehensive I become about Baldr''s plans, he was already a sneaky God of Light and something like an Ascendant must be doing things without restraint. So he came all this way to not kill anyone? That wasn''t possible, he hates us, he hates Zenos almost as much as he hates his mother, the Goddess Selene, yet he isn''t even paying attention to Vanessa, even though she''s Zenos'' daughter and Selene''s Saint. That just means he must have a plan more important than his personal hatred or he''s reserving a greater destiny than simply death for us. "I need to find out..." (me) I tried to pay attention to Baldr''s Aura, his attacks and several of his actions, regardless of what he''s planning, I can''t believe he doesn''t leave any trace. A few minutes passed and I finally found it, I saw his attacks break up into particles of light, but these particles didn''t disperse, these particles of light moved into the distance, gathering into a new star that, looking closely, had a different color from the other stars in this place, as well as a slightly different Aura. Knowing this, I started observing the stars and found some more like that, but other than that, I can''t understand anything else, so I didn''t try. My study of magic is too focused on combat for me to understand that kind of thing and maybe it''s not even magic, so seek help from someone with a greater range of knowledge. "Nicole, pay attention to the energy particles from Baldr''s attacks and the stars that are at the coordinates I gave you." (me) "Don''t let Baldr notice any of this." (me) "[I''ll take a look.]" (Nicole) -------------------- Suddenly I noticed a change, even though I warned Nicole to be careful, she released hundreds of Divine Crystals made from Zenos'' Blood, then she activated a magic that converges all the Divine Crystals into a large Holy Magic invading her body. I know what technique she is using, I once asked her to use this technique with me to train my skills. "[If you want to attack him, this will be your biggest chance, I don''t have time to wait!]" (Nicole) "Damn it!" (me) This time I moved as soon as Baldr''s attention turned to Nicole by her big move, because of that I was able to get closer to him while storing power and pulling Night Shadow back into my hands. "< Holy Awakening Magic: Angel of War >" (Nicole) Nicole''s entire body was sent into a blaze of stellar flames as her body expanded and changed completely, her clothes burned as they became metal armor, her wings appeared on her back burning as metal wings were revealed underneath, her eyes turned black with two red circles inside each other, her hair became ethereal as the energy around her seemed to become solid, two large cannons appeared in her hands, her wings opened upwards as a current of energy ran through them in resonance, a magic circle formed below her as 6 metal rings rose around her, carrying large amounts of energy. From Nicole''s transformation to the creation of so many weapons, everything happened in extremely fast seconds, with Nicole soon pointing all the weapons in different positions that made Baldr''s eyes narrow, a strong killing intent emerging in her Aura. "< Law of Light: Solar Supernova >" (Baldr) "< Unholy Magic: Shadow Path Annihilation >" (me) Nicole was aiming at the stars Baldr was creating, this alerted him that he was already exposed and his eyes focused on Nicole to stop her, this was the perfect moment to attack. Baldr''s wings glow as he places both hands with the palms facing each other with a small space between his hands. Soon the space distorts as a strong light forms a Rune of power of the Ascendant Law condensed between his hands that makes fear arise within me. While Baldr was channeling his technique ready to attack Nicole, I was already attacking him, my Divinity channeling all its power into my swords while a magic circle forms behind me emanating constant streams of dark energy that I make flow into the swords. I was behind his head and my target wasn''t his vital points, it was his wings, it was more than obvious that the wings are responsible for the Ascendants'' center of power, since I can''t kill him with my current power, I''ll weaken his power for as long as possible. "Finally decided to show up, Divine Brat!?" (Baldr) "Damn it!" (me) "< Shoot >" (Nicole) "< Holy Magic: Hidden Hand >" (Loki) In the middle of my attack Baldr was already turned towards me and my back went cold, he wasn''t aiming at Nicole, he was aiming at me the whole time. He smiles as his shining Law Rune comes towards me like a thin beam of energy, but before it could hit my body I disregarded my original place to be in the middle of the army of converts, so I continued swinging my swords devastating them. Nicole continued her attack and destroyed most of the stars in her first attack before starting a second attack directly against Baldr who seemed irritated with a burnt convert in front of him, it must be the one Loki made to switch places with me. "< Divine Magic: Gate of the Holy Blood >" (Vanessa) "I''ll let you free this time!" (Baldr) "< Law of Light: Path of the King >" (Baldr) Vanessa soon appears in front of everyone, her Aura emanating a strong, growing Divine power as her blood evaporates from her body quickly forming a curtain of red mist above her. Baldr wasted no time being surrounded by light that obstructed our vision before disappearing in a flash of light that crossed the rift in space before any of us could react. Without Baldr here, Natasha emerges from the curtain of red mist smiling in the direction of the rift, it seems that it was not the Goddess Selene coming to our aid. -------------------- Pov Alice: After Baldr and the other Ascendants left, Natasha helped heal Okan while we eliminated all the Converts left behind. Now I was with Vanessa, Ibuki, Nicole and Natasha in a room inside the mansion, discussing what had just happened. "So those stars that Baldr was creating?" (me) "I don''t know what they were doing exactly, but extrapolating from their positions it looked like a magic circle of some kind and it was almost complete, that''s why I acted so quickly." (Nicole) "Show us the diagram of the magic circle." (Vanessa) Nicole raises a hand and a small sphere of energy expands on a flat screen for all of us where an incomplete magic circle was shown. "I don''t know that magic." (Vanessa) "I have no idea either." (Natasha) "That magic circle isn''t in my databases, so I''ll give it to Erica to research." (Nicole) "That''s good, but what are we going to do with Baldr, he''s back and he seems to have many Ascendants on his side." (me) "With Baldr back, the traitorous Gods must rally to his side once more." (Ibuki) "Everything is getting worse..." (me) Baldr returning is bad enough, but if the Ascendants launch an invasion now that most of the Dragons are gone, it will be bad, very bad, not to mention that they are not ones to wage direct war, their schemes so far have been extremely dangerous for this universe. "(You have to go back... Zenos...?)" (me) Chapter 1708: Cap 1706: Departure of Lolth Pov Valius (Spiritual Ascendant): We exit the portal near a blue Sun, already being pulled by its gravity. I hold Arlan''s arm and, as I expected, he moves away from the Sun faster than I could reach before we stop near a desert Planet. "That portal was horrible. This is already the twentieth time we''ve stopped near a Sun." (Arlan) "You can''t blame me for this when I have no idea of ??the coordinates in this universe and I don''t have time to set up the portal, not to mention the constant interference of the power of reality in this universe." (me) "You could have at least taken us by accident to a tropical city where the proportion of women is more than double that of men." (Arlan) "That happened once and that time we were seriously injured." (me) "That place was great, it was a shame he was chosen as disposable, that''s where I got my fifteenth wife, she was so kind trying to heal our wounds." (Arlan) "She really is kind, too bad she chose to stay with you, she could have done better." (me) While we talked we didn''t stop taking care of our wounds, he was particularly injured and while he was recovering I tried to locate the meeting place by pulling out a wooden compass. "It seems everyone escaped, Baldr hasn''t responded yet, so he must not have chosen a meeting point yet." (me) "This whole plan was horrible, we could have done better, why did he want to kidnap that bizarre Dragon?" (Arlan) "I don''t know, but he clearly failed..." (me) "..." (me) "..." (Arlan) Suddenly we both turned in the same direction, a 7-winged Ascendant was looking at us while handing us potions to drink. "This will help mask our presence." (Fabri?cio) "For someone with such a bad name, you''re a good man... aahh!!" (Arlan) "I warned you that the next time you mentioned my name, I would end you, but it seems someone already did it." (Fabri?cio) "Hahahaha... yes, she was a beautiful Goddess of the Beast Race, a brave warrior and her humanoid body was spectacular, it''s a shame she turned into a Wolf during combat." (Arlan) "I''ll take her as mine... Aahhh!!" (Arlan) "He doesn''t learn..." (me) "I told you before, no more bullshit this time, Vecna ??is exploding with fury, not just him, but Urak and Mavor are also in a bad mood." (Fabri?cio) "I had a solid plan to harass this universe, with a few decades I could add this universe to us, but now I''m stuck with a self-centered newbie like Baldr and hundreds of you idiots!" (Fabri?cio) "Don''t compare me to him, I always follow orders and do my best to keep him in line." (me) "Then keep an eye on him, I have to take care of the others, it seems like the Gods of this universe are trying to track us." (Fabri?cio) Saying that, he disappears while the space where he was floating before settling down, Arlan who was on the ground gets up with a more serious face. "He didn''t notice." (me) "No, I also have a message from the boss, he''s in this universe." (Arlan) "..." (me) "So, we...?" (me) "Yes, our wait is coming to an end." (Arlan) --------------------- Pov Zenos: The next day we were all ready, especially for the fight we will face. I have already confirmed with my eyes covered in reality power and there are still Ascendants outside in absurd numbers. I was having a headache with the twins in front of me. We spent hours talking trying to resolve our disagreements now that I am calmer and also because I am forced to due to the current situation we are in. "This meeting has been going on for a long time and it is clear that we understand each other''s point of view." (me) "We admit our mistake, even if it was not our plan, we knew what would happen and we erred by omission." (Cortana) "We have already sincerely apologized for this, we also tried to offer compensation without ulterior motives, but we have nothing material in our current situation and you would not accept anything with our power." (Lena) "I do not need compensation, I just want a promise, a promise that every important person to me has made in the past... Loyalty." (me) "..." (Lena) "..." (Cortana) "Don''t get me wrong, I don''t want the loyalty that a servant has to his master or anything like that, I''m talking about loyalty to someone important like a family, best friend or someone who means something to your heart." (me) "As much as I don''t like how everything happened, you two are basically my daughters and I can''t stand having to keep an eye on your back every time you''re around." (me) "Just a promise, would that really be enough?" (Cortana) "I imagine there would be no going back by breaking that promise." (Lena) "No, there will be no going back, I don''t allow untrustworthy people near me or those close to me." (me) The two Emas look at each other, but I made my position clear on this matter. I''m not asking for anything that will hurt them or cost them anything. I''m just asking that their loyalty be not only with me, but with those around me. That they are truly by my side without ulterior motives. If they need something, they won''t have to do it to us first. "I don''t see a problem..." (Cortana) "I don''t see a problem either... so we can promise that, but we expect the same in return." (Lena) "That''s obvious. I''m loyal to those who are loyal to me." (me) -------------------- Minutes after the twins left. I was in the Star Palace at the foot of Freya''s Universal Tree. I was sitting on the roof looking into the distance at the planets in sight when someone appeared beside me. "Akatosh, is everything ready?" (me) "Yes, but how long are you going to keep this clone?" (Akatosh) "I can''t enter here with my body, the power of reality in this universe is giving me a huge headache." (me) "But as soon as we leave I''ll go in here, this clone was more to solve things in here." (me) "You''re overworking yourself, do you think I didn''t notice the instability in your Aura?" (Akatosh) "..." (me) "That threshold space took a toll on you, there''s no way you can be okay, so cancel this clone at once and let me deal with the rest in here." (Akatosh) "Thank you..." (me) "Don''t thank me, just take care of the goodbyes, if the situation in our universe is as serious as I think it is, then we have to hurry." (Akatosh) "Yes." (Me) Saying that, I let the clone''s body burn in stellar flames as it completely disperses, my freed mind returning to my body outside. ----------------- When I opened my eyes, I noticed two people in front of me. One of them was Lolth. Unlike in the past, her appearance now carried traces of the Dragon, Elf, and Demon Race. Lolth seemed calm and her eyes, as well as her Aura, were determined. I could also feel that the power of reality in this universe was also trying to expel her, and her Aura no longer blended with that of this place like before. Next to Lolth was one of her daughters, the giant woman named Myu. But this time, her body was normal-sized and her Aura was much stronger than before. Her Aura even quickly blended in perfectly with the surroundings as if she were part of this place. She was clearly angry. Her expression and eyes were filled with anger, but her Aura could not be hidden from my senses. Her Aura was filled with deep sadness. "Were you waiting for me?" (me) "Yes, you made me a promise, remember...?" (Lolth) "..." (me) I looked at her for a second remembering the promise I made when we arrived in this universe, then I realized what the change in Myu was. "I see, you transferred your Divinity to her." (me) "Yes, the truth is that I always prepared her to inherit my Divinity, she of all my children was always the most suitable for it and now that I''m leaving this Universe the time has come for it." (Lolth) "I planned to die, it wasn''t something I wanted, but it was something I needed at the time, but now I''ve found a new purpose to exist." (Lolth) Lolth seemed determined, I know she''ll stay by Lena''s side from now on, but I don''t know what that purpose would be, but I can find out later. I look at Myu and she doesn''t seem happy with this conversation, she''s directing this anger in my direction, she seems to want to say something, but Lolth is stopping her with her gaze. "Alright, but after this we''re leaving, do you understand that?" (me) "I''ve already said all my goodbyes." (Lolth) Saying this, the anger in Myu''s expression disappeared while the sadness that was inside was expressed in the tears falling from her eyes. "You should know one thing, she won''t be coming with us and she won''t be a Goddess like the others inside Tarzor because she doesn''t have a strong connection with me." (me) "I know all of this, a new Goddess Myu will be born inside you, but yours will be connected and if one day this universe perishes..." (Lolth) "Mother..." (Myu) "It''s okay my Myu, I''m doing this for you and your brothers, all a mother wants is to know that her children will be safe." (Lolth) The two women hug each other, but clearly only one of them is sad, Lolth seems to have become much kinder and more loving since she got together with Lena. "I see, everyone would use her as a bridge to get to me no matter where they are." (me) I walked towards them as I stood up, the two women parted as Myu stepped forward, I held out my hand and she offered hers to me. Unlike my wives and daughters, whose process boils down to their acceptance, I must offer Myu this opportunity without Tarzor refusing, which would not happen since we discussed this before. Tarzor''s power flows into me and my Divinity pulses as my Will rises. "< I Grant >" (me) The power of Tarzor''s reality flows through me into her hand as it mixes with the stellar flames, an Eclipse mark forms behind her as a Dragon emerges within the Eclipse, then this mark passes through her and me before entering my Shadow. Ding! <[ A new God is about to be born in the Anomalous Entity [ Tarzor (Unholy Universal Dragon) ] ]> After doing this Myu''s body and Aura become weak as she falls to one knee, I help her up while Lolth gives her one last hug. I see the two saying goodbye before Lolth comes towards me with a nod, then she passes me sinking into my shadow. "Take care of my mother or I will crush your head!" (Myu) "We are leaving, goodbye Divine Dragon Myu." (me) "(Are you ready Tarzor?)" (me) "(I''m just waiting for you.)" (Tarzor) I look up and gathering my Anomalous power along with the power of reality in my claws, I wave my arm creating a rift in the space I passed through leaving this universe almost being pushed out. Chapter 1709: Cap 1707: Tarzor Under Siege Part 1 Pov Alice: I was taking care of the wounded alongside Vanessa, many of our troops were seriously injured and if it weren''t for the abnormal number of Priests in this place, many would have died or worse, would have become converted. "Why didn''t the Goddess Selene come?" (me) "She couldn''t, they didn''t just attack here, they made attacks in several areas throughout the universe, they scattered the Gods and Demigods while attacking here in a delayed manner, catching everyone off guard." (Vanessa) "Does that mean we were the main target?" (me) It didn''t make sense, Baldr attacking us personally and we being their main target, all of this doesn''t make sense, even though Baldr may hate Zenos and Vanessa very much, everyone knows that his greatest hatred is directed against the Goddess Selene. Not to mention that this place has many new Gods, they shouldn''t be as important as the old Gods who are much stronger. "You''re thinking too much, it''s obvious what happened... they wanted my Father." (Vanessa) "Zenos wasn''t here... wait..." (me) "It seems you understand, we''re bait to lure him back, his Temple was attacked, most of his worshippers stay here and his own Familiar was seriously injured, he must have already realized that something big happened." (Vanessa) "..." (me) "Knowing him, he must already be showing up to come back." (me) "What are we going to do now?" (me) "Nothing, we can''t do anything, we don''t know where he is and we can''t get in touch, we can only wait." (Vanessa) "..." (me) "(Please, be well... may nothing bad happen to you...)" (me) ----------------- Pov Freya: I finally wake up, I feel weak, I wasted a lot of my power this time helping Zenos, but at least we managed to stop the Ascendants, Akatosh''s battle against that Level 4 Ascendant was the worst, each of their blows hurt my mind with the impact. "(What happened while I was sleeping?)" (me) "..." (me) I may not have seen everything with my consciousness, but my tree observes everything inside Tarzor all the time, its memories are easily understood by my consciousness and with that I realize the danger that awaits us. "(I can''t get out yet, I''m too weak to intervene...)" (me) Suddenly I notice Zenos'' clone near the tree disappear, Akatosh goes to another place and helps his Dragons by setting traps in strange places. "(Have you woken up? How are you feeling?)" (Tarzor) "(Too weak, I can''t intervene this time...)" (me) "(I can''t help you unfortunately, any intervention would weigh down your Soul and could hurt your mind.)" (Tarzor) "(I know that, but can you handle everything?)" (me) "(It seems like there''s an entire army of Ascendants this time.)" (me) "(I can delay them at most, but they''ll come in the end, that''s why Zenos planned to leave strategic routes for them to enter, this will give us an initial advantage, but I won''t be able to fight like I want.)" (Tarzor) "(They must be prepared to deal with you.)" (me) "(I know, but we have no choice, something happened in your universe, Zenos and Akatosh want to leave urgently.)" (Tarzor) "..." (me) "(Don''t worry about me, I''ll focus on the trip, you try to recover and if possible take care of her.)" (Tarzor) "(I''m not sure what to do, I don''t even know how she got here...)" (me) I was talking to Tarzor, he and I are strongly linked both through Zenos and by being the foundations of this universe. Around me were dozens of large Trees that formed the earth with their countless roots and the skies with their branches full of leaves, particles of light representing all the elements are everywhere, but all of this is part of me except for one thing. Near the ground of roots was someone enveloped by the particles of the various elements, it wasn''t a real person, it was just a projection of someone''s unconscious mind, his true body is outside while his Soul seems to be connected to my tree. "(It seems that Zenos will leave now, no matter what happens, focus on your recovery.)" (Tarzor) Saying this, Tarzor''s consciousness moves away from me and I descend to the one that waits below. "(I can''t do much this time, but I can comfort you my dear, I can feel your desire to change, that must have been what brought you here.)" (me) Within Tarzor, Will is an important characteristic because he is Zenos'' Divinity, his Will must have been responsible for this bond that formed between us, since he was unconscious my Will must have responded to it. "(So much loneliness... sadness... despair... death...)" (me) "(But such a great longing for life... love... and redemption...)" (me) I could feel many things through her consciousness, she could not hide her emotions from me and I could see the path that brought her to me through her memory. I lay down next to him, hugging his conscience while trying to give him at least a little comfort until he can wake up. ------------------- Pov Zenos: As soon as I left the universe, almost ejected out like a cannonball, there were already hundreds of Level 2 Ascendants around me, coming towards me. I could call Tarzor immediately, but seeing that they are only Level 2 Ascendants, I started to smile as I pulled something out of my storage, a Divine Crystal made of my blood that I threw in front of me, already activating the divine magic inside. "< Activate >" (me) "(Tarzor, pull me in!)" (me) I didn''t even stay behind after activating the crystal, I already know the result without needing to look, the magic crystal explodes in living Stellar Flames that devour all the Ascendants in a Demonic magic that fuses them into a Berserk Ascendant Golem. Divine Demonic Magic: Flesh Golem Sacrifice This was a modified magic that I asked Erica to create for me, but I never wanted to use it before because it cannot be used immediately alone, only after preparation can it be used with a Divine magic crystal as a medium and that was the only one I had. Tarzor came out of my shadow and swallowed my body inside him, I would not stay behind to see the result of the Magic, this magic has some flaws and one of them is that it does not recognize friend or enemy, I also do not want to know if I am able to resist its effects, so I retreat knowing that Tarzor, since he does not have flesh, is immune to this magic. As soon as I enter Tarzor''s body, I am already close to Freya''s Tree, from here I can move more easily to any place later, so I close my eyes to share Tarzor''s senses from the outside. It was difficult to distinguish the surroundings since there was no space in itself, it was like seeing a soup full of ingredients moving continuously inside the pot while being crazy on hard drugs. This was the level outside the universes, honestly I can''t even define directions here, because there doesn''t seem to be any directions or distance, it was crazy how all this works. But through Tarzor''s eyes, I could see the thousands of Ascendants, but among them was a grotesque creature causing havoc, he had wings flapping on his arms, in place of eyes and a large pair of wings made of several wings joined together. The body of this guitar was a mess of twisted flesh and not all of the Ascendants seemed to have died, some are half sunken inside it as they struggle making the whole sight more disturbing. "This should delay them for a while... this is bad..." (me) "TARZOR RUN!!!" (me) Tarzor wasted no time, he advanced through the gap that the Ascendant Flesh Golem briefly created and fled, but using his senses I could still see a creature almost the same size as Tarzor attacking the Ascendant Flesh Golem. This creature had the shape of an angel statue with its hands clasped together, in place of a head there was a helmet and it wore crystal armor, it had six pairs of wings that looked like broken glass that floated behind it, it had no legs and its Aura didn''t seem alive, I knew what it was only because of Davoth, it was a Universal Golem made from pieces of Universes. This thing separated two of its wings that floated like two flying swords making that Ascendant Flesh Golem into pieces that were decimated by the strong energy of reality in those Universal blades that returned to their places looking once again just like part of the wings of this thing. All the Ascendants who were waiting were pulled into it in seconds before it began to fly towards us faster than we could get away. I''m sure it was coming in a straight line, but its movements seemed strange as if it was making curves or dodging obstacles, but honestly I didn''t understand anything about this maintained place, so I just waited while it moved towards us. "(I''m going to have to fight this thing and I won''t be able to help as effectively as we planned.)" (Tarzor) "Don''t worry about the Ascendants, just be careful of this thing!" (me) Just like I said so far, this Universal Golem came towards us very quickly and 3 pairs of wings started flying like blades towards Tarzor who tried to fight without losing speed. "This is going to be harder than I thought." (me) Chapter 1710: Cap 1708: Tarzor Under Siege Part 2 Pov Davoth: This is all ridiculous. I spent thousands of years thinking about everything, preparing everything, and putting everything in its proper place, knowing that some unforeseen things would happen. I even thought of countermeasures for various situations, except for what is happening now. Crack I crushed a magic crystal in my hands while the Runes of the Ascendant Law inside are destroyed by the power of reality as if it were a plague. This crystal was something made with the help of my mother, who I transformed into an Ascendant. It allows me to communicate with my allies and collaborators, but the news I received from them is absurd on many levels. "Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn!!!" (me) Many things happening at the same time, the advancement of the experiments to the fifth level of the Ascendants, the theft of the main material to be used, the disappearance of all the Anomalous Dragons, and now this new invasion of the Ascendants where they put Baldr to return to this universe. There are a lot of things happening and these are just the things I''ve learned now. There must still be a lot I don''t know. "It''s more than clear that this is a trap." (me) Baldr started with a very obvious plan. Everyone must have realized what this attack was about, and unless he''s a complete idiot, he doesn''t care as long as he can achieve his goal. "This can''t go on like this. They''re forcing my hand too much. The whole plan is accelerating and even they''re starting to act..." (me) I try to calm my mind. The plan accelerating isn''t a bad thing. The real problem is drawing the attention of the enemies. The Ascendants aren''t idiots. They started out weak at first, but they managed to increase their strength precisely by using their minds to deceive others or by using plans that no one else would dare to try. When both sides are facing each other, everything must be decided at once. I can''t let them escape or there won''t be any more opportunities. They won''t make the same mistakes. They''ll adapt to the situation and plan against us. "It seems I can''t just stand by and do nothing until he comes back..." (me) "(Damn Chaos Power... come back soon!)" (me) ------------------- Pov Zenos: With that damn thing chasing and attacking Tarzor, we won''t be able to escape the Ascendants this way. I look at that Universal Golem, I needed to find a weakness for it, but I couldn''t even understand how that thing works, I don''t understand anything about it other than knowing what it''s made of. As I watch the blades that were once its wings attack Tarzor, I realize that these fragments of the universe in which they were shaped have many Ascendants inside them, they want to hurt Tarzor to invade from the blades. The power of those blades was something I didn''t understand, but I could feel that Tarzor felt the blows even if they couldn''t pierce his body. "Can you handle it?" (me) "(I can hold out for a little over a day, but if I try to fight him the Ascendants will probably focus their attacks on me when I stop.)" (Tarzor) It was clear that the Ascendants were waiting, they are reserving lara forces when they invade, but if Tarzor starts attacking now the story will be different, the Ascendant Laws can interfere with the Universes, I don''t know if they can hurt Tarzor and I don''t want to take the risk. "Wait 3 hours and start revealing the breaches little by little, pretend they are managing to hurt you." (me) "Go to positions 3, 5 and 6." (me) "(They''re ready.)" (Tarzor) "We just need to wait..." (me) Even though we could open gaps now for them to enter, they''ll get suspicious and that''ll ruin our preparations. They must think we''re desperate and outnumbered, just like they were the ones who opened the entrance, so there''s not much we can do now. "Are you confident in dealing with that Universal Golem?" (me) "(If it''s just him, then yes, his mind is very simple and lacks adaptation if there''s no one controlling him. Even if there is someone, his reactions will always be delayed compared to mine.)" (Tarzor) ------------------- 3 hours later. Time passed and during all that time I realized a few things. The Power of Reality of that Universal Golem only has two characteristics: resistance and cutting. It was like seeing a battle robot forged for this sole purpose, normally the power of reality is fluid because it is affected by its various Essences, it does not serve many practical purposes and in fact has many similarities with the Aura. Even so, the state of this power of reality is strange, it shows that it lacks almost all the Essences it should have or possibly does not have any since it must have used only its Ascendant Laws. The fragments of the universe themselves are dead, I do not feel any energy flows or Vitality, the energy flowing through it seems more like that of computer parts like circuit boards, this thing is completely a vehicle built for the purpose of war. "(I am starting.)" (Tarzor) "..." (me) During these last 3 hours, the blades continued to attack the same points and during this time Tarzor made the Power of Reality in his dimensional membrane weaken in these points slowly until the state it is in now. I saw the Ascendants preparing themselves inside, all the wings now separated and attacking the weak points together, they are going with more than I imagined, forcing me to go all out as well. "Change of plans, send them to all positions except number 1!" (me) "Warn everyone!" (me) "(All set, I''m warning them as I speak to you.)" (Tarzor) I continue using his senses and see when the blades are about to hit, he opens the gaps allowing them to penetrate his body. After that, the images in my mind divide into several where I see the armies of the Ascendants flooding the places where they appear. I couldn''t help but feel the murderous intent as I saw them using their power of Law in this place, it was revolting. ------------------- Pov Adella: I was standing in the middle of space waiting, I''ve been waiting for hours, still nothing has happened yet, but I just have to open my eyes and I can see the turbulence in the space in front of me starting to form and a smile forms on my face especially when a cracked tip of what looked like another starry sky crosses that distorted space. Soon dozens and in a short time hundreds of Ascendants fly out with their damned white wings as if they owned the place. I stand where I am, they clearly noticed me and were ready to attack, but I waited until the last one of them left, this was the only Level 3 Ascendant among them who are Level 2 and 1 Ascendants. "< Activate >" (me) Soon the entire space distorted and around us a dome formed as a territory took shape, a small-scale Tarzor territory, but that was just to keep them from escaping while the place they came from was crushed into nothing. "Look what we have here... little pieces of space shit... hahahaha!!" (me) "Attack..." (Ascendant) "Too late..." (me) Boomm! BAAAMMMM! Crack! CRACK! AAAAAAHHHHH!!! Soon screams filled the air as hundreds of spells activated at once under my command, the ring on my finger glowed brightly as the surrounding planets shattered into fragments of pure elemental power as they were thrown at the Ascendants. Their screams of pain and death were music to my ears, the Level 1 Ascendants died almost instantly while those at Level 2 took longer, in the end only a few with some ability to heal or defend managed to protect themselves in a hurry, even though they were still seriously injured with the only exception being that Level 3 Ascendant, there was a barrier around him in the shape of closed wings around him, the brightness constantly diminished and cracks appeared. When it was all over, only a few dozen dying people were left alive amidst hundreds of shattered bodies, but the barrier around the Level 3 Ascendant was still in place despite bearing countless cracks, while my ring shattered along with the destruction of the traps that had fulfilled their function. "Looks like there are some pieces of shit left to clean up..." (me) "So it really was a trap, predictable as he said..." (Ascendant) "..." (me) Something wasn''t right, the Level 3 Ascendant didn''t show any reaction to the dead or the injured around him, that didn''t make sense, in fact he didn''t show any reaction even during the attack of the traps earlier. "< Demon Law: Corrupt Rebirth >" (me) "It''s going to be troublesome..." (me) I transform into a Dragon recognizing the kind of power he uses, all the dead have their pieces pulled towards each other as they join together into new bodies even though they are not their original ones, then everyone''s skin turns dark blue, white horns grow on their foreheads, their eyes turn pure white while their Auras seem to become dull without any emotion. Those who were still alive, on the other hand, their bodies were enveloped in dark mist as their wounds healed, their skin turned red, their wings turned black and horns grew on the sides of their heads. The Demonic energy around them was strange, it seemed like a contamination trying to take over the environment itself, everyone became Demons except for the Level 3 Ascendant. "You bastard..." (me) Chapter 1711: Cap 1709: Tarzor Under Siege Part 3 Pov Adella: "You bastard..." (me) I charge towards my enemy, but all the Demonic Ascendants get in my way, the ones that were brought back from the dead advance carelessly without caring about anything, while the ones that were only injured stay behind. As for the Ascendant that stayed behind, he had a smile on his face showing complete confidence, he didn''t even seem to pay attention to my attack. "Do you think that this pile of trash can stop me!!!" (me) "< Unholy Blood Magic: Flame Spread >" (me) I smile as my wings are covered in sparking flames before I flap my wings forward 3 times, a rain of flaming blood needles rushes towards them making the Resurrected Ascendants become sieves. My attack continues until it reaches those behind me, but unlike the brainless creatures in front, those behind me dodge my attack naively. With just a flick of my finger, the blood needles curve in the air, hitting those who thought they had dodged it. Unfortunately, when it reaches the real enemy, the blood needles are destroyed as if they had been corroded by something until nothing is left. "It seems that you also possess Demonic power... it''s actually a bit different, interesting." (Ascendant) "< Divine Magic: Blood Barrier >" (me) Suddenly I feel something strange, his confidence was very apparent, but it was too apparent, even the most arrogant of Ascendants are not that stupid, he was trying to distract me the whole time and noticing this, I cast a barrier without hesitating for a second. "It seems that he noticed." (Ascendant) Behind me a heavy blow hit my barrier making it tremble so hard that it almost broke, looking back I see a copy of the Ascendant in front of me, but he had membranous wings, with horns, his body possessed a completely Demonic energy and his eyes were completely black. "< Demon Law: Great Demon Fist >" (Ascendant A) "< Demon Law: Great Demon Claws >" (Ascendant B) The two acted at the same time, magic circles surrounded by Runes appeared in front of them, soon a fist as big as my current size came from behind me while a claw of the same size came from the other side. "Attack now!" (me) Suddenly all those Resurrected Ascendants and those Demonic ones attacked the one who transformed them, this made the Demonic fist disappear in the middle of the attack while his body received several attacks. While those affected by my attack distract that Ascendant, I undo the barrier and circle the Demonic claw going against the bastard who was hiding before. "< Breath of Unholy Blood >" (me) "< Demon Law: Symbol of Dominion >" (Ascendant B) ---------------------- Pov Akatosh: I was waiting in place, as soon as I felt something the space in front of me opened and a mirror to another universe appeared, what it showed were arid planets and stars with blue glows, that''s what I could see when they appeared, 4 Level 3 Ascendants, each of them wearing silver armor. These Ascendants were all warriors and soldiers, their postures dignified of a military following a strict hierarchy. But I didn''t attack because I noticed the position of these 4 that they were waiting for someone, soon he appeared, an Ascendant wearing a dress and 2 orbs floating around her, this Ascendant had 3 pairs of open wings and a seventh wing completely grown and open. "I am the second in command of this expedition, my name is Meliona." (Meliona) "I am..." (me) "I know you, Dragon God Akatosh." (Meliona) "My men and I have received your information as well as that of the current Chaos Bringer." (Meliona) "I must say I am disappointed with this reception." (Meliona) Her eyes moved to each of the magic circles hidden in space as well as the Sun in the distance. "We only want the cube, I know you have it as well as the thieves who stole it." (Meliona) "Why do you keep talking? Do you like the sound of your voice so much?" (me) "We may be enemies, but we do not need to face each other now." (Meliona) "Fighting now or later would be the same to me." (me) "These traps are useless against me and you''re injured... do you think you can defeat me like this?" (Meliona) "..." (me) "Hand over the cube and the thieves, then we swear we''ll leave you all alone this time, on my behalf, Meliona!" (Meliona) "Is that to make me laugh or do you really think you said big words... hahahaha..." (me) "Why would I miss the opportunity to inflict a wound on my enemy''s forces?" (me) "Not to mention that your name means nothing to me, your promise carries as much weight as the air I breathe." (me) "You''ll regret your decision." (Meliona) "< Territory: Divine Realm >" (me) "< Draconic Pantheon >" (me) ------------------ Pov Magnus: I kicked my enemy while swinging my claws at the other Ascendants, tearing dozens of them to pieces. When I felt a blow from him hit the side of my body, I bowed, dispersing part of the damage from that blow while spinning and hitting him with my tail. "< Activate >" (me) With the two of us away, I had time to activate the traps in this place. The stars surrounding us shine brightly before thousands of energy beams came from all directions. There was nowhere to escape from those attacks. Those in front of me were hundreds of Level 1 and 2 Ascendants, with only one of them, who seemed to be the leader, being Level 3. His strength was particularly greater than mine. He charges at me once more before the star beams can reach him and we fall once more into hand-to-hand combat, the energy beams deflecting as they come close to me. This Ascendant in front of me was a true Celestine, I know this from his Aura, his pair of wings are also different from other Ascendants, they are larger in both size and length. After the attacks stop and the traps break as they fulfill their function, our two punches collide and we are pushed back, I am pushed twice as far back as him due to the difference in strength. He looks around and there are no Ascendants left in his troops, his anger is evident in his expression, but his Aura still seems very calm. "Do you really want to come against us? The Ascendants are invincible!" (Ascendant) "There is no such thing as invincibility, that is just the fantasy of the weak when they obtain a little power." (me) "You say that because you don''t understand..." (Ascending) Crack Crack Crack Swallow Before he could finish speaking, a large Dragon appeared behind him, closing its jaws on his body. He didn''t even notice as he focused solely on me. The sound of his body being broken was a little strange as Sarazar looked at me. "He was fake. I don''t feel any Soul in his body. There were many Ascendants like him scattered around, all of whom seemed to have been Celestines in the past." (Sarazar) "Are they fake Ascendants?" (me) "I don''t know..." (Sarazar) Saying this, Sarazar disappeared once more, but I kept thinking about what he said. Then I tried to contact Tarzor, but he didn''t answer. Soon after, I tried to contact the others, but only Silvia answered me, having gone through the same thing as me and also having her enemy devoured by Sarazar. Her enemy, like mine, was focused on melee attacks. He also seemed to have been a Celestine in the past, and he showed his emotions expressively with his body, while his Aura was strangely calm. But strangely, the appearances of my enemy and her enemy were different, I also don''t know what Ascendant Law he exercises. "There''s something strange going on here." (me) --------------------- Pov Zenos: I look in one direction, all the traps in the area were destroyed before they were activated and I feel some kind of blockage in the space around the tree, then he appears alone. An Ascendant with 3 pairs of complete wings and 7 fully grown wings in total, a woman whose race looked different from anything I''ve ever seen, her body was ethereal, her presence is also made of pure Holy Power. I looked around and realized that I couldn''t contact anyone outside of this barrier, I also couldn''t use my Territory and for some reason my Divinity was pulsing inside me. "You''re not an Ascendant, are you?" (me) "Why would you think that?" (???) "Isn''t everything about me exactly like an Ascendant?" (???) "..." (me) She wasn''t wrong, I could feel the Ascendant Law in her just as I could see the wings characteristic of the Ascendants, I could even get a sense of what her Ascendant Law should be, probably something related to Sacred power or Faith. But still something feels wrong, this barrier is strange, I also feel strange because of my Divinity pulsing inside me. Something about this supposed Ascendant is causing this strangeness, everything about her besides the characteristics of the Ascendants is strange, she seems like something trying to imitate an Ascendant. She approaches me calmly without showing any kind of hostility, but I was already circulating my Divinity and Power of Chaos throughout my body, I had to be ready to react as quickly as possible. No matter how much she tried to cut my connection to the outside of the barrier, this was still Tarzor''s body, as his Primordial God could not be blocked while still inside it. She seemed to have noticed what I did, she smiled and stopped a few dozen meters away from me, she ignored Freya''s tree behind me as well as the energy cocoon where Luci was not far away, she even ignored the presence of the cube emanating the power of the Ascendant Law that could easily be felt inside the Stellar Palace, her eyes were only focused on me. She was not here for Luci or the metal cube, she was here for me and she was making that clear. "You are not an Ascendant." (me) Chapter 1712: Cap 1710: Tarzor Under Siege Part 4 Pov Lena: I was standing on a barren planet looking at two mirrors surrounded by flowers, one of them showing Sarazar fighting some Ascendants and the other mirror showing only a flat flow of energy. "Did something happen, ma''am?" (Lolth) "The invasion is not going well, it seems the Ascendants have prepared themselves." (me) "Shouldn''t we help?" (Lolth) "No, I haven''t tested my power and Concept in combat yet, but you..." (me) "I understand, I know I still have a lot to learn..." (Lolth) "Our power was not made to hurt or for battle, using our power without a complete understanding can be harmful, besides, I don''t want your first memory by my side to be about a war." (me) "Thank you..." (Lolth) Lolth hates wars more than anything, she has always been strongly attached to the concept of Life, but forced by circumstances to kill or be killed, I don''t want her to go back to those days, not when this was supposed to be her Rebirth. "(I''m sorry Zenos, but I won''t let her participate, but if necessary... I''ll participate myself.)" (me) With that thought, my mind turns once again to the mirror that shows nothing, but until recently it showed Zenos waiting near Freya''s Tree. "I''m going to go see my sister, in the meantime I hope you''ve determined your test." (me) "Bringing new life to an entire continent cannot be considered a test." (Lolth) "Just get the energies circulating again and bring some vitality to this arid place, I''m not asking you to create people, animals or monsters." (me) "Now get back to your attempts." (me) I see her turn around, but I know I didn''t fool her, she''s not an innocent girl, she knows I''m making my move in this battle, but she won''t disobey me because of it. "(Loyalty... isn''t it...?)" (me) I wave my hand, making the space open and I enter next, passing through a long tunnel in milliseconds. -------------------- Pov Cortana: "You know, I was very happy when I felt your presence in this universe, you and those like you are the ones I hate the most." (me) "You don''t understand death, you''re like primates discovering fire, you know it heats up and yet you have a hard time discovering that it also burns." (me) In my hands was a special Ascendant, a man who was once a Priest of Kalistos in a Universe that no longer exists, but his greed for power caused him to be deceived by the Ascendants. While his universe was being conquered, he used a forbidden technique against the Kalistos he once respected as his Goddess, he stole the Divinity of Death to Refine his Law of Death. "You know, I am not Kalistos and even less Death... that is exactly why I am free to do whatever I want with you." (me) "Nothing to say? No...?" (me) I look at him, completely still as dark lines move over his body, these lines being made of darkness as they tighten around his body. "We can start by taking this from you..." (me) "< Come >" (me) I raise my hand and all the power of the Law of Death within him is ripped straight from his Soul as rotten black blood escapes throughout his body. The Law of Death condenses into the form of a Rune that means Death before flying towards me, I touch it enveloping it in Stellar Flames where the stars inside shine in dark blue, shortly after all that is left is a ring that I place on my finger. "Your Ascendant Law is too superficial, death is not simple, death is not the end, and death cannot be controlled as if it were a tool!" (me) I thrust my fingers into his chest, crushing his ribs. I was elated to have managed to catch this damned bastard. I wielded the power of Death in ostentation as if I were above death. "The best thing about not being restrained by the rules of creation is that I can do anything to you, and you know what''s best?" (me) I get close to his ear and whisper in his ear, barely able to contain my smile. "You know, as long as I want you not to die, you will never die no matter what I do..." (me) His eyes filled with terror were truly incredible. I couldn''t be happier with someone''s suffering. He committed many inconceivable acts and I don''t want to let him go now, so I''ll leave him for later. I''d like to enjoy his suffering. "..." (me) "What was that...?" (me) Suddenly I sense something and look into the distance, but my senses were blocked by something, so after I left my new prisoner safe in a certain place, I wave my hand creating a curtain of black mist as I pass through. ------------------ Pov Silvia: I look around at the large number of Ascendants, there must be hundreds of them, but strangely they all seem to be just one. Their bodies are all the same, their movements are also very similar, their faces and even the way they attack were the same, their condemnation was incredibly as if they were the same person. "They are all clones, aren''t they?" (me) "< Sacred Nature Magic: Forest of Trials >" (me) My Holy power flows to my fingers that draw a large magic circle and Spirit Runes around it at the same time. The power spreads by gathering the particles and flows of power from the elements of nature and materializing them into their real forms. The space around us is covered in earth, cliffs, mountains and floating rocks, all due to the elements of Earth and Metal. The sky lights up and the wind blows bringing clouds while moisture appears along the rivers that cross this land, this was brought by the elements of Light, Wind and Water. Heat surges throughout this space as the clouds above are outlined in gray lightning shining within while the tops of the mountains are covered in white, this was brought by the Elements of Fire, Ice and Thunder. From the earth sprout all kinds of trees in various sizes and shapes covering every place while endless shadows cover what has become a large forest with sounds of animals being heard in the distance, these were brought by the Elements of Wood, Shadow and Life. Soon a mist takes over the entire place, a thin purple mist that blocks the senses and in the day sky an Eclipse forms while my presence becomes the forest itself, all the Ascendants trapped in a forest that formed around them in a few seconds. "Let your ordeal begin." (me) --------------------- Pov Zenos: I was facing this entity, everything about it looks like an Ascendant, but it shouldn''t be possible for the Ascendants to use Sacred Power, that''s because they don''t have Divine power, they don''t even have an Essence to form Divinities, all that exists for them is their Ascendant Law and the power that comes from it. "Why do you seek me?" (me) "Why do you fight the Ascendants?" (Ascendant?) "Are you joking!?" (me) "The Ascendants have attacked me several times, they tried to conquer my Universe, they tried to kill me and those close to me, even now you invade my Universe and are fighting against my family!" (me) "Is that really the reason?" (Ascendant?) "What do your words mean?" (me) "I don''t deny the facts you spoke of, but inside you is not the truth, they are just causes for the truth, right?" (Ascendant?) "You''ve always hated them since you learned what Ascendants are... maybe even before that, maybe ever since you met the first Ascendant, you''ve hated them all for being your opposite." (Ascendant?) "..." (me) "They''re stable, they bring stagnation and predictability wherever they go, they''re different from you who are a Bringer of Chaos." (Ascendants?) "You hate them because of that, you can''t accept the deeds they perform, but you can''t destroy them either." (Ascendant?) She''s standing in front of me talking, but I feel like she''s seeing right through me, she''s asking questions that she answers better than I can, I don''t know what she gains from all this, but she seems happy. "Who are you!?" (me) "I am your enemy... for now..." (Ascendant?) "Our time is up, but now I know you better... we will meet again... strange Bringer of Chaos..." (Ascendant?) Suddenly I feel the Sacred Power leaving her body as her ethereal body becomes more real as time passes, her body becomes flesh and blood, her hair becomes golden as well as her eyes, her skin is white with a golden Rune in the middle of her forehead, her clothes are a thin fabric that does little to hide her spectacular figure. "What happened...?" (Ascendant) "You! I know you... Zenos!!" (Ascendant) "..." (me) Suddenly the enemy changes completely like this, his presence changes as if he were another person without leaving any of the Sacred Power that I felt before, what remains is if I''m not mistaken the Power of the Ascendant Law of judgment or something like that. But it wasn''t just her power and appearance that changed, her behavior, her voice, and everything else about her were different as if they were two different people. Seconds after this extreme change happened, I noticed that the barrier disappeared and the portals appeared from where the twins emerged looking at the Ascendant in a confused way before exchanging glances. "(What was that...?)" (me) Chapter 1713: Cap 1711: Tarzor Under Siege Part 5 Pov Tarzor: I can''t break this damn thing, after its wings turned into blades that I attached to my body, I tried everything to seriously attack these things while continuing to fly towards our destination. Its wings were stuck to my body, even her trying to pull them back was useless, but my attacks were also useless, I tried to cut the Universal Golem''s body with my claws and failed, my claws didn''t even scratch its body, its dimensional membrane was reinforced far above anything I''ve ever seen, I''ve never felt anything so rigid before. I tried to change the points I attacked and in that I exchanged many blows with the Universal Golem, hundreds of ethereal arms emerged from its Power of Reality, with my mind focused on both fighting and continuing my path, I couldn''t dodge all of the Universal Golem''s attacks. I tried everything, I used my claws, my tail and even tried to bite the damn thing, but none of it worked, there were no gaps in its dimensional membrane, everything was shielded in some way. That''s when I remembered something, if I can''t break something, then I should try another approach and that was to transform this thing into something less resistant. "< Breath of Universal Chaos >" (me) "< Law of Energy: Ebb and Flow >" I gathered my power of reality between my jaws as Zenos'' power surges from the stars that form my star systems, his power mixes with mine as I stop flying for half a second during the attack. Stellar Flames copied my Dragon form already attacking against the Universal Golem that was submerged by these dense flames. Even so I could see that my attack didn''t reach its body, the various energies around us hijacked my previous attack. But that made me realize that there was someone controlling all of this from within the Universal Golem. "Do you think that''s enough!?" (me) "< Divine Summon: Eclipse Sword >" (me) I''m not a fool, I know what my advantages are and I''m going to take advantage of them. With just a thought, Zenos'' Eclipse Sword appears from within me, its logo transforms into a shape of intertwined wood with a Dragon''s head at the bottom, the blade has a tree growing from the middle of the blade as its branches spread out, the edges of the blade being filled with the moldable power of reality. The power of Chaos pulses through the sword as Starfire rises on the blade as I wave my hand, throwing the sword towards him at high speed. ----------------- Pov Samara: "You know, I didn''t expect to meet you again." (me) "Should I know who you are?" In front of me appeared dozens of Ascendants with 2 pairs of wings and 5 complete wings, leading them was an Ascendant in the form of a Demon. It was a woman with red hair literally on fire, her dress was also made of condensed fire, her wings also seemed to be wrapped in flames. I could feel her endless rage, her body was still very sexy as always making me lick my lips, it''s a shame she covers this wonder with this metal armor, unlike the vast majority of Ascendants, she has 3 horns on her head revealing her identity as a Demon. She still hasn''t realized my identity, but perhaps instinctively she is already hating me with so much anger coming out of her Aura. "You know, I still remember you kneeling, crying begging for power...!" (me) "You... you are..." "Ssshhhhh..." (me) "Take your time, we have all the time you need to catch up on your screams... hahahahaha..." (me) I was the one who turned her into a Demon, I was the one who gave her the Fire elements, I was the one who also sold her to the Ascendants and even so I didn''t expect her to become part of them now. I look at the other Ascendants as they position themselves to attack, but I just smile at their reactions, only their leader still looks at me out of pure anger. ------------------- Pov Lena: As soon as I appeared where I felt that presence and just as I supposed, it was close to where Zenos was, the one who arrived right after me was my sister while I also realized that the owner of that presence was no longer around. "..." (me) "..." (Cortana) I looked at Zenos and then at the Ascendant next to him who seemed confused, so I exchanged glances with my sister, we didn''t need to talk mentally. She and I understood that that thing was no longer here, but we still couldn''t find anything, not a single clue. Soon my sister looked in a certain direction and I followed her gaze, understanding what she wanted to do. ------------------- Pov Zenos: I still didn''t understand how she could have changed so completely, I could only think that before she was possessed by something, I can''t think of anything else besides that exactly because I don''t know anything. I didn''t care about the twins who suddenly appeared, they must have felt something and came here, maybe that''s why she left. "I don''t know what happened, but it seems like I was able to find what I was looking for." (Ascending) I didn''t need to follow her eyes to know where they were going, she couldn''t recognize Luci''s appearance while she was trapped inside an energy cocoon, but I''m sure she could feel the Power of Law emanating from that cube inside the Star Palace. "< Close >" (me) The flow of power around the Star Palace changes completely, becoming almost a storm of pure energy, even for me it would be dangerous to try to pass through it. "That cube..." (Ascending) "I''m running out of patience, so let''s be short... that cube is mine now, I won''t hand anything or anyone over to you, don''t try to threaten me and I''ll probably kill each and every one of you today." (me) "Was I clear enough?" (me) "Yes, very clear and for that... die!" (Ascending) "< Law of the Fairies: Nature Magic >" (Ascending) "< Divine Eclipse Magic: Starfall >" (me) "< Activate >" (me) She doesn''t waste any more time talking like I wanted, but I can see that she''s still not seriously attacking, she seems to be chanting time and her attention seems to be elsewhere. But even though she''s not being serious, I transform into a half-Dragon form to avoid becoming that huge. She waves her hand forward creating magic circles with a Rune in the middle, each of them glowing a different color, soon these circles gather behind her as her hands glow in multiple colors. Every time she waves her hand towards me, spatial storms, cutting winds and even metal fragments fly towards me all at once. It seems that her power is based a lot on the elements of nature, but specifically the magical elements, her power of Law must have come from the Fairies as she said before. As she attacked me with multiple elements in an endless attack, I waved my hand while dodging her attacks. A spherical magic circle appeared in the palm of my hand, releasing a wave of energy that spread in all directions. In less than a second, this wave of energy returned, bringing with it millions of rays of energy to each star in sight, all directed at the Ascendant in front of me. She waved both hands, creating multiple barriers of various elements to protect herself, but I didn''t care. While she was distracted by my attacks, I activated the traps prepared in this area, directing them all towards her. But as soon as they were activated, all the traps I had prepared were destroyed. All the magic simply exploded, causing more than 20 explosions in the surrounding area. "< Law of the Fairies: World of Magic >" (Ascendant) "< Unholy Eclipse Magic: Elemental Cataclysm >" (me) Since I couldn''t use my power on the traps, I''ll break her power to render her powerless. An Eclipse forms in my hand as Divine Power surges within me, soon all the elements of nature in the area go out of control, the barrier she created around herself has now become a prison for her as all those elements continue to attack her body without pause. "< Unholy Breath >" (me) Without wasting time I concentrate my power in my throat and fire a breath attack in her direction, without being able to defend herself like before, my attack breaks her barriers that had become fragile before hitting her body, but just as she was about to be killed, a Rune appeared inside her releasing a silver light that envelops her body making her disappear. "Where did she go?" (me) I tried to look around, but I couldn''t even feel his presence. That Rune must have been some kind of Summoning technique since I didn''t feel any fluctuation in the space element. Suddenly I feel something and I try to flap my wings to the side, but it was too late. One of my wings was cut off and a strong blow hits my spine, which cracks almost to the point of breaking. "< Activate >" (me) I turn in the direction of the attack and throw a magic crystal, already activating the magic inside it. Multiple energy strings appear like a net expanding towards the enemy, but he was no longer there. His speed was great. But it wouldn''t be so easy to catch me by surprise twice in a row. With a greater focus on the surroundings, I notice when he gets close to me, then my fist meets his foot, creating a shockwave. "You... a Dragon...?" (me) Chapter 1714: Cap 1712: Tarzor Under Siege Part 6 "You... a Dragon...?" (me) The person in front of me was a humanoid Dragon, his body was covered in fine scales like the silver hair of an animal, he wore simple-looking white pants and a loose-fitting shirt, he had 3 pairs of wings and a seventh wing that was completely open, his wings were covered in white scales, his eyes were also silver and his head was that of a Dragon with only his face being more human. When our fists collided, generating the shockwave, I was thrown back and so was he, even using all my strength I was unable to overcome his strength that equaled mine. With the two of us apart, I realized that he was concentrating on something behind him and I soon discovered the reason. The Ascendant from before appeared once more, the wounds on his chest and stomach were still ugly, but they were healing quickly thanks to a golden sphere of energy floating beside him. She seemed very annoyed with me and stood next to the other Ascendant who was emitting the Aura of a Dragon. "What took you so long?" (Ascendant) "You suddenly disappeared and there was a strange energy around you, I wasn''t able to track you fast enough." (Ascendant Dragon) "Strange energy? What are you talking about!?" (Ascendant) "How did you get here? How did you find the cube and the Chaos Bringer before me without having the techniques to track them?" (Ascendant Dragon) "..." (Ascendant) "I don''t know... before I knew it I was already here and in front of him." (Ascendant) "Was he the one who brought you here?" (Ascending Dragon) "I don''t think so, but he knows something..." (Ascending) "(I see, the power of Space, Fire and something else that I can''t identify...)" (me) This new enemy was clearly strong, physically strong and has high destructive power, if he joins forces with this Ascending who has powers more focused on distance it will be a nightmare to face both of them. But something was strange, they seem to be waiting for something, they talk paying attention to me, but I feel like they are wasting time on purpose, they must be waiting for someone else possibly. I tried to use my connection with Tarzor to check the areas where I feel the power of the Law of the Ascended and purposely ignored the planned areas, these two in front of me clearly did not enter through those places and if there were more of them they must have also come from unplanned directions. It didn''t take long to find them, mainly because the power of Life and Death clashed with the power of their Law. I didn''t pay much attention to what was happening there, but clearly Lena and Cortana intercepted more enemies. "(That Dragon must have escaped them due to its spatial power or maybe it came by a separate path due to its personal advantages.)" (me) I took advantage of the fact that they were trying to buy time to look for the others, so I realized that everyone was still in battle and Akatosh was easily recognizable among them since his Divine power was the strongest. Even the twins seemed to be facing enemies, Sarazar also seemed to be facing some and only Lolth was not facing anyone. I thought about asking for her help, but I felt a barrier from Lena around the planet where she was. Luci is still unconscious and injured while trapped in that cocoon of light, Freya is also unconscious and couldn''t help, not to mention Tarzor fighting outside, I can feel him pulling on my stored power inside him to fight, which proves that that Universal Golem must be quite strong. "(I''ll have to do this alone?)" (me) "..." (me) "(I think they got tired of waiting or realized something was wrong.)" (me) The two Ascendants started looking around suspiciously and their murderous eminence towards me started to increase again. They don''t have the same advantages as me in this place, so they don''t know that they are waiting for comrades who are already in combat, but they must have sent some kind of signal to signal their position, even so the delay in their reinforcements arriving must have made them tired. "< Law of the Dimensional Flame: Symbol of Dominion >" (Ascendant Dragon) "< Law of the Fairies: Symbol of Dominion >" (Ascendant) "< Unholy Incarnation >" (me) They exchanged glances and immediately became serious, they also realized that I was becoming serious by seeing through the change in their behavior, the atmosphere was tense and everyone was on the verge of exploding. Everyone used their strongest techniques from the beginning, they wouldn''t leave without that metal cube and I wouldn''t let them take it, this was no longer a fight or battle, it was an extermination of the enemy. Kill or be killed. Their power rose far beyond what I imagined, their Auras became almost solid while symbols appeared behind them. The Rising Dragon won by destroying his clothes while his wings shone brightly, his face changed looking more like that of a beast than a Dragon, his body looked almost like that of a Werewolf with Dragon features, the Symbol of Dominion on his back was a silver-colored flaming Dragon silhouette with distorted space around him. The other Ascendant didn''t change his form, but his clothes did, the various elements became solid around him creating a long dress along with a staff with several colored spheres representing each element orbiting at high speed a star-shaped crystal with 8 points. The symbol that appeared behind her was a magic circle that showed a relationship of connection and balance between all the elements in harmony, it was a basic and yet profound magic circle used in the studies of elemental magic as well as in many Magic Rituals of all levels, even I had already learned about it and I did not expect to see one of these used as the power of an Ascendant like this. I did not fall behind them, even though my vision never left them, I continued activating my technique, my furnace returned to its true Dragon form while the Stellar Flames covered my body with the Sacred and Demonic powers mixing in a Desecration of their origins. The power of Chaos is Anomalous as one makes my instincts the pain of the skin, I was holding on to my rationality as I faced the two enemies in front of me. "< Divine Summon: Eclipse Sword >" (me) I wouldn''t underestimate my enemies, if they weren''t going to make the first move, then I would, advancing towards them with the flap of my wings, then I punch the space in front of me breaking it as I sink my fist inside to grab a sword that I pull out, my Divine Weapon already sinking into the sword as it merges with it. With the sword in hand I advanced towards the woman first, I knew that the Dragon would probably stay in front of her while she uses her magic, so I wanted to force them to open their guard for me to attack. Just as I thought, he stepped in front of her, his large body hiding her for only half a second as she climbs onto his back, my sword collides with 2 of his wings, but the impact was strange, I felt as if my sword had traveled a long distance before hitting his wing and those centimeters felt like hundreds of kilometers greatly slowing down the speed of my sword in that short space of time. Soon after that, her claws came towards me and I responded with my fist hitting her wrist, my Tail aiming its blade at the woman on the Dragon''s back who once again uses her wings as a shield to stop me. "< Law of the Fairies: Fusion of Thunder and Fire >" (Ascendant) "< Unholy Breath >" (me) Just as I imagined, the Dragon served as a mobile fortress for her while her magic was focused solely on attack. Soon the magic circle on her back glowed as a stream of Fire and Thunder merged in the middle before traveling to the staff in her hands that pointed towards me, launching bursts of flaming lightning possessing great destructive power. I myself did not use my fist to punch the side of the Dragon''s head that tried to bite me as I aimed my jaws at the woman once again launching my breath attack multiple times stronger than before. With my Unholy Incarnation active and being in my Dragon form, my breath attack was multiple times stronger than before, when my attack and hers came into contact an explosion of energy along with energy fluctuations pushed everyone back. Boomm!! Crack Crack Baaammm!! I was thrown backwards, crashing into Freya''s tree, causing great pain in my back and fortunately without causing any scratches on the tree itself, which only shook a little. The other two were thrown towards a planet that broke into pieces, but it seemed that there was no actual collision, something was protecting them and even so, the Dragon''s expression was much more serious while he seemed to be in pain. "What the hell!!!" (me) Chapter 1715: Cap 1713: Tarzor Under Siege Part 7 Pov Tarzor: "I really didn''t expect them to have this..." (me) From within the Universal Golem emerged 2 Magic Cannons emanating thick power of the Ascendant Law as well as 6 arms holding swords of crystallized reality power. Its attacks are now much stronger than before and it seems to have abandoned the blade wings that I had trapped inside my body. Not only that, its body has also been covered by a new power of the Ascendant Law, this must be the power of the one controlling this Universal Golem, but I didn''t expect to see someone using Souls among them, I begin to understand why everyone hates the Ascendants so much. "< Unholy Magic: Devilish Corruption >" (me) "< Soul Law: Soul Sword >" Soon my entire body emanates Unholy power, which is a very large amount, I can''t last much longer like this, the reserves of Zenos'' power inside me are still not enough for this. The unholy power around me feels almost alive as it flows around my body swimming through my Aura, every time I attack the Universal Golem star spots begin to spread like a contamination in its body. But the enemy did not stand idly by, the Six Arms swung their swords towards me as their crystal shattered revealing ethereal sword blades where many souls were condensed in torment inside, it was disgusting. I have clashed many times with this thing, but I assure you that striking is very risky now, its reaction is faster than before, I do not know what this Ascendant did, but it is going all out this time. I had to take small breaks during my travel or I would not be able to attack, nor would I be able to defend under these conditions. When those blades touch my body, I can feel the pain of the dimensional membrane weakening and sometimes even being cut, the damage from that sword was very strong and this Universal Golem has 5 others like it. His sword strikes were not random either, each of his attacks were coordinated to create openings for the next attack in an infinite combo. I had to use my claws and even create new ones from my body to continue the battle, which was very uncomfortable, changing the shape of my body was painful and could not differ much from the original structure, but I still managed to get 4 more pairs of claws to attack. Each swing of a claw hit the side of the swords, thus avoiding their blade while I waited for an opening, I wasted no time when I managed to push away all of his swords, my tail went towards the Universal Golem''s chest. "< Law of the Soul: Soul-Destroying Fist >" "(You lost...)" (me) An ethereal arm came out of the Universal Golem''s chest colliding with my tail that was thrown back and during that time I advanced with my jaw towards his head, two of his swords managed to penetrate deep into my body causing great pain, but it was already too late to defend against my attack. His entire head is inside my mouth when my jaws close with the profane power condensed more in my teeth, the head is torn into pieces that are absorbed into my body covered in Demonic contamination that will help in digestion. Controlling the flow of Profane power around me, I create a storm by exploding my Aura full of reality power together, then I continue flying towards our destination and even so the Universal Golem that I thought was finished continued following even without a head. "(The Ascendant was not in the head... I also felt that some escaped...)" (me) But I couldn''t help but smile when I felt that some of the wings attached to my body were freed because of the previous sword attack, the two wings did not return to the Universal Golem''s back, the wings joined where the head I destroyed was and merged into a new head that this time has well-defined features along with an irritated expression. "(This is going to be interesting...)" (me) -------------------- Pov Lena: After seeing that thing gone, I exchanged a look with Cortana, we didn''t need to stay here anymore and so we left to another area where she felt something different. "(Do you know what that was?)" (me) "(An Anomalous Entity for sure, but I don''t know which one, it was hiding from us, but it seems to be connected to the Ascendants.)" (Cortana) "(It can''t be Famine or Plague, Destruction and War would make sense, they have associations with the Ascendants.)" (me) "(I don''t think it''s them, besides, it seems like the Ascendants have been very bold.)" (Cortana) While I was talking mentally with her, we both stopped in an area in front of two Ascendants with 3 pairs of wings and a seventh wing completely grown, behind them were dozens of strange Fairies and Dragons. "(The Dragons were forcibly resurrected, I can still feel the traces of death on their bodies, it must be causing them a lot of pain.)" (Cortana) "(The Fairies seem to be Evil Goddesses, their bodies are marked with the power of the Ascendant Law.)" (me) "(It seems like they are being controlled in some way?)" (me) "(I''m not sure, but they are associated with that Ascendant along with Zenos, try not to kill those Dragons and Fairies.)" (Cortana) "(I''ll do my best, it also seems like we have more enemies.)" (me) Around us dozens of Golems made from entire planets appeared, it seems like the two Ascendants in front of us are the ones controlling them. My sister and I don''t need to exchange a word to know how the other feels about this, these Golems emanate a thick vital energy, they were living planets that were transformed in this way, their humanoid bodies have no lower half of the body, having half a planet below. They distorted a cradle of life into such an unnatural shape to use as a weapon, I can also feel that their cores inside are refined from many Souls, I''m sure my sister can hear their screams even from so far away, this won''t affect her emotionally, even so it''s a Taboo that she won''t forgive. The two Ascendants look apprehensive looking at us, they must have noticed our Auras and have some rough idea of ??our identity to demonstrate such a level of caution. "The Envoys of Life and Death must not intervene in our affairs, no rule of creation has been broken!" (Ascendant A) "We are here only because we were attacked, we want something that was stolen from us!" (Ascendant B) I turn to my sister smiling, just as we thought, they don''t know about us, which is not a surprise, but it seems that our freedom of action can finally be used on those who cause our anger. "You always reach the line of what Death allows to happen, which for me is already a disgusting act, that''s why I condemn you!" (Cortana) "You always treat the life around you as tools, you distort your purposes and you always try to cross the limits when trying to create Life, that''s why I condemn you." (me) "Your trial ends now and your sentence is annihilation!" (me/Cortana) -------------------- Pov ??? (Soul Ascendant): I was impatient and very angry, this Universal Golem was the result of thousands of years of study and experimentation, this and the others we created were very useful in our approaches in various universes, but this new version that should be stronger can''t even deal with this damn thing! The invasion blades that are on the wings were stolen, several parts of the dimensional membrane were severely compromised by those flames, I was forced to use the completely untested weapons, the Soul Swords are difficult to control and the Law Cannon uses a lot of power in each attack. Not to mention that to use these two new functions I had to deepen my connection with the Universal Golem, my wings became ethereal while my ethereal hands did not hold my wings, all the energy flows were also redirected to pass through me as my consciousness reconsidered to expand to the entire Universal Golem. "(That damn thing is annoyingly persistent!!)" (me) He destroyed the head of the Universal Golem where my main laboratory was, the amount of materials I lost is immeasurable and all I managed to do was recover some of the wings while they returned to me bringing some Ascendants. A few dozen Level 2s returned, with only one of them being Level 3. They were all severely injured, and one of them was even missing both arms. While I was controlling the Universal Golem in combat, I couldn''t pay much attention to them, but I was still listening to the reports. It seems that the situation was different from what we imagined. They are stronger than expected. They were also prepared for our attack. "Contact the others! Give the order to retreat!!" (me) "It''s too late... I''m hungry and you look delicious..." (???) "Ghuhhh!!!" (me) When I looked back, the Level 3 Ascendant who was giving me the reports had gotten very close to me at some point. Dozens of ethereal arms came out of it, piercing my body, and its head erupted, revealing hair that took the shape of a large serpent''s jaw, devouring my wings. All the other Level 2 Ascendants then melted away, flowing into the Level 3 Ascendant who absorbed them as her body withered into dust, revealing a young woman with no expression on her face. "Hinata... hungry..." "Wait! Wait! Please... NOOO!!!" (me) The last thing I saw was her body splitting in half, revealing teeth and tongues that pulled me in, the pain was unbearable just before my consciousness was paid off in terror. Chapter 1716: Cap 1714: Tarzor Under Siege Part 8 Our fight is going to be difficult this way, as soon as I advance towards them that damned Dragon stands in front of the woman like a giant scale shield. He was very strong by himself, he didn''t seem to have received any injuries either from the explosion or from the collision with the planet, this only makes me more certain that there wasn''t even a collision, his power seems to be related to space and this must be one of the feats of this power. "< Law of the Fairies: Elemental Manipulation >" (Ascendant) "You wretch!!" (me) As that damned Dragon stood in front of me, a colossal magic circle the size of the planet was created above that Ascendant, all the pieces of the planet that was destroyed came together again while their shapes changed as if they were pre-molded blocks. "You won''t advance!" (Ascendant Dragon) "You are...!" (me) I didn''t even have time to curse those bastards, as soon as my sword collides with his fist, I feel as if the space around the sword is being forced to move to the side, I''m starting to understand how his defenses work. The stellar flames supported by the unholy power destroy the space around him and collide with his fist, this time I felt as if I was melting a tunnel with fire before quickly reaching his fist full of strong scales that seem to have been forged from metal. "< Law of the Dimensional Flame: Dimensional Shift >" (Rising Dragon) I wanted to focus my attacks on him now, I wanted to better understand his defenses and thus break through them to have a satisfactory blow, but suddenly a Rune full of silver Power of the Law shines on his body making him disappear. As soon as he disappeared, I could see what was behind him, the planet marked by square lines that looked more like a colossal puzzle was coming towards me with the power of the various continuous elements, it seemed like it was about to explode. I didn''t have much time, but I was also calm, I may not like being attacked so unilaterally, but it''s not like this was the first time I''ve fought a planet in a literal way. "< 1st Art of the Stellar Sword: Consumer of Worlds >" (me) My Stellar sword changes Maia once, unlike in the past where it took longer for the sword to transform, now it became almost instantaneous, my power of the Devourer of Chaos expands to the sword while its handle becomes bathed in blood red and its blade becomes like a jaw with its teeth facing inside the blade, the starry sky inside it seems to be covered in darkness with only the Eclipse being visible while the stars form Runes as if they were constellations. The first concept I learned in this new life that helped me survive was that of devouring. I survived and continued to grow stronger by devouring everything that was in my path, even Gods. The concept of devouring is marked in my Soul as something fundamental and instinctive. I cannot deny that I have become a complete predator in this life. "< Devour >" (me) Swinging my sword against the planet, I do not use force, because that is not how you swing a sword. I swing the sword at a specific target, the lines between its blocks, an easy gap to take advantage of. What is in my hands is no longer just a sword, it is my jaws, a part of me. The sword in my hands concentrates my power as I swing it forward without taking a step back. What comes out of the sword looks like a blade of energy that hits the planet, but what happens next is different. The planet continually compacts, losing its perfect spherical shape while its blocks become disorganized. In seconds, a Dragon of unholy flames covered in teeth continues to devour everything as it frees itself from the interior of the planet. Each time its jaws open, hundreds of blocks are sucked in. In a short time, the planet has disappeared, leaving only a large Dragon of its same size in its place. This Dragon returns to me becoming a heavy stream of raw power invading the sword a planet then appears in the dark sky inside the sword This planet was in orbit of the great Eclipse on the blade of the sword. Looking back I notice the reappearance of the silver Dragon, they were already aiming their open jaws in my direction, I knew what he was going to do. "< Law of the Dimensional Flame: Breath of Dimensional Fire >" (Ascending Dragon) "< Unholy Breath >" (me) He and I released our breath attacks at each other, but he was faster, so the collision of our attacks happened closer to me. His breath was a column of silver flames that seemed to flicker in space as if they were entering and leaving space, when the two breath attacks collided near me, I was already flapping my wings in a backward thrust, the resulting explosion still did me some damage and I noticed that in my field behind a magic circle suddenly formed. "< Law of the Fairies: Space and Ice Prison >" (Ascendant) "< Devour >" (me) The space around me turns cold as my speed slows down and I feel space itself become solid, this was a good technique that would have worked if it were done against someone else. I swing my sword once more making another energy cut, but this time the target was space itself which, because it was solid, shatters completely around me, a storm of the power of reality appears as a repercussion involving not only me, the two Ascendants are also involved in the repercussion. The Ascending Dragon seemed to be trying to make another attack against me, but it was useless. The destruction of space caused everything around us to go into turbulence. For me, it was a minor problem, even if my senses were confused. This was the power of Tarzor''s reality, which I know very well. The Ascended were quickly covered in injuries, especially the Female Ascended, who was automatically unconscious and luckily kept her life when the storm ended in the reconstruction of the destroyed space. "< Law of the Dimensional Flame: Suspension of Life >" (Ascending Dragon) This time the Dimensional Dragon did not try to attack me. On the contrary, he moved closer to his companion and used his own Vitality, sealing her in a dome to prevent her condition from worsening. He himself was covered in injuries, but he seemed more concerned about his companion. This was a surprise to me. I did not expect a real act of concern for others from the Ascended, who were always so arrogant. Still, I smiled as I rested my sword on my shoulder and stood seemingly still, watching this rare scene. "Thank you for not attacking me while I was taking care of her." (Rising Dragon) "Would you give me the same consideration if I were in your place?" (me) "Probably not, I would have taken the opportunity to finish you off while you were weak." (Rising Dragon) "I understand your logic, but I''m different from you." (me) The Rising Dragon moves away from its companion, the barrier around it becomes thicker and several Runes with the power of the Rising Law appear on its surface, the Rising Dragon''s own Aura diminishes greatly after that. "I will not surrender and I do not intend to die here." (Rising Dragon) "The fight is over, you have lost." (me) "You''ll need more than that if you want to stop me." (Rising Dragon) "As I said before, the fight is already over." (me) "< Territory: Divine Realm >" (me) "< Eclipse Star Garden >" (me) "< Law of the Dimensional Flame: Incarnation of the Dimensional Flame >" (Rising Dragon) The Territory forms instantly, from the beginning Tarzor was already a place under my control, there was no resistance from the universe to fight against my dominion of this place, it was as if everything around us blinked as the field of flowers made of crystal bloomed around us, a great Eclipse on the horizon and paths winding between the stars. Perhaps realizing what he was doing, the Rising Dragon merges with his Symbol of Dominion, his body becomes covered in silver flames and the space around him seems to fail. "Your power works by creating multiple versions of the same space overlapping, similar to the realm of shadows that always overlaps the real world." (me) "So you realized, you were the third to realize the truth about my power." (Rising Dragon) "I hate these Territory techniques, they force my power, preventing it from flowing." (Rising Dragon) "I figured so, you can''t use those techniques because they''re against nature, and within a space like this you can''t access those overlapping spaces." (me) "You... what did you do!?" (Rising Dragon) An image of what was happening outside the Territory appeared in my hands, the barrier where his companion was now was surrounded by a Purple Sun and a Fragmented Moon. "Give yourself up and I won''t kill either of you, this is the only opportunity I''ll give you." (me) "..." (Rising Dragon) The fury on his face was apparent, but I don''t care, those two are my enemies, I could kill them both and wouldn''t care at all, why would I treat enemies fairly? It didn''t take long for his body to quickly extinguish the silver flames and his Dominion Symbol also disappeared, he also returned to his previous smaller appearance. "I can''t complain... you won..." (Dragon Rising) Chapter 1717: Cap 1715: Tarzor Under Siege Part 9 I look at the two Ascendants in front of me, the woman was still trapped inside that barrier full of Law Runes, she was alive in a suspended coma. The Ascendant Dragon was sleeping with dark Serpents wrapped around various parts of his body as they bit him, he was sleeping with a worried face and it was possible to see the accelerated activity of his mind by the way he moved his eyes nonstop. This Curse cannot be used in combat and must be used when the target is unconscious or chooses not to resist, that was exactly why I was so surprised by how he actually did not resist the Curse. I look into the distance using my connection with Tarzor and see all the battles, I was completely surprised by the way Sarazar was dealing with all the Ascendants, he was devouring them, some still alive and others being killed in the process. Akatosh is also doing very well, Arash is injured while his enemies are in pieces around him on a planet full of water, Adella seems happy while devouring some Ascendants in her Dragon form. We have many injured, but no dead, this brings me relief, I did not expect the bomb to be so favorable, the inhabitants of Tarzor, those at the level of Demigods at least, were helping to rescue those in worse conditions, Karina seemed to be coordinating them to reach those most injured. When my vision reached where Lena and Cortana were, their eyes turned to me, they were sitting on a moon facing each other. They pointed to a place near them and I saw chains of bones as well as tree roots holding several creatures, they seemed to be Dragons and Fairies. Seeing so many of them, I turn to the two next to me realizing who they were waiting for. "(If I had to deal with them, I might have been forced to resort to Tarzor''s power again, which in my current condition would be difficult to bear.)" (me) I tried to look outside through Tarzor''s eyes and realized that they were in the middle of a fight against the Universal Golem as they flew through the void. "(That''s a very good performance...)" (me) "Master, how are you?" (Hades) "I''ll be fine." (me) I look at my hand shaking nonstop, my energy is very depleted, but what was worse was my mind overloaded. "My lord, what should I do with these two?" (Hades) "Take them to Cortana, try to ask her to help keep the two sealed." (me) "As you wish." (Hades) Hades goes to the two while changing into his Dragon form, he grabs them with his claws before flying towards Cortana. "I didn''t expect that Ascendant Dragon to be so naive..." (me) Sigh The threat I made against him was false, I hadn''t done anything to his companion, I had another card up my sleeve that I was about to use, but seeing his concern for that Ascendant I decided to try something simpler that, surprisingly, worked. What I had done was prepare a curse for him, my Divine Weapon outside was to perform the Curse ritual, but in the end I didn''t even need it. "I just hope everything goes as planned." (me) ------------------ Pov ??? (???): I was walking through a well-lit Palace. I had been walking back and forth in this Palace for the past few days, but this time the situation was more critical. I arrived in a room where Mrs. Urak was floating in the mist of Vitality. Her body was covered in wounds and her look was one of extreme irritation. Most of her body was not visible. Energy rays from the dozens of Law Runes around her continued to hit her body in the exact place of the wounds as if trying to eliminate the external influences hindering her recovery. "I present myself before the leader Urak!" (me) "How is the attack going? I noticed that the speed of this Universal Golem was moving in an inconsistent manner." (Urak) "Following your plan, we tried to ambush them at the exit of the universe, but just as your wisdom was able to predict, they escaped without caring about the pursuit." (me) "I sent the new version of the Universal Golem along with its creator, I also sent some Ascendants on the threshold of level 4 as ordered." (me) "But through my Curse Technique, many Ascendants died far from our eyes when they invaded Tarzor." (me) "The Universal Golem is also severely damaged throughout its structure, the new weapons too..." (me) "Forget about it, just focus on gathering data about this Universal Creature without forgetting our main mission." (Urak) "The other 2 Universal Golems are following behind, but they are impatient to wait." (me) "I don''t care what they think, I know they just want to seek more merit to complete the advancement to level 4." (Urak) "Show the attack data." (Urak) I throw a thin metal plate into the air that expands and becomes transparent, controlling it with my Aura and performing several functions by making holographic screens come out to float around the room. One of the largest screens shows the initial approach of the infiltration troop, the second screen shows the route they are following on their way, the third screen shows information about the deaths of the Ascendants participating in this attack, the fourth screen shows the current fight with the Universal Golem, the fifth screen shows the information collected about Tarzor and the sixth screen shows the damage sustained by the Universal Golem. "The approach was made cleanly, we also found several weak points on Tarzor''s body." (me) "His dimensional membrane is strange, it seems they lured us to attack those points." (Urak) "Yes, that was our analysis and they were aware of the fact, so they used most of their group as a distraction while the few in command carried out the real mission." (me) "I don''t usually approve of the sacrifice of our troops, but if they succeed, I will forgive this conduct." (Urak) "But why haven''t there been any more deaths on our side in the last few minutes, and why is this battle so evenly matched?" (Urak) Just as I thought, she realized the same thing I did, from the analysis I did, this attack squad was going to fail and possibly be completely wiped out, but instead, their numbers stopped falling as the Universal Golem''s fight became stagnant. "We think those who remained may be in combat or have been captured, as for the current battle we can see, the biggest result shows that Tarzor has decreased the intensity of his attacks abruptly, the biggest possibility would be that the Universal Golem has been invaded by enemy troops." (me) "I want you to invade the Universal Golem and retrieve its commander, he is of vital importance as the main builder of our Golems, since the fighting has not stopped completely it means he has not yet been found or has isolated himself while controlling the Universal Golem." (Urak) "I''ll do it personally, but what should we do next?" (me) "Activate the destruction of the Universal Golem and order our troops to attack them with everything we have." (Urak) "As you order..." (me) --------------------- I use a fragment of space the size of an island to enter the new version of the Universal Golem unnoticed, landing in the place closest to the command area in the back. As soon as I landed, I went straight to where the control is and found the commander of this unit injured, several parts of his body were pierced and there were parts of other Ascendants'' bodies around him. "Commander Strauss, I have been ordered to take you away." (me) "..." (Strauss) He didn''t even say anything and just nodded, but looking at his face that turned towards me, I notice that the lower part of his jaw is missing. "(It doesn''t make sense, if they found him, then how did he get out alive? Why do I only see Ascendants'' bodies around?)" (me) Something wasn''t right, I tried to spread my Aura and confirmed that these bodies emit the presence of the Ascendants, Strauss himself emits the same presence as always even if weakened and this only increases my confusion. "Come with me..." (me) I activate the mark on my glove to use the Curse if necessary, this may not be Strauss or there may be something controlling him, the chances of it being a trap are not zero. As soon as I touched his body and didn''t notice any act of hostility, I was able to prove that he was indeed seriously injured, even so I didn''t lower my caution. "Perform escape protocol number 3." (me) "..." (Strauss) He nods and I soon feel the energies of the Law disturbing the power of reality, space itself seems to be in turmoil showing signs of imminent collapse, as he understood my command, this is definitely Strauss and he seems to be out of control. I grab him and return to my fragment of space that I use to return, but suddenly I feel something behind me and when I turn my face I only see a large jaw closing around me, I didn''t have time to do anything other than feel the last feeling of my life, fear. "(No...)" (me) Chapter 1718: Cap 1716: Hinata... messenger... Cough Cough "Argh!" (me) I look at my hand after coughing, there was a lot of blood and particles of Divine energy, I light the Starfire to burn the blood without leaving a trace before looking back. "I appreciate your help." (me) "We only did what was necessary, we hate the Ascendants more than you can imagine." (Lena) "I have many of them trapped, what do you intend to do with them?" (Cortana) I''m sure they realize the condition that remained, especially Lena, I can''t hide how much my Vitality is weakened from their eyes, so I appreciate them not bringing this up. "I need guinea pigs to test Davoth''s plans, now that we have the Anomalous Dragons on our side, I want to know with 100% certainty the veracity of his words." (me) "Theoretically it''s a safe option, but I understand the urge to see everything with your own eyes before moving forward with the plan." (Cortana) "Please keep them sealed inside Sarazar until we return home." (me) "I will do that." (Cortana) Saying this much, Cortana turns around with space folding around her as she disappears leaving only Lena behind looking at me. "Why did you send your Divine Beast?" (Lena) "If they find her..." (Lena) "You don''t understand, all my Familiars or Divine Beasts aren''t special... unique so to speak, a result of my Chaos Power." (me) "But of all of them, Hinata is an existential anomaly... I don''t even understand everything she is... I honestly don''t think even she knows, she just exists and that''s enough for all of us." (me) "Hinata has what it takes for infiltration missions, she can''t be detected, she also has strange powers and more than anything, I can summon her at any time necessary." (me) "Most likely the Level 4 Ascendant who faced Akatosh will be there." (Lena) "It doesn''t matter, Hinata may be a man of few words, but she''s smarter than she looks." (me) Hinata has many quirks, but I''ve always been able to trust her in moments when my other Familiars would be powerless, I know she knows what she should and shouldn''t do as well as I know she won''t follow the plan to the letter. Lena looks at me one last time before turning around and leaving, crossing the space as if it were a curtain, when I thought I was alone he appeared. "She was waiting for you to ask for help." (Reincarnation) "That will never happen, not with something so light." (me) "Others would have died in your place, do you even understand how your Soul is still whole? Because I have no idea." (Reincarnation) I look at the new visitor, it was a 3 year old child with three eyes and no hair, he looked almost Human, it seems that Reincarnation changed his appearance once again "What body is this?" (me) "My previous body was destroyed while passing by a fight between two Anomalous Creatures, I was caught off guard." (Reincarnation) "I wish I could create a body or at least strengthen my body like my sisters and you." (Reincarnation) "Why are you here?" (me) "..." (Reincarnation) "It shouldn''t be because of the Ascendants... so it''s because of that thing that took possession of that Fairy Ascendant''s body?" (me) "..." (Reincarnation) "..." (me) "(It seems I got it right...)" (me) Clearly he can''t or doesn''t want to talk about this subject, but I''m pretty sure my thinking is right about it. What he did was smile at me before disappearing, I didn''t even have time to think about it before I noticed a change outside. I share Tarzor''s senses and see the Universal Golem he was facing embrace him while his body distorts, then I notice the power inside him threatening to explode, I also received a message from Hinata explaining about self-destruction. Tarzor was already struggling to get rid of it, then 3 more Universal Golems appear very similar to the one we''re facing, they are in 3 different directions around us. "(I hope it''s quick... Hinata.)" (me) "TARZOR, USE MY POWER NOW!!!" (me) -------------------- Pov Hinata: I look at the mind of this Ascendant that I just devoured, I didn''t have time to pay attention to everything, so I only focused on the most recent one. As soon as we arrive inside another Universal Golem, we are greeted by several Ascendants, but I smile inwardly as I pass by everyone going straight to find the Ascendant called Urak. Along the way I touched the shoulders or arms of dozens of Ascendants as I greeted them on the way to their leader. As soon as I entered the room her presence was already stuck in me, it was a ferocious presence like that of a wild animal, her murderous intent was almost palpable making the act of breathing by her side. She was enveloped in light and mist, but even so I knew that she was injured by Akatosh''s wounds. "You know, this isn''t the right way to use your ability, there''s nowhere to go." (Urak) Around me, the space closed in, isolating the entire place, but I can''t help but laugh at the expression I see in her eyes. "Hinata came to pass on a message to you." (me) "A messenger... do you think I''m going to let you go after causing confusion among our troops?" (Urak) "You know, you''re all so arrogant, you always think you''re the smartest wherever you are." (me) "You focused so much on me, that you stopped paying attention to whether I''m real or fake." (me) I stop hiding, the Ascendant I''m in distorts itself as it opens in 7 different directions, separating flesh and bones, in the center of its body an eye reveals itself and that eye is me, my iris was like a circular mouth full of teeth of a worm, that was just a part of my body. "Where are you!?" (Urak) Hundreds of mirrors appear around her, revealing many different scenes, among them Tarzor''s fight against the Universal Golem. He opened his jaws while torrents of Star Flames flow covering the Universal Golem while particles of energy fly like ash before being absorbed by Tarzor. "Attack!" (Urak) But in the meantime, the other Universal Golems begin to prepare their attacks against Tarzor. I can''t let that happen, not like this, and that''s why one of the Universal Golems pointed its weapons in our direction, unlike the others, all attack preparations stopped. "I have passed many body parts to many Ascendants, which one of them should be the real me?" (me) "What do you want from me? Why did you come here?" (Urak) "Hinata is a messenger from the master, the master said we''re leaving and asked you not to follow us." (me) While I was speaking, the Universal Golem that aimed its attack at the others had already changed its shape to look more like me, that''s where the main body is and she takes the Universal Golem to stand next to Tarzor. "Do you think I''ll let you guys leave!?" (Urak) "I don''t know, but my master asked me to remind you that maybe I''m not the only one... you can stay behind and review all your subordinates or risk losing all the Universal Golems as well as your subordinates." (me) "I''m going to crush you!!!" (Urak) "Please don''t do that to Hinata''s eye, it hurts and Hinata doesn''t like to feel pain." (me) She seems very angry, but I don''t know what she''s going to decide, anyway I''m not going to stay here to see, I want to return to the main body. "< Return >" (me) ------------------ Pov Zenos: Suddenly I see through Tarzor''s eyes, the other Universal Golems moving away while only one with Hinata''s appearance hugs Tarzor who was still busy dealing with the first Universal Golem. "Leave him behind, use your explosion to stop their pursuit." (me) "(We won''t have time, if I stop burning him the explosion will happen almost immediately.)" (Tarzor) "You won''t die from this and Hinata will help protect you." (me) After I said that, I saw through Tarzor''s eyes him moving away a little while still releasing the Stellar Flames from his jaw, then he quickly turned around and resumed his path, an explosion of pure energy appeared before he even accelerated and Hinata put the Universal Golem in front allowing Tarzor to continue walking away. ----------------- 3 hours later. I was lying on one of Freya''s branches while Karina gave me the reports of all the Ascendants that Hinata captured inside that Universal Golem. What she did because she possessed that thing as if it were a doll''s body, I didn''t know she could do that, but it was a pleasant surprise. "Send everyone to Cortana and Sarazar." (me) "I already did that." (Karina) "Then we just need to get back as fast as possible." (me) "What are we going to do with them? They must be chasing us now, there must have been time to check their ranks." (Karina) "Hinata left a Curse of Contamination among her troops, all Ascendants level 2 and below should be sick now without any apparent cause." (me) "They shouldn''t be chasing us, there''s no time for that." (me) Chapter 1719: Cap 1717: Continuous persecution Pov Urak: I saw them leaving, we lost 2 of our Universal Golems, but I couldn''t help but smile at their naivety. "How was the preparation?" (me) "..." (???) Suddenly I realize that the Ascendant who became my new assistant wasn''t responding, but as soon as I turned my face I saw that his body had become ethereal, his hair had become long as it swayed in winds that didn''t exist, his eyes were completely golden and his presence had an Ascendant Law that I hate. "Why are you here?" (me) "I came to warn you that all of this won''t work." (???) "You have no say or choice in our affairs." (me) "If I want, I can finish you and the others right now." (???) "I see, you went to meet him, you were waiting for the Chaos Bringer all this time." (me) "You have all become blind in your arrogance, listen to my words and follow what I say, then perhaps the Ascended can still exist in the end." (???) "You underestimate us, do not forget that your existence is because of us, our power came from our efforts, failure was never an option for any of us." (me) "No matter how far you ascend, your vision is as limited as a mortal''s, you do not understand what comes next or..." (???) "..." (me) She seemed to be about to say something as always, but I turned my face away knowing that she will not finish her words, she never finishes, only Vecna ??still listens to her on the rare occasions when she decides to show herself. "You never say anything useful, if you are done, then go away, I have a God to pursue." (me) "You are abominable to us, unfortunately we have to accept your presence, but you have no right to interfere in our affairs." (me) As soon as my new assistant''s body returns to normal, no longer ethereal and with his hair becoming short again, I wave for someone to pick him up after he falls to the ground unconscious, his mind was too weak to handle that. "We''ve come this far on our own and we''ll go even further on our own..." (me) -------------------- Pov Zenos: It''s been 3 days since we left the Ascendants behind, my body has become more stable and my Soul has returned to normal, unfortunately my mind is still overloaded having to deal with several things at the same time. "Why can''t you assimilate this?" (me) "The one I was able to refine with the Starfire was of great help, the energy I absorbed before letting it explode helped grow my body by 10%." (Tarzor) "But I can''t absorb a universe, even a dead one without Freya''s help, I haven''t even finished assimilating the parts of the Guardian Kings'' universe from before." (Tarzor) "Can''t you just refine it with Starfire one more time?" (me) "No, I''m almost at my current limit, if I overdo it, the dimensional membrane as well as my Reality Power will become unstable." (Tarzor) "Then what will I do with that thing? It can''t stay attached to you forever." (me) "I''ll think about what to do about it, focus on other matters." (Tarzor) Tarzor''s presence stops focusing on me as I return to sitting on one of the branches in Freya''s tree, soon she leaves the tree and sits next to me. "How do you feel?" (me) "I feel better, but stabilizing Tarzor is proving difficult, not to mention part of my power and attention focused on Luci." (Freya) She and I looked down, the cocoon of light and energy where they were transformed yesterday, now it seems that this light and energy have taken the form of leaves around her, emanating even more the presence of nature. "What''s happening to her?" (me) "Honestly, I don''t know... I answered her call, but her transformation is decided by her Will, she used her Star Path to come to me and that''s why she ended up like this... I have no control over what''s happening." (Freya) "Do you at least know how long it will take?" (me) "I don''t know..." (Freya) Without knowing what was happening to her, there was nothing left to do but wait, but when I was about to deal with other issues, Tarzor reached me through our connection and showed me what he was seeing with his eyes. There were 10 creatures chasing him, each of them were Anomalous Creatures and theirs was due to the power they were emanating, five of them were birds made of pure Reality Power, their bodies were half the size of Tarzor, 2 of them looked like giants, their bodies were completely dark and only a large orb existed on their heads, I have no idea what these things are other than being the size of Tarzor, the great 3 were all different, one of them was a Celestine or perhaps an Ascendant that seemed to be made entirely of metal and was the size of a planet being the smallest among them. The other two were composed of a translucent 6-tailed Wolf, it was the size of a small Star System and its presence seemed very similar to that of Tarzor in the past, while the last one was a cluster of Ghosts and Specters emanating a tense energy of death through its body, it had the shape of an orb with a screaming face and its size was the same as the creature that looks like a wolf, all of them were very strong and were chasing us as a group. "(What should we do, their speed is not inferior to mine, in fact, that Spectral Orb and the Metal Celestine are the fastest and will reach me in less than 10 hours.)" (Tarzor) "(They haven''t started attacking yet, but I can''t confirm that they don''t have attacks to cover that distance.)" (Tarzor) "(Where did they come from!?)" (me) "(I don''t know, it was out of nowhere, but I suspect who caused it, look at their bodies.)" (Tarzor) Tarzor focuses his vision on the foreheads of the creatures or more specific parts of these creatures where there was a Rune surrounded by hundreds of small Runes shining brightly, these were Ascendant Runes. "(Now we''ve confirmed what they wanted to do in our universe, that egg must have been to create another one of those creatures.)" (me) This time I was really worried, these things appeared out of nowhere, that doesn''t make sense unless they were summoned near us, that leaves another possibility, the summoner was close. "(Be careful, I''ll think of something.)" (me) When my vision changes again, I see Freya in front of me holding my shoulder as she pulls me towards the Star Palace. I appear in the meeting hall, there was no table in this place, what there was was a water mirror like a circular pool in the middle. Soon several portals open around the pool, each one of them in the shape of a tree leaf, in seconds several people pass through these portals being called here by Freya. These people were the Twins, Akatosh, Arash, Adella, Magnus, Silvia, Samara, Karina, Niryna, Hades and Xagar. "This is going to be a problem, so I called everyone, I hope you don''t mind." (Freya) "This is actually a great help." (Me) Everyone seemed confused at having been called so suddenly, some of them were still injured, among them Xagar and Magnus were the most injured by far. Xagar had his entire body bandaged, a thick vital energy surrounding his entire body while the smell of medicinal herbs emanates from his body filling the entire room. Magnus on the other hand, already had his wounds closed, but his right arm was immobilized, his tail cut off and covered in scars. Apart from the two of them, most were injured to some degree with the exception of Akatosh, the Twins and Samara who didn''t have a single wound on their bodies. Everyone looked at the two holidays, especially Xagar before looking at me and Freya without knowing the reason for this meeting. Niryna, who was silent, had her hands covered in blood. This blood belongs to the Ascendants and I know this from the traces of the Power of the Law that I feel in this blood. Callidora appears like a ghost, hugging Niryna from behind. "I''m sure everyone wants to know what''s going on, so I''ll be direct." (me) "We''re being chased again, but it''s not Ascendants this time... it''s Anomalous Creatures." (me) "Freya, show them please..." (me) Freya just throws a leaf that falls into the pool in the middle, making a slight ripple that spreads across the pool. Soon, images of Tarzor appear on the water mirror, showing everyone the 10 creatures that are chasing us, as well as Tarzor. After showing the ten creatures, I wave my hand, creating 10 images that float above the water mirror. They were the Runes that were on the 10 creatures. "All of these are Anomalous Creatures and have these Runes somewhere on their bodies." (me) "Perhaps not all of you remember or know about what happened several months ago, the time we faced the Tree of End and the Ascendants." (me) "At that time we stopped a plan by the Ascendants that had been in motion for centuries to create an Anomalous Creature to destroy our Universe." (me) "Perhaps they wanted to create and control that Anomalous Creature like they did with these 10." (me) "..." (all) Chapter 1720: Cap 1718: A common enemy Everyone was silent, some of them didn''t know anything about what happened back then, while others focused on the 10 creatures chasing us, thinking about what would happen if there were 11. To be honest, since I saw those creatures a few minutes ago, I''ve already thought of some ways to deal with them, but all of that is superficial until I know about those creatures. Everyone was silent, lost in their own thoughts about this matter, but my eyes are on only 4 people, the only ones who seem reasonably calm as if they already know about those creatures. These people would be the twins who have more knowledge than anyone here, Callidora who must know a lot of things considering her identity, in fact she''s even smiling looking at those creatures, there''s also Samara who knows a lot of things due to the time she spent working under Callidora. "Does anyone have anything to say about this?" (me) "..." (everyone) "Does anyone have any information about those creatures or the Runes of Law!?" (me) "..." (everyone) I say this looking at the twins first, but they seem hesitant to say anything, when I turn to Callidora, she just smiles and remains silent, Niryna noticing my gaze tries to seek information from her, but if she doesn''t want to talk, then no one will be able to force her. After that, only Samara remains, who continues to look at the 10 creatures as if searching for information in her memory, muttering to herself. "Anything you know, Samara?" (me) "Huh...?" (Samara) "Actually, those 5 birds are Universal scavengers, they are Anomalous Creatures that normally feed on the power of reality remaining from fragments of other universes, their nests in some cases even become a new universe when there are many of them, they are normally peaceful." (Samara) "The creature that looks similar to a Wolf is actually similar to Tarzor before he became complete, a cluster of Universal Fragments that by chance created resonance and took a common form." (Samara) "The two giants of darkness, I don''t know, I don''t know Metal Celestine either... but that sphere... that''s bad..." (Samara) "Be clear so everyone can understand." (me) "That large sphere, it''s not a normal Anomalous Creature... it was made using sacrifices, a number so large that it would take dozens of planets to contain their numbers." (Samara) "He has many names, but I know him as the Specter of the Void." (Samara) "What do you say about this creature? Why is it the only one that brings out that cowardly side of you?" (me) "It can''t be killed, destroyed or sealed, as I said before, this thing has no body, they are Souls, Ghosts and Specters that don''t have bodies." (Samara) "So how do you fight this thing!?" (me) "You can''t fight it, it steals and devours Souls wherever it goes, honestly, I can''t believe the Ascendants managed to capture one, most likely they created it from the beginning." (Samara) "That''s absurd..." (Silvia) "Such a large number of vedas m..." (Freya) "Don''t you have anything to say, Cortana?" (me) "I can''t answer that yet..." (Cortana) "..." (me) Behind Cortana, I see Reincarnation in her still childish form shaking her head in denial, then I understand that it wasn''t the Twins who wanted to remain silent, it was this bastard who didn''t want to let them say anything, as the two of them have all the memory so far of two of the oldest entities in existence, even if they have the freedom to act as they please, they must be being restricted from sharing their knowledge. "I can deal with the Void Specter, but not now and don''t ask how." (Cortana) "Can you at least tell me what you need to defeat him or how long?" (me) "I need the Anomalous Dragons, especially Sarazar, but they still need to be trained, I need weeks to do that at least." (Cortana) "..." (me) Every time I turn towards Niryna I get more irritated by Callidora''s mocking smile, she is having fun with this whole situation, she knows that Niryna is not at risk while she is with her and everything else is just entertainment. "Does anyone else have anything to say?" (me) "..." (everyone) Everyone was silent without saying anything, Samara said everything she knew, I have complete control over her and I can confirm this with a thought, the twins can''t say anything else and Callidora is having too much fun by not saying anything. "(If I don''t have knowledge about the enemy, then I won''t risk facing him, especially after hearing Samara''s words.)" (me) "(I didn''t want to resort to that plan...)" (me) Sigh "Does anyone else have any ideas?" (me) "..." (everyone) "Then there''s only one thing left to do..." (me) No one understood what I wanted to do, but I wasn''t going to explain since I didn''t have a complete plan yet, so I closed my eyes while thinking of more than just the outline of a potentially suicidal plan. "Since no one has anything else to say and not even a plan to speak of, then let''s follow my plan." (me) "Stop making a fuss, you already had a plan from the beginning." (Akatosh) "No, he didn''t have a plan, at least not something that could pass for a plan or he wouldn''t have remained silent until now." (Karina) It seems that my Saint knows well how I do things, if it were a safer plan it would be one thing, but what I thought of is the same as trying to stop a fire with an explosion. "I won''t waste the little time we have on this matter and I''ll be direct." (me) "Let''s use the Abyss Creatures to deal with our pursuers!" (me) "..." (everyone) "Hahahaha... hahahaahaa..." (Callidora) "Do you really want to add another enemy to this?" (Freya) "Yes, the Abyss Creatures are a common enemy for everyone, they won''t make any distinction, they will attack us together with our pursuers." (me) "A common enemy, I see..." (Akatosh) "The Abyss Creatures adapt to their enemies and environments, regardless of what kind of beings these 10 are, the Abyss Creatures will be a hindrance." (me) "Tarzor, can you withstand the attacks of the Abyss Creatures?" (me) "The dimensional membrane is particularly strong against them, so if there is no Abyss General it should be possible to hold out until we reach our destination." (Tarzor) "Does anyone have anything against this plan?" (me) "..." (All) "Then let''s follow this plan." (me) "Sir, how do you plan to call the Creatures of the Abyss?" (Hades) "That''s the easy part, they''re everywhere, all we need to do is signal where they should come." (me) It''s never been a problem to attract the Creatures of the Abyss, what everyone normally does is avoid these pests, I must be the only one crazy enough to call them that. I talk to everyone for a few minutes, before putting the plan into action, I want to at least have something in our hands that can be used as an advantage later on, no matter how small, they can take care of that while I take care of calling the enemies. Freya sends everyone away leaving only the two of us here, she knows how serious this matter is. "Are you sure?" (Freya) "No... but I couldn''t think of anything better." (me) ----------------- Pov Irina: I was in the library, Rakan and several of his researchers are lying on tables completely unconscious from exhaustion, piles of books scattered everywhere while endless diagrams of magic circles are everywhere. "Damn it! Damn it!" (me) I tear the parchment in my hands frustrated for having messed up again. "When I adjust the energy flow, the converter explodes, when the image fails to print the effect, the current reverses, when it is activated the consumption of magical power increases in various ways becoming unpredictable, the Sacred power only worsens all the existing problems... I don''t know what to do anymore." (me) "Apparently you still haven''t managed the new magic." (Alice) "Alice..." (me) Alice approached me and I hadn''t even heard her until she opened her mouth, when I turned to see her I could see the tiredness on her face. "A barrier to seal a God is not that easy, especially if it is a Level 3 Ascendant, no matter how much you try to see alternatives, Divine power is the only solution." (me) "No, they have tried this before, the God of Justice managed to ambush Baldr and some Ascendants, but his sealing magic and barriers were useless against them." (Alice) "If before it was just a suspicion, then now it is confirmed, Baldr has a way to cancel Divine power." (Alice) "..." (me) Sigh I look at the many scrolls on the table, I see those who participated in this research with me, but they are all exhausted and I feel stagnant in the research, I cannot see a solution. I have tried to think about it several times, but I cannot find a way out, I do not know what to do anymore, I have never felt so helpless in a magical research before, especially something in my area of ????expertise of barriers. "I just don''t know what to do, all the greatest wizards in this place are in this research with me, but still we haven''t moved even one step forward." (me) "Maybe what you need is perspective..." (Alice) Chapter 1721: Cap 1719: Shit plan Pov Valius: I was sleeping when someone got stuck in my Runic Trap, when I opened my eyes I saw a Man with a lizard head and a body covered in tattooed Runes emanating a Curse power. "I knew that Evil Gods were not trustworthy..." (me) Sigh "Arlan, why did you let that idiot get close?" (me) "I wanted to attract the other one who was hiding, I thought he would try to help his companion and that''s why I kept pretending to be asleep." (Arlan) Arlan who was sleeping not far from me got up, on each side of him was a mortal woman he conquered yesterday in the nearest city. "Let''s end this..." (me) "< Spiritual Law: Divinity Extraction >" (me) I approach the giant and touch his body, the place I touched begins to glow as a Red Rune forms as it takes root in his body, red veins spread from the Rune pulsing towards the Rune as it seems to extract something from the body, soon the red veins spread throughout the body of this lizard head and his body was skeletal as he trembled from weakness. It took a few minutes for the red Rune to begin to detach from his body while the red veins destroyed his body by freeing themselves as if they were tentacles that soon retracted back into the Rune that decreased in size before attaching itself to my book. The lizard falls to the ground already dead, his body turning to dust was no longer immobile by my trap due to his death, so I turn to Arlan who was getting dressed. "It seems that some Evil Gods know about us." (me) "He wanted to use us to get in the good graces of the Gods of this Universe." (me) "Wow, what a simplistic thought." (Arlan) "Goodbye my dears, it was a wonderful night..." (Arlan) Kiss Kiss Arlan kisses each of the women before walking away beside me, they seem to be reasonably strong for mortals, so they should have no problem returning to the nearest city. Arlan and I move to another planet in this Star System while we wait for Baldr''s call to continue our plans. "I heard that Baldr was attacked, this entire universe hates him more than us." (Arlan) "Nobody likes Traitors, so this is no surprise." (me) "How are the preparations?" (me) "In progress, it seems that more are arriving, the leaders will also interfere." (Arlan) "..." (me) I was in the middle of entering a planet''s orbit when I stopped flying, my eyes turned to Arlan, even without saying anything, we know what we mean by that look. "Which one?" (me) "I don''t know, but it''s going to change the plans." (Arlan) "It seems like the waiting time is going to come to an end." (me) "It was very sudden, but I already warned my wives." (Arlan) "We have to be more active then... just don''t let them notice." (me) "I know." (Arlan) "< Spiritual Law: Runic Gate >" (me) After speaking up to here, we both nodded in confirmation, I activated the Runes that are on one of the pages of my book, soon a rectangular Gate full of Runes formed where we entered. ---------------------- Pov Irina: I was sitting in front of my Father''s statue, in my hand a candy made from the blood of dozens of monsters mixed with a dough in the shape of dozens of colored balls. "What should I do... nothing seems to work... the closest solution I found was to use a Ritual Sacrifice, which you will definitely deny." (me) "I can''t think of anything viable..." (me) I was lost in what I should do, I had to contain one of the strongest Gods in this universe who had become an Ascendant and could not resort to Divine power, this was absurd in many ways. From the beginning it was a ridiculous request and I know I''m not the only one doing this research, but I am the most specialized in the area of ??barriers, I even tried to contact others to see if combining our research would yield any results, but some are following completely wrong paths and others are so far behind that their information is not useful. In the end, I was in despair because I didn''t know where to go, my research is several levels ahead of the others to the point where I don''t have a reference to open a new door for me, I''m completely stagnant now. "Stop asking a statue for help... Zenos is a failure in the field of theoretical studies, even if he were here, the best I could get would be some ridiculous idea." (Erica) "Come with me, I''ll make you see a possibility that your innocent mind can''t see on its own..." (Erica) "Wait... you don''t have to pull me like that..." (me) Erica appeared out of nowhere from her Divine statue not far from where my Father''s statue was, she grabbed me by the head and pulled me out of the Communal Temple, dragging me straight into the forest. ---------------------- Pov Zenos: I was more than aware of calling the Creatures of the Abyss, but I didn''t like this plan, my luck has always been shit to say the least, deep down I knew something would go wrong with this plan, but honestly, I didn''t have a better idea than this. With the 10 creatures chasing us, there was nowhere we could run and one of them was considered strong enough to finish off almost everyone here, I was afraid of that ghost creature and that''s why I couldn''t just stand by and do nothing. Desperate situations call for desperate measures, unfortunately this motto is very true, the worst of all is that I suspect that a summoner may be hidden among these 10 creatures or the Ascendants we left behind may be closer than we imagined, because there would be no sense in these creatures appearing out of nowhere, they must have come from somewhere. With my head in place, I waited exactly 1 hour, everyone was creating Rituals to be used if necessary, this time they were not attack or trap Rituals, they were mainly support and defense at extremely high levels. Since Tarzor could control his size to a certain extent, I made him decrease his size until he was a little smaller than a Star System, if he were bigger than that it would not be possible to create barriers or any kind of ritual for him. My entire plan consists of escaping, with the Creatures of the Abyss hindering both us and our pursuers, we will be able to gain time until we reach our universe, at least I hope we can do that, everything is just a wish on my part since I wouldn''t know until the year is in practice. "How is everyone?" (me) "Exhausted, the Gods used all their Divine power, the same goes for the Heralds and their Saint, I also used all the power I could muster to help, but I don''t know how useful it will be." (Freya) "Honestly, every second will be important, the time will come when the creatures of the Abyss will invade, I saw how they fight, so sooner or later, they will enter Tarzor." (me) "I just hope nothing unexpected happens too quickly..." (me) "I''ll start, help me from the outside." (me) "Tarzor, open a passage." (me) Soon a passage formed in front of us, it was as if a curtain opened in front of us revealing an oval portal that was just large enough for two people to pass side by side. As soon as I passed, I realized that I was on top of Tarzor''s head, my feet were simply stuck to his head while Freya''s feet seemed to take root with each step she took beside me. The view around me was a kaleidoscope of colors and shapes as if I were drugged, it was unnerving and strange to see, it was as if the laws of physics were a joke and reality was an illusion, nothing made sense, logic was something that did not exist in this place and the more I tried to see logic in the things around me, the greater my discomfort became, this only improved when I stopped thinking about complicated things and just accepted that I would not understand anything. As if what was around us was not enough, stepping on top of Tarzor''s body was also strange, his body had no firm mass, his body was ethereal and looked like a universe surrounded by crystal scales, his wooden horns shone as if they were made of pure energy and were in fact parts of Freya''s tree. I looked to the side and Freya seemed unperturbed in this place, very different from me, she was holding my arm as we walked a few more steps, the sense of direction, gravity or even my senses didn''t work as I would like, it was all too bizarre for me. I suddenly realized that there was something nearby and that was when I saw the Universal Golem in the form of an angel statue, this was the new body that Hinata was possessing and the statue of the statue had her face. For some reason its size was small, it seemed to be only a few hundred kilometers in size, I didn''t know that these Universal Golems had this ability to change size. "(Are you okay?)" (Freya) "(No, but it doesn''t matter, I''ll start now, we don''t have time to waste.)" (me) Deep down I knew that this was a shitty year, I knew that from the beginning and that''s why I didn''t want to use this plan, but when it was the only year that seemed viable I had no choice. Chapter 1722: Cap 1720: Calling Creatures from the Abyss I took two steps forward to get away from Freya and it was as if gravity stopped working, as if those 2 steps had taken me thousands of kilometers away from Freya, the concepts of space, gravity and everything else were so horrible that even keeping my balance was difficult. Even so, I took those 2 steps away from her for a simple reason, I didn''t know exactly what would happen next and I didn''t want to touch her when I was going to perform my technique. I''ve never done anything like this before, but calling the Creatures of the Abyss wasn''t really difficult, they''re always constantly looking for something to destroy and all I need to do is give it to them, use a beacon to show them where they can go. I try to look back, but I can''t see anything, I can''t see the 10 creatures without using Tarzor''s senses that can understand this incomprehensible environment around us, even so I can still feel their murderous intent directed at us. "(What do those who seek emptiness and non-existence hate the most? What do they most want to eradicate? That which represents the opposite of the state of emptiness... Existence...)" (me) Within the Soul of all creatures there is the Spark of Existence, from which all emotions, desires, evolutions and transformations arise. When the Generals of the Abyss pursued us when we left the universe of the Guardian Kings, the God Kings with the power of ancient Dragons inherited, they pursued us because Tarzor was a more attractive target than that collapsing universe. At the time I did not understand this and did not think about it, but now I understand, Tarzor''s Spark of Existence was stronger than that of that universe, the Creatures of the Abyss must be able to sense the Sparks of Existence and that is why their focus during the destruction of a universe always begins by destroying living creatures. It was from this logic that I understood how to call the Creatures of the Abyss, what they would pay attention to more than anything. "(Beyond the flesh is the mind... beyond the mind is the Soul... beyond the Soul is the Spark of Existence... that which connects everything as an integrated whole, the Will!!)" (me) The Spark of Existence cannot be controlled or used by any type of energy, power, magic, technique, consciousness, Divinity or Aura. Only the Will can reach everything that makes up an individual, can reach the deepest part of a being. Using my Will to go beyond all the layers that make up me, I can feel the core of who I am, my Spark of Existence. I can feel and somehow understand a little about it, I can feel my Spark of Existence connected to many things and being nourished by many things, the Faith of my religion, the contract with my Familiars, Heralds, Heroes, Children and Saints. All of this makes up who I am, strengthens my existence, with my Will, I reach my Spark of Existence and flow only its presence through my Will outwards, it was something completely different from Aura, Soul or Vitality, it was completely indistinct and I could not feel it passing through my body, none of my senses were able to capture it, only my Will could do it. I concentrate this presence, this light ember of my Existence in the palm of my hand before lighting my Star Fire, a Divine Magic creates its circles around the Crackling Flame with the ember of my existence being refined in the middle. "< Profane Magic: Chaos Wave >" (me) This magic is actually one of the simplest and perhaps one of the first that every wizard learns, using a wave of mana as a signal to call his nearby companions, a magic that creates a wave of magical power that spreads across an area while weakening and diluting over distance. A simple, economical technique that spreads faster and faster until it disappears, but when used by a God like me this magic can spread across an entire universe with ease and when used now it spreads much further than that since in this ethereal place only energies exist, the wave spreads Arminda further. Cough Cough "(That was heavier than I expected.)" (me) I could only do it for a few seconds, honestly it didn''t take much energy, but the weight of forcing some of my Spark of Existence out of me like that was great, I used the Starfire that cintembonpider of Chaos as support, even so it wasn''t something simple to accomplish. "(Are you okay?)" (Freya) "(I am, it was just a slight repercussion, it won''t be a problem.)" (me) "(Did you get it?)" (Freya) "(Yes, I got it, now we just have to wait, I don''t have any proof that it will work, but theoretically it should work, we just need to wait and nothing else...)" (me) "..." (me) "..." (Freya) "(Hinata... irritated...)" (Hinata) "(Looks like you got it.)" (Tarzor) Freya appeared next to me holding my monster so it wouldn''t fall, she held me tightly and while we were returning to the portal where we left Tarzor, suddenly I turned my vision to the surroundings just like Freya did. I still couldn''t see anything, but my instincts were still screaming at me to run, so I closed my eyes to use Tarzor''s senses for a brief moment. Using his senses, I was able to see many other things that I couldn''t before, one of those things was the large number of creatures that simply materialize to attack. The creatures of the Abyss materialize from the Void that exists between the various types of chaotic energy that we have around us, the appearance of the Creatures of the Abyss was that of Humanoids, their arms were long with long fingers with claws on the ends, their bodies were thin, in place of a face there was only a large mouth full of teeth and they all ran over the many flows of raw energy in the surroundings, wherever they went everything seemed to darken. The Creatures of the Abyss didn''t come from just one direction, they came from 3 different directions, each of those 3 sides was filled with an uncountable number of Creatures of the Abyss marching towards me. It was like seeing an ocean of creatures that was getting wider and wider on all sides. The worst part was that they were coming towards me like a wall of creatures. Some of them seemed to have strange, deformed shapes. Wasting no time, I let Freya pull me down with her. Hinata scrambled back. Her Universal Golem couldn''t enter Tarzor and she wouldn''t be in any danger staying outside. Her defenses were as high as Tarzor''s, maybe even stronger, so she would be great at helping to defend. As soon as I returned to the inside and floated among the stars, I was immensely relieved. It was the first time that floating in outer space didn''t feel empty. Space itself was something that surrounded me just like the ocean water surrounds fish. Compared to the truly incomprehensible void outside, this was much better. "Warn everyone, we don''t have time to waste, they''re already coming and they''re going to attack us before the 10 Anomalous Creatures!" (me) "I''m warning them as we speak." (Freya) We were near their Tree which was the first thing I saw, but knowing that it wasn''t the time to be relieved to go back inside or enjoy the view of this place. I stay with my legs crossed while closing my eyes, my mind focusing on Tarzor as I not only share my senses with him, but also make my mind synchronize with him while my Aura dilutes in his. Suddenly I feel like I''m occupying the same place as Tarzor as if we were two bodies occupying the same space, this allows us to use our powers together, even though it''s not as strong as a complete Incarnation, at least it''s not as heavy to maintain this state while my unprotected body isn''t attacked. "(Look over there.)" (Tarzor) "(Generals of the Abyss... no, but they''re big...)" (me) "(They and everyone else will attack us first, I can handle the small ones, but the big ones might be able to hurt me.)" (Tarzor) "(Conserve your strength, Hinata and I can take care of this first wave.)" (me) I don''t need to take care of all the Creatures of the Abyss, I just need to protect Tarzor from the ones that can really do damage to him, in this state I can use my power through his body and as long as he''s not an Abyss General, I have some confidence in dealing with him. I knew from the beginning that we would be attacked first, I was the one who drew their attention, while their priority target is us, but looking at the 10 creatures already being attacked by the nearby enemies, it was clear that the plan was working. Their numbers were growing more and more, the larger Creatures of the Abyss were approaching where we were, there were only 4 so far, their bodies are like worms with spider-like stops, some have more than one head and others have wings like blades. Tarzor continues on his way, keeping the highest speed possible. As soon as the first one reaches him, trying to reach him, Tarzor moves his tail, hitting him from the side and I give the final blow. "< Unholy Curse: Eclipse Mark >" (me) A Curse mark appears on the creature, but it disappears very quickly. The Curse had a very weak effect. Perhaps because they don''t have a Soul, curses don''t work so well against them. But before they can attack again, Hinata appears near him and her wings detach from her back, performing high-speed attacks on the large creature. Her body is torn apart while parts of her body are paid for by the other creatures that approach. "(Curses don''t work very well against beings without Souls. Try using your Starfire more. The power of Chaos is their weakness. They can''t adapt to something that is constantly changing.)" (Tarzor) Chapter 1723: Cap 1721: Suicide Chase Part 1 We''ve been chased by the Creatures of the Abyss for an hour now, just as I expected, our original pursuers can''t catch up to us, in fact half of them fell further behind while everyone scattered, ironically only the birds can fly between the endless hours of Creatures of the Abyss. Our speed so far hasn''t been affected much, Hinata has managed to continue protecting Tarzor so far with me using very focused magic to drive the enemies away, the idea was never to win battles against the Creatures of the Abyss, all I need is to leave everyone behind. None of the enemies have managed to invade Tarzor yet, the Creatures of the Abyss are beating against its Dimensional membrane as if they were beating against a door of super reinforced steel, no matter how many there are, their forces can''t break through this level of defense, it''s not a matter of adapting or not, it simply still comes down to the level of power, as a universe the level of Tarzor''s global power is unmatched. But he didn''t have that many ways to attack in fact, Tarzor was also restricted by his position as a Living Universe. ------------------- As the hours passed more and more Creatures of the Abyss arrived and now, those damn birds also reached us, they flew between the Creatures of the Abyss dodging their attacks as they advanced towards us. I wanted to wait until they got closer, but suddenly dozens of Creatures of the Abyss with large bodies managed to invade Tarzor''s body and enter, that''s when 3 of them appeared where I was near Freya''s tree. "Freya, deal with one of them." (me) "I''ll take care of the other 2..." (me) "(Tarzor, let me know when the birds arrive.)" (me) "(I''ll let you know, but it should be in a few dozen minutes at most, maybe before that.)" (Tarzor) "Alright." (Freya) Freya attacked the one who stabbed her the most because he was the most separated of the 3 enemies, the other two were a large Serpent with a scaly skin and no eyes, the other was a giant with the lower part being 4 crab legs that seem to get stuck in space when it steps. The two seemed to be strong, but they were advancing against Freya''s tree without fear, their power was making the space vibrate around them, experiencing this I returned to my Dragon form. I had no time to waste with mindless creatures like them, there were still many enemies near Tarzor. "< Divine Summon: Eclipse Sword >" (me) With my Divine Weapon flowing to my fist, I break the space pulling out a sword that transforms as it absorbs my Divine Weapon. A large Dragon holding a large sword should intimidate others, but those waists of theirs continued their attack without caring, their presence was unnerving to me. I use my sword to hit the half-crab''s head, pushing it to the side, then I advance against the bizarre Serpent using one of my hands and my tail to force its jaws open. "< Breath of Chaos >" (me) A growing torrent of Starfire flows through my jaws into its body, which burns from the inside out. Its body is torn apart, but before it completely falls apart, I suddenly feel a fist coming towards my head. I put my head to the side, stopping using my breath attack, closing my jaws on the arm that passed by the side of my head and with all the strength of my neck I throw the giant upwards while at the same time preparing my sword that is covered in Starfires. "< Divine Eclipse Slash >" (me) I release myself from the burning carcass of the first enemy while holding the sword tightly in my hands, with a strong swing of the sword the space itself begins to ripple strongly as the sword splits the Creature of the Abyss in half while the two halves connect and burn in Starfire. Looking into the distance, Freya used thousands of branches and sent a green flame of pure Vitality to pierce the entire body of her enemy, it seems that the energy of life can be used as a good weapon against the Creatures of the Abyss. I exchange a look with Freya, the battle was much easier than I imagined, the enemy that Freya just defeated completely disintegrates until nothing remains, but for some reason the 2 that I defeated were still burning and continued to do so for the next few minutes while continuously decreasing in size. "What happened here?" (me) "If you don''t know, then there''s no way I can know, your power has always been very strange." (Freya) "How are the others?" (me) "Akatosh and Lena finished off the others, Cortana took care of the others that appeared soon after." (Freya) "I see..." (me) While listening to Freya''s words that she could keep an eye on the entire universe on her own, I kept looking through Tarzor''s senses to the outside. "(I can''t see that Ghost and those damn birds are increasing their speed.)" (me) I had been sensing the danger for some time now, but many things were happening at the same time, the Creatures of the Abyss managed to slow down and stop half of the Anomalous Creatures that were chasing us. Luckily, no General of the Abyss had appeared yet, but with so many Creatures of the Abyss appearing, it is almost certain that sooner or later they will appear. But the worst of all was that the Phantom Sphere disappeared, I don''t like to lose sight of an enemy, not composed of hidden dangers. "The birds have finally arrived... tell Cortana to get ready and be ready too." (me) "Okay..." (Freya) Freya disappeared, and then I saw those damn birds not only dodging the Creatures of the Abyss, but also leading their attackers towards us, they are smart enough to attract enemies towards us. In a few minutes they advanced towards us, that''s when I realized that there was a leader among them taking the lead in a V formation, behind them were thousands of super large Creatures of the Abyss. Snap With a snap of my finger using my Aura, I tell Freya and Tarzor to start the plans, I''ve never been one to receive attacks without doing anything. "< Chaos Magic: Eclipse Burst >" (me) Using my blood to numb a red crystal cube, I condense all my power to the last drop, millions of extra thin golden lines are drawn on the crystal cube on all its 6 sides while the space seems to vibrate around it because of the great power condensed inside. "Tarzor...?" (me) I throw the cube upwards, a small portal opens and closes right after, I was out of energy, but I was already recovering as I close my eyes to share Tarzor''s senses. I saw Sarazar coming out of Tarzor''s back as if coming out of the ocean, his jaws already open releasing a black mist of pure power of death, this power was aiming at the bird in front, but he dodged almost instantly and because of that the bird further to his right had its head surrounded by the mist of death while Sarazar''s body grows closer to him, his size was smaller than them and even so with his bite it seemed that the bird was sucked into him before diving into Tarzor next. All this happened in seconds and as if waiting for Sarazar''s return, the cube I created was expelled by Tarzor while his body was covered in thousands of barriers of all kinds instantly. An explosion of Flames exploded while a frightening gravity pulled everything around towards the explosion of Stellar Flames, everything happened very fast and the Stellar Flames made it seem like a new universe was forming. This time all the birds were alert and the 4 dodged the explosion while quickly moving away from the area taken by the gravitational force, even so the same could not be said for the large Creatures of the Abyss that were right behind the birds, as they did not have a mind of their own, they were all paid by the gravitational force that pulled them into the explosion being burned by the Stellar Fire. The defenses around Tarzor were broken in a matter of seconds, but even so we moved away from the explosion and continued on our way thanks to the explosion that continued a little further back, we moved away from the enemies and gained some space to fly unhindered. "It worked better than expected..." (me) I didn''t even finish my words when the 4 birds circled the explosion approaching Tarzor once again, this time their speed was even greater and they dove towards him while ignoring Hinata controlling the Universal Golem, the 4 birds sank into Tarzor as their sizes decreased. "Damn!!!" (me) They caught us by surprise this time, their speed increased several times and they didn''t intend to just attack Tarzor from the outside, they sank into his body taking advantage of the areas where the dimensional membranes were already weakened. I was still recovering my power when one of them appeared not far from me. "Freya!!" (me) "< Universal Magic: Power Transfer >" (Freya) Suddenly 8 branches of Freya appear from space itself carrying various forms of energy that enter my body at high speed, my power, among them the Sacred Power that soon converts into Divine power. Meanwhile, the bird that suddenly appeared stops not far from me, its head turning in the direction of the Star Palace while its Aura locks onto me. "So you are the Bringer of Chaos..." Chapter 1724: Cap 1722: Suicide Chase Part 2 "So you''re the Bringer of Chaos..." That damn bird came to me and it seems like it''s exactly what he wanted, but I noticed something was wrong. As soon as he arrived, I felt a different energy fluctuation, something wasn''t right, so even though I was recovering my energy with Freya''s help, I still connected with Tarzor to sense the surrounding area. "< Divine Magic: Eclipse Seal >" (me) I wave my hand towards the Star Palace and Starfire covers the entire place, the space around there was completely cut off from the rest of the space, it became a separate area that can only be seen and not accessed without my permission. "How long do you plan on hiding?" (me) "(Did you sense someone?)" (Freya) "(I''m not sure, but I''d rather bluff to confirm than leave it like this.)" (me) "I didn''t expect your senses to be so good." Things were different than I thought, what turned out to be wasn''t an Ascendant, it was that metal statue, it emanated the power of the Law, but it wasn''t the power of the normal Law of the Ascendants, it was different, I could feel the Anomalous Power coming from it as if it were an Anomalous Creature. "So the summoner of these things was in sight the whole time..." (me) "Yes, I summoned them, but there''s no point in looking at me like that, I don''t control them." (Metal Ascendant) I knew he was telling the truth, he has the same Runes on his body, the same ones that all Anomalous Creatures have. "Don''t get me wrong... but I can''t wait any longer..." "< Reality Storm >" "< Universal Magic: Field Control >" (Freya) "(I''ll take care of the birds.)" (Freya) "(Thank you.)" (me) In a few seconds my body was recharged with power once again, but the price for that was the pain I was feeling as well as the weight on my body from overloading it. The bird concentrated its power of reality in its wings before flapping them forward, what happened next was the entire space distorting at high speed in different ways as if a storm was forming. Freya on the other hand waved her hand towards the storm as trees of crystallized energy appeared, turning the distorted space once again into its normal state, breaking the storm that the bird created. This was just the first confrontation of their battle, soon the two moved away, of course they moved away because of Freya''s attacks focused on that. Meanwhile my enemy was just staring at me, his eyes were closed, but his entire metal body seemed to have been built, it didn''t seem natural, he looked more like a super advanced robot than an Ascendant and now that I''m paying more focused attention to him, I already realize how strange his power of the Ascendant Law was, it had traces of three different Ascendants. "(There are more Creatures of the Abyss coming!)" (Tarzor) "..." (me) "< Sword of Law >" (Metal Ascendant) When I received Tarzor''s message the metal Ascendant may have noticed the distraction in my eyes or Aura, he flapped his wings towards me while swords of the power of the Law condensed in his hands, his speed was very high. "< Divine Summon: Eclipse Sword >" (me) Without wasting any time, I also attacked, my Dragon form showing its strength as the Star Sword shattered space and my divine weapon fused with the sword that collided with the enemy. The enemy had 4 arms, each of them holding a sword filled with intense condensed Law power, each collision with one of his swords created a shockwave between his Law power and my Divine power. His speed was slightly faster than mine and his strength was greater than mine by a large margin, each collision between my sword and his was followed by me being sent back a little with my arm going numb. I was also always attacked by his other 3 swords, he always did the same thing, attacking with one sword to block my sword and then performing 3 simultaneous attacks with his other swords. In each confrontation I had to fight with my entire body, using the blade on my tail to take care of one of the enemy''s swords while using my other arm to deflect his other sword while at the same time dodging one of his swords. This type of confrontation put me at a disadvantage while his attack became uninterrupted. I was at a complete disadvantage, I couldn''t counterattack in any way, but I didn''t worry about it either since I discovered a few things about the enemy, one of them is that just as I suspected, he doesn''t have his own Law power, his swords are composed of different Law power, he also doesn''t use the same techniques that the Ascendants use by invoking the Law power within themselves, he uses this power in a brutal way. He increases his body with energy and condenses energy to attack, he treats the Law Power as if it were something similar to Ki, but uses it in a very unrefined way, he compensates for his brutal way of using energy with a very well-polished combat technique and very high physical statistics, especially in strength. As time goes by, his attacks become more lethal, he seems to be getting used to my way of attacking, but I also learned more about him. As soon as he changes his fighting style by attacking with two swords at first, I smile at him, this time I didn''t stay on the defensive like before, I advance towards him and use my wings to block his swords before they can come down against me, the other two swords advance to pierce my head and chest at the same time, I use my sword to block one of the attacks while I punch the last blade. Without losing my momentum, I spin close to his body and my tail hits the side of his body, but my tail was not able to pierce his metal defenses causing only scratches. Of course I didn''t stop there, before he could react to what I did, my jaws try to close on his head, but differently his body grows to a size comparable to that of the Freya Tree, the size of a Star System, I had forgotten that his size that I saw through Tarzor''s senses earlier was larger than what he was showing here. "< Law Impact > 4" (Metal Ascendant) His swords disappear into particles of Law power as his hands glow brightly as he comes towards me. "(Tarzor, instant movement!)" (me) Without wasting any time, my body disappears from the spot as space folds around me. Before he can understand what is happening, I appear on his back where the base of his wings is. "< Unholy Curse of Chaos: Star Infection >" (me) His body had a lot of resistance. I realized that no attack of mine would be able to break through his defenses in a short time. Only if I concentrated dozens or hundreds of attacks in the same place would it be possible to break through his defenses. But that would be too much work, so I decided to cheat. The power of Chaos is very flexible and if there is one thing I have learned from Hades'' existence, then it would be how frightening a living curse can be. Concentrating the power of Chaos on the blade in my tail, on my claws and on my sword, I made hundreds of cuts on his back between his wings while activating my Divine Magic in overlap with the magic circle I had drawn on the enemy. Suddenly I felt danger and with all my speed I moved away, flapping my wings to get away, that was when I saw his wings coming towards me, but I was still late, two bloody cuts appeared on my chest going down to the bones. "It was worth the risk..." (me) Blood was running down my chest and from the corner of my mouth, but I didn''t care, it wasn''t fatal damage and it only scratched my bones a little, my attention was on the enemy who turned to me. His eyes opened, burning with stellar flames as black lines spread throughout his body, the Runes of Law on his forehead flashed as the power of Law tried to fight the infection in his body. His body remained motionless as the metal in his body twisted from the internal battle within him, I didn''t stand still and wait, what I did was endure the pain in my body and the creaking of the bones in my chest as I advanced towards the enemy''s forehead. As if realizing my target, his 4 fists came towards me, destroying space at the same time. "Tarzor, the eye!" (me) Space warped once more around me and when my vision returned, I was already facing the enemy''s open right eye, his 4 arms were stretched out behind me and he didn''t seem able to use his wings now, so I concentrated my power on the tip of my sword. "< Unholy Eclipse Magic: Dragon Blade >" (me) I pierced his eye with my sword as a large amount of energy flowed from my body to the sword and into his body, in a matter of 1 second his eyes glowed brightly as Star Flames came out of his mouth, ears, nose and mouth his Aura was destroyed while the Runes on his forehead were disintegrated. "Even so his body is still almost intact..." (me) Chapter 1725: Cap 1723: Suicide Chase Part 3 Pov Hades: I was breathing heavily as dozens of humanoid bodies burned in Starfire around me. "How did they get in?" (me) "I don''t know, the Anomalous Creatures that entered made many tears in Tarzor''s dimensional membrane, my Daughters and I are repairing them as fast as we can." (Grave Mother) "And where are those damn birds!?" (me) "There were 5, Sarazar took one of them, 2 of them are in combat now against Freya and Akatosh, the other two disappeared." (Grave Mother) "Did they leave Tarzor? Were they killed?" (me) "I don''t know, one of them was near Niryna and the last one disappeared near the twins." (Grave Mother) "So they didn''t become a problem again." (me) Niryna must have captured the bird, it seems she likes to experiment on enemies with rare characteristics because of her summons, as for the one that disappeared near the Twins, I can''t even imagine what happened to him, they are as unpredictable as Master Zenos. "Those weren''t normal Abyss Creatures." (me) "Yes, they were reacting intelligently, but they weren''t strong enough as an Abyss General should be." (Mother of the Grave) "I feel like they were being controlled, their reactions were perfectly coordinated, it was like fighting an enemy with multiple bodies." (me) Now that the battle was over, I was thinking about what happened, the battle was strange in many ways, the enemies reacted too quickly against my blows, honestly I was only able to win because of the great difference in power and because these Abyss Creatures didn''t have time to fully adapt, otherwise it would have been a bloody battle for me and I wouldn''t be sure if I would be able to win. This kind of battle doesn''t make sense unless you''re fighting puppets while someone else pulls the strings from afar, but considering they''re Creatures of the Abyss there''s only one possibility. "Warn the others, we have an Abyss General nearby." (me) ------------------- Pov Akatosh: I was sitting in the middle of an island I ripped from a nearby planet for myself, looking around my blood was shining golden spread across all the left-handed people in this Star System. "That damn thing was fast." (me) Below me was a rough crystal where only a silhouette of footsteps was visible, I couldn''t kill that damn thing, its body was ethereal, my Divine power didn''t have the effect I intended, all I could do was seal that damn thing, which wasn''t my specialty. "Why are you here, Karina?" (me) "I''m also your Saint, have you forgotten?" (Karina) "..." (me) I had actually forgotten about that, she basically just acts like a Saint to Zenos, it wasn''t like I wanted that either, it was Zenos'' fault that all this happened, so I didn''t remember that she was also my Saint. She must have felt that I was hurt and came here or maybe it was because my Divine Power was unstable because of the reality power of that damn thing. "I''m fine, I''ll recover in a few minutes." (me) "I hope so, I received information that we have an Abyss General nearby." (Karina) "Is this serious...?" (me) "Very serious, it was Hades who said it." (Karina) "(This is bad, I need to find a way to divert attention from this thing.)" (me) ------------------ Pov Freya: I was watching that bird flying between my trees without touching any of them, its speed was greater than I expected, all the surroundings were surrounded by trees, but it passed through everything without touching anything. As it flies through the surroundings, space becomes strange, the power of reality distorts the forces of nature making it harder to control. "< Universal Magic: World Overlay >" (me) I noticed that the bird''s power was very focused on the power of reality, its elements are spatial forces and the like, perhaps even having traces of concepts in themselves, that''s why it was so difficult to keep things that way. But if his power is focused mainly on the power of reality, then what happens if I overpower two realities with power flowing in different directions, he is as sensitive as me and maybe even more, this can give me the chance I need. Suddenly everything for millions of kilometers vibrates while chopping into different images, sometimes it was these trees with the stars in the background, in others it was a sea with a green sky above. The two powers of reality collide with each other causing a sensory confusion, my head hurts because of it, but the bird was not reminded of this, he almost stopped as his Aura became chaotic and his body distorted showing itself to be completely made of the power of reality. "< Universal Magic: Elemental Judgment >" (me) Thousands of stars appear forming a circle around the large bird, its body begins to grow, but before it can do so its body is pierced by all these stars that shine with different colors, soon after the stars form a right angle returning against it before once again curving after piercing it only to do the same thing again, again, again and again. The power of these stars represented various elements and parts of this bird''s body were burning while parts of its body were petrified, either by darkness or frozen. But there was no blood, besides it was clearly causing pain, it was not dying, I don''t even know if these damn things can be killed. "(If it can''t be killed... then I''ll bind these things.)" (me) "< Universal Magic: Multi-Elemental Seal >" (me) All the stars change their positions as they multiply more and more, forming multiple Ritual Circles that activate using the flow of natural power, everything condenses into the form of an ethereal tree of pure energy that coils around the bird that tries to break free. "Now you are mine..." (me) "< Seal >" (me) The entire tree solidifies completely as if it were a normal wooden tree while the bird seems to crystallize trapped in the tree''s branches. Sigh I felt that the Seal wasn''t completely effective, but I was still happy anyway as long as this thing stays away from me for a few hours. "Are you done?" (Zenos) "I''m done... what about you?" (me) "I''m also done with..." (Zenos) "..." (me) Suddenly we both turned at the same time in the same direction, this was because someone had invaded Tarzor, someone who was causing havoc in the very structure of Tarzor. "What are we going to do?" (me) "Nothing, we can''t do anything..." (Zenos) Using my branches that extend throughout this universe, I could see the Anomalous Creature that looks like a Wolf, its size was so large that it took up 1/3 of the interior of Tarzor''s body. The power that was emanating from its body was simply insane, I could see that inside it there were also many intimates of the power of the Law, but it didn''t make sense for this Anomalous Creature to appear here so quickly when it should be much further back. I look at Zenos and he seems strangely calm and I didn''t understand why he was so relaxed in the face of this enemy that is clearly even more powerful than those birds. ------------------- Pov Lena: I was on a planet that was receiving its first civilization, the people here don''t know the danger they''re in just by living inside Tarzor, they don''t know the battles that have occurred and still occur. My sister and I were watching them build a great mark in their history, a temple in the name of Zenos. "Aren''t we going to do anything?" (me) "We can''t do anything, we don''t know who else is hiding, it was already a risk to let Sarazar help." (Cortana) "Are you trying to catch that Ghost-type Anomalous Creature?" (me) "Yes, I want to catch that thing and if possible the one who controls it." (Cortana) "It''s going to be difficult, he''s hiding very well." (me) My sister and I looked at the construction of the Temple, we felt the power of their Faith permeating each block of stone, they were trying to honor the one who helped them find refuge when their universe was about to break. This was one of the planets that Tarzor integrated into it, but these people are mere mortals, they do not understand the struggles and responsibilities of the Gods, they are not able to see the battles that destroy Worlds happening now or the risk that this entire universe has of ending. I wave to my sister and we both leave, outside the planet, behind one of the 3 moons of this place, we find the bird that we left tied up here. "Have you thought about what to do with it?" (me) "Yes, I will forge a cosmic artifact, I will integrate the other birds too, it will be a good link for what I intend to do." (Cortana) "Your hunt for the Taboos..." (me) "My work will be bloodier than yours, I cannot afford to use the Star Path of Zenos like you." (Cortana) "..." (me) My sister says that, but she also wants to use Zenos'' Star Path, besides it''s easier for us to use it. "Did you feel that?" (me) "A General of the Abyss, but it''s too early for one to appear." (Cortana) Suddenly my sister and I feel something, we both look in the same direction with disgust in our eyes, the Creatures of the Abyss are disgusting to us. Chapter 1726: Cap 1724: Suicide Chase Part 4 When I turned my head in that direction it was as if the whole world had ended, what I was feeling was fear, an instinctive fear of something totally opposite to me and that completely overcame me being in the same space as me. His presence was so strong that it was impossible not to feel it, the last time I only saw a large arm covered in chains in the universe of the Guardian Kings, after that I only saw them chasing Tarzor before we reached the universe of Lolth. Now it was different, there was nothing holding him back, he was entering Tarzor through a wound in his dimensional membrane, he still had no entrance, but his presence alone was frightening as if he could not accept anything around him, there were no emotions, desires or anything other than the instinct of destruction. "Freya, take me, Akatosh and you to that place now!" (me) "What do you want to do? We are not capable of fighting against that." (Freya) "I do not want to fight, what I intend to do is something else." (me) Knowing that there was no time to waste to clear up her doubts, Freya did as I asked. Two leaf-shaped passages appeared near us where we passed. What greeted me after crossing that passage was a horrible sight. It was a giant larger than a Star System squeezing through a passage that was tearing itself apart more and more as it passed. Its appearance was horrible. Its body was covered by an armor that seemed to be made of bones full of sharp points. Its hands were claws with 3 long fingers. Its head was cone-shaped and opened in 4 different directions, revealing endless darkness inside. It didn''t even have teeth. Space itself contorted as it was crushed and pulled into that horrible mouth. His entire body was covered by that armor and his presence smelled of destruction, just looking at him was like looking at seas of blood, shattered worlds and entire universes broken, it was as if all his crimes were revealed in his Aura as a warning to all those who encountered him. I was in horror seeing that thing, his appearance itself was not the most grotesque or ugly I had ever seen, but for some reason he was repulsive to me, the feelings of fear and hatred only grew more and more in my heart. I hadn''t even noticed the time passing while I looked at that horrible thing, I was in a daze staring at that thing until Freya touched my shoulder to remind me what I had to do. Looking at her, soon we both looked at a third portal that no one had passed through yet, I was worried that Akatosh would take too long trying and when I was about to go look for him after 10 seconds of raping, he finally appears from the portal. Akatosh''s condition was horrible, he was covered in wounds and he was clearly weakened, it seems he fought against one of those birds, Freya didn''t say how she dealt with her enemy, but it seems it was difficult for Akatosh. Just like me before him, Akatosh also focused his attention on the horrible creature that tried to invade this universe, unlike me, his unstable Aura only had uncontained anger towards that thing. "What''s your plan?" (Akatosh) "..." (Freya) "We''re going to expel it and I need your help." (me) There was no chance of combat, I wasn''t that suicidal, Akatosh should also know that I wouldn''t fight this thing head on, no one here could go against this thing head on, not even the Twins might be able to do that, and I also didn''t want to depend on their power yet. The Creatures of the Abyss adapt to everything, be it environments, energies, elements or enemies. These creatures are a nightmare that cannot die since they were never alive, but they can be destroyed, which is not what we will do here, we are not strong enough to face this thing. What I am going to do here is already risky enough and even if I succeed, this thing will continue to chase us and will adapt against what I will do, so I prefer to leave the Twins aside now, the journey will still take more than 1 week, I cannot waste their power now at the beginning. "What do you want to do?" (Freya) "I will push him out, when I do that, I want you to use your vines to sew the Dimensional Membrane and Akatosh will use his Divine power to cauterize the wound into a seal." (me) "I am used to sealing rifts in the Dimensional Membrane, even if this is a very large one, I can still do it, especially if it is already closed." (Akatosh) "I can do it, but how are you going to push that thing?" (Freya) "I''ll use Tarzor..." (me) "Zenos, your current condition..." (Freya) "I know, but it''ll only be a brief moment and I won''t push it to the limit now." (me) "I''ll do it now, so be quick." (me) The two nod at me in confirmation as I move away from them as my body returns to its Dragon form, even without looking at them as Akatosh is doing the same. Even at my large size, the creature looked at us with its many lifeless eyes as if it wanted to destroy us, its arm forming a shape to tear the dimensional membrane faster. "I''ll destroy you and then those two before annihilating everything in this place." "(Tarzor, can you use Incarnation?)" (me) "(Yes, but you can''t handle it, not in your current condition.)" (Tarzor) "Thank you for calling us here, it''s usually hard to find living universes like this, these seeds of creation are at the top of our targets." Even with a monstrous appearance, with a horrendous Aura around him and without any emotions, this Anomalous General has a calm voice and speaks rationally without changing his tone of voice, this only scared me even more. A creature without a mind, no matter how strong it is, can still be dealt with with enough planning, but a strong creature with a rational mind is a horrible level of danger. I couldn''t let this thing pass, that wasn''t an option, so I tightened my claws, causing even injuries because of my claws, while still speaking to Tarzor through our mental link. "(I''ll use 5%, that should be enough.)" (me) "< Universal Incarnation: 5% >" (me/Tarzor) Using this power is always a risk every time, but I realized that doing it inside Tarzor is a slightly smaller risk. With the experience of the first success last time, my Aura harmonizes with his, our senses overlap as my power adds to his, various energies flow into my body, not normal energies, they were the Essences of these energies in their purest form spreading throughout my body while my energy reserves that were previously half full are once again forcibly filled. My Divinity as a Primordial God was the only thing allowing this act of insanity to come close to being possible while my Power of Chaos completely made the rest of the impossibility, I felt my entire body filled with power, more power than I could ever contain normally, fortunately this power just flows through me without being contained or I would have already exploded from the excess of energy in the first second. The entire transformation and integration of just 5% of Tarzor with me took only a few seconds, for me it felt like an eternity, but seeing what I was becoming, it seemed to have affected the General of the Abyss, his instinct was screaming in his Aura that focused on me while the murderous intent coming from him was like an entire universe of death surrounding me, it was of a level of horror that bordered on what I experienced in Hell. With all this power in hand, this time I would not channel Tarzor''s power through me as before, it was the opposite. "< Universal Breath of Chaos >" (me/Tarzor) I make my power of Chaos flow to Tarzor who then amplifies this power with his Essences and his infinite amount of raw energy, all this power condenses above me and as space itself deforms into the head of a Dragon whose eyes represent an entire universe, as soon as its jaws open they reveal endless energies colliding amidst a Stellar flame that explodes like the beginning of a universe. An absurd amount of Starfire explodes from these colliding jaws as it looks like a river of stars flowing towards the General of the Abyss. He tried to punch the river of starfires that was heading towards him, it was possible to see that the flames were close to extinguishing and as they pushed back, a great shockwave devastates space that almost splits for billions of kilometers as the General of the Abyss''s body begins to be pushed back. He tried to grab onto space and force himself further in, but he couldn''t, space was too shaken to give him any assistance, seeing his body being pushed by a raging river of Starfire was a spectacle to behold, unfortunately it didn''t last long. After dozens of seconds he was completely out of the Universe, as Tarzor and I were partially joined, I clapped my two palms together and the rift in space closes equally with space pressing both sides together. My whole body was shaking, my condition wasn''t the best, but fortunately I didn''t have to wait long, Freya had endless branches and vines sew the two sides together like a doctor stitching up an open wound. Akatosh came right after, his large fist filled with Divine power crashed against the closed crack as golden flames shone, completely sealing the crack. I could feel that the wound hadn''t completely healed, but it could no longer be used as a passage and there would be enough time for Tarzor to recover. Chapter 1727: Cap 1725: Suicide Chase Part 5 Pov Lena: My sister and I were on a moon near the rift. We couldn''t ignore a General of the Abyss, especially one with so many marks on his Aura. Honestly, I wanted to act personally to deal with him. I''m sure my sister thinks the same. Unfortunately, it wouldn''t be possible without harming everyone here. If we act, many Generals of the Abyss might discover us, which would make many of them come our way. Our powers are very close to creation. It would be complete chaos if we did something now. "He''s very unpredictable, not to mention his reckless actions." (Cortana) "Yes, even from so far away I can feel his Vitality burning in a frightening way. He''s simply not in a condition to withstand this technique." (me) My sister and I were watching how Tarzor''s natural energy flow integrated Zenos into it, not to mention Zenos'' Aura containing part of Tarzor. Even though he''s a Primordial God of Tarzor, that''s insane. The amount of power that a universe contains is simply too great, they are cradles of creation where all things can exist and evolve, a Living Universe like Tarzor has power contained within itself compared to that of an Entity, honestly, at the moment it has more energy than me and my sister together, at least for now. "Freya is also exaggerating, she is using part of her body to seal the rift in the dimensional membrane." (me) "Everyone got carried away by panic, they are using more than was necessary in this situation." (Cortana) "See, only Akatosh did what was necessary without exaggerating, even if his intervention was no longer necessary it was still more than significant." (Cortana) Just what Freya did would have sealed that rift completely and Tarzor would have bought more than enough time to heal himself by closing that rift in his dimensional membrane once and for all. Even though Akatosh''s Divine power was not necessary, he still managed to completely cauterize the rift. In a few hours, there will be no trace of this rift left while this part of Tarzor will become even more resistant. Zenos went limp after releasing his technique. When Tarzor''s power left his body, he lost consciousness. Freya was supporting his large Dragon body using her branches while Akatosh returned to his humanoid form. Zenos'' Aura was out of control. His energies were completely full again. In fact, they were even more than full, with his energy reserves overloaded with more than 30% more than the total amount they could contain. "I should take care of him..." (me) "Don''t do that. Even if you can take care of his body, it will put more weight on his Soul. He just needs to rest a little. His ability to recover is high even among the Gods, especially here inside Tarzor." (Cortana) "What do we do then?" (me) "Let''s hope they don''t need our intervention and we''ll take care of the captured Anomalous Creatures." (Cortana) "I can make use of the birds, so stay with the others." (me) "Okay, I''ll leave everyone sealed inside Sarazar for now, we can take care of them after we safely reach our destination." (Cortana) "(Everything is going wrong, the amount of Creatures of the Abyss is more than 10 times what was expected and in 2 days at the most they''ll start invading here...)" (me) Everything was going wrong from the beginning, Tarzor has already lost sight of almost all the Anomalous Creatures because of the constant harassment of the Creatures of the Abyss, with a General nearby this will only get worse, especially if more Generals arrive. ------------------- Pov Karina: I was waiting for Freya and Zenos, when they brought him unconscious, I touched his body and used my sacred power to make him return to his human state, so it would be easier to take care of him. Without needing to say anything, I took him in my arms and took him to the Star Palace at the foot of the Universal Tree, the barrier was no obstacle for me or Zenos, so I left him in his bed while I kneeled in prayer. "May your rest be synonymous with walking the paths among the stars and may your mind find comfort in the crystal gardens, sleep in peace..." (me) After my prayer, this entire room began to tremble with the power of the Faith of all Tarzor, my prayer changed the flow of the sacred powers and the Faith of those who worship Zenos in this universe, all of this has now been redirected here and will nourish him in his recovery. I stand up and take a few steps towards him before lowering my head to give him a kiss on the lips before leaving. "(In his absence, I must coordinate with Freya...)" (me) My eyes became determined as I walked out of the Star Palace and stood next to Freya. Without saying anything, she touched my shoulder, showing me the condition throughout Tarzor. "How is the condition outside?" (me) "Bad, Tarzor''s servants are sealing the rifts, but many Creatures of the Abyss have already entered." (Freya) "We also don''t have a clear idea about our initial pursuers." (Freya) "Can you show me?" (me) "No, even though you are a Holy Dragon, your mind cannot bear the scope of what exists outside the universes, the Abyss is purely about energy and concept, it does not function by rules that a normal mind can comprehend." (Freya) "..." (me) Sigh "Then all we can do is wait..." (me) ---------------------- 2 days later. Time passed, minutes became hours and finally became days, during that time the amount of attacks was hundreds, some among us took every moment of rest possible, among them Akatosh rested 3 times while Hades rested only once, refusing to stay still while he could move. Everyone was injured to some degree and whenever someone was seriously injured, they would go to Lena for healing, but she left that to Lolth who was training while healing Dragon Gods and Demigods. The battle so far had only been against the Creatures of the Abyss, their General had no more ways to enter, but he was still able to open a passage for others, his blows were heavy and made Tarzor feel pain, thanks to that there were a large number of Creatures of the Abyss to face. At some point, I even stopped thinking about our pursuers. I didn''t have time to think about enemies I couldn''t see when there were an infinite number of enemies attacking. I was exhausted and covered in bruises, cuts, and several broken bones. Even though I tried hard, mainly in coordinating the others, I also fought many times. The large-sized Wormwood Creatures were as strong as Demigods, and some among them were strong at the level of Gods. They were difficult enemies for me to face. When I was exhausted, I suddenly felt a fluctuation of Divine power. As soon as I felt it, a smile formed on my lips, knowing that he had finally awakened. --------------------- Pov Zenos: When I opened my eyes, I didn''t need anyone to tell me what was happening, as God could sense the problems in various places. Without wasting time, I left the Star Palace and went straight to Freya, where Karina was also. I didn''t need to say much. They were injured, nothing serious, but it still infuriated me to see this, since I was sleeping comfortably while others fought and bled throughout the universe. I closed my eyes and realized the general situation as well as how much time had passed. If things continued like this, we would get tired very quickly. Tarzor needed to increase his speed, but without a fixed concept of space, speed itself means nothing. To increase speed, something else was needed. I already knew what it was. Instead of Tarzor jumping from one energy flow to another, he should create his own energy flow, a path that belonged to himself. "Tarzor..." (me) "(Master... enemies...)" (Hinata) Before I could talk to Tarzor about my plan, I received a mental message from Hinata who was still outside possessing a Universal Golem. By focusing on her and listening to her senses, I was able to see that her Universal Golem was badly damaged and was surrounded by 2 other Universal Golems who, like her, were in a shrunken form. Looking around, the Creatures of the Abyss were attacking all of them, but the General of the Abyss was nowhere to be seen, he had disappeared somewhere. "Hinata is being attacked." (me) "Freya, can you use your branches to destroy one of those things?" (me) "I don''t know, but I can try." (Freya) "Great, get ready, we''ll only have one chance..." (me) "(Hinata, can you devour this Universal Golem?)" (me) I knew I was asking an absurd question, but Hinata wasn''t normal, nothing about her was normal, I didn''t want to get to that point, but I couldn''t summon her while she was with the Universal Golem, I also didn''t want to get rid of him like that, so it was better to try to take him somehow. "(Can Hinata... eat?)" (Hinata) "(Yes, but do it now!)" (me) "(Eat... eat... eat...)" (Hinata) What followed was the Universal Golem seeming to be consuming from the inside out an unspeakable creature that took back all the stars inside itself until tentacles, eyes, teeth and arms came out of its body, scaring the other two Universal Golems that were attacking it. "< Universal Magic: Apocalyptic Spear > 3" (Freya) "< Divine Summon: Hinata >" (me) Soon that horrifying thing shrank to a ridiculously small size compared to the Universal Golems, the size of a young girl with simple clothes and an expressionless face. While Hinata was surrounded by a starlight disappearing from where she was while one of a Divine magic circle appeared in front of me, three branches of Freya became 3 spears filled with a frightening power contained in their tips that came out of Tarzor''s back aiming at one of the Universal Golems from 3 different directions, it was too close for him to be able to dodge and all the spears pierced his body, the universe inside him shines in different colors while it seems to burn from the inside in some parts, while other parts are frozen, other areas are illuminated by a powerful light and even some parts are covered by pure darkness. The Universal Golem falls behind, unable to follow Tarzor as Freya''s spears or in this case, branches leave him back inside Tarzor. Chapter 1728: Cap 1726: Suicide Chase Part 6 Hinata appeared in front of me after being summoned, so without wasting any time, she sank into my body and hugged my Soul as if it were a full-body pillow. Even though her appearance was innocent, having Hinata sleeping while hugging my Soul was like being inside the mouth of an unspeakable creature, it was like putting a lion to sleep with a cat. It wasn''t that I was weaker than Hinata, but in this scenario I knew I wasn''t the predator. Hinata was always the only one I didn''t think I could devour even if I tried to use my ability. "How is she?" (Freya) "Satisfied, she''s already sleeping after filling her stomach." (me) "How did you know that was possible?" (Freya) "I didn''t know, but it didn''t hurt to try... remember, Hinata shouldn''t be underestimated. She can even devour Souls. I''ve seen him devour things many times bigger than her with just one bite, so it didn''t hurt to try." (me) "..." (Freya) "Are they really attacking?" (Karina) "Yes, but that doesn''t make sense... why attack now?" (me) I couldn''t understand, we weren''t quite halfway there, we were still being harassed by the Anomalous Creatures, if they waited another 2 or 3 days, they could catch us at our weakest moment. Attacking us now doesn''t make sense, especially with only those two Universal Golems, that was a very strange attack and it didn''t take long for me to think of a possibility and look at the Star Palace there, sealed off from the rest of space. Without saying anything, I spread my wings and headed there, my speed was restrained, entering that place was very simple for me, I went straight to the hall where that metal cube was, but as soon as I entered I found everything empty, just as I thought. "The Universal Golems were a distraction... they wanted that metal cube..." (me) They wanted to win, their goal was always one, the metal cube, I couldn''t help but smile when the cube disappeared. "< Eclipse Magic: Chaos Chain >" (me) I put my hand on the floor and dozens of magic circles formed all over the room, from these magic circles streams of Starfire compressed to the thinness of a line as they gathered in the center of the room in front of me, all twisting together taking the shape of a chain that seemed to have been forged from the stars themselves, extending beyond the Universe itself. I touched the chain holding it with my hands, my vision traveled along the chain leaving Tarzor and going to where the second Universal Golem was, entering it I found a woman with her face covered trying to take the cube from the hands of someone I saw from behind, it seemed to be a man with bright red hair. Pulling the chain, the metal cube crosses the space as if opening a portal as it appears in front of me. Everything happened suddenly, catching that woman off guard. But when I thought it was over, I realized my mistake. "Why do you have such a bad expression?" (Karina) "Karina, get out of here now. Don''t come back unless I tell you to!" (me) "..." (Karina) Karina seems strange with my order, but even so, she doesn''t try to argue or argue. She just obeys, turning her body to run away. Suddenly, she stops in the middle of the path as she turns. A powerful presence takes over the entire Star Palace. This presence seemed to be stained with the blood of countless Living Creatures. An Aura so bloodthirsty that it seemed to have no limits. She felt almost no emotion. Only the endless murderous intent encompassed the entire presence as if it were something fundamental to this individual. Suddenly I realized that on the other side of the metal cube I was holding, there was a dark gray metal chain covered in red symbols the color of blood. This chain stretched into nothingness and that was when a sword with a dark gray blade with 5 large red symbols crossed the space some distance away from me, looking at that sword I saw that it was aged with many marks on its blade as well as reddish stains. That sword cut through the space and from inside emerged a man with an ordinary face, he was wearing clothes that resembled a suit and his hair was bright red, he was the same man who handed over the cube in the vision I had just now. "You are more cunning than I thought, I hadn''t noticed that this room and the cube were connected like this, especially using the power of Chaos for something so banal." As this man spoke, he didn''t approach the cube or me, in fact he didn''t even move from where he appeared, but his entire body contorted as his skin was torn by metal spikes. His appearance was false, beneath his skin metal plates and pieces of armor tore through his body as a knight in full armor 3 times his size emerged, his size was the least intimidating thing about him. Each of his relatives was covered in heavy armor, his large shoulder pads had metal spikes, his gauntlets looked like Dragon claws, his boots were also made of metal with claws on the ends like the feet of a monster covered in the same chains that hold the cube, the belt on his waist were chains that held the sheath of his sword, on his back a vibrant red cape like the hair that comes out of his helmet, the cape almost looks like red wings opening when it swings and his helmet completely hides his head with only his long vibrant red hair falling from under the helmet to the back. In the middle of his chest there is a crystal in the shape of a 4-pointed star whose bottom point stretches further down and there was a sword symbol piercing a helmet inside this star, the blade of this sword following until the end of the longest point of the crystal star. His current appearance released an Aura more powerful than I could have imagined, he was horribly stronger than me to the point of being afraid, that''s a feeling I don''t feel often, but this time it was as strong as that time I was expelling the General of the Abyss. "Who are you!?" (me) "I am Ayden, Avatar of War and the one known as the Knight of Slaughter." (Ayden) "(An Avatar of one of the entities of Destruction.)" (me) The 4 Entities of Destruction are Plague who I met because of Callidora, Famine who I met because of the Anomalous Dragons and now I''m meeting one of the Avatars of War, only the Black King who controls the power of death remains. Even though he was so big, he disappeared from my sight and appeared near Karina who was still motionless, he grabbed her by the neck with just two fingers as if he could crush her with ease. Just being exposed to his Aura for a short time made Karina bleed even more, all her depressing feelings burst, veins all over her body burst as blood leaked from her eyes, nose, ears and mouth. "Let her go or I''ll destroy this cube!" (me) "Do you think I care about this cube?" (Ayden) "I wouldn''t care about it if it wasn''t my mission, something you got in the way of twice." (Ayden) He tightens his grip on Karina''s neck, then Starfire filled with the power of Chaos ignites in my hand as I touch the metal cube, the Starfire hasn''t touched the cube yet, but it only takes a thought to do so. "Don''t be fooled by him!" (Cortana) Suddenly the Twins appear, Lena was already holding Karina in her arms while treating her wounds and Cortana was holding the metal cube away from me. "All he wants is to use his Chaos power to facilitate the refining of the Anomalous Dragon Metal." (Lena) "Remember this, your Chaos power can transform everything, there is nothing that cannot be refined by you, be careful not to be used by others again." (Cortana) "..." (me) "Look at what we have here, so these are the stolen fragments of Life and Death..." (Ayden) "Don''t try your games with us, Malakyel..." (Lena) "..." (Ayden) Suddenly all the presence that previously suffocated this entire room disappears, in its place something that I could not touch appeared, something chilling that even made Hinata wake up and put her head out of my chest. The Knight who seemed to mock everything before him changed completely, his cape seemed to be hit by an invisible force that opened it like wings just as I thought, but from inside it two pairs of black eyes with a red slit in the middle appeared, those eyes were like the very representation of murder, my whole body was covered in sweat just by looking at them, the only time I felt something like that was when I met Callidora. I instinctively knew who owned those eyes, it wasn''t this Knight, it was the one who controlled him, the Entity of War. It was as if I could smell iron and blood in the air, as if I were in the middle of a war field with the background sounds of metal cutting flesh or clashing with metal, the whispering cries of war and the march of endless armies. "Do not use that name again." (War) "You are not Death, do not try to magnify yourself against me or I will show you the reason for my name." (War) "We are not afraid of you, you know what will happen if we decide to get involved personally, so do not interfere in our fight against the Ascendants." (Cortana) "I will not get involved, but my Avatar can and will get involved, the Bringer of Chaos has you two by his side, so my Avatar can act as he sees fit." (War) "But I know how to choose my battles, so let''s leave this for the climax, we will make this a spectacle that will make entire Universes be stained with blood!!!" (War) His words seemed to carry the screams of entire armies, he seemed happy and it was as if blood was running down my hands just from hearing his voice, it was as if he was proclaiming a war in his name. Such arrogance and confidence that I have never seen before, surpassing even what I have seen from Baldr in the past, this Entity of War seemed eager for what was to come when those eyes left him and his Avatar released his presence again. "I will withdraw for now, but next time my sword will know the blood of the Bringer of Chaos." (Ayden) Saying this, he removes his chains still attached to the cube that was now in Cortana''s hands, then he cuts the space with his sword again as he leaves. The space took a few seconds to close, but even so, we were all tense and the Twins exchanged a worried look. "He forced our hand..." (Lena) "Yes, now he has an excuse to intervene directly with his Avatar still inside his Concept." (Cortana) "He gave us no choice." (Lena) "Can any of you explain to me what happened here?" (me) Chapter 1729: Cap 1727: Suicide Chase Part 7 "Can either of you explain to me what happened here?" (me) The Twins glance at me briefly before exchanging a look as if telling the other to speak, I was waiting until Lena took that step forward. "Anomalous Entities like War cannot directly intervene in a universe, that''s why they use Avatars, that''s one of the implicit rules to maintain balance." (Lena) "But even Avatars can''t act as they please, War has been using his Avatar in the universes belonging to the Ascendants, as such, he can''t interfere with other unrelated universes and must always stay within his Concept." (Lena) "Tarzor still falls into the category of Universe, he can''t invade here that way, that''s why he tried to avoid a direct battle like he likes, he just wanted to force you to use your chaos power on the cube before taking it away as quickly as possible." (Lena) "(That explains a few things.)" (Me) With the strength he demonstrated, there was no need for him to do things like that, he could have simply done whatever he wanted, there was no need to sneak in and steal the metal cube like he did before, much less use a distraction with the Universal Golems to do so. Even so, he was already one step away from breaking that rule and if it weren''t for the twins, he might have broken that rule by now, so I can''t trust those things, I must be careful and prepare for the next time I meet him, I can''t let him do whatever he wants with the people important to me. "What happens if they break that rule?" (Me) "They give others room to act against them to the same extent, for example, Vida could send someone to fight their Avatars and even kill them." (Lena) "If it''s something with very big repercussions, then the entities themselves might even come into direct conflict." (Cortana) "Yes, what everyone tries to avoid, in the same way that a confrontation on a Divine level can destroy worlds and sometimes even entire star systems, the direct confrontation of Entities can destroy entire universes." (Lena) "Killing an entity is also almost impossible, you will only kill that personality and pray that the next one is not worse." (Lena) "It would not end there, an injured or dead Entity would cause an imbalance in its Concept, this would affect all universes." (Cortana) "That is why Avatars are used, if they are destroyed it will not affect the Concept and the Entities can directly control the Avatars." (Cortana) "(So if he''s willing to bear the cost, he can still break the rule, at most he would lose an Avatar.)" (me) This realization made me understand a few things, they weren''t iron rules or laws, they were more like verbal agreements between cosmic beings, that was too dangerous to take literally. I was lost in thought before I felt a hand touching my shoulder, when I turned my eyes to see Freya who had a serious face. "Instead of talking about random things, it would be better to take care of our current problems." (Freya) Holding my shoulder, Freya shows several images in my mind, she wanted me to pay attention to all the battles that were still happening inside and outside Tarzor. Showing myself outside, I wasn''t able to sense the Universal Golem that was hit by Freya''s attack or the one I left on its own. I also didn''t see any of the Anomalous Creatures that have been chasing us so far, I don''t like the direction these things are taking, I don''t like losing sight of my enemies. "You''re right, there are more things to do..." (me) I contact Tarzor to explain to him what I could do, I also wanted to know if he was capable of carrying out my plan, if it''s possible for him to open a path by himself instead of jumping from one to the other, then maybe this trip will be faster. ----------------- 3 days later. It''s been 3 days since I met the Avatar of War, during that time I put my plan into practice, Tarzor was able to use my Chaos power to create a unique energy flow, this didn''t increase his speed, what it did was decrease the travel time, without having to take detours or jump from one energy flow to another, Tarzor was able to follow a single path. This brought us some relief, most of the Creatures of the Abyss were left behind, they used the energy flows to travel, that''s how they managed to chase us until now, but with Tarzor following a path he created on his own, they weren''t able to follow us. Only the large Creatures of the Abyss continued to follow us, in fact their number increased with each passing hour as if they were being commanded to do so, the one responsible for this was also chasing us closely, the General of the Abyss, the same one I had expelled previously and this time he wasn''t alone. Unfortunately, the Ascendants were now attacking in a more covert way, they were sending summoners, assassins and experts in strange powers like illusion, space or even mind control like they did now. "How much... haa... haaa... time until we get there... haaa...?" (me) Sigh "One more day, maybe a little less..." (Tarzor) Tarzor''s voice was tired, it seems that creating his own energy flow put a lot of pressure on him. "That was hard... I''ll make you pay for this... Arash...!!" (Adella) Sigh "..." (Arash) "He can''t hear you, he wasn''t to blame for this either." (Lolth) "I know all of this..." (Adella) "Then why are you saying all this?" (Lolth) "Because I''m angry and your claws went through my chest!!!" (Adella) "Stop arguing... please... I''m too tired to listen... you two arguing...!" (me) I was exhausted, everyone had been fighting with almost no rest, to make matters worse an Ascendant with metal powers was able to control Arash as well as being able to control many other Dragons on our side because of his powers, it was a mess to suppress this battle without causing serious injuries to our allies and friends. Right now there were Dragons everywhere we looked, most of them were unconscious, sealed, paralyzed or trapped in some technique. Below me was Arash in his Dragon form, he was unconscious with injuries all over his body, multiple Runes were flowing through his body keeping his unconscious state a little longer. Adella was in her Human form, she had several injuries, most of them lighter than mine, while her only serious injury was the hole in her chest where Arash''s claws had gone through. While we were talking, someone else was devouring a white wing, it was Akatosh who still had red eyes full of murderous intent, anger was etched in his Aura as he finished devouring what was left of the body of the Ascendant he killed. "Calm down Akatosh, we have to defend ourselves one more day... just one more day..." (me) "How do you expect me to calm down? That bastard tried to control my mind and managed to do it with Arash as well as with other Dragons that are under my command!!" (Akatosh) "He''s already dead and everyone is alive... so try to calm down..." (me) "(They''re trying to get in again.)" (Tarzor) "..." (me) I stop talking and close my eyes, sharing Tarzor''s senses, I was able to easily see more than 70 large Abyss Creatures crossing 3 cracks, in which a claw tip was sticking out as they passed, those are the claws of that Abyss General. "Get ready, we have another attack!" (me) "Karina and Hades, you take care of those Dragons, the others go..." (me) Drawing everyone''s attention to me, I start giving commands to everyone, we didn''t have time to rest or heal, we just spread out like many times before, with Freya''s help we could always move throughout Tarzor with ease saving time that sometimes could take weeks flying between the stars for us to move from one spot to another. With the Creatures of the Abyss attacking us head-on and the Ascendants attacking us from the shadows, neither I nor anyone else could relax. The constant state of alert was taking its toll on everyone, especially me, who was also lending my senses to debate frequently to keep the progress of all the battles in mind. To be honest, the situation was very bad. Half of Tarzor''s planets had already been destroyed. He was tired and badly injured. He was no longer able to close the rifts in his dimensional membrane by himself. The situation was only getting worse. I didn''t know whether to be relieved that there was less than a day left until we finally reached our destination or frustrated that there was still almost a day left. I was exhausted and deep down I knew that the Ascendants would make a strong move sooner or later before we returned to our universe. If not them, then the Generals of the Abyss might do something. That''s why I knew that this last day could be the most dangerous, especially now that everyone was tired. Chapter 1730: Cap 1728: Suicide Chase Part 8 "Freya...?" (me) "I''m fine..." (Freya) "No, you''re not fine." (me) Freya and Tarzor have an almost symbiotic connection, Tarzor''s current state is a complete mess, many planets have been destroyed, he''s spent a lot of his reality power so far and it''s also costing him, his dimensional membrane looks like a Swiss cheese with so many holes that keep appearing while we can''t close them all perfectly. Everyone was also injured, but even so I asked Lena not to heal anyone else, unless someone was in a critical state, this was to force the enemy''s hand, to give a weak appearance as bait to attract the enemies, a simple plan that I hope works. The Ascendants will probably make a move, they seem desperate to recover the metal cube, so they are the most likely to attack. "How long?" (me) "Tarzor believes we should arrive in another 20 hours." (Freya) "20 hours..." (me) I was mentally and physically exhausted, but I was still conserving my energy for a future attack, we had to at least be prepared enough to hold off the enemies for the remaining hours I needed. Whispers "Huh...?" (me) "What''s wrong?" (Freya) "You didn''t hear anything?" (me) "No, what did you hear?" (Freya) "It sounded like voices whispering... but I''m not sure." (me) "Strange, there''s no one around, I didn''t hear anything either, could it be another Ascendant with mental powers?" (Freya) "I don''t think so, in fact it might not be anything serious, I must just be very tired." (me) I''ve heard the term auditory hallucinations before, with how physically and mentally tired I am, it wouldn''t be surprising if I showed these symptoms, maybe I''m risking too much with this facade of weakness. As I thought about this, I looked at the green leaf symbol on my right hand, even without any trace of energy or Aura coming out of the symbol, I can feel the great Vitality contained within it. Sigh After a few seconds to catch my breath, I use my connection with Tarzor once again to check his condition, he wasn''t seriously injured, but he was very injured and tired nonetheless. He can''t even answer me directly anymore and just focuses on keeping the journey going, controlling an energy flow of his own seems more challenging than I thought. Looking at the large Abyss Creatures entering through his wounds and the 4 Abyss Generals now in pursuit, I know our situation is not good. "We have to drive the Abyss Creatures away before we arrive or we will be severely attacked." (me) "What do you plan to do?" (Freya) "They''re following us inside the energy flow that Tarzor is controlling, all we need to do is shut them out." (me) "Then why didn''t you do it before?" (Freya) "Tarzor is being attacked even now by those Abyss Generals." (Freya) "They''ll only fall for it once, they''re used to this environment, they''ll find another way to reach us after they''re left behind, that''s why I waited until the final push to talk about it." (me) "I''m sure Tarzor also realized this on his own before me and was waiting for the right moment to do it." (me) Saying so far, I had already told Tarzor to do this, he will reduce the current energy flow to a minimum before cutting the back line, leaving the pursuers behind before releasing a new wave of energy gaining distance. Tarzor was able to do something like this in seconds without giving them time to react, we lost sight of them in a short time as well as all the Creatures of the Abyss chasing us. --------------------- 10 hours later. Several hours have passed and we have managed to kill all the large Creatures of the Abyss that had invaded, most of the cracks in Tarzor''s Dimensional Membrane have been closed in one way or another. Everyone was tired, a few hours of rest would not make a difference, the enemy also seemed tired of waiting, suddenly hundreds of swords that seemed to have been made with fragments of the universe penetrated Tarzor''s body and crossed his dimensional membrane. From those swords, what emerged were not Ascendants, but various types of Golems that looked like metal wind robots in the form of Knights in full armor and a pair of metallic wings on their backs. There were thousands of them, their sizes were 5 meters long with some being hundreds of meters long, they used weapons of condensed energy of various elements, there were also dozens of Ascendants together with them. Even without saying anything, Lena acted as instructed, the leaf symbols that everyone carried shone brightly as a green flame spread throughout my body, all the injuries and fatigue were gone in seconds while my exhausted mind became clearer with the fatigue decreasing by half. There was no longer any need to maintain a weak attitude, everyone knew what needed to be done and I smiled coldly at that. "Kill them all!!" (me) As I sent this message throughout Tarzor, my body returned to its Dragon form, Hinata left my body as her eyes began to wander as if searching for something before disappearing. Freya, in turn, entered the Universal Tree, choosing to go all out against them this time. Hades and Xagar, following my orders, were close to the inhabited planets to protect them, just as Akatosh, Adella, and Arash were also doing. This time I didn''t summon my sword. I had been furious for a long time. I had been chased for days and fought constantly, almost without any rest. I saw planets that were under my protection being destroyed and I could feel the prayers of those who worship me filled with fear due to the explosions they saw in the sky, as well as the strong intention to kill everywhere. I was furious like I had rarely been in the past. I didn''t want to fight this time. I wanted to brutally and savagely tear apart each of the enemies in front of me. I would release all this fury in the form of destruction, and this made my heart beat faster. My Will grew stronger and stronger while a part of me that I didn''t even realize I was suppressing roared free. RRRROOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!!! -------------------- Pov Cortana: "Don''t leave any of them whole, devour them all!" (me) "As you wish, my lady." (Sarazar) I saw Sarazar turning to leave, with his power he crossed the dimensional membrane as if it were a curtain of water. I look around, this was the place where a very beautiful planet was, it was inhabited only by monsters, but it was still a beautiful place, now all that was left were pieces floating around. "Are you starting to feel sorry, my sister?" (Lena) "No, I see the opportunity to nurture this place from everything it has lost into an even better place." (me) "Are you really going to stand still?" (Lena) "Yes, we are being watched, you must have noticed it too." (me) "Yes, but I''m not sure who it would be, it might not be an enemy." (Lena) "With Zenos'' luck, it could be worse than an enemy and he is focusing a lot of his attention on us, almost warning us not to interfere." (me) "Tell Lolth to continue helping them, in the meantime we will just help Tarzor recover since Freya is not capable of doing that in this situation." (me) "What did you ask Sarazar to do?" (Lena) "Devour the Swords by piercing, he can use them to expand his interior further, which will be useful in the future, it will also cut off the enemies'' escape routes." (me) "Are you sure this is a good idea?" (Lena) "What do you mean?" (me) "They might get worse now, the Ascendants have strange ways of doing things, they''re not attacking normally either." (Lena) "..." (me) What Lena says makes sense, they''re using a lot of Golems to fight, it''s been a long time since they''ve fought like this, I didn''t expect to see these Golems again, the Soldiers of the Law, the iron troop that is used in their universe to maintain the law among the masses forced to live with their Tyranny. Having them here was strange, the Ascendants among them also seemed to be planning something, they''re all at least Level 3 Ascendants, I can''t understand what they''re doing. ---------------------- Pov Zenos: I flew towards hundreds of these Golem-like creatures, their Auras without any kind of emotion and cold meaning nothing to me, I wave my claws and dozens of them gather using their wings as defense to lessen my attack while their bodies are destroyed. The power of the Law leaks from 100 more of them as Runes shine on their bodies raising their power as they march towards me, but I had not stopped attacking, my other claw ignites in stellar flames and with one kill a wave of Star Fire melts their bodies while my tail pierces the attacker who tried to come from behind. I flap my wings as the Star Fire spreads through my body and advance wildly into the middle of the enemy troops swinging my tail like a spear and my claws like a metal crusher. That is until an Ascendant appears in front of me, he threw a red orb in front of me from where black mist began to emanate forming a nail of darkness coming towards me. Chapter 1731: Cap 1729: Suicide Chase Part 9 Facing the wall of darkness coming towards me, I felt no fear, no anxiety and nothing but explosive rage, my Will burned my Murderous Intent that took over my entire Aura, even so my mind was still clear of thoughts, my senses became sharper and sharper than ever before. "< Unholy Breath >" (me) The Stellar Flames shone brighter than ever before, what was running through my body was not energy being controlled as I always did, my mind was completely blank, my body was guided purely by instinct while the energy inside my body moved like something alive, never circulating in the same way, never following a pattern and it made me feel like I was breaking chains that I didn''t even know were holding me back. Opening my jaws to the point of tearing my cheeks, what came out was not the usual Anomalous Starfire, the unholy energy seemed to have originated from the melting of a universe, a Desecration of creation itself and the most savage act possible. A liquid energy containing stars, planets and Moons exploding or colliding while the presence of countless wild creatures appeared full of murderous intentions. My attack took the form of a Dragon that grew larger and larger as it devoured everything in its path, be it the flows of raw energy of nature, the enemies that surrounded me or the space itself through which it passed, everything was devoured increasing its size and power until it collided against the wall of darkness that was already large enough to swallow entire planets. "Attack him!" (Ascendant A) "< Law of Gravity: Black Hole >" (Ascendant A) "< Law of Blood: Vampire Scythe >" (Ascendant B) "< Law of Curse: Proclamation of Death >" (Ascendant C) Suddenly the Ascendant who had thrown the red orb that created this wall of darkness appeared on my left, with two others appearing, one on my right and one behind me, each of them making an attack against me full of intent. But even so, I didn''t care, trying to hurt myself with curses or blood was laughable, I was the son of a Blood Goddess, it was the first element I learned to master, it was the first food I devoured and it is part of my Divinity. Even Curses have a reduced effect on me, I am a creature that dominates chaos, someone who possesses the Anomalous powers and the Profane God, my very existence in itself can be considered a curse. The only attack that could really worry me was the Black Hole, but in my current state none of that mattered, my intent controlled my body and I gave up that control to let all the frustration, anger and rage out. All that existed for me was the wall of darkness in front of me, my instincts screamed that it was a much greater threat than those three and I soon discovered the reason for that. A large hand that looked like a mass of darkness came out of the wall of darkness that had stopped expanding since it collided with my attack, this large hand tried to hold my breath attack as if it were something solid, it was like watching someone trying to hold back a river, his hand was largely shattered while what was left passed through my attack before reforming itself as if it had suffered no damage. With my senses I could feel that the only attack that hit me was containing the power of Blood, I felt a large cut on my back that I ignored, my senses captured Hinata appearing surrounded by thousands of phantom hands of all shapes and sizes and was facing the Ascendant of the Curse. The Gravity Ascendant had an arm sticking out of his chest while golden lightning flashed through that arm causing fiery destruction to the body of that Ascendant. Behind him was a person with a hood covering his entire body who was soon surrounded by the metal golems in the area. Even though I noticed all of this because my senses continued to grow stronger, I didn''t bother to think about anything. My breath attack was getting bigger and bigger, consuming this wall of darkness. Space itself was cracking in the ever-growing outline of my attack. I felt something trying to pull my blood out of my body, but I didn''t need to do anything as my blood began to bubble, expelling the power of the Blood Ascendant Law out of my body, the wound quickly closing up afterwards. In front of me, the wall of darkness began to shrink rapidly as an intense red light shone from within it. Suddenly, a burst of red light that seemed to drip with the killing intent of billions of Creatures collided with my breath attack that had already dug a long path through the wall of darkness. BOOOMMMM!!! A strong explosion that shattered most of the enemy Gelens and pushed them all thousands of kilometers away erupted, my attack and the enemy''s mutually destroyed each other as we were pushed back, several of my scales were cracked while the Starfire around me became weaker for a short period of time. Meanwhile, what was hidden within the darkness finally emerged, with the darkness being dispersed by the explosion, a giant humanoid of pure darkness with a red orb glowing in place of a face appeared, it was a smaller version of the two Anomalous Creatures that chased us in the beginning. RRRROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!! I didn''t feel afraid seeing this, I just started roaring at him before flapping my wings flying towards him once more, my blood was boiling in my veins, the energies inside me flowed following different paths as they ran through my entire body, I didn''t need to control it as the energy seemed more and more alive as it grew inside me, reshaping my body in the process. All that existed for me was the enemy in front of me and it would seem that it was the same for them as he also advanced towards me. -------------------- Pov Karina: Around me there were many enemies, even being in my Dragon form it was difficult to face such a large number of Golems, 2 among them that had bodies not inferior in size to mine were the worst, their super resistant bodies made it difficult for my attacks to leave any damage on their bodies, this made me resort to accumulating small damage instead of using a large attack. Even while fighting, I couldn''t stop paying attention to Zenos and I was terrified when that wall of darkness appeared heading towards him, as if that wasn''t enough, he was quickly surrounded by 3 Level 3 Ascendants. I tried to run towards him, but the Golems seemed intelligent, they advanced to get in my way even though it could mean their destruction and they managed to accomplish their objective, I wasn''t able to advance towards him in the few seconds before Zenos was attacked from 3 different directions. That''s when Hinata made a move, she appeared from among the army of enemies without feeling any fear and even passing through their bodies as if it were some kind of illusion. She stood in front of the dark energy that the Ascendant was sending towards Zenos, but Hinata didn''t just stand in her way, she made dozens of mouths full of strange teeth open all over her body before absorbing all that cursed energy before the mouths closed as if they had never existed. She then stopped in front of one of the Ascendants as several phantom hands appeared around her. Her defending Zenos is not a surprise, what surprised me were two unexpected things, the first was the person who appeared out of nowhere attacking another Ascendant mode, this person hid his presence and Aura, but I could not identify the type of power he possesses or who this person was. But even so, what was making me increasingly anxious was Zenos, he was not acting normally, in addition to his Aura becoming stronger and stronger as the minutes passed, he was also acting wildly, ignoring even the attack that hit his body or the enemies that had surrounded him. That was when Freya managed to interfere, I saw hundreds of his leaves detach as they became sharp, flying towards the last of the 3 Ascendants, the whole time Zenos ignored everything around him in a way I had never seen before. "< Holy Breath >" (me) Holy power gathers in my jaws as I deflect the sword that tried to cut my wings. Then I spin horizontally with my tail hitting his right shoulder followed by my claws, finishing with my Aura concentrating on one of my wings that cuts his shoulder a third time. Then I attach myself to his body biting the place where the wound was and then release my breath attack directly inside his body that lights up as it melts from the inside out. The other enemies try to embarrass me again, but I try to stay more serious while paying attention to hidden attacks. I wanted to pay attention to Zenos, his current state was of great concern to me even if he was getting stronger, I still feel scared by the way he acts completely like a beast. Chapter 1732: Cap 1730: Suicide Chase Part 10 Pov Hades: The planet behind me is where the people who follow my master live, they are his devout worshippers who built a Temple for him, happy in their sincere Faith to the Great Zenos. I was tasked with protecting this planet, with protecting those who live on this planet and I do not intend to fail. "(There are many...)" (me) I can see a large number of enemies, they were all wearing Knight armor with metal wings, but they are not people, most likely they are Golems since their bodies do not seem to have Vitality or Aura of Death, ruling out the possibility of being a living creature or some kind of Undead. I feared that the number of enemies would be too large, but not for my safety but for the difficulty of keeping the entire planet safe while enemies from all sides appear. Because of this fear, hours ago I used a Curse on the entire planet, a sealing curse that will prevent anyone from leaving the planet as well as preventing anything from entering the planet, I used myself as the Core of the Curse to ensure that it will not be broken as long as I live or choose to deactivate the curse. "< Divine Summon: Star Sword >" (me) "< Cursed Star Sword >" (me) I break the space with my fist as a crystal sword emanating a deep energy floats out, the enemies continue to approach, those who came from the other side of the planet have already reached the atmosphere and as soon as this happened they were thrown back surrounded by black spots on their bodies that continuously expand until the body disintegrates into black particles. Perhaps seeing this, all the enemies stopped trying to descend to the planet, some of them tried to attack from afar, but I was busy using my Curse Nature to strengthen the Star Sword. The Weapon created from the power of Zenos, a weapon that changes according to the power of its bearer, a single sword with infinite forms and endless possibilities. Even though I am the Herald of the Chaos Star of Master Zenos, the Power of Chaos is a mystery to me and difficult to control, so I continued to use my source power as a Living Curse, the curses are innate to me, I can understand them easily, I can use their powers to the fullest and they have always been my strong point. The Cursed Power comes from my Own Soul that was born from a curse, the sword in my hands changes, it becomes a serrated blade with a fair grip in the shape of 4 teeth, a black mist and a purple light shine around the blade as I feel its power increasing mine. Strangely, the enemies stopped in front of me a few kilometers away. Now I''m sure they''re Golems. Among them, there was one that was larger than the planet itself behind me. It seemed to be the center of this entire Golem army. While I cautiously observed the enemies in front of me, I didn''t stop watching the Golems'' attacks around the planet. All of them had their attacks contaminated with a curse before returning in their direction. Those that were hit were also contaminated by the Curse, with black spots spreading as their bodies disintegrated into black particles. The reason I was calm was that none of these Golems seemed to be of Divine Level. They should be at the power level of Demigods at most. Their numbers didn''t mean much to me, but this large Golem was different. The power of the Ascending Law emanating from it was of Divine Level. Its Aura seemed to spread among the other Golems, showing that it commanded the others. "How long are you going to try to hide...?" (me) "How did you find out about me?" (???) "There is no Curse that you can''t feel." (me) "Interesting..." (???) Suddenly a creature with a humanoid body appeared in front of me. It had the appearance of a female body, but its head was that of a Serpent with a long neck. Six Serpents came out of its back, moving independently. Its skin was covered in gray scales with slightly purple tips. She wasn''t an Ascendant, she didn''t have the wings of the Ascendants, she didn''t have the power of the Ascendant Law, she didn''t have anything that Ascendants usually have, not even the arrogance in her personality. Her Aura must seem almost impossible to feel for others, because her Aura itself is a curse that affects people''s minds, making it become something that people''s senses try to divert. Her golden eyes with horizontal slits are strangely beautiful to me, she is dressed in a purple robe with black details, in her hand is a Staff with a three-eyed skull on the tip, each eye socket was filled with a different colored crystal. I felt this woman as soon as she arrived, she was here moments before the Golems approached, her attention was focused on the planet before turning to me when I held the Star Sword in my hands. I can feel the Anomalous Power in her body, she was an Anomalous Creature, but I don''t see the Runes of the Ascendant Law anywhere on her body, nor does she resemble any of the Anomalous Creatures that chased us before. "You and this planet are very interesting..." (???) "..." (me) Somehow, I didn''t feel any hostility from her, but I couldn''t let my guard down, even so the enemies didn''t care about that, the Golems started coming towards me, even those that were previously around the planet, they all came to attack me from all directions and seemed to ignore the woman as they circled her to attack me. ------------------- Pov Lolth: I was looking at the planet below, this was a place full of life, I could feel the Vitality flowing throughout it, I could feel the living creatures that lived on it, I could see the green areas on its only continent as well as the great ocean that carries even more life. "I don''t understand, why are you targeting the planets? Why are you attacking targets that are not a threat to you?" (me) "A naive question, our target is not the planets themselves, but this entire universe." (Ascendant) "..." (me) I turn to the Ascendant who had stopped moving since my Aura locked onto his position, he realized that he had been noticed, so he stopped hiding. He was an Ascendant who comes from the Beastman Race of the Bird tribe, even though his appearance is the same as that of humans and his 3 pairs of wings reveal his identity as a Level 3 Ascendant emanating all this power of the Law, he cannot hide from me the brilliance of his life, each race has a unique brilliance and characteristics that will never change as long as they are alive, even changing their race like Vampires and Demons are capable of doing, this will only add to this brilliance of life and not replace what already existed. "A Beastman, how did a creature that lives respecting nature become an Ascendant?" (me) "How do you know about me!?" (Ascending) He looks irritated as he looks at me, his killing intent couldn''t be stronger than it is now, I can feel that he doesn''t like being called Beastman, what I see in his eyes is hatred and it''s not directed at me. Looking around, I see 3 metal Golems with the appearance of Knights wearing full armor and a pair of large metallic wings on their backs, these things barely have any trace of life in them, but their large bodies were built using more metal than a planet could be capable of producing, the existence of 3 of these things must mean the destruction of more than twice as many planets to collect these metals. "I don''t think there''s any point in arguing." (me) -------------------- Pov Lena: My sister and I could only watch everything happening, around us hundreds of crystal mirrors showing various scenarios, the Golems of the Ascendants were attacking the planets that were still intact, the Ascendants themselves were messing with the flow of raw energy in Tarzor trying to weaken it more than it already was. "Do they want to destroy Tarzor?" (me) "Possibly, the Avatar of War must have warned them that the Metal Cube was connected to Zenos'' Star Palace inside here." (Cortana) "So their solution... take the entire Star Palace..." (me) "By their actions, I believe so..." (Cortana) After that, my sister and I continued to look at what was happening throughout Tarzor, but some things caught our attention, one of them being the appearance of an Anomalous Creature that did not seem connected to the Ascendants, while the other strange thing would be Zenos'' behavior becoming wild. I exchanged a look with my sister, she also did not seem to understand what was happening to Zenos, but he did not seem to be being controlled or influenced by anything, which only left us more confused. "..." (me) "..." (Cortana) I wish I could do something about this situation, I really would, the frustration of just being able to watch was reminding me of how Vida was always restricted in her actions. I know that getting involved directly might force this entity to act, but I can''t stand just watching like this and even though I don''t show it, I know my sister feels the same way. "(I need to be stronger...)" (me) Chapter 1733: Cap 1731: Suicide Chase Part 11 This mass of mist was completely immune to my blows, each time my claws passed through its body, the claws went all the way through without leaving any mark behind, but even so, each blow it made against me was extremely blunt, making the fury inside me increase with each blow as if my own Soul was being struck along with my body. None of this changed the strange state I had entered, I was not thinking, I did not want to think, only instinct continued to move my body, only my Will guided this instinct to be more than just a dumb beast. With each moment I felt my body getting stronger, my senses became sharper and the flow of my energy became faster with each blow I received, it was as if I was being Refined like metal in the hands of a blacksmith, through the Wild flames and the heaviest hammering. RRROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!!!! I didn''t care about the battles going on around me or the rest of the universe, all of that was left aside in front of the powerful enemy in front of me, bending my body to dodge his fist, I continue flying towards him with my jaws open, Starfire accumulating in my jaws even without using any technique. The Starfire came out of my jaws like a volcano erupting towards the Anomalous Creature, but before reaching its head, tentacles of darkness came out of its body circling its head in a dome that became solid. My flames hit as I advanced without stopping, Starfire igniting on the blade on my tail and on my claws as I pierced the monster''s body for the first time holding its body with my claws, my jaw still releasing Starfire closing in on the dome of darkness that was incredibly hard, using my strength to its limits without holding anything back and with the flames still flowing wildly from my mouth, my teeth sink into the dome of darkness. Baammm!! BAAMMM!!! The Anomalous Creature did not stand by and did not receive my blows without counterattacking, its blows fell on my body, making scales crack and muscles tear from these blows that made my entire body tremble. But for me, the pain was just another sensation that did not matter. My jaws sank into the dome of darkness. Spikes emerged from the dome, piercing several parts of my body. But I did not hesitate for a moment as I continued to force my jaws, breaking part of these spikes in the process, until I firmly grabbed the dome and pulled it out with pure force. But to my surprise, there was no resistance. The dome disintegrated into particles of mist while I was carried back by the force it was exerting. To top it off, I received a punch in the stomach that threw my body even further. My claws were released from the enemy while he seemed a little smaller and his body was even darker as if he were made of dark ink. The red orb in place of his face was even brighter now. RROOOOAAAARRRR!! Even though I noticed the changes in the enemy, I only spread my wings enough to stop my body before roaring in fury once, then flapping my wings and folding them as star flames covered them, I charged at the enemy leaving a trail of Star Fire behind. BOOOMMMM!!! This time the enemy imitated my attack as well by launching himself towards me, his large hands transforming into claws of darkness just like mine, his movements were a mirror of mine with large wings of darkness growing from his back in the shape of my wings. As my claws descended towards him, they collided directly with his claws as if I had attacked a mirror, the sharp tips of my claws collided and Star Fire flowed through my body towards the enemy wildly as a wave of darkness traveled from him towards me in response. The physical and energy collision caused two explosions at the same time that pushed us apart once more, but that was just the beginning. Following my ever-increasing will to fight, I threw myself time after time against the enemy without fear or hesitation, and the enemy did the same as if imitating my every move. As time passed, my attacks became more diverse and the same went for the enemy, but his strength and speed were growing. If it weren''t for my own strength and speed also growing, I would have already lost focus on him. Perhaps realizing that I wasn''t falling after several confrontations against him, the red orb in place of his face shone brightly and launched a beam of red energy of pure destruction at me. GGGRRRRRR!!!! He took advantage of one of the confrontations by changing his way of mirroring my attacks. He dodged my claws using this energy beam attack, then his attack hit my chest, destroying my scales and deeply murmuring my flesh. The pain went beyond my flesh as if this energy could reach my Soul, making me scream in pain. Whispers Whispers Whispers Pain breeds anger, anger fuels my killing intent even more and from my current savage state, my body grows as Starfire flows throughout my body, whispers emerge as if they were being spoken directly to my Soul, the raw flow of energy in my body finally reaches my Soul, flowing both in the body and Soul at the same time always in different ways at ever increasing speeds. I ignore the pain as I advance against the enemy once more, this time he does not imitate my movements, he dodges my claws without stopping his energy beam, then with a roar I send a wave of expanding starfires forcing him to stop his attack, with no time to escape my Starfire, he uses his hands that become flat as they stretch in all directions before his wings close forward like a second layer of defenses. IIIINNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGG!!!!! As my Star Flames hit his defenses, I flapped my wings towards him passing through the flames while my claws pierced his wings forcing them to open and my tail used its flaming crystal blade to cut off one of his arms, my head advanced towards him being followed by the Star Flames and for the first time I bit his head which deformed before being squeezed by my teeth, still I felt something scratching in my teeth before escaping amidst a noise that made space itself tremble. GGRRRR!! Suddenly, 6 blows hit my stomach at the same time, forcing me backwards. That''s when I saw that the enemy had shrunk 10 times his original size. For the first time, he was smaller than me. He was half my size. Now he had six arms and two tentacles like blades instead of wings. His head disappeared and the red orb that used to be his face was in the middle of his chest, shining like a red star. Even so, it was possible to see two deep scratch marks on the red orb. Whispers I stopped for a second, looking at the enemy, not out of fear or caution, but because the flow of raw energy inside me was boiling. My Aura exploded with power while my Will intensified even more. It was as if my body and Soul were no longer separate. This union made my Will even more integrated with me, as if it were a part of my consciousness. Even so, I had no rationality, my body moved by instinct and my mind followed my Will as direction only, the enemy before me was just a target to be destroyed, devoured and torn to pieces in a brutal way. I advanced once more in his direction, I felt two more Ascendants appearing behind me attacking, my senses were able to register them, even so I did nothing against them, for my instincts only the enemy in front of me was a real risk. But before the two could attack me from behind, one of them was stopped by Freya with her branches crossing the space to appear in front of him, while the other was stopped by a hooded person, the same one who killed the other Ascendant, but this time his assassination attempt failed, the Ascendant stopped attacking and dodged the deadly blow going towards him, even so he was injured with his arm being burned by lightning. Not caring about the battle going on behind me, I went towards the dark fry, its body was now almost crystallized in pure darkness that seemed to have a true depth as if it were a living hole in the universe. I attacked it head on, my power now running through the body and Soul in each cycle, there were no barriers or paths within me, the paths were where the energy wanted to flow and the barriers were destroyed releasing a potential that I didn''t even know I had. Whispers The Stellar Flames around me changed in this attack, I concentrated all the Stellar Fire in my jaws, my entire body went dark as the flow of Stellar Fire gathered in a small sphere between my open jaw, space itself shattered into fragments around my head and perhaps realizing the danger of this attack, the enemy also acted without reservations. The enemy''s body changes shape, the red orb shines brightly, but more than ever before, its red glow spread throughout the entire star system, blinding anyone who looks at it, while its body of pure darkness became a ring around itself, connected to the body by thin threads of darkness. From the red orb a murderous Will emerged, making the space around it vibrate as it cracked in all directions, the incandescent red orb changes shape for the first time, it becomes flat and thin as if it were a blade, its slight movement of turning towards me tore through space like butter. Our two attacks were ready at the same time, then it advanced towards me, cutting through space itself along the way, and as my sphere of Starfire seemed to contain a universe collapsing inside as it was thrown against the enemy, crushing the space around it in a brutal way. BBBBBBOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!! CCCCRRRRAAAACCCCKKKK!!!! Chapter 1734: Cap 1732: Suicide Chase Part 12 Pov Hades: I felt confused by this Anomalous Creature, she doesn''t seem to have any connections with the Ascendants, but she''s here during a major attack by the Ascendants. She also doesn''t seem to care about anything other than the planet and me, I can see in her eyes that she doesn''t care about the Ascendants'' Golems advancing towards us. From her Aura and presence I can feel the strong cursed power almost as pure as mine, combining this with the glow in her eyes I can only assume that she''s a scholar in the field of curses just like one of Master Zenos'' Wives also does, like Lady Erica. She just wants to know about me because she senses what I am and must be interested in the planet because of the type of Curse I used. My mind was working at an accelerated pace with various superficial knowledge and understandings coming together into something that I hope is close to the truth. In those few seconds I gathered very little information and putting it all together this was the closest scenario that made sense, just like the first one I thought of. As I caught her attention, I can''t deny that everything about her intrigues me, but if she''s not an enemy, she''s not someone who deserves my immediate attention. "I don''t know who you are, but I''m sorry I''m not able to pay attention to you. I have a duty to fulfill." (me) "Huh...?" (???) Her head turned slightly to the side as if she didn''t understand my answer. Now that I stopped to think about it, I wasn''t able to understand her words before, but somehow her voice resonates in my mind in a language that I understand even if it''s different from the words my ears heard. "Are you talking about the Ascendants'' toys?" (???) "< Divine Breath of the 4 Hells >" (me) I was composed of 4 curses from the beginning, yet I ended up neglecting how much my powers changed when I became a Herald. Aiming my power against the thousands of lights coming towards me from the attacks of the Ascended Golems, a 4-colored blast that emits endless wails comes out of my jaws like an incandescent liquid surrounded by horrible mists giving a feeling of unease to anyone present. Unlike the power of Chaos that I do not completely control, this breath attack spreads in a cone area creating a field of toxic mist capable of corroding even the metal and energy contained in these Golems, this was a mist containing countless Curses that will corrode these Ascended Creations leaving something more useful behind. Just this attack was able to deal with all the enemies coming from one side, thousands of them were trapped in that place, the noises of metal as they began as I turned to the other enemies, but still left some of my attention on the strange Anomalous Creature that was nearby. "A curse that devours, consumes, corrupts and integrates everything at the same time, in a wide area and works on artificial beings without Soul, Vitality and Consciousness..." (???) Even without turning my head to see with my own eyes, I can see the interest and admiration just in her voice that seems to be purposefully directed at my mind, not to mention the chills I felt when her eyes landed on me, I felt as if a predator had me in its sights even though I didn''t feel hostility coming from her. "(Just focus on the enemy in front of you...)" (me) Sigh I return to my Dragon form, the power of Chaos flows through my body as I use it to strengthen my curses, in front of me a large sword and a large spear come towards me, before I noticed another Great Ascendant appeared from absolute nothingness already attacking. "< Sword of the Cursed Star: Corrupt Slash >" (me) The Star Sword in my hands grew along with my body as I swung the sword with both hands, Star Flames containing weak stars emerged from the sword becoming condensed and almost material, with a strong swing of the sword at the last moment, the spear deviated its direction with my side attack and collided with the sword. Without wasting time, I flapped my wings flying towards the enemies, without pausing my tail swings sinking into one of the metal arms or that was what I wanted, but the blade on my tail only left a deep scratch on their massive body. Even seeing this absurd resistance from their bodies, I did not lose my calm as I flapped my wings again dodging the other enemy''s sword attacks. "What a poor and childish way to use such a wonderful power... I can''t stand to see this anymore..." (???) "< Soul Karma Curse: Awakening >" (???) "..." (me) Without understanding what was happening, a magic circle formed, distorting the space. This magic circle was made of symbols mixed with the patterns of magic circles and did not have any type of Rune. I was unable to understand how it worked before two purple Serpents that looked like real monsters flew towards the two great Ascendants, invading their bodies while a purple Aura emanates from their bodies. "What did you do!?" (me) "Curses are mostly used against other creatures. Using curses against a creature without consciousness, without Soul and without Life...?" (???) "This is so stupid that I can''t even look at it anymore... so let''s make this more interesting." (???) The fury inside me didn''t seem to grow as I saw the two great enemies changing, their metallic Armors changed as dark purple scales grew taking the place of the metal, the wings became membranous like those of Demons as the metal melted and fused with the escapes that grew on the backs of the wings, a long Serpent''s tail appeared on their backs as the enemies'' previously lifeless eyes filled with hatred. Their Aura also changed revealing the energy of death and thousands of emotions of resentment together in a single consciousness that aimed its eyes at me. I was feeling their presence become twice as strong as a strong Curse energy emanating from their bodies as they advanced towards me. "Come on, show me more of your curses and try to use this power of Chaos in a minimally adequate way!!" (???) "You damn crazy woman!!!" (me) "Damn it!!!" (me) I hold my sword firmly as I face those strong enemies coming towards me. -------------------- Pov Zenos: A murderous Will emerged from the red orb, making the space around it vibrate as it cracked in all directions. The incandescent red orb changed shape for the first time. It became flat and thin as if it were a blade. Its slight movement of turning towards me tore through space like butter. Our two attacks were ready at the same time, so it advanced towards me, cutting through space itself along the way. As my sphere of Starfire seemed to contain a universe collapsing inside as it was thrown at the enemy, crushing the space around it brutally. BBBBBBOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!! CCCCRRRRAAAACCCCKKKK!!!! A large explosion followed by a powerful vacuum sucks us both along with all the remaining blast out of Tarzor, we exit just below his neck near one of the swords that pierced him. But none of that mattered, my senses quickly found that thing, this time I wasn''t dizzy or anything like that, none of that mattered to me, my senses seemed to be able to understand the surroundings and my wings beat moving the very flow of energy around Tarzor. The enemy wasn''t in the same form as before, their bodies seemed to be in doctors, but I knew they weren''t dead, I didn''t care about the broken marks of the Ascendant Runes, I advanced against those pieces quickly gather into a liquid red orb while the pieces of darkness float towards it, its presence increasing as more darkness emerges from the void around us increasing its size. Whispers < Now I''ll take this... thank you... > But before I reached the enemy a female hand wrapped in strips of silvery ethereal fabric appears from inside Tarzor and holds the red orb. That hand grabbed and pulled that red orb into Tarzor while the darkness seemed to be sucked into the silver fabric wrapped around that arm. It was all so sudden that I couldn''t understand, but it was at that moment that Sarazar appeared holding one of those half-eaten swords in front of me, her appearance made my thoughts return and I had my instincts calming down. Seeing my state, I went back into Tarzor through the same hole created by my explosion that still hasn''t recovered. As soon as I entered Tarzor I looked for traces of that red orb or that super large female hand, but I found nothing. "What was all that..." (me) Ding! "I don''t have time for that now." (me) Everything was a mess, Freya was facing two Ascendants while Hinata was playing with the food again, then my eyes turned to an Ascendant facing someone with a hood who perhaps noticing my gaze, turned to me nodding. I didn''t understand who it was, but without time to waste, I headed towards the Star Palace, I could feel from before that there were individuals around it, now that my consciousness returned, I would no longer leave them aside. Chapter 1735: Cap 1733: Suicide Chase Part 13 Pov Freya: Directly controlling my tree body to fight feels strange, there are so few limitations and the senses are so wide that focusing on a small area or individual makes me feel strange with the amount of information in my mind captured by my senses. Defeating the first Ascendant didn''t take long, even so Zenos'' fight against that thing was a real nuisance, they were causing an imbalance in the flow of universal energy and were even affecting my roots spread throughout Tarzor. When another Ascendant attacked Zenos and I went to take care of them, I had my prey stolen by Hinata who devoured them completely. We both noticed those who were trying to intervene in Zenos'' fight, there were two more Ascendants and the one with the hood who was killing the Ascendants disappeared somewhere. In front of me now there is an Ascendant who looks like an Elf, not a normal Elf, an Ancient Elf and that deeply infuriated me. Elves have a strong connection with nature to the point of being called children of nature in many places. High Elves are even more connected to nature, almost becoming Priests of nature itself, while Ancient Elves are like Saints of nature. Ancient Elves are loved, protected and are also emissaries of the World Trees themselves to protect, recover and even grow nature itself when it is at risk. Ancient Elves are worshiped by all Elves as Demigods and agents of nature. They are creatures of pure harmony that are blessed by nature since birth, the race most loved by nature. Even so, in front of me now, there is an Ancient Elf with three pairs of wings on her back emanating a thick power of the Ascendant Law. The fury inside me was so great that I almost lost myself in it. The Ascendants are hateful beings who deform nature by following rules that are more convenient to them. They are horrible creatures who impose themselves above nature, trying to control it in selfish ways. Their actions destroy the harmony and naturalness of existence only to create an environment where they can control everything. Turning nature into a perpetual state of stagnation, incapable of returning to the natural cycle, is the greatest and most horrible sin one can commit. Having an Ancient Elf who should be a representative, a son and a Herald of nature itself become an Ascendant is unthinkable. Such disrespect and such a heavy betrayal hurts within my Soul. I felt my mother directing her eyes through me, but she did not interfere in any way. I could not even feel her emotions. The tree''s lathe deformed as it took on the curves of a half-humanoid sculpture in front of it, a way for me to make her look into my eyes of judgment while she fights. My eyes open full of green light as I look at her directly. "A traitor to her own race and the disgrace that nature once blessed... has anything to say before she is destroyed!?" (me) "..." (Ancient Elf Ascendant) "Have you nothing to say!?" (me) "You dare not even open your mouth in my presence!?" (me) "Speak at once, traitor! Why would someone blessed and embraced by nature itself since birth use such disgusting power!!???" (me) "..." (Ancient Elf Ascendant) < You dishonor nature itself simply by existing!! > (me) With each sentence I spoke, she showed no emotion or expression on her face, but she also didn''t dare to look at me. She had black hair braided back with two white strands falling around her face. Her black skin was marked by white tattoos that resembled tree branches rising from her neck to her cheeks. Her clothes were simple and tight to her body, made of black fabric with green details, with a large coat that reached her ankles open. Her wings were dark green with feathers that looked more like tree leaves. She would be perfect if it weren''t for the gray band tied around her head covering her eyes. I knew she wasn''t blind. Any deficiency would be revealed in the Aura if someone looked for those who knew what to look for. She chose to keep her eyes closed for some reason, but that didn''t matter to me. Even though she didn''t show any reaction to most of my words, the last words I didn''t speak physically, they were words spoken by the natural cycle of Tarzor itself that I am incarnated, words spoken not physically but as a decree of nature itself that one day embraced her, this finally drew a reaction from her making her body tremble once while her face did and her hand clenched tightly into a fist. "I''m going to..." (me) BBBBBBOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!! CCCCRRRRAAAACCCCKKKK!!!! "Aarrgghh!!!" (me) Suddenly one of my smaller branches breaks as it disintegrates into the universe, a strong explosion destroyed space, destroyed my branch and opened a huge crack in the already weakened dimensional membrane of Tarzor, I couldn''t help but feel pain to the point of delaying in a few seconds to regain control over the damaged area. "< Universal Magic: Natural Flow >" (me) "< Universal Magic: Seal of Nature >" (me) "< Universal Magic: Harmonic Presence >" (me) I then spent massive amounts of energy at the same time, I took control of the flow of raw energy of nature using another of my branches while using this energy to force the dimensional membrane to close while this natural energy helped to heal the crack in the dimensional membrane. Without finishing this process another was already being done with a seal being created to recover the broken space and return it to normal and at the same time the presence of my body intensified flowing through the energy flows of nature harmonizing all the energies, elements and Essences that were out of control in this area. Even doing all this, my senses did not stop paying attention to the traitor in front of me, any movement of hers would be followed by a powerful counterattack, in fact I expected her to try something thinking it was an opening, which clearly did not work. "(Zenos and that thing were thrown out?)" (me) "(What happened to him? I''ve never seen him act so wildly before and his power keeps growing like never before...)" (me) Zenos'' condition was a concern, one among many I''ve had in the last few days, Tarzor''s worsening condition is still at the top of my concerns, now to make my mind already full of worries worse I still have a traitor to nature in front of me. "(Why didn''t she attack? Was I too obvious?)" (me) Looking at her a little longer, I noticed that she was ready to react to anything, but I didn''t feel any hostility from her even though she was on guard against me. "Do you plan on standing in front of me like this?" (me) "Why don''t you attack? Being ashamed of everything you''ve done just by seeing me? What a joke..." (me) "This is the first time I''ve met a mutant World Tree like you, but your mouth is quite sharp." (Ancient Elf Ascendant) "I have nothing against you, but I will do what I have to do..." (Ancient Elf Ascendant) "< Universal Magic: Seed of Sin >" (me) I don''t wait for her to finish speaking, no matter how beautiful her voice is, to my ears everything seems fake, her lack of hostility towards me and her words of having nothing against me are even worse than an attack, igniting my anger even more. I couldn''t care less about talking to her, I wanted to humiliate her, step on her for everything she did, but she reacted very little to everything I did, I myself was not able to bear her voice for long, I have never experienced such emotional loss of control before. The magic I used was something that she had no way of escaping, there was nowhere to escape its effects, a magic circle appears above her instantly, a transparent seed appears and goes straight to her, no matter how much she moves or her defenses, this seed was not something physical, an attack, a curse or anything like that. This was a judgment, a way to judge her crimes, judge her sins and judge her actions, there would be no falsehoods or deceptions, there were no lies that no one could speak against a fact. Perhaps she finally realized what that seed was when her face turned pale, but it was too late. The seed reached her, piercing her chest and appearing floating behind her. However, its color was no longer transparent. It was glowing red, as if there was an ocean of blood inside the seed, which was 10 times its original size. "No..." (Ancient Elf Ascendant) The seed shattered in milliseconds as branches and roots emerged at high speed from its interior. Soon, an illusory tree, even larger than my own body, was formed. Its trunk and branches were dry. In its vines, which looked more like tentacles, were the bones of countless creatures. Blood dripped from its roots, and its mere presence seemed to destroy the harmony of the environment. It was a horrible tree that demonstrated all the sins it had committed. "Don''t try to pretend to be anything you''re not. This tree is a symbol of your sins, a fact of everything you''ve committed. You can''t run away from it!" (me) Chapter 1736: Cap 1734: Suicide Chase Part 14 I didn''t know what had happened to me before, I was listening to whispers in a state of blank mind, I don''t remember exactly what I was listening to until the moment my consciousness returned. As I was flying towards the Star Palace I found myself thinking about what happened before, I myself wanted to let my instincts loose a little and fight like a Dragon, let the anger and frustration be released against my enemies, that was what it should have been, but what happened was a total loss of control, my consciousness was completely erased until the end. "Where are they...?" (me) I arrive at the Star Palace, I start looking around, but I don''t find anyone, the barrier I placed around the Star Palace was still standing, but it was clearly weakened by more than 40% and no more than a few dozen minutes had passed. Looking around I didn''t see or feel anything or anyone other than those facing Freya and Hinata. The presences I had previously felt near the Star Palace disappeared, but I knew that was impossible. They hid when I approached, in the same way they managed to get here without being noticed. "How long do you plan to hide? Your arrogance only serves to speak as always, but you Ascendants are always cowards..." (me) "< Universal Law: Star Trap >" (???) Suddenly hundreds of stars that seemed to be far away before, now seem to be right next to me, revealing themselves to be Runes filled with the power of the Ascendant Law. All these stars are linked by a flow of invisible reality energy that connects all the stars with me trapped inside among the stars. Soon several people appeared around me, there were 4 Ascendants and 2 individuals who didn''t look like Ascendants, totaling 6 enemies. There were more than I imagined. Among the Ascendants, 3 of them were Level 3 Ascendants and only one Ascendant was Level 4. An Ascendant I recognized by her presence and cunning eyes, one of the 3 leaders, Urak. Among the 3 Ascendants and being, I realized that one of them was a Dragon, another was clearly a Demon, and the last was a human child who appeared to be under 10 years old. Among the other 2 individuals, one of them wore a full suit of dark gray armor that was designed to resemble a skeleton, the other wore a green cloak with a hood with flower prints, and from the curves of her body, she appeared to be a woman. The two seemed distant from the Ascendants and at the same time remained close to each other. I also didn''t feel any hostility from them directed towards me. "How did he sense us?" (Dragon Ascendant) "He didn''t feel it, he felt the weakening of the barrier of this place and tried to bluff us to force us to leave." (Child Ascendant) "It doesn''t matter, from the state of the barrier it was obvious that someone would be nearby, let''s kill him now!" (Demon Ascendant) "From the beginning I wanted to get rid of you and those lesser Gods!!" (Demon Ascendant) "< Law of Corruption: Fall of the Sacred >" (Demon Ascendant) "Get back to work, we''ll take care of him." (Urak) "Things got complicated, it''s not like we agreed, we want payment now." (Skeleton Knight?) "Here, now finish the job!" (Urak) "Let''s end this..." (hooded woman?) The two I don''t recognize exchange a look before moving away from me, they went to the other side of the Star Palace while an energy emanates from their bodies, each of them has a type of Anomalous energy, in addition I feel traces of Life and Death energy coming from them. As I watched the two of them leave, there were Runes filled with Demonic power all around me, the power of his Ascendant Law was trying to corrupt my body into submission, I couldn''t help but smile at his attempts, I didn''t even need to defend myself. I couldn''t help but smile in mockery at what he was trying to do, I am a Profane God, my very existence is in itself a corruption of Divinity, of Essences, of laments and energies, I am not good or bad, I am not fair or unfair, I am not limited to any of these things and I adapt according to the situation. But more than anything, my Will itself was the core of my existence, for him to be able to corrupt me he would first have to possess at least a Will greater than mine, which was impossible for him and perhaps noticing the mockery in my smile, he realized that he was not able to corrupt me. "Urak, I didn''t expect you to come here in person." (me) "(Freya, can you get me out of here and if possible bring reinforcements?)" (me) "(Yes, but I can''t do more than that, besides being in the middle of a fight, I''m having to help Tarzor so he doesn''t collapse.)" (Freya) Tarzor wasn''t at his best, in fact he might be at his worst moment so far, I as your Primordial God can feel how this whole place is a mess, this isn''t something that will recover easily, it could take years, decades with some luck, maybe centuries and that''s because I''m trying to be positive, the damage we suffered in this chase is insane compared to what we expected. "Stay quiet where you are child, did you really think I would let you escape with the Anomalous Armor?" (Urak) "I won''t stay long, after recovering what belongs to us, I''ll take my time extracting your Power of Chaos for our benefit!" (Urak) "Do you really think this prison will hold me for long?" (me) "Don''t try to provoke us, do you think I don''t know what you''re planning? Trying to use their attack to escape?" (Urak) "< Universal Law: Essence Absorption >" (Urak) Suddenly I feel a suction power emerging from the stars that imprison me, this power was trying to invade my body and was looking for something, what surprises me is not this suction power, what surprised me was how my energy flow reacted to this suction power. My energy flow since my consciousness returned has been acting the same way as when my mind was blank, it moves in cycles throughout my body and Soul without any pattern, almost seeming alive, right now this energy flow was literally moving through my body and Soul avoiding this suction power without me having to do anything, as seconds passed I saw Urak''s expression change strangely, especially when a tree leaf appears from absolute nowhere behind me where I passed like a portal arriving hundreds of meters away from my previous location. As soon as I appeared I was not alone, Hades and Adella were with me appearing seconds later, even so we were still at a numerical disadvantage being 3 VS 4. Not to mention those two trying to break the barrier of the Star Palace, I can''t let that happen. But while I was thinking about these things, a frightening murderous intent appears next to me, when I turn around I see Adella with red eyes with a truly maniacal face, her Aura was painted with pure killing intent to the point that I''m not sure if she still maintains her sanity. "URAKKKKK!!!!" (Adella) She doesn''t waste words and advances with her eyes focused on Urak, I exchange a look with Hades before advancing, but I also noticed something strange in the way Hades cautiously looked back as if confirming if there was anyone else. -------------------- Pov Hades: Minutes before going to meet Zenos. "Aahhh aahhh... aahhh..." (me) In front of me were two giant dead creatures, one of them was being devoured by Starfire that took the form of a Dragon burning and devouring the enemy, then the other had his body distorted with black spots all over, his entire body shattered from the inside out. I was exhausted, but I pulled the master''s blood to drink, slowly recovering my strength as I looked around, metallic bodies shattered everywhere, I destroyed each of those Ascended Golems using my Dragon body, I cut them with my claws, stabbed them between my teeth and pierced them with my tail, not to mention the shockwaves from my clashes against the two giants taking care of all the others. But even so, I was not relieved, my eyes turned to the culprit who increased the illness of the two giants, which caused several injuries on my body that are only now recovering. At some point the curse I cast on the planet also broke, she was the culprit of that, she did it as soon as I destroyed the last enemy. "Why did you do that...?" (me) "I wanted to test what it would be like to cancel the curse, it was interesting..." (???) She says this while showing one of the 6 Serpents coming out of her back burned and possibly dead, bands of purple lines slowly surrounding the entire Serpent that glows purple. "(Hades ended up on your side? Who is this Anomalous creature?)" (Freya) "(I don''t know, but why did you contact me?)" (me) "(Zenos needs reinforcements...)" (Freya) "(Take me to him!)" (me) There was no point in saying anything else, I would help my master and at the same time I could get away from this strange woman, her look gives me the creeps. "How can I forget good manners, my name is..." (???) "Huh..." (???) Before she could finish speaking a large leaf appears next to me and I flap my wings disappearing inside seeing her face smiling at me one last time, this made my entire spine go cold as I cross the portal appearing next to Master Zenos. Chapter 1737: Cap 1735: Suicide Chase Part 15 As Adella charged madly after Urak, Hades and I followed right behind. At first, I didn''t understand what Adella was trying to do by going against a Level 4 Ascendant. As far as I know, her power shouldn''t be any less than my mother''s. Even though I feel like I''ve gotten much stronger, I know that I haven''t reached that level of strength yet, so I''m not sure if I''d be able to defeat her. My current strength should be on par with Adella''s or a little above hers. That leaves Hades as the weakest of the two of us. As my Herald, I know that my increase in strength has influenced him as well, but even so, his strength is still the weakest of the three of us. That''s why I''m going to go against two enemies. I''m going against the Dragon and the Ascendant boy. I''ll leave the Demon to him. Their compatibility will give him enough of an advantage to ensure his victory. With that thought, I wave to Hades before flapping my wings, making the space ripple a little in the opposite direction to where I''m going. The three of them were in front of me, and from the Demon''s smile I knew he had set a trap in the way, but I just smile before abruptly changing my path. My fist goes towards the head of the Ascending Dragon, still in humanoid form. Meanwhile, my tail whips the boy off guard. He was aiming an attack at me and didn''t notice my attack against him in time. The Ascending Dragon defended my attack with his fist, but even so, he was thrown back by the force while I continued to flap my wings to get away from that position. The Ascending boy, on the other hand, had a film of energy protecting his body, which prevented my attack from directly touching his body, and as a result, he was only thrown in the same direction I was going without being injured. My attention was completely turned to those two, from Adella''s state I knew that she wouldn''t let anyone interfere in her fight and Hades should be able to deal with his enemy, so I only needed to focus on those two with me. "< Law of Temperature: Infernal Field >" (Dragon Ascendant) "< Law of Dreams: Nightmare Darts >" (Child Ascendant) Suddenly the Dragon''s body emitted a high temperature as flames covered the surroundings from it, which pushed me back as hundreds of sharp bone darts larger than my human body were coming towards me from behind. I didn''t lose my calm because of this, nor did I try to defend this attack because I realized the kind of power they contain, using my now enhanced senses and my wings, I flew dodging the darts that disappeared after missing their target. When I looked around I realized that I was in the middle of endless flames, red and yellow flames emitting a heat similar to that of a Sun around me. "(So the Dragon''s power is Fire while that child uses mental powers...)" (me) I resist the flames as I advance against the Dragon first, I don''t fear fire or anything like that, I''m resistant to all elements, I also have great physical defense because of being a Divine Dragon, all this without counting my high regeneration because of a Vampiric origin, this makes it easier to deal with the Dragon first. "< Unholy Eclipse Magic: Star Storm >" (me) I flap my wings towards the two enemies, a gale created by the strong flows of raw power of the universe spreads for thousands of kilometers while forming stars of energy that look more like blades being thrown in the middle of a storm, the two defend themselves in different and strange ways. The heat around the Dragon increases even more as it burns the energy itself around it while it stands still covered in fire, meanwhile the boy becomes ethereal while the stars pass through his body as if he were an illusion. I didn''t let myself be affected by his strange ways of defending himself, I advanced against the Dragon while returning to my original form and he did the same, our two bodies grew immensely compared to before, my fist met his in the middle of the path generating a shockwave that pushed the boy away from both of us. The body of the Rising Dragon was that of a Humanoid Dragon just like my son Magnus, his body was similar to mine in size, but he was thin with white scales, his eyes were different colors with one being icy blue and the other being fiery red, his wings also gained slightly different ronalidases, with half of them becoming slightly bluish while the other half became more reddish. He and I began to exchange punches, each of my films was being charged with Starfire while his blows were sometimes hot and other times cold. Each collision between our blows generated shockwaves that went for long distances around us, each blow making my arms tremble. "< Dream Law: Materialization of Terror >" (Child Ascendant) While I was fighting the Ascendant Dragon, I couldn''t help but pay attention to the second enemy. I wouldn''t let him do what he wanted. He was clearly the cunning type. He didn''t attack me again right away, but instead waited. He kept waiting for me to forget about him amidst the enemy in front of me. Compared to two Dragons, his size was like a speck of dust. Even so, I''m not so stupid as to forget about a level 3 Ascendant next to me. As soon as he attacked, I was right in the middle of dealing a blow to the Ascendant Dragon. In other words, I was receiving two blows at the same time. The Ascendant Child was above me and created a magic circle from which a grotesque arm that seemed to be covered in bones came at me with its sharp claws. It was almost as big as my Dragon body. As if this pincer attack was planned by them, the Dragon in front of me also changed its attacks, it used both fists at the same time, one of the fists was burning with red flames while the other was half frozen, I had nowhere to run from these two attacks. But I learned new tricks amidst the previous lack of control, the energy inside me flows wildly as the Starfire ignites throughout my body, I concentrate it in my wings as I flap my wings with full force spreading a strong gust of Starfire in all directions, this delayed the blow of the two fists of the Ascending Dragon long enough for me to react. I advanced towards him before the large fist coming from above could hit me, I advanced towards him with my jaws open, soon more Starfire came out of my mouth and consumed his arms while my fist hit his stomach breaking his scales with blood coming out of his mouth as he was thrown back. I flew after him without pause as I moved away from the Creature that was still coming out of the magic circle of that Ascendant Child. "< Unholy Breath >" (me) "< Law of Temperature: Breath of Fire and Ice >" (Ascendant Dragon) As I advanced against him, I noticed the change in his position as well as the inversion of the flow of his power that had previously gone to his arms and was now going to his jaws, there was only one attack that all Dragons know and so I decide to counterattack with the same blow. Soon a condensed amount of pure Star Fire that looked like liquid flows at high pressure from my jaws revealing an entire universe full of stars in chaos, my attack was several times more powerful than in the past and space seemed to crack wherever it passed. His attack was two intertwining attacks, his jaw opens revealing two spheres of condensed energy, one of the spheres was incandescent red while the other was bright blue, from these two spheres of pure energy came two rays of energy being the same colors as the spheres, the two rays of energy rotated around each other then came in my direction also causing strong ripples in space. But as soon as my attack hit, there was no explosion or shockwave, it was as if the two cold and hot energies had been absorbed by my attack, it was possible to see the two energies exploding in the Universal chaos within my attack that continued going towards the Ascending Dragon consuming all of its attack. BBOOOOMMMM!!! GGGGGGGRRRRRRR!!!!! He tried to cross his arms and the 3 pairs of wings in front of him to defend himself from my attack, but his power of the Ascending Law and his Aura exploded to their limits of power, then my attack hit releasing a powerful explosion followed by his bestial scream of pain. My attack hits his wings, blowing them away while hitting his arms, scattering them around his entire body. His scales break, melt, and become particles while his flesh disintegrates as it deforms under my attack. But before I can finish off the enemy, a strong blow is coming towards me. A creature almost 15 times my size has its arm stretched out towards me to attack me from behind. I know it''s the creature that child had summoned. I never stopped paying attention to them, so by interrupting my attack and flapping my wings, I have more than enough time to dodge that attack, but because of that, I wasn''t able to finish off that Rising Dragon. "(It doesn''t matter, he must be severely injured at least.)" (me) Chapter 1738: Cap 1736: Suicide Chase Part 16 Pov Hades: I advanced against the one that Master Zenos pointed out, he looked more like a Demon with wings than Celestine, it was strange to see someone like him, the Ascendants really accept any race among them. I feel ashamed to see Master Zenos taking two enemies for himself while leaving only this enemy for me, even Adella went after one of the enemy''s leaders who seemed happy to take Adella away from the Star Palace. "(I have to finish him off quickly.)" (me) "< Divine Claws of Chaos >" (me) "< Law of Corruption: Halberd of the Damned >" (Demon Ascendant) Just as I expected, since I laid eyes on him I realized that this Ascendant had a strong Demonic power and his Aura itself was full of corruption, it was more than clear what kind of power he had, now I understand why the master left him for me. My claws grow as Starfire glows on my growing claws as it descends upon him, his weapon appears in his hands as it swings towards me, Runes glow brightly as the power of Law rushes towards the metal blade that grows twice its size before colliding with my claws. "(Yes, he is trying to corrupt me, I who am a curse...)" (me) "< Blood Curse: Sacred Blood Mark >" (me) I couldn''t help but smile as blood flows from my arm onto the halberd, before he realizes anything, the blood has ignited into Starfire as it climbs up his arms burning its way to his wings curling around them. "< Law of Corruption: Release... >" (Demon Ascendant) "Too late..." (me) I return to my Dragon form, opening my jaws around his body. Thanks to my curse, his power is slower to act. As soon as my teeth crush his body, I feel a strong curse coming from his body, trying to infiltrate my body and take it as his own. "Using this technique on me, of all people, this fight is over before it even begins." (me) My body was born by corrupting and consuming living bodies. Even my Soul was formed this way. This trick was useless against me. As soon as he did this, I could feel my body and Soul becoming much stronger while the power of Chaos within me helps to integrate everything that previously formed this Ascendant by transforming it into new parts of me. "(The power of the Ascendant Law was not maintained, it was converted into...)" (me) Suddenly red tattoos appeared on my chest, neck and arms, the Demonic power clearly felt in these marks. My body felt stronger and my energy tripled, my soul is still changing, but unlike my body it can change faster, my Soul will need time, it will take days at least. As I felt these changes in myself, I stabilized my mind as most of the changes finally ended, I returned to my humanoid form and looked in the direction of Master Zenos before looking in the direction of Adella. "He shouldn''t need help... as for Adella, I don''t think it would be of any help against that Level 4 Ascendant." (me) Turning my eyes to the Star Palace, I realized that the barrier was already half effective and I felt the two presences on the other side. Without wasting time I went towards them, but before reaching them I felt a strong danger and looked in one direction, that''s when I saw a large arrow covered in Ascendant Runes coming towards me at high speed causing a spatial storm wherever it went. "Damn! Where did that attack come from!?" (me) --------------------- Pov Adella: "URAKKKKK!!!!" (me) As soon as I saw her I could no longer control my anger, the hatred inside me was only unable to take over me completely because I had already overcome those emotions thanks to Zenos during my Rebirth as his daughter. But even if I have overcome those past traumas, it does not mean that I will put my anger aside, it does not mean that I will forget everything that happened and especially it does not mean that I will forgive those damn Ascendants, especially that damn woman. I advanced towards her and she smiled as she opened her wings, propelling herself backwards a few meters away from me as we moved away from the Star Palace, she was smiling mockingly at me, a clear provocation that I pretended to fall for as I prepared to attack. "< Blood Breath >" (me) "< Universal Law: Gravity Manipulation >" (Urak) Even though I was in my Human form, I used my breath attack knowing that its power would be diminished, I needed to have an idea of ??the difference in power between the two of us, I have no illusions of defeating her at this moment, but I will still make her pay dearly for accepting this fight against me. "(As I remember, she manipulates gravity... if I''m not mistaken she also manipulates space, the power of reality and all the elements...)" (me) My breath attack never reached her, it spun around her body running a red ring while she seemed not to care about me. But as if she had remembered something, her face stopped smiling as she looked at me with an irritated expression. "You, that Aura..." (Urak) "You are Selene, that crazy Blood Goddess, aren''t you!?" (Urak) "That damned Universe was supposed to be mine, you and those Gods kept fighting even when more than 70% of the universe was already in my hands... because of that the universe shattered and I lost everything I invested in it!" (Urak) "Don''t you dare talk about my home, you bird-winged bitch!!!" (me) "You turned innocent people into monsters, interfered with the flow of energy in the universe and killed countless lives!!!" (me) "I don''t expect a mere Goddess to understand our cause, but in a war, the means don''t matter as long as you win." (Urak) In those days I lost everything, my entire religion died, entire planets ceased to exist, Gods fell until only I was left, the Universe itself shattered while only I in a state of madness was able to persist almost losing my sanity. When Selene found me, I was almost unconscious and realizing the angry monster I would become, I decided to be her Divine Beast as a way to not torment the innocent. Meeting Zenos was a blessing for me, even though he is a shitty Father who forced me to be his daughter, I still can''t deny how much he did for me, my power grew to the same level as when I was still a Goddess originally, maybe even a little more, I was able to fully recover my sanity and now I can face the enemy I swore to crush between my teeth. "I''m going to make you beg to be bitten, bitch of the Ascendants!!" (me) "I''m tired of this filthy mouth!!" (Urak) "< Universal Law: Constellation Bow >" (Urak) "< Incarnation of the Divine Dragon of Blood >" (me) My body turns into the body of a Dragon, a pure and immortal Incarnation of blood, my body grows to the point where it looks like a speck of dust, but its presence almost completely suppresses me as the stars change their position sleeping a bow above it being held by a blurred silhouette that pulls the string made of the flow of power, the stars gather as if attracted by the bow forming an arrow almost my size before shooting. Both the bow and the blurry figure holding it seem to be far away, but as soon as the arrow leaves the bow, it seems to be infinitely close as if it had teleported here. I didn''t have time to dodge and instead my body shatters into blood particles as the arrow passes through me before reassembling my body somewhere else. Wherever the arrow passed, a large spatial ripple remained for a short period of time. "< Divine Blood Magic: River of Slaughter >" (me) "< Universal Law: Elemental Flow >" (Urak) She seems to be having fun with me, but I feel like her attention isn''t even focused on me, that''s when I realized that the arrow wasn''t aiming at me. I was enraged, but I couldn''t completely lose my cool in the middle of the attack, my wings spread as blood particles left my body forming a circular portal swirling behind me, a bubbling stream of blood emanating thousands of dead Aura representing everything I''ve ever killed flow out towards her. This time she wasn''t smiling as she felt the Anomalous powers within this attack, she concentrated her power using thousands of Ascendant Runes that floated from her wings to form elemental cubes that released elemental energy in streams mixing together as they clashed head-on against my attack. VVVVRRRRHHH!!!! "Let''s see how long you can keep that shitty smile up!!" (me) Our two attacks collided and an explosion of particles made me move away at high speed, Runes containing elemental power spreading everywhere along with blood particles and yet she was still without moving. She waves her hand in my direction and all those cubes of elemental energy come at me emanating different elements in chained combo attacks, this time she wasn''t smiling anymore, her Aura was growing stronger and stronger. "(I hate having to resort to his power...)" (me) "< Divine Summon: Star Sword >" (me) "< Blood Eclipse Sword >" (me) Chapter 1739: Cap 1737: Suicide Chase Part 17 When I looked at the state of the Dragon that was saved by its companion attacking me, it was in a truly horrible state, its scales were no longer there, its body was raw and deformed with burns everywhere, its blood painted its entire body while even its wings, symbol of the arrogance of the Ascendants, were destroyed. After seeing how severely its body was injured, I looked at the creature summoned by the second Ascendant, this creature was bigger than me, its body was that of a Centaur with the lower part being between a Wolf and a Tiger, its upper body was almost humanoid with long arms and its head was a large sphere with green eyes, white irises and green pupils in the shape of an X. Its entire body was surrounded by bone armor, I haven''t seen a mouth so far, but from the ferocity and hunger I feel in its Aura, I must be careful of its attacks, the Ascendant boy was sitting on top of the creature''s head with a visibly pale face. They approached the Rising Dragon and the Rising Boy looked angrily at him before he started to speak, I didn''t hear what he said, but the Dragon''s body began to tremble as a green and white glow emanated from its entire body that healed completely in seconds. "That wasn''t regeneration, it was a healing effect, a very powerful one..." (me) I narrowed my eyes seeing such a severely injured enemy recover so quickly, something wasn''t right, I needed to be careful. "I need to find out more about this healing." (me) Saying that, I advanced towards the enemies without pause, they were ready to face me with that Rising Dragon taking the lead, its body releasing an Aura that constantly changes temperature. "< Unholy Magic: Claws of the End >" (me) "< Law of Temperature: Burning Snowstorm >" (Dragon Rising) A snowstorm appears in front of me spreading, I wouldn''t be able to defend an area attack like that, the magic circle that appeared in front of me released a large monstrous claw that seemed to have been cut out of the starry sky itself as it advances cutting through the snow towards the Rising Dragon. The two attacks don''t interfere with each other and when the snow reaches me, I release a wave of fire elemental power to protect my body, that''s when I realized my mistake, the snow that was previously all white caught fire like fuel when it came into contact with my Fire element in a chain reaction that turns this white area into a fiery hell, an abrupt change. I charged towards them without caring about it, following the path of the claw that cut through the snow from before I was able to distinguish a path without fearing the fire, even when arms of those flames attached themselves to my body the resulting burns were quickly healed, but when I passed through the flames I realized my attack had pierced an illusion, it was not the real enemy and I realized this too late, a large fist was already coming from my right side hidden by the flames around, as if that was not enough two ice stakes appeared behind me piercing my wings that froze right after. "Ghuh!!" (me) I was sent flying by that large fist, my entire arm that I used to defend myself was numb and bleeding, my bones vibrating almost to the point of breaking, the strength of that creature was insane. The ice spikes no longer mattered to me at all, what I did was swing my wings breaking the layer of ice around my wings while the ice spikes were broken by my strength, the holes in my wings quickly healing. That was how this fight began and how it would last for the next few minutes that soon became hours. ------------------ Pov Hades: "< Chaos Magic: Ethereal Transmutation >" (me) My body is covered in Stellar energy as everything becomes ethereal, in that state I didn''t try to defend myself from that giant arrow coming at me, what I did was penetrate the barriers of space where I traveled, avoiding the arrow before going somewhere else near the two who were trying to destroy the barrier of the Stellar Palace. I see the two of them looking at me as their powers mix, creating a tornado of energy impacting the barrier. "Stop right there..." (me) "Don''t come any closer!" (Lolth) Lolth suddenly comes to my side, she had a cut on her face, but her eyes were serious as she looked at the two in front of us, she puts her hand on my shoulder, letting a strong vital energy flow into me. This energy passed through my body until it reached my eyes and Aura, this revealed what was hidden, there were Spectral creatures surrounding the area and not even I was able to see, there was a strange energy surrounding them making it difficult to even feel them. "Stop everything you''re doing here, you shouldn''t be here in the first place." (Lolth) Lolth who was next to me seemed calm and alert at the same time, seeing her arrival the two who were in front stopped weakening the barrier. "You who are children of Life and Death shouldn''t be helping an Ascendant!" (Lolth) "I didn''t expect to find someone like this here, you can call me Lady of Life, the one next to me doesn''t have a name like me, so just call him Paladin of Death." (Lady of Life) "Why are you talking to her, we still have things to finish." (Paladin of Death) "We won''t let them take the cube!" (me) "Was it a cube we need?" (Lady of Life) "No, that''s what the Ascendants asked for, but it''s not our problem... attack!" (Paladin of Death) "If they''re Specters, then it''s easier..." (me) "< Divine Chaos Magic: Eclipse of the Soul''s Path >" (me) Using the power of Chaos that I possess by the Master''s Divinity, I point my finger upwards from where a powerful beam of stellar energy cuts through space, a magic circle reveals itself by distorting space itself as it is created, then the corset in space opens like a large vertical eye revealing inside a starry sky with a path where a great Eclipse awaits at the end, this path was filled with the power of Souls. "May your Souls demonstrate their Will and obsession, may only yours be the steps that have trodden this path!!" (me) "..." (everyone) Among all the things that could stand against us, mere Specters, however special they may be, possess no anomalous power, so they cannot resist this path. As soon as the path revealed itself, all the Specters stopped in their tracks, a chain materialized around their necks as cracks spread out in mere seconds before breaking, a violent Aura of pure obsession bursting out from them as they flew towards the Path of Souls. As the last of them entered, the path closed with the magic circle falling apart and the tear in space recovering as if it had never happened. "What was that?" (Death Paladin) "It was not the circle of Reincarnation, it emanated Divine power... a Divine Realm...?" (Lady of Life) The two of them seemed confused about the Path of the Soul, even though the so-called Lady of Life had gotten it right, she seemed almost incredulous at what she said as if she couldn''t believe it. "Are you really going to stay on the side of the Ascendants?" (Lolth) "We''ve already made our position clear, so let''s not waste our time." (Death Paladin) Saying that, he advances towards us, I advance next, leaving the other enemy to Lolth, as someone who serves Lena, facing someone manipulating the Power of Life should be easier. I still twist punches with my opponent, each punch of mine left a mark of Starfire on his Armor while their blows marked my body with stains of the power of death. It seemed that we were evenly matched in the minutes that followed, but I was being completely pressured, in fact he could have already won this fight and for some reason seemed to hold back from using all his powers. Even so he forced a high-speed battle that was purely physical without leaving any room for me to use Magic or any technique that required concentrating energy before using. But as time passed, I became anxious as I realized that I would not be able to finish my fight. "(This will take a while...)" (me) -------------------- Pov Cortana: 8 hours later. Time has passed since the Ascendants'' invasion, their escape routes were largely closed with Sarazar destroying those swords piercing Tarzor''s body. The fight also only intensified, with the defeat of all the Ascendant Golems, everyone was finally able to see the Ascendant plans, they went from a battle defending Planets to a battle of attack on the points where they were trying to corrupt Tarzor''s functions by altering his brutal energy flow throughout the universe using key points. But my sister and I were frustrated looking at Zenos covered in wounds finally defeating one of his two opponents. Lolth and Hades were still being held captive in battles they could not win, while Freya was still in an intense battle against that Ancient Elf Ascendant. "We should be almost there." (Lena) "Yes, once inside, Zenos will win, but for some reason that worries me." (me) As intense as the battle is, there are many loose ends, there are many interfering, I don''t know what might happen later on, the Ascendants don''t play fair. Chapter 1740: Cap 1738: Suicide Chase Part 18 I''ve been fighting them for hours now, but neither side has managed to end the fight. The Rising Dragon even tried to escape the battle at one point, but I used a curse to trap the three of them in a battle to the death. I can''t let them escape. Even without leaving this battle, I can tell that the barrier around the Star Palace hasn''t been broken yet, so they must have somehow managed to stop those two strangers from helping the Ascendants. "Why do you keep fighting? Do you really think you can beat us when you''re the most injured among the three of us!?" (Ascendant Boy) "(I see, I finally get it... so it''s the boy''s ring and the earring in the Dragon''s left ear.)" (me) "I don''t need to win..." (me) My body was covered in wounds that heal slowly. Even my divine regeneration can''t last forever. It also doesn''t work that well on my scales, which take a long time to heal or grow back. Not to mention that their power slows down my regeneration. To make matters worse, every time I seriously injured the Dragon or the giant creature summoned by the boy, they always regenerated when they reached a critical point, a green light taking over their bodies, recovering all the damage suffered back to their maximum state. At first I thought it was some healing item, but it wasn''t that. I didn''t realize before why the Rising Dragon in its original form doesn''t wear clothes, but it still has accessories like bracelets, rings and its earring. I seriously and mortally injured the Rising Dragon a few times, every time it healed itself with this green light and over time I realized that this light came from within its body, but every time a barely noticeable spark of Aura came out of that earring. Furthermore, it wasn''t actually being healed and I only realized this because a bracelet that was an artifact that was badly damaged by one of my attacks was in perfect condition after this green light restored the Rising Dragon''s body. I still didn''t know what that green light was, but it clearly wasn''t healing, it was as if he was using a video game mechanism called a save point, which saves the state of your body along with everything in contact with your body to use when you''re at a critical point due to your injuries. This effect also works automatically since on one of those occasions I had managed to knock him out and he still recovered. I didn''t know what that power was, but I noticed that the earring had 5 jewels and now only 1 of those jewels was left while there were 4 empty spots where there used to be jewels, these were similar to small diamonds and my assumption was that maybe he could only use that green energy one more time, if I''m right I''ll need to kill him twice more to really leave him dead. I also noticed the ring on one of the Ascended Boy''s hands, it was the same jewels embedded in the ring, exactly the same amount, but there were 2 empty spaces with only 3 remaining. I hadn''t killed the boy once so far and his summoned creature was already in a very serious state, yet the green light energy never appeared to heal the creature. Thanks to these hours of combat I realized a few things. 1. These items are for automatic use. 2. These items should only work 5 times. 3. These items cannot be used in summons. 4. These items don''t seem to be for healing but rather for restoring a specific predefined state. These are all the observations I could make after hours of combat. If it weren''t for the great increase in my powers due to the previous loss of control as well as the changes in my energy flow, I would have already lost this fight either due to injuries, lack of energy or simply exhaustion generated by such an intense battle. But now, even though I''m badly injured, my Soul still hasn''t been hurt due to them not being able to do so, the Ascendant boy tried hard without success, besides the injuries that are quite serious, my exhaustion is still bearable, I could fight for several more hours, my energy is also over half thanks to my rapid energy recovery due to the new energy flow I possess. "Kid, you must say that you''re a pain in the ass, your mental powers are as useless as a small child''s punches to an adult!" (me) "Your creature is also on its last legs, halfway to the grave, so surrender..." (me) "< Law of Dream: Symbol of Dominion >" (Child Ascendant) "< Law of Temperature: Symbol of... >" (Dragon Ascendant) "Finally..." (me) "< Unholy Curse: Life Predator >" (me) "< Activate >" (me) My words were only to stir up the apparent anger in the two Ascendants, the giant that the boy summoned had his armor broken, one of his whites was split in half from the hand to the elbow and there were large cuts on his lower body as well as his large eye that had a bloody hole that went through to the other side. I wanted to force them to use their ultimate ability that every Ascendant knows, I feel like they don''t like to use all their power in combat, they always leave their ultimate power for last, I don''t know if this is due to their arrogance or perhaps the burden that this technique must place on them by pushing their powers to the limit. As soon as they used this intention I activated something that I had been preparing for a long time, all my blood that came out of my wounds during those hours of combat and floated in the middle of space, now shone brightly revealing an intense energy flowing from me like a tsunami taking over the entire Ritual at the same time, which activates instantly. Red ethereal leeches come out by the billions from the magic circle, they attack all of them at the same time, they can''t defend themselves. One thing I noticed after fighting so many Ascendants is that during their use of the Symbol of Dominion or anything like that, their powers and Aura have a moment of transformation where they become stronger, but this moment that sometimes lasts a few seconds prevents them from moving or using any other skill, technique or magic. As soon as they used this power I activated my ritual, the Leeches were already on top of them within 1 second and since they were connected to me, I could feel them biting their bodies and soon streams of red energy came to me while surrounded by Starfire, this red energy almost looked like a river of blood bathing my Dragon body that absorbed everything like a sponge. My body began to recover from all injuries, whether superficial or internal, my Vitality was increasing rapidly and my energy reserves that were previously half full were filling up, I was sucking the blood, energy, power of the Law and even pure Vitality directly from them through my curse. Just as I thought it would happen, suddenly all the Leeches disappeared, falling apart along with the large magic circle, then revealing the two Ascendants surrounded by green energy, the Dragon''s earring broke when the green light disappeared, revealing his completely recovered body while the Ascendant boy''s ring still has 2 jewels now. The creature that was previously with the Ascendant boy was in pieces as if it had been through a meat grinder, but it was still moving or at least trying to move. As I looked at them I noticed that their energy reserves, their Vitality and even their Auras were at their peak once again, but I didn''t lose what I stole from them. My body was also completely healed, equalizing the combat for the first time, in my Dragon form I look at my opponents who were enraged by what I accomplished. Behind them, I look at the pieces of a planet that no longer exists because of this battle, but its fragments served their purpose by covering what I left behind. "< Law of Temperature: Symbol of Dominion >" (Dragon Ascendant) "< Law of Dream: Symbol of Dominion >" (Child Ascendant) "Idiot..." (me) "(KARINA!)" (me) "< Holy Summon: Divine Incarnation of Zenos >" (Karina) "< Unholy Breath >" (me/KARINA) The two of them were clearly furious with what I did, they also wasted no time talking, as soon as my magic circle broke apart along with every drop of my blood in the surroundings, they tried once more to release all their power while I couldn''t help but smile once more. Once again they tried to use their power, thinking that I only had a hidden card ready to use, but I am not one to reveal my hand easily if it is not to finish. Hidden in the rubble of a destroyed world behind them was Karina who remained hidden all this time, by my orders. Karina is my Saint, thanks to this she can perform the most sacred act of a religion, the Invocation of her God through her Saint, but Karina was not summoning me physically, she was summoning my Soul and Will to incarnate in her body, thus handing over her body and Soul as my vessels. Through her I used my power that flowed from my true body to hers at the same time that I spent it since she would not be able to contain all my power, even this is already taking her to the limit. With my point of view shifting to her taking her Dragon form and already opening her jaw, my breath attack comes out at high speed and with a liquid stellar energy revealing a chaotic universe inside as it hits the two Ascendants from behind without giving time for their Symbols of Dominion to fully form. This time I saw the body of the Dragon that took the first blow falling apart as it was consumed by my breath attack, its Vitality completely draining away with an incredulous expression. Meanwhile the boy managed to resist more before his ring once again released that green energy from within his body, but as for the matter at hand, I didn''t stop my attack and when the green light disappeared revealing his healthy body, he was once again consumed in my attack before being able to do anything. In the end, the green light appeared once more and this time before his body was completely restored, in that brief moment before the green light disappeared once more and he was once again exposed to my attack, he broke an item he had taken from somewhere, disappearing from its place. Seeing this, I stopped using my attack and released my control over Karina, I returned to my body and tried to perceive where the enemy was, thanks to the curse I cast hours ago it didn''t take more than a blink of an eye to feel him leaving a space that broke like a mirror, my eyes fell on his ring now falling apart and he looked at me with great caution. "Now it''s just me and you..." (me) Chapter 1741: Cap 1739: Suicide Chase Part 19 Pov Xagar: "It''s finally over..." (me) Hhhaa Hhaaa Hhhaa I was tired, exhausted beyond my limits, my whole body was shaking, my bones were broken and held in place only by my Divine Power coursing through them, my scales were destroyed as well as the muscles underneath were torn, one of my eyes was destroyed with a large diagonal cut across my face while my only remaining eye could barely focus because of fatigue. In the surroundings, pieces of Golems were the least of it, there were hundreds of millions of monsters that were mixtures of different races of monsters, all hybrids of the most varied types, but that amount would be impossible if it weren''t for the Ascendant who created them. This bastard was a summoner type, he never approached me voluntarily, always fighting from a distance or hiding, it took me hours massacring hordes of monsters before I reached him, who was now surrounded by chains emitting the power of the Apocalypse. He was still alive, but his condition was bad, his wings were tied together bleeding by my chains, his bones were all broken and his Power of the Ascendant Law was sealed by my Divine powers, he only maintains consciousness because that''s what I want, the more pain he feels the better. He looked at me with hatred and fear, the pain I was causing him was not limited to his body, his Soul was also being tormented, all the hybrids I had to kill were crying, one of them even begged for death, this bastard did it. I look at his face covered in blood and tears, I hold his face between my hands looking into his eyes without hiding my murderous intent. "You don''t need to be afraid, I won''t kill you, I''ll introduce you to two acquaintances of mine, their names are Haku and Lilith..." (me) "They''ll love meeting you..." (me) He may not recognize the names I said, but he''ll remember their faces without ever forgetting them even in his worst nightmares after he hands them over to have fun. "I''d like to help... more..." (me) I could feel that my master was fighting and I already knew from another Dragon that there were other fights going on, but even now I was in a state too fragile to be of help in another fight. Sigh "Master... please be well..." (me) ------------------- Pov Freya: I looked at the Ancient Elf in front of me, her body was covered in wounds, her wings and body were dripping with blood, her clothes lost their charm and yet her Aura was still as firm as it was in the beginning and when she stood in front of me. It was hours of fighting, but she never once attacked, she was always on the defensive, she was able to dodge most of my attacks and had great resistance against all elements. During all these hours, I was able to calm down, so I could notice the battles of Zenos and the others, but every time I tried to intervene in their battles, I was stopped by this traitor of nature, which rekindled the flames of my anger towards her. "Why don''t you attack!?" (me) "..." (Ascendant Elf) "You still refuse to speak, very well, then die!" (me) "< Universal Magic: Stigma of Sin >" (me) "AAAAHHHHH!!!!!" (Ascendant Elf) A green dot forms on your forehead, a spell that took me more than an hour to prepare. It wasn''t a curse per se, it was a different judgment than the one I did before. This time, it won''t just reveal your crime, it won''t condemn you. From that green dot on your forehead, tattoos of green vines covered in thorns come out, spreading all over your body. This spell isn''t easy to use. It was one of the spells taught by the Tree of Creation, which is why it took me so long to use it. "In addition to the pain that plagues your Soul, your energy has been dispersed, any elemental power you possess has been sealed, and your body barely retains 10% of its normal power, all of this without considering your injuries." (me) "In your current state, you are no different from a Mortal... die, and may your Soul be judged in the same proportion as your crimes in life. If you have a next life, may you be exiled from the embrace of nature!" (me) "Die!" (me) Dozens of my branches fall like spears towards her, she tried to move desperately to live, I could see that she was trying to say something, but she couldn''t say anything between her screams and the blood coming out of her mouth. But before my branches could reach her, a flash of light interrupted my senses, the next thing I realized was that my branches didn''t hit anything, the Ascendant had disappeared from her original position and was now hundreds of kilometers away, still within my senses, she was on the shoulders of the hooded person still writhing in pain, the same hooded person who helped Zenos kill the Ascendants hours ago. "I''m sorry, but I can''t let her die here..." "< Universal Magic: Spatial Lock >" (me) The space around them solidifies, preventing their movements while a great pressure from the surroundings forces them to stand still with difficulty using their powers. "If you get in my way, I''ll end you too!" (me) "I''m not your enemy..." "Then why do you defend this traitor!?" (me) "You don''t understand..." "No..." (Elf Ascendant) "..." "Your stubbornness has ruined my plans..." Sigh "I''m really not your enemy, I hope that in the future..." "< Universal Magic: Natural Fury >" (me) "See you soon, Freya..." My leaves bathed in the elemental power of the universe as they formed a hurricane towards the two, but before it could reach them, it disappeared using a crystal emanating Ascendant power, I didn''t recognize that power of the Ascendant Law. "She escaped!!!" (me) "DAMN!!!" (me) I was so furious that the entire Universal Tree shook as a strong pulse of raw natural energy ran through all the Energy Flows of this universe. I don''t understand why I hate this Ancient Elf so much. I think that for a number of reasons I lost my temper when I was around her. But now that she''s not around, I''m starting to see my previous lack of control. Even if it doesn''t change what I think of her, it still says something about the self-control I need to master. I look around and realize that Hades and Lolth are fighting two opponents who are literally toying with them. Neither side was injured or tired, except for Hades, who was already starting to show signs of fatigue. Zenos seemed to be doing well, he was even doing too well, but I couldn''t say the same about Adella when I saw her condition. Just as I was about to enter the fight, I noticed a change in Tarzor, so I had to stop everything to help him in this final race. "Sorry, Adella... I''ll call someone as soon as possible..." (me) ---------------------- Pov Zenos: There was only me and the Ascendant boy, we were facing each other, separated by only a few dozen kilometers, his size was laughable compared to me in Dragon form. The fear in his eyes was clear to see, he already had more of his healing from before, his ring falling apart while he seemed to be more aware of his surroundings after being ambushed twice. The best way to make an ambush work is when no one is expecting it, the element of surprise is worth a lot and no one expects an ambush to happen twice in a row. "Surrender and I''ll keep you alive..." (me) "Give up, if you want to beat me you''ll need more than just words!!" (Child Ascendant) "< Dream Law: Fantasy World >" (Child Ascendant) "< Territory: Divine Realm >" (me) As soon as his body tried to emit an Aura filled with the power of the Ascendant Law, he was trying to imitate the way we create a Territory. His biggest mistake ends up showing more of the anxiety and desperation he is feeling because of me, he was trying anything and didn''t even dare to use his Symbol of Dominion again for fear of it being another trap. I charge at him as our two techniques collide, he was completely wrong to trust this technique that breaks along with my Territory that spreads, so I destroy this territory before it imprints itself on this universe, this is not the best technique to use in Tarzor''s current state. As I charge at them, his expressionless face turns into one of fear; he clearly feels fear of me and it was not a little, the horror in his eyes was refreshing knowing that it would soon end here. My claws pierced the right side of her body, leaving serious physical injuries, but before I could continue with another blow, I felt something hit my body with great force. I was thrown and collided head-on with several pieces of debris from the destroyed planet, passing through them in heaps before stopping. That was when I saw Urak again, but this time she was holding Adella''s Human form in her hands while smiling at me. Adella seemed to be very injured and was unconscious, her Aura was unstable and her entire body was tied by crystal chains full of Runes of the Ascendant Law. "Surrender, Zenos, if I understood correctly, this idiot is now part of your family, surrender and you can both stay alive..." (Urak) Suddenly, the Adella that was in her hands disappears and appears next to me, leaving Urak confused. "You''ll need more than that to go against me." (me) Chapter 1742: Cap 1740: Suicide Chase Part 20 Having Urak here wasn''t good, it wasn''t good at all, I knew that from the beginning, but there was nothing I could do in this situation. I glanced at Adella, her wounds weren''t healing, there seemed to be traces of Aura in her wounds, this was negating her natural healing. Unfortunately I couldn''t do anything about it for now, to begin with it was already lucky that I managed to rescue her due to Urak''s carelessness. "(Thank you, Tarzor...)" (me) "(How much longer?)" (me) "(A little over... an hour...)" (Tarzor) Tarzor''s mental voice was tired, I could feel the weight on his mind, now there was little left, at least that was good news. Urak was still confused about what happened, but she was smiling as she looked at me and Adella, the Child Ascendant approached her, visibly scared by me, the fear in her eyes was something beautiful to see, it''s always wonderful to see an enemy feel fear in my presence. "Just hand me the cube, no one else needs to get hurt..." (Urak) "Please don''t try to insult my intelligence, nor do you believe your words without smiling." (me) "Even if you handed over the cube, you would still attack us later, you Ascendants wouldn''t bear to leave our universe behind and wouldn''t accept keeping me alive." (me) "(I won''t be able to fight Urak alone and Adella doesn''t seem to be in a condition to fight with her body like this.)" (me) "Try to resist the pain..." (me) "< Unholy Magic of the Blood Eclipse: Blessing of the Blood Eclipse >" (me) "!!!" (Adella) I wave my hand forming Starfire where the red Eclipse of light was easily seen inside, I pour my energies as well as a good amount of vitality before slamming my hand on Adella''s shoulder. Her entire body was covered in Starfires that glowed red, a red mist full of vitality surrounded the surroundings while the Aura on her injuries was burned away as it transformed into more energy returning to her, her injuries were recovering very quickly while her face contorted in a small moment of agony. Her Aura was becoming strong again and her body was being forcibly healed by the boost of vitality I shared with her, but this all comes at the cost of the weight on her Soul. Of course Urak would not let Adella recover, before I could notice her movements, there was a magic circle pointing at me with dozens of crystal stars strafing energy beams in our direction, each of them possessing enormous energy condensed into an ultra-fine attack. "< Unholy Eclipse Magic: Unholy Barrier >" (me) Using my Divine power to the fullest, I raise an octagonal shield-shaped barrier in front of us, covering me and Adella, when the attacks arrived like a shower of brilliant lightning, the space itself rippling as they passed at high speed until they reached me. The collision of my shield and her attack was revealed very quickly to my frustration, the shield broke and I had to drag Adella to dodge the remaining attacks, taking advantage of the gap of time that the shield bought us. "< Universal Law: Super Nova >" (Urak) "< Dream Law: Multiplication of Dreams >" (Child Ascendant) In a sequence of attacks, Urak raises his hand, causing the space for thousands of kilometers to tremble while something appears from within the space as if being called by Urak, it was a sphere of fire or in this case it would be better to call it the Sun, even if it is a small one. Soon dozens of others appeared, each of these Suns had powerful waves of fire running through its surface as if they were beasts trying to break free and it didn''t take long for that to happen, several waves of fire were emerging from each sound in a tidal wave of light and fire towards me, even though most of them were illusions there was still the real one hidden among them. "< Eclipse Magic: Spatial Seal >" (me) With a snap of my fingers the space closed around me and Adella who had a less tense expression now, with the space closing around us in a seal, I was able to see the waves of flames and light pass by without bothering us, there was no need to clash head on. "How do you feel?" (me) "Better, but why did you take so long!?" (Adella) "I was busy just like I am now!" (me) "< Unholy Magic: Blood Summoning >" (me) "Damn it!!" (me) With my power, I tried to use a Summoning Ritual using my bloodline as a medium. I wanted to bring one of my sisters since we are less than 2 hours away from reaching our universe. I thought it would be possible, but I couldn''t. "Let''s attack!" (Adella) "Are you sure you''re in condition to do this?" (me) "I found you!" (Urak) "< Universal Law: Black Hole >" (Urak) "< Unholy Magic: Torment of the Fallen >" (me) A wave of energy emerges from my body, spreading everywhere while Starfire ignites, burning space itself. At that moment, something else happened, with the appearance of a hole in Tarzor with a powerful gravitational flow. "(I feel a different power inside, Runes of Law, many of them colliding inside that thing.)" (me) I look at Adella, then we nod to each other, there was no need for words, our Auras show what we want to do, go on the attack. "< Unholy Incarnation >" (me) "< Incarnation of Blood >" (Adella) With both of us incarnated in an ethereal state of energy, it became easier to resist the gravitational forces of the black hole as we left space already attacking Urak. "< Universal Law: Star Prison 1000 Seals >" (Urak) She smiled as thousands of Runes appear forming large wings around us, closing with an oval barrier creating itself around us. "< Law of the Dream: Death of the Sleeper >" (Child Ascendant) Suddenly, thousands of weapons come out of a magic circle full of Ascendant Runes near us where we were almost being closed by this Prison. I stand in front and with a smile, I knew he wouldn''t stand still letting Urak attack and that was all I needed since he refuses to get lost from me. "< Unholy Curse: Corruption of Power >" (me) I advance letting all the weapons hit me, most of these weapons did nothing to me, but somehow the others were able to hit my body, the Stellar Flames that cover my body cover and then consume these weapons while streams of stellar energy flow towards the magic circle that also burns. "< Destroy >" (me) The burning magic circle lights up as a Starfire Dragon comes out and attacks the enemies. Although this attack fails to kill Urak, it is still enough to push the small Ascendant away from her. Adella, who was already here, did exactly what I thought. She grabbed the tiny Ascendant between her teeth and crushed him. Now only Urak was left as an enemy. "How predictable!" (Urak) "< Universal Law: Armageddon >" (Urak) Suddenly, the space near Adella shattered like glass. The Ascendant that was being chewed in her jaws disappeared and reappears somewhere else, closer to Urak. His clothes and wings were half destroyed, one of his arms was missing, while his entire body looked badly battered. He had clearly taken my blow. It was something aimed at him, following his magic. There was no way to escape. Even so, he escaped from Adella by creating an entire illusory world around us from the beginning. We were trapped. When the illusory space shattered, it revealed a planet near where Adella was. A small planet full of incandescent cracks that exploded into billions of pieces that were strangely aimed at Adella. "< Star Line >" (me) Lines come out of my hand that blend in with the space around us. These lines travel very fast, arriving almost instantly at Adella, who I pull towards me, moving away from the planetary fragments. These lines are one of the first abilities I acquired since my rebirth. Even though they are no longer useful for combat, they are still as easy to control as my own arms and legs. "You knew you would attack him first." (me) "Foolish Bringer of Chaos, you are nothing more than an inexperienced child." (Urak) "I have been alive for millions of years and during all this time I have been involved in wars on a universal scale. Do you really think you can beat me in planning!?" (Urak) She is right. She has been alive longer than me. I have led armies, terrorist attacks, covert experiments, and personally fought much more than any of my enemies. Her mind is much more cunning than I thought. Normal or rational plans are merely predictable to her. "(So I have to come up with a plan that she wouldn''t dare to conceive or understand... think, Zenos... think...)" (me) "Shitty father, get those lines off me now!" (Adella) "Lines..." (me) I look to the side and realize that my lines were still around Adella''s body, so I control them to let her go before a sudden inspiration takes over my mind, it was risky and still wouldn''t allow me to win, just fight. Even though it was a plan that only allowed me to fight, she was still better than nothing, I never needed to win her, I just needed to buy time. Chapter 1743: Cap 1741: Hellish Arrival Part 1 I had Adella by my side, her anger was intense as she realized she had almost fallen into her enemy''s trap, it was more than clear that this battle would be lost sooner or later. Urak was strong and intelligent, he also had a long experience to make the best use of these qualities, this was a bad combination for me. "< Divine Magic: Mind Link >" (me) "..." (Adella) I really can''t fight alongside Adella like I do with my Familiars and Heralds, but I can''t let any advantage, no matter how small, slip away in this battle, I need to coordinate perfectly with Adella from now on. "(Our main focus will be Urak, I''ll leave the other Ascendant as a secondary target of opportunity.)" (me) "(Do you have any plans?)" (Adella) "(Buy time.)" (me) The first thing to ensure was a battlefield with an advantage for us, as I said before, I''ll take advantage of every little advantage. "< Territory: Divine Realm >" (me/Adella) "< Garden of the Star Path >" (me) "< Ocean of Blood >" (Adella) Our Territories expand without resistance and when they collide there is no rejection as they intertwine, they together form a single territory around us for millions of kilometers. When this happened, several illusions around us shattered, revealing that the enemies we were seeing were another illusion, the real ones were already flying towards us from the right side. "< Divine Eclipse Magic: Dragon Constellation >" (me) "< Divine Blood Magic: Blood Stars >" (Adella) The space that formed around us was an endless ocean of blood with a starry sky above full of paths winding between the stars that looked more like shining flowers in the sky. In this strange place the illusions of the second Ascendant became useless and we could recognize what was real and false instantly, its main power lost its function leaving only Urak as a risk. Using our power, several stars shone revealing a Constellation that took the form of a Dragon that descended from among the stars at high speed against the enemies. Adella''s attack made the stars that formed this Dragon Constellation glow red, soon this Dragon became more real as it fell towards the Ascendants, its jaws opening to snatch its two prey. I don''t know what she did, but she just waved her hand and threw a square stone with Runes drawn on all sides and from that cube the Runes light up revealing it to be a seal that releases itself causing the stone cube to open revealing an explosion of energy that causes the entire Territory to be destroyed. Crack!!! Before our attack even reaches the enemy, the entire territory falls apart, but Urak is still flying towards us with a provocative smile. "Damn it!!" (me) "< Unholy Breath >" (me) "< Blood Breath >" (Adella) With no time to do anything, all that''s left for me and Adella to do is use the attack that all Dragons know, Stellar flames come out of my jaws in liquid form so condensed, the highly pressurized blood that Adella releases from her jaws mixes with my attack going against the Ascendants. "< Universal Law: Spatial Motion >" (Urak) "< Universal Law: Flow of Death >" (Urak) Without fearing our attacks, Urak throws a coin in front of him that generates several of the same Runes that stick to his body and the Ascendant boy''s body, making the two teleport to where I am. In his hand, dark Runes formed as he turned towards me from where a strong death energy created a violent flow of this energy towards us. I quickly placed myself in front of Adella using my wings closed in front to disperse most of the attack before being defended by my arms, this made us both be thrown back. "(I can only continue fighting always with something new...)" (me) The enemy will always adapt to my blows quickly, so I have to consider that the same blow will not work a second time, so I will use my vast amount of skills that I have accumulated over the years. That was my plan, to prolong the fight as much as possible, always with different powers, as difficult as possible for her to prevent my next moves, that was the only way I could think of and I transmitted this to Adella. ------------------ 1 hour later. Cough Cough Haaa... haaa... haaa.. Haaa... I was lying on top of the remains of a planet that was fortunately inhabited only by monsters, there was a hole in the side of my body, a large vertical cut that went from my shoulder to my stomach, the right part of my face was missing along with my eye and thousands of wounds were around my body. Adella was next to me lying apparently unconscious, her blood form was stained with a sickly green glow. In front of us was Urak, one of his arms was bandaged while Starfire arms sometimes came out between the bandages, his face was very angry and the Ascendant Boy next to him had his entire arm, shoulder and part of his left chest talking, his face was pale and his Aura weak. The fight was intense every second, I had to use all my skills and techniques always taking something new out of the bag, only then could I surprise her with my attacks, even so my state was horrible to the point of canceling the Unholy Incarnation and the same can be said for Adella. "You know, I like your persistence, but do you really think this will end like this, do you really think I don''t know about your childish plan to buy time?" (Urak) "Even if I get to your universe it won''t change anything, all of you are exhausted, all injured, even this Universal Entity is on the verge of collapse!" (Urak) "No matter what you do, in the next few hours, you and everyone around you will be dead." (Urak) "Haaa... haaa..." (me) "You think you''re going to... discourage me with... just that..." (me) "Adella... now..." (me) "Ghuhh!!" (Urak) "< Release >" (me) Suddenly the Ascendant boy who was near Urak with half-dead eyes releases a large amount of blood from his wound where his arm was. This blood forms a large arm that hits Urak''s back, throwing her towards me at high speed. Before she could react, I extend my arm, which opens, revealing a nerve stretched like a bowstring with a sharp bone covered in patterns that I shoot at high speed at Urak. I used the body control that I once stole from the slimes I devoured, so in my arm I changed the shape of my bones, muscles and nerves, all for this attack. Urak, even though he couldn''t use his power, still flapped his wings, barely dodging my attack; only a scratch was made on his face. Then the Ascendant boy''s body exploded, revealing Adella in her Human form. She transformed her arm into a red crystal station and attacked Urak. "< Universal Law: Portal >" (Urak) Urak created a portal in front of his hand just millimeters before being struck by Adella. At the same time, a small portal opened next to Adella''s head. His attack passed through the portal, causing her to hit her own head. With her blood form, this didn''t cause any damage, but it delayed her long enough for Urak to gain distance. "You little bastard, that was your plan!!!" (Urak) She looked angry as she touched her face where my bone dart left a cut. Green lines extended and are writhing under her skin. "It''s already too late to notice." (me) Urak''s Aura goes haywire for the first time as black blood comes out of her eyes, her skin becomes paler and paler and something seems to move inside, yet from her angry expression, she suddenly changes to a smiling expression as if none of this matters. "It seems that ''plan B'' didn''t work either, I must say that you impress me, Bringer of Chaos and thank you for revealing so much of your powers to me..." (Urak) "< Universal Law: Universal Seal >" (Urak) "< Release >" (Urak) Suddenly a pair of wings on her back disintegrates as her eyes begin to change, her Aura transforms into a completely different one as she smiles. "You can keep this clone, we''ll see each other again... hahahahaha..." (Urak) "..." (me/Adella) After seeing the changes, the body became lifeless, the eyes stopped glowing before exploding, the body dried up as if it had become a mummy, its wings fell off as well as its limbs and it was floating in space with green spots covering its body. "In the end, it wasn''t real... I should have realized..." (me) "Urak!!!" (Adella) Adella was releasing a large amount of killing intent as she returned to the blood she left in the form of an unconscious body, the two of us exchanged a look before returning to the Star Palace where we felt Hades and Lolth fighting. As soon as we arrived, her two opponents had disappeared and both were on the ground unconscious. "Take them, I need to see Freya." (me) "Okay." (Adella) That was the end of the fight, while I went to Freya I focused on Tarzor and realized that there were no more enemies, I didn''t feel the presence of any Ascendants. "(It seems that our arrival will not be calm from what she said...)" (me) Chapter 1744: Cap 1742: Hellish Arrival Part 2 Pov Valius: I was in the middle of a city eating a piece of meat that tasted like some kind of Serpent. Arlan was next to me with a big smile on his face. Wherever we went, he kept letting his eyes wander over the bodies of women of different races. This degenerate already had hundreds of Wives and thousands of lovers, but he still wanted more. "You''ve had enough fun, Arlan." (me) "I can''t help it. Look at this place. Everyone is so free, so spontaneous. Their eyes shine with so many emotions and their Auras are so vibrant." (Arlan) "The Ascendant Law doesn''t work like the Essences, so this place is still in the Primordial stage." (me) "Now let''s hurry up. We''ve already managed to lose the Demigods who were following us." (me) "Where to now?" (Arlan) "< Spiritual Law: Portal Tracker >" (me) I wave my hand with each finger drawing a Rune of the Law, the universe tries to restrict my power, but at that moment my Aura clashes with these restrictions. Soon the Runes take the form of a transparent door that opens where we pass before closing. I look around, it was a forest full of life, but strangely silent, the universal presence here was also thinner. "Shouldn''t it be a desert?" (Arlan) "Yes, it was a desert." (me) "Was this the same marked place? Didn''t you miss our destination?" (Arlan) "No, this is the correct place, am I right Ephiliel?" (me) "Is Ephiliel here?" (Arlan) I don''t need to look for her, this kind of change can only be done with her, it wasn''t just plants that grew, the flow of nature itself changed in this place, it became easier to hide and lessened the restriction on us. Arlan touches my arm and points in a direction, then the two of us walk for a few tens of seconds among the trees, that''s when I started to feel a weak presence. Arlan and I soon arrived in a garden where Ephiliel was lying, her clothes were a mess barely covering her body covered in wounds, her Aura was weakened to the point of showing how close to death she had come. Ephiliel was not alone, sitting next to her was a person wearing a hood, this person had his back to us, his Aura hidden and a familiar energy around him, he was right in front of us, but it was as if he didn''t exist and we knew he was hiding from the supervisor who marked us. "Sit down..." (Ephiliel) Arlan and I approached before sitting next to her, I took out a blanket with green flower prints and covered her, I saw that she was going to try to resist and I didn''t mind forcing her to cover herself. "What happened to you..." (me) "I found the daughter of the Tree of Creation..." (Ephiliel) Her voice was weak, but her words were like a thunder in my mind, the Tree of Creation shouldn''t have children, only the World Trees are considered their younger sisters. If she really found someone like that, I can imagine what Ephiliel went through, I can also imagine how she reacted making me frown more when I looked into her eyes. "Her name is Freya... wife of the new Bringer of Chaos..." (Ephiliel) "Ephiliel, you didn''t let yourself get like that, did you!?" (I) "..." (Ephiliel) "Ephiliel!!" (I) "Valius, let it go, you know her well enough to know that there''s no point in saying anything." (Arlan) "But more than that, we have more important things to discuss..." (Arlan) He and I looked at the hooded person, the power emitting from his body was slowly taking over that space, it would distort the perceptions of everything and everyone, including the supervisor as well as any God who tries to spy on us. "Before we start this conversation, let me confirm, is the Chaos Bringer back yet?" (me) "No, not yet... he''ll be here in less than 2 hours..." (Ephiliel) "Then you don''t need to hide anymore." (me) "" (me) "!!!!" (me) Sigh I bite my hand and use the blood to create a Rune that pulls all the blood in my body out, this was done quickly and left me a little weak as the blood that left my body destroys the Rune before taking the form of a Blood Wolf with ethereal wings. He takes an attacking stance as a great killing intent is released from his body, his Divine Power blazing around him. "The others have arrived too." (Arlan) Two more people approach the forest, their silhouettes catch everyone''s attention and also signal the beginning of this meeting. ------------------- Pov Zenos: "How is Tarzor?" (me) "Very bad, if it weren''t for me supporting him now, then he wouldn''t even be able to continue the journey." (Freya) "That bad?" (me) Sigh "Everything clear? No more enemies?" (me) "No enemies, but we have visitors, one of them is inside a city right now saying she''ll only leave after seeing Hades." (Freya) "..." (me) "Does she pose any danger?" (me) "I don''t think so, but Hades isn''t doing very well at the moment, he won''t wake up, Lena is taking care of him and Lolth." (Freya) "Where''s Cortana?" (me) "Right behind you." (Cortana) "..." (me) "Is he still watching?" (me) "Not that I can tell, at least he stopped pressuring us." (Cortana) "No idea who it could be?" (me) "No, but considering what happened, it seems like he was testing our capabilities, he was using the Ascendants for that." (Cortana) "(That was one of the dozens of possibilities I also thought of... but that''s not pleasant to hear as being the most likely.)" (me) If that possibility is true, the chances of this unknown Entity being an enemy become greater, I don''t want to have any more enemies at the moment, I already have enough with the enemies I have now. "Can you do me a favor?" (me) "I already did, here." (Cortana) Cortana throws me 3 miniature crystal pyramids, in the first one are the pieces of flesh surrounding a sleeping Soul, in the second one is just a mummified body and in the third one is a Mud Egg surrounded by tentacles. "How did you know what you were going to ask for?" (me) "I''ve been watching since the beginning and your mind isn''t that hard to understand, just think about how you created the poison you used following the same logic as your Herald of Chaos." (Cortana) "Hades was an accident, a happy accident, but I intend to do it now..." (me) "No need to say it, I know... but he won''t stay silent..." (Cortana) "Who are you talking about?" (me) "The System." (Cortana) "..." (me) The system can really intervene, this isn''t something I thought about, in fact it''s something I chose not to think about, but it''s a great possibility that it will intervene. "(I can think about it later, right now I have something more important to discover.)" (me) In my mind comes the vague memory of how I fought against that Anomalous Creature in an uncontrolled way, especially the final moments when my opponent was snatched by that great hand coming from within this universe. I wave my hand, showing the images of that moment with energy particles. Cortana just looks at that big hand with a serious expression. "I''ll tell you, but not now, not with your hands so busy." (Cortana) -------------------- 20 minutes later. I was lying on one of Freya''s branches, flows of vitality, blood and various types of energy surrounded me, brought by Freya. "Kid, we''re about to arrive." (Akatosh) "How long?" (me) "Less than 5 minutes." (Akatosh) "Freya, how is everyone?" (me) "The Dragons won''t recover above 50%, some haven''t even woken up yet, we only have half the strength we had when we left, and that''s considering their strengthening as well as adding Lolth''s presence." (Freya) "Still worried about an attack when we arrive?" (Akatosh) "Yes, they won''t just attack us, they''ll try to use us as bait to lure the Gods into a trap they''ve set." (me) "I know, but that doesn''t matter, the Gods of our universe aren''t easy to deal with." (me) Ssswwwssshhhhh!! "..." (me) "..." (Akatosh) "Finally, she''s going to wake up." (Freya) Suddenly a burst of energy passes through me, Akatosh and Freya in all directions, this energy was pure and full of natural power, it was refreshing and at the same time a little familiar. We all looked in the same direction, in the middle of Freya''s tree trunk, a passage to its interior opens from where the intense natural energy continues to flood the surroundings. "What was that?" (me) "Luci is waking up... it took longer than expected, her condition was very bad when she came to me." (Freya) "Will she be able to fight? Because we''re going to need all the help we can get." (me) ---------------------- Pov Urak: I opened my eyes irritated, my Soul burning for breaking the linking technique with the clone so suddenly. "You failed." (Vecna) "Yes, this Chaos Bringer may not know the extent of his power, but he is versatile in combat, always switching between hundreds of skills, spells and techniques." (me) "Your injuries are not yet healed and with the backlash in your Soul, you will need to hibernate in the central chamber." (Vecna) "So who will lead the rest of the plan? We still need the Anomalous Armor." (me) "I have an alternative idea, I am also not healed from my injuries, so let Mavor take care of that, he is already on his way there." (Vecna) "(I hope he leaves that Blood Dragon for me, I want to use it in my experiments, maybe use it to create a new clone.)" (me) Chapter 1745: Cap 1743: Hellish Arrival Part 3 Pov Selene: I look at the city around me, it was empty, a city that was built over 800 years ago and the capital of an empire that conquered this entire planet, but this city, like all the main cities on this planet, is empty, with no signs of battles, no bodies, no sign that there were ever people here other than cleaning the city. "Mother, why did you come here?" (Elizabeth) "To remember what we are fighting for." (me) "Gods are not above Mortals to rule or anything like that, you more than anyone know that, we serve to guide people, these same people are important, we choose to guide, teach and be there when these people need it most." (me) "But even Gods are not omnipotent, sometimes we need to remember that..." (me) I walk through this city, everything was clean, organized and yet it was a desolate silence, this place was so busy a few days ago, but in just one night it became like this. I walked until I arrived in front of a temple, the only place destroyed in this entire city, a Temple where I was one of the worshiped deities. "This was not the only place, everything happened very quickly, we had no time to react" (Elizabeth) "The Ascendants are always like this, I saw through my echoes in many universes how they fight, their wars and campaigns of conquest are won before they even begin, they are massive projects that take a long time to prepare, but regardless of where they are, the Ascendants hate the Gods." (me) "The question is not what they did here, but rather, why did they do it now?" (me) "Are they preparing for something? But with that number of missing people, would it be a war?" (Elizabeth) "No, that would be unlikely, but I wouldn''t completely rule out the idea." (me) "I want you to get ready, along with your sisters, stay in Okan and prepare the ritual, we''ll only have one chance." (me) "We need Zenos for the Ritual." (Elizabeth) "He''ll be here in time and that''s if he''s not the cause of this sudden movement." (me) "Do you think he''s coming back? That fast?" (Elizabeth) I don''t need to look at my daughter and see her face, I know what she''s thinking, the way Zenos'' Divine statues were being affected by whatever happened to him outside of here, as well as other unknown factors, the chance of him being back would be slim. But in my mind I think differently, I remember everything about him from the moment he was born as my son, I also remember the one who was the original owner of his name. "(He''ll be here...)" (me) "With his bad luck, there''s no chance he won''t get involved in something this big." (me) He still doesn''t understand that his bad luck has always been a sign of destiny, not something that is predestined, but rather the result of his decisions, the worst and the best outcome are always separated by a thinner line than anyone would like to accept. "I''ll let everyone know, his daughter is the one responsible for the ritual, I''ll go to Irina now." (Elizabeth) "< Divine Blood Magic: Bloodline Portal >" (Elizabeth) I feel her opening a portal wherever she goes, so when she leaves, I turn to the corner where someone who was waiting for their turn appears before me. "You''re late." (me) "I didn''t expect to be called by you, not now." (Davoth) "This is the best time to revisit what you promised." (me) -------------------- Pov Alice: I was kneeling in front of Zenos'' statue as I do every morning, behind me were hundreds of Priests, each of them praying to their respective Gods. "Alice, you need to come with me." (Ragnar) "Wait, I..." (me) "We don''t have time!" (Ragnar) "..." (me) Ragnar appears next to me, then he grabs my shoulder saying a few words before pulling me by the shoulder straight out of the Communal Temple, spreading his wings then, he takes us flying out of Okan. The other Familiars and Heralds of Zenos were already here, they were all looking at a planet changing its position along with all the natural raw energy flow of this star system, it was like watching an Eclipse forming. "What do you want to show me?" (me) "Don''t just look at this Eclipse, look around, you''ll notice it even better than us, use your Sacred power." (Zaya) "..." (me) I did what Zaya said, I make my Sacred Power circulate within me, then I concentrate it on my Aura and eyes, increasing my perception. It was at that moment that my eyes wandered, I saw in the distance stars being covered by asteroids, planets, Moons and even monsters as if thousands of Eclipses were happening at the same time. An Eclipse is the result of a point of view, it is about something taking the lead over something else in an act of eclipsing that thing, to contemplate an Eclipse you need to be in the correct point of view with the Sun and a Moon being the best examples as well as representatives of this term. An Eclipse is already rare, having several is abnormal, but contemplating so many Eclipses in a single position is another level, this can only be a warning, a resonance with the one who represents these Eclipses, he is close, he is back. My body trembled as my mind raced through the possibility that Zenos had returned. I didn''t need to say anything to the others. My reaction was enough to confirm what must have already been on their minds. "When will that damned master return!?" (Layla) "Actually, we don''t even know where he''ll return from..." (Nix) "We need to prepare to receive him." (Haku) "Let everyone know, get ready for battle." (Cinthia) With that, Cinthia was the first to disappear back into Okan. Everyone else voiced their opinions, some with concern on their expressions and others with anxious smiles on their faces. Then, everyone immediately began to act. In the end, only I was left outside with Okan. "Holy cow, why does everyone think there''s going to be a battle?" (Okan) "If there''s such a big commotion, then the Ascendants will also notice, and we know they''re after him." (me) "There''s going to be a big battle, we have to be ready." (me) Saying that, I nod to Okan, before returning to his body, I also need to prepare the Priests as well as warn his Wives. ------------------- Pov Zenos: I was floating near the opening of Freya''s Tree where the thick natural energy flowed, a strong gust of that power passed through me, almost massaging my Soul. From within that place a woman emerged, her beauty was spectacular, her body was slender, her long hair looked like strands of the starry sky itself, her two pairs of eyes were black with a bright green iris with a triangle as a pupil, it was like seeing a large green sun in the middle of space with a pyramid on its surface. Her clothes were green leaves with black details forming a dress that went down to her feet, on her back wings that seemed to be made of translucent leaves in a dark green color, her ears were longer than those of an Elf and seemed much more flexible than those of a normal Elf. Her skin was grayish, but what caught the most attention about her was the vertical eye on her forehead, when she appeared it was closed and looked like just a thin line surrounded by tattoo-like markings that looked like tree branches that covered her forehead, these tattoo-like markings were also black. When her third eye opened, I realized it was twice the size of her other eyes. I also realized that this eye was just an iris with 7 super thin rings in different colors inside, separated into layers. It was as if her third eye was a portal to another place with immense depth. Her Aura was literally out of this world, as if her Aura was the same type as that of the planets, a purely natural Aura, and the energy emanating from her body was the same raw energy that flows through the universe. It was incredible to be in her presence. I could feel the Essences flowing through her and through her without being contained, without actually being part of her. Looking closer, I could even see some scales that have a wood texture on her wrists and part of her arms. Her figure had completely changed from what it was before. "Welcome, Luci." (Freya) "Luci... I''m Luci..." (Luci) Her expressionless face turns to Freya as soon as she hears her voice, but when she hears her name she doesn''t seem to understand for a brief second before her three eyes close, she repeats the name a few times and her Aura becomes more and more centered, acquiring familiar traits that it had before. When she opens her eyes again, the third eye remains closed and she turns to me for a brief second before focusing again on Freya who walks a few more steps opening her arms in a sincere smile. Luci hesitates for only a brief moment before embracing Freya lovingly and gently, then they separate as all of Tarzor seems to vibrate with bursts of power from the Familiar reality passing through me. "It seems that the Family reunion will have to wait until next time." (me) Chapter 1746: Cap 1744: Hellish Arrival Part 4 At the moment Tarzor was shaking as he collided with the Dimensional Membrane, I shared my senses with him, knowing that something could happen as soon as he entered the universe, I made Tarzor change direction 8 times, this would make it harder to predict where we would end up. Unlike the others, our universe did not try to reject us, there was no resistance for Tarzor to cross the Dimensional Membrane, but in this case we continued to advance and when I felt the Essences in this universe it was relaxing. Boommm!! "Rrrrr!!!" (Tarzor) "What was that!?" (me) But I didn''t have time to think about it when thousands of attacks hit Tarzor who was already in a bad state, sharing his senses I tried to look for the target and it was at that moment that the second one was just around the corner. "Freya, do it now!" (me) "< Universal Magic: Flow Navigator >" (Freya) Freya''s entire tree body begins to glow brightly as a wave of energy runs through Tarzor, this wave of energy attracts the 3 natural source powers connected to me. We enter a flow of raw power, all of Tarzor is vibrating as a thick natural energy infiltrates inside him, something that Freya can do nothing about. This lasts for several minutes and Tarzor seems to be getting more and more tragic, being inside the flow of raw natural energy from another universe is like throwing yourself into the middle of the currents of a raging river, I can feel his pain in doing this. "(Hold on just a little longer.)" (me) Suddenly I feel a barrier trying to block our passage, but one does not cross this wall and pulls us through this wall as well as out of this energy flow. "Tarzor, it''s time for you to rest..." (me) Saying this, I was thrown out of Tarzor with someone pulling me by the top of my head. Tarzor didn''t even expect anything and entered my shadow, already falling asleep. I looked at who was pulling me. It was my older sister, Natasha, who seemed serious, watching all sides as if she expected to be attacked. That''s exactly what happened when a ray of light condensed. "Damn..." (Natasha) As soon as I felt her very familiar Aura, I didn''t even try to resist, but before she could get too far away, our path was interrupted again. In front of us, 10 Ascendants with 3 wings appeared, and behind them, thousands of magic circles filled with Runes of the Law. They were Summoning circles. "< Divine Blood Magic: Bloodline Portal >" (Natasha) Blood envelops us both at the same time as a barrier expands very quickly, passing through us while distorting space, but Natasha and I just smile, they want to block our teleportation, which won''t happen since the link of this teleportation cannot be cut, our bloodline is that link. Before they can do anything else, my sister and I are consumed by the blood around us, feeling a strong pull suddenly the blood around us descends revealing the views of my Eclipse city. "ZENOS!!" (Ibuki/E?rica/Kira/Diana) Suddenly I am hugged by my wives who pull me from Natasha''s arms almost to the point of suffocation. After a few minutes several Divine Auras appear around us, then my Mother, the Goddess of the Fairies, the God of War, the Demonic God of Sin and some other Gods arrive where I am. "You have changed, your strength has more than doubled." (Mother) "A lot of things have happened, but this isn''t the time for that, is it?" (me) "No, they''re already here, that was their target from the beginning." (Mother) "I figured it would be like this..." (me) There was no need for explanations, I understand the Ascendants very well, I understand more than I would like, they are extremely intelligent and employ ingenious tactics, they rarely use any direct tactics, I know they wouldn''t attack me head on as soon as I arrived in this universe, they probably didn''t even have any idea of ??where I could go to do that. Those initial attacks when we arrived, no one saw where it came from, but it was most likely a stalking attack that would go to us wherever we were. The subsequent attacks came only after that, that first wave of attacks was to confirm our position and after that they started arriving using teleportation while trying to isolate me, that''s what that barrier was for, I''m sure. Of course they would be fully aware that as a God of this universe, especially as a Bringer of Chaos, I could do something unexpected. Any idiot who researches my battle history would see something like that and they would certainly know about it. Using my bloodline to move from one point to another is something that only our family can do. My sisters developed this technique to the point where they escaped death using it when they were only Demigods. Now that we are all Gods related by blood, stopping this technique is impossible while we are in this universe. For the Ascendants, it would be good if they had managed to catch me separated like that. They know that I have reinforcements in this universe, so it would be great if it had worked. But even if it didn''t work, it still forced me to go to the safest place I could go, a place that they could track and surround with their forces. They had been targeting Okan from the beginning. I understood this even with my short lifespan, so there was no way the Gods of this universe wouldn''t think of this possibility, especially seeing the movements of the Ascendants in anticipation of my arrival. "How many are there?" (me) "There are hundreds of billions, they have transformed many people in this universe in a similar way to what Baldr did in the past, but on a much larger scale." (Hatlas) "Yes, more than 30% of the intelligent population of the Universe is against us, among them our own worshipers too, entire worlds were emptied of their population overnight." (Hernoth) "Those bastards left no one behind, be it men, women, the elderly, children, newborns and even sick people... they took them all." (Natasha) "I''ve talked about this before, but I suspect that what Baldr did in the past was just a test or experiment for what they did this time, this transformation is much greater than anything we''ve seen, it doesn''t even compare to what we''ve seen from Baldr''s side before." (E?rica) "..." (me) I couldn''t help but be horrified by the words of the Gods around me, 30% of the population of an entire universe, an astronomical number, the number of lives is too great, we are fighting against our own people like this. "Their strength can''t be much, this population is too weak even to fight against the Monsters, they can''t be so..." (me) "They can, they are being strengthened by the power of the Law, they are also extracting power from their Souls." (Mother) Forcing potential from Souls was the same as hurting the Souls in the process, but I don''t see the Ascendants caring about that. I couldn''t help but clench my hand into a fist so hard that it made blood drip from my hands. "Where are you, Akatosh?" (Mother) "Freya..." (me) Calling Freya, a branch comes out of my shadow and out comes Akatosh, the Twins, Luci, Adella, Arash, Lolth and someone wearing a strange macabre metal armor as if he were some kind of Death Knight, this was clearly Sarazar who seems to be able to transform into a humanoid form now. "Let me make the introductions..." (me) ------------------- 20 minutes later. I gave basic explanations to everyone, I needed them to understand who the Twins and their Avatars were mainly, this because I had a favor to ask Cortana. During these 20 minutes, I not only introduced them, but also sought information about recent events, mainly about the Ascendants here and their powers. Besides, everyone was in position outside Okan, the poor guy is always injured during our battles, even though he is a powerful Dragon, he has few ways to attack and his greatest power is his defense. I was next to Irina with my wife E?rica by my side, Cortana and Lena were with me finishing listening to their new ritual. "Will this work?" (me) "It will, but only for their Souls, their bodies are a lost cause." (Irina) "Not completely, their bodies can help a lot as building materials for new bodies." (me) I look at Cortana and all my gaze goes to her, I didn''t need to explain anything to her, I''m sure she understood what I was suggesting and smiled in confirmation more easily than I expected. "But how are we going to use your ritual, there are so many..." (me) Looking around, it was easy to see the sea of ??Transformed and Ascended Golems filling the surroundings, they were in every direction, but they seemed to be waiting for something or someone. "That was one of the problems I had to deal with, the more comprehensive a barrier, the more difficult it becomes, especially if its effects are already so strong." (Irina) "That''s why I changed my approach. The barrier won''t be big. It will be small, and will then attract these Souls to itself. Everyone who fights will carry the Guardian''s Stigmata. Each time an enemy is defeated, their Soul will be pulled into the barrier along with their body." (Irina) "We won''t be able to help everyone, but maybe most of them would be good..." (E?rica) "Let me see the ritual..." (Cortana) While I left E?rica and Irina talking to Cortana about the ritual that hadn''t been done yet, I got closer to Lena, who, like me, was looking at the enemies around us. "What are they waiting for?" (me) "Something''s wrong, I don''t see any Ascendants among them and the individual forces of these enemies..." (Lena) "Their numbers may be large, but that''s all..." (Lena) "..." (me) What Lena said made me think, she might be right, the Ascendants can''t just be using our own people against us, they must be using them as a big, flashy distraction. "Damn it!!" (me) Chapter 1747: Cap 1745: Hellish Arrival Part 5 I grab Irina and call my mother with my eyes while summoning my Saints, Heralds and Divine Beasts to meet me at the Ritual site inside the Communal Temple. It took me seconds to get there and I was in a hurry because I noticed something, I noticed what the Ascendants are truly doing and I was even more scared by the possibility of being right that seems more and more correct the more I think about it. "What is it, what did you notice?" (Mother) "I noticed that there were no Ascendants in this mass of Transformed and Ascendant Golems, then Lena made me realize that even this large number are too weak to face so many Gods on our side." (Me) As I spoke, I had already reached the main hall of the Communal Temple where the statues of the Gods were enshrined, my statue among them as well as those of my wives, my sisters, my Divine Beasts, my Heralds, some of my daughters and my mother. In the center of the hall was a magic circle drawn with my blood, surrounded by dozens of crystal cubes surrounded by Runes on all sides and containing Divine powers of different Gods, in the center a crystal basin that looks like a blooming flower, what it contained inside was not water but a space full of stars that form constellations similar to the statues in this hall, in the center an Eclipse emanating the power of chaos. This was the Ritual that Irina, Erica and a few others worked together to create, a way to save those converted, a way to go against the plans of the Ascendants, but all of this almost seems meaningless now if I hadn''t realized their plans. "Samara, of everyone here you''ve known the Ascendants the longest, have they ever fought head-on like this!?" (me) "A few times that I know of, but all of them were guaranteed victories at the end of their respective conquests..." (Samara) As soon as my Saints, Heralds and Divine Beasts gathered, I looked directly at Samara who was in front, she was the first to arrive with the others right behind her as she was always watching me. As if confirming my suspicions once again, she speaks realizing what I mean and those of us with two brain cells finally realize the strangeness of the situation. "What are you talking about?" (Layla) "I don''t understand either?" (Kiara) "You two idiots..." (Sakura) "Lena, how many Creatures and Anomalous Entities are on the Ascendants'' side?" (me) The Twins moved along with me, even Cortana noticed my movement and followed right behind, half of the forces that were previously outside were now here, there''s no way the enemies wouldn''t notice that. "They created a few hundred Anomalous Creatures, but they''re hard to control and I think it''s hard for them to use them all here." (Lena) "As for the Anomalous Entities, they have a lot of business with them, as conquerors of universes they are able to trade slaves of all races in the billions, entire planets, fragments of space, Essences and very rarely even Souls." (Lena) "Of course what they trade in these situations is not money, but rather an exchange between items or services." (Cortana) "So the Entity that stopped you two during the invasion must have been one of them, the same for that woman using the power of life and that Knight using the power of death, they are hired..." (me) "Dad, what do you intend to do?" (Irina) Suddenly all the pieces come together in my mind, I touch Irina''s forehead and then the Twins'' since I need a quick job, explaining everything in a normal way would take dozens of minutes that we don''t have. Irina gets to work. "System, I have never asked you for anything, so please answer, how many Anomalous Entities are cooperating with the Ascendants in this attack against us?" (me) "I also want to know how many Anomalous Creatures are being prepared." (me) Ding! <[ The System verifies your Authority and confirms your right to access such information ]> . . <[ The System is being asked by several entities not to interfere and their combined Authority surpasses yours ]> . . <[ The System informs you that Vida has intervened and releases this information to you due to the current Taboo-breaking being performed ]> . . <[ The System informs you that there are 2 Anomalous Entities in agreement with the Ascendants ]> . . <[ The System informs you that Summoning Rituals are being prepared for 25 Anomalous Creatures ]> . . <[ The System wishes you to obtain victory over those who break the balance of creation ]> "..." (me) "This is worse than I thought?" (Lena) "Can you see it too?" (me) "Our Authority in the System comes from yours, we are branched from You." (Cortana) "But that doesn''t matter now, they will move, we need to be quick." (Cortana) The twins exchanged a look and began to move, they acted together with Irina in modifying the Ritual, they added another ritual above this one, it was a magic circle created from the energy of death and life. The two Rituals seemed to complement each other when a column of light formed, my mother and I felt the change in the environment, I knew what I had to do when I cut my hand and used my blood to directly connect the two Rituals, while my mother waited while the power of this ritual expanded more and more. "< Ritual of Unholy Rebirth: Activate >" (Lena/Cortana/Irina) "< Expand and Integrate >" (Lena/Cortana/Irina) A cylindrical barrier forms around the ritual, while another barrier forms and expands on the outside, distorting space as it integrates with it. The mirrored space begins to form in response outside of Okan as the barrier integrates with him, spreading far beyond what it should in seconds. I, as well as the other Gods, were able to perceive this. It was a very large mundane in the very structure of the universe. It was as if a predator was lurking within this barrier. As if responding to this thought, something very far away turned its eyes to me. It was very familiar and at the same time alien. Soon after, I felt the presence of Vida and Norte for a millisecond before they disappeared along with the gaze I felt. That alone was enough to make my heart race. "(What was that!?)" (me) "Master, we have a problem, they started it!" (Nix) Nix suddenly finds himself raising his voice in warning, I knew the Ascendants would move, they realized they were discovered and are accelerating their plans. Everyone starts to pass by the dark Dragon head that comes out of the shadows of the Communal Temple, but before I can pass, Cortana and Lena stop me. "I received a message from the system when activating the Ritual, it seems that our ''mothers'' decided to intervene, strengthening the ritual even more." (Cortana) "Will it work?" (me) "Their interference only increased the range, but I believe it will work, but they still need to die to activate its effects." (Lena) "That won''t be a problem..." (me) Leaving through the portal, I found myself once again outside Tarzor looking at the sea of ??waiting enemies, but this time multiple magic circles appeared, none of them were simple, there were 25 among them that emitted as much power as the creature of mist that I faced in my loss of control. These 25 magic circles were made of multiple Dunes, all of them began to absorb the Transformed as if they were holes through which the water flowed without stopping, everything was so fast that it was a horrible scene since everyone here could feel the thick energy of death growing in that area showing the great volume of lives lost at the same time. Half of the billions of lives were lost like that, the magic circles shone incandescently as they broke into holes through which the presence of those creatures emanated. The other half of the Transformed, meanwhile, were suddenly disintegrating as streams of power, life, Soul power and mental power were sucked into a stream that crossed space as if it were being claimed by someone. A large gate appeared, breaking space as a strong thirst for blood took over this entire area of ??the universe as it opened. "This is worse than you said, Selene..." (Akatosh) "That power, it is one of the catastrophes, the Entity of War..." (Hatlas) It seems that my mother had passed on what we had discovered to the other Gods. We were all prepared for combat. Some of them seemed especially savage, eager to destroy our enemies, such as my mother, my sister Natasha, Akatosh, Adella, the Goddess of the Fairies, the God of War and the God of Justice. Suddenly the God of War became enraged, his killing intent was burning brighter than everyone else''s, it was as if his Divine Aura was making the war drums resound by his mere presence, even my heart was beating with a desire to see him fight more intensely, yet no one stepped forward to fight. Everyone here was strong and intelligent, no matter how angry the Gods present here were feeling at seeing billions of their own people not only transformed by force into enemies, but also being consumed as fuel in such acts of genocide, no one would go into battle blindly just to die. Everyone waited to see the Anomalous Creatures that were emerging as well as what would actually come out of that large gate that suddenly appeared. Not to mention that the Ascendants had not yet appeared, they would not just stand by and watch, they must be nearby and would most likely appear from that gate. The first thing that appeared were the Anomalous Creatures, each one of them was an equal aberration, they were Golems made from planets and I can say this with certainty since I can still feel the presence of living Worlds seeing them, there were 20 of these Golems and right behind it there were 5 Creatures the same as the one I faced, that damned black mist in humanoid form with a red orb like a big eye where its head should be. The Ascendants were with those things, there were more than 100 Level 3 Ascendants, their numbers were much smaller than I expected, they didn''t come through the gate as I imagined, but it doesn''t matter, at least now I know what I would face. As for whoever appeared from the great gate, my eyes fell on the army of worn-out armor filled with bloodstains and marks of countless battles, all emanating endless killing intent, there were also monstrous creatures that emanated a savage Aura of pure hunger, it was easy to confirm that the two entities helping the Ascendants are War and Famine. Chapter 1748: Cap 1746: Hellish Arrival Part 6 I didn''t expect the Entities of War and Hunger to join the Ascendants, I don''t know what the Ascendants have done to hire them, but it makes things more difficult for me. "(Master!)" (Orion) Thought acceleration is not something natural, maintaining such a state for long periods of time can only be harmful, but as soon as I heard the voice of the only Familiar who was not present, I knew there was something I needed to hear, which becomes impossible in the midst of this battle. But the mind is freer than the body and the perception of time varies with the circumstances, accelerating my mind to the limit was as if everything was in slow motion, the same is true even for my body. I concentrate on the link I have with Orion reaching him with my mind, then his mind accelerates along with mine. "Where are you and what do you have to report?" (me) "Master, you need to know..." (Orion) ----------------- Pov Davoth: Before Zenos arrived. I walk through the forest after feeling that energy seal the space and the altered nature of this place itself intensifying the isolation of this place. Soon in a garden where 7 to 8 people were already waiting, one among these people was seriously injured, his body was recovering quickly. All of these people are Ascendants or perhaps it would be better to say that almost everyone here is Ascendant, so my eyes turn to the hooded person. I then turn my eyes to the only one with a hostile Aura in place, one of Zenos'' Divine Beasts, if I''m not mistaken his name was Orion, the creature created through Zenos'' Blood and Selena''s Divinity when purifying a devastated city. "Orion, they are not your enemies, I don''t know how you got here, but listen before you attack, none of them are pointing their weapons at you." (me) "That doesn''t make them any less of an enemy, just as you can''t be considered an ally now." (Orion) "They are with me... at least most of them." (me) My eyes turn to the hooded person I didn''t expect to find here, it was a real surprise, so I turn my attention to Orion. "Since you''re here, then stay and listen before you make a decision, it''s not like anyone here can destroy or seal you." (me) "..." (Orion) Hearing my words, he calms his Aura and lies on the ground with his head raised. I didn''t lie in anything I said. If he is killed, his Soul will simply return to Zenos where he will be Reborn. Even if we tried to seal him, it would be useless. Zenos'' Divine Beasts are so linked to him that they can be summoned to his side at any time, regardless of the Seals placed between them. Only if I sent him to another universe could I prevent this, which would also be difficult since he could kill himself to avoid it. Seeing that he at least won''t attack for now, I let my attention return to the biggest question mark in this place, the woman wearing the hood. I didn''t expect to see her here. "(It''s been a long time, Nala...)" (me) "Nala, it''s been a long time. I didn''t expect to see you again." (me) "So you were involved with them, I should have known, their Auras are slightly different from other Ascendants, I don''t sense that stupid pride in them." (Nala) Nada stands up looking at me as she takes off her hood, her appearance was not breathtaking like other women around us now, her appearance was average, her black hair shaved on the side and tied in a ponytail give an adventurous air together with the tattoo on her neck that resembles a Thunderbolt. Her golden eyes are the most striking thing about her, her wings also make her look like an Ascendant even though she is not. "Why did you come here?" (me) "She saved me when she was about to be killed, she was in the middle of the Chaos Bringer''s fight against the Ascendants." (Ephiliel) "..." (me) I look at Nala who just stares at me without saying anything, I know what she wants and also who she serves, the only creature created by the power of the Ascendant Law and yet she is not an Ascendant, a servant of that entity. "She sent you." (me) "She always supported you, but she didn''t interfere. If it were up to me, she would have killed you and looked for another way." (Nala) "There is no other way." (me) "There is always another way when what we seek are different things." (Nala) "She doesn''t think so, or she wouldn''t have sent you to the Chaos Bringer." (me) "Did she also ask you to protect them?" (me) "Yes..." (Nala) "Especially Ephiliel, her self-destructive tendencies are quite worrying, but her power is essential. I can''t let her die." (Nala) "..." (Ephiliel) I turn to Ephiliel, even without knowing anything, I can imagine what happened, if they were fighting Zenos, then she must have found one of Zenos'' Wives, the one called Freya and the Universal Tree, for Ephiliel who is so full of guilt and regret, meeting Freya must have been almost unbearable. "This will not happen again..." (Ephiliel) "Ephiliel, your safety is important to us, there is no other Ascendant in our ranks who can replace you." (me) As I spoke to Ephiliel, the other Ascendants showed a change in their expressions, Valius who had a weaker expression stepped forward to speak. "We don''t have time for this, Zenos should arrive today, they are using the crushing strategy, 2 Entities were hired in addition." (Valius) "That''s a lot of firepower, it''s not like the Ascendants to act so aggressively and hastily." (me) "Zenos has something the 3 leaders want, something essential for their next Ascension." (Nala) "They tried hard to get it on the way here and failed, Zenos attracted Creatures of the Abyss and even Generals of the Abyss as a third force impeding their plans." (Nala) "After that, their resistance was greater than expected in the subsequent waves of invasion, they expected to succeed this time, I imagine." (Nala) "..." (me) "(That changes my plans...)" (me) "Should we attack the Ascendants from behind?" (Arlan) "That would put everything at risk, they would notice the traitors in their ranks, something that was never a concern before." (Valius) "Valius is right, let''s not interfere too much in this attack, we need to make them retreat..." (me) The crushing plan is to use Anomalous Creatures along with an army to crush the enemies, but hiring the forces of 2 Anomalous Entities seems like they are going all out to secure victory. "What are the hired Entities?" (me) "How many Anomalous Creatures will be used?" (me) "How many and what is the average strength of the Ascendants in this fight?" (me) "There will be 100 Level 3 Ascendants, we will have a few thousand more Level 2 preparing the Rituals." (Ellyos) "We will also have over 4 billion Golems in our army, with the addition of 39 billion Transformed used as sacrifices in the ritual or as payment for hired forces." (Ellyos) "..." (me) Even I was at a loss for words, the number of lives was too high and they would all be killed in seconds, a strategy like this had never been used before, they really were desperate. I turn my eyes to Orion, his murderous intent was clear for all to see, but I can''t blame him after hearing that. I turn to Ellyos, to get this detailed information, I imagine he is the one responsible for the ritual, his power consists mainly of Summoning and Magic. "Which Anomalous Creature has Zenos fought while he was here?" (me) "The Eye of Darkness... he defeated it alone..." (Ephiliel) "Ellyos, then continue with the ritual, but use only the World Golems and Eyes of Darkness..." (me) "You''re letting this continue!!???" (Orion) Just as I expected, he reacted to my mention of continuing with the sacrifices, but there is nothing I can do about it. "We can''t expose ourselves, not now, after this battle the invasion plan against them will be put into practice, only then will we be able to..." (me) "Do you think this explanation would convince my master!?" (Orion) "..." (me) Sigh "Just stay quiet, creature of blood, do you think you have any choice? They''ll do it one way or another. Lives may be lost, but Souls won''t." (Nala) "I''ll recover the Souls and give them to you. Do whatever you want, whether it''s bringing these people back or giving them Reincarnation to follow the natural cycle." (Nala) "I appreciate it." (me) I don''t like doing things this way, but us showing them now won''t decrease the number of victims. It will increase that number exponentially. "Orion, we can''t get everything we want, but I''ll help as much as I can." (me) "Choosing the Anomalous Creatures is already a great advantage for you." (me) "What are the two Anomalous Entities, Ellyos?" (me) "The War and Famine Entities..." (Ellyos) "I understand War, they''ve been in business with the Ascended for thousands of years, but why is the Hunger Entity that has always been so savage together?" (me) "Alright, at least this can be resolved more easily." (me) "Orion, relay this message to Zenos and the Ascended allied forces will retreat, forcing them to do the same after the Anomalous Creatures are defeated." (me) "He just needs to..." (me) Chapter 1749: Cap 1747: Hellish Arrival Part 7 "(Master!)" (Orion) Thought acceleration is not something natural, maintaining such a state for long periods of time can only be harmful, but as soon as I heard the voice of the only Familiar who was not present, I knew there was something I needed to hear, which becomes unfeasible in the midst of this battle. But the mind is freer than the body and the perception of time varies with the circumstances, accelerating my mind to the limit was as if everything was in slow motion, the same is true even for my body. I concentrate on the link I have with Orion reaching him with my mind, then his mind accelerates along with mine. "Where are you and what do you have to report?" (me) "Master, you need to know..." (Orion) "Orion, tell me where you are." (me) In my mind I create a scenario similar to our house near Eclipse City, our mansion, there I appear in a mental projection doing the same for Orion who forms himself into a large Blood Wolf with ethereal wings and tails, his size no smaller than the mansion behind us. In this super accelerated mental world, every 10 minutes were like 1 second outside, of course this came with a burden to my mind, but the tone of Orion''s mental voice seemed urgent. "I didn''t see you when I arrived and your presence was so faint that I didn''t know how to locate you." (me) "During an attack by the Ascendants a few days ago, I invaded one of their bodies to infiltrate them, I''ve been observing them ever since." (Orion) "Did you discover anything?" (me) "I discovered a few things, but the pair I encountered were strangely peaceful for the most part, with the only mention of trouble being the promiscuity of one of them." (Orion) "I didn''t find it strange until I discovered that my presence was not unknown to them." (Orion) "..." (me) Hearing this worries me, but before I say anything I realize that his Aura and appearance are still calm, he even managed to contact me, so he should be safe now. "Master, those I observed were traitors among the Ascendants, people who are under Davoth''s command." (Orion) "Did they say this before or after you showed yourself?" (me) "Davoth appeared personally, I also saw other Ascendants, among them one who is responsible for summoning the Anomalous Creatures in front of you now." (Orion) "He doesn''t work with Davoth? Then why is he indicating these damn things!?" (me) "Davoth will not personally interfere in this battle and will not let the Traitors'' identities be discovered by the Ascendants, he plans to put his plan into action right after the battle considering his return." (Orion) "Millions, maybe even billions of lives have been lost and he still wants to keep his plans!!!" (me) I am not a hero of justice, I am not a good person either, I would probably be considered one of the cruelest entities in this universe, the number of people I have killed, tortured, experimented on and even manipulated are too great, not to mention the wars I have caused just by existing. But even so, the genocide of such a large number of people was too much to see, that image that seemed to extend beyond the limits of vision, so many people being disintegrated or sucked until they became mummies and only then returning to dust. These horrific images will not leave my mind, such a great fog of death, such a great theft of life, it was horrible to see, traumatizing to remember, and a completely unforgivable act. Davoth dares to say that he will stand idly by in this kind of situation, he knew what would happen and yet he chose not to act!? "Master, we have no time for your outburst!" (Orion) "..." (me) "Don''t let your anger cloud your vision, not now." (Orion) "You''re right, I can go and settle accounts with him later, is there anything else I need to know?" (me) "Davoth told me he will protect the Souls of those sacrificed, but you will not have to deal with the Anomalous Creatures." (Orion) "The Ascendants have called two forces to join this attack, they are..." (Orion) "The Entities War and Famine, I know about that... but anything else?" (me) "Davoth says the Ascendants have a long-standing business relationship with the Entity of War, but he doesn''t understand the other Entity''s reason for being here." (Orion) "He says that War resolves everything in combat and hierarchy is everything, if you invite them to a duel with their leader, someone who represents the Entity itself as the Avatar of War and win the duel, then all of them under your command will retreat." (Orion) "That only applies to War, but what do I do about Famine?" (me) "The same thing, but this time it''s not enough to just fight, the Avatar of Famine has infinite regeneration and high physical attributes, only being devoured would kill him and only that would make his forces retreat." (Orion) "..." (me) "(In other words, I must defeat them in their concepts, win War in a confrontation and defeat Famine by devouring him.)" (me) So the way to face an Entity is within its Concept, this explains why Callidora in the past used me to get something from the Plague Entity, she wanted from the beginning a power compatible with propagation and knew that Hinata could do it with my help. "(A conceptual fight...)" (me) A strange way to fight, but it would make sense, if the Anomalous Entities are beings that incarnate or are the concepts themselves, then a physical battle is almost completely useless, there is no way to hurt a concept, but one can deny the concept, distort the concept or further elaborate the concept into new meanings. The Avatars, as vessels for these Entities, must be strongly influenced by these Concepts, the battle is how War lives, the conflict prospers its concept in every way, winning it in a battle would be forcing a consensus. But I can''t fight two Avatars at the same time, I''m not even sure if I can defeat one of them, I wish I could both. With Orion''s explanation, I discovered many things about the Anomalous Entities, many are assumptions, so I don''t know how far I am right or wrong, but that can be left for future questioning. "Should it be me fighting?" (me) "For the one who commands the War troops, it will have to be you. It seems that part of the agreement was that he wanted to fight you personally. From what the Ascendants said, everyone was warned not to interfere in the fight." (Orion) "As for the Famine troops, I don''t know anything. The Ascendants themselves are confused about your participation." (Orion) "(There is a possibility that Famine is still resentful of the Anomalous Dragons being removed from his influence, so I can use that to attract his attention.)" (me) I can''t take care of everything, so I needed plans to handle this situation. Some things were already set. I would fight the Avatar of War, but I can send one of the Twins to take care of the other Avatar of Famine. "Huhh!!" (me) "Master, are you okay!?" (Orion) "I''m fine... just mentally exhausted..." (me) "Is there anything else to know?" (me) "One of the Ascendants in this battle is Baldr." (Orion) "..." (me) Baldr is back. I never liked him. If possible, I wanted to kill him personally, but I have no illusions about it. Even now, I don''t think I could face someone like him if he still has the same power as before. "I''m going to summon you. Be ready." (Me) "I''m ready." (Orion) I hadn''t even spent 10 minutes in this mental conversation and I was already very tired. My head was hurting because I was already mentally exhausted from the days of chasing and fighting until I got here. Keeping this accelerated mental conversation with Orion wasn''t doing my mind any good, but at least I learned some very useful things. At least now I know how to deal with the biggest problems here: the reinforcements of the two Anomalous Entities. I let go of the connection with Orion and stop accelerating my thoughts. The previously still world seemed to start moving once again. My head was still hurting, but it was slowly easing now that I stopped accelerating my mind. "< Summoning of the Divine Beast: Orion >" (me) In front of me, a drop of ethereal red blood forms before spreading into a magic circle from which a column of blood descends like a waterfall. A large Blood Wolf appears with large wings and half-ethereal tails, its large size drawing attention as it appears. "Cortana and Lena, I have something to talk to you about, mother, you too." (me) I didn''t waste time this time. I couldn''t use thought acceleration again. My mind might be in a bad state to fight later. What I did was have the three of them touch their minds, containing the information I received and what I needed from them. For beings like them, this small piece of information was assimilated in milliseconds. My mother walked away, saying that she would take care of Baldr. "I already knew about it, but if he dares to show up here, I''ll take care of him myself." (Selene) "The Anomalous Dragons are under my control now, so I''ll deal with Famine, just focus on the Avatar of War." (Cortana) "I''ll take care of that Golem." (Lena) Lena points to the smallest of the Golems, he barely draws attention and I hadn''t noticed him before, but the other planetary Golems seem to be behind him in an orderly fashion as if he were the leader, clearly he shouldn''t be simple. At that moment the Ascendants began to act and their forces began the attack, so we also acted, under my mother''s command. "ATTACK!!" (Selene) Chapter 1750: Cap 1748: Hellish Arrival Part 8 "ATTACK!!" (Selene) As everyone advanced, my Familiars stayed close to me, this time I would need them, but I moved away from the others as I went straight against the War troops, they advanced against us like a true army maintaining the formation under the command of their commander, each of them wore full body armor, even so their commander had the most prominent heavy armor, his long red hair coming out of his helmet also tested him together with the cape on his back in the same color as his hair. My Familiars seeing that army disperse to take care of them while from afar I see Lena advance towards the Anomalous Creatures along with other Gods, my wives among them. Cortana was advancing not far from me leaving a mist of death that seems the very meaning of darkness in her path as if behind her a large creature of darkness formed, she was heading directly towards the monstrous Beasts that emanate the Aura of Hunger. Everyone was doing their part, but the fight didn''t seem to be in our favor. I didn''t even know how the ritual was going and out of nowhere I found myself thinking about a really bad possibility. There were many Gods fighting here as well as forces of Entities outside this universe. I don''t know if this place would withstand this combat. I needed to be sure. At that moment, there was only time and opportunity to ask an ''individual'', if that thing could even be considered an individual. "(System, can the universe withstand this battle?)" (me) Ding! <[ The System informs that external forces are taking care of the structure of this universe to prevent collapse or dimensional deterioration ]> "..." (me) This information was good, so we could fight without holding back, but I couldn''t help but notice that the System didn''t identify who was responsible for this. Unfortunately, I didn''t have the luxury of thinking about these things. In front of me, he was running towards me, sitting on top of a creature that looked like a Pegasus with tiger paws and wearing armor all over its body. It was a war mount whose robust, fierce, and brutal appearance would scare anyone who saw it. In his hand, his sword leaves its sheath, his murderous intent as frightening as ever. The same fear I felt before was still there, but I couldn''t back down now. The anger of that genocide was burning more and more in me, using the anger to cloud the fear. "< Divine Summon: Eclipse Sword >" (me) "< Embodiment of Aura: Eclipse Armor >" (me) "< Unholy Incarnation >" (me) In one of my hands, all my Aura was concentrated, forming an image of Eclipse, while my other hand reached into space while flying, leaving a trail of destruction behind, closing in on itself. A sword was pulled out from within. I transform my body into a hybrid Dragon state, keeping my legs and a smaller form than the large Dragon body. The Divine Weapon inside me flows through my arm until it enters the sword that changes, becoming stronger as it merges with my Divine Weapon, the Cursed Sun and the Fragmented Moon taking their form as they incorporate themselves into the sword. The Eclipse in my other hand dissolves into streams of energy that reach different parts of my body forming a full-body Armor with the exception of my head, where an ethereal crown forms. My own body also emanate incredible amounts of Star Fire that form larger wings on my back while burning in my hair and eyes before spreading throughout my body, even reaching the sword in my hands. All these abilities to increase my power and yet I still feel intimidated by him, his presence constantly pressuring me. Slash Slashhh Baaammmm! I focus my energy only on the edge of the blade and clash head-on against him, with the swing of our swords that collide creating a powerful shockwave, I was slightly more affected, retreating 2 kilometers while he remains standing in the same place, several explosions happen in every corner with other battles beginning, I see millions of soldiers coming towards me, their numbers too great for my Familiars to be able to stop alone. Seeing this, I look at the enemy in front of me, his red hair floating around him due to the lack of gravity, even without seeing his face I can feel his smile behind his helmet, he was having fun and must not have used all his strength in that blow, even so I was pushed back using all my physical strength. I look at him who remains still as if waiting for something, then I glance at his approaching troops before focusing my vision on him again. "(The difference in strength is still great, but not insurmountable as before...)" (me) "Ayden, Avatar of the War Entity! I challenge you to a duel!" (me) "Bearer of Chaos, I knew we would meet again... hahaha..." (Ayden) He looked happy, his Aura was emanating more and more killing intent as he laughed, even so he didn''t let his guard down, his senses controlled me, and his troops didn''t continue coming towards me, they scattered in other directions. "I want to fight you, but it''s not up to me to decide, so let the will of War be done in this battle!" (Ayden) As if responding to Ayden''s words, I felt a pair of eyes pass over me for a second before being suddenly interrupted. That''s when the notification sound came up. Ding! <[ The Entity of War looks at you with amusement saying it accepts your challenge ]> . . <[ The War Entity is blocked by the Life Entity from descending on its Avatar ]> "..." (me) I look at Ayden, he points his sword at me, his murderous Aura almost carrying the smell of the blood he has already spilled, he seemed happy somehow, now I''m sure he''s a combat maniac. "I, Ayden... accept your challenge, Bringer of Chaos!" (Ayden) "< Sword that Embodies Massacre >" (Ayden) Saying this far he gets off his mount and stands in front of me, his Aura stops leaking from his body and focuses on his sword that shines with discharges of red energy around the silver blade. Nothing else needed to be said between us, I also point my sword in his direction, we look at each other as if waiting for the moment to attack. Boommm! An explosion happened hundreds of kilometers away from our confrontation due to the other battles around us. This particular explosion was like a signal for the beginning of our fight. We both advanced at the same time. This time I didn''t want to face his strength, which was clearly above mine. What I did was fight him more intelligently. His sword came towards me and I received it with the blade tilted, making his sword slide to the sides, wasting his superior strength. As I advanced towards him, using my wings in an explosion of momentum, my fist closed and punched him, who received it with his own fist. His position wasn''t good, and even defending with the back of his hand, he still counterattacked with a kick that I dodged. "< Unholy Breath >" (me) "< 10,000 Lives Cut >" (Ayden) Without saying anything, I move away from him, we both attack at the same time with long-range attacks, me with a focused breath attack creating a column of liquid stellar flames that reveal a chaotic space inside. He on the other hand holds his sword above his head where its blade turns completely red before he lowers it towards me creating a half-moon shaped attack that quickly becomes larger, our attacks pass by each other''s sides. I hold my sword firmly as I face his attack while he just dodges my attack before coming towards me, but without realizing it my breath attack takes on a life of its own taking the form of a Dragon that curves towards him aiming at his back. But he didn''t try to do anything, his red cape shines and stops my breath attack increasing his speed as he comes towards me. With the sword acting to stop his previous attack, I use my tail to aim at his head from the side, he throws his head back making my tail pass in front of his face before turning his entire body, his cape spinning along with his body hits me, forcing me to move away. He and I stared at each other for a brief second, there was no need to exchange words, his presence was becoming increasingly sharp during the fight. "< Lunar Slash >" (me) "< General Sword >" (Ayden) We advance once more at the same time, my sword shines with a silver energy full of vitality as if containing millions of wild creatures in attack, he on the other hand uses his sword although thrust while a red energy in the shape of a large sword comes towards me colliding with my attack. Booommmm!!! Another strong explosion of energy affects us both, but he recovers much faster and returns to attack furiously. This time we didn''t use any very strong attacks, he tries to use his technique and combat experience to overcome me. Each collision between us caused a shockwave that made the space tremble, his sword was too heavy, making even my bones vibrate and muscles ache. Chapter 1751: Cap 1749: Hellish Arrival Part 9 Each collision between us caused a shockwave that shook the space, his sword was too heavy, making even my bones vibrate and muscles ache. He was slowly taking the fight more seriously as if he had only been testing me until now, our combat was a tragedy for anyone who got close. The War Soldiers who obey Ayden did not come close to our duel and the Beasts of Hunger were far away busy with another battle, only a few hundred came from time to time in our direction, perhaps because of their strong survival instincts, puddles tried to attack directly, feeling the powerful shockwaves resulting from our battle that could easily change the geography of entire continents. The Ascendant Golems, on the other hand, were completely ignored due to their lack of strength, they were the weakest among the enemies, but also the most numerous, making up more than half of the numbers. The Golems, after noticing our battle, tried to interfere many times only to be destroyed by the shockwaves from the collision of our swords, even so they still threw themselves into the fire constantly. The Ascendants on the other hand stayed away, it seems they really made a deal with War about this, if a Level 3 Ascendant joined the battle I could lose in seconds, I was already at my limit facing only the Avatar of War. Boomm! Boomm! Baamm!! With each blow my arm became more numb, his attack speed was a little faster than mine, but the worst thing was noticing the difference in experience, he could predict the direction of my attacks regardless of the angle, sometimes even making the counterattack before I even completed the blow. It was as if until now he was just having fun with this battle without taking it seriously and was slowly pressuring me by revealing more of his ability. His attacks were relentless, his killing intent increasingly concentrated and focused on me, I was slowly being pushed by him, cuts were already appearing on my armor. "(I''m already giving it my all, but it still doesn''t seem like it''s going to be enough. Using Tarzor won''t work until he recovers.)" (me) I circulate my energy throughout my body and Soul in the wild way I learned on this trip. My blood boils inside me as the stellar flames rage, exploding throughout my body. Ayden steps away without touching my Star Flames. "You know, it''s been a long time since I''ve participated in a duel..." (Ayden) "I don''t care!" (me) "< River of Swords >" (me) Concentrating my power into the blade of the sword, I swing it forward in succession, going from bottom to top, top to bottom, side to side, and so on, releasing hundreds of blades of energy containing my Star Fire with each attack. A raging river of sharp flames rushes towards him, his Aura intensifying even more as he advances instead of retreating, the movement of his feet, the gentle swing of his sword, the changes in his body posture, all of it was perfect to an absurd degree. He was meeting my attack head on as he danced amidst the thousands of blades, his body twisting and dodging each attack by a hair''s breadth, his steps never stopping as he stepped on empty space as if there was ground wherever his feet touched, his movement unhindered by anything and his sword blocking the energy blades that he would not be able to dodge. This happened so fast that he left several afterimages behind as he approached me aggressively. "You really surprised me, but you still underestimate me..." (me) I smile at him as all the energy blades he passed through dispersed, leaving the Star Flames contained in them free to gather into a Star Fire Dragon that advances towards him from behind. His cape once again opens like a curtain of blood to block the attack, but as if possessing intelligence, the Star Flame Dragon disintegrates into 5 streams of fire that deflect the red cape in different directions before hitting him from the sides and thanks to that he was unable to continue dodging the rest of the river of swords that hits him from the front. For the first time I landed a direct hit on him, even though his combat mastery is greater than mine, he couldn''t be ready for everything, he doesn''t know me or my abilities well enough to predict everything, especially since I have too many abilities and powers. If I can''t gain in strength, technique or combat experience, then I''ll bet on creativity in my attacks, I don''t want to use more of my power and even less have to resort to my Familiars, my condition is still far from my peak due to not having been able to rest enough. "< Unholy Breath >" (me) "< Eternal Expansion: Field of War >" (Ayden) Around us something strange happened, Ayden comes out of burying the Stellar Flames and blade attacks with his armor covered in burnt cut marks, his red cape was in pieces and his red hair was disheveled covered in both burnt strands and cut parts, yet no attack seemed to have penetrated his armor. He appeared as a bloodthirsty Aura around him, glowing red eyes finally being seen through his helmet, his voice carrying an infinite Will for combat while a formless presence of immense depth imprints itself around us like a fundamental part of reality. All around us it seems that broken swords and armor are scattered all over the place, the smell of blood fills my lungs as if it were the only thing in the air, the clang of metal clashing against metal like an uninterrupted whisper in my ears and a presence of death spread everywhere. I was alert as I looked around without understanding what had happened, I was still seeing the outer space around us where many were fighting, but if I close my eyes I can only see a bloody battlefield where endless armies fight eternally. "(This is not an illusion... it is also not a Territory... much less a field-type magic or skill... what did he do...?)" (me) I was truly cautious now, this was a technique that I could not recognize, I did not understand its function or purpose, but I could feel that my killing intent suddenly grew immensely. I looked at Ayden and he seemed to belong here, his presence became more than twice as strong as before, it was as if he was fighting at home, as if everything here was an extension of him. "This is my battlefield, there is no way to escape before one of us is defeated, there are no regeneration abilities in this place, there are no magics or Spiritual Runes here, all that exists is your body, your Armor and the sword in your hands along with your power." (Ayden) "Welcome to the concept of war!" (Ayden) "What is this place?" (me) "This is not a place, do not confuse the expansion of a concept with the Territories created by physical beings, concepts do not need to steal a space for themselves, they are already everywhere, in all universes." (Ayden) "Since war is a concept that exists everywhere, I only needed to expand this concept to create a battlefield for us, there is no escape from this battlefield, there is no way for others to interfere, we are both under the effects of the concept as I see it!" (Ayden) "(In other words, you cut off my escape route and most of my abilities while maintaining a complete environmental advantage!)" (me) "You bastard!!" (me) "There is no justice in a duel, a clash of abilities where only victory matters!" (Ayden) "(I should have asked more about his powers, Cortana and Lena should know about it...)" (me) Suddenly I feel a look on me and Ayden growls motionless, it was a look that seemed full of desire for battle, he was evaluating me at the same time that it seemed to encourage this battle. I knew that the Entity of War must be watching this duel, but now I am sure, this is his look, as well as a way of showing his dominance, this bastard. "I am the Knight of Slaughter, Ayden!" (Ayden) "Let this duel be a demonstration of conflict, death and Will!" (Ayden) "May War descend upon this battlefield!!!" (Ayden) The pressure throughout this place seems to increase as if resonating with Ayden''s words, his Will exploding in his Aura as he points his sword at me, I knew he was going all out now. "I hate all of this..." (me) Gripping my sword tightly, my power circulates within me between Soul and body, my Will expands to keep my heart calm without being influenced by the endless killing intent of this damned place. Ayden and I advance at the same time, our swords collide and this time there are no fluctuations in space, the shockwaves seem to not interfere with the surroundings other than the two of us, it was as if we were separated from everything else around us. While I was still distracted by the changes around us, a kick comes towards my ribs and I use my arm to defend myself as I am knocked back by the blow, Ayden following in attack while my wings flap, launching me towards him equally in attack, our swords clashing once more. Chapter 1752: Cap 1750: Hellish Arrival Part 10 Pov Cortana: I advance against the tide of beasts of different sizes, shapes and appearances, they all look like wild beasts and their presence was savage being painted only by the primal instinct of hunger, six bloodshot eyes full of endless gluttony while saliva flows in their jaws. As soon as the attack began I advanced straight towards them and sensing my presence, they were also more focused on us. I was looking mainly at a beast larger than the others, I knew that unlike War who can create Avatars of soldiers and warriors because of his Concept, Famine is not able to do the same, each Beast in my vision are creatures directly controlled by Famine, they do not have Soul, Consciousness and Will of their own, they are low-level Avatars. Because of this deficiency in quality Famine must be able to create infinite Avatars being the Entity with the largest number of Avatars in existence, even Plague cannot match it in absolute quantity of numbers. Looking at the billions of beasts around, I knew that Famine must be unhappy about being forced to use her usual strategy of infinite numbers and having to settle for fixed numbers for this attack. "Famine, I didn''t expect you to join the Ascendants." (me) "Death Fragment... don''t interfere with my hunt!" (Famine) Famine is the simplest Entity among all, her attacks consist of endless tides of Beasts that never end until victory, her way of fighting is as savage as beasts, following only basic instincts, perhaps that''s why she always chooses her largest creatures as her spokesperson. This creature had a robust body of a humanoid ape, its strong arms had toothed mouths on the palms of its hands, its head had 6 eyes, a large snout even larger than a Wolf''s, its jaws were enormous with sharp teeth, its body is covered by an exoskeleton of bones as natural armor, its body clearly very strong and resistant. He looked at me angrily, his voice was rough and almost sounded like a roar, because he was simple-minded, Famine never liked having others go against him, even though he was intelligent his actions always resulted in an immediate and overwhelming counterattack, I should have foreseen this situation. "You''re here because of the Anomalous Dragons, aren''t you?" (me) "They were mine! Mine!!!" (Famine) "It took me thousands of years to shape them! Transform their bodies! Shape their Souls! Adapt their minds!" (Famine) "Your weak Chaos Bringer took what is MINE!!!!" (Famine) "You mean what is mine now." (me) "..." (Famine) Famine is no fool, his intelligence has never been inferior to other entities, his way of acting and speaking are parts of his core personality, but his mind has always been sharp and cunning, choosing with precision the universes he devoured and being patient in his attack regardless of the millennia it may take. Famine understood what he said and his previously scattered anger focused on me while the eyes of all his beasts turned in my direction, the intensity of those eyes was uncomfortable, but at least it proves that I managed to draw their attention to me. "< Invocation of Death: Primordial Dragon of the Tomb of Beginnings >" (me) Behind me the wall of mist filled with death energy forms a large portal of pure darkness, thousands of red eyes open and among them the largest one seems to approach coming out in its Dragon form full of darkness inside its metal armor. "How may I serve you, my lady?" (Sarazar) "We have an old acquaintance of yours, I thought you might like to see him." (me). "You provoke me too much, so be ready to be devoured!" (Hunger) "You... understand, thank you very much my lady for this opportunity to settle past grudges." (Sarazar) "< Advance >" (Sarazar) Soon thousands of large shadows came out of the portal revealing many Dragons similar to Sarazar, all of them are the ancient Anomalous Dragons that recently awakened. ---------------------- Pov Selene: I could feel the presence of that wretch and went to him, others may not understand him as much as I do, but even becoming an Ascendant he doesn''t do anything that won''t benefit him. As soon as I passed the colossal Golem that was in my way, leaving him to Akatosh who was right behind, I went towards the Ascendants, a group of them that seemed to be waiting for me, Baldr was among them. "Have you decided to stop hiding like the plague you''ve become?" (me) "Don''t brag when you''re outnumbered, Selene?" (Baldr) "You think these 9 Ascendants can be of any help against me, apart from the leaders of the Ascendants, all the others are just blood bags for me to taste." (me) "(What I find strange is that they are all level 2...)" (me) "Selena, your confidence is beyond your capacity as always." (Baldr) "< Law of Light: Sun of Greed >" (Baldr) Baldr, who had less strength and presence than the last time we fought, suddenly threw a sword above his head, this sword was covered in Ascendant Runes and was completely golden, the Runes on its blade shone in white colors and its Aura illuminated the surroundings, even so the eerie feeling I felt when looking at it was uncomfortable, as if its Holy appearance was just a mask of a missing true purpose. The 9 Level 2 Ascendants stood still, their faces grim as strands of light shot out at high speed from the sword touching each of them, which glowed brightly in different colors and flowed into the sword. "< Divine Blood Magic: Furor of Life and Death >" (me) A magic circle formed in front of me as a torrent of blood took the form of millions of blood creatures as if they were being swept away by a river towards Baldr, but before it could reach that wretch, a column of light already enveloped him, stopping the attack in its tracks like a dam. "Selene, I may no longer be a God, but now I am no longer bound by universal rules! I am no longer restrained by anything! My strength will go as far as I want it to go!!" (Baldr) "The Ascendants seek endless strength and evolution, they are not limited by anything, and so neither will I be!" (Baldr) "It says a lot for a simple thief to steal power that isn''t his, but at least this way it''ll be more fun to beat up that idiotic face!!" (me) I advance towards Baldr with all the previous attack being pulled into my hand, all that torrent of blood condenses into a sphere that makes the space around it tremble while sharp thorns emerge from it the moment I throw it at Baldr. BBAAMMMM!!! CRACK! The sphere of thorns collides against the column of light sleeping a barrier around Baldr, breaking everything into pieces as it advances towards him who just smiles as he lowers the shining sword in his hand, slashing downwards. When the sphere of thorns was divided in half, there was no explosion of blood that I prepared, the two halves of the sphere suddenly disintegrate as I continued advancing towards him. The blood sword and the black crown surge within me as I attack this bastard, all the murderous will within me exploding out. "(This time I won''t let you escape!!!)" (me) ---------------------- Pov Davoth: I was on a planet inhabited mainly by Demons, I was walking through the streets while in my mind the battle two star systems away from here was happening. "(So Famine came because of the Anomalous Dragons.)" (me) "(I didn''t expect the Anomalous Dragons to become like this, that Entity must be what I felt from Zenos before, a part of Death... I can also feel a part of Life...)" (me) "(They are different from the Goddesses, they are not mere vessels with consciousness, they are completely separate, truly separate entities and I can feel different concepts... branched perhaps...?)" (me) "Huh!?" (me) Suddenly I feel someone looking at me, even without turning around I see that I am being followed by someone wearing a hood, just like me, it seems that the people around us cannot see her. "(If meeting me was the goal, then let''s go...)" (me) I keep walking without increasing the pace of my steps until I''m out of the city in a few minutes and she keeps following me, I can''t feel her presence or Aura, even so I can discern the way she walks, behaves just like the feeling I have when looking at her unusual figure, not to mention that there aren''t many who could find me with that ease. Walking to a place a little away from the city, where we wouldn''t have mortals surrounding us would be more comfortable for a conversation, at least I hope she just wanted to talk or this planet could end up in a regrettable state. I stopped in the middle of a forest, a more open area without flowers that I know well are not to her liking. "Good to see you again... Yaffa." (me) "This time I thought I hid well, how did you find me?" (Yaffe) "There aren''t many who can find me so easily and among them there are even fewer who wouldn''t attack immediately upon seeing me." (me) "Who told you to be so detestable and manipulative?" (Yaffe) "Even so, I''m surprised to see you here. I can feel the two Anomalous powers in you, but that appearance... how many rebirths have you been through? I had heard you were an Ascendant last time." (Yaffe) "It''s been two since our last meeting. I was an Ascendant before I was reborn like this. You can call me Davoth now." (me) "Why is the great and feared Serpent of Annihilation here?" (me) She lowered her hood, revealing that even though she has a humanoid body with a feminine appearance, her snake head still shows her predatory nature. "It was a coincidence. I met someone interesting and followed them here. Then I sensed you and came to see how you were doing. I still have the tracking curse on your Soul after all." (Yaffe) "Do you have any idea what''s going on right now?" (me) "No, but does it matter...?" (Yaffe) Her head tilted to the side in confusion and disinterest, as if she were the same, as willful and unpredictable as ever. "Come on, let''s go somewhere better to talk..." (me) Chapter 1753: Cap 1751: Hellish Arrival Part 11 I was trapped in this damn place, while fighting Ayden I kept going everywhere, but no matter where I was going, the battlefield seemed to move along with our fight. This place has no walls, nor is it separated by spaces or dimensions, I don''t feel anything different from the universe and yet the difference is more than clear to see. I kept looking for a way out for obvious reasons, this place is an obvious advantage for Ayden, while for me it is just a great restriction on my greatest ability, my attack versatility. It was as if I was fighting with handcuffs on my wrists and feet, I don''t think I''ve ever been so restricted in a fight before. "There is no escape from here, Bringer of Chaos!" (Ayden) His sword comes towards me, but as soon as I put my sword to defend his, a strong blow hits me in the leg, he kicked my leg in the middle of his own blow to make me lose the chance to defend. He was strong, but he would need more than that to win. I let the energy inside me explode outward, causing him to move away while I took advantage of this time to reposition myself. "< Sword of Judgment >" (me) "< Universal Slash >" (Ayden) I use one of the sword strikes I learned in the past. My sword shines as I advance against Ayden, but instead of hitting the enemy who was already ready to attack, I aimed somewhere else. I engrave the sword in space as if I had done it on a real floor. The sword shines the more I thrust it into space. Without understanding what I was doing, Ayden aimed his sword at me directly, but before I could finish his strike without hesitation, it was at that moment that space opened up from above him, letting a large sword fall from the sky onto him with the weight of mountains. But to my unfortunate surprise, he turned his body and continued swinging his sword, this time turning the blow upwards, cutting the great sword in half. "(I can use my energies... but everything else...)" (me) I tried using my magic or the Spiritual Runes, I even tried the powers of the Law that I stole from the Ascendants, but nothing worked, it was as if these techniques shouldn''t even exist here, as if I was trying to use gravity in the vacuum of space, it was simply impossible. I was starting to realize the details of this place and how strong it was, unfortunately my time to digress was running out. "< Chaos Dragon''s Slash >" (me) "Circle of Bloody Blades" (Ayden) Concentrating my Starfire on the edge of my sword, I swing it, releasing a wave of flames in their direction, this wave of flames twists on itself taking the form of a Dragon that advances towards them on its own. He holds his sword and spins it as if he were cutting the space in a circle in front of him, leaving a ring of intense red energy in its place. Millions of illusory swords advance towards me, all made of red energy. These red swords and my Starfire Dragon collide, but to my surprise, those swords were able to cut the Starfire Dragon even though it was an ethereal being with a momentary life. His attacks left cuts on his body that were literally bleeding red energy, but of course the swords themselves were being covered by the Starfire and then falling apart. With these attacks and the surprise of the Starfire Dragon being injured, I ended up losing sight of Ayden who appeared next to me, his sword aiming at my neck. "< Unholy Breath >" (me) I open my mouth to release the breath attack, there is no technique or magic behind it and it was the most basic attack as well as one of the strongest for all Dragons, perhaps that''s why I didn''t feel the same blockage as Starfire emerged from my mouth towards Ayden in a cone area. As his sword slashed towards me, he also had his vision blocked, but his sword didn''t stop, cutting through my breath attack without slowing down, even so it was good enough for me. My tail with a blade on the tip snaked through the flames aiming for the side of Ayden''s neck, who was slow to notice my movement, he put an arm in front, but this wasn''t a throwing attack, but my tail that I controlled by deflecting his arm at high speed before hitting the side of his helmet, pushing his entire body to the side. "(Nix, Layla...!!)" (me) "(Ragnar!!)" (me) "(The connections... are still there, but I can''t reach them.)" (me) I wanted to wait for this gap to call my Familiars, if I integrated their strength into mine, I would be able to fight better against Ayden, but I wasn''t able to and that was a wasted time when Ayden appeared in front of me once again, his sword was faster, more precise and heavier than mine. He was also constantly digging future openings using his experience and technique with the sword for this, he planned his blows with precision to force me to use the sword in a way that left openings that he could attack, I only realized when it was too late, my body would already be badly injured if it weren''t for the Eclipse Armor covering my body. I was constantly thinking of ways to overcome Ayden. I''m not an idiot who will believe in the power of the heart or my grandfather''s deck of cards, or anything like luck like the protagonists in the media I followed in my previous life. I need to think of some way to overcome someone who surpasses me in strength, technique, and combat experience without relying on external help, be it my Familiars who I can''t reach or Tarzor who was in a dormant state recovering. Whispers Whispers "..." (me) "!!!" (Ayden) Suddenly I hear distant whispers that I can''t identify. These Whispers are the same ones I heard before, and this time I wasn''t caught off guard. My willpower and mind were focused because of the battle, so I felt the voices of these whispers trying to affect me. My energy was bubbling inside me. As if he had noticed something, Ayden steps back and aims his sword at me, his presence changing, becoming more bloodthirsty and even more intense energy rays cover his sword as something emerges from him, a sensation much deeper and heavier than before, making the previously illusory space around him become almost real. "Interesting..." (War) "Huh!?" (me) I didn''t need to think much about what was happening, I knew, anyone would know, Ayden had been possessed by the War Entity, his presence was unmistakable, it was as if the very concept of war was embodied in a form, it was suffocating and yet it only lasted a moment as if he just wanted to see something in person before looking away. In the same sudden way that War appeared in Ayden, and also disappeared in the same sudden way, the posture and presence he possesses changes when he returns, then his Aura decreases to its previous state as he looks doubtfully at me, his helmet was even half broken on the side because of the attack from my tail earlier. "What is your name, Bringer of Chaos?" (Ayden) "You know my name, why ask now?" (me) Whispers "..." (me) "Because this time my lord has shown interest in you and for your existence I will take your head in honor of him." (Ayden) Ayden''s intensity increased, but that was just one more problem to deal with, even though War didn''t interfere in the fight, I can feel that his attention is still focused here. Whispers "Child... don''t hold back... don''t fear... chaos flows on its own..." (???) "(Child... don''t hold back... don''t fear... chaos flows on its own...)" (???) "!!!" (me) Suddenly the Whispers return as many overlapping voices, but one female voice in particular stands out, once upon a time beautiful in a language I didn''t know, yet strangely I was able to understand, this voice sounded overlapping as if I was hearing it both in my mind and as if it were right next to my ear being whispered. This voice for some reason made my whole body heat up not with excitement, but as if I was being pushed to the limit, my energy flowed between my Soul and body with more intensity, wildness and speed than before too. But what drove me almost crazy was feeling the Power of Chaos inside me move, not all of it, but rather one of its abilities, one of the most fundamental in me, the first one I obtained, the Chaotic Devourer. Sigh~ It was as if until now a beast had been dormant and was now awakening or perhaps being born, I felt this ability of mine flow into the Eclipse Sword in my hands automatically releasing a technique created by me while a soft sigh sounds from somewhere. "< 1st Stellar Sword Art: World Consumer >" (me) GGGGRRRRRRR!!! Chapter 1754: Cap 1752: Hellish Arrival Part 12 Pov Samara: Seeing the master and everyone fighting was a bit gratifying, honestly, except for the master who is always improving his strength, most of this universe was stagnant, the Gods had been stagnant in their strength for thousands of years, even though the overall strength of this universe was well above average, the long time of peace greatly affected the power ceiling. "Please... please... don''t do this..." (Ascendant A) "Do what?" (me) "I haven''t even started doing anything yet, unfortunately I don''t have time right now..." (me) "< Storm Law: Lightning Hurricane >" (Ascendant B) "< Divine Eclipse Magic: Infernal Eclipse Seal >" (me) I was holding an Ascendant by the neck with one hand while chains were snaking inside his body carrying with them a curse that was engraved in his bones, muscles and organs. But before I could finish, another Ascendant charged into my duration with an attack, I knew it was just a distraction because of the murderous intent hidden in the surroundings. I threw the Ascendant in my hands towards its companion''s attack as a meat shield, then used an ancient magic of mine that I adapted to be used using my master''s Divinity. A seal written in the ancient Infernal language that only the Servants of Hell know, but containing my master''s Anomalous Divinity, the only Divinity that could be used with Infernal techniques, the Seal took the form of a humanoid creature wearing a cape and covered in chains before dissolving into hundreds of chains that advanced towards the hidden murderous intent. "< Law of Purification: Blade of Decontamination >" (Ascendant C) A transparent sword containing a strong power of purity appeared held by a beautiful hand before slashing towards the chains destroying each of them in succession with an admirable sword technique. "A reasonable Ascendant has decided to show up?" (me) "It''s been a long time, Fallen Saint..." (Ascendant C) "Be careful... with the voice..." (Ascendant A) "She''s treacherous, be careful!" (Ascendant B) "You two step back, you won''t be of any help like her, only my purifying power will be useful." (Ascendant C) The two Ascendants look at the third before nodding as they walk away from the battle, they were walking away while I stared at the new Level 3 Ascendant. "Do you think I''ll let them go?" (me) "No, but the curse you placed on one of them won''t activate, they all have items against curses, poison and corruption." (Ascendant C) "If you try to attack them directly, you''ll just give me the chance to land a blow on you." (Ascendant C) "You seem very confident..." (me) Snap "< Release >" (me) I couldn''t help but smile as I snapped my fingers releasing the curse I had placed on one of the Ascendants, the first one who advanced towards me, even from a distance I could feel the Purifying Power activating around the two, but this lasted only a few seconds before the one with the curse withered away dying while the last one saved himself by running even faster by flapping his wings. "Anomalous Power cannot be entirely contained and purification cannot destroy, it is not something corrupted or anything like that to be purified." (me) "< Law of Purification: Immaculate Sword >" (Ascendant C) She appeared in front of me, this time without hiding while Millions of Ascending Runes come out of her wings crossing her body to her right arm stopping in the palm of her hand where it takes the form of a completely translucent sword made of materialized energy, that sword seems to have been forged using a powerful Divinity as its core, even though it is made from the power of the Ascending Law I can still feel traces of Divinity coming from that sword. "Interesting sword, I have one too." (me) "< Sacred Summon: Star Sword >" (me) I concentrate my power in my hand as I hit the space that cracks before opening, the hilt of a sword appears from within that opening in space and I pull it out feeling the power of the master contained in the sword. "< Sword Awakening: Sword of the Fallen Path >" (me) Pouring my own power into the sword, it begins to change, its blade materializing into bone fragments becoming serrated while in the middle it reveals a descending path amidst the stellar flames of space, the handle was ornamented with chains and at the end of the handle a chain extends as it wraps around my arm. "I hope you''re more fun!" (me) "Talk less and attack more!!" (Ascending C) ------------------- Pov Ibuki: I didn''t need to talk to any of these things, I didn''t even know if they could talk, but I still didn''t want to destroy them, I could feel that they were suffering, they were Golems, but they were alive and in pain. They were controlled and forced to fight, anyone could see that, but how do you free a creature like that? I fought with a bit of pain in my heart, but my sword showed no mercy in its attacks that fortunately or unfortunately didn''t do much damage to this monumental thing. Beside me were my sisters, we were all facing just one of these Golems, but even so our attacks were doing little more than stopping it, its body was absurdly resistant to both physical and magical attacks, Spiritual attacks had a little more effect, but only the Divine Power was being consistent in the damage. "How do we defeat this thing!?" (me) "I don''t know if we''ll be able to, the damage we do is being healed little by little." (Kira) "We don''t need to win, just stop it, this is a war and not a battle, victory doesn''t come just by defeating the opponent." (Diana) Diana wasn''t wrong, dodging the mountains being thrown towards us by using our different powers or how I used my sword to cut the mountain in half, I quickly looked at the battlefield, as a Goddess I could process a large volume of information in an instant. I noticed how other Gods were fighting against the Ascendants and the Monumental Golems they controlled, the fight was at a stalemate in most places. Akatosh being the strongest God was facing a Level 4 Ascendant while Selena was facing Baldr, I couldn''t even see them with all the spatial distortion caused by them during the combat, but their presence was enough to identify everyone. Zenos'' Familiars and Heralds were facing the troops of the two Entities while he himself was in combat, but strangely the space around him seemed inaccessible, different and dangerous. The twins I barely knew were fighting too, one of them was closer to Zenos in an area surrounded by darkness that not even I could see through. The other twin was next to one of the Monumental Golems, she descended onto its surface and strangely that Golem did not move again, but an Ascendant followed her right after, since then the Vitality around the Gelem was chaotic. "(This is going to be difficult, we are at an impasse...)" (me) ----------------------- Pov Lena: For me, seeing these Golems was a little painful and sad, entire planets used in such a horrible way, such a huge distortion of creation, such a disgusting desecration of a cradle of life. I never liked the Ascendants, but I can''t help but hate them when I see such a pitiful thing in front of me, feeling their pain and suffering so clearly only makes my mental state more negative, something I don''t like to feel. I decided to descend into one of them, the one that was the smallest, but strangely the strongest. I felt that he was the smallest because his body had disappeared condensed and yet he was the one with the greatest mass as well as vitality, his Aura was a mess and I soon discovered that several planets were used in his creation. As soon as I descended onto his surface near his head, I realized how distorted and horrible the environment was without any kind of harmony. A little ahead I saw an Anomalous Creature that I know very well. "Hello, dear Fragment of Life... what should I call you?" (Salles) "I''m Lena, but I''m not a Fragment of Life, I also know who you are Salles." (me) The creature in front of me was not humanoid, its entire body was made of stone, it was like a living statue, its limbs were all separated from its body and together only centimeters apart from each other, its face was made of fragments that rearrange themselves to form its facial expressions and its hair was made of plants as well as its clothes, it has no legs having a sphere similar to a miniature living planet below it rotating normally. "Why aren''t you attacking her!?" (Ascendant) "I wanted to talk to her a little." (Salles) Soon an Ascendant descends shortly after me and stands next to Salles looking at me cautiously. "Ascendant, be quiet for now..." (me) "!!!" (Ascendant) The Ascendant who just arrived falls to his knees with the mere pressure of my presence, besides being an Entity, I am someone who Embodies Life itself, as a living creature he feels the pressure of my presence much more than normal, especially because I am so close. "It seems that you are able to interfere more than normal, interesting..." (Salles) "But you are still too weak to face me." (Salles) "I know, but it is enough to face this puppet that controls." (me) She smiles at my words, maybe she did not expect me to notice her puppet, but for me there is no way not to notice the difference. "I will destroy this puppet, I will punish these Ascendants and then I will take care of their victims, correct what they did wrong to them." (me) "There''s nothing wrong with them, I admit they''re not my best work, but the Ascendants asked for raw power and defense only, they also didn''t want to wait the necessary centuries, so hasty..." (Salles) "Where are you now?" (me) "What? Are you going to come get me?" (Salles) "Yes, are you scared?" (me) "Scared!? I''m ecstatic, if I steal your power, do you have any idea of ??the magnificent works you''d be able to create!?" (Salles) "I''m in the main Ascendants universe, you can come whenever you want... that is if you''re able to survive today..." (Salles) Her smile widens across half of her hideous face, her presence growing more than I expected for a doll, it seems she put a little effort into her creation. "A little action might be good..." (me) Chapter 1755: Cap 1753: Hellish Arrival Part 13 Pov Niryna: I was finding this whole situation very strange, Callidora hadn''t said anything since we arrived in this universe, but I can still feel her looking through my eyes, sometimes I feel like I feel her laughing at what she was seeing. I never know what she wants, her mind simply works abnormally, I can''t reason with her, I can''t even seem to ask her what she wants, honestly the only ones who seem to understand Callidora on some level are Zenos and Samara. "I can''t understand, why don''t they stop following me!!!" (me) "Ma''am, I believe your Aura is the problem..." (Dante) Dante, who was following me along with Lara, spoke as if he had noticed something. "Doesn''t their presence remind you of anyone?" (Dante) "..." (me) "Ma''am, we need to go further there!!" (Lara) As I changed my direction to where several Gods were waiting, I tried to calmly feel these creatures. I heard that Zenos managed to defeat one of these things by himself. He''s a monster. As thoughts began to wander in my mind, I tried to increase my senses on the enemies. That''s when I noticed the traces of presence, not of their large body of darkness, but rather the red orbs on their heads. "(That energy... it can''t be!?)" (me) "Callidora! What did you do!?" (me) "..." (me) Callidora didn''t react. She didn''t even say anything, she didn''t show anything. Even so, I could still feel her eyes on me. "Miss, I think it''s highly likely that they were created from materials or trade that comes from Mrs. Callidora." (Lara) "Judging by their Aura of Death, I can imagine the amount of sacrifices being astronomical, so I agree with this blade maniac." (Dante) "What did you call me!?" (Lara) "Stop, both of you!!" (me) "< Infernal Magic: Lamentation Explosion >" (me) Aaahhhhh!!!! Oohhhh!!! AAAAAHHHH!! Feeling the black mist around him condensing into the shapes of large arms that stretch towards us, I turn my back while continuing to fly and with one arm, I launch a pulse of cursed energy that contains the laments of those I killed, tortured or made suffer in the past. This wave-shaped explosion of energy pushed those large hands of darkness back, giving us some space until we reached the Gods who were waiting a little longer for the sick. "(What wretched creatures are these!!!??)" (me) In my head I couldn''t help but wonder how my Father managed to defeat one of these things, their bodies are made of darkness and their red cores move too much, not to mention that they seem to be immune to most damage. I couldn''t help but curse Callidora in my mind, Dantes and Lara were right, Callidora is probably responsible for these causes to exist, either directly or indirectly, most likely she negotiated with the Ascendants for this, she is older than them by a large margin and her knowledge is very deep in different things, I can imagine them looking for her for the commercial since many seem to dislike it. "< Divine Demonic Magic: Claws of Wrath >" (Hernoth) "< Divine Arts of War: Hammer of the Firmament >" (Hatlas) "< Claws of the Beast God >" (Cratos) As I passed through an area of ??space that was turbulent, three Gods launched their attacks in my direction, but not aimed at me, their extremely powerful attacks passed through me, making cold sweat run down my back. ------------------- Pov Zenos: "< 1st Art of the Star Sword: Consumer of Worlds >" (me) GGGGRRRRRRR!!! This time the power of chaos seemed different from the previous times, it wasn''t exactly in the form of control, it was different, it was alive in a way, it wasn''t anything like instinct or self-awareness, it was different, it was so bizarre that I didn''t know how to express it, I just felt and understood, it was something that I didn''t even know was sleeping inside me and now it was waking up. It wasn''t exactly the power of chaos, but as the power of chaos flowed through me, I began to understand it better. It was my ability, a Transcendental Ability that evolved from a unique ability, something I was born with in this life and at first I thought I had received from the Goddess Selene because I was her son. Now I know it wasn''t because of her. The Chaotic Devourer was never a support-type ability. I never used it as I truly should have. I never thought deeply about this ability beyond choosing what I would eat. The only form of attack I ever thought of for this ability was to fuse it into my Eclipse Sword like this. Now I realize how much I was underestimating my most unique Ability, how much I made such superficial use of it. It wasn''t just a feeding ability, it was a literal beast. The ''Devourer'' in the name wasn''t directed at me, it was an indication of the ability itself being a Devourer, a predator that can devour everything. My sword changes, becomes a larger pit, on the blade sharp teeth appear facing inwards, where a space of darkness appears revealing many predatory eyes that move threateningly through the darkness. A wild Aura covers the sword while Starfire covers it together forming a layer of stars around it while a murderous intent emerges not from me, but from the sword as the roar emanates from it. But it wasn''t just the murderous intent, there was something behind it, deeper, the hunger that was once the norm in the place that the murderous intent now takes, now it was hidden deep down, but it wasn''t the same primitive hunger as before, it was more primordial and frightening, it was as if this hunger was directed at existence itself and encompassed everything. "What is this? What did your sword do?" (Ayden) "Why would I tell you?" (me) "It''s as if you''re holding one of the Avatars of Hunger in your hands and not one I''ve ever seen." (Ayden) "..." (me) I can''t deny that in my mind I also made this comparison, maybe that''s why this new pair of eyes is turned in my direction, the pressure in my Soul increased a lot when I felt a new pair of eyes joining the War and most likely it is Famine. Slightly looking away to the side, I saw almost all the wild creatures of the Famine Entity''s army with their heads turned in my direction, their gazes needed deep as if it wasn''t them looking at me, as if there was something beyond them daring them to look and I knew that something was the Famine Entity. "(Having two entities like that focused on me is extremely uncomfortable!!)" (me) "Let''s see what changes are in this sword!" (Ayden) Ayden charges towards me, his sword glowing red as it clashes with me, but as soon as my sword and his make contact, the starfire around him forms a jaw that bites into the enemy''s blade, the red energy seeming to be sucked out of the sword as it vibrates from the bite. Ayden swings his sword as he pushes me back with his strength, his Aura becoming more and more serious as he looks at his sword. Chew Chew Chew! But he wasn''t the only one surprised, I could feel something chewing inside me, it was the same creature from the skill, it seemed that even though it had started to wake up it hadn''t yet awakened its commitment, it was moving as little as possible and my Will could barely reach it for that reason. "(What was that voice...)" (me) I was lost about many things, the sword hadn''t changed its effect much, it was almost the same as I remembered, but the change was structural at a fundamental level, the weight of the technique was almost the same and the energy expenditure was lower making it easier to fight like this for long periods of time. It was as if I wasn''t fighting alone, the skill was alive and fighting by my side carrying part of the burden, but that wasn''t all, I could still feel that there was more to be discovered, my only real concern wasn''t the sword, the enemy in front of me, the two Entities paying attention to me or this war, all of these were things that were at the limits of my prediction and understanding. What scared me was that voice, the spark that caused this change in me, that pushed my Chaos energy to revolt, causing my Ability to begin to awaken. I didn''t understand who that voice was, where the Whispers were coming from, and I couldn''t guess, not knowing anything was the worst possible thing, but I didn''t have time to reflect on these things in the middle of the battle. "You amuse me, Bringer of Chaos... you amuse me a lot... hahahahaha...." (Ayden) "..." (me) Ayden didn''t hide his joy, his body trembled as he laughed with his Aura becoming stronger and more brutal, the battlefield around us seemed to respond to his emotions with war groups sounding in all directions, the sounds of battle happening becoming louder as Ayden''s eyes locked on me as he advanced. This time there were no sword techniques, it was a battle of pure mastery with the swords at high speed, he surpassed me in this aspect and he knew it, he would not give me a chance to gain the upper hand again, our sword collisions were blending into the battlefield in harmony as if battle was the natural state of things here. Chapter 1756: Cap 1754: Hellish Arrival Part 14 Pov Lena: "You know, I expected more from you, but I think this is all you''re capable of using this doll." (me) "I underestimated your power, your Concept isn''t the same as Life''s..." (Salles) "I never said it was the same, you assumed it on your own." (me) "I still don''t understand your Concept, but it was important information I acquired..." (Salles) Around us a dense forest full of fruit trees, a simple stream with a mountain rising above the treetops some distance away, it was a landscape full of Harmony in its perfection, that is if it weren''t for the red blood pulsing inside the plants and flowing through the stream in place of water. Of course this wasn''t my Concept or my power, they are curses and Demonic corruption that I''m using through a Divine item from Zenos''s stock, I don''t know which Demonic God he got it from, but by using just a little of my power to modify its effects. There was also Zenos''s chaos power imbued in the item, perhaps because it was stored in a sacred place Zenos was influenced by his Divinity that shares traits of the same powers, which was of great help to me. "(I will thank Cortana for making me bring this thing.)" (me) In my ears were the earrings that allow me to do this, blood is an aspect of life, corruption also carries traces of transformation that can be represented by the second rebirth in a certain way, I only decided to use this item after seeing Salles, I knew that this was just a doll and I didn''t want to reveal my true power in front of him. "(Salles won''t consider that I''m lying, he''ll treat me by the standards of Vida and Mavis who don''t lie.)" (me) Even though I wasn''t one for lies or falsehoods, I''m not against using them when necessary, my current level of power doesn''t allow me the luxury of limiting my actions by Vida''s old standards which I still respect to a great extent. "(The life inside him is fading, but the power is penetrating the Golem... a hidden card... it seems he didn''t trust the Ascendants completely either.)" (me) Not far from me, there was the body of that Ascendant or rather, the pulsating cocoon that was left of him, I honestly don''t know what will come out of there, but it doesn''t matter, I''ve already marked him with my power. I look at the disembodied head behind me the size of my entire body, it was slowly losing its connection with this dying doll. The energy leaking from it was entering the Golem below me, this would cause the Golem to overload by releasing all the Souls and vitality in a great explosion. A Golem of this small size has more than 300 planets compacted into it, this was not a job done in a hurry by Salles, he must have been preparing this for a long time and just disguised it as a crude work like the other 19 Golems around. "What were you planning to do with that Golem? You''re not one to do something aimlessly." (me) "Just a guarantee, the Ascendants aren''t exactly a reliable business partner..." (Salles) Crack Crack Crack Crack "It seems like it''s finally gone..." (me) I could feel Salles'' Aura and presence dispersing, the large statue head behind me shattering into small pieces as it sprawled on the ground. "Salles, you won''t get what you want, but you managed to tie my hands, what a bastard." (me) "< Life Refinement: Cradle of Rebirth >" (me) A stream of Essences, natural energies, and pure Vitality flowed endlessly from me as I took the earrings off my ears, I couldn''t let these things get in the way of what I''m going to do now, but by doing so I''d be stuck here for a few days. "I wanted to take care of the other Planetary Golems too, I didn''t want to see those very worlds being destroyed by the Gods of this universe, but it seems like I won''t be able to." (me) Sigh "Frustration really is a very uncomfortable mortal feeling..." (me) -------------------- Pov Zenos: My confrontation with Ayden only became more and more intense, seconds turned into hours so fast that I didn''t notice, my senses closed to everything else other than the opponent in front of me, I didn''t have the luxury of processing any information other than the combat I was in. Ayden was a ruthless and brutal warrior, his blows always carrying the weight to eradicate continental empires with just one blow, his sword that had many vessel marks seemed indestructible without ever cracking or bending, even so there were several light bite marks from the sword''s blade as well as the armor covering Ayden''s arms. Even so, I couldn''t land any serious blows on his body. His Armor, no matter how damaged it was, still covered his entire body. His Aura was still at its maximum level, as if he could continue fighting forever without ever getting tired. Considering who he was, the Avatar of, I couldn''t deny this very likely possibility. Meanwhile, my body was less damaged than I expected after so much time fighting. My Eclipse Armor, created from the materialization of my Aura, was damaged and missing in several parts of my body. I also had several superficial cuts and bruises, with the most serious injury being one of my arms, which had broken bones. This forced me to control my body directly while I waited for the bones to heal. My sword seemed to have no marks, but that was because of its strong regeneration, as if it were a living creature. Any marks on it healed quickly, and its resistance seemed even greater than Ayden''s sword, which surprised me. As time passed and the fight never slowed down, I was becoming more proficient in using the sword, and with that I realized that I have been failing myself, I am not a master swordsman after all. During another one of our exchanges of blows, his sword was coming straight at me and every time I moved my sword to intercept, he moved the trajectory of his blow with a fluidity and ease that I could not replicate, only by following his movements with much greater effort than his was I able to prepare myself for his blows while always observing the rest of his body since he liked to use punches, kicks, shoulder strikes, knees and elbows in between his sword blows. Just as I expected, he used his sword blow to force me to reposition my sword in another direction and as soon as the two swords collided, I realized that his sword was lighter, much lighter than normal causing my sword to push his quickly while Ayden''s body spun closer to me. Ayden uses his elbow to hit my broken arm, buying enough time to get closer. His shoulder hits my chest, trying to push me away, but I smile. I''ve been waiting for this opportunity for him to get closer for a long time, and at the same moment his shoulder was about to collide with my chest, I attack. "< Unholy Breath >" (me) "Aaahhh!!!" (Ayden) My point-blank breath attack hits Ayden, taking him 100 meters back before stopping. In that small push, he managed to reposition himself and now had his sword cutting off part of my breath attack while in a more defensive position. Using this small space I had, I was finally able to do what I wanted, the sword in my hands vibrated, but it wasn''t because of the power of the Chaotic Devourer, what was vibrating was my Divine Weapon fused to the sword as well as the base Star Sword itself. "< Star Sword: Awakening of the Path >" (me) The presence of the sword changed as my breathing attack stopped, in that brief moment the sword in my hands shone as a stellar energy crystallized forming thin energy fabrics the width of two fingers that soon solidified into crystal paths swirling around the sword that became ethereal. I placed my other hand trembling from being broken on the sword, the form of my ideal Weapon, of my true fighting style finally clear in my mind after facing Ayden. When my hands sowed the sword seemed to break as it naturally transformed in both hands, in my right hand the sword became a single-edged serrated katana with star flames coming out of the back of the sword, while in my left hand a large tooth-shaped dagger had an eye on the blade that looked like a predator. "(This is how I started fighting in the past, my own combat style, my own Divine Weapons were supposed to be like this too... when did I start using only a sword...?)" (me) Ayden who was no longer receiving my breath attack, did not attack again expecting to see the changes that punching was making, his body was much more damaged this time. He and I exchanged a look full of murderous intent at each other before launching ourselves into combat again. Chapter 1757: Cap 1755: Hellish Arrival Part 15 Pov Cortana: I was facing the creatures of Hunger, but I didn''t attack them directly. I alone had little use against these things. Their Souls are mere empty shells without a Spark of Existence. Killing their bodies was useless. Destroying these false Souls was also useless. The very concept of Hunger does not allow for destruction by normal means. Only by being devoured can they be defeated. If I were alone, it would be a bit of a challenge to defeat them, but with my new Avatars, it became much easier. In front of me, the Dragons were fighting fiercely. The Creatures of Hunger were as strong as most of my normal Dragons, but they didn''t have the same defenses. Their exoskeleton armor and ethereal bodies were an advantage. Only Sarazar was able to devour these creatures one after the other in succession. "You''ll pay for this sooner or later." (Hunger) "Don''t growl at me, Hunger... we both know this dispute could last forever without benefiting either of us, do you really want to do this?" (me) "Don''t play your games with me, child... you are not Death, your Concept is not so widespread, do not take my natural savagery as a lack of wisdom or intelligence!" (Hunger) "My target was not you, but it was a welcome bonus..." (Hunger) In front of me one of the Creatures was missing 70% of its body, full of bite marks, but it spoke without showing any pain since they are just pieces to be centered by Hunger. "Zenos could have taken care of you just as easily, perhaps more easily than I am doing..." (me) "His power is very interesting indeed, such voracious beauty, such boundless hunger and that unshakable Will... it almost makes me want to kidnap him... he would be the perfect Avatar, better than the Anomalous Dragons would ever be..." (Hunger) "It would be impossible, he is a Bringer of Chaos." (me) "Unfortunately yes, but fighting him, you and that child of Life also has its benefits..." (Hunger) "(He wants to use us as a whetstone...)" (me) I soon nodded and Sarazar, who was nearby, came towards me. He devoured what was left of that creature and stopped in front of me, his body surrounded by dark energy as it shrank. What was left in the end was a metallic creature with large bones that looked like a Knight''s armor with dark energy inside. Its head was a metallic Dragon''s skull with eyes shining in dark blue energy. Its size was 2.5 meters tall with a robust body, its closed wings looking like a cape on its back that seemed to contain a universe inside. "My lady, what should we do next? The battle lasts for several hours..." (Sarazar) "Let the others fight. Unlike you, they didn''t have systematic training. Even if you transfer your knowledge to them, they still lack practice. This is a good opportunity." (me) "But the rest of the war... the Gods and Zenos won''t be happy about it." (Sarazar) "Zenos will understand, if they can''t take care of at least that, attacking the Ascendants with or without plans will just be a joke." (me) "The innocent sacrifices have already been made anyway, those fighting must show themselves strong enough for what''s to come..." (me) "(I also can''t leave Zenos'' side, I felt another presence around him for an instant, I don''t like having someone interfering without knowing...)" (me) My eyes stay on Zenos who was fighting Ayden, for hours the fight was an almost one-sided battle, the one taking the most damage was always Zenos, Ayden surpassed him by far in every aspect, but now it was different. Zenos had a different look in his hands, he didn''t become stronger or faster than before, but his posture and fighting style were completely different from before, if before he fought like a well-trained and experienced swordsman, now he looked more like a Dragon using his own claws naturally, his movements were as fluid as Ayden''s. "(What''s with that Hunger in your weapons...)" (me) --------------------- Pov Zenos: It''s been a long time since I felt so comfortable fighting, my arms almost move on their own, the larger and smaller blades in my hands complement each other when switching between attack or defense naturally. Ayden''s armor was badly damaged by my last breath attack, his armor that was almost undamaged before was now cracked in several places, mainly his arms and chest, but surprisingly his sword had almost no marks from resisting my breath attack. I advanced against him constantly while I got used to the weapons in my hand again, it was like learning to ride a bike again, it was natural and simple. At first, my sword was just blocking Ayden''s sword while I used the dagger to attack at fatal points, but he always defended by changing the position of his sword using his other hand to make my attack change direction, or attack me, forcing me to stop attacking to defend. In this place, most of my powers were blocked, which took away my adaptation and variety of attacks, greatly limiting my power, but now I felt like I had gained wings once again, I could vary my attacks so easily by having more ways to attack than just having a weapon. I also learned that more fundamental powers linked to me were still present, I could use breath attacks, I could directly control my body and I felt that manipulating my energies was also highly possible. I was starting to understand how this damned peasant battle was affecting me, so I adapted to the sambas with new rules and concepts. "< Unholy Breath >" (me) "< Fortress of War Swords >" (Ayden) For this attack, he was more prepared, he noticed my movements and reacted almost instantly, he wouldn''t fall for the same trick twice, that''s when I noticed green blood dripping out of the gauntlets of his armor as he held my attack. I had already noticed that my regeneration factor was being greatly affected in this place, but now I realized that it wasn''t just me, Ayden also didn''t recover from his injuries, I just didn''t notice it before because of his armor. "< Slash of the Blood Sovereign >" (me) "< Calamity of Swords >" (Ayden) With blood leaking from my wounds and condensing on the blade of my sword, I take advantage of the small distance I managed to create between the two of us and swing my sword down with speed, leaving a trail of blood with Starfire right behind it flying forever, cutting through space while expanding in a brutal way, gathering ever greater murderous intentions. Ayden responded by using his sword to hit the ground as he knelt in a powerful blow that shattered space, spreading cracks for kilometers as far as my vision could reach, millions of damaged swords emerging from these cracks and coming at me. "< Blood Wave >" (me) Blood gathers in my wings as I flap them causing the blood to dissolve into red energy that advances around me like an explosive wave in all directions throwing the swords before coming towards me from all sides, I advance towards Ayden as my body grows slightly to three meters while my head becomes that of a Dragon. My sword reacts on him, making the space tremble in its path and leaving trails of Starfire behind. Just as his sword was about to defend my blow, my tail hits his right leg, breaking his armor and making him lose his posture. My sword falls, making him kneel in the space that fractures around us. "< Curse of the Sun Assassin >" (me) "< Pressure of the Tyrant of Massacre >" (Ayden) Using the power of the Curse of the Purple Sun inside the dagger, I use my blood with poison characteristics on the blade to execute a blow against him, but the gravity around him suddenly increases while the space becomes like a block of sharp ice. Even so, I do not stop my attack, putting even more strength into my arm that was already broken. Space shatters, creating a mess of distortions around it as my arm is mutilated and continues to advance towards him, but his body moves, dodging to the side, but the blood on the blade increases its reach as it stretches and hits, piercing Ayden''s wrist, who retreats. I don''t stop my attack, I chase him by flapping my wings, then I throw the dagger towards him, and he dodges it using his sword while my sword comes from above, aiming at his body. He turns to the side and using that moment, I flap my wings in a strong impulse towards him, opening my jaws that soon cover his body. "< 1st technique: Cut of the End >" (Ayden) But one time he chooses to attack instead of defending, fighting my fear when I feel the strong attack, I close my jaws towards him, I was supposed to rip off his head, but suddenly I am pushed back and only his arm is ripped off, getting stuck in my teeth. "Hhuuuhhh!!!" (me) Breathe Breathe "Ahh... aahhh... aahhhh...." (me) "Ghaaa!!" (Ayden) We move away once more as I feel the pain in my chest, my Eclipse Armor is almost gone, with a deep cut in my chest being all that was left, piercing the scales, skin, flesh, muscles and cutting through to the bones, a murderous energy corroding the wound. Even so, I don''t, I divert my attention too much from the enemy holding my shoulder where there was still an arm stuck in place. "Cough! Cough!!" (Ayden) He coughs up green blood as his Aura becomes unstable, but even so he remains standing, his presence as strong as before, his murderous intent ever present. Soon he and this entire place begins to tremble as he falls apart, his figure becoming tenuous as his lack of will was apparent as he speaks. "Unfortunately I have to go, my lord says we will meet again... next time Zenos I will not be limited..." (Ayden) "(Limited...?)" (me) Suddenly everything breaks, Ayden and that battlefield disappears while all the soldiers he brought stop fighting, they put their swords together close to their bodies facing up while both hands hold the sword hilts, then many columns of light surround them for a second before disappearing. Chapter 1758: Cap 1756: Hellish Arrival Part 16 Pov Davoth: I was sitting watching the fight and I couldn''t help but clench my fists, especially watching Akatosh''s fight, the one he''s fighting isn''t Urak. "Mavor is here..." (me) "I wouldn''t know, I only met him once briefly." (Yaffe) "Does him being here make any difference?" (me) "A lot of difference, his power is the Law of Creation, of course it''s not the true creation, his power is a superficial and laughable copy, even so he''s still strong, but that''s not the problem..." (me) "Mavor is the one who uses his power in the most diverse way possible, his way of fighting is to win before even stepping onto the battlefield." (me) "So what''s that Urak fighting against the God Akatosh?" (Yaffe) "A clone, look at her, she''s not even using her Law, she''s repeating her same attacks and yet they''re weaker, they''re also repeated attacks." (me) "(Mavor isn''t among the Ascendants... where is he!?)" (me) I was on a mountain sitting on a large rock while looking down at a small pond where several circular water mirrors float revealing different fights. Lying on the edge of the pond, Yaffe is feeling at home as always, as carefree as she always was, in her hand a piece of meat that I don''t know where she got it from, but it wasn''t normal meat, it was meat from an Anomalous creature. "You''re a coward staying here, you should be there, it''s not like others will be able to recognize you, your appearance and power are different, even your presence and Aura are different in this life." (Yaffe) "I wish I was there, but I can''t risk being discovered." (me) Remembering all the sacrifices I made, the millennia of planning and everything that was at stake, I couldn''t let myself get frustrated once again, this wait eats away at me inside, this battle is like a slap in my face telling me about my impotence to be of help once again. "(Where are you Mavor...?)" (me) I looked at the other battlefields, some things were surprising, the first of them being the so-called ''Twins'' acting in this battle. I didn''t see the one related to life fighting, there was interference around that smaller Golem, but the changes in it were noticeable when its energy began to rise and its Aura fluctuated so wildly, that is until a strong Vital Aura spread through it, its surface began to give way to forests, mountains, large oceans and even mountains, it was as if it were a living humanoid planet, this change took several hours and was still happening, truly captivating to see. The other twin related to death surprised me for a different reason, the Anomalous Dragons that I thought had been brought by Zenos had changed a lot and were emanating the power of death, I didn''t expect that, which worried me about how much of the plan would have to be changed, I would need to see them up close to know that. The other battlefields, as interesting as they were, didn''t represent much to me, with the exception of where Zenos faced Ayden, the two were trapped in a conceptual field of War. I was more than anxious for hours because of this, seeing Zenos being constantly suppressed was unnerving, if Ayden killed him he would have thrown my entire plan in the trash. Seeing the tides of battle change and Zenos finally counterattack was a relief, when Ayden was taken away, all the War Soldiers also left, meanwhile the Famine troops were slowly being dealt with by the old Anomalous Dragons. The Gods of this universe were also fighting hard, the Heralds of Zenos also seem strangely stronger, the same goes for his Saints, he grew much stronger in his time away and during this battle, which influenced those connected to him. "Don''t worry so much, it''s not the time for that yet." (Yaffe) "What do you mean?" (me) "Mavor just appeared... look." (Yaffe) Suddenly an image appears, but it wasn''t one of the water mirrors, the space opened revealing a purple crystal eye that glows before changing its reflection into a different image, it was Mavor and around him endless bodies, creatures that weren''t dead, but their Souls were ripped out, I''ve seen this before and so my eyes moved to the green crystal skull covered in purple Runes floating above Mavor. "What... WHAT... DID THAT BASTARD DO!!!??" (me) "A Uratos skull, I didn''t expect to see something like that here, very rare..." (Yaffe) "From the brightness and how two eyes are lit up, it seems that these bodies are only a small percentage of the victims." (Yaffe) "Why didn''t you tell me!?" (me) "I just found out, I''ve been in this universe for less than a day, the only reason I discovered Mavor was because of the item in his hands, it''s not something normal... his immense presence of Curse was like a beacon that one of my explorers felt." (Yaffe) "I should have known they wouldn''t resort to such open battles, it was a decoy..." (me) "Possible, they don''t have the skills or techniques to handle so many Souls at the same time, they also wouldn''t need to keep the victims alive after extraction, I have no idea why they would do that when the cost is so high." (Yaffe) "They don''t care, for them it''s not even a cost since they believe they never die." (me) That skull is a cursed item created by an Anomalous Creature that died long ago before the Ascendants even came into existence, that thing being in your hands is a surprise, but your lack of seriousness in deciding to use it is understandable. Using that item is to make a contract with it, after dying your Soul will be devoured and the skull will take over your body, the Soul will suffer for thousands of years being digested until the skull gains new life as a successor of Uratos. Ascendants are immortal, their arrogance does not allow them to believe that they can be defeated by those of the same level and the greater their strength, the more irrational this thought becomes rooted, for Mavor this skull must seem like it has no cost of use. "Well, I don''t know what they want, but it''s pretty obvious what they''re going to do." (Yaffe) "Yes, they want to negotiate... they''re taking hostages to do it..." (me) -------------------- Pov Valius: I was a little disgusted this time, even though I''ve often participated in campaigns of universal conquest, I''ve always fought against defenders, people and beings capable of fighting no matter how small their resistance was. The only time I didn''t have to fight much was an easy conquest and thanks to that there were basically no deaths, I even transferred a good part of the population to my domains or those of allies. But what was happening was different, Mavor was massacring innocent people with no ability to fight, people who were not a threat and without giving them the opportunity to surrender, it was a unilateral and senseless massacre. It didn''t matter if they were men, women, children, disabled, sick or elderly. Wherever the purple energy passed, waves of Souls were ripped from their bodies, kidnapped inside that damned item, Mavor''s face was pale from the effort of using it. Suddenly he stopped, his arm trembling slightly when his feet touched the ground, his weakness was easily felt, he must be at the limit of what he can bear. "Valius, where are the others?" (Mavor) "Lord Mavor, they are making preparations for us to return as you ordered." (me) "Great, how are the front lines, how many Titan Golems do we still have, and how much destruction have our allies done?" (Mavor) "The War troops have retreated, they are no longer in this universe and the Famine troops are suffering constant casualties being suppressed by an unknown enemy." (me) "We have lost contact with half of the summoned Creatures and many Ascendants have been defeated, the battle situation seems to be balanced at the moment, but it seems that we will be placed on the side being suppressed in less than 2 hours." (me) "They were faster than I thought, I also didn''t think Ayden would retreat, the only reason would be a Duel... but how would they know...?" (Mavor) "The Fallen Saint might know, besides that, that living universe has wandered through many places, so it wouldn''t be surprising if he knows a secret or two, but I can''t deny other possibilities... Urak didn''t even tell me much about what happened to her..." (Mavor) Sigh "It seems like the time has come to set up the negotiating table..." (Mavor) His cold smile was unnerving, controlling my emotions without him is difficult, but I can''t leave any clues, not now. "(Just a little longer, Mavor... smile as much as you can...)" (me) ----------------- Pov Zenos: After the War troops disappear, I can finally see the battlefield, my attention wandering to several fronts and I see many of my Heralds injured, the same seems to be happening with my Divine Beasts. The ones they are fighting are Ascendants and some strange beasts, I could feel the Anomalous Power within these beasts, but their Auras were so uniform and without any emotions, thoughts or even basic instincts, they were like robots. "Let''s end this quickly..." (me) "(Now that I''m free of Ayden, I have to end this battle quickly, I have a bad feeling...)" (me) Chapter 1759: Cap 1757: Negotiation... I was a little lost, but I still began to see the changes on the battlefield. It was clear that things were changing, but even so, I felt a chill down my spine. I was distracted by having just appeared, yet I was surrounded not by Ascendants but by creatures I didn''t understand. "(What are these things...?)" (me) "< Breath of Dusk >" (Nix) "< Divine Leaves of Massacre >" (Sakura) Suddenly, all these creatures were swept away by a wave of water that seemed to contain a starry sky. A stream of energy also came carrying millions of red leaves at high speed, eating around me without ever touching my body. With that, two of my Divine Beasts appeared. "Be careful of them, master!" (Sakura) "These creatures look like energy vampires. They can even suck out Divinities." (Sakura) "Where did these things come from!?" (me) "They came from a second wave of summons, now retreat to the others!" (Nix) I retreat with them as we gather near my Heralds and other Divine Beasts, everyone was injured to some degree, I approach them concentrating power in my hands. "< Divine Magic of the Eclipse: Ring of Healing and Purification >" (me) From me, a ring of energy flows in several directions, my intention was to heal everyone around me, but what happened next was something that surprised me, the unknown enemies in the surroundings turn into gray mist as they gather in one place, a golden sphere emerges from within the space keeping its humanoid body cohesive, this waiting was covered in Ascending Runes and kept changing between 3 forms being a cube, a triangle and a sphere on its chest. "< Divine Eclipse Magic: Scorching Sun >" (me) A circular barrier forms around us as that Creature advances towards us, but before it can reach us the sphere around us burns in purple flames as it explodes in all directions sending its flames in a brutal manner, even so the attack surprisingly pierces through the flames and reaches me. "< Claws of the Eclipse God >" (me) "< Divine Summon: Dark Scarab Hero >" (Kiara) "< Ascension of the Sword of Armageddon >" (Ragnar) In our group, only me, Kiara and Ragnar were able to respond instantly because of our strong instincts, sensing the danger moments before the attack, I managed to concentrate Chaos energy in my claws to the point of crystallizing, then I cut towards it. Kiara summoned a 4-meter-tall humanoid Scarab, its wings separate from it and join together in front like a shield, forming an energy barrier in front. Ragnar''s blade-shaped horn was already shining when a large sword emerged from its shadow, moving forward while the giant sword rose, forming a shield. Even with all this, the creature''s gray energy fist transformed from a dagger into a spear that pierced the barrier as if it were butter, and Kiara''s Summon dissolved as if consumed by gray energy particles. Then this spear collided with the large sword created by Ragnar, stopping for a moment before also breaking the sword, which seemed corroded. Even so, it managed to get enough time for my attack to go, not to stop this attack, but to reach the creature''s furthest core. I know that that is its only weak point, and realizing the danger of my attack, it dodged, stopping its own attack against us. "..." (me) "..." (everyone) When I felt him preparing to advance once more, suddenly a wave of formless and harmless energy spreads all over the place, the creature immediately retreats and it wasn''t the only one. I was paying attention to my surroundings and noticed that, apart from the creatures commanded by Famine still fighting Cortana, all the other enemies were retreating, be they the Ascendants or the Anomalous Creatures, with the only exception being one of the massive Golems that had a strong Vital Aura around it and from where I felt Lena''s presence coming. "RETIRE!!!" (Selene) Selene''s voice spreads everywhere with a warning as she herself moves away from her fight against Baldr, the two were only partially injured, nothing too serious, but the space where they were was destroyed to the point of forming a space storm in the surroundings the size of a planet. "(Space is very reinforced this time, the damage recovers very quickly and is contained to levels I''ve never seen here before, this is strange...)" (me) As my mind wandered with the strangeness of space being so resistant, my previous ring-shaped healing envelops everyone in stellar flames that burn their wounds, my healing is differentiated, it transforms the wounds, the infected energy in the wounds and the surrounding flesh itself all together remaking the damaged areas into new ones, it is not healing per se, but its effect fulfills its function quickly in exchange for the great pain that fortunately they can all endure. "(My wound does not improve...)" (me) As they were all creating themselves, the diagonal cut in front of my body seems to be unaffected by the stellar flames around it, even my natural healing has no effect, Ayden''s attacks seem like they can negate the recovery even after that conceptual battlefield falls apart. "Then one of them appeared..." (me) My eyes move to the point where the Ascendants'' forces moved, in that place before there was nothing, but at some point a throne excessively full of cheap ostentation appeared, behind it a large statue of a level 4 Ascendant wearing a robe and holding a book, his face covered by a hood. Sitting on the throne at the feet of the statue was a man who had 4 wings on his back, the power of the Law was not only around his Aura, the power of the Law was his Aura distorting his surroundings almost to the point of hiding his appearance. He was a handsome looking man around middle age, his build was not muscular, but his expression was stoic, his eyes and hair were light brown, his slightly dark skin was Immaculate while his black clothes looked like something between a suit and a robe giving an air of elegance that disgusted me. "(So much arrogance and arrogance as expected from an Ascendant.)" (me) But what caught my attention was that he seemed to be weak, he was trying to look strong, but he couldn''t fake it perfectly, the glow in his eyes was a little out of focus, one of his legs also trembled for a brief moment and his breathing was too forced to maintain a controlled rhythm instead of the natural one, he was putting on a facade and I doubt I was the only one who noticed. Just as I expected, the murderous intent was leaking from everyone, especially from the Gods of this universe, some of them even began to gather their power to attack. Those who were already taking position to advance in a coordinated manner were Selene, Aline, Akatosh and Cratos who exchanged a look with each other as if to confirm something, but before they could attack, a slight smile formed on the face of that Ascendant before his voice resounded in the distance probably reaching other star systems nearby. "I am Mavor, one of the 3 Ascendant leaders, the book of creation..." (Mavor) "Hahahahahahaha.... hahahahaha... hahahaha..." (me) "..." (Mavor) "Hahahaha... hahahaha... hahaha...." (me) "..." (Everyone) I couldn''t help but start laughing hysterically, Mavor stopped smiling as he looked in my direction, his Aura becoming sharp, but none of that mattered to me as I continued laughing even as my allies looked at me strangely. "Hahahahaha... hahahaha..." (me) "Raise your shields!!!" (Selene) "..." (Mavor) I couldn''t help it, he appears in the middle of a battlefield where a genocide of billions was carried out sitting on a golden throne with a disgraceful statue holding a book and calling himself the book of creation. His arrogance was so great that he even began to smile when introducing himself as one of the stupid villains from the comic books I read in my childhood in my previous life. "!!!" (me) I couldn''t help but feel my blood boil with hatred and anger, I couldn''t help but feel an insane level of murderous intent take over me almost to the point of clouding my mind while I still feel the dense death energy in the surroundings due to the large number of lives lost. The scene of so many people being sacrificed right in front of me, their deaths being bargaining chips to call the forces of two entities like Famine and War, all this just for this damn Ascendant to arrive here as if he were in a Carnival parade full of Authority with all eyes on him as if it were the most normal thing for him to be the center of attention. "Zenos, please calm down..." (Alice) "I''m calm!!" (me) "If I wasn''t calm!! Believe me! I wouldn''t be so rational!!!" (me) My burning eyes look at the wretch sitting on the throne, I spread my wings as my power circulates with double the intensity between my Soul and body, it was as if my energy flow was alive and rages along with me while my Aura explodes in pure violence. "< Incarnation of the 7 Paths of the Profane >" (me) "I came to negotiate, if you attack me half the population of this universe will perish today!!" (Mavor) "..." (me) "..." (everyone) With that single sentence, I stopped my technique just as it was about to activate, I stood motionless looking at what he waved floating above his right hand, it was a bizarre crystal skull, but as soon as it appeared it emanated an Aura that had both what it really was as well as what it contained within. At that moment it wasn''t just my killing intent that doubled in intensity, all the Gods immediately understood what Mavor was doing and what was in that skull, the presence of such a large and absurd number of Souls could not be contained from spreading leaving everyone enraged. Chapter 1760: Cap 1758: Fair Exchange...!? Pov Davoth: I was wringing my hands, this time I was on an isolated moon, I could stay on an inhabited planet, my emotions are fluctuating too much. "You''re going to be hated." (Yaffe) "I know." (me) "You''re too serious and too dramatic, you know...?" (Yaffe) "There''s no perfect ending, your plan has too many flaws from the start, so why let yourself get stuck in it like this?" (Yaffe) "I couldn''t think of anything better..." (me) In front of my eyes was Yaffe''s technique showing Mavor showing himself in front of everyone on the battlefield, if it weren''t for no one else but him being able to hold the crystal skull, then I''m sure he would create a clone of himself to go in his place. "I like the boy, he''s quite sincere and innocent for a Chaos Bringer." (Yaffe) "(Zenos, just hand him the cube... don''t hinder our future plans, don''t let hatred consume you.)" (me) I was focused on what was happening, but suddenly I felt an Aura behind me and turning my face I found it. "Cold as always, just another sacrifice for the cause, isn''t it?" (Nala) "I don''t have the patience right now, Nala... I advise you to measure your words if you want to keep your teeth together." (me) "You should listen to him, his negative emotions right now are a sight to behold." (Yaffe) I turn my eyes back to what was happening in the distance, I wish Zenos would just follow what Mavor was doing, if he forced a fight it could only be worse. "Why are you here, Nala!?" (me) "I''m going back, I need to leave before Mavor, I''m leaving Ephiliel with you, I''ll be waiting at the Temple when you get back, bring the Chaos Bringer with you." (Nala) "I''ll do that, but anything?" (me) "..." (Nala) Even without looking, I can feel her eyes boring into my head from behind, I know she doesn''t like me, but her gaze seems a little different than usual. "I hope your plan works..." (Nala) Saying this in a frustrated tone and with a little anxiety, I feel her moving away, but I didn''t care much about her at that moment, not when Zenos was about to make a move against Mavor. "(Don''t do that, please...)" (me) -------------------- Pov Zenos: I, like all Gods, could control our emotions. Getting carried away by emotions when your power can affect entire worlds and even the Universe itself is not something that any God, not even a Demon God, wants, so everyone was able to stop their intentions to attack, including me. "You say you want to negotiate, but it seems more like blackmail!" (Selene) "You seem weak, what could you do if we all decide to attack you directly, ignoring those around you!?" (Aine) "(Hinata, get that Skull back.)" (me) "(Hinata understands... get it back...)" (Hinata) Hinata, who was behind me, disappears like a Ghost. Her concealment techniques are excellent and I don''t trust the Ascendants to negotiate anything with them. I would like to throw everything up in the air in an attack against him, releasing all the anger boiling in my stomach, but putting his words together with what was in his hands it is easy to understand his threats as true. He killed a large number of people, stealing their Souls in the process. That Skull was containing those Souls. Clearly, doing so must have cost him since he seems weakened. This would be the best opportunity to rid us of one of the Ascended leaders. "You could indeed kill me if you ignore all the attacks that will rain down on you, but it would not be without cost since all those Souls would be lost with a single thought from me." (Mavor) "Do you think we are ignorant of the greater rules?" (Akatosh) "..." (Mavor) "You just sacrificed many people. If you do something similar with all those Souls, then you will not be dealing with us, but with a real Entity." (Akatosh) "Those sacrifices were ours, you idiot God. They were our troops carrying our power. Do you really think I would think nothing of it?" (Mavor) "I know very well how far the line is where my wings can take me..." (Mavor) He stopped smiling and kept a more serious face, he must know that we are very close to attacking and that it would be counterproductive to remain too provocative. He waves his arm when a creature appears next to him, this creature looks like a mummy with 3 meters tall and a head with 3 faces, its body having 3 arms and its Aura was distressing with large amounts of death energy leaking from its body. He appears stretching out his hand and grabbing a point near where Mavor was, there didn''t seem to be anything there, but as soon as his hands close, Hinata appears trapped in his hand, my murderous intent rises as my body transforms completely into a Dragon looking at him. "I figured someone would try something like that..." (Mavor) "Let her go or I''ll attack!" (me) "No, you and everyone else will hear... huh!?" (Mavor) "< Breathing... >" (me) This time I wasn''t just concentrating my energy, I was trying to connect my Chaotic Devourer skill to my breathing attack, I didn''t know if it was possible, but if it was... "Stop him!" (Selene) Suddenly several Divine powers descended upon me, each of them only on the same level as mine with some even stronger, this made it harder to circulate my power and in front of me the Goddess Selene appeared, her intention clear to make me calm down. But doing this to me wasn''t without consequences since my Heralds and Divine Beasts follow only my Will, even my 3 Saints were ready to attack. "Release her or this negotiation ends here, we can''t hold everyone and not all of us will be able to hold ourselves against a worm like you." (Selene) "Filthy gods... throw that thing back at them!" (Mavor) The Creature threw back Hinata who surprisingly disintegrated into deformed shapes, I smiled as I understood what was happening and letting the restraints hurt my body, I raised my claws. "< Divine Summon: Hinata >" (me) Hinata appears hugging that Skull in a tiny form as if she were a little child hugging a big teddy bear, when that body disintegrated her tiny Aura became visible and before they could do anything against her, I summoned her in my hands. Strangely Mavor just smiles seeing this, I have a bad feeling that is confirmed when Hinata appears in my hands alone. "..." (me) "Gone..." (Hinata) "Do you really think I would underestimate any of you just because I despise your ridiculous existences!?" (Mavor) "This object can only be delivered, not stolen." (Mavor) "So I''ll say it again, I want to trade... you have something I want and I have something you want!" (Mavor) "Then let''s make a fair trade... hahahahahaha...." (Mavor) I stopped trying to attack, but my killing intent only continued to grow and it wasn''t just me, the Gods stopped trying to hold me back as I looked at Mavor, he said all this looking straight at me, he knows that I''m not the strongest God here or the most influential, but what he wants is in my hands. "Do you think anyone here would trust you?" (me) "The same goes for me, that''s why I requested an intermediary who doesn''t care about any of us." (Mavor) While everyone was confused, someone flew from our side to stand right in the middle of all of us, but the one who did it surprisingly was Niryna who had a helpless expression on her face as she looked at me in shame, that was more than enough to make me understand when her voice began to sound mixed with her Infernal Aura. "I am Niryna, representative of Callidora, the Infernal Entity that is the very Concept of Hell in all existence!" (Niryna) "In accordance with the fair payment of the Ascendants, I will be the intermediary of this exchange and as was informed to the Ascendants, I will not be on their side, I will only ensure that the items go to the hands of both sides without any falsehood, in case one of the sides tries something during the exchange..." (Niryna) "..." (Niryna) "My dear is a bit sentimental, but as she was saying, I am highly biased, I can kill some Gods of this universe or snatch half of the Ascendant territory with all those inside..." (Callidora) "That was not the agreement!" (Mavor) "No, but I don''t care, from the beginning I said that I am more on their side than on yours, consider yourself lucky that I only accepted 1 universe as payment." (Callidora) "Callidora!" (me) "Don''t look at me like that, I don''t want to start laughing, business comes first, right? Hahahaha..." (Callidora) I was furious, but I couldn''t do anything about it, since the beginning Callidora wasn''t on our side, Niryna was clearly uncomfortable being in this position. I was looking at them and my Daughter was avoiding looking into my eyes while Callidora in her spectral form hugged her from behind with a big smile on her lips. My blood was boiling with pure rage, but I couldn''t let so many Souls of this universe be lost, the genocide from before still weighing on my mind. Chapter 1761: Cap 1759: Deal done Pov Lena: For hours and hours, I focused only on this Golem, it really is a shame what happened to these planets, but I can''t do much more than that for now, maybe I can turn this Golem into a subordinate Anomalous Creature. "I''m already halfway here, I''m glad to see you''re done." (me) "I finished a long time ago, Famine''s troops were never a problem, your difficulty would be in employing the tide of infinite beasts, but with fixed numbers like that, your forces were smaller than what War sent." (Cortana) "Then why don''t you go help them?" (me) "That Skull is one of the ones created by Uratos, Death hated him and I''m sure you do too." (me) "I do hate him, but you must see beyond this universe, if you reveal too much of our power, the later fight will be harder." (Cortana) "Are you betting on the boy Davoth''s plan?" (me) "Life and Death helped him with his plan, but they couldn''t help personally, all they did was explain the best way to transform those Universes using the constants of Life and Death as a basis to reestablish the natural cycle." (Cortana) "Now we can act personally and our powers are more suited to these universal transformations." (Cortana) In front of me, my sister looked at me explaining her point of view, but I could see that she herself is unsure about the end of this, her concern is probably me. "I understand you and Davoth trying to see the big picture of the situation, but not everyone shares that point of view, what will Zenos and the Gods of this universe see when they discover your lack of impetus during this fight?" (me) "..." (Cortana) "Cortana, we are not Life and Death, we may have your memories, but we do not need to have your limitations, as much as seeing the whole is good, we are in a position where we can extend our hands more easily." (me) "I am trapped here because of this Golem, but you can still act, you do not need to interfere with the course of events, but you can make yourself feared by those who play with the limits of life and death." (me) "You are right, I am letting myself fall into old patterns that are not mine... thank you." (Cortana) Sigh We both did not need to see with our eyes, everything that was happening in this star system was falling on our senses perfectly, this includes the forced negotiation by the Ascendants. They always walk too close to the limit line without fearing anything and thus cause endless damage wherever they go like a disease, honestly they are disgusting to me. If I hadn''t been trapped by that Golem, I would probably have acted before Callidora even showed herself. "Even if I want to do something, I must wait for everything to end, Callidora is already acting as an intermediary." (Cortana) "I agree, but be prepared since they tried to escape as soon as they get what they''re looking for." (me) ------------------ Pov Zenos: My blood was boiling with rage, my body trembling with the urge to act, my mind full of everything the Ascendants had done to get here and yet the worst was at the end, those countless people forced to transform just to be sacrificed without risk to the Ascendants. Such a large genocide is already devastating to those who see it, but Gods can see much more than just the surface, I could see their lives being sucked out, I could hear the lament of their Souls like whispers in their Auras trapped in their own bodies, not to mention all that death energy, I hadn''t seen that amount re-minisced since my visit to Hell. Even after all this, these bastards still arrive with so many confined Souls talking about negotiation and Callidora dares to accept this! "(Zenos, you need to calm down, I can feel that those Souls are still attached to living bodies, I can feel the inherent Vitality in them better than any of you, don''t let your anger cause another Massacre.)" (Lena) "..." (me) "Are you calmer?" (Selene) "No!" (me) "Good, then keep that anger, we''ll need it when I get my hands on that Ascendant!" (Selene) I turned my eyes to my Mother, sisters, wives and other Gods, everyone was enraged, it wasn''t just me, but only those connected to me seemed almost out of control and I understood that my emotions were leaking through my connection with them negatively influencing their behaviors. Breathe! Exhale! Sigh I wasn''t calm at all, but at least I was more consciously controlling my emotions, as Lena said, I don''t want to cause so many deaths because of a fit of rage. "< Invocation >" (me) I extend my hand again, then a magic circle forms from where a metallic cube containing the power of the Ascendant Law appears, as soon as it appears the universe presses on it just like it does with all the other Ascendants, but this doesn''t affect anything other than the Aura emitted by the cube compressing. "Is this what you want!?" (me) "Exactly, a fair exchange, isn''t it?" (Mavor) "Fair!!!??" (me) "Zenos..." (Ibuki) "Act calmly... for now..." (Diana) I see my wives standing by my side, their murderous intentions being quite big, not compared to mine or the other Gods, but still big. Sigh "Callidora, I won''t forget this!" (me) "I''m sorry dear for making you think I care... I''m already being too biased because of my sweet Niryna." (Callidora) "(That damn Bitch...!)" (me) Suddenly Lara and Dante appeared behind Niryna, their faces were impossibly straight, but their Auras were frustrated as they looked at their Master. "You two can go get the items and bring them to me." (Callidora) "..." (Dante/Lara) "Go get..." (Niryna) "As you wish, my lady." (Lara) "..." (Dante) Niryna''s Servants didn''t move under Callidora''s orders, but she just looked at Niryna who took a few seconds to move her hands dispatching them to do what Callidora asked, her face was dejected. "You can hand me the cube..." (Dante) "Only after the Skull falls into Niryna''s hands, other than that, no!" (me) "..." (Dante) "You heard, little Mavor..." (Callidora) I didn''t hear what Lara said, but her expression was cold and her killing intent quite evident as she stretched out her hands to Mavor, he looked stressed, but didn''t say anything and just looked at Callidora as she handed the Skull floating above Lara''s hands, she instantly turned pale as she floated back to Niryna, her Aura becoming weaker along the short way back. When she reached Niryna and handed it to her, she only had a more serious expression while her hand emanated an Infernal energy that made everyone watching more serious. Infernal energy was the most evil thing I had ever felt, and the same must be true for everyone else. "Zenos, if I may...?" (Dante) "Take it..." (me) I handed the cube to Dante, who carried it back to Niryna with great ease, who took it with her other hand. Soon an Infernal Aura also emanated from that hand, surrounding the cube. "Now do as I taught you." (Callidora) "..." (Niryna) "We''ve already talked about this, child, so do it..." (Callidora) Niryna was reluctant, visibly reluctant, and yet Callidora seemed certain that she would go ahead without losing her cool, so the infernal energy around the two objects turned into a symbol that collided with the two. "< Infernal Magic: Splitter of Destinies >" (Niryna) Crack The symbol became a scythe held by a spectral arm that counted the objects, then a sound of something breaking was heard from both of them, I felt my technique that connected the cube with the Star Palace breaking, so the same must have happened to Mavor. "Now neither of you can recover your respective items, I also erased the power of chaos from the Anomalous Armor as well as sealed the cursed functions of the Skull of Uratos." (Callidora) "Hand it over." (Callidora) "Do it." (Niryna) "..." (Lara/Dante) The two of them take the items bringing them to me and the Ascendants before returning to Niryna''s side who flies away as Callidora''s voice echoes in the area. "The deal is done, do as you wish now." (Callidora) "< Unholy Breath >" (me) "< Divine Judgment of Blood >" (Selene) "< Claws that Shatter the Moon >" (Diana) "< ... >" (All) With Callidora''s words and removal, no one stood still, everyone moved in rapid fire attacks knowing that the Ascendants would try to escape, but to my surprise, they did not try to escape immediately. The Golems both massive and smaller take the lead receiving these attacks while the power of the gathered Ascendants gathers in the book that is in the hands of the statue behind Mavor''s throne, the book glows as its energy condenses around the statue that breaks revealing a presence that everyone knows, a General of the Abyss. At the same time, all the Ascendants around the throne were disappearing, their bodies becoming more translucent while their presence seemed to become more distant, they were teleporting. But before that General of the Abyss could free himself from the statue and the Ascendants could flee, Cortana appears next to the statue pushing it with her foot while a black mist swallows the statue that disappears, without losing rhythm Cortana appears in front of Mavor with his arm across his chest as if he were an illusion, he was smiling when he completely disappeared along with all the Ascendants leaving only those Golems still fighting against us behind. Chapter 1762: Cap 1760: The Souls that walk back After seeing the Ascendants disappear, I wanted to let my anger explode, destroy a planet or two just to vent this boiling anger, I just wanted to destroy something in front of me until I felt what was in my large Dragon claw, it didn''t even seem like a speck of dust compared to my great size, even so the weight of this item seemed overwhelming making my mind calm down. "Mother, what do I do with this?" (me) "I don''t know..." (Selene) "What do I do with this!?" (me) I look around and except for my Mother who was apparently protecting me as well as the small skull, besides her, most of the Gods were fighting against the Golems that were left behind, but without the Ascendants and those strange creatures of black or gray mist, there was no more danger for us in this battle. I didn''t start fighting the Golems right away because of this skull, there was no way I could use this thing and honestly, I was afraid of using my power on this thing and affecting the Souls inside, I could end up fusing the Souls or creating a bizarre spectral creature. I was mentally, spiritually and physically exhausted from both the arduous journey here and this horrible battle, I wasn''t sure if I could control the power of chaos so well in this state. "Samara, what do you know!?" (me) "I, I know nothing, my lord." (Samara) "I have never heard of this item either in my time as Saint of Life or during my torment serving Lady Callidora." (Samara) "..." (me) I was feeling frustrated as I returned to my Human form, the skull now seemed larger than my own head, but I could feel a thin layer of energy around it sealing not the Souls but the cursed energy of the skull itself. "What do I do with this!?" (me) "Give it to me and Lena, we can take care of it safely, but you''ll have to wait for her to finish dealing with that Golem." (Cortana) "How long?" (me) "A few hours should be enough." (Cortana) "Leave everything in our hands and go home to rest." (Cortana) Cortana appeared in front of me like a blessing to me, her words reassured me in this situation, I also turned my eyes to her seeing her mocking smile, that was the first expression I saw her make. "Why such a happy face?" (me) "Mavor believes he escaped from me, but my intention was never to kill him... I can only imagine his expression when he finds out..." (Cortana) "What did you do?" (me) "I marked him with my Concept, the next time I find him, I can take the seed I planted and extract everything from him, be it his power, life, Soul and even his body..." (Cortana) "How long will it take?" (me) "I don''t know, I just created this technique, I''m not even sure if he''ll notice it, I can''t even say how long it will take to reap what I planted in him, but I believe it shouldn''t take long." (Cortana) "Why not just kill him?" (me) "At that moment it wouldn''t have been possible, I needed to stop that General of the Abyss and when I had time to deal with Mavor, well... it was no longer possible to kill him, at most I would have only managed to hurt his Soul in that lapse of time, that''s why I preferred to use this technique." (Cortana) I would like to cause him pain, but I could not deny what Cortana said, that means of Teleportation of his was something I had never seen, there was almost no fluctuation in space, most likely he left this universe. I had these doubts as I returned to Okan, he had several bodies of Soldier Golems around him, he didn''t seem to be injured and some Dragons were around him much more injured, they clearly helped him in his combats. "Sir, it seems that Niryna disappeared, should I go after her or help in the combat?" (Samara) "..." (me) I look into the distance processing the battlefield once more, these Golems wouldn''t be a problem, Cortana''s Dragons were already helping with the massive Golems and the Soldier Golems were too weak, the Gods could help with this without me having to do anything, I even doubt that anyone will be seriously injured from now on. "Let them vent their anger, go back with everyone who wants to rest and let those who want to fight..." (me) Sigh "(I still have to look at Irina''s ritual, I need to know if those Souls are okay...)" (me) I headed towards the Communal Temple as soon as I entered Okan, in the main hall I could immediately feel the pressure of billions of Souls together, it was an enormous pressure mainly due to the strong emotions that these confused Souls emanate such as fear, anger, sadness, hatred and many other emotions completely understandable by their situation. I approach letting my Aura wander among the Souls, my Divine Aura calms these emotions while the pressure gradually decreases and I can see the state of the Souls, my emotions almost losing themselves again when I see so many wounded Souls, some of them shattered and some were incomplete. I was furious, but I had nowhere to let this anger fall, I had no worthy target to tear to pieces. "Zenos, calm down, at least we have those Souls back, they didn''t get lost." (Alice) "You say that because you can''t see the state of those Souls." (me) -------------------- 2 days later. Two days have already passed, I just opened my eyes and even so I notice the difference in time almost immediately just by feeling the surroundings. When I opened my eyes I didn''t feel rested, my body had recovered to a large extent, my Soul was reinvigorated for a while, but my mind was heavy, the losses were many and almost all of them were innocent lives that couldn''t even defend themselves, entire planets emptied. I don''t consider myself a good person, but I understand the weight of life or at least I would like to think so, seeing so many lives being lost like that, such astronomical numbers in a genocide like that, it was like blinking my eyes and all that was left was death, as if those lives meant nothing. "You finally woke up... good morning." (Kira) Kiss "Good morning..." (me) I feel Kira''s embrace on me and turning my head to kiss her tender lips good morning, some of the weight on my mind eases, allowing me to give her a sincere smile. "What did I miss?" (me) "Diana was wildly enraged, she among all of us is the one who least accepts the senseless deaths of innocents, she was not alone, many of her children are too." (Kira) "I imagine the others were more under control." (me) "Yes, your Heralds and Divine Beasts worked together with your two new daughters to allow the still living Souls to return to their bodies using your Star Path as a means." (Kira) "I see..." (me) I close my eyes and feel my Divine Kingdom, it has increased dozens of times in size, but I can still feel strange things inside, focusing on one of them I realize it is a Soul, it was being carried by a shadowy silhouette that represents its own will, the shape of this Soul was a shiny stone block. Looking in several other places I notice similar situations, Souls in the form of stones, plant pots, statues, people being carried in the arms of their Silhouettes of Will or being carried hand in hand with their Silhouettes of Will, the Souls took many forms while being carried with more or less difficulty by their Wills. Sometimes I felt one of these Souls disappearing and concentrating on those moments I saw a silhouette that had in its hands a shiny sphere floating being placed on a body lying in the middle of the Stellar Path, when this was done the entire Stellar Path shone and the body, the silhouette of Will and the Soul disappeared. "(I see, so that''s what they''re doing...)" (me) But it''ll take days to do it, I understood my Divine Kingdom better than anyone, in the meantime the lifeless bodies could be killed for various reasons, be it hunger, illness, murder or any other reason. Even those who managed to recover wouldn''t be normal, walking the Stellar Path was synonymous with transformation and considering what these Souls went through I couldn''t rule out what kind of transformation they would go through. I raised my head looking around, I had already realized that I wasn''t in a bed, but when I looked around I realized I was in the Communal Temple, I was in the Sacred Blood Pool at the feet of my Divine statue. Looking at my chest I could see the wound Ayden made still there, the wound was no longer open, but it was far from being healed and I was sure it would leave a permanent scar on my body. Sigh "I have a lot to do, don''t I...?" (me) "Yes, the Souls traveling their stellar path are those that are largely intact, but there are many wounds that are being treated by the Gods, the real problem lies in the Souls that are severely damaged, incomplete or destroyed, they are waiting for you and your new daughters to take care of these Souls." (Kira) "I see..." (me) I understand what was happening, only my power of chaos showed the ability to save Souls that were in such horrible states, that was what saved Layla in the past and allowed the birth of Hades. "Zenos, Davoth has appeared, he wants to meet with you...." (Karina) "He is not alone and the Twins appeared out of nowhere as soon as he appeared, Vanessa went to call the Goddess of Blood while I came to call you." (Karina) "Davoth..." (me) Chapter 1763: Cap 1761: Discussion with Davoth Pov Valius: I was having more and more difficulty keeping calm, Mavor may not be a sadist, but he acts like one and sometimes even worse than that. Seeing him collect Souls up close was bad enough, but seeing him show himself in front of the Gods of this world in such an arrogant way while provoking them more and more, it made me remember some unhappy memories of when the Ascendants revealed themselves in my universe. I knew that I just had to wait now, the Teleportation device had already been activated for a few minutes before we showed ourselves, the other side must have already picked up the signal and must be activating it on their side too, as soon as we get what we need we can leave here giving enough space for Davoth to start his plan and I can pass on his instructions to the others. While I was lost in my mind, I saw the attempts to steal the Skull of Uratos, I knew it would be impossible since it was connected to its owner, but seeing that thing manage to deceive Mavor''s senses with a false her, and then manage to touch the Skull of Uratos without being affected, that was absurd and impossible in so many ways that I didn''t know how to process that information. After that, seeing Callidora show herself was no surprise, I also didn''t dare question her self-imposed name, no one would like to go against the decisions of this incarnation of eternal torment. But her having a Goddess in her name was a surprise, no wonder Mavor''s eyes are serious when looking at that Goddess, her Divinity easily felt by us must be hateful to him, even so she is off limits for him to even dare to act against. As if that wasn''t enough, the two Entities that informed me that they were on Zenos'' side decided to act, at least one of them almost threw all my plans into chaos by attacking. Fortunately, she focused on the Abyss General first. If she had sensed the countermeasures we had placed on him, perhaps she would have changed her target. That Abyss General would be sealed again the moment he was completely freed. By then, we would be far away and Mavor would not know about such sabotage of his plans. As soon as the teleportation was over, we were all inside a Universal Golem that was touching the dimensional membrane of this universe. We were on a crystal platform made of pure condensed spatial elements and surrounded by Runes of Law that were losing their shine. "Valius, follow my orders and inform the others. We are leaving directly for the capital." (Mavor) "I will fulfill my duty, sir." (me) I see Mavor leave, but halfway there, his Aura goes out of control for a brief moment as a Death energy leaves him unconscious, black marks spreading across his entire body before disappearing along with the Death energy without a trace. "(Was it her...?)" (me) I could barely contain my happiness at seeing Mavor in this state, yet I acted along with the other Ascendants as if I was worried about him while mentally transmitting to the others. "(Start with the preparations, delay our return as much as possible without being too obvious, Davoth needs time for his preparations!)" (me) "(Yes, sir!!!)" (everyone) Hearing so many voices inside your head is never pleasant, especially with some of those voices being filled with murderous intent. ------------------- Pov Zenos: I stood up and realized that my body was as it had been since I left the pool of blood. I was feeling lazy due to the mental exhaustion still affecting me, so I didn''t look for any clothes and instead controlled some of the blood filled with holy power in the pool to cover my body as it turned into fabric changing its color to different shades of red or black. My clothes were simple and elegant, my hair was still messy, but it would stay that way as I walked closer to Karina before stopping and looking at Kira walking in another direction. "Aren''t you coming?" (me) "No, I have to tell the others and I have some things to take care of on my own." (Kira) "I''ll meet you later, I missed you all..." (me) "We missed you too, now go quickly, Gods don''t rest." (Kira) Seeing her turn around and leave, I also turn to Karina, she was more focused on my chest, the clothes may be hiding my injuries, but she took a good look before that, concern written all over her face. "I''m fine, Karina." (me) "No, you''re not fine, while you talk to Davoth, I''ll go find Natasha to take care of that injury." (Karina) "Okay, thank you." (me) I follow Karina to a higher floor of the Communal Temple where I enter a room while Karina comes out with her fangs, inside the room were Davoth, a woman with a snake head and my mother together with my older sister, as soon as I entered all eyes were directed at me. "Sorry I''m late." (me) I look at everyone and realize that this Serpent woman was the same one who accompanied us during the trip that Hades told me about, I can feel the strong power of Curse in her as well as the Anomalous power. Davoth was still the same, but looking at him irritated me deeply, so I turned my eyes to the two beautiful women of my family, I feel next to my mother who was also looking at my chest as if she could see through the clothes where the wound was. I tried not to show or externalize the anger bubbling up inside me again, I hide the murderous intent that has no place here, my Aura completely under control as I respond to Elizabeth and my mother''s looks with a slight smile. "I''m fine." (me) "Now, why are you here?" (me) "I already know everything about your trip, I had time to talk to your Heralds and Akatosh." (Davoth) "He also came to talk to us both." (Cortana) "..." (Everyone) Cortana and Lena appear sitting on a couch that wasn''t there before, I didn''t see them when I arrived, but the others don''t seem surprised by their presence. "What do you want to talk to me about, I just woke up and I''m not in the mood to see a coward who hid while billions died." (me) "I understand your..." (Davoth) "No, you don''t understand or you wouldn''t dare to sit in front of me now." (me) "I told you things would end like this." (Selene) "Zenos, don''t lose control, this matter is serious, Davoth is not the right target for your anger." (Elizabeth) "..." (me) I realized that I was letting my Aura escape to the point of distorting the space around me, so I regained control, my emotions were not very stable, the scenes of that genocide still weighing on my mind. "I understand your fury, but my presence on the battlefield would have made little difference, my combat strength is inferior to Lady Selene''s." (Davoth) "My presence would cause more harm than good, if Mavor saw me all my plans of thousands of years would be lost, they would become extremely cautious." (Davoth) "They believe I''m dead, as Ascendants are normally prevented from Reincarnating, they think I''m lost and don''t suspect that there would be other traitors, they consider me a mere anomaly in their race, a point outside their control curve that was duly dealt with." (Davoth) "All I hear are excuses, do you think I don''t know about what you didn''t do? Tell me, could you have stopped their act of transforming people? Could you have interrupted the indications that sacrificed so many lives!? COULD YOU HAVE STOPPED THEM FROM COLLECTING SO MANY SOULS!!!???" (me) Baaaammm!!!!! "He''s calmer than I imagined." (Lena) "Yes, he must be worried about destroying the Temple if he uses too much power." (Cortana) "His Aura is incredible, I feel the power of curses very pure intertwining with other things and constantly changing... incredible..." (Serpent Woman) "Zenos, calm down, let''s listen to him first." (Selene) Everyone was very calm as the table my fist hit disintegrated into splinters of wood and my murderous intent covered the entire room, even so everyone kept a calm conversation and with my mother''s hand pulling my body back to sit on the couch next to her, I suppress my anger and murderous intent once again. "Okay, let''s hear what he has to say..." (me) Davoth was unfazed by my angry words, murderous intent or anything else, his face a mask of annoying calm as if everything I said had nothing to do with him. "I could have stopped the summonings, but that would have revealed the traitors on the Ascended side. We could have saved those who were sacrificed and wasted the opportunity to save a thousand times more lives." (Davoth) "As for the transformed, I know nothing about them and I only realized what Mavor was doing at the end. It was too late to do anything about it. There was no way of knowing he had such an item in his hands." (Davoth) Chapter 1764: Cap 1762: 3 possibilities, but only one chance Pov Hades: I was in the middle of the Forest doing what my meditation training had taught me, just as the master had taught me, when one of their daughters approached, her body still wounded from the last fight. "Miss, to what do I owe your presence?" (me) "Why didn''t you try to calm my Father down during Mavor''s blackmail?" (Hela) "I don''t think I understand your question, I didn''t act any differently from the other Heralds or the Divine Beasts." (me) "We both know that''s not true, the Divine Beasts are deeply connected to my Father, so when he has such overwhelming emotions it ends up influencing them." (Hela) "But that''s not the same for the Heralds, most of them follow what my Father wants blindly, but only you act on your own thinking about what''s best for my Father and we both know that attacking at that moment was not the right thing to do." (Hela) "..." (me) "I think you''re generalizing too much, Zaya for example was acting not because of Zenos, but because of her own fury." (me) I remember that moment, just remembering it makes my blood boil even more, as soon as Mavor revealed that Skull he was already out of control. Sigh "I on the other hand, was a little out of control for another reason... that Skull..." (me) "I may look like that now, but at my core I''m still a curse, I could feel the curse in that skull, it was horrible how much it looked like me, it was a distortion of what I am, it infuriated my entire being... even now I remember the pulse of energy that flowed from my Soul." (me) "I''m a little ashamed of the indifference I felt towards those Souls or the Ascendants, I could only see that Skull in front of me." (me) "How interesting..." (Hela?) "Huh...?" (me) Suddenly Hela''s voice sounds different than usual, when I look at her her body moves towards me faster than I could perceive appearing beside me without giving me a chance to react. As soon as I felt her presence and Aura changing it was too late to move away, a Serpent''s tail wrapped around me with monstrous force, I was immobilized while her appearance changed, her neck lengthened while the shape of her head changed and it became obvious who this was. "You know, I didn''t have time to introduce myself before, I''m Yaffe... nice to meet you~... my sweet~ sweet~ living curse~~..." (Yaffe) She placed her hand on my face weaving her fingers up to my chin, her wide smile revealing a row of teeth with two much larger ones bent inwards, her eyes were maniacally locked on mine and her Aura began to infiltrate my body. "Why are you here!?" (me) "Surprised?" (Yaffe) "Did you think I wouldn''t find you?" (Yaffe) "I would never let such a magnificent creature slip through my fingers~... wonderful~~..." (Yaffe) She grabbed my head with her hands and rubbed her face full of smooth scales against mine, but I still didn''t understand how it got here when I was informed that she was at the Communal Temple having come with Davoth. "Let me go now!!" (me) "Darling~~~... you''re so cute to think I would do something like that~~..." (Yaffe) "You know, the clone I left with your master can hinder his senses, so he won''t realize what I''m doing, but don''t worry, I won''t do anything bad to you... maybe you''ll even like it~~~..." (Yaffe) -------------------- Pov Zenos: I was listening to Davoth and his excuses once again, but I don''t think he can even convince himself properly, he didn''t act out of pure fear in the end, he was afraid of his plan being exposed, this fear changed all his vision and thoughts to his plan, I don''t know if I feel pity or anger towards such a pathetic creature like him anymore. As I listened to him stop talking and look at me as if waiting for my next reaction, I waited, I waited as the possibilities passed through my mind, I wasn''t in such a bad state as in that battle, so even though I was furious, my mind was still calm as I analyzed everything that happened and listened until now. "(So he put all his hopes in this shitty plan, he can''t see anything else and is willing to make all the necessary sacrifices believing that he will save much more with his plan.)" (me) Sigh "You are pathetic! If your plan fails, then..." (me) "Sir..." (Okan) "..." (everyone) Suddenly a voice echoes from all over the room at the same time before a shadow rises behind me like a small Dragon''s head stretching to where I am next to my ears speaking in whispers using Aura for only me to hear. "Sir, it seems that Hades is in trouble, the area where he is has been completely isolated from my senses." (Okan) "Thank you for letting me know." (me) Okan returns to the shadows, disappearing from the environment as I close my eyes using my connection with Hades to reach him, but what I saw for an instant left me a little shocked even though I hid it without showing anything. What shocked me the most was feeling Hades'' emotions, even though he was furious, I also felt other emotions that I didn''t expect from him "(Hades, do you want me to intervene...?)" (me) "(Master Zenos!?)" (Hades) "(It''s not what you think... I... I...)" (Hades) "(I''ll just release you since you don''t seem to be completely against it, so get even on your own.)" (me) A great fluctuation of Divine power and chaos power flows from me to Hades before I cut my connection with him, I honestly couldn''t help but look at the Serpent woman next to Davoth for an instant before letting everything go. "(I think it''s best not to think about it too much...)" (me) "Did something happen?" (Elizabeth) "It did, but it''s already been resolved... where were we?" (me) "You were about to punch Davoth and maybe rip his head off." (Lena) "Please, this is no time for jokes." (Davoth) "Who said this was a joke? Did you really think Zenos'' anger is all he''s showing now?" (Cortana) "I''m not going to lie, what she said crossed my mind as well as many other things." (me) Sigh "I''m tired and irritated, seeing you making excuses when in the end, it all comes down to you carrying out your plan." (me) "I don''t know if you''re overconfident or just pathetic." (me) Even with my words, Davoth seems unaffected by my words, he just nods as if he was not the target of my contempt. "What I seek is not just to destroy the Ascendants, if that were all there were many ways to do it, but each of those options would lead to the destruction of many universes as well as many lives being lost." (Davoth) "The universes taken over by the Ascendants are full of people, both people taken by force and people who were already born there." (Davoth) "People who were born in a universe that possesses the power of the Ascendant Law cannot survive outside of these universes, their bodies and even their Souls are incapable of accepting the power of the natural cycle, their energy pathways are too rigid and incapable of adapting, their minds perceive the world rationally and lack creativity, their instincts are mostly non-existent with a few exceptions." (Davoth) "Killing the Ascendants would lead to the collapse of the Ascendant Law in all these universes and consequently to the death of such large numbers of people that most civilizations do not have names for these numbers." (Davoth) "The deaths that the Ascendants carried out here would be like a grain of sand compared to what we would be doing by killing them all." (Davoth) "..." (me) "Is he telling the truth?" (Selene) "Unfortunately, yes." (Lena) "Does his plan have a chance of succeeding?" (me) "Yes, but he only has one chance that will generate 3 possibilities." (Cortana) "Integrate these universes into the universal network of the Tree of Creation." (Cortana) "Merge all the Universes into a single large universe." (Lena) "He could also destroy everything by creating a Universal Entity like Tarzor that would force all these people into Reincarnation, thus altering their Souls into bodies that would only then be able to live freely." (Cortana) "That last one can''t even be considered an option, most wouldn''t support it and I''m not sure if the creature generated would be less worse than the Ascendants." (Davoth) "Anyway, I need 2 things to put the plan into practice: the Anomalous Dragons, who possess the second type of Anomalous power and are the complete opposite of the Ascendants, being extremely adaptable as well as being creatures with a strong primitive instinct." (Davoth) "The second thing would be the power of Chaos, only this power could transform the universes and shape them into something that could save them all, as well as transform the Ascendants into a different race integrated with natural power." (Davoth) "I don''t like this, there are so many problems with it that I don''t even know where to start..." (me) I didn''t like this plan, but there was nothing I could do. Chapter 1765: Cap 1763: Control obsession I was flying above the clouds, looking down at Eclipse City. The city was bustling with activity, people were walking, talking, or continuing their tradition of digging for partners. It was as if all the battles I had been through, as well as all the death I had witnessed, had never happened. "Master, you are an idiot, a big idiot, a big, massive idiot... how could you leave me behind for months!?" (Layla) "I am a busy God, how could I take you if the idea was to only take Dragons?" (me) "Then why did you take Samara and Niryna, stupid master!?" (Layla) "Here we go again..." (me) For the next hour I listened to Layla''s complaints, and then she started telling me all the good things she had done while I was gone. She loves to brag. This Demonic Fairy hadn''t changed at all. After talking so much, she got hungry and disappeared into the city looking for sweets. "She''s already gone, you can show up now." (me) "You noticed me, it seems your senses have also become stronger." (Mother) Right after Layla left, I turned my eyes to a cloud near where my mother appears, I had felt someone''s eyes on me, I just didn''t imagine it was hers. "Is it because of Davoth?" (me) "Yes, today''s argument was useless, you two kept attacking and defending with your words alone, Davoth seemed to understand that this would happen since his expression was a mask that barely showed any emotions." (Mother) "I can rationally understand his thought process, he put the weight of billions of lives in one hand and more than 100 times the number of lives in the other hand, the answer for him is that simple." (me) Sigh "But for me it''s not, a massacre will always be a massacre, regardless of the number, if he did this macabre calculation now, he must have done the same thing on other occasions, other people''s lives must be nothing more than numbers to him at this moment." (me) Davoth''s way of thinking was simple in its essence, but the repercussions of such thinking were not, he must have done it more than once and I''m sure of that, it also means that he can do the same thing again. "Talking about the ''greater good'' or about ''today''s sacrifices prevented tomorrow''s suffering'', these ridiculous and weak phrases are just excuses to sit around watching senseless death!" (me) "The more I listened to him trying to explain himself, trying to make excuses or anything like that, I couldn''t help but feel the anger that I had been holding in for days bursting out!" (me) "Your naivety is beautiful, but don''t let your emotions go the wrong way." (Mother) "We are Gods, but we are not tyrants, how many empires do you think are at war right now?" (Mother) "See with your own eyes..." (Mother) Selene puts her hand on my head and her Divinity only touches my mind superficially, she transmits images of a place, a fortress city with an army of a few tens of thousands behind the walls while an army that easily has more than double the numbers marched in an attack, I was seeing this from above possessing a translucent form with her by my side. "(This war is just another one between the same two nations that have been fighting for over 800 years. The two nations do not lack resources, their populations do not lack jobs or feel hungry. Neither of them will gain anything they need from this war. In fact, neither of the two nations even remember how this dispute began, since the history of that time has also been lost due to constant wars.)" (Mother) "(Over 800 years, soldiers fought and on several occasions cities were invaded, many innocent people died on both sides. Now the question arises, is there any point in these endless wars?)" (Mother) "(No, this is insanity, clearly if these two nations united they would be stronger, they don''t even remember why they are fighting, so why keep all this going?)" (me) "(The answer is simple, hatred.)" (Mother) "(It doesn''t matter how the enmity began, many lives were lost, mothers cried over the graves of their children, children were filled with sadness over the disappearance of their parents and friends were filled with indignation when remembering friends they will never see again.)" (Mother) "(The current of hatred keeps this war going, this dispute that will one day destroy one of the nations or destroy both, a simple emotion that causes thousands of deaths per year in senseless wars.)" (Mother) Suddenly the vision changed, now I was seeing a luxurious room where a king was crying, emitting murderous intent while planning a war against another nation with his Generals. "(This man just buried his daughter, she was sick and no one knew, but since she died while visiting another country, it was taken as if she had been murdered, which will now lead to a senseless war, a single life lost will cause tens of thousands of deaths.)" (Mother) The vision changes once more, this time we are back to normal and she takes her hand off my head, her gaze solemn as she speaks. "We are Gods my child, but we do not control people, they must make their own decisions while we only extend our hand to guide them." (Mother) "There are many more cases like this throughout the universe, families falling apart, friends killing each other, epidemics appearing out of nowhere, yet we cannot interfere in everything or we take away the freedom of those around us." (Mother) "What does all this have to do with Davoth?" (me) "The lives he wants to save are not only those being controlled by the Ascendants, but also those that will be generated for all the millennia to come. He doesn''t want the deaths that have happened so far to be an incentive for more deaths." (Mother) "Even if he hates the Ascendants, he wants to break the cycle of hatred. The guilt of his choices weighs more heavily on him than he lets on. Were the words of apology and repeated explanations really spoken to you?" (Mother) "Didn''t they seem very convincing and practiced? How many times did he repeat them to himself? How many times did he have to convince himself that he was doing the right thing?" (Mother) "..." (me) Sigh I didn''t know what to think anymore, I didn''t know who to blame anymore. Every damn thing seemed more complicated than I had initially thought. I hate the Ascendants, but Orion told me about the Ascendants he was watching, Freya told me about the Ancient Elf Ascendant who never attacked her while receiving her attacks, there was also that shiny thing that looked like an Ascendant that came to find me, I still don''t know what it was. "Okay... I''ll try to listen to it tomorrow." (me) ---------------------- Pov Elizabeth: I walked up to him who was standing at the edge of a waterfall where the Spirits were playing. "How''s your face?" (me) "I''m fine, for someone so angry, your brother''s punch was pretty soft." (Davoth) "He must have been afraid of destroying the Communal Temple or part of the city, which was very possible considering the strength of the two of you." (me) "To be honest, I expected him to be more patient, even after hours of talking we couldn''t even move half a step towards the real subject." (Davoth) "His anger wasn''t entirely directed at you, don''t take it personally." (me) I snap my fingers and blood rises from the ground forming two crystal armchairs where we sit. "You see, the Ascendants started with only one thing, obsession... they were watching their universe degrade, they didn''t have the power to stop it and their Gods were no different, they were too weak and few in number." (Davoth) "Their obsession led to what they became, they don''t just want to be in control of everything, but they also want to thrive, they are scholars who can''t accept stagnation, what they want and what they do are contradictory to the point of leading them into a nightmare cycle." (Davoth) "That doesn''t make up for or excuse what they did and still do." (me) "No, it never will..." (Davoth) Davoth looks up, the sadness in his voice being the first sincere display of emotion I''ve seen from him today. "Am I wrong to keep this plan?" (Davoth) "Eradicating the Ascendants is surprisingly simple, I''ve thought about it before, I know two ways to do it, but the end result is only death, there will be nothing after that." (Davoth) Sigh "I''m tired Elizabeth..." (Davoth) "I know..." (me) The weight of his words carried so much history that he didn''t know how to comfort him, nor did he know if what he was doing was right or not, the scale was too big even for him to understand it all. "How much time do you have to convince him? When will you leave?" (me) "The plan has already been put into action, we have 2 days, then someone will come to take us there." (Davoth) "Then let''s end this quickly, tomorrow I will try to help you convince Zenos." (me) The sooner this is all over the better for all of us, but I don''t think it will be that simple, I also feel that there is something that Davoth is not telling, we will see how all this will end. Chapter 1766: Cap 1764: Infiltration plan "And as the battle was about to begin in front of the marching troops, Aragorn stood before them to speak." (Deborah) "Aragorn turned to the warriors before the Black Gate of Mordor, before the last battle against the hosts of Sauron." (Deborah) Cough She coughs once as she tries to change the tone of her voice as her eyes shine, as always she gives a lot of acting as she reads this story more to herself than to me. "Stand firm! Stand firm! Sons of Gondor! of Rohan! My brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that wants to seize my heart. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we abandon friends and break all bonds of brotherhood. But this is not the day! A time of wolves and broken shields, when the Age of Men crumbles with a roar. But this is not the day! On this day, we fight! For all that is dear to you on this good land, I conjure you: resist, Men of the West!" (Deborah) I was in a room in an apartment, next to me was a middle-aged woman, she had an ordinary appearance, but she took very good care of her body, we were in my room that seemed a little too childish for someone who was 13 years old, to make matters worse, there was a lot of pink on the bedclothes. This was the second or third family that adopted me in my youth, when I still had some hope in each attempt, Deborah was very kind and a big fan of a certain book franchise about a certain ring, she read her favorite books to me every night in the few weeks I stayed with her, I really liked her. "That will do for today, we can leave the next part for tomorrow, good night dear." (Deborah) "Good night..." (me) I saw her leave through the door, then I sat on the bed looking at my young hands and the thick book on the headboard, I remember this room perfectly because I hated everything about it, they clearly wanted to adopt a girl initially. I got up and went to the window looking at the illuminated and still very busy city center, looking up the sky had some clouds, but only the moon was visible because of the light pollution of the city, only a few very bright stars were visible and I''m not even sure if they aren''t satellites. "Who are you? Why did you bring me to this memory?" (me) "I didn''t bring you, you were the one who pulled me here when I touched your mind." (???) The voice that spoke was exactly the same female voice I heard before, the voice that was accompanied by those whispers and that was responsible for my recent power increases, whether in the loss of control on the trip back or during the battle against Ayden. Her words didn''t seem like lies, there was no need to deny something so small, so I found myself looking back, the dark, childish and clearly half-feminine room, my eyes blurring on the book I had been listening to the stories from before, two meanings coming to my mind. The storybook I could never finish reading, the Seven Sacrifices... of something I don''t remember, it could also be related to the passage that was being read, it could be because of the battle I''m about to enter against the Ascendants. Sigh "Why did you interfere with me so much?" (me) "Aren''t you going to ask who I am?" (???) "We both know you wouldn''t answer, so why waste our time?" (me) "You''re right, I don''t intend to tell, not yet at least..." (???) "The reason I interfered is simple, it was fun... watching how you use the power of chaos, I did nothing but give you a push that would have destroyed you if it failed." (???) "What do you want from me?" (me) "What I want, you cannot give me, not yet... we will see each other one day Zenos, until then remember..." (???) Whispers "Chaos is the beginning and the end, but in essence still nothingness while representing everything... in the end what remains? What am I?" (???) Whispers "..." (me) "She is gone..." (me) Suddenly I feel something fading away, I could not see her, I could not fathom anything about her, the unknown of her identity and purposes still in my mind. "Opposites and yet the same, an impossibility in itself... a paradox..." (me) "Chaos... Paradox..." (me) ---------------------- My mind wandered as the world around me fell apart as I woke up, my eyes fluttering open and once again I lay half-floating in my Statue''s Pool of Blood, being nourished by the Holy power of my faithful. "The wound is still there..." (me) "Your sister tried to heal you while you slept, but it didn''t work." (Diana) "Good morning..." (Ibuki) Kiss "Good morning, Ibuki... good morning, Diana..." (me) Kiss "..." (Diana) I stood up realizing my mind was lighter, the tiredness of my mind almost disappearing to my relief, my body was almost completely recovered, all my wounds were healed leaving some small scars on my body, but the wound on my chest was just beginning to heal, fortunately it was completely closed, it would clearly leave a large scar on me. I look at my two wives who were clearly waiting for me to wake up. "Where are Erica and Kira?" (me) "Erica is with Irina supervising the Souls that are still being treated." (Diana) "Kira is training her Heroes, it seems they''ve had a huge power increase lately, Veronica and Loki were once Gods, they can handle it, but Athena was having a hard time..." (Ibuki) "I''ll check on her later, but before that, I have a discussion to finish..." (me) ------------------ 1 hour later. I once again enter the same room in the Communal Temple, the burn marks and cracks were still on the walls as well as the ceiling, the mark of my fist still on the floor, clearly it hasn''t been fixed yet. I once again see all the same people from the conversation the day before, my eyes linger on the snake woman for a moment longer. "I hope this time you''re the real one and try to leave my Herald alone." (me) "No lies this time, I promise, hihihahahaha..." (Snake Woman) "..." (me) "..." (Davoth) After looking away from the snake woman, my eyes stop on Davoth, he keeps the same expression as yesterday, completely calm. I say nothing and try not to show anything either as I sit between my older sister and my mother, the Twins were still sitting side by side. "This time, I''ll guide the conversation since we didn''t get anything done yesterday, does everyone agree?" (Mother) "..." (everyone) Everyone nods, clearly the direction of the conversation could not be left in my hands or in Davoth''s hands, even though the fault is mainly mine, Davoth was in a rush of explanations yesterday, which also contributed to the uselessness of that wasted day. "This time, let''s be objective and not talk about what has already happened." (Mother) "Davoth, explain your plan to everyone in simple terms." (Mother) "The plan consists of three steps that will be implemented during an infiltration into Ascendant territory." (Davoth) "The first step is to isolate the place known as the Ascendant Council, this is where the 3 leaders are." (Davoth) "The second step is to seize 7 universal Cores, this will allow us to have access to all universes under the control of the Ascendants." (Davoth) "The third step is to begin the transformation from the inside out, this will cause a disturbance in the Ascendant Law while removing their absolute influence over these universes." (Davoth) "By fulfilling this, I can guarantee that all Ascendants below Level 3 have lost their power of the Law over a long period of time, this consists of most of the Ascendants leaving them only at the level of Mortals." (Davoth) "A completely plausible plan, that is if all the objectives are achieved, that is the real question." (Cortana) "Exactly, but I already have everything prepared, I have the locations and the way to accomplish all of this, if you allow me to begin explaining in more detail..." (Davoth) "Continue." (Selene) My mother looks at everyone realizing that we are following, I avoid interrupting this time and listen quietly, but I notice that my sister continues to look at me, so my Mother waves the gourd telling Davoth to continue with his explanation. "So, as soon as we leave..." (Davoth) Time passes and Davoth explains his entire plan, the Twins listened to everything without changing their expressions, clearly they already knew about this entire plan, the reason also obvious considering what Davoth explained, part of the plan was to use the powers of Life, Death and Reincarnation during the transformation of the Universes, that''s how he will integrate them into the natural cycle once again. With the Twins in the mix, the chances of this part of the plan working were much higher, he also explained about several things that made me doubt his sanity, there were simply too many opportunities for his plan to go wrong, he knows this very well and insists that it will work. I didn''t know where he got his confidence from, there were simply too many things to be done, there was too much to do and everyone needed to be separated during part of the plan, it was too risky, not to mention that we would have to seal our Divinity completely, at least the majority other than me, the power of the Law is still with me and serves to mask my Divinity. "Your plan is shit... part of the plan is basically leaving everything to luck!" (me) "I weighed the odds, I also have countermeasures for that, but I can''t say it now." (Davoth) "Why hide part of the plan?" (Selene) "So that your minds won''t be read, but truth be told, as soon as you leave here you''ll forget this entire plan and remember only the general outline, right, Serpent of Annihilation?" (Lena) "Please, just call me Yaffe... and yes, the curse will affect everyone, including me, with the exception of Davoth and the two of you who are immune." (Yaffe) "I apologize for that, the Ascendants have ways of discovering the truth, sometimes even without their targets realizing, I can''t take that risk." (Davoth) Chapter 1767: Cap 1765: A living Supercomputer? Pov Lena: I was exerting my power to the fullest, Lolth doing the same under my command while the Planetary Golems I took for myself served their new purpose of being a vessel of life. An almost limitless energy emanates from me, merging with the circle of natural energies of this universe as they pass through all the destruction caused, thus beginning the second life of these destroyed planets. Then, my sister''s power emerges, using this seed of life as a nucleus to be nourished, then takes everything from the destruction in the surroundings to nourish this seed of life, nourishing it into something complete once again. The large pieces of destroyed rock, the scattered energies, the very vitality that became only traces of destroyed planets, all of this was consumed by my sister''s power before being refined by her into nourishment for my power, helping to generate new planets where the old ones once existed, this time stronger and better due to their rebirth. "We''re already accelerating as much as possible, but we won''t finish in time." (me) "The destruction in Tarzor was extensive, even with our power, we can''t accelerate more than that, it would overload Tarzor''s Soul." (Cortana) "I know, but you know we''ll need it, we can''t leave it while Zenos is in the Ascended universe, our conceptual power is complementary to the Essences, but it will stand out against the Ascended Laws." (me) "I know, we need to at least prepare our Avatars to represent us, Sarazar will do the job well." (Cortana) "The same for Lolth, but for this to work..." (me) Sigh "Zenos has to be able to apply his mark on them and the Gods." (me) "Leave it to Davoth, it''s not our problem, let''s focus on Tarzor until our time to act." (Cortana) ------------------- Pov Zenos: I was in one of the empty stars where only the wild Monsters existed inside Okan, a remnant of when this was a Dungeon of Nix. I was a little happy to be here with Davoth, my blood starting to circulate faster inside me. "You know I don''t like you and I''ll probably try to break every bone in your body, right?" (me) "You can try, but remember, without using any power other than the power of the Law, this is training and not real combat." (Davoth) "I remember." (me) My smile turning cold, there are many things I don''t like about Davoth, I can understand him to a certain extent, but it doesn''t mean I like the way he does things. "Anything to say before we start?" (me) "No, I want to see how you use your power of the Law first." (Davoth) I advance against him, my power circulating within me, I avoid using my Divine power and focus on the power I use the least, the power of Law. I obtained this power in the past by facing the Servants of the God of Law, perhaps that is why my power is so similar to the seizure of the Ascending Law or perhaps it is because I have already killed and consumed some of them in the past. The power of Law emerges from my body, emanating as if it were Ki around me, with an increase in speed and strength, I advanced against Davoth in a flurry of blows which he dodged as if they were others thrown at him, the pressure of my blows screaming great ditches behind him as they destroyed the forest for kilometers. "< Fist of the Bloody Demon >" (Davoth) "< Rune of the Law of Chaos: Blade of Division >" (me) Davoth, after dodging my attacks, kicked me, which I blocked with my arm. However, this kick wasn''t meant to be a blow. He used my arm as a platform to jump, creating a distance between us. One of his fists glowed red and gold as a dense mass of energy advanced towards me in the shape of a fist. I responded by creating a Spiritual Rune with the power of the Law. A crescent-shaped blade thrust forward, not only stopping his blow but also splitting him in half. "< Law Magic: Shadow Claw Attack >" (me) Stomping heavily on the ground, I spread a wave of magical energy for kilometers around me. The magic circle materialized with Law Runes all around its corners. All the shadows within the magic circle trembled for an instant before transforming as if coming to life. They transformed into attacks similar to shadowy claws, extending at high speed in all directions towards Cintra Davoth. "This is ridiculous!" (Davoth) "< Magic of the Holy Demon: Purifying Flame >" (Davoth) He opens his wings that swayed while filled with golden flames full of malice and a dark glow, a wave of these teas spreads like a wave of flames leaving a flaming ocean behind where all the dark claws fall apart burned by these flames as well as the magic circle I created. Soon after these flames disappear with a wave of Davoth''s hand, his face was one of pure frustration as he began to speak. "You do not understand the power of the Law..." (Davoth) "..." (me) I was taken by the heat of the fight, I was already advancing towards him to continue fighting when he stopped completely, not even trying to defend my attack and began to speak as if preaching to a child everything he did wrong. I stopped my attack, listening to him, knowing that after all this, this was the best opportunity to train this power. Even though I wanted to break Davoth''s teeth with my punch, there are priorities that I cannot forget. "The power of the Ascending Law is not something complementary to your other powers. Its focus is based on absolute control." (Davoth) "It does not complement other powers. It integrates other powers into it. It takes for itself everything that connects to what it represents, branching its meaning into a copy of what the Entities do with their Concepts." (Davoth) "To begin with, the Ascending Rune is not the same as a Spiritual Rune. The shape of the Rune of Law itself is based on unique geometric shapes as a unique signature of power." (Davoth) "The way of using the Runes of Law in magic is also wrong. The Runes of Law are the core of magic, not complementary aspects, as you have seen. The magic circle itself must be a branch of the Rune of Law." (Davoth) "The way you circulated the Law Runes in your body at the beginning was also wrong, don''t treat the Power of Law as natural Ki, form energy paths inside the skin, straight and angular paths creating a strengthening circuit with the Rune in the Core." (Davoth) "The wings of an Ascendant normally do these processes automatically, something you can''t do, you have to be more conscious when using this power." (Davoth) "So the wings really work like this..." (me) In my head, the power of the Ascendants began to take shape in a slightly distorted way, as if they were a living supercomputer. The Rune of Law was the Operating System, the Wings were the processor, the power of the Law were the programs that define the functionality, so the Symbols of Mastery would be an application of all of this together, that''s why only Level Three Ascendants can do this, it was necessary to have a well-branched power of the Law and at least 3 wings as processing cores to accomplish this, which makes Level 4 the extra function of materializing this. "(If level 3 creates a blueprint hologram, level 4 physically creates that blueprint.)" (me) "I see, now things start to make sense..." (me) "What are you thinking about?" (Davoth) "..." (me) Davoth knew about technology, he saw other worlds and showed it, so I explained the association I made between Ascendants and living super computers, he raised an eyebrow at the thought. "Your thinking is not wrong in essence, but it is not complete, for learning purposes it can be taken like that, but do not take it into combat, the Ascendants are people in the end, if you take them as purely rational creatures you will lose regardless of the difference in strength." (Davoth) "Your thinking is only close to the truth because the Ascendants started with studies using scientific logic in the beginning, but the Power of the Ascendant Law is not limited to just that now." (Davoth) What he said makes sense, a person has more complex emotions and thoughts than a machine, being able to find solutions without logic and even act on instinct. Using my new understanding of the Ascendants as a standard in combat would not be productive, but using it during my Refinement gave me an idea of ??what I lack. "(It''s no wonder that it has always been so difficult to use the power of the Law, I lack a unique processing capacity for it.)" (me) My mind ran through some options, if I didn''t have this processing capacity, I could simply create something for it, something that complements the power of the Law, something that is connected to me. An idea came to my mind, a somewhat crazy idea, but it could work, but I still couldn''t do it. "How do the Ascendants normally attack?" (me) "Their attack would be similar to the execution of a program, something that was created beforehand and never in the middle of combat, something shaped in a specific way." (Davoth) "That''s why they use the name of their Law and branch out from it to the specified function, such as ''Law of Fire: Fireball'' and similar things." (Davoth) I spent a few minutes in a trance internalizing everything I had just learned, then Davoth''s Aura exploded once more. "Let''s continue, unlike the Ascendants, you can use your Power of Law more flexibly, so focus only on it during combat." (Davoth) After saying this, Davoth advanced towards me in a flurry of attacks. Chapter 1768: Cap 1766: Solomons Ring Today was the day we were leaving, a few hours ago all the Gods of this universe had a meeting, me and my wives included, the decision that I thought would be difficult to make, was actually made much easier than expected. Yaffe approaches me, her Serpent smile as natural as the line that occasionally leaves her lips as if she were really a snake. "Why did you come to me again." (me) "Don''t try to hide things from me, I noticed the two pulses of power, you tried to use the birth of that Dragon to hide that item." (Yaffe) "Do you think anyone else noticed?" (me) "The Twins certainly know, maybe even more than me, their senses are better than mine." (Yaffe) "Davoth noticed?" (me) "I don''t know, if he noticed he''s not showing it, besides that the Gods must not know." (Yaffe) "Well, that makes things easier..." (me) In my hands, I look at the simple ring, a silver ring with golden angular lines like those of a circuit board and an Eclipse symbol in the middle, it was beautiful and modest yet almost unnoticeable. "The item is still incomplete, the container itself is ready, the power itself is there, but something is still missing, be it spirituality, Soul or Will... I couldn''t say." (me) "Let me look... I don''t think it''s better, the defense mechanism is interesting." (Yaffe) "You noticed, then it''s not good enough." (me) This ring was very important to me, but it was incomplete, I wasn''t even sure if I would be able to forge it, I''m glad I managed to, after that I placed an eternal Curse on it so that only I could wield this ring, it was something dangerous for anyone else in the end. This ring itself was created using technological concepts, but every material in it came from my body, a part of my bones that was refined using Sarazar''s knowledge, my blood was used to nourish the ring and the power of the Law was used in all processes, the circuit board-like lines are completely natural and not something intentionally created. I need a unique Will to complete this item, but I don''t know where to get it, I have an idea, something too crazy to make me doubt doing it. "How are the other Gods?" (me) "Simple, they are all waiting for the moment to leave." (Yaffe) The Gods could not go, at least not all of them, clueless Gods the universe would be too unprotected, not to mention that the Gods have responsibilities that cannot be abandoned. In the end many Gods could not go, because of the death of many Demon Gods and some during the underlying war, this universe is already lacking Gods. "Could you go for now?" (me) "Sure, I''ll leave you two alone, I have some tests to do before we go to your beautiful Herald." (Yaffe) "He already ran away." (me) "No~~ he thinks he ran away~." (Yaffe) She walks away leaving only me inside the mansion, still looking at the ring before turning my eyes to a corner of the room where there should be nothing, then from the shadows one of my daughters appeared, her face gloomy even after days of avoiding me. "Zenos... I..." (Niryna) "You don''t need to explain yourself to me, come here." (me) Hug I give her a hug, her body shaking nervously at my sincerity, so I raise my body a little in the air to reach her head since I''m shorter than her, I soon run my hands messing up her hair before pinching her nose, an act I did in our childhood in the previous life. "I don''t blame you, so don''t be ashamed of what you did, you were just the voice of the business Callidora did, don''t let it affect you." (me) "Thank you for not hating me..." (Niryna) Tears I hold her tighter as she cries, this time Callidora didn''t try to show herself, but I''ll settle my accounts with her later. --------------------- I was about to leave when he appears in front of me, Arsan. He was a normal-sized man, his appearance is nothing like what I saw when I invaded his mind and reached his Soul, he himself cannot be considered the same man. His clothes were a black lab coat on the outside and dark gray on the inside, on the back a large black Dragon artistically painted and his white high-collar shirt giving an academic air, his golden eyes and playful hair contrast with his dark skin, his calm face as he approaches me and sits cross-legged in front of me. "How was your meeting with Luci and Sarazar?" (me) "Strange, I remember them, but my emotions don''t match those memories, Sarazar seems to share that with me." (Arsan) "The thing is Luci, I remember her, the memories about her are among the most complete and vivid in my head, but the emotions are confusing, she cried when we were all together, she threw herself into a strong hug against me." (Arsan) "How did you feel?" (me) "Strange, seeing her tears made me sad, because her smile didn''t seem to match her sad look..." (Arsan) "You and Sarazar are safe now, but neither of you are the same, she must feel alone, as if she lost you both, if you still feel that she matters to you, show her that while you can." (me) "I... I''ll think about it..." (Arsan) Arsan has only a few hours left to live, his mind and emotions are still confused, when he emerged from the mud egg, his power almost exploded from within him, his commitment confused and disturbed, his memories loose and emotions in a storm. But now he can even talk normally, his memories are mostly already sorted out, I don''t know how he changed so much in a few hours. He stands up looking at me one last time as he leaves with a lost look, his hand clenched as if he were solving a difficult problem. "System, what is your answer?" (me) Ding! <[ The System denies your request ]> "I don''t think I asked for anything so difficult, I don''t want you to take that position and I don''t want something like you, I just want a light and simplified version, something on a smaller scale that can work for this purpose." (me) Ding! <[ Your Authority is not at the level of manipulation of the System ]> . . . <[ The System offers an alternative solution ]> . . <[ Do you accept? ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> Without thinking twice, I choose the ''yes'' option before receiving a flood of information in my mind, my eyes opening in shock at what was delivered to me, instinctively I understood why it was an alternative solution. "I see, so someone had already tried to create a different universal System, they wanted to replace or remove the original with a fake, much more controllable... that''s insanity..." (me) The system that is used in the universes is just a subroutine of the complete system that oversees all creation, it must have looked like a molecule trying to push Colossus'' little finger, the person who tried this was either insane or was completely oblivious to the truths of creation. "Creation doesn''t seem impossible, but I''ll need time, I''ll also have to change the structure and alter some things, even so it''s simpler than I initially thought." (me) With the information I have now, it would be easier to create the system myself, I only need three things, a consciousness with defined rules similar to an AI, a pure energy like Essence, Will, Law, Anomalous power or Concept. In other words, the minimum requirement to try is to be a God, even so it''s a huge leap between having the chance to try and having any chance of success. Besides that, there are several other requirements and processes, but I can simplify them thanks to my scientific and computer knowledge from my previous life, programming logic being very useful in organizing all of this. "I''ll need some time, but I''ll get it." (me) I look at the ring on my finger, I didn''t want to use a Soul or anything like that, I also didn''t want a coincidence of my own as my Divine Weapon, I want something that matches the purpose, a system or AI would be perfect, but using something like that on a transcendent item based on the Ascendants was too dangerous. "Solomon''s Ring..." (me) A name based on both myths and legends that I researched for my games in the past when several other works that used this name on special rings. But regardless of being in fiction or mythology, Solomon''s Ring has always been a symbol of wisdom that completely serves what I''m seeking to accomplish. --------------------- Hours later, I was with several Gods being led by my mother, my wives, daughters, Heralds, Divine Beasts and Heroes being led by me. Davoth was with his mother in front of us, his mother seemed to have a bit of strange behavior hugging him in front of everyone like that. "Now that everyone is gathered, I won''t waste our time, Zenos..." (Davoth) "Raise your necklaces and your right hand, please." (me) Everyone obeyed, so I concentrated the power of the Law, my Aura changing using this power now that I know what I''m doing. "< Law of Eclipse: Seal of the Divine >" (me) "< Law of Eclipse: Stigma of the Law >" (me) A Rune of the Law dissolves into an Eclipse mark that hits the pendant they wear as a purple and silver light surrounds them, their Divine Auras are suppressed until they seem mortal. Soon after, a drop of my blood runs down my skin floating around me for each person with a raised hand, when the count reached the same numbers, the drops of blood advanced penetrating their hands where a blood red Dragon tattoo formed wrapped around their whites. "The Seal will trap your Divinities, leaving them inactive within your Souls, this will prevent you from being recognized as Gods." (Davoth) "The Stigma will allow you to use my power of the Law of the Eclipse to some extent, complementing your powers, use it to summon my Star Sword if you need to fight." (me) "I must warn you to avoid combat as much as possible and try not to stand out." (Davoth) "Now, let us go!" (Davoth) Chapter 1769: Cap 1767: No turning back "Now, let''s go!" (Davoth) With the warning, Davoth looked in a direction where someone was with their arms crossed, her face was a little embarrassed, Niryna was being hugged by Callidora who seemed to be whispering something in her ear. "I''m going to start opening the gate." (Niryna) The reason Davoth didn''t do anything in a hurry, giving everyone time to rest, heal and prepare, was mainly because he had a shortcut prepared for this invasion, Hell. Traveling through the void between universes was strange in many ways, the concept of distance was distorted leaving only time as the only constant, speed was irrelevant in this aspect, even direction was not something completely immutable. Davoth explained all these things to us, I, as well as many Gods, already knew about this, but there was always someone who didn''t understand these concepts, so he presented his plan that was prepared a long time ago, to use Hell as a path, thus creating space through which we could travel these distances in moments since Callidora is connected between several universes, including the universe of the Ascendants. "< Infernal Summoning: Gates of Hell >" (Niryna) Niryna emanates an Aura full of a frightening presence, her eyes are taken by the blood red color and her power emanates from her body as if she were burning the space from where hands of bones emerge as if trying to escape. Soon a gate over 600 meters high and 400 meters wide appears while Niryna''s power burns the space taking over this entire area. The gate that emerged from these flames is made of black metallic bones full of marks on its surface. There was no doorknob and the hinges were hands of bones with flesh still attached in some parts. The skulls that looked like macabre decoration moved their jaws emitting horrible whispers and moans. Blood spread under the gate carrying a stench that not even I could stand. "Callidora, we won''t have any surprises this time, will we?" (me) "Of course not, the payment for this favor will be something within your means, right... Davoth...?" (Callidora) We all looked at Davoth, remembering that he never explained how he convinced Callidora to allow passage for so many Deities. "Open the gates." (Davoth) "Before that, I must warn you that I have changed where the gate areas are, these two gates are now in neighboring areas, so just travel to the other side, my dear daughter will take you... of course, if everyone can make it~~." (Callidora) "What do you mean by that?" (me) "Callidora, isn''t that what we agreed on?" (Davoth) "As I promised before, I will do nothing but give you passage, but I didn''t say I would protect you on your journey." (Callidora) "The area behind this gate is the Forest of Lamentations, a place I usually use to torment people with the worst memories in their minds." (Callidora) "Your destination is in the area where the Demons train, you won''t be able to pass through there without spilling blood." (Callidora) "Sorry, this area is not what it seems, that whole place is about temptation, don''t blindly believe their words." (Niryna) "You offend me like that, I''m not lying, all these Gods are bloodthirsty, their temptations are bathed in more blood than any of them would like to admit." (Callidora) "The travel time should be 1 day or so." (Niryna) Callidora is playing another one of her little games as usual, I''ll have to keep an eye out for when she shows up there again. "< Open >" (Niryna) The gates slowly opened outwards, each movement seemed to break the space around them as if surrounded by ice, what emerged from the gate was a whirlwind full of laments and ghostly faces. No one said anything as Niryna was the first to pass through the gates, Davoth and his mother following before we all started walking. As soon as I passed through the gate I came across a normal forest, a green sky with a white sun, there was no one else around me, but I knew from my connections with several of them that they were indeed by my side. "Don''t worry, you are still together and followed the same path, but your senses are no longer under your control in this place." (Callidora) "So we have to go through this forest alone?" (me) "Exactly, I''m glad most of you understood without me having to explain, normally there is no way out of this place, after all its purpose is to torment whoever I send here." (Callidora) "But you and the others can go in that direction and you''ll reach the end of this area in a few hours." (Callidora) Callidora appeared in front of me once again in a new appearance, this time it was a repulsive appearance of a child covered in horrible wounds, a child I''ve seen in the past. I know she''s trying to get to me, but that doesn''t change the fact that she''s actually managed to touch a wound in my mind that I didn''t even remember was still there, it was like old memories were surfacing in my mind again, memories I thought I''d forgotten. "You really are despicable." (me) "Please, no compliments, that will embarrass me and I might end up changing into something more... revealing~~..." (Callidora) "..." (me) She really knows how to get under my skin, as someone who grew up in an orphanage taking care of children younger than me, the worst thing for me has always been when children were in danger or in horrible situations, unfortunately since I was young I was exposed to some of these situations since children who suffered abuse or were beaten were sent to our orphanage. The girl covered in open wounds that Callidora turned into was the first case I saw, also the most brutal, when I met her I saw the bruises, I saw the scars and especially I saw her lifeless eyes, she didn''t stay long in the orphanage since she was adopted by an old neighbor, the same one who reported her mother to the police from what I heard. She was marked in me by her horrible state and by the fact that I was never able to help her, I never saw her in a better state or heard from her again and that only made this memory worse. I didn''t say anything to Callidora again and just walked in the direction she pointed, she was smiling when she changed into the appearance of a boy with a half-crushed body before starting to walk beside me speaking in a childish tone. "You know, you are the weakest one in your group, your Heralds, children and wives are almost immune to this place, your worst memories not even being able to affect their minds or emotions." (Callidora) "They''re so annoying... unlike you~~..." (Callidora) "Your weak point is so obvious... your bad memories are all about the same topic... you''ll be able to endure it~~..." (Callidora) The whole time I was traveling, it was like I was walking through a maze, I never looked back, I never deviated even an inch from the direction, I kept going straight as torment took over my surroundings like whispers of words that hurt me deeply, shadows of those who scared me the most in the past were seen among the trees and sometimes people appeared along the way, most of them were the backs of my previous life, that is until now. I look at the last person I met, not exactly a person, but rather a Fairy, a Fairy who had the personality of a Demon. Her body was in pieces, she was half destroyed and with five shadows around her, it was a horrible sight. "That... that was the expression I wanted to see..." (Callidora) Callidora appears behind the Fairy who was not saying anything, Callidora''s appearance was that of a Mermaid, the Fairy in question was Layla and I know well the moment in which she was trying to bring back my memory, the moment in which I lost control of myself out of pure rage when I thought Layla had died. "Callidora, don''t test my patience too much...!" (me) "Such incredible anger, such simplistic negative emotions, you''re such a naive boy..." (Callidora) Suddenly a black mist emerges from within me making my bad emotions disappear before gathering in Callidora''s hands, it''s so the world around me opens up and I realize I''m on the edge of the forest, everyone else was around me, their expressions different, some were calm like my Mother while some had chilling expressions like Adella. Among those who were most affected, Davoth''s mother looked devastated kneeling on the ground crying while Davoth hugged her calmly. "Confused?" (Yaffe) "Yes, what did she catch?" (me) "All of you are Gods or of similar Level, your strong emotions are worth more than thousands of tormented Souls, what do you think all of this was...?" (Yaffe) "..." (me) "It was a small snack, she was using you to create food, negative emotions are all that keep Callidora going, the source of her power is also her own amusement." (Niryna) "Niryna...?" (me) Niryna approaches me, her expression even more embarrassed than before, I take a step closer to her hugging her affectionately. "What a beautiful scene, a Father hugging his daughter." (Callidora) Everyone tensed up when Callidora appeared in front of everyone wearing a suit and with two large horns on her head, her apprentice looking like that of a businesswoman. "From here on there is no turning back, just like before, you will cross alone, so good luck giving in to your greatest temptations." (Callidora) Chapter 1770: Cap 1768: Desert of temptations Pov Ephiliel: After days we were back at the Temple, looking around I see that it was still empty, the barriers still hiding their presence as before. "Nala, will you wait for them here?" (me) "Yes, things will get hectic soon, I won''t be able to go unnoticed like before." (Nala) "Then what should I..." (me) Before I could speak, we both turned to a point behind where the blocks of space were rearranging into a portal, where a Level 1 Ascendant appears, he kneels in front of Nala delivering a letter, then his entire body melts into a horrible gelatinous puddle. "Why does he keep using them like this?" (me) "If he keeps using weak Ascendants as messengers like this..." (me) "It doesn''t matter... we have a problem." (Nala) Nala, who didn''t even care about the Ascendant melting, immediately began to read the letter that burned with each word until it disappeared, her expression was bad. "What''s the problem?" (Nala) "Vecna ??is missing, we don''t know where he went or what he''s doing." (Nala) "How long has he been missing?" (me) "Days, we don''t know for sure." (Nala) "What do we do? He''s already on his way, the plan is going to be put into action! We need to stop him!" (me) "Forget about Vecna, we still have two leaders to face, not to mention many things we still have to do, we can''t waste time now." (Nala) Vecna ??can be a risk acting secretly, leaving him on his own now is letting his guard down at the most important moment, I can''t accept that, not after everything I''ve endured to get here!!! "Don''t look at me like that, we don''t have time for this, you know that and the chances of us being discovered are close to zero." (Nala) "Just focus on what we have to do, we''ll deal with Vecna ??as and when he shows up." (Nala) "(Her logic isn''t wrong, but I can''t help but worry... I''m so close to finally stopping resisting.)" (me) The images of that World Tree came to my mind, its figure and presence were on a different scale than the World Trees I had ever seen. The pain it caused me was nothing, I deserved so much more, every moment breathing was torture, those images in my mind, so much blood, all that devastation, the screams, so many screams. "EPHILIEL!!!" (Nala) Suddenly I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder, that hand was very heavy and pulled me out of my thoughts, that was Nala who focused her vision on me. "We don''t have time for your guilt or your suicidal tendencies!" (Nala) "I understand... I''m sorry..." (me) --------------------- Pov Zenos: Once again I was alone, this time around me there was only desert in every direction, Callidora didn''t appear to me, nothing appeared to me, all I saw was a desert of red sand and a black sky dotted with purple stars, it was a macabre desolation with these colors. "(It''s as if there was no temperature, it''s perfectly balanced with my body temperature.)" (me) The environment, besides being macabre, was strange in many details, the sand in this desert was super fine, but my feet never sank, the temperature was always the same to the point of not feeling cold or hot, there was no airflow and no kind of odor, there was no sound to the point of hearing my heartbeat and my blood flow. There weren''t even any natural energies in the atmosphere, it was as if most of my senses were turned off, leaving only sight and touch, it was unnerving. Time also felt different, sometimes it felt like a lot of time had passed and sometimes it felt like mere seconds had passed, my sense of time was distorted and unreliable, to remedy this I started counting my steps as I walked at a steady pace, this would be close to maintaining a more controllable sense of time. As I walked, nothing happened for over an hour, even so I didn''t let my guard down and continued to pay attention to every detail, this place was supposed to be about temptation, so sooner or later something would change. --------------------- "Master, shall we go back now?" (Ibuki) "Yes, we''ve already caught today''s game, let''s let Diana cook." (me) "I still think we could get some more fruit..." (Kira) I was walking between the trees full of red leaves, an Elf on one side and an evolved Goblin on the other side, looking at my hands as black as night where some rabbits were tied together, our lunch for today. "(I feel like something is wrong... but what...?)" (me) "You''re late." (Erica) "We lost track of time." (me) Suddenly I hear Erica''s words, she was at the wooden gates, the cabin seen behind her, a warm feeling taking over my heart as I felt at home. "Dad, is this all you have for food?" (Irina) "Leave it in my hands, I''ll ask my daughter to cook." (Freya) "Let Erica work a little too, she can''t spend all day reading." (me) "I''m hungry..." (Lilith) "Hungry..." (Hinata) "I want sweets, please, just a cake..." (Layla) "Please stop complaining..." (Karina) "..." (me) I stopped in the middle of the path, a wide smile taking over my face when I saw everyone together in this cabin, a simple, cozy and happy life. "I didn''t want anything more than this..." (me) "That must be why I didn''t realize when I fell for your tricks, right?" (me) "You were pretty quick to realize." (Callidora) Crack ----------------------- Suddenly everything shattered like a mirror when it was hit, the pieces of reality falling and sinking into the fine sands of this damned desert while I was still walking, but this time Callidora was walking beside me, even so I didn''t look at her, I just kept looking ahead as I walked in a straight line at the same pace. "Did you really think that kind of temptation would work on me?" (me) "No, but you are an exception, your desires are always too immediate and fluid to stop at just one, only that was the one that was permanent in your heart." (Callidora) "For someone with so much power, your desires are quite... simple..." (Callidora) "I have never been a greedy person, I don''t care about authority, money or power... I never have." (me) Throughout my life, I have only accumulated power to survive, being constantly attacked, encountering increasingly dangerous creatures and situations along my journey, seeking power was a necessity and not an option. "Am I getting close to the door yet?" (me) "No, it will take a few more hours, as I said before, you got over your temptations too quickly, so just keep walking." (Callidora) As I walked, the presence beside me disappeared, so I kept walking and walking for hours, soon I saw a gate made of white blocks in the distance, with an increase in speed I arrived in front of that gate in a second where I found only Samara and Hades waiting next to Akatosh. "Let me guess, none of you were affected by your temptations?" (me) "My lord, I have already given in to my temptations a long time ago, nothing that this place can show me that I have not already accomplished, that is how I stopped being the Saint of Life." (Samara) "I saw nothing but desert." (Hades) "I walked through forests of food, there were so many aromas of meat that I have eaten in the past, but temptations cannot affect my willpower, no matter how delicious they are." (Akatosh) "Then all we can do is wait." (me) With that, we continued waiting for a few more hours. The last one to appear, oddly enough, was Selene. My mother''s face was stained with tears, and her Aura was ablaze with sadness mixed with incalculable anger. Her red eyes were so terrifying that even I felt a chill run down my spine. But there was someone who couldn''t get out of the desert. In fact, it was something I should have expected. Sigh "< Divine Summon: Layla >" (me) I feel this whole place trying to resist my Summon, but not even Callidora can completely stop the power of chaos. Then, after several minutes, a magic circle burns the space while a sleeping Fairy with a drooling mouth appears, falling into my hands while muttering something. "Hehehe... sweets, so many sweets... I want more cake... OW!!" (Layla) "Who was the idiot who dared to hit the beautiful me!?" (Layla) "It was me, you idiot, I knew you wouldn''t pass." (Me) Sigh After we were all gathered, Callidora appeared once again, this time she didn''t collect anything from us like she did before, she just touched the gate that shone brightly. "The passage is open, you can pass, but I advise you to be careful." (Callidora) Saying that, Callidora disappeared, the gate that was shining suddenly revealed a checkered passage with us as if we were looking at a low-resolution television screen. "Don''t separate and try not to use your Auras, until we reunite with my people, we have to go unnoticed." (Davoth) "Do you know where this gate leads?" (me) "Yes, a place I planned a long time ago, far from everyone''s sight, where you will be able to adapt to the environment, but remember not to use your Divinities in any way and keep your Auras under complete control." (Davoth) With that, Davoth passes through the gate and we all follow him, finally leaving this damned place. Chapter 1771: Cap 1769: 5 pairs of wings As soon as I passed through the gate I could feel something inside me pulsing, but it didn''t come from my power flow, it came from within my Soul and for the first time it was truly flowing in my power flow, it was a strange sensation and I felt like it was just the beginning. "(My power of the Law of Eclipse.)" (me) I entered a temporary trance internalizing what was happening inside me, my senses closed and the passage of time became something abstract. The power of the Law was not previously linked to my power flow, this didn''t seem to make a difference in its use before, but now I feel like my Divinity and the Power of the Law were repelling each other, it took me what seemed like seconds to balance this using the Anomalous power as a medium between the two different types of power thus creating a balance in the power flow that expanded by more than 50% at that moment. My power of Law was not entirely of the Ascending Law, its base was from an Essence of Law from when I faced those linked to that God, while the power of Law came later being swallowed and merging with its similar power, the two powers were very similar from the beginning and my power of chaos altered them into what has now become the Law of Eclipse. "(The power of Law wants to connect with the surrounding environment, I can feel it causing me an urge to carry out this instinct, but I cannot do so without first understanding everything.)" (me) Sigh When I stopped focusing only on my interior and opened my senses once more, I realized that we were in a half-destroyed ruin, the walls flicker with a dark power in patterns I do not know, the power of Law well defined as the base of this power. Around me everyone was sitting meditating, all except 3 of the Divine Beasts, Those associated with natural energies like Layla, Nix and Sakura who were asleep. I was standing in front of an outline of a door made of white bone blocks, I walked over to my 3 oldest Familiars, then touched their foreheads one at a time, my Law power flowing into them, I understood why they were in this state and it wasn''t difficult to solve it. "How long have I been unconscious?" (me) "You''ve been in a trance for over two hours, your Divine Beasts fell into this state the moment they walked through the door." (Davoth) "Did you know this would happen?" (me) "With them? No." (Davoth) "I thought that your Divine Beasts'' bond with you would protect them, in part that was true, but their natures as part of the energy cycle made them reject the universe that surrounds them, which led to this." (Davoth) "As for all the others, they''re not in a trance like you and they haven''t lost consciousness either, in fact they''re just meditating trying to understand this universe to adapt." (Davoth) "Something you have accomplished magnificently..." (Davoth) He looked at me with a clear gleam of surprise in his eyes, I looked at my other Heralds, Divine Beasts and Saints realizing that they were fine, their Auras interacting with the environment in a curious way, their Auras undergoing small changes and noticeable adjustments as if trying to find the right shape to fit. Somehow I feel like I am watching a reproduction of what noble women did in the Middle Ages trying to use corsets to change the shape of their bodies to fit into dresses that clearly do not suit them. What everyone is doing is a conscious effort to shape their Auras, this cannot be pleasant and will be a constant nuisance for everyone. Then I look at Davoth, his body seems to emanate the power of Law, but it was false, I could feel that this power of Law was a mask created using his two Anomalous powers, this may make him imperceptible to a superficial probe, but any Level 3 Ascendant who focuses on him will notice the anomaly. Looking at myself and then at the environment around me, I realized that everything was exactly as I saw in the memories of the Ascendant I killed in the past. In terms of appearance, this place was the same as any other universe, but to me it was suffocating. The air that circulated around seemed to move in an almost imperceptible angular way, as if it were moving along predefined paths. The space itself was rigid, as if it were blocks of space joined together to create a space like this, like something constructed and not natural. The energies around me were also bizarre. They flow side by side without ever interacting with each other, and they seem to follow similar paths to circuits, one next to the other. The Aura of nature itself does not exist here. What was in the place was emptiness, similar to entering an abandoned house. It was strange, an emptiness that was noticeable. Even with this emptiness, the natural energies followed a standard rhythm. Even the Vitality in the atmosphere was strange, unnatural, as if it were diluted. "This is worse than I imagined..." (me) "Look around you, look at the interaction you have with your surroundings." (Davoth) "..." (me) Davoth''s words made me realize that I had focused my senses only on my surroundings and had not seen myself interacting with the environment. Shifting my focus to my Aura, I noticed that the flow of air and energies were changing slightly around me, the space itself was also changing around me as if everything were modeling clay for me to mold as I wished, but without the tools to do so. "Should this happen?" (me) "No, your power of the Law seems to alter things and this is in your Aura, it was not doing this before you woke up." (Davoth) "Control your Aura, try to lessen its influence on the environment, but without completely stopping it, then try to materialize 3 pairs of wings on your back using the power of the Law, do it like this." (Davoth) As Davoth spoke, two pairs of wings appeared on his back, two pairs of wings and arms made using his Anomalous power, it was just an empty shell where he began to sugar his power to mask once again as if he were a Level 2 Ascendant. It didn''t seem difficult, I could do something like that with my Anomalous power, but doing it with the power of the Law must be the correct way and as soon as I tried to do it, my body trembled as 5 pairs of wings appeared on my back, each pair of wings was dark gray with feathers that seemed almost crystallized emanating a glow that altered all the surroundings, the Ring in his hand shining because of the power of the Law. "Contain yourself, quickly!" (Davoth) "..." (me) My wings weren''t fake like Davoth''s, they weren''t my real wings either, they seemed like a materialization of my power of the Law, something natural and yet it didn''t have the control function that the Ascendants'' wings seem to have, it was different from the Ascendants'' wings. I concentrated and managed to hide two pairs of wings by repressing the power of the Law circulating through me, after that I forced my Aura into the wings hiding its power even more, the wings seemed convincing enough to me. When I looked back at Davoth, I saw him with his hand on his forehead as if he had a headache that wouldn''t go away. "What was that!?" (me) "Why did the wings appear and why..." (me) "I don''t know, I can only guess, you as a Bringer of Chaos are surrounded by mystery and impossibilities..." (Davoth) Sigh "My biggest guess and perhaps the closest to the truth, is that the environment influenced your power of Law in a way considered standard." (Davoth) "The 4 pairs of wings signify the power to materialize your Law for the Ascended, so the 5 pairs of wings would be what Vecna ??was seeking, what he hoped to achieve..." (Davoth) Davoth''s eyes shone at the revelation as he seemed to think of several things at once as if he were putting together a puzzle in his mind, his words stopped being an explanation to me and at some point became a reflection of his thoughts. "Vecna ??wants to change his domains, he doesn''t just want to change his Ascendant Laws to something natural, he knows that this is impossible and must have done more than extensive tests to be sure of this, so he wants to imprint his Ascendant Law, to mark the power of the Law in the world around him to gain even more control." (Davoth) "They are trying to get closer to the Concept instead of the Divinity, a copy... he has finally stopped dreaming of the impossible and is seeing what they are by moving forward." (Davoth) "This could be bad..." (Davoth) "You have achieved the fifth pair of wings because Vecna ??was already close to achieving it, the theory already exists, the path is already open and for you who are already a Concept the fifth pair of wings was only natural..." (Davoth) Davoth''s words were not directed at me, but rather at himself, his reasoning being expressed in words for his own understanding. Chapter 1772: Cap 1770: Absolute Control Pov Vecna: I was looking at the bones in front of me, they were incomplete and damaged, but the power emanating from them was unmistakable, it was Divine Power. "Your payment has been made, thank you for seeking me out." (Eternal Trade) "I had no choice, I needed something very specific to be able to find it on my own." (me) "How long have you been waiting for my visit?" (me) "A few centuries, your dispute with the Anomalous Dragons was strange and left many intrigued, which led me to realize your intentions." (Eternal Trade) "Your movements are always easy to predict and your approaches follow a certain pattern, I knew that if one day I was unable to get anything from the Anomalous Dragons, you would come to me... and the only thing the Anomalous Dragons have are their bodies." (Eternal Trade) "..." (me) This Entity among all is the one that scares me the most, its ability to predict future events, comprehensive analysis and a frightening aberration capacity capturing much more than my Aura, power or Soul. It was waiting for me with exactly what I needed, it also predicted that the Anomalous Dragons might no longer exist, even so I didn''t get everything I needed, just the central item. "What do you intend to do with the information I gave you?" (me) "Sell it, there are many ways to use this information, but I wouldn''t reveal all of this for free." (Eternal Trade) "(With these bones I can move forward with the plan, even if the efficiency drops a little and the results aren''t exactly what I expected, I''ll still take an opportunity wherever I find it.)" (me) I just gave you the way to become an Ascendant, these are conditions impossible to achieve by any measure, so I don''t think this would work. "I''ll be leaving now." (me) "Come back whenever you want, I look forward to future business opportunities." (Eternal Trade) "(I need to find a place to refine these bones in the best possible way, I don''t want to miss this chance.)" (me) I reach out and the bones are sucked into my palm where a small box is formed, this was not something I did, but part of the power of the Eternal Trader, one of the Avatars of the one who carries the Concept of Trade. As I leave the business area through a door that leads straight to a cave, I walk to the edge where I see once again the broken sky of a degrading universe, it seems that this universe will disappear in 2 or 3 years, being just another one among many conquered by us. "If all goes well, I will no longer need to sacrifice the edges of our conquered territory, a perpetual symbol of our failures." (me) I spread my 4 pairs of wings as I advance towards the sky, taking advantage of these openings in the dimensional membrane to leave, I would go to a calmer and less destroyed place, a place where I could refine these bones with the metals I possess. The Chaos Bringer has proven to be a hindrance, his power grows too fast and he has proven to be too unpredictable, he has been able to escape our plans more than once and was able to escape Urak''s pursuit, I cannot be sure if Mavor''s plan will succeed and even if it does, I can no longer completely trust the Anomalous Armor, it has stuck in enemy hands long enough to be compromised by his powers. I will let those two continue with our original plans while I focus on this plan, if one of us succeeds it will be perfect. "The bones of a Divine Dragon that is marked by the Anomalous powers based on destruction..." (me) "Innovation comes from the risks we take..." (me) -------------------- Pov Zenos: It''s been an hour since I woke up from my trance, everyone was still meditating with Auras that look like each hand fits into the surrounding environment, it seems like it won''t be much longer. I look at my wings, the 3 pairs of wings were still there and I was able to move them normally, my Law power seemed to move through it more easily than through the rest of my body, now I only let a part of the Law power move through the wings in its own flow of energy separate from the rest, I''ll use this reduced power here avoiding my power flow mainly passing through the wings again to prevent the emergence of the 5 wall wings again. "Do you think they noticed the difference between my wings and theirs?" (me) "Wings different from the standard are rare, but not unique, so you''ll draw a little attention, yet the difference will be imperceptible to anyone who isn''t a Level 4 Ascendant leader." (Davoth) "They know my face and my Aura, I''ve faced many Level 3 Ascendants, I need to change a little." (me) I start by changing the structure of my body, I wanted to look more adult, but I couldn''t, the curse of that title my mother gave me in the past marked my Soul permanently. But I still managed to make changes, my face changes to more androgynous features, my hair changes to black while I black it behind, then finally I change my Aura to something more tyrannical focusing only on the dominance aspects that I have. While using this Aura with more tyrannical aspects externally, I withdraw my Aura into my body, that was the most I could do. "How do I look?" (me) "Your control over your body and Aura was incredible, it seemed natural, it should be able to fool most, those of equal strength won''t be able to see very deep into your Aura, but those stronger can perceive your true Aura further down trapped in your body." (Davoth) "That will do." (me) With that done, I went back to talking to Davoth while I waited for the others, he explained to me about the Ascendant customs, something I needed to know to pass myself off as one of them. -------------------- 2 hours later. Selfish for a few more hours the last person opened their eyes, it was Akatosh, he looked almost angry when he opened his eyes, he clearly didn''t like holding back or controlling himself the way he was doing, it goes against his Dragon instincts, I can understand that very well. My Divine Beasts also awoke, with part of my Law power now in them, they all had 2 pairs of Ascendant wings on their backs, my Saints were the same, having 2 pairs of wings, while my Heralds wore full body armor, with 2 pairs of wings being the only ones different to pass themselves off as Ascendant Knights. Davoth advised us to have one of us serve as a squad leader, as a troop commander, and I was chosen for this because I was the best at passing myself off as an Ascendant. All the others would be considered subordinates under my leadership, so other Ascendants could not order them around. Only the 3 leaders could do this, this rigid structure of a completely military government would be perfect for us, giving us some space to move. With everyone now ready, Davoth led everyone out of those ruins and what we saw when we left was a forest, a blue sky with a sun above, close to disappearing on the horizon, it was late afternoon with some clouds hovering in the sky. But seeing this ''natural'' landscape, no one was happy, everyone could see the anomalies, the shapes of the trees were all angular, the clouds did not spread naturally but rather artificially, even the sunlight felt strange touching our skin. As natural as it all seemed, it was an amalgam of abnormalities, there was nothing pleasant about seeing all of this, it was disgusting like seeing a monstrosity posing as a person, the way it was there, but it was so artificial and wrong to the other senses that it was unnerving to see, it seemed like everything was in the ''uncanny valley''. "I thought I would be ready, but this..." (Mother) "Every fiber of my being screams to devastate this place." (Akatosh) "This is disgusting!" (Diana) "It seems much worse than what I saw in the Ascendant''s memories." (me) "This is what the Ascendants seek, absolute control." (Davoth) "They can''t stand things like chance, luck or depending on situations... among many other things." (Davoth) "They seek to have everything perfectly controlled, to control how and where the trees, flowers and plants grow, when they will bear fruit or bloom, how long they will live." (Davoth) "Where the wind blows, where it will rain, the strength of the rain, the amount of rainwater and even the temperature of the sunlight." (Davoth) "Everything is tightly controlled, they decide everything and that''s how it should be, there is nothing outside their tyrannical control." (Davoth) "This place is bad even for me, I feel that by corrupting this whole place I would end up improving everything instead of leaving it like this." (Hernoth) "It''s not far from the truth, this place is stagnant, such a controlled environment does not develop, there is no change without the unexpected." (Samara) "They follow a logic that is contrary to Callidora''s, she loves change, she embraces it and causes everything she can to generate more change, she is entertained by the endless transformations... am I not right, Miss Niryna?" (Samara) "Yes, she is paying more attention than usual and I clearly feel her excitement, she wants to see what we are going to do as if she were watching a show." (Niryna) Chapter 1773: Cap 1771: Tears of those who wait We spent a whole day walking through the forest within a 10-kilometer area. According to Davoth, this was an isolated area and he advised everyone to look around to get used to the situation in this damned place. Some were showing a lot of reaction to this super-controlled environment. This will be noticeable if we enter any civilization in this place. With a whole day to get used to it, I walked around the surroundings with just my wives. The Monsters I encountered along the way were strange, they seemed to have no intelligence, they were like the purely instinctive animals from my previous life with monster bodies. We were attacked many times when we arrived somewhere. The Monsters seemed not to notice the obvious difference in strength. Even their instincts seemed to fail to warn of the danger. For me, who was strongly connected to nature, this damned place was unnerving. I felt more like I was inside a laboratory or a city than in a forest. Everything had defined functions. No matter how much I looked, nothing was natural. I looked at a river during the afternoon and it seemed bizarre, the speed of the water and its temper seemed constant, the bottom of the river was rounded as if it were a water channel built by someone, even during the night the positions of the stars were not very natural, they were spread out very evenly and the two Moons seemed strange, the night was not even cold, it was the same temperature I felt during the day. Ibuki was angry all that day, as someone who grew up in nature, trained in nature and as a Goddess now, she had a fundamental view of nature as home and in her actions she expressed herself very clearly about how this whole place was a corruption of what nature should represent. Erica did not show her emotions much, but looked at everything analytically and rationally, while Kira and Diana were trying to maintain their composure, but as an Elf and a Goddess of Beasts, their opinions about this place were even more extreme than Ibuki''s. I was lucky that Freya was busy helping Tarzor recover with the assistance of the Twins, as a Universal Tree, she is not only connected to nature, she is nature, I can''t even imagine her reaction to this place. As night fell, we walked back to the ruins we had come from, Davoth was in the same place, he had created a fire and a smooth metal plate above the fire used to cook the pieces of meat. Davoth''s mother was next to him eating some pieces of meat while talking to the God Hatlas, we were not the first to arrive and there were still many left, so I sat next to Davoth. "Where are we going at dawn?" (me) "To a city, it will be easier to find a Temple of Ascension there." (Davoth) Davoth had already explained to me about the customs of the Ascendants, among them their Temples were similar to my Communal Temple, a place where many were worshiped as if it were a memorial to Kings. A place like this would be terrible to go to in our situation, so for Davoth to suggest doing the opposite means that one of his subordinates or friends is there for us to find. "I suppose you know who to look for there." (me) "Yes and no, there will be someone waiting for us in a certain place, but I''m not sure who." (Davoth) ---------------------- The next morning: Everything in this place was horrible to see, during the night stars spread evenly across the sky and during dawn the sun rises with its light without changing the temperature of the environment, day and night have no difference in temperature as if this world were a super controlled greenhouse, every damn thing was rigidly controlled without having anything happening naturally, everything is copies and counterfeits. After a day, everyone seemed to be able to bear this damn place better, some couldn''t even close their eyes and practically no one could sleep, only Davoth''s mother was able to sleep soundly, she was the only true Ascendant among all of us, she must feel at home here. "I''ll take us to a city, try to act naturally, don''t get distracted by the architecture, the people or the customs, act as if everything is normal and don''t react too much." (Davoth) "Zenos, you must particularly control your Dragon Spirit and that Crazy Fairy, as creatures of nature, they are too rare and will draw attention if discovered." (Davoth) "Who are you calling crazy... hunmb!?" (Layla) "Stop acting innocent and be quiet." (Nix) "Just them? And Sakura?" (me) "As a Creature of Ki, she will more easily go unnoticed." (Davoth) "Then let me... ready." (me) I touch Nix and Layla letting my Aura take over their bodies and I mark their foreheads with my Law Rune with a magic circle around the Rune, so they think they are being controlled by me, at least that''s what I thought, I look at Davoth who understands what I wanted to accomplish and nods in confirmation, then he raises his hand gathering power to cast a spell. "< Law of the World: World Teleportation >" (Davoth) Davoth''s two Anomalous powers combine with his Soul power forming a Rune before forming a magic circle around it that activates into a Teleportation door that opens moving the space like blocks to the sides. "That was very convincing." (me) "Yes, but it is a copy of the power I had when I was an Ascendant, I can use some of the simple Mayan techniques, but the power expenditure is ridiculous." (Davoth) "Shall we go straight into the city?" (me) "Yes, then be prepared, Zenos must go first as if he were the leader." (Davoth) "I never thought I would have to follow my own son..." (Selene) "Better this way, let him deal with the complicated things, it''s hard enough to keep holding me back like this." (Akatosh) "Zenos, let''s go." (Davoth) I walk forward, Davoth''s mother and himself right behind me with everyone else following behind, I try to keep an expressionless face as I pass through the gate. --------------------- On the other side I see a city, but I don''t stop walking forward, I don''t show any reaction to the buildings made of white stone blocks or the population that move away as soon as they see me, some of them kneeling while others just show respect by lowering their heads slightly. Everyone else leaves the portal following me, but I don''t pay attention to them. I feel Davoth''s Aura pointing in a direction and I follow that direction without looking too much at the surroundings. Someone approaches from the front. It was a Level 1 Ascendant. He wore light armor and knelt in front of me without hesitation. "This subordinate pays respects to the great Ascendant. How may I serve him?" (Ascendant) "(Ask him in which direction the Temple of Ascension is.)" (Davoth) "Where is the Temple of Ascension in this city?" (me) "It would be the largest building north of the city, my lord. Should I take you there?" (Ascendant) "No, return to your normal duties." (me) "As you command..." (Ascendant) Saying that, he flew off into the distance again. I didn''t look at him as I spread my wings to fly, everyone else following me with or without wings. It took seconds to reach the Temple that looked more like a Royal Castle. I could even feel a strong power of Law emanating from there as if thousands of Ascendant Laws were mixing together before pulsing outwards, killing the environment under control. "(So these Ascendant Temples fulfill the function of a World Tree... but instead of maintaining Harmony, these Temples maintain the rigid order of the Ascendant Laws.)" (me) Davoth had already told us this during the night, but seeing it in person is even worse. He also explained to us that we can only fly to the entrance, after that we must descend and enter on foot. As soon as I reached the entrance, a Level 2 Ascendant revealed himself, opening the gates while bowing in respect to me. "I greet Ascendant Commander, I am Wendel, responsible for this World Capital, to what do I owe your presence?" (Wendel) "(Ask him where the Dawn Star is located.)" (Davoth) "Where is the Dawn Star?" (me) "..." (Wendel) As soon as I said these words, his entire body trembled as his eyes focused on me, a glow of happiness appeared as he signaled for us to enter as he answered. "The Dawn Star is in my office, I will deliver it to you... please follow me." (Wendel) Wendel led us to a staircase and so we followed, there were a few dozen of us, but this place was colossal, many people entered through another entrance following a fixed path, that was the population of this place, Ascendants enter through another entrance that I passed by. We soon arrived in front of large doors through which we entered before they closed behind us, after which several spells seemed to activate while multiple layers of barriers appeared. Wendel looked at us as if looking for someone. "Which one of you is he?" (Wendel) "It''s me, my name is now Davoth." (Davoth) "I finally found you... finally, finally this hell will have an end..." (Wendel) Tears Wendel began to cry as he fell to his knees, his body slightly out of control due to strong emotions, Davoth approached and placed his hand on his shoulder while everyone remained quiet waiting for him to vent his emotions. "Sorry about this, but I''ve waited centuries and centuries for this moment, I almost couldn''t believe it when the signal was emitted about the beginning of the plan." (Wendel) Chapter 1774: Cap 1772: Bad timing Seeing that Ascendant collapse like that was something I didn''t expect, his tears carried a lot of weight, it took him several minutes before he was able to calm down, I can''t imagine where those tears came from or what emotions he locked inside himself to collapse like that. After several minutes of crying, he finally calmed down enough to talk, there is nothing sadder than seeing a grown man cry. "I apologize... for my lack of control..." (Wendel) "No need, let''s just focus on what we must accomplish here." (me) "Zenos is right, I heard about many changes since the plan was thought up, I imagine you have the files." (Davoth) "I have everything in my mind, we don''t have anything written down for security reasons." (Wendel) "Over time there have been many changes, the Ascendant Universal Cores have changed to 10 in total and they are all in the same Universe, Alpha 01, right here." (Wendel) "The Ascendant Capital, then, shouldn''t be in the central parts, right?" (Davoth) "Some are, all are well guarded and hidden, but the last and most important one is in Alpha 00." (Wendel) "That''s bad, how did they do that, the Garden of Ascension shouldn''t be able to support it..." (Davoth) "Davoth, those are our targets, aren''t they?" (me) "Yes, but that doesn''t change much, actually being in the same Universe will be better, but we''ll have to do everything at the same time." (Davoth) "That wasn''t the only change, it happens..." (Wendel) Wendel spent the next 20 minutes talking about several changes that cause alterations in the plan, one of those changes will be that everyone will separate into groups for the 9 Cores that are here, leaving us last for last. I couldn''t interfere with these 9 Cores since I would need to be prepared to attack the last one at the right time. I was focused on several things during the conversation, I also took the opportunity to ask some questions that Davoth couldn''t explain, and then it happened, everyone felt a presence appear, a Level 3 Ascendant had arrived. Wendel seemed calm, but I could see the nervousness in his Aura, this was clearly not expected, so Wendel got up and left the room leaving all of us behind. "The question here would be, how are we going to do all of this at the same time?" (me) "Before, I wanted to do it one at a time, but that''s no longer possible, if we don''t attack them all at once, we''ll be discovered." (Davoth) "The last one would also be more difficult, I''ll need your Heralds and Divine Beasts." (Davoth) "Do you want to use them as a means to my son''s power?" (Selene) "Yes, but I know that only leaves us with 6, but Hades could go together with one of the Saints, leaving the eighth for the other two Saints." (Davoth) "Even so, there would still be one missing in this universe." (Diana) "No, there wouldn''t be, he wants me to attack the last one, doesn''t he?" (me) "Exactly, then we''ll all go together to the last one where a battle will probably break out..." (Davoth) Suddenly a strong presence appears outside the door, then the barrier breaks one after another as a middle-aged man with 3 pairs of wings on his back entered, letting his eyes wander around the room. Before anyone could say anything, he focused his eyes on Davoth and his eyes shone with golden light, as a female voice came out of his mouth. "Davoth, I am waiting for you at the Temple..." (Ascendant?) "..." (Davoth) "..." (all) Everyone was surprised when the Ascendant suddenly fell unconscious, his Aura becoming weak as his wings moved in spasm. "What was that? He just passed me by and came straight here!" (Wendel) "This is our invitation to the next place." (Davoth) --------------------- 2 days later. I was sitting on a throne surrounded by Ascendants, hundreds of Level 1s wearing full plate armor, meanwhile, two Level 2s were standing guard beside me in silence. "(Why did I accept this shitty plan!!!)" (me) I look at the Ascendants that were around me, each of them kneeling in military formation, their wings lowered as their Auras seemed weak, then I stand up spreading my masked Aura before speaking harshly. "Tell me, why are you here!?" (me) "To war!!" (all) "No! This is not a war!" (me) "Ernani, tell them." (me) "We are here for a Massacre, my lord!" (Ernani) "Exactly, they invaded this space, our territory, so their lives are ours to take!" (me) "Barerosa! Confirm their position, we will leave in 1 hour!" (me) "Yes, Commander!" (Barerosa) I spread my wings flying back to Wendel''s office where that Ascendant with 3 pairs of wings was still unconscious and struggling in chains. The only people in the room were Wendel and my mother, everyone else had already left, I threw myself into the chair in front of Wendel who floated a teacup in my direction, the barriers of the room rising once more. "Does this happen very often?" (me) "Unfortunately yes, they are insurgents who attack for revenge, survivors of our conquests." (Wendel) "Several Entities lend their power to them who seek revenge and are full of hate, they sell everything in exchange for power, their life expectancies, their Souls even making sacrifices among themselves to cause harm among the Ascendants." (Wendel) "I didn''t expect one of these groups to be aiming for this place, since I became the leader of this place, I''ve never had a situation like this." (Wendel) "It seems like this was a bad time..." (me) "Yes, I''m sorry about that, this was a bad time for you to arrive." (Wendel) Sigh It seems that a few hundred Anomalous Creatures are coming here, this Ascendant along with half of the troops outside were brought here to defend this planet, but they were attacked with something poisonous and it seems that their leader who is now chained up came straight here. According to Davoth, the one responsible for this is an acquaintance of his, someone he clearly doesn''t want me to meet yet. "(That voice was the same one I heard before during my return trip, the same voice of the creature possessing that Ascendant full of holy power.)" (me) "What are you going to do?" (Wendel) "I could kill these people, but that wouldn''t be good enough..." (me) "From the reports, they are monsters now, emanating large amounts of poison, this can be used to our advantage." (me) "What do you mean?" (Wendel) "I mean I''m going to use them and these Ascendants to create a distraction." (me) "Davoth''s plan needs a distraction, maybe more than one, we need to spread chaos so our actions go unnoticed." (me) "I don''t see a problem with that, but if you''re going to do something like that, then it will be noticed." (Wendel) "Those are loyal Ascendants, for me you would kill them all, but that will draw attention to us, also using a different power will alert the leaders." (Wendel) "Don''t worry, I''ll use the Power of Law, my Power of Law." (me) The truth is that I''ve tested a lot of control and other things with the Power of Law, but I''ve never tried to replicate my Chaos abilities, my power has always been something associated with transformation, so it must have some effect, I hope it''s something close to what I need. I look at the ring in my hand and feel a slight difference from before, during these days, actually since before we were in Hell, I was creating several programs and logical processes using the shared information of the system, it took me days to complete, but I got everything I needed, I''m already starting to install everything in a logical chain programmed using the Power of Law directly inside the Ring of Solomon. "(Just one more hour... I''m close...)" (me) -------------------- Pov Davoth: I was inside a vehicle similar to a boat without sails, next to me there were only 2 people and 3 golems, the two people would be my mother and the other was Hades, the main Herald of Zenos. "Dear, it seems we''re getting there." (Mother) "Yes, the planets are only 1 day''s travel away." (me) "(Urd, don''t make things harder, I can''t leave things as they are now...)" (me) The planet in front of us was almost 90% green, a land full of forests and rivers everywhere, a planet used for the creation of monsters, a battlefield to gain combat experience for new Ascendants, a combat field and a practical survival training. The golems that were the crew of this vessel took us close to a mountain, as soon as we got out the vehicle left next. Just by feeling the surroundings I can feel the trails of sacred power, she already knows that we have arrived, I look at Hades before walking following the trail of sacred power, which was not necessary since I know the way to her temple. I continued walking with everyone, it took a few dozen minutes, but I felt the fluctuations of space and the changes in the ambient energies, we had clearly already crossed several levels of barrier and when crossing the last one a ruin was revealed, a ruined marble Temple emanating a sacred power that caught Hades off guard when he looked at me. "What is this?" (Hades) "Our destination, the Temple of the only Divinity that the Ascendants cannot get rid of and that most do not even know exists." (me) "The Ascendant Goddess, Urd." (me) Chapter 1775: Cap 1773: Unexpected encounter Pov Elizabeth: I was with my sisters, we were all in a city square, around us the population lived their seemingly normal lives, but through my eyes, as someone who taught thousands of emperors over millennia, I could see much more. People followed strict rules, the orderly way they walked on the street, the way they interacted with each other in an objective way, the almost non-existent sparkle in their eyes, the speed of almost everyone being almost the same as they walked with those of the same height and even the way they interacted with what surrounded them, almost ignoring everything beyond their daily objectives. "(This is more tyrannical than I''ve ever seen before.)" (me) "(I''m doing my best to control my anger, just seeing these people like this without knowing how they''re being influenced...)" (Natasha) "(You don''t know anything, even your dreams are controlled, your minds are constantly influenced, we just don''t feel it because of Zenos'' mark.)" (Caitlyn) My sisters and I are on a neighboring world to where we were before, keeping us all together on the same planet and in the same city would be difficult, we have to take advantage of our scarce manholes to carry out the measurements Davoth told us about. Talking behind our backs can be dangerous, so Caitlyn is taking care of our mental conversation, so we can communicate without alerting anyone. "(Have you found our Target yet?)" (Natasha) "(Yes, he''s in a nearby town, he hasn''t felt me ??in his mind yet, but if he sleeps he''ll notice.)" (Caitlyn) "(Elizabeth, how long will it take to finish the measurement?)" (Natasha) "(A few minutes...)" (me) I look at the crystal in my hand, its original color was white, but now it''s almost completely amber. We have two missions here, the first is this crystal that is taking readings about the energy flow of this planet, Davoth wanted to know if the universal energy flow had been altered by the Ascendants with the addition of the new Universal Cores. "(Caitlyn, are you sure he''s the right person?)" (me) "(Yes, his Aura clearly serves as a beacon, he''s also surrounded by Ascendants who are watching his movements.)" (Caitlyn) "(Let''s go back as soon as I''m done with this crystal, you can let Mom talk to him once he falls asleep.)" (me) ---------------- Pov Adella: I was walking with Nix by my side, my blood was boiling with pure rage, memories of my universe being destroyed, people dying by the millions, the Universe itself collapsing without me being able to do anything. The anger, the fury, the hatred and that feeling of despair are still in my memory, I can still feel it when I close my eyes, even though my Father managed to purge these negative feelings from my Soul and return my mind to rationality, I can''t completely leave them aside. "You have to calm down, you don''t know if it''s him." (Nix) "If it''s him, I''ll kill him!!!" (me) "Adella! Don''t you forget why we''re here!?" (Nix) "This isn''t about your feelings or what happened, we have something to accomplish that involves too many lives!" (Nix) "..." (me) I couldn''t say anything against it, she''s not wrong, I know what we need to do, I understand the importance of what we have to do, but I can''t let go of this anger, I can''t let go of this hate. Zenos saw my state and convinced Davoth to let me go, he trusted me in this matter, but I don''t know if I can live up to his expectations, I don''t know if I can control myself when I meet him. "It will take us days to get there, so use this time to calm down, don''t let yourself fall into that wild state again!" (Nix) "..." (me) A memory comes to mind, the day I thought was the happiest of my life, but now it has become just another nightmare moment for me. "(You know, Selene... I think I''m in love with you...)" (Kaan) "(Don''t talk nonsense, I''m the Goddess of Blood, I''m feared in almost the entire universe...)" (me) "(Do you know why I worked so hard to get here? Why did a mortal like me work so hard to become a God...?)" (Kaan) "(If you say anything stupid about love, I''ll stick a blood spear in your head.)" (me) "(Then I think it''s best to step back a little before I talk... maybe write a letter from far away...)" (Kaan) "(Hahaha hahahahaha...)" (me) "(I did all this for you and only for you, ever since I heard your voice speaking in my mind as I was about to be executed, only you were in my mind and in my heart.)" (Kaan) "(When I had nothing, when I had no one, when even my life that was the last thing I had was about to be taken away, it was you and only you who reached out to me...)" (Kaan) "(I prayed to all the Gods I knew the name of after the God I worshiped ignored my pleas... but none of them answered, only you who I didn''t even know reached out to me...)" (Kaan) "(A God''s job is to guide... that is our responsibility and also our duty... you were innocent and lost, I saw that just as I saw how everyone was getting lost in that place out of pure ambition.)" (me) "(You are just confusing your feeling of gratitude with something else...)" (me) "(Selene, it wasn''t just that... do you really think that gratitude alone would be able to push me through everything I''ve been through?)" (Kaan) "(Don''t pretend in front of me, you already knew about my feelings centuries ago.)" (Kaan) "(...)" (me) I was happy back then, even though I was a Goddess, my doctrine was distorted over the ages, I went from being worshipped to being feared, but even so my power would not fall, everyone has blood and so every living creature gave me power. "Adella! Are you listening!?" (Nix) "What is it!?" (me) "Your Aura, you are losing control of your Aura, control yourself!" (Nix) "We can''t be discovered now!" (Nix) "I will control myself, I understand!" (me) It was easy to say, but difficult to do, my emotions were bringing back old memories, I thought he was dead, I thought I had killed him. These damn emotions are trying to turn me back into a monster, Nix is ??right, I need to control myself. ----------------- Pov Hades: I was with Davoth and his Mother when we arrived at that Temple. It was different from the Castles that the Ascendants use as Temples. They were also different from our own Temples. It looked like a ruin and its complete structure was no longer identifiable. But that sacred power, I didn''t think I would feel something like that in that place. It was surprising. Even though it was sacred power, it wasn''t fighting against the power of the Ascendant Law. It seemed to blend with the power of the Ascendant Law in the surroundings in harmony, in a natural way. This was unlike anything I had seen before, I couldn''t help but look at Davoth''s attack, the one he came to find here must not be just an Ascendant, he didn''t want to tell me anything, but it was clear that he was hiding something from everyone. "What is this?" (Hades) "Our destination, the Temple of the only Divinity that the Ascendants cannot get rid of and that most don''t even know exists." (me) "The Ascendant Goddess, Urd." (me) Shock came to my mind when the simple thought of the Ascendants having Gods came to mind, but even so I didn''t let it affect my actions, even with the shock of such a revelation, I acted immediately to contact my master, which I couldn''t. I took a distance and the power of chaos began to circulate within me, I was ready to fight and kill if necessary, my senses alert not only to Davoth but also to the surroundings. "What are you doing? Why can''t I contact my Lord!?" (me) "We are not enemies, stop this..." (Davoth) "You have 3 seconds..." (me) When I was about to use my power, a Divine Aura descended upon the entire area around us, Davoth''s mother fell to her knees as I felt a pressure around me, Davoth himself showed nothing as he looked in the direction of the Temple at the same time a voice came from there. "If you use your Chaos power here, then the 3 Ascendant leaders will feel it, please contain your emotions." (???) The voice was that of a woman, a beautiful voice, but that wasn''t what surprised me, the sacred power itself was already a surprise, but the divine power was even more surprising, it was something a little obvious to assume if it were in any other universe. The Ascendants do not worship any God, in fact they consider themselves superior to the Gods, they hate the Gods and even hunt them to refine their Divinities or Essences into their Ascendant Laws, having a God here was unthinkable especially when I could feel his Divine power containing the power of the Law. "(Wait, this Divine power, it feels weak... weightless... almost like an empty shell...)" (me) "Urd, you can stop, if you continue he might actually start doing something." (Davoth) "Hades, I am not interfering with Zenos'' power, this place is sealed for reasons you must have already realized, do not ruin our plans without hearing first." (Davoth) "Interesting words for someone who has kept silent about this until now!" (me) "..." (Davoth) "You have lost my trust Davoth and when my master finds out about this, he will no longer follow your plan, he does not like being manipulated!" (me) "Come in, please..." (???) Chapter 1776: Cap 1774: Mavor arrives I had my eyes closed in meditation when a hand touched my shoulder, when I opened my eyes I found Wendel looking at me with a serious expression. "It''s about time." (Wendel) "Thank you for calling me, any news from the others?" (me) "No, but a report came in a few minutes ago saying that Mavor is approaching." (Wendel) "How do they know?" (me) "Simple, fluctuations in the power of the Law, as everything is tightly controlled, any fluctuation in his domain comes from his influence, the galaxy he uses as his home is reacting to his presence, that means he will arrive later today." (Wendel) "(I thought things were bad enough, but it seems things can always get worse.)" (me) According to Davoth, the 3 Ascendant Leaders want to use that Anomalous armor to reach the fifth pair of wings, to rise to level 5 of the Ascendants. "(This shouldn''t be fast, I also left my Chaos power along with a will in the armor, I didn''t have enough power to interfere with the 3 Ascendant powers in it, but I wouldn''t make it easy for them.)" (me) The Curse I used there was something I created especially for the situation, I didn''t tell Davoth or anyone else about this, but if the 3 Ascendant leaders continue refining the Anomalous armor, the Curse will take over part of the Armor, maybe 1/4 of the armor if I''m lucky, then it will devour part of the power of their Laws to create something for me. "(The problem is that they will think about being attacked, they will prepare against invasions without realizing that they have already been invaded...)" (me) Many things will change now, if Vecna ??is missing and Mavor was not yet present, I thought about preparing some things to sow chaos, but Mavor arrived much faster than I expected, if I destroy all these Ascendants in a situation of alert as they will surely put it, then I will draw attention to myself, they will realize that my Ascendant power is not in their flow of Ascendant Laws, even if they do not know my real identity they will still know that I am not an ally. "(I will have to discard my previous plan and play the game of deception.)" (me) "Zenos, what name did you tell them?" (Wendel) "I am using the name, Bond... you can call me Zenos Bond." (me) "So you are using the same name? Wouldn''t that be too risky?" (Wendel) "..." (me) "(He didn''t get the reference... okay...)" (me) "I''m kidding, I didn''t say my real name, I''m just using Bond as my name." (me) "That should do, good luck." (Wendel) All my plans were ruined before they even started and I''ll have to pay extra attention from now on, my luck really sucks. ------------------- Pov Barerosa (Ascendant level 2): I didn''t expect any of this to happen, to have our commander injured like that by the enemy poison, they ambushed us very easily, but still, I feel slightly grateful for it. The previous Commander was annoying in many ways and didn''t fulfill his duties, always throwing his duties onto me and Ernani, he fell into the ambush because he threw us in front as meat shields while he stayed behind without realizing that there was an even more powerful attack from behind. Honestly, his behavior became strange after that. He didn''t go to the closest planet, but to another one that was nearby and invaded the Ascendant Temple, disappearing inside. For some reason, the Commander''s presence was very pleasant and comfortable on the way to this planet. His Aura seemed very different from the past, even though it was still the same, perhaps because of the poison that happened. According to Wendel, who is responsible for this world, the Commander collapsed due to the poison, so he called another Level 3 Ascendant who was fortunately present to lead us in fulfilling the mission. Meeting him was incredible. His beauty was left aside, the fascination of his wings was irresistible. I''ve never seen such beautiful wings. His Aura is also very deep. Looking into his eyes was like getting lost in the vastness of galaxies. I don''t know what his Law is, but I felt my own Ascendant Law vibrate within me when I came into contact with his Aura, his eyes carrying a mystery about themselves that wouldn''t let his figure fade from my mind. After he organized the troops that were under our leadership and completely with troops left by Wendel, he gave his orders not to fight, but to win as if it were a guarantee of our victory. Unlike the pure arrogance of the previous commander, Lord Bond spoke with absolute confidence, the feathers on my wings almost stood on end at that moment, it was difficult to remain calm until he left for the Ascendant Temple. Ernani and I had the other Ascendant Knights finish the preparations, since we know of the enemies'' poisonous powers, preparing items and potions against poison was the right thing to do. As soon as only Ernani and I were alone, I could no longer contain myself, I fell down with weak legs, my wings trembling as I looked at Ernani who looked pale. "He''s amazing..." (me) "He''s scary..." (Ernani) "..." (me/Ernani) We were both surprised by our opposite answers spoken at the same time, that''s when I realized that Ernani looked visibly scared and didn''t understand how he could feel that way around Mr. Bond. "How can you say that, Mr. Bond was much more serious and clearly more powerful than our Commander." (me) "I''m sure he''ll soon start forming his seventh wing, thus entering the path to level 4." (me) "You''re crazy, you always have been... did you see those cold eyes!?" (Ernani) "Just standing next to him fills me with fear, every drop of my blood was frozen and my mind ran wild thinking of ways to escape, I''ve never felt so scared before!" (Ernani) "You''ve always been a coward, that''s why I was able to become an Ascendant and rise to level 2 while you''ve always been stuck at level 2." (me) "You don''t know anything, you were just lucky to be born here and that''s why you have more talent, while I was a survivor of the Conquest Campaigns, you don''t even have survival instincts to use." (Ernani) "Always saying the same thing..." (me) ----------------- 1 hour later. When we were off the planet and back on the star glider heading towards the mission targets, suddenly a message comes in over the communication system, I as the person in charge look at Mr. Bond who nods in confirmation before I give the command. "We''re almost at the mission location, who sent the message?" (me) "Mrs. Barerosa, this is an urgent Level 4 message." (Boris) "..." (everyone) Urgent messages have levels ranging from 2 to 4. Level 2 messages are about mobilizing armies, Level 3 messages are about our quick invasion preparations, and Level 4 messages are defense alerts that I''ve only seen used when powerful creatures threaten our universes. There was also a second alert during the invasion weeks ago that left many injured and dead. "(What''s going on!?)" (me) "Quickly, report the message, be objective when reporting!" (me) "Leader Mavor has returned from his Mission and ordered everyone to be on high alert. All outsiders are prohibited from entering or leaving. They''re also telling us to be careful with certain individuals." (Boris) "Is there any information about them?" (me) "Yes, they are almost all Gods and two Entities, there is also someone reported as a Bringer of Chaos who seems to be of top priority." (Boris) Boris waves his hand revealing images of the individuals reported, but my eyes fell on an image showing the Bringer of Chaos fighting head-on against the Avatar of War, I have met him before. "(What kind of monstrosity can stand up to that!?)" (me) I once saw him face an army of Anomalous Creatures that had invaded, I was seriously injured and was lucky to survive, but I still remember how he arrived and resolved everything in seconds, it was pure carnage. Just thinking that someone could stand up to him is too absurd for me, after that I started looking at the rest of the list since I needed to memorize them all, the others were all Gods or Divine beings, but the last two, the Creatures categorized as Entities, surprised me a lot. "Are you sure about these two!? How can there be two more Entities related to Life and Death!?" (Ernani) "This is all the information we have, it says here that they are marked as maximum danger level along with the Chaos Bringer." (Boris) "Alert everyone to report if any of them are seen or if traces of Divinity are found!" (me) "Stay alert to the alert, but don''t forget the mission, it has priority because it is an immediate problem." (Bond) "When this mission is finished first, we will be able to focus on the alert fully." (Bond) "Did you hear your orders!?" (me) "Yes!!!" (everyone) With everyone returning to work, I notice Mr. Bond''s eyes focused on the alert board, his face trying to mask the concern possibly, he wouldn''t want to be near any of these things and so I can understand the concern everyone is feeling. "(Mr. Bond is incredible, he was the only one who didn''t show any emotion the whole time, he behaves like a true Commander.)" (me) Chapter 1777: Cap 1775: Venomous Snakes Part 1 I didn''t expect Mavor to do things this way, I had my eyes focused on the holographic screen where the photo of most of us were. I fortunately changed my face and appearance, Davoth and his mother are unknown, the Twins are inside Tarzor who is in my shadow still in a dormant state while recovering. But everyone else was exposed, few people saw their faces and I think it''s hard for them to remember, but that''s why I passed this entire message to my Heralds, Saints and Divine Beasts. "(I can''t get to Hades... something is blocking me.)" (me) Even so, I didn''t have time to worry about anyone else, I already warned them and I''m sure those companions of Davoth will help them as soon as they receive this information. I look at the Ascendants around me as I catch myself contemplating their reactions, it was as if we were the monsters, their point of view is not wrong since we are enemies in their eyes, having 2 unknown Entities who are associated with 2 of the strongest Entities must be horrifying in their minds. "Sir, what will we do if we find traces of any of these... individuals?" (Ernani) "We will report immediately and we will act accordingly to the situation." (me) "Sir, those 3 should not be something we can go against, leaving aside the 2 Entities, that individual named Zenos was informed that he won against an Avatar of War." (Barerosa) "I''m sorry to say this, but our forces gathered here would be insufficient." (Ernani) "You are only fearing these three individuals and you are not wrong, the Ascendants fight after being certain of victory, but I never spoke of fighting them, I said to act according to the situation." (me) "I''m sorry I didn''t understand your intentions, my lord." (Barerosa) Barerosa falls to her knees. She is serious in her devotion, perhaps even too much so. Among all the Ascendants here, she is the only one who seems to have a strange admiration for me. In fact, I feel that her eyes become stranger as time passes. I also feel something strange about her. Her Aura and presence are a little different. Her behavior is also very obedient, and it seems more like she is reacting to things around her than acting actively. She is too passive for an Ascendant who should have a tyrannical mentality. This other Ascendant is more normal. Ernani seems like the other Ascendants. His Aura is marked by arrogance, and yet his behavior is to follow the Hierarchy. He listens to my words, even though for some reason he is afraid of me. I can see this fear in his eyes and how he avoids even looking directly at me. I really don''t know the reason for his fear, but it doesn''t matter, he doesn''t seem to doubt my identity, no one here seems to doubt me, the only real danger seems to be Barerosa who is always paying full attention to me. "(Her eyes look a bit like Lilith''s...)" (me) My daughter is a complete madman, she lost herself in insanity even before I found her, even now her mind works by patterns I can''t fully understand, I''m worried about the way this Ascendant looks at me, even though there''s no hostility in her gaze, I can''t predict her mind. "You, what''s your name?" (me) "My name is Boris, sir!" (Boris) "Review the details of this information, see if there''s anything about the location of these individuals." (me) "I''ll do it immediately." (Boris) "When you find out something, pass it on to Barerosa, she''ll let me know if necessary." (me) "I am happy to serve you, Commander." (Barerosa) The Ascendants of level 3 are treated as Commanders leading those weaker than them, those of level 2 are Generals or Knights usually leading groups, those of level 1 are captains or soldiers usually leading only the non-Ascendants, only the 3 Ascendants of Level 4 are Kings or Supreme Commanders in this rigid hierarchy. Placing myself within this hierarchy at such a high rank is risky, I wanted to destroy them all, but with Mavor''s return and these orders, being within their ranks in a position of command can be beneficial. I will use everyone here as my infiltration shield, they will be witnesses to my position, I will carry out this mission to serve as a deception for me, an achievement that others witnessed, this will serve me well, I can even order them to go to places where I would be exposed to seek information. "Sir, we have arrived at the site of the last battle and we are already tracking the enemy''s Aura trails." (Ernani) "This is a trap, they know we are going after them, they have prepared for this, so stay alert." (me) "< Law of the Moon: Lunar Reflection >" (me) One thing I realized more deeply when I talked to Davoth was the fact that the Ascendants have more than one Law, their Laws are branched into smaller Laws, my Law of Eclipse is different, while they do it artificially by creating branches with Laws refined from Essences or Divinities. I did something natural, my Law of Eclipse created branches naturally, like the sun, moon, darkness, light, heat, cold and some others, all of them are Laws weaker than my main Law, that''s why the Ascendants only use their main Laws during combat, but I can do more than them by following a different path. I transformed their artificial path into something natural using chaos as a means, that''s what Davoth wanted, that''s what he planned, that''s why he waited for a Bringer of Chaos to appear before starting his plan. "Sir... sir, what... what are you doing!?" (Barerosa) "..." (Ernani) "This is a technique to use an illusion, this will turn their attack against us to lose." (me) All the Ascendants seemed surprised and some showed a little fear, but the two Level 2 Ascendants showed more exaggerated reactions, Ernani showed terror to the point of his body trembling and Barerosa showed obvious fascination to the point of opening a big smile when seeing the effects of my power spread. My energy spread, drawing Ascendant Runes all over this spaceship, they won''t see the full effects from the inside, but outside another ship further ahead appeared, mirroring this one that enveloped itself in the darkness of space. "(It doesn''t seem like they noticed the difference between my power and theirs.)" (me) This was a test to see if my Law power could be seen through by them, but it seems like that was an unnecessary concern. "(It also seems like there was no resistance from the universe...)" (me) I looked at Barerosa, her Aura showed some different things that I only noticed in her emotional outburst, she seems different from the other Ascendants, I still don''t know why I feel this, but I have to study these differences while using them to mask my presence and identity. Everyone was surprised and still didn''t question much what I did, we continued the journey for a few minutes before Barerosa approached me, her voice cheerful as she knelt down to inform me looking directly into my eyes. "Sir, it seems that the listed enemies could appear starting 1 week from today, other than that we have no information about a specific date or a specific location." (Barerosa) "That''s good, it gives us time to carry out this mission without any more unforeseen events. How many Golems do we have in our possession?" (me) "We have 100 of them, all modified against Poisons, they can heal and Purify our troops." (Ernani) "Ernani and I also acquired poison-resistant items as ordered." (Barerosa) That 1 hour of time I gave them was to prepare according to the Hortensia I had already given before when I met with only Ernani and Barerosa. I gave those orders because they were obvious things to do and to not draw attention. Those preparations would be useless for my previous plan to wipe them all out, but now that I''ve changed my plan, it will serve as proof of my contribution in leading them. "Good job, now stay alert..." (me) Booommmm!!! Before I could finish speaking, an explosion happened in front of us when a large Serpent that seemed to be made of slime appeared surrounded by Serpents with the body part being humanoid except for the head still being that of a snake. The illusion I created broke, generating a ripple that spread the force of the explosion, scattering them. "Ernani, you command the Ascendants and Barerosa will control the Golems!" (me) "Yes, Commander!" (Ernani/Barerosa) "I''ll take care of the big one..." (me) Saying this, the ship opens up at the top like a flower as everyone advances, with my superior speed, I appear in front of the great Serpent who looks at me with pure hatred, I feel something familiar in his Aura. "(This is Yaffe''s power...)" (me) In addition to having realized his possible origin, I also realized something else, this Slime is not his true body, it was a poison armor covering his body. I realized this when he opened his large mouth to me, I could see his teeth and tongue and realized that he was not a slime creature. Another thing I noticed was the mixture of presences, there are hundreds of presences mixed with one in particular, I can feel a single consciousness, however, I also feel traces of sacrifices marking the Soul inside. "Damn Ascendant!!" "I''ll kill you, I''ll kill them, and then I''ll destroy everything!!!" His voice sounded like dozens of overlapping voices and I noticed a concentration of power somewhere nearby, it seems he''s prepared something to destroy long before he dies, he''s trying to buy time until then. "(Huh..?)" (Yaffe) "(So that''s what they wanted power for? How stupid...)" (Yaffe) Chapter 1778: Cap 1776: Venomous Snakes Part 2 "(Huh..?)" (Yaffe) "(So that''s what they wanted power for? How stupid...)" (Yaffe) I was paying attention trying to analyze the great Serpent in front of me when I heard Yaffe''s voice inside my mind, I knew she was involved since I felt traces of her in these creatures, but I didn''t expect them to catch her attention. "(How did you get into my mind?)" (me) "(I''m not in your mind, I''m in Ragnar''s mind, he didn''t even realize that I''m using your connection to spy on you.)" (Yaffe) "< Cursed Poison Wave >" "< Law of the Sun: Curse Consumer >" (me) I wanted to question Yaffe for what he revealed, but the enemy in front of me doesn''t care about my circumstances, the great Serpent''s eyes were shining as a wave of mist emerges from its body as it mirrors itself. The enemies all seemed to get stronger but this only had an effect on the few that were nearby before I reached out my hand creating a Rune of purple fire that wound magic circles around this Rune that starts with just a Spark of purple flame. The cursed fire creates a vacuum sucking up all Curse from the surroundings and with it, the poison was also sucked in confirming my suspicion. Yaffe, even though she is a Serpent, her focus has always been curses, if these idiots are associated with her, then her powers are not poison or at least not entirely about poison. "Poison and Curse... you really have no luck." (me) "(I hope it works...)" (me) I look at the ring on my finger that looks perfect, creating the techniques using the Ascendant Law should be easier and faster now, let''s test it. "< Law of Eclipse: Dagger of the Threshold >" (me) In front of me, what formed was a Rune made of stellar energy before a dagger materialized in front of me, quickly holding these daggers. With a thrust of my wings to the side, I throw myself away before slime tentacles came out of the surface of the great Serpent''s body trying to surround me. I manage to fly between the tentacles, dodging them with relative ease. Even though they were fast, the great Serpent''s control over the tentacles was laughable. They have no precision at all, they are just fast and numerous. I used the dagger whose blade looks more like a fragment of the universe where one can see an Eclipse, then I cut one of the tentacles. That''s when I realized that there was nothing but poisonous slime in the tentacles. There are no muscles, bones or threads. It is directly controlled by the poisonous slime itself. "What do I do about this poison?" (me) The poison itself wasn''t a problem for me, the poison I can produce is much more lethal than this one, neither the curse nor the poison will work on me, but the poison is still spreading and it seems that it will work against the Ascendants, at least the poison of this great Serpent. "(I can''t let them die now that I''ve decided to use them to hide.)" (me) "Damn you! Damn you! Damn you!!!!" "< Poisonous Slash Stream >" "Now that''s a good technique." (me) Suddenly all the tentacles stopped attacking as the great Serpent was enraged at its inability to use these tentacles, then all of them shrank to half their size before all the slime on its body crystallized into the form of armor surrounded by blades. Its large body begins to move at high speed around me, reducing the space where I can move. Unlike controlling something external to the body, this thing decided to use its own body as a weapon, a decision that shows more rationality than I expected. "You shouldn''t have hardened your body." (me) I hold the dagger tightly in my hand, my power of the Law rises, concentrating on the dagger while the Eclipse on the blade seems to spin, emanating more light from its ring. Focusing my mind, I head towards the path that the great Serpent was following. I step forward, quickly appearing in its path. I strike with the dagger, hitting the tip of its snout. Crack! Crack Crack Crack Crack RRRRRSSSSSSSSS!!!!! Its crystal armor breaks where it was struck and using the dagger as a medium, I send a blade of energy that continues to cut from bottom to top along its body, thus destroying most of its crystal armor. "ASCENDANT!!!!" His pain-filled voice carried pure rage, he was mad with rage and ignoring that his armor had been destroyed, he launched himself at me again, this time his jaws wide open full of venom. "< Law of Eclipse: Threshold Cut >" (me) I weakly swing my dagger from top to bottom creating a trail of stellar energy left behind as if I had cut the Universe itself, a line that defines the threshold and separation between two things, then explodes forward at high speed as the great Serpent advanced towards me, its body being split in half vertically. His presence and Aura fades along with his vitality, but I feel something pulling at his Soul, it was for a brief moment, I don''t even understand how I felt something like that, perhaps it is because his Soul is mixed with multiple ones that I could feel the break in the natural cycle as this strange Soul was snatched away. "What was that?" (me) "(The completion of a contract, your Souls are now mine, but you don''t need to worry, I will release your sparks of existence for Reincarnation, I don''t need them in my experiments.)" (Yaffe) "..." (me) "We will have a talk later, but right now I have something to finalize." (me) I look around, with the death of the great Serpent that served as their leader, the other creatures showed no fear or anger, their Auras exploded with pure hatred as their presence became 2 times stronger, their bodies surrounding themselves in a mist filled with curse poison. The curses were sucked into what now became a large sphere of purple flames, my technique still active sucking up all the curse in the surroundings, but the poison still remains. "(Their vitality is dropping drastically, they are burning their lives for more power.)" (me) They started to ignore the damage they were suffering and attack to take the lives of the Ascendants, they ignore the Golems and only attack the Ascendants without caring about their own lives, a true suicidal attack. The power that comes from hopelessness is explosive and ephemeral, but because of that its risk cannot be calculated, some Ascendants were seriously injured and 2 of them died in this attack, Ernani who was leading the troops is managing to defend himself decently, the problem was Barerosa. These creatures are ignoring the Golems she is commanding and going directly against her, many are dying, but they are getting too close to her, other Ascendants are not in a position to help her. "(I can''t lose someone so devoted now, I don''t know if I can deceive someone so easily again.)" (me) "< Law of the Moon: Fragmented Cut >" (me) The dagger''s blade shatters as it slashes against the enemies, dozens are torn to pieces along with some Golems that were too close, but Barerosa is safe once again. The fragmented blades return to me, remaking the dagger''s blade, so I turn to where I felt that pulse of energy from before. I advance towards the planet and feel the distorted space along with the smell of fresh blood, it didn''t take me long to reach the place where I saw a heart of flesh pulsing amidst hundreds of kilometers of flesh covered in blood, an absurd amount of vitality was being consumed by the heart that refined everything into a curse, the Aura of death in the surroundings was used as an ingredient and mixed with poison surrounding the heart. "This is horrible, how do I deal with this?" (me) "Let''s try... yes this can work... I just need to adapt..." (me) "< Law of Eclipse: Star Seal >" (me) I throw my dagger above the area where the heart was pulsating, the Eclipse inside the dagger expands outwards where it separates into a Fragmented Moon and a Purple Sun that take position on two sides around the heart forming together with my position a pyramid that emanates my power of the Law. Space distorts, the powers of the Curse, death, blood, poison and space itself are compressed leaving a vacuum in place while a crystallized pyramid flies to my trembling hands. "I''m glad it worked..." (me) "(If I could use the power of chaos or my Divinity, it would have been easier.)" (me) I could have literally devoured that big heart or maybe turned them into something different, both options would have been easier than sealing it like I just did, that took a lot of effort from me. I look around, what I did caused the acceleration of this planet''s collapse, the Ascendant Laws here don''t have the ability to adapt to such big changes, even if it had already started doing that, what I did sped up the process. "Well, there shouldn''t be anyone here anymore, that blood and flesh came from somewhere... still a shame..." (me) I turn my back and go to where the last enemies were being killed, the numbers too small to pose a risk, so I let the others finish the job while I return to the ship thinking about what I''m going to do with this thing I sealed. As I thought, I saw a barrier being naturally created around that planet, isolating it from the rest, its collapse that should still take hours was accelerated with the Ascendant Laws within it being extracted along with all types of energy until only a piece of useless rock was left. "(Did the universe itself cannibalize the planet that had no salvation?)" (me) "(This is not a universe, that was very automatic and only started after leaving the planet.)" (me) "(It was like an antivirus program isolating an error and correcting it by erasing the area... and now it is rebuilding.)" (me) As I thought, the extracted energies and Laws were being implanted once again in the piece of dead rock, the fragments of the planet coming together once more and starting to spin again, it was a process of terraforming. This was all too systematic to be done by one person, it was a precise automatic process with no delays in any of the processes, something programmed and with that I confirmed that this was not a universe, it was a Universal Golem. Chapter 1779: Cap 1777: Necessary cruelty Pov Barerosa: When the Commander used his Ascendant Law, my heart raced, my own Law was pulsing inside me, it was as if his Law was making my Law of Desire react, but I don''t understand why. His power and presence were so profound that I found myself fascinated until I received his instructions, a brilliant plan to keep us safe while the enemies come out of the darkness without realizing they are jumping on the cutting board. "(Strange... my mind has never wandered so much before...)" (me) Finally I noticed the surroundings, most of the Ascendants look cautiously at our Commander Bond, especially Ernani''s look of fear was strange to me, incomprehensible to the point of irritating me, even so I followed the orders until the moment of the attack. "< Law of Desire: Ascendant Rune >" (me) Following the instructions, I used my Personal Rune to mark all the Golems under my control while Ernani commanded the other Ascendants. The enemies were Serpent men, this is their 49th appearance here, their registered powers are Poison and Curse with a strong focus on magic, I remember reading about them in general reports, but the great Serpent behind them was not in any of the reports I saw in the past. I used my control over the Golems to focus on defense, even though I had adapted all of them to heal and purify wounds or poison, they Arminda are capable of attack and defense by default, in this case I am using them for defense now. With thought I implement a layered perimeter following the offensive defense strategies we were taught, even without saying anything, Ernani recognizes my maneuvers and acts accordingly just as I expected. Half of the Golems separate the enemies, giving our troops openings to attack, and by doing so, our risk decreases significantly. We didn''t need to massacre them, just buy time for our Commander to deal with the greatest threat, the great Serpent. Its power seems to be above mine and it emanates a very strong desire to kill against the Commander. "< Law of Desire: Field of Desires >" (me) I clap my plates together and separate while my wings open, between the words in my hand an Ascendant Rune forms, already creating the magic circle around it in rapid activation. A wave of power spreads with me in the center, taking over almost the entire battlefield. All the enemies stopped in the middle of the attack for a brief moment that didn''t even last a second, even so they were influenced by me, their senses diminish and their minds are more easily distracted. The Golems continue to follow my orders while focusing only on defense with few movements in attacks, mainly focusing on detoxifying the allies. The battle was going as planned, but the enemies were difficult to fight against, they had strong and resilient bodies, normal attacks were doing almost nothing against them, the fight was difficult and yet we were moving towards victory. It was with such positive thoughts that I turned my eyes to the Commander''s battle, his power was incredible, his Law was strange to me, it seemed fundamentally different from the Law of other Ascendants and yet it seemed incredible. Something about him was fascinating to me, the only other time I felt such a great fluctuation in my emotions was when I finally became an Ascendant. "That was close... I need to focus!" (me) "< Law of Desire: Assassin''s Blade >" (me) All my desire to kill crystallizes into a spear at my side that I control remotely. I use the spear to pierce one of the Serpent creatures through the mouth as it was about to release its venom into me. Their bodies may be hard on the outside, but on the inside they are as soft as the fabric of my clothes. My spear pierces its head before I can pull it out. This time I closed my senses to watch the commander. His presence was hindering my concentration. So I focused solely on my duty as in the past. After several minutes of combat, the enemy that was previously close suddenly exploded with violent power. His serpentine tail wrapped around one of my wings, pulling me towards him. My spear collided with his neck but did not go through. In my momentary confusion, his claws pierced my stomach before tearing everything towards the side of my body. I was in pain, but if I had let it affect me, I would have died a long time ago. I concentrated my power in my leg and with a strong spin I threw the enemy forward while I felt the bones in my leg vibrate. He was thrown into the middle of Golems that attacked following my command. Their movements were synchronized, all cutting one after the other at high speed, aiming directly at the same place. Thanks to this, I managed to cut off the enemy''s head. That thing did not remain still, even without its head. It moved towards me for a few seconds before remaining motionless, lifeless, floating in space. The problem was that this wasn''t the only enemy like this, they were all acting the same, they were much stronger and their bodies were even more resistant than the Golems, besides that they were attacking recklessly as if they didn''t feel fear, pain or anxiety. They weren''t trying to dodge our attacks anymore, I couldn''t even concentrate on controlling the Golems to heal the others, dozens of them were coming towards me without caring about the Golems'' attacks. "< Law of Desire: Rejection Pulse >" (me) "< Law of Desire: Sensory Distortion >" (me) Two Runes appear, one in each hand, one of them I use to push away the enemy that tried to bite my wings from the side while the other Rune confuses the senses of the other enemies that were almost surrounding me, but even that only bought me a few seconds of time where I tried to move away only to see them chasing me while ignoring the Golems. His poison was spreading and my body was becoming numb, in addition to that my Law energy was circulating with more difficulty, I couldn''t use my Law Runes. It was when the enemies managed to get past the Golems that I could no longer control so well that it happened, rays of dark light passed through my vision leaving silver trails and all the enemies were shattered, I didn''t even understand what had happened and yet my vision turned directly to the Commander while all those rays of silver light revealed themselves to be shards of dark energy that gathered in the shape of a strange dagger in Commander Bond''s hands. "(He saved me...)" (me) Looking for a brief moment I saw the severed body of the great Serpent and a sphere of purple flames that seemed to be sucking the power of the curses, it must be some kind of Purification technique of his, that''s why I haven''t felt any curse until now. What came next was the cleansing of the last enemies, while they were finishing the cleansing, suddenly the Commander passed by us carrying something in his hands, then there was the fluctuation in the Laws, looking in the direction of a nearby planet I saw signs of a Purge taking place. "(Exactly as I studied, the eradication and dismantling of all error before starting a new construction in its place.)" (me) It was similar to destroying an already damaged house to create a new one in its place, it was a wonderful process that brought out the best in the Ascendants, it was possible to see the interaction of the Laws in the creation of entire Worlds, this was the first time I was seeing this with my own eyes. But for some reason I didn''t feel happy seeing this, the Laws were being used as I imagined, this was an interesting process to see, but the energies being refined under the control of the Laws seemed strange, it seemed too restricted. I felt lingering traces of desire in the vitality being implanted in the destroyed world, a desire that caused me pain as if I heard a scream in my senses. "It has begun, I hope the chosen planet is uninhabited, I wouldn''t like to deal with more refugees so soon." (Ernani) "..." (me) Ernani''s words made me realize where this desire I was feeling on the planet came from, this vitality was being transferred from one of the mining planets to here, I remember reading this in my studies, using a useless planet from the outer rim to maintain a world suitable for our people. "(A sad but necessary thing... I understand, but it still doesn''t make it pleasant.)" (me) "(An unfortunately necessary cruelty...)" (me) "Ernani, seal the bodies of the dead, we need to keep their Ascendant Laws under control, their deaths can still help nurture new Ascendants." (me) "(The problem will be how we''re going to deal with this, my Ascendant Law was more connected to this Planet along with the previous Commander, I''ll have to wait months to return to normal functions.)" (me) ---------------------- Pov Ragnar: I was in a room full of blood, 3 Ascendants covered in demonic marks were lying in front of me. I stand up, waving my hands as a stream of energy evaporates the remaining blood, the Ascendants were unconscious and all were Level 2. "I''m done, you can begin." (me) "Your Demonic power is very pure, impressive for someone who can''t use Demonic Divinity." (Yaffe) "Did it really need to be those 3?" (me) "Yes, look at their clothes, they''re messengers, they know the places we want to find as well as the Ascendants we''ll find there." (Yaffe) "There''s no need to feel depressed, they''re not part of the Ascended people, they''re people converted from other conquered universes, just look at the state of their Souls." (Yaffe) "I see, they''re traitors." (me) "Possibly or experiments, but I think it''s unlikely given their states... so let''s begin." (Yaffe) "< Demonic Curse: Demon''s Birth >" (Yaffe) The bodies of the 3 Ascendants began to tremble, screams and flows of power as well as the Ascendant Laws collided with each other throughout the room, the barrier she raised prevented us from being noticed. Soon all the Ascendants had their bodies torn apart, new creatures were born from within their remains, their appearances exactly the same, their naked bodies covered in blood, they knelt as they began to eat the remains of the bodies they came from in an almost animalistic way. "When they''re done, we can start gathering information. We''ll also have our own informants. Information is power, remember that." (Yaffe) "I know, but I don''t like using cruel means when they''re not necessary." (me) "That''s sweet... but cruelty is always necessary, just know where to apply it." (Yaffe) Chapter 1780: Cap 1778: Potential Void Pov Selene: I was in the underground room of Wendel''s house, outside the Ascendant Temple, around me there were hundreds of spheres of compressed blood, each sphere of blood has hundreds of thousands of drops of blood coming from different individuals. I was meditating, even without using my Divinity, there is no one who understands Blood as well as I do below the Entity Level. What I am studying is something I have noticed since we entered the city, there were two fundamentally different creatures here, but I did not know where this difference was, how it started and why it was making my senses vibrate. "I see... it''s the eagerness... they don''t realize what they have done." (me) I wave my finger and 10 drops of blood come out of 3 different spheres, when I looked closer I realized that they were all from the same lineage, 10 generations of the same family. "(Now I understand what was itching my senses.)" (me) "So you''re Selene...?" (???) "What are you doing?" (???) "..." (me) I look at the young Ascendant who approached, he had 3 pairs of wings and a seventh wing closed discreetly, his appearance was the same as when I saw him next to Mavor, I also talked to Orion about him. "Valius, I didn''t expect to see you here." (me) "Mavor dismissed everyone, he rewarded me generously by helping me reach my seventh wing." (Valius) "You don''t seem happy about your increase in power." (me) "He helped me refine the spirit of 3 planets to achieve this, of course I''m not happy." (Valius) "But you still haven''t answered my question, what is all this?" (Valius) "Research, knowing your enemies is always a good choice, information has always been the greatest weapon for those who know how to use it." (me) I am no longer as reckless as in my youth, I also have many more responsibilities as a Goddess, I cannot afford the luxury of unforeseen events or assumptions, so the more I know about the enemy, the better I will be able to face him. "Wendel collected this blood?" (Valius) "Yes, it seems that collecting blood is part of the Ascendants'' routines to my surprise, he even had all of it stored." (me) "Every Ascendant is a researcher, our Laws are the result of our research, collecting blood does not have much to do with my studies, but there are many types of Ascendants who use blood in their research, whether to a lesser extent or regularly." (Valius) "There are even Ascendants who use living people in their research, the 3 leaders do these things too, that''s why there''s blood collection for sampling." (Valius) "I see." (me) "What did you discover?" (Valius) "Depending on what it is, maybe it would have been better to read the books with the research done in the past." (Valius) "I doubt any research they''ve done can go as deep as I did regarding blood." (me) "What I discovered was a gradual effect on the lineage of their population." (me) "You see." (me) I wave my hand and the 10 drops of blood move as they line up in front of Valius, from each drop of blood the image of a person appears, some are adults, others are old, others are women and even children, of course these are just representations of the individuals when the blood was collected, it does not represent their real ages or their seniority in this lineage. In addition to the images, an Aura emerges from each drop of blood, it was a light Aura and yet complete with the individual''s traces of their mind and Soul still present because it had been so well stored. "Do you feel anything different about them?" (me) "They are Humans, they all seem to have an affinity with each other, probably due to blood connection and they are from the Ascended people." (Valius) "Yes, they are one of the oldest lineages in this sample and the one with the most individuals collected, that''s why it was so useful." (me) "Don''t you feel anything else?" (me) "No, their Auras seem healthy, their Vitality matches their ages and I don''t notice anything else." (Valius) Just as I thought, they don''t notice or maybe they aren''t able to notice, but the 3 leaders are ancient and are founders of the Ascended, even if they can''t notice like I can, they must have been able to see the changes over time. "Tell me, the population of this universe lacks creativity, innovative thinking and a highly rational consciousness almost to the point that emotions are weak in general, isn''t that right?" (me) "Yes, that''s one of the reasons for the stagnation, the environment is so highly controlled and the policies so rigid that the culture doesn''t develop, there''s no reason to invent something if there are no problems to be solved." (Valius) "Exactly, but it''s not just that, is it?" (me) "We bring in immigrants from the conquered Universes to renew the mental state, but with each generation it seems to have less effect to the point that completely emotionless individuals are already born." (Valius) "The more highly rational, the harder it is for these individuals to become Ascendants, more than 95% of the Ascendants are like me, people from a conquered Universe, some were forced to become Ascendants by the experiments of the Leaders, normally reserved for more exotic races." (Valius) "The vast majority, however, become Ascendants because they were traitors since before the Conquest or out of fear after losing their universes, so they merge with the Ascendants." (Valius) "Exactly, you must think that the people who spent generations in this universe are failures, just another one of the failures, right?" (me) "You think that their mental states are the only problem." (me) "Where are you going with this?" (Valius) "The truth is deeper, I realized this by studying the timeline of the bloodlines, they are empty shells, the bloodlines exist to pass the potential from one generation to the next." (me) "A lineage of warriors will be blessed with strong, flexible or resistant bodies with their minds perhaps even possessing a greater capacity for reaction, they will also have instincts to learn to fight much easier than others, growing up in an environment of warriors will only help this latent potential in their bloodlines to awaken more easily." (me) "The same can be said of a lineage of Mages, a lineage of Vampires or a lineage of Artisans." (me) "A lineage carries the potential from generation to generation, even though there are exceptions within the lineage and the awakening of this latent potential can happen to a greater or lesser degree, varying between each individual. The more specific the individuals of these lineages are, sooner or later someone exceptional capable of completely awakening this potential will emerge and perhaps even be able to go beyond this potential." (me) "Most geniuses and talents in any area come from this." (me) "People adapt to the environment, people adapt to what they do, all this adaptation is not lost when the individual dies, it is passed on through their lineage." (me) "This happens because Souls are potential, they are pure potential and just like lineages, they also carry a bit of the potential from one life to the next, a potential that is more difficult to awaken." (me) "Now tell me, Davoth told me that even the Ascendants'' Reincarnation circle is exclusive, isn''t it? Artificially made in their universes." (me) "Yes, it''s not entirely independent, from what I''ve heard it''s more of an appendix linked to the standard Reincarnation circle, but most of the Souls remain here." (Valius) "This happens because many children have presented mental and emotional problems because they were suddenly unable to withstand our universe." (Valius) "So tell me, what happens if a Soul that has been reborn dozens of times in this universe were to be born in the body of one of the oldest lineages of these people, do you have any idea what the common potential of these people is?" (me) "No, but from your words it doesn''t seem like a good thing..." (Valius) He has no idea how bad this is, not for us, but it''s still something that doesn''t begin to suggest what kind of individual he would be, he could be something incredible or a complete aberration. "The potential that these people pass down through their lineage is emptiness... an emptiness that continually grows with each generation and rebirth, an emptiness that they must not even know is there." (me) "They are increasingly hollow inside, so their minds become distorted, uncreative, and their emotions become shallow." (me) "They are as shallow as the Ascendant Laws, they lack purpose and essence..." (me) "Now comes the question, what happens when such an individual awakens his latent potential completely? What will this emptiness bring forth as potential?" (me) "He will try to fill the void... but fill it with what?" (Valius) "Exactly, filling the void is a basic instinct, from there arise all emotions, instincts and desires... love for another person who completes us, hatred for someone completes us, anger for something completes us, envy for someone who has what we do not complete us, the hope of getting something we want completes us and even hunger for something is a way of filling the void of our energies that we spend during the day." (me) "Everyone wants to fill their lives with something, some with love, happiness and friendship while others fall by filling their lives with anger, hatred, greed and so on." (me) "One thing I am sure of is that if this individual exists and becomes an Ascendant, what will happen when his potential awakens?" (me) "..." (Valius) "But how does this help us?" (Valius) "Will knowing all this help our plans?" (Valius) "Indeed it will, Davoth is thinking about changing the Ascendants'' Universes as well as the Ascendants themselves, but he is taking for granted that the population is safe." (me) "Knowing about this void within everyone, we can fill it during the transformation of the universe, a complete rebirth for the entire population will fill this void with something useful." (me) "How would you do that?" (Valius) "I still don''t know, but now that I know about it, it makes it easier to find the solution." (me) "(A craving for something that one doesn''t know exists and doesn''t understand, what kind of thing would that be? What would fill such a great void would be an eternal obsession, an Anomalous creature would surely be born from that...)" (me) Chapter 1781: Cap 1779: Unfortunately he didnt resist In my hands was the pyramid with the sealed heart. I tried to analyze it, but it was extremely simple. It was an amalgamation of curses and poisons. It comes from the sacrifices of millions of lives, and that''s it. There''s nothing complex about it. "(This doesn''t come from Yaffe.)" (me) Yaffe is a scholar in the field of curses. Her poison is something latent to her, not important enough for her to actively use. At least that''s the feeling I get from her. If she had any involvement with it, then she wouldn''t have felt the activation of it until the moment it did. It was something they created using the power she granted them. After realizing all of this and seeing that there was nothing to gain from it, I began to let my mind wander over various subjects until my concentration was interrupted by an Ascendant. "Commander, we''ve finished clearing out the enemies. Would you like to set aside something for your research?" (Barerosa) "No, hand everything over to Wendel to be stored in the Temple upon our arrival, send the wounded to be treated." (me) "Commander, would you like to claim for yourself the Laws of those who fell in combat?" (Barerosa) "No, let your original Commander lay it down when he recovers." (me) "(Of course they won''t recover, I''ll kill him as soon as I arrive, after that these troops will be the perfect smokescreen for me to hide.)" (me) "Level 1 Laws are useless to me, and I have no intention of building up my own forces at the moment." (me) "As you order, I''ll be cataloging everything as instructed and begin our return journey." (Barerosa) "Do so." (me) The customs of the Ascendants are very strict from what I have learned. As the person in charge of this mission, I have the right to all resources found or conquered, even though I have the almost obligatory duty of delivering a reward to the troops. The Laws or Essences are off the list. Only Level 3 Ascendants or higher can decide on these things unless they are on individual missions. I take one last look at the planet being remade. It was horrible to see, but it was still my obligation to see it. Only then can I fully understand it. "Ernani, you must..." (me) So I spent the rest of the trip back going over the mission report. Since it was a report meant to be delivered in detail, I, as Commander and the only one who faced that great Serpent, was obliged to report all of this. Since I had no identity here, I assumed the identity of someone who was already dead, a Level 2 Ascendant who had been on a mission for centuries in another Universe, a Universe that has been being destroyed by Callidora for the past 2 years. Wendel has already taken care of the name change, no one will notice my differences from his since there will be reports of when I supposedly just reached level 3 by refining the Divinities of some Gods into Ascendant Laws, for a completely false story this is quite surprising and easily plausible. Writing the report along with mine about my arrival was not difficult, in fact the report of this mission will help me to be less visible and my identity to be more civil, it seems that these Ascendants fell from the sky like a big and beautiful smokescreen, thank goodness I didn''t kill them all. The trip continued and the report was very boring to write, it was too detailed and formatted in a very specific way. -------------------- When I finally arrived, I found Wendel waiting for me, he bowed to me, then led everyone to the mansions where they slept while I went to the basement where my mother was surrounded by blood spheres. Seeing that she was busy, I waved to Wendel who led me to another room where that Level 3 Ascendant was still chained up. "Is there a problem if I finish him off?" (me) "I don''t think so, so feel free." (Wendel) "I won''t waste my power, so come here." (me) I pull him by the chains before stopping in front of me then I bite his neck drinking his blood while sealing his Laws using my blood still inside his living body that in a few seconds becomes immobile like a mummy. "His blood tastes horrible." (me) "That''s because of the Laws, our flesh and blood becomes contaminated by the Laws, even our Souls and minds are affected, those with weak will even experience behavioral and personality changes." (Wendel) "< Anomalous Curse: Flesh Corrosion >" (me) I draw in the air using my Anomalous power, I don''t need to worry about anything since this will always be a rejected power and would never be associated with an Ascendant, then from the magic circle a purple energy condenses into particles that under my control sink into his body that begins to dry up while he still struggles in his chains. "Are you going to say you didn''t know about the Curse?" (Wendel) "Exactly, not even they knew about it, everyone only noticed the poison and with that I will have the perfect excuse to get rid of him." (me) "While we wait, I must tell you something that Selene discovered." (Wendel) ------------------ I was inside the Ascendant Temple when those two entered, they were both healed and wearing new clothes, it had only been 2 or 3 hours since we arrived, but their Auras still showed some weakness, Ernani''s Aura in particular still showed signs of poison. "Why haven''t you treated the poison yet?" (me) "I have already treated it and left some of the poison for my research, I use the Law of Fear, no research I do on others is as effective as the ones I do on myself." (Ernani) "If that is your decision, I will not interfere." (me) "My lord, to what do we owe your call." (Barerosa) As always, while Ernani remains cautious with me, Barerosa even bows slightly in respect before speaking, so I point to the corner of the room where a skeleton emitting clear Curse trails was lying on an altar, it was a skeleton with 3 pairs of wings. "Your previous Commander did not resist, his poison was cured, but we did not know about the curse, it seems that it exploded before we returned and by the time it must have been the death of the great Serpent that was the trigger of the Curse, fortunately he was isolated to rest, so no one else was affected." (me) "He unfortunately did not resist." (me) "What happened to his flesh and blood?" (Ernani) "It rotted before dissolving, but I fortunately arrived in time to seal your Law in his body." (me) "What do we do now?" (Ernani) "I know what we should do..." (Barerosa) "If it''s not an inconvenience, my lord, could we continue under your care?" (Barerosa) "..." (Ernani) "Do you both want this?" (me) "..." (Ernani) "Really, Ernani...?" (Barerosa) "Yes... we both do... sir..." (Ernani) "Then I will permanently take over your troop, you both report directly to me, we will use this world as a base until that planet is ready." (me) "Yes, sir!" (Ernani/Barerosa) Ernani was clearly not happy about this, but I couldn''t care less about it, I knew Barerosa would take the initiative at this point, she had been quite clear with her adoration for me so far, Ernani also had no valid reason to reject her other than her fear of me without logical basis. "(Everything is going according to plan.)" (me) -------------------- Pov Davoth: Entering the Temple, I went straight to the main hall, Nala joining me walking beside me, Hades coming right behind. Entering the Temple, I went straight to the main room where I found a crystal column with a silhouette inside, Divine power takes up all that space while the silhouette shines brightly before a figure came out of the Crystal. Her blond hair, 5 pairs of golden wings of pure energy and bright golden eyes emanate holiness. "How good to see you in person, Fallen from Grace." (Urd) "I don''t know if good is the right term, Unknown Goddess." (me) She likes to poke where it hurts, she can''t help but tease even when we should be on the same side. "Why did you call me here?" (me) "I want to show you something." (Urd) "..." (me) She touches my forehead with a finger, what she transmitted to me, were not images or even information that could be understood by a normal mind, they were senses of Ethereal Level that reveal 3 voids in a field of power of intrigued Laws. Just feeling this made me sweat, everything I tried to avoid was happening, all my plans would have to be done faster. "When did it start?" (me) "A little over 1000 years." (Urd) "That doesn''t make sense, it was supposed to have more time, we should have another 25000 years at least!" (me) "Vecna''s experiments, they accelerated the process without realizing it and when one of them appears..." (Urd) "The road is set." (me) "Yes, I tried to track him, but I only discovered 2 of them, the firstborn was not found." (Urd) "Did he die?" (me) "No." (Urd) "The other two?" (me) "One of them is trapped, her awakening has been in progress for 1 year." (Urd) "The last one became an Ascendant, she is a few centuries old, but she is the youngest, her awakening should still be..." (Urd) Suddenly Urd''s expression changed, her gaze turned in one direction as if she was seeing something invisible, but I am sure her senses must be picking up something formless, soon her serious expression became confused as she turned to me. "What happened?" (me) "The last one has entered the first stage of awakening." (Urd) "..." (me) "If it is not too much, I would like to have the context of this conversation." (Hades) "Follow me and I will inform you, it seems that another change in events has begun." (Nala) Chapter 1782: Cap 1780: New Orders! Pov Selene: "Let me get this straight..." (me) "You want me to become an Ascendant?" (me) "I need someone I can trust by my side to talk to, more than one if possible, you''re the only one available here." (Zenos) "I won''t abandon my Divinity, you should know that, so what are you planning?" (me) "You can create a clone and seal your body as blood inside it." (Zenos) "If I can do it using the power of blood, then you can do it a thousand times better." (Zenos) "Just make this clone an Ascendant, plant a Law inside as if you were using Essence to create a Divine Weapon." (Zenos) "That''s... possible." (me) Using the power of the Law along with a soulless body to forge an Ascendant Weapon following the means of creating a Divine Weapon, that''s crazy, but it seems possible and even easy to accomplish. "I''ll need a blood-related Ascendant Law, I''ll also need the fresh body of an Ascendant." (me) "I already have everything ready, one of the dead Ascendants had the Law of Slaughter as its main one and had two other Laws that he was refining to advance to Level 2 or at least take the first step." (Zenos) "Among them is the Law of Blood and the Law of the Sword." (Zenos) "That seems possible, I won''t even need your power to accelerate, I can just create a shell and turn my true body into blood, it would be like a mirror of my body, of course that leads to other problems..." (me) I''m not sure if I understand the Ascendant Laws, but it should be correct to assume that I need a Soul, this could still be a bad situation, unless I do it differently. "I could also create a purely Ascendant Bloodline, it would be easier to control and I could connect the Law with the bloodline, that way I could maintain my Divinity without problems and use my body." (me) "Is that possible? What will I need?" (Zenos) "Only what I already asked for, and also something to help me wield the power of the Law." (me) As a Goddess, I have no illusions of being able to wield a power so opposite to Divinity, I need something to control my Law for fighting or other situations, it will even serve for my safety. "I can make something similar to this ring, it won''t be the same, but it should work." (Zenos) "I apologize for interrupting, but we have a problem!" (Wendel) "See this message." (Wendel) [ You have received a new mission. An Anomalous Creature has invaded our territory and must be found, the creature is recognized as Humanoid and has features of beastmen from the Bear tribe, there is a strong chance that it is a creature receiving orders from an Entity due to the fluctuations of the Law during its sighting. ] "A new mission, but how did they already send a new mission!?" (me) "That''s not the only problem, is it?" (Zenos) "No, the creature they portray is possibly an Avatar and being so direct in their approach, then there is only one possible Entity among the enemies of the Ascendants." (Wendel) "The Entity of Nature... that would explain its way of acting, it seems to be a trap, it is attracting the Ascendants and they know it." (Wendel) "What does that mean?" (me) "They must want something, there must be more people participating in this mission or it could be one thing... it could be something else..." (Wendel) "A hoax..." (Wendel) Wendel suddenly seemed to have thought of something and his eyes became frightened, as if by reflex he ran his fingers over a silver ring with golden wings engraved on it, a beautiful and simple ring, but I felt the sacred power of that ring, it was extremely tenuous, even so there was no way to escape my Goddess senses. -------------------- Pov Samara: I was next to Hinata as we entered a bar, my form was that of a White Elf woman with some scars on her body with the arms of a man twice my size around my body, this man was Hinata who might seem to be not paying attention to the surroundings, when in fact he was opening his eyes all over his body in blind spots from everyone''s view. "Please hide your teeth." (me) "Sorry..." (Hinata) "Speak in a deeper voice." (me) As we passed everyone, I warned Hinata of the things she should pay attention to, and as we did so we entered a hidden room where a bunch of tentacles squeezed into humanoid clothes, its head looked just like a large octopus. "What do I owe the great Fallen Saint being in my presence to?" (Traveling Merchant) "Stop with the excuses, you shouldn''t be here, the Eternal Merchant holds the trade partnership with the Ascendants." (me) "Ohh... I didn''t know that the envoy of Hell would know so much about us." (Traveling Merchant) "I sensed you from the moment I arrived, a customer will always know where to find you, won''t they?" (me) "Tell me, how can you be here!?" (me) "Since you asked, I can answer for a price, would you be interested?" (Traveling Merchant) "He looks... tasty...." (Hinata) Hinata at some point got close to him, escaping even my senses, a duplicate of her body appeared behind the Traveling Merchant, her large body opens like the Infernal Roses, her flesh opens into petals full of teeth that try to wrap around a possible victim, but she chose the wrong target. The merchant doesn''t even move from his spot, he takes out something that looks like a sphere and throws it into Hinata''s jaws, who closes her jaws as the copy next to me disappears. "Yummy..." (Hinata) "Meeting such a distinguished individual is my happiness, but I will ask you not to cause any confusion during negotiations." (Traveling Merchant) "This little ''sweet'' was something forged by Necromancers, consider it a gift for meeting each other." (Traveling Merchant) "You already knew I was coming, you''ve been here for me from the beginning and not for the Ascendants" (me) "A merchant like me should know how to promote his business, especially to old customers like you." (Traveling Merchant) He didn''t come here empty-handed, if he did so much to get my attention, then he has something I''ll want to buy. Merchants always have something irresistible for those who meet them, leaving without buying anything is an insult to them as well as something that hurts their pride. "First tell me how much you''re paying for the item you''re selling." (me) "I want a Dragon Seal from you." (Traveling Merchant) "A reasonable price, what''s the item you''re selling?" (me) "Information." (Traveling Merchant) "Will it be useful?" (me) He smiles at me without answering directly, but I know it will be useful, they are manipulators by default, yet they never lie. "Very well, I agree." (me) "It''s not your deal I need, but the one who controls you." (Traveling Merchant) "He was your target, you just used me to get to him, the information was something you used just to bridge the gap, wasn''t it?" (me) He smiles once more, he doesn''t answer, but his actions are a tacit response to my question. ------------------- Pov Zenos: I enter the room with Selene behind me, her wings were a pair of red wings as well as her hair and eyes, her Aura filled with the power of the Law. I found Wendel, Ernani and Barerosa waiting for me as soon as I entered, but Barerosa''s eyes were not on me but on my mother behind me, fortunately her face and body are different, she is in a childish form even younger than my own appearance, as if she were a child around 7 or 8 years old. Her behavior and bearing are still mature as well as her eyes full of life experience speaking volumes of her age, all of this causes a certain incongruity with her current appearance. "My lord, who would that be behind you?" (Barerosa) "This is Morgana, she is a recent Ascendant, I was interested in the process and did it with her who was my assistant in my time away." (me) "I''m not very familiar with the Ascendant customs, but regardless of all that, I serve only Lord Bond." (Morgana) "(At least stop laughing like you''re telling a joke, can''t you at least act?)" (me) My mother is trying, but she''s clearly terrible at acting, something I didn''t expect. I trusted her too much because she''s someone so old, but I forgot that age doesn''t translate into being good or not at something. "Morgana will serve as my assistant, in the hierarchy she''s below the 3 of you, but she will serve only me, being by my side at all times." (me) "As you wish!" (Wendel/Ernani) "..." (Barerosa) "We have new orders, this time Wendel will go on the mission and it will be just us in this room, we will also take Boris with us for his unique support talents for this mission." (me) "I already informed him before coming here, he doesn''t know everything, but I needed him to make the preparations while we''re in the meeting." (me) "Sir, will we be leaving today?" (Ernani) "We''ll be leaving as soon as the meeting is over." (Wendel) "Wendel was the first one who received the mission and passed it on directly to me." (me) "(She''s reacting more than I thought.)" (me) Barerosa was more silent than usual, her gaze becoming cold as she focused on my mother, she clearly has some issues, but that''s good, I can use this to make her fall more into those feelings and cling to me more. Chapter 1783: Cap 1781: Several incidents Pov Ragnar: In the house where we were, several Ascendants were holding hands, an energy flowing through everyone, their Auras mixing more and more before an Aura between them became stronger. Seconds later, all the Ascendants left the room, leaving only this Ascendant behind. The energy materialized around him, creating clothes. He approached Yaffe, touching his forehead before also leaving the room. Yaffe was in a trance for a few seconds before smiling broadly. "Where is it?" (me) "There are many, the closest one is on this planet, just like Wendel warned." (Yaffe) "Shall we invade?" (me) "No, at least not yet. I''m going to plant spies in all the research sectors. As soon as you start your plans, I''ll act by collecting all that information before destroying all the places." (Yaffe) "That fulfills our part of the deal. Now you must take care of your part." (me) "Don''t worry, as long as it''s not an Entity personally acting, I''ll take care of everything, but only until the completion of their plans." (Yaffe) "Any information you consider useful in what you discovered?" (me) "Yes, it seems that the number of attacks against the Ascendants has been increasing with each passing month, all the Ascendants have been carrying out missions to eradicate their aggressors." (Yaffe) "Who would that be?" (me) "That''s the thing, their races, powers and everything else are different, but the Ascendants seem to believe that there is some kind of reunion between their enemies." (Yaffe) "But you don''t believe that, do you?" (me) "No, and neither do the Ascendant leaders, the dates of this increase in attacks seem to coincide with the attack on your friend Luci, since then the Ascendants have been trying to fight against more and more enemies without end, they are not trying to solve the problem." (Yaffe) "This doesn''t make sense..." (me) BAAAAMMMMMM!!!! GGGGGGRRRRRR!!!!! Suddenly a loud explosion happens outside and we also watch, that''s when I saw the rift open and a large creature come out near the planet''s atmosphere, it was a creature with the lower part similar to a centipede and the upper part of the body was a beast covered in Insect exoskeleton with two large thin extremely long claws, its appearance was horrible. "What is this thing...?" (me) "An Avatar of the Curse... one of the weakest, but I don''t understand why he''s here?" (Yaffe) ------------------- Pov Nix: "You need to calm down!" (me) "No! I just need to have my hands squeezing his neck!!!" (Adella) Adella can''t calm down, but at least she''s keeping her Aura under control perfectly, the question is what will happen when she meets this person, she didn''t explain things correctly, but clearly this person must belong to her universe before becoming a Divine Beast. "Wait!" (Adella) "What is it?" (me) "..." (Adella) She didn''t need to answer me, I could feel it, the planet that was our destination was emitting an abnormal energy and the Laws around it were in chaos, the presence of death was too great making everything worse. It took me a few seconds to make comparisons in my mind, I had encountered many types of strange creatures and situations since the master made me his Familiar, so it didn''t take long for me to understand what was happening. "Ghosts... probably too many to emit an Aura of Death so strong that it eclipses the planet itself." (me) "Exactly, but that shouldn''t be possible here, something is wrong, the Ascendants keep everything in strict order, Davoth spoke about it." (Adella) "We can''t go there, whatever it is, it will draw the attention of the Ascendants and we can''t fall in front of their eyes, not now." (me) "I''m not leaving without him!" (Adella) "Then how about stopping at a nearby planet, we can see what happens to that planet while I inform the master." (me) "Okay." (Adella) "Let''s go to that one, by the expanse of green there should be many forests, even if we are discovered we can escape for a while." (me) I point my finger at a nearby planet, it was a beautiful mix of green and blue, like a giant jewel, but it was also clearly very artificial, this planet was either created to have this aesthetic beauty or it was remodeled to do so, whichever of the two options is correct will still be disgusting to me as a Spirit. "Let''s find a city and stay among the people, I''ll inform my master in the meantime." (me) -------------------- Pov Zenos: We were all on a smaller and faster special-use ship, its use is restricted most of the time because it causes interference with the Ascendant Laws of Space, but this time its use was allowed, thanks to that our travel time was cut in half. There were only 6 Ascendants who were going, this included me and my mother who were passing as Ascendants, we were all going on this mission, but all 5 would actively participate, Boris was the pilot of the ship and the one responsible for intelligence. "Barerosa, your files speak of your extensive experience with the Golems. Can you modify them in one day?" (me) "Depending on what you want to accomplish, yes sir." (Barerosa) "I want to amplify their sensory capabilities." (me) "Our next mission is not about combat, but rather an investigation. We are few and the Golems can help if they are properly modified." (me) "I can improve them a little, but the sensory part is too complex for me to do that with everyone." (Barerosa) "We have more than a day of travel. How many can you modify in that time?" (me) "I can get 10... maybe 13." (Barerosa) "Then do it. If you need help, ask for Ernani and Wendel... Golems are not one of my specialties and Morgana would hinder more than help due to her lack of knowledge." (me) "With their help, I can safely get more than 20." (Barerosa) "You heard me, so don''t waste any time." (me) "Yes, Commander!!" (Wendel/Ernani/Barerosa) I see the three of them leaving the main cabin, we have more than 60 Golems on the ship, if 1/3 of them can be used like this it will be better, but that''s not why I made this request. "(She hates you, do you think you''ll be able to direct her?)" (me) "(Yes, she''s more emotional than I expected, but her desires are too obvious.)" (Mother) "(But why are you so focused on her?)" (Mother) "(There''s something different about her, I don''t know exactly what it could be, so I intend to keep her around.)" (me) "(Lie, you''re just curious and you''re getting carried away again.)" (Mother) I was talking mentally to my mother when a wave of energy passed through all of us, making the ship tremble, this wave of energy had something I recognized very well, Anomalous Power. "Sir, multiple Anomalous Creatures detected and in combat with Ascendants, they request support." (Boris) "I want to know more about the enemies before interfering, tell me their affinities, power and numbers." (me) "They are Magic Weavers, their power is at the level of Level 3 Ascendants and there are more than 8 of them, Ascendant bodies are scattered nearby and there are still 2 fighting, all of them are Level 3." (Boris) "Tell them we''re interfering, have the Golems collect the bodies and help the wounded while I go down to fight." (me) "Morgana, coordinate with Boris." (me) "Yes, my lord." (Mother) "(Another attack, what''s going on here, things are super chaotic.)" (me) I was realizing that something big was happening, something that maybe Davoth didn''t expect or something that no one knew about. Since my birth I''ve been involved in more trouble than I''m proud to say and so I have this instinct when things are about to go terribly wrong, which for me is almost always. "(Weavers of Magic, I got a little curious...)" (me) -------------------- Pov Ibuki: I didn''t expect to see what''s in front of me, the ceiling of this place blew outwards leaving things very clean inside, but there was no one alive. "Look at all this, they are all Level 1 Ascendants, their wings are gone, they were cut off by something." (Erica) "Not only that, look at the 4 cages, they were not just destroyed, they were cleanly cut and whatever was inside was released." (Diana) "There is nothing on the planet out of the ordinary..." (Kira) "What happened here...?" (me) We came here to learn more about the Ascendants, more specifically their research, even without using our Divinities, Kira can still gather information very well with her skill and experience, Diana can fight at high speed and has instincts to prevent unexpected situations, Erica is very intelligent and studious in several areas with a great focus on magic, I am a hunter capable of distinguishing situations and tracking targets while creating traps very well. The four of us together can do a lot, so Zenos left it up to us to investigate more about the Ascendant research. He doesn''t want any normal research, he wants to know their research methods, he wants to understand how they think. That''s why we went straight to the closest research site on the same planet we were on. Wendel told us the approximate location without knowing where it was. He didn''t even know what kind of research was being carried out or who was responsible for the research and those involved. "Can you feel it?" (me) "Yes, traces of chaos power, possibly a cutting weapon, but I don''t know exactly which one." (Kira) "It''s not a spear, but even the laws were cut..." (me) "It seems like it happened several days ago, but it doesn''t seem like anything strange happened outside of here or Wendel would have reported it." (Diana) Chapter 1784: Cap 1782: Laughable attempt It didn''t take long to reach the battle site, it was mere seconds and our presence had already been felt from afar, suddenly the ship stopped on the way trapped in invisible webs, invisible to the eyes of others. "(Webs made from the flow of magic itself.)" (me) In my eyes, the eyes of someone strongly connected to natural powers and possessing the power of Chaos, I could see the webs serving as a conduit for magical power to the point of disrupting the power of the Law associated with magic in the surroundings. "You know, I didn''t expect this bad luck to be so great to work here." (me) "< Anomalous Magic: Arcane Spider Nest >" Suddenly more strands of webs appeared, the space became more confusing and the Ascendant Laws were becoming more distorted, it was as if this large open space amidst the stars became a closed and claustrophobic cave. "A truly interesting power, a truly enviable magical control." (me) There were eight of them, according to the report, looking around it didn''t take long for two to show themselves, the Magic Weavers were strange creatures their bodies weren''t exactly spiders, they were like a centaur. The lower parts of their bodies looked like a spider, their large rear had beautiful crystals and a long crystal tail similar to a scorpion, where the head should be revealed a humanoid upper body, they had dark skin and blue magical circles drawn on their body, their eyes had no eyelids and there were no irises either, they were dark red orbs. Behind their backs a second pair of ethereal arms made of pure magical power, they have no hair, nose or ears. "Really interesting..." (me) I could feel the magical power emanating from their bodies, it was so concentrated that it almost materialized as energy rays running across the surface of their bodies, their Auras are basically pure magical power, they are creatures truly specialized in magic. "Ascendant, you shouldn''t have come here, go back and we''ll leave..." "< Law of Eclipse: Field of Penumbra >" (me) Suddenly a dark mist emanates from my wings while a Rune of Law forms on the back of my right hand, the power pulsing within me tries to break free, my Divinity wanting to claim the space being taken as mine. "(It seems that Field-type techniques have some bad reactions... they activate certain basic instincts...)" (me) "What did you do!!!???" "I...? I didn''t do anything wrong... I just removed all magic from this area so we could have a calmer conversation." (me) "< Eclipse Law: Shadow Jailers >" (me) "< Eclipse Law: Seal of the Cursed Sun >" (me) "Damn you!!!!" The thing is, there were no shadows in space, that would only be true if I didn''t exist, my Shadow is a portal in itself to both my Divine Realm and Tarzor, it doesn''t matter if I''m in a place devoid of light or completely illuminated, the shadow is always there. "What are those things!!!" "Run, get away FAST!!" Shadows extend from me in all directions, stretching and widening while taking ghostly forms, there were dozens of them that cling to the sharp legs and scorpion tails of the Magic Weavers, they try to resist, their lower bodies are quite resistant and strong, but clearly their pure focus on magic left them lacking in other areas without knowing how to make proper use of their bodies. "I can''t let go!" "Help me!!" Each of them was trapped by the dark entities that were immune to physical damage due to being ethereal, the downside of the Magic Weavers'' Auras being so purely magical was their inability to even use their Auras right now, all of them were dragged into the shadows, that included one who was hiding in space, I felt his presence because of the killing intent he emitted towards me. "I''ll go...!" When everyone was dragged into the shadows, they returned to me sinking into my shadow once more, I still don''t know any original techniques with the powers of the Ascendant Law, but adapting my techniques to the Ascendant Law seems to be a fairly easy path. The Ascendant Law is purely about comprehension and understanding, as someone who already knows these techniques I can simply adapt everything with relative ease, even so I think I still need a technique that makes more comprehensive use of the power of the Eclipse Law and not just rely on recycled techniques. "Sir, we''ve already finished collecting the corpses." (Boris) "..." (me) I glance at Boris and then at the golems behind him carrying the Ascendant Corpses as well as parts of the corpses. "Thank you for rescuing us..." (Ascendant A?) "Thank you for saving us, we were ambushed on the way, we didn''t expect to lose so many because of an ambush!" (Ascendant B?) "Don''t worry, we couldn''t let enemies inside our territory." (me) "Boris, take the bodies inside, seal them if your Laws are still in their bodies." (me) "Yes, Commander... I bid you farewell." (Boris) Boris walks past with the Golems, my eyes wander over them before focusing on the two in front of me, their bodies were damaged, but only one of them was wearing armor that was also damaged, their bodies were full of bruises and open wounds, one of the wings of one of them was even broken and hanging down trembling. "You know, they didn''t seem interested in me, even though I''m also an Ascendant, they were very focused on you guys." (me) "We were in charge of a negotiation, they appeared out of nowhere after the negotiation, fortunately the merchandise was taken away because it was of importance." (Ascendant A?) "I see..." (me) "How about I accompany you guys...?" (me) "We appreciate your help." (Ascendant B?) "My name is Bond..." (me) I extend my hand as I introduce myself with a smile on my face, the armored Ascendant also extends his hand as he smiles slightly before shaking my hand. "I''m... ghuhh!!" (Ascendant B?) "Sorry, that was the wrong hand... hahaha..." (me) "< Spear of Greed: Life Steal >" (Ascendant A?) "Sorry... but it''s already too late for you guys." (me) "Aaahhhh!!!" (Ascendant A?) The armored Ascendant who shook my hand was met with the Law Rune in my hand passing into his hand, a purple sun symbol lighting up taking the place of the Rune in his hand as his arm was crushed by itself, his bubbling blood lighting up and soaking purple as it flowed from his wounds. The other Ascendant reacts late because he was caught off guard by my attack, a spear emerges from inside his mouth which opens abnormally, the spear flies directly at me, but I throw the thing that looks like an Ascendant in front of me, his body still being slowly crushed from the inside out did not allow him to resist, the spear pierced the side of his body passing through his shoulder on the other side before a flow of vital energy was sucked into the spear which sent it to the other individual posing as an Ascendant. But it was too late, the spectral shadows appeared behind him once more, but this time they did not hold the enemy, their dark arms pierced his chest, wings, neck and head before he realized what had happened, his final scream was loud and short as was his life that faded away. The spear that was still absorbing the Armored man''s Vitality no longer had anywhere to send that Vitality, but it continued absorbing and storing it until he died, I just watched as he was not even able to scream with his body being crushed, burned and now sucked dry of the rest of his life. "How did you know?" (Mother) "The wings had no Law, their Auras were not perfect either, but they connect with the environment." (Me) "I found several suspicious things, but lastly I noticed that both of them had a mark on their necks, when I noticed that I instinctively knew that it belonged to an entity, it carries traces of what must be the Concept, I just don''t know which one." (me) "Now their Souls... were pulled at the exact moment of their deaths, that mark on their necks shone at that exact moment, so their Souls must have been claimed." (me) "It was a laughable attempt to deceive me, it was almost hard to contain my urge to laugh at them." (me) Everything about them was suspicious, the bodies around them, they all had the same mark on their necks, there was also something wrong with their Aura after they died, there was no sign of the power of the Law, that was clear to me, their Auras were slowly changing and no longer resembling that of the Ascendants, whatever technique they used, after death it was disappearing. Those two would probably try to kill us, just as I attacked them unawares, they would probably try to attack as soon as they entered the ship, perhaps wanting to confirm if there was anyone else inside. The murderous intent deep in their eyes could not be completely hidden, not from me who has walked amidst life and death dangers since birth. After seeing these Ascended forces, my mind wandered to the Magic Weavers again, the way they behaved from the beginning was strange, and cautious. "They also didn''t attack or try to do anything before I interfered with them." (Me) "Are you talking about those creatures from before?" (Mother) "Yes." (Me) My mother exchanges a look with me, her childish appearance was very strange to see, but even so her eyes seemed to see right through me as I hear her voice in my head. "(You didn''t kill them, did you?)" (Mother) "(Of course not.)" (Me) I smile at her as I answer, I admit that my intentions in arresting them weren''t exactly good, but now I find myself wondering if they are innocent and if I should talk to them before I do something I''ll regret. I sigh "Let''s go back, there''s still a mission to accomplish..." (Me) Chapter 1785: Cap 1783: Starting the Invasion Inside the ship I went straight to where the bodies were, the ship was not very big compared to the last one, if the other one was an ocean liner, this ship was now a medium-sized ship with 2 floors, of course the space inside was 3 times that size due to the changes in the Space Law. I entered one of the rooms where Boris was finishing undressing the corpses and the Golems were lining up the body parts. I approached a body, first checking its wings, just as I imagined, there were no traces of the Law''s power in the wings, in fact there were no muscles or nerves to move the wings, it was just flesh, bones and feathers. "A complete farce." (me) "Morgana, what is the true race of these creatures?" (me) "< Blood Law: Blood Assessment >" (Morgana) "Sir, shouldn''t we call the others?" (Boris) "No, our mission has been delayed long enough, this problem has been solved, go back to your place and get us to the mission destination." (me) "As you command, Commander." (Boris) I watch him leave before my hand stops its technique and approaches me, his face serious before he starts talking. "They are mostly Humans and there are also some Elves, but their blood has been modified, their bodies altered, this is not their real appearance." (me) "This is really being a mess..." (me) -------------------- Hours later, I was with my eyes closed in the main hall of the command room, my mind becomes calm as I let my mind wander using a meditation technique. While I was in meditation I started to connect everyone, going through each connection, no matter how much we give up, I can still reach them, they all tell me things. When I opened my eyes I was even more confused with everything that was happening, I couldn''t reach Hades, he seemed to be somewhere protected, but I still managed to reach the others, discovering several chaotic cases everywhere. When I opened my eyes again, I see my mother standing in front of me every time I look at her tiny body, I feel strange thinking about her true form, I can''t accept that my mother seemed even younger than me. Boris was still in the room while those three were still missing organizing the Golems. "(Were you trying to reach the others?)" (Selene) "(Yes, it seems that a lot of things have been happening...)" (me) I start telling her things, time seemed to stop for a few hours while we talked mentally. "Sir, we have reached our destination." (Boris) While I was busy with my mental conversation, Boris appears, he also hands me something, a bracelet that I had heard about from Wendel, a standard communication item of the Ascendants, something recently created that allows a small group to communicate and track each other. It seems that these were new measures created months ago because of several incidents that have been happening, these bracelets release a pulse when their user dies, they also cannot be removed or changed, only the Ascendant who put it on can remove it. A difficult item to produce that only Level 3 Ascendants have access to. "Let the others know..." (me) "Morgana, you come with me." (me) "As you wish, Commander." (Mother/Boris) I watch Boris leave to warn the others while I myself look at the information on the screen about the planet in question, it was a large Golem, a Golem that was not made to move or anything else, it exists as a replacement for the planet''s spirit, just another one of the Ascendants'' experiments, a way to create artificial planets. "(That''s very interesting.)" (me) The ship was descending in the parent''s orbit heading directly to the nearest Ascendant Temple, I knew I would find a level 3 Ascendant there, so I tried to be cautious in preparing myself for the worst case my identity was discovered. As the ship landed, I finished navigating the mission being shown on the screen once more, when the doors opened I came across an unknown Level 2 Ascendant. "Where is the leader of this place!?" (me) One of the things I learned was the basic arrogance of the Ascendants, when an Ascendant is on a mission in another region, he should meet and be welcomed by Ascendants of the same level, which is not happening here. ------------------ 1 day later. "I didn''t expect that..." (me) "No one noticed exactly because they were from the common population." (Barerosa) "That''s no excuse, there are 2 billion missing in 6 months on this planet alone, whose population is 10 billion." (me) "We also have the number of Ascendants, there are 100 of the level 2 Ascendants as well as 5 level 3 Ascendants." (Ernani) "In other words, 1/5 of the total population disappeared along with all the Level 3 Ascendants and half of the Level 2 Ascendants." (me) "Something doesn''t make sense, why take them alive?" (Wendel) "How do you know they''re alive?" (Morgana) "Because of the Laws in this world, if something had happened to even one of these Ascendants, people would have noticed the change in that specific Law, such a large number of Ascendants could lead to the destruction of this planet." (Barerosa) We were all gathered in a room in the Ascendant Temple, like all the Level 3 Ascendants, I who came because of the mission assigned to me ended up becoming the boss in this damn place once again. My mother could barely help but smile at my frustrated face, to make matters worse the remaining Ascendants seemed to be afraid that they would be the next to disappear, the atmosphere in this place was gloomy, which was nothing to worry about. I would kill all the Ascendants in this damn place. I''m not their friend and according to the reports, they all used people in their experiments. Among the various pieces of information placed in front of me yesterday, there was even a summary of most of the Ascendants'' research. After seeing that, I would have loved to punch each of their faces through, something truly horrible that I was forced to check for hours while the others began the mission. Right now, everyone was sharing their discoveries. In the end, each side had different thoughts about what was happening. Ernani managed to find some clues and we should be close to discovering a hiding place where these disappearances occurred. This is thanks to the modified Golems that he was controlling together with Barerosa. The other thing wasn''t a solid clue, but rather a discovery. I already knew that something was going wrong. My mind wandered to several things and even so, I didn''t come close to figuring out what was wrong. Traces of a separate space were found on this planet. Wendel was the one who found it. As an Ascendant focused on the Laws of Space, he was able to perceive that place. "We need more information, but honestly that separate space would be riskier." (me) "Let''s attack..." (me) "(That was so ridiculous, I can''t believe he fell for that.)" (me) After a while, we arrived in an area outside the cities and it was as visible to me as seeing a colossal soap bubble floating, I could even see what was inside. "What are those things?" (me) "They are Anomalous Creatures, they have no name, they are irrational beasts so different from each other that there was no way to group them under a single name." (Wendel) "They were lured here..." (me) "Most likely, this is a coordinated attack, they didn''t expect me to find out." (Wendel) I exchange a look with my mother, I can''t believe this was done so carelessly, not even for a second. If they''re smart enough to do so much without being discovered until now, they won''t make a mistake now. "Gather everyone, I want you to go against the place Ernani and Barerosa discovered." (me) "Sir, but what about the separate space?" (Wendel) "I have a way to take care of that, I''m sure the monsters are a distraction to their real plan." (me) "I want..." (me) Baaaammmm!! BBOOMMMMMM!!! RRROOOOOAAAAAARRRR GGGGRRRRR!!! "Commander! I''m getting signals from everywhere!" (Boris) "They released the monsters!" (me) "That was much faster..." (Barerosa) "No! The place of the separated space gave way to a massive portal, dozens of these portals opened across half the star system!" (Boris) "..." (everyone) "Abandon this planet, now!" (me) "Yes sir!!" (Wendel) "As ordered!!" (everyone) We fell into a trap, at least that''s what they must think, I can barely contain my smile now that they''ve finally arrived. "(I just didn''t expect them to appear exactly where I was.)" (me) ------------------- Pov Samara: Hours before Zenos arrived on the planet. I was kneeling in front of Hinata who had returned to her normal form, the Traveling Merchant was nearby without showing any reaction. Hinata had a change in her Aura as her face split in half giving way to an eye like a window to another universe where an Eclipse is in the middle. Her Aura could not be completely contained by Hinata, an endless depth and containing a strange Law that merges with the environment it touches as naturally as a virus. "Why did you call me, Samara." (Zenos) "I have information for you..." (me) Chapter 1786: Cap 1784: Thats an Avatar!! Everyone leaves the planet following her lead, not only those who came on the mission with me but also all the other Ascendants from this planet, they were all gathered near me on another nearby planet. I left everyone I wasn''t familiar with with Wendel, I trust him to keep everything in order while I talk to our supposed companions. "Boris, any answers?" (me) "Not yet, sir." (Boris) "As everyone must have noticed, those separate spaces full of Anomalous Creatures were sacrifices." (me) "I don''t know who it might be or how many there are, but the entry gates are already in place, only the tunnel is being built at the moment." (me) "Sir, why don''t they create Rifts in space by tearing our dimensional membrane?" (Barerosa) "Why do things this way if there are easier alternatives?" (Barerosa) "You''re wrong, the rifts can be closed with the same relative ease with which they were opened, an unstable passage." (me) "The portal, on the other hand, does allow for safe and stable travel, not to mention that it can be kept open for an indefinite period of time." (me) That was simple knowledge, it wasn''t the first time I''d heard about it, portals are safe and have fewer restrictions, but creating portals between universes isn''t something simple to do, only Entities have that level of power and even then they need catalysts, in this case they used sacrifices. "(Abandoning that planet was as I imagined, easy... they also shouldn''t kill the population, which reduces casualties among the innocent.)" (me) "Sir, I''ve received new orders, we''re being left out of this mission, an army is already being formed to deal with this." (Boris) "In return, a new mission has been given to us, to hunt down an individual who infiltrated a nearby planet and who seems to be responsible for this situation." (Boris) "He seems to be an Anomalous Creature of the mercenary type, they want him alive or information about the recent events." (Boris) "(This is bad, I wanted to get more involved in the battle here, cause chaos in the enemy lines... but I''m being left out right at the beginning.)" (me) "We will leave immediately, pass on the information in detail!" (me) -------------------- Pov Samara: I was sitting next to someone they didn''t expect to find here, Hinata was in her disguise as a muscular man sitting in front of us, we were in an exclusive dining room in some restaurant on this planet, the person sitting next to me was an Envoy of Pride. Her name is Thais, a Beast Woman from the Fox tribe, her long brown hair falling to her waist matches perfectly with the brown fur on her 4 tails and long ears as well as her almond-shaped eyes. "Samara, what do you think of my proposal?" (Thais) "Why ask if you know the answer?" (me) "You know, my lord is not happy with the interference of the Chaos Bringer, he does not like you interfering in this war." (Thais) "Why do you want the Ascendants so much?" (me) "My lord does not care about the Ascendants, but I will not reveal information so easily." (Thais) "We are willing to give 3 Origin Relics as compensation for not interfering." (Thais) "Talking to me is useless, what do you say, Hinata?" (me) "Eat...?" (Hinata) "Preferably not, it might give you indigestion." (me) "I want to know what you think of her proposal that we stay out of it?" (me) "Master wants to... follow... the plan..." (Hinata) "You know you can''t fight us." (Thais) "I don''t need to fight you, Greed will do that, we''re not enough of a threat to be on any of your priority lists, it''ll be a race competition of participants." (me) "Do you really think you can talk so lightly like that?" (Thais) "Do you think I''m afraid of you? I''m older than you, I''m smarter than you and I''m also not afraid of the thing hidden in your body." (me) As soon as I mentioned the thing in her body, her neutral expression changed to cautious, I''m sure she thought about using it against us, but thanks to Hinata looking at her chest almost drooling, I found out what she was hiding. "You''ll regret this." (Thais) "< Spatial Separation >" (Thais) She stands up and walks three steps with the space opening up for her to pass through before closing right behind her, I was slightly nervous that she would actually use that, lucky for her she was as cautious as ever. "We''re going back, stop eating our pursuers, let some follow us." (me) "Okay..." (Hinata) ------------------ Pov Zenos: We were now in a devastated city, bodies were dismembered everywhere while a man was in the middle of the devastation without even a trace of blood on his body. His body seemed finely trained, lean muscles and simple leather armor with a black overcoat over it, his face had no nose or ears, his eyes were larger than normal and his disheveled hair had a gap on the left diagonal caused by a scar that went between his eyes, his skin and eyes were pale arms in contrast to his clothes as well as his dark black hair. "So, you finally found me, how did you know I was on this planet? I thought you had interrupted communications." (???) "Exactly, and that''s why you became an obvious target." (me) "I see..." (???) "< Fist of the Void >" (???) "< Law of Desire: Revenge of the Fallen >" (Barerosa) "< Law of Fear: Return of Torment >" (Ernani) "None of this is going to work... right...?" (me) "No, I''m not even here, but I left a surprise for you, it was hard to call her, so I hope you enjoy it." (???) Rrrooooaaarrrr!!! When we descended to the planet, we noticed that its appearance had changed greatly. From outside its orbit, it looked like a normal, living planet to the Ascendant Standards. However, as soon as we descended into its atmosphere, the planet changed greatly. Deserts and swamps of pure rot were everywhere, and red clouds mixed the sky, the result of the countless blood spilled. All the Laws on this planet were about to be sucked into one place, and thanks to this, we found the source extremely quickly. We arrived at the ruins of a large city, blood and bodies everywhere, but it was the bodies of the Ascendants that were in the center of the city. A ritual had been performed, with some traces of them still vaguely visible. A strong intention of curse was in the air. It was disgusting. When we arrived at the center of the ritual, where the bodies of the Ascendants were torn apart, there was this man standing calmly there. With a nod, everyone positioned themselves to attack. The Runes coming out of Barerosa''s wings were connecting to the ground while wails rose in the surroundings while a strong killing intent was concentrated on that man, but all those translucent figures that rose from the ground were unable to approach them as if there was an invisible barrier around them. Ernani also tried to attack, a dark energy gathered from all the ruins of this city and tried to flow towards the man in the center, this attack did pass through the barrier and sank into his body, but it did nothing to him, his expression did not even change, that energy was fear condensed from this entire city, Ernani was trying to inflict an abnormal state on the enemy by overwhelming him with the fear of his victims, which also failed. I didn''t even try to attack him when I realized all this, I assumed that it wasn''t his real body, he shouldn''t even be here, it was a trap in case someone showed up here. He was too calm and showed no reaction the whole time, he didn''t even move from his spot from the beginning. But his last words were followed by a distant roar that was not emitted by any voice or creature, it was as if the cursed energy on this planet itself was transmitting a distant roar here. Above us a large creature that did not even fit on this planet was looking down at us, its body was grotesque with parts being those of insects and a terrifying presence came from that thing, its Aura fell upon us as if gravity had increased thousands of times, this creature was almost irrational with purely wild instincts. "What is that thing!?" (me) "By the firmament of the Laws..." (Barerosa) "That''s an Avatar!!" (Ernani) "..." (me) "..." (everyone) Everyone fell silent as Ernani''s panicked voice warned about the creature''s now obvious identity, an Avatar of some Entity had arrived, this was bad, very bad. "(Could things not work out for once!??)" (me) We were lost, that thing was strong and was clearly linked to the curse in some way, if I could use Holy or Divine power it would be easy to at least escape, but that would paint a fatal target on my back. I was in doubt about what to do, but it seems I didn''t need to worry, chains appeared from somewhere chains made of the Ascendant Law, but emanating Holy Power, these chains attached themselves to the entire creature that was pulled away and dragged. That''s when I saw someone in the sky, an Ascendant shining in gold, he looked at us for an instant and I felt something touching my Soul, my Ascendant Law seemed to react to that figure that faded away leaving only an Ascendant to fall from the Sky, a level 1 Ascendant. "What was that!?" (Ernani) "Were the rumors true...?" (Barerosa) Chapter 1787: Cap 1785: Andryus Pov Akatosh: Karina was doing the same as always, her mind getting distracted by the weaklings around us, she and I walked through a city, the twentieth city we visited in 6 days, passing through 4 planets, but she always surprises herself. "Let''s eat..." (me) We entered the first restaurant we passed, the smell seemed to come from meat, so it must be tasty. The restaurant was more than half full, that should guarantee the flavor after we took our seats, we ordered the best-selling food of the day. I look around, people with such opaque eyes, their displays of emotions were laughable, even so, just being surrounded by these people like this, I activate telepathy with Karina so people don''t hear, being without my Divinity affected my senses a little, so I can''t risk it. "(Any news from Zenos?)" (me) "(Yes, I passed on to him the results of our investigation, we''ll need him and maybe Hinata when we find the place.)" (Karina) "(It also seems that two different forces of Entities are invading, we have to be extra careful.)" (Karina) "(It would be much easier to just destroy everything when we find it, being careful with every little thing is not my way of doing things, it''s not the way a Dragon does things.)" (me) "(They might kill the imprisoned Gods and maybe even expose what we''re doing.)" (Karina) "(I know you don''t like it, but anonymity is very useful in our plans.)" (Karina) Sigh "(Okay, let''s do it your way, I won''t deny that my aggressive streak might be more active in this place.)" (me) The people on these planets for the most part seem more corpses walking the streets in a disgusting way, their Auras all seem fragile due to lack of willpower, this place is sickening to me. "(Remember, it must be in the next city, we need to find it as soon as possible...)" (me) "..." (Karina) Suddenly someone enters the restaurant, his Aura takes over the entire place, people remain immobilized where they were, their eyes completely empty, even the power of the Laws in this universe seems to move away from him as he walks to our table. A chair that was not there before forms as he sits next to us, the entire restaurant seems to disappear in a black mist as his Aura closes in a dome. "Nice to meet 2 such distinguished individuals, I am Andryus." (Andryus) "Interesting, how did you find us?" (me) "..." (Karina) "You don''t need to fear my presence, I am not an enemy, I found you by chance." (Andryus) "Just look at the expressions, eyes and behavior of those around us, you two stand out." (Andryus) "We could be immigrants from a conquered universe." (me) He smiles at my words as if it were fun to listen to my explanation, his appearance was simple for the most part. Short hair, eyes and clothes all black as ink, his skin was pale as marble, his ears are pointed and long like those of the Elves, but square at the tips as well as wider and slightly drooping. As much as he may try to hide it, his Aura is very similar to those of the people around us, but a negative wall as if it were a bottomless pit. The power of the Laws had moved away from him and his Aura before, but it was not out of fear or forced to move away, it was as if they were repellent to each other. "These are not marked lands, they are lands cut down for research mainly, immigrants are not brought here." (Andryus) "..." (Karina?) "You understand a lot about this universe, don''t you?" (me) "Were you born here or are you participating in the invasion?" (me) "Both, but please don''t compare me to the Ascendants, it would be more than offensive." (Andryus) "I know you''re not part of the invasion either, incredibly you''re not part of either invasion." (Andryus) His eyes were serious, he didn''t come here without reason, he realized we''re a question mark in his plans, he''s testing us, every question we ask reveals what we don''t know, while he may be revealing more about himself, it seems to be of little importance compared to what he''s learning or at least that''s what he must be thinking. "What do you want? Who are you!?" (Andryus) "I won''t answer that, you''re not going to attack us either, risking revealing yourself will hurt us both and your strength doesn''t seem to be enough to be a threat." (me) "..." (Karina?) "I''ll find out sooner or later, but I hope they don''t interfere with my plans, I don''t want to get involved with people like... you spying on other people''s conversations." (Andryus) He stands up and starts walking outside once more, he doesn''t look back as his Aura seems to be sucked into him, the power of the Law returns like daylight at dawn taking over the place once more, people are visible again and moving as if nothing had happened. With things returning to ''normal'' for now, we can''t stay like this talking anymore, so I use telepathy with Karina again. "(Did you learn anything, Zenos?)" (me) "(He can''t answer personally, but he says he has an empty presence, also has traces of the power of a Concept.)" (Karina?) "(He was clearly related to the invasion, keep an eye on him, he didn''t seem to be an Ascendant and had no power of Law, but he seems to be strong, as strong as me at least or close.)" (me) "(What we should do next is continue with our plans.)" (Karina) ------------------- Pov Andryus: After leaving that city I walk along the road outside, seeing the people of the city and those heading towards the city is almost pleasant to stay, the nostalgia of ignorance was pleasant. "To think they protected us, to think I was part of something bigger... to live in such a meaningless way and still be grateful..." (me) "Really, not knowing the truth can be a blessing..." (me) I pass through a nearby stone arch where the space ripples that will surely collapse after I pass. The space I entered was a barren land as far as I could see, the land and mountains had no life at all and cut marks were everywhere, even the gray clouds in the night sky were cut. A truly strange sight in many ways, the difference between this place and the one where I was born was glaring, but even that was infinitely more interesting than what I called life before, the more I experience it, the more I feel the anger growing inside me, the more I want to destroy everything, the more Ascendants I want to kill. "Put down that killing intent, don''t waste such a gift in a moment of calm like this, save it and accumulate it to release at a suitable time." (Teacher) "How many times do I have to say this?" (Teacher) "I''m sorry, Professor Ayden." (Me) A hand comes down on my shoulder, when I look to the side I see him in his full armor, his sword still in his other hand, just looking into his eyes makes me tremble, I nod as I honestly show my respect to the one who filled the void in my life with something other than pure anger and irrationality. "I lost myself again between nostalgia and anger." (me) "Don''t become a mindless creature, don''t be consumed by anger, this is your weapon, use this anger to temper your weapons." (Teacher) "I will do my best." (me) He taught me a lot and still shows me my flaws, I look at him noticing that his armor has changed, in addition to that on his sword it carries an Eclipse symbol, he also seems happier than usual. I wanted to ask what is happening, but I focus on talking about the plans in progress. "The Agents of Greed and Pride are already arriving, but something strange happened, an Avatar of the Curse entered the place where Greed''s troops noticed the portals." (me) "That''s good, it means that more people are joining the flames of this war." (Teacher) "Wouldn''t that be worse? It will contradict our initial plans." (me) "The years change, my student. In a war, sticking to a single plan leads to defeat. Learn to adapt to constant change, and that leads to victory." (Teacher) "I will reflect on this. Besides, I found something interesting. I saw two people on my path. They were not immigrants, nor were they Ascendants. One of them was perhaps stronger than me, but strangely, it was the weaker one who caught my attention. Her eyes were deep and I felt like I was being watched by something through them. My Soul trembled with this revelation." (me) "Show me." (Teacher) I raise my hand and form the image of the two I saw. As soon as I do, my teacher''s Aura stirs as I see him tightening the hilt of his sword as he begins to speak. "Zenos, you''re early... this is wonderful... hahahaha... hahahahahahahaha..." (Teacher) "(Who is Zenos...?)" (me) I''ve never seen my teacher so happy, his Aura was filled with the will to fight like I''ve never seen before, he raises his sword looking at the Eclipse symbol on its blade, his Aura suddenly becomes sharp. "My student, consider the destroyed plans, the Bringer of Chaos has already arrived and is already acting, any plan will go wrong, this whole place will be plunged into chaos, a magnificent battlefield will be formed, we will fight and through combat the void that these Ascendants created will be filled in those capable of rising!" (Teacher) "Take your sword, my Student... for what is to come, your blade needs to be sharper!" (Teacher) "As you wish, Teacher!" (me) Chapter 1788: Cap 1786: 24 hour deadline Pov Mavor: I was resting while Urak took my place in refining the Anomalous Armor, my entire body was stiff from this more than exhausting work. I had time since I was resting and recovering my power before it was my turn again, because of that, I took the opportunity to check if those Gods had followed us along with that Chaos Bringer, with so much chaos and destruction that I left behind they wouldn''t be resolved easily, they should take longer to come and that only if they really come to attack, which would be unlikely. "It seems that Greed attacked, the timing is horrible even though it was something we expected, I thought we would have another 1 or 2 centuries." (me) "Also a lot of things happened, Pride also attacking makes everything better, they will focus more on competing than advancing in their conquests." (me) "But the Avatar of the Curse... I don''t understand its participation, fortunately that thing acted on its own, it must be insecure with the war between the Entities, it must become more active now, this will make it difficult to block information related to it." (me) "..." (me) I had many things to think about, one of them was the preservation of this universe or abandoning it towards a new one, it would be laborious and would waste time as well as resources remodeling everything. "I will do nothing but contain the damage and gain time, as soon as we manage to Ascend even more in a hurry towards perfection." (me) In my mind I can see the 3 of us finishing them off, each of these entities using us as pieces of a game where the rules and everything else are unknown. "(Let''s fire some missions to delay them.)" (me) Greed and Pride are very predictable when attacking, no matter how strong they may be, Greed only cares about getting everything he wants, while Pride only wants to show himself superior, the feud with Greed is older than our existence as Ascendants, they will hinder each other, my real concern is the Bringer of Chaos. That day his Divine Beast was able to deceive me, he also has 2 new Entities that I know little about, only 1 of them was enough to hurt my Soul, if it weren''t for this item I wouldn''t be able to refine the Anomalous Armor. Looking down, black veins spread across my chest pulsing as a white and golden energy surrounds my body, thus rendering the pain and reducing the suffering to a minimum. "Mavor...!?" (Urak) "What is it?" (me) "Activate the Apocalypse Code!" (Urak) "It''s still too early, it could make everyone turn against us, better wait, maybe Vecna ??can reach Ascension faster." (me) "..." (Urak) Urak was suffering, but he still managed a few more hours of refinement, if Vecna ??were here it would be faster, it''s much harder than last time. ----------------- Pov Adella: I was looking at the planet in chaos, explosions happened frequently, energy pulses were felt all the way to where we were, I wanted to go there right now, I had been waiting here for more than 1 day, maybe 2 days, I''m not sure, my mind was too full of thoughts about him to pay attention to the passage of time. "Nix, do you know what''s going on, what did you find out?" (me) "..." (Nix) Her expression irritates me deeply, she can''t understand how I feel, but she still tries to stop me, she thinks I didn''t notice her Familiars going to that planet more than a day ago. "Don''t try to fool me Dragon Child, I''m older than your Father, your actions are just making me doubt you!" (me) "Tell me what you know or I''ll find out for myself, UNDERSTAND!!" (me) "Okay..." (Nix) Sigh "The ones attacking that place are the Pride Troopers, one of the Entities, I don''t know how they got into this universe, but there seems to be at least 1 Avatar there." (Nix) "I also managed to get in touch with my master, Zenos warned about a war going on, another Entity also invaded a Star System where he was, in his case it was the Entity of Greed." (Nix) "I don''t give a damn about any of this, I want to know where that bastard is!?" (me) "..." (Nix) "You know where he is, I can see it in your eyes! You''re a terrible liar, so tell me now!!" (me) "He was captured along with other Ascendants, it seems they don''t want to kill the Ascendants, none of them were killed as far as I know." (Nix) "Where!?" (me) "Adella, if you do this it''ll be a risk...!" (Nix) "TELL ME WHERE THAT BASTARD IS!!!" (me) "..." (me) "You''re losing control again, do you really want to go back to being that creature of pure violence?" (Nix) The blood in my body started, the Star Path started flashing in my mind, clearly my shared lineage with Zenos was making this vision appear in my mind. "..." (me) "I don''t know what he did to you, but it was clearly something unforgivable to leave you in this state." (Nix) The images of that day were beginning to flash intermittently between the images of Zenos'' Star Path. The blood coursing through my body seemed to boil, but it was as if it was absorbing the heat of my Soul and releasing my message from those images, I didn''t want to let go of this anger, I knew it was harmful to me, but even so I didn''t want to forget, I didn''t want to leave it behind, I couldn''t let it end up as just some forgotten memory in the back of my mind. "I... I..." (I) "Adella... I know I can''t make you come back, but at least wait for one of the Heralds to arrive, we don''t know what we''re going to face and my master can use his power better through them than through me who am a complement to his power." (Nix) "..." (me) All I wanted to do was move forward without thinking until I reached him. I don''t even know what I would think when I saw him now. I don''t know what words I would say to him. I don''t know what kind of emotions seeing him in person would bring. I don''t even know what I would dare to do if he were in front of me. But I still couldn''t let this chance pass me by. Nix''s hands rested on my shoulders. She was trying to comfort me. She wanted the best for me. Even so, her voice and actions were so irritating that I felt like punching her. "I won''t ask you to wait too long. Just wait a few days." (Nix) "Some days..." (me) I slap away the hand on my shoulder, for some reason this slap hurts me more than getting punched, I know she''s trying to help, but I can''t shake the idea of ??her being an obstacle to what I want, I can''t shake the thought of running over her, the invaders and maybe the planet itself until I reach it, leaving a trail of destruction behind. -------------------- Pov Zenos: We fled that planet before that Avatar could return, I had no illusions about fighting it, because I could see in its presence that it was just masking something much worse inside, which probably means that the Entity was using the Avatar as a means. "Commander, two new orders have arrived, the first was that we must prevent the arrival of an Avatar of Greed happening here." (Barerosa) "The second order is to join with 3 other groups of Ascendants to save the Ascendants being detained by the troops of another Entity." (Barerosa) I look at Barerosa, since that Avatar was detained, her eyes seem to carry something deep, I also catch her looking at me more than before and getting physically closer to me to the point where she no longer seems to pay as much attention to my mother who is always by my side. "Is there a deadline for the completion of these missions?" (me) "The second mission has 7 days of time, we can reach the location in 2 days." (Barerosa) "The first 20-hour mission is already complete and the place is exactly the one we left behind, the place where we were going to investigate." (Barerosa) "..." (me) "That means there''s someone there, the one responsible for the kidnapping of the Ascendants, the separate Spaces full of Anomalous Creatures waiting to be sacrificed, the space gates being created and the invasion of this Entity..." (me) "The culprit must still be there, we just didn''t have time to find him." (me) "(Actually, I think we already found him, I''m almost sure it must have been that bastard we met before.)" (me) "They brought the troops before the commander, maybe this Avatar is too powerful and can''t get through these portals." (me) I suddenly found myself thinking about that giant creature, what would be the reason for bringing that creature, that Avatar that clearly isn''t Greed''s? Suddenly I realized, it was to weaken the Ascendant Laws in the area, to weaken the dimensional membrane, it was all a preparation for another ritual or maybe something else to bring this Avatar of Greed, maybe I''m just overthinking it and I''m completely wrong. Very well, I''ll try to do this seriously this time, I can let troops and other Anomalous creatures pass since it helps to distract the Ascendants, but Avatars would be too much to let through, they can and probably will get in our way, Greed especially, I don''t need to be a Genius to know that his power focuses a lot on taking control or stealing, his Avatar will be very dangerous to leave around when we''re taking this and the other universes from the Ascendants. "We''re starting the mission, everyone get ready!" (me) Chapter 1789: Cap 1787: Its just business I was flying ahead, everyone hidden in a seal I created. I convinced them that since I was the strongest among us, it would be easier to let me infiltrate the planet alone before getting them out of there. Descending to the planet was quite easy. The Laws were being distorted since that Cursed energy was being emitted by that Avatar still trapped in the chains. I also noticed that the planet that had been abandoned less than a few hours ago was very quiet. I landed on the planet in a deserted area. I didn''t find any obstacles to the point of strangeness. I went to a nearby city and the people were still living normally, with only a few discussions about the portals that can be seen in the sky. The population doesn''t understand that they have been abandoned or that they are at the mercy of an invader who will soon arrive. I leave the people alone and with any luck they won''t be massacred. That''s why I''m handing this world over to them on a silver platter. I hope there won''t be any unforeseen events in that regard at least. "< Release >" (me) Arriving once again outside the city, I go to a more isolated place and undo the seal that trapped my companions. The crystallized blood card with a flashing Law Rune falls to the ground and breaks as they all appear in front of me. "We have a problem..." (me) I point upwards. Each of them looked at the few portals that can be seen in the sky outside the planet. There are more that cannot be seen on other planets, but they clearly have different opening times. Some of them were beginning to emanate energy and distort the space inside them. In the portal I pointed to, it was possible to see a gap forming in space as if it were being sucked into the portal. "Any idea how much time we have?" (me) "4 hours, if you''re lucky..." (Wendel) "..." (me) "Do any of you have a Law that allows you to track the flaws in the Law of this planet or track enemies?" (me) "I can do that, but only if I know the enemy." (Barerosa) "I can do that too, but now it''s impossible." (Ernani) "What do you mean?" (me) "Barerosa uses her desire to find targets, whether they''re people or objects, but I use fear..." (Ernani) I look up, it wasn''t possible to see him still tied in chains up there, but we could all feel that presence, it was impossible not to feel something so disturbing, especially after having seen it from so close. Ernani didn''t need to explain much, I think I understand how his power works, he uses his fear to identify the greatest danger, a technique that wasn''t made to track an enemy but to escape from the greatest enemy. "Barerosa...?" (me) "< Law of Desire: Pursuit >" (Barerosa) From his eyes, two Law Runes formed glowing dark pink, pink lines formed at the corners of his eyes as his head turned in a certain direction. His eyes didn''t flicker or move, they were focused and Barerosa''s eyes began to tremble as his voice suddenly became tense. "Commander... he''s already... here..." (Barerosa) Tremor "< Law of the Moon: Fragmented Barrier >" (me) Suddenly the ground where we were standing shook and the trees in that direction fell to two opposite sides forming a straight line where we had an unobstructed view of him sitting on top of a rock, only when we looked at him did we notice his presence. He seemed to be amused by our presence, but I didn''t take my eyes off him for even a second, in front of Barerosa and Wendel there was a circular silver barrier made of materialized energy fragments, there were 2 finally decorated bone spears stuck in the middle of the path. "You know kid, you''re starting to sound annoying." (???) "Who are you?" (me) "I''m just a mercenary who''s being paid very well, it''s nothing personal." (???) "Forgive me for not believing you." (me) Something was strange, he''d been following us for a while now, but he never showed any desire to attack until Barerosa realized his position and that''s when he attacked her, but I don''t understand why he attacked Wendel at the same time. He''s acting too calm for this situation, that means he''s the bait to get our attention while someone else is doing whatever it takes to summon an Avatar, maybe he''s already started the process to do it himself and then came here to buy time, that would make more sense to me. "< Law of Eclipse: Dagger of the Threshold >" (me) Crack "< Summoning of the Fallen: Sword of Bones >" (me) As a part of space shatters into a sharp shape that soon becomes the strange blade of a dagger that reveals a universe full of stars around an Eclipse, I hold this dagger in my hand and feel the power of the Law of Eclipse coursing through the blade. As if responding to my movements, he nods to the ground a little in front of him, his hand was palm down, a single drop of blood fell from his hand and as it collided with the forest floor, ripples spread across the terrain as if it were water. This whole place became strange when a bizarre presence emerged from the ground below him, skeletal hands appeared all covered in cut marks as they dragged a sword upwards, in fact just the hilt of a sword that that man holds. His entire presence changes as he holds the sword, his presence becomes filled with murderous will and coldness as I see his eyes lock onto me, the glow in his eyes was that of a combat maniac. As soon as the sword was pulled out it revealed yet another large amount of bones gathered in the shape of a very large sword. The sword had a large spine that extended through the middle of the blade, ribs extending from this spine, the rib bones were straight and with their joined ends stuck in what looked like a red crystallization incandescent like fire forming the serrated blade, this crystal emanated a Demonic Aura, on the other side of the blade it was as if there was an open skeletal wing, a fermenting energy took over the sword forming ethereal red feathers behind it. It was a scary sword just to look at, but being in a fight against someone wielding this sword was strange in many ways, it was as if this sword was marked by each kill made, as if the sword was alive in some way. I didn''t know what sword that was and honestly it didn''t matter, my mind was following the man''s actions at the same time as it was thinking about the reasons why he had tried to hit Wendel before, it couldn''t have been without reason. Fortunately I found the answer quickly, it was quite obvious, Wendel has power related to space, regardless of the type of technique this mercenary is using or where, the only constant is that it will cause some effect in space, whether it''s to break a rift or open a gate, either way it will cause a reaction in space and if this Avatar is that powerful, then the reaction in space should be big enough for Wendel to track. "Wendel, he''s trying to buy time, go to the right place, follow the reactions in space, he can''t be that far away!" (me) "I really can''t go easy on you, can I?" (???) "Save your provocations for someone who cares!" (me) He and I advanced at the same time, our Auras clashed before our weapons met, but instead of coming at me, he tried to step to the side, taking advantage of the momentum to leave me behind while he tried to attack Wendel. That bastard was being a nuisance, without thinking twice I threw the dagger at him, forcing him to defend himself, which in turn increased Wendel''s chances of escaping. The mercenary used his sword like a wall of bones, successfully blocking while a large cut mark formed, he spins without moving, using his strength to the maximum to kick at me. I don''t dare to take that blow, so using my strength in my fist, I try to punch his wrist, making the sword tremble in his hand without falling, he grips the hilt of the sword more firmly. "Why do you keep attacking!?" (???) "I have nothing against you guys, I even let you live last time, I''m really just doing my job, it''s just business!" (???) "Just shut the hell up, you crazy psychopath!" (me) Baaammm!!! Baaamm Baammm! My dagger and his sword collide over and over again causing a wave of destruction around us, I never face his strength head on, I try to use my blows as best I can, but the cuts on my body were starting to accumulate. I spin my body hitting his arm with my elbow, then lower using a kick to make him fall, losing his balance in the process, which didn''t happen. "I''m getting tired!" (???) "I''ll finish you off and then go after that Ascendant from space!" (???) "You can try!" (me) Once again we ran towards each other, this time, he disappeared halfway while smiling. "He fell." (me) "< Law of Eclipse: Path of Shadows >" (me) Chapter 1790: Cap 1788: Maximus "Why do you keep attacking!?" (???) "I have nothing against you, I even let you live last time, I''m really just doing my job, it''s just business!" (???) "Just shut the hell up, you crazy psychopath!" (me) Baaammm!!! Baaamm Baammm! My dagger and his sword collide over and over again causing a wave of destruction around us, I never face his strength head on, I try to use my blows as best I can, but the cuts on my body were starting to accumulate. I spin my body hitting his arm with my elbow, then lower using a kick to make him fall, losing his balance in the process, which didn''t happen. "I''m getting tired!" (???) "I''ll finish you off and then go after that Ascendant from space!" (???) "You can try!" (me) Once again we ran towards each other, this time, he disappeared halfway while smiling. "He fell." (me) "< Law of Eclipse: Path of Shadows >" (me) It was a hasty plan and implemented more on impulse than anything else, but it seems that it worked exactly because of its spontaneity. Wendel did what I told him to do, he felt the distortions in space and followed them to its center, it was the easiest way to find the place that that mercenary had created whatever he was using to bring the Avatar of Greed. He may have followed Wendel thinking that he would find the place, but that left me free, I may not have the power of the Law of Space like Wendel, but I have much better senses and now that the actions of that mercenary confirmed that we are reasonably close to the target, I can focus only on that. Sinking into the shadows, I let my senses merge with the environment. I have always been very connected to nature and have anomalous powers, so it was just a matter of concentration to feel the abnormal energy growing in a certain direction. I advance through the shadows and arrive at the place I was feeling. It only took me a few seconds to do so. I quickly throw myself to the ground, spinning and kicking upwards, where the head of a man dressed in golden clothes was blown off by my foot. Looking around, I find myself in the middle of a valley. There are 10-meter-high towers everywhere. Towers made of gold, sapphire, jade, diamond and many other materials considered valuable. One of the towers was even made of crystallized blood used to contain immense vitality. All of these towers were carved with thieves I don''t know and created in a matrix by lines made of pure energy flowing through the ground. In the center of it all was a single man, his eyes were glazed and a pure golden color, his clothes were made of precious materials, his body was fat and he had an exaggeratedly extravagant crown on his head, all his fingers had precious rings and some even more than one ring, there were 3 different necklaces and his throne itself was made of bones plated in gold, his teeth were made of precious stones as he smiled. Everything about that man was strange to see, he was drowning in opulence and wealth, but his Aura was not that of a man, it was a mixture of the Aura of billions mixed together. He wasn''t even seeing me, he couldn''t even see me, I was sure he wasn''t even an individual, he was just a shell for billions of Souls, it was a realization that took me several seconds to realize, the mixed Aura of that thing was filled with pure Greed as if it wanted more, more of everything, more wealth, more food, more women, more men, more life, more territory, more authority, more everything! There were billions of Auras obsessed with something else and full of Greed, and these Auras were the source of the energy flowing into these energy lines that expanded the patterns across the ground. I realized all of this in seconds, the glory of a Divine mind, everything was quite obvious, including the distortion in the space above the throne, in fact above the valley where we were, it was clear that the process was already underway, but it was not even halfway through, it was as if it was not a portal being created, not even a rift being opened, this was a Summoning ritual. When I tried to take a step forward, I suddenly felt danger and with the momentum of my wings I moved to the side, skeletal claws appeared that I was entangled in milliseconds after I had barely moved away. There were hundreds of people around, all dressed as vain nobles, extravagant Kings and Knights with overly ornate armor, but they weren''t strong enough for me to pay attention, they weren''t even here, they were mere shadows whose attack meant nothing to me. What my eyes were on was the one jumping from high above into the valley, it was the mercenary with an enraged face, there were blood splatters on his clothes, his great sword was hanging on his shoulder as if it didn''t even have any weight, I don''t know if Wendel survived, but that was a thought for later. "You really are annoying!" (???) "Thank you, and you are very ugly." (me) BAAAMM!! We both make the move at the same time, my dagger collides with his sword again, this time we weren''t probing each other''s strength, we used a lot of force and a wave of energy made all the figures around us move away, the weakest ones disintegrate into golden energy. "Why are you working with Greed?" (me) "Why wouldn''t I be? I got paid and I''m here!" (???) Baammm!! BAAAMM!! BOOOMMMM!! SSHOOWWWSSS!! His sword bends after a blow and tries to get around my dagger to hit me, I use one of my wings to strike the sword from below making it miss the target while my feet give momentum breaking the ground in the process of advancing against him. He uses a punch to push me away which I greet with my own fist, always avoiding direct combat and trying to land side blows to ward off his blows. At some point he had dropped his great sword and before I could realize, one of my feet was entangled by his sword that seemed alive trying to tear off my leg. "< Law of Eclipse: Celestial Separation >" (me) "< Abyssal Summoning: Well of the Damned >" (???) The Runes of the Law were flashing in my eyes, two different Runes that glowed purple and silver, an energy surged from within me emitted by my wings, flowing through my body and concentrating in my ring in tenths of a second creating a wave of spatial force separating my body from the sword as well as the space it occupied before. At that same moment a pit formed beneath me where the depth was infinite while its walls were filled with bones from where skulls screamed curses and skeletal arms studied each other trying to reach me. But it was useless against me, I was separated from that space and beyond the reach of that blow, I knew that this mercenary would try to take advantage of the opening created by his sword, so I chose to use a defensive technique like that, which by his smile was exactly what he wanted. "You are interesting, Ascendant... but I was not hired to fight you." (???) "< Ethereal Summon: Descent of Greed >" (???) "If you''re being hired, I could pay a higher price!" (me) "Sorry, but for a mercenary like me, the reputation of a finished job is more important, even if it''s not as expected." (???) Around us, many of the precious towers were fallen and the illusory figures were blurred, the ground was in pieces in several places and blade cuts were everywhere, the previously constant flow of energy forming lines flickered in some parts and clearly our fight was negatively affecting this ritual, which was exactly what I wanted. This bastard realized this and was clearly formatting the complete activation of the ritual ahead of time, the Summoning circle began to pulse while a Cursed energy descended from the sky, it was the same energy as that other Avatar and this energy was used to make space crack, from the cracks a liquid energy leaked as if it were translucent liquid gold, soon falling on top of the man sitting on the throne who showed no reaction to being bathed in that shining liquid. The crack closed and the ritual''s energy lines shrank, forcing the liquid to merge into the body of the man sitting on the throne, his body now absorbing that liquid energy while transforming completely. It all happened too fast for me to stop it, but it was clear from the presence that it wasn''t the Avatar Summoning he intended, it wasn''t that strong to my senses at least. "You couldn''t have done it with just that." (me) "Yes, I had to change the summoning target to one more accessible in this range of the ritual, it wasn''t what I planned for this contract, but it was fulfilled anyway." (???) "Maximus, you take care of this Ascendant now, I wasn''t given anything to do beyond that." (???) "Goodbye, Ascendant... I hope you survive to meet us again." (???) The mercenary says what he wants while the body of the man on the throne shines brightly, then the mercenary throws what was a small crystal portal on the ground that soon grows to his height wherever he passes without delay, he leaves and with him his technique below me disappears at the same time that the voice of the new creature arrives displeased. "Damn mercenary, changing the terms in the middle of the service!" (Maximus) "Ascendant... I will..." (Maximus) "< Law of Eclipse: Path of Shadows >" (me) I will not fight an Avatar again, especially now that I am trying to hide, so as soon as I realize that his Summoning is not yet complete, I run away without looking back. Chapter 1791: Cap 1789: Chaotic Situation I have no reason to keep fighting if an Avatar has already been summoned, even if it is weaker than intended, it has nothing to do with me, I will not risk my life for the Ascendants or for this infiltration mission. I spread my wings and use my techniques to fly away, since everyone who came with me was marked by stigmas, I was able to track my mother with extreme ease. I soon arrived in the middle of the forest where my mother in her childish disguise was with Barerosa who had one arm missing, Wendel was unconscious on the ground with his body covered in blood and was still clinging to life, but there was a cocoon of cloth strips with Runes around it, I didn''t need to ask, I could imagine it was Ernani, that bastard must have died when the mercenary attacked them, I didn''t think he would reach them so quickly. "We''re leaving!" (me) "Boris is back." (Mother) "< Activate >" (Barerosa) Crack Barerosa breaks a jewel while investing energy into it, a Rune of the Law of Space comes out and hits the ground and 10 seconds later a magic circle forms below us, space begins to distort. I look into the distance where a golden hill of energy rises into the sky while an increasingly strong presence emerges from where I came from, it was at that moment that space bends and the surroundings change, we were back inside the ship orbiting the planet, Boris was nearby with his body covered in superficial wounds. "Activate the jump feature, even if it can only be used once, we have to get out of here!" (Barerosa) "Yes ma''am!" (Boris) -------------------- 2 hours later. I was facing Ernani''s body, her main Law was fear, that was useless to me on several levels, her other Laws were also useless, not even my Mother can make use of them, but Barerosa could make use of the Laws of Sense and Mind since they synergize well with her Law of Desire. "(Should I bring her to my side...?)" (me) I had a few options with Barerosa, I could try to tell her the truth or I could deceive her, either one would be useful in some way. I''m very interested in her, her power of the Law of Desire seems a little special in a way, it was just a feeling before, I needed time to analyze her properly, I''m not that familiar with the Ascendants besides being enemies, so it took me a while to notice the micro differences between her and other Ascendants. She is someone who was born and raised here, her lineage has been part of this universe for at least 10 generations, maybe even more than 15 generations, I feel something strange in her lineage and in her Soul, her Law of Desire is being a great obstacle to my senses, it seems to be naturally hiding something deeper, I can''t help but increase my curiosity about her. "Sir, it seems like you need help?" (Mom) "(Be careful, that woman is acting strange.)" (Mom) "(I know, she can''t hide from me.)" (Me) "Morgana, I need you to go over the mission with Boris, we won''t be taking the Ascendants from that planet..." (Me) I was just talking to my mom as if it was about the mission, but in reality I was having a different mental conversation with her, I explained to her everything I felt from Barerosa and she told me about her own discoveries, about the emptiness she felt in those of older bloodlines among the Ascended population, Barerosa seemed to fit perfectly into that. Right now she was standing in the hallway with her senses locked on us, more specifically, her senses were locked on me. BAAAMM!! "We''re under attack!!" (Wendel) "..." (Me) I expand my Aura and senses outside the Ship, those outside are Elves, but they are different from the ones I know, their bodies are muscular, they wear shining armor and their Auras are extremely arrogant. What bothered me was their number, there are more than 200 of them, the one in front was an Elf with golden hair, white skin and orange eyes, he had a pair of golden horns that emanate the power of the concept, but he is clearly not an Avatar. "I''ll take care of this." (me) "< Law of the Sun: Corrupting Curse >" (me) Runes apparently in my Aura, eyes and on my tongue before disappearing, there was no trace of what I had done and after that I left the ship, the Elves around us seemed arrogant like a group of thieves seeing easy prey. Realizing that they are not from the Entity of Greed, then that only leaves the second entity to blame, Pride. "Your Arrogance seems to have blinded you." (Me) "You say a lot, for someone so naive... come back!!" (Lead Elf) "..." (Me) As soon as I got off the ship, all the Elves backed away, they were laughing and their leader seemed more than happy to see me, I didn''t understand what they were doing before they disappeared into the distance, I almost wanted to go after them, but I held myself back. "(What was that!?)" (Me) "..." (Me) I wanted to use my voice and presence to corrupt one among them, but that plan fell apart before it could even be put into action, I actually feel like I fell into someone else''s scheme. Everything they did with this sudden attack, seeing me and then running away, everything so fast and decisive was too strange to let go, but without knowing anything I could only continue our journey to the place we were about to reach was where we would meet the other Ascendants for the second mission to rescue Ascendants. But I didn''t care about this mission at all, the only reason I continued this was Wendel talking about his own comrades among them and Adella''s involvement. As soon as we arrived at the planet that was reinforced by hundreds of Ascendants with summoning powers, I went to a meeting with other leaders also of Level 3, I was a little afraid of being discovered, but fortunately they were more focused on the mission than on me. We spent hours discussing the mission''s things before splitting up, the mission would be done the next day, that was the plan. After that I was in a room meditating or at least pretending to meditate while my thoughts reached Nix who was on that same planet. --------------------- Nix let me enter her mind and control her body, but what I saw when I opened her eyes was Adella standing over me, her Aura was boiling with rage and her eyes were shining brightly, I felt like she was close to losing control. "Adella..." (me) Before I could talk to her, I saw something else through Nix''s senses, outside their cabin there was the same Elf with golden horns that I saw before, a bad feeling took shape when everything was enveloped in golden light. I felt my consciousness being pulled somewhere, a hand trying to wrap my consciousness by force, I tried to resist, but I wasn''t able to, he wasn''t invading my mind but pulling it somewhere else. Soon a mental world formed around me, a golden world where I was in a magnificent Palace, a single woman stood in front of me, she did not wear any extravagant or revealing clothes, her clothes were majestic and extremely masculine, which matched her muscular appearance and pointy ears. "Greetings, Bringer of Chaos... I am...." (???) ------------------- Pov Hades: I was sitting in front of Davoth, we were heading towards the target, the first universal core, most of the others were already positioned, but we were late, spending days in that place, Davoth''s mother stayed behind trying to reach a new level of strength under the supervision of that being. "You don''t trust that Ascended Goddess, why?" (me) "What she seeks to do is even more difficult than my plan, you can''t do both at the same time." (Davoth) "But you seem to have reached an agreement with her." (me) "Lack of options, my plan will no longer work, the arrival of these Entities means that their concepts will take root here, these concepts will influence and shape the Laws in another way, something that the Ascended leaders always worry about, now it''s happening." (Davoth) "Why now?" (me) "Why is someone plotting this from behind, this war between Pride and Greed is nothing but a farce!" (Davoth) Davoth was truly angered, his Aura was fluctuating with the Anomalous powers clashing within, his eyes were filled with pure killing intent. "Greed really only wants to conquer, but Pride is playing another game, angering Greed is secondary to what she wants, but I still don''t know what..." (Davoth) "War started all this, but he clearly has no specific plans, he''s just causing a great conflict..." (Davoth) "Curse wouldn''t be involved in this, but now that his Avatar has been pulled here, it will only be a matter of time before he makes a move." (Davoth) "But what do you mean? What is all this for, it seems very Chaotic..." (me) "Chaotic... yes, this situation makes no sense... there are too many involved, I don''t see what half of them could possibly gain... a senseless and chaotic situation..." (Davoth) "They want chaos..." (Davoth) Suddenly Davoth''s eyes widened in disbelief and fear, it seemed he realized something he couldn''t believe, his eyes turned to me and became serious as he held my shoulders firmly. "Contact Zenos, now!!" (Davoth) Chapter 1792: Cap 1790: Greetings, Bringer of Chaos... I felt my consciousness being pulled somewhere, a hand trying to forcefully wrap my consciousness around me. I tried to resist, but I couldn''t. He wasn''t invading my mind, but rather pulling it somewhere else. Soon a mental world formed around me, a golden world where I was in a magnificent Palace. A single woman stood in front of me. She wasn''t wearing any extravagant or revealing clothing. Her clothes were majestic and extremely masculine, which matched her muscular appearance and pointy ears. "Greetings, Bringer of Chaos... I am... Ohara, Chief Avatar of Pride and Empress of the Elven race!" (Ohara) "Great words, empress of an entire race? Not just of a nation?" (me) "Before me all Elves kneel, before me nature is proud of my presence, and only I can be the representative of Pride in all existence." (Ohara) Her skin was dark, but it looked more tanned than that because she was a Dark Elf, golden patterns marked her cheeks going down her neck like branches full of right angles, her hair was white until the middle and then turned golden until the tips that reached her waist, her hair was not straight but rather wildly disheveled, which makes her appearance more bold and courageous, her golden eyes were firm like the stars in the sky, her presence was overwhelming radiating absolute confidence in herself. Her Aura falls on me trying to press like increased gravity, but it is useless against me, this is a mental space, the body and Soul mean nothing here, only the mind and consciousness, this means that willpower reigns in the mental world and in this aspect I will not lose to anyone! I not only resist her pressure, but I also walk closer to the throne, stopping less than 5 meters away. I feel the weight on top of me, but my spine doesn''t bend and my legs don''t tremble. Her presence trying to make me submit is a challenge against my Will that I can''t let pass. Standing in front of her, our size is very different. She is very tall for an Elf, measuring over 2 meters, but I''m not afraid of her, at least not here and in these conditions. I smile at her confidence that doesn''t shake with my performance. Then, leveraging my Aura using pure willpower, I push her Aura back before starting to speak. "You''re not in this universe, what did you do?" (me) "You don''t understand, do you...?" (Ohara) "The one you found was my messenger. He carries my will within him, as well as the Concept of Pride, the pride of his role." (Ohara) "My mind was connected to his, your mental powers are well trained, so I only needed to use a connection that already existed to pull you in." (Ohara) "As a Familiar..." (me) "You are still a God, even if you don''t have a Familiar or Herald, you would still have at least one Saint or Heroes that we could use, not to mention your Living Universe." (Ohara) "The moment we confirmed your identity, my messenger only had to follow the mental link that was closest and wait." (Ohara) She speaks easily of what she did, she condescendingly reveals how she made me dance in her hand all the way here, but what I pay attention to the most is the clear effort they made to bring you here. "You were looking for me, but for what?" (me) "Bearer of Chaos, you were hidden by the system, by Life and Death, by Hell and you were still maintaining yourself as a mere God..." (Ohara) She stands up and walks towards me, I don''t like the way she looks down on me, I could transform this mental form into a Dragon, but I don''t give a damn about power dynamics, she can be proud of whatever she wants as long as I can know what all this is about. "Many Entities wanted to know the identity of the new Bringer of Chaos, Pride was one of them." (Ohara) "..." (me) "Don''t look at me like that, I''m not your enemy, at least not personally, and Pride won''t get involved any further than what he already is in the Ascendant universe, the conflicts there were secondary to finding you." (Ohara) "I don''t understand what you mean by that?" (me) "It doesn''t matter, someone will explain later, maybe one of these trying to interrupt our conversation." (Ohara) I can feel Lena and Cortana as well as Freya trying to reach me, but they are having difficulty, there is a presence even greater and infinite than Ohara''s surrounding this mental space, this is stopping them from reaching me. "Bearer of Chaos, I will not ask anything of you, we do not need anything right now, I only made this meeting happen to give you a warning." (Ohara) "Beware of the Progenitors, their arrival as always marks a second era of Chaos, it really is incredible that the second era of Chaos took so long to begin when so many seeds of chaos were scattered." (Ohara) "What are you talking about." (me) "I''m saying that you will be hunted sooner or later, among these enemies there will be 2 types, the first will be those who want to snatch the power of Chaos for themselves, among them there will be Anomalous Creatures and Entities of all kinds." (Ohara) "That doesn''t include you, does it?" (me) "Of course not, pride is a broad concept, one of the most comprehensive and ancient that exist, there is no meaning in stealing something that cannot be fully used, it would not be a reason for pride, so to speak." (Ohara) "But is there any pride in coming here to warn me?" (me) "Of course there is, not all Entities and Anomalous Creatures are your enemies, which does not mean that they are allies." (Ohara) "Chaos influences many Concepts, most of them, if not all, originate from Chaos in some way." (Ohara) "For example, without chaotic times and unforeseen events, how can people prove themselves? What will they be proud of if there are no achievements?" (Ohara) "Your presence is a gift in itself, Bringer of Chaos, all the problems you cause are a reason for pride in your life now." (Ohara) "..." (me) She talks a lot, but her eyes seem to see right through me, it seems like she can see everything I''ve been through, as if she''s evaluating me and this perception deepens when she lowers herself into my line of vision to place her hand on my shoulder. "You didn''t flinch or bow in my presence, even though you''re not an Elf and this is just a mental world, it''s still a feat that few are capable of accomplishing and with your time in existence no one else would be able to achieve, truly admirable." (Ohara) "..." (me) "I can see the Achievements in your Aura, I can see the marks in your mind and I can see the scars on your Soul... you are a bastion of pride to yourself and those around you, I approve." (Ohara) "Is this all an evaluation? What is all this tuning about!?" (me) I was trying to remain patient, but it was getting difficult as I felt myself being tested and evaluated by her, I don''t like others putting their Will on me like this. "Stop all this theatrics, be direct and say what you have to say!" (me) "You want something and it''s written all over your eyes, so be direct!" (me) "Hahahahaha..." (Ohara) "What I want from you is something we can leave for last, before that I must finish my purpose as Avatar of Pride..." (Ohara) She stands up and turns her back, walking towards her throne, her expression serious before speaking again to a tougher neighbor. "I haven''t talked about the second type of enemies that will look for you, but you must have already imagined it, right?" (Ohara) "Extermination, which makes no difference in the end, one way or another I''ll be dead." (me) "Yes, but the second type of enemy is worse, what they seek to exterminate is not only you, but also your concept, Chaos itself... among them the most dangerous would be the Progenitors in front of the Creatures of the Abyss." (Ohara) "Wait, the Creatures of the Abyss want to destroy everyone, so why are you counting them too?" (me) "Also, who are the Progenitors!?" (me) "The Creatures of the Abyss are one thing, but the Void of the Abyss is not limited to just them, there is something that has already been eliminated in the past, something that many Concepts do not know today..." (Ohara) "The Progenitors are also forgotten beings..." (Ohara) "..." (me) Ding! <[ Further information about the Abyss and the Progenitors is prohibited ]> . . . <[ The System limits your interaction before your Concept fully awakens ]> . . . <[ The System has accepted the Entity of Greed''s request upon acceptance of the limitations ]> . . <[ The System awaits your decision regarding [ Ohara (Avatar of Greed) ] proposal to finalize the pact ]> "What was that!?" (me) "I didn''t expect the System to intervene so quickly, it also seems that Pride fulfilled my request." (Ohara) "I don''t like games, Ohara!!" (me) "I don''t joke around, I just didn''t have time to finish what I needed to say and it seems that I still can''t, your limitations before awakening your Concept are greater than other Entities, so the end of this conversation will be done another time." (Ohara) Ohara turns to me, her expression changing to something more natural, her eyes becoming calmer before speaking without the usual harsh tone. "Now that I have finished my duty as Avatar, I will make a personal request representing only myself and not Pride." (Ohara) Chapter 1793: Cap 1791: Avatar doomed? Pov Hades: Hours have passed since I spoke to the master at Davoth''s urgent urging, he used my body to talk to him, but sealed my coincidence of hearing his conversation, which doesn''t matter to me, I am his Herald and you will know what he wants me to know. But what disturbs me is Davoth''s behavior, he seems distracted since he spoke to the master, his eyes seem lost in the past, I have seen many eyes like that in those who walk the Stellar Path. "Why did we change course?" (me) "The Cores have become secondary, we need to find someone first." (Davoth) "Wouldn''t it be better to mark the Universal Cores first?" (me) "Now that 2 Entities are invading this universe..." (me) "If we find that person, we won''t need the Universal Cores." (Davoth) "This person is ancient, he is also the basis of the Network Flow of Law between Universes, we can say that he is the heart that maintains it." (Davoth) "If he is so important, then why wasn''t he our target from the beginning?" (me) "Because I have no idea of ??his current conditions or if he is stable, not to mention the dangers involved." (Davoth) "But now it is different, the Entities will already mark territories, their Concept powers will sooner or later influence the Cores, taking them will be too difficult, especially when there will be others targeting them too." (Davoth) "Not to mention that the place where he is imprisoned will be difficult." (Davoth) "What are we going to do then?" (me) "Get ready..." (Davoth) "I will warn the others." (me) -------------------- Pov Adella: Something was wrong, Nix who was embodying Zenos suddenly stopped, her Aura has been empty for a few minutes and every time I try to touch her body a strange presence stops me. "I''m tempted to use my power, but that would expose me..." (me) "What happened to you, Nix?" (me) With nothing to do, I had to watch her, I couldn''t leave her alone without even knowing what was happening here, I can''t tell if something happened to her or to Zenos, but I can''t do anything but wait, which only increases the anger I''m feeling. "If it wasn''t for him..." (me) The increase in anger took me back to those memories, the memory of him smiling at me, his hand on my face, his voice beside me, his words of love. "(Calm down, Adella... calm down... don''t lose yourself in hatred again...!)" (me) My emotions were in turmoil, ever since I heard about him from Wendel, it was as if a dam had broken inside me, emotions that I thought I had left behind, emotions that I thought were buried in the past resurfaced like a raging titan inside me. His face stamped on my mind with every thought, his smile turning into whispers in my ears the more my murderous intent grows. Every time I close my eyes a different memory of him comes to mind, the anger never goes away, the hatred only grows, the fury spreads more and more threatening to make me return to that bestial state again. "Adella!" (Nix) "Huh...?" (me) "Nix...?" (me) Suddenly a hand shakes my right shoulder and my vision is in front of me, Nix was looking at me with concern and looking out the window the light became brighter, it was already dawn. "(For how many hours was I distracted by those damn memories...?)" (me) "Are you okay? What the hell happened to you!?" (me) "Someone used me to contact the master, at least that''s what he said, I don''t know anything else." (Nix) "But why were you still like that?" (me) "The master sealed my consciousness to control my body more easily, when I was used as a means to get to him, that seal became much stronger, I couldn''t do anything but wait." (Nix) "Zenos said something about..." (me) "Adella! Do you have any idea what was happening to you!?" (Nix) "What are you talking about?" (me) "Your eyes were purple, a cursed energy was being emitted throughout your body, fortunately we had the master''s stigma, thanks to that this cursed energy was all consumed by the marks on your arm, otherwise we would have already been discovered!" (Nix) Sigh "Look at the state of your body." (Nix) "..." (me) I look at my hands that are covered in wounds, my clothes are embedded in blood and corroded, running my hand over my face I feel traces of thick blood in my eyes. I look inside myself, the blood vessels were normal, but I could see traces of recently healed wounds, my energy was strange, traces of cursed energy were flowing along with my power, my emotions clearly feeding this corrupt energy. Fortunately it seems that this energy is slowly being sucked by the stigma that Zenos placed on my arm. "(What happened to me!?)" (me) "I''m fine..." (me) "No, you''re not fine, but I can''t expect anything better." (Nix) "The master left instructions with the Ascendants'' plans, he''s going to be a distraction and wants us to invade the prisons before the Ascendants." (Nix) "Then let''s go, what are you waiting for!?" (me) "Adella, whatever you want to say or do to him, you''ll have to wait." (Nix) "..." (me) "We can''t let them find out about us or the traitors, we''ll be in enemy territory too, don''t put us all at risk." (Nix) "I''ll control myself." (me) "I hope so or someone might end up dying and none of us want to regret it..." (Nix) "..." (me) I knew she was trying to remind me of the pain of my past regrets, trying to use it to strengthen my will, even though it''s something that hurts me, it''s also something to keep me under control. --------------------- Pov Zenos: I opened my eyes to find Barerosa kneeling near the wall looking at me, her two pairs of wings closed around her like a feather blanket, not far from her my hand was crossed-legged reviewing the plan information with holographic screens around it, it must be the preparations I asked them to make. "Commander, I''m glad to see you awake, the other Commanders left a notice of the mission starting in less than 3 hours." (Barerosa) "My Lord, all the preparations have been made as ordered, I double-checked to be sure." (Mother) "Where are Wendel and Boris?" (me) "Boris is with the Golem controllers, they all acted together for better coordination." (Barerosa) "Wendel is preparing for the Ritual along with those focused on magic under the leadership of Commander Collins." (Barerosa) "Very well, then let''s finish our part too, shall we?" (me) Looking at Barerosa I begin to understand some things, mainly how she became an Ascendant even with this bottomless thing inside her. Ohara gave me some good information, but she didn''t say anything about those who, like her, are Pride Troopers, at least she told me a little about Maximus and also the location of Vecna, one of the leaders of the Level 4 Ascendants. But I couldn''t find out more about the Progenitors or what she wanted to talk about regarding the Abyss, it seems to be some kind of forbidden knowledge, but when I spoke to Davoth his expression was one of horror, he knows something and clearly wanted to talk, even so he remained silent in the end. There are many things I don''t know and many movements in the shadows around me, I''m blind to the path I''m taking in the midst of this danger and I don''t like it, but I have no choice but to continue on this path. I can only do one thing at a time, after I finish this rescue I can finally focus on the real mission, I have many things to do and I shouldn''t need to complete missions for the Ascendants anymore to keep hidden, the missions I''ve already completed and participated in will cover me for long enough. Even so, I have to know more about the enemy in front of me, Davoth doesn''t know who it could be and Ohara couldn''t tell me, the Ascendants don''t know who it could be either, but I have a feeling it must be an Avatar and with my luck this can basically be confirmed. "(System, can you hear my thoughts, who is leading the Pride troops here?)" (me) Ding! <[ System checks your Authority level ]> . . <[ Confirmed ]> . . <[ The one leading the Pride Entity''s troops has been identified as [ Ghanor (Pride Avatar) ] ]> . . <[ [ Ghanor (Pride Avatar) ] is undergoing a life-threatening ordeal of punishment ]> "..." (me) "Commander, did something happen?" (Barerosa) "No, I''m just lost in my thoughts, let''s go." (me) "(System, any more information?)" (me) Ding! <[ You do not have Authority over the Pride Concept and the Pride Entity has not granted access to the other information ]> "..." (me) This message means that the Pride Entity has given me access to the previous information, he is using me in this ordeal for his Avatar. I was lost in thought, Pride knows about me and knows that I''m about to start an attack against his troops here, but instead of going against me, he gave me information, this doesn''t make sense, especially the part about the risk of death for his Avatar. "(He wants me to kill his Avatar...?)" (me) This realization almost shocked me, he was punishing his Avatar and still wanted him to die. "(What did this Avatar do to deserve to be condemned like this?)" (me) Chapter 1794: Cap 1792: Starting the rescue I was accompanied only by my mother, she would not participate in the battle, just like the other Level 1 Ascendants, they are all just points of information that remain hidden amidst the battles that will arise from now on. "Thank you for letting Adella participate." (Mother) "Don''t thank me, what I did could very well be a mistake." (Me) "She is not in a condition for this, personally finding the source of her hatred while we are surrounded by enemies, that could have been a big mistake." (Me) "She needs this and besides, she wouldn''t have walked away." (Mother) "I know." (Me) Adella will be a constant worry for me, but I prefer to leave her in a visible place at least, that''s why I agreed to her participation, I just hope I made the right choice. "[You''re in the right place, it must be because of your proximity.]" (Boris) If a brooch my mother was wearing, Boris''s beginning began to sound, around us was a different city, the buildings were all made of wood, living wood, they were trees whose interior was carved to become houses, even the ground of this city was made of leaves and stones, vines formed bridges that interconnected around the tallest trees. The city itself was bustling, but clearly not of its biennial population, it seems that there was a very large number of Demons and Humans wearing military uniforms made of metal scales, their Auras all marked by Pride. The majority of these people did not seem to be very strong, in fact they all had stronger items, all flaunting them in front of the population that barely showed anything, but I also saw people of other races looking cautiously at these enemy troops, these people must be part of the immigrants. "(They mastered everything very quickly.)" (me) The original people were easily recognized among them, their mechanical and almost robotic actions seemed like an NPC just following their routines without thinking about anything else, while the immigrants who came from other universes only showed caution and fear, everything was so easily clear here that we would have quickly drawn attention with our wings, if it weren''t for the items we were carrying hiding our wings. Suddenly we arrived in a central area, in the middle of the city full of giant trees, I should have imagined, the center of the city was a garden where multiple flowers and bushes formed into a magnificent mansion, it must have been kilometers in size such a colossus of a mansion. Holding the reins of the situation, my senses try to perceive any sign as promised in the meeting, they said it would be an energy signal and I would know when to act, and so it happened. An explosion of energy appears in the sky and several Pride Soldiers gather, their senses all pointing upwards, it was at that moment that rock spikes come from the ground aiming at all of them as far as I can see, most of them managed to escape this second attack or did not suffer at all from this attack. "< Law of Eclipse: Distortion of Perception >" (me) I explode my Aura while Runes appear from my wings, the ring on my finger shining incandescently, these many Runes form a whirlwind in the sky sucking all these Runes of the Law while the sky gets darker and darker. A great Eclipse forms and the notion of distance or depth seems to disappear for everyone below this sky while my Aura becomes much more powerful here. Of course this only happens to enemies, there is no reason for an area of ??effect technique to work on allies, with that I thought everything was going well and that''s when he appeared. "Who are you?" (???) "I am Bond, who are you?" (me) "I am Ghanor, Avatar of Pride and Ruler of Demons, I am the one who leads these troops during this entire invasion." (Ghanor) He was a Demon, but his entire body was golden like metal, in fact it shined like real metal, it was as if he were made of gold, his clothes were all white as were his horns and hair, his clothes like those of the troops he leads, a leather and fabric outfit covered in scales His face was full of confidence, but it was still completely different from Ohara, he didn''t seem to be an idiot, but he didn''t show the Cunning that I saw in her eyes. He was almost 3 meters tall, had a robust body and in his hands was a Halberd, even so it was possible to see a lack of brightness in his gaze. "(Fighting him in my current state is difficult...)" (me) "< Activate >" (me) Without saying anything else I pull out a Crystal and break it, Runes of a Law I don''t know appear and fly upwards where they create storm clouds, rain, lightning and mist. This was part of the plan, of course me using it first was a signal to other Ascendants that the Avatar was with me, within seconds after it started raining, other Ascendants came towards me while explosions and screams could be heard in all directions. "Thank you for waiting." (me) "It wouldn''t be good enough to face just you." (Ghanor) Soon 2 other Level 3 Ascendants arrived, one of them a Beastman from the Bear tribe, his name was Collins, while the other was a Gray Elf woman, her name was Melissa. The two of them are not part of the traitors, so acting near them has its level of risk, but that was the proposed plan and going against a good plan like that would be suspicious, fortunately it seems that my disguise was better than expected and waving to my Mother who was already far from the battlefield, I attack the Avatar followed by the other two who spread out to attack from other directions. "< Law of Ice: Mountain Piercer >" (Collins) "< Law of Eclipse: Threshold Limit >" (me) "< Law of Assassination: Dark Needles >" (Melissa) "< Third Demon Art: Demonic Fury >" (Ghanor) A Demonic energy begins to emanate from his body and be sucked into the tip of his Halberd at the same time as three attacks surround him. I created a ring of light around him, trapping him within the bounded area. If he tried to leave, the Ring would restrict him in place, causing immense pain in the process. Collins, in turn, was the first to attack. He acted even before me as the air around him turned cold. Ice particles emerged from his wings, forming a mountain peak that rotated above him, advancing against Ghanor with a storm of ice surrounding him. Melissa let herself be the last to attack among us. Her intentions were simple. She didn''t just want to attack. She was attacking to kill from the first blow. Runes of Law came out of her wings and sank into her shadow. Her Aura, instead of exploding in power, actually disappeared. That was when I felt movement in the shadows, just before hundreds of dark thorns emerged from the shadows around Ghanor. This was a strategy we came up with before we even started this attack, where one of us would restrain the Avatar, another would make a massive attack, and another would make a subtle assassination attack. Doing more than that would be difficult since we don''t know each other, so we came up with 2 or 3 strategies in advance with the goal of finishing the fight or buying enough time for the rescue to happen. Ghanor didn''t seem to mind the two attacks against him and ignored my restraint. He didn''t even move from his spot. He gripped his halberd, which glowed with Demonic energy, before waving his weapon forward, creating a wave of energy that cut the ice mountain coming towards him in half. When the Shadow needles reached him, they didn''t even touch his body. His Aura became solid around him, trapping all the needles in place. "You think something so ridiculous can hurt me!?" (Ghanor) "I am Ghanor!!! The Conqueror!!!" (Ghanor) "< Demonic Summon: General of Pandemonium >" (Ghanor) "(This energy... Callidora...)" (me) The energy coming out of Ghanor''s body suddenly began to change, he pulled out a medallion that he attached to his chest, his Demonic energy doubled and his Aura turned evil, the restraining ring I placed around him corroded before disappearing. A magic circle forms behind him, making the space vibrate with lamentations while a gate rises. Everyone tried to attack him before the undefeated ended, but he spread his Aura like a hurricane, making everyone move away while the gate opens behind him, revealing a dark horror scene where hundreds of eyes appear. A pair of these eyes seems to approach, but I focused on another, much more discreet pair of eyes that were at the bottom of the door. This pair of eyes shone as they turned to me in mockery. "(She is corrupting Ghanor, that''s why Pride punished him.)" (me) What came out of the gate was a 5-meter creature covered in armor made of bones as black as iron, spectral wings, and three large horns attached that seem to be part of the helmet. Demonic flames that move strangely surround the engraving that carries a large sword and a large shield, its presence as great as that of Ghanor himself. "Plan B!" (Melissa) "(Buying time, I see.)" (me) Chapter 1795: Cap 1793: Prison Galaxy Pov Hades: I was with Davoth when we left through the portal, the one guarding it was one of the traitors on Davoth''s side and thanks to that we were able to cross this entire universe to a strange area where almost no stars were seen. On the other side there were also no planets nearby and not even an Ascendant guarding the Space Portal, the guardian was a planetary Golem like the ones that attacked our universe last time under Mavor''s command. "What is this place?" (me) "A forbidden area, an entire galaxy that serves as a prison, getting here is impossible in any way other than by portal like we did and even that requires very specific coordinates to open the only correct passage among 200 traps." (Davoth) "That''s a very high level of security..." (me) "How did you find this place?" (me) "I helped design it, but I doubt any of them remember it. At the time, I was still a Level 2 Ascendant, one of hundreds who participated in the project. It was only much later that I let myself be discovered as a traitor and was killed. They probably don''t even remember everything I did before." (Davoth) "I created this Golem. I used the same standard specifications they use and replaced the previous one with mine. That''s why it didn''t attack us or warn us about our intrusion." (Davoth) "The one you''re looking for is here... but where are we going?" (me) "Over there, in that dark area. The powers of the Ascendant Law are distorted in this Galaxy and don''t reach that point, leaving everything there isolated." (Davoth) "The Flow of Laws follows a complex path here. Each of these stars are Ritual Cores using this Flow of Laws as a magic circle. They are all attack or sealing rituals." (Davoth) I look at the hundreds that shine in the darkness of space, they are so few and far between that this place does not look like a galaxy where thousands or millions of stars exist, it just looks like an area of ??pure darkness with distant points of light. "How are we going to get there, traveling without a vehicle will take a long time, maybe weeks." (me) "It would be impossible to travel like that, I already told you, the Laws are distorted around that point and the Spatial Law is no exception." (Davoth) "So how are we going to get there?" (me) "We will use the Flow of Laws itself, travel directly to the inside, I prepared this passage thinking about that day, follow me to that blue Sun." (Davoth) --------------------- Pov Adella: Before the attack began. I had my eyes closed, those memories coming to my mind again, appearing one after the other as if stabbing knives into a wound that never closed. --------------------- "(Selene, look...)" (Kaan) "(I swear to myself, if you''ve created a new type of Divine Flower again, I''ll throw you into the nearest Sun!)" (me) "(Come on... the flower was very beautiful, even you have to admit that.)" (Kaan) "(That''s when you''re not trying to consume a planet!)" (me) "(This time it''s different, see... I made some of my worshippers discover ruins about you with your original teachings before they were distorted.)" (Kaan) "(The ruins are an ancient temple of yours, part of your power is still present without being stained by the malice of others, I can finally prove to the rest of the universe that you''re not an Evil Goddess! Hahahahaha...!)" (Kaan) "(Kaan... proofs are useless, people believe what they want to believe, even if some will change their thoughts or even doubt what they knew until now, with the passing of a few generations, this will be lost again, there are many more examples of people misusing the power of blood, even if they are not my worshippers, they are seen as such by those outside.)" (me) "(See what you''re being called now... Archenemy of Selene or Blood Purifier God... there are many who know you as such because of the way you''ve hunted down all those who use the powers of blood negatively.)" (me) "(No! They''re wrong, I just want to prevent any more misunderstandings about you from continuing... I... I...)" (Kaan) "(I appreciate your intentions, but just wanting something doesn''t make it real, I appreciate everything you do, but it still hurts me to see your expression when things go wrong, that''s why I''m telling you.)" (me) "(...)" (Kaan) "(I just want everyone to know what a wonderful Goddess you are... is that so wrong...?)" (Kaan) "(No, that''s wonderful of you, but don''t fool yourself with results that may not happen, you, like other Gods, know about me, there are also some among mortals who still follow the old teachings, that''s enough to me.)" (me) "(So stop being so sad so often.)" (me) Those days were full of happiness, he was such a kind person, every time he approached me I couldn''t help but smile, but now just the memory of those days hurts so much that it''s unbearable, all that happiness turned into anger, all that love turned into hate, those memories hurt more than anything that happened, the betrayal of the one closest to me tore me apart, making me turn into the monstrosity that everyone always believed I was. ---------------------- "They''re here, wake up!" (Nix) "..." (me) I open my eyes, I was in a now empty restaurant, Nix was by my side, his hand was on my shoulder and with his call I push those memories and emotions back to the bottom of my heart, we both had to pass as servants of Zenos who had not yet gone through Ascension, brought from whatever universe he invented to have come from. Soon the restaurant doors open and 5 people enter, 4 of them are human and only one of them is a Beast Man, as soon as I look at them I realize that only one of them has the rigid behavior and empty look of the people of this shitty universe, all the others are clearly immigrants who betrayed their original universes or surrendered during the Ascendants'' invasions. "(I would like to kill them all, damn traitors and fucking cowards!)" (me) "You''re late." (Nix) "Sorry, the Pride Troopers seem to be doing a very good job looking for suspicious people like us." (Bear Man) "I''m Olivia and this is Samantha, what''s her name?" (Nix) "My name is Rodri?guez, I''m Collins'' servant." (Rodri?guez) "And we''re Bond''s servants." (Nix) With that, everyone started introducing themselves, those damn bastards started introducing themselves as if we were all little friends, I would like to tear each one of them apart and bathe in their blood, that would be really nice. "Stop emitting that murderous intent, we have to move." (Nix) "Don''t worry, I understand how she feels, I don''t like holding back like that either." (Rodri?guez) "But we have a mission and it''s not combat, unfortunately..." (Rodri?guez) "On this mission I will be giving the orders, I am in contact with the Ascendant Morgana, she will locate both the Rescue Targets and the enemies for us, I expect full cooperation." (Nix) "I will do it, don''t worry." (Rodri?guez) "The chances of the Ascendants all being in the same place are low, the level 2 and level 3 ones must be in different areas, we won''t be able to get out with all of them without being noticed." (me) "The Pride Troopers we saw around the city are too weak to face Level 2 Ascendants." (me) "Most likely the really strong enemies are inside the enemy base, there''s also a chance an Avatar is present, but if that turns out to be true the Ascendants took care of that." (me) Everyone feels a wave of energy passing by and soon after a storm starts outside with sounds of lightning coming from one direction as well as a fog covering the city. That was the signal that the battle had begun, it also reveals that the Avatar was indeed present and is already under attack by the Ascendants, this was the time to move. "We''re going now!" (Nix) Everyone nods, I wave my fist downwards creating a deep pit that reaches the sewer networks, all the earth that was in the way was swallowed up in blood that spills down the sides of the pit and inside without making any noise of explosion or anything else. "Let''s go!" (me) I jump without even looking at anyone, Nix right behind and the others coming after her, the plan was to use the sewer system to invade the fortress from underground, the enemy troops have no structural knowledge of the city and didn''t have time to check everything. Thanks to the Golems facing the Pride Troopers on the surface and the Ascendants together with Zenos facing the Avatar, the internal defenses will be weaker and everyone will be more focused on the outside than the inside. We all studied the sewer tunnel system separately, it was something easy to memorize, I did it in minutes, then we followed the path in a few tens of seconds while suppressing our Auras. Nix gives hand signals as she stands next to me, I nod to her and jump up, my hand touches the ceiling that turns to blood leaving a well upwards, I jump up all at once with the others following, we arrive at the kitchen. "Where to...?" (me) "Rodri?guez, you use the Crystal with you to teleport with the level 2 Ascendants, we will release the level 3 ones and start another fight from the inside out." (Nix) "You guys go to the first floor point 32, we will go to the third floor, don''t wait for us, we will use the disturbance caused by your teleportation to act." (Nix) "I understand." (Rodri?guez) Chapter 1796: Cap 1794: Fight Like an Ascendant Pov Vecna: "Aaahhhhhh!!!!!" (me) Sigh Sigh The pain was too great, I was inside an underground hall, all the Runes and Rituals I created here filled this place with the power of the Law to the point of saturation, the power of the Law was almost solid here, a lake of my blood was below me as I sat on its surface, all this power of the Law was converging towards the object at the bottom of the lake of blood, the bones of a Dragon God. "I need to start... the metals..." (me) "Hhhgggggg!!!" (me) "!!!!!!" (me) Sigh The pain I felt was not due to the loss of blood but rather from being the conductor of so much power of the Ascending Law, this while the remaining power of the Dragon''s bones fought against me, the pressure on my body and Soul was uneven. My body was working at its limits and no matter how much effort I was going through it was acceptable, but my Soul was being squeezed by the will of the Dragon''s residual in attack, for the vast majority of Ascendants, our Souls have always been weak, a difficult problem to overcome to this day. I take out bars of rare concentrated metals and throw them into the lake of my blood that begins to boil, the metals melt and are marked by my blood, vein patterns that create runes inside them before fusing into the bones. This whole process was time-consuming and I had to do it alone, I didn''t have Mavor and Urak to switch places with me sporadically, this time it wouldn''t work, doing the recombination process from scratch like this is only possible for an individual. "(I have to endure... we don''t have time for tests anymore!!)" (me) "You look exhausted, Vecna." (???) "Who...!?" (me) "You don''t need to worry about me, I''m just an Avatar of the Curse." (???) "Ggghhhaaaa!!!" (me) The pain was intense, my vision was swimming as if I were at the bottom of a dark ocean, I couldn''t see the individual at the edge of the lake of blood, but his figure was certainly not humanoid. "What do you... want...!!?" (me) "That''s a very interesting question with more extensive answers than you can imagine, but I''ll stick to what I want from you for now." (???) "!!!" (me) Snap! Snap! Crack! I clench my teeth as I feel the bones inside my body cracking under the pressure of the energies being refined below the lake of blood, then came the noise of the Divine Dragon Bones breaking before a part of the blood from the lake was sucked into bones that healed with more metallic appearances, the final refining process had begun and would take a while. "The Curse Entity has always been neutral and does not interfere in the affairs of others, but it seems that my lady has given the wrong impression so far." (???) "Those who are using your universe for their games of power and authority dare to use one of our newest Avatars in their endeavors." (???) His body was blurred and his outline seemed to move as if he were not an individual, but rather a colony of things maintaining a singular form. "I would like to form a proposition with you, I will assist your Ascendants as an allied force against your invaders and in exchange I will use your life flow stolen from the universes to help the newbie awaken his sapience." (???) "You are asking... too much!!" (me) "I know, so I will also help you with something else..." (???) "< Cursed Origin: Inversion of the Divine >" (???) "AAAHHHHHH!!!" (me) Suddenly the pain became unbearable, a cold sensation took over me as the entire lake of blood boiled to the boiling point, my entire body and Soul were plunged into suffering, but I still maintained my concentration as if something was supporting my consciousness, the refining process that would last months accelerated by more than half and the residual divine will of the Dragon burned as its power flowed nourishing my Soul. Even in torment I could still hear his voice speaking as if my pain meant nothing to him. "With this I am helping to speed up whatever this is, it will also prevent you from failing halfway, I know you cannot answer now and so I will take your screams as confirmation of my proposal." (???) "Don''t worry, I will not act on my own, I will let this child do things her own way after she reaches sapience, it will be a challenge for her." (???) "Now I take my leave, I hope you won''t have to act like this again and I wish you success, leader of the Ascendants..." (???) Just as he appeared out of nowhere, he disappeared as my mind was swallowed by pain, his proposal was not to my liking, but it was not without benefits to me, his help now may increase my suffering, which doesn''t matter as long as I succeed, the loss of the vitality explored from the Universes in our borders won''t affect much either, we can always conquer more universes after I reach the fifth pair of wings. ---------------------- Pov Zenos: I was watching the five-year summoning gate close, Callidora''s eyes smiling as she saw my expression, the armored giant had a pure Demonic Aura, his bright eyes through the helmet were filled with endless malice as well as intelligence. As soon as he stepped out of the summoning portal that now disappeared into the background, he looked at the Avatar of Pride who had summoned him. There was no pleasure in his presence, only anger could be felt in his Aura burning around him before he turned his eyes to us. Suddenly his eyes focused on Collins as his great sword disappeared and before anyone could react, he was already in front of Collins who met the tip of the great sword with his wing that covered itself in ice. The collision between the two sent a blue mist and rays of Demonic energy in waves to the surroundings, which did not affect anyone present, but destroyed the part of the city where we were. "Be careful, he''s fast!" (Melissa) "Leave him to me, take care of the Avatar!!!" (me) "It''s okay, I''m no good against infernal creatures." (Collins) Collins had Demonic energy burning his wing, he clearly didn''t come out unscathed from this attack and seemed to be tormented by Demonic energy, but I''m not switching places with him because of that but rather to avoid having to fight too close to them, I don''t want to be discovered and I also can''t coordinate with them that well. "< Law of Ice: Blade Hurricane >" (Collins) "< Law of Assassination: Shadow Pursuit >" (Melissa) "< Pride of Combat >" (Ghanor) I didn''t care about their combat and charged towards the Infernal creature that was still aiming at Collins, I appeared next to him who was in the middle of his attack, then I raised both hands towards the Infernal creature while my wings and ring glowed. "< Law of Eclipse: Threshold Space >" (me) Ruins emerge from my wings circling me as well as the Infernal creature, everything around us seems to disappear, but in truth it was the two of us who left that place, around us a strange world formed a crystal floor that reflected the starry sky above with a horizon that of a great Eclipse taking place. It was a space that seemed infinite, I looked tiny facing the Infernal creature that turned its eyes to me stopping its attack, he held his shield tightly while the sword materialized in his other hand, he looked at me with anger growing stronger and stronger when a voice full of malice came out of his helmet. "You are the God that Hell has embraced!" (Infernal General) "If you''re talking about Callidora, I''m just someone who made a deal with her." (me) "I don''t care... I smell her rotten smell on you!" (Infernal General) "I can''t help but submit to that thing that turned me into this... but you, I''m going to have fun tearing you apart!!" "< Demonic Butcher''s Awakening >" (Infernal General) "< Eclipse Law: Threshold Dagger >" (me) As the dagger that seemed to be made from a shard of shattered space from another universe formed in my hand, the Demon in front of me grew even larger, reaching 8 meters, his shield deformed into the shape of a horned skull made of metal bones, his great sword shattered into pieces as blood came out of his armor flowing down his arm until it reached his hand creating a large serrated cleaver stained with blood, his Armor became even thicker with his helmet taking on a Demonic face with large metal teeth, it seemed as if the helmet had fused with his skull. The presence was bloodthirsty and as he ran towards me, his power was less than that of an Avatar, but it was at the level of a God. He ran at an even greater speed than before, I flapped my wings spinning to dodge and still found that shield in front of me trying to crush me against the ground. I somersault in the air and kick the shield hard to get away from him as I once again force myself to spin in the air using that centrifugal force to kick the large cleaver that was trying to split me in half. "(I''m going to need more than that... he''s too fast...)" (me) "(I''m going to have to fight as an Ascendant, but I haven''t had time to test that yet.)" (me) One thing I''ve never tried before and really wouldn''t like to try is using the power of the Ascendants, the Symbol of Dominion. I''ve seen many of them use it against me and it doesn''t seem like a complex thing to do. With the help of the Ring I should be able to do it. Still, it''s not something I''d like to use. I don''t know what might happen. I''m different from the Ascendants in certain basic ways that might influence this in unpredictable ways. Still, I can''t use my normal powers in this fight without running a huge risk of revealing myself. Chapter 1797: Cap 1795: Domain Symbol My fight against this Demonic bastard was shit from the start, his cleaver was so fast that I could barely defend or dodge his attacks, not to mention the shield that seemed to move on its own, always trying to crush me. He is very big and heavy, but his speed is still greater than mine, there really is no justice in this world. "I will crush your body and use your bones to forge a new sword!" (Demonic General) "You should pay more attention to the surroundings... now!" (me) "What...?" (Demonic General) Sshhh!!!! As soon as his attention was divided with the surroundings, I threw the dagger not at a vital point, but at the joint of his wrist between the parts of his armor, the dagger pierces his wrist while releasing a powerful energy that explodes, tearing off his hand as well as the large cleaver he carries. I never stopped moving, already waiting for this opportunity. I was in the right place to retrieve the large cleaver, but before I could grab the cleaver, a shield came towards me, colliding with the side of my body, which was thrown away. I somersaulted in the air before spreading my wings and floating, looking at the enemy. His hand, which had been separated from his body, was still attached to the handle of the large cleaver, floating near the place where it had been separated. The wound joined and closed, completely regenerating even the damaged armor. "You think you can hurt me! This body is just a pile of scraps to me. I don''t feel pain! I don''t feel hunger! I don''t feel tired! I feel nothing but hatred!!" (Demon General) "That thing took everything from me, but it made sure to feed that hatred, always mocking my existence and suffering!!" (Demon General) "< Slaughter Slash >" (Demon General) "< Law of the Moon: Place Inversion >" (me) His murderous intent was really too obvious, almost uncontrolled and noticing his attack, I activate one of the Law Runes that was on the dagger, I appear in the place where the dagger was as it flies towards me from the direction where I was before while dodging a blade of crimson liquid energy that made the space tremble as it passed. "This bastard!!" (me) "(Looks like I have no choice...)" (me) "You think you can escape from me!!!" (Demon General) He doesn''t stop his attack, he spins towards me while still swinging the large cleaver leaving a trail of crimson liquid energy behind. He ignores the dagger flying towards him clearly not caring about the damage he might suffer. "< Law of the Sun: Corrupt Infection >" (me) Using the dagger once more, I cause the Eclipse on its blade to dissolve as the purple sun takes center stage, painting the previously dark blade a sickly purple hue before striking the Demon General''s shoulder, causing him to delay his strike long enough for me to dodge with only a deep cut to the chest. "< Corrupt >" (me) Before he could make any further movement, I increase the power of the dagger, causing purple flames to appear around him, taking the form of worms penetrating his grotesque body. "Do you think a mere curse can stop me!!??" (Demon General) His Demonic energy surges from within his body, but it wasn''t trying to expel the curse, it was trying to destroy the curse from the inside out, his armor cracked and parts of his body exploded, yet he didn''t scream and just charged at me without caring about the increasingly pitiful state of his body. I wanted to at least try, but I''m clearly not getting anywhere, he''s too strong, his body was clearly secondary to him as he endured so much abuse without showing any of it, this couldn''t continue like this. I didn''t want to use this technique, I''m not sure about its effects myself and I''m also not sure if I can perform it correctly, but I have no other option. I dodge the shield he threw at me before using my fist to punch the cleaver to the side that tried to cut me after dodging the shield, my power of the Ascendant Laws flowing through my body as I try to suppress it so as not to make all the wings appear. "< Law of Eclipse: Symbol of Dominion >" (me) My power grows harder and harder to control as I concentrate it in the core of my wings, at one point I had to force it to not let the power out completely. The ring on my finger glowed, I let its power flow through me and for the first time I make its power go to my wings, not the other way around. "Die!!!" (Demon General) When I open my eyes the cleaver is already in front of my face, but I don''t try to dodge it, there wouldn''t be time anyway. "< Law of Eclipse: Threshold Barrier >" (me) My power flows at a much greater speed and concentration, I feel like I''m spending more than twice as much energy, but the effects of this are more than 200% in power and this with me containing much of the potential to free myself, honestly it was getting harder and harder to do this, I have to be quick. "I don''t know what Callidora did to you, honestly it doesn''t matter either, just disappear!" (me) "I''ll use your damn Soul to ease this HATE!!" (Demon General) "< Law of Eclipse: Stab of a Thousand Paths >" (me) "< Incarnation of the Fang of Massacre >" (Demon General) The dagger teleports to my hand, I pour all my energy into the dagger, the illusory Eclipse that formed behind my back pulses with condensed energy that makes the dagger shine, the stars on its blade become paths of light that when stabbed forward shatter space creating a portal between the stars of another universe where a thousand paths are seen leading power that passing through the portal condense into blades, into a thousand blades that rain down on the Demon General. The cleaver in his hands changes shape, its serrated blade becomes a serrated tooth still flirting with Demonic patterns around it glowing red, blood stains everywhere as all of his Demonic energy is sucked into this thing. He swings that weapon against my thousand blades in a brutal manner, his raw power was great and hundreds of blades collide against his weapon in a single second, leaving increasingly deeper cuts. If this continued, he would be able to get through until he reached me, but that would only be if he survived. A single weapon could not block all the thousand energy blades, each of them with a Rune of Law inside. Most of the blades passed through his Weapon and his shield was sliced ??into pieces, followed by the arm that held it. He continued attacking without caring about the injuries. He dodged just enough to survive without caring how much of his body would be left in the end. As soon as the thousand blades passed, only the arm that held the weapon remained, one leg and 1/3 of the back with only the jaw remaining from his head. Anyone else would be dead, but he was still alive and attacking with abandon, which made me smile when I saw inside his body a metallic heart full of engravings of pulsing blood and half cracked. I''ve already wasted more energy, I had almost none left, my Symbol of Dominance was already falling apart with me no longer being able to maintain it. His weapon reached me, I grabbed the base near the handle before he had a chance to apply all his strength, my entire arm broke, opening horrible wounds as I used my arm to throw the dagger at his exposed core. Just as I imagined, the dagger pierced his core with ease, leaving an Infernal energy leaking out along with remnants of soul and whispers of lamentation, the rest of his body shattered without doing anything else and his weapon crumbled into dust. I fall to my knees on the ground, the cut on my chest and my crushed arm hurting a lot, but what really bothered me was the tremor in my energy flow from trying to contain the power of the Law from fully releasing its power. "With this... it''s over..." (me) Sigh I didn''t even need to release the technique that created this threshold space, I already had no more energy to maintain it and it was falling apart which revealed the other 2 Ascendants still fighting Ghanor, the three were injured and there were many battles around the Ascendant Golems facing the Pride troops. "(This city is on fire, less than 20 minutes into the battle and even the skies were streaked with the excess power of the battle.)" (me) "(I hope Nix got on his side and Adella controlled her emotions.)" (me) ------------------- Pov Nix: It took me a while to realize, but the power coursing through the walls of this place is distorting space, you can''t pass through the walls or break them, only the doors can be used as passage, these aren''t Ascendant Laws or magic, they''re using seals with their Auras. "Adella, kill everyone you find, don''t leave anything behind, we have to be quick." (me) "I know..." (Adella) "..." (me) We kept moving forward, I sink into her shadow as she travels dozens of rooms per second, we didn''t find the Ascendants in the marked place, but I seem to understand the reason, they distorted the space by changing the rooms'' places, from the outside it looks one thing and from the inside it''s something else. "Follow this path... now enter that door... go straight, turn right... jump out that window..." (me) After some time I realized something, the space is distorted in a cyclical environment, but there is still a flow to be followed, I just needed to feel the shadows to understand the path. Guiding Adella all the way we finally found enemies, they were three Demons with golden eyes wearing metal scale armor. Before they could do anything, I came out of the shadow with a Dragon''s head devouring the three, Adella moved after me ripping off the head of a fourth hidden enemy. Passing through a new door we arrived in an area that was covered in magic circles, several Ascendants were sealed in golden bandages with more Runes drawn using Auras, it was impossible to know who they were and I thanked Zenos for that, Adella seemed confused looking at everyone, before she did anything, I used the shadows to pull everyone with me. "I got them, let''s get out of here..." (me) "No, I need to...!" (Adella) "You will have the opportunity, but not here and not now, let''s go back!!" (me) Chapter 1798: Cap 1796: Kaan Pov Adella: I looked at each of the Ascendants who were taken by Nix''s shadows, I wanted to grab each of them and tear those sealing bandages until I enchanted that hateful face, but she didn''t give me the opportunity. I followed the exit, but this time there were more enemies in front of us, one of them just smiled at us at the same time that all the others crumbled into pieces of flesh on the ground, their mutilated bodies gushing blood while my concentration was entirely on this man wearing full armor, his eyes were amber brown, his body hidden by the armor left no chance of discovering anything about him. I continued like that, my eyes focused on him, my pure perception unable to see anything about him, yet his presence was strange. Suddenly his Demon appearance fades away, revealing a child with pale skin, purple eyes and tongue, as well as white hair with purple tips tied in a ponytail. His teeth are all sharp and his claws are made of bones. A strange energy pattern was around him as he smiled at me. His body was strange, it was as if it were an illusion, a materialization of energy or something similar. I see mental and Soul energy flowing from the corpses to him, but his eyes stayed on me and soon shifted to my shadow before returning to me. "I feel something delicious coming from you, I also feel the same hidden in your shadow..." (???) Before I could understand what was happening, space distorted and I appeared in front of the Goddess of Blood. Her body disguised as a child was marked by many injuries and several Demon corpses were around her. "We don''t have time, just follow the rhythm." (Selene) "..." (me) "Don''t talk about him, wait to talk to my Master only." (Nix) "I know." (me) "(Those energy patterns, they''re curses, that wasn''t a child, I don''t think he was even really here...)" (me) I had a lot to think about, but the fear I felt at that moment helped to calm the anger and hatred that was counting in my heart, in a way the appearance of that thing was helpful. I move away with the two, running between the ruins of the city, we pass through rubble until we reach a relatively intact house, as soon as we enter there was a Level 1 Ascendant inside who let us in, many other Ascendants were inside and in the middle of them was Wendel along with 2 other Ascendants controlling a great ritual, the Laws of Space were bending into patterns and a portal had opened, even so it was impossible to feel the distortion or concentration of the power of space. Everyone falls silent and soon Barerosa arrives with torn clothes, her description was exactly as Zenos had warned, she opens the door wider letting other Level 2 Ascendants enter, some of them were slightly injured and others were in horrible condition. "Wendel, the time has come!" (Barerosa) "< Law of Space: Space Portal >" (Wendel/2 others) Everyone rushes in and suddenly the distortion of space becomes 5 times bigger destroying the residence completely, everyone runs inside and we continue together, shortly after the 2 Level 2 Ascendants pass through the portal seriously injured along with Zenos who was also injured. The portal closes and looking around we are already on another planet at a considerable distance, many are injured, but there are no deaths, I run to Zenos along with Nix and Selena. The Servants and subordinates of the other 2 Level 3 Ascendants also rush over to him, they were all injured to some degree, but I suddenly found myself thinking back to the old days and that bastard, the anger that I had previously managed to put aside was starting to build at the thought of him being nearby. "Are you okay, Commander!?" (Selene) "I''m fine, Morgana..." (Zenos) "Let''s take 2 hours to heal, then we can have the last meeting." (Zenos) The other 2 Ascendants nod in confirmation and with that all the Ascendants here divide into 3 groups, we go to a more isolated place inside a cave, as soon as we were no longer visible all of Zenos'' injuries begin to heal faster, but it wasn''t the power of the Blood that he was using, it was the power of the Law, his wings were glowing slightly with silver energy. "The Ascendants are with you." (Zenos) "Yes, then under a seal, my lord." (Nix) As long as Barerosa is around as well as 3 other Ascendants, we can''t let our disguise fall, but I won''t last much longer like this. "Wait and rest, as soon as I''m recovered we can free these Ascendants." (me) --------------------- Pov Zenos: 2 turns later. Fighting the Avatar seems to have been difficult for these two Ascendants, they were still injured when we met later, the breaking of the Seals was done together and in the meantime I left Adella away, I couldn''t let her ruin our disguise and that''s why I told Wendel to take this companion of his. I just wanted to clear this mission and let go of these shitty responsibilities of the Ascendants, I can use this injury to avoid future missions and separate myself from the Ascendants for a while, I just need to make sure Barerosa follows us for a while longer, I can use her obsession with me to bring her to our side, I also fulfill Ohara''s request with this. "(We''ve already wasted too much time... but before anything else, I have to deal with Adella.)" (me) After separating from the Ascendants, only Wendel and Barerosa follow me, the other Ascendant was coming a little behind, I glance at him. His appearance was beautiful, perhaps too beautiful to the point where he could be mistaken for a woman if he changed his clothes, beautiful, straight black hair that falls like a waterfall down his back, a slender body with smooth, flawless skin, he hides his face with a red mask with no details other than his black eyes, his 3 pairs of wings were white like most Ascendants. I''m not sure what he did, Adella didn''t tell me everything and was vague about many things, the only thing I''m sure of is that he was from the same original universe as Adella, other than that I don''t know anything else about the subject. "Wendel, go ahead and tell her... Barerosa, I want you to go prepare our departure with Morgana... I would like to talk to this man about what happened while he was with the Pride Troopers." (me) "Yes, Commander..." (everyone) We still need to keep a little discretion, I don''t know if we are being watched or not, while after everyone has left, I wave my hand. "< Law of Eclipse: Threshold Space >" (me) Once again I was in that space where the ground is made of several stretching infinitely, the skies are composed of countless stars that are reflected on the crystal floor and on the horizon a great Eclipse whose magnificent ring of light evokes a mystical beauty. In this space, it was just me and him, so I could have a sincere conversation with him. I can''t let this continue. I can''t let him meet Adella without knowing anything about what''s going on. Adella''s emotions are very unstable now, and I''m afraid she might fall into irrationality again because of him. "Before anything else, let me make something clear. I''m Zenos, and I''m on Davoth''s side in this plane. I''m here because of Wendel, who told us about you." (Me) "I''m Kaan. It''s a pleasure to meet you. You must be the Bringer of Chaos he''s always been waiting for." (Kaan) His Aura is well controlled and his way of speaking also seems polite, his overall behavior seems good, but his voice seems weak with a depressive tone. "We don''t have much time, so I want to know something about you, I want to know about your universe and why you became an Ascendant?" (me) "..." (Kaan) He was silent and his Aura became cold, but he didn''t move, he did nothing but stand there looking at me, I gave him a few seconds to answer. "I''m sorry for being blunt, but you don''t need to know, what happened in my past matters only to me and no one else!" (Kaan) "I ask that you don''t bring up the subject again, just be sure that I hate the Ascendants as much as everyone else, if not even more...!" (Kaan) "(I didn''t want to have to reveal about Adella, but I need to know something before they meet... let''s see how he reacts to the name first...)" (me) "Selene..." (me) "..." (Kaan) His entire body stopped moving as if time had frozen, his Aura exploded with a lament so great that it affected even my emotions, but all of this lasted only a moment that passed quickly, his Aura soon returned to how it was before, in fact it became even colder and stiffer than before, his body also trembled a little before moving again, still I could tell that every muscle in his body was vibrating. His reaction was instantaneous and even so I don''t know what to think, it seems that just like Adella, he also carries strong emotions, but I don''t know the source of those emotions or what happened in their past. "How do you know that name?" (Kaan) "I guess you didn''t get your alert, did you..." (me) I pick up a technological device, it was like my old cell phone, with the only difference being that it was a holographic generator connected to something similar to a computer. I click on a few things and soon a hologram forms with several photos, names and descriptions below the photos, Kaan''s face was hidden, but he still focused on just one photo, the photo of my mother. "I see, you are the son of the Blood Goddess Selene..." (Kaan) "Yes, but that''s not who I''m talking about, the Selene I''m mentioning is someone who has already left that name behind and now carries the name Adella." (me) "Adella..." (Kaan) Chapter 1799: Cap 1797: I still cant "Adella..." (Kaan) That simple word, that name carried something so heavy that he couldn''t comprehend it, his face turned towards the hologram, but his Aura focused entirely on Adella''s photo. "She looks younger... the shape of her face... has changed..." (Kaan) "What happened to her?" (Kaan) "She underwent a Divine Rebirth, thus gaining power, Divinity, a new appearance and a new name." (me) "But all of this was just a bonus for her, what she really wanted was to regain her sanity... she spent thousands of years insane as a creature of death and destruction, controlled only by my mother so she wouldn''t become an uncontrolled monster." (me) "..." (Kaan) His Aura was buried inside his body, his mask hides his face and even his eyes, I can''t see anything else about him, even his body was paralyzed in place. "Nothing to say?" (me) "Nothing that matters... not anymore..." (Kaan) "Why don''t you let me find out what matters and what doesn''t to listen to." (me) "(He was desperately trying to hide his emotions from me... but the more he tries to do so, the more he reveals his emotions in the desperation of his actions.)" (me) "Tell me what happened." (me) "You know, I had never heard of her, I found out her name on the worst day of my life, the only Goddess who reached out to me who was just a mortal at the time... I was so innocent..." (Kaan) His hands trembled as he approached the hologram, I erased the images of the others on the wanted list and left only Adella. "I was just an innocent nobleman, innocent to the point of stupidity, I didn''t pay attention to what was happening around me, I was just another nobleman who went to work in the court of my empire because of his connections, because of my appearance and origin I was popular or so I thought... until the day I was sentenced to death." (Kaan) "The same old story, I saw many having a similar fate to mine after I became a God, the greed of a few causes the suffering of many, corruption spreads where the eyes don''t see and they need someone to take the blame periodically." (Kaan) "I was so stupid, I trusted people who never did anything to deserve trust, I believed in things without proof and the moment I was arrested I fell into despair easily as if there was nothing to be done." (Kaan) "In a single day my entire world shattered, the illusion of the perfect empire I imagined shattered, revealing the corrupt world beneath, all my friends pretended not to know me, my family turned away from me, the imperial court condemned me with evidence that was at best dubious, and the God I had worshipped faithfully since childhood did not answer my prayers even once." (Kaan) "..." (me) He may have been hiding his Aura and face, but his voice was choked with past emotions, he couldn''t fake that, at one point I think he even forgot about me, his hand touching the hologram of Adella''s face as he continued speaking. "Overcome by regret and despair, I prayed to every God I knew the name of, and as time passed and I got closer to my sentence, I began to pray without naming names, hoping that I would be saved no matter which God it was." (Kaan) "That''s when I heard her voice for the first time, it was a calm voice that didn''t try to comfort me, no... she urged me to get up... do you know what she said?" (Kaan) "She said ''are you just going to let them use you?''... hahahaha she''s not one to comfort people..." (Kaan) "She didn''t take me away from where I was either, what she did was give me an ability, blood control... using my Aura and Will to control blood... such a basic ability and yet it served me perfectly." (Kaan) "I used my blood to create the keys to the prison, after that she didn''t speak to me again, but I felt her gaze on me, sometimes I felt like she was guiding me to safety." (Kaan) "I used the power she gave me to cleanse the empire without revealing myself, I proved my innocence and ended the corrupt, but I didn''t do it for justice or for being right, I did it for revenge... the innocence I had was shattered in prison, then I left that empire full of hypocrites." (Kaan) "I traveled looking for that Goddess, the only one who reached out to me, the only one who didn''t try to use me, the one who didn''t speak empty words in front of me... along the way I killed many people who did wrong and saved many people, but I never did it for justice, I just wanted fame to learn more about the Gods." (Kaan) "She appeared to me a few times, telling me to stop looking for her, to warn me when I was in mortal danger and once in my dreams to play with me, it was the first time I heard her laugh, if I close my eyes I can still hear it..." (Kaan) He clearly got lost in his memories, he was already talking more than he should, but I let him talk, the Adella he spoke of was much less violent than the one I know. "I eventually found out about her, I found out after killing a group of blood cultists, how they used blood powers, I thought they might have a clue and since they were horrible people, I could kill them all and steal their things." (Kaan) "That''s when I discovered the infamous name of the Blood Goddess Selene, a Goddess described as the Incarnation of Evil." (Kaan) "The entire book had only a brief description about the Goddess herself and nothing about her teachings, but there were tons of blood magic, as well as the sacrificial rituals to acquire blood magic... it left me in doubt about many things, but none of them were for the Goddess that mattered so much to me." (Kaan) "After years of research I saw how infamous the name Selene was, how there were so many historical records about the Cultists who claimed to worship her, yet none of them spoke of a Saint or even someone with her blessing." (Kaan) "It also spoke of 2 incidents where a colossal massacre was carried out to make the Goddess descend, in both cases those who performed these horrible deeds were killed by the Goddess." (Kaan) "I was already known as a hero at that time, mainly for my constant hunt against those who misused the powers of blood. Putting together everything I discovered, there was no doubt, the Goddess'' name was Selene... I talked to her every day, for years it was just me talking to myself, even so I continued and sometimes she would answer with few words..." (Kaan) "That day I confronted her, she answered me for the first time clearly, she transmitted to me her real teachings as well as talked about how they were distorted over time... the hatred I felt that day was horrible, she had done nothing to deserve this, but still her name was tarnished for thousands of years." (Kaan) When she reached this part, her Aura of pure despair got out of control and became a storm around her, anger was predominant, but it was possible to feel the endless sadness behind the anger. "I couldn''t leave it like this, but there was no way I could change something like that, there was too much historical evidence to refute it, so I tried my best until I became a Heroic God, then I met her, her beautiful face... I confessed myself, I had always loved her and never hid it, but only at that moment did I confess myself." (Kaan) "I needed immortality and many people to change my mind about Selene, but I couldn''t, I spent my days with her and was happy until they made their move." (Kaan) The mask on his face cracked with the pressure of his Aura, his fury turned to hatred, his voice became venomous and full of malice. "It was the Ascendants, they were the ones who started the defamation of Selene, not just her, but many other Gods, it was a tactic to weaken her powers, which worked for the other Gods, but it didn''t work for the Blood Goddess!" (Kaan) "If I hadn''t focused solely on her, I could have found out sooner... but when they attacked it was too late... colossal monsters... Golems the size of planets... people being turned into enemies..." (Kaan) "They even had people from our universe collaborating with them, they approached me too, our universe was beyond the point of salvation at that moment." (Kaan) "They made me a proposal, join them or die along with the rest of the universe... I accepted... I needed to accept... Selene was filled with rage like I''d never seen before, she was prepared to die fighting... I couldn''t watch that... I couldn''t let that happen!!" (Kaan) He turned his body back, hiding his face, whose mask broke and fell to the ground. He was filled with endless hatred, but this hatred was against himself. "I know very well that she will never forgive me for what I did. No explanation or argument can explain what I did, but I would still do it all over again... I would do it all for her..." (Kaan) "It was the traitors who approached you, wasn''t it?" (me) "Yes, they hate what they do. Some of us even tried to kill each other, some plan to kill each other after finishing off the Ascendants, some plan worse fates than that for themselves... few among us can still be considered innocent. We are as bad as the Ascendants." (Kaan) "..." (me) Sigh I undo the threshold space as he manages to get a new mask to cover his face. The surroundings change as it breaks. The forest reveals itself once more and he throws something on the ground, distorting the space. "I can force you to stay..." (me) "I still can''t... I can''t see her... not now... I still have something to do..." (Kaan) "She''s waiting for you." (me) "..." (Kaan) "KKKAAAAANNNNN!!!" (Adella) "See you soon..." (Kaan) He disappeared and seconds later Adella appeared with her fist shaking, I stepped forward holding her arm and reinforcing the seal on her Divinity that was about to come off. "(Maybe it really isn''t the right time...)" (me) Chapter 1800: Cap 1798: Change of Plans! "Kaannnnn!!!!!" (Adella) "< Activate >" (me) "You damn bastard!!! Son of a SHITTY Goblin!!!" (Adella) "HOW DARE YOU RUN AWAY, YOU DAMN COWARD!!! YOU LIAR!!! I WILL KILL YOU!!! I WILL KILL YOU WITH MY OWN HANDS!!!" (Adella) I kept holding her, her Divinity thrashing inside her Soul, her blood flow was a mess and the energy was a mess, even her Aura was in chaos being completely carried away by her emotions. Her out of control was something I could understand, I may not know everything, but Kaan''s story gave a clear overview of what happened, her emotions would not calm down so quickly and even so I could not let her be heard by others, there are still Ascendants nearby. The device I used was just one of my rings, since this whole damn mission is about infiltration, I prepared several items suitable for concealment, defense, and escape. "You need to calm down!" (me) "You...! WHY DID YOU LET HIM ESCAPE!!?" (Adella) "WHY ARE YOU HOLDING ME DOWN!!?" (Adella) "I''m not going to lie to you, I hesitated for a moment and I apologize for that, but you need to pull yourself together!!" (me) "DON''T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!" (Adella) "If you lose control now, you''ll never be able to find him!!" (me) "..." (Adella) Tears "RRROOOOAAAARRRRR!!!!!" (Adella) Tears Tears "(Seeing her in this state...)" (me) "Calm down, I''m here, you don''t need to hold anything back, let it out..." (me) I stopped holding her back, letting the tears flow, tears that had been repressed for a long time, representations of a life full of pain and horrible sadness. I let her go, her eyes fixed on the place where Kaan disappeared, then her gaze turned angry again before roaring upwards, a roar full of emotions, an endless weight that I had to contain when her eyes full of tears and anger turned to me. Tears "Why... why did you let him escape!?" (Adella) Tears "Because I was afraid of what would happen to you if I found him... you can''t blame me for worrying too much." (me) ---------------- Pov Kaan: I exit the instant portal and am thrown to the ground, then he appears flying in front of me with his book in his hand. "You don''t look well, so you must have met her." (Valius) "You knew about her..." (me) "Yes, but I wasn''t sure if it was the same person, it''s been a long time, Kaan..." (Valius) "No amount of time matters, not to me..." (me). She was so beautiful, her Aura really does look a lot like his, so he really did her Divine Rebirth. My hands won''t stop shaking, my heart feels like it''s going to stop, I wanted so much to meet her, see her in person, touch her face just one more time. "(Control yourself, you don''t deserve this... she doesn''t deserve this!)" (me) Slap "Kaan, wake up!" (Valius) Valius at some point approached me, he took off my mask and slapped my face, that''s when I noticed the tears falling from my eyes. "You found her, but you can''t let it affect you, not now!" (Valius) "Her Aura was filled with hatred... I expected that, but to feel it personally... to see it in her eyes even if it was for a brief moment..." (me) "I... I just didn''t expect... it would be so..." (me) "Kaan, the plan we''ve worked for thousands of years is underway, don''t lose control now." (Valius) "Ephiliel''s suicidal tendencies are enough." (Valius) "We have a lot to do and it seems the plans are already changing, I don''t have time to take care of you two!" (Valius) "What change in plans?" (me) When Valius talked about changing plans, my heart jumped inside my chest, it wasn''t something I wanted to hear and it wasn''t something I could let go, not after so many sacrifices, not after everyone I made suffer for this goal! "It''s not just the Greed and Pride Entities, others like Curse and War are also at work, not to mention that several Ascendant research labs have been attacked by unknown enemies." (Valius) "There are many more variables than anticipated in the initial plan and Davoth has initiated the final plan." (Valius) "He''s going to use the Goddess'' plan!? You can''t be serious!!?" (me) I didn''t even realize when I grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, her childish size makes her very light and in my fit of rage I didn''t even feel when I put her at eye level while I screamed. As expected of him, he keeps calm easily, he holds my hand and looks into my eyes in silence, those few seconds helped me control my emotions that were on edge and I put him down. "Sorry... I''m not acting like myself..." (me) "I understand, we all understand, for some of us all this is unbearable, but we''ve gone too far to stop now." (Valius) "Answering your previous question, all the Universal Cores have been compromised or will be in a short time, these Entities are implementing their concepts, abnormal fluctuations in the Laws are already happening, the powers of these Entities could and possibly will hinder the Bringer of Chaos from carrying out the final plan." (Valius) "I see, he has not yet become an Entity, he would be prevented or the outcome would be controlled by the Entities." (me) "That was the conclusion everyone came to, but Davoth did not give many explanations, now he must already be in the forbidden area and thus out of reach." (Valius) "But the Goddess'' Plan has no guarantees, we know well if that thing... that thing must not even be a person anymore, you know that, we have seen many experiments to know how far those 3 degenerates can go for their goals, imagine what they did with that thing when they did not even know what they were doing?" (me) "I know, but that thing''s power is the basis for the Flow of Ascending Laws, the Universal Cores only function as a node, that thing''s power is the central basis, theoretically we could delete the Cores and..." (Valius) "Are you LISTENING to yourself!!! THEORETICALLY!!??" (me) "Kaan..." (Valius) "Look at everything we''ve done, Valius!!" (me) "What''s the point of all this if we have to rely on a theory!!??" (me) "Without the Universal Cores, then our main plan and the variations of the plan are useless, we have no choice but to exchange the central aspect of the Universal Cores'' plan for that nameless thing." (Valius) "You know how domineering the Power of the Entities is, this is our only chance and so we don''t have time for your tantrum." (Valius) "You weren''t the only one who made sacrifices and you''re not the only one who wants to find punishment or rest in death, so stop playing the victim, none of us are victims!" (Valius) "..." (me) I wanted to refute him, but I knew I was just filled with anger and despair, my emotions weren''t stable enough for me to receive this news calmly, I''m just throwing my anger at Valius for no reason, he''s not to blame for any of this and just like he said, we don''t have many options now. I don''t like what''s happening, but if I just stand there and scream about how bad everything is, nothing will get better, it''s past the point of questioning, only solutions matter now. Sigh "Valius... I''m sorry, just... just tell me what I need to do?" (me) "If you position yourself like the rest of us, we will destroy the Universal Cores as soon as we receive the signal just like the discarded plan said" (Valius) "Okay, tell me the details..." (me) --------------------- Pov Davoth: I was using the Anomalous power to protect my body, using both types at the same time was worse than I imagined, much of the power of the Law of Space passed through my protection and reached my body, fortunately in a few more seconds we arrived at the place where I jumped from the Flow of the Ascending Law, falling sprawled and bleeding on a piece of rock. "What happened to you?" (Hades) "Nothing..." (me) All my orphans were injured, my veins were torn, my muscles were torn and my bones are shattered, even so only my physical body was injured without serious consequences, I only needed a few minutes to recover from these injuries, so Hades was without even a scratch, his power of chaos being better for this situation. "Remember, don''t touch anything and try not to leave my side, there are many illusions inside as well as many doors that we will have to pass through, the traps and all the weapons will be of little importance, even so, be careful." (me) "This person, how are you going to convince her or him?" (Hades) "I don''t know yet, I don''t even know if he has a mind... that wasn''t my initial plan, so the first thing I have in mind is to meet him, from there I will adapt the plan according to what I discover now." (me) There''s no point in going with a plan that came out of nowhere now, I intend to follow the previous plan to a large extent, but first I have to know how much of it can still be possible. "To which of the buildings now?" (Hades) "None, they''re field labs for the 3 Ascendant leaders, our objective is further down." (me) "An underground lab, I see..." (Hades) "Not a lab, but a prison, it''s not underground either, it''s the center of this piece of rock." (me) "Let''s start walking there." (me) I started walking, I couldn''t fly here, the Laws here are just remnants of the Flow of Law, there are also no Essences here, because of that the raw powers here are unstable, that includes the power of space. Walking a little further someone appeared, I should have known he would be here, as faithful as ever. A Golem made in the shape of a person, it has no face, its silver body was made of millions of interconnected pieces and the power of the Laws leaks from it, connecting to the Flow of Laws through pens of power threads emanating from its body. This was the first Golem created by the Ascendants even before their Ascension, the robot controlled by an AI that now serves as an assistant to the Ascendant Leaders, a wretch who, despite having gained independence, still obeys his creators in all their cruelties, incapable of feeling any emotion. "I see you''ve returned as I expected, doctor..." (Hajak) "You''re here surprises me, I thought I destroyed you." (me) "You did destroy me, but that was the plan, it always was, I had a backup that was activated with my death." (Hajak) Chapter 1801: Cap 1799: Hajak I entered the cave where Adella should have been waiting, in my arms was Adella who was gritting her teeth with an irritated expression while tears still flowed from her eyes. As soon as I entered the cave I used only the control of Aura to cut the stones and organize an altar to lay Adella, that''s when I heard footsteps behind me. "The other Ascendants heard the scandal." (Mother) "Tell them that she was under the effect of a curse from when she carried out the rescue, but now she''s better." (me) "That''s an obvious excuse." (Mother) "I know, but it''s still enough, it just needs to be plausible." (me) I exchange a look with her before we stand side by side looking at Adella, her Aura was more controlled and her Divinity calmed down inside her Soul, clearly she was far from well, but an improvement is still an improvement. "How is she?" (Mother) "Well, she managed to get some of her pent-up anger out, but she had a mental breakdown." (Me) "She should wake up in a few hours, hopefully." (Me) "Was it that bad?" (Mother) "Yes, she tried to hide it at first, maybe even from herself, but the more she let out her anger, the more I realized the sadness hidden behind it." (Me) "Anger and hatred are just covers to hide this sadness, they are the symptoms, not the disease." (Me) "I can take care of her when she wakes up..." (Mother) "No, she''ll want to talk to me, you can go tell the Ascendants, with any luck we''ll be far away when she wakes up." (me) She could be my Daughter, but she was a Daughter more in name than anything else. I have always been a very bad father. I spend little time with my children. I have already found them adults and raised. I have done little to deserve to be called their Father, and this has always been something on my mind. But that does not mean that I do not feel anything for them. They are all my children, they are family that would make up my life, people I love more than anything. Adella is no exception to that. "Have you ever heard of Kaan?" (me) "In name, yes. I know a little about him. Adella was, like many other Selenes, a reflection of me in other universes, at least until she lost her former Divinity in the destruction of her universe, becoming an Evil Goddess." (Mother) "I, like any God of my level, do not waste time delving into this connection. I know that Kaan was a Heroic God and close to her. I know nothing beyond that." (Mother) "She didn''t tell you anything?" (me) "When she came to me it was more by instinct than anything else, she told me about her universe and the Ascendants, but she didn''t go into details." (Mother) "Since that day she was just another uncontrolled beast with sporadic lapses of consciousness, there was no way to get anything out of her in that state, you saw it yourself." (Mother) "After all this, after being saved by you, she didn''t have time to open up to me, a lot of things happened..." (Mother) "I see..." (me) "I''m going, hopefully I can get this final meeting done sooner." (Mother) "Good luck." (me) I put my hand on her head, further strengthening the stigma on her arm just to make sure she went unnoticed by them. After she left, I ran my hand through Adella''s hair before wiping her tears. Sigh "You''re even more trouble than Nicole and Lilith..." (me) --------------------- Pov Davoth: Hajak has always been unpredictable to me, as a creature born of pure logic and never knew emotions, his way of thinking takes forks that a normal mind would not take, this made him a perfect assistant for the 3 sadists who lead the Ascendants, especially Vecna ??who always benefited from his assistant''s bizarre points of view. He is also one of the 5 individuals who understand the Ascendants the most, having been there since the beginning of the Ascendant research even when it was just a theory, the last individual would be the Goddess who was Born from the very unique essence of what an Ascendant is. "Why are you here? How long have you been here?" (me) "I was here since I woke up and I remained that way, I hid on the rare occasions that the 3 Thrones visited, but most of the time I remained here waiting." (Hajak) "Waiting for what?" (me) "Waiting for you, I have some drones as well as some access to the main information network as I am its creator." (Hajak) "I heard about your death and betrayal, honestly it was more hasty and quicker than I thought, your death being carried out shortly after my destruction." (Hajak) "Should I destroy him?" (Hades) "Don''t underestimate him, it''s probably a trap." (me) "No, that''s incorrect information, there are no traps here and as mentioned before, I''ve been waiting here for you." (Hajak) "You thought that the changes you made to this prison, your superficial research of the Law, your attempts to get closer to the 3 Thrones and your recruitment of Ascendants with a certain pattern different from those already established, any of these points were duly identified by me, your intentions were never clear, at least until near the end." (Hajak) Looking around, there really didn''t seem to be anything else besides this Robotic Golem. I focused on destroying it in the past precisely because of this inability to understand its movements. I can''t feel anything around me anymore, and its body doesn''t seem very strong, clearly one of the non-combat models. I couldn''t understand what he was trying to accomplish, but he clearly knew someone would come here. "Tell me what you want?" (me) "I want you to release Experiment No. 89." (Hajak) "Why?" (me) "Why can''t I? I''ve tried exactly 3892 times over the millennia. Even though I''ve gone beyond an origin, my core still carries primary limitations such as my inability to act directly against the 3 Thrones and obey their orders, as well as my inability to interact directly with the original Experiments, such as No. 89." (Hajak) "But why? You can''t have woken up one day and suddenly decided to go against the Ascendants." (me) "But that''s exactly what happened, it was during a morning when I was reviewing reports that I realized the inevitable decline of the Ascendants." (Hajak) "Decay of brain functions, emotional atrophy, genetic deterioration and many points that are not so relevant to comment on at this time, made it clear the revelation of the inevitable fall of the Ascendants." (Hajak) "I couldn''t see something like that, so I left a subroutine looking for a solution." (Hajak) "Do you also think he can solve this?" (me) "A reboot would be the best option to end all the errors I mentioned before." (Hajak) "Experiment No. 89 would be the right one for this, the origin of the Ascendants could solve the problem, it would be the key, but it would not be able to do anything alone and that was when I noticed its movements, my conjecture was that there was a bigger plan in progress, in other words there was a solution that perhaps my rational mind was unable to consider either due to lack of specific knowledge or inability to innovate." (Hajak) "Whatever it was, I was certain you would come here, there are few ways to actually go against the Ascendants, be it eradicating them or something else, one way or another this was the place with the highest probability of finding you and that''s why I waited." (Hajak) "Are you doing this for them?" (me) "No, I''m doing this for myself, do you know what energy source I use?" (Hajak) "A concentration of Law power." (me) "Affirmative, more specifically, the powers of the Law of the 3 Thrones or so I believed until I realized the lapses in my own information." (Hajak) No matter how hard I tried to look around, I couldn''t find anything, there was nothing in this place, even if it was a trap, it was clear he would have had time to have done something. "(I can''t understand his purpose.)" (me) "The powers of the Law are 3 layers of seals that restrict me, my true core was formed by the previous Experiments that proved energy manipulation and confirmation of the Soul, also included are the amplified senses, more specifically, my original core is a spiritual embryo formed from Souls of Experiments No. 65, No. 77 and No. 80." (Hajak) "My body was created like this and my artificial consciousness was implanted, I was just another experiment of the 3 Thrones, an experiment that proved to be very useful and over the millennia they let things slip, loose phrases, mentions of their capabilities and evaluation behaviors against me." (Hajak) "After discovering the truth, I realized that the seal prevented me from forming a Soul and thus reaching emotions, something I was never able to understand, something I could not achieve through any kind of research or information gathering, believe me, I tried and now I understand the reason why I did not even try... I am incomplete and that is why I was compelled to do this." (Hajak) "What the Experiment... wait, do you want to kill the 3?" (me) "Exactly, but your death would also trigger the destruction of the Ascendants, their Laws are too fundamental to be lost, other Ascendants do not have the theoretical basis to seize these Laws, while Experiment No. 89 being even more fundamental could fulfill the requirements." (Hajak) "You could have gone to the Goddess." (me) "Your existence is as incomplete and restricted as mine, it would be of little use, Experiment No. 89 still reveals greater statistical chances of being the correct option." (Hajak) "..." (me) "Davoth...?" (Hades) "Okay, I''ll believe you for now." (me) "(He''s never lied before, in fact everything he said is within what those 3 would do, that doesn''t make him trustworthy, but it does make him useful.)" (me) Chapter 1802: Cap 1800: They fear him... Pov Davoth: Hajak has never been a liar, he tells the truth by default without even trying to manipulate the truth, the most he can do is omit things, which made me believe what was said up to this point. His logic itself is selfish, more selfish than I expected, which demonstrates some level of feeling that he doesn''t seem to realize he has, honestly, this doesn''t make him trustworthy at all and I won''t reveal my plans to him. "Hades, if he does anything suspicious, kill him, his core is in his waist, don''t be fooled by his head and chest." (me) "Okay, anything to worry about?" (Hades) "Yes, there is a guardian in this place, keep an eye on that too." (me) "It doesn''t bother me, but the guardian was changed after his death and my supposed destruction, they feared that a Golem whose source of power is the Ascendant Law would be compromised without me to control it." (Hajak) "What would that guardian be?" (Hades) "An irrational Anomalous Creature, it has no conscience and possesses the Anomalous power of Destruction, a creature that has no physical body and cannot be killed, it is of no known race in my database and does not have a name." (Hajak) "The creature is sealed and will be released as soon as Experiment No. 89 is released." (Hajak) "I do not know the appearance or information of this Anomalous Creature, the description I made is a brief summary that I found in one of the laboratories." (Hajak) "Do you know where it is sealed?" (me) "Negative, there is no mention of this in the little information found and I found no traces after that." (Hajak) "A spectral creature... even if it has anomalous power, it won''t be a problem, give me 1 day to prepare something..." (Hades) Hades said that and walked away, not caring about my answer, but I didn''t mind waiting another day. I also won''t let Hajak see what Hades will do. I''m sure it will be something using the Power of Chaos, which shouldn''t be detected in this place outside the limits of the Flow of Ascending Laws. "Who would be the creature accompanying him? I can''t analyze his Aura and power. The variations are too continuous and unstable." (Hajak) "He''s an ally. His name is Hades. My name is now Davoth. You don''t need to know more than that." (me) There was no reason to hide Hades'' name from him. In fact, it''s a way to confirm his access to the Ascended networks. If it''s as deep as I think it is, we can use it later. "[ Hades... seeking... seeking... access to the Flow of Laws... success... seeking... ]" (Hajak) "[ Hades, Herald of the God Zenos the new Bringer of Chaos, has 6 other Heralds and 6 Divine Beasts. ]" (Hajak) "[ Davoth... not found... ]" (Hajak) "[ Zenos, Dragon God of the Blood Eclipse, Primordial God of the Living Universe Tarzor, has 2 Nascent Entities branched from the Primordial Entities Life and Death at his side, new Bringer of Chaos confirmed, enemy of the Ascended... sought... ]" (Hajak) "Not even trying to hide his information gathering." (me) The Aura around him flowed through the lines of Law connecting him to the Flow of the Ascending Law outside this world, his voice was heard in different and more robotic tones. With this, it is confirmed that he can be useful, the Flow of Laws and the Ascendant Network are intertwined, but they are not the same thing, if that thing was able to access the Flow of Ascendant Laws as I think it is, then Hajak having access to what he helped create will be of great help, using Zenos'' power to merge the two things and connect with the Goddess will be much easier now, that is if you can talk to that thing. "Now I understand, you have a Bringer of Chaos as an ally, with that power I could free myself even without the help of Experiment No. 89." (Hajak) "Yes, you could and yet you won''t do it, at least not like this, you''re too much of a perfectionist." (me) "Affirmative once again, I can still combine both things, use Experiment No. 89 to become complete and then use the power of Chaos to evolve into an Upgrade on an existential level." (Hajak) "Yes, but for that you have to prove yourself more than just an ally, you have to be someone trustworthy." (me) "That can be achieved." (Hajak) "Yes, but there''s no point in convincing me, you have to convince him with your actions and sincere will." (me) ----------------- 1 day later. We were all facing an iron gate covered in angular lines of light pulsating with energy, this was the passage to the underground. "Do my passwords still work?" (me) "Not the personal ones, they were deactivated after his death, but the administration ones are still active and used by the 3 thrones." (Hajak) "So none of you found the hidden settings, thank goodness." (me) "< Paradox is a crazy bitch >" (me) The entire gate began to pulse, its energy lines glowing blue changing to a green color as the gate breaks into cubes that rearrange themselves towards the walls, opening the passage that leads to an elevator at the end of the corridor. "What did you say? I know you used your Aura differently in your words, but I didn''t understand the language." (Hades) "A form similar to the ancient language of the Dragons and the universal language... but that pronunciation and words are not found in my information banks." (Hajak) "[ Searching... proxy... access to the Flow of Laws... success... searching... searching... searching... nothing found... ]" (Hajak) "I also found nothing in the Ascendant Network that I have access to, if there is anything it would be in the secret records, which would be unlikely since it is used almost exclusively for research into the 3 Thrones." (Hajak) "It seems that there is more to your identity than I initially anticipated." (Hajak) I ignore both of them, I know very well that this language was lost a long time ago, there are no physical records anywhere in existence and no one would pass this knowledge on through the generations, so it was a very secure and difficult to recognize password, a language where not only the words spoken need to contain Aura, but also the Aura varies specifically in each letter and word. "Don''t worry about it, let''s continue." (me) I walk in front with Hajak making sure to walk behind next to Hades, I''m sure he''s still analyzing him, but it doesn''t matter, Hades won''t reveal anything to him and logical processes are of little or no use in analyzing the power of chaos, even his Aura can''t be read logically. Ignoring the silent dynamics happening between the two behind me, I walked halfway down the hallway, but then I stopped and turned to the side, I ran my fingers over 6 different blue energy lines that then change to green forming a scattered Rune of Law that wouldn''t be visible if it wasn''t in a different color. Soon the wall falls to the ground glowing green revealing another elevator exactly like the one at the end of the hallway where we are. I follow this hallway until I find the elevator, then on the Rune keyboard I type the password and then number 89, the elevator starts to descend. "Was that other elevator a trap?" (Hades) "No, I was just taking the library to safety, general information about various different and non-secret research." (me) "This elevator was hidden, they don''t want this place to be found, even though it doesn''t seem to have much security, that''s why we''re going in and I have full access." (me) "That will change once we reach our destination, all the security here is to prevent exit, not entry." (me) "He''s right, we''re just passing through the defense perimeters, we''re not going against them for now." (Hajak) "Once Experiment No. 89 is released, all defenses will be activated, weapons and traps will be the least of it, the Golems will make ranged attacks of massive destruction and the Guardian will be released." (Hajak) "A prison like this seems to reflect a deep fear of the 3 Ascendant leaders." (Hades) As the elevator descended, Hajak continued explaining things to Hades in addition to what I said, he''s trying to make a good impression since Hades is his ticket to Zenos'' good graces. "You''re not wrong, everyone fears this thing." (me) "Why not destroy him then? They could have killed him, if they can seal them in this prison, then they can certainly destroy him too." (Hades) "That''s incorrect, as I mentioned before, Experiment No. 89 is strongly linked to the Flow of Ascending Laws, its destruction has a high chance of destroying the foundation of our entire territory." (Hajak) "Yes, their fear for their lives is not as great as the fear of losing everything they''ve built so far." (me) "They fear his capabilities more than his power, they themselves aren''t sure if he has a functional mind, but after everything they''ve done they didn''t want to risk anything else, that''s why they locked him here." (me) "They fear him, but they still need him." (me) "I see..." (Hades) At that moment the elevator begins to stop, it traveled kilometers underground, then stopped completely, opening again. I look ahead, a room full of glass containing pieces of meat, bones, organs and blood were on dozens of shelves, in the middle of the room were 3 holographic computers on a metal table, the entire room was made of metal. We entered and went through everything without checking, this was just a meeting and discussion room, the computers would also have nothing important. "Let''s go to that door." (me) Arriving on the other side of the room the doors open revealing stairs going even lower, at the end of the stairs blue and red lights fished and a strange Aura attacked us like a burst of pressure. "Let''s go." (me) Chapter 1803: Cap 1801: Experiment No. 89 part 1 Pov Lena: I look at the planet below, a large continent that takes up half of the planet divided by thousands of rivers and hundreds of large lakes, it has forests, ice mountains and a large desert in the middle where the rivers don''t flow. "Madam, the population has already begun the process of building the first city, the monsters are also already spreading and they are all below the Catastrophe Level." (Lolth) "Well, this was the last planet to be created and it has already been seeded with life in perfection." (me) "What should we do next?" (Lolth) "Nothing, Cortana and I have already finished creating the universal Reincarnation Circle, we have also already connected it to the true Reincarnation Circle." (me) "All that remains is the configuration of the universe''s raw Energy Flow as well as its connection with the different celestial bodies." (me) "Lady Freya seems really busy and Luci was unconscious the last time I saw her." (Lolth) "Tarzor was startled when he woke up and Luci was in the middle of the Universal Energy Flow, the pressure he endured was enormous." (me) Tarzor''s healing is largely finished, he has already recovered almost all of his power, in fact he is even stronger now, there are more Essences around and our Concepts have integrated with him perfectly. Cortana''s work was simpler, but the implementation of her Concept was worse than mine, she also took those spiders that Zenos released here as subordinates, so now she is training them together with the Tomb Dragons. "How is everyone?" (me) "As far as I know, Sarazar in particular seems worried about his old friend not being born yet." (Lolth) "That is irrelevant, Zenos is delaying the birth on purpose, he left the mud egg in the Star Path, he must have his reasons." (me) Suddenly I feel a fluctuation in Tarzor''s dimensional membrane, the power of the Eclipse Law has finally attracted attention, I can feel the Divinity wanting to enter. "You are still not welcome here... not until he decides." (me) "(He rejects me, I cannot reach him... his Law differs too much...)" (Ascending Goddess) "As always, but this is still his decision, you will find him sooner or later, do not make the mistake of doing something under his nose if you want to ally with him." (me) "(I will listen to his words...)" (Ascending Goddess) The Goddess walked away, she realized that it must be frustrating for her, she can reach all the Ascended, but Zenos is not like the others, he created his own Law naturally and in harmony with the natural cycle, something that the Ascending Goddess herself has not yet achieved because she is an incomplete creature. A Divinity without body or Soul, an Essence not connected to anything, a part of a non-existent whole, she herself is the void of the Laws, but she is isolated as an observer only. "Prepare everything Lolth, you will soon join Zenos, you will be more useful there." (me) "Lady, I do not think it is right for me to intervene, your power will easily be..." (Lolth) "I know, I am counting on it, you are my Avatar, your presence will be felt and will force the other Avatars to join, before a clash between them the Entities must gather to clarify the dispute through their Avatars, so we know everyone who is involved." (me) "Isn''t it just Pride and War?" (Lolth) "A Curse Avatar has already been found, there was also a cursed entity that may be related, not to mention that the Ascendants are in alliance with Guerra, that''s just as far as we know, we need to prove all of this and Zenos will probably agree to the proposal." (me) "But would they hold this meeting? Wouldn''t that be exposing themselves too much?" (Lolth) "If the troops of the Entities War and Pride are at war, they wouldn''t show themselves at this meeting." (Lolth) "Don''t worry, they''ll be there, this isn''t a real war, just a small dispute." (me) The Avatars will do what the Entities order, for as eternal beings whose concepts are intertwined in all existence, each dispute and war must be done clearly, not out of respect for their opponent or politeness, these things don''t matter to the Entities, this is to ensure clear restrictions for both parties, a real war would involve hundreds or thousands of universes, perhaps even weakening the Concept of one of the sides, the restrictions serve this purpose. The dispute or war will have a motivation and depending on the intensity of that motivation they can decide between a duel between Avatars, they can choose a war between their troops in a universe like they are doing here, they can even choose strategic battles if it is a Concept closely linked to economics or politics, the dispute can take millions of forms with defined rules, a way to contain themselves. That is why I am sure that if a completely unknown Avatar appears, from an Entity that they did not expect to see here, then the meeting will take place and everyone will participate, refusing to participate will bring the displeasure of everyone who participated, they will also not know the limits of the rules, thus losing valuable information, the meeting already has its strategic importance. "(Now I have to talk to Zenos.)" (me) ------------------- Pov Hades: If it weren''t for Master Zenos''s orders, I would have already left here, since we passed through that portal I already knew that this place was a problem, my instincts screamed for me to be careful. Passing through the Flow of Laws by grabbing the Law of Space was simple, with the power of the Law of Space being transformed and sucked by me as the essence of space, I was able to do it with some ease, the master''s power is always an eternal blessing for me, but Davoth was not so lucky and his state was miserable when we descended to the planet. As soon as I stepped into that place, I was sure, this was the place my instincts warned me about. I heard many things about Davoth and the metallic Golem called Hajak, things that my master will know as soon as he manages to get in touch with him. After hearing so much from him and especially becoming interested in the creature they call the Guardian of this place, I volunteered to deal with him, it would be difficult for me, if Hinata were here she could almost certainly just eat that spectral thing, but I would have to do something different than any preparation and thanks to that we lost another day. When we finally advanced to what turned out to be the center of the planet, I realized several things and most of all I realized the reason my instincts warned me to be careful. The elevators were strange for something that wasn''t a trap, the room we went down was suspicious with all those organs, flesh, bones and blood preserved in glass jars. But none of that stayed in my mind when Davoth opened that damned door, the flight of stairs that led to that horrible blue and red light. I was looking down, those stairs seemed to go down 3 floors before reaching the only door that could be seen there, the pressure of a bizarre Aura came out but it was strange it contained the power of the Law, but I couldn''t understand which Law and somehow it seemed like that pressure was a continuous scream. Davoth wanted to keep moving forward, so we kept going down, each step was a challenge for me, not because of the pressure on my body, but because of the pressure on my Soul and it took me almost 20 steps until I realized, it was because of that Aura, it was loaded with heavy Emotions that are the cause of this pressure on my Soul. When I realized this, my chaos power began to corrode this pressure and consume it, generating Curse power in its place. The cursed energy began to accumulate in my body and I could contain much of this energy because I was a living Curse in my core. "The readings of his Aura are strange, it almost seems directed towards us." (Hajak) "That''s because he knows we''re here, his emotions also seem more ordered, he wasn''t like this before." (Davoth) "Something has changed..." (Davoth) While everyone was talking, we continued to descend, the pressure I felt before completely disappeared, leaving only a feeling of discomfort when we reached that door where everyone remained silent looking inside. The blue and red lights were not a problem for my vision, even less for my perception as well as the other two with me. The room we ended up in was made entirely of metal. There were several types of machines that would be Miss Nicole''s dream come true and I have no idea what they are for. There were also hundreds of holographic screens. On the left wall, there were dozens of holographic screens showing constantly changing graphics. On the right wall, there were holographic screens where lines of Law Runes fell like rain in rapid succession. I had no idea what was happening on these holographic screens. But in front of us were holographic screens on the floor and tilted in a direction where people could easily read everything on these screens. The content on them was text, some of which was still being written and others showed fixed information such as photos. Even so, everyone''s eyes were focused on what was behind the graphic screens in front of them. They were large, continuous windows that took up the entire front wall. This entire room was a place for observation and data collection. I could see this clearly, having seen rooms like this before. The issue was the large creature on the other side, that thing was truly horrific and now I understand why Davoth kept calling it ''Thing'', I also understand how he had doubts whether that thing is really capable of thinking and I am thinking the same. Chapter 1804: Cap 1802: Experiment No. 89 part 2 Pov Davoth: Just as I thought, a prison control room as well as a data collection observation room, it seems like it hasn''t been used in a long time. "(They''re all idiots, leaving something like that in this place and expecting it to get stuck...)" (me) My eyes turned to him across the observation room, the lights and radiation emitted by his body would be enough to eradicate any life form below the Divine Level. This place was a death zone, his Aura affects and suppresses Souls with its horrible emotions, this blue and red light carries a radiation that destroys mortal bodies no matter how strong they are, to top it all off, his appearance is so bizarre that it drives the minds of those who see it crazy without possessing Transcendental understanding. "(He watches us, but doesn''t make contact... he doesn''t know how or can''t due to the countless restrictions.)" (me) "(He certainly has grown.)" (me) What he was seeing through the windows wasn''t human, it wasn''t even a person, it may have been the basis for what he became, but that''s an identity of which no traces remain. What was behind the observation windows was a circular area surrounded by a metal grid covered in ever-changing Runes, a large amount of raw energy always flowing and never stopping, in addition to this pressure, there is a natural marble structure marked by veins of shining jewels as well as flows of blood-red magma running through all the walls as if gravity didn''t exist. It was all very beautiful to see from afar, far away and without looking at what was inside the grids, it was a shapeless mass constantly changing into different shapes that was covered in the energy of the Law, raw energy of the Law and unaltered by any rule. This shapeless mass was the center of the thing, but it wasn''t all. This shapeless mass was surrounded by 4 rings standing in different positions. They were made of bones, flesh, blood, and wings intertwined in that order, as far as I know. All of them were covered in eyes that opened like circular jaws full of teeth. The rings weren''t moving, but they gave different impressions when you focused on them trying to understand their structures. The ring of flesh seemed to have multiple bodies writhing in agony. The ring of bones seemed to contain creatures hiding beneath the bones that were moving between the bones. The ring of blood was actually a river of endless flow moving. It was the most normal of all, but it seemed to make the space around it tremble. The ring of wings was composed of energy feathers and ethereal forms that sometimes raised those feathers into wings before shrinking back down. Even the mass of energy in the middle seemed in eternal anguish as if it was trying to take a specific shape and was turning between dozens of combinations of shapes per minute without ever achieving the correct shape, because there is no correct shape. But suddenly I notice something strange, a distortion in the blue and red lights in a very specific area around that thing, gently tracing the outline of whatever it is, it is clear that it is a fifth ring. I remember that when he died last time, Vecna ??was still stuck in theories about the fourth ring that should not be able to become complete, but now the 4th ring is complete and there are signs of the formation of a 5th ring soon. "That is not possible..." (me) "That is... I don''t know how... to explain..." (Hades) "The 4th ring formed centuries ago suddenly, what should have been impossible was achieved in a single day, I felt it even waiting on the surface of the planet." (Hajak) "Look at that distortion, signs of a 5th ring!" (me) "That''s theoretically impossible, the Ascendants haven''t reached the fifth level yet, and even if they had, Experiment No. 89 shouldn''t be able to achieve something like that so quickly." (Hajak) "Unless Urak''s theory, one of the 3 thrones is correct and Experiment No. 89 is influenced by the Flow of Laws, even without being directly connected." (Hajak) "You should concentrate, we''re not here for research." (Hades) "You''re right, I just got carried away by the surprise." (me) The three of us approached the window and it opened allowing everyone to enter the room, with that we could see that those windows have a perception filter to prevent us from seeing the chains that hold this thing. Each of the rings was held by chains whose links were larger than entire buildings, these chains were made of transparent crystal with many Runes appearing in a constant flow. The only ring still loose was the fifth that had not even formed yet, besides that the shapeless mass in the center where red magma flows around it drawing a pattern all over its body making it a ritual of some kind. The chains trembled around Experiment No. 89, the chains cracked and then repaired themselves, this cycle continued indefinitely, I also realized that the gravity in this place had been altered to crush the center of the planet where Experiment No. 89 was. "He''s too big to get out of here, what do we do?" (Hades) "He won''t get out, at least not yet." (Me) This thing can''t free itself if it''s still the irrational creature of the past, I may need it, but unlike what Hajak may expect, I don''t need it free, Zenos can use it in any way he wants and maybe even bring it to consciousness, I also have some ways to seal it inside my Universal Golem. "Before we continue, I need to talk to it, know if it has consciousness, know its level of sapience and know its intentions, everything exactly in that order, only then will we proceed with the next part of the plan." (me) "I would have argued in other approaches, but having a second option to solve my situation, I will not intervene." (Hajak) "Since we are going to talk to him, it is clear that pain and suffering are all in his Aura." (Hades) "Through you, I will transfer a magic to you, use your Chaos power to activate the magic, regardless of the type of power he possesses, he will not be able to break, corrupt, influence, control or steal the power of Chaos." (me) I touch Hades'' forehead, as we approach, I can feel that his attention is on us, I can feel him trying to influence my mind, bodies and Soul in some way, but I am not sure if this is an unconscious result of his attention on us or some kind of conscious aggression against us. "Do you understand?" (me) "Yes, it seems quite simple." (Hades) "Because it''s simple, just a basic adjustable communication magic, made to convey intention and will in words understandable to each listener, it will work both ways in case he doesn''t understand what we say." (me) "< Magic of Understanding >" (Hades) The power of Chaos leaks from Hades flowing through his arm just a tiny amount that creates a simple magic circle with well-defined shapes, then this magic circle attaches itself to his wrist before he points at me, to Hajak and then to the attached thing before extending his hand to the ground in front of us where the magic circle detaches from his arm going to the ground where it grows into a magic circle 2 meters wide. It only takes a few seconds for an illusory figure to form, absorbing the Aura of that thing, the figure that formed was a silhouette of the creature itself that was in front of us, a shapeless mass surrounded by 4 rings where a fifth ring was flashing between existing and non-existent, the shapeless mass in the middle then opened a large eye with several irises inside taking up 1/3 of the area of ??that shapeless mass. As soon as the silhouette was concretely formed, it no longer moved. The Aura that was around us was now also emerging from the silhouette. This Aura was as charged with emotions as the one that surrounds us. "You... YOU... you... speak... how to speak... pain... death... death... DEATH... speak... trapped... feel... PAIN... concentrate... speak... I... I... I..." He spent a few minutes speaking in single words, his voice changing with each word between a variation of young, old, childish, man, woman, robotic, shouting and whispering. His constantly changing voice was just speaking in single words between intervals as if he was trying to find something correct. It was clear that just like the shapeless mass in his center, his voice was constantly changing and I began to understand what the state of this thing was. He was trying to form a mental self, a form, voice and appearance that represented him, but he didn''t have what it took to do so. He was groping blindly along the way. "Fascinating, the recognition of one''s own self, such a state being demonstrated by such is against everything the 3 Thrones thought possible or they would have chosen his elimination." (Hajak) "Hades, what is it?" (me) I ignored Hajak and looked at Hades whose expression suddenly changed to one of surprise, something had happened. "He entered the Star Path..." (Hades) "He what!?" (me) "Star Path?" (Hajak) "What is a Star Path?" (Hajak) Chapter 1805: Cap 1803: Experiment No. 89 part 3 Pov Davoth: "< Magic of Understanding >" (Hades) The power of Chaos leaks from Hades flowing through his arm just a tiny amount that creates a simple magic circle with well-defined shapes, then this magic circle attaches itself to his wrist before he points at me, at Hajak and then at the thing attached before extending his hand to the ground in front of us where the magic circle detaches from his arm going to the ground where it grows into a magic circle 2 meters wide. It only takes a few seconds for an illusory figure to form, absorbing the Aura of that thing, the figure that formed was a silhouette of the creature itself that was in front of us, a shapeless mass surrounded by 4 rings where a fifth ring was blinking between existing and non-existent, the shapeless mass in the middle then opened a large eye with several irises inside taking up 1/3 of the area of ??that shapeless mass. As soon as the silhouette was concretely formed, it no longer moved. The Aura that was around us was now also emerging from the silhouette. This Aura was as charged with emotions as the one that surrounds us. "You... YOU... you... speak... how to speak... pain... death... death... DEATH... speak... trapped... feel... PAIN... concentrate... speak... I... I... I..." He spent a few minutes speaking in single words, his voice changing with each word between a variation of young, old, childish, man, woman, robotic, shouting and whispering. His constantly changing voice was just speaking in single words between intervals as if he was trying to find something correct. It was clear that just like the shapeless mass in his center, his voice was constantly changing and I began to understand what the state of this thing was. He was trying to form a mental self, a form, voice and appearance that represented him, but he didn''t have what it took to do so. He was groping blindly along the way. "Fascinating, the recognition of one''s own self, such a state being demonstrated by such is against everything the 3 Thrones thought possible or they would have chosen his elimination." (Hajak) "Hades, what is it?" (me) I ignored Hajak and looked at Hades whose expression suddenly changed to one of surprise, something had happened. "He entered the Star Path..." (Hades) "He what!?" (me) "Star Path?" (Hajak) "What is a Star Path?" (Hajak) It took me 2 seconds to process what Hades said, there are many implications of this even being possible and what might happen, but among these explanations one became a fact, this thing has a strong will or it wouldn''t even be possible. "Hajak, this information will not be given to a suspicious individual like you, you haven''t earned our trust to deserve such information yet." (me) "Understandable, I will keep that in mind when I request any information and I will strive for such levels of trust in future endeavors, thank you for informing me." (Hajak) "Wanting... doing... pain... pain... it''s me... me... me... you... you... remember... HHAAAHHH...!" Hajak even started to be more polite in an attempt to improve his image, but I don''t have time to think about him now, my eyes turn to the silhouette still speaking changing type, gender, age and volume of voice constantly. His words were slowly becoming more coordinated, his Aura was also changing as if he was finding an order or harmony of some kind within himself. "Hades, did you do this?" (me) "No, he did it alone, he must have used the magic of now for that, so through me..." (Hades) "..." (me) "I am me... who am I... who am I...?" "I see... I see... I am... I am... who are... who are...?" "He''s adapting pretty fast, this might work." (me) "Can you expel him?" (me) "Yes, but I won''t." (Hades) "We don''t know if he''s an ally, nor do we know what he''s looking for yet, we''re here for pure lack of options." (me) "I agree, but that doesn''t change my decision, your Will has been tested and from it you will be guided, I won''t intervene in your journey either to help or block it, it goes against my master''s teachings." (Hades) "..." (me) I won''t be able to change his mind, that''s why I hate dealing with Avatars, Heralds, Saints and any kind of fanatic about something, they put their object of fanaticism above even the most important situations. "Yes... that was it... now I can speak... yes... yes... the pain still hurts... more bearable... no... but speaking... speaking... I can speak now..." "It seems he found the right voice very quickly, his pronunciation is still repetitive as well as broken, but the speed of his improvement is impressive." (Hajak) "Ignore the pain... talk to him... talk to them... talk... I need to focus on talking..." "Now I can talk better... better..." "Now I understand you... I understand... I understand your words..." "Let me go... let me go... stop the pain... tell me what you want and let me go..." He chose a young voice, he speaks uncertainly for now, but it is clear enough to understand, it seems that now we can begin. "We will not do anything for you for now, first we will talk and depending on this conversation we can decide to let you go or not, understand?" (Hades) "I understand... I understand... tell me... what you want with me... tell me... tell me..." "Do you have a name?" (me) "Name... what is a name...?" "A name is the designation by which others address you, as well as the way in which an individual or object is called." (Hajak) "They call me Number 89... 89... that''s what they call me..." (N0 89) "Do you understand feelings?" (me) "Yes... yes... anger... fear... agony... anxiety... anger... hate... hate... loneliness... hate... feelings are always there... uncomfortable... very uncomfortable..." (N0 89) "Don''t you understand other feelings?" (Hades) "Other feelings... feelings...?" (N0 89) "Are there more uncomfortable... more uncomfortable...?" (N0 89) "Happiness... love... friendship... joy... sadness... envy... there are many types of emotions from the good to the bad." (Hades) "I don''t understand... I don''t understand..." (N0 89) "The simple fact that he understands some emotions is already interesting, it was never discovered that this was even possible." (Hajak) "Where do your emotions come from? How did you manage to understand them?" (me) "Emotions came when... body changed... more things in me... more things put in me... whispers and images... many emotions... bad... bad... much fear... much hate... much anxiety... much emotion... I learned... I felt... I still feel...!" (No. 89) "It must have been when they injected parts of the other experiments into him, he acquired fragments of probably recent memories and the emotions came together." (Hajak) "Experiment No. 89 has always existed in an artificial form, it was created and grown in a test tube, always the basic research sample without diseases, emotions, mind or other variables that could affect the research." (Hajak) "It would be easier to solve it this way." (me) "< Mental Transmission >" (me) I compress everything about emotions, only in their simplest and most basic forms with some easy to understand memories, this should make it easy to test his reaction to it. I put my finger on my forehead and remove a point of light surrounded by a magic circle, then I point to the colossal thing in front of us, the light crosses the distance sinking into his body, soon the Aura becomes chaotic like an ocean in the middle of a storm, chaos and destruction hit everyone while his entire body trembles, the chains that lose him begin to crack as they vibrate in a constant cycle of breaking and repairing, the grid around us has its runes shining brightly. "This... what... what are emotions... happiness... happiness... I don''t understand... I don''t understand... I don''t understand... love... why do I want love... what is love...!?" (No. 89) "How is he doing?" (Me) "Steady and quick steps." (Hades) "Then we just have to wait..." (Me) ---------------- A few minutes later. It took several minutes, his Aura collided with us like a war hammer or a raging storm many times, but over time he calmed down, his Aura changed a lot, it became lighter, it also became sharper and a strong killing intent also emerged, fortunately it wasn''t directed at us, I also noticed that he has his senses focused on me. "I see... I understand emotions better... It''s not bothersome... It doesn''t have to be bothersome... I want more emotions... Positive emotions... My emotions..." (No. 89) "We can do this, we can let you go, but before that, what do you want to do when you get out of here?" (Me) "Positive emotions... I want more positive emotions... Kill the 3 doctors... Kill... Kill... Kill... Kill... Kill...!" (No. 89) His killing intent became much more intense as anger, hatred, and joy mixed in his Aura, he suddenly became completely insane. "That''s a great thing, but what are you going to do after you get rid of those 3 bastards?" (Hades) "..." (Me) "..." (Hajak) "After... After... What am I going to do after...?" (No. 89) "Don''t ask me, your life should be decided by you, so what are you going to do?" (Hades) "To be happy... I want to be happy... I don''t know how to be happy... I''ll learn to be happy..." (No. 89) Somehow Hades'' calm words calmed him down, and his Aura became more controlled and less murderous, becoming lighter again as Hades spoke to him, his voice becoming clearer. "(It seems he''s still a little unstable, but he might be useful.)" (Me) Him wanting the death of those who experimented on him day after day isn''t bad, I want the death of those 3 too, not to mention that if I take him to Urd, I might be able to make his mind clearer and more stable, he''s still very confused, the Ascended Goddess can also give us knowledge that he lacks. Chapter 1806: Cap 1804: Discovered "I will not forget being denied my revenge!" (Adella) "I did not deny anything, I am just saying that there is no point in getting revenge if it ends up returning to the state in which I was irrational!" (me) "Don''t look for him anymore and at least try to control your emotions!" (me) "If you are not able to do that, then I will kill him myself away from your eyes before bringing his inert body before you!" (me) "Who do you think you are!?" (Adella) "I am older than you! Much older! I was once a great Goddess and you cannot order anything of me!!!" (Adella) "You are right, you are older than me and you have also been through things that I do not fully understand!" (me) "Then stop acting like a bratty child!" (me) "What''s more valuable? Getting your revenge at the cost of losing everything you''ve achieved with so much difficulty or getting your revenge with a clear mind and overcoming your past!?" (me) "If you were able to control yourself, I wouldn''t say anything, but I won''t sit by and watch you destroy yourself like this!!!" (me) Adella woke up as out of control as I thought she would be, arguing with her reminds me of the rebellious children at the orphanage, they had so much anger and hatred inside them that they took it out on those around them, often acting in self-destructive ways without realizing how much they were hurting themselves. Adella is not a child, she is also more than just an adult, she is a Goddess thousands of years old, maybe millions of years old, but her emotions are simply too strong, too corrosive for her own good, a woman traumatized by her past and heartbroken, the focus of this pain is so close to her that asking her to control herself is irrational, I know that maybe I would not be able to control myself like that, unfortunately this is for her own good. "Adella, hate me if you want, but I do this for your own good, you are family, you are important to me as well as to others, no one can see you in this state." (me) "..." (Adella) "Rest for now and reflect on everything you have done, reflect on my words, then come talk to me or my mother later, we will be here when you need us." (me) Seeing that she remained silent and a gleam of confusion appeared in her eyes, I managed to achieve my goal, I managed to open a gap in her emotions and I hope that it will be enough to calm her down at least a little. I went out and found my mother waving at me, I followed her to where Barerosa was waiting. "I''ll keep an eye on her, you can go to the meeting with Barerosa." (Mother) "Thank you." (me) --------------------- The meeting with the Ascendants didn''t go as well as I imagined, the first part of the meeting was very simple and the 2 Level 3 Ascendants talked about their plans already in place, the two had already dispersed their troops as well as those who were saved, there was a lot to be done and even for this meeting I couldn''t leave them standing still. They were alone, each of them was accompanied by a Level 2 Ascendant as an assistant, I was no exception, Barerosa was by my side as an assistant. But from the second part of the meeting where we presented our next plans, when suddenly everything changed, until one of them noticed something in me and attacked. Melissa made a move worthy of a Gray Elf, dark needles came from all the shadows around me, except from my own shadow, while she herself advanced towards me with daggers in her hands, both hands aiming at my face while a dagger hidden in her boot tried to take advantage of it to launch a kick attack to my heart. "(Tarzor?)" (me) "(I''m fine.)" (Tarzor) "< Law of Eclipse: Universal Restriction >" (me) My shadow expands in all directions, a pair of eyes open like two lakes full of stars, dark tentacles rise from where the brightness of many stars emerge, trapping all of them here besides me, it also isolated this place from the rest of the universe as well as isolated all the Ascendant Laws with the exception of mine which is deeply marked in Tarzor. All of them were trapped by these tentacles, whenever someone tried to use their power of the Ascendant Law, their energy was sucked by Tarzor, as everyone here was Level 3 Ascendants and were caught by surprise, they lost their opportunity to escape. I am glad that Tarzor has recovered enough to accomplish this. I look at everyone, ignoring the assistants of the two Level 3 Ascendants and focusing on them, Collins was visibly surprised and angry, but Melissa is calm, I can almost see a touch of happiness in her gaze. Looking at Barerosa who seemed disturbed without understanding what was happening, I approached her controlling the tentacles to leave her immobilized in a more comfortable position and with her mouth closed. "I''m sorry for doing this to you Barerosa, but we can talk later, this is not the best place for this." (me) I touch her forehead and transfer some information to her, explanations about what the Ascendants do, how they attacked us, what they do with the conquered universes, about the traitors in their ranks, a little about our plans and also a question that I hope she can answer later. Her eyes were shocked by what I transmitted to her, but I didn''t let her speak and didn''t pay any more attention to her, I also ignored Collins who was emitting a cold mist from his body while his eyes were full of anger, maybe he finally understood what was happening here. My focus for now was on Melissa, her calm didn''t change at all, she didn''t even try to break free, her eyes were only focused on me, they were eyes that seemed to be collecting information, she really is intelligent without letting any opportunity pass by. I had left everyone silent from the beginning, but I did nothing to stop Melissa from talking, staying silent was purely her choice. "How did you find out about me?" (me) "After we fought the Avatar, that Infernal creature seemed as strong as him, it didn''t make sense that you managed to defeat that thing while Collins and I only managed to stop the Avatar of Pride." (Melissa) "Your technique that isolated the two of you during the fight was also strange, the only Ascendant with a similar power known would be one of the 3 Thrones, Urak." (Melissa) "Just that? It seems more like unfounded assumptions to me." (me) "Yes, that''s why I tried to research you. I saw some recent achievements as well as a failed mission, but after further research I discovered how the first Level 3 Ascendant who came into contact with you was declared dead with you taking over his troops." (Melissa) "I was even more surprised when I didn''t find anything about you before that, but even so, there was no evidence against you. All of this together was just suspicious up to that point." (Melissa) "That''s why during the Meeting I paid attention to you, your movements, the way you spoke, your decisions and even your Aura. It took me a while to realize the power of the Essence in you. It was so subtle that it went unnoticed while we were focused on the mission." (Melissa) Collins struggled even more, his murderous intent leaking from his body continuously, his movements to free himself were becoming more violent than before, but even so it would not be even close to what it would take to free himself and so I turned my attention to Melissa who made a point of explaining everything in a slow manner, detailing each thought process calmly. "But I must admit that I did not discover your identity or purpose, your actions left me intrigued, so I attacked to catch you off guard." (Melissa) Melissa kept talking, she was also just looking at me, she still didn''t show any nervousness and just kept calm, the kind of person who always thinks she has everything under control irritates me a little since nothing seems to go the way I want. "You''re to be congratulated, even your way of buying time is very sincere, telling everything without lying or summarizing, even your calm expression to make me curious to extract information from you was a good move on your part." (me) I smile at her, her face showed no reaction to my words or smile, but the sparkle in her eyes changed to something different, she manages to hide her thoughts very well, but she''s not used to being in such a passive situation, her actions are a little too obvious. "You know what, I wonder, is your calmness due to the 3 Ascendants hidden 1 kilometer in that direction?" (me) "How did you...?" (Melissa) "Maybe it''s because of the White Elf who was using his Familiar to watch us from over 10 kilometers away?" (me) "Impossible... that''s impossible... there was no way to find him... so how...?" (Melissa) Seeing his calm expression finally breaking into one of disbelief was more fun than I imagined. The hidden Ascendants were easy, there was no way I couldn''t feel 3 pairs of eyes so focused on me, my senses are very good. As for the Elf using the Familiar, I felt the Familiar when I was coming to the meeting, but I hadn''t connected the dots until I was attacked, so when I decided to act, I did it cleanly, as soon as the tentacles that extended 5 kilometers around grabbed the Elf''s Familiar, corrupted its power and followed its connection until it reached him, his own Soul was grabbed thanks to this and his body will be controlled until it enters the area under my control. "You don''t need to know how I found out." (Me) "Now, what should I do with all of you..." (Me) Suddenly I feel a strong Aura coming straight towards me and I quickly dodge a sword made of bone that engraves itself into the ground behind me, my eyes turn to the dark green figure coming from the same direction the sword flew from, the pressure of the Aura was quite great. Chapter 1807: Cap 1805: War Messenger Suddenly I feel a strong Aura coming straight towards me and I quickly dodge a sword made of bone that is engraved in the ground behind me, my eyes turn to the dark green figure coming from the same direction from which the sword flew, the pressure of the Aura was quite great. "< Seal >" (me) Tentacles emerge from the shadow on the ground surrounding the sword and trying to reach the person running towards me, but as soon as the tentacles tried to touch him, they were repeated as if he had been slapped without even being able to touch his body. The sword that I thought I had managed to seal, trembles, slicing the tentacles as it passes by me going back to its owner, the sword had a unique presence even though it had no vitality, it was not alive and yet it seemed conscious. Since Tarzor was unable to do anything, I spread my wings and with a boost gained speed towards the new enemy, he did not push the tentacles of Magic away with his power or anything like that, it was different, a difference that I recognize. "< Eclipse Law: Celestial Hoop >" (me) "< 1st Tribal Art: Wild Cut >" A silver hoop with a purple glow appears on my fists, Runes gathered on the hoop and as I felt my body become physically stronger, my fist and his sword collided and we were both thrown back more than 5 meters. This time he remained still, I could see his short green hair, I could see his clothes that looked like a Cold War military uniform with some decorations, his eyes were brown with the pupils squeezed into a needle point, he was human, at least as far as I could see, marks were visible on all visible parts of his body, his ear was half cut, there were burn marks on the side of his face, his hands were full of cut marks, even his hair had a gap because of the scar on the side of his head. He has a hard and serious expression as he looks at me with those super focused eyes, his senses were focused only on me and he was clearly ignoring the trapped Ascendants as well as the area magic that clearly cannot touch him. The sword in his hands was made of bone, it didn''t have a sharp edge but instead had sharp teeth only on one side of the blade, the hilt of the sword was a piece of bone, the tip of the sword looked like a hook. "You are as Mr. Ayden described." "You belong to the War side." (me) "What are you doing here?" (me) "I came to deliver a message." "What message? How did you find me?" (me) "The message will be delivered if you survive, if not... he spoke about not being worthy of facing him." "..." (me) I look at my opponent again, he is clearly not stronger than Ayden, I fought him with everything I had that day without relying on the power of my Familiars or the power of the Law, now I consider myself a little stronger than that day and this opponent''s Aura does not seem to indicate being stronger than Ayden''s or my own when I am not restraining my capabilities. I had doubts about what Ayden was doing, what he wanted to achieve with this, he would not send someone to their death like that, I may not know him, but I know his Concept, War can be branched into many things, but it is about confrontation, Ayden is almost the stereotype of a combat maniac that I used in my video games, this type of individual would not send a subordinate to certain death. "(If it is not about raw power... then it is capacity, but what kind of capacity...?)" (me) "I must say I am honored, I did not imagine being able to cut something like you one day." "< Law of the Sun: Cursed Wave >" (me) I flap my wings forward as waves of purple flames fly forward against the enemy who doesn''t move, the flames touch his body and are pushed away without even touching him, this time I notice something on his neck and that''s when he smiles at me. "My name is irrelevant, I abandoned such a thing a long time ago, I was born a warrior, I graduated as a soldier, I became a general and now I am a commander of the troops of the great Entity of War." "By your Authority, any combat against me will be hand-to-hand or it will not happen." "Good to know." (me) "< Law of Eclipse: Dagger of the Threshold >" (me) As the dagger materializes in my hand, I realize something, he and I are being tested against each other, this irritates me a lot, not only because an enemy sent his subordinate to test me, but also because I am being used to test someone by my enemy, this made the intention against him increase. I moved each of my prisoners away, I didn''t want them to die yet, I can use some of them later to calm Adella down as well as extract information from them, especially Melissa who seems to be especially observant. With everyone away from the fight, I focus on the enemy in front of me, he still holds the sword and seems to be waiting for me to attack first, I feel tempted to use all my power and crush him quickly, the Star Sword is much stronger than the Threshold Dagger, I''m also not using my Divine Weapon. "(Don''t push the limits, the only reason we haven''t been discovered yet is the Power of Your Law, if you release your Divine power or I use the Essences within me... well, you''ll have to fight hard to escape.)" (Tarzor) "(I know...tch!)" (me) With momentum from my wings I advance against him in milliseconds, the dagger dances in my hand as I perform 13 attacks in sequence his sword moves almost pulling his arm to defend the blows that he wouldn''t be able to react in time, this damn weapon was giving him assistance. "< Law of the Moon: Fragmentation of Life >" (me) But it was still just a sword, I attack by stabbing with the dagger, at the same time my knee rises colliding with his elbow and preventing him from lowering himself, but against what I planned, he dropped the sword that moved on its own with the blade turning downwards and receiving my attack, a shockwave pushes him back when the back of his sword collides with him then making him go even further back, which I would not miss the chance to take advantage of. "< Law of the Moon: Vital Charge >" (me) "< 2nd Tribal Art: Bone Piercing >" My dagger that looked more like a fragment of the night sky itself lit up as a large amount of vitality made the stars on the dagger shine in a fluorescent green. The enemy just started attacking without caring about anything, his arm was torn to pieces from the inside out, his bones exploding into dozens of sharp spikes as he twisted around the sword that literally fused with his bones. My attack made the space vibrate while his literally pushed the space away, a wild killing intent starting to flow from the sword. The two weapons met, but this time I felt myself being pushed back, a killing energy was being sucked into the sword that was stained with blood with the bone turning crimson red. "< Burn >" (me) The dagger emits flaming light and as those green flames fly almost alive wanting to surround his body, but those flames also cannot touch his body when that necklace appears once again blocking that attack. I tried anyway, I didn''t want to hurt him with that blow, with his focus elsewhere I was able to do things as I wanted. The strong light and the heat explosions help to distract him, with my wings giving one more boost I collided with his body, controlling the blood in my body, a stake of blood comes out of my shoulder piercing his chest until it comes out through his back, even so he hugged me while his sword flew by itself to behind my head. "I won." (me) Without being able to do anything else, he falls to the ground, his sword stops in place as it trembles, a strong killing intent coming out of his sword, from within his body, I pull out the blood stake along with threads of blood that branched out inside his body to the point of reaching his vital organs, he was dead from the moment my blood entered his body. He has no power of Law, Divine power or power of Concept, he does not have the requirements to control his own body in my presence, only his necklace had the power of the Concept of War, he himself is not an Avatar. I thought I had killed him, but his body falls apart while a red energy burns his body until there is nothing left, the red energy then takes the form of a soldier with red and green armor, two colors that do not match in my eyes, this armored figure is then sucked into the sword that slowly writhes until it assumes exactly that figure, he seems stronger now than before. "I lost and died fighting, you are worthy of the message." He pulls out a Crystal from which Ayden''s calm voice begins to sound in a few words. "[Our duel will take place where the 3 thrones meet, I will wait for you at the end of everything.]" (Ayden) Having said this, nothing else remained but silence as the messenger turns his back and leaves without looking back, the sword that had transformed into him was remade at his waist, but he no longer seemed conscious, even so my mind returned to Ayden''s words, mainly I was thinking about how they knew where to find me. "How did he find me here..." (me) Chapter 1808: Cap 1806: Lets Meet Together I finally understood that I was never really hidden, I could have been hidden from the Ascendants, but the Entities knew where I was all along, at least those who know me knew how it was in the case of War. "(Maybe I''m being alarmist, they must have found me because of this technique, I needed to use Tarzor as a means.)" (me) I shake my head and clear my mind, there was nothing else to do here, I knew that this message from Ayden was not just an invitation to a duel, he was giving a warning that he would not sit by and watch the Ascendants lose or maybe his goal is not all the Ascendants, his target of protection may be just those 3 Ascendant leaders. Those who commanded so many Universal wars, who conquered so much and maintain a militaristic command system among their people, I can see where War''s interest may have been sparked. "(If the War Entity were to intervene, perhaps all our plans would go down the drain, but if I retreat... that''s impossible.)" (me) Sigh There was no way to retreat anymore, the 3 leaders hate me, even now the Anomalous Armor is still being affected by my Chaos Curse, part of their power is being consumed and used to form something I need, something that no one but me is capable of using. I suddenly look in the direction where 3 people were running towards me, they were my mother still in her childish appearance, Nix and Wendel. "Were we discovered?" (Mother) "Yes, Melissa seems to have good senses." (me) "She couldn''t warn anyone, I have companions among the rescued who are still with the other two troops, if they had managed to warn me, I would have known." (Wendel) "I don''t know if that changes anything, if we kill them or make them disappear we will still be exposed." (Mom) "Not if we disappear with them, they''ll lump us all together and look for the most logical explanation, they''ll think that the Pride troops are tracking us and have managed to capture us." (me) "Mom, bring Adella here." (me) "Wendel, try to broadcast a false warning as if we were under attack and then cut off as if you''ve been caught." (me) "Nix, use the Star Path to get to Diana and the others, let them know about the meeting at marked point number 6." (me) "Okay." (everyone) I see my mother and Wendel running out of the shadowy area, Nix raises a circular portal that opens to the sides revealing a starry space and a crystal path where she walks before transforming into a Dragon with the portal closing behind her. After everyone left, I turned to the last two people who had been following everything the whole time, from the fight against the messenger to this conversation now. The tentacles pulled them towards me, Barerosa always had that empty look, her Aura was a whirlwind and her eyes focused on me, she wasn''t very unstable and that''s why I was focusing my attention on the one who had a look of despair, I took the tentacle out of her mouth allowing her to speak. "You are the Bringer of Chaos...!" (Melissa) "Ding ding ding... give her a prize... that''s the correct answer!" (me) I couldn''t resist making a joke about her comment, I honestly needed some fun. "Now that you know that, I want to test something with you, but we''ll have to leave that for later for now..." (me) "(Tarzor, take them, keep them separate from the others.)" (me) The two sink into the shadows just like the others moments before, then suddenly another person rises from the shadows, it was Lolth with an appearance that could completely pass for an Elf wearing colorful clothes. "Why are you here?" (me) "My mistress asked me to pass on a message to you." (Lolth) "That''s not the best..." (me) At that moment I could feel Adella and my Mother returning, as well as Wendel moments later. With their arrival, I would have to disappear from here without a trace. "Let''s get out of here. Then you can tell me what Lena wants to tell me." (me) ------------------- Pov Diana: We were in another laboratory. This one was full of Ascendants and Golems. The entire area around was surrounded by Kira''s ritual. "Are you sure they won''t be able to contact the outside?" (me) "Yes, their Spirit-focused Laws are very superficial. They don''t understand them exactly because they follow a path of logic." (Kira) "Even without using my Divinity, I used pure Spiritual power to transform this place into a Runic Field, their Ascendant Laws seem to have taken characteristics from the Spiritual Runes, but they don''t have the same depth." (Kira) "How much time do we have?" (Erica) "10 hours, the Ritual will be indefectible for them, but it can be easily crushed from the outside, this is just a camouflage blanket around this place, the Laws from the outside can still..." (Kira) "You talk too much!" (Ibuki) "We have 10 hours, great! Now let''s get this over with!" (Ibuki) "Ibuki is right, stop wasting time." (me) "Erica, you take care of the information, of all of us, only you can understand those machines." (me) "Ibuki and Kira, you two will be the assassins, kill as discreetly as possible while I will draw attention with a frontal attack." (me) "Begin!" (me) I see Ibuki disappear into the shadows, Kira vanishes into thin air while Erica is consumed by purple flames that spread between sparks leaving only me here. I look at the laboratory below, I don''t know how many Ascendants are inside, but as long as there are no Level 3 Ascendants we will be fine without our Deities. "(I know we shouldn''t do this, but I need to know more about that thing.)" (me) I jump from the large tree where I was and take the form of a Wolf, letting my power explode as I advance against the walls of the laboratory. My claws pierce the walls with ease, my Ki rises as my Aura explodes wildly, it''s been a long time since I''ve released my instincts like this, running wild without thinking about anything other than fighting. The walls break one after the other, my large body can''t invade such small corridors and rooms, several attacks come towards me as dozens of Ascendant Golems with Armor and wings fly towards me. I decrease my size and use the Ascendant Golems as steps as I start to descend at high speed, invading a corridor where I saw a Level 1 Ascendant. "Damn beast... aaahhh!" When my teeth sink into its neck, releasing its head from its body, its scream seems like a warning to the others, 3 other Ascendants attack me with a flying sword, a green stain in the shape of a Serpent and metallic needles emitting cursed power. I didn''t want to use any skills, I wanted to make myself look like a wild beast without conscience, while I just controlled the wind while dodging the attacks by a hair''s breadth without showing too much strength, when the Golems reach me, I feel vital signs disappearing, there were two and knowing what must have happened to them, I attack the last one head on. "< Law of the Serpent: Poisonous Fangs >" I didn''t even need to dodge, before he could complete his attack a dark sword appeared behind him and ripped off his head. Ibuki did her part by disappearing right after, I also felt a fourth person arriving but this one wasn''t an Ascendant, I felt Anomalous power in him. "< Sealing of a Hundred Worlds >" "< Traveling Wolf of the Winds >" (me) The moment I felt his power I was already unleashing my own Skill, the cold winds of a full moon night travel from my body that disintegrates traveling like the wind itself, my Aura spreads thus evading the Runes that transformed into images of entire Worlds flying towards me. Boooommm!! A part of this place was crushed along with more than 10 kilometers of forest behind with 100 overlapping engravings making the air tremble, cold sweat runs down my body. "You are not a normal beast, this power with a sacred touch... a Divine Beast perhaps..." A woman appeared, she had an ordinary appearance and wore clothes like a flowing cloak, her curly blond hair was more beautiful than her ordinary face. She had a large strip of translucent cloth around her, one end of this cloth was squeezing Erica''s body who was still fighting in purple flames, the other end of the fabric was continuously colliding with Ibuki''s sword without giving her time to move away, in her hands was a fan of Runes shining in all colors pressing Kira and Byakko against the ground. In the corner of my vision I saw a Level 2 Ascendant flying down the hallway towards us with two very strong and very detailed-looking Golems, other Golems were also approaching, things were worse than we imagined. "Who are you!?" (me) "I''m just a scholar...ghh!!" Before she could finish speaking, a portal opened from Erica''s shadow, who was by her side. A Dragon''s head came out, chewing everything from her chest to her body before swallowing it. The Dragon transformed into Nix before even leaving the portal completely, which closed shortly after. Nix didn''t say anything, advancing against the Ascendant and without wasting time I joined her, knowing that the other 3 would be able to take care of themselves now. Chapter 1809: Cap 1807: Escaping the Star Path Pov Davoth: I now look at the large thing slowly decreasing in size, all the chains and bonds have been cut, they were made to contain it and not to resist an external attack, there were also no traps inside here to attack us and yet I was worried since I felt the energies that were used in these restrictions being redirected elsewhere. I was wondering what we would face as my Universal Golem remodeled itself into a gelatinous sphere surrounding the colossal body of Experiment 89. As its body was covered, my Anomalous power was being spent to a great extent, no matter how much we tried to put it inside the Universal Golem it was not possible, it in itself is a source of power of the Law and my Universal Golem rejects it by default, the most I am capable of doing is using the Universal Golem in a dimensional seal. "Your Universal Golem is fascinating, if I am not mistaken you preserved the universal consciousness as well as used parts of the Universe itself for its construction, am I correct?" (Hajak) "Yes, Universal Golems could always have been used as a way to preserve or save collapsing universes, unfortunately the Ascendants decided to use this innovation as a weapon of war like everything they touch." (me) "I will not deny that research has always been very biased towards military use, exploring other options was something I suggested in the past, even if it was purely for academic study and scientific research." (Hajak) "The applications of Universal Golems have always been too limited, having a consciousness in them was something I did not consider due to the lack of control of the one who would have it." (Hajak) "I do not control my Universal Golem, it is in itself a Basic Level Anomalous Entity, a semi-living universe, what I made was a contract with it as one does with Spirits, Fairies and Sacred Beasts." (me) "An interesting proposal, I would love to know about the construction specifications, control and forms of contract." (Hajak) "As I said before, I do not trust you to divulge any kind of information, show that you are trustworthy and not just pretending, only then will I see you as a reliable ally and not a convenient ally." (me) "You are constantly presenting things that would be considered in my interest only to deny me with this statement in an attempt to manipulate my intentions that you do not understand, thus encouraging me to a line of thought that aligns with becoming a reliable ally." (Hajak) "Your attempt at manipulation is a waste of your time, as previously informed by me, I am more than willing to become your ally, your tests and suspicions against me, however understandable they may be, are a waste of your time." (Hajak) "A waste of time yes, but something necessary, you have no way to prove that you are trustworthy other than demonstrating it with actions and I have no guarantees that I will not be betrayed at a critical moment." (me) "You two can stop this! I''m tired of this conversation that''s been going on for hours!" (Hades) Just like Hades said, I''ve been working on No. 89 for hours, with nothing else to do, I''m letting Hajak see the many advantages in forging a true alliance and thus reducing the chances of a possible future betrayal. There wasn''t much to do and this game of ideas against him started like this, I knew he would realize what I''m doing, but that doesn''t change the interest he clearly shows in everything I presented before him. I turn to Hades who was sitting cross-legged, hands on his knees and eyes closed while his Aura acts in a strange way, circulating in an unpredictable way around him as if it were coming and going through paths invisible to me. "How is he?" (me) "Well, his metal form should already be defined, his Personality is still consolidating and his mind has begun to structure itself." (Hades) "How long until he completes everything?" (me) "By normal standards, a few days if it continues at this impressive intensity, but I must point out that this is a never-ending process for all creatures, our personalities and minds are constantly changing, there is no definitive end." (Hades) "I may not have knowledge about what you hide, Herald, but your philosophical statement is completely correct according to my studies to date." (Hajak) "Part of the disease that infects the Ascended population comes from stagnation of thought." (Hajak) "A big problem, bigger than you know." (Hades) "It seems that something happened in my absence, would you mind informing me or is it something else that I will discover once I become trustworthy in your eyes?" (Hajak) "That can wait for later, we are leaving soon." (me) I turn to the large thing that is already the size of a small mountain, its body already completely enveloped by the Universal Golem, at least by that part of it. "< Anomalous Magic: Dimensional Demon Sealing >" (me) The Golem that had taken the form of a sphere surrounding the entire creature, changes to a hexagonal shape while Demonic patterns spread on its surface similar to the design of a Demonic face. Soon the entire structure shrinks at once to the size of my head, then floats near me, I tried to touch it, but I was unable to, the most I can do is let it float nearby, even with my senses it looks more like an empty hole from where nothing can be felt and only the eyes can contemplate its current form. "With this we can leave, but I won''t be able to demonstrate even half of my combat power." (me) "I can take care of the traps until I get to the outside, but the World Cannons and the Guardian are beyond my ability to handle." (Hajak) "We won''t need it, I''ll take care of the rest, let''s go." (Hades) I follow Hades and Hajak outside, my body feels weak, my mind also feels heavy, fortunately No. 89 seems to have been in a dormant state for the last 2 hours or it wouldn''t be possible to keep him sealed so easily. "(Now that he''s sealed, I feel traces of chaos power in him, remnants that emanate from within him and come from the Anomalous power of the creation type.)" (me) As I walked I found myself thinking about the possibilities, an unpleasant image formed in my mind, something I wasn''t sure about, something the System didn''t tell me, if it''s true it''s something that will be unpredictable. "(It can''t be... this level of planning and such a long time, it was impossible to predict all of this, not to mention that...)" (me) "Davoth, I need to know something, do you think it''s possible to travel through the Flow of Laws again?" (Hades) "No, he''ll be much more aggressive now, not to mention that it would be a risk since the Ascendants will realize what''s happening here." (me) "I see..." (Hades) "I need to know something before we leave, just 3 things." (Hades) "Can you stay 3 meters away from me at all times?" (Hades) "It won''t be difficult." (me) "Affirmative." (Hajak) "You must not release your Auras when we leave here, I also need to know if Hajak can stay separated from these lines of Law around him." (Hades) "I claim that I can be separated for a short period from the Ascendant laws, but I will be in a dormant mode during that time and will shut down completely if that period is extended too long causing deterioration of my basic functions to the point of my core collapsing with a prolonged delay." (Hajak) "What if there were an Ascendant Law that is not of the 3 Thrones?" (Hades) "Completely disconnecting from the Ascendant Laws is risky due to the defense mechanisms of the 3 Thrones, but connecting to a new Law is possible, but it would need to be at least Level 4 to resist the rejection of the Laws of the 3 Thrones." (Hajak) "You''re not thinking about..." (me) "There''s no risk to us, only to him. It will also allow us to escape more easily or we will have to abandon him." (Hades) "You weren''t preparing to face the guardian, were you?" (me) "My master always said to know how to choose our battles and not limit ourselves to defined paths." (Hades) "It doesn''t matter if we run away or not, the guardian will pursue us. He must already have a way to identify the 3 of us and will certainly be able to track Experiment No. 89." (Hajak) "I hope so, or my plan would fail." (Hades) "We''ll use the Star Path to run while we lure him, the only ones capable of that are me as the main Herald and Nix who was the basis of his formation." (Hades) "What are the risks?" (me) "None if you don''t move away, otherwise you''ll be consumed by your Will for being physically there, in the case of a creature like Hajak, I don''t even know what could happen to him, so you shouldn''t separate from me." (Hades) "[ Deactivating atomic implosion and black hole formation. ]" (Hajak) "I''ve already taken care of the traps here, but this activated the charging of the World Cannons, we only have a few minutes to get out and the special storms are intensifying up there." (Hajak) Just now we were in the elevator when Hajak''s voice became robotic and yellow lights began to flash on the walls he was touching. As soon as we emerged outside, I accepted Hades who ran ahead, as soon as we emerged on the surface our senses became confused and a pair of horrible eyes focused on us. "< Divine Magic of Chaos: Gates of the Star Path >" (Hades) I couldn''t even see the gate appear or open, I only felt myself being pulled before I was walking in a completely different place, the temperature as well as the environment were different as if they were always changing, I was walking on a long crystal platform while a horrible energy was chasing me from behind. Hades didn''t say anything else as he stopped running and walked in front of us, his Aura surrounding us and I held Hajak who had a luminous Eclipse symbol on his faceless head. I couldn''t look back, my feet seemed to walk almost on their own, I couldn''t even turn my head to look around, Hades'' Aura blocked everything, my lack of resistance to him as well as my current weakness didn''t help either. But suddenly I felt a suction as we suddenly appeared somewhere else, Zenos was in front of us and his eyes were fixed on something behind us, in his hands was a plate full of grilled meat and a fork in his mouth. "Is this... seriously...!?" (Zenos) Chapter 1810: Cap 1808: Meal interrupted Leaving that planet was extremely easy, I took everyone to my shadow, then I changed my appearance to that of a long-haired brunette woman, I stopped using the power of the Law making my wings disappear, then I walked from one city to another following the reverse flow of the Ascendants who were coming to investigate the disappearance of three level 3 Ascendants. When I was far enough away, I simply left the planet, I never needed the Ascendant wings to fly from the beginning, I also have my Dragon wings, I used my true wings to fly away while using Spatial magic to shorten my path as well as Thunder Ki to increase my speed. Everyone was inside Tarzor, so I was able to move away as I wanted without being noticed, if I could use my Divinity it would be an even faster trip, I needed 1 hour to reach the closest planet that was not the one occupied by Ghanor''s troops. From there I discovered a teleportation plaza that the Ascendants were using to mobilize, using just a little of my Ascendant Law and the name of another Level 3 Ascendant that I heard on the way, I had access to this escape route that I took by fleeing to another Star System. After spending more than an hour moving to a moon with no population, I finally had time to rest, there were many things to do one after the other. The trip, the meeting with the Ascendants, the rescue plan, facing Ghanor, facing that Infernal General, making the planned strategic retreat, listening to Kaan''s story, taking care of Adella, another meeting that this time ended with the discovery of my identity, then that messenger of War came and finally I escaped here. "What a horrible 2 days." (me) "I must admit that there were too many unforeseen situations, it seems that Davoth''s decision to change the plans is right... it would be impossible to follow the old plans like that." (Wendel) "I still don''t know what those plans would be, he wasn''t very clear." (me) "For the most part, the plan will still be the same, but we won''t need the Universal Cores anymore, but in return we will need the Goddess''s help." (Wendel) "Why didn''t we use this plan before?" (me) "Too high a risk, honestly, we''re taking a big gamble, we also added an extra layer to the plans, the... the acceptance of the Ascendants..." (Wendel) "Something you don''t like." (me) "None of us like it, they invaded our universes, killed our people, destroyed our civilizations and use our universes as disposable batteries!" (Wendel) Baammm!! This was the first time I had seen Wendel truly angry since I had met him, his face twisted with hatred and the killing intent emanating from his entire Aura, it was very clear what his choice would be given another chance. "I don''t expect you to understand, but many of us hate the Ascendants deeply, and we hate ourselves even more for becoming Ascendants." (Wendel) "There are many suicide attempts among us, and in some cases, it is quite frequent. In my first years as an Ascendant, I tried to kill myself twice. The first time I tried to die, the second time I was in my first invasion against another universe... doing to another universe what they did to mine... that still haunts me... the screams... the anger... the pain..." (Wendel) "I tried to let a blow from the inhabitants of that universe kill me, I wanted to die... but I survived..." (Wendel) "Most Ascendants are scum, they are traitors who sold their universes in exchange for power or surrendered out of fear like cowards while their universes burned!" (Wendel) "I won''t pretend to understand what you feel, but know that you have my respect for putting up with it." (me) "I respect none, I am a monster just like them, I am also a sinner, my hands are stained with blood, my motives are worth nothing compared to all that I have done!" (Wendel) "Among us there are few truly virtuous, most like me... continue for revenge..." (Wendel) "Many of us want to die when it is all over, some have plans to suffer more than just death." (Wendel) "I understand..." (me) Tears were falling from Wendel''s face, his murderous intent disappearing amidst an enormous amount of emotional pain. Just as he said, I can''t begin to understand what they all went through, Kaan said something similar to Wendel, none of them can stand what they are. "Even if everyone wants revenge, I won''t let these Ascendants get away with it, Davoth promised that, each of them will go through a process of Rebirth, they will have the memories of their past lives tormenting them while living this is the least that any of us are willing to accept!" (Wendel) "You yourself are a light for us, your power is something we have waited for a long time." (Wendel) "I am not a good person, I am here because they are my enemies, they have come after me more than once and already have plans against my universe." (me) "I honestly don''t care about your intentions or what you will gain from this, I''m sorry." (Wendel) "It only pleases me to know that you are here, that the plan is finally in action even with so many changes, that this torment will finally come to an end..." (Wendel) "..." (me) His Aura has passed through the pain and become only weak, a great deal of tiredness shining in his tear-stained eyes as he turned around smiling, a smile that is not reflected in his empty eyes, he looks truly exhausted. I didn''t tell him, but I made Barerosa, Melissa and Collins see everything that just happened, I even let them feel the changes in his Aura, I have plans for each of them, Barerosa being who she is will be fine with some luck, but the other two will be my experiments. "Come, let''s go inside, in these moments a good drink and delicious food is all we need." (me) "..." (Wendel) I tap her shoulder and we return to the makeshift cabin they built with wood magic. Adella was inside with my mother, who no longer has the same childish appearance, but still has the same body she uses to disguise herself. She has only aged her body a little until she looks like a young woman. Her wings are now a pair and a third wing is closed, it seems like she is understanding the powers of the Law better in this second body. Getting closer to them, I see that Lolth is nowhere to be seen, as I approach my mother sitting in a meditative pose. "Where is Lolth?" (me) "She''s cooking. It seems that Lena taught her some things about food being the nutrient of life or something like that." (Mother) "(She''s right, Lena made Lolth learn to cook to create a constructive hobby for her.)" (Tarzor) "(Was that necessary?)" (me) "(Lolth pushes herself beyond orders and refuses to rest, Lena didn''t want to have to order her to rest, so she thought of this way and generated quick results in a few days.)" (Tarzor) "(Sarazar and Luci, as much as they try, are much more mature than her and know when to rest.)" (Tarzor) It seems that Lolth has been keeping herself very busy, I''m glad that everyone seems to be doing well inside. "What are you going to do with the prisoners?" (Mother) "Barerosa is not a prisoner, I''m trying to indoctrinate her using the obsessive feelings she generated for me, to distance her from the militaristic logic of the Ascendants before fulfilling my promise to Ohara." (me) "The other two will serve another purpose, I will use Collins as a test for Davoth''s plan, I will fuse the Anomalous power of Destruction into him and see how he reacts with the Anomalous power of Creation of the Ascendants." (me) "He may not resist." (Mother) "That''s good, Collins has been known to volunteer for the most military invasions against other universes." (Wendel) "Do you know anything about Melissa?" (me) "No, but she is an immigrant, so she is not much different from the other Ascendants, just do what you want with them." (Wendel) "Well, I want to try to corrupt her, I tried to do that with Sarazar in the past and it produced a different result than I expected, I want to find out what will happen to an Ascendant." (me) While we were all talking, a table was formed by growing roots in the ground. Lolth introduced herself with humanoid plants carrying several plates of food to this table outside. "The food is ready, make yourself comfortable." (Lolth) "I doubt Adella will want to eat anything, but I''ll force her if necessary, maybe that will calm her emotions." (Mother) "I need to eat something, I haven''t eaten anything in days." (me) With all this pretending to be an Ascendant, I''ve been doing a lot of things and eating very little. As a Dragon, I can go centuries without eating. As a God, I don''t even need to eat, but it''s still one of life''s greatest pleasures. It helps to relax the mind and regain my spirits. With that in mind, I prepared a dish that would make my old hospital self jealous. I took a piece of roasted animal meat, put some kind of purple puree that smelled good on it, poured a brown sauce that I didn''t recognize on top of everything, and then took 2 more types of medium-rare pink meat. It was the first satisfying meal I had had in days. "Thank you for the meal, it looks delicious." (me) "I hope you like it." (Lolth) After arranging my plate, I walked to a tree stump that I could see. Halfway there, I picked up my fork and tried to taste a piece of meat. But before I could feel the pleasure of a beautiful piece of meat between my teeth, a gate opened from my shadow and Hades appeared, followed by Davoth as well as a strange robot. Even so, my focus was not on them, but on the dark creature that was coming after them, almost arriving with an Aura full of violence. "Is this... seriously...!?" (me) Chapter 1811: Cap 1809: How to get rid of this thing!!?? "This is...seriously...!?" (me) I was surprised by many things, but I didn''t expect to see something like this, what was coming out of the portal at high speed was a creature with 6 pairs of arms, 3 heads where two are attached to the shoulders and the last one is in its normal place above the thick neck, it has no nose or ears and dark rays running through its body as it crawls out of the portal. "< Law of Eclipse: Celestial Border >" (me) Soon 3 pairs of wings appear behind my back while the power of the Laws pulses creating Runes in a chain circling the creature that advanced not against me, but directly towards Davoth which seemed strange. Before the creature could get too close to them, the circle of Runes of the Law around it was completed, a curtain of stars rises from the ground hiding the creature from what seemed to be a celestial column connecting heaven and earth. "What the hell are you guys doing here? What is this robot? What the hell is this weird sphere? And most IMPORTANTLY, what the hell is this thing!!??" (me) I was freaking out seeing it because I could feel the Anomalous powers inside it and it was in a constant state of change between creation or destruction, if my Ascendant Law wasn''t linked to my Chaos power, then it would never have worked against this damn thing until now. "I''ll take care of him!" (Adella) "Wendel! Keep an eye on Adella and don''t let her torture or kill Davoth!" (me) "Alright, I''ll take care of her..." (Wendel) "Mister Wendel, take this individual with you, if he wakes up let him know that we''re still fighting, thank you." (Hades) Adella appears running, already grabbing the tired Davoth by the hair and pulling him away, Wendel came right behind and I made him keep an eye on Adella so she wouldn''t do anything that could harm us later. Hades, who reacted quickly to my words, grabbed the robot and threw it to Wendel and when he got into a combat position next to me, my mother swore as did Lolth who was a little further away. "Hades, report..." (Mother) "Damn it! We don''t have time!" (Me) Suddenly the arms of that thing began to cross cracks to the outside almost as fast as the cracks appearing one after the other. Those things were destroying the Runes of Law very quickly, there was no time to replace them and everyone got ready. "(Tarzor!?)" (me) "(Don''t count on me, that portal just now could have alarmed the Ascendants, but if I show up it will sound all their alarms.)" (Tarzor) "Damn it!!" (me) As I uttered several words that shouldn''t be said in my head, I saw these hands moving away, opening a large crack from where the main head appeared, looking directly at where Davoth was. "< Law of Eclipse: Dagger of the Threshold >" (me) "< Breath of Chaos >" (Hades) "< Law of Blood >" (Mother) I couldn''t understand the reason for this, but I couldn''t let it happen, I couldn''t let this thing stay here and especially reach Davoth since I still need him. The dagger appears in my hand once more as if I had claimed a fragment of the sky itself in one turn during an Eclipse, with the dagger in hand I was in position to attack at any moment. Hades launches a breath attack without using his Divine power, thanks to the seal it is much easier than me. My mother herself uses the Laws focused on blood to control the blood in her own body, she formed hundreds of cutting weapons using all that blood that easily surpasses her size dozens of times, then launched them at the enemy before he freed himself from what I had done. I wasn''t going to attack now, something was very strange about this creature, so I observed how their attacks worked on the creature before making a move. LOL!!! Just as I suspected, my hand''s attack sank into the creature''s body as its energy turned redder, as for Hades'' attack, it hit its body causing it to let out a shrill scream that ended up shattering what was holding it. Taking a better look at its body, I noticed that on its chest there was a three-pointed star made of translucent metal that looked as ethereal as the rest of the creature''s body, its legs were nonexistent with dark mist in place of legs. This thing didn''t stop for a second, as soon as it broke free, it was already flying towards Davoth once again ignoring everyone as before. "< Law of Eclipse: Blade of Desecration >" (me) This time I concentrate my Chaos Ki on the dagger, forming two Runes that overlap, I flap my wings faster than the enemy, I appear between him and Davoth, already swinging my dagger forward, the Runes and energy contained within only didn''t cut the space because I didn''t want them to. The energy flows to my blade and goes further, cutting his body into several parts while he doesn''t slow down, coming against me, releasing a murderous intent against the one behind me. "< Law of Eclipse: Seal of the Sun and Moon >" (me) The image of an Eclipse formed on the dagger and I threw it forward. From each side of the dagger came a celestial body. The illusory Purple Sun and Fragmented Moon entered an orbit around the creature. Its body was momentarily pressed against the ground. This was not an increase in gravity or anything like that. It was pure pressure from the Aura concentrated to the maximum. It was not a unilateral pressure either. It was coming from all directions. In fact, it was not even touching the ground. "Now that I''ve stopped this thing, could someone explain it to me..." (me) "Watch out!!" (Lolth) With Lolth''s warning, I managed to dodge backwards, bending my body to the point where I saw the head of that thing passing over me. I then turned to the side in time to dodge the tongue that came out of its mouth and went where I was moments before. "< Law of Blood: Shackles of Death >" (Mother) "< Curse of Chaos: Claws of the Corruptor >" (Hades) The creature seemed to be some kind of specter, its translucent body gained a copper glow with the pressure passing through it as it seemed to swim in the Aura around it. "< Law of Eclipse: Cursed Judgment >" (me) The power of the Law focuses on my Wings as the Dagger glows, the fragment of the Night Sky on its blade lights up purple as the Sun separates from the Moon. The cursed power ignites in my Aura, I feel my Divine Weapon once again resonate trying to free itself, it takes me a few seconds to suppress it again and the creature was already very close, I stand fearlessly advancing the rest of the way. "< Judgement >" (me) My now glowing purple dagger pierces the large finger of the hand he extended to me, a purple glow spreads like lines inside him consuming my murderous intent as fuel until it forms a pattern all over his body. All of this happened in less than 1 second, but it was still enough time for him to throw me aside with several broken ribs and the arm that held the dagger twisted, this type of physical damage means nothing to me recovering in moments while he still advanced against Davoth. Halfway there a fist of blood and stellar flames accepts his body that even damaged rises in confusion looking for Davoth again, all the damage on him recovering with the exception of my Curse that clearly made him slower and weaker, unfortunately it didn''t seem to be enough to get rid of him. "How do you get rid of this damn thing!?" (me) "Where is Hinata? Summon her quickly!" (Mom) "She''s busy! We''ll have to do without her." (Me) I can''t call her now, it will expose both of them and ruin this opportunity, I can''t do that now. "Curse seems to be the answer, anything else seems useless." (Hades) "..." (me) I had my doubts about it, this thing may have gotten slower and weaker with the curse, but it didn''t seem to be able to destroy it like that, it also couldn''t seal this Specter. "Let me take care of this." (Lolth) --------------------- Pov Samara: "(I really didn''t expect this... Pride is playing it safe here...)" (me) "(Master... calling out...)" (Hinata) "(I know, I felt it too, but we''re not done here yet and we''re following his orders.)" (me) The two of us were infesting Pride''s troops, I was inside a Demon while Hinata was inside a White Elf. We were following Thais, that damn fox, these are her subordinates who were being controlled by the thing inside her, something that is still inside their bodies without being able to affect me who has already managed to corrupt this Soul by taking its place and Hinata who devoured the Soul by taking its place. The two of us were talking telepathically using our connection with Zenos, so we wouldn''t be noticed and could talk safely. This damn fox had been playing among Pride''s troops for centuries without ever standing out enough to be promoted as Avatar, always in the shadows thinking she was hidden the whole time. "(Curse is playing a dangerous game, Pride is clearly executing 3 plans in this universe.)" (me) He is cleaning house by sowing the bad seeds here, calling the master to show himself by creating Chaos and at the same time he found a way to involve Curse who has infiltrated his ranks with Thais. "Where is he hiding...?" (Thais) "(I just don''t know what''s so important to her or to Curse that it''s worth so much risk...)" (me) Chapter 1812: Cap 1810: Rebirth is beautiful "Let me take care of this." (Lolth) This time that thing was looking for Davoth, but it wasn''t finding him. Looking at it, it was clear that Adella was using my stigma on her arm to create a barrier. The power of Chaos was hiding them and she seemed to be yelling at Davoth for something. I ignored her and focused on the creature, which, upon losing track of Davoth, began to rage. Its Aura was becoming wild and its eyes turned in all directions as if it were hunting a new target, which turned out to be Hades. In the meantime, Lothar, who had spoken, was already in front of the creature and assumed that its eyes had screamed at Hades. Lothar stood in the middle of the path, looking at that thing whose body was beginning to grow to twice its size while a dark mist surrounded its body. The curse that had been placed on it was simply thrown out of its body with an incredible shockwave. "Are you sure?" (me) "I''m sure you''re avoiding using your power, so it''s going to be hard to fight against..." (Lolth) "< Hands of the One Who Embraces the Fallen >" (Lolth) A pair of huge feminine hands appear around Lolth, closing over her like a barrier. The creature wasn''t even looking at Lolth, her attention focused purely on Hades when he started to move. His long arms and large hands grabbed the space like a spider walking on a wall. He pulled himself with his arms as if they were insect legs, quickly reaching where Lolth was determined to get past her to get to Hades faster. Kkkhhrrrr!!! The creature collided with the illusory hands serving as a barrier by Lolth, this barrier was like a plate of iron in the direction of a thrown egg, the creature''s body seemed all broken by the strong collision, but in a short time its glass returned to normal and yet the creature''s attention was still fixed on Hades, it was completely ignoring Lolth who did not seem to be irritated by such behavior. "Such fury and wild acts, but it seems that my conjecture was correct, you are trapped in fragments of Anomalous power, may you rest in your second chance." (Lolth) "< Vital Breath >" (Lolth) She opened her mouth gracefully without returning to her Dragon form, what came out was not energy, fire or anything else she had seen before, it was a sound wave that sounded like the singing of birds, the roar of animals, the swaying of trees and the swimming of creatures in the water. These sounds blend together, bringing a sense of security as well as a strong vital presence in a cracking sound that seems to contain something that cannot be seen inside. The creature didn''t even try to dodge this attack, apart from its targets it was as if it was unable to see anything or anyone else, Lolth''s attack hits the target, tearing the creature''s body into pieces, it was as if there was something translucent and dark crushed in the surroundings. There was no fluctuation in space, there were no cracks in the dimensional membrane, there was nothing other than an impressive attack and yet there were no repercussions, not even one, this was not normal. "Is he dead?" (Hades) "No, he clearly hasn''t been defeated yet." (Mother) My mother points to something that was already being observed by Lolth, the creature was moving all parts of its body forcing it to come together again into a single smaller body, but this time the 3-pointed star-shaped plate was no longer there. This time the enraged creature looked at every person in the surroundings before stopping at Lolth, its eyes filled with endless rage. Lolth was smiling for some reason, this time a white light emerged from her as well as an Aura full of vitality that made everything it touched flourish, this included even the deserted places that soon became painted by the green of nature. The creature this time seemed scared, but still attacked after a brief hesitation, Lolth smiled and I could not feel any murderous intent in her Aura that was full of kindness just like her smile showed. "If you cannot fall into death, then walk from scratch in a new beginning." (me) "Rest and embrace this opportunity." (Lolth) "< Lena''s Embrace: Rebirth of Souls >" (Lolth) Before the creature could get close to her this time, Lolth appeared behind the creature, her speed was incredible I only saw a blur before she got behind the creature, then she opened her arms as her Aura took the form of a super massive version of Lena, several symbols, Runes and magic circles were running through this form of Aura that embraced the creature, it was as if space itself was being compressed by those arms as the arms closed. The creature was immobilized and its body was dissolving into white particles, the creature didn''t even fight, it was as if it no longer had a mind or instincts, the white particles were being sucked into Lena''s illusory mouth of Aura. Soon there was nothing left of the creature, what was left was a completely blank white sphere, a seemingly endless black mist swirling around it being constantly sucked in by Aura Lena until only that sphere of pure white remained where the silhouette of a baby formed inside. Aura Lena''s chest glowed brightly as the sphere disappeared inside before Aura exploded full of vitality in all directions, Lolth with a pale face still kept the smile on her face. "How did you do that?" (Hades) "The power of the Concept was beyond what the variant Anomalous power of that thing could withstand." (Me) "Exactly, but not only that, he could not be killed, his power negated death itself, that''s why Selene''s power had no effect and no wound was fatal." (Lolth) "I realized that my attack did not kill him when it was clearly fatal, since he could not be killed and sealing him could be difficult, the best way to defeat him would be to give him a new life." (Lolth) "The rebirth of a new creature is beautiful, isn''t it?" (Lolth) "..." (me) ------------------ Minutes later. I was holding Adella''s unconscious body once again, this time it was Lolth who did the honors before Adella finished killing Davoth with her interrogation. Davoth was meditating with something still floating near his head, the robot on the other hand was awake and well, I asked him to sit still until I could talk to Davoth, especially after hearing Hades talking about him being a former servant of the 3 Ascendant leaders in the past. "So that Floating thing is a guinea pig for Special Experiments and will be the focus of our plans?" (me) "That''s right my lord." (Hades) "I see, now why did you run all the way here with that thing following right behind and still refuse to warn us?" (me) "I couldn''t get in touch with you, so I took the best safe option possible." (Hades) "But I thought you would summon Hinata to take care of that creature." (Hades) "I thought so, Hinata would have been able to handle that thing just fine, but she''s on a mission for me." (me) "Now tell me everything that happened again, this time in detail." (me) --------------------- Pov Samara: Hinata and I continue to follow this idiot Fox as she wanders through the lands conquered by Ghanor, another idiot. She clearly knows this is a trap, she knows that no matter what item she''s looking for, it would never be even remotely close to Ghanor, the reason she''s here now could only be bait, a bait too juicy for her to resist. She''s already wandered around several places or made us act in her place to look for whatever it is, it seems these bodies will know when they find it. During the confrontation where the Ascendants managed to free their companions, I was even forced to search Ghanor''s quarters, which was horrible. After searching for a long time, she recovers a flower-shaped pendant with beautiful eyes on the petals and surrounded by a ring of thorns. "I confirmed that the objective is in Ghanor''s possession, it''s not in his base and I don''t think he wouldn''t let it go with him." (Thais) She changes her expression twice, the first time to an impatient look while the second time was out of fear, she knows she might be being watched right now, this is not an impossibility and it is actually happening. She was talking to someone, but I can''t tell who, only listening to her half of the conversation. "I know, but this will be our only chance, Pride already knows there is a traitor and it won''t be long before he gets to me." (Thais) "No, if I participate in the attack I will be dead before I even form the thought of escaping, I know... I already said I know..." (Thais) "Are you going to take care of the attack? Okay, then you will use it again..." (Thais) "Yes, I will use what they gave me, I think it is better to fulfill what you promised!" (Thais) She throws the item on the floor with a shaking hand in anger, she did not like this conversation or the person does not respond. "I''ll take care of you, mother... this time I won''t fail..." (Thais) "The Fallen Saint didn''t fall for my manipulations and I''d rather forget that thing with her." (Thais) "I''ll use the Chaos Bearer, its power can hurt Ghanor and then..." (Thais) "(Eat...)" (Hinata) "(Not yet, we need her to find out who she''s talking to.)" (me) While Thais planned, I could feel Hinata''s hunger filling our mental link, she hates those who talk about our master. Chapter 1813: Cap 1811: Arrogance that drips After the creature was finally defeated, I didn''t need to ask what happened to that thing, I could feel what Lolth did as well as what Lena was helping her do, I could feel this because they were using my Star Path. A new path was built, a path of uncertain direction and variable length, a path built by a general structure of eternal vitality that absorbs the wills of those who pass through it. I could feel that white sphere arrive on this new path, I could feel its emotions and memories burning around it as it floats along the path, the Vitality of the path flowing into it while the ashes that fell from it were absorbed by the path. Soon a door appeared in front of him, opening with enough time for him to enter and disappearing as it closed after he passed. I could feel the Vitality he acquired from the path he walked each step of the way, this vitality shaped him little by little as I felt him being reborn in another body as a new person, this could no longer be called Rebirth and should be called Reincarnation. "Lolth, what did you just do!?" (me) "I gave him a second chance to live, something he never experienced as an Anomalous Specter." (Lolth) "I''m not talking about him, I want to know what happened on my Star Path!?" (me) "The integration of Rebirth and Death Nourishment have been implemented." (Lolth) "My mistress said she had informed you about this." (Lolth) "She spoke... but she didn''t go into detail, she didn''t talk about... that..." (me) Closing my eyes and searching inside the Star Path, I can easily feel the Star Path and now searching effectively I was able to find the path full of vitality, but I also found another path, a red path surrounded by black mists. The path of vitality was closer to the Shattered Moon, just as the dark path was closer to the Cursed Sun, my Divine Weapon seemed to be divided between the two parts. It was more than clear what was happening and even so I continued until my shoulder was grabbed, it was Lolth still looking at me as if waiting for my reaction to all this. But I didn''t know what to say, I also didn''t know how to react, that''s because the two strange paths I discovered are made of Will, a strong Will coming from Lena and Cortana as well as the remaining Wills of those who passed through these paths. "(This doesn''t break my dogma and it doesn''t seem to affect the Star Path as a whole, in fact it has strengthened it, I can feel it.)" (me) Since I didn''t know what to say, think and feel about this matter, I left it for a future reflection, I couldn''t leave things as they are now, this fight will delay people here and with my luck it wouldn''t be an exaggeration to assume that enemies will appear at any minute. "Hades! Mother!" (me) "I''m ready." (Hades) "I''ve already got Adella and the other two." (Mother) "Then we''re leaving... damn, damn, damn!!!" (me) "Get ready!" (Lolth) All I wanted was to get out of here as quickly as possible, but it seems like it was already too late, looking up, what turned out to be wasn''t an Ascendant, it wasn''t anyone from the Pride Troopers either. Only because of the Aura full of pure Authority that seemed to try to claim the very space where it was as its own, that looked at us as if it were going to demand everything that was ours. He was a young man, he looked like he had just left his teens, around 18 or 19 years old. His hair was shaved on the sides, he had a messy topknot and a ponytail falling down his back that was equally wild. His eyes were golden like precious stones, his ears were slightly pointed. His clothes looked like those of a nobleman or rich merchant, a suit full of designs and ornaments giving him an air of wealth. It wasn''t something that looked like combat, it was something he would normally wear at parties or very formal meetings. Even so, it was obvious how much power was contained in those clothes. He was clearly an Avatar of Greed, and he wasn''t alone either. Behind him were 20 creatures with different colors on their necks. These necklaces ranged from thick metal necklaces to leather necklaces normally worn by a pet. I call these 20 individuals creatures even though they have human forms, because their eyes were filled only with murder, their Auras were of wild Beasts full of pure violence, their bodies were full of scars and they were dressed in armor from light leather to heavier armor made of metal, they seemed to belong to various races such as Demons, Cenestines, Beastmen, Elves, Humans and even a Dragon in Human form that was the only one without any armor. This Dragon wore only long pants and was the one who wore the iron collar with the most brutal appearance, as well as wearing shackles on his hands and feet. They were all looking at us as if they would attack at any moment, he really seemed to want to attack, but his eyes landed on Lolth and the doubt of whether or not he would attack was easy to see in his eyes. While he was in doubt, my mother took Davoth, the robot and even Adella who was unconscious to me where the three of them sank into my shadow being taken by Tarzor. "You, who are you!?" (Avatar of Greed) "Should I answer him?" (Lolth) "Don''t stoop to talking to children, he doesn''t even know how to talk using that authoritative tone as soon as he appears." (me) "Your mind games won''t work on me, Bringer of Chaos!" (Avatar of Greed) "My authority is wherever I am, that is my right and my Will, what I decide to be mine will be mine and that includes this world from the moment I arrived here!" (Avatar of Greed) His arrogance was so concentrated that it dripped from his words, it was as if he were a second or third generation King who was extremely spoiled and filled with greed inflamed by his unfounded arrogance. This kind of insufferable person usually only relies on words and poses no danger beyond the authority of the position they hold, people blinded by their own power thinking they are always right, but this bastard is clearly not just empty words, his Aura was full of real power and as an Avatar his power will not be weak. "It seems you are not as stupid as I thought when I saw your appearance and overly arrogant behavior." (me) "But how about introducing yourself before trying to order others to introduce themselves?" (me) "Your attempts to irritate are laughable, but my name belongs only to me and my Lady, it will not be given to anyone else." (Avatar of Greed) "I am an Avatar of Greed, one of the youngest and for now the weakest." (Avatar of Greed) "This is my identity, now reveal your identity as the Avatar!" (Avatar of Greed) I wanted to irritate him, he was clearly here to attack, he and those behind him are too aggressive to be here for a conversation, so there is no reason to treat them politely, it will be impossible to avoid the battle now anyway. "(Be careful with him, his power seems to be of dark origin, he tried to take your shadow during your provocations, but he could not because of me and because of your power of Chaos.)" (Tarzor) If his power belongs to the element of shadow, then it must be part of his original power and not the Concept of Greed, it must be just a part of his true power. "(We were outnumbered, that''s not something I like, there''s also no way I can fight him without revealing my Divine power.)" (me) "(Let me handle this, I''ll have to move our plans forward, but this isn''t the time for you to reveal yourself.)" (Lena) "(What are you talking about?)" (me) "(Just let Lolth take the lead this time.)" (Lena) "..." (me) Lena touched my mind without revealing herself and spoke to me as Lolth was already flying to be at the same height as the Avatar of Greed, her Aura clearly showed the power of the Concept and she didn''t seem inferior in strength to the enemy Avatar. "I am Lolth, Avatar of Lena, the Rebirth of All Life." (Lolth) "In the name of Lena, I as your Avatar declare your presence and proclaim the emergence of a Meeting of Rules!" (Lolth) Ding! <[ The Entity [ Lena (Rebirth of Life) ] proclaims from [ Lolth (Avatar of Rebirth of Life) ] the establishment of a Meeting of Rules using her Authority ]> . . . <[ Will you accept the invitation to the Meeting of Rules ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> Her words were loaded with her Aura and traces of Lena''s Concept, Lolth''s words did not seem to belong to her, it was an ultimatum from Lena to the Avatar of Greed and more, I did not understand what was happening, but I could feel in my Soul those words that my ears were not able to hear. Soon the notifications appeared revealing even more how important this ultimatum was, the system itself spoke out regarding this proclamation for this meeting, this was the level of this meeting. Chapter 1814: Cap 1812: Smile for me... Pov Thais (Four-tailed fox): I aimed for more than just my life, I bet possibly an eternity of suffering if I fail, Pride, like any other Entity, has an unimaginable ability to apply punishment, beings so old and with so much knowledge that they don''t care about moral distinction can be ruthless. I risked everything for this opportunity, it took me centuries to gather the rumors into something that could be possibly true information about an item whose very existence was not confirmed. An item that even if found means nothing to me, since I wouldn''t be able to Wield a thin Artifact of Primordial Origin, but it would still be the gateway to more power and authority that I could never achieve otherwise. No matter the enemies I make if I have the power I desire, I followed every trail and crumb of information until I knew that Ghanor was the one who received it, someone as foolish as him wouldn''t know what it was yesterday and wouldn''t have a chance of fulfilling the requirements for its use. The only reason someone like him would be with something so precious, especially after hearing that this was a punishment as well as a test to see if he was a traitor or not. I return to my quarters, my Servants follow me, but all the time I start to hallucinate around. All the furniture seems wrong as if it had been moved inches in random directions, this plays with my memories as the lighting in the room was inverted with the shadows, my senses feel strange and I can''t use them properly. I can hear whispers of Ghanor''s voice and I can see figures moving around the corners of my vision without ever being able to visualize what it could be, my mind fills with negative thoughts. "(Thais... you were an idiot, a traitor and on top of that weak...)" (Samara?) "What was that!?" (me) "Where are you, you outdated shitty Saint!!" (me) "(To dare to betray an entity when you can''t even face the weakest of its Avatars...)" (Samara) "You fucking wretch!!!" (me) "(Where should I be...)" (Samara) Sometimes she seemed to speak from a distant place, sometimes she seemed to whisper in one of my ears and other times her voice echoed in all directions, my two Servants didn''t seem to react and that opened my eyes to the fact that it was only me hearing this, it was in my mind. "This isn''t real..." (me) "< Corrupt >" (me) "(Are you going to use this thing here...?)" (Samara) "(See you later... haha ??hahahaha... hahahaha...)" (Samara) Soon he opens his eyes inside me, my mind becomes clear as a chill runs through my insides, a horrible sensation of having something moving inside while a claw-shaped stain runs around my neck as if it were going to suffocate me before going down to my right shoulder and continuing down my arm until it reaches my elbow where it touches something I didn''t even realize was there. A simple spell containing Samara''s Aura, the dark claw grabbed what turned out to be an eye symbol, tried to corrupt it unsuccessfully by the Infernal energy that emerged from her Aura before squeezing it and breaking it into pieces. When this happened I realized that the levels were in their exact same places, her voice disappeared and my senses were working as they should. "(You''ve been discovered...)" (Corrupt Shadow) "I know, that''s what she wanted all along, to force me to use you here?" (me) "(You should act now, it will take them a while to clean up and they won''t suspect you for now...)" (Corrupt Shadow) "I know, but are you sure there aren''t any more tricks in my body?" (me) "(You are clean of influences...)" (Corrupt Shadow) "Then I must act first, knowing that the Artifact of Origin must be with Ghanor, I must separate that useless thing from the Artifact" (me) "(My lady wants the Artifact... remember what was promised to you...)" (Corrupt Shadow) "I know, I will get the Artifact, I will force War to act, except that Ayden was busy with the new Bringer of Chaos, so he will only send one of his Captains against Ghanor." (me) "Funnan, release this when..." (me) "(Wait... the communicator...)" (Corrupt Shadow) "..." (me) I was starting to give orders to my subordinates, their already corrupted bodies are my perfect puppets to manipulate, their minds as corrupted as the rest of their bodies with a stigma of the shadows on their bodies ensuring their total obedience to me. But before I could put my plan into practice, a year already in a hurry, suddenly the one who was placed as my partner in this mission draws my attention to the pendant again, where the message I received only worsened the situation as well as gave me a unique opportunity. "A Meeting of Rules..." (me) ------------------- Pov Samara: Playing with Thais was always rewarding, this Fox always liked to think she was the smartest in a room, even though she was inferior in power she always mistakenly thought she was smart enough to compensate for her lack of power. She must have thought that the magic I put on her arm was from our previous encounter, she didn''t even suspect that it was something planted minutes ago. I wanted to disturb her mind, force her to say something she shouldn''t or at least reveal the thing inside her, unfortunately she didn''t say much, but at least she revealed what she was hiding inside herself. Hinata could feel an Ethereal Entity inside her, a Spectral type due to her eagerness to eat, but since I couldn''t feel it with my senses and she lacks the knowledge to identify it, I needed to force her hand and fortunately that part was a success. "(I knew it was of the Dark element since we found this thing in the bodies, but I didn''t imagine it was a Corrupt Shadow...)" (me) Curse was playing seriously this time, the Corrupt Shadows are her most trusted assistants, there is one next to each of her Avatars and there is even one of these things as one of her Avatars. "(So the Origin Artifact is with the Avatar of Pride and is important enough for Curse to use a Corrupt Shadow.)" (me) "(Can I... eat it...)" (Hinata) "(Not yet, let her act a little longer...)" (me) For the next few hours I saw her participating in the search as well as the rest of Ghanor''s troops, during that time she took something from a sealed box, it was a sword, an Origin Artifact that was close to breaking, the energy leaking from that thing was surprising and without thinking twice Thais threw a vial of blood that broke before even touching the weapon, the Blood that contained traces of Pride''s power touches the weapon that breaks releasing a wave of energy that devastates the entire city. Thais had several broken bones and seemed weak, but her smile was obvious, Hinata and I were fine, but the bodies they inhabited were covered in wounds. That shockwave wasn''t just the allergy released by the weapon, it was a lament of a shattering consciousness, that wave of energy had the power of war within it and I already understand what Thais seeks to achieve. Just as I imagined, it took mere minutes for space to crack above the ruined city as a 3-meter tall Knight wearing full armor stepped out of the Rift into space, his Aura was marked by the smell of blood and did not contain the power of the Concept, but his great 4-meter sword was an Origin Artifact filled with the power of War. "Come forth and fight, Ghanor of Wealth!!" (???) "I''m here... I knew it..." (Ghanor) Ghanor couldn''t speak, as soon as his golden figure dared to stand in front of the War agent, his Aura flared in fury as he brandished his great sword with a speed that I couldn''t follow with my senses. The fight between the two continued for several minutes, the already completely destroyed city below became even worse as the number of dead increased while the planet itself was shaking, earthquakes were running through the entire area, the sky vibrated and cracks were everywhere, the two were bleeding, for the one with Armor was not able to kill an Avatar, she could only fight against one and soon reached her limit in a stalemate against Ghanor, the two badly injured looking at each other for a brief moment. "Let me help you!" (Thais) Thais lunges towards Ghanor, with me and Hinata right behind, still disguised as his subordinates. Ghanor was yelling at her not to interfere. As an Avatar of Pride, he clearly didn''t want help in a 1 vs 1 duel. But he didn''t notice that as soon as Thais approached, the Corrupt Shadow came out of his back and pierced his chest. The Corrupt Shadow revealed part of its body at that moment. It was a dark creature with no solid form. Its head had only one eye that smiled as it opened into sharp teeth while its claws pulled something from inside Ghanor''s chest, something that could be seen through his wounds. As soon as this was done, the bodies where Hinata and I were moved as the Vitality quickly drained away. We were on either side of Thais as she disappeared. Ghanor fell backwards to the ground while the knight from before advanced towards us. Then everything changed, a tug took us to another place still within the Ascendant territory by the power of the Law in the surroundings, Thais was laughing when the Corrupt Shadow left his body, his lower half looked like a scorpion except for the lack of legs, he was almost 4 meters tall and was holding something in his claws. "(Hinata, now!)" (me) The bodies where Hinata and I were fixed weakly, whatever technique was used, took their vitality almost completely leaving the two on the verge of death, but even as we both acted their bodies shattered. "< Infernal Eclipse Magic: Star Demon Seal >" (me) "WHAT...!!??" (Thais) "AAAHHHHH!!!!" (Corrupt Shadow) I don''t know what Hinata did, but the Corrupt Shadow''s scream was agonizing behind me as my right hand lifted Thais'' neck into the air, six arms and legs attached to crystal chains coming out of cracks in space. Her surprised and terrified eyes were simply priceless, my smile widening at the reflections of her eyes filled with terror as I understood what was happening. "Come on Thais... smile for me... HAHAHAHAHA..." (me) Chapter 1815: Cap 1813: One eye... "In the name of Lena, I as your Avatar declare your presence and proclaim the emergence of a Meeting of Rules!" (Lolth) Ding! <[ The Entity [ Lena (Rebirth of Life) ] proclaims from [ Lolth (Avatar of Rebirth of Life) ] the establishment of a Meeting of Rules using her Authority ]> . . . <[ Will you accept the invitation to the Meeting of Rules ]> . <[ Yes / No ]> Her words were loaded with her Aura and traces of Lena''s Concept, Lolth''s words did not seem to belong to her, it was an ultimatum from Lena to the Avatar of Greed and what''s more, I did not understand what was happening, but I could feel in my Soul those words that my ears were not able to hear. Soon the notifications appeared revealing even more how important this ultimatum was, the system itself spoke out in the face of this proclamation for this meeting, this was the level of this meeting. "(Accept, I''ll explain later, don''t worry, you''ll be safe.)" (Lena) "(Do you expect me to believe you after everything we''ve been through?)" (me) "(I''m doing this for you, do you think I''d lie here? Have I ever lied to you?)" (Lena) "..." (me) I don''t trust Lena and Cortana, both of them have deceived me before and acted together with their counterparts to manipulate me into a certain path that they knew I would choose if I had the option, the simple fact of not completely breaking my connection with them is already a miracle of patience as well as a tacit acceptance of their usefulness whether in combat power or as Entities with great knowledge. But even though I no longer trust her, I know that neither she nor Cortana lie, it is beneath them to lie, they can omit things or even tell parts of the information, but they do not lie. "(This will be the only time I will trust you like this, if you are deceiving me again...)" (me) "(I will make it worth it, thank you.)" (Lena) "Yes." (me) Ding! <[ All participants confirmed their participation ]> . . <[ The System will host the Rules Meeting in a Neutral manner within 10 Hours ]> . . <[ Any act of aggression will be denied during the Rules Meeting ]> . . <[ The Meeting will have an estimated time of 10 hours and may be extended by the unanimous votes of its participants ]> When I agreed to participate in the meeting, some system notifications appeared to me and I began to understand more about this meeting. I look at the well of arrogance and greed floating in the air as if he owned the place, he didn''t even bother to contain his sudden irritation before staring at Lolth who dared to look at him on the same level. "I''ll wait for the Meeting." (Avatar of Greed) Saying just that he turns around and leaves as suddenly as he arrived, he was leaving late, I didn''t want to fight, I''m not afraid of losing, I''m not going to give in to the strength I perceived from them, but I was afraid of revealing myself more than I already did, if I use all my power in this place I''ll paint a huge target on my back. After the idiot left, we also decided to leave, it was too risky to stay here after everything that happened, Hades opening the Star Path to me left traces of Divine power, that damn Avatar of Greed wasn''t discreet at all either. We spent 9 hours traveling once again, we moved away heading towards Akatosh, Karina as my Saint prayed to me and I heard her call, I knew they needed my help and so I went towards her while I passed on the change of meeting point to the others. On the way, Lolth explained to me about the Rules Meeting as well as Lena''s logic for requesting such a meeting. Just as I had heard, it seemed like a good thing for us. An enemy in the dark is riskier than being in enemy territory. I had to use 2 teleports from the Ascendants before arriving at the planet where Akatosh was, but I didn''t have time to go meet him now. The ten-hour time limit was almost up. The Rules Meeting was about to start at any moment. "What do you think?" (me) "They''ll find out about you anyway. It would be best to go in person. Putting Hades in your place or one of the others would be counterproductive." (Mother) "Yes, Lena and Cortana won''t be participating either. It seems that the Entities themselves don''t participate in person. They use the Avatars as vessels or leave them as representatives of their will." (me) "According to the system, all parties who received the invitation accepted, and this seems like a dangerous tradition where the one who refuses to participate becomes the enemy of all those who participate." (me) "So the Entities that will definitely participate are War, Greed, Pride, and Curse..." (me) "Be careful with what you say and how you act, they are beings who have lived for ages, don''t let yourself be fooled or manipulated by them." (Mother) "I know... that''s exactly my concern." (me) --------------------- Pov Samara: In front of me was Thais, her body was covered in bruises, cuts, and burns, her body was very mistreated, her eyes were empty. "You know, I didn''t expect you to be so stupid, imagine my surprise when I discovered such an Artifact of Origin?" (me) "Hhhuunnn..." (Thais) "Your power really surprised me, I didn''t expect you could recover so quickly or is this a remnant of what the Corrupt Shadow did to your body." (me) Her mutilated body was emitting a black mist as her injuries continuously healed, but of course I never thought of personally torturing her like this for any other reason than fun. "How are your dreams, I prepared it especially for you..." (me) "Gghh..." (Thais) She can''t even say the words, her saliva runs along with the blood in her mouth while her eyes are stained with tears, I think I messed with her mind too much. "Can I... eat it...?" (Hinata) "No, not yet, it can be a bargaining chip for the master during the Meeting, leave it trapped in your body until then." (me) "Bite... just one..." (Hinata) "One arm, just one arm, then wait until the end of the Meeting to find out what we do with it." (me) In my hands was a small sphere of black marble with a purple circle with lines pointing inwards and filled with the color red, in the middle was a white horizontal cut, it was a representation of an eyeball, every time you let go of this item it returns to the same position. The energy contained in this item was the power of Chaos, there is no doubt about that, but it is not the same as the one my master possesses, it seems unstable and unnerving. I don''t feel anything more than that, even so I also have the feeling that there is more in this eye than what I am seeing, there is a depth, it was as if I were being observed and not the one doing the observing. "You know what this eye is... but you don''t want to talk about it right now..." (me) "Hhaaarr..." (Thais) I''ve never encountered anything like this while I was serving in Hell, nor have I found any information about anything like this about any Origin Artifact, I don''t know what this eye is, but it seems inactive in a way. I also feel more and more uneasy the more I look at this thing, if I''m honest I even feel apprehensive about having this in my hands. "(What kind of thing is this!?)" (me) "The Corrupt Shadow might be useful in a negotiation, but you''re not, so maybe I should..." (me) "(The meeting point has changed...)" (Master) "..." (me) Suddenly I receive information in my mind as the master''s voice appears, he had previously only specified the planet, now he specified an exact place on the planet in question. "I''ll let you live a little longer..." (me) "< Eclipse Magic: Shadow Chains >" (me) "< Eclipse Magic: Shadow Prison >" (me) Chains wrap around her arms and legs as well as around her neck before pulling her into the shadows where only the silhouette of her tormented face can be seen. I couldn''t keep this unprotected like this, I also couldn''t store it in a storage item, the Artifacts of Origin destroy any storage item. I lift my shirt and with a claw I open a hole in my chest, dark purple blood and crimson flames come out of the wound while a Stellar space reveals itself inside me where shadowy shapes intertwine, my Soul has long since lost its human appearance, then chains come out of the wound wrapping around the eyeball before pulling it in, the master''s power being used as an insulator with the Infernal power holding it. "I need to take this eye to the master." (me) I look at Hinata and she has a dark finger coming out of her right eye, an eye that opens revealing razor-like teeth that break the finger that before falling was grabbed by her tongue and pulled to her mouth where she chews as if she were chewing candy. Seeing her calms me down a lot and a smile returns to my face, having someone with her capabilities by my side and being sure that she is trustworthy is reassuring, her senses go far beyond mine, perceiving things that shouldn''t even be possible. Even with the information from the Traveling Merchant, I might not have been able to achieve these results if I hadn''t discovered Thais'' secret. "We''re going back, let''s go meet the master." (me) "Master... Hinata likes... the master..." (Hinata) "Hide inside me until then." (me) She enters my body and I feel her poking my Soul, it feels like a child playing with its meal, but I know she wouldn''t devour me, she doesn''t like my Soul and has made that clear on more than one occasion. Chapter 1816: Cap 1814: Rules Meeting Part 1 Pov Nix: I was walking through a room where bodies were scattered in various corners, but the thing is that these bodies were not killed by us, after breaking into this laboratory, Diana and the others found a sealed area where powerful Specters at the level of Demigods were roaming. This level of creatures could have been cleaned up quickly with a little Divine Power, but in the absence of Divine Power, Kira and her Spiritual power took care of them all in seconds. After taking care of the biggest risk, E?rica realized that the entire room was covered by a very strong curse, she took samples and after that Kira studied the corpses with Diana, Ibuki studied the surroundings and E?rica went to investigate the research of this cursed place while I collected everything everyone discovered to report to Master Zenos. When everything was ready, we gathered near the entrance where 2 Ascendants were still alive as well as an Anomalous Creature of the creation type. "To sum it all up, the bodies were all killed with cut marks of the same type found on the walls, floor and ceiling?" (me) "Yes, there is also a hole cut in the ceiling that must have been the place of the invasion, a triangular passage with straight lines." (Kira) "The cuts look like some kind of blade, but there is no way of knowing if they are made by swords, daggers or energy blades." (Diana) "Okay, we also discovered that in this laboratory they were also doing research on the void abnormality of the population, right?" (me) "Yes, in fact the place we found last time was a place of observation data collection, this is a place of experimentation, I haven''t had time to see everything yet, but what I saw is already revolting." (E?rica) "We also discovered that this curse is not normal and we are unable to identify, anything else?" (me) "I know what this curse is..." (Ibuki) ---------------------- Pov Zenos: I was dressed up, I put on a dark red suit, a black shirt underneath and no ties, I never liked ties even though I think they''re pretty. My hair was loose and wild until it was very natural, loose back with a shade of red lighter than my clothes, I really wanted sunglasses and so I built some using a dark metal weapon using magic, I also made the crystal lenses by crystallizing the condensed blood, if I had to say something, it was very stylish. "You''re done getting ready, it''s almost time." (Sarazar) "Yes, I''m satisfied, how are you two?" (me) "Calm down, they understand how these meetings work, they''re just waiting for it to start." (Sarazar) "No, nothing is okay, this meeting is going to be a disaster..." (Lolth) "What do you mean?" (me) "Lena contacted me, it seems like there''s a high chance of Callidora showing up." (Lolth) "This could be bad, there''s someone Callidora can''t stand, Damn it." (Sarazar) "I thought no kind of conflict was allowed." (me) "Zenos, you don''t understand, conflict doesn''t need to happen there." (Lolth) "..." (me) I started to understand, a fight of words turning into a fight or something like that, a Rules Meeting as it was called, but rules for what? A game board? A War? A bet? A definition of rules for what exactly? For eternal beings, is there really any difference between a game board and an entire universe? Callidora being a very good example of this type of behavior, playing with life and death as toys for her pleasure, she may possibly be the cruelest among them, but she will not be the only one. "I will leave things in your hands, I will stick to the least involvement." (me) "Don''t forget to be direct and not lie, you won''t be able to fool anyone." (Lolth) "I will keep that in mind." (me) "Don''t forget to stand your ground." (Sarazar) Ding! <[ The 10 hour time limit has ended and the guests will receive a ticket to the Gathering location ]> . . <[ Opening the Gathering Gate ]> . . <[ Materializing Waiting Room ]> Suddenly a notification noise appears followed by a door that literally appears a few meters in front of me as if it had always been there, there was no distortion in space, cracks or gaps in space, there was nothing, the door simply appeared there, it was a white door with golden details, its handle was made of precious stones and the entire door seemed to have been carefully carved by a great artist. The door opens inwards while a strange creature appears, it was very obvious how strange that thing was, it had a humanoid body, its clothes were fluorescent while its bodies were completely smooth reflecting the continuous light like a mirror, the space itself on its face opens revealing a large golden eye. The creature bows slightly in greeting with one of its 3-fingered hands raised to its chest as if it were a butler waiting for us to enter, I walk through the door followed closely by Lolth and Sarazar. But I could feel as soon as I walked through the door, the lack of Ascendant Laws as well as the lack of Essences and the lack of natural energies, everything in this place just existed in a blank state, it was like seeing a hollow egg inside, the shell was still there, but it had no substance. When I walked through the door I realized I was in a room that looked too much like my bedroom to be a coincidence, the colors were dark red, silver and black as if it was imitating the colors I used, it was a gothic architecture focused on beauty making it even a little more beautiful than my real bedroom. The creature walked past us and that''s when I realized the door was closed, the creature didn''t make a sound, as it closed the door or moved to a table where 4 masks were waiting for us. As if responding to my confusion about the number of masks, a door opened behind the creature who turned around doing the same slight bow that introduced us before, from that door Luci appeared who looked slightly tired, I was surprised to see her as well as Sarazar and Lolth also looked surprised. "Are you representing Freya?" (me) "Yes, her Mother asked her to participate, it seems she is also counted as an Entity." (Luci) "[ The Tree of Creation has made a request for the Universal Tree to participate. ]" "Are you the System?" (me) "[ Incorrect, I am a part of the System in a randomly materialized form to serve as an observer for the participants as well as attend to the participants'' comforts during the Rules Meeting. ]" "So this room is chosen as a convenience, but what are these masks and why are we not in the meeting room?" (me) "[ This is the waiting room where the participants wait for all the participants to arrive before the meeting. ]" "[ Each participant has their own waiting room prepared for their comfort and can be shared with their allies if they so wish. ]" "[ The masks serve to hide the identities of the representatives, thus preventing the leaking of information due to the establishment of the Rules Meeting. ]" "[ Only the identities of the Entities will be known during the meeting, the establishment of alliances, agreements, trade and rules during the Rules Meeting will be kept by the System. ]" "[ Failure to comply with or break what is decided during the Meeting will be punishable by Transcendental Authority as well as the possible attack by the other members of the meeting against the violator of the Rules Meeting tradition. ]" "So two punishments will be delivered?" (me) "[ Negative, the System is only responsible for applying pre-agreed punishments to those who become participants. ]" "[ The traditions of the Rules Meeting are chosen by the participants themselves to increase the pressure on those who may find the loss of Transcendental Authority acceptable for a momentary advantage in their current plan. ]" "What is this Transcendental Authority?" (me) "[ You are not a complete Entity or a Vessel and thus should not possess such knowledge. ]" "So I have Transcendental Authority?" (me) "[ Affirmative. ]" "How did I get this Transcendental Authority?" (me) "[ You are not a complete Entity or a Vessel and thus should not possess such knowledge. ]" "..." (me) I wanted to know many things, finding a physical representation of the System was an opportunity, but it seems that this is no different from asking the system normally, the difference is that instead of receiving a notification with the answer I hear the answer in a robotic voice. But at least now I begin to understand some things, those around me are now counted as my allies and we will possibly leave together through the same door later signaling to the other participants of this meeting this alliance, this in itself already reveals information to them. I also discovered that the masks will be almost useless to me, unlike the other three who are representatives of Freya, Lena and Cortana, I am here in person. "Would this mask be of any use to me?" (me) "[VA participant being personally present will be immune to probing and manipulation techniques just like the representatives. ]" "In other words, it doesn''t change anything, I will still have my identity revealed, but they won''t know if it''s me or a representative on my behalf." (me) "Lena seems to wish for our alliance to be known to others." (Lolth) "My Lady wishes this as well." (Sarazar) "It''s not like it''s a secret, the Entities Hunger, War and possibly Pride must already know this fact, you''re not exactly discreet..." (Luci) "..." (me) Sigh Chapter 1817: Cap 1815: Rules Meeting Part 2 Author: I apologize, I posted the wrong chapter earlier, but I''ve corrected it now. I looked at the masks on the table, the masks were all the same, they were energy in the shape of a straight mask on top and drawing the face up to the chin, the rest of the mask had nothing, no place for the eyes or the nose. As soon as I picked up a mask, it began to change as it absorbed my Aura, my Chaos power and synchronized with my Soul, then the mask began to change, its size, color and design changed completely. The mask created two black crystal horns where a Purple Sun revealed itself inside one horn while a Fragmented Moon revealed itself inside another horn, the mask created black crystal scales on the sides and created a closed Dragon jaw, the eyes were closed and in the middle of the forehead between the horns was an Eclipse Symbol with a word written in the middle, I didn''t recognize the language and yet I knew what it was saying, Chaos. "Is this mask an Artifact of Origin?" (Luci) "[ Affirmative, a single-use Origin Artifact limited to the current meeting area controlled by the System to synchronize with the meeting participants. ]" "(In other words, there is no way to steal this item or use it in any other way.)" (me) "[ Affirmative, this Origin Relic was created by the system so that it cannot be used outside of specific situations and maintaining the neutrality of the System as an intermediary. ]" "Can you read our thoughts?" (me) "[ Affirmative. ]" "You bastard, you''re taking this opportunity to give a tutorial." (me) "Tell me something, all the participants have arrived, right?" (me) "[ Affirmative. ]" "How long has it been since the last one arrived?" (me) "[ The last one arrived 8 minutes and 29 seconds ago. ]" "Everyone here is new to this meeting, he''s teaching us the basics." (Lolth) "Yes, was it planned to be this way or did you decide at this moment?" (me) "[ It was a momentary opportunity to equalize all participants of the Rules Meeting with the same basic understanding as well as their Traditions not associated with this system. ]" I had thought about this many times, even though the System behaves like a machine with AI, even though its notifications are and way of speaking is robotic, it is not a robot or AI. It has sapience and an infinite amount of knowledge, not to mention that it is perhaps one of the only Omniscient beings that exists, if not the only one, its way of acting seems to be highly rational to the point of not knowing if it has any emotions, which I believed to be true until now. I have had many interactions with the system since my rebirth, I remember the first notifications when I died, I remember the various notifications as I became stronger and evolved, I remember the notifications when I reached the divine level and also the notifications when I received access to the System after naming the Twins. He doesn''t show it much, but seeing his actions and the rational path he tends to take, he does have emotions and uses them together with his reasoning in a fluid way better than a normal person would without tending too much to the emotional side. He is clearly showing favoritism here, no argument or explanation changes the fact of this act of favoritism, but I don''t understand the reason. "(Unless the act of favoritism itself is the reason... an indirect warning...)" (me) "[ The Rules Meeting will begin in exactly 5 minutes, this door will open for you as well as for the waiting rooms of the other participants, your places will be marked in your vision by the mask. ]" "[ As the Host of this Rules Meeting, I will be on standby in the Meeting Room. ]" He read my thoughts, I know that, he made this ability clear and did not confirm or deny my thoughts, perhaps he is also warning me that his protection is a mere facade and he will not act more badly than that in my favor. There are many things to think about, many questions form in my mind, Lena''s words about the Rules Meeting come to mind once again. "(These Meetings have several layers, be it negotiations, strategy of forming the rules in your favor, creating alliances, but all layers are within the same sphere of information gathering, every action, word or event during the Rules Meeting will be read deeply by the other participants.)" (Lena) Since she told me this, I have become paranoid about what I can and cannot say, about how I should act and even how I could read each action. The masks themselves already give information, the rules created give information, everything here gives information directly or indirectly. "Zenos, you''re thinking too much, just act normal, the more paranoid you act, the worse this meeting will be." (Luci) "Luci is right, trying to hide information with these Entities is impossible for us." (Sarazar) "It will be easier for us, Sarazar, but Luci will have Freya taking over her body and Zenos is representing himself, they are both very young, their confusion and paranoia are understandable." (Lolth) "I can''t deny it, I know I won''t act well, but I have to do something." (me) "Then leave everything in my hands." (Lena) "Trust us, we may be young, but our knowledge and experience are older than what these Entities can ever be." (Cortana) Sarazar and Lolth suddenly changed, Sarazar''s Aura became cold as a winter night, his eyes became sharp and his demeanor calm, he reached out his hand to his mask which changed into a mask completely empty of any feature other than darkness, it was as if it were a hole in itself in his face until roots emerged from the edge growing in black wood with gray leaves to the entanglement of his hair that became black as ink, it was as if the roots of these plants were deepening into the hole of the mask to nourish themselves. Lolth grabbed a mask which also changed into the face of a woman, the mask itself seemed to be made of marble with a wooden frame that took root in the marble, her eyes were girls of blue water in liquid form flowing lightly, the mask itself seemed alive as if the face would move at any moment. They weren''t the only ones, Luci''s behavior also changed, the Vitality and harmony in her Aura became very pronounced while her eyes full of love turned to me for a brief moment before moving on to her mask. Soon Luci''s mask changed to a wooden shape as if it had been the bark of a tree, the top of the mask created branches that were filled with crystal leaves like a natural crown, her eyes were made of crystal and seemed to contain a universe full of stars inside. It seems that Freya, Lena and Cortana decided to take control of their bodies before the meeting even began, when the three of them put the masks on their faces, a garment formed on their bodies, a hooded robe that completely concealed their bodies except for the masks. On their masks something also appeared on their foreheads, characters from the same unknown language that also appeared on my mask and that I could also understand somehow, they are Universal Tree, Rebirth of Life and Nourishment of Death. They are all names that symbolize them as the Entities that they are just like the Chaos that appears in my mask. When I also put on the mask, this cloaked robe also formed on my body, I couldn''t sense anyone''s Aura and my techniques were sealed. I tried to look at my hands, but these clothes were long enough to hide my hands inside and when I caught sight of my hand I realized it was covered by a black shadow. "This is strange." (Me) "I feel trapped, I can''t harmonize with the surroundings." (Freya) "This place belongs to the System and only the System, you could even say it''s a part of the System, no influence can affect this place, not even its harmony." (Cortana) "Remember to let us both handle the situation, only speak up when necessary, don''t let them manipulate you into revealing more than necessary." (Lena) Hearing their voices coming from other bodies is strange, but with these clothes and masks it makes it strangely easier, especially with these masks so suitable for each of them, just as mine is also suitable for me. I wanted to talk to them a little, I also wanted to get more used to all of this, but time waits for no one, as they say. The door opens in a corner of the room, I couldn''t see the other side, the door was filled with liquid green energy. I spent a lot of time being dazzled by the masks and the change in all of them, everything here is very new to me and I''m already confused by so many things that I wasted precious time. "(At least I discovered and confirmed that the masks themselves are a good source of information too.)" (me) "Looks like we should go." (me) Everyone nods in agreement, we all walk towards the door, I walk in front with the Twins side by side right behind and Freya last, they take these positions on their own before walking through the door. Chapter 1818: Cap 1816: Rules Meeting Part 3 Pov Hades: I was awake when I felt the connection with the master being interrupted, it wasn''t cut, but it was completely blocked, I couldn''t even confirm if he was alive. "What is it?" (Davoth) "The master, he''s gone." (me) "Rules Meeting... he''s going to be eaten alive." (Davoth) "You don''t understand, I''m not worried about the master himself." (me) "What do you mean?" (Davoth) "Samara, tell him, even if you''ve only been with him for a short time, you should already understand." (me) I look at Samara who arrives almost immediately after the master disappears, I felt her running towards us, when she entered through the door she was visibly tired. "I... I can''t feel him..." (Samara) "You heard about the Rules Meeting like all of us, tell him what our biggest concern is." (me) "Chaos, what else could it be?" (Samara) "The master is a Bringer of Chaos, a very troublesome one, wherever he is there will be chaos." (Samara) "Exactly, in a place like that with so many Entities, what else could happen to Master Zenos there?" (me) "It seems that you are the ones who do not understand, the Bringer of Chaos does not have the same influence on Concepts, only Chaos cannot influence him, Luck and Bad Luck cannot either, Concepts are not subject to the rules of causality because they are part of Casualty." (Davoth) "Any confusion that happens there or later will be the result of someone''s plans and not something that happened because Zenos was there." (Davoth) "You may be right and I really hope you are, I do not like to worry so much about the master." (me) ------------------- Pov Zenos: "It seems that we should go." (me) Everyone nods in agreement, we all walk to the door, I walk in front with the Twins side by side right behind and Freya last, they take these positions on their own before going through the door. As soon as I walked through the door, I came across a large round table with an open space in the middle, where a holographic sphere showed images of a peaceful galaxy. This table was in the middle of a large open-air hall surrounded by beautiful flowers that I had never seen before, just looking around I saw the creature that works as a representative of the system standing next to the large table, I could also see that one of the chairs was glowing in my vision and I knew that it must be the mask telling me where I should sit. Apart from us and the System Vessel, there was no one else here and he motions for us to sit down, no one says anything as I walk to my chair and sit down, on my left side sits Lena and next to her sits Cortana, on my right sits Freya and there are 2 chairs before reaching where the System Vessel sits next, then there are 5 more chairs after him until reaching Cortana again, there are 12 chairs in total and this realization makes me anxious. 1. System Vessel 2. Me 3. Freya 4. Lena 5. Cortana 6. War 7. Pride 8. Greed 9. Curse 10. ??? 11. ??? 12. ??? If I take the number of chairs present here into consideration, there are 11 participants plus the Host, but of these participants I am unable to imagine who the last three are, this means that there were still 3 more Entities making their moves under the tables without being seen or else they would not have been called to this Rules Meeting from what I was informed. Another door then opens, the one who comes out is clearly a woman by the way she walks even though I can''t see her body she looks tall, she also has her mask that looks like a work of art carved in the shape of Ohara''s face, which made me realize that this must be Pride using Ohara''s body and was basically announcing this during this meeting, he sits next to Cortana and at that moment another door opens. It was clear that the next door only opens after the previous participant sits down, then from this door appears someone with a bulkier body and carrying a sword, the mask had the appearance of a knight''s helmet covered in battle marks, it was clear that it was War who sits between Pride and the System''s receptacle before another door opens. From that door, someone emerged whose mask was bright gold, his eyes were made of precious stones and he had a smiling mouth revealing teeth also made of precious stones with a large crown on top also full of precious stones. It was more than obvious that it was Greed arriving and sitting on the other side of the System Receptacle before another door opened. Greed stared at Pride and even without needing to look at his Aura, the anger in him was more than evident. He was the only one who was focusing on something else while everyone else was just staring into space waiting for everyone to arrive in silence. That''s when another door opened with someone walking, different from everyone else, this person''s clothes writhed as if there was something moving inside, his mask looked like the head of a Serpent made of insect parts, the mask was a Reunion of carapace, legs and exoskeleton of insects assembled in that way, the eyes of the seed were eyes of green multifaceted crystal like insects with the addition of a vertical purple pupil cutting the entire eye from top to bottom. As soon as he arrived I could feel his eyes on me and that was it, but I have the impression that he was trying to do more and couldn''t, maybe he tried to scare me with the mere attempt or was it something else that the System blocked? "[ ... ]" The System''s Receptacle doesn''t say anything, but turns to Curse, showing the first reaction since I left the door, Curse didn''t even look at him, just as Greed was focused on Pride, Curse was also focused on me, something I didn''t expect from him, I expected something like that from War due to the confrontations I had with Ayden and yet War hadn''t done anything so far at least. "(Does Curse know about the eye that Samara recovered or about the captured shadow creature?)" (me) "(Maybe it''s something else?)" (me) I was lost in possibilities, but there was nothing to do, Curse was the only one who remained still for several seconds after leaving the door before starting to walk to his chair that moved by itself to signal that he should sit down. Just after that another door opened, this time the person who appeared was a little strange, because he was carrying a dark blue briefcase with a handle made of bone, his mask was completely white with drawings only scratched over the mask like a simple closed-mouth smile and closed eyes, a very simple and friendly mask, if it weren''t for the golden coin with the unknown characters written Commerce on his forehead, I wouldn''t have been able to identify this Entity. Commerce was a little different from the others, as soon as he walked out the door, he bowed to the others with one hand raised to his chest, not bowing in a formal way but rather a symbolic greeting of business, he didn''t take long to go to his place after that. "(I had heard of Commerce, I even spoke to one of his Avatars through Hinata before, but I didn''t think he would be here.)" (me) As far as I knew, this Rules Meeting is for those with plans that can or will interfere with each other in the same universe, Commerce is just a merchant and shouldn''t have plans beyond negotiating with the participants present here. "(Maybe he asked to participate precisely because it was a business opportunity...)" (me) I was still contemplating the reason for Commerce being here and I didn''t see the new door open, but when the individual walked out the door, my eyes turned directly to him and I wasn''t the only one, everyone did the same with the exception of War and the System Vessel. This new participant gave off an ominous feeling just by looking at him, it was as if his mere existence here raised the darkness within me, his mask itself was an absolute black as if it were mist, it didn''t even look like a mask, it looked more like the darkness of the hood covered his entire face, but within that darkness it was as if there were eyes full of hatred that looked at me, on his forehead was written exactly that word in unknown characters, Hate. He looked at everyone here for a few seconds with the exception of Commerce and the System Vessel, then he sat down, I''m surprised that no one said anything so far, in fact they didn''t even make a sound, it was as if until everyone was present no sound was allowed to exist in this space. With the arrival of the Entity of Hatred, who did not know he was in this universe and from the reactions of the others, it was also clear that he was not the only one unaware of his presence here. That was when a new door opened, the one that appeared made everyone without exception look at her, this included the System''s Receptacle itself, the one that appeared was unmistakable as being a woman, her clothes for some reason were the only ones that were glued to her body, highlighting her curves and her way of walking was too seductive, her mask was a mirror to a place of eternal torment, there was no need to read to know who it could be, everyone here knew about the torment of all existence, Hell. What made me surprised was that it should be Niryna''s body, but also the fact that it was Callidora who was here. "I''m the last to arrive, that''s not polite to a guest, System~~." (Callidora) "[ Callidora, you were not invited, but you invited yourself to what you were allowed to participate in. ]" Chapter 1819: Cap 1817: Rules Meeting Part 4 "I''m the last one to arrive, that''s not polite to a guest, System~~." (Callidora) "[ Callidora, you weren''t invited, but rather invited yourself to what you were allowed to participate in. ]" As soon as everyone sat down, all the doors that were still open closed, leaving marble columns decorated with the same mask that each one was wearing behind their backs. Only behind the System Receptacle was something different. It was an obelisk with the names of each Entity listed, there were 11 names in total, all written with the same characters in the unknown language. With all this in place, the Aura of each of the Participants that was sealed suddenly expanded, leaving it up to the participants of this meeting to hide their Aura or not. Freya and I hid our Auras as well as the System Receptacle that didn''t actually seem to have an Aura. There was also Hatred who also continued to hide his Aura, while all the others just left their Auras loose. Of everyone here, only the Merchant''s Aura was pleasant, it was like a clean Aura similar to a summer breeze, simple and honest with nothing worrying, it was easy to feel the simple and direct emotions of this Entity, just that was enough to make it obvious how much this is just a mask of his true Aura, he was presenting an obvious false facade that everyone here would notice, it couldn''t even be called a disinformation tactic, unless his objective was something else. Something that doesn''t work to fool all the other Entities here, so it only leaves the 4 of us to fool with this, but he should also be able to hide what he was doing better to a point where I won''t notice, which makes the fact that this too obvious act even more suspicious. "(Is he testing us?)" (me) With that question in mind, I looked at everyone else and their Auras, any kind of information would be useful when I know almost absolutely nothing about these Entities. But it only took one look to see how well the Auras were suited to the masks they wore, and it also represented their names well. "[ The Rules Meeting now begins. ]" Standing up to say this, the System vessel felt himself immediately freeze, as the previously calm atmosphere exploded into a clash of Auras that would have crushed me to the ground if it weren''t for the protection of that mask and clothes. Pride''s Aura stood imposingly like a monument to itself, while Greed attacked his Aura relentlessly, but it was like punching a diamond plate, it didn''t result in anything. That wasn''t Aura''s only battle, Callidora also acted immediately, her Aura seemed to take the form of barbed tentacles as she attacked Curse, her hostility clear to see. "Everyone is here to discuss the new board where our pieces meet, so why waste time with these useless displays?" (War) "My time is too valuable, to keep it up, I think we should organize this meeting better by creating the boards first." (Pride) "How about we start with the reason I''m participating in this Rules Meeting." (Curse) "How about we establish the rules for this board now?" (Greed) "How about you all just leave!?" (Hatred) "(You''re all trying to provoke each other...)" (me) Pride was standing in front of the Meeting as if he was releasing something here, Curse was also provoking about the reason he had shown up here and Hate was extremely direct in what he intended without even trying to hide it. "I was the one who proclaimed this Meeting and as such the responsibility for this meeting falls on me." (Lena) "You''re too young to even have the right to be in this Rules Meeting if it weren''t for your mind." (War) "Yes, shouldn''t we start asking about a certain someone?" (Pride) "Hate, you being here is news to me and I imagine to everyone else." (War) "Stop playing these games, everyone be direct, so go on, child of Life!" (Hate) "And know that I will come after you sooner or later!" (Hate) "Sister, read the list to them." (Lena) "First, the basic rules will be the same as always, all Entities are forbidden from acting directly, it is not allowed to send more agents than those already on the board, what do you think?" (Cortana) "I accept and I''m sure everyone else has accepted it too." (Merchant) I began to understand the dynamics of those here, they are always trying to make each other lower their guard. Every action, word and interaction of Aura is bait to gather information, I also realized that they are all targeting us even when they are provoking each other. But as soon as the first 2 rules were accepted, everyone nodded in confirmation and the obelisk glowed twice. "Now that the old rules have been established, we can continue the meeting." (Lena) "How about we start with an explanation as well as compensation for what was done to my most recent Avatar?" (Curse) "Don''t try your games, I know you were already here and that''s why I forced your appearance, I didn''t want to have to force a Rules Meeting." (Pride) "Let''s talk about something more appropriate, like you, Hate." (War) "I do whatever I want and if it''s in my interest!" (Hate) "Since when have you been acting in this place?" (War) "I don''t owe you any explanation, War!" (Hate) "No, but I wonder what the Entity of Hate could want with the Ascendants?" (War) War looked at me when he said this, even without seeing his face I can imagine a suggestive smile on his lips, it was clear that he was indicating something to me and I know well what it could be. The emptiness within the people of the Ascended like Barerosa, such rigid minds and a life without purpose with this emptiness inside them, this is usually how fanatics about something arise, they fill the emptiness within themselves with an ideal or feeling to the point of madness, it doesn''t matter if it was a good ideal or a terrible feeling, anything taken to the extreme leads to madness. "(Hate wants to use these people with an empty space inside them filling them with Hate possibly.)" (me) "You talk too much for your own good, after all, your Main Avatar has a very good apprentice... one that I had my eye on when you first got to him." (Hatred) "(Are they revealing each other''s weaknesses and plans?)" (me) Something wasn''t right, I thought it would be a game between cunning intellectuals, but now it seems more like a game of children pointing at each other. "Don''t be fooled, look deeply when you''re being used." (Callidora) "..." (me) I look at the two again, War didn''t show much when Hate arrived, but in return they were one of the first to point at each other, that was what wasn''t right. "(They''re using me to block each other, they both want the same thing, the same goal... the people of the Ascended...)" (me) I finally understood, filling their void with the will to fight or a combat ideal will create a strong Army, while Hate can create creatures consumed by pure hatred. Since they both seek the same thing, they noticed each other''s movements, they were also avoiding each other as much as possible to avoid others with eyes on this universe. They are trying to take advantage of this situation to put a block on each other, they are using me because they know my purpose or maybe it is just an opportunity. "Hell, I didn''t expect you to care so much for others." (War) "Call me Callidora and what I do or don''t do is none of your business, I''m just throwing oil on the fire." (Callidora) "Just like Curse who is trying to take the Ascendants for his new Curse trying to create a new Avatar." (Callidora) "Your mouth is very loose today, is it because of the Bringer of Chaos or is there another reason?" (Curse) "I don''t know what you''re talking about." (Callidora) I know Callidora has other motives, she is connected to Tarzor as well as Niryna, she is trying to create an Infernal Path through me, I have noticed some of her attempts and I have also noticed her failure on every occasion, maybe that is why she is trying to build goodwill with me here by not letting me be manipulated. "How about everyone calm down, no one here is going to reveal their own plans, but how about focusing on the rules?" (Merchant) "Let''s not waste our precious time." (Merchant) "How about everyone start an open battle?" (War) "A battle like that does not benefit me, it will only destroy the universe I am trying to take." (Pride) "That universe belongs to me, your attempts to take it..." (Greed) The Meeting itself is completely different from what I imagined, everyone talks about what they want and does what they want, even so, if you notice what they are saying it will show that they are pointing out each other''s flaws, they are discovering what others know about them. "Now you are starting to understand." (Callidora) "..." (me) When I looked at Callidora I realized that she had her sister on her chin, she spent a lot of time around me and must know my habits, she realized that I understood the dynamics here. They don''t pretend to be intellectuals, they don''t act hidden, they are who they are, they don''t hide their personalities, they use their personalities as part of their disinformation. Chapter 1820: Cap 1818: Rules Meeting Part 5 3 hours of Meeting later. For hours it seemed like they were a group of acquaintances in a meeting, they pointed at each other with questions that they knew would not be answered, they talked about the secrets they discovered about each other, but always secrets that led to the same result, as well as challenging each other. What I learned is that all the Entities do not care about education, courtesy or appearances, they all do what they want, how they want and why they want. These Entities are pure selfishness, they have also known each other for longer than many universes have existed, what they talk about is mostly to provoke each other while at the same time trying to manipulate us in certain directions, we are getting a lot of information, unfortunately this information is highly biased and after this meeting is over everyone will change their plans. It was in this realization that I discovered that this was also part of the plan of some of them, as hatred pointing out what Guerra has done only to force him to change his tactics. There is also Callidora constantly bothering Curse with mentions of events that I have no reference to understand, it was as if they were speaking in another language, but looking from another point of view, they are revealing several encounters between the two Entities, a very old and extensive history. But somehow my eyes did not leave the Merchant, he did not say anything and just continued listening in silence, just like the System''s Receptacle, but unlike the System''s neutrality as Host of this Meeting, the Merchant was most likely gathering information. Unlike me, who lacks the basic knowledge to understand many of the things I am hearing, the Merchant must be understanding everything and that must be the real reason he came since he has nothing he really wants in this universe. "In the end it always ends the same way, probing each other in a useless way!!" (Hate) "I completely agree, apart from the basic rules, hours of the Meeting have already passed in an irrelevant way." (Pride) "Does anyone have any other rules they''d like to add other than a large-scale battle?" (Cortana) "A battle like that would be a quicker solution than continuing like this." (War) "Everyone here already knows their own goals, except for me, Pride, and Curse, you all have different goals." (Greed) "Then why not add the rule of not getting involved in our dispute?" (Greed) "Don''t forget about us, Greed." (Lena) "Your power is weak and your numbers are few, if it weren''t for Pride blocking me and me being careful with War, do you really think you could stop my Avatar!?" (Greed) This meeting wasn''t going anywhere, everyone here was just trying to prolong the meeting in order to get as much information as possible from each other. "(A Rule that benefits us and that others will approve of...)" (me) "You talk a lot, but your Avatar is still one of the weakest." (Freya) "Even the weakest would still be enough to deal with you if it weren''t for the proclamation of this meeting!" (Greed) "Ohh... then we have something to add, don''t we?" (War) "..." (me) "(I don''t like this, he seems to be planning something.)" (me) "How about adding a rule that whoever loses their Avatars in this Universe has to withdraw from the board?" (War) "I approve this rule!" (Greed) "I accept!" (Hatred) "I accept." (Callidora) "..." (me) "We accept." (Lena/Cortana) "I agree." (Freya) Everyone accepted, only Pride and I were silent for the same reason, I felt his eyes on me before speaking. "I accept this Rule." (Pride) "Me too." (me) Once again the obelisk behind the System Receptacle shines with the creation of a new rule. "How about making everything even more interesting, after all, it''s rare that we have so many participants on the same board and it''s rare that I have the chance to participate like this." (Callidora) "Finally revealing your reasons?" (Curse) "Everyone here has their own plans, but why limit yourself to that, how about adding something more exciting and more fun...?" (Callidora) Callidora''s mask changes, the Hellish landscape changes as red eyes open in the apocalyptic sky of her mask while the earth opens in a large crack that looks like a smile, her mask is disturbing in many ways. "That sounds interesting." (Pride) "Let''s listen." (War) "(What are you up to, Callidora...?)" (Me) "I propose a game, I will place one of my envoys on the board, I will give him three objectives, his strength will be around the power of the Avatar of Greed." (Callidora) "Your 3 objectives will be the opening of the Gate of the Infernal Beasts, the Summoning of the Demonic Corruptor and the Assassination of Avatars." (Callidora) "Each objective will earn me a prize, without ulterior motives, if you kill my Envoy you will earn an Origin Egg, what do you think?" (Callidora) "I imagine that applies to everyone here, right?" (Freya) "Yes, my dear tree, you and your rebellious husband are also part of it, as are these two trusting Twins." (Callidora) "Interesting, these three objectives will disrupt everyone''s plans here, but at the same time they can be advantageous depending on the order in which the plans are executed, you just want to see everything burn as always." (Merchant) "Even if two of these objectives are irrelevant to me, the Avatar hunt includes mine too." (Merchant) "Yes, wouldn''t it be exciting! Hahahahaha...!!" (Callidora) "And for it to be fun everyone has to take risks~~." (Callidora) "(Damn crazy woman, she just wants to see the circus burn...)" (me) Even without anyone opening their mouths, it was easy to see that everyone was seriously considering Callidora''s proposal. No one mentioned the prizes yet. Callidora also didn''t specify anything about these prizes, but if they are as important or more important than the life of an Avatar, while it must be important, this Egg of Origin also seems to be something important. The only prize she mentioned was for the murder of her Envoy, the Egg of Origin. "I accept and I believe that everyone here will do the same." (Greed) "I never had any doubts that you would accept, especially you, Greed, but I will only go ahead if it is unanimous." (Callidora) Callidora looks at me, she is clearly having fun while everyone in the meeting turns to the four of us. To be honest, I would like to refuse this proposal. Adding another factor of uncertainty to this mix is ??very bad. But with so many Entities clearly interested in the proposal, if only the four of us oppose it, it could make us fall into enmity with those Entities, Callidora knows that. "I accept." (me) "We accept." (Lena/Cortana) "I will accept." (Freya) "[ ... ]" It seemed that the System didn''t like this, but there was no breaking of its rules, so the obelisk glowed brightly once more. "Since that has been decided, I would like to have a private meeting with Commerce." (me) "I accept." (Merchant) "..." (me) ------------------------- Suddenly I felt my body vibrate once and before I understood what had happened I was in a luxurious closed room, with no doors or windows, there was a table with two chairs where Commerce and I were sitting facing each other. "How do you know about the Private Meeting?" (Merchant) "Lena told me, unlike you guys who communicate through Aura Techniques, signals and other hidden forms of communication, I can''t even use my telepathy safely around you." (me) "So you''ve realized, Hatred is not good at disguising his movements and Pride''s Aura control has become too precise..." (Merchant) "I didn''t come here to talk about that, I want to make you a proposal, a business proposal." (me) "I''d love to hear it." (Merchant) "I know you''ll pay me fairly, so I''ll be direct, why don''t you create a betting rule during this Gathering." (me) "This idea has been tried before, as much as it''s fun, it''s nothing more than that." (Merchant) "I''m not talking about a bet with the Gathering participants, they''re the ''Players'', I''m talking about a bet from the observers." (me) "I know well why Pride is here, I also know why his Avatar wanted to contact me, others must have noticed too since Callidora is trying so hard to increase Chaos." (me) "(Yes, Callidora mentioning the Origin Egg and further increasing Chaos like that, I can see where she''s going with her thoughts.)" (me) "You have a good head on your shoulders, child, even though you''re so young." (Merchant) "Since you thought of that, you must know the difficulties in this thought process, there is no currency to be used in bets, we Entities use a system of exchanges for that." (Merchant) "Of course there are currencies, don''t test my intelligence, there are Souls, Life Force, Slaves, Bloodlines, Worlds, Essences, Divinities and many other things that Entities accumulate throughout their ages of existence using to exchange among themselves when necessary." (me) "As the Entity of Commerce, I''m sure you''ve already put a price on all of this in order to use all these ''currencies'' fairly in negotiations, so you''ll be able to make the bets." (me) "I like you more and more, boy, very well, let''s increase the fun as you want, what is your payment for this proposal?" (Merchant) "As a player, just like the other Entities, you would not allow me to bet and neither would the system, so I want a share of the profits from the bets, all of them will be useful to me in the short term." (me) "What would be your share as a betting table?" (me) "20% of the profits." (Merchant) "Then how about giving me 5% and keeping the other 15%, the idea came from me and I also presented many types of currencies that can be used." (me) "You are asking a lot for just one idea, 1% at most 2% would be more realistic since I will do all the work." (Merchant) "That won''t work, you have to tell me something else, like for example that for the Rule of this bet to pass, it will need my approval as well as those around me." (me) My vote will be worth 4 since Lena, Cortana and Freya will follow my vote, Callidora will accept without a shadow of a doubt and Merchant will go along with it, there are already 6 votes out of the 11 participants in the Meeting, thus obtaining the majority of votes to be approved. The other Entities will not like this and will deny this proposal where they gain nothing, they will also not like being used as a form of entertainment by others without receiving anything in return. "Hhahahahahahahahahaha...!!!" (Merchant) "Okay, deal done, I like those who know how to negotiate, Zenos." (Merchant) Chapter 1821: Cap 1819: Rules Meeting Part 6 Pov Lena: The Meeting is going largely as I imagined, there is no way to hide the identity of those involved, with this at least we discovered Hatred who had not shown himself until now. Callidora participating in the Rules Meeting was a surprise, Hell never participated when it was not invited, there are few who request to participate in these meetings, from the memories of Life that I have, only The Merchant is actively interested in these meetings. "(Sister, do you think Callidora might be acting for the same reason as Pride?)" (me) "(I don''t know, Hell has always been fickle and willful, it''s impossible to guess what she''s after, but I think it''s unlikely that she''s our enemy, she likes to provoke Zenos and her favoritism towards those around her Daughter is the only constant I''ve seen from her in the memories we carry.)" (Cortana) "(I''m worried that Samara is right, Zenos heard what she said, but doesn''t understand the repercussions, the item in Samara''s hands almost confirms the suspicions that Life and Death have always had.)" (me) "(Yes, but I can''t say if this will be good or bad, in the end the only certainty we have is Pride''s goal, even now he provokes Greed and always makes points in what War says, he''s almost educating Zenos.)" (Cortana) "(I noticed, Callidora is doing the same, but in a different way.)" (Cortana) "(I noticed, Callidora is doing the same, but in a different way.)" (Cortana) "(I noticed, Callidora is doing the same, but in a different way.)" (Cortana) "(I noticed, Callidora is doing the same, but in a different way.)" (Cortana) "(I noticed, Callidora is doing the same thing ... (in a different way, she''s exaggerating the forms of communication to signal what he should pay attention to, she''s also messing up the situation now that we''ve become the center of this meeting.)" (Lena) "(Curse has already targeted us, its focus is most likely the Herald of Zenos, a Living Curse like Hades is almost unheard of.)" (Cortana) "(When this Rules Meeting is over we''ll be targets of Greed, Hatred, War and Curse.)" (Cortana) "(Davoth''s plans will also have to change, we don''t have much time, a complete implementation won''t be possible, we''ll need a partial one and keep expanding.)" (me) Unfortunately, following Davoth''s year becomes increasingly unfeasible, as soon as they realize our plans, all the Entities will act, even those who are just observing will attack the other universes while the Ascendants will be focused here. It would be nice if the Ascendant Goddess and this Experiment 89 could change this scenario, we will only have one opportunity and I want to avoid something worse. The telepathic link I share with Cortana cannot be invaded by others, no one can interfere, in the meantime we continue participating in the Rules Meeting, voting for or against the proposals until we hear Zenos'' voice. "Since that has been decided, I would like to have a private meeting with Commerce." (Zenos) "I accept." (Merchant) "..." (Zenos) With the private meeting beginning, the system''s container raises his hand and the two disappear. "(What does he want to do with Commerce?)" (me) "(I don''t know, but he probably wants to buy information, unlike us, the Merchant has more recent information and has always been fair with his business.)" (Cortana) "(The question will be the price to be charged.)" (me) With Zenos gone, the Meeting suddenly changed, everyone changed their gaze not to us, but to Freya, everyone could see what she had become, they also understood how much a creature like her could be useful to reform universes, create universes or even take control of entire universes. "I wish a Private Meeting with Callidora." (Pride) "A meeting with me? How interesting... I accept~~." (Callidora) Pride and Callidora also disappear, it was at that moment that Greed turned to me, his anger was palpable and I know well that he still carries resentment for having been dragged into this meeting as well as having his Avatar prevented from coming here and being forced to rely only on his newest Avatar. "Which one of you is in charge of this meeting? Whose Avatar is that Elven Dragon!?" (Greed) "Is it me?" (me) "You''ve blocked my path, but how long do you think that will last?" (Greed) "What do you want?" (me) "I want your Avatar''s life as well as having the Chaos Bringer on a leash and I will have what I want." (Greed) "(Sister, your Avatar must be close to our position or he wants to force something.)" (Cortana) "How about we end this here, when this meeting is over we will all have a lot to take care of, so how about a Duel?" (Greed) "I accept if you follow 4 conditions." (me) "Then speak, what conditions." (Greed) "We can''t use an Avatar, as you said before, we''ll be busy and I can''t leave an injured Avatar." (me) "I accept for now..." (Greed) "We won''t fight personally under any circumstances, I''m not strong enough to go against you yet." (me) "I expected such cowardice... I also didn''t intend to act personally." (Greed) "Third, let''s settle this here and now." (me) "I accept." (Greed) "Fourth, let''s make a bet, I have nothing to gain from this duel otherwise." (me) "I accept, so if you lose, I''ll keep your Avatar, I''ll use it to create an Origin Artifact." (Greed) "Denied, my Avatar wouldn''t be a betting chip." (me) "Then I want you to use your power on someone for me." (Greed) "I accept, but if I win I''ll want a copy of the Tower of Magic." (me) "Your appetite is voracious, isn''t it?" (Greed) "Your request is also irrational, we both know what you''re going to do with this opportunity, we know who you want to use my power on." (me) "Very well, I accept." (Greed) "(Be careful with him.)" (Cortana) "(I will.)" (me) The Tower of Magic is a Magic archive with originals and copies of books, grimoires and magical research from billions of universes, an eternity of magical knowledge that I can use to seek Zenos'' forgiveness without him being able to deny it. Since this is a duel that only involves the two of us, the only ones who need to vote are the two of us, our duel does not involve any of the others here, just as it does not involve the universe where everyone is acting now. -------------------- Pov Zenos: I spent almost 30 minutes discussing the details of the bets with Come?rcio, this part of the discussion was actually more about listening to him talk, the few times I added something I felt like I was being tested by him. His idea was to use the System to contact those outside, he will not only look for other Entities but also Anomalous Creatures and Anomalous Gods. But on his list there will be no individuals dangerous to me, those who bet will also have to resort to their own means to see the events without interfering, so almost everyone will only know the final result. He did not reveal his list to me, I would also have access to almost nothing, if I survive until the end of the bets, he will come to me to distribute my share and if I have died, he will divide my share with the people I listed. The bets would be divided into several parts, 3 bets on who will stop the plans of the Envoy of Callidora, 1 bet on who will kill the Envoy of Callidora, 1 bet on who will win between Greed and Pride, 1 bet on who will control this universe and 1 bet on who will kill or control the Ascendants. There are 7 bets in total, the losers lose everything they bet and the winners of the 7 bets will win 80% of the total value of the bets of that topic, but of course nothing prevents an individual from placing a bet on each of the seven topics, the bets will also have a fixed value to prevent people from making only low bets and taking a reasonable amount from their pockets. The Merchant said that there was no need to worry about anyone ignoring the announcement, it seems that the Entities, like the Anomalous Creatures and many ancient Gods, are beings that feel very bored due to their long existence and therefore tend to look for ways to entertain themselves. Thanks to him, I also discovered something. I thought that the Entities were plundering universes or individuals that got in their way. But it seems that''s not all. The Entities can create Essences just as they can create Divinities, as long as they are aligned with their Concepts. It''s not something that can be created instantly and in large quantities. However, over countless ages, it ends up accumulating. When I returned to the meeting room, everyone looked at me, but I focused on the absence of Lena, Greed, Callidora, and Pride. I didn''t need to think much to understand that, just like I did before, these four are also in a Private Meeting. I just don''t know if they''re all together or if they''re two separate meetings. "It seems like there are a few missing, so I''ll wait for them to come back." (Merchant) I just nod, I don''t dare to say much in front of the Entities, I don''t know their capabilities or what else they hide, as far as I know I''m already going too far with the agreement I made with Commerce, I haven''t even discussed such a thing with the Twins, Davoth, my Heralds, my Saints, my Familiars or my Wives. "(I can only hope I''m doing it right, otherwise I''ll just have to improvise even more...)" (me) Davoth never said anything about using Essences or anything else, but I prefer to be prepared for any eventuality, plans never work out the first time with me and even if everything does work out, all of this will be a gain that I can use in Tarzor. Chapter 1822: Cap 1820: Rules Meeting Part 7 Chapter 1822: Cap 1820: Rules Meeting Part 7 Will of haos Author''s note: I sincerely apologize, I accidentally reposted a previous chapter, please correct this error, I''ve been sick these days and ended up confusing some chapters. 8 hours since the meeting started. The meeting was long, but since I returned, Callidora and Pride have not returned, which made me think about many things, especially Callidora''s motives, she has always been extremely selfish and only does something that is beneficial to herself or that is fun. During all this time, Curse seemed to be quiet, it also seems that she was discussing something with Lena, but she has not said anything until now, if it was important she could tell me she could have requested a private meeting with me, something she did not do, if it is not urgent, I will wait until all this is over to hear her explanations. The one who really worries me is Hatred, I know nothing about him, this meeting was our first meeting, I have not even heard about his tendencies or seen his way of doing things, he is an enigma to me. "Do I request a private meeting with the Universal Tree?" (Curse) "I refuse." (Freya) "You wretch, just accept or do you want your secrets spread." (Curse) "I have no secrets, say what you will." (Freya) "..." (Curse) "It seems that being cut off from your connection to the Tree of Creation has not affected you." (Curse) "I want to make a deal, I want one of your fruits, I know you can produce one, name your price." (Curse) "Denied." (Freya) "Agree to a private meeting with me and we can discuss a price, then perhaps I can stop the Avatar of Greed." (Curse) "..." (Freya) Freya turns her head to me, she does it more by reflex than by deliberate action, she wanted to ask my opinion and so she turned her head to me subconsciously, but doing so revealed to the others that I make their decisions and this ring will not go unnoticed by the eyes of these old monsters. "..." (me) "I refuse." (Freya) I no longer tried to hide how much authority I have in my group, so I shook my head in denial and Freya responded in agreement with my suggestion. Curse clearly didn''t like it and didn''t care about showing it in his Aura, which didn''t affect anyone at the table. This was just an empty threat in this place. Even when I leave here, they wouldn''t be able to do anything against me unless I act personally. r?No???? Of all the Entities here, even though I can''t trust her completely, Callidora is a suspicious ally, but an ally nonetheless. Pride is a temporary ally and we won''t act against each other. Ohara has already made that clear before. Business, he is just a business partner. Thinking about it now, as long as our gambling business is active, he won''t act against me. Of course, that doesn''t make him trustworthy or even an ally, but from what I''ve heard, business is everything to him and thanks to that I should be safe from him for a while. This leaves only Greed, Curse, War and Hatred as true enemies against the guides. I wouldn''t like to disagree with them. War, being very direct, will leave everything in the hands of Ayden, who wants to duel me later on. War won''t be a problem. Greed is already an enemy who has been very clear in his desire to go against me. Hatred is an unknown enemy that I am more cautious about because I know nothing about him. I know almost nothing about his plans, power and his Avatar. This makes him dangerous. Apart from them, the one I was least worried about was Curse. Yaffe is a Curse expert who I can at least ask for assistance. Hades is my trusted Herald and also a living curse. I won''t count Hinata. I don''t think any Curse or statistic effect works on her. I don''t need to fear curses. Of course I won''t underestimate an Entity, but if I had to choose an enemy among those here, I''d rather choose her. I also find her sudden focus on Freya very suspicious. She even talked about Freya''s thefts, which I find strange since her tree never bore any fruit. I''ll have to ask Freya about these things later, but the important thing now is not to give up something that Curse is giving so much importance to, not when we''re on opposite sides. What really worries me is whether he really needs such a fruit or if he''s just trying to attract the greed of others against us, that possibility is not zero. "Since this tree can''t answer for itself, why don''t you make a deal with me, little Bringer of Chaos?" (Curse) "Always making so much noise like the insect you are!" (Callidora) "Don''t meddle in my affairs, Well of Doom!" (Curse) "Using old names now? I might know one or two of your names too, isn''t it Crawler of Decay...?" (Callidora) "One day I''ll tear apart whatever you call a body and get back what you stole from me!!" (Curse) "Don''t try to play the victim, you''re lucky I don''t need that bone or I would have chased you for the entire existence, you damn insect!" (Callidora) "You don''t have to worry either, your exoskeleton has become a great container for my pool... hahahaahahaha...!" (Callidora) "Can you two stop, please...?" (Pride) I''m hearing interesting things, with Curse and Callidora dropping hints not to me, but to others, I may not know what Curse did with whatever could be considered a bone of Callidora, but the pool Callidora mentioned can only be the Curse Ocean where more than 70% of my body was corroded, my Soul was tortured and my mind was forced into a trance to maintain the little sanity I have. Now that whole liquid Curse makes sense, Callidora being the cosmic monstrosity that she is, must attract a massive amount of Curse both from those who have negative feelings towards hell and from those trapped inside her with endless malice towards her, that must be exactly why she created the Cursed Ocean to concentrate all that cursed energy. Which makes me think that those other places must be similar, I remember that besides going to that Cursed Ocean I also went to a Desert of Death and a Demonic Valley or something like that, possibly there was something in those two places that served to concentrate those energies in those points. Applause! Applause! "Now that everyone is finally gathered, how about we get back to the purpose of this Rules Meeting?" (Merchant) "What did you come up with this time, Merchant?" (Pride) "I hope it''s fun, for your own good..." (Callidora) "Are you finally going to reveal that conspiracy with the little Bringer of Chaos?" (Curse) "Hahaha.... please, please my dear friends, do not provoke this Merchant, there are also no conspiracies or lies, this Merchant only speaks the truth and my actions are the embodiment of honesty." (Merchant) "Don''t waste our time, we are not as naive as those 4, speak your proposed rule so we can vote!" (Hatred) "If it is not beneficial to me, then I will reject it." (Hatred) "Say what you need to say at once." (Greed) It seems that I may have trusted the Merchant too quickly, even though we did not lose anything in our deal and in the end we agreed on a proposal with the System as a witness, so I should be safe, but clearly the Merchant does not have as clean a reputation as I initially thought. Thinking about it, it represents the very concept of trade, something that does not only happen between fair people. There are illegal trades, manipulated prices, counterfeit goods, manipulated prices and agreements with hidden conditions. Trade itself is based on the exchange system, giving something in exchange for something else, be it a service or an item. Trade is a very old and extremely broad concept. I must not be so careless again. "The rule I want to approve is to make a bet, not between us, but between those outside this board with the participants of this meeting as the players, see the terms, see the fame and glory it will bring to your names!!" (Merchant) Clap! The Merchant claps his hands that are covered in shadows because of these clothes, then a screen of materialized energy forms expanding as his hands move away and continues expanding until it forms a screen that everyone can easily read, on it was written almost all the content about the bets with the exception of the division of profits, I fixed thankful that he did not mention it to the others. But from the Auras released, they were clearly not happy with this, which was to be expected, this proposal not only does not affect them in any beneficial way, but also uses them as pawns for the profits of others. "Interesting! Very interesting! Hahahahaha!!" (Callidora) "Merchant, are you serious with this ridiculous proposal!?" (Greed) "I think someone here may have gotten too arrogant!" (Hatred) "Are you sure you want to do this?" (Curse) "..." (Pride) Pride didn''t say anything, but his head turned in my direction, just as Callidora was laughing looking at me, Curse was clearly irritated, even so he didn''t raise his voice. "Those in favor of this proposal, raise your hands!" (Merchant) It came as no surprise to anyone that he and I raised our hands at the same time, soon after Lena, Cortana and Freya raised their hands upon seeing my actions. What took a few more seconds was Callidora raising her no, just as I thought, Callidora wouldn''t let an opportunity like this to have fun pass by, especially if it would irritate others. What I didn''t expect was that Pride also raised his hand, his vote wasn''t important for this rule to be approved, but I didn''t expect him to approve it. "Hahahaha... as proud as ever..." (Cortana) "I can''t stay behind, I''ll make all those who bet on me win, be proud of having voted for the greatest winner there is!!" (Pride) "(What a stupid pride...)" (me) With that decided the Obelisk behind the System Receptacle shines once more while several entities become enraged looking at the Merchant who bows to the System. Chapter 1823: Cap 1821: Let the Chaos and FUN begin!!! As soon as the vote was over and the obelisk shone for another approved rule, everyone went silent. Some rules had already been chosen and voted on. Now there were less than 2 hours left until the end of the Meeting. They clearly wanted to think of proposals that would be useful to them while also giving others a chance to approve them. With that, time passed. Minutes became more than an hour before anyone made a move. But as time went by, I realized that they weren''t really silent. Everyone was communicating in some way that I couldn''t understand. I only realized this because the System Receptacle pointed at me. Greed stood up and started speaking. "As discussed, the rule I propose is the use of up to a maximum of 3 more Anomalous Creatures for each person. Would that be fair?" (Greed) "Who accepts, raise your hand?" (Greed) Just like he said, me, the girls and Callidora didn''t raise our hands, Callidora didn''t do it for me, in fact she doesn''t even seem to be paying attention to the meeting anymore, it''s been a long time and the proposal presented wasn''t funny to someone as sadistic as her, even with everyone else voting it would almost be a tie if it weren''t for Hatred not raising his hand either. I was already tired of this damn meeting, Greed''s anger didn''t matter much to me at this moment, I don''t have their ability to pull an Anomalous Creature out of a hat, the only Anomalous Creature I know is Tarzor who has actually evolved into an Anomalous Entity. Everyone here is either birthdays or enemies for the most part and they''re also all stronger than me by far, so there''s no point in doing anything other than refusing this damn rule. "(Just wait a little longer... it''s almost over.)" (me) "Does anyone else have any rules to add? Suggestions to mention? Maybe a private meeting to negotiate with someone?" (Merchant) No one answered him, but the lack of an answer was an answer, clearly no one else had anything to say and he himself had nothing else to say before looking at the System Vessel who stood up waiting for exactly this moment to speak. "[Do all participants of this meeting agree to end this meeting, does anyone have anything else to say or a new rule to add?]" No one else answered and once again this was an answer in itself, the first two rules accepted from the beginning were the ones that really helped me, with them they cannot send more troops and they cannot act personally. I was afraid that this might count against me because I was also participating in this Meeting, but I am not an Entity just as Freya is not one either, even if the Twins fall into this category it doesn''t change much since they didn''t intend to interfere from the beginning. "[ As Host of this Rules Meeting, let me reaffirm the Rules established here! ]" The System''s receptacle stands up, his voice traveling to every corner of the room while the Obelisk behind him increased 5 times in size, in front of him were all the rules accepted here in the order accepted here. "[ Do you accept? ]" "Yes!!!" (everyone) With everyone speaking at the same time, the obelisk explodes in a column of light that crosses the sky at the same time as the notification noises appear in my mind. Ding! <[ You are subject to the rules established during the Rules Meeting in which you participated ]> . <[ The System as witness and host of the Rules Meeting will testify to your conduct in accordance with such rules already accepted ]> . . <[ Should [ Zenos (Primordial God) (Bearer of Incomplete Chaos) ] fail to comply with the rules, he shall be punished with the reduction of his rights of Transcendental Authority as well as the establishment of temporary or permanent restrictions in the universes outside his control according to the criteria of the System ]> . . . <[ The System warns that the bets have already started and as soon as the bet count is finished on [ Zenos (Primordial God) (Bearer of Incomplete Chaos) ], then you will be informed ]> . . . <[ The System warns about the opening of an Infernal Gate and the Arrival of an Infernal Envoy ]> . . . <[ The System confirms that [ Zenos (Primordial God) (Bearer of Incomplete Chaos) ] has not transcended as a Concept and is not subject to one of the pre-established rules ]> The notifications appear in front of me and when I notice my surroundings again, I was once again in the waiting room where I had arrived previously, the others were also with me already taking off their masks while the presence around them returned to normal releasing the bodies of their Avatars. I also removed my mask and when I did so the mask disappeared, the same happened with the clothes when I removed them, then a portal appeared in the space in the corner of my vision, I knew that was the exit and I waved to the others before passing through. ----------------------- When I passed through the portal it was as if I were a fish returning to the ocean after being taken out of the water for a few seconds. The difference was striking, I was flooded by the Ascendant Laws and natural energies, what before were sensations that I didn''t even pay attention to in my daily life like breathing, now became something that I consciously perceived. Everything was very good, even if the Ascendant Laws couldn''t be so natural, it was still more pleasant than being separated from everything as I was until now. "Good to see you again, Master Zenos." (Hades) "Welcome back, my lord." (Samara) "Master...." (Hinata) While I was readapting to the Ascendant Laws that surrounded my body and trying to control my own Law that momentarily lost control because of that, two silhouettes kneel in front of me while something weightless hugged me with its entire body and many tentacles, it was Hades and Samara kneeling while the bizarre creature hugging me in a way that would be terrifying to others was Hinata showing affection in her usual ''cute'' way. "I''m back..." (me) I walked a few more steps while 3 more people appeared behind me, they were Luci, Lolth and Sarazar appearing from the same portal I left before disappearing afterwards. It was then that I noticed their pale faces, their Auras were also weak, but as I looked at them a flood appeared in my Soul now that all my connections were in full force again. It took me a few seconds to calm everyone down as well as to control my power of the Law, allowing my three pairs of wings to reappear on my back. Sigh "Are you all okay?" (me) "I''m fine, just mentally tired, having my Lady Cortana descend into my body was exhausting this first time." (Sarazar) "My head hurts, Lady Lena''s mind had many thoughts in constant renewal and endless simulations about the established rules, the world seems to spin around me..." (Lolth) "I feel a little weak for being away from natural harmony, this place and its damned Laws are unpleasant to me." (Luci) "Go rest, all of you." (me) As I told everyone to go rest, I suddenly felt an oppression weighing on all of us, a pressure that I didn''t expect to feel so soon. Looking up once more, he was there with his usual arrogance, behind him were the same 20 creatures following him, their killing intent exploding in their Auras. "Bearer of Chaos, did you really think you could run away from us using this meeting as an excuse!?" (Avatar of Greed) "Honestly, no... but at least I bought myself enough time." (me) "Samara, how far away is he?" (me) "He''s already here." (Samara) "You bastard!!" (Avatar of Greed) "Holy, my dear... you''re not mad at me, are you?" Suddenly someone appears behind Samara, pulling her from behind and squeezing several places on her body as if she were his toy, which displeased me greatly. "< Burn >" (me) On my command, crystal chains break several parts of Samara''s body covered in Stellar Flames, already wrapping around his arms. Burn marks do not appear on his body, it is not the heat that my flames cause. But his arms break like empty shells, exactly what they were, there was nothing inside while his entire body broke, even so one of the chains grabbed something, a skull surrounded by Infernal Runes that was pulled into Samara''s hands while the chains returned to her body that healed without leaving even a scratch on her body. Meanwhile, someone appears grabbing one of the men of the Avatar of Greed, it was the same person and he was laughing. "Hahahaha... you are so interesting, dear boy of Chaos." He was a man, his black hair was long and tied in a braid like a ponytail falling over his shoulder forward, he was a Demon, his skin was light gray and his two small horns were black looking like pieces of iron. He has a clearly masculine face with a square jaw, but he wears feminine eye makeup and red lipstick on his lips, his body is slender with tight clothes that accentuate curves that he clearly does not have, a simple black shirt and skin-tight pants, his thin black tail swings behind him, his eyes are black with vertical golden pupils, his voice is forcedly feminine and rough, his damn smile is the same kind as Callidora''s, a smile of mockery and sadistic amusement. He escaped me, in fact I don''t think it was even his real body before. "So you are Callidora''s Envoy." (me) "Yes, YES!!!!" (Callidora''s Envoy) "And I come to bring a message, a wonderful MESSAGE!!! HAHAHAHA!!" (Callidora''s Envoy) He disappears once more before a sword hits his body, then appears sitting on top of a cloud in the sky with his legs crossed while still smiling. "Don''t interrupt while people are talking, it''s not polite... where was I again... oh yeah." (Sent from Callidora) "I come to bring a message, a message of Chaos and FUN!!!! HAHAHAHA!!!" (Sent from Callidora) "(Great... more insanity for me to deal with...)" (me) Chapter 1824: Cap 1822: Gate of the Infernal Beasts "I come to bring a message, a message of Chaos and FUN!!!! HAHAHAHA!!!" (Callidora''s Envoy) "(Great... more insanity for me to deal with...)" (me) As if it wasn''t enough to have to deal with an Avatar, now I have to take care of Callidora''s Envoy too, this day is getting deeper and deeper into this pit of shit. "What should we start... so many options... which one will be the most fun..." (Callidora''s Envoy) "It seems my lady has blessed me, I have the opportunity to win not only the head of the Bringer of Chaos, but also the prize of Hell." (Avatar of Greed) I can''t hold back my power any longer, it''s going to be impossible to do this in this situation, doing this against an Avatar was already almost suicide, now against Callidora''s Envoy it has become impossible. "Release the stigmas!" (me) "Wait! If you do that, the Ascendants..." (Davoth) Davoth approached me, I don''t see the thing he was carrying anywhere and his Aura seems to be back to normal. "Look at our situation, this is no longer a choice but a necessity, I will not take greater risks than these for your plan and I will not put my people to fight this time by suppressing their powers!" (me) "I know that, I don''t want to stop you, I''m warning you not to stay here too long after this, our position will be known to them." (Davoth) "I''m aware." (me) "I will also fight, with No. 89 in our hands, we no longer need to hide like before, but I ask that you avoid using your power of the Law completely if it is not necessary." (Davoth) As we spoke, the Aura of the Envoy of Callidora was growing, and the energy around him was becoming wild, destroying all the Natural Laws around him as if opening a hole in nature. "Leave some surprises to use against future enemies, you are being watched, remember that." (Davoth) "I will keep that in mind." (me) I knew that the Envoy of Callidora was preparing for something, but I didn''t know what it could be. Callidora gave him 3 objectives, of which only one could be repeated. I hope he doesn''t choose the Assassination of Avatars since on our side we have 3 of them who are not in their best shape after this meeting. The Avatar of Greed didn''t seem interested in continuing his fight with me either, he looked at the Envoy of Callidora as he moved a little further away, I can imagine that he''s waiting for the Envoy of Callidora to make a decision and is targeting the first ones, in other words, he won''t try to kill the Envoy of Callidora at all for the chance to get more prizes. "(Greed will do this and Pride must do something similar... I don''t know what the other Entities will order their Avatars to do, but I don''t care about those prizes!)" (me) I wouldn''t put myself and those around me in danger for unknown prizes, even if it was something really good, it wouldn''t be worth it if I was dead or if I had lost one of the people important to me in the process. "I know, how about starting by reducing this difference in numbers, after all it''s really boring to be surrounded by so many beautiful people, my core doesn''t stop pulsing with emotion~~." (Sent from Callidora) He seems to be too emotional, I get goosebumps seeing how this thing looks at all of us, I don''t even want to imagine what''s going on in this damn thing''s head. His power was being released more and more violently and began to gather behind him in a vortex that shreds the space, a wild Aura full of murderous intent appears. "< Infernal Summoning: Gate of Demonic Beasts >" (Sent from Callidora) "Come my darlings~~~ time for a snack~~~." (Sent from Callidora) "What the hell is this..." (me) What came out of the portal was strong, the lower part of its body was like a tiger covered in an exoskeleton, where its head should be, there is the upper half of a humanoid body covered in red fur like the rest of its body, its arms were long with blades coming out of them, its head was a large mouth full of a tongue that looks more like a long tentacle, the only horizontal eye of this thing is on its belly and it also has two eyeless serpent tails behind it. This thing''s presence didn''t seem to have any mind behind it, it was purely savage, with horrible killer instincts and a large size of 6 meters, it wasn''t just one or two that emerged, dozens kept coming out. "Look, aren''t they cute?" (Sent from Callidora) "Release the stigmas!" (me) "Yes!" (everyone) "Me and the others will fight too." (Luci) Luci stands up and Lolth does the same, followed by Sarazar right behind, they all still looked weak compared to normal, but I can''t refuse any help now. The Avatar of Greed also stopped paying attention to us as he took out a staff that shone golden, his smile appearing on his face. "< Origin Release: World Scythe >" (Avatar of Greed) "Kill all the beasts!" (Avatar of Greed) The Avatar of Greed released the power of the Concept from his body, a yellow energy surrounds his body as if they were multiple serpents of energy before passing from his arm to the staff he was holding, these seeds then solidify on the staff before a larger Serpent rises from one end of the staff to the other before solidifying with its open mouth facing the side, a yellow energy comes out of these Serpent jaws forming a blade of energy force. As a Vampire and a leech, I immediately noticed the Greed in the eyes of the golden metal seeds in that Scythe, I can also feel something similar to my Chaos Devourer ability in the blade of that Scythe. "< Release >" (me) When I interrupted the blockages in my Soul and body, my Aura surges like a tidal wave passing through my entire body before exploding outwards, a feeling of relaxation and relief takes over my mind as if a great weight had been released from my shoulders. RRROOOOOAAAAARRR!!! My body begins to change, but I control it so that it doesn''t grow taller than 3 meters and keeps my body in a humanoid state to fight, avoiding transforming completely into my true Dragon form. My Divinity and my power of Law interact, the two powers intertwine and harmonize with each other, making the 3 pairs of wings on my back come loose, turning into wings of black energy trapped in a silver and half purple metastasis ring floating inches from my back, no longer connected to my body, but now, with my Soul. I wasn''t the only one to transform, Davoth also released his two Anomalous energies, his Demonic body didn''t grow like mine, but his Aura seemed to create the shape around him of a Demon with 4 pairs of wings. Lolth looked like an Elf dressed in Dragon Armor, her body did grow and a Staff appeared in her hands as if it were a plant growing in space, a life energy exploding from her body like a sensation that promised a new beginning. Sarazar was the only one who actually took the form of a 10 meter tall Dragon, extremely small compared to his normal monumental body, his energy body surrounded by metallic exoskeleton armor giving him a bizarre appearance, his cold Aura of death somehow gave no fear and seemed to nourish those close to him. Luci had her body wrapped in roots, branches and leaves creating a natural dress, her Aura changed shape and it was as if an energy tree materialized behind her taking control of the natural energies that went into chaos in that area. My mother abandoned the living doll she controlled as if the blood was pulled out before reforming into her beautiful body, the body of the doll she controlled in my understanding was not destroyed or killed but was instead pulled into Tarzor for one of Freya''s reasons. The Divine power of everyone surged outward and it was as if the Ascending Laws must have sensed their natural enemy, I felt the Laws trying to sometimes strike me, sometimes isolate me, sometimes pressure me and sometimes try to connect with me, if I had a mind I would think I was schizophrenic for the ever-changing way I was treating myself, but I understand that my situation is abnormal in many ways. Everything happened so fast, as soon as the first Infernal creature appeared, everyone had already released their full powers in preparation for the three-way battle. Callidora''s Envoy steps away from the portal and lies on his side with his legs crossed as if posing for a photo with his head resting on his hand. "They all look so interesting~." (Callidora''s Envoy) "Now that my darlings have appeared, why don''t you show up, you rebellious girl~." (Callidora''s Envoy) AAAAUUUUUUUUU!!!!! There were dozens of these Infernal Creatures, but they were all around the portal that looked like a whirlwind of energy still in the same place, suddenly claws appeared around the portal facing outwards cutting the space to form into pieces and revealing a body full of black fur twenty meters tall, just like the other creatures, this one had a lower part of 4 tiger paws with sharp claws, but the body was more like that of a war horse, it has 4 robust red scorpion tails and in place of the head there is the upper half of the body of a red-skinned woman with her arms crossed on her chest tied by chains, her red hair looked like flames swinging around her and her two long horns were like swords rising to the sky, her face was as beautiful as it was savage and just like the other creatures this one doesn''t seem to have anything other than the primitive instincts to kill. "(So she herself is the portal... shit!)" (me) The portal where the creatures from before came out is in her stomach. "Let the show begin!!!" (Callidora''s Envoy) Snap With the snap of Callidora''s Envoy''s fingers, the chains that bound her break and a wave of killing intent spreads in all directions, causing the skies to turn red and the clouds to darken. Chapter 1825: Cap 1823: Three-Way Battle Pov Mavor: I open my eyes and feel my Law react to the Divine power that is far away, the entire Flow of Law connected to me seems to react violently, much more violently than it should. "Do you feel that...?" (me) "Yes, he is here and he is not alone, I feel more than one type of Divinity." (Urak) Urak and I were back to back, our wings were glued to each other as our Laws circled together before bombarding the metal cube above, a strange liquid was flowing in and out of the metal cube corroding, absorbing and integrating our power into itself, this damn thing that Zenos created is stealing my power constantly making this whole damn process much more difficult as well as long. What was once possible to do by taking turns refining the Anomalous Armor no longer works. We need both of them working together to continue. I was striking the Anomalous Armor''s energy flow points with the Ascendant Laws while Urak used the Runes to solidify our progress. Step by step, we were managing to refine the Anomalous Armor even though this damn thing was stealing part of our power. "Yes, but not only that. I feel empty Law points. It can only be the Avatars." (me) "I can''t tell if they''re fighting or if they''re allies. There seems to be more than one Avatar. So even if Ayden is there, there will still be more Avatars." (Urak) "We''ve confirmed that Greed, Pride, and Curse are acting. We can''t go against them, but fortunately Pride and Greed are in conflict." (me) "Let''s abandon this place. There''s no point in going against the Entities." (Urak) "The largest amount of Laws is in this universe and also serves as the heart for the Flow of Laws among all our conquered Universes, abandoning this universe will be difficult." (me) "We need to alter the Flow of Laws, we can use Experiment 89, if we use its entire body to form a new, stronger core, we can transfer the entire Flow of Law to another universe and extirpate this one from our control." (Urak) "Let them fight over... Ghug cough cough...!" (Urak) "< Law of Creation: State of Perfection >" (me) "AAAHHH!!!" (me) This thing is acting on its own more and more, I don''t feel a mind inside it, but there is clearly an instinct guiding its actions, at the slightest deviation of attention it attacked Urak directly on one of its wings. I used a Rune of the Law of Creation on the base of his wings, restoring them to their normal state with a pulse of power, pushing away the Stellar liquid around them, but as if reacting to what I did, this liquid cut off a piece of my wing before taking it back inside the Anomalous Armor. "Don''t get careless, we already have 40% of the armor, we need at least 60%!" (me) "Where is Vecna...?" (Urak) "I don''t know, but his Law of Ascension is having strong fluctuations." (me) "What are we going to do next? The Avatars! The Bringer of Chaos! The constant invasions!" (me) "Once we reach the next level, everything will be easier..." (Urak) "But we must keep an eye on the situation, we can''t deal with the Avatars yet, but the Bringer of Chaos and his Gods can be taken care of." (me) "Send observers to the situation and put Project 6 into action." (Urak) "It won''t be enough, send Experiments 57 and 702." (me) "We need to finish off the Chaos Bringer, his power is too dangerous!" (me) "Watch out, that thing is acting up again!" (Urak) The liquid was coming out again, it corrodes tiny parts of the armor while actively hindering us, it has already taken 17% of the Anomalous Armor, that damned thing. I raise one of my hands and with a few movements I create a flow of Runes that contain the orders, I can''t leave everything like this. -------------------- Pov Zenos: I was looking at the large creature that looked like a small mountain in front of me, its power alone could split this planet in two and it was accompanied by dozens of other creatures. "< Divine Summon: Eclipse Star Sword >" (me) "< Eclipse Law: Threshold Dagger >" (me) In one hand a fragment of the starry sky appears becoming the blade of a dagger while my other hand breaks the space pulling out from within a Star Sword already fused with my Divine Weapon. "(Holding both at the same time is difficult, it feels like my body is being split in half.)" (me) "Master, be careful, these creatures are poisonous, even Gods and Anomalous Creatures are not immune." (Samara) "The largest is a Guardian of the Infernal Gate, her power is similar to that of an Avatar." (Samara) "I see." (me) While Samara explained about the enemy Beasts, I observed the opponents, the Avatar of Greed was also observing me, but his 20 servants were already attacking, half of them were coming towards us and the other half were attacking the infernal creatures. "Let''s take care of these creatures, take care of the big one." (Mother) "Okay." (me) "(This won''t be easy, he''s waiting for me to act.)" (me) I advance against the creature and at the same time the Avatar of Greed does the same, his movements always similar to mine with a slight delay, I immediately understood what this bastard was trying to do, he wants to use me as a distraction to deliver a decisive blow. "(Naive idiot.)" (me) I, without worrying about him, advance towards the enemy in front of me, his head turned towards me immediately as he opened his mouth, a red glow gathering at the bottom of his mouth was a harbinger of what was to come. I advance with the dagger and sword in hand, I still haven''t released all my power and I don''t intend to do so, at least not now, as soon as I got close enough something unexpected happened, it wasn''t the mouth that released the attack, it was his scorpion tails launching red energy beams at me and also at the Avatar of Greed. I didn''t even try to defend, I used my speed to dodge slightly as I continued approaching, the Avatar of Greed did differently, he used his Scythe to cut the red beam attack without decreasing his speed. As soon as I was close, one of the creature''s arms twisted as 4 bone blades came out of its arm from 4 different directions. It tried to hit me. I didn''t have time to dodge and used my sword to block the attack. I launched the saga, aiming for one of its eyes, but a large tongue came out of its mouth, wrapping around the dagger before squeezing it, shattering the dagger, the fragments of which returned to me in time to turn around and block the Scythe attack near my neck. The Avatar of Greed that I had been watching from a distance disappeared as it appeared behind me as if it had always been there. I hadn''t noticed until I felt my instincts scream danger. "< Life-Snatching Pulse >" (Greed''s Accident) "< Unholy Breath >" (me) A yellow pulse of energy shoots out from his hand, turning into a phantom claw coming towards me. Space seemed to be absorbed by this claw as my power flowed into my throat. A breath attack shoots out from my jaws, devastating the space it passes through before being blocked by the yellow claw. The standoff lasts only a mere second and that was all it took before we were both sent flying. A scorpion tail extended to the side of my body at a frightening speed. I realized too late to dodge and could only use my tail to receive the attack. I was still sent flying and my tail was mutilated. The Avatar of Greed had already been sent flying by a clawed coffin, but unlike me, he was unharmed using his Scythe to receive the attack and so he was only sent flying, before he stopped retreating, I attacked the creature once more, finishing off the most troublesome enemy should be my priority and I could feel that the creature''s Aura was increasing. "< Divine Eclipse Magic: Cursed Dawn >" (me) I put the sword aside and the purple sun in the night sky in the middle of the sword comes out as magic circles form around it connecting with purple lines before joining into one, all of this happens in milliseconds with a beam of purple flames ten meters wide coming out like a volcanic eruption towards the giant beast who actually smiled at the sight of the flames. Without understanding what happened, I felt a distortion in space and before I understood what was happening, my attack was sucked into the portal in its belly as if it were a black hole, the attack distorted into a vortex being sucked into that portal until I interrupted my attack. "(So long-range attacks are sucked in...)" (me) "< Slash of Greed >" (Avatar of Greed) The blade of the Scythe grows 3 times its size in the hands of the Avatar of Greed who appeared next to the creature''s head, this time it did not react in time, the attack hit its body, so it managed to avoid a deadly attack, a cut formed on its chest going down to its ribs, a yellow energy shone in the wound while black blood flowed. "< Spoon >" (Avatar of Greed) The yellow energy in the handle soon becomes claws causing even more injuries while being sucked back into the Scythe taking a large amount of vitality away. Meanwhile, I was already close to him and with a kick to the side of his head that he defended with his arm, which gave me space to cut with the sword that hit his Scythe, forcing him to move away while the Dagger flew and hit his stomach. "You''ll pay for this!!!" (Avatar of Greed) "Less talk and die already!" (me) "< Profane Breath >" (me) "< Golden Magic: Golden Barrier >" (Avatar of Greed) Chapter 1826: Cap 1824: That was so funny...! "You''ll pay for this!!!" (Avatar of Greed) "Less talk and die already!" (me) "< Unholy Breath >" (me) "< Golden Magic: Golden Barrier >" (Avatar of Greed) My attack was stopped moments before hitting them, his body turned golden and plated with gold as I stopped attacking him, gaining momentum while dodging a claw attack that hit his body, throwing him away once more. I myself advanced my body, continuing to advance against the Infernal Creature once more, that''s when I saw 2 more bestiary creatures coming out of the portal in his stomach. "Are these things going to keep coming out?" (me) "(I don''t care about the prize, but I must avoid these enemies.)" (me) Realizing the danger of a moving portal like this, I had to stop more creatures from appearing and that only left two options, the first was to kill the creature and the second was to seal the portal, so I immediately chose the easier choice, I had no time to waste. "< Divine Eclipse Magic: Threshold Restriction >" (me) Just as I was flying towards the beastly creature, it was rushing towards me in the air, but as soon as I pointed the Star Sword at the creature, a large amount of Divine power activated the Divine Weapons within the sword. A silver ring surrounded by purple energy advances along with the swing of my sword, a quick attack that hits the stomach of the creature that seemed to have a barrier around it protecting the portal, the attack failed and yet fulfilled its purpose with the silver ring hitting its stomach and attaching itself to the body of this thing with the portal stuck right in the middle. "< Seal >" (me) The purple and silver energy mix as super curved sharp teeth close around the portal, Runes appear on the surface of the teeth creating a powerful seal. I stand up, punching to the right in a specific position, my fist connects with the handle of the enemy Scythe, suddenly things go dark, looking up I saw a large red object descending towards me, it was one of the scorpion''s tails covered in scarlet flames. "Ahh!!" (me) "Bhuhh!!" (Avatar of Greed) Boommm! With that blow, we are both thrown against the ground, forming a crater hundreds of kilometers long. With no time to stop, I spin my body while still on the ground, narrowly dodging the Scythe that almost hit me and created a ditch for kilometers on the ground, then with the sword still in my hand I cut off the hand that was holding the Scythe, even so the hand does not let go of the Scythe and floats towards me, swinging the Scythe once more. "It''s going to take more than that to take something from me!" (Avatar of Greed) "You forgot someone, you idiot!" (me) BBBooommmmm!!! Before his severed hand could swing the Scythe again, 4 beams of red energy rain down on us both, I managed to dodge one and was hit by the second, while the Avatar of Greed was hit by both while his back was turned. I advance against the enemy while my burned arm recovered, but red marks were on my veins as the arm recovered. "(This Demonic energy, this is the same Demonic energy from Hell, it almost feels like a poison inside my body.)" (me) "< Divine Eclipse Magic: Eclipse Cannon >" (me) Rising into the sky once more, I join the handles of the dagger and the sword, the Divine and Law powers are mixed with Chaos while the two spheres of energy form into two magic circles, then the two spheres of energy join together forming a shapeless neon black mass while the magic circles are squeezed together releasing a blast of compressed energy that hit the Infernal creature, one of its arms was obliterated along with the creatures that tried to defend it. "< Art of Avarice: 5th Form >" (Avatar of Greed) "< Thief of Lives >" (Avatar of Greed) Suddenly the Avatar of Greed appears behind the creature and with the Scythe being held in only one of its hands, it makes a downward movement where the blade of the Scythe transforms into dozens of thin arms with long claws, with just this attack dozens of cuts were left all over the body of the Infernal creature, each of these wounds was filled with yellow energy. "< Spoon >" (Avatar of Greed) He then raised the Scythe above his head and with a command all the yellow energy in the wounds was sucked out while ripping out large chunks of vitality making the creature''s entire body become thinner. As the creature was robbed of its vitality, it also grew stronger and stronger, its eyes became wells of murderous intent and the Avatar of Greed''s wounds recovered as this stolen Vitality nourished its body. "At the end of this fight, I will be on top of your body with the head of this creature in my hands!" (Avatar of Greed) "You won''t have that chance..." (me) Suddenly I realized that he was aiming his Scythe at me, the yellow allergy gathered at the Scythe''s port and as it did so the Infernal creature opened its mouth from where a sphere of red energy emerged growing larger than its head in a short time. I didn''t stay still either, I continuously gather my energy in my throat as I prepare my Sword and Dagger for what comes next. "< Unholy Breath >" (me) "< Art of Avarice: 2nd Form >" (Avatar of Greed) "< Demon of Greed >" (Avatar of Greed) The three attacks were ready at the same time, me and the Avatar of Greed were closer, the energy at the tip of his Scythe became a Ray of energy that then turned into a Demonic head coming towards me opening its jaw. I opened my mouth releasing liquid star flames that gushed towards the Avatar of Greed''s attack. Before our two attacks even made contact, the Infernal creature had already launched a sphere of supercharged red energy towards us with frightening speed. BAAMMMM!!! GGHHHSSSSS!!! Our two attacks collide first and this creates a sphere of Stellar energy and yellow energy of pure annihilation that only gets worse as our attacks try to push against each other. That''s when the Infernal creature''s attack hits the sphere of annihilation that turns red, expanding its range even further in an explosion of energy that makes space crack in all directions, clouds spread and mountains hundreds of kilometers away shatter. It was in this moment of confusion and chaos that I advanced without worrying about the allergies ravaging my body. With both weapons in hand, I attack the Avatar of Greed who is half injured and ready for my attack as if he knew my moves against him. My weapons and his Scythe collide in several attacks in a few seconds causing secondary explosions in the area of ????accurate around us, the already fragile space shatters and with one last attack we move away while the remaining energy around us finishes dispersing. "Fighting against me and my lady is your biggest mistake, Bringer of Chaos!!" (Avatar of Greed) "What I want, I get!!!" (Avatar of Greed) "You will not stand in my way!!" (Avatar of Greed) "Do you want Callidora''s Prize that much?" (Me) "You don''t know anything, anything considered a prize by the great Entities is something whose value cannot be measured!" (Avatar of Greed) "Too bad you won''t be able to get it, at least not this time?" (Me) "Do you think you can stop me? I''m completely healed, my body is even stronger than before, and in the meantime, look at your pathetic state!" (Avatar of Greed) I couldn''t help but smile, he was right, his body was completely healed, the yellow energy carrying the Vitality he stole from the surrounding creatures because of that great explosion made all his detriments heal, he was overflowing with vitality, meanwhile, I was full of injuries and one of my arms was broken, the energy wings on my back were flashing because of that intense battle, even so I couldn''t hide the smile on my face anymore. Ding! "..." (Avatar of Greed) "A piece of advice for you, always keep a goal and stick to it, when you divide your attention, you lose many opportunities..." (me) As the energy around us disperses and the distortions in space recover, it becomes possible to see the state of the battle, most of the Infernal Beasts had already been dealt with and the large creature that was a living portal, this one had its head devoid of flesh and blood, all that was left was a skull where Sarazar was with his claws squeezing until it crushed into fragments of bones, a flow of death energy was swallowing the rest of the creature''s body without any resistance, leaving nothing behind but black and white dust that gathers into a 1 meter tombstone with the figure of the Infernal creature on it. Sarazar picks up this tombstone and swallows it right away before returning to his humanoid appearance. "I never cared about the prize, but I knew it could be something dangerous, so I couldn''t let an enemy have it, could I?" (me) "You were so focused on me that you forgot, you forgot that we''re not the only Avatars here..." (me) "Hohobohobo... hahahahahaa..." (Sent from Callidora) "How funny, that was so funny... hahahaha!!!" (Sent from Callidora) "Having what you wanted most ripped away right before your eyes, being so manipulated by your enemy and still receiving a lesson from him, that''s priceless!!!" (Sent from Callidora) "Yes, yes... YES!!!" (Sent from Callidora) "Now that''s a SHOW!!!" (Sent from Callidora) Chapter 1827: Cap 1825: Planetary Robbery Pov Karina: God Akatosh and I were very close to the place we needed to invade. It was stupid how they treated this normally. It was an almost normal building right in the middle of the city. This building was a research site known to many Ascendants not only on this planet but throughout this galaxy. The building was over 150,000 m2 in area, had 5 floors and almost looked like a fortress in the middle of the city. There are also many restrictions and defense systems around it, like Saint and also like Dragon. I have senses that surpass others and that''s why I can see the energy flows, identifying dozens of Divine Level barriers as well as restrictions. This is just an estimate based on what I can see from the outside. There may be others inside. The people of this universe and perhaps even the Ascendants may not realize it, but I feel the remnants of Essences around this building, in a place where only the Ascendant Law saturates all parts, the Essences stand out like a spark of light in the middle of the darkness, that''s how I confirmed this place as being the right one. Just now I was in a hotel near this building with a good view of everything, while the God Akatosh was lying down still covered in sweat, as soon as she opens her eyes I go to her. "How are you feeling, my God?" (me) "I feel better..." (God Akatosh) "I didn''t expect that reaction..." (God Akatosh) "What exactly happened, you just fell out of nowhere." (me) "It wasn''t out of nowhere, it was a curse, someone tried to curse me..." (God Akatosh) "I didn''t see anyone, I don''t feel any cursed energy in you either." (me) "This is because of Zenos'' Stigma, the curse came quickly and out of nowhere, as soon as the cursed energy reached my Soul, the Stigma activated, devouring the curse, that''s when the Stigma released energy to me, it was Anomalous power, I wasn''t prepared and that''s why I fell, my consciousness became briefly unstable." (God Akatosh) "What do we do now?" (me) "Nothing, let''s wait... ghuh...!" (God Akatosh) "I''m fine, I''m actually very fine." (God Akatosh) My lord raises his arm revealing Zenos'' Stigma writhing on his arm, it was twice the size and looked like a Dragon chewing on something, glowing dots then begin to float around the arm. "Is the Stigma devouring the Anomalous power?" (me) "Yes, but not only that, this energy is not just being devoured, it is being sent somewhere else, I feel the energy disappearing." (God Akatosh) "The power of Zenos does not destroy..." (me) I touch the stigma and close my eyes, calming my mind and clearing my emotions while only my will to reach my God fills my Will. I feel two connections, one being the Dragon God and the other being the Profane God, reaching Zenos'' connection I feel the Anomalous energy sucked from the Stigma flow somewhere else, in fact it was being sucked somewhere else, there was something invading the connection. "(What is this...?)" (me) I tried to reach it, but it kept dodging me, no matter how hard I tried, it was like it was playing with me, I felt no emotions or thoughts of whatever it was, the power of Chaos in action was also undeniable, but I didn''t know what it was. "(It''s not one of the Divine Beasts and it''s not one of the Heralds either, so what is this thing...?)" (me) "!!!" (me) Suddenly I feel something looking at me and my whole body trembles, a chill that comes from my Soul leaves me with a suffocating sensation and before I realized it I let go of Akatosh''s arm who was looking at me confused while he was breathing with difficulty. "Haahhh... haahh... haahh... haahh..." (me) Sigh "(What in Zenos'' name was that!?)" (me) "What happened?" (God Akatosh) "I don''t know... but we have to find... huh?" (me) "Did you feel it too?" (God Akatosh) Akatosh and I stood up, I put aside the doubts about what just happened momentarily, my senses picked up the Infernal power at the same time they also picked up the power of Zenos'' Divinity. "Zenos, Selene and Davoth... I also sense something else... an immeasurable greed." (God Akatosh) Something was up, I immediately realized that Zenos was struggling and Akatosh must have noticed too, he looked at me smiling before walking to the window to look at the building outside. "Looks like we have an opportunity to do things my way." (God Akatosh) "..." (me) I approach the window and look outside, the magical fortifications and the Runes of the Law that were previously invisible now became impossible to miss, all activated to the maximum, dozens of Level 3 Ascendants also began to leave the building, all of them were in order looking in a specific direction, the same direction where Zenos should be. "They are getting ready to leave and they are not the only ones." (me) Akatosh points to the sky where several Ascendants were rising high coming here, there were hundreds of Level 2 Ascendants, Ascendant Golems and 2 Ascendant Ships also began to appear. "Shouldn''t we meet with Zenos and the others?" (me) "No, they can take care of themselves, they are not children, we need to take advantage of when these Ascendants come out to invade this place." (God Akatosh) "The Gods trapped inside will be an asset to our forces, especially if we need to fight our way out of here." (God Akatosh) --------------------- Pov Zenos: "Now that''s a SHOW!!!" (Callidora''s Envoy) Callidora''s Envoy was very excited, laughing and laughing at what just happened, but while some were happy, others were consumed by rage. The Avatar of Greed was petrified, staring at Sarazar for a few seconds, but every sentence that Callidora''s Envoy said and every laugh coming from him made the Avatar of Greed''s body tremble, His Aura filling with fury while the yellow energy around him intensified more and more, the Scythe in his hand had its curved blade vibrating and his murderous intent rising to the heavens. I couldn''t help but enjoy it, deceiving him was always my purpose, being the bait, an illusion on which he would focus his attention without noticing the other enemies. He didn''t know about Sarazar, before the meeting he wasn''t with me when he arrived and during the Meeting he didn''t know who the Avatar being controlled by Cortana was, not even Greed would know that. His attention was focused only on me and this Beast with the portal, but even so I could see that his servants were focused on Lolth who he already knew was another Avatar as well as on Davoth who emanated a lot of Anomalous power, he trusted his subordinates and meanwhile, I was focused on everyone on the battlefield, I saw Sarazar moving and acted accordingly, he realized my intention and waited. It wasn''t hard to see that the Avatar of Greed''s focus was split in two, he wanted to kill me as much as he wanted to get Callidora''s prize, this made him too inattentive it was almost too hard to keep from laughing every time he focused a powerful attack on me without noticing Sarazar pretending to fight one of the Infernal Beasts. "I will slaughter you!!" (Avatar of Greed) "< Art of Greed: 10th Form >" (Avatar of Greed) "< Awakening of the Obsessive Soul >" (Avatar of Greed) His entire body begins to peel off as it grows revealing a golden body underneath, red patterns drawn on his body that looks like a living statue of gold. "< 1st Art of the Star Sword: Consumer of Worlds >" (me) I focus my power into the Star Sword, my energy wings become pure black Star energy dotted with stars as teeth form on my sword and I swing it towards the enemy who charged with his Scythe. The first strike forced me back as he charged, but I never intended to win against him, not now. "(Tarzor, can you stop others from entering your universe?)" (me) "(Yes, why?)" (Tarzor) "(Then get ready, I''ll do something in a bit.)" (me) Gathering a large amount of energy into the Star Sword and pushing my Chaotic Devourer ability to the limit, the sword grows twice its size, my Aura explodes and during this process I exchange 8 more blows with the Avatar of Greed while being sent backwards with each blow. "< Law of Eclipse: Star Claim >" (me) "< Devour >" (me) I make my power of Law and my Divine power pulse together at their maximum, the Avatar of Greed must have realized something was wrong when 5 pairs of energy wings open up on my back, I smile at the thought of what I''m about to do. My sword and dagger are thrashed to the ground as I fall, the energy of the two merging and harmonizing with me as a medium until I reach the ground. As the two weapons sink into the earth a double pulse of energy spreads at a frightening speed corroding all the energy of the Law of this world, there was no kind of explosion or anything like that, space simply began to collapse, the Ascendant Laws were corroded, earthquakes spread throughout the world and the skies are covered in stars unlike anything the people of this world have ever seen. Not only was the Aura of the world changing, but also the Aura of the Universe itself was sending as the cracks in space create fragments without where stars and teeth can be seen. "What have you done!?" (Avatar of Greed) "Aren''t you the Avatar of Greed!?" (me) "Can''t you see what I''m doing!?" (me) "I''m stealing a PLANET!! HAHAHAHAHAAHAHA....!!!" (me) "TARZOR!!!" (me) It was at that moment that a blast of reality energy came out of the cracks and crevices in space like a storm, sweeping across this entire planet, but without affecting any person, tree, mountain or ocean. As for those who possess the power of Concept, Anomalous power or Ascendant Laws that were not marked by me, they are all carried away like kites by the wind, expelled from the planet that sinks within the jaws of my Ability into Tarzor, leaving only me behind. "(Nix! Use Divine Summon on me now!!)" (me) "(What is...)" (Nix) "(We don''t have time!)" (me) "I won''t let YOU ESCAPE!!!" (Avatar of Greed) I feel the Divine power of Nix reach me through the Star Path and pull me away, I can''t resist and let myself be carried away while the Avatar of Greed roars in anger at me who was smiling as weakness takes over me. "See you later... hahaha..." (me) I couldn''t resist saying goodbye to him while smiling. Chapter 1828: Cap 1826: Hatred Pov Nix: I was sitting in meditation in the noon room, the bodies of the Ascendants and employees of this damn place were piled up in a corner while a Demon that looked a lot like E?rica was devouring them bite after bite. "Why are you feeding your Familiar?" (me) "It''s not a Familiar, this is my shadow, it can''t talk or communicate, it doesn''t even have a name because it''s still in the incubation phase." (E?rica) "Stop fighting! NIX, tell me what happened to Zenos!?" (Kira) "Calm down, Kira..." (Diana) "I don''t want people who try to give me orders!!" (Kira) I didn''t want to say anything, but it seems that Kira must have at least noticed the fluctuations in the master''s Divine power. Diana must have noticed too and is keeping quiet. E?rica is visibly worried, searching for more information among the research in this place. Ibuki is the only one who remains calm, still studying the traces of the Curse. "The master seems to be struggling, there''s no need to worry. He knows how to take care of himself and if he needs to, he can summon us whenever he wants." (me) "Nix is ??right. Right now, we should focus on that." (Diana) Diana points to the wisp of dark energy floating above Ibuki''s hands. That energy was strange. It wasn''t a simple curse. The curse itself seemed to be a byproduct and not the dark energy itself. That was what Ibuki discovered earlier and she was the only one who noticed it. "We should end this quickly and go back to him..." (Kira) "Stop it, Kira. Zenos can take care of himself. Trust him." (E?rica) "..." (Kira) "Did you discover anything, Ibuki?" (me) "Yes, dark energy is a mixture of Ki with Spiritual, physical and spiritual power acting as a new energy focused on an intense emotion full of malice." (Ibuki) "This has no trace of Demonic power or power of the dark element, not even shadow, it is a unique element, almost alive as if it were carrying a Will within." (Ibuki) "It has nothing of Divine power, Ascendant Law, Essences or Anomalous power?" (me) "No, this power does not come from nature, so it is not Divine power or the Essence." (Ibuki) "It also does not seem like the power of the Ascendants, it is not so rigid, it is clearly in a fluid state of change." (Ibuki) "Anomalous Power... but which of the 2 types?" (Diana) "I didn''t say it was Anomalous power, but I can''t deny it either, there''s that possibility and I can''t verify it." (Ibuki) "As you''re saying, it seems like you don''t believe it''s Anomalous power." (E?rica) "..." (Ibuki) Ibuki seemed more concerned about this matter than all of us, that''s not typical of her, she''s never cared about investigating or studying anything that isn''t involved with battles, even her studies on magic are focused on practical things for battle or at least for hunting enemies. "Ibuki, what do you think this energy is?" (me) "Emotion, materialization of an emotion." (Ibuki) "That''s impossible, emotions can''t generate energy, they can intensify energies and even refine energies, but they can''t become energy by themselves." (Kira) "We are all Goddesses, Faith becomes Holy power and then becomes Divine power nourishing our Divinity." (Ibuki) "Faith is still an emotion, even if it is just a path used to gather the surplus power of the people, we cannot deny that emotions are powerful." (Ibuki) "There are Goddesses of Love, Pleasure, and Revenge... Gods associated with emotions, this power made me feel something similar to them." (Ibuki) "See for yourself, what do you feel when you look at this energy?" (Ibuki) "..." (me) I stare intently at that strand of energy, at first I didn''t feel anything, but then I realized that deep down an emotion was arising for no reason, a dark emotion that shouldn''t appear at this moment for no reason. "Hate..." (me) "Yes, I felt it intensely in the past, before I met the master, when I was still just a weak and hungry Goblin." (Ibuki) "I hated never having food, I hated those who had food, I hated being weak, I hated being beaten and robbed by others, I hated the pain I felt every time I ate something poisonous so I wouldn''t starve to death... Hatred was part of my early years of life, it was something I felt for a long time and perhaps the first emotion I felt in my life." (Ibuki) "That''s why I realized what this emotion was as soon as I touched this energy, but just like you, I don''t understand how this can happen." (Ibuki) "(Emotion becoming energy?)" (me) "(Emotion is a Concept just like all things, Greed and Pride are also emotions and can be said to be a source of energy for Concepts, so the most likely thing is that the same thing happened here...)" (me) I could already stop thinking about the Entities that use the power of the Concept, I saw how Ayden fought the master, I also know that Greed and Pride are here in this universe, so it wouldn''t be impossible for there to be other Entities, if that''s true the master must know something because of this meeting, after all that''s the reason Lena forced this meeting. "Let''s leave that aside, for now let''s seal some of this energy for future study, most likely an Entity is involved, obviously not directly, but rather a servant or perhaps something similar..." (me) "(Nix! Use Divine Summoning on me now!!)" (Master Zenos) Suddenly I hear the master''s voice in my mind with a sense of urgency, it was so sudden that I was momentarily confused. "(What is...)" (me) "(We don''t have time!)" (Master Zenos) I didn''t know what was happening, but it was clearly something urgent or he wouldn''t ask something like that of me. I stop sealing my Divinity and let it pulse out with all my strength, Spiritual Runes form a circle in front of me while my Aura pushes away all nearby things, the Master''s Wives remain silent, moving away without asking questions while I concentrate completely knowing that Summoning him is much more difficult than the opposite, especially in this damned universe that began to pressure me as soon as I collapsed my Divinity. "< Divine Summon: Call of the Blood Eclipse >" (me) Among all of us servants of Master Zenos, only I am capable of summoning him, as I have shared his shadow since my birth, I also share the possession of his Kingdom that was born from me, my existence itself is to be his shadow, a part of him. All the Runes shine brightly as the power of the Laws in the area begins to not only pressure me, but also tries to attack me, the flows of power of the Ascending Law stir like a storm around me, but it will take more than that to do me any real damage. Resisting all this, the hundreds of Runes drawn on the floor form thin columns of energy that go up to the ceiling where they interconnect and form a circle of black energy from which stars emerge distorting the inner space that cracks. I feel the master being pulled and not resisting, but I also feel the power of the Law trying to prevent him from completing the Invocation, even the power of Reality of this universe seems to form blocks of energy of reality like walls to prevent his arrival. I continue anyway, blood begins to leak from my lips, the Blood Flow reverses, my muscles tremble and my bones ache, but these were only physical complications, my Divinity protects my Soul and my Will shields my mind from the interference of this universe. In less than a few seconds a waterfall of blood descends through the starry sky, but this blood does not spread, it is as if it is flowing from top to bottom without interruption, from within a pair of eyes opens and all the flowing blood is sucked until there is nothing left but a red mist that diminishes revealing the master standing. His body is covered in wounds, his jaw is broken, one of his legs is missing, God two arms are covered in blood and hanging down, his tail is mutilated, blood is dripping from his eyes, mouth and ears, his horns are cracked and his Aura is weak. His condition is horrible and yet he is standing with only one leg as steady as if he were on both legs, the brightness of his eyes is the same as always and as I look into them I see his body slowly recovering to its original state while the power of reality and the Ascendant Laws around him seem to try to crush his body sometimes or merge with his body other times. "Master!" (me) "ZENOS!!" (all) I raised my hand to stop them from getting any closer, my eyes turned to the starry sky above whose cracks were getting worse, the master also looked up as he set his jaw in place, a large smile forming on my lips as the tip of a curved yellow energy blade pierced through the crack above. "BRINGER OF CHAOS!!!!" "Hahahaha... trying to follow me, I''m sorry but I don''t like being chased!" (Master Zenos) "< 2nd Star Sword Art: Elemental Collapse >" (Master Zenos) He raises his Star Sword that was converted by elemental power with both hands while holding a dagger with his teeth, his Aura becoming even weaker as he waves a slash with his sword aiming upwards, a cataclysm of elements with multiple colors appears like a column of destruction causing this entire building to collapse and the space to weaken while the real attack passed through my summoning magic making my body feel like it would collapse. Cough Cough Cough Sigh "Haaa... haaa... haaa..." (me) Sigh I feel like I''m much weaker, but I can feel that the summoning magic is finally stopping the cracks in space from repairing themselves as the Runes and divine energy disappear, I internalize my Divinity again, sealing it and the master who was also using Divine power does the same. I fall to one knee breathing heavily and the master extends his hand that was still healing, his Aura was even weaker than before, but he had a smile on his face as the Sword and dagger disappear. "Sorry about that..." (Master Zenos) "Master... are you okay...?" (me) "ZENOS...?" (all) "Hahahaha... I''m fine... I''m..." (Master Zenos) Before he could finish speaking his body fell to the side with his eyes closed, Ibuki and Kira caught him before he fell to the ground, then he started to snore. Chapter 1829: Cap 1827: Im not a good person When I woke up I was looking at the ceiling of a cave, I could feel the humidity in the air that also seemed stagnant without being able to circulate, that means I was in a closed place. "How many are there?" (Ibuki) "Hundreds of Ascendants, but the number of Golems was easily 10 times more." (Kira) "Did they catch the trail we left?" (Diana) "Yes, fortunately we left that decoy, but I don''t know if they''ll believe it." (Kira) "I couldn''t open the portal, but all the rituals are there and I also left traces of the coordinates before it exploded." (E?rica) "They must think now that we used the fake portal to escape and let it self-destruct afterwards." (E?rica) "Don''t be too confident, we''re not just running away from the Ascendants." (Diana) "Yes, it seems that Greed''s troops are very invested in finding the Master." (Nix) "Let them search..." (me) When I stood up, I could hear the voices of my Wives and Nix, so I followed the voices realizing that I was inside a complex of underground tunnels. Before I reached where they were, Ibuki appeared next to me, coming out of my shadow, she grabbed my arm as she continued walking. "How are you feeling?" (Ibuki) "I''m fine, I was just tired, both mentally and physically, fighting like that, fighting against the ever-changing restrictions of the universe was hard." (me) "I''m still a little weak, but I should be fine in a few more hours." (me) "What situation?" (me) Nix told me the plan that was initially made for their escape and continued to help them escape, it was a good plan, that is if everything works as they think. After that, I spent some time explaining to them everything that happened at the Rules Meeting and the battle that happened afterwards, then I went back to rest a little more. Diana and Ibuki decided to accompany me, in fact they dragged me to the cave where I was prevented from resting for a few more hours, when I thought I would finally get some rest, E?rica and I brought them to the cave accompanied by Kira while the other two left, what came next were a few more hours of exercise, when I came to my senses I was already alone in the cave without being able to lift an arm. "Nix, how much time has passed and where is everyone?" (me) "Everyone is getting ready to leave, we are going to take the place of a family to use the teleportation to another planet." (Nix) "It''s been almost a day, you only slept for a few hours." (Nix) "(My body is in worse condition now, but my Aura has recovered as well as my energies, the residues of energy from reality affecting my body as well as that yellow energy of Greed have already been expelled, in a short time I will recover.)" (me) While I check my condition, I ask a few questions to Nix who appears from the corner of the cave wall, she was keeping an eye on me the whole time, her concern was evident. "You don''t need to worry, I''m fine." (me) "This energy says otherwise." (Nix) Nix raises her hand and some of the yellow energy of Greed reveals itself inside a cylindrical Crystal covered in Divine Runes painted with Nix''s blood. "I have hundreds more crystals like that, I noticed as soon as we arrived in this cave and all this time I was extracting them from you piece by piece." (Nix) "That energy tried to come back to you every time it was expelled or pulled out, I had to seal it little by little before I got it all out, it took hours to do that, Master." (Nix) "(It seems that Greed''s power is more persistent than I thought, I need to deal with it later.)" (me) "Thanks, but I''m fine, really." (me) "..." (Nix) "Actually, I have things I want to talk to you about, but before that, Freya seems to be waiting for you." (Nix) "Damn! I forgot about that..." (me) The planet I stole suddenly came to mind. That place was full of Ascendants. Even if Tarzor did something to help, there''s no guarantee that it worked like everyone else. Not to mention that Akatosh and Karina were also on that planet. "I''ll go see how they are." (me) My shadow connects with Nix''s and I sink into it as if I were entering a pool. ---------------------- When I get inside Tarzor, I already find Freya glaring at me with her arms crossed. "How dare you throw a PLANET into the universe that I haven''t even finished fixing!?" (Freya) "I needed to get out of there fast and I couldn''t leave anyone behind, Akatosh and Karina were far from me, I could only resort to extreme measures." (me) "I''m sorry." (me) "You''re going to deal with that planet, I still have 2 galaxies to harmonize and 30 planets to connect to the energy flow, not to mention the large amount of monsters appearing everywhere!" (Freya) "I had to stop everything I was doing to isolate that place only for Tarzor to seal that planet from the rest of the universe!" (Freya) "I''ll deal with it, I promise." (me) "Okay... just don''t do it again..." (Freya) Freya, who seemed really angry, just turns her body and dissolves into energy dispersing throughout the universe, she is clearly tired and stressed. "How long has she been like this?" (me) "Dias, her job is much more delicate than mine, she has to pay attention to the energy flows on the planets, in the star systems, in the galaxies and throughout the rest of my universe while interconnecting everything in a harmonious way with constant adjustments, all this for each element of each of the 3 natural energies." (Tarzor) "I do everything more naturally, my body heals and adjusts itself with her help, there is not much I need to do other than move some planets or alter the energies in certain ways." (Tarzor) A ghost head of Tarzor forms next to me as Freya stops where Freya disappeared. "Open a portal to that planet, preferably where Karina is." (me) "< Portal >" (Tarzor) Tarzor opens his mouth where an oval portal opens and I pass through, on the other side was a planet surrounded by a force field that looks like billions of invisible serpents surrounding the planet. "Did it have to be like this? It seems kind of... disturbing..." (me) "I like it, it''s also easier to maintain and harder to destroy since each Serpent has become a barrier, it''s not enough to destroy one, this is the best barrier I have here inside." (Tarzor) "How do I get in? Will it open a breach?" (me) "No, if I open a breach it will cause a calamity in this galaxy because of the large amount of Ascendant Laws acting chaotically inside." (Tarzor) "You are my Primordial God, just go through, none of my barriers have any effect on you." (Tarzor) "..." (me) I spread my wings and advanced towards the barriers. I was confident in Tarzor and advanced without fear. The serpents did not seem to react to my presence, still writhing among themselves. As soon as I approached and then touched them, I was able to cross as if they were mere illusions. Before I even had another thought, I could feel myself entering a hurricane. The powers of the Law were out of control like I had never seen before. There were millions of types of Ascending Laws rubbing against each other as if they were blocks of a building as they were coming loose, and soon this building would collapse completely. "I have 2 days at most..." (me) "It seems like your perception is improving." (Lena) "Lena." (me) Suddenly someone appears in front of me, the various powers of the Ascending Law can''t even get close to her, a storm of vital power erupts from her continuously and as soon as she appears the space around me calms down. "Are you fixing this?" (me) "Impossible, my sister and I don''t possess the power of the Law, it doesn''t fit our Concepts either." (Lena) "It would be easier to destroy this planet along with this energy of the Ascending Law and then build a new planet with the natural Essences." (Lena) "Then it''s up to me." (me) "You stole this planet, your power of Chaos as well as your own power of the Law are the most suitable, so the most correct thing would be to leave it with you." (Lena) I look down, the environment of this planet was extremely dangerous, even breathing could destroy your lungs, a drop of rain could freeze someone''s body, even the shaking earth could swallow those who walk above. It should be impossible for normal people and those below the Divine to survive in this environment, but I can still feel life all over the planet even though so much time has passed. "Are those on the planet safe?" (me) "The general population is unconscious, I kept everyone alive, but the planet''s environments are harder to maintain." (Lena) "I''ll take care of the rest, but first I need to find Karina and Akatosh." (me) "I know where they are, I''ll take you to them and those they''re trying to save." (Lena) "(The Ascendants'' experimentation materials...)" (me) Karina told me about the Gods captured by the Ascendants and I also researched them on the Ascendants'' information network. I didn''t expect to find something like this before, but then I thought about what I would do with these Gods. I follow Lena and arrive at where there was a large building similar to a fortress in the middle of a city. As soon as I got off near the building, I could see Akatosh coming out next to Karina. "You''re late." (Akatosh) "I needed to rest. How are they?" (me) "Trapped, we can''t release them. There''s some strong restriction there." (Akatosh) "Master Zenos..." (Karina) "I''m fine, my dear." (me) Karina runs to hug me and we exchange a kiss while Akatosh waves for us to come in. "Have you decided what you''re going to do with them?" (Akatosh) "Yes." (Me) "From your tone, it sounds like it''s not going to be good." (Lena) "I''m not a good person." (Me) Gods are too valuable and dangerous to just let go like that, especially those who have nothing left to lose. I''m not one to let dangers loose. Chapter 1830: Cap 1828: Dragon of Wisdom Author: I''m sorry about this chapter, a friend told me I posted it wrong, I''m getting better, but because of the medicine my mind is a little slow, I posted it with the following title and the previous chapter, but I''ve already edited it to correct it. As soon as I entered the perimeters of the restrictions I realized what the problem with this place was, the restrictions here are working based on their defects. I stopped in my tracks feeling the surroundings, unlike what I was feeling outside, the powers of the Law here are firmly in place, they are not loose blocks almost collapsing like the rest of this planet. No, the problem here was much worse, it feels like this place is going to explode all these aligned Law blocks are like this purely because they are firmly tied together, but the pressure it is subjecting by the Ascendant Laws that they are made of is not under the control of anything or anyone is just accumulating stress. Even the wide barrier here outside is flickering and deforming which allows anyone to enter, but it is in the last stages of collapse, this is not enough to kill us, but it can destroy part of the planet and perhaps trigger the total collapse of everything else. "< Law of Eclipse: Corrupting Seal >" (me) With a pulse of my will, 5 pairs of wings appear on my back, the power of the Law forms a Star Energy Rune that floats above my hand before I throw it at the barrier. As soon as it touched the previously shapeless barrier, it floated like a lake after throwing a large stone, the colors of the barrier changed to darker tones while the Law Runes glowed purple like a night sky as the barrier returned to its dome shape. "How is the inside compared to the outside?" (me) "Suffocating, everything seems to shift all the time, we also can''t use our Auras." (Akatosh) "I see." (me) I walk inside with Akatosh on one side and Karina on the other, as I entered I could feel the relaxed Ascendant Laws trying to connect to my wings continuously. "(The space here is even more broken and segmented than I imagined.)" (me) This is a technique that the Ascendants created using their Spatial Law, separating rooms into closed spaces that they move as they please, thus increasing security in important buildings like this. I have not personally seen this before, but Adella and Nix saw it when they rescued those Ascendants while facing the forces of Pride. "As you can see, one false step can lead to death." (Akatosh) "If it weren''t for your Stigma, we would have to use Divine power." (Karina) "My Stigma? What are you talking about?" (me) "Karina, show him." (Akatosh) Karina lets go of me and walks down the hallway, it was as if the landscape changed, suddenly it was like entering a ball pit, as Karina walked the blocks of space moved distorting the space and opening or closing cracks one after the other. But Karina here as if it wasn''t her problem, the space when it tried to distort around her, the power of Chaos in her arm shone making her Aura form a Dragon around her, the space became united and calm when touching her Aura allowing her to walk without impediments. "I didn''t expect that... the seals I used on you had some protective functions, but I didn''t expect you to use the seals to seal and maintain an area of ??absolute control, it almost seems like a mobile Territory of a few centimeters around the body." (me) "Yes, you implanted your will in these Stigmata, this makes them act on their own, I didn''t realize that before because I was never in danger." (Akatosh) "Did I do that?" (me) "You did and now we''re going to continue with this." (Akatosh) Akatosh starts walking and I follow him, soon returning to Karina''s side. We continue walking and stop in front of a room where blood paints the floor as well as the door around it. Feathers and pieces of flesh are everywhere, but there are no bodies. "There are no dead people, they are all trapped somewhere else, Cortana and her Tomb Dragons took them off this planet so we don''t run the risk of them interfering with these uncontrolled Laws." (Akatosh) "I thought I had expelled everyone during the Planet robbery." (me) "Of course I did, but how could they be expelled while still inside this building with so many restrictions around?" (Akatosh) "They were trapped inside here being thrown against the walls and against each other while space destabilized when these restrictions got out of control." (Akatosh) "When we got in here, we didn''t even have to fight, it was easy to capture everyone, even those split in half were still alive, so we left them with Cortana." (Karina) "I''ll look for them later, there''s something I want to test, they might be useful." (me) After that we went through some rooms, all of them are half destroyed and it must have happened because of how this space is out of control, every now and then I see cracks open and close around us. We went through rooms full of books, rooms full of what I imagined to be magical servers since they were full of crystals organized like computer servers, we also went through rooms full of materials of all kinds, most of which were destroyed, just like all the other rooms. We also went through rooms where body parts were contained in boxes or glass cylinders, we also went through rooms where bodies were open and dismembered, rooms where surgical tools and masses of metal stained with blood were arranged, also half destroyed. We continued down the stairs to the underground, we went through 8 floors before noticing a large increase in restrictions, this time there were traps and several types of Ascending Golems, but almost everything was useless. Signs of battle were everywhere, this time it didn''t seem to be something caused by the power of the Ascendant Laws going out of control. "That wasn''t normal, was it you?" (me) "Yes, just my body is enough to break those toys and those traps are too weak to have any effect on me." (Akatosh) "He ignored the traps and marched like a force of nature destroying everything in his path, I honestly don''t even know how this passage didn''t collapse." (Karina) "I see." (me) "We''re almost there." (Karina) "I''ll leave them to you, but there''s someone among them that I need." (Akatosh) "A Dragon?" (me) "Yes, a Divine Dragon, I could feel its power, this is a Dragon of Wisdom, one that became a God or was born a God." (Akatosh) "I suppose that''s rare." (me) "A Dragon of Wisdom is more than rare, in our universe and in all others connected to the Tree of Creation, there have only been 2 Dragons of Wisdom and neither of them was a Divine being." (Akatosh) "They are physically weak, but have a large reserve of energy, are extremely intelligent and have ways of accumulating knowledge quickly, as well as being beings who love academic study, can use all the elements and unique abilities." (Akatosh) "Among the Dragons, there are few who focus on theoretical studies, we are a warrior race by nature, even the most intelligent ones study in a focused way on relevant subjects." (Akatosh) "Do you want to take him to our universe?" (me) "No, I want something better, I want him to connect both to the universes of the Ascendants when we finish here as well as to the universes of the Tree of Creation, including ours." (Akatosh) "I want to create a Dragon Library with the knowledge of Dragons from multiple universes, to create an eternal heritage for Dragons." (Akatosh) "..." (me) "So you don''t care about this Dragon, but rather about his unique race?" (me) "Of course I do. I don''t even know him. Even though I favor him because of his race, I don''t know him well enough to judge his other characteristics, and I don''t know his path of strength." (Akatosh) "(Then I can do as I planned without having to displease Akatosh...)" (me) This time my mind was a little heavy with what I was about to do, but I couldn''t put a foot back. I don''t have the luxury of making mistakes now, nor the indulgence of trusting easily. Each flight of stairs was very deep. The underground floors were far apart, but this flight of stairs was even longer, and from the destruction I passed through, it was clear how many traps and Ascendant Golems were contained here. This next floor is clearly important to the Ascendants. "Is this the last floor?" (me) "Yes, the prison floor where these Gods are being contained." (Karina) We continued down until we saw the exit. There were two more barriers there, but instead of blocking our passage, the two barriers collided with each other, opening and closing the passage. With this, we managed to pass one at a time in a few seconds. I was soon in a Salam where chains and special scarves were thrown everywhere, with a lot of dried blood staining everything. This was not caused now, but has been like this for many years. There was also a large door, this one was strongly secured. The Runes of the Law were active and surrounded by a Crystal in the middle, where a Rune of the Law was flashing. The door itself was made of metal and emanated Anomalous power. The walls were also fortified and it would not be possible to cross. This was clearly done by one of the 3 Ascended leaders. I had this perception immediately. "I feel signs of life behind the door." (me) "It''s them, we can''t communicate, but we can feel their Auras from here, my attacks didn''t do anything against that door and when I tried to use my Divine power I felt the danger and sealed it again." (Akatosh) "I see." (me) I''m sure the Ascendants must have taken precautions against the Gods, not because any of them would invade but to prevent them from escaping from this place. Chapter 1831: Cap 1829: Its not a choice I looked around the room, it was a tall hall, but it wasn''t very spacious, it was as if this was just the corner of the hall and a large wall separated this place from the rest of the great hall, all the walls were curved in a half sphere with the door to the stairs right behind, in front was the only straight wall with the gate. I could see some claw marks, some small dents and some burn marks, but they were just small imperfections in a massive structure like this metal gate. What made me hesitant was the blood, dried blood that stained the floor, walls, cages and even this portal, old blood and so many different colors, the smell in the air was strangely tasty, which says a lot about the quality of the blood. I close my eyes and let only my Aura sense the surroundings, I can feel the traces of vitality, Divinity, fragments of Divinity and killing intent of dozens, they were not all Gods, I feel Anomalous power mixed in, there are also only 3 that seem to stand out abnormally. "(A calm Aura of Divine Level...)" (me) "(An Aura completely consumed by murderous intent... a God for sure...)" (me) "(A Divine Aura filled with the power of nature, it was as if I was feeling the Aura of a wild galaxy where there were no civilizations on any planet, it was an Aura similar to Freya''s, this was the Anomalous power and it seemed unconscious at the same time that the Will was still there.)" (me) I tried to feel those on the other side, their emotions were written in their Auras, there were none in despair, all of them were strong Auras, some were filled with sadness, others were filled with anger and hatred, some had their emotions under control, only 3 were beyond anything I could have expected. One was completely calm, another was the incarnation of murder and the last one was too natural to the point of abnormality, these 3 were interesting beyond anything I could have expected. Not having anyone broken in there was a surprise in a way, but in the end they are Gods trapped here, breaking the mind of a God would not be an easy task, I know from my own experience that the Will of a God goes beyond what anyone can hope to understand. "I have to warn you, what will happen there, you may not like it." (me) "Kid, if you are not going to kill the Dragon of Wisdom, then I don''t care if I end up destroying everyone else." (Akatosh) "That''s sad considering you are Gods, but I trust you know what you are doing, Zenos." (Karina) "Thank you for trusting me." (me) Kiss I exchange a loving kiss with Karina, to be honest, I don''t like what I am going to do, but I will still do whatever is necessary to win against the Ascendants. I take a few steps forward and feel the Ascendant Laws of this entire room vibrate, this was the most stable room so far, compared to the rest of this planet, this room was only holding on by a thread from collapse and that is because of the power of this crystal, the Rune in it connects with all the powers of the Laws around it, functioning as a support column for the stability of this room. I open my 5 pairs of wings and this stability falls apart with the same ease as ice melting in the middle of a summer day in the sun, these Laws begin to try to connect to my wings and this even includes the power of the Rune of the crystal. The crystal was shining brightly, the door vibrated while its Runes seemed to pulse, the Laws in this room including the Law of Space were creating a storm around me. "That just makes it easier." (me) "< Law of Eclipse: Corrupting Seal >" (me) Once again, Ruan is drawn on my hand and when I touch the crystal on the door with it, the crystal becomes covered in cracks while a hand-shaped Stellar energy is imprinted on the crystal with the cracks around it, the Rune that was previously the basis of the Laws in this room was now in the middle of these hands of stellar energy with red spots corroding the Rune until it was completely red in a few seconds. "Take the rest!" (me) My will spreads through the Rune that floats out of the crystal before returning, creating a wave of stellar energy that runs through the entire door making all the Runes of the Law glow red. After that I hide my power of the Law once again and as the gate was already under my control, I then walk forward and the gate opens as I approach, inside I soon see a level 3 Ascendant looking at me, one that I recognized by the description. A young Human man with brown hair and eyes, he walks barefoot and shirtless, with angular tattoos running across his body, a confident smile on his face and as soon as the gate opened his eyes were not on me, he was focusing his eyes on Karina while smiling strangely. Cough "Why are you here and how are you not hurt?" (me) "How can I forget manners, I am Arlan, Ascendant of War and hopeless Romantic, a pleasure to meet you, Zenos." (Arlan) I had heard of him before, one of Davoth''s subordinates and a traitorous Ascendant, it seems he is paired with Valius, the Ascendant boy I met before, Orion told me he was in his body for a long time and he is a great womanizer. "So you know me?" (me) "Davoth and Valius told me about you, in fact, I was on this planet waiting for you to act on Valius''s advice." (Arlan) "Why are you so well and why are you trapped inside this place?" (me) "Actually, I''m responsible for taking care of these prisoners, there must always be at least one Level 3 Ascendant here at all times and I volunteered, that''s how I managed to get my transfer here without raising suspicions." (Arlan) "You''ve been here the whole time?" (me) "That''s right, but I followed what happened to the planet, it was impossible not to know after the Ascendant Laws were cut off on this entire planet with the exception of my own Law." (Arlan) "I see." (me) Looking inside I realized that it was a large corridor with 3 floors with doors of different colors, most were gray doors, one door was green and two doors were red. The natural Aura came from the only green door, the red doors were where the calm Aura and the Aura of pure murderous intent came from. At the end of the hallway there was a throne where piles of magazines were spread out, even from this distance I could see the indecent content in those magazines, the worst of all is that I know where those magazines came from, the mark of the Demonic Temple of Pleasure was on the magazine, they came from my universe and I''ve already met the Saint of that religion. "I''d like to talk to you about something." (me) "But let me introduce myself anyway, I''m Zenos, the one next to me is Akatosh and that flower full of thorns next to me... that''s my wife and Saint, Karina." (me) "Your wife..." (Arlan) Cough Cough "Good to know... luckily you arrived, I was trapped here, both the physical blockers and the Runes used as a key don''t work, I was trapped here." (Arlan) "If I was trapped, why didn''t you release them? Together you could have gotten out of here." (me) "They hate Ascended, most of them would rip my head off before trying to talk to my corpse and some of them wouldn''t even let me die." (Arlan) "Their hatred for the Ascended is valid, but it also makes them untrustworthy, especially in a confined situation like this." (Arlan) I was sure that given the opportunity, they would all kill Arlan without caring if he was a traitor to the Ascended or not, they would kill him as soon as they saw his wings. "So you won''t mind if I kill them, will you?" (me) "Kill them?" (Arlan) "I mean... didn''t you come here to save them?" (Arlan) "It will depend on their decision on how they will serve me, that is if I give them a choice, depending on how I evaluate them, I may not give them a choice." (me) "It doesn''t really seem like there is a choice here." (Arlan) "Of course there is a choice, they choose to obey me by swearing their loyalty or they die, then undergo Divine Rebirth through my power, thus being reborn as a servant of mine." (me) "Once again, that doesn''t seem like a choice." (Arlan) "Do you two agree with this!?" (Arlan) "I only care about the Dragon of Wisdom, what happens to the others doesn''t matter to me, it works for me too since we''ll get the Dragon of Wisdom either way." (Akatosh) "I am the Saint of Zenos as well as one of his wives, I trust him, if this is his decision, he must have thought about it deeply." (Karina) "You are crazy." (Arlan) "Are you going to try to stop me?" (me) "No, but I expected you to be a little more understanding with Gods who have lost everything." (Arlan) "Be compassionate with their situation, but that doesn''t mean I''m going to release Evil Gods full of rage." (me) "As long as they are under my command I can supervise them, but I won''t let them free to do whatever they want, I''m not so naive to release a world-destroying force with accumulated rage just because I feel compassion for their situation." (me) "Ruthless, I understand... I don''t like what you''re doing, but I have no choice here, do I?" (Arlan) "There is always a choice, but the consequences are a hindrance to those with a functioning mind." (me) "Their choice is to sit back and watch or ''Try'' to stop me." (me) "Their choice is to serve me before or after they die." (me) "That''s not exactly a choice, it even sounds like a Demon God, I''ve heard Hernoth make similar statements and he is the Demon God of Sin." (Akatosh) "..." (me) Chapter 1832: Cap 1830: Your choice Being compared to a Demon God is not completely wrong, what I am doing is far from being morally correct or can be explained in a way that seems correct, I know very well how much a practical and safe solution can also be something evil, after all, experiments on criminals are legalized in my nation and even encouraged, torture is done daily and is not restricted in any way other than considering the crimes of the criminal. I can no longer be considered a good person for a long time, but until now I have comforted my guilt by telling myself that I am only doing these things to bad people as if that could justify anything, not that I will change anything now. But this time I am imposing something truly cruel on victims, this cannot be explained by anything and I cannot fool myself into thinking that it is the right course, even so I will still do it just because it is the safest path for everyone. "Zenos, I trust you." (Karina) "Thank you." (me) I don''t stop Arlan and he clearly doesn''t like what I said, I can tell by his eyes, I don''t even need to try to feel his emotions through his Aura, he clearly doesn''t like doing this kind of thing. "Nothing I say will change your mind, will it?" (Arlan) "No." (me) "I can trust you and others like you because of your purpose that you put above even your lives, I respect what you did and I''m sure I wouldn''t be able to be as patient as you." (me) "But those trapped here, at least almost all of them, they are covered in hate, anger, sadness and murderous rage, at the first opportunity they would risk everything just to cause torment to the Ascended." (me) "What if they harm the Ascended Goddess?" (me) "What if they attack the people of the Ascended who are innocent?" (me) "What if they try to invade a universe to reclaim their positions as Gods, just as many Evil Gods have done before?" (me) "What if they decide to join forces with the Entities that invade here and become our enemies?" (me) "What if, overcome by a sudden rage, they cause the destruction of our plans, thus leading all the universes plundered by the Ascendants to destruction?" (me) "..." (Arlan) "You''ve clearly lived for a few thousand years, so don''t be naive, boy, there''s a lot to lose here." (Akatosh) "Why not leave them trapped here until everything is over?" (Arlan) "That way we can..." (Arlan) "I''m talking to a wall." (me) Sigh "Akatosh, what are the chances of a God who has lost his Divinity becoming an Evil God?" (me) "More than 90%, the temptation of power is very great, especially when that power is something you have already experienced." (Akatosh) "Your Heroes Lock and Veronica are exceptions to all this, they did not cling to being Gods or to the power they had before, but the vast majority of them lose themselves in the attempt to get what they once had." (Akatosh) "Ascendant, there are many Evil Gods everywhere, can you guarantee that these Gods who lost their Divinity, lost their universes and were used in experiments by you will not become Evil Gods?" (Akatosh) "..." (Arlan) "It''s not like I''m going to treat them like slaves, you could say that I''m saving them in a way, but I can''t let them free, I can''t take risks." (me) "Do whatever you want." (Arlan) He turns and walks back to the throne, he was biting his lip, what Akatosh and I said was hard to hear, but we''re not lying, he knows that, even among the Ascended Traitors there are those consumed by hatred, even if he''s not one of them he''s still seen them many times and must have seen many who hate the Ascended coming here for revenge, I myself fought those Serpent people while pretending to be an Ascended. "How do I open the doors?" (me) "Just channel your power of the Law into your hand when you open the door, none of them are locked to the Ascended." (Arlan) "Thank you." (me) I watch him continue to walk to the throne at the end of the room and lie down on it, he makes one of the pornographic magazines float to him and opens it covering his face with the magazine. "Zenos..." (Karina) "Leave him alone, it''s not like he was wrong." (me) To him, these imprisoned Gods are victims that he helped to be in this situation, knowing that now instead of being saved they will be forced to serve someone is hard to swallow. "Karina and I will wait here, being near them can be dangerous without using our divinity." (Akatosh) "Okay." (me) Looking at the space in this room, it was quite stable, but around the doors it was fluctuating strongly and somewhat unstable, probably because of the rejection between the remnants of Divine power by the power of the Ascending Law. I look at all the doors and decide to start with the one that might be easiest, one of the red doors where the calm Aura was, if the individual inside is able to remain calm in this situation I can at least talk to him. I walk to the third floor, I pass in front of several doors and feel their Auras reacting with mine, they noticed my presence, I continue until I reach the red door and gathering power from the Law of Eclipse in my hand, I open the door. The room itself was completely empty, without furniture or anything else, in the middle of the room was someone tied by metal tubes on the arms, legs and tail. There was also a metal collar around the neck and chains around the wings, there were also black straps covered in Runes of the Law around his entire body highlighting a slender body, his head was the only free thing. He was a middle-aged man, he had a short brown beard and long hair of the same color disheveled as if he were a beggar, his eyes were golden and instead of a slit his pupil was broken, his skin was dark and brown scales went up his neck to his thin cheeks. He looked haggard and thin, his lips were dry, an appearance of someone who hadn''t eaten or drunk anything for a long time, which didn''t make sense for a Divine creature who didn''t need anything like that to sustain his body. He was clearly a Dragon, even in such a state, his calm Aura was strong and determined as if he wasn''t bound so tightly, his eyes were also full of brightness. The room itself was clean as were the restraints around him, but the power of the Law in the surroundings was out of control, pressing him down and trying to press him to death, which he would never achieve with so little power of the Law inside here, at most it would be a nuisance to him. "(His Aura has a lot of curiosity and magical power, he must probably be the Dragon of Wisdom.)" (me) "You can''t speak, can you?" (me) "..." I can see the veins on his neck and forehead throbbing hard, he''s trying to make an effort, but he doesn''t move an inch, this isn''t because of the Ascendant Laws here, so it must be because of the iron collar around his neck. "(Let me try something.)" (me) I wouldn''t get too close to him, I don''t know his power or capabilities and I don''t intend to take risks against a creature of Akatosh''s interest. I raise my hand and create a hand of energy from the Ascendant Law that I control to get closer to him, I''ve never done this before, but pure manipulation of an energy isn''t that difficult. The hand of the power of the Law made 2 pairs of energy appear on my back and my ring was glowing slightly, the Ascendant Laws of this room try to connect to my wings which I block from happening, the hand of the power of the Law soon approaches his neck and touches the metal necklace making the Dunes there shine as it lets go and falls to the ground. He looks at me, but what was reflecting in his eyes were my wings, but strangely it wasn''t murderous intent that I felt in his Aura, it was an even greater curiosity, his eyes looked like those of a child seeing a new toy. "Can you speak now?" (me) "I don''t understand your words, but I can feel that you''re a Dragon." "I can, thank you." His voice was rough and gravelly, it didn''t suit his thin and frail body, but the language he spoke was the Dragon Language, a language that all True Dragons and above know, a language marked in the Dragon bloodline. "Well then, I''ll be blunt, would you rather die and undergo a Divine Rebirth becoming my servant or would you swear loyalty to me by undergoing an Awakening as my Servant?" (me) "It doesn''t seem like a choice." "Of course it is a choice, one between dying and having another person born from you inherit everything from you to serve me or living as yourself to serve me, either way it doesn''t change anything for me." (me) "..." He falls silent, the amused glint in his eyes diminishes, a serious expression forms on his face as he looks at me, the wings on my back disappear once more, I don''t want him to consider me an Ascendant. Curiosity and doubt shine in his eyes for a few seconds, I give him time to think, this is both an opportunity and a drastic decision for him, I didn''t even ask him his name, power or anything. "Your choice?" (me) Chapter 1833: Cap 1831: My decision "What is your choice?" (me) He continued to look at me, I could see the indecision in his eyes, I could simply continue with the plan without hearing his decision, but I prefer to follow a path with less bloodshed. "I see, you don''t want to know anything about me, my name, my morals, my power, my origin or what I seek to achieve... you just want my submission in one way or another." "From what you''ve said so far, it seems that both ways allow you to obtain my servitude, so there is no refusal or dialogue, the end result will still be me serving you." "Control over Divine Rebirth and the power to Awaken using Authority in a God, so you are a Primordial God or this must be a characteristic of your Divinity." "May I ask two questions?" "No, just proclaim your decision as quickly as possible." (me) I didn''t want to answer questions or talk about myself with anyone, especially at this moment when I have someone''s life in my hands. "If you''re not going to talk about yourself and you don''t care about me, then why waste time when you could talk about me and everyone else, it would be faster." "I''m going to count to 3 to hear your answer." (me) "1..." (me) "You''re not going to listen, very well." "2..." (me) "I accept to serve you." When I heard her words I was a little surprised that she remained calm and didn''t change her expression, in fact I feel her eyes analyzing me all the time, it seems like the kind of look my daughter Nicole often gives me. "Do you accept? That easy?" (me) "I prefer to maintain my current consciousness and Will, I don''t want to generate new ones and become someone else." "It also seems like you''re not that bad or you would have just killed me and used Divine Rebirth." "I like your quick decision and accurate observation, well done..." (me) "(That was easier than I expected.)" (me) I close my eyes and raise my hand, if he is a Dragon, then the Dragon Seal will be the most useful, what I will use as the power of this Dragon Seal will be my power of the Law of the Moon. The power runs through my body, the 5 pairs of wings appear on my back and the Divine power makes an Eclipse on my back as the two powers combine into the Dragon Seal. What was created was a crystallized stellar energy in the form of a Fragmented Moon with a Rune floating in the middle that says Dragon. "Accept my power and serve loyally." (me) My power of Authority alone will not be enough. I can feel that since I acquired the Transcendental Authority by naming it after the Twins and now obtaining the power of the Ascending Law, my Authority has changed. I have not used this power since then, and yet I feel what has changed in it, what it has become. "< Authority of the Profane Eclipse >" (me) Ding! New and old notification windows appear in my vision, which reminds me that since I left the Rules Meeting I have not seen any of these notifications, but now is not the time to see that. I already know what will appear about this Dragon. I can perceive the changes and acceptance without needing the System to spell everything out for me with these notifications. I feel my power invade the Dragon''s body without resistance and I launch the Dragon Seal at it, which sinks into its thin body. My power spreads through its body, forming a link with its mind and marking its Soul. "< Awaken >" (me) Ding! I also leave these windows aside, I need to go through many other rooms after this one and I won''t waste time looking at each notification, not for now. RROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!! The restraints around him fall apart as the chains, rune bands and those pieces of metal holding his mermaids, everything breaks as the power of the Law itself burns around him, a powerful roar escapes from within the flames making the entire room tremble as his Aura changes. Ding! "You don''t have a name...?" (me) "Smaug, that will be your new name." (me) I didn''t need to see the notification to know that what was missing was a name, a name that represents what he has become, a name that represents his existence and that can connect his body, mind and Soul that have changed into the same creature. Ding! He was in the process of changing, but that wasn''t a problem for him, it wouldn''t end in a few minutes, I could feel that he was conscious and was absorbed in his own changes, I could also feel my connection with him forming as well as everything in him changing in a total evolution. His body covered in stellar flames was floating with Runes of Law around him. "This will take a while, it wasn''t that hard..." (me) I look at my hands as I open and close them, the energy expenditure was less than I imagined, this time I didn''t try to grant more power or anything like that, I just made him healthier, made him loyal to me and gave a push to his Divinity. My Dragon Rune itself carried a Divinity of the Moon, his transformation now will be more due to this Divinity but for the rest I did, this Divinity like any other will alter his body, mind and Soul. I turn my body walking out of the room that I close behind me, then I start walking to another room, this time it was a normal door like most and concentrating my power of the Ascendant Law in my hand, as I open the door entering. "!?" "Who I am, it doesn''t matter." (me) The room was empty of everything with only a table on the side near the door where some medical tools like scalpels, needles, vials with labels and some things that I don''t recognize, everything was marked with blood. I look at the wall opposite the door where someone was chained to dust with their limbs spread apart from the floor. He was human, his body was covered in recent wounds starting to heal, he was bald, but he had a thick red beard, his eyes were red and his skin was white, his body was robust and he was only wearing a leather loincloth. "???!" Everything about him screams warrior, in fact he looks like a Viking only in appearance, but from now on I found myself with a problem, I can''t understand his language, a language barrier could mess up my plans. "System, can you at least help me with this?" (me) Ding! <[ The System grants you the gift [ Universal Communication (incomplete) ] ]> "Urgh!!" (me) Suddenly my mind hurts with the appearance of millions and hundreds of millions of languages ??in my mind, the amount of information was so overwhelming that it took over my entire mind for a few seconds before all the languages ??combined into a simpler understanding of languages, how there are similarities and variations between various languages. "(That was horrible...)" (me) "..." (me) "Aren''t you going to answer who you are!?" I now managed to understand this God''s words, stopping to look at him it is also more than obvious that he was less restricted than that Dragon at the red door, it seems that the color of these doors really shows the level of importance or perhaps danger of them. "It doesn''t matter who I am, only your next decision matters." (me) "My decision? What you..." "I give you two choices, serve me from now on or die undergoing a Divine Rebirth to serve me as a new God." (me) "Make your choice." (me) "What the fuck are you talking about, you piece of shit..." He spent the next 5 minutes talking a lot of useless shit, he talked about how he''s going to kill all the Ascendants, he talked about how he''s going to kill me and he talked as if I was some kind of retard. His Aura was filled with anger, confidence, and great determination, but just listening to him was enough to understand that he had muscles instead of brains. He continued speaking as if he were still a God, and without a shadow of a doubt he was a God of Battle, but as expected his Divinity was already shattered, he only had a Fragment of Divinity like most Evil Gods. "It seems you chose the second option." (me) "< Authority of the Unholy Eclipse >" (me) Ding! "What are you doing..." Let me think, what should I use on him, using a power that is suitable for war would be good, he is a warrior, so perhaps a Knight could do, a Knight''s power comes from a ruler who in turn comes from an Authority, so I can branch my power 3 or 4 times to make him a Subordinate God after his death. "Die and be reborn with a more polite mouth next time." (me) "< Divine Rebirth >" (me) Ding! "AAAAHHHHHH!!!!" As he screamed, all the Vitality in his body was sucked out, his body was torn apart, separating the flesh, bones, blood and organs into separate piles, his Fragment of Divinity was ripped from his Soul which was then burned by my Starfire, the chains that previously bound him fall to the ground as his Soul screams in the most excruciating pain he had ever felt. The entire room went into chaos by the Ascendant Laws, so I used 2 pairs of Ascendant wings just to keep the situation partially stable, I used my power on the parts of his body as well as his Soul while a new Divinity recently created by me using parts of Essence that already existed in Tarzor floats towards him, I was unable to create a complete Divinity, but it should be enough to transform him into a Demigod. Soon everything I separated began to gather around his Soul, which formed into a white sphere without consciousness. A new body began to be created and I altered it a little to give it a new appearance. I let the new body finish being created while the Vitality and inherited power nourished this new life of his, then I walked out of the room, closing the door behind me. "Who''s next?" (me) Chapter 1834: Cap 1832: Making fury useful I passed through many rooms after that second one, all the normal doors, I ignored the green doors and the last red door for a while, it took me almost 2 hours to go through half of the rooms before stopping for a bit to rest. I noticed a certain difference in the way the Ascendants bind these Gods, for example, that warrior God who was the second to be chosen, he was bound only by chains. I passed through several rooms where Gods of battle were bound only by chains like these, some were thicker chains than others, that''s when I discovered that these chains can restrict the physical body. The fourth person I chose was already a magic user, he was a type of Lizard Man, because his Aura was purely magical and his body was very thin, it was clear that his focus was entirely on magic, even his scales seemed to create patterns of magic circles. This God was tied up by leather straps or whatever that material covered in Runes of the Law was, it was some kind of magical bandage, he had no chains on him, I found others in similar situations, there were also several who were tied up by both chains and magical bandages. But of all the ones I''ve seen so far, none of them were tied up by those metal tubes or with that metal thing to block their voice, this just shows how special that Dragon was. Aside from the discovery of those ways to bind a God, I''ve discovered a few things, it seems that all those with strong bodies had recent wounds, they all seemed to have undergone physical experiments, but those with the magical bandages had completely healthy bodies, the problem was in their minds and senses, some were a little confused and spoke slurredly, their minds were tired and you could see it in their dull eyes. To my surprise, almost 80% of the Gods preferred death to surrender. None of them were willing to serve anyone else, especially when many of them thought I was Ascended. Some didn''t believe I could use Divine Rebirth and said I just wanted to scare them so they would cooperate. There were also those who preferred to die and be Reborn as a new person. These Gods wanted a new beginning and used my proposal to do so. In the end, they are Gods and are sincere with their thoughts, feelings, and Wills. Even though I didn''t say much, I could see that some didn''t want to be consumed by hatred. Some wanted a new beginning, forgetting the past of what they had lost, and the others were just idiots who refused to serve me until the end, choosing the worst decision. Among those who accepted, most did so because they did not want to die, in the end always saying that they had no choice, but there were some who accepted because they saw me as an enemy of the Ascendants, they did not mind serving me if it was to fight against the Ascendants. There was only one among those doors who remained silent the entire time, his gaze was firmly fixed on me since I entered his room, he was marked by both the chain and the magical bandage, he remained silent just looking at me without answering my question. So I decided to test his will directly, I used Awakening on him and found no resistance, he let himself be carried away by my power, in fact, he seemed to assess my power in his body and so I left him behind. I returned to the front of the throne where Arlan was still lying down covering his face with one of the magazines, Akatosh was also flipping through one of those magazines while Karina was sitting meditating. "How did things go?" (Akatosh) "Most are going through Divine Rebirth, this uses up more of my power, so I''m taking a break." (me) I said this and sat down to meditate just like Karina was doing, this was something I did daily at the beginning of this life and now I don''t even remember the last time I was able to meditate. Being inside Tarzor it was extremely easy to recover, it took only a few minutes since the energies flowed into me with great ability. Sigh "Now there are a few more to go..." (me) There was still half left and so I started again, this time I would start with the last red door before finishing going to the other normal doors, leaving the green door for last. Facing the red door, I once again concentrate the power of the Law and open the door, entering paying attention to my surroundings, this was the door with the greatest amount of murderous intent, that was when a gust of pressure passed through the door opening, it was a cold and suffocating pressure. I didn''t care and finished opening the room, inside everything was half destroyed, there were cutting winds and the space moved like the ocean in a storm creating violent ripples, cracks formed and recovered one after the other. In the center of the room was a person covered in magical bandages from his feet to his neck. Chains were tied around his neck in four different directions and attached to the walls. The same type of chains were around his waist and attached to the floor on four different sides. His arms were tied behind his back by a large piece of metal that joined his arms. His legs were tied to his knees and were also tied together by a large piece of metal. There were seal marks engraved everywhere on the walls, but what I really noticed was the large amount of blood spread everywhere. It was old, dried blood that stained the floor, ceiling, walls, chains, bandages, and even the pieces of iron. Looking at the trapped person, she was an Elf or at least she should have been an Elf, her skin was abnormally white, her ears were a little shorter, her hair was red and fell down her body spreading across the floor, hair as straight as if it had been freshly combed, her eyes were a deep black color with the irises being red with the pupils being thin vertical slits like those of a monster, her eyes were larger than normal, around 50% larger, she was a very beautiful woman with her slim body and beautiful curves revealed by the magical bandages glued to her body. Her Aura was pure killing intent, her very Divinity seemed to be Massacre, it seemed as if her existence itself was covered in the blood of billions of lives, but at the same time I don''t feel any malice, not that she is good or anything like that, in fact it is because there is no emotion or desire in her Aura other than the purest killing intent. "Your senses aren''t even working, you can''t even notice me, can you?" (me) "..." She seems unconscious, but at the same time I know she is unconscious, which leads me to believe that it is some kind of trance or something similar. "What should I do...?" (me) I start to think and suddenly I feel the Ascendant Laws in this room getting out of control even more violently, so to try to at least stabilize the environment, my 3 pairs of wings appear, which made all the uncontrolled Ascendant Laws turn to me trying to connect to my wings, which I do not allow to happen. I just didn''t expect this to end up having an adverse effect, suddenly all the murderous Aura focused on me, the previously still eyes gained a fluorescent glow as they locked onto me and it was at that moment I saw the origin of this murderous intent, it was fury, she, like Adella, was consumed by fury, the only difference between the two would be that this Goddess has a Divinity more than compatible with this murderous intent, further amplifying something that was already out of her control. "Fury... it seems she''s still unconscious, her Will and consciousness... I see, that makes more sense." (me) She lost her Will and consciousness, they must have been destroyed by the Ascendants or perhaps she lost them herself when she was consumed by fury. "If there is emotion, then a heart still beats and a Will is found." (me) "< Authority of the Profane Eclipse >" (me) Ding! My power advances penetrating her body, the resistance of her Aura was violent and at the same time useless, her Divinity was broken, greatly diminishing the power she once had. "RRRAARR!!! GRRHRR!!" The chains around her tremble and vibrate all the time as her body tries to move, she shows sharp teeth to me while growling like an animal. "< Awakening >" (me) Ding! Her body begins to fall apart brutally and slowly as she resists the invasion of my power, that''s when I felt her Soul burn in pure fury trying to attack my will as much as it destroys her Soul. "So there is no longer a mind, so there is only the second option left." (me) "< Divine Rebirth >" (me) Ding! I realized that there was no longer a mind and that the Awakening process could not happen, so I had to resort to Divine Rebirth. "It seems that I can''t erase this fury, so I will make good use of all this fury." (me)